heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha on Gilgore. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Carry here I pray thee, for the Lord hath set thee to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not need thee. So rain went down to Bethel, and the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, said unto him, Thou art thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day. And he said, Okay, I know it. O ye your feet. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha tarry here I pray thee, for the Lord has set me to Jericho. He said that the Lord liveeth, and as thy soul liveeth, I will not leave thee. For they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophet that were at Jericho, came to Elisha, and said unto him, Thoughest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day? He answered, Yea, I know it, bold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Carry, I pray thee here, for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. They said, As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not be thee. And they too went on. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood. The few were far off, and they too stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it in, wrapped it together, and smoked the waters, 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 be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast passed a hard day. Nevertheless, if Thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass that they still went on on top. And behold, there appeared a charion of fire, and horses of fire, parted in both asunder. And Elisha went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Lysha sawed, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot Israel, and the horsemen are off, and he saw him the more. And he took hold of his own clothes, and dressed him in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? When he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither, and the Nicaea went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view the Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. They came to meet him, and he carved themselves to the ground before him. They said unto him, Behold, now that be with us thy servant. Fifty strong men, let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest for the adventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley, and he said, He shall not send. When they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. Then sent, therefore, fifty men, and they sought three days, but found them not. when they came again to him, for he carried a Jericho. He said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not. But dictating to God, the very serious thing to try and tell God what we want done. And you remember Elijah, he dictated to God, he said, Lord, take away my life. It is not fit for me to live. I know better than my father. There he was under that juniper tree down in the desert, despondent and depressed, and he told God, he asked God to take away his life. This is a danger that we might ask God to do something that's absolutely not his way. Had God done what Elijah asked to take away his life and take him to heaven from under the juniper tree, why the very desert sand would have been his shroud, and the desert grins would have been laid his rectum. But God had something better than that. Here is Elijah, and he swept the heaven in a chariot of fire. And I'm sure when he got that glory ride, he was very happy and glad that God didn't answer his request from the desert to take him away. And so often it is Elijah. We try to dictate to God. We tell God what we want done. And it's a good thing, many times that he doesn't give us our regrets. He knows so much. We know so little. He knows what's best to man then. Though that things have gone to be on, for it may mean tragedy in your life instead of triumph. The way we be cautious in our prayers and in our requests, that we pray always, submissive to his will, Lord, if it be thy will, are not tried to demand things of God that you think must surely be right. God sees all of us. There are many requests and prayers I made in my life. I thank God for this day and for the rest of my days that he didn't. give me what I ask. He knows best, and it was nice to leave the future with him. One of these divinity students, when Elijah was caught up, they wanted to go and look for Elijah. And Elijah said, no, don't you go. Evidently this had happened quite frequently in the life of Elijah. He had been caught up and taken out there in the Spirit, It seems he appears, and he disappears several kinds in his life. Evidently that was God's way of transportation for Elijah. And so having known this, these divinity students that came from the college, they said, Why, he's likely somewhere else. When he went up from you, Elisha, the Lord evidently let him down somewhere else. Let fifty of us, we're strong men. Let us comb all this area and just see if we can't find it. Elisha didn't want them to go, but because of their persistence he said, all right, you go. And they went and they sought for him three days. They found him not. Evidently they were quite disappointed when they did not find him. Why? It emphasized this truth. that Elijah really did go up to heaven. And that means there must be another word. These divinity students, seven lay were of those that we have around us today, they didn't believe in the supernatural. Why, that's a supernatural thing for a man to be caught up in a chariot into heaven. We just can't believe it. It couldn't be true. He must be somewhere else. And we're not going to be convinced that this is supernatural. We're not going to believe that he was caught up to heaven by the power of God until we've searched all over this area. After three days' search, they were convinced there is another world. What a day that will be when this present world and the occupants of this world make the sad discovery there is another world. This is not the only one. There's another world beside