Elijah is one of those great figures of the Holy Scriptures. When you consider his life and his translation into heaven, he stands out compared to many other of the prophets. He was a man who had raised the dead, a man by whose prayers the rain had ceased to come, he was a man who by his prayers had called down the fire of God from heaven. He would be a man who would be taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. And as we read in our New Testament reading, he and Moses met with the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. He is altogether one of the great figures of the scriptures. And very often, I think, when we look at Elijah, we say, well, what can we learn from this man? He's so great, and he's so high, and he's so mighty compared to us. But the book of James tells us a wonderful thing. It tells us he was of like passions as we are. means he was an ordinary human being, a man like ourselves. And that's one of the reasons that we can turn to the scriptures and we can learn lessons from the life of this man Elijah. And tonight I want us to look at Elijah and what we see of his nature and his character as revealed for us in the first Kings in chapter 19 And the first thing I want us to note this evening is Elijah Desperd. Elijah Desperd. We enter the story just after that great crisis of Mount Carmel. He had challenged all the prophets of Baal and Asherah, and God had sent down fire from heaven, and that had consumed the And the people of Israel who had gathered there, they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And Elijah had the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah put to death. It seemed that the crowning moment of his life had come. The victory over Baal was certain, and that Baal worshipped had been absolutely and utterly defeated. It is the hour of Elijah's triumph. And yet, when we come into the 19th chapter, we read this in the second and third verses. 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, he arose and went for his life, came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. We would have expected But Elijah would have walked into Jezreel and would have disposed Ahab and Jezebel and established a new godly king. But what happens? Word comes from the palace. Word comes from Jezebel. And what does he do? He turns and he runs. We're told he runs to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah. And the important thing that we need to note about Beersheba was it was the very last town in Judah. It wasn't a case that Elijah had fled and crossed the border into Judah, but undoubtedly he would have been welcomed by the men and women of Judah who worshipped and served God. Jehoshaphat, I think, was king at this time. He would have welcomed a man like Elijah. But Elijah flees. He doesn't stay in Judah. He goes to the very border the last time. And there he leaves his servant. And once his servant goes, Elijah runs even further. He runs into the wilderness. He has despaired. Now he finds himself in the wilderness, sitting under the juniper tree. And as he lay and slept, verse four, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. What has brought this tremendous change in this man? This man who had defied the king to his face, this man who had mobilized the people of Israel, the man who had stood the victor of karma, mighty knight despairing under a juniper tree in the wilderness. It's because Elijah had a lot to learn about God and a lot to learn about God's ways. You see, we can make the mistake of thinking that the prophets knew everything there was to know about God, but they didn't. And Elijah shows us in this passage that he is a man of like passions as we are. He was a man who needed to learn more of God. He needed to lift his eyes from himself and he needed to lift his eyes onto God. And so he's taken to Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, the scriptures also call it. And it was the place where God had formed the nation of Israel. had delivered the 10 commandments and given to his people the law and made the covenant with them. And possibly into that very space where God had shielded Moses as he passed Moses by in his glory, Elijah comes and finds refuge. Then God comes to Elijah in a very special visitation of his presence. And they asked him a question in verse 9. What doest thou hear, Elijah? And God in many ways is asking Elijah, what are you doing? You're not doing what I called you to do. You're not in the land of Israel leading the people of God back to me. You're fled, fled to this mountain. What are you doing here? Why have you come here? Why aren't you doing the task to which I have called you? And Elijah gives a reply. He says, in verse 10, he says, I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts, Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel are forsaken by covenant, thrown down on nine altars, and slain by prophets with a sword. And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life. take it away. Here we see the problem that has brought Elijah to this point. He had imagined that the victory of Mount Carmel would be the end of the matter, that Baal worship would disappear, a snow and a ditch on a sunny day. He imagined that that one mighty demonstration of the power of God would be enough to break the hearts of men and women who were lost in their sins and in their wickedness. But