1 Kings 18 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Prophets of Baal Defeated) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Kings chapter 18 is the chapter of our focus tonight. We already started exploring this chapter, and I have to say from the outset that this is a challenging chapter, not necessarily because of finding the interpretation of such things or seeing how it harmonizes with the rest of the scriptures, but because there are so many gems and jewels in it that I just found myself going back and forth and trying to determine where to end the study tonight, but also wrestling with the fact that there is a beauty that you capture when you do cover a larger scale of a context of a certain truth. And And so we're just gonna see where we're gonna land tonight based on time and where we do meditate and stop on. But for now, let us read beginning in verse 20, the first few verses of this section. And as our brother prayed, no matter how you came in today, and no matter what the message is, because this is the word of God, you will be strengthened.

You will be strengthened. Verse 20. So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him.

But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood and be and put no fire to it.

And I will prepare the other bowl and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. And the god who answers by fire, he is god. And all the people answered, it is well spoken. Father, help us with this passage.

Help us with the rest of this chapter. Enlighten our hearts and our minds. Lord, draw us closer to you in an intimate level. Help us be conformed to the image of your son. May we glean with your guidance all that you have intended to say through this preserved holy account and redemptive history.

We look to you as our teacher, and we trust in the promise anointing that resides in each of us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If If you were here last week, you know that we closed on the thought of a powerful confrontation between righteousness and evil, between a remnant and apostasy. But not just a confrontation, we closed at a challenge that would prove to be one of the greatest contest that human history has ever known.

And the place and the parties that are involved in this incredible event are laid out for us in verse 19. Look at it very quickly with me. It says in verse 19, now, therefore, send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. So the stage of this contest will be Mount Carmel. The audience will be the nation of Israel.

Elijah will stand singularly representing the true and living God, and there will be 850 men representing Baal and Asherah. And it's important to realize that Elijah calling for this challenge is not something that he conjured up himself. This is not him emotionally or even cleverly, producing something hoping that God is gonna come through for his servant. No. No.

No. No. No. We have to realize from the beginning that all of this is God's idea. And that's proven near the end of this chapter, which we should look at so that we can frame and understand Elijah's words and actions appropriately.

Look at verse 36 of first Kings 18. It says here, and at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, oh, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant, pay attention to this last part, and that I have done all these things at your word. So challenging Ahab, challenging the prophets, the way he's gonna organize this showdown is coming from heaven. It's coming from the mind of God. This is something that is not given to us as a record, but Elijah indicates that the Lord spoke to his servant and says, this is what I want you to do at this point.

Now why is that important to understand? For many reasons and for something that you and I have already established in our study of this man, Elijah. This man steadfastly submitted to the will of God. No matter what the call was from God, Elijah joyfully, cheerfully, completely complied. So if God told Elijah, I want you to leave the boundaries of the promised land and I want you to minister to a widow and her son, they're gonna take care of you but I'm gonna also do something through you to them and you're gonna reside in that house, Elijah did it.

And if God said, Elijah, now I want you to preach and to be the conduit through which I'm gonna manifest my power before royalty, before a false religious system, and an entire nation, Elijah is going to do it. And what we have to understand here, again, is the same theme in our study concerning this man at this point. God is worthy of our obedience no matter the circumstance or the context that calls for obedience. And so that's being reinforced right here in the beginning. But there are so many more observations in this text.

Look at verse 20 once again. So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. Makes you wonder why Ahab would give in to this. He's the king. Perhaps he feels as though this is going to be to his advantage.

I mean, numerically, it makes sense. You want hundreds of my prophets, and there's only one of you? Alright. Let's do this. But then we see here also that Elijah came near to all the people.

So he doesn't confront the false prophets. He doesn't even confront Ahab. Immediately, he deals with the nation of Israel that are standing on that platform. And this is what he says to them. How long will you go limping between two different opinions?

And so what is he doing here? He's highlighting the poor condition, the spiritual state of this nation. And it's a class, pay attention to this, that unfortunately many have comfortably enrolled themselves in. And how Elijah phrases is this, limping between two different opinions. So here you have Elijah who's totally sold out for the Lord.

Then you have Ahab and his priests and prophets that are anti Yahweh. And And then you have something in the middle. You have the Israelites who are limping between two different opinions. What does that mean, to limp between two different opinions? Well, the same word limp is used in the very same context, and the way it's used in the other place gives us an indication.

So look at verse 26. This is when the false prophets of Baal are trying to convince Baal to answer their cry. Verse 26. It says here, and they took the bull that was given them, and they prayed and they prepared it rather and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, oh, Baal, answer us. But there was no voice, and no one answered.

And they limped around the altar that they had made. It's the same word being used. They limped. The concept of limping can apply movement, simple movement from one place to another. In fact, the original word there for this word limp in the Hebrew is actually to pass over.

