It's good to be here tonight. I've enjoyed all the good singing, the good fellowship, and just enjoying being in God's house. There's so many other places today that people seem to want to be at other than church, and I'm glad that I'm in church tonight. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else except heaven. And I told you this morning what I was planning on preaching tonight, and I was afraid all day the Lord was going to change it, but I believe He's going to allow me to preach it. And so if you have your copy of God's Word, if you turn to 1 Kings chapter 18, First Kings chapter 18, and I'm gonna read verses 17 through 21 to begin with, and then we'll be covering the rest of the chapter throughout this message. But we'll start out with First Kings 17, or 18, starting with verse 17. First Kings 18, starting with 17, down through 21. And here the Bible says, And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubled Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. Now therefore send and gather me all Israel unto Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the groves 400 which eat at Jezebel's table. So we have sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. 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. Father, we thank you so much for the reading of your word tonight. I'm praying now that you help me preach for just a little while. God, that we'll do a mighty work in our hearts tonight through your precious word. Lord, help those tonight that need help, and Lord, may you be glorified in it all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You can be seated. Well, we picked back up after a little interlude. This morning we left off after the Lord had nourished him by the brook Cherith and fed him by ravens and then instructed him to go to that widow's house where she would nourish him. So all that happens in between where we left off this morning and where we pick up tonight. Three years actually has passed from that time point. So they've been in a drought for about three, three and a half years at this point in time in Israel's history. And so, if you remember before this, Elijah just dropped out of nowhere, right into the pages of the Bible, not heard of him before that time that we read about this morning, and dropped in and just got in Ahab's face and told him, look, it ain't gonna rain, it's not gonna be a dew until I say so, and walks out. And so that's what's happened while he's been gone three years. It's become a mighty famine, a drought, a bad one. And so the first thing we find starting here in 18 and 17, 1 Kings 18 and 17, it says, And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? Now, we didn't read it tonight, but Just before this, open eyes, back on the scene, he's hit 100 men that didn't bell to bell. Anyway, and they made the agreement, he would tell Ahab to line us here and all that. And so now it comes there, they meet, they finally, I can see it, it's kind of like one of those westerns, you know, when you got the two guys and they come down the middle of the street in the west round and they meet face to face right before they have a draw. And so that's what's happened. And Ahab, King Ahab, starts things off trying to intimidate Elijah. And he accuses him of being a troubler, the troubler of, Israel he calls him, And my how the pots call the kettle black And this just goes to show you this man's had over three years now To turn his heart around to turn this kingdom around three years. He could have turned the kingdom around He could have brought down all those altars to bail. He could have got all that nasty stuff those groves they built to to to worship Ashtara they have those Asherah poles out there that they do this lewd and wicked Type of worship to and he had plenty of time to get rid of all this Turn his heart back to God turn the nation of Israel back to God and what does he do? He blames it on the prophet of God. Oh, it wasn't nothing he did. It's all the prophet He's the troubler. You're the ones caused all this trouble for me is what he said And look at verse 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. So here he is a lot. He's always in somebody's face and he's not holding back. No holds barred He's the prophet God looks he'd square in the face and said it's not me buster. You're the one that's causing all the trouble here You and your father it started with his dad. His dad was evil too. And so He's done more evil in the eyes of God than anybody before me. I mean he came before him So it's gotten worse and worse And so, he gets right in his face and tells him it's not him causing it, it's you. And he says that you've been worshipping Baal, or Balaam it says right here. Balaam's the plural form of Baal. And Bell simply means Lord, is the meaning of it. It's the Canaanite god. They call him the sun god and the god of storms. And they worship him like the sun and his symbol is a lightning bolt. That's going to come into play here in a little bit. But the symbol for Bell is a lightning bolt. That's what they would draw to symbolize him. And so supposedly Bell, this false god, his father was El, the chief. God I'm talking a little g-god not the god lord god of heaven But the little g-god is l called the chief god and his mother supposedly was a sheriff Now I mentioned the sheriff holes they would they would put up in the ground and worship around those things in a lewd manner Well, the worship of Bell was at its highest point during this period of time right here during the reign of Ahab. He had made it to the number one thing on his list to do. Married a daughter of a priest to Bell. And so of all things, and then of course they built the altars and all that in the