Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 2 Kings chapter 4. We'll continue our study tonight. I got a neat text this morning.
I woke up, I got a text. It's from Brother Marcus, it's
12 hours until the study of Elijah. He's all excited. Six o'clock
in the morning, he's texting, saying, 12 hours to go, brother. It was so awesome. I go, oh my. So thank you, Brother
Marcus, that was so encouraging. And just to wake up and see that,
and it's a joy, isn't it, to look forward. to the message
is to look forward to coming to church and hearing the gospel
preached, when we never did want to hear it before. And now we
can't wait to hear it, whether it be Wednesday or Sunday or
whenever. We just desire to hear God's
words preached and proclaimed. So again, open your Bibles, if
you would, to 2 Kings chapter 4. We'll be looking at verses
18 to 37 today. And last week we looked at the
Shearmite woman, and she was given a baby in her husband's
old age. It doesn't say how old she was,
but in her husband's old age. And tonight we're going to see
that child's going to die. Most commentators, John Gill
said the child is probably between six and seven years old, goes
out in the fields with his dad and starts to feel sick and comes
back and lays on his mom's legs and passes away. But then Elijah, is going to
come at the request of the mom. The Shulamite woman goes all
the way to Mount Carmel where Elijah is and requests him to
come and says, I'm not going to leave until you come. Oh my,
it's a blessing to see him. And we're going to see what happens.
The name of the message is raised from the dead. So we'll continue
looking into the life of Elijah the prophet. Last week again,
we saw the wonder working power of our great God when he gave
the Shulamite woman who was barren, gave her a child. Through the
workings of Elijah, but it's always by the power of God, by
the power of God. It's him that does the miracle.
All Elijah is is a vessel. Just like every preacher, we're
just vessels. I have no power to save, Elijah
had no power even to raise this boy, but God can do it. And God's the one who's going
to do it. And this sister, think of it, she now has a child. She's
rejoicing. She has a boy. She's rejoicing
at the fact that she has a child now. But she's going to go through
a great trial. She's going to go through what
one commentator said, every mother's terror. Her child's going to
die. But again, we'll see the wonder-working
power of our great God, our glorious God, in raising him from the
dead. And our dear sister in Christ, this Shulamite woman,
I believe, is one of the elect of God. She has great faith.
She looks to the Messiah. I heard something really neat.
I'm going to write an article about it this week or next week, I
think, about salvation is not in a prayer. Salvation's in a
person. Salvation is a person. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's salvation. Christ is salvation. So the Old Testament saints,
they're looking to the Messiah for their salvation. We look
to the Messiah too. We look back to the cross. Same
Christ. Same Christ. Same salvation.
Because salvation's only in Christ, right? Christ is salvation. Again, not a prayer. See people
bowing their head and repeating a prayer and saying, oh, now
you're saved. Salvation's not in a prayer.
Salvation's not in walking in an aisle, is it? Salvation's
in the person, beloved. The Lord Jesus Christ. And rejoice,
if you're one of his. He's revealed himself to us.
It's marvelous. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So our dear sister in Christ
had helped Elijah. Elijah was passing through from
Mount Carmel to the other place he had to go. And he was passing
through this town. And she had said to her husband,
let's build a little room for the prophet. For God's profit. And he wanted to do something
for her. He wanted to bless her, even though she didn't ask for
anything. She didn't seek out a baby. She didn't ask for the
baby. We're going to see her bring
that up too in the text tonight. Was unasked for, unsought for,
and yet God blessed her with a child. She was quite content just living
with her people before she had the child. Let's read verses
14 to 17 to see Elijah's response when he asks her if there's anything
that he can do for her. And she says, well, I'm content
dwelling with my people. And look what it says in verses
14 to 17. And he said, what then is to
be done for her? And Gehazi answered, verily she
hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, call her. And when he had called her, she
stood in the door. And he said, about this season, according
to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said,
nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived and bare
a son at that season that Elijah had said unto her according to
the time of life. So just like Elijah had said,
by the power of God and God alone, This woman who was barren had
a child. Now let's read, to start our text tonight, verses 18 to
20. And when the child was grown,
it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. So he's going out in the fields.
He wants to be with his father. His father's out in the fields.
