Good morning. Would you turn to 2nd Kings chapter
8? I'd like to read the first six
verses of 2nd Kings chapter 8. And before I read this passage
of scripture, let me remind you, the Lord said, you search the
scriptures and in them you think you have eternal life. and they
are they which testify of me. And remember that as we read
this passage of scripture, they are they which testify of me.
And this passage of scripture is once again a declaration of
the gospel of Christ. Now, keep that in mind as we
read this. Then spake Elisha unto the woman
whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, And go thou
and thine household and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn,
for the Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall 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. 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 that's, she had to leave
her house and her land. And she comes back seven years
later and wants it back. And only the king has authority
to get it back for her. I guess somebody else lived in
it, but here she's asking for it back. Verse four. 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 he 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. Now, in the Lord's providence,
right while Gehazi is telling the king about this boy being
restored to life, his mother comes in. And Gehazi said,
my Lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom
Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman,
she told him, so the king appointed unto her a certain officer saying,
restore all that was hers and all the fruits of the field since
the day that she left the land, even until now. Let's pray. Lord, we. Come into your presence
in Christ's name, that name that's above every name, and we ask
in his name that you would be pleased to speak in power to
our hearts. Cause your gospel to go forth
in the power of your Holy Spirit and give us hearing ears and
receptive hearts. Lord, we confess our sins. We
ask that we might be forgiven and cleansed for Christ's sake.
We pray for our nation's leaders, that your hand would be upon
them, that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life. Lord, we
pray for your presence wherever your people meet together as
we know you've promised. Now bless us for Christ's sake.
In his name we pray. Amen. The king is talking to Gehazi. Do you remember Gehazi? He was
the servant of Elisha and he is one whom Elisha, the Lord
used him to give that man leprosy. You remember how he had gone
back to take some of the goods of Naaman and Elisha struck him
with leprosy. So this passage of scripture
I just read, some people think that this is not given in chronological
order, but that this took place before he was a leper. And it's just not in chronological
order in the book of Kings, but I think he was a leper. I think
Elisha was enamored. I mean, the king was enamored
with Elisha at this time, and he knew that This man had been
struck with leprosy and he wasn't dead yet and he wanted to find
out more as much as he could about Elisha. And I think that's
interesting because just recently he wanted to behead Elisha, but
now all of a sudden he's infatuated with Elisha and wants to learn
all he can about this man. Now let's pick up reading. Once
again, in verse one, then spake Elisha unto the woman whose son
he'd restored to life. Now this is that woman who was
called a great woman in the introduction to this woman's life. The scripture
actually calls her a great woman. She's the one, her and her husband
made that apartment for Elisha. And Elisha, the Lord used Elisha
to cause her to have a child that she'd never had before.
And that child died, Elisha restored that child to life. And now Elisha
cares about this woman. I would say her husband's dead
at this time. And he says, there's a famine coming in the land for
seven years, and I want you to flee and go somewhere else, wherever
you can, so your life will be preserved. Then spake Elisha
unto the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise,
and go thou in thine household, and sojourn, whithersoever thou
can sojourn, for the Lord hath called for a famine. And it shall
also come upon the land seven years. So he's forewarning her
about this. 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. A lot of things go under the
bridge and said a lot of water comes under the bridge in seven
years, doesn't it? I mean, all the different things that could
happen. She's there seven years and now she returns. 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. Now
she'd been gone, perhaps squatters had taken it over, I don't know.
Maybe she lost the right to have it, but now there's only one
person who can restore her home and the land, the king. He's
got the authority and the ability to do it. So she goes to the
king saying, give me back my house and my land, verse four. And the king talked with Gehazi,
the servant of the man of God. And you'll remember he was struck,
stricken with leprosy in second Kings chapter five. And so I
think he's looking at this man who's a leper and knowing that
Elisha was the cause of his leprosy. 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. That's type of gospel
preaching isn't it? Elisha means. God is salvation. Elisha is a type of Christ here.
And here's this request, you tell me all the great things
that Elisha hath done. Now why was he infatuated with
Elisha at this time, I don't know, because he wanted him dead,
not too long, just in the last chapter. And it came to pass
as he was telling the king how he'd restored a dead body to
life. Now he was giving the account
of when that boy died, and remember Elisha put his hands on his hands,
his mouth on his mouth, and breathed onto him, and he was given life
through that, which typifies the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he was telling the king about this. And right while
he was telling him that, that boy that was raised alive, his
mother walks in right while this is going on in the Lord's province.
