Enemies of Revival

Pastor, teacher and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated.

Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. Find in your Bible in the Old Testament, 1 Kings chapter 18, we're talking about America in crisis. Francis Schaeffer was a great teacher, a great philosopher, a great Christian and a great social critic. And he is now in heaven.

But Francis Schaeffer said something that I want to remind you of. He warned us that one day we would wake up and find that the America that we once knew is gone. We're here. The America we once knew is gone. We're living in the midst of a crisis, whether you know it or not. And I want to say that we need revival. Now, when I say that, when I say that, I recognize that I'll get a sympathetic smile because revival is a shopworn word. We've heard about revival.

And so the word just hangs out there in the air. Many of us don't know what it is and the others don't believe that it is possible. But we need an old-fashioned, fire-from-heaven, sin-convicting, life-transforming, Christ-honoring, soul-saving revival in America.

And I wonder, I wonder if oceans of blood, rivers of tears, seas of sweat will be the price that this nation will pay for flaunting Almighty God. Now, there are those who think that we're past the days of revival, but I don't think that is so. I don't believe there's one shred of evidence that says we cannot have revival in these last days and revival in America.

And I believe we must disabuse ourselves of the fact, of the notion that it is too late. The Lord Jesus taught us to go and make disciples of all nations. And then our Lord said, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Now, our Lord's power has not diminished. In the 18th chapter of 1 Kings, there's a story of revival in dark days. And we're going to look at that chapter and see really what took place so long ago, because what God has done before, God can do and God will do again under the same circumstances. Now, we're going to meet some enemies of revival.

The same enemies that are in America today, and I want you to see what they are. And I want to read with you now the first six verses, 1 Kings chapter 18. And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came unto Elijah, the third year saying, go show thyself unto Ahab. Now, Elijah was the prophet, Ahab was the king, and I will send rain upon the earth. Now, there had been a drought for three and a half years. It had not rained on the earth because of the judgment of Almighty God.

And God does control nature, and it had not rained upon the earth. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine. In the Old Testament, a physical famine, many times illustrated a famine for the word of God. And indeed, there was a famine for the word of God in the northern kingdom, Samaria, we call Israel. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house.

Now, notice this parenthetical phrase there. Now, Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. That is saying, Obadiah was in league with Ahab. Ahab, we're going to see, was the wicked king. But Obadiah, who was the governor of Ahab's house, feared the Lord greatly. For it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord.

Jezebel was the wicked king's wife. When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Ahab and Obadiah took an hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all the brooks.

Peradventure, we may find grass to save the horses and the mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. Now, who is Obadiah? Obadiah was a believer. The Bible tells us here clearly and plainly that Obadiah was a child of God. He feared God greatly. We could say that Obadiah was a saved man, but he was a man that had absolutely no spiritual power because he had sold himself out to the world. Here was a man who feared God, and yet he was in league with one of the most wicked kings that Israel has ever known. And there was a drought in the land, and here's Obadiah out looking for grass and when he ought to have been, praying for rain. He's like so many in this congregation and so many Christians in the world today.

Somehow, for some reason, we line up with the enemy rather than standing for Almighty God, no power, no influence, sold out to the world. And he's like Lot who was down in Sodom. And the Bible says that Lot grieved, vexed his righteous soul with the way the Sodomites were living, but he continued to live with them.

He continued to go his own way. When finally the judgment came and he was trying to save his family from Sodom, his sons-in-laws mocked him because he had lost his testimony. He was like Samson who was a man of God, anointed with the Holy Spirit of God, but he compromised with the world and did not even know that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. And this man Obadiah represents to me so many in our churches today who are backslidden, who are compromising. They are salt without savor. They are the heartbreak of God.

They are the alibi of the lost. They are stumbling blocks to the saved. They make pastors and angels weep, and the world is full of these Obadiahs. And if you're here tonight and you're a child of God and you're in league with this world, I want to tell you that part of the problem is yours. The Bible says, Happy is the man that condemneth not himself in the thing which he allows. We have so many today who are compromised Christians. I believe, I thoroughly believe, I totally believe there's nothing wrong in America that cannot be radically, dramatically, and swiftly put right if all of the people of God would stand up and speak up and if our pulpits in America were aflame with the power of God.

