Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I invite you to turn with me
to 1 Kings this morning. 1 Kings, chapter 18 is going
to be our text, but we're going to begin back in chapter 16.
This is an amazing story of our God's power and might and ability. And it begins with a man named
Ahab who was a king and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Back in 1 Kings 16 verse 33,
it says, Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger
than all the kings of Israel that were before him. all of
them before him. So in chapter 17 verse 1, Elijah
the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto
Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there
shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word.
Elijah said to Ahab, Because of your sins it's not going to
rain. And it didn't rain. Not one drop
for three years. Ahab was a wicked man. He tried
to have all of God's true prophets killed. This was a wicked man.
He himself was a false prophet. He was lying to Israel. An extremely
wicked man. Well, in 1 Kings 18 verse 17, It says, It came to pass, when
Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth
Israel? And Elijah answered, I have not
troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye
have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed
Balaam. Now therefore send and gather
to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel. And the prophets of Baal 450,
and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel."
450 prophets of Baal. There were 400 prophets of the
groves, and all the children of Israel and Elijah, they all
go to the top of this mountain. Verse 21 says, And Elijah came
unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two
opinions? How long halt ye between two
opinions? If the LORD be God, follow Him. But if Baal then follow him. He said, how long halts ye between
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. You know, it seems this world
has thousands of different religions, doesn't it? Thousands of different religions.
Actually, there's only two. There's the truth, and then there's
a lie. There's only one truth in every
matter. Everything else is a lie. I don't
care what we're talking about. There's only one truth in every
matter, and everything else is a lie. What he's saying to them
is, which is it, works or grace? If the Lord is God, then he's
sovereign and he'll do what he wants with whom he wants. He
will work and who shall let it? Salvation will be of his choosing
by his work to his glory. If the Lord be God, follow him. But if the Lord is not sovereign,
If he can't do what he wants with whom he wants, if he's trying
to work, but you can let it, you can stop it. If salvation
is of your choosing by your works to your glory, then the Lord
is not God. Follow bail. Verse 21 says, and the people
answered him, not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people,
I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets
are 450 men. That ratio today has gotten a
lot worse. A lot worse. It used to be 450
false prophets to one true prophet. But that ratio is a lot worse
now. Verse 23 says, Let them therefore give us two bullocks,
and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in
pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And I will
dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire
under. In both of these forms of worship,
A sacrifice is offered. In both of them, they seem similar,
but they are two very different sacrifices. They're given with
two very different hearts, two very different motives. Cain
and Abel found out one is going to be accepted, the other one's
not. The other one's not. He said
in verse 24, he said, "'Call ye on the name of your gods,
and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answereth
by fire, let Him be God.' And all the people answered and said,
It is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets
of Baal, Choose you one bullet for yourselves, and dress it
first, for you are many. And call on the name of your
gods, but put no fire under." Put no fire under. You know, men can do things to
make it appear as though God is with them. They can do things to make it
appear as though God is with them. People can say, you know,
it looks pretty good to me. They have an altar. They have a cross with this man
who's supposed to be Jesus Christ on it. They all seem to be on
fire about something. It looks like God is there. It
looks like true worship. Don't be so sure. John said, try the spirits, whether
they are of God. Verse 26 says, They took the
bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called
on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal,
hear us. But there was no voice, nor any
that answered, and they leaped upon the altar which was made.
They were begging, they were crying, but they got no answer. So they started jumping up and
down on this altar. They started acting like a bunch
of fools, just hooping and hollering and carrying on, drawing attention
to themselves, calling it worship. They were trying to get a fire
going for God. That's what they were trying
to do. Trying to get a fire going for God. Turn with me over to
Luke 24. Luke chapter 24 verse 1 says,
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they
had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the
stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found
not the body of the Lord Jesus. Verse 13 says, And behold, two
of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together
of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass
that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew
near and went with them. Verse 25 says, Then he said unto
them, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets
have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village
whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone
further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for
it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went
in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat
at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break, and
gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and
they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they
said one to another, did not our heart burn within us? while he talked with us by the
way, and while he opened to us the scripture. Those two were just strolling
along, just calmly, quietly listening to the words, listening to the
voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said, did not our heart
burn within us. When the Holy Spirit is not present,
when there is no fire inside, religion has to become an outward
show. That's all it is. Religion becomes
just an outward show. The man with the most talk is
usually the man with no walk. Usually. Our text back over in
1 Kings 18, the text says in verse 26, they
took the bullock which was given them and they dressed it And
called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying,
O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any
that answered, and they leaped upon the altar which was made.
And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them, he mocked
them, and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god. Elijah said, cry out to Him louder. Maybe He can't hear you. He's
supposed to be a God, isn't He? Verse 27, He said, either He
is talking. Maybe He's talking to somebody.
Maybe He's talking to Himself. Maybe He's meditating. Verse
27, Elijah said, or He's pursuing. Maybe he's chasing after something
and he doesn't have time for you right now. Verse 27, he said,
or he's in a journey. Maybe he's on vacation. Verse 27, or per adventure, he
sleepeth and must be awaked. He might be asleep. Aren't you so thankful for Psalm
121? Psalm 121 says, Behold, he that
keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. That's comforting,
isn't it? Well, verse 28 says right here
in our text, And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their
manner with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon
them. They were sincere. They were committed. They cut themselves with knives. You can't say that a man who's
enslaved to false religion is not zealous for what he believes.
