Cited in sermons
Wallace
2 sermons · All people cited
The Contest at Carmel
Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel exposes the absolute futility of idolatry and the exclusive sovereignty of Yahweh. Set against the backdrop of Ahab's state-sponsored Baalism and a three-year drought, the passage drives a direct challenge: total allegiance belongs to the living God alone, with no syncretistic middle ground. The sermon traces the contest from Elijah's gauntlet through the false prophets' frenzied failure to God's decisive, fire-bearing answer, arguing that the same God who consumed the sacrifice at Carmel receives sinners today through the atoning blood of Christ. The application is direct: those who still halt between two opinions are called to repent and look to Christ in faith, while believers are charged to hold fast to God Most High without divided allegiance.
1 Samuel 1:1-18
The opening chapter of 1 Samuel presents the birth of Samuel against the backdrop of a dark era at the close of the judges, when Israel's spiritual and political condition was at its lowest. Through the barrenness of Hannah, her cruel provocation by Peninnah, and her husband's well-meaning but inadequate sympathy, the text teaches that God sovereignly works through human weakness and suffering to accomplish his redemptive purposes. Hannah's prayer — earnest, specific, and covenantally grounded — serves as a model of how God's people are to respond to frowning providences: not with complaint against God's sovereignty, but with bold, heartfelt petition at the throne of grace. The study concludes with three applications: God governs dark seasons in redemptive history by his sovereign will; suffering is normal to the Christian life; and affliction is God's appointed means to drive his people to prayer.