Elijah - In Touch with God in Prayer

[00:00:00] One kings, chapter 17. [00:00:05] From verse one. [00:00:22] First book of kings, chapter 17, commencing at verse one. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the lord the God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. [00:00:49] And the word of the Lord came unto him saying, saying, get thee hence and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook cherith, that is, before the Jordan. [00:01:03] And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook. [00:01:06] And I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. [00:01:11] So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord. For he went and dwelt by the brook cherith, that is, before the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening. [00:01:30] And he drank of the brook. [00:01:33] And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. [00:01:43] And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, arise, get thee to zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee. [00:01:57] So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. [00:02:23] And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar and a little oil in the cruise. Behold, I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. [00:02:45] And Elijah said unto her, fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it forth unto me. And afterward make for thee for thy son. [00:03:02] For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, the jar of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house did eat many days. [00:03:23] The jar meal wasted not. Neither did the cruse of oil fail according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. [00:03:34] And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, o thou man of God? Thou art come unto me to bring my sin to remembrance and to slay my son. And he said unto her, give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and carried him up into the chamber where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord and said, o Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her sons? And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said, o Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. [00:04:36] And the Lord hearkened unto the voice of Elijah. And the soul of the child came into him again and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber, into the house house and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, see, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, now I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true. And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And the famine was sore in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, for it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, go through the land unto all the fountains of water and unto all the brooks. Peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he knew him and fell on his feet. It is thou, my lord, Elijah. And he answered, it is I. [00:06:16] Go tell thy lord. Behold, Elijah is here. [00:06:21] And he said, wherein have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me as the Lord thy God liveth. There is no nation nor kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee. And when they said, he is not here. He took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, go tell thy lord, behold, Elijah is here. [00:06:46] And it will come to pass as soon as I am gone forth from thee, that the spirit of the Lord will carry thee whither I know not. And so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find thee, he will slay me. [00:07:00] But I, thy servant, fear the lord from my youth. Was it not told, my lord, what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord? How I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, go tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah is here and he will slay me. [00:07:23] And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today and now this evening, and I trust next week, the Lord willing. [00:07:47] I want to take some lessons from the life of Elijah. [00:07:56] I suppose really one of the reasons why Elijah has meant more to me in these last weeks has been the fact of seeing some of the places where he was. We've seen them before, but each time I see some of the places where Elijah lived, I feel that I'm face to face with a most extraordinary man. [00:08:30] I have no doubt in my heart that Elijah is one of the most extraordinary characters in the whole Bible. [00:08:43] Now, I don't want to say too much in introduction, really. [00:08:50] I think everyone knows that he is one of the greatest characters. [00:08:56] The very fact that when the Lord was transfigured in glory, it was Moses and Elijah who appeared with him in glory is an indication of the place that Elijah holds. Of course, in the jewish mind and outlook, Moses and Elijah represent and sum up everything that God has done in the Old Testament. [00:09:26] Certainly he is an extraordinary and complex character. [00:09:32] I have read some of the things that are said about Elijah. I'm not quite sure that I agree with them. They speak of him as a sombre, stern, and I don't think he was. [00:09:44] I think that he was stern. [00:09:47] I think that he had fire. [00:09:50] I also think he had great humor. [00:09:54] And I think that as we look into the story of Elijah, we shall come face to face supremely with a human being and then beyond the human being with the presence of the Lord himself. Now there are many lessons in this wonderful life that we have as recorded in the book of kings. And all I can do really is to take one or two of those lessons. I can't take them all, I'll just take one or two. I'm going to seek to take three this evening and perhaps three next week. [00:10:33] We'll see how we go. [00:10:35] Elijah came upon the scene, one of the great points of crisis in the life of the people of God. [00:10:45] Jezebel, far from being some empty headed painted lady, was an extremely shrewd, astute and intelligent woman. [00:11:00] Women's lib has nothing on Jezebel. [00:11:07] Jezebel was an extremely clever woman, and she was, without any shadow of doubt, the power behind Ahab. [00:11:17] Now, Jezebel was a phoenician princess, and she was a fanatic follower of the God Baal, Bael, Melkart, all bound up with symbolic, if you like, actual but symbolic, prostitution, immorality, fertility, culture, debased and depraved. [00:11:54] It was Jezebel's policy to introduce baal worship into Israel and to eradicate the worship of the Lord in its pure form. It was not just a question of one sort of faith over against another. [00:12:17] Jezebel got decrees and regulations passed, laws passed, which meant the execution of all those men and women who were faithful to the old covenant. [00:12:33] Now, it was exactly that point that