Now this study tonight, last night I was talking with
Jacob, young Jacob in Colorado there, and we were talking through
video, and we were looking at this passage of scripture here.
And he said, Maya, I think it represents this way, and I looked
at the scriptures, and I went, Maya, I think you're right. So
this is what I'm gonna preach on tonight. As I went through
the several commentators, it just was right there. Right there,
yeah. Thanks, Jake. Yeah, the Lord
used them. It was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. The name
of the message is Bitter Water Sweetened. Bitter Water Sweetened. And again, we give all the glory
to the Lord for any kind of message we get. Any message we get out
of the scriptures, we give it all to the Lord. And it's just
wonderful. Bitter Water Sweetened. Bitter
Water Sweetened. We'll continue our study about
the life of Elijah the prophet who performed, again, more miracles
than any other prophet in the Old Testament. All, of course,
by the will and power of God, right? One cannot perform any
miracles unless it's according to the will and purpose and by
the power of God. And this all occurred according
to the power of our great God, Jehovah. And the miracle we will
look at tonight is It's a miracle of mercy. It really is. It's a miracle of mercy. And it's to the city of Jericho,
and we will show how it pictures Christ, how it pictures Christ
having mercies on sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. And that's
what he does. When we were born into this world,
we were spiritually dead. It's like Dave just said, graveyard
dead. That's what we were, graveyard dead in our nature. Now, the
city of Jericho was located in a very pleasant surroundings. At one time, the area was known
for its fruitfulness. Turn, if you would, to Joshua
chapter 6. We know from studying the scriptures
that Jericho was the first city of the Canaanites that opposed
Israel. That opposed Israel. Closed and
barred its doors against Israel. But by the power of God, by the
power of Jehovah, Jericho was what? It was overthrown, wasn't
it? And it was by the power of God. And following which, his people
burnt the city with fire and all that was therein. They gutted
the city. And they were told, don't take
anything out of it. Lest you be defiled by their wickedness. Look at this. Joshua chapter
16 and 17 and take note well we're gonna
see two curses here pronounced upon Jericho by Joshua Joshua
chapter 6 verses 16 and 17 it came to pass at the seventh time
when the priests blew with their trumpets Joshua said unto the
people shout for the Lord has given you the city In the city
shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are with her in the house, because she hid
the messengers that were sent, that we sent. Then look at down
to verses 25 and 26. Joshua saved Rahab the harlot,
alive in her father's household, and all that she had. And she
dwelled in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Verse 26, and Joshua
joined them at the time, saying, Cursed be the man before the
Lord that raises up and buildeth this city of Jericho. He shall
lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest
son shall he set up the gates of it. So they had rebuilt the
city. They had rebuilt the city. But
the curse which Joshua had pronounced upon the city was still there,
the water was bad. The water was bad. Now think
of how much water is a necessity to life. You can live without
food for a certain time, but you cannot live without water. We're just built that way. We
cannot live without water. And Joshua had pronounced a curse
upon the city, And the water was still bad, and the land was
still unproductive. The fruit trees were fruitless.
And the water had led to babies being miscarried in women who
were with child, and also in animals. Animals were even miscarrying
their young too. So the water led to death among
those who dwelt in this city. Look at verses 15 to 22. We're
going to read this to see the context of the verses we're studying
tonight. The verses we're going to look
at tonight are verses 19 to 22, but I'd like to read the context
by reading verse 15 to 22. And when the sons of the prophets
which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit
of Elijah doth rest on Elijah. And they came to meet him and
bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto
him, Behold, now there be with thy servants fifty strong men. Let them go and pray thee and
seek thy master, lest peradventure of the Spirit of the Lord have
taken them up and cast them upon the mountain or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.
And when they had urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send.
They sent therefore 50 men, and they sought three days, but found
him not." Well, they weren't going to find him, were they?
