Worship and Idolatry | 1 Kings 18 | 06/07/26

Well, as some of you may know, I'm not

from California. I'm actually from

Wisconsin, the land of cheese. I do like

cheese, by the way, a lot. So, I hope

there's cheese at the potluck. Um, you

know, after six years in California,

though, I'll be honest with you, I don't

super miss Wisconsin. I'm glad to be

here, especially in the winter. But, uh,

there's one thing that I do miss, and

that is buying and shooting off

fireworks. I love buying and shooting

off fireworks. And you can't really do

that here, at least not with the kind of

fireworks that that I grew up with. And

it makes sense. I mean, by the time we

get close to the Fourth of July, this

whole state's basically one big like

tinder box waiting to waiting to go up.

So, probably for the best, but I still

miss fireworks. And I've got a lot of

really fun memories with fireworks. Why

are fireworks fun?

What's so fun about fireworks? Well, I

think it's because we're fascinated by

fire. Fire grabs our attention.

Something about that combination of

light and heat and danger that you just

can't ignore. You can't be indifferent

to fire.

And I don't think that's an accident. I

think it's by God's design. We see this

throughout the Bible. Genesis 3, when

Adam and Eve are banished from the

garden and the angel holding what? A

flaming sword. How does God first speak

to Moses?

Burning bush. How does he lead his

people through the night in the

wilderness with a pillar of fire? God

uses fire to grab the attention of his

people. And we're going to see in our

passage today, First Kings 18, God is

going to use fire to grab the attention

of his idolatrous people and turn their

hearts back to him. That's what we're

going to see God do. So, before we get

into chapter 18 of First Kings, let me

just give you some context so you know

where we are in the story of the Bible.

Uh, I'll start in Israel's history with

David's son, King Solomon.

So, King Solomon, he's reigning over

Israel. Israel is at its height. It has

never been more prosperous. But it all

started going downhill when Solomon was

led astray by a princess. And it

actually wasn't just one princess. It

was 700 princesses to be exact.

Solomon married 700 royal daughters from

the surrounding nations and they turned

his heart away from the Lord. They told

him about their false gods. They told

him about their idols and Solomon

listened to them. And soon Solomon was

setting up altars in high places all

over Israel devoted to these idols. So

God told Solomon in first Kings 11 that

because of his sin and idolatry, he

would tear the kingdom from him while

his son Rayoam sat on the throne. So not

too long after his son Rayoboam began to

rule, God's word came to pass and the

kingdom of Israel, it split in two into

what is called the northern kingdom,

also known as Israel or Samaria, and

then the southern kingdom of Judah. And

this morning, we're going to be

following the northern kingdom of

Israel. Jeroboam was the first king of

the northern kingdom. And right away, he

started making golden calves and setting

up temples to false gods. And then seven

kings after him, seven evil kings after

him, we arrive at King Ahab. Let me

introduce you to King Ahab. Turn back a

couple pages to First Kings chapter 16,

1 Kings 16 · chapter mention

starting in verse 30.

And Ahab, the son of Omry, did evil in

the sight of the Lord more than all who

were before him. And as if it had been a

light thing for him to walk in the sins

of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, he took

for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of

Ethbal, king of the Sidonians, and went

and served Baal and worshiped him. He

erected an altar for Baal and the house

of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And

Ahab made an Asher. Ahab did more to

provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to

anger than all the kings of Israel who

were before him. Ahab is worse than all

six kings before him. He is not a good

guy.

Uh he is not a good guy. So the first

thing that he does it says is he marries

this Phoenician princess named Jezebel

and she brings her gods with her

specifically Baal and Asher. So Baal was

kind of like Canaanite Zeus if you're

familiar with Greek mythology. He was

their most important god and his title

was lord of rain and dew. Don't forget

that detail. Asher on the other hand was

Baal's partner. She was worshiped by the

Canaanites through these things called

Asharim, which were uh trees they would

cut the branches off and carve her image

into. And so what does Ahab do after he

marries Jezebel? Well, he builds a

temple for Baal and worships him. And

then he builds one of these Asher and

worships Asher. And we'll see later in

the story that the Israelites follow in

Ahab's example. He leads almost the

entire northern kingdom astray into

idolatry, the worship of idols, the

worship of false gods. So that's Ahab.

