Divine Seal to the Call of Elisha

Introduction: Elisha's Unique Place in Redemptive History and the Call's Sequel

0:03 Now, will you give attention to the reading of the Word of God from the book of 2 Kings, 2 Kings, chapter 2.

0:20 And I shall read, beginning with verse 7, and conclude the reading with verse 14. Since we've read this passage on a previous occasion, I would simply remind you of the setting. The time has come for God to take Elijah home in a very strange and unusual manner. And Elisha, the man of God, is with him and refuses to leave him as he makes this final visit to these three centers of the schools of the prophets, Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho.

0:59 And now we pick up the narrative in verse 7. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood. And Elijah stood over against them afar off, and they too stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters.

1:18 And they were divided hither and thither, so that they too went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing.

1:48 Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

2:16 And Elisha saw it. And he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces.

2:35 And he took up also the mantle of Elijah, that fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they were divided hither and thither. And Elisha went over.

3:04 In our studies of this man of God, Elisha, we have considered in our previous, in our previous expositions, something of the unique place of Elisha in the history of redemption, seeking to underscore the principle that when we read the history of the Old Testament, we are not reading little snippets of lovely, interesting stories with a few moral and ethical lessons, but we are reading segments of the mighty work of God in the outworking of his purposes of redemption. We are reading of the activity of God in fulfillment of his own promise to bruise the head of the serpent. And the life of Elisha is a segment in that redemptive history. And his unique contribution was one of preserving the godly remnant, continuing the work of reformation and judgment, extending the prophetic ministry, literally preserving the nation itself, and then vindicating the name of Jehovah before the heathen nations. And in all that we read of the work of God through Elisha, we should magnify the faithfulness of God, the wisdom of God, and see underscored again the honoring and the unchanging method of God,

4:32 which is to equip men and make them the instruments through which he accomplishes the purposes of redemption. Then we read, Then we began to zero in upon the call of Elisha itself. And we looked at the circumstances of that call as given to us in 1 Kings 19, the substance of that call when the prophet Elijah comes and throws his mantle upon the young man who's a plowboy at the time, and then the response to that intimation of the will of God with his kiss of separation to his parents, the fire of renunciation, and then that feast of confession. And then in our last study we considered the sequel to his call.

5:17 No sooner does God reveal his will and the prophet or the young man of God responds to that revelation of the will of God, than he is taken into this intimate relationship with the man of God, Elijah. And for ten years he sustains a threefold relationship to him, that of a servant to the master, a disciple to the teacher, and a companion to his bosom friend. Now this brings us tonight to consider the final dimension of the call of the man of God, Elisha, and it's what I am calling the seal to his call. We are given not only the circumstances, the substance, and the sequel to his call, but in the passage which I have read in your hearing, we have what we may well call the divine seal to the call of the man of God, Elisha. And I should like to organize the exposition and study around two fundamental statements. First of all, the basic facts with respect to this seal to his call. We'll just go down through the narrative, gathering the narrative into four or five major divisions of thought, and then we will extract three basic lessons that are contained in the narrative.

The Basic Facts of Elisha's Seal: Elijah's Question and Elisha's Request

6:39 First of all, then, the basic lessons that are contained in the narrative. The basic facts with respect to Elisha's seal to his call to the prophetic office. God has already made known his will to Elisha. He has felt the pressure of Elijah's mantle upon his shoulder.

6:58 He no doubt has a vivid remembrance of that final kiss of separation from his parents. No doubt at times he can almost smell the smoke of the burning yoke and remembers that feast of renunciation in which he turns his back upon what was until that time his legitimate calling in life. And now as he comes to this point in which God is going to take his master from him, and he knows that he is about to embark upon that awesome responsibility of being the primary spokesman for God in Israel, leader of the school of God, and the great reformer and director of the religious life, and in many ways the very national life of Israel, we find this very touching incident set out in great detail. He has the name and the task of a prophet clearly assigned to him. He has in these ten years with the man of God, Elijah, come to a tremendous development of what we would call manly Christian character. In that relationship of servant to master, he has learned what it is to find his joy in service.

