Now let's read verse 16. You've
seen the text we'll look at tonight, but the beginning of that story in
that passage we just read is verse 16. When the Lord told Elijah and
Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel
and Elisha the son of Shaphat and Abelmeola shalt thou anoint
to be prophet in thy room. God told Elijah who would take
his place as prophet. We have in this brief passage
in this chapter a unique insight into the ministry and how God
provides for the feeding of his sheep. God tasked Elijah with
anointing his predecessor who would take his place as prophet
over Israel. We see here how that God provides
for the feeding Of his sheep and God does so
without any Cons without any conciliation to man's plans or
schemes I Can imagine the Elijah what was going on in his heart
when God said, here's who you're gonna anoint as king over Israel.
Ahab was king at the time and Jezebel ruled with him. And Jezebel
wanted Elijah dead real bad. But God just said, anoint this
guy as king. Oh, wait a minute, Lord, there's
a lot going on. Well, the Lord knows about that.
He's the one that set that up too, you see. But he tells him to anoint Elisha. Remember what
the Lord said in Jeremiah 3.14. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. Speaking to the children
of Israel, I am married unto you. You're mine, we're one.
And I will take you one of a city and two of a family. And I will
bring you to Zion. Turn. Doesn't sound like they
were much with that program at the time, but the Lord said,
turn. Another man prayed elsewhere
in scripture, Lord, you turn us and we'll be turned. And I will give you pastors according
to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Pastures. That's what the Lord
is making provision for in our text. He's gonna make sure that
there's someone to feed his sheep. Now, the Lord is speaking, of
course, to his elect in that passage. I say Israel, but his
elect. He said, I will take you one
of a city and two of a family. And that caught my eye when I
saw that. A great number such as a whole city may have only
one of his sheep in it. But even a small family may have
more than one. It's according to his sovereign
electing grace. One of a city, but two of a family,
maybe. But for all of them, he gives
them pastors. It doesn't matter if there's
one sheep he might cause the gospel to
be preached in a place full of lost people. If he's got just
a couple of sheep in that place. I wouldn't hazard a guess as
to whether that has been true in my lifetime or not, but I've
suspected it. That the Lord just had a sheep
or two But that's his business, isn't
it? He'd give them pastor, whoever they are. He sees to it that
there's a continual succession of those that will feed his sheep.
And notice now that Elisha had no idea the Lord had chosen him
before Elisha ever had the slightest idea God had already picked him
up. to feed his sheep, like Saul of Tarsus, of all people. That's
not who you would have picked. It's not who I would have picked.
But it's who the Lord picked. He said, I've chosen you as my
apostle to the Gentiles. And that's what you'll do for
me. But Elisha, the first Elisha finds out about it is when Elijah
casts his mantle, or his cloak, upon him. Elisha wasn't going around talking
about wanting to be a preacher. I've heard some of that. Or saying,
God's called me to preach. The way you know whether God
has called you to preach or not is that he does. He does. And there ain't no wondering
about it. Elisha wasn't a volunteer. God
picked him out and called him, and that's important. Elijah
didn't know anything about this either, until he did. Elijah didn't get to pick, God
did. So this is a blessing now. You
may wonder, well, if I'm not a preacher, what does this have
to do with me, Chris? It has everything to do with
you. That's what this is. This is the preaching of the
gospel. This is God feeding his sheep. And it's beautiful. It tells
us something about who God is, the way he provides for that. And before we start in on verse
19, God said in verse 16, anoint
Elisha. Anoint Elisha, and Elisha means
God is salvation. That's who's gonna preach the
gospel to you. Somebody called by that name. May not be their
earthly name, but that's gonna be who they are spiritually.
God is salvation. That's who's gonna preach, and
that's what he's gonna preach. If God is salvation, is who you
are, if that's your name, then you're gonna preach that God's
sovereign. You're not gonna preach that
he offers salvation or makes salvation available. You're gonna
preach that he is salvation. He has mercy on whom he will. If God is salvation, is your
name, and we're talking about spiritually now, this is a picture. There's not gonna be any enticing
words of man's wisdom in the message. You don't need to do
anything for God. I'm not here to entice you to
do something for God. If you've ever been in religion
for any length of time, you know that's all they do. They're always
trying to get somebody down and out, get somebody saved, and
get a decision. You need for God to do something
for you. And if your name is God is salvation,
that's what you're gonna preach. Salvation's of the Lord. If God
is salvation, then nobody is hopeless. Because sure enough, with men,
it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. We think sometimes we have loved
ones that are beyond the pale of hope. It sure seems like that
sometimes, doesn't it? They're not. They're not. God can save them if he wants
to. And we ask him to, if it's his, good
and perfect will, have mercy on them. God doesn't call men whose name
is, if you will, God will, to preach his gospel. Of course, it doesn't actually
matter what your name is. This is symbolic, though, of
who God calls and the message he gives them when he calls them. One more thing, and then we'll
look at verse 19 in detail. This passage concerns preachers. So as I suggested, does it have
anything to do with you? I want to point this out. God never
said to preachers, I will give you a flock. He said to sheep, I'll give you
a pastor. Think about that. And what he says to those pastors
is, feed my sheep. What does this have to do with
you? It has everything to do with you. He never said to a
preacher, I'll give you a flock. He says to his sheep, I'll give
you a pastor. We are the body of Christ and
we are one body. Verse 19, so he departed thence
and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing. With 12 yoke of oxen before him
and he with the 12th, and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle.