this world. This is a physical, material world. But there is a spiritual world. This planet is for time. Heaven is for eternity. That which is temporal is tangible. That which is not tangible is eternal. Therefore, there is another world. And we do well to remember that and prepare for that other world where Elijah went. This is a lovely picture of the rapture. Here is Elijah and he's caught up. Last night, a number of us were looking at a film here, a very good film, coming as a thief, a thief in a night. And how the Lord Jesus is going to come in a moment. and cut away his people and there'll be a lot of people missing five minutes after the Lord will come. Where have they gone? They may try their best, as we noticed last night, to explain away even the United Nations, trying to explain away our modernistic creatures, trying to explain away this great phenomenon. People are missing all over the world. Where have they gone? We can't find them. Yes, they've gone to heaven, just like Elijah went to heaven. He's seen later on, as we'll see next week, on the month of transfiguration with the Lord Jesus Christ and his mother. Just one of these days, Christ is going to come, and all were born again, all who have passed from death unto life spiritually, are going to be caught away. and there'll be a great search. There'll be mothers, unconverted mothers, and unconverted fathers looking for their children who hadn't reached the age of responsibility. Where have they gone, not over to the neighbors? They're gone, and you'll see them again no more, forever. There'll be wives looking for their husbands and husbands looking for their wives. There'll be children looking for their parents. and they'll not fight. There'll be two working in the field, one shall be taken and the other left. There'll be two sleeping in the bed, one shall be taken and another left. Two working at a mill, one taken at the other left. Family life, factory life, farm life. Two working side by side and all of a sudden one is gone. The one born again, The one washed in the blood of Christ is taken to glory. I want to ask you, if Christ were to come this very minute, how many of you would be left sitting in this congregation? By the grace of God, the preacher would be gone. He'd disappear, as well as all others who were saved by the grace of God this morning, which you left behind. That's a solemn question for you to ask yourself. Are you ready for the rapture, the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ? We'll notice in connection with Elijah and Elijah. Elijah's end came. Did he reach his goal? Well, he could have salvaged some of the latter years, but by the grace of God, he did reach his goal and was taught to have Moses didn't reach his goal. He fell short of it because of a thunder that we noticed last Sunday. He spoke unadvisedly with his friends. The Apostle Paul reached his goal. He said, I've fought the good fight. I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. I've done all that God had planned for me to do here in this life. Now he says, I'm many. And God has laid up for me a crown of righteousness which he, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. It's nice to know that a man has finished his course. Some Christians may be taken home to heaven before they've done what God intended they should do because of failure on their part. It's a grand thing to be able to finish your course. The time comes when the warrior puts away his weapons after the last fight. The time comes when school is out. And that's it. The time comes when the workman closes up his shop. The time comes when the person leaves his desk never to return. Yes. The time comes when its finest years. you come to the end of your role. I wonder if you're ready for the end. Here's a man who was ready for the end, Elijah, while he was taking it quite calmly, composed. He and Elijah went on and talked. What wonderful conversation that must have been. Only a born-again Christian can be so composed friend faced a faceless death. I wonder if you're composed that the thought of God to being absent from the body present with the Lord. Elijah was perfectly composed as he thought of his drawing to meet his God and only one saved by grace. Is ready either for the rapture, or for the article and experience of death. You say I live a good life. I do the best I can. My name is on the church register. That will not fit or prepare you for death or the coming of the Lord. You've got to be born again. You've got to be saved by the grace of God if you're going to be ready for the rapture or the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful to notice how God was with Elijah right up to the end. Wonderful to know the presence of God. Right to the end. Though I walked through the valley of the shadows, I fear no evil for thou art with me. Triumphant dying is the result of triumphant living. If you live a defeated life as a Christian, you're likely to be depressed and defeated at your death. You dread death. You dread meeting the God whom you so shamefully dishonored in your life. But if you live for Christ, a victorious, triumphant Christian, then death will be a triumph to you. I hope we live in the light of that. to live all during your life that those impressions that you will have when you come to die. Our impressions then will be sober. Our impressions then will be, have I done my best for Him? Are those thoughts lingering in my mind now? If you want to have those thoughts then, then have them now and practice them now, triumphant dying. is a result of triumphantly. If you're defeated and a failure here, a Christian, you'll not get the thrill of joy or pleasure out of thinking and passing into the presence of the God your little days. The grace of God will take you through, but, oh, what a shambles you made of your life. Not so with Elijah. Elijah was perfectly composed. God went with them to the end. Then they went from place to place, Hildal, Bethel, Jericho, and Jordan. Ah, Jordan! The waters were parted. As Elijah took his mantle and he smoked