2nd Kings chapter 4, I'd like
to begin reading in verse 38. And Elisha came again to Gilgal,
and there was a Darth 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 seethe pottage for the sons of the prophet.
Cook a big bowl of soup. And one went out into the field
to gather herbs and found a wild vine, one that had not been cultivated,
one that came naturally from the cursed earth. and gathered
thereof wild gourds, his lapful, and came and shred them into
the pot of pottage, for they knew them not. So they poured
out for the men to eat, and it came to pass, as they were eating
of the pottage, that they cried out and said, O thou man of God,
there's death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. But he said, then bring meal,
And he cast it into the pot and he said, pour out for the people
that they may eat. And there was no harm in the
pot. And my marginal reading says
no evil thing. And that's the way the word is
generally translated. And there came a man from Baal,
Shaisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits,
20 loaves of barley. and full ears of corn, and the
husk thereof. And he said, give unto the people
that they may eat. And his servitor said, what should
I said before a hundred men? He didn't have but 20 pieces
of bread. He said, give the people that
they may eat. For thus saith the Lord, they shall eat and
shall leave thereof. They're going to be full and
there's going to be food left. So he said it before them, and they
did eat and left thereof according to the word of the Lord. Let's
pray. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving. We're so thankful that you're
God. We're so thankful for all your glorious attributes. We're
so thankful for your salvation. We're so thankful for the forgiveness
of sins. We're so thankful that you have
made a way to be just and yet justify us. And Lord, we give
thanks. We pray for your presence and
your blessing and the service that you would be pleased to
speak, that you'd enable us to hear your voice, that your gospel
would be preached in the power of your spirit, that we might be given hearing
ears. Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing.
Truly, we have to say with thy servant, David, our sin is ever
before us. Lord, how we long for that time
when we will sin no more. Lord, we ask that you would be
with those that are going through trouble and trial, that you draw
near to them. We pray for those that are sick,
that you'd heal them according to your will. And Lord, we ask
that you would use all things for your glory and for our good. Lord, give us grace to love you
more and give us grace to love one another more. Cause your
word to go out in power wherever it's preached. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. Now the scriptures I read are
scriptures about eating. Eating. Eating is very near and
dear, I suppose, to all of us. I love to eat. It's one of the
great pleasures of life. Eating is a issue of life and
death. If I don't eat, what's gonna
happen to me? I'm gonna starve to death. I'm
gonna die. And if I eat the wrong thing
and ingest the wrong thing, something poisonous, what would it do to
me? It would kill me. Now, in this passage of scripture
that I just read, we have two aspects of eating. One where
the food is poisoned, and if you eat it, you'll die, and that
poison is made not to be. When the meal is cast into the
food, that which was evil was no longer there. Now here's a
miracle where something that is no longer is. In physics, supposedly, I don't
understand this. I feel stupid talking about it
because I don't even know what I'm talking about when I talk
about this, but I know that matter, it's impossible for matter to
cease to be. It can change forms. I understand that. It can change
forms. But the amount of energy that's in the universe is fixed. So I read that anyway. But the
point is, you can't make something to not be that is. Well, here
that happened. It's poisoned, and it's no longer
poisoned. The evil is gone. And in the
next miracle, a man comes up and presents Elisha with bread. And it wasn't enough bread to
fill a hundred people. As I read, that means 20 pieces
of bread. The loaf was enough for a man. And so that is enough for 20
men. I mean, a hundred men to have
one fifth a piece of bread. That would satisfy me. No, that's
not going to happen. But here in this miracle, we have something
coming into existence that was not there before. It's the same
as the Lord feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000 only on a smaller
scale, 20 pieces of bread, feeding 100 men, and then being so full
that there was food left over. And here we have an example of
matter, and this is another thing that they say is impossible,
matter being brought into the universe that was not there before. Matter being brought into existence,
and that's in the miracle of the food. Now, the gospel is
in this. The gospel is in this. My sin in the gospel is made
to not be. Something that really is no longer
is. That's gospel, isn't it? My sin,
that's so real, is made to not be. And I'm made to be what I
was not. Holy. Holy. Now this is the work of
Christ for us and the work of Christ in us. The work of Christ
for us. What my sin is made to not be. the work of Christ in us. I'm
made to be what I was not. I'm made to be holy. Now we see
the gospel so clearly in this issue of eating. Now eating is
a pleasurable experience or it can be a not so pleasurable experience.
I realized that when I was thinking of the stew they were making.
I thought, is this vegetable soup? I hate vegetable soup.
