Well, good morning, everyone.
It's good to see you here. If you would turn in your Bible
to First Kings chapter 19, First Kings 19. We're going to consider
the story today of Elijah and how God spoke to Elijah in a
still small voice as it's recorded there in verse 12. And that's
the title of my message this morning, a still small voice. And as usual, we'll, as we consider
these Old Testament passages, we're going to look to see how
Christ is pictured in this Old Testament story about Elijah.
In keeping with Christ's own words in Luke 24, when, as you
know, it said he opened the eyes of the disciples and taught them
from the Old Testament scriptures of those things, of how those
things pertain to things concerning himself. And so today as we examine
God's dealings with his prophet Elijah, I want to direct our
attention to how God likewise speaks to his people in each
and every generation, in our day even so, through the still,
small voice of the gospel concerning the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So look there in verse 1. chapter 19 where we read, And
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had
slain all the prophets with the sword. Now we're going to stop
there and I'm going to give you a little history so we get the
story here in context. First of all, King Ahab was the
king of Israel, the northern kingdom. You'll recall that Israel
had been split into two kingdoms, ten tribes to the north and then
two tribes to the south in Judah, that is the tribe of Judah and
Benjamin. Ahab was the king of the northern kingdom of Israel,
and he was an evil and idolatrous king, and his wife was Jezebel,
who was an idolatress. Jezebel had persecuted and even
killed many of the prophets of the true and living God. And
so here Abraham, I mean, excuse me, Ahab, not Abraham, Ahab is
reporting to his wife Jezebel what had taken place, and that's
recorded in chapter 18, and I'd really encourage you to read
that when you get home. In the interest of time, I'm
going to give you a brief overview of what took place in chapter
18. At this time, there was a great famine in Samaria, and Samaria
took up a large portion of the northern kingdom of Israel. They
were in a severe drought, great need of rain, and it was because
of God's judgment on them for Jezebel's actions and the nation's
actions regarding the persecution and the slaying of all the prophets
of God. And so the Lord spoke to Elijah
in chapter 18 and he told him to go before King Ahab as he
planned now to send rain. He was going to end the drought,
so to speak, and so Elijah sent the prophet Obadiah to tell Ahab
to come and meet with him. Here's Elijah. Up until then,
Ahab had been trying to find Elijah. He'd been seeking after
him, apparently not to flee him, but rather many think it was
because he knew that God had brought this drought, this famine. And much like, I guess, in fairy
tales, we have the sorceress or the witch that can undo the
hex. It was as if he was going to Elijah to get him to undo
the spell, so to speak. And so he sought him, and here
out of the blue, Elijah, who he could not find. Other prophets
of God had kept him hidden from Ahab, but now all of a sudden
he volunteers and offers and wants to meet with him. So Elijah
came and he confronted Ahab. Ahab came to him for that same
reason, thinking he could help end the drought. And he confronted
him with the fact that Israel had forsaken the commandments
of God and had followed Balaam. And he instructed Ahab to gather
all of Israel up to Mount Carmel and to bring 450 prophets of
Baal. And he also said bring the prophets
of the grove. The prophets of the grove were
said to eat at Jezebel's table, and they worshipped or promoted
another false god of that day called Ashtaroth. And so Ahab
complied, and he brought all Israel. up to Mount Carmel. He brought 450 prophets of Baal. As you read through the rest
of chapter 18, it would appear that Jezebel held back the prophets
of the grove, because there is no mention of them in that story
going forward. Once they were gathered up on
Mount Carmel, Elijah was standing there alone as the prophet of
God in front of all of Israel, and he said those words that
we have often heard in verse 21. He said, ìHow long, Hochi,
between two opinions?î If the Lord be God, follow him. But
if Baal, then follow him." And he proceeded to set up a test.
I know many of you are familiar, but I'll try to get through this
overview as quickly as I can. I know you know the story. He
set up the test to validate the true God before the nation, who
had started worshiping all sorts of gods, Baal and Ashtoreth and
others. And he told them, he said, to
bring two books. and let the 450 prophets of Baal
choose first." He said, and they can cut up the bullock, lay it
on the wood, but don't put any fire under it. And then he said,
since you are so many in number, I'll let you pick and dress your
bullock first. And then he set up the challenge.
