Jesus, to God shall be satisfied,
and earth, and heaven be full. That last line is not exactly
true. The battle has been won. The
Lord Jesus Christ won it. Isaiah said, too, that he shall
see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. So we need
to change those words next time we sing that. The battle has
been won. And Christ is satisfied. God
is satisfied. Go back to the text now. I think
you see why we sang what we sang. Martin Luther's great old hymn. Though this world with devils
filled, and then we just sang how it says, though the wrong
seems all so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is a passage
of Scripture that I have referred to many times over the years,
but I've never preached from it. Elisha asking the Lord to
open the young man's eyes. It's a true story. This is not
an allegory. This is not a fable. This is a true story. It's a
great story. It's a Gospel story. And it's a great, long, sweeping
story actually, but I'll try to do it in a little short time.
Elisha is a real man. He's a man of like passions,
like we are. He's just a man. None of these
prophets were anything more than men. And yet God gave them great
grace, and God gave them to the people. They were gifts to the
people. That's what the Lord said through
Paul in Ephesians 4. He gave gifts unto men, some
prophets, some apostles, evangelists. And this prophet Elisha was a
preacher. That's his primary purpose. He was sent by God and he dwelled
in Israel with the people of God to lead them, to guide them,
to instruct them, to preach the Word of God. As Paul said, perfecting
of the saints, the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ. He was a real man. And God blessed
Israel greatly by sending them a true prophet. And yet, Elisha
represents someone much greater than himself. Elisha represents
the man of God, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now look at verses 1 through
4 with me again. So the sons of the prophets said
unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with Thee
is too straight for us. Let us go, we pray Thee, unto
Jordan." The children of Israel were surrounded, or the Jordan
River paralleled the whole country. They were always in and around
Jordan, weren't they, like our story a week or so ago. Let us
go, we pray then, to Jordan and take fence, take from there,
chop down a tree, a beam, every man a beam, and let us make a
place there where we may dwell." And Elisha answered, I asked
his permission, and he said, go. And one said, be content,
I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he said, I will.
So he went with them, and they came to Jordan, and they began
to cut down wood. Now, Elisha was the man of God,
and he dwelled with the sons of the prophet. He dwelled with
them. It was his delight. to dwell
with them. They asked Him if He would come
dwell with them. He said, I would be delighted
to. And our Lord said, it's said
of our Lord in Proverbs 8, that His delights were with the sons
of men, rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth. It just gave
Him great delight and pleasure to come down to this earth and
dwell among us. And brethren, we're the sons
of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but behold now are we the sons of God. And like
in the story of Joel, we read a portion of that in Acts chapter
2, Sunday. It said, your sons and your daughters
even shall prophesy, meaning they'll know the truth. and they'll
be able to tell others about it. Not meaning, you know, that
women weren't to stand in a position of authority and preach, but
that all the men and women and old and young and male and female
would know the truth and be able to tell other people about it.
The truth. Sons of the prophets. He's made
us all kings and priests under God. You're a son of God if you
believe the truth, and you prophesy. If you tell other people something
they don't know, you're prophesying to them, okay? And our Lord dwells
with us. He dwells with us. See the picture
here? Elisha's dwelling with the people.
And every one of them were in this thing. Every man had a beam. Every man had an axe. Every man
had a job to do. Just to fell one tree. One tree
to build that house where they were dwelling in. Paul said,
seeing we have... First message I ever preached
from this pulpit. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry
as we have received mercy. We. It's not a one man thing.
Elisha didn't. We're all in on it. We all have
this ministry. Paul wrote about this in 1st
and 2nd Corinthians often. He said we're members one of
another and we're all laborers together with God. Laboring together,
edifying one another, building up one another in this most holy
faith. So Elisha dwelt with them and our Lord dwells with us and
we're all in this thing together. And you know where Elisha was
found? This is interesting. Look now
at verse 13. The king of Syria sent word to fetch him and they
told the king that he's in Dothan. Now that place is only mentioned
twice in the Scriptures. Here and in Genesis 37. Dothan was where Jacob sent Joseph
to find his brethren. And Joseph came down and he found
them at Dothan. No sorry bunch of brothers of
his. And he found them and he fed them. And you know what they
did to him. Dothan. That's where you'll find
them. But the Lord Jesus Christ, His delights were with the sons
of men. And it gives Him great delight
to dwell with His people. He said, where two or three are
gathered, Those that desire my presence, would you be content
to be with us? Master, Father, would you be
content to come dwell with us? I will, he said. Elisha said,
I'll go. Before the world began, God said
this, will you go? He said, I'll go. I'll go. So he went. He went with them.
