Turn with me if you would tonight
to 2nd Kings chapter 2 the name of the message is carried away
Carried away. I thought we would include in
our study of Elijah Since it's basically a study of his life
and the miracles which which God performed through him that
we would also include the The carrying away of Elijah Elijah
up into heaven We're gonna look at this in light of how Elijah
is a picture of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Elijah is a
picture of God, the Holy Spirit. And bear with me as we go through
this, and I pray the Holy Spirit will give us eyes to see this
and ears to hear. My, oh my. And we'll continue our study
in the life of Elijah, reading and looking at the account of
Elijah being carried away up into heaven. and receiving a
double portion of the Spirit. Elijah receives a double portion
of the Spirit at the beginning of his ministry as a prophet
of God. Now Elijah and Elisha are both prominent figures in
the Old Testament. And though Elijah is mentioned
only once in the New Testament, Elijah is mentioned 30 times
in the New Testament. Turn, if you would. Oh, let's
actually read 2 Kings first and then we're going to turn to a
portion in the New Testament. And the reason for Elijah being
mentioned in a predominant way as opposed to Elijah is because
he was the promised prophet to return in Malachi. But our Lord Jesus Christ said
that John the Baptist fulfilled that. John the Baptist fulfilled
that prophecy. So with that in mind, let's read
2 Kings 2, verses 1. And we're going to read all the way
down to verse 16. And it came to pass, when the
Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah
went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha,
Terry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.
And Elijah said unto him, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul
liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth
to Elijah and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will
take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yea,
I know it. Hold ye your peace. Now take
note of that verse there. Those prophets, the sons of the
prophets, We see there in verse three that they knew what was
gonna happen. But later on, we're gonna see
that they asked Elijah, can we go find them? They forgot soon,
quickly, didn't they? Just like, that's exactly what
I was thinking, Dave. Just like us. Well, well, but they're telling
him right there, this is gonna happen. Do you not know that?
And then they forget. Oh my. And you know what? That's
later on in the message we're gonna see. They were looking
with fleshy sight. See, we look to Christ, we look
to Christ even not ever seen. By faith. They were looking with
the eyes of the flesh. Elijah already knew by faith
where he went. He saw him ascend up into heaven. See, but they
had to, they had to see for their own selves. But Elijah was gone.
He was gone. But I just thought that was interesting
to hear that. They're telling them. They're telling them that.
And he says, yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace. And Elijah
said unto Elijah, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath
sent me to Jericho. And he said, as the Lord liveth,
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came
to Jericho. Now notice, Elijah has not left his side. Several
prophets, or several prophets, several commentators I was reading,
and Tim James. Brother Tim James brought forth
that, as far as we know from the scriptures, it's silent,
but Elijah probably didn't even leave his side. He was always
with him. He was his mentor. He was always
with him. So, Elijah would be like, I'm
not going nowhere. Right? He was his master, wasn't
he? He wasn't going anywhere. He even calls him father later
on. He's very dear to him. Oh my. And the sons of the prophets
that were at Jericho came to Elijah and said unto him, knowest
thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head,
thy head today? And he answered, yea, I know,
hold that you are at peace. So he says the same thing to the
sons of the prophets at Bethel, and now he's saying the same
thing to them at Jericho. And this was the same group that
said, hey, can we go look for him? Oh, how soon we, how quickly
we forget. And Elijah said unto him, Terry,
I pray thee here, for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he
said, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee. And they too went on. What a
picture we have of the fact that our king will never leave us,
nor forsake us. He's ever with us. He's ever
with us. And 50 men of the sons of the
prophets went and stood to view out far off. And they too stood
by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and
wrapped it together and smote the waters. And they were divided
hither and thither. So they went over on dry ground.
So he's crossing over the Jordan. What does the Jordan always picture?
Death. Right? What's that old song?
I'm just a going over Jordan. I'm just a going over home. Right? And it came to pass, when they
were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elijah, Ask what I shall
do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elijah said,
I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And
he said, thou ask a hard thing. Why is it a hard thing? Because
it's something that no man can do. Elijah can't give him the spirit. Who can give Elijah the spirit?
Only God, right? She says, you ask for a hard
thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken away from
thee, it shall be unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. So he said, if you see me be
carried away into heaven, that request will be granted. And
we know who it's granted by. It's granted by God, isn't it? And Elijah saw it, and he cried,
my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.
And he saw him no more, and he took hold of his own clothes
and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of
Elijah that fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank
of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him, and smote the waters, this is what we'll
look at next week, this is the first miracle done by Elijah,
and smote the waters, and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah?
