Well, I do consider it to be
a real privilege to be able to be here. I'm very thankful for
your pastor. I love him. I appreciate him.
I encourage you to constantly pray for him. Turn with me in your Bibles to
the second book of Kings, 2 Kings 6. I'd like to read the first 7 verses, 2 Kings 6. Scripture says, And the sons
of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold, now the place where we
dwell with thee is too straight for us. Let us go, we pray thee,
unto Jordan. and take then to every man a
beam, and make us a place there, where we may dwell.' And he answered,
Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray
thee, to go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. And
he went with them. And when they came to Jordan,
they cut down wood, as one was felling a beam The axe head fell
into the water, and he cried and said, Alas, master, for it
was borrowed. The man of God said, Where fell
it? He showed him the place, cut down a stick, cast it in
thither, and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up
to thee, and he put out his hand and took it." What happened here, Elisha was a teacher, had a little school
for some preachers, and he was teaching these sons of prophets. They were Bible students. got to a point to where the place
that they were dwelling was a little bit too small. And so they decided
that they would go to a place over by Jordan and wanted to
build them another building, another temple, a little bit
larger, something that would be a little bit more accommodating.
And so they asked Elisha about it, and he said, That's fine. Just go ahead and do it. And
one of them said, Well, how about you go with us? And he said,
OK, I'll go. And so they went over to the
Jordan, and they started to cut down some trees. They were going
to cut down some trees, and one of them, when he was cut down
the tree, the axe head, fell off of his axe. All he had was
a handle, and it fell in the Jordan River. And he told Elisha,
he said, The axe head fell off the handle, fell in the Jordan
River. And Elisha said, Well, where did it fall? And he showed
him the place where it fell. And so Elisha cut down a stick,
cut a stick off of a tree. And Scripture said, threw it
in, right there where it went in. And it said the axe head
did swim. And he reached out, picked it
up, and gave it back to the sons of the prophet. And he told them
to take it, and he took it. That's the story. That's what
happened. And, you know, there's a sense in which you
look at a miracle like this, and you first look at it, and
like someone told me, they read that and they said, OK, what happened I mean, you tell a story like
that, and it's a miracle, you know, and they said, This axe
head floated over here by the Jordan River, and people would
start making pilgrimages over there, you know, and they'd put
the axe head on, you know, in a glass case or something, and
people would come by and they'd look at it, and they'd say, That's
the axe head that floated. It swam. We saw it. We were there. There's a drawing about that
mystical something, you know. I saw on television where a painting
is supposed to have tears, you know, crying or something. It
has tears coming out of it, and people are just flocking to go
see that painting. They say it has real tears come
out of it. And I would say if the story
that we just read ended right there, if that was it, then Even that would be a wonderful
witness to the wonder and the power of God's might to even
perform a miracle. I mean, you'd say, how could
God do that? Even in that, it would be a wonderful
witness of the power of God's mercy and grace to these sons
of Prophets, giving that axe head back. But I'll tell you this, there's some truth in that passage
of scripture that absolutely is necessary. For there to be any lasting good
for God's people and for the glory of Almighty God in the
person of his Son, then I've got to see the gospel in that.