He's gone home to glory. And when they came again, for
he tarried at Jericho, he said unto them, did I not say unto
you, go not? And the men of the city said
unto Elijah, so Elijah's been tarrying at Jericho there. And
here come the men of Jericho to Elijah. He said, Behold, I pray thee,
the situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord seeth, but
the water is not in the ground barren. As I said, the water was bitter waters. It was poisoned. And think of how much money they
probably poured into fixing that water. Man's efforts come to
nothing, right? Right? Man's efforts come to
nothing. Same as when man seeks to save
himself, comes to nothing. Just a curse. Just a curse. And he said, bring me a new curse,
and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And
he went forth unto the spring of waters, and cast the salt
in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these
waters. There shall not be from thence
any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto
this day, according to the saying of Elijah, which he spake. I
believe if you could find that water source right now, it's
still good. Because it says forever, doesn't
it? Forever. My, oh my. My, oh my. And our text tonight will be
verses 19 to 22, where we see the second miracle here before
us performed by Elijah, all according again to the will and power of
God. But here before us, we see a picture of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and how it heals sinners who flee to Christ. Our Lord, our Lord is the water
of life, right? And all who drink from that fountain
shall have eternal life. All who drink from Christ shall
have eternal life. He's the water of life, beloved.
My oh my. Josephus describes Jericho before
The fall of the city is quite a beautiful area with its palms,
roses, and fragrant ointments being made there in wonderful
parks and resting grounds. He called it, listen to what
he called it, a perfect garden and paradise of Eastern beauty. A perfect garden and paradise. What does that remind us of?
Oh my, the Garden of Eden. Yeah. So at one time Jericho
was a flourishing place before the fall. It flourished. People flocked
to go there. But when that city fell and the
curse was pronounced upon it by Joshua, just as in Adam and
Eve they lived in the Garden of Eden, a place flourishing
with beauty, a place flourishing with fruitness, My oh my, until a curse was pronounced
upon this world. In contrast that with the time,
with the period of what Josephus said it was like with what we
see in our text here. Things are very different. The
once flourishing and life giving water was still suffering from
the old doom pronounced upon it by Jehovah. It was poisonous, unfit for drinking,
unfit for giving life to the soil, totally unfit to drink. But they still had to drink it,
that was the only water source there. And that's why people
were dying, babies were being miscarried, animals were miscarrying
their own young. My oh my. Imagine what this world was like
before Adam fell. My, perfect brother, yeah. Perfect,
no sin. Imagine what it was like. Imagine
the beauty. Now we see things now that are
absolutely beautiful, but imagine what it was like without the
curse. No death. No death. Now mankind, because of our father
Adam's fall, we come into this world now dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead spiritually. Alive physically,
but dead spiritually. And we are actually unfruitful
in any works of righteousness. That's why the scriptures say
that there's none righteous, no not one. So we come into this
world, with no righteousness at all, because all our works
are tainted with sin. All our righteousness is like
filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. And think of how natural
man tries to make themselves righteous by things that they
do. We see in verse 19 here, F.W. Kramacher brings forth that many
riches must have been spent in trying to fix the water, but
to no avail. They spent money after money
after money trying to fix these waters. Trying to find some way
that man could fix the waters. To no avail. To no avail at all. Kind of reminds us of the fig
leaves, doesn't it? Adam and Eve clothed themselves in fig
leaves. Kind of reminds us of that gathering demoniac. They
chained him up and several commentators said they tried to reform him,
tried to, but he just broke all those chains away. Not until
the Lord came. And then them chains were all
broken, weren't they? All broken. And he was sitting at the feet
of the Lord in his right mind. He's born again, clothed. He's
a new creature in Christ. And remember this, beloved of
God, that that which God has inflicted, only God can remove. That which God has inflicted,
Only He can remove. Look at verse 19. We see here
that the men of the city come to the prophet Elijah. They know
that he's a man of God. Word had probably spread that
Jordan opened and he walked right across dry land. Look at this. And the man of
the city said unto Elijah, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of
the city is pleasant as my Lord seeth, but the water is not in
the ground barren. So this was once a very fruitful
area. Flourishing. Again, like, like,
um, Jophisa said, a perfect garden
and paradise of Eastern beauty. It must have been spectacular. But we see it's not like that
anymore. Is this not the state of the
natural state of mankind after the fall? We're barren. We're fruitless. We're bankrupt. Dead. Man tries to fix himself,
right? Reform. Oh, we're going to reform.
