We're to turn to 2 Kings chapter
one. And I'd like to remind you, if
we do not preach the gospel from any passage, we've not dealt
with it as God the Holy Spirit presents it in the word. Remember
that whatever we're dealing with, it must be The Gospel. 2 Kings chapter 1 beginning in verse 1. Then Moab rebelled against Israel
after the death of Ahab and Ahaziah fell down. Now he was Ahab's
son, now the king of Israel. And Isaiah
fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in
Samaria and was sick. He was severely injured. And
he sent messengers and said unto them, Go inquire of Beelzebub,
the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease. Now
later on in the New Testament, you'll see that Beelzebub is
called Satan. Now he was a God of Ekron and
he went on to be named as one of the names of Satan. And one
of the things I was thinking about this, you either serve
the Lord or Satan. I think of where the Lord said,
you're your father, the devil and the lusts of your father,
you will do. That's every unbeliever, every
unbeliever and every believer serves the Lord. Now let's go
and read him. But the angel of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.
Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say
unto them, is it not because there's not a God in Israel that
you go to inquire Baal's above, the God of Ekrom? Now therefore
thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not come down from that bed on
which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. And when the messenger turned
back unto him, he said unto them, why are you now turned back?
What are you doing back here so quick? And they said unto him, there
came a man to meet us and said unto us, go turn again to the
king that sent you and say unto him, thus saith the Lord. Is
it not because there's not a God in Israel that thou sendest to
inquire bales above the God of Ekron? Therefore thou shalt not
come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely
die. And he said unto them, what manner of man was he which came
up to meet you and told you these words? And they answered, he
was a hairy man. and girt about with a girdle
of leather about his loins. And he said, it's Elijah the
Tishbite. You see, he grew up experiencing
Elijah the Tishbite. He was Ahab's son. He knew of
what Elijah had done and the fire coming down from heaven.
He knew all about Elijah. Then the king sent unto him a
captain of 50 with his 50. And he went up to him and behold,
he sat upon the top of a hill. I like to think of that, him
just sitting there on the top of a hill. And he spake unto
him, thou man of God, the king has said, come down. And Elijah
answered and said to the captain of 50, if I be a man of God,
then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy
50. And there came down fire from
heaven and consumed him and his 50. I imagine all that was left
was ashes, not even charred bodies, ashes. Again also he sent unto
him another captain of 50 with his 50 and he answered and said
unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, come down
quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, if I be a
man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee
and thy 50. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed
him and his 50. And he sent again a captain of
the third 50 with his 50. And the third captain of the
50 went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and
besought him and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let
my life and the life of these 50, thy servants be precious
in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down
from heaven and burn up the two captains of the former fifties
with their fifties. Therefore, let my life now be
precious in thy sight. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Elijah, go down with him, be not afraid of him. And he
rose and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto him,
Thus saith the Lord, forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers
to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Akron, Ekron, is it not
because there is no god in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore
thou shalt not come down off thy bed, on which thou art gone
up, but shalt surely die. So he died, according to the
word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jeroam reigned
in his stead in the second year of Jeroam, the son of Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah, because he had no son. Now the rest of the
acts of Ahaziah, which he did, are they not written in the book
of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would be in our midst, that you'd speak to our hearts
from your word. We pray that thy son may be exalted
and glorified, and you would enable us to look to him as all. Lord, we confess our sins. They're
ever before us. Forgive us and cleanse us. And
Lord, we long for that day when we will no longer have a sinful
nature. Lord, we earnestly desire to be found in thy son. Be with
all your people everywhere where they meet together. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen. Now, this event we just read
of is spoken of in the New Testament. You remember in Luke chapter
9, you can read about it, where the disciples had gone into a
place and they rejected them. And they came up with this suggestion
to the Lord. They said, Lord, wilt thou that
we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them
the way Elijah did? I mean, here we come in and they
reject us. Why don't we just fetch fire down from heaven and
put them to death? And the Lord rebuked him sharply. He said,
you know not what manner of spirit you're in. And so I think people
have used that passage of scripture. And I have to confess, I thought
before when I've read this passage of scripture, isn't Elijah kind
of severe here? I mean, they come up to him and
say, come down, man of God. And I think they were saying
that in a sarcastic, smart aleck way. Come down, man of God. The king tells you, come down.