upon him, he found Elisha who was plowing. Remember that the
Lord found some of his disciples fishing and he said to them,
follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. This is like that. Think about it with me. Why do
you plow? What's the purpose of plowing?
I can only think of one. Can you think of more than one? You plow so people get to eat.
That's it. That's it. I can't think of a
single other reason why you would plow. It ain't fun. Elisha was in the business of
feeding people already. And that's a picture. Again,
it's not necessary. God also calls some tax collectors
to preach for it. But this, as fishers of men,
teaches us something. It does, doesn't it? Because
they didn't fish by deceiving the fish. They fished by the
Lord putting them in the net. And the Lord was very specific
about that. He illustrated that, didn't he? We fished all night,
Lord, we hadn't caught anything. Cast on the other side of the
ship. At thy word, we'll let down the
nets. And that's what we do as preachers. That's what happens here. At
his word, we let down the net. And he puts fish in there. He
knows exactly how many are in there. What was it, 573, I believe
it was? He numbered them to the fish and put them in the net for those
men. So that teaches, I'll make you
fishers of men. That teaches us something. And
here Elisha's plowing, and there ain't but one reason for that.
I imagine primarily he fed his family this way. And this is
a picture also of what God calls his preachers to do. Feed my
sheep. We see it also in what happened
later in the context, don't we? It says he gave the people to
eat. And then he rose up and followed
Elijah. That's what God's preachers do.
When it says that Paul, as his manner was, Went into the synagogue,
opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered. That
means he served food on a table like a waiter. You ever looked
that up? I think I've mentioned that before. Placed food on a table. Opening and alleging. That's
what we do. We plow. Paul said, we water,
we sow seed, we do what God has
given us to do. And it's like that, it's like
farming, it's like gardening, because only God can give the
increase. You know, my best years as a gardener have not been my
best years of gardening. You know why? Because God gives
the increase. I've done a slap dab job before,
you know, and stayed on top of it and done wonderful and got
hardly anything because God has to give the increase. The Lord said to Simon, Peter,
feed my lambs. When we read that while ago,
I'll give you pastors after my own heart. What are they going
to do? They're going to feed you with knowledge and understanding. Acts 20, 28, take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood. Food for God's sheep is Christ. Preaching Christ. I love to sing
songs, and we're always gonna do that, but that's not why we're
here. It's really not. We don't... We get to it pretty quick here,
don't we? We get to it pretty quick for
a reason. We don't need a choir. We don't
do programs. We don't have rituals or an altar
or an invitation. We preach Christ. Sheep don't
need a fancy presentation. They need to eat. They need the
bread of life. And I thought about this plowing.
He found him plowing. Elisha plowing. Plowing is a long way from eating,
isn't it? There ain't but one reason to
plow. You think of another one? I still hadn't come up with one.
I guess it'd be good exercise, but there'd be a lot more enjoyable
ways to get some exercise. Plowing. There's just one reason for it,
but it's a long way from actually eating anything, isn't it? There's much to do. There's a
lot to do in there. It's not an easy work feeding
people. God gives the increase, but he
doesn't do that without using us. He could. He don't need us,
but he doesn't do that. He won't. He will not do that. He's clearly revealed that he
won't. And then when Elijah found Elisha,
he was plowing. You already said that, Chris,
I know, but not this way. He wasn't waiting around for
God to call him. I'm called to preach, I'm just
waiting for a church. I've heard that more than once.
He wasn't between jobs. He wasn't sitting on the edge
of the field thinking, what's the use of this? I've been doing
this all my life. There's gotta be more for me
in life. He was faithfully doing what
God had given him to do that day. This is an important lesson
for every believer. for everybody, it's for his people. So instructive, I don't know
where to start. Even when God does call us to
some service with regard to his ministry, we are to do what he
has given us to do today. And be satisfied, feel privileged
and honored that he would allow us to do it. If it's a menial
job, maybe just cleaning or cooking something. Let's do our very
best at it without complaint, without looking for something
else. I have to use it. I don't like
to use illustrations like this a whole lot. There's a song that
illustrates this perfectly to me that I can't stand, a country
song. Is there life out there? Have
you ever heard that song? Is there life beyond my family
and my home? Do you realize how horrible that
sounds? What are you looking for beyond
a family and a home that God has given you? That's what this
is. Let's be satisfied and content
and happy. God has blessed us. Whatever it is you're doing,
you are privileged to do it. God has given you that to do
today. He may have you doing something
else tomorrow, but what he's given you to do today, do it
with a heart of gratitude and contentment. Children are an heritage of the
Lord. God never said a career is an heritage of the Lord. What do you value in life? What
means something to you? Bless God in that, whatever it
is. He wasn't discontent to do that.
