The Life of ELIJAH: The HEARTS of three men 1 Kings 18:1-15 (Sermon 7)

Last time we considered TWO REACTIONS to the DEATH of the widow of Zarephath’s son:

FIRSTLY: The WIDOW’S REACTION to this MAJOR PROBLEM indicated her

1. She began by BLAMING Elijah and his God for her son’s death

• When facing a major problem she soon forgot God’s blessings!

1. The widow then began to BLAME HERSELF for her son’s death

• She asked Elijah: Did you come to remind me of my sin?
• The LESSON to be LEARNED from this incident is that God’s BLESSING does

NOT guarantee IMMUNITY from SUFFERING & TRIAL!

• Every CALAMITY should always be VIEWED in the light of God’s PROVIDENCE!

SECONDLY: ELIJAH’S REACTION to this SAME PROBLEM indicated his

1. Elijah’s PRAYER was FERVANT PRAYER

He was not afraid to ARGUE his CASE before God!

2. Elijah’s PRAYER was grounded in God’s PROMISES
3. Elijah’s PRAYER was PERSEVERING PRAYER

Now, we come to an incident which occurred at the HEIGHT of the FAMINE.

Look at the scene of devastation after three years of drought and famine:

For more than a thousand days: "There was NEITHER DEW NOR RAIN on the land"

"The famine was SEVERE in Samaria and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was

in charge of his palace … Ahab had said to Obadiah, ‘Go through all the land to all

the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and

mules alive so that we will NOT have to KILL any of our ANIMALS" (1 K 18:1-5)

King Ahab lived in the city of Samaria and reigned over the mighty nation of Israel.

• He was a man who possessed great wealth & great power.
• He lived in a sumptuous palace, beautifully decorated, with no expense spared.
• The rooms were panelled from floor to ceiling with carved ivory.
• The whole palace overflowed with the trappings of royal splendour.

However, the land surrounding the palace, lay in absolute devastation:

• Not a blade of grass or a single flower could be found as far as the eye could see!
• The whole land was brown & barren. The effects of drought were obvious!

This devastation is depicted in the account of Ahab’s horses and mules:

- The royal stables had been the pride & joy of every king since Solomon!

• Now those splendid horses lay dying.
• The King himself, with his servant Obadiah, travelled the length & breadth of the land in a desperate search for grass!

1 K 18:1-16 records the REACTIONS of THREE MEN to this devastating situation:

This morning I want us to look into the HEARTS of these THREE MEN:

FIRSTLY: AHAB, the HARD-HEARTED king who stood in DEFIANCE against the

SECONDLY: OBADIAH, the HALF-HEARTED believer, who was

THIRDLY: ELIJAH, the WHOLE-HEARTED prophet, who was willing to go back

Ahab lived his whole life without regard for the Word of the Living God

Remember what the Scriptures say about Ahab’s sinful heart (1 K 16:30-31):

"Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before

him. He married Jezebel … and began to serve Baal and worship him"

• The marriage of Ahab & Jezebel marked the beginning of a new era of

Remember Ahab’s CONTEMPT for the Word of the Living God:

He commissioned Hiel of Bethel to REBUILD JERICHO in defiance of the

curse of God pronounced by Joshua! (1 K 16:34).

He failed to remember the MESSAGE pronounced by Moses (Deut 28:1-24):

• God gave a PROMISE saying, OBEDIENCE will guarantee fertility on the land!

- God gave a WARNING saying, DISOBEDIENCE will bring a curse on the land:

Remember how Ahab TURNED his BACK on Yahweh, and WORSHIPPED Baal:

• He assigned control of the weather to this false fertility god.
• God sent Elijah to warn Ahab that Yahweh was in control of the weather, not Baal. Elijah said to Ahab: "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be NEITHER DEW NOR RAIN in the next few years except at my word" (1 K 17:1)

The curse of DROUGHT had lasted for over three years!

Yet, this evil king still stood in defiance against God, and refused to heed the warning.

• One might expect the King of God’s people to call for national repentance!

This is what King David did:

• David learned that this famine was due to sin, so he dealt with that sin!

This is why David could extol the Lord, saying (Psalm 33:18-19):

1 Kings 18 shows that Ahab had NO INTENTION of REPENTING!

- He BLAMED Elijah for the famine!

- He referred to Elijah as, "The troubler of Israel" (1 K 18:17)

• His aim was clear: He wanted to bring Elijah to his palace in an effort to compel this

man of God to bring rain on the land.

He wanted to bring an end to this devastating famine that was destroying Israel!

He wanted to call Elijah to account for daring to cause this calamity!

Look at Ahab’s MAJOR CONCERN at the height of the famine:

• His response was to divide the land with his steward, Obadiah, in a desperate

search for grass in order to feed his horses and mules (1 K 18:5-6).

• NO MENTION is made about making plans to meet the NEEDS of the people!

