"GET OFF THE FENCE" (Pastor Tom Henry) ~ 7/28/26

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (I Kings 18:21)

According to the word of Elijah to King Ahab, God had withheld rain, causing a great drought in Israel. Three years had passed, and Ahab was seeing Elijah’s face for the first time since the message of judgement was delivered. “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” These are the words with which the King greeted the prophet. Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but thou...” This is typical of ungodly men like Ahab. They never face the truth about themselves; they instead, cast the blame on someone else. It was precisely because of Ahab’s great wickedness that God brought judgement upon Israel in the form of a drought. “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD ABOVE ALL THAT WERE BEFORE HIM.” (Ch. 16:30) His greatest folly was marrying that wicked woman, Jezebel, the daughter of a heathen king. This unholy union let down the flood gates of idolatry that completely polluted the land. The Lord’s prophets were harassed and killed, while the prophets of the bloody god, Baal, were publicly exalted. There was a great moral and spiritual decline in Israel. Let us study the conditions that prevailed in that day so that we can better understand the parallel situation in our own day.

The root cause of their dreadful decline was Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel. “And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam…that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal King of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.” (Ch. 16:31) The message is clear. The marriage of God’s people to the world is certain to bring spiritual and moral decline. Such compromise among God’s people will have a wide-spread effect. Christians must ever maintain their separation from the world. Paul asked, “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world.” To enter into fellowship and communion with a sin-darkened world is, in effect, to put our light under a bushel, instead of letting it shine through righteous living. The Apostle in another place exhorts believers to “walk as children of light… and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” To live separate from the world will, in itself, reprove sinful behavior without saying a word. The best thing we can do, as Christians, to prevent the spiritual and moral breakdown of our nation is to live separated lives from the world. Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth.” It is the church as she should be that preserves the nation from corruption. We need not make up a majority of the population in order to do so. Christ’s true church has never been in the majority, but, a small amount of salt that has its full savor can preserve a very large portion of meat.

Like Israel in Elijah’s day, our nation’s sad condition is largely due to bad examples from leaders who fail their holy responsibility. It was Ahab’s duty before God to lead the nation in righteousness. This is true of all powers that be (Rom. 13:1-4), but it was especially so for a King of Israel. We are seeing what happens when so many of our nation’s spiritual leaders are willing to compromise God’s Word for sake of acceptance in the so called “scientific world”: when many others will sell out the true Gospel for sake of “heads and dollars”; when the popular “mantra” is, “We must change with the times.” Israel’s deplorable condition resulted from irresponsible and corrupt leadership.

Heaven could not remain silent with what was going on. God raised up a man to represent His cause. Elijah fearlessly predicted drought. Sin will always prevent Divine blessings. Spiritual vitality does not return until sin is dealt with. Elijah called for a showdown. But before the showdown occurred, he called upon the people to declare their allegiance. In our text he is essentially saying, “Get off the fence!” Decide who you will serve!! Every Christian must declare his or her allegiance. Don’t try to straddle the fence, because “No man can serve two masters…” (Matt. 6:24a)