Jesus Sustains Us For His Glory (1 Kings 19:1-18) | Worship Service

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May 2, 2022

The Angel of the Lord sustained Elijah and today, as our Great High Priest, He sustains us as well. Jesus secures and sustains us for a great salvation. An exposition of 1 Kings 19:1-18.

00:42: ♪ Sons of disgrace are righteous made ♪ ♪
00:50: Sons of disgrace are righteous made ♪ ♪
02:18: Redeemer, Jesus, Redeemer, God and King ♪ ♪
03:08: Jesus, Redeemer, God and King ♪ ♪
03:46: How precious to me are your thoughts,
03:52: O God ♪ ♪ How vast is the sum, if I would count them, they are more ♪ ♪
04:09: Than the sand I awaken, they speak against you malicious intent ♪ ♪
04:48: Your ways take your naming, do
04:57: I not? ♪ ♪
07:30: May God be gracious to us and bless us ♪ ♪
07:36: And make his face to shine upon us ♪ ♪
07:45: That your way may be known on your saving power among nations ♪ ♪
07:59: Let the heavens be glancing for you, for you, for you ♪ ♪
08:40: Judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations ♪ ♪
08:49: On equals ground, the earth has yielded its increase ♪ ♪
09:27: God our God shall bless us, God shall bless us ♪ ♪
09:35: Let all the ends of the earth fear him ♪ ♪
09:44: Let the peoples praise you, oh God, praise you, oh
10:14: God ♪ ♪ The peoples praise you ♪ ♪
10:47: God is my shepherd, I shall not want ♪ ♪
10:53: He makes me lie down in green pastures ♪ ♪ He leads me beside still waters ♪ ♪
11:10: He leads for me in the presence of my enemies ♪ ♪
12:11: You anoint my head with... ♪
14:49: Will you please turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter four for the scripture reading. 2
14:55: Corinthians chapter four, and we're gonna begin reading at verse seven and read through the end of that chapter. 2
15:07: Corinthians four, verse seven. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.
15:18: We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
15:34: For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
15:44: So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith according to what is written,
15:51: I believe, therefore I spoke, we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that he who raised the
15:56: Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.
16:10: Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
16:16: For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
16:28: For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your grace and for the salvation that we celebrate each and every
16:38: Lord's Day when we gather together. As your people who have been called out of darkness and into light, it is our joy, it is our glory to rejoice in your goodness and to thank you for your great mercies.
16:48: The mercy of salvation, the mercy of your sustaining grace. We thank you that the same
16:53: Christ who has saved us also sanctifies us and has secured us for himself. And we pray that you would confirm and strengthen and encourage our hearts together today that as we reflect upon your goodness and as we adore you for the great
17:06: God and Savior that you are, that you would strengthen our hearts and encourage them in your word, that you would be honored and glorified amongst and in and through your people, both now and forever, we pray in Christ's name, amen.
17:18: Good morning, church. Let's stand and sing alive. My heart, oh, so close to you
17:36: Asleep within a world That scorned its maker
17:44: Until you breathed into my soul And I woke up to you
17:53: My glorious Savior You became my all
18:00: You became my all Now I am alive, I am alive in you
18:10: You are alive, you are alive in me You called my name
18:18: And raised me from the dead Now I am alive,
18:24: I am alive in you In you my life's completely new
18:34: I'm blameless in your eyes Because of Calvary The Father welcomes me with joy
18:46: Your spirit makes me know Your great love for me
18:55: Jesus, you're my all Jesus, you're my all
19:01: Now I am alive, I am alive in you You are alive, you are alive in me
19:13: You called my name And raised me from the dead
19:20: Now I am alive, I am alive in you But with a price that cannot be measured
19:38: Chosen before all time
19:44: You are my joy, my prize and my treasure
19:51: Jesus, you are my all Now I am alive,
19:59: I am alive in you You are alive, you are alive in me
20:10: You called my name And raised me from the dead
20:16: Now I am alive, I am alive in you Now I am alive,
20:25: I am alive in you You are alive, you are alive in me
20:34: You called my name And raised me from the dead
20:42: Now I am alive, I am alive in you
20:49: What wisdom once devised a plan
21:17: Where all our sin and pride Was placed upon the perfect Lamb Who suffered, bled, and died
21:28: The wisdom of a sovereign God Whose greatness will be shown
21:36: When those who crucify your Son Whose voice surround your throne
21:45: And all the glory of the cross
21:51: That you would send your Son for us
21:58: I gladly count my life as loss
22:03: That I might come to know The glory of, the glory of The cross
22:21: What righteousness was there revealed That sets the guilty free
22:28: That justifies ungodly men And calls the filthy clean
22:35: O righteousness, I prove to all Your justice has been met
22:43: And holy wrath is satisfied Through unatoning death
22:51: And all the glory of the cross
22:58: That you would send your Son for us
23:04: I gladly count my life as loss
23:10: That I might come to know The glory of, the glory of The cross
23:27: What mercy now has been proclaimed For those who would be
23:34: Unlawful, unprincipled Our crimes did not concede
23:40: A mercy that forgives my sin That makes me like your
23:46: Son And now I'm loved forevermore
23:52: Because of what you've done And all the glory of the cross
24:03: That you would send your Son for us
24:10: I gladly count my life as loss
24:15: That I might come to know The glory of, the glory of The cross
24:33: And all the glory of the cross
24:39: That you would send your Son for us
24:46: I gladly count my life as loss
24:51: That I might come to know The glory of, the glory of The cross
25:38: I could never give my hope Through thy simple path
25:46: For my love is often cold Give us only trust
25:56: He will hold me fast He will hold me fast
