Gooding, David: 4 - Elijah at Horeb

Final four chapters of First Kings, chapter nineteen, twenty, twenty one, and twenty two. On our last occasion, we enjoyed together the stirring story of the revival that Elijah led on Mount Carmel. We almost heard the fire crackling as he proposed the tests that would distinguish the service of the living God and the service of the priests of Baal. Baal was a nature god, thought to be the force behind the growing of the crops. At the same time, he was the storm god. And Elijah suggested the test. The priests of Baal would build their altars, slay their animal sacrifices, lay them on the altar, and call upon their God. And if their God were a living God, he would send the necessary fire down from heaven to consume their sacrifice. They called for many hours on end, but nothing happened. Elijah taunted them. Perhaps your God has gone on a journey somewhere. Might have even gone to the toilet, perhaps. There was no voice, nor any that answered. That story carries a lesson for our modern world, where many have given up faith in a personal creator that could answer our prayers and has spoken into the world, and profess to believe in materialism. That is, if you should ask them individually, and you would know them well enough to ask them without offense, what was ultimately responsible for your existence? They would reply in terms of the physical elements in the universe, atoms and molecules, all of them impersonal, without any purpose, and not knowing what they have done. That is, of course, contrary to our instincts. We know ourselves to be persons, and therefore much more significant than mere matter. The sun up in the sky is very large. My brain is very small. My brain is more significant than the sun up in the sky, for it is merely so much gas. The sun doesn't know I'm here. I know the sun is there. The sun doesn't know how I work. I know how the sun works, thanks to the scientists. The early Greeks saw it was a perversity to imagine that impersonal matter is the source of our human persons. So when the priests of Baal joined in the contest and called upon Baal to answer them. Says the ancient text, there was no voice, nor any that answered. You hear the pathos of it. And in our distress, or faced with life's ultimate questions, if we're calling out on simple evolution as a process to hear us and to help us and to encourage us, there will come no voice. It is an impersonal process. By contrast, the sacrifice that Elijah offered, when he called upon the living God, fire came down from heaven and consumed it. In those far gone centuries, the principle was al- a- a- was already being, uh, enunciated and practiced. There is a living God. And the Christian gospel tells us that particularly in the cross and death of Jesus Christ, God's son, God has spoken, and God speaks still. There is no message like it. To get beneath the human conscience, under the human heart, that tells of a God who so loved us that he gave his son for our redemption. And you would have thought from the description that we had on our last occasion of the great demonstration that Elijah gave on Mount Carmel, that multitudes would have been brought to a healthier state of mind than to go after the dribbling puerilities of Baal worship. And there's some evidence that the people got converted, and they fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord Jehovah, he is God. There would even appear to have been evidence that King Ahab himself got converted. For we read that when after the demonstration, Ahab got into his chariot to be driven home to his palace in Jezreel. Elijah girt up his loins, which is what a- a- ancient gentlemen used to do, you see. Moderns have their equivalents. And ran in front of the chariot. I don't know, thirty miles or so. That makes a very interesting little, uh, visual picture that you can carry in your mind. Here comes Ahab, he's got his chariot, you see, and his fine horses, and doubtless they are ornamented, is the chariot, with ivory in the manner of the kings who had enough money to do it. A Bentley chariot at least. And uh, now Elijah the Prophet running in front to guide the way? Why, if the Duke of Edinburgh came to Belfast, probably come to Hillsborough anyway, and you saw Billy Graham in front of his Rolls-Royce, running in front, what would you conclude? You'd think the man had got religion or something. So as we come to the end of the story in chapter nineteen, we are full of hope that the next few chapters will be full of the glad tidings and activities of redemption. Alas, not so. You may well have to struggle as we briefly refer to the next four chapters, you may well have to struggle against being sorely disappointed. There was no revival. For we're told that when Ahab got home, chapter nineteen verse one, he told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Oh, has he really? said Jezebel. