Elijah and Ahab Meet

Introduction: The Attainable Pattern and Striking Parallel of Elijah's Ministry

0:03 Let us turn again to 1 Kings chapter 18 as we continue our studies in the section of the Word of God dealing with the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah.

0:20 For the benefit of those visiting with us, whom we certainly do welcome in the name of the Lord and on behalf of his people here, this is the twelfth in a series of studies on this particular Bible character and we are seeking to approach the study of his life and ministry from this very pragmatic standpoint believing there is, first of all, an attainable pattern in the life of the prophet. He is called a man of like passions, made of the same stuff of which you and I are made. Therefore, God sets before us the display of this wonderful life, not that we might worship it or hold it off like, a museum piece, but that we might, as the scripture tells us, take the prophets for an example. And to the extent that the grace of God produced these virtues in Elijah, that grace is available to us in Jesus Christ, by whom that grace was conveyed to the prophet. And then secondly, we are studying his life and ministry because there is a very striking parallel between his hour, the hour in which he ministered, and the hour in which we live. And as we...

1:35 discover some of the ways in which God met the challenge of that hour through the prophet Elijah, perhaps we can receive direction concerning that which God would have us to do as we seek to live and minister to the vindication of his name and glory in our own Baal-worshipping generation.

Setting the Stage: The Eve of Mount Carmel and the Characters Involved

1:58 In our studies, we come on the very eve, as it were, of this showdown upon Mount Carmel, for which, in a very... real sense, everything else has been but a preview. For three years now, the land has been smarting beneath the stroke of God's judgment and chastisement in this terrible drought that came to the land. The heavens not only shut up from rain, but none of the refreshing dew that normally came during the six-month dry periods. No dew, no rain, and three years have passed. During this time, God has not only been chastening his people Israel, but he has been training and disciplining his servant Elijah, preparing him, both in the experience by the brook Kirith and in the solitude of that retired place with the widow of Zarephath, preparing him for this conquest upon Mount Carmel.

2:57 And so chapter 18 begins with God's order to the prophet to go and show himself unto Ahab, for the time has come when God will send rain upon the earth. And verse 2 says that Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And then we have this very detailed account of what happened from the time Elijah sets out from Zarephath to present himself to Ahab for this showdown, as it were, with regard to the sending of rain. We have a picture of Ahab, the likes of which we do not find in any other portion of the narrative. And we have said that Ahab's life as described in the book of the book of the book of the book of the book of the book of Ahab, ahager. There is the full picture. And what we have explained, particularly in this eighteenth chapter, is a picture of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And we see in the life of Ahab, as it were, a reflection of the life of the nation having sumpt to the depths of apostasy from God.

3:53 And then in our last study, we looks at this unique character, Obadiah, kicked about and bandied about like a football by the commentators. But set here, I believe by God, to show us that, not only is the life of the nation as a whole, but which is basically, if not our faith, not like our methods, I know what we believe in this nowadays, not just, not like that immediately, but not as a zero government as proof. whole reflected in this individual Ahab. But the life of the godly remnant whom God had reserved to himself, 7,000 is the number that comes out in the subsequent narrative, men and women tucked away amidst obscurity, great pressures of sin and wickedness, but nonetheless fearing the Lord greatly and serving him as salt and light in the midst of that terrible darkness. Now tonight we come to study verses 16 through 20, which is the last of this section of the narrative prior to the actual showdown upon Mount Carmel. I read now from verse 16 of 1 Kings 18. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, that is told him that Elijah was going to present himself before him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said,

5:03 unto him, Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed the Balaam. Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of Asherah four hundred that eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel.

Ahab's Question: 'Thou Troubler of Israel?' and God's Restraining Hand

5:43 As we think our way through this section and some of its lessons, consider with me, first of all, the first thing we confront is what we might call Ahab's question. As the prophet makes his way to the place where Ahab dwells, the prophet, the king, Ahab, comes out to meet him. Now try to read into this, and you will see that Ahab is not alone. He is not alone. He is not alone. He is not alone. He is not alone.

