1 Kings 18 (Part 1) Bible Study (Elijah Confronts Ahab) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First, Kings 18. We're starting in verse one, so

place your finger there. Lord, we are grateful that we

have access to the truth. We are so thankful, Lord, that

we live in a time where we have the full revelation needed for

us to know how to be saved and how to walk as the saved.

Well, we pray tonight. Please let this be more than

just words and thoughts transmitted to our ears.

Let there be a powerful transmission through the

energizing work of the Holy Spirit that would bring our

hearts to greater life and strength and devotion to the

person of Jesus Christ. We do pray, O Lord, that all men

would disappear at this time except for the God man, Jesus

Christ. That we would see Him, we would

see His wisdom, we would see His love, we would see His power and

that we would fall deeper in love with Him.

So Lord, tonight we pray that as the word goes forth and as we

study together as brains, that we would experience the life

giving, life sustaining power of your word.

Please Lord, let this be a powerful time together.

We can't do it apart from the Holy Spirit.

And so we petition and plea that this would be a moment where we

can look back and say God touched me on that Friday night.

We ask for that. Lord we trust that only you can

provide that lest this become just a lecture, let's this

become just the time where we look at some words on on white

pages. Lord, no, we need your power and

we look to you and trust that you will provide it because we

are hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

We long to know you in a closer way.

Meet us now as we look at the man Elijah and his story and

what it is that you've preserved for us to know for our own walk

with you. In Jesus mighty name we pray.

Amen. First Kings 18.

Let's begin in verse one and let's read the 1st 6 verses

together before we pause and unpack these truths.

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third

year saying, go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon

the earth. So Elijah went to show himself

to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in

Samaria, and Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household.

Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.

And when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah

took 100 prophets and hid them by 50s in a cave and fed them

with bread and water. And Ahab said to Obadiah go

through the land to all the springs of water and to all the

valleys, perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and

mules alive and not lose some of the animals.

So they divided the land between them to pass through it.

Ahab went in One Direction by himself, and Obadiah went in

another direction by himself for three years.

Elijah obeyed the Lord, who instructed him to be removed

from the public eye, first to remain by the brook and careth,

and then following that through the concealed care of a widow

and Zarephath. But after many days we are told

the one who said in first Kings 17 three depart and hide

yourself, now says, go show yourself.

And what we see here by Elijah's example in his connection and

walk with the Lord is a wonderful illustration of the

spheres of our obedience to the Lord.

Meaning our obedience to the Lord looks just like this.

We are called, like Elijah, to obey God in private, and we are

called to obey God in public. We are called to obey and honor

the Lord in seclusion, and we are also called to obey the

Lord. When everyone's watching,

whether we have an audience or not, we are called to honor God

as our supreme goal. And that is precisely what

Elijah does, without any hesitation.

When he was called to hide himself, he did not question, He

did not present reservation. He immediately obeyed.

And now we see the same attitude When he was called to now make

an appearance on a nationwide platform, He obeyed with the

same sincerity and earnestness. And this is important to learn

and know, because for some, serving God and obscurity,

serving God while you are hidden is frustrating.

And it's discouraging because we tend to measure our success or

our fruitfulness based on the people that we are touching or

observable measures and metrics. But there are also people who,

in serving God before a crowd or on a platform, is daunting and

absolutely undesirable for different reasons.

Fear of criticism. Fear of failure on a larger

scale, fear of the temptation of pride creeping in and

intensifying as they receive more recognition or

acknowledgement or praise, whether it's hiddenness or

whether it is publicity. Regardless, you and I must learn

contentment and confidence in the Lord no matter where He

calls us, no matter what the setting is.

Because you know why. The ultimate aim is to please

him. The ultimate aim is to honor

him, And this is what Elijah is modeling here.

For years, no one saw him, and yet he trusted the Lord and he

allowed God to mold him and to stretch faith from him.

And now, as he's arriving to a place where it's going to be a

lot different than it was in the past three years, he's going to

show the same level of obedience and trust in God.

So that's what we can learn already from verse one.

But now we come to verse two and we get a description of how

severe the famine was in these past few years.

We're told here now the famine was severe in Samaria.

The severity of the famine is important to note in connection

to the appearance of Elijah on the scene.

Elijah appears when the temperature was just right after

God initiated and controlled this drought, bringing it to

this point. This was the right time now for

Elijah to appear as a prophet, to declare his message and to

manifest the power of God. Why?

Because, like this time, devastation deprivation is often

needed for the spiritual posture of others to take heed to the

word of the Lord. In other words, it often takes

severe situations before a people or a person take heed to

what God has to say. It's unfortunate, but that is

human nature. And so in a sense, here the Lord

knowing what was going to take place in the land, sees and

permits really this to happen. And now, says Elijah, it's time

to go. The people will be more open to

hearing what you have to say than when this whole thing

started. But understanding the severity

of this famine is also important when we link it to the character

of another individual in this testimony.

And that character is Ahab, and we're going to see why.

The severity of this famine sheds light on just how depraved

Ahab was as a king and as a person altogether.

But before we examine Ahab, we are introduced to this

interesting character. You read his name, Obadiah.

Obadiah appears now, and there are many Obadiahs in the Bible.

But this is a unique Obadiah and the first thing that we are told

about Obadiah is what verse 3 and Ahab called Obadiah who was

over the household. Over whose household?

