Well, I invite you to turn with me this morning to 1 Kings 18 as we continue our consideration of our God's work through His servant Elijah. This morning we're going to read beginning of verse 1 in chapter 18 through verse 21. We have considered together verses 1 through 20 already. And this morning, I'm going to draw your attention to verse 21. A very interesting, powerful verse in this entire narrative. We'll read beginning at verse 1 through 21. Hear now God's holy word. After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land. So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water. Ahab had said to Obadiah, Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals. So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another. As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground and said, Is it really you, my lord Elijah? Yes, he replied, Go, tell your master Elijah is here. What have I done wrong? asked Obadiah. That you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death. As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. But now you tell me to go to my master and say, Elijah is here. I don't know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I, your servant, have worshipped the Lord since my youth. 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. And now you tell me to go to my master and say, Elijah is here. He will kill me. Elijah said, as the Lord Almighty lives whom I serve. I will surely present myself to Ahab today. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel? 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. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. and bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. 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. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word this morning. A beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the people had been called. And they gathered together from far and near. But for what? Was this the day for which they had been waiting? Was this the day that rain would finally come? was this the day that their fortunes would finally be restored? Would King Ahab finally fix the economy by exercising his kingly authority over Elijah, demanding that word from him, or else? Well, whatever the people may have thought, whatever they might have anticipated, certainly they received the unexpected as they received a question. In essence, the question is, who do you say is God? A question of allegiance, a question of loyalty, a question of devotion and commitment. You recall, I trust, that Ahab already had been brought into the courtroom, as it were, and he had been charged by Elijah as being the true troubler of Israel because he had led God's people away from the covenant of God, away from the commands of God. And now, here Israel herself is to be put on the stand to testify as Elijah questions Israel's allegiance to the Lord. Really challenging their confession, challenging their life, which first of all exposes Israel's compromising condition. Elijah went before the people and said, how long will you waver between two opinions? The two opinions, of course, being whether the Lord is God or whether Baal is God. It was an unexpected question. Because if you think about it, what did this have to do with their problem? Their problem was poverty. Their problem was unemployment. Their problem, we might say, was the stopped up springs and rivers of prosperity and life. In other words, they were starving. They were suffering. They were dying. And Elijah wants to talk about what they believe? Yet, this had everything to do with their suffering, didn't it? Because God had said, as we considered from Deuteronomy, God had said, Obey, and you will enjoy My blessing in the land. Obey, and I will provide for you. Obey, and I will protect you. Obey, and there will be rain. But disobey, and you will suffer the curse of God. You will be punished, including no rain. Their wavering, beloved, was the very reason that God had withdrawn the rain and His blessing from them. And therefore, this question not only was an unexpected question, it was a necessary question because it was a reminder of Israel's marriage vows. Now we know in Scripture that Israel is referred to as God's Son, but also Israel is considered the bride, the wife of Jehovah. We see that worked out more clearly in some of the prophets, especially the later prophets. For example, Isaiah chapter 54, we read, For your Maker is your husband, the Lord Almighty is His name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit, a wife who married young only to be rejected, says your God. And we see this especially in the book of Hosea, which we considered a couple of years ago. Hosea, who represented the Lord, was told to go take a wife of prostitution, one who had given herself over to prostitution, representing Israel. And we see in Hosea, we see that the covenant relationship is described in marriage language. For example, in chapter 2, verses 19 and 20, I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. Israel was the bride of their covenant God, His wife. In a sense, Israel's wedding day took place on Mount Sinai when God gave Moses His law. And in Exodus 24, in a couple of places, we find Israel respond each time to the Word of the Lord through Moses with these words, all the words which the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. Her vows to the Lord. This question, therefore, from Elijah was a necessary question because it was a reminder of Israel's promise in response to God's work of deliverance. Promising to be loyal. Promising to be committed. Promising to be devoted to the Lord. And therefore, that also makes Elijah's question a troubling question. Because it was a reminder of Israel's sin. And did you notice how Israel's sin is seen here in the very place where they gathered together? Look a bit forward to verse 30. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come here to Me. And they came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. At one time, Mount Carmel was the legitimate place, a legitimate place of worship for God's people. It is where they used to gather together to meet the Lord. But they had abandoned His worship there and now at this time it was believed that Mount Carmel was the dwelling place of Baal. Their sin is seen in the very place where they gathered together, but their sin is also seen in the company who had gathered together. What an awful sight. 450 prophets of Baal, let alone those of Asherah. None for the Lord except for Elijah. What an awful sight for Elijah to gaze upon these 450 prophets of Baal, these servants of Satan who had seduced God's people and drawn them away from the Lord toward eternal destruction. A troubling question because it's a reminder of Israel's sin seen in the place they gathered, seen in the company of who was gathered, but also heard in Elijah's words. How long will you waver between two opinions? Not are you wavering, but you are. How long? Wavering, limping, tottering back and forth between Jehovah and Baal, although we must confess it seems like they were much more on the side of Baal. But yet their sin is revealed in Israel's practice. As we say, they were sitting on the fence. They wanted the best of both worlds. They were practicing syncretism, the blending of the worship of the Lord with the worship of false gods. We find this explained, I believe, in 2 Kings 17. In that chapter, we read about God finally giving Israel over into captivity. to the Assyrians. The Assyrian, the king of Assyria, carries them away. And we read there that the king then took people from Babylon and a number of other nations and transplanted them into Canaan, into Israel's territory to live there. And those transplants worshipped their own gods, we read. And we also read that the Lord sent lions among them to kill them because they were not worshipping the Lord. And therefore, word got back to the king of Assyria, hey, these people don't know how to worship the God of this territory. And so he sends a priest of the Lord to teach them how to worship the Lord correctly. But what do we read then in verse 33? A couple of places actually. Something like this. They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. That describes Israel at this time. They worshipped Jehovah in some way. They still hung on to something. But at the very same time, they adopted the worship of the gods of the nations, especially Baal, worshipping Him according to the way that the nations Jezebel worshipped. Israel tried to combine the worship of both Jehovah and Baal, wanting the benefits that they thought both had to offer them. Yet, beloved, to do that is to say that God is not sufficient. To say that He is not enough. There was complete compromise. Waivered. They wavered. They tottered. They didn't stand solid on Jehovah or Baal. Israel was guilty of committing adultery, prostitution, just as we read with Hosea's wife. Turning away from her rightful husband to other lovers. And Elijah, the Lord through Elijah, her rightful husband is going after her, calling her to choose, calling her to declare whether she wants her lawful bridegroom to be her husband or whether she would rather continue in this life of adultery. Beloved, by the grace of God, we are a part of Christ's church, His bride. Because our Lord Jesus Christ never wavered. Because He never gave in to the temptation of Satan. Instead, He gave perfect obedience to His Father and He purchased His bride with His own precious blood. All those given to Him by the Father. All who would believe on Him. We are a part of that bride. The church. Yet on this side of glory, While we are still in this life, we are to be engaged in constant examination. Not just to come to the Lord's table, but constant examination. Even as we face the temptations of Satan, even as we live in the midst of a wicked world, even as we struggle with our own sin, we are called to examine ourselves, asking ourselves again and again, who do we say is God? What do our lives give testimony to? What does our gratitude to God look like? Where do we stand in our allegiance to God? Is there a measure of compromise in our lives when it comes to our faith? If so, what? How? Where? Does our walk match our talk? We say that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Jesus Christ alone, Yet, do we secretly take pride in ourselves, for example, in the good things that we have done and do? Or, for example, do we take pride in ourselves because, according to our own estimation of ourselves, we're not as bad as others? We say that God is a God of providence. Yet, do we really put more confidence in our investment strategy or in the government? Or do we adopt some of the unethical practices of the world in order to better ourselves? We say that our only comfort in life and in death, body and soul, is that we belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. But when it comes to this life, when it comes to our body, do we really put more confidence and trust in the things of this life? We say that God is in control, yet do we let the circumstances and people of life overwhelm us and drive us to anxiety and hopelessness like Peter when he was walking on the water and he took his eyes off of Jesus? Do we focus on the things of this life instead of on our God? Do we conform to the world's standards in our lives and language and practices hiding our Christian distinctiveness in order to gain the trust of and the advantages of the world? Just questions to ponder. There is to be no compromise, you see. But instead, consistency. Israel had no evenness in their walk. A little bit for Jehovah. Excuse me. A little bit for Baal. Israel had no steadiness in their principles. who they would obey and no consistency in their conduct. The Lord made it clear to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3 that He hates lukewarm allegiance and devotion because it is absolutely meaningless to Him and He will vomit