Victory Over Adversity

Introduction

How stirring it is each week to worship in this place and to worship with you. We are very fortunate here to have what we have. And let us count our blessings.

Characters of faith in the Bible are sometimes regarded almost as superheroes with whom it is a little bit difficult to relate, I think. I mean, you think about someone who was an apostle or a prophet, a miracle worker. I mean, I can’t do those things. Although I would be amiable. I mean, I would be glad to do them if that was God’s role and plan for me. I sort of would like the experience of that. But it’s really hard when I look at the life of the Apostle Paul as some extraordinary, one of a kind person that he was to really identify with that. But let me tell you about some of these people we almost regard as superhuman or superheroes. And that is, they were not a lot different than we are.

They lived in a special time, and God had special purposes for them. And as it says of David in Acts 13, they served the purpose of God in their generation. But they were in some unique kinds of circumstances. And I think of Ezekiel. Here is the prophet to the captives in Babylon. After the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, and the captives are off in Babylon. Ezekiel is prophesying to these people, and he has to do things like lay on his side day after day. 390 days in a row just to represent the 390 years of Israel’s iniquity, the northern tribes. 390 days in a row to make yourself a public spectacle of laying on your left side. And then he was done with that. It was time for Judah’s 40 years of iniquity, and he laid on his right side for 40 straight days.

So for 430 days, he does this public demonstration to represent the sins of God’s covenant people as to why they are in captivity to begin. And then there’s the death of his wife. And I want you to look at this with me real quickly in Ezekiel 24. I shouldn’t have said quickly, it’s hard to get to Ezekiel quickly. Ezekiel 24, while you’re getting there, I’ll start this. Ezekiel 24, 16. Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the desire of your eyes with a blow. His wife.

Can you imagine? No weeping, no public display of mourning. You shall not weep, and your tears shall not come. Groan silently. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put on, put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your mustache, and do not eat the bread of men. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening, my wife died. And then I like this. And in the morning, I did as I was commanded. What a marvelous example. Then there’s Daniel, who serves in the presence of emperors of other empires. Not just one, but two. Extraordinary stuff. And let us not overlook the father of the faithful. Abraham. And the glorious stories that we read about his faith in the book of Genesis.

But this morning. This sermon is about Elijah. And I want to begin in James chapter 5, incidentally, in the New Testament, in James 5 and verse 17, where he is referenced at the conclusion of James’s letter. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And that’s the phrase that I’m keen on in the introduction. He’s not so much different than us. He has a nature like ours. We can’t identify with one like Elijah, even though he was a prophet. He has a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again. And the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Most of the story of Elijah.

We’ve had this is a big guy in the Bible. I mean, he appears at the Mount of Transfiguration along with Moses to speak with Jesus about his departure from this world. And so we think this prophet of God that we’ve been studying about since we were a kid, that there’s a lot of material about him in the Old Testament. There’s really not a lot of material about Elijah. The bulk of it is in chapters 17 through 19. There’s a little bit of a story in regard to Naboth’s vineyard. And it seems he’s always appearing on the scene when Ahab’s messing up. And so that’s in chapter 21. And then we have him departing in 2 Kings chapter 2. And that’s about it for the story of Elijah.

There may be more information, or at least more stories, that relate to Elisha, his successor. But the bulk of this story starts in chapter 17 and verse 1, where it says, now Elijah the Tishbite, and if you have a hard time remembering that, just think Tickbite, it’s very similar. Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word. Three years and six months, James tells us. And so he is instructed then after he tells Ahab this, and Ahab will then be looking for him everywhere as this thing goes on. Go away from here and go to the brook Cherith, which is east of Jordan, and it shall be that you shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.

God provides for his righteous people. And he provides for Elijah by taking him to the brook Cherith, and the ravens are going to feed him there. And other stories unfold. And as this begins to be a very severe drought in the land, Ahab, along with his servant Obadiah. Now, Obadiah was one who feared the Lord greatly. And he had hidden some of the prophets of the Lord from the wicked clutches of Ahab and his wife. And they’re out searching, and we shouldn’t be surprised that Elijah is now about to speak with Ahab again, and yet he is found by Obadiah, the righteous one. And he says, Go tell Ahab. You’re going to have a meeting. And Obadiah says, Now, you know what kind of peril this puts me in, right?

