Elijah: The Man, Part 1

Introduction: Why Study Elijah, the Man?

0:02 Will you follow as I read three texts from the New Testament as the background of our second study in the life of Elijah this morning. The first is in Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 13 and verse 7. Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God, and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith. And now just to the next book in the New Testament, the book of James chapter 5 and verse 10.

0:55 James 5 and verse 10. Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord.

1:10 On in that chapter, the latter part of verse 16, and then verses 17 and 18, the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

1:47 In our study yesterday morning, I sought to lay before you the answer to such practical concerns as why study the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah, what was the situation at the time in which Elijah lived and ministered, and finally what does all of this say to us, living and seeking to honor God, at this present point in history. Today, our attention will be focused on the theme, Elijah, the man. Tomorrow, God willing, Elijah, his mission, and then the last two mornings, Elijah, his discouragement and restoration. When we think of this man, Elijah, we generally think of the things peculiar to him as a special mouthpiece of God, occupying a special office called the office of a prophet. When we think of his works, we generally think of those works peculiar to that office, the miracles that constantly attended his life and his ministry. We think of that unusual home-going in which he bypassed death and many of the problems of old age and was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire and in a whirlwind. Now, when we do this, when we have this fixation upon the man, Elijah,

3:17 in terms of the extraordinary aspects of his life and ministry, whether consciously or unconsciously, what we do is this. We put him in a category so above us and beyond us that we do not practically use that life as an example, as a pattern, after which we always, if so, should seek to be molded. Now, I would suggest on the basis of these two texts in the epistle of James that this is an improper use of the life of the man, Elijah. Notice the exhortation of James in James 5.10.

4:02 Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. In other words, James bypasses those qualities which were exclusive to the extraordinary office of the prophet and says, take the prophets for an example of those graces that are to be common to all the people of God. He doesn't say, take, brethren, the prophets for an example of miraculous power and go out and exercise the same powers. Nor does he say, take the prophets, as an example of direct revelation and claim the same and you go and say, thus saith the Lord. No, no, he says, take the prophets for an example of what? Of the graces needed by all of the people of God regardless of their calling in life. Namely, patience and suffering.

5:04 Furthermore, in that fifth chapter, when James would buttress and give a concrete example of this great principle that the supplication of a righteous man avails much in its working, he turns to Elijah and says in essence that when you see Elijah praying, you see him acting not so much in his official capacity as a prophet with an extraordinary office, but you see him as a saint holding communion with his God. And in that sense, his life is exacted. Exemplary. Now, to underscore that, he introduces this little phrase in verse 17, Elijah was a man of like passions with us. Now, he was not a man of like calling with us. None of us is or ever shall be a prophet to whom the word of the Lord comes by direct revelation. And any who claims such is either poorly taught or is filled with a heady kind of fanaticism that is most dangerous.

6:12 But he was a man of like passions with us. And it's in the context of setting him forth as an example of this principle that the supplication of a righteous man avails much in his working that we are told he's a man of like passions. That is, he's made of the same stuff of which we are made. This is the word used in Acts 14, 15 when the apostle and his companion are ministering to pagans and they want to pray.

6:41 They want to worship them. They said, no, no, no, no, don't do this. We are men of like passions. We are not half gods sent down from heaven or elevated above our fellow men.

6:51 We are men of like passions with you. And certainly in the life of this man, Elijah, when he is unsupported by divine grace, he is a mass of weakness, a mass of unbelief, of fear, of timidity, of discouragement, of melancholy. He is a man of like passions with us. Therefore, I want you to consider with me the life of Elijah this morning.

7:23 Elijah the man, the man of like passions, the man who is to be our example not in the extraordinary dimensions of his life and ministry, but in the ordinary aspects of his life and ministry. For you see, the usefulness of every, every true prophet was not primarily dependent upon the extraordinary dimensions of his ministry. No, no, it was dependent upon the substructure of those graces which are common to all of the people of God. Now that is a little bit of exegetical background to justify what we're doing this morning.

Elijah's Name: Jehovah is God

8:05 Elijah the man. Consider now this theme under three major headings. His name, his character, and his destiny. First of all, Elijah the man, his name.

8:19 Turn please to 1 Kings chapter 17. After painting that terribly dark picture that we considered yesterday morning, the writer of 1 Kings carries on the narrative without a break, and Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead said, unto Ahab. Now the name Elijah is a compound of two Hebrew words for God. And it means Jehovah is God, or my God is Jehovah, or you will find different Hebraists, people who are knowledgeable in the Hebrew, giving various translations. But one thing is clear. You cannot escape this inextricable identity between God, and Jehovah. In the name Elijah, two names for God are bound together, so that the name given to this man, whether in childhood, or upon the occasion of his call to this prophetic office, we know not.

