Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on 1 Kings 18:41-46. The main subject of the sermon is the end of the drought.
Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on 1 Kings 18:41-46. The main subject of the sermon is the end of the drought.
– SERMON TRANSCRIPT –
Tonight we’re going to be looking at I Kings 18, more or less beginning at verse 41. But before we do that, I got in my car and I was driving home and something occurred to me that I had wanted to share with you this morning, and I was sxao frustrated that I forgot. I wanted to share in terms of the morning sermon that I gave. Jesus was talking about the cost of commitment, and “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests and the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” God had put a great thought in my mind middle of last week and I wrote it down, made a note of it, but I never said it. I got home and Chris said, “Why don’t you share it tonight?” So you’re going to have to listen to it because I have this microphone now. It just has to do with this: there’s a tremendous cost in following Christ. We have no idea where God’s going to lead us. We have no idea, and in effect, Jesus said to his disciples, “You don’t know where you’re going to spend the night tonight if you follow me. As a matter of fact, when it comes to sleeping, I’m about to catch a little nap in the back of this boat,” and that’s exactly what he did because he fell asleep in the boat. You remember the story. The very next story was Jesus stilling the storm. If you’re willing to follow Jesus wherever he leads, you may not know where you’re going to sleep tonight, you may not know what you’re going to eat tonight, but what an exciting, thrilling life it is to follow Christ. Think what that teacher of the law missed if he decided not to get in the boat with Jesus.
“If you’re willing to follow Jesus wherever he leads, you may not know where you’re going to sleep tonight, you may not know what you’re going to eat tonight, but what an exciting, thrilling life it is to follow Christ.”
I think the stilling of the storm is one of the greatest miracles, and if I had a chance, I’d preach it right now, but we’ll wait for that next time. But all I’m saying is, and I think it relates to the Degas ministry and to all the things, is if you’re willing to follow Christ, you’re willing to step out in faith, do something that would basically shake your whole world up. You may not know where you’re going to sleep or what you’re going to eat or whatever, but what an exciting, thrilling life it is to serve Christ, and to be free from a worthless wasted life, to know that the things you’re doing are going to count for eternity. That’s what I wanted to share with you this morning. Think what that teacher of the law would’ve missed if he didn’t get in the boat with Jesus. I want to get in the boat with him and wherever he goes, I want to go. Wherever he goes, that’s where I want to be. I want see him still the storm, don’t you? I want to see him do awesome things. And so as we’ve been looking at Elijah, also, I see the same God at work. Our God is a spectacular God, is he not? And so the Christian life should be an exciting, thrilling journey. Tough. Elijah goes through some hard things, but it’s exciting and it’s thrilling.
Now we ended last time with Elijah praying a simple prayer to God. Do you remember? He looked up to heaven and he said basically in effect, “Father, thank you that you sent me to do this and now send down the fire from heaven so that all of them may know that you alone are God and that you sent me to do this.” That’s all. And the fire came down from heaven and it lit up that sacrifice, burned it up. It burned up the stones, it burned up the water, the soil, everything was gone and the people fell down on their faces and they proclaimed, they declared in an act of worship from the heart, “The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.” What a worship service that was. What an awesome thing. And that’s where we ended.
Now I mentioned at the end what happened next and that is the slaughter of the prophets of Baal. And I really, I want to begin there. Let’s look beginning at verse 40 and I’m going to read to the end of the chapter. It says,
Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away.” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there. Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant and he went up and looked. “There’s nothing there.” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea. So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. The wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Let’s start with this very sobering and difficult story of the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal. After the fire came down from heaven, it was Elijah that ordered that the prophets of Baal be seized and that they be executed in the Kishon Valley. Now, this may seem harsh to our modern sensibilities. You might think, “How could a God, the God that I know, the God of the Bible desire a slaughter like this?” Now you must think that Elijah had probably asked the prophets of Baal to stand around close so that they could see, they probably had the best view available of the miracle that God was going to do. But what that meant was that all of Israel surrounded them, you see? And so the altar was at the center, the prophets of Baal probably standing around and then Israel, the leaders, and the officials and all those that had been invited by Ahab standing around them. And so the moment was right as soon as the fire came down, lest these prophets of Baal, reading the sensibilities of the people, should try to make their escape that he said, “Seize them, capture them before they escape,” and so they did. The question is why would God desire this? This was something that Elijah clearly did at the behest of God, that he wanted him to do it, doesn’t say that in the text, but we have to assume that he was under God’s orders to do this. It really was a matter of God’s justice at this particular moment. These were false prophets. They were leading Israel astray. They were leading them to worship false gods. And so before the rain could come down, before God could bless the people, the sin had to be dealt with and had to be dealt with thoroughly and completely. And in the Old Covenant that meant death for these transgressors of the Law of Moses. Prophets of Baal were leaders in this rebellion. In Deuteronomy chapter 13, I’d like you to take a moment and look there with me if you would. Deuteronomy 13. So that you would know that Elijah did nothing unseemly or did nothing contrary to the will of God, but actually was just carrying out God’s express commands as given through his servant Moses. The Law of Moses makes it very plain what was to be done that day. Deuteronomy 13, beginning at verse 1,
If a prophet or one who foretells by dreams appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign, a wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them.” You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord God you must follow and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him, serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. He has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
So that is dealing there with a false prophet who is able to perform, it seems, a miraculous sign. He’s able to do something extraordinary. But even if he is able to do a miracle like that, still the people should turn him in for execution. It says very plainly, “You must purge the evil from among you,” keep reading, look at verse 6,
If your very own brother or your son or daughter or the wife you love or your closest friend secretly entices you saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death and then all the hands of the people. Stone him to death because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
Now if you look at that section, who is he dealing with? It’s not this time a false prophet, but it’s a relative. It’s a father, a mother, a husband, a wife, a child, a friend, somebody close to you. If somebody even very close to you comes and entices you, and commands or suggests in some way that you worship a false god, you are to turn them in so that they be executed and your hand would be the first against them. Deuteronomy 13, keep reading verse 12,
If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), then you must inquire, probe, and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock. Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder is a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands so that the Lord will turn from his fierce anger. He will show you mercy. He will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers as he promised on oath to your forefathers because you obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.
And so there it is a whole town or village. If you find out that a whole town or village has gone corrupt, that a whole town or village has been induced somehow by some evil men to follow a false god, then the rest of the towns, the rest of the people around must come and purge the evil from among Israel by death, put them to death by the sword. And so the body of Israel will be purified from that tumor, which if it’s not dealt with will engulf the whole body and destroy it.
