Well, we trust this morning that your speaker
will be broken.
That's good.
I'm glad you made that mistake, Bill, and
ran those words together.
I'm not going to forget this.
I like it.
Mr. Harry Ironside, H.A. Ironside, for his
initials, had a word, H.A.I., which
is in the Bible.
There's a city by the name of H
.A.I. It means a heap of ruins,
and he liked to refer to himself, he
liked, rather, referring to himself as a heap
of ruins.
I like it.
I really do.
Thank you, Bill.
I wouldn't have missed that for anything.
In the seventeenth chapter of 1 Kings, we
began a study of Elijah, and then it
will go on into Elisha, for the Paul
Porter.
Elijah was one of the greatest of the
prophets, the speaking prophets.
There were two kinds of prophets, the writing
prophets and the speaking prophets.
Elijah was a great speaking prophet.
I think probably Elijah is quoted more times
in the New Testament than any other Old
Testament prophet.
I did not check that out.
I'm relying on my memory, but I think
that that is correct.
I think you'll find that is correct.
He is the last prophet mentioned in the
Old Testament.
He is mentioned in Malachi chapter 4, and
we might notice that.
It might be interesting to you.
This great prophet of whom God thought so
much, and of whom he has such, for
whom he has such plans.
Malachi chapter 4, verse 5.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet,
before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord.
And he shall turn the heart of the
earth with a curse from the Old Testament.
The last name in the Old Testament is
the name I.
And that is very fitting.
We begin the Old Testament with the verse,
In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.
We have God in the first verse of
the Old Testament.
We have God in the last verse.
And we have Elijah mentioned as coming.
He has a tremendous responsibility, a tremendous ministry,
at the end of the age.
When he turns the heart of the fathers
to the children, the heart of the children,
the Lord comes and sets up his kingdom.
Now this, even this build up in connection
with Elijah, as to the importance of this
man, we are immediately confronted with the fact
that his posterity, or not posterity, his family
tree is not mentioned.
He's called Elijah the Tishbite.
God likes to pick up nobodies and make
something out of them.
This is true of Melchizedek.
Melchizedek's parents are not mentioned.
His line of descendants are not mentioned.
And yet, in the book of Hebrews, Melchizedek
is given such a mighty place that Christ
is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
This is interesting.
This man's descendants nor the progenitors,
not at all.
God picked him up in his grace.
This should teach you and me, that not
to count too heavily upon our earthly, we
should feel very, very, and God can use
us.
That's his grace.
And that was true of Elijah.
We don't know his parents.
That's about all we know about this man.
Yet he appears on the scene, abruptly, suddenly,
as a prophet.
And of course, the ministry of the prophets
was to rebuke sin.
The prophet had a twofold task.
He foretold and he foretold.
And the prophets rebuked the sin that was
in Israel.
And this man rebuked the sin of wicked
king Ahab.
Ahab was a wicked king.
He married a woman by the name of
Ephbaal, or rather Jezebel, the daughter of Ephbaal
of the Zidonians.
She was a Baal worshipper and she brought
the worship of Baal right into the nation
of Israel.
This should be a warning that marriage is
a very, very important thing.
I think that the most important decision outside
of salvation itself is who I'm going to
spend.
Now, I hadn't thought that I would use
this hour as a lecture to young people.
But it comes in so readily and so
handily and so naturally.
He got himself in trouble by marrying, and
I say it again, the most important decision
that we've got to make in our lives,
outside of salvation, is who am I going
to marry.
It is very important.
Wait on the Lord.
The Lord can undertake for you.
Don't jump the gun.
Don't take any old thing that comes along.
The Lord can provide for you.
Well, he married the wrong one.
He married the wrong one.
And oh, the damage, the damage this woman
does.
She's even mentioned in the New Testament in
infamy.
Jezebel.
King Ahab was extremely wicked, and Jezebel helped
him along in that business.
Now, Elijah appears on the scene.
We read in verse 1, Elijah the Tishbite,
who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said
unto Ahab, As the Lord God liveth before
whom I stand, there shall not be dew
nor rain these years, but according to my
word.