6:04 This journey of Ahab to meet the prophet, something of the preceding narrative. What was in Ahab's mind? Or perhaps we should ask the question, what should have been in Ahab's mind? Remember the scripture tells us that he was so incensed with hatred and bitterness to the prophet for shutting up the heavens, that he had sent into all the surrounding nations, and had taken an oath of all of those kingdoms, that they had not seen the prophet, nor were hiding the prophet. He is so incensed with his anger to the prophet that Obadiah had previously said, why, if I go back, Elijah, and the Spirit of God carries you away to preserve you from the wrath of my king, he'll be so upset that he'll slay me. The man closest to Ahab, this man Obadiah, who was servant over all, his ruler over all his household, had an accurate assessment of how deep was the animosity and bitterness of Ahab to Elijah. How incensed he was with anger that he sent into all those kingdoms to find him, and what he'd do with him is obvious. When he would take his closest friend and slay him, as it were, as a substitute for the prophet.

7:13 So we would expect that Ahab would come out to meet the prophet, armed to the teeth himself, and perhaps some of his soldiers with him, and at the first sight of him say, fall upon him and slay him. Wonderful demonstration in this passage of the sovereign providential care of God over his people, and even the restraining of evil in the hearts of wicked men. For his question, instead of being the outcropping and eruption of a mighty volcano, is simply a little puff of smoke after the volcano has spent itself. For when he sees the prophet, he says, are you Elijah, the one who's causing all this trouble we're in? Surely an insult, a false accusation, but nothing of what we would expect from this man who is filled with such unholy rage against the prophet. So the substance of his question is simply this, man that I think you are. Now, what did this question indicate? Well, it indicated, as I've

8:15 already hinted on God's part, the marvelous restraining hand of God. Krumacher, one of the old commentators who's written on the life of Elijah, says, and I quote now, for this has been a great blessing to my own heart, thus the Lord our God can stop the mouths of lions and enable his people to tread on serpents and scorpions so that nothing shall by any means hurt them when they are upon his errands. For remember, this is the key of the whole thing. Elijah just wasn't out tempting the Lord and setting himself before Ahab as the devil tempted our Lord to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. But God had said, go show yourself unto Ahab. He was on the errand of God. Yea, the same God who was thus a wall of fire round about Elijah, defeating the resentment of Ahab.

9:08 Ahab and Jezebel is the God who delivered Daniel and his three companions, who released Peter from prison, who in the case of Luther, the poor Augustinian monk of Wittenberg, put to shame the power of the Pope and other numerous and mighty persecutors. And this same God still lives in the great head of the church, Christ Jesus. And he is with his people always, even to the end of the world. He is their succor and their defense. Depend on it, Christians. You would not be able to do it without God. You would not be able to do it without God. You would not be able to do it without God. You would not pass your days and nights so quietly as you do, were it not for his continual interposition against those who would molest you. The enmity of the prince of this world and of his servants, the children of disobedience, is still unabated. Many an arm of strength, both in the higher and lower walks of life, would be stretched out against you, but that he stays it. For as many as have their heavenly Father's name written in their foreheads, as many as profess Christ sincerely in their hearts, as many as profess Christ sincerely in their hearts, as many as profess faithfully before men, as many as will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer the reproach of the world. And that we live so peacefully and quietly in our dwellings, and that our lives are so safe, though in the midst of dangers, is altogether owing to the protection of our almighty Savior, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, who never remits his vigilance over us day or night,

10:32 who with his mighty angels encamps about his people and is himself. Their stronghold. As Elijah went out to meet Ahab, he experienced something of the fulfillment of God's promise to preserve and protect his people. And so the very question of Ahab bled, as it were, of much of the expected venom and rage as an indication on God's part of his providential restraint of even the hearts of wicked men. And on Ahab's part, what he does say is the indication of a seared conscience for notice what he says, is it thou, thou troubler of Israel. He shifts the blame of the blight that has come to the nation through its famine entirely upon the shoulders of the prophet. You're the one who's caused this devastation through which I've walked to meet you. I've seen the scorched countryside on my way. As I've been out seeking water and provender for my beast, I've seen the

11:38 ravaging effects of this. And Elijah, you're the one who's to cause for all of this. Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?