All right. Not a great guy. But before

we get to First Kings 18, I want to

introduce you to the prophet Elijah who

basically appears out of nowhere in

First Kings 17. First Kings 17:1, it

1 Kings 17:1

says, "Now Elijah the Tishbite of Tish

and Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord,

the God of Israel lives, before whom I

stand, there shall be neither due nor

reign these years except by my word."

God tells Ahab through the prophet

Elijah that there's going to be a

drought, that he's going to withhold

their rain. And this isn't random. It's

not it's not just a random natural

disaster. This is judgment for Israel's

idolatry. And it's actually the

fulfillment of a promise that God made

to his people long ago. Listen to what

God promised his people back in

Deuteronomy 11:16.

Deuteronomy 11:16

He said, "Take care lest your heart be

deceived and you turn aside and serve

other gods and worship them. Then the

anger of the Lord will be kindled

against you, and he will shut up the

heavens so that there will be no rain,

and the land will yield no fruit, and

you will perish quickly off the good

land that the Lord has given you." God

saw all of Israel's idolatry so many

years later, and he did exactly what he

said he'd do back in Deuteronomy 11 when

his people were unfaithful. he would

stop the rain. So now fast forward three

years of drought and we get to First

Kings 18. Here's what it says in verse

one. After many days, the word of the

Lord came to Elijah in the third year,

saying, "Go show yourself to Ahab, and I

will send rain upon the earth." So

Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now

the famine was severe in Samaria. It's

been three years since the last time it

rained. three years without harvests.

Animals are dying. People are scared.

Things have not been this bad in a long,

long time. And I hope you see the irony

here. Do do you see the irony? Baal, the

Lord of rain and dew, is being worshiped

in Israel more than ever. And it hasn't

rained a drop in three years. Do you see

the irony? like this this act of

judgment, this drought. It it is an act

of judgment, but it's also God's way of

preparing his people to realize that

their idols are powerless and empty.

Maybe it's a good time to pause and ask,

"What idols are you most tempted to

worship? What idols are you most tempted

to worship?" We're all tempted to

worship idols. And they might not be

made out of metal and stone and wood

like the ones the Israelites worship,

but they are no less dangerous to our

faith. If you don't know what an idol

is, here's just a really broad

definition. An idol is anything that you

put above God in your life. Anything you

worship instead of God. You know,

sometimes as modern Christians, tell me

if you agree with this or not. I think

we like to think that we're so much

better than the Israelites with their

silly carved idols. We think, man, if I

were if I b were back there, if I lived

then, I wouldn't be bowing down to some

tree. I wouldn't be bowing down to

Canaanite Zeus. But I don't think we're

actually that different. You see, here's

the thing. The Israelites didn't worship

Baal for who he was. They worshiped Baal

for what they thought they could get

from him. They didn't worship him for

who he was. They worshiped him for what

they thought they could get from him.

They they worshiped him for a successful

harvest. They worshiped him for safety

from their enemies. They worshiped him

for the pleasure of pagan debauchery,

success, safety, pleasure. Those were

the kinds of things they ultimately

wanted from Baal. And that's why they

worshiped him. And think about it, like

don't we just worship different things

for the same results? Don't we chase

after all those things, right? We

worship our careers for success. We

worship our 401ks for safety.

We worship our secret addictions for

pleasure.

Our idols might be different, but our

hearts are the same. We're just a little

bit more sophisticated about our

idolatry than the Israelites were. But

what we're going to see in this story is

that God loves us too much. He loves you

too much to settle for second place in

your life.

So, let's get back to the story. It's

been three years without rain, but God

promises that the drought is coming to

an end soon. Which is kind of

interesting since the Israelites haven't

repented at all. Yet God already

declares, "No, rain is coming." God says

to Elijah, "Go show yourself to Ahab and

I will send rain upon the earth." Mercy

is on its way. But first, this idolatry,

it has to be dealt with. Jump down to

verse 17.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Elijah said to

him, "Is it you, you troubler of

Israel?" And he answered,"I have not

troubled Israel, but you have and your

father's house, because you have

abandoned the commandments of the Lord

and followed the bales. Now therefore,

send and gather all Israel to me at

Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of

Baal and the 400 prophets of Ashra who

eat at Jezebel's table." So Ahab sent to

all the people of Israel and gather the

prophets together at Mount Carmel.

