Good morning. You can find our
seats. If you missed the first hour,
Hugo brought a message on what's pleasing to God. That was good. And of course, our pastor and
his wife, they're out of town in, I forget the name, is it
Cottage Grove, Tennessee? Cottage Grove, just south of
Nashville. And he's preaching at, Chris Cunningham is pastor
at that church. They're having a church conference this weekend,
so he's preaching there. Let's stand together, we'll sing
the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Great Father of all, How rich is thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed
in thy face! In Jesus thy image with brightness
we view, With hope to be born. In that likeness anew O wonder
of wonders, astonished I gaze, to see in a manger the Ancient
of Days, from sin to release us that yoke so long borne. My God, my Creator, a woman was
born. O'er unworthy sinners my Lord
bowed His head. O'er unworthy sinners He suffered
and bled. My spirit rejoices, the work
is all done. My soul is redeemed, my salvation
is won. Great Father of Glory, how rich
is Thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed
in Thy face! In Him, our Beloved, We're washed
in His blood with confidence come to the throne of our God. Please be seated, Trevor. Good morning. We're going to
open the second hour in Isaiah chapter 43 verses 1 through 8. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel.
Thy Savior I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for
thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him from my glory.
I have formed him, yea, have I made him. Bring forth the blind
people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. Dear Lord, we thank you for the
words that you've brought to us this morning. We pray, Lord,
that you would bless the words that we hear in this second hour.
that you may bless our brethren in College Grove at the conference
and the messages that they hear this weekend. We pray, Lord,
that you may give us ears to hear and give Jeff the words
to preach in the second hour. In his holy and perfect name
we pray, amen. Number 11 in the spiral hymn
book. Let's all stand together. Number 11. His broken heart and contrite
side A trembling scissor, Lord, I cry Thy guarding grace is rich
and free O God, be merciful to me I smite upon thy troubled breast,
With deep and conscious guilt oppressed, Christ and His cross
my holy feet. O God, be merciful to me, No works nor deeds that I have
done Can for a single sin atone To Christ, the Lord of all my
being O God, be merciful ? And when redeemed from sin and
hell ? ? With all the ransom thrown I dwell ? ? My raptured
song shall never be ? ? God has been merciful to me ? Please
be seated. What wonderful love is displayed
in thy face. You know, the Apostle Jude, Jude
says to keep ourselves in the love of God. Well, you know what
that verse doesn't mean. What does it mean? It means come
by and eat. Let yourself delight in that
which is good. Hearken diligently to me. It's
from Isaiah 55. He's saying, stay at the feast. Stay at this love feast. that
Jude referred to earlier in the chapter, this feast of charity. Stay there. Stay there. It's
like if you have young kids, they eat their dinner really
quick because they want to go and play. Can I be excused? No,
you're not excused. Stay here. I love you. And I
know what's best for you, to be right here. Keep yourselves
in the love of God. And that's what I want to do
this morning. It's not only that we're saved
out of something, we're saved to something. We can know God.
The Bible has so much to say about our weakness, our wandering,
our faith, our love to God. It really is not what it should
be, but don't mistake that. Believers know and love God. And we're going to 1 Kings chapter
18 today. We see a prophet mocking false
prophets. We see the difference between
a false God and the true and living God. Mostly, we see Christ
coming in the person of Elijah, or Elijah being a picture of
Christ, coming as a prophet and the sacrifice who tells us which
are the false ways and what is the right way to God. then himself
being the sacrifice. So 1st Kings chapter 18, Ahab
and Jezebel, their marriage has brought ruin to Israel, and the
children of Israel are in a drought sent by God. And we'll start
reading at verse 1. And it came to pass after many
days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year,
saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon
the earth. And Elijah went to show himself
unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in Samaria. And Ahab called
Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared
the Lord greatly, for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the
prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and
hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.
