God will have the Last Word

Pointed words from pastor and author, Dr. Michael Youssef. Greed is the obsession of getting what you do not have. Greed is the state of non-contentment, no matter how much you have or you don't have. Greed is the state of constant inner emptiness and thinking just the next thing is going to make you happy. And the next thing is going to make you happy and you're not happy.

This is the proper definition of greed. In every moment of every day, you experience temptations to have. Temptations to have a little more than your friends. To have a little more than coworkers.

To have a little more than your neighbors. Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Up next, you will experience how a poor man lost his life because of greed. And now if your situation does permit, open with us to 1 Kings chapter 21 in preparation for Dr. Youssef's teaching. And this quick reminder, it is helpful for our team to know how you connect with Leading the Way. So when you visit with us, when you visit our website or when you call to speak to a ministry representative, please do mention how you most often watch or listen.

Now though, join with me in listening as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's teaching time. The Bible tells us that there are even graver consequences to greed and covetousness. The Bible tells us that unbridled greed produces an unadulterated misery. That uncontrollable covetousness results from an unabating grief in life. That the fever of wanting more and more and more can only produce a perpetual pain and incompleteness and emptiness. And I could not think of a better example about what greed and covetousness and envy can do to a person. And the consequences of it as in this story of Ahab and Jezebel.

And here in this story, in this juncture in our series, we confront a poor man, a simple man, but faithful man by the name of Naboth, the Jizreelite. He owned a small vineyard, a small piece of land. And the only problem is it's butted up against King Ahab's garden of his summer palace. First you need to understand what it means to own a vineyard for a Jew. For a Jew to own a vineyard is a big deal. And more than that, it was his inheritance. Just as the people of God came out of the desert into the promised land were given inheritance, you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have been given an inheritance that is yours for eternity.

And just as Jezebel and Ahab have tried to take that inheritance from this man who refused and even he died for it, you and I under the command of God to hold onto our inheritance in Christ, no matter who tells us to do what, no matter what pressure we have under us, no matter what difficulties we get into, that our inheritance is incorruptible and we must hold onto it until we see Jesus face to face. A vineyard was the very emblem of Israel itself. A vineyard was the very sign of fruitfulness to a Jew. In Isaiah chapter 5, God compares Israel to a vineyard. To own a vineyard in Israel is to possess the very symbol of the nation. But this poor Naboth, when his ancestors came from out of slavery into the desert then into the promised land, part of their inheritance was this piece of land.

The only problem was it was so close to King Ahab's garden. And Ahab felt incomplete without owning the whole of the surrounding land. I want you to hear me accurately and not to misunderstand me, please. Greed always makes you feel incomplete. Greed will always make you feel discontented. No matter how much you have or how much you don't have, you will feel incomplete unless you get more and more.

And the more you get, the more incomplete you're going to feel. Ahab had enough knowledge of the Old Testament, the law of God. He had enough knowledge in his head not to cross that line but not Baal worshipping Gentile Jezebel, his wife. She didn't. Jezebel asked her husband, Ahab, what's wrong? Why are you sullen? And you can almost hear the wimp blubbering, you know. I asked Naboth the Jezrelite to sell me his vineyard, but he refused.

So I'm eating some worm. Now Jezebel was a woman of action. Jezebel was a woman of determination. She made up for the weakness of her wimpy husband. And while the king had very little moral compunction because of his Jewish background and his knowledge of the law, Jezebel didn't. She had no morals whatsoever. She never let anything or anyone stand in her way.

She was cold-hearted and she would lie under oath and everybody thought she was charming. Look at verse 7 of 1 Kings 21. Here's what she's basically saying. I'll give you a use of translation.

Get up, eat and drink. I will kill to give you what your heart really desires. Verse 8. It shows you the determination which led her to forgery and hypocrisy and treachery. She forged a letter in the king's name and then she stole his signet ring and she stamped that letter. And while the media confronted her about all this, she said, all I was doing is helping my husband to do the job that he was elected to do. She told the population of Jezreel to proclaim a day of fasting.

What does that mean? Why did she do that? Well, her public relation officers have explained to her that the Jewish people, when they're going to call a day in which they're going to judge somebody, they call a day of fasting. So, she went ahead and did her dirty work using the law of God, abusing it.

In fact, she was functioning as a king, but she was not elected to function as a king. She bribed two false witnesses to testify against this poor, faithful man of God, Naboth. He is one of the 7,000, you remember from the last message, that God told Elijah that he has these 7,000 people who have never bowed to Baal, who have never kissed the feet of Baal.

And here's one of them, faithful man, holding on God's inheritance for him. He was not going to let it go for anything, even to the wicked king Ahab. So, she brings these two false witnesses, put him in front of Naboth, and bring false accusation.

