Good morning, everybody. Good
to see you here. Today, we're going to be looking at a story
found in 2 Kings 6. If you want to be turning there,
2 Kings 6. This is the story of the prophet Elisha. And we'll
see here in this story on two separate occasions where God
miraculously opened the eyes, gave sight to the characters
in the story so that they discovered a new reality. reality that they
were oblivious to, apart from God's miraculous intervention.
And so I've titled this morning's message, Eyes Open to Reality. Eyes Open to Reality. So look
with me in 2 Kings chapter 6. We'll begin in verse 8. 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. And the man of God, speaking
of Elisha, the prophet to Israel, 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. He's saying that the Syrians
perhaps had come down, many think maybe to the bottom of a hill,
and were lying in ambush for the 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. So on three or
more occasions we see that the Israeli army were tipped off
to the Syrians lying in ambush based upon God's giving Elisha,
his prophet, a divine knowledge of what they were plotting against
Israel. And he says in verse 11, Therefore
the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing.
And he called his servants and said unto them, Will ye not show
me which of us is for the king of Israel? He's saying we've
got an informer here, a mole, a traitor, a spy. Someone's tipping
off the king of Israel. And one of his servants said,
None, or no, 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." It's not unreasonable for many
of the Syrian army to have known of the great power, see, that
Elisha had. Just prior to our text today,
Elisha had miraculously caused the axe head that had been thrown
off the handle into the water to float to the top. Prior to
that in chapter 5, We read the story of how a captain in the
Syrian army, Naaman, who had leprosy, was taken to Elisha,
the prophet of Israel, and miraculously healed. And so, many in the army
would have known of these great powers that God had given his
prophet, Elisha. Elisha, who you may recall back
in chapter 2, and we'll look at that in a moment, but when
Elijah was taken up, that was Elisha's predecessor. He asked
for a double portion of God's Spirit, and it was given to him
as he witnessed the ascension of Elijah. So in any event, the
Syrian army would have known of this man, and I'm of the opinion
here that this servant is simply saying, no, I know how they know. They've got the prophet Elijah. And so he goes on there. in verse
13, and he said, Go and spy where he is, go find Elisha then, that
I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots, and a great host, and they came by night, and compassed
the city about. And when the servant of the man
of God, that is, Elisha's servant, 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? We are completely surrounded
by the Syrian army. And he 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, that's
the Syrian army, 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, neither is this the city. Follow me." He's talking to the
Syrian army now. "'And I will bring you to the
man whom ye seek.' But he led them to Samaria." Many think
that this blindness that they were smitten with was perhaps
not a complete visual impairment. In other words, we see that they
were willing to follow Elisha to go find Elisha. They didn't
realize it was him. This was an area they were familiar
with. And whatever this blindness, however, whatever form it took
place, it was not one such that, or it appears it wouldn't be
one that was such a total impairment of their vision that they would
know something terrible had happened to them. And so they'd be wary
of following such one. Some say that perhaps the vision
was simply dulled. Many, and I tend to believe this,
that he's saying he dulled the eyes of their understanding.
All of a sudden, they just blindly followed this man, Elisha, into
Samaria, right into the middle of Israel Sea. And it came to
pass when they were come, verse 20, when they were come into
Samaria, that Elisha said, Open the eyes of these men that they
may see." So here we have the second occasion of eyes being
open to reality. And the Lord opened their eyes,
and they that saw, and they saw, excuse me, and behold, they were
in the midst of Samaria. He had marched them right into
the middle of Israel. And the king of Israel said unto
Elisha when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them, shall I smite
them? He repeats it there and we get
the sense of His eagerness, he's going, oh, what good fortune.
Why, my enemies march right here into my camp. I can take them.
