Tonight we'll look at the call
of Elijah which is found in 1st Kings chapter 19. Turn with me
if you would there. We'll be doing two messages just
on the call of Elijah. There's so much within this portion,
so much within this portion. Last week we looked at how God
will always have a remnant, always have a remnant. according to
the election of grace. And it was an introductory message
to this series. And we will see as we study this
wonderful life of Elijah, the prophet, that he performed more
miracles than any other prophet in the Old Testament. And again,
he pictures God incarnated in the flesh. He pictures Christ
incarnated in the flesh. His miracles are miracles of
mercy, Miracles of mercy. Again, Elijah was the prophet
of judgment. And Elijah is a prophet of mercy
and grace. Now, found out something too
from Joe Terrell last week. We actually pronounce the names
wrong. It's El-Jah and El-Shah in the
Hebrew. El being the name of God. Right? So that's the first part of their
names, God. And Shah, for Elijah, it's God
is Jah, which is Jehovah. For Elisha, it is, it's El-Shah. And Shah is salvation. God is
salvation. Isn't that wonderful? That's
absolutely wonderful, isn't it? Oh my. And last week we looked
at how God will always have a remnant according to the election of
grace. And we saw that Elijah, he thought he was the only one
left. He said, I'm the only one left in Israel. I'm the only
one left. And look at what it says in verse
18 and 19 of 1 Kings chapter 19. We find out here that God
has a remnant still. The nation had went off into
gross idolatry. but he has a remnant. And this
isn't even including Judah. This is just including the tribes
of Israel. Judah wasn't included in this
number. Oh my, Elijah thought he was the only believer, but
he thought, I'm the only one true believer in the true God,
the true and living God. And God says, no, no, you're
not. I've got 7,000 more in Israel who have not yet bowed their
knee to Baal. Look at this, verse 18. Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth
which had not kissed him. Oh my. And in 1 Kings chapter,
or verse 16, we see the first mention of Elijah the prophet
in the scriptures. This is the first mention of
Elijah the prophets in the scriptures is in verse 16. In Zuhar, son of Nimshah, shalt
thou anoint to be king over Israel. In Elisha, the son of Shephet,
of Ambeli-mo-mi-hola, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
That's the first mention of Elijah in the scriptures right there. And as we read our text, we will
see that Elijah had no idea that he was a prophet of God. Now
we already see in verse 16, God's already called him a prophet.
He's his man. But Elijah hadn't been called
yet. And God says, he's a prophet. He's one of mine. Is that not
so how it happened with us? We had no idea we were heirs
and joint heirs. Had no idea. Do you know the
spirit of God's son come into our heart because we're his sons? That's why we're born again,
because we're his people. We're the elect of God. Everyone
else just gets passed by, beloved. And there's nothing special in
us. There's nothing special in us that would cause us to be
blessed by our great God, nothing at all. Nothing at all. So Elijah has no idea that God
has appointed him to be a prophet. And look what it says in verse
16 there. Look what it says in verse 16. It says, "...shall
thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." God's already ordained
that he's going to be the prophet. He's already ordained it. Now
we're going to see Elijah's not looking for any of this. He's not looking for any of this
at all. He has no idea of his calling. This is true of every
born-again blood-washed saint. You know why? We have no idea,
before we're saved, that we're one of God's elect, but the scripture
declares that God had not appointed us to wrath. Over in 1 Thessalonians
5 verses 9 and 10, it says God had not appointed us to wrath,
that being God's people. God the Father has not appointed
us to wrath. Why? Because the wrath that was due
us, who did it fall upon? It fell upon Christ. It fell
upon the substitute. So we're not appointed to wrath.
My, oh, my. This is the work of God. It says
there, it says, God has not appointed us to act but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way we can obtain
salvation. It can't be by anything we do. I was talking to a fellow
this week, and he says, well, what do we differ on? And I said,
the will. And he goes, well, I believe
God's sovereign. I said, yeah. And he goes, what is it? I said,
it's the will. And he goes, oh, you believe
that when we fell, that we totally fell, right? And I said, yeah. And he goes, well, I believe
the will didn't fall. You know what? In all the times
that I've witnessed the people, I've never heard that. So everything
fell according to him but the will. So now I've got some questions
for him. Is the will sinless? How can
it be? How can it be? No. I'll tell
you what, when we fell on Adam, beloved, we fell totally. And we were plunged into darkness.
