By Pastor Matt Black
11
November 2007
Lord's Day evening
1
Kings 17:17-24
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of I Kings 17:8-16. We are continuing our study on the life of Elijah. He lived an amazing life. He came out of obscurity. He didn’t have much education. He didn’t have much wealth. He was virtually unknown, a humble farmer from Gilead. But he had a heart for God, and He trusted God not only in the truth of the message he was preaching, but he also trusted in the absolute power of God.
We’re going to talk about that tonight. So the title of this evening’s message is “Alive from the Dead”.
We are all here tonight because we believe in the message of the Gospel, but I wonder, do we believe in the power of the Gospel?? Do you believe that being a Christian goes far beyond instruction and actually is a life demonstrated in power and boldness with a fearless faith to this world? The boldness of a Christian comes from his understanding that if you bring God into any situation, nothing is impossible! Nothing is impossible!!!
Let’s go ahead and stand, realizing that we are reading God’s very own inspired, God-breathed message to us tonight. Our text is found in 1 Kings 17:8-16, “And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? 19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. 20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. 22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth”.
This morning we read in Hebrews 11:35 that, “Women received their dead raised to life again.” This is found in the great “Hall of Faith”. This chapter is a testament to true powerful faith! What we have just read is recorded history. I wasn’t there, but it is recorded infallibly. This is the God we serve. Why should this be hard to believe? If God can create something out of nothing, why should it be difficult to believe that God can bring life out of death? As Paul said before King Agrippa in Acts 26:8, When Paul was making his defense before Agrippa the apostle asked him, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead?”
I believe God is grieved not only with the state of the church in America, but perhaps even with our church in particular. It is not a small thing to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, but I do not think we are dissatisfied with our own spiritual condition. Not only that, I believe we have become very comfortable with a Holy Spirit that operates mainly on paper. Nice sermons about sound doctrine are not enough. There absolutely must be believing life of prayer and a believing life of faith that will accompany any introduction of God into a desperate situation.
He who created life can bring back the dead. He can also revive the deadest church.
Let me say also, that Elijah believed in a God that could raise the dead. We know very little of Elijah’s God in American churches. We need to return to the God of Elijah. We need to dispose of the happy meal and super sized human powered Christianity and return to the power and faith of the early church. Throughout the book of Act we find that they went everywhere speaking the word of God BOLDLY in the power of the Spirit.
If you are born again, then you are born again by the Spirit, and the risen Christ lives in and through you. That’s the power and life that Elijah was so familiar with. Are you familiar with the power of God in your life?
I. We first see Death in the widow’s home.
We come to verse 17, and we read, “And it came to pass after these things…” It came to pass after what things? Verse 15 says that the widow of Zarapheth went and obeyed “the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”
A. There is always a trial of faith. Sometimes when everything goes right, and we are rescued from a dark situation, we may be tempted to think that now our troubles are over. We can’t imagine that it might be the will of God to go through something even worse than the worst trial we can imagine. Actually the opposite is true. We should come to expect our faith to be constantly tried. Peter advises us in 1 Peter 4:12, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you”.
Maybe the widow thought since she had so helped the prophet Elijah, that God would now bless her amazing faith. But remember that we are not yet on the new earth. The New Jerusalem has not yet come down from heaven. As long as we are on this earth, God is going to try our faith. And so it was with this widow.
Verse 17 tells us that, “it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.”
This boy died. How could it be? How could a loving God bless this woman’s faith with the most severe of heartaches? I will tell you that we do not know or understand the power and plans of God. There is a truth that you must embrace if you are to survive as a Christian.
· After great blessing, many times God will send you great trial.
B. We should expect fire and testing. This is the way of the cross. What did our Lord get for all the good he gave to people? And we are called to the same. After Pentecost came much persecution for the believers. We need to expect that if we are a praying people, that things will be difficult for us. And we need to be willing to bear those difficulties. Hebrews 13:13, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” Our faith is a cushy faith. We know little of suffering reproach for Christ. When the early Christians suffered, it says they rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
Now I want you to see how common this woman’s reaction was. Verse 18, “And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” Was it Elijah who took this woman’s son? This woman did not understand that all of God’s purposes are good. God’s purposes in giving us unimaginable suffering are always good.
