For our text this morning, I invite you to turn once again to 1 Kings chapter 19. For our reading in connection with that, I invite you to turn to Psalm 27 and also a few verses from Hebrews chapter 12. Those of you who are visiting with us this morning, we have been considering as a congregation the Lord's work through His servant Elijah. In many ways, we have considered the exciting events that took place on Mount Carmel. And now we are in a bit of a transition. The first few verses of chapter 19, leading up to a valuable lesson that the Lord is about to teach Elijah in the remainder of chapter 19. A couple of weeks ago, we considered the first two verses of chapter 19 and Jezebel's wicked response to the revelation of the Lord. Now this morning, we consider, maybe again a bit odd, but Elijah's reaction to Jezebel's response. We turn together first of all to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Psalm of David. Hear now the word of God. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me. At His tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord. Hear my voice when I call, O Lord. Be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, Seek his face, your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God, my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, O Lord. Lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes for false witnesses rise up against me breathing out violence. I am still confident of this. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart. And wait for the Lord. I'm turning to the Word of the Lord in Hebrews 12, the first three verses. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. And then back to 1 Kings 19, beginning at verse 1. Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, may the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. I have had enough, Lord, he said. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors. then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep there ends the reading of god's word elijah was afraid and ran for his life beloved congregation of our lord jesus christ with jezebel's threat of death to elijah we were reminded as we said a couple of weeks ago that the gospel of jesus Christ always draws a response without fail. Either a response of faith by the grace of God or a response of rejection and hatred. Psalm 1 says that the wicked will not stand in the judgment. But until that judgment day, as Psalm 2 says, they take their stand against the Lord and against His anointed. And that stand includes rising up against and trying to hurt, at the very least, trying to cause God's believers to waver, to stumble in their faith. And that is why we as believers need the constant and the ongoing blessing of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, through the nourishment of the preaching of the Word of God and the participation of the sacraments. That is why we as believers have a need to have our hearts and minds focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, fixed on Him. And that begs the question then, who gets your attention and mine? Where is your heart and my heart and your mind and my mind fixed? As we prepare to come to the Lord's table, the Holy Spirit we know by faith nourishes our spiritual lives with the crucified body and the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the Lord's table is also a remembrance, isn't it? It's a remembrance of the crucifixion and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It is a visible reminder of God's power to save. Of God's presence with those whom He has saved. And of God's protection over those whom He has saved. However, when Christ's struggle on our behalf becomes clouded with fear for the enemy, that is an indication of faithlessness. That is an indication of doubt about the ultimate victory. That is, as one title of a book says, to make people big and God small. And that describes Elijah's faithless reaction to Jezebel's threat. Jezebel became very big. God became very small. As Elijah reacted, first of all, with fright, with fear, with terror. And secondly, he reacted with flight. He ran away for his life. First of all, he reacted with fright. In some ways, of course, this is the saddest part of the story, isn't it? And it is a reminder that even the greatest theologian and preacher and missionary and even the most godly of saints is but a human being, is but a jar of clay completely dependent upon the mercy and the strength of God to sustain that one. A reminder to us to beware lest we think that we are so strong to stand in our own strength. For Elijah, not only a sad part of the story, but really, if you think about it, it's somewhat amazing as there is a surprising twist in light of Elijah's previous experience. As we think back to what had taken place up to this point, we might be tempted to ask, well, how in the world could this be? Elijah had faced Ahab without fear both before and after the drought. Elijah had admonished Obadiah for his faithless fear of Ahab. Elijah stood alone against 450 prophets of Baal. Elijah called down fire from heaven because, as it were, he had the power of God at his fingertips. Elijah commanded the execution of Baal's prophets. Elijah ran to Jezreel empowered by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Elijah was a man of faith. And Jehovah proved His presence and His power with Elijah, even as Elijah had prayed in chapter 18, verse 36, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today, He wanted the people to know this, that You are God in Israel, that I am Your servant, and have done all these things at Your command. And indeed, that's exactly what Jehovah had proved. That His presence, that His power was with Elijah. But now we read that Elijah was afraid. He used to be confident in the Lord. He could say with David, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. He had the confidence to say, as David also says, for in the day of trouble, He will keep me safe in His dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle. That was Elijah's confidence. He did not fear, for example, when the brook dried up. He did not fear when Obadiah said, Ahab has been looking for you all over the place. But now Elijah's focus was wrong. It was misdirected from the power of Jehovah to the threat of one woman. His eyes were fixed on Jezebel and her threat. He was afraid, the text says. Also translated, when he saw. But really no discrepancy between afraid and saw. As one commentator says, his eyes were fixed on the wicked and furious queen. His mind was occupied with her power and fury, and therefore his heart was filled with terror. He was no longer in his mind, and no longer in his