Twice. Same question. In verse 9, he says in the last
line, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And down in verse 13, the last
part of that line, in a small voice it says, still a small
voice, he said unto him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? It's a question for all of us.
Now, Elijah was arguably the greatest of all the prophets.
You'll read his life. You'll be amazed at what the
Lord did through that man and the way the Lord allowed people
to follow him and heed him and esteem
him. He was esteemed highly. He was
a great man. He had great gifts. He had great
power. No one has had such power since Elisha, our Lord, some
of the apostles. But he was just a man. Just a
man. He was just flesh. When he was
in the Lord, strong in the Lord in the power of his might, he
was mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. But when he was
in the flesh, he was no different than us. Running scared, weak,
and cowardly. I know you remember this, Matt,
because you brought it up to me sometime afterward about sitting
under a juniper tree. Remember that message? We looked
at this a couple of years ago, and we didn't look at all of
it. But Elijah, after seeing such great displays of God's
sovereign power, I know what the Lord did. He faced 450 prophets
by himself without fear. He called down fire from heaven. Right after that, the most powerful
king on earth, Ahab, he faced him to his face, called him down,
rebuked him. Does that sound familiar? Peter,
Simon Peter, a maiden, a woman said, I'm going to kill him. And so he takes off running,
scared to death. Scared to death. Into the wilderness,
verses 3 and 4. He went the day's journey into
the wilderness. And look at him, listen to him.
He says, he came, he sat down under a juniper tree. I believe
he was ashamed of himself. He left his servant, verse 3,
he left his servant, this young man who looked up to him, this
young man who esteemed him so highly, this young man to whom
he was supposed to be an example to. Now he sees Elijah, the great
prophet, running from a woman. And he told him, stay there.
And he took off. That's exactly what happened. I believe he's
ashamed of himself. I know he is. I've been there.
Been there. I believe he's just humiliated. And he thinks his ministry's
over. The Lord's done with him. Verse 4, he sat down under this
juniper tree and prayed, not for mercy and grace, but that
he might die. Anybody ever done that? Lord,
just take my life. Just take my life. How many times
have we done that? And he said, it's enough. I've
had enough, O Lord. That's what he said. It's enough.
Take away my life. He said, I'm no better than my
father. I'm no better than anybody. I'm supposed to be a prophet.
When he should have taken a stand, he ran. Anybody guilty? When he should have spoken with
boldness, he was a coward. He ran. When he should have stood
still, waited on the Lord to see the salvation of the Lord
as he had done before, he runs. He runs. When he should have
been true to his calling, a prophet, a spokesman, a voice crying in
the wilderness, he's silent and he runs. And now he's in the
wilderness, he's alone, he's scared, he's bitter, he's ashamed
of himself, and he says, just let me die. You remember this,
though, don't you? Oh, no. The Lord sends an angel. Verse 5, "...as he lay and slept."
How long have we laid and slept? And he sends an angel. That's
what preachers are called, aren't they? The angel of the church
of Ephesus and Philippi. He sent an angel. And in verse
5, "...to touch him and sit on him, arise and eat." He sent
a messenger with God's Word telling him to arise, quicken him again. He needs quickening all over
again. "...and eat." Eat. Feast on that. An angel sent
to quicken him and feed him. In verse 6, he looked and behold,
there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise of water at
his head. Bread and water. That's a picture
of Christ, isn't it? And he did eat and drank and
he laid down again and slept. And the angel of the Lord came
again a second time. See, the Lord will not leave
His people alone. And He touched him and said,
Arise and eat. The journey is too great for
thee. You need something. You need
sustenance. You need strength. You need something to go on.
