Will you find in the Word of God tonight, please, the book of 1 Kings? 1 Kings chapter 18. In recent times we have been giving some consideration to well-known and familiar Bible brooks. Today we have considered six of those well-known brooks, and I trust that our messages have been beneficial to you. Tonight we want to come to consider the seventh and final in the series. We're going to consider Elijah at the Brook Kishon. The first night we thought about Jacob at the brook Jabbok, and we know that he was blessed there. And then we thought about Elijah at the brook Kerith, and how he was fed there. Then we thought about David in the valley of Elah, and how God helped him there. And then we came to consider the young Egyptian at the brook Besor, and how he was found there. And then we followed the Lord Jesus Christ as he crossed the brook Kidron and we considered how God led him there. And last week we gave some attention to Israel at the brook Eshcol and how the Lord encouraged him there. And tonight we want to consider Elijah at the brook Kishon and how God honoured him there. As we read this 18th chapter of the book of 1 Kings, we discover that the long-awaited moment had arrived. It was now time for Elijah the prophet to confront Apostate Ahab the king once again. This second confrontation would answer in a spectacular way, once and for all, the question as to who was the true and living God. Jehovah or Baal. And so the scene was set for this great confrontation. The scene was set for this great contest. Elijah's challenge to Ahab was that he would gather all the false prophets of Baal in the king's employ to Mount Carmel, a high ridge jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea. near modern-day Haifa. And if you ever get the chance to go to Haifa, you will see a large monument there erected in honor of Elijah standing there with a sword in his hand. It's quite spectacular. When the 450 prophets of Baal gathered, along with a large contingent of the children of Israel, Elijah issued the ultimatum, and he said unto them, How long halt ye between two opinions? Verse 21. A literal translation of the Hebrew text is, How long will you continue to hobble between the two forks of the road? You see, the basic problem with the Israelites was not that they had totally rejected the Lord and totally followed Baal, but that they wanted both the Lord and Baal. And Elijah made it abundantly clear to those gathered that the Lord God allows no rival for His worship. It's got to be Jehovah and Jehovah alone. The people had to make up their minds. They had a decision to make. They could not worship both the Lord and Baal. They had to make up their mind. They had a choice to make. And maybe someone here gathered in the house of God has a choice to make. It's the choice between the God of this world and Jehovah God. It's a choice between the living and the true God and mammon. And before this service comes to an end, you will give an answer. There are people here and they have choices to make. And the decision that you make tonight could make you or ruin you. So be very careful what you do with this message. Be careful how you answer when God challenges you tonight. You have a choice to make. If there's a believer here tonight and you're halting between two opinions, well, at least you have not been as zealous for the things of God as normal. You will make a decision before this meeting comes to an end, either to be lukewarm or to be red hot for the glory of God. And the decision that you make here tonight is going to influence your life, and it's going to influence your family and your home. So I would say this is a serious place to be tonight, and we all have serious questions to consider, and we all have serious answers to give to Almighty God. So these people were confronted with Elijah and they had to make a decision. Then Elijah threw down the gauntlet to the false prophets of Baal. The terms of the contest were to be a veritable trial by fire. The first prophets were to choose a bullock, cut it in pieces, lay it on the wood of the altar, while Elijah did the same thing with the second bullock. Then they were to proceed to implore Baal to send fire upon the altar. And Elijah would do the same, only he would call on the Lord instead. And the God who answereth by fire, let him be God. Verse 24. The people who were watching agreed. They agreed that the terms were fair. So the contest began. It began on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal sacrificing to their God. And it ended at the Brook Kishon with them being slain by the servant of the Lord. The Lord vindicated His cause. He honored his servant and he gave the nation opportunity to repent. For the true prophet had ended in a blessed way, but for the false prophets had ended in a very bad way. Their blood was washed away in the water of the Brook Kishon. Can you imagine that? At the beginning of the day, they were so full of themselves. They were people who had deceived the children of Israel. They were so convincing. They were full of enthusiasm in their religion. But it was a false religion. until God intervened. And at the end of the story, they're all dead. They're all gone. They all have been removed from the land. And I hasten to add that the land was better for it. I have a few things that I want to share with you from the story before us. In the first place, I want you to think with me for a moment or two of how