Elijah Forecasts the Weather

For the life of Elijah But what you did in and through him in the lessons you had to teach us and we pray that our Hearts and minds would be open to the truth of your word and that you'd instruct us in the way that we should go and Pray father that we would remove all distractions to see mean that we might be able to understand the greatness of your character That we may follow you in obedience. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our soon coming King Amen, if you got your Bible first Kings chapter 17 first Kings chapter 17 verse number 1 verse number 1 Taking us a while to get through verse number 1 because there's so much there You've heard the statement you only get one chance to make a first impression, right?

And that's true. You get one chance and this is Elijah's chance to make a first Impression this is the first time he meets up with King Ahab and he is going to make an impression an Impression that will change the future of Israel and the future of King Ahab the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs chapter 13 that the way of the Transgressor is hard and that's because there is so much Problems when you continue in your sin and Israel had continued in sin for for over 60 years and so Elijah shows up on the scene and very dramatically and very dogmatically he makes a pronouncement of judgment that affects the entire nation and This is how he introduces himself to the king.

This is how he speaks To the king and he's never met the king before as far as we know and so he just shows up and the king has no idea who Elijah is and This is what he says Now Elijah the Tishbite who was of the settlers of Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand Surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my Word With absolute certainty and Accuracy he forecasts the weather Elijah is unlike any weatherman you see on television or Whether woman or whether person I'm not sure what you call him nowadays because most of all they're just talking hairdos anyway But Elijah was anything but that I mean he was right for three and a half years Find a weatherman that's right a hundred percent of the time for three and a half years Elijah was and he was so accurate.

He was so precise He became the number one most wanted man in all of Israel He became the most hated man in All of Israel just because he did what God asked him to do because of his obedience to God he became the archenemy of everyone in Israel and yet he comes on the scene in a very dramatic way and signals the end for Ahab although Ahab Has no idea like most transgressors they have no idea that their end is near Ahab Had no idea So, where are we?

What have we already covered? Well, we looked at the malady of the nation We we saw last time that we were together that Israel had been involved in immorality and idolatry for over 60 years It began under the leadership of King Solomon the last time the kingdom was united and he led the nation into immorality and into Idolatry he had married so many wives had so many concubines He had transgressed the law of God and God said don't do that because those women will turn your heart away from me and sure enough they did and Therefore they're outside of Jerusalem on the hill of scandal He allowed his wives and concubines to build altars to false gods He died when he died the kingdom was split in two the southern kingdom was made up of Judah and Benjamin and the northern kingdom of the other ten tribes of Israel and they were led by the king Named Jeroboam and he would lead them into sin We saw last time as he read through first Kings how many times these 19 different kings who led?

During the divided kingdom era in the northern part all did evil there was not one who was godly and the Bible tells us about King Ahab because he is the Seventh of those 19 kings and it says in verse 30 of first Kings chapter 16 They had the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him He transgressed the law of God He followed in the footsteps of those who were before him and yet he did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel He did more to lead them in the sin than all the kings that were before him And so this has been going on for 60 years No repentance No turning from sin No light in the nation until Elijah shows up in the palace of the king and Tells him there will be no rain or dew very important until he gives the word Ahab married a woman by the name of Jezebel Her father was named Ethbaal.

It says in verse number 31 It says that it came about as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians Ethbaal means Baal is with him and His daughter Jezebel was married to Ahab and together They lived a life of evil a life of wickedness leading the nation further and further into gross idolatry and immorality Thinking that they had turned the nation. They did not know there were still 7,000 who had yet to bow the knee to Baal In fact, Elijah doesn't even know that until God tells them later on in the story So all we know at this point is that there's only one little light and that's Elijah in the nation and Ahab and Jezebel think they have turned the entire nation away from Israel's God until Elijah shows up Elijah's name means Jehovah is my God his parents were a light His parents were an antithesis to the idolatry in the nation For them to name their son Elijah meant that they knew of the one true God and they wanted their son to proclaim the name of the one true God and sure enough he did that's Elijah and we conclude last week by telling you that Elijah was convinced of the reality of God he was commissioned as a representative of God and he was one who was commended for his reliance upon God He was one who was convicted of the reality of God What does that mean?

