Slaying of False Prophets

The Bloody Task: Slaying of False Prophets

0:02 1 Kings chapter 18. This is the 17th in the series of studies in the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah.

0:19 We are presently considering that segment of the record of scripture in which God has vindicated his own name before the host of the Israelites by sending fire from heaven to consume the water-soaked sacrifice which the prophet Elijah had laid upon the altar of God.

0:44 In trying to think our way through this particular section in which the vindication of God's name is particularly set before us, beginning with 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse, well, we might say, verse 23 down through verse 40 of the chapter, we had first of all the exposure of the false gods. And the Lord gave in the record the details of how meticulously the folly of Baal worship was unveiled. And this exposure, of course, came to its height in the mocking of the prophet when he tells them to go awake in their God. His cause is at stake. Perhaps he's taking a noonday siesta. Perhaps he's so occupied. Perhaps he's so busy with other affairs that he's off on a journey.

1:35 And though they flagellate themselves and pierce themselves with lances and swords until their blood gushes out, we have this eloquent testimony of the vanity of Baal worship when scripture says there was none that paid attention. No voice. No answer. Then in verses 30 to 39, we have the vindication of the true God.

1:56 And we have again the detailed account of how the prophet raised the altar of God, arranged the sacrifice upon that altar, petitioned the God of heaven. And then the Lord intervenes and the fire of God falls and consumes the sacrifice, the altar, and even the dust, as well as the water that is in the trench. And the people are found prostrate upon their faces, crying out, The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.

2:24 As found in verse 39. Surely one would think now that the nation has seen the folly of Baal worship, now that the nation has, as it were, prostrated itself before Jehovah and divorced itself from Baal worship, the time has come for the heavens to be opened, for this terrible drought of three and a half years to be passed over, and for the prophet to take the key of heaven from his pocket and unlock the heavens and see them black with clouds prior to a great shower. But no, the record does not lead us immediately from the confession of verse 39, The Lord, He is God. God, the Lord, He is God.

3:03 To the subsequent record of the great rain that God sent, there is but one remaining task, a terribly bloody task for the prophet to accomplish before God is going to send the blessing of rain upon this nation. And that task is set before us in verse 40 and how the prophet accomplished it. Very simple is the narrative. Let's consider it.

3:27 Immediately after this vindication, the true God, this prostration of the nation before this God, we read in verse 40, And Elijah said unto them, that is the people, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. Now capture first of all the simple facts of the narrative. From a position of prostration before God, they fell upon their faces, and they are crying out the Lord, He is God.

4:07 The prophet says, get from that position of prostration and worship, and seize the prophets of Baal. On the surface, how incompatible are these two things. From worship to bloody murder. And yet that's the fact of the narrative as it stands before us.

4:27 Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. Lay hold of these four hundred and fifty men.

4:40 These who have as it were, anundated the land with the terrible curse of false teaching. These who have been nursed in Ahab's court, who've been the darlings of his court, and from that position of regal protection, have spread their heresy through the land. Lay hold of these prophets. And then he distinctly, scriptures distinctly says, They brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there.

5:09 Why this brook? Why not slay them on the spot? Well it would seem that the meaning behind this is simply that God wouldn't even defile the land with their blood. But he'd have their blood spilt in the river that emptied itself into the sea.

5:26 The land of Israel would not even be stained by the blood of these intruder prophets who had brought such havoc into the land, because of their false teaching of a false God. And scripture says, Having brought them down to the brook, He slew them there. Now this either means that Elijah himself with the help of the people took them one by one and did the slaying, or he super-intended the slaying. For scripture speaks that way as we do.

5:57 When the Lord was accusing David of killing Uriah, He said to the prophet Nathan, Thou has slain Uriah with the sword of the head, or it shall be for every cross which is cut out, of the sword of the head, that I shall slay you. with the sword of the Hittite. Uriah did not hold the sword. I mean, David did not hold the sword that slew Uriah, but because David arranged his slaying, God indicts him with the slaying.

6:14 So either Elijah himself did this bloody work with his own hands, or Elijah superintended this task, perhaps even with the guard of the king who would probably be most well-armed to perform the task of slaying these prophets.

Elijah's Obedience: Not a Sin, But a Divine Command

6:35 There's the narrative. Now, a crucial question. Is this account put here like the incest of Lot, the drunkenness of Noah, the lies of Abraham, the adultery of David, and the denial of Peter? Is it placed here in the record, as these other things are, to show us that the best of men are but men of clay and that they can err in judgment?

7:02 Is that why this record is put here? Some of the commentators take that position. I submit to you that that's an absolute travesty upon the meaning of Scripture. This is not put here like the other honest delineations of the sins of the saints.

7:19 Granted, Scripture talks about the adultery of David, the denial of Peter, and the incest of Lot, and the drunkenness of Noah. But we must never put this slaying of the prophets by the prophet Elijah into that class. Why do we know that is not why it is put here? Well, first of all, the context itself, what precedes and what follows, clearly indicates otherwise.

