In the book of 1 Kings, chapter
18, we read the story of Elijah, the true prophet of God, challenging
all the people of his day and all the false prophets. In 1
Kings, chapter 18, Elijah was the true God-called, God-sent
prophet. He was a man's man. unafraid
of anyone or anything, a man more concerned with God's glory,
God's truth, than what people thought about him or the popular
opinions of the day. How we need more Elijahs, more
men like John the evangelist, men who are bold to tell the
truth in face of all opposition, though no one stands with them,
men who will tell the truth in the face of an unbelieving and
wicked world. Call it like it is. Ahab, now,
was king of Israel at this time, of Elijah. His wife, you may
know, was Jezebel. Ahab accused Elijah, in verse
17 of 1 Kings 18, he accused Elijah of being a troublemaker. Later on, they have accused another
true prophet of being a troublemaker, just because he told the truth.
And that's the way it is. Those who proclaim the truth
of God's Word, who just merely or plainly and simply declare
it, they'll be hated. Christ said so. And they'll be
accused of troubling the people when they ought to spread love
and joy and so forth. Well, in fact, Elijah, said to
Ahab, verse 18, you're the one that's the troublemaker. You're
the one causing trouble to all those who forsake and reject
the Word of God. A troublemaker and causing real
eternal trouble for the people. A little temporary joy and peace,
but eternal trouble. But you know Ahab was religious,
as nearly everyone is. He just didn't believe in the
true God, Elijah's God. And so Elijah challenged Ahab
to gather together. In verse 19, he said, You gather
up all of your prophets. Ahab had a bunch of prophets.
They were all hirelings, all on the payroll. They worked for
Ahab. Prophets, P-R-O-F-I-T. There were 450 prophets of Baal,
400 prophets of the grove. That's 850 altogether. You see, religion was big business
back then as it is now. Everybody and his brother and
even some women were preachers. And all the children of Israel
and all 850 of these prophets all came to meet Elijah, one
man alone against everyone. In verse 21, Elijah said this,
he said to all the people and all these Prophets, how long
halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. And if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not
a word. If the Lord be God, he said to all these people, if
God is God, then you better believe him. And to all who hear this
program this morning, If I may be so bold as to say that things
are no different now than in Elijah's day. There's more religion
than ever, but less truth. More preachers, but less truth. More Bibles, but less who believe
it. More professing Christians, but
less who believe what God's word says. while people will argue
with you over the most fundamental truth in all of Scripture, whether
God is God or not, whether indeed Christ saves or doesn't. The most fundamental truth. And
I say to all, with Elijah, I ask this question, how long halt
ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him,
bow, believe But most folks are between two opinions of God.
Most say that God loves everyone, but damn some of them anyway.
Most say Christ paid for all your sins, but then you'll have
to go to hell and pay for them too. Most say man is lost, but
he can find God. Most say Jesus is the Savior,
but He can't save you if you don't let Him. Most say God's
in control, but not over all things. Most say God's not willing
for you to perish, but some do anyway. Well, I say, how long
are you going to halt between two opinions? All that is man's
opinion anyway. How long halt ye between two
opinions, man's opinion of God or what God's Word says? Let
me tell you something. If God is like that, if God loves
you and leaves you, if God tries and fails, who needs a God like
that? Why would you want a God like
that? Well, Elijah challenged the false prophets to take them
a bullock and an altar and offer that bullock up on that altar
and call on their God. And Elijah said he would do the
same. And the God who answered by fire He said, He's God, verse
24. Let Him be God. And all the people
answered that and said, That's good. That's well, well spoken. Everybody agreed. That sounds
good. The God that answers by fire. Well, in verse 26, it says
that these false prophets took a bullock, dressed it, put it
on the altar, and they called on their God from Morning until
noon. Oh, God, they said, hear us.
