GRACE BIBLE CHURCH
02/20/2022
PASTOR ROBERT R. MCLAUGHLIN
Christian Soldier, Part 48. Profile Of Elijah, Part 3.
Christian Soldier, Part 48. Profile Of Elijah, Part 3.
We have now studied three parts to our message on the Profile of Elijah which we will complete this morning.
The last Friday I taught we noted the first 2 points on the profile.
Last Sunday morning we only covered one point in the profile as we dealt with Jezebel as a “Valentine Special” for Elijah.
Then this past Wednesday we covered 6 points, 4-9; (We have 26 points in all).
We are now ready for fourth and final message on the Profile of Elijah and our 10th point which is the fact that:
- Elijah also failed people testing when it came to his servant when he said "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you"; 2KI 2:9.
Look at 2KI 2:9 Now it came about when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me."
Notice the words very carefully or else you will miss this important point.
Remember that……
Things are not always what they seem; PRO 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Things aren’t always what they seem because the mind is a factory of assumptions and presumptions.
The human mind contains many assumptions, presumptions, preconceived ideas, and prejudices of which we are not aware of at certain times.
PSA 19:12-13a Who can understand his errors? Acquit me of secret faults and keep back Thy servant from presumption.
If you wonder who put them there, the answer is very simple: We did.
In fact, many times people don’t realize that the world is controlled by 5 major families who are ultimately controlled by the god of this world; 2CO 4:4.
The Rothschilds:
The Rockefellers:
The Morgans:
The DuPonts
The Cavendish’s from which we get the Kennedy’s
Elijah failed this test the minute he put the word “I” in his question to Elisha when he said "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you."
He failed this test because he made a promise to his servant that he could not fulfill.
Note that Elisha recognized the powerful spirit that was upon Elijah, not the Holy Spirit but Elijah’s experiential spiritual life at certain times.
Elisha recognized the power of God in Elijah and asked him for help spiritually.
And therefore, in reality, Elijah discovered that…..
“The two most important days in our life are really the day we are born and the day we find out why.”
One has to deal with selection, (our human birth), the other has to do with election, (our spiritual birth.)
Selection is the sovereign decision to impute human life at the point of physical birth.
Election is a term relating to the spiritual birth or regeneration.
Principle: Selection precedes election.
God has a purpose for every member of the human race with no exceptions, for both believers and unbelievers.
The point being here is don’t be concerned with your age.
In reality, never lose your sense of humor, and so…..
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Our eleventh point in the profile is:
- At first glance, Elijah appeared surprised by Elisha's response; 2KI 2:10.
Look at what Elijah said in 2KI 2:10 “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so."
As they walked along, suddenly a chariot appeared out of heaven and separated the men because in a flash, Elijah was taken up in the chariot as Elisha witnessed the whole event.
He cried out in 2KI 2:12, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen he saw him no more so he took hold of his own clothes and ripped them in two pieces."
Notice that……
Elijah was gone - but his mantle had dropped to the ground.
This is synonymous with the principle that it is not the man but the message that counts.
Think about it with me for a moment, when you are gone what will you drop on your way to heaven or what will you leave behind?
When people look at your life, what message do they read?
Do they see and read what the apostle Paul said in ……
2CO 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
2CO 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
What do people read when they see how you live?
When Elisha saw the mantle fall to the ground, as was the custom, he ripped off his own clothes, tore them into pieces and picked up Elijah's mantle and placed it on his own back.
Then he returned to the Jordan and did just as his master had done.
He took off the mantle and struck the water with it and immediately the waters of Jordan parted and Elisha walked over on dry ground and so began the young prophet's own remarkable ministry.
Again, we see the principle of……
LUK 6:40 everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
The events in this chapter are absolutely incredible yet what does this passage have to say to us today?
I believe God has given us an unmistakable lesson here, with a clear, simple meaning which is the fact that…..
We need to stay occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ and not worry about a thing.
“Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe.”
You don’t owe it, so why pay it?
In fact,
“Don’t even go around saying the world owes you a living because the world owes us nothing, it was here before us.
Think like this and you will be able to enjoy success.
“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.”
Ignorance toward the fears of life in the sense that you do not dwell on them or learn about them.
Confidence for the individual who knows what kind of problems are and is not afraid of anything coming his way.
The result is success.
And failure can be the first step to success.
Failure is not falling down, failure is when you don't get back up.
Our greatest glory is not in falling, but rising every time we do.
As Rocky or Sylvester Stallone said in one of his Rocky movies:
“It ain’t how hard you hit, it’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
- Elijah learned God wants to do greater things with each succeeding generation but each new generation must seek the Lord for its own experience of the enduement of power from Him.
