Open your Bibles if you would
to 2nd Kings. 2nd Kings chapter 6. We'll continue
our study and we will see here a prayer for opened eyes. A prayer for opened eyes. And we know that unless the Lord
opens our eyes we will never know him. Never know who he is
and never know what he's done. Never know His glorious gospel,
but when He opens our eyes and opens our understanding, we're
able to receive with gladness by faith, given faith, after
we're regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, we're able to
receive the Word of God with gladness. With gladness, because
it tells us all about our Savior and His wondrous work. Now, in
this passage, great comfort is found for the people of God,
because it sets forth in a very clear way the fact how the believer
in Christ is kept by God. We are kept by God. That no weapon
that's formed against us shall prevail. And that's not presumption. That's truth. That's what the
scripture says. And we're going to see that tonight, where the
whole host of the Syrian army comes up against Elijah. And his servant is terrified,
but Elijah's not at all. And Elijah will tell him, there's
more for us than against us. And we'll see that Elijah prays
that his servant's eyes will be opened, and we're going to
see what happens. It's absolutely incredible. Now, we know that
in this world, the enemies of Christ are everywhere. They're
all over. They're all over. We know from our master's own
words that they hate him. And because they hate him, they're
going to hate all who are in him. So we shouldn't marvel when
the world hates us. And we're gonna see Elijah coming
up against that tonight. And scripture says this, our
master said this in John 15 verses 18 to 21. He said, if the world
hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you love the world, the world
would love his own. And that's so true, right? The
world loves their own. Oh, they love their own. They
make grandiose things when they pass away, but a saying that
God can pass away and nobody says nothing. except the few
people who knew them. We weep for Saul because of our
loss, but we praise God for their gain, that they're now in the
presence of the Lord. And the Scripture says, the Master
says this, but because you are not of the world, but I have
chosen you. That's true of every born-again,
blood-loss believer. I've chosen you out of the world.
Therefore, the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also. But all these things they do
unto you for my name's sake, because of me, he's saying. Why
does the world hate us? Because of Christ. Because of
the one we love and adore. I think I've told you before,
I had a cousin write me one time and said, I had to unfollow you
on Facebook. He said, I'm not gonna unfriend
you. It's like, who cares, okay, right? He said, but I'm gonna
unfollow you because you love Jesus too much. And I asked him,
I said, do you love your wife? And he said, yeah. And I said,
well, I love Christ, because I'm part of the bride of Christ,
and he's the bridegroom, and I love him. My, oh, my. They just don't understand, though.
They have no understanding. And I was there. I was just like
him. But by the grace of God, I am what I am now. I'm a blood-washed,
born-again, saved sinner. And so are you. We praise God
for that, don't we, brother? We praise God for that. But all
these things, he says, they will do unto you for my name's sake
because they know not him that sent me. They don't know God.
And they prove that they don't know God by hating God's people.
Isn't that incredible? No matter what they profess,
if they hate God's people and they hate the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace, which we know is the one true gospel,
then they hate God. Oh my. in the words of the master, brings
forth that enmity between natural man and the born-again blood-washed
believer when he says, if the world hate you, you know that
it hated me before it hated you. So they can't get to Christ,
can they? But they can get to his servants
here on this earth. But they can't get to Christ.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father. He finished the work
of salvation for his people. He purchased their eternal souls
by the shedding of his precious blood. He's enthroned in glory. He's high above all this world.
