Spiritual Work

2nd Kings in chapter 2, and we'll read together it at verse number 1. And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. And Elijah said unto him, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yea, I know it, hold your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho.

And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, yea, I know it, hold your peace.

And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee here, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth, as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they, and they too went on.

And 50 of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off, and they too stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters. And they were divided hither and thither so that they too went over on dry ground.

And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elijah, ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast 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 and parted them both asunder. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into into heaven and Elisha saw it.

And he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces.

He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when they and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither and Elisha went over. And we'll read more in just a few minutes.

I want to take these kind of one at a time, there'll be a fair bit of reading. What I'd like to consider in this little portion of the afternoon is the work, spiritual work. What I've got on my mind here with this story when Elisha takes over for Elijah is a beginning of a work of an individual, a beginning of a spiritual work.

And maybe you're here today and you've been wondering for some time what your work might be. Maybe you know what your work might be and you just don't know how to start. This man Elijah is a very interesting man and we will not go into the things that that he saw done.

But what I really want to emphasize here is the beginning. And this man as he started in the beginning he was with Elijah, so he had a wonderful mentor. He had a man who knew the power of God, although Elijah had his failures and we all have our failures.

But this man Elijah was a mighty man of God. The time now has come for, if we could put it in track terms, the handing on of the baton. There's going to be a transfer.

There's going to be a young one, a young man come up into the work of the Lord as a prophet for the nation. That's a very good desire to have. A spiritual desire to do something for the Lord.

A spiritual desire that that might be a benefit to God's people. To be able to communicate to God's people the mind of God. That's a very good desire to have.

But I want to look at the beginning of this man. I want to first of all you to notice his dedication. His dedication.

The man was going to follow Elijah wherever he went. Elijah tried to discourage him. He tried to, he tried, and I don't know the motive behind that.

He would ask him three times to stay back or to stay here. It really doesn't matter. But what's really being on display in my mind at this time is, is really the devotion of this man Elijah.

Wherever Elijah was going to go, he was going to go. As the Lord liveth, he said. He swore it with an oath by the name of God.

As the Lord liveth, where you go, I will go. What does that tell us about this man as he's beginning the work? The work had already started in him. The work had already started in this young man.

You see, he was entirely dedicated to Elijah, yes, but more so to God. And what this young man, this young, this young man is going to learn, and maybe you're an older one here, and you've not been saved very long, or maybe you're an older one here, and you maybe need to be revived just a little bit. This man was entirely going to go with Elijah.

His dedication was unquestionable. Nothing was going to stop him from going on with Elijah. Why? Because he wanted to spend time with the man, yes? But he wanted to know the God of Elijah.

He wanted to know the God of Elijah. Can I ask you just simply, very plainly, how is your dedication to God today? Wanting to do something for the Lord? Are you dedicated to the Lord and the things that he has given you to do? Are you available? Elijah was available. The sons of the prophets weren't going to discourage him, even though they tried.

This is the beginning of God raising up a man for his work. Now, someone might be thinking, well, this isn't for me, because I may be a sister, thinking I'm never going to be a preacher. This is for every single person here saved by God's grace.

Those brethren with gift and have the responsibility of public teaching are on no pedestal over anyone. Brody has already said that. This is for the mothers at home.

This is for the single sisters wanting to do something for God. It's for the elders. It's for the pastors.

It's for the entire sphere of the service of God. Are you dedicated to be in the presence of God? Elijah was dedicated. And so he follows.

The time comes, and he asks a very hard thing. He wanted a double portion of the Lord's Spirit than Elijah had. Would have been kind of interesting to get into Elijah's mind.

The young boy wants to be twice the man that I am. Thank the Lord. I don't see any pride in Elijah's heart.

I don't think he was being boastful when he said that's a real big question if you're going to be twice the man that I am. When it comes to young brethren and young sisters, just could I ask you older men, older women, is there any jealousy? Is there any jealousy? There can be sometimes. Then we might be jealous of another man's ability.

