Would you turn back to 1 Kings
chapter 18? I've entitled this message Halting
Between Two Opinions. I want us to read Elijah's prayer
in verse 36 of 1 Kings chapter 18. 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. 63-word prayer. How powerful. Halting between
two opinions. Now, I could say that this story
begins where everything else begins, in the eternal counsel
and purpose of God. And if I said that, I would certainly
be right. But through a man named King
Ahab, Israel had reached an all-time low. Turn to 1 Kings chapter
16, verse 29. And in the 38th year of Asa,
king of Judah, began Ahab, the son of Omri, to reign over Israel. And Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned
over Israel and Samaria 20 and two years. 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 in the sins of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebath, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter
of Ethbaal of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and
worshiped 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. Now we see that this man was
the worst man up to that point to ever live in Israel. And he
brought Israel to an all time low. We read in verse 31, it came
to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the
sins of Jeroboam. Now, who's Jeroboam? He was the king of
Israel after the division between Israel and Judah. At one time,
Israel was one nation. Jeroboam made this divide when
it became two nations. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon,
was the king of Judah at this time, and this man Jeroboam became
the king of Israel. Now every family was commanded
to go to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. And Jeroboam thought
if they start going to Jerusalem, they're going to pledge their
allegiance to King Rehoboam and they're going to kill me. So
he established a new Passover. He said, we can have a Passover
both in Dan and Bethel, these two different cities. It's too
difficult for you to make this trip all the way to Jerusalem.
We're gonna make things easier and more convenient. And I'm
gonna set up two golden calves, one in each place that will represent
Jehovah. And you can go and offer your
Passover and observe the Passover there. It's called the sin of
Jeroboam. It's mentioned 17 times in the
scriptures. The sin of Jeroboam. It's kind
of the measuring stick of sin. This act of Jeroboam. And Ahab made this his starting
point. And went to greater lengths of
wickedness than any king to ever rule in Israel. Now look in chapter
17, verse 1. Here we have the introduction
of Elijah. This is where he is first mentioned. And Elijah the Tishbite, his
name means Jehovah is God. I'm sure that that just galled
Ahab and Jezebel since they were worshipers of Baal and brought
the worship of Baal into Israel. Here this man comes, we have We have no idea of his youth. All of a sudden, he arrives on
the scene, Elijah. 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. Now he tells this
man, King Ahab, because of your wickedness, there's gonna be
no rain. And it went three and a half
years without raining. And he said, it's not going to
rain till I say it's going to rain, according to the word of
God. And then he goes into hiding. Now Elijah is generally considered
the greatest of the prophets. It was he who appeared with Moses
with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. And I love what
they were talking about at this time, when the Lord was transfigured
before his disciples and his face shined as the sun. What
was the conversation about? The decease which he should accomplish
in Jerusalem. That's what they were talking
about. the death the Lord would accomplish in Jerusalem. You know, the Old Testament ends
with a prophecy of the coming of Elijah before the Lord, which
was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist. The Lord used
Elijah to illustrate the sovereignty of God and salvation. Listen
to this in Luke chapter four, verse 25, but I tell you the
truth that many widows We're in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great
famine was throughout all the land. Now you think of the suffering
that must have taken place during this time. Can you imagine three
and a half years without rain? What would that do? But the Lord
says, unto none of them was Elijah sent save unto Sarepta. a city of Sidon, a Gentile city,
unto a woman that was a widow. All these widows in Israel were
all passed by during this time, and God sent Elijah to a widow
who was a Gentile. Now, people got so upset about
this, they wanted to murder the Lord over it at the end of that
story in Luke chapter 24, but Elijah was used to illustrate
this. I love it in James, he's used
it as an example of prayer. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. And he used Elijah as the example. He prayed that it wouldn't rain
and the skies withheld the rain for three and a half years. He
prayed again and it began to rain. James tells us that he
suffered like passions as us. You know what that means? Elijah
was like me and you. He had a sinful nature that he
had to deal with just like you and I do. He was a man of like
passions, had the same struggles that you and I have. And the
scripture points out that he was a hairy man wearing only
a loincloth. Now picture this man in your
mind and this confrontation with Ahab, verse one and Elijah. Here
he is in his loincloth, this hairy man, the Tishbite. and
who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said, And 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. And the word of the Lord came
unto him, saying, Get thee hence. And at that time he was in hiding
because Ahab was looking for him. And he was by a brook, a
creek, a river, I don't know. He would stay there and ravens
would bring him food every day. And he stayed there for over
a year with the ravens bringing him food, but finally the brook
dried up. You see, they came to the place
where there was no water in Israel. And when the brook dried up,
we read where he went to this widow woman that the Lord talked
about in Luke chapter 4. And there, he, her, and her son
were sustained the rest of the time. There was a barrel of meal