And this bread that the Lord gives us, which is His body to
eat, His blood to drink, this water of life, we need so desperately
because we live by faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Arise, my soul, arise. Thy guilty fear, eat the bleeding
sacrifice on thy behalf of fear. That's your favorite song. Right. So, well, we looked at that before,
but not the rest of it. All right. So he arose and did
eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days
and 49. And we will need this meat and
this bread and this water for forty years won't win, or we
won't make it. We need it to live upon. And
it came to Mount Horeb, the mouth of God. Mount Horeb, you know
where that is? You remember this? Moses. When Moses first met the
Lord, it was on Mount Horeb where the bush burned that was not
consumed. The Lord brought Elijah to that
same place where Moses met the Lord to see that burning book.
And so it is, the Lord brings all of his people to the same
place, to Mount Calvary, where they all see Christ and Him crucified,
that burnt offering for sin. And it says in verse 9, And he
came a thither unto a cave, a cleft of a rock. That's why we sung
that song. He put Elijah like he did Moses
in the cliff of the rock, and he's going to pass by. And so
he does with all of his people. He puts us in the cliff of the
rock because we cannot see him face to face completely, but
we'll see his back part. And he speaks to his servant.
He speaks to him. This is how you know the Lord
has not left you alone, if he keeps speaking to you. Even though
you sleep, He awakens you. You fall asleep again. What about
the apostles? They did that, didn't they? Not
once, not twice, but thrice. And don't you know when He woke
them up the third time, they were so ashamed. But you know,
He spoke to them in a still, small voice. Then He said, sleep on. And then right after that, He
said, arise, let us go. The Lord keeps coming back to
His people. He keeps speaking to His servants.
And He asks Elijah something and asks us the same question.
What doest thou hear? Put your name there. What doest
thou hear? Margaret. I'm not trying to embarrass
anybody, but put your name there, okay? The Lord is speaking now. What doest thou hear, Dan? What
doest thou hear? Earlene. This is to every one of us. The
Lord calls names. I want Him to call my name. My
sheep, He calls them by name. What doest thou hear? What doest
thou hear? Twice He asks that. Well, the
Lord doesn't ask questions for information, does He? He never
has. He's always asked His people questions. his people to examine
themselves, to make them stop and think, examine themselves,
see themselves for what they are and where they are and what
they've done. And then he shows them himself. He makes us stop and consider
where we are. And that's what he's asking.
What do us out here? What are you doing here? Why are you here? And the Lord came, and look at
verse 9. You spotted this, John. I saw recognition in your faith.
In verse 9 it says, "...the Word of the Lord came to him, and
he said..." Does that read like, the Word is a person? "...the
Word of the Lord came to him, and he said..." That Word is
a person. "...the Word was made flesh.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God." The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Every human being who has seen and heard from the Lord has seen
and heard the Lord Jesus Christ. His delights are with the sons
of men. And He speaks to all His people. And the Lord Jesus
Christ is who is speaking to Him, like who came down to Moses. And He says, What doest thou
hear? Now, God always speaks to His people through His Word. He will not speak to us another
way, through visions and signs and wonders and all that. Oh,
the heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his
handiwork. Psalm 19. But the word of the Lord is his
voice. This is how he speaks to us.
God at sundry times and diverse manners spake unto the fathers
by the prophets, but in these last days hath spoken unto us
how? by His Son. My sheep hear My
voice. So every one of God's people
are going to hear the voice of the Son of God. And he that heareth
the voice shall live. God always speaks to us through
His Word, through Christ, and of Christ. Of Christ. The voice of God is His Word.
The Word of God to us is this. Jesus Christ is my Son. Hear
Him. Look to Him. And like Elijah,
The Lord brings us where He is, where His people have met Christ,
where He has spoken to others and revealed Himself, and He
will speak to us and dwell with us there, like He did Elijah
here. Again, you remember what our
Lord said to Jude who asked him, Manifest yourself to us and not
unto the world." And the Lord said, if a man loves Me, he'll
keep My Word, lay hold of My Word, and My Father will love
him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
So it says that Elijah came to that same place where Moses was,
and he lodged there. And behold, the Word came to
him. And he complained here, and I
like his complaint, because I've had the same complaint. And the
Lord didn't rebuke him for saying that. Pity. We're going to see
Simon Peter saying after the Lord said, except you forsake all and follow
me, you cannot be my disciples. And Simon Peter said, Lord, we
have forsaken all and followed you. What we have. He said that. The Lord didn't say, what do
you mean? No, He didn't rebuke him. He gave him a blessed promise.
