First kings together, and as you turn there, place your finger.
Verse 41. We're going to read the verses
up to the closing of this chapter, beginning in verse 41.
And Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink, for there is a
sound of the rushing of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to
drink. And Elijah went up to the top of
Mount Carmel, and he bowed himself down on the earth, and
put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, Go
up, now look toward the sea. And he went up and looked, and
said, there is nothing. And he said, Go again seven
times. And at the 7th time he said,
Behold, a little cloud, like a man's hand is rising from the
sea. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab,
prepare your chariot, and go down, lest the rain stop you.
And in the little while the heavens grew black with clouds
and wind, and there was a great rain.
And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.
And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.
And he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the
entrance of Jezreel. Father, we ask for your help.
We are forgetful creatures. And so we plead with you that
you would bind these truths in our hearts and that we would be
able to recall these things in the days to come so that we can
be more faithful and we can remember your faithfulness.
And so, Lord, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit as we
expound on these truths, trusting, oh God, that you have
much to say to us personally as believers, as a church, we
anticipate the voice, your voice through your word in our lives.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. The Lord he is God, the Lord he
is God. Who would have thought that such
words would gush out of the hearts of a people who have been
apostate for decades? And that is what we read last
week. In one miraculous moment, you
had a people who were experiencing a spiritual drought
that cemented their devotion and all of a sudden was cascaded by
the mercy of God. And as a result, you had worship
springing out of unexpected wells.
And that was the site that we've held together in our last study.
And as refreshing as that site might have been, I'm here to
excite you and let you know that there's still more mercy to be
seen and discovered. Because the spiritual drought
that was taken care of will now be followed by physical
provision for a dry land. This is what Elijah has come to
pray for. Now.
We examined last week how this man of God got before the Lord
and prayed that fire would be shot down from heaven.
And it was answered. And now the same man of God on
the same mountain will come before the Lord and ask for
rain, and the rain will be provided.
And you and I should expect that the Holy Spirit in this section
will give us many things that will feed our faith.
Listen, as we climb with Elijah back up on Mount Carmel, and as
you and I look up to the heavens again with him, we should
believe that God is going to say something to our hearts.
And so I know we read from verse 41, but I want to scale back to
verse 39. Look at verse 39 quickly.
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and
said, the Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.
And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal and let not
one of them escape, and they seize them.
And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishan and slaughtered
them there. We didn't touch on verse 40 last
week. We mentioned it briefly as a
cliffhanger, but we have to address this because this seems
to be a disturbing verse in light of the grace of God that
we enjoyed in verse 39. God sending fire, not on the
people of Israel, but on a substitute, on a sacrifice, a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we would think it would end there, we would transition from
that point. But instead we see Elijah
commanding that these false prophets who failed to call upon
Baal, and Baal failed to hear him because he is no God at all,
now have a death sentence and they were slaughtered.
How can this be? How can Elijah ask for such a
thing? How can it be done?
Did he overreact? Well, it's important to remember
that in our three-part series within this chapter alone, what
have we realized? What have we learned about
Elijah? That he was completely in step
with the will of God. And even in this showdown with
these prophets of Baal, Elijah did not miss a beat.
Everything that he did was completely ordained and revealed
by God, and he satisfied the wishes of his master, and we
should have no reason to believe otherwise concerning this
command in verse 40, Elijah is still in complete alignment to
the will and the heart and the mind of God and commissioning
the people of Israel to gather these false prophets and to have
them killed. And This is why you're here on
Fridays. I pray that you and I will
continue to grow in the knowledge of the Hebrew
Scripture so that you can grow in your knowledge of the
character of God. Elijah here actually, in asking
for this, is encouraged by the law.
What these false prophets experienced was to be expected
because God already made a demand from His law before the
people even entered into the promised land.
And I want you to see it with your own eyes.
So it's in Deuteronomy chapter 13, beginning in verse one.
Here's where Elijah is getting the license to do such a thing.
This man's call for the slaying of these rebel priests was
founded upon what God had asked of the people in Deuteronomy 13
verse one. Read it with me, please.
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and
gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he
tells you comes to pass, pause. Even if a miracle transpires,
even if a wonder happens through the hands of a man who does not
represent the true and living God, what are you to do?
And if he says, let us go after other gods which you have not
known, and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the
words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
We touched on that inner study of Deuteronomy.
Why is there all this heresy? Why are there all these false
religions? Why will be somebody in the name
of Christ performing even signs and wonders, but don't preach a
true and pure gospel? Let me give you one reason.
God's testing every generation. Will you love me?
How are you going to show your love for God that despite the
miracle, despite the sign, despite the wonder, despite the
charisma, despite the programs, despite whatever, because it's
contrary to God's Word, you will cling to the Word about whatever
you see or feel or experience. So God allows it to test our
love and devotion to Him. But that's not the main point.