Elijah proposes a contest, proposes a

showdown. 450 prophets of Baal, 400

prophets of Ashra versus one prophet of

Yahweh. Doesn't sound like great odds,

does it? But but Elijah's not too

worried about that. But notice who

Elijah invites first. It says he invites

all Israel. He wants an audience. He

wants all of God's people to see what's

about to happen. So, everyone hikes up

Mount Carmel, minus the prophets of

Asher, who for some reason they decided

not to come. It's probably good for

them. Why Mount Carmel, though? Why this

specific mountain? Well, this mountain

was sacred for the worship of Baal. In

fact, this is actually the spot where

they would have thought Baal's power was

the most uh powerful. They would have

thought he was strongest at the peak of

Mount Carmel. In other words, God is

giving the prophets of Baal the

homefield advantage. He's given them the

homefield advantage. Throughout this

story, God's going to give the prophets

of Baal every possible advantage. Why?

So that his victory in the end is

unquestionable.

Let's see what happens next in verse 21.

And Elijah came near to all the people

and said, "How long will you go limping

between two different opinions? If the

Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal,

then follow him. And the people did not

answer him a word.

Elijah is saying, "Come on, guys. Pick a

side. Who's your God? Who are you going

to worship? Baal or Yahweh?" But they

don't answer. They don't sit a say a

word. They they just they just stand

there in silence.

And this is just a guess, but do you

know what I think they were thinking? I

would bet that what they were thinking

in that moment is, "Why can't we have

both? Why can't we just have both? Why

can't we have Yahweh on Mondays,

Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and Baal on

the other days? Like, what's what's the

big deal? Why can't I have God and my

idol? Why can't I have God and my sin?

The answer is God is jealous.

God is jealous. He will not share his

throne with another. He will not settle

for second place in your life.

You know what God said to his people way

before they even entered into the

promised land back in Exodus 34? Exodus

Exodus 34:12

34:12. He said, "Take care lest you make

a covenant with the inhabitants of the

land to which you go, lest it become a

snare in your midst. You shall tear down

their altars and break their pillars and

cut down their ashim. For you shall

worship no other god. For the Lord whose

name is jealous is a jealous God."

God is a jealous God. But we need to be

clear here. This is not some petty,

insecure jealousy like the jealousy that

you and I have. This is the righteous

and holy jealousy of the God who made

you. The God who sustains you, who gives

you every heartbeat, every moment of

every day. The God who wants and

deserves all of your worship.

You know, God wants your worship not

only because it is owed to him as it is,

but also because it's the best thing for

you. Have you ever thought about that?

God wants your worship not just because

he's owed it, but because it's actually

the best thing for you to worship God.

It's literally what you were made for.

Worshiping God leads to your own

flourishing.

But the Israelites, they don't believe

that yet. They don't believe it. They're

silent. They're deceived by their idols.

So Elijah decides it's time for a

demonstration.

Verse 22. Then Elijah said to the

people, "I even I only am left a prophet

of the Lord." But Baal's prophets are

450 men. Let two bowls be given to us

and let them choose one bowl for

themselves and cut it in pieces and lay

it on the wood, but put no fire to it.

And I will prepare the other bull and

lay it on the wood and put no fire to

it. and you call upon the name of your

God, and I will call upon the name of

the Lord. And the God who answers by

fire, he is God." And all the people

answered, "It is well spoken." Then

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,

"Choose for yourselves one bull and

prepare it first, for you are many, and

call upon the name of your God, but put

no fire to it." And they took the bull

that was given them. And they prepared

it and called upon the na name of Baal

from morning until noon, saying, "Oh

Baal, answer us." But there was no

voice, and no one answered. And they

limped around the altar that they had

made. And at noon, Elijah mocked them,

saying, "Cry aloud, for he is a god.

Either he is musing, or he is relieving

himself, or he is on a journey, or

perhaps he is asleep and must be

awakened."

There aren't too many places in the

Bible where the humor is obvious, but

this is this is one of them. I mean,

Elijah's clearly mocking them, right?