If I don't see the gospel, if I don't see Christ and him crucified,
if I don't see God's substitution in sending his own Son, the Lamb,
if I don't see that, then I've missed the message. Because the
Lord Jesus Christ, walking on the road to Emmaus one time,
two fellows there, walked up beside him, and he said, Y'all
from here? And they said, Yeah, we're from
here. And he said, What's the matter? And they said, Well,
there was one that we thought that was the Messiah, but three
days ago they crucified him. It's been three days now, and
some say that they've taken his body. We don't know. And the Lord said
to him, He said, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all
that the prophets have said. And beginning with Moses, he
expounded unto them the scriptures concerning himself. All those
in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, pictures of himself. There are some things that I'd
like to look at in this passage of scripture, and I hope that
the Lord might be pleased to bless them to our heart, that
we might see him There are some things that I see, first of all,
when I look at this passage. The Scripture starts off in that
first verse. It says, The sons of the prophets
said to Elisha, Behold, now the place where we dwell with thee
is too straight for us. It's a small place. And I don't doubt for a second. I looked up the word straight,
and what it means is small, condensed. It's confined. It's a narrow
thing. It's a narrow thing, this thing
of the gospel. It is straight. It's narrow. But these sons of the prophets
told Elisha, Behold the place where we dwell with you, the
place where we stay, the place that we've been set. Elisha was the prophet, and God's
sheep assembled where the sheep food is. The place that we dwell
with you. We believe that God has raised
you up to preach the gospel, and this is where we're satisfied
to be, right here. The only message that any man
called by God has ever preached has been the message of God's
grace, substitution, the gospel of Christ, the message of hope. These men have been placed there,
the place where we dwell with you. Why is it that you come
week after week after week back to this place right here? Well,
if it's for the reason that Almighty God's opened your heart and shown
to you the Son, you're going to come where God's raised up
a man that preaches the gospel, a place where we're satisfied
to be, a place where we dwell with you, placed here by sovereign
grace, cease from striving to find anything that's more appealing,
this place where we come. Set firmly on the foundation
of hope in Christ, the place where we dwell with you. We want
to be right here where you are. Because we believe that God's
called you to preach a message. We're satisfied with that message,
given us a heart. And we continue and endure by
His persevering power. The only reason a man stays or
a woman stays is because God's given a heart to hear the gospel
and are satisfied with it. We're going to tarry. This place
that we tarry, right here. You know why I believe a tarry
is where the gospel is. You know why he tarries? Because
he wants to. Because God's made him willing
to do that. My people shall be willing the
day of my power. Almighty God gives man a heart.
And he just loves to hear the gospel of Christ. Just tell me
one more time the message of substitution, just one more time.
This place where we dwell with you is just a little small. Let us go, verse 2, we pray,
unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us
make a place there where we may dwell. And he said, Go ye. There is another thing I noticed,
another observation. God's sheep have a submissive
spirit, a teachable spirit. They said, Let us go. We pray
you. You know, these sons of the prophets
had a respect for the prophet because they respected God's
word that had been given to that man. We'd like to go over here
and over to the Jordan River and build us another place that's
just a little bit larger. Who won't ask you about it? What
do you think? You know, if a man knows nothing
of God's truth in the person of Christ and him crucified,
then you've got good reason to be leery of his counsel. Somebody that doesn't know anything
about the message of God's grace, give you some advice, you better
make sure. Somebody tells you something,
they're speaking out of worldly wisdom, but if the Spirit of
God has taught a man something of the gospel, there's going
to be times that you may come and ask your pastor something.
But I'll tell you this, there's some comfort in knowing that
God's taught him something about the message of truth and settled
his heart and given him some wisdom to know. Paul, I know,
would tell you, he's the first one to tell you, he said, look,
I just, well, that's the way he'll see himself. But I'll tell
you this, I'd a whole lot rather, if I got a question, ask a man
that knows something about God's grace. Let us go, we pray you, unto
Jordan, take every man a beam, let us make a place. And he said,
Go. In verse 3, and one of them says,
Be content, I pray thee, and you go with us. And he said,
I'll go. Here's a third observation I
see. God's sheep are going to consider first the presence of
the message of gospel. before they leave where they
dwell. If a man or a woman is considering
a move, and they're a believer, the first
thing that they're going to consider before they just up and move
someplace else is, Is there a place where I can hear the gospel?
Is there a place there or I can go and sit and hear a man preach
the truth? Or am I just considering moving
somewhere where, as far as I know, there's no evidence, there's
no truth there, as far as I know?" If that's the case, be very careful
before you just up and decide to leave. We'd like to go. Be content, I pray, and go with
us. And he said, You see, the gospel of Christ is life for
a believer's life. What profit is there? If I can't
meet with believers and worship in an assembly where the sole
purpose of that assembly is his glory and his honor. I heard Brother Henry make this
statement. I was listening to a tape And
he was preaching on the tape, and he said this about listening
to tapes. He said, You know, there's nothing
wrong with tapes. He said, They're good fillers.
