Introduction

Why Study the Life of Elijah?

0:04 I have announced that we would begin this evening a series of studies focusing upon the life and ministry of Elijah the prophet.

0:17 This man, Elijah, stands as a towering figure amongst all of the prophets, in some senses is really the first pure prophet, though Samuel and Moses are called prophets by the New Testament writers, they both had other functions, whereas Elijah was pure prophet, and every ounce of his being was prophet.

0:46 And as we begin our study tonight, our consideration will be basically what we might call background material, and what I wish to do first of all is to ask and then seek to answer this very simple question, why study the life of Elijah? Why study the times of Elijah, the prophetic ministry of this great prophet of God? Well, if there were no other reason than that given in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, that would be enough. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.

1:24 So if the life of Elijah is part of scripture, then whatever the scripture says about the life and ministry of Elijah is profitable, both for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction. In other words, the instruction in righteousness, that is, godly living, that the man of God may be perfect or mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. In other words, the fact that God himself has declared that every part of his word is for our prophet is all the reason, really, that we ever need to study intensely and carefully any portion of the word of God. But I would like to narrow down the prophet that I believe.

2:07 I will come to us, God helping us in our study of the life and ministry of Elijah, into two areas, one intensely personal and the other more corporate or communal. The first reason, because of the attainable pattern which his life displays. Why study the life of Elijah? Because of the attainable pattern or standard which his life displays.

Elijah as an Attainable Pattern for Believers

2:37 When we read the heroics of this man of God, his courage, coming out of nowhere, standing before a heathen king, with all of the power of the kingdom at his disposal, and as it were, throwing down the gauntlet, saying there shall be no dew nor rain these three years, but according to my word, and turning on his heel and walking out, you say, that man has made a different stuff than what I made. I can't even stand up before my boss at work. I can't even stand up before my brother. I can't even stand up before my sister and mother and father, and even whimper a little witness.

3:12 How in the world can Elijah ever be a pattern for my life? When we read of his prayer life, and this struck me in my preparation this week, how that I believe without exception, every great accomplishment of the prophet Elijah recorded in scripture is really an accomplishment of prayer. God, yes, but God working in answer to the prayer of the prophet. And when we read of his prayer life, certainly.

3:37 We say, well, that's just in a level entirely different from what I know when we see him upon Mount Carmel. And if you can't get excited purely from the standpoint of the drama of it, you just are half human when you see this man taunting these prophets and with this sarcasm, asking them that their God's gone off for a walk, or has he gone to the bathroom, for this is literally what he did, taunting them and see him standing there and with all that calmness going up. And arranging the sacrifice, filling it with water and lifting up his eyes to heaven and that simple prayer and the clash of thunder and the lightning of God and the fire of God. If you can't read that and get excited, I say you're just half human being. So we read that and we say, well, that's beyond me. When am I going to stand and challenge 450 false prophets and bring down fire from heaven? But I would remind you that scripture tells us about this man in two places.

4:37 Excuse me. In one place, and then illustrates it in many places that he was a man of light passions. For when James is using the prayer life of Elijah as a pattern for Christians, he reminds them that he is an attainable pattern of prayer for he says, Elias was a man of light passions and he prayed. And this is what God did.

5:04 And then he generalizes the principle. The effectual. Fervent prayer of a righteous man, not just of an Elijah, but any righteous man avail it much or is powerful in its working as I believe the marginal reading has it. Now this phrase man of light passions, the word passion generally in our day has a connotation of perhaps sexual passion.

5:29 So it could be better rendered a man of light feelings or affections. He was made of the same raw material. Of which you and I are made both as to his inherent sinfulness. When the scripture says in Adam, all die, that refers to Elijah.

5:48 He was a dead sinner by nature who had to be quickened by grace. And it also means not only of light feeling or affections as to his Adamic stock, but as to his constitution as a human being. And God is faithful to record for us. Not.

6:06 The great heroic accomplishments of this prophet, but just as faithfully what he was like when unsupported by the grace of God. And just as much as the term Jonah's fish or whale is proverbial, just as much as we think of Samson in connection with his hair and Aaron with his rod. So we think of Elijah and his juniper tree. It has become a common phrase.

6:32 Well, I was under the juniper tree today. Well. It records for us how this man became downright melancholic. He had what the modern psychologist would call suicidal tendencies when he got discouraged.

6:46 Lord, let me die. No sense to live. Take me out of this mess. I want to escape from it all.

6:53 He was a man who, though he trembled not before a king and before 450 false prophets, quakes before that wicked woman, Jezebel. So he was a man of light feelings or passions. And when unsupported by the grace of God, he was just as weak, just as prone to discouragement, just as much tendency to cop out, as they say in our day, and to just quit the scene. And God records that for us, that we might recognize that what we see in Elijah is not the demonstration of a man who had supra-human gifts or supra-human abilities.

7:36 He was a man of love. He was a man of faith. He was a man of faith. He was a man of compassion, to give to another man.

