Where Sin Abounds Grace Much More Abounds

Introduction: The Context of Abounding Sin and God's Vindication

0:03 1 Kings chapter 18. A number of you who are with us tonight were away last week visiting relatives and friends as we read the first 19 verses of this chapter and considered something of the character study of this wicked king Ahab as found in these verses. Tonight we shall be considering another one of the men who passes before us in this record and in order to have the facts of the record before us I shall read again the first part of this chapter verses 1 to 16. 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 there was a sore famine in Samaria and Ahab called Obadiah which was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly for it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

1:25 And Ahab said unto Obadiah go into the land unto all fountains of water and unto all brooks. Peradventure we may find grass to save the horses. And mules alive that we lose not all the beasts so they divided the land between them to pass throughout it Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself and as Obadiah was in the way behold Elijah met him and he knew him and fell on his face and said art thou that my Lord Elijah or better rendered is it thou my Lord Elijah and he answered him. I am go tell thy Lord behold Elijah is here and he said what or better translated where in have I sinned that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me. As the Lord thy God liveth there is no nation or kingdom whither my Lord hath not sent to seek thee and when they said he is not there he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they found thee not and now thou sayest go.

2:36 I am go tell thy Lord behold Elijah is here and it shall come to pass as soon as I am gone from thee that the spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not and so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find thee he shall slay me but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth was it not told my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord how I hid an hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water. And now thou sayest go tell thy Lord behold Elijah is here and he shall slay me and Elijah said as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand I will surely show myself unto him today so Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Let us once again look to God in prayer that he might bless this portion.

3:37 His word our father we come to thee for thy special help by the Holy Spirit that he who seeks to speak your word as well as those who listen may be conscious of the present ministry of the Holy Spirit Lord you know the peculiar needs of your people and of your servant out of the bounty that is in Christ Jesus meet those needs we pray. Amen. As we look to you in confidence and in expectation through Christ our Lord. Amen.

4:22 I remind you that Israel is still where she was when the prophet appeared upon the scene in chapter 17. She has cut herself off from the worship of Jehovah joined herself to the worship of Baal and now is smarting beneath the chastening hand of God because of her sin. Almost three years. There has been no Jew no rain and the evidence of this terrible eastern drought is everywhere to be seen but particularly in Samaria that is that plot of land characterized or not characterized but committed to the ten northern tribes the area where Ahab reigned as king so that the deepest frown upon God's brow was directed to Samaria the place where this wicked king reigned. God is going to vindicate his. Name as well as bring rain upon his people through the prophet Elijah. And yet as he moves the prophet out to this conflict upon Mount Carmel.

5:25 We have this almost interesting digression in which the character of the man Obadiah as well as the man Ahab are enlarged before our eyes and I would remind you that nothing in this narrative is irrelevant to the total picture. And when we began to study the life of Elijah I said that one of the reasons was. That there are lessons to be gleaned from what God did in this dark period of Israel's history that will help to give us directive as to what we should ask God to do and expect him to do and believe he is doing in this dark period of the history of the church and of the history of our own nation and land. Last week we looked at this section and what it tells us of the exceeding sinfulness of sin as it comes to focus in the life of this wicked king Ahab. And as we considered the facts of the narrative we saw that there's no explanation for the conduct of this king surrounded with such tremendous privilege than the corruption and deception and depravity of the human heart. Now tonight we want to focus upon this second character who comes before us this man called Obadiah who is by way of contrast a wonderful picture of godliness. And so we're going to look upon Obadiah.

The Essence of Obadiah's Godliness: The Fear of the Lord

6:45 Under the general heading of where sin abounds grace is much more about does this chapter set forth the abounding sinfulness of a half yes it does but blessed be God it sets forth the abounding grace of God in the life of a man named Obadiah now consider with me then in the first place the essence of the godliness of this man the first thing that is said about him is this first three and they have called Obadiah which was the governor of Israel. Obadiah which was the governor of Israel. Obadiah which was the governor of Israel. That is the ruler of his household sort of a foreman in the administration of all of the affairs of his household now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly the essence of the godliness of this man who is a picture of the principle that where sin abounds grace does much more abound is described in these words that he feared the Lord now of all the ways that he feared the Lord. Obadiah which was the governor of Israel.

