Man on Fire [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Every single thing that Elijah is doing here is not because he dreamed it up, but God had given him a word that this is what he was to do. And therefore, he wanted the people to know that this God, the one who is getting ready to do this miracle, is the one who keeps his word.

He speaks his word and he keeps his word, and let them see that Lord. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Miracle Man as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'd like to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here's Alan Wright. One day another physician came up and told him there had been an accident that a young lieutenant had been strapping some equipment on top of the truck and a bungee cord came accidentally released back over and sprung back over and put out his eye. And he just came to tell Dr. Meyer, he said, I've bandaged it. He said, there's nothing to be done.

The eye is destroyed. And so Dr. Meyer said, okay. And but a little while later, he just, hey, not had this happen before, but it's like he heard a voice.

Dr. Meyer did. He said, it said, go pray for him. And he kind of discounted it and then came back to him and said this little prompt, he said, go pray for him. So he went over to this young lieutenant whose eye was bandaged and he prayed and he prayed for him to be healed.

And didn't do anything. The next morning, the other doctor came with a look of complete shock on his face and said, I removed the bandage in this young man's eyes. He said, his eye has been completely restored. And the other doctor was not a believer. I thought it was kind of funny what he actually said was, he said to Dr. Meyer, he said, it's a GD miracle.

That's not the way we talk about it in church. But if you don't believe it, you're just like, whoa, you don't know what to say with something like that. This story is like that.

It's like those. It's like one of those breathtaking moments that everything changes for you. And it actually is a story about contrasts. And you can see it if you just kind of walk through this story with me. It's starting at verse 17 and verse 18. When Ahab, that's the king who the Bible says was more wicked than all his predecessors. When he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel? And Elijah answered, I've not troubled Israel, but you have in your father's house because you abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the balls. You can see this story is gripping and in some ways gruesome and powerful.

And yet it's also, it's just, it's got these little dappled places of humor that run throughout it. And I think it starts right here at verse 17, because you've got to remember Elijah is a man just like us. And he's going to be used powerfully of God, but he's still just a human.

And you're going to see him doing some funny things. But this opening scene, this is like Elijah said, is that you, you troubler of Israel? And Elijah said, I'm not the trouble. You're the trouble. Oh yeah, you're the trouble. No, I'm the trouble. Am not R2.

Am not R2. Well, we're going to find out who the real troubler is. Who's the one who's telling the truth?

Who's the one who's causing trouble around here? And so verse 19, now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. So Jezebel is the queen. She's married to Ahab. She is a worshiper of Baal and she feeds them. She takes care of them.

They're in her court. She's basically financing these 450 prophets of Baal. She's trying to really promote this idolatrous worship. So Ahab, verse 20, sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 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.

This word appears twice in this chapter and the only other place it appears in the Bible is to speak of a man with a physical disability named Mephibosheth. And it's an image that's so funny because what he's saying is like, you are saying you worship the Lord but you also have this idol Baal that you worship and so you're like a person who's like on crutches and you're just kind of nothing strong in either direction. You don't want to say, I'll worship you Lord, worship the Lord, and then you limp over here and you're worshiping Baal. And he's just saying, why would you do both of these? I mean, if the Baal's the true God, worship Him. Go ahead, if it's really true. But if the Lord is, then worship Him.

But don't try to do both these things. It's interesting, you know, when the people of God built that famous golden calf that they worshiped, it came in the middle of what was called a festival to Yahweh, a festival to Jehovah God. They were in the middle of having supposedly worship unto the Lord, then they also made a golden calf.

Idolatry in the Bible is not really pictured as replacing the one true God with an idol, but adding an idol to your worship of God. Why are you going to limp over here? We worship you Lord, Baal. It's funny because this word's going to come back up later. Elijah's saying, see the contrast? He's setting up as a contrast. And then he says, verse 22, Elijah said to the people, I even I only am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men.

450 you, one of me. And here the contrast continues, let two bulls be given us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I'll prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. We each set up two different altars, two different sacrifices, but don't light anything. It's a drought and the sticks and everything is all brittle, and you might think that it could be spontaneous combustion, but don't even strike even a small spark around it. We all agree on that.

That's okay. And he said, you call, verse 24, upon the name of your God, and I'll 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. They liked this contest because you got to remember Baal was the storm God. So he was the one in charge of lightning.