land of Israel. And so with the worship of Bell being its highest point, we read over in 1 Kings 16, we read it this morning, where it says that Ahab took the wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal. So the king himself is serving Baal along with his wicked wife and worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built at Samaria. So, you know, he's building houses for this false god, and this goes right into the face of the Lord God Jehovah. He's defying everything that he can to him. And verse 33, Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. So this grove, again, was that nasty worship with the poles. Now look back in our opening text, 1 Kings 18 and 19. The Bible says, Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat at Jezebel's table. It's funny that a lot just seems to be the man in charge right here. Not the king You would think of anybody's gonna be giving orders. It'd be a have the a rabbit. No, it's not him. It's a lie to the prophet He's getting out. He's shouting out instructions for the king you go gather all these people these men of Israel these prophets of Baal and and all this and the grove and the next verse it says Verse 20, so Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If you underline things in your Bible, underline that little phrase right there. How long halt ye between two opinions? That's the title of the message, by the way. He goes on to say, if the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. How embarrassing. Can you imagine claiming to be children of God if somebody comes to you and calls you out on your sin and you've got nothing to say? They give you the choice to turn from your wickedness and your sin, and turn to God, and turn away from that. And what do you do? You sit there like an old knob on a log. Not gonna say nothing. Why? Because they've been caught red-handed. They're in their sin, and there's nothing they can do about it. Dead silence. I want you to get the picture here of these people. They're given completely over into idolatry, yet they're still claiming to be children of God. They're playing two parts. They're like a stage actor. The guy that comes on the TV, he says, I'm not a real doctor, but I play one on TV. That's what these guys are. I'm not a real Christian, but I play one when I go to church. That's what we have a lot today, right there. And so what these people have done, they're straddling the fence. Have I ever told you the story when I straddled the Laker fence? I have, OK. Well, I'll tell it again, because I like it. But me and my papaw, he was about 5 foot 6. and weighed about 90 pounds, strong as an ox. And I followed him around all over the place when I was just a little kid. And he was going up, he had cow pastures and they had barbed wire or electric fences in some places, barbed wire in some places. But the electric fence was up there on top of the hill. And we get up to that thing and he just steps over it. and gets over on the other side, no problem. I said, well, if he can do it, I can do it. I couldn't do it. I grabbed the metal pole and stepped over it and sat right on top of that thing. And I went for the ride of my life. And by the time I fell off and was laying there, all I could hear was my grandfather going, oh, oh, oh, oh. Shocked you, didn't it? That hurt. I remember him saying that. Yeah, it hurt, didn't it? Look, these people are straddling the fence and they're going to get hurt. There's going to be a problem comes out of this if they don't get over on the right side. And so you'll find backslidden Christians, they'll, when you put them in a corner and confront them about their wicked ways, they don't have much to say. They know they're wrong. And it's a sad story, and they're in sad shape, but look, people let themselves get into that. And it doesn't take long, by the way. You may be sitting here thinking, oh, I go to church every time the door is open. Well, don't go a couple of times to see what happens. It gets harder and harder to go the next time. And that's usually what happens when somebody gets out of church, starts backsliding, they miss a service. And then they start thinking, well, you know, I don't think I'll be able to make it tonight. And they won't be able to make it next time. And then, oh, Wednesdays, I can't do that anymore. No, I can't make it the next Sunday. For you know, you're out of church. You're a backslider. You're one of them, everybody in church going, what in the world's happened to them? Well, they used to be faithful. But that's what happens when you start backsliding. And that's what these people have done. They've backslid way far away from God. And they're even gone as far as to worshiping false idols. They're worshipping sun gods and moon gods and gods of the storm and thunder and calling down lightning and all of this. They're worshipping all of this stuff. Do you know we have people today worshipping nature now? What do you think Green Day is all about? Oh Barn, we're trying to save the trees. Go save your tree. I'm going to open up one of them Aquanet hairspray things and spray it all over the place. Listen, the Lord's going to take care of this earth. I'm not concerned about it. We ought to be good stewards of what he's given us, but we don't go as far as worshipping this earth, and that's what's going on these days. That's why on Williams Day, you won't be able to buy a car with a motor in it that runs on gasoline. Somebody's worshipping the truth. And so, these people of Baxley, and it's shameful, it's disgraceful, and Elijah the prophet's called them out on it, and he says, hey, listen here, how long are you going to do this? How long are you going to haul between two opinions? Do you