I mean, when Lynn's made it, I call it dog soup. And why? It's not fit for a dog to eat,
I'll say. I don't like vegetable soup, but if I was hungry, I'd
like it. It'd be different. It would be
a pleasurable experience. Well, let's look at this together,
verse 38. And Elisha came again to Gilgal,
and there was a darth in the land. There was nothing to eat. That makes me think of where
we are by nature, nothing to eat and no way of coming up with
anything. And Elisha came again into Gilgal,
and there was a darth in the land, a famine. And the sons
of the prophets are sitting before him. And he said unto his servant,
Sit on the great pot and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
Make a big bowl of soup. Now where the food came from,
I don't know because there was a famine in the land, but he
said make this big bowl of soup so everybody can eat. Verse 39,
and one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild
vine. One that had not been cultivated,
one that was just growing wild out of the cursed earth and gathered thereof wild gourds
his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage,
for they knew them not." Now, we don't read where Elisha told
this man to go out and look for food. He never told him to do
it, but he did it. He thought it was the right thing
to do. and he ended up getting poisonous gourds that would kill
people if they would have eaten them, and he didn't know about
it. Now, what this tells me is that if we don't have a precedent
in the word of God to do something, don't do it. We have to have a precedent in
the word of God. We don't read where Elisha ever told him to
go out and gather these vines, but he did it thinking he was
helping out. But if you don't have a precedent in the worship
of God, in the worship of God, if we don't have an example,
this is what they did in the Bible, we're not to do it. Do
you have that high view of the word of God to where you believe
that? I mean, it is to control everything we do. And this man
shouldn't have done this. And the scripture says he knew
it not. He knew it not. The overwhelming thought in preaching
is, I don't want to preach something that I don't know the Bible teaches. Scares me. I was thinking last
night, I was thinking, I don't, I'm overwhelmed with the thought,
I want to preach what I know. Not simply what somebody's told
me, but what I know. Like, I know the Bible's the
word of God. I don't know this simply because
I was taught it as a youth, although I was, but I know it is. We don't
have anything if we don't have the Bible. I know God is, as
the Bible presents him to be, utterly sovereign. He's God.
He's in control of everybody and everything. And I love it
being that way. I know from the Bible and my
own personal experience, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinful human
being right now. But I know, thank the Lord for
this, I know that God elected a people. I know that Christ
died for them and accomplished their salvation. I know God's
grace is saving toward every one of them. And I know every
one of them will persevere all the way to the end. What is the
proof that God's done something for me? I persevere in the faith
all the way to the end and I don't quit. This man threw these gourds in
and he did not know what he was doing. Now these wild gourds
poisoned the stew. Look in verse 40. So they poured
out for the men to eat and came to pass as they were eating the
pottage that they cried out and said, O thou man of God, there's
death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. It would have killed them if
they would have eaten. Now here's the miracle, verse 41. But he
said, then bring meal. Now this ground up wheat. I think this represents the cross.
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't think it, I know
it. This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, bring
this 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, no evil in the pot. That's the word. I don't know why the translators
translated it harm because it's always translated evil. There
was no evil. in the pot. Now, this Darth represents
our natural state. That's us. Starving, dying, can't
come up with food. We will die if the Lord doesn't
do something for us. Amen? You know that so. Now,
the prophet says put meal in the pot. Start cooking. And the
wild gourds represent false doctrine. Didn't Paul say, a little leaven,
just a little leaveneth the whole lump. Now there are only two
beliefs, grace and works. Isn't that so? There are only
two beliefs, grace and works. You put a work anywhere in salvation
where it's depended on something you do for it to happen. It's all works. If you begin
salvation, well, you need to accept Jesus as your personal
savior or you won't be saved. That's works. In the middle of
salvation, you can become progressively more pleasing to God, more holy
through your efforts of self-denial and putting down sin. You can
become more holy. That's works. If at the end you're given a
higher reward because of what you've done that somebody else
didn't do, that works. That is death in the pot. If salvation, if me being accepted
by God is dependent upon me doing anything, that's death in the
pot. Now what does he say to do? pour
meal into the pot. He doesn't say try to look for
the poisonous pieces and get it out. You can't do that. There's
only one remedy for death in the pot, the gospel, the gospel. The meal in the pot made the
evil to not be. Wherever you've got men, you're
going to have death thrown in the pot. The thing about a believer
is they can't swallow it. They can't swallow it. There's
death in the pot. There's no life in this. There's death in
the pot. This will kill me. What's the only remedy? The preaching
of the gospel. throwing the meal in the pot,
and the no evil. And that's what justification
is, no evil. I stand before God perfect, and
the only thing that does that is the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, verse 42, we have another
miracle that takes place. Now, there was no harm in the
pot after the meal was thrown in, verse 42. And there came
a man from Baal, Sheasha, and brought the man of God bread
of the firstfruits, 20 loaves of barley and full ears of corn
in the husk thereof. Now, here we have him bringing
the firstfruits. Now, this is so important in
my giving. I'm not to wait until the bills
are paid and entertainment's taken care of and see how much
I have left over and then give. That's not giving. That's not
giving. Giving is giving of the first
fruits. My first priority in the money
the Lord gives me is what I give to the cause of Christ. That's
the first priority. And if I'm just waiting to give
what's left over, that's not giving. Don't give to the Lord
the leftovers. It's the firstfruits. And this
man was bringing the firstfruits. And this is so important. I put
an article by Henry Mahan on giving. I hope everybody will
read that carefully. He gives nine Bible words about
giving and it's just so good. But this man gave the firstfruits,
and that's the way I am to give. He gave to the man of God the
firstfruits, 20 loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the
husk thereof. And he, the man of God, said,
give unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor said,
what should I set this before 100 men, 20 pieces of bread?