So movement from one location to the next, that's part of it. But when you look at limping more carefully here, it it can also signify instability. So it's not just movement, it's a certain way of movement. There's an unsteadiness. When somebody limps, right, when one of their legs or both of their legs or their hips are bad, they wobble.

Their feet are not as planted. And so when you see them limping around the altar, the imagery that you have here is that they're doing some kind of awkward motion. They're they're perhaps it's some sacred in their minds dance. This is intentional. They're limping.

Maybe out of exhaustion, maybe, again, this might be by design, but they're limping in a way in which it's showing limited movement, so to speak. And that's precisely what Elijah is trying to convey. When he challenges Israel, he's not concerned about their movement from geographical location to geographical location. He's concerned about their movement of spiritual devotion. So how long are you gonna pass over from one to the other and revisit it?

How long are you, check this out, going to be content in your instability spiritually? How long are you going to justify you planting yourself somewhere that is not stable? You're unstable actually. And for him to ask it in this way, how long, means that they've been doing this for a while. And not only have been they've been doing this for a while, they've been doing it without being disturbed by it.

There's a level of comfortability here to remain in that kind of a condition. And so it is today. You have many, unfortunately, today who are juggling worldliness while trying to grasp on to godliness, and they can do so for protracted uninterrupted periods of time and never be disturbed by it. And the fact that he says how long also remind should remind the people that you are willing to live like this, one day for Baal, one day for the Lord, mixing it up here and there. You're willing to do this, and you haven't registered yet that this abnormal three year plague that you're enduring is a direct consequence to your limping.

And so you have people, unfortunately, who fit that category. And the Bible here gives us a clue to how this kind of class of carnal compromised Christianity must be dealt with, and it must be dealt with there are different ways. But through Elijah, a messenger who lives the real thing and is willing to disturb with the truth those who are comfortable in that place. And how do we how do we translate what Elijah is saying to this people? If your devotion to God is not wholehearted, it is worthless.

Worthless. Worthless. Yes. Worthless. God is not in heaven desperate for something from us.

He either wants it all or he doesn't want anything. That's how God operates. That's how the economy of faith in God's kingdom works. And there are so many places in scripture whether that be didactically or by example or illustration of that truth being something that God demands of us, wholehearted or nothing, complete or nothing. And I had my reading this week in second Chronicles, and I came to one example that we can add to our filing about how God truly wants wholehearted devotion more than anything else.

I want you to see it with your eyes. And by the way, we're not gonna be cross cross referencing a lot in this chapter. There's just so much here already, and time does not, suffice for us to do that. But we will do it at this point. Look at second Chronicles 19.

Here's what Jehu, a prophet, says and testifies about Jehoshaphat. This is another king. And I want you to see in verse three of second chronicles 19 what this prophet says about the spiritual condition of this king. Verse three, he says, nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Ashroth out of the land and have set your heart to seek God. Hold on.

What can be better than a leader with this people and their history who has determined to clean the land of idolatry and not just do that, but set his heart to seek God? That's that's good. That's more than good. That's ideal. That's standard, is it not?

But notice, he says nevertheless. Meaning, he said something before. He said something before for him to qualify that there is Though you have cleansed the land of idolatry and though you've set your heart to see God, it's still some good. Lord, what are you after? If this if this is some good, what does it mean?

What are you looking for? Look at verse two. Here's the correction before the commendation. But Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to king Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.

Then he goes on to say, nevertheless, some good is found in you. When I read that in my morning devotion yesterday, I stopped and I said, hold on. God, this you're showing you're showing me what you're after. What's Jehoshaphat's deal? We'll read the larger context and you realize that though he did cleanse the land of certain idolatry and though he did set his heart to see God, he made a marriage alliance with Ahab.

So he's not talking about what we know to be true for Christians that you should love those even though they don't love you or love your God. It's not what he's talking about. He's condemning the fact that he was willing to be unequally yoked with an idolatrous king. Here's what this teaches me. Jehoshaphat hated some evil, not all evil.

Jehoshaphat hated some sins, not all sins. And you and I have to be careful in thinking that we're pleasing God because in our minds, we've interpreted selective righteousness as true righteousness. Other people like that? I've met them. They're very outspoken about certain things that the bible condemns, but when it comes to other things that the bible condemns, they're not as outspoken.

They're not consistent in their conviction. They don't hate all evil, just some evil. God is not interested in that. God is not interested in that. This is a man who has been warranted now, who's been issued divine discipline.

How? He set his heart to seek God, and he removed idols from the land. Yeah. But he still also had another place in his heart devoted to something else that God hated. So what is God after?

This is the point that I'm trying to drive. Completeness. Completeness. And as long as your heart is in the place where you say, whatever God loves, I will love, and whatever God hates, I will hate. You can be sure that you are walking in wholehearted devotion to him.

