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All right, my Bible in 365 Brothers and sisters, we are at the book of first kings. And boy, oh boy, oh boy, is this one a doozy. Now I want to get right into it, but I first want to say, if you want to get more in depth with these passages, you can, it's very easy. Go to james cadist.com we can give you all the information that you need to know about all the content represented by these summaries that I give. But this one, I have been looking forward to this. Why? Because the book of First Kings begins
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with a promise, but the heart starts to drift.
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And I want to point this out.
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Look, First Kings opens with the kingdom of Israel at its all time high.
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It is doing incredibly well. Solomon receives wisdom, the temple is built, the glory of the Lord literally fills the house. Israel is wealthy, it's respected, it's powerful. And boy, does that feel very similar to some things we've seen in the United States of America over the years. But the problem is not external, folks, it's internal. And Solomon's failure was not that he lacked wisdom. His failure was that his heart actually turned. First Kings, chapter 11, verse 4 says it. It says, for it came to pass when Solomon was old and that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. What a tragedy. And as a father, that gets me to think about so much related to how I raise my children. Now that's the seed of the whole book. I want everybody to understand that. And it's really, really critical because it takes us to the place that we need to go. And I promise you, if you stick with me, this may be one of the longer ones, but you are going to love every minute of what you get because it is absolutely powerful. The kingdom does not collapse because God is weak. The kingdom doesn't collapse because God doesn't keep his word. It literally collapses because the hearts of men drift from God. Okay? The greatest danger in First Kings was never a foreign army. It was a divided heart.
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And people often think collapse begins with some major public figure.
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You know, they look at, oh, look at what this president did or that president did. A lot of people are beating up our dear president right now over this memorandum with Iran. But those issues become somewhat superfluous. Why? Because in First Kings, collapse begins privately. It began quite quietly, spiritually. The heart turns first and then the consequences come after. That's exactly what happened here. It was a divided heart that produced a divided kingdom. After Solomon, the kingdom literally splits in half. We've talked about this story on multiple occasions. Rehoboam, his son, rules the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam rules the northern kingdom of Israel. But Jeroboam knows that if the people return to Jerusalem to worship their hearts and may return to the house of David. So he creates a counterfeit system of worship. We spent a lot of time talking about this. Look what it says in First Kings 12:28. Whereupon the king took counsel. He made two calves of gold and said unto them, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And you know what he did?
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He made it convenient.
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He brought in people that were familiar to those that were in the north with the worship in the temple, and he created something evil. And this is the pattern of idolatry. It's always convenient. It's very political. In many cases, it's religiously packaged and it gives people a substitute for obedience. Remember, they didn't have to obey God and go to the southern kingdom if they chose to worship their false God. And Jeroboam doesn't tell Israel to stop being spiritual. He just gives them a false spirituality. Idolatry does not always ask people to stop worshiping. Sometimes it simply gives them something else to worship. And I want you guys to see this. Now this is where first be king. First, I was putting two words in one, first be kings. Where first kings becomes very modern. This is where it becomes the time and day that we're actually looking at right now. The enemy does not.
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Oh, that's my alarm. Turn that off.
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The enemy does not always tempt people into things like atheism. Sometimes he tempts them into a version of religion that keeps God's name out. And in some cases, he'll keep God's name right back in the right smack dab in the middle. But God's authority will be removed because
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the true God isn't being worshiped. And by the time we reach Ahab in the book of First Kings, compromise has become the national rebellion. That's exactly what's going on. The kings of Israel go from bad to worse. Ahab then arrives.
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And the Bible tells us in 1
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Kings, chapter 16 that Ahab was an evil man.
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Look at verse 30 of 1st Kings, chapter 16. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all the that were before him. And Ahab doesn't just merely continue in the sin of Jeroboam, he actually escalates it. That's what the Bible tells us. It says that he took a wife named Jezebel, the daughter of Ifbael, king of the Zidonians. So this was part of a treaty that he made, and he went and served BAAL and worshiped him. The phrase is devastating. And. And I think it's.
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It's. It's one that's like super, super critical. He literally chose to do this thing
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in darkness as if it had been a light thing. That's what the Bible says.