See, Chris Cunningham, a good friend of mine back down south,
I haven't talked to him in a long time, but when I talked to him,
I had a great talk with him, and he said, you get it wrong with
the fall, you get it wrong with it all. See? You get it wrong with the
fall of man. That fall was total. We were
plunged into darkness and wickedness and sin, beloved. Our minds,
our wills, everything. Why do we die? The wages of sin
is death, right? Sin kills us, beloved. It kills
us. Now, thankfully for the believer
in Christ, when we die, we don't go to hell. We go to glory. I was just reading yesterday,
but they executed this fellow, this Muslim fellow. And he said,
I'm at peace. I'm ready to go. And I said to
Vicky, could you imagine that? The second he died, he's in hell. My oh my. He's not at peace. Let me tell you, he ain't at
peace. There's only one mediator between God and man. There's
only one way to heaven, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And God
did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ, by his complete and finished work, who died for
us, Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Whether we wake or sleep, whether
we're alive or dead, we should live together with him. That
goes into the thing with we should glorify God in everything we
do, right? Do everything to the glory of God. Oh my. My oh my. So every true born
again blood washed believer is not looking for Christ. Christ
seeks us out. He finds us. And we will see in our text tonight
the calling of Elijah, the prophet. Elijah will take Elijah's office. He's the successor. When the
Lord has had Elijah finish his course, then Elijah will come
in. But there's gonna be about 10
years where Elijah's gonna serve. Elijah's gonna serve Elijah.
And some believe that's when the school of the prophets was
built too. And they both taught at the School
of the Prophets. That's just a commentator saying
that, and to just put that out there for our thinking. Look at 1 Kings 19, 19. Here comes the calling of Elijah
the prophet. So he departed thence and found Elijah the son of Shephat,
who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him, and he with
the 12. And Elijah passed by him and
cast his mantle upon him. Take note of this scenario. Men
look at God's calling from a human standpoint and refer to them as calling,
suggesting that they are exercised in hope, in hope that there would
be a positive response. But God's calling for the believer
in Christ and for someone who's gonna preach the gospel and for
these prophets, it's not done with a hope that we would respond
yes. It's invincible. It's irresistible. We cannot resist it. That's why
the scripture says we are made willing in the day of God's power.
Because the scripture tells us in our natural state, we are
not willing to come to Christ. You hear me say this all the
time, I'm going to keep saying it until God gives me breath
to not say it anymore. The scripture says we do not
seek God, we do not understand the things of God. It says there's
none righteous, no, not one. That's our state. When God comes
to us, he finds us in that state, beloved. And there's absolutely
nothing we can do to save ourselves. It's a mighty move of the Holy
Spirit of God that draws us to Christ. Now, do we come running
to Christ? Absolutely. Because we're made
willing. I don't deny that man has a will.
I just say that man's will is tied to his nature. So if man
has a dead nature, what's he going to do? He's only going
to choose sin. Right? But if he has a new nature,
Born again of God's Holy Spirit, Frank wrote a good article about
this I read today. And about how, my oh my, when you're born
again of the Holy Spirit of God, now we got a war in us. And I'll
tell you what, ask any believer if they got a battle with sin
now. We know what Paul means, right? when he talks about the battle
between the two natures in Romans chapter seven, but praise be
to God, there's therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. We who are born again of the
Holy Spirit of God, there's no condemnation for us. There's
no wrath for us, because that wrath fell upon Christ in our
ruined place. And we say hallelujah, what a
savior. With God and him calling his
people, It's not up for an optional response. When Christ says that his sheep
will come to him, they will hear his voice, he's not saying, well,
maybe, if they exercise their supposed free will. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will know why is cast out. He says, my sheep hear my voice,
and they what? Follow me. There's nothing in there, but
we're just responding to God's work in us. There's one second we have no
faith, the next second we have faith after we're born again.
And we say, I believe. My, oh my. Nothing we must do
but visit. My, so it's not the optional
response. It's not up to we who are the
receivers of grace to make this call effectual by our so-called
free will. God makes it effectual. And it's
an irresistible, I like to call it an invincible calling. You
can't stop it. That's why Henry used to say,
we're on the trail of God's sheep, and Christ is gonna get every
one of them. He will. Do you know there's not going
to be one sheep for whom his blood was shed that will ever
be lost? Including you and I, beloved. We can't unsave ourselves. We never would
want to. But we can. God has assigned
men who he saved to preach the gospel to other men. Save sinners. God has assigned save sinners
to preach the gospel to other sinners. Now there's a general
call, right? Goes out to all. And then there's
an effectual call. That's why sometimes we see a
family and the Lord could go and save one and pass right by
the other. Pass right by the other. My oh
my. I know children who were raised
in the gospel. Right? Right by them. And the Lord says, somebody over
here. Now we're still praying for my son and my daughter and
your children too, and your children. We still pray for our kids, don't
we? Continuously pray for them all the time. Jill prays for
her kids already, I imagine. Yeah. Jake told me, his little
littles, he's already praying for them. that the Lord would
save them. But we can't control that, can
we? That's God's doing, but we can
still pray for them. Zane says, what's the best thing we can
do for one another? Pray for each other. I like that. I think
Brother Zane hit the nail on the head with that one. Pray
for each other. Pray for our loved ones. God
has assigned, again, men to call others to belief and repentance.
The general call goes out, flee to Christ, flee to Christ. But
that's different than the effectual call, which only God can perform. And he does so on his elect. Again, he makes us will in the
day of his power. And this call to salvation is
nowhere dependent upon the one doing the calling, right, by
preaching, or by the receiver. It's not dependent on either
of us. It's dependent upon God Almighty and God alone. God the Holy Spirit must move.