Ahab's Seared Conscience: The Hardening Power of Judgment and Blame-Shifting

11:48 What a revelation this is of the heart of Ahab and also of our hearts. It tells us in the first place that the judgments of God have no inherent sanctifying or saving power. We hinted at this in a previous study when we considered the fact that with the judgments of God lying upon the land, this man doesn't seem to be the least. He's a little bit concerned with his people. He's concerned with his beasts. And that lesson is enforced here. When the tokens of divine judgment are there, and Ahab knows why they are there. The word of God has come to him through the prophet Elijah. There has been a passage of time to validate the word of the prophet, to show him that Baal is not God. His prophets have not been able

12:38 to bring down rain, nor his priests. And instead of seeing this judgment of God as a result of the as the finger of God leading him to bow in repentance we find this man hardened in his impenitence so that he shoots out these words to the prophet and transfers the guilt to the shoulders of the man of God as one offer has said the madness which possesses his heart speaking of the unregenerate man will burst forth like a broken dam unregenerate man is determined to have his own way at all costs this is one of the most startling revelations that comes to anyone who's been a Christian for any length of time and especially someone who's tried to deal with other people you're praying for someone and you see some stroke of divine judgment or what you can putting all the principles of Scripture together at least conceive maybe the stroke of divine judgment you say ah certainly now they'll get the message and it hardens them in their impenitence this comes to its most full-fledged full expression in the book of the revelation where we read I believe it's in chapter 16 of the end time when the judgments of God will be poured out directly from heaven and men will know their tongues for pain and what will they do they know the judgments come from God they don't look to second

14:02 causes are to nature but it says they shall test the God of heaven the judgments of God have no sanctifying power unless the grace of God interposes to take the judgments of God as an instrument of mercy they will be utterly ineffectual to subdue the heart of the rebel sin the second thing that we see by way of application in the words of a have is that the human heart will ship the responsibility of its plight to anyone or anything but itself that started way back in the garden god had told Adam don't eat of that tree and the day that thou eatest thou shall die god comes to him after he's eaten says Adam have you disobeyed have you disobeyed in law come and pour out your own anger on Adam and Sue them both the箸 of kicked he all who do not save them through the hands of Adam Have you eaten of that tree? And what does he say? The woman thou gavest me. Shifting the responsibility.

14:55 What I want to know, Adam, is this. Have you clenched your fists and willfully, deliberately moved aside from the direction of my precepts? Will you own your guilt? No, he will not do this.

15:07 He will shift the responsibility. And this is the winding way of the human heart ever since. Look at our own nation. We're smarting beneath some of what we might call the previews of divine judgment.

15:22 The unsettled economy. The inflationary spiral. And so what do we do? Ah, mess in Vietnam.

15:29 Ah, that lunkhead in the White House.

15:32 Ah, look at a mess in New York. If only Mayor Lindsay would stop being this and do this. Blame it on the mayor. Blame it on the president.

15:39 Blame it on the governor. Blame it.

15:43 Do you hear anybody saying, could it be that our internal strifes, racial tensions, domestic instability are the previews of greater judgments of God? Do you hear any statesmen even suggesting that? You listen to the president's State of the Union message the other day. Everything's fine and where it isn't fine, it'd be corrected by the right legislation.

16:05 Either blinding ourselves to his judgments or when we're forced to face them, shifting the responsibility. That's always what the human heart will do. Always. Always.

16:15 Left to itself, that's what it will do. That's what Ahab does. He can no longer say, Israel. Israel's not troubled.

16:22 Couldn't say that. He'd been walking through Samaria. He saw that Israel was troubled. He couldn't be that foolish.

16:29 That would cure a Christian scientist real quick. No such thing as pain, sickness, death. You walk through a land that's had a famine, an eastern famine and drought for three years, you'd have to face up to the fact that something's wrong. And he did.

16:42 Israel is troubled, but it can't be me. The old troubler of Israel, shifting the responsibility.

The Church's Tendency to Blame-Shift and the Expectation of Accusation

16:51 But not only is this characteristic of the world. It's characteristic of the people of God.

16:56 Even some of the most short-sighted, undiscerning people are beginning to say

17:04 the professing evangelical church is in a mess. We're a long way from what the church ought to be. Now, where are we going to put the blame? Oh, it's the end days.

17:15 Spirit of the times. Things are going to get worse and worse. And the rotten old modernists have undercut the faith. Those terrorists.

