The scriptures I read to you
tonight, he gets down to the end and he
says, where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Lord God
of Elijah? That's my subject tonight as
we deal with some more Old Testament pictures of Christ. But this
really actually starts over in 1 Kings 19. Look over there with
me and let's look at 1 Kings 19. and look down in verse 19
this is where it actually started at the dealings between Elijah
and Elisha so Elijah had departed and he
came God told him what to do about anointing kings and then
anointing a prophet and not a prophet in your room so he departed this
and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yoke
of oxen before him and he with the twelfth and Elijah passed
by him and cast his mantle upon him now a mantle is just a it's
like a outer garment an outer garment they could take him off
and roll him up and so he took his off and throwed it on Elisha
evidently 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 go back again for what have
I to do with thee and He returned back from him and took a yoke
of oxen slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments
of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat and Then
he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. Now,
Elijah and Elisha. Elijah is an old prophet. Been
around for a lot of years. God used him in a miraculous
and wonderful way. And they were both great prophets. But every believer, every child
of God is in the Lord's body. What keeps causing that? It is
in the Lord's body and they have a part. Everybody has a part
in the kingdom and the ministry of the gospel. He says, you know,
we are members one of another. We are members of one body and
we all have a ministry according as God gave it to us. And so
everybody has a part in the body of Christ. Everybody's a member
in the body of Christ. And he said, you know, whatever
gift God gives you, that's the gift that you use. And we're
all of us, all of us are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
we also know this, that some men are chosen of God to be prophets,
to be apostles, to be evangelists, to be missionaries, and then pastors and teachers.
And God done this for the edifying of the body of Christ till the
body of Christ is built up and grown up into a mature group
of believers. And this ministry, this ministry,
whether you're a prophet or a preacher or a pastor or a missionary or
evangelist, whatever ministry God gives a man, he don't take
it upon himself to be a preacher. He doesn't take it upon himself
to be a pastor or an overseer. God's the one that raises him
up. And he would never call himself
to be a preacher of the gospel. He may be a preacher of something.
But when God calls a man, he calls him to be a preacher of
the gospel. The gospel. And I tell you what,
but if God calls a man, he quips that man, he calls that man,
and then he sends that man. And when God does that for a
man, then you know it's like Paul told Timothy, he said, you
know the faith that's in you is the same faith that was in
your mother Lois and your grandmother Eunice. So you see, he saw that
Timothy was set apart from the ministry. He told him to do the
work of an evangelist to make full proof of thy ministry. And
Paul said, when God separated me from his mother's womb, and
he called over there and said he taught me the gospel, not
another gospel, because there's not another gospel. I certify
that the gospel I preach is after God, that God taught it to me.
And if God sends a messenger, if God sends a messenger, He'll
give him the message. God don't send a man without
a message. He doesn't do that. And then
He'll give him the wisdom, He'll give him the grace that he needs. And I'll tell you something else
He'll do, He'll give him a hearing. A man that's in the ministry
and never has a hearing, that's a pretty good indication God
didn't call him. God didn't call him. He always
gives him a hearing. He told Jeremiah and Elijah both
said, I've not sent you unto a people that didn't understand
you. I didn't send you to a people that's got a different language
in you. I sent you unto a people that knows what you're talking,
you know, and so we're not speaking to a bunch of strangers. And
so every believer, every believer is called to that. And you know,
one of the first things that Henry Mahan told me the first
time I met him, First time I met him. Second time, excuse me,
second time. He said, God has never sent a man to misrepresent
Him. And you got to learn to use the
language of the grace of God. And boy, I tell you what, it
just let you know. And I'm going to tell you something.
And I've said it this time and again. Until God revealed Christ
to me and taught me the Gospel. all I had was legalism and self-righteousness
and religion but God taught me the gospel and by his grace I have not ceased
to preach it not ceased to preach it and God had his hand on Elisha
there's no doubt about that and God knew that he had his hand
on Elisha and Elisha would be a prophet of God But I tell you
something, when Elijah went by and cast his mantle on him, he
didn't pressure this young man. He didn't encourage him to take
upon himself such an awesome task and such a responsibility
as being a prophet. You know what he did? He discouraged
him. Every chance he got, he discouraged him. Put objections
in his way, put obstacles in his way, trying to keep him out
of the ministry if he could. You know, when he was going to
go, he cast his mantle over Elisha. And the young man said, I'll
follow you. Elisha said, go home. He went home. And he said, I've
not said a word to you about you following me or serving the
Lord or being a prophet. I ain't said anything about it.
