Amen. Oh my. Turn in your Bibles, if
you would, to 2 Kings chapter 8. 2 Kings chapter 8. Putting
this message together today. I was so excited to see how the
Holy Spirit shows us our other depravity. Someone might say,
well, how can that excite you? Because when the Holy Spirit
shows one their utter depravity, that means he's drawn them to.
And every time I prepare a message, and every time you guys hear
a gospel message, right, we are told again and again the great
things that God has done for us. And it's wondrous. It's absolutely wondrous. Tonight's
message is called, Is Thy Servant a Dog? is thy servant a dog. Second
Kings chapter eight, we'll be reading verses seven to 15. And
the truth of man's utter depravity will be on full display tonight
in this passage. Hazel, we will see in this truth
represents the truth of depravity. In this text we'll see that he
represents the truth of the poverty, the truth of human inability,
and the truth, the truth that man do not know just how sinful
we are unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to us. We have no
clue just how sinful we are. until the Holy Spirit reveals
it to us. Amen. Even after He reveals it to us,
we still don't know, and I'll get that near the end of the
message, we still don't know the depths of our sinfulness
and the great amount that we've been forgiven through the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah we'll see in
this text again he represents the truth of the poverty, inability
of humanity to see themselves as utterly depraved. They don't
see themselves as utterly depraved. Now we do now, God's people do
now, we see ourselves as sinners. But natural man, natural woman
will not see themselves as sinners. Utterly depraved with no ability
to save themselves. Men and women in this world And
we were there once. We were there once. Cannot see
their own sinfulness. Now they'd be disgusted by things
going on. They'd be absolutely disgusted
when you tell them about things that occurred during Bible time.
They'd be disgusted by things that they see on TV. Right? And yet they're unable to see
their own utter sinfulness. You know why? Because they're
in darkness. They're in darkness for the things
of God. Listen to this. We were there. Beloved of God,
we were there. But listen to this news, David.
Listen to this, Brother Dave. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts, Brother. shine
in our hearts, to give the light and the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh my! And we've not been the
same since, have we? We've not been the same since.
Nope. Not been the same since. Oh my. And isn't it wonderful, beloved?
We've had Christ revealed to us. We've had Christ revealed
to us when we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And
by God's grace, we now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. All
by his grace, all by his mercy. It's wonderful. Let's read here
verses 7 to 15 in the text here. And Elijah came to Damascus,
and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick. And it was told him,
saying, the man of God has come to hither. And the king said
unto Unto Hazel, take a present in thine hand, and go and meet
the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall
I recover up this disease? So Hazel went to meet him and
took a present with him, even of everything good, every good
thing of Damascus, 40 camels' burdens, and came and stood before
him and said, thy son, Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, has sent me to
thee, saying, shall I recover of this disease? And Elijah said
unto him, go, saying to him, thou mayest certainly recover. How great the Lord has showed
me that he shall surely die. And he settles his countenance
steadfastly until he was ashamed. So he's looking at, he's looking
at Haziel until Haziel was ashamed. My oh my. And the man of God
wept. And Haziel said, why weepeth
my lord? And he answered, because I know the evil that thou wilt
do unto the children of Israel. Their strongholds wilt thou set
on fire, their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and
will dash their children and rip up their woman with child.
And Haziel said, but what is thy servant, a dog? That he should
do this great thing. And Elijah answered, the Lord
has showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. So he departed
from Elijah, came to his master, who said to him, what said Elijah
to thee? And he answered, he told me thou
shouldest surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow
that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread
it on his face so that he died. And Hazel reigned in his stead. So that Hazel guy took water
Right? And a cloth, dipped it in cloth
and smothered the king. Suffocated him. He's the right-hand man. He's
next in line. Now, religious men and women,
they err in seeing their own sinfulness. They're seeing it
in everyone else. And they say, man, those folks
are so sinful. Look how evil they are. but they don't realize what dwells
in their own heart. Don't realize what dwells in
their own heart. They cannot, and because of that, they cannot
receive the truth of predestination, election, particular redemption,
because all those things show their inability to save themselves. And they also reveal who we really
are by nature. We would never choose God. We would never come to God. There's none righteous, no not
one. And if God hasn't chosen, remember
what D.J. Ward said, if God hadn't chosen some, heaven would have
none. Praise God, God chose some. And
praise God, if you're a believer, we're included in that number.