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life. Now, I don't know without having, about inquiring from you, how you interpret Elijah's behavior in the chapter that follows. They who study it well are divided. And some say, and rather a lot of people say, that Elijah, inflamed by his success, as he thought it, on Mount Carmel, began to feel that he was a very special Archbishop of a prophet. But when he heard what Jezebel said, then fear gripped him, and he collapsed inside. And his hitherto confidence in his own abilities and resources gave way to doubt, and as one commentator puts it, to manic depression. And he says to God, I'm no better than my fathers. And say the commentators, well, whoever thought he was anyway, better than his fathers. It's a dangerous place when a man or a woman gets it into their head they're better than the previous generation. And asks for God to take away his life. And so scared was he, that he ran, not only from Jezreel down to Beersheva, for Jezreel was one of the palaces of, um, Ahab and Jezebel, his wife. Beersheva was a right at the south of the next door country, Judah. Ahab was king of Israel, was he not? And Elijah ran all the miles right down to Beersheva. And eventually, he was not content with that, but ran another two hundred miles down to the mountain range of Horeb. He was certainly getting away from Jezebel, obviously. You say, must have been panic stricken. And God had to rebuke him, according to these commentators. Twice over asked him, what are you doing here, Elijah? Well, it could be for Elijah was a man of like passions as we are, says the Apostle James. We're none of us free of the, the... mold of pride, are we? But I take a rather different view. I hold, yes, that the man was profoundly disappointed and maybe broken. Not because he had any pride, but by the sheer exhaustion that followed his spectacular efforts, and by what has happened since. May I point out to you that I don't know, uh, uh, uh, what translation you may have, chapter nineteen and verse three. You may have a version that reads, then he was afraid and ran for his life. But the majority of the Hebrew manuscripts read not he was afraid, but when he saw. Saw what? Well, saw what the situation was. If there was going to be any revival in Israel, then either the woman Jezebel had to get converted, or else she'd have to get eliminated. For Ahab, king though he was, and on occasion wore the crown, was a weak-kneed worm of a man, faced with Jezebel that the priests of Baal were slain, Jezebel was flaming mad. It was she that had prevailed upon Ahab to build a temple to Baal. And he'd been weak enough to give in. She came from Tyre anyway. She was a pagan and was determined to carry on with priests of Baal. Kind of woman she was, we shall read in another chapter, before the night is out. How her husband took to gardening. Well, some royals do, of course. Not having a lot of other things to do, they take to gardening. And, uh, Ahab took to gardening. Well, it so happened that he wanted to extend his garden beyond where it was at the moment, as you see. But alas, the land, uh, the other side of the wall belonged to a certain Naboth. So So A- Ahab made what he thought was a reasonable offer. He said, Naboth, my good man, I'd like to develop my garden till there, and I'd like to buy your property. Uh, please, uh, sell it to me. I'll give you a very good sum for it. And, uh, somewhere else, wherever you choose. Naboth wouldn't sell it. I've inherited that from my grandfathers and grandfathers and down through the centuries. It's always had our name on it. I don't care what you offer me by way of money. I'm not interested in it. I wouldn't sell what has belonged to my family for centuries. And Ahab was very keen on gardening, and he went back and sulked on his bed and didn't feel well. And Jezebel came to inquire, you don't feel well, my dear? What what's wrong with you today? And he's told about this Naboth chap who wouldn't sell him the ground for his extended gardens. Said Jezebel, do you reign here or not? You leave it to me. And she engaged in judicial murder. She She organized organized false witnesses to come and witness that, uh, Naboth had cursed God and the king, both of which were criminal acts. She put him on trial. She suborned the ju- the jury and got him executed. There you are, you can, you can have the ground, says Jezebel. I don't know what he said, something like, oh, how clever you are, Jesse, my dear. Values. Cost of life. The arrogance of condemning somebody in the name of God when they were innocent, doing it deliberately. Some woman. Ahab followed where she led. If there were to come a revival and the priests of Baal be, uh, uh, eliminated and the temple of Baal be destroyed, you would have to deal with Jezebel. And if Jezebel didn't get converted or eliminated, you might as well give up any notion of a revival led by her dear hubby Ahab. And when Elijah saw it, he ran. He wouldn't hesitate to execute him either. Why did he run? He ran as hard as he could, virtually collapsed. I'm no better than my father, said he. Have you ever tried to lead a revival? Have you ever prayed and worked for a revival. Do you know what it costs? By way of emotional energy and rigorous hard work. Now did it come to nothing? And And Elijah