7:46 That is the ruler of his household sort of a foreman in the administration of all of the affairs of his household now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly the essence of the godliness of this man who is a picture of the Godly that godliness can be described it's interesting that the Holy Spirit directed the writer of first kings to use this particular description it does not say that he trusted the Lord that he loved the Lord that he honored the Lord but that he feared the Lord I trust some time to bring a message or two or three or more perhaps on the whole subject of the fear of God but we'll not understand the life of Obadiah nor the message that God would convey to us from this passage unless we have it. At least a basic understanding of what this description means now Obadiah feared the Lord now the fear of God involves at least two different concepts one it's that fear that is characterized by being afraid or dreading something the fear that elicits anguish and terror after Adam sinned he hid from the presence of the Lord and in Genesis three and verse.

8:47 Sixteen we read these words I'm sorry Genesis three and verse ten and he said I heard my voice in the garden and I was afraid this was a fear that elicited dread and anguish and terror he ran from God why because he had sinned and he had reason to be afraid of God for God had said the soul that sinned it it shall die and we live in a day when people say well this I did that you should dread God and have any terror at the sense of God is entirely foreign to a right relationship to God no it isn't any man who ought to dread and have terror at the thought of God and doesn't is a fool he seared his conscience and when a man has sinned and is under the wrath and judgment of God he ought to have fear and dread because the scripture says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God for our God is a Christian.

9:50 Consuming fire even in the child of God this element of fear is not absent when you think of the consequences of your sin there ought to be fear and Jesus even encourage this kind of fear when he said in Matthew ten twenty eight fear not them which kill the body and after this have no more that they can do but fear him who's able to cast both soul and body into hell that's not reverential all that's dread and horror at the thought of what God has done. God will do to me if I don't comply with his commands and if you sit here tonight and you're not under the canopy of God's gracious forgiveness in Jesus Christ if you had your wits about you if you were not blinded by the God of this world you wouldn't spend one waking moment without trembling with holy dread for the scripture says the wrath of God abideth upon him that believeth not you're under a canopy of divine wrath that could crash upon your head at any moment.

10:51 There is that aspect of the fear of God. Terror anguish at the thought of what his judgment might bring. Then there is the other aspect of the fear of God which is what we might call the fear of reverence that elicits confidence and love. On the one hand you have the fear that involves being afraid elicits anguish and terror running from God.

11:19 On the other hand you have that fear of reverence. Knowing who he is and seeing in him that which is majestic and glorious there is the eliciting of confidence and love in such a God. A recognition of who God is of his presence of his claims of our dependence upon him so that the practical issue with this aspect of the fear of God is this and now I quote from Professor Murray. The first thought in every circumstance.

11:52 Is God's relationship to me in that circumstance and his relationship to that circumstance my relationship to him. The man who walks in the fear of God has such a regard for the character of God that in every situation his first regard in that situation is I am related to God in this thing what should I do to please him he is related to me he knows all the circumstances. I. A.

12:22 Seek to conduct myself in a way that will bring praise and honor unto him. And so it is said of Obadiah. That he feared the Lord great amidst all of the wickedness of a have scored. Amidst all of the aggressive attempts to block out true religion by a have and by his wife Jezebel so violent that she even unleashes the sword to slay the prophets of the Lord.

12:51 There's no. Ex. for the conduct of this man, but that the essence of his godliness was the fear of the Lord. In every situation there was something that mattered more than the frown and the furor of Ahab and Jezebel.

13:07 It was this, what will my God say? What will my God think? What will please or displease my God? And so the essence of his godliness is set before us as the fear of the Lord.

13:23 Let me say by way of brief application that if you sit here tonight as an unregenerate person, in reality the basic reason why you are in that state is you have no fear of God before your eyes, as Romans 3.18 says. For if you regarded who God was in his majesty and his infinite grace and condescension, you could no longer hold back from utterly casting yourself at his feet.

13:51 And the reason you do not is because you do not, fear him. In the second sense, the reason you do not repent and turn from your sin is that you do not fear his terrible wrath in the first aspect of that fear. So much then for what scripture describes as the essence of his godliness. Now consider with me what scripture says about the measure of his godliness.

The Measure of Obadiah's Godliness: Quantity and Duration

14:16 It says two things, one about the quantity and the other about the duration. In verse 3 we read, Obadiah feared the Lord, greatly, that deals with the quantity, and in verse 12 Obadiah adds another concept. He says in the latter part of the verse, but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. That says something about the duration of his fear of the Lord.

14:44 Let's consider those two things briefly.

14:47 He feared the Lord greatly. The grace of God is qualitatively the same wherever it lays, and it takes hold of a fellow or girl, a man or woman. There is no such thing as child salvation, teenage salvation, adult salvation, and senile salvation. Or old timer salvation.

15:08 It is one salvation. And whenever God in his grace regenerates a man or woman, a fellow or girl, the work that he does is qualitatively the same at every level.