They had a huge prayer meeting. Everybody got together. Oh, hear
us. But there was no voice, nor any
that answered. So what they did then is they
got real excited and they leaped on the altar. They leaped and
jumped up and down on the altar. People, all this sounds like
a modern Pentecostal meeting to me. Leaping and hollering
and shouting and dancing and praying and getting wild and
hollering and calling on, Oh, please God! Oh, Jesus! Listen to me, people. You don't
hear of God's people in the Bible acting like lunatics. On the
contrary, He takes wallowing lunatics and sits them down and
shuts them up. Verse 27, Elijah started mocking
them. And they're gone. Verse 27, Elijah
mocked them and said, cry louder, cry loud, shout. He's a God. Maybe he's talking to somebody
and can't hear you. And he went on to say, or he's
pursuing. Maybe he had to go to the men's
room or something. Or he's in a journey. Or per
adventure, Elijah said, maybe he's sleeping. You've got to
wake him up. Cry louder. Louder, you've got to holler
loud if he's going to hear you. And people, I mock the God of
this generation, and I say to anyone and everyone that he's
a peanut God and he can't save a flea. If it's like men say
about him, that he's done all he can do and now he leaves it
up to man, well, I say he's not a God at all. I'm more God than
he is. If they say, if it's like preachers
say, and they use this silly little statement, they say, he
has no hands but your hands, no feet but your feet. Well,
I challenge him to a fist fight. I can beat any God that doesn't
have any hands. I challenge him to a fight. There
was a story of an old farmer one time, a young preacher was
having a revival meeting in town, a typical young preacher. trying
to get everybody saved. And he went to visit this old
farmer who wasn't coming to the meeting. And he said to that
farmer, old Farmer Johnson, why don't you come down to the meeting?
The farmer said, don't want to. The young preacher said, well,
Farmer Johnson, if you don't come and accept Jesus as your
personal Savior and let Him into your heart here, you better let
Jesus save you. And the farmer said, no, don't
want to. Well, the young preacher, he
didn't know what to think. And finally, he said, Well, Farmer
Johnson, he said, if you don't let him save you, he'll send
you to hell. And the farmer said, nope, won't let him do that either. He said, try to save me and I
won't let him. Well, then if he tries to send
me to hell, won't let him do that either. Well, this made, what Elijah
said, made the people and the prophets mad. In verse 28 and
29 it says, they cried loud, cut themselves. with knives,
and Lancet till the blood gushed out. And it came to pass, and
the midday was passed, they prophesied until the time of the offering
of the evening. They danced and shouted and hollered and carried
on till the evening time. There was no boy, no answer,
nor any that regarded. They didn't get any answer. Hollered
and hollered and hollered and carried on and whooped and had
a big meeting that their God just didn't answer them. He didn't
do what they wanted Him to do. Well, in verse 30, Elijah said
unto all the people, Come near unto me. Come here. And all the
people came near unto him. And it says he repaired the altar
of the Lord. It was broken down. They broke
down the altar. They got carried away. And Elijah
repaired the broken down altar. And in the next few verses it
says he had the people pour water all over the bullock and did
it a couple of times, pour barrel after barrel of water all over
everything until it filled trenches all around the altar. And then
Elijah, the true prophet, came to pass, verse 36, at the time
of the evening offering. Elijah the prophet came near
and he started calling on the true God, the God of the scripture. In verse 36 it says, Elijah said
this, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known
this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant. And I have done all these things
at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou
hast turned their heart back again." Well, a consuming fire fell, the fire
of the Lord consumed the sacrifice wood, stones, licked up all the
water in the trenches, just consumed it all. God answered, that Lord
God from heaven. You see, the reason He answered
by fire is because God is a consuming fire. That is what the letter
to the Hebrews says, chapter 12, verse 29. God hadn't changed. He is a consuming fire. It is
not all love like these preachers say. He is a consuming fire. He is holy. He is just. He will
by no means clear the guilty. Man is a sinner. God will judge. Where is talk about a God who
is holy and just and judges today? Have you ever even heard anybody
say that? Well, God consumed everything. In verse 40 it says, Elijah slew
all the prophets. Listen to me, people. Come near
to me. If God is God, then He controls all things. There's
nothing He doesn't control. If you'll get you a Bible and
read it, read verses like Deuteronomy 32, 39, Isaiah 45, 7, and on
and on and on, it tells us that God is in absolute control over
everything, even evil. When something bad happens, men
say this, God didn't want that to happen. Well, I say then,
if that's so, why didn't he stop it? How long halt ye between
two opinions? Just because we can't understand
things doesn't mean there's no God. Well, that proves there's
God. If we can figure out and understand
God, then He's no bigger or smarter than we are. But if God is God,
then He better worship Him. And He is. How long halt ye between two
opinions? Well, I hope you'll read and
study this passage of Scripture as well as the rest of God's
Word. Until next Sunday, may the Lord
reveal himself to you.