7:40 He was a man of grace. He was a man of mercy. He was a man of love. He was a man of God.

7:44 He was a man of kindness. He was a man of humility. He was a man of Giudice. He was a man of strength.

7:48 He was a man of grace, of love. And we see a man who was supported and sustained by the grace of God. Now the way the grace of God worked through him in its peculiar manifestations to meet the challenge of that particular day, we cannot hope to repeat. There is no need for me to go down to the center of Caldwell and cry out that God would send fire from heaven to confuse the prophets of Baal.

8:06 But the principle behind it is this. 1 Ca. of God accomplished through this man's life to meet the challenge of his day, the grace of God can do to make you adequate for the challenge of your day. And so I say we are going to study the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah in the first place because of the attainable pattern which his life displays.

8:30 In James 5.10 we read, Take the prophets for an example. In that case, he says, particularly of suffering, but the principle is the same, that these men are put in holy scripture, that from them we may learn doctrine, we may be reproved, corrected, we may be instructed in the path of righteousness. Therefore I submit that the first reason for studying the life of the prophet Elijah is a very intensely personal reason.

9:00 Here is a pattern for our own lives, for our own conduct. In keeping with what we heard this morning, we learn something of what it means to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we see specific manifestations of the grace and knowledge of God in the prophet Elijah. Now, the second reason for studying his life and ministry is this, because there are distinct parallels between his day and ours. Human nature and the problems of sin and depravity never change.

Parallels Between Elijah's Day and Our Own

9:42 The raw materials to change the figure, the stuff in the cupboards out of which you make your cakes and your buns and your bread, is the same in any generation, but the shape of the loaf may be different. And there are peculiar manifestations of sin and depravity and departure from God at any given point in the history of the world. And this is the first reason for studying his life and knowledge of God in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we see specific manifestations of sin and depravity and departure from God at any given point in the history of the world. And there are peculiar manifestations of sin and depravity and departure from God at any given point in the history of the world.

10:08 And this is the first reason for studying his life and knowledge of God at any given point in the history of the world. And this is the second reason for studying his life and knowledge of God at any given point in the history of the world. And I believe we shall all become convinced, as the study unfolds, that there is a very striking parallelism between the state of Israel at the time of the prophet's appearance and the state of the church and the world in our own day, so that as we see how God met the need of his day through the prophet Elijah, we should be gaining direction as to what we should do under God in seeking to meet the challenge of sin in our day. In other words, it should help us to be like the men of Issachar, of whom it is said in 1 Chronicles 12.32, the men of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. Now if we can better understand our times in the light of the times of Elijah, and how God, as it were, answers to such times, then we shall be given wisdom to know what should be the focus of our praying and our labors in meeting the challenge of our own day. So just as the first reason, that of the attainable pattern of his life, is intensely personal,

11:27 so the second reason is primarily concerned with the corporate life of the church and our relationship to society. And the second reason is that we should be given wisdom to know what should be the focus of our praying and our labors in meeting the challenge of our own day. Now let me say by way of application in this area of our why study the life of Elijah, that as in all areas, and we were reminded of it again this morning, left to ourselves we will gravitate naturally to the one or to the other. If by temperament and background in training we are more introspective, subjective, concerned only about ourselves and going around, as it were, with a thermometer upon our hearts to take our own steps.

12:07 For example, we will not take our own spiritual temperature and never, never even think of putting it on the on the heart of society of the church. Well we will love anything that has to do with the lessons of personal piety that grow out of the life of Elijah. But we'll be deaf to what his life and ministry tells us of our responsibilities to society at large and to the church of Jesus Christ at large. Others of us, by nature, are not.

12:37 are not guilty of this irresponsible retreat into personalized religious concern, which lets the church and the world go to pot, as it were, but we're guilty of an unwholesome disregard of our personal condition under the guise of genuine concern for others. The only way I know to keep these things in proper perspective is to go back again and again to the law of God, which has as its first commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, with all thy strength. The vertical relationship is primary, but our Lord didn't stop there. He went right on and said, The second is like unto it.

13:19 Now, it is the second. It's not the first. It's the second. But it is the second.

13:26 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, so that as we study the life of Elijah, it should have this twofold effect upon us if the Spirit... If the Spirit of God is pleased to prepare our hearts, if by His grace we are enabled to assimilate the truths that will come from this study, it should help us to be better lovers of our God and better servants of our fellow men.

13:54 So as we study, let me stay at the outset. I hope you will have one eye upward and inward and one eye upward and outward. So much, then, for a while, as I study the life of Elijah. Now, the second thing that I want us to consider, and this will get us into the Scriptures themselves, what was the condition of Israel at the time of Elijah's appearance?

The Importance of Context: Understanding Israel's Condition

14:19 No man of God recorded in the pages of Scripture or in the history of the Church can be understood if you divorce him from the setting in which God raised him up. If you set a man of God in isolation, you will not understand. If you study the life of Martin Luther, apart from the times in which he lived, there will be much that will unnecessarily disturb you about Martin Luther. There's much that disturbs me even putting him in his context.