And we see Elisha's answer in 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? I think Elisha's
communicating to the king of Israel that these, They didn't
just happenstance show up here. They were taken captive, powerfully
taken captive by God's intervention through the prophet Elisha, just
as the king's armies would take people by the power of their
sword. These were prisoners, and you wouldn't treat your own
prisoners this way. And so he says there in verse
22, "... set bread and water before them,
that they may eat and drink and go to their master." And he prepared,
that's the king of Israel, he prepared it appears more than
just a little bread and water. It says he prepared great provision
for them. And when they had eaten and drunk,
he sent them away and they went to their master. And so the bands
of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. Well, before
I begin talking about this story, Let's be reminded that we here
at Eager Avenue Grace Church, we're determined to not know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified as the
Apostle Paul wrote. That is, we're determined to
preach the gospel, the gospel of God's grace. And yet we also
desire and want to consider and weigh all of these Old Testament
stories and historical accounts that are revealed. So how do
we reconcile what to some may seem to be contradictory or at
least competing objectives in relating the gospel while also
considering Old Testament stories such as these. Well, we know
from Christ's own testimony, Luke 24 and other places, that
these Old Testament scriptures concerned him, concerned himself. In fact, as we talk about eyes
being open to reality after the resurrection there in Luke 24,
we read how the eyes of the disciples were open to understand how Christ
said these Old Testament Scriptures spoke of things concerning Him,
Christ. But we also know that when we
consider a story or a historical account, that we can do as we
were taught, I guess, in art appreciation classes or particularly
in looking at literature or poetry, is that We can make it say pretty
much anything we want to, can't we? We can assert that this aspect
of the story represents this and this represents that. And
so, how then are we to know that what we assert as we consider
these stories are valid? We know that from Christ onwards
that we have pictured in the Old Testament, particularly in
the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Law, the sacrifices. We know
from very clear New Testament testimony concerning these that
they speak of Christ in picture, in types. But how do we know
if the type or picture is valid? Well, here's a rule I think we
should always apply, and I hope to do that today. And that is
we do not derive our doctrine, our vital gospel doctrine, from
our own interpretation of a biblical story or account, but rather
we should interpret those stories and accounts in light of clear
doctrinal passages that set forth the very specific message of
this book, the gospel of how God saves sinners. And if it's
true to that, we know then that we're right in seeing how it's
exemplified in a story. So enough of that by way of introduction,
but I think it's important we try to stay true to that rule.
Well, today I want us to consider in this story how it exemplifies
how God saves sinners, how he deals with spiritual Israel. That is not those who were just
chosen under that temporary covenant, but those who the Scripture says
are chosen unto salvation from every kindred, tribe, tongue,
and nation in Christ. We're going to see here God's
dealings with the Israelites and with the Syrians through
his prophet, Elisha. And so what truths are exemplified
here by concerning who God is, what God's like, and concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ? So I just want to begin by talking
about some of the truths that are evident from Scripture and
exemplified herein. And I want to begin with the
omniscience of God. That is the truth that God is
all-knowing. I think it's typified here by
the God-given power that He bestowed upon His prophet Elisha. Elisha
was referred to there in verses 9, 10, and 15 as the man of God. And here I believe in him, God's
power through him, we have pictured the attribute of God's omniscience,
that he is all-knowing. Note in verse 12, the Syrian
king's servant, he described how Elisha knew even what was
being spoken in the privacy of the king's King of Syria's bedroom,
and that was unsettling to the King of Syria so much so it prompted
him to go after Elisha. And, you know, that's unsettling
to sinners if we truly consider just how God knows each and every
one of our faults, even in the most private areas of our own
life. particularly if God is pleased to reveal to us the extent
of His love and His holiness and the very perfection He requires. Why, it makes even our very best
efforts at religion, it would make us ashamed when we consider
God knows. He knows that when I strive in
obedience to Him, to pray, what do I pray about mostly? me, my
family, which are extensions of me, my friends. That in light
of the truth of Scripture that says we're to love God perfectly,
supremely, and our neighbor as ourself and those neighbors even
include our very worst enemies. We are so full of self-love and
by nature, self-righteousness and religious pride. And if we
could only contemplate how God even knows us better than we
know ourselves. Why? We put all that about ourselves
out of our mind often. I do. But God knows. He knows all. And as we consider
God's omniscience, also I want to look at it from a different
point of view. The fact that God knows all. Let us ask this
then. Is there any obstacle to the
salvation of one whom God desires to be saved that He could not
foresee? He knows all. We've talked about
that often, how the contradiction that many of us all once held
that's so prevalent in Christendom today, that God loves everybody
that ever lived, that Jesus Christ came and lived and died for everyone. Now, many of those, including
many of us in years past, imagine we would say, but we knew the
Bible said God was all-powerful. He was all-knowing, and oh, He
was infinite love. But consider the contradiction
of all that. In our heart of hearts, He must
not have been... Maybe He wasn't quite all-knowing. Maybe He could
not foresee the obstacles that would prevent me to come to Him
because so many of those we imagined that He loved and that Jesus
Christ came and lived and died for perished anyway. He failed. There was some failure with God.