He said, here's what we'll do. You can call on the name of your
God. And Elijah said, I will do likewise.
I'll call on the name of the Lord. And he said, the one that
God answers with fire, then let him be God. And it says there,
the people agreed. You can imagine they're sitting
there going, well, Elijah, there's only one of you. Surely all these
450 can't be wrong. And so they said, certainly that
would be a manifestation, a convincing manifestation that his God, the
God that we as a nation had delivered us out of Egypt and so forth,
is really and truly the one true God. Well, the story goes on,
as you know, the prophets of Baal, they prepared their bull
and they called on their God, Baal, from morning to noon, but
they got no answer, no voice. Elijah begins to kind of mock
them, you'll see if you read through chapter 18. He said things like, well, your
God must be busy, or I guess your God's just talking, or your
God's on a journey, or maybe he's just sleeping. And it caused
them to just cry out even more louder. They began to cut themselves
and carry on. But again, all of that was to
no avail. So then Elijah, now to give you another piece of
background, during this time they had been tearing down altars
where the true and living God was worshipped at places outside
of Jerusalem. And they had been destroying
those altars where sacrifices and so forth were being made.
So he went to one of these torn down altars and he started repairing
it. And he took 12 stones representing
the 12 tribes of Israel and he built the altar. And then he
dug a trench all the way around the altar. And so once he finished
preparing the bullet, he laid it on the wood, and then he instructed
the people to pour four barrels of water on top of the sacrifice
and on top of the wood, soaking this wood that was to be ignited,
supposedly, right, by his God. And then he told them to repeat
that three times, so much so that the whole trench around
the sacrifice filled with water. Well, the time of the evening
sacrifice came. Elijah called upon the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Israel to let it be known that he was the
Lord God of Israel and that Elijah was his servant and that he was
acting in accordance with God's instructions. In other words, it would validate
both God and God's prophet here, Elijah. And as you know, the
fire that God brought consumed the sacrifice. It consumed the
wood. It says it consumed the stones and the very dust, and
it even licked up all of the water out of the trench. And
when the people saw it, they fell down, and they said, The
Lord, he is the God. Well, Elijah then had them take
and kill all the 450 prophets of Baal. And he turned to King
Ahab, and he said, Ahab, go on and eat and drink now. He's saying
the famine is about to be over and that the phrase there is,
he said, for there's a sound of abundance of rain. You know,
we sing a hymn, showers of blessings that has that phrase in it. Sometimes
the sound of abundance brain. And then Elijah went up to the
top of Mount Carmel and he took a servant with him and he told
the servant to look out over the sea. and to report back,
and he did that, and he went and he looked out seven times,
and on the seventh time he saw a cloud shaped like a hand, and
when he came back and told Elijah that, he told him, go tell King
Ahab to get his chariot and get off the mountain so he won't
be hindered by the rain, and after that, as you know, there
was a great rain. I give you all of that background, because
I want you to see the contrast between the bold, courageous
Elijah of chapter 18 and what we're going to look at today
in our story in verse 19. So there in verse 1, that's what
Ahab had related to his wife Jezebel, how Elijah had slain
these 450 prophets of Baal. So in verse 2 we read, 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." That's somewhat confusing
language there, but basically Jezebel is swearing by her gods
through her messenger to Elijah, saying, look, Elijah, by this
time tomorrow, you tell him I'm going to kill him. Just like
you did the prophets of Baal, and I'm swearing by my gods that
if that's not so, that may they kill me. In verse 3 he says,
and when he, speaking of Elijah, he said, he saw that he arose,
and he went for his life, and he came to Beersheba, which belongeth
to Judah, and he left his servant there. So now he's gone back
to the southern kingdom, see, to Judah. That was the kingdom
over which King Jehoshaphat reigned, but he still was in fear that
perhaps he wasn't out of the reach of Jezebel and Ahab. And
we see that because in verse 4 he says, But he himself went
a day's journey into the wilderness. Now, that's the same wilderness
that the Israelites had roamed in after they came out of Egypt
for over 40 years. They're on the Arabian Peninsula.
And it says he came and he sat down under a juniper tree and
he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is
enough now. Oh, Lord, take away my life.
