The name of the message tonight
is Quick Judgment. Quick Judgment. Pretty sobering
portion of scripture we're going to read tonight. Now in this
study so far, on the life of Elijah, we've seen a different
character to his former master Elijah. Same message, same message
about God, but different personalities. How they deal with people. Elijah
was a solitary figure. He was very solitary. Spent much
of his time alone, without even a servant. Now we know that Elijah
became his servant after the Lord called Elijah to be a prophet. But he still, and then he served
Elijah. But Elijah was often alone. Where Elijah We're seeing
this study was often found in the company of the sons of the
prophets. He was with them a lot. Some commentators believe that
him and Elijah were the ones that had established the school
of the prophets. And Elijah was even seen with
the elders of Samaria. And tonight we're going to see
he's traveling to Bethel, where there was a school of the prophets. now they were set up in several
different places and Bethel was one of them and Elijah spent
his time with the king of Israel and on one occasion the king
of Judah as well and it was seldom appropriate though for Elijah
to spend time in the presence of Ahab who was king because
Ahab was committing great wickedness allowing Baal worship in Israel so Elijah did not spend much
time in the presence of the king. And we see in chapter 3 of 2
Kings, when we get there, which will be very soon, that Ahab's
son, Joram, put aside the Canaanite deities and worshipped the golden
calves that Jeroboam had set up. And though Joram was far
from perfect, and at times he even threatened the life of Elijah,
we're going to see that too. And then he turns around and
calls him father. He did honor the prophet by referring
to him as my father. And Elijah's ministry took him
far and wide within Israel. And we know that he had a house
in Samaria. Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings
chapter 4. 2 Kings chapter 4. And we see here in 2 Kings that
he had an upper room in the town of When we study chapter 6, we actually
find out that Elijah has a home in Samaria. But here is the town
of Sheunem. Look at verses 8 to 10. And it
fell on a day that Elijah passed to Sheunem, and there was a great
woman. And she constrained him to eat
bread. And so it was that as oft as he passed by, he turned
in thither to eat. And she said unto her husband,
Behold, now I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which
passes by us continually. Let us make a little chamber,
I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed,
and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick. And it shall be
when he cometh to us that he shall turn in thither. So he
had a house in Samaria, and now we see that he had a room to
stay in, in this town here. We know that he went to Bethel,
because that's where he's going to go in our text. We know he
went to Jericho, because he was just there, and he healed the
bitter waters. The Lord used him to heal the
bitter waters, right? It was all the Lord's work. But Elijah
was the instrument that God used. So we see here in that when he
was in this region of of Shunem. Shunem I think it is. Shunem.
That he had a room with a family. And the overall impression we
will see of Elijah is that he was involved socially with people.
Elijah was more kind of solitary. But Elijah was more amongst the
people. There you go. John the Baptist
in the wilderness. and the Lord Jesus Christ amongst
the people. Very similar. Very similar. My oh my. So Elijah is a picture of Christ
in some ways. It's pretty incredible. And he
was involved in everyday life of the people around him. Even
one of his students at the School of Prophets lost an axe head.
And we're gonna find out that axe head swam. That's another
miracle. He didn't sink, it swam over. I tell you, it's amazing. It's
absolutely amazing. My, so he aided in recovering
a lost ax head for one of his students. But we're gonna see tonight that
like his master Elijah, he would not put up or suffer
any insult to the office that God had called him to. He just
wouldn't. He wouldn't do it. Turn, if you
would, to 2 Kings chapter 2, and we're going to read verses 19 to 25. So we're going to read the context of
our verses tonight, which will be verses 22 or 23 to 25 it's a certain verse
19 and the man of the city this is Jericho said unto Elijah behold
I pray thee situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord see
it but the water is not in the ground barren I'm sorry and he said bring me
a new cruise and put salt therein and they bought it to him And
he went forth into the spring of the waters, and cast the salt
in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these
waters. There shall not be from thence any more death or barren
land. So waters were healed unto this
day, according to the saying of Elijah, which he spake. Now,
look at verse 23. And he went up thence from Bethel.
So he's traveling from Jericho to Bethel. And as he was going by the way,
there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him. And said unto him, Go up, thou
bald head, go up, thou bald head. And he turned back and looked
on them. Now John Gill says he looked upon them with scourge,
you know, like kind of like trying to intimidate them. But he said
they just kept going. And look at this. And he turned back and looked
at them and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. And there came
forth two she-bears. Two she-bears. Now, she-bears,
they are absolutely ferocious. Especially if you take the cubs
away. Now, remember who's sovereign. God is absolutely-this is a-this
is a-this is a- manifestation of God's sovereignty. He controls everything, beloved.
It was not by chance that these two she-bears came flying out
of the woods. God's judgment's gonna fall. He's gonna fall,
look at this. And there came forth two she-bears
out of the woods and tear forty and two children of them. tore
him to pieces. And he went from Thence to Mount
Carmel, and from Thence he returned to Samaria. So after this happens,
he goes to Mount Carmel, and then he goes to Samaria, back
to where his house is. Now in this world, the true born-again
blood-washed believer We're going to face persecution. Our Lord
told us we would. He warned us that we would. Listen
to this. Actually, turn there if you would.
