Dear congregation, life is both far more serious and far more hopeful than we often realize. Things are not as they do appear because our sin, on the one hand, is worse than you and I often think. But on the other hand, God's salvation is also nearer. than we usually think. But thanks be to God. God's word makes both these things clear. Both our sin and also God's grace. Like the two feet of a man, the left and right steps of a man, these two realities, sin and grace, march through every page of the scripture. And they're also evident in your and my lives. God's warnings and calls to us on the one hand, and also God's mercies on the other hand. His warnings to drive us out of ourselves, His mercies to call us to Him. The Apostle Paul in Romans 11 says, Indeed, these are the two basic lessons which come to us in our passage tonight. And may the Holy Spirit impress them upon us forcefully, as we hope to see from this last study of the life of Elijah. Something which I have entitled as my theme here, The Salvation of the Third Captain. We'll explain that as we go along. But our theme tonight is The Salvation of the Third Captain. We'll see, first of all, a dark horizon. Secondly, a simple plea. And thirdly, instructive results. The salvation of the third captain. The dark horizon, the simple plea, and instructive results. The last time we met Elijah, he was with Ahab. And it would be the last time they would ever meet. And now Elijah in his last public mission of his life is now no longer meeting with Ahab but with his son Ahaziah who only reigned two years as you can read in 2 Kings 22 verse 51. And Ahaziah's congregation is cut from the same cloth as his father. Also, he is very much like his mother Jezebel, in the sense that Ahaziah is a strident, a militant foe of the God of Israel. And the end of first Kings says this about Ahaziah, he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin for he served Baal and worshipped him. and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel according to all that his father had done. What a fearful thing it is when children follow the wicked example of their parents. like Ahaziah does here with Ahab. Perhaps you've heard the story of the little boy who met his father in the bar. And when his father asked him how he had found him, he simply said, I followed your footsteps in the snow. Do we know, parents, how our children are watching us? How, in many cases, they will follow our footsteps for good or for evil? Isn't this a motivation to seek God early, even now? Will that God would keep all of us from the legacy of Ahab and Jezebel? But here then is Ahaziah. He has ascended the throne to take his father's place. But God has never left his throne. And the two of them, God and Ahaziah, are as opposed to each other as light is to darkness and darkness is to light. And when we read the whole history of Ahaziah, there's really nothing that has gone well for Ahaziah in his two brief years of kingship. If you look at 1 Kings 22 verse 48 and you compare it with 2 Chronicles 20 verse 35, Ahaziah together with Jehoshaphat were going to send a whole fleet of ships to Ethiopia for gold. But the whole fleet sank before it ever left port. That was the first misfortune that happened during his reign. The second is that Moab rebelled, as the first verse of our chapter tells us. Moab, which had been relatively subject to Israel during the reign of Ahab, now rebels and shakes off the yoke of Israel. That's the second disaster that happens in Ahaziah's reign. And then thirdly, in a way that comes closest to home, Ahaziah himself one day falls through the lattice from the second story, the upper story in his palace. Some have suggested that he may have been drunk when this happened, but at any rate, he falls and he is badly hurt, so much so that he is unable to get off his bed. He is sick, as the text says. Evil is marching closer and closer to Ahaziah's life. And yet Ahaziah persists in his sin. God is striving with Ahaziah through his providence. And as we will see tonight through his prophetic word, but Ahaziah will not bend. Sickness often reveals what is in our hearts, doesn't it? It often either stirs us up to seek God for help in our calamity, or, as in the case of Ahaziah, it embitters us against God. And in Ahaziah's case, it goes so far that he says to his servants, go, inquire of Beelzebub, the god in Akron, whether I shall recover of this disease. Who is Beelzebub? Well, he was a form of Baal, the Canaanite god whom the Philistines worshipped in Ekron, a Philistine city. And literally, his name, Beelzebub, means Lord of the Flies. Now, you say to yourself, why would you worship a god called the Lord of the Flies? Well, part of it was that the Canaanites stooped so low in their idolatry that they worshipped the flies. Because they thought that flies would carry disease. And so you needed to worship them, to keep peace with them, to keep them on your good side. And so Ahaziah sends messengers to this supposed god of the flies to ask whether he will recover or not. Imagine that. The king of Israel. sending messengers to ask from a foreign God in a foreign country, will I recover, yes or no? It's as if he's saying, I'm going to go all the way around the God of Israel to ask of another God whether or not I will recover. From an enemy God, the Philistines, enemies of Israel, He's looking for a solution there. Congregation, this is more than simply asking for a second opinion as we speak of it today. Here is a man who is rejecting the God of