If you would open your Bibles
back to 2 Kings chapter two, passage Brother Eric just read
for us. I titled the message this morning, Where is the Lord
God of Elijah? Now Elijah is getting ready to
depart and go be with the Lord. And when that happens, Elisha
will now become the prophet in Israel. Somehow the Lord has
showed them this. Both of them know what's gonna
happen today. And Elijah keeps trying to get Elisha to stay
there, and Elisha says, nope, I'm not gonna leave your side.
Ever since it's been revealed to him, Elijah's gonna be taken
to glory today. Elisha says, I won't leave your
side. And eventually, Elisha does see
Elijah depart. Verse 11 of 2 Kings chapter two.
And it came to pass as they still went on and talked, that behold,
there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and part of
them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And Elisha 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 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 Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him and smote the waters and said, where is
the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten
the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went
over. Now I know that even though Elisha
knew this was coming, he was filled with sorrow at this time. He had, you know he was, he was
gonna miss his mentor. He was gonna miss his dear friend,
Elijah. And I really don't think that
Elisha is asking where is the Lord God of Elijah, because he
didn't know where God is. Elisha had asked for a double
portion of the spirit that the Lord had given to Elijah. Elisha
wanted double of that spirit so that he could preach and prophesy
and glorify God in Israel. He wasn't asking that blessing
for himself, like, you know, I'm twice as good a preacher
as Elijah was. He asked for a double portion
for God's glory. You imagine how Elisha felt at
this time. Now he's the prophet in Israel. People are dependent on him to
give them a word from God. He was very wise to pray for
a double portion, as far as I can tell. He wanted God to be glorified. The Lord had given Elisha a double
portion of his spirit, so Elisha did know the Lord. He knew the
Lord, he knew where the Lord is. I believe Elisha is mostly
saying, here is the Lord God of Elisha. Maybe those 50 sons
of the prophets were there. Here is the Lord God of Elisha.
You see him by faith. And here's what I mean by that.
When they first crossed over, Jordan, Elisha took his mantle
and wrapped it around his hand and he smoked the waters and
they parted so that he and Elisha could cross over on dry ground. Well, now Elijah's gone. He'd
been taken to glory and Elisha has received the commission from
the Lord. Now it's time for you to take
up Elijah's ministry. And the token of that was he
had Elijah's mantle. Elijah dropped his mantle there
for Elisha to take it up. And Elisha took that same mantle
that Elijah had dropped and he went back over to the River Jordan,
smoked the River Jordan with the mantle And it parted again. He walked back over on dry ground.
Now here's the point of all that. Elisha is now taking up the ministry
that Elijah left. And Elisha is using the same
means that Elijah used. He's not trying to do something
different. He's not trying to do something new. He's using
the same means that Elijah used. And he got the same results.
Now here's the lesson for us today. If we would be useful
in preaching Christ to our generation, we're gonna have to use the same
means that Elijah used. And Elisha and all the other
prophets and the apostles and all the great preachers of the
past, we're gonna have to use the same means that they used.
And you know the means that they used? The unvarnished word of
God. They didn't use psychological
tricks, they didn't, appeal to people's emotions. They didn't
go down to the seminary and find a course on church building and
how to win friends and influence people. The only means that they
used is the unvarnished word of God. Thus saith the Lord. This is the only means that God
uses to give faith to his people. It's the word of God. This is
the seed God uses to give life to his people And this word is
what God uses to bless the hearts of his people, to feed them,
to edify them, to comfort them, to teach them. It's only the
word of God. And I'll show you more about
the importance of that in just a minute. If I used all this
introduction, Elisha said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? He
wanted to know. Well, you and I need to know
the Lord God of Elijah. Not just where he is, we need
to know him. just as much as Elisha ever did, because the
only way you and I will ever be saved is if the Lord God of
Elijah is pleased to save us by his mercy and by his grace.
So we need to know the Lord God of Elijah, don't we? And I tell
you why it's so important to know the Lord God of Elijah.
And I know it's the same Lord God, the same God over all. But
the Lord God revealed himself through the ministry of Elijah
in some special ways. The Lord God of Elijah is the
God of judgment. One day, God came to Elijah,
he said, now you go down there to King Ahab and you tell him
there's gonna be no rain in the land until you say so. Elijah
came and announced this judgment to King Ahab, there's gonna be,
this is God's judgment, there's gonna be no rain in the land.