But he said, There's no substitute for a warm body and some people
that you can sit next to and fellowship with while you hear
the message of the gospel preached. There's no substitute for that.
I mean, I've got to be somewhere where there are some believers.
where I can hear somebody preach. So these guys said, Be content,
I pray, and go with us. What good is it going to do us
to go over here? We're in a mighty small building. Well, we need
to go wherever you're going to be. And we want to ask you this. What do you think about us going?
Elisha said, Go. And they said, Will you go, too?
4 says, And he went with them,
and when they came to Jordan, they cut down some wood. Now,
starting in the 4th verse, and here comes a man who is the prophet. And starting in verse 4, I believe,
is one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel that I've
ever seen, one of them. I'm sure there are those that
are just as beautiful, but for the moment, right now. I tell you, where God's sheep
assemble and God's preacher proclaims aright the God-ordained message,
you're going to hear Christ and him crucified every time, every
time, every time. I tell you what I see. I see
this prophet, and he's gone with these fellows, and though they
may not see it, he's preaching the gospel to them. Verse 4,
He went with them, and they came to Jordan, and they cut down
some wood. Now, when this man began to cut
down this tree, You have to understand what these
guys were doing. They were going to go and they
were going to build them a temple. Now, a temple in the Old Testament
was a place where a man was going to meet with God. We need to
come over here and we're going to build us a temple. And so
the sole purpose of what's happening at this spot on the edge of the
Jordan River is, they are going to build a place where they can
meet with God. And this man began to cut down
some wood. You know, man has always gone
about to establish his own righteousness. He always has. cane and bringing the best vegetables
that he could raise, and the Pharisees saying, I fast twice
in the week, and I give tithes of all that I possess. And these
men were going about, and they were going to build them a temple.
They were going to build them a place where they could meet
with God. And the Scripture says in verse
5, and one of them was felling a beam. Now, this word beam means
crossbeam. It means an undersupport. It
means that which is going to hold up the temple that they're
going to build, that which would be the support of everything
that was going to be built on it. He was going to cut him some
support, going to cut him down a big tree. As he was cutting down his support,
that which was going to hold up this place where he was going
to meet with God, the scripture says the axe head fell into the
water. The axe head means the head or
the power. And what happened was, this man,
in his first attempt to find him a place that he could meet
with God, that which was his power, that axe head, was a picture
of Adam. And as he was trying to cut down
a crossbeam, something that would hold up his temple, a place where
he was going to meet with God, we're going to build us a bigger
temple? See, the place where we're at
with you is just a little bit too narrow. We're going to build
us a big place before we can meet with God. And he started
to come down, and he was going to cut down that tree, and the
axe head fell off, which was his power. And the Scripture
says, and when he swung, that axe head came off, and it fell
in the water. And the failure was a fall that
went deeper than a man could hope to retrieve. It fell in the water. The word
fell means rotted. It means it was cast down. It
means it was overthrown. It fell into the deep. It fell into
the depths. That word water is interpreted
the deep. Man was going to cut down him
a crossbeam that was going to sustain his temple, his place,
where he was going to meet with God. And he came down, and that
axe head fell off. It rotted, and it fell into the
death. That man had absolutely no hope,
went deeper than he could get it. And the Scripture says, And he
cried, and he said, Alas, Master, it was borrowed. That thing was
borrowed. You see, the word borrowed means
it has a demand. That debt was more than that
man could pay. It fell in deeper than he could
find it. And he said, I owe. There's a debt, and I can't pay
it. What am I going to do? If left
to myself, I'm going to have to make that ax head good. I'm
going to have to pay for that. That death that axe head fell
into, that deep, that's my debt. A last master is borrowed. But I tell you, by God's grace, here's a picture, God's amazing
grace, a child of promise is given a heart to know where to
look. He cried out to that preacher,
who was a picture of the Master himself, the last Master. It's
borrowed, and I can't pay. That brazen serpent was raised
up And Moses put that picture of Christ, raising the serpent
on that pole and raised it up. And he told the people, Look
and live. And there were some that, by God's grace, looked.