But here's the irony here. You might not

know this, but to the prophets of Baal,

all of those would have been plausible

reasons why Baal was not answering.

Those were all plausible explanations

for why Baal was not answering them.

According to their own religious texts,

the Canaanite gods, like Baal, had to

eat and sleep and go to the bathroom.

Baal is no true god. He's a god made in

the image of man. A god invented by man

with the same limitations as man.

In verse 28, the prophets of Baal, they

start getting desperate.

Says, "And they cried aloud and cut

themselves after their custom with

swords and lances until the blood gushed

out upon them. And as midday passed,

they raved on until the time of the

offering of the oblation. But there was

no voice. No one answered. No one paid

attention.

It's kind of a disturbing scene, isn't

it? You have to think, if the only way

to get your god's attention is to dance

around while cutting yourself, is that

really the god that you want to follow?

This was their custom. Baal worshippers

have been doing this kind of thing for

hundreds of years. So, they just keep

going hour after hour in this gruesome

display until it says the time of the

offering of the oblation. That's

twilight and it's the time when the

Israelites were supposed to offer their

daily evening sacrifice to God, which is

probably something they hadn't been

doing in hundreds of years. Okay. So,

the prophets of Baal, they had their

turn. They've been calling on Baal all

day. It's now twilight. And what's the

result? There was no voice. No one

answered. No one paid attention.

Here's the thing about idols. They will

always let you down.

They will always let you down. Idols

will always overpromise but underdel.

They promise safety and success and

pleasure, but they all they actually

deliver is a fragile and temporary

imitation of the real thing that comes

from God alone.

Let's look at what happens now that it's

Elijah's turn. Verse 30.

Then Elijah said to all the people,

"Come near to me." And all the people

came near to him, and he repaired the

altar of the Lord that had been thrown

down. Elijah took 12 stones according to

the number of the tribes of the sons of

Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord

came, saying, "Israel shall be your

name." And with the stones, he built an

altar in the name of the Lord. Elijah's

approach is a little bit different than

the prophets of Baal, isn't it?

First, he draws the Israelites near. He

wants them to be close. He wants them to

see what he's doing, what's about to

happen. And then he builds this new

altar to the Lord with 12 stones. And

those stones represent each of the

tribes of Israel. And and there's

there's there's symbolic significance

here. Well, what's happening is as

altars as Elijah's rebuilding this

altar, it's like he's saying, "Israel,

we got to form back together. We got to

reunite around worshiping the right God

in the right way." He's trying to

restore the people of Israel back to

right worship of the right God. Verse 32

and it says, "And he made a trench about

the altar as great as would contain two

seas of seed and he put the wood in

order and cut the bowl in pieces and

laid it on the wood. And he said fill

four jugs with water and pour it on the

burnt offering and on the wood." And he

said, "Do it a second time." And they

did it a second time. And he said, "Do

it a third time." And they did it a

third time. and the water ran around the

altar and filled the trench also with

water.

Now, I've learned over the years that

when you want something to catch on

fire, you shouldn't douse it with water

first.

Usually doesn't help. So, why is Elijah

doing this? Well, he's already given the

prophets of Baal every possible

advantage. And now, he's going to give

God every possible disadvantage for the

same reason. So that when God shows up,

there's no doubt who won this contest.

But there's just one more thing for

Elijah to do first. Verse 36.

And at the time of the offering of the

oblation, Elijah the prophet came near

and said, "Oh Lord, God of Abraham,

Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this

day that you are God in Israel and that

I am your servant, and that I have done

all these things at your word. Answer

me, oh Lord. answer me that this people

may know that you, oh Lord, are God and

that you have turned their hearts back.

Let's look at this prayer. What does

Elijah accomplish in this prayer? Well,

the first thing he does is he identifies

God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and

Israel. He's reminding the Israelites of

God's covenant faithfulness. So, this is

a God who's faithful generation to

generation.

Second thing he does is he asks for the

truth to be revealed. He says, "Let it

be known this day that you are God in

Israel." And third, he gives all the

glory to God and he refuses to take any

credit for himself. He says, "Let it be

known that I am your servant and that I

have done all these things at your

word." He's making it clear that he's

not the one who's going to cause fire to

fall from heaven.