What a great blessing. Oh, my. Now, when we are drawn to Christ,
this is what the Lord shows us. He shows us we're desperate sinners,
doesn't he? He did that for us, eh, Brian? He did. He showed
us. He showed us our need. You heard in the gospel, and
you're like, oh, my. I'm undone. I'm lost. I need Christ. And just like that, by God-given
faith, by the power of regeneration, we fled to Christ. And as Zane mentioned earlier,
even as believers, we're not able to plumb our sinfulness. We're not able to plumb just
how sinful we really are. And think of that in a natural
man. They don't have any idea at all. We've been enlightened
to a little bit of how sinful we are and we just cover ourselves
in sackcloth and ashes and praise God he had mercy on us, don't
we? But natural men don't see themselves as sinful. They don't
know the evil in their hearts. But God does. My, and then when
we're saved, when the Holy Spirit regenerates us, we embrace the
fact Now that we're the chief of sinners, I was telling a group
of religious guys today, I said, I'm the world's greatest sinner
to my shame. And they looked at me like I'd grown a third
eye. But none of them said, so am
I. You know why? Because they don't think they're
chief of sinners. You, Brother Dave? We're beside each other then.
Brother Zane, you're right there too, right? Sister Linda, yeah. Brother Brian, we're all, see
God's people, they're all form a whole line that way. Not that
way, that way. Horizontal. Oh my, we're all the chief of
sinners, aren't we? My, oh my. Because we've been
shown a little bit of the depths of our sinfulness, just a little
bit. But we embrace the truth of the scripture. See, the reason
why people don't think that they're as bad as they really are is
because they don't believe the scriptures. The scripture says
there's none righteous, no, not one. Which means we're all a
bunch of sinners. Scripture says there's none that
seek it after God. The only way we seek God is when he moves
first and draws us to him. And that's a miracle, isn't it?
It's wondrous. And scripture also says there's
none that understand it. We can't learn this on our own. God has
to reveal it to us. And part of the revelation of
Christ is showing us just how desperate sinners we really are,
and just how desperate we need Christ. Oh my. And if a sinner's showing
that they are lost, then they are in that state by the Holy
Spirit of God. That's God working on their heart.
Natural men will never admit they're sinners. Oh my. And if we are saved, it must
be, it absolutely must be by sovereign grace in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other way. No other
way to be saved except through Christ Jesus our Lord. And that
all comes about by the sovereign grace and power of God. Grace,
grace, wonderful grace, grace to cover what? All my sins, praise
be to God, all of them. My, makes me want to shout, I'll
tell you. And I don't mean shout like I'm
yelling, I mean shout with praise and joy in my heart. What a Savior,
what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. My. So if we're saved, it has to
be sovereign grace, beloved. And it all comes in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. We're redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what pays that which God demands for our souls. The precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What great love was manifest
at the cross. What great love, Christ dying
for the ungodly. Oh my. Think upon this. If we are restrained from any
evil, if we are restrained from any evil in sin, it's all by
the sovereign hand of God. It's not by our doing. Now you
think about that. How many times a day did God
restrain us? We don't even know, do we? We can't put a number
on it. Oh my. But if we're restrained
from sin and evil, it's all by the sovereign hand of God. My,
it's a result of sovereign restraint. Sovereign restraint. My, we keep
a dog on a leash, right? When we walk him sometimes, you
get close to a road, dog don't know it, he gonna chase the car,
right? My, Christ is that good shepherd. He just puts that crook
of that shepherd's staff around our neck, just gently pulls us
back. Oh, he's a loving, wonderful savior, isn't he? And I don't
mind being a dog on a leash if it's for the Lord, let me tell
you that, right? I don't mind that at all. I'm
thankful for restraining grace, are you? Because I know where
I'd be, and I know what I'd be doing. My, oh my. Praise God for restraining grace. Why do men and women refuse the
gospel? Well, beloved, because they really
don't think they need it. They really don't think they
need it. They don't know the depths of their own depravity.
Remember us before the Lord saved us? We didn't have any idea of
the depths of our sinfulness or the depths of our depravity.