And Isaiah was jealous for the Lord. Isaiah was zealous for
God's glory and did speak on His behalf. And the Lord is not
unrighteous to forget His people's labors of love and works. He
commends His people for that. But look at verse 11. He said,
Now 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." A great strong
wind. Now the Lord shows him here,
the Lord is showing him great displays of His power and His
glory through the wind and the earthquake and the fire. Great
displays of His glory and His power. But the Lord wasn't in
those things. He is in His voice and His Word.
At any rate, these three things we all have experienced and will. The Lord passed by and it says,
go to Acts chapter 2 with me, Acts chapter 2, a great wind
blew. And it says the mountains were
ripped and breaking pieces the rocks before the Lord. Well,
this same thing happened in the New Testament. In Acts 2, look
at this. Acts 2, verse 1, they were all
fully come with one accord in one place. You see, if you are
where God's people are, if you are where He promised to be,
this wind will appear. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as a rushing, mighty wind. And that was the Spirit
of God, wasn't it? And they heard, and down in verse
12 it says, they heard and they spake the wonderful works of
God. And these men, these apostles,
Simon Peter especially, spoke with power. Power. Authority. And that Holy Spirit,
like this wind, High places. Brought down all
the pride of everybody who heard this message. Brought down these
lofty looks. If anybody had them before, they
didn't have them after this message. Rent those mountains. Mountains
will be brought low, Isaiah said. He broke the hardest of hearts
with that wind. The only thing that will. Spirit
of the Lord. Break the hardest of hearts.
Psalm 29, you read that one time back in the study. Psalm 29 says,
the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, cause the hinds to
cave. Powerful. But, in our text, the
Lord was not in it. He's not in that wind. But He's
preparing Elijah to hear His voice. Now here's the point. And as I said a moment ago, as
I quoted, the heavens declare his glory and the firmament showeth
his handiwork. Day unto day utter speech. Creation
says God is. Powerfully speaks that name.
Thunder rolls. We know what the thunder say.
The clouds are the dust at his feet. The Lord is close. He is
stirring. You can read the sign. You see
these things. The things that are made is eternal power and
Godhead, Romans 1 says. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. Doesn't it say that? Without excuse. And the first
thing men and women, all of us, the first thing we will experience
upon hearing God's Word is a sovereign God to break these hard hearts. Bring down this pride of ours.
Show us our need for mercy. That's the first thing we're
all going to hear through the Holy Spirit. He'll convince the world
of sin, righteousness, and judgment, our Lord said. The wind. Come,
O north wind, blow. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. I don't know who... I didn't know who... If anybody
was a believer up there in Pennsylvania, you should never take that for
granted. To preach to people like they don't know the Lord.
And even us. Even us. But the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Before there is any peace spoken
in our heart, before the Lord speaks any comfort, there is
fear. It is a good thing. Fear of the Lord is clean. It
will make us come clean, naked before Him. And when it is all
over, we will be clean. Fear of the Lord. Oh my, how
blessed we are, how blessed we are to hear about our holy and
sovereign and just God who will by no means clear the guilty.
Preaching is what the Lord uses to save all His people. Everyone in here will admit that
you first heard of our Lord and heard the Gospel, and the Lord
spoke to you through preaching His Word. That's what it pleased
God to do. Preaching, when we first heard
it, this was the first thing we heard. What? God on the throne.
First thing we heard. They struck some fear in us.