And when he had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither,
and Elijah went over. And the sons of the prophets
which were to view at Jericho saw him, They said, the spirit
of Elijah doth rest on him. They came to meet him and bowed
themselves to the ground before him. Here they go. And they said
unto him, behold, now there be with thy servants fifty strong
men. Let them go, we pray thee, and seek the master. Well, they
just told him that the Lord was going to take them away. How
soon we forget. That's just like us. How soon we forget. and seek
thy master, lest peradventure of the Spirit of the Lord have
taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or some valley.
And he said, you shall not sin. He goes, don't even bother. Don't even bother. But they did
it. We're going to see later they
did it. Now turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 9, verses 28
to 36. And we'll read about Moses and Elijah. And both Moses and
Elijah appear at the Mount of Transfiguration and take note
what they talked about. Take note of what they talked
about. It's brought up in verse 31. Now, when I was in religion,
I always looked at this and just thought, oh wow, the Transfiguration.
But when you take note of what they're actually speaking about,
it's absolutely fascinating. In the scripture, one's decrease
is one's death. Right? John the Baptist said,
he must increase and I must decrease. Look what's here in Luke chapter
9 verses 28 to 36. And it came to pass about in
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter, John, and James
up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered, and his remnant was white and
glistening. They're getting a glimpse at
who Christ really is. He's manifesting his glory right
there in front of him. Look at this. And behold, there
talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared
in glory and spake of what? What did they speak of? His decrease,
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. They talked about
his death. Isn't that magnificent? They
talked. Well, who are they looking to for their salvation, right?
Christ. He's their salvation just as
much as he's our salvation. And they're talking about the
fact that he's going to go to Calvary's cross and redeem our
eternal souls. Isn't that magnificent? But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep. And when they awake, they saw
his glory and the two men that stood with him. So they wake
up and here they see Christ in all his glory. And they see two
men with him. And it came to pass as they departed
from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to
be here. Let us make three tabernacles.
No, not three. See, Peter's just like us. He's
sticking his foot in his mouth, isn't he? Right? One for thee,
one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. He
had no clue what he was saying. Just call me Peter. Yeah. All of us, right? Oh, yeah. Look at that. Oh my, and look
it, here we go. This is why he was wrong in what
he said. And there came a voice of the
cloud saying, when he had thus spake, there came a cloud, overshadowed
them, verse 34, and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
And there came a voice of the cloud saying, this is my beloved
son. Hear him. He's the only one we raise a
tabernacle to. He's the only one. And the voice
was passed, Jesus was found alone, and they kept it close and told
no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. But
the Holy Spirit recorded it for us, didn't he? For us to be in
awe of this. My, oh my. Hear ye him. That is the most important. That's
one of the most important commands right there. Hear Christ. Hear
ye him. Listen to him. Oh my, He's God
in the flesh. He's the only Redeemer of sinners.
And He's redeemed sinners by the shedding of His precious,
precious blood. Now Moses and Elijah were symbolic of the law,
and this was true both of the prophets, as in their writings they spoke
of Christ. How do we know that? Well, in
Luke chapter 24, if you want to turn there you can, I'm just
going to read three verses. Luke 24 verses 25 to 27. So we
know from these scriptures, and remember who's speaking these
words set before us, this is the Master speaking these words,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and He says this,
Luke 24 verses 25 to 27. Then said He unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Now He's been walking with these two guys. these two disciples of his on
the road to Arimaeus. Christ has died and is buried,
and they're kind of down. And so the Lord comes up beside
them and starts talking to them. He appears to them and starts
talking to them. And this is what he said to them. Oh fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
His glory? This is why He came. In beginning,
look at this, in beginning Moses and all the prophets, remember
there was no New Testament then, right? Christ was preached out
of the Old Testament. Anyone who says, oh they didn't
preach Christ out of the Old Testament, Christ preached Himself out of
the Old Testament. Right? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. So we can look at this Old Testament,
right? From Genesis to Malachi, it all
testifies of Christ. And we look at the New Testament,
and it testifies of He who's come. He who's come. The Old Testament says there's
someone coming. Messiah's coming. And the New Testament says the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He is the Messiah. Look at that,
though. The things concerning himself. Now, I was asked a few weeks
ago about a fiery chariot, right? I've been thinking about it,
too, looking up stuff, thinking about it. Well, I think I found the
best answer from Brother Tim James. You want to hear it? This is good. He says this. Whether
fiery chariots and horses were metaphoric language declaring
the glory of God, or what Habakkuk calls the hiding of his power,
is a job for those smarter than me. That's from our dear brother.
We don't know. See, people speculate all the time about the scriptures. Personally, I see it as literal. It says it was taken up in a...