Matthew chapter 5. And then I'll have you put your
finger in Romans chapter 8. Our Lord warned us that we, as
God's born-again blood-washed people, we will face persecution. And I imagine each of us could
sit down and tell each other about how that's happened in
our lives. Different things. Sometimes it
was family members. Sometimes it was friends. Sometimes
it was from people you didn't even expect to be from. Look at this in Matthew chapter
five, verses 10 to 12. Now I ask you a question. When
we're persecuted, do we rejoice? Yeah, we don't say that, do we?
No, we end up like Elijah. We go off, we curl up and say,
oh Lord, why is this happening to me? Well, it's happening because
they can't get at the master, but they can get at us. You see? Their hatred is not really towards
us. Their hatred is towards our God. That's who it's really towards. The enmity that you feel when
that happens is not... Now, they're taking it out on
you. But it's really towards our great God. It's really towards
Him. Look at this. Verse 10, blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Persecuted
for Christ's sake, that means, because Christ is our righteousness,
right? For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So, blessed are you. If you're persecuted for Christ's
sake, you're blessed. Don't feel blessed when it's
happening, do we? No, it makes us cry and it gives us tears,
especially if it's a family member or a close friend. It can cut
right to the bone. But the Lord said, blessed are
you when they do that. And remember, he keeps all our
tears, beloved. Oh my, look at this. Blessed
are ye when men shall revile you, accuse you of something
that you're not doing. Or say that you're not doing
something that God told you to do. I've had people in the past say,
well, you're not preaching the gospel. Well, why don't you just listen
to a message then? Because I can tell you, I preach Christ. And I've had other men of God
and you folks here tell me that I'm preaching Christ. So when
someone says, you're not preaching Christ, they're a liar. And I don't care, I just keep
preaching. I just keep preaching. My duty is to come here and to
proclaim Christ to you, right? That's my calling, is to come
and preach Christ and rejoice with you over this wonderful
savior who cleansed us with his precious blood. And you know
the scripture, I take this to heart when the scripture says,
who can say anything against you? If God before you, who can
be against you? Well, hallelujah! That's true,
right? So that's what we need to keep in mind, even when we're
being persecuted for something. For Christ's sake, say whatever
you want about me. A good friend of mine, Gene Harmon,
he used to say, say whatever you want about me, it's probably
worse. Right? But God saved this sinner,
and I'm gonna preach Christ, because that's what he sent me
to do. Right? Amen. Sent by God. It's awesome. It's wonderful. Elijah was a
sent man of God. He was sent on a mission of mercy
to Israel. That's who he was sent to. And
here these kids are, they're part of Israel, not the true
Israel, but part of the nation of Israel. Remember who the true
seed is. We saw that in our study in Sunday
school. That's all who believe. but they
were part of the nation of Israel. And here they are mocking Elijah. And in turn, who are they really
mocking? Amen, brother. They can get at Elijah, but they
can't get at God. And I found out that in this
same town was where the golden calf was situated. So in this
town, you had the worship of the one true living God, where
the sons of the prophets were. And then you had false religion
with the worship of a cow set up by one of the kings. So what
happens? They're clashing, right? They're clashing. And several
commentators, we're going to look at this, too. These aren't
little children like Gavin and Rowan. That's not what these
people are. Do you know that Benjamin, when
he was 30, was called a little child? And do you know that Jewish custom,
anybody up to the age of 30 is called a little child? According
to Jewish, sometimes even into their 40s. They won't let young people read
the Song of Solomon until they're at least 30 years old. Because they think that it's,
there's sexual tones to it. It's a wonderful book of Christ
and his church. My oh my. So that'll give us
an understanding of that. Because people have used this
very passage through the years to say, look at that. God had
those she-bears kill a bunch of little wee kids. They weren't
little kids. Number one, they're mocking Elijah
like an adult would mock Elijah. They're mocking him. And we're even going to find
out when they say go up, there's meaning to that. Oh my. My oh my. So he says, blessed are ye when
men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake. Look what our Lord says
in verse 12 of Matthew 5. Rejoice. and be exceedingly glad. Why? That you're being persecuted?
No. Be exceedingly glad, why? For
great is your reward in heaven. Who's our reward in heaven? I'm
not talking about those phony rewards people talk about all
the time. Who's our reward? Christ, amen, it's Christ. And
he's great, isn't he? Holy, there's no greater than
Christ. You get no greater than Christ. Great is your reward
in heaven. For so persecuted are they, the
prophets. Here we go. Who are they persecuting in our
text today? One of the prophets. They're persecuting Elijah, aren't
they? They're mocking the man of God. And that's a picture
of people mocking all of us as God's people. Not just preachers
who get mocked or people, prophets like the Old Testament get, we
all get mocked as God's people. My oh my. So persecuted the prophets which
were before you. Nothing new under the sun, is
there? So this mocking of Elijah is nothing new under the sun.
You know, it's a picture of false religion mocking the one true
God. My oh my. Now turn to Romans
chapter 8. Now here we go. Do you know that
we as God's people are safe and secure in Christ? And that's
not presumption. That's trusting Christ in Him alone. Because
I don't trust in anything I do. I just trust in Christ, do you?