17:26 Terrible neo-orthodox people. And these, you see, shift the responsibility. Where are the responsible church leaders who say, the fault lies at our own doorstep. Our own unwillingness to have the word of God tear through our hearts and lay bare our subtle forms of worldliness and our love of ease and our unwillingness to bear the reproach of Christ and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

17:57 Our willingness to conform the stringent demands of discipleship to the affluence and ease of our own contemporary structure. No, we're going to shift the responsibility. Blame it on the last days. Blame it on this.

18:15 Blame it on the pace of living. We don't have time to, oh, it's such a pace of living, you know. No time to pray. No time to meditate.

18:23 Shifting the responsibility. You read Ahab's words and you say, shame on Ahab. May God help us to see that we've been Ahab's in a great measure time after time because there's that tendency to shift the responsibility. And then the third thing I see by way of application in the words of Ahab is this, that the true child of God must expect the accusations of the Ahab's of his day.

18:54 One of the most wonderful compliments that Elijah could have paid to him was to have this wicked man. Call him a troubler in Israel.

19:03 To have this wicked man hurl this accusation into his teeth. Our Lord Jesus said in the 7th of John, verse 7, the world cannot hate you, he says to his own brothers and sisters, but me it hateth because I testify of it that its works are evil.

19:23 You see, your life either pours salve upon the conscience of the unregenerate with whom you move day by day at school, at work, at work, at play, on the bus, your life either soothes their conscience that things are not quite as bad as maybe my Sunday school teacher told me thirty years ago, or your life is a continuous bomb to the conscience, disturbing them so that every time they look at you, they're forced to recall the truth of Scripture, that there is a law and a God who stands over that law and who will one day call them into judgment in terms of that law. And so this prophet Elijah, his very presence, you see, awakened the slumbering conscience of Ahab, and so when he sees him, he has to hurl this accusation at him. Our Lord said, Woe unto you when all men do speak well of you. That's the way they talked of the false prophets, who never exposed anybody, who never disturbed anybody, who never made anybody feel uncomfortable in their presence. But he says of his own true disciples in Matthew 5, 11 and 12, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad. And so the accusation of Ahab is not only

Elijah's Answer: A Flat Denial and Clear Indictment of Ahab's Sin

20:49 a revelation of the restraining power of God in that it was not more venomous than it was, but it's also a revelation that the judgments of God of themselves have no sanctifying power. It is a revelation that the human heart left to itself will shift the responsibility of its sin to others, and that the child of God must expect the accusations of the Ahabs. Well, how does Elijah answer this? This is one of those passages, you don't need to sweat for your outline, you see, not like the one this morning. For you have Ahab's question in verse 17, now you have in verse 18 Elijah's answer. And he answered, I have not troubled but thou and thy father's house in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah and has followed the Balaam what is the substance of Elijah's answer well it contains two parts it's a flat denial of any guilt I have not troubled Israel what a wonderful thing to be able to say and remember he's walked through Zarephath up there looking at a map of Israel this way sort of like a rectangle set on its end way up in Zarephath he's walked down through Samaria

22:05 and he has seen this terrible devastation and this was no heartless stoic remember here's the man who in the face of death spreads himself upon that little child a man with a great heart a man who could not help but be touched with compassion and pity and grief as he saw the devastation that had come through the drought that followed the shut heavens and yet he could say face to face face to face facing all of that I bear no responsibility for this I have not troubled Israel what a wonderful thing to be able to say in the face of the judgments of God by the grace of God my hands are clean and so the substance of Elijah's answer contains on the one hand this flat denial of any personal guilt and on the second place a clear statement of where the guilt truly lay and he breaks it down into two areas notice I have not troubled Israel but the guilt thou and thy father's house Ahab the guilt lies not at my doorstep but at yours and in these two specific areas in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah and too that thou hast followed the Balaam now as the prophet is about to indict Ahab what sin does he bring into focus as the greatest expression of his own guilt before God now as the prophet is about to indict Ahab he doesn't speak of his intemperance

