1. One of the most exciting periods in Bible history was during the reign of King Ahab. Many notable people lived during Ahab’s reign, including his wicked wife, Queen Jezebel, probably the most wicked woman in history.
2. Other interesting characters would include King Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, Elijah the prophet, and another prophet that we will look at this morning by the name of Micaiah.
3. On one occasion, Ahab planned a campaign against Ramoth-gilead. According to Deuteronomy 4:43, Ramoth-gilead belonged to the tribe of Gad, but it had been lost to Syria. As we can see, Israel and Syria have been fighting over land for a very long time. And they will continue to fight till our Lord returns.
4. King Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, persuaded King Jehoshaphat, the good king of Judah, to join him in the battle. Jehoshaphat should have stayed out of it. He had no business yoking up with a rascal like Ahab.
5. Jehoshaphat was a saved man but he had a tendency to compromise. Unfortunately, there are many Christians like that today.
6. All throughout the Bible, God commands His people to separate from the ungodly (cf. II Cor.6:14—7:1; Eph.5:11).
7. And yet oftentimes we see God’s people disobeying Him and yoking up with the unsaved. A vivid example of this is found here in I Kings 22 where we read that godly King Jehoshaphat "came down to the king of Israel" (22:1-4) i.e., wicked King Ahab, the most wicked king in the history of Israel (cf. II Chron.19:1,2).
8. King Jehoshaphat was a compromiser and out of the will of God at this time. God sent Jehu the prophet to rebuke him. But since Jehoshaphat was a saved man, he still had enough spiritual discernment to say to King Ahab: "Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD today" (22:5). It’s important to hear from God before you go into a fierce battle. At least King Jehoshaphat did not forget that.
9. We are told that Ahab "gathered the prophets together, about 400 men…" (22:5). King Jehoshaphat must have looked at this strange bunch of religious misfits, with their pointy hats and fancy robes and medallions and big crosses hanging over their necks, and must have thought, "Get a load of these birds!"
10. Jehoshaphat must have smelled their cigar smoke and whisky breath and he said: "Is there not here a prophet of the LORD (in other words, at least one true prophet) besides, that we might enquire of him?" (22:7).
11. King Ahab answered that there was a true prophet in Israel and his name was Micaiah the son of Imlah (22:8).
12. Today I would like for us to look at Micaiah, the true prophet of God. His name means, "Who is Like Jehovah (the LORD)?"

I. PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HATE YOU WHEN YOU TAKE A STAND FOR THE TRUTH (22:1-8).

1. King Jehoshaphat might have been backslidden but he had enough discernment to know that King Ahab’s professional clergymen were nothing but wolves in sheep’s clothing (22:1-6). So he asked Ahab if there was a true man of God available (22:7).
2. The first thing we hear wicked King Ahab say about Micaiah is "I hate him" (22:8). And it has always been this way (cf. John 7:7; I John 3:11-13).
3. You can mark it down: if you take a stand for God, some people are not going to like it. Many people cannot tolerate any criticism, so they will not publicly profess faith in Jesus Christ.
4. A few months ago, a couple came to visit our church. At the invitation the husband came forward but did not get saved. He was curious. He was under conviction. But he would not repent. In order to be genuinely saved, there must first be genuine repentance.
5. I spoke to the man’s wife for quite a while after the service. She also understood that she was lost and needed to get saved. She too was under conviction. Shortly afterward I visited them in their home. They were no longer under strong conviction. What happened? The wife said the very next day on her job she was teased because she visited our church. So they never came back.
6. I often wonder: How many people are in hell today because they were too fearful of opposition from their worldly friends and co-workers and relatives? (cf. Matt.10:32,33).
7. The problem is people fear other people. They should fear God (Matt.10:28; Rev.21:8).
8. "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe" (Pro.29:25).
9. Ahab complained to Jehoshaphat, "But I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil" (22:8). Coming from such a wicked man such as King Ahab, this was actually a tremendous compliment.