Scroll down to verse five. That prophet or dreamer must be
put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your
God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the
land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to
turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to
follow. You must purge the evil from
among you. That's exactly what Elijah is
obeying here in First Kings 18, verse 14.
This kind of crime is worthy of capital punishment and it's not
because you had a group of people within Israel believing
differently. No, this group of prophets were
again enticing the people of God, the true people of God,
from turning away from the true and living God.
And mind you, Please remember this, put this filter every time
you read something in the in the Scriptures, especially in the
Hebrew Scriptures, that seems to be concerning in terms of what
God demands concerning false religion or false prophets.
The Messiah is on his way and he's coming through this seed.
And what Satan has been doing for centuries throughout the
Hebrew Scriptures is to try to corrupt that seed there.
There's no playing around here. The salvation of the world is at
stake, and that attempt to corrupt the seed of humanity
goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 6, and it's happening
throughout here in Israel's history.
And so this demanded severe repercussions.
And so this is not that's a side point, but this is not just them
believing differently, this is them trying to lure them away
into self-destructive false religion.
And so it demanded severe confrontation.
And that's exactly what Elijah is calling for.
You know, it's even possible that these false prophets of
Bill were the instruments that Jezebel used to kill the true
prophets of the Lord. And so we see that this man is
obeying the word of God. And what you and I are going to
learn in this study and in the studies to come, that for such
false prophets to remain in the land would prove to be an
existential problem for the nation of Israel.
And we're going to see that because not all these false
prophets in Elijah's day were present on Mount Carmel.
What's our call in a new covenant concerning false
religion, concerning those who would try to entice other
believers away from the truth, those from from within, or those
are outside? You and I have our marching
orders plain and clear in the New Testament.
The domain of our judgment and the degree of our judgement has
been spelled out clearly and there should be no confusion
about it. You have no right to hurt
anybody because they believe differently or try to even
convince you to believe differently.
We're told there in First Corinthians 5, and you don't
have to turn there about verse 11 and 12 as a reference that
our call as the church is to deal with those within the
church. We don't go chasing those
outside of our church and conquest them.
And when people buy the sword, we don't do that.
Our domain of judgement and chastisement and discipline as
demanded by the Lord Jesus is within the church, and Paul
declared that himself as an apostle.
And the severest form of judgement that we can apply to
somebody who is unrepentant morally or unrepentant
doctrinally is that they must be removed from the fellowship of
the believers because a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
And even in that severest form of discipline.
What's the aim? Tell me restoration good is that
we would hope that they would see the error of their ways.
They would see the privileges that they let go of.
They would see that the church does not agree with what they
believe in and they prove it from Scripture that they would
turn back to the truth or turn to the truth rather.
And so this is a picture for us. And when God calls us to even do
something difficult, though our our our orders are different.
We must do it nonetheless. And there's another lesson.
Look again at verse 40. And Elijah said to them, seize
the prophets of Bill, let no, not one of them escape, and they
seized them. And Elijah brought them down to
the brookish on and slaughter them there.
Who did he ask to seize these false prophets?
Was it Israel? It was Israel.
Elijah didn't arrest these men himself.
He did kill them, but he did not arrest and he called the people
of Israel to do so. Why is that important?
Think of the larger context. You go back to verse 39, when
God showed up with his power, Yes, power, but mercy.
They confessed the Lord. He is God, the Lord he is God,
and we're blessed by that. But that's not where their faith
stopped. That's where many people today.
That's where their faith stops. Verbal confession and
profession. Yeah, Jesus Christ is God.
Yeah, the gospel is true. Yeah.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.
Israel didn't stop with professing it.
They demonstrate that he was God because when a very difficult
command was issued, they did not hesitate to obey.
So I want to say that the encouragement of the response of
the nation of Israel is more encouraging than you might have
thought, that they went beyond where most people go.
They didn't just say it. They said, OK, now what does he
want from me? If he is God, then let me show
that he is God. And we would hope that this kind
of frame of faith would last. We're going to find out that
perhaps it doesn't. But for the time being, we can
take a breath and rejoice in the fact that something happened in
their hearts. Now we come to what?
We read verse 31. Excuse me, 41.
And Elijah said to Ahab, we didn't forget about Ahab, did
we? So the people of Israel, what
did they do? They repented the prophets of
Bill. What happened to them?
They were killed. What's now going to happen to
the king? What is going to happen to the
ruler? Here's what Elijah tells him to
do. Go up, eat and drink.
Why? That's a very strange command.