26:04: For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast
26:16: Those he saves are his delight
26:23: Christ will hold me fast Precious in his only sight
26:30: He will hold me fast He'll not let my soul be lost
26:38: His promises shall last For my human search he calls
26:45: He will hold me fast He will hold me fast
26:55: He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast
27:13: For my life he pled and died Christ will hold me fast
27:20: Justice has been satisfied He will hold me fast
27:27: Raised with him to endless life He will hold me fast
27:34: Till my faith is turned to sight When he comes at last
27:45: He will hold me fast He will hold me fast
27:51: For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast
28:01: He will hold me fast He will hold me fast
28:09: For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast
28:22: In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 -7 it says But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Jesus Christ Let's sing as we end our music service this morning
28:57: O Great God O great
29:10: God of highest health Occupy my lowly heart
29:18: Own it all and reign supreme Conquer every realm of power
29:28: Let no vice or sin remain That resists your holy war
29:38: You have loved and purchased me Make me yours forevermore
29:52: I was blinded by my sin
29:57: Had no ears to hear your voice Did not know your love within Had no taste for heaven's choice
30:11: Then your spirit gave me life Opened up your word to me
30:21: Through the gospel of your Son Gave me endless hope and peace
30:48: Help me now to live a life
30:53: That's dependent on your grace Keep my heart and guard my soul
31:02: From the evils that I face You are worthy to be praised
31:11: With my every thought and deed O great
31:17: God of highest health Glorify your name through me
31:24: You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and deed
31:34: O great God of highest health Glorify your name through me
32:17: This is a class for you. So there is a sign -up sheet in the foyer. So please take an opportunity to put your name down on that so that we know how many people to expect for that.
32:27: And then there was a baby shower that was scheduled for Tuesday for Ellen Dickman. She had her baby this morning, so that has been postponed.
32:35: Apparently mothers are not up to going to baby showers two days after they give birth. I guess that's a thing.
32:42: So that has been postponed indefinitely. Well, not indefinitely. It will happen at some point. Maybe before the next baby.
32:51: Our guest speaker today is named Evan Burns, E .D. Burns. He is a scholar. He is an author.
32:57: He is a long -term missionary in the Middle East, East Asia, Alaska, and Southeast Asia. He is married to Christy and they have twin sons,
33:05: Elijah and Isaiah. From his international location, he directs the Master of Arts in Global Leadership at Western Seminary.
33:11: He is a linguist and a ordained minister. He develops theological resources and trains indigenous pastors and missionaries to the least reached.
33:20: He directs a Bible teaching ministry to Alaska natives and teaches at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary.
33:26: He's written four books. One of them is called The Missionary Theologian. I'm almost done with that. I think I've got one chapter left in that and a couple of appendixes
33:33: I've been reading over the last few weeks. It's an excellent book and his writing style is very readable.
33:39: There are some of his books, all of his books are on the table that is out in the foyer. I would encourage you to stop and take a look at them.
33:44: They're not for sale but at least you can see what he has written out there and also sign up if you'd like to receive his email newsletter.
33:50: I think Evan speaks something like 14 different languages. You can correct me if that's wrong. Please welcome
33:56: E .D. Burns. Just 13.
34:11: It was great to be here for Sunday School and as I said at the beginning of Sunday School, if you want to receive our prayer updates, we send one out about every quarter or so just through email.
34:22: There's a sheet in the back next to the books. You can put your name and email and we'd love for you to be praying for us.
34:30: There's a couple books back there I brought to give away. They're the stack of blue books.
34:35: If there's any left, you can be sure to grab one. I always have a complication when
34:46: I come speak at a new place where I don't know the people but I do know a few things about people in general.
34:53: I speak all over the world in different languages and different bush villages or big seminaries and the common thing about all of us is we're all descendants of Adam and we all are looking for forgiveness and we all want to be secured in covenantal, persistent, steadfast love.
35:17: It's written on every human heart and we're all broken by sin, condemned and corrupt in Adam and I do know that there is one message that speaks to everybody anywhere and it's that in Christ, God loves people and he has sent forth his
35:38: Son in the fullness of time as the mediator between God and man and no matter what your view of Jesus Christ is, if he is not a mediator, he's not the
35:46: Christ of the Bible and I do hope this morning that you would walk away with this stamped upon your soul that Jesus secures you and sustains you for a great salvation.
35:58: I hope you're encouraged this morning to rest in Christ and to rest in God's love for you in Christ. Let me pray and we'll look at our text.
36:06: Our Father in heaven, you're great and greatly to be praised. You sit high enthroned above the earth and we ask, who may ascend the hill of the
36:22: Lord? Who may ascend into Mount Zion? And your answer is he who has clean hands and a pure heart.
36:28: Well Lord, our hearts are not pure and our hands are not clean but there is one who goes before us, the
36:35: Son of God, the Son of Man, and the Son of David and he has pure hands and a pure heart and it's in him that we trust and it's with his robes of righteousness we enter your presence and we ask that you would open your word and show us wonderful things in your law and enlarge our hearts to run in the way of your commandments and be pleased in us this morning in Jesus' name.
