All right, 2 Kings chapter 2,
let's seek God's blessing. Our Father, give us the blessing
necessary to receive a benefit from your word. We know that
there are many who read the scriptures and study them and know them
well, yet they have never been blessed by them. And they remain
ignorant of the fact that they've not been blessed by them. But
Lord, we have been taught that the Scriptures have a particular
meaning to them, that they are sent to reveal to us Christ and
His Gospel. So we pray, our Father, that
Your Spirit would be with us this evening and would indeed
take the things of Christ from this particular passage of Scripture
and show them unto us. It's in the name of the Lord
Jesus that we pray. Amen. Okay. Give just a minute. She's going to hit the record
button. We're obviously not NBC or ABC
or something like that with a big production crew, but we get her
done, don't we? All right. We're going to read
three verses. Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was
a great idea to put all that stuff back there. We weren't doing Wednesday night
here in the sanctuary at that time. 2 Kings 3, beginning at
verse 23. From there, meaning Jericho,
from there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along
the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him.
Go on up, you bald head, they said. Go on up, you bald head.
He turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them
in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the
woods and mauled 42 of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel
and from there returned to Samaria. Now this is a striking story.
And were we to have read it in the King James Version it would
probably be a little bit more shocking to us than it is this
way because it says little children. And for this reason, many who
are skeptics of the scriptures, and more importantly of the God
of scriptures, they'll point to something like this and say
that God is excessively mean, that he would have a bear come
out and maul 42 little children simply because they made fun
of a prophet. Of course, what they're not keeping
in mind is that God cast an entire race of beings, the human race,
into eternal condemnation because one man ate the wrong piece of
fruit. So, people don't understand God. And I'm not going to pretend
that we do fully, but we do realize this, that he is an absolutely
holy, righteous, and perfect God. And there is no such thing
as a little sin against him. And while eating the wrong piece
of fruit may seem like a small thing. And in some sense it is
a small thing on human scale. But remember that was done against
God. Henry used to say there are no little sins because there's
no little God to sin against. And what these youths did here
was more than make fun of the prophet. It wasn't just a matter
of disrespect of the person. They were utterly rejecting his
message. Just as when they mocked the Lord Jesus Christ, now what
they did to him, even to do that to a human being is awfully mean.
But the issue was not just that they were doing it to a human
being, they were doing it to a human being well he's God in
the flesh but also they were rejecting everything he had to
say which was to boldly reject God now on the live stream I've
entitled this message go up Baldy because in one of the translation
translations instead of calling him bald head they just called
him Baldy which probably if they'd been English speaking people
of the 21st century that's how they'd have said it you know.
But really what's being taught to us here in this portion of
scripture is the danger of rejecting the gospel. And why do I say
that? Well, remember Elijah, Eliyahu. His name means, my God is Jehovah. But Elisha means, my God is salvation. So Elisha represents the gospel
in its fullness. and his life kind of bears that
out I believe last week I pointed out he did a couple more miracles
than did Elijah at least of those that are recorded but the miracles
associated with Elisha have more to do with healing and giving
life I mean Elijah did those things but they're more prominent
in the ministry of Elisha his message was not nearly so harsh
as that of Elijah. So he comes representing, shall
we say, the grace of God, the salvation of God. And so the
lesson we learn from these three verses is this, salvation spurned
is judgment earned. It is one thing to transgress
God's law. It's another thing altogether
to reject his mercy. And that's what's being represented
here. Now, Elijah was on his way to Bethel. Bonnie, could
you get me a handkerchief from the pulpit? I thought I'd gotten
one. I'm sure that I set it, well, I set it down somewhere,
so it's off in limbo somewhere. Thank you. A little bit of a muffler. But Elijah was on his way from
Jericho to Bethel, and I suppose as he neared the city of Bethel,
this group of youths came out. And we'll describe what category
of people these really were in a few minutes. But he was on
his way from the cursed city that he had blessed by healing
the waters of the city. And right there he has shown
the character of his ministry. It's associated with salvation.