For me, it's literal. Because God can do anything,
can't he? He can do anything he wants. But I like that, what
he said. He says, there's people far smarter
than me. Because, you know what? Number
one, we don't need to get hung up on all these things. Now,
there's something there, I just don't know it. And I'm confessing
that I don't know it. But there's something there. But I believe
he's carried up by chariots of fire. Because that's what the
scripture says. The scripture says that. So I
believe it. But I'll leave the interpretation
of that up to someone far more smarter than I am. I just thought
that was really wise. Jim James, pretty wise guy, isn't
he? Pretty wise fellow. We do know this, though. This
is the last time we see Elijah in the scriptures, other than
the new Testament. This is the last time in the old Testament
that we see Elijah. The only other time we see him
is at the Mount of Transfiguration. That's where we see him again.
And we read about that earlier in, in, in what is going on there
during that time. It's a midst of God's glory being
displayed. Isn't it? My oh my. And Elijah, the symbol of the
prophets, rose into glory in a glorious fashion, didn't he?
Like no other prophet. He rose up in a glorious fashion. Who else did he rise up like?
He rose up like the prophet of all the prophets. The Lord Jesus
Christ. What happened to the Lord? He
just descended right up in glory, didn't he? Could you imagine
those guys sitting there? Could you imagine you're sitting
there and the Lord says, well, I'm gone. And you're watching
it. You've never seen jet rockets
or anything like that? And all of a sudden, he just
floats up, and you're watching him, and you're watching him,
and he's getting smaller and smaller until you can't see him
anymore. And remember what those angels said? Yeah, they asked,
why are you gazing up there? He's coming back. But see, they
were amazed. They'd never seen anything like
that, had they? We'd be standing there with our jaws on the ground,
wouldn't we? That's why the scripture says
they were astonished. How do you think the sons of
the prophets, all of a sudden Elijah's there, and then he's
gone. They didn't see him go up, did
they? No, they didn't see him go up, but Elijah did. That's
why Elijah said, don't send anyone. He saw him go up into glory in
that chariot. Oh my. I'm more prone to think
of like a, I told you guys before, when the Romans came in for a
triumph in the cities, they came in in a golden chariot. It was
like him entering the heaven in a glorious way, an absolutely
glorious way. Oh my. My, oh my. We were talking, Billy
and Jacob and Marcus and I were talking this week and just speculating
about is it the Lord who comes for his sheep or does he send
an angel, right? And you know, the Lord said,
I'll come for you. And so we were talking about,
and you think this with Kathy too, you know. He comes and takes
his own home. My, oh my. He says it. Yeah. And we're talking about
how glorious that is. Yeah. It's glorious. Comes and draws his sheep home.
Takes them home. Takes them in his bosom. Up in
the glory. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. First face we see in glorious
Christ. That's all we want. We see him
and just, oh my goodness, Lord, it's you. My faith is now sight. Praise be to God. And you know,
as I said Sunday, it's the land of no mores, right? No more sorrow,
no more sickness, no more pain, no more suffering, no more crying. Callie Jo, Billy said she was
73 pounds when she died. Just, she had, she just, And
he said he picked her up and took her into the room when she
needed to. But you know what? Now she's
in glory with a new body. She got no more salt, Sister
Kathy, no more Parkinson's, nothing. She's just beholden the King,
Brother Zane. Oh my! And that sermon you sent
me by Henry, you know? Rest! She's at rest! Isn't that wonderful? Our brothers
and sisters who've gone home to be with the Lord are at rest.
No more warfare. This world is a world of warfare,
isn't it? Spiritual battles, battles with
our flesh. Oh my. This is the great tribulation
for believers, isn't it? It's the only tribulation we'll
ever face, beloved. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful.
Wonderful. So the Lord took Elijah up in
a fiery chariot and horses. And just as Elijah went up, the
Lord went up. The prophet of prophets ascended
up into glory, didn't he? My, oh my. And at the ascension
of Elijah, think of this too, a double portion of the spirit
was given to Elijah, right? And I like what we read there
where Elijah said, you asked for a hard thing. Because no
man can grant that. No man can grant that at all.
But God can. God can. So at the ascension
of Elijah, a double portion was given to Elijah. But marvel at
this. At the ascension of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who was given that Pentecost for the preaching of
the gospel? the Holy Spirit of God. What
a picture. Double portion. To regenerate
us, to give us faith to believe, to teach us the things of Christ. And the Lord said, I won't leave
you. I won't leave you. I'll send a comforter to you.
I'll send a comforter to you. It's wonderful, beloved. Now
the name of Elijah and Elijah are suggestive of Christ and
the Holy Spirit of God. Elijah means Jehovah is my God. Elijah means God is salvation. God is salvation. Who rots regeneration
in us? God, the Holy Spirit, right?