love God, or do you love this false god, Baal? Which one is it? Because you can't do both. You can't serve God and man. It don't work that way. The Bible tells us that. You either love God or you don't love him. So get on the side that you really believe in. A lot of people, you ask them, you know, between what's right and wrong, and they may tell you, you know, well, I believe this is right or I believe this is wrong. Why ain't you doing what's right then? What about the difference between good and evil? Well, I think God will do good. Well, why are you doing so much evil? Are you for God or for the devil? Ain't nobody gonna tell you they're for the devil unless they're one of those that claim to be a devil worshiper. Ain't no Christian or somebody that claims to be a Christian gonna tell you they love the devil. But if they're out there doing the devil's things and acting like the devil, tells me they love the devil more than they love God. Alright, let's go back to verse 22. I'm about to get riled up. 1 Kings 18 and 22. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I, only remain a prophet of the Lord. We're going to talk more about this in a minute. He's got this complex about him. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them, therefore, give us two bullets, and let them choose one bullet for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. And I'll dress the other bullet, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. And call you on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, L-O-R-D, uppercase, Lord, God, Jehovah. And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullet for yourselves, and dress it first, for you are many. And call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. I like how our King James makes sure it didn't richace between the little G-God and the uppercase big G-God. And here, so Elijah, he's letting them have anything they want. Look guys, there's a bunch of you, there's more of you, do all this, get it all ready, and you go first, I don't care, and do your thing. And so, you know, Elijah, he's always thinking that he's the only man left on earth that worships God, that serves God. Do you feel like that sometimes? Sometimes it feels that way, don't it? You work in a workplace where there's a lot of people and very little or no Christians, yeah sometimes you feel like you're the only christian left i'm the only one i'm the only one in east tennessee that still serves the lord we may feel that way but that's not so god has many people today there's a lot of people that worship god serve god love god and especially right here in east tennessee and so i'm glad of that but sometimes we get to feel that way because the world wants us to feel that way Everything they're pushing today, all these agendas they're pushing, all this liberal stuff they're pushing is to try to make us feel like we're the minority. We're not. We're not. We're just the ones that don't yell all the time. And so Elijah thinks he's the only man left there that loves God. And so he lets the prophets of Baal go first. And notice he says it loud enough so that everybody can hear him. It's no secret. He's not going to make this a secret. He don't want anybody to mistake that something fishy is going on. That maybe he's not being fair, so he makes it all fair. Tells them to prepare that sacrifice and call upon their god, Bell, to send down fire and burn the sacrifice. All right, verse 26. And they took the bullet which was given them, and they dressed it and called on the name of Bell from morning even until noon, saying, O Bell, hear us! But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud for he is a god. Either he's talking or he's pursuing or he's on a journey or perventure he sleepeth and must be awakened. He's having a good time about this. These guys are dead serious here. These prophets of Baal are jumping up and down, they're screaming out loud, Oh Baal, hear us! And it's going on and on and on, Elijah's looking at these and these guys are crazy. And so he starts making fun of them and they're God. He says, hey, get a little louder guys, you're in God's will on vacation, he can't hear you. I believe he's over there sleeping somewhere, wake him up! He's not responding. And so you know this is really getting him riled. Look at verse 28. And they cried aloud and cut themselves, that's the matter with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass when midday was past and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded. I started to bring a bigger knife in my pocket knife to demonstrate, but I didn't, thank goodness. But these guys now are so They went so crazy, they're taking knives and cutting themselves and bleeding and slinging it all over the place and screaming and jumping up and down and all this. You know what it reminds me of? Reminds me a lot of this nonsense that we're seeing a lot of times on some of these church services that you see that claim to be, well, claim to be for God, but it looks more like something demonic to me. All this craziness that's going on. We'll preach that on another time. But these men have gotten just beyond crazy. And so his mocking must have made it worse for him. And so again, there's no voice, no regard. Verse 30, Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Elijah took 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of the son of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy 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 wood contained two measures of seed. So finally, Elijah's had enough of this foolishness. This went on from morning to evening. All day long, this has been going on. There's nothing but a bunch of bloody, worn-out