36:59: Amen. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
37:05: It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief and it was the epoch of incredulity.
37:12: It was the season of light and the season of darkness, the spring of hope and the winter of despair. So read the opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
37:21: It could well describe 9th century BC and the land of Israel and indeed probably our own time.
37:28: In the era of 9th century BC we see in 1st Kings 16 there are two anti -Yahweh antagonists in the story.
37:40: Ahab is king over Israel and his reign is the turning point in Israel's history which is clear from the fact that six chapters at the end of 1st
37:51: Kings are dedicated to his reign alone and this transitional moment in Israel's history is by far the lowest point of the period since the judges.
38:01: One writer says this, it looks like the Antichrist had arrived ahead of time.
38:08: But if your main concerns in life were for the economy, prosperity and overall social stability these days didn't seem so bad.
38:17: Ahab had reigned for 22 years, no coups, no assassination attempts, no insurrections.
38:24: And then there is this shrewd marriage alliance with the ambitious Phoenician princess
38:30: Jezebel which secured unlimited access to the world famous seaports in Phoenicia which meant that business was booming.
38:41: They had an economy making record strides. There is no felt need for the old school
38:49: God of their forefathers. It was the age of progress, of human flourishing.
38:56: And then the Bible says, and Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.
39:04: Ahab's obsession with bowel worship, serving and worshiping bowel, building an altar in a temple to Baal, building a huge idol of Baal, angered the
39:13: Lord more than any other king had. And then his marriage alliance to the bowel mistress herself,
39:20: Jezebel, was a major headlong leap into uninhibited rebellion to God.
39:27: Moreover, he builds Jericho which it's not insignificant trivia at the end of 1
39:33: Kings 16. So why is it important that Ahab has built Jericho? It's a seemingly minor detail but it's indicative of how dark this time was because after the destruction of Jericho, Joshua had declared a curse over anyone who would endeavor to rebuild the city and the curse forbade anybody from rebuilding the city which
39:52: Ahab certainly, with the best historians and educated advisors in the land, would have known and he willfully rebels against God.
40:02: There is no fear of Yahweh in Ahab and it's upon this dark backdrop since Ahab and Jezebel are the evil antagonists that a righteous protagonist enters the scene.
40:16: So who is this pro -Yahweh protagonist? Well, the very next verse in 1
40:23: Kings 17 .1 abruptly introduces an obscure prophet of whom we have never heard before.
40:33: His name is Elijah. My God is Yahweh is what
40:39: Elijah means. Unlike the scriptural introductions of other major characters, the details of his resume, his pedigree, his family of origin are withheld in order to focus on his prophetic message to Ahab.
40:53: One writer pastorally fleshes out the significance of the suddenness of Elijah's appearing in 1
41:00: Kings 17 .1. The writer says this, For to see him, that is Elijah, appear so suddenly reminds us that we need not despair when we see great movements of evil achieving spectacular success on this earth for we may be sure that God in unexpected places has already secretly prepared his counter -movement.
41:25: God has always his ways of working underground to undermine the stability of evil.
41:31: God can raise up men for his service from nowhere. Therefore the situation is never hopeless where God is concerned.
41:41: Whenever evil flourishes it is always a superficial flourish. For at the height of the triumph of evil
41:48: God will be there ready with his man and his movement and his plans to ensure that his own cause will never fail.
41:58: In other words, there's a man in Israel and his name is El -Yah.
42:05: My God is Yah. And his message is what marks him. His message is what distinguishes him from the prophets of Baal.
42:15: And what is the first mention of his message? Well, it's in rebuke to Ahab's covenant breaking. It's a pronouncement of the covenant curses from Deuteronomy.
42:23: Elijah shows himself to be a true prophet of God because his prediction of drought is based upon God's covenant curses that are threatened to come to pass for rebellion.
42:34: And Elijah surges with Yahweh passion, with Yahweh worship. So what's so special about Elijah?
42:42: Well, he's recorded as a transitional figure in the history of the kings and the prophets. And one reason you know he's transitional is because, like Moses before,
42:52: Elijah's ministry is marked by signs and wonders. In redemptive history, when
42:58: God's purposes experience a major shift, typically they're accompanied by a series of miraculous events.
43:05: So consider Moses' miracles in Exodus, Jesus' miraculous three -year ministry, the apostles' miraculous ministry in establishing the
43:13: New Testament church in Acts. And in this instance in Israel's history, the prophetic office is being inaugurated through Elijah and ramping up.
43:22: As Moses represents the law to the people, Elijah represents the prophets to the people. The law is like the kind of the covenant contract, so to speak, between God and the people.
43:32: And the prophets are like the legal attorneys that are applying the law and the stipulations of the law to the context of God's people making charges, making warnings, accusations, and promises in order to turn them back to the
43:45: God of the covenant, the covenant contract. And some of those miraculous records in the life of Elijah on numerous occasions entail things like hearing the voice of God, miraculous provisions of bread, just like the manna in the wilderness under Moses, miraculous provisions of meat, just like quail in the wilderness under Moses, of water, just like the rock that split open in the wilderness.