Go up, eat and drink. In other words, have lunch or
have dinner because rain is coming and you need to be
energized for your journey. You know what my first question
was? Why wasn't he lined up with the
prophets of bail and slain with them?
Don't you wonder the same? We're going to touch on why he
said go up, eat and drink, but why wasn't he killed?
We do not equally guilty of being a rebel and leading the
people of God astray. Here's the answer is a simple
answer, but it's important because it's consistent with how
God works in the world. Every man's verdict concerning
their sin that's unrepented is dealt with differently case by
case, according to God's wisdom and his justice will.
I have completely escaped God's discipline.
No, it's just going to happen at a different time and through a
different way. Do you remember how Ahab will be
chastised by the Lord? Let me remind you in First Kings
22. Look at verse six with me, First
Kings 22. And this is where it's going to
happen for Ahab. This is when the king of Israel,
Ahab, wanted to go to war against Ramoth Gilead, and he
tried to recruit the king of Judah.
And in first Kings 22 six we read then the king of Israel
gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them,
shall I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead or shall I
refrain? And they said, go up, for the
Lord will give it into the hand of the king.
Pause. Who are these 400 prophets?
Does anybody remember? They're the 400 prophets who
didn't show up on Mount Carmel. You had the prophets of Baal
450, and then you have the prophets of Ashraf 400.
They were kept from going. We don't know how or who kept
them, but we can be pretty confident that it was the
leadership of Israel that said no, no, no, we're not going to
send all our guys out there. We don't know what Elijah's up
to. So you have the same 400 now who
are gathered into the courts of the king and they begin
prophesying with a consensus. You should go up against Ramos
Gilead. Oh, Ahab, and I'm sure you've
read this before. If not, it's a riveting chapter
because a true prophet of the Lord arrives and he gives the
insight of what's taking place here.
And here's the summary of it. Look at verse 23 of First Kings
22. Now therefore, behold, the Lord
has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your
prophets. Why the Lord has declared
disaster for you. So God allowed a lying spirit to
speak through all four hundred of these false prophets.
For what reason? So that Ahab would believe the
lies and walk into his own demise.
Why? Because God is going to judge
him in this way. Do you?
Do you realize how heart wrenching the sentencing is?
The very same 400 that Ahab try to preserve and keep have now
been the agency for his own death.
You can't fool God. You can't run from God, you
can't hide from God. If you're going to remain in
your unbelief and your sin, judgement will come.
And what a what a picture, Another picture of so many
examples in the Bible that if you and I are not quick to kill
our sin, it will find a way to kill you always.
I've never seen anybody hold on to their sin and be successful
in doing so. The very same prophets that he
tried to keep to himself, thinking that they would be to
his benefit, ended up turning on him, lying to him, just like how
your sin lies to you, and then end up destroying his life.
If Ahab had repented anytime before, we know that the Lord
would have been extremely merciful.
But this man kept going back to him himself, kept going back to
his false beliefs and rebellion against the Lord.
So now Elijah says go up, eat and drink.
Thinking about this, why out of all the things that Elijah could
have said to this man, and I believe it's because Elijah
discern what kind of man he was dealing with, Ahab here at this
moment is showing no remorse, is he?
He's showing no concern. There's no contrition.
There's no admission of guilt. Perhaps the only thing that's
going on with Ahab is that he is just standing there absolutely
shocked as he's witnessing his false prophets being slain right
before his eyes. But but there's no heart change.
There's no even inquiry. There's no even concern about
what happened with his men. And I believe Elijah recognizes
that. So what is he doing here by
saying go up, eat and drink? It's as though he's just
dismissing him. I just get out of here, go, go,
go eat and drink. Go have a meal.
Because he realizes that this man is completely caught up in
the flesh. Here's what Ahab teaches us at
this point in our Bible study, that a person can witness the
miraculous, that a person can have his world view overcome and
dismantled by the truth, that an individual can even be defeated
by his sin. All of that taking place and
still do what remain in the flesh.
Do you realize what a have witnessed?
He witnessed a man praying to the true God, the God that he's
been rebelling against fire came down from heaven.
All his men, they, they availed to nothing.
They died and what's this man concerned with more than
anything else? Eating and drinking.
Why? Because when Ava AAP says go do
it, he does it. And you get frustrated when you
witness to a sibling or a friend and they don't seem to get it.
That's not new. Don't think it's because we live
in a technological age and people are more distracted than
ever know you have people who are concerned with eating and
drinking even then. And this is what we're supposed
to see by looking at a hand, that there are going to be some,
that no matter what they see, what they learn, what they hear,
what they experience will be bound up and caught up by the
temporal. Should it frustrate us?
Yeah, I should frustrate us. But let it frustrate you to the
prayer closet and not to give up.
You know, I'm reading in my own time.