We heard Naboth to be blaspheming God, and to be blaspheming the king. That is a capital crime, punishable with a capital punishment of stoning by death. I can only imagine, as I looked at this again and again, I'm going to tell you why it's so graphic for me, and why I understand the picture of astonishment and horror in the pit of his stomach, as he stood there and heard these people telling lies about him, and imagine how he was gripped in that fear with false accusation. This wicked woman shed an innocent blood.

Why? Greed, covetousness, jealousy. Now, if this is a play, this would be the end of Act 1 and the beginning of Act 2. When Jezebel heard that Naboth was now dead, she went to Ahab and she said, Heh, the vineyard is yours.

It's our anniversary present. And he with cold heartedness, verse 16, he goes down to take possession of it. Please hear me right. The word of God never, never, never denied that it is an imminently realistic book. The Bible never takes its character and cleans them, and wash them, and dress them up, and wrap them in cellophane, and then present them as untouchables.

No. The Bible is an imminently realistic book, and the Bible said that there is pleasure in sin for a moment, for a season. If someone covets another man's business, or another man's wife, or another man's possession, there is a moment of anticipation in that. When you are riding the wave of sin of covetousness, you may feel that you are larger than life, that you are living above all the circumstances, but it is only for a season.

It's only for a season. When you look at this, and you see what is happening, you have to ask and say, Where is God? Where is God when the honest man like Naboth is unjustly killed? Where is God? Where is God when this Baal-worshipping woman Jezebel defiles a whole nation? Where is God? Where is God when a vacillating wimp like King Ahab can go to Naboth's vineyard and enjoy the fruit of his murder and greed? Where is God? It is a legitimate question, and it's a right question. In fact, this is the very question that the psalmist in Psalm 73 asked.

In fact, he didn't only ask that question. He comes in and confesses at the end, and he says, I've almost lost my spiritual footing. I've almost slept. I've almost forsaken God and my faith. He said because he looked around and he saw the wicked seem to be getting away with their wickedness, and he saw that they were wearing their pride on their necks as a necklace and getting away with it. He looked around and he saw them blaspheming and mocking God, and he seemed to be getting away with it. Where is God in all of this? Listen carefully. God is there, and just because he is merciful, just because he is long suffering, it does not mean that he is not just. Don't judge by appearances.

Don't think that this life is all that is. Be patient and wait, and you will see the goodness of God. In 1st King chapter 21 verse 17, the word of the Lord came to Elijah that Tisha might go down and meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules over Samaria. God knew where he was. He said he's right there in Nabotha's vineyard where he has gone to take possession. He knows what's happening.

He knows what's going on. And Lord, what do I say to Ahab this time? He said, Elijah, you go down and tell him not to enjoy your vineyard too much is my own translation.

You know what I mean. He said don't enjoy it too much because the dogs that lick Nabotha's blood is going to lick yours. Don't ever, ever confuse God's patience as God's weakness or God's indifference or God's unfairness. Don't misjudge God because God will always have the last word. Can you imagine how I have felt after he heard this message every time there's a dog that barks?

Neighbor's dog bark. You must say to me, well, Michael, does God always execute judgment immediately like this? Usually not.

Usually not. It is an exception that Adam is confronted by God in the garden. It is an exception that Cain was marked. It is an exception that David was confronted with his sin. It is an exception that Herod the Great died rotting inwardly because of the slaughter of the infants. It is an exception that Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead right in front of the apostles when they lied to them.

These might be exceptions, but they are examples. They are examples and they are enough to remind us that the consequences of sin can be immediate or be delayed. But make no mistake about it, no one will escape the justice of God.

No one. God will always have the last word. Some of you may be so indifferent to the faith and you never submitted your life to Jesus Christ. Says, when I'm getting old, I'll do that.

Later on, I'll do that. And because you're blessed in your life, you don't see a need for believing and you think you're getting away with it. But the voice of God speaking to you and saying, don't think my patience is going to be forever. You might think that you are getting away with your life of compromise, that you're getting away with your life of in the world and of the world. And then church, you'll be a different person.

Don't think you get away with that. And because nothing happened to you, don't misjudge God. Don't be tempted to think that God doesn't care about your sin simply because nothing has happened yet. The Bible said that God commands all men everywhere to repent for he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world by this man, Jesus Christ. God is after his repentance. First King, 22, verse 34, Ahab goes to the battle disguised and then he gets shot in the battle. I don't know what your translation in your Bible said. There are no accidents with God.

I guarantee you that arrow probably went all over town and came back and found a little spot and goes woo. God said it. Please listen carefully to the details of the aftermath. It's an example of what God will do and can do. King Ahab tells the chauffeur, get out of the battlefield.