And the question comes to you and me is this are you? Convinced of the reality of God because whatever you are convicted of today You will be commended for tomorrow And if you are convicted of the reality of God as Elijah was you will be commended Tomorrow remember Elijah never rose to prominence necessarily or popularity until He was whisked off to heaven His earthly ministry was a difficult one as we will see in the the weeks to come But he was a man convinced of the reality of God if you're convinced of the reality of God number one you Search for him Diligently this is not in your notes by the way, this is just introduction You search for him diligently Hebrews 11 6 says without faith It's impossible to please God right and those who come to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those Who diligently seek him?

You know I'm always perplexed by those who who don't believe in the existence of God They're they're called atheists or are those who don't believe you can know that there is an eternal being or there's an eternal life They're called agnostics when the Bible speaks directly to that In Romans chapter 1 the Bible says very clearly these words The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is Evident within them for God made it evident to them So there's never a man who's ever existed that doesn't believe in the existence of God How do I know that?

Because God said so I don't care what that person says because that person is not God That person is a finite created being the infinite creator of all says That he has made himself evident to them because he's made himself evident within them then it says For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been muddled No says has been clearly seen Clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse in other words Every man is completely without excuse no matter what error they lived in No matter where they were born No matter where they lived there without excuse because God has made it clear to them of his existence The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11 that eternity has been set in the heart of man in other words every man Who's ever lived believes in?

Eternity because it's been set in the heart of man. There is something after this life So why is it people say well, I'm an atheist or I'm an agnostic what the Bible says They're just fools.

They're morons Psalm 14 verse number one. You can tell them what God said about them Okay, the fool has said there is no God the moron has said there is no God the moron has said has said No to God Okay, so if anybody says no to God or there is no God God says you're a fool.

You're a moron Because it's been clearly presented to you They despise knowledge. They hate wisdom and they want to turn away from God Why is it they don't believe simply this tells us first 21 Romans 1 for even though they knew God They did not honor him as God.

In other words. He says everybody knows me and Although they knew God it says They did not honor him as God or give thanks But they became futile in their speculation and their foolish heart was darkened professing to be wise they became morons fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and Crawling creatures. In other words, the reason man says or proclaims his Atheism or proclaims the fact that there is no God that he is that agnostic you can't know there is a God is simply because he doesn't want to be Accountable for his life.

So he suppresses the truth. He knows the truth. He Suppresses the truth. He squelches the truth He pushes it down because he knows that once he lets it rise up He's accountable to the truth and he doesn't want to do that. He wants to live his sinful lifestyle without any accountability That's why he believes in what he believes Elijah was convinced that the reality of God not simply that God existed Because everybody believes in the existence of God. I don't care what they say to you It makes no difference what they say to you the Bible says They all know God They've all seen God Clearly seen by his divine attributes and through the power of God in nature So I believe I choose to believe what the Bible says.

I think that's the authority. I don't think I know That's the authority. So I believe what the Bible says and So Elijah just wasn't convinced of the existence of God.

He was convinced of the majesty of God He was convinced of the mercy of God. He was convinced of the veracity of God He was convinced of the sovereignty of God. He was convinced of the ministry of God the priority of God He was convinced about everything there is concerning God that would cause him to stand strong for his God. He would search for him Diligently because he wanted to know all there was about the true and living God Not only are those who are convinced that the reality of God searched for him diligently, but they serve him devotedly first Kings 17 1 he tells them as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand or before whom I serve he served him diligently or Devotedly he stands for God Daringly if you believe and are convinced of the reality of God you stand for God Daringly he risked his life in front of the king He was not afraid because he was convinced of the reality of God He would speak for him Decisively Authoritatively with certainly He would submit to him Deliberately and he would surrender to him Delightfully, that's what makes you convinced of the reality of God The question comes is that you because if you're gonna be like Elijah You got to know the way Elijah was and as the story unfolds before us in the the coming weeks You're going to be able to see this man and what God does to mold him and make him into that mighty prophet of God so Let's look at our story and this man forecasts the weather.