I'm in Ezra now. But this past week I was reading
through Second Chronicles and looking at different kings from
the Chronicles vantage point. And there was another king and
his name was Ahaz, not a have a has.
And he did a lot of wickedness. The catalogue of evil that he
performed was severe in its own way.
But then he experiences discipline from the Lord, like
obvious discipline. What did a have experience here?
Mercy. He wasn't consumed.
God demonstrated that he's the real living God and it still
didn't move him. A has, on the other hand,
experienced severe chastisement. And there's this one verse and I
just, I plucked that verse from the Scriptures and I've been
just letting it sit. On my heart all week listen to
this I'm just going to read it to you.
This is powerful in Second Chronicles 28.
Listen to this verse and verse 22.
In the time of his distress, he became yet more faithless to the
Lord. The same king A has.
Isn't that amazing? It's as though the author, yes,
inspired by the spirits, like yes, the very same A has that
you've been reading about. Even with all the distress that
he underwent, he still became more faithless.
What this flesh is capable of is astounding and the Scripture
does not hold back in declaring the truth about it.
Ahab is no different here. This man is stiff necked.
But then you got guys like Elijah.
Look what Elijah said back in verse 41 of our main text.
And Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink.
Why? For there is a sound of the
rushing of rain. I hear rain coming.
How can he say that when not drop one droplet of rain fell on
that dry land? How can he say that when not one
crack of Thunder or lightning has visited those skies in
years? How can he say that with no
sight of even a shadow from the heavens because no cloud has
visited Israel in such a long time?
I can tell you how. Look back at verse one of our
main text. What do you read here in verse
one that the Lord said, go show yourself to Ahab because rain is
coming. So you know why Elijah could say
this with a great confidence? Because God said something and
He believed it. God said something about a
future event that did not yet take place.
But listen to this. Elijah framed his life based on
what God had said about the future.
And that is what faith is all about.
You perceive it, though you do not experience it.
You believe it, and you make your way and you order your life
around it, though you have not yet been visited by it.
That's what faith looks like and it's the opposite of the flesh.
Look at verse 42. So Ahab went up to eat and drink
and Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel.
So these these men, you have a men, a man who represents the
flesh and a man who represents faith.
And guess what? They go their separate ways.
You know why? Because if you're a brother or
sister in this place and you are a person who truly believes
God's word and live according to God's word, it will be very
difficult for you to fellowship with those who are of the flesh.
Doesn't mean you're unloving, doesn't mean you're
self-righteous. But it's very difficult because
obviously here Ahab has no intention or zero appetite to do
what Elijah is about to do on the top of Mount Carmel.
What is Elijah about to do? Read the rest of the verse.
And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between
his knees. He went up to go pray.
And what did Ahab do? He went to go eat and drink.
Is there anything wrong with eating and drinking?
Absolutely not. But there's a time and place for
everything, and Elijah understood that in light of what
God had just done here, this, this profound, powerful display
of His Majesty, it was time to posture himself, to inquire of
the Lord and seek the Lord for the next thing, the thing that
was ultimately promised. And what does Ahab do again?
He's unmoved, unfazed, and he just goes about like nothing had
happened. So now Elijah goes up to Mount
Carmel, and this man who goes up here now seeks the Lord in a
very humbling way. He get, I'm not going to
demonstrate it for you, but let your imagination go there.
He gets on his knees and he puts his face between his knees.
We're going to touch on that in a moment here, But the careful
reader will realize in our first initial reading that though
there is a picture being painted of this man praying, it's not
explicitly stated. We're not being told here
directly that Elijah prayed, but this is where the harmony of
Scripture comes to our aid. Go to James chapter 5 and verse
17 and 18, and you get the commentary of this very same
passage, and it's clarified of what Elijah is exactly doing
here. James 517 to 18.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed
fervently that it might not reign.
And for three years and six months it did not rain on the
earth. That's what we covered earlier.
But hear what we see at the end of chapter 18 of First Kings is
what we see in verse 18 of James chapter 5.
Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore
its fruit. So when Elijah climbs back the
mountain and puts his face between his knees, James tells
us he went up there to go pray. He's praying.
And in what we're about to read in detail, you're going to have
the insights to strengthen your prayer life.
Can I tell you something when you read about Elijah praying
and fire coming down in a miracle and revival breaking
out, that that should excite your prayer life?
But there's something in this part and this section of his
praying that will resonate a lot more, I believe.
So let's look at a few components of what's happening
here with this praying. The first thing that you and I
learned from verse 42 is that Elijah, after experiencing this
wonderful, fruitful, successful feat, pulls himself away and he
meets with God in private. Here's an important lesson about
this man of God. No matter what kind of things he
experienced publicly, he maintained and secured his
private time with the Lord. Many people miss that.
