in the 16th chapter of the book
of 1 Kings 1 Kings chapter 16 we read of how Ahab is brought
to power over Israel and of how Ahab was an evil leader how he
did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before
him how he married Jezebel and served Baal And now we read up
an altar for Baal in the house of Baal. And we read in verse
33 there that Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel
to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
An evil king. Bringing evil into the land. Leading the people far off from
God. this was an evil day in which
to live not too dissimilar to the days in which we live and
into this scene in chapter 17 we read of a prophet called Elijah
the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead who entered this scene
and stood alone We read in verse 1 of chapter 17 Elijah's words
where he would say, 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. He comes to Ahab you see, to
this evil king and he comes and declares this pronouncement He may have feared for his life, but he was one who stood before
the Lord God of Israel. And he knew that he stood before
the Lord God of Israel. And his speech unto men was in
that light. I stand before God. I'm answerable
to God, not to man. Do what you like with me, but
I will serve my God. I stand before the Lord God of
Israel. Further on in chapter 18, he
repeats the same phrase. As the Lord of hosts liveth before
whom I stand. He was mindful of his God. Where do you stand before Elijah's
God? We will all come to stand before
this God one day. Whether you are aware that you
stand before him now or whether you will have to stand before
him in eternity to give an account for your deeds in this life.
Everyone, man, woman, child, young and old, will stand before
the God whom Elijah worshipped. For Elijah came before Ahab and
he gave him this pronouncement that there would not be rain
in the land. And the Lord led Elijah away.
He took him far off from Ahab. He dwelt by the brook Cherith,
that is before Jordan. And the Lord sustained this man
of God through the feeding of ravens who brought him bread
and flesh in the morning. Then he took him to a widow woman
at Zarephath. And in the meantime, Ahab's wife
Jezebel had sought to slay the prophets of the Lord. She had a pronouncement made
that they should be captured and should be slain. And many
of the prophets were slain. But in chapter 18 of Kings we
read of one called Obadiah, who was a servant, the governor of
the house of Ahab. And though this man was a servant
of Ahab, nevertheless he feared the Lord greatly. And in secret
he sought to find and rescue some of the prophets whom Jezebel
sought to have slain. And he had a hundred of them
hidden in a cave and sustained them there with bread and water.
But beyond those, an Elijah who was in hiding, the others were slain. And Ahab
and his wife had the nation to serve. false gods to worship
Baal and to do great evil and wickedness in the land. And Elijah appears when the lack
of rain is beginning to have its effect. As he said, there
would be no rain and in the end this had the consequence of bringing
famine in the land. and Ahab desperate to find water
for the animals that they would survive sent Obadiah out one
way and he went another way to seek for water and as Obadiah
was on his way he met Elijah and Elijah tells Obadiah to go
and tell Ahab that he is there and Obadiah was worried for he
thought if he went and told Ahab that Elijah was there that Ahab
would look for Elijah again and not find him and think that Obadiah
was a liar and slay Obadiah rather than Elijah. But Elijah reassures
Obadiah that he is there and that he will go and meet his
master Ahab. And indeed Elijah comes to meet
Ahab. And in verse 17 of 1 Kings and
18 we recount of his meeting with Ahab and of a very important
event which comes to pass in the land where Elijah stands
before all Israel and shows them plainly who is the true and the
living God. We read in verse 17 of chapter
18, And 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 Baalim. 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. 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. Then said Elijah unto
the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's
prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore give us two
bullets, and let them choose one bullet for themselves, and
cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullet,
and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And 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. So we have this challenge presented.
Elijah, the lone prophet, standing before this evil king, and a
multitude of people who have followed after him, and before
450 prophets of Boan, sets before them a challenge.