And Elijah here is exactly delivering that truth. And so he asked them, how long are you gonna be limping between two different opinions? And let's go back to our main text. How did the people respond at the end of verse 21? And the people did not answer him a word.

Why? Were they just silenced due to conviction? Were they unable to justify their sin, though they weren't really broken about it? Or or is this, like, sheer indifference? They're just kinda, like, staring at Elijah, trying to figure out how he appeared after three years.

The Bible doesn't tell us. But I can tell you with great confidence that their lack of response is not something good. And I looked at this, and I and I sat back, and I thought to myself, what an encouragement this is for you and I. What do I mean by that? This is a helpful example for those who preach the truth, counsel with the truth, disciple people with the truth, with a desire to win them over to complete devotion to the lord, but all you're getting is nothing.

There's blank stares. I think that's more that resonates more with preachers than anything else. If that does happen to you, whether from a pulpit or in a living room setting, realize that even the greatest men of god experienced no response when what they preached or what they taught or what they counsel with demanded response. You do you and be faithful with the truth that God has revealed to you and asked you to convey to another, and let God deal with the rest. There's no right answer here.

It demanded an answer. It demanded some kind of explanation. Nothing. They stayed in the same place. The way they walked into that Sunday service is the same way that they walked out.

If you're a messenger of the truth in any context, leave them to the Lord. They will be held accountable for how they respond to the truth. You just give it. Now we come to verse 22. Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men.

Is that completely true? Was Elijah the only prophet? And we just learned last week that Obadiah told him, hey. I'm hiding a 100 of them, and I have this whole feeding program set up. So we understand that there is a 100 prophets, true prophets to be exact, but where are they now?

Where are they? So though numerically, literally, that's not the case, functionally, Elijah's right. He's standing alone. Where are all the other ones? They're not there.

And, additionally, what else do you notice about verse 22? I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. There's an omission here. What's missing? Go back to verse 19.

You'll see what's missing. And when you see it, you can let us know about it. There's 450 prophets of Baal, but who else is supposed to be there? 400 prophets of Asherah. They didn't show up.

And it could be that they were suspicious of this invitation, or Jezebel was very strategic. And she also was concerned about Elijah's little plan here, so she had them stay back, at least close to half of them. And we're gonna touch on that next week most likely, but do they ever reappear again? I think they do. Look at chapter 22 of the same book in verse six.

This is when Ahab and Jehoshaphat came together to to go to war, and Jehoshaphat asked Ahab if they've inquired of the Lord and if they could. And he does. So look what we see here in first Kings 22 verse six. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about 400 men and said to them, shall I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And they said, go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

So, I mean, I'm gonna I'm not gonna touch on this too much, but here's Ahab and Jezebel thinking that they can outsmart God in hiding 400 of the prophets just in case something happens. Do the prophecies of these 400 men end up giving good counsel to Ahab? No. You can't fool God. You can't sidestep him.

Well, let's come back to the main point here. The main point is that Elijah is outnumbered, and he's highlighting that. 450 to one. 450 of them and one of me. And we see here that if popularity was a metric for something being true, then Elijah would have extremely slim chances of convincing people of the truth.

Truth is not authorized by the verdict of the majority. It isn't. And you have learned from biblical history, and I hope that you have learned from recent history, that just because something is mainstream doesn't mean it's right, doesn't mean it's reliable. 450 on this side, one on this side. Which one is gonna seem more persuasive?

And if you are persuaded towards something, my brother, my sister, just because it is popular I say this in love, you are ripe for deception. You are ripe for deception. And I say that with a little bit more oomph in my voice because I've seen too much in the past three years where just because something shows up on TikTok a lot doesn't mean it should be convincing to you. And that's unfortunately the case for so many. Instead, let Elijah's testimony encourage you to remember that God's word is true whether many or few accept it.

Now Elijah could have started. Right? He gives them the first round. You guys do it, and we could have saved a lot of time in our study, and we could have saved a lot of time in the real estate of the bible. Because if Elijah had just gone up first, fire would have come down from heaven.

It would have been a done deal, and people would have been impressed. But what does Elijah wanna do? He wants them to go first to show that Bill not only is inferior to the true God, he's no God. So you guys do your thing. Take as much time as you want, and let's show the world that you guys believe in something false.

And it's in this where we learn another lesson that I think couples with the truth that we just heard. Let's look at what they do in verse 25. We haven't read this yet. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it. Let's not cheat here.

Alright? No sparks. No little gimmicks. Let's make this real. No fire to it.

Put no fire to it, and they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, oh, Baal, answer us. But there was no voice and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. Look at verse 28. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them.

Verse 29. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. Do you wanna know another pitfall that people miss when it comes to determining worldview?

