Sermon in Minneapolis 01.08.2004

We will begin with opening prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

The Old Testament text for today is from 1 Kings, the 18th chapter, verses 36 through 39. And 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. Hear 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. When 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, and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. Amen.

I am sure that many people in this world would wish to, especially when conversing with someone else, be able to perform a miracle like this, as Prophet Elijah did. When at his command, he called fire to fall out of heaven, and he did it. And in this way, a person would like to be able to prove, and to show, especially to another person, perhaps an atheist or an agnostic person, with such a miracle that God truly does exist.

But isn't it so that God, who is the creator of heaven and earth, of things that are visible and invisible alike, has placed an order in this universe and cosmos that things behave according to the laws of nature, and that is the way that we live. But God is all-powerful, and God is above and beyond even the laws of nature. And at his will, when he wishes or desires, he is able to do such things, that do not obey the laws of nature. And many times when he has done such, they have perhaps even caused such things as a spiritual awakening, just as took place in this text as a result of the miracle. A miracle that Elijah was able to call from heaven.

During the time of prophet Elijah, there in the northern area of the country, known as Israel, they were, for the most part, the country was living a life that was on the skids. There was very much unbelief existing in the country at that time. The king in this country at that time was a man by the name of Ahab. And he got married to a woman from another country who was a supporter of a false religion. She was a Phoenician. And they supported and worshiped the prophets or the gods of Baal. And the light, especially during the rituals of this Baal worship, was very sensual, filled with immorality, sex, orgies, and so on and so forth.

Thereby, when Ahab got married to this woman, Jezebel, a Phoenician, thus cementing a political relationship with this foreign country, thereby began to bring in great amounts of that false worship and godliness into the country of Israel. There was a series of evil kings. The first in this series was Solomon. In a couple of chapters earlier, it tells of a few more in the string of this series. The Bible says that Elah and Zimri were ungodly kings. Omri, who followed them, was worse. But Ahab was worse than all of these.

Queen Jezebel, a very evil woman, had as her goal to snuff out living faith and living Christianity. She had to take a stand from the face of this world. And she began to kill all of the prophets of God that she could find. And because of this wrath of Queen Jezebel, prophet Elijah fled into the wilderness and was spending his time by a certain brook by the name of Cherith. And God had told prophet Elijah to pray that no rain would come upon the face of the earth for a period of time of three and one half years. And Elijah was obedient. He prayed. And a great famine and drought came upon the face of the earth.

Now prophet Elijah had to flee from the wrath of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. There he was spending his time by this brook, Cherith. Pretty soon, because of the drought, the brook dried up. But then ravens were sent to bring food and nourishment to prophet Elijah. Eventually, then the prophet went to the area of Hedon, which was a gentile or a pagan, a heathen area. And he came to the house of one widow woman who had one child. And he asked this believing heathen gentile woman to make him some bread. The woman said that she had but just some bread. And he said, she had but just a little bit of meal or flour left remaining and just a few drops of oil to make bread. Nevertheless, Elijah asked this woman to make food for him that the meal would not run out. She used the last of her meal and the oil in her flask to make him bread and a miracle. And when the miracle took place, it seemed like the meal and the oil multiplied.

But now, when he left from this woman, God asked that prophet Elijah would go and meet this king Ahab, whose wrath he had fled about three and a half years earlier. And the king had been searching everywhere for Elijah, high and low, all around the country, even going to the neighboring countries looking for prophet Elijah. So as prophet Elijah is returning back to his home locality, he meets a man by the name of Obadiah, a Christian man who is working in the palace of king Ahab. And Obadiah warns prophet Elijah that do not go to meet the king. You know what the result will be. He has been looking for you for these three and a half years. You will immediately lose your life.

But prophet Elijah is in a puffed up state, we could say. Or could we say that he had dried up in himself. Prophet Elijah says that I and only I am a believer left here upon the face of this earth. Where had prophet Elijah just come from? He had just spent time in the house of this widow and her only son. Weren't they believers? Obadiah, the servant of the king says, that is not true. I have hid one hundred prophets of God in two different caves. But yet, prophet Elijah continues, I and only I am the only believer here upon the face of this earth. Three different times he repeats this.

This isn't the only time in history that this has happened. I could mention several different cases during the recent past. Here in this country was a preacher there in the copper country who at the time of the heresy stated that the heresy stayed with us for some time but then eventually went his own way. A believer met him one day on the streets of Calumet and he told this believer that just as there were eight believing souls in the ark of Noah, so also are there only eight believing souls any longer on the face of this earth.

Also there was another preacher who lived in Vipuri whose name was Kosonen. And we all remember the so-called Kosonen spirit that was much talked about in the late 70s and early 80s. And he said that the spirit of the Holy Spirit was the same as the spirit of the Holy Spirit in the ancient Bible. He at one time said when he was in one living room where there were eight people gathered together, he said, we eight people are the only correct believing people on the face of this earth. But the final result for this man named Kosonen was good because he was able to before he died receive the grace of repentance and a testimony remained that his soul was acceptable unto God.

