People can hold things against
you, but God don't. Somebody knows something against
you, but God don't. He took care of that 2,000 years ago and in God's covenant
and purposes from eternity, from eternity. Now, these verses that
I read tonight, I'm going to try to deal with them. And I'm
going to talk, you know, it's the Old Testament pictures of
Christ. And I want to give three examples of faith tonight. And
all of them here out of 1 Kings. And give you three examples of
faith. And there's the faith of God's
elect, the faith of the evangelist, and the faith of the enemy, even. But when the Roman Empire was
at its peak, they said all roads led to Rome. All roads led to Rome. And if you'll search the scriptures
and study the scriptures and read the scriptures, and a preacher
knows the scriptures, and I know you all do, and really desire
to know the only and true God in Jesus Christ whom he has sent. I tell you, you know what you
got to do? You got to learn this first. In the scriptures, all roads
lead to Christ. All roads lead to Christ. You
know, that's what our Lord said. He said, you know, search the
scriptures. Search the scriptures. He said,
you search the scriptures. You Pharisees and Rabbis, you
search them, you go through them. And you think you have life in
them. But if you don't see that they testify of me, you've missed
the whole point. For they are they which testify
of me. Peter preached on the day, he
preached and he says, to him, to Christ, to all the prophets,
give witness. So I tell you what, you start
in Genesis. Start in Genesis 1, the first
five verses. It's full of the gospel. Full
of the gospel. Clear as the nose on your face.
Go to the first promise in the Bible. Genesis 3.15. And go on
and on and on, all the way through the Bible, all the way to get
to Malachi. You've got a person that's prominent all the way
through it. and that's the Lord Jesus Christ
himself and in fact when Malachi gets to Malachi said he'll rise
with healing in his wings and he shall come and sit as a refiner as a refiner and the Lord shall
send his messenger before him but I tell you what behold the
Lamb of God they said he was coming in the Gospels he came
And now we look in the scriptures and we say He's coming again.
And it won't be very long before He comes. And I certainly know
He's coming after me. If He don't come after everybody
else, He's coming for me. And I look forward to that. I'll
tell you three examples of faith. Let's look at the first one,
the faith of God's elect. Now our Lord Jesus Christ, when
He talked about this widow, You know, he talked about this widow,
this widow in Zarephath. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
he mentioned this when he opened his ministry in Nazareth. And you know, he said this. He
said, I'll tell you the truth. Oh, they thought, man, this man,
the gracious words that he used. But then he said, I'm going to
tell you something. I'm going to tell you the truth. Many widows
were in Israel many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months when great famine was throughout the land but unto
none of them was Elijah sent save unto Sarepta a city of Sidon
unto a woman that was a widow that's what we just read And
many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet. And none of them was cleansed,
saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they that in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath.
They didn't want to believe that God was sovereign and could do
as he pleased and that he'd do something for Gentiles and use
his prophets to do it. They couldn't stand it. But I
want to talk about the faith of God's elect. This widow woman
here. You know, when he sinned a famine,
God sinned a famine on the land. He had it for three years and
a half. And Elijah called for it. And he came to Elijah, and
he told him, he said, now you go over here, and you go down
to the brook Cherith, and when you get down there, cause Elijah
and Jezebel and Ahab was after him. And so he goes down there
and he said, I'll send you the ravens to feed you and you'll
have water in that brook. Well, that famine got worse and
it got worse and the book dried up. That's when God said, Arise! The Word of the Lord came to
him. And I'll tell you what, and I've already said, the only
thing we've got in this world that's solid, that's real, is
the Word of the Lord. When we say, Thus saith the Lord,
That's it. We don't have to say, I believe
it or anything else. Just that way. And when the Lord
of the Lord came to him, he said, now you go. There's a widow over
there. And so away he went. And I tell
you, he said, go down there. He didn't say, now would you
like to go down there? Would you feel like you need
to go down there? He told him to go down there. Get down there.
