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The second book of Kings and chapter one. And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick. And he sent messengers and said unto them, Go inquire of Baal Zevuv, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness. The angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal Zevu, the God of Ekron? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. And the messengers returned unto him, and he said unto them, Why is it that you are returned? And they said to him, There came up a man to meet us and said unto us, Go turn again unto the king that sent you and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty, and he went up to him, and behold, he sat on the top of the hill. And he spake unto him, O man of God, the king has said, come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Verse thirteen. And again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let thy my life and the life of these fifty thy servants be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came down fire from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in thy sight. The angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, go down with him, be not afraid of him. And he ar- arose and went down with him unto the king. The second chapter of that same book, 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 ask- 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. 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, 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 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 God, there is the Lord, the God of Elijah. When he also had smitten the waters, they were divided hither and thither, and Elisha went over. As a commentary on those verses, let us read just a few verses in the New Testament. The Gospel by John, please. The Gospel by John, and chapter uh fourteen. John fourteen verse nineteen: Yet a little while, and the world beholds me no more, but you behold me. Because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Then in chapter seventeen of that same gospel, sorry, chapter sixteen of that same gospel, and verse 7. 16:7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I go, I will send him unto you, and he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to the Father and you behold me no more. Of judgment because the prince of this world has been judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth. For he shall not speak from himself, but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak, and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you. All things, whatsoever the Father hath, are mine. Therefore I said that he taketh of mine and shall declare it unto you. A little while, and you behold me no more, and again a little while, and you shall see me. God give us good understanding of his holy word. In this short series of studies, you may remember from a fortnight ago that we are considering the life and ministry of Elisha the prophet. We spent our first session a fortnight ago considering the background of that prophet's ministry. Let me just briefly remind you of what we then found. We found in the first book of Kings that Elisha was appointed by direct word of God to Elijah the prophet. He was appointed on that austere and solemn occasion when Elijah stood on Mount Horeb to plead against Israel because of Israel's rejection of God and his message. We reminded ourselves on that occasion how solemn was that rejection that Israel had perpetrated against God and his gospel. It was not merely that Israel had from time to time sinned. They had, of course, being very much like ourselves, they had from time to time and endless times wandered and sinned against God. And in the recent history, they had sinned very grievously in leaving God and going after the worship of Baal. But that was not merely the point. The point was this, that God, in his great mercy to that nation, had raised up Elijah the prophet to bring them to repentance and to bring them back to God. And Elijah had come with his miracles and with his preaching, and supremely on the occasion when he stood on Mount Carmel and had demonstrated to them, in unmistakable language, who the true God really was. We reminded ourselves he did that demonstration by providing a sacrifice that God supernaturally honored and indicated by fire from heaven. Following that sacrifice that, uh, pointed Israel to the living and the true God, there came that abundant rain relieving the drought and the famine that had been now in existence the past three and a half years. So that Israel had a double sign. They had the sacrifice supernaturally accepted by God on Mount Carmel, followed by the great torrents of that life-giving rain that had come when the sacrifice had been offered. A double sign of God's mercy, a double sign of God's gospel and his grace towards that people. For a moment, there had seemed to be a revival in Israel, but alas, if not the common people, then the