I believe that. The problem is today we have too many Obadiahs who are compromises. But there was another problem. Not only was there the compromises, the Obadiahs, that there were those who were the corrupters, Ahab and Jezebel. Look, if you will, in verses 17 and 18 of this same chapter. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? That is the king said to the prophet, You are troublemaker.

And the prophet answered back, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and has followed Balaam. Now, what happened is this, that on the throne was a wicked king named Ahab and he had a wicked wife named Jezebel. Ahab was the epitome of evil. Now, he was doubly dangerous because he used religious talk all of the time.

He talked about being a believer. But I want you to notice God's biography of this man in 1 Kings chapter 16 verses 30 through 33. And Ahab, the son of Amrai, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

And came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam. That is, he casually sinned the son of Nebat that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbel, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. Now, who was Baal? Baal was a sex god. Baal was a fertility god and a part of the worship of this pagan demon god that Jezebel worshiped and taught Ahab to worship, a part of that worship was the sacrifice of little babies. That's the way they worshiped the Baal of that day. And the Bible goes on to say, And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. That is, as the king, supposed to be the king, the leader over God's people, he actually encouraged pagan worship. He actually encouraged the sacrifice of little babies. And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. He was a national leader, Ahab was. His wife was urging him on. He had a form of godliness.

He used religious language, but he was mastered by his own pride, by his own lust, and he was greatly influenced by his wife. Now, there are many enemies of the gospel today, and there are many forces today that will keep us, that would hold us back from revival. They hate all that we stand for. They hate people like yours truly. To them, we are troublemakers. And they say of us, You're the one who are troubling America. We are the thorns in their flesh. Now, very frankly, I don't expect to be loved by these people. I don't expect to be admired by the whiskey dealers, the dope pushers, the pornographers, or the baby butchers.

I don't expect that. We ought to give those people insomnia. We ought to speak up. The Bible says, Lift up your voice and show the house of Israel their sin.

Let me tell you something, folks. The Ahabs and the Jezebels cannot hold back revival. The Obadias can.

The Obadias can. The people of God who refuse to take the stand that they ought to take. The actions of a king, the actions of a court, and the actions of a president can never thwart the power and the plan of Almighty God. The Bible says of these people and their arrogance against God, the Bible says concerning them, He that sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord scoffs at them. Put in your margin Daniel 4 verse 17. The Bible says there that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men. God is above all of this.

There's no panic in heaven. And it's not that God is hopeless and helpless to do something and that we cannot have revival unless it is routed through Washington. Now, there's another category here in this chapter.

I've talked to you about the compromises. I've talked to you about the corruptors. But here's another category that is so evident in America today. And these are the confused.

These who don't understand the situation, they have not got a clue. Look, if you will, in verses 19 through 21 of this same chapter. And Elijah here is calling for a contest. And here's what he says, Now, therefore, send and gather unto me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophet of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. Now, here is a summit meeting at Mount Carmel. Now, notice what Elijah said to this crowd, this great throng of people, all the people there. They've come up to this beautiful mountain that I have visited so many times in the Holy Land. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, now listen to this, How long halt ye between two opinions? That is, how long are you going to try to be on both sides of the fence? If the Lord be God, follow him.

But if Baal, then follow him. Now, notice this, And the people answered him not a word. These were people who were just on the fence. They didn't have enough grace to serve God. They didn't have enough courage to serve the devil. Why is this? Why is there so much ambivalence? Why do we have a generation that doesn't even seem to have a clue as to what is going on?

Well, I'll tell you why. Go back to the Obadiahs. They have not seen enough in the church of the living God to convince them one way or the other. It's as though if they're in the stands and we're on the playing field and they haven't seen very much in us, you know the world doesn't need a new definition of the gospel. It needs a new demonstration of the gospel.