And he says, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from
heaven. It came down and there wasn't anything but ashes. And
another group of people come with just as much haughty arrogance.
If you're a man of God, come down. That's what the king tells
you to do. Come down right now. And he said, if I'm a man of
God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you. And the
same thing happened to them. And then the other approached
him in a much different manner. Now, let's go back to the last
few verses of 1 Kings 22 when we read of Ahaziah. Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began
to reign over Israel and Samaria the 17th year of Japhoshaphat,
king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. Now, the Lord
had already determined that he was going to die, because he
told Ahab, every one of your posterity is going to be put
to death. So he knew this. He'd heard this. And he did evil
in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father
and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the
son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. For he served Baal, and
worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel.
according to all that his fathers had done." Now I think it's interesting,
here we read of Jeroboam again. Anytime the Lord is going to
describe the sinfulness of somebody, he brings up Jeroboam. Now you
remember who he was? He was the first king of Israel
when the kingdom was divided. It had not been divided until
Solomon and Solomon's fall, and the Lord caused the kingdom to
be divided, and Jeroboam was the first king of Israel, of
the divided kingdom. And it's interesting, if you
look at all the kings of Israel, none of them were good. Not one. There was some in Judah, but
not in Israel. What did Jeroboam do? Well, when
the kingdom was divided and Judah had Jerusalem in it, and that
is where The sacrifice was, that is where the temple was, that's
where you came up for the three feasts during the year, Jerusalem. And Israel knew they were supposed
to come to Jerusalem. And Jeroboam thought, if they
go to Jerusalem, they're going to forget me. They're going to
become loyal to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and they're going
to kill me. So he came up with a plan. You people of Israel,
you don't need to go to Jerusalem anymore. And he set up two different
places in Dan and Beersheba where you could offer up sacrifice.
He says it's too hard for you to go all the way to Jerusalem.
This is much more convenient. And he made priests of the lowest
order. And what he did, he made it to where there's just one
place to worship God. There's only one place to worship
God, Christ. Jesus. And he clouded, clouded, clouded
that issue. And that is the sin of Jeroboam
where he made Israel to sin. He bypassed Christ being the
only way. And he made a Passover that the
scripture said it was like the one in Jerusalem. Now if it's like the one what
is it? It's a counterfeit isn't it?
Looked like it. seem like it, but that is where
Ahaziah was coming from. Now, verse 1, chapter 1, then
Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. Now,
what that means is, while Ahab was a very wicked king, he was
a very powerful king, and Moab had to pay tribute to Israel.