Elijah came upon the scene dramatically. [00:12:40] And the whole story is the confrontation between, really, God and Satan, between light and darkness, between good and evil. [00:12:55] That's the story of Elijah. And I don't think it needs me to say to apply that for you all to see that you and I also live in a day when what we have known some of the products of the gospel in our life as a nation, in the life of the nations, it's being challenged. Its foundations are being challenged. [00:13:22] We are also in a day in which there is a confrontation between good and evil, light and darkness. [00:13:32] And we're not up against some sweet kind of opposition that is prepared to sort of be sweet and sympathetic, but an opposition which in the end would eradicate every form of Christianity in its pure form and all who follow the Lord. Surely now, thats why the life of Elijah has great lessons for us. And the very first lesson I want to underline this evening is found in one kings 17 and in the first verse. [00:14:16] And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel liveth before whom I stand. [00:14:30] Now, I think you all know that in the Bible and indeed in the east, names are not given for their sweet sounds, but for their meaning. [00:14:41] And Elijah is no exception. The name Elijah simply means God is the Lord, or even more correctly, my God is the Lord. [00:14:59] And in one sense, there are those who believe that the yahu, the ending just signifies that it is an emphasis. [00:15:12] My God is the Lord himself. [00:15:16] My God is the Lord himself. Such was the name of Elijah. And it's very interesting. It evidently meant something to Elijah. For in chapter 17 and verse 20, he turns it round the other way in Hebrew and says, o Lord, my God, why hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I, Serjeant, by slaying her son, turns his name round the other way as if playing on his name. O Lord, my God. Just you remember my name. Remember what it stands for. It was much more than a name. No. We come immediately face to face with the very first lesson in the life of Elijah. Elijah appears without any background, any parentage, any knowledge of his education, of what lies behind him. He just dramatically appears upon the scene. And this is deliberate. [00:16:26] God could have easily given us all the details we want, but we have none of them except that he was the tishbeit. And no one knows where this place Tishbeh is. [00:16:38] It's long since vanished. We have no idea where it is. All we do know is Gilead. That's all we know about Elijah. [00:16:48] But every true believer, every servant of the Lord, everyone who would know the spirit and fire of God at work in them, must know in experience the absolute authority and sovereignty of God in their lives. [00:17:16] My God is the Lord himself. [00:17:22] In this whole confrontation with evil, in all the antagonism of hell. [00:17:29] My trust is in the absolute authority and absolute sovereignty of the Lord himself. [00:17:40] That's not just a theory. [00:17:43] That's not just a truth. It's not just a creed. It was written into the very fiber of Elijah's being. [00:17:55] He had to learn again and again and again that if the Lord was not sovereign, there was no hope for him. Elijah. Oh, the scrapes he got into. Scrapes that he would never have got into had it not been for the lord. [00:18:12] The Lord has a habit of doing that with his servants and with his children, bringing us into scrapes, bringing us into situations, bringing us into places where theres no way out except the Lord. Theres absolutely no way through. Now, Elijah knew that again and again and again and again, right through his life. Even when he failed and fled, the Lord went with him, cooked his breakfast, cooked his supper, sent him on his way to Sinai. And there said to him, Elijah, what are you doing here? [00:18:57] This matter is not just something that can be left till we're older than the Lord. Till we're more mature, till we're more spiritually educated, if we're going to know the Lord, if we're going to persevere in a day of evil, if we're going to know, as I said on Sunday morning, what it is to be founded upon the rock, then the absolute sovereignty and authority of the Lord is something that we've got to know in our own experience. [00:19:29] That is the first lesson of Elijah's life. And it was as if God delighted to put Elijah into situations where the very meaning of his name had to be worked out in his experience. [00:19:45] Now, you are a child of God. I'm a child of God. And there's a sense in which inherent in our salvation is this very name. Elijah, my God is the Lord himself. [00:19:59] Isn't that true of you? [00:20:01] My God is the. I can't just say, your God is the Lord himself. Your God is the Lord himself. I can say because he saved me, my God is the Lord himself. It's written into my salvation. It's written into my spiritual birth. And the Lord's not going to just let it be a creed. I believe in God, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth. [00:20:28] It's not just a creed. [00:20:31] It's got to be, as it were, worked out in my own experience. [00:20:37] So that day to day, in the crises of life, in the usual routine of life, I discover in my experience the sovereignty and authority of God. And not only that, but his infinite greatness. If there's one thing Elijah brings to us, it is the infinite greatness of the Lord. Even when he cries out, O Lord, I'm the only one who's left. [00:21:05] There's a kind of context of the greatness of the Lord. [00:21:09] Everyone else has gone, they've slain them all, and I only I am left, he complains bitterly. [00:21:18] Yet even at that point, there is somehow something of the greatness of the Lord, the infinite greatness of the Lord in this man's life. When he's pressed back to a little brook that nearly dries up when the ravens are to feed him, it's still in the context of the greatness, the infinite greatness of the law. When there's a little jar of meal on a cruise of oil, it's still in the context of the greatness of the Lord. Some people think they can only discover the infinite greatness of the Lord when somehow everything is just sort of tremendous and great. [00:21:51] But, you know, the Lord can push us into a tiny span in order to bring us to our knowledge of his infinite greatness and sometimes the way of the Lord is to take us out of being too big and too large and too loose and put us into something very, very straight and very, very small and very, very limited in order that we may discover the infinite greatness of the Lord. How great thou art. [00:22:17] It's a very good thing to learn how small we are and how great he is. It is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of. What is the fear of the Lord? When I know how small I am, when I know the limits of my intelligence, when