that was continually full. a miraculous work of God. There
was a cruise of oil that was continually full. So they always
had something to eat and to drink during this famine where everybody
else was suffering. And I think it's interesting,
you go on reading, this woman's son dies and God uses Elijah
to bring her back to life. Chapter 18, verse one. And it came to pass after many
days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, this was three
years later, three years and six months later. 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. Now Ahab had been looking for
him. He considered him his enemy, the problem. So pick up 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? Ahab knew it was through Elijah's
prayer that the rain had been withheld. So he said, you're
the one who's troubling Israel. You're the problem. You're the
enemy. He got it wrong. Verse 18, and Elijah answered,
I've not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house in
that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you followed
after Balaam. accuses Elijah of being the troublemaker
kind of like they accuse Paul. He's a pestilent fella. He's
a pest. He's a mover of sedition among
the Jews. He causes division. He separates
people rather than bringing them together. He's a ringleader of
the sect of the Nazarenes calling the gospel nothing more than
a sect. You ever heard that? You're part
of a sect. Elijah replies, I'm not the trouble,
you are. Verse 19, 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 into Mount Carmel. Now
can you imagine this gathering? This is all of Israel. I don't
know how many people were involved in this, but this was a huge
crowd that came to see what was going to take place. Now these
were desperate people. They had been without water.
Who knows what all suffering had gone on because of Ahab's
leading the children of Israel into Baal worship. And so they're
all going to come to see what has taken place. Verse 21, and
Elijah came into all the people and said, how long halt ye between
two opinions? Now that's the name of this message.
How long halt ye between two opinions? How long are you going
to straddle the fence? How long you gonna hop back and forth
from one to the other? How long halt ye between two
opinions? And his appeal was truth. That's
his only appeal, truth. If the Lord be God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him. How long Halt ye between two
opinions." Now let me say this, there's not anybody in this room
has not struggled with sin, the flesh, going back and forth and
indeed it is a struggle. And that struggle will not be
over until death. He's not talking about going
back and forth of the torment and the turmoil brought on by
sin. I mean, sin's an awful thing. What he's talking about is halting
between grace and works. How long halt ye between two
opinions? Now there are so many errors
or areas where there is so much gray between two differing views. Don't you know that so? I used to have everything down
the older I get, the more gray I see. I'm sure you would say
the same. More gray than black and white,
but not here. There is no middle ground. There is no room for negotiation,
grace or works. Now hold your finger there and
turn with me to Romans chapter 11 for a moment, because Paul
refers to this event. Romans chapter 11. Verse one. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. What ye not
what the scripture says of Elijah? How he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed thy prophets,
dig down thine altars, and I'm left alone, and they seek my
life. This is Elijah. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have yet reserved to myself 7,000 men, which have
not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this
present time, there is a remnant, a small number, according to
what? The election of grace. Now this is where salvation begins
with God, not with you, with God. the election of grace. This is God's choice of His people
before time began. Now look what verse 6 says. And
if by grace, if election is by grace, if salvation is by grace,
if by grace, then it's no more of works. You can't blend them.
You can't mix them. It's either grace or works. No blending. Otherwise, and if
by grace there's no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
You put any work in it at all, it's not grace. But if it be
of works, then it's no more grace. You put one work in it, it's
not grace. Otherwise work is no more work. Now this is the Two opinions,
grace or works. The way of Cain, the way of coming
to God in your own works, or the way of Abel, where he understood
that he could not approach God apart from the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. He understood the character of
God, like every other believer does, and he knows there's no
way of approach apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus. Christ. Salvation by what Christ accomplished
or salvation by what you have done, but it can't be blended,
it can't be mixed. Salvation by man's will or salvation
by God's will, but there can't be a mixture. Salvation by law
or salvation by gospel, but they can't be blended. Salvation of
man or salvation of the Lord, but no mixture. Man's word or
God's word, but they can be blended. Man's choice or God's choice. That's an either or. Somebody
says, well, we choose him because he first chose us. The Lord said,
you did not choose me. That's what the Lord said. You
did not choose me, but I chose you. and ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit. Salvation ultimately depended
upon man or salvation ultimately depended on God. Believing Christ
or believing in yourself. Resting or working. How long halt ye between two
opinions? You see, the children of Israel
were doing both in their mind. Now, you can't do both, but they
tried to. They saw advantages in Baal worship. They saw advantages in supposedly
worshiping Jehovah. So they said, here's what we'll
do. We'll do both. It can't be done. How long halt ye between two
opinions? If the Lord be God, serve him. If Baal, serve him. Let's go on reading verse 22. Verse 21, notice this. The people
answered him not a word. Why? Because they weren't convinced.