he's not dealing with anybody. He's dealing with Jezebel, who was the real power and the throne in those days. Jezebel was a strong woman. You often hear the saying, sometimes a woman wears makeup, somebody will say she's a painter. Jezebel. And that comes from the fact that Jezebel is said to have been putting on her makeup when Jehu comes as part of his military coup. And some people think she was putting on her makeup to flatter Jehu. tried to wean her way in a good book. She wasn't. She was putting the makeup on because she was determined to die as a queen. Because she goes to the window and she yells abuse at Jehu. She calls him a zimmeri, a well-known traitor and murderer of kings. Such a woman. who would prepare herself in a finery to face what she knew was her inevitable death, was not the sort of woman who was a pushover. And soon as the word comes to her, she does not crumble, her heart does not break, she does not repent of her sins, she adds to them. And she sends word to Elijah, by tomorrow I will have you dead. And Elijah, this word comes to Elijah, and this message from her says to Elijah, Elijah thought, all I have done has been for nothing. All I have sought and achieved, it's useless. The forces of Baal are strong. They're powerful. They're ready to fight. They're ready to kill, and Elijah In his naivety, he thought that the demonstration and karma would have swept away the prophet, swept away Baalism, paganism, and all the wickedness that went to it. And once he gets this message from Jezebel, Elijah flees because Elijah believes that the power of God has been played out. He doesn't know what more can be done. He has done all at God's command. And it seems to Elijah that no matter what has happened, the power of God has failed. That there is nothing left to be done. Elijah has failed and here at the place the very covenant community had been born in this mountain. It is now in danger of seeking, of ceasing to exist. And these words betray an impatience with God. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel are thrown down by covenant, thrown down nine altars and slain my prophets with a sword. and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And there seems to be a sense in which he is accusing God of not being concerned about the honor and the glory of his name. And in many ways, the writer seems to be saying to God, you know, I have been more concerned about you, about your name, and your covenant than you have. We have done everything But you have asked of us. And that woman is still in Jerusalem, still in power, still in control, still determined to crush your people and to set the worship of Balaam. And she has done such a good job that I, I alone am left of the people of Israel to worship and serve you. I have looked after your interests better than you have and what it is, it has come to nothing. Quite often we like Elijah. We look at the world around us. We look at what is happening. We look at the rampant expansion of the homosexual agenda. We see moves in our own province to introduce abortion. We see a decline of the church. It seems that year by year the numbers coming decrease and the influence the church has on our society is decreasing. We look around at the world, we see the growth of ISIS. We see the slaughter and the murder in the streets of Paris in the streets of Kenya. We look around at the nations and we see them preparing for war. We look at our society and the neighbors around us and we see how a few of them take the word of God seriously. We preach, we teach, Yet we see very few souls converted and little growth in our congregations. We look at the state of the Christian church in general and we see more and more abandoning the morality and the teachings of the Bible to try and fit in with the new world in which the church finds itself. We see Christians bending over backwards that they do not offend other religions, especially Islam, by what they say. And like Elijah of old, we despair. We despair. We who are Christians, we feel these things very keenly in our souls. We see men spurning and blaspheming the name of Christ at every opportunity. Very often we only ever hear our neighbors say the word, the name of God or the name of Christ when they're using bad language. And we despair. We look at our own souls and our own sinfulness We despair. And at times we look and we feel that, like Elijah, that we are more concerned with the honour of God than God is with his own honour. That we want to see the men and women of our nation converted, we want to see them brought under the authority of God and acknowledging God. And we look at what happens and we then think, that we care more about the name of God than God cares about his own name. You see, we need to learn the lessons that Elijah learned in Mount Sinai that day. So the second thing I want us to note this evening is Elijah learns to look at God. Elijah learns to look at God. So God begins to teach Elijah. He calls him out of the cave. And we're told that he passes by. And as he passed by and gave a revelation of himself to Moses, he passes by and gives a revelation of himself to Elijah. First of all, there comes a great and strong wind. Then there's an earthquake. Then there's fire. And these great events remind us of the manifestation of God upon this mountain at the giving of the law. But the scriptures go on to say something strange. But the Lord was not in the wind. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. But the Lord was not in the fire. It's only after these things pass by that God speaks. And what our Authorized Version says is a still small voice. And the edition I use, it says it could be translated as delicate whispering voice. I remember doing this passage in Hebrew at college and the professor saying it is very difficult to actually translate the Hebrew into any form of English that we could grasp. But there's this still small voice. In the calmness, in the quietness, in the smallness of what is happening, God speaks to Elijah. And Elijah had to learn the lesson that God works equally as much in the quietness and in the ordinary things as he does in the spectacular and the things which grasp and hold our imaginations. That's a lesson that we need to learn because there are many Christians in our world today and they believe that the gospel can only be preached in our day and age if there are miracles And there are signs and wonders. And they say, in our modern age, men will not believe if the gospel is simply preached. They must see signs, they must see miracles, they must see wondrous events. You see, they have the same idea of a light jihad. that God is only to be found in the large and in the spectacular and in the great. And Elijah has to learn on Mount Sinai that God works in the quietness. He works where he is not observed by men. He is working in the hearts and the lives of seven thousand people in Israel, who have turned their back on Baal, and who have served God in spirit and in truth. God is to be found in the days of quietness too, and although it seems little is happening, God is working out his purposes. It's said that more Muslims are coming to faith in Christ these days than at any other time in history. And that number has increased since the rise of ISIS. Because what they are doing and the way they are behaving are making the ordinary Muslim in the street in the Arab world begin to doubt their religion. They're beginning to say, does our religion really teach this? Is this in accordance with what our Prophet did? And they're going back to the sources, and they're beginning to read the sources, and they're beginning to find that this, yes, is in the Quran. It's in the Hadith literature. And they begin to see the fruits of Islam. And slowly, but surely, they're beginning to open up. to the gospel of Christ. It's not spectacular. You're not hearing of thousands and thousands being converted in lands like Syria and other lands, but it is happening. God is moving in the quietness and beginning to call out his people from the Arab nations. Our eyes are locked on the spectacular But in the background, God is working. You see, Elijah had looked only at the great act of Carmel. He had looked at what God had done. He had not looked at God himself. He was looking at the works of God, but he was not looking to God himself. He was not considering the character and the nature of God. He thought that the great act of karma would be the means to convert the Israelites, and now he learns it is by the word of God, in the quietness that God calls his people to himself and accomplishes his purpose. You see, this vision of God, this vision of God that Elijah had reminds us that we too need to look to God. Because very often we look to ourselves and we look to what we do. Very often when people are getting together, Christians are getting together and they're talking, very often you'll hear them say, well we need a mission. People will get converted if we've got a mission. and everything becomes centered around the mission. And instead of looking to God, instead of looking to him to honor his word in the conversion of sinners, they begin to put their faith and their trust in a certain method. Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with missions, don't run away and say James Julie says you shouldn't have missions. But what I'm saying is you shouldn't look to the mission. You should look to the God. whose word is preached in the mission. You see, we keep our eyes upon men, we keep our eyes upon the world around us, and very often when the church sits down and tries to work out how she is to accomplish her mission of preaching the gospel in the world, she comes up with schemes and ideas and plans, purposes, And these are what she puts her trust in. She does not put her trust in God. We have become people who believe that the system works. And that you need to use the system. That's how McDonald's spread throughout the world. They use a system. And that system is the same in every country. It's been worked out scientifically. and Christians fall into that McDonaldised way of thinking. If only we follow a certain rigid type of procedure, then blessing will come automatically. And that line of thinking is no better than magical thinking. It's no better than thinking by using certain rites and ceremonies we can compel God to do what we want him to do. and we have lost sight that God is the sovereign Lord of all who does all things according to the counsel of his will. But we are there to serve him, he is not there to serve us. The God of many modern Christians today is a God who is there to serve them and a God who is there to smooth out the bumps in life. But my friends, sometimes we need the bumps in life