I am not better than my father's. Now, this is the contrast I want
you to see. Here's Elijah, who by the power of God had just
courageously confronted, contended, standing all alone with 450 prophets
of Baal in front of all Israel, and God had miraculously acted
to vindicate himself, prove who he was, and the prophet Elijah
himself And here we see that Elijah is just like the rest
of us. He's got feet of clay. We see his humanity. Do we not? He is now so frightened by the
threats of this one woman, Jezebel, that he's fleeing for his life. And I think we can learn from
that that the prophet's great spirit and courage in chapter
18 were all of the Lord, and they're not of himself. Because
now it says there, and you notice in verse 4, he says, He requested
now for himself. He's back to thinking about himself
now, that he might die. And we can understand that. He
wanted to die on his own terms, not at the hand of Jezebel. Jezebel
had slain a lot of prophets of God. So in verse 5, we read,
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, 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. And the angel of the Lord came
again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat,
because the journey is too great for thee. You're not going to
get to die here, Elijah. I got a journey for you. God's
communicating through his angel. And so it says he arose and did
eat and drink And he went in the strength of that meat forty
days and forty nights unto Horeb, the Mount of God. Now, Horeb
is Mount Sinai. That's where God appeared to
Moses in the burning bush. It's where God gave him the law,
the Ten Commandments, including the ceremonial law through which
those sacrifices and all pictured Jesus Christ and the Lamb of
God. And it's interesting to me, too.
He roamed for 40 days, just as the Israelites had roamed in
this same land for 40 years. Verse 9, it says, He came thither
unto a cave, and lodged there. And, behold, the word of the
Lord came to him. And he said unto him, What doest thou here,
Elijah? And he said, I have been very
jealous for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have
forsaken thy covenant. Thrown down thine altars, and
slain thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left,
and they seek my life to take it away." In his zeal for God's
glory, he had been jealous for God's glory. He had slain 450
prophets of Baal at God's leading. So he was jealous for God, and
he demonstrated that. He said, the children of Israel
have forsaken the law. In particularly, we know that
was true of the first two of the Ten Commandments that deal
with their blatant idolatry. And so Elijah feels awful lonely
here, as if he's just one among thousands of enemies. And what
can one prophet do against thousands? He's replying here, look, because
are in part due to my opposition to their idolatry. Now they seek
to kill me. So that's that's why that's what
I'm doing here. That's why I'm fleeing. In verse
11, it says, and he that is, the Lord said, 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. 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." These verses are what spawned my interest in this passage,
and that's why I took the title from verse 12 there, still small
voice. Here, God had brought before
Elijah a great wind, a wind that broke the rocks, it said, into
pieces. Then he brought an earthquake. Then he brought fire. He caused
all those things to pass before him, but it said of all of them,
the Lord was not in them. Now, we know that our sovereign,
omnipotent, all-powerful God is in control of all things,
including the elements. In Nahum chapter 1 verse 3 we
read, the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. So what is meant here when he
says the Lord was not in the wind, he was not in the earthquake
and he was not in the fire? I think what it means is that
he did not speak directly to Elijah in or through those things. And that's a distinction to be
made there, because at other times God did speak through things
such as that. You know, he spoke to Job out
of a whirlwind. We read in Job chapter 38. He
spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai out of a burning bush, and he
also spoke to him on Mount Sinai. It says there that the earth
shook. In fact, in Psalm 68, it says
the whole mountain shook when God gave Moses the law. So even though Elijah witnessed
these things, God brought that do display his power and his
majesty, and even the fiery fury of his wrath, he still spoke
to him in a still, small voice. That phrase, still, small voice,
it translates quiet, a quieting voice, a calming voice, a voice
of assurance. And I believe that what we have
represented here is that while God is a God of justice, and
he shall justice shall prevail, judgment shall prevail. And I
believe his judgment and wrath, all those things pass by in front
of Elijah here. I think he's communicating that
the still, quiet, calming voice that I'm going to bring to you,
Elijah, will not be at the expense of my justice. and my judgment. He's saying this still small
voice that brings quietness and comfort and assurance and peace
to the soul. You see, it does so to the soul
that knows it would be helpless if subject to the wrath of God
based upon anything proceeding from them. Here's Elijah who
stood before 450 prophets of Baal who's now fleeing for his
life. He's helpless. and he's hopeless,
and I think it's a picture of how we as sinners rightfully
all will perish before the justice of a holy God if he judges us
based upon anything that has to do with us, found in us, done
by us, or through us. And I'll show you that more as
we go forward, but I was reminded when I read these words of how
Moses, when he was at the Red Sea, when he led the Israelites
out of Egypt. They were backed up to the sea,
you recall, and Pharaoh had changed his mind, decided to come after
them, and his army was in the distance. They saw him coming.
