Well, good morning to everyone.
If you care to open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 17,
that's where our lesson will be from this morning. I welcome
Brother Eric's class out with us this morning. Eric is preaching
in Pikeville, Kentucky this morning, and I'm very delighted to have
his class out here with me this morning. Matthew 17, before we
begin, let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for giving us another opportunity to meet together, to open your
word, to read and study it, and by your grace to see one more
time our Lord Jesus Christ and his glory, his sufficiency. Father, I pray you'd bless us
this morning as we meet together to worship that you would enable
us to have a spirit of worship. Father, that you would enable
us to see the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, to hear him speak by
faith from your word this morning. Enable us to leave here believing
in and rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Let him be preeminent
in everything that is said and done here this morning and let
him be preeminent in our hearts, in our minds and thoughts as
we leave here this morning. Father, we thank you for the
many blessings of this life, how you blessed us. Father, we're
thankful. As we pray for ourself this morning,
we pray that you bless Brother Eric and Pikeville, that you
bless him in preaching and give them a good worship service together
and bring him back home safe to us. Father, for those who
are hurting and who are sick, Father, we pray for them. We
dare not sin against thee, forgetting to pray for your people. We pray
that you heal, that you comfort, that above all you'd give them
a special portion of your presence and comfort their hearts until
such time as you see fit to deliver them. All these things we ask
in that name which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, amen. I've titled our lesson this morning
Elijah Must Come. Last week we looked at four lessons
from the Transfiguration. Our lesson this morning really
It's the fifth lesson from that, but there just wasn't time to
deal with it sufficiently last week. And the lesson I want us
to look at this morning is the importance of preaching Christ
and his redemptive glory. Matthew 17, let's read our text
first, beginning in verse nine. And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them saying, tell the vision to no
man until the son of man be risen again from the dead. And his
disciples asked him saying, why then say the scribes that Elias
must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.
But I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew
him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise
also the son of man, likewise also the son of man suffer of
them. and the disciples understood.
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John
the Baptist. Now the disciples, the reason they asked this about
the scribes saying Elias must first come is they knew this
prophecy from Malachi chapter four. Let me read it to you.
Verses five and six behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he should
turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart
of the children to their fathers. lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse. Now the disciples knew this prophecy,
the scribes had told them of this prophecy and this is what
the disciples thought. We just saw him. We just saw
Elijah there on the Mount of Transfiguration and they thought
it could be now that the Lord is going to finally establish
his earthly kingdom and he's going to put the Jews back on
their rightful place, you know, at the top of the world stage.
That's what they thought that prophecy meant, that when Elijah
would come, they'd restore the kingdom of David and the political
rule of the Jews in Jerusalem. And that's not what this restoration
means at all. The prophecy means that before
the Savior appears, before the Messiah appears, someone's coming
who's got the same message, the same attitude, the same spirit
that Elijah had. And that man was John the Baptist.
He came as the forerunner of Christ making the way straight
before the Messiah, preparing the way before him, preparing
the hearts of the people to meet him. And John the Baptist had
the same spirit that Elijah had. And he had the same message that
Elijah had. His message was Christ. And that's
what the whole prophecy there in Malachi is all about. And
the Lord uses that message, the message of Elijah, the message
of John the Baptist, he uses that message to give repentance
and faith. to the hearts of his people.
That's how they're restored. They restored what they lost
in Adam. They're restored to God by faith
in Christ. So in that way, all of God's
preachers, all of them, are Elijah coming to God's people. You think
of this congregation. We have been so blessed. How
many Elijahs have come to you over the years? How many Elijahs
come preaching Christ? We all come with the same message
and the same spirit that Elijah had. We're sent as forerunners
of Christ to prepare the hearts of God's people, to hear of Christ,
to bow to him, to believe him. Now look over second Peter chapter
one, hearing this message, believing this message is a whole lot more
important and it's also much better than physically seeing
the glory of the transfiguration. Now, if we're honest, everybody
here would say, well, I would have loved to seen that. I would,
wouldn't you? I would love to be on the Mount
of Transfiguration and seeing Christ in his glory, seeing Moses
and Elijah appear in glory. We'd love to see that. Do you
know you have something even better? It's in your laps. You have something even better.
