We're in 2 Kings 4, the last
three verses, 42, 43, and 44. This is again studies of Elisha,
his life and miracles. This is lesson number 9. So we
just got done looking at last Wednesday, there's death in the
pot. And we saw how that poison, sometimes you can't, it's like
tares and wheat, We're not to mess with the tares, because
if we try to mess with the tares, we'll pull up the wheat. So we
can't tell. We can't read anybody's hearts.
We just leave them alone. Let God deal with it as He sees fit. So then Elisha took meal, or
flour, which is a picture of Christ, we saw that in Leviticus,
and cast it into the pot, and there was no harm in the pot. And those who have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, there is no harm. All things work together
for good. Everything does to them that
love God and are called according to His purpose. So now we look
at the last three verses of this chapter. We'll start in verse
42. And there came a man from Baal
Shalsa. and brought the man of God, Elisha,
bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears
of corn in the husks thereof. And Elisha said, Give unto the
people that they may eat." Who is he speaking to? Verse 43,
his servant. And you know his servant, or
it says servitor, that's Gehazi. That's who he's speaking to.
What Gehazi said, should I set this before a hundred men? Because
apparently it was only enough for a few men, according to the
Scriptures. According to the description
in the Scriptures here, it wasn't enough for this many people.
Should I set this before a hundred men? And Gehazi said again, I'm
sorry, Elisha, he said again, give the people that they may
eat. for or because thus saith the
Lord." He had a promise from God, they shall eat and shall
leave thereof. So Gehazi, he said it before
them, they did eat and they left thereof according to the word
of the Lord. Scott, would you start us in
prayer please? Father, we come to you tonight thankful for our
time together. Father, we are so thankful for
a place to come to hear the gospel, and for the servant that you
sent to bring the message. Father, we ask that you open
our eyes and ears and hearts tonight to hear the message that
you bring us. Lord, we ask that you watch over
and care for us in Christ's name. Now, this setting, we have to
go back to verse 38 in the same chapter. And Elisha came again
to Gilgal. That's where the school of the
prophets were. We saw that after verse 38 that
he's talking to the school of the prophets. They're listening
and they're sitting. But notice, there was a dearth
or a famine in the land. So that's what's going on. There's
not much food. It's a famine. So things are
tough all over. So the first thing that I think
we see in verse 42 is the man came. It doesn't even give his
name. Just a man. Just somebody came. Perhaps he
was a believer. Perhaps he was a fellow citizen
of Emmanuel's land. But whatever the case, God used
him to assist the needs of God's people during a famine. We must not despise the day of
small things. We have a tendency to look past.
The bigger, the better. The more, the better. We don't
even have this guy's name. Not at all. God is not bound
by our feeble means to aid or to comfort His dear people. Yet,
He often times, He will use the very thing and the means that
we most need and we don't suspect. This is an outsider. He came
to Galil. He came to Elisha. And some writers
say that he was coming to give the firstfruits, which it says,
he brought firstfruits and he gave
it to the man of God and then was going to have him do what
he saw fit. Instead of going all the way to Jerusalem and
giving it to the priest. So this apparently was acceptable.
So there's just this man. He brought the man of God bread
of the first fruits. That's the first thing we see,
just a man came, just somebody came. God knows our needs, every one. What we have here is God's providential
dealings with His people in action. What we see in the story is that
the loaves multiply and the corn multiplies. Now, this is a parallel
passage to this in the New Testament is Matthew 14, when our Lord
does it. They said, how is this going
to feed all these people? And He said, tell them to sit
down. Our Lord said, tell them to sit down. And then He break
bread, gave thanks. So this is a parallel passage
here. So, the all-seeing and God's all-seeing
is ever upon His elect to supply all our needs in Christ Jesus.
So, this guy comes out of nowhere and gives to the man of God this corn and this bread. Secondly, the second thing I
think we see, though we know not His name, God used Him for
kindness. He was showing respect to the
man of God. And He was showing respect to
His chosen people. In Acts chapter 6, you'll have
to turn there, you remember there was a jailer. We don't have his
name. And the Lord saved him and his
whole household. So we don't know what the Lord
could do with us here. We're small. We've been small. But we have the truth. We have
the Gospel. So, not despising the day of
small things, if you want to look at it when you get home,
it's in Zechariah 4, chapter 10. Tim James made a comment,
he uses sheep to beget sheep. So we take this message and we
go out. He uses His sheep to beget sheep.