Let's look at point number one the statement the statement before the forecast and Then we're going to look at the sentence in the forecast and then we're going to look at the stipulations for forecasting What were the stipulations that allowed Elijah to say and do what he did, okay So let's look number one at the statement before his Forecast it comes in two parts.

It deals with number one the sovereignty of Almighty God and the submission of Elijah the representative of God Okay, you with me so number one the sovereignty of God this would get Ahab's attention, he said very clearly as the Lord the God of Israel lives Wow He tells Ahab that God's not dead that he lives that he is Israel's God and He thought Ahab did that he had squelched Israel's God He would need to know this and so Elijah would come and express to him the sovereign rulership of the king You see the worship of Baal was huge It was the national religion of the day Israel had turned their back on the one true God And as far as they knew that God was dead He was no longer alive but Elijah comes on a scene and Says that the Lord God of Israel lives In other words, he's not a dead God just because nothing has happened to you Just because for 60 years you have done what you wanted to do with no repercussions Just because you think that God doesn't care he does he lives and you better watch out You better watch out Because he is an absolute control Elijah came very plainly very powerfully States that God Lives the Lord God of Israel lives There is no other God but the one true God The Lord said in Isaiah 44 verse number 6.

There is no God beside me Isaiah 43 10 there is no God before me and Isaiah 45 verse number 5 There is no God like but Israel needed to hear this and by the way So do we because it's very easy for us to erect other gods in our hearts in their lives we say that we are lovers of the one true God, but yet we worship at the altar of False guards gods that we have not necessarily carved out but crave in our hearts The Bible tells us that Covetousness is idolatry We forget that to want something so bad that's not ours Can very easily become that which we fall down and worship and bow down to?

The Bible says in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 that in the end times men will be lovers of self rather than lovers of God Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Listen, we are so enamored with ourselves That we set ourselves up higher than God. We're enamored with pleasure and power that that that's what we pursue and very easily we Move our affection and adoration away from God to the things that we hold dear in our hearts One man used to say anything that you have that you cannot give away. You don't own it. It owns you Think about it anything you have that you cannot give away You don't own it it owns you any relationship that you're in that you can't give up You're owned by Any possession that you have that you can't freely give away It owns you and Therefore because it owns you you bow before it and it becomes your primary reason for living That's called idolatry and so just like Israel we might not be bowing down to to bail Worship, we might not be going out to false gods that are made up of erected altars out in our community But in our hearts, we are bowing down to things that really don't matter that are temporary Not eternal and as the Lord God of Israel lives We must really understand from the depths of our heart that we are to bow before him and serve the one and true God God says you shall have no of the gods before me.

I Will not be rivaled by anything or anyone in your heart I Will not be refused By you I Am your God I am a jealous God and I demand Everything that you have. I demand your attention your adoration your affection your aspirations. I demand it all And if at any time we choose not to do that We have fell down at the altar of another God And we have worshipped it instead of the one true God Elijah would say to us who do that as the Lord God of Israel lives he says He's the living God because they worship dead gods But their God was alive and they would soon find out how alive he was Because he truly is alive.

That's why when Christ asked The disciples in Caesarea Philippi who do men say that I am that what the Christ the son of the living God the son of the living God that's who You are that's why over in first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 9 that those doesn't like a turn to God from idols in order to serve the true and living God You see when you get saved there is a reversal there is a turning Okay, and you turn from all those idols that you once fell down before And now you worship the true and living God because he really is alive He is the eternal God everything else you worshipped was dead or was going to die But the eternal God lives forever And you turn to worship him That's the mark of a true believer So this Lord is alive He is not dead And if he's alive there will be consequences to pay for your sinful behavior Not only does he speak of the sovereignty of God that he rules over all but he speaks of the submission that he himself had To the living God before whom I stand before whom I serve It's used in Deuteronomy 18 verse number 5 to speak of the Levitical priesthood as they would stand and serve their God It's spoken of in the New Testament in Luke chapter 1 to speak of Zacharias as he would stand to serve his God In other words when he was standing he was standing in order to serve He was standing before his God to receive the orders He needed to hear that he might implement them for the true and living God He was in submission to the one true God of Israel You see those who are convinced of the reality of God not just believe in his existence but are willing to submit to all that he says because they know of who he is and that was Elijah He would demonstrate That this God who lives was the one that he was committed to Where you stand with God will always tell you where you stand with man Because Elijah was staying with God and to stand with God means you stand alone You stand apart from man Elijah did He was all alone Nobody stood with him and you see you have to realize that when you take a stand for the true living God because you're convinced Of who he is and what he's done.