No. No. The only way we can be taken
out of our dead state is by the power of God Almighty and by
an operation of God. And that's the only way. That's
the only way. No other way. Again, that which
God has inflicted, only God can remove. and think this, this is also
true in false religion. They proclaim themselves rich
and they say, well, we have the gospel. I talked to a fellow
this week. I was talking about a local church
here that I pulled down one of the messages and looked for the
word blood. And then I pulled down a few
other messages and looked for the word blood in the messages. And there was absolutely no mention
of the blood. So I asked the fellow who was
saying, well, they have the gospel over there. I said, no, they
don't. Amen. And I asked him this question. I said, see, Henry, I learned
this from Henry, always qualify what they mean. I asked him a
question. I said, and this is what I asked
him. Can the gospel be preached without the blood of Christ?
You know what he said? Nope. And I said, well, then
they're not preaching the gospel. What can he say then? He's already
said no. It can't be, can it? You cannot
preach a bloodless gospel. Because without their shedding
the blood, there's no remission for sins. And Christ shed his
blood for you and I, beloved. Oh, hallelujah, amen. Well, it's
just wonderful. So, think of this. Those who are preaching a false
gospel, the spiritual fountains are poisoned. It's not a gospel that brings,
it's not good news. It's not good news at all. No,
no, no, it's not good news at all. Instead of the pure milk
of the gospel, the people are presented from the pulpits with
a fatal, fatal portion of a false gospel. It'll kill him. Just like these
waters. It'll kill him. And it'll lead
to spiritual death. It'll lead to spiritual death,
won't it? That's eternal death. That's what happens when someone
presents a fatal and false gospel, deceitful religion. You know
what they do? They make the individual their
savior. Yeah. Say, well, you've got to
do this to be saved. You've got to do that. Pray a
prayer. Walk an aisle. Go along the Romans road. Something
you've got to do. Well, praise God, we proclaim
and believe a God who's already done it all, right? It's finished. There's nothing left for us to
do but look to Him and live. See? Isn't it wonderful? It's
absolutely wonderful. What a contrast. And the curse
of false religion is more horrible than this curse that was upon
this water, let me tell you. Because this water will lead
to physical death, but the curse of false religion will lead to
spiritual death. And that's far worse. That's
far worse. Oh my. So instead of leading
the sinner to Bethlehem and Calvary, false religion leads them to
themselves. It's all about what you do. My,
praise God, praise God that he revealed the truth to us. And
he's showing us the truth that salvation's in Christ, in him
alone. Oh, it's wonderful. My. And Paul wrote, you've heard
me say this many times in our study in Galatians, I marvel
that you are so soon removed from him that called you unto
the grace of Christ, unto another gospel, which is not another,
but there'd be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. So these false religions, they're poisonous. They're, they're,
they're, they're perversions of the true gospel. But though
we, now listen, I was mottled on this today, but though we
or an angel from heaven, an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you, which we know is not the gospel,
right? Then that which you have received, Paul preached in the power of
the Holy Spirit of God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit
of God, they received that message. They were born again, and they
received that message by God-given faith. That's why he says, unto
you that not which ye have received, let them be a curse, let them
be damned. For do I now persuade man or God? Do I seek to please
men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. That's serious business, isn't
it? serious business now let's go back to 2nd Kings look at
look at verse 20 2nd Kings chapter 2 look at verse 20 and he said
bring me a new curse and put salt therein and they bought
it to him now truly as the scriptures proclaim
our God he's a God ready to pardon in me that's what the scriptures
declare he's a God ready to pardon But now He has one way to come
to Him, and that's Christ and Him alone. There's only pardon
for sinners found in Christ. It's nowhere else. Not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy.
When has He showed us His mercy? In Christ. In Christ alone. So our scriptures declare our
God is a God ready to pardon. And there is a fountain opened.
for sin and uncleanness. And you know where that is? In
Christ. Zechariah says that. There's a fountain open for sin
and uncleanness. Oh, there is a fountain filled
with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Praise be to God. It's wonderful. And notice here,
too, Notice here too, Elijah does
not hesitate. He doesn't say, well, let me
wait, wait, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go pray about it, or he doesn't
even do that. He's being led by the Holy Spirit
of God, beloved. And he does not even hesitate.
Now remember, I told you that he's a picture of Christ, too,
in the Holy Spirit, right? Christ is full of mercy, isn't
he? Full of grace. My oh my, look at this. Elijah
does not hesitate. No sooner had the man of Jericho
made known their desire to the prophet than Elijah manifest
his willingness to comply with their request. He says to them,
bring me a new cruise and put salt therein. And what'd they
do? They bought it to him. They didn't hesitate either,
did they? They knew he was a man of God. And Elijah, again, being led
by the Holy Spirit of God, instructing him what he ought to do, proceeds
with confidence, only in the Lord, in the certainty of his
success. And all this undertaking is all
by God's power and might. And he says, bring me a new curse
and put salt therein. New cruise, cruise, I'm sorry. a little of my Canadian in there. And we see again in verse 21
that the men of Jericho, they hastened joyfully, joyfully.