the power of God was manifested. how the power of God was manifested on that occasion. Now, Elijah's test was very, very simple. He said that God that answereth by fire, let him be God. The true God would manifest himself by sending fire. Now, it was already demonstrated that Elijah's God was the true God. There had been three and a half years of drought which had been sent by Elijah's God. He had shown that he could withhold rain at his own pleasure and that the prophets of Baal could not reverse his decree. They could not even produce one drop of water or produce one drop of dew. However, the people of Israel stubbornly refused to turn away from Baal So, a further trial by fire was now arranged. The Baal worshippers thought that Elijah had really played into their hands. They probably were grinning from ear to ear when they heard Elijah's proposition, because fire was Baal's speciality. Baal was worshipped as the Lord of the Sun. He was the storm god who sent the lightning. He was the storm god who sent the rain. And in his temple, the fire was kept burning perpetually. And his followers consecrated themselves to him by having their children pass through the fire. In other words, they offered their children as sacrifices upon the altar of Baal. What a religion! What a religion that would call upon parents to do this, to offer their children as sacrifices to Him. So Baal was associated with fire and with burning. Thus this challenge from Elijah could not be refused by the prophets of Baal, without acknowledging that they were impostors. Consequently, Elijah was forcing the prophets of Baal right out into the open. And he was showing to the nation that the entire religious system that they represented was empty. It was pretentious. It wasn't real. There was nothing in it. So we had to bring these false prophets out into the open. For six hours or thereabouts, the prophets of Baal worked themselves up into a frenzy. But there was no answer. There was no fire. They certainly had plenty of enthusiasm. They leaped upon the altar. They cut themselves with lancets and with knives. Very spectacular. A little bit like the contemporary kind of service that many people put up with in churches today. Something spectacular. Something to arrest the attention of the congregation. They looked very spectacular. And no doubt these prophets of Baal, had there been a contest, they would have won first prize. for putting on something spectacular. When Elijah walked up to the altar, he looked so boring. He looked so ordinary, so dry and dreary. But here is a man who knows God. Here's a man who knows the secret of obtaining fire from on high. Here's a man with a burning heart and a soul on fire for God. And he knows God. He knows the power of God. And he's waiting for God to demonstrate and to display his mighty power. And so these prophets of Baal, they played the part They put on a mere show, and that's all it was. Something superficial, something empty. And then up walked this man of God, who prayed down a fire from on high. So for six hours they carried on this way, but there was no answer. There was no fire. But when you read verses 37 and 38, what a contrast to the response. A lady received an answer to his prayer, then the fire fell. And the Spirit of God is plainly showing us here that the true God is a God of fire. Paul writing in Hebrews chapter 12 says, Our God is a consuming fire. And I do believe even in this, Israel was being reminded of their past when God manifested himself on many occasions by fire. Fire was the symbol of his divine presence. Do you remember the time in Exodus chapter 3 verse 2 when Moses stood there at the burning bush? It was just a regular, ordinary bush. It was burning, but it was not consumed. The bush burned and glowed with fire, but it was not consumed. And for one thing, the bush represented the nation of Israel. in her despised, downtrodden state in Egypt under the threat of destruction by Pharaoh and the Egyptians. But the fire in the bush showed that God's power was with his people and that he would ultimately deliver them. And all of the signs and all of the claims that God sent against the Egyptians were God's arguments with Pharaoh. And they were all directed against the deities of Egypt. But the deities of Egypt were all proved to be useless before the God of fire. They could do nothing. They could save no one. They could change nobody. They could do nothing for anybody. So the God who appeared in the burning bush was saying to the people of Israel, you may be downcast, you may be persecuted, but you have my presence with you. I am with you. And I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now when the fire fell on Mount Carmel, it was the indication to Israel that the power of God that had been lost for a time had now been restored. God was coming again in a mighty visitation to favor his people, to visit his people, and to turn their hearts away from idolatry. to turn them to the living and the true God. And I feel to a large degree today that the professing Church of God is lacking something. It's lacking this fire from on high. But let's make it more personal. Do you have fire? Do you have fire in your soul? Do you have fire in your heart? You may be just an ordinary, plain man or woman. You may not have a lot as far as this world's goods are concerned, but you have fire in your heart. You have fire in your soul. And that makes a difference. Fire was