Well, if we say, well, oh, no, he could probably foresee the
obstacles. No, I know he's all seeing. Well,
then maybe he just wasn't powerful enough to overcome the stubborn
heart of this sinner or that sinner. And they say, no, no,
no. He just sovereignly decided that
that's the way he'd do things, that he would leave it up to
the free will of men, they say. And to that I say, what kind
of love is that? Here we are, the Scripture says,
we come to this world dead, dead in trespasses and sins. You,
Jackie Quicken, who are dead in trespasses and sins, blind
like a toddler who runs out into the street in front of traffic,
and the mother could grab the child, the mother who allegedly
loves that child. And she says, no, I'm going to
let him go on his way, or her way, because That's what she
really wanted to do, and I didn't want to stop her. She just didn't
know better. And that's what millions say unwittingly, but
nonetheless say it real clearly in their doctrine of how they
imagine God saves sinners. That's the kind of infinite love
God has that He wouldn't intervene. He'd leave it up to you, the
sinner. I obviously got off track there, but we'll get back on.
But that's what we see. We see the folly of Calling God
omniscient, all-knowing, and holding to such heresies as that. This is the God. He doesn't just
know all. How could He not foresee and
know all? He determines all. The Bible
says He declares the end from the beginning. Well, secondly,
I want us to consider how God's people's eyes are open to the
reality of His power, His omnipotence. Look again there at verse 17
in 2 Kings 6. It says, ìAnd Elisha prayed and
said, ìLord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.î 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.î Now I believe this manifestation of the presence of angels, thatís
Godís ministering in the form of an innumerable host of horses
and chariots of fire, I think is indicative of God's almighty
power. You know, we see dimly through
the eyes, even the eyes of God-given faith, but with those eyes, all
of spiritual Israel, when given life in each generation, they
should, and they do, take great comfort At least to the extent
that we keep in view in whose mighty hand our entire destiny
rests. In Hebrews chapter 1, the superiority
of Christ over angels is being set forth. And there at the end
of the chapter in verse 14, it says of these angels, are they
not ministering spirits sent forth to minister for whom? For them who shall be heirs of
salvation. God is omnipotent. He's almighty, all-powerful,
and He has at His disposal, then, all power and might. And we see
here He engages all of that power on behalf of the heirs of salvation.
