You will. Let's open our Bibles
today to 1st Kings chapter 19. 1st Kings chapter 19. Today we are going to consider
God's question to Elijah at the end of verse 9. If you will look
at the end of verse 9, verse Kings chapter 19. What doest
thou hear, Elijah? What doest thou hear, Elijah? Of course we all recognize that
when God asked a question He never asked for information. God knows all things. The scripture
says in Hebrews chapter 4, all things are naked and opened unto
the eyes of him with whom we have to do. One of the many amazing
attributes of God is his omniscience, that he knows all things. There's
a verse in Ezekiel chapter 11 and verse 5 which says, this
is God speaking, For I know the things that come into your mind,
every one of them. I know the thing, God says, to
each and every one of us today and to all men. For I know the
things, the thoughts that come into your mind, every one of
them. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
was manifested when he was here in the flesh by his omniscience. He knew all things, even the
thoughts of the Pharisees. When they said after he told
that paralytic, thy sins are forgiven thee, they reasoned
in their hearts, this man blasphemeth. But the Lord knew what was in
their heart. He knew, and He knows all things. So when God asks a question,
as He did Elijah here, what doest thou hear, Elijah? We all recognize that God's never
asking for information. As we look at this question this
morning, I want to ask four questions. But before I begin, before I
ask the first question, I want to remind us, I feel like it's
necessary that I remind all of us of what the Apostle James
tells us about Elijah in the New Testament. He says in James
5 and verse 17, Elijah was a man of like, a subject to like passions
as we are. Elijah was a man subject to like
passions as we are. That is, he was cut from the
same cloth. He's just like you. He was just
like you and just like me. He suffered from temptations
and doubts and discouragements and fears and everything else.
He was no different. He was a prophet that God called
and mightily used. There's no question about that.
Many miracles were wrought through his ministry. He was taken to
heaven in a chariot of fire. He was a man greatly used of
God, wasn't he? He appeared with Moses on the
Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus Christ. But when
everything is said and done, he was a man subject to like
passions as you and I. He was just like all of us. Here's the first question. God's
question was, Elijah, what doest thou hear? My first question
is, where was Elijah when God asked this question? If you look
in the verse before our text today, And I want to answer that
question, where was Elijah when God asked him this question?
I want to answer that question in two ways. First, he was at
Horeb, H-O-R-E-B. Notice that in verse 8. And he
arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that
meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the Mount of God."
Where was Elijah when God asked him this question? What doest
thou hear, Elijah? To answer that question, first
of all, we see that he was at Mount Horeb. Now a number of
very important things happened to the nation of Israel and the
history of the nation of Israel at Mount Horeb. It was here,
for instance, that God called Moses. Remember the bush that
burned but was not consumed? That the Lord Jesus Christ, the
angel of God, was in that bush and called Moses and revealed
his name, I am that I am. That took place at Mount Horeb. And God told Moses, when you
bring my people, you will worship me here at this mountain. And it was at this Mount Horeb
that God gave the covenant that He made to Israel. Look back with me if you will,
keep your place here, but back in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter,
chapter number 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and beginning
with verse 2. Moses said, the Lord our God
made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant
with our fathers, but with us, even us who are all of us here
alive this day. The Lord talked with you face
to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire. I stood between
the Lord and you at that time to show you the word of the Lord,
for you were afraid by reason of the fire. and went not up