And Ahab said unto Obadiah, go into the land, unto all fountains
of water, and unto all brooks. Peradventure, we may find grass
to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the
beasts. So they divided the land between
them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself,
and Obadiah went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was
in the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he knew him, and fell
on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered
him, I am. Go, tell thy lord, behold, Elijah
is here. And he said, what have I sinned
that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab
to slay me? As the Lord thy God liveth, there
is no nation or kingdom whither my Lord hath not sent to seek
thee. And when they said he is not
there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation. that they
found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell
thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here, and it shall come to pass, as
soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall
carry thee, whither I know not. And so when I come and tell Ahab,
and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me. But I thy servant fear
the Lord from my youth." When Christ comes to us, the first
thing we're going to do is want to talk about the things that
we've done. I won't be rude to Obadiah and call him things that
the scriptures won't, but that's what he was doing. He was told
to trust Elijah. Elijah said, trust me, stop looking. Look at verse eight. I am. Go tell thy Lord. Behold, Elijah
is here. Obadiah, his life is on the line. If he goes and tells Ahab, and
then Elijah leaves in the meantime, Obadiah will die, and he knows
that. This is a lot like the gospel
coming to us. We have nothing but the bare
word of God. We have nothing but that. Remember
thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to
hope." That's what God's worshipers say. Obadiah is in a situation
here. Does he keep looking? Or does
he trust Elijah? The scripture says of Christ,
he will stand at the right hand of the poor to save him. We can trust our Savior. Verse 15, you'll notice, as the
Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, Jesus Christ stands
before God. He's the tridestone. He's the
well-beloved of the Father. He stood as the one sufficient
to die for the sins of his elect. He stands. Elijah says he will
show himself, as Christ says, He will show himself to God the
Father on our behalf as the mediator between God and men who can put
his hands on both the days men betwixt us. I need a Savior who
causes me to believe and to trust that he is sufficient for me
and that he will be there. Obadiah was afraid that when
he needed Elijah to be there, Elijah would have not been there
and that is so analogous to the gospel here. Now, verse 16. And the, sorry, verse 16. So Obadiah went
to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass, when Ahab
saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth
Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled
Israel, but thou, and thy father's house, in that you have forsaken
the commandments of the Lord. And thou hast followed Balaam."
Followed Balaam. Balaam just is the collective
plural of Baal. It's like saying all of the Baals. They were multiple Baal gods.
Man is an idolatry. By nature, we come into this
world in idolater because we do not want to worship the true
God and be saved by him his way. Go to 15 churches. Well, if you
ask them, how can a man be just with God? They won't know what
you're talking about. But if you ask them, how can I get saved? You'll get 15 different answers.
They'll probably be using the same scriptures, but saying different
things. That's because man is an idolater. He's an idolater because, not
because he refuses to acknowledge that he's a sinner. Everybody
will do that. Or that he needs rescued. Man
refuses to acknowledge that if he is rescued, he will be able
to take no glory for it. It will be despite himself, not
because of himself. Now there's Three things that
can be said and be seen every time you have idolatry going
on. There's three things. I don't say that that's exhaustive,
but they're the most repulsive and obvious things that you will
see. And I'm not talking about all
these years ago, I mean right now. Idolatry is still alive
and well, and it usually, in this country, goes under the
name of Christian. So there's three things. Let's
go to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Verse one. Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses have they, but they smell not. Now, here's a, imagine. This is my ear. I come and tell
you, this is my ear. I call it an ear. What does it
do? It doesn't hear. Why do you still
call it an ear? I don't know. Talk to most people
about the gospel and you'll wonder why they still call him God.
He doesn't do the things that God does. It's a redemption that
doesn't redeem. It's a Holy Spirit that doesn't
actually draw and convert a man. It's eyes that don't see, it's
ears that don't hear. Number two, the second thing
you will always know and see where there's idolatry is that
men rejoice in the work of their hands. Let's go to Philippians
chapter three. And you'll cut me some slack.
Works of hands and works of the flesh, you'll see in the Bible
in both Testaments, those phrases are interchangeable. They mean
the same thing. Verse three, we can know who
worships God. For we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. in the works of our hands. I tried to think of the best
example I could, and I didn't have to think of one, because
it's already in most churches. Most churches will say, to be
saved. And they understand that a man
before he's born again is only flesh. There's flesh in their
spirit. Unless a man's born again, flesh
is all that he has to work with. But they will tell that man that
him, in his flesh, being not born again, must believe in God. God will then convert and save
him and regenerate him. But that's telling men to put
confidence in their flesh because they just admitted that all they
had to come to God with was flesh. It's idolatry, and men involved
in that don't know God. Number three, they are their
own witnesses. Okay, flip just quick to Isaiah
44. They are always witnessing against
themselves and against their God, and they're telling you
exactly what they believe. I'm so weary. I've talked to
so many people who refuse to call idolatry what it is, because
they say that these people are just young Christians who are
not grown very much, and they're just confused. They aren't confused. They know what they believe,
and they're witnessing against themselves. Okay, verse 44, verses
7. Verse 7. and who, as I, shall call, and
shall declare it, and set it in order for me. Since I, no,
let's get the context, I'm sorry. He's talking about his church. Verse five, one shall say, I
am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob,
and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname
himself by the name of Israel. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first
and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. And who,
which God, and who, as I shall call, as I shall call and shall
declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the
ancient people from the foundation of the world, and the things
that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them, He's
saying, look at the context, he's saying that the false gods
witness against their own selves that they're not the Almighty
God, they cannot see and know like he does, and all of this
is so that the maker of that idol can be ashamed. Fear ye
not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is
there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God, I know
not any." Men will tell you what they believe. They see things
like, you need to decide to let God into your heart. And that's
as good as saying that my God is powerless. They say, baptism
cleanses our sins. You've witnessed against yourself
by saying that your God is unjust because he requires water in
addition to the perfect life and death of a substitute in
order to free criminals from charges. OK, back to those are the three
things to keep in mind. wherever you see idolatry. And
those are three things that we're delivered from, and we will see
that. Okay, 1 Kings 18, we'll start
back in verse 19. Now therefore send, Elijah's
telling Ahab, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel
and the and the prophets of Baal, 450, and the prophets of the
grobes, 400, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all
the children of Israel, Jezebel's table. Idolaters will flock together.