The church of the Lord God today, we've lost our power. Jesus said we're like salt without savor, without its bite, without its sting. In Bible times, they would use salt that was not as refined as purely as our salt is refined. And if left outside in the elements and so forth, the very bite, the flavor, the zest would leech out of it and it would be just a noxious mess there on the ground. Salt without savor.

The Bible says it was worthless to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. What would you do with salt like that? You couldn't put it in the well or in the river. It would poison the streams. You couldn't put it in the fields. It would kill the crops. There was one thing you could do with that kind of salt.

You could put it on the roadways because it would cake and harden, become like soil cement. It was good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. Do you know why the church is being walked on today? Do you know why we are so denigrated and so hated and so despised? Because we are salt without savor. We've lost our bite.

We've lost our sting. Salt stings. Salt irritates. But salt heals and salt purifies.

But we are a generation of people, saltless saints. And so no wonder the crowd is so confused. On the day of Pentecost, there was a great crowd.

And the power of God came in such a way on the day of Pentecost that the people were amazed. And when they saw this, they couldn't explain it. And they asked one question, what does this mean? And then they asked another question, what must we do?

Many of us have been trying to get them to ask the second question before they ask the first question. I mean, what have they seen about us that they can't explain? What do they know about you that is different from anybody else on your block?

What can they see about you that they cannot explain in the office, in the junior high school is where you are? When they start looking at our lives and seeing the power of God in our lives and start asking what does this mean, maybe before long they'll be asking what must we do? What must we do? You see, the problem is we have a generation today, they don't know. They don't have a clue. They are neither for us or against us.

They want this, but maybe they want that. They're sitting on the fence and the prophet of God says, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, then follow him.

If Baal is God, then follow him. I believe they are multiplied thousands, yes, millions that will come to Christ if the church of the Lord God will awaken. Now, here's another category of persons, and by the way, listen to this 18th chapter.

You'll find yourself in it probably somewhere. Not only do you have those who are compromises, not only do you have those who are corrupt and corrupt us, and not only do you have those who are confused, but you also have those who are competitors to the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and our God and his kingdom. Look, if you will, in verses 22 through 29 and you're going to see that, and then Elijah said unto the people, I, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men.

Now, here we're talking about the competition. Here's the man of God, here's the competition, those who are demon inspired, and he proposes a contest. Notice, if you will, in verse 23. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, that's young calves, and let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under and call ye on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord. Now here, listen to this, and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken and Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves and dress it first for ye many and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them and they dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice nor any that answered and they leaped upon the altar which was made and it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud for he is a god, either he's talking or he is pursuing or he is on the journey.

Elijah now is mocking them. He says, you know he's a god, he ought to be able to hear you. Maybe he's on the phone talking to somebody else. Maybe he's off on a hunting trip. He's pursuing, that's what he means.

On the journey or peradventure he's asleep and you've got to wake him up. Cry aloud. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances until the blood gushed out upon them and it came to pass when the midday was passed and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded. Now, these are the priests of Baal and there were plenty of them. God's people in this day were in the minority and one of the things that I have learned today, folks, is that we're in a minority.

I didn't understand that. Elijah was in a minority. Humanism, demonism, witchcraft and sheer unbelief surrounds us represented by these priests of Baal.

It is an amazing thing, but you can write down anything that you want to believe in any way that you want to behave and you can find some church or some group that practices and teaches that in America today. But in spite of all of these, they cannot hold back revival because Jesus said concerning the priests of Baal and the humanists and the atheists and the cultics and all of the rest of it, the witchcraft, greater is he that is in us than the spirit of Satan in the world. People get all upset about all of the demons. A third of the angels fell from heaven.

That means two-thirds didn't fall for him. We've got two angels for every demon and we have the Holy Spirit who is greater than the spirit of evil. And here is Elijah. He's up there and he says, we're going to have a contest and we're going to pray and we're going to see which God can answer by fire.