15:23 Qualitatively the same. He takes them out of darkness into light. Takes them out of the kingdom of God. the devil into the kingdom of his dear son. He writes his law upon the heart, puts his spirit within them, justifies them, blots out their sins. Now, their awareness of this and all the rest, granted, different. The way that he brings them to that work of grace, different. All of the circumstances, different. Jesus said the ways of the Spirit in saving men are like the wind in John chapter 3. But qualitatively, the work of God's grace is the same in all dispensations, in all ages, at all levels. When the grace of God has been operative in a man, the improvement, as the old writers say, we would say the development and the growth in grace, there is a quantitative difference. So that John, writing his letter, 1 John, speaks of little born ones, little children. He speaks of young men. He speaks of old men. Hebrews chapter 5 says,

16:30 when you ought to be teachers, you have need that someone teach you again the very ABCs. You are like little children when you ought to be grown men. Well, you see, what do children and grown men have in common? Well, qualitatively, they have this in common. They have human life. But quantitatively, there is a greater development of that life in the adult than there is in the child, intellectually, physically, and should be, of course, emotionally and spiritually, and in every other way. So when Scripture says, when you ought to be teachers, you have need that someone teach you again the very ABCs. So when Scripture tells us that this man feared the Lord greatly, it was reminding us of that principle, that he was not only a child of God, a recipient of divine grace, but here was a man who was not content with small measures of grace. Here was a man who longed to abound in grace, who longed and strove to excel in the fear of the living God. He had the spirit

17:32 who said this, who dared to pray, God, make me as holy as a redeemed sinner can be this side of heaven. You see, not content with the measure of grace that would satisfy his own conscience that he was a Christian, not content with a measure of grace that would enable him to be a good testimony to his family and his friends, but this was his holy passion. Make me as holy as a redeemed sinner can possibly be this side of heaven. There was a man who longed for grace. He was not content with the great quantities of the grace of God. The Apostle Paul is a picture of this. As an old man about to have his head chopped off, he says, this one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, I press toward the mark. That's an old man talking with years of experience behind him, and yet he's filled with this holy restlessness to press on that it might be said of him that he feared the Lord greatly. So much then for the quantity.

18:32 Of his godliness. Now will you notice what it says about the duration? I fear the Lord, he said, from my youth. Now that's an interesting statement, and I think it speaks worlds to us.

18:49 His name would indicate that he had godly parents. His name means servant of Jehovah.

18:57 As the nation of Israel was moving downward from the time that the northern kingdom was divided, and there was the beginnings of this change, he said, I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I fear the apostasy and Baal worship as they went up and worshipped the calves, worshipped Jehovah under the form of a calf and ultimately adopted Baal worship in its most crude form. Here were some parents who when they held their little boy in their arms and thought of what their ambitions would be,

19:26 they could express it no better than to give him the name Obadiah, servant of Jehovah. As they beheld the nation declining into Baal worship, they wanted the presence of that little boy playing in the neighborhood with other children whose parents were Baal worshipers to be a continual reminder there's someone in Israel who isn't happy with all of this.

19:51 And his very name would be a barb in the conscience of his peers, a barb in the conscience of the neighbors as they see this little boy Obadiah. He feared the Lord from his youth. He apparently had the blessing of godly parents whose ambition was no higher and no lower than that their son should be a servant of Jehovah. And as is often the case, early piety received from the hand of godly parents becomes in time eminent piety that will stand the test even of the court of Ahab.

The Blessing of Godly Heritage and Early Piety

20:31 As one reads Christian biography, at times he is struck with the amazing grace of God in breaking into the lives of adults, who've had nothing but spiritual barrenness and ignorance and the worst kind of profligate lives prior to their conversion. Men like John Newton. But I would say that for the most part, those who've been most eminently useful in the kingdom of Christ are those who were brought early in life to the feet of the Savior.

21:04 Who had the benefit and the privilege of godly instruction. Who then, when God savingly joined them to his dear son, perhaps in their teens or early manhood, all of that training of those years then was quickened to life and became subject to the ministry of the Holy Spirit within their hearts. It is said of this man that he feared the Lord from his youth. He lived at this time when Israel went over the hill and in spite of all of that from his youth, he feared the Lord and God says of him, he feared him greatly in the midst of all that apostasy.

21:44 Take courage, parents. It is possible to rear a godly seed in dark days.

21:51 Sometimes when I'm counseling with young Christian couples contemplating marriage and we talk about this whole matter of children and the biblical perspective on children, I've had them at times dead earnest and with a troubled look say, Pastor, is it right? Is it right to bear children and bring them into a world like this? Is it right?

