Elijah at Mount Carmel

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 10 AUGUST 2025 - MR JASON CRUISE

1 KINGS 18 VERSES 1 AND 2, 17 TO 40

A number of weeks ago we looked at chapter 17. We saw how Israel was at a spiritual low. It was a time of immorality and a time of idolatry. There was one man who sought to please the Lord and obey him. We saw a servant that stepped up, a supply that kept coming and a son that was raised up. We saw how Elijah came to Ahab and said "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to word." Here was a man who came fearlessly and courageously and boldly for the Lord. Then we saw a supply that kept up - he was provided for the brook Cherith and ravens came with meat every day. Then the Lord led him to go to Zarephath where a widow woman provided for him. She had nothing more than a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse. Philippians 4 verse 19 "but my God shall supply all you need according to the riches in Christ Jesus." A son was raised us. The widow woman's son died and Elijah carried him to the upper chamber and he cried to the Lord. The Lord raised him up. We finished by thinking of another son, God gave his son and delivered him up for our sins at Calvary so that we could also be raised up. "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." (Romans 4 verse 25)

Today I want to look at chapter 18. 

"And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria."

Back at the beginning of chapter 17 the Lord had said to Elijah to go and shew himself to Ahab then turn eastward and hide. Now in chapter 18 he was told to go shew himself to Ahab. The time he had spent in the secret place with the Lord was preparing him for what lay ahead. As he spent time at the book Cherith and Zarephath the Lord was preparing him for what lay ahead. He knew God's protection and provision. He completely trusted in the Lord. He surrendered and obeyed him. That is the type of man and woman the Lord is looking for. He is not looking for men and women with earthly qualifications but men and women fully surrendered to the Lord. Obedient and willing to be used by God. In Acts 19 Elijah asked "Lord what wilt thou have me to do?" How long has it been since we said those words. We live in a day and generation where instead of saying "what wilt thou have me to do" we say "what wilt thou do for me today?" Are we willing to step out by faith and be obedient to him, to do a work for him?   Are we willing to step out and be obedient to the Lord today?

"And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baalim." verses 17 and 18

Elijah makes his way and is met by Obadiah. He tells him to go to the king and when Ahab meets Obadiah he asked "are you the man that troubles Israel?" Here is a man who stands for truth and righteousness and Ahab is an idol worshipper. This man Ahab "did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him." (1 Kings 16 verse 30) Our times have not changed. If we take a stand for God, voice our opinion and are against abortion, transgenderism, assisted suicide the world says we are only a trouble maker. We will be hated by the world if we take a stand for the Lord today. We should remind ourselves of what the Lord said in John 15 verse 18 "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." Don't be surprised that the world has a hatred for you, for your Christian faith and beliefs. Elijah replied to Ahab "ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baalim." The one in authority has turned his back on God and his word. There is no difference today. There are those in authority and government who have turned their backs on God and his word. They no longer revere God's word. Young people in our schools and universities are told to leave their beliefs at the door. Workers are told to be inclusive and tolerant of all faiths. We need to be much in prayer that God in his mercy and by his grace would speak to men and women once again and for people to come in true repentance and turn to the Lord. To put their faith and trust in the risen Christ, the only one who can save them, the Lord Jesus. 

Elijah has these prophets of Baal - 450 and the prophets of the groves - 400 gathered at Mount Carmel - verse 20. He tells them to cut the bullock into pieces and lay it on the wood. He then tells them to call on their god of Baal - verse 25. These men cry unto their god but he is a god who cannot hear nor see their need or even meet it. They find they are alone so begin to cut themselves. There is no reply from their god. Did they begin to realise that death lay ahead for them? Deuteronomy 13 verse 5 "And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee." They had trusted in a god who cannot avail for them. Death for us as Christians is but a doorway into God's presence one day. We have no fear of death today. 

These prophets began to be mocked by Elijah - verse 27. "Cry aloud; for he is a god; either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked." We trust in a God who can hear us, even the faintest whisper today. We have a God who hears and sees what circumstances we are going through. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8 verse 26) When you are going through difficulties and you cannot string the words together the Spirit intercededs on our behalf. We have one in heaven who hears our prayers. When you get up at home from the chair you can look up to heaven knowing there is a God in heaven who has heard our prayer. He has heard your petition.

Elijah continues to mock these men. Maybe he is sleeping. The one we have trusted in needs no sleep - Psalm 121 verse 4 "Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." What a striking contrast to this god Baal, the one these prophets had trusted in, the one they have turned Israel to turn to worship in. In verse 30 Elijah tells the people to come near. The first thing he has to do is repair the altar that has broken down. They have been worshipping a false god and now the altar has been broken down. He must repair the altar first. The place of sacrifice and worship. Spiritually speaking is your altar broken down? Romans 12 verse 1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." You and I do not come to an altar to present animal sacrifices. We rest on that once and for all sacrifice offered for you and I on Mount Calvary. Hebrews 10 verses 11 and 12 "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;" We do not have to come to an altar. We are not relying on sacrifices of animals today. Are we living lives today fully surrendered to God, consecrated to him? 

Verses 36 to 38 "And it came to pass at the tie of the offering of the evening sacrifice, 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 have 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 hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood, ad the stones, and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench." 

We see that Elijah comes and he praised the God of Israel. The result was the fire of the Lord fell. There was revival. The word of God came to the people. Elijah called on God. The result of one man's praying - 1000 were gathered on that day. A man who was courageous and bold, fearlessly stood for all that was righteous and good. His prayer was only 34 words in the original Hebrew. Simple and straight to the point. Not full of rhetoric. A prayer of a man to his God. The same God we pray to today. The same God who answered prayer then and now. God answered the prayer of 2 elderly woman on the Isle of Lewis in 1949 and revival broke out. God answered the prayer of 4 young men in a schoolhouse in Kells. He answered Evan Roberts in Wales in the early 1900's and revival came. The Lord is interested in your prayer today. Are you interested in praying to him? He has these prophets brought to the brook Kishon and slew them. They knew the god they trusted in could not meet their need. Contrast that with Elijah at the brook Cherith. The God of heaven met his need. This God was sovereign and in control. Today he will meet your need. Could I ask you and encourage you to come and cry to the Lord that once again he might move again in your family, your neighbourhood and this land.