Well, on 1 Kings, this is our
eleventh survey or theme that we go through
these books. And you know, when the Scripture
says, To him all the prophets give witness, we can truly find
Christ in the Scriptures. Solomon, this book is a lot about
Solomon. 1 Kings is a lot about Solomon. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
compared himself to Solomon. He said, you know, behold, a
greater than Solomon is here. And so, you know, he talked about
Solomon in all of his glory. In all of his glory. He said
all of Solomon's glory. But in all of his glory, God
clothed the grass and the fields and the flowers with more glory
than Solomon had. But he was a type of our Lord
Jesus in so many ways. But this book opens. And, you
know, I told you there's three, there's three books in twos,
1st, 2nd Samuel, 1st, 2nd Kings, 1st, 2nd Chronicles, which they're
all one book and they break them up so they'd be easier to read,
I suppose. But here's the situation. Prior,
you know, when you look at Solomon, He was a type of our Lord Jesus
Christ as the temple builder and as the Prince of Peace. But
all I'll tell you is when you look at the Scriptures, you find
so many people, I don't care how far they go, that obedience
and disobedience to the revealed will of God are important to
God's honor and His glory and to our own souls. And it's impossible
for us to just sin to ourselves. our lives affects everybody's
lives we're in contact with. You know it does. Those that
are influenced by us, and the importance of our influence is
shown on others in the life of Solomon, because he had a great
influence on a lot of people. Now, Solomon shows us a picture of the greatness
and glory Solomon is a king over Israel during a 40-year reign.
That's chapters 1 through 11. And then in chapter 12 through
22, there's 80 years that the kingdoms divide. And it's because
of Solomon and his sin that the kingdoms are divided. And Judah,
God kept His promise to David and kept the kingdom in Judah.
And there's another tribe with them, and then there were the
ten tribes which became Israel, and their kingdom was in Shiloh. But the key to understanding
1 Kings is found in chapter 11 and verse 11, where this great
transaction takes place here. And there's something that happens
that causes things to change drastically here. Chapter 11
and verse 11. And this is the key to this book. Key to this book. And it says here, it says in
verse 9, And the Lord was very angry with Solomon, because his
heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared
unto him twice. God had appeared to Solomon twice. When is a young man just getting
started as a king? And wherefore the Lord, and he
commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go
after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded
him. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this
is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes,
I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to
thy servants. I'm going to take the kingdom
away from you. I'm going to take it away from you, give it to
your servant. And so here we have a man, Solomon, many ways
a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, but there's not a type in the
scriptures that doesn't have a defect in it. There's not a
perfect type of Christ in the scriptures. The most complete
type of our Lord Jesus in the scripture would be Joseph. Joseph
would be the most perfect and complete type of Christ of anybody
you find in the scripture. But every type that you find,
there's something that does not fulfill the glory of Christ. There's a defect because it's
man. And to show you that nobody, no human being, no matter how
glorious he was, and how much he was used of God, and how anointed
he was of God, he could never, never come close to being like
our Lord Jesus Christ. A man has got feet of clay. The
best man is altogether vanity. And he walketh in a vain show. Now the book here, this book
begins with David still on the throne. David's still the king.
David is an old man now, and he's getting so old that they
went and got a virgin. And it says here that he's his
wife, but I don't believe it's his wife because it says here
in verse 1, look at me in chapter 1, verse 1. David's still on the throne.
He is old and he is dying. David was old and stricken in
years, and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.
Blood wasn't circulating very well. He's cold. He's cold all
the time. Got old and he's all cold. They
couldn't cover him up enough. So his servants said unto him,
Let there be sought from my lord the king a young virgin. Let
her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let
her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So
they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coast of Israel
and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
And the damsel was very fair and cherished the king and ministered
to him. But now here's why I know that it was not a wife, just
somebody they took to take care of this king in his old age and
keep him warm. But the king knew her not. He's
an old man now. He's old and then he's got a
son, Solomon's brother. His son was named Adonijah. And
Adonijah thought to take the king while David was old, and
while David was sick, he said, I'll take the throne. And so
Adonijah was Solomon, and the throne was his. David then told
Solomon, the throne's yours. Then told Bathsheba, the throne's
Solomon's. I want Solomon to reign in my
stead. Well, he come up, and he says, no, I'm going to take
the throne. I'm going to take it. And David, David said, Oh,
no, they come and told David says, Oh, no, said, Listen, look
what they're doing here. Well, David told the priest and
got all the priests and the prophets and that together and said, Do
you take Solomon? Put him on my mule and you take
him up and you take him up and put him on my throne and you
anoint him king in my place and you start singing. God saved
the king and they done that. And so, Adonijah, he came to
Solomon and fell down before Solomon and said, oh, have mercy
on me. He said, you go to your house and don't let me catch
you out of there. And so, you see, he tried to steal the throne
when he called David as an old man, and the throne was Solomon's.