There was an old blind man on the side of the road, and Jesus
came walking by of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth, thou Son of
David, have mercy on me. Almighty God gave that old man.
a heart by faith to look at the only one that afforded him any
hope. He came down with that axe head, and that axe head,
which was the power that could not accomplish what he thought
he was going to accomplish, fell off and rotted into the deep. But by the grace of God, that
son of the prophet was a picture of me, that old adept, called
out. I tell you, a chosen vessel is
going to be brought to see and acknowledge what his problem
is. He came to that prophet, and
the man of God said, Where did it fall? Where fell it? And he showed him the place by God's grace, one of the chosen seed. He's going
to see the calamity. He's going to know where his
distress is. I fell. I fell in Adam. I know something
about the grief and the harm and the misery and the wickedness
and the wrong. I was born a sinner. Same blood
that flows in me flowed in my daddy and his daddy and his daddy
and his daddy and all the way back to Adam. And I was born
a sinner. I was conceived in sin. And I came forth speaking lies. Where did it fall? Where did
it go in? I fell in my substitute, I mean,
in my first representative. I fell in Adam. That's where
I fell. Where did it go in? Where did it go in? Where is
the place? Where do you dwell? I dwell in
sin and in debt, and I have no hope. If left to myself, I have
no hope. And the scripture says, He showed
him the place, and that prophet cut down a stick. Listen, this has got to be one
of the most beautiful pictures. He cut down a stick. I looked
up those words, and that word cut down. means
to be humbled. He took and cut a stick off. He cut it down. It means to be
humbled. It is a picture of the humanity
of Christ. He came and he humbled himself. for an old dead sinner to have
any hope. Somebody is going to have to come and take his place. There is going to have to be
somebody that is going to take the place of this sinner right here. Some
man is going to have to stand for me. And that prophet took that stick
and humbled it. And the scripture says, he had
asked him, he said, Where did it go in? And it says that that
sinner showed him the place. And he took that stick and he
fashioned it. The implication is into an axe
handle, into another axe handle. And he threw it in where the
axe head went in, in the same place. You see, it was going after a
particular axe head. That word stick, and it says
he cut off, he humbled a stick. You look it up. That word stick
means the maker. It means the skillful one. The carpenter. The word stick. And he cast it in. He caused
it to go. He plunged it in. He threw it. Christ himself, the master, the
skillful one, humbled himself, fashioned himself, took upon
himself the form of that axe head, first Adam, he became a
man, took upon himself the form of sinful flesh. And for thirty-three and a half
years he walked this earth, and as a man he lived do anything that was not in perfect
obedience. It thought and did perfectly. He lived the law of God. His
attitude was right. I can stand here right now and
you can listen to a message, but my attitude, I can't even
stand here and preach a right. because of a rotten attitude,
because of a nature that is in me that is depraved. Paul says,
with my mind, I serve the law of God, but in its flesh, the
law of sin. And I have a mind that knows
him, but because of this nature that is within me, sin is mixed
with all I do. I can't even think of perfect
thought. But here was this one in humility, humbled in self. Where did that axe head go in?
Where did that axe head rot? Where did it go in the deep?
