Elijah has just Displayed before everyone there
the truth of God in his Worship through the sacrifice Through
the blood sacrifice of an innocent victim God answered by fire Prophets of Baal are slain because
as we saw Everybody believes that a man
named Jesus died on a cross 2,000 years ago But the Son of God
dying on that cross is not good news for everybody It's the destruction of some It's the end of the road for
those that reject and despise the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
saw that here. But Elijah tells Ahab, when that
fire came down, consumed the sacrifice and the wood and the
dust and the water, Elijah said to Ahab, get up,
eat and drink. Are they still It had been three
and a half years since it had rained, so I don't know what
they were eating and drinking then, but he's saying now, don't
worry about it. Don't bother rationing, don't
bother worrying a bit about what's gonna
happen, because there's a sound of abundance of rain. Now, Ahab was told three and
a half years prior that it would not rain until Elijah said so. Elijah told him to his face,
it's not gonna rain until I say it's gonna rain. And Elijah just
said so, it's gonna rain. Why did it rain now? The sacrifice, the Savior. God's acceptance of the sacrifice,
his life to his people. That's why we sing what we do,
we look to the cross, we sing of the blood, we sing of the
lamb slain for us, for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
sacrifice, pictured here by the bullock that Elijah cut up into
pieces, blood flowed. Religion likes to portray the
Lord on the cross looking up He's got a crowd of thorns on
his head, but he, you know, it's pleasant. You know, it might
be something you hang up in your living room. Scripture says he didn't even
look like a man anymore after they got through beating
him and tearing him apart and nailing him to that cross. Elijah cut that bullock up in
pieces and laid it out upon the wood that was on the altar. By
the way, why was there wood? Look at verse 33, let's look
at the wording of it. 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. Three times the wood is mentioned.
Why did there need to be wood? Why even bother with that? God
sent fire that consumed everything. The dirt, the water even was
consumed by that fire. They didn't need kindling. God burned up all of it. Well,
I don't know for sure. I don't know the answer to that.
Maybe just because that's the way it was done. But I know pouring
water all over everything wasn't the way it was done. What I do know is this, my savior,
the only perfect satisfactory sacrifice for sin was laid on
a wooden cross and his hands and his feet were
nailed to that wood for my sins and the otherwise unquenchable
fire of God's wrath came down upon him for my sins. And when I saw that happen by
faith in the Savior, the first time with eyes of faith, with
spiritual sight given me by God, the first time I saw that, it
began to rain on me. And it's rained the blessing
of God on me ever since. Life and forgiveness and peace
and the joy of the Lord and abundance and abundance of rain And it
rains on me to this day, you know what rain represents Without rain there's no life How did Elijah hear rain coming
Before there was ever even a cloud the size of a man's hand. He
said, I hear the sound of abundance of rain. How did he hear that?
There can only be one answer to that. He heard it by faith.
It wasn't an audible sound. Not a physical sound. He believed
God. That's how he heard it. You don't say that to Ahab unless
God has told you it's gonna rain. You have to believe by God's
grace that the sacrifice is sufficient. God has answered with fire. The
judgment of God was pictured by drying up the sky, as the
judgment of God was pictured in Noah's day by the rain. It's
pictured here by no rain. But when God consumed that bullock,
that sacrifice, and was satisfied, when that offering was offered
by faith in the Lamb of God, God's judgment is satisfied. There's no more judgment. And
that's why Elijah was able to say, it's gonna rain, and it's
gonna rain a lot. Oh, there's nothing to hold it
back now. Our sins are gone, you see, washed away by that
precious blood. We confess that he's Lord, he
is the God, isn't that what they said? The Lord, he is the God. By looking to Calvary, by seeing
the burnt offering that God ordained and has respect unto, And you
believe that for two reasons. We believe Him for two reasons,
because it's God. That's a good reason to believe.