I know the limits of my resources, when I know the limits of my physical and mental capacity, then I begin to understand how great he is. Far beyond me, eternally beyond me. Do you ever think that you will come to an end of knowing God? Do you think that in eternity, somehow or other, in the end, after sort of billions and billions of years, you'll be able to put a ring round God and say, at last I got. [00:23:02] At last I fully and completely understand. I can explain him in terms a plus b plus c plus something equals something else? [00:23:13] Never throughout eternity. I am talking like a child. At the end of eternity still, God will be infinitely beyond us and infinitely beyond us all put together. [00:23:30] So great is God in whom we live and move and have our being. [00:23:41] Now, I think this is another lesson we get from the life of Elijah. My God is the Lord himself. [00:23:48] Somehow Elijah is in touch with the infinite greatness, the infinity of gods. And again and again, it's that infinity of God that breaks into human situations. There it is with ravens coming to bring in morsels morning and night. [00:24:05] There it is with a jar of meal and a cruse of oil that after many, many days has not failed. There it is with some little lad raised to life. [00:24:17] There it is confronted, confronted with 400 prophets of baal dancing up and down like a lot of dervishes, cutting themselves and their blood runs out of them, calling upon Baal to do something. [00:24:32] God breaks it. There's the old prophet pouring water over the altar, and not, as some stupid modernist said, petrol pouring water over the altar to make it impossible so that only the infinity of God breaking in can do something. That's Elijah. [00:25:01] You find it again when after the earthquake and the storm of wind and the fire, all of which leave dear Elijah quite unmoved, sort of watching it in like some gala night of fireworks. [00:25:20] Lastly, there is a still, small voice that is the infinite greatness of God. And that's the thing that brings Elijah down so that he covers his head and bows down before the Lord. [00:25:39] Infinite greatness. Now I say, however young you are, dear child of God, one of the great tragedies of the 20th century is we've made God so small. [00:25:48] God is spoken of in such a familiar way. [00:25:52] His name is bandied about. Somehow or other, we seem to have reduced him to some kind of appendage, almost someone who just saw some dear old gentleman who sort of just watches us doing things. What's wrong with us? [00:26:10] A lesson we get from the life of Elijah is that in the confrontation between darkness and light, between evil and good, between God and Satan, it is the infinite greatness of God that counts. [00:26:24] And it is not just to know that infinite greatness on paper, but to know it in experience. [00:26:35] There are so many other things we can say. Well, we've said how Elijah dramatically appears, nothing about his background, as if it's only the Lord that matters here. It's not a question of ancestry, genealogy, background, education, theological seminary or degrees. This is a question of the Lord. [00:26:59] And when, in the final analysis, when it comes to the great battle, the great points of crisis in human history, it is God that matters and God in human beings. [00:27:14] We've seen it again and again. We saw it in John Huss. We've seen it in John Wycliffe. We saw it in Martin Luther. We've seen it in George Fox. We've seen it in George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley. We've seen it again and again in the turning points of our history. God in human beings, in touch within the infinite greatness of God, in touch with the absolute sovereignty and authority of God. Think of that dear man, John High, dying at the stake, burned, but he set Europe alight. [00:27:59] Think of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the door of the church. [00:28:06] One man against a whole ecclesiastical system and hierarchy that could grind him into powder d'dash. [00:28:17] But it was Martin Luther who won, because God was in him. [00:28:23] William Tyndale, strangled and burnt at the stake in antwork, crying out, o God, in his love. His last breath opened the king of England's eyes save him. And within a year, Tyndale's version was chained to a lectern in every parish church in England and Wales. [00:28:47] Weve seen it again and again, and thats what God needs, and that doesnt come cheaply or easily. [00:28:57] We find this in the phrase that Elijah delights to use as the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth before whom I stand. What a wonderful phrase. It seems to sum up the whole faith and experience of Elijah, as the Lord, the God of Israel liveth. He's not in the past, he's not just with Moses, he's not just with Abraham, he's not just somehow with Samuel, he's not just in the past, he's in the present, liveth. [00:29:31] And this is something that somehow everyone who meets Elijah can't help it. It's almost like a hallo. The lady says, as the Lord thy God liveth. Obadiah says, as the Lord thy God liveth. [00:29:43] It's as if somehow or other this very faith in the man has been transmitted to others. [00:29:49] Has the Lord died? God Liveth. Can that be said of you? [00:29:53] If people in the office, people at home looking at you somehow, what catches them is this, as the Lord, the God of Israel Liveth, can they say to you, as the Lord thy God liveth? [00:30:13] Isn't there a lesson there? [00:30:15] I think it's a great lesson. [00:30:18] And what about this little phrase before whom I stand? What an amazing statement. How could he always be standing before the Lord? [00:30:27] If you read here, Elijah was quite a runner. I think he would have done quite well in the olympics. [00:30:35] He outran the horses of Ahab's chariot, got there before him on one occasion. He was an extraordinary man, Elijah. [00:30:44] All kinds of people rolled into one. [00:30:47] And yet he says, the Lord before whom I stand. He obviously didn't just mean physically. [00:30:54] He had a consciousness that all the time he was in the throne room of God that at any moment God could say Elijah. [00:31:04] And Elijah would say, yes. [00:31:07] And that's exactly what happened. You hear, the Lord said the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Go down to the brook sheereth. [00:31:14] The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, arise, get thee to Zadipath. The word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, I'm going to send a lot away. [00:31:22] Go and show yourself to a cap. [00:31:26] So all the time it's the word of the Lord. The Lord before whom I stand. It seems to me that this little phrase is a secret to service. [00:31:38] It is an inner spiritual consciousness that we are present before the Lord at all times before whom I stand