Elijah. was brokenhearted, of course. Exhausted. Physically exhausted, mentally exhausted, emotionally exhausted. What will God do? Well, he put Elijah to bed. That was nice of God, wasn't it? It's angels that do that kind of thing from time to time. When he woke up, there was a meal. Don't know what the crockery was like, but it was a very tasty meal. Sometimes, you know, when we get exhausted or depressed or disappointed, it's not extra prayer we need. It can be extra sleep and a decent meal or two. And so God read the situation. And twice over. He put E- E- E- Elijah to bed for a long sleep. And then the angel awoke him and s- a second time and said, now get up and eat, uh, uh, Elijah, for the journey is too far for you. What journey? The aforesaid expositors who think, uh, Elijah was s- suffering from manic depression or something, think that he should have gone back there and then. And put his fist in Jezebel's face, maybe. That's the way you all have gone, north. But apparently not, not from the text. It was the journey down to Mount Horeb. That was two hundred miles around, south of Beersheva. Why did God send him there? Well, because that was the famous mountain. Sinai is part of that Horeb range. Where Moses went up to receive the law. And God proposed a covenant with Israel. And according to the covenant, God proposed they made him a tabernacle, and he would come and dwell among them. And there, scarce had God got the words out of his mouth. When Israel had broken the covenant anyway. And persuaded Aaron to make them a golden calf. Which they made of their earrings. They said to themselves, you know, we can't sit here at the top of bottom of a mountain, twizzling our thumbs in the desert. You have to be aiming at something in life, surely. They said to Aaron, therefore, up Aaron, make us gods to go before us. The leaders, you see, you've got to make progress in life, surely, somewhere, some direction. So they, uh, uh, broke off their earrings. Now, in those far off days, there being no banks, mercifully, eh, uh, you see the, uh, people wore their excessive wealth on their persons. Wasn't simply because the ladies wanted to show off with mighty great earrings, such as you were, you know, stretched halfway down the face. It was their excessive wealth that they, they, they wore as jewels, you see. And you say, where they got them in the, when they were in the wilderness? Well, when they came out of Egypt, they hadn't been paid their wages like they should have done for years and years and years. And the Egyptians were so glad to get rid of them that they gave them all kinds of stuff. And the gold from which they made the earrings was but a bribe byproduct of their redemption. But now, they wanted gods to go before them. They lost faith in Moses. They lost faith in Moses' God. They weren't interested in hearing about his tabernacle. They were going after gods to go before them. Earrings, if you don't mind. Oh, not just earrings, but gold anyway. The byproducts of redemption. I remember the days when in England people smoked cigarettes generally. Mm-hmm. And when they got converted, very often they gave up smoking for various reasons and saved themselves a lot of money. And you know what, some of them saved so much that they could afford a little car, an Austin Minor, for instance, or Morris Minor, or something of the sort. And of course, if you have a car, you have to go out in it, don't you? What's the point of having it if you don't go out in it? And seeing I had to work all the week long, well... So some of them went off on Sundays too. Nothing wrong in Morris Minuses that I know of. Nothing wrong in making money properly made. But to make it the goal in life, as distinct from God. That's another thing, isn't it? Make us gods to go before us. So they made the golden calf. Now God sends Elijah down to Horeb. If ever Judah at least, or Israel, has to have a revival, it will have to be in getting back to the covenant with God. And Elijah, as he returns to Israel, will have fresh in his mind the lesson that has taught him on Mount Horeb. There he prayed against Israel. You see. Now it's a very interesting thing. Now the New Testament comments on Elijah's praying, doesn't it? It was his prayers that provoked the revival. So James tells us at the end of chapter five of his letter. Elijah prayed that there should not be rain for three years, and there wasn't rain. Then he prayed again, and rain came. Though he was a man of like passions as we. His prayers, in that sense, provoked what revival there was. But then Paul, epistle to the Romans, and chapter eleven, quotes this prayer that Elijah now prayed at Horeb. Do you see? Uh, uh, um. How that, uh, he told God that they had broken down your altars and slain your prophets, and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. Do you see? And God didn't dispute that, but he did add, verse eighteen, yet will I leave, or have I left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him. God's good medicine for depression, spiritual depression. Elijah, perfectly true what you say. Jezebel is against you. The Israelites will si- side with her. They'll persecute you. They could possibly eliminate you if they got the chance. Elijah, I'm telling you now, I'm not finished with Israel myself. I've got a remnant. I've got seven thousand men who haven't bowed the knee to Baal. And Paul gladly takes up that promise, doesn't he? For in Romans chapter nine, ten, and eleven, Paul deals with the problem. Israel was the nation chosen of God to bring in the Messiah. You just imagine, if I may take time off just for a few minutes, Paul in prison in Caesarea, do you see? Can you imagine that? And Felix is the governor. He was open to all kinds of persuasion, particularly if it came in the form of banknotes or silver or gold or anything like that. So he was in- interested to have a prisoner like Saul of Tarsus, highly educated man, knowing his Greek and uh classics. And so Felix used to come and talk to him of an evening, you know, that was something to do when you hadn't got television. And uh, you can imagine Felix saying to Paul, now, Paul, how do you know that Jesus is the Messiah? Well, uh, your sir, uh, you see, the Old Testament scriptures tell us about the coming of Messiah, and they say what family he is to be born of and where he is to be born and so forth, and what he is going to do. Well, that's very impressive, says Felix. Uh, you, you have a scriptures or something? And, and could you read me some of them? Thanks. Oh, look at that, yes. Hmm. Um, Paul, now... Are you sure that this is not your own interpretation of this thing? Do all the rabbis in Israel admit that th- that this is the true interpretation? Um, or is it just you? Uh, well, Saul, tell me how, how many extra, how many other rabbis agree with you that Jesus is the Messiah? Well, there's a, uh, there's Nicodemus to start with, and he was a very famous family, the Genbu- Gen- Ben-Gurions, very famous family. And there's Joseph of Amathia, he he he he was a member of the Sanhedrin. Any more, uh, Paul? What would you have said if you were Paul? That the whole nation, virtually, denied Jesus. Paul continued to witness, of course, and pointed out what the issues were at stake, and so forth and so on. Listen to God talking to Paul. Paul, it may be now that the majority in Israel reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah. It won't always be so. And God certainly hasn't finished with Israel. How do you know, Paul? Well, you listen, listen, listen what, what, what God said to Elijah. When Elijah was for giving up, no, no, says God, I haven't finished with Israel yet. I, I, I, I have seven thousand men that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. That may be a small proportion, but it's a remnant, Saul. And why I leave a remnant, says God? Why, if I were going to destroy the nation, I'd destroy them root and branch at once. The very fact I leave a remnant is thy guarantee that one day I will restore the rest. Good, isn't it? Well, I don't know if you, if you agree, but if you do agree, you could shout hallelujah under your breath. God will yet restore that nation through whom his son came. Notice the promise, the consideration that God now forces on, uh, Elijah. It's worth working on, Elijah. Worth carrying on. You're disappointed now because the revival didn't break out. Worth carrying on, Elijah. And go back and anoint your successors. Successors. So Elijah came to the f- mouth of his cave, and there was a big windstorm, but God wasn't in the windstorm, and there was a big fire, and God wasn't in the fire. And then there came a still small voice. And here the commentators, as usual, see an opportunity. Yes, you'll see, they say, Elijah would freely have, uh, uh, enjoyed to see fire come down from heaven and destroy everybody. He had to learn, uh, that there was another side to God, the still small voice that talks to our consciences. Okay. But what did the still small voice say? It would be not a bad idea to read it, wouldn't it? Do you see? Verses fifteen and 16 are what the still small voice said, and they announce a withering judgment. Do you see verse fifteen and the end of it? Thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Jehu the son of Ni- Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass that him that escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. God will in his good time bring in his judgment. When God judges, he doesn't lose his temper, you know. It was a still small voice. He would see that justice was done. Let's move on, and move on quickly. It will be evident now that Jezebel and Ahab have sinned a most obnoxious sin, putting their fist in the very face of God. And defying God. What would you have God do to Ahab? Now come on, before you go to bed. What would you have done with Ahab? Mm-hmm. Set him as a Sunday school teacher to hope he'd improve his ways, perhaps. Or what? God preached the gospel to the man. The mercies of God are beyond measurement. You see, the Syrians, what were called Syrians in those days, they were Arameans, really, long troubled Israel. And therefore, they came against Israel once more. Do you see? And, uh... Israel