He must come upon us in our dead state and give us life, beloved.
You must be born again. In our natural, quicken, amen,
in our natural state, we oppose God, beloved. Think of this,
we oppose God in our natural state and he makes us will and
we're like, praise you, Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. Oh my, that's incredible. What mercy, what grace is shown
to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And he makes us willing with
this effectual, invincible call, beloved. Irresistible call. We're drawn with, do you know
what the scripture says? We're drawn with cords of love. That's the
everlasting love of God, beloved. Drawing us. Oh, Christ has loved
me from before the foundation of the world. My, that's wonderful. A sinner such as me. all according to God's eternal
plan, all according to God's mercy, all according to God's
grace, shown to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And we are granted faith. We're
born again by the almighty power of God. Now think of that. The
same power that rose Christ from the grave raises us from our
dead natural state, raises us up to life, beloved. Life in
Christ. My, oh my. It'd be like seeing
someone rise from the dead. Lazarus, come forth. You know why I said Lazarus,
right? Because otherwise every grave would have busted open,
right? If you had said come forth, everything, oh my, there'd be
coffins flying open everywhere there. Yeah. And that's not only a picture
of effectual call. That's a picture of invincible
call, right? Because Lazarus, he was dead. And there goes another
question. Can a dead man exercise a will?
No, not at all. When we see people who have passed
away, their will's not going, OK, well, I'm going to get up
out of this coffin. I'm going to go down and have a coffee with you,
and I'm going to crawl back in. No. They're dead. They have no movement,
no life. And that's how we are. That's
how God finds us, beloved. That's how he finds us. My, oh
my. And we wholly cast our souls
upon Christ, don't we? All because of the work of God.
And then we learn, all through our walk, through this life,
we learn, salvation's of the Lord, salvation's of the Lord,
salvation's of the Lord. And we just, we can hear that
every day. And just keep praising God, can't
we? Because we've been taught the
truth of it. Salvation's of the Lord, not of man, lest any man
should boast. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Let's read verses 15 to 21. And
we'll see the effectual, invincible call of God for Elijah to be
the prophet in Elijah's place. And the Lord said unto him, go,
return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when thou comest,
anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Zeru, the son of Nimshai,
shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elijah, the
son of Shaphat, of Ambihola, shalt thou anoint to be prophet
in thy room. It's already part of God's plan
that Elijah would be the prophet to succeed Elijah, and he hadn't
even been called yet. Look at that. That shows our
God's sovereignty, beloved. That shows his sovereignty. And
it shall come to pass that him that escaped with the sword of
Hazael shall Jehu slay, and him that escaped with the sword of
Jehu shall Elijah slay. 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 look at this, verses 19 to
21. So he departed thence and found
Elijah the son of Shepet, who was plowing with twelve yoke
of oxen before him. And he with the 12th. So here he's plowing the fields
with 12 yoke of oxen, 11 others before him. And he's plowing
on the 12th one. Several commentators said his
family is very wealthy to have that many oxen plowing a field. That's a lot of folks. And Elijah passed by him and
cast his mantle upon him. Didn't even, look at that, did
he say a word? He just went by him, cast his mantle upon him.
And he kept walking. How do we know he kept walking?
And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah. Elijah's just walking
off. Cast his mantle, and he's like,
okay, I'm gonna keep walking. And he said, let me, I pray thee,
kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow thee.
And he said unto him, go back again for what have I done to
thee? He didn't say nothing to him. What have I done to thee? And he returned back from him
and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with
the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they
did eat. Then he arose and went after
Elijah and ministered unto him. Now here's the call of Elijah. In the scriptures, when we see
God's calling, it's always connected to God's sovereignty. Turn, if
you would, to Romans chapter 8. It's always connected to God's
predestinated purpose, his plan. We saw in that scripture I read
in 1 Thessalonians, God hath not appointed us to wrath, but
to obtain salvation. That was all through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That was all part of God's predestinated
plan and purpose, that we would be saved. Look
at this, Romans chapter 8, verses 28 to 30. And we know that all things work
together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose, all things. We don't always see
that, but it's true. Everything works for our good.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. You mentioned predestination,
and people get a little upset. Well, tell them we believe that
we're predestinated to be conformed to the image of the sun. And
watch them try to dance out of that. No one would be opposed
to the believer being conformed to the image of Christ. My, oh
my, no believer would be opposed to that. Do you want to be more
holy? Do you hate sin now? Are you looking forward to being
in heaven and not having any sin at all? Oh my. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren, moreover whom he did predestinate, look
at this, them he also what? Called. So it was part of Elijah
being a prophet was part of God's predestinated plan. Just as for
you and I to be believers was part of God's predestinated plan.
Whether people believe it or not, whether they oppose it,
that doesn't change the fact, does it? This before us is a
fact, beloved. And then he also called, and
whom he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified,
then he also glorified. Look at that. All past tense,
isn't it? Isn't that amazing? Turn now, if you would, to 2
Thessalonians. second Thessalonians. See, God's calling of a man or
a woman to salvation in Christ, or God's calling of a man to
ministry, or as we see in this case, Elijah being a prophet.