a lifetime. My God is the Lord himself, as I say. Well, when you've said all that, then I think we understand the little word at the beginning of this chapter. And Elijah, have you noticed that the chapter begins and Elijah now if those of you will go away and read chapter 16, it is unmitigated gloom. [00:32:22] The whole chapter is one of depravity, backsliding, downfall, breakup. Why, even the curse concerning Jericho is recorded here that someone tries to rebuild Jericho and the curse, their first form would die, came to pass. [00:32:42] The whole thing is a sad, sad story. And then we have and Elijah the Tishbite, who was the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, you see all this? That's in his name. [00:32:58] God, my God, is the Lord himself. All this lies behind that little Ann. [00:33:07] Elijah the Tishbite said to a if we're going to be people who have been brought to the kingdom for such a time as this, if we're going to be people, whether in prayer, whether in preaching, whether in life, whether in service witnessing or what, evangelism, whatever it is, if we're going to be a people who stand at a point of crisis, crossroads in national history and in the history of the people of God, who can be used by the Lord to somehow or other influence things for God, through whom the very purpose and will of God can be fulfilled and achieved, then we've got to know something in our experience of the sovereignty and authority and infinite greatness of the Lord himself. [00:33:58] One other point I'd like to make about this lesson is that when we are under the absolute. Listen to this, especially you younger ones in the Lord, when we are under the absolute government of God, we are automatically under the absolute protection of God and automatically in the absolute provision of God. Now do get that. Even if you write it down in the fly leaf of your Bible, if we are under the absolute government of God, we are automatically under the absolute protection of God. And in the absolute provision of God. This is Elijah. [00:34:46] Listen to Obadiah when he meets him. O lord, is it my lord Elijah? He said, my master, the king Ahab's been looking for you everywhere. What am I going to say? You say, go and say, elijah's here. [00:35:04] And if I go and say, elijah's here, when they come to look for you, the spirit has taken you away. I don't know where. You're always doing this kind of thing. The Holy Spirit's always taking you away. You're quite unpredictable. [00:35:18] Then what happens to me? Ahab loses his temper and I lose my life. [00:35:26] Protection. [00:35:28] That spirit of the Lord catching away Elijah is because he's under the absolute government of God. So he's under the absolute protection of God. [00:35:38] Listen to the government of God. Verse two. And the word of the Lord came unto him saying, get thee, hench and turn the yeastwood. Verse nine, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon. [00:35:54] Verse 18. One, go show thyself unto, ahem, you see, all the way lie just under the absolute government of God. Now see the protection of God. There I have commanded the ravens to feed thee absolute provision. [00:36:11] There I have a commanded a widow to sustain thee absolute provision. [00:36:18] Even when dear Elijah runs in the wrong direction after completely collapsing like any coward would, like you and I would, running away for all he was worth. From Jezebel. The Lord provides for them. That's like the Lord. Even when we fall, he doesn't say, well, I'm done with them. He says to an angel, go and cook his breakfast and supper. Help him go in the wrong direction. I'll meet in the other end. [00:36:46] And that's what the Lord's always doing. Jonah did the same thing. All right, said the Lord, go on, go buy your ticket. [00:36:53] Jonah goes down and buys his ticket. And the Lord says, it's all right. [00:36:57] I'll meet him in the whale. [00:37:00] You can never outwit the Lord, part of his infinite greatness. You can spend a whole life running away from God. And at the end you'll meet him if it's on your deathbed, if you've had dealings with God, he'll never, ever fail you. He's there at the end. [00:37:21] Well, the provision is absolutely wonderful. If you're under the absolute government of God, you're under the absolute protection of God. They can jump up and down and look like devils personified embodiment of Satan. [00:37:36] But all you have to do is stand still. [00:37:41] Trust in the Lord. [00:37:43] We can go on and we can go on in this matter. But it's so wonderful, really. [00:37:48] The fact of the matter is, however young you are in the Lord, you have no need to fear. If you only surrender to the government of God to make him lord, let him start to be sovereign in your life. [00:38:01] Make him not only savior, but lord. You'll have nothing to fear through life. Well, now, that's the first lesson. The second lesson is he's a man of like passions with us, yet he prayed fervently. Now, this is James. So I think we better turn to James and read chapter five of James and verse 16. The last part, the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. Elijah was a man of like passions with us. And he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. [00:38:39] And he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. [00:38:46] A man of like passions with us. Now, this is where I fall out with quite a number of the books that are written on Elijah to a certain extent, because although all of them do say that he has human nature like us, some or other, we get the impression of someone who is austere and stern and somehow very removed. [00:39:08] Yet the scripture says he is a man of, like, passions, and the word it uses is the word feelings or affections. [00:39:17] So here is a man, far from just being an austere, kind of hermit type man, a man with feelings like you and I have, and affections such as you and I have. [00:39:31] I question whether anyone can have fire without feeling a affection. [00:39:39] But that may be, by the way, I can almost hear brother Grubb saying something in this matter. But I mean, the fire of God is the fire of God. [00:39:50] But nevertheless, I don't know. I don't think you can have go to the heights like. By the way, I'm sure Elijah was a melancholic because he goes to the heights and then he goes to the depths. He goes right up and then he goes right down. It's all the way through. You find it, however, that's a go, by the way. [00:40:11] The fact is, what is the lesson we get from this thing? [00:40:15] Great triumphs of faith are not associated with spiritual automatons. [00:40:26] Now, I don't know. Although we hear this again and again, we've all got a deep sense seated instinct or feeling that somehow or other, the great triumphs of faith are always associated with those who are sort of machine like. [00:40:41] They're like a