All right, if you'd like to turn
with me back to 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6, I want to pass along
something to you that was passed along to me. This was pointed
out to me and it has blessed my heart so much. This has been
such a blessing to me. This is a beautiful picture of
Christ. This is a beautiful, beautiful
picture of the gospel salvation. If we want to truly see salvation,
if we want to see what salvation really is, this is it. This is it. This is so beautiful.
As soon as I heard this and saw this right here in these words,
I was amazed by it. Just amazed. This is a. sweet,
very sweet, very glorious display of the gospel. What I want to
do is look at the story first. I want us to look at the actual
story that's here in second Kings six, and then we will look at
this picture of the gospel, this beautiful picture of what Christ
has done for his people. So second Kings six verse eight,
it says, The king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel
with his servants saying, in such and such a place shall be
my camp. This king of Syria, we're gonna
have two kings, king of Syria, king of Israel. The king of Syria,
he was the enemy of the king of Israel. He was the enemy of
the nation of Israel. And the king of Syria decided
to go to war against them. So he went out in pursuit of
them. And he took counsel with his servants, and he decided
on a particular place to camp. Again, verse 8 says, Then the
king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with
his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my
camp. But verse nine says, the man
of God, the servant of God, God's prophet, Elisha, the man of God
sent unto the king of Israel saying, beware that thou pass
not such a place for thither the Syrians are come down. Elisha
told the king of Israel, don't go this particular way. The king
of Syria has made a camp there. Go avoid that way, go another
way or you'll run into him and he'll attack you. 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,
meaning more than that. Many times over, Elisha told
the king of Israel, don't go this way. He has moved now, don't
go this way, go this other way. So the king of Israel went that
way and he spared himself and he spared the army of Israel
and this kept happening. 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 you not show
me which of us is for the king of Israel? The king of Syria
called his servants together and he said, we have a spy among
us. There's a spy in our midst, telling
the king of Israel everything we're doing, every move we're
making. Verse 12, and one of his servants said, none, 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. He said, we don't have a spy
among us. Elisha, the prophet of God, he knows every secret
we have, and he's the one telling the king what to do, the king
of Israel. Verse 13, and he said, 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. The king of Syria said, we're
shifting all of our focus and all of our efforts of war to
one man, Elisha, go get him and bring him to me." Verse 14, therefore
sent he thither horses and chariots and a great host. If you have
a sinner margin in your Bible there, it says a heavy host.
He sent a heavy host. And they came by night and compassed
the city about." This massive army, these soldiers in the middle
of the night, they surrounded the whole city so that there
was no way out. Verse 15, and when the servant of the man of
God, when Elisha's helper, Elisha's minister, his servant, when the
servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth behold
and host compassed the city both with horses and chariots and
his servant said unto him alas my master how shall we do this
young man he woke up early and he went out of the house and
he looked around and he saw all of this great army all of this
enemy And in absolute fear, he ran back into the house and frantically,
he told Elijah what was going on. And he said, what in the
world are we going to do? Verse 16, and he answered, Elisha answered,
fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be
with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him,
when the Syrian army, the enemy, when they came down to him, Elisha
prayed unto the Lord and said, smite this people, I pray thee,
with blindness. And he smote them with blindness
according to the word of the Lord. This whole army, the entire
army, all of them, the Lord smote them all with blindness. Verse
19, and Elisha said unto them, this is not the way. Neither
is this the city, follow me and I will bring you to the man whom
you seek. But he led them to Samaria, that's
Israel. Samaria, that's the king and
that's the army that they've been trying to connect with this
whole time. Verse 20, and it came to pass when they were come
into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these
men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes
and they saw and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
And the king of Israel said unto Elisha when he saw them, my father,
shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And he answered,
thou shalt not smite them. Wouldst thou smite those whom
thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow, set
bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go
to their master? And he prepared great provision
for them. And when they had eaten and drunk,
he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands
of Syria came no more into the land of Israel." Now, I have
always loved this story. I love this story, and the reason
is because I love the thought and I love the reality. I love
the reality. Our God has not changed. Our
God is the same yesterday, today, forever. Whatever He did then,
He does now. And I've always loved the reality
of all those angels. I'm telling you, if God would
just right now open our eyes, If he would just open our eyes,
that's all you have to do. All the angels, all those horses,
all those chariots of fire around his people. Surrounding, protecting. If we only knew the protection
and the provision that God has provided for us, his children.
I'm telling you, I would and will do everything in my power
to protect my own. And so will God. I will provide
for them. I will love them. I'll make sure
that I keep them safe. But I'm just a man. God, though,
is the God of heaven and earth, and that's what he's done for
his people. He has surrounded them. He has protect them, protected
them. When he comes back, it says he's
coming with an innumerable company of angels. We know that concerning
his people, you can't count them in glory. That's a number no
man could number. It's the same for the angels.