into the mount, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought
thee out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Where
was Elijah when God asked him this question? He was at Mount
Horeb. As I said, a place that many
important things had happened in the history of the nation
of Israel. You know, it was at Horeb that
Moses struck the rock and God gave water. out of the rock to
supply the need of the people of Israel. That took place at
Horeb. It may be that Elijah was here
now thinking that God would give some special revelation as he
knew God had in the past concerning his nation, the nation of Israel. Where was Elijah when God asked
him this question? He was at Mount Horeb. But secondly,
he was in a cave. He was in a cave. Verse 9 of
our text. 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 9. And he came thither unto a cave,
and lodged there. Caves are usually dark. and dank places. Every cave I've
ever been in, without any artificial light, was a dark place. I remember years ago going into
a cave here in Texas, I believe they're called the Longhorn Caverns
or something like that. Down in that cave, that guide,
he said, get ready now, be prepared, we're going to turn off all the
lights. And there's going to be complete darkness. Complete
darkness. Caves are usually dark places
and they're usually damp, dank places. And the scripture here
says he lodged there. He spent the night there in a
cave. What doest thou hear, Elijah? Where was he? He was at Mount
Horeb. lodging in a cave. There's a
second question. Why? Why was Elijah here when
God asked him this question? What doest thou here? What are
you doing here, Elijah? And I'm going to take some liberty
in answering this question for Elijah now. What he may or might
have answered. First of all, his answer could
have been, because I'm fearful. What doest thou hear in this
cave, Elijah? Because I'm afraid. Because I'm
fearful. And I say that because if you
look back to the first few verses in this chapter, he had just
heard word from Jezebel, that wicked queen, the wife of Ahab
the king. And Jezebel had told him, sent
word to him, you killed, you were responsible for killing
450 false prophets of Baal, my God. And by this time tomorrow,
you're going to be like one of those false prophets. Notice
that beginning with verse 1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that
Elijah had done. and withal how he had slain all
the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger
unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow
about this time. And when he saw that, when he
heard that, got that message, Scripture says, he arose and
went for his life. He ran for his life. What doest
thou hear, Elijah? I'm here because I was afraid. Because I'm fearful. I'm afraid
for my life. Another answer he might have answered like this.
What doest thou hear, Elijah? I'm here because I'm weary. I'm tired. And I say that because he had
traveled for 40 days. If you look in verses 7 and 8,
the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him
and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for
thee. It's a long journey. He's going to cross the wilderness.
The same wilderness, the same wilderness that the children
of Israel wandered in because of their unbelief for 40 years. Elijah, now he's going to go
for 40 days without food and without drink and cross this
wilderness. I know he was miraculously preserved. There's no way a man could go
40 days without water. without food, apart from God's
hand, God's miracle upon him. I understand that, but still
my point is, surely after making a journey of 40 days, he was
tired. He was weary. What doest thou
here, Elijah? I'm here because I'm afraid.
That wicked queen, she's already sent word she's going to kill
me. What doest thou here, Elijah? I'm here because I'm weary. I've
been traveling for forty days across the wilderness. And number three, his answer
might be, because I'm here because I'm disheartened. I'm discouraged. Well, what could have caused
Elijah to be disheartened and discouraged a whole lot? A whole lot. If you look at the
first words of Elijah's answer in verse 10, the first words
when he answered the Lord, he said, I have been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts. What doest thou hear Elijah?