Let us see who is the true and the living God. You're a multitude,
you're many, you have much to say about your God. If he's true,
then let us see him act. And if my God, whom I worship
as a lone prophet, a persecutor, a despised man, if he is God, and seemed to be
God, then follow him. Who will you follow? Who is the
true God? And the people in response to
this challenge say it is well spoken. Now this was quite a
thing for Elijah to do, wasn't it? We know the account, and if you've
read the passage before, we know what comes to pass. But this took some faith. A lone prophet to stand before
all these others and to know that should he challenge
them in this way and should his God not send a response that
they would just slay him as they slew the other prophets before
him. This took some faith. This took
some nerve. No man could stand before others
in this way except the Lord truly be with him. He was alone before many. He brings them up here to Carmel,
to a mount. A mount symbolic of man meeting
God. Symbolic of a meeting place between
earth and heaven. He brings them to that place
where God will meet man. But he brings them there as one who
is alone. Stood before a great multitude
who have gone off after false gods. There are many of them. There
are many of them. In our day we may feel rather
like Elijah at times. If we would seek to worship our
God, we may feel to be the only one left. We are few and we are
scattered. Those who love Christ and his
gospel, those who worship the Lord God, We're few and we're
scattered. And we live in a land which is
indeed ruled by those who have gone off after other gods. And
amongst the people who worship other gods. And they are many. Many. And we be few. And the Lord's servants in our
day who would preach his gospel are few. Ones and twos. And it is not easy to stand in
such a day. When the popular opinion goes
another way. And when the masses would speak
another thing. Not just in the world. but in
professing religion too. Here Elijah stands as a prophet
and there are gathered 450 other prophets, not simply 450 other
men. But this is an encounter of two
religions as it were. They were prophets. They preached
and they led the people. And there are many today who
are religious and have much to say and much to preach. And they seem to be in the majority,
whatever their profession. And we seem to be in such a minority.
And it is much like Elijah before the prophets of Baal. and how by nature we would quake
in such a situation. But Elijah had a hope in a God
who was living and who was real. And what gave him the faith and
the strength to stand in such a day and in such a situation
was not something natural. He did not stand because he was
in the natural position of strength. He did not have numbers on his
side. He did not stand amongst the
company of many other Prophets. Neither did he stand as one Prophet
with a large congregation with him. Indeed we don't read of
any congregation with him. We don't read in this passage
that any stood with Elijah. We perhaps know that Obadiah
might have been in the company, another who worshipped the Lord.
But we do not read that he had many to support him. He had no
natural strength, none of the support that we might lean on
by nature. none of the assurance that we
might seek of the comfort of other men's voices that say,
yes, you're right. Yes, you're right, Elijah. The
God you worship is the true God. It wasn't the support of man
or the majority which held Elijah up. And it won't be the support
of man or the majority or the general thinking which will hold
you up or me up in an evil and a dark day. If you go the way
of the majority, you'll find yourself worshipping Bach, whatever
they may profess. If you were to worship the true
and the living God, there is something else that leads you.
Something else that guides you. Something else that gives you
the strength to stand in such an hour as Elijah stood in. Elijah's strength came from above. It came entirely from the God
before whom he stood. It came entirely from grace. It was God that made him stand. It was God that gave him faith
to believe God, to hear God, to see his God, to trust his
God, to recognize the truth, to discern between right and
wrong, to discern between good and evil, and to stand before
a multitude who would go another way, and would say unto him,
you've got it wrong Elijah. How could you one man be right
when all of us say something else? How can you be sure you're
right? Surely you've got it wrong. Ahab says unto him, art thou
he that troubleth Israel? This lone voice that says something
else to the others. If it wasn't for you Elijah,
we'd be content. But you keep bringing this trouble.