7:45 One of the things in the prayer of the prophet was this. You remember in chapter 18 and in verse 36, the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and 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. He asked the Lord to send the fire of heaven that men might recognize not only that Jehovah was the true God, but that Elijah was a true servant of God who did what he did as the instrument of God in obedience to the revealed will of God. It would be contradictory to the whole drift of the vindication not only of God, but of the prophet to suddenly say at this point he was on his own. He was not doing what God did. God required or commanded. And then the subsequent context, immediately from slaying these prophets, he says to Ahab, get thee up, eat and drink.

8:45 There's sound of abundance of rain and in this great act of faith, he says rain is coming. He goes off to pray and he pleads with God until the seventh time the servant comes back and says, yes, rain is on the way. Generally speaking, no man prevails in prayer that way, coming fresh from the heels of an act of disobedience. The Bible records the sin of David of adultery, but it also records that for a year he had no access to the throne of grace.

9:14 It also records that. Scripture records the denial of Peter, but it also records that there was no blessing or power until he wept bitterly and confessed his sin. And so to in any way infer that this is simply a record of one of the errors of Elijah. No, there's plenty of indication of the humanity of Elijah.

9:33 You come to chapter 19 and he who did not quake at all before a king and a nation suddenly trembles like a little leaf in the wind before this wicked painted Jezebel. No, no, this has nothing to do with the weaknesses of the prophet Elijah. This is an integral part of the purpose of God to vindicate himself and to turn the nation back to himself.

10:01 How do we know that? Well, will you consider with me this very basic thing? That what Elijah did, he did as the representative of Jehovah with clear scriptural warrant. You say, scriptural warrant?

10:16 This passage says that Elijah took the prophets of Baal, 450 of them, brought them to the brook Kishon and slew them? Yes, he had warrant from Scripture to do precisely as he did. Will you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 13?

10:35 Remember, we're dealing with a nation that is, a theocracy. That is, God himself rules over them. And to be a citizen of this nation was also to be a citizen of the kingdom of God in that broader sense. So that certain crimes were not only crimes, but they were sins in a very real sense against the living God to be punished by that God who presided over his people.

11:03 Now notice what God said in giving his law through Moses to the people. Deuteronomy chapter 13. If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11:42 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and shall serve him and cleave unto him. Now notice. And that prophet or 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.

12:15 Principle number one. God says if anyone rises up even though he confirms or authenticates his person with a miracle if his message turns you away from the true God that man is to be slain. Even though he performs miracles.

12:33 But not only prophets. Notice the next verses. If thy brother, the son of God, or the son of thy mother, your own blood brother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, your closest friend, if such a one, your own son or daughter, brother, sister, entice thee secretly saying, let us go and serve other gods which thou hast not known, thou nor thy father, namely the gods of the people that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee from the one end of earth, even to the other end of the earth, thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt surely kill him. Thine hand shall be first put upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people, and thou shalt stone him with stones that he die, because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt and from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this among you. That's pretty stiff stuff, isn't it?

13:55 Here's a fellow taking a walk with his son. And his son says, Hey, Dad, I've been away to college. Oh, yeah, I know that. I've been putting the bills.

14:04 Who do you think pays those? Oh, yeah, that's right, Dad. Well, you know, it's been a wonderful thing, Dad. We've got some very enlightened professors.

14:09 Oh, is that right? Yeah, Dad, you know what they've called us? All this business, this about us coming out of Egypt. There's a lot of fairy stories that our fathers have told us.

14:16 There really is no Jehovah, Dad.

14:20 The dad stops and says, Son, what are you saying? He's saying, well, come on, let's get with it, Dad. You know, times are changing. Things are different now.

14:28 And Dad, listen, if you really want to be with it, this business of worshipping Jehovah, it's passé. The God that's in, the in God in our day is the God of scientific discovery, Dad. The God of nature.

14:43 That son talked like that to his father. That father, who had an obligation to call together the elders of Israel and to be the first one to lay his hand upon that son and the first one to bring a stone upon him to kill him.

14:57 That was his God-given obligation. If his own son,

15:05 if a wife whispered into the ear of her husband, well, dear, really Jehovah is such a strict. Look how our neighbors can live so easily and enjoy life when God's given us so many rules and regulations. Why can't we go worship another God? He was obligated to lay his hand upon that wife and be first to initiate her execution by stoning.

15:27 You didn't know that was in the Bible, did you? Who confirmed his message with miracles when that message was to turn their hearts away, but even your closest blood relationship. Now, if that had been strictly carried out, that whole nation would have been slain. For as a nation, with the exception of 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal, they had in their entirety, gone off after Baal worship.

