came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in Samaria. Verse seventeen. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Are thou he that troubled Israel? And he answered, That is Elijah answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Moor, thou hast followed Balaam. Now therefore, send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves, four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. subject tonight is God's program for the coming crisis as to the confrontation between Baalism and the living and true God that we'll be speaking on next Sunday at Mount Carmel. God has a plan, and he's looking for a man to execute that plan, and he found that man in a light. God has always had to find a man. That has been his policy down the centuries. He wants a tool, an instrument that he can use, one that's impressionable and one that's submissive to his will, and God is always on the lookout for a man or a woman to do the job that he wants done. When you think of the situation here, this confrontation that was coming up, God was going to need a man with certain qualities. and he found one in Elijah. You notice not much was revealed to Elijah on this occasion. Just two things. In verse one, go and meet Ahab, and there shall be rain upon the earth. That's all. Just that one message, no details at all. And that's been the way God has worked over the centuries. The whole land on this occasion was engulfed with Baalism, the apostasy of Baalism. And here is poor Elijah, as he thinks of the situation. He feels very lonely. He says later on, I only am left, and they seek my life. God says, here something will cheer you up, Elijah. There are still seven thousand who have not yet bowed the knee to bathe. That must have been quite a joke to Elijah. He thought he was the only one that was loyal to God. God says why, and God knows how many exactly he counted them, whether they included the one hundred that the man that we talked about last week had hid in the cave, I don't know. But at least God says, I have reserved seven thousand, and they have not bowed beneath the veil They're still true to me. They may be scattered, Elijah. They may be in little household, little group. But he says, I know them. I know where they are. And I know that Ahab doesn't know where they are, or he hasn't killed. Jezebel doesn't know where they are, or she would have them put to death. God says, but there are seven thousand. So we are not alone, Elijah. The whole thing doesn't rest entirely on your shoulders. I have others. And it's a good thing when we wake up to that fact that we're not the only ones. We're not the only ones that are true to the Lord. There are many. Here and there throughout the country and throughout the world in dark places you'd never imagine to find a Christian. But there's generally one here and there's one there that hasn't bowed the knee to one godliness into this wicked world. In their heart they love Christ. So this was quite a surprise to Elijah. But I want to say this down to the ages. God has always had his man for crises. I don't know whether you know anything about the time when the church overran the Christian community and the crescent was put up instead of the cross. That happened. But God had his man and his man came to the front. and the clock returned to where it previously was. You can think also of another time when Rome held that deadly grip upon the continent in Europe for a thousand years, known as the Dark Ages. Here is the power of Catholicism reigning over that continent, dictating policy, dictating politics. using the kings and the dictators as palms in her hand to carry out her will and to put to death all who would protest her dogmas and her claims. But the time came when God had a man, Martin Luther. And Martin Luther lit the flames of fires of defamation as they broke out all over Europe and shook Catholicism to its foundations, the effect of which still last today. And I think of another case four hundred years ago when Scotland was drifting toward modernism. That's a strange statement, isn't it? We think that that only belonged to this day. But that time, Scotland was drifting toward liberalism, liberalism, modernism. But God had a man with the name of John Knox. He had been ordained a Catholic priest, but he was led to Christ later by a man by the name of George Witten. And this man, John Knox, he went out to preach the gospel after he was saved. When he preached, he preached fire and damnation. He preached the old-fashioned gospel. And he preached against that Mary, Queen of Scots, a bloody Mary of England. Those wicked queens and their wicked regimes, he preached fire and damnation, and he changed the course of Scotland. And Scotland was turned back to the word of God again. Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary, Bloody Mary of England, said they feared the prayers of John Knox, within their borders more than the armies outside their borders. That shows you what God can do with a man when a time arrives when God has to step in and has to speak. There's another case. Three hundred years ago, England was held in the grip of lethargy, an apathy. And I want to say this, we hear a lot about modernism today, and it is to be feared, but I'll tell you something just as satanic, and that's the apathy among God's people. And the laziness and the idol of God's people, that suggests as much as the devil has modernism. I make no mistake about that. Who did God raise up then when this apathy overtook England? He raised up a man by the name of John Bunyan. we've referred to before, and how we used John Bunyan to write Pilgrim's Progress. Along with him and after him came other men, like Calvin, Wesley, Whitfield, Tyndale, Wycliffe. These were men of God, that God raised up to spend the time of apathy in England, and England was turned back to the gospel and saw one of our most glorious errors when she sent forth missionaries when Britannia ruled the way and sent forth missionaries to almost all parts of the world. That's the result of God laying hold upon instruments when he wants it and he uses it. When it comes to fighting modernists and today I don't know of anything that will fight it better than the old-fashioned gospel of the grace of God. That's what will break down, Martin. That's what John Rock used. And I know that's what people don't like to hear. They don't like to hear fire and brimstone coming down from heaven. They don't like to hear messages on judgment. But that's what God used. He used it when he used John Rock. There's anything modernism doesn't like. It's the old-fashioned gospel. They don't like the thunder of the judgment of God that's coming upon this world. They're turning loose all their money. They possibly have all kinds of schemes and plans to try and bring about world conversion. To try and bring about the conversion of the whole world. If there's anything the Bible condemns, it's that. This world is not going to be brought about by social reform. It's not going to be brought about by the church. running out of town, all the wicked men and women, and closing down these dens of vice and inequity. No. The only way modernism is going to be stopped is by preaching the gospel of the grace of God and men and women, getting to know Christ as Savior, and witnessing to that effect. When the time comes, when the church is ready, God will take his people home to heaven. Then he'll deal with the empty shell of Christendom that's left behind. as we'll see it in the scarlet woman, the ecumenical mood. We'll say more about that when we get to Jezebel in the future message. So now we come to Elijah, the man of his day. God found the man who was willing to do what? The man who would inquire enough of God through his word and prayer to be the instrument. God could use to carry out his program and his plan. And God hasn't changed to this day. So tell you what it's going to cost. It's going to cost Christians to get into God's presence to spend hours in His Word and time on their knees before God with a surrendered life. If we're going to see a turn in the tide of things before us today, it's a price that's got to be paid. And these men who acquired God's will and executed God's will were men who saturated their souls with the presence of God and with the Word of God, God could speak to them. And he didn't have to shunt to them. They were close enough to God to get God's whisper. And that's the price you pay for divine guidance today. You don't get it in a seminar in a classroom. You get it in your room before God. And that's where you get it. That's how Elijah got it. So we find Elijah coming to the front on this occasion. And you'll notice he just had that one command. That little plan. Go show thyself Ahab. and rain will soon come upon the earth. This was the first real step toward the confrontation of Mount Carmel that we'll be speaking on next Sunday. Noticeable that Elijah was filled with a consuming passion for the glory of God. He says, Let it be known this day that thou art God. In verse thirty-six of chapter eight, Let it be known this day that thou art God. He looked around, he saw the idols everywhere, and they claimed to be God. Other false gods claimed attention. Elijah says, O God, let it be known that this day that thou art God. The only true God, all these are false gods. This was his consuming passion that God get first place. That God get prominence. That God get preeminence. That's what he was. He neither knew nor cared what would happen to himself. All he thought about was God's glory. God glory. Am I concerned about myself, my own interests, or am I concerned about God's glory? All this petty, salty stuff going on among Christians, concerned about their feelings as they're just into God's glory. What about God's glory? Who are you pleasing? Who are you glorifying the devil if you're doing those things and not God? Elijah was consumed with this passion of the glory of God. He cared not what happened to him. Whether Ahab took off his head or what? He desired God's glory and God's glory alone. He saw the idols in the countryside everywhere. He saw Baal. the God of Baal and the God of Asteroth, supposed to be the male and female deities of Baalism. He saw these rites. He saw the idol Micum and Chimosh and Molech. He saw their wretched altars all over the