Jehovah is God

Review: Why Study Elijah and His Historical Context

0:03 Last Lord's Day evening, I announced that we were embarking on a study focusing upon the life and ministry of Elijah the prophet. And I sought to cover two main areas of consideration which were more or less spreading the table before digging into the meat upon the table. I sought to answer the question, why study the life of Elijah? And the answer was twofold, because of the attainability of the pattern of his life.

0:36 He is called a man of light passions, made of the same stuff of which you and I are made. And he was what he was by the grace of God, and so as we seek to be God's men and God's women, we have a pattern in Elijah of that which the grace of God will do for us. And then the second reason is not personal, but corporate. There is a distinct parallel between Elijah's day and ours, and as we see God's answer to the dilemma of that day, I believe we will receive directive concerning God's answer for the dilemma of our day.

1:16 Then the second great area of consideration last Lord's Day evening was an attempt to put the life and ministry of Elijah in its proper setting. We don't want to look at the actor upon the stage until we first see him. First of all, ask, is there any significance in the stage scenery? And so last Lord's Day evening we considered the scenery upon the stage prior to and at the time of the appearance of Elijah.

1:45 I tried to get you to think with me concerning the place of Israel in the larger context of Scripture, where God is not simply giving us some stories about the Israelites because that was the best he could do. But this is part of the whole history of redemption. God is purposing to bring through this nation Messiah, the Savior of the world. And his immediate purpose for Israel is that prior to the coming of Messiah, she might be a witness in the midst of heathen, polytheistic, idolatrous nations of the worship of the true and the living God, Jehovah.

2:24 The immediate context of Elijah's ministry is that terrible state into which the Lord, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit had come under the wicked leadership of Ahab and Jezebel. And we noted four things that showed the height of wickedness to which the nation had come. There was an open repudiation of the worship of Jehovah and adjoining to the worship of Baal. There was an attempt to obliterate all true worship, tearing down the altars and slaying the prophets.

2:53 There was open defiance of God during the days of Ahab, a man sought to rebuild the Jericho, defying God to fulfill his promise that whoever did so would do so with the loss of his firstborn. And then there was this aggressive, evangelistic endeavor to establish heathenism. Eight hundred and fifty prophets who ate at the table of Jezebel, who sought to establish Baal worship with all of its polluting influence, Baal worship involved all kinds of immorality in the very temples and places of worship. And when this is true of the leaders, you can understand what is true of the followers.

3:34 And as we think of the stage, as it is set for the appearance of Elijah, we receive a tremendous warning. Israel in sixty years' time had come from her height of glory under Solomon to this terrible state under Ahab because someone was willing to give a little bit sixty years before. And the beginnings of sin are to be feared. And the beginnings of sin are to be feared.

3:58 And the beginnings of sin are to be feared. As much as the end result. And yet a word of encouragement. Because no sooner does God paint this terrible picture than we begin in chapter 17 and Elijah, into the midst of this dark, dreary picture comes this servant of the Most High God.

God's Method: Men, and Introduction to 1 Kings 17:1

4:18 And then a very practical word of instruction that God's method is men. How is God going to vindicate his name? How is he going to turn back the Holy Spirit? back the hordes of wickedness he brings a man upon the scene and this is ever God's method and the work of God advances as men and women of God are made and shaped and molded by him and directed to stand as light and salt in the midst of their own generation so much for our review now consider with me the first verse of first Kings chapter 17 and Elijah the Tishbite who was of the sojourner of Gilead said unto Ahab as Jehovah the God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word as we try to think our way through this text consider with me in the first place the man who stands stands before Ahab, in the second place, the pronouncement he makes in the presence of Ahab, and in the third place, some of the implications of the man and his message which we confront

The Man Elijah: His Name, Residence, and Spiritual Experience

5:38 in this first verse of the 17th chapter. Someone has said he comes out of nowhere just like he left, comes with a whirlwind and leaves in a whirlwind and in the chariots of God. Without any previous introduction, nothing in the subsequent history to tell us anything about this man, he comes as one servant of God says, a Mount Sinai of a man with a heart like a thunderstorm. This rugged individual described in 2 Kings 1.8 as a man, either a hairy man or a man dressed in hair, a man much like John the Baptist or one whom John the Baptist approximated, an unusual man. One of God's eccentrics, one of those who doesn't fit the pattern, but God's man for the other. As we try to understand him, the materials are very few as far as his background, his history, but there are some suggestions here that perhaps will help us to understand who is this man, Elijah, that we confront in the first few words of this 17th chapter. First of all, consider his name, and Elijah, the Tishanite.