I said, go home. And that's one thing about it. Men do not call
prophets. Men do not call preachers. God
does. God does. Now I've seen a lot
of preachers over the years and heard a lot of preachers. But
I know this without a shadow of a doubt. That if God calls
you and God sends you, is the differences day and night in
what God teaches a man and what religion teaches a man. Now there
has been men that says, well my grandpa was a preacher, my
daddy was a preacher, so I guess I'm supposed to be a preacher.
And they go off and give them a good education, they learn
how to speak. But learning how to speak and how to put things
together has nothing to do with being a preacher. I know lots
of businessmen can get up and give a wonderful speech, give
a wonderful talk, and be encouraging, enlightening, and everything
like that. Every one of you has heard people do it. But that's
not called to preach. God has to be the one to call
the prophet and the preacher. God has to do it. And I said,
you know, Elijah was trying his best to have Elijah know that
what was in his heart God put it there that whether he's going
to follow Elijah God put it in him to follow Elijah and I tell
you what and Elijah he did not persuade this man he did not
push this man into the ministry he did everything he possibly
could to keep him from coming to keep the flesh out of the
way keep the flesh out of the way Let the Lord and the God
to deal with Elisha on his terms and on his time. But Elisha,
he wouldn't be discouraged. He made a feast. When he went
home, he made a great big feast. He made a great big feast. And
why did he make this feast? To express his joy, to express
his thankfulness. had been called to be a prophet
to set under the ministry if I can say it this way to set
under the ministry of Elijah set under his ministry and so
he left his job he was evidently a farmer he was plowing I can't
imagine following twelve yoke of oxen It would take a pretty good man
to follow a big old oxen, you know, a thousand pounds plowing. And he left his employment, he
left his home, he left his parents, he left his friends, and he followed
God's prophet. And he became Elijah's servant. And he was ministered unto Elijah. And why did he do this? Because
that's how he was going to learn. God put him under Elijah and
let him minister Elijah. So that he could learn from Elijah. And teach and learn from Elijah
and one that follows before him. And to me it seems evident, and
I tell you what, and I know this, I really, really believe this.
that in the scriptures the Lord trains his preachers not often
schools and seminaries but under the eye and in the local church
of preachers and pastors. That's where they're trained
at. I really believe that. I believe that if a man sits
under a good solid preacher, good grace preacher, a man that
knows God and is preaching the gospel, I really believe that
the best place to get your education is right here. Henry Mahan did it and that's
what you know like Elijah was following Elijah to learn. I
followed Henry and Scott everywhere they went. Had them here every
chance I got. Sat at their feet every moment
I got. Had more questions. I'll tell
you, every time I got around them, I had five or six questions
I asked. Because I didn't know anything.
I was like Elijah. I didn't know nothing. So I tell
you, what are you going to do? I'm going to follow the fellas
that does. I'm going to follow that man who does know something
about it. And also as the time come it says there in verse chapter
Kings 1st Kings 2nd Kings 2 1 The time would come that God's gonna
take Elijah to heaven Don't take him away. Take him into heaven
where the world win He's already he knows that but this is my
day after I'm leaving here and all mine the old prophet was
still trying to train, trying his young servant, trying Elisha. The first thing he says, the
Lord sent me to Bethel. Bethel remembers the house of
God. He said, I got to go to Bethel. He told Elisha, he said,
stay here. You stay right here. I'm going
over to Bethel. The Lord sent me to Bethel. Well,
you would have thought, well, Elisha said, well, he told me
to stay here. No, Elisha said, as God lives
and your soul lives, I'm going to follow you. So to Bethel they
went. They got to Bethel and he said,
I got to go Jericho. Stay here. As God lives and your
soul lives, I'm going to go to Jericho too. I'm going to stay
right with you. Then he said, I got to go down
to Gilgal. You stay right here, tarry right
here until I get it done. He said, as the Lord liveth and
as your soul liveth, where you go, I'm going. I'm gonna go. And I'll tell you what, he tried
three times, three times to get this young man to quit following
him. And if you try to get somebody
out of the ministry that God put in the ministry, it don't
work. God put you in the ministry,
nobody can take you out of it but God himself when he takes
you home. And oh listen, but I tell you Elijah out of affection,
oh he loved Elijah. And he said God speaks through
Elijah. So I want to know what God has
to say through Elijah. And he followed him around to
see and learn all that he possibly could from Elijah. and I know that he had a work
that God had for him to do and he knew he knew Elijah knew he
was insufficient for it without somebody teaching him and Elijah
was the one that was teaching him and I tell you without He
took every opportunity he had to sit under Elijah and hear
what Elijah said. And I tell you, when he went
to all these places he went to, there were schools of prophets.
