Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to 1 Kings 19. Verse 1 says, And Ahab told Jezebel
all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the
prophets with a sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger
unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow
about this time. And when he saw that, he arose
and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth
to Judah, and left his servant there, But he himself went a
day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a
juniper tree. And he requested for himself
that he might die. And he said, it is enough. Now,
oh Lord, take away my life, for I'm not better than my father's. Elijah had been instrumental
in performing some great things. He issued a challenge to those
false prophets of Baal that each sacrifice and whoever answered
by fire, that would be the true God. And Elijah, you know, even
covered his sacrifice with all those barrels of water and called
on the Lord and he came down and licked up the fire and sacrificed. And then after that, he slew
450 prophets of Baal. He killed 450 prophets of Baal
after that great sacrifice when the fire came down. And then
Elijah had prayed that it might not rain, and it rained not on
the earth by the space of three years and six months. And then
he prayed again, And the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought
forth her fruit. Three mighty, mighty acts that
he was instrumental in. But when Ahab told Jezebel, when
she said, he told Jezebel, she said, tomorrow, she put a hit
out on him, she said, tomorrow this time, you're gonna be dead.
And Elijah took off. He ran. He ran a day's journey
into the wilderness until he was exhausted, and he sat down
under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he
might die, and he said, it's enough. Now, oh Lord, take away
my life, for I'm not better than my father's. Now, the first thing
we see here is Elijah was only a man, just like all of God's
saints. He was just a man, just like
those that God saves. After all those mighty things
that he had done, now he's just utterly weak, utterly weak and
afraid. He's impatient. He's disgruntled. He's ready to give up. He said,
it's enough now. Just, oh Lord, take away my life.
He's got some pride. He said, I'm not better than
my father's. Did he think he was better than
his father? What do we learn from that? Well,
it was not strength in Elijah that did any of those great things.
It was not strength in Elijah that did any of those great things.
It was the Lord, and that's true of all God's saints. You've heard
me say this many times, but if God removed his spirit just a
little, we're as weak as a dishrag. And that's what we see here in
Elijah. That's what we see in Elijah.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the power, the excellency
of the power might be of God, not of us. Paul said we're not
sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. Our sufficiencies of God. And
we're prone to do what Elisha did. He was a man subject to
like passions as we are. That's what the scripture said. If we do anything as we ought,
God gets the glory. God gets the glory. It's God's
power working in us when we repent from our sins and forsake them
and believe on Christ. God did that. God did that. He works in us. He makes us do
what he's pleased to do, but we can't glory in it. We see
that Elijah right here. Secondly, Not only do we see
that, we see the grace and mercy and love and compassion of God
toward his people. Never-ending grace and mercy
and love and compassion. Here he says in verse 5, And
as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched
him and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked and behold,
there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise of water at
his head. And he did eat and drink and
laid him down again. The Lord sent an angel, touched
him and woke him up. The Lord, Lord Jesus is the angel
of the covenant. And he was sent of our father
to fulfill every condition of that covenant in our place. And
so Christ came forth and did that. He did that. And he sends
a spirit now, and he wakes us up. He quickens us in the beginning,
but then if we're at any point in our walk of faith, if we're
where Elijah is, weak and cast down and wanting to die is so
bad. He's the one that comes and wakes
us up. He wakes us out of that slumber by the Spirit. When Elijah
looked, behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise
of water at his head. And when the Lord wakes us up,
he quickens us. We're gonna behold Christ the
bread, the true water. He's gonna feed us and strengthen
us himself. That's what our Lord Jesus is
gonna do. Everything was prepared for him when he woke up, there
it was. already prepared. Fire was going, the cakes were
baking. It's like when our Lord made
that breakfast for the apostles and said, come, all is ready.
It was ready. That's how it is with our Lord
Jesus. And when he makes you behold that Christ has finished
the work and it's all ready, it's an inheritance prepared
for his people by Christ, that gives you rest. Let's look at
what he did. He did eat and drink and laid
him down again. We find rest in Christ. We find
rest in Christ. And the Lord here was gracious.