16:01 The only thing that spared them was the mercy of God revealed in his accepting the sacrifice that was offered by the prophet. And because of an acceptable sacrifice, God passed over the sin of that nation upon its external repentance, at least though for some it was an internal and valid repentance. And so I submit to you that what the prophet Elijah did, he did not do in a fit of anger. He did not do, because as some of the commentators say, this was his fiery temperament, and it was in one case his virtue, and now his weakness.

16:36 Oh, no. This was a sensitive man of God, a man who when he saw a little boy dead, said to a widow, give me thy son, and took that little boy up into a chamber and spread himself upon his lifeless cold form and pleaded with God until life came back again. Any man who treats little children with that tenderness and the broken heart of a widow is not a harsh man. And no matter how distasteful this was to Elijah's flesh, he was a servant of the living God who was going to bring even his emotions subject to the revealed will of God.

17:16 And when God said, the false prophet shall be slain, Elijah says, take them every one, bring them to the brook, and put them to death. Later on under Jehu, this work of reform was completed, and the record is in 2 Kings 18, where Jehu, saying that he wanted to have a resurrection of Baal worship, said, let's gather all the prophets of Baal and all the followers of Baal into one house. And so they came from all the parts of Israel, and when they were gathered in the house, Jehu and some of his attendants went in, and they slew them every one, and Baal worship was finally purged from Israel. Now, so much for the narrative as it's before us, so much for the crucial question, was Elijah acting in a fit of anger, or was he acting in a weakness of temperament? No, he was acting in obedience to God in the slaying of the prophets. Now, what does this say to us? The scripture says that these things were written for our admonition.

God's Authority and Sovereignty in Judgment

18:21 Certainly in a day like ours, when God no longer commands his servants to use the sword in the defense of truth, this has nothing to say to us in this day, does it? Oh, it has nothing to say to us in this day, does it? Oh, it has much to say to us. For all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine.

18:42 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that these things were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the age are come. What then do we learn from this passage? I would like to submit to you two or three very basic and needful lessons that God would speak to us from this narrative. First of all, we see illustrated in this 40th verse the authority and sovereignty of God in bringing judgment when and how he chooses.

19:16 The authority and sovereignty of God in bringing judgment when and how he chooses. Elijah is the representative of the Lord. He says, Let this people know that I am thy servant. I have done all things at thy hand.

19:34 Elijah, in a very real sense, is but the hand of God in this terrible bloody work. The God who has given us life has a right to execute vengeance upon those who have forfeited all claim to life because of their own sin. Scripture says the wages of sin is death. God says vengeance is mine.

19:58 I will repay, and I will repay when and how I choose. And here is one of those strange incidents that seems to, as it were, jar against the general drift of God's dealings that you and I might be reminded that we cannot box up the authority or sovereignty of God not only in the realm of grace but also in the realm of judgment. Certainly we are astounded when we see the Lord sovereignly putting forth his hand in grace. Who would ever think of God saving a harlot of all people, a harlot in a wicked city like Jericho, but as far as we know that's the only one he saved.

20:41 How strange are his ways in mercy. But his ways are also strange and sovereign in judgment. Strange in judgment. And God wants to let us know that judgment is in his hands and those hands are sovereign hands to dispense judgment when and how the living God chooses.

21:05 Therefore I say by way of application to those of us who are children of God, let us never question the ways of God but rather marvel at his patience that he withholds his judgment as long as he does. I'm not so much amazed that God poured out his judgment in this bloody deed after the conquest of Carmel. I'm amazed that God let this crowd loose for all those years to pollute the land of Israel. I marvel at such patience that God would let false prophets come in and turn away the heart of a nation from the worship of the true God.

21:45 If you knew that someone coming to your front door was going to come in your house, ravage your wife, slay your children, steal your possessions, would you stand there with your hands folded? Would you? You'd put forth your hand to do something. You'd do nothing more than call the police and run.

22:05 God as it were stood at the door of Israel and let these false prophets come in and ravish his peculiar possession, his own people Israel whom he redeemed in power. And in grace. God was patient in long suffering. And so I say to you dear child of God, never question the ways of God in judgment but marvel that he forbears as long as he does.

22:32 Scripture tells us in Romans 11.22 Behold the goodness and the severity of God. You and I are to look with adoring wonder not only at the goodness of God but at the severity of God. How long has it been since you beheld with wonder and holy dread the severity of God?

22:56 That's commanded. Behold the goodness and the severity. I say to you who are unrepentant and who look at a passage like this and say, ah, that just confirms my feelings that this can't really be the God I know. My God isn't like that.

23:17 No, probably he isn't. But he's not the true and the living God either. You see, you fashioned a God and a God in your own likeness with whom you can be comfortable. A God whom you can manipulate to fit the dispositions of your own corrupt nature.