And remember, this world is a footstool to him. Oh, my. They can't touch him, but they
can persecute God's people on this earth, and that's what they
do. That's what they do. They cannot get to Christ our
King. He's seated on the right hand of the Father. He finished
the work. Now let's read verses 8 to 10
of 2 Kings chapter 6. It says, Then the king of Syria
warred against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying,
In such and such a place shall be my camp. And 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. 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 the king of Syria proclaimed
a war against the king of Israel, took counsel with his generals,
and now they encamped in a place where they were waiting to ambush
the king of Israel and his men, waiting for him to pass by unawares. And then they would fall upon
them and destroy them. But God knows what they plan,
doesn't he? And he revealed it for the prophet. And the prophet
Elijah, he warned the king of Israel. And we see that the king
was delivered from his foes. So we see the king of Israel's,
or the king of Syria's plans are thwarted by the prophet Elijah. You ever stopped and think of
how many times God has thwarted our enemies? that planned something
against us, and he thwarted them. Not just individually, but even
as a church. And how he stopped those plots. He's delivered us, beloved. How
many times has he delivered us from spiritual foes? We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against princes and principalities.
How many times has the Lord delivered us from that stuff? How many
times have the Lord restrained us from going headlong into sin
that would have destroyed us? My many times, beloved, many
times. And when you start thinking about
this stuff, it'll just make you start praising God for the things
that he's done for us. And let us think upon those during
the days and days that will come. Let us think, Lord, you've delivered
me, you've delivered me, you've delivered me. Praise God, you've
delivered me from myself, my sin, right? My, we're thankful
for that, aren't we? We're gonna shout and praise
to the matchless grace of our great God in Christ. We've received
all these blessings in and through Christ Jesus our Lord, God incarnated
in the flesh. And there are numberless times
when we're unaware, unconscious of our Lord delivering us from
spiritual foes. And never forget, our Lord's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just as he delivered
Moses, just as he delivered Noah, just as he delivered Abraham,
just as he delivered Isaac, he doesn't change, he delivers his
people. He continues to deliver his people, beloved. Time and time and time again.
And how does he do it? All by his might and power. All
by his might and power. So may God give us grace and
strength during times of tribulation and trials and struggles. Let's
read now verses 11 to 14. We see the king of Syria, he
can't get his hands on the king of Israel. So now he's gonna
turn his attention now on the king's servant, Elijah. See, the enemies of God can't
get to God, beloved. But they turn their eyes on his
servants, which is you and I, all the born-again, blood-washed
believers. The world turns their eyes on us. And Elijah's a man
of God. So again, what a picture we see
of our spiritual enemies, that they can't get their hands on
the king, Can't get their hands on the Lord Jesus Christ, so
they turn their attention to God's servants on earth. Let's
look at 2 Kings chapter 6 verses 11 to 14. Therefore the heart
of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing. He was
mad. The king of Israel escaped out
of his hands. He was mad. He's mad, beloved. calls the
servants and said unto them, will you not show me which of
us is for the king of Israel? So he thinks right away, I got
a spy in the midst. Somebody let my plan out of the
bag. Little did he know that God warned
Elijah. See, the king of Syria forgot
one thing. Well, he didn't believe it. That there's one true living
God. And he will care for his people. He will watch over his
people. He never slumbers in his sleep, beloved. Even when
we're sleeping and have no conscience of what God's doing, He's watching
over us and protecting us. My, oh my. He says, and one of his servants
said, none, oh my Lord, none, my Lord, oh King, but Elijah
the prophet that is in Israel, tell the King of Israel the words
that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. Oh my. So he had spoken these
words in his bedchamber. There's nobody else around. And
he said, go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch
him. Now he don't want to just fetch
him, he wants to kill him. And it was told him, saying,
behold, he is in Dothran. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed
the city about. So here they come. They come
under the cover of darkness. And they come and they surround
this whole city. chariots, horsemen, soldiers, soldiers, a great host,
foot soldiers too. Note in verse 11, we see that
the, revealed that verse 11 brings forth one of the traits of unbelief,
suspicion. He thinks it's one of his own
people. Oh, he thinks his plans were thwarted by a spy. There must be a spy in the camp
who warned the king of Israel. And he's totally unaware that
it's God Almighty that's revealed this to Elijah. And Elijah then
went to the king. Went to the king. And the king of Syria not being
able to fall upon and destroy the king of Israel, now he sets
his sights on the prophet of God. Now he asks, where is he? Where's that fellow? And he finds
out he's in Dothrain. Well, he's going to secure him
with chariots and horses. He's expecting to take him captive.