Maybe he's younger than we are. Maybe he has been saved less than we have been. But can I encourage your heart if there's a young person and they're better at something than you are, thank God.

Thank the Lord. There's nothing more thrilling to have young people come up and share the Scriptures and have a gift for dealing with people. And I can speak for my brethren here today.

We would be thrilled if you were all far better in everything than us, because that's God taking care of his people. This man is dedicated to his God. And his predecessor here is not jealous of him as he's coming up.

And I find it quite interesting that his request is a spiritual request. It kind of reminds me of Solomon when he asked for wisdom. It was a spiritual request.

It was something that he might use in the instruction and the help and the guidance of the people of God. And he wants a sense of the spirit. A double portion.

And as we read together that Elijah's caught up in the whirlwind and the chariot and the mantle falls and he sees it. You know what that tells me? He wasn't walking around with his eyes in the ground. He was dedicated to the things of God.

His focus wasn't on the things of this earth. His focus wasn't on the things of what's going on and what the people were thinking of him and what the sons of the prophets were saying about him. Your master is going to be taken away.

Yeah, he wasn't he wasn't moping about that. He wasn't murmuring about that. He knew that.

And he wanted to be ready when that happened. And so he sees it. And what is the question? This is what I want to draw your attention to.

Where is the Lord God of Elijah? The first thing this man is craving is the presence of God. He wasn't looking where to have meetings. He wasn't looking at the next Bible study that he was going to lead.

In the beginning of every work it starts with this. Where's God? Where's God? You see for it is God's work. And it is God that does the work.

And it is God that that provides everything about the work. And all the glory goes to God. And so then he smites the waters and they part.

And wouldn't that been a relief? That God is with me. The very same God that was with Elijah is with me. He is absolutely the same.

He hasn't diminished. His power is the same. His presence is the same.

And here now he's starting to work a spiritual work. And the first thing is this. A real presence of God with him.

A real presence. Are you dedicated to being in the presence of God? Are you dedicated? Elijah was dedicated. He was dedicated and he was watching those that were older than him.

Watching those that were that were exercised and used of God. And the time comes now and his work begins. Spiritual work.

Someone says what is a spiritual work? A spiritual work is obeying what we know. A spiritual work is doing things that the is that is pleasing to the Lord. A spiritual work is something for the glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

However small we might think it is. It doesn't matter the estimation of it in your sight or in men's sight. It is a spiritual work.

It is in God's sight. A cup of cold water given in his name has often been mentioned. Everything of everyday life where God is first and God is obeyed can be a spiritual work.

So there's no excuse for any of us here. You may not know what your gift is yet but if you're saved you have one and God will make that clear what your gift is. Others will notice it likely before you notice it and God will make it clear.

So this is the beginning. It is a good beginning. It is a solid beginning and as you know when you read through Elijah's life and the things that he saw God do it was a wonderful life that he lived.

And would it be fair to say that today that the greatest life a person can live is to continually see the hand of God working around you and with you and through you all the days of your life. There is absolutely nothing that is that is greater on this earth and to know of the presence of God with you. There's nothing sadder on this earth than to have the presence of the Lord depart from us and not know it.

It is a spiritual work. It is the work of God. You remember Samson.

He knew not that the Lord had departed from him. Samson was always kind of a sketchy man wasn't he? He was always pushing the edges and he was always he was always skirting skirting in there on the very edge of danger and of controversy if you will. Could I just plead with the young people here today when it comes to the edge of things, when it comes to the edge of controversy, when it comes to the edge of immorality, when it comes to the edge of sin, don't ride the edge.

You stay as far from that edge as you can. The reason I say that is this because sometimes people ask us what is sin? What is sin? What is too far, too far? Friends, brethren, and sisters, could we change our attitude instead of wanting to know where the edge is to run to where purity is? Run there. Don't flirt with the edge.

You'll slip. You'll slip. So we've got now the beginning of the work of this young man.

He wasn't interested in the edges. He wasn't interested in hanging around the fringes. He wasn't he wasn't he wasn't interested in and being toward the back of the pack where where the lion comes and devours those that are that are lingering.

