This is our sixth lesson in Elisha,
the life and miracles thereof. We're in 2 Kings 4. The whole
thing is about the Shunammite woman, but we're just going to
do the first part because it goes on and there's quite a bit
in here. So we'll just do the first section. Lesson number 6. 2 Kings. Chapter 4, verses 8 through 17. And it says, And it fell on a
day that Elisha passed to Shunamman, where was a great woman, and
she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was that as oft as
he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto
her husband, Behold, now I perceive that this is a holy man of God,
which passes by us continually. Let us make a little chamber,
I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed,
and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick. And it shall be
when he comes to us that he shall turn in thither. And it fell
on a day, that he came thither and he turned into the chamber
and lay there. And as he, that is, Elisha, he
said to Gehazi, his servant, Call this Shuddamite. And when
he had called her, she stood before him. She stood before
Elisha, the prophet. And he said unto him, Say now
unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this
care. What is to be done for thee?
What is thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of
the host? And she answered, I dwell among
mine own people. And he said, what then is to
be done for her? And Gehazi answered, verily,
she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, call her. And when he had called her, she
stood in the door, and he said, about this season, according
to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said,
nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived and bare
a son at that season that Elisha had set unto her, according to
the time of life." There's the miracle in the last
couple of verses. She had no child. Her husband
was up in age. We don't know, it's not said
whether she could bear children or not. But otherwise, it's a
miracle. It's obviously a miracle. So
we're going to look at a few things. And mainly we're going
to look at, because it seems to be the weight of the passage,
that this woman is a lovely representation of a child of God, one who knows
the gospel and acts accordingly. But we won't get out of here
without hearing the gospel because this miracle portrays death from
life, barrenness to life. So we'll see that as well. But
let's look at this first thing. This woman was great, okay? It says that in verse 8. This is the first thing,
the first point, is that she was a great woman. Well, she
was great because she did have wealth and she did have property.
But more correctly, she was great or she was graced. Graced. She was graced. So that's what
we're looking at. We're not necessarily going to
look at her wealth. We're not going to look at her prosperity. That
will come in later, later down the line with this woman. But
she was graced. She was shown grace, or she was
gracious to the man of God. And an example that we could
have of this is, you remember in the New Testament, the two
disciples, they were on the road to Emmaus, and when they had
met Christ, they didn't know it was Christ, they were walking
together, they constrained Him. Come eat break bread with us.
Come have a meal with us. And so Christ was constrained,
by their kindness to break bread. Also, let's look at Romans chapter
12. Romans chapter 12 and verse 13. Romans 12 and verse 13. Distributing to
the necessity of the saints, to hospitality, given to hospitality. 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse
2. A bishop must then be blameless,
the husband of one wife, diligent, sober, of good behavior, given
to hospitality." So whether it's a calling to whatever, however
you want to phrase it, this is the office of a bishop, the qualifications
for the office of a bishop and a believer are the same thing.
They're basically the same thing. Now the gifts may vary, and we
know that to be true. We see the prophet, the man of
God, doing the same thing. She had shown kindness to him
and then later on in the chapter, she says, what can we do for
you? What can I do for you? And she
never asked him, obviously. She just continued to show hospitality.
1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4. Verses 8 and 9. 1
Peter 4. 8 and 9, above all things, have
fervent charity or love among yourselves, for love shall cover
the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging, without grudging. Don't do it and then murmur about
it and complain about it. So one mark Of one who has been
shown grace, that is obviously the free favor of God, that is
undeserved favor from God, is that they are gracious and are
a giving spirit. I've said this many, many times. And I say it again and say it
slow. We talk about being loving to one another, and we talk about
being hospitable, and when we talk about all these things,
According to the Scripture, the believer does these things and
has a giving spirit. And those who do not give, will
not give to support anything, why would you not question whether
the grace of God be in there just as if they don't love or
care or show kindness to somebody? These are not optional. And what
she did was not optional. After she showed him kindness,
she told her husband, she said, I think he's a man of God. And I doubt if it's because of
what he wore. It's probably his attitude. And you can see certain
things. But we don't know the heart.
