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1 Kings 18:17-40
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. 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.”
20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 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. 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. 23 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, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 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.” 25 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.” 26 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, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 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.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “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. 31 Elijah took twelve 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,” 32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs1 of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. 35 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.
36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O 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, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 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. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” 40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
So if you have a Bible, turn to 1st Kings chapter 18. 1st Kings 18. Last week we began our new series looking at the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and last week we looked how Elijah was sent to the widow. Jesus actually referred to that in the very first sermon he ever preached. Did you find that in Luke chapter 4?
Joel Brooks:He preached and he talked about how Elijah was sent to that widow and it says that the people who listened to him got so offended they tried to throw him off a cliff, which made me feel a little bad because nobody got that offended last week when I preached on it. But you do have this kind of reaction really challenging and comforting to us as believers, and then there's some parts that, honestly, we get a little offended at. And I think one of the passages we have before us is gonna be that. There's gonna be part of it that's a real challenge to us, and there might be some there in which we get a little offended. But we wanna listen carefully to the word of God and to what His Spirit would have to say to us.
Joel Brooks:We have a lot of scripture in front of us, but we're going to read it all because these words are infinitely more important than any words I will say. So 1st Kings 18, begin reading begin reading in verse 17. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to meet me at Mount Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.
Joel Brooks: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 2 different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.
Joel Brooks: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 2 bulls be given to us, and let them choose 1 bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but 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.
Joel Brooks:And the God who answers by fire, he is God. And all the people answered, it is well spoken. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose for yourselves 1 bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but 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.
Joel Brooks:And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened. And they cried aloud, and they cut themselves after the custom, with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And that as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation.
Joel Brooks:But there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, come near. And all the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down.
Joel Brooks:And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord 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 2 sieves of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, fill 4 jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, do it a second time.
Joel Brooks:And they did it a second time. And he said, do it a third time. And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. 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 and Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.
Joel Brooks:Answer me, oh Lord. Answer me. That these people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back. 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. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, the Lord, He is God.
Joel Brooks:The Lord is God. And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal. Let not one of them escape. And they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slaughtered them there. This is the word of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Father, we pray that through your spirit, you would open up our hearts and minds to hear what you would have to say to us at this particular moment in our lives. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. And Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. So if there is just one event, one story that you know about the life of Elijah, it's likely this one. The story in which Elijah takes on the prophets of Baal, it's one of the most famous stories in the Bible. As a kid in Sunday school, I remember loving this story, because really it's the ultimate challenge, the ultimate competition. The lone Elijah against the mighty prophets of Baal.
Joel Brooks:The odds are stacked against Elijah in every way. It's 450 to 1. Baal has got the home court advantage, and it's a packed house cheering him on. And then Elijah, for some reason, provides him with all this bulletin board material. He begins mocking them as if they needed some extra motivation.
Joel Brooks:And then Elijah makes things even harder for himself by pouring water time and time again over his offering. Yet, Elijah wins. Or I guess we should say that the Lord wins when he answers Elijah's prayer. He answers by fire. Now, this is an amazing story.
Joel Brooks:And it happened. This is a historical story. It happened. Thousands of people witnessed it. But why did it happen, and and what does it mean for us?
Joel Brooks:Let's see if we can find out. The story begins with the Lord sending Elijah to King Ahab. The drought now had been going on for over 3 years. And so when Ahab sees Elijah, he's not very happy. Kings rarely were ever happy when they saw a prophet, throughout the Old Testament.
Joel Brooks:It's kinda like if you're a Lord of the Rings fan like I am, anytime a a king sees Gandalf coming, it's like, because you know, bad news is coming your way. And so the kings did not like the prophets. And Elijah comes and the king says, the troublemaker of Israel. And Elijah simply says, I know you are, but what am I? That's essentially what he says.
Joel Brooks:I'm not the troublemaker, you're the troublemaker. And so they argue for a bit, and then finally Elijah just throws down a challenge. He says, gather all of your people at Mount Carmel, and we'll settle this. And it's the ultimate showdown. To Elijah's surprise, probably, he didn't think that, that King Ahab would agree to it, but he did, and he actually gathered all of the people there for this showdown, and possibly, he probably thought he had nothing to lose.