Jesus in the sermon on the mount once said in this way and gave a warning that the spirit of the Holy Spirit is always in the presence of the Holy Spirit. He said that before you complain about the small sliver that is in your neighbor's eye, why don't you first take the beam that is in your own eye away and then worry about the sliver that is in your own eye. And he said that the sliver was in the mouth of the Holy Spirit.

And the Lord said to his disciples that when you are looking at the Lord and you are looking at the Holy Spirit, he said that you. Prophet Elijah goes anyway, meets King Ahab, and they agree to go and meet on top of one mountain, and there they would both erect an altar. This is not the only time that such meetings were held on top of mountains. We remember that Moses received the law of the Ten Commandments on top of Mount Sinai.

Now, Prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal are going to meet on top of a mountain called Mount Carmel. Immediately after this, Elijah flees to another mountain known as Horeb, which some say is the same as Mount Sinai. And we remember that Jesus was transfigured on the summit of the Mount of Transfiguration.

So now, there were services, we could say, that were held on the top of Mount Sinai. And the two leaders of the two cities were called to Mount Carmel. And they set up an agreement. And both were saying that their God that they worship is the true and the living God. The God of Baal and the God of Elijah, the living God. And so they decided that they would both erect an altar on top of the mountain. They would put wood upon the altar and then take a sacrifice and cut it into pieces and put the sacrifice upon the wood. And then they would drench the wood, the sacrifice, and the altar with water three times. And they couldn't use matches, which they didn't have at that time, or any other means other than prayer to God or their God to call fire from heaven, to kindle the wood to burn that was on top of the altar.

The ironic thing is the God of Baal was the God of nature. And one of its major duties and tasks was to have the power and authority over fire and thunder. So they went to the top of Mount Carmel. And on the side of Baal, there were 450 prophets of Baal. In addition, there were another 400 prophets of Asherah. So a total of 950 prophets on the side of the gods of Baal. This was Jezebel and King Ahab's side.

And we could say that on the other side was Jezebel and the old Tellurian of Sq. Elijah. He was the one who prayed and wells and water pours of water. And then Moses was the same. And they said that, Baal, Baal, answer us. And they began to rejoice. We could say that, in a way, they were trying to mimic the services of God's children living Christianity. In years past, there used to often be rejoicing in the services of God's children. And when there was no response, then they took out their knives and they began to cut themselves. So blood began to drip from their legs or their arms or wherever they cut themselves.

So in this way, we could say, again, they were perhaps trying to mimic the services of God's children. And they wanted to do that. They wanted to have a bloody sermon, like we have a bloody sermon when we preach the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name and also in Jesus' blood. And then they were doing their rituals so frantically that they were almost in a trance and in an ecstasy. But hour after hour, during the morning hours... During the hours of the day, nothing happened. Nothing took place. No response from heaven. No response from their God.

Elijah was watching on the sidelines. And his comments were, we could say, as if almost dripping with sarcasm. He said, shout louder. Perhaps your gods are hard of hearing. Perhaps he has gone on a trip somewhere. Or perhaps he is out to do his duty out at the restroom. Shout louder. Perhaps he will then hear you. This continued for six hours and nothing happened. There was no response.

At 12 noon, it was now Prophet Elijah's turn to continue. But first of all, he has a sermon for those people who are there watching these activities. And he says in verse 21, Elijah came to all the people and he said, How long do you halt? Between two opinions. How long are you going to straddle the fence? Some people were, we could say, with all of their heart, following the gods of Baal. But there were some, apparently, in the audience, who were trying to straddle the fence. Both worship the gods of Baal and trying to have saints. Trying to at the same time worship the true and the living God. How long are you going to halt between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him with one word.

Jesus said in his time in this way, That a person cannot serve two masters, God and mammon. For he will love the one and he will hate the other. So it is a very dangerous condition for anyone at any time to walk with a divided heart. And to try to exist. And to straddle the fence. With one foot in the world and the other foot in God's kingdom.

So Elijah builds his altar. But first of all, before constructing the altar, He finds the old original foundation, which is twelve stones. And many times the Bible uses this number twelve. There were twelve tribes in Israel. And there were twelve disciples that Jesus chose. After Judas Iscariot left, took his own life by hanging himself. The disciples said, The disciples saw it necessary that the number would be twelve. And they chose Matthias to fill that remaining spot. In the Bible, there is talked about the doctrine of the twelve disciples or the apostles.

