Will you open your Bibles with
me to 1 Corinthians 1. We've been preaching through
the book of Colossians here, and last Sunday, the Lord gave
us a message on the necessity of preaching and how it's a It's a spiritual work of grace
that the speaker and the hearer do together. So this thing of
preaching is not just something that the man behind this pulpit
does. It's what we do together. And
1 Corinthians 1, we'll begin reading
at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. I looked up that word prudent,
it's the word intelligent. No amount of intelligence, no
amount of human wisdom can discern the truth that's being preached
about Christ. It is a work of grace. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath God not made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews,
and that represents all the religious, require a sign. And the Greeks,
that's the irreligious, seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jew, a stumbling block. And unto the Greeks, foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. And then if you look over to
chapter two at verse two, Paul, who was an incredibly gifted
and intelligent man, very well educated, said this, for I determined,
and that word determined means judged. I considered the needs
of men and I considered the truth of the gospel and I made this
judgment. The judgment that I made was
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come before Thy throne of grace in the name of Thy dear
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thanking You that we have all salvation,
all acceptance, all grace, all hope in him. Thank you for his
perfect work of redemption. Thank you for his righteousness
presented unto thee on our behalf. Lord, we thank you for these
men that you've called to declare the gospel and we pray, Lord,
that you would enable them to speak even as you enable us to
hear. Lord, that you would do a work
of grace among us, and that you would rend the heavens, and that
you would come down, that you would cause us to come unto thee,
Lord, that you would turn us that we might be turned. We pray
for faith, Lord, that you would give faith to those who are strangers
to your grace, and Lord, that you would increase the faith
of those who you've already called, that we might see Jesus. who
himself is the author and the finisher of all faith. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Tom, I think you're gonna sing
a special, no? Okay, I'm sorry, I misunderstood.
Chris, Chris and Vicki Cunningham, dear, dear friends of this church
and of ours, and Chris, reminded me last year, he came through
the door after the service had started. So I checked with him
early this morning to see if he was in town and he said, yeah,
I'm here. So Chris, you come and share
with us what the Lord's put on your heart, brother. For the record, we were at least
three minutes early. We did kind of, we kind of came
in on two wheels last year and then right after service it seemed
like we left again because of the weather that was coming up
in Tennessee. And this year though we've decided
that we're just going to stay for good. So we're going to make
up for it. It's good to be with y'all. It's
a blessing to be part of this, to be in on this. I thank the
Lord for bringing us together. How many more times will we enjoy
this occasion, this worship that the Lord is always
so gracious to give us? Enjoy this fellowship with one
another before it just gets better in
the presence of our Savior. If you would turn with me to
1 Kings 17 this evening. 1 Kings chapter 17. And verse one. And Elijah the Tishbite, who
was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord God
of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew
nor rain these years, but according to my word. Now, if you're familiar
with the context of this time in the nation of Israel, Let's
look at some of it in chapter 16, verse 29, just before our
text here. This is a very dark time in Israel's
history when an evil, godless man was on the throne and was
married to Jezebel, an evil, godless woman. But at this dark
time, God raised up Elijah. Elijah's name means my God is
Jehovah. But look at verse 29 of chapter
16. And in the 30 and eighth year
of Asa, king of Judah began Ahab, the son of Omri to reign over
Israel. And Ahab, the son of Omri reigned
over Israel in Samaria 20 and two years. And Ahab, the son
of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were
before him. And as you know, that's saying
a lot above all that were before him. And it came to pass as if
it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter
of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and
worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for
Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And
Ahab made a grove. And Ahab did more to provoke
the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel
that were before him." So everything having to do with the true God
of heaven and earth was done away with in the nation of Israel.
You know, from the context of this, that Elijah was convinced
that there were no believers left in the whole country. And
we know that he was wrong about that, but it tells you something
about the condition of things, the state of things in that country. And here comes Elijah to face
Ahab. Elijah, whose name means my God
is Jehovah. My God is Jehovah. And so because
of the context of Elijah's life, the time in which God raised
him up, every time somebody mentioned the name of Elijah, God's prophet,
it was a denouncement of the false God of Ahab and Jezebel
called Baal, his very name. When everyone was worshiping
Baal, as far as Elijah knew, Elijah stood in defiance of that
by his very identity. And that's the first thing I
want us to think about. May that be true of us. What
a blessing it would be that when people mentioned our names, when
people thought of us, When, and I suspect there are
a few people around here that when the name Greg Elmquist is
mentioned, they think that's that guy that preaches that God
is sovereign. That he does what he will, when
he will, with whom he will. You know, there's old Bert Dunbar.
