Killer Instinct

"Every Christian is equipped and called to be a far more disciplined person than any politician, business leader, or olympian. We are to have a killer instinct, and it has a target: sin."

1 Kings 21:1-19 "Now there was a man named Naboth, from Jezreel, who owned a vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. 2 One day Ahab said to Naboth, "Since your vineyard is so convenient to my 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." 3 But Naboth replied, "The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance that was passed down by my ancestors." 4 So 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's the matter?" his wife Jezebel asked him. "What's made you so upset that you're not eating?" 6 "I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or trade it, but he refused!" Ahab told her. 7 "Are you the king of Israel or not?" Jezebel demanded. "Get up and eat something, and don't worry about it. I'll get you Naboth's vineyard!" 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and other leaders of the town where Naboth lived. 9 In her letters she commanded: "Call the citizens together for fasting and prayer, and give Naboth a place of honor. 10 And then seat two scoundrels across from him who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death." 11 So the elders and other town leaders followed the instructions Jezebel had written in the letters. 12 They called for a fast and put Naboth at a prominent place before the people. 13 Then the two scoundrels came and sat down across from him. And they accused Naboth before all the people, saying, "He cursed God and the king." So he was dragged outside the town and stoned to death. 14 The town leaders then sent word to Jezebel, "Naboth has been stoned to death." 15 When 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!" 16 So Ahab immediately went down to the vineyard of Naboth to claim it. 17 But the LORD said to Elijah, 18 "Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be at Naboth's vineyard in Jezreel, claiming it for himself. 19 Give him this message: 'This is what the LORD says: Wasn't it enough that you killed Naboth? Must you rob him, too? Because you have done this, dogs will lick your blood at the very place where they licked the blood of Naboth!

25 No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the LORD's sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel."

1.      Ahab's selfish demand.

1.      Vs 1-2. All of Ahab's possessions did not satisfy him as he coveted what belonged to Naboth.

1.      Be careful when your passions drive you to destroy others.

2.      Be concerned when your hunger can not be quenched by possessions.

3.      He offered to exchange or buy it, but to his surprise and anger Naboth refused.

1.      A sulking king acting like a spoiled child!

1.      Covetousness is a dreadful sin, especially when they can not have their own way!

2.      Vs. 2 something else in this passage, God's very best is very close.

1.      His presence is very close.

2.      God's presence is very convenient, sometimes too convenient.

1.      Many people have all these resources available to them yet there is no hunger for God's presence, miracles, and purpose in their lives.

1.      It's as if the Devil has made many of us an offer that we could not refuse.

2.      Selling our birthrights for less than.

1.      We have taken his less than perfect plan and embraced it as "the very best thing."

2.      Traded our inheritance from God for the measly fleeting pleasures of this life.

1.      Exchanging character for fame, replacing values for possessions, and manufacturing love for lust.

3.      Ahab gives this impression that Naboth was just being stubborn, when the whole truth was that Naboth was obeying God.

1.      Truth matters.

1.      Mankind needs to be reminded constantly, that sin separates us from God.

2.      Secondly, we need God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness that only comes through belief in Jesus Christ.

3.      Finally, God unleashed His wrath upon sin and punished His Son Jesus, who laid down His life so that we could be pardoned.

2.      Naboth's unwavering refusal.

1.      God looks for guts in a man.

2.      Vs 3. This vineyard, his inheritance, had belonged to his ancestors for many generations, how could he sell it?

1.      It was not simply a matter of sentiment.

2.      Naboth said, "I can not do this thing that God has forbidden.”

3.      So he refused to disobey God, this is so vital! 

1.      Are we embracing what God has forbidden?

2.      We need to pay attention to His word, His promises, and His righteousness.

1.      Naboth lived out the courage of his convictions.

2.      God looks for bravery in His people.

1.      Land was an incredibly important possession, it meant everything.

2.      Back when God handed out land to the twelve tribes of Israel, He forbid them to sell or give their part away to another tribe or family. 

1.      Don't give away your inheritance in Christ!

2.      Don't be a sell out!

3.      It's a costly business to stand up for God, truth and righteousness, it always is, that will never change.

1.      Be a generation of boldness.

2.      Be a generation of truth.

3.      Stand up for what is right and hate evil.

1.      Refuse cowardice, refuse degradation, and refuse silence.

Psalm 37:30-31 NLT [30] "The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong. [31] They have made God's law their own, so they will never slip from His path."

4.      Sharing truth is not popular in our day and culture.

1.      You may speak truth and be labeled a hater.

1.      They'll tell you it's outdated, out voted, and out lived.

2.      But it will never be outclassed, out charactered, or out truthed, God's Word is truth.

1.      Listen, there is no compass; moral or spiritual, without God's divine, unadulterated, unchanging, unbreakable Word.

5.      Naboth's decision shakes the kingdom of darkness!

6.      Naboth's decision shakes the leadership of ungodliness.

1.      His instinct so powerful.

2.      His instinct so natural.

1.      His instinct so driven, it's inspiring.

1.      His devotion to God, and blood wins out, Naboth refuses less than declaring, "I will never let go of what God has given to me."

