Gooding, David: 1 - Elijah's Revival in Israel

Thank you for your kind words of welcome. It's always a great pleasure to come along here to Broadway, to renew fellowsh- uh, friendships that have been formed over the years, and to see, see your zeal and work for the Lord. Let's begin our weekend by reading together some passages, first of all, from the first book of Kings. One Kings, beginning in chapter eighteen. 1 Kings 18, verse 21. And Elijah came near unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Two Kings, please, and chapter one. Two Kings, chapter one and verse 9. Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty, uh and he went up to him, and behold, he sat on the top of the hill. And he spake unto him, O man of God, the king has said, come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And There came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Chapter two of that same book, verse nine. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. God give us good understanding of his word. I propose on these four occasions that we are, God willing, to be together, to study briefly with you four of the major revivals that we find in the first and second book of Kings. The revival in which Israel were led by Elijah the prophet. The revival in which Judah was led, first by her high priest and then by King Joash. The revival in Judah that was led by King Hezekiah, and finally the revival led by Josiah, King of Judah. And what a happy and an encouraging topic it will be. I grow old, as you see, and gray hairs are upon me, and I know it very well. But the older I grow, the more impressed I become with the witness of scripture generally and throughout all its pages, that God is a God of recovery, of restoration, of revival, of renewal, both for the individual and for his people as a whole. And that lesson that is printed on the page of so many books of scripture is found, with no exception, in the books of Kings. I know you can tell me that because of the sin of God's people, God allowed Israel to be taken away to Assyria. I know you can tell me that at the end of these two books, because of Judah's sin, God had the king of Babylon take them away to Babylon and destroy both their city and temple. I know that, and it's very gloomy reading. But in these books that are so realistic as to tell us of that sad declension from God, in those very books you will read time and time again how God intervened to revive his people. And right almost to the very last, there was a very notable revival under Josiah, king of Judah. I know you can tell me if you want to, that this present age in which we live will end up in terrible declension and apostasy, and so it will, and it makes gloomy reading. I know that by the time this age is finished, that wicked old woman Babylon will seem to have triumphed. But in spite of it, God remains the God of revival and recovery and restoration, and right to the very end, there is no putting any limit on God's power to revive his people. I know you can tell me that no revival is ever perfect. None of them will be until the Lord comes. I know you can tell me that all revivals have petered out, so they have. And yet here is a remarkable fact. And I fancy not even Elijah himself realized when he stood upon Mount Carmel to lead the nation back to God, and still less when he stood on Horeb down in the very dumps of despair. He never realized for a moment, maybe, that hundreds of years later, we in Broadway Gospel Hall down the Donegal Road would be being encouraged by the revival Elijah led in his far off day. Why, he led not one revival, did Elijah? He himself has personally led a thousand and one revivals all down the years, as God's people reading about his experience and of the experience of Israel under him, have themselves been encouraged to seek the living God and have found him. And if God visits us, if God visits you in this church, with revivings again and beyond what you have already seen, it will not just be you who benefit, but who knows how many that come after you. I'll tell you something else before we get down to business. You can tell me that Israel got carried away to, uh, Babel- to Assyria and Judah to Babylon. So they did. However, they came back. Yes, you say, I know they came back, but after the centuries, they sunk into deeper sin and crucified the very Lord of glory and rejected their Messiah. And refused the message of the gospel and murdered his apostles. Yes, that's very true. And sad, sad, solemn reading it is. I tell you something else, that that isn't the end of the story. They're going to be revived again. Oh, for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, and God doesn't change his mind. And I wouldn't have you to be ignorant, says Paul, that while hardening in part has happened to Israel, it's only pro tem. And one day all Israel shall be saved. And if the falling away of them has been the very riches and enrichment of the Gentiles, because the