1 Kings 16, in a few verses, and
in 1 Kings 17, 1-9. Verse 29 of 1 Kings 16, And in
the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab
the son of Amri to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Amri
reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty two years. Now what about this King Ahab? Verse 30, And Ahab the son of
Amri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were
before him. All that were before him. Verse
32, And Ahab reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal,
which he built in Samaria. Verse 33, And Ahab made a grove,
and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD of Israel to anger than
all. That's the summation of all the
kings of Israel that were before him. So you think we've got it
bad now? Twenty-two years. Twenty-two
years. chapter 17, verse 1, and Elijah
the Tishbite, he's a mighty prophet of God, who was of the inhabitants
of Gilead, said unto Ahab, face to face, as the Lord God of Israel
lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these
years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came
unto Elisha, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward,
and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt
drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed
thee there. So Elisha went and did according
to the word of the Lord, for he went and dwelt by the brook
Cherith, which 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. 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
again unto Elijah, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which
belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded
a widow woman there to sustain thee." You don't have to turn, but in
James writes of this incident, James chapter 5, He prayed in verse 17 of chapter
5, you don't have to turn there, "...that it rained not on the
earth by the space of three years and six months." So that's, back
to our text, and he prayed. He specifically asked the Lord,
because of the moral decline and the truth. Ahab, he didn't
care for the Gospel. He didn't care for the Gospel.
He didn't care for the God of the Gospel, which is evident
by building all these idols and all this other stuff, these groves
and whatnot. So the Lord had His man pray
that it wouldn't rain for three and a half years. Three and a
half years. Keep that in mind. Let me read
you something here I read this week. During difficult times, whatever. It is so comforting to know that
not even a dog, which you can find this in Exodus, can bark
at me and you unless our Lord allows it to happen. We should
live in the reality of God's sovereign control over all things. It is honoring to Him and comforting
to us, His children. The Scripture says, the earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and they
that dwell therein. The world. So what part of that
is he not under control? He's under control of everything.
Things are never out of control. They are always under His control
for our good and His glory. Now, I highlighted this sentence. Our attitude should always be
What is the Lord doing and not what man is doing? That's what
our attitude should be. What is the Lord trying to teach
me? What is the Lord trying to tell
me? What is the Lord directing me out of His Word. He doesn't
speak through a voice, but He does speak through the preaching
of His Gospel, the reading of His Word, the singing of His
praises, all these things. That's how the believer feeds.
And our attitude should always be, what is the Lord doing? Not
what man, whether he's governor, senator, president, not what
they're doing, but what is God doing? I thought that would be
good just to read that in the light of what's going on here. Now let's just look at this time
and this history of 22 years of Ahab, and if you're not familiar
with him, he's got a wife named Jezebel, the most clamorous woman,
and Proverbs speaks about that. We see idolatry reigns supreme
under his leadership. even worse than any kings together. I would say this seems relevant
to our time in history in this country. This country, this land,
it's very religious. We talked about this in Bible
class. This country, this state, this county is very religious
but not according to Jehovah God's religion or ways or worship. It says in Romans chapter 10
that Paul says, I have compassion on my kinsmen according to the
flesh, you know, Jacksonites and people from Illinois. I have compassion on them because
they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
And that knowledge is leading them on the broad road, not unto
salvation. That's not the knowledge that
Paul was concerned about. In this situation here, God was
about to cause physical sufferings. That's what God was about to
cause. Physical sufferings. No rain for three and a half
years. Because of the moral decay and
truth decay. Now, I want us to look at Elijah
in chapter 17. Let us stand with our brother
in such times. Matt made a comment about being
bold back in there. Yeah, we need to be both, because
if your friends, neighbors, co-workers, how are they going to hear if
you don't tell them? They're probably not going to.
Let's look at verse 1. Elijah the Tishbite, who was
an inhabitant of Gilead, he was under this domain of this wicked
ruling king and his wife, And he said unto Ahab, As the Lord
God of Israel lives. Now, to the believer, our God
lives. You know, people, you can't see
them. What do you go to church for?
This and that. Where do you go to hear the same story over and
over again? But to the believer, we're like Elijah. Our God lives. Now, others think Jehovah God
might seem dead. You know, God is dead. irrelevant, trivial, don't talk
to me about religion, about God, but to the child of grace, he
ever lives to make intercession for his children. And we know
out of this book, which we believe it to be the unerring Word of
God, Revelations 19, the Lord God reigneth. He's supreme, He's
sovereign, He's in total control. The second thing I noticed about
Elijah is he says, as the Lord God of Israel lives, you know,
I question whether you, Ahab, you believe this because you're
building all these other gods, all these other devotional centers
to these other gods, to Baal and these groves and this and
that. My God lives, and He says, before whom I stand. Now it says
in verse 1, He's standing, He said unto Ahab, so He's standing
in the presence of the King. But he says, Elisha says, may
the Lord give us boldness, God before whom I stand. Though he
was standing before King Ahab, he was more conscious of standing
in the presence of God Almighty, who God sees everything as it
is. People try to hide stuff, hide
sins, hide sins from mom and dad, hide sins from one another.