And he said unto his father, my head, my head. And he said
to the lad, carry him to his mother. And when he had taken
him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon
and then died. So imagine the great trial now.
She'd be given a child. She didn't ask for it. She didn't
seek it out. But God gave her a child, and now this child's
died. And she went up. and laid him
on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him and
went out. Again, the child may have been
six or seven years old, and we see in our text he died. And what an unexpected event
this was. Who would have thought that a
child unasked for and given at the instance of the prophet's
prayer should still soon be taken away from her? Now, we as God's people, we go
through trials, don't we? We go through tribulations in
this world. And we see this Shewmite woman
here before us going through a great trial now. We do not understand God's providential
dealings with his people most of the time. probably 90% of
the time, and maybe even higher. We don't understand them, do
we? We don't even understand some of the things we go through.
But we do know that they occur on purpose. That's the one thing
God's taught his people, that these things happen on purpose.
They happen on purpose. We don't understand them, But one commentator said, and
I like this, they lead us on the path to trust even more in
the Lord, to rest even more in him, in his sovereignty. Have
you found that true in your life? I've found it true in mine, definitely, definitely. And let us never
forget that Jesus Christ is ever with us, no matter what we go
through, no matter what comes our way, Christ is always with
us. Always. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. He's always with us. All the time. He's a friend that
sticks closer than a brother. Now I've found that my brethren
in Christ are closer to me than my own brothers. But Christ is
even closer to me than you guys who I love dearly. And my dear
sisters in Christ too. And Christ is closer to you than
I even am to you. Isn't that amazing? He's a friend
that sticks closer than a brother. He loves us so much, beloved,
that He died on Calvary's cross for us to save us from our sins. He manifested that love. Let
us never forget that. When we see in verse 21 that
she puts the young child on the bed in the room that her husband
and her had made for Elijah, and then she shuts the door.
She just shuts him in there. Now, We who are the people of God
have experienced tribulation in this life. Every single believer goes through
tribulation in this life, in trials. And I was thinking about
this today, and some of the trials that I went through myself, they'd
have crushed me without the Lord carrying me through them. You
and I were talking, saying about that footprints in the sand,
and he's carried me my whole life. And he's carried me through
some heavy trials, and you too, all of us as believers. And he's
proven to be faithful, hasn't he? He's proven to be so faithful. My, oh, my. I think it was Hawker said this,
he said, the believer does not enter glory on a flowery bed
of ease. Nor is it given unto you, not
only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer for his name's
sake. We're going to suffer as God's people. We're going to
suffer persecution for what we believe. And we're going to go through
trials and tribulations in our lives. And many in our congregation
are in times of trial, just as tonight, going through, it may
be a medical trial. It might be a heartache. It might
be mental strain. It may be caused from concern
for our family members and our friends who do not know Christ.
That weighs on us, doesn't it? That weighs on us as we continually
bring them before the throne of grace. And God's people experienced
trial and tribulations all through this life. Even before the Lord saved us
in the trials and stuff we went through even then, or tribulations,
although we didn't know they were, were all for our good and
for God's glory, and God took us right through them all. You
ever think about, wow, why didn't I die back then when I was doing
this crazy thing that I shouldn't have done? As you said, Brother
Zane, it's not your time, it's not my time. Isn't that amazing? Oh my, God's
got a point in time for us to take us home, but that wasn't
our time. And I know for me, I can look
back and I've talked to lots of you to know enough that we
can look back on our lives before the Lord saved us and go, I didn't
die there. No, we weren't regenerated yet,
were we? The Spirit of the Son hadn't
come into our hearts yet, where we now cry, Abba Father. But
that was all purposed and planned by God, wasn't it? It's amazing. I'll tell you what, it's just,
it'll give you shivers when you look back like that with a providential
eye and look back on your life and go, look at that. You'll
see deliverance after deliverance after deliverance after deliverance.
My oh my. It's incredible. And sometimes
he delivers saints home. Right? Zane, you and Dee too, both your
spouses, they've been delivered home. Right? They're not in pain anymore.
