MOUNTAIN TOP EXPERIENCES IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
MOUNT CARMEL- THE POWER OF GOD
1st Kings 18:17-40
Introduction: I was going to preach on this when it was time in this series but in my messages on Elijah, it is at this point. It will entail several messages as we have with these messages on Elijah. This is an important mountaintop that many have never seen and that is the power of God falling. But God is not limited. But the conditions have to be right. I am not talking about praying for the fire of God to literal fall from heaven unless it is necessary for god to do so. But the fire from heaven can be as strong as the day of Pentecost came and many people were saved. It is interesting to combine these two events together. The disciples were in a ten-day prayer meeting when the power of God came. Elijah had a three-year prayer meeting. Both times the power of God fell. It should be our desire to see the power of God fall once again and see a harvest of souls won to the Lord because we went to the mountaintop seeking God’s power. This is not for bragging rights but praise the greatness of our God to do that beyond our thoughts. Ephesians 3:20-21
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Elijah has issued an invitation for Ahab to meet with him. He sent word by Obadiah to king Ahab. It is early morning upon Mount Carmel. We are standing on the highest point, looking northward to where Hermon, on the extreme borders of the land, rears its snowcapped head to heaven. Around us on the left lies the Mediterranean Sea. Immediately at Carmel's base winds is Kishon's ancient brook. Beyond it stretches the plain, the garden of Palestine, now barren with three years' drought. Away there in the distance is the city of Jezreel, with the royal palace and the idol temple distinctly visible.
In this point of time, we see several groups. We see the king and his crowd of the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. The name “Baal” was appropriated to the principal male god of the Phoenicians. These were leftovers the land of Canaan that the crowd that was with Joshua was supposed to completely destroy. But when you allow sin to escape, it will eventually come back and harm you and/or your family. The name of Baal is found in several places in the plural BAALIM. Baal is identified with Molech. We need know what this is also because it helps you understand some of the problems that we find in the Old Testament. Molech is the Fire-god, ‘the abomination of Ammon.’ Ammon is the result of the incestuous relationship between Lot and one of his daughters. In the latter days of Solomon, when the heathen women whom he had married had turned away his heart after other gods, he built a high place in the hill before Jerusalem for Molech. The Israelites sacrificed their children to this idol. Passing their children through the fire might seem to imply that they were dedicated to the idol by being rapidly passed through a fire without being burnt, and this may have been done.
Baal was worshipped till the time of Samuel and is the official religion of the ten tribes in this time of Ahab. The priests of Baal were in great numbers. Their mode of offering sacrifices will be described in this passage. The sun god, under the general title of Baal, or "lord," was the chief object of worship of the Canaanites.
So we see Ahab and his religious crowd on this day. Then we see a man of God standing alone. All the training, all the trials, and all the trusting have been to bring Elijah to the place where he could stand in the pure power of God and show a lost nation that Jehovah, not Baal, was Lord of all. The entire nation of Israel, with the exception of some seven thousand faithful people had given themselves over to the worship of the false god Baal. Things were so bad that even the king and the queen of Israel were leaders in promoting the worship of these idol gods.
However, God had not forgotten His investment in His people! He had not forgotten how He had chosen them out of all the other people on the face of the earth. How He had brought them out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness. He remembered giving them the land, the Law and the covenants of promise. He never forgot for and instant that they were His people and that He had plans for them.
Therefore, God had called, trained, and groomed a man named Elijah. All the preparation had been for just this moment. It is this moment when God would call the nation back to Himself. It is this moment when God would prove beyond all question that He was Lord and God.
Elijah is consciously standing in the presence of One to whom the nations of men are as grasshoppers. All heaven is at his back. Legions of angels fill the mountain with horses and chariots of fire. He is only a man of like passions we have, but he is full of faith and spiritual power. He has learned the secret of moving God Himself. He can avail of the very resources of Deity, as a slender rod may draw lightning from the cloud. This very day is not by any natural power, but by faith. Nothing shall be impossible to him. Is it not written, "All things are possible to him that believeth"? (Mark 9:23). He spoke seven times during the course of that memorable day, and his times during the course of that memorable day, and his words are the true index of what was passing in his heart.
