Tonight we're going to be in
2 Kings chapter 4. We'll be looking at verses 38
to 44. This comes right after the resurrection
of the Shulamite woman's son. And Elijah we see goes again
to Gilgal. Now he was there when he had
passed through there when Elijah Elijah had been caught up into
heaven, and now we see he's passing there again. And let's start
in verse 38. And Elijah came again to Gilgal,
and there was a dearth in the land. That means there was a
famine in the land. And the sons of the prophets
were sitting before him, and he said unto his servant, Set
on the great pot, and see the pottage for the sons of the prophets. So they're going to make a stew.
And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a
wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds. His lap full, and
came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew
them not. He didn't know they were poisonous. He just went out and gathered
whatever herbs he could, and he shredded them all into the
pot. So they poured out for the men
to eat, and it came to pass as they were eating of the pottage
that they cried out and said, O thou man of God, there is death
in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
Then he said, then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot,
and he said, pour out for the people that they may eat. And
there was no harm in the pot. And there came a man from Beal,
Shalsha, and bought the man of God bread of the first fruits,
20 loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the husks thereof.
And he said, give unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor
said, what should I set before a hundred men? He said, give
the people that they may eat. For thus saith the Lord, they
shall eat and shall leave thereof. So he said it before them, and
they did eat, and left thereof according to the word of the
Lord. Now we see in verse 38 again that Elijah is back again
to Gilgal. And where are the sons of the
prophets? They're sitting before him. Where are we to be before
Christ? Sitting before him. They're sitting
before the master, and he's instructing them. We sit before Christ, beloved. That's where we find peace, is
sitting at the feet of the master, sitting at the feet of Christ.
This is a very good place to be sitting. Very good place to
be sitting. They're sitting and listening
to Elijah. That's a great place for us to be, sitting and listening
to Christ. And we hear him through the preaching
of the word, don't we? We hear him through the reading of the
word. Right now, amen. We hear the shepherd's voice.
It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. My, oh my, oh my. Now let's read
verses 38 and 39 together. And Elijah came again to Gilgal,
and there was a dearth in the land. Again, that means that
there was a famine in the land. Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Kings, chapter 4, and look at verses... Oh, I'm sorry. No, I'm sorry. I got it wrong
there. Let's just stay right there. And Elijah came to Gilgal,
and there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets
were sitting before him, and he said unto his servant, Set
on the great pot, and seed potted for the sons of the prophets.
And one went out into the fields to gather herbs, and found a
wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and
came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew
them not. So Elijah commands his servant
to go out and gather up some herbs to prepare a stew, a great
stew in a great pot. for the sons of the prophets.
Gil brings forth that they seem to have lived together in one
house or college. Seems like the sons of the prophets
lived together in one area. And so Elijah says to one of
the servants, go and gather some herbs, and we're going to put
it in the stew. And we see the number of them, there's a hundred
of them. Therefore, they required a large pot, didn't they? It
wasn't just any little pot. It was a large pot to make this
stew in. And again, we see in verse 43,
what should I set before an hundred men? Look at verse 43. What should I set before a hundred
men? Now, we see that using the herbs and vegetables in the stew
is nothing new. We use herbs and vegetables in
the stew, don't we? We use them all the time. I was
in the wrong chapter there, guys. I'm sorry. Look at verse 43 of
2 Kings chapter 4. And the servitor said, What should
I set before a hundred men? What am I going to set before
them? A hundred. So there's a lot of men there.
My oh my. So this pot is huge. Big pot. And he's got to go out and gather
herbs and vegetables and put them in the stew. And you ever
think of that? There's nothing new under the
sun. What do we put in our stews? Herbs and vegetables. See, God's
provided for us, hasn't he? The fruit of the earth. It's God who provides. Don't
ever listen to this mother nature. There's no mother nature. There's
God the Father, period. He's the giver of all life. Man
sow and plant, and God gives the increase, it says. Same with
preachers. We sow the seed of the word,
God gives the increase, right? Oh my, it's always Him. He always
gets the glory, the honor, and the praise. My, oh my. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
104, verse 14. And we see this truth brought
forth all through the scriptures, but here's one verse for us to
look at quick. Psalm 104, 14. He causes the grass to grow.
Who does that? The Lord. He's the one who causes
the grass to grow. Again, Psalm 104, verse 14. He, being God, causes the grass
to grow for the cattle, an herb for the service of men, that
he may bring forth food out of the earth. He causes all that. You know, we were looking at
tomato plants today, Vicki and I, because we like eating tomatoes.
And I looked at a couple pepper trees, or pepper, not pepper
trees, what am I talking about? Pepper plants, because I like
peppers. And we were looking at them, and we figured, well,
end of May, we'll start getting some stuff together. But you see here, we buy the plants,
we plant them, but it's God that gives the increase, isn't it?
All I can do is water them. They're his plants, it's his
fruit, right? All I do is water. And do you
know what the water is like? Like the water of the word, right?
