Turn to 1 Kings 19. I hope to take as my text this
morning just four words that our Lord asked Elijah when he
was out there in the wilderness. Take these words with you and
ask them to yourselves over and over and over as if the Lord
Himself, face to face, asked you this, What doest thou here? What doest thou here? Now, I'll give you, just hold
your Bibles there. We're going to just use those four words.
But here in this portion of God's Word, this account of the prophet
Elijah. This man just suddenly appeared.
He just suddenly appears on the scene. We don't know his parentage.
We don't know anything about Elijah. He just suddenly appears. And he appears to the king, Ahab,
that wicked king at that time, and that wicked queen, Jezebel,
his wife. And he appears to them and he
said, for your wickedness. He says, it's not going to rain
for three years. There will be no rainfall for three years.
And just as suddenly as he appeared, the Lord removes him. And the
Lord takes him into the wilderness. And you all know that story.
He goes into the wilderness, and he's miraculously taken care
of. He's fed by ravens. What an amazing thing. It's no
more amazing than how our Lord takes care of us. How He provides
for us. He sends that that He's pleased
to send, and whatever instrument He's pleased to use to bring
it to us. He chose to feed Elijah with ravens, and He watered him
by His own brook. Well, that brook dried up, and
the Lord said, it's time to move on. And the Lord took him to
a Gentile woman, a woman of Serapto. You remember that story. And
she was ready to die. All of her substance had been
used up. And she had a little boy. And she was preparing to
fix the last meal for her and her son. And then they were going
to die. And Elijah came to them and said,
fix me that cake. Use that last little bit of oil
and fix me that cake and meal. And she did. And Elijah stayed
there with that woman for a long period of time. And that meal
never did run out. That barrel never did run empty.
Do you ever feel like our barrels want to run empty? I tell you
what, Jackie tells me all the time, she said, you know, you
weren't a worrier when you were a young man. And said, now that
you've gotten old and gray-haired, she said, you worry about everything.
Our kids, we raised four kids, or she did, and they could do
anything. I mean, nothing caused me to
be concerned about them, to fear. But now we've got these nine
grandchildren, And I hover over them like a mother hen. I'm scared
to death of every move they make. If it was up to me, they'd sit
right there and not do anything. And I sometimes, I tell you,
our nation's in a mess. It's an absolute mess. And I'm
concerned. Not for me and Jackie. And as
my dad said, all you that's long a tooth, we're not concerned. But I'm concerned about our young
people and about our children. It's a tough day. And then I
say, wait a minute, Dave. Wait a minute, what are you saying?
You're talking like one of them foolish people. Is everything
going according to schedule? Yes, it is. Is this God's president? Yes, it is. It absolutely is. I better be careful what I say
about it. God put him there. He put him there on purpose and
for a purpose. And that meal never did run out.
Humanly speaking, this is a desperate situation. Oh, it's an awful
situation. Like in our day? No, it's not. No, it's not. God still on the
throne? Still on the throne. Is He doing
according to His own will? He's doing according to His own
will. Then sit down. Just stand still. Stand still
and watch. Keep your eyes open and see the
salvation of the Lord. That's what's going on here.
And the Lord provided for Elijah and for that woman and that little
boy. After they'd been there a while, that little boy died.
That woman came to Elijah and said, oh my goodness, my boy's
died. And Elijah came to him. Remember that? Laid on him. Spirit
come back into that child. He raised up. And then just as
suddenly, the Lord said, Elijah, it's time to go back. And just
as suddenly, he leaves that place and he goes back and he approaches
Ahab again. And he tells Ahab, he said, it's
time for a showdown. You've done evil among the people.
And you've led the people astray. And you've caused the people
to worship a false god. He said, you call your 450 prophets
of Baal. And you gather all the people.
And you come up there on that mountain. And I'll meet you up
there. I'll meet you all by myself.
I'll meet you all by myself. And they do. There they are. Can you imagine that scene up
there on Mount Carmel? Here's the whole house of Israel.
