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Now let us read in the First Book of Kings in chapter nineteen. The First Book of Kings in chapter nineteen, beginning in verse nine. And he, that is Elijah, came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and a strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, thou shalt anoint Hethiel to be king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. So he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over unto him and cast his mantle on him. Two kings, if you will please, briefly in chapter two. Two Kings, chapter two, beginning at verse nine. 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 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. 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. 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, 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 into pieces. And he took o- 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, the God of Elijah? When he also had smitten the waters, they were divided hither and thither, and Elisha went over. This is the last session of the conference, and I would like... And last night we were thinking together of the great revival inaugurated by Elijah in the dramatic scenes of the fire from heaven on the altar on Mount Carmel. And a very pleasant thing it would have been if we could have followed that this afternoon by a survey of the delightful ministry of Elisha the prophet. Elisha's ministry was by no means quite so dramatic as Elijah's, was not normally concerned with leading the whole nation back to God, but a ministry, a delightful ministry, more often than not devoted to individual people, some of them you never had heard of before, though some of them were famous. A delightful ministry of grace and salvation that found a leper in all his uncleanliness and showed him the way by which he might be cleansed till his skin became as the pure skin of a newborn infant, that found a poor widow woman enslaved by her debts, and pointed her to a tremendous resource that she had within her house, and told her to take her pot of oil and pour it out and sell it to her neighbors and live on the proceeds. And to her amazement, the secret being revealed, she found she did have such a potential in her home and in her life, and used the oil that never ceased until there was no vessel left with which to be filled. But time forbit. We shall do no more than just reach the opening gateway of Elisha's delightful ministry. But at least we can consider together two things about his ministry, can we not? We can consider about his appointment, the circumstances and the briefing he received at his appointment. We can then consider together his enabling and empowering for his ministry. And as we consider these two things together, we shall be led by God into a secret about two things. About the conditions and special nature of that age in Old Testament history, in the course of which Elisha exercised his marvelous ministry of grace. And when we consider the circumstances in which he ministered, our hearts will overflow with praise to God for his magnificent grace displayed to this and that individual through his prophet Elisha. And as we consider also the circumstances and the special nature of the age in which he ministered, we shall perceive something of the motivation that lay behind the labors of that indefatigable servant of God. What then were the back- was the background to his ministry and to his appointment and the terms of reference under which he served? The story is this, that Elijah's revival was a very genuine revival. It brought the heart of many an Israelite back to serve the living and the true God. Priests galore of the temples of Baal were put to death and heard of no more. It was a genuine revival. But alas, the revival didn't touch the palace. And officially, the nation rejected both the sacrifice and the fire of Mount Carmel, rejected the voice of the living God that had been expressed on Mount Carmel, threw in the face of God the very grace and pardon that he offered them on the base of that sacrifice. Led in particular by Jezebel, notorious Jezebel. Israel officially sought to kill Elijah. And Elijah fled. From Mount Carmel, where he had prayed for the rain to come in blessing upon Israel, he fled to Mount Horeb, and there once more he prayed. But this time, he didn't pray for Israel. He pleaded against Israel. Now Horeb was the mountain range, range in which Sinai stood. Ponder it at once. When Elijah, that mighty man of prayer, prayed to God on Carmel in full view of the sacrifice, the abundant rain of God's blessing descended upon the nation. There was no mere mouther of words, but a man who, when he prayed to the living God, brought down the action of God upon his people. What do you suppose is going to happen? If he being rejected and the gospel he preached rejected, and the very God he preached rejected, he goes to