A Servant in Crisis (1 Kings 18:1-16)
1 Kings 18:1-16
Last week, we began this very important section in the book of 1 Kings.
It is this section that the writer has been driving towards.
He has taken us on a methodical journey thus far in the book.
He started us with the glory days of David and Solomon,
And has taken us to the lowest point of depravity.
HE HAS BEEN REVEALING:
When we seek God and obey His commands, all is well,
But when we begin to put God on the shelf, and seek other things,
We are in for disaster.
Solomon began this rapid descent
By giving preference to the religious desires of his many wives.
And really, it snowballed from there.
The glorious kingdom Solomon inherited from David is no more.
In fact, at this point that one kingdom has split into two.
SOUTH: Jehoshaphat reigns (Good heart, but lacks conviction)
NORTH: Ahab reigns (The most wicked King ever)
Ahab’s dad (Omri) introduced Baal worship into the land,
Ahab went one step further and replaced God with Baal.
And thus Israel is a mess.
They are trapped in immorality,
They are rapidly headed for judgment,
They are in desperate need of revival.
In comes the hero of the book – Elijah.
We first saw Elijah last week,
He was seen as a picture of just how deprave Israel had become.
• Instead of seeking Elijah to pray for them, they refused his services and instead chose 3 ½ years worth of drought.
• Instead of turning to this man of God, they rejected him, and Elijah was forced to travel to a Gentile country to find one who would appreciate his services.
AND SO THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO DO FOR ISRAEL, BUT SUFFER
They are a nation in desperate need of revival,
And for now they don’t even realize it.
As we embark on our study from here through the end of the book, THE MAIN THEME WILL BE REVIVAL.
Many times today when we hear the term “Revival”
We think of some 4 day church program that carries the name.
• A preacher visits…
• Casserole’s are baked…
• Love offerings are taken…
And the whole affair is affectionately called “Revival”.
And while God can most certainly work during those events,
There is no guarantee that revival will occur.
You and I know that revival is not a flash in the pan.
• It cannot be scheduled or manipulated.
• It is very rarely quick, and is often painful.
• And it almost never begins corporately. (It can spread)
The Church cannot vote to be revived,
Individual members of the body must independently determine
To turn from sin and yield completely to God,
With the hope that others will do the same.
Revival is when a person who is pledged to walk with God determines to once again take that commitment seriously.
No more lip service…
No more complacency…
No more half-hearted obedience…
No more second best…
It may be a believer in immorality turning from their uncleanness…
It may be a believer who is stagnant determining to step out once again…
But the main objective is that after revival,
Everyone is a sold out and committed follower of the Lord.
Revival is what God is trying to accomplish in Israel
Through the prophet Elijah.
And this morning it begins.
And it doesn’t begin with the immoral, it begins with the righteous.
This morning we study a man you may have never heard of before.
He is a little mentioned figure in Scripture,
Yet when God starts to move for Revival in Israel,
This man is the first heart that God confronts.
His name is Obadiah. (“Servant of the Lord”)
And when God starts, Obadiah is the first one who is asked to respond.
He isn’t asked to turn from immorality, he is asked to step out for God.
This morning, I want you to see:
REVIVAL NOT ONLY REQUIRES THE WICKED TO REPENT,
BUT ALSO FOR THE RIGHTEOUS TO STEP OUT.
There are three main divisions to our text this morning.
#1 A CRITICAL FAMINE
1 Kings 18:1-6
After a period of 3 ½ years God is again about to move.
Previously Elijah has dwelt in Sidon, living with a widow,
While Elijah was waiting,
God was allowing the situation in Israel to grow extremely desperate.
Now the time has come.
“Now it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.”
God is about to bring the judgment to an end.
Not that God has just gotten over His anger,
But rather that God is about to send revival,
And the people’s response will bring about God’s blessing of rain.
Rain was directly tied to the obedience of God’s people.
Moses listed rain as one of God’s BLESSINGS on an obedient people.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2,12 “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God…(12) “The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.”
However the flip side is that if God’s people grew disobedient
Then the rain would be withheld.
Deuteronomy 28:15, 23-24 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you…(23)”The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. “The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.”
You may remember Isaiah’s pronouncement of judgment:
Isaiah 5:1-6 “Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
God and God alone is responsible for rain.
Man cannot generate it.
There is no generic substitute.
If God doesn’t send it, it doesn’t come.
