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Well, good evening. Hope you're doing well. It's a privilege to open the Word of God with you this evening. And probably you've heard this famous phrase. It was written by Winston Churchill. Let's see if he can finish it. It says, Those who fail to learn from history, do you know what it continues saying?

They're doomed to repeat it. Those are wise words, true words. Listen now to what the Bible, specifically some biblical authors, have to say about history recorded in Scripture. The Apostle Peter and Jude wrote about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they say that they became an example of the judgment that awaits the ungodly.

That's in 2 Peter 2, 6 and Jude 7. In his epistle, James tells us that the lives of the prophets are examples of suffering and patience. And they exhort us to stop complaining. That's in James 5.10. Also, he speaks of Job, who is an example of steadfastness amidst suffering.

After retelling several events from the history of Israel, the Apostle Paul concluded, Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire. Evil as they did, they were written down for our instruction. That's 1 Corinthians 10, 6, and 11. So, learning from history is a valuable exercise, we could say.

But now, learning from the inspired record that we have in the Bible, it's an essential responsibility for every believer. So, let me take you back to the Old Testament, to 1 Kings chapter 22, where we're going to learn from a specific account that the Lord preserved for our instruction, so that we might not desire evil.

And we will study the life of Ahaziah, the reign of Ahaziah. He was an extremely wicked king, and from his example, we're going to learn two simple lessons. And they're these: We must seek God exclusively, and we need to listen to his word. It's easy. Since our God is our Lord, we must seek him only and listen to his word.

So, let's start, but yes, we get it there. So, let's begin by reading the last paragraph of the book of 1 Kings, where we're going to be introduced to King Ahaziah. Can you read that? Is it too small? Good. So, it says, 1 Kings chapter 2. 22 verse 51.

Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. And he reigned two years over Israel. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebad, who made Israel to sin.

He surveal and worshipped him, and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done. That's a pretty ugly summary of someone's life. We're told that he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother.

Now, who are these people? Who were his parents? Well, one of them, his father, was none other than the most wicked king in the whole history of Israel, King Ahab. Maybe you've heard of him. And his mother was that infamous queen, Jezebel. This is what God said about them.

There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel. That's in 1 Kings 21, 25 through 26.

So, Ahaziah's parents. Ahab and Jezebel were so wicked that they not only promoted the worship of Baal, they set out to persecute the prophets of God. They wanted to kill them. And they were so adamant about it that the prophet Elijah thought he was the only one, like the only one who remained.

He was pretty depressed, actually. The situation was horrible in Israel. It was to such an extent that this worship of Baal was prevalent in Israel that you might remember that famous encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Mount Carmel when God sent fire from heaven. Well, that was during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel.

And by the way, Ahaziah would have been alive during this time. He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. And the Bible says that he was as wicked as they were. And he continues, he perseveres in worshiping Baal, even after that huge demonstration of God bringing fire from heaven.

He not only walked in the way of his father and his mother, he also walked in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nabot. And that was the king who made those two infamous calves, golden calves. If you remember Exodus, we have one golden calf and It was a disaster.

But now there was this other guy, Jeroboam. He made two golden calves, and he kind of prohibited people to go down to the temple in Jerusalem to worship the Lord. Haziah is walking in his steps. It's not the best guy to imitate. So, this inspired summary of Haziah's reign has a purpose, and it's an example for us, so that we might not desire evil as he did.

He did not seek the Lord. And as we open the second book of Kings, which is the main thrust of our study today, we're going to see how he seeks Baal Zebob. Let's read what it says over there. Right away, we find out that this king has his reign is filled with problems.

He only reigned for two years, if you remember, very short period of time. We will know why he only reigned for two years. But those two years were filled with hardships. Let's keep reading over there, 2 Kings chapter 1, verse 1. We read that one of his first problems was work-related.

He had political problems. It says, After the death of Ahab, his father, Moab rebelled against Israel. Let's stop there. In chapter three, we get more details about this conflict between Israel and Moab, and how there was a battle to restore control over that place. But the point now is that Ahaziah has some pretty bad work problems.

He has a huge political and military problem on his hands. He's fairly new to the job. His dad, who was the main guy, he was a very powerful king, is gone. His mentor is gone. And now he's new to this job and he has this huge rebellion against him.

Maybe you can relate being at your first week at a new job and things start going wrong and you're responsible, you know, and problems start to explode on your face and you don't know what to do. So this is Ahaziah here. He has this huge work problem, his huge political problem on his hands.

His king was his mentor, he was his father, and King Ahaziah, Ahab, was Ahaziah's mentor and father. And now that he's gone, it appears that this is the main thing why Moab comes and thinks that they can make something happen there. They they are undermining the new guy.