a symbol of God's power. It was also a symbol of God's presence. When the children of Israel had been delivered out of Egyptian bondage, remember how God directed them. He directed them by a cloudy pillar by day, and then by night He guided them by a pillar of fire. He faithfully brought them to the land of promise. He guided them all the way through the wilderness and he brought them into their promised possession. And that pillar of fire was actually the cloud of glory, the symbol of God's presence with them. So every day when they opened their tent door and they looked towards the tabernacle, they saw a reminder of God's presence with them. They saw the cloudy pillar by day. And each night when they looked out of the tent before retiring for the evening, they could see the fiery pillar indicating the presence of God with his people. So day or night, the Lord was with his people. And the pillar rested on the tabernacle, especially on the holiest of all. And thus the cloud was associated with the worship of the Lord. And that's the dedication of the temple. The fire of God fell, consuming the sacrifice, but the fire was accompanied by the cloud of His glory. Hence, the fire of God was a symbol of His presence. And when that fire fell, it was an indication to the children of Israel that their worship had been accepted by the Lord. But in times of apostasy, there was no fire. The fire was withdrawn from the children of Israel. For example, in the days of Ahab and for quite a number of years even before that, God had withdrawn his presence from the land. And I think the same situation prevails today in many countries. There is much need for the Lord's people to be praying for the fiery presence of God with the church. And then the fire was also a symbol of His purity. The fire symbolizes purity and the holiness of God. For example, in Exodus chapter 19, when the law was given at Sinai, the Lord descended upon it in fire. He came to give His holy law. He came to manifest His own terrible holiness. And God is a holy God, infinitely holy. Now on Mount Carmel, the Lord came down in fire again to show that he was coming to visit the children of Israel because of their sin. Elijah did not say, The God that answereth by water, let him be God. He said, The God that answereth by fire, let him be God. It was water that the land needed at that particular time. But it was the fire that fell from heaven to signify the holy anger and the purity of God against sin and iniquity. and all in righteousness. The greatest demonstration of this is yet to be. It is by the fire that the Lord will deal with the ungodly and those who have disobeyed the gospel. That's going to be a fearful day. In the days of Noah, the known world was destroyed by water. Only eight people were saved. But there's a day coming when God, in this strict justice, will come to judge the world. And he will consume the ungodly and the heathen and the unconverted in his fiery indignation. The day of his fierce wrath will come. when men will be summoned to appear before the righteous and holy God of eternity. And they will appear at the white throne judgment bar of the Lamb, and the unconverted and the ungodly will hear from the lips of the one upon the throne, depart from the Eucharist, I never knew you. And I dread to think of anyone here in this congregation tonight that you will be there on that day. After all the preaching that you've heard, after all the praying that has gone up for you, I dread to think of you appearing before God unprepared, unfit to stand in the presence of God, to come before the judgment throne, awaiting to hear just how much hell you're going to receive. That's a fearful thought. This is where you will be in eternity. This is what God has declared, and His Word will be the fate of every unconverted soul, to be separated from God forever, to be cast away from His presence, down into that fearful place of condemnation. But there's mercy with God. Hallelujah. There's a Savior from sin. There's one who died on the cross to save His people from their sin. There's one who suffered under the wrath of God to secure salvation for sinners. and to liberate souls and to set them free. The God of heaven is the true God, and in consuming fire he deals with sin in the person of Christ as our substitute, for he deals with sinners individually. When he deals with us through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he justifies us. But when he deals with us as individuals, void of his mercy and grace, the sinner will face the fierceness of his wrath and the judgment of everlasting perdition. The power of God was manifested. The people of God were moved. 