It's preached to you every week. Look, Peter was there, wasn't
he? Look what Peter had to say about it. Second Peter one verse
16 for we've not followed cunningly devised fables when we may known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we're eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from God the
father honor and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son and who
mind well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him and the Holy Mount,
he's talking about that day in the Mount of Transfiguration.
Peter said, we saw that, we heard that. Now verse 19, we have also
a more sure word of prophecy. We have something that's more
sure. We have something that's better. Weren't to you do well
that you take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. Knowing
this first here, here's what's better than seeing that with
the physical eye. Knowing this first that no prophecy
of scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy
came not an old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This word that we have
seeing Christ in the scriptures, seeing the gospel here in the
gospel with the ear of faith is much better than seeing anything
with the natural eye. even the Mount of Transfiguration.
That's what Peter's saying. It's the word. And if someone
with the spirit and the message of Elijah must come and preach
Christ to us before we would be saved, that's, that's what
the savior saying here. Since that's true, I thought,
you know, it'd be a good idea for us to look at the spirit
and the message of Elijah and maybe we'll recognize a man come
to us with that same attitude and that same message and maybe
we'll listen to him. I want you to look first in Luke
chapter four. Before we look at the message of Elijah, look
here at Luke chapter four. Here's the first thing I want
us to see. There's, I thought of, of two hallmarks of Elijah's
ministry, two hallmarks of Elijah's message. Number one is this,
the sovereignty of God in election and the salvation of his people.
And the second hallmark of his Elijah's ministry, his message,
is the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ. It's the first God's
sovereignty in election and salvation. In Luke four, verse 25, our Lord
hears preaching and he says, but I tell you of a truth. Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elias when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was
throughout all the land, but under none of them was Elias
in save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon unto a woman that was
a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of a light,
a license, a life showed the prophet and none of them was
cleansed saving name and the Syrian and all day in the synagogue
when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose
up and thrust him out of the city and let him under the brow
of the hill where on their city was built that they might cast
him down headlong. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. Now I wanted us to look at this
first and see how the Lord explains. We're gonna look at this in a
minute if you want to turn to 1 Kings 17. There's a picture in 1 Kings
17, and here in Luke 4, the Lord explains it. I want us to see
that explanation before we look at that. This was our Lord's
very first public message. And in his very first message,
the thing he deals with is God's sovereignty in election. God's
electing love that he saves whom he will and passes by whom he
will. And when God chooses and saves his people, it's always
the worst centers. It's always the people that the
flesh things is the most unlikely candidate of all. That's who
God says, that's who God has chosen to say. And that's what
our Lord was telling them that day. And the Jews understood
what he was saying. The problem is not that they
didn't understand what he was saying. The problem is they didn't
believe it. And not only did they not believe it, they hated
it. Our Lord just told them that God chose to save the life of
a Gentile widow in the midst of a famine and passed by every
single Jewish widow in Israel. God chose to heal a wicked Gentile
enemy and not just one of the enemy, the general of the army
who was oppressing Israel was a leper. God sent Elisha and
healed him and passed by every leper in Israel. They understood
what he was saying. and they hated him for it. All
right, that's the explanation of it. Now let's look at this
lesson on God's sovereignty. 1 Kings chapter 17. Here's my first point in this
matter of God's sovereignty and election. God sovereignly provides
for his people. 1 Kings 17 verse one. And Elijah the Tishbite, who
was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord God
of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there should not be
dune or rain these years, but according to my word. And the
word of the Lord came unto him saying, get thee hence and turn
the eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is
before Jordan. And it should be that thou shalt
drink of the brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed
thee there. So he went and did according to the word of the
Lord for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before
Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread
and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening.
And he drank of the brook. Now this is the very first time
we meet Elijah. He just comes out of nowhere
talking to this evil King Ahab and the Jews considered Elisha
or Elijah to be the greatest of the prophets. And we really
don't know anything about Elijah. We don't know his family history.
We don't know where he came from. We don't know anything about
it. He just suddenly appears. But all that about Elijah's background
and all this stuff, it doesn't matter. What matters is what
Elijah preached, who Elijah preached. His name means my God, Jehovah
is he. And that's who he preached, Jehovah,
God our savior. Elijah preached Christ. He believed
Christ, he lived on Christ. And that's what's pictured in
his time here by this brook, He drank of that brook, he drank
the water of it. He had bread and flesh to eat
every day that the ravens brought to him. That's Christ, the water
of life. It's Christ, the bread of life.