And there's plenty of them to go around to every soul that's
still on this earth. Elisha and his servant, when
you look at that portion of the story, Elisha and his servant,
neither one of them were men of war. It doesn't even say they
had any weapons. They seem like such an easy target
for this great army of enemies. You think about all these soldiers
and everything that they're wearing and all their weapons on their
horses. These two men, they seem like
such an easy target. They seem so weak and so helpless
compared to the strength that has just come up against them. They seem like sheep for the
slaughter. That's what they seem like. And
I'm sure they were accounted as sheep for the slaughter, but
they weren't sheep for the slaughter. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, The Lord was round about his people. He always has
been. He always will be. He always
will be. That's a comfort to my heart.
Truly is. But that glorious portion of
this story is not where our picture is going to come from tonight.
That's not the picture we're going to look at. After seeing
this, I now have two wonderful reasons to love this story. Two
glorious pictures to see in this story. This is a wonderful account
in God's word. And it's going to reveal to us,
this is about to illustrate to us, it's going to show us the
truth concerning salvation. If someone wants to know the
truth concerning salvation, what is the truth concerning how God
saves sinners? Here it is. Here it is right
here. Now, let me tell you, as we look
at this picture, it's an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
It's a parable. It's an allegory. So let me tell
you who the characters are in our picture tonight. Elisha represents
the message. He represents the message and
the authority of God himself. The authority of God. He represents
the message of God's spirit. He represents the message of
God's preacher. He represents the authority of
God. He represents the preacher of God. He represents the declaration
of Christ. He represents Christ himself,
the preaching of Christ, everything surrounding that. And all of
those Syrian soldiers, that great heavy host of enemies, the enemies
of the message, the enemies of the messenger, The enemies of
the authority of God, the enemies of Christ, the enemies of the
declaration of the work of Christ. That great host of enemies represent
God's elect people. You're probably having the same
initial reaction that I did. What? Them? is so true, this is so
true. Let's quickly take a look at
the description of God's people in the Word, okay? Let's take
one second and look at the description of God's people. Turn with me,
if you would, to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, verse four. It says, surely He hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows yet. That's a big word. We did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. We wanted Him to die. That's
what we wanted. Look at Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65 verse two, it says, Our Lord said, I've spread out
my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way
that was not good after their own thoughts, a people that provoketh
me to anger continually to my face. Now he's describing his
elect people right there. Look with me at John 1. John
1. Speaking of our Lord, it says
He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world
knew Him not. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. His own would not receive Him. Look with me at Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter two, verse 22 says,
ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, the
man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain. His elect people were the very
ones who led Him to Pilate to be crucified. His elect people. They were the ones cursing Him,
spitting on Him, mocking Him, hollering, crucify Him. The very
ones. Romans 5 calls His elect people
ungodly. Ephesians 2 calls his elect people
children of wrath, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But turn with me over to Colossians
1. This states it as clearly as it can be stated. Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians 1 verse 21, it says,
and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled. He said, you were his enemies. That's who you were. That's where
he found you. That's who you were when he came
to you, his enemy, his enemy, his enemy. We ought to clearly
be able to see that he's describing us and our story, that enemy,
that great enemy is us. If we belong to our God, if we're
his people, that's the nature of our flesh against him, his
enemy. All right, now, understanding
that, let's go back to our text, 2 Kings 6. And let's see how Christ dealt
with His enemy. This right here is the message
of the gospel. This is it. This is how God deals with every
person He's chosen to save. Every single one. This is the glorious work that
Christ accomplished for His people. Look with me at verse 18. It
says, And when they came down to Him, when the enemy came down
to Him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said, Smite this people,
I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness
according to the word of Elisha. This is the first thing that
God does when he starts dealing with a sinner. He blinds that
sinner to himself. He smites that sinner with blindness. That sinner has spent his entire
life looking to himself. That sinner has spent his entire
religion looking to himself, looking to his actions, looking
to his thoughts, looking to his words. Man is consumed with himself. And the first thing that God
does when he starts dealing with a sinner is he blinds that sinner
to anything that he can see in the flesh except for his sin,
the darkness of his sin. That's all he sees is the darkness
of his sin. He blinds him to his own way. Man had a way until God starts
dealing with him. All of a sudden, he becomes blinded
to that way, blinded to every work he's ever done. He just
can't see the good in it anymore. He blinds him to anything and
everything he could possibly do in the flesh. That's what
God did to the Apostle Paul. Paul said, it was like he put
scales on my eyes. The moment God dealt with him,
he blinded him to everything. And he said it was like he put
scales on my eyes. And Paul said, I'm a pattern
for every sinner that God would save just like me. He saves all
of us the exact same way. Paul said, He blinded me to everything
but Him. But Him. Hold your place right
here and look with me at John 9. This is an important scripture
to turn over to. John 9 verse 39, And Jesus said, For judgment
I am come into this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the
Pharisees, some of the religious enemies of Christ. Some of the
Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto
him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If you
were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, We see. Therefore your sin remaineth. What does he mean by that? A
man who can see says, I'm fine. I'm fine. My flesh is fine. I
don't need your help. I can do it myself. But a man
who is blind says, help me. Help me. My flesh isn't fine. I have an infirmity in my flesh. I can't see the way. I don't
know where to go. I don't know what to do. How can I do anything except
some man should guide me? That's what a blind man says.