Well, we know from history that Israel did not follow these commands, did they? But rather they went corrupt. And there was one man, one man who stood up, Elijah, and sought to obey fully the commands of the Law of Moses. And so after the fire fell on the sacrifice, he ordered that these false prophets, prophets of Baal, be executed according to the Law of Moses so that God’s fierce anger would be turned. And why? Because he wanted the rain to fall. The rain’s not going to fall until the prophets of Baal have been executed according to the Law of Moses. Now, it’s interesting to me that God wanted the people to do it. Think about it now. Could God have done this job? All you need to do is just expand the scope of the fire a little bit. Instead of the pinpoint laser accuracy that God used from heaven and all it hits is this little sacrifice. All he’s got to do is go out a little bit and you’ve got all the prophets of Baal, right? Did God ever do anything like that? Time and time again in the Old Testament he did it. Once, the people of Israel complained about the food as they were traveling through the desert and fire came from heaven and burned some of them up and burned the edge of the camp. Another time there was a rebellion, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and the fire fell from heaven and burned up 250 that were holding censers. I don’t know if you remember that time, but they, God told Moses, “You and Aaron choose a censer and then those rebels, they can choose a censer and we’ll see who I choose.” And the fire fell on 250 of them at that point. Even in the story of Elijah, later on, in II Kings chapter 1, a captain goes with 50 men to arrest him and fire falls from heaven and destroys those 50 men. God could have done it without any trouble at all, but he wanted the people to do it. Why did he want the people to do it? Because he wanted them to reject Baal worship once and for all. They must purge the evil from among them. It’s their task, it’s their job. And so he led them. Now, we don’t know who actually put the prophets of Baal to death, whether it was Elijah himself, which would run into some serious logistics, late in the day killing 450 people with the sword. And so almost certainly, it was a lot of people that were involved in killing these prophets. And so he descended to the Valley of Kishon and he purged the evil from among Israel.
Now why do I dwell on this? Because it’s in the Bible folks, this is what the Scripture says. This is the God that we worship and God wanted this done. And what was done to the prophets of Baal that day is nothing compared to what will be done to the lost on judgment day. It is nothing compared to the lake of fire. It is nothing compared to hell and damnation. And so we must realize that the God we worship is a God of holiness, a God of purity, a god of righteousness. And Elijah himself, if he were here today, would testify that he deserved himself to be burned with fire from heaven, because all have sinned and fall short to the glory of God. But it’s only by the grace and mercy of God and the blood of Jesus Christ that we are not also executed the way the prophets of Baal were that day.
“All have sinned and fall short to the glory of God. But it’s only by the grace and mercy of God and the blood of Jesus Christ that we are not also executed the way the prophets of Baal were that day.”
And so the evil was purged from Israel and now it’s time for the rain to fall. The fire has come, but now we need the rain. And why? Because if the rain doesn’t come, we will perish. We will perish from the land that God has given us. And so the rain comes and he gives Ahab some advice. Look at verse 41, “Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain coming.’” Now it’s interesting in verse 42 that Ahab does in fact go off to eat and drink. What is it with Ahab? Ahab’s just the picture of a lost person. Is he not? Who’s god is his stomach, this is what he’s living for. Fire has just fallen from heaven, 450 prophets of Baal have been executed, and he says, “Why don’t you go have a meal? I’m going to go pray.” And so we see so clearly the distinction between Ahab and Elijah: Ahab sits down and has a good meal. Elijah goes up on Mount Carmel to pray. And so we have a picture of the life of Esau and then the life of a believer. It’s funny how carnally minded people are far more likely to take advice on physical matters than spiritual matters. He gives him advice concerning his physical body and he’ll take it. But if he gives him advice concerning his eternal soul, he won’t give him the time of day. And so he says, “All right, I’ll go. I’m going to go eat. I’m hungry anyway.” And apparently this prophet who’s got a good track record, says “Rain is coming, so let’s go ahead and have a feast. Let’s have a celebration in advance.” And so his god is his stomach and off he goes. It’s interesting later, if you look at chapter 19:1, Ahab… We’re not going to get there tonight… But it says, “Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.” What do you notice about that? Ahab told Jezebel everything that who had done? Elijah. Do you notice anyone missing from verse 1 of chapter 19? Who would be missing from chapter 19:1? God, that’s right. Praise the Lord for you, your faithfulness and your love for the Lord. It just shines. Yes, the center actor in this story is God himself. It’s not Elijah. Did Elijah cause fire to fall from heaven and was it Elijah that caused rain to fall either? No, it isn’t. But in Ahab’s little puny mind, there is no room for God. In all his thoughts there is no room for God. And so he is got no place. And so he goes off and he sits down and he eats and he drinks. But Elijah gets right to business and the business at hand is praying for rain.
Now that the evil has been purged, it’s time for the rain to come. Now rain is a gift from God. I think we feel that more than we’ve felt before, don’t you? I mean it’s a gift from God and it’s got nothing to do with science. Now we can observe and meteorologists can more or less predict the things that are going to come, but we have no power over them. We cannot make the wind blow. “The wind blows where it wishes,” Jesus said. You hear the sound of it, but you can’t tell where it comes from, where it’s going. Neither can we make it rain. Only God can do that. And so rain is a gift from God. It says in Psalm 147:8, “He covers the sky with clouds. He supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.” And then, more familiarly to you, Matthew 5:45, “In order that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, you should pray for and love your enemies. He [our Father] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” And so it is God, our Father that sends rain. God also had complete control of rain in the Promised Land, and it was a big theme in the book of Deuteronomy, this issue of rain. In the Law of Moses, there would be blessings and curses; there would be blessings for obedience. There would be curses for disobedience. In Leviticus 26:4, it says, “I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field will yield their fruit.” And so in other words, God would send the rain and then the Promised Land would be fruitful. But if God didn’t send the rain, the Promised Land would produce nothing. It was a curse for disobedience. Deuteronomy 11:17, if the people turn away and worship false gods, it says, “Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.” And then in Deuteronomy 28:23-24, it says, “The sky over your head will be bronze. The ground beneath you will be iron.” That sounds like my yard, by the way. “The sky over your head will be bronze. The ground beneath you will be iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder. It will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.” So there was still perhaps wind, a dry, hot desert sirocco, blowing dust and sand, but there was no life, there was no water. And why? Because the people had disobeyed.
God also has complete control over the rain. He says in Amos 4:7, “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another.” Have you noticed that here in the Triangle region? It’ll hit one place and not another. I’ll get a call from Christie. “Is it raining where you are?” “No.” Well, we got a little, and according to Amos 4:7, it’s God that controls all of that. He’s the one that says, “It’s going to rain on this town but not on the other one.” And so God has total control over this. He also, through his prophet Zechariah, commanded that we pray for rain. Zechariah 10:1, “Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime. It is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men and plants of the field to everyone.” So God has commanded a prayer for rain. The sin has been dealt with in Israel. Now it’s time for Elijah to go pray. And so he says in verse 41, “Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.’” Now let me ask you a question. If you’ve been standing there, would you have heard anything? I think only Elijah could hear that sound at that particular moment. The Hebrew’s actually very strong. There’s actually the sound of the clamor of a multitude of a heavy torrential downpour coming. It’s a really laden Hebrew expression. “There’s a big rain coming and I can hear it.” Look at the sky, there’s not a single cloud. Looks like it’s looked for the last three and a half years. “Oh, but it’s coming. There’s a sound. So you better go get your eating done, Ahab, because you’re going to have a tough ride home tonight.”