You're gonna stand alone all by yourself on many many occasions Elijah was willing to do that He would move from this place to a brook In the middle of nowhere for a long long time Because God would have to teach him some lessons, which we will see next time next week and we gather together so You need to understand the statement before the forecast as the Lord God of Israel is before whom I stand and then he gives the Sentence of the forecast when he says these words There shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word you need to understand the duration of the sentence the devastation in the sentence and the design in the sentence First of all, we need to understand the duration He never says to a have how long that's going to be He just says it shall not rain except by my word and the only way we know how long this is is because of Luke chapter 4 when Jesus preaches in the Synagogue in Nazareth and tells us that was three and a half years and when James tells us in James chapter 5 That it was three and a half years outside of that.

We have no idea how long it was until it tells us in the New Testament, but but When Elijah went to King Ahab, he said listen There shall be no rain There shall be no dew Except according to my word now that's important Because you see in Israel, there's a rainy season. It lasts six months in Israel, there's a dry season it lasts Six months, okay So there will be no rain during the rainy season But how would a have know? That the drought was still on in the dry season There would be no dew Because in Israel in the dry season, there's a heavy dew that you can collect Fresh water and still be able to drink and survive So Elijah comes along and says here's the deal during the rainy season No rain during the dry season No, dew So a have would know that Elijah was a true prophet Because he spoke the truth And then he said it's gonna be that way according to my word It won't rain until I say it's gonna rain now a have knows as the months and the years progress That Elijah was a true prophet After a week or so, he would not know After a month or so, he would not know But once they went through the rainy season went through the dry season He'd begin to put two and two together because two plus two is four unless you do the new math And then it's two plus two is five, but the old math was still the same And so therefore he realized that Elijah was a true prophet of the Living God And so you look at the duration then you look at the devastation first Kings 18 verse number two said it was a severe famine How severe It affected everything and everyone it affected every Person in Israel it affected the trees the grass the livestock Everything it was a severe famine Very important to realize That do was a symbol of blessing in Genesis chapter 27 Deuteronomy 33 Hosea chapter 14 Do was a symbol of blessing and God was saying no more blessing No more opportunity for you to experience the common grace of God And therefore everything began to dry up And everything was dying Which leads us to the point number three that is the design in This sentence saw the duration the devastation down the design what's the design three threefold design here it is number one it was to encourage Repentance to encourage repentance God Needed Israel to turn For 60 years they had lived in sin and God wants Israel to turn away from their sin So what does he do He pronounces a judgment upon them a severe judgment that would affect every single person in the land It would also affect listen carefully the 7,000 prophets that had yet to bow the knee to Baal It would affect Elijah It would affect everybody but he wanted them to turn and So he has this severe famine come upon the nation remember God for 60 years Let it rain 60 years let the dew come in the dry season so they could accumulate water That's grace That's mercy That's patience That's long-suffering But God says Enough's enough No more blessing It's gonna dry up You see God was encouraging them to repent You see it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, but God has been good to them for 60 years Amidst all of their outward rebellion to him And so he's encouraging them to repent remember remember in Luke chapter 13 when?

Pilate had mingled the blood of some of those Jewish people when they were making some sacrifices in the temple and and and then on another occasion with a pool of Siloam fell over I mean the Tower of Siloam fell over and killed 18 different people and people were asking God Why why why and the Lord said you better repent you better repent or you will likewise perish Because it was to encourage people to turn from their sins read the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 16 when the bowls of judgment are poured out upon this world during the end of the tribulation It says they will and they did not repent of their evil deeds And they did not repent of their evil deeds instead.

