Sermon, G.S.Munro, Milperra Anglican Church, Sunday 27^th September, 1998

from http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm

1Kings 18:16-24 NIV
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
18 ‘‘I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. ‘‘But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table."
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, ‘‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, ‘‘I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 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. 24 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."

Luke 4:24-26 (NASB) And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his home town. 25 "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

James 5:16 (NASB) Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

1 Kings 17:1 (NASB) Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word."

Rain - represented blessing under the Old Covenant -

Deut 28: 1 "Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God. 3 "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4 "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 5 "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. 7 "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways. 8 "The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 9 "The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways. 10 "So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of you. 11 "And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 "The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

Obadiah's actions in saving the prophets - cf. Matt 10:40 "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward."

The Spirit of the Lord - 2 Kin. 2:16; Ezek. 3:12, 14; Acts 8:39

Ahab's wickedness and idol worship - 1 Kings 16:29 Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. 31 And it came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. 32 So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Ahab's end prophesied - 1 Kings 21:20-26 And Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. 21 "Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel; 22 and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin. 23 "And of Jezebel also has the Lord spoken, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’ 24 "The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs shall eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of heaven shall eat."

25 Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him. 26 And he acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel.

1 Kings 17: 37-41 "And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment, which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods. 38 "And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. 39 "But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies." 40 However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom. 41 So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Cf. Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Israel given this choice long before - Joshua 24:14 "Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 "And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Verse 26 - Baal did not answer - cf. Following passages -

Psalm 115:1-8
Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Thy name give glory
Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.
2 Why should the nations say,
"Where, now, is their God?"
3 But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
6 They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
Those who make them will become like them,
8 Everyone who trusts in them.

Jeremiah 10:5
5 "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good."

Mt Carmel - a fitting site for the contest, since it was 'neutral ground' - half way between the land of Israel and the land of the Philistines, from whence the Baals came.

Comment on 18:22-24, from Walvoord, John F., and Zuck, Roy B., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.
"Elijah then pointed out that in this contest the odds would be 450 prophets to 1—a humanly impossible situation in which to win! Elijah knew there were other prophets of Yahweh besides himself (cf. v. 13), but as far as this contest was concerned he was the only one of the Lord‘s prophets left.
Of the two bulls required, Elijah let his adversaries select their favorite. Each side would prepare to sacrifice its bull as a burnt offering to its god. Then they would each call on their god and the god who answered by fire would be shown to be the true God. Baal was supposedly a fertility god, the one who sent rain, caused the crops to grow, and provided food for his people. He was the one who supposedly sent fire (lightning) from heaven. The three-and-one-half-year drought and famine had been a great embarrassment to the worshipers of Baal. It seemed as if Elijah and his God rather than Baal were in control of the fertility of Israel. So Elijah’s test to Baal’s followers seemed like a good opportunity to vindicate their god and they readily agreed to it. When the preparations were completed, the test began."

gyci

B. Sermon:

Introduction:

"So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah."

In the opening verse of our reading from Holy Scripture, we meet three men. Obadiah, Ahab and Elijah. Let me introduce you to each of these men. We need to know who they are and how they came to this point in the story, so we can understand what God is saying to us through this story. Who is this Elijah? Who was Obadiah, and what did he tell Ahab? Why did Ahab go to meet Elijah?

The major player in this story is Elijah himself, so I'll start with him. Elijah is the most important prophet of the whole Old Testament. He was even more faithful to God than was Moses. When God told Elijah to do something, he obeyed without question. He wasn't without fault, and in the next chapter we see him discouraged and depressed, and afraid of being killed. But in contrast to Moses and Jonah, two other great prophets who tried to worm their way out of going where God told them to go, Elijah always obeyed. Earlier in this chapter, we see Obadiah, who was a good and godly man, also trying to pike out of arranging a meeting between Elijah and Obadiah's master Ahab, because he was afraid of Ahab. Elijah, unlike these other men of God, always obeyed.

Now back in chapter 17 verse one we read:

"Now Elijah the Tishbite… said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah: 'Leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.'" God provided food and drink there for Elijah until he told him to move on once again, and he went to Zarephath in Sidon, outside of Israel, where a kind widow looked after him. When her son died, Elijah did a miracle and raised him to life.

So for three years, Elijah obeyed the Lord's command to hide from Ahab the king, and live outside the Promised Land. Then in eighteen verse one, God commanded him to do just the opposite. "After a long time, in the third year, the Word of the Lord came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab." And Elijah went. He didn't question God about the wisdom of going to present himself to the man who had been trying to kill him for three years, he just went. He knew that God knew best. That is why Elijah is one of the greatest examples of faith in scripture. He trusted God and he obeyed him despite the danger.