rulers of the nation had hardened their hearts, and turning against God and against Elijah, they had persecuted Elijah until Elijah had been obliged to flee for his very life. So that when at last he came and stood on Mount Horeb, that mountain range where the law was originally given, he had to witness against Israel, not only that they had sinned against God, but in the face of God's mercy they had sinned. Not only had they sinned, but God had offered them a sacrifice and a way back to God. God had given them the abundant blessing of his reign, and still they sinned, and still they rejected, until there was nothing left. For if we will not have God's mercy for our forgiveness, if we will not have the sacrifice he provides for our forgiveness, and to use New Testament language, if we will not have the gracious outpouring of his Holy Spirit and eternal life by his grace, then what can God do? But pronounce his judgment. We notice, therefore, that on Mount Horeb, God pronounced one of the most far-reaching judgments that you will ever read of in Old Testament days. The virtual annihilation of the house of Ahab and severe discipline upon the nation of Israel. We then noticed that God did not bring that judgment immediately, but waited some years, until at long length the judgment came in the time of Hazael of Syria and Jehu, who annihilated the house of Is- of Ahab. So between the announcement of the judgment and its execution, there was that lovely period of God's waiting mercy, as he waited for Israel to repent, a veritable day of grace, a witness to the fact that God is long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It was in that period, that interval of grace between the announcement of the judgment and the coming of the judgment, that Elisha was given to do his delightful miracles. Some indeed miracles of judgment, but for the most part, miracles of grace. And when we had surveyed that historical, uh, uh, uh, story, we couldn't help thinking of the parallel that stands obvious to see between that ancient history and what happened in the time of Jesus Christ, our Lord. How that God sent his son at long last, preceded by John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah. For John Baptist came to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and bring Israel to repentance and back to the living God. And in his ministry, he cried aloud to Israel as he pointed them to the God-given sacrifice of all time. Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And we couldn't help reminding ourselves that after Christ had offered that great sacrifice for sin, he rose and went back to heaven, and the gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, that spirit not only of holiness, but of grace. Then, alas, we had to observe that while thousands of ordinary Jews repented and came to faith, the rulers of that nation, like Ahab and Jezebel of old, hardened their hearts. You do always resist the Holy Spirit, said Saint Stephen to the Sanhedrin. The Jews as a nation rejected Jesus, rejected his sacrifice, rejected the coming of the Spirit of grace. God had no option but to set them aside and warn them of his judgment. So that Paul in one Thessalonians two says to his Gentile friends in Thessalonica, he said, you have suffered from your countrymen, you know, like we've suffered from our fellow Jews in Judea, who have resisted the prophets and tried to stop the gospel going to the Gentile, that they might fill up their sins. Wherefore, wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. On the other hand, we noticed that, uh, Paul comforts his heart by that very word that God spoke to Elijah on Mount Ca- uh, on Mount Horeb. Israel has had to be set aside because of its rejection of the Lord Jesus and his sacrifice and the coming of the Spirit. But, as God said to Elijah, I have left seven thousand men who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal. So, says Paul, there is at this present time, though Israel has gone back and God has had to set them aside, there is even at this present time a remnant even in Israel, a remnant of grace, those that have repented and received the Savior. We live in that kind of a time, and the judgment has been pronounced and not yet executed. At the end of this age, our Lord solemnly told us there would come judgments unparalleled in human history, but they haven't come yet. And in his mercy, God waits. It is for the Elishas of this world now, isn't it? Of our present age, to get on with their delightful task of preaching and fulfilling the gospel. Let that serve to remind us. It is important that we remember, because we shall find, when we come to it, that the ministry of Elisha and the secret of his power depends on this awareness that judgment has been pronounced, and judgment must one day come. Tonight I want, for the most part, to move on in Elisha's, uh, ministry and think now, still of the background to what he did, the background as we find it in the two ascensions of Elijah. Two ascensions