And He's provided and employs these ministering spirits toward
that end. As the servant's eyes were opened
to God's reality, he saw there really was no reason to fear,
as Elisha had asserted to. He told them that they that be
with us are more than they that be with them. Their overwhelming
numbers are representative of how powerful God is, how He cannot
fail. In Hebrews 12, 22, we read, But
ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. And we see that God's sheep His
people, in particular, have these angels of God in His employ,
ministering to us. The psalmist wrote this in Psalm
347. He said, The angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear him. That is, they that
have a regard for the honor of his glory. How he can be not
only a God of love, but a God of justice. I we what our views
of him, you see, do not necessitate that way. He really must not
be able to foresee or he must not be powerful enough or his
love is worthless. But rather, they fear it. They
have a regard for the honor of his character, how he could be
just and still save a sinner. Well, that's who the angel of
the Lord is in count round about them that fear him. And what
does it say? And he deliver them. And so, we recognize there not
only his omnipotence, but we recognize his omnipresence. Now,
turn back just a few pages. I mentioned earlier 2 Kings chapter
2. Here we're going to read of Elijah
being caught up in the whirlwind. You know, Elijah never died a
physical death. He was caught up. And look at
verse 11 there. It reads, and it came to pass
as they still went on and talked, that's he, Elijah and Elisha,
who God had told Elijah, you anoint him to succeed you as
the prophet. They are together, and it says,
as they talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire
and horses of fire, and parted them, the two of them, both asunder,
and Elijah went up by whirlwind into heaven. Here, as we saw
in chapter 6, we see the same manifestation of God's great
power in the ascension of Elijah. And many take that as an indicator
that angels are employed in ultimately carrying all of God's saints
into heaven. I'm not sure of that. There's
a lot about angels I don't understand. But it is a reminder of the absolute
certainty that all for whom Christ lived and died, they're going
to be carried to heaven's glory with such a power that cannot
be thwarted. As Christ said in John 6, 39,
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. You see, it's sure, it's certain,
it cannot fail. The point here is this. This
is the reality. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Romans 8, 31. And for all the
years of salvation to whom this innumerable company now of angels
minister, their eyes are open to the reality of this sure and
certain salvation that is to be found in Christ, for God is
powerful enough to save each and every one of those objects
of his everlasting love. Well, thirdly, we see something
here of the inflexible justice of God, I think, I think this
manifestation of God's angels as horses and particularly as
chariots of fire that encompass them, it's a picture of the consuming
fire of God's inflexible justice. Fire, you know, often in the
Scripture depicts the wrath of God, the just wrath of God against
sin. You know, we studied just a few
weeks back about that hope that was laid up in heaven and how
Paul described the substance of that hope, saying he had a
crown of righteousness laid up for him. And after that, it said,
as do all of those, I'm paraphrasing, but who love, who will love his
appearing. Now, how can one look forward
to Christ's coming again? If he comes as Elijah saw with
chariots of fire representing justice must be served, strict
justice. You see, you can't Unless, as
we heard in the 10 o'clock hour, you can see that justice has
been satisfied in the one who's coming on your behalf and find
all of your hope based on that satisfaction. The satisfaction
he made both in preset by his perfect obedience, walking here
without sin in the earth as a substitute made under the law, the scripture
says, same law we're under, that he might redeem them which are
under the law. And he did it for sinners. who fell so far
short of that, that the penalty for their sin had to be extracted
as well. And so justice was served by
his paying a sin debt that only the infinitely valuable blood
of Christ could pay for the objects of all of those. And he made
him to be sin for us, 2 Corinthians 5.21. He put sins upon him that
he had no part in producing, imputed them to him, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. In the same way,
he accounts just as he accounts the demerit of all my sins, my
past, present, future sin, my position in Adam in the fall,
all of that, the demerit of that he put upon my Savior so that
he'd take it away, pay it in full, and he gives me the very
merit of all that he accomplished. Now, that's how I can look and
love his second coming when he comes in judgment and justice.
Sin, justice has been satisfied. Well, you remember when Christ
came, the angel sang, Glory to God in the highest and on earth,
peace, goodwill toward men. See, that's the only place peace
is found within the one who came to make peace, to reconcile sinners
to a holy God who can't come in with sin. Well, lastly, I
want to look at the provision of God. that's revealed to all
those whose eyes are open to God's reality. I think it's interesting
in the story today that we first saw the example of how God, through
Elisha, gave eyes to his servant, to the one there, of a new reality. But he initially blinded others.
