Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. 62 years of kings in the northern tribes of Israel. We come now to a slower pace and you're thinking, well, the 62 years was fast. Not very fast as we've looked at each king individually. But now we even slow down all the more and it becomes an interesting portion of this first and second kings. Actually a large part of first and second kings is now devoted to Ahab and his rule as we looked at last week. And a new aspect again, somewhat new. We've seen this interactions before between the prophet and the king. We've seen that all throughout our time, even right back to the very beginning when Saul and Samuel lived in Ramah. Saul went to meet him. But we've also seen it in 1 Kings not just in Samuel and Saul and Nathan and Gad and David but also now with 1 Kings chapter 11 we saw that Jeroboam as he's going to Israel and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road so he meets a king, the prophet meets the king to be able to give him a direct word. Or again in chapter 13, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel and Jeroboam was standing on an altar making offerings. And now we come to the interactions between Ahab and Elijah. And this is quite a critical part of our Bible. And I think a great reason for us to be able to study this, A.W. Pink has a great book. I encourage you, if you have a chance to be able to read it, it's called The Life of Elijah. And he basically just walks through the life of Elijah. A.W. Pink is one of those great authors you can read now, even in today's culture. And he was really just as timeless as the facts are of the Bible. You can see him unpack that. But even in the preface to this book, S. M. Hutton wrote in January 1963, January 1963, he wrote this. about A.W. Pink's book, but he said, it is therefore fitting the lessons which may be legitimately withdrawn from Elijah's ministry should be presented afresh to our own generation. The agelessness of prophecy is a striking witness to its divine origin. The prophets are withdrawn, but their messages give a light to each succeeding age. History repeats itself. The wickedness and idolatry rampant in Ahab's reign live on in their gross 20th century profanities and corruptions, 1963. The world illness and ungodliness of Jezebel in all their painted hideous mess, hideousness, have not only intruded into the present day scene, but have become ensconced in our homes and our public life. He continues and says, Our lot is cast in a time of widespread and deep departure from the ancient landmarks of the people of the Lord. Truths which were dear to our forefathers are now trodden underfoot as the mire of the streets. Many indeed claim to preach and republish truth in a new garb. But the new garb has proven to be the shrewd of truth rather than authentic beautiful garments as known to the ancient prophets. It was written in 1963 about the book that A.W. Pink wrote on the life of Elijah. And even if we were to say that is true in 1963, how much more so would we say then that the rampart aspects of our society, the painted hideousness intruded into the present day scene have become ensconced in our homes and our public life. The life of Elijah is a critical aspect for us to be able to study, helpful for us to be able to think and consider, a great challenge for many of us. mainly as I hear even as Christians talk today. And then comparing that maybe to the life of Elijah. As I think about Elijah and his call to be able to stand before kings to speak truthfully, to be placed in difficult and uncomfortable positions because he is listening and being obedient to God's word. As I think of things I've even just recently heard of just talking with some people And their focus seems to be upon their happiness, finding happiness in their life that they avoid pain and hurt at all costs, troubles and discomfort. And people asking this predominant question, doesn't God want me to be happy? You compare that to the life of Elijah. And you see actually what God wants in Elijah is not necessarily his happiness is the first and forefront of his, why he does. He's concerned more about our holiness, about our faith and dependence on him. And Elijah is one of those great examples of all believers, how to be able to live in a wicked and twisted time. But first we need to be able to notice just right off the very beginning how quickly Elijah appears and how he is what we would say is a nobody. In verse one we just see now Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbi. How quickly he appears. Now we've seen prophets appear just as kings are going on the road. And now we see Elijah just come onto the scene before Ahab. Years have gone by without predominant prophets approaching kings. We don't find out much about this period of time. Elijah is a nobody. We find out nothing about what he's done, where he is, where he's going. Interesting quote, again, always interesting by Dale Ralph Davis. And his commentary explains this. He says, I don't have it here, but it says awfully abrupt. No introduction. Hardly a snatch of his resume. We've never heard of him before. And now he is just there. We know nothing about him. Where did he go to seminary? Does he have a wife and children? Is he a sports fan? What hobbies does he enjoy? Does he like being a prophet? All