Ahab's. In other words, he was the chief

manager. He was the administrator, the

lead administrator over the palace and right there, knowing

Ahab, knowing what his regime was like, we might have our

guards up, we might have flags concerning this Obadiah.

But it's as though the Holy Spirit wants us to swat away any

suspicions, because in the same verse we are told by the author,

was ultimately God. What?

Yes, he was over the household. But look, now Obadiah feared the

Lord greatly. Look, there are people in the

Bible who are told fear the Lord, but if you are attributed

with fearing the Lord greatly, that is worthy of further

meditation. In fact, there's something

obviously that the Lord wants us to learn about Obadiah, because

not just this description, but the dialogue that has been

preserved between Obadiah and Elijah, There's something that

God wants you and I to pull out of this man's story, the

situation that he's in, the things that he says.

And so we're going to look at that.

But see, we hear that he He feared the Lord greatly.

He feared the Lord greatly. And we are told how this

reverential awe for God manifested through Obadiah's

life. What did he do?

Well, he feared the Lord greatly.

Verse 4. And when Jezebel cut off the

prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took 100 prophets and hid them

by 50s in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

So this Obadiah had these skills, these managerial skills,

if you will. And he used those skills to

what, honor God by preserving the lives of a remnant of

profits and by providing for them regularly.

Can I remind you that this is more than just a nice gesture?

This is a life and death occupation.

This is a major operation. Can you imagine what would have

happened to Obadiah if Ahab found out that during a famine,

out of all the people that he was taking care of, it was the

enemies of Baal? And this is what this man

endeavored to do. He risked his life.

And right there, by way of principle, you and I learned

something about what it means to fear the Lord greatly.

Here's what it means to pursue and secure honoring God as your

chief ambition even more than life itself.

You know there are some people who are hesitant to honor God

for the fear of potential embarrassment.

And then you have guys like Obadiah who are willing to honor

God with the potential price tag of death itself.

And that's what it means to fear God, where you are willing to

love him, obey him, worship him, even if in pursuit of that, your

life is at risk. And so this man had a great love

for God, a great awe of God. And this is something to keep in

mind because you have some who are critical of Obadiah.

There's a lot of debate around this character, like people are

trying to figure out what kind of label do we give him?

And what do you think the major criticism is concerning Obadiah?

Any idea? It's pretty simple, but I'm

asking, I'm actually asking what do you think it is that would

cause us to hesitate to believe that he was a man who completely

feared the Lord? Yes.

Lying to Ahab? In what way?

And I know exactly what you're saying, so just confirm that

this is what you mean by that. How is it that Obadiah can work

for Ahab? Is that what you're saying?

Exactly? That is the major criticism that

Obadiah receives. How is it that with such

hostility against the true and living God, can you have a man

who feared the Lord greatly but was able to adapt in the

atmosphere of Ahab's Kingdom? How is it that you can have a

man who was tolerated and accepted and even given the

responsibility to manage the Kingdom if he was a man who

truly Revere the Lord? And so you have many people who

think differently about Obadiah. They can't deny the fact that

we're told by the Spirit of God that he feared the Lord greatly,

but they're more convinced that there is something compromising

about him. Now some would say, well look,

how can you say that about Obadiah when there are other

instances in the scriptures of people who are working for

terrible, evil, anti God, governments, administrations and

we don't give them equal criticism.

Give me some of the names of the people that we praise who worked

in similar settings as Obadiah. Tell me, Moses.

OK, any other ones? Joseph is a strong one.

Daniel is a strong one. Come on, ladies.

There's one that you should know.

Esther. Esther.

So you have these different figures in the Scripture who

worked in the political sphere and for some reason we are not

so quick to give them the same criticism that we give to

Obadiah. And here's the counter argument.

What do Daniel, Joseph and Esther have in common?

There are many things but exactly they were captives.

They were all captives. So in other words the counter

argument is they didn't really have a choice.

They didn't really have a choice in the other argument that you

can make too about them is that they did not keep their faith

private, did they? But you can also say this, that

those kings that they served were not as hostile and

aggressive against God like Ahab was.

So Pharaoh respected the fact that Joseph served another God.

He couldn't deny it. He couldn't deny those dreams of

those prophecies. He was fine with with Joseph

doing what he wanted to do with his relationship with the Lord.

And you think of Daniel and Esther.

Yes, they were obviously worshipping idols, but whenever

at any point there was any kind of attack against the truth or a

call to disobey the true and living God, there was protest,

were there not. Daniel protested, Esther

protested. Yes, that's true.

And so you can see the contention here, You can see the

difficult and trying to label Obadiah here.

How? How is it that he was able to

not just camouflage these prophets, but it seems like he's

hiding his own witness, Seems like he's adapting and and

that's concerning. So is he completely right?

Is he totally wrong? Is he like, a lot?

Who when you read his account in Genesis, you're like, this guy

can't be saved. And then you go to Peter and you

realize he's called righteous three times.

So he he's, he's a compromising, worldly believer.

Is that what Obadiah is? So after the service, not now.

After you guys can debate all the people who are on this side.

And that's it. You can go out of here.

OK, but let me give the reasons why I believe Obadiah is more in

the right than he is in the wrong.

I believe that there are two internal clues that indicate

that he should not receive the criticism that he often gets.

