I HATE THAT PREACHER

1 Kings 22:2-28 (KJV)

And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?

And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramothgilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.

And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.

And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.

And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king's hand.

And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.

And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.

So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?

And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?

And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.

And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.

And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?

And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.

And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;

And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.

I want to talk to you today about perhaps the most famous little-known prophet.

Micaiah doesn’t seem to have made much difference, measuring by worldly standards.

·   He didn’t write a book of the Bible, not even one of the minor prophets.

·   He didn’t perform any miracles, at least none that are recorded in the Bible

I heard a preacher described the other day this way,

“He had a faithful, though unremarkable ministry.”[1]

Micaiah might be described in a similar manner.

But for one event, we would have never heard his name.

But even if we had never heard of him, his ministry would have still been significant and meaningful.

Micaiah will represent for us those faithful preachers of God’s Word, mostly unknown, who served the Lord from the death of King David until the Jews were taken into Babylonian captivity.[2]

There is much to learn about what it means to be spiritual by considering this faithful preacher.

I notice first

I. HE SERVED IN A TOUGH PLACE

1 Kings 22:2 (KJV)

And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

The entire event that is here recorded happens in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

At this time in Jewish history, the nation of Israel has been split in two.

The southern kingdom, Judah, is the more godly of the two.

They still submit to leadership of God’s chosen royal family, that of King David.

Their king at this time is Jehoshaphat. He is a good man, even if he is too soft on Israel.[3]

The northern Kingdom was built on rebellion against God

Their king was Ahab, one of the wickedest of a long line of rebellious leaders in Israel.

Frankly, neither the northern nor the southern kingdoms were perfectly righteous before God.

It would have been tough to be a preacher in either land.

Jeremiah, for instance, would later be a preacher in Jerusalem – the center of the worship of God. But his ministry was anything but easy.

It would not have been easy to be a preacher in either kingdom them, just like it is not easy to be a preacher in any state of the Union today.

But Israel was the less godly of the two kingdoms.

What I notice is that Micaiah wasn’t candidating for a ministry over in Judah.

He stayed where God put him a faithfully preached right there.

I am reminded of a story I heard Jack Hyles give many years ago.

He illustrated a message he preached entitled “I’d Like to Change My Lot, Please” by telling a story of an airline flight he was on.

Dr Hyles said that normally he enjoyed flying.

He liked sitting next to the people he had never met before and getting into conversations with them.

He liked to hear about where they came from, what their business was, why they were travelling and mostly he liked having the opportunity to speak to them about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This particular flight was different.

The man he was assigned to sit next to was rude, was unwilling to speak to him, and was generally unpleasant to be next to so he called for an attendant and requested to be given a different seat assignment.

He was informed that:

·   The plane was full

·   There were no extra seats and

·   He was only guaranteed his assigned seat

Truth is, we are only guaranteed our assigned place in life.

·   It may not always be pleasant

·   There may be difficulties and challenges in our spot

But this is the lot we have been given and our responsibility is to be faithful where we are.

There are about as many ways to apply this as there are people in this room.

We can apply it:

·   To the job that we have

·   To the marriage we are in

·   To the ministry we have in church

·   To the city we live in

·   To our parents

·   To our health

I do not mean to imply that we can never make a move or seek to change our station in life, but I do mean to say that we ought to make those changes conservatively and cautiously.

Micaiah, was faithful where God called him.

Praise God for a Christian who stays where God calls him instead of looking for greener pastures somewhere else!

My preacher used to say that the only place the grass is greener is just over the sewer.

Davie Crockett and his Tennesseans left out for Texas because it was getting too crowded in Tennessee; you might have a neighbor as close as a mile away.

They went to Texas because there was lots of land there.

What they didn’t know when they left is that they would have to die to get that land.

You might be gazing over somewhere that looks better to you right now:

·   That job over there looks better

·   That church over there looks better

·   That man or that woman over there looks better

·   That state over there looks better

You don’t know that it is better.

I heard Vance Havner once say, “Distance lends enchantment to the view.”