44:09: God provides food through a widow, and then through Elijah God provides food for the widow in the famine.
44:16: God even uses Elijah to raise to life the widow's dead son. And then three years later, after the famine is ending,
44:23: Elijah boldly goes to meet Ahab. And during the famine, apparently,
44:29: Jezebel's killed all the prophets of God that she could find, though about 100 are safely hiding away from her wrath, and Jezebel and Ahab are like the classic political crime family, the
44:43: Clintons, if you might say. Okay, I'm in Idaho, I know I can say this. Not every church
44:49: I can say that. So everybody just is like suiciding themselves. An Old Testament foreshadow of the beast and the false prophet.
44:59: Knowing that his career, his life, is in danger, he knows he is the most wanted man in Israel.
45:07: He is a national security threat. He is Ahab's fall guy, his patsy, his scapegoat.
45:13: The nation hates Elijah's name because the word on the street is that Elijah brought about this famine.
45:19: And you can hear Ahab's hatred for Elijah and Elijah's boldness in their interactions in 1
45:25: Kings 18. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel?
45:32: And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, you and your father's house because you have abandoned the commandments of the
45:40: Lord and follow the balls. Now therefore, go and send and gather all of Israel before me at Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.
45:50: And then as the prophets of Baal gather at Mount Carmel, Elijah instructs them, and you call upon the name of your
45:56: God and I'll call upon the name of Yahweh and the God who answers by fire. He is God.
46:02: And so this is the Old Testament version of Doc Holliday at the gunfight of O .K.
46:07: Carmel. Okay? So the prophets of Baal, they cry out hours and hours and Elijah just sits back and he mocks them and he teases them and after most of the day has passed,
46:19: Elijah takes his turn. He pours jars of water over the altar so that it's running over and spilling with, saturated with water.
46:27: And Elijah calls upon the name of the Lord to make his name known and God sends fire from heaven, consumes the sacrifice, burning up the water and the people who saw it fall on their faces and declare that the
46:40: Lord is God and Elijah seizes and he slaughters all the prophets. So what happens to Elijah?
46:48: After this savage massacre, he is a force to be reckoned with.
46:54: He makes David's mighty men look like junior varsity. This massive victory, however, does not turn out the way that he had hoped.
47:04: In 1 Kings 19, 1 -3, Ahab tells Jezebel and she's so mad and she swears she's going to kill
47:12: Elijah by the next day and so what does Elijah do? Does he stand up to her? I mean, he's just slaughtered 850 priests by himself.
47:22: He takes off for the wilderness. Verse 4 of chapter 19, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he asked that he might die saying, it is enough now,
47:36: O Lord, take away my life for I am no better than my fathers and he laid down and slept under a broom tree and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat and he looked and behold, there was at his head bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water and he ate and drank and lay down again and the angel of the
47:54: Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, arise and eat for the journey is too great for you and he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mount of God and there he came to a cave and lodged in it and behold, the word of the
48:08: Lord came to him and said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? and he said,
48:13: I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with a sword and I, even
48:21: I only am left and they seek my life to take it away and he said, go out and stand on the mount before the
48:28: Lord and behold, the Lord passed by and a great strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the
48:36: Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the
48:44: Lord was not in the fire and after the fire the sound of a low whisper and when Elijah heard it he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave and behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here,
48:57: Elijah? and he said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with a sword and I, even
49:06: I only am left and they seek my life to take it away and the Lord said to him, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you arrive you shall anoint
49:15: Hazael to be king over Syria Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel and Elisha the son of Shaffa of Abel -Nechalah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place and the one who escapes the sword of Hazael shall
49:27: Jehu put to death and the one who escapes the sword of Jehu shall Elijah put to death yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."
49:39: Alright, a couple questions. What is so amazing about this account? Is it amazing that this mighty man of God this prophet of prophets who has slaughtered all the prophets of Baal by himself cowers in fear of Jezebel?
49:58: That Elijah runs from Jezebel is quite out of character especially after confronting
50:04: Ahab to his face. After raising a child from the dead.
50:09: After predicting a famine and seeing it come to pass. After seeing God provide food for him through birds.
50:16: After calling down fire out of heaven. After slaughtering the 850 priests of Baal.
50:22: Praying for rain and outrunning Ahab's chariot. So, instead of writing him off as some sort of manic depressive prophet which of course we're complicated people and you know there's always complexities to imbalances in our bodies.
50:42: That's not the point of the text. That's not even remotely the point of the text. The text gives us clues that he is driven way more by convictions than chemistry.
50:51: Something deeper is going on in Elijah. There's a theological crisis. He's wrestling with God's purposes.
50:57: Elijah's noble expectations of turning Israel back to Yahweh don't fit
51:03: God's plan and God's timing. After Elijah flees to the wilderness he comes to rest under a tree.
51:10: There in the wilderness the angel of the Lord ministers to him. We know from the rest of the
51:16: Bible that the angel of the Lord with a definite article is the pre -incarnate Messiah. So, isn't it interesting?
51:24: Isn't it interesting that he didn't just send one of his myriads of angels to go serve Elijah. It's a beautiful picture.
51:31: It's a lovely picture of the divine angel of the Lord himself stooping down to serve
51:38: Elijah by preparing for him hot bread and cool water as he sleeps under the shade of a tree.
51:45: And you know what? In redemptive history God does some of his greatest works for his people when they're asleep.
