Ahab had been trying to find
Elijah for three and a half years. But when God got ready, Elijah
found Ahab. The words of our text refer to
what happened before. And notice, how that Ahab, there's
a lot of things he could have said, don't you think, after
three and a half years? A lot of things might even come
to our minds that Ahab might have said to Elijah. But we see here that it's the
nature of sinful man to blame all of our problems on God. And
that's what he did. What Ahab is referring to, of
course, is that drought Elijah had declared that there would
be drought and there was Elijah was pretty clear when
he pronounced that in 1st Kings 17 1 if you want to flip back
to 17 1 I'll read it to you. If not Ahab and Jezebel had shut
down the worship of God They changed to false religion, the
whole nation, a religion that better suited their fleshly appetites. And Elijah said in verse one
of 17, 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. And you remember the power of
that statement when when Ahab and Jezebel had utterly renounced
the God of Israel. And yet Elijah says, I stand
before Jehovah, and as he liveth before whom I stand, no more
rain until I say so. It's kind of funny, my Bible
right above that verse where Elijah says, it's not gonna rain
until I say so, it says, Right above that in my Bible, Elijah
predicts drought. That's not exactly how it went
down, is it? That doesn't seem right to me. When my children did something
bad, I did not say to them, go to your room, I predict you're
fixing to get a butt whip. No, I declared a butt whip. I
didn't have to look into my crystal ball. See there, yep, that's
you. Getting your butt whipped. Anyway,
I enjoyed that. Elijah predicts drought. God
doesn't make predictions. He makes declarations. God said, thou shalt have no
other gods before me. So Ahab and Jezebel were deliberately
and openly, publicly, and adamantly flying in the face of Almighty
God. So when they did have another
God before God Almighty, God simply showed them who he is.
He just showed them who God is. How else can you think of? What
a perfect way to do that? Everybody all at once found out
all of a sudden The God that Ahab and Jezebel
have despised and rejected, he's gone. He's gone and we need him. We need him every day. We need
him all the time. We need him vitally, desperately. And understand that this drought
and the fire from heaven that Elijah's gonna call down in a
couple weeks of our study here, and you know very well is going
to happen. The reason he's telling Ahab,
call together all these false prophets and all of Israel, is
because he's going to show again, the lack of rain and the fire
both reveal the same thing, who God is, who's God. We're going to find out if it's
Baal or if it's Jehovah. That's what the drought was for. They just didn't hear it that
time. At least some of them didn't. But think about all of Israel
here, the whole nation of Israel. I imagine some heard it the first
time, you reckon? But Ahab and Jezebel didn't.
And nobody's gonna hear it until God reveals who he is. No demonstration of power Alone
will do that, will serve to accomplish that. God's got to reveal who
he is. Look at what God did to Pharaoh
over and over and over again. He still didn't get it. And God
said, okay, now he's going to get it. I'm going to kill the
firstborn in all of Egypt and he's going to get it, but he
ain't going to be happy about it. It's going to drive you out. God always says the same thing.
The drought said the same thing as the fire. It says the same
thing as the gospel. It's telling you who God is.
And it honors the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
always remember now what it was Ahab and Jezebel were in defiance
of. We'll talk about that a little
bit later, Lord willing. But God's saying, I'm God, be
still and know that I'm God and you're gonna honor my son. This
is my son, hear him, honor him, believe on him. But when God
shut off the water, Ahab and Jezebel didn't hear that, they
didn't get it. There was an alternative, you
could think of many things that Ahab might've said in this situation. But there was a clear alternative
to what he did say. It's called repentance. You think
that would have been appropriate here? The Lord is God and I've sinned. Come back, Elijah, come back
and tell us what God says. Would there have been anything
wrong with that? Does that seem like too far out of a possibility? When God shut up the heavens
for three and a half years because of your idolatry? He said he was going to, he said
why, and then he did it. But what Ahab says in effect
is that if it weren't for you, Elijah, if you hadn't meddled
into our business, and sent this drought, everything
would be fine. No, it wouldn't be fine. It wouldn't
be fine. You'd still be defying openly
and publicly the God of Israel. It would not be fine. It's not fine until God says
it's fine. Hence the drought. Verse 18,
it says, he answered, Elijah answered Ahab and said, I've
not troubled Israel. But you, you're the problem,
Ahab, you're the problem. God pronounces judgment on us. He shuts us up to his son and
natural man. What do we do? We blame God.
