Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Your Sin Will Find You Out | Historical Books | 1 Kings 22:1-28

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Are you trying to hide your sin? Are you listening to court prophets or close friends? Will God's word ever fail? In today's episode, Keith shares how 1 Kings 22:1-28 reminds us that your sin will eventually find you out. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 22:1-28

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Mr. Berger was 94 years old when he was arrested at his house in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. His neighbors were shocked to find that this kind old man had been a Nazi soldier and guarded prisoners in concentration camps during World War II. At age 94, Mr. Berger must have imagined that he had avoided the consequences of his actions during the war. and he was almost right.

The identification cards of those in the SS, along with the prison camp guards, had been on a boat that was sunk by the Allies. These cards were discovered in 1950, but by that time they had disintegrated. But because of modern technology, these cards could be reassembled and the people identified, and that's what led to the arrest and deportation of a 94-year-old man. A woman named Devorah Fish, who is the Director of Education for the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, said this. Every time that somebody is brought to justice, even from 50 years ago or longer, that is a message to the world because we're not going to stop until everybody is brought to

justice. Even if it's something you did years ago, it will catch up to you. Here's how the Bible states the principle. Numbers chapter three, it says, your sin will find you out. You and I, we think we get away with sin. We think we can avoid its consequences. Maybe we lie to a friend or secretly watch pornography, or exchange inappropriate texts with the work colleague, or use chat GP to cheat on a class paper. And we think no one's ever going to know. But God knows. And in this life or the next, your sin will find you out.

That makes for a good heading for our story in First Kings 22 today. It's quite the dozy, so buckle up. We'll dive in, but first let's pray. Father, I pray that you would open your word that we could see the truth in it. and we pray that you would open our heart that we would be transformed by your truth. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. So the first few verses set the scene for the story. Here's 1 Kings 22, 1 through 3.

For three years, there was no war between Aram and Israel. Now, when you think of Aram, think of modern day Syria. Then during the third year, King Jehoshaphada Judah went to visit King Ahab of Israel. During the visit, the king of Israel said to his officials, do you realize that the town of Ramoth Gilead belongs to us? And yet we've done nothing to recapture it from the king of Aram. Okay, so let's make sure we know who everybody is. Jehoshaphat is the king of the southern two tribes known as Judah,

and Ahab is king of the northern ten tribes known as Israel. They are on friendly terms and discuss how the king of Aram hasn't given them land that he'd promised to them. Back to the story in verse four. Then Ahab turned Jehosephat and said, will you join me in battle to recover the city Ramoth Gilead? Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel. Why, of course, you and I are as one. My troops are your troops and my horses are your horses.

Then Jehosephat added, but first let's find out what the Lord says. Now, Jehosephat is not the main character in the story, but we can learn something important from him. When asked if he will partner with Ahab in Israel, his first reaction is to say yes, he's willing to work together, but he insists they ask the Lord before making plans. Jehoshaphat always wants to check his decisions by the Lord's will. In our life, that might look like praying before deciding to change jobs, or it might be asking some wise Christian friends before proposing marriage, or it might mean asking what the Bible says about an important issue before we decide what we're going to believe about

it. The book of Proverbs says, there's a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads in death. And that's why the wise person doesn't depend on their own instincts or their own intuition, because that can lead to death. But instead, the wise person measures right and wrong based on God's word. Lord, I pray that we would submit to you and your will. We would submit to your word. Amen. So King Ahab responds to Jehoshapheth's request by calling 400 prophets together and asking,

should we go to war? And all 400 prophets say, yes, go right. right ahead. The Lord will give you victory. Verse 7, but Jehoshaphat asked, is there not also a prophet of the Lord here? We should ask him the same question. See, Jehosephat knew that the 400 were what are called court prophets. These are prophets who worked for the king, not for God. They said what the king wanted to hear, not what God had spoken. Court prophets love power, and they're willing to use their religious position to get more power. We must be aware of court prophets in our day. We must be aware of of pastors and church leaders who curry favor with politicians by saying what the politicians

want to hear, who work more for the politician than they do for God. All right. Back to the story in verse 8. The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, there is one more man who could consult the Lord for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me. His name is Micaiah. So Ahab wants to hear what he wants to hear, far more than he wants to hear what God has to say.