They think that this is a new king. We can take him. Maybe he's not able to handle us. So he has big pressure there, big political work problems. The risks are high. He's feeling the pressure from outside. But he not only has these political problems, he has some personal problems.

And this is where the story really starts to unfold. Verse 2 says that Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and lay sick. We're going to stop there. So this guy can't catch a break. He has this huge work problems outside, and now he has these physical problems, his personal problems.

Now, because of the weather in Israel, it was pretty hot. Maybe we can relate here in the summer. What was done generally was the roofs of the houses, and this and Ahaziah is in the temple, the roofs were flat, and people liked to be over there in the evenings and catch the cool breathe and breeze and have a good time.

Now they had lattice work around, you know, some kind of fence to protect from someone falling off or just give some sense of privacy. So the roof was enclosed with this lattice, but Ahaziah is over there having a good time. And probably he leaned into the lattice just to look at the kingdom.

The lattice kind of gives way and he falls into, you know, from quite an altitude. And he maybe he breaks some bones, internal bleeding. The guy is in pretty bad shape. There's another possibility that since this was not a good king, it was pretty common that in the evening the king will get drunk.

And it wasn't that much that the lattice wasn't a good, you know, sturdy thing, but he's slammed into it, all drunk. Well, either way, the point is that he has this horrible fall that cripples him. And he's in horrible shape. So bad that he's gonna need to find a cure.

He needs to know if he's gonna get well. So he has this huge outside problems. He has this big, life-threatening personal problem. And now he's going to demonstrate who he really trusts, who he really believes in, who is he going to seek. Because when problems come, we generally show who are really, what's the object of our trust.

Spoiler alert, you already know, he likes bail. So we continue with the passage, and he sends messengers. It says, verse 2 of 2 Kings chapter 1. So he sent messengers telling them, Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the God of Akron, whether I shall recover from this sickness. So instead of seeking the Lord, which he should have, he's the king of Israel, he chooses to rely and seek counsel from another God.

This God is, I mean, little letter G God. He chooses Baal, Baal-Zebub in actuality. And this guy, Baal-Zebub, apparently was a well-known God for healing. We don't know much about him. And this God, or the shrine of this God, is in Akron. Ekron is one of the five cities of the Philistines.

So those are the enemies of Israel. So we're seeing how he's making all these horrible decisions. So he sends these messengers to inquire about Baal-Zebub in Akron. Ekron actually is a five-mile trip. It would have taken at least a full day if they were walking. The messengers were walking to get there on foot, if they were hurrying.

Let's continue, reading verse 3. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishvite, Arise, go up to meet the Messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal Zeb, the God of Akron?

Now, therefore, thus says the Lord, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. So Elijah went. Let's continue in verse 5. The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, Why have you returned? And they said to him, There came a man to meet us and said to us, Go back to the king who sent you and said to him, Say to him, Thus says the Lord, Is it because there's no God in Israel that you're sending to inquire of Baal Zebov, the God of Akron?

Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. He said to them, What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told all these things? And they answered him, He wore a garment of hair with a belt of leather about his waist.

And the king said, Hmm, it's Elisha the Tishbite. So obviously, the king wasn't expecting the messengers to come back so quickly. Maybe they came later the same day. So he's a little confused. What's going on here? Why are you coming back? And the messengers just tell the king what happened.

This man came and he gave us this message from the Lord. And the message is pretty much. Much that the Lord rebukes the king from going after another God, and he pronounces his judgment. He says, You will not recover. You will surely die. Is it because there is no God in Israel that you're sending to inquire about Zebab, the God of Akron?

That was a phrase repeated three times, actually. And the answer is, of course not. There is. There is a God. It's the Lord. And the point is, since the God, since God is the Lord, we must seek Him only and listen to His word. Ahaziah should have known better.

Actually, He knew better. But He chose to rely on another God, small liturgy. And we need to be careful not to do the same. We need to learn from His bad example so that we might not desire evil as He did. Because it's human nature that when pressure comes, maybe it's external pressures at work, the university, just life with family, or it is internal pressures that you just feel yourself, personal, physical, emotional problems, that that's when we reveal the object of our trust.

For Ahaziah, it was Baal. Now, what is yours? Who or what is the other? Of your trust. What God do you seek? There are many gods that we may seek. Small letter G. When you encounter work problems or personal problems, when you're over your head, when you don't know what to do, when you don't know the outcome, when you're stressed, is it the Lord that you seek, that you trust?

Or do you rely on the God of distractions maybe? Just get your phone out, start scrolling, you know, mindlessly, and maybe turn on the T V, whatever's there, and lay on the bed, get lost in your pastime, just trying to get all the situation out of your mind.

That's what you default. That's the way that you cope with reality. Maybe it's a God of your own comfort. You get lazy, you just wanna you get home stressed out and just wanna get on the couch and nobody talk to you and get on the bed. Is it the God of probability?