He sees it all. He sees it all. greater than the king or the
leader or any man was standing before he was Elijah was thinking
I'm standing before God I'm standing before you and I'm addressing
you but I'm standing in the presence of God and Knowing this let us
sinks. Let us think similarity similarly
fear and reverence will be known if we want to fear God and to
get in this book and read Him and commune with Him and realize
we have what we have by the grace of God. And why are we not blinded
to the truth? Because God revealed as we heard
so well in Bible class. That will be the norm. Fear and
reverence will be the norm when we can say, as the Lord God of
Israel lives, before Whom I stand. Before Whom I stand. Now, the
third thing about Elijah is his name. His name means, Jehovah
is my God or Jehovah is my strength. And if He is our God, He is our
strength. He is our strength. Every elect
follower. Therefore, whom shall we fear? And I struggle with this and
still struggle with this. The fear of man. Scripture says
the fear of man brings a snare. Tongue tied, you just don't know
what to say. But whom shall we fear? What
situation or what condition should we fear? He wasn't running from
Ahab. God commanded him, now you said
what you said. You spoke the Gospel. You told
him the truth. Now you go. Because they are
going to hate you. They are going to try to kill
you. So go. Here's my question. Do you garden? Keep gardening. Do you get groceries? Keep buying
groceries. Do you put fuel in your car?
Keep doing that. But are we going to be like the
Mormons where we're going to have a year's supply? I think
that's just contrary to trusting in a sovereign God. One-year
supply? That's what they do. You better
have a two-year, three-year. I looked this up. We looked this
up. How long did the Great Depression last? 1929? Ten years. You're going to store enough
food for ten years? How about World War II? Worried
about somebody dropping this or doing this? How long did World
War II last? Five plus? Apparently, over in England,
they're buying up fuel. The rich, they're buying up fuel. If you think you have a generator,
like I said, do these things. It's not a problem with doing
them, having something for your family. But if we think anything
we do is going to protect us from the depravity of man when
they come after us because we've got the only lights on in the
neighborhood without pistols, rifles, and guns, So how far
do you go? How far do you trust in your
wallet, your ability to reason, or you stand before the top guy
and say, it isn't going to rain for three and a half years, crops
are going to fail, people are going to die, boys, girls, children, this is
of the Lord. How tough can it get? That's what's going on. That's
what's going on. Why do we fear? What situation
or conditions should we fear? This Elisha, he should be like
us, one crying in the wilderness, make straight your crooked, wicked,
vile paths Ahab, Jezebel, and all who are worshiping Baal. This is one man standing up for
the true gospel, the grace of God, in the midst of a perverse
generation. This is what this church is here.
This is one who knows the pure truth of God versus the spiritual
idolatry of his time and of his generation. Same here. This is
a called, selected, elected sinner saved by mercy and grace, telling
others about the God of this book. That's what acts, what's
going on. You're too superstitious. You're too superstitious. And sports figures are horrible
about this. Coaches wear the same socks,
the same suit. And I'm going to look to them
for knowledge and advice? Is it like Hollywood or any of
these others? They just have money to pay to get on a platform. But like Bruce said, and we heard
back there, Wisdom is knowing the Gospel and knowing Christ,
and that's got to be revealed. We know what right and wrong
is. And this world is very superstitious. We'll look at verses 2 and 3.
Next we see Elijah's obedience. The word of the Lord came unto
him, saying specifically, Get thee hence, turn eastward, and
hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. This is
another trait and characteristic of the children of the Most High
God. We obey Him. We obey Him. Okay, and sometimes
we refuse. We do. We still have the flesh.
