1 Kings 18:21
Preached Wednesday February 24, 2010
Introduction:
The following is a story told by a simple Kentucky preacher. When I was in grade school, my family visited some friends who owned a farm in Kentucky. After we were there several days, I jumped at the chance to ride their horse, Prince. However, having never ridden a horse before, and realizing the horse was much larger than he looked from a distance, I proceeded cautiously.
Being an intelligent fourth grader, I decided to play it safe by climbing a wooden fence next to where the horse was standing and mount him from there. With one foot on the left side of the top fence rail, I threw the other leg over the horse who was on the right side. Immediately the horse began to sidle slowly away from the fence. Now I hadn’t planned on that, and I needed to make a hasty decision. You see, I wanted both to ride the horse and to hold on to the security of the fence. Needless to say, after my legs had stretched as far as they would go, I fell face down on the ground.
You would think such an experience would teach one a lesson. Yet in the years that followed, I would still find myself trying to “straddle the fence.” And the results would always be the same as that first experience. Only the fence wasn’t on the farm in Kentucky—it was the fence between commitment to Christ and the world. And believe me, the falls from this fence hurt a lot more. Save yourself a lot of pain—don’t try to straddle the fence.
Are you on the fence in an area of your life this evening? Do you find yourself with a decision you really ought to make, but are unwilling to commit to either side of the fence? Perhaps you are overwhelmed by the choices of religions that are out there. Biblical Christianity is only one of the options that are offered. Do you seek to continue in Christianity, but also keep your options open for alternative belief systems? Has the Holy Spirit convicted you about your money or career? Are you teetering on the edge of whether or not you should commit your tithe to God? Do you wonder whether or not you should surrender to full time vocational service to God even though you know that you could make so much more in the secular world? Do you find it hard to wholly trust in God and quit trusting in yourself? You are on the fence. You need to make a decision one way or another. Soon you will fall on your face because of your hesitation.
The people of Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt by God’s mighty hand. They were graciously given the Law of Moses, a light to guide them through life. God had been proving His particular and special love for His people, Israel for several hundred years at the time of our passage this evening. Israel had a very evil King, Ahab, who promoted idol worship and hated the True God. Elijah was one of very few men of God who had not yet compromised his beliefs in order to stay popular with the current administration. Many people were torn between following the popular apostasy and the God that had led their forefathers out of Egypt.
Elijah was drawing a line in the sand. He was about to have a showdown with the false god of Ahab and his wicked queen, Jezebel. It was time that people end their hesitation and make a decision.
1 Kings 18:21
21 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.
In the next few minutes we are going to examine Biblical calls to end our hesitation and make decisions. We are going to be compelled to get off the fence and wholly follow truth. We will learn to avoid the paralyzing effect of hesitation.
I. Chose to serve false gods, or the God of the Bible.
A. It is not popular to choose Biblical Christianity exclusively.
1. Bible believers are vilified for their beliefs.
1 Kings 18:17
17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
2. Bible believers are in the minority.
1 Kings 18:19,22
19 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.
22 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.
3. Many people shy away from following the Bible exclusively.
1 Kings 18:21
21 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.
a. Come to church, yet allow false teachers in their homes.
b. Profess to be Bible Believing Christians, yet partner with those who are not.
c. Claim to believe the Bible, yet fail to stand for its infallibility.
d. Claim to have accepted Jesus as Savior, yet believe that there may be some other way into Heaven.
B. Unscriptural doctrine is widely accepted and tolerated
1. These false teachers “turned their backs” turned from the doctrine they once accepted.
1 Kings 18:18
18 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.
2. These false teachers are funded and protected by known enemies of God.
1 Kings 18:19
19 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.
C. One cannot follow lies and follow the truth at the same time – A choice must be made.
1. Make a choice.
1 Kings 18:21
21 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.
2. The power either comes from the God of the Bible or it does not.
3. There is no place for unequal partnership in the life of a believer.
1 Corinthians 6:14-17
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
D. To choose to follow the living God of the Bible, is to choose the true God with tangible, measurable evidence of power.
1 Kings 18:36-39
36 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. 37 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. 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
Joshua 24:15
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
I hate to see things done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly—if it be wrong leave it undone.
—Bernard Gilpin
II. Choose to serve money or to serve God.
A. One cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
B. God will meet your material needs
Matthew 6:25-30
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
C. Serve God first
Matthew 6:33-34
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Drawing on an ancient Chinese proverb, Harry Truman recounted in his Memoirs that being president “is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.”
He went on to explain that “a President either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a single moment.”
Perseverance is an essential quality of character in high-level leadership. Much good that might have been achieved in the world is lost through hesitation, faltering, wavering, vacillating, or just not sticking with it.
III. Choose to trust yourself or to trust God.
A. The opposite of faith in God is faith in yourself.
Habakkuk 2:4
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
B. Lack of faith in God brings instability.
James 1:6-8
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
1. Hinders prayer
2. Cuts power
3. Brings instability to every part of your life.
Conclusion:
It is time that we make clear choices in our lives. We must no longer teeter on the edge of indecision when it comes to our separation from false doctrine. We must make a choice once and for all if we are going to serve God with our material possessions, or serve those possessions. We must decide whether we are going to trust in our own understanding and might, or completely yield to the power and wisdom of God. There is no more room for hesitation and indecision. Everything we do must be done with a sense of decision, distinction and completion. We cannot leave the Gospel story half told.
During the early days of the ministry of Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist launched a series of meetings in Chicago with promise of the largest crowds that he had ever addressed up to that time. He was speaking of the life of Christ, and on the first Sunday night, October 8, 1871, he took as his topic the trial before Pilate. As he came to the end of his message, he turned to Matthew 27:22, “What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?” He concluded, “I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and the cross, and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”
It may have been an artistic device. But speaking of it in later years, Moody called that conclusion to his morning’s address the greatest mistake of his life. Even while Mr. Sankey was singing the final hymn:
Today the Savior calls;
For refuge fly;
The storm of justice falls,
And death is nigh—
the fire engines began to sound on the street on their way to their first contact with the great Chicago fire in which Moody’s hall was laid in ashes, and in which it is estimated that over a thousand persons lost their lives. Moody never saw that congregation again, and some of those to whom he spoke on that night doubtlessly died.
We serve a great and powerful God. The Bible is absolutely true! The gods of this world are powerless. Money makes a poor god. God gives us access to unlimited power if we trust in Him. We need not sit the fence. We need not hesitate to preach and teach for decision. God loves us too much for us to suffer under the paralyzing effect of indecision.