country. He saw the martyred prophets of God. And he saw the promised land groaning beneath the obscene and deadly rites of these gods. saw ever about the country, his soul was stirred to think that these gods had replaced the God of his fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And as he saw the situation, his soul was stirred because of his desire to see God glorified and God over. He was willing to draw himself in out of sight. He was willing to make a nothing that is God might be everything. He was willing to shrink into insignificance that only God would be exalted into prominence. This was Elijah's only passion. This should be your passion and mine too. I wondered if it is. If we are a success or if our church is succeeding, We can be satisfied. If not, if I'm not a success, then the church is not a success. I'm depressed. There's something beyond that. And that's the glory of God. God should be glorified. His glory must be worth. And he will not give that glory to another, nor praise the graven images. God wants to be glorified. It's not my feelings, my attitudes, my little likes and dislikes. It's God's glory. And that was Elijah's passion. I wonder that this passion consumes all of us. To such an extent, this passion consumes all that is based and corrupt and selfish in me as a human being. He was also convinced that this God was the only God. Now there's a thing abroad in the world that, oh, there are many ways to have lots of religion. Let me tell you, there's only one way to have it. And the Lord Jesus Christ is that way. There's only one God. Christ says that they might not be the only and true God, then Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent in dawn, said the beast. This was Elijah's passion. Because he was convinced that this God was the only true and living God. Furthermore, he realized he was only a servant. You'll find that in verse thirty-six. He was convinced that he was only a servant, just a poor servant. And that word in the Old Testament means a slave. Now a slave in the Old Testament didn't dictate or draw off any plan or program. All he was to do was to obey. The master did the dictating. The master did the drawing of the plan. And the master gave the orders. And the slave carried them out. And so, Elijah says, Lord, I'm just your slave. You know how this is to be brought about. You know how we're to deal with Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel. You know about this confrontation, a charm. Lord, I'm just your slave. You are the architect. You're the one that's all the plan. Just let me know, and I'll execute them. I'll carry them out with the strength and the grace you give to me. Yes, that's it. It's not my plan. It's not my scheme. It's my master's will. I want. And nothing more. And nothing less. Elijah says, Lord, I'm just your true. What do you want done? I'm just your true. I'm just a checker. You're playing the game and you'll move me where and when you like. Are we that submissive to God? Lord, here I am. Just like Elijah. He was surrendered. He was yielded. He was empty. He was plastic to be molded by the hand that reaches down from heaven to lay hold of men, and mold them as God desires and uses them as he pleases. That was Elijah's desire. I am just a servant. Lord, you're the only true God. And I'm just your servant. You know it all. I know little or nothing. You just have to give me the wisdom. You'll have to give me the strength, the ability to carry this planet. Are we not too fond of doing our own thing for God? That we think instead of letting God do his thing through us? I almost hesitate to use that word thing. the way it used these days. But it's not a case for me wanting to do and figuring out my little thing and what I want done. It's a case of coming before the Lord and saying, Lord, what is your plan? Work it out through me. I want your plan. I don't want mine. I'm afraid of mine. So often we miss what he sorely wants done. and carry out. We carry out sometimes our own whim and fancy, and we miss what God wants done just because of our impatience and our failure to pay the price to obtain the will of God and the strength to carry it up. How are we to know? Elijah was eagerly desirous to know and worked out of God's plan. And I want you to notice this. He says, I am thy servant and have done all these things according to thy word. God's plan was God's purpose for him. All things I've done to Joshua, this Elijah, according to your word. That's significant. God will never lead any one of his children apart from his word. He will lead you. He will plan your course. He'll program your activities according to his word. And don't think for a moment the Spirit of God will lead you one step outside of the lines drawn by the word of the living God. That's where we sometimes go astray. You think that God has two standards, or I'm a little favored of God, and I can get a little leniency here, a little leaveage there, my own way here, my own way there. You'll be led by God within this circumference of God's will. He'll lead you according to his word and the word. This was Elijah's strength. God's power and God's blessing are to be enjoyed only