They blasphemed the one true God God was doing it to get them to repent and all throughout Revelation 16 these words are spoken These words are spoken as judgment is upon the earth Righteous art thou who art and who was to a holy God because thou didst judge these things For they poured out the blood of the saints and prophets and thou has given them blood to drink They deserve it and I heard the altar saying yes. Oh Lord. God the Almighty true and righteous are thy judgments don't think for one moment that God's judgments are not righteous they are and This was a righteous judgment that God had pronounced on Israel That's why the Bible says in Psalm 19 verse number 16 The Lord has made himself known by the judgment he executes You know God best when judgment happens The Lord God has made himself known to the judgment that he himself executes Because he is a holy God.

He is a righteous God. He must punish sin He cannot let sin go on forever and ever the Bible says over in Psalm Psalm 7 I'm sorry, so yeah Psalm 7 verse number 8 the Lord judges his people Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end but establish the righteous for the righteous God tries the hearts and minds says in verse 11 God is a righteous judge and a God who has Indignation every day if a man does not repent he will sharpen his sword He has bent his bow.

He has made it ready. He has also prepared for himself deadly weapons He makes his arrows fiery shafts God has bent the bow He is ready to act but because of his grace and mercy He allows man to go on in prolonged periods of time and sin Until one day he unleashes those arrows those fiery fury and Brings judgment down upon man and for Israel over 60 years And God says that's it Ligey got to go.

You got to tell the king. This is the way it's going to be so Elijah Convinced of who God is and what he was about because Jehovah is his God March into the palace of the King Makes a very simple simple statement. This is his first impression It's the only time to make a first impression and this is what he says as the Lord God of Israel Lives before whom I stand there shall be no rain.

There shall be no dew According to my word got to go Ahab. See ya It's the way it was Just as simple as that and Ahab Probably did not believe a word he said Until the drought was too Severe, so it encouraged repentance it exposed Baal It exposed Baal because you see Baal was the God of fertility and they would depend upon this false God to bring them rain and to bring them dew and to grow their crops And they would beseech Baal and nothing would happen. They would beseech him for rain There'd be no rain because he is a dead God.

He doesn't exist and so they would beseech him and they would do all they could but there'd be no answer and it would expose the falsehood of Baal They would go the drought would persist and they would plead and cry and dance and sing all they could as we will see on Mount Carmel when the 450 prophets of Baal Try to get their false God to act And Elijah will say Maybe he's asleep Maybe he should yell a little louder to wake him up. So they did that's how moronic they were They did they cut themselves Okay, but it was a false God And Elijah served the one true God So not only was the design to encourage repentance and to expose Baal it was to exalt Jehovah the one true God It was all about exalting God.

The judgment was about exalting the one true God of Israel it would exalt his ways because his ways had been forsaken They had been forsaken by the nation itself. They had turned their back on the one true God of Israel So it's gonna exalt his ways. It's going to exalt his word because God said this is what God said Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse number 16 Beware lest your hearts be deceived and you turn away and serve other gods and worship them or the anger of the Lord will be Kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit And you will perish quickly from the good land, which the Lord is giving you they all knew Deuteronomy chapter 11 But because it continued to rain amidst their sin, they just figured that God wasn't really too serious about what he said But be not deceived God is not mocked Whatsoever man sows he will also weep And God because of his long-suffering Patience and mercy he allowed them to continue in their sin but no more He was going to exalt his word.

He was going to exalt his holy way. So everybody would know that there's only one God and That God has a name and he rules in Israel So put him to three Stipulations for forecasting what made Elijah have This kind of authority what was it about him that would allow him to do this There are two things and they are prominent throughout the story of Elijah And number one he was a man of The word He knew Deuteronomy 11 he knew exactly what it said he was a man of The word He was Absolutely convinced that what God said was true.