Misguided earnestness and passion for those who uphold a faulty view. Are these guys sincere? Are these false prophets sincere? Very sincere. Are they devoted?

Very devoted. Are they passionate? Sure. Are they emotional? I think all their emotional stock is invested in this moment.

These are guys that apparently really believe in what they believe. They really, really believe that bill actually answered them. And you and I have to remember also, not just the popularity idea, but zeal and determination and sincerity are not the markers of a belief being legitimate. And you can be sincere. Right?

But you can be sincerely wrong at the same time. So don't allow your emotions, that's one thing, but don't allow the strong sentiments of others in the expression of their loyalty to error ever persuade you to believe something that's not true. You know why that's important? Because we're living in a time now that all it takes is for you to strong to feel strongly about something for it to be valid. And this generation is eating it up.

If you just cry about it, if your voice is loud enough, if if you go to all the protests, then it must be sincere. It must be real. It must be true. Who says? What did Paul say in Romans ten two?

He says, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge in speaking about the Jews. They have zeal. It's legitimate zeal. It's tangible, real, observable, feelable zeal, but it's not lined up with knowledge. And zeal without knowledge is dangerous.

Zeal as a result and fruit of knowledge is is wonderful. That's a gift. That's warranted. But just because you feel strongly about it and everybody else feels strongly about it, it, then certainly there must be some validity to it. You are ripe for deception.

Ripe. No. You you put aside the feelings and you put aside what the majority has to say and you come to an objective standard that has been provided to mankind, and you determine truth, your worldview, your convictions based on that. And even if your feelings may not agree with it at first, you submit to it and trust that god will give you what you need to uphold it, live it, and love it. So you see this really pathetic display.

It's really heartbreaking, actually, and we should be heartbroken, but Elijah has a different approach. Look at verse 27. And at noon, Elijah mocked them saying, cry aloud for he is a god. Either he is musing or he is relieving himself. Can you imagine that?

I think your god is on the toilet. So give him some time. For he is relieving himself or he is on a journey. Imagine that. Your god's on vacation.

I think you guys missed the memo. Or perhaps he is asleep. Maybe maybe Bill's taking a nap. So do what? He he must be awakened.

Is there any space or allowance for mockery for the Christian? Because many would come to this text as a proof text to give them authority to speak in such a way to those who believe differently than you and I. That's a dangerous thing to do. To come to a text like this, that one, is not prescriptive. It's descriptive.

And to use it to try to legitimize a certain attitude or way of speaking is not really what this text is intended to convey. Do you realize that Elijah here, unlike so many who in their proclamation of the truth or in their apologetics or debate, he's not here looking to wound these people. He's not here looking to blow off steam. He's not here looking to amuse himself by using sarcasm in a supposed sanctified way. Yes.

Don't get me wrong. There may be times depending on context and conversation where there is liberty in how you explain something or showcase something or highlight something. Sure. Sure. Sure.

But as a general rule, even when you understand Elijah's motive behind this, it it makes this a weaker thing to rely on to justify fleshly behavior. Why is Elijah doing this? Well, look at the surrounding context. You read here in verse 26 that they were crying out, oh, Bill, answer us. And so Elijah now wants to stir them up even a little bit more.

He wants to turn up the heat. So he uses this language so that they can do what? They can cry out louder. They can be more intense in their display of intercession and devotion for one simple reason. So that Israel can notice and take note that no matter how loud you cry, no matter what you do, no matter what you do to yourself, this god will not answer you.

There's a redemptive goal behind this. There there is there is an aim here. This is not aimless. This is not Elijah just shooting off his mouth. This is Elijah wanting things to get more intense so that he can prove to a watching, limping crowd, no matter what you do, this god, Baal, will not hear because he's no god at all.

And that point we'll get across. This is a strategy. This is not flesh. This is a man who knows what he is doing. And the way that he got into that place is by using the words that he did.

So let's see what happens. It says here that no one answered. No one paid attention. Before that, there was no voice. There's something else in these verses.

Right? The Holy Spirit is highlighting something. If you go back to verse 26, it says that there initially, but there was no voice in the middle of the verse, and no one answered. So this point is being reinforced and emphasized over and over in such a small space of time. And the reason for that is because this is what precisely billions of people are doing today with their idols, whether that be false gods or pursuits or people that they have elevated to the point of worship.

There are people like these prophets of Baal who are looking for answers in all the wrong places, who are looking for something to satisfy and only Christ can satisfy. And so they are running headlong into this avenue and that arena and this activity hoping to get answer, and you can rightly take this text as a filter and remind others, and hopefully not, but if so yourself, that you will not get answers, you will not get a voice, you will not get something that your soul alone can find in the gospel, in the truth of God, in relationship with him. And what do people do? What do people do when they try to numb the pain with drugs? When they put themselves in situations or in environments that are sinful?

