Elijah, in the course of his life and ministry, achieved less than he had hoped. It is also true, as we are going to see today, that he accomplished more than he had thought. There is a surprise that comes at the end of the story, and we’re going to see it today. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick, and Colin, we need to know what the surprise is. Well, here’s the big surprise to me in the story of Elijah. I had always thought that Mount Carmel was the great moment of his life, that that was his great achievement. But then you look at the story and you see that despite the response, within a few days he’s saying, I even, I only am left. So all these people who apparently made commitments to the Lord turned out not to be very committed at all. So actually, Mount Carmel, in terms of the flow of the story of the Bible, is a huge disappointment. It’s a great revelation of God, and it leads to almost no lasting change. So where is the real effect of Elijah’s life and ministry? Actually, it is seen most in his raising up of the generation of prophets who followed him. It’s at the end. He invests in next generation leaders, and his influence in their lives reaps a marvelous harvest after his own lifetime. I think that’s huge, and it’s a great encouragement for all of us to be able to look to those who are younger and to seek to encourage others. And we want to encourage you to grab your Bible as we begin our new message, Your Influence Lasts Longer Than You Think. Here’s Colin. We come today to the last message in our series on Elijah. And I’ve got to tell you, I’m feeling a little bit like Elisha did. You know, Elisha did not want to let Elijah go. And I’m feeling that way, having been so richly blessed by the study of these scriptures that have been teaching me so much and have been so rich. And there is so much for us to learn today as we look at the later years of Elijah’s life. Now, just to recap what we have learned, we have seen that Elijah’s life really was an uphill struggle all the way. He served during a period of rampant idolatry. He served under the reign of the worst king Israel had known up to that time. And he served the Lord during a period in which judgment had come on the nation in the form of God withholding the reins. For some time, Elijah’s ministry was hidden. You remember that though he had always had this sense in his heart that he wanted to do more than his fathers had done, what God did with him was took him out of his own country and hid him and gave him a ministry to just one family. And he was in obscurity and he must have wondered for a long time how is there going to be anything of a widespread impact that can come from a ministry that has been hidden in obscurity for so long. But God brought him back and then gave to him a national platform. He was able to call all Israel to repentance. He was able to address the nation from Mount Carmel and not only to address the nation but to call down fire from heaven so that the people said, well now the Lord he is God, the Lord he is God. But we saw that the greatest moment in this man’s ministry also led to his deepest discouragement. Because while the people were convinced they were not converted and at the end of all the drama on Mount Carmel, Ahab is still the king and Jezebel is worse than ever and Elijah then slumps as it were into a heap and begins to question what then was the point of all of this? After all this ministry, after all this prayer, after all this sacrifice, after all this effort, what have I accomplished? What has come of my life? What is the point? What difference have I really made? And many of us and all who serve and extend themselves in Christian ministry know what this place is like where that darkness descends on you and your energy is drained and the motivation that you had felt at other times seems to be gone and you say now what is the point of what I am doing? And that’s where we got to last week, that’s where Elijah was and we saw very wonderfully that God met with him there because God never abandons his wounded, he draws near and he meets with his honorably wounded servants. And today we’re going to take up the story from that point and see what came then of the last years of Elijah’s life. We know only a little about them but what we know is full of encouragement for us today. Now we’ve noted at several points that Elijah in the course of his life and ministry achieved less than he had hoped. It is also true, as we are going to see today, that he accomplished more than he had thought. And that is why we have the subtitle for this series which is The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. There is a surprise that comes at the end of the story and we’re going to see it today. Now I want to give you very simply three snapshots from the closing era of Elijah’s life. We’re going to start by looking at his last years, then if you can imagine the camera honing in and zooming in, we’re going to look at his last day and then we’re going to go in even closer, the sort of macro view, and we’re going to look at his last moments. And then briefly at the end we’ll see how the ministry of Elisha flowed out from all of this. So I hope you have your