And fourth, he asks God to answer him so

that the people's hearts will be turned

back. He wants their repentance. That's

what he's praying for here is

repentance.

He prays a short humble prayer and then

he gets out of the way. Verse 38, then

the fire of the Lord fell and consumed

the burnt offering and the wood and the

stones and the dust and licked up the

water that was in the trench. Imagine

this as if you were in that crowd.

You've been standing out here in the sun

all day watching the prophets of Baal go

crazy around their altar. And then just

as it starts getting dark out, one man,

the little prophet Elijah, steps

forward. He rebuilds this altar stone by

stone. He arranges the the bull, the

offering, has it all dowsed in water.

And then he prays this short, simple

little prayer and gets out of the way.

And what happens?

Something blindingly bright starts

falling from above for a moment. It's

like that night turns into day.

Everything is bright as day, brighter

than day. And then fire slams into the

ground. And do you know that feeling

like when you when you're baking

something and you like open up the oven

door and you just get that blast of

heat? You know what I'm talking about? I

don't know. I just imagine this was like

that but like times a hundred. Okay.

Probably just this immense blast of

heat. I would imagine if you were there,

if I were there, we would all be falling

backwards in shock, right?

And then when we finally look up,

finally find the courage to to to take a

look. What happened? It's all gone.

There's nothing there. The bowl, the

stones, everything, the dust, it's gone.

And what does it mean in the Bible when

fire falls and consumes a sacrifice?

What does that mean? What does that

represent?

Acceptance. It means the sacrifice was

accepted.

Verse 39.

And when all the people saw it, they

fell on their faces and said, "The Lord,

he is God. The Lord, he is God." God

grabbed the hearts of his idolatrous

people and turned them back to him.

That's what he did in this story.

They're not on the fence anymore.

They're not silent anymore. They've made

their decision. And their decision is

Yahweh is God. Not Baal, not Asher.

Yahweh is God.

This is a really cool story. The more

I've thought about this story though,

the more I realize this is a story first

and foremost of mercy.

This is a story of mercy. Because do you

know what God had every right to do? He

had every right to tell Elijah, "Hey,

have everybody go up on that mountain,

Israelites, prophets of Baal, all of

them. Okay, now you sneak down the back

way and I'm just going to rain fire on

this whole mountain. Let's just I'm I'm

going to destroy all of these rebellious

idolatrous people. That sounds extreme.

Listen to what Exodus 22:20 says. It

Exodus 22:20

says, "Whoever sacrifices to any god

other than the Lord alone shall be

devoted to destruction." This is

literally God's word. He had every right

to devote them to destruction. They

freely worshiped false gods. They broke

every single one of God's commandments

by all appearances. They were lost

causes. They showed no signs of

repentance. Nothing in them that seemed

inclined to return to worshiping Yahweh

alone. And yet God didn't destroy them,

did he? He didn't rain down fire and

judgment upon his people. He did

something so much more glorious. He

tenderly showed them how powerless and

empty their idols were. And then he

turned their hearts back to him. Church,

that is mercy. That is what mercy looks

like. We are idolattors, too. We are

idolattors, too. We deserve judgment,

too. But do you know what God did for

us, brothers and sisters? God showed us

mercy, too. But not through Elijah,

through his son.

Pause for a second. Think about Jesus.

Think about what Jesus did for us. You

know, just like Elijah, Jesus confronted

us in our idolatry. He called us out for

worshiping all the wrong things.

Just like Elijah, Jesus called us to

return to worshiping the right God in

the right way.

But Jesus's prayer at the end was a

little different than Elijah's.

See, Jesus prayed, "My father, if this

cannot pass unless I drink it, your will

be done."

Jesus prayed those words in a garden

hours before he was tortured and killed

to pay the price for our idolatry.

In other words, Jesus prayed to his

father, "If I have to die

to turn their hearts back to you, so be

it. Your will be done." I would rather

have that than see them separated from

you forever because of their sin.

Our idolatry is that serious and it runs

that deep. And that's why Jesus didn't

just lay a bull on the altar like Elijah

did. It's as if Jesus climbed up those

stones himself and laid down on it to be

that sacrifice in our place.

He was tortured.