When they make their job, their goal, when they whatever it is, fill in the blank. What do people do oftentimes? Unfortunately, the same things that these prophets do. When they get no answers, they think to themselves, well, maybe I have to do more. Maybe I gotta up it up again.

Maybe I have to put more money into it. Maybe I have to put more time into it. Maybe I gotta sacrifice more. And what's the result of that? Well, you see verse 29, there was no voice.

No one answered. No one paid attention. And and what people often do is they interpret the dizziness of their frantic and frivolous pursuits enough to keep them occupied, not realizing that there's hollowness in the soul. I I can remember that. I can remember that being in college that the worst times that I had to deal with the emptiness of my soul was when all the noise died down and I laid my confused head on my pillow every night in that basement apartment.

And how how can I quiet my conscience? Well, I just need more noise, more flesh, more sin, more adrenaline, whatever it is. But when it came down to it being all quiet and you are on your own with your soul, that's when it's the loudest. But, unfortunately, these men are demonstrating what so many are doing even on this Friday night, by the way. Yeah.

You're in the house of God. You think this is normal? You think people spend their Friday nights coming to the house of God to read and study the Bible? No. There are countless people right now doing what these false prophets are doing, Looking for answers in all the wrong places.

Looking for joy, satisfaction, peace. And they're screaming their heads off, figuratively speaking, and nothing's coming through. May God open their eyes. Verse 30. Then Elijah said to all the people, come come near to me.

And all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came saying, Israel shall be your name. 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 seahs of seed. So remember, the competition. You do your thing.

You cut up the bull, and whatever you have to do to try to get Baal, they answer you by fire. If that happens, he's the real god. I'm gonna do the same. But before he does anything, the first thing that Elijah does is he builds an altar or he rebuilds an altar. He repaired the altar.

And we're told here that the altar had been thrown down. Any idea who threw it down? Who threw down this altar? If you want the answers in the next chapter, chapter 19 verse 10. This is Elijah speaking elsewhere.

He says, he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars. This is Israel's doing. They're the ones who threw down this altar. And before Elijah does anything, he rebuilds it. What does the altar represent?

It represents God's standard of worship. That's what it means. God had prescribed that these stones that were not hewn, not touched by human hands would be collected, that you find that law in Exodus, and that that would be used as the platform for sacrifice to be made and for communion with God to be experienced. And so Elijah here is going back to the ancient paths, and this is so important. Please pay attention to this.

I'm speaking to those who are passionate about God doing things in their lives, doing things in their local church. Before God sends fire from heaven, before Elijah even prays for the fire to come down from heaven, he rebuilds the altar. You and I should not expect God to do anything from heaven on our behalf for this ministry or your ministry unless you are first willing to reestablish the foundation that is obedience to God's word. Prayer, as we're gonna learn in a moment here, does not replace obedience. And so what does Elijah do?

He he makes the first thing the first thing. We must go back to what God instructed us to do before we expect anything from him. So you can pray all you want, fast all you want, serve all you want if you are not setting up your interaction, your intercession, your supplication to the Lord on the foundation of what he asks of you, then you're wasting time. And so he goes back to what God asks of them from the the simplest way. He wants an altar.

We're gonna give him an altar. This is how God wants to be worshiped. This is what he wants for my life. I'm gonna give it to him, and then now I can expect for him to do more. So the second thing to notice here besides that is Elijah, not just building an altar, but he took a certain amount of stones.

How many stones did he pick up? 12. And for what reason? What did it represent? Everybody's yeah.

Answer it. Wonderful. Love it. Why is that important? KK, here's the what's that?

God's name. God's name, yes. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Bible study tip.

Whenever you come to a text like this or any text really, make it a habit to zoom out. Make it a habit to zoom out. Make it a habit to climb the helicopter ladder and have the aerial view of the context that you're studying. He took 12 stones, put them together to represent the tribes of Jacob. Why is that significant at this point in redemptive history?

Brian? Because we're in a time where the kingdom is divided. So you have 10 tribes representing the North. You have two representing the Southern Kingdom. And what is Elijah doing?

He is by way of demonstration reminding the people of how God designed them to be. You're called to be unified. You're called to be 12 tribes called Israel, not Israel representing the Northern Kingdom and Judah representing the Southern Kingdom. And so even in this, there is correction. Even in this, he's saying, I'm here to show you not just what God demands of you in terms of your vertical relationship with him, but what God demands of you for one another.

And do you notice even in the symbol of worship, right, this altar, you have the vertical reality and the horizontal reality and they're inseparable. In this case, it's inseparable and it's true as a truth throughout the bible that if you think that you're rightly related to God while at the same time not being rightly related to one another, you're not really worshiping God. So, yeah, we're gonna build this altar. We're gonna make a sacrifice, but let me also remind you what God really wants. He doesn't want you guys to be divided.