It was time for Elijah to prove that he was who he was rumored to be. It was time to put up or shut up. This passage has much to say to the church today as well. We live in a day of half-hearted service, when people serve the gods of self, materialism, recreation and pleasure more than the serve the God of Heaven. I am not just talking about the world. I am talking about people who claim to be saved. The same mentality that drives the world today has invaded the church. God wants us to know today that He is still the Lord. He hasn't forgotten the investment He made in us, and like He called Israel back to Himself on Mount Carmel, He wants to call His people back to Him today.
I. THE CHALLENGE IS EXTENDED.
Vs. 17-24
“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 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 Baalim. Now 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. 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 the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then 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. Let 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: And 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.”
A. The Potentate is challenged in verses seventeen through twenty. The word “potentate” is another word for king. Ahab is the king of Israel. He has chosen to lead the people of God away from the worship of God into the worship of a false God Baal. Elijah, on the other hand, knows nothing of compromise. He is totally sold out to the will of God for himself and for his nation. It is safe to say that these two men are not best of friends. In fact, some may wonder why Ahab would even allow Elijah to live at this point. After all, Elijah is the one who pronounced the drought that has nearly destroyed Israel and that has taken the lives of thousands of people. Why not just kill him and be finished with it? Ahab has come to believe that the drought will not end unless Elijah prays for it to do so. Therefore, he must indulge this man that he despises so deeply.
1. Ahab confronts Elijah in verse seventeen. When Ahab sees Elijah, he accuses him of "troubling" Israel. This word refers to one "who stirs something up, or causes a disturbance. " However, it also carries the meaning of "a snake or serpent." This is equivalent to Ahab calling Elijah "a snake in the grass." There is no love lost between these two men. What Ahab failed to realize was that Elijah was the best friend that Israel had.
It is the same when people get mad at the man of God proclaiming the truths of God from the Word of God and points sins. They have failed to realize or even regulate in their lives Psalm 119 and verse 165.
“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
They fail to understand that when God's man tells them the truth, he does so because he loves them and God loves them. The truth has the power to set you free. Therefore, people would do well to receive the message of God and deal with it personally. The man who tells you the truth is not your enemy. The man who tells you all is well when you are wrong is not your friend. I have known some preachers that have deliberately tried to anger people and justify their actions with the Word of God. Jesus told the truth even when it hurt and it set people free from the bondage of religion and sin. John 8:32
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
2. Elijah condemns Ahab in verse eighteen. - Elijah's response to the accusations of Ahab is to look him squarely in the eye and tell him the truth. Elijah tells Ahab that the drought is really Ahab's fault. Because he, and his fathers, led the people away from the worship of God and into the worship of Baal, God sent the drought to get their attention and to call their hearts back to Himself. In reality, Ahab was the troublemaker; Elijah was just the troubleshooter.
Why is it that God's people forget that there is a price on sin? When we make wrong choices in our lives and wander away from God, why are we surprised when He chastens us? After all, isn't that what He promised to do?
Hebrews 12:5-11
“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
Revelation 3:19
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
Proverbs 3:11-12
“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”
There always has been, and there always will be a price to pay for sin. You never get away with it. Galatians 6:7
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Having sinned in my life and walking away from God and feeling the chastening hand of God, I want to keep people from walking down that path. Chastening is painful but it can purify also.
3. Elijah issues a challenge in verses nineteen and twenty. Elijah does not asks but commands that Ahab send for the people of the land and also the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets that work the groves to meet at the top of Mount Carmel.
Conclusion: Basically Elijah is issuing a show down at Mount Carmel against false religion. He is ready to fight for what is right and confront the wrong.
The challenge of this hour is thus: don’t allow sin to reign in your life. Stand for the right and against the wrong. This will not make you popular but you will please God.
Next time we look at the people and their silence against God. Silence is not golden when it comes to the things of God; it is plenty yellow and cowardice.