They were defenseless, had nowhere to turn, and what did Moses say?
He said, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. It
reminds me of Christ when he calmed the sea and the wind.
What were his words in his lifetime? He said, Be still that Greek
word for still there is muzzled. It's much like what Moses said
when I stand still, stop your murmuring and see the salvation
of the Lord. Don't look here. Look toward
God. And it said there in that passage
in Mark chapter four, it says in the wind ceased and there
was what a great calm. And so I want us to see how this
still small voice. Elijah heard is a still small
voice that God's people in each and every generation actually
hear. But first let's see exactly what he told Elijah and proceed
here in verse 13. It says, and it was so when Elijah
heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle. Now some believe that was symbolic
of him muzzling himself for a moment anyway here. perhaps being quiet. Others think it was just a sign
of reverence. I'm not sure, but he covered himself, wrapped his
face, 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?" Now, that's interesting. That's the
same question that was posed to him back up in verse 9, you'll
recall. And he gives the exact same answers. We read there in
verse 14. He said, I've been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken
thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets
with the sword. And I, even I only, am left,
and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said unto
him, Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And
when thou comest anoint Hazel to be king over Syria, and Jehu
the son of Nemshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel,
and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Mahola shalt thou anoint
to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass that
him that escapeth the sword of Hazel shall Jehu slay, and him
that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay." Now,
what's all this about? God's saying, look, no, Elijah,
I'm not going to let you die. I've got some work for you to
do. I need you to go anoint these people who will bring the vengeance
you seek on the people for their sins. In fact, we know Elijah
never did die. The scripture tells us he was
translated into heaven. And he tells Elijah that these
that he anoints will bring the manifestations of his wrath on
the disobedience of the nation. From the scriptural record, we
know that Hosea was to destroy those that would engage in war,
in battle. And Jehu would destroy those
who didn't, such as Ahab and Jezebel. And Elisha would destroy
the children of the idolatrous parents of Bethel. So, in this
still small voice, God informs Elijah, I'm going to take care
of things. Judgment and justice shall be executed. But note the
comfort now that he offers up in verse 18, when he tells Elijah,
he says, Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which
have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed
him. Now, can you imagine this? Contrary
to what Elijah thought, he thought he was the only one. He stood
standing alone, and God says, Oh no, I've reserved for myself
7,000, Elijah, just as I've reserved you for myself. Now, in that
day there were hundreds of thousands in Israel, so still a very small
minority. But oh, think of the joy he must
have realized. We are to understand how this
still small voice that Elijah heard, that proclaims to him
that God has a people, would indeed be rightly characterized,
as I have been suggesting, as an assuring, calming voice of
peace. I think we need to look at God's
own commentary on this passage in the New Testament. So turn
to Romans chapter 11. Here in Romans 11, God, the Holy
Spirit, through the pen of the apostle Paul, speaks of the story
of Elijah, and in particular, this still small voice he heard. In Romans 10, if you look at
the very last verse of Romans 10, he's talking about Isaiah,
and he says, Isaiah has been saying to Israel, Much like Elijah
was complaining in his day, he says, all day long I have stretched
forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. And so
with that context, he continues in chapter 11 and says, I say
then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid, for I, Paul,
also am an Israelite. I'm of the seed of Abraham, of
the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew. He is speaking there of spiritual
Israel, that is, God's chosen people unto eternal salvation,
pictured by the nation Israel who was chosen under the terms
of the old covenant to bring the Messiah through. And he says,
What ye not, that means perceive ye not or understand ye not,
what the scripture saith of Elias. Elijah. How he maketh intercession
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my life. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Now, how do we know that that's God's people for that includes
the very elect until eternal salvation? We really, you have
to glean that from the book of first Kings by reading Romans
11, for we see there in verse five, what does he say? He says,
so even so, then at this present time, that is, as in the day