He might even expect to take him captive, and then the king
of Israel give himself over, because the prophet of God is
so important to Israel. We don't know. He said, but he
did say don't kill him, but you can sure as well bet that he
wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him. It was in his heart.
But God wouldn't allow that to happen. Nope. Now if it was God's will for
it to happen, it would have happened. But we're going to see it wasn't
God's will for that to happen. My oh my. So this king, he's
spitting mad. He's spitting mad. And these
Syrians are coming about the city and there's a reason. There's
a reason. Because God's going to show Elijah's
servant, now remember he's got a new servant. Gehaz is gone,
right? He's gone last chapter. And we
don't know how many years this is after Naaman, because Naaman's
not even mentioned in here. So we don't know if Naaman died.
We don't know. Or if he's no longer in the service,
we have no idea. He's not even mentioned here,
though. You remember, he was the captain of the guard of the
king of Syria. But he's not mentioned here.
And we see this mad attempt of the king Assyria to take the
prophet. And this sets forth the bitterness of the carnal
mind, the natural mind against God. And against his servants. And against his servants. And
it's always the same. It just manifests itself under
different circumstances. Look what it says here in 2nd
Kings 6.12, And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king,
but Elijah the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king
of Israel the words that thou speakest in the bedchamber. My, oh, my. We see that the accusation
is against the king of... The accusation is brought against
Elijah. That he's the one who told the
king of Israel. But the king of Syria spoke this in his bedchamber. And then God revealed it to Elijah.
So we see here that God hears everything and sees everything,
beloved. He knows the intents and thoughts
of man. He knows the hearts of man. He
knows our hearts are desperately wicked. That's why we need a
new heart. That's why we need to be born
again, beloved. We have a new heart that hungers and thirsts
after righteousness now. Nothing's hid from our great
God. He knows the thoughts and intents of the King Assyria while
he was awake and while he was sleeping. And it's the same with
us. It's mine. Elijah's made aware of the intent
of the King Assyria by God and the King Assyria's plans was
thwarted. Now it's not comfortable for
even we who are believers to think that nothing about us is
hid from God, but it's true. But you know what? Nothing we
say, and I'm gonna say this, and nothing we do as true born-again
blood-washed believers can change the fact that we're saved and
sanctified in Christ. Because our standing before God
is not in anything we do, it's in what Christ has done. And
we all know that doesn't give us a license to go out and go
crazy, we know that. But it's truth. It's truth, beloved. My oh my. So imagine the surprise of the servant of Elijah, when all of a sudden
he's going to see this host of Syrians around him. And what comfort for the Lord
Jesus, what comfort for us to know that all our sins are forgiven
in Christ. All of them. What comfort for
you and I as believers. All our sins in thought, word,
and deed are washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember no more. And all we can say is praise
his mighty name. Let's read verses 13 and 14 again. We see the king
had sent his armies and surrounded the city of Dothan for one man. Because of one man. One man. Elijah. This king is in a blind
rage. He's frothing. And he believes if he can destroy
Elijah then he'll put an end to the people of God. Look what
he says in verses 13 and 14, And he said, Go and spy where
he is, that I may send and fetch him. And he was told, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and passed
the city about. Now take note again, the Syrian
army is totally surrounded this town. Totally surrounded the city.