23:34 his unholy allegiance with heathen nations he takes it to its very core he says you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah Ahab you have repudiated the rule of God as expressed in the revealed will of God isn't that the root of human sinfulness a repudiation of the rule of God as expressed in the clearly revealed will of God Romans 8 and verse 7 if after six and a half years of my preaching you can't quote that verse from memory either you haven't been here but the last couple of months or you're hopeless if I've quoted that verse once I've quoted it a hundred times in these six and a half years I would venture to say for the carnal mind is enmity against God it's setting a disposition of opposition to the rule of God for it is not subject to the law of God neither is it subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be and man's enmity to God comes to expression in his refusal to walk in the light of the revealed will of God that is the law of God and then what inevitably follows that repudiation of the rule of God is expressed in the law of God he joins himself to false gods you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah and thou hast followed the Balaam

The Progression of Sin: Forsaking God Leads to Idolatry

25:03 you see the Bible says that you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah you see the Bible says that you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah you see the Bible says that you see the human heart cannot exist as a vacuum we were made to be worshippers of the true and the living God and if that true God is repudiated the heart will attach itself or will take into itself to keep the figure of the vacuum another God and this is the pattern that stands out in the very face of scripture I quote several other verses that indicate this 1 Kings 9 and verse 9 God is saying what he will do God is saying what he will do God is saying what he will do if his people forsake him he will bring judgments upon them and then when people ask the question why hath the Lord done this unto this land and to this house 1 Kings 9 9 they shall answer because they forsook the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshipped and served them forsook the Lord laid hold of other gods then in Jeremiah 2 we have a similar reference in verse 13 my people have committed two evils you see God sets these things not only as compliments but in one sense they are two separate sins they have forsaken two evils what are they? they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns

26:31 that can hold no water I want to address a word to you tonight who are strangers to the gospel the grace of God you are not born of the spirit you don't know what it is to be able to sing these hymns that we sang tonight from the heart Christ the ground of all my hopes none other land have you ever wondered why it is that it is so easy for you to fix your heart as an object of devotion and worship on anything but God himself have you ever wondered why it is so easy to get enthused and excited about a thousand things to spend your time and your time your money your energies your mental and physical faculties in pursuit of other things why is it so easy no effort just naturally do it you see because by nature you have been guilty of the first part no man is born with a heart that seeks after the Lord is born with a heart which has as its very disposition according to Romans 3 and verse 10 there is none that seeketh after God that is why it is so easy for you to worship Baal to set your affection on earthy things and I say to you children of God by way of application never forget that the first step to positive joining

28:00 or joining yourself to positive evil is declension and departure from a vital vibrant relationship with the living God you will never join yourself to Baal until in some measure you have forsaken Jehovah that is why you have forsaken Jehovah that is why you have forsaken Jehovah that is why the Lord Jesus spoke so forcefully about the terrible sin of departing from fervent love to himself in the second chapter of Revelation hear these people who have not joined themselves to false doctrine or false worship or false gods he said you are trying those that are apostles and say they are apostles and are not you are bearing for my name's sake you have had patience I know thy works but I have somewhat against thee thou hast left thy first love he said I say to you that I have left thy first love I see a declension in your fervent attachment to me and if that is allowed to run its course in time you'll join yourself to false gods and the subtlety of the working of Satan and the flesh in our hearts is that we are shocked at the first bit of declension from God because that seems to be harmless if the devil were to propose to us joining ourselves to Baal as a first act of departure we would shock the world we would shock the world we would shock the world we would shock the world we would shock the world we would shock the world we would shrink back in horror and say oh no not that

29:24 but when it's proposed to us oh yes the word says men ought always to pray and not to faint but really you're too busy to pray today tomorrow will be alright but today and the Lord understands and then tomorrow when you have the time to pray what's happened because you've not frequented the throne of grace there's no desire to pray then by the third or fourth day you don't even miss it huh and then you wonder why three weeks later in an hour of temptation you actually in great measure repudiate the Lord and join yourself to some form of Baal worship when did it all start it all started back there that first day when you departed from the commandment of the Lord you see that's the progress the subtle progress of sin in the life and heart of a believer that commandment is there to guard thy heart with all diligence and so the end of the day when the enemy proposes some area of sin only to the mind he doesn't come to us and say now actually go out and do this thing but just turn it over in your mind and you say well there really can't be that much I'm only thinking about it but it isn't long before the thought is given birth

