As we attend to the 18th chapter of the book of the first book of Kings we saw
last week that Elijah made a stand. He made a stand for God. He refused to
submit himself to a nation that had become riddled with unbelief that God
lived among them. They had been completely tossed as it were. They had
believed that God had no longer any purpose for Israel in the way in which
had been declared in Scripture. And so they resorted to the traditions and the
histories and the thought of true religion rather than living that
religion that is described for them in the the existing Word of God. Once God
had entered into the nation's life and had delivered them from the house of
bondage. Once the living God had so turned around the ungodly to the point
that they yielded to the will of their Father in heaven he opened the seas up
they went down through the sea and were as it were redeemed from the house of
bondage under the blood of the Lamb the Passover Lamb that reminded them that
there would be a deliverer that would finally and utterly deliver them for
salvation's sake. They were fed by God in a wilderness place that no man would
enter let alone bring children and women and
unresourced people that numbered in something like two million people. It
would have been a complete national disaster if they had ventured into such
a wilderness without long lines of supply. But God protected them not only
from the heat of the day but also the cold of the night by sending a flame of
fire in the midst of them in the night and a cloud by day. He gave them a rock
that poured forth so much water that two million people could drink from it
freely and survived. He gave them bread from heaven that came down every day
except on the Sabbath where on the day before the Sabbath they had two days
worth given to them. Not even their clothes wore out and their sandals gained
holes. They were a truly a people of God that could only testify this was the
power of God that has given us such salvation. God had covenanted
with them to live in a righteous and holy manner not according to the
nations they were to live according to the commercial standards of their
world but they were to live as a special separated people for the things of God.
This was achieved and could only be achievable by the living God himself.
Because the nations feared this nation that was not even an army of any standing.
They feared they trembled in the land of Canaan because the living God was
amongst his people and he was able to deal with the Egyptians he was able to
deal with the Moabites he was able to take all the enemies of God's people and
make them but corpses and they went to water in the land of Canaan because they
knew that they were destined to the promised land. God is a God that acts
supernaturally in our everyday life. The very fact that we have eternal life
residing in our lives it is a result of a resurrection has taken place in our
life. God is powerful and because we have eternal life we begin to believe God
believe God that he is able to deliver us even in the midst of tremendous odds
because we have a God that is able to defend us deliver us and give us all
that we need to live to the glory of God. And so while God
exists and he does for the creation exists and is held together by the word
of his power constantly by the providential care of the entire universe
a day will come when he chooses not to preserve the creation the physical
finite creation as we see it today and the heavens and the earth will dissolve
in a great flame one day because and withdraw his grace from it because it
has a used by date. But God is eternal and the life that is within our hearts
is eternal life. God is at work. While there exists one believer on the face of
the earth one believer it means that God is at work for God can no believer can
ever exist without the supernatural work of God. We can have a lot of people who
are assimilated and appear to be Christians but unless the work of God is
in their lives they are not Christians at all they're not believers at all
belief only comes from the work of God giving us the free gift of eternal life
and so the future for us though we live in a day of small things in many ways in
our own community it is said that Australia is becoming one of the most
hardened countries against the gospel in the world. It is said that and I can see
and witness in the last 20 years it is more difficult to preach the gospel in
Australia than it is in many nations that I've preached the gospel. Far harder.
