God, the Source and Preserver of Truth

God's Character in 2 Kings 1: A Summary of Elijah's Ministry

0:08 incident of his dealings with these soldiers sent to apprehend him is his last public ministry to Israel. And I believe I've been struck as never before and certainly as in a way that I was not in preparation for last Lord's Day evening that in a very real sense this chapter is a summary of the whole thrust of the ministry of the prophet throughout his entire lifetime of ministry. For here in this chapter we see his efforts by the direction of God once again to cast a challenge into the face of the worship of any other God but the true God.

0:49 We see him as the man of fire who becomes God's instrument to show his holy wrath and hatred against all sin and particularly against the sin of failure to reverence and love the true God of Israel. Even Jehovah.

1:08 In our study last Lord's Day evening we sought to look at this passage in terms of what it revealed about the character of Jehovah. What God was saying to Israel then and what God says to his church now concerning himself. And we saw that in this chapter God is revealed as a God of holy jealousy who cannot stand spiritual adultery. And when he sees one of his captives covenant people Ahaziah one who came at least within the outward circle of God's covenant promises to Israel going after this foreign deity his heart is moved with holy jealousy and he will not tolerate this spiritual adultery.

1:52 And God is the same God today for the Lord Jesus as we saw in Revelation 2 is moved with jealousy for the love of his own people and when their hearts go after any other object of affection he says I have some what against thee. Then this chapter reveals God as a God of absolute sovereignty disposing the very destinies of nations in terms of the pledge of his word. He had told Ahab that problems and judgments would come after his death and after Ahab dies then Moab a nation that has been in subservience to Israel for years suddenly rebels against the yoke of the dominion of Israel over them

2:35 as a fulfillment of the prophecy of God's judgment to Ahab and to his house. God is sovereign in disposing the nations and then he is sovereign also in the administration of his justice for we see him administering justice suddenly and without warning upon the captains in their fifties and yet in the case of Ahaziah administering justice with some period of mercy and giving an opportunity for repentance and yet none can dictate to God how he shall dispense his justice for he is absolutely free and sovereign in the exercise of the same. Then we saw that this chapter reveals him as the God of haunting on my presence.

3:19 When Ahaziah runs from the counsel of God to the counsel of a false God he thinks he's running from the pronouncements of God and from the sphere of God's control and when that unusually bedecked prophet meets the messenger he is a prophet. He enters and comes back to the king and he has this suspicion of who it might be his conscience is stabbed and wounded by the recognition that Jehovah God of Israel is a God that fills heaven and earth and before whose eyes all things are naked and open. And then this chapter reveals him as the God of burning anger to impenitent sinners. When these soldiers dare to come and impudently

4:00 and with insolence insult the servant of God God will not forgive them. God will not forgive them. God will not forgive them. God will not forgive them.

4:05 God answers with fire from heaven to declare to men that he is the God who is moved with holy burning anger to impenitent sinners and will ultimately cut them off in his wrath. And then in the last place we consider that this chapter reveals God as the God of overflowing mercy and grace. In the instance of that third captain and his fifty they did not seek mercy in vain when they came with a true attitude to Jehovah and to his servant. They did not seek mercy in vain.

4:35 They found him to be a God of mercy and of grace. And he is the same God. And these themes of mercy and judgment of grace and of wrath are the themes that run throughout the entirety of the revelation of God. Now I want to just as it were add a little bit to that last point before moving into our study tonight because I feel I did not deal adequately with it last Lord's Day evening.

The Intensification of God's Wrath in the New Testament

5:01 Someone might object and say yes but this is a different age. That was the day when God's sterner aspects or the sterner aspects of his character were revealed and in a sense the age of grace has replaced that with a more refined rounded corner concept of God. And some might even turn to a passage like Luke 9 to justify this assumption. In fact many commentators have done this and I want you to look at this passage because perhaps it's already come to your mind as we've studied it.

