[0:00] 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.
[0:14] 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.
[0:28] And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land and to all fountains of water and to all brooks peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
[0:43] 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.
[0:55] And he knew him and fell on his face and said, Art thou that, my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am. Go tell thy lord, behold, Elijah is here.
[1:08] And he said, What 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 nor kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee.
[1:21] 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 tell thy lord, behold, Elijah is here, and 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.
[1:41] 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?
[2:01] 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.
[2:14] So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
[2:28] And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, and that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel and to Mount Carmel.
[2:41] And the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together into Mount Carmel.
[2:57] And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him, Not a word.
[3:09] Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under.
[3:27] And I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God that answers by fire.
[3:38] Let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first.
[3:49] For ye are many, and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.
[4:03] But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god.
[4:14] Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
[4:28] And it came to pass when midday was past. And they prophesied until the time of the morning, of the offering, of the evening sacrifice. But there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
[4:41] And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.
[4:59] And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
[5:17] And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran around about the altar, and he filled the trench also with water.
[5:30] And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
[5:46] Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that these people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and leaked up the water that was in the trench.
[6:06] And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, he is the God. The Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape.
[6:20] And he took them, and Elijah brought them down to the book cushion, and slew them there. And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
[6:34] So Ahab went up to eat and to drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now.
[6:45] Look toward the sea, and he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. It came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.
[7:00] And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stopped thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black, with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.
[7:16] Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel, and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab, to the entrance of Jezreel.
[7:27] Amen. May the Lord bless that portion of his truth to us. We'll continue singing in the same psalm, in Psalm 37. This time at verse 29.
[7:41] Psalm 37, verse 29. The just inherit shall the land, and ever in it dwell. The just man's mouth does wisdom speak, his tongue doth judgment tell.
[7:56] In his heart the laws of his God, his steps slide not away. The wicked man doth watch the just, and seeketh him to slay. Yet him the Lord will not forsake, nor leave him in his hands.
[8:08] The righteous will he not condemn, when he in judgment stands. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way. And thee exalt shall he, the earth to inherit, when cut off, the wicked thou shalt see.
[8:21] We'll sing these four verses, to the Lord's praise. Psalm 37, at verse 29. Four verses. The just inherit shall the land, and ever in it dwell.
[8:45] And then God's mouth does снб looks on his hand, And earth's內 andая.
[9:03] The pardon of His own is God, His death I'm not aware.
[9:21] The wicked man done washed the dust, and seeketh Him to save.
[9:41] Then live that Lord will not forsake, nor leave Him in His hands.
[10:00] The righteous shall He not condemn, when He in judgment stands.
[10:19] With the Lord and keep His will, and He exalt shall be.
[10:38] The earth too in heaven, when cut off, the wicked love shall see.
[10:59] Well, if we turn back to the chapter that we read in 1 Kings, chapter 18. Before we meditate, we'll just have a short word of prayer.
[11:15] Ask the Lord would help us. O Lord of God, we come this evening aware of our weaknesses before Thee. Without Thee, indeed, we can't do nothing.
[11:27] We were reading there in the life of Elijah. What a wonder-working God Thou art. A God that is infinite, eternal, unchangeable.
[11:39] The one that inhabits eternity, and the one with whom we have to do. That we bless Thee, O Lord, that Thou hast given us of Thy Spirit. And we ask that He would be present with us this evening, because we need Him.
[11:54] When we enter into Thy Word, and we meditate upon it for a little while, that we give us light. That Thou wouldst lighten us here this evening. And that we could truly say that the Lord has been with us.
[12:08] We bless Thee, O Lord, that we can come this evening. And we ask that Thou wouldst be with us. Be with us all, we pray Thee, and all connected with us. We commit to Thee.
[12:20] We ask it all in our Saviour's name. Amen. Amen. If we look for a text this evening that's in chapter 1, it's in verse 1, I should say, of chapter 18, where the Lord says, 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.
[12:47] Go, show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. The beginning of the 19th century, there was a famous writer and scholar by the name of G.K. Chesterton.
