Alright, let's turn back there
to 2 Kings 4. I'm going to just go through this
and make a few comments as we go. And if I have time when we
get to the end, I will give you a few points. But I want to say
a few things as we go. We begin here in verse 8. It says, And it fell on a day.
We see that repeatedly. It fell on a day. The Lord is
always working things constantly, continually. It falls on the
day exactly according to His purpose. And it fell on a day
that Elisha passed to Shunam, where was a great woman, and
she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was that as often as
he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. Elisha is the Lord's
prophet. He's the miracle working prophet. Find him working miracles by
the Lord's grace repeatedly. But he's a type of Christ the
prophet. He's a type of our great Lord
Jesus who works the miracle of grace in his people. And then
we have this Shunammite woman. She was a great woman. She was a woman who believed
God. That's why she was a great woman. We're told that in Hebrews
11.35 that through faith women had received their children from
the dead and there's only two women that that was the case
with and this is one of them. This whole passage is a picture
or an example of faith, true faith. She had great faith. That's why she's called a great
woman. She believed God. She was humble. She was very
content where she was. She had faith in the Lord. Shunam
means double rest. Double rest. We're commanded
to preach to the Lord's people and comfort His people. The Lord
has rewarded you double for all your sins. And He's given us
double rest. He's given us rest from all our
works trying to gain acceptance with God. and He's given us rest
in Christ and His righteousness, double rest. Now she constrained
Elisha to come in and eat bread. And our Lord, being the great
prophet, He constrains us and gives us a heart to long after
Him and to want Him to commune with us and He enters in and
He breaks the bread of life to us. Well, after several visits,
she perceived, she had some spiritual discernment. She talked with
Elisha, she heard him speak the word of God, and she had faith. She discerned, this is a man
of God. And verse 9, and she said to
her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God,
which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber,
I pray thee, on the wall, a little apartment. And let us make a
set for him there, a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick. And it shall be when he cometh
to us that he shall turn in thither." She greatly here is a type of
the church as well, the woman, the church. He's going to produce,
by the word of God, he's going to produce a child. a miracle
of grace here. So she's a picture of the church,
a picture of Christ's bride and how He produces children of faith
by the miracle of His grace. And we want a place for the Lord. We want a place where He'll turn
into and come and commune with us and bless us by His Word.
And it says, And it fell on a day that He came thither, and He
turned into the chamber, and He lay there. And he said to
Gehazi, his servant, call this Shunammite. And when he called
her, she stood before him. And he said to, she said to him,
he said unto him, say now unto her, behold, thou has been careful
for us with all this care. What is to be done for thee?
Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of
the host? And she answered, I dwell among
mine own people. She was content. She was content
in the state where the Lord had put her, and that's so with the
believer in Christ. She wasn't wanting an ear with
the king. She wasn't wanting anything more
than what the Lord had given her. She was content right where
she was. And he said, what then is to be done for her? And Gehazi
answered, now this is the servant of Elisha. He answered, verily
she hath no child, and her husband is old. And He said, call her. And when He had called her, she
stood in the door. And Christ calls His child, that's
where we're going to stand, in the door. In Christ the door. And He said, about this season,
according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And
she said, Nay, my Lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine
handmaid. This was too good to be true
to her, just like when Sarah heard this. And the woman conceived
and she bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her
according to the time of life. Now she was barren. She had no
child. Her husband was old. But by a
miracle of God's grace, by the word of this prophet, according
to his word, she had a child. God produced a child. Now you
see how she pictures the church here. It's through Christ. It's through His word. through
the woman, the church, that He gives a miracle of grace. He
creates a child of His grace, born of His grace, born of His
power. Children of promise. Remember
Isaac, looking at this child born of God's grace, a child
of God's promise produced by God. Paul said of Isaac, he said,
we, like Isaac, are children of promise. promised from the
foundation of the world to save His people. He chose a people
and He sends the Spirit, sends the Word and births us. A miracle
of God's grace, a child of promise, just like Elisha had promised. Verse 18, And when the child
was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to
the reapers. I picture this child probably
somewhere around five years old, six or seven, maybe he was small
enough he still could, she could hold him on her knee. And he
goes out to the field where his father's reaping the harvest
and he began to complain of a headache. He began to say, my head, my
head. And the father said to the lad, carry him to his mother.
