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Gabe Stalnaker

If the Lord Be God, Worship Him

1 Kings 1:17-41
Gabe Stalnaker May, 15 2013 Audio
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Sermon Transcript

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This is a wonderful story. And I thought as I was studying
this, the sad part is after I preach this, I won't be able to preach
it again for a while. I don't know, maybe I will. This is wonderful. We're just
going to look at this story. We're just going to go through
and look at this wonderful story. Let's read the first two verses
and it will set up this story. Our text is verse 17, and the
first two verses 17 and 18 say, And it came to pass, when Ahab
saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth
Israel? Ahab said that to Elijah. And he 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 turn back a page to chapter
16. Alright, they had that encounter.
Now let's look at why they had this encounter. Chapter 16 verse
29 says, In the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began
Ahab the son of Amri to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son
of Amri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Amri did
evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it
had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter
of Ethbael king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and
worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for
Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab
did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all
the kings of Israel that were before him." This was a wicked
man. Now chapter 17 verse 1 says,
And 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 is not going to rain. Alright, now chapter
18 verse 1 says, And it came to pass, after many
days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year,
saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon
the earth. So it didn't rain one drop for three years because
of Ahab's sin. Not one drop for three years. This wicked man, he tried to
have all of God's true prophets killed. Look at verse 13. Was
it not told my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets
of the Lord? Slew them all. Wicked, wicked
man. He himself was a false prophet
who was lying to Israel. Now, verse 17 says, And it came
to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art
thou he that troubleth Israel? Ye are the one who made it not
rain. Verse 18, And he said, 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." Verse 19 says, Now therefore
send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets
of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves
four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table, So Ahab sent unto all
the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount
Carmel. 450 false prophets of Baal. 450 of them. 400 false prophets of the groves. All of the children of Israel
and Elijah, they all go up to the top of this mountain. Everybody's
going. Everybody's going 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? If the LORD be God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not
a word. Now it seems that the world of
religion, every church, has thousands of different opinions. Thousands of different opinions.
But actually there are only two. There are just two opinions.
There is the truth and there is a lie. There is only one truth
to every matter, every single thing that happens in this life.
We have one truth and everything else is a lie. What He's saying
to them is, which is it? Works or grace? Take your pick. If the Lord is God, then He is
sovereign, And He'll do what He wants with whom He wants. He will work and who shall let
it? Who's going to stop it? Salvation
will be of His choosing, by His work, to His glory. If the Lord be God, follow Him. If the Lord is not sovereign,
if He's not. If He can't do what He wants
with whom He wants. If He wants to save you, but
He just can't until you let Him. If He's trying to work, but you
can let it, you can stop it. The choice is yours now. What
are you going to do? If salvation is of your choosing,
by your works, and to your glory, then the Lord is not God. He's just not. Follow Baal. Alright, verse 21 says, And the
people answered him not a word. Boy, they didn't know what to
say to that. Verse 22 says, Then said Elijah unto the people,
I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets
are 450 men. Now that ratio has gotten a lot
worse. It's gotten a lot worse. It used
to be 450 false prophets to one true prophet. And that ratio
is a lot worse now. Much, much worse. 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
opinions, a sacrifice is offered. In both ones. They seem very similar, but they are two very, very different
sacrifices. They are given with two very
different hearts, two very different motives. Cain and Abel found
out one of them is going to be accepted and the other one is
not. It's just not. Verse 24 says, 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. Now, men can do things to make
it appear as though God is with them. They can do things. You can walk
into some of these churches and at first glance it could appear
that God is with them. You know, well it looks pretty
good to me. That one's closer to my house. They have an altar. They have a cross with this man
who's supposed to be Jesus on it. They all seem to be on fire about
something. It looks like God is there. It looks like true worship. But don't be so sure. 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 and they were crying, but they got no answer. So they started jumping up and
down on the altar. That kind of looks like religion
nowadays, doesn't it? Well, I tell you what we need
is we need a praise and worship band. And if we get enough wattage
in the speakers, and if we all start jumping up
and down, We've worshipped. They started acting like a bunch
of fools. They were hooping, they were hollering, they were
carrying on, they were jumping up and down on the altar. They were drawing attention to
themselves. That's what they were doing.
They were calling it worship and they were trying to get a
fire going for God. Isn't that sad? Man, that's so
sad. Turn over to Luke 24. Every time I read a scripture,
I think, this has got to be my favorite scripture. And if you'll
notice, I say that almost every Sunday. This one is one of my
favorites. All right, Luke 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. Now look at verse 13. 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. But their eyes were holden that
they should not know Him. And He said unto them, What manner
of communications are these, that you have one to another
as you walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name
was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people,
and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be
condemned to death and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had
been Him which should have redeemed Israel, and beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished when
they which were early at the sepulcher. And when they found
not his body, they came, saying that he had also seen a vision
of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them
which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even
so as the women had said, but him they saw not. 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, 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 meet with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and break it,
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 Scriptures. These two
were just slowly strolling along, just calmly, quietly listening
to the words, listening to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said, did not our hearts
just start to burn? When the Holy Spirit is not present, when there's no fire inside,
religion becomes an outward show. That's what happens. The man