Who hath resisted your will? You made us thus. You made us
the way we are, Romans chapter nine. But look what he said, you forsaken
the commandments of the Lord, the commandments mentioned there,
all of the commandments of the Lord. If you look back and read,
start about four chapters back and read what led up to this,
every commandment of the Lord was given to picture, set forth,
glorify, honor the Lord Jesus Christ, every one of them. Every one of them, the temple,
all the things regarding the temple, the priests themselves,
all of the furniture in the temple, the sacrifice, the blood, even
where the offering was made, all of it pictured and set forth
in concern, the Lord Jesus Christ. The charge made against Saul
of Tarsus In Acts chapter nine is a charge that sticks to every
sinner in this world. Why persecutest thou me? Why troublest thou me? You see that word? That's the
word in Acts 9, when he said, why do you persecute me? The
Lord Jesus said that to Saul. Why are you persecuting me? You're
the one causing the trouble. It's on you. You're the problem.
And that was true 3,000 years before that in our text. Ahab and Jezebel had a problem
with the Son of God, just like Saul did. Trouble is not God's dealings
with you, it's your dealings with God. The resolution to that
trouble is when you find out who God is. That's why he sent
the drop, to show somebody, I'm pretty sure somebody got it.
You know, we don't have a record here, of people being converted
and repenting of their sin and getting involved in the religion
maybe that Ahab and Jezebel had put forth and worshiping Baal. Things very tempting to the flesh
involved in that religion, and I'm sure some people did. And
I expect some of them said, you know what? We've sinned. We've
sinned against God. We know who God is. What were
we thinking? What are we doing? Where are
we? When you find out who God is,
that was the first thing. And when you honor his son, that's
when everything is gonna be like we said this morning, peace,
peace with God. Or, it's gonna be fine too if God
puts you in hell where you belong. That'll be the end of it, won't
it? I'm literally here tonight and
every preacher of the gospel comes, sent by God as an ambassador
of Jesus Christ to tell you who God is and to beseech you, beseech
you, kiss the son, kiss the son lest he be angry and you be consumed. Honor the son, believe on God's
son. So this as all of scripture is
just simply the gospel. Who God is, what is it about
that sacrifice? God answers by fire. What is it about not having that
sacrifice be offered in the place that God ordained anymore and
not, and making everything convenient for people and destroying the
worship of God the way he ordained it. What is it about that? It's
Christ, that's what's about it. It honors him, it pictures him.
That's what this is. Nothing's changed, that's what
I'm trying to say. Nothing's changed. The issue
is the same tonight. You're gonna have to settle it
in your heart who God is. and you're gonna have to honor
his son. Trust in him who alone is the sinner's righteousness.
That's why they offered sacrifice where they did, the way they
did, because we're sinners before God. That was called atonement
being made with God by the blood by innocent blood to picture
the Son of God in that shed blood that we looked at this morning
and by God's grace looked to and trusted. Through faith in
His blood, Paul said, through faith in His blood. Trust in
Him who alone is the sinner's righteousness, who alone, whose
precious blood alone actually redeems. the business of the Lord's priests
that Ahab and Jezebel shut down. That's not expendable, you see. That's not optional. You need
to sacrifice for your sin tonight like they did then, like Israel
did. And that sacrifice is Christ.
That truth was declared then in the Old Testament sacrifices
that God had ordained, like that bullock that Elijah offered on
that water soaked altar. God had ordained those Old Testament
sacrifices for that time. to picture the Lord Jesus Christ.
But that same truth is declared now by the gospel that we preach. And if God takes
away what you need second most in order to show you that one
thing really is needful, then so be it. That's what he did
for many here. That's mercy. When God troubles a sinner, He
shows you that you're the trouble. That's what happened here. You're
sin. And there's one way to take away
sin, the very thing you forsook, the very one that you forsook. I'm the blood of Christ, our
Lord. In verse 19, listen to Elijah,
this is pretty bold, isn't it? He has been trying to kill him
for a long time. And he just shows up one day,
here I am. And he says, here's what I need
you to do. Now therefore sin and gather
to me all Israel. This is no small feat either.
It's going to take some time, it's going to take some doing. All Israel unto Mount Carmel.