Now, Elijah had had a prayer session before
he went into the presence of Ahab.
How do I know this?
Oh, it isn't mentioned here, is it?
But James talks about it.
Well, how does James know about it?
Well, the Lord told him.
Let's turn to the book of James, the
last chapter of the book of James.
Elijah had a prayer meeting before he went
into the presence of Ahab.
James chapter 5, verse 16.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray
for one another, that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.
Now, here's the example.
Elias, that's the New Testament, that's the Greek
form of the name Elijah.
Elias was a man subject to like passions
as we are, and he prayed earnestly that
it might not rain.
And it rained not on the earth by
the space of three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave
rain, and the earth brought forth her fruits.
Now, this man had prayed that it might
not rain.
Now, I don't think for a moment that
he had the audacity to go into the
presence of Ahab and say, it isn't going
to rain, until he had it out with
the Lord.
He said, it's not going to rain these
years.
Now, we know, James tells us, that the
time was for three years and six months.
He just mentioned, the book of James just
mentioned these years.
James is under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, he's not wrong.
He's not adding to the Bible, he's just
giving us information that we don't get in
the Old Testament.
Now, he prayed that there wouldn't be any
rain.
I think probably Elijah had in mind those
verses in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 11.
Now, I can't say this for sure.
But I'm going to say that perhaps Elijah
had that portion of the scriptures in mind.
When he prayed that there wouldn't be any
rain, he just didn't say, go in there
on his own.
He didn't go in there on his own
and say, it's not going to rain for
these years, and then go and pray about
it.
That's dangerous business.
You'd better try it.
You'd better pray first, before you make these
bold statements.
He'd prayed about it.
And I think that he probably had the
11th chapter of Deuteronomy in mind.
Let's look at it.
Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 13.
And it shall come to pass, if ye
shall hearken diligently unto my commandment, which I
command you this day, to love the Lord
your God, to serve him with all your
heart and with all your soul, that I
will give you rain of your land, the
rain of your land in his due season,
the first rain and the latter rain, that
thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy
wine and thine oil, and I will send
grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that
thou mayest eat and be full.
Take heed to yourself, that your heart be
not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve
other gods and worship them.
And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against
you, and he shut up the heavens, that
there be no rain, and that the land
yield not her fruit, unless she perish quickly
from off the good land which the Lord
giveth you.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words
in your heart and in your soul.
Don't forget it.
Now, I think Elijah had this portion in
mind.
Elijah knew that Ahab and Jezebel were leading
the children of Israel down the road.
Now he says, Lord, I know how you
just cut off the rain.
And he prayed about it.
And James tells us he prayed earnestly about
it.
And he's the example that we have of
effective prayer, the effectual, fervent prayer of a
righteous man availed much.
So he goes into the presence of Abraham.
This is the only way you can wake
him up.
Cut off the rain.
This would be effective, wouldn't it?
I've prayed for rain.
Have you ever prayed for rain?
I've prayed for rain.
But God still controls the elements.
I've prayed for rain.
Do you know what happened?
It rained.
I could tell you a story.
But you'd say, oh, he's trying to take
his place along with Elijah.
I didn't pray that it stopped for three
years and six months.
But I prayed for rain and got it.
I think I'll tell you.
I may have told you before, but if
I have, don't stop me.
I want to tell it again.
It was dry in Colorado.
And I told the Lord one day, I
said, Lord, we need a half-inch of
rain.
Will you send us a half-inch of
rain?
Now, at this time, there wasn't any rain
in the forecast.
And the weather regime was such that there
was no rain in prospect.
The Great Basin High, oh, let's not go
into the meteorological aspects.
At that time, there just didn't have any
prospect.
We need at least a half-inch of
rain.
Nights later, there was a music of rain.
I went out in the morning after the
rain had passed on.
And I looked at my rain gauge.
Well, I didn't have 49 hundredths.
And I didn't have 51 hundredths.
I had exactly 51 hundredths.