6:54 His very name means, my God is Jehovah. Now, whether this name was given to him by pious parents, or whether this name was given to him by God when he called him, scripture is utterly silent. But one thing is true, that we learn much about the man by his very name, and I have emphasized from time to time that biblical names generally are significant. To us, a name is nothing, but a legal title, a handle by which people can take hold of us instead of somebody else.

7:29 They say of Willie Maize, they call him the Say-Hey Kid, because he forgets names, and he always, when he sees people, says, Say-hey!, and that's the way he gets your attention. Well, I'm glad we're not all Say-heys. You've got a name, Mary, John, Pete, George, Al, but it's just a handle by which somebody can take hold of you rather than someone else.

7:49 But often, in scripture, a name was not just a handle by which people might be taken hold of, but it was a picture of what they were in life and in ministry. And if ever this was true, it was true of this man Elijah. For his name, my God is Jehovah, is a beautiful summary both of the secret of his life and the whole thrust of his mission. As we study the life of Elijah, we will be forced to ask again and again, whence this boldness? Whence this tremendous stature spiritually? Whence this courage? Whence this strength? Whence this regard for the glory and honor of God? Whence this largeness of heart, the tenderness, a man so rugged and yet so tender,

8:41 the Timken roller bearing ad that you've seen, the man with the big square jaw and the stubbly beard and you see him stroking little cats. So tough, but oh, so gentle. When you see this mighty man stretched out on the lifeless form of a little child, praying the holy vehemence, God restore the life. Somehow you just say that you just don't find these two things together. A hairy, rugged individual with the heart of the, as we read earlier here, the heart of a thunderstorm and yet so tender with a little infant. The only answer is he was what he was. By the grace of God. His name is the secret of his life. His God was Jehovah and his God made him

9:26 what he was. Not only is his name a hint at the very secret of his life, but the very essence of his mission. For he was brought upon the stage at this point in the history of Israel to do what? To show that Baal, to whom the nation had joined itself, was not God, but that Jehovah, whom they had forsaken, was in.

9:48 Indeed, the living God. So that the very name of Elijah constantly reminded people of the great, crucial issue of their day. Who is God? Baal or Jehovah? For you remember when there was that conflict upon Mount Carmel, which we shall study in subsequent lessons and messages. What was the cry that God elicited after that mighty demonstration of his power? What was it? The Lord, he is God.

10:19 Jehovah, he is God. That was the whole thrust of the mission of Elijah. And so we learn something of the man, first of all, from his name. Then scripture records for us his residence. What do we learn about this man from his residence? And Elijah the Tishbite. Was there such a place as Tishbe? We don't know.

10:43 And the archaeologists and the people who give themselves to writing Bible dictionaries and Bible history, they have conjectures and they say, it may be this, it may be that. But if they're honest at the end, they say, we don't know. But we do know something concerning the next phrase. Who was of the sojourners of Gilead?

11:03 He was of the sojourners of Gilead. We know nothing of Tishbe, but of the inhabitants of Gilead, yes. Gilead lay east of the Jordan. It was a wild and rugged country.

11:18 And their hills were covered with shaggy grass. It was a shaggy forest. Its awful solitudes were only broken by the dash of mountain streams. Its valleys were the haunt of wild beasts. This tells us something about the prophet.

11:36 He was accustomed to a rugged climate. He was a man who knew what it was to live close to the ground and close to the rugged hills where he dwelt prior to his showing before this king. And his wife. But that's all we know about him.

11:57 That he came from Gilead. His name was Elijah. Do we know anything about his religious experience prior to this time? We have the call of Jeremiah. We have the record of the call of Isaiah.

12:10 Even the call of that plow boy, Amos. He's out plowing one day and the call of God comes upon him. At least we know a little bit. This man Elijah just seems to come out of nowhere.

12:20 Had he been pious from his youth? We don't know. But one day...

12:24 One thing is certain as the story unfolds. This man had a deep acquaintance with the content of existing revelation. Whatever he had of the existing revelation of the first five books of Moses, this man had a deep acquaintance with its content and something else. He had experienced its intent. For as we'll see later on tonight, the very pronouncement he makes regarding the shutting up of the heavens and the fact that this was brought about by the Holy Spirit of God in answer to his own prayers, as we read in James 5, Elijah prayed that it might not rain, was based squarely upon his acquaintance with a section of Deuteronomy chapter 11. So here was a man who had a deep acquaintance with the content of Scripture, but something more than this. He had imbibed the spirit and the intent of Scripture. For when he complains before the Lord of the sad state of Israel, he says in 1 Kings 19 and verse...