And when he got in town, he walked in the city, he walked in the
gate, there's a woman out gathering sticks. She's gathered enough
sticks to build her last fire with, cook her last meal with,
because that's all the food she had, and they heard her son was
going to eat it, and sat down and starved to death, because
the famine was so great. This is going to be her last
meal. That's what she told Elijah. When Elijah came in there and
saw her gathering those sticks, he said, run get me some water,
would you? She ran to get some water. While
she was going away, he said, listen, and then bring me a piece
of bread. Bring me some bread over here
too with your water. She said, I ain't got any. He said, I'm fixing to have my
last meal, me and my son, and we're going to sit down here
and die. Elijah said, oh no. No, no. As the Lord thy God liveth,
we're not going to make it. Elijah told her, don't you be
afraid. You know what he said? The Lord
said. The Lord said. I didn't say it, the Lord said. That mill barrels are never going
to run dry and that crude oil ain't going to run dry either
until it rains. And he says, now go fix me a
cake first. Before you and your son eat,
fix me a cake first. Fix me a cake first. And I tell
you what, so she built the fire, made him a cake first, and then
he says, bring it to me. Then you go and fix for you and
your son. And I tell you what, that woman did just like God
commanded her and the promise of God was revealed to her. Now
there's a couple of things about the faith of God's elect. Paul in Timothy, he talked about
the faith of God's elect. One of the things about the faith
of God's elect is that they acknowledge the truth. That's how they do,
acknowledge the truth. She believed Elijah. And how blessed and how glorious
is God and how sovereign is He in all of His ways. There were
so many, how many other widows was in that condition? But God
sent him the one. Why did He send him that one?
That was one of His elect. That was one of His chosen. That
was one that He separated to Himself from all eternity. And
I tell you what, men will reject the strength and wisdom of the
flesh. And I tell you what, God Himself, He has no, He will reject
our flesh, He will reject everybody's flesh, and he's going to do everything
that he does that he gets all the glory you know he Paul told
Corinthians said for you see your calling brethren not many
wise men not many mighty not many noble are called but I tell
you who I call I call people that are nobodies people that
are not The world considers them nothing. The world says they're
not. To bring to naught those that
think they're somebody. Why did you do that? And he says
that no flesh should glory in my presence. But of him, and
this is what he says, of him are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us. Who? Those that see their calling. Those that are nobody's. You
know, those that have no claim to fame in this world. That take
the Lord's seat in the synagogue without being told. And he said, God made us wisdom,
Christ unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
Why did He make Christ all this to us for? That no flesh should
ever go in His presence. So what he's saying is, everything
you need, I gave it to you in Christ. And I made Christ that
unto you. You that have been called. And
I tell you what, and here at this time of famine, and I mean
it's a bad famine. God looked at this widow and
her son, and he said, I'm going to feed her and I'm going to
care for her. You know this woman was one of
God's elect and she had no idea she was one of God's elect. She
had no idea she was. God already prepared her heart.
Look back up here in verse 9. God already prepared her heart
to receive a profit in His Word. Look what it says there in the
last part of that verse. I have commanded a widow woman
there to sustain thee. She didn't know that. She never heard God say anything
to her. But He commanded her to do it.
How did He command her to do it? The same way He did me and
you. Oh, I've commanded her. And I
tell you, Christ went before her, God went before her in the
day of His power and made her will it. I tell you, did you
know you was God's elect until He called you and saved you?
And I tell you what, it's like Paul the Apostle. He didn't know
he was one of God's elect. He hated Christ. He persecuted
Christ. He pursued the saints of God.
The boy on the Damascus road, God put him down. And then Ananias
went and gave him his sight and God used him to go open his eyes.
He says, now the God of our fathers sent me to tell you this. He
said, the God of our fathers has chosen thee. That's the first
thing to come out of his mouth to him. God of our fathers has
chosen you. Paul said, well when did he choose
me? Years later he said, when it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace. What for? To reveal Christ in
me. No wonder he said, brethren,
we're bound to thank God for you always because God has from
the beginning chosen you, chosen you unto salvation. Oh my. And this woman, she heard the
words of Elijah. and the promise of God to bless
and sustain her. She believed that. She believed
it. How do you know she believed
it? Well, he said, prepare me a cake first. Well, man, that don't make sense.