He's the one who, Christ has secured our salvation, and the
Holy Spirit is the one who regenerates us, and we receive God-given
faith, beloved, to believe on Christ. to believe on Christ. My oh my. A dead man can't believe,
right? So you've got to be made alive,
don't you? Got to be made alive. And our Lord, while he was on
the earth, he wrote this, or he said this, no man has seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So no man
has seen God but Christ. The only appearances of God in
the Old Testament are all Christ. It's all Christ. All those Christophanies
are all Christ. Anytime, Henry Mahan said it,
and I love this, he said, anytime God spoke to man, he speaks to
us through Christ. Before his incarnation, and when
he was here on this earth. See, he's the one mediator between
God and man. the man Christ Jesus. And he
declares, who does he declare? Look at that study we did in
John 17. Who does Christ declare? Well, he declares the glory of
the Father, doesn't he? And he's here to do the Father's work.
He's here to do the Father's work, sent by the Father to do
that work. And then he sends the Holy Spirit
to us, beloved. No, it's wonderful. John 17,
verse six, he says, I have manifested thy name unto the man. So he's
made, he's manifest, he's revealed it to us. Do you know, we know,
we all know that unless the Holy Spirit reveals who the Father
is, we'll never know him, right? Yeah, and so Christ sends the
Holy Spirit, and Christ and the Holy Spirit are the ones that
reveal the Father to you and I. And now, now we have an understanding
of who God really is. Oh, He's such a loving Father,
such a loving God. He's incredible. He said, This
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were, they were yours, Father,
and thou gavest them unto me, and they have kept thy word.
Magnificent. It's all Christ. It's all Him,
beloved. And God the Father sent the sent
the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, is a revealer of Christ to hell-deserving
sinners, right? That's what we deserve. And He
reveals Christ to us. He reveals what Christ did for
us. See, the preacher of the Gospels is preaching something
that's already done. It's already accomplished. And
the Holy Spirit, He regenerates us, gives us faith to believe,
but He also reveals to us that Christ died for us, personally. Yeah, yeah, mercy. What mercy? What mercy? It's just unbounding. It's unbounding. Now many, when
the Lord was here on this earth, many followed Him. Well, he filled
their bellies, right? Some of them followed him because
he filled their bellies. And some followed him because
of the miracles he did. And his true followers were small
in number. They were small in number. You
know why? Because a physical being is followed
because he's seen. That's why a lot of folks followed
him, because they could see him. Now, we know from what he said
to that large group when he said to them, I think it's in John
chapter 2. Let's turn there real quick.
John chapter 2. I think it's John chapter 2.
Let me see here. Here we go. Look at verse 23. Now when he
was in Jerusalem at the Passover and the Feast of Day, many believed
in his name. It doesn't say they believed
on him. They said they believed in his
name. And when they saw the miracles, which he did, but Jesus did not
commit himself. You know what that means there?
He didn't reveal himself in the Greek. He didn't reveal himself unto
them, because he knew all men. He knew. He knew they weren't
his sheep. He knew it. And needed not that any man should
testify of man, for he knoweth what is in man. He already knows. He didn't reveal himself to them,
that means. Marvel that he revealed himself
to you and I. And the only reason he revealed
himself to you and I is because we're his sheep. Now people will
follow a man, they were following Christ because they saw what
he did. They actually saw him. But they didn't believe fully
on him. They were happy their bellies were full. They were
happy that the people were being healed. Right? But they haven't really trusted
him. They don't really know him. He
hasn't revealed himself to them. in a physical being's followers
are geographically hindered. Think of this. Christ traveled
no more than 50 miles in his life from his hometown. You know that? No more than 50
miles at that time. But what was Christ's primary
work? It wasn't to go to Rome. It wasn't to go to Turkey. It
wasn't to go to the other parts of the world, was it? He was on this earth for one
reason, and one reason alone. He had work to accomplish at
Calvary's cross, which was the redemption of his people, the
salvation of his people. And the only way he could accomplish
that was going to Jerusalem and going to the cross. That's why
again scripture says his face was set like a flint, he immovable. I must go there. I must go there
to redeem Zane. I must go there to redeem Dave.
Isn't it magnificent? Must go there to redeem Wayne.
My! And all the elect of all the
ages are on his mind. My! He knows every one of us,
doesn't He? Remember that? Remember that?
Oh, I love this story. I love it. That blind Bartimaeus.
Jesus, the Son of Nazareth! And the Scripture says, the Lord
stood still. The cry of a sheep. The Lord
stood still at the cry of a sheep, beloved. That warms our hearts,
doesn't it? We can cry out to Him anytime.