13:26 I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. Here's a man who says, my life has been consumed with a passion that men might know Jehovah who is set forth in the books of Moses, that they might honor him as Jehovah, worship him as Jehovah, serve him as Jehovah. One thing to be acquainted with the content of Scripture, it's another thing to experience the intent of Scripture. You'll never know its intent until you know its content, but it's possible to be acquainted with its content and be a stranger to its intent. Here was a man who had grown both in knowledge and in what? Grace. Both were there. His understanding and his experience.

The Pronouncement to Ahab: 'Jehovah the God of Israel Liveth'

14:19 Beyond that, Scripture doesn't tell us anything about his prior religious experience before we see him here in 1 Kings 19. So much then about the man, and I can't go beyond what Scripture writes, and so I will stick with those meager materials. Consider with me in the second place then the pronouncement he makes to Ahab. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, well, where did he see Ahab? How did he get to Ahab? Which he doesn't tell us. One author conjectures, and I think in an interesting way, and I think it's... It's helpful to try to make the scene live, and I shall read just a couple of paragraphs.

15:07 Ahab and Jezebel might have been sitting in their Jezreel palace of ivory, congratulating themselves on the skill with which they had thrown down the altars of God in established Baal worship. When sudden and terrible as a clap of thunder from a cloudless sky, there swept in before them a weird-looking man with long, flowing hair. A mantle of sheepskin about his shoulders and a rugged staff in his hand, and before they could ask him who he was or why he had come, he had flung the gauge of defiance at their feet and said, as Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. Then his message given, he vanished like an apparition. Can you put yourself in the place of Jezebel and Ahab? Perhaps congratulating themselves with how successful they had been in slaying the prophets, and to their knowledge, they had wiped them all out. They didn't know that one of their

16:10 servants had hid a hundred of them in a cave. They thought they had done away with all prophets, and all of a sudden, this weird-looking man, looking something perhaps like one of our own twentieth-century hippies with his long, flowing hair, stands in their presence and doesn't bow down and say, Long live the king, may I have an audience. He comes in, shouts like a king, and he says, I have a word from Jehovah. He utters his word, and before the king can recoil from the shock of it, the man is gone. And every word in that pronouncement is full of rich meaning. Let's examine it. As the Lord, or Jehovah, the God of Israel liveth. Jehovah, the God of Israel. The first thing he told Ahab, and this was really an

17:07 interesting thing. He said, Ahab, you think that because you have renounced Jehovah, and have led a nation to do the same, that you have finished your dealings with Jehovah. I've got news for you. Though Israel has cast him off, God has not cast them off. He still has purposes, and he is the God of Israel. You think Baal is, but I've got news for you, Ahab. Jehovah. Is Israel's God. For it was God who in sovereign grace and power had laid hold of Abraham to make of him a nation, and until God is done with his purposes through that nation, they will still be his nation, for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, as we read in the 11th chapter of the book of Romans. No, Ahab, though you have led the nation astray, God is not done with his people. He still has purposes. Purposes for them. As the Lord, the God of Israel. Now, the next word, again, rich with

18:20 meaning, as this God liveth. Remember we saw last week that God is dead theology was very popular then, because all of this wickedness had snowballed, and there was no evident judgment of God, and people were beginning to think maybe God is dead. That's when that man got bold enough to try to test God and build the wall of Jericho. God is dead. We can defy his laws and prosper. And so this rugged prophet announces, not only is God Israel's God still in spite of her apostasy, but he lives, and because he lives, Ahab, he's not like your idols of Baal, which have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, feet that cannot walk, but he lives, and because he lives, he sees, he hears, he knows, he feels, and he's about to act, and he will demonstrate. He is the living God. Ahab, you have mistaken the forbearance of God, and the long-suffering of God, and the patience of God for the absence of God. And don't men do that today? Break

19:29 his holy laws? Defy his rules? And you say, well, God doesn't do anything. He must not be there. No, no. Paul tells us in Romans, do you despise the goodness and the forbearance of God? He said, O doing, he says, your treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Oh, listen to me tonight, young people. Have some of you at times thought, well, really, you know, I think the pastor just gets carried away when he talks about judgment and the wrath of God. If I rebelled and don't repent, I seem to be getting along as good as anybody else. Some of you adults, maybe a praying wife, praying husband, praying mother and father, and say, really, they're threats and entreaties. Really, don't carry much weight with me. I get along just as well as those people that claim to be Christians. See, you're mistaking the forbearance of God for the death of God.

20:31 See? No, no, Ahab. The Lord, the God of Israel, is alive. You've mistaken his forbearance and his patience as though he were an absent God or a dead God, but he is the living God.