The first indication is the tribute that the scriptures give

him. He feared the Lord greatly.

Full stop, plain and simple. The second one is something that

is often overlooked, and it is Elijah's conversation with

Obadiah. How Elijah approaches and

responds to Obadiah when they meet one-on-one, and we're going

to explore that in a moment. But look quickly at verse 15 and

get a hint of the final words that Elijah gives to a very

fearful and hesitant Obadiah to obey the word of the Lord.

Verse 15. And Elijah said, as the Lord of

hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him

today. He says that in light of Obadiah

being afraid that if he goes and tells Ahab, I found Elijah that

Elijah would have disappeared and Elijah comforts and

reassures him. Now compare that tone with

Elijah's words to the nation of Israel when they gathered

together at Mount Carmel in verse 21.

Look what he says to them. And Elijah came near to all the

people and said, how long will you go limping between two

different opinions. If the Lord is God, follow him,

but if bail then follow him. You don't you don't get that

kind of aggression and that rebuke toward Obadiah.

He he tells it to the people, but he doesn't say it to this

man. I wonder if Elijah himself

recognize and honor the fact that Obadiah did fear the Lord.

Who's to say that Obadiah recognized that in occupying the

position that he had, he could have done greater service to the

Lord And protecting these prophets and having insight and

Intel, knowing their moves and their whereabouts and their

plans and being able to maneuver this remnant of messengers.

Who's to say that that's not possible?

And so based on, I mean, you can disagree with me if you'd like,

but based on what I see here, I think Obadiah leans more towards

being in the right and being in error.

And that's an encouragement to me.

Because then, if that is the case, and Obadiah teaches us

something about what it means to fear the Lord, he teaches us

that it's possible to fear the Lord, greatly despising the

compromising, spiritually senseless, and even hostile

environments we find ourselves in.

Does anybody know what the name Obadiah means?

Servant of the Lord? You're right.

And that man lived up to his name.

Servant of the Lord, showing us that listen, despite the

Antichrist atmospheres you find yourself in, whether that be

your workplace, whether that be your home or anywhere else,

being a living sacrifice unto God is achievable.

And listen, this man who feared God even teaches us something

else about how and the depth of how one can fear the Lord.

Look at verse 12 quickly and notice what he mentions about

himself in verse 12. The second part in verse 12.

Look at it quickly. Although I'm looking at the last

part of verse 12. Although I, your servant, have

feared the Lord from when? From my youth, so this is a this

is a plea of sincerity. Obadiah, who the Scripture says,

objectively fear the Lord greatly, says of himself.

Look, I fear the Lord since my young days that encouraged me so

much. You know why?

Because it gives you, and I hope that our children do not have to

fit into the common narrative of drifting away from God when they

become teenagers or young adults.

They don't have to. They don't have to.

Obadiah proves to you and I that they can stand in sincere,

reverential awe of God in their youth.

We should believe God for that. We should disciple with that

goal in mind, our children, our siblings.

We should trust that even in their youth you can have men

like Obadiah, who have history with God, who have history with

God. It's almost like people.

Are expecting that their children who grew up in the

church, who grew up with the truth are are are are going to

drift away from God and just brace yourself for impact and

hope that they come back sooner than later.

Who says that has to be their story?

Who says that has to be the case?

Why don't believe God for more? Why don't believe and trust God

that they can actually serve him and love him without skipping a

beat? And let me speak to those who

grew up in the House of God, who feel as though.

Let me stop and ask this. When you read a man like Obadiah

who says, I fear the Lord since my youth, does that encourage

you? Does that warm your heart?

Does that move you? Doesn't that inspire you?

It should. It did to me.

OK, so why do you discount your testimony because you didn't

drift from God? Why do you discount your

testimony? Because you, as long as you can

remember, love the Lord Jesus, Serve the Lord Jesus.

You look at your arms and your heart, you look at your mind and

you say we're I don't have scars from sin that I can show people

so I can have a more dramatic response to my testimony.

I'm just a plain old boring Christian that just grew up in

the church and stayed put and love the Lord and didn't have

any dramatic roller coaster to my testimony.

Don't ever discount that testimony.

The fact that you feared the Lord all those years is a

testimony. You should praise God for it.

You should rejoice in it. The same way that you're moved

by Obadiah being able to say, I fear the Lord, you know some

people, and I'm excited to hear the testimonies of those who are

getting baptized this Sunday. I hope not one person in writing

their testimony feels any hesitation, feels any

embarrassment, feels as though they can't be as impactful as

they stand up here and say, you know what I fear the Lord, since

my youth, and I'm ready to now make a public declaration that I

want to honor him. Praise God, if your testimony is

that long, 10 seconds we're going to rejoice just as much as

the one who came from the mud in the mire.

So this man fear the Lord. He shows us that it's possible

to be young and fear the Lord. It shows us that we should

believe the same for those that we know that are young as well.

Let's come back to First Kings 18, verse 5.

1 Kings 18:5

And Ahab said to Obadiah, go through the land, to all the

springs of water and to all the valleys, perhaps we may find

grass and save the horses and mules alive and not lose some of

the animals. How bad was this drought?

You know how bad it was that the king had to get up from his

throne and look for grass himself?

That's bad. And so he brings Obadiah on this

trip with them. And he says, look, we got to

find something. And we've heard of Ahab before,

but this is the first time that we read of Ahab speaking.