This man was right there beside Elijah and he wanted to be in the presence of God. I love that about him and all that he saw and those stories that we read about him are thrilling to us today. Now turn with me to the book of Jeremiah and here we've got a a different story.

Jeremiah in chapter 2. Jeremiah in chapter 2. Before we read this I'm going to read another verse in Jeremiah 48. This is the verse that has spoken to me about this very topic as I examined my own self. Verse 10.

Jeremiah 48 verse 10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. The very strong words that the prophet has been told.

Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully. That means negligently. That means in a slothful manner.

It's a it's a manner that is opposite of treating something as it was say as if it were sacred. It would be to despise the work of the Lord. If you want to follow the idea of a curse through the book of Jeremiah you go to chapter 11 and verse number 3 and he says there that cursed be them that obey not the word of the covenant.

And then you could go to chapter 17 and it's cursed is the one that makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the Lord. And so it's a very serious thing to consider to do the work of the Lord deceitfully to do it negligently. And as you trace this whole theme throughout the prophets you'll you'll find the watchman in Ezekiel 33.

And there is a watchman if he's going to be deceitful he's not going to warn the people what he sees and then the blood of the people will be on his own head. He's responsible for what he has seen so he has to say it. And you can come to Micah chapter 3 and you'll find there that the heads of the nation they judge for reward.

And the priests do they they teach for hire. And the prophets there they divine for money. And so we find here the filthy lucre that enters into the work of the Lord and how the covetousness comes comes in subtly and sneakily and now these these men that were doing the work of the Lord at a time in their life in a powerful in a mighty way it's deceitful.

It's deceitful. And now to Jeremiah chapter 2 verse number 4. Hear ye the word of the Lord O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain.

Neither said they where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt that led us through the wilderness through a land of deserts and of pits through a land of drought and of the shadow of death though through a land that no man passed through and no man dealt dwelt. And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof but when you entered you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priest said not where is the Lord and they that handle the law knew me not.

The pastors also transgressed against me and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit. Wherefore I will yet plead with you saith the Lord and with your children's children will I plead. Drop down to verse number 13.

For my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and have hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he spoiled? The young lions roared up upon him and yelled and they made his land waste his cities are burned without inhabitants. That'll suffice for now for the reading of the Holy Scriptures.