14:50 But when you take him out of context, why, you'd say, how in the world did God ever use a man like that who used such nasty language and who seemed to be such a large bull in a tight china closet? Much of the time. Well, you see, you put Martin Luther in the context of his times and you see that the world needed a Martin Luther. Melanchthon never would have done the job.

15:18 Melanchthon was the appeaser, the peacemaker. Melanchthon was the one who, when the boat began to rock, always tried to put oil on the troubled seas or balance up the boat. Well, these were times that didn't need primarily Melanchthon. They needed Luthers.

15:33 As Wesley one time said, the church is in such a state that it needs a loud voice to awaken it. Well, Luther, you see, was God's loud voice. So we find at this time, if we understand the situation in Israel, then as we begin to get involved in the life of the prophet Elijah and see what a strange man he was, what a completely unique man, we'll see the wisdom of God in fitting the instrument for the task at that particular time. Now, in order to consider the state of Israel, will you, first of all, think of Israel in the larger context of her place in the purpose of God, and then we'll look at Israel in the more limited context of where she stood at the precise time when Elijah comes on the scene.

16:23 Do you have some basic understanding of the larger context of Israel's position in the purpose of God? When you read Old Testament history, what do you read? Are you reading a book? Do you read the short stories?

16:38 Now, I remember a few things I do remember from my high school days. One of them was having to read some of the short stories of men like, I think it was Jack London, wasn't it his first name, London? And Edgar Allan Poe and some of these things. And you'd get collections of these short stories.

16:55 Well, you see, there was no interrelationship of any of them. They were just a collection of short stories, each one a complete unit itself with no overall plan. Now, that's the...

17:06 That's the way many people read Old Testament history. We've got this wonderful story about Joseph. Isn't that nice? So we learn all about Joseph, and there's Joseph.

17:13 Now, when we're done with Joseph at the end of Genesis, then we come, oh, wonderful, here comes Moses on the scene. Then we read all about Moses, and when he's all done, then we come with Joshua, and when he's all done, then we meet all those kings, and we forget half their names, and we do it while there's David in there. But we see no overall purpose in all of this. Now, is that the way you read the Old Testament?

17:34 As a collection of short stories? Oh, inspired, yes.

Israel's Purpose: Messiah and Preserving Pure Religion

17:40 Or do you read those stories within the framework of God's overall purpose for Israel? Now, what was his purpose for the nation of Israel? For remember, Elijah is a prophet of God to Israel, to the people of God. And God's not playing games.

18:02 God means business. He's economizing in time and energy. God's not just dissipating. All the work that he invests in preparing a man of God and sending him.

18:15 Well, let me suggest that basically, any individual part of Israel's history, such as we're going to consider as we come into 1 Kings chapter 17, and I think I threw you a curve by saying chapter 18 last week. If any of you did your homework, you started a chapter too late. It should have been chapter 17. You can't understand that unless you put it in this larger perspective.

18:38 Now, basically, that perspective, that perspective is this. God had promised in Genesis chapter 12, when he called Abraham, that he would make of him a great nation. And that through that, man Abraham and his seed, the entire world would be blessed. The nations would be blessed.

18:58 This was, in great measure, the next great promise of God, built upon the promise of Genesis 3.15, that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise the heel, of the seed of the woman. And so God, in calling out Abraham, is forming a nation that through that nation, blessing might come to all the nations through the seed of Abraham, that seed, according to Paul in the book of Galatians, being none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the ultimate purpose of God for Israel was to make her the channel through which Messiah would come, the seed of the woman, to bruise the head of the serpent.

19:39 That's the ultimate purpose of God. So all of God's dealings with His people have that goal. And we read in Galatians 4, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. But now, in attaining that long-range goal, what was God's immediate goal for Israel?

20:06 His immediate goal was that by revealing to them, a pure religion, they might be the preservers of His glory and His truth in the midst of a world of heathenism. So that Israel, as she was being prepared to be the channel through which Messiah would come, might be a light to the existing nations and generations of the truth of Jehovah God, particularly of the unity of the Godhead and the purity of the worship of God, in the midst of polytheism, and in the midst of the worst kind of heathen religion. So, whenever Israel departed from that immediate goal of God, and fell into idolatry, and had her worship corrupted, the glory of God was at stake. For as long as Israel's religion remained pure, and the smile of God was upon her, she was given prosperity in her immediate context, materially, politically, as well as spiritually. Will you notice in Deuteronomy chapter 28, a clear statement of this very fact that I have given to you? Deuteronomy chapter 28.

21:27 In the book of Deuteronomy, of course, we have a record of God's covenant with his people, and then the promises of blessing, and the threats of curse. If they do not keep his covenant. And in Deuteronomy 28, here we have God's explicit statement concerning the fact that Israel as a nation will be blessed materially, politically, and spiritually, if she keeps the religion of God pure, and her covenant relationship with him unstained. Deuteronomy 28.1.