He will kill me. And he basically said, nope, don’t worry about it, you’ll do it. And he does. And Elijah meets with Ahab. And that leads to the great contest at Mount Carmel between the prophets of Baal, the 450 prophets of Baal and Elijah. How long hesitate ye or halt ye between two opinions? If Baal be God, serve him. If Jehovah be God, serve him. And so they have this great contest, and Elijah says, I’ll let you guys go first. You know, no worries. He knows that Baal is nothing. Oh, you guys go ahead. For hours, they make the sacrifice, they make the altar, and they cry aloud, they latch their skin, very severe, and calling upon Baal to do something, to do anything, and obviously nothing’s going to happen.

Because he’s not a real God. Now it’s Elijah’s turn. And he says, Bring some water. And you remember, water’s a precious commodity here. I can just see the people going, I can’t believe he’s doing that with all the water. As a result of the fact that it has not rained. And he drenches his altar. And he does it again. And he does it again so much so that the trench around the altar is filled with water. And then he prays. And the Lord comes down and consumes the sacrifice, licking up all of the water in the trench. And proves himself to the people. And then it says, they go down to the brook and they slay all the prophets of Baal. Elijah’s involved in that. Kill them.

Tells Ahab, Oh, you need to go home. The sound of a shower.

And I love the part where Elijah, man, he was, he was quite an athlete. He was fleet of foot. He runs back and beats Ahab to town. And so you would expect then changes. Ahab is obviously humbled by this contest at Carmel. But, chapter 19 and verse 1. Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So may the gods do to me and even more if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. Boom. Shocking aftermath from the spiritual mountaintop of Carmel to the great despondency of the cave at Horeb, the mount of the Lord, where the law had been delivered.

And so it says, he arose. An angel of the Lord came again to him and told him, Arise and eat, verse 7, because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. Well, this is a period of time, 40 days. Then he came to a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said to him, What are you doing here? Elijah.

And this is the victory that overcomes the world. Even our faith.

In your life? What exactly does that look like in your circumstances? What does this mean day by day? One thing I think it means is an undaunted dedication to assembly with the Lord’s people. A commitment to worship and study of the word, despite setbacks and pain and even failures, because these things anchor us in what is the realities of life. What is that of true substance and reality? I think one thing, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. One thing it means is our dedication, our undaunting commitment to the worship of God and our dedication to spiritual things. And may I suggest to you that Elijah’s example helps us with everything that goes on out there? What happens when we’re not engaged collectively in these all important things?

What does this faith that brings victory, what does it look like out there? I want to talk to you for a few moments this morning about victory. Victory over adversity.

1. The Righteous Are Forewarned of Difficulty

Policemen can be a comforting thing. As they protect us, at least ideally. The walls of our home, insulated as they are, shield us from the elements. We have comfortable places of repose, the marvelous blessings of running water, which we take for granted, but should not. And even that hot water. Running water is one thing, but hot water is something else. Electricity, air conditioning, queen and king size beds. Weather apps. Aren’t those a nice or Google maps? How nice is that? To guide us. But we don’t have any app, anything or anyone who can shield us from the adversities of life. So that we never have to face any kind of difficulty or obstacle. Surely God will protect his people from hard times and from perilous circumstances and premature death.

Surely fellowship with God will mean an idyllic, pain free existence. Instead, scripture attests that the righteous often find themselves envious of the lives of the wicked, whose circumstances are better than theirs. At least from a worldly point of view, that’s what Psalm 73 is all about. The righteous are forewarned of difficulty. Do not believe that some strange thing is happening to you, Peter says, because you are persecuted for what you believe, and it is with difficulty that the righteous are saved. I think some people just like to take 1 Peter 4.18 and cut it out of the Bible. I don’t want difficulty. If that’s what serving the Lord means, you mean even added difficulty? Yes. Potentially so. Yea, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12. And even more, Jesus says, Do not fear the one who can kill you, and that’s all that he can do. It’s like, well, that’s a lot. That sounds painful. But fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And beyond all that, he says, be joyous about it. Count all joy, he says in James chapter 1 and verse 2. And when the disciples were flawed for what they believed, even though Gamaliel has warned them in Acts chapter 5, you don’t want to be found fighting against God. Well, let’s clog them and tell them not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus. And so they plog the disciples and they rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer.

They rejoiced about being beaten. I’ve never been beaten like that, but I wouldn’t relish the prospect of it. But they rejoiced because they were sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Is that the way we would respond to that? Not only are we going to suffer, we’re to rejoice in it.

2. Expect the Expected

If you’re like me. Sherry, don’t laugh. The unexpected is not looked upon favorably. I have never relished it. But unexpected and undesirable things beset us all. Let me tell you about a couple of Sunday nights ago. I was exhausted as I usually am on a Sunday night. I was very ready to go to bed. And I was just about to close my eyelids. And I had taken half of an antihistamine so I could breathe. That’s a good thing. And the phone rings. And it was my beloved son. The situation required, since Sherry was on call at the hospital all night and could not be that far away for an extended period of time. That situation required that I drive all the way to old and lost rivers to meet my son.

So I get out of bed at around 10.30 and drive all the way to Old and Lost Rivers. Meet him, turn around and come back. And did I mention that I had taken half of an antihistamine? And that I was very tired from preaching and teaching all day. Finally, I crawl back into bed at 12 30 a.m. Not what I had expected. Oh, but that’s that’s minor season. While we were at the golf tournament, we got word that one of the members at Westside in Irving, Mark Rogers, a doctor, who’s usually at the golf tournament, but stayed home this year, was out riding his bike early in the morning on Wednesday, and was hit by something he knows not what, and crashed his bicycle, was unconscious for a period of time, he does not know how long, and wakes up, finally gets back to his house, takes a shower, and then tells his wife, I need to go to the hospital.

And then had a surgery to have his jaw wired set. And there was a picture of him on Facebook after he’d had the accident, and he looked like he’d been in a war and lost. Should have been at the golf tournament. Moral of that story. Not what he had expected that day. And then there’s Debbie King, headed home from a visit with Linda, headed back to Arkansas, stopped at Texas Burger. That might have been the first mistake. But as she’s leaving Texas Burger, a little girl runs out in her path. And she says she remembers the squealing of the brakes as she’s trying to keep. And she apparently just nudged the little girl with the car and knocked her over. But the little girl was fine.

But Debbie was not. As she was crying, you can imagine how scary that kind of a situation is. The last thing you ever want to do in a car is run over somebody, especially a little kid. And the dad brought the little girl to her and says, Look, she’s fine, she’s fine, trying to console Debbie, but she took the brunt of that emotionally. Nobody expects these kinds of things to happen. Elijah was probably thinking big changes are coming. Certainly the lesson has been learned. Ahab has been humbled. He’s going to wake up. But listen, evil never sleeps.

Especially when there’s a Jezebel right. I mean, this is the very kind of thing that the believers are dealing with who are receiving the book of Revelation. They’re suffering. They’re crying. Oh Lord, how long are you going to allow this to go on? Over and over again in the book of Revelation, he talks about the deaths of saints who overcome by the word of their testimony and by the blood of the Lamb, and they do not love their lives, even unto death. Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Blessed are those who die in the Lord. They shall have rest from their labors and their works do follow them. And then when the harlot is finally judged, it says, within her is the blood of the saints and the prophets.

People have been suffering.

What am I doing wrong? Is God not pleased with me? When adversity comes our way, we need to still be affirming and singing, God is so good. Surely. As Asa says in Psalm 73, surely God is good to Israel.

Instead, we ought to say, why not me?

Am I any better than Elijah? Who had a nature like ours? Am I any better than Moses? Am I any better than David or Paul? So maybe this isn’t the right way of expressing this point. Expect the unexpected. Perhaps we should call it instead, expect the expected. Because it shouldn’t really blindside us. Should it? And so we need to, in regard to whatever comes, overcome. Elijah was a lot like us. What was he looking at in 1 Kings 19? He’s ready to throw in the towel. I’ve had enough of this. I am discouraged. People are rude, crude, and unkind, and sometimes even among the Lord’s people who should know better. He runs for his life. And then he wants to end it. Take my life, he says, going on in that context of 1 Kings 19.

3. You Feel Abandoned, but You've Not Been Abandoned

I alone am blessed. Take my life. Says it more than once. What did God remind him of?

I’ve been very zealous for the Lord the God of hosts in verse 10. They have torn down thine altars and killed thy prophets. I alone am left. They seek my life to take it away. And so he said, Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord was passing by. Isn’t that awesome? He was fortunate to be there. And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in an earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And all these impressive displays that Elijah is witnessing.