He blinded the entire Syrian army. And in consideration of
that, we're reminded of the truth that Christ set forth in John
9, 39. There he said, For judgment I am come into this world, that
they which see not might see, and they which see might be made
blind. But today I want to focus more
on the giving of sight. That's a whole message in and
of itself, that judgment that Christ came to. But we're not
going to have time for that today as well as the others. I want
us to consider that this Israeli servant of Elisha was not the
only one whose eyes were opened to a new reality. In the story
of how God, after he blinded the Syrian army, we see he gave
them sight. He restored their sight. It reminds
us of how God gives spiritual sight to all, all of those for
whom that miraculous blessing has been purchased. of all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus, Jew and Gentile alike. And so, in
seeing valid pictures here in both cases, that is, with both
the Israelite servant as well as the Syrian army, we're reminded
that it's the religious, typified by the Jews. See, they were given
the law of Moses. And the non-religious, typified
by the Syrians, that both are Blind, initially blind to God's
reality, all have sinned. And so it requires a miraculous
opening of the eyes of our understanding for anyone to behold the reality
of the provision that God makes for His people in Christ. That's
an enlightenment that begins with what the scripture calls
a new birth. As Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again. You have to have life, spiritual
life. Well, first note that Elisha
prayed, and in keeping with that prayer, God smoked the Syrian
army blind, and so it is with all humanity. We're smitten by
the fall, the fall of Adam. As Romans 5, 12 reads, wherefore
is by one man sin entered into the world, speaking of Adam,
and death by sin, that's the result, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. We come into this world, we're
born into this world physically, but we're spiritually dead. And
so being dead, dead men can't see. We lack the faculties of
spiritual life. We come into the world as blind
men, blind to the glory of God in the face, the person and work
of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6. Ephesians 5, 8, referring
to believers. the children of God, it reads,
For ye were sometimes, that means in times past, you were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light, and the Lord walketh as children
of light. Colossians 1, 13 and 14, speaking
of God, says, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. Be turning now to Isaiah chapter
59. As you turn, keep in mind now
how the Syrian army, they were led blindly, groping along perhaps,
to find their way to the man of God, Elisha, when in actuality
Elisha was leading them there. And we see that the eyes of their
understanding then, if not their physical eyes, were definitely
obscured as they were smitten. And so is it with all who come
into this world, submitting by the fall. Now, here in Isaiah
59, the prophet is describing this blindness that is common
to all, including, listen, God's sheep, God's elect, until God
miraculously gives them the faculties of life. And he does so under
the sound of the gospel message of how he saves sinners by the
power of his word applied by the Spirit. And so they see.
But this is what we are to begin with. It begins there. You might
want to read this on your own at home. It's a great description,
even beginning in verse 1. But in the interest of time,
skip down to verse 8, where we read, "...the way of peace they
know not, and there is no judgment in their goings." You see, they're
groping about. They're blind. "...They have
made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall
not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from
us, Neither doth justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold
obscurity. You see, we behold something.
We think we know a way that we can be accepted by God, but what
we actually, by nature, all initially behold is not light, but obscurity. Our eyes of our understanding
are blind. In other words, we wait for brightness,
but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the
blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday
as in the night. We are in desolate places as
dead men. That is, without the faculties
of life, including spiritual sight, whereby we behold God
as He is uniquely revealed in Christ. We behold Him as a just
God and a Savior. And so we see how our natural
fallen nature can be likened to the smitten Syrian army as
the man of God, Elisha, leads them into Samaria, right smack
dab into the kingdom of Israel. Now flip over a few pages there
to Isaiah 65. There in verse 1, God is speaking
through the prophet Isaiah. And He says, I am sought of them
that ask not for Me. I am found of them that sought
Me not. I said, Behold me unto a nation that was not called
by my name. I have spread out my hands all
the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was
not good after their own thoughts. That's what a blind man, a blind
man, he's oblivious to the reality and so he walks in a way that
seems right to him. And as it is with those who find
salvation in Christ, like the Syrian army, we have our eyes
opened. We find ourselves translated
into the kingdom, the kingdom of God's dear son. Think of that. What mercy and grace for God
to intervene on behalf of rebellious sinners such as we, to deliver
us out of the darkness and into the marvelous light of his glorious
gospel of grace. All of that while we sought Him
not, not Him as He is, but as we imagined Him to be. We walk,
as the writer of Proverbs says, in the way that seemeth right
to us, but that way ends in death and destruction. And sadly, for
all who persist in that way, you see, that's what it'll mean.
It'll mean eternal death, an abandonment, an alienation from
the very presence of God. Those who persist on that Broad
road that we all start off on, as Christ described it, that
leads to destruction. Well, having been ushered now
into the kingdom, the eyes of the Syrian army, they were open,
in verse 20, and new realities were made known unto them. You
know, there's a lot of discoveries that take place when eyes are
open. And it's true when spiritual
eyes are open to God's glorious gospel, when we find out how
every requirement and condition of our salvation was met by another,
our substitute, Jesus Christ, and that our deliverance, justice,
was served based upon His righteousness being imputed or put to our account
and that alone. Here are some things we discover.