He went with them. He came to Jordan. This story
of the axe head is another story by itself. I'm not going to deal
with that. Don't ask me afterwards about
it. It's a whole other story. It's
a gospel story. But we're going to go on. Go
on down to verse 8. So then the king of Syria warred
against Israel. And he took counsel with his
servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. He warred against Israel, and
he said, I'm going to go down, this is where I'm going to dwell.
The Syrian king always was against Israel. Throughout the history
of Israel, if you read it throughout the Scripture, Assyria, Assyria,
the king of Assyria was one of the most powerful kings on the
earth, and he was always out to get Israel. Always. And the king of Syria, always
represents Satan, the God of this world, and Syria, the world
itself. The God of this world, Satan,
and his seed has always been at enmity against Christ's seed
from the Garden of Eden. Our Lord prophesied that. He
said, I'll put enmity between thy seed, serpent, and her seed. Always at war. There's never
going to be a cessation of this war until this world is over. Satan and the world is against
the people of God. Warring against the Lord. Psalm
2 says, against the Lord and His anointed, His people. And the Lord said this, He said,
Satan hath desired thee. He didn't just say that to Peter. He said that to all of God's
people. Satan hath desired thee to sift thee like wheat, and
your only hope is Me. He said, the God of this world,
through Peter, He said, the God of this world, like a roaring
lion, seeketh whom he may devour. And our Lord said, Marvel not,
my brethren, if the world hate you. He said, You shall be hated.
You shall be hated. Paul, the apostle, wrote of this. All through the Scripture this
is written. Paul said, We wrestle not with flesh and blood. but
against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians
6, verse 12. But look at this. So God's people
have always been assaulted by the God of this world and the
people of this world. And I want you to look at this.
Look at verses 9 through 12. The man of God, Elisha, sent
to the king of Israel and the people of Israel through him,
saying, Beware that you don't pass in such a place. He warned
them about going to that particular place. The Syrians are coming
there. And the king of Israel, verse 10, sent to the place which
the man of God told him and warned him of and saved himself there,
not once, not even twice. In other words, Elisha warned
him before it came to pass. He warned him about troubles
he would face, pitfalls, and he was saved not once, not twice,
but many times, evidently. And if or when the Lord will
show us someday What all He's done for us, we're going to see
how many dangers, like the song says, through many dangers, toils
and snares, we have already come. And there are many more ahead
of us. And we just don't know. But God has hedged us about. Like Job. And we all dwell in
the secret place of the Most High God under the shadow of
the Almighty, under the shadow of the Almighty and under His
wings, and with a host of heaven around about us. This is not
a fable. It is not a fable. This is a
fact. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ
said, that prophet. He told it. And look at verse
11 and 12, ìThe heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled
for this thing.î He called his servants and said unto them,
Will you show me who it is that is before the King of Israel?
Somebody is spying. Somebody is against me. Somebody
is a spy in the camp letting him know what we're doing. The King of Israel, one of his
servants said, No, my Lord, no king. It's one man. It's Elisha
the prophet. He knows what you're saying in
your bedchamber. People, our Lord in the Scripture
says the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord. Are you troubled
by the state of our country? Who's reigning? Who's about to
reign? Are rules that bother you? Do you know who's controlling
this thing? Always has been. Always has been. But God's people
need not fear. If you'll read through what made
me deal with this tonight, I've been reading through 1 and 2
Kings, but God had many prophets and they lived through many different
kings. Isaiah lived through several
kings, five or six kings. It didn't matter. He was saved,
wasn't he? God's people. Those that worshiped
God in spirit and truth, they were saved. And idol worshipers,
those that were caught up in idolatry, the Lord dealt with
them. Not God's people. Not God's people. David said this in Psalm 139,
didn't he? He said, ìThis knowledge is too
high for me, but I sure do love it, that there is not a thought
in my in my head that he doesn't know, not a word in my tongue.
He doesn't know afar off. Whither shall I flee from his
presence? Whither shall I go from him?
If I take the wings of the morning, dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, his right hand is leading me. His right hand is
holding me. If I say darkness will cover
me, the night will be light about me. Darkness and light are both
alike to him. And he talks about he will surely
slay the wicked. But not the righteous. Isaiah
said that. Say to the righteous, it will
be well with them. Say to the wicked, the end is bad. Well, look at
verse 13. I'm losing you. In verse 13,
he said, Now go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch
him. The king of Syria said, Go get
this man. Go fetch him. They said, He's
in Dothan. So they sent a host down there.