5:35 We've studied 2 Kings 1 and if it hasn't now I would like to think that in the course of a few years time the next time you came to the gospel of Luke in your consecutive reading through the Bible you might have some questions. For we read in Luke 9 beginning with verse 51 and it came to pass when the days were well nigh come that he should be received of. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face and they went and entered into a village of the people of Israel. The Samaritans to make ready for him and they did not receive him because his face was though he were going to Jerusalem.

6:13 When his disciples James and John saw this they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven and consume them? And the King James goes on to say and some of the older manuscripts but not the better manuscripts but I'll read it anyway that our Lord answers them and says ye know not what manner of spirit ye are. For the Son of Man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them. And people say, see when this town would not receive the messengers of God when they would treat lightly God's last message the Lord Jesus and the disciples say shall we act no doubt thinking of Elijah shall we do what he did

6:57 shall we bid fire to come down from heaven? Our Lord rebukes them. What clearer evidence do you need than to prove that God in a sense is no longer that kind of a God. And there's a man of the stature of Canon Farrar one of the greatest Christian scholars ever to adorn the church especially of a bygone day and reading his commentary in the Expositor's Bible on this whole chapter he ends up in essence just explaining it all away until ultimately he says this is just some Elijah myths and the German critics have helped us by letting us throw this chapter out and not be bothered with trying to justify a God like that.

7:36 Well you see his problem was he was making God into his own image and this is one of the passages he would use to show that God is no longer that kind of a God but you notice Jesus does not in any way cast dispersions upon what Elijah said or what God did. His only rebuke is directed to the disciples and he says ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. He is not standing to cast dispersions upon the activities of his Father in a bygone generation. I and my Father are one.

8:11 It was the Lord Jesus himself who was there the angel of Jehovah giving directions to Elijah.

8:20 No the problem here was that the disciples thought because they pronounced Elijah's words they were activated by Elijah's motives and that's where the problem lay. No no their noses were bent. They were the great successful preachers. Everyone ought to welcome us and here's a town that doesn't throw out the red carpet.

8:39 Lord shall we have fire come down? He says listen you don't know what spirit you are of. You don't know your own hearts. Elijah was activated not by a bent nose but by a burning desire for the vindication of my name and my glory and I ratified his desire.

8:59 I sent the fire of heaven because that was my purpose at that time.

9:06 In fact if one reads carefully the New Testament instead of finding that that these sterner aspects of the character of God have in any way been lessened by the full revelation of grace in Jesus Christ Scripture categorically teaches they have been heightened by the revelation of the gospel of Christ.

9:30 The awesomeness of judgment has not been lessened but heightened and I said it's categorically stated. Therefore the burden of proof rests upon me to demonstrate from Scripture that this is so and I shall do so very simply with several passages from one book of Scripture the book of Hebrews. Will you turn please to the book of Hebrews and we'll look at three passages in this book. The great theme of course is the better things that have come to light in Jesus Christ far surpassing every other revelation that God has made in previous days not cancelling them in their authority the previous revelations but superseding

10:14 them in clarity and in fullness. Notice chapter 2 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard lest happily we drift away from them. Why? For if the word spoken through angels that's the revelation of the law given through angels to Moses if that revelation of a lesser clarity proves steadfast and is not and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward if with the limited light of the old covenant justice was meted out upon those who persisted

10:58 in disobedience now notice his reasoning how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which having at the first been spoken to the Lord was confirmed unto us by them that heard God also bearing witness with them both by signs and wonders and manifold powers and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. You see his argument? Do you follow it? If limited revelation limited light had a commensurate measure of judgment upon all disobedience to the light increased light yea the fullest blaze of light shall be met with the fullest

11:42 measure of judgment. For those who despise that light we find the same argument again in the tenth chapter of the same book will you notice carefully the argument of the writer here 1026 for if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth that is the full truth concerning Christ as the final sufficient sacrifice for sin there remains no more a sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.

