James Merritt - Whose Side Are You On?
Are you on the side of the true God or of a false god? Are you on the side of God’s word, or are you on the side of human opinion? Are you on the side of conviction, or are you on the side of compromise? Because if you are a follower of Jesus, I want to give you a wake-up call this morning. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you’ve got to decide in the culture that we’re living in today whose side you are on. If you choose what I believe is the clear teaching of the Bible, if you choose the side I’ve taken, which I believe is God’s side and is the right side, let me just warn you: you will immediately be accused of being racist, being homophobic, being misogynistic, or to the most unpardonable sin of all, which is intolerance.
So, when I ask you which side you are on, here’s what I’m really saying: you’ve got to decide today. You’re either going to go along to get along, or you’re going to go alone and get alienated. You will not straddle the fence; you cannot. You’ll go along to get along, or you’ll be alone and get alienated. Now, one choice will help you lead a good life; one choice will lead you to live the God life.
If you’re a guest of ours today, we’re in a series we’re calling The God Life. We are studying one of the greatest men in the Bible, the prophet named Elijah. Let me tell you what a great man Elijah was: even today, in Israel, he is still revered as one of the greatest prophets who ever lived. As a matter of fact, in Israel, if you are a devout Jew and you are celebrating Passover, you do two things: you always leave an extra cup of wine on the dinner table, and you always leave the front door open because you’re hoping Elijah will come into your house. The New Testament speaks more often about this man than any other Old Testament prophet.
Now, if you’re a guy, you’ll like this man; he was a man’s man. But that is not why he is in the Bible, nor is that why I’m talking about him today. What made him so great is not that he was a man’s man; what made him great is that he was God’s man. And yet the Apostle James has told us, as I’ve told you over and over, that he was a man just like us. That encourages me because that tells me if Elijah can live the God life, I can live the God life too. If you can follow God the way you follow God, I can follow God the way you follow God.
And that brings me to one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I still remember, as a nine-year-old boy, the first time I read this story. I thought it was one of the coolest stories I had ever read in my life. I want you to take God’s word and turn to a book called First Kings. All right, go to Genesis, turn right, go about eight or nine books, and let’s go to First Kings, chapter 18.
Let me tell you what’s going on. This actually takes place in one of my favorite places when I go to Israel. There are about five places I can’t wait to get to, and this is one of them. It’s a place called Mount Carmel. This is a picture of Mount Carmel. I love to go to Mount Carmel because when you stand on the summit, if you look to the west, you see the Mediterranean Sea. If you look to the east, you have this unbelievable panorama that stretches all the way from the Galilee Mountains to the Village of Nazareth, right down to the Valley of Megiddo, what we call Armageddon.
As a matter of fact, when you go into the parking lot and get out of your bus, and you’re walking into the building where you go to see the site, you’ll actually come upon this statue. There’s a statue of Elijah there, and Elijah is there because of the story we’re about to read. It’s one of the greatest showdowns in all of history. So, let me give you the background of what’s going on before we study this unbelievable story.
Israel is in the middle of some of the darkest, most depressing, and most discouraging days in all her history. Everywhere you looked, if you could go back 3,000 years and walk into Israel—just walk around the country—you’d see three things everywhere you went: sexual immorality, spiritual idolatry, and social indifference. Here’s what was going on: the nation that used to have «In God We Trust» on their chariots had turned away from God. They began to worship a god called Baal. Worshiping Baal involved ritual sex. This is what was happening—priests and priestesses would engage in sexual acts with worshippers who came to give offerings.
So, if you wanted to come to church, one of the ways they believed you connected with God was through sex. They would have these large sexual orgies because they thought that was how you communicated with God. Thus, sexual immorality was commonly accepted. But then there was spiritual idolatry; they worshiped a false god who didn’t even exist—his name was Baal. And you may sit there and say, «Well, Pastor, we don’t have Baal worship today.» Oh, sure we do; we just have different names. We don’t call it Baal; we call it money. We don’t call it Baal; we call it power. We don’t call it Baal; we call it popularity. We don’t call it Baal; we call it sex. We don’t call it Baal; we call it stuff. Same thing.
But there was also social indifference. The God who created this world—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—wasn’t even on their radar screen. God’s house was abandoned, God’s word was ignored, and God’s commands were disregarded. In other words, let me tell you what was going on: spiritually, morally, and ethically, Israel had hit rock bottom. They just could not go any lower. So that sets the scene for First Kings 18. After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: «Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.»