Every single one of them, there was a school for prophets. One
place there, the 50 prophets, sons of prophets came out. That's
where they would, you know, Elijah and Elisha had these schools
and they'd go train these men. And I tell you what, I'm going
to ask you a question. Has a man ever learned enough? Has a man ever seen enough? Has
a man ever heard enough? Studied enough to feel that he's
ready to speak for God? I read a thing today. where Mr. Spurgeon sat. He is
an old man. He died when he was 58, but he
was been in the ministry for a long time. And sometimes he
would get so nervous before he got up to preach that he almost
felt like he would faint and he sweat. He just got so nervous. And his wife, if he looked at
his wife, it'd make him even more nervous. And he had her
sat in the back where she couldn't see her. It made him so nervous.
that he never got over that. And then he said, if a man ever
gets in a pulpit and doesn't feel that weight, that fear,
that anxiety, then he ought to get out of the ministry, if you
lose that. If you lose that. And that's
why, beloved, Elijah didn't think that he was ready to speak for
God. So they went and headed over
to Jordan. And when they got to Jordan,
Elijah took his mantle off and he wrapped it up, rolled it up. And he stood there before Jordan
and he said, smoke the waters. And the waters
parted and they walked the grass on dry land. And oh my, went
over on dry land. Now look down here in verse 9
and see what he says. And it came to pass when they
were going over that Elijah said unto Elisha, ask what I shall
do for thee before I be taken away from thee. That's what our
Lord Jesus said to his disciples. He said, I got to go away. I've
got to leave. I've got to go. But I'm not going
to leave you comfortless. I'm going to send another spirit.
I'm going to send my spirit, the spirit of God to be the comforter
for you. And so Elijah said to him, he
said, ask what I shall do for thee before I take it away. What
can I do for you? What do you want from me? What
do you want from me? And Elisha said, I pray thee,
let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. And you know what he said? He
said, you've asked a hard thing. What he's saying is, I don't
have the ability to give you my spirit. I can't even give
you my spirit, period. But he says this, if you see
me when I'm taken away from you, it shall be so. If not, it ain't
gonna happen. And oh my, you know when he asked
him, what should I do for you? He didn't say Elijah, I want
to be famous. He didn't say Elijah, I want
to be wealthy. He didn't say Elijah, I want
a long, long, long life. He didn't ask for anything that
appealed to this flesh. He asked one thing. May I have
the presence and the power of the Spirit of God on me like
you did. That's what I want. I want God's
presence. I want God's Spirit. That's what
I want. Elijah didn't ask to go with
Elijah. I had a funeral here a while back
and a dear sister said to me, You think it's wrong to feel
jealous? Because the person you know that died is at Bruce Daley's
funeral. He said, you reckon it's wrong
to be jealous? I said, oh no, no, no. Sometimes
we get jealous over things like that. But oh, he said, he didn't
ask to go be, he didn't ask to, Elijah, I want to go up with
you. But he said, I want the presence of God with me. That's
what I want. And I'll tell you something else
he didn't do. He didn't grieve over God's providence taking
Elisha away from him. And when God took Elisha up into
heaven, his mantle fell out. You know, his mantle was dropped
to the ground. He didn't need it anymore. He didn't need the
Spirit of God anymore. God come, two men in the scriptures
did have to go through death. Enoch was not, because God took
him. Elijah Down, you know that old
song swing down Swing low, sweet cherry That's what happened there,
that sweet cherry swing down low and just scooted right up
under Elijah Whoa, away he went and next thing you know, he was
gone from out of sight going to be with the Lord And I tell
you what he didn't he didn't was enough said. He just asked
God to give me the power to fulfill the ministry you gave me. And
so they got down, he got back to River Jordan. He took Elijah's
mantle, rolled it up, and he stood there and this is what
he asked. He said, where is the God of Elijah? Whap, he hit that
water. Water parted. And he was saying, O God who
was with Elijah, be thou with me. Men are absolutely as nothing. It's the Lord that does the work. It's the Lord that we seek. It's
the Lord we seek to glorify. It's the Lord we seek to serve. And I'll tell you, beloved, the
God who blessed Elijah and used Elijah He has to be the one to
bless us and use us. The God who kept Elijah faithful
throughout his life on earth must make us stand firm in the
faith because we'll never do it apart from Him. The God, listen to me now, the
God who provided for Elijah while he was in the wilderness He didn't
