Take your Bibles and turn to
2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings chapter 6. Now, you're
all familiar. And for lack of a better word,
I'll just use the word story. We hate to use the word story
because story carries with it a man's thought on it. It's an exaggeration. It's a
man's make-up. But these Old Testament truths
And you're all familiar with this one that's contained here
in 2 Kings. But these Old Testament truths,
they're just such a blessing. And the Word of God is written
for all people of all ages. And Henry used to say that these
Old Testament scriptures, they're bifocal. And any of you that's
my age and maybe a lot younger and older, you can see the truth
that's in this. This is given to a particular
people in a particular place at a particular time But these
Old Testament scriptures have that bifocal, have that dual
application. You look at them again, and it's
a spiritual application. It's for God's people of all
ages. So this story that's contained here in 2 Kings 6, you know,
this is a 3,000-year-old story, but it's just as pertinent to
us in our day. It's just as alive and as helpful
to us in our day as it was when it was written. 3,000 years ago. Now, just a little bit of background
of what's going on here in 2 Kings 6. Now, you remember there in
chapter 5, this king of Syria, he had a general, a trusted man,
his highest ranking officer in his army. the commander of the
army of Syria. And this man was a leper. His
name was Naaman. You remember that story. Now,
Naaman, he had a little Jewish girl that was servant to his
wife. And this little girl, Naaman, this was an incurable disease.
This was something that was going to kill this man. And this little
girl said to this woman, she said, Oh, would to God that Naaman
was over there in Israel where God's prophet, where Elisha was,
that he could cure him of this. Well, this word traveled around.
Ultimately, Naaman went to the king And the king of Syria sent
a letter of commendation to the king of Israel, gave it to Naaman
to travel over there to see Elisha the prophet. And you remember
that story. And Naaman went over there and
he went over there dressed in all his fine attire, in his general's
outfit with all of his medals of honor and all that, riding
on the finest horse that he had. And he rode up in front of Elisha's
place. And he thought that Elisha would
come out to him. And Elisha sent a young servant
out there and he said, tell that man to go down and dip seven
times in the River Jordan. And Naaman was angry. Naaman
was angry about that. He said, I thought he would come
out here and talk to me face to face. And one of his assistants,
one of Naaman's servants said, if he had told you to do some
amazing thing, if he had told you to climb the highest mountain
or to swim the largest ocean, he said, you would have done
that. He said, he's told you something very Just believe Him. Just trust
Him. Just do what He says. And so
Naaman went and dipped seven times, and his skin came as fresh
as a little child. Well, now the next thing that
happens here then is we see this, verse 8 in 2 Kings 6, Then after
this happened, after the king had sent that letter of commendation
to the king of Israel, after Naaman, his trusted servant,
his trusted general, had been over there, and the man of God
had healed him from that leprosy, And he came back. Then the king
of Syria, he determined a war against the nation of Israel.
Against Israel. And he took counsel with his
servants. Do you see that? 2 Kings 6 and verse 8. He took counsel with his servants.
Do you see that? He didn't take counsel with God.
He didn't know the God of Israel. And people don't know our God
today. And people make these life-changing decisions and they
do these things And they don't seek the will of God. And when
I've read this over the years, I thought back there in 1990,
George Bush I was president of our country. And Iraq had invaded,
I can't even remember who they invaded now, but one of those
other countries there, a neighboring country. And we determined to
go to war with Iraq. You remember that? And I remember
it just like it was last week. George Bush I, he came on national
television at 9 o'clock at night and he addressed the nation.