Ahab doesn't understand the truth found in Proverbs 27. Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. See, Ahab would prefer the kisses of an enemy than the wounds of a sincere friend. But Jehoshaphat says, that's not the way a king should talk. Let's hear what he has to say, verse 9. So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, quick, bring Makaya here. There was a lot of pressure on Makaya. There was a lot of pressure for him to go along with.

with the court prophets and say what the king wanted to hear. So this next section is really good. Picking up in verse 13, meanwhile, the messenger who went to Micaiah said to him, look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success. But Macaiah replied, as surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say. When Micaiah arrived before the king, Ahab asked him, Micaiah, should we go to war or should we hold back. Makaya replied sarcastically, yes, go up and be victorious, for the Lord will give the king victory. But the king replied sharply, how many times must I demand that you speak only the truth to me when you speak for the Lord? Then Micaiah told him, in a vision, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains,

like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, their master has been killed, send them home in peace. You and I were called to become men and women like the prophet Micaiah. When Micaiah heard the word of God, he believed and obeyed it. Macaiah refused to do anything else except trust in the word of God. We will see in a moment that he even suffers for the word of God. Can you imagine how hard it was for Micaiah to stick by his convictions when standing in front of these two kings? When Micaiah was brought before Ahab's court, it's just this grand spectacle. It says in verse 10, King Ahab of Israel and King King.

Jehoshavada of Judah were dressed in the royal robes, and they were sitting on thrones at the threshing floor near the gate of Samaria. All of Ahab's prophets were prophesying there in front of them. I mean, that whole scene must have been very impressive and very intimidating. The kings were there in their robes and their official regalia. There's all the false prophets with all their bad predictions. But Micaiah was not interested in pleasing the palace. He was not impressed by the beautiful robes, he was not intimidated by the babbling of the false prophets, no matter how many of them there were. All he cared about was faithfully communicating what God wanted him to say. Maciah was not in awe of King Ahab's court because he had already visited the throne room

of the king of kings. Maciah says in verse 19, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven around him on his right and on his left. See, the reason Micaiah wasn't impressed by human kings is because he'd been the throne room of the king of kings. The reason that he was not intimidated by Ahab's glory is because he had already beheld the splendor of the almighty God. Macchi had an audience with the most high king. Because Maciah didn't say what King Ahab wanted to hear. Because he spoke the truth, the king had Maciah thrown in prison. Verse 26. Arrest him, the king of Israel ordered. Take him back to the governor of the city, give them the order from the king to put this man in prison and feed him

nothing but bread and water until I return safely from battle. People in power often don't want to hear what God says, and so they end up taking it out on God's servants. But Christians can't be intimidated into silence. We can't be intimidated into misrepresenting God or disobeying God. See, Christians have to realize, though, that sometimes their obedience will come with a price. Sometimes they'll be like Makaya who get thrown into prison for really no reason other than they sought to obey the Lord. There's a long list of Christians in the Bible and in church history who paid a great price for obeying God, not man. Here's how Micaiah responded to being put in prison. Verse 28. Macaiah replied, if you return safely, it will mean that the Lord has not spoken through me.

Then he added to those standing around. Everyone, mark my words. Well, you can listen to tomorrow's episode to hear exactly what happens to King Ahab, but I can assure you that Micaiah's prophecy comes true because God's word never failed. King Ahab dies. His sin finds him out. We can learn from all three of these men. We can learn from Jehoshaphat who humbled himself before the word of God and was saved. Jehosephat wanted to do God's will more than his will. We can learn from Ahab, who refused to submit to the word of God and who was killed in battle. When we exalt ourselves above God, there is always a terrible price to pay. And we can learn from Micaiah, who spoke the truth of God's word, but suffered for it. Let's learn

from the example of all three. Father, I pray that we would submit to the truth of your word, that we would obey it, even if it costs us. So in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.