There's no more prophets. There's no more prophets. Let's
just clear that up. Those who say there's prophets in this
world, they're just lying. There's no more prophets. Yeah,
they're in the scriptures and they're alone. Who was the great
prophet anyways? Christ. He's the great prophet, all of
it. Oh, my. Oh, my. Look at this. Second Thessalonians 2, 13 and
14. Now, remember, the churches at Thessalonica were young churches
in Christ, young churches established. And people say, well, you shouldn't
teach election to young churches. Well, he mentioned it in 1 Thessalonians. And look what he mentions here,
too, again. But we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you. So he's writing to the saints there. Brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Look at that. Beloved of the
Lord. Love with a divine love. My. Oh, my. Let's just meditate on that sometime,
eh? Just beloved of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you. When? From the beginning? Well,
from the beginning of my life? No. No. No. From eternity. From eternity. Chosen us. To what? To salvation. Why do we believe? Why do we
believe as believers? Because God chose us to salvation.
Isn't that something? That's wonderful. Through how? Through sanctification of the
spirit, you must be born again and believe for the truth. You
must believe on Christ, right? Two things that are must. We
must be born again. We must believe on Christ. He
who does not believe on Christ is damned. He who believes on
Christ shall be with him forever in glory. And who made us to
differ? Who made us to differ from all
the folks we know? Only God. Nothing we did at all. All by
the grace and mercy of God. My, it's absolutely wonderful. So when God calls a believer,
he enables us to come to Christ. Do you know that? We have no
ability to come to Christ. Do you know God enables us to
come to Christ? Because by faith, what do we
do? We look to Christ. Who's the faith come from? God.
It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. He
enables us, beloved. He enables we who are rebels
in our natural state. And now we praise him. Oh, what a great God we serve,
beloved. Oh, he's made us willing in the day of his power. He's
regenerated us by his almighty power, made us willing. by his
almighty power and given us faith as a gift, faith in Christ. And when we consider God's calling,
we find out that when we consider our salvation, we find out it's
simply but a disclosure of his great plan and purpose. Isn't that wonderful? It's simply
a disclosure of his eternal purpose. He eternally purposed us to be
saved. It's wonderful. And in the matter
of calling one to the office of prophet, it's a revelation
of the eternal purpose of God. My, oh, my. Turn, if you would,
one more place over to Jeremiah. We're going to be turning to
a couple places, actually. Jeremiah, and then put your finger in Galatians
chapter 4. Jeremiah, though, look at this.
This is absolutely wonderful. Jeremiah chapter 1. Look at this. How long has God
known us? How long has God known us? Before we were formed in
the womb. Do you know that? Oh, this is wonderful. I'll tell
you what. It's getting me excited. Amen. Look at Jeremiah, look at this,
look at this wonderful truth. Jeremiah chapter one verses four
and five. Then the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, before I formed thee in the belly, before we
were even conceived, beloved, I knew you. I knew you. Before we were even
conceived. And before thou comest forth
out of the womb, I sanctified thee. How? How? Oh, God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief in the truth, beloved. And Nick, look at this. And I
ordain thee a prophet unto the nations. Do you know God ordains
the salvation of every one of his sheep? Now, Jeremiah was
ordained to be a prophet. Elijah was ordained to be a prophet. Elijah was ordained to be a prophet,
right? Isaiah was ordained to be a prophet.
You can go through all the Old Testament names. They were all
ordained to be a prophet, but first and foremost, they were
all ordained in Christ to be God's people. Do you know they
were chosen the same time we were in Christ? You ever think
of that? I remember Spurgeon saying that.
He said, we were chosen the same time Paul was chosen, the same
time all the Old Testaments were chosen, in Christ, before the
foundation of the world. Somebody said, well, how can
God do that? If you start to learn who God is, and how infinite
He is, and how we cannot understand His ways, right? And by God-given faith, we believe,
right? We believe our God's great. He can do all things. There's
nothing he cannot do. So it is a truth that every sinner
saved by God's grace is ordained to salvation. And when he or she is called
by the grace of God through the preaching of the gospel, that
call is a disclosure. It's a disclosure, beloved, that
Christ has already redeemed them. I preach gospel of a successful
salvation that's already done and God does the saving. It's already finished, beloved. And there's absolutely nothing
for us to do. Christ has already redeemed his
people at Calvary's cross. Now the Holy Spirit is going
out and fetching them and gathering them. And he will get every single
one of God's sheep who are lost in their natural state. Look
at this in Galatians chapter 4, who appear like, they appear
like they're goats, but they've never been goats. They have never been goats, Galatians
chapter 4. Oh my. Galatians chapter 4, we read
verses 1 to 7. Oh, the gospel reveals, now listen,
the gospel reveals a salvation that's complete. It's done. There's
nothing to be taken away and there's nothing to be added to
it. It's already finished. That's what the true preaching
of the gospel is, is preaching the salvation that's already
complete. And it reveals the fact of a finished work done
for God's people, for us, for his elect. Even before we were born again.