12:28 You wonder if his mind was actually thinking of the second king's passage. There fire came upon the despisers of the authority of Jehovah and his servant. Now he says in the light of this full revelation a man who despises it what should he hope? Well should he say well God dealt that way in the past oh yes he sent fire upon men in the past but he is different now the aspect of his character has been rounded off by the softer lines of the revelation of Jesus Christ no no he says if he is thinking aright he ought to have this terrible expectation of the fierce anger of God now he goes to draw a parallel verse 28

13:12 a man that said it not Moses law died without compassion at the word of two or three witnesses here is a son that says I don't like things around here I'm not going to obey my mom and dad I want freedom and the father says son the Lord said through Moses if one of your sons will not be obedient and is a stubborn rebellious son you are to bring the witnesses take him before the elders of Israel there to pronounce judgment upon him and stone shall be heaped upon him till he dies son don't dare go on in the course of disobedience the result will be judgment and death and he says ah come off it dad I don't believe that old stuff alright he goes on

13:57 in the course of disobedience the witnesses see him he is gathered before the elders of Israel and there is no one to stand around and shed a tear of compassion notice the emphasis he died without compassion judgment meted out now notice his argument if through the lesser revelation through Moses anyone who despised that lesser revelation died without mercy or compassion of how much sorer punishment think ye shall he be judged worthy who hath trodden underfoot the son of God hath counted the blood of the covenant

14:41 wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despot to the spirit of grace for we know him that saith vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompense and again the Lord shall judge his people it was no it intends to this very fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and why is it a fearful thing because grace is not cancelled out his frightening judgments it has only intensified them and I say then to all men purporting to be

15:26 expounders of the scriptures who would butcher away that second king's one passage and say it's only there for an example of what God used to be like but that is arresting the word of God one other passage in Hebrews the end of chapter twelve he starts his argument here and we can't follow it through carefully it would take too much time and this is not the main thrust of what I hope we get to maybe we won't I don't know but we'll see Hebrews twelve and verse eighteen for ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched you see he's going back to the old revelation Mount Sinai when God said don't come near it and touch it if you do you'll die that revelation

16:10 came amidst a terrible awesome display of the power of God lightning thunder darkness trumpets loud voices he says you have not come to that particular revelation but you've come to the fulfillment in Jesus Christ and then he lists all those things that mark this period of fulfillment now he says in the light of that verse twenty-five see that she refused not him that speaketh for if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth if those who refused the word of Moses were judged much more see not a matter of lessening the potential

16:55 of judgment and the fiery indignation of God but intensified much more much more shall we not escape who refuse him that speaks from heaven and then he goes on to amplify that and concludes his exhortation by saying our God is not he was but he is a consuming fire and the fire of his wrath increases in terms of the measure of the revelation of God and he's made of himself let me repeat the fire of his wrath increases in direct proportion to the measure

17:39 of the revelation he makes of himself that's why Jesus said woe unto you Chorazin and Bethsaida for it'll be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you why greater measure of revelation greater the fires of judgment now beloved if that was true at just the beginning the dawning of the full revelation of God in Christ for that warning was given after one of our Lord's early preaching tours what must the potential fire of judgment be when we have all the gathered light not only of a completed New Testament

18:24 but of nineteen hundred years of the history of the church and the light of his servants in literature and in the in the great Christian heritage we have what must the fires of judgment be if we despise in regard lightly to truth I tell you a reading of second Kings chapter one ought to make us tremble because God is not a God less a consuming fire than then but more in terms of the fuller revelation of his life and his truth some of you wonder why

19:08 someone who takes this seriously gets worked up and is intense and accused perhaps at times of being a little too sober beloved it's because I believe this that's why and I don't say it for personal vindication but one of the accusations I usually get well pastor's alright but he's too serious my friend if you believe this it'll make you serious it'll make you serious the haunting realization that God is still a God of holy and consuming anger