It's totally surrounded. That's a lot of soldiers. That's
a lot of soldiers. And the king of Syria can't kill
the king of Israel, but now he seeks to take out the messenger. And we see that he's taken his
great host and now surrounded the city. And next we see that
Elijah's servant, and we know it's not Gehazi, right? Is that his name, Gehazi? That
was his name, wasn't it? I got it all mixed up in my mind
there. We know it's not Gehazi because he's left now. So he's
got a new servant. Look at verse 15 of 2nd Kings
chapter 6. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early and gone forth. So he's getting up to
probably go out and get water. We don't know. Behold, a host
can pass the city, both with horses and chariots. And his
servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? So he walks out there, beloved,
wherever the house was, and he looks around, and all he sees
is this host of Syrian armies. They probably had their flags
for each little group. They have their flags to designate
them. And he's looking around, and he's looking around, and
he's looking around, and the whole city is surrounded by this
huge host of Syrian soldiers. Huge host. He runs to Elijah and says, what
are we going to do? What are we going to do? He runs
to the master. He's asking, how are we going
to go? How are we going to get out of this? It seems impossible.
He hasn't been around Elijah very long, has he? Oh my. Oh my. This servant, even though he
was around the spiritual man, another servant around the spiritual
man, the prophet of God, saw many things that he did. No,
he still didn't see things. He's caught up in unbelief just
like that. And you know what? We'd all be
the same. Wouldn't we? Let's be honest. Can you imagine
there was some foreign nation wrapped around Elmont, Michigan?
You'd be like, what in the world is going on? Oh my gosh, right? Oh my. And Elijah's answer to his servant
in verse 16, he calmly, look at how calmly he tells it, he
calmly tells him this, and he answered, fear not, I love those
words, our Lord speaks those words often to his people, don't
he? Fear not, for they that be with me are more, or they that
be with us are more than they that be with them. Now imagine
the surprise of the serpent. Could you imagine this, brother?
If we were that servant, we'd be like, what? There's just you and I, Elisha. There's just us. Oh, he sees all the Syrian host. He's looking at the physical,
do you see? See, he's looking at the physical. He's not looking
at spiritual. And the scripture says, you and
I have been talking about this, we don't wrestle with flesh and
blood, but against princes and principalities, spiritual weakness
in high places. My oh my. So Elijah's speaking of spiritual,
and basically he's saying what Paul says, if God be for us,
who can be against us? And there are some among us who
hear the gospel and yet do not see Christ. But our prayer is
that God would open their eyes, right? Open their eyes to behold
the blessed Savior, to behold the Lord Jesus Christ, to behold
the word of God by faith, God-given faith, and hear the word of God. Not as man's words, not as my
words being spoken, but that God would take these words and
apply them to your heart. Oh my. Now let's look at verse 17. And
Elijah 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 Elijah. One angel killed over 100,000
men. This host of Syrians, I don't
know how many they were, but they were huge, are nothing before
even one angel. And look what it says here. And
Elijah prayed and said, Lord, only Jehovah can open our eyes,
right? I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. Oh, isn't
that our prayer for our friends and our family members and people
we know that don't know Christ? Isn't that our prayer? Lord,
open their eyes. Please open their eyes, Lord,
that they might see you. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain that
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elijah. Just
going right around him. Just going right around him.