He wants you guys to be exactly how he intended you to be, and that's one. And that's one. And so he does this in a very powerful way. And by sending this message, unfortunately, the people didn't get it, but we did. So he puts these 12 stones together, reminding them of their unified design.

And let's read what happens next in verse 33. And he put the wood in order and cut the bowl in pieces and laid it on the wood. I mean, that's so specific. Just put it in order. Put the bowl in pieces, laid it out on there.

Here's just a little nugget. Right? If this altar represents worship, God is a God of order. He wants orderly worship. Right?

He doesn't want halfhearted, confused, spontaneous. And what I mean by that is, unthoughtful spontaneity, uncalculated, unfiltered. No. No. You see here that this is a man who is very careful in how he's about to approach God even in this setting.

So he puts everything in order and notice what happens here, and he said, fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. Elijah, things are already difficult for you. It's 450 to one, and you have an entire nation surrounding you that in one moment can turn on you. So you're gonna make this more difficult? Is Elijah doing this to test the lord?

No. Go back to the first point. Where is he getting his orders from? Heaven. God.

So fill four jars with water and pour it out on the burnt offering and on the wood. Not just the burnt offering, on the wood. Does wet wood work well with being ignited? No. And he said, do it a second time.

Okay. One time is enough. No. Do it a second time. And they did it a second time, and he said, do it a third time.

Elijah. It's not Elijah. It's God. And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

You got a little pool going on here. Now remember, you you can't look at this separated from the wider context. This is marching orders from God. So it's not Elijah trying to make a point. This is God making a point.

And what's the point that he's trying to make? He is intentionally making this more difficult So that when the fire did come and lick up all the elements and ignite that burnt offering, it would be more convincing that this is of God. There would be no question. There'd be no room for doubt. Yeah.

Sure. Without it, there would still be a strong case to make, but God wants to make this very strong point so that there would be no hesitation to realize this is from God. This is from God. Do you have any doubt that what God did in this case is any different in how he operates in your life and mine? You shouldn't have any doubt.

That if providence leads you in a place or a circumstance that is extremely difficult listen, if you're walking with the Lord, he's ordered your steps. He's walking with you. He's leading you perfectly. And that includes things that it's a difficult thing just to begin with. The introduction of this trial is enough And then as time goes on, it just becomes more problematic.

There are more layers of obstacles, and it seems as though, this is not gonna go anywhere. This is why we're studying what we're studying. Right? This is the mind of God. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And so what he did here and set up for his glory, he will not do any different for you and me. So don't be intimidated or fearful by the growing impossibility of something and saying, okay, Lord. I don't know how you're gonna come through. Well, perhaps he's doing it so that when it does happen, everybody around you say it has to be God. It has to be God.

So the Lord in his wisdom, depending on what it is, will set up your life and mine in the same way, and we should be in those moments just as confident as Elijah was. Alright, Lord. Let's see how you're gonna do this. You can't lose in the Christian life. You can if you don't know who God is.

But if you know who God is, there is no losing in the Christian life. So this man says, do it. They did it. They drenched everything. Now look at this.

Verse 36. And at the time of the offering of the oblation oblation simply means presenting something to God. Right? So all other translations would say at the time of the evening sacrifice. Elijah the prophet came near and said, oh lord, god of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are the god, that you are god in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I've done all these things at your word.

I I can't pass that first insight of verse 36. At the time of the oblation or at the time of the evening sacrifice. So there were set times in the temple at Jerusalem where sacrifices were made. Is Elijah in Jerusalem? No.

He's in the northern part, and he's on Mount Carmel. But he's aware of the time of the sacrifice that would have taken place in the temple at this point of the day. Elijah here wanted to offer his sacrifice at the same time when the regular evening sacrifice was to be given. That says something about this man's worship. He's not near the temple.

He's not even close to the temple. But what makes us so precious is that Elijah is a prophet working in a different place with different people, and yet he is physically separated, yes, but totally in tune with the will and heart of God. I'm gonna wait to give this sacrifice when God desires for it to be given. And despite the distance, this man wanted to be in accordance with the will of God as much as possible. That's a true worshiper.

Unfortunately, for some believers, that's not the same because all it takes is for some believers is for changes in life or even limitations in life to encourage them not to make worship a priority. So what you have is a new business venture. You have, an enrollment to school out of state, maybe marriage, and those become reasons to ignore what God demands of us when it comes to devotion to him. But God honors worshipers like Elijah. So if God desires sacrifices at this time, then I will give my sacrifice at this time.

How how can we translate that? Very simply and and in many ways, if God in his word has shown us that he wants to be worshiped with his people on the Lord's day, then I'm gonna worship the lord with his people on the lord's day. Right? This is gonna be a priority in my life. Elijah's showing the priority of worship in his life.

