Hope From the Word

Bill Luebkemann: Consider how the Lord leads the prophet Elijah today on Hope From the Word. The Lord didn't tell him what the whole plan was. He didn't say, "You're going to go here, then you're going to see the widow's house, then what's going to happen next, then you're going to go here, and then we're going to eventually turn the rain back on at this point. Here's what's going to happen. Then you're going to meet the prophets of Baal and you're going to call down fire, and they're not going to be able to call down fire."

He didn't tell him the whole thing. He just told him one step at a time. Go here, do this. Okay, what about tomorrow? Well, we'll worry about tomorrow when the sun comes up. Right now, we'll just worry about today.

Guest (Male): It's been said the Lord will never lead you beyond the place that His grace can keep you. The prophet Elijah experienced this as we'll hear today on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann. Bill is the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.

We will face times when our faith is tested just like Elijah. Now before you start to think, "Well, I'm not like Elijah," remember that James wrote that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. On today's broadcast, we'll learn that just as the Lord took care of Elijah, He will take care of us as well. But before we get to Elijah's story, we are introduced to the king he will soon confront. From 1 Kings chapter 16 and verse 29, here's Pastor Bill.

Bill Luebkemann: In the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel. Now this is not Captain Ahab who was out searching for the whale, by the way. This is the Ahab who was married to Jezebel. In the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel 22 years.

Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. It seems like you read that here over and over and over again. More evil than those before him. If B does more evil than A, and C does more evil than B, and D does more evil than C, you're getting worse and worse and worse and worse. The evil just gets greater and greater.

He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. The sins that Jeroboam did, this guy considered them just beginner sins. They're just trivial sins, minor sins compared to what I'm going to do.

What he's doing is leading Israel to worship new gods. Whereas before what Jeroboam might have been doing was making idols that represented the Lord or saying we're going to worship the Lord in this place instead of in Jerusalem, this guy is actually bringing in the worship of other gods. Not only that, but another thing that this guy does as you read through the coming chapters is he makes it mandatory that all of Israel's got to worship these other gods.

He takes everything to a higher degree. The worship of the idols is taken to a higher degree. He requires people to do it. They do more and more of it, and it becomes worse and worse. The things that Jeroboam did are just like kiddie sins to this guy. He's going to do even more sinning than Jeroboam did.

He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. That about wraps up everything we need to know about Ahab. He did more to provoke God to anger than everyone else before him. Clearly, there's in some sense some degrees with which the Lord God can be provoked to anger, and this guy provoked Him to the greatest degree possible.

In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son, Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son, Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua, son of Nun. Remember the story about Jericho and how when the Jews went into the promised land, they marched around Jericho? They marched around it one time the first day, and one time each through the sixth day. Then on the seventh day, they marched around it seven times, and then they let out a giant shout and the walls fell down.

Back in those days, they were instructed by the Lord not to rebuild the city of Jericho, that that city must never be rebuilt. There was a penalty for anybody who ever rebuilt it. You find it back in Joshua chapter 6, verse 26. Joshua pronounced this solemn oath, "Cursed be before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations. At the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates."

Here you have it. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son. He lost two of his sons. That was the price that he paid for rebuilding this city of Jericho. How does that tie in to Ahab? Well, you've got to understand this happened in Ahab's time. This guy was probably working for Ahab, or he was working with Ahab's approval.

Maybe he went to Ahab and asked for his permission, or Ahab asked him to do it. But this man building the city of Jericho lost two of his sons because the word of God said that that city was not to be rebuilt. It doesn't say how his sons died, by the way. They might have been sacrificed. There's some evidence to show that in these times there were some pagan practices of sacrificing children when buildings were being built. There was even a practice of burying children in the foundation of a new building, even possibly burying them alive.

It's possible that he did it on purpose. That's the extent of the evil that was going on at this time. If the Lord tarries and somebody was reading a history of America 2,000 years from now, they may look at the history of our time and the number of babies that we've killed through abortion in this country. We can look at this and say, "How can someone kill their firstborn son, bury him in the foundation of a building alive?"

Someone could just as well look back at our country and say, "How can a country that was so blessed by God and had so much given to it allow so many innocents to be slaughtered in the name of choice and convenience, just because we're too busy or we don't want to be inconvenienced?" When we read these things in the Bible and we consider, "Man, how could they be that evil? I'm glad it's nothing like that today." It's exactly every bit like this today in many ways.

Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will neither be dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." The word Elijah, by the way, means Yahweh is my God. The Lord is my God. Just his name is enough to really tick off King Ahab. "Hi, what's your name?" "The Lord is my God." That's got to really rub this guy the wrong way.

The Lord is my God, and He's not your God. My God is stronger than your God. My God can beat up your God. So there. In comes this guy Elijah, goes to Ahab and says, "The Lord is my God, and the Lord my God, the God of Israel, lives." By the way, Ahab might have thought He did not live, might have been ignoring Him. "Forget Him, He's not around anymore. God is dead. He was around when Moses was here a few hundred years ago, but He's not here anymore."

Elijah says, "He lives, and I'm going to prove this to you because there's going to be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." There's not going to be any water here unless I say so. "You don't want to bump me off, pal, because if you bump me off, I won't be here to turn the spigot back on again."

This was really an insult because they were busy worshipping Baal. Baal was the god of the sky and the god of weather. In effect, Elijah is saying here, "The Lord God can trump your god. My God lives. Baal is not even dead, because you can't be dead if you were never alive. As the Lord lives, your Baal god does not live, and there's not going to be any dew or rain because I'm not going to say so. Go talk to Baal about that and see what he can do about it."