He said, again, give the people that they may eat, for thus saith
the Lord, they shall eat and shall leave thereof. There's
going to be food left over. They're going to become so full
and they're going to become so satisfied that there's going
to be food left over. Now, when something was made not to be,
that's justification. No evil in the park. I stand
before God right now, just. Righteous, without sin. My sin has been made not to be. Now that's talking about the
work of Christ for us. The second is talking about the work of
Christ in us. A miracle took place. Matter was brought into
existence that heretofore had not been in the universe. It's
the same as the Lord feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000 with
much left over. I'm made to be. what I was not,
a creative act of God. Now this was a miracle creation,
wasn't it? And isn't that what the new birth is? Isn't that
what regeneration is? A creative act of God, if any
man be in Christ, he's a what? New creature. I'm made to be
something that I was not before. I'm made to be a worshiper of
Christ. Now, what does he say? Let's
go on reading, verse 43. And the servant said, what should
I said before in a hundred men? He said, again, give the people
that they may eat. For thus saith the Lord, they
shall eat and shall leave thereof. So he said it before them and
they did eat and left thereof according to the word of the
Lord. Now, here's the point. If you're eating Christ crucified,
Whoso eateth my body and drinketh my blood. If you don't do that,
you don't have eternal life. We're feeding off Christ. This
is our meal. This is what sustains life. Jesus Christ and him crucified.
If I'm feeding on Christ, I'll be satisfied. I don't know how many times I've
heard people make a comment with regard to the gospel. There's
gotta be something else. There's gotta be more. There's
gotta be more. If that's my response, I've never
eaten. You see, if you eat of the gospel,
you're not gonna be satisfied with yourself. I don't mean that. You're going to be utterly dissatisfied
with yourself. And you won't be satisfied until
you awaken his likeness. And that's it. I think of what
David said. As for me, I'll behold thy face in righteousness. I'll
be satisfied when I awaken thy likeness. I won't be satisfied
with myself until I wake in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ
after I die. I'm not gonna find satisfaction
in myself. I'm frustrated with myself and hate myself. But I am satisfied first with
God as he is. I love the way he is. Every attribute
I'm completely satisfied with and I wouldn't change him if
I could. I'm satisfied with his holiness and his justice and
his grace and his sovereignty and his power and his eternity
and his, just go on, his omniscience. I'm so satisfied with him. I'm
so satisfied with Jesus Christ as my savior. I'm so satisfied
with being saved by his righteousness. Are you satisfied with that?
My conscience is satisfied that God looks at me and is pleased. I'm so satisfied with his blood,
what his blood actually accomplished, how I'm clean before God, how
my sin was put away and made not to be. I am satisfied with
the gospel. And there's plenty left over.
I'm just plumb satisfied with him. Now, you have eaten. of
the gospel when you're satisfied with the gospel, when you're
satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not looking for
something else. Somebody's looking for something else, hadn't found
the one thing in the first place. I am satisfied with the gospel. Now, once again, I repeat, I'm
not satisfied with myself and you're not satisfied with yourself.
But one day I will be. But here is the gospel in these
two miraculous miracles that took place. That which was, my
sin, is made to not be. No harm in the path, no evil. It's what the Bible calls justification. The work of Christ for you. And
here's the work of Christ in you, that which was not. I was born into this world unholy,
sinful, a natural man. But I was regenerated. I was made to be what I was not. I was given a new nature that
was not there before. I was given a new heart. And
what is the evidence that you have eaten of the gospel? Satisfaction. Satisfaction. The Lord said, who so drinketh
of this water This water of the earth, you'll thirst again. You
might have some kind of temporary satisfaction out of it. You know,
people do things to make themselves feel better. Well, you'll feel
better for a little while, a little while. Whoso drinketh of this
water shall thirst again, but whoso drinketh the water that
I shall give him shall never thirst. The water that I give
him shall be a well of water springing up in him unto eternal
life." Well, next week we're going to consider Naaman. I don't
know whether I'm going to do it all in one week, but that is probably
my favorite Old Testament story, Naaman the leper and how he was
cleansed.