And God answered this prayer, didn't he? Real quick. He answered
this prayer. The circumstances again before
us, the king of Syria was after the prophet Elijah. Let us remember we have an adversary
who is the enemy of our souls, just like this king seeks to
destroy us. But beloved, we are encamped
round about and shielded by our great God. who holds us and keeps us in
his everlasting arms, protecting us from our enemies. And take note again, Elijah reckons
his servant's natural sight as no sight at all. He says, open
his eyes, Lord, please. In contrast to true sight, being that which sees the invisible
and trusts our great God, who we cannot see with physical eyes,
but we can see with the eye of faith, can't we? By God-given
faith, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, even though we've
never seen Him. We rest our eternal souls upon Him. Oh my. In Hebrews chapter 11,
turn there if you would, Hebrews chapter 11. worried about Moses, who looked
to our great God by faith. And we know that faith, that
faith is the same faith you and I have, beloved. The faith of
the Old Testament saints is the same faith we have. Because there's
only one faith. One spirit who regenerates God's
people. One spirit who regenerates God's
people. One faith who God gives to His people. That God gives
to His people, right? Same faith. The Old Testament
saints look to the Messiah, we look back to the Messiah. All
of us are looking to the Messiah, aren't we? We're looking to Christ
and Him alone. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
11 verses 24 to 29. By faith, Moses, by faith, same
faith you and I have, beloved, by faith. Looks to Christ. When
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. Remember, Pharaoh's daughter found him in that little
ark, little ship, that his mom had made, down the river. She picked him up out of the
river and raised him as her own. And then she called for a, what
are they called? Nursemaid? It just happened to
be Moses' mom. My, isn't the Lord amazing? Isn't
he incredible? Oh my. Didn't just happen to
be. Oh my. Choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. Some believe that Moses may have been in line to
be the next pharaoh. Because the pharaoh at that time
had no son. And his daughter was raised in Moses as his own
son. And as far as we know, she didn't
have any other kids. Look at this. Steaming the reports
of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in all of Egypt.
At that time, Egypt was one of the richest countries in the
world. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. Who's our reward? Christ. He's looking to Christ. Remember
our Lord said to Abraham, I'm your exceeding reward. By faith,
he forsook Egypt. Same faith we have, beloved.
Not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing
him who is invisible. Look at that. Seeing him who
is invisible. That's what we do by faith, right?
We look to him who is invisible. Can't see him, but yet we know
he's real. We know he's alive. We've been
given faith. My oh my. You know, when you're
born again and given faith to believe, you believe. You believe
what God's word says. One day, the day before, we weren't
believing that, and the next second that we're regenerated
and given faith, we believe. Isn't that amazing? That's a
miracle of God, beloved. Through faith, he kept the Passover.
and the sprinkling of the blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch him. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you." Moses was under the blood, just like all the Israelites
that night. He was under the blood, too.
He had to be, that he not be destroyed by the destroyer. By
faith, they passed through the Red Sea as dry land. which Egyptians are saying to
do, were drowned. So here God opened up the, and
I mean literally opened up. And it was dry ground, not like
this junk you see on the History Channel where they said, well,
it's just a little bit of water. Well, right here. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land. There wasn't a drop of water
on that land. And that sea parted by the power
and might of God. And they went across that on
dry land. That's what it says. There wasn't
even, like I said, there wasn't even a piece of moisture around. Dry land. And then here's the
Egyptians. They see them. They're like,
we're going to go after them. And they fly in there after them.
And then their wheels fall off their chariots. And then when that last Israelite
got to the other side, down comes the water, which pictures the
wrath of God, down upon the enemies of God's people. And they're
destroyed, drowned. That's what it says. Now faith, look at verses one
to three in Hebrews 11. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. How can we
hope for something if we see it? We can't. We hope for things
we can't see. So our hope is in Christ, who
we can't see. For by the elders obtained a good report. Through
faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God,
so that things which are seen were not made of things which
do appear. Look at that. framed by the Word of God. Who's
our Savior? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Word of God.
All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. John chapter 1 verse 3, or 1
to 3. He's it. In John chapter 1 verse 14, the
word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as
the glory of the only begotten Son of God. My. By faith, beloved. And those, there are those who
have natural sight of religion, but they're not born again. They
may be very religious. They may attend church. They'll
lend a hand when it's needed. They even may perceive to help
you when you're in great danger. But seeing those things and doing
those things don't justify you before God. The believer can
only be justified in the one who we cannot see, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they become like this servant
of Elijah's, this young servant of Elijah. And then we see the prayer of
God's people in verse 17. It's amazing. Lord, I pray that
you open his eyes and he may see. Oh Lord, open. That's what we pray about the
messages as they go forth. Open the eyes of your lost sheep,
oh Lord. That they may see you, that they
may behold you by faith. Oh my. And we see again the prayer of
God's people. Open their eyes, Lord. Don't be deceived by the pleasures
of the world or the riches of this world. They're all fleeting. They're all fleeting. Don't be
deceived by the lion tongue which says, oh, you've got all kinds
of time. Today is the day of salvation.