19:53 to all impenitent men who will not bow to his revelation well that's just rounding out a point that I started to make last week now will you consider another lesson that's in the passage and I'm not sure that I'm stating this the way I'd like to I told someone yesterday I'm not sure if I still have what I feel is there but for what God has shown me and what God reveals in a very lucid way not only these aspects of the character of God but it reveals God's concern

God's Exclusive Claim as the Source and Preserver of Truth

20:37 to demonstrate that he is the only source of truth and to preserve that truth at any cost perhaps you noticed as I read the chapter that this one statement stands out above all others it's repeated well first of all it's given in verse 3 and repeated what is it but the angel of the Lord said to Elijah arise go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say unto them is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal Ziba the god of Ekron now therefore because of this judgment shall come

21:21 we find the same thing mentioned as the messengers go back and they speak to Ahaziah in verse 6 and then we find it repeated into the presence of the king in verse 16 now why was God so concerned so a king goes up to send some messengers out to seek some advice from a foreign deity why all this in the scriptures to tell us that one event what is God saying to us here well will you try to relive the situation here some messengers go out from the presence of the king and perhaps they stop at their homes to say goodbye to their wives and their wives

22:05 and kiddies say where are you going daddy oh we are going over there to Ekron the king is sending us over there yeah what for well you know you have heard about that god over there Baal Ziba the lord of the flies the god that supposedly controls the activities of the flies and he lets them multiply if he is angry and he keeps them away if he is smiling well the king wants us to go and he begins to think what there must be another god besides Jehovah that is a source of truth another god besides Jehovah that controls the destinies of man and therefore can what pronounce with certainty whether this one

22:49 shall live or die and as they come together from their families and start out the gate of the cities one of the elders says hey fellas where are you going and they say we are going down to Ekron we are going to seek out that god Baal Ziba I practiced all week so I could say it right tonight I just kept remembering last letter of the alphabet comes first B is at the front last one so I think I will get through right Baal Ziba instead of getting it all mixed up and B's up like I did last week and so one of the elders listens and says oh yes I see and he begins to wonder well is there another god besides Jehovah alone knows the future with certainty

23:33 because he controls it we are to consult to Jehovah alone because he is the only ultimate source of all truth and light as those messengers were on their way down to this god of Ekron they were on an errand that was based upon a lie the lie being there is some other source of truth there is some other god who can pronounce truth and predict the future because in some sense he rules and controls that future and God was so concerned to put an end to that lie that these messengers are intercepted by the mouthpiece of the one and only god the true

24:18 and living god Jehovah and he speaks with authority and they go back with the message now why should Baal God be so concerned about this propagation of a lie through Ahaziah and this incident with Jehovah with the messengers well for the simple reason that it was a direct violation of the very purpose for which Israel existed in the earth why did God put Israel in the earth why did he give to her his revelation his prophets turn to several passages in Isaiah and stick with me now I know this means you have to think but I think it will be worth the mental labor and sweat if you stay with me as we then see its present day

25:03 application in the book of Isaiah verse 44 verses 10 through 13 I'm sorry 43 10 through 13 God says to Israel ye are my witnesses saith the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after me I I have declared and I have saved and I have showed

25:48 and there was no strange God among you therefore ye are my witnesses saith the Lord and I am God yea since the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand I will work and who can hinder you see what God is saying I've laid hold of you and revealed myself to you you are to be my witnesses of this fact you are to stand in the midst of all of this heathenism with its multitude of so called gods that can be seen and touched and felt and you are to declare that the true and the living God Jehovah

26:32 the unseen God that fills heaven and earth is the only true God not only the source of all life and light but the only source of truth everything in your life is to be heard you are not to trust your own judgment and so God revealed his precepts for every area of the life of the nation of Israel in order to reveal that in every aspect of life life was to be governed by the God who gave it the God of truth and of light notice chapter 45 verses 5 through 7 similar statement 45 5 through 7 I will gird thee