Now I think as we look at this, we can learn some lessons from prayer. James 5:16-18, it says this, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three and a half years.” Verse 18, James 5:18, “And he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” That’s what we’re reading about tonight, James 5:18, “He prayed again.” When did he pray again? In I Kings 18:42-45, this is the second prayer of Elijah. And so there in James, it clearly ascribes to Elijah’s prayer, the torrential rain that fell. And therefore he also, James, holds up for us as an example in prayer this man, Elijah. You want to learn about prayer? You learn from Elijah, look at Elijah, and see how he prayed.
Now, what are some things that we can learn? Well, what’s the first thing that Elijah does? It says in verse 42, “Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel.” So the first thing that he does is he withdraws from the people. There’s probably nobody left on the top of Mount Carmel at this point, all right? The fire has fallen. The people have come down off to the Kishon Valley, they’ve destroyed- they’ve killed the prophets of Baal, and they’ve gone home. Elijah goes back up to the top of Mount Carmel to be alone. He withdraws. He prays by himself away from the hustle and the bustle, away from the hubbub. Now Elijah can hear, by faith, things that we can’t. He knows that a rain is coming, all right? So he’s hearing, by faith, something that nobody else can hear, just like seeing by faith, something that no one else can see. Elisha will do that later. The chariots of fire and the armies of the heaven surrounding him and his servant, nobody can see it, but he can. Same thing with Elijah. But here’s the thing: Elijah was a man just like us. What did that mean? It means that he had five senses and those senses were distractible by things you see things you hear, hubbub, trouble, right? So if you really want to pray, you got to get off by yourself alone.
Now, there’s two different kinds of prayer that the Scripture enjoins upon us. One is the withdrawing, praying by yourself where you’re doing nothing but prayer. That’s what we see here from Elijah. The second is the praying without ceasing prayer that you pray throughout your day, somewhat like Nehemiah did in the presence of the king, where he just speaks a prayer. He just prays through the day. Both of them are godly, both of them enjoined upon us, but they have different purposes. One of them keeps us close to God through the day, brings him into our presence at all points. But another is that effective fervent prayer of a righteous man in which you are concentrating on nothing but prayer. Does that have a place in your life? Is there a place for that? So many times I talk to people about their quiet times. “Well, I read the Bible five minutes.” “Well, what about prayer?” “Well, I pray as I drive in.” Well, is it good to pray while you’re driving? For some it’s better than others, some more needed than others. We need you to pray while you’re driving. Okay? For all of us, it’s beneficial to stay in fellowship with God, to pray while driving. But that kind of prayer does not take the place of the kind of prayer that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 6:6, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who’s unseen, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” We’re talking about secret prayer in your so-called prayer closet or wherever you can be alone, where you’re concentrating on nothing but prayer. And so the first thing that we see is that Elijah withdrew. He prayed alone. He prayed by himself.
Secondly, we see him praying in humility. How do we get that? Well, we get it from his physical posture. Look what it says. It says that, “Elijah went up to Mount Carmel and he bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.” That’s a picture of total subjection to God, of total humiliation before him. And this is a remarkable thing. Now, the Scripture has actually examples of all kinds of body positions in prayer. Kneeling, certainly, Paul says in Ephesians 3, “For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and earth derives its name.” Kneeling is an example. Paul gives an example of kneeling. Elijah here with his face pressed between his knees gives us an example of kneeling in the extreme, where there’s a sense almost of total pressing humiliation before God. Solomon, when dedicating the temple stood up and spread his arms out like this in prayer. David, while he lay on his bed, had God search his heart and know him, and all of these things are acceptable. There’s no one right and one wrong, but here he gets down on his knees and he does it because he wants to demonstrate his humility.
Why is that important? Well, think of the temptation to pride that Elijah might have felt at this moment. I mean, have you ever seen answers to prayer like Elijah just saw? Fire coming down from heaven, God listening to the voice of a man and sending fire from heaven. What the devil could do with that, right? “Hey, not bad, Elijah. That’s pretty good.” I mean, there’s not any other man that’s ever done that. And so the ego starts to puff up a little bit. And it’s so important at this moment for this man of God to get by himself and give all glory to God and humble himself in subjection to him and say, “What next God? What’s the next thing you want me to do? You want me to pray for rain? I’ll pray for rain.” But he’d humble himself and not be boastful or arrogant or prideful before him. How wrong is it for us to come boldly into the throne of grace with arrogance? Okay, the Scripture does say that we should come boldly into the very presence of God, but not with arrogance. We need to have a kind of a balance in this matter, don’t we? I think it’s boldness just to be in God’s presence. Don’t you understand that? Just to be with him, just to stand in his presence and that he not destroy us, that’s bold enough. We don’t need to carry arrogance along with us. So just to be there and like that publican, that tax collector to beat your breast and say, “I don’t even deserve to have you listen to me.” That was the attitude, I think, that Elijah brought, humility into the presence of God.
You know, there’s a balance in this matter. You need to be somewhat like the Apostle John who pillowed his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper. Just put his head there, just so intimate, so close. We could say, “Abba, Father,” there’s a closeness, an intimacy. And yet on the morning of the Resurrection, he would not deign to go into the place where Jesus lay. He stood outside and looked in. There was a sense of holy awe and how much more in Revelation 1:17, when the Lord appears to him in a glorified vision, now glorified presence and his eyes are like flaming fire. And John says, “I was at his feet like one dead.” So is there a way to combine those two? I think so. There’s a sense of intimacy, loving intimacy with the Lord, but a sense of the fear of the Lord as well. And Elijah had that. He shows us humility.
And then thirdly, we see him praying based on God’s Word. I Kings 18:1, beginning of this chapter, “After a long time in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, ‘Go and present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.'” Do you see that? It’s so important that we understand this. He is praying for the thing that God has promised to give, not just generally promised, and that is true as well. II Chronicles 7:13-14 should be familiar to you, “If I shut up the heavens so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, and my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray” Does that sound familiar? “And seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Solomon prayed that or God spoke that to Solomon. And so what I’m saying here very, very plainly is that he had the word of the Lord, generally. If the people have turned from their sin and there’s been no rain, it’s time to pray. And they said, “The Lord, he is God.” They’ve turned from their sin; it’s time. But he’s got a specific word from God. I Kings 18:1, “Go and show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.” So if you want to be faithful and fervent and effectual in prayer, you have to pray according to God’s word. You’re not trying to change God’s mind, are you? “God, I have an idea that you didn’t have and it’s a doozy. Listen to me for a while. Let me give you some advice on how to run the world.” Is that what we’re doing in prayer or are we saying, “God, show me what you want to do here. I pray according to your Word.” And so he prays by faith based on God’s Word.
He also prays… And he’s, I think, exhorted and encouraged to pray because of God’s sovereignty. Now, I don’t think any of us are ever going to figure out a mixture, a proper theological understanding of the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human action and responsibility. Let’s think of it this way: God’s power brought the rain. We’ve established that already. Elijah’s prayer brought God’s power. God’s word brought Elijah’s prayer. Okay, who wins here? When does it… It all starts with God. And we know that we give him the highest place, but he has chosen to work through people. James chapter 5 ascribes to Elijah prayer, the rain that fell, and there is truth to that. But we know that Elijah’s prayer came only at the command of God. We know that as well. And so there’s a mixture here. I think what we ought to do is say, “God, you have stated that you will do this thing in the earth. I pray that you do this. You’ve said that there’s going to be people from every tribe and language and people and nation worshiping Christ. Here’s an unreached people group. I pray and I’m going to keep praying until somebody comes to Christ in that group, until there’s a church growing there.” Why not? God’s already said he’s going to do it. Pray according to his word. We don’t need to work out sovereignty and responsibility and all that in order to get down on your knees and pray. We just get on our knees and say, “God, do the thing that you have promised,” and he moves.