You give this pronouncement that it won't rain and it doesn't
rain. What trouble you bring. We don't want to hear you. And
yet Elijah says boldly, it's not I that have troubled Israel,
but you. in your father's house and that
you forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed by Him. Yes, Elijah stood alone and what
made him stand was the God before whom he stood. God gave him grace
to stand. God gave him the strength. God
gave him the wisdom. And if we in our day are called
to stand against the tidal wave of opposition, against the tidal
wave of a different opinion, a different view, in religion
and out of religion, against the tidal wave of false gospels,
of mixing truth with error, of another Jesus, another gospel, another salvation. If we call to stand and declare
the true gospel and the true and the living God, and to stand
in the face of such opposition and say, no, this is the truth,
this is the God, this is what God is like, this is his gospel
this is the way walk ye in it if we're called to stand there's
only one way in which we will stand and that's if God gives
us the grace and the strength to stand and when he gives the
grace and the strength to stand you'll stand whether you're amongst
a thousand friends and supporters whether amongst a hundred friends
and supporters, or whether you stand alone. But the strength
comes not from man, but from God. Before whom do you stand? For Elijah stood alone. A lone
voice. A lone voice crying in a wilderness. We may stand alone, We often
may feel to be lone voices, few, rejected, despised. This may
cause us, naturally speaking, to be cast down. But the Lord kept Elijah. He
kept him. He kept him by the brook Cherith.
He fed him, he watered him. And he kept him before the prophets
of Baal. O child of God, don't despair.
However few you may be, however hard the way may be, however
great the opposition, however much you may mistrust your own
judgment or your own discernment, your God shall keep you. And
He'll be your judgment. And He'll be your discernment.
And He'll be your wisdom. And He'll be your strength. He'll
be your light, He'll be your guide, and He'll guide you by
faith. Now faith rests not in the will
of man, and not in the works of man, and not in the wisdom
of man, and not in the words of man, but faith rests in the
word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And faith rests in the Word of
God. It believes and it trusts and
it rests in it. It believes the Gospel. It believes the Gospel. For the
Gospel is that which brings faith. The Gospel is that which sustains
faith. The Gospel is that which takes
a dead man, dead in trespasses and sins, and brings him to life. The Gospel is that which takes
a sinner and points his gaze unto Christ, crucified upon a
tree for him. The Gospel is that which takes
the convicted, the bruised and the broken, Those who know that
they dwell under the wrath of God by nature, those who know
that their sins which have multiplied up to the hilltops will slay
them and condemn them for eternity, should not an answer be found.
The Gospel is that which takes such as these and points them
to Him who came to deliver them. to Him who came into this world
to save sinners, to Him who came to die in their place, to Him
who shed His blood that He may wash them clean. The Gospel is
that power which takes the lost, which takes the black, which
takes the dark and the evil sinner the rebellious and the wayward
and brings him to know his state and points him to one who can
wash him clean to one who can make him whiter than snow the
one who can lift him up the one who can cause him to stand to
one who through his power and his grace can cause him to stand
and to stand alone. Yet faith looks into the Gospel
and faith sees in that Gospel a Saviour, even Jesus Christ
the Lord. And faith rests in Him and in
His power, not in the might of man, not in the power of man,
not in the strength of man, and not in the words of man, but
in the power of God which is Christ, in that power which is
Christ in his Gospel. And that's what Elijah said yesterday. And when Elijah came here to
Carmel and put this challenge before the people what gave him
that confidence that assurance that he would be heard and that
the Lord God would vindicate his truth and would declare it
unto the people and what gave them that assurance that the
prophets of Baal had no strength and their message had no power
and they could bring nothing to demonstrate that the reality
of their God for their God was but a dumb dead idol what gave
Elijah that confidence was that he had tasted and handled and
felt of the reality of the power of the gospel and what came to
pass on Karno was but an outward demonstration
of the power of the gospel this is a picture a demonstration
