I love the line. Though my heart feel condemned
for want of some sweet token. There is one greater than my
heart. Whose word cannot be broken. I want to preach upon Elijah's
prayer. Now, at the end of verse 16,
James says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much. It has much strength. It has
much power. Now, who is the first one you
think of when you think of a righteous man praying for you? Well, I
think of the Lord Jesus. Oh, if he prays for you. I pray
that he prays for me. Lord, pray for me, represent
me. He's the righteous man, and surely
his prayers avail much. Everything he asks the Father,
he gets. That's the first person I think of, but I feel quite
sure that James is talking about a believer's prayer. Every believer
is a righteous man. That's wonderful to think about,
isn't it? Every believer is a righteous man. If you're justified, and
that's what Christ did on Calvary Street. He justified everybody
he died for being now justified by his blood. If you're a believer,
you are righteous before God. Now let that sink in. You are
righteous before God. And if God sees you as righteous,
it's because you are righteous. That's how real the work of Christ
is in behalf of the believer. I'm looking at some righteous
men and women whom God would call righteous. Now, the effectual,
fervent prayer of a righteous man, and that word effectual
and fervent comes from the word work. Prayer is a work, isn't
it? Not easy. It's a work. And it works. God hears and God
answers prayer. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man has much strength. God hears and God answers. You remember when Joshua prayed
that the sun might stand still and God caused the sun to stand
still? And if you read that passage,
it says there's never been a time like that when God hearkened
to a man. Now that's what happens in prayer.
God hearkens to a man. He led them to pray that prayer,
and he hears that prayer, and he answers that prayer. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man avails much. Now, the Lord uses Elijah as
the example of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availing much. Now, what about Elijah? Elijah was a man, verse 17, subject
to like passions. And that's always a negative
thing. He was a man subject to like passions as you and I. He had the same tremendous struggle
with sin that I do and that you do. He had the same sinful nature. He was just like you. He was
just like me. We tend to think of Old Testament
saints as superhuman, not having the same problems we do. We can't
imagine Abraham having the same problems we do. Or we can imagine
David, because we've got enough information about him. But some
of these other Old Testament saints, we think they seem to
be able to walk above anything that I could walk. But Elijah,
the man who was really the greatest of the prophets, You remember
John the Baptist would be said to come in the spirit and power
of Elijah? Elijah never died. Like Enoch, he walked straight
into heaven. Who was with the Lord on the
Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord divinity burst through
his humanity and he shined like the sun above the brightness
of the sun? Who was speaking with him? Moses
and Elijah. Moses, the representative of
the law, and Elijah, the representative of the prophets. Now this Elijah
is a very special man, but he's just a man. He was used by God
to raise somebody from the dead. I mean, what a prophet! But remember
what a prophet is. A prophet is a man, a sinful
man with the same passion, subject to, you can get out from under
him if you could, subject to the same passions that you and
I are. And look what it says about this
righteous man and his effectual fervent prayer availing much. What did he pray for? He prayed
earnestly. He prayed earnestly that it might
not rain. Now what a prayer. There are
a lot of people that suffered because of that prayer. There
are a lot of people that died because of that prayer. He prayed
that it might not rain on the earth for three years and six
months. What a prayer. And he had a reason
for praying that prayer, as we're going to see. But what a prayer. Lord, make it to where no rain
falls. And what would happen if on this
earth, three years and six months, no rain? Think of three years
and six months without any heavenly rain coming down and hearing
the word of God. What a horrible trial that would
be. Three years and six months of literal rain, not coming down,
and all the devastation that that caused. I mean, that's an
intense prayer. As a matter of fact, if I prayed
that it wouldn't rain for three years and six months, and I said
it's not gonna rain until I say it does, and that's what he said
to Ahab, after about a year, y'all hate me. Everybody hated
Elijah. I mean, all he's gotta do is
pray and it'll start raining, and he's not doing it? Look at
the suffering that's taking place. Two years later, you'd really
hate me when you're dying of thirst and your animals are dying.
He prayed that it might not rain for three years and six months. And then verse 18, he prayed
again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her
fruit. Now this tells us something about
prayer. God uses prayer. And there was great good that
came out of his prayer. Israel was turned back again,
but God inspires. The reason Elijah prayed that
prayer is God moved him to do it. And any true prayer doesn't
begin with us. It begins with God. Him moving
Elijah in this direction. Elijah prayed this prayer. The
Lord heard it. The Lord withheld the rain. Three
years and six months later, Elijah prays that it might rain, and
the scripture says the heavens became dark. I love thinking
about that, and the black clouds and the rain coming down in abundance
when Elijah prayed. You see, the effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now let's turn to 1 Kings
chapter 17, where Elijah first comes on the scene. First Kings chapter 17 verse
1, and Elijah the Tishbite. This is the first time he's mentioned.