This guy Elijah really made this happen. It was his prayer that the Lord answered. It was God that made it happen, obviously, but it was Elijah's prayer that the Lord answered. James 5:17 says, "Elijah was a man just like us." He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. He prayed earnestly, "Lord, don't send any rain, teach this king a lesson." And the Lord didn't send any rain and taught the king a lesson.

It was not something where the Lord said, "I'm not going to make it rain, go tell the guy I turned off the spigot." That's not what happened. Elijah prayed the prayer. Elijah was living in this kingdom. Elijah got tired of seeing all the ungodliness around him. Elijah must have gone off and prayed, "Lord, I can't stand it anymore. Would You please hear my prayer and turn off the water flow?" Somehow he knew that the Lord was going to answer that prayer.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there." So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

The Lord tells him, "Look, you're going to go over here and hide in the ravine near this brook." Why is he going to hide? One reason might be to get away from the king who's going to be looking out for him now. God could have protected him any one of a number of ways. This is a supernatural protection of God. He could have put a force field around him like they have on Star Trek. I would love it if God would do that more often, but He didn't.

The Lord must have caused Ahab to be blind to the spot where Elijah was hiding because he never found him there. God had him hiding near a brook so he could drink some water. The Lord said, "I'm going to send these ravens, which are going to be bringing food over to you." By the way, they were unclean animals. Just an idea here that God has His plan and His purpose.

So he went over there by the brook and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat. He was hiding there. He had a source of water, bread and meat. He didn't go hungry there as he was hiding out there. Meanwhile, the land became parched and dry, and there were no crops. The people were hungry and desperate for food.

Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. You'd expect that. You don't see Elijah praying for rain yet. He was just depending on God. I think another reason why the Lord sent him over here was just to continue to depend on the Lord. He was a man just like us. He still needed to learn to depend on the Lord. At a later point, he's calling out to the Lord because he thinks Ahab's going to kill him. "Why'd You desert me? Why'd You leave me here?"

He was a man whose faith went up and down just like ours does. So maybe in a way he had to be taught some dependence on the Lord as well. He's not praying here for, "Oh Lord, keep this brook flowing here because if this brook dries up, I'm dead." I think maybe he just trusted God. Whatever God happens, if the brook dries up, then maybe those ravens are going to start bringing in water jugs.

Then the word of the Lord came to him. Here's a guy just waiting on God one day at a time. The Lord didn't tell him what the whole plan was. He just told him one step at a time. Go here, do this. Okay, what about tomorrow? Well, we'll worry about tomorrow when the sun comes up. Right now, we'll just worry about today.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."

The Lord tells Elijah, "There's a widow here, she's going to take care of you." A widow? A widow doesn't have anything. Why don't you send me to somebody who's married and has a family? How about a rich person, or a farmer who has some fields, or a king or a wealthy executive? Of all the most unlikely people to send him to, the Lord says, "I have commanded a widow to supply you with food."

Does Elijah argue with Him? No, he goes down there and finds a widow there gathering sticks. Now you know there's a shortage of water here and a shortage of food. You can see here that this woman must have been extremely poor that she'd have to be out there looking for sticks to make a fire with. He calls her out and asks her for a little water in a jar. She's got more important things on her mind as we're going to see, but she goes to get it anyway.

Then he asks for a piece of bread. "As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied. She doesn't apparently believe in the Lord, or else she's treating him with respect because she says the Lord your God. "As surely as the Lord your God lives, I don't have any bread. You've got to be joking. Don't you know there's a famine going on? There's no water here. There's no rain. I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die."

This is going to be our last meal. "I have a son and we have nothing. This is what we have left. We have a little oil in a jug and a handful of flour and this is going to be our last meal. I'm gathering a few sticks, we're going to cook up what we have, we're going to have this meal and that's it. We're on empty. We are flat out."

Now isn't this funny? The Lord said, "Go at once to Zarephath and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." Well, excuse me, but she doesn't seem to know about this. She don't have any food. Do you see Elijah saying, "The Lord God got it wrong again. He sent me to the wrong town, this is the wrong widow, the wrong place, the wrong day"? No, none of that.

Elijah is just totally showing forth some faith here. Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first, make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'"

Elijah is saying to her, "Don't be afraid. Nothing to worry about here. Do exactly what you said, but first, make me some bread." That sounds awful selfish, doesn't it? Make me some bread first. She's got a kid at home, she's a widow, her husband died, she's got nothing. She's out looking for sticks to make a fire with. Why doesn't he tell her, "Feed your kid first and then feed yourself and I'll have what's left over"?

I think he's calling her to work in faith. "Here's the Lord speaking through me. Make this cake, give it to me, then provide for yourself and your supplies are not going to run out." He's calling her to respond in faith, which is the way God wants us to respond to Him. If we don't respond in faith, we might as well not respond at all. We have to believe that the Lord is there and that He rewards those who believe and who act in faith.

"The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land." Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Without faith, you cannot please God. You have to believe that He exists and you have to believe that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Elijah calling this woman, he's not saying, "I'm selfish, put me first, put yourself last, give me everything you got." No, he's saying, "Respond to what the word of the Lord is. This is the word of the Lord. Respond to it, and the Lord is going to bless you in this way."

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in the study of 1 Kings. You can hear this message or more Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill's messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet. Or if you prefer to listen via podcast, you can find Hope From the Word wherever you find your podcasts.

We'd love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10:00 AM, and there's a Wednesday evening service at 7:00. To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton or just go to our website for the link, ccmarlton.org.

And if you would, take a moment to write to Pastor Bill. It would be such a blessing to us. We're thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives, and we want to pray for you, too. Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We'll continue our study of 1 Kings next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann, a presentation of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.