[13:03] I don't know if some of you may have heard about him. In an autobiography of his, one man said of him that he was a man that cried out to his day, Get on your knees, modern man, and praise God.
[13:23] That was his mantra, he said. Get on your knees, modern man, and praise God. In 1908, the Times of London had an article, printed an article, with the title, What's Wrong With Society?
[13:41] What's Wrong With The World? And they got many replies, as you would know us, if you had said that, if that article was in the Times and the question was put today, or in any newspaper, there would be plenty of people telling what was wrong with the world, and it could be easily done today, couldn't it?
[14:02] What's wrong with the world? What's wrong with society today? And he wrote back, and this is what he said, this is all he said, Dear Sir, I am, you sincerely, G.K. Chesterton.
[14:24] See what he's getting at? I am. We are. You are. I am. What's wrong with the world?
[14:35] Because, why? Because we are sinners. And it is us that we have to look at. It is ourselves that we have to look at.
[14:46] When we look at around ourselves in the world today, of all days today, you think of what's happening in Ukraine. You know what's happening in our own nation.
[14:57] You know what's happening in the legislation that's going through our governments today, both in Scotland and in England and the UK in general.
[15:10] You say to yourself, what's wrong with society? What's wrong with the world? It's the same world. It's the same men and women that were in the days of Ahab here.
[15:23] A wicked. A wicked world. Ahab and Jezebel were probably the most wicked king and a wicked wife of a king that there could ever have, has ever been in the history of Israel.
[15:41] And here we have here, we have in it, we have light still. We have the man, Elijah. Notice the beginning of that chapter, chapter 18.
[15:53] It comes, and you have that sometimes in God's word. And it came to pass. And it came to pass. If we look back at chapter 17, we notice that Elijah, chapter 17, the beginning of chapter 17, Elijah, the Tishbite, it says, who was on the inhabitants of Gilead, he came to Israel and he said, he gave that prophecy that there was to be no rain on the earth.
[16:19] He was commanded by God. He got that command in chapter 17. He stood before Abraham and this is what, before Abraham, he said, he said there, as I stand, as the Lord liveth, he would have said, there shall be no dew nor rain these years according to my word.
[16:39] And here we have him there again, we have him here again, and chapter 18, we have him with the same thing. As the Lord, as the Lord, he says, go show thyself unto Abraham and I will send rain upon the earth.
[16:58] Three years nearly had passed from the beginning of chapter 17 until the beginning of 18. You notice that in the first year, close to a year, Elijah is asked to go to the brook Cherith.
[17:14] You read that in the beginning of chapter 17 and he was fed by ravens. Imagine. Notice what he was fed by, first of all. He was fed by ravens with flesh, that is meat, and bread in the morning and in the evening.
[17:36] Now any of us, we all know what ravens are like. The marvelous miracle of ravens bringing food to Elijah and feeding him by the brook Cherith.
[17:52] Nothing short of a miracle. But this book is full of miracles and the miracles did take place. And then notice again that after that, he then was told when the brook dried up, he was told to go to, in verse 9 of chapter 17, he was going to go to Saripath, Sarepta.
[18:12] There he was to find a woman, a widow, and he was to stay for two years. Two years. He was nearly a year fed by ravens, and then he was two years and he's fed by the woman.
[18:27] How is he fed by the woman? Remember the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil? Never run dry. Notice this. then the Lord, he's living with the woman and with the son.
[18:44] He's getting plenty to eat, plenty to drink in the time of famine. It says here, chapter begin, there was a sore famine. There it is in verse 2, there was a sore famine in Samaria.
[18:56] That is, the whole region of Israel, north of the country, was in a famine because of their sin against God. and we find that here he is here and he's asked to go to, to back to, to, to Ahab.
[19:15] A.W. Pink has got a wonderful book on, on Elijah. I'm sure some of you have read it. It's one of, one of, one of, probably the best books that you can read on Elijah.
[19:25] And he says this, he puts it like this, the, the predetermined counsel of Jehovah was now actualized.