My, oh my. So think of that. His primary
work was to come and to save his people from their sins. Now, nowadays, someone can be
in a far country, and because of the internet, they can be
a well-known figure, right? But not then. There was nothing
like that then. People may have word of mouth
spoke of him, but there was nothing about that. There's no internet,
there's no instant news, Nothing like that. And so for the church
to expand to four corners of the earth, the enlightenment
could not be based upon sight. Right? Our Lord, when his disciples
were troubled about his leaving, told them that he would send
his spirit to comfort them. He said, I'll not leave you comfortless. He doesn't leave us comfortless,
does he? He sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father, whereby we now cry, Abba, Father. And he sent the spirit to reveal
to them things too hard for them to know. Natural man can't come to the
knowledge of God. That message I was telling you
guys about, Henry just said, there is none that seek after
God. Absolutely none. There is none that understand.
That means absolutely none. There's none that seek God. That
means absolutely none. That's our state. So we can't
understand the things of God in that deadness of that fallen
Adam that occurred. But when the Holy Spirit regenerates
us and he starts teaching us the things of Christ, We marvel
like we found the pearl of great price, don't we? Oh, look at this. This is magnificent. Jesus Christ, the God-man saved
my eternal soul. My, oh my. So remember this too. Those hard things were only available
by faith. knowing what Christ did for us,
knowing that we're sinners. Those things can only be revealed
to us by regeneration in God-given faith. And now, what does faith do? It believes
without seeing. See, those prophets, they were
looking with their fleshy eyes, even though they'd already told
Elijah, hey, God's gonna take away Elijah on you. Well, let's
go find him. Maybe he dropped him on a mountain.
That's what they actually said. Maybe the Lord dropped him in
a valley somewhere, so we couldn't find him. That's ridiculous,
isn't it? No, he took him home, beloved.
He took him home into his presence forever. So these hard things, which are
only available to faith and not by sight, and only by the Holy
Spirit's power and regenerating power and God-given faith, would
these things be revealed about Christ by the Holy Spirit of
God to us? He come to teach us, didn't he?
Oh my, the Lord said, he'll not speak of himself, but he'll teach
about me. Therefore, after being born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, and given God-given faith, the gospel
will arrive now at Eargate. Right? Pilgrim's Progress. Eargate.
Here comes the gospel now at Eargate. Right? People try to plug their ears.
The Holy Spirit will go right through that. If you're one of
his sheep. The gospel arrives at Eargate,
and in no way relies on sight. Right? And invisibly and spiritually
expands through all the earth by the power of God, the Holy
Spirit. As God's people are born again
with the Holy Spirit, given God-given faith and rejoice in Christ Jesus
our Lord. And not one of us have seen him
yet. But as the disciples said, now
they saw him. But when we talk about Christ, does not our hearts
burn within us? That's because God, the Holy
Spirit, beloved. That's because God, the Holy Spirit. Oh my,
think of this too. There's no geographic boundaries
now for the gospel. We send sermons up to Sermon
Audio and it goes out all over the four corners of the earth,
doesn't it? Not just our sermons here, but sermons from Donnie
and Jim and all, you just go through all them preachers, Tim
James, all of them. Out it goes, poof. And God uses it for his
glory and for his honor and for his praise. Doing with it whatever
he wills. That's why we're here. Remember,
you always hear me say, the reason we're here is for the furtherance
of the gospel. That's why we're here. And what
a privilege. We get our hearts knit together
in love by God the Holy Spirit, and then we have the privilege
of gathering together, and then the gospel, out it goes from
here. First, we're fed here, right?
Because I'm fed as I'm studying. You guys are fed by the Holy
Spirit as I'm preaching. And then out it goes, and who
knows whether one of the sleeping elect are going to be awoken,
or whether a saint of God is going to be belted up. I received
a note from someone, listens to the messages online, just
want to tell you how blessed I am by the messages. Will glory
be to God? Praise be to God. He's so good. He's so good. He's magnificent. He gets all the glory. So think
of that, in a flash, when the messages are sent up in a flash,
they have the potential to reach the four corners of the earth
because of this internet now that's out there. Isn't that
amazing? Oh, amen, brother. Even so, come
quickly, Lord, eh? Even so, come quickly. Oh, amen. Amen. So what have we in the
assumption of Elijah and the double portion of the Spirit
falling on Elijah? It's a picture of Christ giving
the Holy Spirit to his church. We have a double portion, beloved.
Oh, my. My. And it's not just It's not just a picture of Christ
giving the Holy Spirit, but it's in a greater capacity. The Holy
Spirit, the third person of the triune Godhead, is God, just
like God the Father and God the Son, right? In John 14, turn
if you would to John chapter 14, Christ as a man, he didn't
have the spirit in double portion, right? He had all the fullness
of the Godhead in him bodily, didn't he? Yeah, he's God in
the flesh. He's got the spirit without measure,
beloved. And I like what Tim James said.