by those who know that they're in the will of God. And God is working out his plan to them. That was Elijah's strength. He was willing to face Ahab. He had that strength, that confidence that he was in the will of God. And when you're in the will of God, you're in the safest place on earth. Nothing can harm you. when you're in the middle of God's will. It's his responsibility then to look after you. It's your responsibility to get in the will of God, the Lord taking over from there, and he'll protect you. And in you. When you stop to think of the manna that fell in the wilderness, where did it fall beneath the brooding clouds that hovered over the nation of Israel? and only under that cloud. We must abide under that which speaks of God's presence and his guidance. For the children of Israel were led by that pillar of fire by night and that pillar of cloud by day, the shield of them from the sun, the scorching sun, as they went through the wilderness. But all the time they were made under that brooding cloud, the man of hell, and they were fed, and they were led. The only time that you and I can be sure we're in the will of God and be fed by God is when we're under that sheltering cloud, a symbol of God's presence over and over his own. If you get outside that shadow, you're on your own. Like I've often told people, when you go out on a highway, if the speed limit is seventy miles an hour and you go seventy-three, you're on your own. If you pass seventy, you're on your own. If you stay within the law, God will protect you. If you get outside of it, you'll pay the consequence. And so God wants us to stay within the realm of his will. The blood that Dean must be where God wants them to be, if he's going to feed them, but if he's going to leave. We have divine supplies. We have divine blessings. We have God's divine plan. Then let's get where God can communicate it to us. That's in his presence. That's not rushing in and getting on your knees and saying, Lord, I thank you for the day. I thank your mother, father, and all our kin, Lord. Amen. Now you're not going to get the Lord's will that way. And you're not going to get over in the psalm and read a little sign with about four verses. And that's your daily meal. You'll get just what you ask for very little. But if you want God's guidance and God's blessing and God to use you, you've got to pay a price and make no mistake about it. Fire of God only burns where we erect God's order, as on this occasion. One hates almost to refer to themselves, but when I came south forty-three years ago, twenty-five years of age, my, and I look back now how little I knew. came from Canada during the Depression down to North Carolina. I didn't know anybody in the South at that time except Mr. Newton who brought me down. Why'd I come down? I had one bill in my pocket. No salary, not a promise from any human being. I came to North Carolina as a young Christian. commended by the church and Stratford the full-time worker, yet I've never sat in on a business meeting or an elder's meeting. That wasn't a place for novices. You had to be forty or over and know this book and a godly life before you sat in on a business meeting in those assemblies. I never sat in one of them, and yet I was commended as an evangelist. I came down, I sang when I got in North Carolina. I tremble. I said, Lord, what do I know? I know so little. I haven't been educated like others. But Lord, I don't have anything. All I've got the body. All I've got is yours. And you can use it. All I had was my Bible and a burden to see souls be. I didn't come down with a plan. I didn't know how to draw up a plan, how I was going to go to these different cities, the approach to the city, the problems involved, and how I'd get the assembly and church started and all the rest of it. I didn't know anything of that. All I knew was preaching the gospel of the grace of God. And as I went step by step, the doors opened. Day by day, waiting on God, God opening up his mind and opening up his will. And it was marvelous. It was living a miracle every day to see how God opened up the way. And doors opened up. And people were saved and led to Christ. And my need was constantly met by some of God. Black night expressed the ravens that fed Elijah. All was on time. All was on schedule, morning and night. That's the way God still leads and uses his people. But they've got to pay a price. I had a preacher living in North Carolina. I'm not going to mention his name. You know how he spent... He stayed where I was staying in relative to Brother Beck. Of course, I was... My custom was to spend all my morning in my room studying my Bible and praying to get the will of God. So this man came there and He said, I'd like to take it out. I said, all right. I want to show you how to treat your horses. Well, I will learn. And so we went from one dime, nickel, and dime store to another, out of this store and to another store. He spent the whole morning going from one store, picking up things, looking at them, buying a nickel with you, dimes with them. I said, this is not the way I use my mornings. I said, I journey spend my mornings, pray. He says you can pray or walk