Many people miss that especially when they're doing really well.
I believe why Elijah is doing this is because Elijah is
disclosing the secret to the effectiveness of his ministry,
communion with God, staying on his knees before God, sitting at
the feet of God, pouring out his heart privately before God.
And this man was willing to separate himself from the crowd,
separate himself from the audience of the king.
And he realized that the God who gave me success yesterday is the
same God who must give me success today and must give me
success for tomorrow. You have many people over time
in ministry and even in their Christian mark, they get very
comfortable with the routine. They realize that they have a
gift, and so they serve, they sing and they preach.
And over time, that time with the Lord becomes thinner and
thinner and thinner. But this man is not fooled.
This man realizes that unless I meet with the Lord consistently,
I will not know the fullest measure of His power, of His
mercy, of His wisdom, of His protection.
Do you know the number one common denominator for
backsliders? Maybe I'll get your attention
now more than before. I've talked to many of them, and
I know people who have talked to big ministers who have fallen
from grace. Can I tell you the number one
common denominator, even from men who have preached the Word
of God faithfully, who had wonderful history and
reputation? And if for some reason falling
off, they all can confess with confidence.
We stopped meeting with the Lord in private.
We stopped reading the Bible for ourselves.
We stopped spending time in prayer on a daily basis to
commune with the Lord. Got busy, got confident, got
caught up. And it's like, you hear that I
I've heard that. I've seen it happen to people.
And yet you can still feel the temptation to pull yourself away
from exactly what Elijah is doing here.
You can't afford to do it. People ask all the time, how do
you discipline yourself to be able to seek the Lord every
single day? How do you do it?
And I say, it's not a matter of what I what I want, it's a
matter of survival. So you don't see it that way.
You just see it as a luxury. You see it as an optional thing.
But you have to come to the point and believe in your heart
that this is not something that I can afford to miss out on if I
want to know this thing for long term, if I want to know
longevity. So let that little truth there
just add a spark to the fire that you know that that might be
getting weaker. And it's not because you're
necessarily sinning. You just fight for it if you
have to. If days go by where it's not
realized, get back to it. Don't get comfortable coasting
away from that place. I love you too much to say
otherwise. And so this man does it.
But notice the second thing, the humility of Elijah.
He bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between
his knees. And this is something so
significant for many reasons. And the main reason is because
it happened after a great experience of ministry.
This man saw a nation, not a couple people after a Bible
study or Sunday servant you're talking about.
Let's just imagine the state of Illinois coming to one of your
meetings, you preaching God, backing up your message with
power. That's undeniable.
And you see the state of Illinois getting on its knees
saying the Lord Jesus Christ is God, the Lord Jesus Christ is
God. What do you think that would do
to the common man? Wow.
I'm a pretty good preacher, I think.
Wow. Surely after this I'm going to
get a lot of invitations to conferences.
Now, you know what you see this man doing?
He goes up and he humbles himself before God and he gets
low. So yeah, he stood tall before
kings, and he pointed his Bony prophet finger before a nation.
But when it came to the presence of God, he humbled himself.
He says, God, this is all about you.
This couldn't have happened without you.
And now for this next thing, I'm going to need you.
I can't produce this. I can't cause anything to
happen. It has to be Your grace.
And so true servant of the Lord will never allow even the
success of his spiritual journey caused him to waver from
acknowledging, praising, loving, worshipping, and attending to
the presence of God. It will only reinforce and
strengthen him in that place because He realizes what God
allowed me to experience yesterday and what He did
through me yesterday is by His grace.
And anything I'm going to know or do for him today or tomorrow
is also going to be by His grace.
They never lose touch with that reality.
And this man did not. There's still more to learn.
Remember James said that this man is a model for prayer
concerning the Christian. So look at verse 43.
And he said to his servant, go up now look toward the sea.
And he went up and looked and said there is nothing.
And he said, go again seven times.
This lesson is obvious is not it's a lesson on perseverance 7
times. So he prays, tells a servant,
go, comes back, nothing prays. And he does that several times.
And we're all we're we're all very familiar about Jesus
teaching the Bible's examples of how to persevere in prayer, how
to persevere, how to. But this is what blessed me even
more about Elijah's example. It stands in such contrast to
his previous experience of prayer.
So you read last week with me that the moment he comes down
before the Lord, as he stands before this altar, and he asks
for the fire of God to come and consume that sacrifice, the
moment he said Amen, so to speak, the fire came.
And then now you have this man, the same man on the same
mountains praying to the same God, and he's asking for rain
this time and this account. The first time does it come?
The second, does it come the fifth time?