9:29 This name Elijah becomes, as so often was true with Hebrew names, a synopsis of his character, a finger pointing in the direction of his peculiar function or destiny. And the name of this man, Elijah, is at once the explanation of his character and the declaration of his ministry. What was his great mission? His great mission was to establish, at this critical time in the history of the nation of Israel, who is God?

10:08 Jehovah or Baal? And the very name he carries, is a constant declaration of that mission. Jehovah is God, or my God is Jehovah. Now whether Elijah's parents were part of that remnant who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and in protest to all of their neighbors and all around them wanted to declare that they were worshipers of Jehovah and therefore conferred that name upon him in his infancy, or whether God conferred it by supernatural, by direct revelation upon the occasion of his call, we do not know.

10:51 But when we read, and Elijah, in the midst of that foreboding scene that we contemplated yesterday morning, we are immediately confronted with a name that is a declaration of this man's mission, and then it is not only a declaration of his mission, it is the explanation of his character. What is the secret of his mission? secret of this amazing man? Well, when you boil it all down, the secret is this. His God is Jehovah, and Jehovah is his God. What is the answer to the boldness that defies the entire structure of Ahab's court? What's the answer to this boldness that challenges and mocks and taunts the 450 prophets of Baal? Well, the answer is in his name. My God is Jehovah. Jehovah

11:49 is my God. And so that name is not only a declaration and summary of his mission, but in a very real sense it is the explanation of his character. And may I say in passing in a brief word of application, there's a very real sense in which that ought to be true of every one of us who names the name Jehovah. In the name of Christ. Every one of us ought in a real sense to be able to take upon ourselves the name Elijah. That in a day of Baal worship, when men worship the gods of their own conceiving, when men are given over to the worship of that which rises from beneath and is an expression of men's depraved hearts, every one of us ought to have as our adopted name Elijah. My God is Jehovah. And Jehovah is God. We ought to live to demonstrate that. That in every area of life we make it

12:48 manifest that the claims of Jehovah are welcomed by us. In a day when there is the attempt to obliterate every last vestige of the worship of Jehovah, the claims and the law of Jehovah, our names ought to be Elijah, our God is Jehovah. And our homes ought to reflect the norms of Ephesians 5 and 6. And our attitude to work ought to reflect the norms of the latter part of Ephesians 6.

13:16 And our attitudes to worship into all of life should bear no explanation but that Jehovah is our God. Not in theory alone. We do not merely bear the name Christian, Christ's Ones. But that it becomes evident to all that there is no explanation concerning our lifestyle other than that which is bound up in the name of Elijah, our God.

Elijah's Character: The Formative Principle

13:39 St. Victor by Ephesians 1-30. E-N-B-V-I-L-I-T-H-O-N-G-S-O-B-O-B-M-I-L-E Ihnen her, Franz. God is Jehovah. Well, come and consider with me in the second place that which will be the bulk of our preoccupation this morning, his character. Now, the word character has fallen into great disuse in our day. About the only time we hear it is when there's somebody who's a bit odd and a bit strange, and we say, man, what a character he is. We don't talk about character anymore, do we? Do you know why we don't? We live in a day that is preoccupied with externals, and character has nothing to do with externals. We live in a day when we are inundated with how men and women look on the outside. And to talk about character is to talk about something that people in our day rarely even consider. A man's character is that which you cannot see when you look upon his body or his hairstyle,

14:39 or when you smell the presence or absence of his brute. What do you have? It has nothing to do with size and bust size and with the color of one's hair. It has to do with the inner man or the inner woman. And the formation of that inner man or woman by principles understood, submitted to, and diligently obeyed in every dimension of life. And I've chosen the word carefully and purposely. Let us contemplate this man, Elijah, not only in his life, but also in his life. And I've chosen the word carefully and purposely. Let us contemplate this man, Elijah, not only in his life, but also in his character. And I've broken down this aspect of the study into three subheadings. The formative principle of his character, the predominant graces of his character, and the ultimate source of his character. The formative principle of Elijah's character. If you read Christian

15:39 biography, you come to the conclusion that great men and women are the product of powerful principles which have possessed them and molded them. In fact, it may be accurate to say the history and the biography of great men and women is the record of great principles that molded men and women who were nothing in themselves.

