2 Kings chapter 4, and this is
lesson number 8 of Elisha's The Life and Miracles, and we're
just going to look at 38-41. 2 Kings chapter 4, verse 38-41.
And Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land. And the sons of the prophets
were sitting before him. And he said unto his servant,
set on the great pot and seed pottage, that's soup, fancy word
for soup, for the sons of the prophets. And one went out into
the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered
thereof wild gourds his lap full and came and shred them into
the pot of pottage for they knew them not." In other words, they
didn't know, they saw what he was doing, they all stood there
and saw what he was doing, but they didn't think anything about
it, because by visual they couldn't tell any difference. So they
poured out for the men to eat, and it came to pass, as they
were eating the pottage, that they cried out and said, O thou
man of God, there is death in the pot. and they could not eat
thereof. But Elijah said unto them, bring
meal. And he cast it into the pot and
said, pour out for the people that they may eat. And there
was no harm in the pot. So as I said, this is a lesson
number eight. And Elijah is returning to Gilgal,
which there must have been a school of the prophets there because
the sons of the prophets, it's multiple people. that he's returning
to. And he instructs the prophets,
whether he's there to instruct them or to fellowship with them,
just briefly or quickly, this is not uncommon in this historical
context, turn to Ezekiel 8. Ezekiel 8 and verse 1. This is the manner of which they
taught. Ezekiel 8 and verse 1. And it came to pass in the sixth
year, in the sixth month, the fifth day of the month, as I,
that's Ezekiel, sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before
me." Sat before me. So all I'm saying is historically
this is how they taught. As we see in this verse, He came
to Galgiel, there was a dearth in the land, the sons of the
prophets were sitting before Him. So to show respect of age,
respect of eldership or whatever you want to say, there was that
respect and they sat down before Him. So He's teaching them. And
then He asks one of them to go get some ingredients for soup. That's what we see in verse 38.
In verse 39 and 40, this gentleman goes and he finds wild vine. and gathered them, the gourds,
wild gourds, and then he shreds them and it's basically, it's
a type of cucumber, I looked this all up, it's a type of cucumber
in the original, and he slices it up and he's putting it in
a pot. It's a big old stew, soup. It's wild. So if you read the
context, it's not the right stuff. This is not the right ingredients. But it looked like it was. False preachers and false teachers
and Satan himself can disguise himself as an angel of light.
So it is imperative that we hear the truth. It is imperative. If this thing is going to go
on, if this church is going to go on under his banner, his banner
is truth But in Him, the Scripture says, mercy and truth meet together. It's not all love, and it's not
all mercy, and it's not all truth. It's all these things. Because
in Him, the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. So we see, they
couldn't tell. This one guy went out, he got
it. Okay, well, one guy, maybe he was the youngest of the...
I don't know, maybe, perhaps, whatever, we don't know. But
he goes out, and then he sits before Him, And he's cutting
this thing up. His lap was full. He came and
shred them into the pot for they knew them not. They couldn't
tell the difference. And a lot of times you cannot
tell the precious from the vile until when did they discover
when they started to ingest it. So, you say, you know, it's okay,
and I know we parents, as parents, we've done this and we should
do this. If somebody says something and
our children are involved, we want to hear what the guy's got
to say first. If it's religious, if it's not religious, educational,
I'm not talking about that. We're speaking about there's
death in the pot. And if we don't think that, and
I use another scripture, a little leaven, Leavens everything. And
I know Bruce and I have talked about Bruce years ago, years
ago, I can still remember him saying he listened to, when they
were in Jackie, he listened to somebody out of St. Louis and
they listened to everything he said and it sounded so good. And at
the end, what did he do? He gave an invitation. He totally
deleted the grace of God by usurping the grace of God with man's free
will. That's what he did. And I'm telling
you, there's death in the pot. there's death in the pot. So,
it looks like it's as good. And I will say this, if it was
a wild vine, and if you take care of your yard, or have a
garden, you know exactly what I'm saying. It just grows. The wild is the most common.
Okay? Anything wild is natural. We have to cultivate the grace
of God. We have to adorn our life to
the Gospel of God. Now, He gives us the ability
to do that. This is not a works thing. He's put that new nature
in us. But if all these exhortations
in the Old Testament and New Testament, if we were just perfect,
there would be no need for exhortation. But there's an exhortation to
pray, there's an exhortation to be kind to one another. Why?
Because with the old nature still, we're not kind. So these things
we have to be exhorted to do. Because I'm telling you, he went
into the field to gather herbs and he found a wild vine. This
wild vine is more common, it's more natural than the exotics. The wild is not the right stuff.
