But notice Elisha’s response in that same verse, “...As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee...”Then look at verse 4. Elijah seems to test Elisha again. He said, “...tarry here...for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho...” Again, same verse, Elisha responds, “...As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee...”
Then again in verse 6, Elijah tests Elisha again. He said to him, “...Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan...” But again, notice the response of Elisha, same verse, “...As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee...”
In verse 8, as they “went on” they came to the shores of the Jordan River. The Bible tells us Elijah took his mantle off and smote the waters and that the waters, “...were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.”
Then in verse 9, Elijah turned to Elisha and said, (paraphrase), “WHAT DO YOU WANT, ELISHA? You are following me around like a puppy dog. Everywhere I go, you go. WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
Elijah knew Elisha thought a great deal of him. He had followed him from Gilgal to Bethel, to Jericho, on to the Jordan River. Now they stood beside the river.
We still have preachers who look up to, and admire, great preachers, and they very much want to become like them. They follow them around. They do all they can to learn to be like them. They will-
- Wear the same kind of clothes they wear.
- Wear the same kind of shoes they wear.
- Comb their hair the way they do.
- Preach out of the same color Bible they preach from.
- Talk like them as they preach.
- Use the same gestures they use.
They want so much to be like that certain preacher they admire.
Elijah was about to be miraculously taken up in a whirlwind to be with the Lord when he asked Elisha, “WHAT DO YOU WANT, ELISHA? Do you want what I have?” This must have been a shock to Elijah when Elisha answered, “NO! I will not settle for that...I want a double portion of what you have!”
Elijah said, in verse 10, “...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.”
In verse 11, as they continued to walk, we are told, “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
The AGREEMENT was that if Elisha would receive that double portion, he had to keep his eyes on Elijah. Did Elisha keep his part of the AGREEMENT?
Look at verse 12, “And Elisha saw it...” He watched Elijah go up, up, up and the Bible says, “...And he saw him no more...”
After Elijah was caught up in the whirlwind, Elisha stood alone.
Look at verses 13-14. We read, “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? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.” Elisha had Elijah’s mantle in his hands and he did the identical thing Elijah did and the identical thing happened to him.
I am sure some are saying, “I wish I had that mantle in my hands!”
Illus: We all can be thankful that mantle is not around today. If some television preacher had it he would probably cut it up into small pieces and be offering each piece for a gift of a thousand dollars, or more!
This may surprise you, but the fact is that there was no magic in that piece of cloth. Also, Elijah did not have any kind of supernatural powers of his own.
ELISHA KNEW WHERE THE POWER CAME FROM! Where did it come from?
Look at II Kings 2:4. After Elijah had been caught up to heaven in the whirlwind, Elisha stood alone. He asked the question we all need to ask, “...WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH...”
Was Elisha asking where God dwelled? No, he knew where God dwelled.
Illus: Back in the 60’s, when Russia was a super power, they sent an astronaut into space. He came back and said he looked behind the stars and planets and did not see God anywhere, so he concluded therefore there must not be a God.
Of course he didn’t see God behind the stars. God does not live among the stars. God’s dwelling place is in the third heaven. Man never has, and never will, be able to enter heaven in a man-made space craft.
When Elisha asked, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah” he was not asking where did God live. He knew where God’s abode was. WHAT WAS HE ASKING? He was asking:
-Where is the God of Elijah Who gave him power, courage and strength to stand up to a wicked world?
-Where is the God of Elijah that helped him.
He wanted that same God to help him in his time.
Notice, he did not say WHERE IS ELIJAH? He said, “WHERE IS ELIJAH’S GOD!”
You see, everyone does not serve the living God of Elijah.
Illus: There are “Mormon missionaries” who will come, two at a time, on bicycles, to our homes. They would come in your house and tell you they serve the same Lord Jesus Christ that we serve, BUT THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH! The Jesus they claim to know was once as we are, and they teach if we can produce enough good works, we shall become like him.
- The Lord Jesus Christ we serve was NOT born AS WE WERE...HE WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN.
- He was not born as we were. We all can look back at our birth certificates and see the day and hour life started for us, but Jesus could not do that.
- Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, has always been...He is DEITY!
Many today claim to know the God of Elijah, but the fact is, they do not know Him!
Elisha knew if he was going to be effective, he had to have the God of Elijah “in his corner.” Let me show you what Elisha saw God do for Elijah.
I. GOD GAVE HIM COURAGE!
Elijah lived during a time when two of the most wicked people who ever ruled in Israel were in power--King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel. But God gave Elijah courage to stand up to Ahab and his wicked wife. The king and his wife were so wicked that God began to curse the land itself. Listen, they had the gall to try to blame all the trouble of Israel on Elijah.
Look at I kings 18:17-18. We read, “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.”
