This takes place immediately
after Elijah had slain the prophets of Baal after the Lord had set
fire down and consumed the sacrifice and made Jezebel really mad. One of the beautiful things about
Scripture is that though sin is never excused, It is always
honestly accounted for and faithfully recorded. There is a notion in religion
that once a person accepts the precepts of religion and puts
them into practice that he becomes endued with a kind of power to
overcome sin and his willpower to keep himself, and by his willpower
to keep himself from fear and temptation. Wayne Robinson telling
a story one time back before he heard the gospel. He got saved
one of the many times. He had went down front and he
was talking with some preacher. Wayne was trouble because this
was back in the seventies, I guess, maybe the sixties, I can't remember.
But the girls were wearing miniskirts and high heel shoes. And Wayne
couldn't help but look. He talked to that preacher. He
says, you know, I thought when I If I got saved, I wouldn't
have no trouble. But what are you going to do
about these girls walking around here like this? It's hard not
to look. That preacher said, well, if you ever really get
saved, you won't have no problem with it. Wayne began to discover that
that preacher didn't know what the heck he was talking about. We don't have the power to overcome
sin. We simply don't. Might as well just admit it to
ourselves. It's the truth. Only the Spirit can do that through
us. To subdue our desires. Anyone who knows Christ also
knows that such thoughts about being able to overcome sin are
disgustingly delusional. No one can doubt the authenticity
of Elijah as the exemplar of a great prophet of God. The prophet of the one true God.
He prayed and the Lord shut up heavens for three and a half
years. At the end of that period, he
threw down the gauntlet and challenged the prophets of Baal to prove
that their God was God and they failed. And when the true and
living God made himself known with fire from heaven, Elijah
drew out his sword and slew 450 men. just cut their heads off. No
doubt this man is a man of God. All of them were the hirelings
of Jezebel and Ahab. There can be no question of his
boldness before God and men. Yet in this chapter we find him
fleeing for his life at the threat of Jezebel and saying he'd rather
be dead than face that woman. He'd rather be dead. He did not
speak in terms of departing as Paul did, to be with the Lord,
but rather to be relieved and released from the troubles and
fears. James was true when he said of
Elijah, he was a man subject to like passions as we are. Elijah was not special. He was
not special. He was not an example of a transformed
and rehabilitated human being. He was real and genuine and subject
to the fears and frailties that attend the human creature. This
is not an anomaly in the life of the child of God. Great courage
may be shown in a moment. In a moment later, the same courage
may turn to fear and failure. We have but to think of Simon
Peter denying the Lord three times just hours after he had
proclaimed his unshakable allegiance to Christ. And yet again when
he gave in to the Judaizers at Antioch and left the fellowship
of those saved by grace to align himself with the circumcision.
Take heed lest when you think you stand, you fall. That's what the Lord said. As
in every case, we must remember the overriding scheme here in
Elijah's life as every child of God is the divine, sovereign
providence of Almighty God. Elijah's steadfastness served
to glorify the grace of God, but so will his timidity and
his fear in the end. The steps of Elijah are not haphazard. He is reacting as a frail human
being But every aspect of his story was to glorify the grace
that sustained him on the mountain of courage and in the valley
of despair. It was grace that sustained him
when he stood before those false prophets. It was grace that sustained
him when he faced insurmountable odds, or seemingly so, against
the organized and well-ordered machine. of Baal's horde of religion,
and it was grace that sustained him with sustenance and direction
in his darkest hour. Hiding under a juniper tree,
wanting to die. What happened? God sent him angels
with food and water and said, you've got a hard journey ahead
of you. You're going to need this sustenance. On Carmel and
on Horeb, Elijah could accomplish nothing of himself. In both cases,
He was shut up to the grace of God to keep and sustain Him,
and that is our state in this life always. We are shut up to
the grace of God. This account is about the Gospel
and its sure success in a world gone mad with religion. God has
never and will never leave Himself without a witness in this earth.