He wasn't looking beyond that when the Lord called him. He was doing good, honest, hard
work. and doing it well. Plowing is a picture of faith. You can't plow if you look back.
Do you know that? You might make a trench in the
dirt, but it ain't plowing. Plowing is straight rows. That's what it is. You just,
you know, going around the yard making designs. That ain't plowing.
Plowing is defined. Plowing a field for the purposes
of food is defined by you got to make some straight rows now.
And you can't do that looking back. You can't do it looking
down at the plow. There's got to be a fixed object
before you that you keep your eyes steadfastly fixed upon in
order to plow straight and true. That's why Paul said, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. forgetting those things which
are behind. If you keep looking, and you
may be doing it for a good motive, you're thinking, well, am I plowing
straight? If you're looking back to see if you're plowing straight,
you ain't. You ain't. You can't. Only by looking to
Christ can you serve him. Not looking to your service,
Not looking beyond what he's given you to do. Look into Christ. 12 yoke of oxen speaks of the
difficulty also of the labor. And it indicates that it was
probably a wealthy family that Elisha was from. He mentions
his mother and father. And I suppose he had brothers
and sisters maybe, I don't know. But it sounds like they were
a pretty wealthy family. 12 yoke of oxen was a lot. It required a lot the ground
was so bad it took a lot of power to get through it or he wouldn't
have used well Harder to control no need for him if you don't
Have pretty difficult ground Energy and strength apart from
just Elijah's lashes was necessary and So it is in the church Have you ever thought about what
is necessary just to feed yourself and your family? Have you ever considered going
off-grid, being self-sufficient, like people talk about doing?
Have you ever really put the math to that, so to speak, really
thought about what would be necessary? It's demoralizing just to think
about it. It is literally demoralizing.
Could it be done? Yeah. It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming
just to think about it. But what if you didn't have any
choice? In the ministry, we don't have
any choice. Why? Because we gotta eat. We gotta
eat, don't we? We need Christ. We can't live
without Him. And we want Christ. We can't
be happy without Him. We do what He gives us to do
because except we eat by faith the flesh and drink the blood
of the Son of Man, we have no life in us. So we have to be part of this.
We don't have to be part of it here or in any specific place. We gotta be part of this. We
gotta be in on this. Elijah cast his mantle on Elisha. Not a word. But this mantle was symbolic
of God's presence and power with his prophet, just as the staff
of Moses was. You remember Moses' staff? It
was a symbol of God's presence with him and his power. The Lord
worked miracles by means of that staff of Moses. And he also worked
miracles by means of this mantle. We'll see later in our studies But he just cast that mantle,
symbolic now, again, of God's presence, God's power, God's
favor, God's identification with his prophet. He just tossed it
on his back and walked away. Verse 20 in our text, and he
left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, let me, I pray thee,
kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.
And he said unto him, listen to Elijah's answer to that. Go back again. Go back where you belong. Go
back to plowing. Go back home. What have I done
to thee? Now this might bring to mind,
it did me, the first thing I thought of was Luke 9, 59, listen to
it. And our Lord said unto another,
follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the
dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me
first go bid them farewell, which are at my home, at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man
having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. That certainly impresses upon
us the importance and the preeminence the ministry takes over everything
else. You go preach my gospel and let
the dead, let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Now our text teaches something
else. But why the difference? Is that a contradiction or anything
like that? Well, I can give you a simple
reason why it's not a contradiction for the Lord to deal differently
with different people. Very simple. God knew what was
in their hearts. These people are making excuses,
I suspect, and never had any intention of being a vagabond
the rest of their life and depending on others for their sustenance. But not Elisha. Not Elisha. By the grace of God,
not Elisha. but also it teaches two different
things, two different situations, two different things. That teaches
us the vital nature of the preaching of the gospel, the ministry of
Christ. There's nothing that can be put before it. But our text teaches something
else, not a contradiction, just a different lesson. Elijah is
not the son of God for one thing. And when Elisha requests time
to properly say goodbye to his family, Elijah says, go back
and stay if that's what you want to do. What have I done to thee? He didn't say, follow me. He
didn't say, come on. He didn't say, drop that. He
didn't say anything. That's what he said. I didn't
tell you to follow me. And there's a reason for that.