He comes bearing good news, bringing good things. And so you take
the very city that was first destroyed by God when Joshua
and the Israelites went into the Promised Land. and Joshua
had uttered a curse on it that if anyone rebuilt Jericho they
do so at the cost of their first born and that is what happened
in fact the foundation was laid at the cost of the man's first
born and the gates were hung at the cost of his last war and
who knows if there were any in between that died along the way
what a cursed city. And yet Elisha goes there and
by this miracle he heals the waters because for all the valuable
position that that city had, that is its location, was a favorable
location, yet the water was no good. It poisoned the people
and it wouldn't produce crops. Elisha was leaving that place
on his way to Bethel, and that city means the house of God. Now, I don't know that this is
the same Bethel where God met Jacob. Remember when Jacob had
the dream of the staircase up to heaven, and the angels going
up and down the staircase, and God entered into a covenant,
ratified his covenant with Jacob and when Jacob woke up he said
surely this is the gate of heaven this is the house of God and
so he named that place Beth El Beth meaning house El meaning
God well there were three I figure there were at least three places
in that territory that had been given that name I don't know
if this is the same one but it carries the same Same meaning same significance
the house of God. But this had also become the
center of calf worship. Do you remember that when God
gave Moses the law. He's up on the mountain getting
the law from God and down at the foot of the mountain the
Israelites have made a golden calf and worship them. And you
would think you know that if they'd ever read the Bible or
had it read to them they remember don't do that. But that's exactly
what they're doing here in Bethel. So it's called the house of God
but who knows what God it was. That they claim to be worshiping
there. But he goes there. And as Elisha my God is salvation
he goes there to bring a message of salvation. But what reception
does he get. He gets this mob. of young people coming out of
the city and making fun of him. Now if we take him here as a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and certainly he is a picture
of that because who else better fulfills the name my God is salvation
in the Lord Jesus. But it reminds me of that scripture
in the Gospel of John. He came unto his own and his
own did not receive him. And you know that's pretty much
the same with the church. As the church goes out declaring
this wonderful message, the very people they come from won't have
anything to do with them, at least not with regard to that
message. But here's a rather notable rejection
before he's even given an opportunity to speak. He's made fun of. He's mocked and jeered. Now this
should teach us that in this world, As the Lord said, we're
going to have trouble. We should not expect that as proclaimers of the gospel of
God that we are going to be well received and patted on the back
and people say what a good fellow he is. Normally, The more they know
about the message you believe, the less respect they have for
you. Now, here in the United States,
we don't get that as badly as they do in other places, but
who knows how long that's going to last. But even so, we've seen
some of it in our experience and the very fact that you know
after 30 some years of being here our church remains essentially
the same way it was in fact a little bit smaller than when we began
in the actual numbers of people that are sitting in the pews
listening and no matter how many times people say they listen
to us and how much you know like I listen to radio broadcast it's
really good and all this and All that, I'm glad they do. I'm glad they say they appreciate
that. But why are they not associating themselves with that message? By their very act of noting the
distinctiveness of our message, they are admitting that it's
not the same message they hear all the time. Well, if it's so
good and such a blessing, Why don't you come and listen to
it on a regular basis. You know it's kind of like saying
that's the best restaurant in town. But I never go there. It's what James is talking about
when he says faith without works is vain being dead and the faith
he's speaking of is a profession of faith. It doesn't matter what
a person says matters what he does if what he does does not
line up with what he says then what he says is meaningless.
So anyway, Elisha goes up to Bethel. Now, it says that a group
of youths came out. And actually, in verse 23, they're
referred to in verse 23 and verse 24, different words are used
each time. In verse 23, it says, youths little. And then in verse 24, it just
says youths. But the thing is, if you take
those words, you can find them in other portions of the scriptures
and it's referring to young adults. For example, the word used in
verse 24 is also used of the advisors to King Rehoboam. That was Solomon's son. And when
he tried to become king you know he he had it says the young man
he grew up with and it's using this verse right here. So it's
the same age as him and he's old enough to be king on his
own. The word, and the words in verse 23 are sometimes used
of servants, and the word translated little, as in virtually every
language, can mean not simply little in size or in age, little
in significance. In other words, a bunch of nobodies.