Mount Horeb, mountain of the law, and taking his stand upon the holy law of God, pleads with God against Israel. Oh, you haven't forgotten, I hope. Ahab may have. Jezebel never knew it, perhaps. Ahab may have long since forgotten the house of the Lord of Jerusalem. He was still there. He may have dismissed the God of heaven as another mere superstition, like old Baal was, but God wasn't that. And at the heart of the house of the Lord was the ark of the covenant of God, with God's holy law contained therein. If Elijah on Horeb, on the basis of God's holy law and covenant, begins to plead against Israel, what can happen now? Except Except God's God's sent- sentence of wrath upon the people. We should be careful to note what God said to Elijah at the cave. There came thunder and fire and wind and storm, and says the script, God was not in any of them. Then there came a still small voice, but it has been grievously misinterpreted. As though God was saying, no, Elijah, you would rejoice, wouldn't you, if I brought down my thunder and fire upon the people, bad old Elijah. Learn to recognize the still small voice of calm and peace. There's nothing of the sort. Oh yes, Elijah was unduly pessimistic, I grant you that. And when he pleaded, I only I am left alone, poor pessimist. God replied, not so, Elijah. I will yet reserve seven thousand men who shall not bow the knee to Baal. I'm not that hard up, Elijah, nor shall I ever be. And the very fact that God would reserve a remnant of his people was God's promise that one day the whole nation should be restored, as the New Testament reminds us. That apart, listen to what the still small voice said. Go and appoint Hazael king of Syria. Go and appoint Jehu, king of Israel. Go and appoint Elisha to be prophet in your stead. The one that escapes of Hazael's sword shall Jehu slay. That's what the still small voice said. God was announcing the most sweeping judgment that would befall Israel in the days to come. When God announces his judgment, his divine wrath and sentence upon sin and apostasy, he doesn't have to shout. He doesn't lose his temper and explode in a display of heavenly fireworks. When the sovereign, the moral ruler of the universe, sees fit now at length to do his strange work, the work of judgment, it is done in all calmness. There's no loss of temper in perfect justice, and I might add, in perfect love. The judgment announced on Mount Carmel fell upon Ahab eventually, though Ahab was given interval to repent before the judgment fell. The judgment in its entirety fell some generations later, for the nation as a whole was given an extended period of God's mercy and God's grace, that individual men and women in their need and repentance might, through Elisha, find the living God and be saved. Before God's judgments fell and ended that particular age. That was the context in which Elisha was appointed. Sacrifice on Mount Carmel, demonstration of the living God, his existence, his willingness to forgive his people. The sacrifice rejected by the official leaders of Israel. The immediate leaders of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel. Consigned to God's judgment, Ahab very soon afterwards. And then an interval extended of God's grace. Before the full judgment finally fell, and in God's stupendous mercy, Elisha commissioned to preach his glorious gospel as the long suffering of God waited that men and women might be saved. Not dissimilar is our own position, is it? Oh, see the sorrow of it. The sacrifice of Calvary witnessing before the world and before God's own Jewish peoples. The true God, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And while thousands of ordinary Jews in Jerusalem turned and received the Savior, officialdom in Jerusalem persisted in its rejection of the Son of God. And because of it, they were given a time to repent during the time of the Acts of the Apostles. When Judaism officially refused to repent, there came upon them, as our Lord had warned them, the armies of the Romans and flattened Jerusalem and eventually took it over as a Gentile city. And after that, God's mercy still. And nineteen hundred years and bordering on the two thousand of God's great mercy and grace. He's not cast off his people whom he foreknew. Listen to what God said to Elijah. Elijah, I reserve uh seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal. And Paul, quoting it with great relief and pride, says, and see there, my Gentile brethren, don't you get uppish in your thinking. God has not forsaken the people whom he foreknew. There is a remnant even at this time. I'm one of them, says Paul. I am an Israelite, I'd have you know. Not I was, I am. I'm saved. One day there shall all Israel be saved. Ah, but blindness has happened to them until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and we serve in this age of grace. The framework of our serving then, my brethren, my sisters, is the solemn one of the fact that the judgments of God have already been announced. The day of the Lord shall come. You know, it's not a very popular doctrine nowadays, is it, the wrath of God? We're told that we must be user-friendly in our preaching. We mustn't upset people. We must build up their egos and make them feel good. What trifles we would be to make people feel good when the wrath of God hangs over their heads. There are two reasons, says Paul in his great exposition of the gospel, why people need be saved. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, says he, for it is the power of God to salvation. But why should I be saved? Why need I be saved? For two reasons, says Paul. The first one is this, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. We need to be saved from the wrath of God. And we need to be saved because of the wreckage that has followed Adam's disobedience and sin. And the fourth, two things. God give us great compassion for the wreckage that sin has caused in human lives. God has the answer for it, and a magnificent answer it is. But it's not only the wreckage that needs to be put right. Men and women unconverted, like the rest of us, are children of wrath. They stand under the wrath of God. Oh, they desperately need to be saved. Saved from the wrath of God, reconciled and forgiven, and with a guarantee that we shall forever be saved from the wrath of God. Oh, hasten our feet. God, give us courage of heart and love in our hearts to dare to preach still the wrath of God against sin. I know it sounds bad, and when you talk about the wrath of God, people think that God is some awful, hideous monster, a kind of a prehistoric dinosaur that went out, uh, w- with the Victorian age, and uh, now God is much more kindly than he used to be. That's mistaken from every point of view. You know, sometimes we apologize for our friend. We say, Sam, you know Sam? Yeah, Sam. Well, you know, sometimes he loses his temper. He doesn't mean it. He gets over it and is a decent chap on the whole. Well, so he is, of course he is. But you mustn't talk about God like that. Well, now and again he does get a little bit wrathful, but on the whole he's nice and kindly. Two stories follow, do they not? I must briefly remind you of them. After the wrath of God was announced upon Ahab and his house, two stories of God's magnificent patience with Ahab. The first was how the Syrians gathered a great confederacy of Canaanite kings to come and take Israel over completely. And God twice sent to Ahab a message hand delivered by a prophet. Now Ahab, look here, Ahab, oh foolish Ahab, you who have forsaken the living God and gone over to the trivialities and nonsenses of Canaanite idolatry. Now, Ahab, I'm going to save you, not for your goodness mark, but I'm going to save you in my mercy towards you, to demonstrate to you that I am the true God of heaven, Ahab. Longs to save you. And twice over God saved him. Are these pagan old Canaanites. And Ahab was sort of feeling pleased when the king of Syria sent an embassy, all his elders with rope tied around their necks. And they said, uh, please pardon our lord. And Ahab looked down from his chariot, uh, and he said, is my brother, the king of Syria, still alive? And the men said, wonder enough. These kings, you know, they're very soft-hearted, they're soft in the head as well, actually. He'll never kill our sovereign. We'll pitch this old sentimental notion, you'll see, and make out we're ever so humble, and, uh, presently he'll welcome us with open arms, kisses. And so he did. By my, your brother, our sovereign? Oh yes, we'll go and call him. And the king of Syria came, and Ahab said, come up, my brother, and sit in my chariot. You know, there's no difference between you and me, after all, is there? By what kind of twisted logic did Ahab think that he could deny the living God, upon whom Israel's identity and existence depended? They had no other reason for existence than to witness to the true God. By what kind of a- a- a- a nonsense did he think that he could deny the living God and embrace the idolatry of Syria and still survive as a nation. And if that's ancient history, let's read some modern. By what kind of nonsense and twisted logic do Christian leaders in Christendom today imagine that they can deny the uniqueness of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and compromise with the pagan religions of the world and still think the church is going to remain untarnished. By what logic do Christian organizers suppose they are going to introduce into the church the methods of pagan society and worldly ideas without the world taking the church over. What gospel will there be left when it happens? The ex-archbishop of England came home from India and announced to us all he was overwhelmed with the spirituality of India. It was time we d- d- gave up our notions of the uniqueness of our Christian gospel and admitted our ignorance, and held dialogue with other religions so that they and we