Sermon by: Dr. Todd Morris
Text: I Kings 17:1
Title: A Man Sent From God
Date: February 29, 2004
Introduction: The pages of our Bible are filled with accounts of men who seem larger than life. Men like Moses, David, Daniel, Paul, and others. They all seem to be men who are so far above the realm of our own experience that we feel we could never be like them. However, the fact is that each of these men was just human. Human beings like you and me; they simply had given themselves completely to God.
This morning I begin a new series of messages on a man that fits into that category. He seems bigger than life, but in reality was just a man as you and I are. I am entitling this series: “Elijah: The Prophet of Courage and Confrontation.” When I read about the life of Elijah I am amazed at his courage and his power with God. Yet, the Bible reminds me in James 5:17 that Elijah, “was a man subject to like passion as we are.”
Today, I want to focus on just one verse, and speak to you on the subject, “A Man Sent From God.” In this message I want you to see that God can take a nobody and make a somebody out of him. God can take any life that is yielded to His will and use it for His glory. Our purpose this morning is to see whether or not we possess this kind of life within ourselves. If not, then we will be given an opportunity at the end of this service to surrender ourselves to God in order that He might use us in His service. Let’s look at this verse together and meet A Man Sent From God.
I ELIJAH WAS A COMMON MAN
A. His Home – Tishbe in Gilead.
1. Gilead mean raw or rugged.
2. Elijah was like the region from which he came.
3. His message, his mannerisms, and his methods were just as rough and rugged as the place he called home.
B. His Humanity – James describes Elijah is James 5:17-18.
1. He had a fiery temper.
2. He had bouts of depression.
3. He often felt loneliness as he ministered.
II ELIJAH WAS A COURAGEOUS MAN
A. He Defied a Foolish Ruler – The king of Israel during his time was a wicked little toad of a man named Ahab. The Bible says in I Kings 16:30, 33 that Ahab was the most wicked king that ever squatted upon the throne of Israel. And his wife, Jezebel, was a Baal worshipper and even more wicked that he. It was to this wicked ruler that God sent Elijah, and Elijah delivered God’s message without flinching.
B. He Denounced A False Religion – Baal was the Canaanite God of Fertility. He was seen in the thunderheads and the rain that made things grow. When Elijah declared that it would not rain and that there would be no dew until Elijah said so, he was declaring his power over Baal. Baal was worshipped through sexual acts in temples on top of mountains. The Canaanites believed that when you joined in sexual union with a priest or priestess, that for the time that the act endured you were a god or goddess yourself. If a drought came the people thought they had angered God and they would try to get his attention by sacrificing their first-born child by burning it alive. In short while I could go much deeper into Baal worship, let’s just say it involved breaking nearly all of God’s commandments.
III ELIJAH WAS A COMMITTED MAN
A. His Designation – His very name tells his testimony. The name Elijah means, “my God is Jehovah.”
B. His Dependence – By walking into the presence of Ahab and Jezebel in the name of Jehovah Elijah was demonstrating his absolute dependence on the Lord.
C. His Devotion – Notice the phrase Elijah used, “before whom I stand.” While he was physically before the most powerful man in the world at that time, he was able to look beyond that throne room to THE THRONE ROOM and realize that there was only one person whom he must please, and His name was Jehovah.
IV ELIJAH WAS A CONFIDENT MAN
A. In the Person of His God – He believed that God was alive. He said, “as the Lord God of Israel liveth.” Most other folks were living like God was dead, just as they are in America today. We need some Elijah’s who will stand up and say, “you can live like God is dead if you want to, but I’m going to live for Him, because He is alive in me.”
B. In the Power of His God – Look back at James 5:17-18. It seems here that the drought was Elijah’s idea. He was so upset at the sins of the people that he began to pray that it would not rain. Now we know that the idea was placed in his heart by the Spirit of God, but notice as he prayed that he had no doubt God would do as he asked.
C. In the Promise of God – The man stood before Ahab because he had received a word from God concerning the matter, and he knew that because God had decreed it, it would happen. God didn’t have to keep reassuring him; He didn’t tell him but once, and Elijah acted upon what God said.
Conclusion: As we move through this new series we are going to see that Elijah stirred up a hornet’s nest when he stood before Ahab. However, the point of this verse is that he stood and did what God told him. Elijah was a man sent from God. He was sent to a wicked people to declare that judgment was coming at the hand of mighty God. He was not afraid to speak up and expose evil. He was not afraid to live by faith in the God of Heaven. He was not afraid to put his very life in the hand of God and trust God all the way through.
I wonder this morning how many of us are like Elijah? How many of us are trusting God, come what may? How many of us are taking our stand for God in the midst of a wicked world? How many of us are standing against evil in the world today? How many of us really know God like Elijah did?
We need some Elijah’s in our day! Elijah’s God has not changed! Where are the Elijah’s that believe Him regardless of the cost?