bit of spiritual, well oiled spiritual machinery. They just go into action like machinery. Oh, you think? I wish I was like so and so. No feelings. Now, I remember some years ago when Hudson Taylor was talked about in those terms because of certain life changing biographies that had been written about him. People got the idea that the man was a spiritual machine. Then someone wrote a book called Hudson Taylor and Maria, and suddenly Hudson Taylor became a freckled, ginger haired, short fellow with a Yorkshire accent and a passionate nature, so much so that it calls them fluttering in the missionary circles in China when his eye fell upon a certain young lady. [00:41:38] Osby never thought he was like that. When I wed union, communion, I listened to a cultured Oxford accent delivering those wonderful. But when I read Hudson, Tina, Maria and thought, I can't imagine it. I'm not being rude about those from Yorkshire, but I just couldn't imagine it in a Yorkshire accent. [00:42:00] You see. You see, we've all got this idea that somehow these great men are somehow far removed. They're like machines. They're like well oiled spiritual machinery. [00:42:10] It's not so. [00:42:13] Elijah was a man of like passions with us. [00:42:22] In other words, he was a completely human person. [00:42:29] And of course, it goes. Surely it hardly needs. It goes without saying that the more human you are the more God can use you. [00:42:41] It is quite unnatural to be inhuman. [00:42:48] But it's so silly. I mean, evangelicals have made christians inhuman whereas we are, of all people the most human. Indeed. Until a person is saved by the grace of God until the Holy Spirit is dwelling in them. I don't believe a human being is a true human being. They're subhuman. [00:43:09] And the whole of history bears that out. [00:43:12] It's when the spirit of God gets into the human frame that we become truly human. [00:43:19] And all those capacities, those faculties, if you like of God and of our truly human spirit released. Well, anyway, that is, again, in one sense, by the way and yet it's not in another way because, you see, this whole matter is put here succinctly. [00:43:45] Listen. [00:43:47] Elijah was alike a man of like passions with us and he prayed perfectly. Now, there you've got it in a nutshell. There are some people who say I'm no good at praying. I'm so human. Rubbish. [00:44:05] Whoever said that to be human means that you have difficulty in praying. I've never heard of such a thing. [00:44:14] I think myself that when people have got some artificial kind of christian life they find it hard to pray. They've got such a facade that somehow or others it's a great devil to get through the. [00:44:26] And sometimes the Lord himself has great difficulty getting through our facade. To us, we've got a projection up there. We expect God to deal with the projection. Now, don't you? This is me, Lord, here. [00:44:38] This is me up here. [00:44:41] So we have great problems but when we've come down to what we are then we can pray. [00:44:49] Got nothing to hide. The Lord before whom I stand there's a relationship, you know. God knows all about you. He knows you just as you are. He knows the worst about you. He knows everything. So your. Your relationship is on a solid basis not on what you are, what you are not. It's on the basis of the righteousness of Christ. [00:45:12] God receives you on that basis and meets with you on that basis. [00:45:18] Well, you see, to me this is a very, very important however human we are we can know great triumphs of faith. [00:45:29] Listen to this one. Elijah was a man of like passions as us, as we. [00:45:38] And he prayed fervently that it might not rain. [00:45:42] And it reigned not for three and a half years. [00:45:46] Some triumph. Now some people will say straight away, and I'll come to it in a moment, well, that's a dreadful thing to do, cutting off everyone's livelihood like that, ruining the economy of the whole nation just like that. What a dreadful thing to do. [00:46:01] There's much more in it than that. It wasn't some capricity of Elijah. It wasn't just sort of arbitrarily sort of saying, right, Lord, we don't want any rain, give them a hard time. [00:46:13] Wasn't like that at all. We shall see that in just a moment. Now the fact of the matter is this, if you'll only get it into your head, the greatest triumphs of faith can be wrought through the most failing human beings. [00:46:30] It doesn't matter who you are, God can get into you by his spirit and do something in your life that is wholly to his glory. So that we can only say treasure in earthen vessels. [00:46:44] The vessel is clay, the treasure is eternal. [00:46:50] You can only say his strength has been made perfect in weakness. His grace was sufficient for me. [00:47:01] Men of like passion. [00:47:04] Elijah was a man of like passion. [00:47:10] I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have no doubt that the devil who has never changed really himself, sometimes he changes his methods, but he doesn't change himself. [00:47:27] Troubled Elijah as much as he would try to trouble any one of you and probably a good deal more. [00:47:34] I expect he was there saying to Elijah, what about this feeling, Elijah? You can't pray. Do you think the lord's going to listen to you? [00:47:43] You'll have to wait for someone else like a Moses to come along. You're no good. You're not a Moses. You're not that marvellous spirit, spiritual machine. Moses was great man. Never failed, only once. [00:47:57] Or Abraham, that great man walked out of. Heard of the cowardice? You couldn't do a thing like that. Could have a jezebel in front of you and your one for your life. [00:48:08] Don't you think the devil was exactly the same when Elijah was? He was with you and with me. Of course, he was no different. [00:48:14] He had all. But he prayed. For now there is the triumph of faith. [00:48:19] He was a man of light, passions, as we are. And he prayed fervently. Now, I do like the way it's put. It doesn't say yet he prayed fervently. That's how I would put it. See, I would put it like this. Elijah was a man of like passion as well. [00:48:37] Yet he prayed fervently or I might put it like this. Elijah was a man of like passions as us. [00:48:46] But he did pray fervently. [00:48:51] No, this is how it's put in the word. [00:48:54] Elijah was a man of like passions as we. And he prayed fervently. [00:49:04] It was the extra he did. [00:49:07] Now, dear child of God, you're a person just like me. I'm just like you. We all have like passions. Some of us have more feelings than others, some less. Some of us have greater affections than others. Some of us have more trouble from our affections and others less. But generally speaking, we're all alike. [00:49:28] We are of like passion, basically. [00:49:33] Now, it's not yet so and so praised, but it's what we