pray, didn't reign for six, three years and six months because
Elijah said he wouldn't. And he said to him to the wilderness,
he said, I'm going to send ravens. He said, go over to the brook
and sit down right there. Drink out of that brook and the
ravens are going, I'm going to send ravens and they're going
to feed you breakfast, dinner and supper. And sure enough,
he did until the brook dried up. Then you know what God had
provided for him? He said, you go over there to
the widow woman. He said, I've already commanded her to feed
you and take care of you. She got over there and said,
I ain't got nothing. He said, oh yeah, make me a cake. And I tell you that, remember
how he provided for her? That meal barrel and that crucible,
every time they went to it, they had something to eat. And you know how God supplies
all of our need? He'll provide all our need in
Christ Jesus. And the God who raised the dead
by Elijah's word has to be the one to speak through us if he
ever gives a dead sinner life from the dead. And the God who
gave Elijah courage to face kings, kings that even hated him. And
enemies, 450 false prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the
grove, the one that gave him courage to face his enemies must
be the one to save us and free us from the fear of men. and
the God who divided the waters for Elijah to pass over must
be with us when we come time to cross the river because we
are going to have to cross that old river one of these days I
thought about that song tonight on Jordan's bank stormy bank
of sand and cast a wishful eye Oh my, I told you this illustration
before in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. There was Miss Fearing,
Miss Much Afraid, Mr. Ready to Halt, had old Crutch,
he's walked around with Warren Crutch all his life. So these,
you know, and it come time for all of them to go across. Well,
they started to cross through there and Mr. Muchafrage, he
made it fine. Mr. Fearing, he made it fine.
Mr. Readyhall did, but Christian,
it was time for him to go. Christian and Faithful, two main
characters. Christian started to cross there
and he got about halfway across and he went under. And boy he went to just moving,
moving, moving, moving and all of a sudden he found out he was
standing on a rock. And he walked the rest of the
way across there on that rock. So beloved, when it comes time,
the God who said where is the God of Elijah, that's going to
be the one that's going to have to come and take us to be with
him. and he will one of these days bless his name the God who
took Elijah to glory he has to be the one to come and get us
and take us to himself to himself O Spirit of the living God fall
fresh on me melt me, mold me, fill me, send me O Spirit of
the living God fall fresh on me Where is the God of Elijah? Where
is He? He is in the heavens and He is
doing whatever He pleases. That's where He is at. Where
is the Lord God of Elijah? Well, He is in Christ. He is
the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. Where's the God of Elijah? He's
in His Word, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. Where's the God of Elijah? He's
on a throne, and you know what they call it? A throne of grace,
where we may come and obtain mercy in time of need. Where's the God of Elijah? He's
in the middle, in the midst of those who worship Him. He said,
wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm there
too. And where is the God of Elijah?
He's in every act of providence in this world. For we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
the called according to his purpose. He's in every breeze. Miss Shirley
will be out walking and get hot and the breeze will come along
and say, boy that breeze feels so good, lift up her arms. Oh
my, He's in every breeze. He's in every cloud that goes
over. He's in every moment in this world. He's in every heartache
that we have. He's in every tear that we shed. And He's every joy that we experience. Our Lord said, Lo, I'm with you
always. And I tell you, where's the God
of Elijah? He is in every single one who
believes. Christ in you, the hope of glory. I am them and thou in me, and
they are one in us. Oh, where's the God of Elijah?
Where's he always been? And you know, that's the God
we worship, ain't it? Bless His holy name. No one like
Him. No one like Him. Our Father, oh, our Father, blessed
be Your name for such mercy, such mercy, such kindness, such
pity, Thank you for your gospel. Thank you for your precious word
that speaks to us. Oh Lord. Speaks to us because
you read your word. And you speak to your dear saints
from your word. God bless these dear saints as
they go home. Give them a good night's rest.
Give them grace when they get up in the morning. Grace to work
all day. Grace to do what they need to
do. And Lord Jesus we know that we
really truly know that everything, everything works together for
our good and we praise you for it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen.