This afternoon, if you'll turn with me to the book of 1 Kings 19, and I'll be preaching to you from verses 13 to 18. And it seems as though the theme of today has been the decrees of God or God's choosing us unto salvation and are not really knowing sometimes even whether people around us are truly saved or not. Evidently, that's what happened with dear Elijah, where I'm sure he was surprised to understand that there were 7,000 people in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. So that's what we want to look at this afternoon. So let's look to our God in prayer before I begin to speak to you. Father, thank you for this time around the word. Thank you that you are our God, that you know those who are yours, And so we pray that we would be able to abstain from wickedness, from sin, and devote ourselves wholly to you. And on this day and in the days to come, we give you thanks for all the ways that you lead and guide us and teach us so many good lessons in life. that even when we're discouraged, as Elijah was, that you know how to lift us up and build our faith and instruct us in it. And so we pray that you would do that very thing for us here this afternoon. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. First Kings chapter 19, starting in verse 13. So it was that when Elijah heard the still small voice of God, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And suddenly a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with a sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. Then the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, anoint Haziel as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel Melhollah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Haziel, Jehu will kill. And whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all those, all whose knees who have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. In this last verse that I read to you, we find the greatness and the certainty of God's purposes and the things that he decrees. I have reserved 7,000 in Israel for myself. When Elijah related to God the reason for his discouragement, the children of Israel had forsaken the covenant, they had torn down his altars, they had killed his prophets with the sword, and that he alone was left This was how God brought comfort to Elijah, how he brought encouragement to him. And if we pay close attention to this message, this is also how the Lord will bring us comfort and encouragement when we are doubting and fearing the worst for our nation and for ourselves as well. Now from the vantage point of this statement, then I want to show you two things about God's decree. First, that God's decrees encompass all of his blessed work in your life now as a Christian. And second, that God's decrees encompass all of his blessed work in your ministry and those who will follow after you, verses 15 to 18. So we need to see if we can receive comfort and encouragement from this message, the comfort and encouragement which God intends. First of all, we want to see that God's decrees encompass all of his blessed work in your life now as a Christian. The last time we were together we thought about how God ministered to Elijah's Discouragement, you remember how that was? He gave him food to eat so that he could go on the strength of that food 40 days. He also, I had him sleep for a time and an angel came to him and granted these things to him and gave him the food and the water that he needed to go on. We also saw how there were acts of power that The Lord did for Elijah to show him that not one heart is going to be changed by simply beholding acts of power. As great as the act of power was of calling down fire from heaven, that the hearts of the people were not turned back in the way that Elijah had prayed that they would be. And certainly the heart of the king and queen did not come to repentance. They did not throw off the worship of the Baals. But instead Jezebel commanded that they search and try to kill Elijah. That's why Elijah was discouraged. Elijah didn't understand why the king and queen didn't repent. And so he sought that answer from God himself. Well, Elijah needed to understand, I said to you, that God's purposes and his plans are greater than his own perception of them. That's the way that it is with you and I as well. We need to understand this. God has purposes and plans that go way beyond our own personal expectations of what we're going to do with our life, what we're going to do in our ministry, the things that we want to accomplish, the things that we want to see happen, the things that we want to personally do. But I'm saying that Elijah needed to understand this, you and I need to understand it, lest we become discouraged. that God has his plans and his plans are perfect. And actually his plans are much better for you than you could ever draw up for yourself. If you'll only believe that, if you'll only see that the Lord knows how to lead, the Lord knows how to guide. That's what he was doing with Elijah here. We need to understand that God is willing to demonstrate his justice and to make his power known in acts of power. He's willing to destroy wicked men by his power. He's willing to bring judgment upon them. That's certainly true. But we need to understand also that he has things to teach us in the process about his power to save and his power to lead and guide us and to show us his ways. So God knew the reason that Elijah was so discouraged. Elijah did not see the evidence of hearts being changed. Perhaps you're that same way. You're discouraged because you can't, you just don't see people being changed. by the ministry of the word, or you just don't see people being saved very much in our day. And Lord knows that's what we desire. We desire for people to be saved. We desire to see the church grow. We desire to see people come to our church and knit in with us and join the church. We desire to see results take place and acts of power by our God in salvation. But we need to understand that in the salvation of men's souls, it's not just that God exhibits His power, but it is also peace that is spoken to the heart of a person who is trusting in Him when their sins are forgiven. And the direction of their heart is changed forever. in the new birth. And so we should understand that great and meaningful lessons are conveyed to God's people through God's still small voice. It's not impressive at all, it's not an act of power. But God speaks to the hearts of his people, I said to you last Sunday, in this still small voice through his word, most certainly, but also to our spirit, to teach us in relation to his word, the lessons that we need to learn. It's still that still small voice that he uses to change the course of a person's life forever. And I said to you last Sunday that it is God's gentleness