I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. And no one
can question, no one can question the zeal that Elijah had. The
zeal that he manifested. His jealousy for the glory of
God, for the true God. He said, I've been very zealous,
very zealous. His zeal was manifested when
he confronted 450 false prophets. And I believe there were 400
others besides on that mountain. His zeal was manifested first
of all when he met the king head on. If you look back in 1 Kings
chapter 18, verses 17 and 18, remember they had gone three
and a half years without any rain. There was no food, there was
no pasture, no water. And so the king called this man
Obadiah, his servant, and he said, you go this way and I'll
go this way. You search this part of the land,
the country, and I'll search this part of the country. Let's
just see if we can't find some little bit of water, some ponds,
so that our horses at least will be preserved. And so Obadiah
goes his way and Elijah appears to him. And Elijah told Obadiah. Obadiah feared the Lord. He had
served God. Elijah told Obadiah, I'm going
to appear to the king. You go and tell King Ahab today
that I want to see him. I want to meet him. And Obadiah
said, no way am I going to do that. He said, the king's already
sent to these other countries and he's made those kings of
those nations swear, take an oath that they've searched through
their kingdoms for Elijah and he's not here. As far as the
king was concerned, he was erased from the face of the earth. And
Obadiah said, There?s no way I?m going to go and tell Ahab,
the king, that Elijah will meet you, and while I go to tell him,
the Spirit of the Lord will catch you and take you away somewhere,
and Ahab, the king, is going to kill me! He?s going to think
that I?ve just lied, I?ve made this all up. And Elijah said,
No. You go and tell him and I will
appear. And notice what Ahab said to
Elijah when he first saw him in verse 17. Came to pass when
Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth
Israel? Are you the one You, you, you've
brought all this misery upon this country, upon this land. You are the one who has caused
it not to rain now for three and a half years. Boy, don't
you know Ahab, he was mad. He was hot as a hornet. Elijah
said, answered him, I have not troubled Israel. Don't you point
your finger at me, buddy. I'm not the problem here. It's you. Now when you spoke
to a king like this, usually you were asking for your
head to be cut off. You're the problem here. It's
you Ahab, you're the one who's brought all that, you and your
father's house, your wickedness, your sinfulness, you're turning
from the true God, the God Jehovah to worship these false gods,
you're the problem here. It's you and your father's house
in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord And
thou hast followed Balaam, this false god. No one can question
his zeal, Elijah's zeal, his jealousy for the honor, for the
glory. And I tell you, it wouldn't hurt
some of us to get some of this zeal. It really wouldn't. It wouldn't hurt some of us today
to catch some of this zeal that was Elijah's zeal, to be jealous
for the Lord God of hosts. God of the Bible is not some
weak wannabe God. He is God who reigns in heaven
and in earth. Not only do we see his zeal when
he faced the king, but then when he faced those false prophets
on Mount Carmel. Look in verse 22 there of chapter
18. Then said Elijah unto the people,
I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets
are 450 men. Here I am by myself. You've got
450 men there who are false prophets, prophets of Baal. One man, right? One man against
450. And then he began to mock them.
Now he's walking on dangerous territory, isn't he? When he
began to mock them and their God, verse 27, came to pass at
noon. You know the history of this.
I don't need to go through all of this, but you know that they
built an altar and put the wood there and put the calf cut up
on their altar. And Elijah said, The God that
answers by fire, He's going to show Himself to be God. And these
prophets of Baal, 450 of them, they had their altar. They had
their sacrifice upon it. And they were hollering and praying
and doing all kinds of things. Even eventually began to cut
themselves as though they could get their request, bail to answer
if they hurt themselves, if they did harm to themselves. And Elijah began to mock them.
In verse 27, it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them
and said, Cry aloud. You better talk a little louder. Aren't you thankful today that
God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we can just talk to Him and never open our mouth? We
don't have to get loud. Elijah said, you better cry a
little bit louder. He may be deaf. He may be on
a journey. He may be sleeping even. He mocked
them. Cry aloud, for He is a God. Either He is talking, or He is
pursuing, or He is in a journey, or peradventure, He's sleeping.
You've got to wake Him up. There's no one who can question
Elijah's zeal. And I want you to look at his
prayer in verse 36 there in 1 Kings 18. When Elijah, when it was his
turn, repair the altar, put the wood on, put the sacrifice on,
and then have it flooded with water. Notice what he said in verse
36. It came to pass at the time of
the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came
near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be
known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am
thy servant. And notice this especially, and
that I have done all these things at thy word. Everything that
Elijah did, he did because God told him to do it. God, of course, answered by fire.
