Find true life from the one true God

So, as I said, we're going to spend probably up until September exploring episodes from the life of Elijah together, and his is a remarkable life.

He'll witness great encounters with God, great expressions of God's power, and he will hear God speak in a whisper.

And he, of course, returns to heaven in a fiery chariot.

He's a big figure in the Old Testament.

He's a big figure in the New Testament.

As the storyline of the Old Testament continues, there is this anticipation that before the Lord comes in power, there will be another prophet like Elijah who will prepare the way.

And then we come into the New Testament, and we even hear it from Jesus himself.

That ministry, that second Elijah, that's John the Baptist.

And then we turn to a book like the book of James, and we're presented with Elijah as an example from this story of a prayer of faith, a man who prays, believing, and God hears, and God answers.

There's a remarkable life written large across the pages of the Bible.

And he arrives on the scene at a low point, one of the many low points in Israel's spiritual life.

And they have turned from faith to idolatry.

No longer trusting wholeheartedly in the God of the covenant, now they have turned to the gods of Canaan.

And they've been led into that in large measure by King Ahab and his wife, Queen Jezebel.

And so part of the feature of Elijah's life, Elijah the prophet, is as a servant of the Lord, he's going to suffer.

And we'll see this as the weeks go by.

Ahab gives him a nickname, the Troubler of Israel.

He has a very low reputation of low impression of Elijah.

Now Jezebel will put a price on his head.

And Elijah the prophet, who looks to stay faithful to his God, will have to live with the pain of seeing the people of Israel's divided hearts.

Can't quite decide who they should worship.

Of course, when we come to a story like Elijah's, we're separated from him by long ages of history and culture.

And so he can come across as a very different figure.

The time and place can seem very different to ours, which of course it is.

But we'll see similarities and parallels as well.

We discover timeless truths in the story of Elijah.

That at different points, as God's church, I think will challenge us.

At other points, will encourage us.

So we're going to see over and over again, there is an unchanging God.

A God of absolute holiness.

A God who tolerates no rivals for worship.

And yet, even when his people have walked so far away, here is another example of God extending compassion and grace.

Sending Elijah, seeking to draw rebels back to true worship and into relationship.

We'll see, I think, a number of times the unchanging temptation that runs not just from Elijah's day to ours, but from the beginnings of the fall into sin.

The temptation to look to find our security and life in someone or something other than the true God.

For them, it was Baal.

For us, as Calvin says, we have hearts that are idol factories.

And we're always being tempted to place our hope for security and life in something other than the true God.

And I think a story like Elijah reminds us that as a church, as the people of God, we have an unchanging call.

What is it that God wants of his people?

Well, he wants us to stand firm in faith.

He wants us to represent him in the way that we live lives of faith and obedience.

And we will see Elijah on different occasions standing up for God, being willing to be a man apart.

And we will hear him speak up for God.

A man expressing his loyalty and his faith, even as everyone else's hearts seem to be wavering.

That just like Elijah, we are invited as the people of God, as those who have known grace,

to call people out of a drought and famine, spiritually speaking, to the feast that Jesus himself offers.

But today in our little story here, I think the lesson that we can draw,

in the one hand, is negative that we will never find life-giving joy and satisfaction from anything else that we place our hopes in.

But positively, as we see it in the story of Elijah, we will find life and satisfaction as we turn to trust in the Lord our God.

I think that's the underlying message behind the confrontation with Ahab.

It's certainly the message that we get from Elijah's life in contrast to what everyone else is experiencing.

God is looking after him.

He's being provided for.

He's enjoying blessing while everyone else is experiencing drought and famine.

And ultimately, it's the message of the Lord Jesus.

It's what he gives to us in the gospel.

It's what he gave to the women of Samaria.

It's what he gave to the crowds in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

So, our sermon this evening, very simple.

One statement divided into two sections.

The first, from verse 1, the God who is alive.

Elijah said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve,

there will be neither June or rain in the next few years except at my word.

So, this is the first time we come across Elijah.

He bursts into the national scene without any kind of formalities.

He's just here.

He's in the court of the king.

And he speaks.

And as we think about even just this verse, the story is inviting us to do some compare

and contrast between some different figures that we will encounter.

And I want us, as we're thinking about this for ourselves, also to think about the first

hearers of this story, the people of Israel, as they find themselves deciding which path

will I follow when it comes to my worship.

Am I going to choose Canaan's gods or am I going to choose the covenant god?