51:52: Abraham is asleep with a covenant. Elijah is asleep. Jesus' disciples are asleep in a garden as he is in his agony.
52:00: When we are at our biggest points of rest God is in his biggest movements on our behalf.
52:08: It's as if this is a picture of the angel of the Lord foreshadowing the servant of God coming to serve.
52:18: Not to be served. To serve his people with living bread and water as they rest under the shade of his tree.
52:27: And after the angel of the Lord this Christophany revives Elijah's depleted health with bread and water under the shade of a tree.
52:35: Where does he go? He goes to Mount Horeb. So why is that significant?
52:41: Mount Horeb has another name. Its name is Mount Sinai. The place where the covenant was both given and broken in Exodus 32 and 33.
52:52: And 40 days and 40 nights are the times of Israel's unfaithfulness in Exodus 24.
52:59: And Moses' intercession in Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 9. Moreover, what other prophet would spend 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness?
53:09: And in showing his glory to Moses in Exodus 33, 19 just as Yahweh passed by Moses, he now passes by Elijah in verse 11.
53:23: It's the same exact Hebrew word on the same mountain. Elijah knows he is
53:29: God's man in God's holy mountain. He has just spent 40 days and 40 nights at Sinai which echoes the ministry of Moses.
53:39: He is so passionate for the covenant law of God in Yahweh's honor that he goes back to the most holy place that he can think of.
53:48: The sacred place that maybe Jezebel's whoring religion had not yet defiled.
53:54: He goes there because his passion for Yahweh dominates his soul and he is jealous for Yahweh's name to be honored in Israel and he's afraid that if Jezebel kills him the light of Israel will be snuffed out.
54:10: And the Lord asks him why he's at Sinai and you can hear his passion. In verses 10 and 14 he says the same thing.
54:16: I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant and they've thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with a sword and I, even
54:26: I only am left and they seek my life to take it away. From the start,
54:33: Elijah is portrayed as this great man of God in Israel. The only one who stands for Yahweh even in the literal face of death.
54:41: In the literal face of the most powerful man in Israel. He has a holy passion. The name of Yahweh just like John Knox said give me
54:49: Scotland or I die or even Rachel who wanted to extend the messianic line said give me children or I die.
54:56: Elijah's mantra or his slogan would be give me national revival or I die.
55:02: His motives are righteous. They're good. They're noble. They're pleasing. Indeed, his self -denying passion to glorify
55:09: Yahweh through bringing about God -centered revival in Israel was probably let's just be honest far superior to most of our life's goals.
55:17: Many ministries' mission statements. And though grateful for the very few people that turned to Yahweh at Mount Carmel, Elijah is despairing.
55:26: He's discouraged because national revival didn't break out the way that he had hoped and prayed.
55:31: That the royal family never repented. For such an astonishing miracle calling down fire from heaven such a minuscule return on investment.
55:43: Only a few turned to Yahweh. After this thrilling climax of his ministry truly maybe the height of his ministry
55:53: God doesn't come through on his end of the bargain as Elijah perceives it.
55:59: So what's the point of trying God? I just want to die. I just want to die.
56:04: I'm the only one left. And instead of rebuking Elijah for being a whiny emotional prophet who just can't get his act together the
56:12: Lord who previously provides food and water while he sleeps serving him that same merciful Lord now shows
56:18: Elijah his power in a tornado an earthquake and fire and he speaks to him in a low voice unless you think
56:25: I commit the unpardonable sin and say that God can whisper to us. I know there's a good book called God Doesn't Whisper.
56:31: I've heard of it. I recommend it to you. I knew if I was going to do this passage
56:36: I had to at least say I knew about the book. The Lord gave Elijah instructions to anoint
56:44: Jehu as king. Elisha as his successor. And the Lord gives Elijah fresh courage to press on guaranteeing that there are 7 ,000 people among the faithful unknown remnant who refuse to bow to the wicked culture.
57:01: Elijah really isn't alone. The Messiah secures and sustains us for a glorious salvation.
57:09: Now fast forward eight and a half centuries. Knowing the deepest desires of his servant's hearts
57:14: God let's just imagine this scenario with me. This is just me fleshing out this scenario in my mind.
57:21: God says to Elijah in heaven hey Elijah I want you to meet somebody. Take Moses and go down to that mountain.
57:29: So Moses and Elijah two servants passionate for Yahweh. The Old Testament representative mediator and the
57:37: Old Testament representative prophet they go down and they wait on a high mountain. And suddenly in their midst the angel of the
57:45: Lord shows up. But in a man's body with a bearded face of a
57:50: Jewish rabbi. His glory that they knew as the second person of the Trinity in heaven 30 years earlier is now revealed in the gritty face of a man.
57:58: He looks like one of Adam. He's an Adamic descendant. He's like one of them.
58:06: And with him Peter, James, and John who have only seen the human face of this
58:12: Jewish rabbi and now they see the radiance of the divine glory that he had before the foundation of the world the glory that passed by Moses and Elijah on Mount Sinai.
58:24: For the first time Elijah meets the better prophet who speaks a better word that turns the hearts of his people to Yahweh and who writes his law on their hearts.
58:38: And Elijah's hopes and prayers are finally realized in the face of Yeshua Mashiach Jesus Messiah.