Today? What if the Lord requires your
soul tonight? We don't know. We have no idea at all. Oh. What if tomorrow never comes?
What if the Lord requires your soul tonight? Scripture says,
behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.
And our prayer as believers is, Lord, open their eyes. Open their
eyes that they may behold you. Oh, that they may behold you
by faith. Regenerate them, we pray, Lord.
Give them faith to believe on you. See, we don't see him, but we
see his handiwork all around us, don't we? We got these flowers sitting
on the porch. Just a little pot about this
big. Flowers maybe that high. And they are some of the most
beautiful flowers I've ever seen in my life. And I look at those and I think,
my lord you are magnificent. You've spun that and made that.
And it's different than all the other flowers in our garden.
Isn't that incredible? We love planting gardens. It's nice.
And all those different flowers. Do you know we're, as believers,
we're in the Lord's garden? We're an enclosed garden. And
you know he has plants of all different kinds. Some from the
U.S., some from Canada. Right? Some from all different
nations. And we're planted by God in his
garden. And in sin, our sins, they grow up like weeds, don't
they? And he just plucks them out. He's a good gardener, isn't he?
He's a good husbandman. My, oh my. He sustains all things, beloved. Look at verse 17 again. And Elijah
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 Elijah. My, oh my. You know, what does this show
us, too? This shows us that there's no seeing Christ without his
light, without his revelation. Because who does Elijah pray
to that would open this young man's eyes? Elijah couldn't open
his eyes. He said, Lord, I pray you do this. I pray you open
his eyes. See, God must do that for us.
God must regenerate us. God himself seeks us out. We're
his lost sheep. He seeks us out. He didn't come
to save the whole. He didn't come to save people
who say, well, I don't need anything. I don't need nothing. I don't
need no one. I don't need no God. He's a crutch. I'll tell
you what. He ain't a crutch. He's the Savior
of our souls. And we are fallen people, aren't
we? We need Christ. We need Him. And whether a man
thinks he needs Him or not, he needs Him. My. But there's no
seeing Christ by our own light. We don't have any light. We're
in darkness. But when we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God,
and then we behold he who is the light, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who's our salvation. And then our prayer after that
is, Lord, please open the eyes of our friends and our family
and coworkers, if it be your will, our neighbors. It takes spiritual eyes to see
spiritual truth. That's what we're being taught
here too. See, Christ has revealed himself to us and he sent the
Holy Spirit of God, right, who will teach us the things of Christ.
We can't learn this stuff on our own. We could read all the
time and not know anything unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to
us. Isn't that wonderful? But his love for us, he just
reveals Christ to us. He just keeps revealing Christ
to us. Isn't that wonderful? And just when we need it, the
scripture will light right up. We may have read it 100 times.
And here, just light it up like that for our hearts. Maybe a
preacher preaching on it, and maybe you're just reading it
on your own. But he always gives us what we need. And only God
can give us sight to behold Christ. We see in our text in verse 17,
Elijah's praying that God would give his servants seeing eyes,
his servants seeing eyes. That he would open not his natural
eyes, but the eye of faith. Give him faith to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when his eyes were open, how's their eyes be open? You
must be born again. Did he do anything? Did he pray
a prayer or do anything? God just opened his eyes like
that, didn't he? Just like that. God can save us without us moving
a muscle. Just like that. My. When his eyes were open,
he saw, he saw that they were surrounded by an impenetrable
angelic wall. Chariots of fire, like those
that had taken Elijah to heaven, beloved. Round about them. Do you think any of them Syrian
soldiers are getting through that? My. And the horses and chariots
of fire were around Elijah but the young man could not see them
as spiritual horses. Chariots are angelic beings belonging
to the spiritual domain. When he first looked at it, all
he saw was the Syrian army. But when he was given eyes to
see, what did he see? Oh, he saw this whole host. Could you imagine the joy that
flooded his soul when he saw them? Could you imagine the joy
that flooded his soul when he beheld this great angelic host
which protected them? And again, Elijah didn't tell
this young man what he had to do. You gotta come walk over
here. You gotta repeat this prayer.