with the most talk is usually the man with no walk. The biggest bully is the first
one to back down, isn't he? Well, our text back in 1 Kings
18, verse 26 says, And 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 and said, Cry aloud, cry louder, for he's
a God, he's supposed to be a God, maybe he can't hear you. And then he said, either he is
talking, maybe he's talking to somebody.
He doesn't have time for you right now. Maybe he's talking
to himself. Maybe he's meditating. He said, or he is pursuing. Maybe he's chasing after something. And then he said, or he is in
a journey. Maybe he's on vacation. Or peradventure he sleepeth and
must be awaked. Maybe he's asleep. Aren't you so thankful for Psalm
121? Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. When you call, I will hear. Verse 28 says, And they cried
aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and
lancets till the blood gushed out of them. They were sincere,
buddy. They were committed. You cannot
say that a man enslaved to false religion is not zealous, zealous
for what he believes. You cannot say that. Their zeal is inspiring. It's
convicting. These Jehovah's Witnesses, they
go around door to door, and you hate to see them coming, but
I thought, I wish I had the zeal they had to tell people about
the truth. I wish I did. They know going
up there, people don't want to see them. They're prepared for
the opposition. They are the truest form of sincerity,
but they are sincerely wrong. Wrong. Verse 29 says, And it
came to pass, when midday was passed, that they prophesied
until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that
there was neither voice nor any to 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 the
true and living God. There is one true and living
God and every other God is a false God. There will be no answer for everything
they've done. They said, Lord, didn't we do
all these things in your name? No, that was a different God. Well, after all that foolishness,
after their religion was exposed to be absolutely useless, after
it was proven that there was no life in their sacrifice, no
fire, verse 30 says, And Elijah said unto all the
people, Come near to me. And all the people came near
unto him, And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down. Just broken down through all
that false religion. Broken down. Bless her heart. That's a cute little cry, isn't
it? Broken down. Just broken down. You ever just feel broken down?
Just broken down. Verse 31 says, And Elijah took
twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons
of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel
shall be thy name. He took twelve stones, just stones
from the ground. just dirty, dusty stones in their
natural state. These were not hewn to perfection.
There was nothing special about these stones. He could have grabbed any 12
stones. Verse 31 says, Elijah took twelve
stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob. These stones represented twelve
sinners that were born to Jacob. He took twelve sinners and their
tribes. They represent all the sinners. unto whom the word of the Lord
came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. These twelve stones represent
all the sinners whom God has made a promise to. These stones
represent the sinners who will be changed into princes with
God. Verse 32 says, And with these
stones He built an altar in the name of the Lord. These stones
are going to be built up in the name of the Lord Christ. The end of verse 32 says, And
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. I want you to dig a trench around
this altar. 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 and that bullock had been put up It had been inspected. It was without spot. It was without
blemish. And He cut him up. And blood poured all over those
stones. Covered those stones. Soaked in the blood. I'm sure it changed the color
of those stones. They all turned red. They were washed in the
blood. Verse 33, then Elijah 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. Sanctified. You know what happened to those
stones right then? Hey, justified. Oh, precious thought. Blessed
thought. Sanctified. Blood and water poured all over
those stones. Verse 34 says, And he said, Do
it the second time. And they did it. And he said,
Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
Four barrels. Three times. That's twelve barrels. One for each stone. One for each stone. Verse 35
says, And the water ran round about the altar, and He filled
the trench also with water. He said, Fill the trenches with
water. Make a reserve of water. There is going to be plenteous
redemption. There's going to be 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. Now, usually it says, The God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Sinner. But this time He said the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Israel. We sinners acknowledge
that our name is Jacob. I am a sinner. I'm a sinner.
But we sure do love hearing the Lord call us Israel, don't we?
What wonderful grace and goodness it is. Verse 37 says, 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. Elijah
said, Lord, because of Your covenant, 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 the
people. Let it be known this day. Hear, O Lord, hear me, that this
people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast
turned their heart back again. 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 look at this. Verse 38 says,
The wood did too. You know what that means? 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. No more cross to bear. And look
at this, verse 38 says, The stones were consumed too. All his sinners
died when he died. They died with Him, in Him. Now here's the sad truth. Verse
38 says, the dust was consumed. When Christ was judged by God,
the world was judged by Christ. This world is going to burn up. All those who are in Him were
judged in Him. And 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 lit up the water
that was in the trench. There's no reserve now. Isn't
that terrible? There's no reserve. There's nothing
to spare. If we are not judged in Christ, there's no mercy to
be had. There's nothing for us. Outside
of Him, there is no hope. Verse 39, 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. Now, the Lord. I heard about a instance recently
where a girl in Mexico, I think a young lady, I don't know how
old she was, is, she wanted to be baptized. She'd been listening
to the truth and she wanted to be baptized. And she came to
Brother Cody Groover, the missionary down there, and told him that.
Brother Cody, I want to be baptized. And he asked her, why do you
want to be baptized? And she said, because I believe
that Jesus Christ is God. And he said, okay. That's all
I need to hear. The Lord is God. This man Jesus is God. This man who they say wants to
save you, no he doesn't. He doesn't. If He did, you'd
be saved already from the foundation of the world. The Lord, He is
the God. Verse 40 says, 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."
All those false prophets. Lord, make me a true prophet.
He's not going to stand for it. He's not going to stand for it.
But watch this. Verse 41 says, And Elijah said
unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink, For there is a sound of
abundance of rain. The rain is coming now. Judgment
has been met. The law has been satisfied. Mercy
has been born. Because a ransom was found on
that altar. There is a sound of abundance
of rain. Get ready for some blessing.
Get ready for a shower of blessing. The rain's coming. All right,
let's stand together and let's sing that song.
Gabe Stalnaker
About Gabe Stalnaker
Gabe Stalnaker is the pastor of the Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church located at 2709 Rock Springs Rd, Kingsport, Tennessee 37664. You may contact him by phone at (423) 723-8103 or e-mail at gabestalnaker@hotmail.com

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