23:34 And I solemnly warn any of you who look at a passage like this and have inner quarrels with God and say it isn't fair. My friend, it isn't fair that you breathe his air and walk upon his earth while your heart thus rebels against him. God would teach us in this passage to uphold his absolute authority and sovereignty in bringing judgment when and where he chooses. Secondly, and this is the bulk of our consideration tonight, we see in this passage the peculiar vengeance of God upon false prophets.

God's Peculiar Vengeance on False Prophets and Teachers

24:14 The climate of our day is one of toleration. We are flabby with rolls of ecumenical fat and we're dizzy with the wine of togetherness. The whole mood of our day is flabby, the fat of ecumenicity, and dizzy with the wine of togetherness. You know why this is so?

24:43 Because for several generations now we have lost sight of the fact that there is such a thing as final and absolute truth. You see, the attitude of modern religious leaders upon this whole situation would be something like this. Now Elijah, you're of the religious temperament and sensitivity. And you have some valid insights about God whom you call Jehovah.

25:05 But these priests of Baal also have a religious sense and sensitivity. And since their whole background is different and in the development and progression of the human race all of us have something to contribute to the idea of God, to the deity concept, why you prophets of Baal have something to contribute. And so Elijah, the real issue is not either or. God? Jehovah?

25:31 God? Baal? Elijah, you've missed the whole point. You must not think in terms of absolutes.

25:39 We must think in terms of a synthesis, a pooling together the insights of Baal, the insights of Jehovah, and together they form the universal religious concept. That's the mood of our day. That's the mood that has permeated religious thinking by and large for the past, oh, 60 to 70 years. First of all in Europe and then here in the States.

26:08 Now, what's the climate of the Bible? The climate that Elijah lived in. It's the whole mood and climate that there is an absolute breach between truth and error, light and darkness, true prophets and false prophets. Why? Now follow.

26:28 This togetherness mood is based upon the idea that as man develops in the evolutionary process he gets more and more ideas. We just throw them into the pot, you see, and then we've got the most advanced soup at the end, the most advanced sweet-tasting religious soup. The whole idea is that religion is the expression of something that's in man. And so since all men have a right to express what's in them, we just pool what all men express.

26:55 Ah, but the thinking of the Bible is diametrically opposed to that. Listen carefully. The climate in which Elijah lived was a climate of objective and revealed truth. Elijah knew that the only reason Jehovah was God and was to be worshipped as God is that he had revealed himself to be the living and the true God.

27:19 It wasn't as though the people of Israel were wandering around one day and got together and said, now look, we've got to have a God. We've got this feeling that we ought to be worshipping something. Now who do you think he is? Well, who do you think he is?

27:30 And they came up with the Jehovah idea. No, no. God revealed himself to them as Jehovah. When the Lord spoke to Moses as recorded in Exodus 3 and said, now you go down and you tell Pharaoh, let my people go.

27:43 He says, who shall I say sent me? And it says, he said, say that I am hath sent you. You go in my name. And God reveals himself to his people.

27:54 And then God reveals himself with objective truths that if this is so, this cannot be so. Therefore, if Jehovah is the true God and the Israelites know this because God has revealed himself to him, then anything else that's called God is a lie. Anything else that is called truth is untruth. And if you believe in that untruth, it will damn and destroy you.

28:25 Therefore, the Bible uses such terms as destructive heresies, 2 Peter 2, doctrines of demons, 2 Timothy 4, that they all might be damned who believe a lie, 2 Thessalonians 2. Now see the difference of the climate of the Bible. Since truth is something that comes from God as revelation and not from man as discovery, therefore it has fixed boundaries. If this is so, it is so because God is what he is and it will always be so.

29:01 Now because Elijah breathed that spirit, he could look upon these prophets as God looked upon him. Because the apostle Paul breathed this spirit, he could say without any personal pride or personal vindictiveness, I'm reading now from Galatians 1, 8 and 9, Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which he received, let him be accursed. Why?

29:38 Because the apostle knew that no matter how sincere a lie was, a lie would damn the souls of men. Let me illustrate. I may have used this some time ago, but I want to use it again. I go to a certain doctor and he happens to be a close personal friend of mine.

29:56 And I say, Doc, I don't know what's wrong, but I've had a lot of gas in my stomach recently and a lot of heartburn and things aren't right and so he examines me. He says, I think I know what your problem is. He prescribes a certain medicine. He loves me.

30:10 He wants my well-being. He seeks to analyze my problem. He prescribes a certain medicine. But because there were certain areas of my problem that weren't discovered, that particular medicine he prescribed for me is just the thing that will kill me in three weeks.

30:26 So I start taking my medicine. And two and a half weeks later I'm in the hospital and they say I don't have much chance. And the doctor comes by and says, Oh, Brother Martin, you know I didn't mean this. I was dead and earnest in trying to help you.

30:40 And he pours out profusely his confession and his repentance and expresses his great sincerity in wanting to help me. But you see, his sincerity has no power to neutralize the effect of the wrong remedy. It'll kill me nonetheless. Conversely, there may be a guy who hates the ground I walk on or work on.

