2 Kings 6. In the first seven verses, this
is lesson 15 in this study, Elisha, the Life and Miracles. We're going to look at another
one of God's miracles through His chosen vessel, Elisha, and
it's the iron did swim. The first six verses in 2 Kings
6. Verse 1, And the sons of the
prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell
with thee is too straight for us. Let us go, we pray thee,
unto Jordan, and take thence every man of being, and let us
make us a place there where we may dwell. And Elisha answered,
Go ye. And one of them said, be content,
I pray thee, and go with us, go with thy servants. And Elisha
said, I will go. So he went with them. And when
they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling
a beam, the axe head fell into the water. And he cried and said,
alas, master, for it is borrowed. And the Son of God said, where
fell it? And he showed him the place.
and he cut down a stick, or that's a branch, and cast it into the
water, and thither, and the iron did swim. And therefore Elisha
said, take it up to thee, and he put it out his hand and took
it." Now this is a short lesson, but there is some important lessons
in here, I feel, for us. Now the first four verses I've
noticed these words. Look with me these first four
verses. Verse 1, for us. Verse 2, let us go. That means
them and Elisha. Verse 2, the middle part, let
us make us a place where we may dwell. And Elisha said go do
it. The other one said let's be content
Go with us, go with your servants. And he said, I will. So they
went up and they came to Jordan and they cut down wood. Now these pronouns, these thus,
they, we, I'm assuming, and the apostle Paul's life also
bears this mark, God's men, God's preacher, God's servants are
not above working. I mean, I didn't see this for
years, but I believe it's in here. And this school, the Sons
of the Prophets, we'll get to that in the next thought, but
the first thought that I notice is that it's this group thing. It's let us do this and let us
do that. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4. And I know we've
discussed this before, but I think it would be good to look over
this this evening. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 12. Well, let's look at verse 10. Start
in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 4. We are fools for Christ's
sake. But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.
You are honorable, but we are despised. Even unto this present
hour, we, Paul's including himself, both hunger and thirst and are
naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. And
labor, working with our own hands, he's not talking about somebody
else, he's talking about himself and those who are ministering
with him, have reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we suffer it.
They labored with their own hands. Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter
20. And verse 32 through 35. This
is Paul. He's charged to the elders at
Ephesus. And now, Acts chapter 20, verse 32. And now, brethren,
I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able
to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them
which are sanctified. I, says Paul, have coveted no
man's silver, gold, or apparel. Ye yourselves know that these
hands, my hands, have ministered unto my necessities and to them
that were with me. I have showed you all things
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember
the words of our Lord how he said it is more blessed to give
than to receive." So Paul was indebted to no man and he plainly
states that he worked, labored with his own hands. He was a
tent builder. Now, I will say this, because
it bears saying, if a congregation has the ability to support the
work or the pastor, good. But, if not, I think we do what
it takes to continue his work without murmur. And this just
blows this professional preacher, I think, out of the water. As
a matter of fact, the pastor-preachers look down so much because they
do so little and get paid so much. But I think this shows
that Elijah, along with these men who were I don't say aspiring
to be pastors. That's not what I mean. But they
were training like Henry in Henry's preacher school. They trained.
Todd Nyberg has one now. They just talk about people who
may be interested. They discuss the scriptures and
teach and do these type of things. But I don't think a person ought
to go into a place and say, you've got to supply boom, boom, boom,
boom. I think they need to be concerned. We've seen this the
last couple of weeks. Filthy lucre. We've seen Gehazi. You do not want to be like him.
The second point I see is in verse 1, the sons of the prophets
said to Elisha, this place that you're meeting with us, you come
and stay here apparently with us, it's too straight for us,
too small for us. I don't believe this place or
school was a seminary. Rather it's a place where God
used His prophet We come to different schools and spend the night at
a place there and teach the men simply the way of God's teaching
or his commands. Because we know, we know from
Samuel, we know from David, we know from Elisha, from Elijah,
It's a called. It's a called position. Paul
says, no man takes this responsibility unto himself. You look back at
Moses. Moses was pretty well minding his own business and
the Lord called him and said, you go. And he's making excuses
like Jonah. I can't speak my tongue. He said,
who made your tongue? It's a calling. So I don't believe
this was a seminary. We're just cranking people, crank
cranking preachers out. So, and again, I, Moses was called,
and I referenced Henry's preacher's class, to send men out to cover,
but ultimately they must be called to preach. And there's a union,
a bond between the preacher, the pastor, and the congregation.
The third thing I see here is we kind of noticed earlier, us,
let us make, They're not demanding from Elisha. They're not saying,
this is too small, we've got to do this. No. The fact that
these group of men continually invite and ask of Elisha what
they were telling him, what they were doing, shows respect for
the man of God in his office. They show respect for the man
of God in his office. They didn't tell him what they
needed. They asked, we pray thee. We pray thee. They said that
once, at least once, if not twice. We pray thee. He said, go with
us. And I think this is, to me, it's
a blessing, it's a beautiful, beautiful reality. When the church,
all are in one accord, one purpose, one desire to glorify God in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't gather together
here to take a little private agenda. But I think it shows
that they had respect for Him, and they had respect for one
another, And if he said, verse 2, go ye, if he said, do not
go, they wouldn't have went. They wouldn't have went. But
he said, that's fine, go. And then they said, can you come
with us and help us in this endeavor? Yes. So they went and they all
cut down wood. They cut down wood. They cut
down wood, verse 4. But to me, it's a beautiful picture
of, it says in Psalms, how blessed it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. And I know we've got different
personalities and different temperaments, these things put aside, these
things mortified by the spirit of grace every time we look to
Christ and seek his desire and seek his glory, we're not thinking
about ourselves. We're thinking about the welfare
of each one of us. So I think it's important that
they were moving as a unit. And I think that's a blessing
that the Lord, when he bestows it on the church, I think it's
a tremendous blessing because I've seen and heard of and know
of many dysfunctional and they've got situations and problems.