For God's people, see a preacher can't make anyone grow, can't
even make myself grow. But as we preach the word, the
water of the word, what's it do? It makes us grow. Doesn't
it? And we grow in the grace and
knowledge and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, he gets
all the glory. He gets all the honor. So remember
that next time when you're playing with your plants, God gives all
the increase. Lord, please, have him give increase.
Have him give increase. And note that the servant, he
just shred them all into a pot. He just shred them all. Everything
he picked, he just shredded it all. He cut them all to pieces,
chopped them into small pieces. And he must have been unskillful
at botany, because he got the wild vines too, which were poisonous.
So he wasn't very skilled at botany. He wasn't able to...
You set me in the forest and tell me to pick out which one's
poison and which one's not, I have no clue. But now you set out
someone who knows about botany, and they could say, don't eat
that, it's poisonous, don't eat that, but you can eat that. You
can eat that. So someone who's knowledgeable
in botany would have known that those wild vines were poisonous.
But he thought this wild vine was fine. And we don't know,
but the leaf of that vine may have looked like any other one.
But to an untrained botanist, he wouldn't know. He'd just grab
whatever leaves were there. Certain herbs can give a bitter
taste, and they can become very violent to the stomach. But the
bitter taste is a warning. The bitter taste is a warning.
And if eaten, and if not remedied, certain things can produce ulcers
within the bowels, which will eventually lead to death. And let us keep that in mind
as we read this next verse. Look at verse 40, 2 Kings 4,
40. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass,
as they were eating of the pottage, they cried out. There was a bitter
taste, there was something wrong with it, and they knew it. They
knew there was a taste there that wasn't right, right? Listen, look what they cried
out and said, thou man of God, there's death in the pots. And
they could not eat thereof. They couldn't eat it. There was
something in the taste, and they knew right away that there was
death in the pot. Maybe some of them had tasted
it before and got really sick or violently ill, but they could
taste it. Oh my. There's a plant called
cholinquintia. And some think that this is what
it was. It has a bitter flavor. And if that was so, it so alarmed
the sons of the prophets that they began to eat in the dish
and they cried out, Elijah, there's death in the pot. And they cried
out, it says. They weren't just quiet. They
said, O thou, O man of God, there's death in the pot. My, oh my. Something deadly was within that
stew. And they gathered from its excessive
bitterness. But also, some of them may have
discerned what it was. Some may have been triggered
by the bitterness, but some of them went, this is poison. Now, what do we see here? Well,
we see the effects of the curse. which the Lord pronounced upon
the sin of Adam. The fall is no way confined just
to Adam. All of creation fell. Oh my, so now we have thorns
and thistles, poisonous plants. Scripture says this, remember
the Lord said, cursed is the ground for thy sake. Imagine what it would be like
if there was no curse. Imagine how things would grow. My, oh, my. And this was part of the fearful
sentence in his Romans 8.22 says, the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together. until now. So not only do we groan over
the curse, but the whole creation groaneth and reveleth in pain
together until now. No matter where man looks, we
can see the result of the fall. Death is a result of the fall. Death is a result of the fall.
No section of creation has escaped. No section. Even the fields and
the woods bring not forth only thorns and thistles, but that
which is poisonous and lethal. Didn't before the fall. Didn't
before the fall. And you know some of the most
innocent looking herbs can be poisonous. Some of the most innocent
looking plants can be noxious. They can produce horrible suffering
and even death if consumed by men or by beasts too. Yet they
are rare because the Lord has mercifully, think of this too
in light of that, the Lord has mercifully provided adequate
protection against those evil things. And as we learn about plants,
we learn what to eat and what not to eat, right? My, there's going to be a parallel
we're going to see here. Because spiritual food, we learn what
to eat and what not to eat, don't we? Oh, yeah. You're going to feast on the
pure gospel? You don't want husks, right?
No, God's people know the difference between the pure feast of the
gospel and the husks of false religion. My, oh, my. And the instinct of animals and
the intelligence of man causes each of them to leave alone that
which is harmful. They're either discovered by
the eye or the nostrils or the palate. Here it was discovered
by the palate as they were eating it. They said, there's death
in the pot of Elijah. But remember, beloved God, the
poison in food spiritually explained, leads us to consider how cautious
men should be, and especially the sons of the prophet, and
consented to anything but what the apostle calls wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Beware, there's death
in the pot. There's death in the pot. where
anything is mixed with the finished perfect work of Christ, there's
death in the pot. Absolute death. Anytime man adds
anything that he is supposed to do in thought, in deed, in
action, in word, there's death in the pot, beloved. with the
finished work of Christ, because Christ said, it is finished and
it's done. There's absolutely nothing to
be added to it. But see, man wants something to do. Man wants
something to do. So they add a little mixture,
not knowing that that little mixture makes it no longer grace,
because it's tainted by man's hands. And I don't care if it's
baptism. I don't care if it's something
you got to say. and someone declare you're now saved, I don't care.