Seven times. What are you supposed to take
from that? You and I are supposed to learn
that unless you're not careful, you will be weighed down in
prayer. There are times when God can
answer in the very before you even say Amen, He can answer
even if your prayer is in thought form and you haven't
even expressed that you can answer it.
And there are other times where you will pray and you will pray
and you will pray and you will pray and never mind hints, there
will be nothing, nothing. Expect both from God.
Expect both. Why do I say expect?
Let me put it this way. Every time I pray, I pray and
anticipate that God will do it. Every time I pray I want to see
a miracle, but I'm also ready for it to come in a different
way, which is really the next point because look what happens.
Go up. Now look toward the scene.
He went up and looked and said there is nothing.
And he said go again seven times.
And at the 7th time, verse 44, he said, behold, a little cloud
like a man's hand is rising from the sea.
And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your charity and go down
unless the rain stop you. Look at verse 45.
And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds
and wind, and there was a great rain and Ahab road and with the
Jezreel. So again, compare it to Elijah's
experience for praying. When he prayed for fire, he
prayed once fire came. Did the fire come like with a
spark? And then he had to feed the
fire, and then he grew up into a flame.
Is that what happened? No, look at verse 38.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering
and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water
that was in the trench. You know why I love that verse?
Because all was needed for the challenge was the the sacrifice
to be consumed. That's all that was needed to
prove that this was the true and living God.
You know what God does when he sends the fire?
He consumes more. You know what that's a picture
of? You pray for something and God
does more. But look at this.
So he prays and fire comes right there and then.
Now he prays for rain, right? Does he pray once, seven times?
And on the 7th time, do the clouds just suddenly appear and
it just starts raining and pour? Is that what happens?
No, a little cloud like the size of a man's hand comes.
And in verse 45, you read why? And in a little while the
heavens grew black with clouds and wind.
It's not very dramatic, is it? It's those are not the kind of
prayer testimonies you hear or asked to be shared at the prayer
meeting. It's the fire coming down right
away. Wow, is this any less of a
testimony? So you know what God can do when
you pray. God can heal your loved one
instantly. God can provide for your need
with your next blink. God can put a stop to that trial
with a breath. God can halt persecution right
away. He can do all of that like he
did with Elijah and the fire, but you know what else he might
do? You can pray for that loved
one's healing and you know how He's going to do it in stages.
And you need some. You need something.
You need a financial breakthrough, so to speak.
You need a job. Whatever the case may be, you
need something to be taken care of.
And how does God do it? Little by little, you need an
opportunity. And God can swing wide open a
door. A random guy calls you, doesn't
even know you, and it's this opportunity of a lifetime.
He can do that, or it can be several calls and a few
interviews. He can stop the persecution, or
he'll let it go for some time. So it can purge you in a certain
way. He can extinguish the fiery
trial, or he can extend it and manifest his presence within it.
So don't get frustrated if it doesn't come right away.
And if it doesn't happen when you pray once, and if you feel
discouraged, remember that some of God's greatest men are
experiencing what you're experiencing.
And here's one of them, Elijah. So I don't, I try not to allow
myself to go to a place where I think what's going on here?
Because I see a man who prayed 7 times.
So OK, if you have to pray a week, pray a week.
If you have to pray a year, pray a year.
If you have to pray years, pray for years.
You're saying, well, when do I stop praying?
I can't keep my head between my knees for too long, can I?
Can I? Can I tell you when you stop
praying? When God makes it clear when to
stop praying depends on the request, but I trust based on
the testimony of the Word of God, If you're persistent and
God hears you and there's an answer coming in terms of when
you should stop, He'll make it abundantly clear and you will
know it as he did with David with his sick newborn, when he
interceded on behalf of that little baby who is dying and he
did not get up from the floor until his men said the baby is
dead. He anointed his face, he washed
himself, he worshipped the Lord and he had his meal.
He stopped praying. What about Paul with a thorn in
his flesh? He prayed, he prayed the third
time the Lord said, I'm not removing this.
My grace is sufficient. So here's how I want to
translate. I know it might sound difficult.
I'm, I know it might might sound even daunting, but be encouraged
to know that if you're praying for that backslidden child of
yours, don't give up until God makes it clear when to give up.
And if God needs to make it very, very clear, there are
examples of prophets who are praying for a nation or praying
for an individual and God says enough, it's time to move on.
I have a different program here. So don't lose hearts, don't lose
focus and remember this as a testimony to keep you in that
place. So we see here that Elijah prays
and he prays and he prays. Now look at here verse 44.
In a little while, while the heavens grew black with clouds
and wind and there was there was a great rain and Ahab rode and
went to Jezreel. So here, this this is so
important because we could have ended here with the rain coming.
But he instructs Ahab to do something else.