3.      Jezebels' sinister plot.

1.      Vs 5-14. Jezebel is one of the most evil and criminal figures in the Bible.

1.      She not only shaped great evil, but she influences others to do evil.

1 Kings 16:30 "But Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the LORD's sight, even more than any of the kings before him. 31b he began to bow down in worship of Baal. 32 First Ahab built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria. 33 Then he set up an Asherah pole. He did more to provoke the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him."

2.      When you start bowing a knee to any thing other than God, destruction is right around the corner.

1.      Occasional wrong doing gradually turned into a way of life.

1.      Ahab lived his life promoting, perpetuating, and making provision for idolatry and sexual immorality therefore leading the entire nation into into sin.

2.      He created the finance to preserve the worship of other gods.

1.      And since we're sharing, in all actuality it was his wife who was leading this charge.

1.      Percy Sledge said it like this: When a man loves a woman Can't keep his mind on nothing else He'll trade the world For the good thing he's found.

2.      If she's bad he can't see it, She can do no wrong Turn his back on his best friend If he put her down.

3.      When a man loves a woman Down deep in his soul She can bring him such misery If she plays him for a fool He's the last one to know Loving eyes can't ever see.

3.      What a pawn.

1.      What a killer instinct she had.

2.      She has a boldness for the wrong things a passion for gods who don't even live.

1.      They can't heal, they can't minister, they can't forgive, they can't even bring rain.

3.      Baal idols were generally made in the shape of a bull, representing strength and fertility; reflecting lust for power and sexual pleasure.

1.      Welcome to our current cultures deepest passions.

4.      At Naboth's refusal she replied with a stinging taunt (Vs 7); she resorted to forgery (Vs 8); her actions filled with hypocrisy (Vs 9); she pressed others into perjury (Vs 10); and she perpetrated the horrible act of murder (Vs 13).

1.      Executing Naboth, the righteous, God-fearing; God honoring man.

5.      King Ahab doesn't seem to have had the killer instinct but Jezebel, never hesitated to go for the jugular.

4.      Jezebel’s strategy is both ironic and disturbing.

1.      The irony is that she would falsely accuse a man of cursing God when she had spent her entire life cursing God, and even murdering His prophets.

2.      Her killer instinct is very interesting that she knew enough about Israelite law to use it against an Israelite.

3.      Utterly distressing that she knows so much about God, seen His hand at work, her gods had been proven to be false, yet, she continues in her ways, without fear, love, respect, or concern for the one true God.

1.      Does this is any way sound familiar to you?

4.      Does this suggest that sinful people can defy God and get away with it?

1.      Absolutely Not!

1.     Vs 17; no sooner had Jezebel completed her wicked scheme than “God's Word came to Elijah…”

4.      God's sovereign action.

1.      Ahab and Jezebel defied God, but He is sovereign and always has the last word.

2.      This God is the God with whom we all will stand to give account of our selves.

1.      Many, have been martyred for their faithfulness to Christ, and many are suffering persecution today and death even right now because they are Christians.

1.      God will yet vindicate His people and measure out judgment to those who have rebelled, rejected His word and refused the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

1.      God is merciful and slow to fulfill His judgment, but He will fulfill it.

3.      God avenges Naboth's murder.

1.      But before Ahab takes over the land, God stepped in to restore order, commanding him to halt his predatory tactics.

1.     Vs. 19

1.      Then God promised a bloody death for Ahab because of his evil actions.

4.      Listen, it's great when people want to help each other, but not down a path of wickedness, greed, and injustice.

1.      Elijah bravely confronted the man who led his people into evil, and he told of a power far greater than this pagan god.

1.      The God of Israel.

1.      We have to admire each one's strength of commitment.

1.      Ahab and Jezebel were committed to them selves and her false gods.

2.      Naboth and Elijah, totally committed to the one true God.

5.      Obsessions can severely taint our sense of right and wrong. 

1.      When we reflect honestly on our lives, we should seriously consider any and every thing that drives us to step outside of God's will.

2.      These impure motives, these contaminated desires need to be confessed and surrendered to God.

1.      Then He can help us follow His plan for our lives.

6.      We become like what we worship.

1.      Worship is showing our worth of God.

1.      If you worship money, greed, success, you'll bow at their every request to obtain them.

1.      If you worship the lust of the flesh you have sold yourself to work evil and allowed sin to acquire mastery over your life.

5.      Elijah's solemn task.

1.      It was a hard task for Elijah to have to pronounce Ahab and Jezebel's destruction.

1.      What should be our message in these darkening days?

1.      Should we tell people that God is love?

1.      Yes.

2.      Should we say He is merciful?

1.      Yes.

3.      Above all, we must declare that God is just and holy, that He hates sin, that judgment is coming upon this world and that if we want to escape it we must flee to the refuge of salvation which is only in Jesus Christ.

John 3:36 NLT "And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment."

2.      The Devil has a killer instinct.

1.      It's his life's mission and purpose to steal, kill, and destroy.

2.      It's Christ's will and purpose that we have life and life in abundance.

1.      Purpose in abundance, passion in abundance, love in abundance, forgiveness in abundance, grace in abundance.

Ezekiel 33:11 NLT "As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?"

3.      God is so, so merciful.

2 Peter 3:9 NLT "The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."