do and go beyond that. And he prayed fervently. Can that be said of you? Now that's the triumph of faith. [00:49:50] Don't think that Elijah just stood there and waved his hand like that. A fire fell down out of heaven. [00:49:57] He prayed perfectly. The Lord before whom I stand there was a relationship with the Lord through thick and through thin, through both his successes and his failures, there was that relationship with the Lord. Now there's so much here, I just don't know where we can stop. Supplication of a righteous man. Don't you think that might finish some of you? It used to finish me. I used to read that the supplication of a righteous man avail of much. I used to think, oh my goodness, that's finished me. [00:50:33] But you see, we often stop there. And Elijah was a man of light. Passions just go straight on just to catch us. Just to catch us. You see, it's the righteousness of God. Isn't it? A wonderful thing that when Elijah met the 400 prophets of Baal, he set up the twelve strings stones of the altar? In other words, he was thinking of the whole people of God. And he waited to the point of the evening oblation in the house of God at Jerusalem. His righteousness wasnt his own righteousness. His righteousness was totally holy. In another, he knew that there was a sacrifice for sin being offered. And just at that point he called upon the Lord to honour his word and vindicate himself. [00:51:27] The prayer of a righteous man availeth much in its working. [00:51:33] Of course, the old authorized version is rather beautiful. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. [00:51:42] It's beautiful, effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man. Now another thing I like very much about this is that even if we have like passions, we can still hide ourselves in the garment of our salvation and our prayer can therefore avail much in its working. [00:52:01] Furthermore, I want you to notice this wonderful little thing in verse 17. It says Elijah prayed fervently and he prayed fervently but literally. You'll see if you've got an authorized version in the margin. [00:52:15] And he prayed in prayer or in your revised version, American Standard Version or new American Standard bible, you'll see in the marginal footnote. And he prayed with prayer. [00:52:30] Now I don't know whether this is taking it a little too far, but you know, I think sometimes we can pray without prayer. [00:52:39] Think about it, all of you, we can pray without prayer. Oh, it's so easy just to mouth a few words, isn't it? Don't you think that's what it means when it says he prayed fervently? His heart was in his prayer, he really prayed in prayer. [00:52:57] I love most of all the thing that Stephen Kong once said to me that he felt it was the kind of prayer that came out of the throne into him and came out through his lips. [00:53:12] Do you know that kind of prayer? Sometimes we're not even conscious. We're just prompted to pray before we know where we are. Prayer burden that's come by the spirit of God from the throne of God has got into us and is coming out of our lips back to God. Don't ask me why the Lord works in this way, but he does. [00:53:32] He prayed in prayer like passions it didn't stop God. [00:53:38] The prayer of heaven got into that man. [00:53:42] With all his frailty, with all his humanity the prayer of God got into him. [00:53:48] There are many other things I'd like to sort of. It seems to me that Elijah was in tune with heaven. Now we come to a point. Now someone says, don't you think it's a dreadful thing? There he does, he prays a prayer and for three and a half years he shuts up the heavens and everyone's business and sort of livelihood is wrecked. People all over the country, the whole colony is ruined, all the animals die. It's a dreadful thing. But just wait before you blame Elijah first think it was not Elijah. [00:54:16] Sometimes we see the human scene. It seems as if Elijah just prays and that's all matters. He prays and heaven says yes, all right, but do it. But it's not that. When you look into the record you find that heaven itself says and this and this and this shall come to pass. Now Elijah get weaving. [00:54:34] So we discover, for instance in chapter 18 of one kings. [00:54:42] One kings, chapter 18 we read this verse one. It came to pass after many days. The word of the lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. They were now in the James verse, it says, and he prayed that it might rain again. And it rained as if it was just Elijah. He first prayed, shut the heavens up. And then a little later he said, lord, open them. [00:55:13] In the same chapter 18 and verse 41, we hear Elijah saying, get thee up and drink, for there is sound of abundance of rain. There wasnt a cloud in the sky. [00:55:26] So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. He bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. [00:55:35] 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. In other words, he started praying. The Lord had said, rain is coming. Elijah started praying. Just like when Daniel found out that the 70 years was about to be accomplished, he got praying. [00:55:57] Some of these saints start praying where we stop. [00:56:02] Sometimes we find out what we believe to be the will of God. And then we say, there is no need to pray anymore. [00:56:06] These, when they find out what the will of God is poured into being like passions, get it again. It's not that you've got to be some spiritual automaton, something sort of unique, something altogether sort of so otherworldly that you're not human anymore. [00:56:26] This is an entirely human being in whom the very presence of God is found. [00:56:38] Well, I think really our time's gone, but I'd like to say another thing about this. [00:56:47] I was talking a little earlier with brother Shaw a few days ago about an extraordinary footnote I found, or a note in. In JB Phillips version. [00:57:01] And it so interested me, and I had no idea it would come into the sealing. [00:57:07] You see, in Matthew, chapter 16 and verse 19, it says, whatsoever things ye bind on earth abound in heaven, and whatsoever things ye loose on earth are loosed in heaven. [00:57:19] A wonderful passage about, I've given him the keys of the kingdom. [00:57:25] Now, from that it would seem to suggest that all we had to do is say, we bind this, and heaven says, all right, we'll do it. Or we say, we release this, and heaven says, okay, we do it. [00:57:38] Now, in John, chapter 20 and verse 23, it says, whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. [00:57:47] And whosoever sins ye remit, they are omitted unto them. Now, from just a flat reading of those verses, it would appear to suggest that we just do something and heaven ratifies it. But now listen to this extraordinary little note of now, some of you, of course, won't be any the wiser, but