And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he
sat on her knees till noon and then died. He died. Sometimes we suffer the loss
of a believing brother or sister through death. Sometimes there's
a brother or sister that is sick spiritually and they don't appear
to have spiritual life and greatly grieve for them. Sometimes we
personally suffer affliction. What do we do for brethren? What
do we do for one another? What did this woman do? When we have a personal need,
what do we do? Church does what she did. We
do personally what she did. Her heart, you know, had to be
full of grief. Her child died. Her child died. She went out that morning full
of life, went to the field, comes in with a headache. She's sitting
there with him on her lap and at noon he died. She's got to
be, her heart's got to be just ripped out. But she believed
God. She believed God. It was customary
when somebody died in that time, in that day, you buried them
right then, you had to. But she didn't make any preparations
for burial. Verse 21, she went up and laid
him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him
and went out. She believed the Lord who produced
this child could also revive this child. She believed the
Lord that he gave her this child, he could renew this child and
restore this child and save this child. And so what does faith
do? Faith flees to Christ. When trouble
comes, faith goes to Christ. to the Lord Jesus. That's what
we have pictured here. Verse 22, she called unto her
husband and she said, send me, I pray thee, one of the young
men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and
come again. And he said, wherefore wilt thou
go to him today? It's neither new moon nor Sabbath
day. He doesn't know about the son. And she doesn't tell him
about the child, their child. What does she say to him? He
says, why are you going to him today? It's not the day of worship. She believed God and she said,
it shall be well. It shall be well. Peace. It shall be peace. This is the
title. It shall be well. And then she had to go 15 miles
to Mount Carmel. This was not just running across
the street, she had to go 15 miles to Mount Carmel. They say
from this town of Shunem, even to this day, there's still some
remnant there of, you know, you can go and visit it historically,
but you can see Mount Carmel from this place. She has to go
15 miles. It says, verse 24, then she sat
on an ass and said to her servant, drive and go forward. Slack not
thy riding for me, except I bid thee. Don't let up, don't slow
down. So she went and came unto the
man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the
man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi, his servant,
Behold, yonder is that Shunammite. Christ beholds us afar off. And he said to his servant, Run
now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well
with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the
child? And again, she answered, it is well. It is well. Could you answer that? She got a dead child at home. She said, it is well. And when
she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the
feet. You could just see her gripping
his feet and just latching hold of Elisha. But Gehazi came near
to thrust her away. Gehazi is not spoken of very
well through here. He was pretty hard, pretty cold. And he tried to thrust her away
from Elisha. And the man of God said, let
her alone, for her soul is vexed within her. And the Lord hath
hid it from me and hath not told me. You picture those needy sinners
that came to our Lord while He walked this earth, and they would
come to Christ and just fall down at His feet and lay hold
to Him. That's what she did here. She
came and Gehazi tried to thrust her away, but Elijah said, let
her alone. Her soul is vexed within. Your soul is vexed. Christ is
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows the heart
of His people. He knows the feeling of every
infirmity and weakness and sorrow and grieving that we have. And He's full of compassion for
needy sinners. If we're really sinners, totally
in need, He has compassion on His people. And when the woman
came to him and laid hold of him, he said, she's fixed. Leave her alone. Remember when
the woman came with the alabaster box of ointment and broke it
on our Lord's head and the apostles began to say, well, they murmured
against her, you know, and the Lord said, let her alone. She's
done what she could. The Shunammite was like that
woman with the Israel blood. If I could just get to him, if
I could just touch the hem of his garment. That's what we have
pictured here. The Lord didn't tell Elisha about
this child. He didn't know about it. God's
under shepherd may not know what the Lord's doing. He don't know
any more than the Lord's people know. But Christ the Shepherd
knows. He knows everything that's taking
place, everything He's working. And He not only lets us come
near to Him, He bids us come near to Him. He bids us come to Him. He saw
her soul vexed. Christ sees and He knows. And
He knows when your heart has that aching void that only He
can feel. He knows the weakness of our
flesh. And He has compassion. And this is what faith does.
Faith flees to Christ and lays hold on Him. No matter how hopeless
the situation appears. No matter how many obstacles
are in the way. Her husband questioned her why
she is going. She had to go 15 miles. Gehazi
tried to thrust her away from him. Those with true faith must
get to Christ. And they will. They will. Verse
28, Then she said, Did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say,
Do not deceive me? Some say that she was upbraiding
Elisha. I don't believe that's what she's
doing at all. She needs the Lord's grace and she needs Elisha. What
she's doing here is, there's no doubt she desired a son, but
she's reminding Elisha the first cause was not her. It was the
prophet who said he would give a son. It was his word, and it
was by his word, and she's reminding Elisha that it was the Lord that
gave her this child. When we go to the throne of God's
grace, We go there pleading God's promises. We go there pleading
God's Word. We go there pleading His promise
and His work of grace and what He's done. Lord, we're children
You chose. We're children that You've redeemed. This is a child of Your grace. Lord, Your name's attached to
this child. Please save this child. This is the heart of faith. Faith
doesn't give up on people. And then he said to Gehazi, gird
up thy loins and take my staff in thy hand and go thy way. If
thou meet any man, salute him not. If any salute thee, answer
him not again. Lay my staff upon the face of
the child. And the mother of the child said,
As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave
thee. She latched on to Elisha, and
she said, I'm not going to let you go. I'm not leaving you.