gospel being rejected by Israel came to us Gentiles, and Gentiles by the million believed. Well, if they're falling away and putting aside be the enrichment of the Gentiles, what shall their receiving again be? But veritable life from the dead. How gloriously wonderful the future is, even for that erring nation Israel, and through her to all the nations of the world. And you say, pray, how will it come about? How will Israel ever get restored? Well, by all sorts of ways, and partly by Broadway getting revived. Is it not so? One of the things, at least, that spurred the Apostle Paul to his arduous labours in the gospel was this. Ever in his mind, there lurked the hope that Israel would suddenly open her eyes to see what was happening. To observe that here in Philippi, there in Antioch, way over there in Corinth, why there were scores and hundreds of Gentiles coming to know the God of Israel and being brought to faith in Jehovah. And Paul entertained the hope that Israel one of these days would get moved to jealousy as they saw the blessings of God coming upon the Gentiles and themselves be moved to seek the Lord and the Messiah that hitherto they had spurned. Marvelous, wouldn't it? If God so worked in Broadway Belfast that the Jews up the Antrim Road got provoked to jealousy, what ho, and made to wonder about this Jesus. So then we're going to think together in God's goodwill of these four great revivals in Old Testament days among the people of God. And first of all, we start, where else could we possibly start, than with that great and famous revival under Elijah. You remember the story, I shall not need to tell you it in detail. How that Elijah gathered Israel together at Mount Carmel, and there gathered also the priests of Baal. He told them to build altars and sacrifice to Baal, only they were to put the, uh, sacrifice on the altar and put no fire to it. They were to call to Baal and ask him to send fire down upon the sacrifice. And then he himself would build altar. He would put a sacrifice on, and he would call to Jehovah. And the God he said that answers by fire, let him be accepted as the true God. The priests of Baal called, but there was no voice that answered, and no fire that came. Then Elijah called on Jehovah, God of Israel, and the fire came down and consumed the sacrifice, and thereby was Israel's heart turned back to God. That is the story, you will remember it. But I want to take, if I may, a business-like approach to revival and ask you to ponder for a moment what was the main issue at stake in this revival. Not all revivals are the same, are they? When When Luther Luther preached his great liberating message, it was the discovery that justification was by faith and not by works that set Europe alight. When Wesley led his great revival, it wasn't quite the same, was it? It was the same gospel, but it wasn't quite so much the discovery of justification by faith, for the learned theologians knew the doctrine of justification by faith. They knew besides a tremendous cartload full of theology, they could give you proofs of the existence of God, and thus and thus. What they lacked was any personal experience of the Lord. Wesley, God bless his memory, led the people into not merely a knowledge of doctrine and who was the true God, but into living personal experience of God and of holy living. What was the issue at stake in the revival that Elijah led? Well, we read the words, didn't we, with which he challenged the people on Mount Carmel to face what the central issue was. How long, said he, do you waver between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him. That was the issue. And the people, we are told, answered him not a word. No, of course not. For it hit home, didn't it? What could they say? For truth to tell, here lay the trouble. For these past many years now, Israel had been trying to have it both ways. They didn't want to throw over the worship of Jehovah. Why, they'd been reared as babies, believing in Jehovah, and father and grandfather, let alone great aunt and grandmother, had believed in Jehovah. Ah, yes. But then they said, you know, you know, you must admit there's a lot to be said for Baal. These past years, they've been trying to combine the worship of Jehovah with the worship of Baal. They were doing the splits. Their loyalties were divided. And the result had been in God's judgment upon them, a long famine now, a drought of rain for many months, and a consequent famine and And dearth. death. It's why, therefore, that Elijah, hitting the nail precisely upon the head, now challenges the people with what the central issue in the revival is going to be. If there's ever going to come a revival, it will mean facing it. If If... Jehovah is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him. Make up your mind. Stop trying to have it both ways. Stop trying to do the splits. To start with, they'd never be happy so long as they tried to compromise. And then anyway, it was terribly illogical, wasn't