And I thought, here's an opportunity. This is a serious, serious thing
that we're going. We're going to take our country
to war. We're going to take our young men and our young women
and send them in harm's way. And I thought, this is a time
for this man to tell this nation, look in that camera and tell
us as a people, go before God on your knees and pray that God
be with us in this endeavor. And if God don't intend for us
to go to war, then by all means, don't let us go to war. But he
didn't do that. He didn't do that. And that's
what's going on here. This man is going to war against
the nation. And look at that. He took counsel
with his servants. He took counsel with those men
that he put in that position. Those men that their well-being
depended upon the favor of the king. That's who he counseled
with. That's who he determined to go to war. He didn't go to
war by seeking the will of God. Lord, is it Your will that we
go to war? These things that go on in our
lives. We have these events that the Lord sends our way. And God's
people do. We're in the process of grace
fellowship now. Our pastor has retired because
of ill health. And we're in the process of looking
for a new pastor. We're in the process of seeking
the Lord's will. And we wait on our Lord. And
all we can do is pray. All we can do is pray to our
great God. Open our eyes. Don't give us the wisdom of the
flesh. Lord, teach us. Lead us. Show us what to do.
I don't know what to do. I don't have any wisdom. I don't
have any discernment in this matter. Lord, show me. None of this went on. This general,
this king, he determined to go to war and he took counsel with
some of his buddies, you know. And he said, in such and such
a place shall be my camp. This is where we'll camp. This
is where we'll make our theater of operation. This is where we'll
launch our attack. And look at this. Even though
the king of Syria didn't know God, God knew everything about
this man. Isn't that a comforting thought
that our God knows all about all that's on the face of the
earth? He knows what their thoughts are. He knows what they're doing,
what they're planning, what they're purposing. And He revealed to
this prophet Elisha, our God did, the man of God, sent to
the king of Israel saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place,
for thither the Syrians are come down. God revealed to the prophet
Elisha exactly what the king of Syria was determined to do
against the nation of Israel. And he warned the king of Israel.
And verse 10, And the king of Israel sent to the place which
the man of God told him, and warned him of, and saved himself
there, not once nor twice, many times. God revealed to Elisha
their planning to ambush you in a certain place. And Elisha
went to the king and warned the king. Verse 11, Therefore the
heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing,
and he called his servants and said unto them, Will ye not show
me which of us is for the king of Israel? He thought he had
a spy in the camp, the king of Syria. The truth of the matter
was God revealed to Elisha what was going on over here. And Elisha
told the king of Israel what was going on. And verse 12, And
one of his servants said, We don't have any spies over here,
my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel,
telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy
bedchamber. The most secret thoughts, the
most secret conversations that you had. Elisha over there in
Israel, he tells the king about it. He knows his God reveals
to him what's going on over here. And verse 13, And the king of
Syria said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch
him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Now, verse 14, Therefore the
king of Syria, look at this, he sent thither horses and chariots
and a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city
about. Now, here's what's going on here.
The king of Syria thinks he has a spy in his camp. One of his
servants says, we don't have a spy here. We don't have anybody
here that's telling the king of Syria. God has a prophet over
there in Israel. And that prophet named Elisha,
God reveals to him what we're planning to do before we ever
carry it out. And that man is warning those
people of the danger to come. telling them in advance what
your purposes are. Now, the king of Syria says,
well, go find out where this man is that we may fetch him,
that we may go and arrest him, that we may go and apprehend
him. And so these people go out. They fan out and they try to
find where Elisha is. And the word comes back to the
king of Syria. Elisha, the prophet of God, is in this little community
called Dothan over there in Samaria. Now, the king, he mounts his
army. And this is a fine army. The
army of Syria was one of the fine armies in the world at that
time. And he mounts an attack to go there and surround this
place and arrest this man named Elisha. And so they come by cover
of night in this little community, maybe 15 homes, maybe just a
main street and a couple of buildings there and a few homes. They come
by night and they completely surround this city. Now, verse
15. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early, now, Elisha had a young servant. He
had a young assistant. This man would assist Elisha.
He would run errands for Elisha. Elisha was a mentor to this young
man. He taught him about God. He taught
him about the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures. He taught
him about the Messiah that would come. He revealed to this man
the truth that God had revealed to him. Now, this young man got
up early in the morning. And this young man went outside.
