We're in 2 Kings 8. 2 Kings 8
in the first six verses for tonight. 2 Kings 8 verses 1-6. This is
lesson 20 on the studies of Elisha. Let's go ahead and read this first. Verse 6 says, Then spake Elisha
unto the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise,
and go thou in thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou
canst sojourn. For the Lord hath called for
a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years. And
the woman arose and did after the saying of the man of God,
and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of
the Philistines seven years." Now, I'll stop right there. This
is not chronologically. This does not come right after
chapter 7, because chapter 7, they're in a famine. Chapter
7, they're in a siege. So this is actually, chronologically,
these two verses are set before the famine. So this is around
chapter 6. So this is definitely before
chapter 7. And there's Elisha goes to this
woman whom we know as Shunammite and tells her what's going to
happen and for her to flee. So now we start in verse 3. Now
we come up to where we would normally be. And it came to pass
at the seven years end that the woman returned out of the land
of the Philistines, and she went forth to cry unto the king for
her house and for her land. And the king talked with Gehazi,
the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee,
all the great things that Elisha hath done. And it came to pass,
as Gehazi was telling the king how he had restored a dead body
to life, that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to
life cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi
said, My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son
in whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman,
she told him, So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, or
eunuch, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits
of the field since the day that she left the land, even until
now." Bruce, would you lead us in prayer? Heavenly Father, we
come tonight to worship You, to pray that we will glorify
You in all that was said and done, Relieve some of the burdens and
things that are on our minds. Restore our peace and our happiness.
This world could take away so easy. Lord, we pray that you
give through the words we need to hear. Freedom and the Spirit
to be able to deliver those words. Lord, we again just pray that
you'd be pleased with us at this time as we worship you. In Jesus'
name, amen. Okay, so As I've said, this section
or narrative in chapter 8 in 2 Kings is not to be taken chronologically
from the previous chapter. Rather, the first two verses,
as I said before, take place prior to the 7th chapter. And so we're just going to look
at two thoughts, verses 1 and 2, and then 3, 4, 5, and 6. Verses
1 and 2, you remember this woman. She's the Shunammite woman. And basically, this is in chapter
4, he says, Then Elisha spake unto
the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, there's
a famine coming. Go and sojourn wherever you can. And she ended up going to the
land of the Philistines for seven years. She just up and left. Her property, apparently she
had fruit trees, fruits of the field. Since the day she left,
fruit, cattle, whatever she had, she left it. She left it. And
this, the famine, nor the siege of Samaria had
taken place yet, but what we see here And again, this is one
of these areas that always step on my toes, so I'm going to step
on your toes perhaps. But what we see here between
this woman and her household and Elisha is the love that they
have one for another. He had a love for this woman
because there was a bunch of other folks. He could have said
there's a famine, we don't know if he told others, but we know
he told her. And he had compassion on her.
And why did he have compassion on her? Because she had compassion
on him. We remember in previous chapters where it speaks about
her. She opened up her house. She
actually opened up a room in her house. So every time he was
going, remember, he would go from one of the prophet's school
to another. He would make a triangle or a loop. When he would come
by there, she would say, come in and would feed him. take care
of him, make sure he was comfortable. So, I think this is still true
as it was then, as it is today. Love covers a multitude of sins. And this love is seen in Christ's
disciples. Those who have been forgiven
much, love much. As this woman, we saw lessons
ago that she helped the prophet, she opened her house to him,
she made sure he was comfortable. Such love and graciousness, I
say this today as I would have said 20 years ago, is not seen
very often in today's society or in today's religion. But it
should be seen in the society where grace reigns through righteousness. So I ask myself these questions. I'm going to ask you these questions.
Is there love lacking in me? Is there love lacking in me?
If so, why? Am I cold in worship? Am I cold in my deeds to the
brethren, to the church, to my fellow man? We're specifically
speaking about those of the household of faith. Is it cold? If it is, why? We will have no
excuse other than the flesh and the sin nature. And I will say
this, and you say it universally, and I believe it to be obviously
so, just because you come to church does not mean you're showing
love. Just because you come and sit
under doctrinally correct teaching does not mean you understand
or are you applying the love of Christ to us. The Scripture
says, by this love, all men will know that we are Christ's disciples.