16:06 The Apostle Paul could say, this one thing I do. Now, when you read a page in his life and you say, one thing? My, that man did in every day a thousand things. You read the Gospel in the Old Testament as nothing of the new age, like he did, for嘛. There was nothing better than living other scores than in the Great Old Testament. You know what does such a man do? He lives a very long life and so his whole life has happened anything to like. Well Elijah, this way you go.

16:51 Now, howitional number one. Well Elijah, now what? through the history of his life, it's there right on the surface in the introduction of this great man. Look at it. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand. And the phrase, The Lord God liveth, before whom I stand, is the formative principle in the character of this man, Elijah. Now, what does the little phrase mean, before whom I stand? Well, Scripture must be the only infallible interpreter of Scripture, and I want you to consider the use of this phrase, both in the Old and the New Testaments. Turn back to 1 Kings chapter

17:43 10, a passage that we considered yesterday as we looked at Israel at the height of her glory. And when the queen of Sheba stood before Solomon, seeking to express something of the response of her own heart and mind to that which she had seen, she says in 1 Kings chapter 10 and verse 8, Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. She said, Oh, what a wonderful thing it must be to be one of your servants. Now, here's a queen speaking.

18:26 And in a sense, this queen was envious of the servants of Solomon. Happy are these people who stand before thee continually, and who hear thy wisdom. In that context, what does the little phrase, stand before thee, mean? Well, certainly it involves nearness of communion with the one before whom they stood. These were but servants, but they stood before Solomon, constantly beholding all of the majesty and the glory and the riches of his person and his kingdom. Certainly it involved not only the nearness of communion, but readiness to serve. They stand before thee, for what purpose? To receive orders from their king, to find their greatest delight in carrying out those orders.

19:20 It involves, in the third place, the matter of being recipients of revelation, an unfolding of his mind, notice the phrase, and that hear thy wisdom. Why, they are but servants. But when people come with their knotty problems and Solomon unfolds his great wisdom, they hear every single word. They are taken into the secrets of Solomon's wise mind and wise heart. And certainly it involves, in the language of the queen of Sheba, an element of permanence.

19:51 They stand continually before thee. The queen says, in essence, I've had the privilege of of coming and for a short time surveying the wonder and the glory of this kingdom for a short time i've been able to stand or sit by the king and be amazed at his wisdom and enter into something of communion and fellowship and social converse with him but i must go back to my kingdom oh how i envy those servants who every morning regardless of what the day may hold they know that they will be there in the presence of the king now hold those elements in mind as we turn to the new testament we read in Matthew 18 and verse 10 a word of our lord concerning the angels Matthew 18 and verse 10 see that ye despise not one of these little ones for i say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father who is in heaven angels always behold the face of my father now keep that in mind and turn over to Luke chapter 1 where the phrase before whom I stand is once again set before us Luke chapter 1

21:14 and verse 19 and the angel answering said unto him that is to Zacharias I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak unto thee now with the angels what does this phrase mean I stand in the presence of God what does it mean well does it not mean essentially what it meant for the servants of Solomon there was nearness of access and communion their angels do always behold the face of the father they stand not only in the place of communion but readiness of service Gabriel says why am I here Zacharias because I stand in the presence of God waiting for what for directives and when he said go speak to Zacharias that's the explanation for my presence nearness of communion readiness to serve the recipients of the unfolding of his mind and will and the element of permanence their angels do always behold the face of the now taking these biblical materials do you see something of what this little phrase means before whom I stand what was the great formative principle in the character of this man Elijah I would

22:41 suggest it was this very concept that he stood in the presence of Jehovah God of hosts stood not as an unreconciled impenitent unregenerate unforgiven sinner who like Adam cannot fit out wanting to run from him no no somewhere in his life history God had wounded this man Elijah with the wounds of conviction God spoke harsh things against him from his holy law God indicted this man Elijah with the awareness of his native sinfulness and estrangement and alienation from God and by verse

23:30 of the blood of the everlasting covenant the blood of the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world God graciously worked in him by the spirit and brought him to faith in Jehovah brought him to go out of himself for mercy and acceptance so that he could stand in the presence of this holy one of Israel who is the consuming fire and not run as did Adam but like the angels behold his face with delight and with joy the Lord liveth before whom I stand I stand as a reconciled sinner it is before Jehovah that I stand God of the covenant God of redemption God of mercy God of sacrifice furthermore for Elijah it meant that he stood before this Jehovah not only as a reconciled sinner but as a creature who gladly acknowledges creaturehood in the presence of creator