27:17 though thou hast not known me that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me I am Jehovah and there is none else I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I am the Lord that doeth all I say Israel my chosen I have called you and here is my purpose that through you men may know there is nothing that is God but myself there is no one who controls

28:01 any facet of life good or evil but me the great eternal one and only true and living God is clear to the nations that this unseen God Jehovah was the only source of truth he who controlled the future alone could predict it with accuracy and when Israel would violate that and by going after any other God for any other reason whether it was for political gain whether it was for

28:45 any other reason or for any other reason or here is in the case of Ahaziah for some indication of whether he should live or die anything that says there's another source of truth there's another hand controlling the destinies of men judging well someone says that's all very well and good but what's that say to us I hope you see the application God no longer has a nation stuck in a piece of

29:29 real estate through which he's displaying to the world the fact that there is but one true and living God the only the exclusive ultimate source of all truth there is no other God but Jehovah no other true source of life and understanding but this God as he's revealed himself in his holy word there is no other God but Jehovah no other true source of life and understanding but this God as he's revealed himself

30:14 in his holy word therefore when it comes to the standards of home life how shall we conduct our homes we do not go to some bale zeebub something called God by the heathen and look for direction upon our homes we go to the word and we govern our home in its wisdom in the word the word and we govern our home in its wisdom that's God he's

Applying God's Exclusive Truth to Home Life and Moral Standards

30:59 said there will always be a word in this world and that word there is not anything around you but it is attitudes to the Lord's day, anything that touches the domestic life, in some measure you're being guilty of what Ahaziah was guilty of. You're going to some Baal Zibub for answers. When it comes to what we shall have as our moral standards, you young people, listen to me, what an opportunity in this generation to truly shine as a light in the midst of darkness.

31:45 When some of us who are a little bit further down the road than you are say things are worse now than they were when we were kids. That's not just because we've forgotten. Sin was as potentially as bad now, then, as it is now. But God had not lifted off the restraints that He's lifted off now.

32:03 I remember when I was a kid, if anybody in our school wanted rotten, salacious literature, he had to know the right connections to get it. Not now. The most respectable drugstore, you can go in and pick up a handful of Playboy magazines and walk out with them, even if you're 13.

32:19 The opportunities, the far more, the more great now. The openness, the brazenness, the effrontery with which men regard the holy law of God. And from that standpoint, I say sincerely and lovingly, I don't envy you kids. With all my heart, I thank God many a time.

32:37 Lord, I wouldn't have made it. I thank you that you let me be born 15 years earlier. But let me say this. Though that aspect is true, what a privilege.

32:48 Because if ever there was an opportunity to show the marked black and white color of God, the contrast of the sons of darkness and the sons of the light, it's this day.

33:00 When there are so few who even have, as it were, borrowed morality from a bygone generation that was influenced by scripture. When we went to school, the kids that we knew were carrying on together were looked down upon as scummy. No more. No more.

33:18 No, no. It's the intelligent thing to do. It's the avant-garde. It's the forward-looking thing to do.

33:26 You kids know this. And I know it.

33:30 And if you're determined to be a true Israelite who says, my standards of moral and ethical conduct will be gotten not from some Baal Zibob, but from Jehovah and Jehovah alone. What a marvelous day in which to live and let your light shine. You say, I care not what men say. I care not what the sociologists say.

33:55 I care not what the psychologists say. But my God has said, these standards shall govern my life if I must die for it. What a privilege, fellows and girls, to live in a day like this and to bear the mark of a true Israelite. But if you go to some Baal Zibob for your moral standards, and remember, even looking to fellow professing Christians in our day can be Baal Zibob, you get your standards for moral conduct from the holy, pure word of God.