They're rejoicing before the throne of God. My oh my. And we'll see him again. It'll
be quick. Because this life is like a vapor. It won't be long. It won't be
long. My, oh my. So imagine the time had passed. This child was obviously, he
was growing. And this time had passed. His
heart being knit together with his mom. And again, the child
falls sick. His head hurts. And he dies. And she put the child in Elijah's
bed, closed the door to the room, and what did she do? She made
haste and sought out the prophet. She seeked him. She seeked him. I would exhort
anyone who does not know Christ, seek Christ. Seek him. He's the only hope for sinners.
The only hope for sinners. The only hope. My, oh, my. If God's given you an interest
in Christ and in the things of Christ, seek Him. He never turned away one, has
He? Not one, ever. No. Oh, may God make you willing
to flee to Him, to seek Him. Seek the Savior of sinners, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now her husband told her that
it was a waste of time. We'll see that in verse 23. He
put forth religious reasons for not bothering the prophet. Look at verses 22 to 24. And
she called her husband and said, send me, I pray thee, one of
the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man
of God and come again. And he said, wherefore wilt thou
go to him today? Why? Why? You can't help. The boy's dead. Oh my. It is neither new moon
nor Sabbath. It's not a religious holiday,
why are you going to see him? And she said, look at this, look
at this response. Look at this response, beloved.
It shall be well. That's why I should have named
the message. It shall be well. We can say that even in sickness,
can't we? If the Lord doesn't heal us and
takes us home, it shall be well, right? And if he heals us while
we're on earth, it shall be well. Either way, no matter what comes
our way, it shall be well. It shall be well. My oh my. He's so good to us. It shall
be well. And then she settled in us and
said to her servant, drive and go forward. Slack not thy riding
for me, except I bid thee. Let's go as quick as we can.
Let's make haste. Let's seek out the prophet. Let's
seek him out. In those words in verse 20, 23,
they bring forth the faith that this woman has in our great God. It shall be well. It shall be
well. God's people can say that, can't
we? The husband was like, what are you doing? You're just wasting
your time. He shows his unbelief. A lot of commentators, myself
too, I don't even think he knew the Lord. It's obvious she did. But he's like, why are you even
bothering him? Our son is dead. It's not a special
holiday. Why go see the prophet? Well,
this... This Shulamite woman, she's going
to go right to the one who said, you're going to have a child. She's going right to Elijah,
right? Oh my! Do you know she believed, turn
if you would to Hebrews chapter 11. I believe that she went to
the prophet because she believed that Elijah could raise him from
the dead. And we have a picture of that very thing happening
with Abraham, beloved. So Abraham's not the only one
who believed God could raise people from the dead. This Shumite
lady believed that too. Why else would she go to the
prophet? Look at this in Hebrews chapter 11. Oh, this is amazing. And think of this too. This wasn't
presumption on her part. This was the same faith being
exercised that Abraham had. Remember when he raised the knife
to kill Isaac? He believed that if he had plunged
that knife into Isaac, that God would just raise him up again.
How do we know that? Let's read the text here. Hebrews
chapter 11, verses 17 to 18. And this is the same faith that
the Sheolamite woman had, that God would just raise the son
up, if he wills, if he wills. Look at this. By faith, Abraham,
when he was tried, and he was tried, wasn't he? He raised that
knife above his son. He's tried. Offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son. So he's offering up the one, right? Who's gonna have the 12
children, 12 boys. He's offering them up. He whom
the 12 tribes of Israel is going to come from. Of whom it was said that in Isaac
shall thy seed be called. Look at that. Judah. Christ came from the lineage
of Judah, didn't he? The Lion of Judah. He's called
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Look at this. According that
God according that God was able to raise him up even from the
dead from whence he had received him in figure. So he believed. He believed God would, if I put
that knife in my son, God's just going to raise him up again.
He's just going to raise him up again. Now this woman, this Sheolmite
woman, she was grieving over her. This is her only son and
the death of her only child. But she was also believing and
trusting God. She was a believer, and we see
that she desired to seek the Lord because she's going to seek
out his prophet. She's going to seek out God's prophet. And she believed that Elijah,
by the power of our great God, could raise her child, just as
we saw Abraham believe the same thing. And you remember, again, in the
book of Hebrews, by the hand of Paul from the Holy Spirit
of God, Abraham believed, again, that God could raise his son.