it? Let's think about it a moment. If Baal was God. Well, let's consider the proposition. If Baal really was God, well, you'd be a fool not to follow him, wouldn't you? He's God. Of course, if he's only a demi-semi angel or something, a demi-semi quaver and not a full note, well, you only sort of would give him a passing kind of a service on Tuesdays and Wednesday afternoons, perhaps. But if there is God, maker of heaven and earth, the one that holds your very breath in your hand, in his hand, you'd be a fool not to serve him, wouldn't you? It's absurd, half serving him. And the same applies to Jehovah, doesn't it? If Jehovah be God... Well, the man who professed to believe that Jehovah is God and didn't serve him one hundred percent with all his heart, mind, soul, and undivided strength, that man's a fool. Let's ponder that, therefore, shall we? For the revival's going to turn in the first place not on some great excitement, but on thinking through the logic of what we believe. Our feelings come and go, don't they? And one day we're moved up to the very heaven with wonderfully pleasant feelings of joy and delight, and we determine to follow the Savior and serve him. Come Monday morning in the kitchen and the washing, all the difficulties in the factory, and we get discouraged, and then... we don't serve. So that we better take our emotions by the scruff of the neck and sit them down sharply upon the seat and tell them to be quiet a moment and give our minds a chance to think it through. And herein lies the secret, says the Apostle John, in our overcoming the world. I remind you what it is. Who is he that overcomes the world? Or just who is he? And what is his secret? Who is he that overcomes the world, says John, save he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. And how is that, uh, a helpful secret? Why, simply this. If Jesus is God's son. If Jesus is the creator incarnate. If he owns everything there is in time and eternity. If he is the author of all good. He's son and heir of the Father himself, my dear friend, we should be fools not to serve him, shouldn't we? No matter what I feel like, whether I be full of emotional joy and gratitude, or whether I'm finding the going tough, if Jesus be God's son, heir of all things, then I should be foolish indeed not to serve him. But if he isn't, well then, I might as well be logical. Don't serve him. Serve some other God. If the world be your God, if the world is God, serve the world. But pray don't let us fall into this grievous mistake of trying to have it both ways. You say, please tell us, if you care, who Baal was one of the old heathen gods, and he got his name simply because Baal in Hebrew means lord, master, husband sometimes, because it comes from that period of history when husbands were lord and masters. You can tell how ancient the word is. Lord, it meant. Master. And just perceiving that, we can see how central the issue is, can't we? Our blessed Lord himself reminded us no man can serve two lords, two masters. Can't be done. It'll be Jehovah or Baal, but it won't be both. It'll be Christ or the world, but it won't be both. No man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon, said Christ. Who's old mammon? Oh, you say mammon is money. No, it isn't. Mammon is the god of money. That's a different thing. Nothing wrong with money. There's everything wrong with making a god of money. And let's get it clear in what an old idol of a god was in the ancient world. It wasn't necessarily something you loved more than God. Very few people loved their idols. But something they served rather than serving God. Something they trusted rather than trusting God. You cannot serve two masters. Now, for me to tell you, or you for you to tell me if we have been setting up in our lives false gods. But we need constantly to be open, don't we, to the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Yes, from time to time we do give things and people the service and the trust that only God should have. But there were lots of old gods in the ancient world, and who in particular was Baal? Baal? Well, Baal, in the first place, uh, he was the storm god. Of course, the ancients were very observant. I can't quite tell you that they were scientists, they were far from being that, but they were observant. And when they saw the great storms rolling in from the Mediterranean, and the breakers and the surf are roaring, when they saw the storm clouds gather and the lightning shine, wow, they said, that must really be a god, don't you think? Baal Baal was was. the deification of the great forces of nature. Yes, but Baal also, because he was the deification of the forces of nature, he was also the god of fertility. Marvelous thing, isn't it, when you think about it? Life and growth. Whether it be the seed in the field and how it germinates. A marvelous mystery it is. Or whether it is the fertility of the flocks. Or the human family. Wonderfully mysterious these things are. And