Fourthly, we see Elijah praying specifically. If you had stopped Elijah at that moment, put your hand on his shoulder and said, “Elijah, what are you praying for?” “I’m praying for God’s blessings on his people.” What? He would’ve been able to tell you what he was praying for. “I’m praying for rain today. I’m praying for rain today, and I’m going to keep praying until it starts to rain.” You need to pray specifically. George Mueller had 50,000 specific answers to prayer that you could write in a notebook. I think this is where we mess up so often. “God, I pray that you’d bless this church and bless it good.” Well, how do you know when God’s answered that prayer? Did he bless it good today? I don’t know. I sometimes think that prayer’s like buying stock in a company or buying stock in something that God’s doing, right? And you’re going to get returns on your investment. The more you invest in prayer, the more joy comes back to you as a dividend because you took part. It isn’t that it happened only because you prayed, but there’s a sense that you bought into that, you see, and you get some return back. You know what I’m saying? Well, can you imagine buying into some vague company and you have no idea who it is or where it is, and how are you going to go to the paper and find out how the company’s doing? You have to pray specifically. You have to pray for things that you can write down and you know that God’s done, that God is doing. You keep praying as God leads. So he prayed specifically. He knew what he was praying for. He’s praying for rain.
Fifthly, he’s praying fervently. I believe this whole account is a picture of fervent prayer. Seven times, Elijah says, “Go back.” He is fervent. He’s burning. He wants rain. The fire from heaven isn’t enough. He wants rain because rain means life. Fire’s not going to mean life. The rain means life. So he is praying for life for his people. He’s praying for rain and he’s praying fervently. John Bunyan said, “Cold prayers melt before they get to heaven.” I love that. “Cold prayers melt before they get to heaven.” You know those formal prayers where you just say, in a very distant way, “God bless this…” You’re going through your list. That’s not fervent prayer. KJV, I love in James 5:16, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Isn’t that beautiful? It’s a fervent prayer that’s effectual.
Sixthly, praying watchfully and expectantly. Watchfully and expectantly. Did Elijah expect anything that day? Oh, yeah. What evidence? “Go back.” “No, there’s nothing there yet.” “Go back again and look. Look out over the Mediterranean Sea. You can see it from Mount Carmel, just keep looking.” “Still nothing, my Lord.” “Go back.” Seven times. He’s watchful; he’s expectant. “God is going to do something and I’m going to keep praying until it happens. Go look toward the sea.” “There’s nothing there.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
Seventh: prayer with perseverance. Don’t give up. Now, let me ask you a question. You can answer yourself. You don’t have to call it out. If you like to, you can. We’ll share in your answer. Where would you have given up? He went out to seven times, all right. Know yourself. How long would you have stayed at it? Would you have kept praying and kept praying and kept praying, or would you have given up? Elijah was going to pray until it happened. Let me ask you another question. Why didn’t God give it to him on the first try? He is, after all, Elijah. There’s no more work needing to be done in his soul is there? Of course there is. There’s always work to be done in people’s souls, and so he does not answer Elijah’s prayer the first time or the second or the third or fourth or fifth or sixth. The seventh time he answers his prayer. Why? He’s testing Elijah. Will you be faithful? Will you persevere, Will you… As it says in Luke 18:1, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” And then there’s the parable of the persistent widow. Oh, if I can just open my heart, I give up. I just do. I pray for things for a while and I don’t stick with it the way I should. Elijah’s kind of a wake up call for me to get back and say, if I shouldn’t have prayed for it perseveringly, I shouldn’t have prayed for it even one time. But if it was worth praying for one time, I should stick with it until God tells me to stop praying or until it gets answered, to keep praying for it again and again. So we see Elijah as a model of effective fervent prayer. Verse 44, “The seventh time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ So Elijah said, ‘Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops.'” Don’t you love that? He’s got just this tiny little cloud and he says, “It’s coming. No doubt in my mind it’s coming. So you better get going, Ahab.” Do you wonder why he told him that? What’d he care about Ahab, right? “Go ahead and get stuck in the mud.” He said, “Well, if you don’t want to get stuck in the mud, if you want to get across that brook that’s going to be at flood stage pretty soon, you better get moving.” I think it’s because he showed respect for him as his king, even though he was an ungodly man. And so he said, “You better get going.” In verse 45, “Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. The wind rose, a heavy rain came on, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.” So the rain comes, an answer to a man’s prayer. Isn’t that incredible? Does that characterize your prayer life? Wouldn’t it be beautiful if it did? Do you remember the George Mueller fog story? Some of you do. Come and ask me afterwards, what a phenomenal story that is. God answers prayer like this still today, if we will just be faithful and pray.
One last thing, I like this verse 46, “The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and tucking his cloak into his belt. He ran on ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.” What is that? 18 miles. Frank and I were talking. We were praying for each other before the service. I said, “I’m a little tired.” “I’m tired too.” But I said, “I can’t be tired, though. Look at what Elijah did.” I didn’t have a day like Elijah. Prophets of Baal, 450 guys slaughtered, going up and praying fervently. I don’t know how long it took the seven times, but I mean that’s draining. And when he got done, he ran 18 miles, by the Spirit of the Lord. Are you tired? Do you ever get tired? The Spirit of the Lord can make you powerful. And he beat Ahab’s horses. I don’t know what happened. Maybe the chariot wheel fell off or maybe he ran and set the record for the 18 mile race. I don’t think that’s an event, but he still holds the record for 18 miles in rain. But at any rate, he went and powerfully moved. The Spirit of the Lord can make a weak person strong.
Now, next time we study, we’re going to see an entirely different Elijah. It’s amazing how frail we are. If chapter 18 is Elijah’s glory moment, chapter 19 is his lowest moment, where he really looks weak and faithless and puny and small. But God does this, I think, that we might know that it was not Elijah, but it was his power through Elijah. And our God is still with us and he hasn’t changed one bit. Let’s close in prayer.
Father, we thank you for the study that we had tonight. We thank you for the opportunity to go through your Word. We thank you for the example that Elijah is to us all. Lord, to me, especially, Lord, of effectual, fervent prayer. We thank you for the seven things that He shows us, how he withdrew privately to a quiet place to pray, and how he prayed according to your Word, in faith, believing and trusting you. He prayed with humility. He humbled himself before you, O Lord. And he prayed specifically knowing exactly what you had commanded him to do and knowing what he was praying for, praying for rain. He prayed perseveringly, and he prayed watchfully, O Lord. And he prayed until you answered. We thank you, O Lord for this example. And now I pray if there’s any here that are weak in prayer, if there… It says strengthen, strengthen the feeble knees, the knees that give way, O Lord, I pray that you’d strengthen their knees in prayer so that we would be a praying church. We asked this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on 1 Kings 18:41-46. The main subject of the sermon is the end of the drought.