We see in our text tonight, Elijah tells Haziel that he's going
to do a great evil. Look at verse 12. And Haziel
said, why weepeth my Lord? And he answered, because I know
the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel. Their
strongholds will thou set on fire, their young men will thou
slay with the sword, and will dash their children, and rip
up their woman with child." So remember, he's in Damascus. Elijah's
in Syria. He's in Damascus, and the king
of Syria sends Hazel, his second-hand man, to come and ask if he's
going to live. And this is what Elijah tells
Hazil, and look at Hazil's response. Look at, he don't believe it.
Look at, look at verse 13. And Hazil said, but what? Is
I serving a dog? Am I a dog? Am I a dog? That he should do this great
thing? And Elijah answered, the Lord has showed me thou shall
be king over Syria. See, Hazil can't even see the
depths of his own depravity, can he? He can't see the depths
of his sinfulness. And they shall say, surely we
cannot... You ever hear people say, well,
I'm not quite as bad off as what the Bible says. I'm not. I'm not that bad. I'm a good
person. Well, are you calling God a liar? That's exactly what
they're doing. Because God said there's none
good, no, not one. Right? There's none righteous
in his sight. There's none that understands
the sinfulness of man. The other depravity of man. There's
none that seeks God on their own. That's why scripture says
that we all love, as believers, we love this scripture. That
we'll be made willing in the day of God's power. I rejoice over that scripture,
beloved. I didn't understand it for years and years and years.
I was religious, but lost. And since the Lord showed me
grace, that's become one of the dearest verses to my soul. He
makes the unwilling willing. He takes the rebel and turns
him into a servant. He takes the blasphemer and turns
him into appraiser. Isn't that wonderful? I love
it. That's what he did for me. Does he do that for you? He's
Lord, man. He's king. He can do whatever
he pleases. And he pleased God to save us,
brother. Pleased God to save us. My! It pleased God in eternity to
choose us in Christ. And it pleased God. He's bound,
remember? They shall be saved from their
sins. He shall save them. He's legally
bound to that covenant, isn't he? And he sent his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to die in the room and place of sinners
such as we. And He saved us from our sins. You know why? Because the angel
said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, and He shall save His
people from their sins. And He has, praise God. He has. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
Isn't it wonderful? I'll tell you. Turn, if you would,
to the book of 2 Timothy, not Titus. 2 Timothy chapter 1. We see the
wonder, work, and power of God the Holy Spirit brought forth
here. This is just wondrous. Verses 1 to 11 here. My oh my. We're going to get
to our text pretty soon here. So a long introduction tonight.
2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 7. For
God hath not given us a spirit of fear. Now there's a lot of
fear in this world. Right? And I'll tell you what,
you turn the news on, it's fear mongering. I was talking to a
dear brother this week, and he was saying, you know, he turns
the news on, and somebody he loves dearly says, what are we
going to do? He goes, I'm not going to worry
about it. And this dear brother who attends here, he goes, I'm
not going to worry about it. He goes, number one, I can't do
anything about it. It's happening in another country, or it's happening
here. I can't do anything about it
at all. So why am I going to get all worked up about it? and
ruin my whole day over something I have absolutely no control
over. And I said to our brother, I said, I'm going to use that.
It's true, isn't it? God has not given us, it says
right there, He's not given us the spirit of fear. But what?
But of power and of love and of a sound mind. My oh my. And then he says this, now he's
going to bring us right in front to Christ here. Be not thou ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed. No, we're not
ashamed. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's
the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also to
the Gentile, right? Oh, nor of me, his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Look at this. This is past tense,
right? Who has saved us? We're saved right now, right? You'll say, well, I'm not sure
if I'm saved. Well, I am. He saved me right
there. I believe on Christ. He's my
only Lord. He's my savior. And I see my
desperate need for him, right? And I believe on him right now.
And look at this. Don't worry about something you
said way back then. What do you believe right now? Who are you
trusting right now? Is Christ your Lord? Is He your
Savior? Is He your all in all? Do you
see your desperate need, your great sinfulness? Well, praise
God if you do, because God's showing you that. That's a miracle. Look at this. Who has saved us?