Verse 5, And it came to pass, as he 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 a
house and for a land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king,
this is the woman. This is her son, whom Elisha
restored. This is her. And when the king asked the woman,
she told him. Yeah, I'm her. I'm the one the Lord did this
for. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer saying,
restore all that was hers and all the fruits of the field since
the day that she left, even until now. Now, this woman, because
of her connection with Elisha, she had everything restored.
And she was given actually more than she left with because all
the fruits of seven years, whatever took place was restored to her
again. And she was actually given more than she had when she left. Now, this woman lost everything. Kind of like Mephibosheth, remember
he lost everything and everything was restored to her. and more,
and for one reason, because of her connection with Elisha. Now, I love to think of the king asking Gehazi, tell
me the great things that Elisha has done. And he had a whole
litany of things to speak of. Elisha was anointed by Elijah,
to be the prophet. And as soon as the Lord anointed
him as prophet, he came to the River Jordan and smote it. You
remember the river separated? And he walked through on dry
land. And remember when those people were cursing him and he
cursed them in the name of the Lord and two she-bear came and
ripped up 44 people? That was an interesting lesson.
That's been a couple of months ago. I don't have time to get
back into it. Then he comes, and the waters are barren and
dead, and no life comes from them. And he gives the waters
life by throwing the tree in, and everything's fine. What a
miracle. And then there's the miracle
where the king of the Syrians had gathered together, and Israel
was scared to death. They were going to get killed.
And he had water created. And it looked like blood. And
they were scared to death, and they ran. They were saved through
Elisha. You remember the widow who came
to Elisha and said, they're going to sell me and my sons because
I can't pay my debts. And he has oil go into all those
empty vessels. And it just, when they were filled
up, they'd set them aside and they were given money to pay
their debts and to live on for the rest of their lives. What
a type of the gospel. And you remember Naaman coming
and him cleansing the leper. You can remember him making the
ax head to float, defying the laws of physics. He predicted
that famine and it would, a famine would be over in 24 hours and
it was just as he said I mean this was a man who God had mightily
used and he he was used to do so many miraculous things and
that's what Elisha was that's what the King Jerome was saying
tell me the great things that Elisha has done now preaching
is telling the great things Jesus Christ has done. I don't know
of a better definition of preaching than that. There are a lot of
good definitions of preaching, I'm sure, but I don't think there's
anything that tops this. Preaching, true preaching, is
telling the great things Jesus Christ, the Lord, has done. And I would like to spend a few
moments with that. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
before time began, stood as surety for all those the Father gave
him. What a great thing. The father
gave him a people, it's called election, and he said, I will
be responsible for their salvation. And everything to do with my
salvation, Christ took full responsibility for. And everything God requires
of me at that time, he looked to his son for. Now is that great
or what? In time, He became incarnate. God became flesh. You see, he's
the eternal son, but there was a time, some 2,000 years ago,
when he became flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. What a great thing that is. Who
can grasp that? God was manifest in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Oh, the great things he did when
he was made flesh. Now you think of his life. Here
is the only holy man to ever live. You think of his perfect
righteousness. He never sinned. I can't even
grasp that, can you? He never sinned. He never had
an evil thought. He never had an evil desire. He kept God's
law perfectly. But what I find so interesting
about this, here's the only holy man to ever live, and nobody
got it. Nobody understood. And there
was something about this man that sinners were drawn to him. Then drew near the publicans
and sinners for to hear him. Somebody that was very evil and
immoral. could come into his presence
and not feel threatened and not feel judged. And they desired
to hear what he had to say. And oh, with what authority he
spake. He didn't speak like the scribes.
He spake as one having authority, not as the scribes. What a life. What a death. The fact that Jesus Christ died
in the first place is just beyond my understanding. He's God, he's
man, and he died. God can't die. Man can't satisfy God. Man can't pay for sins. Man can't
offer any satisfaction to God. The God-man did both. Now, I
don't know how to explain it. How did he die? I don't know,
but he did. That's the fact of it. He did.
He died. And what did he accomplish by
that death? That's the issue. What did he accomplish by his
death on Calvary's tree? Most religion presents It is
making salvation available. He made it possible for you to
be saved. He made it possible for you to have your sins forgiven.
