1 Kings 21, the Word of God reads,
And it came to pass after these things,
that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which
was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of
Ahab king of Samaria.
And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me
thy vineyard, that I may have it for
a garden of herbs, because it is near
unto my house, and I will give thee
for it a better vineyard than it.
Or, if it seem good to thee, I
will give thee the worth of it in
money.
Now look at verse number 3, if you
would.
And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid
it me, that I should give the inheritance
of my fathers unto thee.
Verse 4, And Ahab came into his house
heavy and displeased, because of the word which
Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him.
For he had said, I will not give
thee the inheritance of my fathers.
And he laid him down upon his bed,
and turned away his face, and would eat
no bread.
That's a Bible way of saying he pouted.
But here comes his sweet wife into the
picture.
But Jezebel his wife came to him, and
said unto him, Why is thy spirit so
sad, that thou eatest no bread?
And he said unto her, Because I spake
unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him,
Give me thy vineyard for money, or else
if it please thee, I will give thee
another vineyard for it.
And he answered, I will not give thee
my vineyard.
This is a powerful picture in 1 Kings,
as Ahab covets Naboth's vineyard.
The king is actually putting pressure on a
commoner.
The king, the ruler of the land, is
using his exalted power to crush the will
of an everyday earth farmer.
And to use the power and the prestige
of his office to get the desire of
his own heart and selfish in its very
being and purpose.
We realize as we read about Naboth's vineyard,
that he did not want to sell his
vineyard.
He did not want to trade his vineyard.
He wanted to keep it.
And as you think about Naboth and his
vineyard, I believe there's a beautiful Bible picture
for every believer to see and understand.
When we look over this vineyard picture, we
can see a great comparison to what God
has given us as a spiritual heritage.
The very theme, the very purpose, the very
reason that we go into communities and have
these area-wide meetings is for one ultimate
goal.
To remind people what we used to have
and what we don't have anymore.
This is our theme, Proverbs 22, 28.
Restore the landmarks.
We want back the ancient landmarks that we
used to have in our communities in our
homes and in our churches.
The values and the ethics and the morals
that made America great.
We don't like to discuss it, but we
do have a Christian heritage in America.
We don't like to bring up the subject,
but we do have this great connection between
the tenets of Judaism and the ten commandments
that were passed down as the Christian faith
was developed.
We have a heritage that is built not
upon the words of men, but upon the
law of God as it was passed from
one generation to the next generation.
As we assemble here this evening, we must
consider what Naboth would not sell.
Naboth's parents and grandparents immediately came to his
mind.
You say, Brother Ralph, how do you know
that?
Well, notice what he said in verse number
three.
He said, The Lord forbidden me that I
should give the inheritance of my fathers, plural,
unto thee.
The first thing that Naboth thought of when
the king and his royal chariot rolled up
to his little farm and a servant assisted
Ahab into his vineyard and said, as Naboth
walked out to greet the king and bowed
himself and honored the visit of the king,
he said, What can I do, O great
king?
What service can I render unto thee?
And Ahab said, What I want is your
home.
What I want is your vineyard.
What I want is this piece of real
estate to belong to me.
Naboth thought about that for a moment.
He considered it.
And then you know what happened?
He thought about his granddaddy.
And he thought about his own father.
And he thought about what it cost them
to get that piece of land.
And then he had the courage and he
had the conviction to look into the face
of the king and say, Inheritance of my
fathers.
Because when he began to think about it,
when he began to go down and address
all of these things and look at them
together with his conscious mind spinning upon how
he got to where he was, he looked
back through a few years of time and
he saw his grandfather settling in that part
of the country.
He looked back through time and he saw
his granddad.
And if you've ever been to Israel, if
you've ever been to that part of the
world, you know it's a very rocky land.
It's very, very rocky.
And he looked back and he saw his
granddad digging and to hold in his sheep
and to hold in his goats and then
to keep other animals out of what little
crop he would grow.