His heart was so hard, horses & mules took priority over human beings!

• NO MENTION is made about PRAYING to the Living God!

The mind of this hard-hearted king was far away from any thought of God!

• NO MENTION is made of the SIN which had displeased Yahweh!

All he wanted was some relief for his horses & mules.

• Even when facing God’s wrath, he was as STUBBORN as the mules he wanted to feed!

This hard-hearted attitude has always shown the DEPRAVITY of man’s heart:

Jeremiah speaks about a time when the hearts of God’s people were hardened:

He looked at the POOR PEOPLE and said (Jer 5:3-6):

"O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they refused

correction. They made their faces harder than stone & refused to repent"

He went to the NATION’S LEADERS and found the same attitude:

"Surely they know the way of the Lord … But they too had broken off the yoke &

torn off the bonds. Their rebellion is great & their backslidings many"

There is no shortage of HARD-HEARTED Ahab’s in our OWN DAY:

• Down through the ages, the Word of the Living God has been preached in every town, city & village in this nation of Britain.
• But nowadays, pulpits up and down the country, REMAIN SILENT.
• Only this Easter time, so-called "Christians" were more interested in proclaiming

"gay rights" than any reference to the death & resurrection of Christ!

• Cathedrals and other old church buildings, where God’s Word was once preached, are viewed as no more than ancient monuments. They are part of a lucrative tourist trade;
• The first notice you see in Durham Cathedral is NOT the WORD of God, but

a sign saying: "Everyone who comes into this place costs us £2.50"

The LAWS & MORAL STANDARDS of our society were once governed by Scripture!

- Now, people proclaim that GOD IS DEAD;

• Absolute standards are considered to be old fashioned;
• Everyone is free to do as they please!

Viktor Frankl, a survivor of Auschwitz said:

"The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that

man is nothing but the product of heredity & environment … The impetus for

Atheism has been described as: "An ASOLUTE DENIAL of the ABSOLUTE"

• They recognise NO ABSOLUTE BEING therefore there can be

NO ABSOLUTE MORAL STANDARDS

Such a system of belief ultimately comes from the SINFUL HEART of MAN.

As Jesus said to his disciples:

"Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality,

The Apostle Paul says that such thoughts & deeds will result in judgement:

"Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up

wrath against yourself on the day of judgement for the day of God’s wrath, when his

righteous judgement will be revealed" (Romans 2:5).

The Psalmist MAKES a PLEA to God’s people, saying:

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Psalm 95:8)

The writer to the Hebrews quotes this verse in his WARNING against UNBELIEF:

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion …

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away

from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today,

so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness" (Hebrews 3:7-13)

We are looking into the HEARTS of THREE MEN from 1 Kings 18:1-18:

FIRSTLY: AHAB, the HARD-HEARTED king who stood in DEFIANCE against the

SECONDLY: OBADIAH, the HALF-HEARTED believer, who was

Whilst Elijah was on his way to confront evil King Ahab, he met a man called Obadiah.

"Obadiah recognised him, bowed down to the ground, and said, ‘Is it really you, my

lord Elijah?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘Go tell your master, Elijah is here.’" (1 K 18:7-8)

Who was this man, Obadiah?

(He was NOT the Prophet who wrote the book of Obadiah, written during the Exile)

Firstly, he was a court official in charge of the household of King Ahab.

• He was a steward & manager of Ahab’s palace.
• He had a high position in Ahab’s royal court, being regarded as his right hand man.
• When the famine was severe in Samaria: Ahab summoned Obadiah & sent him

through the land to seek grass for the king’s horses & mules.

Ahab went in one direction, & Obadiah went in another direction (1 K 18:2-6).

Secondly, Obadiah was a "devout believer in the Lord" (1 K 18:3).

• While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah hid 200 prophets in

two caves and supplied them with food and water (1 K 18:4).

- He had worshipped the Lord since his youth! (1 Kings 18:12).

Obadiah MADE EXCUSES why it would not be expedient to go to Ahab (1 K 18:10-14):

Excuse number ONE: What WILL HAPPEN to YOU Elijah?

- Don’t you know that evil King Ahab wants to kill you?

"There is not a nation or kingdom where he has not sent someone to look for you!"

• Obadiah looked at the problems, rather than looking at the Sovereign Power of God!
• Such a wrong focus makes mountains out of mole hills!

It also reduces the High & Mighty One to a tiny mole hill.

Excuse number TWO: What if YOU DON’T TURN UP, Elijah?

"You tell me to go to my master (this evil tyrant of a king), and say, ‘Elijah is here,’

I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go to

Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will KILL ME!" (1 K 18:11-12)

• Obadiah was so fearful about confronting Ahab that his mind became paralysed!
• He imagined the disappearance of Elijah!
• He became paranoid about the possibility of persecution!
• He forgot about the power of the Living God, who could deliver him from Ahab!