But my main point is that this is a lovely representation of
a child of God. So she being grace, she being
a great woman, graced woman, she showed grace or was gracious
to the man of God. She secondly consulted her husband,
Ephesians chapter 5. She didn't just do something
without telling her husband. And there's nothing more blessed
than unity at home And that's the way it should be. Now again,
we fuss and fight and we get aggravated for one another. That's
the human nature. That's the old man. I'll put
it that way. That's the old man. But a new
creature in Christ, and the two get married, the two are one,
there is nothing more precious than to see this first hand. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22
and 23. Let me get to chapter 5. It's got a
4. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the
Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ
is the head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body."
He is the Savior of the body. So she consulted her husband,
and this showed submission to God's order in the home. This
also shows the gospel in the heart as we, in like manners,
submit to our reigning and ruling Lord Jesus Christ. And we do
that voluntarily. If you're submitting one to another
forcibly, that's not true submission. That's not true submission. This
woman, verse 9, she said to her husband, Behold, I perceive that
this is a holy man of God, which passes by. Let us. And I stop
right there because I've seen this too often. Not here. I'm not talking about here. I'm
talking about secular people who are religious. The wife says,
this is my house, my house, my house. And the husband, well,
this is my car, my car. And I'm not saying I see this
here. I'm saying I've seen this outside
the church very readily. People are possessive. And let
us, we dwell together, let us. Let us do this together for this
man of God. Let's not only feed him, But let's open our home. And
I don't know if she constructed. I pray thee, on the wall, I don't
know if they constructed a place, but they set a place up, whether
they constructed from scratch, or she had extra room for a bed,
a table, a stool, a candlestick for study, and all these different
things. But she consulted her husband. Which shows her grace, as well
as, you know, the mercy that she had and the love that she
had. And this love and mercy and grace that we have, it's
captured our hearts and we willingly serve them. That's what I mean.
We willingly do what we do. Now again, the flesh gets in
the way. But the believer, like this woman, they will come up
with ideas on how to be hospitable, one towards another. And as in
the scriptures, which I didn't bring it up, especially them
of the household of faith. Not only did she feed the man
of God, but opened up a full room to him when he passed by. And we don't know how often he
passed by. It says, constrain him to eat bread so it was, in
verse 8, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there
to eat. He turned in there to eat. So
it may have been weekly. of profit schools in these areas,
so he was visiting them, obviously. So whether it was weekly, monthly,
or yearly, he would have sufficient accommodations. Truly, turn to
Jeremiah chapter 45. She was honoring this passage
of Scripture. And so was the man of God. as
was the prophet. He didn't seek a hotel room.
He didn't seek the best place in the town. And she provided
him what she could. Jeremiah 45 verse 5, And seekest
thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Don't do it. We don't have to have the best.
We don't have to have the newest. We don't have to have all these
things. Now, we think we do. But that's to our shame, I would
say. So she was truly honoring this
passage. She was not seeking great things for herself. And
I've got a little comment here. May we seek the welfare of others
before ourselves more often. This should be practiced among
us, among the saints, more often than we do. Turn to Galatians
chapter 6. We get in our own little And
I'm talking to myself as well. We get in our own little funk. We get in our own little thing.
We get our blinders on. And it's very important, if you
don't take care of your household, it says you're worse than an
infidel. If you don't take care of your household, if you don't
work and provide for your family, there's unquestioned. That's
unquestioned. But you know as well as I do. And the Spirit
of God quicken whom He will. If we have ears to hear, let
us hear. We need to do this more often to seek the welfare of
others. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10, As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them
who are of the household of faith. So let us imitate this dear woman
And of course, imitate our lovely Redeemer in this regard because
that's who we desire to imitate. But Paul says that when you see
me imitating Christ, imitate me as well. Now the second major
point here is this woman was content. Look at verse 13. The
prophet is going there, he's stopping there, however often,
and it fell on a day, verse 11, that he came hither And he turned
into the chamber and laid there. And I guess as he's laying there,
he's thinking, and then he calls his servant in. And he says,
call her in. Call her in. So he calls her
in. The servant, Gehazi, goes and
gets the Shuddamite woman. And he says in verse 13, he says,
Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful, and that's
a good word, careful, because that's what it talks about, thorough
in our hospitality. You've been careful for us with
all this care. It wasn't anxious care. That's
not how it's phrased. It wasn't anxious care. It was
a loving care. What would you have us do for
you? You want me to speak to the king? I don't know if she
knew the king. She does have, later on in this
story, she has quite a bit of property too, so I don't know
if the king knew her or what. Or how about the captain of the
host? And here's what she said. Now, who, if somebody, I read
it somewhere, there was a couple, I can't remember what state it
was, and they saw a bag on a highway, did you see this? A million dollars? They found a million dollars
and it was in separate baggies. It was like, it said like the
cash or stash of cash or whatever. So I don't know what they, I'm
sure they turned it in. Obviously this has been reported,
but you find that? Wait, I think, pay off everything. And then I can do more for the
church. Oh, how sad that is. That's how
we think. Oh, I can do more for the church
if I just don't have this, I don't have that, I don't have that. Would we do it? I don't know. But here's this woman, to say
this directly, the king or the captain of the host, here's what
she answered, I dwell among mine own people. Here's what she's
saying. I am quite satisfied with my
lot in life, seeing it is of God which I now receive such
mercies." That's my paraphrase, but that's what she's saying. Matthew Henry would say it this
way, it would be well with many if they did but know when they
were well off, but many do not. It would be well if many would
know that they are well off, but many do not. This world enchants
us, enchants them. These people that are always
after stuff, they're always looking for bigger, better, you know,
greener pastures. You've heard that. Greener grass.
Turn to Genesis chapter 33. I love this passage. I haven't
been here in a long time, but let's look at it. Genesis 33. I've preached this before. It's
a wonderful passage, Genesis chapter 33. You've got Jacob
coming back and he's about to meet Esau and he's scared to
death and he's kept sending all of his kids in front of him and
his camels and all that. And Esau is no longer mad at
him because Jacob stole his birthright. That's what Jacob was concerned
with. So they finally meet. And he's like, OK, the Lord's
going to slay me. That's fine. Verse 8, and Esau
says, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he
said, These are to find grace in the sight of my Lord. Jacob's
saying, I'm trying to appease you for what I've done years
ago. Here's what Esau says. Verse 9, Genesis 33, and Esau
said, I have enough. Okay, hold your finger underneath
that word enough. My brother, keep that thou hast
unto thyself. And Jacob said, nay, I pray thee,
if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present
at my hand. For therefore I have seen thy
face, as though I have seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased
with me. Jacob says, take, I pray thee,
my blessing that is brought to thee, because God hath dealt
graciously with me, and because I have enough." And he urged
him and Esau took it. Now it's the same word in verse
9. It's the same English word in verse 9 and verse 11. Esau says, I have plenty. That's what that word
means, plenty. Jacob says, I have all. And if
he has Christ, and if you have Christ, you have all. So it's
the same English word, but the translation, you can look this
up in the Strong's or wherever you want, they're two different
words. Jacob is saying, I have all things, I have everything.
And Esau says, I have plenty. There's the difference. The world,
and he'll get more. And he'll have more. But it's
not this word enough to Esau, To an unbeliever, it's never
enough, really. And then turn with me to 1 Timothy
6. 1 Timothy 6. And verse 6, we know
this. 1 Timothy 6, verse 6, "...but
godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
into this world, it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and rainment,
let us be there with content." Jeremy Burroughs wrote a book,
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. It's not a very big book, but
we don't need a book. We just need one or two passages
of Scripture. And that's how we are to live,
and we know that. But this woman showed contentment. I mean, it
was laid at her feet. What do you want? Okay, so she
says, I'm fine. So then Gehazi, and the third
main point is the miracle itself, verses 14 through 17. So, Elisha
has Gehazi come back and he says, she doesn't need anything, she's
fine. And when Gehazi says, well, they don't have any children.
