Now let us turn to first Kings chapter seventeen. Otherwise we begin first twenty-nine of chapter sixteen because we're going to get a fraction between the sixteenth and seventeen chapters. And in the thirty-and-eight day of Assa, king of Judah, now we have Ahab introduced to us, and notice the three solemn things by which he is introduced. And Assa, king of Judah, begat Ahab. Ahab began the son of Amalai to reign over Israel. That's the first thing. Then it says again, and Ahab, the son of Amalai, reign over Israel. thirteen verse thirty and Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him not very complimentary and it came to pass as if it had been a night thing for him to walk in the sins of Jericho the son of Nebat that or to add to that following the ways of Jeroboam, he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethel, king of the Sidonians, a heathen nation, and went and served Bale, a heathen god, and worshipped him. That's not enough. He reared up an altar for Bale in the house of Bale, which he had built in Samaria, the capital. And Ahab made the grove, made a grove, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before. So you get a little description of this man, Ahab, and what a character he was. And there's something very significant in verse sixty- thirty-four. God had made a prediction back in Judges chapter six after he destroyed Jericho and the walls of Jericho fell down flat. And this is what you read in Judges six and twenty six. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city, Jericho. He shall lay the foundation of in his firstborn. and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. And here, five hundred and twenty-six years later, that exactly happened. This man healed. He didn't ever really recall, or he didn't want to recall, the curse that God was going to place upon a man who would rebuild Jericho. God said, you start to build a... falls of Jinnacle, and it would cost him his firstborn son. And when he finished, it would cost the lastborn son. Now, if you want to read the history of this man, Sheel, he had four sons, and he began to build the foundation of the walls of Jinnacle, and his firstborn son died. It gives you the name of that son, Here Abram. Sheel the first one. and he continued to build, and the second son died. He continued to build, and the third son died. And as he finished, the last son died, when he finished building, the last son died. Here is man, and he's rebelling against God's prediction. He bears the twine of the face of Almighty God. Now why is it this verse was brought in at this position? right after Ahab comes to the throne. Here's a good reminder to Ahab that God's prophecy will be fulfilled, and it suddenly should have caused him to walk softly before God, instead of that he rebelled constantly, repeatedly, and defiantly against God. And so here is God dropping a warning in here that Ahab might take notice. So we have the introduction to this man, Ahab. And this little word end at the beginning of verse one of chapter seventeen, that conjunction. In other words, it's God's addition. What you have in chapter seventeen is an addition to what you have in chapter sixteen. In other words, God says, I've got something to say about this situation. I'm going to add something to this story. And God always gets the final word. The end immediately links it up with what I've been reading here tonight. What a melancholy story it is that we have just read about the introduction of Ahab. No idolatry is rampant all to the land of ten tribes. In the favored land, the religion of Baal has now replaced the worship. of the two gods. And the principal tools for this are Ahab and his wicked white Jezebel. They're the two tools on this occasion to bring about the apostasy of the ten tribes in the northern kingdom. So God now is going to give his picture of the situation and how it's all going to end. He does it. for two purposes, to pour in his hope and to give hope to his future. David, you're all familiar with David, David had a son by the name of Solomon. Solomon had a son by the name of Rehoboam. And it was under Rehoboam's reign that the twelve tribes split into two, ten in the north and two in the south. Reabom, he reigned over the two. Jerobom, the son of Nebat, reigned over the north. But something happened that Reabom or Jerobom didn't like. Jerobom didn't like the idea that Jerusalem being in the south, while many of the people were still God-fearing in the ten provinces or the ten tribes in the north, they began going back to the south. the Jerusalem to worship the true God. They would make their trek to go down through Jerusalem to worship God in the temple. Jeroboam didn't like this. Why did he not like it? Because he knew they kept going back and they kept going back. God would throw them back. And he didn't want to lose his grip upon the pen tribe. So what did he do? Well, he erected temples. in the north. He put one in Dan in the north and northern part of the ten tribes and he put the other one Bethel in the south. In other words, he's going to try and keep the people in the northern part to going back to Jerusalem in the south and possibly coming again under Rehoboam's jurisdiction. Here he puts a trap, he makes a trap for the people of the West. Trying to substitute the worship of God, the true worship, in Jerusalem. And right here he breaks the first commandment. Thou shalt not make unto thee any image. Make an image of God in the likeness of any man or any keeping thing or creature. And here he makes a golden calf, breaking the first commandment. And that was only the vision. But after this, Why, you'll notice how Jeroboam, and it says this, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, idolatry took over the worship of David. And these words follow many references to Jeroboam later on. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. A sad commentary after a man's life. These are the words that follow them, just like Judas the traitor, very terrible, the man who made Israel to sin by the introduction of idolatry. Then we have the Ten Tribes, defining so fast that Omri comes up. Omri, using the military, he took over, and following him, his son... Ahab appears upon the sea, this monster. And you know what's said about Ahab even worse than what's said about Jeroboam? It says this, Their son, Ahab of whom it is often said, He did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before. The future gets darker and darker as they go along to see just what happens. Now you find Ahab, he's on the boat. And this man was a wicked monster. And as we mentioned in leading, pointed out in the text, he made matters worse when he married Jezebel. And if you read up on history, Jezebel was a very beautiful, crafty, unscrupulous, but true woman. That was Jezebel. At the time that Ahab took it to be as white, Jezebel was queen of the seas, as history points out. Her colonies dotted the shores of the Mediterranean and ships, whitened every sea with their sea. This was Jezebel's domain, even if this part is Spain. And so everyone thought, why? This is a good marriage that is in the human standpoint. Here is Ahab. and here is Jason. What power now is there? The result of that union was Carthage was born, and Carthage was the one that nursed the Iron Cove Hannibal that made Rome to Tender. It seemed a splendid match, but it resulted in disaster. Thus you have the background of Elijah's ministry that was hitting up with this time. Jezebel was a worshiper of Baal. She was trained by the priests of Baal. She was influenced by the many priests of Baal. She built a temple in Jezreem, and she supported four hundred and fifty priests of Baal out of her private revenues, and the priests swarmed all over the ten tribes of Israel. As a result, gold sprang up and temples sprang up all over the country. And here is Jezebel, the two in the hands of the devil, and Ahab reigning over the ten sides. You see how swiftly they change from the worship of the one living and two God to idolatry the worship of Baal. This is the dark background of the story of Elijah. He springs upon the scene, as we mentioned, and it seems he came out of nowhere. We understand that he was across the River Jordan, and under we understand as far as historians know, he was in the hill country, possibly a shepherd, suggesting he might have been like David, keeping a flock of sheep. in that rock country, where wild beast roamed, but he must have been steeped in scripture. Just one thing that fired his soul, if that was, his jealousy for the living and true God, hearing ever of Leilun from across the river, how he had done Jezebel, had brought him pale, and how the ten tribes were being brought up, indoctrinated by, bail, worshiping bail, and the true God was not mentioned or ministered to. And those, the priests of the law, they were scattered. They were slaughtered, and the temples were destroyed all over the land. There's one case here that's very interesting. There was one man, and he kept a few. Obadiah said, and he did this in verse thirteen, verse thirteen of chapter eighteen. Was it not told, my Lord, what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? Oh, but I was a godly man, governor of Ahab's palace, but he must have compromised, or he wouldn't have had that influence. He was a timid man, nevertheless. He did fear the Lord, and he kept these prophets, these priests of the Lord. in the limestone cave down in the Ten Tribes, the south part of the Ten Tribes Kingdom. And so here we find the condition of this. Idolatry has taken over. And if you want the story of how Jezebel persecuted the priests and God's people in the north, all you have to do is read Hebrews in Lebanon, They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and for many. The fires of persecution burned, and Ahab and Jezebel are turning on to persecute those who be faithful to the living God down into this find eradicate from the minds of the ten tribes any knowledge of the living and the true God. And they were persecuted, put to death. Everything that reminded them of the true God was standard. And here Elijah had heard this. And it burned in his soul. He was zealous for the Lord. How he got across to Jordan we do not know. But the first thing you read concerning him will be standing in the presence of the king, as you have in verse one. And Elijah the Tishba, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said of Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel live up, for for whom I stand, there shall not be too nor rain these years, but according to my word. Why, what a message. Here stand this unknown man, unheard of, unmentioned. And he's standing with his long, sadly here, and with his cloak of camel skin, a rough-looking character. And he's standing before Ahab. And he's standing before Jezebel. You might have known what the consequences would be. And he faced them up, and he said these wonderful words, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand there shall not be due a rain these years, but according to thy will, I am going to withhold the heavens from rain. Something I suppose like the Arabs are trying to do, they are trying to put the pressure on the west, because they have the