We may rely on that. Instead of saying how God is gonna show up and how I'm going to trust Him in the midst of this situation, we just start looking for logical explanations how you know how probable it is that this is gonna turn out well. You know, because probability is my best ally.

Maybe it's finances. You know, you have the hopes to get more money and maybe connections to fix problems. Or do you throw yourself into the arms of the God of indulgence? When things are going well, you just think, well, maybe I just deserve this to get through the week.

What is your reaction when trials and hardships come your way? Do you have just violent reactions and thoughts, give in to fear, fall into a dark, depressive mood? Or do you fall on your knees and pray? Because all that reveals who you really trust. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord.

Go to Him. Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. That's 1 Peter 5:7. Listen and obey His Word. Inquire of Him. In prayer, God has given us the church as well. That's a means that the Lord has provided us for strengthening us, strengthening us, and building each other up.

So seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His provisions. He doesn't want you to go wandering around seeking other gods, pleasure, indulgence. And probability, whatever it is. So, in first place, we see that Isaiah did not seek the Lord. But that wasn't the worst thing, even though it's already pretty bad.

He resisted the word of God. That's the next. There we go. When King Isaiah finds out that the prophecy came from Elijah, he's not pretty happy about it. He is pretty hostile, and actually, he sends a troop of soldiers to bring him by force. Kind of like, you know, I'll show him who's boss here.

You know, you cannot tell me what to do. What is this talk about that I'm going to die? You know, if I rough this prophet up, I bet that I can change his prophecy. So, notice what the king does, he does not send a friendly messenger. Verse 9: The king sent to him a captain of 50 men with his 50.

He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, O man of God, the king says, or also translated, thus says the king, come down. But Elijah answered the captain of 50, If I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.

And then fire came down from Heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Well, there was a clear message here. You're wrong. You're on the wrong side of the story here, siding with Baal. Remember, the last time we saw fire coming down from heaven was with Elijah as well, but with the prophets of Baal.

And it was a clear sign saying the Lord is God. You know, we worship him. We seek him only. We are not going to listen to anyone else. So, instead of backing down, this is where it gets interesting. The king does not get the message, apparently. He hardens his heart.

He doubles down. He's more resolute now. He refuses to listen. He wants to get his way. So, in verse 11, we read that again the king sent to him another captain of 50, men with his 50. And he answered and said to him, O man of God, this is the king's order.

Come down quickly. But Elijah answered them, If I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. Then fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Now, maybe now you're thinking, well, this is kind of cruel of the Lord, isn't it?

It's kind of odd. Maybe it's over the top. This seems harsh from God. Isn't he loving? Why is he taking it on these poor soldiers like that? What about their families? Well, first of all, God has every right to take a life since he gave it in the first place.

Every time someone dies, natural cause is because God had it ordained like that. No one dies without him knowing it. So the timing, it's all about him. But second, and more importantly, these soldiers are well aware of what they're doing. They're soldiers. They're marching against someone else. They're hostile.

If you're a soldier and you go into battle, you expect their casualties. You go prepare. You go prepared for battle. And if you die, you die. So these are soldiers, and they're on duty now. And they know who their king is. They know the prophecy. They know everything.

And they're marching against the king. Which king? The Lord, the actual king, the king of Israel. So they're marching against God's emissary, which is Elijah the prophet. So this is a confrontation between God and Baal, the ones who follow him and wants to get their way. God. This is war, so to speak.

And God fights. And does he not? He exalts his own name. God's there proclaiming, I am the true God. No one defeats me. No one rebels against me. So, King, stop sending your soldiers because you know what's happening. Finally, this fiery judgment is nothing compared to the ultimate fiery judgment that awaits those who seek other gods.

Those who resist the word of God and do not seek him. This was a warning sign. This was a warning sign for the king, for the soldiers' relatives, no longer for them, for Israel, and even for you and I today. We need to take note of this sign.

What is this warning? Well, the warning is that if we do not fear the Lord, if you are still an enemy of God, if you have not bowed the knee to the Lord in allegiance and faith, judgment awaits you. Because the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death that's resolved.

Revelation 21, 8. So seek God exclusively. Do not resist his word. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. That's Acts 3:19. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful, and he's just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 But Isaiah is not getting the message, apparently, because if we continue in verse 13, again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came, and he fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, O man of God, please, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.

Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties. But now, let my life be precious in your sight. Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him. So he arose and went down with him to the king and said to him, Thus says the Lord, because you have sent messengers to inquire about Alzeboab, the God of Ekron, is it because there's no God in Israel that you do inquire of his word?

Therefore you shall not. Come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. So the third captain goes with a very, very different attitude. He does not confront Elijah. He begs him to come, and he and his men are spared. I thought it interesting that the same word translated entreated, that he entreated Elijah, appears in other contexts when people are showing true repentance when they're pleading with God to be merciful to them.