58:49: God's plan A all along. And still is today.
58:56: And here's the application for us. The Lord knows our deepest, truest desires.
59:01: Those good desires, those dreams that we've always wanted for his glory. There are some of us who you know we observe
59:09: Christians who go from one victory to another never struggling seemingly never grieving where maybe you secretly battle.
59:16: Maybe that family whose children grew up loving the Lord, marrying wisely, finding good jobs and living nearby with great grandchildren.
59:23: That friend who has just so much health and energy has no health problems or that missionary biography that everybody loves to read about a life that is truly surrendered to the
59:32: Lord. Or those Christians who talk about how well things are going in ministry how great ministry is how enjoyable it is or that relative that just always talks about how good
59:45: God is all the time God is good God is good all the time. God has blessed me with amazing marriage, amazing vacations, amazing health, amazing devotions, amazing kids, amazing job, amazing food.
59:57: Everything is amazing all the time. Then there's you. Maybe you struggle. Maybe you struggle with secret addictions.
01:00:05: Maybe you wonder if your kids will ever respect you again. Maybe you wish you could have spent your life differently in the
01:00:10: Lord's service. Maybe you think you missed something that the Lord an opportunity the
01:00:16: Lord has given you and now you're paying for it the rest of your life. Sometimes you just want to give up because you feel like you've spent yourself in service to the church and all you get is slander and backstabbing in return.
01:00:26: There is no tangible return on investment in your service to the Lord. Most of your efforts to serve the
01:00:31: Lord's people have amounted to lots of years of broken relationships, departed church members for no particular reason.
01:00:38: You're jealous for God and his glory. But he just doesn't seem to come through on his end of the bargain in your life.
01:00:45: When Jesus called you to pick up your cross and follow him, you had no idea how tedious and inglorious and ordinary and discouraging that calling could be.
01:00:54: You'd never say this to anybody, but maybe you secretly wish that God would just take you home and free you of this hard and hellish life.
01:01:02: As Paul says in Romans 8 .22, he says, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth until now.
01:01:12: And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we are saved.
01:01:23: A hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
01:01:29: I mean, if that's you, that inner groaning for final deliverance, you're not alone.
01:01:36: This is the normal Christian life. Knowing that we would be tempted to give up and give in from constant stress and anxiety and pressure and discouragement in this life,
01:01:47: Paul calls Christians to look beyond the pain to where the hope is pointing to the dawning glory of God, to the resurrection glory of God.
01:01:57: He says in Romans 8 .18, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
01:02:08: So what does that mean? How is that possible? Because we can often talk about our problems and our pains and our sufferings, but how can you not even compare it when it's so heavy?
01:02:17: Well, he answers it in 2 Corinthians 4 .16. For we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away.
01:02:25: Our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
01:02:44: So by faith, we look back and trust in the things that Christ has done for us and then by faith we look forward to those things that God has promised and hope in his faithfulness to fulfill those promises.
01:02:55: And as good children of Abraham who trust in the promises, just as Abraham, he sojourned in the land of promise and he refused to build the city himself, but he looked to God who is a city builder.
01:03:05: So we don't build the kingdom. We live in light of the coming kingdom and we testify to the king and his kingdom.
01:03:11: It's not our job to manufacture the promises that God has promised to give to us. It is the father's good pleasure, little flock, to give you the kingdom.
01:03:21: And that is that forward -looking faith. That is what it means to walk as nomads in this life, as sojourners and pilgrims who look to the king and his coming kingdom to the city and the city builder that is ours to be given by inheritance, not by earning.
01:03:36: We don't earn it. It has been earned for us and we just receive it through faith alone. And it's for that glorious salvation that Jesus secures you and sustains you through faith alone.
01:03:46: And like Elijah, the reason you do not lose heart is because God loves you and wields all his might for you to save you and secure you for himself.
01:04:02: You are owned by God and no one can deliver out of his hand.
01:04:08: You are owned You are saved by Christ in Christ for God from God.
01:04:15: His enduring love and kingly power to save are overflows of who he is. They are infinite, eternal and unchanging and immutable and I love this in Malachi 3 .6
01:04:26: For I the Lord do not change. Therefore, you are not consumed.
01:04:35: I do not change. So you are not consumed. God never changes.
01:04:42: He never goes back and revisits his promises. If he has covenanted himself to you through the butchering of his son, you can take it to the bank.
01:04:49: He will finish it and he will take you home. Consider the experiences of those devastating darknesses, those merciless disappointments, those nightmarish sadnesses, those unremitting pains and maybe the burden you describe as heavy, unbearable, maybe even crushing the
01:05:09: Bible validates the human experience of pain to be sure but it describes it as what?
01:05:14: Light and momentary affliction. So how is that possible? It's because the glory of the resurrection is not even worth comparing to our sufferings and it's beyond all comparison according to 2
01:05:28: Corinthians 4 .17. So what does that mean? What is this weight of glory that today Elijah and the great cloud of witnesses who have died in faith now enjoy in part before the resurrection?
01:05:39: Well 1 Peter 1 .4 describes it as an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept, guarded, secured in heaven for you.
01:05:51: In heaven and then in the resurrection there will never never never never be one moment of regret or remorse, discontentment, envy, jealousy, discouragement, trauma, addiction, slander, struggle or anything else that crushes you in this life.
