When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty, not my own. You know what that means, don't
you? Turn to 1 Kings chapter 18. Now tonight, I'm going to
be bringing a message out of Leviticus chapter 16 on the atonement. What does the Bible teach regarding
the atonement? What does atonement mean? And
I pray that the Lord blesses that message. I'm very excited
about bringing this very simple message. I've entitled this message, the
God that answers by fire. Israel. had fallen into a very
low state. Ahab had brought in Baal worship. And that became the accepted
religion in Israel. Baal worship. Look at verse King
16. Verse 30. And Ahab The son of Omri 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 at the sins of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter
of Ethbael, king of the Zidians, 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." So Baal worship has become politically
correct. The children of Israel were raised
up under the worship of Jehovah. And I have no doubt that they
were afraid to completely forsake the worship of Jehovah. So what
they did, they incorporated both. We know that from what Elijah
said in chapter 18, verse 21. And Elijah came unto all the
people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the
Lord be God, follow Him. If Baal, then follow him. They attempted to worship both. Sounds very much like what's
going on in our day. So the Lord sent Elijah at this
time. Elijah is the man who is generally
considered the greatest of the prophets. Do you remember when
the Lord was transfigured before his disciples who spake with
him? Moses, the representative of
the law, and Elijah, the representative of the prophets. John the Baptist
came in the spirit and power of Elijah. God sent Elijah at
this time and he prayed that the Lord would withhold rain
upon the earth. Now that's pretty severe, isn't
it? And rain was withheld for three years and six months as
a judgment for this compromise. Now you think of that. This literally
happened. Rain was withheld three years
and six months. So Ahab wants Elijah dead or
at least he wants him to ask the Lord to send rain upon the
earth and he looks for Elijah all this time and he can't find
him. Remember how the Lord hid Elijah? He was hid by that brook
and the ravens would bring him food and then when the brook
dried out because there was no rain he brought him into that
widow's home and supernaturally God caused oil and meal to come
out of that barrel. It was inexhaustible. It never
ran out. God preserved Elijah during this
three years and six months time. And everybody's getting desperate
at this time. So the Lord tells Elijah to appear before Ahab. And we read beginning in verse
16 of 1 Kings chapter 18. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab
and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Verse 17, And it
came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art
thou he that troubleth Israel? Now this is how every true prophet
is considered by the world. A troublemaker. You brought trouble. Everything was fine before you
got here, but you brought trouble. And look at Elijah's response,
verse 18, and he answered, I've not troubled Israel, but thou
and thy father's house, and that you forsaken the commandments
of the Lord, and thou has 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, 850 false prophets, So Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. All of Israel, 850 false prophets, and one true
prophet, Elijah. Verse 21. Imagine this great
gathering, and Elijah came unto all the people and said, halt ye between two opinions. If the Lord be God, if Jehovah
be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him."
Now, these people were straddling the fence. They were trying to
hold to two mutually exclusive views. If you followed Jehovah,
you had to reject Baal altogether. If you followed Baal, you had
to reject Jehovah altogether. They were trying to serve two
masters. And the Lord tells us that cannot
be done. It's playing games. It's hypocrisy. It is dishonest and nothing more
than that. Elijah. appealed to the truth. That was his only appeal. If
Jehovah's God, follow him. And if Baal is God, follow him. Now to really follow one, you
must reject as false the other. You cannot do both. Now let me spend a couple of
minutes giving some examples of halting between two opinions. Christ is either all or he's
nothing. He can't be anything in between
that. The Bible is either God's inspired
Word or it's a sinful man's work. It is either God's will or man's
will that is the deciding factor in salvation. It can't be both. To believe one, I must reject
the other as a lie. It causes a different message.
You see, they can't be blended. It can't be both. According to
the scripture, men are either dead in sins without any spiritual
ability or they have some ability. Now, you can't blend the two
because it's a completely different message. One thing excludes the
other. It cannot be both. God, listen real carefully, God
either elected a people and chose a people before time began, And
they're the only ones who will be saved. Or that's a lie. It's not true. God made salvation
available for everybody, but it's up to man as to whether
or not anybody will be saved. Now, those two messages exclude
one another. It's a different message. It
can be both. I can't halt between two opinions. Christ either accomplished salvation
or He merely made salvation available. Those two views exclude each
other. If he accomplished salvation,
that other view is a lie. No merit to it at all. God's grace either actually saves
or it does not save. It's dependent upon what man
does with it if it doesn't actually save. Now those two views exclude
one another. When God saves a man, Christ
is the Lord of his life. Or a man can truly be saved without
Christ being the Lord of his life. Now that gives two completely
different views of salvation, doesn't it? There's no way you
can bring those two together. It is only the gospel of God's
grace, his sovereign grace, electing grace, redeeming grace, regenerating
grace. That message is the only message
that begets life. That's either true or some other
message also begets life, the message of free will and so on.