30:53 to the deed if the first proposition of the flesh and of the devil were the deed itself we'd recoil in horror as we saw the progression of Israel if the first proposition had been back at the division of the kingdom that in setting us up for death that in setting us up for death that in setting up the calf to worship at two places that God had not appointed that sixty years later they would be worshipping Baal or that in sixty days later they'd be worshipping Baal those kings would have been amazed and said no never never we're worshipping Jehovah at Dan and at Bethel the devil's willing to wait his time willing to wait his time to get his ends and so he must lead people to forsake the commandment which says thou shalt not only worship the Lord thy God commandment one but worship him in the way that he has commanded thee that thou shalt not worship the Lord thy God he has commanded commandment number two he first of all got the people of God to say well we'll keep number one but number two is not so important and that was only a matter of time before they repudiated the first commandment and that's the way sin works in us thou hast forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you begin to forsake commandments of God upon your life under the pretense well I can do this and not really lose much ground mark me unless that's corrected by a thorough repentance it'll only be time before you'll be repudiating Jehovah and joining yourself to Baal in some degree or another so Elijah's answer not only is an indictment to Ahab

The Spirit of Elijah's Answer: Painful Honesty and Fearless Boldness

32:22 but it speaks words to us so much then for the substance of Elijah's answer will you consider with me briefly the spirit of his answer the substance of it a flat denial that he had any guilt and then he lays the guilt at the feet of Ahab in two areas forsaking and joining the spirit of his answer well we can say from a negative standpoint there seems to be no personal rancor or hurt he just seems to cast all of that aside and what I see in his answer is first of all something that is painfully honest and then what we might call powerfully fearless at this juncture he could have placated him and said well Ahab please don't be too disturbing you know why I'm on my way Ahab you've called me a troubler of Israel in some measure maybe I have been but Ahab things are going to be better no attempt to placate this man he was painfully honest he said Ahab all this devastation all this terrible heartache and ruin and wreckage that you see Ahab it's your fault you should and no one else and then he was fearless no cowering in the face of the power and might of the king and I ask the question why was he so

33:51 painfully honest and powerfully fearless and I don't use that just for another P because there is power in fearless declaration of truth I would like to suggest that it was because of two things first of all because of Elijah's love of the truth and secondly because of his confidence in his God you see above all other things as we saw in an earlier study Elijah was consumed with a passion that the name of God be vindicated in the midst of a Baal worshipping community he said in his hour of discouragement I have been jealous for Jehovah of hosts and when he stands before this man Ahab the thing that he wants above all else is that Ahab will know the truth about why the nation is in the state it's in and if in knowing the life on the line he says with one who spoke hundreds of years later I count not my life as dear unto myself that I may finish my course and testify that apostle said testify the gospel of the grace of God Elijah would say testify the truth about why Ahab why the nation is where it is may I suggest that you will never be an Elijah in your witness

35:20 to your neighbor in your dealing with your children in your teaching of that Sunday school class until your love of God's truth becomes more consuming than your love of your own life and reputation and name.

35:43 Why are we so silent or so blunt many times in our witness? It's because we love our lives. See, your reputation is part of your life. It's a part of you.

35:55 What people think of you. In that sense, Elijah couldn't have cared a hill of beans what Ahab thought of him.

36:06 He wanted Ahab to know the truth about himself.

36:12 And I cannot forget the words of McShane who said, The man who loves you most is the man who tells you the most truth about yourself. And when we're honest before the Lord, we must confess that we really love ourselves more than we love the souls of men or we'd be more truthful with them. Not, not tactless, not unkind, not treating people like stocks and stones or some kind of figure to go down on an evangelistic chart. I'm not talking of that kind of scalp-hunting evangelism.

36:46 I'm talking about those situations with people with whom we've earned the right to be honest and faithful, and yet we still are not honest. We still are not faithful. It's because we aren't consumed with the love of the truth as was the prophet Elijah.

37:02 Later on, he not only calls him troubler of Israel, but in chapter 21 in verse 20, he says, O thou mine enemy.

37:12 Chapter 21 in verse 20, And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?

37:21 And Elijah goes right on and tells him the truth again. Listen to what he says. I have found thee because thou hast sold thyself to do evil. And he tells him the truth.

37:31 And what happened? Look at verse 27. And it came, When Ahab heard these words, he rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, See how Ahab humbles himself?