And here's these lunatics, these 450 Crazy religious people. About like what we see when we
turn the TV on in our day. You know, they had funny hats
and they had robes and purple and gold and yellow and blue. You know, and all these chants
and all this foolishness. And it's quite a show. It's quite a show, like religion
is in our day. And Elijah said, you select the
bullet. I'll select the bullet. And oh
Elijah, he repaired the altar that the people had quit worshiping
God through that sacrifice. That sacrifice, that blood sacrifice
that pointed to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd
quit doing that. And he said, you cut up your bullock and I'll
cut mine up. You put yours on your altar,
I'll put mine on this altar, on God's altar. And he said,
you call on your God and let's see what happens. And they did. Can you see the foolishness?
Can we see it in our day? In the name of religion? They
jumped up and down. They rolled on the ground. They
shouted. And they talked in gibberish. In unknown tongues, they called
it. It was an awful show. It was
an awful show. And they cut themselves. The
blood ran down their arms. Nothing happened. No fire fell.
And Elijah said, you know, maybe your God is asleep. Raise the
volume, you know. Oh boy, they do that in our day.
You think you've seen it all? You wait till tomorrow and turn
the TV on tomorrow. It'll be crazier than today. They turn
the volume up every day to get people fired up and hooped up
into a frenzy. Every day. Every day. He said,
maybe he's going into a far country. Maybe he's traveling. And nothing happened. And nothing
happened. And then Elijah stepped forward.
And Elijah said, go get some water. And you wet everything
down. I mean barrels and barrels and
barrels. Humanly speaking, is this sacrifice
going to be consumed? No way. No way. They put barrels
and barrels and barrels of water. They even had a big trench around
the sacrifice. And it was full of water. Look
here in 1 Kings 18. Just right across the page here.
And here's what God's man does. He just speaks. He don't do no
shenanigans. He don't do no shows, jumping
around and entertainment and foolishness. He just calls on
God. Quietly, calls on God. And in verse 36, look here, 63
words, all he said. They've been at this for hours
and hours. They've been at this for five
or six hours. And this is now at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
That's an interesting time. This is the time of the sacrifice
over there in the temple. This is the time of the evening
sacrifice. Them sacrifices that God said, you slay them. Slay
that lamb every day at 3 o'clock. At the exact time at 3 o'clock.
What's significant about that? It's the exact time that our
Lord died on the cross. And at that exact time, old Elijah
stepped forth. He said, OK, OK, listen to this. And he says this 623-word prayer.
Look there in verse 36, "...Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Oh, 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." That's very important
there. Very important there. Verse 37,
"...Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that
Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart
back again. You see any shenanigans? You
see any show? You see any show of the flesh? Any costumes? Any jewelry? Any rings? Any of
that foolishness? Elijah stood there dressed as
a plain man. He had on a garment that just covered him. He had
a big leather belt around his waist. He had black hair, as
they say, way down his back. And when he'd get ready to travel
in a hurry, he'd pull that garment up and tie it up with that robe,
and man, he was on the move. But there was no attention to
the flesh. None whatsoever. Just a plain
man. And he prayed to his God, show these people, show these
people who God is. And the fire fell. Oh my goodness,
the fire fell, consumed the sacrifice, the altar, the rocks, and all
the water, licked it all up. Now what happens? The people
fell on their faces. The people fell on their faces.
Have you seen Him? Have you seen the glory of our God? Have you
seen Him in all of His splendor and majesty and power? Have you
seen Him? Have you seen Him? We'll fall
on our faces if we see Him. And they said, The Lord, He is
God. The Lord, He is God. And Elijah took those 450 phonies,
those 450 prophets of Baal, and he slew them. And old Jezebel
got word of this. And she said, I'm going to do
the same thing to Elijah this time tomorrow. And the interesting
thing is, all the things that Elijah has done up until now,
The Lord removed him. The Lord sent him into the wilderness.