Jonah. God said, Go here. He's like,
I'm going to go here. Well, what will happen as a result
of his actions of disobedience is he got thrown overboard and
the whole crew was fearing for their life. But even if we refuse
initially, God will work in us to do of His good pleasure and
we will yield to His supreme will. Because again, He's totally
in control. Always. Perhaps He may bring
us through affliction or chastisement, yet His way is always best and
for our ultimate good. Romans 8.28. All things are working
together for good. Elisha could have stood toe to
toe But he didn't have any guarantee that he wouldn't be physically
harmed. God said, you told him the truth, now get out. Now leave. So he's being obedient
to the Word of the Lord. The fourth thing, look at this
provision and care God has for His children. It shall be that
you'll drink of this brook that I provided for you. I've commanded
the ravens, I've commanded the ravens to feed. What's a raven? It's a smart bird. It's a mean
bird. And it eats meat. So God's commanded this bird
to bring food and bread and set it at the feet of the prophet
morning and evening. That is totally contrary to the
nature of this bird. That is totally contrary to the
nature of this bird. God is never at a loss for a
way of providing for His children. The brooks of water, the birds
of the air, the beasts of the field, the winds of heaven, the
waves of the sea, all creatures belong to Him and are under His
direct control. He has no trouble, therefore,
in getting food to His children wherever they may be. Perhaps
none of us has ever had ravens carry our daily bread to us,
but God sends it to us in other ways. And it is just as really
He who sends it, whether by railroad trains carry it across the continent,
or ships bring it halfway around the world, or birds convey it
to our windows, or it comes through the hands of loving friends.
Many of us know too much for our own good. These modern days
we are so wise about laws of nature that we can account for
everything on scientific grounds. and have no need for God's assistance
anywhere. Consequently, we forget, some
of us, that God has anything to do with this world. What poor
fools we are. What are the laws of nature but
God's established and common ways of doing things? If I sow
wheat seeds on a little patch of soil and in a few months reap
a harvest and then taking the wheat to the mill, get flour
and have a good bread on my table, had God nothing to do with sending
it to me? Did not he provide it as really
as when he sent the ravens to Elisha day by day with food for
him?" Yes. Yes. We take advantage of the
knowledge of men in health benefits, we go to doctors, we do this,
we do that, but it's the Lord that's directing. We ask the
Lord to direct the hands of those people who are operating on us. There's nothing wrong with that,
but to forget God, we get too smart. We're just too smart. He provides for everything. For everything. The ravens. the
Ravens. Never fear the headlines of these
times. Though truly worrisome and bothersome,
may we, like our brother Elijah here, see past the stories or
the news of the day and see our God's hand over and under them
all. He has plainly stated in his
unerring, infallible word, I will never leave you or forsake you. That's what he says. That's what
he says. Did he forsake Abraham? He seemed
to for a time, but he didn't. How about Joseph? Joseph went
through a lot. But even his own words, you men
are for evil, but God men are for good. All that stuff that
he'd been through. What about David? No. Did He any of His disciples,
some were exiled and some were even killed, but He never truly
left them, but rather met them in glory hereafter, that better
place, that place where it says there's no tears, that place
that says it's completely restful. He took birds which eat all manner
of meat and carrion and ruled over their nature and their natural
characteristics and fed His prophet Spiritually, He does the same
today. He does the same today. He rules and reigns over our
vile natures and brings us into subjection unto Christ by the
Holy Spirit and makes us willing in the day of His power. We're
no different than the birds. He overruled our nature and our
natural characteristics. And if you want to go any further,
they brought bread and meat and that's what I'm doing right now.
But of myself, I don't want to stand up here. If God enables
me and has changed my nature and given me a nature that loves
and worships Him, I'm going to bring the food. He causes us to be a benefit
to each other, teaching and telling the good news of Christ Jesus
our Lord, our true bread. That's what we do. And lastly,
lastly, we will be kept by God's good graces, verses 7-9. So this
is where the story ends. No, it goes on. He's drinking,
but he's prayed for no rain. So that's affected himself. That's
affected his situation. Let's see it here. Verse 7, it
came to pass after a while that the brook dried up because there
had been no rain in the land. You would think, Lord, I'm doing
Your will, can't You keep this brook growing? I mean, these
are just things I think of. Our faith's got to be tried.
But I like the wording here. And the word of the Lord came
to the prophet and said, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which
belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Now look at the wording.
This is the same wording as verse 4. have commanded, not a bird this
time, but a human being, a widow woman there to sustain thee."
So you mean God is like Bruce said this morning in Bible class,
I'll give you God's sovereign over the weather, I'll give you
God's sovereign over the plant life, and even the animal kingdom. But human, now this is the same
wording. I'm commanded as ravens to take
care of you, and I'm gonna command this woman to take care of you. Just as He, our sovereign Lord,
commanded the ravens, He will command the widow to provide
for the prophet. How often has God, in His tender
providence, done the same for you and me? I mean, little stuff. There's little stuff. And Melinda
and I, we discuss this frequently. And you can't over-glorify God
and say, you know, walking by a path that you've walked by
a hundred times, and there's a flower right then, right there.
God brought this. We realize everything is for
us. But this is the way the world's
brooks always do. For a time, they flow full. and
then they begin to waste away and at last dry up altogether.