There's gonna be a great famine in the land because of this drought.
Elijah's the one who came and told them that's gonna happen.
Then the God of Elijah is the God of providence. During that
time of famine, God sent Elijah to go down and live by a brook. And every morning and every evening,
Elijah was there by that brook. You know what happened? Ravens
flew in with flesh and bread in their beaks and dropped them
there to Elijah. Elijah had something to eat.
Everybody's suffering in this famine, Elijah had plenty to
eat. The ravens brought it to him. They didn't eat it themselves. They brought it and dropped it
to Elijah. Now only God could do that. Only God who rules over
all of the providence, over everything in his creation, could make those
birds act against their nature and not eat that food and bring
it to Elijah. The Lord God of Elijah is the
God of providence. Then the God of Elijah, the God
of election. During this drought and this
famine, the Lord passed by every widow in Israel, every Jewish
widow, and sent his prophet to a widow woman in Sarepta, a Gentile,
a Gentile widow, just one, and she was a Gentile. He sent his
prophet to her, And the Lord used that as an illustration.
In his very first public message, he used that as an illustration,
this event with Elijah and this widow woman, as an illustration
of his electing law. He passed by all those Jewish
widows and sent his prophet to one Gentile widow. And people
heard what he was saying. And they hated him so bad, they
tried to throw him off a cliff and kill him. Now I know the
nature of man. hates the God of election. But
that's who God is nevertheless. He's the Lord God of Elijah.
God Almighty is the God of election. He chose a people to save. He
will save those people. Nothing's gonna stop him from
doing it. That's God. And I'll quote my dear friend
Chris Cunningham and tell you, if you don't believe that, I
ain't mad at you. But I want you to know this is
what God's word says. This is who God is. Then the God of Elijah is the
God of creation. During that famine, Elijah came
to live with this widow woman. Remember the story, he came,
he saw her there. And he called to her and she
told him, she said, I just got this, he wanted something to
eat. She said, well, I just got this little bit of oil. This
is a little bit of meal. It's not much, I'm collecting
two sticks to make a fire. You know, that's all I need.
I don't need a very big fire to make me and my son a cake and
then we're gonna die. We're gonna starve to death.
And Elijah told her, make me a little cake first. Then make
one for yourself. And she did. And Elijah stayed
there many days. And every morning, that little
bit of oil and that little bit of meal wasn't enough just, you
know, to make her and her son a cake and they're gonna die.
That crucible of oil was full every morning. That meal was
full, whatever container she used was full every day. She
used it up, emptied it, no more oil, no more meal. Next morning
it was full again. That's the God of creation. God
was creating matter and putting it there to provide for his people. Then the God of Elijah is the
God who gives life. One day that widow woman's son
died. His only son. She sent for the
prophet. And Elijah came, he prayed. He
laid his body on top of that boy's dead body and he prayed
and the Lord brought that boy back to life. The God of Elijah
is the God who gives life, physical and spiritual life. If you're
gonna have it, he's gonna have to give it to you. Then the God of Elijah is the
God of the sacrifice, the sacrifice for sin. He is the sacrifice
and he is the one who accepts the sacrifice. That's what the
Lord showed on Mount Carmel. Remember the prophets of Baal,
400 of them came and stood against One man, just Elijah. And they
went through all these shenanigans, but they couldn't get fire to
fall on their sacrifice from heaven. No fire fell. But look
at 1 Kings chapter 18. The fire of God, the God of Elijah,
sure fell on his sacrifice and burned it up, didn't he? Showing
everyone that the Lord God of Elijah is God alone. 1 Kings
18, beginning in verse 30. This is after the prophets of
Baal that went from morning to evening, and they couldn't get
fire to fall from heaven. And Elijah said unto all the
people, verse 30, come near unto me. And all the people came near
unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken
down. And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the
tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord
came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones
he built an altar, the name of the Lord. And he made a trench
about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of
seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in
pieces and laid him on the wood and said, fill four barrels with
water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And
he said, do it the second time. And they did the second time.
