I. when you’re busy here and there you Refuse

Your obedient willingness

1Kings 20:35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

· 1 Kings 13 – Disobedience and Death of the man of God

· Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

· Don’t delay! Never put off serving God the way you ought to!

· Some refuse to repent. Some by refusing to repent and get saved or, in the case of the backslider, refusal to repent and get right with God. (cp. Jer.8:5)

· Some just refuse to obey (see Neh. 9:16-17)

II. when you’re busy here and there You Abuse

your office v.34 & 42

1Kings 20:34 And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. 42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

· Face it people, partial obedience is disobedience.

· Cp. Dt. 7:1-2; 20:10-15; 1Sam. 15 (Saul and the Amalekites)

· 1Sam. 15: 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

III. when you’re busy here and there You Excuse

Your obstinate ways

· Chapter 21 – Naboth’s Vineyard

· James 4:1-5 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

· Ahab allowed Jezebel free reign because he liked what HE got out of it. He was just as wicked as her for allowing her to run the show from behind the scenes.

· When you’re busy here and there you have precious little “free time”, so you justify buying things now instead of waiting until you can afford them. This in turn leads you to feel you must work more and more in order to repay the debt you incur.

· You need to learn to do without these temporal things that will perish and concentrate on those things that have the promise of eternal rewards.

IV. WHEN YOU’RE BUSY HERE AND THERE YOU Chose

your own will

· Chapter 22 – The third Syrian War/Ramoth-Gilead

· Defiance of Micaiah’s Prophecy

· Willingness to listen to the lying spirit – 22:23

· When you’re busy here and there, you don’t take time to find out what God would have you to do, or if you do, you choose to go ahead and do what you want anyway! You chose your own will!

V. WHEN YOU’RE BUSY HERE AND THERE YOU lose

your only witness

· 1Kings 22:34-38

· You can disguise yourself but the Lord’s arrows will find you still!

· Num. 32:23 “…and be sure your sin will find you out.”

· “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

· James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

· The Lord is coming back soon and you will have to give an account of your life…

Conclusion:

· The Lord Jesus Christ did not leave unfinished business – John 17:4 - I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

· The Apostle Paul did not leave unfinished business – 2Tim. 4: 7 - I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

· Will YOU leave unfinished business?

· Notice something we kind of skipped over back in 1Kings 21:27-29. Here is something that seems totally out of character for Ahab. We can understand Ahab’s pouting and going to bed in despair, but his sorrow is very different here. Who would have ever thought that Ahab—this wicked man, the most wicked king Israel had ever seen—would ever repent? And just as surprising, who would have thought that God would have sought to bring him to repentance? Here is but another example of a prophecy of divine judgment that leaves the door open for repentance, in fact which encourages repentance.

· Most folks love to quote 2 Chron. 7:14…you know, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The context there though is Israel and the house spoken of two verses later is Solomon’s temple.

· A better example for us would be Jeremiah 18:1-10 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. According to this, revival on a national scale is possible, if that NATION is willing to turn from their evil! But in the case of America, verse 10 needs to be understood. God has blessed America in the past, but that’s because America was once a God-fearing nation. That is certainly not the case today!

· A good case in point is that of Ninevah repenting at the street-preaching message of Jonah. God withheld judgment for 250 years because of Ninevah’s repentance. God is long-suffering but the time has come to repent and ask God to bless your feeble efforts to serve Him by under girding you with the grace you need to stand in this evil day.

· So how about you? We’ve all been guilty of being busy here and there. God tells us in Ephesians 5:16 that we are to be “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The time is now. Let’s pray.