a powerful demonstration of the one and only God who answers
by fire so Elijah cries unto the people
how long how long halt ye between two opinions if the Lord be God
follow him but if Baal then follow him well show us the power of
your gods show us You have your message. You have your gospels. You have much to say. Where's
the reality? Where's the reality? If your
Jesus saves, then follow him. For if our God saves, follow
him. If your Jesus and your message
and your gospel and your religion brings life, whatever your religion
may be, whatever your message may be, whatever your God may
be, if your God brings life, follow Him then. And see where
it brings you in eternity. See where it brings you. But
if God and the Gospel which we declare. If He is true, and if
His Gospel is a reality, then follow Him. So He instructs these
prophets on Carmel. He instructs them to take a sacrifice,
a bullock, and He'll do the same, to dress it, to lay it on wood,
but to put no fire under it. And He tells them to call on
the name of their gods, that they should take that sacrifice
and burn it up and he will call upon his God and the God which
really does have a sacrifice and consumes that sacrifice by
fire let him be the true and the living God and the people
said it is well spoken so the prophets of Baal dressed their
sacrifice And as we read, from morning until noon, they cried
out to Baal, hear us, O Baal. But as we read, 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, for he's a god, isn't he? either
he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure
he sleepeth and must be awaked. And they cried aloud and cut
themselves after their manor with knives and lancets till
the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass when midday
had passed and they prophesied until the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice that there was neither voice nor any
answer. or any that regard it. There were many of these Prophets
and there were many who followed them and they had a lot to say
and their words convinced the people to follow but when it
came for their God to actually bring a sacrifice and consume
that sacrifice and to demonstrate that he was a living God and
not something purely in the hearts and in the minds of the people
not something purely in their heads not something just of their
own making not something that they simply described and spoke
about when it came for him really to do something and to demonstrate
that he was real there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor
any that regarded. Now I ask you, what God are you
following? What Gospel are you following? And what power is there in that
Gospel that you can testify to? When you call on your God, is
there an answer? Is there a voice? Is there any
that regard? Or is it all just in your head?
You may speak of your God. You may speak of your Jesus and
your Gospel. You may pray. You may say that
you accepted Him and believed on Him however many years ago.
You may pray every day and ask Him to help you in your walk.
in your life and it may get you through. But is it all just in
your head? Is it all just words? Are the
meetings you go to and the words you hear, are they just words?
And is the worship that you conduct, is it just like these prophets
of Baal who danced around and made a great noise and cried
out to their God to hear them? from morning till noon and from
noon till evening but there was neither voice nor any to answer
nor any that regarded for all their worship and for all their
claims there was no answer there was no reality to it it was just
words, there was nothing in it nothing in it and we may live
in a day where there's much religion about and much said and it may
all sound so plausible and if it's based on the Bible it may
sound so scriptural and so Bible based and people may speak of
their Jesus and the scriptures and the Bible and how their God
loves all men and how their God wants everybody to be saved but
the fact is that not everybody is saved and in our day very
few appear to be saved and for all their claims that they have
a God that died in Jesus to save all men and that he wants all
to believe and that he loves all men the reality is that not
all men believe And the reality is that their
God and their idea of God does nothing. And I ask you to be honest with
your religion other than your persuasion and your persuasion
that this is the Jesus you find in the book. Have you really
heard his voice? And has he truly answered your
prayers? And have you ever seen fire from
heaven? And has he accepted a sacrifice
which is going to save you? And is going to bring you life,
not just now but in eternity? For that was the question at
Carmel. And that's the question today.