All men will know. So I just say these two things.
Let this be an example here in these first two verses. Whether
we follow Elisha's lead or we follow this woman's lead, let
it be an example. May we strive. Lord, open my
eyes to see the areas that I'm that I'm weakened. Open my eyes
to see the areas that I sin and I don't realize it. Open my eyes
to see the area of my personality that is crossways with the Word
of God. And God, open my eyes to love
like Elisha did this family and this family did to Elisha. Or,
simply let this be a rebuke to us who claim the name of Christ.
And I didn't pick that song out because I knew all the words,
but half of that song was, you know, we're so cold, we're so
weak, we're just insufficient. And yes, in the flesh, we are
weak. And in the flesh, we desire things
for ourselves. But to be like these two, Elisha
and this woman. He told her. Get out. Because
you may not make it through. I mean, I don't know if he knew
that, but get out. Get out. And sojourn. And she sojourned. And she went
to the land of the Philistines, which, you know, that's an idolatrous...
But so was Jerusalem in the time of this writing. The king that
they had, he was an idolater. So, she says, just get yourself
away from here. I ask myself and I ask you this
last question, do we have a genuine love for the brethren? May the
Lord have mercy on us to truly do so. To not love in deed, but
love, or not love in word only, but in deed. Now the second thought
I have is this the last three verses. This story is amazing
in the fact that it shows God's lovely providence that He has
that He does for His people. From before the time this woman
was going to leave, she was going to obey the prophet. She said
leave. She didn't question him. She
had faith. What about the fear of not knowing? Yes, there was fear, I'm sure.
What about the fear of, can I make a living for seven years? I'm
going somewhere, I don't know where. All these things would
come to your mind, especially if you have a son. Her son was
raised from the dead. But I'm sure she thought, he
took care of me then, I'm going to trust him. So faith simply
obeys. Faith casts out fear. And simply
does. But this is a trial for her.
So she just goes. She comes back. Her land's either
been distributed amongst her family or been distributed from
somebody else, but it's not hers. So she's going to do legally
what she only can do, and that is to go petition the king. Well,
it just so happens. that the king is talking to Gehazi. Now, whether this Gehazi had
leprosy or not, I do know this, you couldn't touch a leper, but
it didn't mean you couldn't talk to him. You know, the king's
court, he could have been standing over there and said, tell me
what you know about, and why all of a sudden, this king, he
hates Elijah, he's going to, he doesn't, every time we see
him in light of Scripture, it's not good, he's evil, the vice
is evil, why all of a sudden is he curious? It just shows
the providence of God. It shows the providence of God.
Look with me at verse 5. And it came to pass, as he was
telling the king, as he was telling the king, here comes the woman. Here comes the woman. Now, here
we go. You know me. Is this coincidence?
Is this blind fate? Or thirdly, is this dumb luck?
Well, seeing how biblically there is no such thing as these last
three statements in the scripture. There's no such thing as coincidence.
There's no such thing as blind fate. There's no such thing as
dumb luck. There's no such thing as mother
nature. All these things that we ascribe that have no biblical
foundation, but we All who know God, all who know themselves
and understand that absolutely nothing takes place apart from
God's sovereign purpose, His decree, or His dictates. Our God, He has the king's heart
in His hand. Our God, He has purpose to reclaim
all this woman's substance, no matter who's in charge. It could
have been another king. It doesn't make any difference.
God's providence is going to play out for His people. And that is mighty comforting.
That is mighty comforting. Matter of fact, God is going
to re-establish this poor elect sister's land, fruit, household,
all that she left. All that she left. Look at the
last part of verse 6. Restore, the king says, I'm going
to appoint you an eunuch. where his officer, restore all
that was hers and all the fruits of the field since the day, since
the day she left. God in the person and through
the spotless workings of Christ Jesus, our Lord, gives us more
than we lost in Adam. We gain more in Christ than what
we lost in Adam. We are more blessed in the person
of our adorable Lord Jesus than all the blessings this world
has to offer. It's icing on the cake. Because
in Adam, we can't take anything with us. Adam's inheritance,
it stays right here. But Christ's inheritance, we're
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. in Christ
Jesus, yet we keep all spiritual blessings in Christ, even upon
death and past death, such as the inner workings of
God's providence for each of his children. It's beyond words
to describe it. When I read this, What do you say? How do you deal
with this? Biblically, scripturally, humbly,
and as a child of God, how do you deal with this? It's just
God's providential dealings and His care for His people. If He sent His Son to die, will
He not with Him freely give us all things? All things indeed. I know you've experienced this.