Ain't enough food for me and my son, just me and my son. Break
me a cake first. Why? Because God said that barrel
is not going to run dry and that cruise ain't going to go empty
until the rain falls. And I tell you what, you talking
about against human reason. Human reason couldn't get that.
Make you a cake? I've been going with that mill
barrel until I got down to the last one that's there. Human reason, human logic. But ah, she was like Abraham.
She staggered not at the promise of God to unbelieve, but strong
in faith, giving glory to God. I tell you what, this son, she
believed, oh my, she staggered not at His promise. She believed
from now on when she went to that mill barrel, there was going
to be something to eat. When she had to, oh, to cook
it with. And I tell you, beloved, three
things about God's elect. I know whom I have believed has
something to know somebody I know whom I have believed and then
there's confidence and I'm persuaded that he's able I'm persuaded
I am convinced he is able and then you commit that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. I'm going to tell you something
else. Another thing that you can recognize God's elect for.
They rejoice in Christ Jesus, worship God in the Spirit, and
have no confidence in the flesh. Huh? Oh my. The faith of God's elect. That's
what I want. I want that faith. I believe
I've got the faith of God's elect. I do know this, that if He hadn't
given me faith, I wouldn't have it. So that's one reason why
I believe I'm one of God's elect, because I've got faith. Not faith
in my face, I've got faith in Christ. In what He did, what
He accomplished. I was talking to a dear brother
today, and he asked to go to law over some things, and I said,
I said, ain't you thankful? Ain't you thankful that we don't
have to go before Law in the Scriptures? That we don't have
to face Law? That we don't have to face the
Ten Commandments or any kind of Law? That we don't have to
face Law? That we have the Gospel that
brought us out from under that Law? Brought us out from under
condemnation? Brought us out from under guilt?
And why? Because, oh listen, I know! Not doctrine. I know whom? A person. We're talking about knowing a
person. And knowing that person, being persuaded in your heart
and in your soul. Convinced without a shadow of
a doubt, with all the confidence that God will give you. that
He's able to keep. Keep what? Whatever I put in
His hands. And you know the most precious
thing we put in His hand? It's our souls. Our souls. Years ago, years ago, there was
a little rigmarole in the church and people was arguing over this,
that, and the other. And finally one fellow said,
He said, you know, the long days of talking about money and everything,
you know, and getting, trying to get something stirred up and
start an argument and get men to dodge one another. And one
fellow said, I'll tell you what, if you trust your soul to what
this man's saying, how come you wouldn't trust him with anything
else? And man, you talking about nipping
that thing in the bud just that quick. That's all he said. He
said, when I come here, I believe in what He says for my soul. So why wouldn't I trust Him with
anything else? Now you think about that. And
I tell you what, like old John Bunyan said, You know, jump off a cliff. And
if Christ tells you to jump off that cliff, He'll be at the bottom
of that cliff to catch you. But don't jump off until He tells
you. Don't do like Elijah. He went
where God told him to. When it run dry, He said, now
I want you to go here. And He saved one of His elect.