When God speaks to you, you're gonna believe. And secondly, by faith that God
gives you, you know it's God. And that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous. sufficient sin offering that
God accepts for him through faith in his blood. Elijah
went up to the top of Carmel and prayed. Well, there's such beautiful
gospel teaching in this. I pray the
Lord will speak to us tonight. If God had already told Elijah,
and we know from verse 36 that he had, then why bother praying? I've been asked that question
several times in my life. If what you say is true, why
do you pray? Because God told me to. The God that has ordained all
ends has ordained all means. And he said, the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. In God's order and design
and purpose, it does. And he gives us the great privilege
to come before his throne. Why do you not pray? That's the
question. I'm not sure whether we realize
this, looking into this made me Realize this, I hope, a little
bit better. God doesn't do anything for you
that you don't pray for. Now hear me out. If God's gonna bless you, you're
gonna ask. That's the way God's ordained
it. Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If he's gonna save you, you're
gonna call on him. You're gonna call on him. Now, there's no
question, and this may have come into your mind, I'm sure it has,
that he blesses us in ways that we don't specifically ask for.
He knows we're too stupid to ask for what we need, and he
gives it to us anyway. We know that for a fact. We're
too dumb to even know most of the time what we do need. And
if we do, we're too stupid to ask him for it. We think we can
work it out, you know. We've got our little world, you
know, that we're in control of. We're in control of nothing.
And he shows us that every once in a while. Say, for example, that You pray
that God will give you a certain job. I need this job. I need
this. You know, our family needs something.
I'm the provider of the family. I want us to be well provided
for. And I pray that you would give
me this job. And it turns out you're not getting
that. You don't know it yet, but you're
not getting that job. A completely different path is
way better for you and your family that you aren't even aware of
yet. God takes you down that path, the right path, the best
path, instead of what you prayed for. And you realize later, this
is way better than what I asked him for. God doesn't allow you
to forfeit what's best because of your ignorance. He don't allow
that, you're his child. But have you ever prayed, God
bless my family? I bet you there's not a soul
in here that hadn't prayed that. God bless my family. Thank you
for your blessing upon my family. Thank you, Lord, for keeping
us all these years. And please don't let us go. You're gonna ask, aren't you?
I will be inquired of by my people for this thing to do it for them,
to do it for them. And so that's just, We ought
to realize that all the time. We neglect. We neglect to pray,
to pray. You have not because you ask
not. Ask and thou shalt receive. These
are the words of our Savior now. But Elijah asked, Elijah asked
and he sent his servant to look. Go look. There was an expectation
of blessing from the Lord, wasn't there? Because of his promises.
Do we have that? Tonight, do we have an expectation
that the Lord's gonna bless us? Because he promised to. He promised
to. So go look. But the servant came
back and said, there is nothing. There is nothing. What about
that? Well, we know the rest of the
story, so we're not worried about that, are we? You reckon Elijah
was worried about that? Sure doesn't seem like it, does
it? Instead of throwing up his hands and saying, well, I don't
know what we even came up here for, he said, go again. Go seven times. And let's see
if the Lord will do. what he said he would. Why was Elijah not worried about
it? We know why we're not, because
we know the rest of the story. Why wasn't Elijah worried about
it? Because by faith, he knew the rest of the story. Go and look seven times. Seven all through the scripture
is the number of completion or fulfillment or perfection. Your
number may be one or two, but God's is seven every time. And that's not literal. That
doesn't mean that you're supposed to pray seven times. Religion
loves to make prayer some kind of a ritual. Let's count beads
or let's say this over and over and over. The Lord Jesus said,
don't repeat yourself as though God couldn't hear you. Don't
pray like they do. So seven times, as I said, that's
teaching us to pray and that God will in his time,
at the perfect time, bring it to pass. He will do, in other words, what
he said he will do. He'll do what he said he would
do. He hasn't promised me specific
events will take place in my life or that specific wants will
be granted, but he has promised me eternal blessing in Christ. I know this, I'm gonna have what's
best for me in spite of myself. What about your children? Are
you gonna give them everything they want Or are they going to
have what's best for them? What's better? What's better? That God do exactly everything
that you ask him to do the way you ask it, when you ask it,
or that God always do what is absolutely, perfectly the best
possible thing for you. That's an easy answer, isn't
it? Have you ever prayed to God and
saw nothing? Don't worry about that. If he's
given you faith, you know the rest of the story, don't you?
You know how it ends. You know why you see nothing.
And you know that you will see his favor. You will see his blessing. You will see peace and life and
forgiveness and everything you need. Keep looking. God's gonna do what he said he
would, and he's gonna do that which is absolutely best for
his children. He said, if you being evil know
how to give good things to your children, much more your heavenly father,
much more. The fulfillment of God's promise,
what does it look like? What does everything God's promised
to sinners look like? It looks like that right there.