A bunch of, you know, we assume that they were no older than
young adults, you know, in their 20s or something like that, but
they're kind of no counts. Now one way we can be pretty
sure that it is not talking about little children here, 42 of them
got mauled. So that means it was a group
of more than 42. What in the world is a group
of little children roaming around in the city like that. That just
doesn't happen. When coming out of the city, they wouldn't have
even known about the prophet, wouldn't have cared less. These
were people who knew who Elisha was and were operating not under
the direction of others. They themselves said, oh look
there's Elijah and let's go get him, you know. So you're talking
late teenage years, maybe up to mid-twenties, something like
that is probably. Now, this is involving interpretation
because the words could be applied to little children. It just doesn't
make any sense. Now I say that Not as though I believe God needs
to be cleared from the charge. The Bible says, you know, David
said, I was. Shapen in iniquity, in sin, did
my mother conceive me? And he does not mean by that
that it was by some sinful action that he was conceived. He's at
the moment I was conceived. I was a sinner. We come into
this world worthy of the judgment of God. But we do not believe
that under normal circumstances, God exercises such pointed temporal
judgments toward little children as we would see here if these
were to be little children. I know in the flood, a lot of
children were drowned. In general, well, when he sent
the Israelites in, to take the land they were to wipe everybody
out and as cruel and brutal as that sounds it was a judgment
upon that whole land and all you know all the
Canaanites but as Spurgeon pointed out he said you know Every one of those children that
were killed in the process of clearing the land, he said, they
all belong to the Lord and went to be with the Lord. I do not
believe that children that die perish under God's wrath. When
Jonah went to Nineveh and preached and the people repented remember
he didn't want to go in the first place because he knew that if
they repented God would be good to them and he wanted God to
destroy the city and but God kind of forced his hand he went
and preached repentance they repented God relented and what
did Jonah do he got mad And when he's sitting there sulking over
the fact that none of us not going to be destroyed the Lord
said. Are you so heartless. That you're upset. That a city
has been spared in which there are and. I can't remember the
number but I think it was more than one hundred thousand something
like that. Who do not even know they're right from their left.
And so you see right there the Lord is speaking to Jonah shows
that he has a special. Pity upon children little ones. Consequently, it'd be very unlikely,
it just doesn't add up, that these are like elementary age
kids or even junior high age kids. These are people of age
to make their own choices, they just made a really bad one. They
came out and they mocked him. Now, I've already mentioned it,
but we'll say it again. The reason this was so serious
is not simply because they mocked a man or even because they mocked
someone, you know, an elder. Now, under the law, that would
have been bad enough to get them severe judgment. But in mocking
Elisha, they mocked his God and rejected his message. Now, if someone were to make
fun of me, humanly speaking, I'd say, well,
that's no big deal. There's plenty there to make fun of. You know,
I'm just a guy. But if someone makes fun of me
as a preacher of the gospel, it's not me they're making fun
of. You know, I wouldn't raise a hand against them. And God
may be merciful and not. He may save them eventually.
I mean, look at what Saul did. And there were I'm sure there
were some who mocked our Lord Jesus on the day of crucifixion,
who later God saved them. But the point, in fact, is to
mock anyone. Because they profess the God
and Savior of the Scriptures, it is to mock their God and Savior,
not just to mock them. So this was quite serious, and
obviously so when you see the consequences that arose from
it. So these young ones come out
and they say, go up, Baldy. Now, what were they likely referring
to? Some, like the newer version
of the NIV, the one that they put out I think in 2011, I'm
not sure, but we used the edition from 1984. But they updated it
and it says, get on out of here, Baldy. They're missing a point
when they did that. The word simply means go up.