[19:37] It was now taking place. The precise, precise length of time his servant is to remain in a certain place is predetermined by him, by the Lord from all eternity.
[19:52] The Lord had not forgotten Elijah. He had fed Elijah during these three, close to three years, and here was the next thing.
[20:03] It came to pass after many days, after nearly three years time, we have him and he's asked to go. He's asked to go to Ahab of all people, a wicked king, a murderous king, evil as any you could find.
[20:21] He was to leave the peace and quiet and comfort really of Sarebta and he was asked to go to face Ahab and Jezebel.
[20:36] My, what, you think of that, what it is, and we find that Ahab went right away. No, we don't find him questioning God, we find him going straight at the command.
[20:52] he went as he was told to go. The young people a number of years ago used to sing a hymn, Trust and Obey.
[21:05] I don't know if any of you can remember it, but it goes like this. When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way.
[21:18] While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. And then it goes on, trust and obey, there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
[21:33] Wonderful hymn, wonderful thought. This is exactly what Elijah did here, he trusted the Lord and he obeyed and he went as the Lord told him to come.
[21:45] In his obedience, he did what the Lord asked him to do. But notice, in the way that he went, he meets somebody. Look at the way providence deals with the Lord's people.
[22:02] Friend, if you think of yourself and your providences over days, over months, or over years, you find sometimes that you wonder, how did you come to this place, or how did you come to that place, and find that the Lord has been there before, has been with you in that.
[22:21] Sometimes you wonder how it is, but here we have, look who he meets, he meets Obadiah. Verse, there's, look at what happened there, Ahab called Obadiah, there was verse 3, and there in verse 7, and as Obadiah was in his way, Ahab and Obadiah were going to look for water.
[22:44] that means they were going to see if there was any water in the land that their cattle, and their horses, and their sheep, or whatever, could get food from.
[22:55] In other words, he went one way, and Obadiah was to go one way, Ahab was to go the other. And there we have him, verse 7, and as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him.
[23:11] Chance? Was it a chance? Just, just that they met? No, no, there is no chance meetings with God, friends.
[23:23] No such thing. There is not such a thing as a chance meeting in God's providences with his people. Never has been, and never will be. It was a predetermined, as Pink puts it, it was the predetermined will of God.
[23:38] In other words, God had purposed that going through the wilderness, here of Samaria. They just met. In that way, Elijah met him. Now, Obadiah, I've listened to and heard, read a few sermons on Obadiah, and some people, some commentators are quite scathing on Obadiah.
[24:02] And I don't know why, but I can't understand, because they say that, because Obadiah was in such a wicked household as Ahab and Jezebel. He was actually the governor of his house, verse 3.
[24:14] He was actually exalted to quite a high level in the house of Ahab, this Obadiah. It's not the Obadiah later on in the minor prophets that you read of. This is another Obadiah.
[24:26] This is this man, but look what the word of God says about him. People say that he was one of those that sort of bent one way or the other because he was staying in the house of Ahab.
[24:41] Not so, friends. Look at what it says in verse 3. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. Greatly. Now, what's ever written in God's word is true.
[24:54] He was a man of faith, and his faith was exercised. How was his faith exercised? Look what he did. There was a hundred prophets of the Lord. Elijah was thinking he was on his own, and well did he think it because there was nobody around to help him.
[25:11] But Obadiah had hid these hundred by fifties in the cave. What would Obadiah be doing? He would be going from time to time to give them food, probably from Ahab's household.
[25:23] Where else would he get it? He would feed them and he would water them. A hundred. My, that's some number, isn't it? And he was doing it at risk to himself.
[25:36] If Jezebel of all people would have heard this, she would have had him hung right away. No mercy for that woman. And here he was and we find him here.
[25:48] And there was also something in it in verse 12 as well. Look what he says at the end of verse 12. He tells, when Elijah asks him to go and tell Ahab, he says, I can't tell Ahab.