And we are living in a day of small things we are completely besottled by
sport and the good life and getting riches and of course we've got those
things and we've sold our soul out for them as a nation but if God is working
among a few in this nation this nation has a future because God has not not
forsaken us. When God did forsake Sodom and Gomorrah he had to withdraw a very
lukewarm Christian believer out of Sodom and Gomorrah and that was Abraham's
nephew Lot or cousin I think he was and he only was delivered by the
skin of his teeth but he withdrew his hot wrath of firing Brimstone down upon
his that that city-state because of his homosexuality or sodomy as it's called
these days that we find that Sodom and Gomorrah was completely destroyed but it
was only after he withdrew the single believer that was found in the city of
Sodom and Gomorrah and I believe that here we find in chapter 18 of Kings a
theme that God will restore his name in one way or another God will bring about
revival and revival is nothing but a special intervention of divine power
through his Holy Spirit that brings about the restoration of his glory and
name are to bear upon a people that must know the name of God and so here I
believe that this is what is addressed here the history of Christianity in the
New Testament era the gospel era the gospel the kingdom era of is measured
this way we find that at the time of the Apostles there was a great outpouring
of the spirit and through the evangelization of the known world in
those days in a very short time in a few hundred years the whole of the Roman
Empire fell under the spell of Christianity many millions of people
died in the name of Christ through martyrdom in Rome and many places right
throughout then there was a dying off then there was a time of petering off of
the Christian faith through false false teaching then suddenly again God raised
up chrysostrum John chrysostrum and Augustine and and many others and
revival broke out and through that revival Europe was basically
evangelized and then there's a dying out again there's a falling away through
traditionalism where the church had become institutionalized and potpourri
had overtaken the church and suddenly God chose to raise up the reformers
Luther Wycliffe Capito Calvin Knox a whole host of glorious preachers and
revival broke out and the whole of Europe and England and eventually even
to Australia and Africa and America true Christianity came to bear then it fell
away again only to be raised up yet again by Whitfield and the Wesleys where
he poured out so much of the power of God upon many people were converted by
the millions both in England Europe and and America this is the work of God that
achieves this the certainty of revival the very fact that we exist here we live
again tomorrow according to faith we brings us closer to a great outpouring
of the Spirit of God we have to endure we have to press on in faith as as as
Elijah he pressed on for years waiting and calling upon God in effectual prayer
for the outworking of God so the name of the true and living God will be known
in Israel according to power and glory
the fact that this Tishpite existed as a believer was a
fundamental testimony against all those who'd sunk in unbelief and that's
enough that's enough for God to work according to his blessed grace Elijah
was evidence that God was at work according to the gospel of Christ for it
is the power of God and a salvation to everyone that believes and there was one
that believed there was also a hundred prophets and there was Obadiah that
believed but they are very embattled group of believers they were hot in the
battle but his prayers were focused not upon the future but his accomplishment
for a future accomplishment but on the present unbelief that he had around him
it was an abortion of of true faith to think that believers should be believing
and they were not believing it was the disgrace to the name of God the people
of God become delinquent and had fallen into the sin of unbelief which is the
worst kind of sin at all of all and so he had tapped he alone had tapped into
the very authority of God who could release and shed forth light and life in
the name of the Almighty himself he did not regear and re-establish a system
that might do it better than they didn't pass he could not do anything like that
if the full number of the elect of God are going to be saved is not through
trying to do it better and become more like the world in selling the gospel we
can sell the gospel to all we like but unless we see true converts that is
brought about by the work of God's power that resurrects people from the dead
only God can do that and the good thing is that we have got access to this God
and he hears our prayers for the fervent prayer of a right of a righteous man or
woman is effectual and great in the purposes of God his prayers was focused
so that the present unbelief would be resolved he says in verse 17 a chapter
17 and verse 1 and Elijah the Tishbite for of the inhabitants of Gilead said
to Ahab as a Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall not be
due nor reign these years except by my word now God had intervened he had
preserved him at the brook Cherith only just to bring him preserved then he had
to be moved to Zarephith outside the boundaries of the of Israel and there
was salvation that was seen amongst the unbelievers and we find that by the
power of God the Zarephith woman's child which was not really a child is more
like a strapping teenager that was saved from his deathbed and it was as it were
a reminder to Elijah that God is in the business of resurrection not mere
reformation and therefore we find why the living God was meeting Elijah's
world with the supernatural power that was answered was an answer to prayer
Elijah must have said what is this again against such a great unbelief he
may have been this easily discouraged what am I against the politicians of my
nation what am I against the the captains of industry in my nation what
am I against the media barons of my nation I have no way of of countering
this except that you intervene and we find that he was not given to this self
indulgence a sentimental gloominess of
pre-millennial disengagement into faithlessness saying it's too difficult