20:45 And then the next phrase, before whom I stand. That phrase, before whom I stand, is the same phrase which the angel Gabriel used when he came to make the announcement to Mary. I am Gabriel who stand in the presence of God, Luke 1 and verse 19. Or perhaps it's there that's referred to as his message to Zacharias, I believe it is.

21:13 But the principle is there. The angel Gabriel stands in the presence of God. It speaks of intimate relationship. speaks of availability, waiting for directive. It speaks of authority. I speak to you as one who comes from the presence of the God who commissioned me. Ahab, perhaps you wonder, who am I? A nobody out of nowhere to stand before you, the great king of Israel. Well, Ahab, I don't stand before you alone, but I stand in the presence of my God. Having received directions from my God as one accountable to this God. And hence we discover something of the strength and directive and authority of the life of the prophet Elijah, for he was conscious as he stood before the king who had all the power of that kingdom at his disposal. He stood also before one before whom that king and all his nation but his grasshoppers, according to Isaiah chapter 40. Now, notice his pronouncement. The words, as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom

The Pronouncement: No Dew Nor Rain, and Its Basis in Deuteronomy 11

22:30 I stand, there shall be no dew or there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. What a strange pronouncement. And if we're to understand something of the tremendous implication of this, as Ahab heard it for the first time, we've got to understand a little bit of the geography of Palestine. When God was about to bring His people into the land He told them, as recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 11, and this is the passage to which I referred earlier, one that Elijah apparently was thoroughly acquainted with and formed the basis of his prayer. Deuteronomy chapter 11. God is exhorting His people to keep His commandments and His precepts. And He says in verse 10, Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 10. verse 10. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt from when

23:32 she came out, where thou sowest thy seed and waterest it with thy foot as a garden of herbs. Egypt, being situated with the Nile and its tributaries, had a tremendous system of irrigation ditches, and the slaves would have a foot treadle that acted like a little paddle wheel and would pump the water, so you didn't need rain in Egypt. You had the rich Nile, this never-ending supply of water, so you had your irrigation system, so whether there was rain or not, you were able to raise your crops. But he said, now, the land into which you go is not like Egypt, where you watered it with the foot treadle, with your foot, but the land whither ye go over to possess it is a land of hills and valleys. You can't run irrigation ditches up hills and through valleys. And drinketh water water. of the rain of heaven, a land which the Lord thy God careth for. The eyes of the Lord thy God are

24:30 always upon it from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. And it shall come to pass if you'll hearken diligently to my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lord and serve him with all your heart. Now notice that I will give you the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain and thy new wine, and thine oil. And I will give grass. By giving the rain, I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full. What is this early and latter rain? Well, as I've tried to get some agreement from those who know the situation there in Palestine, it's something like this. Around November, you will get heavy rains that will soften up the ground for the plowing and the sowing. And then there will be some intermittent rains, but not much rain,

25:22 until around April or May, you get what's called the latter rains, heavier rains, which help the crop just before it's ready to be harvested and bring it to its full development. And then after the harvest, there's a period of almost six months from May to November when there are no rains. And during that time, they're dependent for the growth of grass upon the heavy dews that fell. And you remember in Scripture, you find many references to the dew.

25:53 In Psalm 133, where the brethren dwell together, it's like the dew that comes down from Hermon. You have this reference also in Deuteronomy chapter 33 and 28. Will you look at this for a moment? Well, this fits into an exposition of this text. Deuteronomy 33, 28. And Israel dwelleth in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine. Yea, his heavens drop down dew. You see, it's like the dew that comes down from Hermon. It's like the dew that comes down from Hermon.

26:26 You see, one of the blessings they had was the heavy dew to sustain them during that period when there was no regular rain. Now, do you begin to get the picture? In a time when you had no frozen foods, in a time when you had no dehydrated foods, no canned goods, but you are dependent for your sustenance upon that which grows in the field, whether it's your meat from the cattle or whether it's your vegetation, your vegetables from the field. Now, God had said, as long as you obey me and keep my commandments, I will see to it that there will be enough rain early and latter, that there will be abundance of crops, abundance of grass for your cattle to feed. All of your needs will be met. But here, Elijah stands in the presence of the king and says, no rain and no dew until I tell you there's going to be some. And he makes the existence of God hinge upon this pronouncement, nothing to give moisture to the fields. In other words, there