the inane queries, North Americans at least, are dying to know. We don't even know where Elijah met Ahab. And so often in the Bible details are suppressed because the message isn't supremely important. Now some have even suggested that Elijah appears off the scene. out of nowhere, just as Melchizedek appears in Genesis chapter 13, that Melchizedek is the great high priest that has no ancestry that we know of. And he's elevated in the book of Hebrews as the high priest, that Christ is like that high priest with appearing. And so some have said, this is what Elijah is like, that he appears off the scene like the great prophet. The great example of the prophet that Christ comes, the line that Christ descends from. That here Elijah is that forerunner of a prophet. But we do know something that's very important. And again, what he specifically says to Ahab is what is recorded. And he begins his prophecy in a very interesting way. He begins by saying, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives. Now we need to pause and reflect on this opening line. As Elijah just pops up on the scene, we have no introduction. Hello, Ahab, my name is Elijah. I'm prophet of the Lord. The first words that we get written down and recorded for us is, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives. And when preparing sermons, many great preachers in their art and crafting a sermon say one of the most important things you can do is to try and captivate the audience in your first sentence, your first lines. That you can win or lose your audience in what first comes out of your mouth. Now Elijah would pass his preaching 101 class. Because these very first lines are extraordinary. Here in the pages of scripture, we've read through all the wickedness of the kings, all getting worse than the one before. Leading the people astray, establishing false practices and false worships. And as we've seen this, The author of 1 Kings has given God's providential wisdom and understanding of what has happened, that he did wicked things in the sight of the Lord. How God has rendered judgment on these wicked men through wicked men then taking the throne, yet again that he is judging them, provoking the Lord to anger because of their idolatry. and how these kings have acted according to God's judgment. But we get that because it's recorded in Scripture. Think about living in these times. The kings have not devoted themselves to the Lord. God has not been on their words, their lips, their actions. Even just consider the actions of Ahab, the wicked king, the wickedest king. And now he has set up and established, not a house of the Lord, a house of Baal. Jeroboam set up false worship, and at least he said that these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. But here, Ahab's house of Baal, or the altar of Baal, setting up idols in their place. God is absent from his lips. Baal has become Israel's God. Instead of Jerusalem, you have Samaria. Instead of the house of Lord, you have the house of Baal, which again means the house of Lord or the master. They have their own sacrifices, their own worship, their own feasts, their own priests. How absent the Lord, Yahweh, has been from their minds, their thought, their worship, their practices. And yet Elijah's first words, as he meets this wicked king, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives. Now others might think that Yahweh is dead. He's gone away. Yet that's not the reality in this situation. The reality is that God is still living. In these pages of scripture, Even after considering all that we've read through in chapter 16, the downward spiral of what is happening to the nation of Israel, God is still living. That God is even still their God. The covenant-keeping, faithful, steadfast God who promised, as Moses wrote in Exodus 6, that I will take you to be my people and I will be your God. you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." And this is the God who still lives. Now obviously in the pages of Scripture we get those divine glances of providence written down before us. This is what happened because the Lord was rendering judgment. This is what happening because it was all a part of God's plan. Yet in these times, most likely, this is not what was prevalent and what people would have either read or even thought about. And then we got all the times and the people in the times of Elijah, we hear a couple of chapters on that there are some people that are not bowing the knee to Baal. And you wonder what they're thinking, how God is acting, what God is doing in all this instances. Whereas God, it seems like wicked king after wicked king after wicked king ascend to the throne and they're actually getting worse. The wicked kings are winning all the time, time and time again. Worship seems to be going downward and backwards. We're actually reverting back to being a nation like Canaan, worshiping all these pagan gods. The nation that was meant to reflect God's holiness is now looking exactly like nations that are around them, taking on their false worship practices. And yet, Elijah's first words is, God lives. Yahweh lives. Now, does this not bring us comfort? If we have or will or do live in a world, where we do see wicked kings rule and reign. We see men and women set their ways of worshiping false gods and false