Applying God's Exclusive Truth to Education and Church Worship

34:32 When it comes to moral conduct, when it comes to the matter of our philosophy of education, how we'll educate our children, I say again, Christians are reaping death because they've sent their children to be taught by Baal Zibob and put them in a philosophy of education that was diametrically opposed to the truth of Scripture, or at best, utterly ignored it as not being worth considering. I think that's even worse. When it comes to how we shall educate our children, we don't go to Baal Zibob for answers. We go to the Scriptures, and we ask God to teach us.

35:09 And then, of course, in the Church, how shall we worship? I wonder if any of you have ever seriously taken your Bible, starting with the first chapter in the book of Acts, saying, What marked the worship of the Apostolic Church? What did they do when they came together? If we say the Bible is our only rule of faith in practice, then it ought to teach us something about what should mark the worship of the people of God.

35:35 We don't go to some Baal Zibob and see what works in the entertainment field, or what works in the social club field. No, no. We say, Lord, everything that relates to the life of Your Church, You have spoken. We come to You, Jehovah God alone, for You're the only source of truth, and our consciences are bound to You.

36:00 We don't go to psychology to get answers for spiritual ills. We don't go to Madison Avenue for our evangelistic techniques. We don't go to godless educators for our educational standards within the Church. We come to Scripture and Scripture alone.

The Church's Judgment for Seeking Worldly Answers

36:18 And if we don't, the result in some measure will be death and judgment, as it was for Ahaziah. And dear ones, the death that stalks through the Evangelical Church, could it not be in great measure God's judgment because He says to us, Is there no God in Israel? That you've gone to Baal-zebub for your answers? Waning crowds Sunday night.

36:47 How to let them in? They've gone to Baal-zebub. How does the world get its crowds? More advertisement.

36:53 More scintillating lights on the marquee. All right, then let's have a flashy Sunday night program. Get them in! Baal-zebub.

37:01 Baal-zebub! Is there no God in Israel? You say, Lord, why is it that crowds dwindle? And God says, It's because you've insulted Me with your crime.

37:13 You've grieved Me with your waywardness. Lord, what's the way back to blessing? Humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to weeping.

37:28 Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Draw near to God. He will draw near to you. So the people of God get on their faces and confess their sins and call upon God for mercy and the windows of heaven are open and the blessing comes down and people are drawn, not by the techniques of Madison, not by the glamour of Hollywood, but by the irresistible magnetism of the power of God in the midst of His people.

37:57 You see it? That's the message. And God is jealous today, just as jealous today to demonstrate that He's the only source of truth and to preserve that truth. And if we do like an Ahaziah, death and judgment will come.

38:15 You work out the further application, I don't have time to, in terms of the home, in terms of these other circles where we've insulted God and said, well, there must be no answer from Jehovah, we'll go to Baal-zeba. Beloved, I am convinced that this Bible is not the only rule for faith in practice, but a sufficient rule and there's nothing you need to know about any area of life that either a precept or precedent or principle is not found in the Word of God if we're diligent enough to search it out till light comes. Do you believe that? Does your life bear witness to that?

38:54 It's so easy to go ask the experts for our answers. The experts say, they speak not according to this Word. There's no light. No light.

God's Preservation of His Mouthpieces and Truth

39:06 And then, of course, you see this same jealous regard in this chapter in terms of the consumption of those two hundred, excuse me, a hundred and fifty, a hundred soldiers and two captains. The two main strands of this narrative are God's dealings with the individual Ahaziah and God's dealing with those soldiers the captain and the fifty in both instances. And this also points out what I think now is the main thrust of the passage. God's concern to recognize him as the source of truth.

39:44 Get the picture. God's mouthpiece is sitting up on the top of a hill somewhere. And the soldiers come fresh from the presence of the king with orders to lay hold of that prophet and they've probably been jesting along the way and maybe they've even been sort of tossing over how they'll get rid of him. And so with impudence they come to God's mouthpiece.