31:05 Maybe both. He really hates me. Not only the ground I walk on but the ground I work on. And I go to him but because he's true to his Hippocratic Oath as a doctor, he's going to try to do his best for me.

31:17 And he analyzes my problem and he says, This is what'll fix you. Take it. No love for me whatsoever. No regard for me.

31:24 He'd like to see me dead. But because he's a good doctor on a professional basis, he prescribes the right thing and lo and behold I take the right medicine and I get better. You see, his lack of sincerity or love doesn't affect whether or not the remedy takes its effect. Conversely, no matter how sincere my doctor friend may be, the wrong remedy will kill me.

31:46 That's the way the Bible looks at truth and error. We live in the day that says if the man's sincere, why, you've got to accept what he says. Is that so? In doing so you may kill yourself.

31:58 It's not a matter of sincerity. It's a matter of whether or not they are speaking objective truth. If these fellows were sincere, you don't pray for three solid hours hoping to be a good doctor or a doctor for a year. If they were sincere, you would say oh, pale, hear us.

32:22 Oh, pale, hear us. And then for another three hours dance a jig around an altar and take lances and touch yourself until your blood spurts out. These guys were dead in earnest, deadly sincere but deadly wrong. How could the prophet overlook all that sincerity and the fact that they were deluded and duped because he breathed this climate Either it lines up with what God has revealed and is truth, or it does not, and it's error.

32:56 And I submit to you that this passage in which it so simply states that the prophet commanded to take the prophets of Baal, all of them, and bring them down to the brook Kishon and slay them, is a revelation not only of the authority and sovereignty of God in bringing judgment when and how He chooses, but it's a revelation of the peculiar vengeance and anger of God against false prophets. Now, by way of application, what does this say to us today?

Exposing and Rejecting Heresy in the New Covenant

33:28 If you can understand and clearly grasp the fact that the extension, or the present continuation of the old prophetic ministry, is teaching based upon the scriptures, you'll understand what this says to us in this area. We return to 2 Peter chapter 2. There's a key text here to build the basis of the present-day application of this passage. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1.

34:01 But there were false prophets among the people, that is, in the past, the prophets of Baal and other false prophets, even as there shall be false teachers among you. Now, do you see the parallel? He draws a parallel between false prophets, prophets in the old economy, and false teachers in the new economy. Now, what's the basic difference?

34:29 The basic difference is this. A prophet is one who speaks essentially in the first person in the name of God. Thus saith the Lord, and he speaks. A teacher is one who takes you to an existing body of revelation, and opens it up and explains it to you.

34:50 Now, we don't have too many in our day who come in the first person, saying, Thus saith the Lord. They know better. They wouldn't get very far. So what do they do?

35:00 They come with a nice big black Bible.

35:05 And they say, Would you like to know what the Bible teaches?

35:08 And then they start manipulating the Scriptures.

35:14 They do what Paul said he refused to do. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1. Having received this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, we have renounced the hidden things of darkness, not walking in dishonesty, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. You see, it's possible to handle the Word of God, but to handle it deceitfully.

35:43 They do exactly what Peter speaks about in chapter 3 of his second letter, and in verse 16.

35:54 They that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do the other Scriptures to their own destruction. And that word rest means to put on a rack, and to stretch. It's out of shape. What do they do with the Scriptures?

36:07 Oh, they handle them. But rather than handle them as objective, fixed revelation from God, and hold them up to the people, they take those Scriptures, and they stretch them out of shape until they say something other than what God intended they should say.

36:29 Oh, I've seen this done by everything from Jehovah's Witness to neo-Orthodox, liberals, Roman Catholics,

36:37 who would deny the essential truth of God. Oh! Say, that's narrow. That's knocking everybody out.

36:42 Uh-uh, wait a minute now. No, no. It's not knocking other people. This is breathing the climate of Scripture, which says God has revealed certain things, and if He's revealed them, anything contrary to that is a lie.

36:57 And a lie will damn if it's believed and embraced.

37:05 If that's the present extension of the prophetic ministry, then what does this tell us? It tells us that if we think God's thoughts, after Him, if we feel as God feels, then though it may be as distasteful to us as it was to the prophet Elijah, we must do all that God has warranted us to do to destroy false teaching. Follow me now? Elijah did everything he was warranted to do, and under the old economy where that was a theocracy, he was warranted to take the sword and slay them.

37:43 He was commanded to do it. If he did anything less than that, he'd have been disobedient to the revealed will of God. Now under the new economy, has the Lord commanded us to do as He commanded them in Deuteronomy? To take the sword and slay false teachers?

37:58 No, no. Early in the ministry of Christ, some of His disciples thought that was the thing to do. We have a record of it in Luke chapter 9, and see how the Lord deals with that. Luke chapter 9 and verse 54.