of Elijah. Also, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Now, it's not insignificant that
he refers here to the people of God is not just being reserved
or not just simply being his chosen one, the elect. But he
calls it an election of grace. You see, God's choosing of a
people. Is meaningless unless we know
what he chooses them unto and he chooses them unto something,
and that's something that he chooses them unto is salvation
by grace. Their chosency to be delivered
from the just deserts of their sins, not based upon any merit
found in them, the sinner, just as Elijah's power to conquer
the enemies of God obviously did not rest with him, as manifested
in chapter 19, but rather their deliverance, eternally speaking,
was based solely upon the merits of the one who is saved by his
grace. Grace, salvation, condition solely. That is, every requirement and
condition met by Christ and by him alone. His very merit, the
merit of the Lord Jesus Christ, referred to in the scripture
as the righteousness of God, which he established in his obedience
unto death on the cross. You see, the fact that God has
a people called his elect reserved unto himself cannot be separated
from the fact that they were elected unto something, unto
salvation in Christ. As I thought about this, I went
and I checked almost all of the epistles, and I think all of
them, I could be mistaken, but if not, almost all of the epistles
begin with a phrase that's interesting. of Paul's epistles, he writes,
Grace be to you, this is from Ephesians chapter 1, I just picked
one of them, but grace be to you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this grace, grace is
found in the person and work of Christ in what he accomplished
in there alone. You see, seeing God has an elect
people tells us that God is going to save some folks. He has chosen
some people to save. But seeing that the election
is one of grace is to see the Savior. The Savior that's revealed
in the still, small, comforting voice of the gospel of grace,
where we see how God's justice can be satisfied. How God doesn't
have to dispense with his justice in order to save. But rather,
he saves in a way that he's magnified as a just God and a Savior. He didn't just pretend like you
didn't sin there anymore. No, he dealt those sins literally,
actually had to be paid for. And they were paid for by a substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. See, grace, as we read in the
front of those epistles, it is from God the Father as the source. in his sovereign, electing love. But it's from God the Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, in that he accomplished all that was necessary
for a holy and just God to save his chosen people who were sinners.
God can't convene with sin. Their sin had to be dealt with,
and it was dealt with in the person of Christ so that he might
be what? Gracious to us. Bestow grace
upon his elect. You see, all whom God's Spirit
convinces of sin, and that includes the deceivableness of unrighteousness,
the sin that the Scripture teaches would deceive us all. That is,
imagining something other than the perfect righteousness of
Christ needs to be added to his work or put in the place of his
work. When he convinces us of the foolishness
of that sin, of our total inability to measure up before the judgment
seat of a holy God, if measured by my own merits, then this gospel
of grace is good news. It's a calming, quieting, assuring
voice. To know I can stand before the
very judgment of God, possessing not my own righteousness, but
the impeccable perfection of my substitute, Jesus Christ,
and that not only can I possess his very perfection, if God has
so graciously imputed or charged that to me. But I also have paid
for me the debt that I as a sinner owed before the bar of justice
by that which alone could ever pay the debt that was owed, the
infinitely valuable blood of Christ." Now, see how that's
such a calming, assuring, quieting voice for all those to whom God
reveals it and gives a love for that truth. You see, in that
gospel we see how the righteousness of God is revealed. That's what
it says about the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed in Romans 1,
16 and 17. And there we discover how all the demerit of all those
he gave to Christ, they're, listen, all of their demerit, their demerit
in their, that was charged to them by their federal head and
representative Adam. Their own past and present and
listen even and I'm not not even committed yet. Were imputed to
my Savior who paid that dead and full and finished work on
the cross bearing away the fans of his leg and likewise. Christ, God imputes to the account
of each and every one whose sins he bore away the merit of his
perfect work of righteousness. Here we have the Savior dying
for sins he had no part in producing, that we might possess the very
merits of his life and death, his obedience and death, his
righteousness, that we have absolutely no part in producing. He made
him to be sent for us, 2 Corinthians 5.21, who knew no sin, that we
who know nothing but sin might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now, how does Paul distinguish
this election of grace? And I think this is noteworthy.