Even in this moment, he is mindful of the sacrifices that take place in the house of God, and I'm gonna line myself up as much as possible with it. Do Christians think like that today? I know many who do. Praise God. Many do in this place.

But I I've I've seen enough throughout my journey with the Lord where that's not the case. But Elijah's a different breed, but he's also a man with a nature like ours, so we can imitate him. So at the time of the offering of the oblation of Elijah, now he prays. Oh, we can make a whole Bible study just on how he prayed, but let's make rapid fire observations. Okay?

You know what? I'll ask. And if you can be quick enough, that'll be very helpful. So let's read this together one more time. And whatever stands out to you, just be like, I noticed this about that prayer.

I noticed this about that prayer. Shall we do that? Let's read it. Oh, lord, god of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, oh, Lord.

Answer me that these people may know that you, oh, Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back. Anything? So many things. Join me on the quest of revelation. What stands out to you?

Yes, brother. Full submission. Full submission to God. Right? And even what he says about himself, he doesn't call himself a mighty prophet, a man of God.

He goes, I'm your servant. I'm your servant. I'm your servant. I'm still your servant. Yes.

Anything else? He uses the covenant name Yes. The sons of Jacob Yes. To remind them of the covenant. Absolutely.

So he doesn't say the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is the common reference to God in terms of his covenant keeping character. Elijah's intention is saying Israel. Israel. God, remember Israel. Don't remember so much Jacob, but remember Israel, what you turned Jacob to and into.

Yes, god. Please. Yes. Yes. The personal name of God.

Yahweh or Jehovah. Yes. Absolutely. These are wonderful. Anything else?

What's that? So he's interceding on behalf of the people. Yes. Absolutely. Well, let's look at a few things.

Right? Let's look at the first thing and that is the grounds of his request. The grounds of his request are what? God's character, his covenant keeping character. So he appeals to the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

Why is that important? Because he is praying for a people who have not kept the covenant. So, god, I'm appealing to your faithfulness, not their faithfulness. I'm appealing to your goodness, not their goodness. Lord, I'm appealing to your heart and your promise, and we're asking you now.

Lord, I'm asking you specifically on the grounds of your character to answer this. So if you don't know who God is or if you're limited in your view of God, your prayers are gonna be limited. The scope of what you can ask God for are gonna be hindered. But the more you know about the character of God, the more you can freely and boldly and courageously come before the Lord and ask him for things that the person who doesn't know God won't be able to. That's the grounds.

Look at secondly, how he obeys before he prays. What did he mention here? He says here at the end of verse 36 that I have done all these things at your word. So he he shows God by way of his confession, I am doing this according to what you've told me, and up to this point, I've obeyed you. Now I'm asking you to do your part.

So let me say it again. Prayer does not replace obedience. And what does that look like in a day to day? I mean, there's so many practical examples, but here you are able-bodied in a land of great opportunity, and you're in financial need, but you don't wanna work, but you want god to drop off money through the mouth of ravens at your front step every other week. No.

No. No. No. Don't expect god to work for you. He's called you to work.

He's called you to look for a job. He's called you to make calls. He's called you to sit through interviews. And through that, you can pray and ask God for the right thing, the right place, the right will, and he'll do that. So prayer does not replace obedience.

And so he says, I have obeyed. I'm I'm obeying you now. Thirdly, did you not notice how God centered this prayer was? It's so God centered. He says here what?

In the verse in the first part of verse 36, oh, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God. I want people to know that you're God. I want them to know that you're a God in Israel. And then he says it after here in verse 37. Answer me, oh lord.

Answer me that this people may know that you, oh lord, are God. That's the heartbeat of this man's desire. He's I want this prayer to be answers that people can say God is true. God is real. He is the living one.

So when your requests are, motivated by that pursuit, then you can know for certain that you are praying successfully. And so why you are asking for what you're asking makes all the difference in in determining whether or not God will answer that prayer. If you're concerned with the glory of God, you can be sure that God will be quick to hear and to move on that request. Lastly, though there are many other things, in light of the larger context, you notice something else about Elijah's prayer? He says here at the end of it, another priority in his praying.

Lord, answer this prayer. Why? That you have turned their hearts back. I want this prayer to move in the hearts of these people and for them to know that in the manifestation of this, their hearts can come to you. Their hearts will come to you.

You know what I appreciate about this request? Remember the larger context. What's what's a really important need at this time for Israel? What was a pressing need? Rain.

This is a crippling famine that they are enduring, and now it's it's reached a point where it's life threatening. And you would think that, a priority at this point is, Lord, send some rain. Right? But Elijah, as a man of God, understands something even more important than resources that would help the survival of these people, and that was their hearts being turned back to God. God, their hearts being right with you is better than them knowing a more robust economy, even healing for your body.