27:40 will be a cutting off of the staff of life by shutting up the rains of heaven and withholding the dew of heaven. Now, trying to fit together the gospel record where it speaks, James, where it speaks of three and a half years and the other record which speaks of three years, probably this pronouncement came toward the end of that normal dry period when Ahab and Jezebel and others were just beginning to look forward to the early rains that would prepare the soil for next year's crops. But at least they had been having the dew, no rain for a six-month period. This would seem to tie the records together so that from this point on, it was three years, but the entire period when there was no rain would move backward to the last latter rain in that May and would dovetail the records so that you have the record. And that's what I'm talking about. So that you have the three and a half years, which, by the way, is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. It's not twisting scripture. And those that are determined to find contradictions

Why This Pronouncement? Consistency with God's Word and Suitability to the Conflict

28:39 will find a thing like this and say, aha, contradiction. And there's no contradiction at all. One record may be speaking of the time from the period of the pronouncement, the other from the entire period. If so, then Elijah had already been exercised in prayer before he came to Ahab. For James tells us that he prayed that it might not rain, but he had already been deeply concerned that the heavens would be shut up. Now, why? We've looked at the words of his pronouncement. Now consider with me why he made such a pronouncement. And may I give two reasons. Number one, it was consistent with the word of God. And number two, it was perfectly suited to the basic spiritual conflict of the hour. Why was it consistent with the word of God? If you'll turn back to Deuteronomy 11, you'll see that it was consistent with the word of God.

29:32 Deuteronomy 11, I'll pick up reading where I left off at verse 16 of chapter 11. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside to serve other gods and worship them. And the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit, and ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord Jehovah giveth. What could be clearer? Elijah was acquainted with this portion of Scripture. He sees under Ahab that not only are they doing what they did under Jeroboam, worshiping Jehovah under the figure of the calf, but they have actually cast off the worship of Jehovah, have joined themselves to the worship of Baal and Asherah, and are serving these gods. And this man of God who's jealous for the glory of God, for the veracity and truth of God, and for the glory of God, and for the glory of God, is exercised in prayer. He sees the nation given over to wickedness, but apparently no judgment from God, and his soul is vexed. And he says, O God, what will men think of you?

30:45 I'm jealous for the Lord of hosts. I'm jealous for your honor, for your truthfulness. And Lord, if you're to be true to your word, you must shut up the heavens, for that's what you said you would do. It's obvious that the condition has been fulfilled. They've been deceived. They've turned aside. They're serving other gods. Lord, you must be true to your word. And planting his feet upon this clear pronouncement of God according to James 5.17, he prays that it might not rain in somewhere at some point in his praying the conviction is born to his heart as only the praying man knows when that conviction is born to the heart that God is heard. And he goes in the name and authority of Jehovah before whom he stands, and he makes the pronouncement, then will be shut up. Why did he make such a pronouncement of all the different judgments that could come? Reason number one is it was consistent with the word of God. What a tremendous lesson

31:46 about biblical praying. What is biblical praying? It's discovering the mind of God is revealed in scripture and then pleading with God to bring to pass that which he has declared to be his will. You have an example of it with Daniel. He said, I understood by the books, that the people of God were to be in captivity for 70 years. So he said, I set myself to pray to the God of heaven. Prayer is not just going to God like a spoiled child in November, whimpering to his mom and dad for every little toy and trinket that he sees, hoping it'll be spread beneath his Christmas tree in December. That's not praying.

32:29 Praying is seeking to discover the mind of God as contained in scripture, and then being so jealous that what God is declared to be his will be performed in you and in others in the church. And in the world that you then plead with God to make good that which he has promised. There's no better definition of prayer or description of prayer, I don't believe, more simple and yet profound than that given in the children's catechism. What is prayer? And the answer is prayer is asking God for that which he has promised to do. That's what prayer is. So you can't separate true praying from a mind and spirit saturated with the content and the intent of Holy Scripture. For you see, had he simply known the content, he would have said, oh, fine, God said he'll do it, and in his own time he will.

33:19 No, no. He was so jealous for the glory of God that he said, Lord, you must do it now. You must do it now.

33:27 Lest your name be further defamed and your glory torn down. Now, the second reason why this pronouncement was made, I said, was not only that it was consistent with the word of God, but perfectly suited to the basic conflict of the hour. What was the conflict? We mentioned it earlier with the name of Elijah.

33:49 The conflict was, who is God? Baal or Jehovah?

33:55 What was Baal? We looked at this last week. Basically, Baal was the God of productivity and material prosperity. It's Baal who sends the rain and good crops.

34:05 It's Baal who will give us increase of family and field of flocks and herds. So, Elijah's pronouncement strikes to the very core of the conflict. Who is God? Who controls the heavens and the fields and the produce?

34:25 Is it Baal or is it Jehovah? No sense parrying. No sense beating around the bush. Ahab, I'm going right to the core of the issue.

