Presenting the truth from the Word of God, this is the chapel platform originating from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. A vital factor in the spiritual growth of believers is the biblical preaching at the various chapel and worship services here. Today's speaker is the pastor of Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dr. Ian Paisley. He gave this insightful message at the university's annual Bible conference on Sunday, April 2, 1967. His text is 2 Kings, chapter 2, verse 14. His message is titled, The Cry for Prophetic Power. The second chapter of 2 Kings. As you know, I have been dealing with the work and witness of Elijah, the man of God. We dealt, first of all, with the characteristic of the prophet's person. And then last night we looked at the confounding of the prophet's persecutors. We're going to deal this morning with the cry for the prophetic power. The cry for the prophetic power. And we are turning to 2 Kings, chapter 2, And we are looking particularly at verse 14. And he took, that is, Elisha, the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Lord God of Elijah, the cry for the prophetic power? Let us ask God's blessing upon His Word. Heavenly Father, we bow in Thy holy presence. We confess our impotency. We confess our weakness. We confess our own bankruptcy. But we depend today as we come to handle Thy precious Word. We depend upon Thee and upon Thee alone. Grant that this house may be filled with a real sense of Thy presence and of Thy power. Grant that all that hear Thy Word will be stirred to the very depths of our soul. And O God, may we see that Elijah's God can still manifest Himself with power, that the Spirit of Elijah can rest upon the Church of Jesus Christ, and in these days battles can be won. Great victories can be accomplished. Great territories and be claimed and conquered for thy son through thy power and by thy grace alone. And to this end I take the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost, to fill me to the uttermost. I take, and God, he undertakes." And the people of God said, Amen. I want to deal this morning with the great secret of the prophet's power. I believe the great need in the Christian church today is power. There is so much death and stagnancy and barrenness and unfruitfulness in the Church. Many of us go through the motions of Christian service and we know nothing of the dynamite that can set our Christian service and our Christian testimony and our Christian witness on fire with the white-hot heat of God the Holy Ghost. And we see a creeping paralysis in the Church of Jesus Christ. We see men that ought to be giants for God, and they are dwarfs in the service of the Master. We see churches that should be shaking their neighborhoods, taking a tremendous impact on their localities. And these churches seem to be like Samson, shorn of their strength. And if there's anything that we should mourn, we should mourn the deadness and the lack of power that's in our own lives and is manifested in the life of the Christian Church. The great deed of the hour is not for eloquent preaching. The great deed of the hour is not for silver-tongued orators. The great deed of the hour is not for more organization in the Church of Christ. The great deed of the hour is for man and woman endued with power from on high. Who can he actually witness for Jesus Christ and be a power in their own locality and district or the extension of the Kingdom of God? God sent us a race of old-fashioned, powerful preaching. I remember as a boy listening to the old Ulster men in their preaching. And my, with what power did they uplift the Christ of God? I remember going home as a lad from services which my honoured father conducted, and I heard men behind the hedges sobbing about their sin and sobbing about the steel of their soul. These are things that were common in our father's day, but today they are uncommon. We do not see the manifestation of God's power the way we are. Oh, praise God! Elegious God still lives. Praise God! There is power for the people of God. And we would ask ourselves the question, as we view the great apostasy, as we see the rising of the One World Church, as we see corruption in church and state, as we see the incoming tides of immorality and filth and debauchery, We have one question to ask. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Lord God of Elijah? We're going to try and answer that question this morning. If you look with me at this chapter, you will find that Elisha and Elijah go on a journey together. I know there's a lot of spiritual truth in the places that they visited. We haven't time this morning to deal with the significance of Gilgal. That was the place of circumcision. And the children of Israel came into the promised land. Their reproach was rolled away. And the mark of God's covenant, the seal of God's covenant was placed upon the flesh of every meal in Israel. There is a deep significance. I feel that the Church of Jesus Christ needs a doleful experience today. We need to be marked as the children of God. The covenant sign needs to be evident upon our very personalities, and the reproach of Egypt needs to be rolled away. From Gilgal they journeyed a little farther, and you will notice that they went down to Bethel, verse 2. Bethel, of course, is the house of God. And from Bethel they came to Jericho. Jericho was a place where the flesh was totally and absolutely and altogether condemned. And God has totally and absolutely