Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone everywhere said, Amen. Amen. So I don't know who here has ever had or maybe has the privilege of raising teenagers. Now, you know what I'm talking about, don't you? I have a teenager in the house. I spent the golden years of my 20s and my 30s ministering to teenagers as a youth pastor. I love teenagers. I love the way that God has wired them. I get to preach at youth group or teach at youth group tonight for our high schoolers. I love, love teenagers. And have you ever run across a teenager, parents, who think that they can parent better than you can? Oh, you know, teenagers, they know everything.

Why don't we just let them be in charge? I mean, why aren't more books being written by teenagers for all the infinite wisdom that they have in their life? I don't know if you've ever said this, have you ever said this to a teenager? Let me be the parent. You know, I think that that is a picture of how people judge God. When things don't go the ways that we like or we understand, we judge God. We say, that's not the way that I would have done it. We kind of treat God like a teenager who thinks they know everything. And the hard thing about people in faith is that we want a God that we can wrap our minds around. We want a God whose actions we can always agree with. A God whose actions and teachings never challenge us. A God whose standards we also share. In short, we want a God made in our image who submits to us. Who only does that which we agree with. But the God that there is, the God of the Bible, and the story we're going to read about today, is challenging. It's a very challenging scripture. It's a very powerful story, but a very challenging. But here's what many of us are going to do with a story like the one we're going to look at today. We're going to play that teenager who thinks they know how to be better parents. We're going to be followers of God who think that we know how to be God better than God does. In this series that we're in, we're talking about a faith, a faith that endures. Last week we began to talk about this, how we can have a faith that endures through the hardships of life, through the changing culture. But today we're gonna talk about having a faith that endures, not because we fully understand the actions of God, but because we fully trust his character. Not just what he's done, but who he is. And the prophet Elijah has been our guide through this series and we've been following him through this through these passages And today we're gonna look at one of the most famous passages one of the most famous showdowns one of the most famous call-outs Probably of all time Definitely within Scripture the story that we're looking at today and tell me if you've ever read the story the story of the prophet Elijah versus the prophets of Baal. Powerful and challenging passage.

Would you please turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 18. Now we're going to read verses 17 to 40 together today. This is a longer than normal passage. This is a longer normal passage than what I typically read, but I think it's important to hear this whole story. And I don't know about you, but I think we all need a little bit more Bible in our life. So I'm going to take time to read this entire passage, but as you're turning there, let me just set some context for you. So what we have here is Elijah has been in a God-imposed exile because Elijah brought a prophetic curse against King Ahab. Now, the wicked King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel, together, they have led the people astray. They've led the people away from the worship of the true God to worship a foreign and false God, Baal. And because Ahab has done this, God's going to bring a curse upon him and the land. And so God sends Elijah to Ahab and says there's going to be no rain. And that produced a severe famine. And so God sends Elijah back to have his confrontation with King Ahab, and that's where we're going to pick up in our passage.

So would you hear the word of the Lord, 1 Kings chapter 18, starting at verse 17.

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.”

The Prophets of Baal Defeated

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.”

Okay. Just stop for a second right there. So, of all the English translations of scripture, I like the ESV the best, that's what we use as a church, but sometimes it does feel a little like clunky and stoic. In that setting, when they gathered all the people and they're gonna have this massive showdown, it says here, and all the people answered, it is well spoken. Okay, that's not exactly what they said. They probably were more like, alright, this sounds good. Let's do this. This sounds like the right thing to do. Let's figure it out. And all the people said, 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 seahs 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.

Just stop right there, meaning this thing was completely drenched.

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.

This is God's word, let's pray, and we'll continue, let's pray.

Father, our prayer is simple here this morning, that by the power and presence of your Holy Spirit, would you help us to know your will for us through this passage, that we might know you more fully as you grow us into a faith that endures. And we pray these things in the precious name of Jesus.

And everyone said, amen and amen.

Okay, church. So going off our theme about having a faith that endures, here's the thing I'd submit to you this morning.

Here's our main point.

What was it about Elijah's faith that allows him to do such radical things? To believe such big things about God? It's because, yes, Elijah knew what God had done, but it was also because he knew God. He knew God and he trusted in God and he trusted in God's character. Elijah was faithful to God. And here's what I think Elijah would tell us here today that we see throughout the pages of Scripture. When we place our faith in God and the more that we grow in faith towards God, the more we come to see how much stronger God's faith is towards us. The more we place our faith and our trust in God, the more we see how much more faithful he is to us.