And what he says in this passage says a lot about him.

You can't read quickly through these things.

You got to pause and and contemplate based on what Ahab

says in assessing the situation in the land, what does it reveal

about him? Let me make this even more

clear. What is Ahab's main concern?

The animals. The animals.

So in a crippling famine, the one thing that Ahab is concerned

about is his horses and mules. So you have a man who is so

darkened in his heart not only listen, the indication of him

having horses is what? That as a king he's defying

God's law for kings that you should not acquire many horses.

1-2 You are more concerned about beasts than you are about those

who are created in the image of God.

That's what this man reveals about himself.

He's more concerned about his economy.

He's more concerned about his military might than he is about

the families and the children and the parents that are

starving. And more concerning than that is

the omission of God in this whole plan of action.

You know what Ahab should have been concerned about?

Not seeking grass, seeking God. What do we see here?

Plain ignorance of how what's happening around him, the

afflictions he and his people are experiencing, is being

orchestrated by divine intervention.

He could not interpret that, or he was willing to at least be

ignorant of that and be content in his ignorance.

I'm reminded of another time in Israel's Kingdom where there was

a three-year famine and how the king of that time responded

completely differently from Ahab.

Can you think of the king and the time that I'm thinking of?

If you were here during our study of First and Second

Samuel, you'll remember I kind of gave it away, did I not?

There was another time where there was a three-year famine.

OK, fine. You have to go there, though.

I'm not going to give you the answer.

It's in Second Samuel, Chapter 21, and you're going to get your

2 Samuel 21 · chapter mention

answer in verse one. Second Samuel 21, verse one, are

you there? Here's what it says Now there

was a famine in the days of David for three years, year

after year. And David, what did he do?

Do you think he sought for grass And David sought the face of the

Lord. And the Lord said there is blood

guilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to

death and that that's a fascinating study.

You can always go back to Second Samuel 21 because we explored

that in greater detail. But here you have a three-year

famine. You have a king and notice the

contrast. You have King Ahab looking for

grass and you have King David looking for God.

Here's what we learn from Ahab. Supernatural judgments do not

automatically promise. Softened hearts do not

automatically promise spiritual awakening.

And I think that's a timely word for us in the day that we're

living in because we are witnessing the collapse of

Western society. And we hope that with the

increase of perversion and calamities and disasters and

evil, something would click and we would stop grasping for

temporary relief and pause and say we need to seek God.

And though these judgments that are given by God, these

permissions were when God and his passive wrath, let's go of

His preserving grace, are designed to cause us to seek the

Lord, they don't automatically guarantee it.

So I want to just throw out a couple references to make that

case. I think of two passages in one,

in one book, in Isaiah, in Isaiah, Chapter 9, verse 13, you

Isaiah 9:13

don't have to turn there, but listen.

You can write this down and look for look for it yourself later.

Listen to the words of Isaiah 913.

The people did not turn to him who struck him.

The people did not turn to him who struck him, nor inquire of

the Lord of hosts. What was the intent of striking

the people? That they would turn to the Lord

of hosts. That they would inquire of him

like David. Did the prophets repeat this?

In so many ways? I'm just staying with Isaiah.

You think of Isaiah 42, verse 25, Isaiah 4225.

Isaiah 42:25

Just listen carefully to these words.

So he poured on him. Being Israel, He poured on him

the heat of his anger and the might of battle.

It set him on fire all around, but he did not understand.

It burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

So it's possible for God to stretch forth his hand and wound

a person, wound a nation, and they still don't get the hint.

And they harden themselves in their sin and they remain an

unbelief and they don't even have an iota of humility to

pause and say, maybe God is trying to get my attention.

Maybe God wants to say something to me.

So what do you have here? In verse five of First Kings 18,

you have Ahab's pursuit of grass, symbolizing what the

wicked often do in their pain and misery.

They go searching for temporary relief.

See, if he would have found grass, he might have fed his

mules and his horses for a few days.

But what was God intending in this?

That he would, instead of looking for trivial things, he

could look to the permanent relief in the Redeemer's grace.

And he doesn't. And it's a shame.

He's looking for grass when he should be looking for God.

Let's come back to verse six of first Kings 18.

So they divided the land between them, that is Ahab and Obadiah

to pass through it. Ahab went in One Direction by

himself and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

Now look what happens in verse 7.

And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and

Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, Is it you,

my Lord, Elijah? And he answered him, It is I go

tell your Lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

Now, up to this point, our study of Elijah, we've been inspired

by this man's obedience, by this man's growth in his faith, that

even in those years of seclusion, the Lord challenged

him to not depend upon natural resources, to even believe in

him. For when a person even dies,

that God can raise him from the dead.

Elijah was being taught and trained and prepared, and what I

find so interesting is that God told Elijah go show yourself to

who, Obadiah. No, he said, go show yourself to

who Ahab. Go to Ahab.

And what's so interesting is that you have Ahab and Obadiah

splitting ways and going on different paths in different

directions. And you would think that Elijah

would have been steered towards Ahab and to meet with him

directly, right? And he was told, go and show

yourself to Ahab. But he doesn't.

Instead, he has to meet with Obadiah.

And it's going to be through Obadiah's participation that

Elijah and Ahab are going to have a confrontation.