condemned the flesh, preaching in the flesh, working in the flesh, witnessing in the flesh, and bring no honor to God. There is a great divine principle revealed in the book of God. No flesh shall glory in His presence. And the Church needs to learn that God's curse is upon the flesh. And then they came to Jericho, the place of death. I am not so much concerned with the meaning this morning of these places, but I want you to have a look at Elijah at the place of death. I believe that Elijah can be taken as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see Elijah going down into death. He doesn't go down into death alone. Elisha accompanies him. And we have Elijah taking Elisha down into death. This, of course, is a perfect type of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am identified with my Saviour in death. Know ye not, says the Apostle, as many of you as were baptized have been baptized into Christ's death? And when Jesus died, I was identified with him in his death. Elisha went down into the death of Jordan with Elijah. Elijah did not remain in Jordan. He came out upon the other side. He came on to resurrection ground. And thank God we did not remain identified only with Christ and His death. Thank God we have risen to walk in newness of life. Where is the believer positionally this morning? The believer positionally has died with Christ and prays God is risen again with Christ. We're standing on resurrection ground. That's true positionally of every child of God. I don't know how true it is experimentally in your life, but your positions with Christ positionally should be made good experimentally by the Holy Ghost. And then you will notice that Elijah and Elisha went on together. Something happened. Elijah was caught up by a whirlwind into heaven, a type of the glorious ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what happened? Elisha, And Elijah parted company. Did Elijah leave anything behind him as he ascended into heaven? If you look with me carefully, you will see that something happened. And it came to pass, verse 11, 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. 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 ripped him into pieces. He took off also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. Elijah left his habit or his mantle behind him. And when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, there fell upon the Church the mantle of Christ's power. And we have the first Pentecost and the descent of the Divine Person of the Holy Ghost upon the Church. And it is only as the Church of Jesus Christ is clothed in the power of the Holy Ghost that she can do exploits for God. And it is only as you as an individual believer are filled with the power of the Holy Ghost that you come to ask what is for God. Don't you see the significance of that? And when Elisha came, the very prophets saw, look at verse 15, And when the sons of the prophets which were to do it Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah God's rest upon Elisha. He asked for the double portion of the Spirit of God. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? How can I see? How can I experience? How can I know the power of the prophetic presence In my own life, this is the great question that we must ask ourselves. As I view the apostasy, as I view the tremendous need, as I look upon a world that is dying, upon a situation that, humanly speaking, is impossible, as one brother said to me last night, is it too late for the church to rise up and win the battle? And as this thought would overshadow us, as time is running out. And as these tremendous satanic forces are welded together by the alchemy of satanic wisdom to seek by every power to dime the Christian church, my friend, is there anything that we can do to seal the situation? Thank God we can say from the depths of our heart with a cry that will ram the heavens, and bring the blessing of God down upon our souls, where is the Lord God of Elijah? Now, if you look with me at Elisha, you will find that his first step to spiritual power was the stripping of himself. If you look at verse 12, it says he took hold of his own clothes and ripped them into pieces. And, of course, when these clothes were parted, he could not put them on again. They were disbanded. He stripped himself of his own habit, of his own mantle, of his own clothing, and he stood naked and exposed before God. What is needed in the Christian church, friend, is for the people of God to get to Calvary. Could I for a moment or two take you in thought and mind to the place called Calvary? Could we for a moment or two climb the old hill crag of Golgotha? Could we for a moment listen to the sound of the hammer swung low They are kneeling, my Lord, to the tree. Could we view the one who has been crowned with thorns, who has been battered and beaten and broken in Pilate's judgment hall? Could we see the saliva of the spittles mingled with the crimson blood from the head that's opened by those cruel thorns? that made up his crown. Could we gaze this morning at him who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities? I wonder this morning, could we behold him whose visage was marred more than any man and is far more than the sons of man? I wonder could we gaze and gaze upon this awful spectacle of woe? This one who has despised and rejected a man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. O brethren and sisters, see from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love