God gave Elijah the courage to tell wicked Ahab it was he who was causing the trouble in Israel. Elijah told Ahab how he was troubling Israel. He told Ahab Israel was being troubled because he had forsaken God’s commandments and followed Baalim.....
The Lord God of Elijah gave him the courage to stand up to that witch and correct him, “No...I am not the problem...YOU ARE!”
We see the lack of that kind of courage in TWO areas of our country.
A. In the streets of America. All across this nation we see the vanishing of manhood. Have you noticed how many men are trying to become like women today? Many wear jewelry, long hair, silk underclothes, shorts, makeup, beauty salon coiffures, etc. If the Lord tarries, they will go even farther (in fact some have). We will see men shaving their legs, wearing panty hose, and wearing dresses.
WHERE ARE THE COURAGEOUS MEN?
There used to be a time when a man would step up and remind offenders that ladies and children were present if a man cursed in mixed company. If that person insisted on continuing in his disrespectful behavior, that one who had stepped up would become a dentist and take out the offender’s front teeth...
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
America was founded largely by courageous people who were willing to shed blood and guts to make this country what it is. Our forefathers came seeking RELIGIOUS FREEDOM and INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM. (When they said “religious” it was understood to mean “Christian,” not Satanism, or any other cult.)
They did not want anyone telling them how to worship God and they did not want a repressive government interfering with their lives.
Illus: That was one reason for the Boston Tea Party. When England tried to tax the colonists, who had no representative in Parliament; and control money matters, our forefathers knew a showdown was coming. Finally, a group of men, dressed as Indians, dumped about $75,000 worth of tea into Boston’s bay. Today the politicians, like the British government back then, would take half of the income of the American people. Back then, many of the colonists fought for freedom. Today very few even have the courage to try to vote oppressive politicians out.
The colonists took up arms and fought the Revolutionary war because they did not want a repressive government placing burdens on them and keeping them shackled down with heavy chains.
This was why our forefathers placed in our constitution the right to bear arms. This was a provision so if anyone tried to take away our constitutional rights we could rise up and say, “You take our rights only over our cold, dead bodies.”
Our forefathers have passed to us a heritage we all should be proud of. Our freedom was bought at a great price as many gave their blood and lives for it.
Yet today we do not have enough courageous men to stand up to the crowd in Washington that we might freely serve God.
Elijah stood up to Ahab, king of Israel, and told him...”I AM NOT THE PROBLEM; YOU ARE!”
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
That is, we live in one of the most wicked societies that has ever existed. Day after day the devil does just about whatever he wants to and you hardly ever hear a child of God raise his voice against it.
We have people in America who do not care if the teachings of this Bible are violated...just so long as Uncle Sam will give them a tax break, or add a few dollars to their pay checks. It never dawns on those people that the money is theirs from the start.
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
We see a lack of courage on the streets of America,. We also see a lack of courage...
B. In the pulpits of America. There are not only many spineless men in our society; there are also many spineless preachers in America’s pulpits. That is, they do not have the courage to face the congregation and tell them what God’s Word says. Things are going too well, and they feel they must not rock the boat!
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
God needs preachers who have enough love and courage to preach His Word.
The last thing the church needs today is another sissy preacher who has just graduated from seminary who has been schooled in how to impress, please, speak properly, socialize, and be well liked, but has not been schooled on HOW TO COURAGEOUSLY PREACH THE WORD OF GOD AND LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY. We live in a wicked time. It takes courage to preach in times of wickedness!
That is why, when Elisha recognized the wickedness of his time, he cried out, “WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?”
Bible preachers need the Lord God of Elijah today as we preach. Why? Because Bible preachers are being told by ungodly people that THEY ARE CAUSING TROUBLE IN THE LAND--THE SAME WAY ELIJAH WAS TOLD HE WAS THE PROBLEM. For example:
1. If a preacher gets up and preaches against homosexuality...he is told he is not being “tolerant.”
That is correct. A preacher should not be tolerant of this sin because God says this sin is an abomination in His eyes...absolutely disgusting!
The last thing God wants His ministers to be is “TOLERANT” TOWARD SIN! All across this country preachers are being told they have to “back off” and change their position on the sin of homosexuality.
I ask you, how can a preacher claim to be a child of God, and claim to love Him, and turn his back while evil men stand up and claim God made the homosexual lifestyle an alternate lifestyle when he knows what this Bible teaches about it?
God never intended homosexuality to be an alternative lifestyle. That is very easy to prove. Look at God’s creation. He did not create two males and place them in the Garden of Eden. God did not place two females in the Garden of Eden. God created A MALE and A FEMALE. He created Adam and Eve; not Adam and Steve!
The Bible clearly states the origin of homosexuality. He tells us that sin is the result of their allowing their minds to wallow in the filth of sin until finally God gives them up to do what they want to do. Romans 1:26-27 says, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”
People become “perverts” because they give their minds over to filth. They do not want God to clean them up and God will not force them.