Jeremiah 14:22 “Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O LORD our God? Therefore we hope in You, For You are the one who has done all these things.”
Therefore rain became an accurate indicator
Of just how pleased God was with His people.
And the fact that it has not rained in Israel for 3 ½ years
Should have their attention.
God reveals to Elijah that He is about to send rain,
Which means that His people are about to repent.
God is about to start revival, so it is time for Elijah to go and meet Ahab.
And Scripture says that is what he did.
(2) “Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.”
“Now the famine was severe in Samaria.”
This is given just to show you the desperate scene in the land.
No rain, eventually means no food,
And that was certainly the case in Samaria.
Allow me for a moment to paint you a picture of a severe famine.
One indicator will be seen in a moment in verse 5, “Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.”
This is Ahab and his manager searching for their own personal livestock.
Even the Kings house has grown desperate.
If the King is in this poor of a state,
One can only imagine the state of the poor man in Israel.
There are other pictures of famine and drought in Scripture.
Jeremiah 14:1-6 “That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah in regard to the drought: “Judah mourns And her gates languish; They sit on the ground in mourning, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended. “Their nobles have sent their servants for water; They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their vessels empty; They have been put to shame and humiliated, And they cover their heads. “Because the ground is cracked, For there has been no rain on the land; The farmers have been put to shame, They have covered their heads. “For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is no grass. “The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail For there is no vegetation.”
Here is another
2 Kings 6:25-29 “There was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” He said, “If the LORD does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ “So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
That is what we call desperation.
There is absolutely no food.
This is the point God has been forced to drive His people to,
In order to bring about revival in the land.
Don’t ever underestimate the extreme God will go to
In order to make sure His people are devoted to Him.
He cares far more about your soul than He does about your comfort,
And if it means extreme physical distress to cause you to call upon Him,
Then get ready.
God has brought Israel to a point of hardship that is truly horrifying.
But obviously God knows that the people are ready for revival,
And so Elijah is sent back to Samaria, and he went.
MEANWHILE:
(3) “Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household.”
This means that Obadiah was in charge of all of Ahab’s possessions.
(Joseph was this to Pharaoh)
Obadiah is an important man.
The writer gives you a parenthetical statement
To reveal to you what kind of man Obadiah was.
“(Obadiah feared the LORD greatly; for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)”
It is obvious that the drought was blamed on God’s prophets.
When Elijah and Ahab finally meet, this is evident.
1 Kings 18:17 “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?”
Ahab faulted God’s messengers (who pronounced the drought)
As the cause of it, and the killing began.
Jezebel tried to slaughter them all.
No doubt it was these men that the writer of Hebrews referred to
In the faith hall of fame.
Hebrews 11:38 “(men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”
One reason they were in caves is because Obadiah hid them there.
THE POINT IS EASY TO SEE.
It was a dangerous time to be a believer.
God’s prophets were being massacred,
A wicked man was on the throne,
In order to follow God, one risked their own life.
Certainly any obedience must be done secretly,
And that is precisely what Obadiah had done.
(5-6) “Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.” So they divided the land between them to survey it; Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself.”
SO UNDERSTAND THE SETTING OF THE DAY:
• There is a terrible drought, and it has been blamed on God’s people.
• Not only is Baal worship popular, but obedience to God is deadly.
This is like a Christian living in a Muslim world.
This is like what the early Christians faced in Rome.
IT IS HARD TIME TO BE A CHRISTIAN
First a Critical Famine
#2 A CRISIS OF FAITH
1 Kings 18:7-15
(7) “Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?”
Obadiah can hardly believe his eyes.
Certainly Elijah could find grass, certainly Elijah could help.
But before another word is spoken Elijah rocks Obadiah’s world.
(8) “He said to him, “It is I. Go, saying to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’”
That may not seem like a big deal to you,
But it was a big deal to Obadiah.
“What sin have I committed?”
LOOK AT HIS RESPONSE:
READ 9-14
DID YOU CATCH WHAT HE WAS AFRAID OF?
(9) “to put me to death?”
(12) “he will kill me,”
(14) “he will then kill me.”
Obadiah realizes that obedience to this simple command
Could very easily result in death.
WHY?
READ (9-11)
Ahab has searched every country in the world for you,
And he made them swear that they didn’t have you.
If I show up and say, “Here he is”, he will think I have known all along.
Or worse yet:
READ 12
I’ll tell him I found you, then you will disappear,
And he will think I hid you again, and he will still kill me.