And then he came to Solomon and asked for David's, that woman,
that Abishag. He says, let me have her. And
he thought, if I get her, I'll get the throne. She is so close to the king that
if I get to marry her, I'll get the throne. Solomon seen through
him and he says, kill him, not now. Had him killed. Had his
own brother killed. And so David, Solomon, we've
dealt with David so much, and Solomon rises up and he lives
and reigns for 40 years. And there's all kinds of kings
in these 40 years. And the focus is always in a
kingdom. Let me tell you something here.
There's a lot of kings in this particular book, and I'll read
some of them off here in a minute. The Solomon's reign takes us
up into 40 years until Solomon, God just displaced the kingdom,
devised the kingdom, northern kingdom, southern kingdom. And
all the way through the Kings and Chronicles, you're dealing
with the kings because the relationship of God and the king's relationship
with God determines the relationship of the nation of Israel before
God. When a king was good, they had
a good relationship. When the king had a good relationship
with God, done what God told him to do, they had a wonderful,
peaceful, wonderful time. God honor them and God bless
them. But they had a wicked king who made them go after false
gods. false idols. Then God led them into captivity. God sent prophets to warn them.
He'd take enemies to come and come and destroy them and fight
them. And it went on over and over
and over. And when the king walked with
the Lord God, God's blessing was upon them and they endured
prosperity. But when they disobeyed and worshipped other gods, famines,
plagues, wars, all these things. And all the kings who walked
in obedience were type of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the ones
who didn't, the ones who didn't, they led the way people away.
And they're the Antichrist. People who lead people away from
God lead people away from Christ are Antichrist. You know how
many Antichrists are in this world right now? You know how
many Antichrists are in the pulpit tonight? There's a lot of Antichrists
in the pulpit tonight. If people give you a salvation
with Christ plus anything, it's Antichrist. Now, that's right. How do you
say that's awful harsh? That's just the way it is. That's
just the way it is. That's why Paul said there's
no other gospel than that which we have preached unto you. No
other gospel. And so if a person's preaching
another gospel, which cannot be another gospel because there's
no good news other than Christ. But if they add to Christ, and
that's why these men, when they would take people and lead them
away from Christ, lead them away from God, they were anti-Christ,
leading them away from the worship of God. But Solomon, David called
Solomon for him, and I read that to you here in chapter 2. And,
O beloved, Solomon told him to deal justly with Ahab and Joab,
and told him to kill him and kill shimmy-eyed all those men
that mistreated David, then Solomon's name. You know what his name
means? It means peaceful. And by God's promise to David,
his kingdom was peaceful. And he said in 1 Chronicles 22,
9, Behold, a king, a son, shall be born to thee, who shall be
a man of rest. And I give him rest from all of his enemies
round about. For his name shall be Solomon, and I give him peace
and quietness in Israel all of his days. And it was because
of David's victories. David defeating all of the enemies
if they had peace. And they had peace in Israel. It was because David won the
victory. And so Solomon had peace. And
beloved, and I'll tell you what, if Solomon reigned in peace in
the kingdom of God, it's always righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost. And I'll tell you something, Solomon was a
king to whom the Lord gave great, great, great wisdom to. And just
like our Lord Jesus Christ in whom there hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, and I tell you, he was a wise man. And I'll tell you something else
about Solomon. In the fourth year of his reign, Solomon began
to build his temple. That temple took seven years
to build. Seven years to build. And that
temple, even in and of itself. John Bunyan wrote a whole book
on the temple and that being as a type of Christ. Everything
in that temple being typical of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Solomon built that temple in 480 years after Israel came out
of Egypt. It took seven years to build.
And now they were enjoying being in peace, enjoying this prosperity. And let me show you something
about the building. Look over here in 1 Kings chapter 6 and
verse 7. Now when they were building this
temple, when they were building this temple, the stones of this
temple, when they were building the temple, look what it says in verse 7.