practices in false ways. Even culturally, I think that we have an understanding that we live in such a different culture today than we have in the past. But besides even the function of technology, and probably other cultural factors such as dress or something, I think that you'd probably find that the predominant sins during the times of Ahab are the predominant sins in the times of our culture even today. Even if you look at the sins of the kings of chapter 16, sins of drunkenness, of Jezebel, or as mentioned in the book of Revelation, sexual immorality, hatred, murder, false worship, setting up cult prostitutes. And I'm sure that you probably see the predominant sins in our culture, the predominant sins of that culture there. Yet still the truth remains as all of this wicked culture is prevailing and winning and seems to be grabbing a foothold. The truth still stands that God still lives. Now this is important for us. As we might see wicked kings come and go, as we might see morals get thrown out the door, as we see worship become a secondary thing or not according to God's word, world. When we see the guy or gal that don't win the election that we want, We see the perversion on TV shows, on commercials. We hear of horrific stories that we wish were tales that we thought would be make-believe but now are in reality. When we see the way the generations seem to be leading and heading, the state of those whom you dearly love seem to be wandering further away from God and his word and his ways. As you see many people not merely just leave the church, but ultimately deny God. And yet we still have this great and glorious comfort. And amongst even those difficult times, we can still say, as Elijah says, God still lives. Nische has this parable of the madman, and he explains this madman that runs around with a lit lantern in the bright morning hours, running into the marketplace, crying, I'm looking for God, I'm looking for God. As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he laughed. And they mocked him. Have you lost him then, said one. Did he lose his way like a child, said another? Is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? Has he migrated? They shouted and laughed at him. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances. He says, God is dead. God remains dead, and we've killed him. How shall we murderers of all murderers console ourselves? which is the holiest and mightiest all the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. He later mourns the fact this madman enters these churches and he sings a song saying that these churches are they not now tombs and sepulchers of God. Now this indeed was the rantings of a madman. Nietzsche explains that he was too early, people didn't understand what he was saying, but in reality God is not dead. Although the madman might not be able to find him or see him, it does not mean that he is dead. The great comfort that we see even from this passage is God still lives. There's a great comfort in truth to be able to say our God is a living God. This is how Elijah approaches and speaks to Ahab who has tried to kill God, wipe him out of Israel's history. And he reminds him that God still lives. Now we also must notice this before, as I've said a couple of times that here even God, not only does he live, but he also still calls himself the God of Israel. That he still identifies with this wicked group of people, that he still calls himself their God. They might have deserted him, they might have walked away from him, but he is still living and he is still their God. As we think about the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all of Israel, that here God still connects Himself with these wicked people. Even the fact that He sends a prophet to the wicked king of Ahab to be able to warn him and tell him, is again a great sign of God's steadfast love to His people, even if they don't wish to hear it. The other aspect that we need to be able to see in this passage is here Elijah, the nobody, the Tishbite from Tishbe and Gilead. He understands one thing, that God lives, Ahab might have denied God, but yet what he says also there, as the Lord of God is Israel, before whom I stand. So not only is God living, not only is God identifying himself with these wicked people, but Ahab stands before God. that he stands before Ahab the king, but he realized there's a greater king that's above Ahab. Reminds you what Peter and John said as they stand before the council and they're instructed in Acts chapter five. They're whipped and beaten and told not to be able to go and tell others about Jesus and his resurrection. And Peter and the apostles answered and they turned. We must obey God rather than men. And so Elijah, in the same way, although Ahab has denied God's existence, has tried to wipe him off the face of the earth, he still lives and Elijah still understands that he serves that God, the living God. Whereas Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. Why does Paul share the gospel? Because he understands that he's not accountable to the people who might reject the gospel. He's accountable to the God who sent him to proclaim the gospel in the first place. That again, Elijah understands the concept that even if Ahab denies God's existence, God's word, God's power, Elijah is still accountable and