One of those two are true. And the one excludes the other. If God be God, serve Him. If Baal, then serve him. But
do not halt between two opinions. You can't serve two masters. It's one or the other. How long halt ye between two
opinions? And the people, verse 21 says,
answered him not a word. And in reality, that was a very
loud answer. They weren't going to commit.
They answered him not a word. Verse 22. Then said Elijah unto
the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's
prophets are 450 men. How arrogant of Elijah. He thinks
his way is the only way. I'm sure people were murmuring
at the brazen claim that he made. Verse 23, let them therefore
give us two bullocks. This is Elijah speaking. And
let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces,
and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. And I will dress
the other bullock, and lay it under the wood, and put no fire
under it. 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. And Elijah said unto the prophets
of Baal, he gives them the floor. Choose you one bullock for yourselves
and dress it for you or many and call on the name of your
gods, but put no fire under it. 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, Oh, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice nor any
that answered. You see a non-existent God is
not going to answer. And they leaped upon the altar,
which was made. They tried to work something
up. This sounds very much like your typical charismatic service.
I mean, they started leaping, jumping, trying to get something
going, trying to work up, get bail down here. Let's do what
we can. And I can imagine them leaping
around. Verse 27. And it came to pass
at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, using some of the most
biting sarcasm you'll ever hear. Cry aloud! For he's a god. Either he's talking, or he is
pursuing, or he is in a journey, or per adventure he sleepeth
and must be awaked. I'm sure that sarcasm like that
would displease the effeminate religion of our day. But it's
what God used. Verse 28, this got them going. And they cried aloud and cut
themselves with their manner with knives and lancets till
the blood gushed out upon them. 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 to answer, nor any that regarded." You see,
a non-existent God does not answer. He cannot answer. Verse 30, And Elijah said unto all the
people, after they had witnessed How Baal could do nothing, that
he couldn't answer, that the prophets of Baal were in fact
false prophets. Elijah said unto all the people,
come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him. And look what he does first.
And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. You see, the altar of the Lord
had fallen into disuse. The gospel is left. What's the
first thing that's left? The altar, the cross. That's
the sacrifice. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's watered down. Every time truth is left, here's
where it's left. Right here at the altar. It's
broken down. And Elijah comes before the people
and the first thing he does is he repairs the altar. When God
is going to bring a people back, this is what he does. The cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached. In its naked truth. In its simplicity. On the cross,
Christ was made sin. He was guilty. The wrath of God
came down upon him. What did that accomplish? The
complete salvation of everybody he died for. Now, the cross,
he repaired the altar that had been broken down through disuse.
Verse 31, 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. Who was the
sacrifice for? Israel, God's elect, those who
believe, those that God chose before time began. The sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ was not for all men without exception.
And somebody says, why make an issue of this? Because the Bible
does. The Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And there's
a reason that this must be held on to. The only hope that I have
is that Christ died for me. That's it. I've got no other
hope. The only hope that I have is that Jesus Christ paid for
my sins. And if you tell me that he can
die for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway, you've taken
away the only hope I have. I take this personal. It ought
to be taken personal. Who was that sacrifice for? The
12 tribes of Israel, God's elect, God's people. And that's brought
out even in the altar. Verse 32. 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. And he
put the wood in order. and cut the bullock in pieces
according to this prescribed manner of the law. Do you know
in the book of Leviticus it tells you exactly how to put the wood
in order? How to cut the beast? How to lay it on the altar? He
wasn't in a hurry. He wasn't desperate. He was just
taking his time doing things exactly as God prescribed in
His Word. He puts it on the altar. He laid him in the wood and he
said, fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt
sacrifice and on the wood. 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. And the water ran
round about the altar and filled the trench with water. You see, he wasn't leaving any
room for trickery. Everything's above board. The
God that answers by fire, he's God. And we're not going to try
to manipulate this. So go ahead and douse it down
with water so we can see this is God's work and not man's. Verse 36. Now here we have one
of the greatest prayers in all scripture. It's only 63 words
long in the English. I don't know how much it is in
the Hebrew, but in the English, it's only 63 words long, yet
you'll not find a greater prayer other than the prayer of our
Lord. in all the Bible than this. Now look what he 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 here is his desire. His desire is that all Israel
might know that God is God. That's what it is. I want them
to know that you're God. Now that means the God of the
Bible, the God of Abraham, the covenant God, the God of Isaac,
the God of Israel, the God of the scriptures, the holy God,
the sovereign God, the all powerful God, the omniscient God, the
omnipresent God who's everywhere. The God of the Bible is indeed
the only God and any God that's not just like this God is a false
God, is an idol. I want all Israel to know that
you are God and all I am is your servant. This is not my opinion.