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Look, sin becomes extremely deadly when it's casual. And we're watching people in social media trying to win your heart over to make sin casual.
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We have movies in Hollywood that are trying to create that within your very heart.
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Ahab treats rebellion like it's literally nothing. He marries Jezebel.
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BAAL worship becomes like an entrenched part
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of their lives, and the prophets of the Lord are persecuted as a result. The nation is spiritually broken. The northern kingdom is devastated at this point. We read all about this in First Kings. What one generation tolerates, the next generation will eventually celebrate.
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So you might say, hey, live and let live. You can let these people live this lifestyle. By the time you get to the
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second generation, from what we know from First Kings, they'll be celebrating it. And this is why this book matters. First King is warning us that spiritual compromise does not stay small.
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I want you guys to see this.
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It grows, it organizes, it becomes policy
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in many ways, and it literally turns into. It morphs into culture.
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Eventually, it demands that the truth is silenced. Elijah enters the story at this point, and this is the part that I've been waiting for.
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I've been waiting for this. He does not come with a popularity strategy. Let me say that again. He doesn't care about popularity. He doesn't come to negotiate with Baal. He comes to confront the nation. First Kings, chapter 18. It tells us this in verse 17. And it came to pass that when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, art thou he that troubleth Israel? I love it. And he answered, I've not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house. In that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord. Thou hast followed Baalim. Think about what he's saying. Ahab calls Elijah the troublemaker. And Elijah tells the truth. And he says, the trouble is not the prophet. The trouble is the sin. And you've given yourself to that. By the way, guys, that's still very True. Today, a faithful voice is often blamed for the damage caused by disobedience. Have you seen the way they've been treating Erica Kirk lately? Have you seen the way they've been treating all kinds of people that stand up for the truth?
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Then Elijah gathers, he brings the people into play and he asks the most important question that can be asked in this whole book. Let me read this to you. Elijah speaking here in verse 21 of First Kings, chapter 18. And Elijah came unto all the people
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and said, how long? That's a good question. How long halt you between two opinions. If the Lord be God, follow him. But if baal, then follow him. And the people answered him.
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Not a word. Not one word. That is the most chilling sentence in that verse and probably in that chapter. And the people answered him. Not a word. They were not ready to choose.
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They were not even what we would call atheists today.
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They were literally a divided people. They wanted Baal's benefits and the Lord's blessings. What were the benefits of worshipping baal? Rampant sexual activity, all kinds of things. They wanted false worship and they wanted
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some type of covenant protection that they felt like God could give them. But they didn't feel like they needed to worship the Lord in order to do it.
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This is the thing with doing a one take video. Hold on, It shows you.
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No editing here.
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Here's something we have to keep in mind. Let me bring it back to where we were. The issue on Mount Carmel, which is what we're reading about right now. The issue on Mount Carmel was not that Israel had no religion. The issue is that Israel had too many loyalties. They were distracted. The most dangerous place to live is
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not in open rebellion. It's in divided allegiance. Guys, I want you to understand that. Because divided allegiance lets people feel spiritual while refusing to surrender. I feel passionate about this because I think it's important. I think it's critical. The prophets of BAAL cry out, they leap on this altar, they cut themselves, they make noise, they perform, but nothing happens. That's what happens here. Because Elijah makes the challenge. If your gods are real, then let them literally light the fire on this altar. And the prophets of Baal did everything that they could.
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First Kings 18:26 tells us this.
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They took the bullock which was given them. They dressed it, they called on the name of BAAL from the morning until the noon, saying, oh, BAAL, hear from us. But there was no voice nor any of that answered.
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And they leaped upon the altar which was made. The summary of every idol is the same Thing. It always works out the same way. There's no voice, no answer, and certainly no power. Idols always demand more than they can give. It always works out this way. They take your time, which is the
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most valuable asset that you have.
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They take your affection, they take your energy, they take your obedience, your family,
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your purity, your peace, your identity, and yes, in many cases, your life, as we're even about to find out here.
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And when you need salvation, guess what? They can't answer. Every false God eventually goes silent. And every false God, in its silence, takes you away, destroys you. Money cannot answer Politics, can't answer. Celebrity can't answer.
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Power.