There's death in the pot there. The only way we have salvation,
the only way our sins are forgiven, is to look to Christ and to look
to Christ alone. And that's it. There's no other
way. Otherwise, there's death in the
pot. Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter
six. Think of this too. Their wild
vines and gourds are like our wild works. See, these were wild
vines that grew. That's like our wild works, isn't
it? Oh, we can add this to the pot. And we can add that to the
pot. You know, there's a fountain
for sin and uncleanness. And that fountain is Christ. And we don't add anything to
it. Nothing to it. Picture the finished work of
Christ like this pot. You don't need to add nothing to it. It's
already done. We just come and feast, don't we? We feast on
that wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our room and
place. Oh, look at this. Look at this in 1 Timothy chapter
6. Here's a warning. Here's a warning. See, we're
to flee those wild minds, right? Because they lead us away from
the Alpha and the Omega, don't they? They lead us away from
Christ, who is the only way of salvation. He's the first and
the last, and He is the redemption of all His people, Christ and
Him alone. Look at this in 1 Timothy 6,
verse 3. If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. Now
look at verses 11 and 12. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things and follow after. Here's what we're to follow after.
Righteousness. Godliness. Faith. Love. Patience. Meekness. Fight the
good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Who's
eternal life? Christ, right? You see how little
Rowan was just laying hold of Jill. Just laying hold of her. Just had his arms wrapped around
her. That's how we are to be with Christ. Just wrap our arms
around him. I'm not letting you go, Lord.
I'm going to put my head on your shoulder. Oh, my. Lay hold on the eternal life,
wherein thou art also called and has professed a good profession
before many witnesses. My, that which is offered for
the intellectual and spiritual food in the world, oh, how it's
unwholesome. Oh, how it's poisonous. You've
got to do this. How to increase your joy. Well,
I read that joy is the fruit of the Spirit. It's Him that
makes me increase in joy. Is it not you too? My, I look at myself and I'm
not in joyfulness, but I look to Christ my Savior and I'm full
of joy, beloved. Joy unspeakable. Oh, the redeemer
of my eternal soul, the one who has cleansed me from all my sin.
And all we can say is hallelujah. Praise be to God, right? Oh my,
he's so wonderful. He's so wonderful. In the fields
of false religion, they have wild gourds growing all through
them. Death in the pot. Death in the
pot. Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy.
chapter two. And these wild gods that grow
in false religion, they're growing in, but what's the end? Death
in the pot. Death in the pot. My false doctrine
is fatal doctrine. It's fatal, let me tell you.
It leads to spiritual death. Christ leads to spiritual life.
But false doctrine, any mixture of man's works, leads to death,
there's death in the pot. So think of that, when them false
preachers get up and they start teaching, there's death in those
words. There's not life, there's death. There's death in those words,
beloved. And you know, scripture says that the ministers of Satan,
they appear as angels of light. All those TV preacher guys there
standing up, they appear like, oh, they're such a, they're not.
There's death in the words. There's death in their words,
because it's all about what you have to do. Give a little seed
money, and it'll grow. No, it'll grow their pocketbook.
It'll grow their bank account. But it won't value anything spiritually
at all. Not at all. No. There's death in the pot. There's
death in those words. My, look at this, 2 Timothy chapter
2, verses 14 to 17. My oh my. And remember, this
is Paul penning to his dear brother in Christ, Timothy. He says this,
of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord,
that they strive not about words to no profit. False preaching
is words to no profit, beloved. They have no profit. They lead
to death. Spiritual death. Look at this.
But the subverting of the hearers, They ensnare their hearers. We're
seeing that with the Galatian believers, right? Some of them
are being ensnared by the Judaizers. And Paul's warning them. He's
pleading with them. Stop! Stop, look to Christ, you can't
be justified by the law. Look to Christ and him alone.
Look at this, he says, study to show thyself approved unto
God, workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. So when I preach and when other
gospel preachers preach, rightly divide the words that we're saying,
beloved. We want you to be Bereans, we
want you to check what we say. We love it when we hear that.
Sometimes Dave will come up after the service and say, look at
this, Brother Wayne or Zane or some other brothers, look at this.
Or sometimes Travis will come up and say, wow, Wayne. And I'm
like, man, I wish I called you before the message. I ought to
put that in. But I profit so much from you all. I profit so
much from you all. And I get encouraged. So study,
study to show thyself approved. Be a Berean. A workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Is this truth
according to the word of God, or is it not? See, that's why
Paul commended the Bereans. Because they went back and they
searched the scriptures to see if it was true. And back then,
all they had was the Old Testament. Remember that, too. Oh, it's
wonderful. He says here, but shun profane and vain Babylon.
I'll tell you why. This world is full of profane
and vain Babylon. I know, because I was there.