Not yet anyway. They remain silent when Elijah
makes this demand on them. You can't halt between two opinions. Then said Elijah unto the people,
I even, I only remain a prophet of the Lord. Now he was wrong
because we read where the Lord told him in chapter 19. He didn't
know this at the time, but he said, he said to the Lord, he
said, I'm left alone and I only serve. He said, I've reserved
myself 7,000 men that have not bowed the knee to the image of
Baal. But he thought at this time,
he was the only one. 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
bullocks for sacrifice. That's what those were for. And
let them choose one bullock for themselves. I'll give them the
first choice and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no
fire under it. And I'll 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'll call on the name of
the Lord, and the God that answers by fire, let him be God." Now,
think of what he's saying. You put your bullet down, cut
it up for sacrifice, I'll put mine down. The God that answers
by fire coming down from heaven and igniting the sacrifice. He
is God. And the people answered and said,
it's well-spoken. We like this. Let's see what
happens. Verse 25. And Elijah said unto
the prophets of Baal, Choose ye one bullet for yourselves,
and dress it first for your many, and call on the name of your
gods, but put no fire under it. The fire's got to come from heaven.
If you ignite it, it's not real. Put no fire under it. And they
took the bullet which they had given them, and they dressed
it. And they called on the name of Balaam from morning until
noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. There was no voice, nor any that
answered. Why? Because they were calling
upon a non-existent God. There's going to be no answer
from a non-existent God. And they leaped upon the altar
which was made. I suppose they thought maybe
we can get His attention if we start leaping. Get stunted, start up, leaping. You know, I've seen religious
services like that. You have too. Verse 27. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them. He made fun of them. He mocked. See, the thing that is, a man-made
God deserves to be mocked. And what biting sarcasm he uses. Listen to what he says. Verse
27, it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said,
cry aloud. Maybe he doesn't hear you. Maybe
you need to cry louder. Cry aloud for he's a God. Either he's talking, maybe he's
talking to somebody and you need to interrupt him. Or he's pursuing,
you know what that means? Maybe he's gone to the bathroom
and you need to knock on the door and get him to respond.
Or he's in a journey, maybe he's on vacation. Or per adventure,
he's sleeping and must be awake. What biting sarcasm he used. Well, they tried to ramp it up. They cried loud and they cut
themselves after the manor with knives and lancets till the blood
gushed out. Maybe he'll hear us if we do
this. Verse 29, and it came to pass
when midday was passed that they prophesied unto the time of the
offering of the evening sacrifice. that there was neither voice
nor any to answer nor any that regarded." You see, man's religion
cannot answer. A non-existent God cannot save. Verse 30, and Elijah. said unto all the
people, after they had seen this demonstration of man's religion,
come near unto me. You know, the gospel is a call
to come near. Come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down. Now remember how in that prayer
he said he prayed that they'll know that the Lord's turned their
hearts again? Here's where they left. The altar had been broken
down. The altar for sacrifice had not
been necessary to them. They had through negligence or
actually tore it down thinking it's not necessary. This altar
that had been the central part of worship, it represented the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of a sudden it was looked
upon as unnecessary. It had been broken down. Verse 31, and Elijah took 12
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. And with the stones he built
an altar in the name of the Lord." Now let's consider this altar.
This altar is made of 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of
the children of Israel. Who is the altar for? The whole
world? Israel. the 12 tribes of Israel. Now, understand this. The atonement of Jesus Christ,
that glorious atonement on Calvary's tree, was for the elect. He did not die for every son
of Adam. He died for the elect. Now, why say this? Number one,
because it's true, the Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep.
It's just true. But the point of this is, the
blood of Jesus Christ is successful. It's effectual. If Christ died
for you, that is salvation. When he said it is finished,
your salvation was accomplished. This is the heart and soul of
the gospel. That altar had been torn down,
And he builds it back with the 12 stones of the children of
Israel. Now see the sacrifice of Christ,
the blood of Christ. This is God's eternal purpose.