It's not the correct herb. But that which is death, and
that word death, look it up, it's ruin. And this is what amazes me about
parents and adults in this world. They're more concerned about
the sporting event. They're more concerned about
gathering together for whatever reason. They're more concerned
about having a good time. They're more concerned about
all these things, but they're not concerned about their soul,
or they're not concerned about their children's soul. But everywhere
you turn, These fields are grown up with natural, wild, ruinous
vines. That's us by nature. False doctrine. This could be false doctrine,
this wild vine. Anything contrary to the truth
of our God in Christ Jesus, added to His work or taken away from
His work, but we will not have the simple truth that is written in this book. We'll add something
to it. The preacher that I grew up under,
the Methodist preacher, he had his Bible, but he never opened
his Bible. He had a little black book, and it was the book that
the Methodists sent him, the Synod, where they had office.
Well, they'd send it to him, and he opened it up, and he preached
out of this book. It was always on top of his Bible.
And I dare to say the Lutherans the same way. The Catholics,
they've got their certain things that they have to do and have
to say. There's death in the pot. But I say, thank God they
couldn't eat it. They couldn't consume it. Bless
God for His grace that we don't digest this stuff.
They took it and they said, man of God, we can't eat this. So
they took it. I hate to use this illustration. You go to a winery, they taste it, and they swirl
it around, the people who know what they're looking for taste
it, and they spit it out. Turn to Proverbs chapter 23.
Here's what I'm trying to say as far as us tonight, and I wish
more folks would take heed to to the truth, to listening to
what the preacher is saying, what the elder is saying, what
the deacon is saying, what you are saying if you're a believer
when you go out and you talk to them. Proverbs 23 and verse
1, when you sit to eat with a ruler, and that could be anybody, consider
diligently what is before thee, what is set before thee. Verse
3, "...be not desirous of his dainty..." So he's talking about
eating. "...for they are deceitful meat." When you go and you sit
before anyone, and they start talking religion, listen diligently. There's people in the New Testament
called the Bereans, and thank God that His sheep hear His voice
and they won't follow another. And I'm so thankful that God
keeps His people and it's not up to the elders to do so. 1
Timothy chapter 6, Very explicit. 1 Timothy 6, verses 3 and verse 11. If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, He
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions, strife
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings."
And verse 11, "'But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and
follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness.'"
This is what Elisha is getting ready to do by casting the meal
and throwing it in. That was 1 Timothy chapter 6
verse 3 and 4 and in verse 11 I just read. So I've said this
before and Bruce has said it, we've all said it. Take heed
what you hear and how you hear. Know this book. Know this book. Isn't that what Paul said about
Timothy? You'd learn from an early age. Learn from an early
age. and however you want to do it.
You know, memorization, whatever. Because again, you know as well
as I do, kids, and there's good teachers and there's bad teachers
at school. The good teachers, they can teach well, and your
kids can memorize, and there's tricks to this, but we'll do,
I'm guilty of being a rock and roller. I can put forth most
songs. I know the songs. But do I know
the Scriptures? There's just something. I mean,
when you're faced with, you go out and somebody says something.
And the kids, Carrie used to do it, she didn't know where
it was at in the Scriptures, but she said, that's not right, is it, Dad? No, it's not. Why? Because she's
heard, at least she's heard it up here. We must remember, false
doctrine is never to be tolerated. Never to be tolerated. Now, what's
the remedy? Back to our text. Verse 41. And Elisha, you could say he's
a pastor, he's a preacher, he's the type of Christ, but really
the type of Christ is the meal. It said, O man of God, there's
death in the pot, and they could not eat thereof. But he said,
Elisha said, bring me some meal. And that's flour. That's all
that is. That word is meal is flour. And
he cast it into the pot, and he said, pour out for the people
that they may eat. And they did, and there was no
harm. Now, the remedy is always the
same. It doesn't make any difference
what is going on in your life, my life. I remember talking to
Tommy Robbins so clearly. And we just sat and talked about
it. We just said, you know, there isn't anything in a believer's
life, actually in any person's life, that is not covered in
the Word of God. And it always points back to
Christ. That's why pastors get concerned
when somebody says, which is a form of death in a pot, and
I'll read you what Jack Shanks said, he gave like four definitions
of death in a pot, contemporary. Christ is not enough. So all
you people do is preach Christ. Well, one, you've got a pretty
simple-minded pastor, and that's all I can handle. So that's what
I'm gonna do. So the remedy is the meal. It's always Christ. And it was
cast into the pot, turned to Leviticus chapter 2. How do you
know? What are you just coming up with
this stuff? Turn to Leviticus chapter 2,
1 through 3. Who is our offering? Throughout the whole scriptures,
we know Christ is our offering. Okay, Leviticus chapter 2. And
when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall
be of fine flour. There it is. This is the offering,
and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense upon it,
and all these typify the Lord Jesus Christ in his various attributes.