because in Second Book of Kings, chapter one we have one ascension where Elijah went up and sat upon the mountain, and the sundry captains with their fifties came in the name of the king to see him, with on the whole disastrous results. And then that other glorious ascension, as he walked with Elisha, and they went finally from Gilgal to Bethel, and from Bethel to Jericho, and over Jericho, and there came the horses of fire and a chariot, and Elijah went up to heaven, and Elisha saw him go. The two ascensions of Elijah, the one of them up the mountain, the second of them up to heaven. They form the vivid, immediate background to Elisha and his ministry. Now, before I proceed to that this evening, I want just to say a word or two in very brief language about the chapters that come in between, because we ought to be fair to the text, for one thing, and not just, uh, to pick and choose here and there. And secondly, because attention, however brief, to those intermediate chapters that come between Horeb and the end of First Kings may help a little bit at least to dispel various difficulties that may have come into our mind. I wonder, did you find yourself thinking in our first study? Oh, well, I believe what the man says because it's in Bible that God sent these judgments. But aren't they a little bit bloodthirsty? Can we really believe that God was behind all that slaughtering that went on when Jehu came and slaughtered the house of Ahab? How does that tie in with the God of love made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord? So let's think just a little bit about those ancient judgments. You'll see, if there lurks in our heart any misgiving about the righteousness of God's judgment, then one of the very foundations of our gospel message will be undercut. We live in a modern world where not only the world, but oftentimes professing Christians doubt or deny that God will ever judge anybody. I do remember on one occasion, having talked, I know not what now, about the gospel message of our Lord Jesus and how Christ died us, died and bore the wrath of God in our place. I do remember a student coming up to me and saying, but look here, you've upset me because I thought that God didn't ever have any wrath and never got angry. What are you doing saying that the gospel is that Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God in our place? Surely it would be a very wrong thing for God to get angry with anybody. This good student, he believed, of course, in g- in God of love, and he believed with all his heart in the forgiveness of God and wanted to preach it. What he couldn't accept is that God would ever get angry against the sinner. Well, I said perhaps what you would have said. Well, I said on the first, uh, in the first instance, of course, the Bible does say God gets angry. He's angry with the sinners every day. But secondly, if God doesn't get angry against sin, then you won't need any forgiveness, my dear good man. You won't need to preach the forgiveness either. Will you? For if there is no wrath of God against sin, you needn't trouble yourself that you have sinned. You won't need any forgiveness for having sinned, if God doesn't get wrath against sin. If there is no wrath against sin, then you won't need the love of God to forgive sin. When we have said that, of course, then we w- should next observe that in these ancient Old Testament examples of the wrath of God, we are not dealing with the perfect expression of that wrath as it will be expressed in the final judgment. We are dealing with God's providential judgment of men, in which God was pleased in his wisdom to use men like Jehu to chastise the people of Israel, even though Jehu himself was one of the biggest rascals that ever walked on two legs. Though Jehu himself performed his task in altogether the wrong spirit and did some dreadful things for which God Almighty will yet hold the man responsible. So that when you come to the prophet Hosea, you will find the prophet Hosea exclaiming against Jehu and saying that God will yet require the blood of Jezreel from that bloodthirsty monster Jehu for the excesses that he committed and for the spirit in which he committed them. But then that's new, no new problem, is it? God at one stage used the Assyrians, says Isaiah, to chastise his people, and Assyria's wars against Israel were God's chastisement of Israel. But then Assyria didn't realize it was so, and Assyria wasn't doing it out of pure motive to be the executors of God's chastisement. Assyria did it with a proud and a cruel heart against Israel. And says God through Isaiah, now Assyria, you are the rod of my anger, but when you have ceased doing what I wanted you to do on Israel, you've gone beyond it of your own wicked heart, and I shall call you Assyria to judgment for the evil and the excesses that you perpetrated when you went beyond your brief. So we are to understand that not all that Jehu did in his bloodthirstiness was approved of God, far from it. And yet God in his providence, used