Why? Because God is not just

concerned with prophets. God is equally invested in all

of His servants, no matter how or where they serve him.

And so, in the same way God was doing a work in Elijah's heart

and stretching his faith and hoping that he would graduate

from glory to glory, God now is showing that he wants to work in

Obadiah's life to a greater degree.

He feared the Lord greatly, but now he's giving Obadiah a chance

to trust him more and to witness more of his power and his might

and his mercy. And it's going to take a trial.

It's going to take an invitation to step out on obedience for

that to take place. And so remember that as a

beautiful picture here. We also think that God is more

concerned with those who have mighty ministries, who have

great, incredible gifts. No, no, no.

He he's just as concerned with Oba Obadiah than he is with the

Elijah's, and so he has Elijah meet with Obadiah, and Obadiah

here is going to be commanded to do something.

But unfortunately, unlike Elijah who showed who showed quick

obedience, swift compliance, and submission to the will of God,

Obadiah is not. Obadiah is going to have some

reservations. Obadiah is going to hesitate

greatly to step out in the way that God's going to call him to

step out. And what I want us to do at this

portion of our Bible study is to examine 33 reservations that

Obadiah has in obeying the Lord and get this.

It applies to common temptations that you and I have when we know

what God's word says about something and we fail to apply

it to that certain situation. Are you ready for that?

Well, let's do it. We come here to verse 8 and I

want you to look at the first point.

Verse 9 says, And he said in response to Elijah saying, go

and tell your Lord Elijah is here.

Verse 9 And he said, how have I sinned that you would give your

servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me As the Lord your God

lives. There is no nation or Kingdom

where my Lord has not sent to seek you.

And when they would say he is not here, he would take an oath

of the Kingdom or nation that they had not found you.

I before anything, I always want to pause and rejoice in the

protective care of God. Can you imagine the leader of a

nation investigating other nations and the kings to try to

find you? You're talking about an

international investigation, and God was able to preserve his

servant Elijah. Listen, when you're walking with

the Lord, you're a greater advantage.

And even if the nation's collaborate against you, I hope

you really believe that. You know what bothers me

sometimes about how people look at the Old Testament?

They treat it like Sunday School stories to get children excited

and to open up their imagination and hopefully their faith in

God. These are not children's

stories, and they're not just meant for Sunday School.

They're meant for you and they're meant for me until we

see him face to face. So Elijah here was protected.

But notice what the reasoning is for Obadiah to not step out.

Here it is. Some people do not obey God #1

because we wrongly excuse ourselves from certain tasks.

We wrongly excuse ourselves from certain tasks.

What do I mean by that? Obadiah felt as though this

command was more of a punishment than it was an honor.

And what we see here is that he sought to absolve himself from

such a dangerous mandate. Seeing that look, I didn't sin

or do anything to deserve such such a miserable job, and so he

he almost excuses himself based on his own righteousness.

Why are you picking me to do this?

I don't see anything in my history.

I can't think of anything in my conscience that would that would

call me to be a candidate for such a thing.

And so he presents himself as one who is worthy to be excused.

You know, when God calls us to obey him in certain ways, you

have some who hesitate #1 because they think they're not

good enough. That's Moses to lead a nation

out of captivity, and he gave a catalogue of excuses why he was

not the man for the job. So you have some who reserve

their faith and their trust because they feel as though as

they look at themselves. I don't know if I'm the guy, I

don't know if I'm the gal for the mission.

And you have others when it comes to certain tasks and

obedience who think they're too good and think they should be

excused. The latter part is more

relatable than you might think, because again, we look at this

in a very 1 dimensional way. This is Obadiah asked to stand

before an unpredictable king, and so he's fearful of even

mentioning the name Elijah in his presence.

And we're like, OK, that's that's good.

No, no, dig deeper and look at the principle.

You know, there are some people who when called to do something

by Providence or by invitation, feel as though they're too

qualified. They feel this surge of self

righteousness or they overestimate their value and not

necessarily for dangerous tasks like this.

But I'm thinking more for humble chores.

I don't. I don't know if I'm part of the

praise team. You can't ask me to do that,

right? A lot of people, and christened

them today, want to be celebrities, especially in the

singing world. I'm a preacher.

I speak before people. You can't ask me to do this.

And I was meditating on this today and I thought of one of

the mightiest men of God that the world will ever know.

Paul and all the mighty things that God did through his words

and did through his hands. And I and I and my mind went to

a place in Acts, in Acts 28, where he was abandoned and there

was shipwrecked on an island called Malta.

And in Providence God uses Paul to lay hands on someone and it

brought healing and it brought many hearts to be awakened.

I want, I want you to hear these words in Acts 28, verse 8.

Acts 28:8

Just listen. It says it happened that the

father of Publius lay sick with fever in the century.

And Paul visited him and prayed and putting his hands on him

healed him. He imagined that a major figure

in a foreign land. And God uses your hands to be

laid upon him, and for him to be healed miraculously, and for

that entire neighborhood to hear about it and for that news to

spread. And I thought about Paul's

hands, how he was used to do the miraculous, and with those same

hands in the same chapter. You read Paul doing this.

Just listen to this. You heard him laying hands on

the sick and then recovering. You know what he did earlier

with those same hands. Let me read it to you.