Now, if you don’t know what’s going on and you’re visiting for the first time, let me remind you that three years prior, God had sent Elijah, a country bumpkin, to a king called Ahab and a queen called Jezebel. God had had enough of them. He said, «I want you to go to them and tell them it’s not going to rain until I say it will rain. There won’t be one drop of rain, not any mist, not any dew, not even a cloud in the sky. You will not see any water at all until I decide it’s going to rain again.» So, Elijah was just the messenger boy telling them what God told him to say. Well, what happens to Elijah? What do you think? He becomes Public Enemy Number One. They put out an APB, a BOLO, and wanted posters all over the country.
For three years, the king had been looking for Elijah, but God had been protecting Elijah. God had been hiding Elijah, and he hadn’t found him. But now the search is over. Ahab is no longer looking for Elijah; now Elijah is looking for Ahab. So, here’s Elijah—one man against a king, one man against a queen, one man against an entire nation that wants him eliminated. As we study this great story, there’s a principle I want you to remember. Okay, here’s the principle: when you step out for God, God will step up for you. Can I get a witness?
When you step out for God, God will step up for you. So, if you want to be on the right side— I hear people say this all the time; you hear this a lot— well, you better get on the right side of history. Read my lips: I couldn’t care less about being on the right side of history. I want to be on the right side of God; that’s where I want to be. All right, so if you’re like me and you say, «Yeah, Pastor, I want to be on the right side too, " then you’ve got to take three steps, and they’re not easy. Step number one: we must deny false gods. We must deny false gods.
Now, here’s something interesting: how did this meeting come about? How was it even set up? Well, there was a man named Obadiah— we’ll read about him here in the Bible. There was a man named Obadiah; he was the right-hand man to King Ahab. He oversaw the affairs of the palace. So, here’s what we read: „So, Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now, the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator." Now watch this: Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. Now the king didn’t know that, and the queen didn’t know that; nobody knew that. But he was a devout believer in the Lord while Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets; that’s why he didn’t want anybody to know he was a follower. Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.
Now, Obadiah is a really interesting character. As a matter of fact, the reason why he truly speaks to me is that, frankly, he reminds me of a lot of people in the church and many Christians. Let’s see if you’re one of them. He was a believer, a true believer. He followed God, read his Bible, and prayed. But just like many Christians today in the church, he had put himself in the Secret Service; he had joined the witness protection program. Oh, he had God in his heart, but he kept his faith to himself because of the rumor. Now, after the king or queen found out about him, if they discovered he loved God, he probably would not have lived to see sundown.
So he made a decision, and I just want to see if maybe you made the same decision. He said, „I think my life is more important than the godly life. I think I’ll keep my faith in this building on Sunday morning, but when I walk out there, nobody will know the difference. I’ll be just like everybody else. I’ll talk like everybody else. I’ll walk like everybody else. I will live like everybody else." Because you have to remember, he’s serving Ahab, the most vile, wicked, godless, corrupt king Israel has ever known.
And, by the way, what’s even worse, he was a wimp; he was dominated by his wife, the meanest woman in the Bible, Jezebel. So just remember, this is a time when the rulers are marked by iniquity, the nation’s drowning in idolatry, and the missing element was integrity. It sounds a lot like the country I’m living in right now. But Elijah meets him on the road and says, „Obadiah, I know you believe in God like I do, so I’ve got an assignment from the Lord. I want you to go tell Ahab to come meet me. I want you to tell Ahab to come see me." Well, against his wishes, you know, kicking and screaming, he doesn’t want to do it, but he follows Elijah’s orders and tells Ahab to meet Elijah.
Okay, so Elijah says, „Oh really? Elijah’s out." He said, „Yeah, come over to Mount Carmel; he’d like to meet with you." So Ahab goes, and let’s just say the meeting doesn’t go well. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, „Watch this! Is that you, oh troubler of Israel?" Now, how rude is that? He hadn’t seen the guy in three years! Can he just say, „Elijah, how you doing, man? Where you been? How’s it going? Got any word from the Lord?" No, the first thing he says is, „Oh, there you are, the troubler of Israel."
You know what the word „troubler" means in the Hebrew language? It literally means „snake." Here’s what he really said to him: „Is that you, Elijah, you sorry snake in the grass?" Not much of a greeting after three years. He says, „I know who you are, Elijah; you’re part of some right-wing conspiracy trying to take down the government. I know all about you." Well, to be honest, can I just take a moment and kind of dabble in something? I’ll put my foot in the water and get right back out. I’ve got to give Ahab some credit as a master politician. I mean, a great politician! You say, „What do you mean? He’s blaming the good guy for all the bad problems."