And we felt unworthy. I remember for a long time believing
what I was hearing and believing God was holy and knowing I was
a sinner, but not knowing that I was one of His. I didn't know. I thought it was presumptuous
of me to think that I was one of His. I was too sinful. I remember
believing that until I was still a small boy. But preaching years
ago, and maybe you've forgotten what it's like, and I'm trying
to resurrect it, but I've listened to a lot of old messages by you
and fiery-tongued preachers. It says
that James and John were Boerneges, sons of thunder. They weren't
mealy-mouthed little effeminate fellows, mincing words and going
out afraid of people. That's not how Simon Peter preached
the Pentecost. And we're not supposed to preach
mad Angry, I know that. But with power, Paul told Timothy,
if any man speak, let him speak as oracles of God, the truth
of God, the Word of God. Don't argue with Pottsherd. He
told him not to strive with Pottsherd. Those who have fragmented knowledge
about things, this is the truth. And he used to tell us young
preachers, preach with authority and preach expecting men and
women to believe it. Well, this is the truth. and
do it with power. Our Lord came and it says He
spoke as one. The people loved to hear Him
preach. And it says that He spoke as one, having authority. He
did. And they said, not like the scribes. Didn't read a paper. Spoke from
the heart to the heart, from God's Word. God's Word is what?
A fire and a hammer. Break at the heart. That's the
first thing God's Word's got to do. It's us and our children. Break these hard hearts. Come,
O north wind, break these hard hearts. It's still needed today. And He does. Invincible power
of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit doesn't try to do
anything. He does as He will. Now, look at verse 11. Then it
says, an earthquake. After the wind, an earthquake.
An earthquake. when Moses first heard the Lord.
You know what he said? You know what Moses said? I exceedingly fear and quake. To this man will I look. And
it's still true to a great extent. To this man will I look. He that
is poor and of a contrite heart and trembleth at my word. Especially today. when there's
no fear of God before their eyes? Especially today when they turn
away their ears from the truth? Especially today when a world
full of game-sayers and backtalkers and everybody's got something
smart to say about God, about Christ, about the Word of God?
We just stand up and say, Thus saith the Lord. This man, when I look, him that
quaketh, you know the Quakers? That's why they were named that.
And I hope it's true, the story has it that when Jonathan Edwards
preached that great message in northern New England, and New
England is always northern, in New England when Jonathan Edwards
preached that great message, sinners in the hands of an angry
God, the story has it that the people were literally trembling. Isn't that genetic? Literally
trembling. And the Lord sent great revival,
didn't he? For they are throughout the land. Boy, we need that in
this country more than ever, don't we? Center's in the hands of an angry
God. Do you know our schools now use that as some kind of
a historical study? They just look at it like they
look at Shakespeare? Earthquake. And Isaiah 64 said,
Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down. David
said, Lord, show your... He said, Oh, that men might know
themselves to be but men. This is what it's going to take. The first thing that men and
women and young people are going to have to hear from the Lord.
His Holy Spirit is going to have to come and He's going to have
to make them tremble at His Word. But the Lord was not in that.
And verse 12, after the earthquake, a fire. Fire. Fire. Do you remember the previous
chapter? Do you remember what happened
in the previous chapter? Elijah before 450 prophets of
Baal and all the people? And Elijah said this. Elijah
said, now you all build you an altar, and jump up and down,
have you a big whoop to do, have a big meeting and holler, all
of you get together, as Barnard used to say, gang up on God,
maybe he'll hear you. And they started doing that and
cutting themselves and jumping up and down like a modern Pentecostal
meeting, didn't they? And it says there was no answer.
Nobody answered, and Elijah started making fun of their God. And
I love that, don't you? I love that. And oh, that somebody
would stand up on primetime TV and make fun of the God of this
world, the God of this generation. Elijah said, maybe he can't hear
you. He's old. He's a man upstairs.
He doesn't have his hearing aid in. Or maybe, and he said this, maybe
he has a business. In other words, He'd gone to
the John. That's what he said. And that
made him even madder, didn't it? And then Elijah said this
to all the people. He said, all the people, he said,
you come near everybody around them. Call in these false prophets'
hands. He said, do you listen to me?