And he saw his granddad sweating.
He began to think about all piece of
land.
Those first olive sheets and soil
and the only way they survived was week
in and week out, month in and his
granddaddy carried water and he poured water.
Then he saw his granddaddy digging around those
trees, digging to do
with what he was enjoying.
Piece of land and his
father, his grandmother and his mother, he thought
about the blood and his
big monster king.
It's not for sale.
He hadn't explained it in verse 2.
He said he looked at Naboth and with
all the king's holdings, with all the real
estate, with all the property, with all the
places the king could go, why a lost
vineyard?
And so the king answered his ordinary question.
He said that I want to take a
productive, take a vineyard that's making food to
go on the table and afford a
garden of herbs.
Because you can't eat herbs.
Herbs are for seasoning.
You see, that's not something you don't come
home from work and say, boy, big steak
of parsley.
I have to just fix me a big
pot of cloves.
Boy, that's not what you're after.
You want her to sort beans.
We'll knock down with grease and cucumbers and
tomato biscuits
that you use to push those greasy cut
short beans with to load up your fork.
You don't want, you want something that will
stick to your ribs to trade
off something that could sustain you, hold you,
something that could feed you, look good, get
you to work.
It can't do you any good.
It just can't give you the strength to
make it through.
Because he'll get people to trade off their
spiritual vineyards, get you at your little families
that you have in your home, the morals,
the values and the ethics.
He'll get you to trade it off for
something slick, for something we call situation ethics.
It's the herbs and spices of modern day
religion.
He'll get you to trade off the blood
and the book for something that looks good.
And because it's not real, it's not of
God, it's something of man.
The devil always tries to give you something,
a little garden of herbs.
But notice what else the devil offered him.
King Ahab said, it is near unto my
house.
It is near unto my house.
Do you know what that means?
King Ahab wanted this man's farm.
He was rich enough that he thought he
could buy anything he wanted.
Got his way.
I'm the king if I want.
You mean I can't have it?
He was a spoiled brat.
He always got it
because it's near.
You know what the devil always tries to
do when you want to serve God?
When he, when you want to get right
with God.
Is it convenient tonight?
Is it convenient for us to be sitting
on these old revival steel chairs?
Is this, I'll tell you something.
It's not convenient.
A lot more convenient for me tonight to
be in an air-conditioned house.
Sitting in that easy rider with low slung
up.
He said bringing me a burpsy cola.
And he's sitting in the living room singing,
this is like him.
Gotta clear you off to make
a deal.
Look, disparity.
I can't do for yourself, for your big
king.
But I'm going to tell you something.
I'm in the point.
Did you notice that?
He said, I'll give it the worth of
it.
It amazes me what people will sell for
money.
I'm going to tell you something.
Money will not last.
A vineyard can be worked and feed that
generation.
Can be used up and consumed on a
weekend's folly.
Money can be lost on a bad business
deal.
But that piece of real estate until the
Lord comes back.
And so the devil said, Naboth, money for
it.
And I'm going to tell you tonight, money
is nice.
But money cannot buy you from the
terrors of the night.
Money can't buy your sanity.
You can sell your vineyard.
You can sell your inheritance.
You can sell your morals and your values
and your ethics.
But when you're, you'll not like help in
your bedroom, looking in the mirror.
And you realize what you've traded off for
what you used to have.
You won't be happy with yourself.
When you're shaving in the mirror, hold your
good name and your reputation and your character.
You won't be happy with what's there.
Teenager, when you listen to old devil Ahab
and says, let me trade you your virginity
for popularity.
Let me trade you the pleasures of sin
for a season.
So the crowd will love you.
It's a bad trade.
But morally, going to get it back is
for God's people to lead the way in
repentance.
Do you know why we're stealing and lying?
Because we're morally bankrupt and looting with them.
Because they sold a few pairs of tennis
shoes and some leather jackets in our
country.
You say, oh, then you go to Kmart
to cash a check.