We were redeemed before we were even born again, brother. My. We were heirs of salvation when
it looked like we were goats. We were children of God. And
then one day at the appointed time, at the exact appointed
time by God, we heard the shepherd's voice. And we were born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. Look at this, Galatians chapter
4, verses 1 to 7. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
Lord of all. that we possess everything in
Christ. We have no clue. No clue! Look at this. But it's under tutors and governors
until the appointed time of the father. Even so, we, when we
were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that
were, where were we? That were under the law. Schoolmaster,
that's what that is, yeah? Under the law. That we might
receive the adoptions of sons. And I love this next verse. Look
at, look at, this is a mountaintop scripture, look at this. And
because ye are sons, because we're sons! Because we're heirs! We look like goats! But because
we're heirs, what does God do? He sends the spirit of his son!
into our hearts, and now we cry, Abba, Father. It's magnificent. It's absolutely magnificent.
Oh, what a Savior. And because ye are sons, God,
God did this. He has sent forth the Spirit
of the Son into your hearts. If we're born again, cry, Abba,
Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. My goodness, did we have any
idea we were heirs of God before the Lord saved us? We didn't
even care about God. I'll tell you, I have never seen
mercy like this. I have never seen love like this.
As much as I love my wife and my kids and love you all, this
love, this mercy we have set here before us. And because you
are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts, crying Abba, Father. My, my. Do you know we actually possess
then, what we're reading here, we actually possess the eternal
salvation in Christ. And when the hearing and the
believing of the gospel occurred, we were born again, right? But we were unaware that that
salvation was already complete. It was already finished. In God's
economy, it was done, right? But we didn't know that. We didn't
even know. I think of how How I was before the Lord saved
me. My thoughts of God, my speech, I'm ashamed. And I had no idea though, that
even back then, that God had purposed and planned and redeemed
me 2,000 years ago at Calvary's Cross. I'm nothing special. All of us
would say that, right? All of us say that, we're nothing
special. Oh, but God is so good. You know, he chooses the weak
things of the world to confound the wise. Oh, it's amazing. We were already secured in Christ
by the perfect sin atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
were enemies in our minds with God, but we see here. That we
were heirs. And because we're sons, God sends
the Spirit. He sent the Holy Spirit. What
did Christ say? I'm going to send you a comforter.
My oh my. Elijah was born a prophet, didn't
even know it. You know that? Did he not say that, did he not
say to Jeremiah you were born a prophet? In what we read, he was ordained
by God. Elijah was ordained by God to
be a prophet. We were ordained by God to be
believers in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's absolutely amazing. That's absolutely amazing. My. all according to God's sovereign,
eternal plan. The fact that he was already
a prophet is suggested, actually, in our text, when Elijah was
commanded to anoint him as a prophet. In God's eyes, he's already a
prophet. Look at this. Look at verses 15 and 16. 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 Nimshi,
shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. Now, this is God
setting up kings, isn't it? And Elijah, the son of Shaphat, of Abelmihola, shalt thou anoint
to be prophet in thy room. God's already purposed it. This
is, again, before Elijah is even called. Yeah, Elijah. And Elijah's anointing is grouped
in there with the anointing of Hazil as king in Syria, and Jew
who's anointing as king of Israel. After Elijah's call, Elijah still
had some things to do that were ordained by God for him to do, for him to finish in the course
of his ministry. And Elijah was already ordained,
though, to the office of prophet. He's already ordained. In the
purpose of God, it's already happened. But God had also purposed
that he would serve Elijah for a certain season. for a certain
season. Oh my. And then he would become the
prophet in the room and place of Elijah. And the fact that
Elijah was anointed before he assumed his office is a revelation
that there will never be a time, there will never be a time, there
will never be a season that God that God has appointed that there
will not be someone preaching his word. There will always be someone.
There will always be a remnant. And think of this, even during
the 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew, no prophet
arose. No prophet arose. But the Pharisees
kept the word safe, didn't they? Isn't that amazing? God still
preserved his word. Even when there was no prophets.
He's God. He's God. There'll never be a
time when what this brings forth is there'll never be a time when
there's not a witness of God. The word's a witness, isn't it?
Of who God is. My oh my. And the two prophets, again,
they differ by name, by one letter. Elijah is a combination of two
of God's names, El, which is God, and Jah, which is Jehovah,
as I said earlier. So that's Elijah. And then Elisha
is a combination, combined name, Eli, which is God, and Shah,
which is salvation. So Elisha's name is God is salvation. And the name of Jehovah carries
with it the concept of deliverance, doesn't it? The concept of deliverance. He revealed himself as such when
he delivered Israel from Egypt. So Elijah's name means God is
salvation. This name in the Old Testament
declares God as he's revealed in Christ in the New Testament.
Do you know that? Elijah's name declares God as he is pictured
in the New Testament, as he's proclaimed in the New Testament.