And he said, do it the third time. And they did the third
time. And the water ran round about
the altar, and he filled the trench also with water. And it
came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice
that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham,
Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art
God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have
done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me,
that this people may know that thou art the Lord God. and that
thou hast turned their heart back again. And the fire of the
Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the
stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the
trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces
and they said, the Lord, Jehovah, he is God. The Lord, he is God. That fire fell from heaven and
showed us that Elijah's God is the Lord God. Elijah's God is
the God who puts away sin by the death and the sacrifice of
his son. When his son stood as a substitute
for his people and the fire of God's wrath fell on him so that
it wouldn't fall on the people. God sacrificed his son as the
payment for the sin of his people and his death satisfied the justice
of God. There's no more fire of God's
justice left for God's people. It extinguished itself on the
sacrifice. Now that's the Lord God of Elisha.
That's who he is. And I'm like Elisha, I wanna
know him. Don't you? I wanna know him,
I want you to know him. I want to know where God is.
Where is he? So that I can come to him and
beg him to have mercy on me. Maybe he'd be pleased to do it.
Maybe he'd be pleased to give me life. So let's look in God's
word. See if we can't find out where
the Lord God of Elijah is. If you look over a page there
at 1 Kings chapter 19, Elijah's mentor could have told Elisha
where the Lord is. The Lord is in the still small
voice of his word. 1 Kings 19 verse nine. And he, Elijah, came thither
into a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him. And he said unto him, what doest thou hear, Elijah?
Well, Elijah's feeling down, he's feeling real sorry for himself.
He said, I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. For
the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant. They've thrown
down thine altars and slain the prophets with the sword. And
I, even I only, am left. And they seek my life to take
it away. And he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before
the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong
wind rent the mountains and break it in pieces, and break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so when Elijah
heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out
and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there
came a voice unto him and said, now, what doest thou hear Elijah? You know, if we ever see the
Lord and hear from the Lord, we're going to do what Elijah
did there. We're going to cover our faces.
We're going to cover our faces in shame, cover our faces before
the Lord. But now, when did Elijah hear
from the Lord? Well, it wasn't in the wind,
was it? This wind, I mean, can you imagine this wind? It was
so strong, it broke rocks in pieces. I mean, what a wind. And the wind in Scripture usually
pictures the Holy Spirit, but I know this wind doesn't picture
the Holy Spirit, because the Lord wasn't in the wind. He wasn't
in this wind. I'll tell you what this loud
wind is a picture of. It's a picture of man's way of
religion. Man's way of religion makes a
big show of the Holy Spirit. But the Lord's not in it. Man's
way is to make a show of the Holy Spirit, not to make a show
of Christ. Not to get people looking at Christ, but to make
a show of the Spirit. Get people looking at the Holy
Spirit, really, what they want is by people looking at them.
They make a show of the Spirit by speaking in tongues, acting
like they're healing folks. You know, get in some sort of
trance and sway around and, you know, whatever. Oh, the Spirit,
you know, is on that person. Everybody's so impressed, you
know. It makes a big show. It impresses
the flesh. But Christ isn't there. Christ
isn't there. The Lord is not in that kind
of womb. And Elijah didn't hear from the Lord in the earthquake.
The earthquake, I mean, it had to be something else, wouldn't
you say? But the Lord's not in a bunch of physical signs and
wonders. These things that the earthquake causes, they're impressive
to the flesh. I mean, they're just awe-inspiring,
you know? But the Lord's not in that. He wasn't in the earthquake.
The Lord's not in a religion of fleshly works and fleshly
goings-on that impress the flesh. The Lord wasn't in that. And
then there came a big fire. I mean, it's a fire from the
Lord. It had to be very impressive and probably very scary, but
the Lord wasn't in the fire. He was in the fire that fell
in sacrifice, wasn't he? But not in this fire, not in
this fire. I believe this fire is a picture
of the preaching of the law, the threats of the law, fire
and brimstone preaching. Someone told me recently, he
said, now there's a time for fire and brimstone preaching.
I haven't found it yet. I haven't found it yet. Fire
and brimstone preaching, at least is the way I understand what
that is, is using threats of the law. God's gonna send you
to hell if you don't act good enough. You better straighten
up, start acting right, start doing this, and start doing this,
and start doing this, and quit doing this, and quit doing this,
and quit doing this, or all that God's gonna put the fire of hell
on you. That's fire and brimstone preaching. Brethren, the Lord's not in that
fire. He's not in it. Fire and brimstone
preaching might scare a person half to death and make them seek
some sort of a refuge, a refuge from the storm, a refuge from
damnation. I don't wanna go to hell. I don't
want to be condemned. I mean, I don't. But salvation's
a whole lot more than not going to hell. Salvation is knowing
Christ. It's trusting Christ. It's loving
Christ. It's wanting to be where Christ
is. There's a big difference there. If a person just seeks
a refuge from the storm because they don't want to go to hell,
what do you do when the storm has passed? What do you do then? I tell you what draws sinners
to Christ. It's not threats of the law.