All of a sudden, here he is. You know I love that. All of a sudden, there's Elijah.
We were talking about this, wouldn't it be something if all of a sudden
the last of the elect was born, walking upon this earth? Wouldn't
it be something if the Lord all of a sudden raised up another
Elijah in our day? Here he is, unexpected, unsought,
here he is. And Elijah the Tishbite, who
was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord God
of Israel liveth. the only true and living God,
the creator, the sovereign of the universe, the just God and
Savior. He was talking about the God
of the Bible, the sovereign God, the one who lives. As the Lord
God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, I'm only doing his bidding,
I'm his servant. As the Lord God liveth before
whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years,
but according to my word. It's not gonna rain unless I
say it's gonna rain. Now, how do you think that infuriated
Ahab? you could be sure that it did. Now this was in response to Ahab. Let's read some about Ahab, beginning
in verse 29 of chapter 16. And in the 30 and eighth 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 Amri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were
before him. Up to this point, he's the most
wicked king to ever live. Nobody matched 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? It's mentioned
as the standard sin for which these kings are judged. They
either walked in the sinners of Jeroboam or they didn't. Jeroboam,
he was a contemporary with Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. And he wanted
to be king, and he was afraid everybody was going to show allegiance
to Rehoboam. So he made a new rule, and this
is the sin of Jeroboam. He said, you don't have to go
to Jerusalem anymore to offer up a sacrifice. He appointed
two other cities. Now, if there's only one place
God accepts, Christ, and he's bypassing all that. He said,
you can go to these other cities. And he made it convenient. It's
too difficult for you to go all the way to Jerusalem. Let's make
it easy. And he gives these Dan and Beersheba. You can go there and offer sacrifices.
A religion of convenience. This is easier. This is simple.
It won't be so difficult. And 17 times we read throughout
the Kings of the sin of Jeroboam. God hates the sin of Jeroboam. There's only one place God will
accept, that's Christ. He clouded that. No, you can
go somewhere else other than Jerusalem where the sacrifice
is, and he wanted to make it easier. Let's make this more
convenient, a religion of convenience. Well, he outdid Jeroboam. daughter
of Ethabel, king of the Zidians, and went and served Baal and
worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for
Baal in the house of Baal, which he'd 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. In his days did Hael, the Bethelite,
build Jericho, that which God said, don't build back again.
He did it anyway. He laid the foundation thereof,
and Abiram is firstborn, and set up the gates thereof, and
his youngest son, Zigub, according to the word of the Lord, which
he spake by Joshua, the son of Nun. Now, Elijah looked at all
that Ahab was doing. He'd reintroduced Baal worship. And he said, because of what
you're doing, It's not gonna rain anymore, except according
to my word. And after that, he went into
hiding. He hid for three years, three
years without rain. You remember when the Lord puts
him by a brook and feeds him with ravens? And when the brook
runs dry, no more rain, no more water, he takes him to a widow
woman. And he miraculously takes that
barrel of oil, cruise of oil, and barreled meal, and it just
kept, oil and food kept coming. Nobody else had any. Everybody
else was starving to death. Remember when the Lord said,
many widows were in the days of Elijah. To none of them was
Elijah sent, but to Sarepta, the woman that was a Gentile
widow. He was preserved through this
Gentile widow. And now after three years, three
and a half years, he comes on the scene back again. Look in
chapter 18, verse 15. Then Elijah said, as the Lord
of hosts liveth before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto
him today. Talking about Ahab. Ahab was
looking for him for years. He was angry with him. He thought
he was the one that was causing all the problems. Verse 16. So
Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet
Elijah. It came to pass when Ahab saw
Elijah that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? Well, he was the one who asked
for no rain. Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered,
I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house,
in that you've forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed
Balaam. Now therefore, send and gather
to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel. And the prophets of Baal, 450,
the prophets of the groves, 400, which eat at Jezebel's table.
Remember that's his wife who provoked him to do so many things.
He was under her spell. So Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel and gathered the prophets together into Mount Carmel. And
Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between
two opinions? Now, the children of Israel once
again started Baal worship. It was politically correct. It
could help you. Ahab worshipped Baal. Jezebel
worshipped Baal. They knew they were supposed
to worship Jehovah. That's the way they were raised.
But it was to their advantage to worship Baal, too. You see,
there was also moral perversions that were okay in the worship
of Baal. It had a great fleshly appeal,
and it could help you monetarily. So the children of Israel were
afraid to reject the worship of Jehovah. They said, we'll
do both. We'll do both. We'll worship
Baal. You know, this is something the
children of Israel continually fell back into. You can read
12 different times throughout the histories of the kings where
the children of Israel went back to the worship of this false
god Baal. Now, what does Elijah say? How long halt ye between two
opinions? And what is his appeal? I love
his appeal. Truth. Nothing else is needed. Truth. If Baal be God, serve him. If
Jehovah is God, serve him. But you can't do both. How long halted he between two
opinions? This book we're looking at is
either the inspired word of God or it's the false word of man.