The Lord sent him to the woman of Seraphim. The Lord said, it's
time to go back. The Lord brought him back to
Ahab. The Lord caused him to appear before Ahab. And now Elijah
is scared and he takes off. And there's no mention that the
Lord told him to go to the wilderness. There's no mention whatsoever.
Now don't be too hard on Elijah. I think to myself, what would
I do? What would anybody do in the same situation if the Lord
removed his hand? I'm awful guilty of looking around
and saying, what are they doing that for? I ain't in their shoes. I ain't in their shoes. What
would I do? I don't know. Except His grace sustained me,
I'd do worse, even worse. And Elijah fled and went into
the wilderness. And he was gone 40 days into the wilderness.
And he came to a cave. This is God's man. This is God's
man. He said, God, let it be known.
I'm your man. Let these people know that you're
God and that I speak in your place. And that fire fell. Humanly speaking, I'd say, boy,
if I'd ever seen anything like that, I'd never, ever stray again. Well, yes, I would. Elijah did. And there he sits in that cave.
And the Lord appears to him. And the Lord asks him this four-word
question. And I ask it to myself, and I ask it to you today. What
doest thou here? What doest thou right here, today? What are you doing here? Every one of you. Me. My wife. What are we doing here? Why are
we here? Why are we here? It's a very
simple question. It's a very plain question. It's
a question that's easily understood. And I would say to you in the very
first place, the very first point, in all situations, wherever it
is, in this wandering and traveling and this journey down here below,
in every situation I'm placed, in every situation I find myself,
ask myself, ask myself, what am I doing here? As if the Lord
crossed my path and spoke to me and said, what are you doing
here? What are you doing in this place? In all situations, I ask myself
that. And then be prepared to listen
to that still, small voice. That voice that spoke to a life.
He didn't speak to him. He didn't speak to him in the
earthquake. He didn't speak to him in the fire. He didn't speak
to him in the wind that rent the rocks and caused that rumbling
and shaking of the earth. The Lord wasn't in that. And
then he spoke to him in a still, small voice. What doest thou
hear? What doest thou hear? And the
answer to this question, it settles all debates, all arguing, all
discussions, all splitting of words, It settles all those deep,
great theological questions. I'm not much of an internet person.
I'm that close to being computer illiterate. But occasionally
somebody will say, you ought to get on there and you ought
to see what they're arguing and debating about. And Don Fortner
is always the cause for a lot of it. Don Fortner gets beat up more
than anybody on the internet. And they're always splitting
hairs. And they're always arguing. And every one of those arguments.
And every one of those discussions. There's great big words there. Big words. And they're out in
that deep water. I don't live in that deep water. God hasn't given me that to live
in the deep water. I paddle along on the shore.
I'm in these things that are easily gleaned. Little words. My understanding is small. I
can't debate and argue and discuss with these theologians. But I'm
telling you this one thing I know. What doest thou hear? And the
answer to that question settles all that. It puts it all away. And the very first point I have
to make. What am I doing here? What am I doing here? and not
out there. I looked. I followed John and
Irene over here to church this morning. And I particularly counted
on the way. I counted seven churches before
we got here to this church. And I thought every time I looked,
why am I not there? Why am I not there? Why am I
not there? What doest thou hear? And my
first point is, I'll tell you why I'm here. Because I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. If in this life I ever arrive
to the place that I'm not a sinner, I'm in trouble. I'm in deep trouble. I don't know all you folks' location. I know, Ron, they come down here
from Roanoke. I think some of you is from up
here at Boone's Mill. And I don't know what points
east and west and north and south you come here from. But here's
an amazing thing. Every one of you come here week
after week after week, and your pastor stands up here, and what
does he tell you? He tells you, you folks are just
like I am. You're sinners. You're awful. You're ugly. You're undone. You're
wicked. You're evil. You're corrupt.
And what you deserve, and what I deserve, is the wrath of God. So I come here. I come here on
a regular basis to hear whoever God puts here to tell me, I'm
a dead dog sinner. And you've got no hope. You've
got no help. And God's not pleased with anything
you do. The very best thing you do and the very best thing I
can do. And we do some generous things. We do some kind things.