It's Christ who gives life to his people, and it's Christ who
sustains the life of his people. And he gives that to his people
sovereignly, when and where he will. What could be a better
picture of this? This is God's sovereignty supplying
the need of his servants. than birds in the time of a famine
bringing bread and fish to the prophet and not eating it themselves
and bringing it to him. Only God can make them do that.
God sovereignly provides for his people, physically and spiritually. Now, you just think about Elijah
there. What could possibly be better
than him being down there by that road? I mean, he had plenty
to drink, he had plenty to eat, and he had peace. There's no
Ahab bothering him. There's no Jezebel bothering
him. He got peace. There he is. He's fighting happy,
isn't he? Well, here's the second thing.
God sovereignly sends his preacher to his elect. Verse seven. And
it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up because
there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the Lord
came unto him saying, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which
belongeth to Zidon and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded
a widow woman there sustain thee. Now Elijah never would have left
his comfy spot down there by the brook unless the Lord dried
up the brook. And the Lord dried up the brook
to send him somewhere. And you and I might do well to remember
that when the Lord dries up our brook. Could be he's sending
us somewhere else for his purpose, to accomplish his purpose. That's
what he did with Elijah. God dried up the brook so that
Elijah would know now it's time to go to Sarepta, is what they
called it in the New Testament, Sarepta. And when he's there,
he's not just killing time, he's going for a purpose, to preach
the gospel to an elect lady that God has there. And by the time
Elijah gets there, she's at rock bottom. She's getting ready for
her and her son to starve to death, and at that time, when
she's at rock bottom, all hope is gone, That's when God sends
his prophet to her. And here's the picture that applies
to us so significantly today. There is a famine of the word
of God in our day. Just a famine of it. And yet
God's still merciful, isn't he? He's still sending his prophets
to his people. God's still not letting his elect
starve to death spiritually. He's still sending them his word.
God will see to it. God will provide. Oh, here's
the third lesson. God sovereignly gives faith to
his elect. How? Through the preaching of
Christ. Verse 10. So he rose and went to Zarephath.
And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow
woman was there gathering of sticks. And he called to her
and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that
I may drink. And as she was going to fetch
it, he called to her and said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel
of bread in thine hand. And she said, as the Lord thy
God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of me on a barrel
and a little oil in a cruise. And behold, I'm gathering two
sticks that I might go in to dress it for me and my son, that
we may eat it and die. And Elijah said unto her, fear
not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little
cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and
for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the
cruise of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain
upon the earth. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did
eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted
not, neither did the cruise of oil fail according to the word
of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Now the Lord sent this
famine, but as soon as he sent the famine, as soon as the clouds
quit dropping rain on the earth, He didn't send Elijah down there
to surreptite this widow woman right away. Not right away. When
that famine started, that woman wouldn't have really listened
to Elijah at first. She had some food saved up. She
had some oil saved up. She had some meals saved up.
And she thought there was still places she could go get some
more. It might be at a high price, but she thought she could still
get some more. Now the famine's lasted so long,
she's completely helpless. She didn't have any more food
left, and there's no place to go get any. And she's a widow
woman. There's nobody to help her. There's
nobody to provide for her. There's nobody to look out for
her. She'd exhausted all of her hoarded resources, and all she
had left was just a little meal and a little oil, enough to make
two cakes that was going to cook under two sticks burning, pretty
small cakes. And then there's nothing left.
She and her son are going to starve to death. That's heartbreaking,
isn't it? Isn't that heartbreaking to think
about? But that's the situation that God must bring us to spiritually. And He will bring all of His
elect to this place spiritually. He's going to show us we're helpless. He's going to show us we can't
provide anything that we need. That's a painful experience to
the flesh, but something we've got to learn. We cannot do anything
to protect ourselves from God's wrath against our sin. Adam put
us in this great spiritual famine, Adam made us dead, and we don't
have any resources left to give ourselves any life. We're helpless.
And God will never save us until we see ourselves as helpless,
as hopeless. I've got on my notes ready to
die, but really already dead. Dead in Adam, without help, without
hope, without God in this world. When the Lord brings us to that
point, that point, Now he's prepared our hearts to believe Christ,
to receive him, to hear his gospel. Now he's prepared our hearts
to depend upon Christ for everything that we need. But in our story. Can you imagine how you would
react if you were in this widow woman's place? This woman miserable. I mean,
I just can't even imagine thinking. I'm going to watch my child starve
to death. Because I can't get any food.