Take me out of here. I'm wounded. And he runs out of the battlefield and the blood of his wound begins to flow into the chariot and the floor of the chariot. So after he was buried, the chariot gets washed in the pool in Samaria where the prostitutes were bathing. And there the Bible said the dogs licked up his blood just as the word of God said. God will always have the last word. You know there's an irony here and I am convinced the Holy Spirit, the author of the Bible, put it there so you can understand it.

I can understand it. Ahab introduced the worship of Baal and compromise in the nation and brought in cultic prostitution to the nation of Israel. So the dogs licked his blood from the pool where the prostitutes of Baal were bathing.

He had shed blood, the blood of Naboth, cried out to God and his blood was shed. I want to tell you this and I'm going to conclude. There are basically three judgments. There is an internal judgment that is between you and God. You judge yourself and come to God in repentance and God will forgive you. But then there's an external judgment. External judgment when the consequences of your sins. God doesn't get in there and say, look what he did.

Here's what I'm going to do. No, God doesn't do that. I explained that once before.

It's so simple. If I tell my kid not to touch the fire because the fire is going to burn him and the kid will touch the fire, what will happen? They're going to burn. And God says, what are you going to get is the consequences of your choice. Not that God is vindictive, God sitting up there going to whip you.

No, it doesn't work that way. This is not our God. But the external judgment of your sins is going to come. And if neither of those happen or work or lead you to repentance, then there is the eternal judgment. Oh God forbid, not a person listening to me today will ever end up in the eternal judgment. The best judgment of all is the internal judgment.

Why? Because you judge yourself and because it is done between you and God. I don't know what it is that you need to judge in your life today. Perhaps it's a relationship that does not belong in your life. Perhaps a possession of money that is not yours and it doesn't belong to you and you're holding it. Perhaps it's an unbridled lust for someone or something.

Perhaps it's an anger that is absolutely eating you alive. Whatever it is, the Holy Spirit is very able to tell you and tell me what it is that we need to exercise internal judgment in. The best thing that could happen is when each of us exercise internal judgment.

Because the Bible said that if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged by God. It is a desire of a merciful, loving, compassionate, caring God that the very moment that you are convicted of sin is the very moment you repent of it. If the Lord is bringing you under conviction today, this is the very presence of God, do not harden your heart. Do you know how you can measure your spiritual growth?

I'll tell you a way by which you can measure your spiritual growth. How short is the time between sin and your repentance and forsaking of that sin? If internal judgment does not happen, you will be judged externally. And if that does not work, the worst of all, of all judgments is eternal judgment. And if the eternal judgment is the only option you're going to leave to God, that is the only option that he will offer back to you.

The Bible said the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from every sin, thought, word, deed, whatever it may be. What I'm talking about here is not another renewing of your commitment to God. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about a momentary decision that you make based on emotions and then when you walk out of these doors you forgot all about it.

That is not what I'm talking about. I am talking about that phone call that you need to make. I'm talking about that letter that you need to write.

I'm talking about that visit that you're probably dreading but you need to make. I'm talking about the restitution that God has been telling you you need to make and you need to pay and you need to do it now. You have a choice whether you place yourself under the internal judgment or the external judgment or the eternal judgment. You have a choice whether you place yourself under God's mercy or God's judgment.

I want to tell you what I do. I deserve nothing. Anybody close to me know that, know my heart. But I often say to the Lord, Lord, I deserve nothing but your judgment but I will place myself under your mercy any time. Precious Heavenly Father, you know who we are and what we're made of.

Your binoculars reaches all the way down to the past, the present, and the future. And therefore, Lord, we stand in a testimony. I stand here as a testimony, Lord, to seek, to seek the internal judgment, Lord, that I judge myself, that we judge ourselves. Father God, whatever it is that we ask you to empower us to rid of, decide, and walk afresh with you today. Father, I pray that this be not just a mental decision but active decision. Father, I pray that the loss of joy and peace and the fact that heaven seems like iron sometimes and earth like brass and the dryness in our spiritual life, Father, that be renewed today, that we go out in these last days and make you known. Father, I pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen. God will have the last word. That's the title of Dr. Yusef's message today on Leading the Way. You can learn more about Dr. Yusef, Leading the Way, and ways to watch and listen for free at ltw.org. Now, as you know, Leading the Way is heard all around the world, now in 27 of the world's most spoken languages. And the mission is not just to be heard but to reach the lost, to equip believers to live an impactful life in Christ. Now, one way that people are being reached is through The Kingdom Sat.

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Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. As we bring today's episode of Leading the Way to a close, allow me to invite you also to watch Leading the Way television. Each week, dig into the truth of God's Word and be challenged to love and serve the Savior. Leading the Way television is available in most areas on TBN, Daystar, NRB, INSP, TCT, God TV, as well as NewsNation, Fox Business, Lifetime, and more. Visit L-T-W dot org for details. Once again, that's L-T-W dot org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.