A man's hand. Not this man. The God man. All through scripture, like seven
represents perfection, completion. And because we see it over and
over in the scripture, meaning that, that's how we know it's
not some code that we cracked. God clearly has revealed that.
A man's hand symbolizes work. It symbolizes accomplishment.
It symbolizes doing. All through, God's promise is fulfilled. Look
like a man's hand. And there's a reason that they
do. The hand is the symbol of doing and working and everything
that God has done for sinners was done by the hand of a man. Behooved Christ to be made like
unto his brethren That he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God Life's coming Symbolized by the rain Salvation
is on the horizon. What does it look like? The doing
it looks like the work of a man. That's what it looks like. It
is the work of a man It's the accomplishment of a man, a perfect,
holy, incapable of failing, almighty man. Look with me at Luke chapter
24. verse 36 Luke 24 36 And as they thus spake Jesus
himself they're sitting around the disciples are sitting around
in a room Talking to one another and Jesus himself. Why do you think that? They could
have just said Jesus stood in the midst of them. You didn't
know who they were talking about, would you? Who he was talking about.
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. And saith unto them, he said
unto them, and saith unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them,
why are you troubled? You see, they'd seen him die.
And here he is standing in their midst. They thought it was a
ghost. Why are you troubled and why
thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold. Behold my hands. Behold my feet, that it is I
myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. He's one of us, yet without sin. He's one of us, yet all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, scripture said. flesh and bones. That's what salvation looks like.
It looks like God in human flesh. It looks like God, but with us. How can God be with us? He can't
even look at anything except perfection and holiness. How
can he be with us? The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed them his hands, and
while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto
them, you got anything to eat? This is salvation. God is in
our midst. And they gave him a piece of
broiled fish and of a honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before
them. That's what God, all of God's
promises fulfilled. Did we not see this morning?
All of the glory of God is seen in the face. God has a face. I thought God was spirit. He is spirit. The Lord Jesus
Christ though has flesh and bones as we have. He has a face. What are you looking for when
you pray? What are you looking for? Elijah
prayed and he sent the servant and said, go look. When you pray,
you're looking for a man's hand. You're looking for the son of
God to do something for you that you can't do for yourself. The
son of man to do something that only he can do. That's why you
pray unto him. Always. Look for Him. Continue to look for Him. Never stop looking to Him. He may, and nobody can do anything
for you but Him. His hand is the only hand that
can make it happen. Now, He may use an ordinary man's
hand in the process, He may not, but either way, look
for his hand in it, because it's there, it's there, whatever. You might think, well, God's
hand would have been huge and scary and lightning flashing
inside of it and all that, you know? No, it looks like the hand
of a Nazarene carpenter. He shall grow up as a tender
plant and as a root out of a dry ground. And there's no beauty
about Him that we should desire Him. And yet all of our sins
were laid on Him. And by that, by God laying our
sins on Him, we're healed. And when the Lord shows us his
hand, that's what we want to see. Look at Elijah's reaction
in verse 44. And it came to pass at the seventh
time, just at exactly the perfect time. That's what that's saying.
Just in the nick of time. God's time. He said, behold, there ariseth
a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And Elijah
lit up, didn't he? He said, go, saying to Ahab,
prepare thy chariot and get thee down, let the rain stop thee.
Now you're gonna be flooded in if you don't go now. He got excited,
it sounds like, doesn't it? Oh my. The Lord shows us the hand that
created the universe. He shows us the hand that was
pierced for our sins. He shows us the hand that alone
accomplished our redemption and salvation. And we say to others,
God has spoken. God has accepted the sacrifice.
God has done according to all of his promises. God's salvation
is real and sure, now act accordingly. It's finished. The hand of the
Lord's not shortened that it cannot save. The sight of his
hand tells me it's done. It's accomplished. Judgment,
justice is satisfied. There's nothing for me to do,
thank God. Thank God it's not up to us.