It's not threats God's going to smack you around if you don't
do right. The believer is drawn to Christ by cords of love. It's
his love. I said in the lesson today, it's
the love of Christ that caused him, that moved him to be lifted
up on a cross and sacrificed for the sin of his people. Now
I know this because the Savior said it. When all, all that the
Father has given you, When all see me lifted up, they'll
be drawn to me. Gary, we got to preach Christ.
Christ and Him crucified. Lift Him up in His glory as the
sacrifice. Not with threats, but with His
electing love for His people. With His sacrificial love for
His people. With His love that moved Him
to save His people from their sin. Lift Him up that way. His
people will be drawn to Him. You can't threaten anybody into
the kingdom of God. You enter by faith. We'll lift
Christ up so people see Him and know Him. So they'll believe
on Him. That's how sinners are drawn to Christ. So the Lord
wasn't in the wind. He wasn't in the earthquake and
He wasn't in the fire. But when everything quieted down, there
was a still small voice. The Lord was in that place. The
Lord was speaking to Elijah in then. See, the Holy Spirit, when
he moves in power, oh, when the Holy Spirit blows through, you're
gonna know it. You're not gonna know it because somebody starts
acting strange. You're gonna know it because now they have
faith in Christ where they didn't before. That's how you know the
Holy Spirit's blown through. And when the Holy Spirit moves
in power, it's not in a big show. of religion. The Holy Spirit
moves in power to reveal Christ. That's what the Savior said when
the comforters come. He's speaking the Holy Spirit
to show you the things of mine. The Holy Spirit never makes a
show of himself. He points sinners to Christ.
That's the job of the Holy Spirit. And I tell you how he does it.
It's through the simple preaching of the unvarnished word of God.
That's how he does it. That's how he spoke to the light.
It was in a simple way, wasn't it? A still, small voice. And God still speaks to his people
in that still, small voice. Here we are in this crowd. God
could be speaking to you, you feel like you're the only one
here. He's speaking to your heart. And I hope he's doing it to a
bunch of hearts at once, but you feel like it's just you.
That's that still small voice God's speaking to your heart,
speaking to your heart. And I'll show you a beautiful
illustration of this in Matthew chapter eight. We just don't need to preach
anything but God's word, because this is how God's word, that's
how he speaks to his people. There's such a beautiful illustration
of this in Matthew chapter eight. Verse five. And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him, and
saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously
tormented. Jesus saith unto him, I'll come
in healing. In the modern religion would
say, whoop-de-doo. Jesus is gonna come and there's gonna be a big
healing service. There's gonna be anointing with oil. There's
gonna be, oh, I mean, what a show he's gonna do raising this servant
from the sickbed. But look what the centurion said.
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou
shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my
servant shall be healed. I just need your word. The power
that's in your word. And he said, he said, I understand
that. I understand, you know, you're the sovereign. I understand
the power of your word and giving orders. He said, I'm a man under
authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this man, go, and
he goeth. And to another come, he comes. And my servant do this,
he does it. And that's why he's saying, Lord,
you have power, power in your word. Just command it, just speak
it. And when Jesus heard it, he marveled
and said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I've not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel. That man's servant
was healed by the word, by the command of God. And that is our
commission today. That's what Paul told Timothy.
Preach the word, Timothy. In every season, in every circumstance,
whether people like it or don't like it, no matter what people
think of you, Timothy, preach the word. Preach the word as
plainly and clearly as you possibly can. Because the Lord God of
Elijah, if you're gonna find him, you're gonna find him in
his word. That's where he's pleased to reveal himself. The saving
power of God is found in his word. Now the Lord's still in
the still small voice. God doesn't change. He's still
in that still small voice. If you would hear from God, if
there's anybody here that wants to hear from God and wants to
meet God, tell you what to do. You find a man preaching Christ
and you park yourself and listen to him. God's in a still, small
voice. All right, number two, look at
Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Second, where is the Lord God
of Elijah? He's ruling on the throne in heaven. Psalm 115 verse
two. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God's in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Now where's the Lord
God of Elijah? He's right where he's always
been. He's on the throne, ruling as the sovereign potentate over
everything. Everything, everything is creation.