8:22 But he has also been the disciple in the presence of his teacher, and he has learned the master's secrets of wrestling with God, of what it is to side with God against sin and unbelief and apostasy. And he has in that multifaceted intimacy, and he has in that multifaceted intimacy, and he has in that multifaceted intimacy, and he has in that multifaceted intimacy, and he has in that multifaceted intimacy, with the man of God, Elijah, absorbed much of the spirit of that great man of God. And now as the Lord is about to take his master from him, we find in verse 9 this very interesting question which the man of God asks of his younger friend, Elisha. And it came to pass when they were gone over, that is, gone over Jericho, I'm sorry, gone over the... River Jordan, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken from thee.

9:20 Now that's an amazing question. It's as though Elijah pulls from the folds of his mantle a blank check and throws it down before Elisha and says, fill it in.

9:37 Ask what you will before Elisha. I am taken from thee.

9:44 Now any such opportunity is one of the most profound and incisive revelations of the state of a man's heart. If God were to throw down a blank check from heaven into your lap sitting in that auditorium tonight, saying, ask what you will, it would be a tremendous revelation of your character. Now not if you knew the elders were going to collect it, because you might write something there to impress them, of the depth of your spirituality. But if you were forced to write exactly what your heart would write, if it could, no other motive influencing you but the desire of your heart, I say this would be a tremendous revelation of your character. I can remember trying to use that principle one time many years ago in meetings in a little rural place out in the Midwest, I believe it was out somewhere in Wisconsin, and in this little country church with about 67, 70 people, there was a young lady, a little girl, sitting on the front row right next to my wife, and I was pressing this issue, that if you could have whatever your heart desired, that's a revelation of your heart. Now I said, don't answer, but I want you to think now. Everyone think.

10:59 And I was in one of those typical churches where people weren't used to preaching that made them think, so I tried to help them. So I had a long pause. Now I said, I'm going to ask you the question, and I want you to think and concentrate just as much as if you were writing it down in front of you. If you could have anything you wanted under heaven, what would you want?

11:15 Well, this little girl was so taken up in the message, she forgot where she was, and she sighed, a new bike.

11:26 Well, my wife sitting right next to her got the titters and began to laugh. But you see, there was an honesty in that little girl. At that point in her life history, nothing, nothing mattered more in life than a new bike.

11:42 Well, I say, if God sent down a blank check from heaven, as he does through his mouthpiece, Elijah, in the presence of his servant Elisha, this is a tremendous revelation of the character of the person who has the blank check in his hands. And this is precisely the question which the man of God asks of him. Well, then, let's look at the response of Elisha to that question. And Elisha said, chapter 2, verse 9b, And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion, a portion of thy spirit be upon me.

12:24 As Elisha contemplates the task that is before him, that task already outlined with reference to his peculiar place in the history of redemption, God has made known to him that he must carry on the work of judgment and reformation. He must stand in the midst of a nation that is steeped in Baal worship. He must contend not, not primarily with flesh and blood, but in the language of Ephesians 6, with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. And as one who has learned something of his own heart, he must do all of this while wrestling with his own remaining corruption, his own innate tendency to dullness and to sin and to spiritual declension. And so, in response to the question, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to give you before I leave? The answer is, a double portion of thy spirit.

13:29 Now, what precisely did those words mean? Well, here, as in so many instances, the 1901 edition has a very helpful footnote. For if you have the 1901 American Standard Version, you will notice a footnote number two. That is the portion of the firstborn seed Deuteronomy 21, 21, 17.

13:52 Well, let's obey the footnote and go to Deuteronomy chapter 21 and allow Scripture to be its own interpreter.

14:03 And as an Israelite, not only in name, but one who was an Israelite indeed, Elisha's mind was steeped in the law of Jehovah. And it was no doubt to this very passage that he made reference in his request. Deuteronomy 21. Let's begin the reading.

14:22 Let's begin the reading at verse 15. And if a man have two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated, then it shall be, in the day that he causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath. For he is the beginning of his strength, the right of the firstborn is his.

15:06 Now don't let your mind be diverted with all kinds of questions about the beloved wife and the hated. Bring your mind away from that. About half of you have already gone off on that and you'll miss what I'm to say. Now forget that.

15:18 The point that we want to extract from the passage is this, that God made, very plain, that the firstborn was the proper heir and whenever there was to be the passing on of the inheritance, he was to receive precisely double the amount of all the other sons. If a man had five sons and he had X number of dollars, you divide it not by five but by six and give him two portions. This was the law of God because of the peculiar responsibilities and privileges of the firstborn. The firstborn.