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Can't answer Pleasure, can't answer.
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Comfort. Will never be able to answer. False religion can't answer. When the fire is needed, BAAL is silent. Why? Because false gods are incapable.
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Elijah goes back and he repairs the altar of the Lord. Now that matters. That detail matters. Why? Because the altar had been broken down
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before the fire falls.
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The altar has to be restored.
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You guys get that? I think that's a detail that doesn't
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get looked at much. Elijah said unto all the people, hey, come near me.
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That's what the Bible says in Second Kings 18:30. And all the people came near to him. And the Bible tells us that he
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repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. That in and of itself is a whole sermon.
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I could literally spend the next hour
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talking about the significance of that line alone. Fire does not fall on Baal's altar.
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Fire falls where the altar of the Lord is restored. I want you to understand that the
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altar of the Lord must exist. Look at what happens in verse 36, 37, 38 and 39. The Bible tells us that the Lord God did the work that he did. Let me read it to you. And it came to pass at the time of the offering. Let me bring this up because I'm not going to be able to remember this. And it came to pass at the
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time of the offering of the evening
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sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near
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and said, lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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Sorry, I read that wrong.
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Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel.
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Sorry.
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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 thou hast turned their heart. And that house turned their heart back again. It's heavy. Then the fire of the Lord fell 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, and when all the people saw it, notice this, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is the. He is the God. The Lord, he is the God.
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I don't need to read much more. Notice Elijah's prayer. I want you to pay attention here. He's not trying to prove that he's impressive.
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He's asking God to reveal himself to the, to the people's hearts. He wanted them not to turn back.
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That's the thing about this passage is just filled with mercy. It's the thing about this passage, it's filled with redemption. God confronts them, but the confrontation is designed to restore them.
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The people of Israel, not the prophets of baal, they all die.
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God's fire was not only an act of judgment against baal, it was an act of mercy towards Israel. I need you to see that. Sometimes the most loving thing that God does is expose the idol that's been stealing the heart and literally, in many ways, burns it down. First Kings is a book about kings, but none of the kings are ultimate. Solomon fails. Rehoboam, he acts foolishly, he does. Jeroboam corrupts every aspect of worship. Ahab sells himself to the devil, literally
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by marrying this demon woman.
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But through it all, the Lord remains king. Human thrones are going to rise and they're going to fall and God's throne will never move. That's why Mount Carmel, the story on Mount Carmel matters.
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The question is not merely who is Israel's king? The real question is who is God?
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And the answer is the Lord, he is God. The Lord he is God. If you haven't listened to anything, please listen to this. God, help me to orchestrate this the way I know it needs to be heard. The book of First King forces every generation to face the same question. Elijah asked Israel. I think about this oftentimes when I think about the ministry of Charlie. Here's the question. How long halt you between two opinions? How long will you waver between two opinions?
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Every generation has to answer that question. Not how long will you admire God? Not how long will you keep religious language? Not how long will you respect the Bible. The question is, if the Lord be God, follow him. A divided kingdom began with a divided heart. A divided heart produced divided worship. Divided worship brought a national ruin.
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But the mercy of God still called his people back. So the message of first kings is not simply that kings fail. The message of 1 Kings is that God remains faithful. Even though we're Faithless.
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Why?
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Because he cannot deny himself. God confronts idolatry and he calls his people to undivided allegiance. Fire fell on Carmel so that Israel would know that we must never forget. It was for us. The Lord doesn't compete with idols, guys. He doesn't. He reigns over them. Let's decide today where our allegiance goes. It needs to be with him. Don't let anybody distract you from that, including the social media trophisphere. Let me say this one more time. The fire fell on Carmel so Israel would know that we must never forget.
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Let's give it all to the Lord.
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Thank you, by the way, for listening to me all the way through.
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I got to get over it.
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Your dedication to the word of God, your ability to say, I'm going to make a commitment this year and I'm going to read it through already shows that you have been fixing the altar of God, preparing the altar of God, repairing the altar of God. And I can promise you soon and very soon, you're going to watch some fire come down in ways you never thought. And it's going to be glorious. So stay in the fight. Continue to put God first and watch him. Watch him do great things. I love you guys. God bless you.