Remember in Jude, he said, this is a love feast. The gospel is
a feast of charity. We're all at the table, we're
eating, we're feasting on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. But
Jezebel, she has her table. Remember Jezebel, she taught
the children of Israel to mix the worship of the true God with
false gods. These are spots in your feast
of charity. Now, verse 20. So Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And
Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him,
not a word. Then Elijah said unto the people,
I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets
are 450 men. He was the only one. In Micah
chapter 7, I'm sure he felt a lot like Micah. Micah there, he's
saying, I'm like the summer gleanings. I'm like the summer vintage of
the grapes, like a field of grapes. And they come and take all the
grapes off the vine, but they just forgot me. I'm the last
grape hanging out here. I'm all alone. I'm sure that
God's people, God's ministers, I felt like that before I moved
here. We don't have to despair. God will. We can trust our gracious,
kind God. He will get his gospel message
to every one of his people. He's my king of old, working
salvation in the midst of the earth. He's still doing that
today. We're always, we're troubled. We're hurt by the ratio of false
prophets and true versus true prophets, but God is doing a
work and he knows how to do it. And if he wants to send one,
then that's okay. Let's go to Job chapter 33. Job chapter 33, because we can
see the preciousness of one of God's children in his eyes here. Verse 14, for God speaketh once,
yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. So God sends him a messenger. In a dream, in a vision of the
night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon
the bed, then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their
instruction. that he may withdraw man from
his purpose, and hide pride from man, he keepeth back his soul
from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is
chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of
his bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread,
and his soul dainty meat. What things were gained unto
me I counted loss. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.
Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave and his life to the
destroyers. If there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, a preacher, one among a thousand, and that's
being kind, that's being very kind, it's probably one among
tens of thousands, Millions to show one to man his his uprightness
the uprightness of one made after the power of an endless life
and the uprightness of the one who is the end of the law for
righteousness. That's what a messenger does.
He's going to show a man his uprightness. Then he, God the
Father, is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom. Justification
by faith. You think of a judge's gavel
dropping. Not guilty. The whole courtroom
hears that. And you hear that. You receive
that sentence in your hearing. But you didn't become not guilty
then. That's when you receive it. And this is showing us that
God will get his message to everyone. Remember in 1 Corinthians chapter
3, they're playing favorite preacher. They're taking sides. gathering
in groups under different preachers. And Paul says, don't do that.
Don't do that. These are just ministers by whom
you believed, which God gave to every man. We all were given. Remember, these are gifts for
the rebellious. In Psalm 68, he gave gifts to
the rebellious, preachers, teachers, that the Lord their God might
dwell among them. He will get his gospel to his
children. The Lord himself in Luke 4 says
that Elijah, for example, he only healed two out of millions
of people. Those were the same two people
who God loved and wanted to heal. And it works the same way today.