Bible open. First at 1 Kings and chapter 19. And we’re picking it up really in verse 15. The Lord said to Elijah, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Jehu the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel. And Elijah the son of Shaphat of Abel-Mehola, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. There is new work that Elijah now has to do and it is all about launching the ministry of others. The wisdom and the kindness of God is written all over this scene. Elijah has been in this despair. The darkness has come down upon him and God delivers Elijah out of this darkness by giving to him three wonderful gifts. And this is a part of the message that’s especially for the person who feels darkness today. God typically delivers out of periods of darkness by giving some combination of three wonderful gifts. And they’re right here. The first is the gift of work. Verse 15, go return on your way. Here’s this man, he’s exhausted, he’s discouraged, and God gives him some period to recover his strength as we saw last time. But after a time, you know, for a person in darkness to withdraw from others and simply to brood on their own thoughts will only make the darkness worse. I have known that in my own experience and many of you will have known that also. A.W. Pink makes this very helpful comment, very perceptive. He says, the only hope for persons in such circumstances is to come out from their lonely haunts and to become actively employed in some useful occupation. This is the best cure for melancholy, he says, to set about doing something which requires muscular exertion and which will benefit others. Isn’t that interesting? You’re in this darkness. Well, there may be a period where it’s appropriate for you to withdraw and to replenish yourself. But at some point, God will come and say to you, now you need to get up, you need to get out, you need to move forward, and you need to do something that is going to exert yourself and is going to be useful to others. The gift of work is a marvelous gift from God. And it is the first way in which God delivers Elijah from this darkness. So it’s very important that at this point where Elijah is saying, well, now, what have I accomplished? God does not say, well, now you’re an older fellow and the best thing for you will be to go and find some spot where you’re out the way and retire and don’t be in the way. No, God does not say that to him. God says, Elijah, I want you to pour your remaining years into younger people. There’s a huge contribution you can make in this regard. Now, go back and exert yourself in this regard. And these younger people will continue the work that you have begun and you will be surprised by joy in the fruit that comes from this. So Elijah’s role in these later years now is different from what it was earlier. He is no longer the only prophetic voice. He does not now have the national platform that God gave to him at Mount Carmel. But there is work for him to do. And what I want you to see today is that the work God gave him in this later era of his life actually proved to be more fruitful than anything else he had ever done before. That’s the great encouragement. So God gives them the gift of work. Get up, get moving, go and do something that’s useful to others. Well, that’s the first thing God gave Elijah. And we’ll look at two other things he gave him in just a few moments. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And the message, your influence lasts longer than you think. It’s part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, remember you can always go online to openthebible.org.uk and there you can download any of our previous messages. Go back, listen to this one again or any of our earlier messages. You can also hear Open the Bible as a podcast. Go to your favorite podcast site and search for Open the Bible UK. Back to the message now. Here’s Colin. So God gives them the gift of work. Get up, get moving, go and do something that’s useful to others. Second, God gives to him the gift of a promise. That’s in verse 18. The Lord says, I will have 7,000 in Israel. Now remember how often Elijah has been saying, I’m the only one. I, even I only am left. And God answers that in verse 18. He says, there will be 7,000. Now the ESV, the English Standard Version, the Pew Bible that we’re using is absolutely right in translating this statement in the future tense. I know that some other versions have it in the present tense. There is wide discussion on that. I’m wholly persuaded that this is a future tense statement because it is a promise. If there were 7,000 others at that time, Elijah would have known something about them. There were not at that time. This is a future promise. This is what is going to happen. Elijah, what you see at the moment is just small seeds, small growth. But I tell you what’s on the horizon. I will have 7,000 in Israel, God says. And so there’s this promise of the future fruitfulness of the work that Elijah has begun. Plant seeds and God will make them grow. The word of God is living seed. You plant it in the lives of people. It looks like there’s nothing there on the surface, but the seed is under the ground. You water it with your prayers