In Acts 28, verse three, when they came to this island

initially, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and

put them on the fire, a Viper came out because of the heat and

fastened on his hand. I don't know if that moves you.

It moves me. The very same hands that God

used to raise the sick were used to humbly pick up sticks and to

feed a fire. There are hundreds of other

people on that beach that day, but Paul saw it necessary to

just be a servant in that setting, and they just pick up

sticks and put them in the fire. You know what Paul could have

said? I'm not sure if I want to damage

these hands. God's used them to touch many

people's lives. I wonder if these prisoners and

these citizens of Malta know who I am.

Maybe I should let them know. They'll be more eager to feed

this fire so that I don't come down with a cold.

And, you know, because God needs me to bring revival to this

island. Do you think that's how Paul

thought? Absolutely not.

Here you have this man without question, still dripping wet,

skin wrinkly from the ocean water picking up sticks,

demonstrating humility. And so you have Obadiah here,

who is hesitant to obey God because he wrongly excused

himself from this task. And some people do that for many

reasons. But we have a second reason why

Obadiah hesitated to obey God. Let's read it together in verse

11 says here. And now you say, Go tell your

Lord, Behold, Elijah is here, and as soon as I have gone from

you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you.

I know not where. And so when I come and tell Ahab

and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I, your

servant, have feared the Lord from my youth.

So you you see how this man is thinking, right?

It's faulty, but he's working off something.

Factoring in how the Lord caused Elijah to vanish and disappear

for three years, he now has this suspicion that if he goes to

Ahab and says, look, I found Elijah, the spirit of Lord at

any moment can just rapture Elijah and cause him to be gone

for an undisclosed amount of time, putting Obadiah in a

dangerous position for an unmet expectation.

And so knowing what Elijah has been doing these past few years,

namely being hidden, thinks what What makes me think that you're

not able to do that again? I'm I'm not sure if I'm up for

that task knowing that at any moment God can pull a trick and

and I'm more in trouble than anything else here.

Here's some people and another reason why they are hesitant to

obey the Lord. Number two, people are hesitant

to obey the Lord because they assume that obedience will set

them up for harm more than good. So here you have Obadiah saying

the Lord is telling me to do this and it's going to rob me,

it's going to endanger me. And there is a wide spectrum of

risk when you and I contemplate consecration in a certain

circumstance. It's not uncommon for believers

to think of the worst possible outcome when they want to obey

the Lord or when they're called to obey the Lord, no matter what

that call of obedience is. So here the Lord is nudging on

your heart to ask somebody for forgiveness.

And what goes through your mind? Well, I'm going to look

vulnerable. I'm going to look weak.

I'm going to look like I'm in the wrong here.

They're the ones who should be asking me for forgiveness, not

me asking them for forgiveness. And here you are called in a

moment where you can be dishonest.

And in being dishonest you can preserve a little bit more money

in your bank account. But if you're honest, you're

going to have to add a little bit more figures to the report,

and that's going to cost you more and you're in a very tight

place. So maybe I can just God will

understand because if I'm if I'm true to this then it might rob

me. Or then here you are in a moment

where you can defend the truth, stand up for righteousness.

But now all these crashing thoughts come in because if you

do stand up for this you might come off as a self-righteous,

out of touch Puritan. Not sure I want to stand out for

this when everybody else seems to be OK with it, when I know

the word of God says else elsewhere and otherwise.

So there are times in those moments where we feel like this

is. If I do this, I think it's going

to hurt me more than anything else.

And in this case, he thought he was going to be killed.

Listen, you can never go wrong with obeying God.

Never. You will never lose.

And no matter what losses you may gain, they are temporary

losses. And they will always, always,

always be outweighed by the rewards.

Always, always remember that no matter what that call is, and no

matter what the hesitations are, trust and obey, for there's no

other way. So Obadiah here is worried if I

do this, I'm going to be in more perilous position.

But that's not the only hesitation he has in obeying the

Lord. There's a third and final one.

It's found in verse 13. Let's read it together.

Has it not been told, my Lord, what I did when Jezebel killed

the prophets of the Lord? How I hid 100 men of the Lord's

prophets by 50s in a cave and fed them with bread and water?

And now you say, go tell your Lord, behold, Elijah is here,

and he will kill me like he can't.

He can't stop thinking about it. He's like, I can't believe

you're asking me to go and say Elijah is here and you just

think everything's going to be OK.

He keeps saying that it's so human.

I love it. It's like you keep saying that.

No. What's the third excuse here?

What's the third reservation? Hesitation.

There are some people who are hesitant to obey because they

wrongly excuse themselves from certain tasks.

There are some were hesitant to obey because they think

obedience will harm them more than bless them.

And lastly, there are some people today who are in current

disobedience because of their justification of past obedience.

So what does he tell Elijah? He's like, hey, do you know what

I did for the Lord? I hid these men like your guys,

like prophets. I hid them.

I risk my life for them. And he's rehearsing history.

He's rehearsing what he's done in the past, and he's allowed

that to soothe him to the degree where now he is paralyzed in

further obedience. This is far too common among

Christians, who currently, presently, are not as zealous as

they should be, are not as committed as they should be, and

not as willing as they should be.

And part of the reason why is because they recall and even

retell of a time where they were devoted to the Lord, and they

did this and that for the Lord. And they did give this amount

and they did go there and they did step away and they did step

in and they just look back at that and use that as a means, as

though nothing else is required of them anymore.