There's a lesson in that. Elijah didn't persuade or compel
Elisha to do anything. And here's the simple lesson.
God doesn't take volunteers, but he does make his people willing
in the day of his power. God don't beg. He don't beg. Elisha is not gonna be given
any reason to do this other than the calling of God. I suspect
he knew what that mantle meant. That's God's power, that's his
presence, that's his favor, that's God identifying me as his prophet. Not because Elijah is a big shot
and he said to come with him. Not because of anything desirable
about the job itself. Simply because God would use
him. What an honor. What an honor. What an incredible privilege.
Let's look at some scripture about that, Galatians 1.15. Galatians 115, but when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Neither
went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me,
but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. Then after
three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him
15 days, but other of the apostles saw I none save James, the Lord's
brother. Now the things which I write
unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Afterwards I came
into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by face
unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they had
heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches
the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.
They glorified God in me. What a beautiful thing God does when he calls someone, but also
when he gives food to his people. 1 Timothy
1, look at 1 Timothy 1 with me, verse 11. 1 Timothy 1, 11. According to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God which was committed to my trust, and I
thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me or that he
counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. He counted me faithful and he
enabled me, putting me into the ministry. Doesn't sound like
Paul had a whole lot of choice in the matter. He put me in the
ministry. who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did
it in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. And this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. How be it for this
cause? I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King
eternal. What are we talking about? Just
God showing Elisha, I've picked you. Elijah didn't persuade him or
tell him about, you know, now here's what you need to do and
here, you know. The Lord just told Elisha in
that simple way, I've picked you. And Paul said, look what
God did, he picked me. He picked me, we can all say
that, can't we? He picked me. Now unto the king
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and
glory forever and ever, amen. What for, Paul? Because I was a blasphemer. And he put me into the ministry.
I was a persecutor and injurious, but he had mercy on me. That
was all the reason Elisha needed. And verse 21, he returned back
from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their
flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people
and they did eat. Then he arose and went after
Elijah and ministered unto him. Elisha burned, you see, he boiled
their flesh with the instruments of the oxen. He burned the yokes
and the plow, the instruments of the oxen in order to cook
the oxen so they could celebrate the honor the Lord had bestowed
upon him, upon all of them. by choosing their son and choosing
him. And you see what this symbolizes.
He burned the instrument. He burned the plow that he had,
that was probably worn into the shape of his hands. And the yokes,
he burned them. And a yoke of the oxen, signifying
his complete separation now to the ministry of the Lord. You
remember what Paul said about that? I'm separated unto the
gospel of God. When you put your hand to God's
plow, there's no looking back. And immediately, look what it
says. He joined himself unto Elijah and ministered. That word means
to serve. He became a servant that day.
That's what happens when God gives a pastor. That's what happens
when he calls a pastor. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ
and servant unto his people. The word minister means to serve. To put me into the ministry means
to put me into his service. For six years now after this,
after that day when he celebrated with his family, he kissed his
father and mother, and he rose up and followed Elijah. And for
the next six years, he followed Elijah around and served in whatever
way he was needed. That's what happens when God
calls a preacher. Let me ask you this question.
Do you think if you wanted to build houses for a living, if
that's what you decided you wanted to do, I want to build houses,
do you think you would better learn that skill by six years
of school or six years of being the right-hand man for somebody
that builds houses? That's an easy one, isn't it?
That's an easy one. I know people that have graduated
from engineering school and still can't build a birdhouse. God knows how to teach, and this
is the way he does it. There are volunteers, there are
some, and there are career preachers. But God doesn't change. When
he calls a man, he always does it this way. God doesn't use
seminaries and theological degrees to prepare a man to preach the
gospel. He does not. I haven't talked to all of the
gospel preachers about this, but I can tell you this. If you
ask Todd Nybert how he learned the gospel and how the Lord prepared
him for the ministry, he'll tell you that Henry Mahan taught him
the gospel. and used him to prepare him for
the ministry. If you ask David Edmondson, I
know this for a fact, he'll tell you that Maurice Montgomery was
used by God to prepare him for the ministry. God used Jack Shanks
to prepare me for the ministry and teach me the gospel. Preachers have anointed Psalm
without God being in it, and it's a disaster. Others have
volunteered and promoted themselves, and it's a disaster. Look for those who God has tucked
under the wing of a gifted preacher of the gospel for years, and who is already profitable
in the ministry, and you'll find your future preachers right there. That's where you'll find them.
if there are to be any. That's up to God. We thank God
for his mercy in giving us pastors according to his own heart. God has so richly provided for
us his sheep in this world. Christ is meat and drink indeed.
The Lord has made us to lie down in green pastures He leads us
beside the still cool water of life and restores our souls. And we are beautiful for situation. Because the King, the King, we sit at his table. And he prepares a feast for us. And we find in Christ all we
need. Let's pray.