Second Kings chapter six. The
title of our lesson this morning is when eyes are opened, when
eyes are open, let's begin reading in verse eight of second Kings
chapter six. Then the king of Syria warred
against Israel and took counsel with his servants saying in such
and such a place should be my camp. And the man of God sent
into the king of Israel saying, beware that thou, uh, 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 or twice.
Therefore, the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for
this thing. And he called his servants and
said unto them, Will you not show me which of us is for the
king of Israel? And one of his servants said,
None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel,
telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy
bedchamber. Now the king of Syria is setting traps for the king
of Israel. He's carefully plotting these
things and planning these things in his war room. But Elisha knew
everything that was going on in secret and he would warn the
king of Israel of these plots against him. Elisha saved the
king's life more than twice. And that's a picture of Christ,
our high priest. He knows everything. He knows
the secrets of men's hearts. And you know, they, men plot
and they plan, but I tell you, he's accomplishing his will.
I think that Christ, our King, Christ, our prophet and the King
of Syria, he wanted to get this man, Elisha. We got to get him
out of the way so he could win this war against Israel. And
look what his is. This is funny. His solution to
this. He said, go and spy where he is that I may send and fetch
him. And it was told him, behold, he's in Dothan. Therefore sent
he thither horses and chariots and a great host. And they came
by night and compassed the city about. Now go get him, the king
said. I want Elisha dead or alive.
And we got this secret plot we're going to send in surrounding.
Well, now Elisha already knew all their secrets that they,
you know, why did they think this one was going to work? I just
thought that was kind of funny, but more than likely Elisha knew
this plot too. But Elisha stayed put. He didn't
leave Dothan because for this reason, so we can learn something.
Now look at verse 15. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, and host compassed
the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said
unto him, alas, my master, what shall we do? Now here's the first
thing we learn when eyes are open. The eyes of natural man
is blind to spiritual things. Elisha's servant had natural
eyes, didn't he? He could see those horses and
chariots sent from Syria, but that's all he could see because
natural eyes can only see natural things. Fleshly eyes can only
see things of the flesh. It's impossible for spiritual
eyes to see spiritual things. It's impossible for fleshly understanding
to understand spiritual truths. All Elisha's servant could see
is fleshly trouble. He couldn't see God. He couldn't
see God working in this thing. He couldn't see God blessing
in this thing. Look in Isaiah chapter 64, and he couldn't see
that because it's impossible for fleshly eyes to see spiritual
truth, spiritual blessings. In Isaiah 64, verse four, For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him. And the reason that eye hasn't
seen what God has prepared for him that waited for him is the
natural eye cannot see spiritual truth. It's impossible for the
natural eye to see God, to understand God, to come to him. That's why
our Lord told Nicodemus, except a man be born again, except he
received new eyes in the new birth, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Now we know this from reading
scripture. God's everywhere in me. God's omnipresent. God's
everywhere, but men can't see him. God's in creation. God created all this world and
His glory is seen in creation. But men don't see it. They believe
in the theory of evolution. Why is that? Because they're
blind. The fleshly eye cannot see spiritual
truths. God's everywhere in providence. Everything that's happened through
the history of the world, everything that's happening in our world
today is directed by the hand of God Almighty. It's all His
providence. Yet men don't see God. Men just
see luck, or they see the devil doing something, but they don't
see God working in providence, do they? And God is all in salvation,
but the natural man doesn't see it, and he can't see it. Man
naturally thinks, I must have to do something in order to be
saved. I've got to do something to please God. You know, there's
things I must do. Well, why do they think that?