That one time deal is enough. And that's a dangerous way of

thinking, because your recollection and testifying of

what God has done in and through you is important.

It's wonderful, but it should never encourage idleness.

If anything, it should stimulate you to be further expectant that

God would do greater things in and through you.

You know, if Obadiah was in the right frame of mind when he

heard this instruction from Elijah, he should have felt OK.

The same God who protected me while I protected those men is

going to be the same God who's going to walk with me now.

And the same God who has shown me His wisdom and care and love

in the season of hiding these men.

Surely now He's ready to demonstrate greater power,

wisdom and mercy as I'm about to face Ahab, But that's not how

he's thinking. And listen, you have

unfortunately too many people in the church who are indifferent

or inactive in the things of God because Once Upon a time they

were and they're happy to just live in memory lane.

I've talked to people like that, and it's a sad thing to see

because God has so much more for you and I.

One of my favorite passages that reignites my faith, it's in the

Old Testament and it's about Moses when he's so desperately

wanted to go into the promised. And this is after he disobeyed

God. This is after God had given him

the verdict. You are not going into the

promised land. You dishonored me before the

people, and because you are a leader, there's greater

accountability for you than the average person.

And so he's so wanted these you could just feel his pain and

saying, Lord, please let me go in and in one of the please.

In Deuteronomy 3, I often go to that place whenever I feel as

though my faith or my expectation begins to get stale.

Notice what Moses says in Deuteronomy 324.

He tells the Lord, oh Lord God, you have only begun to show your

servant your greatness and your mighty hand.

Wow, did you hear the reference? Here It is.

So you never forget it. Deuteronomy 324.

Oh, Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant.

Are you kidding me? Do you know what Moses witnessed

up to this point? The miracles, the interventions,

the suspension of natural things, judgments and

provisions. All that Moses experience and he

dares to say in a form of a prayer you only started.

You only started to show me your greatness and your might Well

hold on. If that's what Moses says in his

experience of God, what makes you and I think that we have the

right to get bored with our walk with the Lord.

What makes you? What makes you?

And I feel as though we can just go into cruise control mode and

and limit our Christian experience to making sure we get

to church on time. There's so much more, and the

only reason why you and I are not seeing more, or at least

positioning ourselves to do so, is because we don't take the

commands of God seriously. If you position yourself and

frame your life just with this, just with the Great Commission,

whether you are the sent out one or you are helping those to be

sent out, that alone frames your life to see God do mighty and

wonderful things. Never mind a prayer life, never

mind being part of a local church, never mind all the micro

ministries that you and I are invited to.

Never mind all of those things. But see, if you and I position

ourselves in a way the Bible calls us to, we go from glory to

glory. And unfortunately Obadiah was

satisfied to remain in what he has done at one time and was

hesitant to not see what God wanted to do in his today and

his tomorrow. How does Elijah respond to this?

Look at verse 14 again, says And now you say, go tell your Lord,

behold, Elijah is here and he will kill me.

And Elijah said as the Lord of Hosts lives before whom I stand,

I will surely show myself to him.

Today again, Elijah is known as a fire breathing prophet, is he

not? You're going to read that as we

move on. But here you have Elijah in the

presence of a cold laborer, and it's so clear that Obadiah loves

God, right? It's so clear.

But this man who loved God was in a moment of weak faith, And

Elijah teaches you and I how we deal with such people who are

standing at the threshold of obedience, but can't seem to

make that first step. What are you and I called to do?

Build them up with the truth? Out of all the things that

Elijah could have said to Obadiah to reassure him, how

does he address him? In what name?

The name of the Lord? Of what?

Of Hosts. That is an appropriate title to

resurface in the mind of Obadiah's foggy faith.

The Lord of Hosts. You know what the translation of

that is? The Lord of Angel armies.

The Lord who has innumerable spiritual agents at his

disposal. I'm talking to you, and I'm

admonishing, admonishing you in that name.

What a truth that Obadiah would need to hear as he stands before

a king. The one who is by you has Angel

armies by him and by you, Obadiah.

So it's with a specific tailor made truth that Elijah deposits

in the heart of Obadiah that gives him the grace and the

strength to actually do it. But there's something else that

I'm inspired by concerning Elijah's words here.

Look again with me. Look at verse 15.

And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand,

I will surely show myself to him today.

Is there a phrase in that verse that stands out to you?

Yes. Good, you are careful students

of the Bible. Notice that Elijah says before

whom I stand. Is that the first time that

Elijah says that? Go back to verse one of chapter

17. What do we read now, Elijah?

The tishbite of Tishby in Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord, the

God of Israel is before whom I stand.

It's the very first statement that Elijah makes when he is

introduced to us in the word of God and when he says before whom

I stand. This is what it means.

Let me remind you, the Lord before, before whom, whose

presence I live in, and before whom I am standing ready to be

at His service, no matter what he asks of me.

To be standing means I am ready to be called upon, to perform

anything that you desire. And to say before whom I stand

also means that you are in the very presence of the one who is

superior to you, namely the Lord.

Here's what blesses me about this, He says in the First

Kings, 1713. Years later, in First Kings 18,

he's able to still say the same thing.

You know what my prayer is for you?

Each and every single one of us Is that three years from now you

can say, I live before the presence of the Lord, and I

stand ready to do whatever he asks of me.

