Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. In James chapter 5, beginning
in the latter part of verse 16, we read, the effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject
to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly. that it
might not rain." What a prayer. Lord, don't let rain fall on
the earth. And it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months. Think of the devastation
that was caused by that prayer. And he prayed again, and the
heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man avails much. It has strength because of who
prayed it, a righteous man. You see, the Lord hears the righteous. Now certainly this first speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteous man, and
if he prays for you, you're in good shape. But this is also
every believer. You see, justification, Christ's
work in my behalf, makes me righteous before God. Every believer is
a righteous man. And the effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man avails much." Now, prayer is a work, and prayer
works. What God has determined, He is
going to inspire His people to pray for. If God is going to
bless you, he's going to cause you to ask for his blessing. David put it this way in Psalm
27, for when thou saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said, thy
face, oh Lord, will I seek. Now Elijah's request, he prayed
that it might not rain and God withheld rain from the earth.
for three years and six months. And you can be sure that there
was a lot of suffering and a lot of misery and a lot of death
caused by that. And then he prayed again three
years and six months later and the rain fell. Now I think it's
interesting that James points out that Elias was a man subject
to like passions as we are. You know what that means? That
means he was a sinful man, just like you and I are. We have a
tendency to think of the Old Testament believers as some kind
of super saints that aren't as sinful as we are and somehow
were just very righteous and didn't struggle with sin the
way we do. No. Elijah was a man of like passions
of you. He was made righteous by Christ,
but he was a sinful man, and this is given to encourage us
to pray. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now, I
want us to consider what led Elijah to pray this prayer. He
enters the scene in 1 Kings 17, verse 1, and Elijah the Tishbite who is of the inhabitants of
Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before
whom I stand, there shall be no dew nor rain these years,
but according to my word. He says to Ahab, It's not going
to rain unless I say it's going to rain. And then he went off
three years into hiding. Now I love the way he speaks. Elijah is generally considered
the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. He was used to raise
the dead. It was Elijah who peered with
Moses on the man of transfiguration when the Lord was transfigured
before the disciples, and it was Moses and Elijah, Moses the
representative of the law, Elijah the representative of the prophets,
who spake with the Lord. Elijah was prophesied in the
Old Testament. It was in the spirit of Elijah
that John the Baptist would come. And then Elijah, like Enoch,
walked straight into heaven. He never saw death, but chariots
came down and brought him into glory. Elijah, he comes to Ahab,
and he says, As the Lord God liveth, before whom I stand,
the living God, I'm his servant. There shall be no due arraign
these years but according to my word." Now, why did Elijah
pray this prayer? Well, it was in response to the
sin of Ahab. At verse 29 of chapter 16, 1
Kings, and in the 30 and 8th year of Asa, king of Judah, began
Ahab, the son of Amorai, to reign over Israel. And Ahab, the son
of Amorai, reigned over Israel and Samaria twenty and two years.
And Ahab, the son of Amorai, 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. Now what is the sin of Jeroboam?
Well, he's the one who was afraid that Israel would turn back to
Rehoboam because Rehoboam was in Jerusalem. So he said, you
don't have to come to Jerusalem anymore to offer sacrifices.
We're going to make this convenient for you and easy. We're going
to have one place in Dan and one place of Beersheba, and you
can go there. You won't have to travel as far.
Now, there's two greatly wicked things about that. Number one,
salvation is only in one place, in Christ. in Jerusalem. He was saying there are other
places. Number two, he was making a religion of convenience. This
will be easier. This will be more convenient.
Sounds like the secret churches of our day, trying to make things
easy and convenient and appealing to the flesh. That was appealing
to the flesh. You wouldn't have to go all the
way to Jerusalem. Now, we read 12 times of the sin of Jeroboam
as the sin you compared to others, too. This was the worst thing,
but it said of Ahab-look what it says of Ahab. It would have
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 Ethbael, king of the Zidians, and would serve Baal and worship
him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal,
which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab
did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all
of the kings that were before him." Now that is why Ahab is
pointed out as the one that Elijah said, it's not going to rain
for three years and six months because of you. The way you have
introduced Baal worship, the way you have gone against God,
it's not going to rain for three years. And then he went into
hiding. Perhaps you know the story where
the ravens fed him when he dwelled by the brook. And then during
that famine, that brook dried up. He went to a widow woman,
and there she had a barrel of oil, and it didn't fail. It was always filled with oil
for food and water. The whole time, Elijah was there.
Now, three years and six months later, after such devastation
has been in the land, we read, beginning in 1 Kings 18, verse
15, Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts
liveth before whom I stand, I'll surely show myself unto him today.
Speaking to Ahab's servant, I will show myself to Ahab today. He's
been looking for me all this time. I'm going to let him, myself,
know. So Obadiah, his servant, went
to meet Ahab and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.