they ought to provoke everybody, in everybody, didn't they, a sense of wonder, marvel at the gift of life with all its mystery that God himself has designed and given to us to be treated with the utmost reverence and care. But the ancients, do you see, they weren't content gratefully to receive the gift of life and fertility from God. They made a god of it. And hence, in the worship of Baal, the services were little short, very often, of sexual orgies. Now, perhaps I shall have to ask you just for a moment to think, uh, sympathetically about the poor old Israelites. But some of them were under some pressure, weren't they? Of course, it was all right for the old boys with beards, uh, stretching down to their knees, you know. But don't you see, in Elijah's time... Ah, now, that was no longer old fashioned. It was the modern world, don't you see? You think Elijah's old fashioned, don't you? Just 'cause you read of him in the Bible. Well, when Elijah lived, everybody that was around thought they were the last word of being modern. Of course they were, they were the most modern people that ever had been up to that point, weren't they? And therefore they came under a great deal of pressure. You can imagine the boy coming home, can't you, from school and saying, Dad, look, Dad, you know, our teacher has been explaining to us today what makes the storm go. Oh yes. How, how then, son? Well, it's the god Baal behind it, see. No, no, my boy, no, no, that's not what you were taught in the, in the temple. Ah, but our teacher says that some of those up at the temple, they're old fashioned, you know, they, I mean, I mean, they get their, their what they're supposed to know out of the Bible, you see. That was written hundreds of years ago, Dad. And now the leaders think that it's Baal that makes it go. Oh. What's more, Dad, I mean, the teacher was telling us, do you see, you know farmer Eleazar down the road? Yes, yes. Well, he sacrificed a bear this year, and look what a wonderful crop of corn he's got in his field. You see, that's bear does that. And Dad doesn't know quite what to think now, because, well, there's no, no denying old farmer Eddie Lazer got a, he got an enormous great bumper crop this year, and, uh, perhaps, you know what, perhaps it isn't what Moses said, but, uh, I mean, can you afford to let go the possibility of getting a bumper crop of wheat in your field? Well, what's the harm, just I mean to say, we can still go on believing in Jehovah, but, uh, no harm just offering a little lamb, is there, to, uh, Baal? I mean, must we be so old-fashioned and closed in our mind as just to worship Jehovah only? Bit by bit, Israel was seduced into joining onto the worship of Jehovah, the worship of Baal, and some said it was the latest word in science. That's Luke Piffle, of course. So So Luke loop Piffle. piful. And can you... can you hear just now what the young folks are saying, not to their parents this time, what the young folks are saying over their coffee or whatever it was they used to drink? Here, any of you guys been along to the service of Baal? Oh, they do have some wonderful times there, don't they, you know? The music is tremendous. And you know, they're not as strict as our old lot. I mean, ah, well, you know what I mean, don't you? Do you see that old, uh, strict stuff, old fashioned now, that you, that says that you should reserve for marriage, what God says should be reserved for marriage. You know, they don't mind in Baal. And you can anticipate marriage without being married. One girl says, oh, but I don't want to go there. Ha, you're chicken. You're not with it. And so it came to pass that many of the young Israelites were professing faith in Jehovah, but their morality was no longer what the Bible said morality was, and they justified their behavior because they said, well, it's modern, you see, uh, people think differently about these things nowadays. And you wouldn't want to live... in the university, would you, necessarily, to know that young people nowadays are under tremendous pressures in this very same area to make a god of sex, and to regard what Bible says about it as old fashioned, and to think that because the world is modern, what used to be immorality isn't immorality anymore. But God hasn't changed. It was the true God of heaven that had given them the great and wonderful mystery of life and fertility. For their joy and blessing. So be it, the gift was enjoyed under his rules and regulations and commands. But Israel made a god of it and forgot God's commandments. And it ended not in the joy they thought, but in famine and dearth and sorrow. It was thus that Elijah had to challenge them then, didn't he? There's going to be revival. And we'll have to make up our minds. Is Jehovah really God, or is Baal God? Perhaps the young folks would need to be convinced that Jehovah was the true God and Baal a nonsense. And the older ones might say to themselves, yes, we know that Jehovah is God, but while we know it, we