Until time is no more, there will be men and women who will
declare the gospel and there will be a church to hear and
receive the message and send it out. Anyone who names the
name of Christ, whether they know him or not, find themselves
under attack from individuals as well as global governmental
consensus in this day. The account before us assures
us that there is nothing new under the sun. This has all happened
before. And this is the course laid out
for the gospel and will continue until the Lord returns and reveals
that global consensus is but kindling for the fire. And the
fear often struck in the hearts of believers but a way to bolster
the confidence of the infidel into the axes laid to the root.
The stops are kicked out and the entire vainglorious mausoleum
tumbles to the earth in ruin. Jezebel's threat Whether sincere
or just an effort to get rid of Elijah served to start Elijah's
journey on another mission. Though God will in time grant
Elijah's request and take him to glory, there is much left
for Elijah to do before he finishes his course. He has some things
to learn in order to teach us and a young prophet to train
that will take his place. Providence will bring these ordered
things to their appointed end, as it always does. I'll be honest
with you, in these days when my child has been sick, I have been upset with Providence. I have wept over Providence. But in my heart I know Providence
is right and good. And I just have to hang around
long enough to see how it's going to turn out. That's all I can
do. There are occasions in my ministry
where I have stood bold in the face of the enemy. There have
been occasions when I have not. Elijah, after asking for death
and taking refuge under a juniper tree, is fed bread and water
by an angel twice. This was done to give him strength
to travel to Old Horeb, which was Sinai. There He will supernaturally
be sustained for 40 days and 40 nights until He is brought
to see things as they are. The specific number of days is
used to reveal that it was a time of trial and a time of faith
and testing and revelation. It rained 40 days and 40 nights.
In the flood, Moses was 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai.
Christ was 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. All trials,
temptations, and the revelation of Christ. The trial of faith will make
faith to be revealed as more precious than fine gold, according
to Scripture. After patience has had her perfect
work. Only after. This takes place
on Sinai. The entire episode is something to
teach us about the law and grace. On Sinai, where Elijah is taking
refuge in a cave, still desiring to die and be released from his
troubles and cowering under the threat of Jezebel, he hears the
words of the Lord. That's when you're going to hear
it too. I think it was old. I can't remember
his name. That happens as you get older.
You forget people's names. Jay Wimberly was his name. He
said, if the Lord wants to talk to me, he's got to keep the pressure
on. If the Lord wants to talk to me, and you know that's true,
don't you? When do you pray? Now I'm not talking about saying
pretty words. I mean sometimes getting down on your knees and
just crying because you ain't got words. When the pressure's
on. That's when the Lord will talk
to you. Throughout scripture that's when he talks to his people.
The Lord questions Elijah and says, what are you doing here?
What are you doing here? Why are you here? Now the Lord
knows the answer. Especially the answer that Elijah
doesn't even know. But the question is to bring
Elijah to confession to face the truth. For Elijah, he is
there out of fear and believing that he is the only servant of
God left on the face of God's earth. Even though he stood stalwartly
against the prophets of Baal. It may seem like a little bit
of a pity party he's having, but unless you've been in the
midst of a bunch of religious nuts ready and willing to put
you out of business, unless you've experienced the difficulty of
raising the banner of Christ when you're the only one in the
room who believes the truth, don't be too hard on Elijah.
Sometimes it's hard, ain't it? You know what you believe, and
you'll die for what you believe. They'll put you in a bunch of
room and a bunch of people don't believe it. See if you raise
the banner up. You probably won't. I have. I
haven't in times. I have in times, but I have it
in times too. Verses 11-13. Let's read them. The Lord said, Go forth and stand
upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by
in a great and strong wind, ripped the mountains, breaking the pieces
of the rock 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. And it was so when Elijah
heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out
and stood in the evening of the cave, entering of the cave. And
behold, there came a voice unto him, saying, What doest thou
hear, Elijah? The first lesson is this, that
wrath and judgment and punishment do not affect the heart of the
rebel. Jezebel was plenty mad. God had sorely punished her and
her false prophets. Didn't make her repent. Made her full of anger and hate
toward God. Baal and his followers and his
chief promoter Jezebel had been dealt a harsh and devastating
blow. Her God has been revealed to be an ineffectual, powerless,
and pitiful laughingstock. The true God has manifested himself
in power, and her bought and paid for profits are decimated
carcasses. Her response is to seek to kill
the prophet of God. Judgment only made her angry.