And the house, when it was in building, was built of stones
made ready before it was brought there, so that there was neither
hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while
it was inbuilt." God takes everybody and He says, "...everybody that's
put in..." You know, we're built upon the foundation of the apostles,
Jesus Christ. God has every stone already fitted
to put in His house, and there ain't nobody's hands involved
in putting this in there. They're all prepared before they
put in there. And you're built A spiritual house, a living stone
built up a spiritual house to offer sacrifices of praise unto
God. And this shows us, beloved, that
salvation is God's work. And God builds His temple. God
builds His church. There's no human works involved. We ain't going to hear no clanging,
no beating, no banging, no knocking, no axes. Don't need no axes,
don't need no hammer, don't need no nail. You know, they used
to sing that old song, I'm building, I'm working on a building. No, no. God, this is God's building. This is God's building. And you
reckon He can build this building without us? Oh, I believe He
can. I believe He can do perfect work.
That's why He said, For by grace are you saved through faith,
and not of yourself, not of works, lest any man should boast. And,
oh, beloved, we're built a holy temple, a foundation that God
dwells in, a holy temple that the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
in. And, oh, the temple's a picture
where God dwells in. And He dwells in His church,
He dwells in His people by the Holy Spirit. And the temple,
let me tell you something, it was costly. And it was glorious. They had gold in that thing.
Oh, they had gold. They had posts, they had, oh,
you've never seen such, you ought to read about how Solomon built
that temple and how he had that thing made. Ceilings way oh high,
I don't know how, and a hundred foot long. Beautiful cedar up
there, and they had great stone, and he had a bath made, and a
of brass that stood about that high, and all these oxen sent
all the way around and facing in every direction, and it would
hold, I don't know how much water. It's glorious and shone like
the sun. And He had a place, beloved,
and you know, they had the veil there, and oh, when they brought
the ark in there, and brought it into that new temple, and
that storage place, places for people to live, they put that
ark in there. And God's glory came down in
such a way that the priest had to back up and get out of that
place. God's glory fell in, and they slipped out of there, and
they're afraid to go back in there. Because God's presence
was so powerful in that place. And God's presence is so powerful
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only place we'll see the
glory of God in this world is in our Lord Jesus Christ. The
only place where God will show His power at is in His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, beloved, and when we
get in His presence, Oh, it shows a different thing, and that's
why it talks about that temple was costly and glorious, and
that shows us a picture of our Savior's great work of redemption. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, and He obtained eternal redemption for us. And every
priest Just like in the sacrifices in the tabernacle, every priest
stands daily ministering, oftentimes the same sacrifices that can
never take away sins. But this man, this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down on the right
hand of God. The priest could never sit down.
And he's sitting there waiting till all of his enemies are laid
at his footstool, and I'll tell you something else he said he
did, that those priests couldn't do. He has by one offering perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now because our sins are put
away, we have boldness and confidence and liberty to enter in through
the veil that is the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ into the
holiest of all. And when the work was finished,
I told you, look over here in chapter 8. When that work was
finished, look what happened. Chapter 8 and verse 10. Let's start at verse 6 first. Look what it said here. Oh my,
when that tabernacle was finished, that temple was finished, And
all the glory and the cost of it, and all the cost for God
to raise up this temple of His people in this world. And look
what it says here. And the priest brought in the
ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle
of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of
the cherubims. For the cherubims spread forth
their wings, their two wings over the place of the ark, and
the cherubims covered the ark and the stays there. I'll tell
you what, let me tell you, stop right here and tell you something.
Inside of this temple, those wings went out and touched both
walls. Thirty foot. Thirty foot. Right in the middle
of that tabernacle, behind that thing. Those things went out
there. They was made out of solid gold. And they had got solid,
had so much gold left over after they built the tent, the people
brought to him. And those went out, bent perfectly, balanced
perfectly. You talk about God giving wisdom
to men to do something. And they reached all the way
out and touched the walls perfectly. Them cherubims. And oh, they
put that ark underneath that mercy seat under them cherubims. And oh, listen, now look what
it says now. And then verse 8 says, And they drew out the staves,
that at the end of the staves were seen out in the holy place
before the oracle, and they were not seen without, and there they
are unto this day. There was nothing in the ark
save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb,
when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel when
they came out of the land of Egypt. Now watch this, And it
came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place,
when they come out after putting that ark in there. That the cloud
filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not
stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the
Lord had filled the house of the Lord. Oh my! Oh, wouldn't you love to have
been in a place like that, you know, where you just had to God's
glory was so powerful and His presence so glorious that you
just had to wait? Just had to wait? Just stand
and enjoy His presence and stand and enjoy His glory? Stand and
enjoy that brightness of His glory? Well, we will one of these
days. We will one of these days. And
oh, beloved, there was never a greater day in all of Israel,
the history of Israel, than that day. And oh, Solomon offered
thousands. Look down here in chapter 8.