And then Elijah goes up on the mountain and he begins to pray
for rain. And the Lord sent rain. What
doest thou hear, Elijah? Why am I here? I'm discouraged. I'm disheartened. I would have
thought after all of this, after this great manifestation of your
power, that you are God alone, that you would have granted to
this people repentance, that they would have turned from their
sins, that there would have been a wholesale revival in the nation
of Israel. What am I doing here? I'm discouraged. Here's the third question. What
did God tell Elijah to do? Now we've seen where he was and
why he was there, but now what did God tell him to do? Notice
in verse 11, 1st Kings 19 and verse 11. And I take this as
both parts of this statement as instructive to us. First of
all, he said, Go forth. Go forth. Notice that in verse
11. And he said, Go forth. Now you're here in this cave
and you can wallow in your misery and in your discouragement and
in your weariness and in your fear, but that's not going to
solve your problem. That's not going to bring the
relief that you're in need of. The first thing, go forth. Doesn't
that speak to us of repentance? I think so. Turn, turn. But then the second part of God's
answer, stand upon the mount before the Lord. Two things,
go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. In other words,
look upon the Lord. Go out of this cave where it's
dark and damp, Discouragement, weariness, fretfulness, and everything
else. And stand on the mount before
the Lord. Look to the Lord. Now I want
to turn this. I want to take this and turn
this to you and I to make application. Because all of us have been in
these caves at one time or the other. And there may be those
here today who are in one of these caves, either the cave
named fear, weariness, or discouragement. First of all, to the fearful,
those who are in this cage, it's dark. It's discouraged. It's dank. What's the answer? Go forth, stand upon the mount
before the Lord, and look to Christ now upon the cross. Look to Christ upon the cross. Someone says, I'm fearful that
I may not be one of God's elect. I'm fearful that I may have committed
the unpardonable sin. I'm fearful that my faith and
repentance is really not true faith and repentance. I'm fearful
that I do not love the Lord like I should. What is God's answer
to each and every one of these fears plus a thousand more? by which God's children are tempted. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
to relieve each and every one of those fears. Look to Christ
upon the cross. Look to His blood, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of the Lamb of God, the
perfect infinite, valuable blood of Jesus Christ. Look to the
blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse from all sin, not most, but all
sin. Look to the righteousness of
Christ to be all your righteousness, not most of it, all your righteousness. Look to the God of all grace
to be gracious to you. Go forth, stand on the mount
before the Lord, look to Christ upon the cross. I doubt that
there's a child of God in heaven today, and there are many there,
thousands, even billions, no doubt. But I doubt there's a
child of God in heaven today who has not at one time or the
other been in this cave called fear. and has experienced some
of the things that I just mentioned. I know there are many, many more.
Tormented by one fear or the other, but looking to Christ
upon the cross is the answer to everyone. As the hymn writer
said, see from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and blood
flow mingled down. He was made a curse that he might
redeem us from the curse of the law. He was made to be sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He suffered four
sins, just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Go forth. Stand upon the mount
before the Lord. Look to Christ upon the cross. If you're in that cave and you're
suffering today from one of many fears that God's children experience,
what's the solution? Look to Christ upon the cross.
To the weary. People get in this cave. weary,
go forth. Same thing, only with this difference. Go forth, stand upon the mount
before the Lord, and look to Christ before the throne. Now I said, first of all, with
those fears, look to Christ upon the cross. But now I say, look
to Christ before the throne of God. You know, in two of Paul's
church epistles, He exhorted, Brethren, be not weary in well-doing. In Hebrews chapter 12, the writer
said, Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said,
My beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. I know that God's children, sometimes
we grow weary. I've never been weary of the
Lord's work. I never have. But I have been
weary in the Lord's work. Not of it, but in it. And sometimes I think
all of us experience this. What is God's answer? Well, get
out of the cave, first of all. Leave the cave behind. Stand
on the mount. Look to the Lord upon the throne. When we think of the Lord Jesus
Christ before the throne, we realize that He's there, living
there, always there to make intercession for all of us who come unto God
by Him. And the writer of Hebrews said
this, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feelings of our infirmities. It's possible in that long line,
more than possible, probable, in that long line of priests
from Aaron all the way down to Christ, 1,500 years, it's very
possible that some of those men who occupied that place of high
priest was unfeeling, uncaring men. But we have not a high priest
like that. Our high priest can be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. And number three, to the disheartened
who are in a cave, same solution. Go forth. Stand upon the mount
before the Lord. This time, look to Christ upon
the throne. Look to Christ upon the cross.