That's the one we trust in, right? Christ and Christ alone. He's
the only one. He's our refuge. He is the refuge
of our soul. He's our city of refuge, isn't
he? Yeah. Man, that avenger of death was
on our heels, wasn't he? And we ran to the city of refuge,
which is Christ Jesus our Lord. And when you're safe in that
city, What could happen? The avenger couldn't touch it,
could he? The avenger of blood couldn't touch it. Do you know
what? The law can't touch us. Yeah. The justice of God can't
touch us. It's all been satisfied by Christ. Isn't that wonderful?
Now, so Paul, think of that. Paul, he knows all that as a
former Jew, and he knows that he was once under the law. He
even thought he was blameless, as we saw on Sunday, but he found
out that he wasn't blameless. He found out he's a sinner. But
look at this in Romans chapter eight, he writes this. And this
is the same chapter where he writes in the first chapter,
there's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not in the flesh but after the spirit, who are in
the spirit. Look what he writes here in verses 31 to 39. This
is just absolutely wonderful. If you're down and distressed,
go to this verse, go to these verses, look at this. What shall
we say to these things then? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God is for us, Who in this
world can be against us? Can anyone? It's fruitless, isn't it? Does
God not say here, protect his people and watch over them and
bring them home safely? So we get persecuted. If God's
for us, who can be against us? And it even says in scriptures
that the weapons that they forge and make to go against God's
people, they're fruitless. they won't prevail. My, look at this. He that spared
not his only son, but delivered him up for us all. Now that's
all God's people. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things. Now here we go. Now think of
this. We know our sins, don't we? We know what we've done.
We know our sins. But you know, beloved, they've
been washed clean in the blood of Christ. Like, I mean, they're
so washed clean that God says this in verse 33. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's Dave? Or Brian? Or Jill? Or Linda? Or Zane? Or Wayne? Who shall
lay a charge against us? Isn't that wonderful? He's saying,
who'll do it? Who'll do it? Look at this. It is God that
justifies. We've been justified by God. We've been justified by God in
Christ. So no charge can be laid against
us. All our sins are forgiven. Look
at this. Who is he that condemneth? Who is he that judges us? Right? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. He's interceding for us right
now. Yeah, I'm such a mess, but I'm so thankful that I read that
and God's interceding for me. That's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. And then he says this, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? We all go through tribulation,
various ways in our lives, all of us, and it's hard. Shall that
separate us from the love of Christ? Now it would, if our
hold on God was based upon our decision, I'll tell you what,
we wouldn't be holding on. But see, our salvation is based
upon He who holds us. And that's Christ. That's Christ
Jesus our Lord. And so it says, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? So tribulation? Or distress?
We go through a lot of distress, don't we? Or persecution? Or
famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or sword?
So basically he's saying, anything that can happen in this world.
That pretty well covers it all, right? Famine. Not having any
food to eat? Nakedness? Not having it being
totally bankrupt? Peril or sword? War? As it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors. Through who? Through him that
loved us. That's Christ. That's Christ. We're more than conquerors through
Christ. For I am persuaded that neither death, death won't separate
us from God. Death will separate us from this
world, this temporary world of temporary things. But death will
never separate us from God, beloved. And it won't separate God's true
born again people either. Because we'll be together in
glory one day. My, oh, my. Neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers. He's going to cover it
all. Look at this. Nor things present,
nor things to come. Now, we don't know what's coming
tomorrow. But we can be sure of this, that it's not going
to separate us from God. Yeah? So say somebody says, well,
this great distress is going to fall upon this nation. And
if it does, nothing will separate us from the love of God. My,
what strength we can garner from that. What joy that can put in
our hearts. We don't know it tomorrow, but
he does. And he's told us, remember who the true author of these
words are? Is God the Holy Spirit, right? And he tells us there,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ, right? No, for
I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. That's everything.
nor height, now he's gonna even go. Nothing high, nothing low,
nor depth, nor any other creatures. In case it didn't cover any other
creatures, visible and invisible, right? Shall be able. You know why those
things can't separate us from Christ? Because it's Christ who
holds us, and Christ is God. We're in God's grip, beloved.
Look at this. So separates from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's where it all,
all the eggs are in one basket, beloved. And that's Christ. And
if you have Christ, you have everything. And I'm not talking
no name it and claim it stuff. We can be the poorest folks in
this world and we can have everything in Christ. Everything. It's wonderful, isn't it? Oh, I was talking to your dear
brother today about how the Lord doesn't save many rich and famous
and all that, but he saves the common people. Foolishness is common. Common
people. I'm just a common guy, are you?
I know Dave, we're from the same mold, man. We're just common
people, man. Right? But it saves all of us. That's one thing we all have
in common, right? Do you notice the wonderful spirit we have
here? Because we're all just a bunch of common sinners saved
by a great God. By a great God. An incredible
God. And no matter what our standing
is, we are absolutely rich in Christ. It's wonderful, beloved. Oh my. So persecution will come
for the believer, but it won't separate us. It won't separate
us from Christ. It won't separate us from God.