– SERMON TRANSCRIPT –
Tonight we’re going to be looking at I Kings 18, more or less beginning at verse 41. But before we do that, I got in my car and I was driving home and something occurred to me that I had wanted to share with you this morning, and I was sxao frustrated that I forgot. I wanted to share in terms of the morning sermon that I gave. Jesus was talking about the cost of commitment, and “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests and the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” God had put a great thought in my mind middle of last week and I wrote it down, made a note of it, but I never said it. I got home and Chris said, “Why don’t you share it tonight?” So you’re going to have to listen to it because I have this microphone now. It just has to do with this: there’s a tremendous cost in following Christ. We have no idea where God’s going to lead us. We have no idea, and in effect, Jesus said to his disciples, “You don’t know where you’re going to spend the night tonight if you follow me. As a matter of fact, when it comes to sleeping, I’m about to catch a little nap in the back of this boat,” and that’s exactly what he did because he fell asleep in the boat. You remember the story. The very next story was Jesus stilling the storm. If you’re willing to follow Jesus wherever he leads, you may not know where you’re going to sleep tonight, you may not know what you’re going to eat tonight, but what an exciting, thrilling life it is to follow Christ. Think what that teacher of the law missed if he decided not to get in the boat with Jesus.
“If you’re willing to follow Jesus wherever he leads, you may not know where you’re going to sleep tonight, you may not know what you’re going to eat tonight, but what an exciting, thrilling life it is to follow Christ.”
I think the stilling of the storm is one of the greatest miracles, and if I had a chance, I’d preach it right now, but we’ll wait for that next time. But all I’m saying is, and I think it relates to the Degas ministry and to all the things, is if you’re willing to follow Christ, you’re willing to step out in faith, do something that would basically shake your whole world up. You may not know where you’re going to sleep or what you’re going to eat or whatever, but what an exciting, thrilling life it is to serve Christ, and to be free from a worthless wasted life, to know that the things you’re doing are going to count for eternity. That’s what I wanted to share with you this morning. Think what that teacher of the law would’ve missed if he didn’t get in the boat with Jesus. I want to get in the boat with him and wherever he goes, I want to go. Wherever he goes, that’s where I want to be. I want see him still the storm, don’t you? I want to see him do awesome things. And so as we’ve been looking at Elijah, also, I see the same God at work. Our God is a spectacular God, is he not? And so the Christian life should be an exciting, thrilling journey. Tough. Elijah goes through some hard things, but it’s exciting and it’s thrilling.
Now we ended last time with Elijah praying a simple prayer to God. Do you remember? He looked up to heaven and he said basically in effect, “Father, thank you that you sent me to do this and now send down the fire from heaven so that all of them may know that you alone are God and that you sent me to do this.” That’s all. And the fire came down from heaven and it lit up that sacrifice, burned it up. It burned up the stones, it burned up the water, the soil, everything was gone and the people fell down on their faces and they proclaimed, they declared in an act of worship from the heart, “The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.” What a worship service that was. What an awesome thing. And that’s where we ended.
Now I mentioned at the end what happened next and that is the slaughter of the prophets of Baal. And I really, I want to begin there. Let’s look beginning at verse 40 and I’m going to read to the end of the chapter. It says,
Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away.” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there. Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant and he went up and looked. “There’s nothing there.” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea. So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. The wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Let’s start with this very sobering and difficult story of the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal. After the fire came down from heaven, it was Elijah that ordered that the prophets of Baal be seized and that they be executed in the Kishon Valley. Now, this may seem harsh to our modern sensibilities. You might think, “How could a God, the God that I know, the God of the Bible desire a slaughter like this?” Now you must think that Elijah had probably asked the prophets of Baal to stand around close so that they could see, they probably had the best view available of the miracle that God was going to do. But what that meant was that all of Israel surrounded them, you see? And so the altar was at the center, the prophets of Baal probably standing around and then Israel, the leaders, and the officials and all those that had been invited by Ahab standing around them. And so the moment was right as soon as the fire came down, lest these prophets of Baal, reading the sensibilities of the people, should try to make their escape that he said, “Seize them, capture them before they escape,” and so they did. The question is why would God desire this? This was something that Elijah clearly did at the behest of God, that he wanted him to do it, doesn’t say that in the text, but we have to assume that he was under God’s orders to do this. It really was a matter of God’s justice at this particular moment. These were false prophets. They were leading Israel astray. They were leading them to worship false gods. And so before the rain could come down, before God could bless the people, the sin had to be dealt with and had to be dealt with thoroughly and completely. And in the Old Covenant that meant death for these transgressors of the Law of Moses. Prophets of Baal were leaders in this rebellion. In Deuteronomy chapter 13, I’d like you to take a moment and look there with me if you would. Deuteronomy 13. So that you would know that Elijah did nothing unseemly or did nothing contrary to the will of God, but actually was just carrying out God’s express commands as given through his servant Moses. The Law of Moses makes it very plain what was to be done that day. Deuteronomy 13, beginning at verse 1,
If a prophet or one who foretells by dreams appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign, a wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them.” You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord God you must follow and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him, serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. He has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
So that is dealing there with a false prophet who is able to perform, it seems, a miraculous sign. He’s able to do something extraordinary. But even if he is able to do a miracle like that, still the people should turn him in for execution. It says very plainly, “You must purge the evil from among you,” keep reading, look at verse 6,
If your very own brother or your son or daughter or the wife you love or your closest friend secretly entices you saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death and then all the hands of the people. Stone him to death because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
Now if you look at that section, who is he dealing with? It’s not this time a false prophet, but it’s a relative. It’s a father, a mother, a husband, a wife, a child, a friend, somebody close to you. If somebody even very close to you comes and entices you, and commands or suggests in some way that you worship a false god, you are to turn them in so that they be executed and your hand would be the first against them. Deuteronomy 13, keep reading verse 12,
If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), then you must inquire, probe, and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock. Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder is a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands so that the Lord will turn from his fierce anger. He will show you mercy. He will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers as he promised on oath to your forefathers because you obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.
And so there it is a whole town or village. If you find out that a whole town or village has gone corrupt, that a whole town or village has been induced somehow by some evil men to follow a false god, then the rest of the towns, the rest of the people around must come and purge the evil from among Israel by death, put them to death by the sword. And so the body of Israel will be purified from that tumor, which if it’s not dealt with will engulf the whole body and destroy it.