The next character to introduce is Ahab. He was the king of Israel. Our story is set in the times of the divided kingdom, in the ninth century BC. After King Solomon, the twelve tribes split into the northern kingdom of Israel, with ten tribes, and the southern kingdom of Judah, with just two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. The Southern Kingdom had the true kings, descended from David. They had the true place of worship, the Temple on Mount Zion. The Northern Kingdom, on the other hand, had an impure form of worship, many false prophets, and they never had a kingly dynasty that lasted more than a few generations before the commander of the army would revolt and set himself up as king. Ahab was the seventh king of the Northern Kingdom.

Ahab was also the worst king that either Israel or Judah ever had. That's what the dialogue between Ahab and Elijah is about in verse 17 & 18. "When he saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

You see, Ahab blamed Elijah for the suffering and misery that had come upon Israel due to the drought that Elijah had prophesied. In a classic case of shoot the messenger, he assigns the effect of the drought to Elijah's magical powers, rather than admitting that it is God who is punishing Israel. And you will find the same thing happens today, whenever you stand up for the Word of God and declare the gospel. People will attack you personally, as if it were your word, not God's. They don't want to admit that God could possibly not be happy with them, or that they need to repent and believe the gospel. This happened to me once when I and some friends were debating with a bunch of mormons. One of them said, "hey, you don't think we're going to hell if we don't believe what you're telling us, do you? C'mon, that's not very fair - after all, we don't think you're going to hell if you don't become a Mormon!" He was talking as though we weren't being fair because we thought he might go to hell by not believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. He would not accept that we were merely messengers, relaying what God himself says in His Holy Word. Ahab in our story here, acts that way towards Elijah. He treats Elijah's prophecy as though it emanated from Elijah personally, and not from God.

But Elijah corrects that idea immediately - verse 18 ‘‘I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. ‘‘But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals."

Elijah is saying that God is just giving Israel what he promised them if they turned away from him. He made a covenant with their forefathers, that He would be their God and they would be his people. He warned them hundreds of years before, when they entered the Promised Land, that they only stood by faith in Him. If the nation abandoned their faith in him and worshipped other gods, the curses of the covenant would fall on their land, including drought. Rain represented God's covenant blessing under the Old Covenant.

Turn with me back to Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Deut 28: 1 "Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God. 3 "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

Verses 4 to 8 list some of those blessings, then in verse 9 God says,

9 "The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways. 10 "So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of you. 11 "And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 "The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand..."

That's what Israel would be like if they worshipped the Lord.

But listen to how the bible describes Ahab's reign back in 1 Kings 16:29.

"Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel … and… reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. 31 And it came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. 32 So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him."

Ahab walked in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat. What's that all about? Well it's something that every king of Israel did. Israel, the Northern Kingdom, out of the 19 kings they had, only ever had one good king. His name was Jehu, and even he wasn't really good, because though he got rid of Baal worship, he still followed in the sin of the first king of Israel, Jeroboam son of Nebat, just like Ahab did here. What was that sin? Well, when Israel split from the southern kingdom of Judah, they had a big religious problem. You see, God had commanded that they worship him at the Temple, and that was in Jerusalem, which was now the capital of the rival Southern Kingdom. The king of Israel didn't want his loyal subjects going down to Jerusalem to worship, that would have weakened his power base, so he set up three places in the Northern Kingdom as rival places of worship, at Dan, Beersheba, and Bethel. And he made golden calves to represent the Lord at those places, and the people went there to worship instead of to Jerusalem. This displeased God, because it was against the second commandment, which says quite clearly that you are not to make a representation of God and worship Him through images. And it was against the way he had said to worship, because Jerusalem was the proper centre of worship in ancient Israel.

There is a lesson here for us. You see, God does care about how we worship him. You must come to God on his own terms, not on your own terms. You cannot just worship in whatever way you choose. Now the way God says to worship him under the New Covenant in Jesus is different in some ways from how it was under the Old Covenant, but the principle we learn from this story in 1 Kings is the same - God says how we may worship him, and we can enter his presence only on his terms, not ours.