He knew his servant was exhausted, and so the Lord let him sleep.
The Lord let him sleep. Now, this grace of God, it's
not one time. It's not something he just does
one time. This is what he does ongoing
throughout the life of a believer. Look at verse 7, and the angel
of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said,
Arise and eat, because the journey's too great for thee. The angel
came a second time, touched him, woke him up. The Lord keeps sustaining
us the whole way. He gonna sustain us the whole
way. And he'll keep waking us up. He'll keep quickening us
and sustain us the whole way, feeding us the bread from heaven.
You notice here what he said to Elijah. He said, arise and
eat because the journey is too great for thee. The journey's
too great for us. The journey's too great for us.
God's all knowing though, he knew exactly where Elijah was
gonna go. He told him, the journey's too
great for you. He knew where Elijah was going.
And he fed him and strengthened him. even while Elijah was going
in the wrong direction to keep him. That's our gracious Lord. That's our gracious Lord. Now,
God blessed that water and that bread to him. Look in verse 8.
And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength
of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount
of God. God blessed it to him. That cake and that cruise of
water strengthened him. And that's by God. If He doesn't
bless the food we eat, it won't do anything for us. But it's
a spiritual picture, too. He blesses the Word. He blesses
the Gospel to us. And that's how we're able to
go in our strength, because the journey's too far for us. It's
too far. But God knows every step. He
knows every step we're going to take, just like He knew where
Elijah was going. And He's our strength. You know
what we see here in what he did for Elijah? We see how weak and
how weak Elijah was. Then we see what the Lord did
in strengthening. You know what we learn from that?
We see an example of what the Lord told Paul. He said, my grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. In Elijah's weakness, we get
to see God's strength, what he's doing, how he's saving his people.
I can do all things, Scripture says, through Christ that strengthens
me. That's the emphasis, through
Christ that strengthens me. Now thirdly, this is the main point of this
whole passage here, is we have to hear Christ speak into our
heart personally. We have to hear him speak into
our heart personally. It says in verse 9, he came thither
unto a cave, and he lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou hear, Elijah?
And Elijah lodged in that cave. He was hiding. He was hiding
out and went way back in the back of this cave, and it was
a refuge to him. But we have a much bigger problem
than temporal problems. You know, temporal problems,
you might just need a carnal refuse. We got more problems
than that. We got a sin problem. We cannot,
cannot put our sin away and we cannot, the law is pursuing us
like Jezebel was pursuing him by nature. And we got a problem
where we cannot free ourselves from our sin nature. Elijah was
weak as could be. He had to be strengthened by
the Lord. And we have a righteousness problem.
We can't work one out that's acceptable to God. We have a
salvation problem. We need to be saved by the Lord.
That's what it is. A to Z. Christ is the refuge. He's the Lord, our righteousness.
He's the refuge. Stronger than that cave was right
there. How's God going to work in the heart of his people? Look
at verse 9. Behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, and he said to him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? God's going to bless the heart
through the preaching of his word, through the study of his
word. He's going to bless the word.
That's how he's going to bless us in the heart. That's how we're
going to eat this bread, drink this true water. Well, where
was Elijah? Is he merely in a cave? You know,
it's worse than that. Look here at verse 10. It's what
Elijah said. He said, I've been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have
forsaken thy covenant. They've thrown down thine altars.
They've slain thy prophets with a sword. And I, even I only,
am left, and they seek my life to take it away. Elijah has a
self problem. He thinks he's the only faithful
one. He thinks he's the only faithful
one. Everybody else is forsaken God's covenant by him. He said,
I, even I only am left alone and they're seeking my life.
