May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn
to the first book of the Kings, chapter 18, and we'll read verses
43 and 44. The first book of the Kings,
chapter 18, reading verses 43 and 44. and said to his servant, go up
now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and
said, there is nothing. And he said, go again seven times.
And 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. And he said, Go up, say unto
Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain
stop thee not. Well we read this 18th chapter
in the first book of the Kings this morning. And it is, of course,
a well-known chapter and it's a very interesting chapter. And
it's a very important chapter for us to realize the greatness
of God and the power of God. And so we've read together how
Elijah was able to pray to God and how God was faithful and
heard and answered his prayer. And how there was a very clear
demonstration then that the Lord was the God as the people said
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 all the efforts
of vain efforts of the servants of Baal the prophets of Baal
were not able to bring down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. But we are thankful that the
God of Elijah, who is the almighty, ever-living God, did hear the
prayer of his servant and sent down that fire from heaven. Not
only did it consume the sacrifice, it consumed the actual stones
of the altar and all the water that had been poured on the sacrifice. This is interesting, of course,
Carmel was quite near to the sea and this was a time of severe
famine. Drought so there wouldn't have
been very much water Available naturally, but the sea was available
So it would appear they probably gained and went and got the water
from the sea to pour upon the sacrifice And fully douse it
with water, but the power of the fire from Almighty God Consumed
the whole everything the water the stones the sacrifice and
a very very clear demonstration Therefore of who was the God? The Lord, he is the God. And then you see the Prophet
Elijah was able to tell Ahab, the king, he said to Ahab, get
thee up, eat and drink. For there is a sound of abundance
of rain.' Now there'd been this drought for over three years
and obviously they needed rain desperately and therefore Elijah
was able to speak to Ahab with faith like that and you would
think therefore that everything would now go very smoothly. Well
it did go smoothly but not in the way perhaps that the people
expected and not the way perhaps Elijah expected and so we're
told Ahab went up to eat and drink and Elijah went up to the
top of Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and he put
his face between his knees and said to his servant go up now
look toward the sea obviously he'd gone to look to see whether
the rain was coming And God had clearly shown Elijah that it
would come and Elijah therefore had faith to tell King Ahab that
it would come. And where is the rain now? Well,
he's told his servant to go and have a look and see if it's coming,
if it's on the way. But there was nothing to see. Nothing to see. And we sometimes
might wonder why we have such accounts in the Bible. It could have run very simply
and the rain could have come as soon as Elijah had prayed
to God. But it wasn't God's purpose.
And you and I today have to realize that in our lives sometimes there
are those situations which we may believe will come
to pass. We may have had very clear words
from God that it will come to pass. And we expect it to come
to pass. But it doesn't come to pass.
And the reason for that is that God sees fit to test and try
our faith. And that's just what happened
on this occasion. And therefore, as Elijah's servant
goes up to have a look and to see whether there's any rain
coming, he is told, go up now and look toward the sea. And
he went up and looked and said, there is nothing, nothing. There's no doubt a beautiful
clear sky, sun shining, no sound of any rain, no sign of any rain,
no sound of any rain. Well, we have these pictures
in the Word of God, these truths in the Word of God to encourage
us. in our lives we may not have
perhaps such a great situation as this was but nonetheless we
do have occasions in our lives we do have important occasions
in our lives we do have times when we may have prayed to God
and God has directed us and we don't seem to have any answer
God is silent. There's no sign. Well, should
we despair? Should we give up? Should we
think, well, I must have been mistaken? Now, let's be clear.
Sometimes we are mistaken. Sometimes we can think that God
has spoken a word. And in fact, he has not spoken
a word. We may have grasped the word.
because we wanted something to happen. And therefore we laid
hold upon a word which never emanated from God. It may have
emanated because we wanted it to occur. Sometimes, and I think
it's a very dangerous thing to do, people ask God, if they open
the Word of God, wherever it opens and wherever they put their
finger that's the word and that's the word they want and well sometimes
it may be a word but you know God doesn't usually operate in
that way you know that's planning and working to man's plan my
friends God has a plan and God works in a way where he will
have the honor and glory see people who do that often then
Reiterate the account and say, well, I put my finger there and
therefore they take some glory. Well, there's no glory to man
when God works. And we should therefore be content.
You see, people become impatient. They want God to work. They want
something urgently. And therefore they decide how
they're going to bring this about. They're going to do it in their
way. Well, you and I need patience. You and I need to wait for God's
time. because God does appear and you can be sure when God
speaks and when God directs it be in such a way that you and
I could not have done it ourselves and that makes it very clear
that it's God's direction and it's God's leading and what a
blessing that is well here we have a very simple situation
and we should be thankful we have simple occasions demonstrated
in the Word of God for us to be encouraged by. And here was
Elijah's servant told to go up to the top of Carmel and have
a look, look toward the sea and see if there's any sign of rain.