This is an absolute contrast with the king. This captain of 50 has more common sense than the king. So Elijah goes down. The Lord tells him to go down, and he goes with the soldiers and delivers the same message to the king. He is not intimidated by the king.

And since the king did not bow the knee, since he did not humble himself, since he insisted and persisted in rejecting the word of the Lord, God did not change his mind either regarding his judgment. And I wonder, and I'm pretty certain that if he had, if he had bowed the knee, if he had humbled himself, maybe the Lord would have healed him.

He did it before, he has done it afterwards with other kings. So, what can we learn from the example of Isaiah? Lesson number two is that we must not resist the word of God. This king had so many opportunities to repent, he had so many warnings, he could clearly see his wrong, but he resisted.

Now, before we just start pointing fingers at Isaiah, let us take a good and honest look at our own lives. Because we may not have the clear Word of God by a prophet Elijah, but we have the completed word of God right here. And still, how many times we have resisted God's clear instruction?

How many times we have insisted on our own ways? Even the believer has the temptation to resist the clear words of God in Scripture. Maybe you've been challenged lately by the preaching of the word Sunday mornings or your own devotional time. Maybe there are other ways that you've, you know, listened in the radio, the word of God being preached.

And the Lord is clearly calling you to do or stop doing something through his word. You know what it is. Maybe it is a sinful activity that you don't allow to indulge yourself in, or the Lord is telling you to spend more time with His Word and prayer.

Maybe you need to be humble and work and seek to restore a relationship. I don't know, but the Lord knows. You know. Whatever it is, let me challenge you today from the Word of God: do not resist the Word of God. Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

James 4:17. And sin brings destruction. Always brings destruction. Maybe it's not sickness like the king, but sin has the capacity to destroy lives and destroy relationships. And ultimately, if you do not seek the Lord and repent of your sins and put your trust in Him, the fiery judgment of God will come.

So do not resist the Word of God. Embrace it. Follow it. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them, there is great reward, says Psalm 19:9:11. And not only will you do it. Have the completed word of God in Scripture, like we heard this morning.

Well, listen to what Hebrews 1:1 says. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, Jesus Christ. John 1:1 famously says that Jesus Christ is the living Word of God.

In the beginning, was the Word. Even in Revelation, we read today that Jesus Christ is the Word, the living Word of God. We must not resist the Word of God, whether it be Scripture, even the Lord. John 11:25, you don't need to turn there. It says, I am the resurrection and the life.

That's what the living Word said. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Have you listened to the living Word of God? John 14:6 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Have you listened to the living word of God?

So maybe this is, maybe you heard the gospel many times. Jesus came, he's God in the flesh, he died on the cross to pay for your sins and my sins. He rose again. And he calls everyone to call on him to be saved, to believe in him. And anyone who repents of his sins and puts his trust in him will be saved.

Anyone who humbles himself and bows a knee before the Lord, like that captain of 50 did, that person will find forgiveness and life. Whether this is the first time you've heard it or not, do not resist the word of God. As for King Ahaziah, well, the inspired account concludes telling us in verses 17 through 18 that he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah has spoken.

Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. And the rest of the kings of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Ahaziah could not fool God. Baal could not protect him either. God was true to his word. His power, his authority were vindicated. The word of God always prevails. So the memory of this rebellious king, this hard-headed king, Wrong-headed king. He serves as an example for us to not desire evil as he did.

To not seek after other gods, to listen to God's word. So, to both those who have not come to saving faith yet, and those of us who believe that the lesson is one and the same. Since our God is the Lord, seek Him only and listen to His Word.

You can be free from the fiery judgment of God. You can't. You can live unburdened by the weight of your sin. The words, you shall surely die, do not have to apply to you. You can find forgiveness and eternal life. So seek Him only. Listen to His Word.

And you, my brother, my sister, in Christ, you can rest in God. Seek no further. God wants to be your God exclusively. Don't seek any farther. He's enough. You can gladly receive His Word as well. You can enjoy the blessings from a life that follows God's Word. And you can bring great honor and great glory to God.

So remember, our God is the Lord. So seek Him only and listen to His Word. Let's pray. Father, thank you for giving us. Examples, real life, tangible examples of what it is to live a life that pleases you and a life that doesn't please you, and how can we learn from the past?

Help us to learn, help us not to come here and come out of here unchanged. Help us to, even though the lessons are simple, we might have heard it before. Help us to live in light of the gospel. Help us to live for you and listen to you and not resist you.

But every area of our lives that we have resisted to give up, areas that we hold dear, that we know that are absolutely against your word, help us to just open our hands and release them and trust you. Thank you, God, for your word. Christian, we pray. Amen.