And we see here in our text that he was not alone in believing
this. Because this Shumite woman believes the same thing. Believes
the same thing. And so what does he do? Or what
does she do? She seeks out the prophet. She
seeks out the only one who can give life to her son. knowing that it's going to be
God who's going to work through him to do that. Oh my. And so marvel, beloved of God,
at the faith of this woman. Her faith was in God's covenant
love and mercy. She was firmly persuaded that
the gracious God who gave her this child, again, unasked for
on her part, unsought after on her part, That our great God
could just as easily restore him to her again. So she hastens
to the prophet. My, oh my. My, oh my. And take note that she leaves
her dead child to fly to the living God. She leaves her dead child to
go and seek out God's prophet. There's no preparation for his
burial. Notice that? She wasn't preparing for a burial. Usually when someone dies, we
prepare for a burial. We contact the funeral home. She's not done
nothing. She put the body in the room
where Elijah stays. No preparation for a funeral.
She's confident. She's confident that God can
raise her son again. And she tells her husband, all's
going to be well. And like a true descendant and
daughter of Abraham, she goes in faith and confidence to God,
accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead. Is this not what we are to do
during our trials and tribulations? It is, isn't it? Seek God. Fly to the Savior. Make haste. We're to seek Him out. Plead
for grace and mercy in times of need at our blessed Savior's
throne, which is called the throne of grace. And the scriptures
tell us we shall obtain grace to help in time of need. Mercy. We find mercy in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And marvel at God's pardoning
love for his people in Christ. Marvel, marvel that we have continual
access to God through Christ. We can talk to God anytime, beloved. We can go to the throne of grace
at any time. There's nothing too small, there's
nothing too big that we bring to Christ, nothing. He desires to hear from us. Isn't
that wonderful? We're the people. We're the people of His choice. We're the people of His love.
We're the people of His mercy. We're the people of His grace.
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
when the dark clouds of providence come into our lives, and they
do, Let us always remember that the dark clouds will pass. They'll
pass. They're all part of God's plan,
and soon the bright rays of providence will shine through. But what, during those dark clouds,
what do we learn to do? We learn to fly to the Savior,
don't we? We learn to flee to Him. As I
said earlier, we've all experienced that. We just fly to Him. Lord, help me. Help me or I perish. My. Have mercy on me, Lord. My, oh my. Now we do not have
the prophet Elijah to intercede for us, and that's what she was
doing. She was going to Elijah for him to intercede for her,
which again is a picture of Christ. But you know what? We have one
infinitely higher than Elijah. infinitely more powerful than
Elijah. Elijah is just a man like you
and I. We have one more infinitely powerful. One who's always willing
to intercede for us. He is our interceder. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's God over all. And think of this too. He's God
over all the prophets, isn't he? He's the one they speak of. That's who we get to go to, beloved. It's amazing. We have Jesus,
Jehovah's high priest. We have him, beloved. We have
him. An everlasting advocate. There's
never a time when the Lord is not our advocate. Isn't that
wonderful? It's wonderful. He's our advocate with the Father,
and He's also the propitiation of our sins. He bore our sins
in His body on the tree. The sinless, spotless sacrifice,
dying for sinners. And He accomplished eternal salvation
for us by His work. That's why I say He is salvation. He is salvation. It's Christ.
He's our salvation, beloved. My oh my. So during our times
of trials and troubles, let us learn just to flee to the Savior.
Let us learn just to seek Him out. And you know what will happen?
They won't disappear, but they're going to start to fade away a
little bit. And He's going to help us get
through them. And one time, one day, eventually, they'll be gone.
They'll be gone. My oh my. Let's continue reading from verses
25 to 31 now. So she went and came unto the
man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the
man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi, his servant,
Behold, yonder is the Sheolmite. Look at that, he recognizes her.