And the prophets of Baal, 450, and the prophets of the groves,
400, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Elijah finds Ahab and he comes
with demands. God always does that. He doesn't
come begging. You're gonna thank him for it
now. You're gonna praise him forever for not coming to you
that way, leaving things up to you. Thank God he doesn't leave
anything up to me. Thank God he doesn't beg me to
do something for him. He doesn't come to the sinner
that way. He comes with demands. Salvation
is on God's terms. If there's gonna be rain, if
there's gonna be life, it's gonna be on his terms. A salvation
that's up to you is a farce. It's nowhere found in scripture.
Salvation's of the Lord. It's of the Lord. God purposed
it. God initiates it. God performs
it. God gets the glory for it. Every
time, in every case. And again, that we see here that
God's gonna show everybody who he is, everybody, all Israel. In the drought, how many were
affected by the drought? All of them, all of them were.
And notice the words, all Israel in our text, everybody's gonna
know who God is when it's all said and done. Whether you love
him or not, whether you bow to him or not, you're gonna bow
sooner or later, whether you bow to him now or not, you're
gonna know who he is. But also think of all Israel
in another way. We know that Israel is a type
of God's elect. The Israelites, God chose a nation
that was despised, is still despised by everybody on the earth. It
doesn't even make sense, does it? Why do they hate Israel so
bad? It's just the way God made it. That's just the way he arranged
it. Always been that way. But God chose him to reveal his
word to, to reveal his, to give his commandments to, to all of
the types and pictures. What advantage hath the Jew?
Much every way. God showed himself, he gave them
every outward advantage. that he gave to anybody. He chose
them, and they're a picture of his elect. It's not that he saves
everybody born in the nation of Israel. They picture God's
elect. He saves all of his elect. They're
not all Israel, which are of Israel, Paul said. The spiritual
Israel of God is pictured and set forth by that small, despised
nation. All of the elect were called, were called so that
this matter could be settled, who God is in the honoring of
the sacrifice. Romans 11, 26, and so all Israel
shall be saved. And you read that chapter, Romans
11, and you'll see who Israel is. It's not the nation of the
Jews. It's God's chosen elect, loved
with an everlasting love, people. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer, the savior, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, when
I shall take away their sins. That's who's saved. Everybody
there, that bullock was consumed on that altar that Elijah, he
took that bullock and he put it on that altar and he cried
out to God and God consumed that sacrifice by fire. And in that
picture, there were folks standing there that day that were redeemed
by the blood that that pictured. How many? How many? All of them. All of them that God loved, that
He chose. What's gonna happen on Mount
Carmel is that God is gonna reveal who He is and the way He's gonna
do that is by an accepted sacrifice, a satisfactory sacrifice, a sacrifice
that God acknowledges, that God has ordained and that God has
respect to. His only begotten Son, by Christ in Him crucified. God does that for his elect.
He's gonna call you down now one of these days if he hadn't
already done it. And this matter is gonna be settled. Who God
is, and he's gonna show you by showing you the sacrifice that
he accepts. Don't miss the boldness of Elijah
here when it comes to the honoring of Christ and his redemptive
glory now. Those who speak for God, those
who are witnesses for God, wax very bold. We bring demands from God. We
bring a glorious message of redeeming grace. We set forth the sacrifice
and in doing so, Reveal who God is and how he deals with sinners,
how sinners can be saved, how they are saved by his precious
blood. We bring Christ, the power of
God and the wisdom of God. We bring sure hope for sinners. We bring it in old rundown houses
and we bring it in nice auditorium. We bring it to five people, we
bring it to 200 people. We bring it in season and out
of season. By the grace of God Almighty, God must be glorified
in the preaching of the gospel. That's how he saved sinners.