Well, let's read on there in Romans 11, verse 6. He says, even so in this present
time, that could be said in each and every generation. There's
a remnant according to the election of grace. And he says, and if
by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is
no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
Paul is declaring the mutually exclusive nature of grace and
its antithesis works. If we're to count ourselves among
the election of grace, we have no warrant to do so as long as
we imagine that our deliverance seat isn't all of Christ's doing
and dying, and that alone, with no contribution from me, the
sinner. Otherwise, that's an element
of works. Works refers to us meeting some
condition, us meeting some requirement, And he's saying, no, there's
an element of works. It's not grace. And if it's grace, you
can't find an element of works in it. The two don't mix. Well, given the sense that Paul
relates in his day concerning this same comfort that was brought
in Elijah's day through his still small voice, I believe that Elijah's
comfort wasn't in simply wasn't in simply knowing that he was
not alone, but it was Think of that. It was being reminded that
it was God. Salvation is of the Lord. It
was God that had a people. That God would prevail. If God
is truly Almighty God, he's not fretting over the circumstances
Elijah found himself in. Why we, like the prophets, might
cry out, well, look how few might be here to hear our gospel and
how scarce the gospel seems in our day. God's in control. There's not going to be one that
he's reserved for himself who shall not come to him in faith.
It's sure and certain. That's why it's such a quieting,
calming, assuring voice of peace. He's telling Elijah, look, I
will prevail, Elijah, just because you don't know about it. That
doesn't mean they're not there. He's saying, I'll prevail your
life, Elijah. It's not even your own. But a
people. that I've chosen will worship
me, and they will behold me as I am, as a just God and a Savior,
because it's an election of grace. See, we only behold God as he
is in the person and work of Christ. You know what 2 Corinthians
4 tells us? That God, who commanded the light
to shine up, darkness shines in our hearts to do what? Give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We're in
the person and work of Christ, the face of Jesus Christ. And
we know that Elijah beheld that. How do we know that? Because
the scripture tells us that Moses and Elijah appeared and were
witnessed by the disciples long after their time here on earth
had passed. They're on the Mount of Transfiguration
talking with Christ. And in Luke chapter 9, this is
what it says they were talking about. It says, They spake of
his decease, that is, his death, the death of Christ, which he
should sadly suffer. which he should endure, which
they regretted, and all which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. You see, when Christ finished
his work on the cross, there was a great accomplishment that
brings quietness and calmness and assurance to the soul of
all who look there and nowhere else for all of their salvation.
And here in Romans, Paul called that remnant which shall exist
in every generation until Christ returns. He calls it the election
of grace. And if of grace, he says, it's
no more of works. Now, what calming assurance of
mercy and grace and peace can be found in that still small
voice of the gospel of grace? Well, the question is, have you,
have I, have we heard this still small voice? You know, today
God doesn't speak to us audibly as he did in the days of Elijah
and the prophets, but we have right here the completed revelation
of God, and it's at our disposal. And just as surely as he speaks
to Elijah and the prophets audibly, he likewise speaks to us in this
still, small voice of the gospel that's found in this book. The
voice that brings us peace and calm, assurance, and chills us. And why is that? Because we see
that our hope is a well-founded hope, that it's a sure and certain
hope, for it's all conditioned on one who cannot fail. If you
imagine, as I once did, that Christ came to save you, that
there remains a work of faith to be done on your part, And
they will all be brought to faith who are of this election of grace.
But if you think that that remains to be done, listen, in order
to be saved. In other words, the thing that
makes the difference whether I go to heaven or I go to hell
is not what Christ did for me, but if I'll believe. You see,
that's to get the cart before the horse. We believe because
faith was purchased as the gift of God for us by the very work
of Christ at the cross of Calvary. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." Well, when we think that any
such notion, such as my decision for Jesus to accept in my religious
practices, whatever they might be, when we think they are the
determining factor in my salvation and whether I live forever in
heaven's bliss or perish in hell, then hear what God's Word said.
