Contest of the Gods Part II

Introduction

Recap where we have been the last couple of weeks.

In a series looking at Elijah.

Contest of the Gods Part I (two weeks ago)

Facing Our Idols Before God Does

Now this week we are in the second half…The Contest of the Gods Part II

Now, here’s what we are going to do. This message tonight is going to have 3 sections to it.

We will look at the text and understand what is happening.

We will give two answers to one question.

We will see the consequences.

You following? I’ll say it again.

The Scripture

1 Kings 18:30 ESV

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.

So Elijah draws them in. Gather close my friends. I’ve got something I want you to see. This totally reminds me of the start of a movie ya know?....

Elijah’s a showman. We’ve talked previously about how sassy he was calling out their God Baal…but now he’s putting on a show. In a good way. He’s drawing people to what matters…getting them to fix their eyes on what is about to happen...

So he draws them in…and then repairs an altar. This is the first we are hearing about this…but we find out just a bit later in Chapter 19 very specifically…many altars of the Lord had been torn down in the past few years. And there happens to be one right here…and Elijah takes this broken down, desolate altar, and rebuilds it.

Takes what was meant for the Lord, but had become broken, and redeems it. Let that sit for just a second. We’ll come back to it.

1 Kings 18:31–32 ESV

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,” 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 Elijah repairs an altar…and he does it in a way that is honoring to God, and in a way that points back to the promises and actions of the Lord to his people in the past.

Just keep storing some of these things in your mind as we are going…we will come back to it!

He builds this altar…and then digs a trench around it. A trench that would hold at least 3-4 gallons of water sitting in it.

1 Kings 18:33–35 ESV

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.” 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. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

So what is Elijah doing here? He’s having them put water on this Altar until he feels like it’s enough. Enough for what? Enough for there to be absolutely no doubt that what is about to happen is the Lord. He wants there to be absolutely no other explanation that God himself intervened…God himself caused this to happen…God himself drew Israel back to himself.

He’s going to put enough water on this thing…that it not only drenches the altar, and the wood, and the stones…but it fills that 3-4 gallon trench as well.

Any of you gone camping or tried to light a fire with wet wood? Yeah..doesn’t work so well.

Anyway, that’s what Elijah is doing here.

1 Kings 18:36–37 ESV

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. 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.”

What Elijah says here is so critical to understanding his heart…the way the Lord works…and the true power of this moment.

Something we need to remember about scripture is that every word is intentional, every action that is described is worth evaluating....and this is no different.

What I’m talking about is this....Elijah didn’t shout. He didn’t command. He didn’t use eloquent words. He didn’t do anymore crowd antics...

It says he drew near…he came close to the altar…drew close to where he wanted to meet the Lord…and it says he simply “said”. Not shouted.

Imagine that…Elijah drawing close, maybe his eyes were closed..we don’t know…but he just simply says...

Lord. The God of our ancestors. Let it be known in our lives that you are God. That I’m nothing but your servant. And that you are the one who is doing the work of defeating the idols of Israel.

A simple, heartfelt…humble prayer. And what the Lord chooses to do with a simple, humble, heartfelt prayer defies reality, defies physics, defies the natural way of things....

1 Kings 18:38–39 ESV

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; the Lord, he is God.”

So not only was the bull consumed, not only was the fire consumed…but the stones were…and the dust…and the trench full of water.

A normal fire doesn’t consume stones…or anihilate water and dust in a matter of seconds…but this one did. Why is that?

Because this wasn’t just fire. It was God. It was his power on display…his glory for all to see. And what was the natural response? Worship.

Worship is a natural response to God’s glory. It’s what we see time and time again in scripture. God does something amazing…people build an altar and worship. We see it with Abraham, Moses, Joshua…we see it in the New Testament. Jesus does something amazing, the disciples fall down and worship him, Mary writes a song, angels lift their voices....

Worship has always been and will always be our response to the Glory of God.

And God…revealed his Glory again to his people…so that they would once again worship him.

So that’s what’s going on in this passage…but that’s only the first section of our night tonight.

Our next section…a few answers to one question.

Here’s the question...

How does God save Israel from their idols?

And I want you to read it as an application point… “How does God, or how will God, save me from my idols?”

Two weeks ago we introduced the idols of israel....last week we spent time identifying where our idols are…the four source idols....and tonight. We answer the question…how does the Lord save us from our idols. I want you to hear these answer not as just something factual..but as something that God can and will do in your life if you belong to him and yet worship idols.

Here’s answer 1. It’s ugly.

By bringing us to the end of ourselves.

We covered this a little bit last week.

How long did Israel have? 3 years, multiple moment, 6 more hours at least.... Israel had plenty of time to turn to God, and last week we covered that I wanted you to take the opportunity that Israel didn’t…to turn from your idols.

But let’s look at this from the other way as well…all that time that Israel had…is also all the time that God could have chosen to step in…but didn’t. He waited three years before calling Elijah to do this…why?

Because God was bringing Israel to the end of themselves.

Letting their crops die. Their livestock die. Their water supply run out. Their children starve. Letting their blasphemous king and his wife destroy them from the inside out...

God was bringing them to the end of themselves…so that…by the time we get to the moment that Elijah stands in front of them and says we are going to have a contest of the Gods....they say…yes. Amen. Let it be.

Because they are at the point that they are finally willing to consider that maybe worshiping their idol isn’t the best option. Maybe there is something more out there.

Loved ones…if you belong to God, and you’re worshipping an idol…God will bring you to the end of yourself. He will bring you to the point that you look at your idols and you say…there’s gotta be more. THere’s gotta be something better. There’s gotta be more to life than the satisfaction I get from staring at this screen, or belonging to this sport, or career, or college, or boyfriend, or girlfriend. There’s got to be more than just constantly seeking acceptance, or control, or power, or comfort.

It’s an ugly process sometimes…a painful process…with many consequences…but the Lord will do it to change your heart and turn your eyes back towards him.

Answer 2.

By reminding us of his previous work in our lives or in history.

Answer 3.

By his own power.

1 Kings 18:37 ESV

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.”