Session 2 Sermon 13

Remembrance

1 Kings 18; "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God." (Psalms 20:7 KJV)

Introduction

"The first occurrence of zakar (remember—zaw-ker') is in

1. Gen 8:1 with God as the subject:
   
   1. "God remembered Noah...: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged."
      
   2. In Gen 9:15 God said to Noah: "And I will remember my covenant...; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."
      
      1. As in these two cases (cf. Gen 6:18), "remember"
         
         1. is used of God in respect to His covenant promises and
            
         2. is followed by an action to fulfill His covenant.
            
2. God delivered Lot from Sodom because of His covenant with Abraham to bless all the nations through him (Gen 18:17-33): "God remembered Abraham, and brought Lot out of the catastrophe..." (Gen 19:29, NIV).
   
3. This (the action of remembering) marks the history of Israel at every major point:
   
   1. "And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel,...and I have remembered my covenant....and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians..." (Exo 6:5-6).
      
   2. The promise "to remember" was repeated in the covenant at Sinai (Lev 26:40-45),
      
   3. God's remembrance was sung in the Psalms (Psa 98:3; Psa 105:8, 42; Psa 106:45),
      
   4. and the promise was repeated by the prophets in regard to restoration from captivity (Eze 16:60).
      
   5. The new covenant promise is: "...I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer 31:34)" (W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White Jr., 1984).
      
4. New Testament examples
   
   1. Peter—Luke 22:61
      
   2. Apostles—John 2:17
      

The inspiration for this week is remind us for the need to remember.

Remembrance found in 1 Kings 18

1. V. 1—How God had spoken 42 months before in stopping the rain
   
2. V. 10—Obadiah remembers looking everywhere for Elijah
   
3. V. 12—Obadiah remembers how Elijah just "disappeared"
   
4. V. 13—Obadiah remembers Jezebel slaying the prophets of God
   
5. V. 17, 18—Ahab remembers their first "conversation" and it is confirmed that his sin has caused the drought.
   
6. V. 23, 36—Elijah reminds the people of a proper sacrifice
   
7. V. 30, 31—Elijah reminds the people that they are one by using the 12 stones for the altar
   
8. V. 38, 39—God reminds the people of His power and how He answers with fire.
   
9. V. 42—Elijah reminds God in the promise of rain.
   

Applying the Players in this Picture

1. God—who remembers covenant and moves to fulfill it
   
2. Elijah—the agent to bring remembrance
   
3. Israel—people of God needing to return to Him and function as one under His headship
   
4. Obadiah—the everyday believer working in a sinful world
   
5. Ahab—people of royal lineage but who, through outside alliances' and personal choices, sin before God
   

Let's each make a personal identification with the various players

Ahab

"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." (Psalms 51:3 ESV)

1. A personal reminder of a sin that needs to be confessed
   

Obadiah

"'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells." (Revelation 2:13 ESV)

1. Seeing answers disappear
   
2. Searching for Elijah (the word for healing)
   
3. Seeing death from drought all around.
   

Israel

"Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:19-20 KJV)

1. Joshua 4:1-3, 6-7
   

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV)

1. Endeavoring—to use speed; make an effort
   
2. Keep—not make
   
3. Bond—a joint; ligament
   

Elijah

After the fire still goes and prays until it is answered.

1. Ahab "went up" to satisfy the flesh; Elijah "went up" to complete the plan of God
   

Close

God

He who is faithful!

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

(Hebrews 10:23 ESV)

Session 2 Sermon 12

Review

Last week keeping the battle on the proper field: Not Ahab versus Elijah; not self-vindication; but it was the proper fear of God and not man.

Text

And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God." And all the people answered, "It is well spoken." (1 Kings 18:24)

 

Your Gods

History

As the Sun-god, Baal was worshipped under two aspects, beneficent and destructive. On the one hand he gave light and warmth to his worshippers; on the other hand the fierce heats of summer destroyed the vegetation he had himself brought into being. Hence, human victims were sacrificed to him in order to appease his anger in time of plague or other trouble, the victim being usually the first-born of the sacrificer and being burnt alive.

Isaiah 44:17

And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" (Isaiah 44:17)

 

This verse says that a false god was worshiped because the idolater believed the block of wood could deliver him. Herein we find a definition for what constitutes a false god. According to Isaiah 44:17, a god is anything to which we ascribe the power to deliver us. Westerners have their own set of false gods—sources to which they turn for deliverance when in times of crisis or need (let the reader understand):

 

• Money

• Health insurance

• Medical treatment/prescriptions

• Social Security

• Retirement plans and IRA's

• Credit cards/consolidation loans

• Pleasure/entertainment/recreation/sports

• Sex

• Friends (to deliver us from loneliness)

• Counselors

• Lawsuits

• Filing bankruptcy

 

 

Fire Not Water

Water was what Israel needed, there had been 42 months of drought—so why wouldn't Elijah say the God who answers by water, he is whom you will serve? The Mt. Carmel experience was more than meeting a need—rain—it was to reestablish the Lord as God!

Yes, there are times that we need to ask specific things of our God, but there are other times that we need to see the fire of God—His sovereignty that reestablishes Him as the Lord of my entire life, not just my specific area of need!

The question is do I want relief or sovereignty; do I want rain or fire?

Call

Contrast:

Prophets of Baal: Hours of being seen

Elijah: repair (mend/cure) (repent) the Word of the Lord—12 tribes (stones) and 12 barrels of water

Stones are my strength; water is my effort and all of it needs to be consumed by the fire that is God!