You imagine what hope sprung in their hearts? Oh my gosh,
the squire's been cursed since Joshua! Man, they must have been
so excited, I bet you they ran to find salt in a cruise. My And a cruce, I found out,
is a dish or a deep, hollow container for holding salt or other similar
substances. And they put salt in it, just
as you requested. And they got a brand new one.
He said, bring me a new one. Had to be a new one. Had to be
a new one. There's a reason why it had to
be a new one. And I remember the people of
Jericho lacked one thing that was necessary for life. Water. See, when we're dead in sins
and trespasses, we're missing one thing for life. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Right? In Him is eternal life. Didn't He say to To one of the women, he said,
you've missed the one thing needful, and your sister hasn't. Yeah,
Martha, yeah. He said, she's looking at the
one thing needful. Beloved, we look to the one thing
needful, the Lord Jesus Christ. The one thing needful. My, oh
my, it's wonderful. So they lack that which was necessary
for life, which is water. What's one of Christ's name?
The water of life. Oh my. And note in our text again
that the man of Jericho, they bought him a new cruise. And
they put salt in it just as he requested. So what do these two
things represent? Well, salt is a grand purifier. It's been used for thousands
of years. It's a purifier. And it preserves. Pink said this, by means of its
salty vapors, which the rays of the sun distill from the ocean,
makes the atmosphere of our Earth healthy and keeps it that way
for the inhabitants of the Earth. My. So even the ocean full of
salt water has a reason. Salt prevents decay. It prevents
decay. I'm not a hunter, but I think
when you shoot an animal, sometimes you put salt on the meat, don't
you? Do you? Yeah, to preserve it, right? Yeah. So salt prevents decay. And in
the times of this writing, At the times of this writings, when
prisoners were scourged, they used to use a scourge on them.
They put salt on their backs. You know why? To prevent blood
poisoning. I didn't know that until today.
So they would, imagine how painful that was for them? Number one,
they're getting scourged, and number two, they're putting salt
on their back. Exactly. And prevents blood poisoning,
they were saying. My, I had no idea. I had no idea at all. Salt is the best seasoning. Think of how tasteless some food
would be without salt. I remember we were watching a
cooking show one time and the guy was like a world famous chef.
And he said, a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper
will do wonders for food. He's right, I love pepper. I
put pepper on everything. But it's true, a little salt,
a little pepper, oh, what flavor will all of a sudden come out,
right? It's wonderful. A.W. Pink says that salt is the
emblem of divine holiness and grace. Turn, if you would, to
Numbers chapter 18, and then put your finger in 2 Corinthians
13, five. I never saw this till today. that God made a covenant of salt. You know what that means? That's
a covenant that will never ever fade away. It won't decay. It's
forever. Look at this, Numbers 18 verse
19. Oh my, here we're going to read
these two portions of scripture. We're going to read the covenant
of salt. and all the heave offerings of the holy things which the
children of Israel offer unto the Lord have I given thee and
thy sons and thy daughters with thee by a statute forever. It is a covenant of salt forever
before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. Now to
go to 2 Chronicles. Gil brings forth
that this covenant of salt is an incorruptible, inviolable,
durable covenant, which should last forever, even until the
gospel dispensation or world to come should take place, and
it would remain before the Lord in His sight. My oh my, look
at this. 2nd Chronicles chapter 13 verse
5. Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the
kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him, to his
sons by a covenant of salt? Again, 2nd Chronicles 13 verse
5. Ought ye not to know that the
Lord, that's Jehovah, that's Christ there, God of Israel,
Elohim of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever,
even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt. It'll never fade away. It's forever. I've never seen that before,
have you? Oh my. And this means a perpetual covenant. unbreakable, never to be made
void, called so because salt preserves from corruption and
decay. So the covenant of grace will
never fade away. The everlasting covenant of grace
shall never fade away. And God promised that through
David's lineage that a Savior would come, the Messiah would
come, and he did. Because he made a covenant that
is immovable, cannot be changed. One covenant, unbreakable. Think
of that, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in eternity
made a covenant that is unbreakable. Why? How that thrills my soul. I'm in his hands, I'm in his
grip. By nothing I do, I'm not gonna be presumptuous, but I
know that if I'm saved, I'm saved forever in Christ. Oh my. What comfort the believer
can take from that. And again, this covenant of salt
means a perpetual, one covenant, unbreakable, never to be made
void, called so because salt preserves from corruption and
decay. Paul wrote to the Colossians, he said this, let your speech
be always with grace, seasoned with salt, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how you ought to answer every man. Brother
Mahan said this about that verse, This is not just to talk about
the grace of God, but our speech should reveal the grace of God.