That's just not the election of grace. Because if there's
an element of works, some requirement or condition I meet, He says
it's just no more of grace. So if and when we imagine that
it's conditioned on us, the sinner, in any way, to any degree, then
any assurance we might have, it can't be from this still,
small voice of assurance of the Lord. You know, some imagine
that Christ actually did meet, as he did, all the conditions
of salvation for his elect, but that God chose them to be represented
by Christ because of something, being an all-knowing God, he
looked down through time and knew that you would do. Perhaps
knowing that you would be just a little less obstinate sinner,
maybe, than someone else when some word of truth was brought
your way. That's not the election of grace.
To say that would be God's. I would still make ultimately
your salvation condition on some good thing. A holy God. So in
you, an unholy center, I guess we could call that the election
of foreseen works. I don't know. But you see, if
we imagine that Christ and his work is necessary, even. But listen to the but always
listen to the but. You have to do something to procure
that, to appropriate it to yourself. If you've got to add something
else to it to ultimately make the difference in your own salvation,
if you've got to add your bowing to this teaching or that teaching
is what really caused you to be saved, or your act of believing,
or your faithful practice of religion, or your walking down
an aisle to make a profession before men, or getting into a
baptismal pool, whatever it is, If it's imagined to play a causal
role in your salvation, then that's of works, and it's no
more of grace. It's not Christ plus something
else. It's Christ alone, and the religion
of works and grace do not mix. As Elijah said to any who still
halt there, how long halt ye between two opinions? You can't
have it both ways. We're to look to Christ alone
to Jesus, as the scripture says, as the author and finisher of
the faith. You know, we might perceive much
as Elijah did in his day. We may perceive the evidences
of God's almighty power in the elements, the wind, the fury. If you've gone down to Camilla
when I get another tornado through here, which seems to be every
few weeks, or it's not that often, I know, but you'll see something
of God's power You know, we know that the Holy Spirit's work is
characterized as being like the wind, because we don't see the
Holy Spirit. We only see the evidences that
result from it. We may have our ground shaken
up. There are many who experience earthquakes. They're waiting
for the big one in San Francisco. Maybe like the Philippian jailer,
a literal earthquake. But we do know this, spiritually
speaking, that all of our grounds will be shaken as happens when
any one of God's elect in time under the sound of this gospel
of grace is brought to God reveals himself to bring them to God
given faith and repentance while repentance is a complete reversal.
You going down the broad way that leads to destruction or
as a writer proverb says the way that seems right to you and
all of a sudden you find out you're totally wrong will shake
the ground up and we gain something of the sense of God's inflexible
justice. Knowing that even some notion
of sins being laid upon a Savior, of wrath being poured out, much
like the consuming fire that Elijah saw, wherever sin is found,
there is going to be the wrath of God poured out. And sadly,
this wrath is going to be experienced personally by everyone except
those that the Scripture calls the vessels of mercy that He
prepared from eternity, the election of grace. for whom God's wrath
was poured out in full on their substitute and surety by the
shedding of his blood at the cross of Calvary. Their debt's
been paid. The wrath of God has been poured
out. Now, when we consider all those things, we know that it's
in that work of Christ. where the peace and the calm
and the certain assurance of salvation is seen. That's the
still, small, quieting, comforting voice of the gospel where we
see and value how we must have Christ in his righteousness.
It's got to be laid to our account in order for a holy God to be
reconciled to me as sinner. You see, he can't commune with
sin, but the scripture says of those of God's people, he says
they stand before him holy, unblameable. accepted what in the beloved
in Christ they have the very merit of me a sinner can stand
before a holy God holy yeah based upon righteousness imputed to
me charged are credited to me in the same way my sins were
charged to him well how do you know if you're among those We
see all who are blessed with the God-given eyes of faith that
cause them to have to have that, to know the necessity of it and
see the sure and certain salvation therein. They can know that they,
like Elijah, like those 7,000 in Israel, like all of the election
of grace in every generation, as the Scripture says in Ephesians,
are blessed with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. Because Christ himself declared
in John 66, 37, all that the Father gives me, the entire election
of grace, they'll come to me. They'll come to him for all of
their salvation. And him that cometh, I will in
no wise cast out. See, we do believe and trust
solely in Christ, but not in order to save ourselves, but
in seeing that we must have the merit of what he accomplished
put to our account. So may God's people here, even
today, and rejoice in that sound of the abundance of rain, the
still small voice of the gospel of God's grace that points us
solely to Jesus Christ and his righteousness for all our salvation.