And he went up and looked and said, there is nothing. And what
did Elijah say? Go again, seven times. seven times, going up and down,
up and down the mountain to see if there was any sign of any
rain. You see, God tests our faith
and he tests Elijah's faith. He was a man of God. He was a
man of faith. And God wonderfully appeared
for Elijah. And so many occasions you can read the accounts in
this book of Kings. And it's wonderful to see how
God appeared for him but you see God still shows us he will
have the honor and glory and therefore he had the honor and
glory on this occasion because we're told his servant went up
seven times and he came to pass at the seventh time the seventh
time, behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a
man's hand. It wasn't a great big cloud. It was just a little sign, a
little sign of encouragement. Therefore, how wonderful it is
if God sometimes, we may have a promise and it doesn't seem
to be fulfilled. doesn't seem to be coming about
and we're thinking well perhaps we've made a mistake perhaps
you have made a mistake perhaps because you're expecting to seek
some honour and glory yourself and that's a very important test
you know in our lives because God is a jealous God and God
will have the honour and glory and you and I won't be able to
credit ourselves with any And yet, you see, our flesh is so
strong and so powerful, it wants often to claim something of the
honor and glory. Well, here was Elijah's servant. He wasn't able to claim any honor
and glory, was he? Remember, it's this little cloud,
little cloud. In the distance arises a little
cloud out of the sea. You can imagine, can't you, the
sky and the sea meeting. there's this little on the horizon
there's this little cloud showing itself well that must have been
good news wasn't it for Elijah's servant and and he's and he he
said he said behold there rises a little cloud out of the sea
like a man's hand. Elijah said, Go up, and say unto
Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain
stop thee not. You see, it was a wonderful sign. How encouraging for Elijah. And he was able to believe, therefore,
that the rain would come. Go unto Nahab. It's on its way. Go unto Nahab. It will come. You see, God's promises never
fail. God does work powerfully and
mightily. But he does bring honour and
glory to his great and holy name. And it came to pass then in such
an amazing way. And it came to pass in the meanwhile
that the heaven was black with winds. there'd just been this
little cloud and now it developed and the heavens became black
with clouds and wind and there was a great rain not just a little
rain a great rain you know it's wonderful to realize that God
doesn't do things by halves when God works, God works and it's
very clear it is his work and it's wonderful also that you
and I and then honour and glorify our God because it is so. Yes, it doesn't leave us in any
doubt. It's not our work. We couldn't
have produced it. Elijah couldn't have produced
this. God heard Elijah's prayer. God appeared. And God got the
honour and the glory. So therefore, we live in the
world today We live in the world today and we have a picture here
before us to realise that we shouldn't be disappointed. If we expect something to happen,
and what is the result? There's nothing. There's nothing
to encourage us. Nothing to encourage us. Well if that is so and it may
be a disappointment sometimes we're disappointed sometimes
things haven't worked out in accordance with what in the way
that we thought it would and again it's more testing and more
trying when we believe it emanates from God and now there seems
to be a question mark Now there seems to be a delay
testing our faith as to whether that has emulated from God or
not. Well, God brings things to pass
in his time and in his way. We mustn't forget that. It's
in God's time and in God's way. And God brings it about in such
a way that you and I could not have done it ourselves. Here
was rain. God brought the rain. Poor puny
man can't bring rain. There may be those situations
which you and I expect to happen, but we can't do anything. We
can't do anything. We are dependent upon God. Now what a blessing it is. to
have a confidence in God. Because God is able to do far
more, exceeding abundantly, than you and I can ask or even think. The situation often produces
an utter dependence upon God, and we may come to the place,
and it's not a bad place to be, where God tests us to the situation
that we realise that all our religion is bound up in receiving the
answer to our prayers. Everything that we've trusted
in God, we need to have worked out. And it seems that nothing's
happening. Nothing's happening. We may wonder,
well, have we made a big mistake? Are we wrong? Are we wrong? In actual fact, sometimes it
seems things go the opposite way. The opposite way. There doesn't seem to be any
agreement that these things are going to work out in accordance
with God's way and God's purpose. Well, God has a plan. God has a plan and we only have
to look through the Word of God, don't we? The Word of God and
see how God does appear. How He appeared to Abraham with
regard to his son Isaac. And that was tested, wasn't it?