My, oh my. For they will increase unto more
ungodliness. Look at that. And their word
will eat is not the canker of whom is Hymenes in Philetus. So he gives two examples. It
sounds like people who may be in the church, who are full of
vain babbling. vain babbling. Shut them. Because they're not going to
increase to godliness, they're going to increase to ungodliness. That's what they're going to
do. And so we see here that Paul
compares the errors and heresies of false teachers to a gangrene. It's a gangrene. If it's not cut out, it'll spread
to all the adjoining parts. Until it destroys the man. And
these false teachers and their errors, they're so opposed to
scripture. And those infected with them
are to be cut off, lest they corrupt the whole church. Remember
that fellow in 1st Corinthians, he's sleeping with his father's
wife and Paul says, shun him. Well, we find out later he repents.
But that's what he said. Cut him off before the whole
church gets corrupted. That's why he's writing to the
Galatian churches we see with such passion we've seen in Sunday
school. Oh my. Turn again if you would
to 1 Timothy chapter 6. I know I got us buzzing around
1 Timothy, but oh my. Oh my. We're going to look a
little bit more at this here. Look at this 1st Timothy chapter
6. He's talking about false teachers here. And then he's talking about
true contentment. Look at this. And they that have
believing masters, let them not despise them because they are
brethren, but rather do to them service because they are faithful
and beloved partakers of the benefit. Oh, what vast benefits
we have in Christ, beloved. What vast benefits. These things
teach and exhort, verse 3, 1 Timothy 6, 3. If any man teach otherwise
and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to
Godliness. Look at this, and he's just gonna lay it out here.
He is proud, knowing nothing. My, that's strong words, right?
Remember, these words are inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Let's
remember that. This is the Holy Spirit revealing
this. These folks who teach otherwise about the things of Christ, They're
nothing but proud, and they know nothing, but doting about questions
and strifes of words. How many people do you see, either
on Facebook or in these different things on the internet, where
they're debating all kinds of stuff, and it's just absolutely
useless? And they start fighting about
the Bible. You get in some of these groups,
and they're basically trying to show each other how much they
know. I just stay away from that stuff, but I'll be honest with
you, I just stay away from that stuff. It is not worth it. Well, it
says here, they know nothing but doting about questions and
strifes of words, whereof cometh envy. What comes as a result
of that? And I've seen this in those groups. What comes as a
result of that? Envy, strife, railings. They just start turning
on each other like wolves. They're supposed to be brothers
in Christ, and they just start railing on each other. Evil surmisings. Perverse disputings of man, of
corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth. Look at that, destitute. That means empty of the truth,
destitute of the truth. These false teachers are destitute
of the truth, beloved. There's a famine in this world.
It's not a food, physically, it's spiritual food. There's
a famine in this world. But like Norm Wells always tells
me, God's got every single amount of preacher preaching the gospel
as he's ordained. So hallelujah for that, right?
And now, via the internet, the message is going all around the
world, beloved. But there is seriously a famine in the land. Amen. Come on. Even so, come
quickly, Lord. Even so, come quickly. Oh, my.
Perverse disputants, again, men of corrupt minds and destitute
of the truth, supposing that gain is godless. That's them
false teachers saying, well, if you're poor, you're not blessed
of God. Give me a break. Some of the
sweetest saints have had nothing at all, but yet they're rich,
absolutely rich. Our dear sister Diane said, I'm
looking at a bunch of people who are the richest people in
the world. Amen, that's right. God's people are the richest
people in the world. We don't have to have some charlatan who's doing nothing but to get
gain. In supposing that gain is godliness, what does the scripture
say here? From such, withdraw thyself. Don't even be around
them. Withdraw yourself from them,
lest you get contaminated by them. Right? My, oh my. Look at this. But godliness with
contentment is great gain. Be content, such as ye have.
For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13, 6. Isn't that wonderful? Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content. Conversation there is life, lifestyle. Let your conversation, let your
lifestyle be without covetousness and be content with such as you
have. So we're not to covet other things.
We're to be content with exactly what the Lord gives us, right?
Be content with it. My, be content. For He has said,
Why? Because Christ has said, I will
never leave you nor forsake you. Now that's worth more than anything,
isn't it? That's worth more than anything
anyone can ever gain in this world for Christ to say to his
people, to each one of us, I will never leave you nor forsake you. There's no love like that, is
there, in this world? That's the everlasting love of
God. That's a Savior who's bled for
us. That's a Savior who's died for us. That's a Savior who's
redeemed us with his precious blood, beloved. And the Holy
Spirit's regenerated us, and now we know. Now we know. We're born again. We're given
faith to just rest and trust on this wonderful, merciful Savior.
That's why we say, flee the Christ, right? There's no other hope.
There's no hope outside of Christ for any sinner. No hope outside
of Christ. Oh, my. Look at this. Why are
we to be content? Well, we brought nothing into
this world. We came into this world naked. We had nothing. They had to wrap us in a cloth,
a blanket, a warm blanket. They usually do it in warm blankets,
I think, now. They had to wrap us in a... He's laughing. I won't say that. They had to
wrap the kids in a warm blanket, right? Because otherwise they're just
naked. And then they even have to cut off the umbilical cord
because the kid can't do it. They got to clean them all up
before they give them to mama. And then they usually place them
in mama's arms. My oh my. So we bought nothing
in this world. Look at this. And this is certain.
