We find our text in 1 Kings, chapter
19, verse 9.
Then he came to a cave and lodged
in it, and behold, the word of the
Lord came to him and he said to
him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
He said, I have been very jealous for
the Lord, the God of hosts, for the
people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown
down your altars and killed your prophets with
the sword.
And I, even I only am left, and
they seek my life to take it away.
And he said, Go out and stand on
the mount before the Lord.
And behold, the Lord passed by in a
great strong wind, tore the mountains and broke
it in pieces.
And broken pieces the rock before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind, an earthquake, but the
Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire, but the
Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, the sound of a
low whisper.
And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his
face in his cloak and went out and
stood at the entrance of the cave.
And behold, there came a voice to him
and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?
The whole story of Elijah is marvelous.
If you read his history from the beginning
right to the end,
you'll
notice that his life was wonderful and it
was of great power, authority, even though he
was a man just like us, but his
life was just wonderful.
If you would get alone with God, be
completely by yourself, not disturbed by anything, and
on the knees of your heart, seek the
Lord and ask him to speak to you
as you read this whole story.
It's wonderful to read the word in silence
when there's no disturbance.
I'm glad when I can wake up sometimes
in the early hours of the morning and
take hold of the word, it is so
sweet.
If you read the matter of this man,
of this person, you would agree
why it is that God could not let
him die a normal death.
God couldn't let him die the death of
other people.
And you see that when you read properly
his story, because Elijah didn't die.
God sent flaming horses of fire, a chariot
of fire, which
he could ride to heaven.
He was riding on a chariot of fire.
It shows us that there was something very
special about this life.
If you think of his prayers, when
Israel was ruled by a wicked king, who
had no fear of God, his
wife was a treacherous woman, a murderer.
They destroyed all the altars, that is the
altars of God, and they killed the prophets
of God.
They established Baal as the only acceptable religion
that every person had to worship Baal.
Anybody who contradicted that would be put to
death.
Elijah prayed that the heavens would not rain
as punishment upon this king.
Upon him, his family, upon the nation of
Israel, for they had all participated in Baal
worship.
And indeed the heavens were closed.
It did not rain for three and a
half years.
King Ahab searched him out and eventually when
he found him, when he came across him,
he said, you the troubler of Israel, he
said, O king, I am not
the troubler of Israel, it is you, O
king, and your evil.
Do you see his authority and courage?
But I am not going to speak about
that, I am just mentioning it.
He gathered the nation on the mount, the
king, the prophets of Baal, the nation, and
said two altars should be built.
The cattle should be slaughtered
for
both altars.
Then he said the prophets of Baal should
call upon their God to call down fire
upon the sacrifice.
And that he also should pray to God
almighty to bring down fire.
And he said the one who answers with
fire is truly God.
And so he said they should start first
and the prophets prayed from early morning.
And they prayed and they prayed.
No fire came down.
Till their voices were lifted up they shouted,
they were hysterical but there was no answer
from Baal.
Some of the prophets slashed themselves with stones,
shedding their own blood, but no answer.
Elijah only provoked them even more and said
look maybe Baal is asleep, you need to
shout even louder so that you will really
wake him up.
He mocked their God.
He mocked them and though they called upon
their God, they called and screamed, but by
midday he answered.
Then he said it's obvious your God doesn't
respond.
Baal gives no answer.
Now I will pray.
But before I do, let there dig a
trench right around the altar.
Then he said bring water in great quantities
to saturate the wood and the offering that
the whole altar would be saturated with water.
And
the trench.
And then he bowed his head and he
prayed and God responded with fire in such
heat that the sacrifice, the
water, everything, even the stones were burned.
You see why we say that this prophet
was a hero of heroes?
He had the authority to resist the whole
nation and even his king.
And then he bowed his head between his
knees and he said God I pray that
you would send rain now.
And he then sent his assistant and said
go and see in the distance what the
weather is like and he came back and
said I see a cloud like the fist
of a hand.
