Elijah, Jesus and End Time Prophets pt. 1

Mark Finley: God is going to bring you in your life into circumstances that there's no human solution. That there's no way out around or through. That you're going to sit back and say, "God, I don't know how I can get through this." Why is God allowing that? To strengthen your faith.
Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Elijah, Jesus and End-Time People, Part 1. Enjoy and remember you can always catch past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: John Kenneth Galbraith was a Canadian-American economist, and his books on economics were bestsellers in America from about 1950 to 2000. He received the Medal of Freedom from the United States government in 1976. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. In his autobiography titled "Life in Our Times," he tells an interesting little story about his housekeeper, Emily Wilson. One day John Kenneth Galbraith came back to his home. He was a counselor on economy to many presidents of the United States. He was particularly weary, he was exhausted, and wanted to go to sleep. So he looked at his housekeeper, Emily Wilson, and he said, "Look, I'm going to take a nap. And whoever calls me, please do not disturb me." Shortly after he went to sleep, the telephone in his house rang and Emily Wilson, his housekeeper, answered the phone. The voice on the other end of the line said, "This is Lyndon Johnson. I need to speak to Kenneth Galbraith." Emily Wilson said, "I'm sorry, Mr. President, but he's taking a nap right now." Lyndon Johnson said, "I don't care if he's napping or not. You wake him up. This is the president of the United States." Emily Wilson said, "With all due respect, Mr. President, I work for Mr. Galbraith, not you. Please call him back when he's awakened after his nap." The next day, Lyndon Johnson called Kenneth Galbraith, and he said, "I don't know who that lady is, but whoever she is, I want her to work in the White House for me because anybody that would protect her boss like that needs to be in the White House." Emily Wilson had this principled commitment to her boss. She knew who her leader was. The greats, worthies of faith down through the centuries, knew who their boss was. They knew their master. They had this principled commitment to God. That's the lesson of Elijah that I want to study with you this morning. I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to 1 Kings the 16th chapter. Elijah is one of the most principled, one of the most committed, one of the most faith-filled characters in Scripture. Now, you'll notice the title of my message is "Elijah, Jesus, and an End-Time People." Why are we interested in studying the life of Elijah? Elijah came on the scene of this earth's history at a time of great spiritual apostasy. He came on at a time of great compromise, and Elijah faced that compromise and apostasy in faith. Elijah called the nation back to obedience. Eventually, Elijah was translated without seeing death. God's end-time people are looking forward once again to being translated without seeing death. We are told in the prophecies of Malachi that the message of Elijah will return just before the coming of Jesus. A message of a faith-filled people calling an immoral, sex-centered, thrill-jaded, and morally twisted society back to obedience. So we are interested in Elijah because Elijah represents a type of the redeemed that will live just before the coming of Jesus and prepare for translation. We turn to get a setting of the times of Elijah here in 1 Kings chapter 16, and we begin there with the 29th verse. The Scripture says, "In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years." So Ahab reigned more than two decades. Next verse, verse 30, "Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him." Verse 31 tells us that he married Jezebel. Who was Jezebel? Jezebel was a Phoenician, came from a town called Sidon. Sidon was a city in Phoenicia. The Phoenicians were Baal worshippers. So here you have King Ahab, the king of Israel, marrying Jezebel, a Baal worshipper. You have the union of church and state powers. Now, when Ahab married Jezebel, he argued in Israel for tolerance. His big argument was for tolerance. The Baal worshippers worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars. Baal was the god of the storms. The Baal worship was one in which they believed that the rain that fell was given by Baal. Now, Ahab did not deny the worship of the Israelites. He did not deny the Israelites having the privilege to worship the true God. But he said we need to be tolerant of all peoples. Therefore, tolerance means that we have to give Baal worship the freedom of worship right in Israel. In other words, within God's church, there is tolerance of all points of view. That position of tolerance led Israel to abject apostasy. It led them to rebellion against the true God, it led them to neglect the true God, and it led them to let the altars of Baal be worshipped rather than the true God. The Bible says in verse 32 and verse 33, "Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he built in Samaria." So you could have a temple at Jerusalem, but you could also have a temple to Baal. The idea was embrace all, accept all, don't push anybody out. That was the idea of Israel. Verse 35, "And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." So what is the setting when Elijah comes on the scene? The setting is syncretism, or to use another word, the integration of Baal worship and the worship of Jehovah. Israel becomes disobedient to the true God, the commandments of God are in disrepute, and God brings a man on called Elijah. Now, there are seven lessons of faith that I want to look at in the life of Elijah. If you're taking notes—and I hope that you'll bring