This is true of all earthly joys." Perhaps this is what the Lord
was teaching. There is a comfort, however, in what comes after
the statement made in these words, when the brook dried up, God
had another place ready for his servant. Arise, go to Zarephath,
there he found another help ready. It must have been a sore test
of Elijah's faith to watch the stream growing less and less
every day. What shall I do when the brook
is dry, he would wonder. But we need not suppose that
he ever worried about it. He knew that God was providing
for him and would have something else ready when this supply ceased. One morning there was no water
running over the stones. The prophet had to eat a dry
breakfast, only bread and meat, but still I think he did not
grow anxious. Then after breakfast the Lord
came and told him to move. The lesson is that we are never
to doubt God, no matter how low the supply gets. Though we have
come down to the last mouthful of bread, and the last cupful
of water, and still see no new provision beyond, we are to take
the last morsel with thankfulness, believing that God will have
something else ready in time. It will be soon enough, if it
is ready, when we have eaten the last crust. Do we believe
that? I don't know. I don't know. We've got to make sure we've
got plenty of this, plenty of that, plenty of this, plenty
of that. I don't know. What about our brethren in Africa?
It's just day by day. Just go day by day. And the Lord
provides. How often has God in His tender
mercies provided us Done the same thing. You know, you think
about it. You go home and you think about
it. When things were tough, difficult, or whatever, jobs, vehicles, the gospel, this place
shouldn't be here, this place should not be here, humanly should
not be here. It was tried to be destroyed,
but God had other plans. Do we need to run to the grocery
store and build up a yearly supply of food? Do we need to buy up
all manner of propane or gas to ensure we will have enough
for tomorrow? In what or in whom are we trusting?
In what or in whom are we trusting? Turn to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew 6, verse 26, through the end of
the chapter, verse 25, Christ said, Therefore,
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall
eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall
put on, is not the life more than meat, and the body more
than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air,
for they don't sow and they don't reap, nor gather barns, yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than
they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubic to
a statue? And why take thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't even
toil, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today
is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not more clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For all these things do the Gentiles
seek. For your heavenly Father knows,
knows that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of
itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." And then
there's another passage in Scripture about the man who, he was pretty
wealthy, and he says, you know what, I'm going to tear these
barns down and build more. And he didn't make it that far.
The Lord says, no, tonight, your soul is required. So, we provide
for our children, but we teach our children, let's teach them,
their soul may be required before they do what they think they
need to do. Show them Christ. Show them the way of Christ. Show them the peace that's had
in Christ. and everything else. It's there. It's there. And lastly,
Exodus chapter 11. Exodus chapter 11. This is the believer. This is
the believer. This is the Lord talking to Moses.
Exodus 11 verse 7, But against any of the children of Israel,
any of you who believe that Christ is your righteousness, any of
you that believe in Christ, in Christ alone, though you may
not know much about Him, He's your everything, He's your darling,
He's your lover, He's your friend, He's your elder brother, shall
not a dog move his tongue? against a man or beast, that
you may know, that we may know, how that the Lord put a difference
between the Egyptians and the Israelites." This was during
Passover, this was going on. Not only that, but when they
left, they gave them jewelry, they gave them gold, they gave
them all this stuff. They were giving them stuff. It's like they were
giving it to get them out of the house. Giving it, giving it. The Lord
was preparing them for the journey. They gave them all sorts of food.
And then they did the wilderness, and now we're looking at that.
They got houses in Canaan and over Jordan that they didn't
prepare, they didn't build. The livestock was there, the
food was there. They basically went into the
house and the refrigerator was full. Now doesn't that sound
like our passage in the canons? Doesn't that sound like that? But we're too smart. We're going
to make sure we've got everything, those cabinets stuffed and stacked
and everything. And then one day you open it
up, like I used to do when I was a kid. I used to eat those little
boxes of raisins, those sun-kissed. My mom would throw them in my
lunch every day along with my peanut butter and jelly. One
horse boy. And I started opening those things
and there's little bugs in them. Bugs in my raisins. I threw it
away. Went home, the whole thing. She
kept them. She'd just buy them and then
store them. Buy them and store them. They
bred whatever those bugs were, but I wasn't going to eat those
bugs. I'm not saying it's wrong to
prepare, Who's on the throne? And who
do we belong to? I look out at your faces and I
know a little bit of something about you. And the Lord's, you're here.
The Lord's taking care of you. What a gracious God we serve. Let us be bold like Elijah when
the time comes. And He will take care of His
people. He will not leave us or forsake us. He never has one. He never has. But I need this
message. It's stepped all over me. So, let us together glorify and honor
Christ as He gives us ability. Brian, would you close us?