all mingled down. Did e'er such love or sorrows meet? or thorns composed to reach a crown? Can I have anything to do with the world and with self as I ease and ease upon my Saviour's passion in the tree? Can I take part with those who kneel them to the tree where His name is never named? That's not the place for me Nay, world, I turn aside. Though thou seem fair and good, that friendly outstretched hand of thine is stained with Jesus' blood. And as I stand at yonder cross and the shadow of God's sacrifice falls across my broken contrite soul, I can only say, Love so amazing, so divine, shall have my life, my soul, my all. You have got to strip yourself at Calvary of all your ambitions, of all your worldly anticipations and aspirations, of everything that the flesh countenances, everything that the flesh longs for, everything that the flesh strives for. And you have got to identify yourself in the shame of the cross, in the dying of the Christ. The Apostle Paul says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. This is where we start. Where is the Lord God of Elijah at yonder cross? When I strip myself of my fleshly garments, when I take away from my soul the attirement and covering of the world, when I stand before my God just as I am and thank God a broken and a contrite heart, God will not despise. What the Church of Jesus Christ needs is a brokenness by a constant viewing of the cross of Calvary. We need to kneel down and smite our breaths and mourn the wasted hours and mourn our lack of love for souls and our lack of passion for the blessed Christ of God. We need, my friends, to have a broken heart And before you can bless the world, young people, you've got to bleed for the world. Before you can bring a blessing to your congregation, you've got to know the bleeding of soul necessary in order that God can fill you with His power. The man that bleeds is the man that blesses, the man that knows nothing of heartache, knows nothing of deep soul passion, who has never experienced deep, calling unto deep, and the voice of God's water springs, that man will bring no blessing to his people, nor stir no country, nor district for his God. Oh, that we might see the cross! Oh, that we might gaze upon the Christ! Oh, that we might behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple, where is the Lord God of Elijah? you'll find them friend when you strip yourself of the garments and of the tags of this old world and you stand before God just as you are. The second thing I want you to notice about Elisha, that he was standing on resurrection ground. He had gone down into death. He had risen up with his master, Elijah, and he was walking in newness of life. This is of vital importance. There is only one way to Christian victory, and that's by the cross. When I was in prison, I was strange to reliant assistant cook in the prison hospital. and the governor still living, and that's a miracle. Because every day he had to taste the food before the prisoners tasted it. And he used to come marching in with the chief officer, and he used to come forward to the table that I had neatly set for him, and he used to look at me with one eye, as much as to say, Paisley, I know you would like to poison me. And then he would turn around, and if there were peas, he would lift one pea and a fork. And he would put it into his mouth and he would eat it. And then he would say, that's all right, just go on. Well, I hadn't very much to do in that hospital after I prepared the means. There was only 14 prisoners there at the time. And I thought that I would devote my time to writing an exposition of the Epistle to the Romans. And I wrote that exposition. Dr. Bob Junior has very kindly Consented to write a foreword to it, and we hope soon to have it published. But you know, I learned something when I came to Romans chapter 6. It's a great chapter, Romans chapter 6. I learned there were three words that form the key to that chapter. And this is to do with walking in newness of life. Very simple word. The first word is know. You know, liberty comes from knowledge. Liberty is based on knowledge. He shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And so we have to know something. We have to know something. We're looking at Romans chapter 6, and it says here, first of all, something that you know. You know that your old man is crucified with Christ. Then there is another word in this verse, in this chapter, verse 11, Eureka! What does that mean? That means you take your stand upon the knowledge that you have received. How do I walk in newness of life? I know that the mighty act has been accomplished through Christ. I take my stand upon what Christ has accomplished. And then the third word is yield. I yield my members as instruments of righteousness unto holiness. And the secret of walking in newness of life is knowing Reckoning and yielding. And my friend, where is the Lord God of Elijah? The Lord God of Elijah is known when I know, when I reckon, and when I yield. This is of vital importance to every one of us. You will know God's power when you take your stand on the resurrection sign of Calvary. There is, of course, something else here. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? There is the encounter with the great adversary. The great adversary of the church is death. Jordan is a type of death. And what I fear in my ministry is deadness in my own soul. What I fear in my church is deadness in the work of Christ. Have you ever been in a dad prayer meeting? Have you ever been in a dead service? Have you ever listened to dead preaching? And the smell and stench of death is there, and what a terrible thing it is. You know, I've been doing pastoral visitation since I was 16, and that's a long time. I've served my apprenticeship at it. And you know, I can almost smell death when I go into it. You might say that's an exaggeration, but it's not. And those who have worked in the homes of the people, they'll know what I'm talking about. I know when I go into a home, I know when I visit a person, if death's going to be about that home. And the greatest curse in the Church is the curse of death. It's a great enemy of God's people. And here is Elishma and Elisha, and there's death before them. What does it do? He says, where is the Lord God of Elijah? He doesn't walk down to that river in his own strength. He doesn't say, oh, well, I don't need to pray. I don't need to call upon God. I'll just go on in my own strength. How many churches are going on in their own strength, and death overcomes them, overcomes the preacher's life. marrs and saws and damages his personal testimony, damages his preaching, damages the testimony of the church and the witness of the church for Jesus Christ. When I am up against the enemy, there is a cry that comes from the very depths of my heart, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And linked with that prayer is the use of the mantle. What does he do? He doesn't strike the water with his own hands or with his own feet. But he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters. God has given us the power to overcome the great adversary. Are we using God's power? Are we framboled? in the will and in the purpose of God keeping to the divine program of this book. If we don't keep to the divine program of this book, friend, we're going to fail. Elisha would have been paralyzed if he hadn't clung to the mantle that fell from Elijah. And he takes that mantle and he makes a sort of stick off it. And I see him striking the water. What a wonderful thing when God takes up a weak human instrument. And when man has to confess this is the finger of God, because that weak instrument has become strong, identified by the power of the Spirit of God, knowing God's anointing and God's blessing. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And he takes the mantle, and he uses that mantle for the honor and for the glory of the God of heaven. And the impossible situation becomes possible. And alone the man of God walks over the river, and he lands upon the other side. And the people admit that upon him there is the anointing power of God. He didn't need to blow his own trumpet. He didn't need to say, look at me, I'm Elijah's successor. The prophets knew that upon that man was indeed the anointing of God. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? You'll find him friend when he strips you at the cross. You'll find Him, friend, when you stand in resurrection ground to walk in newness of life. You'll find Him at the very moment of crisis if you keep in the path of His will and in obedience to His divine Word. Let us bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy presence. We thank Thee for this word of encouragement to our hearts. We thank Thee that we can know Thy power to do Thy work and to do Thy will. We pray that as we leave this university that Thy divine blessing will rest upon this great institution, which is a miracle, a miracle to what God has done. Bless its founder and his wife. Bless its president and his wife and the vice president and his wife and their family. And bless the members of the faculty and the members of the boards that help to carry some little responsibility. Bless every student and every person on this campus. And, O God, we pray that this school may go on from strength to strength, a school of the prophets indeed, owned and honored of God in the future as it has been owned and honored of God in the past. Bless every preacher in this congregation. O God, may we not go in our own strength, but may we depend fully and always upon the power of Elijah's God. And grant that in this evil day a great reviving shall come to the Church, that there will be an overturning and an overturning and an overturning, and that we shall see our nation one again to the principles of the gospel, through the preaching of the whole Council of God. Be with us, for Jesus' sake. Amen. The Lord God of Elijah lives today, and he's looking for Elishas to take the battle to the world. And if there's going to be an Elisha to go forth from this place, it's going to be because the Spirit of God falls upon him as Elijah's mantle fell upon Elisha. I'm going to ask that in a minute we stand to our feet and we bow our heads and sing, Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me, melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. If that's your prayer, will you stand and sing it? you Our Father, hear this prayer we make unto Thee, and seal the desire of our hearts in the courts of heaven. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. You've just heard the Chapel Platform. If you'd like a copy of today's message, please send a check for $6.50 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina, 29614. Please mention the speaker, Dr. Ian Paisley, the message titled, The Cry for Prophetic Power, and today's date. The Chapel Platform has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.