Reformation Training: Be an Elijah: Confront the Demonic (PT.4))

RECAP: 1 Kings 18:19 “Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.””

Elijah has been set a part for this moment.

Elijah has been prepared for this moment.

Elijah has been equipped for this moment.

All the travels, obedience, separation, and miracles have led him to this very moment.

1 Kings 18:20–21 “So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.”

Indifference and silence kills.

PRE-PRAYER

Elijah begins to address the prophets of Baal and the people of Israel. He begins to challenge the people of Israel to a decision about who their God really was.

God wasn’t interested in their divided devotion. Look what God has to say about Himself: Exodus 20:4–5““You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods…

Jealous: envy

God wants our full devotion to Him. He is not interested in half-hearted effort, but completely surrendered devotion.

Elijah uses the word waver and hobbling to describe their state.

Waver: be restless between choices

Hobbling: limping

The nation of Israel wasn’t standing strong in faith in any religion. They have been practicing Baal worship at the time, but their roots were in Yahweh, the One True God. So they were at a place of choice.

Elijah also called them out on how long it was taking for them to make this decision.

The great theologian and preacher Charles Spurgeon said this, ““How many more sermons do you want? How many more Sundays must roll away wasted? How many warnings, how many sicknesses, how many toilings of the bell to warn you that you must die? How many graves must be dug for your family before you will be impressed? How many plagues and pestilences must ravage this city before you will turn to God in truth? How long halt ye between two opinions?”

I believe God is asking the same question of us today: How many more Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings will you wait? How many more sermons, words during the closing of worship, and opportunities during G-groups are you gonna let go by? How many times are you going to continue to go after the awful, broken things of this world to realize that those things are not worth selling your life for?

And instead of taking the opportunity to stand for truth, the prophets of Baal and the people of Israel chose indifference and silence (V21)

Indifference and silence kills.

Indifference: marked by lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern (apathetic)

The people of Israel had become indifferent or apathetic to the words of God.

Your indifference and your silence chooses for you.

You may think you are not making a choice, but your indifference and silence towards the things of God and things God stands for says something. It speaks: “It is not worth my time or energy to use my voice or efforts for God”

This is the result of Israel’s silence and indifference toward God’s call to repentance and choice of Him:

1 Kings 18:23–29 (NLT)

Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.” So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made. About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.

Remember that Baal was the so-called god of the weather. These prophets had been humiliated for 3 YEARS at this point because Elijah, under the power of the Spirit of God, called for rain to cease until he (God) said so.

Their worship involved the eating of sacrifices to the dead, absurd sexual rituals with people and animals, and as we see here, the shedding of blood. Sometimes they would even kill their own babies.

We see here that they began to cut themselves to get the attention of their god.

This is direct mockery of Jesus. God never asked us to shed our blood, but Jesus shed His blood for our sin and we trust in His blood for life.

These people were trying to use their blood as a bargaining means with their god to move for them in this contest

1 Kings 18:30–32 “Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here!” They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons.”

TWO THINGS GOD IS SAYING TO US:

ITS TIME TO BE A PEOPLE OF SACRIFICE AGAIN

When is the last time you told yourself “No” because God doesn’t agree with it?

When is the last time you sacrificed your reputation with people to stand for Jesus?

When is the last time you asked God to help you do the right thing?

Elijah knew the only way to point these people back to Truth in God was to teach them that it was about sacrifice

Romans 12:1 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”

Galatians 2:20 “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Obedience and faithfulness to God require sacrifice, but you aren’t ever alone in this life of obedience in Christ.

Philippians 2:12–13 “Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

So in verses 33-36 we see Elijah prepare the altar for God and he drenched the altar in 4 pots of water 3 times (12 pots of water). This altar was saturated, which would’ve made the likelihood of it catching on fire near impossible if a human were trying to start it, and it made it even more impossible since Elijah wasn’t putting forth human effort to start it, but relying on God to.

1 Kings 18:36–37 “At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.””

All Elijah needed to reach God was faith in who He was and what He can do

Elijah called for this to turn the hearts of Israel back to God

1 Kings 18:38–40 “Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!” Then Elijah commanded, “Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there.”

2. ITS TIME TO COME OUT OF INDIFFERENCE AND SILENCE

Indifference and silence kills.

2 Kings 23 - story of King Josiah

2 Kings 23:22–25 “There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, nor throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem. Josiah also got rid of the mediums and psychics, the household gods, the idols, and every other kind of detestable practice, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah. He did this in obedience to the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord’s Temple. Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since.”

Obedience and Boldness shapes history.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR?

SALVATION

CALL TO STAND