22:03 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe. To do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt be blessed in the city, thou shalt be blessed in the field.

22:32 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of the ground, and the fruit of thy beast, and the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock. Blessed shall be thy basket, and thy kneading trough. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee, and they that shall come against thee one way, and shall flee before thee another way.

22:58 The Lord will command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, in all that thou puttest thy hand unto, and he will bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Deuteronomy 28.1. The Lord will establish thee for a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

23:20 Now notice, and all the peoples of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord will make thee plenteous for good in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and shall spread them out about thee unto them that are known versus them that are come into orthodoxy and who keeping them, that thou art under adoration of that, that thou shalt make them of men. Deuteronomy 28.2.

23:48 The Lord will promise the lily a tree and the leaves a racket, and the bark and the ests a fire organ, and the them says unto the Lord thy God to give thee some of his harvest for thine own sake. Here now, we watch as the God tells us, and that of God! He keeps calm. If you will obey me, I will set you on high above all the nations of the earth.

24:14 Men seeing you will be afraid of you because they'll know you are what you are because the true God has blessed you in every realm of your experience, materially, politically, spiritually. Then God follows, and we don't have time to read it, with terrible threatenings that if they do depart and do not keep his covenant, then the rains will be withheld. There'll be no prosperity in the field. They'll turn their backs before their enemies.

24:42 They shall be made a hissing and a byword amongst the nations, and people will mock their God as one who was not able to care for them. Now, why am I taking all this time? Simply because I wasn't prepared to start with the life of Elijah? No.

24:58 But because you won't understand the life and ministry of Elijah unless you put it in that context. When you come to that dramatic scene between the prophets of Baal and Elijah, what is this? Just a context. A conflict between a prophet and some false prophets.

25:13 No. In reality, beloved, God is on trial before the nations. Is God God or is Baal God?

25:24 Israel was established to declare to the nations that Jehovah was God. Yet she had gone a-whoring after the very gods whose foul worship had caused God to disperse the nations of Canaan. And now they've come around full cycle to worshiping the very deity. And now they've gone a-whoring after the very gods whose foul practices or the practices connected with their worship was the filling up of the sin of the Amorites, which caused God to send in his people and drive them out.

25:57 And so as we put Elijah and his ministry into that larger context of God's purpose for Israel to make them the vehicle through which pure religion would be preserved in the earth until the coming of Messiah, then we realize great issues are at stake. Now let's narrow down to the immediate context, then, of the ministry of the prophet Elijah. His ministry is found beginning in 1 Kings 17. Let me give you a brief outline of what precedes this.

Israel's Decline from Solomon to Ahab

26:33 In 1 Kings, we read the record of the height of Israel's glory under Solomon. David had conquered many areas of the promised land. He wanted to build a temple. God said, no.

26:46 You're a man of war. Your son will do it. The temple has been built. The glory of God has filled the temple.

26:53 All forms of prosperity promised in Deuteronomy have now come to pass literally. So much so that we read of Israel at her zenith in 1 Kings chapter 10, when heathen leaders such as the queen of Sheba and Hiram, king of Tyre, come and want to know something. The beautiful summary is 1 Kings 10, 23-25, where God's purpose, his immediate purpose, is realized in the nation of Israel. 1 Kings 10, 23-25, So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom, and all the earth sought to the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his treasure. His tribute, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and raiment and armor and spices, horses and mules, arrayed year by year. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon.

27:59 God made her head over the nations as he promised. God displayed his wisdom and his power as he promised. And here was Israel at her zenith of glory.

28:14 And yet, the next chapter begins the account of the, the sad apostasy brought about, first of all, through Solomon himself. When, because of his inordinate affection for women, and multiplying to himself wives, and for his lust of worldly power, he multiplies to himself horses, Solomon ends in a miserable state. And after Solomon, everything, starting downhill like this, then drops down at breakneck speed. Under his,

28:50 immediate successors, the kingdom is rent into the two southern tribes and the ten northern tribes. And in a period of less than sixty years after the death of Solomon, there are seven kings over Israel, and every one of them wicked. Until we come to the climax of wickedness in the life of King Ahab. Notice what it says of this man now as we draw closer to the life and ministry of Elijah beginning, in chapter 17 of 1st Kings.

29:23 Let's read the last paragraph of chapter 16. And in the thirty, beginning with verse 29, and in the thirty and eight year, thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. Ahab the son of Omri did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

29:49 There's the key. Above all, that were before him. And it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the son of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria.

30:15 And Ahab made the Asherah, and Ahab did yet more to provoke Jehovah the God of Israel to anger, than all the kings of Israel that were before him. In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho. He laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segob, according to the word of the Lord which he spake to Joshua the son of Nun. Notice chapter one verses twenty five and twenty six.