Who's our salvation? Christ. Who's God? Christ. God is salvation. Christ is salvation. Elijah's name proclaims that,
beloved. Oh my. And then Elijah's name
proclaims that God is Jehovah, is Jehovah. The self-existent
one, that means in the Hebrew. He doesn't need anyone. He's
not controlled by anyone. Isn't it wonderful? Oh my. My
oh my. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
salvation of his people. He accomplished salvation. He
obtained it. And there's salvation in no other but the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's read again 1 Kings 19 verses 19 and 21. So he departed
thence and found Elijah, the son of Shephet, who was plowing
with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelve,
and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And
he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, let me, I pray
thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.
And he said unto him, go back again, for what have I done to
thee? He's not hindering him. He's
not hindering him. And he returned back from him
and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with
the instruments of the oxen. and gave unto the people and
they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered
unto him. Look at verse 19 there. Look
at verse 19. God has already ordained and
declared in his paternal purpose that Elijah would be that prophet
spoken of in verse 16. And look at verse 19. So he departed
thence and found Elijah the son of Shephet, who was plowing with
twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelve, and Elijah
passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. Didn't say a word.
Cast his mantle upon him. Notice this, that Elijah journeyed
to where Elijah was. Elijah didn't seek out Elijah
because he didn't even know what was happening, did he? Who sought us out, beloved? Oh, God sought us out, didn't
He? He sought us out. Here's Elisha. He's not looking
for anything. He's just doing his everyday
labor in the fields. He's plowing in his dad's field,
working in his father's field. And there's 12 yoke of oxen before
him, and he's the 12th. He's just working. You notice
also, too, this is something that I noticed which I thought
was fantastic. He's right there laboring with
all the other people. He's the owner's son, and what's
he doing? He's laboring with all the workers. See? Shows you that the prophet
is not, there's no prophet bump either, is there, at the foot
of the cross. There's no preacher bump. Right? We're all the same, aren't we?
We're all one in Christ. And I like that, to see him laboring
along with the other workers at the farm. It's wonderful.
And some commentators bring forth that his family must have been
very wealthy. They have 12 yoke of ox and plow in the field.
It brings forth that they were a wealthy family. They were a
wealthy family. But he doesn't know that God
has ordained him to be a prophet. He's tending the fields at his
father's farm, and we see Elijah pass by him, cast his mantle
upon him, and doesn't even say a word, just keeps walking. Now, I would think that pretty
well everyone knew who Elijah was, just by seeing him. Because he was well known in
Israel. Oh my. But he didn't say a word
to Elijah. He just cast his mantle down
and just kept walking. So Elijah journeyed to where
Elijah was. Elijah's not looking for him.
He's working away in the field. He has no idea that God's ordained
him to be a prophet. He's tending his father's fields.
Elijah passes by and casts his mantle upon him. Think of all the people that
Elijah passed by in getting to where Elijah was. Think of all
those people he passed by. My oh my. Think of our Lord when
he's coming into the town and there's a blind man. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And people around him go, be
quiet, he doesn't have time for you, be quiet. And the scripture says,
the Lord stood still. You know why? That's a cry of
one of his sheep, beloved. That's the cry of, what can make
Christ stand still? The cry of one of his lost sheep. Oh my beloved, isn't that wonderful? Just warms your heart, doesn't
it? Just warms your heart. So we see there a picture of
God's distinguishing grace. He passed by Elijah, passes by
all these people in order to get to Elijah. What a wonderful picture of God's
distinguishing grace. The Holy Spirit comes to those
whom the Father gave to Christ, those who were redeemed by Christ.
And because they are sons, God sends the spirit of his son into
their hearts and they cry Abba Father. My, so we see the sovereignty
of God at work here. We see the sovereignty of God
in the divine choice of Elijah to be a prophet. We see the divine call of God
for Elijah as unexpected. He's laboring in the field. Doing his everyday work. What
were we doing before the Lord saved us? Just living our lives
every day. Had no idea that God was going
to call us by his grace and mercy. Had no idea the Holy Spirit was
going to regenerate us. Had no idea we'd be given faith
and repentance before God. And here we are, by the grace
and mercy of God, beloved. Oh my. Marvel as the call of we who
are the people of God comes to us. Comes to us when we're not
looking. And God calls us out of darkness,
out of our natural state of being dead in trespasses and sins. Scripture says this, but if our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God
of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not.
That was our natural state. lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord in ourselves, your servants for
Jesus' sake, for God. This is 2 Corinthians 4, 6. For
God, who hath commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give us, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
For God, beloved, that's the only difference for us, that
God has done this for us. That's the only difference between
you and me and our family members and friends who do not know Christ. My oh my. And this calling is
seen, this call, similar to Elijah, is seen all through the Old Testament.