I bet that they were thankful to God for sending Elijah more
than they were upset by him being the only one, the only prophet. The point is, is what a wonderful
thing to be sent the gospel by a man that God has given. We
see Christ in this verse most of all as the prophet. I am come a light into the world,
he said. He told Nicodemus, we speak that
we do know. My doctrine is not mine, but
the Father's which sent me. Christ is the prophet. I'm sorry, back to 1 Kings. I'm making our way through this. Verse 23. Let them therefore give us two
bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and
cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock,
and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. Now, God gave to
the children of Israel animal sacrifice before Christ, and
that was to show that their sins would have to be put on another,
that there is a penalty that must be paid for sin, and animals
such as oxen, sheep, would be that sacrifice until Christ came. But even when God was telling
them to do that, he was saying that the blood of those beasts
is not actually taking away sin, but his son who was coming would. So Old Testament believers, they
saw in that sacrifice, they saw Christ who would come. And we
look back at Christ who did come. That's the common faith. We all,
the gospel has not changed. Leviticus, let's see Leviticus
chapter 1. I don't want to go so far into
explaining, but I want to see what's going on here. Leviticus
chapter 1, Verse two, speak unto the children of Israel and say
unto them, if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord,
you shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd
and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice
of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. Christ was without
blemish, and yet when we see him, there's no beauty that we
should desire him. He shall offer it of his own
voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon
the head of the burnt offering. And it shall be accepted for
him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock
before the Lord. Before the Lord. This all has
to happen before the Lord. God is the offended party. And
if his justice is going to be satisfied, he'll have to be the
one carrying it out. And the priests, Aaron's sons,
shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the
altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And that he shall flay the burnt
offering and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron,
the priests, shall put fire upon the altar and lay the wood in
order upon the fire. And the priests, Aaron's sons,
shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon Uh, I lost my voice. Verse 8, and the priest Aaron's
son shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon
the wood that is on the fire, which is upon the altar. But
his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water. And the priest
shall burn all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. We read that Jesus
Christ offered himself up without spot to God. has given himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Therefore, love each other
like he loved us." So this burnt sacrifice shows us Christ. And so verse 24. And call ye on the name of your
gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God
that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered
and said, it is well spoken. If your sacrifice is burnt with
fire, then Baal is God. But if mine is, Baal is not God. Is there a God beside me? I know
not any. I said a minute ago that the
animal sacrifices showed by faith that God is well-pleased with
his elect people because he's well-pleased with Christ's sacrifice. Those whom God is well-pleased
with, they know something about the fire of God. We see the fire
of God throughout the scriptures and we know that there's no salvation
without it. God answers by fire in the law.
That's the first thing a believer's gonna come to see. Let's go to
Exodus chapter 19. We know God teaches us that the
law is not the way to himself. That in turning us away from
idolatry and ending our long religious career, and turning
us into worshipers of Him, that is the first thing that He will
start to show us. Exodus 19, verse 10. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and
let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third
day. For the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of
all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto
the people round about, saying, take heed to yourselves, that
ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it. Whosoever
toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death. There shall not
in hand touch it, but he shall surely be stung or shot through. Whether it be beast or man, it
shall not live. When the trumpet soundeth long,
they shall come up to the mount. And Moses went down from the
mount unto the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their
clothes. And he said unto the people, be ready against the
third day. Come not at your wives. And it
came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were
thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the
voice of the trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that
was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people
out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether
part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke. because the Lord descended upon
it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended
as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder
and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. The law is fire, say, consuming
fire. that kills those who try to touch
it. And God teaches us that. And
when he teaches us his fire in the law, we don't put our hands
to the law anymore. We don't rejoice in the works
of our hands anymore. We say, I through the law, through
the law, am dead to the law, by Christ's perfect obedience
to the law, his dying for my sins against the law, By that,
through that, I am now dead to the law. Remember when the Lord
Jesus came in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, you know that
it's always been said, you shall not commit adultery.
But here's the thing. You already always are. Because
anyone who looks on a woman to lust after her in their heart,
they have committed adultery. God speaks to us, shows us his
law. We see that actually we never
have kept it because it goes way deeper than our outward actions. Every believer knows that. Now,
second, God answered by fire on the cross. I love this. Psalm 120, the wrath of God. meeting on the head of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross. That's what we see. God speaks
to us through this fire on the cross. I'm sorry. In my distress, I cried. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. In my distress, I cried
unto the Lord, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from
lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. That's our lying lips
and our deceitful tongue. When God made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, and our lying lips and our idolatry and our
false tongue and our hatred and lies about God that we spent
our whole life saying, it all fell on him. Now verse four,
sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper, the hottest
burning wood landed on our savior. And we see that fire landing
on him. We see a redemption where God
says, what shall be done unto thee? What shall be given? It's
a redemption that actually redeems. A Savior that saves. He bought
a people. He paid for their sins. And their
sins are gone. And we won't be able to listen
to idolatrous nonsense about a Savior who died for men who
were never saved. We won't be able to listen anymore.