II. YOU WILL BE OUT OF STEP WITH THE RELIGIOUS CROWD WHEN YOU TAKE A STAND FOR THE TRUTH (22:7,8).

1. I was driving down Park Avenue in Long Beach long time ago and passed by a RC church. They had the usual statues and idols out front, but in addition to that they also had a big sign and on that sign were all sorts of religious symbols – the star of David for the Jews, the crescent sign of the Muslims, the Hindu symbol, etc. All the big religions were represented. This is the attitude of most people today.
2. If you happen to oppose this sort of thing they say you are "intolerant" or "bigoted," etc.
3. The Bible says that "all the prophets prophesied before" the two kings, Jehoshaphat and Ahab (22:10). "All" except Micaiah the man of God. This must have been quite a scene! Zedekiah was running around with his "horns of iron" (22:11). He and the other false prophets all told King Ahab what he wanted to hear (22:12).
4. There will always be plenty of preachers like that around to tell the king what he wants to hear. After President Clinton got caught in his disgusting sex scandal, he surrounded himself with a few of these type of preachers.
5. As I said, Zedekiah even put on a silly performance to dramatize the success of King Ahab’s venture (22:11,12). They’re still doing this sort of thing today in many churches – drama skits and all sorts of silly entertainment. Sinners come to these churches and instead of hearing the Gospel they watch some foolish entertainment. No wonder our country is in the mess it’s in!
6. King Ahab’s messenger told Micaiah to go along with the crowd (22:13). But Micaiah could not do that (22:14).
7. Unsaved people like to hear a soft, easy-going message (cf. Isa. 30:9,10). They demand "smooth things" and "deceits" (Isa.30:10; II Tim.4:1-4).
8. Most preachers today do not bear down and preach hard. They are scared that some people will not like it. They want to be popular. Thank God, Micaiah was not like that (22:14).
9. I had a pastor that used to say, "If I personally offend you, I am sorry. But if the Word of God offends you, then you will have to be offended."
10. It appears that at first Micaiah was being sarcastic (22:15,16). With all of this foolishness going on, and Zedekiah playing with his horns, and these false prophets chanting, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper," it is hard to blame Micaiah.
11. Then Micaiah gets down to serious business (22:17,18).
12. Even though Micaiah’s message was the exact opposite from that of the false prophets, and even though he knew his message would upset King Ahab, Micaiah still told the truth (22:19-23).

III. YOU MAY HAVE TO SUFFER AFFLICTION WHEN YOU TAKE A STAND FOR THE TRUTH.

1. After Micaiah told King Ahab the truth, Zedekiah smote him on the cheek (22:24; cf. 22:11,12). What a terrible insult!
2. When a preacher is faithful in preaching God’s Word, you can be sure some people will not like it, especially the religious hypocrites.
3. I said several weeks ago I am going to preach a message some day about these religious hypocrites, these so-called "reverends" that know nothing about being saved from sin. We need to warn people about these wolves in sheep’s clothing that are leading souls to hell every day.
4. Jesus strongly rebuked the religious leaders of His day because they were nothing but wicked hypocrites (Matt.23:25-33).
5. Eventually these same religious leaders, the Pharisees, had Him put to death. Let us never forget. It was not Herod who demanded Jesus’ death. It was not Pontius Pilate. It was not the wine-drinkers or the harlots or the tax collectors. No, it was the religious big-shots – the big-name "reverends" who demanded that Jesus be crucified.
6. The religious leaders of today are the same way. Beneath their fancy robes and big medallions and heavy gold crosses and pretentious titles, they are ravening wolves.
7. Back to our story: King Ahab instructed his men to put Micaiah in prison "and feed him with bread of affliction" (22:27).
8. Many Christians compromise with the world because they do not want to suffer affliction. But I would rather eat bread and water and hear my Lord say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant," than eat steak and potatoes and hear my Lord say, "Depart from me. I never knew you."
9. Ahab said, "Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, UNTIL I COME IN PEACE" (22:27). But Micaiah told Ahab, "You’re not coming back. This will be your last battle" (cf. 22:28).

CONCLUSION:

1. Beloved, we are living in days not unlike the days of Micaiah the prophet. Our president and his wife bear an uncanny resemblance to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. And some of these politicians who claim to be born again Christians are very much like King Jehoshaphat.
2. Most of the big-time preachers are all worldly, liberal, and corrupt just like Zedekiah and the bunch of charlatans hanging around Ahab’s court.
3. True men of God like Micaiah are generally despised and rejected. They are called "legalists," "narrow-minded," "extremists," etc.
4. The big word today is "tolerant." But the word "tolerant" is not found in the Bible.
5. We keep hearing that all religions are basically the same, but what does the Bible say? (John 14:6).
6. The world keeps saying we must be tolerant. But God is not tolerant of false religion and God does not tolerate sin (cf. Heb.13:4).
7. These days the world demands that we be tolerant of just about everything – abortion, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, rap music, drunkenness, etc. But we can never accept what God calls sin. And God says man must repent of his sin if he ever hopes to make it to heaven (Luke 13:1-5).
8. Almost every month I preached on hell and I’ll say it again: unsaved people would not enjoy heaven anyway so they may as well go where they belong, and that’s hell! There are no casinos and card games in heaven, no blackjack tables, no bars, no beer drinking, no prostitution, no pornography, no smutty TV shows, no cigarettes, no dope, no rock music, etc. Unsaved people wouldn’t know what to do up there. They’d be miserable in heaven!
9. Unsaved people do not like the Bible, they don’t like to sing hymns, they don’t like to pray, etc. So they would not be happy in heaven! They may as well go to hell where they’ll fit in.
10. Unsaved friend: don’t be deceived. You need to get things right with God now before it’s too late.