There's just too much I in that statement. Too much I. He reminds
me of Jonah. Elijah's cast down because God
did not show mercy. Jonah was cast down because God
did show mercy. It displeased Jonah exceedingly
when God was merciful to Nineveh. And he was very angry and he
prayed to the Lord. He said, I pray thee, O Lord,
was not this my sin when I was yet in my country? Therefore
I fled before in the tarshish, for I knew your gracious God.
You're merciful, you're slow to anger, you have great kindness,
and you repent thee of the evil. Now, therefore, Lord, take, I
beseech thee, my life from me." That's what Elijah said. It's
better for me to die than to live. The Lord said, doest thou
well to be angry? And he said, I do well to be
angry even unto death. What a sinful lot are God's saints. But what a merciful God is our
Savior. What a merciful God is our Savior.
God let Elijah tell him his woe two times here. He let him tell
him this two times. Go to the Lord Jesus and pour
your heart out to him. He will listen. He'll listen. He'll receive you. He'll listen.
He'll be merciful to his children. Go to him. Well, our need is to behold God's
glory in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our need.
We need to behold the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus.
That's always the need for us, President. Look at verse 11. And he said to him, this is what
the Lord said to him, go forth and stand upon the mount before
the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by.
God did the same thing for Moses in the same place. He did the
same thing for Moses in the same place. The Lord put him in a
cleft of the rock. That's what God did for us in
election. He put us in Christ from eternity. And then he passed by and he
showed Moses all his glory and he's going to show Elijah his
glory. His glory and quickening him
and saving him out of this trouble he's in. Christ is the rock.
This is what the psalmist said, he brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock
and established my goings. That's what's happening to Elijah.
That's what God's doing with Elijah. But God's going to do
this heart, this work in the heart, and He's going to do it
through the Spirit, and He's not going to do it, it's not
going to be a mighty thing that's perceived by anybody. Look here in verse 11. 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. And after the wind an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small
voice. And it was so when Elijah heard
it. that he wrapped his face in his
mantle, and he went out, and he stood in the entering in of
the cave. And behold, there came a voice
unto him, and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? The Lord was
not in the mighty wind, he was not in the earthquake, and he
was not in the fire. Remember now, Elijah had done
three mighty works. He'd done three mighty works.
And he thought when Israel saw those great displays of God's
power, they were going to repent and bow down and worship God.
But they didn't. They didn't. But then came this
still small voice. And when Elijah heard this still
small voice in his heart, he wrapped his face in his mantle
and he went out, stood at the entering end of the cave. Did
you notice the difference this time from the first time in this
question the Lord asked? Look at verse 13. Behold, there
came a voice unto him and said, what doest thou hear Elijah?
So that's stuff like that's important in God's word. And back up there
in verse nine, it said, behold, the word of the Lord came to
him. And then here it says, and there came a voice unto him.
The Lord's going to use the preaching of the Word. The Word's going
to come to us. He's going to bring the Word
of the Lord to us. But it's going to take Christ's voice. It's
going to take the voice of Christ to make it effectual. That's
what I'm convinced the Lord's saying in Isaiah 52. He said,
My people shall know that I am He that doth speak, behold, it's
I. And here's how, he said, thy watchman, that's the preacher,
he'll lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they
sing. I know all these preachers are
in agreement on the gospel, but we're lifting up our voice together
with Christ's voice, with the voice. That's how we're gonna
be made to hear in the heart. And the first time Elijah heard
the word of the Lord, he heard it just like everybody right
now is hearing this word. We're all hearing the word of
the Lord preached right now. But the second time, he heard
it like his people hear it when God speaks in the heart. Not
to general call, but to particular call. And he heard it personally. And that's when he wrapped his
face in his mantle. When you behold God's glory,
when he calls you, makes you see Christ, and you see his glory,
you see the holiness of God, that's when we're like those
Remember Isaiah, he heard them say, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord of hosts. And the seraphims, one, they
had wings and they covered their face and they covered their feet.