One of His elect. Now I want you to turn over 1
Kings 18. First King 18, look at verse
29 with me now. Let me tell you this story. Everybody
here knows this story. Elijah, in the third year of
this famine, he called all the prophets of Baal together and
all the prophets, 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the
groves to come up to Mount Carmel and challenged them to call on
their gods. And he had called on the name
of the Lord. And the God that answered by fire, that would
be God. Well, these fellas, they cried
all day, and all day, and all day, and all day. And look what
Elijah finally said to them down here in verse 27. They cried
all day. They got upset, and they leaped
up on the altar, and they were just having a time. They were
just beside themselves. and it came to pass at noon that
Elijah mocked him and said cry louder for he's a God either
he's talking or he's running after somebody or he is on a
journey and he might even be asleep and you got to get him
awake And that upset them so bad that
they started cutting themselves with knives. Cutting themselves
with knives. But now look what happens to
Elijah now. Verse 29. And it came to pass,
when midday was passed, and they prophesied until the time of
the offering of the evening sacrifice, there was neither voice nor any
to answer any that regarded. I mean, they had been going from
morning to the evening, all day long, it was time for the evening
sacrifice and Elijah said unto all the people come close, get
around me, come on, get up here now and all the people came near
him and he repaired the altar that they had broke down and
Elijah took 12 stones and laid them stones up according to the
number of the tribes of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord
came, saying, This shall be thy name. And with the stones he
built an altar in the name of the Lord." You notice that? They
built theirs in the name of Baal and groves, and he made it in
the name of the Lord. And then he said, dig a trench
around it. And they dig a great big trench around it. And he
put wood and order underneath those stones. 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
and he said do it the second time they got four more barrels
of water and poured it on there he said now do it the third time
they did it now that's twelve barrels of water and that trench
around there water was filled that trench up the wood was wet
I mean it was wet I mean that trench everything was filled
up with water and it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah that Elijah
he came near and he made a 63 word prayer 63 word prayer you
think you gotta pray a long time and use a lot of words look what
he said here the Lord God of Abraham and Isaac and of Israel
let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that
I am thy servant, that I have done all these things, now here
we go again, at thy word, what you say. Hear me, O Lord, hear
me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and
that thou hast turned their heart back again. And what do you think
happened? Then the fire of the Lord fell. This is what it says now. It
consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, even the stones. It consumed the stones and the
dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. When
God got through, there was no evidence that he had ever been
there. You know that's where we got
that verse of scripture where Paul says, our God is a consuming
fire. Right here is proof of it. And
that's what Christ did for us. I mean everything that was against
us. Everything that was against us.
Christ in His precious blood come and consumed it all. And there's no sign of sin being
left. No sign of never needing another
sacrifice. Morning, night or evening or
any other time. We've got one. Oh, bless his
name. And I tell you what, you're talking
about the faith. Here he is, he made fun of these
people. Made fun of them. That's what
we need to do when these people start talking about all that
stuff. Go wake him up! I tell you, these people's God
today got to be woke up. Got to be woke up. But our God
neither slumbers nor sleeps. Heard Henry say one time, I don't
know why we toss and turn at night. God said he neither slumbers
nor sleeps, so why don't we just go to sleep. He'll take care
of us. You know that's right, ain't
it? He don't neither slumber nor
sleep. Never slumber or sleep. And I tell you what, I'm like
that man over in Mark. He said, Lord I believe. Oh I
believe. Help thou my unbelief. Oh my. Now let me show you another
one. The faith of the enemy. Over
here in 1 Kings 20 verses 31 and 32. Let me give you this
one. You know the faith of God's elect. God's got to elect people. And
He gives those people faith to believe Him, to trust Him, to
know Him. To have all their confidence
in Him and Him alone. And oh my, here's this prophet.
You know, that's why we ought not never fear a false prophet.
Never fear one. Never, never fear one. A fellow
told me one time, he said, you know me and you serve the same
Lord. And I said, oh no, no, we're not. No, we're not. Not at all. And you know, it
wasn't about 18 months or something later, he passed through the
church over in Tamsin. And he went and got him a doctor's degree,
and he is a doctor. And we talked often, you know,
and I just told him, no, we're not brothers. We don't worship
the same God. We don't believe the same thing. And he just, you know, his eyes
got about that big. We're civil to one another after
that, but I tell you what, he went over that Exxon station
there in Tansy, pumping gas, and dropped dead. I tell you, you better know, be
like Elijah. Be like Elijah. You gonna call on Bell or you
gonna call on God? Which God's God? Huh? Which one's God? The one that
answers by fire. And you know our God answered
by fire. And His Son was on that cross. Oh He answered by fire. Oh His wrath poured out on His
Son. And our Lord, I tell you what,
He got in such a state such a state, he said, oh father, if it be
possible, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But
he said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And God's wrath fell on that
man. And that's why it will never ever fall on me and you. Never
fall on us. Now look here at the faith of
the enemy. Now let me set this up. Ahab, Ben-Hadad, he runs
the Syrian army. Huge army. Huge army. Lots of chariots, lots of soldiers. And he come to war against Israel. Ahab was the king of Israel.