those waters and they parted. And they went over and the waters returned. And they still had something to talk about. They went on. at that time you said to the young man, is there anything you'd like me to do before I go? Yes, he says, a double portion of thy spirit. I'd like to have just twice what you've got, Almighty. Quite, yes. I'd like to have twice the power. I'd like to have twice the ability. I'd like to see twice as much done for God, as usual. Mike, what an ambitious request for young elation. The old prophet says, all right, you've asked a hard thing, not a hard thing for God to give, but a hard thing for you to receive. If you see me when I go, you shall have your request. Everything hinged upon it. If, listen to me, if you see me when I go, You'll have your experience. Well, I believe this that from that second on, Elisha kept his eyes glued upon Elijah. He wouldn't let anything come in the tree. He wouldn't look to the left or to the right. He just kept his eye upon the top. He wondered what he had asked for, and this was the condition. If you see me when I go, it shall be. If not, It shall not be. God has ifs in his Bible. And this is something people don't seem to realize. There is always a condition. Look at these verses. All things are possible. To him that belief. That's the condition. All things are possible. That's something in it. That's quite comprehensive. Here's the condition. that you believe, him that believe. Then he said, If thou shalt believe, thou shalt see the glory of God. He'll not see the glory of God unless you believe. Do you remember the Ethiopian eunuch? He had just trusted the Savior, and he said to Philip, Here is what doth hinder me to be baptized. Philip said, If thou believest, With all thine heart thou mayest. If you do not believe, you may not be baptized. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. That's the condition. People say, I want to be baptized. I want to join the church. There's a big it here. Have you been saved? Have you been born again? If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. To do otherwise to be baptized without that work of grace in your heart, you might as well take a bath for all the effects spiritually have upon you. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized. Here is the condition. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be saved when you meet this condition. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is essential. Then again, if thou shalt confess me with thy mouth, says the Lord Jesus. If thou shalt confess me with thy mouth, then believe in thy heart that God has raised me from the dead, Thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be saved, yes. You shall be on this condition, that you believe in your heart, that God raised Christ from the dead, and you confess that fact with your mouth. That's the condition. The Lord Jesus Christ said in another place, I am the door by me if any man entered in. He shall be saved, and go in and out, and find Pastor. There's the inn. I am the door by me, if any man is the inn. When the Albany Hurl, when I went in the street, put in my ad, I noticed over the top of the door that about six or seven officers there, that these young fellows were going out trying to get business. They had no exit in big letters over the top of the door. I said to this, oh, what's that for? It simply means, Mr. Wilson, that if you come in here, you don't get out without doing it. No action. I said, that's not Scripture. The Bible says we go in and out and find out. Well, he said, I'll pass that on, you're lost. Then that's the point. When you come to know Christ as your Savior, you're not locked up. You've done business about your soul, but God says, now go out and tell us. Go out and find that. See here. If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. Do you want your body to be full of light like Elijah's was when he know any moment he was going to be raptured or glory? Let your eye be single. Then your whole body will be full of light. If your eye is not single, you've got your eye on the world, you've got eye on business, you've got an eye on something else, something material, something personal, and your eye is not fixed on Christ. That's the whole thing. Looking off unto Jesus the author and finisher of our things. Ah, says Elijah. If you see me when I go, it shall be as you desire. I was struck with this verse concerning Elisha and a later chapter. Chapter six, I think it is, over in chapter six and verse seventeen. And here they're at one of the Mount Dovan, Elisha and his servant, and the Syrians. The whole host of the Syrians were camped round about Dothan. And his servant, when he got up in the morning, he looked and he saw the Syrian hostess. And he said to Elisha, alas, my master, what shall we do? We're instructed the great host of the Syrians are around. Elisha says, Lord, open his eyes. And the young man's eyes were opened by the Lord, and he saw God's host. up above the Syrian host. That said, there was a literal host that could be seen. There was another host, God's host, that can only be seen by the eye of faith. Did God give that young man a vision, the result of faith, to see those hosts of his above the host of Syria? I believe the secret is this, when Elijah said to Elisha, If thou see me, where I go, it shall be so. He had his eye fixed upon Elijah, and there was faith in that. Faith behind that look. And when the angels came down on the horse and the horses and swept Elijah away, he saw it. he saw. God grant you, I'll, when you exercise faith in what you're looking at. If you look at Jesus Christ, the one who took your place and suffered on that cross, if you see him, no man saved Jesus. Behind your look there is faith. Behind your confession there is faith. Behind your act if you were to leave your seat and come up to the front. If there's faith, exercise. Faith in God. Faith in Christ. Faith in the Word of God. What you desire shall be your position. Either hath the sun at light. If thou shalt believe, thou shalt see the