oil. They're going to try and bring the rest to their knees because we need the Lord. And so Elijah says, I'm going to withhold rain from heaven. There'll be no rainfall from the skies only at my command. You can almost see Ahab looked at Jezebel. Jezebel looked at Ahab. Who's this? Before they had time to inquire, he left. And he fled, as you have in verse three. Get the hence and turn the Easter, and hide thyself by the brook-headed that is before the Lord. A wonderful story of Elijah, how jealous he was with his glory. He tells us that. His prayer, the prayer that we were speaking on this morning, how remarkable it is. And I want to read it again. Elijah, that in James, five and seven days. Elias was a man subject to like passions as he are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained off on the earth by the streets of three years and six months. And he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth those days. I wonder if Elijah remembered the promise or a threat. In fact, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter eleven, sixteen, and seventy, this is what it says. Take heed to yourselves. God is speaking to the nation of Israel. Let your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, just what Israel have done, and worship them. And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shall shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, must ye perish strictly from off the good land that the Lord gives it to you. I wonder if the life is, there's that. He's gone. He'll turn into his mind. Now he's going to do it, and he faces Ahab and Jezebel with the possibility of the heavenly holy grace. And he tells them, Doreen will fall and let. But he gives the man. You say that's a terrible plea. The whole reign, on the earth, God's earthly people, that lovely land, the land that shaman God gave. And the park was left by the ten sides of the land. The whole the reign. Oh, you say that's a terrible prayer and plea, Elijah. Don't you know you might suffer as a result of that type of preaching? and that type of tradition. So do you. I'm sellers for the Lord, my God. Furthermore, think of all the punishment and suffering you're going to bring upon the ages of women and the children when the streams dry up and the lakes vanish and the wells will not yield or wash. Think of the camel that's going to come up on the land. Yes, it's a terrible thing. that I hold that in my hand will not be reigned upon the earth until I command it. You know the words of Elijah was prepared to die. Not only the possibility of suffering through the want of food and water, but God took care of that. But what may have been Jezebel, they may say. If these be the last words I utter, they are my last words. There shall not be rain upon the earth, only at my word. Ahab might have thought this day through. I don't want to kill him, because, behold, the weather in his house. I've got the seed that he lives until the man drained of Paul again. And you see that in Jesus' chapter. through to think of his strength. Yes, in fact, his plea was terrible. His idolatry was mortal. Although he thought of the consequences of no rain in the sky, it was terrible. But he saw something more terrible in the sight of God. And that was his people, having turned the day, having turned right now. replacing gods with idols of wooden stones. It was that that gripped the heart of Elijah. God's people turning aside, dishonoring God. Therefore, he commanded the heavens not to send rain upon the earth. What a prayer we pray. We pray earnestly. We get more than that. says here, and he prayed again. I wonder how he knew where it was time to pray, or what a formula. You'll see that in chapter eight. But the time came when the heavens did, the abelings. That's an interesting story. How he brought the prophets of faith, and the priests of faith to their knees on Mount Carmel. That's when his servant, he said to his servant, go, and see. The servant says, I see a little cloud. And Elijah says, go again seven times when he went. Finally he came back. Oh, he says, the sky is covered with clouds. And the rain stayed. Elijah was alive. He had passed through a trying time that God's people was alive. And the four hundred fifty prophets of K were killed. with so many of them committed suicide, all because of one faithful man, Elijah, who faced a king, a wicked king, and a vicious queen. And he told them that nothing would fall from the heavens in the way of moisture, and he gave them. What a prayer. And their mood is this. The source of this strength. As Jehovah lived, as Jehovah lived, how that must have struck with the very heart of Ahab, who of course being a Jew was brought up to know about the living God in Abraham, Isaac, and David. But now, poor Ahab and them so brainwashed by this idolatry of faith, likely thought, well, this God, I don't believe in that. I've got another God, faith. and I'm going to give my allegiance to him. I replaced Abraham and Isaac. God will prevail as my son. And thus are the lightest methods in the kingdom of the Lord God of Israel. He's still alive. Jehovah lives. Just like Job. Job says, I know that my redeemer lives. I know that my Redeemer lives. Isn't that enough? Seeing He lives, I shall live also. Christ says, I am He that liveth and I walk dead, but I am alive forevermore. And as the Christian today faces the future, isn't it wonderful to know that Jehovah lives? We have a Savior alive at God's right hand. And it's enough for us to know that he knows our circumstance. And Elijah faced times more fierce than ours, and he faced a wicked king and a wicked priest. And