mind was his honor secure with God, as Psalm 62 says. Instead, he had lost confidence in his God. And it caused him to walk by sight, not by faith. Really, it seems like in a moment, and really it was a very short period of time, it seems like in a moment, Elijah himself forgot all that God had done, even all that God had done through him. And he saw only what Jezebel said that she would do. He was no longer, as the definition of Hebrews 11 says, he was no longer sure of what he had hoped for. He was no longer certain of what he could not see, even after all that God allowed him to see and to be a part of it. But instead, he was convinced of the certainty of her threat and the certainty of her ability to accomplish it. And he was convinced that that certainty was more powerful than God to protect him. Scripture shows us the disastrous consequences of walking by sight. Lot coveted the greenest grass which led him to pitch his tent near wicked Sodom. Of the twelve spies to Cain, ten of them were scared and caused trembling and fear and a sense of defeat among Israel by their negative report which resulted in an extended wilderness hike. Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and He sank into the very same water that the Savior had given Him power to walk on. The disastrous result of walking by sight. The only deliverer, beloved, from fleshly fear is faith in God who alone is able to preserve His people even in miraculous ways as He did Daniel in the lion's den or Daniel's three friends in the fiery furnace. Yet, we need to confess our sympathy for Elijah, don't we? Because we know our own weakness. And we can't help but to think, well, who wouldn't be scared and run if their life was threatened by one like Jezebel who had already proven through the death of the Lord's prophet, she had already proven before that she was not afraid to do these wicked things. We can sympathize with Elijah. Yet, beloved, we are called to walk by faith. and not by sight. Because with all that we see around us, the world and the ruler of this dark world will deceive us. As we said a couple of weeks ago, in connection with true faith, there are many circumstances in this life that make faith in Jesus Christ seem foolish. And want to cause many to cry out and say, well, what good does that do when I'm suffering all kinds of physical hardships and circumstances? Yet just as Jehovah had given Elijah many visible proofs of His power and His protection, in the very same way, our Lord has accommodated to our weakness. And He has given us the sacraments to see, to experience, to taste, to feel. He has accommodated our weakness and especially given the Lord's table saying, look and see what I have done for you. Believe and come. We must confess that there have been countless times that our faith, I must confess this, maybe you too, but there are countless times when our faith has been weak as we have faced circumstances that cause us to ask in a doubtful way, well, how will I? Or what if? Or where can I? Then I trust we can also testify that then again and again and again and again, over and over, our gracious God has lifted our eyes to Jesus Christ and reminded us of who He is, who we are, what we have in Him, and given assurance in our hearts that no matter what takes place around us in this life, no matter what may befall us, we are safe in the palm of His hand, and therefore that we can say with Job, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. The Lord's Supper is a picture of the marvel of the saving work of Jesus Christ upon whom we are called to fix our eyes. Upon Him. And what He has done, as the writer of Hebrews says. Because otherwise we can only respond to any wicked threat, like Elijah, with fright. But also, in the second place, with flight. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to Beersheba in Judah. He left his servant there and then we are told that he continued on. He ran for his life without waiting for God as always before. Notice, he would look to the Lord for instruction before he went to the brook in chapter 17-2, before he went to the widow in chapter 17-8, before he went back to face Ahab, chapter 18, verse 1. Every time it says, the Word of the Lord came to Elijah. But not this time. He ran without waiting for God. Taking instead. Taking matters into his own hands. Not waiting patiently, but he acts on a hasty impulse. He deserts his post of duty. He abandons those who depended on his leadership. He flees from the Lord's enemy. Now think about that. Satan and his wicked hosts are ultimately the Lord's enemies. When we think about that, we are to take comfort in the words of Paul when he says, if God is for us, and his point is, and he is, then who can be against us? And his point is, no one. Not the devil himself. He abandons God's people. He runs without waiting for God. He runs out of reach to Beersheba, out of Israel, all the way to the southern tip of Judah, maybe about a hundred miles and even beyond. It's possible that he didn't even feel safe in Judah because Judah's king Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat's son, had married the daughter of Ahab. And there was a fairly close alliance there. But it seems clear that ultimately Elijah had given up. he had lost confidence in God to rescue his people. And he ran without God's instruction, without God's approval. He should not have fled as I believe verses 9 and 13 later on make clear as the Lord says in both places, what are you doing here, Elijah? As if to say, you belong there. What are you doing here? Now, Elijah's running does not mean that all fleeing from persecution is wrong. Obadiah, again, hid a hundred prophets. David fled from Saul and Absalom. Paul fled from the wicked in Damascus who wanted to put him to death. Martin Luther went into hiding. Yet those and many like them fled for the purpose of preserving their lives in order to carry out their calling. They all waited upon the Lord. Through their fleeing, the Lord did not deliver them into the hands of their foes as David prays in Psalm 27. but Elijah was giving up he wanted nothing more to do with it as we'll see later on the Lord willing his running was sinful because of his purpose and because of the damage that he caused to God's kingdom his purpose was to save himself he ran for his life not for God not for the good of his people not for his kingdom not for the advancement of the gospel he ran for his life he had that universal instinct to save his own skin because he thought that all of his work was hopeless and failed, and that's the problem, isn't it? He saw it only as his work, as he later speaks, two times of himself and of his zealousness, and that everything has