24:32 I stand before Jehovah Lord and creator of heaven and earth and I stand as a creature who has no quarrel with the fact that God is God and I am creature for you see the problem of every unregenerate man is if he could he would exchange places with the creator the cry of every unregenerate heart is have this man to reign is Jehovah that I should serve him and let me sit upon that throne when Elijah said as the Lord God liveth before whom I stand it was a confession not only that he stood as reconciled sinner in the presence of gracious pardoning Jehovah but he stood as creature gladly acknowledging the rights of the creator he stood as servant in the presence of the master waiting the slightest intimations of his will and of his mind he stood and I say this with some

25:36 degree of hesitance but I don't know how else to say it he stood as a son beholding the countenance of his father with joy now I know that in redemptive history there had to be the manifestation of the son of God and the sending forth of the spirit is the spirit of adoption I'm fully aware that there are dimensions and aspects of sonship and adoption that await the progress of redemption but I'm also convinced that there had to be some element of this kind of filial love and access just by the sheer weight of the implications of this phrase in other contexts that's the formative principle of this man's character before whom I stand and may I say by way of application until you've been brought to the same place that Elijah was there will never be the formation of Christian character in you until God by the spirit brings you to the place of the Christian character in you until God by the spirit brings you to the place where there are only two people in the universe, the living God and you, his creature.

26:50 His holiness, my sinfulness, peace, the fact that he came up counting in sin, and the fact that I own sin, and I am brought to that discovery and then further am taught by the word and the spirit that Jesus Christ is the one who came to bring us to God. In the language of Peter, he died the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. In what posture? Not in the posture of peers who bicker about life and its meaning, but who brings us in the posture in which he brought Elijah, the Lord God before whom I stand. Creature, gladly confessing that he alone is creator. Servant whose will is bent to the master. Son who delights in the will and in communion.

27:48 And I say to you, dear children, until God brings you to that place, all the efforts we mums and dads make to teach you and to guide you with a view to the formation of Christian character, there is a sense in which all are in vain until you can say, as the Lord God liveth before whom I stand. That's the formative principle in the character of this great man of God. Have you been brought to that place? You see, I'm not asking you, have you made a decision or have you asked Jesus to come into your heart or anything like that. I'm asking you this. Has God brought you as a young man, young woman, boy, girl, adult, I care not what your age may be. Has he brought you to the place where today, self consciously, you can say, the Lord God before whom I stand.

28:51 Cuspid though name.

28:55 I'm now with joy because my sins are blotted out in the virtue of Christ's blood. My rebel will has been subdued by the mighty work of the Spirit. And I gladly confess myself creature and servant in the presence of this God. So much for the formative principle and we'll see that expanded in the unfolding of the study.

Predominant Godward Graces: Unquestioned Obedience

29:21 Now come in the second place under this second heading, his character, formative principle now. Now it's predominant graces. The graces of this great man of God are seen in two major directions Godward and manward. There are certain graces which have a more peculiar focus upon his relationship and his dealings with God. Some graces that come to manifestation especially in his dealings with his fellow men. Now what were the predominant Godward graces of this man Elijah? Well, the first was this, unquestioned obedience to the revealed will of God. Follow as I quickly read without comment several incidents in the life of Elijah. First of all, verses two

30:11 to five of chapter seventeen in first Kings. After hurling down the gauntlet in the presence of Ahab and probably Jezebel, we read in verse two, and the word of the Lord came unto him saying, Let thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Kirith that is before the Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. Now look at the simplicity of verse five. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. As the Lord, I stand, he wasn't engaging in pious talk. The word of the Lord came and said, go, hide thyself in this precise place. And the record says, so he went according to the word of the Lord. Verses eight and nine. And the word

31:15 of the Lord came unto him saying, arise, get thee to Zarephath which belongeth to Zidon and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. Just a simple statement of unquestioned obedience to the word of the Lord. And the Bible says, this is the will of God. It is obvious that Elijah went off into the wilderness to the revealed will of God. Chapter 18 verse one. And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying go show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And all the way through the record of this man's life, there is unquestioned obedience to the revealed will of God. And even when in his discouragement, he ran from Jezebel. Again, writing this in Desire makes it come to light. Now you know what the word of God

32:03 There is no record that he ran from an explicit commandment of God to the contrary.

32:10 Now, preachers and authors have read in some things that just aren't there. There is no record that he fled from Jezebel in an open defiance of a clear word from God. The record of this man's life is unquestioned obedience to the revealed will of God. Now, follow me.

32:28 When the word of the Lord came to a prophet, it did not transport that prophet in the directions that it dictated. When the word of the Lord came, it did not, as it were, put them in a semi-conscious state and carry them like a sleepwalker into the direction defined in the commandment. Last year we studied Jonah, did we not? And we read in the opening words of the book of the prophecy of Jonah, the word of the Lord came to Jonah.