How many times did they try to come and lay hold of our Lord?
He just passed through the midst of them. He said, no man taketh
my life from me. And the same is true for us,
folks. The same is true for all of God's
people. Like Job, Satan was aggravated. Satan was agitated just like
the king of Assyria was here. And Satan said, you put a hedge
about him. The same is true for all of God's
people. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us but what the Lord purposes for us. Now, they sent to fetch
our Lord Jesus Christ, didn't they, several times. And he just
passed through them. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. The opposite is true. He's the
one that takes lives. And no man takes our life. The
Lord does. He says, I kill and I make alive.
And as I said, we need not worry because the Lord is on our side. And we may never know how many
times we've been kept from the evil one. We may never know.
We may never know. Maybe the Lord will be pleased
someday to show us exactly what all has happened all our day.
Maybe not. But I can tell you this. Satan's great desire is to have
all of God's people, and he can't have them. He can't have them.
You may never know. Right before the cross, they
sent to take Elisha here. And right before the cross, the
Lord said to His disciples, the Prince of this world is coming.
He's coming after them. Let Him come. He said again to
them, I'm going to cast him out. I'm going to let myself be taken.
I'm going to let him have me. But he can't have you. He's going to have me. I'm going
to let him have me. that He is defeating me, I'm
going to crush His head. I'm going to crush His head.
And He can't touch you. He can't touch you. Not a hair
of your head shall fall. So here they come. Here they
come. Verse 14, He sent thither horses
and chariots and a great host. They came by night and encompassed
the city about. Now who are they after? One man. This has happened before. You
know that? Remember? It was Elijah. They came down
by fifties, remember? After one man. God is not mocked. God does the
mocking, doesn't He? He that sits in the heavens.
This is what Psalm 2 says, a whole earth is gathered together against
the Lord and against His anointed. He that sits in the heavens shall
laugh. Laugh at Him. They came after one man. Now
what I'm trying to do tonight is comfort you, if you need it,
show you that the whole world may be against you. And though
this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, what
does Martin Luther say? What's the rest of it? We shall
not fear, for his truth shall triumph through us. Horses and
chariots, a great host, David said it, though an host should
encamp against me, I will not fear. Why, David? Because thou
art with me. Does this sound familiar? You
go all the way back to Exodus. Pharaoh, the greatest man on
earth, and his army, the greatest army on earth, and his chariots,
they came after basically one man, Moses. A shepherd and a
bunch of poor, unarmed slaves. No, they were against the Lord
and His anointed. They can't have them. So this
great host came against Elisha and his lowly servant. And look
at it, it says, they came by night, by stealth, by darkness
as a thief will sneak up on them. I just read to you day and night
are alike to him. And I thought about this. I bet
the servant of Elisha was asleep, but I bet Elisha wasn't. in keeping
with the type of our Lord. He was in the garden and they
came to take Him. He wasn't asleep. He let them
sleep though, because He that keepeth Israel shall never slumber
or sleep. Go on, sleep. Go to sleep. And
they came in by night and compassed the city about. Compassed the
city about. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early in the morning, now this man was a dutiful,
diligent, and faithful attendant to the prophet. He was thankful for and he supported
and he served that man, being thankful for whom God sent to
Israel, to his people, as were the other sons of the prophets.
They were so grateful to Elisha. Some weren't, but some were.
They were grateful for Elisha. And they attended to his every
need. And this man was a diligent,
faithful servant of that man. He considered it a high honor
and a great privilege for the calling of the gospel that Elisha
came to give, the Word of God. And he rose up early. What was
he doing? What was he doing getting up early? Well, I bet he was
praying. And I bet he was going about
his business. He was probably cutting wood. If there was snow
out there, he was shoveling. He considered it his greatest
honor and highest privilege to serve. cause of his Lord and
help out his teacher and his instructor, as some of you did. Well, anyway, he went outside,
verse 15, and when he went out, he looked, and behold, the city
was compassed about with horses and chariots. And I believe he
went running back into the house, and he said unto his master,
Alas, my master, how shall we do? Or in other words, what are
we going to do? What are we going to do? And I sometimes do what I tell
you not to do, and that is look around and look at all the things
around in this world that vex us. And I look at it and I see
that we're surrounded by evil. We're beset behind and before
with troubles. And I look within and I see besetting
sins in me. And all this without and all
this within threatens to destroy us, doesn't it? But I read in
Romans 8 that he said, Who shall separate us? by the love of God. Shall tribulation, shall distress,
shall persecution or famine. Matthew Henry once said, unbelief
and worries and fear, that's what that is, unbelief, is its
own punishment. We don't have to be miserable.