So it's a drought. Things can just spark into flame like that. All he had to do was just send one little lightning bolt down. I'm sure they're thinking that's what Baal's going to do. And they're like, this is great. Plus they got 450 of them with all their confidence and everything. And one little Elijah, they got Jezebel financing them.

And they're like, absolutely, this is a great idea. So they took the bull, verse 26, given them. They prepared it.

And watch this. They called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon. In Hebrew, that means from 6 a.m. till noon. This is six hours. For six hours, they called upon him saying, oh, Baal, answer us.

But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. This is a funny scene. This is 450 prophets. These are the people like, you know, we're the respected prophets of the land. And from 6 in the morning till noon, all of them shouting, Baal, Baal, Baal. And I love the image. And they're circling around the altar, you know.

They put this bull out there. And they're like, we're going to just circle around this thing. For six hours, Baal, Baal.

Elijah's like, you're just limping around the altar. Baal, Baal, Baal, Baal. Baal. They did it for six hours. How long do you want me to do it? Baal, Baal. Baal.

Six hours. I mean, this is a funny scene. I mean, nothing's happening. They shout as loud as they can for six hours for Baal. This is their prayer life.

And nothing happens. And so Elijah, Elijah, listen, we're not allowed to do this, but he's Elijah. And he just flat out mocks them. I mean, maybe some things do need to be mocked, but I'm not going there this morning. But I could, but I'm not right now. Some of the things in our culture just need to be mocked. They're so stupid. I can't even be people. What are you saying?

Something is so stupid as that. Can anybody, anyway, back to the message at hand. And he said at verse 27, at noon after six hours, this Elijah mocks them saying, cry aloud for he's a God. You know what he's saying?

Shout louder. He's a God. You said he was a God.

You got 450 prophets. Sure he is a God. You know what you're not doing? You're not shouting loud enough.

You can't make this stuff up. He says in verse 27, either he's musing, he's deep in thought. Hmm.

Or just reading what it says, folks. He's relieving himself. There's a little potty humor in the middle of the Bible right there.

Any third grade boy just love this story right there. He's going to the bathroom or he's on a journey. On a little vacation.

Go on the Bahamas. He's on a cruise. Or perhaps he's asleep. You know, these gods, they get tired sometimes.

Got to sleep. And he must be awakened. Shout louder because, you know, I'm not sure he's either on vacation or going to the bathroom or just asleep. But if you'll shout louder, you know, just mock the fire out of him and you would think that these prophets would come back and say, how dare you speak to us like that? You know, but that's not what they did. You know what they did? They took him up on it. They can look at each other and said, you know, that's what he's right. You know, we got to go louder.

You know, by all might be asleep. Let's go a little louder. And that's what they did.

Verse 28. They cried aloud. They got louder. And they cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them. And as the midday passed, they raved on.

Nothing happened. That is as good a picture of any form of dead religion as you'll ever see. and a daily prayer of faith. This beautiful spiral bound book is the perfect tool to get you into the word and to build your faith day by day. When you make a gift this month, we'll send you Alan Wright's new devotional journal, Everyday Miracles, as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Also, free digital access to all the Elijah messages currently airing. So please make your gift today and start looking for miracles all around you. The gospel is shared when you you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. His teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. The difference between every form of religion and the actual gospel of Jesus Christ comes down to this. If you believe that you're going to get God to move because you shout loud enough, or you punish yourself, or you sacrifice enough, or you cry long enough, or you do works of righteousness enough, then you'll get God to move.

You'll find yourself exceedingly empty, having spilled your time and tears and blood with nothing. For God does not move and is not moved by your or my righteousness. The point of the story seems to me that no matter how loud they shout or how hard they cry, they couldn't move a God by any of their own heroic efforts. And then Elijah's turn. He said, verse 30, come near me, and all the people came near him. He repaired the altar the Lord had been thrown down, and 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. Twelve in Hebrew becomes the symbol, it's a symbolic number, that represents the total of the people of God, because there were 12 tribes of Israel, so this is the total number of people of God. This is the people of God, under these 12, so these 12 stones symbolize. And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two seers of seed, so he put a big trench around the altar, and then he put the wood in order, and he cut the bowl in pieces and laid it on the wood. So now he's laid this innocent animal, who's been sacrificed, onto the wood, and that blood of that innocent animal runs down upon these 12 stones.