34:37 No dew, no rain. Barren fields. Countryside. Cattle with their ravens.

34:47 Their ribs almost sticking through their flesh. Crying babies because there is no food. Heartbroken fathers and mothers who must listen to the whimper of little children with their distented tummies. Seeing the flesh fall away until they're nothing but a little hideous structure of bone and bloated bellies.

35:19 That's what happens in famines. And a man of God said that's what's going to happen in Israel. Because this was the crucial issue. And he makes this particular pronouncement because it was suited to the conflict.

35:37 Ahab, God's going to show you that he controls everything. Not only the clouds, when they gather and how they gather and when they distill. But, have you thought of this matter? This has fascinated me this past week as I've been thinking about it.

35:53 When do you get dew? Well, when you have certain atmospheric conditions. When it cools down at night. So that the cooler air can't contain the moisture it had when it was warmer.

36:04 The warm air can hold more moisture. What happens? The moisture's got to go somewhere. And so it distills as dew.

36:11 God is saying, I'm going to control even the atmospheric conditions. Day by day. I'm going to let you know, Ahab, that though you thought these were just the laws of nature in operation. They have been my hand of goodness and kindness and long suffering.

36:28 In spite of all your wickedness. But you've misinterpreted it, Ahab. And I'm going to show you that I control even the conditions that distill a drop of dew on a blade of grass. And Ahab, you can go out with a magnifying glass until I speak again.

36:42 And you won't find one drop of dew on a blade of grass in all of Israel. That's his pronouncement. Now, what were the results of it? Well, a little bit later on in the chapter we see something of the results.

The Terrible Results of the Pronouncement: Famine and Suffering

36:59 This is not our study tonight. But we just want to see the results of it. He goes to a widow right on the fringes of Israel. This Gentile widow.

37:11 And what is she doing? She's going out to find a few sticks to go back and cook the last meal. So that she and her son may die. 1 Kings 17.

37:23 Notice. Verse 12. And I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it and die. Jesus said in Luke 4.

37:35 Were there not many widows in the days of Elijah the prophet? See, we read over this and we don't catch the terrible horror of this thing. Three years of cutting off of the staff of bread and of life. No preparation as there was in Joseph's day.

37:52 Remember, things got so bad. But he had had those visions. And as the leader down in Egypt, he had stored it up. And so his father, wealthy enough, could buy the sacks of grain.

38:00 Nowhere to buy it. Many widows. As I hinted before, the tragedy of famine that came. The cry of the hungry children.

38:12 The whimpering little ones. The agony of parents. And I ask the question, how can you justify this? Is Jehovah God some kind of a cruel tyrant?

38:28 No rain? Not even any dew? Isn't that unreasonable? Wouldn't they get the message if the heavens were shut up so there was no rain?

38:37 But no dew. No dew either. How do you justify it? Especially when the Bible says pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and the widows.

38:49 Where God condemns people who do not respond to the cry of the needy. And yet for three years, God himself will hear the cry of little, quote, innocent children. And be deaf to their cry. How do you justify it?

Justifying God's Actions: The Primacy of God's Glory

39:06 How do you justify it? And oh, if you forget everything else I say tonight, may God the Holy Ghost burn this into your heart. Listen. If you view life from a man-centered perspective, you can't justify this.

39:22 You'll close your Bible in anger and say, if that's the God of the Bible, I want nothing to do with him. And that's what many do. That's what many do. If your view of life is man-centered, the rights of man, the privileges of man, you'll never understand a passage like this.

39:40 But if you have the Bible's perspective upon life, you can even understand a tragedy like this. Will you listen carefully? The only answer as to why is this. The promotion and the preservation of the glory of God is the most important thing in the world.

40:04 Let me give it to you again. The promotion and the preservation of the glory of God is the most important thing in the world. Now does it fit? Here a nation has apostatized.

40:21 Here a nation has apostatized. God has set that nation in the midst of idolatrous nations to declare to those nations that he is the true God. His glory rests upon Israel. And when Israel sells itself into idolatry, the glory of God is, as it were, immersed into the excrement of their idolatry.

40:47 And God, fully cognizant of what will happen in terms of the tragedy, the human interest tragedy of three years, of drought, says there shall be no rain because I must bring my name and my glory out from that present state into which it has been brought by the idolatry of this nation. Once again, be Jehovah God in the eyes of my people in order that pure religion may be preserved in the earth. Please, the Astes 8 and verse 11 gives us a helpful comment. It tells us a helpful commentary on this very principle. Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

41:56 Suppose, if we may do that legitimately, God had not taken these drastic measures to settle the issue of who's God. and pure worship had been utterly submerged in the time of Ahab. Think of the unborn generations. They would not know that Jehovah is God.