He recognizes her. He has affection for her. It's
the shoe of mine. The Lord knows his sheep, doesn't
he? He knows the sheep from the goats. And here Eliza's like,
oh, it's the shoe of mine. And then look what he says. Run
now, I pray thee, to meet her and say unto her, is it well
with thee? He cares about her. He's concerned
about her, beloved. Is it well with thee? Is it well
with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, look what she
answers. It is well. Her child's dead. And she answers,
it's well. What great faith. Oh my. She's resting in the Lord, isn't
she? I like how when we ask each other
how we're doing, we say better than we deserve. Because we know
it's well. It's well. Look at that. And when she came to the man
of God to the hill, look at this, she caught him by the feet, but
Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said,
let her alone. For her soul is vexed within
her and the Lord had hid it from me and hath not told me. God doesn't reveal all his work
into providence, beloved. But we know enough just to trust
him and to rest in him. Then she said, did I desire a
son of my Lord? Did I not say, do not deceive
me? She's saying here, I didn't ask for a son. And she said, did I not say,
do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, gird up thy loins
and take my staff in thine hand and go thy way. If thou meet
any man, salute him not. And if any salute thee, answer
him not again. Lay my staff upon the face of
the child. And the mother of the child said, as the Lord liveth
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. She's clinging
to Elijah. She goes, I ain't leaving you.
Is that not how we are with Christ? I'm not leaving you, Lord. He won't let us go, but she's
clinging. Don't we just cling to our Savior?
I'm not gonna let you go, Lord. I know I'm such a sinner, but
I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go, Lord. Oh my, when I saw that today,
I was just so full of joy when I saw that. That's all of us,
isn't it? Oh, I'll not leave thee. I like
that. As the Lord liveth and as thy
soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed
her. And Gehazi passed on before them
and laid the staff upon the face of the child. But there was neither
voice nor hearing. Wherefore, he went again to meet
him. and told him, saying, the child is not awakened. So the
laying on of the staff didn't do anything. And take note of verses 27 and
28 again. And when she came to the man
of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came
near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, let
her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath
hid it from me and hath not told me. Then she said, did I desire a
son of my Lord? Did I say, do not deceive me?
And so, take note again of the great degree of feeling in which
she seeks Elijah. She's clinging to him. She's just clinging to him, beloved.
Her whole soul was in action here, and her body participated.
It's evident in her catching hold of the prophet. Now, Gehazi, by his reaction,
Several commentators said, and I believe this too by reading
it a little bit more and looking at it, he believed that she was
doing that in anger. What have you done? No, Elijah recognized it. Elijah
knew how much she loved him. No, it wasn't done in anger,
but it was done in love. And again, we see that Elijah
sees that by her looks and by her words, spoken in fervent
pleading. And he says, leave her alone,
let her be. Cuz he was gonna grab her and
pull her off him. Elijah said, let her be, leave her alone,
leave her alone. Her soul is vexed within her
and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me. My, oh, my. Note something here,
too, as well. She brings forth that she did
not desire a son of Elijah. She didn't ask for him. Let us ask ourselves, did we
desire the son? Did we ask for him? No, we didn't, did we? In our
natural state, we didn't desire Him, we didn't ask for Him. Did not God seek you and I in
love? Did He not send the Holy Spirit
to woo us to Christ? To draw us with, the scripture
says, cords of love? He did it because we had no desire
for Him. And then he gave us a desire. And we sought him, didn't we?
We seeked him out. But only because we're made well
in the day of God's power. Did we even know that we needed
the Savior before we were saved? Did we even know that? Somebody
might have told us. We just blew it off. Nah, I'm
not a sinner. Meanwhile, we're sinners from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. Now we willingly
admit we're sinners, don't we? Saved by the grace of God. And did not our words and actions
in our natural state not cry out, we shall not have this man
rule over us? It's true, isn't it? Our words
and our actions cried that out, even though we never said that
verbally. But our words and actions cried that out. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ
sent his spirit into our hearts, he conquered our stubborn nature,
didn't he? We have a new nature now. He made us will in the day of
his power, so shall we then doubt his love? No, right? We shouldn't. This Shurimite woman wasn't doubting
Elijah's love, was she? In God's love, she was clinging
to the prophet. But we cling to the prophet of
prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ. We cling to him. And did our father raise such
glorious hopes of salvation in us? And will he now disappoint
those who are the apple of his eye? Oh, Lord Jesus, may you teach
us a lesson from the Shulamite's faith as she caught your servant
Elijah by the feet and just clung on to him, laid hold of him. May we lay hold of Christ, beloved,
by faith. May we just cling to him, just
cling to him and lie at his feet. And may God give us the grace
to do so. Look at verse 30. And the mother of the child said,
As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
And he arose and followed her. I ask you, beloved God, Beloved
of God, was not God's love for us expressed in his actions in
sending his son to die for our sins before we even knew him? His love was shown, wasn't it? God had graciously given her
a son. But remember, God graciously
gave his son for the redemption of our eternal souls, willingly
to save us from all our sins. So in both instances, was not
the fact of the blessing of this Shulite woman with a child and
the blessing of God giving his son to die for us in his thoughts
first? We didn't even think about it,
did we? We didn't even think about it. See, God planned our salvation.