We do some caring things and some giving things. And what's
God think of it? Filthy rags. Filthy rags. Go home and look that word up.
In mixed company, we can't talk about it. Go home and look it
up. That's what we are in God's sight. We're odious. We're obnoxious
in God's sight. And I come here on a regular
basis, and you do too, and hear God's man that's been given the
message of grace and hope in Christ look out there every Sunday
and say, you're sinners. If God don't do something for
you, We're all going to hell. And I come here on a regular
basis to hear that. If I ever in this life attain
to the place where I do not need grace, I'm in trouble. I'm in desperate trouble. If
I ever arrive at the place in this life that I feel like I'm
now clean, I'm in trouble. Because I need to be washed desperately. in the blood of the Savior every
day. We have an old dog. Louie is
his name. He ain't much. Five years old. And for five years, we let him
in the house occasionally. Well, pretty much all the time.
Pretty much whenever he wants in. And he stinks. He stinks. And I'll get him and
we've got shampoos and we've got deodorizers and I'll bathe
him all up. And he's a pretty thing. I'll
dry him with the towel, you know. I love to have him up in my lap.
He just smells so good. And the first time I open the
door, you know what that dog does? I mean, the vilest thing
that's laying in the yard. He goes and rolls over on his
back. And he scoots back and forth in that despicable thing. We can learn something by watching
them dogs. That's me. That dog's me. That dog's me. And he'll come back and he'll
stink. And I'll just look at him and I'll say, Louis, what
are you doing? What are you doing? We just gave you a bath. What
are you doing, Louis? And he'll just look up at me like, this
is what I do. This is what I am. I'm a dog. I'm a dog. This is what I am. I'm a sinner. And I come here
to be reminded of that on a regular basis. Old Spurgeon used to say
when he had his preacher school over there, and he'd advise those
young students that was going through the preacher school,
and he'd tell them, he'd say, don't ever let anybody brag on
you to your face. Don't ever let them brag on you to your
face. Don't ever get puffed up. Don't ever get past this. We're
sinners. My mommy and daddy were sinners.
and their mommy and daddy before them, and our children's centers. And I come here on a regular
basis to hear that. What do us out here? What do
us out here? In the second place, God's holy. What are you doing here? Who
do you want to hear about? Whose holiness and goodness do
you want to hear about? God Almighty. Now, in our day, There's not
much of that going around. In our day, it's God loves everybody. That's a lie. God wants everybody to be saved.
That's a lie. God sent His Son into this world
to die for everybody. That's a lie. That's a lie. Hatched in hell. That's a lie. God's holy. God's pure. God's perfect. Look in First
Timothy, chapter six. First Timothy, chapter six. We
have many, many scriptures that we could read to tell about the
person of our God. First Timothy six. And verse
13. 1 Timothy 6, verse 13, I give thee
charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things before
Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he
shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate. He is the
King of kings. He's the Lord of Lords, and He
only hath immortality. That's our God. He only hath
immortality. And He, look at that, He dwelleth
in the light which no man can approach unto. No man. No man can approach unto. He's
holy. He's pure. Whom no man hath seen nor can
see ever. To whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. That's our God. He's holy. He's pure. He's sovereign. He does whatsoever He will. Do
you remember that old king Nebuchadnezzar? Do you remember that? Do you
remember that story? Turn back there to Daniel chapter 4. Let's
read that. Daniel chapter 4. Now, you know the story. Nebuchadnezzar
was king of Babylon. And God judged him for his wickedness
and for his rebellion. And He turned him into a wild
beast. And he roamed the earth out there like a wild animal.
His hair grew and his fingernails grew like claws. And he ate grass.
And he was out there for seven years, I believe it was. And
at the end of the day, God recovered him. And God brought him back
to his right mind. In verse 34, Daniel 4, are you
there? At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
I lifted up my eyes into heaven, and my understanding returned
unto me. And I blessed the Most High God, and I praised and honored
Him, Him that liveth forever and ever. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion. And His kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And He does. Our God does. Him who is holy and sovereign
does all things according to the counsel of His own will.