And it sometimes will come from unexpected places too. Places
we never even thought it would come from. Friends, people who
you're friends for all through your life before the Lord Savior,
they'll turn their backs on you. Family members turn their backs
on you. It's awful. My, and it hurts. It hurts. A family member, a
friend, or co-workers will sometimes seem to turn on the born-again
blood-washed believer overnight. Just turn on you. My, oh my. And then there's some
who mock God's people. There's some who turn their back
on them, but then there's some people who mock God's people. They may
smile at you in the day and mock you behind your back. It's a good thing we don't know
that. You know that? Good thing the Lord keeps that from us. It's a good thing. But they mock
us. The world mocks God's people.
They think we're a bunch of fools. Well, if I'm a fool, I'll be
a fool for Christ, let me tell you that. Somebody said, I think it was
Todd and Ibert said, somebody called him a puppet. He says,
I'll be God's puppet any day. I like that. Anytime. My, right? My, oh my, yeah. Rejoice, O Beloved,
through all the persecutions, through all the tribulations,
through all the distress that we go through. Here, never leave
us, nor forsake us. Never. Never. That's from our King.
And He's proved that, hasn't He? He's proved that to us time
and time and time again. He's proved His faithfulness.
Even when I'm not faithful, He's faithful. Have you found that
out? I've found that out. My, He's
wonderful. He's so wonderful. He's so forgiving.
He's so long suffering with me. Is it so with you? My, I have
a tendency to beat myself down. I've learned though now, I've
learned. I've learned how much Christ loves me now. And I don't
do that as much as I used to. Because we are valuable to Christ. We're his jewels. We're precious. And when we remind ourselves
of that, that's not in us, though. That's because of what Christ's
done for us, right? Because Song of Solomon says that the bride
is black, yet calmly. Black with sin, and then calmly
in Hebrew means beautiful. Beautiful. We're sinners, but
yet we're beautiful in Christ's eyes. Oh my. And so when we do tend to run
ourselves down, just think of that. Think of how Christ looks
at you and how Christ looks at me. It's wonderful. He doesn't see our flaws. He
sees his bride. God sees his bride. God sees
Christ. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So if one mocks us or persecutes
us, let me tell you this too. There's a great day of reckoning
coming. And we got a glimpse of it in
this text. There's a great day of reckoning coming. I used to
sing a song called, there's a great day coming. And it talked about
the judgment of God. It's coming, it's real. See,
when Christ comes back and it's all wrapped up, then there's
a judgment, right? And that's as real as the sun
rising and the sun setting. And it all comes in God's time.
People mock, where's the Lord? Where is he? You best repent. And I pray God gives you faith
to repent because there's a great day coming. We're going to look at that at
the end of this message. There is a great day coming. My oh my. Turn if you would to
Genesis chapter 44. I'm going to read our text tonight.
I'm going to read the first verse of our text, which is 23. And
it says, And he went up from thence unto Bethel. And as he
was going up, by the way, there came forth little children out
of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou
bald head. Go up, thou bald head. Now in the Jewish tradition,
as I said earlier, as I said earlier, a child a man or a woman
was called a little child until they're up to 30 years old. And
here's proof of it. We want scripture to back up
what we say we believe, right? Turn to Genesis 44. Look at verses
20 and 22. Now Joseph hasn't revealed himself
to his brothers yet. And they're gonna have a cup
hidden in one of their sacks. All right. And then you can demand
somebody be bought to him. Well, now, remember, Benjamin
was the son of his mother. Yeah, Rachel. So look what he
says here, though. Genesis 20 to 22, and this is
Judah talking to Joseph, and he said unto my Lord, we have
a father, an old man and the child of his old age, a little
one. Look at that. Verse 20, Genesis 44, verse 20.
And we said unto my Lord, we have a father, an old man, and
a child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead.
See, they think Joseph is dead, but Joseph's right in front of
them. And he alone is left of his mother. See, there you go,
Dave, what you were just saying. And his father loveth him. Look at that, though. A little
one. He's 30 years old. He's not a little one, in our
eyes. But see, in Jewish custom, he's a little one. He's a little
one. And some commentators say that
Jacob was just over 100 years old, maybe 103 years old, when
he had Benjamin. It could be anywhere around there.
So if he was, they figure he's in his 130s now by this time.
So Benjamin's at least 28, 29 or 30, somewhere in that range.
And they call him a little one. That would be according to Jewish
custom. So again, these ones who are speaking to Elijah are
not little children. They could be in their 30s. They
could be in their late 20s. They could be in their teens. And look what they say unto him.
They mock him. Go up thou bald head. Go up thou
bald head. They mocking him. Mocking God's
man. So Benjamin, we wouldn't consider
Benjamin a little child, but as in Jewish culture, they would
consider him a little child. And that's right in the text,
little one. Well, in our society, he wouldn't be considered, he'd
be considered a man, wouldn't he? He'd be considered a man. Let's read verse 23 again. Look
at this. Look at this disrespect to God's
prophet, but more so the disrespect to God who sent that prophet.
That's really who they're disrespecting. And he went up from Thanson to
Bethel, and as he was going up by the way, there came forth
little children out of the city and mocked him and said, go up,
thou bald head, go up, thou bald head. So this is said in disdain. This is said mockingly, in wickedness
it's said. they're showing utter disrespect
to God's servant. And after I read about the two
religions that were there, the one true living God and then
the other false gods, I know why they were in utter disrespect
to him. Because they didn't serve the true and living God. You see, this is a picture here. You know what you've heard me
say many times that the natural man has enmity against God? And
some people say, well, I never disrespected God. You disrespect one of his people? You disrespected God. You disrespect
one of his prophets? You disrespected God. My oh my. So we see this utter disrespect
shown to the prophet. And he's a prophet of the one
true living God, right? My oh my. They mocked him. They have no respect for God's
prophets. And again, in turn, they have no respect for the
one true living God. None. None at all. And they're
showing that by their actions. See, that's where I say someone
might not say, oh, I hate God, but by their actions they do.
