Sermon Tone Analysis

*Seeking God** (1 Kings 19:1-13)*

*Intro: [OHP] *- looking at Elijah as a picture of the time leading up to the end - preparing the way, getting ready for the LORD’s return.

- Spiritually dry times but the man of God is sustained by speaking God’s word, hearing God’s word and living God’s word.

- Those who find life in that time are the individuals, not the nation as a whole - the resurrection life of Christ that comes by faith alone.

- We are servants of יהוה and we must know who we are serving, no divided loyalty.

- The nation, the people as a whole will be religious but godless - a false religion without power - all show and noise but no reality.

- Elijah called the people back to God - they acknowledged יהוה as God, there was the fire of judgment, the rain of blessing, God manifest as real - but were their hearts changed?

Did they seek after God?

There was no national revival, no turning from idolatry, no restoration of worship of יהוה .

What more could be done?

- The worship of יהוה was falling apart, the direct intervention of יהוה had no effect.

What do we do when we see false religion all around and the love of many growing cold?

We seek God’s face!

In the end times we need to be seeking יהוה like never before.

- When I went through notes I’d done some years ago I realised that I was more earnestly seeking the Lord then than now, been a challenge to me.

Let’s look at earnestly seeking God *[OHP1]*

*Crisis (1 Kings 19:1-2): *- [read 1 Kings 19:1] We tend to continue on in our Christian life until a crisis comes, then we press into God (difficulties of a couple of years ago).

So it was with Elijah.

Ahab tells Jezebel what happened - concentrates not on יהוה being God but with death of prophets of Baal.

- For Jezebel this was war! - on the offensive to win back lost ground (dualism).

(1 Kings 18:4) Killed all other prophets of יהוה.

Elijah was the last pocket of resistance.

*[read 1 Kings 19:2] *- Jezebel threatens - use words to intimidate when they themselves are unsettled.

Typical weapon of satan is words.

Don’t warn if you really intend to kill, that makes you wary.

Purpose is to unnerve, intimidate.

If you seek God earnestly you will encounter such opposition, particularly verbal and threatening.

- Elijah was supernaturally protected (1 Kings 18:12).

Jezebel intended to carry out threat but she wanted to unnerve - psychological warfare.

*Get alone with God (1 Kings 19:3): [read 1 Kings 19:3] *- What was Elijah’s response - to get away alone - went to Beersheba in the kingdom of Judah, outside Jezebel’s jurisdiction.

But not just to get away - left his servant in safety there but he went further, alone to the wilderness to speak with God.

- When crisis comes, get alone with God.

- The situation had come to a crisis and he needed to get back to God there and hear from Him concerning the covenant - like when Moses came down the mountain and broke the tablets of the law because of the golden calf - so too here idolatry had caused the covenant to be broken.

Elijah had to get back to that place to find out the state of the covenant with these people, to intercede, to see if it could be reestablished.

- Was Elijah "afraid" (he stood up to Ahab and 450 prophets)?

or did he "/see/"?

- i.e. perceive, understand the true state of the nation.

Despite convincing, overwhelming, proof that יהוה is God, despite confession of Him as God, repentance, killing of the prophets, יהוה’s subsequent blessing with rain - NOTHING HAD CHANGED - it was mere surface stuff, motivated by the spectacular, performed out of self interest - their heart hadn’t changed at all! Still Baalism ruled, still they wanted to kill the prophets - despite all that had happened nothing had changed!

What would it take?! Elijah understood this, he /saw/ it clearly - and /saw/ clearly the only possible consequence - because there was no genuine turning to God despite all that He had done to turn their hearts to Him (cf. 1 Kings 18:37) the only inevitable conclusion and consequence was that the covenant relationship was OVER - TERMINATED!

This is why he headed to Horeb, the place where God established the covenant.

What was God going to do now?

Now that His plan for Israel could no longer continue?

This was a crisis - far beyond a personal threat to Elijah’s life!

(He wasn’t concerned for his own life 1 Kings 19:4) Could the worship of יהוה die out altogether?! Elijah went as the only remnant left of יהוה fearers - there were none beside him on that day (cf. 1 Kings 18:21), if he died there would be none left!

They sought to wipe out the only remaining witness to the true God.

Elijah had to meet with יהוה!

What was He going to do now?

*Disillusionment (1 Kings 19:4) [read 1 Kings 19:4] *-He’d come apart, alone in the desert to talk with God.

Still he was preoccupied with his own soul (נֶפֶשׁ two times in this verse).

He had had enough.

His life had been one of service to יהוה but now he saw that it was over.

He had done all he could and יהוה had shown His mighty power, the reality of His being, and it had made no impact.

What more could be done?

This people were inveterate in their rejection of יהוה and their following of idols.

-  Elijah thinks back to the beginnings - to the fathers of the faith - to the patriarchs, Moses too was in his mind - for he had confronted idolatry the very moment after the revelation of יהוה at Sinai (the golden calf incident).

If יהוה Himself coming down on the mountain did not convince these people of His reality, if Moses couldn’t turn them away from idolatry, how could he?