Jehu as a judgment upon Israel. Secondly, I would have you notice that when God announced his judgment even upon the, not only on Israel, but on Ahab, the individual Ahab, I want you to notice how kind God was to Ahab. For the first thing God did when God had announced the judgment was once more to preach the gospel to Ahab. It happened like this, says, uh, First Kings. Ben-Hadad, the Syrian king, at this time sent a message to Ahab, and he s- he said, Ahab, your soldiers are my soldiers, your wives are my wives, your people are my people, your goods are my goods, Ahab. A curious letter to get upon your breakfast table in the morning, is it not? As Ahab sat there with Jezebel at breakfast and pondered these letters with his ministers of state around, he says to himself and to his ministers, what do you think this brigand is a doing of? He says that all I got is his, and there's no difference between his and mine and me and him. What do we do? Well, he didn't want to kick up a row, so he sent a nice little Billy Do back to, um, Ahar, uh, back to Ben-Hadad, and said, Ben-Hadad, there was a very nice letter you sent me the other day. Thank you very much. It is exactly as you say. And there he thought the matter would rest. Oh no, but there came another letter who really meant what I said. Everything you've got is mine. There's no difference between me and you, and I'm coming to get it. Now ponder, if you will, the significance of that. Ben-Hadad was a Syrian. Ahab's ancestors had been Syrians. The Hebrew word is really Arameans, but we'll use the traditional term in English, Syrians. Abraham had been a Syrian and Aramean before he got converted. He lived in Ar- Arama Naharaim, Aramia of the Two Rivers. A pagan old idolater, perhaps like the rest of them were, was Abraham. But then the God of glory appeared to him and brought him out of Mesopotamia and made Abraham the great pilgrim of faith, the man that was the very friend of God and knew the living God as distinct from those wretched idols of the Gentile world. That experience of seeing the glory of God and coming to know the real and the living God meant everything to Aha- A- Abraham and marked him distinct from the rest of men. It was, if you will, a conversion experience. Like it could be said of the Thessalonian Christians, couldn't it? They turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his son from heaven. To that kind of conversion experience, Abram owed everything, and the nation of Israel owed everything. They stood separate from the nations, as the nation to whom God had revealed himself, the living and true God in all his glory, forever marking out Israel separate from the others. And now, if you please, here was Master Ben-Hadad, king of the Syrians, coming along to Ahab and saying, Ahab, oh boy, you know there isn't any difference between me and you, not really, you know. You once were an Aramean, weren't you? Ah, you've taken this stand of being a separate nation, separate from all the Gentile nations around, and you say you have a God who looks after you, the living God, and what we've got are idols. But let me tell you, I have, my dear boy, you're no different from us, you know? My horses are your, your horses are my horses, and your wives are my wives, and your country is my country. There is no difference between me and you and you and me. Oh. Well, now that's not only, uh, that's not only a question of, uh, Ahab's personal pocket and his few horses that he had and his, um, palaces and whatnot. Uh, this isn't merely a takeover bid. It goes to the very fundamental reason for Israel's existence. Was there a difference between Israel and the Gentile world? What is all this business about Abraham and being called out and knowing the true and living God? Is he true? Or is this what the Jews have got, you know, Jehovah, the great I am? Is that, when it all boils down, no different from what the Gentiles had even anyway? I tell you nothing new, do I, when I tell you nowadays that there is a distinct tendency in certain parts of Christendom to say that really we should stop evangelizing the, uh, the non-Christian people because they've got their gods, and they've got their religions. And for you Christians to come along and say that your Jesus Christ is unique, that's an insult to other people's religions, and really there's no difference. And that we want to take the best out of the lot and put them together in a religious potpourri and stop this business that there is a difference. Well, it's a very ancient attitude. Ben Haydad had it. So what will Ahab do? Twice over, God sent Ahab a prophet. And the prophet said, in the name of the Lord, now look here, Ahab, by yourself you couldn't possibly drive back the Syrians. But God is going to do a miracle for you, Ahab. God is going to defeat the old Syrians in order that you may know that Jehovah is God. What a lovely gospel message that was to poor old Ahab, wasn't it? Virtual apostate as he nearly was, having rejected the sacrifice on Mount