We're seeing that here. They're not saying outright that
they hate God, but their actions are proving that they do. By mocking God's prophet. My, oh my. And the soldiers, do you know
the soldiers of the governor at Jerusalem, they mocked Christ?
Turn, if you would, to Matthew, chapter 27. You know what I mean?
They mocked the King of kings and the Lord of lords. They mocked
him. And I was thinking about this today. I was thinking about
this. Have you ever thought of this? The long-suffering of our
God, right? Here is God in the flesh, right?
God incarnated in the flesh. And these men are beating him. He could have had him drop dead
on the spot. He could have. He could have taken the breath
away from every single one of those people. But he let him keep mocking him.
You know why? For you and me. Because he must
go to the cross. He's as silent as a lamb brought
to the slaughter. Because he must go to Calvary's
cross to redeem all of us who are God's people. He must. He
must. But he could have just destroyed
them right like that. You've heard me say many times,
one angel killed over a hundred thousand men. What could God
in the flesh do? He could wipe out everybody. My oh my. But he's not here to
exercise that power in that way, is he? Why did he come? To save his people from their
sins, right? It must be accomplished. Look
at this. Matthew 27, verses 27 to 31. Look at this. Then the soldiers
of the governor, these Roman soldiers, this is Roman soldiers,
they were brutal. I'm telling you what. took Jesus
into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
So they probably bought the whole century of soldiers. If there
was a century station there which was a hundred men, they bought
them all. They bought the whole band. Oh my. I pray that God saved
some of these men. I don't know if he did, but I
sure hope he did. Look at this, and they stripped
him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plated
the crown of thorns, that means like, that's not just gently
putting the crown of thorns on his head. That's pounding it
in. They pounded it in his head.
That's why there was blood coming down his face. Oh my, what our Lord went through.
And they put on his head, they put it upon his head, a reed in his right hand, and
they bowed the knee before him and mocked him." Now think of
this. They're mocking God incarnate
in the flesh, the very one who gives them breath to breathe. And our Lord is standing there,
silent as a lamb. Oh my. They mocked him saying,
hell king of the Jews. That's a rightful title, isn't
it? He's king of the spiritual Jews,
isn't he? He's our king. And then what
did he do? They spit on him. You ever heard
somebody spit on you? I had that happen one time when
I was out in the street evangelizing. Somebody spit on me and my friend.
It's hard to refrain when someone spits on you, even as a believer. It really is. It's one of the
grossest things someone can do. They spit on him and took the
reed and smote him on the head. He's got this crown of thorns
and they smote him on the head! My! And after that they had mocked
him, they took off the robe from him and put his own raiment on
him and led him away to be crucified. We know they scorched him too,
didn't they? And then they put that coat on him, or that robe,
and then they ripped it off. So that robe would have started
to cauterize. And then they pulled it off and
all those wounds would start bleeding again. Our Lord did this for
us. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
eight. Our Lord predicted that this
would happen. Luke chapter 18, I'm sorry. Our
Lord predicted that this would happen to him. And what did he
do? He had his face set like a flint
to Jerusalem, didn't he? I must go there. I must go there
to redeem Zayn. Right? And we can all put our
names in there. I must go! I must go. Look what he says here,
Luke 18, verses 31 to 34. Then he took unto him the 12
and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things
that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man, the
Messiah, shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, the Romans, and shall be mocked, and spitefully
entreated, and spitted on. We just saw that. And they shall
scourge him, they did that, and put him to death. And the third
day, he shall rise again. He's speaking about himself.
He's speaking about what he's going to do. And he has this
in front of him, and he's still going, right? Oh, and look what
it says. And they understood none of these
things. They didn't have a clue what he was talking about, because
they thought he was going to come and restore, drive out the Romans
and restore Israel to be the powerhouse in the region. And they understood none of these
things. And this saying was hid from them. Neither knew they
the things which were spoken. It's a mystery. That's exactly
right. It's a mystery. Paul tells that in Colossians.
He tells us it's a mystery. And that mystery is being unveiled
now. That's why the gospel has to be revealed to us. Because
it's a mystery. It's hid from us. Until that
time. And because we're sons, right?