He didn't say any of that, did he? He said, Lord, just open
his eyes. See, that's our prayer. That's our prayer. That should
be our prayer for friends and loved ones. Lord, please open
their eyes that they may behold you. You. And we are God's people, cannot
give spiritual sight to anyone. But we pray, we pray to our great
God who can give spiritual sight to his lost sheep. He can regenerate
them in a heartbeat. Oh my, Christ did a mighty work
to save his people, didn't he? He sacrificed himself. He went
to Calvary's cross and shed his precious, precious blood to redeem
our eternal souls, beloved. And God, the Holy Spirit, reveals
Christ to sinners of God's own choosing and teaches us the things
of Christ by being born again, revealing the deep things of
God to us. We marvel, we marvel, beloved, we marvel that we have
received the Spirit of God and that he will guide us into all
truth. Listen to this in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 9 to 13. But as it is written, I have
not seen, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of men, our wildest imaginations of beauty, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit. I will go into heaven, beloved,
where there be no more sin. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of man save the Spirit of man, which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. We don't
know anything of God until the Holy Spirit regenerates us. That's
what that's saying. In 1 Corinthians 2.11, then it
goes on. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world,
but the Spirit which is of God, the Holy Spirit. that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God, that we might
know that we have the forgiveness of all our sins in Christ, that
we might know that we are now justified before God, that we're
now sanctified in Christ, all of these spiritual blessings
in Christ, that we might know them. Which things also we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the
Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Only by the power of God can
a man or woman be made to see Christ. All men and women by
birth and children are blind to the things of God by our birth.
We're born dead in trespasses and sins. Natural man thinks
he can see because he says things like this. Well, I'm a good person.
I'm good. I never murdered anybody. I never
did anything. I never did all this stuff that
those criminals are doing in jail. All the time they're dead in
trespasses and sins and guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,
guilty before God. And we were there too, beloved. And we who are God's people,
we don't speak of these things in condescending way, no. No,
we were once blind, just as blind as they are. And we were once
lost and had no faith. Now we've been given faith and
we say hallelujah. What a great blessing. He who
is the shepherd of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ has saved
us and given us eyes. Now just marvel at that. He's
given us eyes to see him by faith. That's incredible. And he's done
that for us by sending his Holy Spirit to us. whereby we now
cry Abba Father, right? Being born again, now we cry
Abba Father, given faith to believe, we now behold Him by faith. And
He's done that for you and I, beloved. Now let's read verses
18 to 23 to see what happens to the host of Syria. Now, as
I said, one angel. wiped out 100,000 men. And the
Lord himself said, when Peter cut off the guy's ear that came
to take the Lord away, he said, I can call six legions of angels.
That's enough angels to destroy the whole world. We have enough
angels here going around Elijah and his servant to wipe out the
whole Syrian host. And it wouldn't even, wouldn't,
they wouldn't, I don't know if they sweat, but if they did,
it wouldn't even break a sweat. My, they're mighty. But they're
just created beings. Our God is so much more mighty.
Remember that too. He controls all these things.