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. Verse 39. Elijah had already indicated that the one who answered by fire would be recognized and looked upon as the true and living God. And the Lord did answer by fire. But the vital point to notice is this. That the fire fell on the sacrifice. And it consumed the sacrifice. This was another reminder to the children of Israel of something that had happened repeatedly during their history. The acceptance of the sacrifice by fire. It's dealt with in various books. In the Old Testament, in Leviticus, in 1 Chronicles. And the teaching is that the true God must put away sin. The fire falling on the sacrificed speaks of substitution. On the Mount Carmel the fire fell. The fire that should have fallen on the nation of Israel fell on the substitute. It fell on the innocent victim. It didn't fall upon the people who deserved it. It fell upon the innocent victim. And the parallel is clear. Christ is that vicarious sacrifice who endured the fire of God's terrible wrath. The fire of God fell on Christ, not on us. In Exodus chapter 12, the Passover lamb was roasted with fire and had to be eaten that way. Not raw. It had to be roasted with fire. And that brings before us a thought of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ personally suffered on your behalf on Calvary's cross. The fire falling on the sacrifice also speaks of satisfaction. As we have already noted, God answered by fire, not by water. This was the token that there could be no reconciliation between God and the people except on the basis of atonement. An atonement made by the shedding of blood and the death of the substitute. Divine justice had to be satisfied. And when the fire of God fell, it fell on the sacrifice and consumed it. And that was an indication that the sacrifice was accepted and that God had been satisfied. I like what the Word says about the Lord Jesus Christ. When he preached, the common people heard him gladly. The intellectuals of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees rejected him. And you get preachers today, and they preach very intellectually. And yes, the mind has got to be reached with the message of the gospel. There's got to be a certain amount of understanding. We've got to be able to comprehend certain things about the gospel. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. That's why he talked about lost sheep, and lost silver, and lost songs. He made it simple. He didn't make it complicated. And some preachers make it very complicated. Something that is so simple is made complicated. We need to preach messages that reach the heart. Messages that touch men and women. It causes them to feel something. I'm a Calvinist. I believe in the great doctrines of grace. And I cherish those great fundamentals of the faith. But what I believe needs to be worked out in my life to help me to face the trials and the problems of life in a way that brings glory to God. And what I believe as a Bible-believing Christian helps me to contend for the faith and to be the person God wants me to be. and live my life in conformity to the mind and will of God. And knowing doctrine and appreciating doctrine brings responsibilities with it. And I know people who have their heads full of doctrine. And that's where it stays. It never affects the heart. It never changes the heart. It never brings them to tears. It never brings them to evangelism. It never brings them to rescue the perishing and to care for the dying. They've got it all up in here intellectually. God saved us from that kind of thing. And God gave unto us a passion for souls. and for a Christianity that reflects the glory of Jesus Christ and the way we live and the things that we do, being separated under the things of God. I heard recently about some great gathering of thousands of young people and they're all focused upon this Christian rock. Now if you were to take a Christian rock group and set it beside an ordinary rock group, Would you be able to tell the difference? Would you be able to distinguish the believing group from the unconverted group by the way they dress, by the way they sing, by the way they act? God is looked upon as a movie star, as a man upstairs, as somebody's buddy. But God is infinitely holy. And when the fire fell upon Mount Carmel, God was saying to the nation, I am holy. I am to be feared. I am Jehovah. I made you. I redeemed you by the blood of the Lamb. I am God. I am to be feared. You get on your face before me at Mount Sinai!" And you know, when the fire came down on Mount Sinai, the people were afraid. They were afraid to draw an eye because God manifested himself in such a way that awe gripped their hearts and souls, and they said, This is Jehovah! This is God! We need to regain this in Christian circles, this fear, this reverence for God. And we need to realize who He is and what He's done. This is the One who holds our breath in the palm of His hand. And we talk to him in a very light and frivolous fashion. God is to be feared. He's a holy God. He's a righteous God. Remember that when you open his book. Remember that when you bow and bend at knee in the quiet place, you're coming into the presence of one who's infinitely holy. Has it changed from the days of Moses? Take the shoes from off your feet for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground. When Joshua met him as the captain of the Lord of hosts, He was commanded to remove the shoes from off his feet because again he was standing upon holy ground. These men had a reverence for God. I think we've lost that. When the fire fell, God was saying, I'm holy. The fire fell upon the sacrifice. The sacrifice was consumed. God was pleased. God was pleased with the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The power of God was manifested. The people of God were moved. They realized the fire should have fallen upon them. But thank God they saw the fire fell upon the sacrifice and they cried, The Lord is God. And then finally, the purpose of God was maintained. How was the purpose of God maintained? Well, when the fire fell, as far as Elijah was concerned, it wasn't all finished, it wasn't all over. For he commanded the people to take the false prophets