Joel Brooks:What could Elijah do? He's just a man. We read in verse 21, as they're all gathered together, Elijah called out to them. And he said, how long will you go on limping between these two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him.
Joel Brooks:If Baal is, follow him. And we read that the people did not answer him a word. So I Elijah, he asked the people, you have to make a choice, and he spells it out for them, and the people are just silent. It's astonishing really because you think of all the people that are gathered together way more than the people who are right here. You've got thousands of people gathered together, 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah.
Joel Brooks:You got King King Ahab there himself and yet not one person chooses a side. Not one person speaks, and the silence here had to be deafening. Now the reason nobody would choose is is likely because they didn't think they had to. You know, Israel, it had become what we would call a pluralistic society. They were a very tolerant people.
Joel Brooks:And these people, when they heard Elijah throwing down his challenge, they're like, woah, woah, woah, Elijah. Let's just calm down for a minute. No need to go there. Why are you being so extreme about this? How about you have your god, and we'll have our god?
Joel Brooks:Or or if you want, we could both have our gods together, but but why do we have to choose? What's the big deal about this? And of course, this is the cultural air that we breathe in America, But Elijah says, you can't you can't have that position. It would be better if you completely rejected the Lord than to pretend that you can be neutral. He says that their lack of decision was crippling them.
Joel Brooks:Because how long will you go on limping between these two different opinions? That word limp there means to cripple. By not choosing a side, they're crippling themselves. It's another way of saying this. You don't have a leg to stand on if you hold that position.
Joel Brooks:And they don't have a leg to stand on. One of the things that I consistently hear, and perhaps you do too, a a from people who reject Christianity is this, I can't believe in Christianity, because there's no one religion out there that can know absolute truth. There's no one religion that can make claim to that. There's there's no one view out there that is superior to all the others. And and basically what they're saying is the exclusivity of Christianity that bothers them.
Joel Brooks:How can one religion say that they're right and the others are wrong? Any of you run across that argument? We hear it often. And it can sound persuasive at first, but only if you choose not to think about it. Elijah says, think about it though.
Joel Brooks:That position has no legs. It's crippling. For you to say, for for you to make a claim that there is nobody who can have a position in which they are absolutely true is for you then to make a position that you believe is absolutely true. You literally cut your own legs out from underneath you, and you can't do that. You cannot state truthfully that there is no one who can say something truthfully.
Joel Brooks:You don't have a leg to stand on, and he calls them out on it. That's intellectually crippling. Don't go limping around like that. Now the reason that people do that, though, and we know this because we experience it all the time, is because they wanna be tolerant. We do this for the sake of tolerance.
Joel Brooks:We live in the age of tolerance. Possibly one of the worst insults you could call anybody, first would be to be called to call them a racist, and just behind that would be to call them intolerant. It's one of the worst insults you could give somebody is that they're an intolerant person. But one of the things that I have found is that those who preach tolerance usually are some of the most intolerant people I know. And those preach tolerance, the reason they do so is because they are not actually listening to other people.
Joel Brooks:Have I done premarital counseling for anybody here? Anybody that marry and do their premarital counseling? If so, there's something called the speaker listener technique. And, and the speaker listener technique, you are, it goes like this. I'm gonna use an example, Jim and Jill.
Joel Brooks:Alright. We'll say Jim and Jill are having an argument. Is there a Jim and Jill here? Okay. Well, this is about you, actually.
Joel Brooks:Okay? So I'm just telling all the details of your counseling session. Alright. So let's say that there's a Jim and Jill and I'm teaching them the speaker listener technique, which goes like this. When you're having an argument, you were to do this.
Joel Brooks:Jim Jim and Jill, they're arguing because Jim thinks Jill nags at him constantly. And so using the speaker to listener technique, they they sit apart from one another, and they listen to one another. 1st, it's Jim's turn, and he's gonna say, Jill, I really don't like it when you nag at me or constantly tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. I won't use the word nag, but it it makes me feel like you don't trust me. And it also makes me feel like you wish you had married some buff carpenter who could actually do all the house projects that I can't do, and it hurts.