I mean, I just can't even imagine knowing that's the case. She
had to be so sad, don't you? I mean, you know, she's under
such pressure. She's bound to be depressed.
She didn't know how this thing's going to end up. She didn't know
there's good news just on the horizon. And then this man you've
never seen before. He's probably a wild looking
man, just like John the Baptist, you know, long hair and beard.
Crazy clothes, you know, this man you've never seen before
says, don't make a cake and give it to your child first. Give
it to me first. I mean, who do you think you
are? You're crazy. I'm going to take care of me
and mine. You're on your own, bub. That's the way the flesh
talks, isn't it? Isn't that the way the flesh
talks? But that's not the way faith talks. That's not what
this woman did. She didn't tell him who do you
think you are, get away from me. She made him a cake first. And she did it by faith. By faith. Now, saving faith is not blind
faith. We talk about blind faith, but
really there's no such thing. There's a solid foundation of
saving faith. Saving faith, believe somebody.
Saving faith believes somebody. Saving faith believes the Word
of God when we hear it. The Apostle Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. And since I know whom I have
believed, I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Saving faith believes
Christ. Saving faith believes the Word
of God. It's not just this fantasy that we make up and say I'm gonna
believe that. Saving faith believes the Word of God. And this woman
didn't just give Elijah the last food that she had without any
reason. She had a reason to give him
the last food that she had. She believed God. She believed
what God said. See, that's what made, the only
thing that could make somebody willing to give this man the
food, the last food that she has in this world instead of
giving it to her little boy is this. God made her willing. God commanded her heart and made
her willing, and she obeyed, willingly, not just because I
have to, willingly, because she believed God. And that's how
all of God's elect react to hearing the word of God preached, to
hearing, thus saith the Lord. Eventually, sooner or later,
it may not be the very first time, like this woman did, but
sooner or later, they're gonna hear. and they're going to believe
and they're going to commit everything to Christ. They're going to commit
everything about their soul, all the hope that they have for
their soul. They're going to commit it all
to Christ because they believe the word of God. It's not just
because they believe the preacher. It's not just because the preacher
is such a great guy. It's not just because he's, you
know, got such great oratory skills. I mean, I hope you like
the preacher, but here's the issue. Do you believe the word
of God? God's elect believe the word of God. That's what made
her willing. And you know why they believe?
God makes them willing. In the day of His power, He makes
them willing. And I tell you, come to Christ. I'm telling you right now where
you sit, you come to Christ and you rest in Him. You know why
you come to Christ? Because He said, come unto me
and I'll give you rest. He said it. So come, come. He said He'd forgive your sin
and come for forgiveness. Come for... He said. It's because
he said, see that? And everything happened to this
widow woman, just like the prophet said it would, because he spoke
according to the word of the Lord. He said, this is what God
says. Well, it's always going to happen. It's always going
to be so, isn't it? Because God's not going to let one word, not
one punctuation mark of this word, fall to the ground. It
happened just like Elijah said it would, because he said, thus
saith the Lord. And I tell you what, it'll happen
for you too. If you come to Christ and you
bow to Him, you'll find that it all happened
exactly like this book said it would. Because God's faithful. He's faithful. He has sovereignly
fulfilled all of His Word. You'll come to Christ and you
know what you'll find out? You'll find out, oh, that was God's
eternal will for me from the very beginning. He just took
this time to draw me to Him. That's what you'll find out.
All right, here's the second hallmark. of Elijah's message.
It's the necessity, the absolute necessity of the sacrifice of
Christ. Look over it to first Kings chapter
18. Now way, way, way, way too much and too many good things
for us to look at in this passage. I'm going to try my hardest to
confine myself to this one point that we'll see from, from this
story. It's the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ. Verse
17 of 1 Kings chapter 18. And it came to pass when Ahab
saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him, art thou he that troubled
Israel? And he answered, I've not troubled
Israel, but thou and thy father's house and that you have forsaken
the commandments of the Lord and has followed Balaam. Now
therefore, send and gather to me all Israel and to Mount Carmel
and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the groves,
400, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel and gathered the prophets together under Mount Carmel.
And Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt
ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered not a
word. Now salvation is in one of two ways. It's either in the
Lord or it's in the idol of our works. It's either in the sacrifice
of Christ or the merits of our works, one or the other. Now,
which one? Who's God? God or you? Let's
find out. We better find that out, ain't
we? Verse 22. Then said Elijah unto
the people, I, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's
prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore gather us
two bullocks, And let them choose one bullock for themselves, and
cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under.
