<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

More Than a Weakling

Father in heaven, thank you so much for gathering us together this morning.

Thank you Lord for the blessed Sabbath day.

Thank you Lord for the ministry of your angels and your Holy Spirit.

And we pray that they would be present this morning to minister to us, to convict our hearts of sin and righteousness and judgment to come.

And that also, Lord, you will direct our thoughts heavenward.

May you please guide us, may you please lead us with your Spirit we pray now.

I want to start with the Bible text this morning found in 2nd Kings chapter 13 and verse 14.

Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died and Joash the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.

His ministry is about to come to an end and the King of Israel, Joash, comes to seek advice and counsel and possibly a blessing from Him.

And this is what takes place in 2nd Kings chapter 13 and verse 15 to 17.

And he said to the king of Israel, put thine hand upon the bow.

And he put his hand upon it and Elijah put his hands upon the king's hands and he said open the window eastward and he opened it Then Elijah said shoot and he shot and he said the arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance From Syria for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek till thou have consumed them." Elisha, he's trying to encourage the king before he passes away.

He's trying to tell him that God is still going to be with him even though Elisha's presence will not be there anymore.

God will still fight the battles for them and that they would have victory over the Syrians.

And so he tells the king to shoot the arrow and he says this is how God is going to deliver you.

But Then he continues on in verse 18 And he said, Take the arrows, and he took them, and he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground, and he smote thrice, and stayed.

How many times did he smite the ground with the arrows 3 times.

In verse 19, And the man of God was wroth with him and said, Thou shouldest have smitten 5 or 6 times.

Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.

Whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

And he says, why did you only smite the ground 3 times?

You should have done it much more than that.

You know I've always wondered why Elisha seemed to be so hard on King Joashia.

But he's like smite the ground and he takes the arrows and he goes that's it.

You know 3 strikes on the ground does not take much.

He's already shown that the arrow is the object lesson, the promise that God is going to deliver the Israelites from the Syrians.

But all he does is he takes his arrows and he hits it 3 times.

What should you have done if the Prophet said to you, I want you to smite the ground?

I'll tell you what I would have done and that I would have looked at Elisha.

I would have looked at him and said, when shall I stop?

He just did it 3 times and then he stopped.

You should have done it much more times than that.

He should have had more zeal or energy in what Elisha was asking him to do.

Friends, God is looking for men and women today who will push, who will attempt much, who will go beyond a simple command and do much, much more, not because it was simply commanded of them, but because of the zeal that they have for God.

Look at what it says here in Ministry of Healing, 497 paragraph 1.

Christian life is more than many take it to be.

It does not consist wholly in gentleness, patience, meekness and kindliness.

The Christian life is much more than many of us imagine it to be.

It doesn't talk about just being gentle and patient and meek and kind.

This is the fruits of the Spirit that we find in Galatians 5, 22 and 23.

It's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, right?

Goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there's no law.

What we're told here in the pen of inspiration is the Christian life is much more than that.

Look, I'm not saying that we should just forget these Christian graces that are important.

But she's saying it doesn't consist wholly in just this.

But there is need also of courage, force, energy and perseverance.

Not just these fruits of the Spirit, but we need courage and force and energy and perseverance.

You know, when we think of the Christian, we think of meek Moses, we think of gentle Jesus, we think of all these fruits of the Spirit and whilst they are important and essential, We must build upon that and go beyond just the fruit of the Spirit.

And then it says this, the path that Christ marks out is a narrow, self-denying path.

To enter that path and press on through difficulties and discouragements requires men who are more than weaklings.

And this is where I got my sermon title for today.

God, he wants men and women who are more than weaklings.

We can have these graces of gentleness and patience and meekness and kindliness and I'm sure that there are many nice, kind and gentle people out there today but God, He's asking for more today.

He's asking for force and energy and perseverance.

We got to go beyond just the fruits of the Spirit.

They are the bedrock upon which we build everything else.

You don't want a person who's courageous and angry.

You don't want a person who's full of force but impatient.

Back to Menu

More Than a Weakling

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine