The theme of the previous chapter was Jehovah is God. A person who does not know God is a very foolish person! If you know God, you will discover that you are a wise person. No matter how clever you are, if you do not know God, you will live in unimaginable curses, just like Ahab and Jezebel, and not even realize why you are suffering so much! The road to destruction is wide and broad, and those who walk on it are a group of people who do not know God according to their own desires!

Questions for Reflection:

• Do you believe in karma in this world?

• In this chapter, what things did Ahab do that angered God? Why could he be so evil, with so many wicked deeds?

• What judgment did God bring upon Ahab for his sins? What warning does this give us?

• Why did God say that He would not bring disaster during Ahab's lifetime? So, when we have done things that anger God, what should we do?

The God We Believe In Is a God of Retribution!

In the last chapter, everyone must remember the sentence: Then you will know that I am the Lord (1 Kings 20:13). A person who does not know God is the most foolish person. The most foolish thing in this world is not knowing God! If you know God, you are a wise person. No matter how clever you are, if you do not know God, you are likely to do things similar to what Jezebel and Ahab did, and your end will be similar to theirs.

Do not think that only Ahab and Jezebel were judged; everyone in this world will be judged according to their deeds. Seeing this, you may feel confused: Isn't this karma? But let us think about it: Who is doing the retribution? It is the God we believe in, the Creator of the universe. God is a God of retribution. Generally speaking, with karma, it is not known who is doing the retribution. But today I tell you, it is the God we believe in who will surely do retribution! If you observe carefully, you will also find that there is retribution in this world. Why is there retribution? Because there is a God who retributes people according to what they do. Because there is a God who is a God of retribution, if you do evil, He will surely repay you! What a person sows, that shall he also reap!

Ahab Violated the Ten Commandments

Jehovah God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites through Moses. Did Ahab know what the Ten Commandments said? In fact, he knew very well. The previous chapter talked about Then you will know that I am the Lord. So today I ask everyone, do you really know that Jehovah is God? If you really know, you will not sell your life. Ahab experienced so much in the previous chapter; did he not know that Jehovah is God? Did he not know the Ten Commandments? He knew! But he still knowingly violated them. Let us read the Ten Commandments:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:2-17)

Do not think that now is the New Testament era, and God has given grace, so the Ten Commandments are no longer valid. That is not the case. If you keep all the Ten Commandments, you may not become a saint, but at least you will not suffer curses.

Which commandments did Ahab violate? He violated the ninth and tenth commandments: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house (Exodus 20:16-17). So, if a person does not know what a curse is, he does not know what it means to be afraid. If a person does not know God, he does not know that what he does sells his life! Ahab was like this, selling his life. We must know that Jehovah is God! And He is not only God but also a God of retribution who will repay us according to what we do. So what did Ahab do to sell his life?

First: Ahab Did Not Read God's Word, Nor Did He Put His Flesh to Death

The first thing is not reading God's Word! The Bible says that you should read God's Word every day, let God's Word not depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, and you will be blessed (see Psalm 1:2). Why is it that reading God's Word brings blessings? If a person does not make mistakes like Ahab and lives a stable life without curses coming upon himself and his family, that in itself is a great grace! But a person who does not read God's Word will quickly forget God's Word! Why is that? Because God's Word often contradicts our natural feelings.

If we completely follow our feelings, we will soon feel that God's Word is not suitable for the times. We must use all our strength to put God's Word into our hearts and reverse our carnal, innate nature. If you are not careful and put God's Word a little further away, your natural inclinations will quickly return, and you may not even notice it: because natural inclinations are innate and very natural reactions, so you will obey the flesh. Do not think that there are only people and God in this world; there is also the devil. The devil is the tempter, and it will use every opportunity to find you. It squats at your door every day, and when it sees you obeying the flesh, it will put tempting feelings in your heart.