Because they're blind. Because the natural eye cannot
see Christ. Men are blind, so they cannot
see that the law is spiritual. The law doesn't just apply to
what we do. The law reaches the hearts, our
thoughts, our motives. It's a spiritual thing. Man is
so blind by nature, he doesn't even know he's blind. Man is
in such darkness, he doesn't even know he's in darkness. Man's
so blind, we're the most needy, pitiful creatures, and man's
so blind, he cannot see his utter need of Christ. Man's so blind
by nature, we can't see the glory of Christ. Christ, the light
of the world, is right in front of us, and somebody's gotta tell
us he's here, because we're blind. Man's so blind by nature, we're
on the edge of a great precipice, and we have no idea the danger
we're in, because we're blind. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Man is so blind by nature that we hate Christ. We hate
the gospel of Christ and Christ is hidden from us. 2 Corinthians
4 verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them that believe not. lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. Men cannot see spiritual truths. They can't see the glory of Christ
because fleshly eyes cannot see spiritual truths. And here's
the second thing I want us to learn. Since the natural eye cannot
see spiritual truth, beware what you see with the natural eye.
Beware what you understand with your natural understanding. Beware
what you see with the natural eye, because the natural eye
don't see too well. It can't see spiritual truth, can it?
Now, the natural eye sees things that are real. Those horses and
chariots that sent from the king of Syria, they were real, that
Elisha's servant saw. But they only see evil things. They only see wicked things.
They only see things that cause trouble. You know Satan can give
sight to, can't he? But not to good things. Remember,
Satan came to Eve, he said, oh, you can eat this fruit. He said,
God does know the day you eat this fruit, your eyes will be
what? Open. And you'll be his cause. And
Eve ate that fruit and their eyes were open, weren't they?
But not to anything good. Their eyes were open to shame
and to nakedness. Their eyes were open to sin.
Their eyes were open to hatred of God, hatred of each other.
Their eyes were open to fear and judgment. Their eyes were
open. Not the good things. So beware
what you see with the natural eye, because what the natural
eye sees is only evil. And beware what you understand
with a natural understanding. You know, we're talking about
blindness here. We're talking about the blindness
of the heart, the blindness of the understanding, to understand
who God is, to understand the glory of Christ in salvation.
Beware what you understand. Whatever it is you naturally
understand, I promise you it's wrong. Beware of it. Now here's
the third thing I want us to learn. When eyes are open, only
God can open the eyes of a sinner. Spiritual sight's the gift of
God. Look in our text, verse 16. And he answered, Elisha answered,
fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be
within. And Elisha prayed. and said, Lord, I pray thee open
his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Only God
can give spiritual sight. You know, what do we do for those
we know are blind? We pray for them, don't we? You
can tell them about Christ, you can tell them about the gospel,
you can give them a CD to listen to, but I'm telling you, we've
got to pray for them. Wayne did in his prayer, prayed
for those, our loved ones that don't know the Lord. We must
pray for them because only God can open their eyes. You know,
if you want to see, if you're blind and you want to see, wouldn't
it be a good idea to ask the only one who can give you sight?
That's pretty obvious, isn't it? It's obvious if you've got
eyes to see, but it's not obvious if you're blind, so we must pray
for them. Elisha didn't tell his servant
what to do. Now, if you want to see, you've
got to do this, you've got to do this. No. He told him, now there's
more for us than against us. And then he prayed. He prayed
that God would give him sight. Look in Genesis chapter 21. He prayed that God would give
him sight. He didn't pray that God would make something there
that wasn't there before. He prayed that God would give him
sight to see what was already there. In Genesis 21 verse 14,
this is when the Lord's told Abraham to kick Hagar and her
son Ishmael out of his house, send them out. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning and took bread and took a bottle of water
and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child
and sent her away. And she departed, wandered in
the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the
bottle. She cast the child under one of the shrubs and she went
and sat her down over against him a good way off as it were
a bow shot. For she said, let me not see
the death of the child. So she went far enough where
she didn't want to see him die of thirst. And she sat over against
him and lift up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice
of the lad and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven
and said unto her, what aileth thee Hagar? Fear not for God
has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the
lad and hold him in thine hand for I'll make him a great nation.
And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water and she went
and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. God opened
her eyes. The water was there all along.