15:53 Well then, when Elisha thinks of that one thing that he desires above all else, while the request or the question is ringing in his ears or to change the analogy, while the blank check is before him, fully conscious of all the responsibilities that are now about to fall upon him in this awful crisis of removal in which his master is to be taken away from him and he takes away, leaves upon himself these awesome responsibilities, he requests nothing less than a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. Now, what did he mean by that? Well, you say, in the light of this passage, he wanted the portion of the firstborn. Yes. Now, was it twice the amount of Elisha's spirit in terms of the way we use it? I like the man's spirit.

16:49 That is his attitude. Well, of course not. He is speaking of nothing less than the personal spirit of Jehovah who alone was the answer both to the life and to the ministry of that man of God, Elijah. And so the thing for which he asks is nothing less than an endowment, an anointing of the spirit that will equip him for his role as the firstborn among all those sons of the prophets, among all, among all the mouthpieces of God in Israel, he will have a place of peculiar responsibility and so he asks that he shall be given a peculiar unction in order to fill that responsibility to the glory of God. What he requests is not some kind of glorious, exotic coat of many colors experience that will give him wonderful tingles and chills and religious highs. But he's asking that he shall have sufficient equipment to accomplish the work for which he has been appointed by God when the mantle fell upon him there in his field, for which he's been prepared in character by his ten years of interaction with the man of God, Elijah, that task for which he has been spiritually disciplined.

18:18 He says, in essence, all of this will come to naught unless now, I receive from the hand of Jehovah that endowment of spiritual power without which I cannot accomplish my task. So much then for the question of Elijah. What do you want me to do for you before I'm taken? The response of Elisha.

Elijah's Reaction and God's Answer: The Sign of Seeing

18:41 And all we're trying to do now is get the facts of the passage. Now notice the reaction of Elijah to Elisha's response as recorded in verse 10.

18:53 Elisha, no sooner asks this great blessing than Elijah says, Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. So the first part of his answer is, as it were, a little bit of a discouragement. He says, You've asked a difficult thing.

19:22 You've not asked a light. Then he encourages him with this word. Nevertheless, if you see me when I'm taken from me, this request will be granted. If you do not see me, you will have no reason to believe the request will be granted.

19:41 Now it appears to me in examining this passage that this is both a sign or a pledge, but also it is not an arbitrary sign. It is underscoring the tremendous principle that if Elisha is spiritually fit to receive the portion of the firstborn, he shall indeed receive it. On the one hand, God encourages him with an external sign. If you are permitted to see me when I'm taken from you, know that indeed your request is or shall be granted.

20:21 But the very sign God gives is a sign that God gives you. It is suited to the situation. It's not an arbitrary sign. Some signs God gives to His people in the period of direct and supernatural revelation are arbitrary signs.

20:35 There seems to be no rationale for the sign. But here there is not an arbitrary sign. Yes, it is a sign, but it's a sign suited to the circumstances. Apparently, Elisha knows that he's going to be taken in a manner which will, as it were, cause him to be taken.

20:53 Cause him to penetrate the world of spiritual reality. And he says, in essence, to Elisha, if your spiritual eye is unclouded enough to see that world with twenty-twenty vision, there is then that fitness, that congruity between your spirit and this mighty endowment of the Spirit of Heaven. Now, I would not be arbitrary in that interpretation, but it seems to me to be a really, really reasonable one. And so the reaction of Elijah is to put him off a bit by saying it's a difficult thing so that if it's granted he'll not treat it lightly.

21:34 Then to encourage him with this index of a sign by which he would know whether or not the request was granted. Now then, let's look at the answer of God in verses 12 to 14.

21:50 No sooner does the prophet give his answer than God gives his own. In fact, we're back up to verse 11. And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven and Elisha saw it. There's the key phrase.

22:20 Elisha saw it. And he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof, in other words, the true protector of Israel's life and witness. And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces.

22:41 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? And when he had smitten the waters, they were destroyed. They were destroyed.

22:58 They were divided hither and thither and Elisha went over. Well, you see, the facts of God's answer are very clear. He sees the man of God taken up in a whirlwind into heaven and seeing him, he knows that he will receive the double portion or the portion of the firstborn. Then he goes and stands by the Jordan, not a lonely sojourner in the wilderness, for remember, we began the reading in verse 7.