Elijah understood just like Jesus understood when that man came through that crashed roof, those four friends who love that man. And what did Jesus do before he healed him? He forgave him of his sins. That's more important than you walking. You walking with me in eternity is more important than you walking in this life without eternal life.

So I'm gonna forgive you of your sins. And here's Elijah understanding, God turned their hearts. What good is rain if their hearts are still hard and then calloused? No, Lord, rain upon their hearts, and let their hearts soften. Let their hearts tenderize.

This man just is praying with late laser sharpness here. He's so precise in understanding the mind of God. And what else does this show? If he's asking that they would know that you have turned their hearts back, you know what that shows? Elijah believed that by praying, people's hearts can be changed.

Do you believe that about prayer? Do you believe that about intercession? I I get it. Persevering in prayer, it's exhausting. It can be very tiring.

And I know what it's like even I'm sure you do too where you feel the strength and the motivation leaving you. It's like I've prayed and I've tried. But listen, this is why we do this. We come under the word of God again to add more fuel in that place where we feel weak. Let me remind you that prayer can move hearts, and God can answer your prayer because you're so concerned for his glory and wanting other people to witness and enjoy that glory that he can move on behalf of those who are not even thinking about praying for themselves.

And that God can show himself so strong where you can have a people who fall underneath and say, the lord, he is god. Don't lose hope. Okay? What do we see here? They answered to that prayer.

Verse 38. There's no way we're finishing this chapter, but that's okay. We have another Friday, lord willing. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. Like, not one thing was untouched.

God consumed it all. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, the lord, he is god. The Lord, he is God. Is this a miracle? It is.

It's a wonderful miracle. What's so miraculous about it? You would say, because fire came down from heaven because one man prayed. Can I tell you why it's even a greater miracle than that? Not because the fire fell down from heaven, because the fire fell down and not on the people.

That's why it's a miracle. Fire falling down is a powerful thing. But what makes this so incredible is that when the fire fell, it didn't consume the people. It consumed everything else. You know what you have here?

In light of last Sunday's message, you have a foreshadowing. You have a picture. You have a hint of the gospel. This fire symbolizes judgment. And who deserved judgment here?

The people who were limping between two opinions. The people who torn down that altar. And instead of the judgment coming and evaporating them, it fell upon a burnt offering. And that burnt offering satisfied that fire, that judgment. So here's something more miraculous.

Yeah. God sent down fire. It didn't fall on the people. It fell on this animal, and it changed their hearts. And they said, the lord, he is god.

So check this out. God doesn't send fire down. God sends his son. And the lord Jesus Christ gets up on a hill, and he becomes a sacrifice absorbing the wrath of god, not just for one people group during a certain period of history, but for all people groups for all the sins committed in history. And in that moment, he satisfied the wrath of God.

And how do we benefit from it? We witness it, we hear it, and hopefully you and I respond to it in the same way that these people did in realizing Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. And I have to say this, whether you do acknowledge that now or not, you will one day. Because here you have a people who are bending their knee and declaring this in unison, but there's a time coming where every knee and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Everyone will, whether they want to or not. I just choose to, and I hope you made that choice as well to do it on this side of that glorious event, to enjoy worshiping now, and I'll be glad then as well to join in that moment of worshiping him then. Elijah's gonna kill these prophets. These false prophets are gonna be slaughtered. And if you wanna know whether that was right or not, you gotta come next Friday.

Let's pray. With immense gratitude, Lord, we thank you for feeding us with your word. We thank you for richly providing for us a banquet where we can feast upon the truth that answers our questions and our heart's desires. Lord, we thank you that we are not a group in here groping for answers, but we sit here satisfied knowing that we have the truth at our disposal. We thank you for opening our eyes.

Thank you for turning our hearts to you. Lord, we pray that if we might be in a season of limping between two opinions, that the limping would stop and we would plant ourselves on the side of truth, of true devotion to you. And, Lord, we pray that you would indeed deliver us from being impressed or moved by false narratives because the majority believe it or because they feel strongly about it, and they feel strongly about those who don't agree with it. Lord help us be like Elijah and knowing that one with God is majority. Lord with all these truths that were shared we just pray that they would be appropriately applied to our hearts.

Please, Lord, may this never be a lecture that just bounces off our minds. Lord, may it take root deeply in our hearts. Lord, in this moment, as we ended this study, we choose to worship you in light of our salvation, in light of the truth that your wrath was poured upon your son and not us. And lord, we can rejoice in knowing that when we deserved wrath, being your enemies, you adopted us instead. And we have eternal life secured, guaranteed because of that wonderful sacrifice.

Far greater than this bull and all the other bulls that have been mounted upon altars throughout history. Your sacrifice, that soul singular sacrifice satisfies forever and ever, and we thank you for that truth that we benefit from because of your grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

What a mighty god we serve. Let's stand and worship him and honor him and adore him together.