and God gives the growth. And here’s this wonderful promise, Elijah. More is going to come of your ministry before you come up to heaven than you have ever realized. Don’t give up. So the gift of work, the gift of a marvelous promise and then the gift of friendship. Verse 19, the focus of Elijah’s work in this last season is on finding others. And here’s this man who for so long has really worked on his own. He’s been very isolated. It’s often lonely work and it certainly was for Elijah. But now in this season of his ministry, God gives to him the gift of a friend and of a partner in his ministry. And I’m sure that must have seemed quite strange to Elijah. A man who’s really used to working on his own won’t find it easy to adjust to working with others. But it proved to be one of the great blessings of his life. So that more was accomplished in the later era than had ever been accomplished before. Now you may be saying, you said that twice. Where are you getting this, that more was accomplished in this last era? Well, would you turn over with me in your Bible a couple of pages to 2 Kings and chapter two. 2 Kings and chapter two. And you will see there that we read about people, groups of people that we have not heard of before in the story of Elijah. Verse three, they go down to this town Bethel and verse three, the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to meet Elisha. Okay, look down at verse five and you read this. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came out to meet Elisha. You read down to verse seven and you see this. 50 men of the sons of the prophets also went as both Elijah and Elisha were standing by the Jordan. Now suddenly this is very different from anything that we have seen before in the story. We’ve kept hearing Elijah say, I, even I only am left, I’m the only one and so forth. Now we’re reading about these sons of the prophets. Whole communities of men who are committed to the proclamation of the word of God and they’re there in Bethel and they’re there in Jericho and they’re there by the Jordan. What is happening folks? God was raising up a new generation of men who would speak his word with clarity and with power and that’s what came out of the last era of Elijah’s ministry. It’s wonderful. Different scene. Now the Bible does not give us a timeline of Elijah’s life. We do not know for sure how long Elijah and Elisha served together before Elijah was taken. One writer speaks of a period of 10 years. We can’t know for sure but if that was the case it seems reasonable therefore to assume that Elijah and Elisha spent a decade or more raising up a new generation of godly leaders and at the end of Elijah’s life he is going round to these folks and he is exhorting them and he is saying goodbye to them and the baton is being passed and looking back with the perspective of the history of the book of Kings this proved to be the most fruitful contribution of all of Elijah’s ministry. From the top of Mount Carmel he achieved less than the he had hoped but by the time he went to heaven he had accomplished more than he had thought. Now friends this is a marvellous vision and it is one that we are already embracing here at the Orchard. You are already as a congregation perhaps more than you know pouring into the lives of younger leaders who are finding their feet in the ministry of the word of God. Preachers who proclaim the Bible will be birthed from congregations that love the Bible, right? And we are a congregation that loves the Bible, right? That’s an amen moment by the way, isn’t it? Okay, we are a congregation that loves the Christ of the Bible and wants the Christ of the Bible to be exalted in every way and in every place. Now preachers who proclaim the Bible and exalt the Christ of the Bible will be birthed from churches from congregations that love the Bible and want to exalt the Christ of the Bible and have a passion that the scriptures and that the Christ of scripture should be at the centre of the life of the church and deeply believe that that is what is renewing and what is defining for the church. There are many things that God is enabling the orchard to do at this time but I have a feeling myself that if someone were to look back 50 or 100 years from now if the Lord had not come by then that they may take the view as the book of Kings clearly indicates to us here with regards to Elijah that that would have been one of the most significant contributions that the church in our era had made to the advance of the gospel here and around the world. And friends, just so you know, this is not kind of latching on an idea. As I see it, I speak personally here as a pastor, this is not an option, this is a biblical command. I’m thinking of 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 2 which is a verse addressed to pastors, so it’s addressed to me, so I feel a responsibility in regard to it. Paul says to Timothy, who was a pastor, he says, Timothy, what you have heard from me entrust to faithful men who will teach others. So this passion, as you folks know already because I’ve spoken about it at different times before, I speak about it today just because it obviously arises from the scripture, how could you not speak about