He saved us, brother. See? We're saved. We don't have
to doubt. He saved us. That's not being
presumptuous either. He saved us. When? Two thousand
years ago. See, the preacher's just telling
people that something's already been done. And then the Holy
Spirit regenerates that person, applies that, like we talked
about, applies that, and we believe. Oh my. Who has saved us and called
us. When did he call us? Well, he
called us with an effectual call, didn't he? Called us by name. My, but he chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. What? with a holy calling. Remember what we looked at in
Sunday school? We're not to use grace for lasciviousness, right? We're not to use our liberty
to go out and sin more. God forbid, Paul says. God forbid. Who has saved us? Not, look at
this, not according to our works. Well, that means exactly what
it says. We're not saved according to our works, brother Dave. Praise
be to God. That's wonderful. But according
to his own purpose and grace, when did he purpose our salvation? Hey, amen. Before the foundation
of the world, brother. Hey, amen. Look at this. Purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. My. But now as made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who had abolished death
and had brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
We're going from darkness to light. Who did that? God did that to
us, didn't he? He made us to differ. Where unto
I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the
Gentiles. My oh my. So man by nature love
and embrace the false notion of free will. Because in their
mind and heart, it's proof that they're able to rise above what
the scriptures declare. See, people who exalt their free
will is actually exalting themselves over the scriptures. They're
saying, I don't believe what that says. Even though you ask
them, oh no, no, I believe. Your free will has reigned supreme
over God even. But that's not true. That's a
false God. That's a false God. That's not
the true and living God. No, no, no, no, no. My. And they do not believe. You
know what else they don't believe? They don't believe they're as
sinful as the scripture says. Nope. They refuse the truth that
is set before them in the scriptures, which is man's total inability
to save themselves. Say, well, I got my free will.
That free will gonna take you right to hell. You cling to that free will like
it's your God, you're going straight to hell. Thy people shall be made willing
in the day of God's power. And as I've said many times,
if God makes you willing, there ain't no one gonna stop you from
coming to Christ, right? And we're living proof of that.
We're living proof of that. So the refusal of the truth about
themselves governs their many errors, and then they get into
all kinds of other errors. I heard, I think it was Brother
Chris Cunningham said one time, you get it wrong on the fall,
you got it wrong on it all. That's so true. See, because
they say, well, everything fell in man but his free will. No,
everything in man fell in the garden. Everything. Yeah, plunged into utter darkness,
spiritual darkness. My oh my. So they cook up in
their imagination a God who they can control. See? That's the thing. That's the
error, the great error of free willism is that they've cooked
up a God who they can now control. And they begin to reinvent gods
of their own imagination. And Scripture warns that there's
another Jesus, and there's another Spirit, beloved. And that's what
it is. Will-worship, it's called in
Scriptures, too. Will-worship. We've talked about that, Zane.
Will-worship. My, oh, my. They change attributes
with God. Because they make him subject
to their will, instead of us being subject to his will, which
is the truth. If God doesn't have mercy on
us, we will never see mercy. But if God has set his eyes upon
us from eternity, we will receive the grace and mercy of God in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Undeserving sinners we are, and
yet, oh, what a great Savior. A radio preacher once tried to
explain away the fact that God hardened Pharaoh's heart by saying
that this hardening took place because God offered Pharaoh his
word. But Pharaoh refused and thus
his heart was hardened. That is so false it's not funny,
isn't it? That man on the radio was simply stating that that
man's not totally depraved. That's what he was saying. Unless
he only becomes totally depraved when he refuses the kindness
of God. I have news for you, sir. Men will always refuse the
kindness of God, unless God does something for us, right? My, oh my. Men will always refuse
God's grace, unless we're made willing in the day of God's power
by God the Holy Spirit. So many have believed wrong this
way. And it reveals the ignorance of humanity in our natural state.
And I'm not saying that looking down, because I was right there
too, and so were you, right? We might not have had the same
God that fellow had, but I definitely had a God in my imagination who
was going to weigh me in the scales of good and bad. Thinking
my good would not weigh my bad. Man, I'm just a little far down
there. I'm as far down as that scale
can go. But then the Lord puts himself
on the scale for me. And it goes like that. Oh, my, isn't that wonderful?
Isn't that wonderful? The great substitute. See, in
our natural state, we're weighed in the balances and found wanting.