glory of God. That was the secret behind Elisha seeing Elijah. yet faith with what Elijah said, if thou see, it shall be done. If not, it won't. And you may do all that you please and plan to do. If there's no faith in it, you'll receive nothing. Faith in an invisible God. Faith in an almighty God. And so we have, if thou see me, the single eye. And then the chariots of fire... It says the charge of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands, and the Lord God is with them in Psalm sixty-eight, seventy. In other words, when God swept a light into heaven as much as saying, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the glory of our Lord. Only the end of our light will be like that. And as God sweeps us at that, well done, good. and take the loser. Elijah went up. Elisha went on. He can't stop. God buries his workmen, but he carries on his work. He raises up others. We can't stop. It's too much to be done. God's work must be done. We've got to go on, just like Elisha did. I think one time we told about the old rocky boat, old boat squeaky, leaky boat, and the storm was coming up when the second mate said to the old skipper, he says, don't you think we ought to drop anchor? He says, we'll never make port. The old skipper, he had weathered many a storm. He said, I know this is a leaky old boat. And he says, I know. that this boil is not in good shape. We may go up for any minute. We may go up. But he says, under any circumstance, we're going to go on whether we blow up or whether we sink. We're going to go on. Now that's a determination. Some Christians are willing to stop when they meet a storm. Honor, if thou think in the day of adversity thy strength is small. Elijah didn't sit down and weep his heart out when Elijah went. He didn't hang around there, making complaints and mourning. No, no. The moment Elijah left his side, he did say, my father, my father, oh, yes, you're going to miss him, Elijah. Yes, I wonder if he'll be missed. Will I be missed because I was so grateful of meeting? Will I be missed because I was such a blessing to others? Will I be missed because my light had a message? Or will I be missed in another way, like some of the kings of Israel, there was no lamentation at their death? In other words, their departure was a blessing. Oh, how wonderful to think I'll be missed. Am I living such a life that my absence around the chapel would bring a loss for many hearts? Or am I going to be neglectful that I could go and no one would know what had happened. No one would really miss me. I made such a little impression when I lived. Alas, master, alas, who's going to take your place. But he didn't do that long. He took soup down and he picked up the mantle of Elijah that fell shimmering to his feet. And he picked up Elijah's mantle. And now he makes for Jordan. And there's Jordan. He's got Elijah's mantle. And he stands by Jordan. He's going to meet the same obstacle. the same challenge as Elijah met. And he jerked that mantle, and he spoke the water. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Yes, you may have Elijah's mantle, but you must have Elijah's rod. Do I have them? Yes, the water's part. The water's part. He not only had Elijah's mantle, he had Elijah's rod. We have the mantles of great men drawn the water. We read their books. We read their sermons. We read and appreciate and enjoy the truth that these former Elijahs have dug up by the help of God. Do we have the power of these men? You can read about Boots, Spurgeon, Luther, Moody, these great men of God in the past. Used to pick up their mantle of truth. those things they've written concerning their life. Do you have the power of those men? Do you know the same God as they know him in the way they knew him? You can do all the talking you like and all the preaching you like by borrowed material, but if you don't know the God of that material, if you don't know the God in the way he was known in and through those men and years gone by. You're not making any impression. You're not seeing any truth. I ask Jesus, where is the Lord God of the Lamb? And that's the question we all might ask this morning. Where is this God of yesterday year? He's just as much alive today as he was. Where is the Lord God of Elijah that strengthened Elijah when the nation had turned to apostasy? Where is the Lord God of Elijah that answered him when rain was needed from heaven? Where is the Lord God of Elijah when he fed Elijah during a famine? He fed him by bird bringing his meal. Where is the Lord God of Elijah who answered on Mount Carmel? and the fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice upon the altar. Where is the Lord God of Elijah who ransomed him or raptured him to heaven in a chariot? Where is he? He's in the same place as he was in when Elijah lived. He's in heaven. He's on his throne today. And we can know him in a fuller sense when Elijah ever knew. Christ hadn't come then. Christ since then has come and given us a full revelation of a God that Elijah never knew. And if Elijah knew God in a limited way compared with what we know of, how is it? We're small by comparison with this great man, Elijah. He utilized the limited knowledge he had. the grasp of greatness of that law. We have more right than Elijah had, but we have less power, because we know little of the intimacy with God, but Elijah did not. Quite well, we are, but a double portion of the mind of spirit. All of us, my spirituality, may be your spirituality, could be doubled, and then would be just ordinary Christians. Maybe some of your spirituality could be multiplied five times and there'd be nothing out of your mind. Oh, that that double portion. God's Spirit might call upon all of us. And we'll see some of the activities and ministries of the great God of the light. If you're not a Christian this morning, will you come to this one to see Jesus Christ as your Savior? Receive them now. And we save. And if you're a child of God, may you this very moment, for the help of his power in vain, seek to know something more. Elijah's God shall be there.