I'm going to stay with you. She knew who it was that had
the word to bless. And when you come to Christ,
you lay hold of him like Jacob and say, I'm not going to let
you go until you bless me. That's when you really, really,
really have a need. You just keep going to him, and
you keep going to him, and you keep going to him. And he arose, and he followed
her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon
the face of the child. But there was neither voice nor
hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet Elisha, and told him,
saying, The child is not awake. This was Elisha's servant, and
when you look at Elisha as a picture of Christ, Christ's servant preaches
the gospel, the staff, the gospel. But only Christ can bless it.
Only the Lord can bless it to the hearts of His people and
make it effectual. So we have to go to Christ and
ask Him to bless. Gehazi couldn't do anything here.
And it says, verse 32, And when Elisha was coming to the house,
behold, the child was dead and laid upon his bed. He went in,
therefore, and he shut the door upon them two, the twain, and
prayed unto the Lord. And he went up and he lay upon
the child. and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes
upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and he stretched
himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm.
Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro, and went
up, stretched himself upon him, and the child sneezed seven times,
and the child opened his eyes. What Elisha did here pictures
Christ by His life, by His Spirit. His life is the life in us. Christ the life is the life in
us. You see Him put His mouth upon His mouth, He laid on His
child, He put His mouth upon His mouth, He put His hands upon
His hands, He stretched Himself upon the child and then the flesh
of the child waxed warm. And this is a picture of the
oneness that we have with Christ. When He enters in and truly quickens
us in the heart, this life is by Christ. It's by oneness with
Him. He said, I in you, you're in
Him, He's in you. It's a oneness with Him. And
there's a great difference here between the prophet and Christ.
Elisha shut the door, and he prayed, and he put forth this
different effort, and then he had to go down and take some
time, and he went back and did it again. Christ, when He comes,
whether He's regenerating His child in the first time He comes
in grace, or whether he's reviving someone who's cast down and they're
unbelieving and they're just not going to believe. They're
not going to have this hope. They don't think it's going to
be well. If he's going to revive them, if he's going to renew
them, Christ doesn't have to do all this. He just speaks the
Word. He just speaks the Word. And He raises the dead. He speaks
and revives the spiritually sick believer. Elisha here shut the
door and he prayed, and Christ comes in secret. He comes in
secret, he prayed, Elisha prayed, Christ intercedes with the Father,
and he sends forth the Spirit, and Christ speaks life into the
sinner, and you have life. or He comes and He comes to one
that He's already quickened and He renews us. The renewing of
the inner man has to continually be renewed and He imparts His
own life. It's the Spirit, it's the virtue
going out of Christ into His people, making us partakers of
the divine nature. And then there's life, there's
regeneration, there's reviving, there's renewing. Now we have
this treasure in earthen vessels that the power may be of God
and not of us. Elisha had to pray to God to
do this. Gehazi couldn't do it. He had to go back to Elisha.
We have to go to the Lord, because he's the only one that can work
this. Verse 36, and he called Gehazi, and he said, call this
Shunammite. And so he called her, and when
she was come in unto him, he said, take up thy son. Don't
you know, she was just, her heart was overjoyed, and you know,
I want you to see what she did here. He says, take up thy son. And then she went in and fell
at his feet. She fell at Elisha's feet. And
she bowed herself to the ground. And then she took up her son
and she went out. She first fell at Elisha's feet.