That was tested. He had to wait a long time, you
know, for the fulfilment of that. Didn't occur next year. He had
to wait years. for the fulfilment of that promise
that he would have a son and that through his son there would
be a multitude of believers born in due time. But you see, God
tested Abraham's faith. Yes, and when the son was born,
you might think, well, everything's going to go smoothly now. It's
going to be plain sailing. The answer of his prayers have
come about. God's done what he said he would
do. Then we come to that time when his faith was tested again. He was told to go and offer up
Isaac. Offer up Isaac, in whom was all
his religion really tied up. And he was now told to go and
offer his son up. Well, it's a wonderful testimony. we have in the case of Abraham
he didn't argue he didn't disagree he got on with it straight away
to go to the mount that God had told him to go to he took his
son and her servants and fire and wood but no lamb and we can
imagine perhaps the difficulty of answering the question that
Isaac put to his dad, where is the sacrifice? And the glorious
answer, God himself will provide the sacrifice. And as you know
the account, I'm sure that it wasn't until the very last second
that Abraham was told to stop and not to slay his son. And
there we see God had prepared a sacrifice. There was a ram
caught in its horns, caught by its horns in a thicket. And Abraham
was told to go and take that lamb, that ram. Wonderful, wasn't
it? And what is the picture? The
picture we have there is gloriously set forth simply for us, substitution. Yes, the Lord Jesus was our substitute. That ram was a substitute for
Isaac. And there it was so clearly set
before us. What a wonderful picture we have. And we have therefore faith that
was given to Abraham to obey the Word of God. What a test
of faith. Well, here was the test of faith
for Elijah in a very different situation. in a very different
way, but nonetheless still very needful that there was a solution. You and I need to encourage ourselves
in a day and age in which we live. I know not what you're
passing through at the moment, what test God is putting in your
life. It is good, you know, to have
our faith tested. Hymn writer says, faith at the
flesh dislikes the way, but faith approves it well. You and I don't
like to pass through these times of testing, but they are good,
because when we come out the other side, we'll praise God
for giving us faith to believe in his promises, to believe his
word, to trust him, Our life is one of faith. Every true believer
is blessed with faith to believe. And that faith is always tested. And the reason it's tested is
quite simple. You and I don't want to have
a false faith. We don't want to have a false
hope. We don't want to build our hope
on our own ideas. We want to have that evidence
that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus, blood and righteousness. And this the Lord teaches us. And this the Lord instructs us. And as he does so, it's to strengthen
our faith. and as the Lord strengthens our
faith we then come to that clear evidence that He has loved us
with an everlasting love you see there are those times when
that is put to the test and again it's good to have these things
put to a test we don't want to have a false foundation we don't
want to have a false assumption we want to have a very clear
evidence that those things which we believe in emanate from God
they are His work that we are His handiwork that He has raised
us up that He has given us that hope it's not something which
we produced it's emanated from God well God tests it and what
a good thing we sometimes have to cast things away it's very
easy to rely on our own ideas. Something that we think would
be rather nice, something that we think perhaps we rely on as
something, as a wonderful testimony, and perhaps we think that will
impress people, that which I believe has come from God well you know
God ensures that he gets the glory let me come back to that
again and again because our flesh will otherwise grasp at things
to gain the glory but God will have the honor and glory and
he will do things in such a way and in such a manner that you
and I are really unable to replicate such a wonderful direction and
such a wonderful leading and such a wonderful blessing so
that we have to come and we have to say it is the Lord it's the
Lord that has done this the Lord did it didn't he in bringing
fire down from heaven there was no doubt about it and now Elijah
still needs the Lord to appear and bring forth rain and then
it's put to the test there is nothing There's no sign that
there's gonna be any rain. And Elijah, you told Ahab, there's
gonna be an abundance of rain. Where's the sign? Well, Elijah was given God-given
faith. And all his people are given
God-given faith. It is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is not something that you
and I produce ourselves. It's not something that you and
I are able to work up. God gives faith. And God gives faith when it's
needful. Yes, we live in an evil world. We live in a passing world. And
so, very easily, we find ourselves concentrating on the things of
time, rather than concentrating on the things of eternity. Concentrating on the vanities
of life, rather than concentrating on the welfare of our souls. See, that's the vital thing,
isn't it? To know that it is well with
our soul. in answer to that great question
is it well with your soul? is it well with my soul? what's
our response? can we say by the grace of God
by God given faith it is well it is well and again looking
from the other perspective we are not to deny God's work we
are not to pretend we don't know you know there's a tendency to
deny God's work a tendency to kind of pretend we don't know
it's really just a mock humility and sometimes people think it's
impressive to pretend we don't know when it's not impressive
at all my friends you and I need to know and we need to know and
we need to come to that place like the Apostle Paul did By
the grace of God, I know whom I have believed. We need to be on that rock. I know whom I have believed. You don't want to end up at the
end of your life not knowing whether you believe or not. You
want to know that you're founded on that rock, that firm foundation
which does not move on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other
ground is sinking sand. You see Elijah, still on the
rock. Elijah was firm on that rock.