The God that answers by fire, let him be God. We have people today who don't want Americans to be able to pray in public, pray in schools. And they have such silly arguments. These people who say they believe in pluralism, they don't really believe in pluralism.

They want us to shut up. I'm not afraid of pluralism. Elijah wasn't afraid to let the priests of Baal pray. He said, let them pray. You let them pray, let us pray. We'll see who's God. The God that answers by fire, let him be God. The great danger in America is not that the people of Baal pray. The great danger in America today is the people of God don't. Just let them pray. And the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And that is the test, not figures or finances or favor, but fire. Now, what is the formula now that we see here on Mount Carmel that can apply to us?

What is it? Well, first of all, there must be a unifying of the people of God. There must be a solidarity of the people of God. Look in verses 30 and 31. And Elijah said unto the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. Now watch. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

That ought to tell you something. Now the altar was broken down altar. And Elijah took 12 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. And with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Now the altar was broken down.

The unity of Israel was divided. And what he is doing in taking these 12 stones and building an altar, he's saying that we need to restore our unity. God brings us together.

The devil divides us. The altar unites us. On the day of Pentecost, the thing that was so prevalent there was that they were united. The Bible tells us in Acts chapter two, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one place, in one accord.

The devil hates unity. The Bible says in Psalm 133 verse one, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And what we need to do is to begin to unify the body of Christ. We need a unity that will pass over denominational lines.

Now there's some things that we're not going to sacrifice. I'm not talking about unity with cults, but I'm talking about people who are blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. They may not cross every T and dot every I just like we do, but if they are in the family of God, they are our brothers and sisters, and we pray that all believers in America will come together and be as Jesus taught us to be. Father, I pray that they may be one that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And if you know anybody, dear friend, who's a brother in Christ, whether they're black or white, young or old, rich or poor, love them. Put your arms around them.

Bring them in. Don't shut them off, and don't divide over unnecessary things. The very first thing that the man of God did was to get the people of God together like a mighty army. When we get together, we can do wonderful and glorious things, but not only was there solidarity, he put the altar together, but there was also separation, and these two things have to go side by side. Notice again in verse 32, 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.

So after the altar is built, then he digs a trench, a line of demarcation to separate the worshipers of Jehovah from the worshipers of Baal, and God always has a difference. There is the altar fellowship, and there is the idol fellowship, and when I say that we need unity, I do not mean, I don't mean to infer that we can have unity with those who do not believe the great fundamental truths of the Word of God. Amos 3-3 says, Can two walk together except they be agreed? James 4-4 says, Ye adulterers, and adulterers says, Know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. And when somebody fellowships with this world, that's high treason against heaven's king. So there is that solidarity and that separation that have to take place. Get the people of God together.

Here's the third thing. There must be sacrifice. Look, if you will, in verse 33. And he put the wood in order and cut the bullet, the young calf, in pieces and laid him on the wood. Every sacrifice in the Old Testament, this one and every legitimate sacrifice pointed toward Calvary. What you have here in type is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is what has broken Satan's back. Jesus said as he faced that cross, Now is the prince of this world cast out. What Elijah did here is typifying, picturing, portraying the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was at the time of the evening sacrifice that he did this. That is when the sacrifice was going on in the temple in Jerusalem, when God's appointed time that typified the death of Jesus on the cross.

What is the hope of America? I'll tell you what it is. It is the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. It is the power of Christ on that cross that has absolutely decimated the kingdom of Satan. We need to understand that. It is the blood that is the basis of our warfare. And speaking of the devil, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 12, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.

What is there? There's solidarity, there's separation, there is sacrifice, and then there is spiritual power. Notice, if you will, in verses 33 and 34. 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. 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. And the water ran round about the altar and he filled the trench also with water. Now, notice the test is fire. Anybody here ever tried to start a fire with water? Pour on the water. Four barrels of water. Four more barrels of water. Four more barrels of water.

Twelve barrels of water. What was he doing? I think he's doing a number of things. One thing he was doing is showing this is not spontaneous combustion.