We carry nothing. You know what? There ain't nothing
in this world that's going to glory with us. Yeah? Even our body's going to be left
behind, right? Our soul's going up to glory. But our body's being
left in the ground. It'll rise again though. It'll
become a new body. An incorruptible body. Right? Because this mortal must put
on, this corruption must put on incorruption, right? That's
God's doing too, isn't it? Oh my, it's wonderful. Look at
that. In heaven, food and remnant,
let us be there with content. You got food in your fridge tonight?
Got clothes on your back? Got a roof over your head? Doesn't
even say that. It just says food and clothes.
Be content. Just thank God. Hallelujah, Lord. Thank you so much. I got a roof
over my head. I got food in my fridge. I got
clothes in my closet. Be content. You know why? Because we have Christ. And there's nothing in this world,
there's nothing we can gain in this world that even compares
to Him. Nothing. That's why Paul says,
you ain't taking nothing with you. And again, remember, these
words, even these words about the teachers that are, we look
at that and go, that's strong language. This is inspired by
the Holy Ghost. He's telling us here, withdraw
from those men. Withdraw from those false teachers.
Right? My oh my. And we see here that
Paul condemns all those who do not agree with what he teaches
in verse 3. He says, if any man teach otherwise and consent not
to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus, and
to the doctrine which is according to godliness. the doctrines of
Christ, the doctrines of his sin atoning death. Justification,
wonderful. Sanctification, wonderful doctrine.
Justification, all these things are just absolutely wonderful. If a man doesn't agree with those
doctrines that our salvation's all in Christ, don't have anything
to do with him. in the sense of right hand of
fellowship. You witness to them, but don't give them the right
hand of fellowship. My oh my. I'll tell you. And these false
teachers, they despised authority and dominion. Some of them were even encouraging
to be disobedient to parents and masters and government and
that's That's why Paul wrote there in verse 2, and they that
have believed in masters, let them not despise them, because
they are brethren. And he's writing to people who
are in slavery there, and he says, if your brother is your master,
don't despise him. He's going to treat you better,
I'll tell you that. He's not going to be the same master he
used to be if the Lord saves him. My, oh, my. And the words of Christ and the
doctrines of Christ are in agreement with the godliness of heart and
life. They're wholesome words to the
born again blood washed believer. The gospel is the mystery of
godliness, right? Why do we not want to go out
and sin? Because we have Christ in us, the hope of glory. Why
do we mourn over our sin all the time? Because Christ in us, the hope
of glory. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
our sin. Why weren't we convicted before, we say? We didn't have
the Holy Spirit in us. But now we're new creatures,
aren't we, in Christ? Oh, my. And the gospel, again,
is a mystery of godliness. It promotes both internal and
external holiness. It leads to faith, love, humility,
patience, and all duties which we owe to fellow men. I ask you,
Dave, do you sin more than you want to? Me, too. Me, too. Did we realize that
before the Lord saved us? No, we didn't care. We didn't
even think of sin, did we? No, we didn't. We didn't even
think it. Didn't even think we were sinning. Oh, my. The gospel
of the free grace of God in Christ, the gospel of the complete, and
I mean complete, there is nothing left to be added. Perfect, and
it is absolutely perfect. Sin atoning, Christ died in our
room and place of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate
in the flesh. When he shed his blood to ransom
the souls of his people. When we hear this, when we who
are born again hear this, it's food to our souls, isn't it? Because we hunger, what do we
hunger and thirst after? Righteousness, which means what?
We hunger and thirst after Christ, after Christ in Christ alone.
Oh my, and when we hear that he bled and died to ransom our
souls, we rejoice, don't we? Oh my. So we see here that the
sons of the prophets, they began to eat the pottage and they discovered
that it was deadly, either by the bitterness, but somehow they
discovered that it was deadly in character. And you know, God's
given us the ability as believers to discern what's right and wrong. And how helpful is it to our
souls that God's given us the sermon to listen to a man preaching
and go, he's telling the truth. And then to listen to another
preacher and go, that man's lying. He's lying on God. Holy Ghost
does that, doesn't he? You know what? Before the Lord
saved me, I couldn't tell who was telling the truth and who
wasn't. And I didn't care, because I didn't want to listen to it.
And now, I'll tell you what, I want to listen to a man preaching
the gospel. And I want to listen to a man preaching that salvation
is in Christ and Him alone. Plus absolutely nothing, that
I'm redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. My, I want to hear
that. You just keep telling me that,
and telling me that, and telling me that, and I'll just keep smiling and
rejoicing. My, oh my. And we give Him all the glory,
don't we? We give Him all the glory for giving us the discernment
to know that which is good and that which is harmful. My. And if you're able to detect
error from truth, then you're able to discern Satan's poison
from the sincere milk of the word. Because that's what false
doctrine is. It's poison to the soul. It's
absolute poison. It'll lead to one's damnation.