And when Isaiah saw the holiness of the Lord, he was woeing everybody
else, but when he saw the holiness of the Lord, he said, woe is
me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. The
first time Elijah, he heard it and he stayed in the back of
the cave. He didn't come out. But still small voice spoke and
he went out and stood in the entering of the cave. That's
Christ's glory. The Lord said, he would say to
the prisoner, show yourselves. He called him out of that back
of that cave. My sheep hear my voice, he said,
and I know them and they follow me. Notice this second time,
Elijah answered with the same words as he did the first time. But he answered differently this
time. The spirit was different. The spirit was different. It
was a difference made by Christ speaking in the heart personally.
It wasn't made by mighty outward works like Elijah had done. It was done with a still small
voice in the heart through the Word of God. Two sinners may
speak the same word and perform the same work. Exactly the same. Just like Elijah said this two
different times, same thing. And the motive of the unquickened
man's heart is to earn God's favor or he's thinking he deserves
something for his works. That's what Elisha was thinking
at the beginning. I'm just the only one left. I
did all this for nothing. But the quickened heart is contrite,
desiring for God to receive all the glory. And that was Elijah's
heart the second time, because God sent him back to the ministry.
That's how you know that was his heart the second time. The
first time, God didn't send him. The second time, God sent him.
That's what happened to Isaiah when he saw his glory and saw
his own sinfulness. The Lord said, who shall go for
me? He said, here I am, send me. Verse 15 said, the Lord told
him, go, return on thy way. And he went, he went back. Elijah
had been there under that juniper tree and he'd been saying, it's
enough. It's, I've done enough. I've done enough. I've done all
that can be done. It's enough. Take my life, Lord.
And the Lord here called him out, taught him, it's not enough.
I got more work for you. I got more for you to do. And
God assured Elijah in verse 18, yet I have left 7,000 in Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed and to bailed, and every
mouth which has not kissed him. When we get discouraged and we
find ourselves fainting like Elijah, we need to remember,
even so at this present time also, there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. That's what Paul quoted that
from Ezekiel. God reserved 7,000 men. As Paul
said, even so, there's a remnant according to the election of
grace today, and if it's by grace, it's no more of works. Now, here's
the lesson in the whole thing. The same word we've seen before,
unto us a rabble. Not by might, Not by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. What we just witnessed
is what the Lord meant when he said, it's the spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profits nothing. We see Elijah's flesh didn't
profit a thing, did it? He'd have stayed in the back
of that cave in his false refuge. The words I speak unto you, their
spirit and their life, Christ said. So God gives us one charge. Preach his gospel. Preach Christ
and him crucified. Pray to God, ask God to bless
it, and wait on Him. That's the charge He gives His
people. And He's going to make the word effectual, but it's
not going to be with any grand displays, and no grand displays
are needed. Christ said, The kingdom of God
cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, Lo here,
lo there. Behold, the kingdom of God's
within you. It comes unseen into the heart, creates a new man
in the heart, just like the Spirit of the Lord, by the Spirit of
the Lord. And only Christ speaking in the new heart. He's gonna
do it through this gospel. Continue to come hear the gospel
preached. This is how He's gonna do it, through the gospel. He
ordained it. He ordained it. I pray He does
speak to us. Let's go to Him in prayer. Our gracious Father, our Lord,
we thank you for this word. Lord, thank you for giving us
assurance and encouraging us in how you provided for your
saints throughout the scriptures. Make us to know how important
your word is. Lord, we do thank you for being
holy and for hallowing your name. Thank you for doing so in our
own hearts. Thank you for keeping us when we're weak and trying
to take refuge in a false refuge. Lord, we ask you to keep blessing
it. We ask you to keep exalting Christ. Thank you, Lord, for
giving us every day our bread, our daily bread. Thank you for
giving us Christ the bread. Thank you, Lord, for waking us
up when we're slumbering and keeping us looking to Christ.
How merciful you are, how gracious you are to us. Lord, we do thank
you. In Christ's name, amen.