Secondly, Sinai is no place to hide. No place to hide. The law never has and never will
be a place of comfort. The poet said, I cannot go to
the law, nor hope, nor comfort from it. Draw that song that
moose sings. The mountain said with a frowning
face, this mountain is no hiding place. Thirdly, Elijah could
not be about the business of God while on Sinai, and neither
can you. So at the end of this account,
Elijah is sent away from Sinai. Finally, while hiding in fear
and having given up all hope, God reveals the Gospel. The best
place to be for a child of God is at the end of His rope. It
is the best place for you to be. The Lord told Elijah to go
to the mouth of the cave and there should him three things,
a tornado, an earthquake, and a fire. These three things wrought
great destruction in their paths. And after showing these three
phenomena, each ends with a declaration that the Lord was not in any
of them. No, He was in all of them and the cause of all of
them because the Lord is in the whirlwind and the clouds are
the dust of His feet and He's the one who sends earthquakes.
We know that. We know that the Word of the Lord, that He uses
each of these elements to reveal Himself. Just prior to this,
the Lord let it be known that He was God by sending fire to
consume the sacrifice. What does it mean that the Lord
was not in the wind, that the Lord was not in the earthquake,
the Lord was not in the fire? It has to do with capacity or
in what character the Lord reveals Himself. These elements are generally
employed to represent God in justice and in judgment, but
are not the full revelation of God. in all His attributes, especially
those that He declares to be His very glory, which is that
He will make His goodness pass before you. He will declare the
name of the Lord before you. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy, and He will be gracious about whom He will
be gracious. That's His glory. He said not be in the wind or
the earthquake and the fire, because He does not reveal Himself
in judgment to His elect. He reveals that judgment has
taken place, but not on them. He reveals that stripes have
been laid on their transgressions, but their transgressions were
on the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is good news
that there is no wrath against the elect, rather Only the expression
of mercy and grace revealed in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Debbie loves tornadoes. That
gal. She'd get online and watch tornadoes
all day long. She loves tornadoes. They're
destructive. They're scary. They're powerful. And they're God's judgment. Ain't
no doubt about that. That's how God reminds us that
He's still in charge. He listens to people talk afterwards.
Let's just listen to the language of people who have no interest
in Christ whatsoever. They say things like, there must
be a purpose in this. We have no control. They're admitting
something, aren't they? They're admitting something.
Our Lord said to the prophet and the preachers of the gospel,
comfort ye my people. Comfort you, my people. Speak
to their heart. And whirlwinds and earthquakes
and fire are no comfort. They're no comfort at all. Then
came a still, small voice. Note the chronology. After the
wind, the quake, and the fire comes a still, small voice. The
gospel comes to the elect after judgment and justice have been
executed on the substitute. But the gospel does not come
in a noisy or a shaking manner. I know people like to think it
does. I've been to meetings where there's shouting matches. You ain't holy if you ain't a-shouting.
Well, I've watched those, too. I used to like to sit on the
back of such meetings, sit on the very back pew, and watch
the people that shouted, because that was the fun part. Almost
everyone that shouted big time looked, looked around to see if people
noticed that they shouted. And then they was waiting for
somebody else to out shout them, and then they'd out shout them.
Big deal. I remember when Henry Husky first
came to this church, and I preached on a Wednesday night the first
night he came. I think he told a Now all Henry had ever known
was somebody getting up and hollering and carrying on like an idiot,
running back and forth in front of the pulpit, not teaching the
scriptures, hollering and carrying on and trying to get people's
emotions stirred up. That's all he'd ever known. But he'd come
to hear the gospel and he heard it. God saved him and I baptized
him over in that hole over yonder across the street. And when he
never said that anymore, he would say, thank you, Father, for that.