it today because this is what the bible here is about. This passion runs deep and strong in my own heart. And I invite you to be joining me in this prayer. Lord, make us useful in raising up sons of the prophets who will speak your word with clarity and with power and will be doing it in the greater Chicago area and around the world over this next generation. Make us a church that because we love the bible and the Christ of the bible births those who will proclaim the bible and the Christ of the bible. That’s worth extending ourselves for. It’s a wonderful thing. So here is the godly leader’s last years and it was the most fruitful era of his life. Wonderful. Those of you who are midlife and beyond, perhaps this will prove true of you as you pour into the lives of others that your most useful years and your longest lasting contribution will not be what you thought it would be but is something that God will bless more than you ever imagined. Wonderful. Second, a godly leader’s last years day. Staying in second kings in chapter two and moving the camera in a little more here. We have this description that we’re given here of Elijah’s last day on the earth before he’s taken up into the presence of the Lord and what an amazing day it was. He used his last day to make this sort of farewell tour in which he visited the sons of the prophets at these various locations before he crosses the Jordan River. The geography is fascinating. Elijah must have traveled between 25 and 30 miles in this trip and I’ve no doubt that he preached a message at each of these locations so it was quite a vigorous and strenuous last day before he went into the presence of the Lord. Now I just want to pause here for a moment and say this. What a marvelous thing it is that this man did not spend his last day on earth making peace with God. He did not spend his last day on earth making peace with God because he already had peace with God. We’ve got to pause the message there but we’ll continue it in our next broadcast. Your influence lasts longer than you think and it’s part of our series The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts remember you can always go online to openthebible.org.uk There you can catch up, go back and listen to any of our previous messages. You can also listen to Open the Bible as a podcast. Go to your favorite podcasting site, search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. Also on our website and as a podcast you’ll find Open the Bible Daily. This is a series of short two to three minute reflections written by Pastor Colin Smith and read by Sue MacLeish. Sue was in the studio recently and I asked what people were saying to her about Open the Bible Daily. Well it’s early days but several comments I’ve received are encouraging. One came from a young mother who’d recently given birth to her second child. She’d been worried that she wasn’t finding time for her normal Bible reading and study but Open the Bible Daily had proved to be just the right length and content for her at this time. Oh yes and then I received an email a few weeks back from a much older person who’d started listening regularly to Open the Bible Daily and had already recommended it to several of her friends. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners that’s people like you and if you’re able to set up a new regular monthly donation to the work of Open the Bible we’d love to thank you by sending you a free copy of the book The Fight written by John White. Colin what can we expect to get out of reading this book? Well you know every Christian has a responsibility before God to grow and that came home to me freshly when I was visiting a friend at another church. Senior pastor is a friend of mine. I was waiting for him after the service. I got into a conversation with someone who was on the security team in the church. I asked him how long have you been in this church and how did you come here? And he said to me well you know every Christian has a responsibility before God to grow and he said in our last church my wife and I weren’t growing but you know since we’ve been here we’ve been growing and we’ll be here for as long as we continue to grow. Now that brother was exactly right. Every Christian has a responsibility before God to grow and you know early in my Christian life God used this book The Fight by John White to help me get growing as a Christian believer. It’s still on my shelf. The pages are really really worn because it’s a book that I’ve gone back to many many times and it just is a practical encouragement on living the Christian life. How to grow as a Christian. My edition is years and decades old and delighted that there’s a new edition and that we’re able to share it with friends who listen to Open Bible this month. Well the book is called The Fight and it’s our gift to you if you’re able to set up a new monthly donation to the work of Open the Bible for five pounds or more each month. Go to our website for details openthebible.org.uk For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us again soon. If you knew in advance which day would be your last one on earth how would you spend it? Discover how Elijah spent his last day next time on Open the Bible.