But not of Christ is the great balance. Oh, it's wonderful,
isn't it? Oh my. So man refuses the kindness
of God because we're depraved. That's why before we were saved,
we refused the kindness of God. That's why we didn't want to
hear about Christ. Because in our natural depravity,
we did not want God. And depravity is not a choice. It's who we are by birth. It's
who we are, dead in trespasses and sins. It's a terrible and
incurable condition of man. Man himself can't cure it. But
you know who can? Amen, brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he done that for us, doesn't
he? We got a new heart, brother.
We got a new nature. My, it's wonderful. Oh, my. My, oh, my, oh, my. It's wonderful. What's Scripture to declare?
Now listen, people don't believe this, but this is what Scripture
declares. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Man. Like you said, we can't
even know our own hearts, right? My. So the heart's deceitful
above all, desperately wicked, and Scripture declares that a
man can no more change that depravity or control it than an Ethiopian
can change the color of his skin or a leopard can change his spots.
Scripture says this, can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard
his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah chapter 13 verse 23.
My oh my. Now let's look at our text. That
was a long introduction, but let's look at our text now. And
I did that because we're gonna see depravity on full display
here. So Elijah's going to, he's traveled to Damascus. Several
commentators said this is during the famine. All I can see here,
he's went to Damascus and he's going there because God sent
him there. God ordained that he go there. And do you know
that God had ordained that Haseel would be king over Syria? He
told Elijah, in 1st Kings 19.15. And the Lord said unto them,
Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when
thou comest, anoint Haziel to be king over Syria. And Jeru
son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elijah
the son of Shephed of Abimelech, shalt thou anoint to be prophet
in Nile. Remember, he didn't go over there.
He didn't go to Syria. He went right to, remember when
we were looking at that, he went right to where Elijah was. There's a reason. Because our
text had to come to pass tonight. And basically, this is Elijah
anointing him, but telling him, you are going to do wicked things.
You are going to do wicked, wicked things. My, because had God not
ordained that he would be king, If you want to write it down
for reference, it's 1 Kings 19.15. And he said, when thou comest
or return on the way to the wilderness of Damascus, when thou comest,
anoint Hazel to be king over Syria. So God had said it. But
Elijah didn't do it. So that which has been purposed
must come to pass, right? Elijah is now in glory. He's
now in glory. He's now face to face with the
king. He's in the presence of the Lord. My oh my, but Haziel had to be
anointed king to fulfill the word of God. In the details, Brother Tim James
says this, the details of this anointing are remarkable as this
anointing will take place by blatant homicide. So we see the
wrath of man shall praise God and the rest he will restrain. He's anointed king, even though
he's going to go and slaughter a bunch of people. My, oh, my. But see, the wrath
of man shall praise God, and the rest shall he restrain. Now, Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
is sick. Look at verses 7 and 8. And Elijah
came to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick.
And it was told him, saying, The man of God has come hither.
So he's told, well, the man of God's in Damascus. And the king
said unto Haziel, Take a present in thy hand, and go, meet the
man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I
recover of this disease? So we see here the unbowed one
is now made to bow. He never bowed to the Lord, this
king. So now he's sick. And people can change their view
on God when they become sick. And then when they get better,
They forget all about them. My, oh, my. How many have we
talked to that have no interest in the gospel who suddenly become
believers when sickness comes to their door? Or they seek out believers to
pray for. Now, we'll gladly pray for them,
won't we? Oh, yeah. It's an honor to pray for people.
We're happy to pray for anyone who asks for a prayer. But we
see here that wealth and power are not a fortress against sickness.
The rich, the poor, everyone gets sick. And everyone will
die. My oh my. Now, men may exalt
their false gods in times of health, but they don't seek their
help, do they, when they're sick? My oh my. Or if they do, there
ain't nothing coming. No man can no more save himself
by something he does than cure a toothache by his own free will. Right? If all these folks believe
what they believe about free will, they should be able to
cure all kinds of toothaches and headaches. What do they do, though,
when they get a toothache? They go to the dentist. Free will can't do nothing. Can't
do nothing. So we see Ben-Hadad sends his
chief of staff, Hazel, to fetch Elijah to go talk to him. And
notice he refers to Elijah as the man of God. Turn if you would
to 2 Kings chapter 6 verse 9. This is a big change because
now he's calling Elijah father. He's saying, thy son. But look
at this in 2 Kings chapter 6 verses 8 to 14. Let's see what this king thought
about. Let's see what this king thought about Elijah over here.
