WORSHIP THE ONE & TRUE GOD
I KINGS 18:17-21
I Kings 18 give us the account of the Prophet Elijah, as he stands alone against 850 false religious leaders. Elijah challenges the people to decide who is going to be the god of their lives.
He demonstrates the reality that the Lord is the only true God. He has the false prophets build an altar and call upon their gods to answer their prayer by consuming a sacrifice laid upon that altar with fire. All day they prayed and prayed but nothing happened.
Then Elijah builds an altar to the Lord GOD JEHOVAH and has it drenched with four barrels of water. He prays a simple prayer containing only 63 words, and the fire of God comes down consuming the sacrifice and the altar. .
I KINGS 18:17-21 17And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 18And 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 Baalim.
19Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table. 20So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
21And 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. 22Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: 24And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.
And all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.” 25And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. 26And they took the bullock, which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “ O Baal, hear us.” But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar, which was made.
27And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”
28And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 29And 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. 30And 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.
31And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, “Israel shall be thy name:” 32And 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 measures of seed. 33And 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.”
34And he said, “Do it the second time.” And they did it the second time. And he said, “Do it the third time.” And they did it the third time.
35And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. 36And 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. 37Hear 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.”
38Then 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. 39And 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.”
40And Elijah said unto 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.
A. 1Kings 18:21 "And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, ’How long do you halt between two opinions?"
It was Gods intention that Israel would be His chosen people; they were to be a peculiar nation that influenced the culture and the world around it towards God.
When they came into the land of Promise, they were not to take on the customs and culture of the surrounding nations. God warned them that they were not to follow the false gods worshipped by heir neighbors.
But Israel was influenced by the nations around them (rather than influencing them), Israel had a long history of worshipping the false gods, Baal, Molech, and Asheroth.
Israel wanted to have their cake and eat it too as the old saying goes. They wanted God there to help them when they were in need but wanted to enjoy the temporal pleasures and possessions promised by the demanding and demeaning pagan gods.
B. 21And 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.
James 1:8 "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."
C.
D. Now it seems in our day comes the idea of, “every body worship the god of your choice, pray to the god of your choice”
E. Even some of our nations leader have reviled to the world just how biblical ignorant they really are, by inviting some of the world’s pagan religious leaders and worshippers to come and sit on the same religious platform with them and invited all of them to prayer to the god of their choice for peace in the world.
F. It must surely make GOD sick to His stomach, we’re told in Rev.3: to do with the Laodicean church that HE spews them out, they make Him sick.
G. REV.3: 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
These are people who, pretend to worship God, go to church, and do their "religious" bit on Sundays. Then they switch that off and pursue their professions, weekday work, weekend hobbies, they slip into their religious compartment on Sundays and their secular compartment of the other days of the week and allow no communication between the two.
Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
1Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
Elijah said, If the LORD is God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.
B. Israel had seen the hand of God working within their national history. They had seen the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, the fall of Jericho, the miraculous deliverance by the judges from oppression by the Philistines and Midianites.
Therefore, the challenge is laid out to Israel. There is but one God, one infinite, and incomprehensible being; one that is omnipotent, all sufficient, loving, good, and perfect; there cannot be more, and therefore but one to be followed, served, and worshipped.
It is the same choice given by Joshua and Moses.
. Joshua 24:15 "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live."
Our destiny is not determined for us, but it is determined by us. Man’s free will is part of God’s sovereign will. We have freedom to take which course we choose, but not freedom to determine the end of that choice.
God makes clear what he desires, we must choose, and the result of the choice is not the inevitableness of law, but the inevitableness of God."
"Whoever is on God’s side is on the winning side and cannot lose; whoever is on the other side is on the losing side and cannot win. Here there is no chance, no gamble. There is freedom to choose which side we shall be on but no freedom to negotiate the results of the choice once it is made. By the mercy of God we may repent a wrong choice and alter the consequences by making a new and right choice.
21And 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.
Sometimes silence says a lot. Some said nothing, out of FEAR
There were 450 Prophets of Baal, & the Prophets of Asheroth, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel against Elijah alone. Proverbs 29:25a "The fear of man brings a snare."
And then some said nothing out of COMPROMISE
Some said, well,” I do not want to create trouble; I just want to get along, after all roads lead to Rome." But that’s not true.
John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, ’I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Some said nothing, out of IGNORANCE·
Some were raised in the families that either always had a mixed worship or did not worship at all, leaving them ignorant to the truth.
Some said nothing out of DEFIANCE
"How dare you challenge me or tell me what to do. My belief is a personal matter."
Zechariah 7:12 "Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words, which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts."
When you have to make a choice and do not make it, that is in itself a choice.
its time for all of us to make a choice; sinner friend if you have never responded to God’s invitation to receive Jesus Christ, you need to choose whether you will accept His love and offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ; or whether you will refuse it. And understand, it is never too early to decide for Christ, but the time will come when it will be too late.
And brothers & sisters its high time that we witness to the lost every time the door is open, lets not let the world interfere with the work of the LORD.