38:24 They were going to go into Samaria,

38:28 and they wouldn't receive the Lord. And when His disciples, James and John, verse 54 of Luke 9, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did? Here are people that would oppose us, and oppose the truth, and oppose your ministry. Shall we command fire as Elias did?

38:49 He said, no, no, no, no. You know not what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. He says something new.

38:59 He's entering the picture. No, we are not warranted to oppose false teaching as the prophet was warranted, but God has given us clear direction as to what we as God's people must do to oppose it. Well, what is that? Number one, He's commanded us to expose heresy wherever it raises its ugly head.

39:25 In Titus 1.9, one of the requirements for an elder is that he be so grounded in doctrine that he may be able to do it. He's commanded us to expose heresy that he may be able to convict the gainsayers. Paul says, Hymenaeus and Philetus have erred concerning the truth of the resurrection.

39:42 In Revelation 2, Jesus commends the church because He said, You have tried those that say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. You know all the hullabaloo over Bishop Pike? They finally backed off from it. They were going to label him a heretic because he denied essential truths that when he took his ordination, he claimed to believe and preach and defend, and he's thrown them all over.

40:08 He appears on TV shows talking about his spirit experience, his medium experience in communing with his own son who took his life here a couple of years ago. And yet, when they were going to bring a heresy trial, great segments of the church rose up and said, Such intolerance. And so they backed off. They never followed through.

40:30 The Lord Jesus in Revelation 2 commends the church. He says, I am favorably impressed with what you've done. You've taken people who claim to be my messengers and teachers. You've tried them by the objective standard of truth.

40:44 You've found them liars. You've put them out of your midst. And he says, I'm pleased with that. Later on in chapter 2, verses 14 and in verse 25, he says, I have somewhat against thee because you've tolerated false teachers.

40:58 You've tolerated those that teach the doctrine of Balaam. You've tolerated those, that prophetess Jezebel, who teaches, false teaching. And he says, I have somewhat against you. I may say, if there's one thing that causes our Lord holy grief as he looks down upon his church, or better still, to take the figure of Revelation 1, as he stands in the midst of his visible church, his professing church, it's this unholy, flabby toleration of heresy in the ranks of the professing people of God.

41:30 I have dear friends of mine who can stay on in denominations, linking arms, with heretics, who deny the essential truths of the gospel of Christ. They can encourage their people to give money that are supporting missionaries on the field who say that the only gospel we have is the gospel of making men a little bit better while they're here. No gospel of eternal redemption. No gospel of the blood of Christ.

41:54 No gospel of the resurrection.

41:57 And they say, well, I feel I've got to stay in the old ship and keep it from sinking.

42:05 No, beloved, we're not breathing the spirit of a prophet Elijah. For one of the responsibilities we have, we cannot pick up the sword as did Elijah and slay false prophets, but we must, with the sword of the Spirit, cut through heresy wherever it rears its head within the framework of the church and judge it to be such. Secondly, we must give no recognition to heretics themselves as brothers. 2 John tells us, if a man comes to you and brings not the basic doctrines of Christ, and brings not the basic doctrines of Christ, you are not to bid him God's speed.

42:43 You are not to say to him, well, brother, the Lord bless you. You've got your job to do and you see things a little bit different. I've got my job to do and I see things a little bit different, but we're all in the same job together. Oh, no.

42:59 Listen carefully. 2 John 10. If there come unto you any man and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither, nor bid him God's speed, for he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

43:19 Beloved, that's what we're commanded to do. Not pick up the sword, but shut the door to the heretic. Open the door of our house and say, I welcome you in as any other creature made in the image of God, sinner who needs the grace of God, but I don't call you brother. And when you leave, I'll pray God will save you, but I won't pray God will bless your ministry.

43:42 Doesn't that sound strange? To our ecumenically dizzy age, doesn't it? That's not pleasant. I don't like this.

43:52 Elijah would have been a terribly, terribly perverted man if he could have drooled at the bloody task of slaying 450 prophets. Though it was unpleasant, it was warranted by Scripture, and he must do the will of God. And though it is unpleasant, dear ones, we must, if we are to be obedient to the revealed will of God, we must, we must, we must, we must, we must, we must, we must oppose heresy where it rears its ugly head within the church. Give no recognition to heretics who pass our way.

Restoring Righteousness Through the Triumph of Truth

44:24 Then on the positive ledger, we must seek to slay error by the triumph of truth.

44:35 By the triumph of truth. As we are committed to the preaching of the Word, to filling the earth with the truth of God by every means possible in that way, the truth of God will rise up and slay, the truth of God will rise up and slay, the truth of God will rise up and slay, the truth of God will rise up and slay, the error.