And how would this opening story challenge, correct, teach them, and what does it do for us?

Think about the time in which we live.

We're bombarded in so many different ways by messages that would say, have this, have

me, and you will have life.

So, advertising is built on it.

Social media influence is driven by it.

The battle that goes on in our sinful hearts as well.

We're always recognizing, because we're made as worshiping beings, I need something.

That will give me security, that will give me meaning, that will give me hope, that will

give me life.

And again, that temptation within our hearts is to go in another direction and to wander

from the living God.

And so, we have in these verses a compare and contrast to help us to reflect.

The first contrast is between Elijah and Ahab, of course.

King Ahab has just been introduced in 1 Kings 16.

If you want to turn a page back in your Bible, we discover the whole of chapter 16 actually

is a picture of here are some years of instability within the nation of Israel because they've

got a whole chain of kings who are not following God in loyalty.

And so, their reigns don't last long and there's civil unrest and there's fighting over the throne.

There's a whole chain of wicked kings, but when we come to Ahab, he's the lowest of the low.

Chapter 16, verse 30, Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than those

before him.

Verse 33, Ahab did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all

the kings before him.

He marries a pagan woman who leads him into idolatry.

He sets up all these Asherah poles and these Baals and he turns the nation towards false

worship.

He's a powerful figure.

Clearly, he's the king.

He sits in the palace.

He sits on David's throne.

But unlike David, he is a false worship leader.

Israel's king was to lead the people to worship God.

He's a false worship leader.

So, there's Ahab on the one hand and then there's Elijah.

Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe and Gilead.

Bible commentators and scholars can't even decide where this place is, but it's clearly

a middle of nowhere kind of a place.

He has no background.

He has no credentials.

He has no family lineage of being a prophet or anything like that.

But what we are invited to see about Ahab is that he is a willing, obedient servant of

the Lord.

He is someone who is concerned for the true glory of God.

And in the end of the day, that's what matters.

Remember what Paul wrote to the folks in Corinth.

God doesn't typically choose those who are wise and those who are strong and those who are

powerful.

Rather, he chooses the weak to confine the strong, to demonstrate his grace so that he

gets the glory.

In a sense, we see Elijah like Jesus, the servant of the Lord.

He had no beauty or comeliness that people would desire him.

But he came willing, obedient, concerned for the glory of God.

Second contrast within our text is between the two gods.

It's not so much a contrast as a God context.

Between the Lord God and Baal.

And this is where we need just a little bit of background into Canaanite worship.

Because Baal, he was one of their major gods.

He was the god of storm and weather and fertility.

And so the message in Canaan was, you need to worship Baal.

And if Baal doesn't get worship, then he won't send rain.

And if he doesn't send rain, then we don't have crops.

Without crops, there's no food.

Without food, there's no life.

And so for the people of Israel living in Canaan, gradually they came to believe that, well, if

that's the message, then we better at least hedge our bets because we don't want to miss

out on the rain and the crops and the food and the life.

Fear, the desire for security, the desire for wealth, drove Ahab and drove Israel to join

their culture in false worship.

And it's probably true for our own hearts that there are those same pools on us.

We have that desire for security and wealth, and sometimes there is fear also.

And it can be easy for us to think, well, if I just had money or if I just had success or

status or the right job, then I would have that security.

And our hearts can be drawn from God.

Well, into that setting, that setting where Baal is being presented as the God of weather

and storm and crops and life, the Lord God throws down the gauntlet, doesn't he, in verse

one?

There will be neither dew nor rain except at my word.

Who gives the dew, who gives the rain, who controls the weather, who's responsible for bringing life or

withholding the rains?

It's not Baal, but God.

That's the message Elijah delivers.

And we need to hear this as well, I think, in the context of God's covenant that he's made with his

people.

He's the Lord God.

That's his covenant name.

And God must always be faithful to his covenant word.

And in the book of Deuteronomy, in the book of Leviticus, we discover that within the covenant,

there are these terms.

You know, Israel is to live with the true God as their God.

And if they will do that, then they can experience and look for and expect blessing.

But if they turn away from God in disobedience, they can expect to experience curse.

It's spelled out really clearly in, for example, Leviticus chapter 26.

Leviticus 26 · chapter mention

Again, if you're using a church Bible, it's there on page 130.

Now, but let me just read a couple of verses.

Chapter 26 begins this way.

Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves.

And do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it.