He said, we have the spirit by measure according to the function
we have in the church and for our place in the scheme of salvation
to the praise and the glory of God's grace. We all have the
spirit, beloved. We all have the Holy Spirit.
Look at this, John 14, verses 16 to 18. And I will pray the Father and
he shall give you another. Another what? Comforter. Look
at that. We will never be alone, beloved.
That he may abide with you for how long? Forever. Oh my, forever? Forever, that's what it says.
Even the spirit of truth, we know who that is, that's the
Holy Spirit of God, right? And remember, Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life too, right? God in the flesh, God
the Spirit here, God the Father, are all mentioned here. Whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not. Oh my, people
say just bow your head and repeat this prayer. And now you're a
child of God. That's what they say. That's
called decisional regeneration. That's false regeneration. The
only way we see here, no man can, we can't receive On our
own, we cry out to Christ, don't we? Only because the Holy Spirit's
done a work in us. Because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you. Look
at that. And shall be in you. Look at this now, I love this.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Oh my, our God is so good. In Christ as a man had not the
spirit in a double portion, but he had the spirit without measure,
beloved. Without measure. And Elijah was
a type of the Lord in many ways. Beyond his ascension, I mentioned
his ascension into heaven, but think upon this. God sustained
both Elijah and our Lord for 40 days in the wilderness. The widow's curse of oil. Remember
the widow's oil? And the bit of flowers multiplied
to feed the family and the prophet. But then what did our Lord do?
Well, he took the loaves and the fishes to feed thousands.
And then Elijah raised the widow's son from death. But our Lord,
our Lord raised the widow of Nain's son from his coffin, as
well as a young maiden and as well as Lazarus. Because our
Lord, why? Because he is the resurrection
and the life. Elijah did it by the power of
God. Christ did it because he is God. For the glory of the
Father. And those miracles, beloved,
they manifested his deity. They manifested who he is. My. Now several things Several things
from this story, aside from the glorious end, set forth the person
and work of Christ. First, the oneness of Christ
in the Spirit is seen in the refusal of Elijah to leave the
side, the refusal of Elijah to leave the side of Elijah. He
refused to do that. He said, I will not do it. I
will not do it. Well, that's the same as Christ
in the Spirit. It's not stated again, but as far as we know,
Elijah had not left Elijah's side, as far as we know. Since
Elijah cast his mantle on him, he left all and went with Elijah. And there's no separation between
Christ and the Spirit, both God and the Father. They're all God.
Listen to this. I love this. Colossians 2, verses
9 and 10. If you want to turn there, you
can, or I'm just going to read it, though. For in Him, that's Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, that's amazing all
by itself, right? All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And ye, Okay, let's bring it
home. Dave, Zane, Wayne. Let's bring it home. And ye are
complete in Him. Oh my, yeah. Now that's a fitting
time to say hallelujah, isn't it? Oh my, it's so true. Hallelujah to our great God and
King. And then it goes on, which is
the head of all principality and power. He's in full charge,
beloved. That's Colossians 2, verses 9
and 10. I love that. Complete in him. You can't add nothing. It's so
full that you can't add nothing. Nothing man's works, nothing
at all. He's done it all, beloved. Christ
did it all. We're complete. That's why God the Father can
look at us now and say, I don't see no sin. I see Christ. I see my son. Well, we remember
our sins. God says, I don't remember your
sins. Now, if he doesn't remember them, we should forget them too,
shouldn't we? Right? We shouldn't let them come back
to haunt us and condemn us. They're all bought and paid for,
beloved. Amen. Donny Bell says, he says, I don't
look back at my sins with guilt anymore. God paid for it all.
Yeah, he just looks forward now. I think that's wise. Because
see, what can happen, we can look back, and I've done many,
go, oh my gosh, Lord. And I think it's good in one
way, because it brings us to repentance, right? But we ought
not to wallow in that. What ought to come to our mind
right after that is, you're complete in Christ, bought with a price. It is finished. is done, and
God remembers our sins no more. Oh, if I could just live in that
fact, right, and not let the things I did come back to haunt
me sometimes, and just live in that fact that God don't remember
my sins anymore. Oh, Lord, give me grace to do
that. Give me grace just to do that. Oh, my. Secondly, the journey
that Elijah took is a picture of the condescension and ascension
of our Lord. First he came to Gilgal, we saw
that when we were reading, which means wheel or rolling. And this is, Tim James brought
this up, he said this is indicative of the purpose and providence
as intent to the journey that he had. He had to go, he had
to cross that Jordan River. He had to be carried up in a
chariot, he had to. Then he went to Gilgal, from
Gilgal to Bethel, which means house of God. Christ Jesus our
Lord came into this world according to the purpose of God. Why? For the salvation of his elect.