Excuse number THREE: What about my LONG SERVICE record?

"I’ve been a servant of the Lord since my youth" (1 K 18:12).

• Elijah, don’t you want me to continue serving the Lord?

If I go to Ahab and he kills me, I’ll be of no use to your God then, Elijah!

Excuse number FOUR: What about my PAST EXPLOITS for the Lord?

"While Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred prophets in

two caves, and supplied them with water. And now you expect me to go to my master

and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will KILL ME!" (1 K 18:13-14).

• Obadiah was obsessed by his past performance!
• His confidence lay in past experience, rather than in God’s power in the here and now!
• He failed to concentrate on the faithfulness of God!
• He failed to see how the God who helped him yesterday, could help him today!

What are we to make of Obadiah?

- The Scriptures leave us in no doubt that he was a TRUE BELIEVER!

- We cannot dismiss this man as a false believer! He feared the Lord greatly!

• Nevertheless, we cannot ignore his faithful service for evil King Ahab.

How could this man, who had the confidence of the king, remain silent in the face of

such great wickedness & apostacy?

- We cannot ignore Obadiah’s initial reluctance to obey Elijah’s command (1 K 18:9)!

Roger Ellsworth comes to the conclusion:

"Faithful but faint-hearted seems to be the best way to explain Obadiah. He had

done much for Jehoveh’s cause, but he was reluctant to do any more than what he

had already done."

Obadiah became faint-hearted, because he was overcome with fear!

• Remember that he was King Ahab’s right hand man.
• He understood the depths of wickedness in this king, more than anyone else.
• Faced with the awesome power of an evil king, he became dejected & faint-hearted!
• He felt his own weakness and his inability to do anything about the situation.

When he looked to the Lord, he boldly helped 100 prophets escape from this evil tyrant!

• When he looked at himself, he became weak & faint-hearted and was afraid that

this evil king would kill him.

No doubt he went through the same turmoil of mind as King David, when he cried out:

"My strength fails because of my affliction … Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will praise him …

I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about

mourning, oppressed by the enemy?’ My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes

taunt me, saying all day long, ‘Where is your God?’" (Psalm 31:10 & 42:5-10).

Krummacher points out that:

"Obadiah is absorbed in melancholy reflections … These many words are not the

language of tranquil faith, but of human fear & despondency … All the children

of God must have their trying seasons for the trial & increase of their faith."

It is no coincidence that God allowed Elijah to meet Obadiah!

• Elijah could easily have gone directly to King Ahab to give his forthright message.
• However, God had chosen Obadiah to summon Ahab to meet Elijah on Mt Carmel!

- Here is a true believer who needed a word of encouragement.

• Here is a true servant of God who needed to be lifted up with renewed strength.
• Here is a servant of God who was looking to his own weakness and needed to learn

about the strength which comes from the Mighty Power of God.

After all Obadiah’s excuses, look at what happened:

"Elijah said, ‘As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present

myself to Ahab today.’ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and

Ahab went to meet Elijah" (1 K 18:15-16).

Elijah answered Obadiah’s EXCUSES with a single sentence:

• Obadiah was sure Elijah would disappear again, as soon as he went to King Ahab!

- Elijah replied: "Whether you go or not, I will surely present myself to Ahab today."

• When Obadiah heard these bold words, the reluctance in his heart crumbled!

Elijah answered Obadiah’s FEARS with a timely reminder:

• Obadiah was sure that Ahab would kill him!
• Elijah replied, "Obadiah, remember that the Lord Almighty lives"
• "Why are you half-hearted at a time when God needs servants who are whole-hearted?
• "Why are you downcast? It’s time to TRUST in your God for STRENGTH!"

Elijah answered Obadiah’s obsession with PAST EXPERIENCES!

• Obadiah felt that he’d done enough!
• He had been a servant of God since his youth!
• He had protected 100 prophets of God in fear of his very life!
• Elijah replied: "I serve God TODAY! If you won’t go to Ahab, I will."

The voice of Elijah came to Obadiah, just like the voice of God to Isaiah (Is 6:8):

Just like Isaiah, Obadiah answered:

"Here am I. Send me!"

Obadiah provides a LESSON to faint-hearted & half-hearted believersTODAY!

• There are many believers today, just like Obadiah.
• We are living in evil times.
• It’s so easy to become downhearted in the face of great wickedness and apostacy.
• Everyone is tempted to think that we are too weak for our feeble efforts to make any difference to this situation.
• In the face of extreme opposition, it is so easy to become secret believers.

The story of Obadiah teaches us that God’s faithful servants go through times when they become faint-hearted.

• The lesson to learn is that God is faithful, and he is the one who gives strength to faint-hearted believers!
• God sent Elijah to hard-hearted King Ahab.
• But first, we must pause & contemplate on the fact that God also sent Elijah to

half-hearted Obadiah.