because the bumps in life of what knock off the rough corners of us. And they cause us to look to God and to put our trust in Him. You see, Elijah didn't look to God, he looked to himself. Because he believed that he was somehow superior to others. We see that in verse four, he says, it is enough. Now, oh Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. He believed he was better than his fathers. And he could give you evidence for it. He says, well, I have raised a child from the dead. I have called fire from heaven. I have withheld the rain by my prayers. Which of my fathers have done these things? But all this All this had led him to believe that somehow he was better than his fathers. And the word from Jezebel pricks that balloon very, very quickly. He realizes that the forces of wickedness, they haven't gone away. They are still there. They are still powerful. There's still that malevolence against him. And he knows that Jezebel is the woman who will set the equivalent of MI5 on Elijah's back. He runs away. Elijah has lost confidence in himself, but at this point he is yet to regain confidence in God. That's why he says it tonight. I can't go through this anymore. I can't cope with this anymore. I have come to the end of my tether. And so Lord, please take away my life. He has not thought that God is able to use him even yet. And that God will accomplish his purposes even yet. In this vision, in the quietness of the still, small voice, Elijah is forced to focus not upon the miracles, not upon his own strength. He is forced to focus upon God. You see, I'm sure that when the earthquake came, Elijah expected to hear God's voice in the earthquake, as he expected to hear God's voice in the wind when it came at the beginning, and he expected to hear God's voice in the fire. He expected to hear God in the spectacular. Not in the stillness, the quietness of the mountain. He's forced to look at God. And we, we have left off looking at God. We have become obsessed with the world around us and we have become obsessed and trying to be interested in the gospel instead of looking to God. Instead of living in worship and submission to him, we have taken our eyes off God. We have set them upon ourselves and we have set them upon men. The modern Christian church is an idolatrous church because it worships man. I'm sure to many of you that comes as a bit of a shocking statement. But in reality that is the way the Christian Church has gone. It is more concerned with doing what pleases man, of trimming its message to what it thinks the people will accept, what people will embrace, Introducing methods into worship and into evangelism, which are not sanctioned by the word of God, but they hope will draw a crowd. They hope to do these things because they have no faith in God. Because they worship man, and have placed man in the stead of God. Is it any wonder that our lampstands could be removed at any time? Like Elijah, we need to get our eyes off ourselves and those around us because he was too focused on Jezebel and lift our eyes to see God, sovereign Lord of all. The third thing I want us to note this evening is Elijah needed to continue in the service of God. Elijah needed to continue in the service of God. After this vision, God asked Elijah the same question. What doest thou hear, Elijah? And Elijah comes, and he repeats the very same thing. He says, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel are forsaken by covenant, thrown down nine altars, and slain by prophets with the sword. And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. But here, this is no longer an accusation. This is no longer Elijah telling God that he has cared more for God's name than God has cared for his own name. It is Elijah confessing his sin, confessing the thoughts that have brought him here. The thoughts that, yes, he was more concerned about God's name than God was. that he had despaired of the people of Israel, and he had despaired of surviving because they sought his life. He's confessing now what brings him here, and we know this because immediately after this, God commissions him, and he sends him to do three things. He sends him to anoint Hazel to be king over Assyria, He sends him to anoint Jehu to be king over Israel. He sends him to anoint Elijah, the son of Shaphat, to be his successor. And the interesting thing is that of these three things, Elijah only does one of them. That is, he anoints Elijah as his successor. Elisha will tell Hazel that, I suppose you could say in a sense, Elisha commissions Hazel. The king of Syria was a man named Ben-Hadad. He was ill. And he was a man obviously of some faith. Because when he was ill, he didn't send to the pagan gods. He sent word to Elisha. He sent word to the God of Israel, go and see the prophet of the God of Israel to see whether I will live or I will die. And Hazel is one of the commanding officers, one of the generals, is sent to go to see Elisha. And Elisha says, the king lived. But Elisha's crying, he says, why are you crying? He says, because I know what you will do to the people of Israel. And Hazel takes that as a cue. And he comes home and he visits the king. And the king says to him, what does he say? He says, you will live. And as he tells him he will live, he picks up one of the pillows and he smothers the king and makes himself king in Ben-Hadad's place. So Elisha was the man who