Wicked king, sorry king. His wife was Jezebel. And he
was a miserable man. But God said, I'm going to deliver
Ben-Hadad into your hand. And he said, and I'll tell you
what, when he comes down here, I want you to kill him. I want
him to die. I want you to make sure that
he's dead. Well, they come down to fight.
They got beat. They said, well, he's the God
of the mountains, so let's go and fight him in the mountains.
They got lost up there and said, well, he's the God of the plains,
so let's go down in the plains and we'll fight him in the plains.
Let's go to the valley. God, they fought everywhere they
could. And they lost. thousands upon thousands upon
thousands of men. But the Lord told Habs and said,
I want Ben-Hadad to die. But now look here at the faith
of the enemy now. They had been defeated. They
had been defeated, utterly defeated. And so they come into the town,
come into the city and now Ben-Hadad's service Flynn came into the city
into an inner chamber and his service said unto him behold
now We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful
kings Let us I pray thee put sackcloth on our loins Put ropes
around our heads around our necks is what they're talking about
and go out to the king of Israel Maybe he'll save your life So
they go to sackcloth on their loins, put ropes around their
neck. You know why they put them ropes
around their neck? You can either hang me with them, drag me with
them, but I'm here at your mercy. You can do whatever. I've already
got the rope around my neck. I've done submitted to your authority.
I've done said that you've got all the power. So here's this
rope. You can hang me with it, choke
me with it, or take it off if you have mercy. And look what
he says now. And so they girded sackcloth
on the Lord, put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of
Israel and said, Thy servant Ben-Hadad saith, I pray thee,
let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? He is my brother. Oh my. Now here, Ahab sinned
against him. I mean, you can go on down through
here and read it, what happened to him for doing this. Because
he spared him. He spared wicked. Ben-Hadad was
wicked. Ahab was wicked. But he had appointed
him to destruction. But look at the faith of these
enemies in the mercy of the King of Israel. And the way they came
to him, the way they came to him, They came to Him, I'm telling
you, with rope around their neck, I mean sackcloth around them,
old rough sackcloth, just nothing but sackcloth around them. Rough. Like an old burlap bag, except
it would be so much rougher in those days. Wearing a burlap
bag. And they come out there seeking
mercy. And you're talking about a lesson.
A lesson for sinners. A lesson for all. Come, come
in the sackcloth of repentance. Rope around your neck. I've heard
old Bruce Crabtree preach on, put that rope around your neck.
Come on that rope. That rope around your neck. And
say, God, you've got the right to destroy me. You've got the
right to destroy me. I'm justly condemned. I'm like that thief on the cross
that I'm justly, I'm here justly. I'm guilty of what I've done.
And he looked to the Lord Jesus Christ and says, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And I'll tell you, only just
condemnation. And I know this, that God is
plenteous in mercy. And if you seek mercy, you're
going to get mercy. But you come proud, men come
proud, He'll send them away empty. You know what the wages of our
sin is, and the wages of men's sin is? Death. But you know what
God gives? He gives mercy, and He gives
life, and He gives assurance, and He gives faith, and He gives
hope, and He gives us all we need in His blessed Son. Let me close with showing you
Psalm 130. Let's look at Psalm 130. Let
me close with this. Oh, I'd love to see somebody
come with a... You know, we justly earn and
deserve nothing but condemnation. But God didn't give us condemnation.
He gave us Christ. gave us life in Christ. Look
what he said here in verse 2. O LORD, hear my voice, let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord my soul doeth
wait and in his word do I hope my soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they
that watch for the morning now listen to this Let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him
is plentish redemption." All the redemption you need. And
with Him there is mercy. Oh, thank God there is mercy.
Oh, mercy. Mercy beggars. Mercy beggars. Our Father, in the precious blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for meeting with us
this evening. Thank you for your word. Thank you for these dear
saints of God, these dear children of God, who come out to listen. Lord, work in our hearts to love
you more. Work in our hearts to love one
another more. Work in our hearts to pray for one another more.
And oh God, In all that you do, unite our hearts and bring glory
to yourself through this congregation, through this body of believers.
For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Amen.