This is everything. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And when these people are going
to be brought back, they're brought back through the altar being
repaired. The 12 stones for the children
of Israel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's Christ crucified
is what this is talking about. We preach Christ crucified. This is the message of the gospel. And what did he do next? He made
a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures
of seed. There was a trench dug around
the altar, and he put the wood in order and cut the bullock
in pieces and laid him on the wood and said, fill four barrels
with water. and poured on the burnt sacrifices
on the wood. Somebody thinks, well, where'd
the water come from if there was a famine? This was right by the ocean when
this took place. It was ocean water. And he said, verse 34,
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 round about the altar and filled the trench
also with water. Now picture this in your mind.
You have the sacrifice on the 12 stones drenched with water. And you've got a ditch all the
way around that filled up with water. Now, why did he do this? To make sure everybody can see
this is not trickery. This is not sleight of hand, what's getting
ready to take place. This thing has been drenched with water. And then he prays, verse 36.
And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening
sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, and here's
his prayer, this 63 word prayer. Lord God of Abraham and Isaac
and of Israel, the covenant God, let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel, and it won't be known unless He makes
it known. We're so dependent upon revelation, Him revealing
Himself to us. Let it be known that thou art
God in Israel, that I am thy servant, that I've done all these
things that thou wert. The reason the rain has been
withheld is because you told me to do this. That's the only
reason. Don't let them think this is
me in maliciousness, this is you. Hear me, verse 37, O Lord,
hear me. that this people may know, and
that's talking about more than a cognitive knowledge, that's
talking about love, that they may love, that thou art the Lord thy God
and thou has turned their heart back again, the heart, the affections,
the will, the understanding. God's turned it back. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts, cause thy face to shine and we'll be saved. Let them
know that you've turned their heart back. Again, verse 38. 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."
Now, can you imagine this? They were heard Elijah pray and
as soon as he finished, from the skies a great fire came down
and consumed the sacrifice. Not only did it consume the sacrifice,
the wood was all gone, the rocks were all gone, the dust was all
gone, the water was evaporated by this fire, it was completely
gone. All of a sudden they saw there was nothing there. There was nothing there. What
does that represent? God's acceptance of the sacrifice. God's satisfaction with the sacrifice. The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering
so that there was nothing left. And when, verse 39, all the people
saw if they fell on their faces, that's worship. You know, you
will only worship God when you see his acceptance of the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. That's when you worship. Not
before then. When you're trying to worship
with your works, it's an offense to God. You're still straddling
between, halting between two opinions. When you see God's
absolute satisfaction with the sacrifice of Christ and that
you're accepted because of his sacrifice, no other reason, you
know what you're gonna do then? You're gonna bow down on your
face before God and you're going to worship. That is when they
worshiped and when all the people saw it they fell on their faces
and they said, the Lord, He is the God, the exclusive God, there
is no other God, Baal's not God, the Lord, He is the God. Now, there was another time when
the fire of God's wrath fell from heaven upon the sacrifice. And that is when the fire of
God's wrath fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ as He hung from
Calvary's tree. God's hatred of sin, His absolute
justice, His righteousness, the fire fell from heaven upon Christ. Why? because Christ was bearing
the sins of his people who his own self bear our sins in his
own body on the tree he was guilty before God the sins of his people
became his the fire of God's wrath came down upon him but
this time something different took place the wrath did not
consume the sacrifice the sacrifice consumed the wrath and the fire
there was None. He drank it all, it's gone. And there he is. And what proves
that? When he died, he never went through
the process of decay the way you and I will. Because he made
complete satisfaction before God and he was raised from the
dead. There is therefore now no condemnation. You hear that? Now, right now. There is no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. And let me say this. Anybody
that wants to be in Christ, you're gonna be in Christ. If you wanna
be in Christ and be found only in Him, that's what faith is. You're resting only in Him, what
He has done. The fire comes down. Now look
what happens next, verse 40. 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 Chisholm
and slew them there." There's something else that fell, the
false prophets. slay every one of them, don't
let one escape. All false worship, let not one
of them escape. If Christ is all, everything
else is nothing, put it to death. Purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living and the true God." When Christ has believed you
stop halting between two opinions. You slay, put to death any thought
of anything but Christ is all in salvation. And something else
was getting ready to fall now in Elijah verse 41. And Elijah
said unto Ab, get thee up eat and drink for there is a sound
abundance of rain. The rain is now coming. The rain of God's grace. How long halt ye between two
opinions? If Christ is all, believe. If he's not, don't believe. But don't halt between two opinions. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would deliver us from what we will do apart from your
grace. halt between two opinions, and give us the grace to look
to Christ only, rest in him. And Lord, we pray that we might
be enabled to not let one escape of a thought of pleasing you
by our works, cause us to look to Christ only, burn that in
our heart, and Lord, give us the grace to worship only you.
Bless us for Christ's sake, in his name we pray.