responsible to God. that many people can deny God's existence. That doesn't mean he doesn't live. He still exists. He still lives. And everybody will stand before him, even if they deny him. And sadly, I think sometimes we're too quick to be able to jump on and to be able to acknowledge other people's worldviews and acknowledge them as themselves and we seek to be able to try and understand their world. We start to argue or discuss or try to logically try and explain things and we try and say, well, let's step into your world where there's a world where there's no God. But that's not how it works. God is still living and God created the world. How can you step into a world that God hasn't created? Everything aparted is about what God has done. We'll see it even in tomorrow's devotion that we send out on Thursday. We're beginning chapter, question 10 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which I think is probably one of the most controversial questions that is asked and answered today. How did God create man? God created man, male and female. And we often get hung up that the issue is about male and female, the binary nature of gender. But the reality I think, I think before we get to the binary nature of gender of male and female that people get hung up on, the issue is that we lost the argument right when we said God created man. We step into their world where we say that man created man or people created persons. That's a social construct that is made up and we try and debate the male and female. First, we need to be able to acknowledge that God created man. Once you start with that foundation, then you can ask the question, why did God create man? To glorify him, to enjoy him forever. And so, again, Elijah begins and he says that God lives and I stand before God. And you see this throughout his ministry, he is not too concerned, although he has moments of anxiety, of fear, of uncertainty, of trying to avoid the persecution that's pushed on him by Ahab and Jezebel, he still fundamentally understands this truth that he is accountable to God as a prophet, and that is his first and highest calling. And even here, as he says, as the Lord lives, this is often an Old Testament way of being able to explain this oath. And specifically here, Elijah is bound because he stands before God and is accountable to God. That when people take the stand, often the old oath and formula that was given when taking the stand was they understood that they make an oath before God. And they ask God to be able to judge the truthfulness of their statement. Not merely with the truth, but the searcher of hearts who knows the motives of why people say what they do. That he realizes that he's going to be judged by God and saying, God, judge me for the words that I say. that even when we see it in things like the oath of an office, they stand before God, whether they acknowledge that or not, that they're going to be judged by God, by their actions, their words, in what they say and they do in that official function. And so Elijah understands that living God, whom he is accountable for, who he is a prophet called to be able to bear witness to, And again, Elijah will do great and many great and difficult things in his life. But again, he understands this one truth, his God is living and he stands before that living God. The third thing that we see here is the actual words now that Elijah explains. See this, that there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word. Again, it's interesting to be able to think about what we read or talked about last week with Ahab establishing all his false ways and false practices, switching and the contrast that we see between Baal and God, the battle of two gods. Both similar terminologies, Lord and Lord, Master. We know they're not the same, but we understand that there's this battle that's going on between these two things, two gods. We'll find out, this battle comes down to this ultimate showdown between the prophets, the prophets of Baal, the 450 prophets of Baal, and the one prophet, Elijah, the prophet of the Lord. But we also must remember that here, Baal is the god of fertility, so too with Asherah. that Baal is often either sun god or fertility god, and Asherah is the god of fertility, goddess of fertility. And when you think about it in an agrarian culture, like the living, where does all of this come from? Where does life stem from? Well, if you're gonna have any form of life, you need rain to be able to provide for you. Now we understand where it comes from, the God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, but their perception is one that it comes because their God shows them favor, that their gods water the fields to be able to grow the crop, to be able to water the garden, that when there's times of great famine, they either thought that their God was going away to be able to fight a battle, to be able to protect them, that they weren't serving him in the right way, And they saw that often these times of no rain was a sign that they need to get on their God's good side. And you think about all the prophets of Baal that are there that are going to be praying and asking and seeking and sacrificing to be able to get this rain to come. But here we see at the very beginning that Elijah says that there will be neither dune nor rain