You can't say that at all. Their zeal is inspiring. Their
zeal is actually convicting. They're the truest form of sincere,
but here's the problem. They are sincerely wrong. They are sincere. But bless their hearts, they're
sincerely wrong. Verse 29 says, And it came to
pass, when midday was passed, and they prophesied until the
time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither
voice, nor any answer, nor any that regarded. That's going to
be the rude awakening on the Day of Judgment. For all those
who do not worship this true and living God, there's going
to be no answer for everything they've done. No answer. Our Lord said, many shall say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, we've done all these things.
We've prophesied in your name. We cast out devils. And he's
going to say, depart from me. I never knew you. How sad. Well, after all that foolishness,
all they're carrying on, after their religion was exposed to
be useless, after it was proven that there was no life in their
sacrifice, none at all, verse 30 says, Elijah said unto all
the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him. and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down." Broken down through all that false religion. Verse 31
says, And Elijah took twelve stones 12 stones, just stones from the
ground. Just dirty, dusty stones in their
natural state. They hadn't been hewn to perfection. There was nothing special about
these stones. He could have grabbed any 12 stones. Verse 31 says,
Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of
the sons of Jacob." These stones represented 12 sinners that were
born to Jacob, 12 sinners and their tribes. They represented
all of the sinners. Verse 31 says, "...unto whom
the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. Israel shall be thy name. He
took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of
the sons of Jacob, trickster, unto whom the word of the Lord
came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. These stones represent
all the sinners whom God has made a promise to. These stones
represent all the sinners who will be changed into princes
with God. That's what Israel means, prince
with God. Verse 32 says, And with the stones
he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench
about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed. With these stones he built an
altar in the name of the Lord. These stones are going to be
built up in Christ, in the name of the Lord. And it says, he
made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two
measures of seed. There's going to be a gulf between
these stones and the rest. The Lord said, I have put a difference.
Verse 33 says, And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock
in pieces, and laid him on the wood. That old rugged wood. He put the wood in order, and
cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood. He laid that bullock on that
altar, this bullock that had been put up, inspected without
spot or blemish. That's what the law required.
And he cut him up. And when he did that, blood poured
all over those stones. Blood covered those stones. It soaked in to those stones. I'm sure it changed the color
of the stones. They all turned red. They were
just washed in the blood. Washed in the blood. And then
Elijah said in verse 33, put the wood in order and cut the
bullock in pieces, laid him on the wood and said, fill four
barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on
the wood. After that blood covered each
of those stones, he said, now wash them with water. cleanse
them, sanctify them. Don't we see that this is our
sacrifice? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
that was slain, His blood was spilt on all of His people. And when Christ was on that cross
and that centurion pierced his side, out came blood and water. That is justification and sanctification. That is the blood that makes
us righteous before God and the water, the washing of the water
of the word of God, the spirit of God that cleanses us from
our sins. Verse 34 says, and he said, do
it the second time. And they did it the second time.
And he said, do it the third time. And they did it the third
time. Four barrels. Three times. That's 12 barrels. That's one
for each stone. One for each stone. This is an
individual sacrifice. Verse 35 says, And the water
ran round about the altar, and he filled the trench also with
water. Fill the trenches with water.
Make a reserve of water. There's going to be plenteous
redemption, plenteous cleansing, water to spare. These stones
are going to be so clean, they're going to be whiter than snow.
Verse 36 says, And it came to pass, at the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near
and said, 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 that I have done all these things at thy
word." Notice he said, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Israel, we
sinners acknowledge that our name is Jacob, but oh, how wonderful
it is. We sure are thankful. We sure
do love hearing Him call us Israel, don't we? Israel. Verse 37 says, hear me, O Lord,
hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God
and that thou has turned their heart back again. Elijah said,
Lord, because of your covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
Because of the covenant between the father and the promised son
concerning the sinner. Because we believe thy word.
Because you are sovereign. Because you do as you will. Because
only you can turn the heart of this people. Let it be known
this day that thou art the Lord God in Israel. Verse 38 says,
Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the
water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it,
they fell on their faces, and they said, The LORD, He is the
God. The Lord, He is the God. That sacrifice was consumed by
the fire of God, Christ our Lamb. He suffered the judgment and
the wrath of God. But notice this, verse 38 says,
the wood did too. The wood was consumed when the
sacrifice was consumed. You know what that means? There
will be no more sacrifice. There's no more wood. And verse
38 says, the stones were consumed too. All his sinners died when
he died. They died with him. They died
in him. Now here's the sad truth. Verse 38 says, the dust was consumed. When Christ was judged by God,
this world was judged by Christ. This world is dust. All those
who are in Him were judged in Him. All those who are not in
Him were judged by Him, because of Him. And verse 38 says, when
the Lamb was slain and the fire of God fell, it licked up the
water that was in the trench. There's no more reserve. There's
nothing to spare. When Christ died, that was it. If we are not judged in Christ,
there's no mercy to be had. Mercy is found in one place alone. Outside of Him, there's no hope. Outside of Him, there's nothing
for us. Christ is all. Christ is all. Verse 39 says, When all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, He is
the God. The Lord, He is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take
the prophets of Baal, Let not one of them escape.' And they
took them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon
and slew them there. Only God's truth shall stand."
That's the truth. Only God's truth shall stand. And watch this, watch this, this
is beautiful. Verse 41 says, and Elijah said
unto Ahab, Ahab, that sinner Ahab, Elijah said unto Ahab,
get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance
of rain. The rain is coming. Ahab, judgment
has been met. Ahab, the law has been satisfied. Mercy has been born because a
ransom has been found. Now get ready for showers of
blessing, for there's a sound of abundance of rain. Oh, the
goodness of our Lord, through Christ our sacrifice. If the Lord be God, follow Him. Follow Him. Until next Sunday
morning, may the Lord bless His Word. You have been listening
to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.