23:30 Fifty of the sons of the prophets had come down and stood by the brink of the Jordan when Elijah and Elisha passed over. And the clear indication from verse 15 is that they were still standing there, straining their eyes to behold this strange spectacle. And there is no indication that they saw Elijah go up in a whirlwind into heaven, but Elisha did. And then they see the mantle falling as it were out of space and the man of God picking it up.

24:03 Can you imagine something of the tremendous drama of that scene? Hear these sons of the prophets who've never had any question as to the validity of the prophetic power and office of Elijah, the man of God. They still have, as it were, etched in their minds that scene of his taking the mantle and striking the Jordan River and seeing it parting, and the two men of God walking over to the other side. There have been many indications that indeed God had laid His hand upon Elisha, that He was marked out and was being prepared of God to be the successor of Elijah.

24:42 But there is no intimation yet that He performed the miraculous, which would be the seal to His call to the prophetic office in their eyes. Can you not picture them standing, straining every single faculty to see? See what will happen. And calmly, Elisha takes up that mantle and bringing it together, as it were, is a thick rope.

25:08 He takes that hairy outer garment and he smites the waters and then he says, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah?

25:18 And God doesn't thunder out of heaven and say, as He did to Joshua, as I was with Moses, I will be with thee. God answers in the parting of the river Jordan. That river parts hither and thither and the man of God walks over, now established in the estimation of those sons of the prophets as the true successor to the man of God, Elijah. The result then is very clear that He is recognized as one equipped of God.

The Recognition of Elisha's Anointing and a Digression on Respect

25:52 Verse 15, When the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho over against Him saw Him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet Him and bowed down themselves to the ground before Him. This was not idolatrous worship. If it had been, He would have rebuked them.

26:14 It was giving honor to whom honor is due. And I'm going to pause and stick in a little aside. The Bible in the language of the New Testament says we're to give honor to whom honor is due. Elisha was a servant, a sinner like the sons of the prophets.

26:33 Elisha had no greater posture before God or position for anything inheriting Him. He was a sinner saved by grace. But when God made it evident that he was marked out for special office, there was a proper respect due to him for that office. And they acknowledged it in their physical posture.

26:53 We live in a day when the attitude is one of total disregard of that biblical mandate, honor to whom honor is due. And it's a matter of fact, that in many relationships it is only by the judicious use of titles that we can manifest that honor as well as in our attitude and disposition. If you wonder why we refer to those who preach the word of God, particularly those who've been established in office as pastor so-and-so, mister so-and-so, it's not because we're stodgy and fuddy-duddy and old-fashioned. It's out of principle.

27:28 Now I'm the brother of every one of you here and I gladly call you out to my brethren and my sisters. If Christ calls himself our elder brother, surely we are all brethren.

27:43 But it bothers me a little bit when someone young enough to be my son comes up to me and says, how you doing, brother?

27:50 And I never hear from the lips of such people the title of respect. Oh, you see, that's clericalism. No, I don't think I have any clericalism. You watch me chucking the babies under the chin and laughing with the kids and being a man amongst men.

28:05 I don't believe I have any starch of an artificial clericalism. But I am disturbed when there is not that sense of proper respect for the office that is established of God.

28:20 And I'm disturbed when I hear that in our reference to others. These men were not so reared. When it became evident that the hand of God was upon Elisha, they manifest that recognition. That's just a little aside.

28:34 That's thrown in for free. But then they not only recognize that he was a man of God, but they not only recognize that he was a man of God, but that he's equipped of God by the endowment of the Spirit. The Spirit of Elisha, Elijah, doth rest upon Elisha. But then they recognize that the Word of God is with him.

28:51 Chapter 3 and verse 12. And Jehoshaphat said, The Word of Jehovah is with him. And then it's evident from his first two miracles that people realize that he has been given that power to work the miraculous. And they come expecting it of him.

Lesson 1: God Faithfully Equips His Servants

29:10 And then we have the account of those miracles. Well, those are the basic facts. I hope you have them in your mind now. They're walking together.

29:18 Elijah's about to be taken. He asks a question. Elisha responds. Elijah responds to his response.

29:26 And then God breaks in and shows his own will and purpose in all of this. Now then, what are the lessons in all of this for us? Well, let me suggest that this passage sets forth at least three very profoundly helpful lessons. The first is this.

29:46 It teaches us that God is faithful to equip his servants with all that is necessary to accomplish their God-given tasks.

29:58 It teaches us that God is faithful to equip his servants with all that is necessary to accomplish their God-given tasks.