He was murdered on a cross. But three

days later, he rose from the grave

alive. And what did that signify? It

signified that the sacrifice was

accepted. Jesus rose from the grave

showing his sacrifice for our sin was

accepted by God. And if you're listening

to me this morning and you haven't put

your faith in Jesus yet, you haven't yet

been saved from your sin,

if you haven't been there yet, I I I

want to say this with love, but I want

to say with honesty,

you just like all of us before Christ,

you have been worshiping the wrong

things your entire life. You have been

worshiping the wrong things your entire

life. You've been making idols out of

things that can never satisfy you. Maybe

it's even good things, too, like family

or career. Those things aren't

inherently bad, but when you make an

idol out of them, when you make them

your God, they don't satisfy, do they?

They consume you.

My guess is, if you're anything like who

I was before I put my trust in Jesus,

you've probably been let down by your

idol over and over and over again. It

always promises to satisfy, but that

satisfaction never comes. But you you

don't know where else to turn. Where do

I go with this? Well, if you want to

find that satisfaction you were made

for, that you've been craving your

entire life, take your worship to the

God who made you. Take your worship to

the God who loves you, who lived and

died and rose again to save you. Take

your worship to the God who makes you a

promise. The promise that if you will

worship him and repent from your sin, he

will give you a new heart. He will give

you a heart that loves him more than

those idols that you've been running to.

And all you have to do is just repent.

Just turn from your sin. Turn from your

idolatry and trust in Jesus. Believe

that he is who he says he is. Make him

first in your life. Give him the worship

that he deserves.

Believe me, for what he did for us, he

deserves your worship, doesn't he? He

deserves your worship.

Well, our story isn't quite over yet.

The Israelites have chosen God over

Baal, but they are there are still

hundreds of prophets of Baal who are at

this point probably just standing around

awkwardly wondering, "Uh-oh, this

doesn't seem good for us. These aren't

innocent men. These are men who have

been leading Israel astray into idolatry

for years."

So, verse 40, it says, "And Elijah said

to them, seize the prophets of Baal. Let

not one of them escape." and they seized

them. And Elijah brought them down to

the brook Kishon and slaughtered them

there.

Elijah knew that there could be no peace

between the prophets of Baal and God's

people. You see, idolatry is like a

cancer. And you don't compromise with

cancer. You don't barter with cancer.

You cut it out.

That's exactly what Elijah and the

Israelites did.

Sounds harsh, but if if it does sound

like overkill to you, I just want to

recognize it might be because you don't

realize yet how serious and dangerous

idolatry is. The lasting, and by

lasting, I mean eternally lasting

consequences of idolatry. Now, to be

clear, under the new covenant in Christ,

you know, I don't think we're ever

justified in taking human life in our

fight against our idols. You know, first

Kings 18, it takes place in a very

specific point in Israel's uh salvation

history. We're not in that place today.

We're in the new covenant. Our our

kingdom is not physical. Our enemies are

not flesh and blood. But there's still a

principle here that needs to be taken to

heart. And that is that you can't

compromise with your idols. You can't

make peace with them. They must be

attacked and rooted out. Christ died not

so that you could compromise with your

idols. He died so that he could set you

free from your idols.

by his spirit, he's given you the power

to overcome them, too. The question is,

do you believe that? Do you believe that

Christ through his spirit inside of you

is powerful enough to overcome those

idols that maybe you've been wrestling

with for decades? I believe he is. Do

you believe that he is?

Ask the father for forgiveness through

the son. Ask the spirit to help you put

that idol to death. Whatever it may be,

maybe it's a secret sin. Maybe it's an

addiction. Maybe it's something that's

not inherently sinful at all. like I

mentioned, career, a loved one, but but

because you've put so much love into

that thing or because you trust that

thing to such an extreme level, it now

enslaves you and it robs you of your

love and trust in God. It's a sign that

it's gone from being a good thing to a

God thing. It's gone from being

something that's a blessing from the

Lord to being an idol that is enslaving

you.

And then after you've identified your

idols, after you've asked for that

forgiveness, here's the hard part that

you're not going to like, ask someone

here to help you in that fight. Ask

someone here to help you in that fight

against that idol. Maybe it's Pastor

Josh or Pastor Eric. Maybe it's Scott.

