Would you turn back to 1 Kings
chapter 18. We're going to observe the Lord's table together tonight. I do not subscribe. to randomly
opening the Bible to find direction. You know, people do that a lot.
They're trying to face some kind of decision. They open the Bible,
first thing they see, that must be it. Well, one fella did that
one day. He opened up the Bible looking
for direction and he read, Judas went out and hanged himself.
And he thought, let me try that again. And he opened it up to
the next page and said, go and do that likewise. So you see,
that's probably not a very wise thing to do. But this week, I
opened my Bible up and it came up to 1 Kings 18. And somehow
I knew that's what I wanted to preach from. I trust the Lord's
in this. I believe he is. I have entitled
this message, Halting Between Two Opinions. halting between two opinions. 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. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not
a word. They did not respond. Now what brought them into this
state of indecision? It's a miserable place to be,
you know that, and I know that. Hesitating, vacillating, wavering. Scripture says a double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways. And our Lord said, no man can
serve two masters for either he'll hate the one and love the
other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now what brought them into this
state of indecision? We'll turn back to first Kings
chapter 16. This was during Ahab's reign.
Verse 30, and Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of
the Lord. First Kings 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 in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took
to his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbael, king of the and went
and served Baal and worshipped 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 the kings of Israel that were before
him." Now, such was the state of Israel. Ahab married Jezebel. They introduced Baal worship
into Israel. And at this time, it was the
politically correct thing to do to worship Baal. It was advantageous
to you. what the government participated
in, and you would be better off at this time, if you were a Baal
worshiper, it would be better for you. Now, Israel was afraid,
they had some fear of Jehovah, and yet they have this Baal worship
going on, and here they are halting between two opinions. Now at this time, Elijah enters
the scene. Look in chapter 17, verse 1,
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 I want you to think about
what he said. I'm going to read a passage from James chapter
5. Where James said in verse 16, confess your faults one to
another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And here is the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man. Elias, Elijah was a man subject
to like passions as we are. You know, he wasn't any different
than me or you. He had the same problems, he had the same sinful
nature to deal with. He had the same problems, me
and you do. He was a man of like passions as us. And he prayed
earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months. Now I want you to
think of a famine like that, three years and six months. And
he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought
forth her fruit. Elijah appears before Ahab and
said, it's not going to rain anymore unless I say it will. It's only going to happen according
to my word. And then he goes off into hiding.
Three and a half years. You remember the story of him
being fed by the ravens, drinking from a brook. And when it dried
up, God sent him to a widow woman. And he gave that woman a barrel
of oil and meal that lasted until the rain came and he was in hiding
for three and a half years. And now it's time for him to
show himself to Ahab. Ahab's been looking for him.
Ahab wanted to kill him. Ahab was angry with him because
he said it's not going to rain except at my word. So he was
blaming Elijah for the problems. He didn't realize he was the
problem. Now look in chapter 18, beginning in verse 17, And
it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him,
Art thou he that troubleth Israel? He answered, I have not troubled
Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that you 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, and the prophets of the groves
400, 850 false prophets. which eat at Jezebel's table,
Ahab's wife. So Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And
that's when Elijah said, how long halt ye between two opinions? Why this hesitancy? Why are you halting between two
opinions? You know, his appeal was the
truth. That's the only appeal he made.
If Jehovah's God, serve him. If Baal's God, serve him. But
his only appeal was the truth. I'm asking you to consider as
I preach, am I telling the truth? That's what I want you to consider.
Am I telling the truth regarding what this book says concerning
the character of God, the character of man, salvation? Am I telling the truth? Now that was his appeal. If God
be God, serve him. If Baal be God, serve him. And the people answered him not
a word." Now, halting between two opinions
is rough. Rough. One foot in the world, one foot
out. Straddling the fence, ascribing
truth to two different opinions that were, in reality, mutually
exclusive. They can't coexist halting between
two opinions. The Bible is either God's word
or man's word. You can't bring the two together. It's either
the revelation of God, where he reveals to us who he is and
who we are and how he saves or it's man's word. No different
than Shakespeare or something of that nature. Which is it? Can't be both. Can't be a mixture. Can't be
part God's word and part man's word. Which is it? How long halt
me between two opinions? Men either are completely unable
to save themselves dead in sins. or they're able to save themselves.