I just want you to think about something. Just take this and chew on it: have you ever noticed how politicians create problems for us, then blame us for the problems and try to get us to solve them? I’m going to give you a great example. We’re running up massive deficits in this country; everybody knows that we’re accumulating billions of dollars every single day. Go look at the deficit clock; it’s going at a thousand miles an hour. All right, now if you haven’t figured this out yet, let me help you a little bit. The reason we have such massive deficits is that the government is spending too much money and wasting too much money. Okay, but what’s their solution? Here’s what they say: „We’ve got these big deficits not because we’re spending too much of your money, but because you’re not giving us enough of your money."
So what is their great solution to all of this? It’s not to cut spending; it’s to raise taxes. They create the problem, they blame us, and they expect us to solve it. Ben Carson put it best when he said, „We’ve been conditioned to think that only politicians can solve our problems, but at some point, maybe we will wake up and recognize it was the politicians who created our problems." See, Elijah was not a troublemaker; he was a troubleshooter. He identified the real troublemaker. Listen to what he said: „I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied, „but you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals."
I love this guy; he’s not intimidated; he is the intimidator. He looks this king right in the eye and says, „Wait a minute, stop it! Don’t blame me for what you created; this is not my fault; this is your fault." We don’t have any rain; we haven’t had any mess; we haven’t had any dew; we haven’t seen any clouds in the sky, and you are to blame. You’re the one who turned your back on God; you’re the one who departed from the faith; you’re the one who created the problem. And when you turned your back on God, God turned His back on you, because when you take the side of the false gods in this world, you immediately go against the true God of this world. What we’re going to learn right now is this, and this is what God told Elijah to say to Ahab: „Ahab, this world is not big enough for two gods."
I want you to listen to me carefully; I believe in religious liberty more than anyone else combined. I want the Buddhist to practice Buddhism, the Hindu to practice Hinduism, and the Muslim to practice Islam. I am a firm believer in religious liberty. Having said that, at the end of the day, this country is not big enough for two governing gods; this community is not big enough for two gods, because there’s only one true God. So Elijah throws down the gauntlet: „Okay, everybody, put your cards on the table; let’s have a showdown at High Noon." Here’s what he does: „Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table." So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and summoned the prophets to Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and asked the question of the day: „How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
Up until this point, the people of Israel had their feet planted firmly in midair; they were trying to split the difference and straddle the fence. But Elijah says, „No, no, no, no, no! I’m going to force you to make a decision." He lets us know the same thing that we, as followers of God, are obligated to let everybody on this planet know: nobody can serve two gods, but everybody is going to serve one. So Elijah raises the question, „Whose side are you on? I’m drawing a line in the dirt. You are going to get off the fence because I’m going to kick your rear end off the fence. You’re going to make a decision one way or the other. Which God are you going to serve?"
Now, if you want to be politically incorrect and don’t want to win an unpopularity contest, just tell someone today that they have to choose which God they’re going to serve. By the way, there’s only one right choice, and if you don’t make the right choice, you’re going to be in deep trouble. When you stand against false gods and fail to stand for the only true God, you’re going to be in even deeper trouble if you don’t. So the first thing we have to do, whether you like it or not, is deny false gods. We must tell people they are on the wrong path; you’re on the wrong path! We have to tell people they are worshiping the wrong God; you’re worshiping the wrong God! But that’s not enough.
The second thing we must do is defend the true God. It’s not enough just to deny the false gods; we have to defend the true God. Elijah believes in something I believe in, so he calls it „put up or shut up" theology. He says, „I tell you what, I have an idea on how to solve our problem. Here’s what his solution is: let’s get two bulls. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves. Let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I’ll prepare the other bull and put it on the wood, but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your God, and I’ll call on the name of the Lord. It’s real easy: the God who answers by fire, He is God."
Now, I’m going to say it again: you’ve got to love this guy! I love Elijah! I can’t wait to get to heaven; that’s one of the guys I just want to sit down and talk with. I love this guy because he’s willing to step out in faith, step up his faith, and show that he really believes what he says he believes. That gives me a word for us. It bothers me that we’re living in a culture and a world that increasingly doesn’t believe what we believe, and I hope that bothers you.