That one that was borrowed, that one that had a debt to it, that
was going to have to be paid, went in right there. He took
and he humbled. He took that stick, Scripture
says, and he cast it in thither, cast it in the same place where
the axe head went in. And the iron did swim. The axe head came up. But you know what? That axe head didn't come up
by itself. It was brought up. It came up. It swam, but it didn't come up
until the stick was thrown in, until the stick was humbled,
until the stick went in where it went in. It didn't come up. And I looked up the words, and
the words iron and stick are the same words. And it says right
here, it says that the stick went in and the iron did swim
and came up. Now, let me tell you the significance
of those being the same words. A man is raised in Christ. Paul said, I was crucified in
Christ nevertheless. But the life I live now, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who gave himself for me. He was
raised for our justification. If a man has any hope, he's going
to have to come up in Christ. He comes up in Him. A believer has his life in Christ,
the Maker, the skillful One. He brought him up. Where did
he go in? He came in right there, and the
stick went in right there. And it says, And the iron did
swim. The iron came up. Verse 7 says, Therefore said
he, Take it up to thee. Take it up means lift it up. This prophet took that got that
axe handle, and had that axe head, and he handed it to me. He said, Lift it up. Exalt it. A child of promise is commanded
and will exalt with a new heart the one that came in and got
him. A child of promise will be the first one that will say,
I went in. I went in in Adam, but I went
in myself indeed, too. I did exactly what my nature
dictates. I'm a sinner by practice. Where did you go in? I went in
right there. I went in in Adam. And if I had been left to myself,
I would have stayed right there in my rottenness, in my stench,
in the deep, in the dead. Still owing, it was borrowed,
there was a demand. And unless that stick that was
humbled, formed and fashioned as a man, would have got me, I'd have had
no hope whatsoever. He lifted me up. He's the one that made me. He
brought me out of this horrible pit. He's the one that has taken
me out of what I was born into. And the prophet says, you lifted
up with gladness of heart. to lift him up, what a joy. And the Scripture says, And he
put out his hand, and he took it. Or he received it. That's the
only way a man will ever receive that message, is if God gives
him a heart. Man by nature hears a message
like that, that he was dead in his trespasses and sins and no
hope whatsoever in his rottenness, in his stench, in the first atom
that he fell in, that axe head that could not accomplish what
it had set out to accomplish. It didn't have the power to accomplish
it. It fell off. couldn't maintain, fell in the
deep, borrowed. Demand laid on it, rotten in
the death itself. And while we were yet sinners, God Almighty, who would not leave
His own, those that He had chosen, those that He had to save those
that he knew in eternity, those that by divine election that
he had chosen to save. That humble stick went in exactly
where they fell and brought them up and lifted up Put out your hand, and you take
it." And he did. By the grace of God, man will
receive that. Outside of God's grace, man wants
to believe he's lifted himself up. Somehow I know that I was
at the bottom of that pit, and somehow I made myself swim by
faith. No, sir. I tell you, a man brought
out of that pit of death, the deep, God Almighty is going to
have to take him out. If he doesn't, he has absolutely
no hope whatsoever. Put out your hand, and he received
it. I tell you, that was a wonderful
miracle. I'll admit it. Talking about
an axe head that swam. Like I said, if that was the
only message, it would still be a message to the goodness
of God's grace. that could make an axe head swim.
But if that's the only thing that I see in that passage, it
has absolutely nothing for my eternal good nor to the glory
of Christ and him crucified. In that story, in that miracle,
I see man falling, and I see Almighty God himself in his humility. taking upon himself the form
of a servant, and dying the death, going in the deep where he was,
and bringing his own out, because they could not bring themselves
out. and believers believe that. And
they rest in it, and they rejoice in it. That's the greatest message
that a believer has ever heard. And he would not leave me to
myself. He came and got me. I love to
hear the message of Christ and him crucified. Let's pray together. Our Father, for Christ's sake,
who calls us in this message. We are thankful that you give
us a heart to see that blessed picture of redemption, all those
beautiful shadows and types of Christ who came to seek and to
save that which was lost, all that the Father had given going
to save them, receive them unto himself, all to his honor, to
his glory, to his praise, for their good. We thank you. Thank you for this place, this
lighthouse where the gospel is freely proclaimed. Thank you
for these that you have given a heart that want to be here.
We pray that you would cause this message to be real to us. For the honor of our blessed
Savior, we pray. Amen. Thank you very much. You can't hear him. Well, that's good. God Bless.