Do you see the symbol here? And the blood is covering the symbol of the people of God. And just to make sure that nobody thought this was spontaneous combustion in the middle of a drought, he took four jars of water, poured it on the burnt offering on the wood, and he said, do it a second time, and they did it a second time. He said, do it a third time, and they did it a third time.

And the water ran around the altar, so it was just drenched wet. And then verse 36, at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, and listen to his prayer, he said, oh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Just want to identify, I don't want there to be any mistake, we're talking about the one God, the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And let it be known this day, here's his prayer, so simple, that you are God in Israel.

This is what I want, I want your glory on display. And let it be known that I am your servant, and that I've done all these things at your word. That in other words, every single thing that Elijah is doing here is not because he dreamed it up, but God had given him a word that this is what he was to do. And therefore, he wanted the people to know that this God, the one who is getting ready to do this miracle, is the one who keeps his word. He speaks his word, and he keeps his word, and let them see that, Lord.

Verse 37, he says, his prayer is simple, 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. And then verse 38, 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, and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. Almost everywhere in the Bible, fire is a symbol of judgment. Fire is a symbol of judgment against sin.

Be clear about something. The gospel is good news, not because it means that God has overlooked your sin. It's not good news because somehow we got Jesus, and in the New Testament, God doesn't have judgment against sin. That's not the gospel.

God has always said that sin must be judged, that sin must be punished, or else we don't have a justice, a just world, we don't have any justice. What's so good about the gospel is that God in His infinite wisdom and mercy came in the person of Jesus and set up an altar, not at Mount Carmel, but at Calvary. It was an altar that took the form of a cross, and it didn't put a bull there, but He put His own Son, the one of whom John the Baptist said, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And there on that altar, that cross, the fire of God's wrath against sin came, and it came upon Jesus. By God's own sovereign power and love, Jesus took the judgment that you and I were due.

Every idolater, every sinner. And Jesus hung there under the heat of the judgment of God against sin. He who knew no sin became our sin, the Bible says, so that when you accept Christ, you are not judged, but instead are reckoned as if you were righteous.

This showdown at Mount Carmel wasn't about Elijah being better than them. This was about God, the real, true, living God who was demonstrating His glory and painting a picture on the landscape of history at a moment in time to say essentially, I am not moved by acts of self-righteousness from idolaters. I am moved only by a true sacrifice, miraculous sacrifice. He's pointing us to Jesus. So when you accept Christ, beloved, you experience the greatest miracle of all. You become a child of God, not by your own deserving, but by the merits of Christ. Let us not live our lives limping from one side to the other when we have a God who died and proved it all was true when He rose up out of the grave.

The tomb is empty, God is alive, and that changes everything. That's the gospel. Alan Wright and today's teaching, Man on Fire, in the series Miracle Man. We're back in a moment. Alan's in the studio with additional insight today for your life and our final word.

It's a great idea to start each day with a dose of good news, and we'd like to help. In James 5, we're given these jaw-dropping words, Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years. Elijah, the man whose prayer called down fire on a water-drenched altar, defeating 450 wicked prophets and whose intercession revived a widow's deceased son, was just like us, an ordinary man who was used by God for the extraordinary.

God's word is clear. If the Lord could use Elijah miraculously, He could also do wonders in and through you. If you yearn to see more of God's power in your life, you'll love Pastor Alan's devotional journal Every Day Miracles. It's a one-month journey through the stories of Elijah and his successor, Elisha, that include daily devotionals from Pastor Alan, questions for reflection, space for journaling, and a daily prayer of faith. This beautiful spiral-bound book is the perfect tool to get you into the Word and to build your faith day by day. When you make a gift this month, we'll send you Alan Wright's new devotional journal Every Day Miracles as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Also, free digital access to all the Elijah messages currently airing. So please make your gift today and start looking for miracles all around you. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Alan, it builds our faith to hear these stories again and again to know that there was strong faith, there were miracles that happened before, and God's still in that business today. This story of Elijah at Mount Carmel and the fire coming down on the altar and the defeat of those prophets of Baal and the glories of God being put on display, it's just one of my favorite stories. It's been so powerful, so dramatic, and what we want to keep remembering is that Elijah said Elijah, I mean, James said Elijah is a man just like us. So it's not to say that God's going to position us against 450 prophets of Baal, but it is to say that no matter what we're up against, the spiritual power of God is the same today in Jesus Christ as it always has been. And what a story it is calling us into the power of the gospel. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.