30:46 Again a summary statement. But there was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols according to all that the Amorites did, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. See the statement I made earlier?

31:12 The very sins for which God had cast out the nations of the Amorites are now adopted by the nation of Israel under the leadership of Ahab. Now what were the specific evils that marked this day into which Elijah comes as a thunderbolt from God? Will you notice the summary of those evils? We've looked at the general description of Ahab's life.

The Specific Evils of Ahab's Day: Repudiation and Obliteration

31:40 But the summary of those evils are set forth in chapter nineteen and verse ten. And then we'll break them down into their individual components. Nineteen. Elijah is hiding in a cave, and this is his confession.

31:57 I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for thy children, the children of Israel have, number one, forsaken thy covenant, number two, thrown down thine altars, number three, slain thy prophets with the sword. What were the evils that marked the day in which Elijah came as a prophet of God? In the first place, there had been an official repudiation of the worship of Jehovah. They have forsaken thy covenant.

32:35 Under Jeroboam, Solomon's son, Israel had begun a form of defection from God, which now found its full expression. Jeroboam reasoned, well, if we go up to Jerusalem to worship, the ten tribes were separated from the two other tribes. He said, well, I'm not sure we can be kept together, the ten northern tribes. So he said, let's set up worship stations up here.

33:02 And so he set up two worship stations contrary to the law of God. And he said, let's worship Jehovah under the form of the calf. There was no repudiation of Jehovah. It was a breach, not of the first commandment, thou shall have no other gods before me.

33:18 But Jeroboam broke the second commandment, thou shall not make into thee any graven images. After making the images, he said, now people come and worship these thy gods which brought thee out of Egypt. In other words, Jeroboam was not in the least bit thinking of dis-covenanting himself from God. He was saying, well, since we can't go up to Jerusalem, we've got to have some kind of a substitute, and the people can't worship without some representation, so let's make the calves, and we will worship Jehovah God under the expression of these golden calves.

33:51 Now this form of worship went on during this period. In the ministry or under the kingship of Jeroboam and those that followed him until under Ahab, there was not merely a breaking of the second commandment, but an absolute throwing off of all covenant relationship to God and an open repudiation of the first commandment until scripture says of the people of God, they have forsaken the covenant. It's one thing to corrupt the covenant. It's another thing to forsake the covenant.

34:25 It's one thing for a man in some measure not to be all the husband he should be. It's another thing for him to leave his wife, and it's under Ahab that Israel forsakes the covenant of God and openly repudiates the worship of God so that as we read earlier, they gave themselves to the worship of Baal and Asherah, the two gods of the Sidonians. Now what were these gods of Baal and Asherah? Let me read for you from a summary that will state it more succinctly than I could.

35:02 This man Ahab thus dethroned Jehovah, and on the vacant seat he placed Baal and Asherah, the two divinities of the Sidonians. These were the deities of the old Canaanites for their homage to which these ancient tribes were driven out to make way for the descendants of Abraham. Now these two deities, Baal the male and Asherah the female. They represented the fertilizing and productive principle in nature, and their worship was that of power.

35:36 To the more cultivated and refined, it was simply a species of pantheism. To the multitude, it was what one has called the worship of deified abundance under a splendid and sensuous ceremonial, or the worship of Baal was the worship of power as distinguished from righteousness. Hence the apostasy of Ahab in giving up the personal Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel, and the creator and preserver of all things, and preferring Baal was analogous to, if not indeed precisely identical with, the modern heresy of those who discard a personal God and refuse to believe in Him who is a loving Father while they deify nature under the name of law. So they turned to these gods, the fertility god and the god of productivity, Baal and Asherah. Now the second thing that marked the wickedness of Ahab's day was not only repudiation of the worship of Jehovah, but studied attempts to obliterate all the remnants of true worship. It's another thing, it's one thing for a man to leave his own wife, but then when he goes around evangelistically trying to get everybody out.

36:57 Reelsfully their wives, this has even intensified even. Now Ahab and the people of Israel as a whole not only repudiated Jehovah, but then they sought to obliterate all the remnants of true worship. How do we know this? Well, remember what I just read from 1st Kings 19.10.

37:17 They have forsaken thy covenant, and thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets. When governments seek to officially persecute the Church, what do they do? They close up their places of worship, and their first target is their ministers home in prison. Isn't that what they did here?

37:49 The altars, the place of worship, threw them down, all the altars of Jehovah. They found all the prophets of Jehovah and sought to slay them. Sin was teeth in sin. I say there was an evangelistic endeavor, aggressive endeavor.

38:03 Sin was teeth in sin. Sin was teeth in sin. Salvation was death. Sin was death.

38:06 Sin was death. Sin was death. Sin was death. Sin was death.

38:06 Sin was death. obliterate all the remnants of true worship. May I say by way of application that always happens when a man has thrown off the knowledge of God. He becomes filled with a passion to blot out any remembrance of that God because every remembrance is a stab to his conscience.