Be on guard. Be bereans, listen to what the
word of God says in Job. Listen to this. Hear my words,
oh, you wise men, and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. For the ear tries the words as
the mouth tasted meat. Now, the preach of the gospel
is meat to our souls. But our ear tries it, doesn't
it? Our ear tries, now, when we hear something we love, we're,
amen, praise be to God. We might not say it, it'll be
in our heart though, won't it? I tell you, my oh my. And let us not miss the connection
here between what is said in 2 Kings 4.40 and what's set before
us in 4.48, or 4.38. is it was those who were sitting
at the feet of Elijah who discovered the poisonous nature of the stew. Those men could discern by the
taste that that was deadly stew. God's people can discern by the
power of God the Holy Spirit that that which we feast on is
either good or deadly. And praise God if you have that
knowledge, because God has given you that. My, oh my, what lessons
brought forth here before us. And God's recorded it for us,
for our learning. For those who are instructed
by the true servants of God have most spiritual discernment
and better judgments than others who are not so favored. Those
who are under the sound of the gospel, I'll tell you what, We'll
grow in grace and we'll be able to take heed what you hear as
the scriptures declare. I've had people tell me, I preached
a message on Christ, the ark of our safety. Christ, the ark
of our safety. And I preached that the pitch
was the blood of Christ and that all who were in the ark were
safe. None of them would be harmed. The wrath of God wouldn't fall
upon them because the pitch Atonement, exactly, that's exactly what
it is. And I preached on that, and someone who'd been going
to church for 30, probably 35 years, not here, but another
church, came up to me and said, I've never seen that before. Well, well, you know what? It's because you might not be
sitting under sound gospel preaching. Because we gospel preachers,
all we're going to do is point you to Christ. That's all we're
going to do. That's all we're going to do. And it's the Holy
Spirit who opens people's eyes to that stuff, isn't it? It's
the Holy Spirit who does that. My oh my. I just thankfully saw
it, something. That's a blessing. Praise be
to God. That's wonderful. My. And God's preachers We instinctively
warned against unsound doctrine. Stay away from it. It's poison.
It's deadly. Could be the whisper in someone
in your ear. It's deadly. And again, all it does is cause
strife and division, right? If something's going on and it
starts causing strife and division, you know it's not from the Lord.
It ain't from the Lord. I'll tell you why. It's not,
plain and simple. No, no, no, no. And God, in his sovereign
mercies, has endowed certain animals with instincts to avoid
certain foods, right? And he's graciously bestowed
upon his people discernment to distinguish false preaching from
true preaching. Isn't that amazing? We can discern
both good and evil. We couldn't before. Like Dave,
you said, we used to just go crazy, not even think we were
sinning. Well, yeah, we were. But we used
to just not even consider what we were doing. As sin, no concern. No, no concern at all. But look
at what God's done now. Oh, my, my, my, my, my. Look at verse 41 here. It says,
but he said, then bring meal. And he cast it in the pot. And
he said, pour out for the people that they may eat. And there
was no harm in the pot. Now here's the first miracle
here before us. Elijah commands meal to be bought, and he casts
it into the pot. And what occurs is a miracle.
It's a miracle by God, beloved. And the meat pictures Christ,
who is the bread of life for the believer, and therefore symbolic
of Christ through the word. And the believer feasts and lives
on the word of God, right? That's who we live on. You know,
it says, take my body, eat, and drink my blood. And people say,
oh, you know, that's cannibalistic. No, it's spiritually. We feast
on Christ. We feast on his gospel. We feast
on he who is the bread of life. He's our life. My, oh, my. When you hear someone say that,
just shake your head and shake the dust off your feet and walk
away. My, oh, my. the believer feasts and lives
off the word of God, the gospel. To the world, it may not seem
like much. To the world, the gospel's nothing. To the world,
the gospel's a hindrance to partying or doing things that they think
is great. You know? It's poison in the pot, that's
right. And scripture says sin is pleasing for a season. But
I'll tell you, it's got a bite, man. It's got a bite. Oh man, it'll devour a person
right up. I'll tell you what. My, oh my. So it might not, the gospel might
seem like nothing. Might seem like nothing to the
world. But oh my, I'll tell you what.
It's absolutely precious to we who are the people of God. It's
precious to us. We feast on Christ. We feast
on Christ who's the bread and wine for the believer. He's our
sustenance, right? We got no life without Christ.
In Him we live and move and have our being. All in all, you take
Him away, we got nothing, right? If He's our all in all, you take
Christ, we got nothing. But praise be to God, we have
Christ, the lover of our soul. You know that? He's the lover
of our soul, beloved. Oh my, I just, I can't get over
that. And the warning here presented
as death in the pot is metaphorical language employing the effects
of the wild gourds with that which was good. The death in
the pot was the wild gourds. The death in the pot of truth
is man's works. added to the finished work of
Christ. Paul says, you just made it void.