He said go quickly to the king, race
to him and tell him that rains are
coming with great force and indeed it rained.
And he said go quickly to the king,
race to him and tell him that rains
are coming with
great
force and indeed it rained.
And he said go
quickly
to the king, race to him and tell
him that rains are coming with great force
and indeed it rained.
Elijah presumed that this would cause the repentance
of the nation, the royal family and the
king and the queen, that they would repent.
And he thought that the Lord had conquered
and had won and defeated the people.
When the king got home and told his
wife about the day's events she was furious
with rage and she said send people now
and you make sure that Elijah is not
alive by the next morning.
Because when Elijah had that fire came down
he then said let all the prophets of
Baal be destroyed.
And they were each and every one of
them killed.
If you take the prophets of Baal that
ate at the queen's table and those other
prophets, they added up to about a thousand.
They were many and he had said kill
them all.
The queen swore revenge and said I will
do to him as he has done to
the prophets.
Elijah was deeply disappointed.
He said I thought all the people would
repent but now the tables have turned and
now I am to die.
But you see if a person has hardened
their heart it doesn't matter what miracle might
happen, it doesn't matter how clear the word
of God might come to dispel all doubts
but that person's hardness will continue and they
will persevere in their wickedness.
I'm reminded of the rich man in hell
when he lifted up his eyes and he
said Abraham send Lazarus to rise from the
dead to warn my five brothers because if
they see a man rise from the dead
they will repent and not come here where
I am.
Because the five brothers had mocked Lazarus together
with the rich man.
They said he is a public disturbance, just
a nuisance, an embarrassment if we have our
friends over and so the rich man realized
that his brothers were coming to hell as
well.
He started by saying send Lazarus with just
a drop of water on the tip of
his finger to cool my lips.
This fire, this heat, I'm thirsty.
This man, this Lazarus that had previously mocked
now he wanted help from him.
Abraham said no that won't happen.
They've got Moses and the prophets, that is
the law and the gospel.
The rich man insisted no they will hear
if they see a fantastic miracle like a
person rising from the dead.
Abraham said no that won't happen.
For if they do not heed the word
of Moses and the prophets they won't listen
even to a man who rises from the
dead.
And the rich man found that difficult to
accept.
You see it is true that a person
who has hardened their heart will not listen
to anything even a person who rises from
the dead.
Abraham was correct in that and the Lord
Jesus it's shown by how the Lord Jesus
when he rose from the dead even that
miracle of his resurrection did not cause the
Pharisees and the scribes and other religious leaders
to repent.
You see if you harden your heart, don't
be stiff necked, don't harden your heart otherwise
woe to you.
For you too will wake up in the
place where the rich man found himself.
Don't take hell lightly.
Jesus who saw heaven and hell, he saw
heaven and hell, he saw heaven and hell,
he saw heaven and hell, he saw heaven
and hell.
Jesus who saw hell said rather that you
pluck your eye out if it offends, if
it sees wicked things, if you cannot but
then remove it, chop your hand off rather
than that you go to hell with both
hands, that you go to heaven with one.
But before I get, I've said these things
before I get to the main crux of
the matter today which is the still small
whisper.
We had a funeral yesterday.
But before I mention that here's something else.
In translation there's a lot that one says
and then you forget some things.
Abraham had also said to the rich man,
look he who's on the other side cannot
come to this side because the gulf is
so huge that no one can cross the
gulf.
If you die in faith you go to
heaven, if you die in your wickedness you
go to hell.
You cannot cross the gap anymore because it's
a gulf that cannot be transversed.
You hear that especially you Zulu people and
whites who are involved with the occult.
You hear that especially you Zulu people
and
whites
who are involved with the occult.
People who have died are on the other
side.
There is a gulf which causes them to
have no contact with us anymore.
So it doesn't matter what effort you might
make to bring back the spirits of the
dead, it is impossible to do so.