If you think we've got character and it's
your bond, go try to cash a check.
Go try to pay for something with a
check nowadays.
When you walk in to try to use
a check, they want two forms of identification.
They want a major credit card.
Then a fingerprint check.
They want your next of kin.
They want the promise of your first born
male child.
Borrowed monies to be and shook hands with
the banker and bookkeeper
wrote it down and alleged because men had
someone, someone played with the most sacred thing
we had.
You see, and if you'll give me your
vineyard, he's
me when I read that a vineyard.
He's a king.
He's a politician.
He's sitting there in the throne room.
He's, he wouldn't know a Kenny Beck potato
if it met him.
He doesn't know a big boy tomato from
a better boy.
He's a city slicker.
If you'll give me, pick you out something
better.
Anytime the devil, you watch out.
The devil can't trade.
Do you want to eat to
build a better vision?
You've got to know how you've got to
know how in a vineyard, you've got to
know half
a tree because he's never been around it.
Carleton's sure.
There's some bad apples, some hypocrites, but what'd
you do with the vineyard?
I responsibility.
Jesus is the real solution to the problems
of life that we face.
Naboth had to think he had to draw
back and, and roll up the brow and
say, have me better.
What does the king of this world know
about the vineyard that I work in?
Not only do we have, but we have
neighbors consideration.
Naboth remembered how he remembered his father working
in the vineyard.
He remembered as want
to go out in the garden out in
the vineyard and work with his dad.
And so when he was too small to
go work in the vineyard, he would stay
in the house with his mother and his
mother would tell him heritage.
She would tell him a piece of land.
His mom would tell him about how hard
they worked to clear the land.
Was a teenager.
He helped his grandfather carry stones, those very
stone walls that protect the vineyard.
His mother told him about his heritage.
She told Naboth the importance of the vineyard.
She said, son, we can't eat without the
vineyard.
While the olive provides food for trade, it
provides fuel for our lamps.
It provides medicine for the healing of our
bodies.
It's the very life sustainer.
We use the olive and the grapevine to
keep this family going.
And she talked of its importance.
And then she told Naboth about the sacrifices.
She told him about the night, the sandstorm
came, skewed
those baby plants.
How they carried water to keep it going.
What does it remind you?
Little communities was a church house.
People that they fell some more trees and
to teach their children.
But the primer was to
be a Christian and to honor God.
Boss mama talked to him about, she said,
son, we didn't get here without blood.
And she remarked, and boy, she said, don't
you ever forget that one day if God
should tarry.
One day, son, this vineyard will be yours.
One day you'll have the responsibility.
Do you not remember as a kid, if
you went to church as a child or
a teenager, they'd have you Sunday and they'd
say one day, this will be the church
of tomorrow.
Well, tomorrow is here and you're the church.
Now, what are you going to do with
a vineyard that I can't help but think
that one day they were close to losing
the crop and every boss mother tied that
little toddler around her waist.
And said, you're going to have to go
with mama.
We're going to have to go help your
daddy and your big brother.
We're going to have to go out here
and heaps are coming in.
And I believe she went out there and
started working those vines and started helping.
And I believe as she worked and reached
up and pulled and cut these juice, crammed
down her arms and little old neighbor boss
down here.
And every now and then she'd reach up
and that juice drop and she'd pull the
hull off.
And she reached down there and give little
neighbor off the goodie.
She'd give him the inside juice out of
that.
And he said, this is what we're working
for.
This is what we're living for.
This is the fruit of the vineyard.
Mr. I'm going
to give away what God's given to me.
It's not for sale.
And he thought about it.
And he said, the more I think the
sweat and the tears of my ancestors cost
me.
He said, I'm not going to sell it.
And as we gather under this old tent
tonight, we ought to reflect about Naboth and
his vineyard.
You ought to think about Ahab having a
type of the devil.
We ought to determine that we're gathering here,
but for one reason to remember the king
for as long as we live.