Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Kings. 1 Kings, chapter 19. There's a special blessing, special comfort that's found
to the child of God, regenerated by God's grace, to truly hear
from the Lord in the hour of His trial and need. That's what
we were just singing about. I'm going to be in chapter 19,
but I want to just make a few statements of some things that
happened in chapter 18. You can read, for the sake of
time, I won't read these two chapters, I'll tell you that
in chapter 18 of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah had been instructed
by God to tell Ahab, the king, to have
his 450 prophets of Baal, the 400 prophets of the groves, and have them come to Mount Carmel. And there it was going to be
settled before all the people who is God. And so Elijah did that. 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets
of the groves came and the altar of Baal was prepared by the prophets
of Baal, and they took their sacrifice, cut it up, laid it
on the wood, prescribed manner, and they began to call out to
Baal. They cried all day for Baal. They got to a point, got desperate,
and started jumping on top of the altar itself, on top of the
sacrifice. messed it all up, cut themselves. It became real evident that Baal's
not God. And after that, Elijah took and
repaired the altar of the Lord. Not the altar that they'd made
for Baal, but an altar that had long since been torn down, broken
down, there and he repaired it. He took 12 stones, laid it according
to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob on that altar
of the Lord. He dug this trench around it
and he poured a total of 12 barrels of water on top of that altar
sacrifice. And he prayed unto the Lord. He asked God to answer, and the
Lord did. And he set a consuming fire from
heaven, burned up the sacrifice, licked up all the water. And
after the Lord answered from heaven, that really happened. And God instructed Elijah to
have all those false prophets killed by the brook Kishon. And after Elijah did that which
the Lord had instructed him, Ahab, the king, told Jezebel
of the events. And she sent a message to Elijah
and told him that the next day By this time the next day, God
do also to her like he had done to these prophets if she wouldn't
have him killed by the next day because of what he had done to
those prophets of Baal. And the scripture says that Elijah
fled into the wilderness and he left his servant spot and
he continued on another day's journey. And he came to this
spot. And he asked the Lord to kill
him. I know better than the rest of
my ancestors. Kill me. Here was a prophet called
of God, taught of God, used of God, manifested God's power through
the means of this prophet. And now here he's asking God
to kill him because Jezebel said that she was coming after his
life. Listen, let us learn something
here. How closely do we find great faith in God, by God's people, and
unbelief? Abraham had been told of God
to take his son, his only son, and sacrifice him unto the Lord.
And Abraham took that boy, Isaac took him up on that mountain
and told those servants, you stay here, the lad and I are
going to go up yonder and we're going to worship God. And he
took that boy and placed him on top of that altar, wood laid
in place, took that knife, and that boy in the heart of Abraham
was dead. He was going to put that knife
in that boy. God stopped him. God spoke to
Abraham and told him. He said, don't do the lad any
harm. Take the ram that's caught. Put
that ram. That picture of Christ substituting. And that same man, Abraham, when
he came to a place He was afraid that the king's people would
see his wife. She was fair to look on. He was
afraid that they were going to kill him because of her. The scripture declares that Peter,
at the word of the Lord, at the word of the Lord's command, came
out. Peter said, Lord, in fact, she bid me come. And the Lord
said, come. Peter got out and was walking on the water. held
up by the power of God, and Peter knew it. He knew God. But the
same man, at the word of a maid, when she said, you're one of
his, did exactly what the Lord said he was going to do. He said,
before the cock crows twice, you're going to deny me three
times. Peter said, I'll never do that. And he did it. But we're no different. We believe
God, I'm telling you, there's not a believer in here that doesn't
believe in their heart they believe God Almighty has chosen them,
you believe that. You believe that the Spirit of
God moved and removed a heart of stone, you believe that. You
believe that he gave you a new heart of flesh, he's taught you.
You believe, you truly believe. You say it's Paul the apostle.
I do too, I believe this. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded, I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. You believe that, don't
you? But how many times at any given moment can we just almost
fall to pieces When something crosses our paths, just a word
from a doctor, something in our family, something in all, we
just, great faith and unbelief found in God's people. Elijah, he fled, came to a juniper
tree and was laying under it. And Almighty God came to it.