Her husband's too old. So he calls her back in, and
he says, about this time of life, you're going to have a child. And she says, nay, my lord, thou
man of God, do not lie unto me, unto thy handmaid. And I don't
think what she was saying was rebuking him, and she wasn't
doubting him. I think it was an astonishment.
And this little tidbit, Jack Shank shared this, and I don't
have it written in here, but I do think it's good. A man of
God, we'll just say a preacher, If Matt's a man of God, you may
not be a preacher, but you're a man of God. Bruce, Nathan,
we ought to tell the truth, plain and simple. We ought to tell,
our word ought to be, and I know it's old school, but it ought
to be our bond. And I know we exaggerate and
we say things that are not necessarily true. We stretch things. But
he said, no, you're going to have a son. And in verse 17,
in the miracle, she did have a son at the season that Elisha
had set unto her, according to the time of life. So here's the
miracle. I think we see the Gospel in
it. Simply put, the Gospel declares there's no life, and then because
of what Christ has done, how He did it, for whom He did it,
where He's at now, Sinners have life. So the very simple, naked,
broken down truth. There's barren to life. That's
the Gospel. From womb death to new birth. From no hope, no way to see life,
to the miracle of life. New creatures in Christ. Old
things are passed away. Lost, saved. In prison, now free. No hope. to all hope and our
substitute. That's the free favor and mercy
of God in Christ Jesus. And the beautiful thing is, and
you think about it, He made, when she got pregnant and she
began to know, I don't know when that is in a woman, when she
began to know she was pregnant, then it was probably a joy. But
she didn't ask for it. And we don't ask for salvation.
He has to make us willing in the day of His power. We will
not seek Him. Matter of fact, we're lost sheep.
Wandering, straying, far from home. And I know it looks like
we seek Him. And I know it looks like we come
to Him. And we do, because He doesn't have to repent. We have
to repent. He doesn't have to believe in
Himself. We believe. But this is all a grace. It is
not a product of the flesh. And neither was this miracle.
She couldn't conceive. She conceived. Simplicity of
the Gospel. And I love the simplicity of
the Gospel. We can see the Gospel in all
these lessons. But closing, I think it also
shows the redeemed bringing forth fruit. Romans chapter 6. Romans
chapter 6. And now this is beautiful as
well. Romans chapter 6. Not necessarily Romans, but the
thought behind this. Romans chapter 6. And verse 22,
but now being made free from sin and become servants of God,
you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Fruit. The believer bears fruit. Some 20, some 30, some 60, some
100 fold it says. But let me tell you this. Let
me ask you this, and this is why I think it's so beautiful.
This fruit that we bring forth, or the good works we show forth,
is altogether the supernatural work of God in the heart by the
Holy Spirit. How much did she, did she, she
brought forth a child. She didn't do that by herself.
She couldn't do it by herself. didn't do it by herself. If this
is a picture of fruit, it's natural for her to bring forth a child
because God did this for her and in her. Isn't that what happened? She didn't have children. Her husband was too old. She
can't have children. So that which was in her was
created in her by grace, by the prophet. Christ, however you
want to phrase that. And I say, so do we. We can't
help but serve and worship and love our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because He's in us. We have a union. And John says
we have a union with Him. And that union. And he says himself,
your fruit is found from me. Without me, you can do nothing. Closing, let's go back to Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians 4, verses 24 through
the end of the chapter. Ephesians 4, verses 24 through
the end of the chapter. And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying,
speaking every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members
one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not. Let
not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to
the devil. Let him that stole steal no more,
but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which
is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let
no corrupt communications proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to read it. May
God give us grace to be like this woman, which is just like
every believer. That's what we should be like.
And we desire to be like. And I know we fall short. But
when we fall short, we have an advocate. We're like Job. We're hedged up. Oh, blessed
hedge. Blessed surrounding grace. It's
just wonderful. It's just absolutely wonderful.
Because we know of ourselves, we would not be like this woman.
We would care less. We would be concerned about our own things.
But let us mind the things of others, and so fulfill the law
of Christ. Bruce, would you close us?