22:14 Passages like these are a great encouragement. Here was a family who said, yes, it's right and we'll believe our God that our son shall be a servant of Jehovah in the midst of all this wickedness. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And if in days of what we might call relative spiritual blessing in Israel, the countryside was dotted with many little over-dials, servants of Jehovah, if this magnified the grace of God, how much more when the backdrop was nothing but blackness and there shone this little diamond that glowed in the midst of all of this. Servant of Jehovah, from his youth, apparently went through no wayward period, apparently went through no prodigal son experience. From his youth, a servant of Jehovah. Take instruction, young people, who have godly heritages. There is no greater blessing life can afford than to have the privilege of parents who have no higher ambition, but no lower ambition, than that you be servants of Jehovah.

23:27 And who let you know that that's their ambition. See, it's one thing, parents, to have that ambition hidden away in your heart. These parents weren't content. They stuck it on his name. He couldn't forget it. Every time he'd turn around, people'd say, hey, what's your name? Obadiah. Oh, servant of Jehovah.

23:47 It's obvious what your parents want for you, isn't it? Oh, parents, is it just as obvious to your children that that's your ambition for them? Is it?

24:00 Would you give me permission to sit down and ask your children and say, now you be judgment day honest with me, as you think of what your parents have as their ambition? What do you think their ambition for you is? Would they be able to answer without any hesitancy? Oh, they've made it clear in a thousand ways, their only ambition is that I be a servant of Jehovah. Rich or poor, known or unknown, doesn't amount to a hill of beans. All they want me to be is a servant of Jehovah. Dear parents, is that your ambition? We must not separate the apparent godly influence of these parents from the early and then the eminent piety of this man, Obadiah. And so, young people, thank God if you've got parents like that. It may bother you now. It used to bother me, because my folks made it obvious to me that that's all they wanted for me, was to be a servant of Jehovah. They couldn't have cared less, whatever other ambition I had, that it was anything less than being a servant of Jehovah. They let me know.

24:58 They were just downright sour on it. And I didn't like it.

25:04 Now I thank God for it now. So that when the Lord laid hold of me, I did not have to plow through walls of other parental ambitions. But I knew when God laid hold of me, and I told my mom and dad, there's nothing I can do but preach. I've got to preach.

25:23 To know that there's nothing that would thrill them more.

25:30 Young people, there's a lesson for you here as well. Don't believe the devil's lie that you can't really fear the Lord greatly and serve Him. Unless you've got to know a little bit firsthand what the world's like. This man feared the Lord from his youth.

25:45 He didn't know what it was like to go off with the other Baal worshippers and whooped it up. He didn't know anything of that. And yet, in this dark day, he stands as a monument to the grace of God. Well, so much then for the essence of his godliness, the fear of the Lord, the measure of his godliness, in quantity, he feared the Lord greatly in duration from his youth.

Evidence 1: Blameless Walk Before the Ungodly

26:09 Now we come to where we have the most material about this man's man, Obadiah, what we're calling the evidence of his godliness.

26:17 The whole teaching of Scripture is, by their fruit ye shall know them. In the day of judgment we'll be judged not according to our notions or our profession but according to our works. For what you do is the proof and the revelation of what you are. And Scripture does not merely tell us that he feared the Lord greatly and leave it up to us to just trust the fact that it was so because Scripture says it. But Scripture gives us evidence of what it means to fear the Lord greatly in the court of an Ahab.

26:49 And will you notice in the first place, the first evidence of this godly life was his blameless walk before the worst of the ungodly. How does this man come on the scene? Well, Ahab, poor blind man that he was, is concerned about his mules and about his horses.

27:17 The nation smarting under divine judgment, the wrath of God, hanging over his own head and all he's concerned about is his beast. Nonetheless, he's concerned about his beast and he wants to find water for them. As he thinks, now who shall I get to whom I can entrust this responsible task? He himself is king, is going to undertake in this mission. And apparently the reflex action is why there's only one man that I can trust with a task of such great importance as this. That this was so important to him was an evidence of his sinfulness but nonetheless it was important in his eye and he calls upon Obadiah. And so he says to Obadiah, you go this way and I'll go this way with absolute confidence apparently that Obadiah would be true to his mission and would come back and report to the king if he had found a place where he might water his animals. Here's a man who embodied in the Old Testament the injunction of 1st Thessalonians 4, 11 and 12 that we studied last Lord's Day moment. He apparently had learned

28:21 to study to be quiet, to do his own thing. For what purpose? That ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without. The way this man conducted his responsibilities in the household of Ahab was such that apparently Ahab was willing to tolerate his crazy religious notions and his fastidiousness about not involving himself in Baal worship.