01:06:13: Indeed, the Bible teaches that we will not likely even recall to mind the things of this life.
01:06:21: Isaiah 65 .17 says this is such this is so liberating to me, I love this. Isaiah 65 .17
01:06:27: For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
01:06:41: Isn't that good news? Isn't that good news for those of us who struggle with bad dreams, sad memories,
01:06:50: PTSD, something from your previous life that you just wish would be erased from your memory bank?
01:06:56: God says elsewhere in Isaiah 54 .4 Fear not, fear not, for you'll not be ashamed.
01:07:03: So be done with this fear that you're going to stand before God and feel ashamed someday. You're justified and you'll be welcomed into his presence.
01:07:11: He's not going to air all your dirty laundry. It's been done. It's taken away. You will enter into the joy of your master.
01:07:17: There will be no shame and no guilt on that day. Nothing but celebration and joy if you're in Christ.
01:07:25: Fear not, you will not be ashamed. Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced, for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood.
01:07:36: You will remember no more. Any recollection of this life will probably be something like a fading dream.
01:07:46: Waking up after a dream, we go through the day and what happens? The dream fades. That memory of that dream just kind of disappears.
01:07:54: We have some maybe hint that we had a dream, but it doesn't dominate our consciousness.
01:08:00: In light of reality, our daily living, that reminiscence of that dream is kind of trivial and it's insignificant.
01:08:09: The love of God for us in Christ will dominate and exhaust and swallow up all that is momentary and transient in this life.
01:08:20: God lovingly leverages all that he is for us and our good in the resurrection and that weight that feels so burdensome and so crushing in this momentary life will be translated into heavy weights of eternal, immeasurable, unchanging glory.
01:08:39: In Hebrew, the word for glory is literally weight or heavy. So Paul is translating a common
01:08:44: Hebrew theological word into Greek basically saying our heavy pains in this life should point us away from them to look forward to those unseen promises of heaven, the weight of glory or the heaviness of glory or like literally the weight of weight so that when we get to heaven never will we fully fathom the depths of God's wisdom and goodness and holiness and love and benevolence and power for us in his grace.
01:09:15: Every day will get better and better and better and better because you can never fully exhaust the goodness of God if he is infinite.
01:09:25: Never, never will you fully come to a full knowledge and comprehension and enjoyment of God's love for you.
01:09:32: Never. And so if there's days in heaven at the end of every day you will say that was the best day of my life.
01:09:41: God loves even me. I can't wait for tomorrow.
01:09:48: And for the Christian, the best is always yet to come and in 10 billion years from now on the new earth the best is always yet to come.
01:09:58: You see, heaven is the presence of the Father and the Son and the Spirit holy and infinite and eternal love.
01:10:05: A land of heavy glorious love in Christ so that day after day age after age you will be weighed down with wave after wave of benevolence and kindness and happiness and love of the
01:10:24: Triune God so much so that if you were to experience it in this life you would say with heaving gasps
01:10:31: I can't take it anymore Lord, stay your hand. You are beautiful beyond description too marvelous for words too wonderful for comprehension like nothing ever seen or heard.
01:10:44: Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depths of your love? You are beautiful beyond description majesty enthroned above and in heaven and on the new earth that is our inheritance and all of this life is going to be inconsequential.
01:11:02: You know, we know what that's like in part, don't we? Because you know what it's like to be caught up in a moment a moment of something sublime something that you just love so much where you lose track of time.
01:11:13: It's the picture of timelessness in heaven when this happens. We all know what it's like that maybe winning or watching your team your favorite team win the
01:11:21: Super Bowl or the World Series the year you fell in love the day you got engaged your wedding day your honeymoon the birth of your first child or grandchild scoring the winning points in a championship game performing flawlessly at your senior recital running across a finish line enjoying
01:11:38: Christmas Eve and mourning with your grandkids all under your roof and those blissful moments time ceases to exist, doesn't it?
01:11:46: In those sublime moments nobody worries about what happens tomorrow. Nobody cares to recall what happened yesterday.
01:11:54: Nobody's bored and nobody checks their watch. It's because those heavenly moments swallow us up and remind us that we were made for something and someone far better otherworldly pure perfect, holy joyful, timeless unchanging so that in heaven nobody will say to C .S.
01:12:15: Lewis or J .R .R. Tolkien you had a better imagination than God does not going to happen.
01:12:22: Never will you be tired or bored in pain or discouraged irritated but the the sounds of heaven and the new earth will be sounds of laughter and singing energy and discovery joy and peace and on the new earth you'll have a reputation and a job that you love but isn't it interesting think about what a resurrected humanity is going to look like there's going to be things that we just don't have to do there's going to be jobs that will be non -existent there'll be no pastors there'll be no counselors there'll be no pharmacists no mechanics no policemen no firemen moreover the arts the sciences the humanities engineering space exploration agriculture and the like will abound and resound to the glory of Christ like Elijah we can get up in the morning and endure another day in the thanklessness and the mundane discouraging world in which we are assigned and live as exiles and sojourners like the children of Abraham how do we keep going when our prayers and God's promises rarely seem to match well the
01:13:35: Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 58 be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the
01:13:42: Lord how? knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain it's what you know and who you trust that makes all the difference knowing that in the
01:13:54: Lord in your union with Christ your labor is not in vain resurrection is coming it's coming with all the rewards and then some more than you could ever ask or imagine he will not let us go he will hold us fast he will secure and sustain us for a great salvation and he will safely bring us home to glory and I love this 1
01:14:13: Thessalonians 5 23 now may the God of peace himself this is kind of like you know the benediction sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept guarded blameless at the coming of the
01:14:31: Lord Jesus Christ and just in case you think you this is partly on you to do this in your faithfulness verse 24 he who calls you is faithful he will surely do it
01:14:48: God will secure you and sustain you for a great salvation the ending of the last battle by C .S.
