A musician in a camp meeting where I preached wrote a country-gospel song titled, "Sin Will Take You Farther Than You Want To Go and Keep You Longer Than You Want To Stay." Nineteen words is a tad long for a song title, but it does state a succinct and compelling truth: sin will get you in serious trouble.

In this lesson, Ahab is king and is married to the wicked, Baal-worshipping Jezebel, and covets the vineyard belonging to a worshipper of God named Naboth. Ahab had plenty of property of his own, but he wants this particular piece of land: probably to use for a kitchen garden, maybe for growing herbs. He offered to buy it, but Naboth refused to sell. Naboth loved this bit of land which his fathers had cultivated for more years than Ahab reigned in days. He was also obeying the law of Go…