God sends His Spirit. I love that verse. God sends
His Spirit into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. Yeah, no more tutor. Adopted sons of God. Oh, it's
wonderful. Now turn, if you would, to Luke
23. Luke 23. So the soldiers mocked Him. We
know the soldiers mocked Him before they took Him to be crucified. And then The Jews came by and
they were wagging their mouths and mocking them, right? And
now look what we see here at the cross. Luke 23, verses 33
to 38. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, look at these words, Father, forgive them for
they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and
cast lots right at the foot of the cross. They're they're they're
parting his his his raiment. And cast lots. Who's going to
get it? Oh, my casting dice. And we know
the casting of the dice is ordered by the Lord. Oh my. The people stood beholding. And
the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others,
let him save himself, if this be the Christ, the Messiah, the
chosen of God. Oh, he saved so many others,
let him save himself. Meanwhile, who's he? He's hanging
on that cross, beloved, and he's saving you and I. In a multitude
that no man can number. And the enemies of God are deraiding
him. And what's he doing? Again, he could take their breath
away, couldn't he? But he's silent as a lamb. Except for the seven
cries on the cross, he's silent. Oh my. And then look with verse
36, and the soldiers also mocked him. So not only did the soldiers
mock him that before he was crucified, but now the soldiers around the
cross are mocking him as well, offering him vinegar. They mocked
him by, instead of offering him water, they offered him vinegar. But again, that was all to be
fulfilled, right? and saying, if thou be the king
of the Jews, save yourself. He is the king of the Jews. And
if you be Christ, you're Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise. Is he not our king? Oh, he's
our king. And we bow to him willingly,
don't we? Oh, we willingly bow to our great
king. And a superscription also was written over him in letters
of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews.
Let's go back to verse 23 of 2 Kings now. And I found something very interesting
in this verse today. Brother Tim James brought this
out and a couple other commentators as well. And he went up from
Thanson to Bethel, and as he was going up the way, there came
forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and
said unto him, Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head,
go up. That's kind of a strange thing
to say to somebody, isn't it? Go up. Well, so those words, go up,
this is in reference to Elijah going up to glory. They thought that Elijah made
himself go up to the Lord. So they're saying, you go up
too. Yeah. Get out of here, Tim James said. They're saying, get
out of here. Go on up. Get out of here. Yeah, exactly. We don't want you. That's what
Tim was saying. We don't want you. We don't want
nothing to do with you. Go on up. Get out of here. Now
that changes the whole perspective of it, doesn't it? That's right. My. They had no idea that Elijah
was taken up by the power of God. Elijah had nothing to do
with himself being taken up. God took him up, didn't he? Just
like God called him to be a prophet, and just like God called Elijah
to be a prophet, they had nothing to do with it. They just, you're
called to be a prophet. And they just went and did it.
There was no merit in them. God chose them to do that, right?
Just like God chooses us based upon no merit in us, right? Nothing
in us that would recommend us to God. Nothing. And yet he saves us by his mercy
and his grace. Oh, it's wonderful. It's just
so wonderful. I'll tell you why. And this also
shows us that the natural man has no tolerance for God's people. No tolerance for God's people.
They may smile, but when you start talking about salvations
and Christ alone, With nothing that you do, I'll tell you what,
there can be some sparks flying. And people you thought you got
along with, all of a sudden, they'll be looking at you a lot
different. Now, some may listen. Some may
listen, but I can guarantee you, there'll be some that just turn
their back on you. My, oh, my. It's hard. It's hard. But rejoice. Rejoice, beloved, if you're persecuted
for righteousness. If you're persecuted for Christ's
sake, rejoice. Rejoice. Oh my. So natural man has no
tolerance for God's people. In Bethel, as I said before,
there's two rival sects. One was the religion of the one
true living God, right? Where the school of prophets. And the other one was the king
had set up a cow to be worshipped in Bethel. So they hadn't quite
shrug off the idolatry of worship, had they? So do you think that
the folks over here who were serving that idol would be kind
to these people over here serving the one true living God? They
hated them. They despised them. My oh my. Again, one of Jeroboam's
castles was established there as an object of worship. And
let me tell you, there's no unkindness ingrained in ruthless which is
inspired by false religion. There's nothing like it. We've
experienced it. Some of us have experienced it.
And I'll tell you what, it's ruthless. It cuts you to the
bone. And here you are trying to present
to them the truth. And they want nothing of it.
And they'll just start tearing you to shreds. And if it's somebody
you love and care about, it hurts. Don't stop praying for them.
Until they breathe their last breath. Just keep lifting them
up. Even if you don't see them anymore,
just keep lifting them up. Keep lifting them up to the Lord.
Now these children were not followers of the one true God. It's obvious.
Because they had such hatred and disdain towards God as prophet.
It was obvious that they weren't worshiping the one true living
God. They were ridiculing the man of God. And this was one
of the sins of Israel at that time. Our Lord said this to the
Jews, wherefore ye witness unto yourselves that ye are the children
of them which killed the prophets. God sends them prophets to tell
them about Christ, because the law in the Testament and the
law and the prophets, what? They testify, what did Christ
say? Of me, and they kill him. My, I'll tell you what. So they mocked the messengers
of God. They despised God's words. They killed his prophets. And
these children were, one commentator said, these children were but
echoes as the instruments of their parents' religion. I'll
tell you what, that happens. Children become echo chambers
sometimes. to their parents, especially
if their parents hate the Lord. It's incredible. My oh my. And these mockings were directed
against the man of God's choosing. A man of distinguished excellence.
He was a sinner saved just like you and I, but he was a man of... He wasn't someone that you'd
say, oh, look at that guy, he's so wicked. He was a prophet of God. Sinner
still, not saying any different than you and I that way, sinner
still, but saved. And one commentator said, everything
concerning him shows a manifestation of a godly character. He lived
to serve God. He wanted to serve God. He sinned
just like you and I. He struggled with sin, just like
you and I. But don't you desire to serve
the living God? Don't we desire to serve him?