So many of the old writers say, every one of God's people live
far below their privileges. James said, you have not because
you have not. What? Peace? Worried and fret too much? Who's going to separate us? Distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, the sword? One time Paul
said, we have the sentence of death in ourselves. We have the
sentence of death. Paul said, we're ready to die.
And we trust in the living Lord who hath delivered us. so many
times that we don't even know about, who doth deliver us and
will yet deliver us. Yet deliver. Now that's faith.
That's faith. But we say, don't we, often when
we look around us and look within us, we cry unto our Lord and
our Master and say, Alas, Master, what are we going to do? What
are we going to do? Oh my Lord, what are we going
to do? One of the most touching stories in all the Bible to me
is 2 Chronicles 20. Go over there with me real quickly.
2 Chronicles 20. This is one of the most touching
stories, poignant scenes, wonderful, and one of the most glorious
gospel messages ever been preached. It didn't take five minutes to
preach this message. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 12. This is Jehoshaphat, the king
of Judah and all Israel. Once again, they're surrounded
by the Syrians. Surrounded by the Syrians. And
they were being threatened by his words. And verse 12, Jehoshaphat
prays unto God and says, O our God, Wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. It says, All Judah, the
true people of God, stood before the Lord with their little ones,
their wives and their children. Can you see that picture? We
don't know what to do. Our eyes are upon thee. The Lord
sent a young man named Jehaziel, the only message he ever preached.
The only one he needed to. The only message. Verse 14, Jehaziel, the son of
Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jael, the son of Mataniah,
a Levite. See, he's one of the sons of
the prophet. It came out of nowhere. The Son of Asaph came, the Spirit
of the Lord, in the midst of the congregation. He said, �Hearken,
all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and, O King Jehoshaphat,
thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by
reason of this great multitude. The battle is not yours, but
God's.� Tomorrow, go down against them.
Behold, they have come up to the cliff of Ziz. You'll find
them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jerual.
You shall not need to fight in this battle. Just set yourself,
stand you still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you.
Oh, Judah and Jerusalem, fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow,
go out against them, for the Lord will be with you." Oh, Jehoshaphat
bowed his head, his face to the ground. Oh, Judah fell down before
the Lord, worshiping Him. They rose up the next morning. Verse 20, Jehoshaphat, now his
faith was strengthened, grounded, settled and strengthened, he
stood and said, Hear me, Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
believe in the Lord your God, you'll be established. Believe
His prophets, so shall you prosper. They consulted with the people.
They appointed singers unto the Lord to praise the beauty of
holiness. What are we going to do? What
shall we do? The Last Master, what shall we do? Here's what
we'll do. Sing. Do nothing. Just praise the Lord. It's not
what shall we do. We are not going to do anything
against so great a host as this. We are not going to fight this
battle. One man, one man is going to fight and win this battle.
And they went out before the army there and it says, they
all praise the Lord. His mercy endureth forever. Does
that sound familiar? And that's where we got number
268 from that story. Be not dismayed. Oh, be not dismayed. And they began to sing verse
22 and to praise the Lord. And the Lord sent ambushments
against the children of Ammon and Moab and Seir. And they would
come against Judah and they were smitten. The Lord's enemy. We'll go back to our text because
the same thing happens. We can't do anything against
such a foe as our adversaries. Such great hoes. We can't. And
we don't need to. And what we need to do is stand
still. Come in a place like this and
sit down. Set yourself. Come in and set yourself down
and hear what the great King of Israel, King of Judah, has
done on our behalf. Like Jehaziel's Gospel, the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ says, not do, but done. Fear not, verse
16 in our text, Elisha said unto his servant, It's just half of
me. Fear not. Fear not, O servant
of mine, for they that be with us are more than they that be
with them." And Elisha prayed. He prayed three times in this
story. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray Thee. That's significant, isn't it?