And after the fire sound, after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing. And it came about when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, Again, what are you doing here? Elijah. Then he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, torn down thine altars, killed thy prophets with a sword, and I alone am left. And they seek my life to take it away. What is God telling you? I know it feels like it. But I’ve not abandoned you. You feel abandoned, but you’ve not been abandoned. The sound of the gentle blow.

He is there.

You know, I really think that’s what Jesus is saying on the cross. When he quotes the words of Psalm 22, I think, I think, folks, that we missed that. At least some have. When he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I don’t think he is saying that the Father has abandoned him. First of all, he’s making an appeal by the very raising of the question. And he’s already said, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. He’s already made that appeal. And he’s going to say, It is finished, into thy hands I commit my spirit. And if you go back and read Psalm 22, again, David is strongly affirming in that Psalm while he feels forsaken that God is with him.

4. Look Not at the Problem, but the Provision

I wish we had time to look at that whole Psalm this morning. Psalm 22. Go back and read it. He affirms God’s presence with him, though he feels abandoned and forsaken. And that’s what’s going on in 1 Kings chapter 19. The problem. Here it is. The problem is the whatever. So discouraging. So painful. And it affects the way we look at things. And can derail our trust. Whatever. God is stronger than that. Whatever is. God is stronger than whatever comes your way. He wants us to survive and to succeed in faith. And he has promised a help. And so what did Elijah learn? The conclusion. Look not at the problem, but the provision. Elijah could only see what was missing or what was amiss. God showed him what was still there and what was still right.

God is still there. The sound of the gentle blowing. The faithful are still there. As he goes on to say, there are yet seven thousand in Israel that have not bowed the knee to Baal. You’re not alone in this thing, Elijah. Remember, he said, I alone am left. You feel alone. You feel isolated, but you’re not the only one in this spiritual battle who is surviving and thriving. There are yet 7,000 people who are still loyal to the Lord. And furthermore, I’ve got some work for you to do. I’ve got kings for you to anoint. I’ve got a new successor for you as a prophet, Elisha. Want you to go prepare him for the task. He’s waiting in the wings. Elijah’s vision narrowed to the extent that all he saw was himself and his pain.

And that’s what we’re prone to do. His vision narrowed, and all he saw was himself and his pain. He was peering at the prophet, not the provision. Times when we ought to be drawing nearer to God. We may find ourselves questioning him or even forsaking him. Times when we ought to fix our hearts on what we know. We speculate on things about which we may never know. And times when we ought to surround ourselves with spiritual family who are like us, we often isolate ourselves to our own detriment. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6 and verse 2. Look around. You’re not the only one. I’ll tell you one way that you do that. You get involved serving others and helping them so that your focus gets beyond yourself.

The truth is we are encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses with a nature just like ours.

5. Keep Your Eyes Trained Upon the Promise

And God’s people still march on. Keep your eyes trained, furthermore upon the promise. Ultimately, in chapter 2 of the next book, 2 Kings, Elijah departs as Elijah sees him lead with chariots of fire. And then the next time we see Elijah is in glory with the transfigured Lord, witnessed by Peter, James, and John. Our transport to glory approaches. We must persevere in faith. Remember the verse I quoted in 1 Peter 4, and it’s with difficulty that the righteous are saved. The next verse says, Entrust your soul to a faithful creator in doing what is right. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4. And when Jesus, and when Jesus comes in glory, and when we share his glory, as we sing the troubles of the road, will then seem as nothing.

That’s what Elijah sings now. The troubles of the road, as severe as they seem, they pale in comparison to the glory that he now shares with God. Our momentary light of life, whatever it is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

Conclusion

So where are you? Are you in Christ this morning? You desperately need fellowship with God. That’s what the whole Bible story is about to help sinners like us to come into fellowship with God. And if you do that, if you listen to the instruction of God’s word and humbly submit yourself to it, you will come into fellowship with God. But let me just tell you, it doesn’t mean all your troubles will go away. It doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be living life on easy street. You may accept a whole new different set of problems. But you’ll have God on your side. And if you persevere in faith, and this is the perseverance of the saints, we read about in the book of Revelation. If we persevere to the yes, oh, how he will reward us in the day.

It is worth it. I don’t know how much pain you will experience in your life or how deep that pain will be. But if you persevere in faith, it will be worth it ultimately. And don’t ever forget. There’s someone who needs to respond to the invitation of our Lord this morning to be in fellowship with him and to receive the assistance of these people as we will pray for you if need be. Won’t you come as we stand and sing together?