They were likely referencing the fact that the news had been
spread abroad that Elijah had gone up into heaven. Well, they didn't believe that
story, and they mocked Elijah with it. Oh, so you're Elijah's
replacement. Go on up. Let's see it. And did they not mock in similar
tones? You know, when our Lord went
to Nazareth, what'd they say to him? We've heard that you've
done many wonderful works. Why don't you do some here? They
turned on him in a minute. They got mad and they demanded
of him that he do the things they had heard him do in other
places and so they're coming to Elisha and it's you know these
they're probably idol worshippers you know they're not they don't
worship the God of Elisha or the God of Elijah but here comes Elisha and they're
saying you're nobody We really don't believe the story of Elijah,
but if we did, who are you? You didn't go up in a fiery chariot.
Prove yourself. Show us that we ought to listen
to you. Now, God, from time to time,
has used what are referred to as signs and wonders to give authority or to prove
the authority of the one who's speaking but here's something
I noticed you know our Lord fed five thousand with five loaves
and two fishes and then he left and went across the Sea of Galilee
there the lake and they showed up they evidently gone all the
way around the way I mean that's how desperate they were to follow
him you know what he said to me or said to them you're following
me because you got fed. The miracle had not done them
any real good spiritually. It did not make them worship
Him as God and hang on His instruction. That's why our Lord said, when He was reading from the scroll of Isaiah in
His own town of Nazareth, But he said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, and he lists several notable kinds of miracles, and
he said, preaching the gospel. That's a miracle. That the good news is preached
to the poor, and that they believe it. And that's the greatest miracle
of all. You know, I'm not saying that
I wouldn't like to be able to heal people. I don't like to
see people suffer. I wish that I were able to solve
their earthly problems and all that. But if instead God would,
through me, work the salvation of sinners, well that's a much
better miracle than anything else that anybody could do. I
believe that's why our Lord said to his disciples, you'll do much
greater works than these. Well, what did they do any greater
than what our Lord Jesus Christ did? Well, they went out and
took that message, and through the power of the Spirit, they
turned the world upside down with the gospel of the Lord Jesus. preaching the gospel and people
believing that that is the most that is the greatest miracle
that has ever occurred in this world. So they said go up. If you think
you're somebody go up. Now what is the result. Elisha
it says turned around looked at them and called down a curse
on them in the name of the Lord. Now this is why I say mercy spurned
is judgment earned now the gospel in and of itself brings no harm
to anybody but the gospel rejected brings the greatest harm of all there is well the gospel does
not have any essential curse in it but the rejection of it
does bring a curse People worry about, you know, what's the unpardonable
sin? Well, that's it right there.
Not just that on any single occasion that you reject the gospel, but
that throughout your life you reject the gospel. And what happens
when you reject the gospel? You're still in your sins. You
die in your sins. There is no forgiveness of anything
outside of the gospel. to reject the gospel is blasphemy
of the Holy Spirit especially now I tend to think that what
was happening there you know when the when the Lord Jesus
said all manner of sin in this age and the next shall be forgiven
except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit I think that what
he was talking about specifically couldn't be committed can't be
committed except while he was here on Earth because what he
was actually doing he was fulfilling Old Testament prophecies right
in front of their eyes the Holy Spirit was testifying that he
is indeed the Christ right in front of them and they rejected
him not only they rejected they claimed that his power came from
the devil. Well now we don't see those kinds of things nonetheless
it is since it is the Holy Spirit who takes the things of Christ
and shows them to us and declares them to the world through preachers.