He prayed three times. And he prayed, and he said, Lord, I
pray Thee, open his eyes that he may see. And oh, I pray that
same thing, that the Lord will open someone's eyes in here that
we may see. Open all our eyes. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the one who made the eye, and He must open it. Open
his eyes that he may see. And the Lord did. The Lord opened
the eyes of the young man, and he saw what he saw. Behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about
one man." So where's the safe place to be? With Elisha. With Elisha. Round about Elisha. Now this young man was afraid
that Elisha wasn't, was he? Round about Elisha. And he said
in this verse 16, Fear not, for they that be with us are more
than they that be with them. Now let me give you a few points
here about this one verse. Romans 8.31, which I read partly
to you, says, If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? How can we know that they that
are with us are more than they that are against us? How can
you know? Can you know that God is for
you? You need to know this. Do you
believe this story? If you really believe it, we
should have less fear. for ourselves that believe it.
We ought to be more afraid for those that don't. Did you hear me? If we really
believe this, that God is for us, we should be without fear. for aid for those that don't. I mean, tremble. Like our Lord
said, carry that cross. Weep for your children. It's
that serious. The foe is that great. And if
God is not for us, if God is not for them, that means He's
against you. How can we know? Can you know? Well, it says there in Romans
8. Let me read it to you, Darren,
if you want to. Romans 8. It says, How can we
know if God is for us? What should we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? How can we
know that God is for us? Huh? Well, it says in verse 32,
He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemns? Christ does. So this is why Peter
said give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Have
you been called by the Gospel? Have you heard this Gospel call?
Have you come to Christ? Have you believed Christ? Do
you trust Christ? Have you cast all your care on
the Lord Jesus Christ? Huh? Is He all your hope? Do you believe that He is that
prophet? He is sent by God. Do you follow
Him? Do you trust Him? Is He your
Master like Elisha? Is He the one you follow? Is
He the one whose feet you sit at? Is He the one you serve?
Is He? Do you really believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with
all your heart? Do you? Come on now, do you? Fear not, it is God that justifies. Fear not, Christ died. How can we know God is for us?
Christ died. He sent Christ to die for you.
If you trust Him, believe on Him, He sent Christ to die for
you. Do you really believe the Lord
Jesus Christ is in the midst of this church? Like Elisha,
Father dwell with us, Master would you dwell with us? I'd
be just delighted to. Do you really believe He's with
us? He is. You can't see him. This young
man couldn't see those goods. He couldn't see them. And Elisha
said, Lord, open his eyes that he may see. See what? The unseen. To see the unseen for what it
really is. To see the seen as what it not appeared to be. We're surrounded. There's no
way out. Lord, open his eyes. To see what? Christ died. He despaired not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not
with Him freely give us all things? I thought about this, you know,
they're surrounded and the licentious servant comes in. What are we
going to do? Well, what if they had come and killed Him? We say
this all the time. Then what? It's the best thing
that ever happened to them. Best thing that ever happened
to me. I thought about this. You know, we're surrounded. We're
in this world. We're captives, as it were, in this world of
sin. It's surrounded by it. It's without us. It's within
us. Danger is all around us. But you know what? There is a
way out. The Lord said in Exodus 3 verse 8,
I believe it is, He said, I have come down to bring you out. And the chariot, like it came
to get Elijah, is going to come to get us. It's going to take
us there. You believe that? This ain't
no cunningly devised fable, Peter said. We are a wide witness of
His majesty and of His power. We're talking about the master
of Elisha. How can we know if God is for us? Christ died. Christ
is in the midst of us. He sent His Word to warn us.
Have you heard this warning? The last you warned the people,
don't go here, don't go there. Look, you're in danger. Don't
do that. You stay put. Stay where you're at. Stay with
Me. Have you heard this warning? Heeded this warning? Have you
hearkened? Our Lord said, I tell you before
it happens so that when it happens, you'll know I said it. It's coming. These are the last days. Perilous
times. It's coming. What? Calamities,
disasters, droughts, famines, hurricanes, everything. The moon
turned to blood. Fear not. Our Lord said, when
it happens, you'll know I said it. But you need not fear. Why? They that be for us are more
than they that be against us. He that's for us. How can we
know God's with us? Word to warn us, He sent His
servant to be with us. Do you all have a prophet as
it were? Do you or do you not? I mean,
God sends a preacher to His people. A preacher who preaches who?
Christ. That's how you know. How can
we know God's for us? God's with us. He sends a man who is pleased
to dwell there, and that is where he stays. That is where Elisha
stayed until the Lord took him. We will see that in a minute. How do we know the Lord is for
us? Have your eyes been opened? Have your eyes been opened to
see that though this world with devils filled should threaten
to undo us? We will not fear, for God hath
willed his truth to triumph through us. I was going to have you turn
to Revelation several places where it says the whole world
came to battle against the Lamb. You know that? The whole world.