And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said unto
him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? It's your fault we're
in such trouble. It's your fault that the rain's
not falling." And he answered, "'I've not troubled Israel, but
thou and thy father's house, and that you've forsaken the
commandments of the Lord, and you've followed Balaam. Now therefore
send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets
of Baal 450, and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat
at Jezebel's table.' So Ahab sent unto all the children of
Israel, and gathered The prophets, together unto Mount Carmel, and
Elijah-listen to these words carefully-and Elijah came unto
all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, if Jehovah
be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. Now, the children of Israel were
halting between two opinions. You see, they had been raised
to worship Jehovah. But when Ahab comes into power,
it's the politically correct thing to worship Baal. You could
be advantaged by worshiping Baal. And the children of Israel were
afraid to completely reject the worship of Jehovah. So they said,
here's what we'll do. We'll worship both. We'll worship
both Baal and Jehovah. And Elijah said, you cannot do
that. They exclude one another. How
long halt ye between two opinions? And his only appeal is truth.
If Baal be God, serve him. If Jehovah be God, serve him. But you cannot serve both. They mutually exclude one another. Now think with me, halting between
two opinions. The Bible is either the Word
of God or it's the Word of man. There's no middle ground. You
can't believe both. God is either absolutely sovereign,
completely in control of everything or he's not sovereign at all. Either man's will decides salvation
or God's will, but it cannot be both. Men are either dead
in sins, unable to save themselves, or they are able to do something
to contribute to their salvation. It's one or the other. but it
cannot be both. There's no middle ground, no
halting between two opinions. God either elected a people before
time began, and they'll all be saved, or God didn't elect anybody,
but there's no middle ground. Either the one who preaches God
elected a people is telling the truth, or the person who says
He didn't elect a people and God wants everybody to be saved.
They're telling the truth, but there's no middle ground. It's
one or the other. You can't talk between two opinions.
On Calvary's tree, Christ either saved or simply made salvation
possible. And salvation is an offer that
you can accept, reject, or reject. Salvation is either ultimately
in your hands, or it's just simply Christ dying for you. Which one? How long halt ye between two
opinions? Christ is either all or he's
nothing at all. There's no middle ground. There's
no halting between two opinions. Now listen to me. The gospel
that I'm preaching, if it's true, it's of infinite importance.
If it's false, it's of no importance. But the one thing it cannot be
is moderately important. There is no middle ground. Elijah looks at these people
who were halting between two opinions, some trying to worship
both Baal and Jehovah, and he says, you can't do it. And his
appeal was to truth. If Baal be God, then worship
him, follow him fully. If Jehovah is God, follow Him. And we read, And the people answered
him not a word. Now, the reason they didn't answer
is they knew they were guilty. They're just listening at this
point. They realize they're halting
between two opinions, and they don't have the courage to say,
I'm not going to do that anymore, so they continue looking at Elijah. Then said Elijah unto the people,
I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. He didn't know about
the 7,000 that the Lord had reserved to himself. He thought he was
the only one, the only man left serving Christ, but he was willing
to stand alone. I, even I, only remain a prophet
of the Lord, but the Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them, therefore,
give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock. for
themselves, and cut it in pieces, and laid on wood, and put no
fire under it. And I'll dress the other bullock, and lay it
on 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 answers by fire." Fire would come down from heaven and
devour the sacrifice. The God that answers by fire,
let Him be God. And all the people answered and
said, it's well spoken. We agree to that. So you see
the picture? Elijah with his sacrifice, his
bullock, and the prophets of Baal with their sacrifice. Fire is going to come down from
heaven, and the true God, it'll consume either the sacrifice
of Elijah, Jehovah, or Baal's God. Fire will come down from
heaven and consume the sacrifice of Baal's prophets. Verse 26,
"'And they took the bullet which was given them, And they dressed it, and called
on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear
us. But there was no voice, nor any
that answered. Why was there no voice? Why was
there no answer? Because they were praying to
a nonexistent God. And that's what most of the world's
population is doing today. praying unto a God that does
not exist. The only God is the God of the
Bible. Any God that's not exact like
the God of the Bible is a non-existent God, an idol. There was no voice,
nor any that answered, and they leaped upon the altar which was
made. They were dancing and yelling
and screaming, Baal, hear us, trying to put on some kind of
ritual, thinking that maybe their God would hear them. Verse 27,
I love to think of this, and it came to pass at noon that
Elijah mocked them. Somebody said, you shouldn't
make fun of other people's religion. Well, Elijah did. He mocked them
to show the ridiculousness of what they were doing. He said,
cry aloud, cry louder. Maybe he can't hear you. Cry
louder. For he's a god. Either he's talking,
maybe he's talking to somebody else. Or he is pursuing, that
means maybe he's gone to the bathroom. Or he is in a journey,
maybe he's taking a trip. Or perventer he sleepeth and
must be awaked. What scalding sarcasm and criticism
he uses toward their religion. And this was God's prophet. And
what did they do, verse 28? And they cried aloud and cut
themselves with their manor with their knives, and lanterns till
blood gushed out upon them, and it came to pass when midday was
past. And they prophesied until the
time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, there was neither
voice nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. because they
were praying to a God that did not exist, a God that they had
made up in their minds, a God that was appealing to the flesh,
but a God that did not exist. And Elijah said unto all the
people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down. Now, you see, when people halt
between two opinions, they no longer see the need of the sacrifice. And that altar was broken down
through disuse. No one Felt any need to repair
it because they didn't offer sacrifices on it anymore. So what did he do? He repairs
the altar. When the truth is being preached,
what is going to be prominent is the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, what it actually accomplished. Now, when there
is halting between two opinions, the altar falls into disrepair.