I am the Lord your God.

Really clear command.

Don't make any other idols.

Don't direct your worship anywhere other than to the true God.

Then in verse 3, if you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,

I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.

The God who truly does control the weather, who controls the rains that give the crops,

that give the life, promises blessing upon obedience.

But then, verse 18, and this is part of the punishments for disobedience.

If after all of this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.

I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.

Your strength will be spent in vain because your soil will not yield its crops,

nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.

It's really, really clear that they have been acting in disobedience.

And this message, no June or rain, is the covenant God bringing judgment because of disobedience.

One more compare and contrast that's in the background in this section is Elijah and his fellow Israelites.

So, one of the striking features, I think, of Elijah's story is how often we see him standing by himself.

He stands alone, the man of God committed to God's word and faithfulness to the Lord God

against a backdrop of wickedness and false worship and a message from the palace that says,

stop talking or we'll kill you.

Where Israel fails, Elijah doesn't.

Israel did not stay devoted to God.

Israel clearly does not trust that the God of the Bible will provide for their needs.

They don't believe that life with him is the key to true life,

and so they turn to place their hopes elsewhere.

But Elijah doesn't do that.

And as Elijah stands, the man of faith and obedience in this setting,

he prepares us in a greater way for Jesus' ministry.

And this is where we understand that is good news.

Because where we fail,

because all too often as we think about our stories,

our hearts are divided in terms of where our worship and our loyalty goes.

We are guilty of disloyalty and disobedience.

We don't always keep God's law.

We don't always practice love for him and for our neighbor.

But where we fail and where we deserve curse,

Jesus perfectly succeeds.

And then on the cross, he takes our curse,

as he takes our sin,

so that he might give us his blessing.

And the wonderful message of the gospel is that

Jesus calls us back to himself,

calling us back to the source of true life,

to the God who is alive.

So before we move on to the next point,

just two things to underline.

Very basic.

One, the God of the Bible is the only true and living God.

I don't know how many people here are interested in golf.

Maybe not that many, but that's not too important.

But the number one golfer right now is Scotty Scheffler.

And he got people talking this week,

preparing for the British Open,

he was getting interviewed at a press conference.

And he basically talked about the golfer's life as,

his life,

as being not a fulfilling life.

He said, we're encouraged to give everything

to win these tournaments.

We give everything for two minutes of joy.

He came out and said,

what's the point of being the best player in the world?

Well, it's really interesting,

because I think he understands there,

and we can learn from his story,

the truth about counterfeit gods.

There is that message,

here are these things to aspire to.

They promise much,

but they fail to deliver.

What the world offers can't bear the weight of our expectations,

and is no help to us eternally.

Only the true and the living God won't disappoint,

won't fail us.

Only Jesus, the Son of God,

who died for our sin,

who rose for our salvation,

He is the only one who never fails.

He establishes the new covenant

in His broken body,

in His shed blood,

and you and I,

we can trust His word of promise

from here to eternity.

Our God will go before us.

He has gone before us.

The God of the Bible is the only true living God.

And secondly, I think from Elijah,

we have that reminder

that God's people are called to stand up

and speak up.

And it requires courage,

and it requires conviction.

In a sense,

the church is a bit like Elijah.

Our pedigree is not that high.

Our CV is not that impressive.

Our place in society as a church

is not much.

But Jesus, from heaven,

He sends the Spirit.

And the God of the Bible,

who plans all things,

plans that His church

be His representative witnesses

in this world.

And He gives us strength

to live by faith.

He gives us courage

to speak of His goodness

and His love.

Enabling us to speak

to the people around us.

The people who are anxious.

People who have been disappointed.

People who are searching.

To lovingly point people away

from what the world offers.

To say Jesus is better.

To live together in a way

that shows Jesus is better.

To recognize He is the answer

to our spiritual drought.

When we feel our sense of guilt

or when we wander away

and our hearts grow cold,

when we find ourselves

searching for that something more,

the message of the Bible

has come to Jesus.

So if the first part of our statement

is the God who is alive,

the second part that concludes it,

the God who is alive

is the God who gives life.

That's verses two to six.

So another feature

of the Elijah story,

which is wonderful,

is that God doesn't just

talk a good game.

He doesn't just talk about His power.

He acts.

You know, He makes clear,

I am the true and the living God.

And He shows it in remarkable ways.

And here's the first of these.

If part one was compare and contrast,

let's think about part two

as command and response.