It profits you nothing. Remember he said to the glaciers,
if you be circumcised, it profits you nothing. Nothing. Nothing there means nothing.
Zero. See, we're a bunch of zeros. Scott Richardson used to say,
we're a bunch of zeros until you put the one beside us. All
right? What matters? The one. Christ. Otherwise we're just a bunch
of zeros. Oh my, I'll tell ya. My oh my. And think of this,
death in the pot also represents our personal input into the word
of God. It cannot and does not, our personal thoughts on the
word of God, when people say, well I think the word of God
says this. The word of God is of no private
interpretation. Whenever I feel like the Lord's
showing me something from the word, I always look at some commentators
to see what they say. Because I know I'm not going
to be the only one that got that, right? We always have to look that way.
Because our personal input into the word of God doesn't change
the word of God. And when people start to put
their, and what I'm getting at here is here, people take their
opinions, not what God's teaching us as believers, I'm talking
about false preachers, they take their opinions and they say,
well the word of God says this, you must be baptized to be saved.
Or, you know what, if you don't go to church on Saturday, you
got the mark of the beast. I had a seven day Adventist tell
me that one time, I laughed at them. I laughed at them. I said, I'm marked all right.
I'm marked. I'm sealed by the Holy Spirit
of God. I got a mark on me all right. It's a mark of God. Every believer has it. We don't
see it, but every believer's got it. Scripture says we're
sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. And that's a mark in the
Greek. People talk about 666, the mark
of the beast. I'm already marked, praise be
to God, are you? Hey, we're marked, brother. We're
marked by God. He says, you're mine. And that
mark, if you look into that in Ephesians 1, that mark speaks
of ownership. He owns us. We're his. We're
not his just by creation. We're his by price. He bought
us. He bought us with a price, beloved. We're his. He owns us. And we say, Lord, I love it that
you own me. I love it that I'm yours. Do
whatever you want with me. Go ahead, do whatever you want
with me. Do what you will. Oh, my. Oh, my. So this stew wasn't palatable
until the meal, which represents Christ, who is the bread of life,
is cast into the pot, you see? And who is the word about? Christ. This whole book is all about
Christ, beloved. Oh my, do you know, do you know
this word will never fade? We're gonna fade away, but you
know this word will last forever. This is eternal words, man. Holy
Bible. Oh my, this God's eternal word.
Let's continue to read, and we'll see another miracle here. About
fourth, just like the cruise of oil and the handful of meal,
the word of God never diminishes, never diminishes. We feed from
it, right? The saints of old have fed from
it. We feed from it. The saints in the future, after
we're gone, will feed on it. And it never diminishes, beloved.
It never diminishes. It's fed God's people all through
the ages. It's sustained all believers
through the ages. Look at this, 2nd Kings chapter 4, verse 42
to 44. And there came a man from Baal-isha
and bought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, 20 loaves
of barley and full ears of corn and the husks thereof. And he
said, give it unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor
said, what should I set this before a hundred men? Should
I set this before a hundred men? What use is that? He said, give
the people that they may eat. And thus saith the Lord, they
shall eat and shall leave thereof. So he said it before them and
they did eat and left thereof according to the word of the
Lord. Now turn to Matthew, if you would. There's a narrative
over here in Matthew that's extremely similar to what we just read.
Matthew chapter 14. That little portion right there
reminds us of the loaves and the fishes, beloved. How many
people did God feed with the loaves and the fishes? 5,000 men. That's not including
women and children either. And they ate too. And then they
collected leftovers. Look at this. See, with God,
nothing's impossible. We're living monuments of that.
that with God there's nothing impossible, because we can't
save ourselves, but God can save a sinner. Isn't that wonderful?
And He has, doesn't He? A multitude that no man can number,
beloved. Oh, look at this, Matthew chapter
14, verses 13 to 21. When Jesus heard of it, He departed
thence by ship into a desert place apart, And when the people
had heard thereof, they followed him on the foot out of the cities.
So here they come. And Jesus went forth and saw
a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them,
and he healed their sick. What a compassionate Savior we
have. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying,
This is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitude
away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.
So they're saying, Send them away, Lord, so they can go have
their meals. Because otherwise, they're not going to be able
to make it. But Jesus said to them, they need not depart. Look
at that. Oh, praise God. You know what? Think of that to us. We don't
need to depart. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We
have here, give ye them to eat. And they said to him, we have
here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, bring them here.
Now this is God incarnated in the flesh, beloved. Bring him
hither. This is the one who said, if
these men don't praise me, even the rocks would cry out my name.
Right? Oh my. Look at this. And he commanded
the multitude to sit down. 5,000 people sit up. His voice
projection must have been, he's God though, right? Sit down.
Boom, they all sat down. In ranks, yeah. Oh my. And look what he does. He commanded
them to sit down in the grass. It's a good place for us to be.