And that's why he was able to go to his servant and say, go
again, seven times. It will come. It will come. Just go and keep on going, you'll
find it. Elijah had faith to believe. And so it came to pass. And it came to pass. You see,
we read, he said there is nothing and Elijah said go again seven
times. And when we read immediately
after that, and it came to pass. And It came to pass. God's work comes to pass. It will be tested. It will be
tried. But it comes to pass. It must
come to pass. Because God doesn't lie. What
God says is true. What he says comes to pass. And it came to pass. When? At the seventh time. at the seventh
time. We may sometimes become impatient. We mentioned, I think it was
last Lord's Day, the 40th Psalm, and of course there we have the
glorious example of David when he commences that Psalm by saying,
I waited patiently. for the Lord and he inclined
unto me and heard my cry." It's a good statement, it's good to
remember. We have these evidences of God's
children tracing out the pathway of a true believer. And you and
I should study the Word of God to find the right path, to find
God's path. Left to ourselves, we'll look
to our path believe you me, you and I will make mistakes you
and I will make mistakes and sometimes we just need to test
the things perhaps that we think God has given to us and God has
spoken to us sometimes we just need to test them because sometimes
it may be of the flesh of the flesh we think it's going to
be very wonderful how God's going to appear and perhaps he doesn't
And we have to prove it's of the flesh. And you may say, well,
how do I know that? Well, there is a very important
test. And it's this. If God answers
your prayers in the way that you expect, will you claim any
honour and glory? Or will it all emanate to God? It's a very useful test and it's
good to apply it sometimes. I look back in my lives to occasions
when I thought the Lord had given me a word on this and that several
times and they've never come to pass. And I realised they
didn't come from God. They came from my own heart.
I wanted a certain thing to occur, something to happen. therefore
I latched on to a word and thought it emanated from God it was of
the flesh my friends the flesh the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked don't forget that that's recording
the Word of God for our encouragement and our direction and our correction
Our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It's a very comprehensive statement,
isn't it? It's good sometimes just to ponder these things and
to examine ourselves. We don't want to have a false
hope. We don't want to rely on our
flesh. We want to rely upon God's Word
and what God says and trust and believe it will come to pass. And like it was here in Elijah's
case, The Word was tested seven times. Seven times. Gehaziah
had to wander up the mountain to see if there was any sign
of the clouds coming and the rain coming. No sign. Six times. It wasn't until the last time
there was a little sign. And again, sometimes we might
expect some great, wonderful thunder or lightning to bring
about God's fulfilment. My friends, it sometimes, just
like it was in Elijah's case, go on a still, small voice. Yeah, a still, small voice. You
know, sometimes we expect a great outpouring of God's Spirit upon
us. A still, small voice. What was it? It was an effectual
word. It touched his heart. It's a great blessing when God's
word touches our heart. And so he's able to come and
tell Elijah, yes, a little cloud, a little cloud out of the sea
like a man's hand. And he said, go up. Santa Ahab,
prepare thy chariot and get thee down, and the rain stop thee
not. There was no doubt, was there,
now in Elijah's heart. Here was the sign he'd been waiting
for. Here he was. Go up and tell Elijah. Behold, get thee down, and the
rain stop thee not. Well, it's a wonderful blessing,
isn't it, to have faith. And again, we might think, well,
fancy that. There's Elijah. On Mount Carmel. God hears his prayer. A wonderful
appearing. A wonderful appearing. And then,
next moment almost, he's tested with this situation. Well, my
friends, God knows what you and I need in our lives. to keep
us dependent upon Him, not to rely
on our own strength. Paul said, I can do all things
through Christ that strengtheneth me. Don't forget that. All things. Yep, but not himself. through Christ that strengthens
me. And it's a wonderful blessing
to walk that path, to know the Lord is with us and the Lord
is blessing us and the Lord is instructing us and the Lord is
using us in his way for his honour and glory. Well, we know of course
that Elijah was gloriously used by God and what a mercy, what
a blessing it was. What a mercy to realise that
we have such a God who works so wonderfully and so gloriously
and so powerfully. And this is the God which I trust
you and I adore, the almighty ruler of the universe, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, and yet the one who is full of compassion
and looks down upon us in our weakness, looks down upon us
in all our wretchedness and all our poverty, and grants us his
favour and his blessing. Well, here we have this simple
account. He said to his servant, go up
now, look toward the sea. He went up and looked and said,
there is nothing. If that is like it in your life,
don't give up. Don't give up. And he said, Go
again seven times. It came to pass at the seventh
time that he said, Behold, there rises a little cloud out of the
sea like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto
Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down at the