So we hear in Jeremiah chapter 2 we went from Elisha and the magnificent start that the man had and the spiritual work for God and as time rolls on and the nation of Israel draws cold just like you and I from time to time we draw cold and what they had started off so well in now has become a disaster and I want to notice four different groups of people here that once knew with the service of the Lord and the spiritual work but have ceased have ceased and verse number five we read this thus saith the Lord what iniquity have your fathers and I call them the patriarchs what have they found in me that they are gone from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain and either said they where is the Lord and so you know you see the link between the two passages the one with Elijah he asked where is the Lord and now we've got these men and they're not asking where the Lord is it seems as though it doesn't come to their mind and so the patriarchs of those that that had seen the mighty workings of God experientially they had gone through life they had seen God move they had seen miracles that were produced the things that were absolutely impossible and they would see that the mighty hand of God would win their battles for them and would fight their battles and he would do these things freely freely and now throughout the process of time maybe it's a familiarity and maybe it's a it's a it's just the going through the motions that they've lost their connection with God but they've lost connection with God the patriarchs they didn't ask where's the Lord when things weren't going right when things were tough going I didn't why didn't it come to their mind where is the Lord reminds me of John the Baptist in Revelation chapter 5 there he is and there's none worthy that open the book the Creator the Lord Jesus the Redeemer the Lord Jesus and yet they find none that are worthy and John starts to weep why didn't it come to John's mind where's the Lord the one that leaned on Jesus breast the one that was closest to him why did it escape his mind and that tells me this that it can escape my mind there was no one that could do it it was absolutely impossible and John himself never even thought about the Lord and that tells me that that is a real potential for all of us here today when in our sphere of service for him things are gloomy things are bleak there seems to be no hope do we ask where's the Lord or we just keep plowing on where's the Lord they didn't ask those men that were to tell their children of the meaning of the feasts and the ceremonies and the meaning of their rituals that they had done they were to explain them to the younger generation what's going on here we're doing this because of the Passover because we were brought out of Egypt we redeemed out of Egypt but now they've come to a point in their existence and the Lord says what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me God's telling the people what is there wrong with that I have done that you're departing from me what sin have you found in me God says that you depart from me and you walked after vanity when I read this this time through I thought about people that go away from God's assembly maybe there's someone here today and you're not in God's assembly maybe you were once maybe you are never been and I see a people here to make the application that they go away and someone just thought it's not God that put me away it's the people it's not God that chased me away it's the people it's God's house how devoted are you to the presence of God the patriarchs neither said they were as the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt and led us through the wilderness through a land of deserts in the pits through a land of drought and of the shadow of death through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt can you imagine being a young person in the camp and the older ones are telling these stories we're telling the stories about the pits and about the drought and about the shadow of death and how the mighty power of the living in the true God how the mighty power of Jehovah had delivered them through all those circumstances and through all those trials and every time it seemed as though it was absolute certain death it was absolutely the end and God would work but they forgot about those stories and they weren't passing on the truth of what they had learned and I brought you into a plentiful country to eat their fruit thereof and the goodness thereof but when you entered you defiled my land and made my heritage abomination and so the patriarchs have a lot of blame because they had a lot of privilege and a lot of responsibility the next group here are the priests these were the men that would teach the law they would offer sacrifice that they would teach the law and they didn't and they said not where is the Lord so here you have these men that were teaching the law to the people offering the sacrifices for the people and it gets to a place place in time and their history that not even the priest asked where the Lord is the spiritual work had ceased and it come to a screeching halt there was nothing for God from his people from his people remember spiritual preparation remember spiritual discernment remember spiritual work and the priest they didn't ask where is the Lord can you imagine being a priest and in the early days and to see the fire come down and devour the sacrifice I'm thinking of the days before Nadab and Abihu when the fire came down from God and it consumed the sacrifice in the early days or how about when the 450 false prophets were there and they soaked it with water they dug a trench and they made a moat and they filled it with water and the fire of heaven come down are we missing out are we missing out in the power of God has the work of God ceased and the priest they didn't ask where the Lord they didn't know him and the pastor the shepherds and they transgressed against him those that would be in charge of feeding the sheep and they weren't faithful to the Lord and their work had ceased our brother Isaiah has a lovely understanding of Cain and Abel Isaiah Frazier and maybe you've heard him preach on am I my brother's keeper it's wonderful and the point is this if we love the Lord will feed his sheep will feed his lambs that's written to every Christian and in a sense we are our brother's keeper and when we see our brother and there there may be feeding on the wrong things do we say anything maybe they're heading down the wrong path heading to that edge of danger do we say anything have we become so politically correct that we're afraid to help one another because we might offend somebody then the work of God is ceased it's a sad day if you can't come up to me and say Brandon if there's something in my life that you can see you can't come up and say Brandon watch out for that you know what we have a tendency to do we have a tendency to stay silent and just pretend it's gonna