We do. We desire to have a godly character,
don't we? We don't desire to be how we were before. We desire
to have a godly character. And to ridicule a good man is
not only more sinful, but absurd. One commentator said, then they'll
laugh at scoring the sun in its brightness. They're mocking the
man of God who's sent by God, who represents God. My oh my. And remember this too,
there are no prophets nowadays. There's absolutely no prophets.
There's preachers, there's teachers, there's evangelists, but there
ain't no prophets of God. If someone tells you there's
a prophet of God around, they're lying. They were just mouthpieces,
right? Trumpeting out the gospel. That's
all God's preachers are. Safe sinners trumpeting out the
gospel. My oh my. So this, and think of this too,
this mocking was aimed at a man who's on a mission of mercy for
Israel. He's sent by God on a mission of mercy. Yeah. And they hate
him. They're mocking him. The very
people he came on a mission of mercy to. Think of that. He came to his own, his own what?
Received him not. Yeah, talking about Christ. But
then, yeah. But it was always that plan, wasn't it? Oh, isn't
it incredible though? They turned him away. So he's
a picture of Christ in that way, isn't he? He was heaven's messenger
of mercy to his country. He came to Bethel to bestow wise
counsel on the sons of the prophets in their seminary. If you want
to call it a seminary, it's a school where they gathered together. He came to bless them by talking
to them about God. And how often has this infamously
directed this mocking Happened to our Lord Jesus Christ, as
we saw earlier, they passed by, wagged their heads. They put
a crown of thorns on him all the time, mocking him. Spit on
him while they were mocking him. Our Lord, He's went through it
all. My oh my. And He didn't sin. And what happens if somebody
spit in our face? We get pretty mad, wouldn't we? Yeah. I think I know how I'd
react, and it wouldn't be good. I'll tell you that. I've had
it happen once before, and it's not, it's not, it's not. God's
got to give you grace not to, not to react to it. Because the
first thing you want to do is slug the person. I'm not, I'm
not lying there. I'm, I know. And that would be our natural
instinct, wouldn't it? But the Lord didn't move a muscle. He
didn't sin in any way. Think of that. Our natural reaction
would be a spawn just like that. He just stood there as a lamb
to the slaughter. Because He must redeem us from
our sins, beloved. What a Savior! What a Redeemer! And again, think of how much
restraint our Lord had during this time. He could have destroyed
them. Think of the restraint that he
had. He could have just spoke a word, be gone, and what would
have happened? Poof, I believe that. He could have turned them into,
was not lost, wife turned into a pillar of salt. And that's a literal pillar of
salt, too. That's not a metaphor for anything.
That's salt. My gosh. What restraint. He must go to
the cross. He must go to redeem his people
from their sins. He must. He must. He must. He must. My gosh. And by the shedding of his precious
blood, he's redeemed us. All our sins are forgiven, beloved.
And we have eternal life in and through him. Now let's read verse
24. And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the
name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the
wood and tear forty and two children of them. So, upon first reading
this, we think, well, maybe there's a few people. It's a crowd. 40 people, that's a lot of folks.
42 people, that's a lot of folks. Who knows how many were there
that got away from the she-bearers? We don't know. But it tells us
here that 42 of them were tore to pieces. Now do you know why I called
the message quick judgment? See how fast that happened? Just
like that. You think Cora was expecting
the ground to open up and swallow him just like that? It happened,
didn't it? And then the scripture says it
closed just as quickly. They went down into the pit alive.
My. My, oh my. He cursed them, not from revenge, but from the
impulse of the Holy Spirit of God. Who's controlling them,
she bears? our sovereign greater, right?
He's no one to be messed with. And his people are no one to
be messed with. And the prophets are no one to
be messed with. And his son's no one to be messed with. So what happens next shows us
God's absolute sovereignty, doesn't it? And it says this, and there
came forth two, just two. Imagine if there would have been
four of them. Just two of them. Just two. She bears out of the
wood and tear forty and two children of them. Now something interesting,
one of the commentators said, it doesn't say they killed them.
It says they tore them to pieces. So they carry them back into
that town and word would quickly spread. These were mocking Elijah. Notice it doesn't say it killed
them, it says it tore them apart. Now I imagine some of them probably
died from their wounds, but there may have been some walking around
Bethel without an arm, maybe without two arms, maybe without
a leg, maybe with no limbs left at all.
Tore them apart. tore them apart. And she bears are fierce. You
take their cubs away, you take cubs away from a bear, a female
bear, and look at it. I'll tell you why. They say that they're pretty
docile until you mess with their cubs. That's why there's always
warnings in bear country, stay away from the cubs. People think
they're cute, they go up and try to pet them. And then that
she-bear comes out and just rips them to shreds, or mauls them. This stuff can still happen today.
