Sermon Outline:
I: The folly of those who turn to the wisdom of flatterers rather than the Lord is self-destructive.
II: Those who try to maintain a common cause with the wicked will be influenced by them.
III: True wisdom judges in the fear of the Lord even when threatened by men.
IV: To trust in the Lord is to know lasting victory, while all those who love flattery and fear men will perish.
Discussion Questions:
1. What does this picture of Ahab as he appears in this story tell us about sin and its effects on our wisdom?
2. What does it say about Ahab’s prophets if Micaiah was told what to prophecy before he got into the king’s court?
3. How could Ahab want to hear only from lying prophets even when his life was on the line?
4. What does Micaiah’s vision of God’s heavenly court say about God’s sovereignty?
5. What do the fates of Jehoshaphat and Ahab in battle show?
6. Overall, what would you say was Jehoshaphat’s weakness as a king? How might that same sin be a danger in our context now?
7. What instruction does Jehoshaphat give his judges in chapter 19. How does this contrast with what we saw in Isarel’s court? How can it be a help for us to remember in our context now?
8. Why is the truth better to hear even when people don’t like it?
9. Why is the truth of the gospel really better news than the message of false prophets, even if it includes things people don’t want to hear like “sin” and “hell?”