· Suffering is the whetstone that sharpens our faith.
· Suffering is the fire that purifies our heart.
II. Then we see a bit of Desperation in the widow’s heart.
Notice again the words of this woman. Verse 18, “And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?” She is exasperated. She has lost composure. Think of a woman who has totally lost all composure. This dark day has taken her by surprise.
At this point she could forsake God. Many do. Many serve God during the times of blessing, but what about during the times of testing? Do we have the mature faith of Job to say "shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:10) and “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
God’s purposes are seen in this widow’s answer.
· First, she asks him, "What have I to do with thee?” (verse 18)—Her natural and initial reaction is that she thinks Elijah caused this death. But we see her faith come around even as she speaks.
· Because second, she sees him as "thou man of God"—She realizes that this is a man of God, and that this is God’s doing.
· Thirdly, she gets to the bottom of her conscience by asking, "Art thou comes to me to call my sin to remembrance?”—possibly a reference to her former worship of Baal.
It is this answer that shows the widow of Zarapheth to be a true believer. Here we see a great difference between believers and unbelievers. Unbelievers say, “What have I done to deserve this?” Believers say, “Why not me? I deserve much worse than this!!”
· The unbeliever makes excuses and is self-righteous. How dare you ask me if I’m saved!
· The true believer examines himself and is leery and untrusting of himself.
No matter how heavy the loss, how deep his grief, the suffering Christian can say, “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Psalm 119:75).
God was not obligated to sustain her. Her son was sustained with meal and oil for “many days”. There must have been many sons who died not only in the Gentile lands, but also in Israel.
It is not a sin to be desperate. It is good. It is right to search our hearts in times of tragedy. Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
This is a fruit of true repentance in the widow’s heart. Now we are going to see a demonstration of her faith.
III. A Demonstration of faith.
A. First we see the widow’s faith. In Hebrews 11:35 we read that by faith, "Women received their dead raised to life again." This I believe is a direct reference to the widow at Zarapheth. We read in verse 19, that Elijah “said unto her, Give me thy son”.
Realize first who Elijah was speaking to. The widow of Zarephath, was a Gentile, but by faith she was a daughter of Sarah. She was one of God’s elect. Her will was no longer in bondage to Baal worship.
She believed the word of God when Elijah told her to take the last of her meal and oil and give it to him. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). She had faith. And her faith was supernatural. Deep down she had the same faith as Abraham. Upon hearing the words of Elijah, we can deduce from the New Testament that she was expecting her dead son to be raised to life again!
B. Now we see Elijah’s faith. And so we read in verse 19 that Elijah said “unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.”
1. Faith doesn’t hide reality. We need faith when we come to a situation as bleak as this. Real faith is not the faith of the money coming in and everything going well. Real faith trusts God when all has gone wrong!! Real faith never compromises, but looks at the true reality of the situation.
2. But faith also goes to the only one that can do the impossible. And when all goes wrong, what can you do? Verse 20, "And he cried unto the Lord”.
James 1:5-7, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Speaking of Elijah we read in James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
3. Faith also understands the sovereignty of God. Elijah saw death as part of God’s sovereign plan as Amos 3:6 says, “shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" So we read back in 1 Kings 17:20, “ And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.” Elijah understood something. He understood that God confirms His word through mighty acts. He expected God to do something.
Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
We lack power because we lack faith. We must pray believing! This is absolutely essential. God hears no anemic prayers!
“This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, He heareth us” (1 John 5:14).
IV. Finally we see the Reward of faith.
Verse 22, “And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth”.
What joy must have filled the prophet’s heart as he witnessed the miraculous answer to his prayer! Excitement fills the church when God answers.
Conclusion: Are we expecting God to work? Are we expecting God to act? If we are waiting on men to do something it will never happen. You can give the Gospel out a thousand times to every house, but unless God works, nothing will occur.
Let us pray with believing prayer! Matthew 7:7-9, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”