Now he goes outside possibly to draw water or whatever. He
went outside. But he went outside of the place.
Elisha is still in this cottage or this small home that they're
in. And this young servant goes out there, verse 15, and has
risen early and gone forth. And behold, a host compassed
the city both with horses and chariots. And this young man
comes running back into the house. And here, I just get this picture.
Here sits Elisha, you know. Elisha's sitting there in a chair.
He's putting on his sandals, you know. And getting ready for
the day, you know. Maybe washing his face, washing
his hands. Maybe preparing some bread for
breakfast or whatever. Some refreshments there. He's
not concerned at all. And the young man comes running
in to Elisha. And he said, Elisha, how are
we going to do? How are we going to escape this? He said there's
an army out there and they've surrounded this whole city. He
said there's thousands of horses and chariots. There's foot soldiers
and there's men with bows and arrows and spears and the whole
army's out there. Alas, my master, you see that,
the latter part of verse 15? How shall we do? How are we going
to escape? Have you ever felt that way?
Have you ever felt that way in this life that we're living?
in this life that the Lord is causing us to walk through. The
old writers used a term like this, there is a church glorified. These people that we read about
here in the Old Testament, Elisha, Elijah, Moses, those men, the
prophets, Paul, those men, Silas, those
men, they're in the church glorious. They're already in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are now in the very presence
of He who came and died for them and washed them from their sins.
But we, we are in, and this is the term of the Old Riders Youth,
we're in the church militant. We're in the church still here
in this world. And this is a tough place. And we're surrounded.
We're surrounded all about. by enemies of our God, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and of His people. We're surrounded. Have
you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that the world
is just caving in on you? Have you ever felt the burden
and the weight of all this that we do and go through in this
walk here below? Well, that's what this servant,
this servant had come rushing in. And he said, Elisha, we're
surrounded. We cannot escape. How are we going to do? How are
we going to do? And look at this, and Elisha
answered and he said, isn't this great? I wish I could be this
old sage. I wish I could be this old wise
person that when these times come, I wish I could just say,
look you right in the eye and say, don't be afraid. Don't be
afraid. Fear not. Fear not. Listen to
this. You see that they that be with
us are more than they that be with them. And here's this young
man. And this young man is looking
outside and he's seeing the army surrounded this place. Horses
and chariots. Trouble on every side. Well,
you know something about that? And when we get in this situation
and we wring our hands, and I do. Maybe I'm the only one. I hope
I am. I hope I am, but I fret and I stew and I worry. I look
around and it's this nation. This nation in my lifetime. Sixty-five
years in my life. This nation is crumbling around
us. This nation, there is no leadership. Is there no bright
young man to seize the reins of leadership and say, this country
is coming apart? Well, it's not going to hurt
me if it comes apart. But I grieve for these young ones. And I grieve
for our children, our grandchildren. And I do. I'm honest with you.
I wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm fretful. And I
worry. I do. I wish I should go here
more often. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. They that be with us are greater
in number than they that be with them. You see that? And verse
17, look at this. And Elisha prayed. And he said,
Lord, Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes. Lord, would You be
pleased to open my eyes? Would You be pleased to open
our eyes? In a time of trouble, in a time of being surrounded
on every worrying and fretting Stewing over these things here
while we go through this in the church militant. Open my eyes
that I may see and look at this. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountains was full
of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. That's me
and you. That's me and you. Now, this
is an old story. This is just a 3,000-year-old
story contained in the Old Testament. Now, how pertinent is it for
us in our time today? How do we glean something from
this that we can take with us as we leave here today and go
back out there in that world, go back out there on the job,
go back out there in the fight? What can we glean from this and
take us and help us through this upcoming week? Well, I can tell
you this. We have enemies. We have enemies
and they're all around us. This world is the enemy of God's
people. This world hates our God. This world hates the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this world hates His people.