[26:01] Ahab, he's been searching for you all around and he can't find you. And I go to tell Ahab and what will happen? Ahab, you'll vanish out of your sight.
[26:14] And then I find that Ahab, look what I've been doing. I've got these hundred prophets of the Lord to feed and to help. But look what he says there. Not only did he fear the Lord greatly, but he says, I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.
[26:31] This man was a man that was brought up in a Christian household. That's what we have to take from granted. And that he was from his very youth, he was a follower of Jehovah.
[26:46] Therefore, there is more to Abadiah, and we can't go into this evening, than meets the eye here. He was a man of faith, and yet he was the governor in the house of Ahab.
[27:03] Our friends, there's a lesson here for us. There's a lesson here for us. Abadiah was one, only one, in the house of Ahab.
[27:14] How did he feel from day to day when he was in that wicked household? Notice that it was just 450 prophets of Baal that came.
[27:28] Elijah asked for the 400 prophets of the groves to come. They weren't there. They didn't come to Carmel. Why? Because that wicked woman, Jezebel, she didn't let them go.
[27:41] They were her, they were her, they were her prophets. They were, she kept them in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, we find that it was 450 that he killed.
[27:54] She was, she was, so, he was in that household all on his own. Friends, you may be feeling that you're the only person, maybe you're here tonight, and you're the only person in your household. Maybe you're saying to yourself, there's nobody, none of my, none of my, none of my, my family are following the Lord.
[28:12] I believe, friends, that Obadiah was a man of prayer. If he greatly feared the Lord, he was praying in the household of Ahab, and he was praying that the Lord would come.
[28:24] You don't give up, friend. Don't, whatever you do, feel that maybe you're feeling here, oh, I'm the only one. I go to, I go to, to pray. I pray for my family.
[28:35] I pray for my brothers, my sisters, my fathers, my mother, my children. No answer. This man here, I'm sure time and time again, but yet, in the providential dealings of God, he met with Ahab.
[28:51] That was him. So, there was a command came, and we find that Elijah answered the command. Secondly, there was a challenge.
[29:07] Notice that in verse 15, we find that Elijah gives a promise, a promise to Obadiah. he gave him an assurance, and Elijah said, remember, he says, oh, how can I go, how can I go and tell him, how can I go to Ahab?
[29:29] But he gives him a promise in verse 15. Look, first of all, he gives him a promise. He gives him the assurance that he will come. Before him, as the Lord of hosts liveth, by Jehovah, I will stand, before him I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.
[29:46] So, with that assurance, Obadiah goes to Ahab, and we find that then, that Ahab comes to meet Elijah. Notice the meeting, first of all.
[30:01] Notice the meeting. When they meet, chapter 17, the accusation that Ahab gives to Elijah, art thou he that throubleth Israel?
[30:11] Now, if there was any sense of remorse in the heart of this wicked man, any sense that the Lord was dealing with him, he's three years, and the famine is in the whole of Israel, they're dying, they're dying, and here's the prophet of the Lord, who had given that prophecy, and the first thing he's doing to him is criticizing him.
[30:40] It's not a word of thanks to God, Jehovah, that you're here. Oh, friends, isn't the heart of man hard? Isn't it? This man was really hard.
[30:53] That's how the conversation starts, and then Elijah turns it round, and instead of the conversation, we find that he puts out a challenge to him.
[31:05] Go, he says, and he says, send, he explains to him, I'm not the one that troubles Israel, verse 18, but he says, you go and send and gather to me all Israel into Mount Carmel, and the prophets of the Baal 450, and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat at Jezebel's table, but it would apparently, 450 came, and Israel came, it doesn't say that all Israel, but most of Israel would have gathered into Mount Carmel.
[31:31] Now Mount Carmel was right beside the Mediterranean Sea, right up on the northwest coast. If you look on the map, it's right beside, it's on the map, Carmel was right beside and right down from it was the Mediterranean Sea.
[31:43] Therefore, when we talk about some people say, oh, there was famine in the land, how did Elijah get buckets of water and so much barrels of water? The Mediterranean Sea didn't dry up during the famine.