He does according to His will. And He does it in the army of
heaven, and He does it among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay His hand. And none can say, What dost thou?
He's God. He's God. What are we? We're sinners. We're undone.
We're awful, ugly, rotten to the core. God's pure and perfect
and holy does whatsoever He will, with whom He will, when He will.
Well, it's a desperate story. It's a desperate situation. That's
not the end of the story. What do us out here? What are
you doing here this morning and not down there? Because much
is made of the Lord Jesus Christ in this place. Much is made of
God's Christ. Much is made of Him who came
down here and identified with people like us. beggars, sinners,
filthy, undone. He came down here and done the
will of His heavenly Father. And this is that will. This is
that will. God who is holy and pure and
perfect, and us who are sinful and awful and ugly, yet in His
love, in His perfect love, He loved the people before He ever
created the heavens and the earth. God did. And He loved us and
gave us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was the surety of those
people. Putting it in words that we can understand, Christ stood
before the Heavenly Father. God said, I love a people. And
Christ said, I'll go down there. I'll go down there and I'll die
for my people. I'll redeem every one of my people. What doest
thou hear? Are you here to hear that message? You're not here to be bragged
on. You're not here to be coddled. You're here to hear what we are.
We're sinners. And we're hopeless and helpless.
And God's holy and pure. But He gave Christ to people.
He gave Christ to people. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
down here and did everything for those people. I want to hear
about that. I want to hear about Him. I can't argue theology. I can't go out there in that
deep water. But I know this much. And that's why I'm here. I'm
a sinner. God's pure and perfect and holy.
And I can never cross that chasm between me and Him. There's a
great gulf between us. And my sins keep me from Him.
But oh, thank God, Christ came. There's hope. Oh, there's hope. And He's everything in this place.
He's everything. That's why I'm here. That's why
you're here. Tell me about the Savior. Tell me about the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said in John 6, He said, I
come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of the
Father that sent Me. And this is the will of Him that
sent Me. That all which He gave Me, they'll come to Me. And I'll raise them up at the
last day. I'll redeem every one of them. Are you interested in
that? I'm interested. That's why I'm here. What do
us out here? What do us out here? Christ died
for sinners. That's why I'm here. I want to
hear about Him. I want to hear about Him over and over and over.
And my fourth point is the Lord calls out His people through
the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is in this place.
The message is in this place. The word of hope is in this place.
Look at Romans 10. Romans chapter 10. There's no greater judgment than
our Lord pronounces on a people or a community than to withhold
the gospel from them people. There's no greater judgment.
And I know you folks here in this community, I know you thank
God every day for the man that He raised up in that place, because
He's not been pleased to do it every place, but He's done it
in this place. You have the message that has
been the message for always. God's going to raise up. If you're
going to hear, if them children are going to hear, if them children
are going to hear, one of these days these little ones are going
to grow up. We want them to go away to college. We want them
to have a good education. We want them to be able to provide
for their families. But I'm telling you, encourage them early and
encourage them often. Don't leave the gospel. You're
going to go away to school? Find you a school where the gospel
is close by. You're going to go away and find a better job?
Don't let this world promote you away from the gospel. Don't
let that happen because it's deadly. You find a place. where the gospel is preached,
because it's a treasure. It's a treasure. And one of these
days, you'll have little ones. And they're going to hear about
Christ the same way you heard about Him. Through the preaching
of the gospel. No other way. That's God's method. That's God's purpose. And in
Romans 10, look in verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. For how then shall they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear? Without a preacher. Does words
have any meaning? That's it, isn't it? It's right
there. You want to hear the Gospel? You want to hear about Christ?