I'm not trying to gain a following. I'm not trying to talk somebody
into my way. I want people to know that all I'm saying is your
word, nothing more. Now, look in verse 37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. What passion there is. Hear me,
O Lord, hear me. This wasn't a prayer of a robot.
Oh, you see the passion in his words as he breathes this out,
inspired by the Spirit of God. 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. I want this people to
know. Now that word, know, that means
more than a bare cognizance of accurate data. To know is to
love. I don't want them only to know
that you're God, I want them to love that you're God. You see, God is. God is as he
says he is in his word, and we know him and love him as he is
in his word. You see, if I love God, I love
all of God. I love God's sovereignty because
that's who He is. I love God's absolute control
because that's who He is. I love God's justice because
that's who He is. I love all of His most glorious
excellent attributes if I love Him at all. I love God as He
is. To know Him is not simply to know about Him, it's to love
Him. It's to love Him as He is. Now look what He 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. You see, the gospel is a heart
work. It has something to do with what's
done on the inside. Now, what is meant by the heart?
He says, thou has turned their heart back again. Well, the heart
in the scripture represents the whole man. It means the mind
or the intellect. It's talking about the affections,
what you love. It's talking about your will.
The mind, the affections, and the will. That's what makes up
a soul. That's what makes up a man. The mind, the affections,
and the will. Now, because of the fall of our
first father Adam, the heart of man is no good. Jeremiah 17.9
says the heart is desperately wicked, deceitful above all things. Who can know it? I hear people
say, trust your heart. You better not. You better not. It'll fool you every time. Don't
trust your heart. Trust the Word of God. The understanding
is darkened. No man can understand the Gospel. Oh, he might understand Calvinism.
He might understand free will, but he doesn't understand the
Gospel. It's impossible for the natural man to understand the
Gospel. Man's affections are perverted. The natural man loves
what he ought to hate, and he hates what he ought to love.
The will, chained to an evil nature. You know, the very idea
of free will is the most ridiculous notion there is. Free will? Okay. What about your nature? If you had a free will, can you
will to not sin anymore? Of course not. Because our will
is chained to our nature. We have an evil will, chained
to an evil nature. And that's the heart of the natural
man. But when God saves someone, He gives them a new heart. A
heart that was not there before. A new heart will I give you.
And in this new heart, there's some understanding. You see,
I now understand that God is God. I understand in some limited
way, I realize that, but I understand that he's sovereign. I understand
that he's absolutely just. Not only do I understand this, I love it. Done something for
my affections. Not only do I understand it,
not only do I love it, but if given my choice, I wouldn't
change God if it was in my power. Here's my will that He stays
just as He is. I don't want Him changed. I don't
want Him different. That's my will. I've been given
a new heart that's seen in a new understanding, new affections,
and a new will. Remember when The Ethiopian eunuch
says, what hinders me from being baptized? And he said, if you
believe with what? All your heart, you may. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. Now listen to me. I have some
understanding that Jesus Christ is God. He's the creator. Not only do I understand that
in my limited way, but I love it. I love the fact that Jesus
Christ is God, that He's God over all, blessed forever, the
Ancient of Days, the Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings.
I love it! Not only do I love it, if you
give me my choice, this is what I want, that Jesus Christ is
God. The scripture says, with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness. Now, I understand. I understand
that Jesus Christ is my righteousness before God. When I stand before
thy throne dressed in beauty, not my own. I understand that. I understand that the only righteousness
I have is the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. I understand
that. But you know what else? I love it. And let me take it
a step further. If given a choice, you want to
be saved by your righteousness or Christ's righteousness? That's
a no brainer. I choose Christ's righteousness. That's what I want. With the
heart, man believeth unto righteousness. And we understand we will turn. Look what Elijah said. 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." Now,
there's no salvation apart from turning. That's what repentance
is. There's no salvation apart from
turning. If you keep going on in that
wrong direction, you'll end up in hell. The only people who
are saved are those people that God has turned. Turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ. But did you notice the language
of that? These people are going to know that thou has turned
their heart back again. Jeremiah said, turn thou me and
I'll be turned. Do you understand that? Do you
understand that the only way you're going to be turned is
if He turns you? And if you are turned, it's because He turned
you. You know that, don't you? Every believer knows that. We
don't argue with that. Thank God, Thou has turned their
hearts back again. Turn me and I'll be turned. Turn
us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine,
and we'll be saved. Turn us again, so will we not
go back from Thee. The only way I won't go back
is if He turns me. And so I cry out, turn me. I don't sit in stoic fatalism.