What was Moses doing? What was Moses doing when God
called him? Well, he was keeping Jethro's flock, wasn't he? Yeah. And then from the burning bush,
the bush unburnt, there sounded the irresistible voice that sent
him off into Egypt. My, oh my. Then came Gideon. He was thrashing wheat. He wasn't looking for no call
from God. Then David, what's David doing? He's sitting there,
he's sitting in the pastures, tending sheep. And remember all the brothers
and there's, oh, there's one missing. Nah, you won't be interested
in him. That's God's man. Oh my, oh my
beloved. Oh my. My, and Elijah. Amos, Amos was
tending cattle. Elijah, he's plowing fields. And God calls him. It's amazing. In all these cases, the divine
call was absolutely unexpected. Unexpected. They did not seek out their calling.
Also in the New Testament, in Christ's choice of the inner
circle of his disciples, he comes to the sons of Zebedee. The sons
of Zebedee, what are they doing? Oh, they're fixing their nets.
They're fixing their nets because they're going to go out fishing
again. Dave, you said men makes plans, right? They plan on going
back out fishing. No, that's not what they were
going to be doing. God calls them. Follow me. Make your fish as a man. They
drop their nets, what do they do? Well, hold on, I gotta exercise
my free will. Nope. They're made willing in
the day of God's power. They drop those nets and they
follow Christ. Then Matthew, he's collecting
taxes. He's hated among his own people
because he collects taxes for the Romans. They were the most
despised people of Israel. next to the Samaritans too and
all those folks. But they hated those who collected
taxes for Rome. They looked at them as traitors
of their nation. And here the Lord goes up to him. Follow me. What did he do? Went home and
get bags of money? Nope. He walked right away. He
just left it all there and walked away, didn't he? Nathaniel! He's
sitting under a tree! He's sitting under a tree. And
the Lord says, behold, in Israel, in whom is no guile. And he says,
well, when have you ever seen me? And he said, you were sitting
under the tree. Now, he was talking to God about
something that nobody else knew. And he says, oh my, I went to
Christ. And he followed him. Oh, beloved. And that's true of every single
one of us. we are called with the same invincible call. God
calls us and we drop everything and follow him. Now the things of the world don't
seem as glossy as they used to, do they? My oh my. My oh my. God chooses whom he
will, whom he wills to be his instruments. Every one of us
here are chosen instruments of God. Isn't that amazing? Chosen servants
of God. Every one of us who are born
again are chosen servants of God. And he may save two in this family,
one in this family. He just goes where he wills.
Right? But he's always going to get
his sheep. He's always going to get his sheep. And it's all according to his
divine will and purpose. If you're saved, it's all according
to God's divine will and purpose. Oh, praise God. That's wonderful.
That's absolutely wonderful. And every true Christian finds
delight and joy and peace in the thought that God has singled
us out. We marvel, why? Why me? But oh, does it not fill your
heart with joy and peace and love for our great Savior? My, oh my. Singled out from this
world and to have God's mercy bestowed upon we who are sinners
from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. To have God's
grace and mercy bestowed upon us and we're still sinners and
yet God says, I don't remember your sin anymore. Now, someone in the world would
say, oh, I can go do whatever I want. Nope. Nope. Never heard a grace preacher
say that. Yeah. Yeah, God will put a stop to
it. Yeah, he'll put a stop to it. That's right. My, oh, my. Listen to this truth from John
15. Listen to this wonderful truth about the love of God.
Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends.
Friends. For all things that I have heard
of my father, I've made known unto you. Ye have not chosen
me. Now, I love this verse. You talk about combat, man saying
they chose him first. Any believer? Look at this. That's
why we say no. No, if he hadn't chosen us, we'd
never would have chose him. Look what he says here. John
15, 16. You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained
you. There's another one of those
words. Ordained you what? That you should go and bring
forth fruit. And that's fruit of the Holy
Spirit of God. That's him working in us, beloved. And that your
fruit shall remain. That whatsoever you shall ask
in your father's name, he may give it you. These things I command
you, that ye love one another. That's, again, that's the one
thing Satan can't counterfeit. You've heard me say that many
times. He cannot counterfeit the true love that believers
have for each other in Christ. He can counterfeit a lot of other
things, but he can't counterfeit that. And the gospel, beloved,
is the power of God unto salvation for we who believe. It's not
a theological discourse. You know, gospel's not a theological
discourse. It's not. The gospel's not many
things. The gospel's not, I like what
Tim James said, the gospel's not a pie chart that man can
divide according to their particular conviction or disposition. It's
not that at all. It's one thing. Christ. It's Christ. The gospel's concerning
him. The gospel tells us what he's
done. The gospel tells us who he did it for. The gospel tells
us where he came from. The gospel tells us where he
is now. Isn't that wonderful? People
start, they start debating all kinds of things. Like Henry said
one time to a preacher I know, he said, that's not the issue.
Christ is the issue. Christ is the issue. People want
to start debating you about all these things. Christ is the issue. Yes. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Remember Happy Jack?
Yep. Oh my. Isn't that wonderful?
Remember those deacons? They went to the deacon board
and they're like, ask him all these questions. He says, I don't
know any answers to those, but I know this. I know this. I'm
a poor sinner, nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Amen. That's all we profess, right?