42:16 God has purposes of grace to many yet unborn, and He will accomplish those purposes. And so in answer to the question, why? The answer basically is that the promotion and preservation of the glory of God is the most important thing in all the world, and the subsidiary answer is, remember, remember, God's dealing with sinners. Even so-called innocent children are sinners.

42:43 I get sick with the literature I get from groups that work with children, because I'm convinced the way they write, they really don't believe Romans chapter 5, as in Adam, all die. Ephesians chapter 2, that we are by nature children of wrath. They don't believe that. They've got children sort of semi-suspended somewhere between the state of being angels and devils between saved and lost.

43:09 Oh yes, they talk about Christ as Savior, but they really don't believe that those children are depraved, dead, blind, rebels.

43:21 They really don't. They really don't. That's why they talk about it being easy for children to be converted.

43:29 It's not easy for anybody to be converted. It takes the most mighty work that God has ever accomplished. With men, this is impossible, Christ said, but with God, all things are possible.

43:39 And so, if we get a biblical perspective and remember that those who experience, the terrible results of famine, remember they were sinners. And the only reason they didn't have famine all of their lives was according to Romans Acts 17 and Acts 14, that God is gracious even to the heathen nations in sending them food and bread and sustaining life.

44:05 If God gave any one of us what we deserved, it would not just be drought for three years. It would be the yawning mouth of hell for eternity.

44:15 When you begin to get that perspective, see, the world doesn't have that. They say, you're God of love. Look at this terrible mess. How can you explain that?

Practical Lessons: Source of Spiritual Boldness

44:22 I ask the question, how can you explain they're even allowed to live on God's earth when their sins cry out to Him day after day for judgment and He bears long with them? Oh, beloved, let's be biblical and God-centered in our perspective of these problems, even as we approach this subject here. Well, I want to hurry now to a conclusion tonight by considering briefly, what are some of the practical lessons we learned from this pronouncement. We looked at the man who stands before Ahab.

44:54 The pronouncement he makes, phrase by phrase, we've looked at its significance. We've asked the question, why this particular pronouncement? And the two-fold answer, it's consistent with Scripture. It is perfectly suited to the issue at hand.

45:10 The results of that pronouncement, famine, heartache, terrible results. Now, what are some of the lessons? We learned from this pronouncement. Well, may I suggest that there's a very vital and practical lesson to be learned for our lives as we look at the life of the man who made it.

45:33 When you look at this thing, you ask yourself, who in the world does Elijah think he is, coming out of nowhere, unasked, unwanted, and make this kind of pronouncement? He's got an awful lot of gall, doesn't he? No, it's not a matter of gall, it's a matter of call.

45:51 Not a matter of call, it's not a matter of gall, it's a matter of call. The Lord has laid hold of him. He says, the Lord God liveth before whom I stand. Where are your credentials, Ahab?

46:02 I stand before Jehovah God. And if I stand before him, any other credentials are kid stuff. All when that grips you. The lesson you learn is that the secret of spiritual boldness is the cultivation of the knowledge of God, of the fact that you are accountable to God, and drawing strength from that God in the secret place of prayer.

46:27 The source of Elijah's boldness was not primarily his genes,

46:34 for if you have any kind of natural boldness, it had long since failed you when you had to go before a king and make a pronouncement like this. But the scripture says, I think it's Proverbs 28, the righteous is bold as a lion. The man who's been brought into right relationship with God and knows that he stands before God, that's the source of boldness. That's what caused these people in the days of the apostles to marvel.

47:04 This same crowd that scattered and fled when our Lord was crucified, now stand before the very same people and accuse them of being the slayers of Christ and command them to repent. It says, Beholding their boldness and knowing that they were ignorant and unlearned men, they said, They've been with Jesus, before whom I stand.

47:27 You find you lack boldness in your witness? You find you lack boldness as a parent to do what you know you ought to do? Isn't that a shame? You see parents trembling before their own children.

47:37 I've seen parents tremble before kids that weren't tall enough to hit them in the knee on their tiptoes. Trembling before their children.

47:47 Well, if you don't, but, you know, what has happened?

47:53 Tap him!

47:56 They're not standing before God. Conscious that God has given them the trust of that little child. God has given them the directions of how to reel that child so that when he's a big boy, a big teenager, big enough to squash him, you still stand up to him and you say, This is what goes as long as you're under this roof because I stand before Jehovah as his representative in this home to administer his rule. That's what will make you bold even when they're big enough to squash you.