Israel. Go to Beelzebub, the God in Ekron. This is a slight of the worst kind against the God of Israel. Now, the Lord often uses sicknesses to draw people to Himself. Maybe He's done that in your life. He made you through some or other calamity, through your own weakness. He made you to cry out to Him, and the Lord brought you to Himself through the hand of sickness. This happened a few chapters later in the life of Naaman, the Syrian, an outsider. who one day finds himself to be a leper. And in his need, he doesn't turn to his own gods, but he turns to the God of Israel and finds healing and salvation. But here, by contrast, we have an Israelite who turns to an idol god. Ahaziah, should you not cry out to God? Should you not call for Elijah, that man of God whom God used to bring the nation of Israel back from the brink of death and back to life? It's as if Ahaziah says, no, absolutely not. I won't stoop to that. No wonder we read in 1 Kings 22 verse 53 that Ahaziah provoked the Lord to anger. Congregation, we should look upon this man, Isaiah, with pity. Here is a man, a fool, who recklessly and blindly is heading for destruction against all better knowledge, against every call of providence and of the word of God. It's the saddest thing. to witness a man on his deathbed who refuses to plead for mercy. I've been there before, next to a man. You speak to him of mercy, and he's just one step away from the grave. And he says, I don't need it. I don't need it. Don't talk to me of mercy. I've lived my life. that come what will come. Friends, it's true, so many die as they live. It's true, deathbed conversions do happen, but they are relatively rare. Never, I say, never count on the fact that you will have a time to repent or that when that time comes, you will actually repent. Today is the day of salvation. So this God of Israel will not let this go unnoticed or unpunished. He tells his prophet Elijah, this fearless prophet of God, to meet these messengers and to say, is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Beelzebub, the God of Ekron? Do you see what is happening here? The Lord is facing Ahaziah with a sword. himself, with God, with the God with whom we have to do. Ahaziah is rejecting the Lord shamelessly, and yet the Lord still, as of now, is not ultimately rejecting Ahaziah. He still comes. He comes with his warnings. He comes with his threatenings. He comes there into the life of Ahaziah to face Him with the God with whom congregation, all of us, have to do. What congregation this is the dark horizon of our chapter, and it's the dark horizon of our world And I need to tell you that tonight. I can't skip over that I would be an unfaithful Messenger of Jehovah if I didn't tell you that we live out our life against a dark horizon of sin Everywhere around us people are rejecting God. They're seeking to go around him They're seeking to carve out their own life and their own space. And this is what each and every one of us did in Adam in Paris in paradise. We as it were turned our back on God and we said is there not some other God somewhere else with whom we can cast in our lot. And ever since that congregation we have kept that up. When God opens your eyes to yourself, you realize that the constant refrain of your life, apart from grace and apart from God's work in your heart, is this, is there no God in Ekron? Is there no God with whom I can consult? Is there no God other than Jehovah, my Creator? with whom I can make do in this world. Can I find a way around God? That's what you and I do by nature all the time. And unconverted ones among us, that's what you're doing today. You might not think of yourself on a bed of affliction. You might not think of yourself on a deathbed. But what you're doing with every breath you breathe is you're saying, is there not some other way? Is there not some other God? with whom I can live, and you will not have this God to reign over you." This, friends, is the dark horizon against which, happily, as we see in our second point, the sun does arise. But first, children, Ahaziah hears footsteps, the footsteps of the messengers. And he looks all around him because these messengers are back far too soon. Ekron was quite a ways away. And there they come into the court of the king. And this is what they say, there came a man up to meet us and said unto us, go turn again to the king that sent you and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Beelzebub, the God of Ekron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. Well, this is shocking news to the king. And he proceeds to ask, what manner of man was he that came up to meet you and told you these words? And he hears that response. He was a hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. Dread and fear cover his face, I imagine. And I see him whispering under his breath. It is Elijah, the Tishbite. Well, congregation, as we saw, the prophet Elijah is facing Ahaziah with God. Ahaziah, you can't get around God. God is catching up with you. God is wrestling with you, Ahaziah. He's giving you these warnings, well-meant warnings, important warnings. What will Ahaziah do with these warnings? Well, Ahaziah, in his heart, hardens himself against God's word. He calls for a captain and for 50 soldiers, and he sends them to get Elijah, no doubt intending to kill him. And so this captain of 50 goes on this mission, which would prove to be a deadly one. And he goes there, and they meet with Elijah on the top of a hill somewhere there on some hilltop. And he speaks to