Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): With all the various religions of the world, it's quite reasonable for someone to ask the question: just how many Gods are there? We'll tackle that question next on Hope From the Word.

Thank you for joining us today. This is Hope From the Word, the radio outreach of Calvary Chapel of Marlton. We'll hear from Pastor Bill Luebkemann in a moment. We're returning to 1 Kings chapter 18. Throughout history, mankind has fashioned a plethora of gods to suit their own wants and desires. From moon gods, sun gods, earth gods, and little god statues on the shelf to gods of pride, fame, power, or wealth.

But to do so is foolish, because there really is only one true and living God. As we're about to see, the Lord isn't about to share His glory with anyone or anything. Here's Pastor Bill with today's message in 1 Kings 18.

Bill Luebkemann: This whole story, besides being revolting and also stupid, was also not news. There's no news about it. But that was what they were saying. We can both do what we want to do, but we are still married. Well, that's what they were doing here. And see, the Lord—this crazy couple may put up with that for a while here—but God don't put up with that. He don't share you with anybody else. See, you have to be His or you have to belong to some other god, but you can't have it both ways. And Elijah said, "How long are you going to do this, wavering between two opinions? Make up your mind! If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if it's Baal—if Baal is God, then follow him. Who is God?"

When people say, "Well, we're just following, we just—all religions, really, they're all valid. They all lead to heaven. It's just a matter of just being sincere and you'll get to heaven." That's not what the Bible says. But the people said nothing. They didn't reply. They didn't have anything to say. They didn't have an answer.

Then Elijah said, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left." Well, we know that's not true. There's a hundred in a cave or two caves, fifty in each cave. But maybe he means on the top of this mountain here, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers by fire, He is God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good." So the people didn't answer at first, but now Elijah's proposed a test and they like this test.

Elijah says, "I'm the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has these 450 clowns over here, these guys here. So I have an idea. Let's get two bulls, and you can get the two bulls." So Elijah doesn't even pick the two bulls. "And then, when you get the two bulls, you can let them have their choice first and I'll take whichever one they don't want." I learned a lesson a long time ago. If you're cutting a piece of cake or something and you have two kids and you have two pieces, and one kid's going to get one piece and the other kid's going to get the other piece and "I want the bigger piece, how come he got the bigger piece?" What you do is you have one kid cut it in half, and then the other kid gets to pick which one they want first. Now the one who's cutting is going to be very certain to make those two pieces exactly identical since the other one's going to get to pick which piece to go first.

How does that really relate to that? Well, he's telling the people to get the two bulls. And then he's going to let the prophets of Baal pick theirs. So he's going to take whatever he has no control over the bull he gets. And look, they're going to prepare theirs, cut it up, put it on their altar, but not set fire to it. I'm going to cut up mine, put it on my altar, and then we're going to call on God. Now, it's appropriate since Baal is the sky god, the god of weather, lightning. They believed lightning was fire from heaven. So no problem. That should be easy. He's a sky god, send down some lightning. That'll take care of that. And the people said, "Okay, yeah, we'll do that." That's a pretty good test. 450 of them, they should be able to wake Baal up.

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you. I'm going to let you guys go first even. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us," they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. Same word there for danced that we saw earlier regarding wavering or dancing between two opinions. They danced around the altar that they had made.

At noon, now all morning long, calling out on Baal. 450 gods calling out on Baal all morning long till noon. "O Baal, send some fire down." At noon, Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder," he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling." By the way, the word for busy here, it's been suggested by several people really means maybe he's gone to the bathroom. That's not definite, but that has been suggested that that's what he was saying there. Maybe your god is relieving himself. Maybe he should have taken some of that pink stuff last night and it's taking a little longer than, well, maybe we shouldn't go there.

Maybe he's deep in thought. Maybe he's trying to solve a complex problem. Maybe he's working on some quadratic equations or something. Maybe he's traveling and he didn't leave anyone home to answer your call. Maybe he's sleeping and must be awakened. So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. They weren't talking to anyone. They were talking to no one. They got exactly the same response that you would get if you talked to that wall over there.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." Now, remember, this has been going on all day. These guys are dancing, shouting, cutting themselves, blood flowing, dancing around, who knows what they were doing. Nothing happening from morning till noon till the time of the evening sacrifice, which I believe was probably around 3:00. Nothing happened. Total, total, completely ignored by their god, who isn't a god at all. Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord which was in ruins. This altar hadn't been used in quite a while.

Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." With the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. So he builds his altar with these stones and he digs a trench around it. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

So you have this altar made out of stones. You have wood on it and the bull is all cut up and on the wood. And this giant trench around it. Now what do you do when you want to light something on fire? You soak it in water, right? Just soak it until it's soaking wet. Just pour all kinds of just empty out the fire truck on it. And that's what he did. He didn't do that to the other guys, by the way. You see what Elijah's doing here. He's holding his God, the Lord God, the real true God, even to a higher standard because he knows God can bring down the fire. It don't matter if it's wet or dry at all. It's no harder for God to lick up in flame something that's soaking wet than something that's dry as a tinder box. It don't matter to God at all. No difference.

God says, "Poof," and it's gone. So what does he do? He soaks it wet. He pours more. "Do it again! Let's get it all!" And the people must have been thinking, "What is he doing? How's he going to ever get that to burn?" He wasn't doing this for God's benefit. It didn't matter at all to God whether it was wet or dry. Makes no difference. It's not a better offering because it's wet. It's not any harder, any easier for God to light it on fire because it's wet. He wasn't doing it for his own benefit. This was all for the benefit of the people watching so they could see that it was God who was in charge of this.

Now some people have said, "Oh, he was really pouring gasoline on it." Yeah, right. Yeah, they had the refinery, Conoco, was right down the street. And it was really a refinery. I mean, get real. The whole Israel here was watching. Think they had the Great Houdini here sneaking in some kind of flammable liquid? He didn't even pour it. He had whoever was helping him. Remember, he was the only guy here doing this. Whoever was helping him was part of the enemy. They were just doing what he said. They were the people of Israel that were helping him. I shouldn't say part of the enemy, but they were part of the people who were the spectators. He probably did it the way one of those TV game shows works. He gets some people out of the audience to come, "I need some volunteers! Will somebody raise their hands, please? Yes, you and you and you and you."

At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward. Now look, they haven't been participating in the temple sacrifices in fifty years. That's down in Jerusalem. They're up in the northern kingdom. But he knows when the sacrifices are, and I think it's interesting. You just have to wonder if he timed it out this way. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed. Now think of the effect here. 450 people praying, nothing happens. Everybody's watching. "What is he going to do? He's put all this water. Does he have a match? Does he have a blowtorch or something?"

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed. "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again." Here he is praying a very simple prayer. I mean, this is so short. It's one of the shortest prayers around. Look, let it be known today that You're God and Baal is not God. And let it be known today that I'm Your servant and that these other guys are phonies. And answer me! Why? For my benefit? So I can make some money here, so I can be rich and famous? No. So that these people will know that You're God and that You're turning their hearts back again.

It works, but it doesn't last long for them. Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. The fire of God just came down and sucked it all up. The sacrifice, that was the bull. The wood that was supposed to be burned. The stones! Fire just consumed even the stones that the altar was on. They're supposed to stay there so you can do tomorrow's offering on the same stones, right? And the soil even, and also the water in the trench, just licked it all right up. When the people saw this, he prayed this prayer, this fire came down, kaboom, and it was gone. When the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!"

Well, they knew who God was. God showed forth His mighty power here. God shows forth His mighty power every time we look at the sky and see the stars at night, or the sun in the daytime, for that matter. Every time we take another breath of air, every time we see a newborn baby or consider the lilies in the field or any one of all the other good things that He gives us in our lives. Well, He showed forth that He was God in this powerful way here and they experienced it. "The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" In other words, Baal, he is not God. The Lord, He is God, that means Baal, he is not God.

Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Don't let anyone get away!" He jumped right on it. The prophets of Baal didn't know what hit them. They were standing there, they were watching, they didn't expect anything to happen. I don't know if they expected their prayer to work; maybe they did. I don't know if they expected something to happen here. They didn't expect this to happen. They were sitting there kind of wondering what's he going to do, what's he going to do. Next thing he knows, boom, the fire comes down. The people are saying the Lord, He is God. And before they can blink an eye, Elijah's saying, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Don't let anyone get away!"