that makes us great. God is very willing to deal with people very definitely and even stridently if he so wills to do so. But oftentimes it's because God is patient that he deals with us gently and especially his own dear people. It's his gentleness that makes us great, it says there in the Psalms. But Elijah could not quite take that in yet. And that's why we see what's happening here. He thought of himself as a failure in terms of his ministry. He still had questions for God that he didn't think he had received an answer to. And by the way, you should understand and know that God is well able to answer your questions. All the deepest questions that you have in your heart and mind, God is well able to answer. those questions. And what we need to do is we need to understand that He will answer those questions in due time, and He will do so, by the way, in His way and in His time. But while you're waiting for His answers, He has something, some things that He wants you to learn to do. He wants you to trust Him during that time. that his plans will have their complete fulfillment in your life. And that's because God decrees not only the end of a matter, but also the means by which you will be glorified. in relation to the end of the matter. Do you see it? In other words, when God decrees certain things in regard to you, he does it in such a way that you will be able to glorify him in and through it. Very important to him, and to yourself as well, if you will receive it. I want you to turn with me over to Psalm 62, and I want to read to you verses one to seven. Psalm 62, this amazing psalm. It says here, truly my soul waits silently, waits for God. From him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved, he says here. And he says, in God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Now, what I'm hoping that you'll understand from these verses is that our God wants you to learn to wait upon him. and to trust in him at all times. He wants you to do this in times of reformation and revival when you're spiritually on top of the world and greatly involved in the work of the Lord, when you think that things couldn't go any better, and he wants you to trust in him and wait upon him when he brings his judgments and he executes his justice. And further, he wants you to wait and to trust in him, even in those times when you think that he's doing nothing at all. Still, all of his purposes are in motion in regard to you. You need to understand that. They're all in motion in regard to all the people in the earth, and his purposes are in motion concerning you in particular. The most important thing to God is your relationship with him. How you think about him, what you do in relation to him, at all times God is watching. In the text that we're looking at now, Elijah fell into leaning to his own understanding. He feared that Jezebel was going to kill him. He feared that spiritual revival would never come to Israel. But I want you to look at how David thought about God during his trials. He says here in this same psalm, he says, my soul waits for it silently for God alone, verse 5, my expectation is from him. He says, he only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. In other words, in the midst of his greatest difficulties, David was continuing to see God as his defense. Dear Christian, do you see God that way? In the midst of your greatest difficulties, do you see God as your defense, your salvation from sin and from your enemies. David's going to trust in his God. He's trusting in the one who's watching over him, the one who is protecting him. And it says here, he wouldn't be greatly moved. In other words, he wouldn't worry or fret because he knew that God was helping him. Do you see that? from this text. Very important that you learn to wait upon the Lord for everything related to the timing of the fulfillment of your personal ministry or the things that are too difficult for you to understand in your life. It says here that he speaks in verse three, David does, about how sinful his enemies were. They were attacking him. and consulting to cast him down from his high position as king. It says they delighted in lies and they blessed with their mouth and inwardly they were cursing him. David knew that, I'm saying, but he did not fret about it. He did not worry about the whole matter. He was committing the whole matter to God. That's what I want you to see. He was praying to God for wisdom of how he should think about this whole matter. Let me ask if you do that. Do you pray for wisdom when you're going through things that are too great for you? If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask, and God will give. He would not be moved. You saw God, it says in verse seven, is his glory, the rock of his strength. and his refuge was in his God. Let's look at verses eight to 12 now, with trust in him at all times. You people, pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us, selah. Selah means pause and think about it. Surely men of low degree are a vapor, and men of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor. Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God has spoken once, and twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God. Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy. for you render to each one according to his work. So in verse eight, David counsels us to trust in God when we're in difficult situations. He tells us to pour out our hearts before him, before he's a refuge for us, like he said twice now. And we find in verse nine that God indeed gives him wisdom in terms of how he should see the men coming against him. Whether they were of low degree or whether they were of high degree, he says that men of low degree were a vapor and men of high degree were a lie. If they were weighed in the balances, they are altogether lighter than vapor. That's how he describes them. And so what was he supposed to do? It says he was not supposed to trust in oppression. He was not to oppress people around him to try to get things to work out the way that he wanted them to work out. Do you see the application to ourselves? The application to ourselves is that we are tempted oftentimes to try to force the conclusion that we want. from people around us when God wants us to wait and to take counsel with him and let him act and let him give us wisdom as to what we should do. David was the king. As king, he could oppress people. He could use his riches to get them to do what he wanted, but that wasn't what God wanted him to do. He was not to set his heart upon anything related to earthly power. He was to set his heart on God's power and learn and understand God's way in the middle of his situation. You see, God is well able to render to all men according to their works and does. That's what God does. God takes