brings Hazel to power in Syria. And when it comes to Jehu, Elisha sends one of the sons of the prophets. He doesn't go himself. He sends a young man to go. And the young man arrives at the camp, and they look at him, and he's a son of the prophets. They know that. To the hardened soldiers of the Israelite army, they're madmen. And he comes in and he says, I want to speak to Jehu. And he goes in and he tells Jehu, he anoints him and says, God has appointed you king over Israel. And then the young man comes out and he flees for his life. And Jehu comes out and his fellow officers say, what did the madman want with you? And he says, He anointed me king and immediately the army backs Jehu and the cry comes out, Jehu is king and the coup begins. What's so special about this? Why have I taken time to explain all these things to you and who did what? It's because even though Elijah was commissioned, Elijah only did one of the three things. And I think that was very important because it taught Elijah a very great lesson. It taught Elijah that the purposes of God would continue without Elijah. Elijah had seen that he was the only man who could forward the purposes of God. And God really is saying to him here, Elijah, My purposes will continue long, long past your time. You will not even succeed in doing the three things I send you to do. Others will do them. I have other people. And that's why at the end of it, he says to him, do you think that you alone are left? There are 7,000 people in Israel who have not bowed the knee to be healed. My people is still there. My people still exist. And they will accomplish the purposes I purpose. I do not need you, Elijah. I am pleased to use you in my grace and in my love and in my mercy. But I don't need you, Elijah. I don't need you. I am well capable of achieving my purposes without you. Elijah learns his task is to look at God and to do his will. Do we need to learn the tasks of doing what God has given us to do? Do we speak to those we meet about Christ and salvation when the opportunity comes in conversation? And very often it will come in conversation where you can say a word about the gospel, a word about Christ. Do you take that opportunity? Or do you become embarrassed and seek to change the subject? Or do we leave evangelism to those who are paired to do it. That's the minister's job, possibly even the elder's job. Yeah, I might throw in the Sabbath school teachers, but it ain't mine. And we are like that. We sit and we close our mouths and we do not do what God calls us to do. We do not take our part in the fight. We are soldiers of Christ. And that means we are at war. We are at war with a relentless enemy, an enemy who is defeated, but an enemy who will not give up. Do we seek God's will for our lives or do we follow the crowd around us, doing what our neighbors do, pursuing the same things that our neighbors pursue? A good career, bigger house, bigger car. I was reading D.A. Carson recently. And he was saying that very often it is Christian parents who will come to him in a bad mood and who will tear strips of him because he has encouraged their child to go into the ministry or to become a missionary. Doesn't he know that you're not going to make Much of a fortune in this world, if you're going to be a missionary or a minister, that their child has studied for years and years to be an accountant or to be a pharmacist or whatever, and they're throwing it all away. That shows the mentality of Christian people. But they do not see the service of God as of anything important. We wonder why the church seems to be limping along, if it's even limping and not crawling. It's because even the Christian people no longer believe in their God. And becoming more and more convinced that we should be preaching the nature and the character of God, because we have lost a sense of who our God is. We are too wrapped up in ourselves, too wrapped up in this world. We need to come. We need to realize who God is. We need to submit to God. Learn his calling for us. and to put it into practice. My friends tonight, what think ye of God? Well, maybe there's some of you tonight, you're non-Christians, maybe some of you young people, you're not Christians, you're brought here because your parents bring you here. And you sit Sabbath by Sabbath, and you hear the word of God, and it goes in one ear and it goes out the other. And you say, that's all very interesting. But what relevance is to me? I'm not one of your Christians. Well, you see, you've got to learn the same lessons that Elijah learned. Because Elijah was a man of like passions as we are. And you've got to learn to look at God. You've got to learn to put your faith in him and your trust in him. You've got to realize he is the creator of the universe. He is the ultimate being. There is no one like unto him in heaven above or on the earth beneath or on the waters under the earth. And one day all the great powers of this world, the presidents, the prime ministers, the kings, the pop stars, the entrepreneurs, the rich and the poor, the sick and the well, will stand before the living God. and it's his verdict that counts, because his verdict is eternal. There is no, when you come to stand before God, my friends, there is no appeal to the heavenly court of human rights. There is one final court, and that is the court of which God himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, is