pay taxes, and they were under Ahab's rule. But his son was
a weak man, and they saw that, and as soon as he died, they
rebelled against Israel. We're not going to pay you all
taxes anymore. And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his
upper chamber that was in Samaria. and was sick. He was injured
severely from this fall. And he sent messengers and said
unto them, go and inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron,
whether I shall recover this disease. Now, he knew who Elijah
was. He knew what and who Elijah represented,
and he'd experienced Elijah as a boy. He knew of the fire coming
down from heaven and consuming the sacrifice. He knew of the
miracles that Elijah had done, yet he just completely bypasses
him, and he says, go to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron,
whether I shall recover of this disease. Now remember, this is
what Satan is called in the New Testament. And this kind of reduces
things to either God or Satan. God or the devil, Christ or the
devil. There's only two people a man
can serve, either the Lord or Satan. And he's saying, you go
inquire of, and I don't think he realized what he was saying,
but it's still what he was in control, who was controlling
him. You go inquire of Satan. Verse three, but the angel of
the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Go up to meet the messengers
of the king of Samaria. And saying to them, is it not
because there's not a God in Israel that you go to inquire
of Beelzebub, the God of Hecarim? Now therefore, thus saith the
Lord, thou shalt not come down from that bed in which thou art
gone up, but shalt surely die. Now that's the message Elijah
gave these messengers who were going to inquire of Beelzebub. And instead of going on, they
just go back to Ahazza with this message. And when the messengers
turned back on him, he said to them, Why are you now turned
back? What are you doing back so quickly? And they said unto
him, There came a man up to meet us and sent us. Go turn again
unto the king that sent you and say unto him, Thus saith the
Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou
sendest to inquire Baals above the God of Ekron? Therefore thou
shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up,
and thou shalt surely die. Now, how do you think he felt
when they gave him this message? You're not going to recover from this
injury. You are going to die. What a message. And he said,
and then what manner of man was he which came up to you to meet
you with these words? And they said he was a hairy man, girt
with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, it's
Elijah the Tishbite. He knew immediately as soon as
they described him. This is Elijah, the man that
gave my dad so much problems. Then the king sent unto him a
captain with his fifty, and went up to him, and said, Behold,
he sat at the top of the hill, and spake unto him, Thou man
of God, the king has said, Come down. Now, there is such a thing
as a man of God. Today, there is such a thing
as a man of God. There was a man sent of God whose
name was John. And every true preacher is a
man of God. If God has called me to preach,
I am a man of God. Now, what does that mean? That
means you've got God's message commissioned by God, sent by
God. Somebody says, well, how can
somebody claims to be a man of God? How can I know? You've got
the scriptures to find out. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, there is no life in
them. Now, Elijah was a man of God. God's hand was upon him. He brought
God's message. Do you remember when he was praying
on Mount Carmel? He said, let him know that you've
told me to do this, that I'm sent of you. And he was indeed
a man of God. But when they say this, I believe
they're saying it sarcastically. Because if you really believe
somebody's a man of God, you're not going to bark out orders
to them like they did to him. He's this man of God. Come down. King says, come down
right now. And then Elijah has this kind of unusual response. He says, if I am a man of God,
let fire come down from heaven and consume you. And fire came
down from heaven and consumed that captain and his 50. There
was nothing left but ashes. So some others come. And you'd
think that they would have come very cautiously. They knew what
had happened, but they didn't. They didn't. They said, man of
God, come down quickly, the king says. Get down here right now. And he says, if I am a man of
God, let fire come down from heaven. and consume them. And
fire came down from heaven. Now, Elijah didn't send that fire
down from heaven. God did. And these men, in their
haughty arrogance and pride, got exactly what they deserved. They demonstrated complete contempt
for God when they gave these commands. You see, Elijah wasn't
the issue, the Lord is the issue. And that's always what the issue
is. The Lord said, he that despises you, despises me. You're not
really the problem, it's me that they have a problem with. And
these men, in their haughty arrogance, deserved to be destroyed. Now let's look at how these other
fellas, or this other guy came with his 50. Verse 13, and he sent again a
captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain
of the fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before
Elijah. And he besought him. Now that
word besought is not what we think of as begging. It is asking
for favor. Be gracious, be favorable toward
me. Don't treat me the way you did
if it's your will. He fell on his knees, really
the posture of worship, and said, don't treat me if it be your
will like you did these other people. Oh man of God, I pray
thee, let my life and the life of these 50 thy servants be precious
in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down
from heaven and burn up the two captains of the former fifties
with their fifties. Therefore, let my life now be
precious in thy sight. Now, in this narrative, we're
given a picture of how a sinner like me or you can successfully
approach God. Now we see in these first two
approaches how you don't approach God. You don't approach God telling
him what to do. You don't approach God telling
him what you're going to do. You don't approach the living
God like that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 28, wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is
a what? Consuming fire. Now, these first two groups did
not come into God's presence through coming to Elijah, seeing
their need of grace, they had no reverence, they had no godly
fear, they had no respect. They thought they could tell
him what to do. You come down right now and you
do so quickly. This is what the king has said.