It is not that Ahab did not know God; it is just that he did not often read God's Word. At this point in the chapter, no matter how he looked at Naboth's vineyard, he felt it was excellent and that he had to get it, so he violated the tenth commandment: coveting his neighbor's property. Ahab was not lacking in food or clothing, nor did he have no house to live in; he did not need a vineyard. But because he was far from God's Word, he felt that his desire was normal: I cannot get this vineyard, and I am very sad. If I cannot get Naboth's vineyard, what is the point of living? Once he started thinking like this, he felt that his good life was dull. Inadvertently, we can also fall into this situation.

For example, you like a girl, but she does not like you, and you may think, What is the point of living? If this continues, you will soon be confused. The girl may think, I am old and have no boyfriend; my life is over! If she sees couples, she will be depressed: Look, they all have someone, but I don't; what is the point of living? Slowly, like Ahab, she will sink deeper and deeper into this emotion. So, brothers and sisters, we must often put God's Word in our hearts and constantly remind ourselves: Why do we live? We live for God. What do we do in this world? I have a mission in this world, and everything else is nothing. So, if you do not constantly think about God's Word and follow your natural inclinations, it is fatal!

So why does it say that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (see Matthew 11:12)? Because if you do not strive, your carnal nature will be revived. So every time we have to put that carnal nature to death! I encourage the brothers and sisters in our church to stop celebrating birthdays, because celebrating birthdays revives the carnal nature. If no one celebrates your birthday next time, or someone forgets to give you a gift or a blessing, you will be resentful: You even forgot my birthday! Then you will start to weaken.

The devil often tempts people, so people must often read God's Word and put our carnal desires to death, and we will easily overcome them. It is true that there are many good things in the world, but we do not have to get them. If we cannot get them, we cannot get them, because those things are not the purpose of our lives. The purpose of our lives is to live for God.

Second: The Temptation of Power

Power is very tempting! When people have power, they are also in great danger. David did not sin during his thirteen years of exile. But after becoming king and living a comfortable life, he committed adultery with Bathsheba (See 2 Samuel 11). In fact, David had many concubines, but he favored Bathsheba, which is hard to imagine. This is because David did not wake up after he had power and fell into the devil's trick with Bathsheba!

When David had no power, even if he met Bathsheba, nothing would have happened. But after having power, he could do many things that he could not do before and get things that he could not get before, so he would be greatly tempted! In fact, when you do not have power, even if you cannot commit criminal acts, it does not mean that you do not have criminal thoughts. For example, many people do not know that corruption will suffer curses, so they sigh that they have no chance to be corrupt: Alas, there is no opportunity; how great it would be if there were an opportunity! As long as sin is in a person's heart, the person will be tempted after having power. It is the same with having money; you will surely be tempted.

Therefore, you must be especially careful about what your power can do because you can do these things through artificial means. So we must often deal with the sins in our hearts, and the fleshly lusts will not come alive. Even if we have power, we will not easily commit crimes. People have to overcome temptation, but without the power from God, they really cannot overcome it!

Third: Ahab Married the Wrong Wife!

It is very fatal for a person to marry the wrong wife. It is fatal to marry the wrong person! Ahab married the wrong wife because his wife only helped him do evil. When Jezebel saw that Ahab had lost his appetite, she used tricks to frame Naboth to seize his vineyard. She promised Ahab to give him Naboth's vineyard, which seemed to be very considerate of Ahab and clever, but that was human cleverness! Later, Ahab did get the vineyard but fell into the devil's trick and sold his life because God was going to hold him accountable for the sin of shedding innocent blood! Ahab's wife, Jezebel, used all her cleverness to do bad things, which was troublesome! It ruined Ahab's own life and the lives of his descendants!

In fact, this in itself is a trick of the devil, manipulation behind the scenes, so that it can legally corrupt Ahab's family. So everyone must be careful. Before you do anything, you must know whether it is selling your life. The church is very, very careful about dating. If you are not yet dating, you must talk to me and my wife before you plan to date. If you find the wrong person to date, your life is over! If you are already wrong, you only have one way to go, which is never to let your partner have their way like Ahab did. That is to say, if your spouse is doing evil, as long as you harden your heart and refuse to compromise with them, you will not be betrayed. In fact, after Ahab got the vineyard, if he woke up and repented immediately, the sin would fall on Jezebel and the elders and nobles of the city. These elders and nobles who gave false testimony cannot escape either. The curse will surely come upon their descendants. What a person sows, that shall he reap. The curse of giving false testimony will deepen, and those people will surely suffer the same curse as Ahab's family!