When you reject that word, what are you doing? You are blaspheming
the Holy Spirit. You're calling him a liar. And if you die that way, my,
my. Spurgeon said, Transgression
of the gospel is worse than transgression of the law, because for transgression
of the law, there is a remedy in the gospel. But for transgression
of the gospel, there is no remedy. And that's what the action of
these young people, young boys, young men, that's what it represents. Outright rejection of God's mercy. And so a curse comes down on
them. Curse it, be everyone. who does not love the Lord Jesus
Christ said Paul there's a curse on and there is now we don't
see any indication that Elijah described what would happen to
him as a result of the curse he just called down a curse could
have been he would have called down a curse nothing will happen
for another twenty years but God's going to make a point And
two bears come out. Now, I didn't check it out. I know that, I believe that in
some of the translations it says she bears. And some even speculated
that possibly these guys have been out there pestering their
cubs. And I'm thinking, you don't have to have a natural expression,
naturalistic explanation for this. Just two bears came out
and mauled 42 of them. And I thought, okay, mauled,
maybe it didn't kill them, but I went and looked that word and
see what it was. It means to split open, to break
open, to tear apart. I'd say 42 of them were dead
when they were done. You know, I'd heard a lot about,
you know, bears and how dangerous they could be, and one time I
went up there to the Greyhound bus station in Sioux Falls. Our nephew was coming to visit,
and he was coming by bus. And they had a stuffed, I think
it was Kodiak bear, standing there like that. And I looked
at that and saw those claws coming out there. I said, and of course,
you know how big and strong they are. I said, man, they could
gut you with one swipe. I mean, you know, you're just flayed
right there. Well, that's what happened. They were utterly destroyed. They were harmed in a way that
even modern medicine today, if they'd have been right there
on the scene, there wouldn't have been anything you could have done
about it. Torn apart. And everyone who was torn apart
fully deserved what they got. And they fully deserved what
they got after they died. But here's the amazing thing.
It says 42 of them. Not all of them. All of them
deserved it. 42 of them got it. We don't know how many didn't. But is there not a picture here
of that remnant according to the election of grace? A curse
is called down on every one of them. It falls on 42 of them. And is that not the same with
us? We're among the jeering youth. And most of our companions will
be mauled, will be ripped to shreds. And we won't. We spurned mercy for a long time.
Mercy spurned is judgment earned, and yet not everyone who earns
the judgment gets it. Remember Henry one time saying,
God doesn't owe you anything. And he stopped and he said, well,
yes, he does. And if you want to, you can go right up to his
throne and demand it. He owes you an eternity in hell.
You want that? He said, you worked hard for
it. It's yours, you want it? Well, so we see the gospel comes
to town. It's rejected by virtually everyone. Judgment falls probably on most
of them, but there's a remnant chosen, remnant preserved according
to the election of grace. And then verse 25, and he went
on. to Mount Carmel, and from there
returned to Samaria. Now, a little bit of historical
information there, but what's that got to do with the story?
The gospel came, the gospel was rejected, and it went on like
nothing happened at all. I don't know if he ever went
into the city of Bethel he may have passed it right by but I
know this. In this story one thing's proven
absolutely nothing happened to the gospel. The people of this
world have been rejecting the gospel ever since it was first
spoken in the Garden of Eden. And they have killed God's people,
they've persecuted them, they've done everything they can to stamp
it out, and yet it just keeps going on as though nothing has
happened. Utterly unchanged. Isn't it remarkable
to think that here you and I are, 2,000 years removed from the
historical events of the fulfillment of the gospel but even many thousands
more removed from its first announcement. And we're believing the same
thing that was first said. You know people say oh you're
just stuck in an old religion. I say oh it's a lot older than
you think it is. It predates the creation of the world. I where I come from people say
oh I like that old fashioned religion and all they're thinking
about is the religion of their parents. You know one generation
back. I say you all don't know what old is. We have we worship. You know
it says of our Lord Jesus Christ that it would be born in Bethlehem
and said from him will come one for from that city will come
one who is of old who is of ancient times who is of everlasting. That's old. Give me that old
time religion. We believe. Well I should believe. And he just went on even though
he was rejected his message was rejected it didn't change his
message didn't change what was true didn't alter his course. And therefore it should be the
same with us. All right. We'll pick up in Chapter 3 next
week.