Sixty-three or sixty-two with me. Solomon offered that day,
he offered thousands of sacrifices. Thousands of them. And the king
and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. And Solomon offered a sacrifice
of peace offerings which he offered unto the Lord. Two and twenty
thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the
king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of
the Lord. The same day did the king hallow
the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord.
For there he offered burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat
of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar that was before
the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings and meat
offerings and the fat of the peace offerings." Oh my! And so God appeared to Solomon
again. appeared to Solomon again. You
know, the first time He appeared to him, let me see if I can find
it right quick. Solomon, the Lord came
to him and showed him and told him, He says, oh yeah, right
here in chapter 3. Here's the first time that God
appeared to Solomon. It says in chapter 3 and verse
5, and then we'll go over the word a second time. God spoke
to Solomon. And Gideon, the Lord, appeared to Solomon in a dream
by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. Solomon said,
You showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy. And he walked in truth and uprightness
in heart with you. And then he said down in verse
7, And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king. instead
of David, my father. And I am but a little child.
I know not how to go out or come in. I can't go in and come out. Now,
what did he mean by that? Do you mean he didn't have sense
enough to go in and out of the door? He's talking about how he should
conduct himself before the Lord. That's what he's talking about.
I don't know how to go in and out before you and judge this
great people that you do. I don't know how to carry myself
as a king ought to carry himself. I don't know how to carry myself
as a ruler ought to carry himself. I don't know how to carry myself
as someone that God shows such great mercy to. That's what he's
talking about. And thy servant is in the midst
of thy people, which thou hast chosen a great people that cannot
be numbered nor counted for multitude. So give therefore thy servant
an understanding heart to judge thy people. Oh, God give us an
understanding heart, that I may discern between good and bad,
for who is able to judge this day so great a people? Who is
able to do it? And the speech pleased the Lord
that Solomon asked this thing. And God said, Because thou hast
asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life,
neither didst thou ask for riches for thyself. Thou didst not ask
thy life for your enemies, but you ask for thy self-understanding
to determine judgment. Behold, I give done according
to your words. I have given you a wise heart,
an understanding heart, so there is none like thee before, neither
after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And also I have given
thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honors,
so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee." So back over here with me in
chapter 9. So the Lord appears to Solomon again a second time. Assuring them that his prayer
had been heard, he prayed before the temple and prayed to dedicate
the temple. Glorious prayer, beautiful prayer.
And it says here in 1 Kings 9 and 2, that the Lord appeared to
Solomon a second time as he had appeared unto him in Gibeon.
And the Lord said unto him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication
that thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this house, I
have made it a holy place which you have built to put my name
there in mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. And
if thou wilt walk before me, now watch this, I told you that
God compares every king after David to David. And if thou wilt
walk before me as David thy father walketh in integrity of heart.
and in uprightness to do according to all that I have commanded
thee, and will keep my statutes and my judgment, then I will
establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised
to David thy father, saying, Thou shalt not fail thee, a man
upon the throne of Israel." So I mean, beloved, God said you're
going to have to walk like David if you're going to stay on your
throne. That's what He said. And you remember after God left,
There's so much in these things, and I'm back and forth here.
I understand that. But you remember after he prayed
for that wisdom in chapter 4, that's when that woman had that
baby, and one of them died and the other lived. And that woman
was trying to take her baby. And she brought it before the
king and said, this is my baby. He said, no, no, no, this is
my baby. That woman's baby died. This is my baby. Remember how
she laid out before Solomon's son and said, bring me a sword.
He said, I'll tell you what, we'll divide it, you both can
have half. And the woman whose baby it was says, no, no, give
it to her, give it to her, give it to her. And he knew right
then who the mother was. That's how it was. And so God
gave him when he manifested his wisdom immediately like that.