notebooks to church because this is a place where we learn to grow and study the Word of God and apply the messages of Scripture to life today—there are seven great lessons of faith that we learn from the life of Elijah. Here is the first lesson of faith in the life of Elijah. Lesson number one: Faith opens the door to receive God's abundant blessings, while disobedience forfeits the blessings of God. That is a key principle. Now, faith grows as we see God's blessings in our lives. Faith and obedience are two twins of the Christian life. So we want to look at this basic principle. And here's the principle: that faith opens the door to receive God's abundant blessings. We're going to look at 1 Kings chapter 17 and verse 1. The Scripture says, "And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, 'As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word.'" See, the worshippers of Baal believed that Baal provided the blessings of dew and rain. He provided lush valleys and fertile plains, bubbling brooks and flowing streams, and he provided green fields and abundant orchards. Now, God's judgment was not arbitrary. When God said that there would be famine in the land because of the drought, God was really mocking the gods of Baal because they believed that Baal gave the rain. They believed that the blessings of life came from Baal. And so what God was showing here was that the blessings of heaven come on those that are obedient. That the life of tolerance, the life of compromise, the life of disobedience forfeits the blessings of God. We find this all through Scripture. That the blessing of God comes on those that are obedient. Deuteronomy 28:1-2. You forfeit the blessings of God when you consciously disobey God and go contrary to His will. This is true for a nation. This is true for families. This is true for individuals. When a nation turns its back on God in the name of tolerance, when a nation accepts moral perversion in the name of tolerance, the judgments of God will come upon that nation. When a family, knowing what God wants them to do, turns their back on God in disobedience and compromise for convenience, they forfeit the blessings of God. When we as individuals know the leading of God in our life, know what God wants us to do, but are unfaithful in our tithe, unfaithful in Sabbath keeping, unfaithful to God in the message of health—when we consciously, knowingly are unfaithful to God, we forfeit the blessings of God. The blessings of God fall on those whose hearts are obedient to God. Deuteronomy chapter 28, notice what Scripture says, verse 1, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you." I want the blessings of God in my life. What do you say? Notice verse 15, Deuteronomy 28:15: "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you." The blessing comes as by faith we enter into obedience with God. We lose the blessing when we knowingly disobey the Word of God. Notice Joseph. Difficult circumstances, obeyed God, received the blessing, became the prime minister of Egypt. Daniel. Very difficult circumstances in Babylon, obeyed God, purposed in his heart to serve God, received the blessings, became an influential leader in Babylon. Esther went in before the king and received the blessings of God. Now, Elijah's faithfulness to God in a day of moral compromise, Elijah's faithfulness led him to receive the blessings of God. Because notice, 1 Kings chapter 17. Obedience, faith and obedience lead you to receive the wonderful blessings of God. In a time of famine, in a time when food was scarce, the Bible says in 1 Kings chapter 17��you're noticing verse 3 and 4—the Word of the Lord comes to Elijah: "Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went by the Word of the Lord by the Brook Cherith. At a time of famine and hunger, the blessing of God came upon Elijah and ravens fed him there. Now, I wonder, where did the ravens get the food? May I suggest off the king's table? Elijah was out by some brook by Cherith and every day the Lord sent from heaven a raven over to the king's food. And the king says to the raven, "Hey, here's a loaf of bread," and he doesn't know that the raven's flying from the king's palace right to that Brook Cherith, giving it to Elijah. The blessings of God always come on those that are obedient to God. We cannot expect the blessings of God living in disobedience to His commands. But one thing the story of Elijah teaches us is that when we step out by faith to do what is right because it is right, when we step out by faith, God empowers our actions and brings us blessings beyond what we can possibly imagine. God fed Elijah three times in the story. He fed him by the Brook Cherith. When that brook dried up, God sent Elijah to the widow of Zarephath. You know where Zarephath is? It's a little south of Sidon. It's in Phoenicia. It's amazing to me that God sent Elijah to the very city, in the very area where Jezebel came from. Ahab and Jezebel looked all over to find Elijah, and they couldn't find him, and he was right under the nose of her relatives there, being protected by God, being blessed by God. Elijah was faithful to God. God fed him by the Brook Cherith. God fed him in Zarephath. And later, God fed him again when he was running from Ahab, and we'll come to that story. When you are faithful to God, you open up the doors for God to work miracles in your life. When you are unfaithful to God, you close the door on the miracle that God wants to work in your life. God longs to work a miracle in your life. God longs to do for you that which apparently is impossible. God is the God of the impossible. He's the God of miracles. faithfulness to God opens the door for God to work in those miracles. Now the second lesson we learn about end-time faith is this. First lesson: end-time