"THOU HAST SOLD THYSELF TO DO EVIL"

1 KINGS 21:2

A. "AND AHAB SAID TO ELIJAH, HAST THOU FOUND ME, O MINE ENEMY? AND HE ANSWER, I HAVE FOUND THEE, BECAUSE THOU HAST SOLD THYSELF TO WORK EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD."
  1. This was the last meeting that Elijah had with Ahab:
    1. What a meeting that was!
    2. The vineyard of the murdered Naboth was the meeting place.
  2. The conversation included the Lord's final sentence upon the wicked king:
    1. Who had sold himself to work evil.
    2. By becoming an accomplice to a brutal murder of an innocent citizen, Ahab should have protected.
B. THOU HAST SOLD THYSELF TO WORK EVIL
  1. Sold thyself:
    1. The phrase "sold thyself" indicates that Ahab was a party to the crime committed deliberately to satisfy Ahab's selfishness.
    2. There are instances when people do wrong ignorantly; but that was not the case of Ahab; he knew better.
  2. The exceeding sinfulness of Ahab is indicated:
    1. By the fact that Ahab was the chief officer of the law in Israel; it was his highest duty to protect the citizens of his country.
    2. As a king, he represented all the people and when he became a party to the murder of Naboth, he implicated the whole nation.
    3. He violated the oath of office - 1 Ki. 14:16; 16:2, 3
  3. Sold out:
    1. Adam and Eve sold out when they yielded to temptation - Luke 4:5, 6; Gen. 3:1-22
    2. Cain sold out when he murdered his brother - Gen. 4:1-9
    3. The ten sons of Jacob sold out when they sold their brother into slavery - Gen. 37:28
    4. Judas sold His Lord for thirty pieces of silver - Matt. 26:14-16
    5. Esau sold out when he bargained away his birthright for a mess of pottage - Gen. 25:30-34
  4. The price of the sellout:
    1. The price is incomprehensible.
    2. When we sell out to sin, we break connections with God - Rom. 8:6, 7; Isa. 55:1-3
    3. We become the tools of Satan - Rom. 6:16
    4. We become the enemies of God - Rom. 8:6, 7
C. THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION
  1. There is hope for those who have sold themselves for nought unwittingly:
    1. "For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money" - Isa. 55:3
    2. All this because we have nought to pay for our redemption.
  2. The price paid for our redemption is beyond estimate; it is priceless:
  3. It includes:
    1. Complete pardon from sin - Isa. 55:7; Luke 15:11-32
    2. Deliverance from the power of sin - John 8:36; Acts 26:18
    3. Heaven will treat the redeemed as if they had never sinned - 2 Cor. 5:17
    4. Immortality, eternal life, awaits them in the world to come - John 3:16; Rom. 6:23
  4. Sold out:
    1. What a tragedy for the sinner!
    2. What a travesty upon justice!
    3. How amazing is God's love to find a ransom for our redemption - Isa. 35:10
  5. Beloved, what is your reaction to the message of this hour, based upon the words of Elijah to Ahab?
    1. Are we guilty of selling out to the devil?
    2. And when we see that we have made a serious mistake by selling out to the devil, do we know the remedy God is ready to apply to redeem us?


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