ELIJAH—A MAN OF LIKE PASSIONS
09 The Most Important Victory After the Revival
TEXT: 1 Kings 18:38-40
1 Kings 18:38-40 KJV [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. [40] And 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.
I. INTRODUCTION—THE BATTLE AFTER THE REVIVAL
-The fire has fallen and the sacrifice has been consumed and now all of Israel is no longer left to wonder as to who the real God is. Baal has fallen and Jehovah has risen.
-This single event foreshadows another great victory that will come to light in the future.
Philippians 2:9-11 KJV Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: [10] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; [11] And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
-The greatest victory that this world has ever known outside of the Cross and the resurrection is described prophetically by John:
Revelation 19:19-21 KJV And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
-We have not yet experienced this final victory of the ages to this point and that is why we have to continue to be faithful in living for the Lord.
-One other point that needs to be pointed out for our encouragement and it comes with an understanding that it does not matter who may be standing against you or how many there may be, it is never a good time to compromise your beliefs.
-Elijah could have just as easily fled from the mountain when he saw all of the prophets of Baal show up against him but he knew how powerful that God was because of the past victories he had already seen God working in.
-There are moments in life when you will have to persevere in your prayer no matter how overwhelming the odds may seem. I am certainly glad to know that there are a lot of great witnesses in front of us from history who refused to throw in the towel in the face of overwhelming odds.
2 Timothy 4:16-18 KJV At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. [17] Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. [18] And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
-Put your life in the hands of the Lord and allow Him to see you through!
-But we need to be clear, there are some victories that come after the revival that are even more important than the actual revival itself.
II. DON’T LET THE PROPHETS OF BAAL ESCAPE
-Mount Carmel was sort of home field for the prophets of Baal. They had offered sacrifices there before and they never expected this kind of victorious outcome to take place in a place they saw as a place of strength for them.
-In fact in some of the historical annals of the Assyrian king, Shalmanessar III (841 B.C.), Mount Carmel is called ‘the mountain of Baal.’
-But even more than the worship that poured out of these people, there was something else very powerful that took place. Elijah was outnumbered 850 to 1 until God rained fire down from heaven.
A. What We Allow to Survive
-Elijah gave the children of Israel some very important instructions:
1 Kings 18:40 KJV And 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.
-In that moment of victory, that prophet urged the children of Israel to destroy the imposters in this mountain. Here is something worth remembering: What we want to survive reveals the whole allegiance of our heart.
-These prophets of Baal are responsible for Israel’s backsliding, for the famine in the land, and for thousands of those who died during the famine. It would have been a great crime not to deal with them urgently and violently.
-The critics of the Bible who read this historical account would wag their tongues and their heads at this kind of action that Elijah called for. They would accuse him of being barbaric and violent forgetting about all of the corruption and death these men had been responsible for starting.
-There are enemies of the soul and the church that have to be dealt with what some might think are extreme measures but the literal existence of spiritual life and energy depend on dealing with these treacherous prophets.
-When revival finally does breakthrough. . . you enjoy the presence of the Lord but you are not removed from the responsibility to do your work!
-It is a very powerful thing to have great inspiring spiritual experiences where God transforms families, marriages, and churches with the blessings of revival. It is easy to be involved in all of the religious fervor and excitement that takes place during a series of revival meetings.
-The whole emphasis of Elijah’s instructions had come from the heart of the law and Israel would have known that. In Deuteronomy 13:5, God had commanded for false prophets to be slain. The slaying of these prophets were simply following the will of God.
-Through their teachings they had ruined the souls of the multitudes and no crime could have been greater than that of leading men to eternal destruction. The killing of these prophets would not only have a material and physical effect on the nation but it would have a strong spiritual impact on them as well.
-To not deal with them in this manner would have been a high crime! Whom you want to survive really reveals the condition of your own soul.
B. One Other Old Testament Example
-Before we turn to a very important application for us in our generation, it is important to show that there is another similar example of this taking place in the Old Testament.
-This story comes in 1 Samuel 15 where Samuel tells Saul to go down and utterly destroy the Amalekites (15:3). The Amalekites had been some of the most fearful warriors in the time of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and all through the Judges. They had caused untold deaths by their constant raids and marauding through the tribes of Israel.
-But the most serious crime they had committed was when Israel was trying to flee from Egypt, these wicked Amalekites had scurried around the edges at the end of the marchers and had killed off some of the elderly and the sick and the young (Deut. 25:17-19).
-God’s anger burned against them for a long time but finally it was to be fulfilled through the actions of Saul. But Saul decided that he could use this as an opportunity to make himself look good and when he had the time to kill them completely he did not do it.
-Remember well that there are times when incomplete obedience is never going to be good enough. When God gives us a command from Scripture or we find the encouragement coming from the voice of the Spirit, we need to take heed to what is being said.