on the street. Dinner time came. Let's go in here. Have a nice meal. Tonight, she says, to give your hostess a rest every day. Eat up top. I have quite thought of it that way, but I guess that was a good idea, too. But she didn't seem to mind it. Anyway, we come back about five o'clock. The whole day wasted as far as I was concerned. We were both scheduled to preach that night. When he slumped down in a chair, he picked up the evening paper. He said, go on upstairs and pick out your best sermon. Let me hear it tonight. And he sat and read the newspaper until the meeting. Well, I could have had a mighty bad example set before me that day, but I was grieved. I looked back upon the day I thought it was wished. I got confused. I don't know just exactly what is the mind of the Lord. And I thank God that I went back to my usual schedule and life was different. This is the price we pay. It's not easy. But if you want the thrill and the joy of knowing your will of God is going to cost you this price and this price exactly. You'll get it nowhere else. Roaming all over town and going out wasting your hours when you can spend those precious moments. Getting something from God to might have something to give. All I see is this afternoon as I walk down Slappy Drive before the meeting. My mind went back forty-three years ago when I used to walk down the sunset drive where Mr. and Mrs. Chapel is. And I said, Lord, how little I knew then and how little I know today. How trail I was then, and Lord, I'm forty-three years older today, and I'm not as young as I once was. I don't have the keen mind I once had. I don't have the zeal I once had. I don't have the endurance I once had. And you know what changed my mind? God is to say, yesterday, today, and forever. God's no older today than he was forty-three years ago. I am. And God doesn't expect a man to do at sixty-eight what he did when he was twenty-five to thirty. God says it's good that you bear the yoke in your youth. God knows that we get old. He never does. God is eternally young. But there's one thing I'm happy for. If I continue to study my Bible and pray and not depend on experience or former knowledge and acknowledge my weakness now as I was weak then and forty-two years ago, God's readiness to help is just as freely given from what I haven't got in the way of physical insurance, God can make up for that by spiritual energy. And after all, that's what happens. That's the price that you pay if you want to know God's will and the use of God in this world. In Carolina, every city we went to except one that leads us, we were able to establish a church. And the same goes for Albany when I came here, the same thing over again. God hasn't changed. I have. As to my capability. I've changed, but God has. And I praise Him for that. The God of Elijah still lives, still has a plan for your life and mine, if you're willing to pay the price to get it. And there's no thrill on earth any greater than the thrill of knowing you're in the will of God. That's the greatest thrill of honor. What a thrill it was to Elijah. What was the thrill? Well, you notice he gave orders to Ahab on this occasion. Here is poor Elijah. And Ahab was looking for him to take off his head. And Jezebel was looking for him. Heavens had with hell reigned now for over three years. The land was parked. The people were dying. They were looking for Elijah. God says, Elijah, go and meet Ahab. and I'll send rain upon the earth. That's all he had. God started filling in the details. And you know who did the filling in of the details? Ahab. Here is this servant of God facing Ahab. And he says, Ahab, do you know what you're to do? You're to assemble all God's people, all Israel. And you assemble them at the very place, I say, karma. And furthermore, Ahab, you get all those prophets of Baal, those four hundred prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty, and another four hundred that eat at Jezebel's table, the prophets of Asteroth, eight hundred and fifty in all. The representatives, the hierarchy of this cricket system of Jezebelism and of Baalism, Ahab, you get them at Mount Carmel too. That wasn't an easy job. They didn't have telephones, radio, TVs in those days telegraphed to send these messages. All Elijah did was to tell Ahab, give them orders, get them there. And you'll notice what it says in the very next verse. Ahab went. He obeyed orders. Here is a man. a mere man giving orders to the king and he expedites those orders and he had them everyone gathered at Mount Carmel yes God had a plan and he just told Elijah tell Ahab what he wanted done and Ahab did it I wonder what the bait was maybe it was because he wanted rain and Elijah had hinted The rain was soon to come. Was that the date that caused Ahab and Jezebel to cooperate with this plan? I don't know, but they did it. And they met at Mount Carmel. All Israel had been gathered and they came from ten tribes. The prophets had failed from their various jurisdictions. Their parishes, they came to come. And they haven't sent this big showdown. Who's going to win? And we'll speak about that another time. Next week, Lord will know how thrilled Elijah must have been. He