She bowed herself to the ground. She thanked him. She thanked
God. But you worshiped him. And that's what, when he gives
you this life and he renews you and he quickens you, you come
to him first. And you are bowing down, that's worship. And you
fall at his feet and you thank God for what he's done. And then, whatever, he's worked
in a sick brother or a brother overtaken, you embrace that brother
or that sister. But you go to Him, you thank
Him first. We go to Him at the beginning with the need, we keep
going to Him, and in the end we go to Him and thank Him. Now
let me give you two or three very brief points here. First
of all, if Christ is our all, if Christ is our all, then all
is well. Christ is our all, then all is
well. In the midst of this great sorrow
and grief, when you love somebody and you really, really love them
with all your heart, and they're taken from you, it just rips
your heart out. She was grieving. She was grieving like David and
those men were. We saw last week, she couldn't
grieve. They weeped till they couldn't
weep anymore. And even though it appears to the carnal eye
that it's not well, she said it's well. It is well. Her heart's aching, she's in
sorrow, she's overwhelmed, yet she believed the Lord and so
she was able to say, it's well. It is well. It was well when
God gave the child, it's well now that God has taken him away. Now, you and I don't have the
ability to say that. And ourself, we just don't. But
when you need grace, God gives grace. And it's by His grace
that you can say it's well. I was sitting one night with
Brother Tommy Robbins, a few days, just a couple of days before
he went to be with the Lord. And he said, Clay, he said, I
thought when I came to this point, He said, I expected that God
would give me grace. He said, but I didn't think I
would have the same struggle with this flesh that I've always
had. And he said, I do. He said, I'm just gonna be honest. He said, I got fears and I got
doubts. And he said, but the Lord just,
he just keeps strengthening my heart to look only to him. And
he said, I have such peace in my heart It's only by His grace
that we can say it is well. It is well. The word well is
shalom, it's peace. And as much as we love the things
God gives and the blessings God gives, Christ is our peace. He's
our peace. Christ is our peace. Nothing
else. Nobody else. Christ is our peace. If He's not, we won't have peace,
we won't be able to say it's well when trouble comes. But
if He is, and He gives you this grace to know that you're in
Christ, you're robed in His righteousness, you have His Spirit abiding in
you, and keeps pointing you to Him, you know it is well. I called
Sister Diane. And when I heard about Brother
Lindsey going to be with the Lord, and the first thing out
of her mouth was, he does all things well. And I know her heart's breaking. I've talked to Shelby the past
year, and I know that heartache. But she truly honestly said, it is well. It's
well. He does all things well. having
heard God's gospel of eternal love for His elect in Christ,
and having seen His truth in His Word and known that He's
everlastingly loved His people from eternity, that He sent His
Son to redeem us and lay down His life for us, and knowing
that He has put away your sin, He's robed you in His righteousness,
He has drawn you to Himself and His Spirit abides in you, and
when you're going through something and you Your flesh is just making
you doubt and fear and tremble and look everywhere, but then
the Spirit quickens you and He just settles you and He comforts
you and He points you to Him and you know, it's well. I have
Christ. It's well. It's well. By the Spirit bearing witness
with our spirit that we're children of God, you can say, I am His
and He is mine. It is well with my soul. It's
well with my soul. Christ's righteousness is mine.
His salvation is mine. His covenant promises are mine.
His sovereign hand ruling everything is mine. It's well. It is well. We know it now, but we don't
know it as we shall know it. We shall know this perfectly.
Remember what Christ said? He said to His apostles, What
I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Brother
Lindsay knows it perfectly. We know now, but we don't know
it perfectly. We're going to know hereafter
though, that from the moment you were conceived in your womb,
Before you had control of things and you were calling the shots
and you were able to work it out and be wise and make sure
things turned out like you wanted them to, when you was a helpless,
just a helpless babe, all the way through all the years of
your life, all the way to right now, and all the way to the last
breath, Every breath, every step, for God's child, for His elect,
for His redeemed, for that one in whom Christ abides, it's well. Every step, every... from when
He first made you know your sin and your forgiveness, through
the mountains when you rejoiced in Him and you could say with
confidence, it's well! To the valleys when you just
couldn't hardly pick up your head. It's well. In every act
of His providence, every act of His grace, the revelation
of His Word, every chastening act of His love, every sweet
thing, every bitter thing, everything He gave, everything He's taken
away. When that day, we're going to know with fullness, completeness,
it is well. It is well. Here's the second thing. In every
need, true faith flees to Christ, letting no obstacle turn us aside,
refusing to let Him go till He blesses. That's the faith He gives. What
was He doing here with this woman? He was showing what He works
in His people. He was showing the faith He gives.
We know from Hebrews 11.35, this was her faith. This was faith
that did this. And He's showing the faith He
works, the faith that He gives and the faith that He sustains.
We don't only come on the day of worship. She said, I'm going
to the man of God. And her husband said, why are
you going? It's not the new moon. It's not a day of worship. We
don't just go to Christ on the day of worship. Every day is
a day of need. We're just saying it. We need
Him every hour. And every hour is a time of need.
And we go to Christ constantly. We need Him. We need Him. And
we're constantly coming to Him. And then there's times of great,
great need. You remember when the man came
to Christ and his child was on the verge of death and Christ
said this to him, Fear not, only believe. This thing is going to be learned
in us by experience. more to this than just learning
doctrine and reading some books and sitting in a church building.