judge. And when we look at the world around us, when we look at those who would seek to oppose God, who would seek to drive us away from God, we have got to realize that one day we shall stand before God. And we shall give an account of ourselves. You see, you need to come to that point that Elijah came to. You need to despair of yourself. You see, non-Christians, they don't despair of themselves. Elijah could only grow in grace when he finally despaired of himself and his power, when he had nothing left but to cry to God for mercy and for grace. And you need to cry to God for mercy and for grace, because you'll never get to heaven under your own steam. If you could get to heaven under your own steam, the Lord Jesus Christ would not have come. He would not have died upon the cross. Paul says, if righteousness could have been by the law, then righteousness would have been come through the law. Christ would not have died. Men and women could get themselves to heaven. You need to learn to look at God. You need to learn to look at Christ. You need to learn to look at his death upon the cross as your only hope for salvation. in this world and in the world to come. Then you need to learn and to do the will of God. They asked Jesus, what is the work of God? The Lord Jesus said, the work of God is to believe in him whom he has sent. That's the work you must do. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as simple as that. You come in repentance. You come confessing your sins and you throw yourself upon the mercy of God. God has said that all who come to Him, He will in no wise cast out. That promise is sure. That promise is certain. It is in the words of the Lord Jesus we find in Mark chapter 1 in verse 15, it is to repent and believe in the gospel. You see, Elijah, in a sense, had to repent and believe in the gospel. He had to give up his own belief in his own necessity to God and realize that God did not need him, but that he needed God. God spoke to him and God used him. He would come back. He would be a pain in the neck to Ahab and Jezebel for the rest of his days on earth because he met God at Sinai and he knew who God was. He knew that in the quietness of the villages that he passed through, the behind doors he did not enter. The men and women who trusted in God, who did not bow to the Beals, and in the quietness of their lives, they served the living God. You see, the world looks at us. They think we're mad. But we're not. We have God on our side. That doesn't mean that we won't have problems. It doesn't mean life will be smooth. It will be easy. Because we all have to go through difficulties so that we are divorced from this world. Because we're so much wedded to this world, we need to be divorced from it. And we need to learn to look to God. And sometimes those troubles and those difficulties are what bring us to look at God. Same as the troubles and the difficulties in Elijah's life when Jezebel's letter arrived was what brought him to a deeper faith and a deeper knowledge of God. In each of us who are Christians, God is working. He's working his purpose out. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need me. He doesn't need you. He doesn't need any of us. But do you know what the wonderful thing is? He uses us. He takes us. And He uses us. He is pleased to do so. As Paul says, we are co-workers with God. Let us look to our Father. Let us understand His nature and His character. Let us turn away from our sins, let us put our trust in Christ, and let us go forward together with God that the men and women of this world may know that to Him and to Him alone belongs the name of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, the King of glory. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word which has come to us tonight through the life and ministry of this man, Elijah. Lord, we have read that some of us, since we have been children of his great exploits, a man, O Lord, we have looked, a man whom we have admired. And yet, Lord, tonight you have shown us that He was human just like us, that He needed to learn of you, and it is a reminder of us, Lord, that we never are ever complete in our learning of the nature and the character of God. Give us a grace, O Lord, to despair of ourselves, not to look at the world around us, not to look at the enemies of the church. They can make us quake and queel, but to look beyond them to Jehovah Himself, to the Lord of hosts who orders all things according to the counsel of his will. Give us grace to understand that you are working in those silent places where there is not such spectacular things. Yet men and women are being converted and your people are being strengthened. The church will grow. We thank you for your promise to be with your people. Father, if there are any here tonight who do not know you, open their hearts, that they may give heed to your word tonight, that they may despair of their sins, they may despair of ever reaching heaven by their own efforts, that they may turn and throw themselves upon your mercy and upon your grace, that they may find in Jesus Christ the Saviour that they need. that this night may be a night of salvation and grace. Be pleased, Father, to pour your Spirit upon us, and be pleased to send us out to serve you in this world. For these things we pray in the name of Christ, our Saviour and our Lord. Amen.