I'm going to pick up right here, 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 9. He came thither to a cave and
he lodged there. Behold, the word of the Lord
came to him and said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? What are you doing? What are
you doing? was not the Lord seeking information. What he was doing was he was
speaking to Elijah in mercy, like he did to Adam in the garden
when Adam had eaten of the fruit. And God spoke to Adam and said,
Adam, where art thou? You know God knew where he was.
But what he was doing and what he does to us He arrests us,
He stops us in our tracks like He did Saul of Tarsus on the
road. Saul, Saul. Who art thou Lord? Almighty God
came to this prophet and He stopped him. Here he was, he was fleeing,
he was afraid, he was frustrated. God is showing all of us what
we're all prone to do by nature. And then when the Lord asked
him, ask him in verse 9. What doest thou here, Elijah?
What are you doing here? Why are you here? Why are you
fleeing? That's what he's asking him.
And listen to the word of Elijah in verse 10. He said, I've been
very jealous. Now let me tell you, let's learn
something else about ourselves here. We all by nature are going
to justify our rebellion. We'll always do it. We'll always
justify it at first. We always got a reason. I've been very jealous for the
Lord God of hosts, the children of Israel, have forsaken thy
covenant, thrown down thine altar, slain thy prophets with the sword,
and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take
it away." Oh, how quickly do we see that old man raise his
ugly head to his own honor and his own glory and his own praise.
I'm the only one. I'm the only one. I've been so faithful. I've been
so steadfast. I'm always doing what I'm supposed
to be doing. If everybody else would just
do what they were supposed to do, this thing would have gone
a lot smoother. Oh, but the Lord who is ever
merciful. I think about this scripture
right here when the Lord says, that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. And him that cometh to me, now
listen to these words, I will in no wise. Thank the Lord for that. I will
in no wise. Oh, how thankful we are that
there's no stipulation on God's mercy to us. Because if there
is, let me tell you something. We're gone. We're already gone.
We just don't know it yet. Here the Lord is going to speak
to Elijah and He's going to give him some instruction. Elijah
needed to hear from God. Now he's in a place that he shouldn't
be. And God's called him on it. He's
asking him, what are you doing here? Why have you fled? Why
are you standing in this place? He tried to justify himself and
now the Lord is going to speak to him. He's going to speak in
a way that only the Lord can lift up the brokenhearted and
the downtrodden and give some comfort and some assurance. to
His people in the midst of tribulation. Now we're all there. If we're
not there right now, we just, you have been or you're gonna
be, I'm telling you. We need some help. I wanna hear. I know the scripture that says,
my sheep hear my voice. And I've said this so many times
myself. How does the Lord speak? He speaks
through His word. That's exactly right. But there's
something that the Lord's gonna do for this man right here that's
precious. And we need to hear it. We need
to be instructed. The Lord told him in verse 11
and 12, he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the
Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by.
And a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
I'll tell you what that means. The Lord didn't speak to Elijah. Didn't speak to him in the way
that he was going to speak. He didn't speak like that. And
after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
He didn't speak. And after the earthquake, a fire.
But the Lord was not in the fire. But after the fire, a still small
voice. Elijah stood before God as the
Lord instructed. And there was an amazing display
of God's power. of God's judgment. And God Almighty calls that strong
wind and that earthquake and that fire to just be all around
Elijah. And Elijah didn't hear anything
because the Lord wasn't in it to speak to Elijah that way. God was not pleased to manifest
His special and gracious presence and comfort and will to Elijah
in that wind, that earthquake and that fire. Man by nature right now, we see
by nature, all men, you know the scripture that talks about
how the Lord He manifests himself in creation. So man is without
excuse. God is manifested. In 2005, Glenda
and I were in Louisiana when Katrina hit. Now, we were in
the central part of Louisiana. So I mean, I could look out on
the horizon. I could see the swirl of the hurricane. We weren't
in the hurricane. It was nothing for us. But let
me ask you this. When that hurricane went through,
And I grew up as a boy always hearing people say, it's not,
you know, if, it's when. Because we all knew that New
Orleans is below sea level. So I always said that. But when
it happened, and that hurricane came in and those levees broke
and that water came in and flooded that city and destroyed So much
of that city. Who do you think sent that hurricane? God. God did. Let me ask you
something. How many people do you think
were converted seeing the power of that hurricane? None. I can
tell you that according to this word. None. Right now, I'm watching the news.
I'm seeing all these fires in Australia. burning millions of
acres. How many people do you think
have been converted to seeing the power of God in that fire?