Every movement, every thought, every idea, every motive, everything. He's ruling over everything. David says, our God's on the
throne. Want to tell you what he's doing
there? Whatever it pleases him to do. Whatever he's pleased
to do, that's what he's doing. And I tell you, that thrills
my soul. To hear that, to think of that,
to be able to believe that, Our God is on the throne and he's
doing whatsoever he pleases. You know why that thrills me?
Because scripture tells us some of the things he's pleased to
do. Scripture says it pleased the Lord to make you his people. Now can you imagine such a thing? God who's so separate from us,
he's holy, he's I mean, just how separate he is from us, how
opposite we are of him and our sin and filth and decay. Yet, it pleased the Lord to choose
a sinful people to make his people. It pleased the Lord not to choose
good people to save, but to choose the worst of the worst. It pleased
the Lord to choose sinners to save them by his grace, by the
sacrifice and the obedience of his son. This is the truth of
election. Almighty God pleased to make
a people his. They didn't choose him. He chose
them. And he did it because the Lord's
good. He didn't do it because he saw any good in anybody he
chose. The Lord chose a people that pleased him to make you
his people because the Lord's good. Oh, I'm glad the Lord's
doing whatsoever he pleases, aren't you? Next, look at Isaiah chapter
53. Here's something else, it pleased the Lord. It pleased
the Lord to save those people that he chose by the sacrifice
of his son. Isaiah 53. Verse 10. Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, and
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It pleased
the Lord to bruise his son. Even though his son had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, he never
committed a sin. He never thought a sin. He never
wanted to do it. There's no sin in him, yet it
still pleased his father to bruise him, to torture him, Crush Him
as a sacrifice for sin. Why did it please the Father
to bruise His Son if His Son never committed sin? Because
it pleased the Lord to make Him sin for us who knew no sin. Christ was made sin for His people
so that the Son, by His sacrifice, could put away the sin that made
God angry. When it pleased the Lord, it
pleased the father to bruise the son, because by his sacrifice,
all the sin of his people was taken away forever. So now God
in justice and holiness, without violating his character, can
do what he intended to do in the first place, be merciful
to sinners. He can do that, he can be merciful
to you if Christ suffered for your sin. God can give you what
you don't deserve, if he gave his son what you do deserve.
Thank God it pleased him to do that. I'm thrilled God's on the
throne doing what he pleases, aren't you? Now, that was what
God intended to do. Did he do it? I mean, this is
only good news if he accomplished it. Did he do it? Well, Isaiah
said, the pleasure of the Lord's gonna prosper in his hand. It
prospered. In verse 11, he said, he shall
see the travail of his soul. and he shall be satisfied. By
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Everyone God purposed to save
is saved. Their sin is put away by the
sacrifice of Christ. And Isaiah wrote that seven or
800 years before Christ was even born. And he wrote in the past
tense, this thing's done. He shall not fail. See God's
ruling in heaven. He's ruling as the potentate
over everything. God's sovereign. I mean, don't
we call ourselves, we call ourselves sovereign gracers? No. God's sovereignty is not just
something that distinguishes us from the freewheelers. God's
sovereignty is the guarantee of the salvation of his people.
Since God's sovereign, nothing can stop him from accomplishing
his purpose. I'm thankful that God's sovereign,
aren't you? All right, number three, look
at 2 Corinthians 5. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? He's in Christ. He's in Christ. If you would see God, you've
got to see Christ, because the Lord God of Elijah is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18. and all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath committed
to us this ministry of reconciliation, to wit, now this is our ministry,
this is our message, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
he hath committed unto us this word of reconciliation. We have a word of reconciliation,
how sinners can be reconciled to God Because God was in Christ. That's what he says, God was
in Christ. And I tell you why God was in Christ. Because the
Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is God. He's not a special
manifestation of God. He's not just a prophet of God.
He is God. Isaiah said his name should be
called Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father. Now, how
can the son be the everlasting father? Because he's God. I mean,
I just can't be any other explanation. He's God, that's how. He's God.
