I invite you to turn with me both to 1 Kings 18 and to Psalm 2. 1 Kings 18 as we begin to take up that well-known contest on Mount Carmel, considering this morning the first side of that contest. In connection with that, we read Psalm 2. Psalm 2, hear now the Word of God. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His anointed one. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters. The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way. For His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. 1 Kings 18, considering verses 22-29. Backing up to verse 20. So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 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. Then Elijah said to them, I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bowls 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 bowl 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. Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. 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. Oh, Baal, answer us, they shouted. But there was no response. No one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 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. Maybe he is 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. May God add His blessing to the reading and the preaching of His Word this morning. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we considered last time, Elijah had placed before the people an ultimatum. He had placed before them a question of true allegiance. How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow Him. You can't have it both ways. There is only one true God. Who do you say is the true God? And the response, we know, was shameful silence. But the people said nothing. A deafening indictment against them. An indictment of just how far they had fallen from the covenant God who had revealed Himself so many times to His people throughout her history. And now, since they refused to answer, Elijah proposed a way to answer. Let the gods answer. Jehovah and Baal would be brought face to face in some sort of a duel, some sort of a contest, and asked themselves to reveal whether or not they were the One. If you think about it, beloved, Really an amazing picture of the patience and the mercy of God that he would even condescend for this. That he would allow himself to be put to the test against an idol, against the figment of heathen imagination. Yet with this first part of the contest, we notice that the Lord of Revelation mocks the foolishness of idolatry. He does so, beloved, first of all, with the test of supernatural fire. Secondly, through the teasing of Baal's prophets. And third, in the tone of complete impotence or powerlessness. First of all, Elijah announces the test of supernatural fire. Now, even most of the boys and girls are familiar with the plan. Each side would prepare a sacrifice. Each side would then call on the God that they believed in. And whichever God accepted the sacrifice by fire, that one would be God. And we ought to understand that Elijah is not just simply saying, well, that one will be God of Israel or that one would be God of the Phoenicians or the God of whomever, but that one would be God, period. That one is the one and only God of the universe. And the key to the test, of course, was that there was to be no man-made fire used. Instead, the fire was to be provided by the rightful God, which would be proof that He was the rightful God. It's kind of interesting that Elijah would even have to say a couple of times, no fire is to be used, but reportedly the deceptive practice of the false prophets, along with their false teaching, is that they would sometimes, in certain kinds of circumstances, dig a secret hole underneath the sacrifice and put fire, maybe hot coal, smoldering coals in that hole and then once they would ignite, then it would seem like fire came out of nowhere. No fire was to be used. And the advantage of this contest clearly goes to Baal and his prophets. They were given every conceivable earthly advantage. For example, it was a test of power and when it came to manpower, it was 450 verses 1. Elijah was the only active prophet. We know that Obadiah had spared a hundred, but they obviously were not active at this time with Jezebel and Ahab in control. Yet really, we know that it was 450 verses of Jehovah. As well as we said last time, Mount Carmel at this time was considered to be the dwelling place of Baal. And Baal was worshipped as the god of nature and of sun and also of rain and thunder and lightning and fire. He was worshipped as the god of many things and therefore that advantage, Baal's dwelling place, and that Baal was the god of fire, also worked their advantage. And they were given the advantage of going first. They could choose the bull. They could prepare it the way they wanted. They could build the altar as they see fit. And therefore the response was that this idea appealed to their reason. And they said nothing when Elijah challenged them with regard to their true allegiance. But this appealed to their reason. This made sense to them. They were excited. What you say is good. It's a good idea. It was a good idea for Baal's prophets because it's easy to take advantage of a contest that you believe that you are sure to win. It was a good idea for the people because it would be easy to believe in something they could see. then the matter would be settled. They were excited. But as we have said before on occasion, they were also very, very ignorant. Ahab and Baal's prophets and the people obviously had memories that burned away with the vegetation of the land as they did not seem to understand that Jehovah had been mocking Baal for the previous three and a half years as he held back the reign that Baal was supposed to be in charge of. They obviously forgot about that. But hey, Baal was also the god of fire, so here's our opportunity. Certainly, this was risky for Elijah, wasn't it? Yet we know there was absolutely no risk for Elijah because this was a call for revelation. The answer to the question, who is God, could only be