28:48 He was willing to tolerate that because though he didn't want anything to do with his religion, he liked the fruits of it in the kind of a worker it made him. And so he entrusted him with this responsibility. You find precisely the same thing in the life of Daniel, in the life of Joseph. You find that very strange word in Philippians 4, 22 greet the saints that are in Caesar's household. Of all places for saints to be found, Caesar's household. But they were there. People who realize that being called of God into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ does not mean that one must leave the world and go into some kind of monastic order. But as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, in the calling wherewith God has laid hold of us, abide in that calling. Art thou called being a servant?

29:38 Seek not to be loosed. Art thou called being free? Seek not to be a servant. I think at times some of you who are the true children of God wrongly browbeat yourself that you're not experiencing more open persecution. You say the Bible says if the world hated me, it'll hate you. If it loved me, it'll love you. All that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution and nobody's throwing stones at you. Nobody's kicking you in the shins and spitting on you. And this troubles some of you. Well, remember the Bible not only teaches that there are times when the opposition and hostility of the human heart will break out into open, violent opposition, but there are times when God restrains the hearts of unregenerate men so that they respect and honor the fruits of grace and the servants of God. They want nothing to do with the fruits of grace. You see, Ahab wanted nothing to do with what made Obadiah what he was, that he was a worshiper and one who feared Jehovah greatly, but he liked the fruits of him. And there are times

30:40 even to this day when this is true, when men of the world are restrained in their bitterness toward the root of what makes a Christian a diligent, trustworthy workman. And they're willing to tolerate those foolish religious notions because the fruit of it is helpful to them. But it's a terrible thing when the ungodly Ahabs can look to some who profess to be Obadiahs and say, if that's what your religion does for you, you can have it. Apparently in all the pressures of that court this man's life was blameless even before the most ungodly.

Evidence 2: Treatment of God's Prophets

31:25 Second evidence of his godliness is his treatments of the prophets of God. You'll notice, you'll remember those who were with us last week, that one of the evidences of the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the life of Ahab was his treatment of the prophets. In general, he sought to slay them, he consented to Jezebel's desire, and then in particular his utter disrespect for the prophet Elijah. Now you have a direct contrast in this man Obadiah.

31:52 His treatment of the prophets in general is set forth in verse 4. It was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took in hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water and of his treatment of the prophet of God, Elijah, in particular. Verse number 7. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold Elijah met him and he knew him and he fell upon his face and said, Is it thou my Lord, Elijah?

32:25 As I pointed out last week, and I can only briefly touch on it because it would take too much time to enlarge upon it, I tried to show the principle of scripture that the treatment men give to the commissioned messengers of Jehovah is in reality their treatment of God himself. Jesus said, He that receiveth you, those whom he commissioned, receiveth me, he who was commissioned of God, and those who receive me, he said, receive him that sent me. So that our attitude and reaction to the servants of God who preach the word of God is in reality a revelation of our attitude to God himself. Now notice, it's our attitude to them as they preach the word of God. It doesn't mean we may like the way the prophet and the servant of God ties his tie or wears his hair. Those are inconsequential things. But we're speaking now of how we regard them as the mouthpieces of God.

33:25 Is it with respect and love and honor or is it with venom and disrespect and animosity? His attitude to the prophets is a revelation that he feared the Lord. For at risk to his own life, when Jezebel sets out to have all the prophets of God slain, he hides them and he uses them in good sense so that he doesn't put all his eggs in one basket. He puts fifty in one cave here and figures if she tracks those down, at least we'll have fifty more left in the cave over here.

33:55 He used good judgment and then when the prophet of God himself comes, he bows before him showing the greatest respect for him as the mouthpiece of God. So I submit by way of application that it's absolute folly for us to speak of submission to God and fear of God if we do not submit to his word as that word is expounded through his servants, through his children. The prophetic ministry is now confined to the written word and wherever that word is opened and applied to us, whether one believer to another or in the context of the local assembly through teaching, elders in whatever context speak not of love to God, of fear to God unless there is reverence for the word of God coming through the servants of God. We say that we fear the Lord and do not long to preserve the pure preaching of the word of God. We are deceiving ourselves of all the things that this man Obadiah could have done. Why does he focus his efforts upon hiding prophets and risking perhaps his own life in taking sustenance to them day after day? You feed

35:08 a hundred preachers, that's quite a task. I mean, he didn't just sneak a few candy bars in his pocket and happen to flip them off at the mouth of a cave. I'm fascinated in fact when we get to heaven, I want to ask Obadiah how'd you do it? You feed fifty preachers, I mean a hundred preachers, a hundred prophets now, bread and water, day by day. I don't know how he did it, but God enabled him to do it. He was seeking you see, to preserve the pure preaching of the word of God. And this is one of the greatest evidences of true godliness, that we not only respect the servants of God, but seek to preserve and maintain the pure preaching of the word of God. One of the great passions of our heart should be as a church that God will raise up young men upon whom his hand has been laid to preach the word.