could tod- tod- could together work towards the truth. I tell you, if in spite of God's warnings and the warnings of the written head of the church, Christendom goes on like that, it will be taken over completely by paganism. Then there came the Jezebel incident. With this, in this incident, God shows us the justice of his judgment. I must tell you, forgive me, give me an extra minute. For Ahab, you know, like kings do, always looking around for a new hobby, took up gardening. He suddenly had an urge to garden, and it was going to be grapes, you'll see, this time, the very best grapes, and where they said the sun came at the corner of his palace. Alas, there was a man called Naboth, and he had a little bit of ground just where Ahab wanted to put his glass house with the grapes in. So, uh, Ahab went along to this Naboth, and he said, now look here, my man, I've gone into gardening in a big way, um, and uh, your, your, your little, little funny little bit of land there is just what I would want, you'll see, so I'd like to buy it from you. I'm sorry, said Naboth, uh, it's not for sale. What do you mean, not for sale? I'll give you, name your price, my man, money, dollars are no diff- difficulty to me. Name your price, a million dollars, I don't mind what I pay, but you must sell it to me. I've got to get on with my gardening. No, said Naboth. No, he said. What do you mean no? What fool are you to resist the money? Look, your majesty, said Naboth, you'll see it isn't a question of money. Money couldn't buy this bit of ground. This bit of ground is my inheritance from the Lord. It may not be a very spectacular bit of ground, but your majesty, I believe that God gave me my inheritance. I wouldn't sell it for anything. That's a lovely concept of life, isn't it? The psalmist takes it up subsequently. He says the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places. Lo, I have a goodly heritage. Do you believe that? You haven't got three acres and a cow in Vancouver like the Israelites had in, but you've got an inheritance, haven't you? What do you believe about yourself? Are you just a product of chance? Or are you, your body, mind, person, personality, your very genes ultimately, the inheritance that God has given you? Think before you answer it. I am a wounded man, broken. And yet, I refuse to believe the atheist that I am merely an accidental damaged specimen of humanity. No, behind me stands the living God, and by the grace of God I am what I am. There was a program once on our BBC, which was this: i- if you weren't who you were, who would you like to be? And I pondered that a long time, and I decided that if I wasn't myself, what I'd like to be is myself. There's not another me in the whole universe. I know you say thank God, but that's beside the point. There isn't another you in the universe. You are what you are as your inheritance from God, and the Blessed Lord has redeemed it with incalculable price, and one day he shall glorify you, a veritable prince and princesses of God. All Ahab could think of was money. And when Naboth wouldn't settle, he went home and he was disgusted, wasn't A- A- Ahab? He wouldn't eat his dinner and went to bed and put his face to the wall and started sobbing and sighing. For a weakling, wasn't he? And in came Jezebel. Ho, ho, Ahab, and what's all this? Well, he said, I wanted that field, and Naboth won't sell it. Oh, you poor fool, she said. Who rules here? Anybody think you weren't king? Give it to me. She put on a fake trial. And in the name of God, she suborned witnesses who came and said that Naboth had cursed God and the king and had him executed. And took over the property. Ahab never knew about the covenant of the Lord at Jerusalem. It said, thou shall do no murder. It said, thou shall bear not false witness, and you shall not murder because man is made in the image of God. What did Jezebel care? If you don't believe in the true God, ultimately you don't believe in the true, true honor and dignity and worth of humankind. And humans exist merely for your pleasure. When Jezebel murdered Naboth, what would you have God do? Cook Ahab's curly hair and give a contribution to the garden for Jezebel. Now, if you have any love for mankind, any sense of the sacredness of humanity, and you see Naboth lying in his pool of blood eaten by the dogs, you will call on the living God to rise up and avenge the just, who has received such cruel injustice at the hands of men. I tell you, as sure as there is a God in heaven who loves mankind for his very love for men, there's coming a day of judgment when earth wrongs will be put right. Clap your very hands, as the Psalm asks you to. Clap your very hands for joy that one day God will rise up and judge this world and put its wrongs right. At last, the judgment came. How did God judge Ahab? It's a long story, I cut it short. Ahab sent an embassy to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. He said, my brother, do you know