Well, Ahab went even further than worshipping the true God in a false way. He also worshipped false gods. He married Jezebel, the daughter of a pagan king, something the Law of God expressly forbade. And she brought with her the worship of Baal and his consort Asherah. Ahab happily accepted this new religion into Israel. He was quite content to have a bet both ways, to incorporate Baal worship into Israel's traditional worship of the Lord. Perhaps he thought Baal could answer any prayers that the Lord didn't, and vice versa. But as the end of this story shows, in verses 25 to 46, false gods like Baal can't answer any prayers.

So that's Ahab - a weak and evil man, dominated by his wife who is a fanatical devotee of Baal-worship. Behind Ahab and all he does stands Jezebel, a woman so evil that her very name has come to stand for all that is despicable in a person's character and actions.

Obadiah - in the world but not of it

Now let me introduce Obadiah. Obadiah is a good example of the believer who is in the world but not of the world. He was Ahab's personal servant, yet he was a devout worshipper of the Lord. He had not bowed the knee to Baal or Asherah. He respected God's Word and the prophets God sent. So much so, that he risked his life to hide them when Jezebel set out to exterminate them from the land. He tells Elijah back in verse 13, "Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water."

Obadiah was not afraid to do what was right in the face of danger. Yet he may have been perhaps relying a little too much on what he had done in the past. Perhaps he thought he had already done his bit for the cause, and would just like to sit back and wait for a peaceful retirement. For when Elijah asks him to tell Ahab that Elijah is here, he tries to get out of it. He is worried that if Elijah doesn't show, Ahab will kill him. Despite his courage in the past, he needed reassuring and encouragement from Eljiah to be obedient to what the prophet told him to do. Are you like Obadiah? Looking back to the great things you did for the Lord in the past, but preferring nowadays to be a little less fanatical, a little safer in your worship of the Lord? A little more concerned with your daily routine than with working for the Kingdom of God?

Well, in verse 15, Elijah reassures Obadiah that he will really be there when Obadiah fetches his master, Ahab, to meet Elijah at last, after three long years. And Obadiah obeys the Lord and tells his master.

The Showdown Begins

After their initial exchange of accusations, each calling the other the troubler of Israel, Elijah gives Ahab a command, which Ahab surprisingly obeys. Verse 19 - "Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table."

Boy, that must have been a big table, huh?! What we see happening here, is what the book of Revelation talks about when it mentions the relationship between the Beast and the False Prophet. Always, throughout history, and right to the end, until Jesus returns, evil rulers and evil religions will go hand in hand to fight against the Lord's people.

The meeting with Ahab is merely the prelude to the battle of verses 25 and following, a battle not fought with weapons of war, but with spiritual weapons of faith and prayer. Look at the power which Elijah's close relationship with the Lord as the Lord's prophet, gave him. It gave him an authority that even the evil king Ahab could not ignore.

Verse 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.

Ahab has been looking for Elijah to kill him, but when he finds him, he meekly obeys Elijah's order to summon the people of Israel and the prophets of Baal to the showdown on Mt Carmel.

This kind of authority is even more evident in the person of the Lord Jesus.

• he went through the crowd in his home town who wanted to kill him
• he taught with authority
• the soldiers sent by Herod to arrest him said "no man ever spoke like this"
• the mob in the garden fell back when he said, "I am"

Now perhaps Ahab also accepted the challenge because he thought Elijah was putting his own head on the block - after all, 450 prophets of Baal plus 400 prophets of Baal's wife Asherah, to one prophet of the Lord is pretty good odds for the pagans! 850 to 1. And Mount Carmel was right on the edge of Israel, near to Baal's home ground of Sidon.

But of course what they failed to realize was that Baal's power was zero, whilst God's power is infinite. 850 times zero is still zero. So the odds were really infinity to zero, in Elijah's favour, and he knew it. He knew it by faith. We are no different. We are like Elijah - outwardly it seems as though we are a tiny minority, with very little real power in the world. But something is not right just because millions of people believe it is right. Millions in our nation may believe that Jesus is not the only way to God as he claimed. But millions are wrong, and in the end they will be overthrown, like the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel.

The apostle John reminds us in 1 John 5:19, "We know that we are children of God, even if the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true - even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."

The People - fence-sitters with nothing to say

Now the stage is set for the showdown. And what a showdown it is.

But before the pyrotechnics begin, before Elijah sets up his heavenly fireworks, he addresses the people of Israel, those ordinary citizens who have been led astray by their civil and religious leaders.

21 Elijah went before the people and said, ‘‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

But the people said nothing.