For example;
It’s wonderful to read about God opening the Red Sea for Moses and parting the Jordan for Joshua but, it's another thing for us to ask God to perform wonders for us.
Yet that is exactly what our Lord desires for us.
He longs to increase and enlarge our faith so that, like Elisha, we will ask for a double portion of his Spirit, for God’s glory.
- Elijah is also a type of Christ ascending to the father as Jesus promised to us in JOH 14:12, where believers are told that they were going to do greater works than even he has done.
JOH 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater {works} than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.
- Elijah failed people testing when it came to King Ahab who he could not handle because the king was a wimp who could not control his wife Jezebel.
Like all wimps can’t.
This point reveals how it affected the Jewish King
Ahab and the reason why.
- Elijah failed people testing when it came to Jezebel who he lived in fear of; 1KI 19:3.
And we can understand why, when we understand many of those things about Jezebel as we did last Sunday.
- Elijah failed people testing when there was a certain “unnamed prophet” that Elijah apparently did not know about.
How do we know that?
We know that because of something the apostle Paul said in Romans 11.
ROM 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
ROM 11:3 "Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have torn down Thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life."
ROM 11:4 But what is the divine response to him? "I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
ROM 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.
Go back to 1KI 19:10.
1KI 19:10 "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
The key word is the word alone…..
Elijah thought he was the only prophet left but he found out that the Lord had over 7,000 prophets who have not bowed their knees to Baal.
We all truly find ourselves and realize who we really are when we are alone.
It wasn’t until Jacob was alone with the Lord that the Lord was able to bless Jacob with a certain weakness designed by God to keep Jacob humble. GEN 32.
Elijah failed people testing when….
- God affirmed the unnamed prophet to Elijah with his supernatural works but this same prophet was seduced and compromised by a lack of guidance and direction that he ignored which was offered by God.
We are not given that prophet’s name because the Lord does not seem to give it to us.
All I can say is that I couldn’t find it…..and I looked!
- Elijah had known all along the need for the Holy Spirit to do a greater, more powerful work in him before he could face down the evil and wickedness in Israel.
One of the places that Elijah tried to save was in BetheI.
Under typology….
Bethel represents the kind of evil society our own nation has become in just a generation's time.
We too live among scoffers and mockers, sensual people given over to lust, idolatry, homosexuality.
JUD 1:16 describes them to us.
JUD 1:16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
And I believe that this present generation is worse than any Elijah or Elisha ever faced.
Those holy prophets saw children mocking, scoffing and blaspheming them and the Lord but America's children are murdering one another.
Ten-year-old boys are raping five-year-old girls.
Young children are killing without any guilt or sorrow, cutting down parents, classmates, innocent strangers.
I don't wish to make a broad, sweeping judgment against all youth.
I know there are some godly teenagers in this society who will end up on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank God for every young person who takes a stand for Christ in these wicked times.
Yet, this evil day demands that God's people obtain a double portion of His Spirit and power so that they will be able to reach this lost generation.
It demands that a holy remnant rise up like Elisha (not Elijah) and cry, "Oh, Lord - more is needed."
- Elijah and Elisha proceeded to Jericho, which means "a place called pleasant" even though the city was now opposite of that being barren, dry, and utterly lifeless.
There were no trees, no pastures, no fruit.
Everything had withered away because a stream of poison had infiltrated Jericho's water supply.
Under typology, this city represents dead, dry Christianity, a church our Lord described in Revelation this way:
REV 3:1 He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name or reputation that you are alive, but you are dead.
Also described for us in……
EPH 5:14 For this reason it [ISA 26] says, "Awake you spiritual sleepers and arise from the other dead ones spiritually, and Christ will shine on you."
He will give you light even in a barren, dry, and utterly lifeless situation.
Still under his profile…..
- Elijah had established a school of prophets in Jericho, and apparently, he and Elisha visited the school and some of the young men, approached Elisha, and asked him if Elijah was dying.
Elisha quickly cut them off, telling them, "Be silent."
Now, these strong young men of God were students of the scriptures.
They even had some prophetic visions, because they knew something miraculous was going to happen to Elijah such as him being taken up from them.
This was the generation of ministers who would be sent out across Judah and Israel to minister to the Jewish people, building education centers of all kind, feeding the poor, preaching the word.
But something was clearly missing in them and that is the power, anointing, and authority of the Holy Spirit.
The next day, these same ministers would be begging Elisha to let them go look for Elijah's body, in case the Holy Spirit dropped him off some mountain or into some valley.
They were totally ignorant of the ways and workings of the Holy Spirit.
They could witness, preach, speak of miracles - but they hadn't experienced God's power for themselves.