careful notice of the works of all men, and he always rewards them according to those works. That's something that you and I ought to remember. We should see that God is not, he is not just interested in seeing the situation worked out for your best, although he is interested in that. But he is interested, and he is in the process of character building in your life. That's what I want you to see. He's building proven character in your life, the lives of all of his people, as well as answering your most perplexing questions about why people's hearts around you do not change. It is frustrating. when you look and you see how many people, dear people whom we love, that their hearts do not change. Even when we are most zealous to preach to them or win them or love them or speak with them, their hearts still do not change. What are you doing here, Elijah? is a question that was asked by the God who knows all things. That's what I want you to see. He did that for Elijah's benefit, not for his own. It wasn't as though that God didn't know what Elijah was doing there. Fleeing away from Jezebel on the mountain, watching the acts of power, but still being perplexed why people's hearts didn't change. He knew why Elijah was discouraged. But yet he kept Elijah in the dark about the answers to his most pressing question. Why don't people's hearts change when your greatest acts of power are shown to them? That was the question. And God was going to deal with his spirit. in a very gracious way. The answer to our greatest, most pressing, and most important questions will come to us through the still, small voice of God speaking to our hearts in relation to His Word. And what God would say to us often is this, it's because I have decreed these things in this way, just this way, so that you, my servant, might be more sensitive to my purposes and plans, and I will teach you to wait upon me for the answers. Dear Christian, is this something that you are willing to do? to wait upon God, to trust in the Lord, seeing Him as your refuge, your strength? Are you willing to abide by what He shows you in all the providential orderings that He has for your life, for your future, for the future of your loved ones, the future of the nation that you love? We do want to see people turn back, don't we, to God. Well, this is the way to be kept back from discouragement, disappointment, and even depression. It's that you'll learn to wait upon God and trust in Him at all times to answer His question to you, what are you doing here? Now, you have to ask that question of yourself. It's what God asks you at various points during your life. What are you doing here? What are you doing here in this church? What are you doing here in this place in Tama, Toledo, or in the city that you are a part of and live in? What is it that you want to do? What is it that you desire more than anything that you want to see take place spiritually in the life of your community, your family, or your nation? Well, God can help you to answer all of those questions, but I want you to know that what he wants to do is to build your character in the process and make you more useful to him in service. That's the best of all places to be, isn't it? I believe it is. Now second, God's decrees encompass all of his blessed work in your ministry and even those who will follow after you. Oh, this is an amazing truth, isn't it? We need to see that Elijah needed to know that God had things perfectly in his power and control to deal with wicked men. We already saw the taste of that in his having the 450 prophets of Baal put to death by Elijah himself. And yet the king's and queen's hearts were not changed as we saw. So here, he's going to give him something definite to go and do. That is, God's going to give Elijah something definite to do. God had been kind of secretive, more secretive than Elijah would have liked. But this didn't mean that God's purposes were not definite. In verse 15 we find the Lord saying to him, You go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Haziel as king over Syria, and also anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel Meholah. You shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Haziel, Jehu will kill. Whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha, will kill, yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him." So these were definite actions that God had ordained in justice and judgment. Even though God would not be a participant in any of the sins committed by these kings that would perform all these acts of judgment. Nevertheless, these things were a part of God's decrees. Understand and know that God decrees things, and He is not the author of sin in His decrees. We need to understand that, not at all. Men are free to sin and to do their wicked acts, but God is not in those wicked acts, even though they are ordained by him as a part of his decrees. In this case, in relation to the nation of Israel. So when God would raise up Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu to be king over Israel, he would thoroughly judge the wickedness of the nation of Israel in the years to come. That's what he was saying here. And although the ministry of Elijah had been very successful before, we're going to see that God would bring the reviving work later through Elisha. And this leads me to say that sometimes the things that we greatly desire to see happen in and under our own ministry don't necessarily happen because it's not God's purpose that it be so at that time. But that does not mean that it won't take place later on or in a coming generation. And so you and I should not be discouraged in that regard. rather let us, as I said last Sunday, attempt to be faithful in whatever is set before us. God would indeed reserve 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees had not bowed to Baal. And by this, Elijah came to understand that God's electing love and his power to save and even his discernment in terms of who is a true believer and who's not is much greater than his own understanding. You and I need to see that as well. The Lord knows those who are his. Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from evil, says there in 2 Timothy. But what we need to see here is that this must have been a revelation to Elijah. It's like, where are these 7,000 people, Lord? Where are they? I don't see the indication of it here at this time. There were not that many left, and Israel thought they were worshiping the true and living God. But these people were showing, these 7,000 were people, by showing what they did not do, that they were true to the true and living God. That is, they were not bowing the knee to Baal or worshiping him or kissing his image, which they were required to do to worship him. We find that this verse, by the way, the last verse of our text, is found in Romans chapter 11. If you want to turn over there with me, Romans chapter 11, and verses one to six, you can see some of God's purpose here in regard to the nation of Israel. It says, I say then, has God cast away his people, that is, the nation of Israel, his people Israel? Certainly not, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so, then Paul says, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Now you can see here how easily Elijah could have become discouraged thinking that God had cast off his people. and that lasting reformation and revival would never come. But the divine response to Elijah was that he had reserved for himself 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. What kind of language is this except the language of election? The language of election is the language of God's definite choice of a people to salvation. It is God's reserving for himself the exact number of the people. that he chooses to save. It should show us that it always was God's purpose to do so in relation to this particular time that Elijah lived in when so few, it seems, believed. But yet there were 7,000! And it was a witness to their faith in the true and living God that God brings it up. here with Elijah. Now the number 7,000 may represent the actual total number of God's elect during that generation, or it may be a number which represents the total number, whatever the total number would be, of those chosen by God to salvation at that time. When you're chosen to salvation, you're also being called to a pure worship of God. And that's what's emphasized here by God himself. When idols are put away, when those who speak the word of God would be received and listened to and believed when they preach the word, their words will be believed by you and acted upon because it's God's word that's being delivered. You see, that is always the issue in every generation. The issue is, will this generation receive the Word of God? That's always the issue in every generation. So if the Lord is at work, and He's always at work, to one degree or another in every generation, Their words will be, the preacher's words will be believed by you and acted upon because it's God's Word that is being delivered. In other words, the people that know the Lord will have a respect for the Word of God when it's being preached to receive it because it's God's Word and not simply the words of a man. If you're chosen of God, you're going to be praying to live a righteous life, a holy life, through the grace of Christ. The Apostle Paul, the time which he wrote this epistle of Romans, his present time, he was declaring that there was a remnant of the Jews, a remnant of them, according to the election of grace. And he was saying that this too was a remnant in Elijah's day that God had reserved for himself and the one in his own generation was a remnant that he reserved for himself. Christians who would take a stand for the truth of the gospel and the doctrines of grace. Now that's what God calls us to, brethren. That's why we're here in this church today. It's because we've received the word of the Lord. And we want to grow and respect thereby, and we want to be useful and fruitful in his service in every possible way that we can. That's why we're here. You see, we need to understand that when people are saved, that it's not by works, but it is by grace. Paul mentions that there in Romans 11, that grace would no longer be grace, works works if it wasn't that God elected people, chose them to eternal life. But it is the case. It was not by these persons own free will, although they are free to make choices like I said to you this morning, but it was not by their own free will and choice, but it was by God's choice that they were saved and believed in the truth. And so you and I need to glory in the certainty and the definiteness of all of God's work in relation to salvation in the life of every single person who is saved. There will always be a remnant in accordance with the election of grace. No matter how dark things get in this generation, and Lord knows they could get very, very dark yet, in the near future, all around the world, so that it seems very hard to see people being saved at all. I'm saying that we need to stop and remember these things that I'm talking about now, not to become discouraged by smaller numbers of those who will confess their faith publicly in our day. How many people are confessing their faith publicly? in our day in the waters of baptism. Now it doesn't mean that God has stopped doing his conversion work in the world today. There always will be a remnant, at least a small remnant, according to the election of grace. And this is reason to rejoice that God is doing a great work still in the salvation of souls in accordance with his purposes. 7,000 whose mouths had not kissed Baal. Can you imagine? That's what these people did in their worship. They were so deluded. They kissed this image of Baal. But the reason that these 7,000 did not kiss him was because they had been given grace to say, no, I'm not going to kiss him. I am going to hold fast to the commandments of God's word. That's what they were doing. They believed in God. And they waited upon him for the good spiritual things that he would bring to them through the ministry of men like Elijah and Elisha. Zeal for the Lord of hosts is greatly valued by God, and it will be rewarded by him. And we're going to see this, the truth of this, in future messages, but let's bow together now for prayer. Oh Lord, we do thank you that we can see these truths, for we need them very much in our generation. We need to see the truth of how to wait upon you, and how to pour out our heart before you, that you are our refuge, you are our strength, you are our deliverer, we trust in you. And so we pray, Lord, that we would be encouraged when you bring anyone into our assembly who takes an interest in your word, that we would draw near to them and try to reason with them and talk with them as I spoke about this morning, but that we would always glory in the fact that you are the one who brings people to us in this church, leads them along so that they want to come here and listen to your word being preached. We pray that you would help us to see these truths of the certainty of your purposes and of your great salvation and of your calling and choosing us and many others as well. And help us to take heart at this, to rejoice and be glad even. realizing that Elijah lived in a day where he thought that he was the only one when there was many thousands of others. Help us to understand the truth of these things in their simplicity, even if we can't perceive and understand it, and their complexity. May your gracious, loving kindness be with us now as we are dismissed. In Jesus' precious name, we ask it. Amen.