And then you remember in chapter 10 where the Queen of Sheba came
down. Oh my, you're talking about a gospel message. The Queen of
Sheba came down to hear Solomon, and all of us should have heard
of his wisdom, should have heard of his glory, should have heard
of his power, and she said, I want to go see. So she got down there
and she was going to prove Solomon by hard questions. And oh, listen,
beloved, there are some hard questions that a man's got to
answer as he faces God. How can God be just and justify
you? How can you be a dead dog sinner
and God give you life and not charge a sin to you and make
you righteous at the same time? How can God cleanse you from
the top of your head to the sole of your feet and all at the same
time give you life in Christ and you nothing but flesh and
make you a spiritual being? Hard questions. She began to
ask Him and then she saw salt. And she saw how it went out and
how it went in. And we see Christ, how He goes
out and how He comes in among us. And then she saw all of His
servants and how well they were. Oh, His servants were dressed
so well. His servants ate so well. And they all were so happy. And that's what happened. She
came, and Queen of Sheba came to me solemn. And you know what
our Lord said about Queen of Sheba? He said, The Queen of
the South shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall
condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and, behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. You don't listen to me. That
very woman that came up to hear Solomon judge him, because she
just heard a man. You listen to God. Pay attention
to me. And oh, what a picture of a sinner
coming to Christ. She heard of Solomon's greatness,
came from a far country. We were made far off, made nigh
by the blood of Christ. And Solomon told her everything
that was in her heart. God, Solomon told her everything
that's in her heart. Christ tells us everything that's
in her heart. And then she came and told him
everything about herself, too. And the sinner that comes to
Christ when his faith pours out his heart before him. And so
Solomon told her everything that she wanted to know, and he gave
her all her heart's desire. And that's what God gives us.
He gives us everything that we need. And she said when she saw
Solomon for herself, and all of his glory, and all of his
service, and all of his wealth, and all of his food, and all
of his glory, she said that she just had no more spirit within
her. She just fell before him. She openly confessed. Well, look
what she said down here in verse 6. Chapter 10, verse 6. And she
said to the king, it was a true report that I heard in my own
land of thy acts and thy wisdom. Everything they said about you
is true. Howbeit I believe not the word. So I came. You've got
to come here. She said, I want to come and
hear myself. And my eyes seen it. And listen, they didn't even
tell me the half of it. When I come saw it for myself,
when I saw everything they told me down there when I got here
and seen it, what they told me wasn't half what you really like.
Oh my. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants that stand continually before thee and hear
thy wisdom. Boy, ain't we? Ain't we happy
much? Ain't we a joyful bunch? Ain't we a blessed bunch? And
blessed be the Lord God which delighteth in thee, to set thee
on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever,
therefore made he to be king to do judgment and justice."
God made Christ to be king because He loved us, to reign over us
and provide for us. And oh, beloved, the gospel of
Christ is a declaration of God's glory and grace in Christ. And
oh, you've got to come hear the gospel. And when you believe
that gospel, you'll do just like she did. She said, the half ain't
been told. You folks didn't tell me the
half of it. That's what you'll say. And faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. She
came to hear. But then Solomon had a great failure. Look here
in chapter 11. Solomon failed and he fell greatly.
He fell greatly. Oh my, he fell greatly. It says here in verse 1, But
King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter
of Pharaoh. He went down to Egypt for help,
married the daughter of Pharaoh. And then women of the Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, And all the nations
concerning which the Lord said unto Israel, You shall not go
into them, neither shall they come in unto you. For surely
they will turn away your heart after their gods. And Solomon
claimed unto these in love." And Solomon's wives, it says
down in verse 4, For it came to pass from Solomon's old that
his wife turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart
was not perfect with the Lord. His goddess was the heart of
David, his Solomon. And every god that every one
of these women worshiped, he went with them to worship them,
too. And all war after war after war
after war after war came. And they turned his heart, turned
his heart. And after forty years, Solomon
died. What a tragic, tragic end to
a life so glorious. And then we have the divided
kingdom. And I know that that don't mean much to you, but to
a lot of people it does. The kingdom divided because of
Solomon. Of Solomon. And his disobedience,
God divided the king and it never recovered. And Solomon, oh my,
the way he acted and the way he did, what a solemn, solemn
warning for us. And his son followed. You know,
God kept a man of David's on the throne. And this shows us,
this division of the kingdom shows two principles operating
in this world today. Those who follow Christ and those
who do not. Those who believe Christ and
those who do not. But God is faithful. He sent
prophet after prophet after prophet to bring them back to God, and
they wouldn't come back. And then all of a sudden, God
raised up a man called Elijah. Y'all remember Elijah. Let me
give you some of the kings that happened after this. After the
kings who followed Solomon, you know there was lots of them.