Bear attacks, I'm talking. Now this was, this is supernatural
what happened here. This is God's judgment falling
upon those people. And it fell quick. It fell quick. And we see that the wood seems
to be near Bethel, perhaps in the wilderness of Bethel. And
we see that it tore the crowd apart, 42 of them. What a somber
picture we have before us, as these were punished instantly
by God's judgment, instantly. They're mocking him. He turns
around and curses him. And just like that, these she-bears
come tearing out of the woods. And he's witnessing all this. Oh my. They were instantly punished
by the justice of God. And think of this, the prophet's
indignation was righteous, it was righteous anger. It wasn't
wrong, it was righteous anger. There's such thing as righteous
anger. My. And because it was righteous
anger, the justice of God sanctioned it by causing two she bears to
come out of the woods to tear 42 children of them apart. Tortoise rats. It probably resembled a war zone.
There'd be blood everywhere. This is a tremendous display
of God's divine justice. It's sobering, isn't it? This is God's judgment falling
instantaneously. And to the population of Bethel,
this would be like a sermon, one old commentator said. One
old preacher said, this would be like a sermon to the people
of Bethel. Look what happened to them. Don't mess with God's prophet.
And I say, don't mess with God's people. By all my, I'll tell
you what. So this was a display of divine
justice for their wickedness, which they knowingly and willingly
committed, didn't they? They knew what they were doing.
They knew what they were saying. And the go up again is in reference
to get out of here. We don't want you around no more. You know, I had a, I had one
fellow in this town here. tell me that this community would
be better off without this church? And two weeks later, he was in
the hospital. Don't mess with God's people. Don't mess with them. Came out
about three weeks later and said, I'm so sorry for what I said.
I should never said that. And I said, well, thank you for
saying that. He learned something, didn't
he? My oh my, guys, I'll tell you what. God's response is quick. Paul tells us in Romans 12, 19,
dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.
For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay you, saith
the Lord. So people say stuff like that. Fellows said to me,
just put it in God's hands. That's what we got to do. Put
it in God's hands. Leave it with him. People sin
against us and do things against us. Just give it to God. Vengeance
is mine. We're supposed to pour hot coals
of friendliness upon them. Hard thing for us to do when
someone's saying something about you that you know is not true,
but vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. And God's
response here is quick, effectual, and vicious. He sent out two she bears, renown
for their fierceness, when their cubs are threatened. And beloved
of God, God's cub Elijah was being threatened, was being mocked. And God said, touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm. And the Lord said, but those
mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them,
bring them hither and slay them before me. Slay them before me. My. God's jealous for his glory,
isn't he? God's jealous for his people.
And his glory was mocked, and the glory that carried Elijah
to heaven was mocked. And Elijah's name means God is
salvation, and to mock God's salvation, that thing that fully
glorifies him. As one man of God of old said,
mess with what you will, but don't mess with the gospel. Don't mess with the gospel. And it's dangerous to persecute
God's people. No weapon that is formed against
them shall prosper, whether it be bonds or burning fires, they
won't. You may take our lives, but you
won't take our souls. And God said, fear him who can
destroy both body and soul in hell, rather than him who can
kill you. My oh my. One day, beloved, One
day there'll be a great reckoning. Look what verse 25 said. After
this happened, it says, and he went from Thentz to Marcomel,
and from Thentz he turned to Samaria. He's on with his mission. He didn't let it stop him. He
didn't let it hinder him. He went forward knowing that
the Lord is with him. Turn one more place, Matthew
25. I told you there's a great day
of reckoning coming. There's a great day of reckoning. when
all of mankind shall stand before our great God, and all the people
will be divided into two groups, just two groups, the goats and
the sheep. Someone says, well, I don't believe
that. Well, it doesn't change the fact that it's going to happen.
It's going to happen. And the only one, think of this
too, the only one who made the sheep and the goats to differ
is God and God alone. And there's nothing in the sheep
that would recommend them to God, just as there's nothing
in the goats that would recommend them to God. The only one who
made them to differ is God's distinguishing grace, God himself. Look at this, Matthew 25, verses
31 to 34. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, oh, we wait that day, don't we? And all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered
all nations, everyone, every single person that ever lived.
Not one missing this great appointment, this great judgment. Not one
missing. And He, look, who's the one doing
the separating? And he shall separate. God makes
us to differ. If we're a sheep, God's the only
one making us to differ here. And he shall separate. He's doing
it all. And he shall separate them one
from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. OK?
All the sheep on the right side and all the goats on the left
side. And he knows every one of his sheep. You know why? Because
He bled and died for them. Because He redeemed them with
His precious, precious blood. He knows them by name. He knows
every hair on their head. He knows us so intimately. And
the Father loves us so much that He loves us as He loves Christ. So there won't be any goats on
this side, and there won't be any sheep on this side. God will
divide them. He's the great divider. And he has set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on his left. He's the one who's
made us to differ. Then shall the king say unto
them in his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Now, I would advise you to keep reading down there. Keep reading
the rest of that chapter when you get home, if you want, because
you get a great blessing out of it. You get a great blessing
out of it. So one group are on the left.
One group, think of this too, I want us to close with this.
One group is left in their sins. Right? You've heard me say it
before. What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? Just leave him alone. They're
left in their sins. Right? The ones on the left. But the other group on the right,
they've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And as we saw, he was so silent
when they were beating on him, spitting on him, mocking him.
He was silent for you and I, beloved. I must redeem my people
from their sins. He came to save his people from
their sins. And the only difference between
the two sides, the goats and the sheep, is that he saved the
sheep on the right hand with the shedding of his precious
blood. And what did we say?