40:04 Remember, this was no ordinary man. This was the man whom all Israel knew was the mouthpiece of God who was, as it were, God's ambassador, God's representative in the midst of the people. And they say, Hey, you man of God, come on down. We'll take care of you.

40:21 He said, I'm a man of God, let fire consume you. Now why did God consume him? Because the basic sin of these men was impudence to Jehovah God in terms of his mouthpiece. Remember, that's what Elijah was, a mouthpiece of God.

40:43 And this was basically then a declaration of their attitude to the truth of God and to the God of truth. And God met it with fire. The principle then is that our treatment of God's mouthpieces is in reality our treatment of the Lord Himself. In mocking the man of God they mocked the God of truth whose servant He was.

41:09 But since God is committed to preserve the honor of His truth, He's committed to preserve the dignity of His mouthpieces. And that's just not an Old Testament principle. Our Lord enunciates it in Matthew 10, 14 and 15 and verse 40 where He says, Whoever receives you receives Me. Whoever receives Me receives My Father.

41:32 It's spoken of in Mark, in Luke 10, 16 and following, in John 13 and 20, and following the same principle. Whoever receives the one I send receives Me. Whoever refuses the one I send refuses Me. As I was thinking over this principle, I thought of Matthew 25 where in the Day of Judgment our Lord says, Some will say, But Lord, when did we see You sick and didn't visit You?

41:58 In prison, didn't come to You? Thirsty and didn't give You drink? He said, Inasmuch as You did it not unto the least of these My brethren, You did it not unto Me. I wonder if I were to say to you tonight, Are you guilty of this kind of effrontery to the Word of God?

42:16 You say, Well, when did I ever despise the Word of God? Inasmuch as you despise that Word and treated it lightly when it's come through the least of His children who sought to open unto You Scripture and point out the path of duty as we saw this morning. That's been your treatment of God. We can kid ourselves and say, Oh, I love God.

42:39 I love His Word. Just let me have the Word alone by myself. And whatever I find for me and blesses me and speaks to me. But don't you come pointing out Scripture for me.

42:50 I've met professing Christians who really had that attitude. As long as God speaks to me directly, fine. But don't let Him speak through an inch. Wait a minute.

42:57 Jesus said, As I send you forth, whoever receives You and Your message receives Me. And there's no receiving Christ without receiving His true messengers. That's pretty serious, isn't it? This passage reveals this.

43:15 As the Word of God these men treated with impudence the messenger of God. It was a revelation of their attitude to the Lord Himself. And so this chapter very graphically and powerfully sets before us then God's concern to demonstrate that He's the only source of truth and He's committed to preserve that truth. And then the last thing I want to mention.

God's Ability to Restore His Children to Spiritual Vigor

43:37 We'll close our study of the chapter. It reveals in a beautiful way God's ability to restore His children to spiritual vigor after a period of decline. The Elijah of this chapter is the pre-wilderness Elijah. This is the before and after and before.

43:59 You notice the parallels? And this is why I said in some ways it's a summary of His whole ministry. Back before He ran from that woman Jezebel and was despondent and discouraged and asked for the Lord to take His life. In any picture where Elijah's ministering He's always the aggressor.

44:18 He's the one that comes and stands in the presence of Ahab. He's the one that moves out into Mount Carmel and says, alright you Baal prophets you've had your time. Now everyone listen to me. Draw near.

44:31 We see Him in this chapter. The messenger's on their way to Ekron. They aren't looking around for a prophet. A prophet stands in their path and they're stunned by the appearance of this swarthy figure.

44:41 And he says, you fellas turn around. About face. Back to your king. Well who in the world is this guy?

44:46 They don't know. But he speaks with such authority. That even though they don't know who he is strange as it is they cancel their orders from a king to obey him. Isn't that the picture you get of Elijah upon Mount Carmel in his appearance before Ahab?

44:59 He's restored to that again. He's the Elijah utterly fearless. Walks into the presence of a king unheralded and says, no rain. The key's in my pocket.