44:55 So I submit to you that the second great lesson in this passage is setting before us the peculiar vengeance of God upon false prophets and false teaching. And if we are growing in grace, we will have more and more God's attitude in this matter, saying with the psalmist, I love thy precepts, therefore I hate every false way. Then the third great lesson that I see in the passage is this, I see something of God's, God's method in restoring a nation to righteousness. You see, with this Baal worship, the worship of a false God, there always is the accompanying false living.

45:38 Only worship of the true God produces true living. That is living that is in accordance with the will of God and the moral law of God. Whenever an individual or a nation departs from the worship of the true God, he will also depart from the precepts of God. Romans chapter 1, as they did not want to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up and the sin followed.

46:01 That's what happened in Israel. When they worshipped these false gods, the psalmist says, they that worshipped them were like unto them, they became as immoral as their own gods were. Now as the prophet longs for a restoration to righteousness and godly living, he knows that it can only come as those who are, as it were, the sluice gates of letting out the false teaching upon the land are coming. They are cut off.

46:27 How do you restore righteousness? By the destruction of error. That's how.

46:34 By the destruction of the error that produces unrighteousness. Elijah knew that righteousness could not be established in the land again until the source of unrighteousness was choked off, namely these false prophets who preach their false deity.

46:51 As you and I look out into the situation in our own nation at this hour, and we see sexual promiscuity that makes some of the orgies of Rome look like kids' play, as we see lawlessness that abounds at every structure of society, parents scared to death of their kids. I still, I've got battle shock from this. I still can't get over this, to see parents who are trembling in their boots before their own children, their own kids.

47:24 I don't know what to do. Johnny's mad.

47:28 He said if I do something, he'll leave home. I was brought up in the day when I had a holy fear of my parents. The last spanking I got was when my dad called me to clean the cellar and I cursed under my breath. And he spanked me until I told him what I said, and then he spanked me for saying that.

47:49 There was a holy fear, not a cringing fear, no, but a holy fear, because God had put them over me to keep me in line until I was old enough and mature enough to stand on my own two feet. But the lawlessness in the home, I don't need to tell you about the scene in the campus, in the streets, the dishonesty, some of you have shared with me the indifference to an honest day's work on every hand, the whole attitude, get by with as little as possible for as much, all of these things. Now, what are they? Listen carefully.

48:22 They are the fruits of the worship of Baal. They are the fruits of the worship of a false god.

48:31 Now, how are you going to change those things? You're not going to change them by having a campaign against sexual promiscuity. You're not going to change them by having a campaign against lawlessness in the streets. You're not going to change them by having a campaign against the lack of cohesion in the home.

48:49 No, no. You've got to go back to the root of this, which is the false teaching of Baal worship. And inundated with the evolutionary thinking a hundred years ago that says man is not a created being who is under the moral law of God. No, no.

49:08 It's just the highest expression on the rung, you see. Then religious teaching that said, this is not revealed truth that comes down from heaven, but this is the insights of the Jews and the insights of the early Christians. Now, we've got our insights. And since we're higher up on the ladder with greater insights and greater sources of material from history and modern media of knowledge, so we know something better.

49:34 All of that is nothing but Baal worship. It's a turning aside from the concept of the true God who made us in His image and who made us that we should be governed by Him, who made us accountable to Him, who has expressed His will for us in those ten words of Moses and says, this do and thou shalt live. Those words bring us to say, but oh God, I haven't done them. I must die.

49:59 And then we see that one died in our place in taking the brunt of the wrath of God against a broken law. And when we come to Him broken in repentance and faith, then He imparts unto us that same holy law, not as a threatening standard to hold over us saying, this do or thou shalt die, but saying, this is the way you can walk so as to please your Redeemer and your Heavenly Father. And so taking our place in the power of the Spirit and the guidelines of the moral law, we begin to live responsibly in our place of work, in the structure of the home, in society, in the boy-girl relationship, in all of these areas. And in that way and in that way alone can righteousness be established. And Elijah knows this. Shortly after that the school of the prophets was opened up again. The school of the prophets.

50:55 Why? If there's going to be any restoration to righteousness, false teaching must be cut off and the truth of God must once again inundate the land. Now what does this say to us by way of application? I hope the application is clear.

51:13 We can't pick up the sword and slay the false prophets, but we can with the truth of God seek to slay error. We can pray that God will raise up prophetic teachers. And I don't mean teachers who've got charts on prophecy. When I say prophetic teachers, I mean men who are committed to this book, but who speak with the unction and power of the prophet while sticking strictly to the written words of God in Holy Scripture.

51:45 God has no more prophets in the sense of men who speak directly in the name of God. No. They must speak according to the book. But a true prophet in that sense is something more than one who merely tells you, this is what the Bible says.

51:59 He speaks with the unction of the prophet, with the insight of the prophet, with the penetration of the prophet. And if we're to see righteousness once again established in our land, God's instrument, if it's not going to be judgment, will be prophetic teachers. A school of the prophets restored. We need to be committed to the matter of the right kind of education for our children.