That's the story in Revelation. The whole world came to battle
and people think there's going to be a war over there in the
middle of some valley and it's going to be some kind of battle
to end all battles. The Lord never brought it up,
did He? The Lord Jesus Christ never brought
it up. He never said anything about
one battle except the one that he was waging on Calvary's tree. And he said, he's coming. The
God of this world is coming with all His forces and I'm going
to crush His head. Fear not! No battle is going
to take place. It says there in Revelation,
I'll just tell you what it says without turning. It says they
make war with the Lamb. And you know what it says? He
overcame them. And it says, they overcome by
the blood of the Lamb. I'll desert and devote a whole
message to that son, Armageddon. It's already over. How can we know that God is with
us? Have your eyes been opened? The world's looking for an Antichrist. Have your eyes been opened to
see him? Don't you see him? John said he's been at work from
the beginning. It clears about us in it. Eyes
open to see the world for what it is and see the unseen, see
what the world can't see. Those hosts of Syrians, they
couldn't see those angels. Every one of those angels had
a sword up against their throats and they couldn't see them. What do you think Elisha's servant
did after that? I bet he went in and went to
bed. His eyes were open. Have your
eyes been open? How can we know that God is for us? Are you for
Him? Are you with Him? You dwell with
Him, in Him. There's another story in 2 Chronicles
15 about Asa. And the prophet said to him,
the Spirit of God came on this prophet, and he said, Asa, if
you're with the Lord, He's with you. Remember James? Draw an eye unto
God. He'll draw an eye unto you. You
come worship the Lord, you come worship His Son, you're safe. Like Rahab, don't you get out
of the house where the blood is, or your blood's on your own
head. But if you stay in that house,
my life for yours. That's what they said then. That's
what the prophets said. That's what those men said. Were
they lying? No, Sir Joshua sent them to say that. You stay in
the house where the blood is, and you won't perish. Everything
will fall down around you, and your dwelling place will stand. Get it? You believe that? The
world scoffs amongst us. How can we know God is for us? Well, the chariots surround us.
The chariots are coming for us. Over in this thirteenth chapter
of this same book, look over there real quickly and I'll close
with this. You know, Elijah went out of here, Elijah, Second Kings
13, go there. Elijah the prophet went out in
a blaze of glory. Elisha saw him go. And that's
when he took up the mantle. I saw him going, it says, the
horses and chariots of fire came to get Elijah, and it says he
went up in a whirlwind. And that's when Elisha said,
oh, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel. And he went up in a blaze of
glory. A real story, like our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's true. That didn't happen
to Elisha. And Asher got sick. He got sick. And you know what the chariot
that took him up was? A sick bed. And it's still a chariot. Can you
hear me? It's still a chariot sent by
the Lord. Look at chapter 13, verse 14. Now, Elisha was fallen sick of
his sickness, whereof he died. These phony prophets and false
religion says God doesn't want you to be sick. That's false. Everybody gets sick, God sent
it. Elisha, this was God's man, like
Epaphroditus was to Philippi, I believe it was. He got sick,
lying to death. Timothy was constantly sick.
Elisha was falling sick, and he died of that sickness. And
as he was dying, Joash, the king of Israel, wept over him, over
his face. Oh, my father, my father, the
chariot of Israel and the horsemen there now. But that was his chariot. He's
a chariot nonetheless sent by the Lord. And also, what that
king of Elisha was, he's been our defense. And when he's gone,
I don't know. I don't know. Oh, my father. The chariot and defense of our
people when he's gone. They thought that when our Lord
died, didn't they? They went down into the grave and they
thought, oh my, what's going to happen? And then they saw
Him go up to heaven in a blaze of glory. Stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. Let one word of it sink down
into our hard hearts and, oh Lord, let
us see what we can't see naturally. Let us see Thee. Let us see our Lord standing
as Stephen did, the right hand of God, standing for His people,
seated for His people, yet standing on their behalf as they go, as
they pass away. And they that before us, the
myriad hosts of heaven who came to announce our Lord's birth,
ministered to Him, will come to receive us back to Him someday. Lord, let us believe these things.
Let us set our affection on these things. Deliver us from sight
of the eyes. Give us faith which is true sight. Open our eyes. Open the eyes
of the blind among us, our children, our spouses, our parents, our
neighbors. We pray for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you.