01:14:55: Lewis it says this and as he spoke he no longer looked to them like a lion but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them and for us this is the end of all the stories and we can mostly we can most truly say that they lived happily ever after but for them it was only the beginning of the real story all their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has ever read which goes on forever in which every chapter is better than the one before let's pray thank you
01:15:39: God for your great promises would you help us to have faith like Elijah to look forward to the final fulfillment of your promises that you have validated in the cross and resurrection of Jesus father would you please in Christ secure us and sustain us for a great salvation so that we can say in the last we will see our redeemer standing upon the earth and we will see him with our eyes oh
01:16:12: God keep us faithful till that day and encourage our hearts this morning we pray in Jesus name amen that was a great reminder of what it is that we have been saved from and for and we are reminded that the sacrifice that has saved us is the same sacrifice and grace that sustains us and keeps us for his eternal glory and for our eternal good so we're going to observe communion here and I would ask the ushers to come forward to help serve that now there's been a great cost that has been paid for our salvation and we remember that when we observe communion that a body was broken and blood was shed so that we might be redeemed and that we might experience and know
01:17:12: God's covenant love for us and his son the Lord Jesus Christ if you're not a believer I would encourage you not to partake of communion but to let the elements pass from before you because scripture warns that if you partake as an unbeliever you are eating and drinking judgment to yourself and if you are a
01:17:27: Christian who is living in unrepentant sin and you're not dealing with that sin before the Lord you're not ready to take communion either you need to repent of that sin confess it to the
01:17:34: Lord or let the elements pass from before you so I would just encourage you to remember those two warnings we're going to have a moment of quiet prayer and then
01:17:41: I will lead us in prayer of repentance and confession let's bow our heads our great father we acknowledge our sin and iniquity before you that we are unworthy of your blessings or your grace you did not send your son to redeem a people worthy of your love or worthy of your grace at all but we were lost in Adam hopeless helpless and undone and we deserved only your wrath we thank you that you have sent your son to atone for our sin and to bear the full price and the payment for our sins so that we may have eternal life and the forgiveness of sins we acknowledge before you our weakness and our frailty our sinful proclivities our iniquity and we are aware of certain sins in our lives and there are many more that do not even come to our mind because we do not have the illumination that we should and we don't walk with you as we should so we just confess to you those sins and pray that you would be glorified through our forgiveness and through our restoration of fellowship and that you would be honored here as we contemplate the great price that was paid so that we might not only be forgiven but righteous in your sight we praise you in the name of Christ our
01:19:03: Lord the great sacrifice and our soon and coming King Amen On the night that our
01:22:01: Lord was betrayed he took the bread and when he had broke it he said, Take, eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me
01:25:54: Sorry we ran out when they got to the back they were just going to fill in the holes here Did anybody not get one?
01:26:08: In the same manner after supper the Lord took the cup and when he had in the same manner after supper the
01:26:14: Lord took the cup and said drink this in remembrance of me this is my blood which is shed for you the blood of the new covenant do this in remembrance of me
01:26:24: I apologize for that running out of communion just threw me off Simon will you pray?
01:26:32: Heavenly Father thank you so much for your gift of grace to us thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ his death burial and resurrection on our behalf and thank you for the hope that we heard about this morning
01:26:43: I pray that as we take these promises and live this week that you would help us to do away with defilements of the flesh and perfect holiness and fear and that you would protect the unity of this body
01:26:54: I pray this in Jesus name Amen Let's stand together and sing
01:27:00: His Mercy is More We have done omniscient all knowing
01:27:20: He comes on earth some thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
01:27:29: Our sins they are many His mercy is more
01:27:36: Praise the Lord His mercy is more
01:27:45: Praise the Lord Stronger than darkness new and reborn
01:27:54: Our sins they are many His mercy is more
01:28:01: What patience could wait as we constantly roam
01:28:07: What Father so tender is calling us home
01:28:13: He welcomes the weak His Our sins they are many
01:28:23: His mercy is more Praise the Lord His mercy is more
01:28:38: Stronger than darkness new and reborn
01:28:43: Our sins they are many His mercy is more
01:28:49: What riches of kindness He lavished on us
01:28:56: His blood was the payment His life was the cost
01:29:01: We stood beneath the debt we could never afford
01:29:07: Our sins they are many His mercy is more
01:29:14: Praise the Lord His mercy is more
01:29:26: Stronger than darkness new and reborn Our sins they are many
01:29:34: His mercy is more Praise the Lord His mercy is more
01:29:49: Stronger than darkness new and reborn Our sins they are many
01:29:56: His mercy is more May the grace of the
01:30:01: Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Have a great week.
01:31:32: you. May the grace of the
01:31:59: Lord Jesus Christ be with you. . .