The third thing I see in here is note the selflessness of Elisha. It is just like our blessed Lord
here. And again, in verse 42, this is where we're looking at.
He brought him barley. He brought him some ears of corn
and the husks. And the man of God, Elisha, said, Give unto
the people that they may eat. He did not say, Give me or give
us, meaning the servant. He said, make sure that they're
taken care of first. This is a lesson for us for sure. We should be as this Old Testament
saint. He said, give to the people. So in the first half of the verse,
we see this kindness and hospitality in the first thoughts of this
verse. Now, in the latter parts of this verse, we see selflessness
and fleshly mortification here at its close. He didn't think
about Himself first. And oh, how we need to learn
this. We constantly are thinking of ourselves. But I have children. Be a good parent, take care of
your children. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be
taken care of. God will have the first fruits.
What does it say? Verse 42, the man of God, He
brought him bread and the first fruits. God demands our best
always. It's not, and I, you know, pay
all the bills, and if I got anything left over, I'm going to pay,
I'll do an offering. If that's what you want to do,
I don't think that's a biblical principle. And I'm not just hammering
on that. But I'm saying, Elijah, like
Christ, he said, give to the people. Give to the people. Well,
the basic principle here is, and we won't turn there, it's
found in Matthew 10 and verse 8, look at when you get home,
the principle is here, He, Elisha or we, have freely received,
He or we should freely give. Isn't that what He says in Matthew
chapter 10? As you have freely received,
freely give. You cannot give God. And I'm
not talking about money, I'm just talking about time, service,
dedication, worship. You can't do it. But I think Elisha shows us a
beautiful principle here. Give unto the people, don't give
unto me, not even to my servant, that they may eat. Because the
famine is everywhere. This is the pastor, this is the
elders, this is the congregation. We ought to seek the welfare
of our brethren first. Ourselves, our time, our energy,
our talents, our money, He says, we have freely received the grace
of God, and you can look at it as salvation. And we're going
to withhold it here? We're going to withhold it from
our family? We're going to withhold it from our neighbor? No. If somebody didn't tell you,
you wouldn't know. So we have freely received, therefore
let us freely give. I pray that we would all be,
starting with me first, would be like-minded. May we tell His
truth, the truth of the God-man, the truth of our total ruin in
Adam, the truth of God's selection unto salvation, the truth of
a no-cost, no-merit, no-worth on our part salvation given freely
to His people who know their need. That's what we should do.
We freely is received. May we freely give. No, we can't
save anybody. But we ought to be this selfless. We ought to be this selfless.
Let's look at verse 43. This is very interesting. Verse
43. Gehazi, his servitor, what I have in the beginning statements
here is unbelief versus steadfast faith. Look at the contrast. The servitor Gehazi, unbelief,
doubt, said, what should I set this before a hundred men? Gehazi, he's Elisha's servant. Elisha is a man of God no less.
He sees not the grace of God by faith, but only sees by sight. And I will tell you this because
I know most often sight will lead to doubt. It'll lead to doubt, fear, and
all these other things. But Elisha, what did he do? He reiterated the same phrase
of faith. He said again, he didn't rebuke
them. He didn't say, you know, you
idiot, you're not walking by faith. He just reiterated faith
again. Give the people that they may
eat. And how do I know this? Because the Lord saith, they
shall eat and shall leave thereof. I've got a promise from God.
Again, we looked at the promises a while back. This whole book
is full of promises and this book is for His people. So we've
got Gehazi. He's walking by doubt. He's walking
by sight. unbelief, yet Elisha reiterates
his faith-filled believing words once again. Now here's what we
see here. Oftentimes faith will ignore unbelief. Oftentimes faith is
unaffected by unbelief. As for me and my house, we'll
serve the Lord. We'll do these things. Your neighbors
see you come and go. What are you going there for?
Just stay around, do this, do that. It'll be there next Sunday. Either acknowledge Him, either
answer a fool according to his folly, or don't answer a fool
according to his folly. See you later. He just kept on
going. He didn't even acknowledge unbelief. He didn't even acknowledge doubt. This is simply enabled by the
Holy Spirit walking by faith. Enoch walked with God and then
he was taken away. Blind Bartimaeus in Mark chapter
10, you don't need to turn there, he saw with the eyes of the heart,
because he was blind, he heard Christ coming and he shouted, Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me." And what are the people around him saying? They
said, shut up. Be quiet. I don't hear you. You're walking
by sight. You have your sight. You're walking
in unbelief. You're walking in doubt. That's
why when we get together we ought to encourage one another. Talk more around the Scriptures.