He tells Ahab, I want you to get up, take your car and drive up
to Jezreel. Why Jezreel, go to 1st Kings 21.
Look at verse one and a certain, excuse me now neighbor, the
Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of
Ahab, king of Samaria. So the capital was in Samaria,
but Ahab had a palace in Jezreel, and that was probably
his main place of abiding. And so he tells him, go to your
home. And Ahab listens.
But we're not done here with a miracle or the theme of
miracles. Rather look at verse 46.
And at the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up
his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
That's how the chapter ends. So Ahab says the rain is here.
Excuse me. He tells Ahab the rain is here,
get in your chariot and go to Jezreel.
And then we're told the hand of the Lord comes upon the prophet.
And he runs ahead and he beats him to Jezreel.
Can anybody explain the miracle behind this?
What's the miracle behind it? In one sentence, What's the
miracle behind this? The rain didn't stop him.
That's one. Yeah.
So this wonderful overflow of rain didn't hinder him.
The Lord, what the Lord wants. The Lord was on Elijah and what
was he on him to do exactly to what I feel like people are
scared to answer. It's not teleportation.
He ran before the chariot speed. I think that's the general
commentary of this, right? That this man was able on foot
to run ahead of a chariot and beat the chariot.
That's pretty significant, and perhaps that's part of it,
because this man worked all day, did he not?
He challenged false prophets. He didn't eat or drink himself,
at least yet. And with all that he spent, all
that he gave out praying, seeking the Lord.
Interesting. Praying is hard work too.
He was able to be energized by divine power and make his way to
Jezreel on foot. Is that?
Although I wonder if that's it. Can I ask you another question?
Is this the only time where you see a man running before a
chariot in the Bible? I think people are scared to
answer still. OK, let me show you one example.
Go to second Samuel with me in chapter 15.
I won't just give you one man. Look at Second Samuel chapter 15
and verse one. After this Absalom got himself a
chariot and horses and 50 men to run before him.
And I can show you other examples of others doing the
same. So Elijah running before a
chariot is often understood at being a miraculous enablement
from heaven to outrun horses. But there are other places where
men run before Chariots. Now you can make the case that
maybe it was at a different pace.
Elijah here is out running something that's full throttle
perhaps. But can I remind you of a
command in our study of First Samuel?
In First Samuel, when the prophet told the people what
they should expect by having a human king, he warns them
because God was their king and God was going to bring a
tangible king at the right time. It was a premature request and
it was in the flesh. They didn't want to be like God.
They don't want to be according to God's program.
They wanted to be like the world.
So Samuel tells him, you want it.
OK, let me tell you what you're getting yourself into.
And here's one of the things that they should have expected.
Look at First Samuel 8 with me. It's worth it.
First Samuel 8. Look at verse 10.
So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were
asking for a king from him. He said, these will be the ways
of the king who will reign over you.
He will take your sons and appoint them to his Chariots,
and to be his horsemen. And to do what?
And to run before his Chariots. So one of the things that kings
would demand following this is that they would have some of the
men of Israel, as an act of service and loyalty to the king,
run before him as a way of displaying the majesty of that
king. Look at these men who are
running before me. It's almost as though it's a
parade. And these men, in doing so,
we're doing so in service, in humility, before this king.
I believe Elijah is doing more than just trying to outrun Ahab.
I mean, think about it, why is Elijah not just telling Ahab to
go, but meeting him there? What does that have to do with
him? Here's a thought that Elijah and
commanding Ahab to go is also going to follow him, but lead
the way, running before the chariot, perhaps with the high
hopes that this man would have some kind of change of heart,
especially as he is experiencing this rain flowing over him.
And he's going to now come to the palace and testify before
Jezebel, maybe with the hopes of a royal repentance.
Perhaps if that is not necessarily the desire of
Elijah. What he is doing by running
before him is pretty clear. Elijah up to this point has been
very confrontational, very direct, bold, and by running
before the chariot, what it would communicate to Ahab and
even onlookers when you connected to First Samuel 811.
That this Elijah is not personally against a that his
rebuke, his challenge to the king is not to dishonor his
authority or his position, but as a prophet to fulfill his role
as a duty. And so by running ahead of this
chariot, if First Samuel 811 means what it means that to run
before his chariot is some kind of a demonstration of loyalty,
then perhaps Ahab here is trying to communicate.
I'm not against you, Ahab. I'm against your sin.
I'm against your idolatry. And I want to show the people
here that I'm not trying to overthrow you.
I want to see you saved. I want to see you one over to
the truth. And, and with all that I have
done, with all that I have performed, in the end it's for
you to come back to the Lord and let me show it in this way.
I'll, I'll run before your chariot.