First of all,

the command to Elijah

and the response of Elijah.

God's command is there

in verses two to four.

The word of the Lord came to Elijah,

leave here, turn east,

hide in the Kerith ravine.

You will drink from the brook

and I've instructed the ravens

to supply you.

There's a wonderful message

for Elijah.

The servant of the Lord

is going to be spared

from the drought.

While others are experiencing judgment,

he is going to receive salvation.

He's going to receive these tokens of blessing.

He will be miraculously provided for

both in the food that he will eat

and the drink that he will have.

And if we think back to our Bibles,

this takes us back, doesn't it,

to the story of the Exodus.

There are Moses and Israel

and they are in the wilderness.

They're in a desert situation.

situation.

And God miraculously feeds them.

The manna and the quail

rain down from heaven

every day except the Sabbath.

And then in chapter 17,

as they're thirsty,

God miraculously provides

for a grumbling people,

by his grace,

water from the rock.

And then wonderfully,

as Paul thinks about that

little image,

he says,

the rock,

the rock was Christ.

So the God who saves

is the God who sustains.

And here he sustains

his profit.

Picks up a theme

that runs through the whole Bible.

Look to God

and his word.

Look to God

and his promise

in order to find life.

Wasn't that the case

for Adam and Eve

in the Garden of Eden?

If they would have trusted

God's word,

if they would have lived

in obedience,

they would have lived

in paradise

with God forever.

It was the message

for Israel.

As they were heading

from slavery

towards their promised land,

trust in God,

live in faith

and obedience,

and you will live

in the promised land

and you will experience

blessing

and God will care

for you

and provide for you.

And for us as a church,

we are called

to trust our God

and his word.

And we're invited then

to enjoy life

with God

through Jesus today.

As Jesus reminded us

this morning,

we call God

our Father in heaven.

And we look forward

to life in a perfect kingdom

for all eternity.

Well,

as Elijah received

the command

to leave and go,

his response,

verse 5,

so he did

what the Lord

had told him.

He went

to the Kerith ravine

and he stayed there.

It's simple

but really beautiful.

When the rest

of the nation

is so half-hearted

and can't decide

who they should trust,

who they should obey,

here is the man of God

choosing to live by faith.

And because he does,

he enjoys

God's wonderful blessing.

But there's a second

and there's a more striking

command and response

scene in the Bible

reminding us

that the God

who is alive

is the God

who gives life,

he controls everything.

It's the Ravens.

Now,

to help us think

about the Ravens,

I didn't do this

on purpose

but last week

we went down

to Portobello Beach

and I don't know

if anyone's been

down to Portobello

recently

since they opened up

a really nice pizza place

to go with the Chippies.

Well,

we were there

at dinner time

and if you've seen

Alfred Hitchcock's

The Birds,

that was the kind

of vision

as there was like,

there must have been

like 50 of these seagulls

circling the bins

and circling

the folks eating

their dinner.

It was horrendous.

They were not

being charged

with delivering

the food,

rather their

sole purpose

for those minutes

that we were there

finding a safe

distance away

sitting on the grass

away from the beach

was to steal

any food

that they could get.

And if you ever see

not just a seagull

but any kind of bird,

even a tiny bird,

if you see a little bird

with a tiny scrap

of food,

you've probably seen

those other birds

try and get their share.

They're not natural

sharers,

are they?

Even with a little

scrap,

they want it

for themselves.

And so the command

and the response

to and of the ravens

is remarkable.

The ravens,

in verse 6,

brought Elijah

bread and meat

in the morning

and bread and meat

in the evening

and he drank

from the brook.

The God of the Bible,

not Baal,

is the creator

and king

over the whole creation,

over the life

of Elijah,

over the life

of the birds.

They do what he commands

to provide life-giving food

to his servant.

Now think about this

as the first hearers

of this story.

Imagine them,

you know,

they place their hopes

in Baal

and now they're living

in a drought condition.

They've got this choice,

don't they?

Well, right now,

we're trusting Baal

and there's no rain

and we're hungry.

He promised life

but we're not getting any.

And then they hear

about Elijah.

Elijah trusts God

and he's enjoying life.

God's caring for him

just as God said he would.

And you wonder,

would they make the connection?

Would they begin

that journey back

to God?

Can we make the connection

to see that

the God who is alive

is the God

who gives

true life?