For persons in heaven, do you think you
can take them out of the glory of
the Lord?
On to this earth of sin where there
are killers, sorcerers, drunkards, prostitutes,
those who have grudges, liars.
It will be a suffering that is forever
and ever.
It will be a suffering that is forever
and ever.
Think properly about it.
You who continue in your sin, do you
think that you are going to go to
your manager in a place like that?
Yesterday at the funeral I spoke.
I told them the story about that girl
from America and the preacher there.
I told them the story about that girl
from America and the preacher there.
There was a child evangelist.
That preacher has since died.
It is said that Sunday after Sunday he
would preach to 20,000 children.
It is said that Sunday after Sunday he
would preach to 20,000 children.
Have you ever heard such a thing?
So many children.
He had a co-worker who was with
him in the ministry.
He had a co-worker who was with
him in the ministry.
He had such a passion, such fire to
preach.
He said, well brother, when I was young
I had sisters.
I had a sister.
We had a double story.
My sister slept on the top floor.
I was downstairs.
One night I heard her screaming with a
terrible scream and I ran upstairs.
I didn't even knock.
I didn't knock at the door.
I just burst into the room.
I saw her sitting on the bed screaming
at the top of her voice.
I tried to shake her.
I said, sister, what's wrong?
Have you had a bad nightmare?
She said, no.
I have not.
In the beginning she didn't respond.
But after a while she stopped screaming and
she said, no, I haven't dreamt.
I have seen something terrible.
She said, I saw myself walking in a
place.
I saw many young people.
People who were worldly, full of their jewelry
and everything.
dressed in the latest fashionable clothing and high
heels and laughing and chatting with with their
boyfriends.
I walked just a small distance and then
I saw hell.
And then when I got there I heard
a voice saying stop.
Which I did.
I stopped.
But I looked at hell
right before me.
It was like I was looking through a
window at hell itself.
She said I saw people of every race
of every kind in this terrible hell by
burning.
When I looked at them as they were
burning in the fire, their eyes were
bulging like saucers.
Twisted faces.
Tongues like they've been cut.
Hands.
Like they had been cut and sliced with
blood.
She said brother I've never seen such a
thing.
It's the final ultimate thing.
She said then this voice said to me
now go back and warn your people about
what you've seen.
She said but as I turned I saw
father among the crowd in the crowd.
She said brother I saw dad in
this great suffering in this fire.
And I said how is it possible that
dad is in hell.
Had been such a good behaving well-behaved
man.
Had bought us such nice clothing.
Such nice food we were never hungry.
He educated us well at school.
We lacked nothing.
He treated us so well.
But he had never told us about Jesus.
He had never brought us together with the
Lord.
As good as he seemed but he had
never told us about the gospel of Jesus.
The boy said I'm repenting right now.
And I'm going to do exactly what you
were told to do sister.
I'm going to go and warn people.
He gathered children together.
He preached to children.
He said I want to preach to these
children so that they wouldn't one day have
their children crying about them being in hell.
That's why I preach to these children.
So that their children won't cry because of
seeing their dad in hell.
And so Sunday by Sunday he would gather
together 20,000 children.
He's preached with a great fire in him.
He said I cannot be silent.
You tell me.
You.
Have you got that fire that passion about
children who are on the way to hell?
Maybe not only other children.
Your own children.
But Sunday by Sunday you go to church
and you're all religious.
Don't be surprised if one day you wake
up in hell.
They were your own children.
Hell is
real.
I wish you would have the passion of
that young man who could preach to the
children of the world.
I wish with that you would have a
glimpse of hell that you would be able
to tell others and warn them otherwise were
it to you.
When Elijah had seen his people going astray,
apostatizing in such a way, he prayed a
prayer that was so deep, so serious, and
so powerful.
Now let's go back to Elijah.
When he heard the pronouncement of the death
sentence upon him by the Queen, Elijah
ran for his life until he was so
tired he then hid under a tree and
he slept a deep sleep.