The message of the Lord is clear:

"The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not

grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to

the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their

strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:28-31).

We are looking into the HEARTS of THREE MEN from 1 Kings 18:1-18:

FIRSTLY: AHAB, the HARD-HEARTED king who stood in DEFIANCE against the

SECONDLY: OBADIAH, the HALF-HEARTED believer, who was

Listen to a summary of 1 Kings 18:1-15:

"In the third year, the Word of the Lord came to Elijah: ‘Go & present yourself to

Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.’ So Elijah went" (1 K 18:1-2)

- Elijah meets with Obadiah and asks him to summon Ahab to a meeting.

- Obadiah brings his excuses and expresses his great fear of King Ahab.

- Then we read: "Elijah said, ‘As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve,

I will surely present myself to Ahab today’" (1 K 18:15).

Every MAJOR TURNING POINT in the Life of Elijah illustrates his

WHOLE-HEARTED & UNQUESTIONED OBEDIENCE to the will of God:

• The first time we hear about Elijah, he is standing before evil King Ahab as

a SERVANT OBEYING his Lord & Master:

"As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, WHOM I SERVE, there will be neither dew

nor rain in the next few years except at my word" (1 K 17:1).

- Remember how the Lord SENT ELIJAH to the BROOK KERITH (1 K 17:2-5)

"The word of the Lord came to Elijah, ‘LEAVE HERE, turn eastward and hide by

the ravine of Kerith … SO HE DID what the Lord had told him.

HE WENT to the ravine of Kerith … and STAYED THERE."

• Remember how the Lord SENT ELIJAH to ZAREPHATH (1 K 17:8-10)

• Remember what happened after more than three years of drought & famine:

Ahab & Jezebel were at the height of their FURY, but again we simply read; "The word of the Lord came to Elijah, ‘GO and present yourself TO AHAB (the evil

king who desperately wants to capture you and kill you), and I will send rain on the

land.’ SO Elijah WENT to present himself to Ahab." (1 K18:1-2):

Again & again we read: "The LORD said GO and HE WENT"

Again & again the Scriptures merely give a simple statement concerning Elijah’s

UNQUESTIONED OBEDIENCE to the Word of the Living God.

• We never read about Elijah making excuses or questioning the will of God.

- Obadiah was sure that Ahab would KILL Elijah, but Elijah says (1 K 18:15):

• Elijah was NOT AFRAID to STAND UP against evil King Ahab in the Lord’s Name!

Listen to the MESSAGE of Elijah to half-hearted & faint-hearted Obadiah:

Firstly, Elijah proclaimed the PERSON of GOD to Obadiah, saying:

• Jezebel may say that: "Baal is the sovereign lord of Israel"

- Elijah says to Obadiah, "My name is Elijah which MEANS: "The LORD, he is GOD!"

My Lord is the LORD of HOSTS, who commands the MIGHTY ARMY of HEAVEN!

Go to Ahab in the Name of the Lord, and he will PROTECT YOU from this evil king!

Secondly, Elijah reminded Obadiah about the CALL of GOD to his servants!

• Elijah said to Obadiah: "This God is the Lord WHOM I SERVE" (1 K 18:15)
• Obadiah, you say that you have "SERVED the Lord since your YOUTH";

• You say that you helped to PROTECT 100 prophets of Yahweh, in his Name!

• You say that you WORSHIP the Lord God;

Thirdly, Elijah promised Obadiah that he would not let him down!

• Elijah said to Obadiah: "I will SURELY PRESENT MYSELF to Ahab today"
• Obadiah, "You are afraid that the Spirit of the Lord will carry me away."
• "Don’t you understand that God has COMMANDED me to GO and

PRESENT MYSELF to Ahab"?

• "Don’t you know me well enough to understand that I ALWAYS OBEY God!

When he COMMANDS me to go to Ahab, I will SURELY OBEY the Lord!"

We have looked into the HEARTS of these THREE MEN:

FIRSTLY: AHAB, the HARD-HEARTED king who stood in DEFIANCE against the

SECONDLY: OBADIAH, the HALF-HEARTED believer, who was

THIRDLY: ELIJAH, the WHOLE-HEARTED prophet, who was willing to go back

The CRUCIAL QUESTION is: What kind of HEART do you have?

Maybe, you have a HARD heart!

Maybe, you are a HALF-HEARTED & FAINT-HEARTED believer!

Surely, the best attitude for the true believer to have is one of WHOLE-HEARTED & UNQUESTIONED OBEDIENCE to the Word of the Living God!

• Are you willing to OBEY GOD every time he commands you to do something?
• Can it be said of you: "God said GO, and HE WENT"?
• Will you have this tremendous epitaph:

"Here lies someone who was a WHOLE-HEARTED SERVANT of the Living God"