God executed our salvation in time and space. We're being gathered
out of this world in time and space. And we will go to a place
where time is no more. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. Listen to this verse and think
about the believers in Christ. I bring my righteousness. I bring
near my righteousness, Isaiah 46, 13. This is the Lord saying
this. I bring near my righteousness.
It shall not be far off. And my salvation shall not tarry.
And I will place salvation in Zion. Right in the midst of her. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The church is Zion. He's placed salvation in the
midst of her. The preaching of Christ and him crucified, that's
Christ. He's the salvation placed in the midst of Zion. For Israel,
my glory. My, we're spiritual Israel, isn't
that wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. So
marvel that we've been given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And marvel that God's given us grace to exercise
this faith too, to exercise the faith that we have. Our Lord
is the foundation of our faith, isn't he? We have no other foundation
but Christ. You take Christ out of what we
believe and we have nothing. We have nothing. No salvation. Nothing. No justification. No
sanctification. But if we have Christ, we have
all those things. All those things, beloved. And we rest our eternal souls
On the Messiah, on the Lord Jesus Christ, just as is sure, my woman.
We trust God by God-given faith being shown grace and mercy in
and through Christ. See, it all goes back to him.
We can't claim any of it. Even the faith that we believe
God with is given to us. Isn't that wonderful? Everything
we need for the salvation of our souls is all in Christ. It's
all in Christ. And then God gives us faith by
being born again of the Holy Spirit of God, gives us faith
to believe on the one thing needful, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just
incredible. Now let's read verses 32 to 37
where we see the wonder, work, and power of God in raising the
Shilohite woman's son from the dead. Starting verse 32, and
when Elijah was come into the house, behold, the child was
dead and laid upon his bed. He went in, therefore, and shut
the door upon the twain and prayed unto the Lord. So he lifts up
the young child to the Lord. And he went up and lay upon the
child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon
his eyes, and his hands upon his hands. And he stretched himself
upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then
he returned and walked in the house to and fro, and went up
and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times,
and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said,
call this Shulamite. So he called her. And when she
was come unto him, he said, take up thy son. Then she went in and fell at
his feet. That's what we do with Christ.
We fall at his feet, don't we? We fall at the Lord's feet and
bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went out.
Again, Elijah's a picture of Christ here. Elijah, he's a picture
of Christ. Now remember that the rising
of the dead soul to spiritual life, no preacher can raise someone
from their spiritual deadness. Even Elijah couldn't do this.
It was God and God alone who did this. It was his power exercised. And we can see that preachers
can't bring any life, first of all, by Gehazi. Here he could
put the word like the prophet's staff out, lay it out before
the people's faces, but it's neither voice nor hearing until
Christ by his Spirit comes and gives life. I come up and I speak about Christ
and tell you all about Christ, but unless the Holy Spirit takes
those words and make them effectual, they're just, that's why unbelievers,
they just fall on dead ears. But if God, the Holy Spirit does
the work, there's life in his word. There's
life in his word, isn't there? So we're to preach the gospel
and just let it out. Believe it or not, we're announcing Christ
and Him crucified. Isaiah said, who hath believed
the report? We're just proclaiming the report. Christ Jesus saved
sinners. Saved sinners. My, oh my. My, oh my. And only God the Holy Spirit
can give life. A good example of that is in
the Valley of Dry Bones, remember? Remember, the Lord told the prophet,
speak to the bones. They start rattling. Keep prophesizing. They're rattling some more. But
it's only until God gives life. It's only until God breathes
upon them that they come alive. What a picture of regeneration.