never mind. [00:58:11] It'll help you to understand there are some mysteries in the word. [00:58:15] Matthew 1619 and 1818. Forbidding and permitting. There is a very curious greek construction here, a simple future followed by the perfect participle, passive. [00:58:29] If Jesus had meant to say simply, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven. [00:58:37] Can anyone explain why the simple, simple future passive is not used? [00:58:45] It seems to me that if the words of Jesus are accurately reported here, and I have no reason to doubt it, then the force of these sayings is that Jesus true disciples will be so led by the spirit that they will be following the heavenly pattern. [00:59:10] In other words, what they forbid or permit on earth will be consonant with the divine rule. [00:59:24] If a simple future passive had been used, it would mean an automatic heavenly endorsement of the church's actions, which to me least is a very different thing. In the pertinent verses of John's Gospel, John 20 22 23, it's quite plain that holy Spirit, of which Christ is giving his disciples a first breath, so to speak. For the holy Spirit in person, was not given until Pentecost, would be the factor by which alone human beings could perform the divine function of forgiving or not forgiving sin. [00:59:58] In other words, it is the holy Spirit who does it. The person is forgiven by God. And we can say, we can ratify it, God has forgiven you. [01:00:09] We can say it in the name of God, God has forgiven you. Or we can say, God has not forgiven you. This you have not confessed. You haven't got it put right. Do you understand? Now? To me, this is very, very, very interesting, because it gets to the root of many things that are tragedies in christian work, where people are trying to push through some scheme or some idea or some even scriptural thing they feel to be right. At that point I remind you again of another scripture, Matthew 1818, where it says, if two of you, you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them and my father. It doesn't mean that I and you agree to agree. [01:00:59] It means that we are agreeing somehow, quite spontaneously, we are agreed about this thing. We know in our hearts. We witness the spirit of God witnesses in my spirit. The spirit of God witnesses in your spirit. This thing is right. [01:01:16] And then we both have confidence to take hold of the Lord on that thing it's always done for, where two or three are gathered together into my name, there am I in the midst of them. [01:01:26] Now I think this is a great lesson to learn from Elijah's life. He didn't just go around saying, we'll bind that. [01:01:33] I'm sort of looking to heaven, sort of ratify it now we'll release that now do it, will you? [01:01:40] It was, he was led of the spirit inwardly he knew in, in his heart, even if a word didn't come from heaven, he knew, no rain, no rain. There's going to be no rain. [01:01:51] And his lips ratified heaven as well. [01:01:57] It's the other way around really. [01:02:00] Do you understand? [01:02:02] That's the whole importance of using our lips, confessing with our mouth. [01:02:11] Well, it all goes back again to this matter of the Lord before whom I stand. [01:02:17] You see, if you look carefully into the story of Elijah, you find that the Lord actually tells him some things. Rain is coming in abundance, he says, and so on and so forth. Now there are just only two other things. One, go on to the third lesson. Don't worry. [01:02:36] Such prayer always arouses satanic antagonism. Isn't it interesting what Obadiah says? [01:02:45] This dear man just prays and listen to what Obadiah says about King Ahab. He has sought everywhere for you. He has gone through all the adjacent kingdoms and nations. And when they said you were not there, he sent a very firm, evidently like a military sort of contingent in to say, now look here, you swear that he's not here or otherwise there's going to be serious trouble. [01:03:16] Now it seems to me that no person can be in touch with the sovereignty and authority of God, with the infinite greatness of God. No person can be in touch with the throne of God in this way. And no arouse satanic antagonism. [01:03:30] You are a marked person. We are a marked people. [01:03:34] Once we are in touch with the throne. The devil doesn't worry too much. He doesn't like christians, let's face it, but he doesn't worry too much when they're out of touch with the throne. There are plenty of them. [01:03:47] And in many ways such christians unwittingly can be so influenced by the enemy that they more or less fall in with his plan unwittingly. [01:04:01] But if the devil, if there's one person the devil cannot bear or a people the devil cannot bear, it's when they're in touch with the throne that will always arouse satanic antagonism. One kind or another, inexplicable problems will come to you. Inexplicable trials will fall upon you. There is no other explanation than that you're in touch with the throne and therefore, cheer up. Cheer up. If these things have inexplicably fallen upon you, so inexplicably, will God step in? [01:04:33] Not your doing. You haven't invited them. I know there are some christians who make themselves an absolute nuisance in the office or school or college, and I can't say I feel, feel sorry when they suffer for it. [01:04:49] There are plenty of christians like that who just, urn, what really, after all, they ought to earn. [01:04:59] But there are also plenty of christians who, just because they're in touch with the throne, invite and arouse satanic antagonism and don't be condemned. [01:05:12] Just as inexplicably as the thing has come, so just as inexplicably, God will step in, and that is, Elijah, maybe you will have a brook that will babble all the way through to the Lord says, dry up. [01:05:27] And then the Lord will say to you up to Zarephath, ravens will come of old creatures forbidden in the scripture as unclean birds, not to be touched, not to be eaten. [01:05:40] God can even use such things to feed you and keep you. Think of that and we shall come to that, I hope, next week. [01:05:49] For I must say this, it took us much faith to take the food from ravens, I think, as to obey the Lord and go to the book, Cherith, you think about that for a while. They're not exactly a clean. [01:06:03] And I think that just as the law provided simplest of real, must have been real faith on Elijah's part to take those through. You think about, where's he been? [01:06:15] Can you imagine some of you sitting there? It's already above the Lord to say these ravens are going to feed us. But suddenly occurred to you, where's that food been? [01:06:22] Where have they got it from? Where did this meat come? Is it kosher? [01:06:27] Where did it come from? [01:06:31] Ah, it took faith not only to believe that the Lord could provide but to receive the food