[31:58] It was salty. Therefore, that's where he got the water from. People say this can never be a miracle, but that's where he could get, there was no water around Mount Carmel, because the Lord had stopped the rain from coming.
[32:12] So there he is, he asks for the 400 of them to come and remarkable, remarkable, Ahab does as he's told.
[32:24] Doesn't seem to question it, does he? He does as he's told, goes and he takes them and there we have in verse 21, we have that wonderful challenge, how long?
[32:36] Are you halting between two opinions? If Baal follow him, if God follow him, notice, people were quiet, they knew fine well that they had forsaken Jehovah, they knew that they had forsaken God.
[32:53] Friends, that's when it comes to ourselves, and when it comes to anybody, if you challenge even the world today, they'll say, yes, there is something wrong with the world.
[33:06] They're quietened. Elijah tells them, this is where you've gone wrong, and they become quiet. They know what the prophet is saying is true. You see, there's no neutrality regarding when we're asked about God.
[33:20] We're either with God or we're against him. There's no this or that hanging about us to say, I'm sort of here or I'm sort of there.
[33:33] In the Christian life, you're either with Christ or you're against, in life in general. The Christian is either with Christ or he's against him. It's as simple as that.
[33:44] No neutrality. That's what Elijah's picking here. And that's why, friends, you and I, there is a lesson here for us as well. We must follow the Lord fully.
[33:55] Fully. And that is the question often with myself. I don't know, I'm sure it's with you, am I following the Lord fully? Am I really with the Lord as I should be?
[34:07] And the answer we have to say so often, so often, we're not. We're not in his word. We're not at home in the secret place.
[34:19] The old folk used to call it the secret place, in the closet. Are we often there? Oh, friends, it's a grief to me personally, that I'm not where I should be, at times that I should be.
[34:33] When there is plenty of time during the day, isn't it so easy to while our time away, looking out the window, grabbing a newspaper? Not when Elijah says, we should not be halting between two opinions if there is no half-heartedness according to Elijah.
[34:54] He challenged them. And the challenge was that they should bring, they should come to, look at the challenge here. He challenged his bail to dress, to put up an altar.
[35:07] And he would put up an altar. He took two beasts, two bullocks, one for bail and one for himself. Two altars were prepared. So there was, now in the third place we can say there was a contest.
[35:21] Here was the contest. And here we have the contest been executed. now, the contest was they would build an altar.
[35:33] They would put the animal on the altar. The wood was on the altar. And later on, after they had finished, Elijah would put the altar. Same sort of scenario.
[35:45] It was wood on top of the burnt offering, burnt sacrifice. Now, the prophets, Ahab I believe thought that he was on solid ground here. Because Bail was the Canaanite god of two things.
[35:59] He was the Canaanite god of fertility. But he was also the god of the sun god. He was the sun god. The god of lightning. He was the one by whom lightning could come.
[36:11] They were thinking that the lightning is during the night when there was thunder was going to be lightning. And he was the god of lightning. And they thought, we could quite easily do. Bail is the god of lightning.
[36:22] He is the god of light. He is the god of fire. He is the sun god. We will be on safe ground here. But my where are they? They could from morning to night they chanted and you can see it all there from verse 26 and 27 and 28 we find them doing all that they could.
[36:46] And then we find Ahab mocking them. Mocking them in verse 27. Nothing has happened. Why? He says your god where is he?
[36:58] Is he on holiday? Is he asleep? Can you not waken him? And so on. And then they're finished. And look at what he does. We said it before.
[37:10] He's prepared. He took the stones. He says in verse he tells them to come near to him. He repaired the altar. He put the stones on it. And then he puts the water.
[37:23] pours the water. Four barrels of water. Verse 33 pours it on the sacrifice and he did it three times so that the water was round the trench. And then we find him doing something.
[37:35] Notice what he does. And this is particularly true in here. Look at verse verse 36. It came to pass at the time of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said look at his prayer.
[37:55] Now Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word.