Now, this other man and his 50, When he comes into the presence
of Elijah, what does he do? And remember, this is given to
picture not Elijah. Elijah is a sinful man of like
passions like me or you. He's no big deal in the sense
of just being a man. He's just a man. And the scripture
points that out. It says he's a man of like passions
with us. The same sinful problems you
have, he had. So this is not about Elijah.
This is about Elijah's God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This man came
into his presence and did what? He fell on his knees. The posture of worship. Now I realize you can get on
your knees and never worship. I realize that. But what this
is talking about is the representative of what someone does when they
come in with reverence and godly fear. They come in the posture
of worship. And understand this about worship.
This is the first issue that's gonna have to be settled with
me and you before God. He is to be worshiped for who
he is without respect to what he does or does not do for me
or you. You only worship a sovereign. This fella didn't come and dictate
to Elijah what to do. He fell on his knees, the position
of worship. And if you or I are going to
come into God's presence successfully, this is what is to be settled
first. He is to be worshipped for who
he is. Remember the leper? The scripture
says, He came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will,
I'm in your sovereign hands. You can make me clean. You can
pass me by and let me drop into hell. Whatever you do is right.
That's acknowledged. He is to be worshipped, Lord.
If you will, you can make me clean. Now, worship was already
settled. He didn't know whether or not
the Lord would make him clean, but he worshipped him for who
he is and all his glorious attributes. He is to be worshipped. And the word besot means Be gracious. Don't give me what I deserve.
Be gracious. Be favorable toward me. Let my life be precious in your
sight for Christ's sake. I don't have anything to plead.
other than your sovereign will. Oh, view me in your grace. View me in Christ. Let me have mercy, let me have
grace. Now that's the way he came into
Elijah's presence. The other fellas, here's what
you need to do, come down right now, the king said it. Fire came
down from heaven and consumed them. And if you or I come into
God's presence dictating to him what he's to do or what we will
do. You know, Lord, I'll never do
this again. You ought not ever do it again,
but don't insult the Lord like that. He knows you. You come into his presence As
coming into the presence of another sovereign, whatever you do with
me is right. But, oh, would you please be
gracious and let my life be precious in your sight for Christ's sake.
That's the way I come right now. I don't come pleading what I've
done or what I'm going to do. I come. He used to be worshipped,
the Syrophoenician woman. I think of her. The Lord said,
I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
I didn't come save everybody. I only came to save the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I only came to save the elect.
That's the only people I came to save. And you know what the
scripture says she did then? Then she came and worshipped
him. She worshiped him for who he is, saying, Lord, help me.
If you don't help me, I won't be helped. I need your help.
Now, this is the only way to come into his presence in worship,
pleading that he would be gracious, that it would be his will. Oh,
would it be your will to let my life be precious in your sight
for Christ's sake? And you know what? The fire didn't
come down on them. You see, it had already come
down on the sacrifice. It had already come down on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that's why their life could be precious
in his sight. But you and I must never come
into his presence dictating to him anything. I even think of
the Lord's mom. She said, they need wine. as
if she's telling him what to do. He said, woman, what am I
to do with thee? Now this is the son of God. Now he loved
his mother. He respected his mother, but he knew who he was.
And nobody's going to come to me and tell me what to do. Nobody
commands the Lord. Nobody comes into his presence
like that. And I pray the Lord will give us this fear of God
like this woman had, or this man had. Verse 15, And the angel
of the Lord said unto Elijah, go down with him, be not afraid
of him. And he rose and went down with him unto the king. This man was not consumed by
the fire and he brings Elijah to the king and Elijah brings
the king this message of judgment. And that is precisely what took
place with him. But oh, may the Lord give me
and you that reverence and godly fear. that comes into his presence
like this man did and not like these presumptuous men did. And they paid the price for their
presumption. I don't want to pay the price.
I want the Lord to pay my price for me. Amen.