I promise you, for every time you look out saying, “That over there looks better than where I am.” There is someone over there looking here and saying, “That over there looks better than here.”

Micaiah was faithful in a tough place.

Secondly

II. HE SPOKE IN A TRUTHFUL FASHION

1 Kings 22:7-8 (KJV)

And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Jehoshaphat was a believer.

He had got down to Israel to try to build good relationships with Ahab. But Ahab only wanted to exploit the situation.

This is off the subject a little bit but know that this is going to happen.

You cannot build strong relations with a spiritually rebellious person by compromising what you know to be true.

What the rebel will do is play your desire for a good relationship to use you for their purpose.

Ahab had no desire to repent and restore fellowship with Judah.

He did desire to win a battle, and, if he could use Jehoshaphat’s friendliness to help him win in the battle then he would act friendly to him.

And it about got Jehoshaphat killed[4].

You handle rebellion according to James 4:7 (KJV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

When someone rebels against God you:

·   Submit yourself to total obedience to God and

·   Resist the rebellion unflinchingly

The only way to deal with a devilish act is to resist it for the sake of Christ.

Ahab asks if Jehoshaphat was willing to go into battle with him.

Jehoshaphat wants to know if God was in it and asks for a preacher.

Ahab gives him not one, but 400 of them, all saying that God approved of the fight.

I think Jehoshaphat was a bit suspicious of that many positive prophets and asked if there might be one more.

Ahab reluctantly says that there is one more, “But I hate him.”

You need the one preacher who will tell you the truth more than you need a hundred preachers who will tell you what you want to hear.

They called for Micaiah

·   Micaiah resisted – he didn’t want to tell them the Word of God

·   They insisted – and Ahab got angry

I know exactly what is going on here. I have been in this spot many, many times.

·   Someone asks me a question or wants to talk to me about something

·   But I know they are not ready to hear what God’s Word says, and I try to avoid the conversation

·   They force themselves on me and insist I speak to them about it and

·   By the time I am done, they hate me for telling them what they wanted me to tell them

A spiritual man may not always speak.

But when he does speak he ought to speak the truth regardless of the consequences.

I note thirdly,

III. HE WAS SENTENCED TO AN UNJUST PRISON

1 Kings 22:26-27 (KJV)

And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;

And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

I know I say this an awful lot these days but it is because I think we are mistaken in this precise area.

Obedience to God in no way guarantees you an easier life on this earth.

It’s probably going to be just the opposite.

But living for God is still the right and the good thing.

Let me tell you, the harder things are for you, the closer you ought to get to God.

The more difficult things become:

·   The more you ought to study your Bible

·   The more you ought to spend real time in prayer

·   The more faithful you ought to be to church

·   The more you ought to speak to people about the Lord

The more you ought to trust God that:

·   He is with you and

·   He is good to you

Finally I note

IV. HE RECEIVED AN ETERNAL REWARD

1 Kings 22:28 (KJV)

And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.

You might think from the Old Testament record that we never hear from Micaiah again.

He was an unknown preacher who rises to the surface for a brief moment, only to sink back into faithful oblivion again.

But there is one more significant mention of him in the Word of God.

Hebrews 11:32-40 (KJV)

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

I know his name isn’t there, but he is.

He is a prophet who had bonds and imprisonments.

And the Bible assures us that he is waiting for his promise at the same time we get ours.

You may not feel like hardly any good things have happened in your life…

…but the only good things that we to really be interested in all happen in heaven.

Conclusion

Spiritual persons like Micaiah:

·   Faithfully serve God in hard places

·   Earnestly speak in a truthful fashion

·   Honestly trust God when sentenced unjustly and

·   Patiently wait to receive their eternal promises

---

[1] This would describe by far the majority of preachers and is perhaps the type of ministry to which we ought all aspire.

[2] A period of about 400 years.

[3] He’s trying to keep peace with his brothers. Trying to draw them back home.

[4] Note: Jehoshaphat almost died because he was afraid to tell someone “No.” He was afraid to offend Ahab.