The Lord's Day Bible Message Outlines
March 29, 2009
Pastor Dana Johnson
"How long will you falter between
two opinions?" -
1 Kings 18:21
And Elijah came to all the people,
and said, "How long will you falter between two
opinions?
If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him."
But the people answered him not a
word.
1. World opinion in Israel (Northern
Kingdom) in the time of Elijah was this: Religious pluralism
is okay.
a. Meaning of "falter" - to
leap back and forth between two opinions.
b. Notice the two opinions: Jehovah
and Baal.
1 Kings 16:30-33 -
Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the
LORD, more than all who were before him. 31And
it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing
for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal,
king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and
worshiped him. 32Then he set up an altar for
Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in
Samaria. 33And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab
did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than
all the kings of Israel who were before
him.
c. The people were simply following
the lead of their political leaders.
1 Kings 10:23-25 -
So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in
riches and wisdom. 24Now all the earth sought
the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had
put in his heart. 25Each man brought his
present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor,
spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by
year.
1 Kings 11:1-6 - But King Solomon loved many foreign
women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the
Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites;
2from the nations of whom the LORD had said to
the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with
them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your
hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
3And he had seven hundred wives, princesses,
and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away
his heart. 4For it was so, when Solomon was
old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods;
and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was
the heart of his father David. 5For Solomon
went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and
after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. (6)
Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not
fully follow the LORD, as did his father
David.
d. This welcoming attitude toward
all religions represents the same philosophy of the
modern ecumenical movement.
e. Do you remember the witness of
God's Law?
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
- "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
5You shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength."
2. Though we do not share in Elijah's
role as prophet, he represents a good role model for God's
people who are seeking to be faithful to the
Lord.
a. In Elijah's world he was
considered to be the troublemaker.
1 Kings 18:17
-Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said
to him, "Is that you, O troubler of Israel?"
John 15:19 - "If you were of the world, the world would
love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I
chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you.
b. Elijah felt very much
alone.
1 Kings 18:22 - Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone
am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are
four hundred and fifty men.
1 Kings 19:14 - And he said, "I have been very zealous
for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel
have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and
killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and
they seek to take my life."
c. Elijah evidenced both the
courage and the calmness of one who was trusting in God
and His Word.
1 Kings 18:36 -
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 Israel, let it be
known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your
servant, and that I have done all these things at Your
word.
d. God uses all sorts of sanctified
personalities.
3. Observe the spiritual condition of
the people.
a. Theirs is the silence of
guilt, unbelief, and cowardice.
1 Kings 18:21 -
And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long
will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God,
follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people
answered him not a word.
b. Though all present recognized
who won the contest , the miracle did not reverse
Israel's spiritual decline; nor did it avert the judgment
of God.
1 Kings 18:39 -
Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces;
and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is
God!"
1 Kings 19:15-17 - Then the LORD said to him: "Go, return
on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you
arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.
16Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi
as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of
Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
17It shall be that whoever escapes the sword
of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword
of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
c. In the midst of such unbelief
and religious pluralism, notice the active, sovereign
grace of the Lord.
1 Kings 19:18 -
"Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose
knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has
not kissed him."
(All
Scripture quoted is from the New King James
Version)
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