The God Who Turns Hearts to God
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | In 1 Kings 18, we read the amazing account
00:00:08.020 | of God's defeat of Baal's prophets.
00:00:11.980 | The story is unforgettable.
00:00:14.140 | At the time, Israel was torn.
00:00:16.640 | Should it follow Baal or should it follow the living God?
00:00:20.460 | And as it stood, the people of Israel were limping
00:00:23.040 | between two different options, Elijah says.
00:00:26.040 | So came an ultimatum.
00:00:29.020 | God's people would climb Mount Carmel
00:00:31.420 | to witness two sacrifices laid out.
00:00:34.660 | One sacrifice with a bull would be set on logs by Elijah.
00:00:38.500 | Another bull on logs would be assembled
00:00:40.420 | by the prophets of Baal, equal offerings.
00:00:43.660 | Then the prophets would call down divine fire
00:00:46.220 | to light the sacrifices.
00:00:48.940 | Baal's 450 prophets went first and called out
00:00:52.620 | and called out and called out.
00:00:54.980 | Crickets, nothing from their God.
00:00:59.080 | Then Elijah, God's lone prophet on the mountain,
00:01:02.160 | on the scene, set up his sacrifice,
00:01:04.800 | had it doused with water three times over
00:01:07.760 | and then called for God to act.
00:01:10.520 | As we read in 1 Kings 18, verses 36 to 39
00:01:13.760 | in the words of Elijah.
00:01:15.680 | Oh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
00:01:18.520 | let it be known this day that you are God in Israel
00:01:21.860 | and that I am your servant,
00:01:23.740 | that I have done all these things at your word.
00:01:26.600 | Answer me, oh Lord, answer me,
00:01:28.880 | that this people may know that you, oh Lord, are God
00:01:32.820 | and that you have turned their hearts back.
00:01:37.400 | Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed
00:01:40.080 | the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust
00:01:43.440 | and licked up the water that was in the trench.
00:01:47.080 | And when all the people saw it,
00:01:49.280 | they fell on their faces and said,
00:01:51.160 | the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God.
00:01:56.180 | Powerful.
00:01:57.040 | So what's the takeaway of this story?
00:01:58.820 | We heard it in verse 37.
00:02:00.480 | Here it is again.
00:02:01.860 | That this people may know that you, oh Lord, are God
00:02:06.020 | and that you have turned their hearts back.
00:02:11.020 | Verse 37 needs to be thought about.
00:02:12.820 | And that's what we're gonna do today.
00:02:14.600 | After this dramatic event, Elijah goes up to Mount Carmel.
00:02:17.820 | Here's Pastor John to explain it from there.
00:02:19.960 | - Verse 42, Elijah went up to the top of the Mount Carmel
00:02:25.940 | and he bowed himself down to the earth
00:02:28.720 | and put his face between his knees.
00:02:31.400 | And he said to his servant,
00:02:33.620 | go up now and look toward the sea.
00:02:35.400 | And he went up and looked and said, there's nothing.
00:02:38.000 | And he said, go again, seven times.
00:02:42.700 | And at the seventh time, he said,
00:02:46.580 | behold, a little cloud like a man's hand
00:02:49.920 | is rising from the sea.
00:02:51.760 | And he said, go up, say to Ahab,
00:02:54.640 | prepare your chariot and go down,
00:02:56.680 | lest the rain stop you.
00:02:58.080 | And in a little while,
00:03:00.480 | the heavens grew black with clouds and wind.
00:03:03.440 | And there was a great rain.
00:03:05.680 | And Ahab rode and went to Israel
00:03:10.420 | and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.
00:03:13.760 | And he gathered up his garment and he ran.
00:03:18.120 | He didn't limp.
00:03:19.340 | - You don't limp when you follow Jesus.
00:03:22.200 | I don't care if you're in a wheelchair.
00:03:23.960 | You don't limp when you follow Jesus.
00:03:26.400 | You run.
00:03:27.240 | - Before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
00:03:31.080 | He ran before the rain.
00:03:33.520 | He didn't limp.
00:03:34.360 | He didn't hobble.
00:03:36.320 | He ran.
00:03:38.000 | Now that's the story.
00:03:39.900 | Let's step back and ask.
00:03:41.560 | So what's the main point?
00:03:44.940 | The one that everything else is supporting
00:03:47.360 | and leading toward.
00:03:49.480 | And I mentioned as we were going
00:03:51.400 | I think it's in verse 37,
00:03:54.440 | because Elijah himself says,
00:03:58.480 | this is what I want the people to know.
00:04:01.920 | Right?
00:04:02.760 | I mean, it's just not all stories are this clear,
00:04:06.560 | but the prophet himself opens his mouth
00:04:10.440 | and gathers the whole thing together and says,
00:04:12.880 | God, make them know this,
00:04:15.160 | make them know this about all this.
00:04:18.360 | So what is that?
00:04:19.360 | Verse 37, answer me, Oh Lord,
00:04:22.200 | answer me that this people may know.
00:04:25.040 | Know what?
00:04:25.880 | Two things.
00:04:26.880 | Number one, that you, Oh Lord are God.
00:04:31.640 | You are God.
00:04:33.800 | You're not an idea.
00:04:35.920 | You're not a memory.
00:04:37.560 | You're not a tradition.
00:04:38.840 | You're not a religion.
00:04:40.560 | You're not a projection of our imagination.
00:04:43.920 | You're not a force.
00:04:46.720 | You're not an archetype.
00:04:49.320 | You're not a symbol.
00:04:51.440 | You are God, the living active fire sending,
00:04:56.440 | sin, hating, idolatry, destroying,
00:05:01.240 | prayer, hearing, personal God.