What's about to happen here? What he was saying is there's nothing too hard for our God. We need to understand that. You see, a God that can't burn wet wood is no good. What he is doing is showing here that our God is almighty and may God have mercy upon us today because many of us believe, many of us believe that the situation is too great for God.

What he's showing is not too great for God. But in the Bible, water is a symbol of two things. Water is a symbol of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The Bible speaks of washing of water by the Word and God says concerning his Spirit, I will pour water upon dry ground and upon him that is thirsty. And I will pour out of my Spirit of all flesh. And Jesus said, Out of our innermost being shall flow a river of living water. This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. And so what do you have? What do you have here is a solidarity.

You have a separation. What you have here, dear friend, is a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. What you have here is spiritual power, the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Do you think all of this is just empty symbolism?

No, this is in the Word of God for a purpose to teach us something. And then when all of this is ready, then you have, dear friend, the prayer, the supplication. Notice the prayer here. And so many times we try to pray before these other things are done.

And that's why our prayer is not answered. But look, if you will, in verse 36, and it came to pass at the time of the evening, of the offering of the evening sacrifice. Elijah knew what was going on there at the temple. At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, or at least where the temple would be and the time that God had said that the sacrifice was to be made, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, I want you to listen to this prayer. I want you to listen to, only hear 63 words.

Listen to it. Listen to the prayer. 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've done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back again. What was this prayer? Number one, it was precise.

He knew what he was asking. So much of our praying is meaningless generalities. Jesus said, we're not heard for our much speaking. Here was a man who was offering a precise prayer, and not only was it precise, but it was powerful because it was the time of the evening offering. The basis of this prayer was a bloody sacrifice.

You know, that's what the Bible teaches us in the New Testament. Hebrews 10 verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. He's praying on the basis of the blood.

It was purposeful. He says that this people may know that thou art the Lord God. Do you know what his zeal was for? His zeal was for the glory of God.

Do you want your prayers answered? Let your zeal be for the glory of God. That's what it means to pray in Jesus' name. It means for his glory. Jesus, when he prayed, prayed this way in John 12 verse 28, Father, glorify thy name. Our problem is we're trying to have revival for America's sake, for our family's sake, for our children's sake, our grandchildren's sake, for our reputation, for our church, for our denomination. We need to get more concerned for the glory of God. For the glory of God. Well, we've talked about the enemies and the elements of revival.

What are the evidences of it? Well, look, if you will, in verse 38 and verses 39, read here, then the fire of the Lord fell. Boy, I love that. And consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And then, and when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is the God.

What they meant by that? He is the only, the one and only. The Lord, he is the God, not a God.

He is the God. Now, remember that the test was fire. True Holy Ghost fire from heaven. And what kind of fire is it? What is revival fire? Well, first of all, it's fire that consumes.

The Bible says our God is consuming fire. This fire that fell consumed the sacrifice. It consumed the wood. It consumed the stones. It consumed the water.

It licked up the water that was puddled in the trench round about it. Now, let me tell you, our God is a consuming fire. And what we need to understand is this. The fire ultimately will fall. And if the fire doesn't fall on the sacrifice, it will fall on us, but the fire will fall. The fire is a consuming fire. And either that fire will fall on the sacrifice, the Lord Jesus, on our behalf and on America's behalf, or it will fall on us. We're going to face fire, whether it be judgment fire or the fire of cleansing, but there is fire. The very first thing this fire does, it consumes. And then when it consumes, it convicts.

Look in verse 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. What we need in America today is fire that consumes and fire that convicts. A supernatural demonstration of the power of God. I'm not talking about wildfire.

I'm as much afraid of wildfire as I am of no fire. I'm talking about fire from heaven that consumes and fire that convicts and then the fire that converts. I believe, if you will, in verse 39 of this same chapter. 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. I believe when revival comes, and I'm not going to stop preaching for it, praying for it, pleading for it, looking for it, asking for it until it does come. But I believe that multiplied millions can be swept into the kingdom of God. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.