I say, Lord, turn me. Don't let me go my own way. Turn
me. You know, that's a prayer for
every second. Lord, turn me. Turn me. Thou
has turned their hearts back again. I love that word again. I don't care how far we've fallen.
how low we've sunk, He can turn our hearts back again. Sounds to me like revival. Now look what took place in verse
38. Then, after this prayer of Elijah,
then the fire of Jehovah fell, it came down from heaven and
consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and
the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. Now here
is why God can turn my heart back again and your heart back
again. It's not because He's given you another chance. It's not because you promised
you'll do better and won't let it happen again. Here's the one reason,
because of the accepted sacrifice. That fire came down from heaven,
and I love to think about this. Here they are. They see the bull
cut up. They see the altar. They see
the water. The fire comes down from heaven. Boom! And what's
left? Nothing. You see, I have no sin. because of the sacrifice. My sin was consumed. Remember when the Lord said to
that woman taken in adultery in the very act? I mean, she
was guilty. And the Lord said, Woman, where
are those unaccusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And
she said, No, my Lord. He said, Neither do I condemn
thee. You know why? There was nothing
to condemn her for. You see, her sins had been consumed
away. They're gone. And the reason
the Lord turns the hearts of His people back again is because
of the accepted sacrifice. Don't you love to think about
everything just being gone? The dust, the stones, the water,
all of it was consumed away. There was nothing left. Now let me tell you, of another
time fire came down from heaven upon the sacrifice. When our Lord was hanging on
that cross, the fire of God's wrath came down upon him. But this time, something different
happened. The fire did not consume the
sacrifice. The sacrifice consumed the fire. The Lord Jesus Christ drank the
dregs of God's wrath. completely dry, and now there's
no wrath left. And the reason the Lord is not
mad at me, because it's sad the way we generally think of the
Lord. We generally think of the Lord as tolerating us, irritating
with us, angry with us, tolerating us for Christ's sake. Now you
know you think that way. That's why I think all the time. But
listen to me. There's, with regard to every
believer, there's nothing for him to be mad at because Christ
has draped the dregs of God's wrath dry. There's no fury in
me, God says. The sacrifice, oh, the excellency
and the power and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that he
swallowed up the wrath, there's nothing left. You see, it's Christ
that died. It's not me that died. It's Christ
that died. The mystery of the gospel, Jesus
Christ was made sin. He became guilty. All that sin
is, He was made to be. Who knows what all that means,
but it's a horrible thought. He was made sin. God's wrath
came down on Him. And He drank it dry. And there's
nothing left. And now every believer is justified
before God. That's why it turns the heart
back again. Because of the accepted sacrifice.
Verse 39. And when all the people saw,
they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, He is the
God, Jehovah, He is the God. Now this is the only response. Fall on your face. Worship. And you say, Jehovah is God. Jesus Christ is God. And you don't try to halt between
two opinions. Not when you believe the truth.
That halting stuff is over. They no longer were halting between
two opinions. Verse 40. 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 of Kishon and slew them there. He put them to death. He killed them. Literally. Yep.
Literally. That's what he did. And what
a gruesome sight this must have been. Now here, here, this, the reason for salvation is the
accepted sacrifice of Christ. Here's the one issue. Did God
accept what Christ did? That's the only issue. Is He
pleased with what Christ did? Well, He proved it when that
sacrifice was considered. Here's the assurance of salvation.
It's assurance concerning who He is. Understand this. Assurance is not being assured
that I'm saved. It's being assured that He's
the Savior. And if you're assured that He's the Savior, you'll
be assured of your salvation. That's where assurance comes
from. It's not from seeing how holy you are. It's by seeing
who He is. They were assured who He is.
And what is the evidence of salvation? Let not one of them escape. There is no toleration for that
which is contrary to the gospel. Let not one of them escape. And
I'm to show no toleration to my personal sin. Let not one of them escape. This is not saying go out and
kill all the false prophets you can find, obviously. Let not
one of them escape. And that's the response to the
gospel. May the Lord give us the grace
to be just like Elijah, and let not one of them escape. And may we be delivered from
halting between two opinions. Let's pray together.