48:22 That's the source of boldness. Standing before him, involving, of course, the life of prayer. He prayed in his praying as we saw last week. He had a right knowledge of God.

Practical Lessons: Effectiveness of a Single Committed Christian

48:34 He had at his heart this concept of the sovereignty and majesty, the majesty of God, conscious of the presence of God. And then, there's another very practical lesson in this passage as we think of the life of Elijah. And it concerns the effectiveness of a single Christian committed to the ways of God without reservation. At this time, God had 7,000 that he had reserved who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

49:01 But Elijah didn't know it and the rest of the nation didn't know it. The only one who knew it was God. And if God hadn't told us, we wouldn't know it. Where were they?

49:11 Were they protesting? Apparently not. They were Protestants who had become nothing but secret believers and separated brethren. They had been willing to just accept the anemic title of being non-enthusiast for Baal.

49:27 But they weren't known as people jealous for Jehovah, willing to be counted. And as far as Elijah knows, he's the only man as the subsequent history unfolds. He said, I even, I only am...

49:40 Though he was alone, he dared to face the whole structure of a nation. And God was pleased to fulfill the promise that he made in Joshua 23.10 where one would put a thousand to flight. The promise of Psalm 91.7 where a thousand shall fall at thy left hand and ten thousand at thy right. That may be a poor paraphrase, but that's the substance of the promise where God pledges that one man standing in the will of God, one woman standing in the will of God can be an instrument to turn back the combined efforts of hundreds of evil and wicked men. If that's true, how many here tonight? Sixty, seventy of us?

50:22 You profess to believe that Jehovah God is your God, the same yesterday, today, and forever? Do you stand before him in his presence?

50:35 Then the lesson should be you and I dare to ask God to turn back great bastions of wickedness and sin through our simple, humble obedience to his revealed will as we know what it is to wrestle with him as did Elijah and then to speak on his behalf with that holy boldness. I see then not only a lesson concerning the source of boldness but the tremendous effect of a single Christian committed to the ways of God. And then, of course, the third practical lesson we've already touched upon in all the interpretation of history, biblical, and secular. Start with God.

Practical Lessons: God-Centered Interpretation of History and National Concerns

51:21 What is God doing? What is God accomplishing? How does this reflect upon the honor and the majesty and the glory of God? If you start with man, you'll end up with man and you end up with confusion and hopelessness.

51:37 But if you start with God, then you see, even this generation and the mess we's in, the status quo that Mr. Sterrett spoke to us about last week, the mess we's in, you see, you can afford to be an optimist in the midst of it. God is not dead. He's exercising forbearance, the likes of which I've never seen in my brief life.

52:00 The sin of our nation cries up 24 hours a day. God judges. And He bears long. But now, what should our concern be?

52:12 Now listen, this has great implications for us. Listen, what should our concern be? God preserve America? No.

52:19 I've been jealous for... And I dare to pray, as I pray in this place, publicly and privately, Lord, men are going to go on thinking you're dead to show you're alive by terrible judgments.

52:41 It means that I and my family must be subject to some godless, tyrannical, outside power, so be it. But Lord, don't let this nation go on thinking that might is God and money is God and sex is God. Display that power, God.

53:03 And then I pray, Lord, if it would please you to do it, in revival, then do it. But don't do it any other way. Don't bring us back to national stability without Holy Ghost revival because then we will have the hurt of the daughter of the people of God healed slightly. Thinking all is well because we are prosperous nationally when the very cancer of humanism still lies at the core to destroy and damn yet unborn generations.

53:36 God's not committed to preserve America. The American way of life? He's committed to preserve His glory.

53:43 You say, you're not very patriotic. Oh, yes, I am. I still get shivers when I hear the national anthem. I'm still filled with holy rage when I see patriotism looked upon as something for kids.

53:55 But, beloved, I am far more concerned with the glory of my God and of His Son and the preservation of the American flag.

54:07 Are you?

54:09 Are you? Are you?

54:14 You see how this affects us even in the political field? In the political year, what should our passion be? Lord, be pleased to bring to the heads of government those that might so order as far as their influence is allowed to do a structure in which the gospel will do its work. And what is that structure according to 1 Timothy chapter 2?

54:35 Pray that we shall live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness.

54:42 Now you take the application to your own heart and seek under God. But as you stand in your generation, as Elijah did in his, you'll be able to say that the great passion of your heart is I have been jealous for Jehovah.

Conclusion and Next Steps

55:04 Well, the Lord willing, we shall pick up the story of our friend Elijah as now the word of the Lord comes, a very strange word, and he goes to sit by a book that's going to dry up and some wonderful lessons I trust for our edification and for our life. And for God's glory. Let us pray.