That's that guy that says that God's hand is not shortened,
that it can't say. There's brother Donny Bell. He
speaks of a Christ who says, I lay down my life for my sheep
and they shall never perish. I give unto them eternal life
and no man can pluck them out of my hand. My God is God. He's
not who you think he is. He's not the God that you believe
in. He's not the God that you say you worship. My God is Jehovah. I pray that would be true of
us and I don't know If it, if it, when I say that, I realize
there's no boldness in me, but may God make me faithful. I used
to say things like that in anger. My God is sovereign. He does as he pleases with whom
he pleases. And I get mad at people for not
believing that. Well, as I get older, I pray
that God would keep me from ever, ever tolerating any lie about
God, any compromise of that truth, that beautiful, glorious truth
that God is on the throne and he does as he pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth. And
none can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing?
I don't ever want to ever compromise that. I don't ever want to tolerate
anybody that does. But at the same time, I pray,
that God would help me to love people. Love people that don't know him. I guess we'll just have to see.
I pray that he will. But this is that God that doesn't
love everybody. His love is something more than
that. His love is salvation. When my
name is mentioned, would to God that people would think that
that's a fella that says man's free will is a myth. He says God's sovereign. He's
the one that preaches that God doesn't love everybody, but that
the love of God is in Christ Jesus alone. He says that Christ didn't die
to save everyone, but everybody he did die to save are saved. Christ was successful in his
death for his elect and that all for whom he died are washed
by that precious blood. Would to God that our very names
were directly associated with the glory of the God of this
Bible. And then look what Elijah says,
in this idolatrous age, by the authority of my God, as my God
liveth, Jehovah on his authority, it's not gonna rain anymore until
I say so. He pictures our savior here,
doesn't he? Without whom was not anything made that was made. He owns everything. He made everything. He runs everything. It's a, In effect, he said, you wanna
worship Baal? Let's see if Baal can make some
water for you. He can't do that. What are you
gonna do? God made water. He made it one
time and he gives it to whom he pleases. You see the spiritual
lesson here? Remember how that the Lord compared
the rain to his word, which comes down from heaven? Elijah is imposing the authority of God
on godless people and making them understand. You
think, how can God make everybody all at once know that he's God? No more rain. The one thing you
need the most I'm gonna hold it from you. I'm gonna hold it
from you. Nobody can give water, nobody
can make water. He's showing everybody that on
their basic, most elemental level, they need the God of heaven and
earth. What is Baal gonna do for you
when he dries up the heavens? Either from a drop of water or
from his grace. If He doesn't bestow grace on
anybody, what are we going to do? What's your false God going
to do for you then? There's not going to be any dew.
There's not going to be any rain until I say so. That's the Son of God. That's
the one who runs things. That's the God who's God. He's showing everybody that.
Only Him. You have one need. And it's not water. It's the
one who gives it. In the spiritual lesson, may
God teach us this, that without His grace, without being
born from above, without being blessed from above, without God
bestowing His love upon us from above, without us finding grace
in the eyes of the Lord from above. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. It wasn't
a complicated thing the Lord did, was it? He just dried up.
that which was needful. May He not dry up His grace from
us. Oh. May we never look to anybody
or anything else but Him for all that we need. It doesn't happen by your will.
There's not going to be a drop for three and a half years as
much as you want it to happen. It's not according to your will,
it's according to His will. Lord, if you will, you can make
it rain. Pray to Baal or pray to the free
will, man-centered, false god of this religious world, and
it's the same thing. They don't have any mercy for
you. They don't have any righteousness in which you can stand before
the God of heaven and earth. There's no sacrifice that actually
redeems your soul. Ahab and Jezebel took all that
away. They took away every hope a sinner
has, the mercy seat. Did this display of God's authority
and power cause anybody to abandon Baal and cry out to Jehovah?
I don't know. Can those bones live? Just know this, the only one
that can answer that question is the one who has the power
to give life to dead bones. Elijah said this to Ahab, as
the Lord God of Israel liveth. Ahab ruled over Israel. And Elijah
said, Israel's God is the Lord God, Jehovah. Israel just has one God and Baal
ain't him. Again, think about what this
says. Ahab and Jezebel had chosen to
worship Baal and Baal worship was very popular in Israel. Hence
Elijah thinking, there's nobody left. I'm the only one jealous
for your glory, Lord. Everybody's worshiping Baal.