To all the people, he said, and he prepared the altar. And he poured all that water
on it. And then he said to them, he said, now here's how you're
going to know the God who is God. The God that entereth by
fire. That's God. That burns up everything. The God who is a consuming fire. Isn't that who we first heard
of? The God who is a consuming fire.
And I didn't preach this up there. This is not a rerun. This is
you. The God who is a consuming fire.
How blessed we are if we know that. Christ said, suppose I came to
send peace on earth? Nay, rather, a sword. I bet you there's not one in
a million that's ever heard Him say that. Our Lord said this, He said,
I am come to send fire on earth, didn't He? And it's already kindled. I'm going to burn everything
up. Malachi 3.3 says, When He appeareth, He'll be like fuller
soap and a refiner's fire. The Lord must kill before He
makes alive. The Lord must wound before He
heals. The Lord must blow away the chaff
with the wind, must shake our foundation out from under, and
burn up our works. and burn up our religion, and
kill our God, the day God's got the power, before we'll worship
the Ark. That's the Ark. But the Lord
was not in that time. Elijah's ready now. Just try to imagine what he's
doing. All the mountains. crumbling. Everything's blown away and the
earth is trembling. He's flashing. What do you think he's doing?
This really happened. What do you think he's doing?
He's scared to death. And he's been a coward and runaway. He's supposed to be the prophet.
He's guilty. He's ashamed. And now the Lord's
sending all this display of his power. Well, Elijah is ready now. It says, after the fire, verse 12,
after the earthquake, after the fire, a still small boy. And Elijah heard that. He was
in the cave, and he didn't hear him, I think, kind of like Samuel,
you know, when the Lord said Samuel. He went to Eli. He didn't know. He didn't hear
it. He climbed out of the earth,
the Scripture said. Elijah heard. He wrapped his face in his mantle. He's going to go hear from the
Lord. How is he going to prepare? He's going to cover his face. When Isaiah saw the Lord in Isaiah
6, high and lifted up, it says the cherubims had six wings with
two that covered their faces. The angels are holding. Well,
they got to be ashamed of it. Holy, holy, holy. Cover your
face. Cover your feet in humility. And with two they did fly. He
covered his face, read on, with his mantle, and he went out and
stood in the entering of the cave. And behold, the same voice
came unto him and said again, asked him again, What doest thou
hear, Elijah? Alright? There's a few things
I want to Tell us and then we'll quit. Okay? This solemn, needful
question the Lord gives us, a few things to consider here. Number
one, that the Lord watches over and cares for and speaks to His
own. Elijah runs from the Lord. And the Lord runs after him. Elijah is ashamed of him and
denies him. The Lord can't deny Himself.
He belongs to Him. Elijah belongs to Him. And the
Lord comes to him. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try all the sons of men, but the Lord looks with special mercy
and grace, with love upon His people. The Lord, none of His
people, you are never out of His sight. Ever! Elijah ran, but the Lord had
His eye on him. The Lord is not going to leave
him. David said, Whither to shall I go from thy presence? Psalm
139. Try to run. This is our Lord.
Try to run. Try to hide. He'll find you. Aren't you glad? The Lord is
your shepherd. And those He loves, He always
watches over. He always comes after. He always
speaks to with a still, small voice. Does it fear Him? Does it exceedingly fear and
quake? He speaks to a still, small boy,
what doest thou hear? This is a rebuke,
but it's not a scathing rebuke. What are you doing here? Like we do. You know, in wrath. Don't we say, we've done that.
Oh, we're ashamed of it. Raising our children. The Lord
doesn't do that. He's slow to anger, slow to wrath. Not like us. Not like that. What do us out here, Elijah?