A faith that endures trusts in God's character, knowing God's actions, and knowing that the actions that he takes, even when we don't understand them, we know that it is good because he is good. And what God does stems from his character, which is holy and righteous and good and loving.

So a couple things from our passage. We're just gonna look at two big things here this morning. It's a powerful passage. I pray that I get the chance to preach on this again before my time is up, but here's where we're going for this morning.

Elijah trusts in God's commandments to his people

Elijah trusts in God's commandments to his people. This shows us God's holiness. The second thing we're going to see is that Elijah trusts in God's commitment to his people. And this shows us God's love. So first thing, Elijah trusts in God's commandments to his people. This, of course, is talking about God's holiness. So back to our story. Elijah comes and he meets with Ahab. And the king is like, you, you have caused so many problems. And Elijah snaps right back, it's not me, it's you. You're the one that's caused the problems. Elijah says that you have forgotten the commandments of God. Boom, right there, bullseye. Elijah places his finger exactly on the problem that Ahab has forgotten the commandments of God.

And that's led to all the problems that he is facing, his kingdom's facing, I'm gonna tell you right now, it's the same problems that our world today is facing. We don't want to follow the commandments of God. We don't wanna live according to the commandments of God. We want to live our own way. You know, our culture here in America, we love to say that we are progressing, but here's what I'd say to you, to where? Progressing to what? What society are we progressing towards? What does it look like when we get there? We like to talk about the fact that we're progressing, okay, but to what? Give me a picture of where we're supposed to be heading towards. The world can't do that. All the world knows that we're progressing and that means things are either cheap or popular versus the image that God gives us that we are meant to work towards, which is the kingdom of God. We can actually paint the picture of the future that God would have for us. And it partly is by following the commands of God. Elijah says, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, you and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

Real quickly, now the Baal was a foreign god and different cultures around the land would would worship Baal in slightly different ways. That's why Elijah uses the plural here for Bales, but either way it was a foreign and false God. Here's the lesson. When people forget the commandments of God, this is not just a shift in religious ideology. To abandon the commandments of God is to usher in a new set of values, a new set of norms, a new set of what is acceptable and appropriate. But the commandments of God, people hear me on this, especially if you're struggling with the Christian faith. The commandments of God are not just about rules and piety. It's about morality. It's about goodness. It's about holiness. It's about human flourishing. It's about a relationship with God. God's commandments show us something about who He is. God's commandments show people about how we are to live in this world, that we might flourish as a people, that we might have better relationships with one another. God's commandments are good for us because they stem from his character, which is good.

Yes, God is loving. Yes, God is patient, but he's also holy, and he's righteous, and he's jealous for his people. And Elijah says to everyone, he says, this falling away from God, this worship of foreign gods, it ends now. And Elijah calls the prophets of this foreign God, hundreds of them, to Mount Carmel. And by the way, Mount Carmel was a key place of Baal worship. And there they are to make a sacrifice offering. This is the whole showdown. They're going to make a sacrifice offering, one to Baal, one to Yahweh, which is the God of the Bible. And whichever God consumes the offering with fire, Elijah says that God is God, and that's who you're gonna follow. And listen to how Elijah calls out not just the prophets, but the people.

Verse 21

Verse 21, Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go on limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And it says the people did not answer him a word. Before we go on, I wonder, I wonder how many people who can hear my voice right now need that exact same call out. How many people who can hear my voice right now kind of follow God and kind of follow the ways of the world. We're not fully committed to either one. How many people are limping between the ways of the world or their selfless ambitions and actually full on following God? How many people are limping between two different opinions? So here's what I'm gonna say to all of us here, do not put yourself in the place of Elijah. We are to put ourselves in the place of the people sitting at the foot of Mount Carmel, listening to the talking to that we all deserve, being challenged by that. And then we observe to see what God has done Elijah saying if Yahweh the God of the Bible shows up then follow him which by the way means to follow his commandments and then I love this part about this story I love this part don't miss this to ensure that Elijah can't be accused of rigging the whole operation he gives the prophets of Baal every single advantage hundreds of prophets to one he goes to Mount Carmel, which was Baal's turf. Of the bulls that are to be sacrificed, he lets them have first choice. And then he sits there and gives them hours upon hours to perform their ceremony and their sacrifice. And the prophets get to work. And they call upon the name of Baal, and nothing happens. This goes on for so long that Elijah, because he's a redneck from the sticks, he starts mocking them. He goes all Babylon Bee on them.