Well, we know from history that Israel did not follow these commands, did they? But rather they went corrupt. And there was one man, one man who stood up, Elijah, and sought to obey fully the commands of the Law of Moses. And so after the fire fell on the sacrifice, he ordered that these false prophets, prophets of Baal, be executed according to the Law of Moses so that God’s fierce anger would be turned. And why? Because he wanted the rain to fall. The rain’s not going to fall until the prophets of Baal have been executed according to the Law of Moses. Now, it’s interesting to me that God wanted the people to do it. Think about it now. Could God have done this job? All you need to do is just expand the scope of the fire a little bit. Instead of the pinpoint laser accuracy that God used from heaven and all it hits is this little sacrifice. All he’s got to do is go out a little bit and you’ve got all the prophets of Baal, right? Did God ever do anything like that? Time and time again in the Old Testament he did it. Once, the people of Israel complained about the food as they were traveling through the desert and fire came from heaven and burned some of them up and burned the edge of the camp. Another time there was a rebellion, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and the fire fell from heaven and burned up 250 that were holding censers. I don’t know if you remember that time, but they, God told Moses, “You and Aaron choose a censer and then those rebels, they can choose a censer and we’ll see who I choose.” And the fire fell on 250 of them at that point. Even in the story of Elijah, later on, in II Kings chapter 1, a captain goes with 50 men to arrest him and fire falls from heaven and destroys those 50 men. God could have done it without any trouble at all, but he wanted the people to do it. Why did he want the people to do it? Because he wanted them to reject Baal worship once and for all. They must purge the evil from among them. It’s their task, it’s their job. And so he led them. Now, we don’t know who actually put the prophets of Baal to death, whether it was Elijah himself, which would run into some serious logistics, late in the day killing 450 people with the sword. And so almost certainly, it was a lot of people that were involved in killing these prophets. And so he descended to the Valley of Kishon and he purged the evil from among Israel.
Now why do I dwell on this? Because it’s in the Bible folks, this is what the Scripture says. This is the God that we worship and God wanted this done. And what was done to the prophets of Baal that day is nothing compared to what will be done to the lost on judgment day. It is nothing compared to the lake of fire. It is nothing compared to hell and damnation. And so we must realize that the God we worship is a God of holiness, a God of purity, a god of righteousness. And Elijah himself, if he were here today, would testify that he deserved himself to be burned with fire from heaven, because all have sinned and fall short to the glory of God. But it’s only by the grace and mercy of God and the blood of Jesus Christ that we are not also executed the way the prophets of Baal were that day.
“All have sinned and fall short to the glory of God. But it’s only by the grace and mercy of God and the blood of Jesus Christ that we are not also executed the way the prophets of Baal were that day.”
And so the evil was purged from Israel and now it’s time for the rain to fall. The fire has come, but now we need the rain. And why? Because if the rain doesn’t come, we will perish. We will perish from the land that God has given us. And so the rain comes and he gives Ahab some advice. Look at verse 41, “Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain coming.’” Now it’s interesting in verse 42 that Ahab does in fact go off to eat and drink. What is it with Ahab? Ahab’s just the picture of a lost person. Is he not? Who’s god is his stomach, this is what he’s living for. Fire has just fallen from heaven, 450 prophets of Baal have been executed, and he says, “Why don’t you go have a meal? I’m going to go pray.” And so we see so clearly the distinction between Ahab and Elijah: Ahab sits down and has a good meal. Elijah goes up on Mount Carmel to pray. And so we have a picture of the life of Esau and then the life of a believer. It’s funny how carnally minded people are far more likely to take advice on physical matters than spiritual matters. He gives him advice concerning his physical body and he’ll take it. But if he gives him advice concerning his eternal soul, he won’t give him the time of day. And so he says, “All right, I’ll go. I’m going to go eat. I’m hungry anyway.” And apparently this prophet who’s got a good track record, says “Rain is coming, so let’s go ahead and have a feast. Let’s have a celebration in advance.” And so his god is his stomach and off he goes. It’s interesting later, if you look at chapter 19:1, Ahab… We’re not going to get there tonight… But it says, “Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.” What do you notice about that? Ahab told Jezebel everything that who had done? Elijah. Do you notice anyone missing from verse 1 of chapter 19? Who would be missing from chapter 19:1? God, that’s right. Praise the Lord for you, your faithfulness and your love for the Lord. It just shines. Yes, the center actor in this story is God himself. It’s not Elijah. Did Elijah cause fire to fall from heaven and was it Elijah that caused rain to fall either? No, it isn’t. But in Ahab’s little puny mind, there is no room for God. In all his thoughts there is no room for God. And so he is got no place. And so he goes off and he sits down and he eats and he drinks. But Elijah gets right to business and the business at hand is praying for rain.
Now that the evil has been purged, it’s time for the rain to come. Now rain is a gift from God. I think we feel that more than we’ve felt before, don’t you? I mean it’s a gift from God and it’s got nothing to do with science. Now we can observe and meteorologists can more or less predict the things that are going to come, but we have no power over them. We cannot make the wind blow. “The wind blows where it wishes,” Jesus said. You hear the sound of it, but you can’t tell where it comes from, where it’s going. Neither can we make it rain. Only God can do that. And so rain is a gift from God. It says in Psalm 147:8, “He covers the sky with clouds. He supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.” And then, more familiarly to you, Matthew 5:45, “In order that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, you should pray for and love your enemies. He [our Father] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” And so it is God, our Father that sends rain. God also had complete control of rain in the Promised Land, and it was a big theme in the book of Deuteronomy, this issue of rain. In the Law of Moses, there would be blessings and curses; there would be blessings for obedience. There would be curses for disobedience. In Leviticus 26:4, it says, “I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field will yield their fruit.” And so in other words, God would send the rain and then the Promised Land would be fruitful. But if God didn’t send the rain, the Promised Land would produce nothing. It was a curse for disobedience. Deuteronomy 11:17, if the people turn away and worship false gods, it says, “Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.” And then in Deuteronomy 28:23-24, it says, “The sky over your head will be bronze. The ground beneath you will be iron.” That sounds like my yard, by the way. “The sky over your head will be bronze. The ground beneath you will be iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder. It will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.” So there was still perhaps wind, a dry, hot desert sirocco, blowing dust and sand, but there was no life, there was no water. And why? Because the people had disobeyed.
God also has complete control over the rain. He says in Amos 4:7, “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another.” Have you noticed that here in the Triangle region? It’ll hit one place and not another. I’ll get a call from Christie. “Is it raining where you are?” “No.” Well, we got a little, and according to Amos 4:7, it’s God that controls all of that. He’s the one that says, “It’s going to rain on this town but not on the other one.” And so God has total control over this. He also, through his prophet Zechariah, commanded that we pray for rain. Zechariah 10:1, “Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime. It is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men and plants of the field to everyone.” So God has commanded a prayer for rain. The sin has been dealt with in Israel. Now it’s time for Elijah to go pray. And so he says in verse 41, “Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.’” Now let me ask you a question. If you’ve been standing there, would you have heard anything? I think only Elijah could hear that sound at that particular moment. The Hebrew’s actually very strong. There’s actually the sound of the clamor of a multitude of a heavy torrential downpour coming. It’s a really laden Hebrew expression. “There’s a big rain coming and I can hear it.” Look at the sky, there’s not a single cloud. Looks like it’s looked for the last three and a half years. “Oh, but it’s coming. There’s a sound. So you better go get your eating done, Ahab, because you’re going to have a tough ride home tonight.”