Let people see even up to your palace that I'm going to run
before your chariot. If that is the case, then you
have a great miracle I play here, one that is greater than
somebody who is now working with superhuman strength and is
running on his feet in a way that an older man shouldn't.
You have the hand of the Lord who comes upon Elijah to do
what? Perform a great act of humility
to run before a chariot. Not just any chariot, a chariot
that is unworthy, a chariot with a man in it that has caused much
trouble and dishonour to the Lord and his people.
And yet still you have Elijah willing to after great victory,
after great showdown to say, OK, Ahab, I'm going to show you and
others now that I want you to come to the truth.
And so he does it. You know, there might be people
in your life that you have great trouble honoring, great trouble
respecting. Could even be your husband.
It could be a friend, it could be a sibling.
It could be somebody from your. I don't it doesn't matter who it
is. It could be a Christian in the
church. It could even be elders and you
are going to be called at times. Actually, we're called all the
time to humble ourselves and to with the wisdom of God know how
to navigate between challenging yet respecting, standing against
yet showing that you're still for them and you want them to
know the truth and all the scenarios vary.
The spectrum is very wide and long.
You know what you're going to need in order to do what Elijah
did in this time. What was on him to do this?
The hand of the Lord. You can't do it without God's
help you. You won't be able to submit
without God's help. You won't be able to respect and
be patient and gentle and kind without God's help.
You won't be able to endure patiently with other believers
who in the flesh deserve dishonor, disrespect, but in the
Spirit you know you're a call to hire.
You can't do it without the hand of the Lord.
Elijah had the hand of the Lord upon him to run before this
chariot. I could point to the other
couple examples where men ran before Chariots and they did not
have the hand of the Lord upon them.
There's something more significant here, more personal,
more real, more relatable, even to you and I.
But how do I get the hand of the Lord upon me to love and respect
and honor and care and cherish and submit?
In some cases, we'll think about what Elijah did before this.
What was he doing? He was on a mountaintop alone
with God. And I believe that continuation
is no accident. There he is with the Lord,
praying. And not only did God provide
rain, He provided a power on him to do what we read here at the
end of this chapter. You know how we're going to end
this Bible study? Not by saying a quick prayer,
singing one song, and then leaving, but you're going to ask
for the Lord. I hope for His hand to be upon
you so that when you leave here, you're more energized to relate
to other people in the way Jesus Christ asked of you.
I can't do without the hand of the Lord, and I'm not going to
get the hand of the Lord unless I get on my knees before the
Lord. So maybe you came as Pastor Mark
opened up. Maybe you came in here a little
defeated, little deflated. Maybe you argued with your wife
or husband or your kids on your way here.
Maybe you dishonored your father, your mother on your way
here. Maybe you're struggling and
doing what Elijah was able to do for a person that really didn't
deserve it. I invite you not just to take
this truth into treasured in your heart, but to act upon and
say, Lord, I'm going back to an environment tonight that is very
difficult and I need your hand on my life.
I need your hand on my tongue. I need your hand on my temper, I
need your hand on my reactions. People often want fire, they
want rain, they want miracles. That's all wonderful, but how
often do we hear of this miracle in Elijah's life that he was
able to run before Ahab's chariot with grace and humility?
Lord, we ask you that you help us, please, to recognize our
neediness. Thank You that we can pray and
You can place your hand on our lives, and not just in a general
way. You can place your hand in an
area in our life that requires your help, your power, your
energy, your animation for it to be realized in a way that
glorifies you and testifies before watching world that we
are servants of the living God. Lord, tonight we pray that you
would bring things to mind that we would ask you for, to help us
do what may even be impossible. And Lord, sometimes, often
times, what seems to be impossible are the relationships
that we have to deal with so low.
We pause now, and we want to respond to this Bible study.
We're truly seeking you. Help us not be like Ahab after
hearing a study like this. Be concerned with the flesh.
Help us respond to these wonderful truths in the way that
this man of God did so. Lord, even in the silence of
this moment, we seek your face and we ask, Oh God, that your
hand would be upon us in Jesus name, Amen.
Why don't we do that? I'm going to join you.
I'm going to join you in seeking the Lord and saying Lord, I want
your hand on my life, yes, to deal with maybe certain people,
but also your hand on my life to administer more effectively, to
endure more in prayer, to know how to protect and maintain that
time alone with you. Let's just make this a time of
responding to God's voice, his speaking in this past hour,
shall we? Don't rush out of here.
Don't waste this moment. Just sit there and focus on the
Lord and trust that he hears you even now and he will honor your
request before we close in prayer together, shall we?
Let's do that and as as a praise team comes and prepares to lead
us in worship, we're not going to sing right away, but just
seek the Lord and He will be found.