None. All of this wind was breaking
the rocks of that mountain. That's a strong wind. I went
through a hurricane. I've never been through a hurricane
that broke mountains. All that fire Oh, that earthquake. But the
Lord was not in it to speak in peace, comfort, assurance to
Elijah. Oh, but after that marvelous
display of God's power, the Lord was pleased to speak to Elijah
in a way of amazing tenderness. Affectionately. Affectionately. There was that, all that afterwards,
there was that still, small voice. It means a quiet, calm whisper
of assurance. Just a whisper. But it was to
Elijah's heart. David said in Psalm 119, 11,
Thy word have I hid in my heart. that I might not sin against
thee. And when he heard that still small voice in his heart, something happened. Look at verse 13. And it was
so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle
And he went out and stood in the opening, I mean the entering
in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice
unto him and said, what doest thou hear, Elijah? What are you
doing here? And Elijah heard it before he
was going to justify himself. Now God Almighty in tenderness
and mercy broke him. Elijah heard just like Moses
did at that burning bush. And he bowed in respect. All of this stuff that goes on
around all of us all the time. We see the power. We see the
judgment of God. We hear the warning. We see it
in nature. But to God's people, Almighty
God has been pleased to manifest Himself to speak to the heart. He gives his people a new heart.
Then he speaks to them, and they hear it. Now when the Lord says,
my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. It's not in creation. We see
the power of his creation. We see the power in all of the
storms and the fires. We see that, the earth groaning,
even now, because of our sin. But there's that voice to the
heart of God's people. God's people, they hear, they
read in this Word, but the Spirit of God's got to do something
with this Word. It's got to make it effectual
to us. He takes that word and He speaks with the sheep of His
pasture. And the Lord is speaking. He
does speak in Providence. He does speak in the Scriptures.
But there's that voice that is only heard with a new ear. A
hearing ear and a seeing eye. That's what He's going to say.
And God's got to do it. They hear in their heart. Turn
to Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30, verse 18 to 21. Isaiah
30, 18. Therefore will the Lord wait. in the execution of justice that's
deserved is long-suffering. That He may be gracious unto
you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy
upon you, for the Lord is a God of judgment. Oh, blessed are
they that wait for Him. For the Lord shall dwell in Zion
at Jerusalem, thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious
unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he
will answer thee. And though the Lord give you
the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall
not thy teachers, instructors, those pastors that God sends,
shall not thy teachers be removed unto a corner anymore, but thine
eye shall see thy teachers And thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. When you turn to the right hand,
when you turn to the left. What's God's people going to
behold? They're going to behold and they're
gonna hear that still, small voice. They hear, they hear. There's a new man there. A new
man, the scriptures declare, that hears the voice of the shepherd. And whenever the Lord is pleased
to call, when He's pleased to call, as I said, He's going to
give a heart to hear. Men and women don't hear from
a dead heart, from that stony heart. But when they, by the
grace of God, are made to actually experience I always try to be
careful with that word, you know, everybody talks about, but God's
people do. They experience something. They
experience the power and the grace of God in the accomplishment
of His will. Whenever the Lord called Saul
of Tarsus, when He called Matthew, came by Matthew, that seat of
custom, He said to Matthew, follow me. Why did Matthew get up? He wanted to. Why? God gave him
a heart. He called him, made him willing
in the day of God's power. The Lord's Word is not going
to return void. It's going to accomplish the purpose for which
it was sent. His speaking, speaking in power,
that still small voice moves God's people. They move. They
move as He directs, as He directs according to His pleasure. Last
verse, Psalm 32, eight. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine
eye. What's he gonna do? He's gonna
watch. He's gonna watch over. He's gonna direct. He's gonna
keep. He's gonna speak. And when God's
people hear His voice, now, that's something you just can't explain.
A believer might ask you, well how does God speak? How do you
hear Him? God's people hear. They hear. They hear that still, small voice. Not in the display of His power,
which is there. I mean, we look around, this
whole world is in a mess. What's God doing? He's speaking
in judgment. And men are without excuse, but
to those to whom He's been pleased to show mercy. He speaks to them
with a word of comfort. And they hear it in that new
conscience. They hear it in their heart. And they believe it. And they're
comforted because it's real to them. I pray that God bless this
word to our heart and our understanding and our comfort for the sake
of the Lord Jesus Christ and for our good. Amen. All right.