Where is the God of Elijah? part 10

 When a man repents? 1 Kings 21:1-29

--Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- October 22, 2006

1King Ahab had a palace in Jezreel, and near the palace was a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth. 2One day Ahab said to Naboth, “Since your vineyard is so convenient to the palace, I would like to buy it to use as a vegetable garden. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or if you prefer, I will pay you for it.”
3But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance that was passed down by my ancestors.” 4So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth’s answer. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat!
5“What in the world is the matter?” his wife, Jezebel, asked him. “What has made you so upset that you are not eating?”
6“I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or to trade it, and he refused!” Ahab told her.
7“Are you the king of Israel or not?” Jezebel asked. “Get up and eat and don’t worry about it. I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard!”
8So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and other leaders of the city where Naboth lived. 9In her letters she commanded: “Call the citizens together for fasting and prayer and give Naboth a place of honor. 10Find two scoundrels? who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”
11So the elders and other leaders followed the instructions Jezebel had written in the letters. 12They called for a fast and put Naboth at a prominent place before the people. 13Then two scoundrels accused him before all the people of cursing God and the king. So he was dragged outside the city and stoned to death. 14The city officials then sent word to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned to death.”
15When Jezebel heard the news, she said to Ahab, “You know the vineyard Naboth wouldn’t sell you? Well, you can have it now! He’s dead!” 16So Ahab immediately went down to the vineyard to claim it.
17But the LORD said to Elijah, who was from Tishbe, 18“Go down to meet King Ahab, who rules in Samaria. He will be at Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel, taking possession of it. 19Give him this message: ‘this is what the LORD says: Isn’t killing Naboth bad enough? Must you rob him, too? Because you have done this, dogs will lick your blood outside the city just as they licked the blood of Naboth!’”
20“So my enemy has found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah.
“Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the LORD’S sight. 21The LORD is going to bring disaster to you and sweep you away. He will not let a single one of your male descendants, slave or free alike, survive in Israel! 22He is going to destroy your family as he did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made him very angry and have led all of Israel into sin. 23The LORD has also told me that the dogs of Jezreel will eat the body of your wife, Jezebel, at the city wall. 24The members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”
25No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the LORD’S sight as did Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, influenced him. 26He was especially guilty because he worshiped idols just as the Amorites had done—the people whom the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.
27When Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in sackcloth, and fasted. He even slept in sackcloth and went about in deep mourning.
28Then another message from the LORD came to Elijah, who was from Tishbe: 29“Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime. It will happen to his sons; I will destroy all his descendants.”

Our story of Elijah and our question of Where is the God of Elijah? Continue with a trip to Naboth’s vineyard. The vineyard was located in Jezreel just down the street from King Ahab’s palace. One day he began thinking how nice it would be to have garden space close to the palace and he went down to see Naboth. Once there, his offere to Naboth  was to either buy the land or to trade some other place for it.
But Naboth declined.The laws and rules of inheritance in Israel dictated that he could not or shouldnot sell the property because God said not to. Land was to remain in a person’s family. God demanded that Israel consider the land in that way.

Now, when Naboth refused King Ahab’s overture to buy the land, Ahab got moody. He began to sulk and pout. He was furious and angry that Naboth would refuse him, the king of Israel of all people. He threw what we would generally call a “hissy” fit. He sulked around and wouldn’t even eat; he was so upset. He acted just like a spoiled child.
Well, Jezebel noticed the problem right away. “What’s wrong? She asked.

Ahab told her about Naboth and his refusal to sell or trade the land with the king.
Jezebel always had a solution for everything. And this time was no different. She comes up with a plan. And as she begins working the plan, she tells Ahab not to worry about the vineyard.

You have seen from our text for today that her plan called for a banquet to be held in Naboth’s honor. During the festivities two men, scoundrels we are told, will accuse Naboth of blaspheming God and the King. They would be false witnesses and as such prohibited by God’s law. But expediency is often the reason we respond as we do. And Jezebel does what is expedient and in the end has Naboth taken outside the city and stoned to death.

And so Noboth was accused, tried, condemned and executed.
As soon as the people had scattered after stoning Naboth, Jezebel goes to Ahab and tells him that the vineyard was his and he might as well go down and take possession of it. It was his for the taking inspite of the laws governing inheritances in Israel.

And down from the palace Ahab goes and out into the vineyard. You can imagine how excited he must have been. What he wanted was now his. He probably walked among the vines and maybe even picked up a handful of dirt to taste and smell. What a prize to have so close to the palace. His covetousness has blinded him to the fact that sin is abhorrent to God, and that God would know what he had done. Ahab did not understand what was coming.

God knows…he really does.       God knows…Ahab’s heart. God knows everything. He knows our actions, thoughts and even our motives for what we do. He sees and knows.