But blessed is that church whom the Lord blesses, the men and
the women to be of one accord, one mind and one body. Now let's
look at the specific miracle. I agree with Tim James. He said
he gets accused often of over-spiritualizing. And he said, I would rather be
accused of that than to see a lesson and miss Christ. So every scripture
is given by inspiration of God. And Christ said, they are they
which testify of me. Now, all scripture is given of
God. It's inspired from Him to teach us of His dear Son and
the scheme of redemption. And we see that in this lesson.
This miracle is no different. At the very least, this miracle,
how it happened, first of all, has anybody ever seen iron Now
don't say float, because the specific word is swim, and we'll
get to that in a minute. Has anybody ever seen iron swim? Never. It's an impossibility. Sinners
saved by the grace of God, the way and manner in which God calls
out His sinners through the preaching of the gospel, by the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, Who would come
up with such a thing? Only God and His Gospel. So at
the very least, we must admit these things. The iron acted
contrary to its nature. It sinks, yet it swam. Thirdly, it was lost, but it
was found. The remedy for finding it the
iron, was not according to human logic or reason. Why would you
cut down a branch and throw that in the water? Yes, you would
be right on all points. Turn to Romans chapter 11. Now,
just saying those things, you can already see the gospel narrative
in it. Romans chapter 11 and verses 17 through 24. Romans
11, 17 through 24. And if some of the branches be
broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among
them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast,
thou bearest not the root, but the root thee, and Christ is
the root. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off,
that I might be grafted in. The Jews were broken off, that
the Gentiles may be grafted in. What are you speaking about?
Well, because of unbelief they were broken off. And thou standest
by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not
the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God, on them
which fell, severity. but towards thee, goodness, if
thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be
cut off. And they also, if they abide not, still in unbelief,
shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by
nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree,
how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted
into their own olive tree. Contrary to nature. That's my
thought here. This iron acted not on its own,
it's an inanimate object. It couldn't do anything. It must be, we must be recovered,
redeemed, delivered, or found by a sovereign miracle. By the
grace of God. And that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Son of His love. Secondly, it will be that which
is contrary to our fallen, lost, helpless condition or nature.
If we're to be saved, it's going to have to be contrary to what
we're used to, what we're used to doing, what we're used to
thinking, oh, I've got to work, work, work to be saved. No, no,
no. It's contrary to what we think. Salvation to us by nature
is contrary to our nature. That's why there's no such thing
as free will, there's no such thing as easy believism, there's
no such thing as a decision for Jesus, or any of these things
that we try to do or muster up. It's contrary to our nature. It's like taking a pig and trying
to get milk from it. You're not going to do that.
Why? Because that's not the nature of that beast. Thirdly, the impossible
will be possible. The man of God, Jesus Christ,
Elijah, God of salvation, walked over there and said, He'd cut
the branch, he'd put it in there, and he said, reach up and pick
it up. It's going to be possible with Him. By and only through
our great substitute of God's own choosing, Emmanuel. Now,
spiritualize a little bit more in this. To me, that's what I
see. That we must very least admit.
And these are points of the Gospel. Lost, found, contrary to nature,
unable to float itself or swim itself, but now perhaps if we
could spiritualize, we are like the iron. Cold, spiritually cold,
lifeless, and of this earth. Iron is made of minerals. We're
of the dust. Christ is the branch or the tree. He's living, yet
was cut for our iniquities and our sins. And this is done all
by the dictates and command of the man of God, or Elisha is
a type of Christ. There's nothing in us. Everything
that took place regarding the iron, regarding Elisha, the tree,
all these things were done outside of the iron. The iron had nothing.
It was recipient and recipient only of this grace. Now, I do think the iron is said,
and this is just me, it is said to swim. Now, that word can only
be used for something that's alive. He didn't say the iron
floated, because wood floats, canoe floats, and it's inanimate.
But the iron did swim. He died that we may live. It's an odd term to use in here
in verse The latter part of verse 6, and
the iron did swim. Why didn't it say the iron floated?
I don't know. Over-spiritualized, but I'm just
saying I think it's a point worthy to look at, because we didn't
have any life, spiritual life, completely dead, almost inanimate,
so to speak, but now we have life in Him. He said, therefore,
in verse 8, take it up, and put it out His hand, and He took
it. Which, again, there's nothing in us, but it's all outside of
us. This is a form of the very definition of the grace to the
most lifeless. That we had nothing in us, everything
is done outside of us. That phrase, that thought, that
concept, that truth is a form of the definition of grace. We've
freely received it, we didn't have anything to do with it,
we didn't own it, we can't pull it out of our pocket. Grace is
something bestowed by God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And He'll
give us faith, and faith will lay hold on Him and Him alone.
Matt, would you close us?