They were afraid to declare for the Lord. After all, had not Jezebel killed the Lord's prophets or driven them into hiding? Were there not hundreds of Baal prophets here in front of them, and Ahab with his army, no doubt ready to take down the names of any who put up their hands for the Lord? Contrast this cowardice with their reaction after Elijah's victory, in verse 39, when fire falls from heaven - "when all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord - he is God! The Lord - he is God!" " Like doubting Thomas, when he saw the risen Lord Jesus, and fell at his feet calling him Lord and God. But our Lord Jesus said, "blessed are those who believe without seeing." Elijah was such a one. He believed before he saw. In the same way, we believe in Jesus before we see him come in His glory.

The Issue - Pluralism

Elijah's name means "The Lord is God." Elijah stood for the historic faith of Israel, which always claimed that God has said he is the one and only God, and all other gods are false. As Christians we are inheritors of the faith of Israel. And that brings us into conflict with our society. The dominant philosophy of our Australian society is Pluralism. That is the belief that there are many ways to God, and that whatever you believe about God is as valid as whatever someone else believes.

Pluralism is very tolerant. It tolerates all kind of beliefs, even though they may contradict one another. There is only one kind of belief that it will not tolerate, and that is, the belief that doesn't tolerate other beliefs. You can believe whatever you like, except you must not believe that others are wrong in their belief.

Pluralism goes hand in hand with relativism. Relativism is the idea that there are no absolute truths. What is true for you may not be true for me. It's all subjective. There are many so-called "truths."

This is the belief held by most so called "non-religious" Australians. It fits in well with our traditional Australian easy-going, live and let live attitude.

"1 Kings 18:16-24 presents us with confrontation and conflict. We simply do not like that. Our natural tendency is to avoid confrontation and conflict."
Don't avoid conflict. Even a dead dog can float with the tide. We are swimming against it.

"Confrontation is rarely painless, never easy, often rejected, and always risky. But in some conditions it is commanded by Scripture, illustrated in Scripture, and often essential to spiritual growth, godliness and biblical change. Of course, confrontation needs to be done according to biblical principles, in a biblical way, for biblical reasons, and out of right motives. We usually avoid it for selfish reasons--out of fear of the consequences to ourselves. Such a response is neither faith nor love. It is cowardice. It is pleasing ourselves rather than acting in faith and love."
[quotes from http://www.bible.org/docs/ot/character/elijah/elijah-11.htm, copyright Biblical Studies Foundation, 1997]

We love to avoid conflict. But as Christians we cannot afford to do that, if we love God and if we love the lost and want to see them experience God's love and mercy in Christ, instead of his well-deserved wrath.

Most Australians probably believe there is a god of some kind. But the god they believe in is so vague and broadly defined, that they don't see any difference between worshipping god as a muslim or as a hindu. Many paths, one heaven, is a slogan that has been around for decades, and is implicitly believed by most Australians. Here is an example. Jenny Kee, the fashion designer, had this to say about her belief in God in a Good Weekend article some years ago. She says, "All religions are the same in essence but we have moved away from that in the case of churches. That's why men are getting so lost because we're forgetting where we come from. It's the most powerfully important thing now to realise that all religions are part of looking after this earth of ours." Interesting comment. Did you notice what she said - all religions are the same, except for the churches. Why? Because the churches don't accept that all religions are the same. They're too exclusive. Pluralism can tolerate anything but intolerance.

We in the churches have been affected by this philosophy also. For a couple of centuries now, some Christian theologians have put forward the idea that Christianity is just one among many equally valid ways to worship the creator. Both Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars have pushed this.

There are two results of this. The first is that we have lost our confidence in the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second is that we no longer believe that those who are without Christ are lost. And that is why, I believe, gospel and missionary work around the world has declined. If Hindus in India are really worshipping God already by their sincere belief in their own religious system, then why bother to send people to tell them the gospel? If Christianity is just one among many truths, then we have nothing to say to the world. Just like the people were silent when Elijah asked them to choose between God and Baal, so our witness will be silent, unless we are willing to speak out for the Truth.

Let me be quite clear about this. Every other so-called god, every human philosophy and religion in the world, is wrong. There are not many paths to one heaven. Elijah certainly didn't believe that, and neither did our Lord Jesus.

Elijah challenged Israel that they must have God alone and no one one else.

Israel were given this choice long before. Joshua said to them when they entered the Promised Land, Joshua 24:14 "Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 "And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The Lord Jesus Christ challenges his followers in the same way. For example, he says to us in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Will you wholeheartedly serve the Lord, and put away any other gods, whether they be wrong ideas of what God is like, or the worship of money and prestige, or anything else that is an idol? Will you believe Jesus when he says "I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me."