It's not a mixture. Now, it's either one or the other,
but it can't be both. How long halt ye between two
opinions? God is either absolutely, totally
sovereign in control of everybody and everything and every event
and every thought that passes through your mind. Or He's not
sovereign at all. He's either God or He's some
kind of weak figment of imagination that's not real anyway. Can't
be both though. God can't be mostly sovereign.
Sovereign everywhere but here. Christ either actually saved
everybody he died for or he didn't save anybody. You can't halt between two opinions.
It can't be both. God's grace either actually saves
or you save yourself. There's no in-between. There's
no halting between two opinions. You can't look at grace as God's
offer to you, and you need to do something to accept it, to
make a way. No, nothing like that. Men are either completely dead
in sins, unable to save themselves, or they can save themselves,
but there's no in-between. How long, Elijah says, do you
halt? Do you go back and forth between
two opinions? Christ is either all in salvation
or he's nothing. There's no in between. How long halt ye between two
opinions? Now, the gospel, I love saying
this. I've said it many times over
the years. The gospel, if true, it's of infinite importance. If false, it's of no importance. But the one thing it can't be
is moderately important. Halting between two opinions. There is no middle ground. How long, verse 21, and Elijah
came unto all the people and said, Halt ye between two opinions. If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not
a word. Now, why didn't they answer him? Well, they gave no
answer because of their guilt. They didn't know what to say.
I know I am halting between two opinions. Verse 22. Then said Elijah unto the people,
I, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord. Now, if you go on
reading, Lord said to Elijah, I've reserved 7,000 to myself
who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. But Elijah
didn't know about that at this time. He thought he was the only
one. It's called the Elijah syndrome. He thought he was the only one,
but he wasn't. But here's the point. He was
willing to stand alone, wasn't he? He was willing to stand alone
if nobody else stood with him. 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
it. And I will dress the other bullet, and lay it on 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 he put himself
on the line, didn't he? You put your sacrifice here.
I'll put my sacrifice here. And when fire comes down from
heaven and consumes the sacrifice, that's the one who's truly God. Now, I don't have any doubt that
God told him to do this. He said, here's what you're going
to do, Elijah. Elijah said, I'll do it. And he spoke with such
confidence. He knew God was going to answer
by fire. Let's go on reading. And the people answered and said,
it's well-spoken. We like this. I mean, this will
make it easy to see. You know, it is easy to see if
God gives you eyes to see. And Elijah said it to the prophets
of Baal, choose your one bullet for yourselves and dress it first
for you or many and call on the name of your gods, but put no
fire under. 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. Why? Because they were praying
to a non-existent God. And a non-existent God is not
going to hear and is not going to answer. And in Lexington,
Kentucky, in the United States of America, and all over this
world, this is a pretty accurate description of what's going on.
People praying to a non-existent God. And they leaped upon the altar
which was made. I guess it was very much like
a charismatic service, leaping and jumping. And what happened? Verse 27, and it came to pass
at noon that Elijah mocked him. I would like to have been there
to hear this, to see how he did it. Elijah mocked him. Somebody says, well, that's not
very loving. Well, he loved God. That's why he's doing this. Elijah
mocked him. He actually made fun of him.
Can you have a, one time we were made fun of, this is the most
ridiculous thing, what you're doing, that prayer, that's ridiculous.
That's what he was saying, he was mocking him. Look what he
said. He said, cry aloud so he can hear you. For he's a God,
isn't he? Either he's talking, talking to somebody else, or
he's pursuing. You know what that means? It
means maybe he's gone to the bathroom. I mean, you need to wake him
up. He's gone to the bathroom. Or
he's in a journey, he's gone on vacation. Or peradventure
he sleepeth and must be awaked. What scalding sarcasm he uses. And they cried aloud. And cut
themselves after their manor with knives and lancets till
the blood gushed out. And it came to pass when midday
was past, And they prophesied into the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice that there was neither voice nor any
to answer nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all the
people, come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him. And he, I think this is one of the most significant
parts of this story. He repaired the altar of the
Lord that was broken down. You see, when people halt between
two opinions, I guarantee you one thing that's taking place. The sacrifice of Christ isn't
even considered. You see, in true worship, Cross is everything. It's everything. But when false worship is going
on, when people are halting between two opinions, that altar falls
into disrepair. It's no longer seen as needful
or necessary or the only thing. Let's go on to better things.