all the strength of the idolatry of faith, the day you might liken it unto modernism, spreading through the land that the Lord beholdeth you look. we've got the only answers in the communism which had also modernism that is a living God and a living Christ. Then he says something else, before whom I stand. That's right to remark to me. How can you say, Elijah, you're standing before the Lord you're in Ahab's court before whom I stand? I see beyond that wicked king on the throne in front of me. I see beyond him I lift my eyes higher. I see a God before whom I stand. And again we compare and study with Gabriel over in Luke one nineteen. Gabriel says, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speak unto me. Elijah couldn't the day have straightened the eye in his right hand. I used that same language. I am a light that stands in the presence of God, and I am set to speak unto him. Dear a man, use that language today, only as God enables, and only in the measure we stand in the courts of the Lord, stand in his presence and get the field. or Tesla, only then can we stick to the holiday. I have set the speed up with you, the third of the Lord. Those who have been baptized right now, just as Elijah, he says, before whom I stand, or I'm taking my stand for the Lord, I'm taking my stand for the over against failings. daily. So those who are taking their stance tonight for Christ are declaring by their baptism they have associated themselves now with a living God. They're associated now with a living Christ as God Christ has. And against all what's going on around us today, modernism and ritualism, formalism, And this kind of thing, doing the best you can to get to heaven so you can. I know there's only one way that heaven, and that through the Lord Jesus Christ. But I take my stand tonight for him. I take my stand. I'll prove. I'll prove that I've trusted him. I'll prove that I love him. I've proved that I love him. I've proved that I've found him as my savior. He's my new life. my new leader I'll prove it as if that time to show my identification with it that's it Christ identified himself with us from the clock he the holy one identified himself with us the unholy that he the unholy might be identified with him the holy one that I I take my stand He identified himself with me when he took my sin and went down to death's dark waters. I identify myself with him tonight in the waters of that river. This is one way I have of declaring my stand for Jesus Christ. And the next day, Elijah is naming Jehovah is my strength. Gridding was Elijah's strength. First, Jehovah lives. Second, before whom I stand. And third, his name, Jehovah is my strength. What more do you need? You've got a living Christ. He gives you the strength to stand for him in a wicked world. The Holy Spirit dwells within your heart. you've got a living book to read because of all this in your arsenal your spiritual arsenal you're prepared to be beyond slots of the wicked and of the world and of the devil yet I take my stand that's what the Apostle said to the Romans in chapter five and one about stand back in the liberty where the Christ has made you free and be not and tangled again with the ropes upon him. What a prayer to say. Short, pointed, but powerful. If the arrow of prayer is to enter heaven, we must, God, from a soul well-pinned, be lifted upon him. Only when you pull that bow back, with all your might, then give it all you can, that arrow is going to take its flight. not will a flip over limp and limp. This will have taken flight. It will be a straight flight. In the measure that ye are able to get prayer, all we've got, give it our back. Our prayer like arrows that fly in the sky. God is it. That's how life is. The effects of purges There are the lights of man the stain of mock. That's what he said about the night. Good says, never come seeking home. I'm sure that one day I shall receive what I ask or what I should ask for. God knows that. But on the one day he responds to his pardon, to his affection, to his seated prayer. I can't say, well, I prayed today, that was the house of tomorrow. Tomorrow morning when I get up, the world is just a gift. The world is just a trap. Tomorrow morning when I get up, the devil's the first one to meet me, when I open my eyes to suggest something that will try and get my mind off the sea. And an evil nature within is very trap me. And I await every morning the prayers of yesterday will not suffice for the day. Reading of the scripture, yesterday will not suffice for the day. As our body needs fast food every day to give us physical strength. Our soul must have spiritual strength every morning. But as thy day, so shall thy strength be. So be nothing of the light of you. It is something... of engaging in earnest prayer. For the sinner, you've got one prayer to pray. God be merciful to me, the sinner. To the Christian, Lord, take me. All of us. Lord, keep me always. Lord, use me in all places I go. At all times, under all circumstances is thy voice. It is after a prayer. Simple. But it is correct. And if the whole heart and soul and mind of Christ was, he did you so. Amen. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask thy blessing on thy doing. We thank thee. before alight, the stern stand before such terrific odds that thou stand with him and deliver. Remember those who obey these nights, the ordinance of death, may their faith be strengthened by this respect of the Deity. Those of us who look on what a thrill it is to see Christians, obeying the word of the Lord in the day of charism, leprosy, and indifference. Blessed one may they have added warmth in their