It pleased him by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. What was it when that bullock
was laid on the altar and fire came down and consumed it? And what is it when the gospel
is preached? 2nd Corinthians 2 15 for we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ and Them that are saved and in
them that perish Verse 20 so Ahab sent unto all
the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount
Carmel Ahab did not repent after the drought But maybe the truth had sunk
in just a little bit That doesn't mean anything as
far as the salvation of his soul. But why did Ahab do what Elijah
said? Ahab had been wanting very badly
to kill Elijah, but now, maybe out of curiosity, you think,
he's king, he knows he can do whatever he wants to, whenever
he wants to. Maybe he was thinking, let's just see what this, Apparently
he just dried up the skies for three and a half years. Let's
see what's going to happen. Maybe out of fear. That wouldn't surprise me, would
it you? Maybe out of fear. I could kill him right here,
but what's going to happen then? After all we've been through,
Ahab was thirsty, not for God, but he was thirsty. And he was looking out for himself
by sparing Elijah. That's most people's dealings
with God. They'll comply, but they're doing it out of love
for themselves. So he obeys, not out of love
for God, but not in a spirit of repentance, but he does. And
verse 21, Elijah came unto all the people and said, I think
about what's fixing to happen now. I'm looking forward to all
the, how in the world do you even speak on such things? But look at what he said. How
long halt ye between two opinions? What's the point of this? What
was the point of the drought? What's the point tonight? If the Lord be God, follow him. Follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. God said it's better for you
to follow Baal than to be lukewarm about it. to halt between two
opinions, to say you love God and then live for yourself. And the people answered him not
a word. You see what this whole thing
about? It's all about. You see what this whole thing
is all about? When the business at hand is
to find out who's God and who's not. And you're running around
saying God wants to save you if you'll let him. You're in
the wrong business. It's important that we always
understand that now. This whole wretched religious
world is in denial of the God of the Bible. They cannot stand
him. This is an issue that's got to
be settled in every heart. God forces the issue. If God
leaves it up to you, you're a goner. What would the Israelites have
done without Elijah, if there had been no Elijah? We all know
what they would have done. They would have sunk into the
fleshly, self-centered, free will, free will. It was free will religion. God
says this, this, this, and this, This is convenient for us. This
is what we want to do. This is how we want to worship. Remember Elijah's name means
my God is Jehovah. What a time for an Elijah to
be raised up by God in Israel. What a time. And my God is Jehovah. Thank
God that he has not left us without an Elijah, our savior to press
upon us the issue, to show us who he is in spite of our lukewarmness,
in spite of our idolatry by nature, in spite of the flesh wanting
convenience, in spite of so-called free will,
in spite of what will we have. This event was not on a voluntary
basis, and God's appointment with us is not either. Notice that Elijah does not say,
if the Lord be God, say so. That's good too. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. There's more to this than that. If he's God, follow him. Follow
him. It wasn't a question of having
your doctrine straight 3000 years ago, and it's not a question
of that tonight. What do we know about following
the Lord from the scripture? Can you think about that for
a minute? What is it we know about following the Lord? Well,
the first thing that comes to mind is it's impossible. Isn't that it? What did the Lord
say to the rich young ruler? Go sell all you have, give it
to the poor and come do what? Follow me. And we know in that same conversation,
the disciples asked, well, who in the world can be saved? When
the Lord said, how hard of you? How hardly shall a rich man?
It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
And they said, who can be saved then? Who's going to be saved
if not somebody that comes wanting to be saved? With me, it's impossible. You're going to come for the
wrong reason. You're going to get religious and you're going
to do it for yourself. but with God, with God. What else do we know about following
him from the scripture now? Well, we know this, don't we?
All of his sheep following, every one of them. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, turn over there with me to John 10, please.
Let's close with this. John 10, 24. We're gonna look
at this part again when we see kind of the whole story together.
But I wanted to see a few things tonight and just make some comments
tonight as we come to the table together. This was all about
the sacrifice. You see that, don't you? Still
is, still is. John 10, 24. Then came the Jews
round about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told you and you believed not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me,
but you believe not because you are not of my sheep, as I said
unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. What do we know about following
the Lord? We're not gonna get any glory out of it, are we?
With us, it's impossible, but with God, what's possible is
certain. They follow me and I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. You know, it doesn't
say anywhere in there, it doesn't say I give unto them eternal
life, but they have to receive it. No, what it says is I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. That's what it
says. What a comfort, what a gospel.
What a savior. Neither shall any man pluck him
out of my hand. They shall never perish. That's
pretty clear, isn't it? But you know what's better than
that? You know what will calm our hearts, our troubled souls
better than that? For him to say, you're in my
hand. Do we see who God is from our
text tonight and from that scripture? We see who God is? Do you see
that Christ is all? That was the issue then and it
still is now. May God reveal to us who he is. he did for us on Calvary. Let's
pray.