Joel Brooks:Now before Jill can lash back at him and give give her, his give him her response, she has to first repeat back to him his argument. So she has to say, Jim, if I understand you correctly, what you're saying is this. You think I nag at you all the time. And when I'm nagging, what it does is, you think I'm not trusting you to get things done, and that you wish for some reason I had married some kind of buff carpenter who could do these things, and it hurts your feelings. And if he says, yes, that's exactly how I feel, well then it's Jill's turn.
Joel Brooks:She gets she gets to tell what's bothering her. And the reason this is so important is because you need to get all your cards on the table. You need to know what you're actually arguing about and only then can you make a constructive conflict. Only then can you actually make some progress. Okay.
Joel Brooks:So that's what speaker listener technique is. Now just imagine this scenario here. Let's say that there is an Islamic imam and a pastor like me, and we're sitting down with someone who is preaching at us tolerance. Well, the imam is gonna say something like this. He's gonna say, well, you know what I believe?
Joel Brooks:I believe that anyone who makes the claim that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus died and rose again, is committing utter blasphemy, and will receive eternal damnation for that. And then I say, I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. And that the only way I am saved from eternal damnation is when I believe that he died and he rose again for my sins. And then, you have the tolerant person who says, so, using my speaker listener technique, if I understand you correctly, what you're both saying is you worship a God of love and that we should be kind to one another. You're like, what?
Joel Brooks:What are you talking were you not listening to us? Then the imam might say something like this, I believe that there could be no image of God here on earth. That if you have an image of God here on earth, that's blasphemy. And I could say, well, I believe that Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God. And then you have the tolerant man using his speaker listener technique saying, so what I am hearing you say is that you both believe in a God of love, and that we should just be kind to one another.
Joel Brooks:And we both look at them like, are you listening to us? We might both be wrong, but we cannot both be right. Your tolerance is so disrespectful because it shows you're not actually treating me as a person and listening to me. And this is something that I see happening over and over in our culture. We are not essentially saying the same thing.
Joel Brooks:We have very different views. And do you see how incredibly disrespectful and intolerant it is to not actually listen? Those claiming neutrality for the sake of tolerance can only do so by not actually listening to what another person believes. If the Lord is God, Elijah says, follow Him. If he's not, and Baal is, or whoever, follow him, but do not go on pretending that there is such thing as a neutral position.
Joel Brooks:That is not offered to you. You must choose. And hear me, you must choose. Now to help them choose, Elijah sets up a competition. The prophets of Baal and Elijah are gonna set up a sacrifice and then the god who answers by fire is gonna be the god who wins, who's real.
Joel Brooks:The prophets of Baal, they like that plan. Everybody likes that plan. They probably flip a coin, see who goes first. Baal goes first. So the prophets of Baal, they lay out their sacrifice, they begin calling out to their god, and then they they do a little song and dance.
Joel Brooks:They go through and do a little song and dance that goes on for some time, from morning to noon, so for 3 to 4 hours, and they hear nothing. They work harder and harder, but they they never actually hear from their god. The narrator makes fun of them by describing their dancing as limping, using the term that Elijah had used earlier. And then Elijah begins mocking them. Like, well, maybe it's because your god decided to go on a walk.
Joel Brooks:Maybe your god needed to use the bathroom. Maybe your god's asleep. You just you just need to shout even louder to wake him up. In other words, Elijah begins to talk trash. Talk tracking talking trash is biblical, just so you can know that.
Joel Brooks:Like, if you're playing board games in your family and you talk trash to one another, biblical. Elijah does it. And he just keeps talking trash to them, so they step it up a notch. Instead of just singing and dancing, they begin cutting themselves. Their idolatry is led to self harm.
Joel Brooks:You could actually do an entire sermon right there. First, they have to do that little song and dance before their idol. Gets them nowhere, so they resort to bleeding. And here is a vivid picture of the consequence of idolatry. And make no mistake, idol worship is just as prevalent today as it was then.
Joel Brooks:Anything that you look to in order to get significance, that has become your idol. Your idol that the the thing you look to for significance, it could be money, it could be your career, it could be sex, It could be your children. It could be your beauty or your fitness. Any of these things could become idols. In the South, I would say 2 of the most prevalent idols we have are the idols of leisure and comfort, things that we build our lives around, where we find our significance.