But Nadab, these are the kings who ruled after Jeroboam, he
took over Israel. And you know the first thing
he did? First thing he did, he set up two golden tables. He hired men to be priests. He didn't get Levites. He hired
men to be priests. The basis for it. He hired them
to be priests. And he told all of Israel, he
said, this is the place you come worship here. You don't have
to go up here. We're going to make life just
as convenient for you as we can. One sit over here and one sit
over there. You don't have to go very far now to worship. Come
on up. There's these golden calves. And the folks flocked to it.
Flocked to it. And he was the first king over
Israel, and that gives you an idea of how awful things were.
And he brought up a whole new religion, a completely new religion
around those two golden kings. And then, after Jeroboam, there
was Nadab after Israel, Basha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab. And Ahab was the wickedest of
all. His wife Jezebel. And they began
to worship Baal. And you remember, this is where
Elijah came in. And Elijah caught all those 450
false prophets. 850. Remember how they fought?
And how they prayed? And how Elijah made fun of them
and told them to dig that ditch and put the sacrifices for all
that water on there? He says, God who answers by fire.
He said, that will be the God. That'll be the God. And boy,
Elijah's in those prophets of Baal that shows us that Jehovah
alone is God. On one side are 850 prophets. On the other side, Elijah stands
alone. That shows you that numbers don't mean that, you know, who's
got the most numbers? That don't mean anything. And
how long you pray don't mean. Those fellows prayed all day
long, and God didn't answer them. Elijah said 67 words. Sixty-seven
words, and the fire fell. You don't have to pray long.
You don't have to pray, and all beloved, and that's the day God's
going to destroy all false prophets one of these days. And you also
remember this, that God chose a Gentile woman. Remember when
the drought and famine came to Israel, the Lord sent Elijah,
and He was feeding him there by the brook of Cherith. Then
God sent her to that widow's house and had that little meal
barrel and had just enough meal and oil and her crew for one
last meal. And her and her son was going
to eat that and die. Elijah said, fix it for me. Fix
it for me. And God will bless you. She did. She got that out and fixed it
for him. And for over three years, while that family's gone, every
time she went to that oil barrel, there was meal in it. Every time
she went to the oil barrel, there was oil in it. She's going to
eat the last that God shows us in God. She's going to choose
the Gentiles. God's going to bless the Gentiles.
And it's only in Christ that we'll have peace. Our mirror
vial never runs empty. And Cruz never runs dry. And then not only that, but her
son died. And Elijah said, don't you worry,
don't you dread, his life's still in you. And Elijah got him up
and carried him down, laid him down, got on him, said a prayer. As soon as he got his head, he
got up and took it back to his father. She said, I know that
God reigns now. I know that there ain't but one
God. Oh, my. And oh, what a God-saving purpose
by preaching the gospel, by God using His elect out of the Gentile
nations. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. One of these days, God's going to destroy all the false
prophets, all the Baal worshipers, all those that look for someplace
else. And I know this. their kingdoms may have been
divided. And they couldn't, that's why
now the genealogy of the Jews, they search it and search it,
and it's rare to find a Jew that they can trace their genealogy.
I don't care how many I've quoted in history. It's so hard to keep
their genealogy. But I know this. God knows everyone
that tests. Jew or Gentile. He knows every
one of his. And I tell you, beloved, it is
Israel that Christ died for. It's Israel that Christ redeemed. It's Israel that Christ put their
sins away. And that's spiritual Israel that
we're talking about. Ain't that right? We're all Israel. It's not he
that's a Jew outwardly, but he that's one inwardly. And God
put a new heart in us and gave us a new birth. And he knows,
as far as any Jews out there, and I'm sure they are, that's
converted. There's one up at Todd's. There's one up there
that he's a full-blooded Jew. And he's a very quiet man. He's
telling me about it. But he had a hard time coming
to seeing the Scriptures of Messiah. Only, well, no harder time than
we did. You know. The Lord's got to do
it whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, don't He? All right.