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## Willing Repentance is the Only Way

Selling oneself results in God's judgment and retribution. Brothers and sisters, do not ever think that God is loving, so there is no retribution. In fact, God is a just God. If you have done something wrong, there will definitely be retribution. You might think: if I have really made a mistake, will God still give me a chance? Yes, He will. **God will give you a chance, which is repentance. One must repent earnestly, perhaps Jehovah God will relent from the disaster He has spoken of.** This is the way of acknowledging sin and repenting. In fact, what the Bible shows us is that our God is a God of grace and mercy! As long as you do not stiffen your neck, that is, even if you have sinned and still do not repent, God will definitely show you mercy and relent from the disaster He has spoken of.

Verse 20, Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” He thought that Elijah had found him on his own. In fact, it was not. It was God who led Elijah to find him. How could God not find Ahab? So when you are being judged, obediently confess your sins and repent. Do not be like an ostrich, burying your head in the sand and thinking that others cannot find you. God will definitely find you. **Occasionally sinning is indeed fatal, but not repenting is even more fatal!** If we have sinned, then repent from the bottom of our hearts like David. The opportunity to repent is always there, but many people do not know God's will for people to repent, or even if they know, they do not repent earnestly. Therefore, knowing God is wisdom. A person who does not know God is most foolish.

## Dealing with One's Own Desires

Not many can overcome the temptation of sin. We must never think too highly of ourselves, thinking that we know enough about worldly things, or that we know enough about spiritual things as well. We really cannot resist ghosts, nor can we resist sin. The reason why we do not have any problems now is only because temptation has not come upon us temporarily, and we have not had the opportunity to sin, that's all. If you were put in the position of King Ahab, becoming the king of a country, facing the temptation to satisfy your desires by slightly using your power, I am afraid you would not be better than Ahab.

So not having the opportunity to sin does not mean you are holy. So **what is God doing? It is to train us, to start dealing with the evil desires within us even before we have the opportunity to sin.** Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death, and then sells oneself (see James 1:15). Ahab sold himself, starting from a small desire. That is why I am teaching everyone today to deal with one's own desires no matter what.

Let me give you an example: we require that we cannot marry someone who does not believe in the Lord. Some people will think in their hearts, “Look, my sister married a husband who does not believe in the Lord, but her husband is not bad, he is a good person! Are people who do not believe in the Lord not good too?” Their desires begin to activate, and they think that they can also marry someone who does not believe in the Lord. Indeed, some marriages of people who do not believe in the Lord are also very happy. But in fact, if believers in the Lord have this kind of thinking, it must be a temptation from the devil. If you go down this path, you will definitely encounter disaster. How could the devil easily let you go?

Believers in the Lord are to inherit eternal life, and the devil can't wait to stop you, not allowing you to enter into eternal life. It will use a seemingly reasonable desire to start enticing you, making you feel that when a man is of age, he should marry; when a woman is of age, she should be married. In fact, the Bible does not write it that way. What does the Bible write? Paul said: I wish that you all had the gift of singleness. Because according to the current situation, marriage is not a good thing. Marriage is living for the other person, while not marrying is living solely for the Lord, which is easier. Marriage is very troublesome (see 1 Corinthians 7:26-34)! We must pursue knowing God, and not sell ourselves because of seemingly reasonable desires. If your parents have arranged a blind date for you, then avoid it if you can.

Owning a vineyard is not a difficult thing for a king. But the devil uses this kind of small thing to tempt people and ruin people. After we have seen these things, we know what we should do. It is to deal with those reasonable desires, because your reasonable desires will cause you to sell yourself like Ahab.