Then an angel came and stirred him and
said, Elijah wake up and eat.
Then
the angel said, Elijah
wake up and eat.
Then he saw at his head a cake
baked on hot stones and a jar of
water.
He got up, he ate, drank, slept
again.
He was extremely tired, exhausted after this extremely
tense time of many days.
He was deeply distressed, disappointed, depressed.
He had thought that the whole nation would
repent, though they said it with their mouths,
but there was no true national repentance.
He was so distressed he said, Lord, wouldn't
you just save me?
Just take me, let me die.
Then the angel touched him again.
In the Old Testament, if it refers to
the angel of the Lord, it's referring to
Jesus Christ.
That's in the Old Testament, not in the
New Testament.
Jesus woke him again.
He said, wake up for the road you
must take, the journey you must undertake is
very long.
Take and eat and drink, which he did.
Or whether God just cooked it because nothing
is too difficult for him.
Jesus said to him, He
said, you have a long journey to undertake.
And so after eating this, he could go
for 40 days and 40 nights as he
then arrived at the Mount of Horeb.
To say that it's there at Sinai where
Moses received the Ten Commandments.
And it is said that the Mount had
two stones or pinnacles, one being Horeb, one
being Sinai.
That's what we are told.
I don't know if it really is the
case.
When he got to Horeb, he then found
a cave where he slept.
And while he was asleep, the word of
the Lord came to him and said, Elijah,
what are you doing here?
He said, I have been very jealous for
the Lord, which means the Lord of hosts,
the Lord of battle.
I was jealous for you, O God, for
the people had forsaken you and turned to
Baal, had destroyed your altars, had killed your
prophets.
Put them to the sword.
And I am the only one left.
And now they seek even my soul.
But the Lord had said to Elijah, look,
you aren't alone.
There are 7,000 who have not bowed
the knee to Baal, but Elijah felt totally
isolated, completely alone because of what had happened.
Now I'm getting closer to the main crux
of the matter, the main point of the
sermon.
The still small voice
of the Lord.
The Lord passed by him.
And a great wind came by him.
It must have been the greatest wind that
there's ever been.
And perhaps never again so strong.
It was so strong that it broke the
rocks.
The mountains.
It split the mountains.
Now wind has the power to break roofs
of houses and destroy houses, but to tear
the mountains, what wind that must have been.
And boulders were split
before the Lord.
Elijah stood and observed.
He stood like a rock observing this amazing
sight.
What?
It is said the Lord was not in
that wind.
After which?
After that there was a great earthquake.
You know what an earthquake is like?
Where?
It's like sea waves on the earth.
Sea
waves
on the earth.
So powerful.
Elijah, what he saw, that earthquake must have
been the first and the last earthquake so
powerful.
Elijah stood observing this phenomenon.
God was not in it.
After that there was a great fire.
There is fire that can be so hot
like that which comes from a volcano, red
hot lava that streams down melting rocks.
There have been fires from such volcanoes that
have wiped out whole cities, but I don't
think there's been a fire like the one
Elijah witnessed.
But God was not in that fire.
He just stood gazing.
After that there was the sound of a
still small whisper.
But the English, is that whisper there?
English Bible uses small voice.
It's whisper here, but voice.
Whisper, that's right.
A still small voice or whisper is so
low that you aren't quite sure if you've
heard really and you can't see.
It's so unnoticeable.
Then he wrapped his head in his cloak
and went to the opening for he had
seen God.
He bowed.
He worshipped.
He didn't worship natural events like the wind
and the fire and that, but when the
still small voice, this whisper came, he bowed
and worshipped.
He bowed to nothing else but God alone.
Like the three young men.
Like the three young men who were threatened
with the fire, the furnace seven times hotter,
they were told bow to the idol.
They said never.
God was in this still small voice, this
whisper.
He bowed.
He worshipped.