haven't been acting on our belief and serving him wholeheartedly. If Jehovah be God, follow him. Unless you say that's the point. That's the point, Elijah. Prove it, man. As you prove it. I mean, when we go to school, when we go to talking to our friends, I mean, you'll see they've got lots of wonderful arguments. How do you prove that Jehovah is God? So that we can know it in our very heart and fearlessly dare to give our lives utterly and solely over to him. How to prove it? Well, you know how Elijah proved it, how he demonstrated it. He assembled them on Mount Carmel. He told the priests of Baal to build their altar, put the sacrifice on, and call upon Baal, and they called upon Baal. No answer, no answer. You know, there are some folks nowadays that tell us that there's no creator. The The universe universe. just happened. So that the ultimate forces and powers in the universe are simply the cosmic rays and the atoms and the nuclei and other such items. You believe that? All right, old boy. But in the day of your need, when your heart cries out for meaning in life, and what life is going to do with you, you stand and call upon the atoms to hear you, and the cosmic rays. I tell you, there'll come back no voice. And if you've forgotten God, if you don't know the God who made it all, then when your heart craves for solace and meaning, there isn't one s- thing that can possibly satisfy you. Talk to the furniture, madam, it won't answer you. And if you've made your home a god, but in the day of distress, it won't answer you. It's got no voice, it's just a thing. And when a human heart stands, asking if there be some real meaning in life, calling out, if there's a God, speak to me. How shall I know who the true God is? And the answer is a sacrifice. In Elijah's day, the sacrifice was laid on the altar. He called, and the God of heaven sent down fire and consumed the sacrifice. They knew it was God. In our day? Well, it's a sacrifice still, isn't it? How do I know that Jesus is the Son of God? How do I know it? Oh, my friend, says John the Apostle, I tell you how you may know. There's a thousand and one bits of evidence, but this is preeminent among them. Everything's going to depend, of course, on whether you do really believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you know what the evidence is that he is the Son of God? Well, this, this to start with. This is he who came by water and by blood. The second half of that phrase means simply this. And Jesus Christ is the one who came into our world and from the very start was announced as the one coming as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Claimed to come to die for the sins of the world. Nobody ever else claimed that, did they? We've had prophets galore that exhorted us to be good, and truth to tell, we knew we ought to be before they came. Our trouble? Not that we didn't know we ought to be good, we knew that. Our trouble was that we hadn't been good. We have sinned against ourselves and against others. And our hearts, whether we will or not, are from time to time harried with guilt. What shall I make of myself? I've sinned. I've sinned against myself. I've sinned against my own values. I've sinned against my neighbor. Does it matter? How can I say it doesn't matter? Shall I say that life is such a thing that when you've sinned against it, then it doesn't matter? Well, then life is a very poor thing, isn't it? But if sin matters. Then how can I ever possibly find forgiveness and release from the sense of guilt and of judgment that must come upon my sin? There's been only one in the whole of human history that's ever, ever suggested an answer adequate to the need. He came by blood to tell us that sin matters and must be judged by the fire of God's wrath. Ah, but to tell us that the true God is the one who's sending his fire down from heaven with those guilty people standing around, sent the fire not on them, but on the sacrifice. And Calvary is where I find the true God of heaven. I bid you consider it. Who is he on that cross? He claims to be your God. How do you know he is? My friend, because none other loved you ever like that. But when we deserved God's judgment, God's own son would demand that the penalty be paid and yet suffer the penalty in our stead. You'll only have to make up your mind once, you know, and nobody else will talk to you like that. Nobody else claims to be the God who died for you. And I do not propose to preach an emotional sermon. Quite the reverse. I notice that when Elijah was keen on leading that, uh, revival, he didn't say, well, I have a box of matches in my pocket just to, just, just in case the fire doesn't come. I, I just work it up a little bit, just get it going a bit, you know. Uh, did the very opposite. He poured cold water on the whole lot. Buckets full, barrels full. I want to do that tonight. I would rather that we went home not emotionally moved, but thinking it logically through. Is this Jesus, God's son? Is