38:26 You let a man or woman be exposed to the pure ministry of the Word of God and let that man or woman, fellow or girl turn from that pure ministry and they never have the attitude, well, let's live and let live. They are aggressive in their attempts to blot out all remembrance of pure worship.

38:45 The most inveterate enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ are those who once stood within its circle of professed adherents and having become apostates,

38:57 they do all within their power to blot out the remembrance and remnants of true religion.

The Specific Evils of Ahab's Day: Defiance and Falsehood

39:04 And then a third thing marked the wickedness of Ahab's day. It was not only repudiation of the worship of Jehovah, attempts to obliterate all remnants of true worship, but there was open defiance of God because of his apparent silence after the first two. They repudiate Jehovah. They throw down his altar, slay his prophets.

39:25 God doesn't say anything. The rain is still apparently falling on their crops,

39:31 still apparently blessed in the pursuits of worldly possessions. God is apparently silent and what does that lead to? It always leads to open defiance. And that's why in the latter part of chapter 16, a strange little word is put in here, beginning with verse 34.

39:50 In his days, in the days of Ahab, did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho? You say, well, what in the world does that have to do with Ahab's day? I mean, did the guy go off for a cup of coffee and forget where he was in his story? What's that have to do?

40:09 Well, you see, God had promised after the destruction of Jericho, as recorded in Joshua 6, in verse 26, a promise made hundreds of years before, not hundreds of years, but I don't know what the chronology would be.

40:27 Well, anyway, it was years before. I didn't check the chronology.

40:31 But look, please, at Joshua chapter 6,

40:36 Joshua chapter 6,

40:39 and verse 26.

40:44 And Joshua charged them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be that man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho with the loss of his firstborn shall he lay the foundation thereof and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. A word like that isn't forgotten. People go by and say, Hey, here's a nice uncle land. Why don't we build it?

41:10 They say, Don't dare do it. What do you mean, don't dare? It's good real estate. I got squatters' rights.

41:15 They say, No, no. Listen. Back when the walls of this city fell, God said through Joshua, Any man that dares to raise it up will do it with...

41:25 And then he mentioned it. Well, the God that goes with that people goes before their arm and sets them up above the nations. I'm not going to fool with that God.

41:36 And so through fear of the validity of the threat and the promise, no one dared do it. But now, with this open repudiation of Jehovah, this aggressive blotting out of true worship, men got bold in their sin. They said, You know, I bet you God really didn't mean that. Look what we've been able to do.

41:57 There's been no open heaven. There's been no open earth to swallow us up like it once did. And so here a man deliberately dares God to keep his word.

42:10 And so he starts to raise the wall or to raise the gate,

42:19 rebuild Jericho, and he does so according to the promise of God with the loss of his firstborn. What do you find here? Open defiance because of God's apparent silence as we read in Psalm 50 in verse 21. Because thou didst these things and I was silent, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such and one as thyself.

42:41 These people were saying God is dead.

42:47 And all his threats are a lot of empty talk. He won't bring them to pass. And you find another hint of this open defiance when in 2 Kings, under the ministry of Elisha, shortly after Elijah goes up to glory in the chariots of fire, some little children come out and say to the prophet, Hey, you old ball head!

43:11 What were they doing? Mocking the servants of God. And little children never do that unless they've learned it from impious or impious irreverent parents. The defiance had become such that even little children were mocking the mouthpieces and messengers of God.

43:31 That's the state of Israel when Elijah comes on the scene. Repudiation of true worship, attempts to obliterate all the remnants of that worship, open defiance because of silence, and then what makes it worse, positive, studied attempts to establish falsehood. It's one thing to repudiate true worship, seek to blot it out and mock it.

43:59 But then when you turn and in a positive way seek to construct heresy, you've reached the final stage of apostasy. And how do we know that's true?

44:09 Well, how do you know that the more apostasy Mormons are sure enough dead in earnest to fill the world with their heresy? How do you know it?

44:17 Because they crank out hundreds of young missionaries every year to fill the world with their heresy. No sooner does Ahab get established and repudiate the worship of the true God and of Jehovah, and no sooner does he seek to slay all the true prophets, than what does Scripture tell us? That there were at least 850 prophets who ate at the table of Jezebel. 850 prophets.

44:42 What a prophet! What do the prophets do? They proclaim the word of their deity. They seek to establish the worship of their deity in the rank and file of the people.

44:51 Prophets, unlike scribes, are men of the street, not men of the study and of the cloister. And we read in this day, 1 Kings 18 and verse 19, Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the Asherah 400 and the prophets that eat at Jezebel's table. 850 prophets of these two heathen beings.

45:26 So much under the official sanction of the king of Israel that they eat from the table of the queen.

45:37 Now can you imagine with that situation at the top of Israel what things must have been like down in the grass roots of the rank and file? A friend of mine did his master's degree on the subject of the wisdom of worship of the Canaanites prior to the invasion of Israel. He said if he ever had any doubts as to why God blotted them out as he did, he lost all those doubts when he studied what their worship was like and what it produced in the lives of the people who believed in those deities. Immoral gods produce immoral people.