30:11 Elisha, I'm sorry, Elijah could not grant the request of Elisha. It was not in Elijah's hands to dispense the Spirit to anyone.

30:28 But the living God, Jehovah, is able to grant the request. And as he looks upon his servant, Elisha, whom he himself has marked out ten years previous to this, whom he himself has fashioned and molded by this discipline of intimate relationship with Elijah, the man of God, as he looks upon that man from the depths of his heart saying in essence in his request, Oh, my father Elijah, if Jehovah gives you grant to pass on to me anything, oh, that it may be a double portion of thy spirit as I stand on the threshold of the tasks that are being laid out to me. They are being laid upon me. I must, I must have that equipment of spiritual endowment. And God very wonderfully and graciously responds to that longing and that request and manifests himself as the God who is always faithful to equip his servants with all that is necessary to accomplish their God-given tasks. If we bring this concept over into the New Testament, we see it constantly underscored.

31:49 Our Lord lays before his own the awesome task of making disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. He has told them in great detail in John 14 to 16, they will meet opposition. If they've hated you, they'll hate me. If they've received you, me, they'll receive you.

32:09 He tells them that they will be hated and some will even think they do God, service by killing them. He gives them a realistic assessment of the difficulties, the opposition that they will meet in their task. But then he says in the language of Luke, But tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be clothed with power from on high. I send the promise of my Father upon you according to Acts chapter 1.

32:36 And then we read in Acts 2 when the day of Pentecost was fully come. It does not say when they had met 1320, 122 different spiritual conditions, when they had, as it were, battered down some reluctance in God and met all the terms so that they had earned the Spirit. No, when the day of Pentecost was fully come. That's a historical reference.

33:00 When the time of God's appointment is come, we read that suddenly from heaven,

33:09 not some charismatic individual going around laying hands on them and coaching them and getting them to seek something and just say, Praise Jesus, Praise Jesus, Praise Jesus. And then they suddenly begin to...

33:20 No, no, no, no, no, no. Fully from heaven there came the sound of a mighty rushing wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

33:32 They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave the mutterings. And then they go out into that great gathering of people come together from all nations under heaven and they, they are equipped to do the task. And God gives them that specimen enablement. What would later have to be accomplished by the arduous task of learning a language and by assimilating the thought patterns of a culture and a nation.

34:02 God, as it were, concentrates in specimen form. I've given you a task. Make disciples of all the nations and I'll give you everything needful to accomplish the task. Or in the language of 2 Corinthians, who is sufficient?

34:17 For these things, the apostle says, we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God who hath made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. Oh, what a wonderful God we have. The God who responds to the felt need of an Elisha, granting him that portion of the firstborn so that he might not be sent out in the language of 2 Timothy as a soldier who has no ammunition and equipment provided by the government that sends him forth. What soldier ever went forth at his own charges?

35:00 The apostle asks. And this soldier was not sent forth at his own charges. The God who had marked him out and commissioned him and prepared him in boot camp and advanced training when it's time to go to the front lines, he equips him. And that's our God.

35:18 That God is our God and he will be our guide even unto death. And as we stand on the threshold of tremendous challenges as a congregation of God's people, and we think of the tasks that God has laid upon us, not only with reference to reaching our own Jerusalem and establishing an even wider testimony in this New York metropolitan area, as we think of the responsibilities laid upon us in terms of the evidence, the increasing number of ministries here in our own Jerusalem and Judea, and the wider concerns, surely we tremble at the thought of all this responsibility laid upon us. Oh, dear fellow believers, here's our comfort. Lay these tasks upon us and leave us at the miserable resources that we have natively.

36:15 We may say with the man of God, O Lord, the thing we ask of all our people, the thing we ask of all our people, is the portion of the firstborn. We ask the mighty and copious outpouring of the Spirit, the Spirit given not to give us lovely feelings that we can get in little fellowship groups and describe our feelings and our tingles and our thrills.

36:42 The Spirit given that we may labor and toil with the entombment of heaven, making us effective in our witness, making us effective when we lead families in holy worship, making us effective when we seek to bear witness to our neighbors, making us effective in our labors in the formation and training of men for the work of the ministry, making us effective as we seek to live consistent lives before our fellow students and workmen and companions in business. This is what the Holy Ghost is given for, not for tingles and thrills and exotic coat of many colored experiences so we can live and write testimonies in magazines upon the work of the Spirit. Well, what's our hope? Our hope is, in the language of Ephesians 5, that Christ nourishes and cherishes His church and He can be sought and with Him we can plead that in faithfulness He would grant us every needful measure of equipment to fulfill the tasks that God lays upon us. Well, there is a second very helpful lesson in the passage and it is this, that there is no substitute for the anointing of the Spirit in accomplishing the work of God.