And so he Was true to the word first Kings 18 verse number 36 says this first Kings 18 36 Then it came about at the time of the offering of the even sacrifice The lives of the Prophet came near and said O Lord the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel Today, let it be known that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word See that I've done all this At your word he was a man of the word That's what gave him the courage the boldness and the strength He was a man.

Oh, that's why he could speak decisively That's why he could stand daringly That's why he was so Devoted to his God because he was a man of the Word of God That's why Paul told Titus in Titus chapter 2 verse number 15 speak with all authority Listen when you speak the Word of God you speak with authority Elijah could speak with authority because he was doing everything based on what God had already said and so he had the Authority to speak and so when he opened his mouth he spoke as one having great authority Because he was a man of the word Listen if you're a man of the word whenever you open your mouth and speak that word you speak with authority Not because you're authoritative But because God's Word is authoritative God's Word is Absolute God's Word is accurate God's Word is authoritative so therefore when you speak that you become accurate you become authoritative you become Absolute because you're speaking the truth of God's Word he was a man of the word and He was a man of prayer So simple So simple yet, so profound he was a man of prayer listen Hypocrites Do not like to pray Privately only publicly Did you know that the Lord God said will you pray into your closet shut the door and pray in secret and Your father who sees in secret will reward you openly We know that Elijah's the man of prayer because it says in James 5 17 the effectual 16 the effectual for prayer of a righteous man availeth much who was the righteous man whose prayer Accomplished much it was Elijah because when he prayed he didn't rain for three and a half years and we pray to get it rained again You see he was a man of prayer Because in his closet in behind closed doors.

He was on his knees Pleading with God What was happening to Israel was unacceptable the condition of the nation was unacceptable Before God and before the man of God Elijah And so he would call upon the name of the Lord. He would pray to his God because of the way things were and so he prayed Diligently But he was a man of the word in other words he was What we would call the ideal prophet and priest Which every man who's a father needs to be for his family a prophet and a priest a man of the word and a man of prayer a Man who will abide by the Word of God Who will speak the Word of God who would live in line with the Word of God all the while beseeching the throne of God Praying for his family interceding on their behalf Praying for his church praying for those that he knows So that he might be the man God wants to be Yes, we are providers and yes, we are protectors as fathers But you can provide everything for your family financially You can provide everything for your family educationally But if you are not that prophet and priest you failed your family You failed them miserably You must be a man of the word.

You must be a man of prayer Because that is eternal it lasts forever It's that which makes a difference in the heart and soul of an individual and Elijah in order for him to be effective in order for him to make it impact listen.

He wasn't going to impress anybody But he was going to impact a nation There's a difference you can impress people or you can impact people You can impress people with your athleticism you can impress people with your musical ability you can impress people With your intellect and your genius, but you can only impact people with the Word of God in prayer because impact lasts for eternity it lasts forever and We need to be men and women who impact people with the truth of God We need to be people who literally want to make a difference For eternity not for a week or for a month or for a year that's the way Elijah was a Man with a nature just like us He is just like you and me you had a sinful nature.

We have a sinful nature We put our pants on one leg at a time Elijah if you wore pants Put them on one leg at a time But he probably had a robe But he put it on over his head like you and I put our robe over our head It was a man with nature just like ours just like you and me But he was a man of the Word and a man of prayer he was a prophet and a priest and he stuck with it and God made him the greatest prophet in Israel and Like we said last time outside of Moses Spoken of more than any other prophet in the New Testament Because he made an impact How about you?

Are you impacting anybody? Are you just impressing people? Just impressing people with the way you look the way you smell or the way you act. Are you really impacting people for the sake of? eternity Because that's all that matters Let me pray with you Father we thank you Lord for your word the truth that's there Thank you for Elijah.

What a man What an it what a great individual and Lord you put him on the pages of Scripture that we can study his life and come to understand him and Then even begin to emulate this man and I pray for us that we would be men and women of the Word men and women of prayer Committed deeply devoted deeply to doing those things you've asked us to do for the glory of your kingdom That Lord we might truly make an impact With all those we come in contact with Because that which is of eternal value is what we hold dear In Jesus name Amen