him, and he says, Thou man of God, the king hath said, come down. Essentially, man of God. As I will not bow, but you must come and you must bow to him. And when these 50 reach this hilltop on which Elijah is. And they speak this way to Elijah, then Elijah utters a curse. If I be the man of God, let fire come down from heaven to consume these, his adversaries. And while here on the one hand we see that you cannot trifle with God's warnings, you cannot be part of anyone or anything that resists God without incurring great guilt, we see at the same time here that God vindicates His children and He protects His servant Elijah. I picture it this way, that around Elijah there is a fiery army of angels, much like you'll see in a few chapters when Elisha finds that the heavenly hosts surround the people of the Lord and shield them and shelter them from their enemies. And out of this array of the heavenly hosts, fire comes down against these adversaries of Elijah, this child of God. And in an instant, this captain and his 50 soldiers are consumed, and the remains lie charred at the bottom of the hill. What will Ahaziah do? When Azai hears of this, he still won't bow. In fact, he hardens himself even more. He calls for another captain, and he sends 50 soldiers with him, and the scene repeats itself again. And we certainly can feel pity for these hundred soldiers that have been dragged along on this errand. But we cannot and should not excuse the captains of these soldiers entirely. In fact, the second captain seems to be more defiant than the first. He adds this word, come down quickly, thou man of God. And any of these soldiers could have pled for mercy. As we will soon see, mercy was not far out of reach. These men needed not to have perished. But notice here how Ahaziah so easily sacrifices the lives of these hundred soldiers. To him, life is cheap. He doesn't seem to care about the human cost of what he is doing. It's almost as if he says, if I have to die, I'll take lots of people with me. People still do that today, don't they? It's horrific. But this is the human heart that is bent on its own destruction. And Ahaziah still doesn't heed these two deadly warnings. Congregation, do you hear how the fire is getting closer and closer to Ahaziah? But he still refuses to repent. And it is here that the light begins to dawn. Because here we have a third captain with 50 men under him. And he's sent on the same mission the previous two were sent on. The circumstances are no different. The king's command is no different. The threat is no different. But the outcome, the outcome is so drastically different. What is it on which it all turns? Do you hear the mouth of this captain? There's a plea. There's a plea for mercy. And the third captain fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him, O man of God, I pray thee, Let my life and the life of these fifty thy servants be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties. Therefore, let my life now be precious in thy sight. Here is a man who has learned something. He's witnessed what has happened. And there he goes to the feet of the man of God. And it's for mercy that he soothes. Let my life be precious in thy sight. Do not let me go down into destruction. Shall the dead praise thee in the grave? Let my life be precious in thy sight. If I draw back, if I draw into the grave, who will praise thee? It's as if he's saying, as you can find in a number of the Psalms, and this plea for mercy, congregation does not go unanswered. The fire holds back. And from out of this heavenly host, the angel of the Lord says to Elijah, go down with him, be not afraid of him. And he arose and went down with him unto the king. Congregational, what a change, what a plea, so simple. Anyone can utter this. What a mercy is shown here. How saving. Isn't this narrative of this third captain with his 50 just such a window into the glorious dealings of God in salvation? Perhaps you wonder, well, how is this a picture of salvation? We wanna see that, especially here in our third point, where we have three instructive lessons concerning the severity of God, and then three lessons with which we wanna conclude concerning the goodness of God. So six lessons here in our third and final point. Congregation, the first lesson tonight is this. God takes sin seriously. God takes sin seriously. You can't read through this chapter. and not see that God is a God who will judge in the last, and that the wicked are not safe, and that sinners on their own are not secure or safe from the wrath of God. And friends, this is not just an Old Testament truth that we can forget and shelve in the New Testament. In fact, the fire that came down from heaven that day to kill those 102 men was only a small sign of what the Bible will say will happen to all those who are ungodly. The wages of sin is death. If you have any question about what awaits the ungodly, 2 Thessalonians 1 says, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his name. These men died in an instant. Their physical life was eradicated and they entered into a never ending eternity. But friends what will happen to the wicked who are without God at the last. Friends it will be eternal death forever and for forever without any mercy. God is not to be trifled with forever. And I'm here to tell you tonight, under our first lesson, that the storm of God's justice is gathering. It has been since paradise. And though His long-suffering is great, do not imagine that God could not at any time break out in just vengeance