As we leave

scene one,

and we'll come back

to Elijah next week,

as we see

the true and the living God

who provides true life,

it's a wonderful story.

A couple of suggestions

for our storytelling.

One,

tell our stories,

tell your story

of God's clear,

detailed kindness

and protection.

We don't have stories

as dramatic as Elijah's,

I don't think.

But we have stories

stories,

where we've come

to see

the good care

of our Father

over our lives.

We have stories

where we have been

in trouble

or been in want

and we have prayed

and God has answered,

sometimes dramatically,

sometimes through

other people.

We have those stories.

We have faith

in a God

who controls

everything.

There is no moment

outside of His control.

And I think

one of the things

that's so important

for us

as the people

of God

is that we live

recognizing

this is my Father's world.

I like to read

old books

and the old

feel,

they got this,

they lived

and breathed

knowing

every little

moment

directed,

controlled by God

and it gave them

such a peace

and security

and stability.

So I think

the story of Elijah

is an invitation

to you and to me

to think about

and to talk about

the ways

that we see

and we feel

God's ordinary

and extraordinary

care

over our lives

to acknowledge

as God promises

He gives us

daily bread,

He gives us

grace for today

and He will

give us grace

for our tomorrow

whatever that looks like.

And the reason

why that's so important

is because there's

lots of people

around us

where the question

that they're asking

if they're asking

any questions

about Christianity

is not so much

maybe nowadays

is your faith

true

but so much

does your faith

work.

That seems to be

significant

to people

to us now.

And so

as we tell

our stories

of answered prayer

of God's

goodness

to us

we get

to show

people

that God

is real

that faith

is real

that there is

a reason

to consider

true

and I think

it's important

for us

to encourage

one another

as well.

You know

here is Elijah

and he is being

spiritually fed

in a wilderness

kind of experience.

I wonder

if you can

testify

to times

when life

seemed really

hard

in a time

of suffering

or trial

and God's

word came

with particular

power

where God

seemed to be

particularly

close

and showing

his love

even when

everything else

seemed to be

falling apart.

That's a

wonderful

testimony of

God's grace

for our own

faith and for

the faith

of one another.

our stories

will likely

not include

ravens

but there

will be

moments

where we

can give

God glory

because he's

been actively

involved

in looking

after us.

But as we

tell our

stories

secondly

we want

to tell

the gospel

story

of Jesus

the Son

of God

who gives

eternal life

and we

think about

spiritual

hunger

and thirst.

What we

think about

different

versions of

that golfer

Scotty

Scheffler

this life

that I'm

living

it's not

a fulfilling

life to

me.

What are

we to do

as the

people of

God?

We

lovingly

bring them

to Jesus.

We heard

Jesus

speak to

a profoundly

dissatisfied

and troubled

woman in

John 4

water.

I can

give you

living

water.

I can

truly

satisfy

your

thirst.

We

began

with

Jesus

words

spoken

to a

crowd

after

the

feeding

of

the

5,000

and they

were hungry

for another

lunch meal

and Jesus

wanted them

to look

for more.

I'm the

bread of

life.

Whoever

comes to

me

will

never

go

hungry.

Whoever

believes

in me

will never

be thirsty.

stay.

In many

ways the

story of

Jesus

parallels

with the

story of

Elijah.

But there's

an important

difference.

Elijah the

servant of

the Lord

was spared

from suffering

on this

occasion.

But Jesus

the servant

of the Lord

was not

spared

suffering.

He would

know

thirst

as he

hung

dying on

the cross.

He was

a servant

who was

not spared

from going

under God's

judgment,

under God's

curse.

Not because

of anything

he had done,

not because

of any

disloyalty

on his

part,

but for

our sin,

our rebellion,

our

idolatry.

And that

Jesus who

died for us

is now

alive.

And from

heaven he

sends the

Spirit.

He lives

in us.

From

heaven he

gives us

that life

that is

true life,

that is

eternal

life.

Maybe we

find ourselves

here even

today and

our hearts

have become

a little bit

like Ahab

or a little

bit like

Israel.

We're looking

to find

true satisfaction,

security,

and our hearts

have been

turning away

from God.

maybe you've

tried that.

You've

discovered

ultimately the

falling in the

way of the

world doesn't

lead to life

and satisfaction.

Well,

let's

together let

Elijah's story

direct us

and direct us

back and

direct us

again to

the Lord

Jesus,

that we

would eat,

that we

would drink,

and that we

would live.

Let's

pray together.