32:57 A wise go to Nineveh. But Jonah rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord. What am I driving at? Simply this.

33:07 Obedience in a prophet to the revealed will of God, though the will of God was made known by direct revelation, involved the full mental, psychological, and volitional complex of conscious choice.

33:23 A prophet had to do exactly what you have to do when you read a directive in the Bible. There may be some...

33:29 There may be some indisposition of remaining corruption. When he would do good, that is, the will of God revealed, evil was present with him. Doubt and unbelief and headstrong and carnal reasonings might rise up, but in every instance we read, and he did, according to the word of the Lord.

33:50 Now why? As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand. For you see, when I am self-consciously taking the place of a creature, in the presence of God, in the presence of my Creator, standing not as Adam in innocency, but as a redeemed sinner, filled on the one hand with a sense of shame because of my alienation and rebellion and sin, filled on the other hand with a sense of wonder and glory, and under the powerful constraints of redeeming love, consciously standing before such a God, redeemed sinner, restored creature, servant in the presence of Master, son in the presence of glorious Father, how can I do anything other than run at his slightest bidding? Filled with the reality of communing with this God, of my right posture before this God, disobedience is unthinkable. Disobedience is seen for what it is. It is the horrendous rise of the creature against the Creator,

35:08 the servant against the man. It is the wickedness. It is the wickedness. It is the wickedness of a rebellious son in the presence of a gracious Father.

35:18 What was the formative principle of his character? It was this concept before whom I stand. And what were the predominant graces that flowed out of it? The first grace was unquestioned obedience to the revealed will of God.

Predominant Godward Graces: Implicit Confidence

35:34 And oh, my dear Christian friend, is it not true of you as it is of me? It is when I lose sight of that grace, the fact that I stand before him, and I allow other issues to cloud the basic structure of my posture and position in the presence of this gracious, redeeming God, that obedience begins to wane and to flag. The first outward grace that characterized this man was unquestioned obedience to the revealed will of God. But secondly, there was what I would call an implicit confidence in the Word of God.

36:15 We read strange words of promise, which this man seemed to take in stride without a hitch. You look at how strange some of these words of promise are. Verse 4 of chapter 17. God says, now you go down to the brook Kirith, and I want you to go to this precise part, and look at the promise.

36:34 And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook. Now that doesn't demand much faith. But the last part of the promise, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee, there. Ravens, birds of prey, flesh-eating uncourts,

36:54 that Jews aren't supposed to come near. Birds that if they find a dead carcass will pluck the flesh off until there is nothing but bones to be bleached by the Palestinian sun. And you mean God is going to feed me with ravens there?

37:13 The record says, so he went and did. And I believe the first morning after he was there, well, and after having a drink of the brook, he started scanning the heavens.

37:28 He started scanning the heavens. And he saw a little black speck off in the distance. He said, hallelujah, here they come.

37:35 Here they come. And the ravens either came, and contrary to their nature,

37:44 alighted nearby. When he opened up his hand, they dropped the flesh. Whether God caused them to pass overhead and put a little Norton bombsite in them so they dropped them right at the right spot, I don't know. But there is nothing in the record to intimate anything other than implicit trust in the promise of God.

38:06 Ravens to feed thee there. No arguing with God. Now, God, this is not quite kosher, you know. Ravens are unclean animals.

38:16 And ravens eat flesh. Lord, are you sure you didn't make a mistake? You need to go back and take another course in birdology?

38:24 No, no. I know there's a proper name for birdology. I just coined that. .

38:34 I think it's ornithology, is it not? . Look at 17 and verse 9. Look at verse 9.

38:45 The word of the Lord came and said, Arise, go to Zarephath, Gentile city, which belongeth to Zidon. Wait a minute, Zidon? That's where this character Jezebel came from. Why, she's daughter of this man who is the head.

39:02 . Are you sure you didn't make a mistake in your geography? And what has he done? I've commanded.

39:14 Not a retired colonel. This is after famine. A famine that's become so severe that it's dried up a brook. And it's dried up all the brooks in the whole area.

39:28 You don't go to that which is the symbol of native destitution, even in times of plenty. A widow? To be sustained by a widow in the midst of a famine. Lord, this doesn't make sense.

39:39 He didn't care whether it made sense or not. God had said it. He believed it. And he acted accordingly.

39:48 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And then we read the subsequent history. . He was of implicit confidence in the word of God.