Then the king of Syria, that's Ben-Hadad, 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 sent unto
the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou shalt that thou pass not such a place
for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel
sent to the place which the man of God told him, and warned him,
and saved himself there, not once nor twice. Therefore the
heart of the king of Syria was troubled, sore, or 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? He thought there was a spy in
the midst, but God knows all the intentions and thoughts of
the heart. It's God who told Elijah this. And one of the servants
said, None, my lord, O king, but Elijah the prophet. That
is in Israel. Tell the king of Israel the words
that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he 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. Therefore sent he hither thither
horses and chariots and a great host. And they came by night
and passed the city about. He wanted, he wanted Elijah.
Remember? And Elijah's servant comes out
and goes, Oh my goodness, we're dead. And Elijah just comes out
of the house and says, no, there's more for us than there are against
us. And his servant goes, what? And he said, open his eyes, Lord.
And he opened his eyes and he beheld, oh my, what did he behold? All those, all those angels round
about. So Ben-Hadad's sick and he sends
presents to Elijah too, refers to him as son. because the children
of Israel called the prophet's father. And he even honors the
prophet by saying that surely Elijah knows the future of the
secrets of heaven by asking, shall I recover? And Elijah's
response to Hazel's inquiry is by saying that he may recover
the sickness, but he will die. Look at verses 9 and 10. So Hosea
went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good
thing of Damascus, forty camels, burden, and came and stood before
him and said, Thy son, Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, has sent me to
thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elijah said
unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover. Howbeit,
the Lord has shown me that he shall surely die. And take note
of what follows here. Let's read verses 11 to 13 now.
And he settled his countenance steadfastly until he was ashamed,
and the man of God wept. And Haziel said, Why weepest
thou, my lord? And he answered, Because I know
the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel. Their
strongholds wilt thou set fire, their young men wilt thou slay
with a sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women
with child. And Haziel said, But what is
thy servant, a dog? That he should do this great
thing? And Elijah answered, The Lord hath showed me that thou
shalt be king over Syria. Oh, there's that word shalt again,
isn't it? My, oh my. We see in verse 11 that Elijah
fixes his eyes on Haziel and in belayering silence just stares
at him. And he continues to do so until
Haziel is embarrassed. And then the prophet begins to
weep. And Haziel, he's taken back by this. He's taken back
by this. Stirred within and asks the prophet
why he weeps. And we see in verse 12 that Elijah
tells him that he's going to do all manner of evil. And that
he will murder Ben-Hadad and take his place as king of Syria.
Let's read verse 12 again. And Haziel said, why weepeth
my lord? And he answered, because I know
the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel. Their
strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt
thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and
rip up their woman with child. Now take note here that Haziel,
his response to Elijah betrays the fact that he doesn't know
just how evil he really is. And this is true of all of us.
This is true of all of us, beloved. Natural man especially, but even
us, after we're saved, we're learning just how sinful we are,
aren't we? Oh my gosh, and as we grow in
grace, I believe we grow in the knowledge of I'm the chief of
sinners. We see ourselves more of sinners
rather than less. I called Donnie, you guys know
I called Donnie one time, I said, Donnie, I'm getting worse instead
of better. He goes, you're growing in grace, brother. Oh my. But look at this. He betrays the fact that he doesn't
know his own heart by saying, am I a dog? And Haziel said,
but what is thy servant, a dog, that he should do this great
thing? And Eliza answered, the Lord has showed me that thou
shalt be king over Syria. Now Haziel can't imagine that
he would kill women and children, women with child. He couldn't
imagine that he'd murder this many people. He couldn't imagine
that he's a murderer at heart. And he can't believe that he's
a murderer already. And this is the dilemma of depravity,
beloved. This is the dilemma of depravity.
Depravity prevents the heart from knowing and owning its own
condition. The property believes that lack
of evil behavior flows from personal goodness. That's how we thought,
right? Yeah, it does. Therefore, it's
unable to realize that lack of evil behavior is solely the result
of sovereign restraint. Why didn't we go crazy before
the Lord save us? because of God's sovereign, and
I mean headlong into sin when I say that, because God restrained us. Now,
we were bad enough as it was, weren't we? We sinned more than one day
to damn a thousand souls, didn't we? And we still do, but praise be
to God, we're saved, washed in the precious blood of Christ.