Now I think as we look at this, we can learn some lessons from prayer. James 5:16-18, it says this, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three and a half years.” Verse 18, James 5:18, “And he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” That’s what we’re reading about tonight, James 5:18, “He prayed again.” When did he pray again? In I Kings 18:42-45, this is the second prayer of Elijah. And so there in James, it clearly ascribes to Elijah’s prayer, the torrential rain that fell. And therefore he also, James, holds up for us as an example in prayer this man, Elijah. You want to learn about prayer? You learn from Elijah, look at Elijah, and see how he prayed.
Now, what are some things that we can learn? Well, what’s the first thing that Elijah does? It says in verse 42, “Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel.” So the first thing that he does is he withdraws from the people. There’s probably nobody left on the top of Mount Carmel at this point, all right? The fire has fallen. The people have come down off to the Kishon Valley, they’ve destroyed- they’ve killed the prophets of Baal, and they’ve gone home. Elijah goes back up to the top of Mount Carmel to be alone. He withdraws. He prays by himself away from the hustle and the bustle, away from the hubbub. Now Elijah can hear, by faith, things that we can’t. He knows that a rain is coming, all right? So he’s hearing, by faith, something that nobody else can hear, just like seeing by faith, something that no one else can see. Elisha will do that later. The chariots of fire and the armies of the heaven surrounding him and his servant, nobody can see it, but he can. Same thing with Elijah. But here’s the thing: Elijah was a man just like us. What did that mean? It means that he had five senses and those senses were distractible by things you see things you hear, hubbub, trouble, right? So if you really want to pray, you got to get off by yourself alone.
Now, there’s two different kinds of prayer that the Scripture enjoins upon us. One is the withdrawing, praying by yourself where you’re doing nothing but prayer. That’s what we see here from Elijah. The second is the praying without ceasing prayer that you pray throughout your day, somewhat like Nehemiah did in the presence of the king, where he just speaks a prayer. He just prays through the day. Both of them are godly, both of them enjoined upon us, but they have different purposes. One of them keeps us close to God through the day, brings him into our presence at all points. But another is that effective fervent prayer of a righteous man in which you are concentrating on nothing but prayer. Does that have a place in your life? Is there a place for that? So many times I talk to people about their quiet times. “Well, I read the Bible five minutes.” “Well, what about prayer?” “Well, I pray as I drive in.” Well, is it good to pray while you’re driving? For some it’s better than others, some more needed than others. We need you to pray while you’re driving. Okay? For all of us, it’s beneficial to stay in fellowship with God, to pray while driving. But that kind of prayer does not take the place of the kind of prayer that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 6:6, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who’s unseen, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” We’re talking about secret prayer in your so-called prayer closet or wherever you can be alone, where you’re concentrating on nothing but prayer. And so the first thing that we see is that Elijah withdrew. He prayed alone. He prayed by himself.
Secondly, we see him praying in humility. How do we get that? Well, we get it from his physical posture. Look what it says. It says that, “Elijah went up to Mount Carmel and he bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.” That’s a picture of total subjection to God, of total humiliation before him. And this is a remarkable thing. Now, the Scripture has actually examples of all kinds of body positions in prayer. Kneeling, certainly, Paul says in Ephesians 3, “For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and earth derives its name.” Kneeling is an example. Paul gives an example of kneeling. Elijah here with his face pressed between his knees gives us an example of kneeling in the extreme, where there’s a sense almost of total pressing humiliation before God. Solomon, when dedicating the temple stood up and spread his arms out like this in prayer. David, while he lay on his bed, had God search his heart and know him, and all of these things are acceptable. There’s no one right and one wrong, but here he gets down on his knees and he does it because he wants to demonstrate his humility.
Why is that important? Well, think of the temptation to pride that Elijah might have felt at this moment. I mean, have you ever seen answers to prayer like Elijah just saw? Fire coming down from heaven, God listening to the voice of a man and sending fire from heaven. What the devil could do with that, right? “Hey, not bad, Elijah. That’s pretty good.” I mean, there’s not any other man that’s ever done that. And so the ego starts to puff up a little bit. And it’s so important at this moment for this man of God to get by himself and give all glory to God and humble himself in subjection to him and say, “What next God? What’s the next thing you want me to do? You want me to pray for rain? I’ll pray for rain.” But he’d humble himself and not be boastful or arrogant or prideful before him. How wrong is it for us to come boldly into the throne of grace with arrogance? Okay, the Scripture does say that we should come boldly into the very presence of God, but not with arrogance. We need to have a kind of a balance in this matter, don’t we? I think it’s boldness just to be in God’s presence. Don’t you understand that? Just to be with him, just to stand in his presence and that he not destroy us, that’s bold enough. We don’t need to carry arrogance along with us. So just to be there and like that publican, that tax collector to beat your breast and say, “I don’t even deserve to have you listen to me.” That was the attitude, I think, that Elijah brought, humility into the presence of God.
You know, there’s a balance in this matter. You need to be somewhat like the Apostle John who pillowed his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper. Just put his head there, just so intimate, so close. We could say, “Abba, Father,” there’s a closeness, an intimacy. And yet on the morning of the Resurrection, he would not deign to go into the place where Jesus lay. He stood outside and looked in. There was a sense of holy awe and how much more in Revelation 1:17, when the Lord appears to him in a glorified vision, now glorified presence and his eyes are like flaming fire. And John says, “I was at his feet like one dead.” So is there a way to combine those two? I think so. There’s a sense of intimacy, loving intimacy with the Lord, but a sense of the fear of the Lord as well. And Elijah had that. He shows us humility.
And then thirdly, we see him praying based on God’s Word. I Kings 18:1, beginning of this chapter, “After a long time in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, ‘Go and present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.'” Do you see that? It’s so important that we understand this. He is praying for the thing that God has promised to give, not just generally promised, and that is true as well. II Chronicles 7:13-14 should be familiar to you, “If I shut up the heavens so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, and my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray” Does that sound familiar? “And seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Solomon prayed that or God spoke that to Solomon. And so what I’m saying here very, very plainly is that he had the word of the Lord, generally. If the people have turned from their sin and there’s been no rain, it’s time to pray. And they said, “The Lord, he is God.” They’ve turned from their sin; it’s time. But he’s got a specific word from God. I Kings 18:1, “Go and show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.” So if you want to be faithful and fervent and effectual in prayer, you have to pray according to God’s word. You’re not trying to change God’s mind, are you? “God, I have an idea that you didn’t have and it’s a doozy. Listen to me for a while. Let me give you some advice on how to run the world.” Is that what we’re doing in prayer or are we saying, “God, show me what you want to do here. I pray according to your Word.” And so he prays by faith based on God’s Word.
He also prays… And he’s, I think, exhorted and encouraged to pray because of God’s sovereignty. Now, I don’t think any of us are ever going to figure out a mixture, a proper theological understanding of the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human action and responsibility. Let’s think of it this way: God’s power brought the rain. We’ve established that already. Elijah’s prayer brought God’s power. God’s word brought Elijah’s prayer. Okay, who wins here? When does it… It all starts with God. And we know that we give him the highest place, but he has chosen to work through people. James chapter 5 ascribes to Elijah prayer, the rain that fell, and there is truth to that. But we know that Elijah’s prayer came only at the command of God. We know that as well. And so there’s a mixture here. I think what we ought to do is say, “God, you have stated that you will do this thing in the earth. I pray that you do this. You’ve said that there’s going to be people from every tribe and language and people and nation worshiping Christ. Here’s an unreached people group. I pray and I’m going to keep praying until somebody comes to Christ in that group, until there’s a church growing there.” Why not? God’s already said he’s going to do it. Pray according to his word. We don’t need to work out sovereignty and responsibility and all that in order to get down on your knees and pray. We just get on our knees and say, “God, do the thing that you have promised,” and he moves.