We discover, like the Syrian army here, that He was there
all the time. The one they sought was really
there all the time, but they couldn't see Him. And so it is
with God. God's Word teaches us that he
chose a people called his elect from all eternity in Christ unto
salvation in Christ, rebellious children who are brought from
darkness to light so that they could behold him as he is. Secondly,
we find out that we had absolutely nothing to do with our arrival
into this kingdom. We had no more to do, listen,
even with procuring for ourselves the merit that we needed, the
righteousness of God in Christ, than the Syrians had in being
taken captive and delivered there into the midst of Samaria. And
we discover if judged on our very best efforts, even, listen,
our sincere religious efforts, we deserve to be destroyed. You
notice the king of Israel there, he asked twice, cannot smite
them. He wanted to attack them and
take them physically because they deserved it. They'd been
laying in ambush for his army. It's exactly what they deserved,
and that's akin to how we all start our religious journeys.
Imagine and see that we play some causal role in our salvation,
this condition on us, and that as an enemy in opposition to
God's way and the only righteousness that would satisfy And so as
enemies of God, we start out imagining that we're going to
stand before His bar of justice and plead the fact I did my part,
that I invited Jesus into my heart, or something I did to
cut the deal. In other words, ultimately conditioned,
I made the difference. My decision or something done
in me was the determining factor, we imagined, and as such, placing
it in opposition and in robbery with what it really took. What
Jesus Christ alone came to do? We deserve destruction. But God's
people who discover that are provided great provision. They're
not destroyed. The eyes of God's sheep are open
to find out that they've been taken captive. 2 Corinthians
10 verses 4 and 5 describe spiritual warfare. And it says there that
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mining through
God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, those
ways that seem right to us, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God. And what's the result?
Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
Now, that means to the obedience that he wrought out in his life
and death. Paul said, God forbid that we
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have
you been brought into this captivity? Every thought that would exalt
itself against the knowledge of God, having been cast aside,
repented of, so as to see your entire hope wrapped up in the
obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, these Syrians
discovered that a great provision was made for them there in Samaria.
And so it is, when we discover our sins were fully put away
by Christ, that He alone met every requirement and condition
on the cross. That's what we saw there in verse
23. The King didn't just give them bread and water. It says
He prepared great provision for them. With the eyes of God-given
faith, we discover the untold riches of his mercy and grace,
the blessings of heaven beyond our comprehension, why they are
what the infinitely valuable blood of Christ could purchase
for us. What a provision. Well, some
of you, like me, may wear corrective lenses, contacts or eyeglasses. And I know as a young boy when
my parents discovered that I needed glasses And I went to the optometrist
and I got my first pair. When I was riding home and I'd
look out the car window, I could see the definition of the leaves
on the trees that I had not noticed before. You see, until you're
able to see better, you don't even recognize that you're impaired,
that you were blind to some things. And so I ask today, is there
somebody you out there who's been groping about in darkness
never before? having seen with the eyes of
God-given faith the gospel of grace where we discover our blindness. And listen, we discover our folly,
not just our folly, the abstract evil of having to imagine that
we, the sinner, could play some causal role in our own salvation,
blind to the vanity of seeking to be saved by something other
than or something in addition to the merit of what Christ alone
accomplished. Well, here's a note of encouragement.
chooses to save sinners, to use the very gospel of His grace
that you've heard today. So He's providentially caused
each and every one of you to hear this message, at least with
the physical ear. And it's called the gospel that's
the power of God unto salvation in Romans 1, 16 and 17. And it
says in verse 17 that it is so because Therein is His great provision,
the righteousness of God revealed. And so my prayer is today He'll
lead you into Samaria, so to speak, into His very kingdom. Open your eyes to see this great
provision that's made for His children, for each and every
one of those that Christ came for and lived for and died for.
May your eyes be open to this reality.