And God spoke to him.
But we don't have time to go into
that.
We've run out of time.
You see, there are winds which blow around
this world.
You can meet with many sorts of influences,
people who are suggesting that this is what
you must do, that's what you must do,
and some bow to that and fall.
There may even be peer pressure.
And put you under pressure to take certain
actions.
But we don't have time.
And so there are those who will fall
because of that peer pressure.
We heard the testimony of the bridegroom last
week when he said, when he got home
after being converted, there were so many that
said, but they are the girls, here's the
booze, but he stood firm.
Don't bow to that spirit, that influence which
does not have God.
Listen to the voice of the Lord.
For if you listen to something else, it
will go badly with you.
If people come and speak to you, if
they say they're giving you advice, if
they come and they say, the Lord has
said to them that you must do this
and that, be respectful, be kind, say thank
you for telling me, but
I cannot do that unless I've heard God
for myself, that still small voice, his whisper
speaking to you.
Listen to his voice.
The Lord said, my sheep hear my voice.
Do you know his voice?
I try and tell the co-workers, look,
if you're speaking to people and they want
advice about something, tell them to listen to
what the shepherd, their shepherd says to them.
And if they say they don't know the
voice of the Lord, then tell them to
go and repent and get right with God
first.
When Peter and John had been arrested and
thrown into jail, told by the authorities not
to ever speak in the name of the
Lord again, they said, men, you decide, should
we obey you rather than God?
For we cannot stop testifying to and speaking
about that which we have personally seen and
heard.
You cannot speak with much authority about what
somebody else has experienced.
You need to experience it for yourself.
I remember when I was young, I was
preaching the gospel.
A certain widow got converted in the Kings
Cliff area.
She got saved, repented.
She had been very troubled, no food, no
money.
It was in a farming district and her
cows went into a sugar cane area and
ate the cane.
And the headman there, the Induna,
said,
She said she has to pay a hundred
pounds fine for each cow, and I think
she had about ten.
It was worth a lot more a pound
at that time.
She phoned me and she said, I've come
across a real problem, I don't know what
to do.
She said, I've told the Induna that I
have no money to pay them.
That I'm just a widow, I don't have
a husband, I'm poor.
And he said, Since you do not
have any money or cattle, then agree to
sleep with me, then you don't have to
pay the fine.
Do you see the fire?
Do you feel the fire?
But God is not in that fire.
He said, if you just agree to sleep
with me, I will release your cattle.
Some meet with great difficulty.
Some meet with an earthquake, an earth shattering
event.
I said, Dear sister in the Lord, what
does God say to you?
What has the Holy Spirit shared with you
that you should do?
What's your response?
For a great fire had come.
If we read in the Bible, it speaks
about the Antichrist coming.
Who will come with great signs and wonders.
Even calling down fire from heaven.
Will you have the strength to resist that,
to say God is not in this fire?
I've met with people who've been in Satan
worship.
They say, do you know many leaders of
Satan worshipers?
I said, not just politicians, but
even ministers, preachers.
They go to the witch doctor, sorcerers seeking
concoctions for great strength.
They have those preachers have the authority to
work up an immense crowd and to get
them so worked up that the people are
in an emotional state.
And are dancing, but not recognizing God is
not in it.
You
do not listen.
To the voice of the Lord, there's still
small whisper, you will be susceptible.
You'll be vulnerable to other influences.
You might see what seems like the fire
of the Lord at work.
But I've often told the story about the
preacher in Durban, who had been a very
shy man, very nervous about speaking in
front of people.
And he spoke with a stutter.
Then somebody said, look, preacher, I just want
to give you a tip.
Have a tot of gin or vodka or
brandy before you get up to preach and
you'll find such freedom.
But this preacher wasn't used to alcohol.
When he got up into the pulpit, he
spoke with such power and with such emotion.
When they were leaving, somebody
remarked, the Holy Spirit has been at work
today.