A person usually can become what he thinks on.
-If you are young, and give your mind to the medical profession, you may become a doctor one day.
-If you are young, and give your mind to the legal profession, you may become a lawyer one day.
-If you are young, and give your mind to the study of God’s Word, you may become a pastor, or a missionary, one day.
Listen, be careful, because if you give your mind over to the filth of this world YOU WILL become just like it.
This country is in desperate need of godly men to have the courage to point their fingers in the faces of the ungodly and say, “YOU ARE THE REASON THAT THE JUDGMENT OF GOD HAS COME ON THIS LAND!”
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
We need men and women who KNOW HIM to have the courage to stand up to the wickedness of our day and point their fingers in the faces of the ungodly and say, “YOU ARE THE REASON THE JUDGMENT OF GOD HAS FALLEN ON THIS COUNTRY!”
Illus: In his book, “America, To Pray Or Not To Pray,” David Barton shows a chart of what happened in America after June 25, 1962, when corporate verbal prayer was removed, and of later, after June 17, 1963, when prayer was completely removed. It helps us see clearly how the curse of God fell on America. What happened?
SAT scores plummeted. Birth rates of children of unwed mothers 15-19 shot up. The sexually transmitted disease of gonorrhea in children ages 10 through 19 shot up. Premarital sex among teenage girls shot up. Divorce rates shot up. Single parent count shot up. Number of unmarried couples living together shot up. Student suicides shot up. Drug use shot up. Consumption of alcoholic beverages shot up. Violent crime shot up. Number of people living a homosexual lifestyle shot up. Number of abortions shot up.
The devil is marching across this country, doing just about anything he wants to do, with very little resistance!
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
During President Bill Clinton’s first term, he placed 22 avowed homosexuals on his staff. Many of you can remember a time when if the news media had gotten hold of a story like that, if even one confirmed homosexual was on staff...it would have met with very negative reactions. The people of this country would have demanded that the president who appointed that homosexual be impeached, or that he fire that person!
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
There was a time when the preachers of this nation would have risen up, with their congregations, and demanded that the filth of homosexuality be swept out of the White House...but very little is said today because we think we must be “TOLERANT!”
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH? He certainly is not in these shaky-legged, spineless people, claiming the name of Christ, who are afraid to take a stand.
I can hear someone saying, “Preacher, we do not measure success by taking a stand on the Word of God. We measure success today with our fine-looking buildings, big budgets, and large crowds. This is how we measure success.” Listen, you can have all of those things and NOT HAVE THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH in your church.
If those things are indicate spiritual success then the world is more successful spiritually than we are because they have NICER BUILDINGS, BIGGER CROWDS, and BIGGER BUDGETS than the churches do.
Don’t you know--if you do not take a stand for what the Bible teaches, your gorgeous buildings, budgets and big crowds stink in the nostrils of God?
The ungodly world says that Bible-thumping believers are the trouble--that we have to start accepting sin instead of opposing it.
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH? May God help us to never accept what God opposes. We should oppose homosexuality. We should not be tolerant!
2. If a preacher gets up and preaches against abortion...he is against women’s rights.
Listen, no sane man is against a women’s “rights,” --it would not make sense. When the preacher preaches against abortion, he is not depriving any woman of any right. God never gave anyone the right to murder innocent children. The supreme court may have, but God never has!
What the abortionists are talking has nothing to do with “rights.” IT HAS TO DO WITH SIN! Everyone has heard the saying, “The most dangerous place in the world for a baby today is in the womb.” Hundreds of mothers are murdering their children, in the cruelest ways, every day.
Illus: Again we mention President Bill Clinton legalizing partial-birth abortion. For those of you who may not yet know, this bill makes it legal for a fully-developed child to be killed. It is called “partial-birth” abortion because the doctor allows the baby to be born, all except his head. The doctor then takes a syringe and sucks the brains out of that baby’s head as it moves and squirms. When the murderous doctor completes the murder, he then removes the head from the birth canal. Using this method keeps him from being held for murder in the first degree!
WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?
Every year thousands of innocent babies are killed WHILE MOST SO-CALLED CHRISTIAN AMERICANS, WHO DO NOT WANT TO BECOME INVOLVED, DO NOT OPEN THEIR MOUTHS TO PROTEST FOR FEAR OF BEING ACCUSED OF BEING AGAINST WOMEN’S RIGHTS. And we must not have that...must we...
If you have come to know THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH, you are not going to please everyone! If you are pleasing everyone, you should be ashamed to admit it because it tells us something about you. It tells everyone that you are spineless. It tells everyone you do not have the courage to stand for what the Bible teaches!
Conclusion: Elijah’s God can give us what He gave Elijah. What was that? His God
(Part 1 of 2)
I. GAVE HIM COURAGE
A. In the streets of America
B. In the pulpits of America