How could I do anything except some man would come and guide
me? The mercy of God on a sinner begins when God makes that sinner
blind, absolutely blind to any righteousness or any good work
that he has before him. And my prayer sincerely is that
he'll make us blind, all of us. I want to be blind to my flesh
until He removes me from it. And I sincerely pray He'll make
all of us blind. I pray He'll make you blind,
completely blind to everything you think you see right here.
Everything that you see to be worthy right here. I pray all
that worthiness will go away and you just can't see it anymore.
Well, back in our text, if you look back at 2 Kings 6, Verse
18, it says, When they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the
Lord and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness.
And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way. That was his
message to them. That's the message of the preacher.
That is the message of the true preacher. This is not the way.
You coming in your own might, you coming in your own strength,
thinking you're going to have your way with God. This is not
the way. He went on to say, neither is
this the city. A true preacher will say, I'm
not the man. You don't need to come to me,
this right here, this is not the place. He went on to say, and I love
this, he said, follow me and I will bring you to the man you
seek. Paul said, follow me as I follow
Christ. That's what a true preacher will
say. That's a true preacher. A true message and a true preacher
points men and women to Christ. He said, you follow me and I'll
take you to the man. I'll point you to the man. A
true preacher and the true message does not point men to themselves. It does not point men and women
to themselves. That's a false message. That's
a false preacher. A true message and a true preacher
points men and women nowhere and to no one but Christ alone.
Verse 19, it says, And it came to pass when they were come into
Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, no, I'm sorry, 19. Elisha said
unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow
me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led
them to Samaria. He led them to the king of Israel. The King of Israel represents
the holy law and judgment of God, the holy strict justice
of God. Verse 20. And it came to pass
when they were come into Samaria that Elisha said, Lord, open
the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened
their eyes and they saw and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. When God goes to work on a sinner,
he blinds that sinner to anything good in himself. And he opens
that sinner's eyes to the strict, holy judgment throne of God. And it strikes fear in the sinner. Absolute fear, fear of judgment
for his sin. All of a sudden their eyes were
opened and they were standing in the middle of the judgment.
This band of soldiers was now in front of the entire army of
Israel. And when God does that to a sinner, that sinner realizes,
I'm the enemy. I'm the enemy. I'm the enemy
standing before the king that I've sinned against. I came thinking
that he was in my hands and now I see I'm in his. That's a fearful
thing. Verse 21, it says, and the king
of Israel, the holy justice and judgment of the law, said unto
Elisha, Christ, the work and the accomplishment of Christ,
he said unto Elisha, when he saw them, the law said, my father,
shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? That's what
they've earned. That's what they deserve, shall
I smite them? And listen to the answer of Christ.
I'm telling you, this is the gospel. This right here is the
gospel. Verse 22, and he answered, thou
shalt not smite them. Wouldst thou smite those whom
thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set
bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go
to their master. He said, do not smite them. But they're your enemy. Yes, they are. By nature, they
are. But I've chosen to make my enemy
my footstool. I've chosen to bring them to
my feet to worship me. I've chosen to lead captivity
captive. I've chosen to deliver them from
going down to the pit. I found a ransom in myself. I was smitten for them. The law
said, shall I smite them? He said, don't smite them. Don't
touch them. I was smitten for them. He said, set bread and
water before them, heavenly bread and living water. Christ said
to the law, here is my body broken for them. Shall I smite them? No. Here's the bread. Here's the wine. Here's my body
broken for them, judged for them. treated as an enemy for them.
That's how Christ was treated for the sake of his people. He
made himself to be the enemy. Now, because of that, he says,
in me, they who sometimes were far off are made nigh by my blood. I've broken down that middle
wall of partition between us. And in my own flesh, through
my own sacrifice, I have abolished all of the enmity, and I've made
peace. Isn't that what Ephesians 2 says?
Isn't that not exactly what Christ did for us? Christ said to the
law, we're not enemies anymore. He said to justice and holiness,
we're not enemies anymore. Give them bread, give them water,
feed them, and set them free. Verse 23, and he, the law, justice,
answered. Now, and he prepared great provision
for them, great provision for them. And when they had eaten
and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master.
So the bands of Syria came no more into the land. Never again. It was total peace after that. Total peace. No more war. There'll be no more war. The
battle's over. Is that not a beautiful picture
of salvation? That just blesses my heart. That blesses my heart. That is
the message of the gospel. The gospel is for those that
you would never think it was for. The gospel is for the wicked
enemy of Christ by nature in the flesh. The gospel is what
Christ did to reconcile enemies to God. Undeserving people. The great gift of Christ. That's
the mercy that God showed to all of his wicked, sinful people
through the sacrifice of Christ. When that message comes to one
of God's own, and when that message is applied to the heart of one
of God's own, this same thing happens every time. This is how it happens. God will
arrest them. It happens this way every time.
God will arrest them. God will lead them, God will
feed them, and God will set them free. It happens that way every
time. That's wonderful news. That's
good news to me. I pray that's good news to you too. All right,
let's close with a hymn.