39:59 We see it further with respect to his home going. I'm absolutely amazed about that. It says when the Lord would take him to heaven in a whirlwind. And apparently he made it known.

40:09 Well, who in the world ever went to heaven that way before? Enoch had something like that. He was not forgot. But it didn't seem to bother him at all.

40:17 Why? Oh, listen, dear folks. Listen, this is the answer. .

40:23 As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand. . . communion with Jehovah, who is God of hosts. Notice 17 and verse 1, as the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth before whom I stand, down in verse 15, and Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, he is the head of all the armies of heaven. He does according to his will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Who made the nature of the raven? Not some blind, impersonal, mechanical force in the process of evolution, with its carnivorous nature, and if God wants to reach into the disposition of a raven and suspend the natural

41:16 actings of that disposition to feed his servant, Elijah says, no big deal for God. He made the raven in the first place. If he declared it to be a raven, it was a raven. If he declared it to be a raven, it was a raven.

41:26 If he declared it to be a raven, it was a raven. If he declared it to be a raven, it was a raven. If he declared it unclean, he can declare it clean for me. There's nothing intrinsically clean or unclean. It's clean or unclean by divine declaration. It's carnivorous or non-carnivorous because of the work of God. And if God wants to feed me with a widow, so what? If God help us to see that the secret of faith is found in this man's posture, before whom I stand, in the language of the book of Hebrews, concerning Moses, it is said he endured as seedless, being him who is invisible. His eyes were fixed upon the grandeur and the glory and the might and the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore no obstacle was too great for this great God. Implicit confidence in the word of God is born of the maintenance of

Predominant Godward Graces: Consuming Zeal for God's Honor

42:19 this posture, before whom I stand. And when you're holding conscious communion with God and the soul is filled with some present awareness of his might and glory and power, then you can see that God's power, unbelief is seen for what it is, a wicked, God dishonoring sin. Someone has rightly said unbelief is essentially deicide. It is a declaration that God is dead with reference to that promise as it suits my present need. Faith is simply saying God lives with reference to that promise. This man is what I'm calling consuming zeal for the honor of God. You read his life and you see unquestioned obedience to the will of God, implicit confidence in the word of God, and then consuming zeal for the honor of God. What causes this man to lay his life on the line again and again? What causes him to enter into that graphic

43:34 scene? You talk about sheer drama, how anyone who has half a head and is half alive can read chapter eighteen and not get thrilled and get the goose bumps somewhere along the line. I don't know. You've been neutered somewhere in your humanity. As he stands amidst all the enemies of God, he's like a general telling the king what to do. He says, you go do this and you go do this and you do this and you do this. I thought the king gave orders in his. Not at this point. The king was Elijah, God's man, and he calls them together and then he taunts and he mocks. Then he slays those prophets. Tremendous boldness and zeal for the honor of God. What's the answer?

44:16 What's the explanation of this? Listen to his own testimony in chapter nineteen and verse ten. God says, Elijah, what are you doing here? What's your problem? And he says in verse ten, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts. God, the reason I'm in the situation I'm in is this supremely and above all else, I have been jealous for your glory and for your honor. He repeats that same confession further on, verse fourteen. And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts. And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts. You see, in Exodus twenty and verse four, God says that I am a jealous God. Being the creature, being the being that I am, because I am what I am, I cannot tolerate any rival in your affections. And when a man stands in the presence of God, he feels exactly as God does at that point. When a man beholds

45:18 the glory of Jehovah, the outshining of the sum total of all his perfections, of love and power and wisdom and justice and might, when he sees something of the outshining of the perfections of God, and that is the glory of God, the outshining of his perfections, how does he feel when he sees anyone ascribing anything that is exclusive to God? How does he feel when he sees it ascribed to him? He is filled with jealousy. This ought not to be. Now imagine how this man felt when everywhere he walked he saw people bowing down to worship centers to Baal. And he knew that all of that devotion and all of that homage and all of the sacrifice and worship belonged solely upon Jehovah. Did he walk to Israel and say, well, you know, we believe in a pluralistic society. Every man has got to do his own thing. No, no, my friends. He

46:19 was filled with jealousy. Holy jealousy for the honor and for the glory of God. And as was true of the Savior of Elijah, zeal for the house of God consumed him. And what was the thing that lay behind this? I suggest again this formative principle. As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand, as he lived in the constant contemplation of the glory and majesty of God, he lived in the constant experience of zeal. When men begin to be indifferent to the glory and honesty of God in the life of ministry,

Predominant Godward Graces: Power in Prevailing with God

47:00 is because they cease to behead God, and see His glory even they have foreseen in their own hearts with all in their own experience. Got it. And then the fourth Godward characteristic of that man, the fourth predominant grace, was his great power in prevailing with God. Of all the virtues that are singled out singled out in the New Testament, it is this virtue which is singled out.