He came. He left the house of God. He was in glory. He left. He left heaven, came down to
this world. My, his coming from glory, the
house of God, then back to glory when his work was complete, was
all for the salvation of his people, all to save us from our
sins. That's the only reason he came, to ratify that eternal
covenant of grace. And then Elijah went from Bethel
to Jericho, and this speaks of Christ leaving glory to come
to this cursed ground, because we're going to see in Jericho
that the water's cursed there. And Elijah's going to, by the
power of God, God's going to do a miracle. Later on, if you
want to read forward, you can see it in the next chapter. God's
going to do a miracle there. Well, what did Christ do? He
came down from heaven, didn't he? He dwelt among sinners, didn't
he? This also pictures his substitution when he was made sin for his
elect at Calvary's cross. Our sins were imputed to him
and his righteousness was given to us. That's absolutely amazing. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. He didn't change when He's dying on that cross. He's
the just one dying for the unjust. He offered Himself up without
spot, without blemish, right? Our sins just laid upon Him and
He bore it all, beloved. He suffered the eternal punishment
due to us, due to me. In those three hours of darkness,
and he died of his own volition. He died of his own will. Yeah. No one takes my life. That's
right. Yeah. He's the only one going
to offer that life up. And he did it because of his
love for you and I brought up loving. Oh my. Then Elijah went down to Jordan,
the place of death, right? You often hear Jordan talked
about, I'm going to cross that Jordan into the land of Canaan. Right? The Israelites had to
cross that Jordan to get into the promised land, didn't they?
Oh, and Christ promised we'd be in glory with them, didn't
he? So heaven's often called Canaan land by God's people. Oh, he had to cross that Jordan.
But did he cross over in the midst of the water roaring and
all that? No, he threw down his mantle and crossed over on dry
land. Yay, the Lord will be with us
even through the valley of the shadow of death. He'll ever be
with us. He'll never leave us. He'll never
leave us. Oh, death's just like us going
through a door, beloved, right into glory. Oh, so he went down,
he crossed the Jordan, the place of death, and think of the Lord,
too. Lord, Lord, Lord died for three
days, he was dead. He made himself alive again though,
didn't he, by the power of God. Oh my, he's so amazing. And Elijah
crossed over in the midst of the Jordan, right? On dry land, he came out alive
on the other side. Oh my, you mean when we get to
the other side, we come out alive? Death has no more sting, beloved,
no more sting. We come out on the other side
alive. We die here, we breathe our last breath, and then we,
I like what Donnie said, I'm gonna keep saying it, we go into
the land of the living. We leave the land of the dead
and go into the land of the living. That's where we're headed, beloved.
We're headed to the land of the living. Oh my. Oh my. And then, from the Jordan's,
Death and life. Elijah, he never tasted death.
He just went right up to glory. Now we're gonna taste death,
but it's got no sting anymore, does it? It's got no more sting. The minute, the millisecond we
breathe our last breath, we're in the presence of the Lord.
Just like that. Magnificent. Absolutely magnificent. And beloved, our Lord's coming
again. He is coming again. Oh, He's going to return glorious
to the earth and subject that will and occupy the mind of all. Of all. He's going to come and
there's going to be a great day of judgment, isn't there? A great
day of reckoning. People say, well, I don't believe
in Christ. Well, I'll tell you what. Whether you believe Him
or not, you're going to see Him. And here be your judge, or here
be your savior. In my prayer, our prayer, is
that he's your savior. That you meet him in Christ,
by the power and might of God, the Holy Spirit, and by the will
of God. Listen to this. And from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved
us, how long? everlasting love that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his blood. Again, our sins come
before us. They've been washed in the precious
blood of Christ, beloved. They're gone and hath made us
sinners, kings and priests unto God and to his father. To him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1
verses 5 and 6 and then Revelation 5, 9 and 10. And they sang a
new song. They sang, the saints and our
sister, and Billy, Sister KJ, they're singing a new song, beloved.
They're singing a new song. What's the new song? Thou art
worthy, Lord, you're worthy, to take the book and to open
the seals thereof, for thou was slain. You died for us, Lord. It doesn't say, we made a decision. It says, thou was slain. See,
all the glory in heaven goes to God, not the man. It all goes
to God, it all goes to Christ. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us. How? By the giving of his life,
beloved, at Calvary's Cross. Redeemed us to God. Reconciled us. We preach the
ministry of reconciliation. Be ye reconciled to God. How? Through Christ Jesus the Lord.
That's the only way. redeemed us to God by thy blood. There it is. By thy blood. The
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Precious blood. And Peter wrote, the precious
blood of Christ Jesus our Lord. More valuable than silver and
gold. The precious blood of Christ.