Preacher preaches the gospel and the Holy Spirit takes those
words Right? Shows the sinner Christ. Life. Breathes the breath of life.
Isn't that amazing? It's absolutely incredible. It's
all God. He gets all the glory. He gets
all the honor. He gets all the praise. And that's
why men see it as foolishness, me up here preaching the gospel.
They look at that. What is that fellow doing? But see, God uses
the foolish, His wisdom is greater than the foolishness of man. Because little do they know,
it's not my words, it's God using those. Using the word of God
to give life. To give life. It's all Him, it's
all by His power, beloved. And that's why we as believers
rejoice that our salvation is in the Lord. It's His mighty power that saved
us. We're born again by His almighty power. Praise God He didn't leave
us where we were, but because we were sons. God sent forth
the spirit of His Son into our hearts and now we cry, I have
a father. In Mark, in verse 33, the prophet
praying to Jehovah, and note the graciousness of God in this
passage before us. We see God teaching the early
church by such miracles the blessed doctrine of the resurrection.
This child's dead. This child's dead. It's a foreshadowing
that God's gonna raise his people up. He gave us life, didn't he? We
were dead. We were spiritually dead. It's also a picture of
us rising from the grave, our bodies rising from the grave
too. When our souls will be reunited with our bodies, we'll have a
new body, beloved. A new body. It's wonderful. But God must breathe the breath
of life upon us, or else we'll be dead. We'll be living corpses. Unless the Holy Spirit does a
work. That's why the Lord says you must be born again. It's
the Spirit's work. What did our Lord tell Martha?
Turn, if you would, to John chapter 11. Take note, too. I want to bring
a couple things out here. Take note of the striking differences
here between the miracles of Jesus and those of his servants,
which acted in his name and by his authority. Elijah acted in
the name of God and by the authority of God. But take note of the
difference in these miracles. I'm going to run these first
quick. Elijah prayed unto the Lord. Jesus commanded the dead
to rise. Elijah's just a man like you
and I. So he prays to the Lord, please heal him, bring him back
to life. But the Lord commands the dead
to rise. Lazarus, come forth! Right? The servant acted in the Lord's
name. Jesus does it all for his own,
in his own name, for the glory of God the Father, because he has all power. And
what prophet, what servant of Jehovah ever said as Jesus did,
I am the resurrection and the life? Not one of them. But Christ,
the prophet of prophets says, I am the resurrection in the
life. Remember, he's prophet, priest, and king, right? He's the prophet of prophets.
Look at this, John chapter 11, verses 24 to 27. Wonderful words
here. The Lord's talking to Martha
about Lazarus, and he's saying he's going to live again. And
Martha says this, she says in verse 24, Martha saith unto him,
I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last
day. I know, I know from the teaching that he's gonna rise
again. See, and I, you know what, we're
just like Martha. We're just like Martha. Look at this. Jesus said unto
her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Look at that. Let's read that again. This verse
is outstanding. He is proclaiming to Martha,
little Martha, he's proclaiming to her who he is, who he really
is. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the like. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live." We were dead, weren't we? Spiritually. And by God-given faith, we believe
now, and now we live. We're alive spiritually. Now
we're going to physically die again, but we're going to go
to glory, beloved. We're going to live forever. And look at this, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now here's the question
of questions for anyone who's listening. Believest thou this? Believest thou this? That's a
question for everyone. He says, I'm the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Do you believe? And look at her
response. This is a response of a believer.
I love this. Yea, Lord! Yea, Lord! I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God, which shall come into the world. You're
the Messiah, Lord! Oh, isn't that wonderful? That's
what we cry out, isn't it, as believers? I repeat her, where shall we
go, Lord? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We got nowhere
to go, Lord, but you. And she so quickly, yea, Lord,
by God given faith. That's a miracle, isn't it? It's
wonderful. She understands now what he said
by the grace and mercy of God, doesn't she? And who but God himself could,
in confirmation of this blessed truth, have commanded the dead
like Lazarus to come forth? Elijah couldn't raise that boy
up by his own. God had to do it. God did it. Elijah had no power to raise
his child back to life. This is a mighty act of God.