00:05:05.200 | That's number one.
00:05:06.200 | No, make them know, let them know you are God.
00:05:11.200 | That's really the basic need of all of us.
00:05:17.320 | Number two, verse 37, make this people know
00:05:22.320 | that you have turned their hearts back.
00:05:27.920 | Or the NIV, you are turning their hearts.
00:05:31.960 | Cause your people to know this.
00:05:33.760 | So this is where I'm landing here.
00:05:36.360 | Cause these men to know this.
00:05:39.520 | I think that's God's will for you from this text.
00:05:45.480 | Should be my prayer for you.
00:05:47.280 | I pray that these men from this story would discern
00:05:52.280 | that you, the sovereign God, are the one
00:05:55.720 | who turns human hearts to God.
00:05:59.800 | So their hearts had betrayed God, spurned God,
00:06:06.280 | belittled God, devalued God,
00:06:09.440 | loved other things more than God.
00:06:11.960 | And this entire event on Mount Carmel
00:06:16.000 | is aiming to make God's people know
00:06:19.040 | if anybody turns to God, God turned them to God.
00:06:24.040 | That's the point of the story.
00:06:27.360 | So when the people cry from the heart, verse 39,
00:06:30.240 | the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God, God did that.
00:06:34.600 | God did that.
00:06:39.120 | It's true, the Lord rules the fire.
00:06:42.640 | It's true, the Lord rules the flesh, the bull,
00:06:45.520 | the wood on the altar, the rocks, he rules them.
00:06:48.840 | He rules the rain, he makes it rain
00:06:50.280 | when he wants it to rain.
00:06:52.360 | But this text is mainly about God rules the heart.
00:06:56.920 | He turns hearts, the Lord rules the human heart.
00:07:01.000 | Answer me, oh Lord, answer me,
00:07:03.440 | that this people may know that you, oh Lord, are God
00:07:07.200 | and that you have turned their hearts back.
00:07:11.600 | Know this, Israel.
00:07:13.880 | He doesn't want to just say it's a fact.
00:07:16.440 | He wants them to know it.
00:07:17.920 | He's praying that God would cause them to know it.
00:07:22.360 | There must be a value for you this afternoon,
00:07:25.080 | tomorrow, 10 years from now.
00:07:26.760 | There must be a value for you to know this,
00:07:31.000 | that if anybody's heart turns to God,
00:07:33.000 | God has turned the heart.
00:07:34.320 | There must be a value, a thrilling value
00:07:38.840 | for you to know this,
00:07:41.080 | that Elijah would pray it as the capstone of the event.
00:07:46.080 | Let him know this.
00:07:51.080 | I mean, there's people all over the world
00:07:54.160 | who would say, "Puh, fire falling from heaven,
00:07:57.840 | "consuming bulls and water and wood and stones?
00:08:02.080 | "That's impressive."
00:08:03.400 | That's not what he, he didn't pray
00:08:05.120 | that they would know that.
00:08:07.400 | He prayed that they would know if your heart
00:08:11.200 | at this moment is getting really serious about God,
00:08:15.400 | God is doing that.
00:08:17.040 | And that to me, I mean, as an American
00:08:21.320 | who grew up in the South,
00:08:23.120 | where a kind of decisionism was so dominant and rampant,
00:08:28.120 | this emphasis was in my childhood never heard.
00:08:36.400 | When it came to a heart moving from unbelief to belief,
00:08:40.800 | you do that, you do that.
00:08:44.720 | Nobody stressed, "God, do it, do it in this room.
00:08:49.720 | "If you don't do it, it won't be done."
00:08:52.960 | That's what Elijah is pleading for.
00:08:58.440 | - Powerful, that's a great clip
00:08:59.880 | from John Piper's June 2018 message recorded in London,
00:09:03.360 | titled "God Rules the Heart of Every Man,
00:09:05.960 | "Elijah's Battle with the Prophets of Baal."
00:09:08.800 | You can find it now online at desiringgod.org.
00:09:11.880 | The clip was emailed to me by Kat in Rottingham, Virginia,
00:09:16.440 | who says it was this point, this clip, this Bible text,
00:09:20.320 | 1 Kings 18.37, that quote,
00:09:22.720 | "Finally made the doctrines of grace click in my own head,
00:09:25.800 | "opening my eyes to a new understanding of God's sovereignty
00:09:28.560 | "and marked the beginning of a season
00:09:31.120 | "God used to draw me nearer to himself
00:09:33.240 | "and a greater understanding of his word."
00:09:35.800 | Awesome, thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:37.000 | She says, "That's a great story."
00:09:38.960 | Thank you, Kat.
00:09:39.920 | If you have a sermon clip
00:09:40.840 | with this type of impact on your life, email me.
00:09:43.080 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title,
00:09:45.040 | the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio,
00:09:47.120 | and tell me how it impacted you.
00:09:49.100 | Put the word clip in the subject line of an email
00:09:51.440 | and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:09:54.440 | That's our email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:09:58.080 | Speaking of the power of a single Bible text,
00:10:02.100 | if you have not heard the story of how Psalm 119, verse 99,
00:10:06.600 | shaped John Piper's entire ministry legacy,
00:10:09.800 | you really need to hear what's coming up next.
00:10:12.560 | That's what we're going to do next time.
00:10:14.340 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke,
00:10:15.800 | and we are rejoined in studio with Pastor John on Friday.
00:10:18.880 | We'll see you then.
00:10:19.780 | (upbeat music)
00:10:22.360 | (upbeat music)
00:10:24.940 | [BLANK_AUDIO]