Like Spurgeon said, you know, talk about the promises. and
how the Lord has blessed us there. They told Barnabas, stop! But
faith ignores unbelief or doubt and keeps right on going. I think
we daily need grace to keep our cries to the Lord. I need to walk by faith and don't
need to listen to this stuff that's going around because it's
not a faith. And the last thing in verse 43
that I see, faith says and faith declares, they shall eat. They shall eat. They shall eat
and shall leave thereof. Faith says and declares they
shall eat. Ask God for such grace. Ask God for such wisdom and faith
in the midst of your and my famine. And He will give liberally. Turn
to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Now, we could
go many places, but this is what stuck in my craw the last two
or three weeks. Stuff happens all the time. I
don't know how to deal with it. I want to walk by faith and not
by sight. I want to walk by faith and not by doubt or fear or whatever.
I don't know how to handle a lot of stuff. James 1, verse 5, If
any of you lack wisdom, I raise my hand, let him ask of God that
gives to all men liberally and upbraids not, and it shall be
given him. But let him ask in faith, not
wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven
with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord." He's a double-minded
man. We just have to believe God's
Word. And if He doesn't give you a
promise, because I've looked for promises during difficult
times, famines, and didn't receive it, but He's given us principles. Christ-centered principles. and
He will make Himself known. So, if any of you lack wisdom,
ask God. He giveth liberally. And so, we're at verse 44. This last verse in this section. So, the servant said it before
them, that they did eat and left full. So, my last thought is,
He did set it, and they did eat. Are we hungry? Blessed are those who have a
hunger and thirst after righteousness, they'll be filled. I say, come
to Christ, all you that are weary and heavy
laden, and you shall be given rest. Come in faith by grace,
Come now, do not delay, come believing He is God and are all in all. Come boldly,
yet humbly." He loves the broken and contrite heart, because He's
put it in there. So, He said it before them, and
they ate. He said it before them, and they
ate. They, or we come, And we're promised
to be fulfilled. We come and we are promised to
be satisfied. We come and we are promised to
be content. We come and we are overjoyed. We come and we have
peace. Because that's what He's promised. Turn to Psalms 132. Here's another promise. Psalms
132. This name of this church is Sovereign
Grace Church, but in the Scriptures, it's Zion, the church of the
living God, the ground and pillar of the truth. But look at what
he says in Psalm 123, verse 13 and verse 15, For the Lord hath
chosen Zion, that's the church, He hath desired it for His habitation. Every time we gather together
and we are more generally or universally speaking, we are
His church. It's made up of people, it's not the building. So He's
dwelling, He inhabits each one of His people. But I'm looking
at the church as in this church in Jackson. For the Lord hath
chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation. Look at
verse 15. I will abundantly bless her provision and will satisfy
her poor with bread. Isn't that what we're looking
at? He's blessing us with provision and these people are, they're
in a dearth, they're in a famine, but He's promised bread. Now
I didn't go into, but we could go in, who's the bread of life? This Sunday we'll have the Lord's
Supper and He's the bread and He's the wine. It will sustain
us. It will sustain us. But I stepped back and looked
at the whole thing, and I thought, you know what? I suppose the
key phrase here is said twice. Verse 42, give. And verse 43,
give. What is that? That's grace. Give.
Give. Now I'm sure they're being in
famine, they wanted the bread and they wanted the corn, but
you don't see anybody asking anything for it. It's simply
given. We are given God's grace by and
through the substitutionary work of our Lord Jesus Christ, unasked
for. Now again, He makes us willing
in the day of His power. But if He had not chosen us,
we would not choose Him. If He had not first loved us,
we would not love Him. So I suppose another lesson in
here is give. Grace. Grace. Have we been graced? We'll be
gracious. We don't come with money or with
price. Because our Redeemer has already
paid our ransom price. Eat to your fill. As Donnie Bell would say, and
Bruce and I, I haven't heard him say this in years, but I
remember one time he just said, just get on the bike and ride.
Get on the bike and ride. Oh, that's free. No, it's not
free will. We know He makes you willing in the days past. We
know He puts that broken and contrite spirit, that heart within
you. But what does that heart do?
It seeks. And it finds. And it leaves full. Because He
fills the heavens He fills the galaxies. He fills the universe.
He fills all in all. And He's our God. He is our Redeemer. Bless His holy name. Bruce, would you close us please?