prophets of Baal laying around here, around this altar. And they're probably all crying and going on. And so Elijah says, come on, people, come around to me. I'm going to show you how this works. And so he starts rebuilding. He has to rebuild that altar for the Lord, that no doubt was there at one time until it got torn down by Ahab. And so he's had to rebuild the altar. And of course, each one of those stones represents the tribes of Israel. We all know that. That's what the Bible tells us. And so he rebuilds the altar. And not only that, but he digs this deep trench all the way around it. Well, that's kind of strange, isn't it? And so no doubt this is really, of all places in the Bible you'd like to go and see a point in time in history, wouldn't this be one of them? Wouldn't you like to be planted somewhere on Mount Carmel, maybe in a deer stand and look at that and see what's going on? That would be something. But Elijah is purposely showing that all of Israel needed to be united as one and one under the Lord God Jehovah. Verse 33. And he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on the wood and said, fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Hold a minute. Wait a minute. I thought they were in a drought. Where are they going to get the water? And I know that there's a sea not too awful far from there, but they'd have to go down the mountain. They'd have to travel and go to the sea and collect water and then come back up there and all that. I don't think that's where the water's gonna come from. And the Bible doesn't mention there's a spring or a brook or a creek or anything running off Mount Carmel right there. And so they've been in this drought all this time. Can you imagine the people standing there in disbelief at this request? What do you mean? Do you mean you want us to pour out our precious water? I believe they were carrying their water with them. I believe they had those little water bags or jars some kind that was holding their water and they was protecting it. Wouldn't you protect your water if you were in a drought for three years and there wasn't any? You'd get every little bit you could and you'd hold on to it for everything for your life. And I believe that's what they've done. They've all got their little bit of water and so he's telling them to fill four barrels. Now, here in East Tennessee, a barrel is something like this. It's a big old thing, you know. That's the way we imagine a barrel. Well, that's not the kind of barrel that the Bible's talking about. It's more like a, more like a mason jar. an earthen vessel, a smaller jar, it's not a huge 55-gallon drum like we burn garbage in out in Cornington. But it's kind of more like a jar, like you put a quart of pickles in or something. And so he tells them to go and get this water and pour it on the sacrifice, on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And I don't know about you, but if I'm going to burn wood, I'm not going to pour water on it. Because it won't ever start. It won't ever get going. I have hard enough time getting a fire started if it's dry. But he tells them to wet this stuff down. And so verse 34, it says, and he said, do it the second time. And they did it the second time. Oh my goodness. I can only imagine at this point these people now they're just, they're so astounded they're going to go ahead and go through with it just to see what's going to happen. And so he wants them to pour more of this precious water on there. Surely Elijah has gone mad at this point. What other possibility could it be? And so reluctantly and sure enough they find enough water to fill four more jars and pour it on the sacrifice. They stand back this time waiting and and probably nervous and he said do it the third time And they did it the third time Three times you ever notice all the threes in the Bible Bible numerology ever study on that. That's the interesting thing to do I love looking at all the different numbers in the Bible and seeing you know, what all they what all they mean But we know that three is very important number in the Bible And so here they are probably at their wits end. All their water is probably gone and he's having to do it a third time. And so they have to place their faith, their trust and their obedience on God as well. If we're going to give up all of our water to pour on the sacrifice, then there better be a fire coming down from heaven. Verse 35. And the water ran around about the altar and he filled the trench also with water. So it's a big sopping wet mess right there on that altar. Now, the key verses in this passage of scripture are the next two, and it's the prayer that Elijah gives. Look at it, verse 36. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." Do you notice the stark difference between his prayer and the prayer they offered up to Bell? Big, big difference. We know as Christians, that God loves us, and we love Him, and our hearts connect with Him, and He wants us to tell Him all things, and to pray to Him, and so His prayer is respectful. It's a holy prayer. It's one that recognizes God for who He is. These other men, as they're praying the bell, they're just screaming, for Him, for our lives! Nothing holy about all that mess. But live, this prayer is solemn, and it's direct. He didn't have to cut himself with knives, or wallow around, or stomp, or scream, or nothing. Verse 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. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. Can you imagine all the prophets of Belzerstetter going, oh, you know, everyone, oh. And all the people, what do they do? They hit the ground. They know this is a God. And what do they do? They recognize Him as such. What did they say? It says, they said, the Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is THE God. Not a God. Not some God. He is THE God. And I want you to know today that the Lord, He is still THE God. There is no God above Him. There is no God before Him. There will be no God after Him. He's the God of all ages. He's the beginning and the end, the Alpha, the Omega. He is THE God. It's the same God we worship today. Verse 40, things are going to get bad. Elijah said to them, take the prophets of Baal. Let not one of them escape. And they took them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there. Now, to us, we think, oh my goodness, that seems awful drastic. Why would the Lord go through all that? Listen, God gave them a chance. They had chance after chance. In fact, they've had the last three years to turn their lives around and quit worshiping false gods. God directs his man to do this. They take them down there and that brook that's been dry for three years is now going to run up to the top with blood to these false prophets. Verse 41. Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain. I love how Elijah's still doing all the orders. He's the one making all the commands. King's sitting over there. He's probably out of his mind. All the prophets have been slain. He's there. He don't have any power up on that mountain at this point because that man of God's got power because it comes straight from God. He's standing there and don't know what to do and Elijah says, hey, get up from there. Get up there. You get something to eat, get something to drink, get you some energy because there's a sound of abundance of rain. Man, we got to get down off of here. So verse 42, so Ahab went up to eat and to drink and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he set himself down upon the earth and he put his face between his knees and said to his servant, go up now and look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, there's nothing. And he said, go again seven times. And it came to pass that the seventh time that he said, behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. And he said, go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. I'm telling you, friends, the Bible is so exciting. When you start reading this stuff, and this is history, this is real. This is real things that God's given us here. And he has empowered his man Elijah to gird up his loins and run so fast he outrun the horses of Ahab as they're trying to get to the city of Jezreel before everything floods. They gotta get through that Jezreel Valley before it gets full of water because there's an abundance of rain, not just a little bit. It's not sprinkling outside, King. It's coming down. It's coming down hard. You better get home because it's going to get hot. And man, I tell you what, this just excites me so much to see what God can do. God can still do this same thing today. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the new. He's the God of the now. He's not just the God of the past. He's the same God. He's the same God that healed then. He's the same God that can heal now. He's the same God that saved then. He's the same God that will save now. And we're all saved the same way, by the way, through the blood of Jesus Christ. God sent His Son here to die for us because He loved us. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Call upon the name of the Lord, and thou shalt be saved, the Bible says. Oh, the same God. I love it. I love Him. I love what He's given us. Friends, we've got so much freedom in the Lord. There's no need to be bound down in the things of the Lord. He gives you freedom. We've got freedom. He gave us grace. And I love him for it. Oh, listen, I know there's not been much in the direction of a salvation message tonight, but I want you to know this God, this God that allows the call down fire from heaven, the God, same God that calls rain to stop for three years. He's the same God that loves you. Same God that loves me. Same God that will save you. The same one that saved me. Same one will save your children and your grandchildren. Even those evil co-workers that you work with that you think you're the only Christian there He can save every one of them because he's that kind of God. He's got that kind of power He's not a little g-god He's a big g-god Let's pray Heavenly Father we come to you tonight. Thank you so much for the message Lord. I'm so excited and I can't understand it Lord, I appreciate the opportunity to come and preach, Lord, to deliver your word, what you've given us. Lord, I'm praying today. I know your word's not going out in return void, God, that it'll go out and accomplish that, what you please. And Lord, we're just praying that you get any kind of glory for it. Lord, you get everything for it. And Lord, I'm praying for those that's in this building tonight, those that are faithful. Lord, we're coming to your house tonight to hear the word of God. the fellowship with other Christians. I pray that you give them strength and help them in their times of need. Lord, we pray for these requests that was made today, those that are struggling right now, sick, maybe in the hospital and having all these problems. God, we know that you're the God that can take care of it. Lord, if not healing, Lord, the comfort. Lord, we just want your will to be done, but God, you know our hearts tonight. We love to see them all healed. Lord, would we put it in your hands. Lord, if there's one here that needs help tonight, would you help them? Would they call upon your name, Lord, for help? May you be praised for it tonight, in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and post up. If you need to come and pray tonight, you come now. Page 161.