Mighty act of Jehovah. And again, it points to the Lord
Jesus Christ raising us from our spiritual deadness. From
the dead state we are in by birth, nature, and choice. And now we're
raised. We're raised, beloved. Now we
live spiritually alive. And he raised the dead. Think
of this. Christ raised the dead to life as one having authority.
He said, damsel, arise. He said, young man, I say unto
thee, arise. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
He says it with authority. There's no doubt. He doesn't
say, well, if you choose to, come on out. If the person's
dead, they're not going to come out. They're not going to do
nothing, right? They're dead. But he who has the power of, he says,
I'm the resurrection and life. He says, damsel, rise. What happens? She rises. He says, young man, I say unto
thee, arise. What happens? He arises from
the dead. He says, Lazarus, come forth.
What happens? He arises. He said, one time,
Zane, my child, come forth. And you couldn't do anything
but come forth. He said, Dee, come forth. Wayne, come forth. Raise us up from our spiritual
deadness to life, life in Christ. My, oh, my. We can't help but
say, oh, glorious Father, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for
sending your son. Thank you for raising us up from
our spiritual deadness. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for translating
us into the kingdom of God's dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
from the kingdom of darkness that we were locked in, dead. My, we have life now, beloved.
Look at verses 36 and 37 again. It says here, And he called Gehazi,
and said, Call this Shulamite. So he called her. And when she
came in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in,
and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took
up her servant. And when I imagine the joy in her heart, she'd be
rejoicing, wouldn't she? Now think of this. Note verse
36. Oh my. Does this not picture
too the resurrection of the bodies of believers at the last day?
It'll be accomplished by a call, won't it? Come forth! Every one of them
graves is going to rip open, isn't it? Turn if you would to
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Should not God call our bodies
to arise and then be joined with our souls as a glorified body?
We're no longer partaking the corruption of this body. My, we'll be raised incorruptible,
beloved. Look at this, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, verses 13 to 18. And marvel at this, marvel at
this, this is amazing. But I would not have you ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep. Verse 13, 1 Thessalonians
4, 13. That ye shall not, even as others,
which have no hope. That was our normal state. That
was our natural state. We had no hope. What a hope we
have now. Oh my. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him. You're going to raise up our
vile bodies, but they're going to be translated. My, oh, my. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain at the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Just like
that, be translated. And this is the last day. Notice it's not secret, is it? Folks say, oh, that's a rapture.
This is very public, beloved. It's not secret. The Lord's coming. When he comes and catches his
people up, it's not secret. Oh, no, it's not secret. Look
at this. For we say unto you by the word
of the Lord that we which are alive and remain under the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the
Lord himself, the king of glory, beloved, the Lord himself, shall
descend from heaven with a shout. My, what a shout that will be.
Remember what happened when he said, Lazarus, come forth, what
happened? Lazarus came forth, didn't he? When he shouts, we're
going to come forth, beloved. Our bodies will. Our souls will
already be in glory, but our bodies will come forth. I'll
tell you what. Oh my. With a shout, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the trump of God. This is public,
beloved. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever
be with the Lord. Look at that. Forever. Forever. Wherefore comfort one another.
Comfort one another with these words. Isn't that comforting?
My. So beloved God, rejoice and marvel
at the miracle which has been set before us. It pictures the
people of God being raised again from our spiritual deadness and
also the resurrection. And I ask you, ponder these questions. Did you desire grace? Did you desire Christ when grace
found you? Were you looking for Christ when
God awakened you to what he'd already done for you? Because
I proclaim a work that's finished. It's already done. God did it
all. Christ did it all. But were we
aware? Were we looking for Christ? Were
we even thinking of God when he awakened us to what Christ
had already done for us? And did we seek the promise in
the tribulation that would follow? No, but Paul calls the pain and
sorrow in this world light affliction. It's just light affliction compared
to the glory that awaits us, beloved. Compared to the glory
that awaits us when we see Christ face to face, face to face. So rejoice, beloved of God. All
the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ. All of them. He is the resurrection and the
life. And because he lives, we will
live. We will live. And we're going
to be with him forever. And so we can say with the Shulamite
woman, it is well. Can't we? It is well. Amen and
amen. Brother Zane, can you close us
in prayer?