Well, we can't finish without looking at least briefly at the dramatic end of this story in verses 25 to 46.

The Prophets of Baal

"Baal was supposedly a fertility god, the one who sent rain, caused the crops to grow, and provided food for his people. He was the one who supposedly sent fire (lightning) from heaven. The three-and-one-half-year drought and famine had been a great embarrassment to the worshipers of Baal. It seemed as if Elijah and his God rather than Baal were in control of the fertility of Israel. So Elijah’s test to Baal’s followers seemed like a good opportunity to vindicate their god and they readily agreed to it. When the preparations were completed, the test began." [Comment on 18:22-24, from Walvoord, John F., and Zuck, Roy B., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.]

Look at how Elijah saw the ridiculous and powerless religion of the Baals. He actually makes fun of them, in verse 27. From nine in the morning until noon, they shouted and prayed for Baal to send fire from heaven to consume the offering they had put on the altar.

"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 travelling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

Now that's very politically incorrect isn't it? To make fun of other people's gods! The NIV and most other translations wimp out a bit here. The translators are actually more refined than the bible at this point. What they translate rather boringly as "Perhaps …he's busy," really means "perhaps he's going to the toilet!" Yeah, come on you so-called prophets, where's your god? Shout louder, maybe he's thinking, maybe he's on the dunny! [dunny - colloquial Australian expression for toilet - equivalent of 'john']

The bible often makes fun of idols. Jeremiah for example, says this: Jeremiah 10:5
"Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good."

Or consider Psalm 115:
Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Thy name give glory
Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.
2 Why should the nations say, "Where, now, is their God?"
3 But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
6 They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
Those who make them will become like them,
8 Everyone who trusts in them.

Let me see just how much you have been affected by the pluralist spirit of our society. Allah is an invention of the devil. Kali, Shiva, and all the millions of other hindu gods are a load of bull. The birds know better what to do with idols like that than the people who worship them. Buddha - he is the devil in disguise, and anyone who worships him will not stand on judgement Day. How do you feel about those stark and uncomplimentary statements about other people's faith? Do you feel uncomfortable? Well, all those religions are no better or worse than the Baal worship which Elijah fought against, and which he ridiculed as a merely human invention.

Elijah taunts them, but they soon find out that it is no laughing matter. From nine am to three pm, which was the time of the evening sacrifice, they danced, they prayed, they shouted, they even cut themselves to get Baal to take notice of them. Contrast all that with Elijah's simple prayer to God. To make it even harder, he instructs them to pour water over his offering three times until it is soaked. Then we read in verse 36, "Elijah stepped forward and prayed, 'O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let it be known in Israel 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."

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."

450 prophets of Baal, all worshipping frantically for six hours - that's 2700 prophet-hours of prayer! All for nothing. And this one faithful prophet of the Lord prays one prayer that takes a few seconds, and it's all over.

So is this rather longer than usual sermon! Let me conclude with a couple of principles we can learn from this story.

1. Prayer is the key to effective Christian living and witness

Listen to the Apostle James: James 5: 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Elijah was not superhuman, but just an obedient follower of the Lord who stayed close to the Lord in Prayer. Before you do anything, have you prayed about it? Your prayers can be as powerful as Elijah's. That's a promise from Scripture.

2. The Word of the Lord has come to us and we must obey it like Elijah did.

Jesus is the Word incarnate, and we must believe what he says, and act on it, as Elijah always obeyed the Word of the Lord. There is only one way to God and his name is Jesus. Have you put your faith in him for salvation. Choose this day whom you will serve.

3. We cannot earn God's favour by ritual, works, and passion.

No one could have been more earnest, passionate and sincere than the prophets of Baal. But they were sincerely wrong. God hears us solely by His mercy, through our obedience to His Word and His way of getting right with him. We must come to God on His terms and through His means of access. We cannot be saved by our human religion or works, but only by faith in Jesus.

For, there was another sacrifice which God accepted, like Elijah's, at three in the afternoon. On that first Good Friday, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God in human form, offered up his own life as an offering for sin, on our behalf.

Whose side are you on? Are you worshipping the true God in the true way? Have you obeyed the Word of the Lord and put your trust in His Son Jesus? Are you dedicated to worshipping only him and having the courage that Elijah had, to pray and believe in the face of incredible odds? I pray that we may have the courage and boldness to proclaim the Truth to our apostate generation. Do you believe Jesus is the only way to God? Then pray that way, and live it out in your life as well.