Can I tell you one of the reasons I think that’s happening? I believe with all my heart that more people would believe what we believe if we walked out that door and started living like we believe what we say we believe. If I looked at the average Christian, I’m not sure I’d buy in either, if I considered the average difference that Christ is supposed to make in a believer but evidently hasn’t. I don’t know that I’d be a believer, and if we want people to believe what we believe, we better start living like we believe what we say we believe.
And that’s what he did. He said, „I’m willing to put my faith on the line." So you’ve got these crowds gathered on both sides of the street: on one side, God’s prophet; on the other side, 850 false prophets. Really, it’s more like, on one side you have this false god, and on the other side, the true God. Now here’s the beautiful thing: Elijah knows what he’s doing because Baal was the god who specialized in rain and thunder; he was the god of climate control. Yet for three years, Baal had failed to cause even a drop of rain to fall. So, in effect, here’s what Elijah said: „Look, you guys have been praying to Baal for three years with no rain.
So I tell you what, maybe he’s run out of water. Why don’t we give him a shot at fire?" Because remember, if you don’t know this, Baal was also worshipped as the god of the sun, who controlled all the crops and the productivity of the land. So what Elijah was really saying is, „Look, let’s give this god another shot; he deserves another chance." Now don’t miss this part—I love this: Elijah was hard, he was firm, he was courageous, and he was kind of blunt, but he was really a gentleman. He was a gracious guy because here’s what he said: „I tell you what, you go first. You guys pray to your god, then I’ll pray to my God. It’s really easy: the God who answers by fire—He is God." That’s fair, right? So you pray first, and I’ll pray second, and we’ll just let God decide who the real God is.
I want you to notice something. This is relevant for us today. If you’re a parent of a kid in a public school, this is really relevant. Do you notice that Elijah is not afraid of their prayer? Elijah is not threatened by their prayers. „I tell you what, you go first; pray as long as you want, pray as loud as you want. Let’s just see who really has the juice. Let’s see who’s really got the power."
Let me tell you why I think that’s such an important thing to notice: back in the day when I started school, in the first grade, my teacher would start off praying, and we’d have lunch. She’d ask one of the students to volunteer to pray, and I always liked to pray, so I’d always be one of the kids volunteering. But then, as you know, they took prayer out of the schools. They said, „No, no, no, you can’t do that." Well, there were even a lot of Christians, to my amazement, looking back on it, who said, „You know, that’s probably a good thing." Well, why is that a good thing? Well, because if you have prayer in schools, then you’ve got to let everybody pray. You’ll have to let the Buddhists pray, you’ll have to let the Muslims pray, you’ll have to let the Hindus pray.
Let me tell you what I say to that: let them pray. Let’s put prayer back in school tomorrow. Let the Buddhists pray; I’ll let the Buddhists go first. I’ll let the Hindus go second. I’ll let the Muslims go third. I’ll let anybody else go fourth. In fact, I’ll let everybody pray for the first 29 days of the month. Just give me one day. You say, „Why?" Because the prayer of one believer in the true God is more powerful in one day than everybody else’s prayers in 29. So let them pray; I’m not afraid of their prayers. Let the Buddhists pray; let the Hindus pray. Why? You say, „Pastor, why would I be afraid of a false god and a false prayer to a god that doesn’t answer a false prayer? Why would I be afraid of that?" The prophet Isaiah said this: „They pray to gods that cannot save; we pray to the only God that can." So let them pray.
So that’s just an unpaid political announcement. I love Elijah for another reason. Can I tell you why? I’m going to be in the flesh for a minute. You know one reason I love Elijah? He was a master trash talker! I love trash talkers. Some of you who played golf with me, one of my best friends down there knows he threatened to whip my rear end on a golf course one day because I was riding him like a horse. I love to trash talk; I love it! Elijah was a master trash talker. Look at this—watch this! This is so good. Elijah said to the prophets, „Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, as there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire."
So they took the bull, actually, they took the bait. They took the bull given to them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon. „Baal, answer us!" they shouted, but there was no response; no one answered. They danced around the altar they had made. At noon, what’s this? Elijah began to taunt them. You know what the Hebrew word is for taunt? Trash talk! I made that up. After noon, Elijah began to taunt them, „Shout louder!" he said. „Surely he is a god. Perhaps he is deep in thought or busy." Just keep that word in mind; we’ll come back to it. This is really wonderful! „Or traveling; maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."