failed. He failed to remember it was the Lord's work. He failed to remember that the Lord would be successful with or without Elijah. Even if Elijah was put to death, the Lord would be successful. His purpose was simply his own survival. Yet the believer's true purpose is always to be the glory of God and we can be confident that the glory of God includes the salvation and the protection of His church. However, we cannot miss how Elijah damages the Lord's cause by abandoning His privileged place. God had given Elijah a special place in Jehovah's history of revelation and redemption. The place of revealing the divine power of the Lord's kingdom. As He used Elijah to reveal the majesty of His grace and judgment and to win a victory on Carmel over Jezebel and the worshipers of Baal. To be Jehovah's word-bearer. To be an instrument of God's power and majesty. to be the spokesman for God in the holy wars of that day. The Word of the Lord and His power was so interwoven in Elijah's life that his flight sent a false message that God and His Word had given up. It sent the false message that the Kingdom of God had given away to the Kingdom of Satan. It sent the false message that for all of God's power, Jezebel was more powerful and she was to be feared Elijah himself attacked the honor of God by faithlessly running away as the antithesis raged as the antagonism of the wicked breathed down his neck Elijah lost sight of the Lord's triumph and that's Satan's goal, isn't it? to cause you and me to lose sight of the Lord's triumph to refocus our attention away from the victorious cross of Jesus which can only bring fear. Kind of like when a young child loses sight of mom or dad in a busy store and immediately fear and anxiety comes over that child and we lose sight of Christ's victory, beloved. Then we can only think that our eternal future is still uncertain and indeed anything but Christ is hopeless. we must ask ourselves beloved do we do damage to the cause of jesus christ and his kingdom and his gospel if so how you see the world of evil will challenge our faith and obedience and the righteousness that is to be character that is to characterize the believer's new life they will challenge us sometimes severely are we truly confident in jesus christ or do we compromise do we compromise because of fear do we make a distinction between our christian spiritual life and our physical life before the eyes of the world do we compromise by looking and sounding like the world by demonstrating and speaking hatred and not love for example or through gossip or by disrespecting authority or by lying in some way to gain an advantage in our business or through subtle stealing we all know ourselves we all know ourselves all too well and where we are tempted to compromise because of fear especially do we compromise by saying that we trust in Jesus Christ body and soul life and death yet treating this life and this body according to what is safe and convenient and expedient when it comes to this world you see beloved compromise in that way sends a message that we are not quite sure that God really pays attention to and is in control of the details of this life sends the message that God is really not quite trustworthy and just as Elijah gave the message that the power of the kingdom opposed to God was greater than Israel's God, we often give the message that God really does not deserve our uncompromising allegiance, which really is a message that He really is not strong enough to save. That we really don't trust and believe the triumph of Jesus Christ. Oh, indeed, for eternity. But not for the here and the now. We know how the story ends. We know that Elijah will be taught to rest fully on the grace of God whose strength is mighty in weakness. We know that Elijah will be restored. But here, Elijah is proof that one greater than him was necessary for the salvation of God's people. One who would not shrink back from the task. One who would not run for his own life and abandon his people. But instead, the one who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, scorning a shame, who endured such opposition from sinful men, as Hebrews 12 says, for the joy set before him, for the joy of your salvation and mine. Jesus Christ struggled with the full power of Satan, which to the world looked like Christ's defeat, yet was really his complete victory, proving that he is the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. While Elijah here resembles the hireling who forsakes the sheep as he sees the wolf coming. And our blessed assurance, beloved, is that as we often cast shame upon the love and the mercy of Jesus Christ, our assurance in spite of all of our doubts and fears, our assurance is that He has paid for all of our sins, even our sin of compromise. even our sin of doubt. He has paid for all of our sins. He has been forsaken by God in our place, we who can only forsake God. And the gospel truth is that there is no sin too great beyond the ability of the power of the blood of Jesus to pay for and to cancel because His grace is greater than all of our sins. Maybe you're here today and you have not given your life to Christ because that's what you think. Again, we all know ourselves all too well. And you truly think, there's no way. I'm too bad. I'm so sinful. Well, join the crowd and hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood is more powerful than your sins or mine that our sin can stick to us. It's more powerful to wash it away. And our assurance, beloved, is that He secured for us God's promise, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you, never will I give you into the hands of those who want to destroy you. Oh, He may not preserve us if today we were thrown into the lions or if we were in the fire or if we were facing the firing squad, but He has already preserved us from the fiery torment of hell, from the jaws of Satan. And beloved, we are called to consider all that He has done. To fix our eyes on Him as we consider His successful work and victory, as we consider the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ. As it is visibly placed before us in the Lord's table. And may we hear the promise of God in Psalm 29, the Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. And His promise, beloved, is that the devil will flee from those who resist Him, those empowered by the Holy Spirit, because as 1 John 4 says, He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So as we consider the Lord's table and see there, by faith, the marvel of God through Jesus Christ, The Lord's table, beloved, is proof that we are not forsaken by God. But we are forgiven. It is proof of God's power to save. To save completely. And to save eternally.