Thank God for that. Thank God he says, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. That's a big difference between
that and God's done all he can and now it's up to you. Stand still and watch God save
you We just react to what he did And even that's of him this he
gives you You remember what the Lord said
about rain? We gotta turn and read it, you know we do. Isaiah
55 10, please turn with me there and read this with me. How does God rain his blessings
upon his people? Right now, today. Same way he did then. None of
what Elijah did or what happened that day would mean anything
without the word of God. Elijah wouldn't have even known
what to do. He'd still be running. Isaiah 55, 10, for as the rain
cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth. In other words, it does go back
up, doesn't it? God just made water one time.
I love to think about that. God made water one time. We're
still drinking it. We're still living by the life
that it gives to the plants and the cows that eat the plants.
We eat the cows. Same water that he made. when
he made this universe. And it does come down and it
does go up, but it doesn't go back up until it waters this
earth. And maketh the earth bring forth
and bud, life is given, that it may give seed to the sower,
so the farmer can go out and sow his fields. and reap a crop
and feed his family and a lot of other families. And bread
to the eater, what does rain have to do with bread? That's
obvious, isn't it? We don't think about that though.
And I'm talking about in the spiritual sense. We need Him
every hour. We need Him all the time. There
is nothing that we do or experience that is not what it is and how
it is, the way it is, when it is, apart from Christ and the
life that he is to our souls. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth like that rain. It shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please. Again, what a contrast between
God's done all he can do and now it's up to you. God said,
I'll send my word down and it's gonna do what I send it to do. Thank God for God. Thank God
that we don't preach that puny, whining, impotent, false God
of this religious world. He does as he pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And
no matter how hopeless and helpless you are tonight, if he sends
his word down here to save you tonight, you're gonna be saved. You're gonna get saved, all right?
You're gonna get saved by him, by his will. And it's gonna happen through
the word, through the preaching of the gospel. It's gonna accomplish that which
I please. That's just God. And it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it. You can worship that God. If
he gives you grace, if he allows you to, And look at the, this is so beautiful.
We got to keep reading. Did I have you even turn there?
I hope I did because this is so beautiful. Listen, and you're
going to go out with joy because God sent his gospel and gave
life to us. We shall go out with joy and
be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come
up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the
myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. We can't make it rain. We can't
give life to dead sinners. Ezekiel was asked, can these
bones live? And he said, Lord, you're the
only one that can answer that. The only one that can answer
that question is the one that can give life to dead bones. We don't get people saved, it's
the hand of the Son of God that saves sinners. Look at the last part of the
chapter. Let's just read the last part. It came to pass in the meanwhile
that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was
a great rain. He's plenteous in mercy. He's
plenteous in mercy. And Ahab wrote, Ahab's doing
what he's told for a little while here, isn't he? God shows himself
to be God. But look at this. The symbol of God's faithfulness to his promise was
a man's hand. That was a symbol. That wasn't
God's hand, that was a type, a picture that we can look at
and see what, by God's grace, I pray we've seen tonight. But
the hand, the actual hand of the Lord was on Elijah. The cloud that was in the shape
of a man's hand was signifying this, that God's hand His omnipotent
hand, the hand that fulfills every promise that God has made
to sinners is on his people. It's on those who offer the sacrifice,
who claim the blood of Christ alone as our offering for sin. The hand of the Lord was on Elijah,
that's salvation. That's blessing, that's life,
that's perfect safety, that's everything. If God be for us,
who can be against us? If his hand is on me. And why is he for us? Why is God for us? Let's be reminded
of this. We know it, we saw it in the
sacrifice, in the blood. He cut that bullock up into pieces
and laid it on the wood. That's Christ on Calvary. But
let's read it again. Why? If God be for us, if his
hand is on us in blessing and power and the fulfillment of
all of his promises in Christ, of life and peace and redemption
and forgiveness and salvation and everything that entails,
why? Why does he put his hand? Turn
with me to Romans 8 and we'll be through. Romans 8 31. Why is God for us? Well, let's just see what the
Lord said about that. 831 of Romans, what shall we
say then to these things? And what things is he talking
about? For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. And whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What are we gonna say about that?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, all of his people,
all of his elect. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Why is he for us? because Christ
died for us. Who is he that condemneth? Or
verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
God justified me. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ. Yea, rather that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. The burned offering is consumed. The Lord Jesus stretches forth
his hand across the sea of this world to give us life everlasting,
to save us, to pluck us out of the fire. May he give us grace
to forever praise His holy name. Amen.