So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears as was their custom until the blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice, but there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention. For hour after hour, Elijah watched these prophets. They were crying, jumping, dancing, and mutilating themselves, and all they got was dead silence. And what did they hear from this prophet? No mercy! „Shout louder; maybe that’ll work." Because an old preacher once said, „If your sermon is really thin, shout out loud; maybe that’ll make it thick."
So these false prophets shouted loud, danced more, jumped higher, and these false prophets were about to learn it’s not how loud you shout; it’s who you’re talking to that matters. Listen to me: a whisper in the ear of God by one godly man or woman is more powerful than the shouts of an unbelieving world to a god who doesn’t even exist! He says, „Let it rip, potato chip!" I love it—trash talking, baby! And he doesn’t let up. „Well, maybe the battery in his hearing aid is dead; maybe he’s too busy answering the phone; maybe he took too many melatonin last night." But you know what? I love that word „busy." Remember I told you about that word „busy"? You ready for this? He said, „Maybe he’s busy."
Now they cleaned that up in the English language. Do you know what the Hebrew word for „busy" means? Are you ready? I love this! This will be worth coming to church for, even if it’s just sitting on the toilet. What he really said was, „Maybe it’s LAX if it isn’t working." I don’t know what’s going on; I mean, I love this guy! Now they have shouted; I mean, they’re bleeding all over themselves, laying flat on the ground, panting, heaving, trying to get some water into their dry bodies, and they give up. Now it’s our turn. Then Elijah said to all the people, „Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, „Your name shall be Israel."
With the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, „Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood." „Do it again, " he said. They did it again. „Do it a third time, " he ordered, and they did it a third time, and the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. Why does Elijah do that? He is sending a message. I want to make sure all of you understand that whatever is about to happen is not because of me; whatever is about to happen is because of God. That’s why he rebuilt the altar; that’s why he offered a sacrifice; that’s why he poured water on the wood.
He said, „Listen, I want all of you to understand this is not about me; it’s not even about you. It is all about God." A line is being drawn in the dirt. Everybody has to make a choice; everybody has to decide. Elijah said at the beginning of this whole contest, remember what he said? He said, „How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me carefully today: here, now, where you’re sitting, you have to decide which side you’re on. Too many of you walk out trying to stand on the fence. Stop it! You can’t do it. Jesus said, „If you are not for me, you are against me."
So you are going to make the decision to get on the right side. You must have the courage to deny false gods; you must have the courage to defend the true God. And then when you make that decision, you make the last one, and that is: we must declare the only God. Now think about this: these false prophets had given everything they had trying to get their god to answer. They were absolutely exhausted. All the shouting, all the screaming, all the yelling, all the dancing, all the jumping, and all the mutilating produced nothing. Now watch what Elijah does. Elijah gets up—this is such a great, great, great thing. He prays a prayer that lasted fifteen seconds.
Here’s what he said at the time of sacrifice. The Prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, „Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord; answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts back again."
Now, pay attention to what he prayed for. Listen, he didn’t pray, „Lord, your God, I want Israel to know what a great prophet I am." He didn’t pray that. He didn’t pray, „I want Israel to know what great power I have." He didn’t pray that either. He didn’t even pray that they would wear MAGA hats—"Make Israel Great Again.» He prayed that they would know how great God is. Again, he prayed, «O God, don’t make us a great nation; make us a godly nation.» That’s what he prayed for; he wanted to show how powerful that real prayer is to the only real God who can really answer prayer. Elijah wanted these people, he wanted that king, he wanted that queen to know: «Listen to me, there is only one God, and your God ain’t him! Whose side are you on?»
So, here’s the climax of the story: then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, «The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!» Then Elijah commanded them, «Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let anyone get away.» They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. How long had it been? Too long! But now these people, this nation had heard a true prophet; they had heard a true word from God; they had seen the true God in action, and they fell down and worshiped the only God worth worshiping. And all this happened, listen to me, because one solitary person knew that no matter how much opposition you face, when you take God’s side, you take the right side, and that’s the only side that matters. It’s the only side that will win.
So now we have to raise the big question—the uncomfortable question. Many of you won’t like it; I don’t like the question, but here it is: if you were in this story, would you be that one solitary human being that stood for God, or would you be the person who hid in the crowd? You see, the reason why Elijah stood for God, the reason why God stood with Elijah, was because Elijah had a heart for God. I want to tell you something: one of the reasons why the church is facing this hostile culture today is that, you know what, I believe God’s doing right now? I’ve never seen our culture decline like this before; it’s going to hell in a handbasket.