Now, the official rain gauge for the city
of Boulder registered 23 hundredths.
But the Lord saw it.
And they said, why?
I'm going to tell you another specific.
This comes so naturally here.
I'm going to tell you another story.
I had a daily vacation Bible.
And the people prayed definitely that at least
four little children.
I didn't know this.
But at the end of the daily vacation
Bible school, they
told me the story then.
I said to them, are you definite in
your prayers?
You know, I think God likes to be
challenged.
I think God likes to be challenged.
Now, I don't mean.
Now, listen.
I've never prayed for a half-inch rain
yet.
And I've batted 1,000.
I think again.
I'm not.
I prayed in faith the first time.
I think I would be tempting God.
I may pray for rain again.
But I'm not going to.
I just gave me a nice little surprise.
So, I'm going to keep batting 1,000.
But, you know, I think God wants us
to be specific enough to pray that it
would rain.
And then he had to pray seven times
that it would rain.
Getting out of a situation.
And you do, to pray to get into
it.
I don't know whether you remember that.
In the future, he's going to insert.
It was very evident that he prayed seven
times.
But the rain did come later.
Now, he goes into the presence of Ahab
after his prayer session.
Very apparently.
When he told the Lord, Now, Lord, if
this is the only way you can get
their ear cut off.
I mean the rain, of course.
Peter cuts off the ears.
Just stop that rain.
Stop it.
So, I went into Ahab's presence.
And he told it.
As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before
whom I stand.
You know, Ahab didn't amount to much.
Before whom I stand.
Ahab, I stand before God.
Was he afraid of Ahab?
No, he wasn't afraid of Ahab.
Before whom I stand.
He was later afraid of Jezebel.
Be careful of a woman who's angry.
But he wasn't afraid of Ahab.
And so he says to Ahab, No rain.
I stand before the Lord.
And there's not going to be any rain.
But he made a mistake.
As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before
whom I stand.
There shall not be dew nor rain these
years.
But according to my...
There is where he made his mistake.
According to my word.
Now, you know, that was very, very...
That was very, very...
Unwise on the part of Elijah to put
it that way.
Really, he was a prophet.
God had told him to go to Ahab.
Now, he had no right to say, But
according to my word.
I should think that he would have remembered
Moses' experience.
When the second time that they were at
Meribah.
And Moses was told to speak to the
rock.
That it would give forth his water.
That Moses stood up and he called the
children of Israel, Ye rebels, must we fetch
you water out of this rock?
You know what that mistake cost him?
Not going to make a promise.
Must we fetch you water out of this
rock?
Now, the reason that I feel...
Now, you could just say in the case
of Elijah.
What is in the presence of Ahab on
this occasion.
You could just say, well...
That was inferred that God had told him
to say it.
Well, it isn't recorded that way.
But according to my word.
Him saying, get thee hence and turn eastward.
And hide by the brook here.
That is to say, get out of sight.
Hide yourself.
Somebody would say, well, certainly he's to hide
himself.
He's to hide himself because Ahab would.
But he didn't get the opportunity of slaying
him.
Now, I think that God said, now I'm
going to tame you down on that.
Why didn't you say that...
Instead of saying, according to my word.
We need to be.
We need to count on the Lord.
We need to save the Lord.
Now, he not only went and hid himself
by the brook.
Got out of sight.
Now, I don't know how that affected his
professional reputation.
But he was by the direction of God.
Now, God says in verse 4.
And it shall be the ravens to feed
thee there.
Now, the ravens.
And anything that an unclean bird touched was
unclean.
But these ravens were special.
And a raven.
I don't know how that set with Elijah.
And the Lord fed him with bread and
flesh in the morning.
And bread and flesh in the evening.
And he drank of the brook.
Now, I think you've probably seen the crows
along the road.
Feeding on dead rabbits that have been run
over by automobiles.
And they vacate the premises while you're driving
by.
But they don't...
Where did the ravens get this flesh?
Savory prospective.
And he provided for his servant.
Now, the brook Kera.
