Part 1.3: What The Bible Says About The Invitation
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The past two Sunday evenings, I’ve been trying to get finished with a sermon on “What The Bible Says About The Invitation”
Tonight, Lord willing, we will be wrapping it up with the third part of the message.
We have been looking at Elijah’s victory on Mt. Carmel…The reason for all this happening was to call the people back to God...
Spurgeon wrote: “That lone man, of heroic soul, stemmed the fearful torrent of idolatry, and like a rock in mid-current, firmly stood his ground. He, alone and single-handed, was more than a match for all the priests of the palace and the groves, even as one lion scatters a flock of sheep.”
He asked a basic question:
21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
Spiritually speaking, Israel was like an unfaithful partner in a marriage who doesn’t want to give up their marriage partner, but also does not want to give up their illicit lover. The marriage partner has a legitimate claim to the exclusive devotion of their spouse.
What did Elijah do? He repaired the altar that had been torn down, gave an invitation to the people of God and prayed!
The first point we looked at was that OUR TIME AT THE ALTAR IS TO BE PERSONAL - With that in mind, we looked at how there was Preparation, Separation, and Saturation when it come to the personal time we should be spending at the altar...
Last week, we looked at the second point, which is that OUR TIME AT THE ALTAR IS TO BE PRAYERFUL - We looked at how Elijah recognized God first in his prayer - the prophets of Baal had prayed for around 6 hours and there was not even a squeak from their god - we know that’s because Baal is a dead god, why, he wouldn’t answer no matter how long they prayed or what they did to get his attention, but when Elijah prayed, he called out to the One, True, God - the God of Abraham, Isaac; The God of Israel…He prayed 63 words and the fire fell from Heaven!
Elijah was praying God’s will that day - that God would reveal Himself to the people and that God would reconcile the people.
Tonight, let’s continue looking at this passage…The third and final point to this message is:
Our Time At The Altar Is To Be Powerful
Our Time At The Altar Is To Be Powerful
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, 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 they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
When God shows up and the fire of God falls, things change and people change! It’s a powerful thing, and the only proper response is as we see right here is to fall on our face and proclaim that the LORD, He is the God; the LORD, He is the God!
I preached this morning out of Revelation 1 - I didn’t make this a big deal in the message, but it’s amazing to me that John in:
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
This is the same John that when the Lord walked the earth, had rested his head on the breast of Jesus, but here, when he sees the LORD in all His glory, he fell at His feet as dead.
We ought to fall on our face in reverence to the Almighty God!
The fire of the Lord fell on the altar.
The fire of the Lord fell on the altar.
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
After the preparation, separation, saturation, and supplication, the fire of God fell!
Elijah had prepared the altar and called for the people to draw near to God and then the fire of God fell.
It’s very important for us to draw near to God...
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
When we come to the place where we are willing to separate ourselves from all the other gods that compete for our attention and yield to the God of Heaven, then we will find ourselves drawn to Him in true, heart worship.
Nothing in this world is more precious than a heart that is on fire with love for the Lord and a heart that burns with a desire to see God glorified, whatever the cost.
Let me ask you, does that describe you? Does it describe our church?
Let’s look on…The fire of God fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.
Consumed means to eat it all, burn up, consume, devour.
The bull was burned up, the wood was burned up, the stones and dust was devoured, and the water was licked up...
We all know that usually water puts out fire, but when it comes to the fire of God, it puts out water!
This was a demonstration of the power of God and in turn, the people recognized that Elijah’s God was the true God!
The fire of the Lord fell on the altar that day.
When Elijah finished praying, God answered in a spectacular fashion.
Pay attention to the order in which the elements were consumed. If the items had burned from the bottom up, it might have looked like man did it because that is the nature of all earthly and material fire.
However, everything burned from the top down; this proved it was the work of God alone!
Elijah’s prayer had lasted less than a minute, but it produced spectacular results…The difference was One being addressed!
Did you notice that when the fire fell, it fell on the sacrifice and not on the sinners?
What a picture of Jesus! He took our place on the cross and absorbed the wrath of God so that we might be free from wrath, death and Hell! What a Savior!
Not only did the fire of the Lord fall on the altar, but:
The fear of the Lord fell on the people.
The fear of the Lord fell on the people.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
When the fear of the Lord fell on the people, we find repentance...
The people have their proof. They should have never questioned the Lord, but they did and He answered in a brilliant display of power and glory!
1. Their Conviction—They fell on their faces. Finally the people of the Lord are bowing before the Lord in humility! If you know that the Lord is God today, you should find yourself in the same place that these wicked men found themselves. We ought to be humble and prostrate before the Lord our God! He is worthy of our love, our devotion and our praise!
2. Their Confession—They voice the truth that they have known in their hearts all the while. “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” By their actions and their acknowledgment, they declare His glory, His place and their reverence for Him. Their hearts now burned with a new zeal for the Lord!
Folks, you and I should find ourselves often in the place where we are laid out before him in praise, honor and worship!
How long has it been since you found yourself in the presence of God for no other purpose than just to love Him and to worship Him?
If it has been a while, let no more time pass! Honor Him as He deserves to be honored!
Conclusion
Conclusion
If you’re lost tonight, I’m inviting the lost to come to Jesus today and be saved from your sins. Trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved from the wrath to come.
I’m inviting the saints of God to come clean before God. Would you surrender yourself to the Lord at the altar today? Would you make intercession for others at the altar today? Would you come and praise Him at the altar today?