We're at enmity with the world. The world don't understand God's
people. The world don't understand. Joseph and Mary took the Lord
Jesus Christ, when he was eight days old, took him into the temple
to do those things contained under the law. Do you remember
that? And there was an old man there. His name was Simeon. And
the old man was there in that temple at the exact time that
those earthly parents brought the Lord Jesus Christ in. And
Simeon, it was revealed to him that he shouldn't die until he
sees the Lord's Christ. And he saw them coming in. And
he went over there. Can you just picture this? He
went over there and took that eight-day-old baby, took it in
his arms and held it up and looked at this baby. And he said, mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. Now let me depart in peace, for
I have seen thy salvation. That's so foolish to the world.
Can you imagine Simeon going out of that place and going and
saying, I saw the Christ. You saw the Christ? What did
he look like? He's eight days old. He's just a baby. Couldn't
talk, couldn't do anything. He's the Lord's Christ. Well,
that's foolishness to the world. Well, that's the same way today.
You're telling me that you believe that this is the Word of God?
I sure do. I believe God inspired every
one of these men. This is God-breathed. This is what He left us. He left
it for His church. He left it for the people that
He loved in eternity past, and those that Christ came and died
for, and those that the Spirit irresistibly called. This is
who it's for. And the Spirit unlocks the mysteries
of this to His people. And nobody else understands it.
And they say it's foolishness. I say this is life. This is life. This is what our God left us.
But we have enemies. We have enemies. The world is
our enemy. And the religious world is our enemy. And we know
that. I'm telling you, I worked down
there at the mill. Cecil can vouch for this. I worked down
there at Armco 40 years. And them rebels, you call them,
them that we are, naturally, Them that we are in the flesh,
I could get along with them a whole lot better than I could them
Bible-thumping free willers. I'm telling you, a whole lot
better. A whole lot better. And they hate what we believe.
They'll fight you over what? You've seen it? Some of the toughest
arguments and thinking two men's going to fight, and it's fighting
over... You tell them, may God love the people and eternity
pass, that's what I'm telling you this book says. I'm telling
you, He gave them to Christ. I'm telling you, Christ came
and redeemed those people. When He died on the cross, He
shed His blood for those that God gave Him incarnate to pass.
And the Spirit calls irresistibly, by name, calls only those people. That's what I believe. And you'd
be in a fight if you say that now on the job. Somebody would
be ready to fight you. The religious world hates us.
But I'm saying, by the authority of this book, don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid. them that be for us are greater
in number than them that be for them. I'll tell you what else.
I'll tell you what else is against us. This, the sentence. My sin. My sin. They asked Martin Luther
once. Martin Luther was hunted and
hounded all over Germany those years of the Reformation. He
attacked those 95 theses, I think it was called, up on that Wittenberg
Chapel. And this is what he believed.
Grace alone. It's the Scriptures alone. And
it's the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And He was hunted all over that
country. Well, there came a time when finally, He got a reprieve.
And they weren't hunting Him no more. And He's an old man.
Him and His wife. And they come there and ask Him.
They said, boy, what's it feel like not to have any enemies
anymore? Nobody is searching for you and
wanting to do you in. And He said, oh, my goodness.
He said, you don't have to worry about the Pope anymore. He said,
oh, my goodness. If you only knew. He said, I
worry about the great Pope within me, myself, and my sin, and my
guilt, and my shame. But don't be afraid. Don't be
afraid. They that be for us are greater
than they that be against us. They that be for us. And Satan's
against us. Satan's against us. Job 1.7.
You remember that? The sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord Himself. And Satan come in among them.
And Satan said, whence comest thou, Satan? And he said, from
going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down
in it, and 1 Peter 5.8 said, Satan is like a roaring lion. He walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour. But I'm saying to you, you hear
these knotheads on TV, these preachers on TV, they say, I
told Satan this, and I told him to get out of here, you know.
They never come face to face with Satan. There ain't no man
that can stand up against Satan. No man. That Michael, the archangel,
he couldn't do anything with Satan. He said the Lord rebuked
thee. I can't do anything with him.
