Elijah’s Sacrifice, Pt. 2
24
February 2008
Lord's Day evening
1 Kings 18:31-40
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings 18:31-40. The title of the message is “Elijah’s Sacrifice”.
Tonight I want to inspect what God requires in a sacrifice acceptable to Him. Obviously as we learned last Sunday morning, God would rather have our lives as a living sacrifice to Him, more than ten thousands of rivers of oil or thousands of rams. So what kind of sacrifice He accepts.
At all times we are either worshipping God acceptably or giving Him a maimed sacrifice. Is your sacrifice to God acceptable? Elijah’s was. Look at 1 Kings 18.
1 Kings 18:31-40, “And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name 31 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. 34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. 35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. 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. 40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there”.
Let’s review from last week…
I. First, there should be Participation in worship. Verse 31, “And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name”. There were present in that gathering only members the ten tribes of Israel. But Elijah took twelve stones to build the altar with, illustrating that he was about to offer sacrifice in the name of the whole nation. The nation was divided. And where there is division or disinterest there is sin in the camp. You can’t say, well this is for him and the other is for me.
II. Secondly, there should be Precision in our worship. Look at verse 32, “And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD…”. Elijah was careful how he worshipped the Lord. He carefully constructed it according to the Law of the Lord written in Exodus 20:25, “If thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it”. He didn’t try to improve upon the stone. Human arts were not to be added.
And it is always directed toward God, not for my benefit or praise, but for God. Verse 32 says, Ah, take note of that: “He built and altar in the name of the Lord”, that is, for God’s glory. And this is exactly how it should always be with us: “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). If you cannot do something for the glory of God it is sinful. We ought to be asking:
· Can I read this book for the glory of God?
· Can I watch this film for the glory of God?
· Can I eat this film for the glory of God?
· Can I say this word for the glory of God?
Our whole life is a life of worship, and we do all to please God, and not to please ourselves.
III. There should be Preparation in worship. Look at how Elijah prepared the altar in verse 33: “And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood”. Look at the preparation Elijah had for his sacrifice.
There is some good practical truth here. If you want God to speak to you Sunday morning, you’ve got to begin Saturday night. If you are out late and do not prepare for Sunday morning, then you are going to arrive late to church.
· It is not right to skip Sunday school because you’ve done Saturday night what could have been done some other time in the week.
· It’s not right to come into church late unless there’s been an emergency. You come to church late because you have not prepared yourself. You rush and try to beat traffic and then come into church with your mind spinning and unprepared.
· If you come to church with sin in your life, or unresolved conflict with family or fellow brothers or sisters in Christ, then you quench the Holy Spirit in the services. You may be hindering a blessing for our church.
On the positive side, if you will get a good night’s rest, come to church 15 minutes early, and come ready to serve and receive a blessing, you will most certainly be blessed. Come with your heart clean and your conscience clear!
IV. There should be Expectation in worship. Look at verse 34, “And [Elijah] said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. 35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water”. I believe Elijah was expecting God to work here. All in all Elijah got 12 barrels of water, one for each of the twelve tribes. You might wonder where he got all this water since there had been a drought. Remember that the Sea of Galilee was near by. Elijah had amazing faith in His worship. So much water was poured upon the altar, soaking the wood and the sacrifice. There seemed no way that God would consume it! It was clearly impossible to think that it could be done. But remember that God is not confined to the limits of humanity. He dwells in eternity.
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V. There should be Consistency in worship. Look at verse 36, “And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near”.
Elijah waited to offer his sacrifice until twilight around 7pm to make his offering to God. He knew that each day in the Temple in Jerusalem two lambs had to be offered, one in the morning and one in the evening according to Exodus 29:38-39. This was a time of daily worship when many of the saints in Jerusalem would stop their business of the day and assemble to pray, and many of them actually went to the Temple to pray together. Even those outside of Jerusalem would stop and pray twice a day, and they identified with their brothers in the Lord. By waiting until the hour when ‘the evening sacrifice’ was offered (in the Temple), Elijah identified with his fellow worshippers at Jerusalem. There are some lessons here for us today.[1]
1. Lesson 1: We need to be consistent for God.
He commands us to worship Him regularly, and that should be enough. The Lord’s Day should be set aside for corporate worship. It has been established from the very beginning of Creation when God rested and reflected on His work on the Sabbath Day. It is set forth in the Forth Commandment, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
We are urged in the same way in the New Testament in Hebrews 10:25. Turn there if you would. Here we are told not to forsake “… the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” That should be enough, but I want you to look at the word “exhorting” for another lesson.
2. Lesson 2: We need to be consistent for our brothers and sisters.
You should be consistent about worshipping God because your worship is bringing other people to a greater maturity in Christ. The word “exhort” is a very interesting word. It is “parakaleo”. This word is used as a title for the Holy Spirit that we translate “Comforter”. It means to come along side of, i.e. to put your arm around a fellow believer and encourage them. You can encourage your brothers and sisters and be a vessel of the Holy Spirit just by showing up to church! You individually are a Temple of the Holy Spirit, both…
· Individually, 1 Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
· And Corporately, 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
That means that the Holy Spirit has a ministry through you when the Body is gathered together. So when you say “no” to the normal services of the church, you are robbing Christ’s Body, your Christian family, of the blessing of your comfort and encouragement.