-When Samuel finally arrived he heard all kinds of commotion. He could hear sheep bleating, cows lowing, and all kinds of other animals were milling about. He had saved some of the spoils of war but most glaringly he had allowed, Agag, the king of the Amalekites to live.
-When Samuel saw what had taken place, he thundered against Saul that the judgment of God would come against him. It was on that very day that the hand of God’s judgment because to move very slowly against him. It would take years but when it was all said and done, Saul’s life would be in shambles and he would commit suicide on a battlefield at Mount Gilboa.
-But Samuel did more than just speak judgment against Saul:
1 Samuel 15:33 KJV And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
-He hacked Agag to pieces!
III. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
-We might have a tendency to recoil back from such actions as hearing the prophets of Baal being killed by Elijah and the children of Israel or Samuel hacking Agag to pieces. But there are some spiritual lessons that need to be brought to the forefront from these examples.
A. The Work of Conversion
-This is something to remember: Conversion takes place in an instant but becoming a saint takes a lifetime.
-We can think that once we have experienced the New Birth and received the Holy Ghost that everything will be smooth sailing from then on. But that is not an accurate assumption and there is an entire New Testament that tells us that we will battle back and forth with our flesh until we leave this world.
-Even though sin has already been defeated at the Cross, it has to be dealt with ruthlessly and hacked to pieces or it will revive back again and will continue to plunder and pillage our hearts and sap our spiritual strength.
-Don’t let that confuse you because you will always have the strength of the Spirit and the fellowship of other believers and the work of the Word to help you move forward in your walk with God. But you probably have heard the old adage: If you give the devil an inch he will take a yard because he wants to be the ruler of your life.
Colossians 3:5-9 KJV Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: [6] For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: [7] In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. [8] But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. [9] Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
-There is an active part of your own spiritual growth that is involved in living this out. We have to “mortify” or put to death those things which would do their best to take us down.
B. The Work of Conversion Involves Mortification of Sin
-There are prophets of Baal who would love to survive, there are Agag’s who have a way of escaping the sword, and will do great damage to us. Similarly, there are sins that do not come under the full control of the Holy Ghost that will do much harm. We have to battle with them on a regular basis!
Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Amplified Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, [2] [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
-That is not to say that the Spirit cannot truly transform us because it does but all people have times in their lives when the fires of devotion have a tendency to burn low. It is during those times that the flesh, the world, and the devil fights with us in an effort to sink our spiritual walk.
-This is where that conversion has to take place through the mortification or the killing of sin. This is a crucial doctrine and lifestyle that Paul brought into play in Romans 6.
Romans 6:12-14 KJV Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. [13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. [14] For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
-How do you kill the priests of Baal and the Agags that want desperately to stay alive so they can continue to create problems in your spiritual life?
• 1 Peter 2:11; 1 Cor. 6:18—Abstain from all fleshly lusts.
• Romans 13:14—Make no provision for the flesh.
• 1 John 3:2-3—Fix your heart on God.
• Psalm 119:11, 105; Josh. 1:8; Psalm 1:2; John 17:17—Meditate on the Word.
• Luke 22:40; Matt. 26:41; 1 Thess. 5:16-17—Pray without ceasing.
• Psalm 19:12-14—Watch and pray.
• Gal. 5:23—Exercise self-control.
• Eph. 5:18—Be filled with the Spirit.
-All of these areas help us to battle against the drastic force the world, the flesh, and the devil would have against us.
C. The Work of Conversion Involves Living in the Spirit
-So how do we respond to this? We live in the Spirit. . . Live out Romans 8. It can be broken down like this:
• 8:2-3—The Holy Ghost is the divine agent that frees us from sin and death.
• 8:4-13—The Holy Ghost empowers us to live righteously. (vv. 3-11 really shows us how to mortify sin.)
• 8:14-19—The Holy Ghost assures us and comforts us in our afflictions.
• 8:20-28—The Holy Ghost preserves us and sustains us.
• 8:29-39—The Holy Ghost inspires us to know that there is a final victory that will end in eternal glory.
-Life in the Spirit will be drastically different from what see in the life of unbelievers. There are really only two categories of people in this world. . . Those who are run by the dictates of their flesh and those who are under the control of the Spirit.
-This becomes the most important victory after the revival. . . living in the Spirit.
IV. CONCLUSION—BLESSINGS AWAIT
-Every revival has its blessings that are on the way. . . there will be an amazing foot race to Jezreel, the rain will finally come and there will be another prophet waiting in the wings to be anointed.
-But hell will be stirred up as well and Elijah will learn some of the most severe lessons of his life but God will still be in charge when all the dust settles.
Philip Harrelson
January 24, 2016