You want to hear about your sinnerhood and the holiness of God? You
want to hear about the love of God to a people that was dead
in trespasses and sin? That love that gave them to Christ
and He came and died for them? And through the preaching of
the Gospel, you'll cross their path. And say, live! Live! How are they going to do that
unless God sends them a preacher? And verse 15, how are they going
to preach except they be sent? Except they be sent. As it is
written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Of good things. The greatest thing about your
pastor? Paul Mahan. He has kept himself physically fit. He is a specimen. He is in shape. He can run and he can still work
and he's active and he does all those right things. He looks
good and he dresses well. He's snappy enough to be in a
clothing magazine. He's handsome. And he's got a
personality. He's just kind and generous.
But you know the greatest trait about him? It's his feet. It's
his feet. Them feet that, by the grace
of God, calls him into the Word of God. And he walks through
this Word of God. And he walks through with this
prayer in his heart. Lord, open my eyes. Let me see Christ on
every page. And give me that ability. Give
me that ability to walk in to your people on a regular basis
and to walk up in front of them and open the Bible, the Word
of God, and say, Thus saith the Lord. Oh, how beautiful are His
feet. How beautiful. It's a great gift. It's a great blessing. What doest
thou hear? What doest thou hear? I'm here
because I'm a sinner. And I'm here because there's
a great gulf between me and God. And I can never cross it. But
Christ can. The Redeemer can. The Lord Jesus
Christ can. He can take me into the very
presence of the Father. And He can take me in pure and
holy and without spot and blemish. He can do that. You interested?
That's why we're here. That's why we're here. And we're
here to hear the Gospel. We're here to hear the Gospel.
We're here to hear that same message over and over and over
again. And if it changes, you'll find
where it is being preached. Because that's the method of
God. That's His purpose in saving His people. He's going to call
them out through the sound of the Gospel. And finally, the chief reason I'm here is
to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear about Him over Do
you ever get tired of hearing about it? Never get tired of
hearing about it? I remember hearing a story years
ago. It was in Russia. That's an odd
place for the Lord to call out one of His sheep, you know. It's
no more odd than it is for Him to call out one. I mean, Rocky
Mount within a hundred feet of the gospel, He'll call out who
He will. And He called a young woman.
I don't know how she heard the gospel. I don't know who crossed
her path, but she heard the Gospel. And she fell in love with Christ.
And she wanted to hear about Him. Like you want to hear about
Him. Over and over and over again. And there was another group of
people in that community. They had heard about Christ too.
They loved the Lord. Loved to hear about Him. Loved
to hear Him being bragged on. And they would meet on a regular
basis. Well, in Russia it was, oh, you's in trouble. If they
even found you had a Bible. Or believed in the Savior. And
so they was going to meet on this certain day. And they were
going to sing them hymns of praise to our Savior. Somebody was going
to open the Word of God and break the bread of life. And she was
sneaking down valleys and back streets and crossroads because it was illegal what she
was doing. And the police stopped her. And they said, what are
you doing out this time of the morning? Where are you going?
And she thought, I'm in trouble. I'm in big trouble." And she
said, I can't lie to these people. God's people don't lie. You've
got to be honest. And she thought quickly and she said, this was
her answer. She said, my elder brother has
died. And they're going to have the
reading of the will this morning. And I'm going to go see what
he left me. What are you doing here? And
the answer to that settles all the arguing and all the debate.
You don't need to get into these theological discussions. I'm
a lost ball in the high weeds when you get into those things.
But I know this much. I'm here because I'm a sinner.
And I'm here because God's holy. And I can't approach Him. approach
unto Him except through the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He's preached in this place over and over and
over again. And He's given me faith. What
doest thou hear? I'm here because He's here. Thank
God. Let's pray. Our great God and our Heavenly
Father, we enter into Thy presence through the Lord Jesus Christ,
through Him and Him alone. Father, we confess that we are
sinners. We confess we are unworthy of any goodness from Thy hand,
but because of Thy great love to us, because of the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, because You crossed our path with the
preaching of the gospel, because You gave us faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, we are thankful. Thank
You, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you for making me whole.
Thank you for giving to me thy salvation, rich, and it's free. Continue to bless us. Continue
to meet with us, thy people. We'll give you all the praise.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.