Lesson 2: No Substitute for the Spirit's Anointing

38:11 There is no substitute for the anointing of the Spirit in accomplishing the work of God. Now, think of all that Elisha had before this request that he might have the portion of the firstborn in terms of the spirit of Elijah. He had an official designation.

38:37 The man of God had come, thrown his mantle upon him and made known that he was to be a prophet in Israel. Furthermore, he had some wonderful stories. He could tell us stories by the hour of his intimate association with another man of God. He could tell us wonderfully moving things about Elijah's character, his prayer life, his zeal, his zeal for Jehovah.

39:03 Furthermore, he had a highly developed Christian character. In those ten years as servant, as disciple, as companion, there was this development of his Christian character. But my friend, listen, standing as he did on the threshold of his official ministry, with all of the enemies to be conquered, with all of the tremendous hurdles to be overcome, with all of the powers of darkness, to be challenged, he needed something more than a name, a title, wonderful stories and memories, and even something more than a highly developed Christian character.

39:47 What he needed was the endowment of the Spirit upon his ministry.

39:53 And of course, the application, I trust, is clear to us. As we would confront our own spiritual enemies, whether they are to be found in our own homes, in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our assembly, we need something more than a name and a title. We need something more than acquaintance with Spurgeon and Bunyan and Whitfield and Edwards. We need something more than interesting stories about what we've learned and heard in the presence of other men upon whom the Spirit has rested with power.

40:36 What we need above all else is the endowment of the Spirit of God. So when the man of God stands by the bank of Jordan and says, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? It is not enough that he stand on that bank and shout wonderful stories across the water to the sons of the prophet on the other side and say, Oh, did I tell you this incident?

41:03 No, they're looking to see is the God of Elijah now the God of Elisha in power? And when they see those waters spread, they say, It is. It is indeed true that God has endued His servant with power. Now let me qualify and make it very plain that I am in no way inferring, intimating, suggesting any other verb you want to use that we have warrant to seek some kind of and exotic, peculiar, definitive, spiritual experience to which we can point and call it our baptism in the Holy Spirit.

41:48 There are some good men even reformed in our day who are teaching with a vehemence and with an almost fanatical zeal that every Christian ought to seek and obtain and know that he has obtained a distinct, specific, spiritual crisis experience called a baptism or sealing in the Holy Spirit. I do not espouse that teaching. I do not believe it will stand up to careful exegesis. Now, can I make my position more plain than that?

42:23 But having said that, I hasten to say that it is true that without the copious and constant supplies of the Spirit coming down upon the church in its corporate life and upon the church and upon the servants of God in their individual spheres of activity, be they a mother in the training of a child, a father in the discipline of his children, a workman at his bench bearing witness to his compatriots in business, wherever it is, or a man of God standing in a pulpit,

43:00 without the Spirit's power and unction resting upon us, we are indeed as nothing. And we must learn to cherish as did in the early days of Elisha that gracious, mighty work of the Spirit enabling and equipping us to do the work of God. And this is where I love Luke 11 and verse 13. If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who think enough of His ministry to ask for Now I put in the words those who think enough. The promise is how much more shall He give the Spirit to those who ask Him. But you see implicit in that is the recognition that we desperately need Him. But you say, Pastor, you've taught us from the Scriptures that every believer has the Spirit.

44:03 You've been teaching us in the mornings we're regenerated by the Spirit. We are indwelled by the Spirit, yes. But when does that frail little vessel that you are and that I am contain all might and power of the Spirit? He is given but He continues to be given.

44:25 And we as a people of God must not be driven away from a self-conscious dependence upon and crying to God for the endowment of the Spirit because of the excesses of Pentecostalism on the one hand and the nebulous mystical wildfire of the so-called charismatic on the other or the even some of this deviant teaching that is entering otherwise orthodox circles. Let us not allow the abuse of truth to keep us from the proper regard for the truth which is under abuse.