This is a rebuke, this is a reproof, but it's not a harsh one. It's
a gentle, loving rebuke and a correction. You remember our Lord? How many
times did He rebuke His apostles? Oh, ye of little faith. They just didn't believe him,
did they? They just acted like they didn't believe anything
he said over and over again. Did he sternly and angrily rebuke
them? Never. Never. One time he was
exceedingly displeased when they started talking about how great
they were, or when they said, get rid of those little children.
Remember that? He was sore displeased. But the
Lord in great tenderness and compassion would ask them questions
like, why do thoughts arise in your heart? Why do you always
think the worst? It's me. Remember that? It is I. Whatever it is, it is
I. Have I been so long time with
you and you haven't known me? We all need rebukes. We all need
reproofs. We all need correction. Much
of it. It seems like I need more. I know I need more now. I ought
to know more now. But it seems like sometimes I
haven't learned a thing. I need more rebuke and correction
now than I did when I was young. I ought to know better. And he
ought to lash out at me. Mackie just doesn't do that. Isn't our Lord good? Full of
compassion? And He tells us, if a brother
be overtaken in a fault, You that are spiritual, restore such
a one. How? In the spirit of meekness, considering
thine own self. Well, we need that knowing. Instead
of coming down hard on them. Speaking the truth, he told young
Timothy. Speaking the truth, how? In love. Do I ever need that? Like Peter,
I take this sword and start swinging at people's heads. Don't you? This is a question for self-examination. The second point was, those He
loves, He rebukes. Those He loves, He chastens.
If the Word of God does not rebuke you and reprove you and correct
you and chasten you, you're not His. This is how He does it. Thirdly, the Lord asked this
question for self-examination. Why are you here? Let me give
you a few things, and I'll quit. I promise. I won't tell you how
many. You start counting them. All right? Point A. When we get
in trouble, and I want you to turn to Lamentations 3. Lamentations
3. When we get in trouble, which
is quite often, and it's our own fault. Most of the time, it's our own
fault, isn't it? He asks us this question to make
us stop and think, and why are you here? Why are you here? Lamentation 3, I love this, verse
39. Lamentation 3, verse 39. Wherefore
doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his
sins? We put ourselves in trouble. We go expressly against His Word.
We know better. And we do it anyway. And get
in trouble. And He's going to come to us
if we're here. He's going to come to us through His Word, like
tonight. Through His Word. And cause us to search our hearts,
to ask ourselves, you know why I'm here in this mess? It's my
fault. That's Elijah's fault. Why am
I here? Because I was a coward. I wouldn't
be in this mess. Read on. So he says here in verse
40, Let us search and try our way. Turn again to the Lord.
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in heaven,
saying, We have transgressed and rebelled. Thou hast not pardoned.
You have covered us with anger and persecuted us. Well, you
know what he's going to do though, don't you? But that's the way
we're to come to Him, like we did the first time. So when we
get in trouble, that's a good question for ourselves, isn't
it? Trouble of our own making. What doest thou here? Sinner. You're here because of your own
fault. Who are our associates? Who are our associations? Our
acquaintances. One of the old writers said, if we are companions
with fools, we're going to act like one. But if our companions
are wise men, we'll act like them. It says, be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. surprise us if we act like one,
if that's who our companions are. But thank God, if we're
a prodigal, and we go and join ourselves with the citizens of
some other country, people of this world, thank God if we're
a prodigal, they'll not help us. We'll see that they can't
provide us anything we need, and we'll end up in the hog pen
all over again, and the Lord will bring us to our... What
do us now here? Look at you. You're back in the
hall of pain. Look at you, beggar. You're back on the downhill. In all we do and wherever we
go, have you ever been somewhere and been in a situation where
you thought, I don't belong here? What do I stand here? I'm out of place. Thank God He
comes to us with His Word and the conscience and the Holy Spirit
Our vocation. Paul told us, walk worthy of
the vocation wherein you are called. What's that? No different
than Elijah. Every one of us are preachers.
Every one of us are witnesses. Every one of us bear witness
of him. No less than Elijah. A different
way. But every one of us have a vocation,
and that's servants of the Lord. Serve His glory. Serve His cause.