- Elijah overheard their conversation with Elisha and wondered if his servant discerned where their fleshly ministry was headed.
So, once again, the old prophet tested his young protege.
He especially wanted to be sure that Elisha had the discernment that a man of God needs to have.
Discernment comes from PRO 16:21a The wise in heart will be called discerning,
- It appears that “Elijah” suggested to "Elisha” that he should be looking at the next generation of ministry yet you can obviously see the lack of the Spirit's work in that next generation.
Elisha would hear some questions like:
“Why don't you settle here and teach these ministers the ways of the Spirit?”
“You're just the man to awaken this dead, dry, intellectual church."
But Elisha knew what would really happen if he pastored these ministers.
They would remain “memorized” of Elijah's powerful ministry - and they would constantly bombard him with questions about him: like:
"How many hours a day did your master pray?”
How much time did he spend in the books of the law?
What methods did he use?
What passages did he preach?
What doctrines did he teach?"
Elisha would end up spending all his time recounting revivals and miracles of the past.
And These young ministers would spend all their energies trying to be a little Elijah hoping to recreate his miracles - yet without the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.
The church today has fallen into the same snare.
We study past movements and revivals, looking for keys, trying to discover methods to bring down fire from heaven, like Elijah did.
Since I can remember, the church that is a part of the pivot has been crying out for truth and doctrinal teaching as the basis for revival.
- Elijah also knew he couldn't impact anyone in a dead, dry nation like Israel unless he received his own touch from God.
He couldn't rely on others and their so-called great works.
- Elijah was not going to settle for anything less than more of the Spirit and believed at times that his forefathers, the spiritual giants of the past, knew the Lord loves to do new things.
I want to go back now to the scene at the Jordan River and begin with a question that will lead us to our 25th point on the profile of Elijah.
- Why did Elijah insist on miraculously passing through the Jordan river which wasn't a deep, wide river, and scripture gives no evidence that it was even swollen.
Besides, there were fifty strong, young prophets on the other side who could have built a raft for them in a matter of a few hours.
I believe that Elijah parted the water of Jericho because he wanted to teach his successor Elisha, that the miracle crossings of the past such as found in Moses, Joshua, to even until his present day were all ancient history.
They were all done in the past.
And that is exactly how we should think as Peter says….
1PE 5:9 But resist him, firm in {your} faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
There’s nothing new under the sun!
He wanted to challenge Elisha, as if to say:
- "When you start your own ministry, and you preach that God is a God of miracles, you have to testify of what he has done for you personally.
I'm going to be gone soon, Elisha.
And tomorrow, when you return to this river, I want you to go back across the way you came.
Believe God for the miraculous in your own life."
Most of us don't have faith to believe God for our own miracles today.
We spend our time pouring over the incredible wonders in scripture - yet all along God wants to tell us, "I have something even better for you.
The Lord says in effect, I want to do miracles in your life to change your home, fix your marriage, save your unsaved loved ones.
You're going to face your own Red Sea, your own Jordan River, and I want to part those waters just for you like I did for them.
So much then for the Profile of Elijah and the fact that….
Elijah failed people testing and passed people testing.
He wasn’t the first prophet and he would not be the last that did just like Abraham did when he was faithful on the one hand and faithless on the other; Gen 12:10-20.
His son Isaac was the same way.
Isaac had no fear when he trusted that the Lord would provide a sacrifice; GEN 22:1-19.
Yet in spite of the faith that Isaac had concerning the fact that the Lord would provide a sacrifice, he also lacked faith when it came to his wife Rebecca; GEN 26:1-13.
In fact, let me give you some of the examples of this principle:
I could document them all for you but that is not a part of our profile.
This is not our study but it would be an excellent study someday that I would entitle:
“The Seeming contradictions found in the Word of God.”
Now, I know that many of you could answer most of these questions because you are a well-taught congregation.
However, many of the following questions people have that we should always remember the words of the apostle Peter when he wrote such as……
1PE 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always {being} ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you,
So, here would be an example of some of the seeming contradictions found in the word of God and a test for all of you concerning how you would answer them.
Seeming contradiction # 1 = Why does the Bible say “the Lord our God is one,” and yet we speak of Him as a Trinity?
Seeming contradiction # 2 = How can Jesus be both God and man at the same time?
Seeming contradiction # 3 = Why does the N.T. order women to be silent in the church and yet the same N.T. also records for us several females who spoke in the early church?
Seeming contradiction # 4 = If Jesus came to die for our sins, why did He ask God to “let this cup pass from me” at Gethsemane?
These are all seeming contradictions found in the Word of God and the obvious questions that many people have.
Seeming contradiction # 5 = If there is no equality in heaven because certain believers have been rewarded for their faithfulness to God in time then why does the Bible say there is equality with God in time?