36:01 That we will do all within our power to take under our wing young men whom we may be able to help train for the gospel ministry. Let us never become short-sighted and think in terms of selfish interests that will keep us from expending ourselves as did Obadiah to preserve pure preaching. He expended himself, risked his life to preserve pure preaching. May God grant that we should do likewise.

Evidence 3: Blameless Conscience in the Face of Calamity

36:33 Third evidence of his practical evidence of his godliness, not only his blameless walk before the ungodly, his treatment of the prophets of God, but notice the indication of his blameless conscience in the face of the prophet. Elijah comes to him and says, go tell your Lord, Elijah is here. Verse 9, and he said, wherein have I sinned that thou wouldst deliver thy servant to the hand of Ahab to slay me? You see, his first reaction is, well, if I do what you've told me, Elijah, a terrible calamity will come. Ahab will slay me because God will catch you away to preserve you. Then I'll be left to bear the brunt of Ahab's wrath. Now his conjecture was wrong. But notice what it reveals about his conscience. He says,

37:25 wherein have I sinned? I don't know of anything I've done to deserve this. Contrast his reaction with the reaction of that widow. When the calamity came and her son died, what does she say? Chapter 17 and verse 18, and she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance? You see, her conscience disturbed her in the face of calamity. My sin, have you come to bring it to remembrance?

37:58 But not so over Dio. At the face of impending calamity, he said, what have I done? As far as I know, I'm walking before God. In his fear, my conscience is void of offense. And I submit to you that this is the acid, test of the genuineness of your professed godliness.

38:20 Maintaining a blameless conscience before God. The Apostle Paul said in Acts 24, 16, herein do I exercise myself. The Greek word is strong. I put myself under rigorous discipline to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man.

38:44 What is the end of all the instruction and teaching and preaching that you as a Christian receive through this fellowship and anywhere else where the word of God is rightly preached? This is the end of all of this. 1 Timothy 1 5, the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfaithful. If all that we hear and the truth to which we are exposed is not producing in us a good conscience, then we're hearing in vain.

39:19 A conscience kept razor sharp by the honing influence of the word of God and yet a conscience that is gleaming. A conscience that isn't being eroded by the rust and acid of unconfessed sin and hidden truces with sin and uncleanness and rebellion and pride and the other sins that will cause the conscience to smart. Here's a man who fears the Lord greatly, which indicates you see, that he had not gotten a good conscience by cauterizing and I have somebody say, oh my conscience doesn't bother me about this, bother me about that. Well, it's a shame that it doesn't.

40:01 Because you see, it's an evidence that your conscience is not being honed by the word of God. But where a man's conscience is honed by the word of God and cultivating the sense of the presence of God, then you see little issues that would never make another man twitch will make this person smart and inwardly bleed and he'll cry to God in reaction against the thought of pride and the thought of lust and the thought of anger as much as the man who's actually given vent to these sins in an overt way.

40:34 I think it's accurate to say that my own experience as a pastor has confirmed this principle that unless a person is determined to attain a conscience sharpened by scripture, and maintain an unblemished conscience by short accounts and quick dealings with God in the area of sin, there will be no genuine growth in grace.

41:06 As I've tried to observe the growth of the people of the Trinity Church in the six and a half years I've been here, wherever I've been able to make any honest assessment, what to me is an honest assessment, I would say that one of the predominant factors is this. Those who've shown evidence of true growth, I don't mean have just got a lot more facts stored up in their noggins now, and if you push the right button can spill them out, but growth in terms of a greater hunger for God, a sensitivity to His will in all of this, are those who've sought to allow what they hear to hone the conscience to a razor sharp edge, and then have sought to keep the conscience gloomy by short accounts with God and with their fellow men. That make sense?

42:02 But others of you, you see, have been able to hear the same truth, but rather than let it hone the conscience, you've just pushed it aside, so the conscience is just as dull as ever, covered over with barnacles and rust,

Evidence 4: Confidence in the Word of Jehovah

42:15 and there's very little transference of what you hear into life and practice and attitudes. Why? Because you haven't sought to maintain the unblemished conscience. Well, I hurry on now to another indication of His godliness set before us in this passage. It's what I would call His confidence in the word of Jehovah. Notice the contrast in His reaction. When Elijah speaks, as it were, just off the cuff, and says to Him in verse 9, I'm sorry, in verse 8, and He answered him, I am Elijah, go tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah's here. Apparently in the original, it's just the word Elijah, because you notice in the King James, the is here in italics, which means they're supplied for the sense of smoother English. Go tell your

43:05 Lord, Elijah. Go tell your Lord, Elijah's around.