It was very popular because it involved that which excites and
impresses the flesh. Does that sound familiar? It was easy, it was convenient
religion, it was popular religion, it was fleshly religion. Is there another kind? Apart from Christ. But Elijah said, your choice
doesn't make God the God of Israel. What you've done, You've abandoned
the true worship of God. You've told people you can worship
over here where it's more convenient. There's no mercy seat. There's
no true priest. The sons of Levi are out. You
know, we've got our own priests. But that doesn't make Baal God. You don't get to decide that. Sinners don't get to choose God
or not choose God. God gets to choose sinners because he's God. The Lord God
is God of Israel and you're at his mercy. Is that what he's
saying? The Lord God is the God of Israel. And Elijah didn't come there
to argue the point. He came there to show him who's
God. Is that what we do, Donnie? We don't, there's nothing to
debate. Before God, there's nothing to debate. And it's, it's, it's
a, it's a travesty. It's, it's, it's a, it's dishonoring
to God himself and it's damning to the souls of sinners to debate
anything like that. There's not going to be a question
and answer session after the gospel's preached. Elijah didn't
come for that. He said, the Lord God is the
God of Israel and here you're fixing to find out. And I love Elijah's name. And he said, before whom I stand,
before whom I stand. That means to take a stand, to
present oneself, to become servant of. I stand as servant to the
God of heaven and earth. And my name is Elijah. My God
is Jehovah. And it wasn't just a name. It
wasn't just what people called him. He said, I stand before
this God. I present myself before this
God, and I'm jealous for the glory of this God. My God is
God. He's the Lord God of Israel,
whether you like it or not. So it wasn't just a name. My
God is Jehovah was his name, but it was who he was. He actually
stood for that, not just took the name. That's how it is with all those
who truly know the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just a label.
When we say Christ is all, it's so easy for that to sound like
just a saying of some kind. When we say we preach Christ
and Him crucified, that's because we preach Christ and what He
did for sinners. All of that, that's what was
taken away when Baal began to be worshiped. To take a stand
before whom I stand, it was who he was. And surely that is true
of all believers. It's who we are and we are what
we are, how? By the grace of God. a new creation
in Christ, born from above, born from the Spirit, who blows where
he pleases. Look with me, if you would, at
James 5.16, or if you'd like to, I'm gonna read it to you,
but if you'd look at James 5.16. It's easy, you know, to think
of Elijah when he does this. I mean, imagine, he'd come before
Ahab. How many thousands of people had they killed for just not
liking him? And he says, my God's Jehovah. The Lord God is the God of Israel.
And it's not gonna rain until I say so. On the authority of
my God, it's not gonna rain. And you know, they didn't even
bother killing him. That's how much they thought about it at
that time. They didn't think, what's he talking about? Get
him out of here. They didn't even bother killing him. It's easy, though, to think of
Elijah as some kind of superhero coming before Ahab and talking
like that. And then also, though, it's easy
to think of him as a coward and make fun of him later when he
runs for his life and he's scared of Jezebel and says, God, just
kill me. Neither one of those is right. You know what he was like? He
was like us. Confess your false one to another,
James 5, 16, and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. And Elijah is given as an example
of that. And think about that. What was
it Elijah prayed for? When you pray, when you pray
for one another, how is it that you pray? Well, look, Elijah,
was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the
space of three years and six months. And he prayed again and
the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.
He prayed and there was death. He prayed and there was life. But why did he pray? When you
pray for one another, pray for the same reason he did. You know
why he prayed? For the glory of God. Whichever way it turns out. Religion talks about, you know,
faith praying and, you know, believe it, claim it, name it,
and claim it, or whatever they call it now. It's probably some
other slogan now. But faith is believing that whatever
God does is right. Lord, you be glorified in this.
If those that we love with all of our heart, if they have to
go, may your name be exalted in that. May we worship you when
you do it. That's why Elijah prayed. He
had enough of the bail, of the fleshly, man-centered, freewill
religion of the world. And he prayed, God, please show
us who you are. Reveal to us who God is and how
bad we need you. Elijah was jealous for the glory
of God. And God is glorified in his son. You remember what all Jeroboam
has mentioned here. The sin of Ahab and of all of
the evil kings of Israel was compared with the evil of Jeroboam. And all of Jeroboam's evil had
to do with denying the Lord Jesus Christ, every bit of it. There's one place that God will
meet with sinners and commune with them, at the mercy seat. the Lord Jesus, where the law
of God is honored and preserved, and where God shows that He's
the one that gives life, and where that manna, the bread of
life, there's life for sinners in Him, where Christ is honored
in His glory and in His saving mercy. That's where God will
meet with a sinner like you. And they treated that like it
was nothing. The mercy seat. Jeroboam made
people worship in a different place, a more convenient place. It was false worship simply because
it was Christless worship. Jeroboam made priests of the
lowest of the people, it says, which were not of the sons of
Levi. Again, denying God's ordained priesthood. We have a high priest
who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We have such an high priest that represents us before God in things pertaining to God.