Look to Christ before the throne, and now look to Christ on the
throne. You know, Paul himself, in one
of his letters, he confessed to being perplexed. We see things,
we experience things in this life that are surely perplexing.
They are to me. But at the same time that Paul
said that he was perplexed, he said, I'm not in despair. I want
you to know that. I'm perplexed, but I'm not in
despair. Why? Because I know, I know that
the Lord Jesus Christ is upon the throne. And I know that He's
reigning, He's ruling over all creation. There's nothing from
the smallest thing that takes place in this world to what we
would consider some great thing that is not under the control,
the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. All power, all authority has
been given unto Him as the God-man mediator and He is upon that
throne and He's reigning and He's ruling and everything everything
is going right on course. Right on course. He's the sovereign ruler of all
things. If we look to Christ upon the
throne, it's His will, and He's already told us this. It's His
will that we be there with Him. That's His will. Well, is anyone
going to overthrow his will, cause his will not to come to
pass? No. He's the sovereign ruler over
all. And he has told us, Father, I
will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am
that they may behold my glory. This life with the things that
dishearten us and perplex us is going to soon be over. I mean,
for the youngest person here today to the very oldest. This
life is fleeting and it's short compared to eternity. Compared
to eternity, we are here for just a day, if even that long. And then we fly away, as the
psalmist said. Look to Christ upon the throne
and recognize and realize that He is there, and because He's
there, if you trust in Him, if you know Him as your Lord and
Savior, you will be there with Him. You will. Now here's the
last thing, last question. What happened when the Lord passed
by? God told Elijah, and remember
this, Elijah knew the voice of God. This is not the first time
God has spoken to him. Now how did he speak to him?
I don't know. Audible voice? Maybe. Speak to him in his heart? Maybe. I don't know how he spoke
to him. But I do know this, that when God speaks to you, and He
speaks to me, it's not going to be with an audible voice.
And I know something else. He's never going to tell us to
do something contrary to His written Word. Had a man recently
tell me, I just believe God spoke to me. Well, in hearing that
message, he refuses to do something that the Word of God clearly
tells us to do. How could that have been the
Lord? It wasn't. It couldn't be the Lord. But
however God spoke to Elijah, Elijah knew. He had heard God
had spoken to him before. Go forth and stand upon the mount
before the Lord. And when he stood there upon
that mount, do you know what took place? It says in verse
11, he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord,
and behold, the Lord passed by. The Lord passed by. Great and strong wind rent the
mountains. I remember Elijah had been on
that Mount Carmel. He'd seen those false prophets
slain. Did he wonder why? Why was it
that the nation did not turn back to God? Why was it there
wasn't a great awakening or revival in the land? Well, God passed
by, and first of all, there was a strong wind, and it rent the
mountain. Certainly it wasn't because God
lacked power. ability to grant such an awakening,
a revival, a turning of them back to God. Break the pieces
of the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. and after the fire a still small
voice. Now notice this. And it was so
when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle
and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave. When he wrapped his face in that
mantle, Doesn't that show us how he humbled himself before
the Lord? What right would I have to question
God? If he had questioned the Lord's
doings, what right have I to question such a God as this? I think this is much like when
Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and those seraphims,
remember they had three sets of wings and with two that covered
their faces, and with two that covered their feet. In other
words, in the passing by of God Almighty, the holiness of God,
the rightness of God, the wholeness of God, Elijah humbled himself. He covered himself in his mantle. When God passes by, This will
always be the experience of God's people. We will humble ourselves
before Him. Such a great God. Elijah, what
doest thou hear? You may be here today and God
may be asking you that question. What are you doing here today?
Are you afraid? Are you weary? Are you discouraged? No cause. No cause. Go out of the cave and look to
Christ. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us here today. I'm going to sing a few verses of
hymn number 124. Then we'll be dismissed. 124. Let me remind us again now of
midweek service Thursday, 7-15.