take care of itself it's not gonna take care of itself it'll get worse and the pastors and they transgressed against him and the prophets they prophesied by Baal what has just happened to this people God's heritage the work of God has ceased I wonder why again this is challenged me for months cursed is a man that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully why well it could be that we're busy we're too busy but I don't think that's what it is I'm gonna say something very searching do we love each other kind of honest questions but we need to be honest do we really love one another argument could be made that these men and Jeremiah chapter 2 had no care for God's people they had no fear of God and they were self-centered self-serving spiritual work ceases Paul says in Corinthians for if we have not love it is nothing it is nothing and now someone says well the assembly that I'm part of there's no love in that assembly could I just politely say bluntly if that is even possible if God has showed you that there's no love in your assembly then he's calling upon you to bring the love to that assembly let me say that again and from time to time people leave assemblies and this is what they'll tell us if we if we go to try to see him and say what happened there's no love there if that's the case in your assembly and that's how you feel in your assembly you bring the love to that assembly God has shown you that and if everybody else is ignorant to that fact except you then God has showed you and then God is calling upon you to with all your heart and with all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself and if you cannot do that then you cannot point the finger at anybody else we are to love one another at a funeral of a dear sister I won't say her name but her husband had died and so we were taking the funeral and I didn't I never had met him really before and that's kind of hard to have a funeral if you don't know the person anything about him and she made a statement that I'll never forget she said not only did I love the man she said I liked him I liked him sometimes we function is that we try to love one another but we really don't like one another spiritual work is to love it's to love love the unsaved yes not their sins the souls love our brethren and love our sisters yes and whosoever doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully oh now we have to talk about hypocrisy we do the work negligently we do it half-heartedly and I'm only speaking about me I don't know what you're doing in your own life and I'm glad you don't know what I'm doing in my own life but what about the hypocrisy these are just everyday over real things maybe we just need to be honest today before God but then you come to the Lord Jesus Christ the perfect servant who did the perfect work and you'll remember as he started as he was introduced onto the scene he was he's God's perfect son and we don't know what all he did as a young man the years of obscurity are very very faint for us we know that he was about his father's business at the age of 12 and we know that he was there with the doctors of the law and discussing the scriptures with them but remember when he was introduced upon the scene and he came there to be baptized of John and John says I should be baptized of you and there are those men that were being baptized there that day they were there to confess their sins and and and it was a baptism of repentance and they would go down and they can just see the banks of the river and I can see the Pharisees and the scribes standing on the bank and a whole line of publicans and sinners going down into the water and there they're looking down their nose at those dear individuals all I know him he's a sinner and she's a sinner and she's this and he's that and now one comes this one from Nazareth and he comes down to the river with nothing to confess he prays John baptizes him he comes up out of the water and the voice is heard from heaven this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased and God justifies the sinless one it couldn't be said of the Pharisees and of the scribes it can only be said of the Lord Jesus and we follow him and we trace his life throughout the Gospels and especially the Gospel of Mark that of the servant and there he is and the spiritual work that he is he is doing through his common everyday actions of loving the people and teaching the people and helping the people he's glorifying God he's revealing what God is like to the people he's honoring the father for everything that the father's told him to say is is what he taught is what he said and there is spiritual work and it goes on further as he's progressing and it says I came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give my life a ransom for many he came to serve he came to die spiritual work yes spiritual work and he washed the disciples feet we washed one another's feet we've been to the cleansing through the blood and yet the daily defilement of the day as we walk the dust in the dirt of this life we need to be have our feet washed sometimes problem is none of us like feet but not Lord Jesus he humbles himself and he girds himself with a towel and the creator of the world is washing his disciples feet spiritual work goes further on goes to the cross of Calvary and there he suffers like no man has ever suffered spiritual work suffering is spiritual work it's a heavy thing to suffer is it not and he suffered like no man ever suffered he bore our sin in his own body on the tree and he offered himself there and the greatest act of worship and service that could ever be committed without spot to God upon the cross of Calvary and he showed us what spiritual work was and is because remember those that failed him the priest that failed him he was a great have he is the great high priest and the shepherds that failed him he is the good shepherd and the great shepherd he is a faithful witness the spiritual work I understand that some of these things are searching but that's good how's your spiritual work is it like that of Elijah Elisha I hope it is that's God's intention you know it's God's intention that his people function with power sometimes I think that the Lord only allows us to see it just a fragment of what he does because if we knew a little more what takes place as the dynamite power of the gospel is heralded around the country we might think we were somebody but as God used the nation to drive the Canaanites out of the land God did the work God did the work and when we can't ask the question where is the Lord when the works not being done maybe our focus is in the wrong place where is the Lord where is he and you see the part of the spiritual work is this that we go to where he has already been we go to where he has already been we are following him and that means that he has been there and as we follow him and he has gone before we are doing the will of God spiritual work