47:15 Is indeed this that entail that most noble unto a true great represented Christ have not setup the themless. Is indeed this that entail that most noble have Gaal to worship Him, no matter what spirit may there be. Is indeed this that entail that most noble would be worshiping or worship His harmonized of Jesus. Is indeed this that entail that most noble would be worshiping or worshiping of Jesus. Is really this His zeal, his thundering reformation type ministry is alluded to in the parallels between Elijah and John the Baptist, but the one virtue that is specifically singled out in the New Testament is the virtue of his power in prevailing with God.

47:43 From the human standpoint, his prayer locked up the heavens and then opened them. Behold him in chapter 17 in the instance of the death of the widow's son. Amazing words. He's been the recipient of the hospitality of this widow and no doubt had held much delightful fellowship with the young lad, played with him, had some of his own social needs met in this relationship.

48:12 And the lad dies and the woman talks. Have you come, she says, to bring my sin to remembrance? And he says in verse 19, give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and carried him up to the chamber where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord and said, Oh, Jehovah, my God.

48:34 You see why I say there's something of the spirit of sonship. Oh, Jehovah, my God. And what does he say?

48:45 Hast thou brought evil upon the wicked? The widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her son. And he stretched himself upon the child three times. And what? Mumbled a little prayer. No, no. Cried unto Jehovah and said, Oh, Jehovah, my God. I pray thee, let this child's soul come back into him again.

49:07 Look at these amazing words. And Jehovah hearkened to the voice of Elijah. The man of whom it is so often said, Elijah, hearken to the voice. The voice of God, now in his head, hearkens to the voice of a man.

49:26 We see the same thing further on upon Mount Carmel. The end of chapter 18. In the interest of time, I'll not read the incident. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it.

49:37 God does not grant reign upon the first conscious pleadings on the part of the prophet. Seven times he pleads, he prays, he waits, he wrestles until God grants the answer. Great power. Great power in prevailing with God. Where did he learn this? As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand. You see, faith and fervency in prayer are not the product of something outside the orbit of that formative principle.

50:10 The more you stand in the presence of God beholding his glory in the face of Christ, the more you drink in the wonder of your being his child. The more you drink in the wonder of your being his child. The more you drink in the glory and the largeness of his Father heart, the more you're going to be emboldened to believe that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall the Father in heaven give good gifts to his children who ask him. The power of this man in prevailing with God was in direct proportion to this spiritual, this formative principle before whom I stand.

Predominant Manward Graces: Boldness

50:52 Well, I must hurry on very quickly, and time will not permit now any detailed enlargement. Let me just give you the headings, and perhaps I'll take a separate message tomorrow. I don't know. This is what happens when you bring a series for the first time.

51:08 You don't know quite how far you're going to get in any one given message. What about the manward expression of these graces? What graces marked this man horizontally? And I pause to remind you, as we were told last night,

51:26 obedience to the law of God that is genuine will always have respect to both tables of the law. We've beheld Elijah primarily now in those graces that attach to and flow out of obedience to the first table. But because he was a true saint, his obedience will be expressed in those graces that are attached to the first table. Attached to and flow out of the second table.

51:56 Now, what were those manward graces that predominated in this man? Well, the first one is obvious. I'm sure you've already thought of it, many of you. It was boldness. Boldness.

52:07 He knew nothing of this kind of timidity that is always calculating the possible dangers of a straightforward declaration of thus saith the Lord. From the initial entrance, when he comes into the court of Ahab and says, The Lord God liveth before whom I stand, no rain and no dew, according to my word. Until we see him upon Mount Carmel, taunting the false prophets, and then eventually slaying them. When we see him in the vineyard of Naboth, and he comes to Ahab and Jezebel and says, Look, you two think you've committed the perfect crime, don't you?

52:44 But Almighty God has seen your sin, and the dogs are going to lick the blood of Jezebel, and the dogs will lick your blood, Ahab. You two have had it. And the judgment of God will fall upon you. Boldness. Jagged, unfettered boldness in preaching.

53:05 Now, where did it come from? As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand.

53:10 And oh, listen to me, my preacher friends. When you stand conscious of your divine appointment to the office of the minister,

53:19 and in that larger context of certainty concerning your appointment to the office, you stand in the immediate context, that you preach in the presence of God the grace of any man.

53:44 Because you fear the last day.