for me I've got to wait for some better day no he acted in his own day he
refused to wait for another day he made sure that his world was in tune with God
he made sure that what he was doing was according to faith he made sure that
what he was was a result of the very power of God himself yes we must not
despise the day of small things Elijah knew one thing he was he is because God
is and that's one thing we must come to understand are we are what we are
because God is and that's what a Christian needs to be able to say are we
what we are because God is because anything less than that will not be
anywhere near par for the course and so he said if I can be saved if I've been
sustained if I am alone faithful before God then it's possible for a whole
nation to be saved and they be found faithful before God alone too and that
was his project that was the thing that he saw that was his focus and he knew
that the only thing that would bring about this would be a direct
intervention of God himself we call that revival and remember revivals come
and go but the thing that he had would never come and go
eternal life it would endure through the rough times and the completely forsaken
times as well as through the times of abundance in a time not only of the
green tree but also of the fallen leaf
through all seasons of life which makes up the full Christian character in our
lives and remember revivals do come and go but the thing that endures is our
faith in a living God so let us not look for miracles let us look what lies
behind these miracles is our faith in a God that is able to intervene on our
behalf and on his own behalf we are rarely if ever absolutely alone there
was Obadiah we see here as clearly he was in fellowship although separated for
some time and there was also a hundred prophets that Obadiah faithfully
protected from the from certain massacre from Ahab's wife Jezebel and all of
their own and their own glory was there so here God is at work and we can say
this as a result of just this small group of people here today God is at
work focusing us upon the gospel of Jesus Christ but also we find also that
God's wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
as the as Paul the Apostle says in Romans chapter 1 and Elijah saw this he
said in the end it's not going to be signs and wonders that is going to turn
the turn the eyes of of this nation upon you again God it's going to be the very
wrath of God that will deal with this you know years ago we used to preach the
gospel flee from the wrath of God flee from his judgment come to Christ
therefore there's not the kind of gospel that we used to hear and it's not the
kind of gospel is found in the scriptures yes as we come to God we will
find a God that receives us as a loving God but as a result of Christ's work
that that love can be shown toward us it's only as we live in the redemptive
work of Christ upon the cross of Calvary for it is he in him all the wrath of God
has been vented so that we might be released from the condemnation that was
due to us and these days there was a living God hotly angry against how his
people he was judging the reprobate he was bringing them to account who are
outside the Commonwealth of God and their life was just a normal life their
life was a life that proceeded without event except that they were under the
corruption and the condemnation of God even though some of them didn't even
understand it such a sentence is more than I could imagine because the day
will come when judgment will be measured out and it will come like a
thief in the nut and so in the long suffering of God the gospel is
constantly before them they know that there was a man of God amongst them even
if they didn't see him personally they certainly knew him by reputation by now
that there was a controversy between light and darkness and that person was
embodied in the person of Elijah and the darkness was embodied in the person of
Ahab and the long suffering of God we find that he is a no respecter of
persons if he has to judge God's people like he judges the reprobate he will and
no one will get away from it and we find that he cannot justly deal with
reprobate and let the sinners go who are amongst God's people who do not live
according to this gospel the true marks of godliness here was the fear of God it
was said that Noah was moved by fear and he built an arc it didn't save the world
but it certainly saved his family the fear of God is that we will have no
other that means that we will not serve anything else but God the fear of man
says I will have a divided heart I will serve something of man and I'll serve
something of God that's what the the people of God had fallen into why do you
hesitate between two opinions said Elijah to the people gathered at Mount
Carmel so you either choose one or the other but you cannot have this
syncretistic religion between the true God and a make-believe religion a
man-centered religion the only way the Covenant is going to be restored the
Covenant blessings again and so there can be no ambiguity in this and I think
this is one of the biggest messages that the church needs to learn these days
that we cannot simply play fast and loose with the truth of God or the
gospel we either serve God or we serve man and therefore Elijah came and and
said in verse 8 Elijah is here okay he has been absent for three and a half
years but he is here and this was a spectacle of of great significance to
Obadiah whom he had met and a man that was under the fear of God under the hand
of God is an awesome thing to encounter particularly by a god-fearing man and it
says that Obadiah feared God from his youth up that was a good testimony and
he'd acted according to his faith in God at tremendous expense to himself and he
must have balanced wisely how he was to act according to the fear of God and the
cause of this revealed fear this revealed wrath of God is directly placed
at the feet of Ahab when I have eventually came before this man of God
he says you are the trouble of Israel and Elijah turned it right back to him
where the truth lied the problem lies at your feet man you are the trouble of
Israel you are the one that has caused all this for you married a Jezebel that