You're going to feel like you're dying. You're going to feel like
you're dying. It's going to be real. But you're
going to experience Christ's redeeming love, and you're going
to experience His regenerating power, and you're going to experience
His keeping grace, And He's going to keep you coming to Him and
keep you coming to Him. And He's going to keep strengthening
you, saying to you, fear not, only believe. He's able to meet
your present need. He's able to meet your future
need. He's able to put away all the Gehazi's that would try to
thrust you from Him. You don't have to do anything.
That woman didn't have to do a thing to Gehazi. Just the Word
spoken. Leave her alone. And that's what
Christ does. Flee to Christ alone. Faith's
pleased that God's the first cause. He's the giver of all
grace. Lord, we come unto you. You're the great workman. Your
people are your workmanship. You've chosen your people. You've
redeemed us by your blood. Don't let one of your people
perish. Don't let them pine away in unbelief. We're so quick when
somebody looks like they're going away. We're so quick to just
don't have anything else to do with them. They're not a child
of God. You might not be a child of God
if you have that spirit. God's people need grace, don't
you? We need God to keep us. We need
God to sustain us. And He's going to do that in
His children. It's not like you've been told.
It's not like you think it is in a carnal appearance. It never is. God's working. And he's going to keep his people,
and he's not going to let his people fall away. I'm scared
to death of love that's fair weather love. Have I walked away from you? Against lots of opposition, I
haven't. I've been right here with you. Does that make you
stiffened? Love lasts. Love doesn't give
up. Love lasts. The love of God says,
I'm willing to love to the end. Because that's
how Christ loves us. He loves us to the end. Let the devil shoot his shot. God's going to protect His people.
Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. Our Savior's
words, be not afraid, only believe. Trust the Lord's power. Trust
the Lord's compassion. We value the sympathy of brethren.
It's a great thing to have brethren who have a heart that Christ
has given. But we're very limited. We're
full of unbelief. We can be turned very easily,
but Christ, full of compassion, he never turns. He never turns. He comes to his people and he
provides for his people, and it's done so in comfort and in
an indescribable way. Love for his people never changes,
it never fails. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
liberty to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. All resources are at His command,
and His love for His people is everlasting. Flee to Him. And here's the last thing. Believe
the Lord expectantly, but expect Christ Himself. Now, she expected
the Lord to work through Elisha and He did. But the picture here
is of Christ Himself reviving us. It's of Christ Himself being
the salvation of a needy sinner. Whatever the Lord is pleased
to give or to take, it's the Lord Himself we need. Expect
Christ Himself. His compassions fail not. His
power is sufficient for our weakness. His merit is going to exceed
our demerit. His blood is going to cleanse
our defilement. His holiness is going to make
us holy. His fullness is going to fill
our emptiness. We need the discipline that comes
with disappointment from all things carnal. That's good discipline
because it teaches us that our joy is not in the gourd. God
sends a canker worm and destroys the gourd. Our rejoicing is Christ
and you're going to have him. We admire the age believer because
they're rooted and they're grounded, they're settled in Christ, but
we fail to think about how much sorrow and affliction they went
through by God's grace for those roots to run that deep. We don't know how unbelieving
we are until the Lord tries our faith. We don't know how proud
we are until we find out how far we have to come down to get
to Christ's feet because we were so lifted up in pride. We don't
know the idols until God takes them away. But when he does,
he makes himself more precious to us. He makes us to hate our
sin more. He makes us to loathe our entire
selves more. And he makes Christ to be nearer
and dearer to us. He makes his holiness to be more
endeared to us. And he makes every painful step
for that age believer, he looks back and he says, it's well. It was all well, every bit of
it. When with sad footsteps memory
rose, Midsmitten joys and buried loves, When sleep my tearful
pillow flies, And dew morning drinks my sighs, Still to your
promise, Lord, I flee, That as your day, your strength shall
be. His grace is going to keep Himself being all we need. His grace is going to keep Himself
being all we need. Amen. Father, we ask you to bless
this Word. Lord, whatever you're pleased
to do, we bow to your will. We're clinging to you, Lord,
and asking you to renew and to revive. Lord, we ask you to come and
work your grace. Be with Diane and the brethren
there and their family. Lord, we ask you to strengthen
them, comfort them. Lord, help your church. Help
us to see that you're ruling and doing
all things well for your people. Keep us knowing in our hearts
it is well, Lord. Keep us rejoicing in you, looking
only to you. We thank you, Father. We praise
you. We thank you that you've given us all the blessings in
Christ. Keep us looking from ourselves. Keep us looking only
to you, Lord. We ask it by your mercy, by your
grace. We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.