46:12 Lawless deities produce lawless followers. And so with this repudiation of worship at the highest level in Israel and this positive establishment of false deities within the land all that was left was a little silent remnant of 7,000 who had become so coerced or maybe even affected as was locked by the pressure of ungodliness that the only way Elijah knew they were around was because God told them he for the likes of him couldn't see them. And God had to tell them I've reserved 7,000 that have not bowed the knee nor kissed Baal but he has not bowed the knee he didn't know it he said Lord I only am left when he said why do you halt between two opinions there's no indication that there were 7,000 who said Elijah we're with you silent that's how things had gone. By and large the whole nation had repudiated the true God and the little remnant left didn't even have its voice heard. You see any parallel?

Striking Parallels to Our Day

47:24 See why I said the study of Elijah is relevant? You see any parallel? A nation that dared to confess at its inception its utter dependence upon the living God which probably closer than any other nation had its inception in some sense of a covenant relationship with God that God's been repudiated. Not only has he been repudiated but there are now studied attempts to blot out the remembrance of him in public education in our national life in our system of jurisprudence.

48:05 Does that God say whoso sheddeth man's blood by blood man shall his blood be shed? That's blot out capital punishment. It's a remnant of remembrance that God holds life in his hands and when anyone takes it that God says that man's life should go let's blot that out. Does God say that there are standards of morality and theologians and clever smooth talking religious leaders will spend their hours to concoct the so-called new morality which is nothing but doing good.

48:35 Doing what? Seeking to rub out the laws of God and establish in its place the laws of man which will give free reign to the passions and corruptions of his own heart.

48:50 And in the midst of all this God seems to be so silent and distant that men get bolder and bolder in their effrontery. You see that? Do you see that? Where now people even dare in churches erected to be houses of worship of the true God to carry on plays marked with nudity and obscenity in the name of Christianity.

49:20 And God is silent and so men get bolder and bolder just like that man who said God doesn't live. Let's see if he'll really strike a stand. Let's raise up the walls of Jericho.

God's Answer: "And Elijah"

49:31 I say there's a striking parallel and yet the beauty of this when you just look now tonight at the first phrase of chapter 17 against that background and I haven't drawn it out any blacker than it is I fear I very poorly have shown something of the blackness. Notice the first word of chapter 17 is a conjunction and and Elijah the Tishbite you never heard anything about him don't know anything where he came from how he was trained but what's God's answer to a nation that has come to such dire circumstances his answer is and Elijah there burst upon the scene this one who shall be God's instrument for deliverance of a nation to do what to vindicate the name and the glory of Jehovah God whose glory and whose name rested as it were upon Israel and whose name was being blasphemed in the name of and defamed because of Israel and the Lord willing next week we'll pick up at the first part of chapter 17 and see what God does

Practical Lessons: A Word of Sober Warning

51:00 in bringing this man on the scene but as we close tonight I cannot do so without some practical exhortations and applications and so having considered why study Elijah's life and ministry the background into which he ministered will you in the last place consider with me tonight what practical lessons do we learn from the condition of Israel and the sudden appearance of Elijah may I suggest first of all we learn something that I'm calling a word of sober warning a word of sober warning do you think when Jeroboam first suggested that they set up some golden calves at two places and worshiped Jehovah under the form of a calf that he ever envisioned that one day these people would utterly repudiate Jehovah and bow down to kiss Baal and the Asherah do you think that ever entered Jeroboam's mind no you see Jeroboam had a very good end in view he wanted to preserve the political unity of the northern the ten tribes and he said since that is a worthy end I can cut corners a little bit on the commandments of God I'm not repudiating God I'm not breaking the first commandment oh yes I'm putting a blinder over one eye on the second commandment but really we don't need to be too scrupulous about all the commandments it's really just the essential thing that matters you see the second commandment we'll put in the realm of the non-essential oh yes God's revealed it

52:29 but it's non-essential and I'm a good evangelical and I'm not going to get too concerned about a lot of details and non-essentials we'll build a platform of faith that says these are the only essentials and since it's a worthy end namely the preservation of political unity then it'd be alright oh what a word of sober warning for in 60 years time through this living in a context of compromise spiritual discernment perception sensitivity a scrupulous concern for the purity of worship this left so that in Ahab's time the people were right for wholesale idolatry why? because somebody sold them out 60 years before the things that would have shocked the people in Jeroboam's day were now accepted by the without a whimper in Ahab's day oh the word of sober warning dear ones is this beware of the beginnings of sin either in life or in doctrine beware of the beginnings of sin in life experience or doctrine you remember what James says in chapter 1 be not deceived