My, so, and think of this too. I was thinking about this today.
Think how truly evil this world would be if God's restraining
hand wasn't upon the world. Oh my, we think it's bad now?
It's scary, isn't it, brother? It'd be living hell. My, oh my. Oh, praise God for his restraining
hand. Hmm. See, he doesn't know that
there's an unrighteous, no, not one. He doesn't understand the
depravity of his heart. He's saying, am I a dog? You
know what he's doing there? He's attributing such evil to
a wild beast. He's actually exalting himself
over the animal. I'm not a dog like that. That's
what a dog would do. No, that's what a human would
do. And we've seen proof of it, right? We've seen proof of it
through history. I was watching this thing today
on the Roman society and everything. They were saying that the Romans,
when Caesar went into Gaul, he basically destroyed generations
of Gauls. And basically, he wiped out 2%
of the world's population at that time. And then this fellow was going,
well, you know, they're wondering why the Romans were so evil and
so wicked. And they said, well, maybe there
was lead in the pipes, because they used leaded pipes to take
their water and deliver it. So this guy's saying, well, maybe
it was lead in the pipes. And I'm on my lunch, eating my
lunch, right? I've already got to hop the message
down. I'm eating my lunch. I'm going, it's sin! It's sin! That's why. Lead in the pipes. Come on. They're like they are because
they're a bunch of sinners. They're depraved. My, come on. See, but natural men don't see
that. They don't see that. My. He attributed again such evil
to a beast and not man. And again, he was equating this
evil that Eliza spoke of to like an animal. And was therefore
exalting himself. I'm not like that. Oh, it's in all of us, beloved.
My, oh, my. It's the nature of depravity
to think that we're capable of guarding against that which easily
overwhelms us. Turn if you would to Matthew
chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26. My, oh, my. And as we read this section here, keep an eye on verse 35. We're
going to start in verse 30, but keep an eye on verse 35 when
we get there. And this shows you it's in all of us. And when they had sang a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto
him, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For
it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto
them, All men shall be offended because of thee, yet I will never
be offended." My, we see ourselves in Peter,
don't we? Oh my. Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, this night before the cock crow, thou shalt deny
me thrice. And then look at this. Peter
said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not
deny thee. And then look at this last part.
This last part is what struck me. Likewise also said all his
disciples. He said, Well, we're not going
to leave you, Lord. We're with you. And what happened? They all scattered. All of them. See, the Lord knew their heart.
The Lord knew what was in them. And they're his people and he
loves them. See that look, you know that look that the Lord
gave Peter after the cock crowed the third time? You know that
look? And Peter was ashamed and he ran off. That was a look of
love, beloved. That was a look of love. He wasn't
looking at him going, there you go, Peter. That was a look of
love, beloved. He knew he's just a weak sinner.
My oh my. Now let's read verses 14 and
15. Oh, look at this. So he departed
from Elijah and came to his master who said unto him, what said
Elijah to thee? And he answered, he told me that
thou should surely recover. And it came to pass in the morrow
that he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on
his face, so that he died, and Hazel reigned in his stead."
There it is. Hazel could not believe that
he would do the things which Elijah had said he would do.
He couldn't believe it. He didn't know the wickedness
of his own heart, did he? But when he was made king, he
now has a newfound authority. I was working one time at Circuit
City years and years ago. And I was a salesman, did really
well there. And in the store, I did really well. And there
was another young man that was in audio video. And they had
asked me if I wanted to get into management. And I said, no, I
can make more money selling stuff than being in management. And
plus, I don't want the headaches. And so this other guy they hired,
you know what happened? It went right to his head. It
went right, he changed overnight. Now if he had stayed the same
guy he was before, he'd have been a great leader. But he changed
just like that. How many times have you seen
people change when they get a little bit of power? Just a little bit
of power and they start winging it around. See, that's why I
always say that Brian, you and I, and Dan and Travis, we're
all in the midst of everybody. There's no vaulting anybody over
anybody else. We lead in the midst. We're all
the same, just safe sinners, gathering here, rejoicing about
the great things Christ has done for us. But see, power changes
people sometimes. And if it wasn't for the grace
of God, it'd change all of us. Right? And think of this. Think
of this. Honor and power changes man's
attitudes. And rarely for the better. More for the worse. Think
of us. We're, and I'm just saying lower
society in the sense that we're not government officials, right?