You see, coming to church is not just about you “getting something out of it”.
John F. Kennedy once famously said,
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. Let me say it this way, “Ask not what the Body of Christ can do for you, but what you can do for those for who Christ died!”
You should show an interest in every service, because God may have a divine appointment for you to minister to another brother or sister. Now the easiest thing to do is criticize or simply skip a service.
3. Now Lesson 3: We need to be consistent for the lost and the world.
Why did Elijah wait until the evening sacrifice to offer his sacrifice to God? None of the saints in Jerusalem at that time knew he was sacrificing. The simple lesson is this: Elijah was giving a testimony before the world and the lost that God is worthy!
Do you call yourself a Christian? Do you find it strange that everyone else gets off of work late, but still rushes to Wednesday service? Do your co-workers see you making an effort to make it to church, or do you look for excuses to miss? If that is truly so, there are some serious heart issues that you need to look into. Jesus said to us in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
We should also early on make the discipline of daily meeting with God at a certain time.
VI. There should be Preoccupation in worship. The latter part of verse 36 again says, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou are God in Israel”. How many hundreds of Baal shrines and Ashteroth poles were standing at that moment in Israel? The heart of the prophet was filled with a burning zeal and jealousy that God would be glorified through him and his nation.
1. Lesson 1: I often say, we worship an audience of One. Our worship must never be about our church or this leader or this person, but always about Jesus Christ alone—May He alone be lifted up!! If you have to have the center of attention, then God has some very difficult words for you in 3 John 1:9. John says, “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” Do you have to have things revolve around you in the church? If things have to be your way before you will serve in the church, then you are coming to church for the wrong reasons. Are you a Diotrephes?
In other words, are you a Lord in the church or are you a servant? There is only one Lord in this church and it “ain’t” you or me!! At the precious Name of Jesus “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”!!
2. Lesson 2: Here’s another lesson—at this time there were idols scattered throughout the countryside. People were worshipping everything but Jehovah while also claiming to know Jehovah. If you know Christ you are preoccupied with Him. A Christian pants after God with David in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
What pleasures of this world are you preoccupied with? Are their idols in your life that you are preoccupied with that take the place of God? Tear them down! Verse 36, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou are God in Israel”. He ought to be God alone in our lives!
VII. Then, we learn from verse 36 that there should be Surrender in worship. Verse 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.”
1. Lesson 1: There is only one person that sets the agenda in this church, and it is not me or you! It is the Lord, and we are His servants. We are hear not to get our way but to serve Him and to serve the brethren, and to serve the broken people of this world (Matthew 25). Sometimes you see the quote “He who dies with the most toys wins”. That’s not true at all. “He who dies with the dirtiest towel wins!”
2. Here’s Lesson 2: Listening to the Word taught and preached is worship. Elijah said, “let it be known this day …I have done all these things at thy word.” Elijah was fully surrendered to obey the voice of God. The choir sang this morning “Speak Lord for thy servant hears”. We need everyone listening for the voice of the Lord in this church. The Lord is our Shepherd. He said, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me”.
So we see also that listening to Word alone is not worship, but we must listen with full surrender to obey it. To listen to God’s Word and not surrender to it is to be a “forgetful hearer”.
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VIII.There should finally be Change in worship. Listen to Elijah in verse 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”.
A. Worship changes us. You cannot go into the presence of God and remain unchanged. The question is, have we been in the presence of God, or are we imagining that false fire is acceptable to God? When we worship God we cannot help but change. Is what we are doing here worship? Is there anything that we have spoken of tonight or last Sunday night that would cause the Holy Spirit of God to be grieved with your attitude or your apathy? Dear brothers and sisters, this is not a social activity that comes around once a week. This is the worship of the One True and Living God.
B. Worship also changes our community. Your maimed sacrifice to God may be preventing God from blowing His wind of grace on this community! Elijah did not violate God’s worship. He was completely given to the Lord. And when he said in verse 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”—God listened to his prayer.
God may very well fall on this community if our church is committed to worshipping God rightly. If we offer false fire to Him, why should God send us true fire from heaven? We must make sure that we have an acceptable sacrifice. Elijah offered God just that—and God accepted it! As a result the fire of God fell on the sacrifice, and the power of God fell on the people. Look at verse 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”.
Conclusion: I desperately want to effect radical change in our community. I want to see broken, sinners coming to Jesus Christ in full surrender. But first the fire of God must fall here.
My prayer is that you my dear sisters, my dear brothers in Christ would “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
If you are lost tonight, you need to come to Christ. Everything you do is rotten in His nostrils. Come to Christ and surrender all! Come to Him now in faith and repentance!