in these years except by my word. But again, in this battle of these two gods, Baal and Yahweh, Yahweh's prophet is the one who is able to withhold the rain. But again, we're blessed to be able to have all of scripture to be able to understand this statement here that begins in one verse in 1 Kings chapter 17, verse one. Do we actually find out God's providence in all of this situation? Do we find out all of this happens because Elijah is a praying man, not just merely a prophet who stands before God, but he's a prophet who kneels before God. James tells us in James chapter five, therefore confess your sins to one another, pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power and it's working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Let's stop there for a minute. Again, what a helpful thing for us to be able to understand. When we think about all the great things that Elijah did, there's nothing supernatural special about Elijah. He's merely a man, a nobody that stands before a great king. And yet God used him in extraordinary ways because of God's working in him, but specifically he used him because of his fervent prayer. As James continues, he said, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. He's able to be able to stand before Ahab and say, it's not going to rain except by my word. Why is it not raining? Because Elijah is praying. Who is he praying to? Yahweh, the God who lives, who hears and answers his prayers. And he prayed fervently that it might rain. For three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. Same too in Luke chapter four. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in days of Elijah. We'll get to this story later. But the heavens were shut up for three years and six months, and a great famine came over the land. Now the interesting thing is what we find out in 1 Kings is actually that it's only three years We actually find out that it hasn't been raining for six months before this time. That here as he stands before Ahab and he says, God lives and it's not raining because I'm praying. That here six months has passed and the reason why he's able to stand before Ahab is because he fervently knelt before the Lord. He knelt before the living God, in whom he will stand eventually and give an account, but first he prayed. He prayed with fervent vigor. Now, just as Elijah reminds us of the culture in which we live in, where these predominant sins are availing, that we must first begin, notwithstanding before kings, We are very blessed to be able to do this. We need to first start before kneeling before the King God. We need to have the heart of Elijah as just as he has a nature like us, a sinful human being that we kneel fervently asking for God to intervene in the world, asking for him to be able to work. that Elijah's ministry, first and foremost, as we get the understanding reveals, six months before he entered the scene, he's a praying man, that he's been praying for not to rain. And then finally, this opportunity comes, he pops out of nowhere to be able to tell this king about the king, Yahweh. I'll finish again with A.W. Pink, again, the great book of the life Elijah. He says there's three strengths of what Elijah does. He says that he's praying, the second that he knows his knowledge of God, and the third is his consciousness of the divine presence. You see the knowledge of God as he lives, you see the consciousness of his divine presence in whom, before whom I stand, But I'm gonna finish here with his quote on what he says is his first strength, that he is a praying man. First is praying. Elijah was a man subject to passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. Let it be duly noted that the prophet did not begin his fervent supplications after his appearance before Ahab, but six months before. Here then lies the explanation of his assurance and boldness before the king. Prayer in private was the source of his power in public. He could stand unabashed in the presence of the wicked monarch because he had knelt in humility before God. But let it also be carefully observed that the prophet had prayed earnestly. No formal and spiritless devotion was his that accomplished nothing, but wholehearted, fervent, and effectual. We're truly concerned about the culture about what is happening, we can do many things. But first, we need to begin with prayer. Because as Elijah says, he did not merely say the simple facts, the Lord lives in whom which I bow, I will stand before whom I stand. He understood that reality, that the Lord lives, that he prays to a living God. that in whom before he stands that he is accountable to that God, that God is powerful and able to be able to answer his prayers. And so too, we must be fervently in prayer, praying that our public ministry might bring fruit, that we believe and truly fervently believe that our God lives. that we truly and fervently believe that we will stand before Him and Him alone. And we truly fervently believe that God works first and foremost through prayer. Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. Seven Springs Presbyterian Church began in 1874 and is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America located in Glade Spring, Virginia. Please join us for worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for His glory and His gospel.