GAL 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Seeming contradiction # 6 = Job tells us that God’s eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his goings but Genesis says that God called out to Adam, where are you?”
Seeming contradiction # 7 = If only our souls pass from this life in death and not our bodies then how do sinners burn in Hell?
Now remember that you are a well-taught congregation and although you can answer some of these contradictions, the average believer cannot.
In fact, as I was talking to D.J.M., the average believer doesn’t really give a skulbala about these seeming contadictions found in the word of God because they are too busy living for self in Cosmin One.
It’s not that they don’t know how to answer but they don’t care to answer.
Seeming contradiction # 8 = Jesus said that “If any man hates not his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters he cannot be My disciple.”
But John said, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer and the sixth Commandment says that we are to honor our parents.
Seeming contradiction # 9 = God tells Moses that He did not make Himself known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Jehovah yet, the name Jehovah is found no less than 165 times in Genesis.
Seeming contradiction # 10 = If God is a good God who hates evil why would He send an evil spirit to terrorize King Saul?
1SA 16:14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.
Seeming contradiction # 11 = Jesus came to this earth to die for our sins. Yet, when the time came to face his death for our sakes, he asked to avoid it. Why?
Seeming contradiction # 12 = In Genesis 6:6 we learn that God repented that he made man and then in Numbers we learn that God does not repent. Why?
Seeming contradiction # 13 = The fact that the Bible says in PSA 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”
Yet The Bible says that God will bless any believer who smashes the heads of infant babies in Babylon on the rocks of the cliffs; PSA 137:9.
PSA 137 How blessed it will be to the one who seizes and smashes the heads of the little children of ones of Babylon against the rocks.
This is the God of Love; 1JO 4:8.
How would you answer that?
This is why we are told to make the best of our time.
EPH 5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
The day are evil because the god of this world is evil.
Check your priorities.
How much time do you use for sleeping?
How much time do you use for working?
How much time do you use watching T.V.?
How much time do you spend on the Internet?
The point being is this.
Time is a very precious gift given by God to all members of the human race so that there is equality for all.
Every time we make a decision that is contrary to some principle found in the Word of God, contrary to the mechanics of the PPOG, then we are out of sync with God's plan.
And there is nothing in the world more obnoxious than a born-again believer out of sync with the predesigned plan of God.
Every detail of life is involved in timing, such as being in the right place at the right time.
This is why you cannot afford to miss the doctrine that your pastor teacher communicates on a daily basis.
This does not mean that you should be at every service, it simply means that you cannot afford to miss what the Spirit is saying to the Church!
“Life is too short so we all need to forgive and forget because we don’t have the time to get mad or hate.”
Now, “There is a correlation between how foolish a man is and how tolerant he is of people who waste his time.”
“Life would not seem short if we valued time as much as we value money.”
“Whenever we buy something we do not need, we waste not only money but also time.”
“Life is too short for one to stay indoors, watch TV, doze off, and snore away.”
“Do not sell yourself short, life is too short for that.”
Most people don't have enough common sense to realize that life is too short to run around having conflicts with people.
"Life is short, break the rules.
Forgive quickly.
Kiss slowly.
Love truly.
Laugh uncontrollably.
And never regret anything that makes you smile."
ROM 14:22b Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
It’s just not worth it!
No one is worth taking you away from occupation with Christ.
If you're going to have a conflict, get out of the way and move on.
You cannot have personality conflict with someone else without being shot down and getting into reversionism very quickly.
Suddenly, you're advancing in the plan of God toward the enemy with other believers and the then all of a sudden you become petty.
Why?
We really don’t know why but we do know what.
That may seem like a contradiction but it is not according to the apostle Paul and what he said in ROM 7:18.
ROM 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
I have decided not to go back to the people testing involved between those two mature female believers, Euodia and Syntyche, because I believe we have covered more than enough concerning people testing.
It could have been between two men.
It could have been between one man and one woman.
Here we had two doctrinal ladies.
Here we have two supergrace ladies who are engaged in a conflict which is about to destroy their spiritual life and their spiritual advance all because they did not pass people testing.
I said they “did not pass” people testing, I did not say they “could not pass” people testing because they could if they would or desired to says 1CO10:13b.
1CO 10:13b God will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
There is always a divine solution for any problem we would ever face.
Sometimes it's the little things that get to us.
SOL 2:15 “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom."
It is those little petty areas that can spoil the vine or the fruit that the vine produces.
Maybe that's why the Lord said in LUK 16:10 "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much."
Remember where we are in our studies because after we conclude the problem-solving devices with PSD #10, Occupation with Christ, we are now ready to pick up where we left off in our study of The Christian Soldier.