Maybe it's someone else in this room who

you know to be a godly Christian.

you know, West Hills, San Jose, just to

quote a former pastor of mine, I

challenge you as a church, to be a

church where it's safe to confess sin,

but it's not safe to stay in sin.

I'll say that again. I I I challenge you

to be a church where it's safe to

confess sin, but it's not safe to stay

in sin. There are churches where it

doesn't feel safe to confess sin.

churches where everyone pretends they

have it all together even when they

don't because they're afraid of what

will happen if they're actually honest

about their idolatry and their sin

struggles. They fear they'll be

rejected.

On the other hand though, there are

churches where it feels safe to stay in

sin, churches that don't talk about sin

or churches that excuse sin. Churches

where no one ever lovingly corrects

anyone else.

If the gospel is true, church, we don't

have to be afraid to confess our sin.

What does 1 John 1:9 promise us? If we

1 John 1:9

confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and

just to forgive us our sins and cleanse

us from all unrighteousness. That is a

beautiful promise, isn't it? We don't

have to stay in the dark. We have a

savior who's paid for our sin and has

enabled us to walk in the light. But at

the same time, if sin and idolatry are

as dangerous as the Bible says they are,

how could we excuse it or ignore it? You

see the tension here? We can't excuse or

ignore our sin,

but we also can't keep our sin in the

dark. We must bring it forward trusting

that the gospel is as powerful as Jesus

says that it is. We are called to fight

our idols. And this is important not in

order to be saved. That's legalism.

We're called to fight our idols because

we already are saved. And that's not

legalism. That's just obedience.

So the question is is there a next step

of obedience that you need to take in

your fight against idolatry? Is there a

next step you need to take? I don't I

don't know what it is, but is there

someone in this room that you need to

bring into that battle with you? Is

there a hard conversation you need to

have? Are there accountability measures

that need to be put up so that you can

put idolatry to death so that you are

free to worship God more than ever?

Let's read how our story ends. Verse 41.

And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and

drink, for there is a sound of the

rushing of rain." So Ahab went up to eat

and to drink. And Elijah went up to the

top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed

himself down on the earth and put his

face between his knees. And he said to

his servant, "Go up now. Look toward the

sea." And he went up and looked and

said, "There is nothing." And he said,

"Go again seven times." And at the

seventh time he said, "Behold, a little

cloud like a man's hand is rising from

the sea." And he said, "Go up, say to

Ahab, prepare your chariot, and go down,

lest the rain stop you." And in a little

while, the heavens grew black with

clouds and wind. And there was a great

rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezrael.

And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah,

and he gathered up his garment and ran

before Ahab to the entrance of Jezrael.

Elijah was as confident that rain would

fall as he was that fire would fall.

Now that the idolatry has been dealt

with, he knows that God wants nothing

more than to bless his people and give

them what they need. And so the drought

ends, fire turns to water. Judgment

turns to mercy and grace. And notice

here, this is so cool. Notice that it

wasn't just a little sprinkle of water,

was it? It says it was a great rain. And

that tells us something really important

about God, doesn't it? When a sinner

turns away from their sin and back to

God, whether it's for the first time or

for the thousandth time, guess what? God

doesn't respond with crossed arms. He

doesn't say, "Well, about time you came

back to me. Give you a little sprinkle

of rain. This be enough to keep your

animals alive, but I want you to I want

you to stay thirsty for a while. I'm not

I'm not I'm not dumping rain on you yet.

No, I want you to feel feel some pain

for a little bit. That is not who God

is. It says that he responds with a

flood of mercy and grace. Man, I've been

so reminded of that these last few

weeks. When a sinner repents, God

responds with a flood of mercy and

grace. Not a trickle, not a sprinkle, a

flood.

Three years of idolatry. Think about

this. God's watching from heaven for

three years as his people lust after

false gods and worship them in terrible,

depraved ways. Three years of that,

longer really when you think back to the

six kings before Ahab. And then the

second they turn from their idolatry,

literally minutes later, what happens?

God's people are literally soaked with

his mercy. They're soaked. That is our

God. A God who is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger, and abounding in

steadfast love. Let's pray.