They're able to do something to contribute to their salvation. Which is it? You can't mix the two. You can't
believe both at the same time. How long halt ye between two
opinions? God is either sovereign, And
by that I mean in complete control. He's in control of everything.
He's in control of the very thoughts going through your mind right
now. He's in control. Absolutely sovereign. Or man
has a free will and is actually sovereign over God. He can trump
God's will. Which is it? Which is it? How long halt ye
between two bins? Can't be both. You can't mix
the two. Which is it? Christ. And I want to say this
reverently regarding the Lord and savior, the name that's above
every name. He's either who he said he is
the son of God, the creator, the God man, or he's an imposter. One of the two. I think of his redeeming work
when he died on Calvary Street. He either redeemed and accomplished
salvation or he didn't. Which is it? Which did he do? How long halt ye between two
opinions? I mean, you can see where that's
going. That's how long? How long do you go back and forth
between two opinions? If God's God, serve him. If Baal's God, serve him. You
know, when we were having the preacher's class yesterday, I
gave the example. Here's an example of what I'm
talking about. There was a preacher by the name of R.C. Sproul, and
he was dealing with What's the guy's name? Charles
Finney. And Charles Finney is the man
who introduced most of the wrong practices that are today, like
the altar call. The altar call was not even known
until he introduced it in the 1800s. And he introduced all
kinds of things, mourners bench and so on. And Sproul said regarding
Charles Finney, he said, Charles Finney is the arch heretic. He's the problem. that we have,
every problem we're looking at today, he introduced into the
church. And he said, and do you know,
Billy Graham believes the exact same thing as Charles Sinney
did. And then he said, now I'm not
saying God doesn't greatly use Billy Graham. He does. And that's
called holding to opinions. If he's the arch heretic, if
he believes the same thing as the arch heretic and yet God
uses him for the salvation of souls, that's wrong. That's halting between two opinions. It's mixing grace and works. Now look at the people's response.
And the people answered him not a word. They were still indecisive. They
answered him not a word. Verse 22, Then said Elijah unto
the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. Now at
this time he thought he was the only one. He wasn't, was he?
He found out later that the Lord had reserved 7,000 to himself.
But even in a nation of millions of people, 7,000 is not that
many. But the Lord said he reserved 7,000 to himself. But Elijah
didn't know about these people yet. And he said, I, even I only
remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore give us two
bullocks. 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 on 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 answers by fire." Now notice that word
answers. The God that answers by fire.
He's going to be answering somebody. Now at this time, Elijah puts
himself on the line, doesn't he? In a very powerful way, he
puts himself on the line. I'm going to ask the Lord to
do something. They're going to ask their God
to do something. And the God who answers, he's God. I admire his faith at this time.
The God that answers by fire, let him be God. And the people
answered, it's well spoken. They agreed with that. Verse
25, and Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you
one bullock for yourselves and dress it first for your 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 until noon,
even until noon saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice. nor any that answered. Why? Because Baal was a false
god. That's why. Baal was a false
god. A false god don't get an answer,
is he? They were calling on his name, but he didn't answer. The
last part of verse 26. And they leaped upon the altar
which was made. I guess it was very much like
a charismatic service. They were leaping and jumping, trying to
get something stirred up. Verse 27. And it came to pass
at noon that Elijah mocked them. He made fun of them. He mocked
them. He had no respect to their religion
at all. Now understand, I want to respect
every man. I want to treat every man with
respect, with dignity. I don't want to mistreat anybody.