answered by revelation, by the God who revealed Himself. The focus throughout here is on an answer. The God who answers by fire. O Baal, answer us, they cry. Or Elijah later on, Answer me, O Lord, answer me. And answer was important because that answer would be proof of the reality of the living God. It would be proof of contact between God and man, but no answer would be proof of the impotence and the unreality of the idol. Elijah sets up a test, this test, to demonstrate the truth of Scripture that idols are nothing. Idols are only man's creations. They have eyes but cannot see, mouths but cannot speak. They are those like Isaiah speaks of when the man goes into the forest and cuts down a tree and carves an idol. And with what's left, he builds a fire and he cooks his food over it and then he bows down to the idol that he carves and says, take care of me, feed me, keep me warm. Idols are nothing. Man's creation. Beloved, we know God by and our faith depends on His revelation of Himself to us apart from without that, there's no hope. We can only know God as He reveals Himself. On this occasion, this revelation would be an answer by fire. Not an answer by the water that they so desperately needed, but by fire. As we have said before, the sin of idolatry needed to be dealt with before the blessing would come. And Elijah knew the scriptural significance of fire. He knew that fire was evidence of the presence of God. In Exodus 3, Moses stands before the burning bush. God was present in the flame of fire in the bush. In the wilderness for all those years, God was present before His people in the nighttime in the pillar of fire. Fire was a symbol of God's sin-hating wrath as fire from heaven came down and consumed the wicked Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. The fire of hell is a symbol of God's sin-hating wrath. In Leviticus 9, verse 24, the Lord sent fire to consume that first sacrifice that was presented in front of the tabernacle. And by doing so, He demonstrated that He was, is Israel's God and that He accepted the substitutional sacrifice. On other occasions, for example, God accepted the offerings of Gideon and Manoah, Samson's dad, by fire from heaven. Elijah understood he knew the scriptural significance of fire. That it was evidence of the presence of God. Baal might be considered the god of fire, but only in leading one to the eternal fire. This answer by fire would be proof of the covenant God, and therefore the very announcement of this test of fire, the God who answers by fire, He is God. The very announcement of the test of fire should have been a reminder to Israel of her covenant God who had revealed Himself so many times before through fire. This very announcement was filled with mockery for the foolishness of idolatry, for the foolishness of anything of man's own making. Because none of it is able to give an answer. The covenant God alone promised an answer to those who call upon Him. In Psalm 50, we read, Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you. As we considered in our prayer day service, Proverbs 15, 29, the Lord hears the prayer of the righteous. The supernatural fire from heaven on this occasion would be proof that Elijah's God, the one whom He set up before the people, was indeed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their fathers. The God of Israel. Beloved, our God has revealed Himself to us in His Word and through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has revealed Himself as the sovereign God of salvation, as the One who alone is all-powerful, all-providing, all-caring. And we have experienced His work in our lives in many ways, first and foremost, through that precious gift of faith. Yeah, beloved, how often, especially when times get tough, when money gets short, when health fails, how often do we tend to look elsewhere and to place our trust in the temporary things of life, even in ourselves or in others. Treating God as if He doesn't care. Treating Him as if He is not in control. Challenging God to prove Himself again in the ways that we want Him to. Forgetting that He has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. And we live in the midst of a wicked world, beloved, that has embraced all kinds of counterfeit teaching and false gods which are absolutely foolish, whose only purpose it is to lead them directly to destruction. It's foolishness. It's blindness. It's meaninglessness. And therefore, in the second place, Elijah engages in the teasing, the taunting of Baal's prophets. Beginning at verse 26, So they took the bowl 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. 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. Maybe he is 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. I have a picture here of the elements of idolatrous worship. The shouting of endless refrains from morning to noon. O Baal, answer us! O Baal, answer us! Over and over again! God's people are to praise Him for all of His attributes, all of His blessings, which we cannot even begin to list them all. We're to praise Him for who He is and what He has done. But those who follow idols have nothing to say to them. They have nothing to say about them. Baal was unmoved. Even when it came to their cultic dance, their frantic dancing around the altar which was common in the service of eastern idols, they had to make a scene in order to get the attention of their God. And then self-mutilation. Verse 28, So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears as was their custom until their blood flowed. Shedding their own blood. As in devil worship, even still today, those who want to please Him or try to get His attention or His favor try to do so by shedding their own blood. Yet in Deuteronomy 14.1, God's people were commanded not to cut themselves. And then frantic prophesying, maybe some sort of mumbo-jumbo or some sort of a trance-like state. But in contrast to all of this, Elijah later will demonstrate true worship, calling on God in spirit and in truth, praying as Jesus says in Matthew 6, And when you pray, do not use vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think they will be heard for many words. All of this idolatrous worship was nothing but chaos and confusion trying to coax Baal, trying to earn his attention at which he who sits in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. And here He did so through His word-bearer, Elijah. At noon, when the sun would be directly overhead, when the heat would be the fiercest, when it would be the best time as far as the atmosphere for Baal to answer, Elijah responds with mockery. Verse 27, 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. Maybe he is sleeping. and must be awakened. Beloved, do you notice that this mocking, this taunting is filled with divine irony? As Elijah describes, that which cannot possibly be God. Yet he says, surely Baal was a god. Well, to the Phoenician kingdom, and he was a great God. He was important. And certainly much shouting and much noise was in order for such a great God. The greater He is, the more shouting must be given. Kind of like today when you see the crowds in the midst of Hollywood celebrities trying to get their attention. You have to have a unique scream in order to get them to look at you. To get noticed. Surely, He's a great God. Certainly, much shouting is in order for Him. Therefore, in essence, Elijah says, it must be your fault there's no answer because surely if you were worth it, if you had done enough, He would answer. But notice, the prophets do not catch on to the mockery. They intensify their actions, including cutting themselves at this time and then prophecy. Indeed, Elijah was justified later on in putting them to death because the Lord's laughter turns to anger. And Elijah gives four possible reasons why he's not answering in verse 27. Perhaps he is deep in thought or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened. Sadly though, these things would not be a surprise to the heathen prophets because they thought of their gods with creaturely limits. Baal was considered to be one who traveled with his warriors, for example, with his soldiers. And therefore, for them, He could be inaccessible at times, but surely for a time such as this, Baal would be available, wouldn't he? You see, Elijah, for Israel, for Israel, he places the idol in the light of God's Word. God had revealed Himself to Israel as the very opposite. As one without limitation. Not as a creature, but as the Creator. Deep down inside, Israel knew the foolishness of believing in an inaccessible God. The true God never cuts off contact with His people. In Proverbs 15, verse 3, it says, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Psalm 121, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. God cares deeply for His own. He is always ready to come to their aid. And just as Elijah exposes the foolishness of idolatry, still today, God's people are called to expose the foolishness of false gods, whether they are false religions of Mormonism, or Jehovah's Witness, or Islam, or whether they are distortions of Christianity that make God all-inclusive, for example, that God is accepting of everyone. And every kind of sin, even the sins that the Bible clearly says, if unrepented of, we'll send one to destruction. Or even the false gods of philosophy or materialism or even affluence that grabs so many people. God's people are called to expose the foolishness of false gods because of Jehovah's holy laughter at the foolishness of man over against the wisdom of God and against the impossibility of victory over him. Elijah mocks them because of the seriousness of the danger of their foolishness. Elijah's challenge places Israel face to face with the law of God that has said, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make an image, an idol. You shall not worship or serve it. And as He places them face to face with the law of God, in doing so, He lays before the people the very question of a God who takes time off from His people because of creaturely limitations. He makes these people of Revelation, those who have been blessed with Revelation again and again throughout history, He makes these people of Revelation see the foolishness and the vanity and the danger and the abomination of idolatry. Baal could not send fire, let alone save from sin. False gods are powerless to begin with, but especially when it comes to man's true dilemma, which affects us not only for the life to come, but also for this life. We are not to take idolatry lightly because the law curses it and it condemns those who serve idols. Israel was to see the judgment that was implied in Elijah's mocking. And Psalm 2 says, The God who laughs, His laughter is turned to anger. He will break them. He will dash them to pieces. Beloved, we may laugh at this foolishness as we read about it here in Scripture and think how ridiculous. We may laugh today at those who serve Allah or Buddha or themselves. Yet, beloved, we are to understand the seriousness of this, that these only lead to hell. These do not help man's true dilemma, but they promote man's sin. We are to recognize as well that we all deserve to be the objects of God's holy mocking. As Paul says in Romans 3, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that, beloved, makes each one of us fit objects for God's holy laughter. And we must confess that our sin includes so often putting our trust and confidence in money, in possessions, in power, in people, whatever is out there that we can see that makes sense to us. Even the boys and girls will often say, well, if only I had this or I had that, then I will be happy. Then my life will be complete. I'll never be upset again. Wrong. Indeed, we trust God for eternity. We trust Him so easily, it seems, for our eternal state. But when it comes to the things of this life, that which we lay our eyes on, and especially when life becomes difficult and distress has come, it seems as if it's every man for himself here, and that the attitude becomes, well, I have to do whatever it takes. Forgetting that even the details and the circumstances and the things of this life are in God's hand and only He is the one who gives peace and strength to get through the uncertain times. So often our sin includes failing to really take our sin seriously. We are called to humility. We are called to remember that God revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, in whom God revealed His patience and mercy in not treating us as our sins deserved. In whom those who believe in Him by the grace of God are exempted from God's holy laughter because He was willing to be mocked in our place. Indeed, mocked by those who crucified Him. Jesus Christ became sin for us, taking upon Himself our sin of the scorn and laughter toward God and our sin of the rejection of God as Jesus Christ felt the depths of God's holy mocking on account of our sin. Beloved, He endured all the wrath of God that lay behind our mocking. And in Him we are freed from God's mocking never again. to be subject to God's judgment. Christ's crucifixion and death unto victory as well was God's mocking against sin. God's mocking against those who reject Him. God's mocking against those who seek salvation in another way. God's mocking against Satan because God's mocking that says there is no other way. He alone saves. And He is victorious. Jesus Christ was crushed for us. And he has been placed on the throne of the kingdom. He is the only one to be trusted and served. Elijah's mocking on Mount Carmel was intended to bring Israel's eyes, once again, to the true and the living God. Yet Elijah's mocking could not save anyone. But the mocking of the true and living God heard on Calvary promises salvation to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, finally and very briefly, how were the idol worshipers put to shame? Twice we are told, at noon and then at midday, or at three in the afternoon we are told, but there was no response. No one answered. No one paid attention. Beloved, that's the tone, the sound of complete impotence, complete powerlessness. Again, a deafening silence. A silence that demonstrated the vanity and the hopelessness and the powerlessness of idolatry in whatever form. The hopelessness and the worthlessness of putting confidence and hope and trust in anything but the Lord Jesus Christ. Baal could not answer because he was not able and he had no answer to give. This God of nature and fire had been unmasked. He had been dethroned. He had been banished from his own territory. And beloved, the deep, deep misery of those who put their confidence in idols. Again, whatever form it might be in. one's self, the economy, possessions. The deep, deep misery of those who put their confidence in idols is that they get no answer. It's complete isolation because idols do not exist to help them. They are useless for this life and therefore how much more for the life to come and those who place their confidence in anything other than God place it in nothing at all, only emptiness which leads to one place, eternal destruction. But God has bound Himself, the true, the living God, has bound Himself to His people in that covenant relationship in which there is a dialogue, in which there is communication, and God is near to those who call on Him in truth. And as Jesus said, Behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age. And this God, beloved, does not condemn, will not condemn His people to death by remaining silent. He has not let them down. He came to their aid through Jesus Christ. He is God's answer for our desperate dilemma. He is the one in whom God will hear the cries and the pleas and the prayers of His people and answer them. He is the one apart from whom one will only meet God's silence in the torment of hell. But as He bore the laughter-turned-anger of God for our sin, Jesus Christ heard the silence of His Father on the cross for us when He cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That we, that all who take refuge in Him, might never be forsaken. Satan, the king of idolatry, requires blood. He requires the ungodly sacrifice of self, but he will not answer in the day of trouble, just as he remained silent when God confronted Adam and Eve. Notice, Satan didn't stand up to their defense. And he himself will suffer the torment of God's wrath forever, but our God is pleased with the blood of another, Jesus Christ, And he answers, it is finished and I forgive you. Jesus Christ is God's answer to atone for the sin of his people. Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel is the message that you and I are called to take to the world. Because of the foolishness of all that is counterfeit, of all that speaks out against him, of all that leads people away from him. Only in Him is there hope. And for those who look to Him in faith, beloved, they are those to whom He gives His life, His joy, His crown, His presence for all eternity. And therefore, beloved, may He strengthen us by His Holy Spirit to keep us from looking to the right or to the left, but instead to focus more and more on Jesus Christ and the eternal security revealed in Him and given only by Him. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, sometimes it is so easy for us to look at these stories, the history of Your people Israel, and especially in this case, and to laugh. To say that we would never have done that. Yet, Father, we must confess that in so many ways we take our eyes off of You. You have revealed Yourself to us so wonderfully, so powerfully in Your Word and through Your Son, in Your gift of salvation. Yet, Father, at times we are prone to wander. We pray, Lord, that You would continue to work in our hearts and lives. Keep our eyes focused only on You, the true God. The one and only God of our salvation. The one and only in whom we have hope. And we pray, Father, too, that You would be willing, we pray, to use us in some small way to show the truth of who You are to those with whom we have contact. To show the hopelessness of that which so many put their trust in. And to show instead the truth of Jesus Christ. And use us, we pray, to make the teaching of God our Savior attractive. Father, hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake. Amen.