He made it possible for you to be in heaven as long as you do
what you need to do to make what he did work for you. That's called
salvation by works. That's all it is. Salvation by
works. There's no truth to it. What
did he accomplish by his death? When he said it is finished. The salvation of everybody he
died for was completed. That's what he accomplished. Luke 9, 31, when Moses and Elijah
appeared before him on the Mount of Transfiguration, when he's
transfigured, the scripture says, they spake of the death which
he should accomplish. Now, he came to die. He came to live, yes, he came
to die. When he died, all he died for, all of the elect, all
of those who believe, their salvation was accomplished. I love thinking
about this. You know, I look to myself all
the time, you do too. We think, can I be saved, and
if I think this, and if I do that, can I really be saved? And every time we think that,
there's a reason we're thinking that. We're looking, for some
reason, at us. That's the wrong place to look. My salvation was
accomplished by what He did without any reference to anything about
what I do. It is finished. And not only did He die, He raised
Himself from the dead. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take
it up. He raised himself from the dead. You want to talk about
power? Can anybody grasp that? Can you understand how someone
can be dead and raise themselves from the dead? I don't understand
that, but I believe it because he's the son of God. And he said,
he said, I have power to lay it down and I have power to take
it up. This commandment have I received
from my father. Now, when he was raised from
the dead, He was delivered for, Romans 4.25, he was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Now, when
he was raised from the dead, every believer was justified. Justified. That means I stand
before God. If he lived for me, died for
me, and was raised from the dead for me, I stand before God, having
never sinned. That's what justification means.
having never sinned. I stand perfectly righteous before
God." Now, you want to talk about something great? The great things
he did, he made it to where everybody he died for is justified before
God. He was raised from the dead and
he ascended back to the Father. And I love thinking of his ascension. You can see the disciples just
looking up while he's carried up in the clouds. And he's gone
into heaven. Now where's heaven? I don't know.
I don't know what dimension it is. But he's in heaven right
now as the great high priest and intercessor of his people.
And there's basically two things he's doing. Basically two things.
Number one, he's controlling everything that happens. He's controlling everything that
happens. He's controlling the thoughts
that are going through your mind right now. That's how sovereign
he is. Now, I know somebody says, well, that's making us robots.
No, you do what you want to do. You think what you want to think.
I do what I want to do. I think what I want to think.
There's no doubt about that. We do what we want to, but he is
completely sovereign over our free actions. Now, can I explain
that? No. Do I believe it with all
my heart? He's controlling everything and
every event. His will is always done. You see, He's the Lord. He's
the Lord. Scripture says He's the Lord
of the dead and the living. He's your Lord. Whether you know it
or not, He's your Lord because He is the Lord. He's the Lord
of the dead, those who don't know Him. He's the Lord of the
living, those who believe Him and love Him and trust Him and
see Him as all in salvation. He's the Lord. So number one,
He's controlling everything. I love that. He's controlling everything.
All power is given unto me. And he's standing as the intercessor
for his people. Right now, my name is on his
breast. The names of all of his people,
just like the great high priest of old who had the names of the
children of Israel on his breast, on his shoulders. My name, the
names of all of his people, he represents me before God. Right
now, there's a man in glory right now who is God, the God-man,
and he is representing me. That's why I'm so safe. My safety,
it's because he represents me. I'm in him. Now, the great things
he did. Now, this woman, not only was
what she lost restored, but she was given more. And she had everything
restored for this one reason, for Elisha's sake. I think of
that scripture. This is one of my favorite scriptures.
Everyone of us ought to commit this to our memory. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. He didn't do it because you asked
for forgiveness. He didn't do it because you were sorry. He
didn't do it because you promised you'd never do it again. He did
it for Christ's sake. Now, let's close by thinking
about how this woman, not only was she given her land and house
back, she was given all the fruits of seven years of labor. And
she actually had more when she came back than she did when she
left. Now, Adam, and me and you and him, had an innocent nature. We hadn't sinned yet. We had
an innocent nature. But we were mutable. We could
change. We could fall. We had human righteousness. If there ever was human righteousness,
it was before the fall. We had human righteousness. But
after God saved us, we don't have human righteousness. We
have God's righteousness. The very righteousness of God.
We don't have an innocent nature. We have a holy nature. A nature
that cannot sin. And it's a nature that cannot
fall away. It can't be changed. It's the
same nature I'm going to have in glory. So I have much more
now than I had before the fall. And this is true of every believer. Thank God for the great things
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. When the Lord had healed that
demon-possessed man that had, you'll remember that he had so
many demons in him that they all went out into a herd of over
2,000 swine and they went off a cliff and drowned. So it must
have been a lot of demons. When the Lord was getting ready
to depart, the man said, let me go with you. Wherever the
Lord is, that's where I want to be. Let me go with you. And
the Lord said, no, you stay right here. And you go home to your
friends and family and tell them the great things that I have
done for you. Not the great things you've done.
The great things I have done for you. And you know what he
went and told everybody? The great things God had done. One thing he knew about Jesus
Christ, Jesus Christ is God. And when that settled, everything
else is. Amen.