43:10 And He says, are you kidding? Man, if I do this thing, I'll have it. What have I done to deserve this? I've tried to serve the Lord. My conscience doesn't prick me. Haven't you heard what I did in hiding the prophets of God? Now notice, Elijah does not rebuke Him, and I've gotten very disgusted with some of the commentators who really pick at poor Obadiah. They just kick him around like a football because of the way he reacted to this.

43:34 Now, God says he feared the Lord greatly, and God gives the account of His concern. Now, how does Elijah react to it? Does he rebuke Him? And say, you disobedient rebel, you, why don't you do that? No.

43:46 He says, now, this is a true man of God.

43:49 All he needs to know is that what I say is bound by the word and character of God, and that'll settle it. So what does he say to him? Verse 15. As the Lord of hosts liveth, as Jehovah of hosts liveth, he binds this word with an oath, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today. That's all Obadiah needed. Obadiah went to meet Ahab. All he needed to know was that he had a word from the living God. That Elijah wasn't simply talking off the cuff when he said, go tell your Lord Elijah's here. But he was speaking as the mouthpiece of God.

44:30 And the moment Elijah says that and makes it clear that he speaks in the name of God, this man evidences part of true godliness in expressing confidence. In the word of Jehovah. Now, is there anything significant as to why Elijah identifies Jehovah as the Lord of hosts? When he stood before Ahab in chapter 17 in verse 1, he says, as the Lord Jehovah of Israel liveth. And we saw there was significance here. Ahab had led the nation into Baal worship. Saying in essence, Jehovah's no longer our God. And Elijah says, hey, I've got news for you. You may have cast off

45:15 Jehovah. He hasn't cast you off. He's still in the business of dealing with you as a people. As the Lord God of Israel liveth. He's Israel's God.

45:24 Now, why doesn't he say that here? But he changes and says as the Jehovah of hosts liveth.

45:34 Belobediah, who feared Jehovah greatly, who had godly parents, who apparently had the benefit of godly training, he knew the significance of the names of God. And this name of God, Lord of hosts, is that name which speaks of God as the creator, the preserver, the governor, the controller of everything in heaven and in earth, of armies and the nations of men. And he says to this man, Obadiah, all you need to do, Obadiah, is remember that Jehovah in whose name I speak, in whom you fear is Jehovah of hosts. Ahab is in his hands and he won't touch you apart.

46:16 From the purpose of the living God. And so, in eliciting this confidence in God, he turns, Obadiah now turns to accomplish his mission. And this brings out a very basic principle of the Christian life, namely that our confidence in God's word will rise no higher than our confidence in the God who speaks that word.

46:42 As the Lord of hosts liveth, remember who he is, Obadiah. Now, this is what he says. And remembering who his God was, he found it then relatively easy to believe and rest in what he had said. Isn't that the simple categorical teaching of Hebrews 11, 6? Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Says of Abraham, he was fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able to perform. His confidence in the word of the Lord was rooted in his confidence in the character of the God who gave that word. And so it is with us. Whenever you find it difficult to believe the promises, don't try to pump up faith in the promises. You need to fix your gaze afresh upon the promiser.

47:37 That's what you need to do. Who is he that has spoken this word? Isn't that what Jesus did in Matthew 6 and in other places? He says to his people, knowing that they doubt the promises that God would supply all the needs, what does he do? He directs them back to the heart of the promiser. He says, look, to the birds. God takes care of them. Are you not of much more value than they? Look into the heart of the promiser.

48:01 If he cares for little sparrows, certainly he cares for you.

48:07 Register. I don't know if I'm just talking to myself and at least maybe helping myself a little bit tonight. Isn't that the problem with us?

Evidence 5: Implicit Obedience to God's Word

48:20 Promises, sometimes we see them out there and they say, yeah, it's nice, but I'll look beyond them to the God who's given them. That's what Elijah did with Obadiah, and it worked. He turned and went. And that brings us to the last indication of his godliness, his implicit obedience to the word of God at great personal risk. And Obadiah went, verse 16, to meet Ahab. What stood between him and the wrath of Ahab? The promise of God. He was willing to risk his life upon a word from the living God. Implicit obedience. And I need not remind you that that's the mark. Of a child of God. Obedience is basic obedience.