He's sitting there watching this apparition and he starts yelling, hey guys, hey prophets, where's your boy at? Where's he at? Is he on vacation? Is he going to the bathroom? Maybe he's taking a nap, he needs to wake up. And then what happens is unnerving and it's utterly demonic. They start going into a frenzy and they start cutting themselves. This is how obsessed they are. Rather than stopping what they're doing and seeing what Elijah has to offer, they are obsessed and they start cutting themselves.

Verse 28

Look at verse 28 says, for me, this is one of the most haunting passages, scary verses in the Bible. And it says, they cried aloud. I wonder what that sounded like. And they cried aloud and they cut themselves as was their custom, meaning they were sacrificing themselves. And isn't that what's happening in our world today? People would rather cut and sacrifice themselves than follow the true God. That is a picture of what's happening in our world today. They cut themselves and blood gushed out everywhere. And then Elijah, when he's had enough of this, he takes his turn. And I love what Scripture says. Man, patiently read the Bible. He took time to rebuild the altar to God that had been torn down. They all sat there and watched as he by himself rebuilt the altar. And then he drenched it, doused it in water. And then he begins his ceremony, and this is so profoundly moving. The contrast here is profound. The prophets of Baal are showing us such a demonic scene, but what we see here is Elijah call out to God's devotion to his people.

Verse 36

Go to verse 36. 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 and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, Oh Lord, answer me that this people may know that you, oh Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back. Did you catch that? Why is Elijah asking God to do this? Show everyone that you're more powerful than Baal? No, God show the people how much you love them. God show the people that you want their hearts back. He's not saying demonstrate your power to show that you are the God of the universe. Show them that you are the personal God who is calling their hearts back to you. This is profoundly and simply beautiful because what we see here is that Elijah trusts in God's commitment to his people. This is about God's love.

Verse 37

In verse 37, Elijah says, answer me, O Lord, answer me, that these people may know, O Lord, that You 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." God is committed to His people. And listen here, He shows up and He completes the sacrifice. God shows up and he completes the sacrifice, showing the people his devotion, his commitment, his love for them. He's showing them something about his character, about who he is, that he is good and that he is loving.

Verse 39

Verse 39, and when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, Elijah believes that God will show up, and He does. And the people confess that the Lord, meaning Yahweh, the God of the Bible, He is God. Well, end of story, happily ever after, right? No. Elijah, he does what he can to try to end the worship of Baal once and for all. And what he does next, yes, is shocking to our modern ears. So let's talk about this for a moment.

Verse 40

Verse 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. Yeah, this is, I know this is shocking to our modern ears, but let's talk about this for a second. If we think that this punishment is too severe, then we seriously underestimate how evil it is in God's eyes to lead His people away from Him. True, a careful reader of the passage here will see that God doesn't actually instruct Elijah to do this, but I'm not trying to get God off the hook here. Elijah is following the law of God.

He's following Deuteronomy 13:5, which says, but that prophet or that dreamer, speaking of people who lead God's people away from true worship, but that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk, so you shall purge evil from your midst." Again, Elijah trusts in God's commitment to his people, his love for his people. And when someone leads God's people away from him, that is serious business. That is dead serious business.

And I know some of you may be like, well, that's just the Old Testament God.

Yeah, you know what?

Jesus picks up the exact same theme. Matthew 18, Jesus says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Jesus is the same God as what we see in the Old Testament. Yes, the New Testament gives us a fuller picture of redemptive history and the beautiful picture of the cross and a more fuller knowledge of grace, but the Old Testament and the New Testament, it's the same God. Jesus is the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament.

So why such a serious punishment? Well, here's what I'm going to tell you. It's because sin is death. And those people who lead God's people into sin, they are committing a capital crime in God's eyes.

I want you to imagine a father. A father comes home. And as he's walking up to his house, he sees inside his house that there are a bunch of armed men in his house holding his family captive. And these armed men are having his family do all sorts of horrendous things. They're having his wife do all sorts of horrendous things. What is that man to do? I'll tell you what, so this man walks up the door and he says, let my family go. Get out of here and let my family go." And these armed men yell back, you get out of here. This is our house now. We know how to be a better father than you do. So what does that father do? He kicks open the door and kills those men. And I don't know about you, but that man's a hero. Who of us are going to say, oh, those poor armed men, that was too severe what happened to them. I'm telling you, that is not a perfect analogy. That is a picture of what's happening here. God sees his people held captive, being forced and being led to do all sorts of horrendous things. God is a good father, and a good father will protect his family at all costs. He is a good, good father. Remember what we're saying when we sing this.