She just didn't see it. And she never would have seen
it unless God opened her eyes. God opened her eyes. And you
know that water, that well of water she saw is a picture of
Christ, the living water. He's there all along. He's everywhere. We just can't see him unless
God opens our eyes. But God's gonna open the eyes
of his people. He's gonna give them spiritual
eyes to see Christ. Solomon said the hearing ear
and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.
He's going to make a seeing eye for all of his people. If you
look over in Isaiah chapter 61, you know the very reason that
Christ came to earth was to redeem his people and give them sight. This is the charge he received
of his father. Isaiah 61 verse one. The spirit
of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.
To comfort all that mourn. To appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called the trees of righteousness. God sent
Christ to open the blind eyes. And if you look over in John
chapter nine, you know he did that. In John chapter nine, he
gives us an illustration of what the father sent him to do. John nine, verse 29. This is
after he's healed that blind man who is blind from his birth.
And this is that former blind man speaking, or this is the
Pharisee speaking to him. He said, we know that God's speaking
to Moses. As for this fellow, we know not
from whence he is. The man answered and said unto
them, Why, herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from
whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. And we know
that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper
of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth, since the world began. Was it not heard that any man
opened the eyes of one that was born blind? That's what our Lord
Jesus Christ came to do, to open the eyes of the blind so that
they see. The seeing eye is a gift of God. Now look over at 1 Corinthians
2. Here's how God the Holy Spirit
gives eyes that see. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9. But as it's written, I hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by spirit. For the spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. When God opens the eyes
of his people today, you know how he does it? He does it through
what we're doing right now. through the preaching of the
gospel. And the Holy Spirit blesses it and gives eyes to see, gives
eyes to see Christ. And you know, we may hear Christ
preach many, many years and don't see a thing. And suddenly, I
see it. I see what you've been saying. Why do you suddenly see? Because
God, the Holy Spirit gave eyes. Look over 2 Corinthians 4. Let's
see if this isn't what scripture says. God gives eyes that see through
the preaching of the gospel. We read verse three earlier,
but if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in
whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which
believe not. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Well, how is he gonna shine unto them? It's through preaching.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. You see, only God can open blind
eyes. Only God can give spiritual sight.
It took the same power to give a seeing spiritual eye as it
did to create this world from nothing. Only God can do that,
right? Only God can create. Only God
can give the gift of spiritual sight. It's a gift. Spiritual
sight is a gift of God. Here's the fourth thing I want
us to learn. The value of spiritual sight. Elisha prayed that God
would open the eyes of his servant so that his servant wouldn't
be so full of fear. If Elisha's servant could just
see what's really there, if he could see God working in this
thing, then he could rest. and he could rejoice and have
peace, couldn't he? Not fear. Faith enables the believer
to see things the world cannot see. Faith enables us to see
things that were always there, but we could never see them before
until God gave us the gift of sight, just like Hagar. She never
could see that well until God opened her eyes. And we can never
see Christ till God opens the eyes. And what a blessing when
God does that. You think what a blessing it
is to see spiritual things, to get a glimpse, just a glimpse
of those things that God has prepared for them that love him.
You imagine how happy Hagar was to see that well of water when
her little old canteen was empty. Well, God finally empties us.
How, what a blessing it is to see Christ of living water. What
a blessing that is. You just can't put that into
words. And Elisha gets up, his servant gets up that morning.
He sees all those horses and chariots and soldiers. And he's
so distraught. He's running around like Chicken
Little. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?