I've experienced it even to the smallest degree. Something happens
and you're like, well, this was here for me. How often have we
said that? What do you mean by that? Well,
I know what you mean by that. Lamentations chapter 3, that
passage that Matt and Tara love so much, morning by morning,
new mercies I see. They're there every morning.
We just don't often look for them and we don't often see them.
But they're there, morning by morning. In Colossians 3, you
don't have to turn there, but do we not know that our life
is hid with Christ in God? We are hid with Christ and nothing
can get at us or nothing can get to us but by the kind and
gracious Redeemer of our souls by His permission. Because we
will go through affliction, we will go through trial, and this
life is full of many trials and many difficulties. If we are
His children, He brings these things by for our good and for
His glory. And in this lesson, do we not
truly see how God takes care of His own? Look at verse 2. And the woman arose and did after
the saying of the man of God, she went with her household and
sojourned in the land of Philistines seven years. In verse 1, sojourn. And again in verse 1, sojourn.
That simply means a temporary abode. Now, isn't that what the
New Testament says we're pilgrims and sojourners here? This is
just a temporary abode. We've got to let go of things.
The Lord will either take them from our hand or He'll cause
us to loosen our grip. Things that we cherish here.
That's why I printed out a couple of them out and there's one left. The love between John and Mary
Newton. And he preached a funeral and he said he was thanking the
Lord that he allowed him to borrow her. That's what it is. That's
exactly what it is. The Lord gives us our children.
The Lord gives us our spouse. The Lord gives us our parents
for a short period of time. They're on loan. They're on loan. We are never to love more our
spouse or children than our Lord Jesus Christ who gives us them.
We have to be reminded of this. But He led her. And then the
next thing in verse 3, it came to pass at the end of seven years,
she returned. Seven years. It doesn't seem
like long now, the older I get, but seven years. That's a long
time, to be away from everything and everybody you've grown up
with and know, neighborhood, friends, all these different
things, community, all this stuff. But He led her and He fed her,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in the land of the Philistines, sojourn. That's what He's doing right
now. Whether we see it or not, that's what He's doing right
now. He is leading us. And then what does He do? He's
going to lead us home. That's what He's doing now. He's leading
us through this pilgrimage, through this swamp, through this cavernous
trials and difficulties, and sometimes straight lines, but
a lot of times it's downhill, uphill, swimming here, forging
this and that. But He led us through this. He's
going to lead us home. as He will us and He'll take
us home in not too many days. Tomorrow? Ten years? Two years? One year? I don't know. But He's
going to lead us home as He did here. She came back. She didn't even really get to
talk to the king. The king's listening to the story, and then
he appoints her a eunuch and says, give her everything back.
Isn't that the free grace of God in Christ Jesus? He will
keep us, He will feed us, He will care for us, He will comfort
us in times of trial, trouble, the land of Philistine, and bring
all His bride home to be with Him forever. That's the picture
here. But while we're here, let us love. Let us love one
another and cherish one another and let us not walk in fear,
but let us be strong in faith, giving glory to our God. Restore
all that was hers and all the fruits of the field since the
day that she left the land, even until now. Our cup overflows."
Yes, we struggle and different things and everything, but truly,
like Bruce said last Sunday, Why do we dwell on the negative?
And I'm not talking about power of positive thinking. I'm talking
about positive faith. Stumbling, walking around like
we're children of darkness. No, we're children of light.
If indeed we be children of light. Let us show compassion on one
another. Let us show an interest. Let us listen. Let us help one
another. Let us encourage one another.
While it is called today. But if you're His, He's going to lead you through
this sojourn, time of sojourn, and bring you home. Guaranteed. And I have that based upon the
authority of God's Word, not me, but what His Word says. Matt,
would you close us?