37:47 Because he humbles himself, I'll withhold the pronouncement of evil in his days, but I'll bring it in the days of his son. You see, the man that he thought was his enemy eventually became his greatest friend. But Elijah was willing to be considered an enemy in order to be a true friend.

38:06 Isn't that the issue? Am I willing to be considered an enemy in order to be a true friend?

38:12 That's what Paul said. He said, Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? He said, I don't care. I'm going to tell you the truth anyway.

38:21 Though the more I love you, the less I be loved. I'm going to tell you the truth.

38:26 Well, the second thing that made him so fearlessly bold was not only his love of truth, but his trust in the living God. I wonder what portions of Scripture Elijah meditated upon as he went out to meet him. He didn't have the Bible we have, but I'm sure he must have fed his soul upon some precepts of God. But certainly there are precepts which set forth the cause of his boldness.

38:52 Passages such as Isaiah 12 and verse 2.

38:57 Isaiah 12 and verse 2. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord, even Jehovah, is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. Proverbs.

39:11 Proverbs 28, 1. The wicked fleeth when no man pursueth, but the righteous is bold as a lion. What a wonderful text. The wicked man whose conscience troubles him, he sees a little shadow and jumps.

39:23 Nobody pursues him, but he runs. But the wicked, bold as a lion. Faith is the righteous, bold as a lion. Faith is his enemies, unafraid.

39:32 Why? Because that's his personality? No. It says the righteous is bold as a lion.

39:38 Don't buy this business that boldness is basically a matter of the kind of personality you got when you were conceived. It isn't true. Scriptural boldness is something that God imparts to those who hide themselves in the shadow of the Almighty as we heard several weeks ago. That boldness is the purchased right of every righteous man.

Elijah's Orders and Ahab's Implicit Obedience

40:04 Well, we hurry in our study now to consider what we find in the next several verses.

40:11 Elijah's answer, then in verse 19, Elijah's orders. Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of Asherah 400 that eat at Jezebel's table. The substance of Elijah's orders, very clear. Gather the entire nation of Israel and secondly, all those foreign religious leaders who've imposed themselves upon the nation and bring them to Mount Carmel God willing, next week we'll consider why Mount Carmel.

40:46 But that's where he tells them to bring them. Now, my question is,

40:51 who died and left you, boss?

40:55 Have you heard the expression or am I dating myself?

40:59 The king is coming out to a prophet and after he disposes of his accusation and tells him the truth, now he says, you listen to me. You turn on your heel and you go get everybody in Israel and you come and...

41:14 Well, who died and left you, boss? The tremendous boldness. Elijah assumes the place of the king and he says, Ahab, you take the place of the subject. I'm in command here.

41:26 And wonder of wonders, the next verse gives us what we would call Ahab's obedience.

41:33 And it is, in the first place, implicit obedience. Notice. And Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. It's just like Elijah's obedience to the Lord.

41:47 Anytime the Lord said, do this, it says, and Elijah did it. Now he says, Ahab, you do this, and he does it. Now I got thinking about this this afternoon. This aspect of it, I hadn't thought of till this afternoon.

41:59 Can you imagine how he had to eat crow? He starts out of his palace that morning. People say, where are you going? I'm going to see Elijah.

42:08 Well, I hope you give it to him good and proper. See? A few hours later, a couple days later, whenever he comes back, did you see Elijah? Yes.

42:17 What did you do to him?

42:20 Nothing. Nothing? What do you mean nothing?

42:24 Nothing. Well, what are you...

42:25 What are you going to do? I'm going to do what he told me. You're what?

42:32 I mean, can't you see the irony of this thing? He goes out to conquer, and he comes back conquered.

42:40 Then he's got to send out his notice into all the kingdom.

42:45 Beltel wasn't in operation then. Newark Evening News wasn't published then. Had to send his messengers, and word would get around. You know what the king's doing?

42:55 The king's become a servant boy to the prophet. Prophet said, Gather everybody to Carmel.

The Sovereignty of God: The Only Explanation for Ahab's Obedience

43:04 Now, my question is, and this will be my last question for the night,

43:11 why did he do it?

43:14 What happened that this king would obey his bitterest enemy?