I’ve never seen it in my life. By the time I think we’ve hit rock bottom, we just keep going lower. But I will tell you one of the things I think God is doing: He is testing the heart of the church. He’s testing your heart; he’s testing the heart of pastors. Churches are falling like flies right now, caving into the LGBTQ agenda. We won’t do it; I won’t do it. Listen, I want everybody welcome in this church. You can be tatted up; you can come in a tank top and shorts; you can be homosexual; you can be straight; you can be gay; you can be bisexual. I don’t care what you are—you’re welcome in this church. I want you here! We will love you, but we will love you enough to tell you the truth in love, because that’s who we are; that’s who God made us.
So let me tell you this story; we’ll be done. Let me tell you this story: there’s a tale from India about a mouse who is terrified of cats. Until a magician transformed him into a cat, he was no longer afraid until he met a dog. So the magician turned him into a dog, and the mouse that was turned into a cat, now a dog, was no longer afraid until he met a tiger. Then the magician changed him into a tiger, and he was no longer afraid because the mouse that became a cat, became a dog, and became a tiger, was no longer afraid. But then the tiger went to complain to the magician because he met a hunter. By that time, the magician had had enough, and here’s what he said: «I’m going to make you into a mouse again, for even though you have the body of a tiger, you have the heart of a mouse.»
If you say you’re a follower of Jesus, you’re going to walk out to your car, and if you really are a follower of Jesus, you’ve got the Spirit of God living in your heart. So quit walking out of here like you’ve got the heart of a mouse; you’ve got the heart of a lion, the King of Judah. You’ve got the heart of the Holy Spirit; you have what it takes in you to stand up for the right God, to deny false gods, to call error what it is, to call a lie what it is, to call untruth what it is. See, many of us claim outwardly we have the fear of God on the outside, but inwardly we have the fear of the world.
So here’s the question I’m going to wrap this up with: James keeps telling us Elijah was a man just like us. I want to flip the question; I know Elijah was a man just like me. I know Elijah was a person just like us. Here’s the question I’m going to keep asking you throughout this series: Are we willing to be like Elijah? That’s what I want to know. Are we willing to live not the good life, but the God life? Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest preachers and theologians America ever produced, had two resolutions. Listen to them. Resolution number one: «I will live for God.» How many of you would make that? I’m not asking you to raise your hand; how many of you would make that resolution fresh and anew right now while sitting in that chair? «I’m going to live for God.»
Wait a minute—before you do, you’ve got to make the second one, and here’s the second one: «If no one else does, I still will.» If nobody else in my school stands for God, I will. If nobody else in my community stands for God, I will. If nobody else on the city council with me stands for God, I will. If nobody else where I work stands for God but me, I will. If nobody else in my neighborhood stands for God, I will. This great man of God said, «I will live for God, and if no one else does, I still will.»
See, when you take the side of the Lord Jesus, you take God’s side; that’s the right side. One last part of this story, and we’ll make this super quick because preachers miss this. You missed it; I guarantee you never even thought about it. There’s an important part of the story that, if this part of the story was not in the story, we would not know the story. You ready? The bull that was put on the altar. So what was the big deal about the bull? Every sacrifice in the Old Testament was a picture of Jesus.
Now listen to this; listen carefully. If Elijah had put everything else on that altar—if he put the stones, put the wood, built the altar, and filled it all with water—if he had not put that bull on the altar when that fire fell, do you know what would have happened? Everybody would have burned up because you’ve got to have a sacrifice. See, one of these days, the fire of God’s judgment is going to fall on this earth; it’s not going to fall on me. You know why? I’m under the cross; I’m where the fire is already falling. It can’t fall on me; it fell on Him. That’s why I know when you take the side of Jesus—the one who died on the cross, the one who came back from the grave, the one who can change your life—you take the right side. So whose side are you on? Would you pray with me?
Father, in the name of Jesus, my prayer today is for those who are watching right now and those who are in this room. If they’ve never trusted Jesus, if they’ve never gotten on the right side, if Jesus has been in their head but not in their heart, oh God, would today be the day they would call upon the name of the Lord? Would today be the day they would confess their sins: «God, I’m a sinner; I need a Savior. Your son is that Savior; He died for me. I believe He died for me. I believe He was raised from the dead, and today I want to give Him my life.» Lord, would there be people in this room and outside this room that would make that choice—the greatest choice of all—to trust Christ and Christ alone? I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.