from ravens. But that again is also, by the way, the fact of the matter is this, that if you get into scrapes which are not of your making, God will also get you out of those scrapes in a miraculous way. [01:06:51] This is exactly, it seems to me what the apostle Paul said when he said, we have got the sentence of death within ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. [01:07:02] Wasn't his fault that all these afflictions and trials have befallen them there in that spot. [01:07:10] And therefore, just because it was not there. It was the arousing of satanic antagonism. He could be just as sure that if the sentence of death was upon them and they went down into death, so God who raises the dead would deliver them. [01:07:28] Satanic opposition. We're always bound to get it. But don't be afraid. [01:07:33] God will step in again and then you'll understand the language of the psalmist. Then suddenly the book will start to speak to you in a way it can't speak to anyone else. If you have been at Wits end corner and God has stepped in, suddenly you begin to understand what it means. God is a very present help in trouble and so on. All these things begin to live to you. Why the Lord's done that for me in my little circumstance. He's come in on me, done this very thing for me. I shall be able to talk with Elijah one day and we'll be able to swap stories. [01:08:06] He'll be able to tell me what happened at the Brook Cherith and I'll be able to tell him what happened in my home, the kitchen sink or in my office or in my situation. And Elijah won't smirk or laugh. [01:08:22] I have no doubt at all that he'll be absolutely thrilled. Oh, he'll say, isn't it wonderful? [01:08:29] All God can do. [01:08:31] Now one other thing about this prayer is simply this, that it always, always wins through. It doesn't matter how much the antagonism is there from the enemy always wins too. So fire comes down from heaven, consumes the 400 so drought for three and a half years. So abundance of rain comes at the end of three and a half years. It doesn't matter how much the devil is angry about this thing, it will always achieve its end. [01:08:57] Such fervent prayer must go hand in hand with faith. [01:09:04] Theres no other way. [01:09:06] And perhaps thats where we ought to leave it tonight. Faith and perseverance in faith. There are people whove got a little bit of faith to believe that God has said there will be abundance of rain. Thats one kings 18 one. So they believe that. Then when it comes to it, they go up to Mount Carmel and they just say, no, send this abundance of rain. [01:09:31] They'll even go so far as to say to people, I believe that the Lord is going to do this thing. [01:09:36] Then they get down in prayer, bow their head between their knees and say, lord, send the rain. [01:09:43] And not a drop, just a dry sunny breeze. [01:09:50] Then they think, oh dear. [01:09:54] Ah, well, I'm not a Moses, I'm not a Samuel. [01:10:01] There you are I told you so. I must have been wrong. [01:10:06] But not Elijah. He says to his heaven, go out and see. Is there anything. Not a thing. So he said well go seven times now don't bother with me again. I'll pray you just come back. Time you go again. Seven times you go for seven times. The men in the last time you got. [01:10:21] Yeah, there's a little tiny, I don't know why I'm mentioning it really, but it's a little. Well it's about the size of a closed fist on the horizon. That's it. That's it says Elijah. Quick, don't tell Ahab. [01:10:43] And before long of this little tiny fist of becomes a hurricane. [01:10:49] It actually says in the record that the skies grew black with thunder and a great wind. [01:10:59] And then the rain came in abundance. [01:11:04] Persevering prayer. You really got to persevere in prayer. When this work began we persevered for four months every single night from seven till eleven. [01:11:17] It was like hitting our heads on a brick wall. [01:11:23] And the devil came night after night and sort of said you, you are so stupid. And of course quite a few of the Lord's people said quite precisely the same thing. They said heaven's got into them. [01:11:33] So silly isn't it? I mean God is sovereign. It's funny how people can be Calvinists when it suits them and Arminians when it suits them. [01:11:44] But they were all good Calvinists then. If the Lord wants to do something he'll do it. They all said. But something had got into us, just a few of us from heaven. It's the only explanation I can say. We could only pray it out. We prayed it out in the night and when we felt it at the. But by the next morning the burden was heavy on us again. We had to get prayed the same thing again night after night after night after night. [01:12:13] And when at the end the burden lifted we really didn't feel we got the answer to it. All we did was start a small thing which we felt to be an aside. We called it Koinonia. [01:12:25] We had no idea that God was answering our prayer. We just thought it was an aside. But the burden of lifted. [01:12:32] You've got to persevere sometimes in prayer. Some things you put your feet into the river Jordan and they split open. The river splits open in a second. You raise your rod above the Red Sea and it parts in an instant. You lift the rod and water comes out of the rock in the name of the Lord in an instant. But there are other times when you've got to go round the walls seven days. And on the 7th day seven die. [01:12:59] But persevering prayer when it's mixed with faith and has come out of heaven always achieves God's will. [01:13:10] Well, there you are. Second lesson. Sorry, we didn't get to the third. He was a man of light, passions and he prayed fervently. Now, don't any one of you think you've got an excuse. [01:13:24] You have not got an excuse. Not one of you. [01:13:29] It doesn't matter what you're like or what your background or what your feelings or what your affections. [01:13:35] The point that divides you from Elijah is. And he prayed fervently. [01:13:45] May God help every one of us to learn from this cannon. Because in the crisis days of crisis it's prayer that counts. No good having preaching without prayer. It's no good having great activity without prayer. It's that behind the scenes which is the fulfillment of the mind and purpose of God which counts so greatly. Shall we pray? [01:14:11] Beloved? Lord, we pray that somehow thou wilt write on our hearts some of these lessons. We've only done two, Lord. But thou knowest that within those two lessons there's a universe. Now, Lord, we pray. Make it real to every one of us. Apply it to each one of our lives. Whatever the need is in each of our lives, do it. Lord, we pray. And may every one of us be able to say my God is the Lord himself. [01:14:43] May we each one be able to say as the Lord liveth before whom I stand we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.