He's just, oh, he's scared out of his wits. And why was he scared? because he couldn't see everything
that was there. He couldn't see God's protection
was upon them. And when God opened his eyes,
now the servant is as calm as Elisha was. Now I see there's
no reason to fear. The sight of faith produces a
calm attitude. God's greater than any trouble
we may have. Now I'm not saying we don't have
trouble. What I'm saying is faith enables us to see God's greater
than any trouble that we have. Now here's a good truth for the
child of God to remember. Christ is always near. Now we
may not see him, but he's always near. He's always in control
of the situation. And what a blessing when God
gives us eyes to see Christ. That's what our Lord told Peter,
blessed are your eyes for they see. Everybody doesn't see what
you see. This is a blessing from God that you see Christ. And
when I see Christ, now I have rest. Now I have peace. Now I
have joy. And here's the last thing I want
us to learn from this. When God opens eyes, when the
eyes are open, Many of you see, I can tell from
looking at your face as I talk here about what you see, your
heart's blessed. Well, we see, but we need to
see more, don't we? God's taught us something, but
now there's a whole lot more to learn in there. Look at Psalm
119. A believer sees, we see God's
word. We see so many things in God's
word that are a blessing to us and instruction to us. A believer
sees, but we need to see more of God's word, don't we? Psalm
119 verse 17. Deal bountifully with thy servant
that I may live and keep thy word. Open thou mine eyes that
I may behold wondrous things out of thy law, wondrous things
out of thy word. Now David saw Christ, didn't
he? David saw God's word. He wrote a bunch of it. But what's
his prayer? Lord, let me see your word more
clearly. Let me see Christ incarnate word
more clearly. I was talking with a young man
yesterday at Tony Michelle's wedding. as a young man, he said,
uh, he says a blessing to me when, when older men like you,
uh, say you're, you still learn things that you're still seeing
something you never saw before. God's still teaching you something.
He said, he said, I hear preachers say that. He said, you spend
all your time in God's word. If God's still teaching you something,
there's hope. God will teach me something.
And I told him he did. What a blessing it is to see
something in God's God shows you something. But I'm telling
you, it is a blessing. What a blessing it is to learn
more of our Savior from his word. And he attends there at Kingsport.
I said, you keep going listening to Gabe preach. I'll teach you.
He'll keep teaching you. Because the way he does it is
through his word. We need to see more of God's word. Look
at Psalm 107. A believer sees. We know God's
in control. We know that. But we do need
to see more of God's providence. We need to see more how God works
all things together for good. We need to see more that God's
in control of every situation, because when we see that, we'll
have peace, even on troubled seas. Psalm 107, verse four. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of
all their distresses. After we're hungry enough and
thirsty enough, we think we're gonna die, and we cry to the
Lord and he delivers us, we see more clearly, and we learn to
trust more fully, don't we? We need to see more of God's
will and working in providence. Look down at verse 11. This is
not just a one-time deal. We learn this over and over and
over again, don't we? Because they rebelled against the words
of God and condemned the counsel of the Most High, therefore He
brought down their heart with labor. They fell down and there
was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
You know, when the Lord brings us to the end of ourself and
we see there's none to help, and He saves us out of our distresses,
then we're gonna learn to trust Him more fully the next time
we're in a stressful situation, won't we? Well, look at verse
23. They that go down to the sea
in great ships, that do business in great waters. These that see
the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep, for he commandeth
and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves thereof.
They mount up to heaven. They go down again to the depths.
Their souls melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro. They stagger like a drunken man
and they're at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so the waves thereof are still.
After we spend some time in the deep waters, not in the shallow
waters right by the shore, but I mean out there in the deep
waters, and they're deep, and the storm, it rages, and it staggers
us. We reel to and fro like a drunken
man. And we finally cry to the Lord.
and He delivers, He gives peace, gives calm seas for a time. Then
we're gonna learn in the next storm to trust Him more fully,
won't we? We've seen more of His will and
providence, His working. He's everywhere in providence.
And when we learn that, maybe we'll say verse 31, oh, that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. We can say that when we see more
of God's working and providence. Now look at Hebrews chapter 12.
I'll tell you one thing every believer sees. Every believer
sees the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you seen enough of him? If you've seen him, I know your
heart's desire is to see more of him, to see him more clearly.
Look at Hebrews 12 verse two. looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame that is set down at
the right hand of God, at the right hand of the throne of God.