He sent those angels down there to be roundabout. They're there
at His command. They're there at the captain
of the Lord's host command. Who's that? That's the one who
appeared to Joshua. Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
They're there at the command of the great I Am. Who talked
to Moses at the bush and then the Lord said, before Abraham
was, I Am. They're there at the word of
God's command. The second person of the Trinity, the one who upholds
all things by the word of his power. So with that in mind,
let's read verses 18 to 23. And when they came down to him,
Elijah 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 Elijah. Look at that. Now if Elijah had
said kill them, the Lord would have taken them all out. Right? And Elijah said unto them, this
is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me and I will
bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria. He's taking them home. Do you
notice that? Oh my, see the preacher just
points the way, doesn't he? Home. Let me tell you about the
one who's going to take us home, the Lord Jesus Christ. See, he's
a picture of Christ here. My oh my. Remember, the Gentiles,
remember in John 17, he prayed for all the church who would
be the Gentiles too, all of us, who believe on the words of the
apostles. And it came to pass, when they
were coming to Samaria, that Elijah said, Lord, open the eyes
of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes,
and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And
the king of Israel said unto Elijah, when he saw them, My
father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? So here's
the king of Israel, he's thinking, I'm going to kill them. Can I
kill them? Can I kill them? That's basically
what he's saying. But look at the mercy here showing. And he answered, thou shalt not
smite them. Wouldst thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive
with thy sword or with thy bow? Would you kill prisoners that
had no weapons on them? Those who you take captive, would
you kill them? Set bread and water before them, that they
may eat and drink and go to their master. And he prepared a great
provision for them. And when they had eaten and drunk,
he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands
of Syria came no more into the lands of Israel." Look at that.
It would have been spoken in Syria, the great mercy that the
man of God showed to them. What do we Gentiles do? We speak
of the great mercy that the man of God, God incarnate in the
flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ has had upon us. See, the law says, kill him.
Kill him. Kill him. Christ dies in our place. So law says, I have no claim
on him. I have no claim on her. They're
under the blood. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. Just incredible, isn't
it? So we see here at the end of
these verses, justice tempered with mercy. In verse 18, Elijah
asked the Lord to blind the eyes of the Syrian army, and the Lord
did it. And he knew the intent of Elijah's heart. He knew the
intent was not that Elijah would have them slain. My. Then Elijah spoke to them
in verse 19, but they did not know it was Elijah. He told them
they were headed the wrong way. He told the man that you seek
is not here, but follow me and I'll lead you to him. He's the
one leading them. Come on. And they're all blind. Imagine, a whole host of them. We were blind once, weren't we,
beloved? We were blind once. Someone told us about this man,
the man Christ Jesus. We heard things we'd never heard
before. And with chords of love, the Holy Spirit's drawn us to
Christ. Oh my. Elijah took them to Samaria,
to the midst of the camp of Israel. And then the Lord opened their
eyes, and they saw the army of Israel. But they didn't see the
heavenly host which protected Elijah. They were not theirs
to see. And the king of Israel thought
that here Elijah delivered this whole host into my hands, I'm
going to kill them all. But he showed respect for Elijah,
didn't he? And asked if he could kill this
army. Asked if he could kill his sworn enemy. And Elijah says, don't kill them. Make a feast for them. and then send them home. Make a feast for them and send
them home. What a gospel lesson is brought
forth here at the end of this portion of scripture. It is Jesus
who brings his enemies, enemies in our minds, his lost sheep,
under his power. And when their eyes are opened
to see how the Lord has surrounded them, And to see how the Lord
is king, they bow their knee, don't they? We all did. And what happens? The weapons
of our sin fall out of our hands. We lay our arms down before God. And as Scott Richardson said,
we now take sides with God against ourselves. Oh, Lord, you'd be just to send
me to hell. But God, in his mercy and grace,
saves his people from all their sins. They've not been appointed
to wrath, but to obtain salvation in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And oh, then they made a great
feast and fed them. How graciously does the Lord
feed us, beloved, through his word. How gracious is he to us,
feeding us through his word. Always sets what we need before
us. Not always what we want, but always what we need. Always. What a savior. What a redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. We see it's the Lord who makes
his people will in the day of his power. Wonder of wonders,
this man, this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, receive his sinners
and eats with them. Praise His mighty name. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Brother
Zane, can you close us in prayer?