And because he knows, God sends Elijah down to meet Ahab in his newly acquired vineyard to confront the king. Why does God send Elijah to Ahab? He sends him to Ahab because he loves the man. He loved Ahab inspite of his sin. God’s love is always unconditional. You do not have to continuously jump through hoops to get God to love you. He just loves you. He does and he always will. And because he loves this man, Ahab, he is finally going to confront the man with his sinfulness and the consequences of it in his life and the life of his family.

We always sow what we reap. Sow good seed and you will reap a good harvest. But when people sow unrighteousness they always reap the consequences of sin and separation from God.

“So you have found me, my enemy.” is Ahab’s response when he sees Elijah. It has been six or seven years since Elijah last saw Ahab. He sees Elijah as an enemy. And he is an enemy because he represents God. Ahab knows that Elijah is God’s spokesman and when a person does not want to hear from God, he will resist God and God’s representatives. So, when a person does not want to hear from God, he resists. And that is precisely what you find here in the life of Ahab.

A sinful world and sinful people will not readily welcome the tough truth entrusted to God’s representatives whether from prophet or president. Sinful people always resist God, God’s word and God’s people. Part of that resistance is an effort to silence those who come in God’s name.

Notice this about Elijah’s encounter with Ahab. There is no apprehension today. He is God’s man on God’s errand and as such is strong and sure of the Lord and in the Lord. And he tells Ahab about the judgment that is coming to his family. Jezebel and Ahab and their family will face complete destruction. There is to be complete destruction of his family and dynasty.

What devastating news for Ahab. Elijah came to him years ago and told him that because all Israel had sinned against God and worshiped false gods, there would be no rain until he said so. The King saw the power of God withhold the rain for 3 ½ years. When he saw Elijah again, it led to the confrontation on Mt. Carmel and he saw the real power of God burn up the offering and the altar when the prophet asked God to send it.
But now this is different. The prophet’s pronouncement of judgment is upon him and his family. And the judgment is total destruction of the family. Ahab, Jezebel and everyone in the family are to be destroyed. And this man knows the power of God will accomplish what Elijah says will happen. This is not about Israel. This is about this man and his family now. God has had enough of their sinfulness and godlessness. Judgment is coming. The implication to Ahab is that it is almost too late to avoid it.

And the King of Israel responds to God with humility and remorse. He finally sees himself as he really is totally enslaved by sin. And in the process he finds forgiveness. 27When Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in sackcloth, and fasted. He even slept in sackcloth and went about in deep mourning.
The people of Israel would now see their king in mourning for his sin. Gone is the arrogance and the petulance of his former way of life. Was forgiveness possible for some one as sinful as Ahab?

Thomas A. Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a "light bulb" and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You've probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one. That's true forgiveness. James Newton, Uncommon Friends.

The pathway to forgiveness always goes through what we all repentance. According to Scripture repentance is wholly an inward act, and should not be confounded with the change of life that proceeds from it. Confession of sin and reparation of wrongs are fruits of repentance.  L. Berkhoff, Systematic Theology, p. 487.

The word most often used in the Old Testament for human repentance is sub (soove) which means to turn or return and is applied to turning from sin to God.  Therefore, the essence of repentance in the Old Testament is to turn to the Lord with all one’s heart and soul and might.

Repentance in the New Testament comes from a word that speaks essentially a change of mind. It is a radical transformation of thought, attitude, outlook and direction. Therefore, we consider as a practical matter that repentance is a recognition of our sin, a change of attitude toward it, a different outlook on ourselves as we are related to God and a change of direction. We often think of repentance as making a 180 degree turn from sin toward God. And involved in all of this is a decision to leave the way of sin and to embrace the righteousness of God.

What God is patiently waiting for is even the remotest possibility that a person might turn from sin. Think of how long God has been waiting for Ahab to have a change of mind and turn from his sin.
Now we might wonder how much of a change is required to please God and then how does God respond to the repenter.

When we think of repentance we often insist that there be wholesale changes associated with a person’s repentance and that is how we evaluate or judge whether it is genuine or not. And when we do that we often expect more from the repenter than God does.
What is enlightening here is that God accepts the change of mind Ahab exhibits as sufficient for God to forgive and restore this man. That is all God required of this man. And it seems rather simplistic.
But God’s mercy, grace and perseverance here are amazing.

In A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, Ron Lee Davis retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God's forgiveness.

In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked., "Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?"
"Yes, he did," she replied.
"And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?"
"Yes."
"Well, what did he say?"
"He said, 'I don't remember'"
What God forgives, He forgets. David H. Bolton.

Let’s Go back to our question: Where is the God of Elijah when a man repents? He is right there where he has always been patiently waiting for us to respond to his love and mercy and grace. And when we respond, he touches our heart to cleanse it and to start us on the pathway of forgiveness.

That is what Ahab discovered.
God was right there to receive him.
God was right there to forgive him. To cover over his sin and to forget about it. There were consequences that would play out in the real world because of that sin, but graciously not in Ahab’s lifetime.

God was right there to touch his life and make it new. God was right there to love him. And this is where the God of Elijah is today…in exactly the same place ready to do in our lives what he did for Ahab.

--Dennis Gleason