And my prayer is not that you would only be able to say that

three years from now. I pray that you'd be able to say

that 13 years from now, not just 1330 years from now, that you

would be able to say the Lord before whom I stand, the Lord

Jesus Christ, the one that I worship, love and adore.

I still live for him. I still love him.

I still serve him. We say, well, Elijah is a unique

case, my friend, It's easy for you to say in an inspirational

message like this, but Elijah had experiences that all of us

combined cannot even come close to.

And Elijah had unique dispositions.

Maybe he was a very disciplined man to begin with.

And yet James comes to say, oh, hold on, let me remind you that

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

And So what is the excuse? Yeah, sure, he is unique in his

prophetic ministry in office, but the heart posture towards

the Lord can be shared and we have to believe that if we want

to experience it. So now let's come, because it's

not since First Kings 17 one where Ahab and Elijah meet face

to face. Here's where we're wrapping up

verse 16. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and

told them. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.

See, nobody died. What were you afraid of?

Obadiah? God was with you.

Verse 17. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said

to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel?

You thought he was messed up when he was looking for grass,

and Elijah is not slow to respond.

Verse 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you

have and your father's house, because you have abandoned the

commandments of the Lord and followed the bills.

I love Elijah, so gentle with Obadiah, but when he came to

Ahab's straight to the point cutthroat contrast the greeting

that Ahab gives with Obadiah. What does he say?

Look at verse 17. Is it you you troubler of

Israel? Now scroll back to verse 7.

And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, Is it

you my Lord Elijah? What a difference, huh?

Is it you, my Lord Elijah? And then Ahab, is it you, you

troubler of Israel? And looking at this, you're

supposed to understand that one offered respect while the other

one spewed disdain. And if you are going to serve

the Lord to the degree that Elijah did, then you must be

ready to expect. You may not get the admiration

of Obadiah's, but you should definitely expect the false

accusations of Ahab's. We We think that if we serve the

Lord and live holy in our good and charitable and bless our

neighbors and give the truth, the truth that sets people

through, that everybody's going to love us or at least tolerate

us. Yeah, you might get some of the

flowering compliments of Obadiah's the respect of some

who recognize the hand of God on your life.

But don't expect everybody expect some Ahab's to arrive and

blame you and accuse you and slander you.

Is it you you troubler of Israel?

It's it's amazing how short sighted this man is.

It's amazing how this man can't recognize what this famine is

about and can't even recognize the reason for it.

And Elijah is quick to remind him you're the reason for the

trouble in this land. And he gives the significance of

this moment by reminding him that it's not because of Ahab's

anything other than his abandonment of the commandments

of the Lord. Here's where I want to end off

trouble. Trouble with your conscience,

trouble with your relationships, trouble in your marriage,

trouble in the streets, trouble in society can all stem from one

thing abandoning the commandments of the Lord.

And when you and I experience trouble while we're obeying God,

we can take comfort to know that this is a trial that's going to

purify us. But I'm not talking about that

kind of trouble. I'm talking about the trouble

that could have been avoided if you had just obeyed, if you had

just elevated the word of God and submitted to it.

If not, trouble is on its way. And for the rest of this

chapter, we will pause and wait till we recollect next week to

see how this man will usher in revival in a troubled land.

Let's pray and thank God for our time tonight.

Father, we thank you for giving us the grace to not just be

attentive to the Word, but to absorb the personal applications

of it. Yet once again, we are amazed at

the depth of the wisdom of your Word.

We are moved by how these truths are undoubtedly authored by a

perfect, holy, loving God, Lord. Tonight we believe that what's

been installed in our hearts would give us the fuel to be

just like Elijah. Whether in hiddenness or out in

the open, being able to say with confidence, I stand before the

Lord, I worship the Lord, I love the Lord.

Lord may not be true of any person here, that they walk away

from the Lord in the years to come, but may be said that we

walk closer with thee, and we know that you will help us do

that as we hunger for a day after day.

Lord, if there is any hesitation in any person's heart to obey

you for the reasons that we gave her, for the reasons that were

not mentioned, may this Bible study serve as a reminder that

we can never go wrong and trusting you and obeying you.

Lord, if there's anyone here who is frustrated because they feel

as though no one sees them, they're overlooked.

They're hidden. They love you, they serve you,

but they they want to see more. May they rest with contentment.

It's all about you anyway. And for the one who might be

fearful because they feel as though a more attention is being

given to them than they desire, may they trust you in that as

well. Lord, we thank you that you know

all things. We thank you that you're not

just concerned with the Elijah's, you're concerned with

the Obadiah's and every person in here.

You are committed to completing the work that you began in US.

And there is not one accident in our lives, not one surprise to

us. That is a surprise to you.

We bless you for that, Lord, and we want to worship you now.

Oh God, we want to give you thanks and song and glorify you,

for you have spoken to our hearts today.

We bless the name that has saved us.

We bless the name that will preserve us.

We bless the name that has provided for us, protected us,

and will go before us forever and ever.

That precious name, that sweet name.

That lovely name. That that name that calms and

soothes and heals and redeems. The name of Jesus.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Precious Saints, let's stand and worship the Lord together.

Give him glory and honor for this time in His word.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else on a Friday night.

To be with God's people in God's Word is my delight.