was strengthened by God to defeat them. So the Syrians, uh, scratched their heads and came up for a reason. Verse twenty five of chapter twenty. Number thee an army like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, and we will fight against them, that against Israel, in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. Do you see? The first time they tried to defeat Israel up the mountains, and that didn't work. So they said to themselves, the strategists, ah, their god is a god of a plain. So let's this time attack them on the plain, and we shall conquer them if we do that, you see, because their god is a god of the hills, and he won't be able to help them on the plain. That's absolute nonsense, but that's how people thought in those days. And here is God using the enemy to preach a little gospel message to Ahab, if you please. Because your enemy have said that, uh, you defeated them because you fought them up the mountains, and your God is a God of the mountains. Now they're going to come back to you in the plain, and they think that your God isn't a God of the plain. They've got absolutely false ideas of God. And I'm going to give you the victory, Ahab, to demonstrate that I'm not some geographical God like Baal. I'm God Almighty and omnipresent, not a God of the hills or the God of the plain, the God of the universe. I'm going to give you the victory, Ahab, just to show you who I am. That's gospel message, isn't it? Do you know what? Some many years ago, I left England. You know, there were a lot of people that believed in God in England. I came all the way to Ulster. Do you know what I found? Uh, thousands of folks in Ulster that believed in God. Just you imagine that. Do you suppose you could get anywhere on earth where God isn't? He's the living God, isn't he? Heavens of heavens cannot contain him. Ahab, put your faith in the real God, Ahab. Let God preach you the gospel. And the victory was given him that day again. God preaching the gospel to Ahab. So then the king and his courtiers came to Ahab, and they came very humbly with ropes around their necks and, uh, old clothes, humble and repentant, and they begged his majesty a pardon, do you see? What ought A- Ahab to have done? Well, he ought to have got hold of the rope and tightened it around their necks. Because they were a plague, were these folks constantly to Israel. Instead of which, he joined up with them, had them come and sit on his throne with him, in his chariot with him. Funny that, isn't it? It happens that some people can get into all kinds of interminable muddles through sinful practices. And then, when God delivers them, instead of rooting out the sinful practice, they continue with it. Ahab did. So the gospel lost on Ahab. We've already talked about the way that Jezebel urged Ahab, and together they indulged in judicial murder of Naboth to get a few square inches of land so as Ahab could add it to his garden. What would you have to do with authorities that value human life like that? What would you have God do? And finally, we come to a very sad chapter, on the basis of which I can tell you what God did with Ahab. Because Ahab had had the gospel preached to him many times now, through Elijah the prophet, through the other prophets, and Ahab had always rejected it and confused it. Now God is going to send him a strong delusion that he believed the lie, that he all might be damned. If you think that is excessively strong language, then of course I'm quoting from the New Testament, two Thessalonians chapter two. God will send some people at the end of this age, says Paul, a strong delusion that they believe not, that they believe the lie. Why will he do it? Because they would not receive the love of the truth. That's why. If you won't have the truth, what is there left? Let's see how it worked out in Ahab's case. Ahab came to Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat was on the whole a good king, and he was the king of Judah. He'd made an unfortunate marriage arrangement with his son, with Ahab's daughter, but that's another story. Uh, and he was, uh, visiting Ahab, you see, up in Ahab's palace in Samaria. And Ahab says to Jehoshaphat one day, Joss, old boy, um, you know, uh, have you thought much about Ramoth Gilead these days? Uh, no, says Jehoshaphat, no, no, I hadn't thought about that. Well, it's ours, you know, belongs to us, and these Syrians have got it, and that can't be right. So what about having a joint campaign, do you see, and we'll join our armies together and we'll go up and get Ramoth-Gilead back into our possession? Mm-hmm. Well, that's a thing, said that Jehoshaphat, who was easily persuaded, unfortunately. And, uh, well, yes, perhaps he would, perhaps he would, yes. So it was arranged, and the king came out and to the kings, can you see the maids out there? And there was a big place outside Samaria, outside the city wall, you know, big thrashing floor, actually, but it was wide space for all sorts of ceremonies you could have. And, uh, Ahab and and Jehoshaphat had their thrones there, and they dressed up in their royal attire and their crowns and things pull on. This was the beginnings of, uh, the, uh, then going to march up to Ramoth-Gilead in the north and seize it back from the Syria. And, uh, Ahab, he he he he had a lot of religious men there, a lot of prophets of various sorts and very doubtful origins. And he said to them, uh, now, gentlemen, we want your advice as two monarchs here. Is it, uh, the will of God that we go up and take Ramoth-Gilead? And the prophets, with one accord, said, yes, go up, and the Lord will give it to you, uh, Ahab, you see. There you are, said Ahab, with every encouragement to go from the Lord. Yes, Ahab dear, yes, I know got a good fellow, but um, um, shouldn't we also listen to a prophet of the Lord, perhaps, as well? Well, said Ahab, Josh, oh boy, um, well, there aren't many of them around nowadays. They're decidedly unpopular, you know. I don't know if you've noticed the trend. Uh, they're unpopular. Uh, there is about one left, but he's in clink, you know, Jossy, old boy, because he never can say anything agreeable about me. It's always again what I propose, you see. So he's in clink, uh, and if you insist, uh, we can hear what he has to say. But all the other prophets, you see, Joseph, all the other prophets are saying, go up and the Lord will deliver it into your hand. So an officer was sent to get Muqir out of prison. And as they came along the road, Muqir, being an ordinary, uh, uh, soldier chap, you see, prison governor or something, he had a word in the prophet's ear. He said, no, sir, it's not my business to tell you what to say. Of course, I wouldn't dream of telling you what to say, but, you know, um, all the other prophets are encouraging the king to go up, uh, you see, um, you might, I mean, if you can, you know, with a good conscience, of course, but if you could, uh, manage to encourage the king to go up, uh, uh, because he mightn't like it, uh, if you didn't. And you don't want to get back in here, do you? I mean, the bread and water here isn't good stuff. So Micaiah said, thanks very much, and they went up. And Ahab said to the prophet of the Lord, Micaiah, shall we go up? Yes, said Micaiah, you go up. The Lord will deliver it into your hand. Here, stop that, he said, said Ahab. How long am I to tell you to tell me the truth? Well, how did he know it wasn't the truth? When all the other prophets said go up, he believed them. When Micaiah said, yes, go up, you'll be successful. How did he recognize that wasn't the truth? So Ahab at least could tell the difference between the lie and the truth, said my to the prophet, if you want the truth, Ahab, that's unusual, but if you wanted the truth. Now let me tell you the truth. I saw the Lord in the heavenly council, surrounded by the hosts. And the Lord said, who will go up and entice Ahab to go to war? Notice the verb, doesn't say compel Ahab, but entice him. Ahab wanted to go anyway. There came forth an evil spirit and said, I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord said, go. And Micaiah was put back in prison. And And A- Ahab and Jehoshaphat went to the war. Jehoshaphat went in his robes and nearly got killed because the foreign troops pressed around him, and when he cried to God, they backed off. Ahab disguised himself. But there was a certain soldier, without aiming anything in particular, he put his arrow on a bowstring and pulled it and let it go. It found an opening between the chainmail and the breastplate in Ahab's armor, and he received a mortal wound from which he died. Think about it. How many times did God preach the gospel to Ahab? On Mount Carmel. And thereafter. And when Ahab would not have the truth, then God said in his judgment, then Ahab, believe the lie. You don't have the truth, then automatically you believe the lie, don't you? The Bible is likewise very severe, talking to us about the end of this age, and God will send them strong delusions, that they believe the lie, who would not receive the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. It's serious stuff, isn't it? But it stands in scripture. The question of what is truth and what is a lie. Is there a God or isn't there? What is the truth? It's an open question now, isn't it? Won't always be an open question. There will come times when it will be a capital offense against the state to believe in God. And people will make it an excuse for believing the lie. The reference, two Thessalonians, chapter two. But let us commit ourselves to God in prayer. Our Father, our hearts are solemnized by reading these ancient stories, as we perceive in them that men and women wrestled with the same kinds of question that we wrestle with today. Help us, O Lord, we beseech thee. Who know the Savior by thy grace. Do witness to him who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. Grant that our hearts may be open and willing to receive the truth when we know it. Lest that day come upon us, and having neglected the truth, we believe the only alternative, which is the lie. So now dismiss us with thy blessing and grant us peaceful night, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.