52:25 Oh, you say, there you go riding your hobby. It's not a hobby. You can't have your kids in the climate of Baal worship 13 years, 35 hours a week, and expect them to think right about morality and work and all the other relationships of life. It can't be done.

52:43 They must, from the early inception in the climate of the home, and then when the training is shared by the school, be taught to think God's thoughts after Him in every realm, all the way from the structure of the home to the church. The home to the function of their bodies, to their place in society. That's why God said to Israel, you're to take your children, and when you walk in the way, teach them my precepts. When you rise up, when you sit down, He's saying, if you want righteousness established in Israel, the only way is that your children look at every aspect of life through the eyes of Holy Scripture.

53:22 Oh, parents, listen to me. That's your responsibility for your children. To see them, trained in such a way that they look at every aspect of life through the eyes of Scripture. God has something to say about your home life, your sex life, your political life, your work life.

53:41 He has something to say about science and astronomy and biology. God has something to say. This is His world. When people tell me, all right, you keep your religion for your own little area here, but we'll take the rest for ourselves.

53:58 I say, no, you're not going to rob the rest of the world from my God. It's His world. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The heavens declare His glory.

54:08 They're not just scientific or astronomical facts. The heavens are there to speak a message. And when I tell my son or daughter, look at the heavens. See that star and this one and this one and this one?

54:19 If I don't tell them, hear what God is saying in the heavens, I haven't taught them astronomy. You may not say amen to that, but it's true. I've not taught them astronomy. I've taught them a weak, poor substitute.

54:35 When I teach them the human body, it functions this way, this way, this way, this way, and that's the way it is. I haven't taught them anatomy until I've taught them. They are fearfully and wonderfully made by the hand of God. I tell you, I had the joy of that just this afternoon in a particular instance.

54:52 One of my own children, in dealing with a certain area, broke into my time with him and said, Daddy, didn't God make us in a wonderful way? How are we going to establish righteousness? That's the way. That's the way.

The Surprising Suddenness of God's Judgment

55:09 To see false teaching cut off, and the land inundated with the truth of God, with the truth of creation, the truth of the fall, the truth of redemption, the truth of the regenerative power of the Spirit, the truth of the abiding character of the moral law of God. Well, in the last place, I see taught in this passage, and this is a sobering word on which to close, a principle found in other parts of Scripture, namely the surprising suddenness, of the judgment of God on His enemies. Think of it. These 450 prophets, when day broke that morning, they got up and put on all their fine vestments. They were summoned to the sumptuous table of the court of Ahab, or wherever his entourage was at that particular stay, and traveling from their headquarters there to Mount Carmel. And there they were, the darlings of the court. They woke up in the morning, in the midst of a land that was smarting under, the effects of famine.

56:17 They had plenty, sumptuous living in the midst of privation. At noontime, they were abounding with all the evidences of life, dancing up and down upon their altar, crying out, O Baal, hear us. By the time the sun had run its course for that day, their blood makes red that river that flows out to the sea, and their bodies lie upon the open field as food for the birds of heaven. Who would have ever thought, waking up that morning, amidst the glitter and glory and grandeur of the court of Ahab, that night, food for the vultures and the birds of prey? How suddenly the judgment of God came. And those prophets kissed their wives good morning and said, Well, dear, I'll see you back about five o'clock. They never saw them.

57:14 And their little kiddies said, Daddy, hurry home. Oh, yes, I'll be home for long. They never saw them. How suddenly, the judgment of God falls.

57:27 Beloved, we're dealing with sobering things when you deal with the God of the Bible. And He's a God of mercy. And where the passage speaks of mercy, I want to preach it faithfully. But when it speaks of judgment, I want to preach it no less faithfully.

57:41 You're dealing with a God who's a consuming fire, and His judgments fall with unexpected and devastating suddenness. And I don't know where it'll fall next, nationally or personally. And neither do you. Therefore I plead with you, if Jehovah be God, serve Him.

58:10 If Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be and if He's done what He did for sinners and fall at His feet and plead for mercy and child of God, if God is who He claims to be. And if His truth is what it claims to be, and let us not be found fat with the flab of ecumenicity, Dizzy with the wine of togetherness But let's be found with discerning eyes Contending earnestly for the faith Once for all delivered to the saints Give no ground to Baal worshippers Slay them with the sword of truth And then and only then will righteousness Once again be established in the land Just a simple little narrative isn't it? Elijah commanded them to take the prophets of Baal All of them and bring them to the brook And slay them But what lessons it contains Reminding us of the absolute authority And sovereignty of God to bring judgment When and where he will Reminding us of the peculiar vengeance of God Towards false teachers Showing us the method of God In restoring righteousness to a nation And setting before us the surprising suddenness Of the judgment of God upon his enemies

59:36 May God grant that we shall hear with the inner ear And by his grace apply these lessons In the particular context of our own experience And our own lives Let us bow together in closing prayer