They seized them and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. Some people say, "Man, there's so much death and guts and things in the Old Testament. Why does God do that?" These people were serving the Baals for years. They had loads of opportunities. They had a three-year famine. When Ahab saw Elijah and said, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" he could have said, "Would you please tell the Lord I want to repent, and how could I bring this country back to repentance? Could you help me turn this country around?" He didn't do that. There was opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to repentance, but in the end comes death to those that don't follow the Lord.

When the door on Noah's ark was closed, who closed the door? God closed the door. Did it have a doorknob on the outside? I don't think so. God closed the door, shut them in there, and God sent the rain. And those that didn't believe perished. And so, too, will all the world perish in the end that does not know Him. But yet His offer is free and it's available to everyone. For all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. All they had to do was call upon His name. All they had to do was say, "Hey, we want to make this right. How can we get right with God?" This King Ahab here, all he had to do was say, "You know, three-year famine taught me a lot, Elijah. You won't believe what it taught me, and I want to get right with God." And we all have that opportunity if we're not walking with the Lord to get right with Him.

But someday the door will be shut, as it was for these prophets at this time. Someday the end will come and it will come like a thief in the night when we least expect it. And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground, and put his face between his knees. "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."

The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." Now, here's a lesson in persistence. You pray for something, you say, "Well, God's not answering my prayer. I've been praying for it since yesterday and I didn't get it yet. I just don't understand why God's not answering my prayer." Now here's a guy, they had a famine for three years. And there's a lot of people that wondered why they had to have the famine for three years. And now that it's about to be over, he knows it's God's will that it is ending. And God sent him here. All these events were in accordance with the will of God here. But yet he still has to pray seven times, and then when the rain comes, the cloud begins just something as small as a man's hand.

You know, they say it only takes a spark to get a fire going. Well, it only takes a small cloud to get a big rainstorm going, I guess. I guess that's the idea here. So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you." Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. See, he beat out the guy who was riding in the chariot, which, by the way, was only about fourteen miles.

And that's, you might say, "Well, how could he do that?" Well, I could not run fourteen miles. I'm not in shape. But we have people in our church who have run a marathon, twenty-six miles. This is only half of that approximately. There's people out there in the world that do the Ironman. They run a marathon and they swim and then they ride a bike. I don't know, is it a hundred miles or fifty miles or something? They're crazy. They're certainly stronger than I am. So, and this was the power of God. People look at this stuff and they say, "Well, that could never happen." Well, first of all, the power of God, anything could happen. First of all. Second of all, it's not even that great of a thing for him to run ahead of the chariot. The chariot could have had square wheels for all we know. It may have been going slow. Maybe it was no big feat at all. But in any event, it was the power of the Lord in some way transporting him ahead.

Now you'd think after these remarkable events that Elijah would be high as a kite—but we'll continue next week—you'd think the world would now be at his disposal and that everything would be going his way and he wouldn't be afraid of another thing. But we're going to find out now that the queen finds out about what happened. See, she didn't come out to the mountain. I don't know why. But the king, he doesn't seem to be too bothered at all that these prophets have been slaughtered. He's just happy to get the rain. You kind of get the impression Ahab don't care about anything. He don't care when the queen kills the prophets of the Lord. He don't care that Elijah here kills the prophets of Baal.

You kind of get the impression Ahab just don't care about much. He just happy he got his rain, he can eat again, he's happy. But he goes and tells Jezebel. And now Jezebel's really hopping mad that her friends, these prophets of Baal, have been killed. She threatened Elijah, and now Elijah takes off. "Woe is me! I'm the only prophet left. Poor old me. No other prophet around." This guy has just seen the most amazing, remarkable, incredible, powerful work of God and he's going to flee and hide because this wicked witch of a queen is out to get him. And in the end, of course, she perishes here very shortly and passes off the scene very, very soon.

Well, that's the story. That's where we're going to stop at tonight. Chapter 18 of 1 Kings. We just see God working His power in a mighty way and convincing these people that really He is God.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in the study of 1 Kings. You can hear this message or more Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill's messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet.

Or if you prefer to listen via podcast, you can find Hope From the Word wherever you find your podcasts. We'd love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10:00 a.m. and there's a Wednesday evening service at 7:00. To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton or just go to our website for the link: ccmarlton.org.

And if you would, take a moment to write to Pastor Bill. It would be such a blessing to us. We're thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives, and we want to pray for you, too. Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We'll continue our study of 1 Kings next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann, a presentation of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.