45:09 Turns on his heel and walks out with the key in his pocket. In this chapter we find the same thing. He comes to those messengers deliver his message and he departs. And he marches into the presence of the king in the latter part of the chapter.

45:22 Gives his message. Turns on his heel and departs. He's a restored prophet. Brought back to the place where he was once again a mighty tool in the hand of God.

45:34 And dear ones I thrill when I read this because the experience of every servant of God and every child of God is that rarely is he in a state when he can't think of better days. And he looks back and says oh I think of those days. I think of those days at the right hand of the Most High. When love for Christ burned.

45:56 When zeal for his kingdom was a reality. When vibrant longing for the advancement of his church was something that was a thrill to me and to be involved in. When fighting the warfare against sin though wearying upon my flesh I found myself nerved for the battle. All of that has changed.

46:17 I feel much more like a young man now snuggling up to Elijah under his juniper tree than joining him in his denunciation of the Ahabs that would stand against the purposes of God. Well this chapter ought to be an encouragement to us for it reveals God's ability to restore his children to spiritual vigor after a period of decline. And how did God do it? Well the long range process we've already preached on for a number of nights and I'm not going back to all of that.

The Means of Restoration: Submission and Faith

46:48 But how God tenderly took him in hand and met his needs and probed his conscience and brought him back to a place we might call a re-commissioning. But in this chapter there's a hint as to what restored him to that place of usefulness and I want you to notice it. Verse 15 And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah Go down with him be not afraid of him. Elijah in his better days never moved till he had a word from God.

47:20 We noticed this when we looked at his retreat into the wilderness. No word from God. He just went off on his own account. Once again he's in the place where his conscience is sensitive to the word of God.

47:30 His will is complying with the word and he's wholeheartedly embracing the promises. God says indirectly anyway he promises don't be afraid. I'm with you Elijah. Don't be afraid of what can happen.

47:46 That king has no power to touch you. You see what I did to these who would have destroyed you? I consume them. I'll do the same to the king if he stands in my way.

47:55 And so that which brought about his restoration in this context and enabled him to be the pre-wilderness Elijah the pre-juniper Elijah was that his heart was submissive to the clear commands and his spirit full of faith with regard to the promises. May I say that's the way God will restore you as his child? Yes. Not only in these other principles that we've seen in our previous studies but by bringing us to a place where as the abiding principle of life the conscience and the will are sensitive to the revelation of God's precepts.

48:37 We say with the Psalmist I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commands. We don't say well Lord when God brings new light we don't say tomorrow till a more convenient time. We say with the Psalmist I make haste and delay not. And then as we move in the path of obedience we do so clinging to the promises of his presence.

49:03 There was an awful lot to aggravate the anger of Ahaziah. He knew the whole history of how God dealt with his father through the prophet Elijah. Jezebel wasn't dead yet and for all we know she was living there with her son the very woman from whom he ran when he was just outside the gate of the city. Now he's going within the gates of the city, within the gates of the royal palace possibly right into her presence and he doesn't give a hoot.

49:28 He just marches right in. Why? Don't be afraid Elijah. He's clinging to the promises of his God.

49:38 Oh if I'm speaking tonight to someone of God's children bowed down, discouraged, feeling cast off, fearful. Elijah's God is our God. The same angel of the Lord that came in the wilderness to restore him and stood by him on that high place recorded in 2 Kings and spoke the word of direction and gave the word of promise is the Christ who this very hour is the one who's promised that he would not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flask and he longs for you to magnify his grace by laying hold of his promises to restore his people to lay hold of his precepts as directed

50:22 and to trust him to be to you what he was to Elijah God the restorer of his declining discouraged children. What a great God we have. What a great savior and what a blessed book he has given to instruct us. May we hear the message of this chapter and lay it to heart and walk in its light.

Closing Prayer

50:48 Let us pray.