45:03 And I say the second great lesson that is set forth in this passage is that without the anointing of the Spirit we are not in any degree competent to accomplish our God-given tasks. And if there is no there is one request that I would urge upon you men particularly concerned with being ministers of the Gospel. In a peculiar way if we understand Scripture aright the anointing of the Spirit in this sense is generally associated with verbal utterance. They were filled with the Spirit and they spake boldly.

45:44 Covet not only a working knowledge of the original languages covet not only a sweeping appreciation or appreciation of the sweeping panorama of church history learning from ancient heresies and the landmarks of articulated truth how to stand as a stable minister in your own generation learn the disciplines of sermon construction all of the things that form the rubric of your study in the academy but oh my young brethren over all of this cry for the anointing of the Spirit of God that when you have something more than a name and association with other men of God in the hour of truth comes when you must stand to do battle with the enemies which God will give you to confront you may be able to know that the Lord God of Elijah is your God. Then I hasten to the third and final lesson in the passage and it is this that there is usually and I have chosen my words carefully there is usually a direct relationship between the measure of spiritual unction which a man possesses and his spiritual sensitivity there is usually a direct a proportionate relationship

Lesson 3: Spiritual Sensitivity and Unction are Related

47:12 between the measure of a man's spiritual unction and his spiritual sensitivity now this is not always so because usually they have been so right and that is why they have been so right and that is why they have been so right because in the first and in the second verse it says that the Lord has not and he doesn't argue with their claim he says that's true but I never knew you and it's obvious that Judas had every miraculous gift that all the others had no intimation in the gospels that when they were commissioned and sent out that he did not raise the dead heal the sick cleanse the lepers like all the other eleven and there is in the history of the church a sad a tragic chronicle a sad of this fact, that there are men who had a mighty anointing who were utterly, beastly in their characters. And some of us have had sad and heartbreaking remembrances of this principle even in the past few days. But usually, usually what we find in this passage is true. You've asked a hard thing, Elisha. You want the portion of the firstborn. You want a double

48:24 portion of the Spirit which has rested upon me. You've asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if ye see me, it shall be done. If you have that spiritual sensitivity and that cultivated awareness of the spiritual realm, you've not allowed your spiritual eye to become festered with the cinders of lust and pride and ambition. Your spiritual eye is cleansed.

48:55 You've been meticulous in taking out the light, the smallest, the slightest splinter or speck that would dim your vision of that world of spiritual reality. If you see me, Elisha, it shall be done. And that's generally the relationship that obtains in the work of God, that it's the man, it's the woman, it's the boy, the girl that jealously guards his or her spiritual eye. And what others would not.

49:29 God calls sin. They sense that that ambition that maybe just floated before them for a few seconds, but they looked upon it longingly when they go to pray. They sense that that ambition, entertained for a moment, has put a speck in the eye. And when they would look upon the face of God in faith as they pray, their vision is blurred. What do they do?

49:56 They immediately run to that. They have found an open for sin and uncleanness. And they're anointed with the eye salve of spiritual cleansing in the language of the book of the Revelation. Anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou may see. And the cinder is taken out. And the eye salve of the palm and Gilead is placed upon it. And once again they see with clear vision. A lustful thought arises in the heart. No one sees it. It's miles away.

50:30 From resulting in actual immorality. But they sense that the eye has become scratched. And they deal with it mercifully, brutally, because they want their spiritual vision to be kept clear and bright and sharp. Generally speaking, there is a direct relationship between that kind of spiritual discipline and the unction of the Holy Spirit.

50:59 You know why some of us have so little unction upon our labors? Whether as mothers, fathers, workmen seeking to live to the glory of Christ and be a witness? You know why so few preachers have the endowment of the Spirit? It's not for lack of education. It's not for lack of tools and opportunities. It's because the spiritual eye is full of cinders and festering sores. My friend, do you want the unction of God upon your life for whatever calling? Well, God has given you in life. Generally speaking, there is a direct relationship between the measure of spiritual unction and spiritual sensitivity.

51:45 Well, you say, Pastor Martin, if that's true, doesn't that contradict what you said earlier? That the Spirit is given gratuitously. We do not earn Him by our ethical conduct. True.

51:57 But listen. Once given, we can grieve Him and quench Him. And that's Bible language. Grieve.

52:04 Not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God. And in the context, He's dealing with the sins of the heart. Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, lack of forgiveness, lack of forbearance.

52:17 And a grieved spirit becomes a withdrawn spirit, or in the language of Scripture, becomes a departed spirit, not as to His indwelling presence sealing us to the day of redemption, but in terms of His powerful unction. Validation! Verbal conversion. The Spirit of God willриly Chronicles 1-8.