Now you consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. The
cure for unbelief is to look. to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
cure for unbelief and doubt is to be found looking to Christ. If we see Christ, everything
else is all right. Looking unto Jesus. The cure
for unbelief is to look to Christ. And that'll give a calm spirit. Because when we see him, there's
no doubt, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the
world. There's more for you than against you. And you know that
when you look to Christ. Now I want you to look back in
our text for just a moment, 2 Kings 6. And I want to give you an
illustration of how God gives sight to sinners. In verse 18,
when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said,
smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote
them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. God made
them blind, didn't he? God gives sight, but God also
makes blind too. God makes it to where people
can't, judicial blindness. They won't see for so long, God
finally makes it so they can't see, judicial blindness. Let
me just read this to you in John chapter nine. They're blind and
they refuse to see, so God makes it so they can't see. In John
nine, Verse 39, this is what our Lord said. Jesus said, for
judgment, I'm coming to this world that they would see, might
not see. They would think they see. They
would think they know it all. I'll make it where they can't
see. And that they would see might be made blind. And some
of the Pharisees which are with him heard these words and said
unto him, are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind, if you knew you were blind, you should have no sin.
But now you say we see. Therefore, your sin remaineth.
If you think you see, God'll make it so you can't see. God's
the one who gives sight, but he's also the one who makes blind.
But now in God's mercy, he makes his people realize they're blind. Every believer in this room has
got spiritual sight. At one time, you thought you
see, didn't you? And God made you realize you're
blind. See, we've got to be blind before God's going to give us
sight. We've got to see that we have nothing in ourself, for
God gives us this blessing to behold his son. Let's read on
here in our text, 2 Kings 6 verse 19. And Elisha said unto them, God
struck him with blindness. He said, this is not the way,
neither is this the city. Follow me and I'll bring it to
the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria. And
it came to pass when they were coming to Samaria that Elisha
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. God blinded them. And then when
he opened their eyes, you know what they saw? They saw we're
in trouble. We're captured. We're deep behind
enemy lines. We're captured. We're prisoners.
And before God saves anyone, that's exactly what he makes
them see. He makes them see they're captives.
I'm bound by sin. I'm bound by my sin nature, so
I cannot do good. I cannot come to Christ. I cannot
make myself righteous. I'm bound by the law that I cannot
keep, and it will not let me go, because I can't satisfy it.
I'm a captive, and there's no hope of escape. God's gonna make
us see that before he has mercy on us. Now verse 21. And the
king of Israel said unto Elisha when he saw them, my father,
shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? He's pretty
excited about this. And he's going to kill all these
fellows. And Elisha answered, thou shalt not smite them. Wilt
thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword
and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them
that they may eat and drink and go to their master. And he prepared
great provision for them. And when they'd eaten and drunk,
he sent them away. and they went to their master. So the bands
of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. The king saw
these prisoners and he said, well, I'm going to kill them.
This is going to weaken my enemy, isn't it? But Elisha said, no,
that'd be wrong. This is what, after World War
II, the Germans and Japanese were put on trial for. You killed
prisoners of war. That's not right. If you kill
them on the battlefield, you know, in battle, that's one thing.
But once they're captured, you can't do that. You feed them
and you clothe them and you imprison them, but, you know, you don't
kill them. God makes his people see they're prisoners. Prisoners
to their sin. They're prisoners to the law.
He doesn't kill them. He doesn't wipe them out. He
doesn't punish them. Instead, what does he do? He opens their
eyes to Christ and he feeds them bread and water. Bread, the living
bread. Water, the living water. He feeds
them Christ. And then what does he do? He
sets the captive free. You're free to go. You're free
to serve a new master because now you're going to serve from
new motives that come from a new heart. And you're not going to
go back to that old master now that you've got eyes. See, you're
going to stay with Christ and follow him. And when God finally
opens our eyes and he sets us free, you know what we'll sing?
Amazing grace, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. Once I was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind. That's the way I
came into this world. I was blind. But now God gave
me a gift. the gift of sight, and I see
Christ. I sing of his grace. All right,
I hope the Lord will bless that.