We're not government officials. But folks who are always on the
bottom always think, man, those guys. Right? Those fellas. Man, all they do is evil. And then the guys in the power
go, I'm not going to listen to those little fellows. See, they're
drunk. They're intoxicated with power.
They're intoxicated with it, beloved. My, oh my. My. We may disdain David taking Uriah's
wife and having him killed, but we know that nothing of intoxic-
we don't know anything of that intoxicating power that he had
when no one could tell him what to do. The king's word is it. Right? We have no idea of that power. We don't understand that power. And once the seeds had been planted
and the possibility was in Haziel's heart, it was no big deal for
him to murder the king. He went into the king's chamber
to tell him Elijah's report, and the next day he went in and
smothered him. My, oh my. He felt like he wasn't a dog. Oh, only a beast would do such
a thing, he said. But we see the king lay there
in his weakness. And the opportunity presented
itself. Right? And at the same time, inclination. And what he was truly capable
of came to the forefront. What he was truly capable of
came to the forefront. And he murdered the king. He
murdered the king. To think that he had a choice
in the matter to deny what was in his heart and what is in ours. It's only the restraining grace
of God that keeps us from the most wicked sins, beloved. That's
all. My, oh my. Because of his depraved
heart, he couldn't do anything else. Again, why were those Romans
as brutal as they were? Because they're a bunch of sinners
and they have depraved hearts, just like we did when we were
born into this world. My oh my. Such is the case with
everyone born of a woman. If we harbor in our minds the
delusion that we are somehow above certain sin or certain
behavior, you know what we're doing? We're deceiving ourselves.
Left to ourselves, the true you, the true me will emerge. And
we can't imagine how vile that person is. Oh, I know what we went through,
Dave, but we can't even imagine how vile we would be. Oh, amen,
I know. But for the grace of God, eh?
And the believer knows this about himself or herself. And we constantly
seek the Lord. That's why we constantly seek
the Lord. We know who we are. Even as safe sinners, we know
who we are. And the only hint, what's the only remedy? You must
be born again. You must be born again, beloved.
Oh my, that we who are the redeemed remember we've not risen above
our depravity. Our depravity is sovereignly subdued by our
great God. That's what it is. This flesh wants to do so many
wicked things, doesn't it? And what subdues our flesh? The
sovereignty of God. Isn't that wonderful? And when
we do give into the flesh, what happens? We're on our face. God
forgive me. My. Turn if you would to Romans
chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Oh. What's the believer's cry? God
be merciful to me the sinner, right? That's the believer's
cry, isn't it? Oh my. Look at this. Romans chapter
7 and we're close shortly after this. Romans chapter 7. Look at this. Starting in verse 15. Autobiography
of the believer here. Paul's rightness, he's a believer.
Some folks foolishly say, oh he wouldn't say that. He's a
believer when he's writing this. He's a believer, beloved, because
he says, therefore there is now no condemnation to those in Christ
Jesus who walk not in the flesh, but after the Spirit in chapter
8 verse 1. Look at this. For that which
I do allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate,
that do I. Is that so with you and I? Oh
my. If then I do that which I would
not, I can send unto the law that it is good. Now then there's
no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know
that in me, that's my flesh, this flesh we have dwelt, no
good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that
which is good I find not. Well, the will's no good there,
is it? Oh my, oh my. For the good that I would do,
not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members,
warned against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Now here we go. Here we go. I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. And then in Romans chapter 8
verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those, right,
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. So you gotta tie that verse in.
That's why that chapter break, oh my! Yeah, let's take that
chapter break and move it away. There's no condemnation to those
in Christ Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, praise
God for the restraining grace of God, beloved. Oh, may God
in his mercy continue to restrain us. Continue to restrain us.
Praise God for his mercy. Praise God for his mercy in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we say amen and amen.
Brother Dave, can you close us in prayer?