He's spoken to us.
But it wasn't the Holy Spirit.
It was spirits.
It was the power of alcohol at work.
And people really thought it was the Spirit
of God.
You see, if you don't know what it
is to listen to the still small whisper
of God, you're vulnerable.
To hear his still small voice, you need
to part from all sin, all evil, otherwise
it will cause you to be blunt.
You won't be sharp enough to listen properly.
Now in closing, let me mention the dream
of a certain person who had been in
the meeting, a great meeting of Nicholas Bengu,
of a great preacher.
And he had wanted to see the Lord
at work, the Lord doing his work.
And then he saw himself in rooms which
seemed to be separated with veils.
And he heard what sounded to him like
the voice of Pastor Nicholas Bengu.
But he couldn't hear what exactly this voice
said.
But then he didn't want to respond and
said, let me just hide away behind this
curtain.
But then it doesn't know how, but went
into the next room, the next one, and
then saw this person.
Turned around and went.
Disappointed.
He had what seemed to be Pastor Nicholas
Bengu looked and looked and didn't find anybody
because he was hiding.
And then he saw, as he was leaving,
disappointed.
Disappointed that this person hadn't owned up to
being there, but instead was hiding, wasn't honest.
Wondering how can this person do such a
thing.
And then said, just hold on a moment.
And then tried to explain, to excuse, to
defend himself.
But Nicholas Bengu just turned around and left
him.
Then the person said, I'll apologize even before
the whole congregation, but Bengu didn't even concern
himself with that matter.
Then he met with people and said, I
saw this person, he was hiding, he wasn't
being honest.
And then said, well that person needs to
then leave.
It was at a convention.
A person who excuses themselves and defends themselves
should not be here.
And said, well, Mr. so and so, we
don't identify ourselves with that at all.
We can't go along with that.
And then that person was upset and said,
they don't show any pity, they have no
compassion.
He was very upset with them.
And said to himself, don't these people realize
that I too am a pastor, I was
a preacher and there's been revival where I've
been, that God works through me too.
Had a grudge against them.
As he was walking away, God spoke to
him.
Said all you've done, defend yourself, excuse yourself.
And said, don't
you
remember that I spoke to you when you
were trying to hide in a still small
voice and I said, be open, be upfront
and honest.
Be honest but you continue to hide.
Then the person said, oh God forgive me.
I defended myself, I took my own side.
I should have just admitted and said, I
have sinned.
Do you know what it is to confess
sin?
Do you
know
what it is to confess sin?
Is your confession, your repentance just a yeah
but, yeah I did it but, this is
the reason and you explain and you beat
about the bush.
Or are you able to repent and be
totally upfront and honest and say you've sinned.
You're
a
preacher.
You're a preacher perhaps and you're flirting around
with another woman or a girl and you
don't hear the still small voice of God
warning you.
You're
a
preacher perhaps and you don't hear the still
small voice of God warning you.
And then when you're excommunicated, you complain about
your church and you say but they are
cruel.
They've got no feeling, no Christ-like compassion.
Instead of you just being honest and confessing
and saying, Heavenly Father I have sinned.
If you don't confess your sin as it
really is, that shows that there's dirt in
your ears, you can't hear.
Go to the doctor, get rid of the
dirt in you.
But if you're one who's always defending himself
and always fighting your own battles trying to
show that you're right, don't be astonished then
when the wind comes and it takes you
away.
The fire comes, the earthquake and it just
takes you away.
Shall we pray?
Lord Jesus.
Lord we've heard about this amazing Elijah who
didn't die in normal human death but was
taken with chariots of fire.
Who didn't bow to the murderous wrath of
the king but only bowed to you.
But
instead Lord there are those who listen to
the influences of others to peer pressure and
they don't recognize with Elijah that you are
not in that great wind.
Help us Lord to be your true sheep
to listen to your voice that we won't
be those who fall into the bottomless pit.
Amen.