Fourthly, we see Elijah praying specifically. If you had stopped Elijah at that moment, put your hand on his shoulder and said, “Elijah, what are you praying for?” “I’m praying for God’s blessings on his people.” What? He would’ve been able to tell you what he was praying for. “I’m praying for rain today. I’m praying for rain today, and I’m going to keep praying until it starts to rain.” You need to pray specifically. George Mueller had 50,000 specific answers to prayer that you could write in a notebook. I think this is where we mess up so often. “God, I pray that you’d bless this church and bless it good.” Well, how do you know when God’s answered that prayer? Did he bless it good today? I don’t know. I sometimes think that prayer’s like buying stock in a company or buying stock in something that God’s doing, right? And you’re going to get returns on your investment. The more you invest in prayer, the more joy comes back to you as a dividend because you took part. It isn’t that it happened only because you prayed, but there’s a sense that you bought into that, you see, and you get some return back. You know what I’m saying? Well, can you imagine buying into some vague company and you have no idea who it is or where it is, and how are you going to go to the paper and find out how the company’s doing? You have to pray specifically. You have to pray for things that you can write down and you know that God’s done, that God is doing. You keep praying as God leads. So he prayed specifically. He knew what he was praying for. He’s praying for rain.
Fifthly, he’s praying fervently. I believe this whole account is a picture of fervent prayer. Seven times, Elijah says, “Go back.” He is fervent. He’s burning. He wants rain. The fire from heaven isn’t enough. He wants rain because rain means life. Fire’s not going to mean life. The rain means life. So he is praying for life for his people. He’s praying for rain and he’s praying fervently. John Bunyan said, “Cold prayers melt before they get to heaven.” I love that. “Cold prayers melt before they get to heaven.” You know those formal prayers where you just say, in a very distant way, “God bless this…” You’re going through your list. That’s not fervent prayer. KJV, I love in James 5:16, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Isn’t that beautiful? It’s a fervent prayer that’s effectual.
Sixthly, praying watchfully and expectantly. Watchfully and expectantly. Did Elijah expect anything that day? Oh, yeah. What evidence? “Go back.” “No, there’s nothing there yet.” “Go back again and look. Look out over the Mediterranean Sea. You can see it from Mount Carmel, just keep looking.” “Still nothing, my Lord.” “Go back.” Seven times. He’s watchful; he’s expectant. “God is going to do something and I’m going to keep praying until it happens. Go look toward the sea.” “There’s nothing there.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
Seventh: prayer with perseverance. Don’t give up. Now, let me ask you a question. You can answer yourself. You don’t have to call it out. If you like to, you can. We’ll share in your answer. Where would you have given up? He went out to seven times, all right. Know yourself. How long would you have stayed at it? Would you have kept praying and kept praying and kept praying, or would you have given up? Elijah was going to pray until it happened. Let me ask you another question. Why didn’t God give it to him on the first try? He is, after all, Elijah. There’s no more work needing to be done in his soul is there? Of course there is. There’s always work to be done in people’s souls, and so he does not answer Elijah’s prayer the first time or the second or the third or fourth or fifth or sixth. The seventh time he answers his prayer. Why? He’s testing Elijah. Will you be faithful? Will you persevere, Will you… As it says in Luke 18:1, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” And then there’s the parable of the persistent widow. Oh, if I can just open my heart, I give up. I just do. I pray for things for a while and I don’t stick with it the way I should. Elijah’s kind of a wake up call for me to get back and say, if I shouldn’t have prayed for it perseveringly, I shouldn’t have prayed for it even one time. But if it was worth praying for one time, I should stick with it until God tells me to stop praying or until it gets answered, to keep praying for it again and again. So we see Elijah as a model of effective fervent prayer. Verse 44, “The seventh time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ So Elijah said, ‘Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops.'” Don’t you love that? He’s got just this tiny little cloud and he says, “It’s coming. No doubt in my mind it’s coming. So you better get going, Ahab.” Do you wonder why he told him that? What’d he care about Ahab, right? “Go ahead and get stuck in the mud.” He said, “Well, if you don’t want to get stuck in the mud, if you want to get across that brook that’s going to be at flood stage pretty soon, you better get moving.” I think it’s because he showed respect for him as his king, even though he was an ungodly man. And so he said, “You better get going.” In verse 45, “Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. The wind rose, a heavy rain came on, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.” So the rain comes, an answer to a man’s prayer. Isn’t that incredible? Does that characterize your prayer life? Wouldn’t it be beautiful if it did? Do you remember the George Mueller fog story? Some of you do. Come and ask me afterwards, what a phenomenal story that is. God answers prayer like this still today, if we will just be faithful and pray.
One last thing, I like this verse 46, “The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and tucking his cloak into his belt. He ran on ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.” What is that? 18 miles. Frank and I were talking. We were praying for each other before the service. I said, “I’m a little tired.” “I’m tired too.” But I said, “I can’t be tired, though. Look at what Elijah did.” I didn’t have a day like Elijah. Prophets of Baal, 450 guys slaughtered, going up and praying fervently. I don’t know how long it took the seven times, but I mean that’s draining. And when he got done, he ran 18 miles, by the Spirit of the Lord. Are you tired? Do you ever get tired? The Spirit of the Lord can make you powerful. And he beat Ahab’s horses. I don’t know what happened. Maybe the chariot wheel fell off or maybe he ran and set the record for the 18 mile race. I don’t think that’s an event, but he still holds the record for 18 miles in rain. But at any rate, he went and powerfully moved. The Spirit of the Lord can make a weak person strong.
Now, next time we study, we’re going to see an entirely different Elijah. It’s amazing how frail we are. If chapter 18 is Elijah’s glory moment, chapter 19 is his lowest moment, where he really looks weak and faithless and puny and small. But God does this, I think, that we might know that it was not Elijah, but it was his power through Elijah. And our God is still with us and he hasn’t changed one bit. Let’s close in prayer.
Father, we thank you for the study that we had tonight. We thank you for the opportunity to go through your Word. We thank you for the example that Elijah is to us all. Lord, to me, especially, Lord, of effectual, fervent prayer. We thank you for the seven things that He shows us, how he withdrew privately to a quiet place to pray, and how he prayed according to your Word, in faith, believing and trusting you. He prayed with humility. He humbled himself before you, O Lord. And he prayed specifically knowing exactly what you had commanded him to do and knowing what he was praying for, praying for rain. He prayed perseveringly, and he prayed watchfully, O Lord. And he prayed until you answered. We thank you, O Lord for this example. And now I pray if there’s any here that are weak in prayer, if there… It says strengthen, strengthen the feeble knees, the knees that give way, O Lord, I pray that you’d strengthen their knees in prayer so that we would be a praying church. We asked this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