How long halt ye between two opinions? Does the God you worship
hear? Have you heard his voice? Does
he answer like fire? Well, Baal didn't, despite the
multitude that went after him. He was a dumb idol. They had
much to say about him, they could describe him, they could teach
about him, they could have their Bible studies and lessons, their
scriptural lessons in the religion of Baal worship. And they led
many after this idol, and had much to say. But he was nothing,
and he did nothing. And in the end there was no response. But Elijah in the end gathers
the people, And He takes 12 stones and builds up the altar with
these 12 stones. 12 stones after the tribes of
Israel. The 12 sons, the 12 tribes. Symbolic of that multitude for
whom Christ would die. For all His tribes, all the people
of Israel. This is the altar which Elijah
built to show unto the people that not only is his God, the
true and the living God, not only will his God answer, but
the altar upon which he will answer equates to all those whom
this God will save and none other. The altar itself is a picture
of that altar upon which Christ died. and that people for whom
he died, all his people, all 12 tribes, all Israel. He builds up these stones, he
makes a trench about the altar, he digs it deep, and he commands
that four barrels are filled with water and poured on the
sacrifice. He won't make it easy. He won't
have the people claim that it burns through some agency of
man or through some natural means. He will demonstrate plainly that
the God that answers, his God, does it entirely at his hand,
entirely by his power. So he pours on water, four barrels,
does it again. And he does it again. In total,
12 barrels of water are poured onto the sacrifice. 12 barrels. 12 tribes, 12 stones, and 12
barrels of water. 12 barrels to cleanse each tribe,
to cleanse each one. For in this sacrifice, there's
not just a burning, but there's a cleansing. and this sacrifice
of which this is a picture washes the people it makes them clean at the cross when Christ dies
and having died the soldier came and pierced his side with a spear
when he pierced it out came blood and water blood to wash is people
from their sins and water symbolic of the Spirit of God who would
take that blood and with it would wash down people who would apply
it. So Elijah pours on the water
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. 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. And what happened? 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. the fire fell from heaven and
so great was that fire that it not only consumed that burnt
sacrifice that sacrifice which was covered in water but it also
consumed the wood the stones and the dust and licked up the
water there was no doubt that Carmel who was the true and the
living God Baal had proved to be worthless, but a name, but
words in the lips of false prophets and of the fools that followed
them. And the Lord God of Israel was declared to be the true and
living God, for only He sent fire down from heaven to consume
a sacrifice acceptable unto Him. a sacrifice laid upon an altar
of twelve stones. God answered by fire. But his
true answer, of which this was but the picture, was of course
demonstrated at the cross. But when Christ was nailed to
the truth, before a world of the dark and an evil world, a
bar of worshipping world, a world which had gone after false prophets
a world which lay in darkness when he was crucified at the
cross when he was offered up a sacrifice fire came down from
heaven and consumed the sacrifice entirely fire came down from
heaven God sent his answer and he declares and presents that
answer and that sacrifice and that fire before all the world
throughout all time in majestic power and he says as Elijah said
on Carmel he says unto all the world how long halt ye between
two opinions if the Lord be God follow him and if Baal then follow
him he says The God that answers by fire, let him be God. And the people on Carmel said,
it is well spoken. Well what do you say, is it well
spoken? The God that answers by fire,
surely he is God. Well there is a God that answers
by fire, and none other has. And that fire rained down on
his son. His Son the sacrifice for the
sins of His people. His Son freely offered. His Son who took away sins and
who took away sin. His Son who died. His Son who
died because He loved those 12 tribes for whom He came. because he loved that people
for whom he died because he loved all those whom his father gave
him from all time who should look upon him and who should
see by faith that fire rain down upon him here's a sacrifice an
acceptable sacrifice the only sacrifice the only sacrifice
acceptable unto God the only sacrifice in which fire truly
rained down from heaven upon it the only way in which God
might have wrought salvation the only way in which our sins
could be judged the only way in which our real need might
be addressed Here's a sacrifice that you need to see. Every false
prophet, every false religion, every false god may promise much. They may make much noise. But
in the end it's all worthless, it's all vain, it's just noise.
There's no answer. Nothing changes. Man is left
the same, dead in his lost condition despite all their vain promises. There's no reality. But if you
ever are given faith to see this sacrifice, and to see the fire
raining down upon it, you'll know, you'll know, that the Lord,
He is God. For He did rain down fire from
heaven, and it did consume the sacrifice, and it was acceptable,
and because it was, and all who looked on by faith,
and all who believed upon that sacrifice, and all who saw Christ
crucified in their stead. Yes, this is the Lord, and this
is God, and this is His sacrifice. Our God is in the heavens, and
He doeth whatsoever He pleases, and He was pleased, and He is
pleased to save His people, And He saves them by fire, from heaven,
at the cross, through His Son, by Christ, in Christ, by whom
He justifies the ungodly, through you, by grace. And when all the
people saw it, when the people see it, through that faith that
God alone can give them by His Spirit, when they see it, They
fall on their faces and they say, the Lord, He is the God,
the Lord, He is the God.