So this is where prophet Elijah is building his altar. Upon the old original firm foundation. Those twelve stones. And so now the altar of stones, it is actually a pile of stones, is erected. Then Elijah puts wood upon the altar. Cuts up the sacrifice into pieces. And puts that upon the wood. And then he commands the servants to go down to the ocean, way down at the base of the hill to the shore of the ocean, to fill up some buckets and bring them up to the top of the hill. Pour them over the wood and the sacrifice on the altar. And this he commands the servants to do three times. And then water is to be used to fill the trench that is around the base of the altar.

And now prophet Elijah is going to begin his turn and to attempt to call fire from heaven. It is kind of interesting in the Bible how in many connections fire has been used. We remember that God spoke to Moses at the burning bush. We remember that when the people of Israel were traveling through the wilderness, God guided them by night with a pillar of fire and during the day with a pillar of cloud. A cloud by day.

And then when the first sacrifice was offered in the tabernacle at the beginning of the wilderness journey, the priest prayed. Fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifice. And likewise when Solomon finished the construction of the temple and the first sacrifice was offered in this newly constructed and dedicated temple by the priest, fire came down from heaven and burned that sacrifice that was on the altar.

But at times fire has been used as a sign of divine judgment as well. We remember when Adam and Eve were chased out of the garden of Eden. An angel was placed to guard the way back in into the garden of Eden and was carrying a flaming sword in his hand. We also remember how the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with fire and brimstone.

So now 12 o'clock noon. After all of this, the water and the sacrifice have been doused with water three times. Then prophet Elijah is going to begin to pray. The Bible in the New Testament says in this way that if you would have faith the amount of a mustard seed, which was thought to be the smallest of the seeds and the smallest seed in the world at some times, that pray and you shall receive it. Pray and ask that this tree would be uprooted and it will uproot itself. Pray that these mountains would be moved and they will move from their original site and be cast into the ocean.

Has anything like this ever happened when we have prayed? No it has not. We do not even have that amount of faith that would be as much as a small mustard seed. Nevertheless, we are not required to have much faith but only this, that the faith that we have would be the correct and the living faith that we have.

Here as a flickering candle has been my life of faith and off my feet so stumbling, waver upon the way. But from the open fountains which freely flow in Zion, new strength I here receive.

So here in our text all of this background now leads us up to our text and kind of gives us the picture of what is happening. And our text begins in this way. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said and prayed publicly before all the people, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, or in other words Israel. Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things because of your word.

And when the prophet Elijah says this short prayer, a miracle takes place. The heavens open to the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus the mighty one through our God. The stones as well burned even further, completely so that they were completely consumed and incinerated. And then a tongue of fire licked dry the water that was in the trench around the base of the altar.

And as a result of this miracle, those hundreds of people that I'm sure were there watching this event, many of them who were halting between two opinions, straddling the fence, trying to worship the gods of Baal and the living God at the same time, walking with a divided heart, many who were disillusioned, outrightly worshipping the gods of Baal, many of these people fell down on their face and began to cry out, The Lord is God. The Lord, He is God.

We could say that there were great awakenings that took place. Many took care of their matters. Many received the grace of repentance. But now, after this, Prophet Elijah then began to kill the remaining prophets of Baal that were existing there on top of that mountain. And then he began to leave and go on a long journey.

But herein is also a beautiful story. A beautiful picture of prayer. An example of prayer. He had openly prayed there on top of the altar, on top of the mountain, and fire came down from heaven and kindled the wood to burn and consumed the sacrifice. And now, moments later, he prays privately. We remember that three years earlier that God had commanded him to pray and that a famine and a drought would come upon the face of the earth. And it didn't rain for the course of three and a half years.

Now three and a half years is up and Prophet Elijah prays again and he tells his servants to go out and look at the horizon after praying. The servants went once and came back. Nothing happened. He prays again and tells them to go the second time. They come back the second time. Nothing happened. He tells them to go the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth time. Nothing happens.

Finally, he sends them out the seventh time. And this time the servants come back and they said, We can see a small cloud forming there on the horizon. And it looks like it's the size of the hand of a human being. And so Prophet Elijah tells Ahab that to eat you have a long journey before you. And pretty soon they could hear as the rain began to come down from the heaven. And pretty soon it was a great thunderstorm.

As the heavens opened and water came pouring out. One brother related that he had grown up in a home that had gone into heresy. But he himself had received the grace of repentance. But his parents were still in unbelief. His mother fell ill and was on her death bed. And he goes to his mother on her death bed and talks to her about matters of living faith and Christianity. And mother receives the grace of repentance.

But the son thought that God has only heard half my prayer. Mother has repented. But father became all the more angry. But as time went on, soon father fell sick and he was on his death bed. The son goes to speak to his father. And as he's speaking to him tears were in his father's eyes. The son reminds him that father do you remember as a child you were in living faith. The boy says yes I do. Or the father said yes I do.