53:52 The apostle stated it in 2 Corinthians 2.17. When he tells us this is the manner of his speaking.

54:01 How did he speak? Verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 2. We are not as the many corrupting the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Let me state it this way, my preacher friend.

54:20 You don't leave God back in your vestry, or back in your study, or back in the Sunday school room where you have prayer with the elders before the service, and then go back afterwards and meet him again and ask him if he'll bless the word. You stand before him in the place of expounding and applying.

54:43 He is not far from any one of us. In him we live and move and have our being, and you stand as servant of Jehovah to declare his word faithfully. You stand as son in the presence of father to open up his mind to his people. Boldness is not so much the product of genetic aspects or temperamental aspects determined by our genes.

55:12 It is a spiritual quality. Some of us know by our own experience. In our early years, in our formative years, socially awkward and backward and uncomfortable in the presence of people, but we know when God brought us to stand for declaring what he has said. There is no desperate need there is in our generation for this grace of boldness in preaching.

Predominant Manward Graces: Compassion and Sensitivity

55:50 But that grace was also coupled with its necessary counterpart, compassion and sensitivity. Often men with Elijah-like boldness are insensitive and easily callous, but not this man. You trace out his sensitivity in the incident of that son. It's a beautiful incident, a beautiful example of compassion and sensitivity.

56:14 The poor woman is so distraught that her only child has died, that she comes to the prophet and she says some nasty things to him. She said, what's the only reason you came here? To make my sin catch up with me and to put a worm in the gourd of my pleasure? Well, that wasn't fair.

56:31 She'd have been dead if the man had never come. He'd been staying there many days, the Scripture says in verse 15. She was alive and her son had lived that long because the prophet had come and performed the miracle with reference to the cruise of oil and the barrel of meal. He didn't deserve that kind of treatment.

56:49 But did he turn around and say, now woman, don't you know I'm the prophet? No, no. He said, give me thy son. He understood that she, in a sense, wasn't responsible for that kind of language.

57:01 Her womanly temperament had become unhinged at the loss of her son. And with genuine sensitivity and compassion, he overlooked her unkind words. Sensitivity, compassion, further on with that man, Obadiah. He gets all upset and says, not on your life, Elijah.

57:19 I'm not going to go down there and tell Ahab that you're coming. First thing I know, the Spirit of God will catch you away and then Ahab will catch me and that will be the end of me. Now did he get mad at him and say, don't you know? No, no.

57:34 He says, I'll tell you. You need not worry. I'll seal my promise. I'll seal my promise to be there with an oath.

57:40 And he says again, as the Lord God of hosts liveth, out of compassion, sensitivity, and understanding of people. You see him in 2 Kings 1, 9 to 15, same thing. When the soldiers began to show a little bit of respect for the office and for the God in whose name he spoke, he was not harsh, but when they pleaded for mercy, he showed mercy to that third band of soldiers. Now what's the answer to this?

58:10 I come back again to the formative principle, the Lord God liveth before whom I stand. And the man who stands in the presence of Jehovah, God of heaven and earth, who could have damned him, who could have righteously consigned him to the pit of everlasting burning, the man who stands before men and lives among men with a heart suffused with the wonder of redeeming grace, cannot be a harsh man. He'll be compassionate and he'll be sensitive to people. Isn't that the whole teaching of the parable in Matthew 18?

58:45 Here was this man who showed no sensitivity to others. And God says, in essence, it's because the spirit of forgiveness was never, never implanted in his own breast. Oh, my dear preacher friends, we're not trafficking in words and notions, even good Calvinistic words and notions. We traffic in the word of the living God, in the presence of the people of God, who get emotionally upset like that poor widow did, and like poor Obadiah.

Predominant Manward Graces: Humility and Piety (Preview)

59:18 And we need to manifest the grace of compassion and sensitivity. And then he manifested, and I shall just mention these and then we'll be done. He manifested great humility. And I think I will open them up tomorrow.

59:34 I feel that's what we ought to do. Humility and consistent personal and domestic piety. And I think it'll warrant treating these subjects, so I'll quit now so we can get some lunch. Let's pray.

Conclusion and Prayer

59:48 Oh Lord, our great and holy God, we would confess with shame that we have so wickedly abused the great privilege that is ours as your people, of standing before you. You've allowed other things to fill our minds, to shape our motives, to govern our lives before others. And we pray that by the mighty work of your Spirit, we may be brought to that place where the formative principle in the life of this man may become the formative principle in our lives. Work in us by the same grace that worked in Elijah. Hear our prayer. We ask through our Lord Jesus Christ.

60:49 Amen.