upon you and upon me, apart from Jesus Christ and being hid in Him. God takes sin. seriously. Secondly, the second lesson is that God warns through his prophets and through his word, and his warnings should not be trifled with. Ahaziah's life was filled with warnings from the Lord. In Providence, And through this prophet, how much labor and energy the Lord spent on Ahaziah. But in the end, after all is said and done, Elijah rejects everyone, hardens his heart, and is bent on his own destruction. Ahaziah, why? Won't you listen? Sinners tonight, why won't you listen? You come here and hear the same message again and again. Sin and grace. You leave and you won't listen. You become harder and harder. What is it? Why do you trifle with warnings? There's no God that can help you apart from this God. Idols are nothing. They can't help you. Ekron can't help you. Foreign nations can't help you. Your possessions can't help you. It is with God with whom we have to do, and he warns us also tonight, do not trifle, friends, with God's warning. He's coming in His warnings and He's beckoning you and calling you to deal with Him in truth tonight. That leads us to our third lesson. The third lesson is that calls to repentance when they're not heeded render us more guilty before the Lord. Ahaziah will not budge even though God is calling him. It's as if God is saying to him, Ahaziah, why will you die? You don't have to die. I'm coming to you with a warning message, yes. I'm telling you, you will die. But let none of us think that this is an unconditional warning. Some people say that. Who's gonna die after all? That's what the Lord is saying to him. You will not get off your bed, but you will surely die. The congregation, this statement in line with all the prophetic statements of this kind, needs to be understood conditionally. What do you think Hezekiah received as a message by the prophet Isaiah? Isaiah came to him one day and he said, you will not get up from off your bed, but you will surely die. What did Hezekiah do? He fell on his knees before the Lord. He cried to the Lord. He prayed for mercy. He asked for a sign. He sued for mercy. He took hold of this warning and he took it back to God. And he said, God have mercy upon me, the sinner. And Isaiah was sent back on another mission. And he says, you will not surely die. But he was given 15 more years. Who can tell what Ahaziah may have gotten if he had sued for mercy and fell on his face before the Lord? And think too of the Ninevites. Think of how Jonah came there to the Ninevites and said in most uncertain terms, he said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And yet what the Ninevites cried mightily unto their God, and 40 days passed. And the Lord did it not. The Lord had mercy. What would have happened if Ahaziah had fell on his knees before the Lord? If he had beckoned to Elijah, show me the way of salvation. What if he had confessed his sins? Well, friends, the same thing would have happened to him. What will happen to you if you do the same tonight? And that is if you fall on your face in light of this stark judgment which comes to you and all of us, if you fall on your face before the Lord and treat him for mercy, then much like this third captain, you will have mercy. But sadly, we read the end of our chapter, So Ahaziah died. So Ahaziah died. There in an instant, he leaves this life, a warned man. A man labored upon so much in the twinkling of an eye, he stands before the God of Elijah. One commentator says this, through his wicked stubbornness, ahaziah goes from his bed of sickness to his bed in righteousness. Well, congregation, don't you see how for each and every one of us, every sickness, every disappointment in life, every distress, every sermon is a call to you and to me to seek repentance. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will you die? The fact of the matter is we don't know how long Ahaziah had. Some commentators believe that this event happened during the first year of his reign. He may have had yet months or weeks to repent, but he never did. He never bowed. Will that be said of you? He lived on for a few more weeks. He lived on for a few more days. that all the warnings went unheeded. And in an instant, you trade this life and you appear before the God who tonight is calling you. Repentance, calls to repentance when they're not heeded render us more guilty before God. Well, these three lessons concern the severity of God. And if I had only this to bring, congregation, we would leave most sorrowful. At least I hope so. But there are three more points. And here we see the goodness of God. And so, fourthly, see here how easily God is entreated for mercy. Picture with me this third captain. He had nothing to commend himself before God with. He was sent by a hostile king. He was on a hostile mission. He had the fire of God coming his way, just like the former captains did. There was nothing different in his case, except that at the foot of the mount, he fell down and he pleaded for mercy. And his plea, congregation, was so simple. There was nothing complicated about it. There was nothing studied about it. This man didn't have to go to seminary or study the whole scriptures. All he says is, Lord, please don't let me die. Please let my life be precious in thy sight. Lord, I have a never dying soul. Lord, eternity is long. Lord, have mercy. That's it. Simply that. Nothing else. And this captain and his host are saved. 