[38:05] Hear me O Lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and thou hast turned their heart back again. He did three things in the prayer.
[38:16] Notice and you know we sometimes say to ourselves how do I pray? Maybe there's an example of Elijah's prayer. Look what he did first of all.
[38:28] He prays first of all that God would be glorified. I was just thinking there isn't that what's in the Lord's prayer? Hallowed be thy name.
[38:41] That's the Lord's prayer isn't it? It's a hallowing of the Lord with glorifying God. First thing he calls him by the title of the Lord God the covenant God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
[38:56] Let it be known that this day that thou art God in Israel. Thou art the God. So first of all he glorifies God and secondly he prays that the prophet is who he says he is.
[39:11] Look what he says there. It's key to it. He says I am thy servant. He humbles himself. This is not an exalted this is not him exalting himself.
[39:27] Let's take the word of God as it is. I am nothing. I am nothing but a humble servant. He humbles himself. That's what he does.
[39:37] And then thirdly we see that he does something else. He prays that there would be revival. He prays for the people. Three things.
[39:49] Glorification of God, humility of self and that the Lord would come and the people would be revived. That they would be turned back. That the Lord would come with power.
[40:03] Look how short it is. Sometimes we think we should come into God's presence with long long long petitions. Friends, short, that's a short prayer.
[40:18] That's not long, is it? So, that's three things that he did. And look at the response. Finally, we notice the response.
[40:31] Verse 38, Then the Lord, the fire of the Lord fell. And consumed. Now, this is something as well to think about as well here in this passage.
[40:45] It consumed the birth sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and leaked up the water that was in the trench. What's missing? What did it not consume?
[41:00] And it should have. It didn't consume the people. Imagine. The people who had done what they had done, even for the last three years of the famine, abandoned the Lord God, had no time for the Lord God of Israel, and he comes in the midst of the people, and the fire of the Lord comes down, and consumes only one thing, the burnt offering.
[41:37] Amazing. Oh, friends, does it remind you of something? Does it remind us of Calvary? That's what reminded me.
[41:51] What was where was the anger of the Lord most evident? It was most evident in Calvary. when there was a cry from Calvary, what would he say?
[42:02] What was the cry? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the people around, it didn't touch them.
[42:17] Think of the Roman soldiers. Fire of the Lord didn't consume them, but it came upon Christ. Oh, friends, what a view we have here in Elijah in the era of Calvary, haven't we?
[42:36] How much you and I should be tested if you're like me and you're feeling so often like we should be, we should be having thrown to a lost eternity long ago for all we've done, but no, the wrath of God came upon Christ, and the wrath of God came upon the burnt sacrifice here because it was a type of Christ, wasn't it?
[42:59] And it consumed it. It says, that's what it says here in the word of God, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed. It didn't say that it just burnt it, it consumed it.
[43:10] There's more to it. That's what happened at Calvary. The holy harmless son of God took your penalty, took mine, and we have here a picture of it.
[43:23] And look at what happened. Look what happened in verse 39 when the people saw it. They fell on their faces and said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God.
[43:37] I think of that centurion, certainly. What did he say? This was a righteous man. Remember, when he saw what happened at Calvary.
[43:49] Oh, friends, do we see anything? Do we see anything for ourselves in the sacrifice at Calvary? They saw it that day and they fell on their faces and they confessed, the Lord, he is God.
[44:01] And look at the result. Verse 40. He takes the 450 of the prophets of Baal and he takes them and he slays them. Down by the brook Kishon.
[44:13] No mercy for them. Well, there shouldn't have been either. And then we have there and then verse 45.
[44:25] And it came to pass in the meanwhile. Look, there's so many servants in this. When you see Elijah going up into Carmel, the mountain of Carmel just beside him, and he casts himself down and he puts his face between his knees.
[44:41] What is he doing? He's praying to the Lord. It's not recorded there. Praying to the Lord. He's waiting for the Lord. He's waiting expectantly for the Lord. And the Lord comes.
[44:52] It came to pass in the heaven. Verse 45. The heaven was black with clouds. There was rain. There was rain.
[45:04] What came of Ahab? What did Ahab do? Look at it. Look at what he did. You know, it's telling.
[45:15] What did he do? Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. What was in Jezreel?
[45:27] It was the queen's palace. It was Jezreel's court. He went back to that wicked woman which he should never ever have taken out into Jezreel.
[45:41] and he went back there. No sign whatsoever of a turning back to God. Wouldn't you think there would have been? Wouldn't you? Oh, friends, what's in the heart of man?
[45:54] The hardness of the sinner. The hardness of the sinner. And how often we have to confess ourselves that we too are hard. we too are hard and we hear and we read of the great sacrifice that happened, as we said already, at Calvary.
[46:12] We hear about Christ so often and yet we're hardened. We don't really, we're no melted. We're not melted, we're almost like Ahab.
[46:22] We're going back to our gods, aren't we? Back to where we were before. Oh, friends, how often, how often do you feel yourself and you're praying tonight the same prayer as you had last night?
[46:37] Do you feel that? Same sins? Same things that you did today as you did yesterday and you're sick of yourself last night, you're just as sick of yourself today.
[46:48] But, oh, friends, it's good for you that you're going. Because in that sense you're going not to Chesquil. You're going to the mercy seat. You're going to Christ and that's where you're going tonight and that's where you'll go tomorrow night and the night after.
[47:03] Because I'll tell you, you'll sin tomorrow. But you're going back, not to Chesquil. You're not going back, you're going to the only hope that you have.
[47:14] Where is that hope? It's in the mercy seat. What is the mercy seat? It's Christ. Christ. That's where we go to. That's, dear friend, where you're going to go to tonight. If I know you're right.
[47:26] And that's the best place you can go to. And if you haven't gone before, then please go tonight. Because I'll tell you, this man, this sacrifice, he takes sinners like myself and yourself.
[47:39] He takes back sliding sinners like me. And he'll take you. He'll take you. Because that's his business. That was his business with Elijah.
[47:51] And that's his business with us tonight. Oh, friends, let's go. Let's take ourselves, when we go home, let's go to Calvary again. Let's go to the burnt sacrifice.
[48:03] Let's not return to the Jezebels of Jezreel. But let's go to him. Because that's our only hope. And if that's the way you feel tonight, friend, if he is your only hope, you're in the right place.
[48:18] And you will be in the right place. And he'll answer you. Close with a word of prayer. Oh, Lord, our God, we do thanks to thee that we have such a one in the gospel as we were trying to talk about tonight.
[48:35] The one who came and became our sacrifice. God to He never merited any of what he experienced at Calvary.
[48:49] But he took upon himself the sins of his people. He became our sacrifice for us. And oh Lord, we give thanks tonight that we come this evening to him because he ever lives to make intercession for us.
[49:06] And we bless thee that is so. Oh, bless us tonight, each one of us, eternal God. And as Elijah was in his day a light, let us each one bear that light ourselves and that we would not be ashamed to own his cause here in time.
[49:27] And bless us together, we pray thee. Wash over us and keep us for Jesus' sake. Amen. We'll conclude in the same chapter that we had. Verse Psalm 37.
[49:38] Psalm 37, I'm sure you've heard this before, was a psalm of David. It was a psalm there and David was, at one time in his experience, he was looking at around and how the wicked were flourishing.
[49:55] He sees that in the day and towards the end of the psalm, he's told, taught by God, that the end of the wicked is not an end that he would want because we find it in the end.
[50:13] Verse 38, But those men that transgress shall be destroyed together. The latter end of wicked men shall be cut off forever. But the salvation of the just is from the Lord above.
[50:29] He in the time of their distress, their stay, and strength doth prove. The Lord shall help and them deliver. He shall them free and save from wicked men because in him their confidence they have.
[50:43] That's where your confidence and mine is to be placed, in him. We sing these three verses in conclusion. conocits of the Sears beyond shall be dated you you