out of His mouth those who are lukewarm. Paul says in Titus 1, verse 16 that those who claim to know God but by their actions deny Him that they are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. Beloved, Israel's compromising condition, their sin was the reason for their misery. They must see that. They must understand that. Yet here too, we see God's mercy as Elijah is showing them the only path that would lead them out of their misery as his question in the second place commands Israel's consistent confession. Pardon me a second. A scratch that won't go away. His question commands Israel's consistent confession. If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow Him. They're called to choose. Elijah boldly holds before Israel the two opinions between which they had been wavering. in essence saying, be honest. Be honest about where your allegiance lies. Be honest about whom you consider to be the true God. Is it your maker or is it the thing that you have made? Now there was, of course, no doubt for Elijah. But obviously there was doubt for Israel. As he is saying to them, it can't be both. Because Jehovah versus anything else are as opposite and irreconcilable as the opposite ends of a magnet. Boys and girls, you know how that works. Those opposite ends, you try to put them together, they push away from each other. This call to choose is a call for an undivided heart. Choose one, He says. And then be willing to follow that one, no matter what the consequences. Because religions that stand absolutely and completely opposed to each other can't both be right. Interesting to me that Elijah puts it this way. He doesn't say, turn to God. Turn to the Lord. He says, choose. You've been wavering. So just pick one. But notice in his words, the words that he uses, Elijah does point them to the only proper choice. That the Lord is God. They should have known that by the very fact that Baal was not able to do what they claimed he could do. He was said to be the God of rain, the God of fertility, the God of productivity. But what were they missing? All of those things. Elijah points them to the only proper choice. The covenantal God. The Lord, he says. He uses the covenantal name, Jehovah, as we say it. The Lord who had already proven Himself as He had covenanted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as He had delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt as He had provided for and preserved them 40 years in the wilderness as He had drove out the nations before Israel from the land of Canaan and especially as He had proven Himself in the last three and a half years by withholding the rain. That's why the fact that Elijah even needs to challenge Israel is such a shame. He placed right before them the only way to find relief from their misery. Jehovah, the One who had never failed them before. He is spoon-feeding them, we might say. Yet they still refused to eat. Beloved, today there are many false religions that raise their ugly head against the Lord and against His anointed. Many false teachers drawing some away, even one from our own midst. All except for true Christianity. All the others call for man's participation in salvation. And a whole other kind it may be. But only biblical Christianity answers to our true need through Jesus Christ. There are many gods that are worshipped, maybe not in the form of statues today. But there is the God of self, the love of and the worship of self, narcissism. There is the love of and worship of money or possessions, materialism. There is the love and worship of pleasure called hedonism. None of them answers to our true need. Only true biblical Christianity answers to our true need through Jesus Christ. It cannot be both up to me and Christ. It cannot be both denying oneself and at the same time gratifying and depending on oneself. It cannot be both separation from the world and friendship with the world. And beloved, God demands no more than He has a right to. He has a right to our all. Because He has given to us our all and His all, His Son. It's all or nothing. Even as He makes clear in the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before Me, for I am a jealous God. And He says in Isaiah 42, I will not give My glory to another. And again, for us to give His glory to another is to say that God is not enough. Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. God is a jealous God, a righteous jealousy for what belongs to Him. He is not willing to share it, not His glory, but not His people. And that is to be to our comfort, you see, our comfort that God is jealous for us because He will not give us away. He keeps us for Himself. Choose, Elijah says. And then follow. And the word follow has the idea of walk straight after your choice. Stand firm on your choice. Your life ought to conform to your choice without hesitation. Yet again, through the words that he uses, he makes it clear that there is only one that leads to life and salvation as God had already proven and all the others lead to death as had been vividly portrayed to them in the previous three and a half years. Follow your God. And that's why Paul can say in Romans chapter 12 to those who believe in Jesus Christ, Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as the living sacrifices is holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Offer your bodies, and we know that Paul is saying there, offer your whole being, your life, your thoughts, your words, your actions, every part of you as a living sacrifice to God. Follow Him. You see, beloved, devotion to God may not get one of the best position in the company. It may not get one of the largest paycheck. It may not get one peace with the world. But the Holy Spirit gives assurance of God's promise of peace that passes understanding, of contentment, of joy in the Lord, and of eternal riches. Christ's riches beyond imagination. It's all or nothing. And that's our confession too in the Belcher Confession, Article 22 with regard to Jesus Christ. We