Carmel as he had. And here is the supreme God of heaven in his mercy stooping down to Ahab, not willing that even Ahab should perish, but should come to the truth and discover the true God and the living God in his own personal and national experience. And God coming in and saving the man from his enemy by his own almighty power. And God defeated the Syrians, and Ahab went free. Hmm. Said Ben-Hadad when he had his, uh, military report meeting with his captains. How did we come unstuck that time? Well, they said, sir, you see, uh, uh, their God is a God of the hills. Uh, now if you'd have got the Israelites down onto the plain, you'd have found out their God ain't any good on the plain, you know. He's just a God of the hills. Because these poor old Syrians, they couldn't get it out of their heads that the God of Israel was no more than one o- uh, one more little local deity, one more idol, and that there really was no difference. That's what the Syrians believed between their god Baal and Jehovah of Israel. Only Jehovah happened to be very good at fighting battles in hills, and he wasn't much good at fighting battles on the plain. Ho, ho, said Ben-Hadad, well, now we can see our way through. We'll fight them on the plain this next time, and we shall win. Once more, God sent a prophet to Ahab, and he said, now, Ahab, they're going to try and fight you on the plain this time. But because they have said that I am a god of the hills, some tupni hatli little idol, some local vegetation deity or something. I am going to demonstrate to them that I am the true living god of all the earth. And Ahab, it won't be your skill nor your power or prowess in fighting. It will be my power demonstrated in defeating the Syrians and giving you victory. And that's what happened. Twice over this great gospel message of the reality of the living God, different from all the heathen idols around, demonstrated to Ahab, given him. He didn't have to fight for it, really. God did the fighting to make God real to Ahab and show him the difference between a man who knows and trusts the living God and a man who is still unregenerate, as we should say, following idols. So the battle was won. And Aha- uh, Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, he thought himself how to escape death that stared him in the face. So he sent a lot of his, uh, his ministers out with, uh, ropes around their necks, ready to be pulled. And he said to his ministers, now I know that the kings of Israel, they're pretty weak-kneed, uh, you know, soft-hearted chaps when you really get at them, uh, you go out with these ropes around your neck, uh, they won't do anything serious. So out they came, these chaps, and Ahab was sitting in his chariot, these chaps with the ropes around their necks. What do you suppose Ahab should have done with them? Should he not have pulled them? Not Ahab. Do you know what he said? He said, uh, oh, hello. Ah, you've come from, uh, Ben-Hadad, I see. Yes. How is my brother Ben Haydad? The men picked up their ears then. Brother Ben Haydad. Do you notice what he said? Brother Ben Haydad. Oh, we'll never pull these ropes. Thank the Lord, or thank Baal, as I suppose they said. We shan't have to die. My brother Ben Haydad. Tell him to come and see me. So out came brother Ben Haydad. Come and sit up in my chariot, he said. Ben-Hadad, oh boy, you know we are brothers after all, aren't we? What are we meant to be fighting about? Because really, there is no difference between me and you, is there? Oh, I see. I don't know about you, but I feel like saying, Ahab, you fool. You fool, Ahab. This is the chap that five minutes ago was claiming everything you had. He was going to wipe out your very identity and make you one of him. Your father said there was an enormous, incalculable difference between men who knew the living God and men who did, who served idols. Ahab, are you going to say there is no difference? That you're all the same? And virtually deny the great tradition of Abraham and the revelation of the true God, and deny Israel's distinctiveness? You're really going to do it, uh, Ahab? Well then, if you are, you might as well pack up. For the Syrians in the end will destroy you. We need to face that same issue, don't we? What is all this great tradition about that we read of in the scripture? Not only Abraham and the self-revelation of the great I am Jehovah to Abraham and to that nation. What is that vast revelation of God in Jesus Christ, his unique and only Son? Is there no difference? Between Jesus Christ and all the other religious leaders of the world? No difference? Well, if there is no difference. Difference. Then we deny the revelation completely. And you might as well pack up your Christianity. There came the last final scene. Ahab being preached the gospel to by God and offered deliverance as a personal experience of the living God versus idols, and saying, no, I will not be distinct. I'm just the same as all the other Gentile idolatrous nations. All right. There came the day when at