But we are to mock that which is contrary to God. Elijah did. Look at the things he said. Verse
27. And it came to pass at noon that
Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he's a God. Either
he's talking, he's meditating, or he is pursuing. And not to
be crude, but that means maybe he's gone to use the bathroom.
That's what that means. When they're mocking their God.
Now, Somebody says, well, that's offensive language. Well, Elijah
did it, and Elijah's the greatest of the prophets, isn't he? He's
the one who appeared with Moses on the man of transfiguration
speaking with the Lord. But here he is mocking. He's
a perpetrator. He's asleep and must be awakened. I love his scowling sarcasm. Now, Elijah is letting them know
that he's not halting between two opinions. Baal worship is
false worship and nothing more. Now, I realize effeminate religion
will not like such talk, but this was the speech of Elijah,
the greatest of the prophets, and God's not going to answer
by fire as long as we put any credence in man's human religion. All, listen to me, all works
free will religion is false and phony. There's no truth in it
and no one is saved in it. Now that's just the truth and
that's the way Elijah dealt with their religion. Verse 28, And
they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manor with knives
and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. You see, human
religion is destructive. You hurt yourself with it. They
were hurting themselves with this. Verse 29, And it came to
pass when midday was passed, 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. Why? A non-existent entity cannot
answer. Verse 30. And Elijah said unto all the
people, he loved these people. He loved them. He said, come
near to me. Come near to me. And all the
people came near unto him, They saw that these other fellows
were not answered. And what did he do? And this
is, I think, in some respects, the most significant verse of
this story. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And that, in the Hebrew, is literally
pulled down. Now, what's the altar of the
Lord for? The altar of the Lord's for sacrifice. The only way God
can accept me, the only way I can come into God's presence is through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what the people had
done, they had pulled down the altar of the Lord. It had lost
its significance. They reared up this altar to
Baal and he repairs the altar of the Lord. Now anytime the
Lord is going to bless, this is what's going to happen. The
Gospel of Christ, His sacrifice, is not merely central. It's everything. It's everything. It's everything. Oh, I wish I could make this
known to myself. Christ crucified is everything. All God requires of me, He looks
to who His Son is and what He did. That's everything. And they
pulled this down. And He's there to repair this. Now look what happened. 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, who is the sacrifice
for? A particular number. The 12 tribes
of Israel, the 12 sons of Jacob. Now the sacrifice is for the
elect of God. Now hear me please, hear me please.
When we talk about Christ crucified, Him dying on Calvary's tree,
this must be in the forefront. His sacrifice was for the elect
of God. Just like when the altar is repaired,
it's brought up, this is for the 12 tribes of Israel. It's
for the elect of God. Now what's the point? Huh, there
is a point. You see, His death on Calvary
Street is successful. That's the point, the time of
particular redemption. That's why it's got to be brought
out into the forefront, because if that's not brought out, you
don't even know what His death means. His death is successful. When He said, It is finished,
the salvation of all of God's elect was accomplished. You can
call it limited atonement. You can call it particular redemption.