All of us. All of us. My, oh my. No, Christ
and Christ alone is the singular object of the gospel. It's concerning
him. It tells us of what he's already
accomplished for sinners. It's absolutely amazing. Now,
sinners of just the Israelites? No, Jews and Gentiles. Jews and
Gentiles. To the world, the gospel is foolishness. To the religious, Christ is a
stumbling block. Remember, he is a stumbling block
to the Pharisees. But to them that are called,
called, called, ordained by God, called with an effectual calling,
called with an invincible calling, called by the Holy Spirit of
God. To us, it's the power of God unto salvation. It's the
wisdom and power of God. Men and women say, oh, there
must be more. There must be more. There must be an explanation
that goes along with just salvation in Christ and Him alone. Oh,
there must be evidence. There must be works that I have
to do. But the cast down and broken
dirt pot spills out the light of the message. It's cryptic
to all those who do not know Christ. Salvation is in Christ
and in crucifixion. Christ in Him crucified. Christ
in Him crucified is the simplicity and singularity of the message
that sends God's enemies fleeing. Fleeing. Screaming while the believer
stands in Christ by the grace of God. Turn with me if you would.
We're going to close with this portion of scripture. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Oh my. May we meditate upon this wonderful
portion of scripture this week. Again, none of us were looking,
looking for Christ when he saved us. We were made willing in the
day of his power. We were given faith to believe
we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Look at this, 1 Corinthians
1, starting in verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. Brother Dave, was it foolishness
to you and I before we heard it? It was, wasn't it? Not no
more, though. But it was then. Look at this. Look at this. But
unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. That's what
it is now to us. It's the power of God. It's the power of God,
beloved. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where's the wise? Where are all
these famous Philosophers, they're dead and buried, dead. Where's Christ? He's alive, beloved. He's in glory. Oh my, where's
the wise? Where's the scribe? Where are
these people that wrote all these things? I told you about that
fellow that used to write against God and then they turned his
house into a publishing, a Bible publishing house. Printing press,
yeah, yeah, amazing, just amazing. Oh my. Where's he? He's dead. Where's the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Yeah. Where's Buddha? He's just a piece
of stone in a restaurant right now. Right? My, oh my. Oh my. For after that, in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's
you and I. That's you and I, beloved. Look
at this. Look at this. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. We see that on Mars Hill. The Greeks just wanted to hear
something new. So Paul preached to them the unknown God. Oh,
my. But we preach. This is what the
gospel preacher preaches. It's on our bulletin, too, isn't
it, every week. This is what's most important. I was telling
someone that we sing two songs. They said they went somewhere,
they sang like eight songs, and then a short message, and I said,
well, we sing two songs, and then we preach the gospel, because
the gospel is paramount. The gospel. Everything, all our
service is around the preaching of the word. preaching of the
word. Look at this, Paul writes, but
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and
unto the Greeks foolishness. but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, that's us, beloved, Christ, the power
of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God, the weakness of God is
stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world. Now, foolish there means common. I'm just a common
guy. We're just common guys. Common. Yeah, and foolish. God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world. Why? To confound the wise. They
don't understand it. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
See, the world says, well, that surely, if anyone should be,
it should be the strong guy who's, who's, God just chooses the weak
things of the world. The common things of the world.
Now there's a few, there's a few, there's a few who are mighty. There's a few who are noble,
but not many. No, God chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise. God had chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things that are mighty and base things of
the world. Wicked, wicked things of the world. And
things which are despised. Had God chosen. I see me all through there. Do
you? My. Yea, in things which are
not, to bring to naught things that are. Why does he choose
the weak, the despised, the wicked? Because God gets all the glory.
We know what God saved us from, beloved. We know. We know who we were before we
were saved, we know even who we are after we're saved. My oh my, but isn't this wonderful? This is wonderful. What a Savior. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. We got nothing to glory about
except in Christ. have and we know it we know it here we were
we used to serve self we used to exalt self we used to want
what was the old saying um get everything you can you know make
yourself happy eat drink be merry for tomorrow
we die well now now we glory in the Lord we glory in what
he's done for us He saved us. We're washed in his precious
blood. All our sins are forgiven. We're made whiter than snow in
the blood of Christ. That fountain for uncleanness,
we've been dipped in it, beloved. And we've come up like Nahum
came up out of that river with no leprosy, with pitchers in,
gone. We're going to see that, too,
because that happened with Elijah. Elijah's the one who said, go
dip yourself in the Jordan seven times. And he said, I got lots
of rivers at home. Ah, he got all mad. And his servant said,
just do it. What can it hurt? Just do it.
Oh, my. See, sometimes we're hard-headed.
Yeah. Oh, my. Look at this, though. That no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of him are ye, being us. In Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us, he's all our wisdom, he's the Lord
our righteousness, he's our sanctification, we're made holy in him, and he's
our redemption, beloved. That covers it all. That covers
it all. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, what? Let him glory in the Lord. And
all we can say is amen and amen, right? Amen and amen. Brother Dave, can you close us