If you're thinking, I can't believe in a God who would call Elijah to do this, then I just want to point out what you are saying then. I'm saying this in like a respectful way, but what you're saying then is that you're pointing out that your system of justice views sin as a less grievous act than what God does. And that kind of sounds like that teenager who thinks they know how to parent better than their parents. What happens here, what happens with a passage like this is that people underestimate how evil and grievous sin is in God's eyes. It's not a laughing matter. It's not something to joke about. It is dead serious business. But here's what we do in our day and age. We play with sin like it's a video game. We enjoy it all day long and we think as long as we put it away for bedtime, then mom and dad won't get mad at us. Sin is serious business. It is the killer of people. It is what turns people away from God. God does not laugh at sin because sin kills his own people. And God will have none of it. God will deal with it because he loves his people.

I heard Keanu Reeves, Keanu Reeves of all people, say something that I just loved. He said this in an interview. He said, if you're a lover, you have to be a fighter. Because if you don't fight for your love, what kind of love do you have? God's love goes all the way. God's love goes all the way. He doesn't just fight, he ends it. He kills what gets between him and his people because God so loves his people that he will literally remove at all costs, even if it means killing it, that what separates him and his people. That's how committed he is to us. He will go at all lengths to bring your hearts back to him. So back to Mount Carmel, back to the scene, because God is so committed to his people, he shows up and he completes the sacrifice. He is showing his utter devotion, his commitment, his love for his people. He's showing them something about his character, that he is holy, righteous, good, and loving. This is the God that we are to place our faith and our trust in. God shows up and completes the sacrifice, because that's what God does, that's who he is. And the sin that gets in our lives, the sin that leads us away from God, the sin that breaks our relationship with him, God will kill it so that we can have an open road back to Him.

And what is shadowed in the Old Testament is brought to full light in the New Testament. This entire scene points to the cross. See the sin that gets between us and God, the sin that leads us away, God took that sin, placed it on the shoulders of His own Son, and then nailed His Son to the cross and watched him die. And when Christ died, so did our sin.

I think a lot of us wanna mourn for those prophets that were slaughtered.

On Mount Carmel, it says that the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the offering.

It wasn't fire that fell on the cross, it was the wrath of God that fell and utterly consumed Christ. It was the wrath of God being poured out upon Jesus, that wrath that should have been poured out on us for our sin. God completely poured out His wrath on that thing that separates us from Him so that we could have a way back to him. Christ took our place bearing our sin and in this we see, this is the cross, we see the full declaration of God's goodness, God's love for us. And yes, we live in a broken world and that means bloodshed at this point, but this is part of the way that God is making all things new, pointing to the time where we will be fully and forever united to him. The cross is the full love of God on display for us. It is God pulling the hearts of his people back to us, back to him, at all costs.

Elijah shows us that when we place our faith in God and we grow in faith in God, we begin to see how much more faithful God is to us. He will hold us fast. He will not let us go. When we place our faith in Him and we place ourselves in His loving arms, He will pull us in and never let us go. So have a faith that endures because you trust in the living God. See, when Christ died, so did our sin, but when Christ was raised again, so did our promise and our hope for eternal life. This is the God who we place our trust in. This is the God who we follow. This is the God who we say we're no longer going limping between two different opinions. We're casting off the ways of the world and we're following the ways of God because that's what's best for us and because that's who He is. And so church, as we stand and sing in a moment, my prayer is that the Spirit of God doesn't just fill this place I want Him to, but He fills your heart. That you would sing to a God who is committed to you, who calls you. And a prayer is that will develop in you a faith that endures no matter what life throws at you Amen, would you please stand? Would you bow your heads and let's pray? Father we come before you Father with a gritty and bloody passage father. I pray in all ways that this would point us to the cross at the lengths that you go to win us back That our Savior would give himself up on the cross. Out of love for you, God, and love for us, obedience to you, God.

Father, we are so thankful that Jesus took our place.

Father, I pray, Lord, that as a declaration of the commitment you give to us, that you will go at all lengths to pull us back to yourself. So, Father, I pray that we'd be a people who sing because we trust you and trust who you are, knowing that at all times you will hold us fast. Father, I pray that I know there's people in here, Father, who's, they feel like their faith is weak or that their faith ebbs and flows. But Father, I pray to God that through this passage they will see that yours does not. That yours holds us fast. And so, Father, I pray, God, that we sing not because we have strong faith, but because you have faith towards us. So, Father, I pray you lift up the voice of your church now to sing praises to you. We pray these things in Jesus' precious name. We pray these things in Jesus' precious name. And everyone said, Amen.