thought, oh, I'm going to see all these idols, all these of this church. I'm going to see all these prophet these false prophets of fame I'm going to see them for the death I'm going to see my beloved people Israel at the feet of God in repentance I'm going to see the refreshing showers come down from heaven and soften this land that things may grow and light returns and all oh Elijah was thrilled at what he was going to witness a few hours hence the defeat of Ahab and Godless veil and the triumph and victory of his God, the only true God. That's what thrills a knighthood. Friend, I say this, what thrills me today is the fact that those of us who are trying to do something for God and to use by God, we're trying to bring about that day of victory and we only have one way of doing it. that is to preach God's message in the way he wants it preached. And the battering rams of divine truth will bring down all the walls of opposition in the world. The wonderful thing is to be in God's will and be in God's progress. And then see God win the victory in that coming day of confrontation in the Battle of Armageddon. when the Son of God will descend from the sky, and the hard in the veil of Mokero will melt away in their own flat, when the Son of God will defeat not only veil, but every other idol, and the living God shall reign when the showers descend upon the earth, and earth responds to the showers that will come and the millennium will begin. Yes, We worked in the light of that day. What are you doing toward bringing that day nearer, bringing that day to practice? You give up something now. Sure, I gave up something. When I gave up hockey, I gave up something I loved, and it wasn't easy to do. But today I wouldn't change places with all the hockey players in the United States or world, not for a minute. Most of them were true at thirty-five. If you like Gordy Howe, go on to forty-five. But my thrill's coming. My thrill comes. You know you get criticized sometimes. I don't mind that. You used to have a saying, I played hockey, the worst player on the ice is better than the best critic in the grandstand. And that's true. I don't care what people serve women could be or criticize me. They'll applaud you when you make a good play. Ninety-nine good plays on the ice and they'll cheer you. One mistake and they'll booze. But remember, I'm waiting for my cheers. Whatever they'll be, not from the fickle heart of human being, but from the one I serve in that coming day when he will pass out the tears and the credit. Well done, thou good and faithful, sir. You can't have two worlds, this one and the next. If you want the next, it'll cost you this way. The choice is yours. Those who laugh best laugh laughs. The world laughs now at the poor narrow-minded people living for the Lord, giving up this and giving up that. The server isn't safe. Oh, you're wasting your time. You're losing too much. Yes, but we'll have the last laugh. If laugh, we could. I couldn't laugh at the eternal punishment of a hitman. When I think of the horrible state A lawsuit will be in through of eternity. But I simply mean that our joys are ahead. We're not expecting them on earth. Criticism here, but commendation there. And thank God every man will be given in accordance to what he has given down here. God will make it up. Plus, in that coming day every walk, What God wants today is a few more Elijahs who are willing to pay the price and ascertain the will of God. And here's the price. Get into his book, where else you expect to get his will, and spend time with the author of this book that he might reveal his will to his word. Once you get the will of God, you can be just as stubborn and determined as Elijah. because he got God's will and that's all he cared about. He was willing to face all the Ahab's and Jezebel's in the country. He got God's will. And friend, that's worth having. I'd sooner have that than all the money the gold this country owes. But some days soon all that gold will be nothing. When eternal values will be seen, handed out and enjoyed by the rest of you. What is your desire tonight? What is your passion? Is your passion the glory of God? Is that what you're seeking? The glory of God. Is that the passion of your life? I hope it is. If you're not a Christian, come to Christ tonight. He'll save you. He'll keep you. He'll use you. He'll make you happy. Life begins when Jesus comes in. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence, thank thee for thy word. We trust that we will live out these things that thou hast been bringing before us. We thank thee that God of Elijah still lives. We may change, earthly friends may change or leave us one day soon, the next day grieve us. But this friend will ne'er deceive us, O how he does. And for this we pray thee, help us to study thy word, and if we love thee, we'll show it by the amount of time we give to reading thy love letters to us, and for the time we spend in thy presence we'll prove thee that we love thee. And use us, we pray, poor failures as we are, yet we thank thee, sovereign grace save us, and sovereign grace still uses us, when subject of thy holy will, save any lost soul here tonight.