had nothing to do with the faith you are responsible for what has happened to
Israel you bear the load yourself and you're the blood of all God's people is
upon your hand I have a brought you back to the covenant so they might find the
blessings again and yet with that firm clear testimony against the power of
darkness the influences of darkness this ultimatum is delivered and this is what
a true evangelism is it is just this is announcing the impending judgment of God
if we do not flee to the gospel of grace that has been proclaimed so ably and
clearly in the nation he did not invite them to come to church he did not say
consider Jesus as some kind of of something you can consume at your own
will and beck and call he did not invite some apologetic to investigate
Jesus no he simply declared it you are the trouble of Israel you are the one
that all this has been laid upon that has completely destroyed the testimony
of God and so he saw the very hard side of God now God also lives today as he
did in the ages past the Prophet could have said our God doesn't work anymore
God is always at work we've all already seen that he had worked in such a way
that one man believed an actual fact there was many thousands that believed
in Israel in that day the New Testament raises that question he realizes that
the wrath of God is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness we can
lose perspective of that in our own nation there is a lot of unhappiness
there's a lot of psychiatric disease in this nation and it can be only
attributed that they have not God and so here bail was seen as being the
imposter that he was and God will not accept a divided heart he will he will
have none other but himself to be worshipped remember what happened to
Israel when they started to worship the golden calf many thousands of them were
put to death as a result of that remember what John says in the book of
Revelation I would that you are hot nor cold but you have become lukewarm I will
spew you out of my mouth there appeared as as made the appearance was as it were
a supernatural nature of the biblical religion and reformed Christians need to
get to grips with this we need to understand that it's not simply
historical Christianity that we put our fond trust in it is the power of God
that brings salvation that we have to understand and know it is something that
we're not looking for signs and wonders because signs and wonders will come and
go but true faith in the biblical God will endure forever because it's
under righted by eternal life that is set in our hearts once we are Christian
we can be no other than being a Christian and that can only be expressed
in having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repenting from our sins that is the
evidence of true Christianity in our lives if it's not there you haven't got
the truth and therefore we need to come back to base one and get right with God
first because if your life is not the result of the powerful working of the
Holy Spirit and the intervention of God every moment of your day then you have
got a substitute religion that is not Christianity that is the wrought fact of
the matter faith in the supernatural intervention of God on behalf of his
people throughout history has now led to faith in all parts of the world I hear
stories that many thousands upon millions of people in China are
worshiping God in the at the cost of their own life in houses like us here
today but I understand the houses are so packed full of people they can they
that's got to make another house church somewhere else in these unofficial
churches and they've been hounded by the secret police every which way and put
into gulags that that that are made into slave camps the same is happening in
Russia I understand in Korea and this is a result of a God that is able to bring
about his work he was able to atone for our sins he was able to resurrect
himself from the dead he was able to ascend into heaven he was able to
declare himself as the the God man and so on the virgin birth and all the
miracles of Christ are confirmed in our faith and so what happened in the
contemporary Christian Christianity is that we are calling revival by these
signs and wonders movement which are nothing more than illusion now I don't
know if there is any miracles among them because I don't see every one of them of
course but I don't see any great change of lives in Christendom I don't see any
real results of this happening within our national life and by contrast the
bails the bails versus Elijah there was 450 bail prophets and priests and Elijah
was standing alone he called the people to give an account between one or the
other and they must follow God alone he knew that God a bail was an outward
showy religion finding its authenticity in religious fervor and natural natural
showiness Elijah's religion was based on an inward transformation and it was
authenticated by the religious authenticity of God himself and we see
that in that in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 8 Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday today and forever and so we must understand that when God answered
with fire it wasn't the fire that was the miracle it was the fact that God
revealed himself in any unequivocal terms and that must happen with any of
us who are getting converted any of us who come to the Lord Jesus Christ he
must reveal himself in unequivocal terms so that we know without a shadow of
doubt we have we've had the finger of God put upon our souls and there can be
no turning back we cannot be ever the same again God is God to us and no other
God is to be served and so for his namesake he condescends and reveals
himself in fire according to the Word of God yes the bail prophets spent all day
lancing themselves and bleeding over the sacrifice and to no avail Elijah
came forward to the people and quietly prayed God make your name known and he
did in his own way on that occasion with fire in our situation in many in
varied ways and therefore we are therefore to look to God for the
supernatural God of a gospel that is able to consume our souls and to make us
is it a very children of God there are many other lessons in this chapter but
remember our God is a consuming fire let us fear him and walk in his ways