faith is obedient even when obedience seems impossible. End-time faith does not accept the compromises of this world and forfeit the blessings of God. Second lesson about end-time faith: end-time faith does not mean we always understand, because God leads us at times in pathways that we do not understand. For three and a half years, it did not rain. Elijah received the blessings of God during those three and a half years. But at the end of those three and a half years, God gave Elijah a command. You will find that command in 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 1. Now the prophet could have hesitated. The prophet could have stayed where he was, shaking in fear that if he appeared before Ahab, the wicked king would kill him. He could have told God he would not, he could not, he should not go. God was saying something to Elijah. And Elijah could have said, "Look, God, I can't do this. God, I'm not going to go. Lord, if I go there, I'm Your prophet, and I'm going to get slain and the voice of God will be silenced." Elijah could have said, "God, I've been doing okay here by the Brook of Cherith. I've been doing okay here in Zarephath. I've been doing okay here. Lord, You've protected me, You've fed me. Lord, please, I'm not going to Ahab." I suppose that Elijah did not understand. Faith does not need to understand. It simply needs to obey. 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 1: "And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.'" Verse 2: Elijah doesn't reason. Elijah doesn't tell Ahab all the reasons he can't go. "So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria." Elijah goes. I remember an occasion I was holding an evangelistic meeting in Brockton, Massachusetts. An amazing experience happened. Unbeknownst to me, there was a woman who had been studying the Bible, living up in Moncton, New Brunswick, up in Canada. She had studied the Adventist message, was convicted of the truths in the Bible. Because when you study the Adventist message in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit convicts you of those truths. She was convicted: Jesus is coming soon. She was convicted on the Bible Sabbath. She believed that God was leading her to make a decision. She was going to be baptized in a couple weeks. There was one problem. Her husband was not an Adventist Christian and he was really angry that she was considering becoming a Seventh-day Adventist. So he did everything he could to discourage her. Just shortly before her baptism, he said, "There's one more thing I'm going to do." He said, "Let's go to a friend's wedding." He knew there'd be a lot of drinking and partying in the wedding, and he said to her, "Look, as a wife, I am telling you, you must go to this wedding with me. I want to get you away from all this nonsense. I want to get you away from these Adventists." She said, "Lord, I don't understand. He is my husband. I will not drink, but I understand this: I'm going to go." So she made a decision to be faithful to Christ, but she made a decision not to be defiant of her husband. So she decided to go. She said, "Lord, I totally don't understand, but I'm going to trust You and I'm going to obey You." They got in the car and they drove. They drove a number of hours from Moncton, New Brunswick, down to Brockton, Massachusetts. He was absolutely exhausted. They came in and checked into the hotel room. She walked down into the lobby, he went to sleep. In the lobby, there was a large sign and the sign said, "Prophecy Lectures by Pastor Mark Finley. The topic tonight is 'How You Know the True Church.'" She walked into those meetings, listened to a message on Revelation chapter 14, the message of the true church. I made an appeal, she got up and came forward and came to the altar. Went back to the room. Her husband woke up. She said, "Thank you so much for bringing me here. Because tonight I went to Pastor Finley's meeting and I discovered and I'm more convinced than ever that the Adventist is the true church." He threw up his hands and said, "Go be baptized if you want. We can't get away from these people." You may not always understand, but you trust. Elijah did not understand, but he trusted. There is a time to think, there's a time to weigh out your options, there's a time to consider all the possibilities, but there's also a time to trust and obey. There's a time to step out in faith. There may be somebody here today that God is leading you to some decision in your life. I don't know what that decision may be. Maybe a decision to be faithful in your stewardship. It may be a decision to be more faithful in your tithe. It may be a decision to be faithful in some area of health. It may be a decision to be more faithful in Sabbath keeping. There may be somebody here today that God is leading you to make some decision for Christ. And maybe you don't fully understand how it's all going to work out. Maybe you don't fully understand how to sort out everything. There is a time to listen to the voice of God and say, "God, whether I understand or not, I'm going to trust and obey."
Guest (Male): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: God's end-time people don't have to figure out everything in their heads. Elijah could have been incredibly worried about the consequences of going to Ahab. And he could have let his fears about what might happen keep him from doing God's will. But deep within his heart, he made a decision: I will do God's will no matter what happens. When we trust and obey, the blessings of God fall upon our lives. When we trust and obey, our faith grows. When we trust and obey humbly, we reach out to others that are our enemies. We trust and obey, we leave the cave and stand on the mountain and recognize that God has a plan for our lives we can't imagine.