last Ahab perished by the sword of those very same Syrians. How did it happen? Well, it happened like this. Ahab persuaded Jehoshaphat, and together they mounted a campaign against the Syrians. So says the last chapter of one Kings. As they were sitting on their thrones before the battle, Ahab got his false prophets, for now the dear man had gone sunken as deeper than ever he was before in idolatry. And leaving the true and the living God, he had gone head over heels into his idolatry. And he called the false prophets of Baal to come in front of him, and he asked them, now, what do you counsel? Should I go up to fight the Assyrians or not? And to a man they said, yes, go up and fight them. Jehoshaphat was sitting upon his throne. And how Jehoshaphat ever came to be with Ahab, uh, I haven't the time to tell you. Unfortunate place for Jehoshaphat to be. However, he was there. And Jehoshaphat said, now, Ahab, uh, dear boy Ahab, uh, your prophet's a very nice gentleman, but uh, couldn't we just perhaps inquire of a prophet of the Lord? Things have come to something, haven't they? When a king of Judah has to ask permission, if they might even so much as consult one prophet of the living God, in case he offends his brother Israelite. Well, said Ahab, if you must, Jehoshaphat, you know, but it's exceedingly old-fashioned stuff, this, uh... We haven't got really any prophets of the Lord left. Well, we have one. Well, yes, we have one, Ahab. The man's in prison anyway, because he's so, so impossibly rude and never speaks anything good to me, I put him in prison. Well, Jehoshaphat said, I would, Ahab old chap, I would just like to hear what he's got to say. All right, you will then, he said. So a prison offer was sent off to get this prophet of the Lord out of prison. His name was Mikhail. As the old, uh, captain of the guard brought him out of his dungeon and walked him up the road to speak to the king, the old captain of the guard had a word in his ear. He said, my car, old chap. Now, not my business to tell you, uh, what to say as a prophet of the Lord, but, uh, I just thought I'd better tell you that all the other prophets have been speaking good things to King Ahab, telling him to go. I mean, do what you have to do, but, you know, if you find it in your heart to say yes, they're all right, and we wouldn't be nice to have a lot of disagreement, would it? You see, we've got a Jehoshaphat, I mean to say, at long last we've got Jehoshaphat and Ahab together in this campaign. Wouldn't be any good having too much disagreement just now. So, you know, you do what you, you have to do, uh, Micah, but uh, try to give a nice encouraging word. So Micah comes and says Ahab to Maekar, Maekar, tell us, should we go up to Ramoth-Gilead against the Syrians or not? And Maekar said, yes, my lord, go. And Ahab was so thunderstruck he nearly fell off his seat. Look here, my man, he said, how many times have I got to tell you to tell me the truth? What do you mean? Wasn't it the truth then? All the other prophets had said, go up to Ramoth-Gilead. If Micaiah says the same thing, why doesn't the man believe him? Ah, but not Ahab. For when Micaiah said, go up, Ahab in his heart of hearts knew it wasn't right. Tell me the truth, he said. Well, said Micaiah, if you want to know the truth, the fact is that God has sent a lying spirit in the mouths of these false prophets to delude you, Ahab, so that you may go up to the battlefield and perish. A lying spirit, a strong delusion that he believed a lie. And Ahab went to his death by a lying spirit sent in God's providence to the man who would not have the truth. A lying spirit that the man might be damned. You say that's unfair, half a minute. When Ahab perished, he knew the truth, didn't he? He knew when Micaiah said, go up, that Micaiah was not saying the truth. He told him so. That isn't the truth, Micaiah. So he knew what the truth was. The exceedingly solemn thing is this, that knowing the truth, Ahab at last found himself having rejected it so many times that he couldn't believe it, and he believed the lie, knowing it was a lie, and so went to his death. Men shall perish, alas. We preach the gospel against the sad background that the living God is real. He is long suffering, not willing that any should perish. And time and time again will he preach the gospel. There comes a point, let us be warned, when a man who, with his eyes opened, rejects the truth for the last time and perishes, believing the lie, knowing it to be a lie. For this cause, God shall send them a strong delusion that they believe the lie, that they might all be condemned, who received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Oh, sad thing. But that's our gospel says. And if we would, uh, preach a gospel that is real and solid. It must believe with all its heart that its message comes from the true and the living God, and there is eternal difference between believing him and believing idols. That Jesus Christ is God's unique son, and there is salvation in none