Well, why wouldn't it?
There was no rain.
The brook dried up.
You know, we do have a natural response
to the obedient laws of nature.
Now, God didn't come right out of the
ground.
And he could have done it.
Now, this was Elijah's idea.
To call for this...
Elijah was a...
He was pretty severe.
He called fire down out of heaven.
On two occasions.
And consumed 50 men on each occasion.
Which was not general treatment.
I wonder if Elijah began to think about
the fact that he might have been left
out in the rain.
The brook dried up.
There was no water for him.
It was natural.
It was the natural order of things.
God's laws were just taking effect.
But God was not stymied, if I may
use that expression.
Defeated by the fact that the brook dried
up.
Then he sent him to a widow.
Verse 8.
And the word of the Lord came unto
him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which
belongs to Sidon, and dwell there.
For behold, I have commanded a widow woman
there to sustain thee.
Now, that must have had something to do
with his day's statement, according to my word.
He didn't get enough...
Umbling by the fact that he ate the
food that ravens had brought.
That he drank straight out of the brook.
That wasn't enough.
He says, I'm going to command a widow
woman to sustain you.
Now the Gentiles and the Jews have no
dealings with one another.
You see, God is not through with Elijah
quite yet.
And so he says, I have commanded a
widow woman.
I wonder if by this time Elijah might
be getting the message.
Do you suppose he did?
I wonder how long it takes us to
get the message.
And be broken.
Thanks, Bill.
I'll never forget that.
You don't know what you did for me,
Bill.
I think Elijah began to do some thinking.
Well, he followed the Lord.
He carried out the Lord's suggestion.
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to
Sidon, and dwell there.
For I have commanded a widow woman there
to sustain thee.
So he arose, and what did Zarephath do?
And he came to the gate of the
city.
Behold, a widow woman.
Now I want you to notice, please, that
he tells her to bring him something to
eat.
Verse 11.
And as she was going to fetch it,
he called to her and said, Bring me,
I pray thee, a morsel of bread in
mine hand.
And she said to the Lord, Thy God
limith, I have not a cake for me.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go
and do as thou hast said, but make
me thereof a little cake, and bring it
underneath.
And after, make for thee and for thy
son.
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel.
She's got things straightened out now, hasn't she?
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
The barrel of meal, neither shall the cruise
of oil fail, until the day that the
Lord sendeth.
And she and he in her house did
eat many days, neither did the cruise of
oil fail.
She spake, but Elijah had apparently learned his
lesson.
It's wonderful when they can learn.
The cruise of oil, that barrel of meal
shall not waste.
And it's God himself.
Not according to my words this time.
Now, in the case of Moses, when Moses
smoked that rock the second time, remember
please, that after Moses smoked that rock the
second time, when the water came out, the
water came out of the rock, and they
all drank.
Now, Moses was told that he could not.
Must we fetch, you rebels, this water out
of this rock?
He did, he made two mistakes.
He attributed the fetching the water out of
the rock to him now.
And he says, according to my word.
But isn't it amazing?
Who was with the Lord?
Isn't that marvelous?
Moses and Elijah.
You know, we can make mistakes, can't we?
We can make mistakes.
He doesn't, he didn't hold Peter's
mistake, Peter's denial of the Lord against him.
He recommissioned him.
And he let him go on.
So we've got a gracious God.
Now, our time is up.
But Elijah raises this widow's son.
He was a blessing to her.
Isn't it nice to be a blessing to
people?
Now, circumstances had forced him to go to
this Gentile widow's home and to be sustained.
And even the Lord himself mentions this.
He did, he does, he mentions it.
Special mention of the fact that Elijah was
sustained.
She, she really knew
the Lord.
Now, by this I know, is, he
was a blessing to her.
He was sent to her.
But nevertheless, we
thank thee, Father, in the name of the
Lord Jesus, for these examples that you've given
us.
Bless this series of studies as it is
conducted, Lord's Day after Lord's Day.
This we ask as we give thanks in
our Savior's precious name.
Amen.