You can call it definite atonement. Whatever you want to call it,
it's substitution. It's the gospel. It's his successful death for
all who believe. And if I cloud that, if I don't
bring that out, I've removed the offense from the cross. You
know, people are offended by particular redemption, aren't
they? Why, that doesn't seem fair that God doesn't die for everybody,
that Christ didn't die for everybody. People are offended by it. Well,
be offended then. This is the only hope of the
believer. You know, the very idea of Jesus Christ paying for
the sins of somebody and that person winding up in hell anyway,
wow, that takes away the only hope I have. There's no gospel
in that message. There's no salvation in that
message. So when Elijah repairs the altar, that's when God is
going to bless the people, that's what's going to happen. The gospel
is going to be brought out. Christ's successful, glorious
redemption for his people. Verse 32, in the stones he built
an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench, digged
a big ditch about the altar as great as would contain two measures
of seed. Verse 33, and he put the wood
in order. and cut the bullock in pieces,
just the way the book of Leviticus says to do it, very careful,
took his time, have no doubt. He laid him on the wood and said,
fill four barrels with water, and poured on the burnt sacrifice
on the wood. Somebody says, where'd they get the water if there was
a famine going on? Well, they arrived by the sea at this time,
and they could go out to the sea, and you couldn't drink that
obviously, but they took the the barrels of water and poured
it upon the burnt sacrifice and upon the wood. Now why did they
do that? Look in verse 34. He said do it the second time
and they did it the second time. He said do it the third time
and they did it the third time. And the water round about the
altar and he filled the trench also with water. Now here this
thing is soaked, soaked with water. Why did he do that? Only
one reason. He's gonna show there's no human
element to this at all. This is God's work alone. If
this sets on fire, it's not because of any trickery. It's not because
of anything human. It's not because of anything
of man. This is the work of God and the work of God alone. Don't you love the way he just
doused it with water and the wood was wet. It was in the trench
and just covered, soaked with water. Man doesn't have anything
to do with this. Verse 36. And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice. You know, I love the
way the children of Israel had a morning sacrifice or an evening
sacrifice. You begin with the sacrifice
of Christ. You end with the sacrifice of Christ. It's the beginning,
the end, and everything else. Oh, how I love the sacrifice
of my Lord, what he accomplished on Calvary Street. That's all
of my salvation. But at the time of the evening
sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and now we hear his
prayer. Now remember, James describes
this as the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And it's interesting,
I was listening to a message somebody preached on this and
he said, well, he couldn't have been talking about Christ's righteousness
being counted to him, and that availed much, because if that
was the case, everybody's prayer would be answered all the time.
But this is someone who was really righteous in his life. Well, okay. The only way a man is righteous
is by having Christ's righteousness as his personal righteousness
before God. Y'all get that? You get that the only way your
prayers or my prayers are heard is because of the righteousness
and merits of Jesus Christ. But, my dear friends, the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And here we
have the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that did in
fact avail much. Let's look at what he said. Very
short. You know, I love the brevity
of the prayers of the Bible. They're brief. They're short. And he said, Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, the
self existent, eternal one, not bound by space or time. Lord God, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and of Israel, the covenant making, the covenant keeping
God. The God of Abraham. He called
Abraham out of idolatry. He saved Isaac. Oh, how he saved
Jacob. This special relationship he
has with his people. He's the covenant God. What a
blessed thing to be in his covenant. Let it be known this day. You're the only way Me and you
are going to know God is if he lets himself known to us, if
he makes himself known to us. The only way we'll ever know
is if he reveals himself and makes himself known. I can talk
till I'm blue in the face and I'm not going to do you any good.
You won't do me any good. The only way I can truly know
him is if he makes himself known. And this is what he's asking
for. He says, Lord God of Abraham and Isaac and of Israel, let
it be known this day that thou art God in Israel. I want everybody to know who
you are. That was his desire. I want everybody
to know that you are God in Israel, and I want everybody to know
that I'm your servant. Not for self-promotion purposes,
but so everybody will know that the things I've said, you told
me to say, and the things I've done, you told me to do. I want
you to know I'm Lord's servant, that I'm speaking at His word,
not in a self-promoting way. I despise that kind of stuff.
Any kind of self-promotion is wrong. But I want you to know
that I'm telling the truth. And let's remember, I began this
message making this appeal to you. Am I telling the truth?
Am I giving the truth of Scripture? Am I telling the truth concerning
the character of God, the character of man? Salvation is Christ. Am I telling the truth? He said,
I want everybody to know that you're God and that I'm your
servant and that I've only done these things at your word. Verse 37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. And you know, whenever you pray,
isn't that what you want? You want to be heard. Hear me,
Lord. Don't let this go no further
than the ceiling. Hear me, oh Lord. Hear me. That this people may know that
thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back
again. Isn't that what you want? Don't
you want the Lord to turn your heart back again? Turn us again, O God, O Lord
of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we'll be saved. Turn, turn
me oh Lord, turn me and I'll be turned. That's the prayer
of everybody. I want to be turned. And I know
I won't be turned unless he turns me, therefore I ask him to turn
me. I want everybody to know that
you're God and that you've turned the hearts of your people again.