49:11 Implicit, unquestioned obedience is the mark of the maturing child of God.

The Source of Obadiah's Godliness: Election of Grace

49:20 And so we see these evidences that God has set before us. But as we close our study tonight, I want to ask one last question, and it's this. Where in the world did he get it to live like this in an hour like this?

49:36 We've looked at the essence of his godliness, the measure of it, the evidences of it, but we haven't touched on the issue. What was the source of it? How did Obadiah get this way? How does a man come to fear the Lord greatly in the court of Ahab?

49:54 How does he in a day of national apostasy, when all of his buddies and his playmates and his friends have gone after Baal, how does he remain true to the worship of Jehovah? Was it that he was potentially less evil than his peers?

50:14 Romans 3, 18, says there's no fear of God before their eyes. By nature, Obadiah had no fear of God. How did he come to fear the Lord greatly? Well, if you'll turn to Romans chapter 11, you'll get the answer.

50:30 For this is a quotation from a section in the passage that follows the one we've studied tonight. And we read in Romans chapter 11, verses 4 and 5,

50:44 these words. Perhaps we ought to back up to verse 2 so we get the drift of thought. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. What ye not what the scripture saith of Elias, that is Elijah, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, this follows a little bit later in our study, Lord, they've killed thy prophets.

51:06 Dig down thine altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

51:24 Even so, then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. I have reserved those who have not bowed the knee. Now, suppose Obadiah never entered the picture here. God just got Elijah straight up to Ahab. We'd have known nothing of the fact that right in the very court of this wicked king was a man who feared the Lord greatly.

51:51 And I don't like the commentators who say, yeah, there were 7,000 who hadn't bowed the knee to Baal, but where were they? Well, maybe they were in places just like Obadiah, studying to be quiet, doing their own thing, living to the glory of God in the midst of that darkness. Who says that there has to be a record of all the saints who live godly in an ungodly age? Haven't you been terribly surprised at times to find a Christian turn up in the office places?

52:20 Now, God didn't have to turn him up for you. It doesn't change the fact that God had him there, being light and salt in the midst of terrible wickedness. And how did Obadiah get this way? Even so, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. I have reserved! God had promised that he would give a seed to Abraham. God had promised that there would be a people. And Obadiah was privileged to be part of that election of grace. For by nature he had no fear of God, but he experienced the work of grace described in Jeremiah 32 40, where God says, I will put my fear into their hearts so that they shall not depart from me. And oh, what a tremendous lesson for us. Most of us have to work and live and go to school in the court of Ahab. Almost any place you turn today is a court of Ahab.

53:23 You see, there was a time in Israel when godliness reigned, and no matter what your occupation was or where you moved, you felt the effects of the godliness that came down from the throne of a man like Josiah or a man like David. There was a time in our own national life when there was such spiritual heat generated that in many areas there was a great overflow of Christian principle into business operations, into government, into almost every strata of our national life. But just as Israel had descended to the place where idolatry and Baal worship had permeated her entire national life, and with it there was an absolute absolute jettison of the standards of God. So you and I live in such a period in the life of our own nation.

54:13 What does God have to say to us? Well, He not only has something to say to us in that tremendous vindication of His name that will come upon karma, and if anything should be an incentive to plead with God for a mighty breaking forth of the Holy Ghost, you can't read the account of a whole nation falling down upon its face saying, Jehovah, He is God, without saying, Oh, Lord, do it again. But, but, in the meantime, while we wait and while we pray, let's not feel that all is lost. God has His Obadiahs.

54:51 Are you one of them? To be salt, to be light, right in Ahab's court. That place where you work, it's in Ahab's court, isn't it? All the cursing and the foul language and the filthy stories. You fellas and girls, your high school's in Ahab's court.

55:10 Are you an Obadiah?

55:14 You look at a situation and you say, look at that terrible mess of wickedness. Don't write it all off. God might have some Obadiahs there that you don't know anything about. You see, we can afford as God's children to be optimists in the darkest hour, because we've got passages like this, to show us that there is and always will be a remnant according to God's elected purposes.

55:39 And for this we should praise Him. But like Elijah, not be content to just meet a godly Obadiah. But long to see a vindication of His name before the eyes of the multitudes. So I believe these are some of the lessons that God has for us in showing us, on the one hand, the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the life of Ahab. And then the glorious truth that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound in the life of Obadiah. May God grant that as we receive the grace that He received, and draw upon that source of grace in the Lord Jesus, we shall live as He did, fearing the Lord greatly, and demonstrating by life and practice the reality of that relationship to our God. Let us pray.