So what does Elijah do? The first thing he does is repair
the altar. Let's go on reading. It was broken
down 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, I love thinking about this
altar. I want you to notice how he built this altar according
to the law and it had the 12 names of the children of Israel
on it. He preached the definite, particular atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ for his elect. Now, I want you to understand
that if somebody does not preach this, the particular, successful,
effectual atonement of Christ for his elect, they do not preach
the gospel. They preach another gospel. You
know, when I hear preachers say, Christ died for those who believe,
that really bugs me. Maybe I've said it, I shouldn't
say it. Christ died for those who believe. Well, that's true,
There's a lot of things you can say about that. Christ loved
those who believe and gave himself for them. Sounds a whole lot
better to say Christ loved the church and gave himself for it,
doesn't it? I lay down my life for those who believe. Doesn't
it sound better to say I lay down my life for the sheep? That's
trying to take the edge off the cross and make it to where people
can, you can say the truth, but not offend anybody. Let's don't
do it that way. I love the way Elijah spoke. And Elijah took 12 stones, according
to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, with 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.
And then he outdid. These men, 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 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. So not only do we have Cut up
sacrifice, laying on the altar, water's above it. Now how's this
thing gonna burn? Why is Elijah doing this? He's
gonna make sure they know there's no trickery involved. This is
God doing this. So here it is, filled up with
water. 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
of Israel, the covenant God, let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel, that I'm thy servant, and that I've
done all these things at thy word, that this is you doing
this. It was you Said, don't let it rain for three years and
six months. It was you who inspired me to do all of this. This is
your work. Verse 37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know. Here's what I want them to know.
That thou art the Lord God. Jehovah Elohim. the absolute
ruler, creator, sovereign of the universe. I want everybody
to know that, that you're the savior and that thou has turned
their heart back again. Now I want him to turn my heart,
don't you? I know this, if my heart's turned,
it's because He turned it. And my cry is, turn us again,
O Lord God of hosts. Cause thy face to shine and we'll
be saved. Jeremiah said, turn me and I'll
be turned. I want this people to know that
you're the one who does the turning. This doesn't have anything to
do with man. You do it all. Now, imagine being in this crowd. Then the fire of the Lord fell. I don't know what that must have
looked like, but to think of fire coming down from heaven,
some kind of, what would that have been like? 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, what happened? All the people,
they saw the water, they saw the stones, They saw the animal,
the beast laid upon the stones. They saw the wood, the dust. Fire came down from heaven. And
there was nothing left after the fire came down. Everything
was consumed. There wasn't any rocks left.
There wasn't an altar left. There wasn't any dirt left. There
wasn't any water left. There was nothing there. When the sacrifice is accepted, what's left of my sins? Nothing. Not one left. And that is what he's demonstrating.
The sacrifice was accepted. Now, I love thinking about this. There was another time that fire
fell down from heaven on the sacrifice. And after the fire of God's wrath
fell down on the sacrifice, the sacrifice wasn't consumed, the
fire was. The Lord Jesus consumed the wrath
of God so that there was none left. And he now says, there
is no fury in me. Christ so completely put away
my sin and put away the wrath of God that there was nothing
left. And somebody else fell, verse
39. And when all the people saw it, they saw the fire fall from heaven
and consume the sacrifice. They fell on their faces. You
know, that's the only, if the Lord gives me the grace to see
the power of his sacrifice, you know what's gonna make me do?
It's gonna make me fall on my face in worship. Nothing else. You fall on your face. And they
said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, Jehovah, he is the
God. And here's somebody else who
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 book of Kishon, and he slew them there. Every one of them fell, not one
of them survived. Now, with regard to the gospel. I want people to believe. But I'm not going to spare, by
the grace of God, any false gospel. Elijah didn't. Was he being too
harsh? You know better than that. And something else fell. The
fire fell. The people fell. The false prophets
fell, and look what else fell. Verse 45, and it came to pass
in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind,
and there was a great rain. Rain fell. When he prayed for
the rain to return, the rain fell. So this original prayer that
seemed so harsh was used by God to cause the
people to fall on their face and forsake male worship and
say, Jehovah, he is God. Jehovah, he is God. Where they were no longer halting
between two opinions. And if anybody here is halting
between two opinions, I pray that God will cause them to stop
it, and that we might have the same thing in our day that Elijah
did, and that he would raise up Elijah's to testify the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name.
that You would deliver us from halting between two opinions.
Because Lord, that's what we'll do if You don't prevent it. We're
so ashamed to say that. And we ask that You would turn
our hearts, as You did the hearts of Your people then, that we
might not halt between two opinions. Lord, enable us to be bold witnesses
of Your Gospel. Let the rain of Your grace fall
down in our day. And Lord, teach us what it is
to kill the prophets of Baal and let not one of them escape.
Teach us to be bold in the proclamation of your gospel and to not give
any leeway to that which is contrary to thy truth. Lord, forgive us
of our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
and bless this word for your glory and our good. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. We got Matt?