Speak the truth faithfully and sincerely without lying, flattery,
or exaggeration. Speak in love, avoid gossip,
whisperings, or anything that is injurious to the character
of another. Avoid sowing discord or division. And then speak kindly
and pleasantly. Hard words reveal a hard heart,
he says. My. Unkind, cut and wet remarks
reveal a bitter spirit. Grace is to the speech, he continues,
grace is to the speech what salt is to meat. Yeah, it makes it acceptable.
Makes it acceptable. Good to the ear and blessing
to the heart. And then he goes to say this,
this is the last thing he said. Grace in the heart will teach
you how you ought to answer any person. Knowledge is not acquired
by speaking, but it ought to go before it. So we know, right? We know that the Bible tells
us season your speech with salt. Oh my. Now turn if you would
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. You found
a picture or something in Leviticus brother? Leviticus 2.13. Leviticus 2.13.
2.13. In every obligation of thy meat
offerings shalt thou season with salt. Look at that. Prevents
decay. Neither shalt thou suffer the
salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking. For thy meat offering,
with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. My, there it
is too. I didn't see that one. Salt. Yeah. Amen. Now look at this
in Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 to 16. He says, this is the words
of our master, the words of our master. He says in verse 13,
you are the salt of the earth. Look at that. That's speaking
of us. That's speaking of his apostles
and disciples, and that's speaking of us, too. We're the salt of
the earth, beloved. But if salt has lost its savor,
wherewith shall it be salted? It is therefore good for nothing
but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men.
Gail said people use that to say you can lose your salvation.
That's not what that's talking about at all. That's not at all
what that's talking about. It's talking about if salt isn't
any good, then you just throw it away and get more salt. That's
all that's talking about. My, people take scriptures and
just twist them to whatever they want it to say, eh? My, we're
just gonna read what it says. Look at this. You are the light
of the world. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hid. Cannot
be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and they give
it light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your God, which is in heaven. Now those good works, we don't
even know we do them. Those are works, Ephesians chapter
2 says, that are ordained by God for us to do. And we have no clue when we do
them. How do we know that? Well, because later on in the
book of Matthew, the believers are saying, when did I do that,
Lord? The false religions in Matthew
7 are saying, Lord, look at all the things we've done for you.
And God's people are saying, When did we do that unto you,
Lord? He says, when you did it unto my people. Ain't that wonderful? My, it's wonderful, beloved.
And Pink brings forth that this speaks of the savory doctrines
they preached, all of which are agreeable to the scriptures.
See that the disciples preached Christ. Right? They spoke of Christ. Paul said,
I preach Christ and him crucified. Gospel preachers now, we stand
up and say, I preach Christ and him crucified. It's on our bulletin
every week. Right? We preach Christ. Our message
is full of Christ. And we serve to exalt him, don't
we? That's what we're here for, to
exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. And to magnify the grace of God
in Christ, which has been shown to us. Now, what did the cruz represent? Well, beloved of God, notice
it's a new cruz. It's a new cruz. It's not an
old cruz. It comes not in the oldness of the letter. It comes not in the oldness of the letter
and the law, but in the newness of spirit. The newness of spirit. The gospel. Think of this, the
gospel strikes at the origin of evil, which is where? Right
here. That's why we need a new heart,
beloved, that hungers and thirst after Christ. The gospel strikes
the heart. This is the spring of all waters,
isn't it? Out of the abundance of the heart,
what? The mouse speaketh, scripture says. Oh my. So the spring of that
water in Jericho was poisoned. My. And the gospel proclaims we must
be born again. We must be born again. We must
be saved from our sins. It proclaims that we cannot save
ourselves, but that God sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
into this world to save his people from their sins. And what is needed? A well with
a clean heart. What does God give us? A new
heart and a new spirit will I put within you. That's what he does. A new. Not old. Not a used one. A new heart. A new heart that
seeks Christ. My. My oh my. See, the fountainhead must be
dealt with. Right? The fountainhead must
be dealt with. That's why we have a new heart
and a new spirit. given to us by an operation of God, right?