Oh, may that happen even now as I speak. The Lord turning
hearts toward himself. Verse 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell. Now I want you to imagine this
in your heart. They look up in the sky and all
of a sudden fire comes down that you could see out of heaven.
The fire of the Lord fell and it consumed the burnt sacrifice
and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water
that was in the trench. Just picture this in your mind.
There's the bullock, it's on the stones, it's doused down
with water, and all of a sudden fire comes down from heaven,
and it's just brought down on that sacrifice, and it consumes
everything there. It consumes the bull, it consumes
the stones, and the rocks, and the dust, and the water, and
nothing was left! Can you imagine seeing that?
You know what that signifies? God's acceptance of the sacrifice. God's acceptance of the sacrifice. You know, while I don't put anything
Easter, you know, we rejoice in the resurrection of Christ
every day, but the resurrection of Christ speaks of God's acceptance
of the sacrifice. You know who else was accepted?
Me. Every believer. that fire came
down from heaven and it symbolized God's acceptance of the sacrifice. It was consumed! It was accepted. Complete justification. And you know that this is only
typical of another time when fire came down from heaven. And
I think this is the most awesome thought. Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. Nails driven in his hand and
his feet, hanging on a cross, set in a
stand, and there he is, suffering like no way I can describe. And the fire of God's wrath fell
on him. Why? Because God hates sin. And God
will not accept sin. And the fire of God's wrath fell
on him. And he died under the wrath of
God. But something completely different
happened this time. At first time, the fire consumed
the sacrifice. But this time, the sacrifice
consumed the fire. And now God says, there is no
fury in me. All the wrath was taken away. And this is the glory of the
gospel. This is the glory of justification. This is the glory
of what Christ did. The Lord doesn't have any reason
to be mad at us. No reason whatsoever. All sin
was removed by Christ. You know, After the fire fell,
somebody else fell, verse 39. And when all the people saw it,
they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. You know, when you'll fall on
your face, truly before the Lord, when you see the accepted sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you see what he accomplished,
The complete salvation He wrought out for you. You know what it's
going to do? It's going to make you fall on your face. You won't
fall on your face until then. As long as you remain upright,
you haven't seen. But if you ever see, you'll fall
on your face and you'll worship. When the fire fell, somebody
else fell. They fell on their face. they
worshipped and they confessed that he is God. And somebody
else fell that day too. Look in verse 40. And Elijah
said to 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 he slew them there.
Every single one of them he put to death. They fell too. Now,
somebody says, that seems almost barbaric, you know, that they
would kill all these false prophets and so on. But I know this, if
the Lord ever does anything for me or you, we're going to put
to death that which is contrary to him. That's what we're going
to be spending the rest of our life doing. We're not going to
spare anything. They all fell. He killed every
single one of them. And something else fell too.
verse forty-one, and Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat,
and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain. There was
going to be an abundance of rain falling for their thirsty souls. Now, the fire of God's wrath fell
upon Christ and he put it away. That makes people fall on their
faces. That makes people put to death
all the false prophets. And that makes the reign of God's
blessing fall down. You know, whenever the Lord is
going to bless a people, He makes them pray for it. Elijah prayed, and the rain came
down. Now, how long halt ye between
two opinions? It's very unreasonable. How long
halt ye between two opinions? I want to be somebody of one
thing, don't you? Not two. You know, David said,
one thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord forever to behold his beauty and to inquire in
his temple. That's the one thing I want. Paul said this one thing I do.
Forgetting those things that are behind. You know what the
best thing to do about the past is? Forget it. and reaching forth unto those
things that are before, I press toward the mark of the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I don't want to
be somebody halting between two opinions, do you? May God give
us grace to be people of one thing. Let's pray together.