what I've been thinking this last one month or two? You know Ramoth-Gilead in the north, uh, it belonged to me, you know, uh, and the old Syrians have got it. Uh, what about joining in a joint campaign, Jehoshaphat, and we'll go and retake Ramoth-Gilead? So Jehoshaphat, silly man, agreed, and off they went. And then they held a council of war, and there sat the two kings, one of Israel, one of Judah, each on his throne. And in came the false prophets. Ahab could afford to keep a lot of them. And, uh, when Ahab put the question, shall we go, uh, and take, uh, Ramoth-Gilead? And they said, yes, go, and the Lord be with you, you'll be successful. Joshehat began to feel uneasy. He said, Ahab, old Shehab, um, um, um, I hear what they say, but is there no prophet of Jehovah at all around here? Prophet of Jehovah, he said, you're behind the times, Joshefat, my boy. There used to be. He says, I think, if I scratch my head, I think there is one still around somewhere. All I know is in prison, actually. You really want to consult a prophet of the Lord? Well, I would like to, said Jehoshaphat, you know. Well, all right, if you must. So a prison officer was dispatched to bring the prophet Micaiah, prophet of the Lord. As they came along the road, the prison officer said to the prophet, he said, it's not my business, sir, but I just thought I, I ought to tell you that all the other prophets have been preaching well, you'll see, and saying good things. They're user friendly, these chaps are, and, and, uh, and uh, uh, they've encouraged Ahab to go up, you'll see. So I don't want to suggest to you what you ought to say, sir, but if you could manage to say, you know, something that wasn't too offensive to Ahab, because I wouldn't like to see you come back in prison. Bread and water is rather colorless stuff, you know. So Micaiah arrived, and Ahab said, tell us, you prophet of the Lord, shall we go up and be successful at Ramot Gilead? And he said, oh yes, your majesty, go up, and you'll be successful. Stop that, said Ahab. I won't have you stand there telling me lies. Oh? What's happened now? When the false prophet said, go up and you'll be successful, Ahab believed them. When Micah says, go up and you'll be successful, Ahab can see that isn't the truth. Don't you tell me lies. Oh, so he knew what the truth was. Well, said Micah, your majesty, if it's the truth you want, that's a little bit unexpected, but if it's the truth you wanted, then I can tell you what the truth is. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne in the council of heaven, and the Lord said, who shall go and deceive Ahab that he might fall at Ramot Gilead? And there came forth an evil spirit and said, I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets, at which point one of the false prophets struck him across the mouth. And Ahab ordered him to be put back in prison. And Ahab went to the battle, and he fell there under the judgments of God. You perceive what happened? Over many years, through the mouth of the eloquent prophet Elijah, pleading, pleading, demonstrating the truth. God tried to convert even Ahab, but he wouldn't receive the love of the truth, that he might be saved. And in the end, God said, have it your way, Ahab. Have the lie. All the poignancy of it, the man knew it was a lie. He knew what the truth was. But he'd gone beyond the stage of no return. There comes a time when God sends men a strong delusion, but they believe the lie because they would not receive the love of the truth. Oh, my brothers and sisters, will not your heart rise up at this moment in compassion for the lost men and women around the streets here? Some of them have never heard the gospel, have they? And they cannot be said to know the truth. But some have. Children of believers that have known the truth, whose eyes the Spirit has illumined. Other folks knowing the truth. And with their eyes open, they still say, no. Oh, God have mercy. Lest the time come when they pass beyond return, and because they will not receive the love of the truth, God shall send them a strong delusion that they believe the lie. Thus shall it be at the end of our age. Meanwhile, there's a time of grace, isn't there? And ours the privilege. Knowing what we know, God is long suffering, not willing that any should perish. Now is the time to haste us away from our conference and to ask the Lord's wisdom and grace to lead us to men and women whom we might lead to God. In what strength shall we do it? Listen to Elijah's word to Elisha. If you see me when I go up, it shall be to you a double portion of my spirit. Watch the fluttering coat come from the ascending Elijah, and watch Elisha put it on. And go forth, my brothers, with your eye on the risen and ascended Lord, clothed and endued with the spirit that he sent down from glory. Go out in his name, and God give you converts like he gave Elisha, many and notable, while yet God's grace waits before his final judgments fall.