Joel Brooks:And then, of course, politics. Politics has become an enormous idol in our culture, And the hope and the significance that we place in politics is 100% idolatry. Make no mistake. Looking around in in this room, I I know some of you, and I know some of you fear, have an enormous fear that that the world is essentially going to come to an end if your political candidate that you support does not win the election. And what you are doing when you have that fear is you are ascribing to your candidate a power that only God has.
Joel Brooks:That is idolatry, and it's something that needs to be banished from every Christian. Our hope is in a living savior. Our hope is never in a politician. And so we don't ascribe to them what only God has. And so Elijah, he's he's calling them out on their idolatry, and we see the vivid picture of it here.
Joel Brooks:Let me ask you, is there anything in your life that you find yourself constantly doing a little song and dance before? Something that you're always working for, always thinking about, always centering your life around. Something that if if you don't have it or if you lose it, you feel like your life is gonna fall apart. That's an idol. It might not be made of wood or stone, but it's an idol.
Joel Brooks:And hear me, every idol will eventually demand a sacrifice. Your song of song and dance is eventually going to lead to you bleeding. After these prophets here exhaust themselves to no avail, Elijah finally steps up. The first thing he does is he rebuilds the altar to the Lord, which is telling right there that it's it's crumbled down. And as he is rebuilding it, he is reminding people of the God they used to worship.
Joel Brooks:And then he puts on the sacrifice. He pours water all over it. If it was fresh water, think how costly that would have been because they're in the middle of a drought. Remember? If it was salt water from the sea, which was somewhat close by, it would have still taken over an hour to go down and to get it an hour to bring back.
Joel Brooks:And so just picture the scene as as water is poured all over it and then Elijah says, do it again. Then they wait, get the water, bring it back, pour it over the sacrifice, and Elijah says, do it again. Then they go and they get the water. Everybody's just waiting. Come back, pour it over.
Joel Brooks:Elijah says, do it again. Do it again until this is absolutely drenched. And then Elijah, he doesn't do a song and dance. He doesn't cut himself. He just simply prays, that they might know that you are the Lord.
Joel Brooks:And the Lord sends down his fire. And it burns up not only the sacrifice, it burns up the wood, the stones, and all of the water. This is that the people then repent and they call out to the lord. Hear me. If the Lord is God, worship him with all your heart, soul, and strength in mind.
Joel Brooks:If he's not, then go and do your song and dance before all the other idols that are available to you, but you must decide. Neutrality is not an option. Before we end, I do wanna point out just one final quick thing. Something you have to wonder when you're reading this. You have to wonder, you know, why was it that God sent his fire down to consume this sacrifice, instead of sending his fire down to destroy the people.
Joel Brooks:Because certainly, these were people in rebellion who deserved death. They deserved fire to come down and to consume them. But God, instead of sending it on them, he sent it on a sacrifice. He allowed that bull to serve as a substitute. And this points us forward to Jesus, church.
Joel Brooks:God did the same thing through Jesus, His son. In Luke chapter 12, we actually read, about Jesus. He's talking about His crucifixion, and he refers to it as a baptism of fire. The cross was going to be the place where eternal hellfire descended on him, where he would receive the judgment of God, and it would fall on him as our substitute. He was gonna take the judgment we deserved, and he did.
Joel Brooks:What an incredible loving God that we have. A God who takes our judgment for us. And Elijah, he just ends with the question, do you believe that? And if so, who are you going to worship? If it's the Lord, worship him.
Joel Brooks:If it's not, do whatever you want, but know you will never find one like Him. But don't go on pretending you could be neutral. Today, you must decide. Pray with me. Lord, I pray for those here who are limping, trying to keep a foot on both sides of the fence.
Joel Brooks:I pray that You would show them that neutrality is not an option that has been given them, And Lord, I pray that they would see the beauty of who you are and what you have to offer and that they would wholeheartedly worship you. Jesus, thank you for taking the fire that we deserve to fall on us, taking for taking our punishment. May we forever, for all of eternity, praise you, and we pray this in your strong name. Amen.