But he's against us. He's against God's people. And
I don't ever want him to set his sights on me. But I'm telling
you, if he does, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. They that be
for us are greater than they that be for them. So who is it
that's for us? Who is it that's for us? Elisha
told that, he prayed to the Lord, and he said, open his eyes and
let him see. And I'm saying, by grace, by
the grace of our great God, he's opened our eyes and let us see
who it is that's for us. Our Heavenly Father's for us.
Before he ever spun this creation in space, he loved a particular
people. It loved you by name, personally,
and gave you to the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity past. And
the Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll go down there and I'll do everything
that your holiness, that your magnificence, that your justice,
that your sovereignty requires to bring every one of them, bring
every one of them in. I'll do that. Our Heavenly Father
loved us in eternity past. The Lord Jesus Christ loved us.
The Lord Jesus Christ loved us, and He came down here, became
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, identified with His people.
And He took our sin. He obeyed the law perfectly on
our behalf. We could never obey it. Not one
jot or one tittle. Not one part of it. And the Word
of God says to be guilty in one point is to be guilty of the
whole law. But He came down here and perfectly obeyed every part
of that law. Those 650 precepts, thou shalt
not, thou shalt not, the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed them perfectly.
Obeyed them perfectly for you and me. He faced Satan. He defeated Satan. And he took
our sins on himself. And he faced the justice of God
on our behalf. And he died in our room instead.
And he gives us a perfect rest and peace and hope and comfort.
a right standing before God Almighty. They that be for us, oh my goodness,
they that be for us are greater than they that be for them. Heavenly
Father is for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is for
us. The Holy Spirit himself is for us. He calls irresistibly. Attending the preaching of the
gospel, the Holy Spirit quickens a dead sinner, breathes life
into a dead sinner, gives them faith to see Christ and to flee
to Christ and to lay hold of Christ. And finally, the angels
themselves. The angels themselves. They're
for us. They're for us. Look at this. Hebrews 1. I'll
leave you with this. Hebrews 1, 13 and 14. Now this in Hebrews, of course,
it is the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's superior to
everything. He is superior to the angels.
Because he says here, to which of the angels, there in verse
13, to which of the angels said, Our Lord, at any time, sit on
my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? That's
reserved only for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So what is the
purpose for these angels? What is it that these angels
do? What is it that these created bodies do? Verse 14. Are they
not ministering spirits? sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation. That's me and you. That's me
and you. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. They that be for us are greater
than they that be for them. Heavenly Fathers, He's for us.
He loved us in eternity past. The Lord Jesus Christ, He's for
us. He came down and defeated all of our enemies. The Holy
Spirit's for us. Calls us by name, personally. And keeps us. Keeps us in the
way. And those angels are sent, ministering
spirits. Look back over your life. Look
back over your life and see those. There's no way. Bob, there ain't
no way you should still be here. There ain't no way. Every time
he fires up an engine on that jet airplane and takes off, that's
contrary to everything. Cecil down there in that steel
mill all them years. Chip out there on the highway.
Seventy mile an hour in a truck big enough mash anything on the
highway. And one misstep, one miscue,
one turn too short or too wide. Ain't nothing going to happen.
Ain't nothing going to happen. I don't know anything about this,
these ministering spirits sent to minister to the heirs of life,
but that's me and you. And what these angels do, they're
here this morning. They're here this morning. And
they followed every one of us here. Each and every one of us.
And they'll follow us home and they'll be with us all through
the week. I don't understand it. And I don't talk anything
about them. But God sent them. And they're there to protect
us. Me and you. And there's nothing going to
happen. Nothing. Don't be afraid. Elisha said,
oh, don't be afraid. Young men, don't be afraid. They
that be for us, oh, they're greater than they that be for them. So
sit down, Dale. Just sit down. And you rest. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He loved me. OK, I hope that's been a blessing.