other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. And it is a vast and a great salvation. And it follows that finally to say no to God, finally to reject God's truth, is to choose the lie. And there then comes a point when God Almighty fixes the sinner in his choice, and he perishes believing the lie, but knowing it to be a lie. Oh God, give us compassion for men and faith in God's gospel, for it is the only power of God to salvation. You say, Mr. Preacher, you have been exceedingly solemn. Have you forgotten that when the Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth, he drew a great distinction between himself and the days of Elijah? Is it not so that when he was in Samaria at one time and was refused a night's lodging in a Samaritan village, and his apostles were for calling down fire from heaven in the manner of Elijah, that our Lord Jesus rebuked them and said, you know not of what spirit you are, not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Have you forgotten it, Mr. Preacher? No, I haven't forgotten it. All the mercy of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Say, look at Calvary and its sacrifice, bigger ever than Carmel's sacrifice. I bet you think that Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, seated at the right hand of God, waits still. Oh, for the long suffering of Jesus Christ our Lord, crucified hand and foot, his side rent with a spear, now exalted upon the throne of heaven and patiently waiting, not willing that any should perish, or our hearts should admire and worship him, who with all authority in heaven and earth given into his hand waits and does not yet come. But let us remember. You may think I've gone a long way round tonight to get to the topics of which I read at the beginning. That was deliberate, and we shall read them again next week, God willing, for God's word never goes bad and, uh, therefore can be read more than once. But I wanted, uh, you to have it in your mind, if you will, and I too. Finally, those two, um, ascensions of Elijah. We should consider them, God willing, in detail next week. I want to mention the first of them briefly. Two Kings opens us that Elijah went up and sat upon a mountain. The king of Israel fell down out of his window. That was a contrary motion, wasn't it? He had a fall and was sick and liable to die. So he sent a servant of his to the old god Baal-Zebub to ask whether he would get well or not. Would he never learn the difference between idols and the true and living God? Elijah met the men and told them to go back home and tell their master that he would die if he puts his trust in idols like that, he would die, certainly he would die. If he rejected the living God, there was nothing but death. And having delivered that message, Elijah went back up his mountain. So the king sent the squad of troops. The megaphone, they looked up the mountain. Elijah, come down! King tells you to come down. Well, said Elijah, if I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy the lot of you. And so it came. For if Elijah be a man of God up that mountain, a true representative of the living God, then to reject God is to bring down judgment. What about Jesus Christ? He once came down to our earth. He's risen and ascended. Say, what is the significance of his ascension. The Holy Spirit has come to witness that Jesus Christ, whom men crucified, is risen from the dead and sits at God's right hand. Pray, what is the significance of his ascension? Well, it has a glorious significance, but the first part of it is this. The Spirit has come to give witness of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because the world has failed to believe Jesus. Of righteousness because Christ has gone to the Father's throne and is publicly declared to be the Son of God. And if those two things be true, the Holy Spirit witnesses to this and of judgment. Because the prince of this world is judged. The ascension of Christ tells us all that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That his cross was on the human side, engineered by his enemies, uh, inspired of Satan. Now Jesus Christ is risen and triumphed and gone to heaven and sits upon the throne of the universe, and you must take sides. All the glory for those that take sides with Christ. But pray out us, remember. Suppose we take sides against Christ. Says Jesus himself, the Holy Spirit's message must be this of judgment. Or not to stand with Christ, knowingly, is to stand on the other side, and the ascension of Christ spells judgment for those that reject him. That's very solemn. I'm sad to send you home with such solemn things in your ears, but then I didn't write Kings. And I didn't write John's Gospel either. Judgment is a reality. That's why we need a savior. God willing, on the next occasion, we shall go on then to consider Elijah and all those glorious instances of God's salvation that he demonstrated, because he had seen the ascension of Elijah to the throne of God. The Lord bless his word for his name's sake.