50 men are saved along with him. That's how eager the Lord is to show mercy. It's not complicated. It's not by works of righteousness that we have done, lest any would boast. Salvation is simply this, that we fall. on God and on His mercy. We acknowledge that we have sinned against Him entirely and that there's no hope anywhere else save with God. And we fall with our helpless souls on God. And we say, Lord, please don't let me die. Don't let me die, but have mercy, O God, upon me, the sinner. We turn from our wicked way at all cost. We say to God, God, pardon me for my sin is so great. And the fire is held back. And this captain is saved. Oh, what a wonderful salvation this captain and his host receive. And all that on a simple plea for mercy. Do you see, congregation, how easily God is entreated? Sinners have far too low views of God's mercy. The heart of God is bursting open. He loves to be entreated. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserved. He is so easily entreated, sinners tonight plead for mercy. Sue for mercy. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come unto thee for dress. Helpless to the fountain fly. I hang my helpless soul on God. Let my life be precious in thy sight. He soothes for mercy. God congregation fourthly is so easily and treated for mercy. And fifthly, congregation, let us learn the example of wisdom here. This third captain is a remarkable man. He shows here an example of wisdom. The second man, he went headlong into death with the charred remains of the first 50 right around him. He plunged himself, as it were there, into hell. But this third captain, he sees the bodies. He realizes that heaven is going to come down with fire. And he's motivated to plead for mercy. He sees those who have perished all around him. Will he die just like them? No. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And this man has the fear of God in his heart. And he shows us the way forward, congregation. I want to ask you, have you seen people around you perish? Have you not seen people in your family or in your neighborhoods or people around you at work or elsewhere? And there they were, rebelling against God, mocking God, blaspheming God sometimes. And then all of a sudden, their life was over. And you went to their funeral. And they were done. The time of grace was over. Does it never strike you? Friends, it's happening all around us. In natural calamities, in terrorist attacks, whatever it is, people are perishing without God. Will you be foolish and head towards hell without for a moment thinking, how shall I escape? Let us be wise and not foolish. Let what we see in our text tonight prod us on to fall before God while it is still the day of grace. Will you perish too? Will you? Will you? I would, and I'm sure many with me, would, as it were, park ourselves between you and hell and say, no, don't plunge into hell. Sue for mercy. Plead for mercy now before it is too late. fall on your face before God, and know He will abundantly pardon. For His thoughts are not your thoughts, and His ways are not your ways. His thoughts are so much higher than your thoughts, and His ways than your ways. Well, we've seen that God is easily entreated for mercy. We've seen here the example of wisdom. And now lastly, And finally we can have hope for mercy which stretches so much further than that which this third captain could ever have. Because congregation here in Elijah's case, we have a prophet sitting on a hill who calls down fire from heaven. But in the New Testament, we see a far greater than Elijah. And he doesn't sit on a hill calling for fire, but he hangs there on a hill far away. And the fire, yes, the fire comes down, but it comes not down on those who gather at the foot of the cross. It comes down on him. He takes the fire. He takes the flame. He takes the wrath. Here we have someone so far greater than Elijah. We have someone in whom the goodness of God and the severity of God meet. Because in him, justice and peace meet together. Righteousness and peace, they kiss each other. so that tonight I can tell you by virtue of the gospel, be ye reconciled unto God. God demonstrates His love in the gospel so that no sinner tonight is too wicked, too far gone, too close to death, but he or she can find mercy at the foot of the cross. In Him there is mercy. For beggars who plead and who pursue for mercy and who say with this captain, Lord, let my life be precious in thy sight. Keep me from going down into the grave. Lord, save me or I perish. And if that's you, then heaven will open, not with fire. But the angels who are rejoicing at sinners who repent, they'll say to this greater than Elijah, go with this man, go with this woman. And there Elijah goes with this third captain. What an army of light. And that captain, don't you think he would have been so amazed, so full of wonder. Elijah goes with him. There they go, side by side. God gives him so much more. Not only is his life precious in God's sight, but there he goes, the prophet of the Lord, hand in hand. There they go. God is always so much better than we can ever imagine. What would he have said? My life. has been spared. My life was precious in Jehovah's sight. My life precious in his sight. How can it be? Wonder of all wonders. Congregation, if that's you, the Lord Jesus Christ goes with you. all your life and forevermore he will never leave you or forsake you as we heard this morning and you will live and you will declare his praises and you will say with the psalmist i shall not die but i shall live and declare the wonder of the lord for christ's sake amen