confess there of this faith that the Holy Spirit gives us by which we embrace Jesus Christ. And it goes on, and does not seek anything besides Him for it necessarily follows either that all we need for our salvation is not in Jesus Christ or if it is all in Him, that one who has Jesus Christ through faith has complete salvation. Either it's all in Him or it's not in Him at all. If it's all in Him, then we need to look nowhere else. And we are called to follow Him alone. Beloved, we claim that God's law is perfect, that it's pleasing to Him, that it's for our good. Yet, do we at times twist it and manipulate it in order to justify ourselves and our own desires and wishes? We claim that God is our life, that there is no life apart from Him, yet do we sometimes live as if He does not exist? We profess the triune God in church, yet is He consistently taught in our homes? Is He included in our conversations? Is He visible in our conduct? Do we stand solid and firm in Him without hesitation? Is ours a consistent confession? Do our lives show that He alone is God, that that's what we believe? Well, sadly, we know the answer to these questions. We have to say, not all the time for sure. Sadly, we must confess that we are probably a lot like the Israelites as Elijah's question thirdly and briefly meets with shameful silence. But the people said nothing. You know, in that little phrase, the silence is deafening, isn't it? The people said nothing. Well, on the one hand, they can't argue with Elijah. What he says makes sense. It's good logic. You might as well follow the one that you believe is God. But on the other hand, their silence is a confession of guilt. As they are rejecting God, the covenant God, by their silence, not speaking up for God is the same as speaking out against Him. It's a confession of their guilt as really anything that they could say would only testify against them. They could say, well, the Lord is God. Then Elijah would say, well, then why have you gone after Baal? if they said well Baal is God then Elijah could say well then you realize that you have rejected all that Jehovah has done for you in the past and by the way why isn't there any rain one commentator says the answer of silence is painful for the prophet shameful for the people and scornful for the Lord beloved the word of the Lord forces one to take a position As we have said before, one cannot remain neutral. This question, Elijah's question to Israel of her true allegiance, really is fitting for what was about to come, as we know. The two divided opinions would be brought to the test of truth as the strength of the two would now be measured. And God Himself was going to answer the question for His people that they could not answer as He would prove that He alone is God, that He alone was their only hope, that question too, beloved, was answered on the cross. The cross of Jesus stands alone against the wicked world. On the cross, in essence, the question was answered, who is God as Jesus Christ proved that not Satan, but Jesus Christ is victorious. The Lord, He is God. Jesus Christ is our only hope for deliverance from misery and the curse of sin, from suffering and death. He is a guarantee for all who place their trust in Him, for those who reject Him. It will only ever continue to be suffering and eternal death. But He is a guarantee for all who place their trust in Him, look to Him in faith. He never compromised, but His heart and mind were consistently devoted to God the Father, with perfect love, perfect righteousness, perfect obedience, which is given to us by the grace of God as our very own, and in Him, beloved, our silence is broken. In Him we are called to worship, to serve the Lord with gladness, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives that testimony in our hearts and upon our lips, as He did with Peter, to say, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And as He did with Thomas to say, My Lord and my God. Israel's only hope was in the Messiah who was to come. And our only hope is in Jesus Christ, the Messiah who came. In Him, beloved, all of our sin has been paid for and forgiven, even and especially our sin of compromise and inconsistency with regard to our faith. The Lord's table that we look forward to coming to. The Lord's table is for those who have that assurance by faith that they have eternal life in Him. But again, until that day, we are to be involved in daily examination. Daily examination. May we desire and trust that the Holy Spirit would more and more turn our eyes and tear our hearts away from compromise with the world to consistently follow without hesitation the only wise God of our salvation and that He would open our mouths that we may not keep silent, but with gratitude that we might stand up for Jesus and proclaim that Jesus, Jesus alone, saves. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we must confess that even as we look at the truth of Your Word, we see so clearly and vividly the truth of ourselves, something that we don't like to acknowledge or admit, yet a truth that You bring us face to face with. But You do so for our good. Even as we are reminded of the only Savior, Jesus Christ. We do pray, Father, that You would continue to work by Your Spirit powerfully and effectively in our hearts and lives, that we would, from day to day, never remain the same. That even in this hour, we would not leave the same as we entered this house of prayer. But that we would leave blessed by Your Spirit as those who are strengthened in the faith. As those who are more faithful servants of the Most High God. Help us, O Lord, to represent You well in all of our life. Out of gratitude, thankfulness for all that You have done for us in saving our souls. Give us courage, O Lord, to stand up for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. the one that all the world needs, but only those who look to Him in faith will enjoy. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in His name we pray these things. Amen.