43:24 Now, frankly, I confess, if I held to the theological opinion that says God cannot and will not intrude upon the realm of man's free choice, or so influence his choice as to accomplish his will that man cannot do it, or so influence his choice as to accomplish his will, that man is suspended in an area of volitional neutrality, and God won't enter that circle, oh, I'd find awful, deep, deep problems with a passage like this. But if your God is the God described in verses like Proverbs 21.1, you have no problem with a passage like this. The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.

44:04 He turneth it whithersoever he will. And then he uses a simile as the water courses. When you're flying, up at about 30,000 over areas where there are rivers, you get a tremendous picture of the winding of rivers. There's a river that runs across the great stretch there of the plains up in Canada.

44:24 And when you're flying across Canada, it just looks like one snake with no head and no tail. He just seems to go forever and back and forth. And I often think of this verse. Why are those water courses that way?

44:36 God willed it to be so. Now he says the heart of kings is just as he formed the water courses. So that the only explanation of why this wicked, heathen king, though a king in Israel, he was a heathen at heart, joined to Baal worship, filled with venomous hatred to the prophet, going out probably to seek his life, coming back his subject. The only explanation is the absolute sovereignty of the living God over all men who can dispose their hearts to accomplish his purpose.

45:11 Now, that does not mean that Ahab may not have had some wicked design in his mind. I'm not saying why Ahab did it from his standpoint. Ahab may have had lots of reasons. Ahab may have reasons.

45:23 Well, if I do this, why then I'll have all these others with me and we can fall upon this prophet and kill him in the sight of all Israel and we'll see if his God is alive. I'm not saying that the processes of thought were such that Ahab was consciously thinking I am being controlled by Jehovah God and therefore, no, no, no. He may have had the basest of motives for obeying, but we're looking beyond the motives that may have moved him to obey, beyond any of the thought processes of his mind and we're looking to this simple question. Why did he do what he did?

45:59 In the ultimate sense, he did it because God had his heart in his hand. And God was determined at this point in the history of Israel to vindicate his name and in one day to purge the nation of the world from his name. And because God was determined to do it and for this hour he had been preparing his prophet for those three years of Pope's graduate study and those many years of undergraduate study, God was not about to be thwarted by some little king who thought that he was ruler in Israel. God was about to let him know that the Most High ruleth and giveth the kingdom to whomsoever he willed and with whomsoever he willed.

Conclusion: Comfort in God's Sovereignty for the Child of God

46:43 And we see this wonderful demonstration of the work of God's sovereignty. And I would say in closing by way of application, dear child of God, if you don't have a God like that,

46:57 it's just a wonder that you're not a nervous wreck.

47:02 Think of all the people you touch from day to day. Who, if they had their way, would do you positive harm? Who, if they had their way, maybe they'd said, yeah, I'd drop dead. And if they had the power, they'd make their word good.

47:19 Think of all the forces unseen, the host of wickedness, the organized powers of darkness. That one who goes about in a roaring line seeking whom he may devour. What a blessed realization to know that all those wicked men and wicked forces are under the sovereign control of our God who says, thus far and no further. That's why we can go to sleep living in the 20th century.

47:48 A lot of people, they can't until they pump themselves full of sleeping pills and then five hours later pump themselves full of pep pills and 12 hours later pump themselves. Why? Because they can't face it. They see powers at work over which they know they have no control and they don't know if there's a God who has control and they feel that they're being pressed into this terrible vortex by these powers over which they have no control and if there's a God, we don't know what, we don't know what he's doing.

48:21 But the child of God can go to sleep tonight knowing that the present day Ahabs are in the hand of God and they can't touch the Elijahs and all that God would accomplish through his Elijahs, the Ahabs will have to bend to his will and his purpose.

48:37 Is that your God? I trust he is. If so, you can go home and sleep tonight. And then when you get up tomorrow, God have mercy if you've got tight lips about a God like that.

48:48 That's the God the world needs to know about and the God whom we're privileged to proclaim. A God whom they can know saving them through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

49:00 This I submit to you are some of the lessons of this last part of the narrative leading us to the conquest upon Mount Carmel. May God grant that we shall apply them to our hearts and by the Holy Spirit work them out in life and in practice. I would commend to you your serious and careful reading of the next section, the actual conquest upon Carmel and come praying that the Lord will teach us what he would say to us and to our own generation through this very practical section of his Holy Truth. Let us unite in prayer.