And he shall bring it to Aaron's son, the priest, and he shall
take there out a handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil
thereof, with all the frankincense thereof, and the priest shall
burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering
made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And guess what?
"...and the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and
his son's, and it is a thing most holy of the offerings of
the Lord made by fire." There's Christ, the fine flower. We must
have Christ. Christ received as the only hope for ruined,
poisoned, and dying sinners. The thing here is like the woman
with the issue of blood. She went to other remedies, and
she was never healed. That could be death in a pot.
It's never healed. And she continued to die until
she touched the meal, the offering of God, our offering, and it's
always, in Christ, it's finished, where He's at now, He's at the
right hand of God, always accepted of His Father. So we could look
at that. She went specifically to Christ
and only to Christ. It's redemption accomplished
and applied, but it says no harm will come. That's no eternal
harm, that is. We're safe, we're fed, we're
comforted, not a little. Now, we'll get to it in closing
remarks, but there's three things that I want
to just say about this verse 41. They're general, but they're
true of every believer. We should thank the Father that
He has provided meal here in Jackson. This gospel, we know
a lot of preachers, and we know more in Africa. So there's quite
a few. But in the religious world, it's
a minority. So one, we thank the Father that
He provided the meal. He said, bring meal. It was already
there. Secondly, we thank the Son that
He is our meal. He's our very meal offering unto
God. And thirdly, we bless the Spirit
of God for applying this soul-cleansing remedy for the poison that we
are. We're born poisoned, if you want
to say it that way. We wouldn't have to not go hear
any religion. Just stay in a house and stay
there. And if we could do that, all that, we wouldn't have to
do anything. And we're sinners because of what we are, not so
much of what we do. And what we do, it shows what
we are. But Jack Shanks, in his discussion
of this text, he said, these are some forms of death in the
pot. Free willism. Christ, as I said before, is
not enough to preach. You've got Christ plus something.
Thirdly, emotional religion only. And one man called it wildfire.
And then the other is no fire. The fourth way is ceremony in
form without substance. Just come and I can take it or
leave it, like I said Sunday. It's just form. No, we need to
guard against these things, because we do. We get discouraged, or
we get upset, or whatever it might be, and so we... No. No. The importance of hearing
the Gospel. Matt, I've said, when he comes
up and breathes, to always be ready. Don't take it at a fly. Why? And I say this in all humility. If I mess up, or if I miss it,
or etc., etc., and I'm human, pray for me, but at least the
Word of God was read. And I'm so thankful that somebody
said, start meeting and praying, and we used to do that, but it's
been wonderful. We meet, the men meet, before
we come to the final service, and we lift up one another. But
I know the Word's going to be read. Now, this thing, I just
saw this, this is me, so if you've got issues with it, don't blame
Jack, don't blame Tim, don't blame anybody. I'm going to close here, and
look at verse 40 and 41. Look at these words. So they
poured out. See the third and fourth word? So they poured out the first
time, and it was death in a pot. Look at verse 41, and He cast
it into the pot and He said, pour out. Same word, same pouring,
same usage. One of them was death in a pot,
one of them was life. And I say, in Adam, the first
one we die, in Christ we live. In Adam we fell, in Christ we
are risen. The Old Testament, the serpent
bit those people and they died. And Moses was instructed to build
a serpent. They looked and they lived. And my point is this, if you
look at Romans 11, it's phrased a little different, but we were
grafted in by grace, contrary to nature. And he's talking about
a wild olive. That's us. We're wild by nature. And so we're grafted into stock
contrary to nature. And that's what I'm saying. It
comes natural for us to be poured out, but by grace. We're the same person. You're you and I'm me. We just
have new natures within us. And the last beautiful thing
I thought was this, and I didn't see anybody say anything about
this either. This is beautiful. The last phrase in verse 41,
and there was no harm in the pot. That word harm means evil
or bad. What does Romans 8.28 tell us? I better turn here. Romans 8.28. I was thinking of the phrase
after that. All things work together for
good. There's no harm in hearing the Gospel. There's no harm in
believing the Gospel. Scripturally. Spiritually. Now
the world is going to hate you and the world is going to harm
you and they may kill you like they killed Christ. And they
may put us to stake. But as Bruce said during Bible
class, we haven't suffered like they have. And I'm thankful for
that. But there is no harm. Once we've rejoiced and partaken
of the Lord, the wine and the bread and the wine, there's no
harm, there's no bad. Because we know Romans 8.28 is
true. All things work together for good. To them who love God
and to them who are called according to His purpose, to God be the
glory. Bruce, would you close us?