[R. G. Lee was the longtime pastor of the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. He pastored at Bellevue from 1927 - 1960. During his pastorate there, over 24,000 people joined the church, over 7,600 of these for baptism. Lee is best known for his sermon, "Payday Someday" which he preached over 1000 times. He was born in South Carolina and educated at Furman University in Greenville, SC. His style was literary but not deep biblically. He "painted pictures" with words and his preaching was eloquent and imaginative.]
Payday Someday # 1
"Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, "Thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him saying, "Thus saith the Lord, in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick the blood even thine..And of Jezebel also spake the Lord saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreal" (1 Kings 21:18, 19:23).
I introduce you to Naboth. Naboth was a devout Israelite who lived in the town of Jezreal. Naboth was a good man. He abhorred that which is evil. He clave to that which is good. He would not dilute the stringency of his personal piety for any profit in money. He would not change his heavenly principles for loose expediencies. And this good man who loved God, his family and his nation, had a little vineyard which was close by the summer palace of Ahab, the king - a palace unique in its splendor as the first palace inlaid with ivory. This little vineyard had come to Naboth as a cherished inheritance from his forefathers - and all of it was dear to his heart.
I introduce you to Ahab, the vile human toad who squatted upon the throne of his nation - the worst of Israel's kings. King Ahab had command of a nation's wealth and a nation's army, but he had no command of his lusts and appetites. Ahab wore rich robes, but he had a sinning and wicked and troubled heart beneath them. He ate the finest food the world could supply - and this food was served to him in dishes supplied by servants obedient to his every beck and nod - but he had a starved soul. He lived in palaces sumptuous within and without, yet he lived nearly all of his life under the thumb of a wicked woman - a tool in her hands. Ahab pilloried himself in the contempt of all God-fearing men as a mean and selfish rascal who was the curse of his country. The Bible introduces him to us in words more appropriate than these when it says:
"But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife strirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel ... And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings that were before him" (1 Kings 21:25:26, 16:33).
I introduce you to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal of Tyre (1 Kings 16:31), and wife of Ahab, the king of Israel - a king's daughter and a king's wife, the evil genius at once of her dynasty and of her country. Infinitely more daring and reckless was she in her wickedness than was her wicked husband. Masterful, indomitable, implacable, a devout worshiper of Baal, she hated anyone and everyone who spoke against or refused to worship her pagan god. As blunt in her wickedness and as brazen in her lewdness was she as Cleopatra, fair sorceress of the Nile. She had all the subtle and successful scheming of Lady Macbeth, all the adulterous desire and treachery of Potiphar's wife, all the boldness of Mary Queen of Scots, all the cruelty and whimsical impericousness of Katherine of Russia, all the devilish infamy of a Madame Pompadour, and, doubtless all the fascination of personality of a Josephine of France. Most of that which is bad in all evil women found the expression though this painted viper of Israel. She had that rich endowment of nature which a good woman ought always to dedicate to the service of her day and generation. But, alas! This idolatrous daughter of an idolatrous king of an idolatrous people engaging with her maidens in worship unto Ashtoeth - the personification of the most forbidding obscenity, uncleanness,and sensuality - became the evil genius who wrought wreck, brought blight and devised death. She was the beautiful and malicious adder coiled upon the throne of the nation.
~R. G. Lee~
(continued with # 2)
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