Sitting down at the feet of Christ, right? That's the best place
for us to be again. Sitting in the grass, listening
to the King. And took the five loaves and the two fishes, and
looking up to heaven, what did he do? He blessed and break,
and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
So he blessed the bread, gave them to his disciples. They probably
thought, could you imagine what they thought? It'll all be gone by the time
we get to the first guy, right? That's probably what they thought.
Come on, they're just like us, right? What in the world are we doing
with, what are we doing with, what is it, five loaves? Five loaves of bread, five loaves
of bread. Man, you and I could eat a loaf of bread easily by
ourselves and a couple of fish, we could eat two things of fish
easy. And looking up to heaven, he blessed and gave the loaves
to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they all,
look at this, and they did all eat. Do you know the whole body
of Christ all eats, right? The whole body all eats. Everybody
in the body of Christ eats. And we're filled, and we're filled,
beloved, with the blessed. Bread of life, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they took up the fragments that remained, 12 baskets
full. There was even more. Right? There was even more. See, we
feast on Christ, there's even more, beloved. My. And they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men, beside women and children. Now, I don't even
want to start with how many people that was. There'd at least be
almost 5,000 women. And if each one had three or
four kids, I'm gone. I don't even know. You're talking
30,000, 40,000 people. Easy. Easy. Did any of you figure it out?
Pretty close to 40,000, right? Even if some weren't married,
yeah. Oh, my. That's a lot of people. And there
was two batches of them. Two batches of them at Paul's
was coming back. There's 12 loaves left. 12 tribes, 12 apostles, and they
were all filled, every one of them. See, not one of God's sheep
isn't going to be filled. We're filled, aren't we? We feast
on the Word of God. So we see this miracle. That's
two miracles in this one passage, two miracles. And how is this
done? By God's almighty power. It all
come to pass, and it came to pass This with the sons of the
prophet came in the past when there was a famine in the land.
My, and there's extra, beloved. There's extra again. So let us
take away from these two miracles that our Lord, even in wrath,
which is the famine upon the land, because of the idolatry
of the people, that's why that happened, the Lord still remembers
mercy to his people. He still provides for his people.
And they're filled. Right? Promises. Filled. So let us remember. We see the
seasons change, and we see the fulfillment of God's promises,
which says this. Listen to this in Genesis 8,
22. A verse that we can just fly right by. Listen to this.
Will the earth remain of seed time and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Until God says, that's it. It
shall not cease. There's going to be summer, which
we love. There's going to be winter, which
we love too. That's why we live in Michigan, right? There's going
to be fall. There's going to be spring. And
it shall not cease, day and night, until the Lord says, that's it.
It's like us. And he's going to roll it all
up like a scroll. Oh, my. And think of this, each
year, think of this too as we finish up here. Each year, we
have continuously set before us the absolute sovereignty of
God. In the spring, summer, fall, and winter, we have this sovereignty
set before us, and that verse is in Genesis 8.22 if you want
to write it down, of the seasons. The changing of the seasons.
The changing of the seasons. It says again, I'll read it again,
Genesis 8.22. Well, the earth remaineth, so
as long as the earth is. And we know that the earth consists
because of our Lord. He keeps all things. Well, the
earth remaineth, Genesis 8, 22. Seed time and harvest. Right? So spring and summer and
fall and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night
shall not cease. He's absolutely sovereign, beloved.
He's absolutely sovereign. Oh my. My oh my. Let us close considering the
Old Testament shadow and the New Testament substance. Right? Oh my. In each case here before
us in these miracles, there was a crowd of hungry people. 100
with Elijah, 5,000 with Christ. Elijah took pity on them. Christ
had compassion on the multitude. A few loaves formed the principal
article of diet in each case. Remember the one guy bought loaves
and corn. But just a few, just a few. They had five loaves and two
fishes when the Lord fed the 5,000. In each case, the order
went forth, give, not sell. You know why? Because the gospel's
free. Give. Now that's mercy, beloved. This world would be like, sell,
sell, sell. Hey, we got a bunch of hungry people. Let's sell
them a bunch of fish. Let's sell them a bunch of loaves.
The Lord said, give. Even the man who bought the food
to Elijah, Elijah said, give. Give it. Free. The gospel's free. It's sovereign. And it's free.
Oh, my. Why? Why is it free? Why did
he say give? So that people could eat and
so they could be filled. Oh, isn't it wonderful? This
is just wonderful. In each case, an unbelieving
attendant raised objections. Remember the one with Elijah
said, A hundred men? A hundred men? Oh, my. And Christ the Apostle said,
we only got five loaves and two fishes. You've got objectors
on both sides. Oh, my. In each case, a surplus
remained. A surplus remained after the
people had been filled. Oh, you see? Isn't the gospel
wonderful? It feeds us, it fills us, and
there's even more. Come to Christ, all ye who are
weary and are heavy laden. And our master says, I will give
you rest. And that's rest for your souls.
That's rest. Cease from your labors of trying
to justify yourself before God by your own works and flee to
Christ. May God give you the grace to do so. Brother Dave,
can you close us in prayer?