And how have we been redeemed? Out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation. and made us unto our God kings
and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation chapter
five, verses nine and 10. Washed by the precious blood
of Christ, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. And thirdly,
we see Elijah tells Elijah that the manner of giving the double
portion of the spirit is a hard thing. And this assures us that
the giving of the Spirit is not by man's request. It's not by
man's request. We don't seek God, right? None of us. It's not by man's
request. It's by the will of God, and
the will of God alone, beloved. Remember King David, Mephibosheth? Go and fetch him. Oh, the Holy
Spirit fetches God's people. That's why the old-timers used
to call it fetching grace. Fetching grace. Go and get them.
Oh, it's glorious. And Elijah told Elijah that he
will have his desire if he is witness to his glorious ascension.
And beloved God marveled at this, as the Holy Spirit has given
his elect faith to see the glorious ascension of Christ, even though
we weren't there. We can see it in our mind's eye of faith,
can't we? And where do we see him now? By faith. We see him
seated at the right hand of glory. We've never seen him, but we
see him there by faith. That's a miracle, beloved. That's
a miracle of God. It's wonderful. And how do we
see? How do we see that Christ finished
the work of salvation? By God-given faith, right? And
how? Through the preaching of the
gospel. I did not know any of this until I heard the gospel.
Just words, and I had a God in my imagination that I thought
weighed me in the scales of justice, and I turned out good. Oh man,
no way. God doesn't operate that way.
God, first and foremost, I heard this in the message again by
Henry, this is fantastic. First and foremost, the greatest
attribute of God, His holiness. His holiness. God, the law reflects
that, right? It reflects His holiness. The
Bible is called the Holy Bible. The angels that didn't fall are
called holy angels. Christ Jesus our Lord, by the
demons, was called the Holy One of Israel. He's holy, he's righteous,
and he's so holy that we can't be in his presence in our filthy
righteousness. But we can be clothed in that
spotless righteousness of Christ, can't we? And again, that's how
God sees us, it's marvelous. So the Holy Spirit's given us
God-given faith to see, even though we weren't there at Calvary's
cross, we see the finished work of Christ, don't we, by faith. My. And we hear it through the
preaching of the gospel. And finally, in the desire and
action of the 50 prophets, we see the flesh revealed. Though
they saw Elijah carried away, and though they were made aware
it would happen previously, they still wanted to search for his
body. They were like, let's go look
for his body. Sight begets the need for sight,
and faith believes without sight. We've never seen Christ, and
yet we believe in Him. We trust our eternal souls to Him, even
though we've never seen Him. We will, though. Our faith will
one day become sight. It will be. We're promised that,
aren't we? I'll go to prepare a place for
you, and then I'm going to come and get you. Oh my, it's wonderful. And Elijah
told them, they're wasting, he says, you're wasting your time
going and looking for Elijah. He's gone. He's gone up into
glory. But they insisted. And what was
the result? They found no body of Elijah,
did they? They didn't find nothing. And
Elijah said, Tim James Elijah said, I told you so. It's so true. And think of this,
the preacher keeps bringing forth before our minds the fact that
we as God's people believe without sight. And I'm preaching to myself
every time I preach the gospel. We believe without sight. The
natural man refuses to believe without sight. They always say, show me some
proof. Well, then it's not by faith, is it? And you know, I used to be one
of them guys. But God in His glory and in His
mercy, I see Christ now without sight. I realize now that I was
blind. Were you blind? Couldn't see
nothing, could we? Now we've got eyes to see. Them
ear gates have been opened, haven't they? Eye gates, the two eye
gates. By faith, there's Christ. There's
Christ. You know, and I don't have a
face of who Christ is, because none of us know what He looks
like. But I'll tell you, I see Him sitting there on His throne,
by faith. Oh my. And I'll tell you what,
when we get to glory, He's going to be absolutely beautiful. We're going to be enamored with
Him. You know why? Think about how your brides were
enamored with you. Right? We're His brides. He purchased
us, He gave His life for us. Think of how enamored we were
with our brides. So the love goes both ways, doesn't
it? Isn't that amazing? It goes both
ways, beloved. Except His love is an everlasting
love. Oh my, oh my. So let we who are the people
of God be careful not to fall into the having to see something, to believe. Help us not to be prone to look
for something. See if God's doing something. God's always doing
something. God's doing something right in
this work, whether we see it or not. He's doing something. God's doing something with every
message that goes out in the internet, whether we see it or not. He's
doing something, beloved. So therefore, let us give glory
to God. Let us give Him all the glory and honor and praise. Let's
not waste our time looking for things. Let's just