READ 13-14
What if Obadiah’s secret as a prophet hider becomes known?
Then certainly Ahab will think that I have been the one who is hiding you,
And he will kill me.
I HOPE YOU NOTICE OBADIAH’S CRISIS.
God was not about to allow this man to remain a silent believer.
God wanted Obadiah to now step out and step forward.
REVIVAL NOT ONLY REQUIRES THE WICKED TO REPENT,
BUT THE RIGHTEOUS TO STEP OUT.
In order for revival to occur, everyone has to get obedient.
Obadiah faced a crisis.
Obey God and be killed.
Disobey God and be judged.
His name means “Servant of the LORD”
His legacy is already one who “feared the LORD greatly.”
Would he be willing to risk his life in obedience if it meant bringing revival to Israel and glory to God?
MANY IN THIS ROOM HAVE BEEN IN THAT CRISIS.
No, you didn’t die when you obeyed,
But you didn’t know that when you made the choice.
Some have set in these January services in the past
And heard God whisper words like: “Africa” or “China” or “Guatemala”
And immediately the crisis began.
“God, Africa is not safe. There are lions, and snakes, and muslims in Africa.”
“God, It’s illegal to witness to people in China.”
“God, you have to fly on an airplane, across and ocean, to get there.”
“God, if I do that, I could die.”
We call it a crisis of faith.
What you do reveals what you really believe about God.
There could be some fighting that missions battle right now.
God wanted to bring revival,
It started with the obedience of one faithful but silent Christian,
Stepping out of his comfort zone and into a life of faith.
(15) “Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”
There was a promise.
WOULD OBADIAH BELIEVE IT?
A Critical Famine – A Crisis of Faith
#3 A CHOICE TO FOLLOW
1 Kings 18:16
You see Obadiah’s favorite verse in the Bible.
“So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.”
It is Obadiah’s favorite verse, because now, watching from eternity,
It is that verse that brought Obadiah’s reward.
He overcame fear…
He pushed through the crisis…
He showed that God mattered more than his life…
His was the first life changed in the revival God brought to Israel.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
The word revival gets mentioned, and the immediate thought is,
“I don’t have any sin that I need to repent of.”
BUT IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU COULD STEP OUT MORE FOR GOD?
• Could you follow closer?
• Could you travel farther?
• Could you witness longer?
• Could you pray harder?
• Could you study deeper?
WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE
TO SEE GOD DO SOMETHING AMAZING IN YOUR LIFE
AND IN THE LIVES OF THOSE AROUND YOU?
TURN TO: MATTHEW 10:16-31
Verses 16-25 admittedly paint a bleak picture.
(16-25)
Jesus promises hardship, persecution, and possibly even death.
AND AT THAT POINT, HE LEAVES YOU AT A CRISIS OF FAITH.
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
• Determine to be silent about your faith?
• Stay in the comfort and security of your own little world?
• Just try to be a silent, closet Christian?
Or will you push through the fear as Obadiah did
And determine to step out for God anyway?
I CAN TELL YOU WHAT JESUS EXPECTS:
(26-31)
Jesus expects you to GIRD up your loins, STRAP on your armor,
LISTEN for the voice and PROCLAIM to the world.
“But I’m afraid…”
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
ISN’T THAT WHAT THE MISSIONARY ON THE VIDEO SAID?
“I’m afraid not to do what God’s called me to do.”
That was the decision Obadiah made as well.
And revival began.
God is asking you to trust Him.
Isaiah 51:12-13 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies And of the son of man who is made like grass, That you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth, That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, As he makes ready to destroy? But where is the fury of the oppressor?”
Elijah got up and went…
Obadiah got up and went…
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Will you be willing to offer up your life to God for obedience?
Would you give Him a blank check that He can cash however He likes?
What if God wrote Africa or China or Iraq or Rio de Janeiro?
How will you respond to your crisis of faith?
Revival begins when the righteous step up and step out.
Isaiah 51:1-8 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug. “Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was but one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.” Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, “Pay attention to Me, O My people, And give ear to Me, O My nation; For a law will go forth from Me, And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples. “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait for Me, And for My arm they will wait expectantly. “Lift up your eyes to the sky, Then look to the earth beneath; For the sky will vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment And its inhabitants will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not wane. “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, A people in whose heart is My law; Do not fear the reproach of man, Nor be dismayed at their revilings. “For the moth will eat them like a garment, And the grub will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation to all generations.”