Thank you, preacher, for that message. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. It's a still, small voice, you
see. Silent sometimes. Heard only
by the one for whom it's intended. Sometimes it's seemingly insignificant. A thing that nobody would think
worthwhile. Because the Word of God is heard
through the hearing of the ear. but it's heard in the innermost
man, in his heart. In his heart. The Lords of my
sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give unto them
eternal life. I can say to you, have you ever
audibly heard the voice of Jesus Christ? No, you've heard my voice,
the voice of other preachers. We can't do nothing for you.
We can just tell you something and we have to quit. Because
if we get involved in the other end of it, we mess up things. But if you've heard the gospel,
you've heard it from a preacher, but it wasn't these ears that
heard it. Somehow that word, that magnificent, glorious power
of God and salvation reached down to your soul and found purchase
in your heart. And what you heard was the voice
of Jesus Christ. Still. Small. Not an earthquake. Not a tornado. Not a firestorm. The voice of
Jesus Christ. When Elijah heard the voice,
what did he do? Covered up his face. Took his
mantle and covered up his face. Everywhere in Scripture that
was done. To clothe the eyes from seeing
God's glory, Moses covered his eyes. God covered Moses' eyes
in the cleft of the rock when Elijah was sent to anoint new
kings in Syria and Israel. It was not to, it was to assure
Elijah that they had, Jezebel's days were over. Jezebel and Ahab
said, we're gonna kill you. God said, Elijah, go anoint some
new kings. Cause these ain't really the
kings anyway, just think they are. They're done for. Dog's
going to be licking some blood here pretty soon off of a chariot. Elijah need not fear for his
life or wish to if we're at the end. Those circumstances are
tough. Finally in grace the Lord showed
Elijah that though it seemed he was alone and all the world
was against him, that he was the last one, and we've all felt
like that to some degree. I can't tell you how many phone
calls I get from people all over the world, or emails, or messages,
saying, there's nobody here. There's nobody. I feel like I'm
the only one. And I'm pleased to tell them
you're not the only one. The Lord said, I'll hide you.
You're not the only one. I've got 7,000 in Israel that
have not bowed their knee to Baal. He said that in Acts to Paul. I
have much people in this place. I have much people in this place.
Why do I preach the Gospel? How many converts you seen? I
don't know. How many people come to know
Christ? I don't know. Some people have confessed Him. I baptized
him and I'm thankful for it. Seen much later, not much. Not much. When I got here there
was 12 people. After a year there was 8. Something
went wrong I suppose. We didn't see anything except
those 8 or 10 people for a long time. And then, God gave us a
season of harvest. I'm baptized by, I think over
a period of five years, I've baptized about 10 or 11 people.
I ain't have anything to do with it. It's God's business to add
to the church daily them that shouldn't be saved, or would
be saved, or must be saved. We're not alone. We preach the
gospel because God's still got some people out there. How do
we know? Because He ain't wound this thing
up yet. he ain't wounded up. And don't
fear about all this apocalyptic garbage that goes on in the news. It cracks me up. I've been studying cult since
I was a boy because I was just interested in the psychology
of the cult. You know what's true of every
one of them? The world is coming to an end. It's apocalyptic. We don't do
be here. We don't do something about this
and don't do something about that, the world is going to end.
That's how you get people afraid. Don't be afraid. Christ is coming again. It may
be today. There's nothing that prevents
Him, as far as I can see in Scripture. But that ain't a thing to be
afraid of, is it? You know what the word apocalypse
means? been wrongly interpreted or wrongly
employed. It's the title of the last book
of the Bible. The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. It means revelation. It means revelation. The false gods of Jezebel, they're
gone. Jezebel is soon to be gone. God
is still speaking to His people the way nobody can hear and see,
in a still small voice in their hearts. And they know that the best is yet to come.
The best is yet to come. Father bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name.