2 Kings chapter 8. I want to try to bring a message
to you from verse 7 down to verse 19 of 2 Kings chapter 8. And I'm taking the title for
the message from verse 19. Yet the Lord would not destroy
Judah for David's sake, for David his servant. David was a servant
of the Lord. David was called a man after
God's own heart. As he promised Him, we can be
sure that all that God had promised, He will do. As He promised Him
to give Him always a light or a lamp to His children, Now,
here's the title of the message, Salvation for Christ's Sake.
Salvation for Christ's Sake. We are told in Ephesians chapter
4 to love one another and to forgive one another even as God,
for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. As the Lord our God will
not completely destroy the tribe of Judah, because the Lord promised
the Messiah from the tribe of Judah. Remember the last words
when Jacob was blessing his 12 sons, when he came down to Judah,
he said, the scepter will not depart from your tribe until
Shiloh comes, remember? Genesis 49, verse nine and 10. And because the Lord had promised
to David mercy to his family, that of the seed of David he
would raise up his king, the eternal king, with the eternal
and spiritual kingdom. Even so, the Lord our God and
Savior will have mercy on his elect, on his spiritual Judah,
on his church, for one reason, and one reason only. And that
is the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For Christ's sake,
the Lord Jesus Christ is our eternal King and of His spiritual
kingdom, there shall be no end. You remember that verse over
there in Isaiah? Turn over there, let's read that
one more time. Isaiah 9. If you don't want to
turn, I'll just read it to you. For unto us a child is born,
Isaiah 9, 6. A child is born, a son is given,
saying two different things. A child was born, but God gave
it only a begotten son. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders, his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
notice these are all capital letters signifying These are
the names of our Lord wonderful counselor the mighty God the
everlasting father the Prince of Peace and Of the increase
of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne
of David you see that Upon his kingdom to order it to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever
the zeal of the Lord of hosts He will perform it. He will get it done. He will
get the job done. You remember the words and testimony
of Simeon in the temple in Luke chapter two, talking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, he said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation, a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
promised light. Now I want to this evening go
back to verse 7 down to verse 15 as the first division and
look carefully at this story of Haziel and Elisha and then
we'll consider verse 16 down to verse 19 for a moment and
see that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is in Christ. Now back to verse 7 down to verse
15. Here we have the most interesting
story that happens between Elisha, and I love the way the word of
the Lord calls him, the man of God. He's a man that's of God,
ordained of God, sent of God. He's a man of God. The interesting story that happens
between Elisha and this servant of King Ben-Hadad, who was the
king of Syria, his name was Haziel. Now, verse 7 and 8, and Elisha
came to Damascus. Damascus is the capital of the
enemy. Syria was the enemy to Israel.
And I thought to myself, what's he doing in the capital of the
enemy, in Damascus? And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
was sick, and it was told him, saying, Elisha's come to town. The man of God's come to town.
And the king said unto Haziel, take a present in thy hand, and
go meet him, meet the man of God, inquire, inquire of the
Lord by him. Notice it says Jehovah, L-O-R-D,
capital, saying, shall I recover of this disease? So Haziel went
to meet him, took a present with him, even of every good thing
of Damascus, 40 camels loaded down. What a treasure! And came and said before him,
and said, Thy son Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to
thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? Shall I recover
of this sickness? Now what is Elisha doing in the
camp of the enemy? Well, he is God's evangelist.
He's a traveling preacher. We know he goes there by the
good and sovereign providence of God. It wasn't just an accident. He went there on purpose. But
perhaps also, not only by the providence and sovereign good
providence of God, perhaps he went there as well to see someone
he knew very well. named Naaman, the captain of
the host. Remember? Naaman the leper, who
was healed of his leprosy, and a recent convert to the true
and living God. You remember back in chapter
five, verse 15, you remember after Naaman was healed and returned
to the man of God, chapter five, second Kings, Verse 15, he and
all his company came and stood before him, and he said, behold,
now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now, therefore, I pray thee,
take a blessing. There's his confession. He knew
that God was God. Ben-Hadad had some severe disease
or sickness, and when Elisha, the man of God, was come to town,
He sent his servant, Hazel, being a faithful servant, he did exactly
what he was told. This man, even though Ben-Hadad
was a rich and powerful king, sickness and disease does not
discriminate, does it? Rich or poor, young or old, what
brings on sickness and disease? You know what it is? S-I-N. Sin. When sin is finished with
this body, it brings forth death. And it doesn't matter if you're
young or if you're old. Young people die, old people
die. And it's all the result of sin. The wages of sin is death. If we were not sinners, we would
not even grow old. One day when we have a new body,
like unto his glorious body, without sin, we'll never know
anything of sickness or death. Pain or sorrow will all pass
away. But notice Ben-Hadad does not
ask for mercy of God to heal him, but rather he asked Elisha
to inquire of God whether or not he might recover. He doesn't
say and cry unto the true and living God for mercy. He just
wants to know something about the future. No doubt that Ben-Hadad
had asked the priest of Rimen and the idols of Rimen in the
temple to intercede for him. And no doubt he asked those pagan
priests to pray for him. No doubt they went to all their
different ceremonies to make sure that the king would receive
healing, but they couldn't help him, but to no avail. So he looks to Elisha because
he knew He knew the captain of the host of Syria, Naaman, he
knew he was a leper and he knew that he went in the presence
of Elisha and came back to Damascus healed. So he sins and requires
of this man of God when he's in trouble. when he's sick. Oftentimes when people get sick
or when people get in trouble, even though they had no use for
preachers of the gospel before, when they get sick, they usually
call for the preacher. Don't they? I've seen this many
times. I've seen this happen many times
here and other places. You know what the problem with
that is? What is born in the storm dies
in the calm. What's born in the storm of adversity
and sickness, when the sickness is gone and when the trouble
is gone, you know who else is gone? Soon, they go away. I preach funerals for some of
the family members of this congregation. And people have no interest in
the gospel, they'll come and one of the things they'll say
to me, preacher, I'll be there next Sunday. And some of them
even came for a while, but by and by, when that sorrow departs,
they depart too. You see, it's the goodness of
God that leads us to true repentance. It's not sorrow, sickness, and
trouble. That which is born in the storm dies in the calm. I've seen it happen. Ben, hey
dad, he's serious about this inquiry of the man of God though.