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
once again, like the salt in the cruise, men see the gospel
as foolishness. But we who believe it's the power
of God unto salvation to us. My oh my, there's nothing like
it. And think upon this, that the salt in itself could not
heal. The crews could not heal by itself. Neither of those things could
heal by themselves the unwholesome waters any more than the rods
and twigs of the trees with their white streaks that Jacob set
before the flocks were able to cause the cattle to bring forth
the young ones that were ring-staked, speckled, and spotted. See, he thought it was a Styx. We know who it was. Though the man of Jericho were
required to furnish the salt, and though the prophet now cast
the same into the spring, yet he made it clear this would avail nothing unless
the blessings of Jehovah accompanied this act. The salt couldn't heal those
wholesome waters. Unwholesome waters couldn't do
it. Any more than, again, the rods and twigs that Jacob set
forth before the flocks couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. If anything good was to come
out of this, it had to be an act of God. It had to be according
to God's will and according to God's power. Look at verse 21
now. So we signed here that Elijah
cast in the salt. As he cast in the salt, he declared
this. It says, and he went forth unto the spring of waters and
cast the salt in there. And look what he proclaims and
said, thus saith the Lord. I love that. And then look what
it says. I have healed these waters. Elijah
didn't say, well, look what I poured that salt in there, and I've
done it. He didn't say that at all, did he? He gives all the
glory to God, beloved. All the glory to God. See, in
everything, we're to give glory to God, aren't we? All things,
we're to give glory to God. This is absolutely magnificent.
Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters. There shall not
be from thence any more death or barren land. Jehovah said this. Oh, look at those wonderful,
and think of these wonderful words of grace. Think of these words as the wonderful
words of grace. We couldn't heal ourselves. We
could pour all the salt in, water we wanted to or something. We
couldn't have healed these waters in Jericho, could we? And those
men, they could have poured salt in the New Cruz and it wouldn't
have done nothing. Think of this in light of our
salvation. Thus saith the Lord, I have healed
the waters. I've healed you. Amen. I've healed you. He's the one who done the work
in us. He's the one who saved us. It's all him, beloved. That's why we get up and proclaim
Christ is the one who can save sinners. Grace, grace, grace,
grace, upon grace, pressed down and overflowing, beloved. That's
what it is. It's wonderful. Oh my. And take note of verse 21 again.
Elijah, he denied any inherent power of his own. He said, thus
saith the Lord, I have healed the waters. He's not taking any
credit at all. None. And he wouldn't. Even though he was an instrument
employed of God for this miracle, note the next verse, verse 22. So the waters were healed unto
this day, according to the saying of Elijah, which he spake. What a miracle. And how very similar to Paul's
experience when he expressed, I have planted, Apollos watered,
they were both instruments, right? But God gave the increase. See? Just instruments in the
hands of God. That's what every one of us are.
We're instruments in the hands of God. And isn't it a miracle
he even uses us? That's amazing. Here we are,
and that's why I said in my prayer tonight, we're here by providence. We're here according to the will
and purpose of God, aren't we? There's no chance involved. He's
got us all here gathered together for the furtherance of the gospel.
It's wonderful. And we get the privilege of fellowship
and in sweet fellowship. And I'll tell you what, fellowship
like I've never had in my life before. The fellowship with God's
people. Is like nothing with the fellowship
I had with my friends growing up. I thought that was pretty
close. Don't even compare. I talked
to somebody who was in the forces. I talked to somebody who was
in the forces this week and he's a believer too. And I said, Oh,
he it's Billy. He was a Navy seal. And I said,
Billy, I said, I've heard about the brotherhood that you have.
that you have when you're in the forces like that, especially
a tight-knit group like the SEALs. And he says, it's nothing compared
to what we all have in Christ. Doesn't even touch it. Isn't
that amazing? What a privilege, what an honor. My, oh my. And look at these
words, look at these words of grace. Thus saith the Lord, I
have healed the waters. And then, so the waters were
healed unto this day according to the saying of Elijah, which
he spake. And all Elijah did was speak
those words. It's all by God's power. It's all by God's grace.