And I'll dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no
fire under. And call ye on the name of your
gods, and I'll call on the name of the Lord. And the God that
answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered
and said, it's well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets
of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it
first for your many, and call the name of your gods, but put
no fire under. And they took the bullock which
was given them and they dressed it and called on the name of
Baal for morning, even until noon saying, oh, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice nor any
that answered. And they leaped upon the altar
which was made. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked
them saying, cry aloud for he's a god. Either he's talking or
he is pursuing or he is in a journey or perventure he sleepeth. and
must be awaked. And they cried aloud and cut
themselves after their manor with knives and lancets until
the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass when midday
was passed and they prophesied until the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice that there was neither voice nor any
to answer nor any that regarded. Now the God of our works simply
can't answer us, can't answer. It can't help us. Our works can't
help us. The idol that we've propped up
to be our God can't help us. And our sincerity in it, our
energy in it, the energy that we put into our works religion,
can't help us. Can't help us. Doesn't impress
God. Our religious fervency, doesn't, we can just be so fervent
in our religion. cannot produce a sacrifice that
will put sin away and make God accept us. We need somebody else
to offer that sacrifice for us. These priests of Baal were cutting
themselves, and I guess somehow they knew there's got to be blood.
But their blood's not good enough. There's got to be a righteousness,
but their righteousness is not good enough. There's got to be
somebody God will hear, but he can't hear our sinful selves.
So verse 30 Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto
me. And all the people came near
unto him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down. And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the
tribes of the sons of Jacob unto whom the word of the Lord came
saying, Israel should be thy name. And with the stones, he
built an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench
about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed.
And he put the wood in order and cut the Bullock in pieces
and laid him on the wood and said, fill four barrels with
water and poured on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And
he said, do it the second time. And they did it the second time.
And he said, do it the third time. And they did it the third
time. And the water ran round about the altar and he filled
the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet
came near. He said, Lord God of Abraham,
Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art
God in Israel and that I am thy servant and I have done all these
things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou
has turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and
the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. and when
all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, the
Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God. Now the fire of
God, the fire of the Lord fell on the sacrifice, fell on Elijah's
sacrifice as a picture of the sacrifice of Christ. There is
a sacrifice that please God. There is a sack sacrifice that
will satisfy God's justice. It's the sacrifice of Christ.
And the fire falling on this bullock that Elijah offered is
a picture of the sacrifice of Christ for the sin of his people.
When Christ was made sin for his people, the fire of God's
justice fell on him. I mean, it was just all aimed,
just all pointed at the Lord Jesus Christ and it all fell
on him at once. And that fire of the Father's
wrath, his hatred for sin, just fell on Christ. It just kept
falling on him and kept falling on him and kept falling on him
until God's justice would burn up. It just burned itself out. The fire burned until the fuel
for the fire was gone. The fire fell until the sin of
God's elect was gone. Then there was nothing left to
fuel the fire of God's wrath. And the father said, it's enough.
And the son gave up the ghost. And nothing on earth could stop
it. Nothing on earth could stop the sacrifice of Christ. Nothing
on earth can stop the effectiveness of the sacrifice of Christ. Any
more than that water that Elijah had poured on that sacrifice
could stop his sacrifice from being burned up. Nothing on earth
can stop the sacrifice of Christ and stop the effectiveness of
it. That sacrifice is going to put away all of the sin of all
of God's elect. In the case of Elijah's fire,
the fire fell on the sacrifice until the sacrifice was burned
up. In our Lord's sacrifice, the fire fell until the sacrifice
consumed the fire. And the fire was no more. That's
the way the father is satisfied. And that's the only way he can
be satisfied. It's with the sacrifice of Christ.
And that's why I say the sacrifice of Christ is an absolute necessity. And that's the message that we
need to hear. That's the message that God's
elect are going to believe. That's the message that, when
we hear it, will turn the hearts of the people to the Savior and
cause us to repent and bow to Him. That's the message God uses
to give faith in Christ, to hear of the sufficiency of His sacrifice,
that He's all it takes to save me. I believe Him. I'll trust
Him. I'll rest in Him. I hope you
will, too. All right. Lord bless you.