Jeroboam offered sacrifice himself, again, profaning Christ. How
many people do in that? in religion, offering something to God that
they think he will accept apart from Christ. Jeroboam made an
altar that God sent his prophet at the time to personally condemn
that altar. And yet Jeroboam continued in
his idolatry, not caring that God's altar is established for
the glory of his son. and the salvation of his elect.
We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve
the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that
he might sanctify the people with his own precious blood suffered
without the gate. That's the, we have an altar. Jeroboam established a feast
day, which was not ordained of God. It was like the Passover,
it says. It was like that feast day that
God had ordained, but it was not God's Passover, which is
Christ. And Ahab, as though all of this
sin was a light thing, married Jezebel and openly worshiped
Baal in outright hatred of the God of the Bible and his son,
the true sacrifice. This is why Elijah stood up and
said, enough. He prayed to God. We read there a while ago how
he prayed to God for this. And God told him everything that
would happen, didn't he? You remember in the passage of
scripture where the priests of Baal showed up and Elijah showed
up. And Elijah said, the God that
answers by fire, let him be God. And it says there, that God,
he said, by the Lord, by the word of the Lord, I do this. So Elijah said, by God's grace,
he was jealous. He prayed that the Lord would
show everyone who God is. May all of our prayer and our
worship be born of a desire for God's glory alone and a jealous
desire to see that all that dishonors him be done away with. May it
infuriate us when infidels proclaim that God's trying, but with compassion. Or God wants to, but everything
is up to man. Everything, imagine that. A church
where people get together and they claim to worship God, and
they say, everything's up to you. Our God is Jehovah. He's in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. May God light a fire under us
when false preachers declare that God loves everybody in direct
contradiction to His Word. God's love is in His Son. Nothing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. God loved Jacob and hated Esau,
that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand. What
a glorious truth that is. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
that gospel, though everybody hate it. Though like Elijah,
I'm the only one left. And yet, by your grace, Lord,
I'm jealous for your glory and saving sinners. by the grace and power of the Savior's precious blood. In the very context of Elijah's
life and his story in the scriptures, when Elijah believed that he
was the only one left that served God, God told Elijah, Yet I have
left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed
unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. I have reserved
them unto me." What mercy. That's our God. May that be what people think of when our
very names are mentioned. not anything about us, but who
our God is. And the apostle Paul, quoting
that scripture, said in Romans 11 to God, hath not cast away
his people, which he foreknew. What unite that the scriptures,
what the scripture sayeth of Elias, how he maketh intercession
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets
and dig down that altars and I am left alone and they seek
my life. But what sayeth the answer of God unto him? I have. Elijah thought I failed. Nobody
heard me. Nobody listened to me. They didn't
even bother killing me. They didn't, they thought so
little of what I had to say. What's God's answer? I have reserved. I have done this. 7,000 men who
have not bowed. If your knee has not bowed to
a false god of this religious age, it's something God has done. Even so, at this present time
also, there is a remnant. God told Elijah that how many
thousands of years ago. Paul told the Roman church that
How many less thousand years ago? And still tonight, even so thin
at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election
of grace. That's what's going on. God is
shutting off his mercy to some and pouring it out on others.
Are you interested? Do you need mercy from the King
of Kings? We can't tolerate the lie that
Christ died for everybody. Why? Because it makes us mad
and we want to prove everybody wrong? No, because the only hope
for sinners is a sovereign Christ who saves whom he will. And it's the very glory of God
at stake in this. Is there not a cause? If Christ
died to save people that were already in hell when he died,
then what does his precious blood have to do with salvation? Perish
the blasphemous thought. Our God is Jehovah. And if he
will, he can save everybody here tonight. His son's name is Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins. The salvation that
he wrought for us on Calvary is accomplished and ready to
be revealed at the last time. And we're kept by His power until
that glad day. God, may God give us deep in
our hearts a jealous desire that He be glorified in the gospel
of the glory of the blessed God. And may He, by His grace, shine
in our hearts that blessed light that He gives. that we might
see His glory in the face of His Son. And may His glory shine
forth, even in this dark age, to the praise of our Lord Jesus.
Amen. We're going to sing a congregational
hymn. If you need to use the bathroom or anything, now's a
good time to do it. We'll have special music and
then the next hour of preaching. Let's open this hour. Let's all
stand together. Number 38 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book, number 38, The Debt of Love.