53:58 when lust conceives when you welcome as it were and he uses the analogy of sin of conception and gestation in birth when you welcome the sperm of temptation to the ovum of lust there'll be conception and its birth will be sin and sin will turn with a dagger between his teeth and plunge it into your breast sin when it's finished bringeth forth death that's the analogy of scripture in James he uses the figure from human conception in birth and he says beware of conception beware of conception

54:41 oh if Jeroboam had only learned that if only he had looked beyond this immediate concern and said no no no if I cut off corners on the second commandment it'll only be a matter of time before that full grown baby will rise up and slay the god of the first command need I apply it any more detail to you tonight beware of the beginnings of sin young people listen to me you young fellas beware of the first glance in that magazine on that billboard that puts the little seed of impure thoughts run from that like you run from the proposition of a harlot you women next time you're on the phone recoil at the first indication that some gossip's about to come recoil say no please don't go any further I don't want my ears to be a garbage can for what's to follow beware of the first beginnings of sin lust gossip covetousness beware of that first glance you were perfectly content with that set of furniture you had until you went to that shop and began to compare and then began to work

56:09 conception of covetousness beware of it beware of it in life and oh I plead with you beware of it in doctrine beloved we live in a day of absolute irresponsibility towards unborn generations and if there's one of the burdens that eats away at my heart it's this seeming unconcerned with unborn generations people in our day evangelicals say well granted the bible reveals something about church government and the bible reveals something about whether or not you ought to have fellowship with people who don't hold the faith but the world's in such a mess we just gotta unite as Christians and so unity is worth saying certain things in scripture are what unessential we'll just come together on this that's what Jeroboam did for the sake of unity may God help us to see that what we're doing is preparing an unborn generation for wholesale idolatry and defection from God the whole council of God comes to us as individuals and God wants us to be scrupulous about every detail of that council that's why David said I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right therefore

Practical Lessons: A Word of Strong Encouragement and Simple Instruction

57:36 I hate every false way be scrupulous about the truth of God think of unborn generations in the Trinity Church beloved we're not just building to minister to this generation but we may be building to bless or curse unborn generations some people get impatient with some of us in places of responsibility because we move so slow here we move so slow in establishing our government we move so slow beloved you know why because this principle hangs before me constantly constantly I hope it hangs before you and that we will never for any so-called immediate blessing relinquish one principle of truth then I see a word of strong encouragement as well as a word of sober warning against the terrible blackness of first king sixteen climaxing in that open defiance of this man by the name of Haya who would build the wall of Jericho chapter seventeen begins and Elijah and Elijah do you see the parallel here between Ephesians two one to four in Ephesians two one to three you have the terrible description of the

59:03 description of the terrible state of man dead in sin led about by the devil enslaved and you'd say boy what a mess and then verse four begins with these two words but that's all here's what man's done but now God's going to enter the sea what has man done in Israel you read those chapters brings you to the place where inwardly you feel you want to fall what a mess what a defection but oh what encouragement because chapter seventeen begins and Elijah fulfilling the promise of Isaiah fifty nine nineteen when the enemy shall come in like a flood what's a flood when the banks can no longer hold the water and the countryside is inundated when the enemy comes in with such influence that it inundates the countryside the spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against me that's why I refuse to be discouraged looking at the mess we're in nationally the mess we're in in the professing church what an ideal time for God to save and Elijah what a day for God to save but God that's why I have to be among them if ever there was a time for God to demonstrate that he is the Lord God of Elijah it is our day so let's take

60:33 encouragement that against the blackest velvet the diamonds of God's mighty works of grace shine with greatest brilliance and then I see a word of simple instruction here as well because the answer to this dilemma I want you to listen carefully is found in the words and Elijah the Tishbite a man it doesn't say and Jehovah it says and Elijah God's answer to the dilemma of that day was a man a man and God's answer to the dilemma of our day is men and women men and women made of the same Adamic stock as was excuse me Elijah men and women who have come by grace into the same relationship to Jehovah God as did Elijah and men and women who by the grace of God prevail with God as did Elijah and who become God's instrument for the vindication of Jehovah's name in their generation as Elijah was the instrument in his day so I see in just considering the background in the first phrase of chapter 17 this word of sober warning to be aware of the beginnings of sin in life or in

62:02 doctrine a word of strong encouragement than when things are their blackest it's the ideal time for God to move and a word of simple instruction that God's method is men and women will you not pray as we begin to consider this man who was God's answer to that generation's need that we may by God's grace become men and women like Elijah and as we do we are seeing but a faint reflection of the one who was Elijah's pattern even our Lord Jesus Christ for as we're going to see in our study there is some strong hint that Elijah had not only an acquaintance with Jehovah God as the Father but Jehovah in his manifestation as the angel of Jehovah the Lord Jesus in his pre incarnate manifestations and it was in this living vital communion with the Lord God of Israel as revealed in his angel the angel of his presence that Elijah became strong to do exploits for his God and so as we as we heard this morning are able to grow in this experimental knowledge of the Lord Jesus and so we too shall be strong to do exploits

63:27 let us pray