this God incarnate hanging on a cross for me? And come to a logical conclusion. And Paul put it this way. You know why I serve the Lord like I do? Well, I have judged this. I've come to the logical conclusion in my mind that if one died for all, that was as good as if all died. And he died for all, that they which live should no longer live to themselves, but to him had died and rose again for them. That was the gospel. You say, there's one thing wrong with your sermon tonight, Mr. Preacher. Oh? You'll say, well, that revival didn't last very long. You're wrong, it did. No, you say it didn't because the very next chapter tells us Jezebel was threatening to have Elijah's head off, and he ran away. Well, that bit's true. Now, the revival lasted, and in a moment I'll tell you how. And just as we finish, as we have heard the gospel side of the message, so we must hear the other. If Jehovah is God, yes, there's forgiveness through the sacrifice offered there on Mount Carmel, but what happens if you reject that sacrifice? Now watch it. Elijah ascended. Did he not? And there are two stories, if not three, of his ascension in different ways and forms. After this great event, Elijah ascended. I'm going to tell you of two of the occasions on which he ascended. Elijah ascended up a mountain and sat on a mountain. There came a messenger from the king and said, man of God. The king has said, come down. Oh. Said Elijah, do you know what you're talking about? I hope you're not being just polite, my good sir, calling me a man of God. For if I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and all your men. And the fire came down and consumed them. You say that was terribly tough, wasn't it? It was tough. But don't you see the point? If Jehovah is God and Elijah is God's servant, then if you trust God, you repent and believe, there is blessing eternal. But if you reject God's servant... Why, in the end, there can be no half and half, can there? I remind you that the Jesus that suffered here at Calvary is raised in heaven, and the Holy Spirit has come down from heaven to say what? To convict the world of righteousness because Jesus Christ is right. His claim was true. He is the Son of God. His ascension demonstrates it, and the Holy Spirit is come to convict the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. If Jesus Christ is God's son, then the world that crucified him stands under his judgment. We can't have it both ways. Oh God, write it on our hearts? It's when we come really to believe the implications of deliberately rejecting Christ that our hearts are stirred, aren't they? To be energetic in our work and faithful in our testimony for Christ. There's another story how Elijah ascended. You know it well. I need only briefly remind you, and it's a happier story. One day, as he walked, the chariots of God came. They took Elijah bodily up to heaven. The man who had offered the sacrifice, now in heaven. Just before he went, Elisha said, I should like it if you gave me a double portion of your spirit. All right, said Elijah, if you see me when I'm taken, it shall be so. And Elijah saw him. Oh, wonder of it, to see that man that had offered the sacrifice ascend into heaven, and more wondrous still, as he ascended, his cloak came fluttering down, and Elijah went and took it, used it, and wore it. Fancy walking around the world in the coat of a man that has just been visibly taken to heaven. And Elisha was thereafter blessed to do miracles of grace and healing and of preaching the gospel, such as few men ever were commissioned to do in the whole of Old Testament history. If Jehovah be God, if Jesus be his son, oh, Oh. that Let's so serve him. How shall I know he's the Son of God? Oh, friend, look again at Calvary and let God demonstrate it to you. He's risen now. Do you see the implication if he is really the Son of God and the world crucified him and God has raised him? Do you see the implication for those who reject? Well, if you do, God give you compassion for them. They need your gospel. How shall I go and preach it, you say? How shall I serve him and live for his glory? Why, if you see him ascended, if it catches our hearts that that same Jesus Christ is alive in the glory and has sent forth his spirit to clothe us, then in the power of that spirit of the living Lord shall we be able to serve and able to preach. The Lord bless his word for his name's sake. Amen. Humbly now, Lord, we thank thee for thy holy word. We ask that thou will give us ever more deeply to understand it and to see its significance. Help us, Lord, tonight that we may see its bearing on our own lives. Grant it may correct us in anything in which we need correction, that we may serve our blessed Lord without compromise, with a faith unshaken that he is indeed thy son, and in the power of thy spirit, in our fellowship with him now at thy right hand, so bless us and revive us, we beseech thee, through that same Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.