He was certainly no greater than Moses, what could he do?

He had laboured in vain (John the Baptist experienced this, even Jesus felt this cf.

Isaiah 49:4 laboured in vain~/how long must I put up with you?).

These people were hopelessly inveterate idolaters - there was nothing that could be done that would make them follow יהוה with their whole heart.

Moses couldn’t change their heart, neither could he.

Moses offered his life for the sake of this people (Exodus 32:32), now Elijah offers his. he had done all he could, no more could be done - it was enough.

He had served the LORD and failed to turn the people’s heart - serving יהוה was his whole raison d’etre - there was no point remaining now he had done his assigned task.

Previously, perhaps, he thought that the people would believe and serve יהוה if they could clearly see and know the reality of Him (1 Kings 18:37) but now he knew that even knowing this truth, they still would not serve Him - this is the consistent, tragic, record of human history - even when they know, they still reject Him.

Idolatry is not from ignorance - it is KNOWING and WILFUL and DELIBERATE REJECTION of God (cf.

*Rom 1:18* /even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God ..... and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man/).

- Elijah was disillusioned, wanting to give up, felt like he’d accomplished nothing (this is what satan wants to bring the earnest seeker to with his intimidation).

You think you can be used to bring people back to God but they are as stubborn and unresponsive as they have ever been -  it’s all part of the process - don’t give up despite disappointment and seeming failure.

What do you need to do?

*Fed from above (1 Kings 19:5,6) [read 1 Kings 19:5] - *we need to seek God further yet - how do we go further?

- we are sustained by heavenly food.

- Elijah had had enough and he lay down and slept - he’d given up.

An angel came and woke him and told him to eat.

Rather than taking his life יהוה supplied food to sustain it - his life wasn’t done with yet.

Many say at this stage Elijah was out of the Divine will, backsliding - but he was still receiving Divine revelation, in touch with God on a level that few of know even in our most spiritual of moments.

יהוה gave no indication that his journey south was wrong, rather He endorsed it by supporting him to continue it.

Elijah’s purpose was to meet יהוה in the desert - Sinai wasn’t his original intention or destination.

It wasn’t that Elijah’s motive was wrong, rather it was that he didn’t go far enough.

יהוה wanted Elijah to /go even further/ in seeking Him out alone - wanted to take him back to where it all began, where the covenant was first established.

For as Elijah had SEEN, the covenant relationship with Israel was OVER  - יהוה was taking Elijah back to Sinai to confirm the relationship, no longer with the whole nation but with a remnant - a subset, those whose heart was true to יהוה

*[read 1 Kings 19:6] *- water = Spirit of God; fresh bread = Jesus the bread of life, revealed fresh daily from the word of God.

- All throughout יהוה had provided food supernaturally for Elijah - that sustenance from heaven continued - no, Elijah was not out of relationship with יהוה, he was still feeding on the heavenly bread.

The drought had ended and the people had gone back to relying on natural sources of supply - but still the servant of God was fed by God with bread from heaven.

Spiritually exhausted, Elijah still was not up to the spiritual journey ahead of him.

יהוה was looking after him, He had not taken His hand of care away from him - He was preserving Elijah’s soul, not taking it.

Some say that Elijah was away from God at this point, when were they last fed by an angel?

This was a man closely in touch with יהוה - the LORD holds him up as an example of a righteous man and the standard against which prophets are measured - who was and is to return and prepare the way for the LORD Himself, who spoke with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, who was in the select company that never tasted death!

Highly honoured of God!

We need to be careful not to right him off as being depressed and self-pitying - we have not begun to appreciate the greatness of this man of God nor understood the depth of his heart which was jealous for יהוה alone.

יהוהcares individually and wonderfully for such rare and precious ones as these.

*We haven’t the strength (1 Kings 19:7,8)* - *[read 1 Kings 19:7] *- angel came second time, “Angel of the LORD” - Jesus!

- Elijah had not gone far enough in his seeking - there was still a journey, further to go - /we must press in further/

- a journey too great for you - seek till we come to the end of our strength, we haven’t the strength for the journey (naive days - lie here till You reveal yourself)

- We should not be sleeping in these end times but strengthening ourselves, feeding on God’s Word, preparing ourselves for the journey ahead - days when we will no longer be able to feed ourselves.

- Elijah had travelled into the desert to meet with God but יהוה said that he had not gone far enough - he had further yet to go in his seeking of God - back to the very beginnings, the foundation.

This is a word for us - in all our earnest seeking of the LORD, /we have further yet to go in our seeking of //יהוה//.

/Press on to maturity (Heb 6:1 /leaving the elementary teaching/,  /let// us press on to maturity/).

The journey is too much for us - we cannot make it on our own strength, by our own efforts and resources - it requires Divine sustenance.

Again יהוה provided it - it is He who provides what is necessary for the journey.

*[Read 1 Kings 19:8] *- some food, it sustained for 40 days and nights - depressed men don’t have that will power, determination, motivation, discipline, purpose