David, as a young man, long before he was king, Long before he was
a king, when he was just a shepherd, but a faithful one, came out
and nobody else would fight. So he said, yes, they're not
a couple. What are you doing here? What
are we doing here on earth? What are we doing here? Why are we here? Not for our
own enjoyment. We're a member of His body. Hold
the head up. And then lastly, lastly, what
do us thou hear tonight? What are we doing here? That's the question. I know you. I love you. You're born witness. Herein shall
all men know, and I know, that you're His disciples. You have
love one to another. And you love the Gospel. That's
why I was encouraged when I went up to a place, people I didn't
know, and I preached the same message, and they were listening
just like you. I didn't know. But when the face answered the
face, when the savor of life seems like life, I get life back,
I'm hopeful. You're listening intently like
this. That's why I've gone too long. You're listening so well.
What are we doing here? We're here to worship. We're
here to worship. And the Holy Spirit and our God
who is the fire and Christ who is the Word said, I'll be right
there. That's where I'll be. And for
Elijah's comfort, and you read it with me, and I'll close with
this, for Elijah's comfort and ours, and to quiet all his fears
and to give him some courage and give us some courage, he
tells him, you read there where he told him what all he was going
to do, who all he was going to put in as king. Now, I was worried
about the last election of our president. I am more worried
about the next woman president. Jezebel! Isn't that fitting? Am I going
to be worried even if Jezebel is in office? Haven't I heard anything? Don't
I believe what I preach? For Elijah's comfort, he tells
him, I'm going to raise up this king, I'm going to raise up that
king, I'm going to put this king down, this king is going to destroy
this and destroy that. You have nothing to fear but
me. And he said, Elijah, and for
his comfort, he's alone now. He's alone now. He said, I'm
going to raise up a young man under you that's going to preach
even greater than you are. And he wasn't jealous. He needed
a companion. He needed a helpmate. It's not
good for a man to be alone. That's what it says over in Ecclesiastes. It says, two are better than
one. If one falls, we'll need somebody to pick him up. He said,
how can one get heat? So he said, there's going to
be a young man, Elisha, going to be with you until I call you
up to glory. That's the way it's always been.
Two companions. Two. Elisha is going to follow
you. And furthermore, Elijah, I know
you've been jealous and zealous, and I know you think you're the
only one that believes this message. You feel like you're all alone
in the world. There's nobody wherever he was
in that wilderness as it goes to Damascus is where he went. He was having a hard time finding
anybody who believed what he believed. And the Lord assured
him, most certainly, I have 7,000 all over Israel. Not in one place, but 7,000. I have reserved to myself, I
have chosen, I have elected, like you, who have not bowed
the knee to Baal or kissed him. And you'll find them here and
there. And in your journey, you'll be comforted by them. And they,
you, they'll find a brother in you. So it is with us. What doest thou hear? Elijah? Okay, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, again,
we thank You for Your blessed Word. This is Your Word, no doubt. Oh, how the Word of God, the
power of the Word of God, the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ
speaks to our hearts. Things we need, things we feel,
things we... It touches us like the angel
did, Elijah. It feeds us, clothes us, strips
us. and closes us, makes us hungry,
then feeds us, thirsts us, then gives us water. Oh, Lord, breaks
us, then heals us, kills us, makes us alive, wounds us, heals
us. How this is truly Thy Word, a hammer, a fire and a balm,
a sweet balm, a soft, sweet, personal, tender, loving, kind,
heavenly voice from our Savior to His people in love and kindness
and mercy. in salvation. How we thank you.
How we thank you for speaking peace to our hearts in the midst
of this untoward generation in a world full of trouble, a world
full of corruptors and violence. O Lord, we have nothing to fear. We unite our hearts to fear Thy
name and fear Thee. Keep us coming back to this place
where we might see that bush that burns and is not consumed.
We pray. for Christ's sake. Amen.