Now, third, he answers by fire in the gospel. He shall be like
a refiner of fire, Malachi said. That's when you hear the truth
spoken plainly and simply from the scripture, and you know it's
true, and you wouldn't part with it for the world. You say, yes,
Lord, I know that that is true, what that man just said. That
is so simple. That makes so much sense. That's
so wonderful. That is the Lord answering by
fire in the gospel. He says, they that erred shall
learn doctrine and the stammerers shall speak plainly. We stop
witnessing against ourselves and we speak plainly when the
Lord answers through the gospel. I love being in a place where
I can call on anybody in here that they know what the gospel
is, and they don't contradict themselves, and they don't contradict
others in the church. We think the same thing, and
that is unity. And it's because the Lord has
taught us by the gospel, we don't need to witness against ourselves
and show how little we know about the true God. We know God and
we love him by his grace. So verse 26, let's go back to
1 Kings 18, I'm sorry. Verse 26, and they took the bullock which
was given them and they dressed it and called on the name of
Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any
that answered. And they leaped upon the altar
which was made." In contrast, the gospel says, Christ, he couched. He lay down as a lion. He was our Lion of Judah who
came down. He condescended to come down
to this earth to be made sin for us, to be made like unto
his brethren, the depths that he went down to come here. And
idolaters leap upon the altar. We have an altar, and he came
down here. Verse 27. And it came to pass
at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is
a god. Either he is talking, or he is
pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure, he sleepeth
and must be awaked." You know, false gods are always doing everything
except being seated on a throne. The word talking there, it means
meditating. The word pursuing, it means busy. The entire Christian world will
tell you about a God who is meditating and busy. To deny that God has
a peculiar people who he loves and who will be saved is to necessarily
believe in a God who is always meditating and busy. It's Baal
worship. Verse 28, and they cried aloud
and they cut themselves after their manner with knives and
lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. That shows the
ugliness of man's religion. There is something in us that
says that we can approach God Our suffering and our sincerity
will be our entrance into God's favor. If we can only show God
how much we're willing to go through, maybe he'll listen to
us. No, he won't. He won't. Do you
remember when Judas went and got the guard to come and apprehend
our Lord, and they came to him, and he says, I have told you
that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let
these, my disciples, go their way. That's all the suffering
and the sincerity that we need to be saved. It's his. Verse
29 now, and it came to pass when midday was passed and they prophesied
until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that
there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded. God didn't regard. God didn't
regard. I need God to regard me. I'm
a sinner and I'll run. I'll run with this world wherever
they're going as long as they go that way. If it looks fun,
I'll do it. I need God to regard me. I can't have him pass me over
and leave me to myself to figure him out and try to approach him. I need God to take notice of
me. Do you remember in the second
chapter of Exodus, before he even delivers them, he says,
God looked at the children of Israel and he had respect unto
his covenant, and he remembered them. I need God to do that for
me. Verse 30, and Elijah said unto
all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down. Christ restored that which he
took not away. And Elijah took 12 stones, according
to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom
the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And
with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and
he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two
measures of seed. And he put the wood in order,
and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and
said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt
sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second
time. And they did it the second time.
And he said, Do it the third time. And They did it the third
time, and the water ran about the altar, and he filled the
trench also with water, and it came to pass. At the time of
the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came
near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it
be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am
thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy
word. 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. This is not the only time
that a man prays to God for the conversion of others right before
he's about to be involved in a sacrifice. It's not. I'm really thankful for that.
Let's go to John chapter 17. We're going to wrap up with this. John chapter 17, Elijah, as a type of our great Savior here.
Take notice of his words, he says, before the sacrifice, and
let's compare it to what our Lord Jesus said. In verse 36, he says, 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." Let's look at John
chapter 17, verse 7. talking of his disciples and
us. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has
given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou did send me." Look at verse 37. Verse 37 in 1 Kings 18. that this people may know that
thou art the Lord God. What do we see in John 17, verse
two? As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Our great Savior came, to take the stones out of the
way, restore the worship of God and show us that he is the path
to the father and the real prophet whose words are life and spirit. And then he came and look, let's
look at first Kings chapter 18 in verse 38, just as in John
chapter 17, when he was done praying, As soon as he was done
with that, verse 38, then the fire of the Lord fell on my Savior's
head on Calvary. And that is our salvation. Our
sins are gone. Our sins fell on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and God remembers them no more. We'll sing number nine. Is not that I did choose thee,
O Lord, that could not be? This heart would still refuse
thee, Thou not chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me, Hast cleansed and set me free. of old thou hast ordained
me, that I should live to thee. Your love had no beginning, no
cause did me was found, that you should choose to save me,
a sinner strongly found. But grace not earned or sought
for, Was purpose for my soul. For me salvation brought, For
Christ paid the dreadful toll. The Sovereign Mercy called me,
and taught my opening mind. The world had else and called
me, to heavenly glories blind. My heart longs not before Thee,
for Thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing if I loved thee,
Thou must have loved me first.