Father do you remember when the heresy came and you went into the heresy. The father said yes I do. And then he continues and then asks his father that father would you like to have your sins forgiven. The sin of heresy, unbelief and all your sins. The father nods yes I do. The son is able to bless his father. And happily the son says God has now heard my entire prayer.

The New Testament, in the New Testament, the apostle James talks about this event on Mount Carmel and talks about prophet Elijah and said that he was nothing special. No greater saint than you and I. For he was inflicted with all the faults, sins and lusts just as you and I are inflicted with. But when Elijah prayed a drought came upon the earth for three and a half years. When Elijah prayed a second time, then the drought came to an end.

And as the thunderstorm is beginning to deliver its rain from heaven, it is quite interesting that prophet Elijah has care and concern even about and for this unbelieving king. Not even, even though he is unbelieving. Even more so he was a king and a ruler who terribly persecuted prophet Elijah. But prophet Elijah still has care and concern for him. And he says, Go on your way, King Ahab, for the thunderstorm is coming. I will run alongside you as you are going.

It is as if that prophet Elijah wished to take an umbrella and hold it over the head of this unbelieving king. This king who had persecuted him even and wished to care for him in such a way that he would not get wet in this thunderstorm. But I am sure even more so he was thinking about the undying soul of King Ahab that perhaps that he would be able to receive the grace of repentance and the power of the Holy Spirit.

But earlier we mentioned that prophet Elijah had dried up in himself when he began to say that I and only I am correctly believing any longer here upon the face of this earth. So God needed to take care of prophet Elijah as well. As God through his kingdom and through his spirit takes care of each and every one of us. And there's a clear result of the moral of each and every one of us in his own way.

And so Prophet Elijah goes to the top of this other mount, Mount Horeb, which is apparently the same as Mount Sinai. And there he is, we could say, muttering to himself as he is hiding there alone in a cave. And a strong wind comes by. And the Bible says, and God was not in the wind. And there was an earthquake that caused the earth to tremble. And the Bible says, God was not in the earthquake. And then great fire came upon the mountain. The Bible says, and God was not in the fire.

We remember how two of the disciples of Jesus were known as the sons of thunder, the boys of Zebedee. And at one time when Jesus and his disciples weren't given any place of lodging in the area of Samaria one night, John and Jacob, the sons of thunder, became so angry that they said to Jesus, Jesus, why don't you just call fire to come down from heaven and give the earth a place of life and kill every one of these Samaritans when they are so inhospitable toward us.

Jesus had to turn to John and James and say, don't you know of what spirit you are speaking? We remember when Jesus was at the well of Sychar. He visited with this sinful woman, apparently a prostitute who was a Samaritan. She receives the grace of repentance. Then Jesus, right after this event, goes into the city of Samaria. He begins to preach there. And many of the Samaritans receive the grace of repentance.

Oh, how many living souls would have been lost if Jesus would have listened to what James and John asked for, that Jesus would call fire to come down from heaven to kill every one of these. And they did not give the Samaritans because they didn't give them a place of lodging.

So the Bible says, God was not in the thunder. God was not in the strong wind. God was not in the fire. God was not in the earthquake. But then, last of all, came a very small, still voice. Or in the Finnish it says, a very quiet voice. A very soft, gentle breeze. And the Bible says, and God was in this small, still voice. Or a small, gentle breeze.

But here, in the following chapter, it says that Elijah now returned along your way. There was one article once in the Theonieladis, last week. It was in the New Testament. It was in the New Testament. And this was its title. That return along your way. And one theme that they used was, when one has fallen away from faith into unbelief, then such a person should return along their way.

But prophet Elijah had not fallen away from faith. But there were matters that needed to be cared for. And God was able to care for prophet Elijah. And he said, Elijah, return along your way. And then the continuation of the work of God's kingdom was cared for as well. For soon it was time for prophet Elijah to leave from this life.

But then, it was arranged so that prophet Elisha would be the successor to prophet Elijah. Then flaming chariots came down from heaven, swooped up prophet Elijah, and he was taken as a living man up into heaven.

Last Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday, where it tells when Jesus was at the top of Mount Transfiguration with, again, Peter, James, and John. And Jesus' face began to shine like the sun. His clothes began to glisten like the snow. And two Old Testament saints came to stand abreast Jesus. One was Moses and the other was prophet Elijah.

Prophet Elijah was able to leave this life in living faith, having a testimony, carried away in a miraculous way, flaming chariots into heaven. But even in the New Testament, there is a strong testimony. Prophet Elijah was heaven acceptable.

So, brothers and sisters, even this evening, we can be happy and free, and secure, when we can be in the care of the kingdom of God, under the wings of the Most High. So we can be encouraged to make these, renew these promises, seem as it may seem, feel as it may feel. We, the hand of faith, cling to the grace promises of God, and even now, we can believe, all sins forgiven, in His name and precious blood. In Jesus name, Amen.