of Baal down to the Brook Kishon, and he commanded the people to slay them. At this point we have to ask the question, whether Elijah was right to demand their execution. Or was he? Many do not hesitate to denounce this as a very cruel and barbaric act. But they're completely wrong. They ignore a number of important facts. First, the law of God clearly required that any prophet who led the people of Israel to worship false gods should be put to death. God decreed it. God said it. The death penalty has not been revoked. We go back to Genesis chapter 9 where it was given. It's still in place as far as God is concerned. I said this to a believer many, many years ago and that believer became very indignant. She said, that's barbaric. I said, this is the word of God. The death penalty for taking a life is still in place. Still in place. Now this test had been a fair one and the prophets of Baal, they had been exposed as idolaters who deserved to die. They were false prophets who were murderers themselves in two distinct ways. There's every reason to believe that they actively participated in the systematic elimination of the true prophets of God. So they were murderers themselves. They deserved to die. That's the scripture. This is what God has declared. God honored his servant. God answered by fire. God put this into his heart to do this thing. And in so doing, he maintained the purpose of God by purging the land from idolatry and from these beliefs. Can you imagine what these people were doing? They were calling upon the people of the land to offer their children as sacrifices. On top of all that, they were guilty of indirectly causing great loss of life by fostering the very sin that brought the drought upon the nation in the first place. God sent the drought upon the nation because of sin, because of departure from God, because of idolatry, because of sin in the land. Instead of denouncing the execution of these false prophets, we should take to heart the great lesson that is taught here. The prophets of Baal refused to accept the fire of God or acknowledge the fire of God, consuming the sacrifice, and so they experienced the fire of His judgment. And some people say that they are glad that they are serving the God of the New Testament because the God of the New Testament is a God of love instead of the God of the Old Testament who was a God of wrath. But the Bible makes it abundantly clear that there is only one God and He never changes. He never changes. He is a God to be honored, a God to be revered, a God to be worshipped, and he never changes. There may be different administrations of the same covenant of redemption in the two Testaments, but it's the same God. And there's only one way of salvation. You have them five or six or seven different ways. There's only one way of salvation. There's only one way of approach to God. Adam was saved by grace through faith. Noah was saved by grace through faith. They look forward to Calvary. They look forward to the death of Christ. And in looking to Him by faith, they were justified. We look back to Calvary. And in looking back, we too are justified. but were justified through faith in the same God, through the same mediator of the covenant, through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. And in Him we are justified, we are saved. The purpose of God was maintained. Now when this happened, and when Jezebel heard of what had happened to her prophets, the people who sat at her table, she became very angry. And she said, as long as I live, my aim and object in life will be to kill Elijah. Did she succeed? No she didn't. Because God judged her. And the very doves came and licked up the blood that flowed from her body. She was judged by God. And Elijah's God remained the same. And Elijah never died. You know that story anyway. He went to heaven in a whirlwind and he was caught up into the presence of God and he never died. Because Elijah's God still lives today, and answers so by fire. So the cause of God was maintained in the land. He removed the false prophets. He freed the people from their bondage. And there was some kind of turning to God by the people. It may not have lasted very long, but at least for the time being, with the lip they're acknowledging that God is the true God. God has used the servant. God has blessed the servant. And in this way, the Lord turned the hearts of the people and turned them back again from Baal worship. And may the Lord touch our hearts tonight. We live in desperate times. We need the help of God every day to live for him, to be different. because we serve this same God, this God of fire, who always remaineth the same. I am the Lord, I change not. And may we serve him because we will give an account to him one day when we stand in his divine presence. Notice how the power of God was manifested. Notice how the people of God were moved. It should have been them upon whom the fire fell, but it fell upon the sacrifice and consumed the sacrifice. And then notice how the purpose of God was maintained. God dealt with idolatry. God removed the false prophets from the land. And God turned the hearts of the people back to Him when they cried, The Lord, He is God. And may the Lord bring us by faith to Him tonight. And may we be resolved by the grace of God to live only for Him. With only one life, it will soon be past. Only what's done for God will last. May the Lord bless His Word tonight. For Christ's sake, Amen.