And it's all by God's mercy that that water was healed. And look
what it says. It says, unto this day. I said, I believe if we could
find that river, that spring, we could drink out of it right
now. It says unto this day. That's forever. Jake looked up last night, and
he looked up at Gil and them, and that's what they were saying.
This is forever. My, oh my. And again, what Paul said, I
planted the Paul's water. Again, they were instruments,
but God gave the increase. This is so true in gospel preaching. We preachers are just instruments
in the hands of the Lord. And we wonder in awe of how God
uses us to bless his people. And we know full well that it's
the Holy Spirit doing that. And it's an honor to preach the
gospel, but I'll tell you what, it leaves me in awe of what God
does with the gospel. He blesses me while I'm studying
and he blesses you, and it's all by the power of God the Holy
Spirit. He gets all the credit. God gets all the glory. And so
preach is just an instrument in the hands of the Lord. If
the Lord chooses to make the message effectual and regenerate
one of his lost sheep, it's all by the power of God. It's all
by the power of God. It's all by Him. Just as this
miracle was all by the power of God. The whole thing. Gospel preachers are sent. They're
equipped. They're given the message, because
they believe the message too. They're given the message, and
they're told to go and preach Christ and Him crucified. And
wherever we're planted, that's what we do. We preach the gospel
to the glory of God. And just like every other believer,
we want to pour our life out for Christ. You do too, don't
you? Yeah? Just pour our lives out for him.
My oh my. So what do we do? Whenever someone
preaches or teaches, you put it out there and you leave the
results to God. I love that, what Norm did. That
little trumpet, right? There it goes. Just proclaiming
the message, right? Oh my. And it's God and God alone
who makes the preaching of the gospel effectual. He's the only
one who does that. He regenerates his lost sheep.
He gives us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that
we cry out, salvations of the Lord. It's all him. It's all
he's doing. And how are we saved? By the
perfect sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect. Perfect work. In his life and
in his death. And we who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God, we rejoice at this wonder-working
power of the blood. Oh, it's wonder-working power.
It cleanses us from all sin. Oh, it's wonderful. Now again let's look at that
last verse again here. Look at this. So the waters were
healed unto this day according to the saying of Elijah which
he spake. I'm going to have you turn to
Ecclesiastics chapter 3 and marvel at that verse that's set before
us. So the waters were healed unto this day according to the
saying of Elijah which he spake. And look what this says over
here in Ecclesiastics chapter 3 verse 14. I know Now he learned something. Solomon
had something he learned here. I know. That whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be for what? Forever. Apply that to our salvation. Who's the one who saved us? God.
Who's the one who made the preaching of the gospel effectual to us?
God. Who's the one who regenerated us? God. Who's the one who complete
the work in us? God. Look at that. I know that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it, and nothing taken away from it. And God doeth it that
man should fear before him. He sent his son to die in the
room and place of sinners like you and I. And those who Christ redeemed
at the cross shall be saved. And we are living proof of that,
beloved. We are living proof of that. And when God does something,
it's forever. Now just hang our eternal souls
right there, eh? On Christ. He who hath begun
a good work in us, he's gonna finish it, isn't he? He's gonna
complete it. How do we know that? Because
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it, and nothing taken away from it, and God doeth it that
man should fear Him. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior. So here again
we see the appropriateness of salt as the emblem of incorruption. Whenever God starts, here finish
it, and it's forever. And that covenant of salt was
used to express the perpetuity of God's work. It'll last forever. Placing it in a new curse, the
salt, and then casting it into the springs of water gives figures
of the new and honest heart out of which the issues of life,
all by the power of God the Holy Spirit, according to the will
and purpose of God the Father and the Son is done. Again, the nature of fallen man,
even the most beautiful ones, are like the unwholesome water
here before us in our text. And barren soil, it must be renewed. It must be renewed by God before any good works
can be produced. And again, we don't even know
when we do those. Make the tree good, and what?
The fruit will be good, right? my oh my that that's this is a work of
regeneration which only God can do and what do we say glory be
to God for his wonders works glory to his name isn't he wonderful
I'll tell you what he's wonderful brother Brian can you close