52:37 God is the almighty, the One Father, the only Son of God, and the only Son of God. Our labor and ministry in the Lord. And I have often reflected upon this, that should God ever for whatever reason take from me the consciousness of His enablement and endowment, I would not occupy this pulpit again. But till it was either restored, and if not restored, I'd earn my living another way.

53:06 A way of making a living. A way of making a family. A way of making aてh heart. Once one has known any measure of that gracious, we are to live in His grace.

53:15 Amen? gracious albeit mysterious but gracious and real presence of god the spirit in ministry he can never be satisfied with becoming a bible talker never satisfied with being a professional reverend a proper clergyman when one has known what it is to speak and to sense that god takes his word and from the time it goes from the lips of his servant and fastens itself upon the ear of the hearer there is a validation of heaven upon that word and it has nothing necessarily to do with animation or volume or any other external phenomenon or phenomena when you see sinners breaking off with their sins and saints getting new and ravishing sights of christ and by degrees overcoming their crippling besetting sins and by degrees embracing their god-given duty as husbands and wives and mothers and fathers you say thank you lord thank you for that measure of the spirit necessary to accomplish the end for which the ministry was established even the building up of the body of christ and the calling

54:36 in of his elect well i suggest my brothers and sisters that these are three of the very fundamental and helpful lessons contained in this section in which we have the seal to the call of elisha let me just run them by you as i close these verses teach us that god is faithful to equip his servants with all that is necessary to accomplish their tasks there is no substitute for the anointing of the spirit in the work of god and there is usually a direct relationship between the measure of spiritual unction and spiritual sensitivity

Conclusion: What Do You Want?

55:26 so wonderful thing to look at this many like she'll see that when he's asked what do you want there's no quite for fayed doesn't say make me as famous as my predecessor he doesn't say oh god make me over into his personality i'm a more plastic individual in more social make me a fiery play mean unique and and he just says give me the portion of the first give me what i need to be me and to do your work that's his name. me and to do your work. That's his prayer. My friend, if God gave you what you want, what would you get? Well, that's a good index of where you are. And if you're not a Christian, you wouldn't ask this. You'd bend the arm of the Almighty to give you a big flesh pot in which you could drown your soul in lust and go to hell with it. What a tragic thing. The longer I live, the more I come to the conviction that when old Dr. Tozer said,

56:24 the most ugly thing I've ever seen is the human heart, he was not being poetic. What can be so ugly as a human heart made to know God and to love him and to commune with him that wants nothing more than to drown itself in sin? Oh, my friend, God can give you a different heart. The God who graciously came to his servant Elisha and equipped him for his task is the God who can equip you to dwell with him.

56:55 To know him, to love him, and to serve him. And that can only be done from the hand of one who's greater than Elisha, even the Lord Jesus, to whom the Spirit has not been given by measure, who now stands ready to receive all needy sinners who call upon him. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you again for the scriptures. We thank you that they are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our hearts. We thank you that they are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our hearts. We thank you that they are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our pathway. How we praise you that you've given so much history in your word. You have not, as it were, glutted us with abstract statement, but you're telling

57:54 us who you are and how you work in the lives of your people by vivid pictures in history. And we thank you for that. We thank you for this portion we've read and studied tonight, sealed to our hearts everything that has changed and changed. We thank you for that. We thank you for this portion we've read and studied tonight, sealed to our hearts everything that has changed and changed. And we thank you for this portion we've read and studied tonight, sealed to our hearts everything that has changed and changed. Whatever's had the mixture of the clay of man's thought, blow upon it and bring it to naught. And may your word effectually work in each of us, even that purpose for which you have given it. Hear our prayer, and may the unction of your spirit rest upon your people. O God, grant us a portion of the firstborn. We do not ask for the firstborn, we ask for experiences which we can then write about in books and cause others to seek the same. We ask, O God, for that enablement that we may do battle with the host of hell and of darkness, that we may fill our appointed place, whether it's there behind the sink and washing the clothes and caring for our little ones, whether it's in the shop, in the schoolroom. O God, help us as a people to be able to do that. We ask, O God, grant

59:09 our people to be so equipped by the Spirit that we may be light and salt, that we may shine in this crooked and perverse generation, holding forth the word of life. Hear our prayer and answer us, we plead, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.