But when God brings revival and brings truth back, like Elijah
coming back to call on these people to no longer halt between
two opinions, now the sacrifice is prominent. Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And in 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. Now, notice in this sacrifice,
it's pointed out that it is for Israel. Now, understand this. The sacrifice of Christ is for
God's elect. It's for those that were given
to him before the foundation of the world. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. Now, understand, please
hear. The sacrifice of Christ was for
the elect. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Now, I hear a preacher sometimes
who would say they believe in election, but when they talk
about the death of Christ, they'll say, well, he died for those
who will believe. While that is true, That is compromise. It puts the emphasis on our faith
rather than His death. You know, the scriptures do not
say, the Lord didn't say, I lay down my life for those who believe.
He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. We don't read that
Christ loved those who believe and gave himself for them. We
read Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Christ's
atonement is for the elect. And anyone that has a problem
with that, the reason they have a problem with it is because
they don't really believe in total depravity or they don't
really believe they're depraved. They think it's unfair for God
to not save everybody and Christ to not die for everybody. And
when I feel that way, I've got a sense of entitlement before
God. I don't really believe I'm depraved, because if I really
believed I'm as sinful as the Bible points me out to be, I
wouldn't be talking like that. I would really believe that if
God passed me by, he'd be just. But understand that the atonement
of Christ was for the elect, and the point is, it was successful.
Everybody he died for must be saved. By one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's what he did
by his death. You see, if Christ died for you, you must be saved. Your sins are put away. You're
perfectly righteous before God. That's the gospel. To say that
Christ could die for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway,
Well, that's meaning that his death didn't accomplish salvation.
If his death didn't accomplish salvation, that means there's
something I need to do to save myself or to make what he did work for
me. That's salvation by works. Know the atonement. When he came
to repair the altar, he brought out how it was for the twelve
tribes of Israel, representing all of the elect of God. 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, and laid
him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water. Somebody
says, Where did the water come from? They were close to the
ocean at this time, and they could use ocean water. You say,
If it hadn't rained three years, where'd the four barrels of water
come from? Well, it was ocean water. and fill four barrels
with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice 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. So the sacrifice of Elijah was completely doused
with water, and that was to show that no trickery is going to
be involved. He fully expects and knows the
fire from heaven is going to come down, because the Lord told
him He would. That's why he told the people to do this in the
first place. He did this at the Lord's instruction. So we read
in 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,
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this
day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and
I have done all these things at thy word. The reason I prayed
that it might not rain for three years and six months is you told
me to. And the reason I called upon for these two sacrifices,
one for Baal and one for you, is because you told me to. I
want the people to know that I'm your servant, and I've only
done this at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. that this people may know that
thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back
again." Now the only way your heart will be turned from halting
between two opinions is if the Lord turns it. You can't turn
yourself. Jeremiah said, turn me and I'll
be turned. Now, if you want to be turned,
you will be turned. The Lord put that in your heart. But you
won't turn unless the Lord turns you. Now, let's look what happened. Stay with me. Then, after Elijah
had prayed this prayer, then the fire of the Lord fell. It
fell from heaven. Can you imagine what a sight
that must have been? And consumed the burnt sacrifice,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and lit up the
water that was in the trench. Now, picture this in your mind.
They're looking at the bullock upon the altar, flooded with
water on those stones, and the fire comes down from heaven,
and after the fire has fallen, there's nothing left. No bull,
no stones, no dust. The water was licked up. There
was nothing left. Now you know what that signifies? God's acceptance of the sacrifice
to this extent. How many of my sins are left?
Not one. Christ put them all away. There was another time fire came
down from heaven on the sacrifice. That's when our Lord Jesus Christ
was hanging on the cross and the fire of God's wrath came
down upon him. But this time something different
happened. The fire didn't consume the sacrifice. The sacrifice
consumed the fire, and now God says, there is no fury in me. He can't be anything but pleased
with everybody that the Lord Jesus Christ represents. Everybody
Christ died for, Christ consumed the wrath, and there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now, after
the fire fell, you know what fell next? And when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, He is the
God, Jehovah, He is the God. The people fell on their faces
and somebody else fell. 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. He killed every single one of
them. And if I ever hear the gospel, I will not spare anything
which is contrary to the gospel. And there's something else that
fell. Verse 45, And it came to pass that the meanwhile that
the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great
rain. Now after this, Elijah prayed
for rain, and there was a great rain. would to God that we would
see the fire from heaven fall down upon Christ and see what
he actually accomplished and not halt between two opinions,
grace or works. It can't be both. Now we have
this message on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nider praying God
will be pleased to make himself known to you. To request a copy
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