And I'll tell you why that's so important. That the Lord Jesus
Christ is God. Because the only way sinners
can be saved is if the man Jesus of Nazareth is God. It's the
only way we can be saved. See, the savior has to be a real
man so he can be our representative. He has to be a real man so he
can suffer as our substitute. A ram can't suffer as my substitute. The only way I can have a substitute
that means anything is if he's got my nature. He's got to be
a man. Well, God can't be our substitute, can he? He's got
a different nature than us. So God became a man. So our substitute would be a
real man. But if this man's gonna save
us from our sin, he's got to be God. He's got to be God. He's got to have the holiness
of God. He's got to have the righteousness of God. He's got
to have the love of God. He's got to have the power of
God if he's gonna save sinners. Well, Paul tells us God was in
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. So he's got the power. He's got the righteousness. He's
got the holiness. He's got the love. He's got the
deity to save his people from their sins. And since the Lord
Jesus Christ is both the son of God and the son of man, he's
the God man. And that gives us a message of
reconciliation. This is how sinners are reconciled
to God. Christ is the suitable sacrifice.
He's God, so he's holy, and he's sinless. The sacrifice has got
to be a sinless sacrifice, doesn't it? And he's a man, so he can
be our substitute. He's a man, so he's got blood
to shed. And his blood is sinless. pure blood, which is able to
cleanse his people from all of their sin. Now, since God was
in Christ, he's able to do what he came to do, to save his people
from their sin. That's the Lord God of Elijah.
I can't tell you how desperately I want him to be my God too,
because he's the only savior. Then fourthly, look at second
Peter chapter one. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? He's in his people. 2 Peter 1 verse 3, according as
his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue. And what Paul's talking about
here is the new man who's born of God in the new birth. Only
the new man, can have the things that pertain to life and godliness.
The flesh don't have those things because it's dead in sin. Only
a new man can have the things that pertain to life and godliness.
God gives us those things in that new man born of God. And
that new man is born bearing the nature of our heavenly father. Verse four, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that's in the world through lust. A believer is a partaker of the
divine nature because a child is a partaker of the nature of
his father in him. I'm a partaker of the nature
of Frank Tate Senior, my father. Every believer is a partaker
of the divine nature because God is our father. God dwells in the hearts of his
people. That's why Paul said, don't you
know you're the temple of God? God dwells in you. I'll tell
you, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. But the Lord
God of Elijah gives his people a holy nature, but he causes
them to be born again. Now, what a miracle. God would
cause a holy nature to be born in his people so that we can
see him. Oh, that's the Lord God of Elijah.
I want that God to be my God, don't you? Then last, if you
want to know, I hope in telling you about the Lord God of Elijah,
it's my prayer that was ignited in your heart as such a desire
to know him. I hope you're saying along with
me, I want this God to be my God. Well, if you want to know
the Lord God of Elijah, you want to hear from him, you want to
be given faith in him, you want to be given life in him, I'll
tell you the best way to do that. It's my fifth point. The Lord
God of Elijah is wherever his people meet together to worship.
In Matthew 18 verse 20, our Lord comforted his disciples and he
told them where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them. Now there is an importance in
public worship. It's so important. If you would
hear from God, you're gonna hear from him in public worship. Now,
there's absolutely, I mean, there's such a benefit in reading and
studying on your own, benefit maybe listening to messages online
or something. But I'm telling you, there's
no substitute for public worship. Because I don't know about the
internet. I don't know, you know, for sure about when I'm reading,
you know, on my own. But I do know this, God's promised,
Christ has promised. He's in the midst of us this
morning. I do know that. That's how important public worship
is. But that's also the sweetness
of it, isn't it? The sweetness of public worship is the Savior
meeting with us as well. That's just so sweet to think
about. He'd condescend to meet with us as we attempt to worship
him. If you wanna meet from God, if
you wanna meet God, you wanna hear from God, tell you what
to do. Be wherever he's preached, because
that's where you're gonna hear from him. Isn't that a blessing? I pray God make it, be pleased
in his mercy and grace to make it so for us this morning. Let's
bow together. Father, how we thank you for
this, your word. How we thank you, Father, that
you've been pleased to reveal yourself to your people by the
preaching of your word. And Father, I beg of you that
this morning you would be pleased to reveal yourself to each and
every heart here this morning. From the youngest to the oldest,
from the unbeliever to the oldest believer, what we all need, Father,
is that you would reveal yourself to us in the heart. And I pray
by your mercy, by your grace, and for your glory that you'd
be pleased to do it. Father, it's for the glory of
Christ our Savior. For his sake we pray, amen.