Look at verse nine. He took a present with him even
of every good thing of Damascus. Every precious thing that Damascus
had to afford and to give 40 camels worth. Can you imagine? What's Elisha going to do with
that? I mean, he's in this land of the enemy and here he's coming
with this... You see, he went to the extreme,
didn't he? And he came and stood, Hazael
came and stood before him, and then he addresses him in such
a... irreverent way, thy son Ben-Hadad,
Ben-Hadad your son, Ben-Hadad your servant. He's the king of
Syria, but he wants you to treat him like he's your son. You see, he's really putting
on the show, isn't he? He hath sent me to thee, saying,
Shall I recover of this disease? Ben-Hadad sends forty camels
loaded down with every good thing that Damascus has to offer."
I thought about this. What Ben-Hadad brought pales what Ben-Hadad brought was no
comparison to what Naaman brought. You remember he brought ten changes
of raiment and a little bit of silver and a little bit of gold.
He didn't come with forty camels loaded down with all the good
things. He arranges for a meeting between
Elisha and Haziel. He sends a noble man with a noble
present and puts honor upon Elisha Ben-Hadad, your son, he wants
to be part of your family. Now, the question, shall the
king recover of his disease? The last part of verse nine.
It is natural for us to know of things to come in time. Shall I recover of my disease
in time? While forgetting about those
things of eternity to come. Someone said this we have a life
to live We have a life to live It's we're born a woman few days
and full of trouble. Hadn't that been your experience
been mine? We have a life to live. We have
a death to die The point of the man wants to die and after that
judgment we have a judgment to face a God to face this is the
one with whom we have to do and we have eternity to spend and
Little do people think of that. They live for today instead of
preparing for eternity. They think nothing about it.
Oh, they might prepare for retirement. You're going to have retirement?
You're going to live that long? You don't have tomorrow. You
have right now. But you do have an eternity to
spend, and yet people for the most part, don't give much thought
to it. Our Lord says, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things that
are passing away, God will supply your need. Verse 10 and 11, Elisha
said unto him, go and say unto him, thou mayest certainly recover,
it is a possibility. However, how be it, the Lord
hath shewed me that he shall surely die." Wow. And he settled his countenance
steadfastly. He set his countenance steadfastly
until Hazael was ashamed and then the man of God started weeping,
started weeping. Elisha answered, the king's disease
is not fatal, but he'll die another way, not a natural death, but
a rather violent death. Now he doesn't tell Hazel that
Ben-Hadad is going to die at his hand. But I think Hazel had
already premeditated what he was going to do to Ben-Hadad,
and when Elisha exposed him, Hazel became embarrassed. His
face turned red. He's saying, uh-oh, I got caught.
God knows. God knows. Hazel, Elisha looked
upon Hazel face to face until Hazel was embarrassed and ashamed. He had already premeditated his
murder and had already done the act in his heart. Elisha then,
and this is, when I first read this, I thought, well, this is
rather unusual. The man of God started weeping. You know, Jeremiah is called
the weeping prophet. Paul said, I cease not to warn
you day and night with tears, with tears, tears of sincerity,
tears of grief. Elisha began to weep, seeing
the future judgment of God upon his own nation. We'll see that
in just a minute in the next verse. It reminded me of the greater David, the Lord Jesus
Christ, when the brother of Mary and Martha had died and the Lord
Jesus Christ came to the grave, you know the shortest verse in
the scripture, John 11, 35, two words, Jesus wept. He wept, weeping, weeping over
the ruin of sin, over the heartache of sin. the Lord Jesus knowing
full well that he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead,
yet he was tempted and tried in every point as we are. He was a man who felt our grief,
he knew our pain, and he's grieving with Martha and Mary, weep with
those that weep, and mourn with those that mourn. He was a real
man, a man of compassion. Remember also when the Lord looked
over Jerusalem in Matthew 23, seeing the destruction that would
soon come upon that nation, He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how oft would I have gathered you as a hen would her little
babies. Oh, but you would not, you would
not. Knowing the judgment of the Lord
to come, People don't even think about this, do they? They're
concerned about global warming. They give no concern about global
burning. This place is fit, set to be
burned. They consider not the fiery judgment
of God. When the heavens being on fire,
the elements shall be dissolved with a fervent heat. Look at
verse 12. The man of God stands there weeping
before Hazael. And Hazael said, why are you
weeping? And Elisha answered, because
I know. Now how did he know this? He knew this because God had
decreed this and God had showed him this. I know the evil that
you will do unto the children of Israel. See, God sent judgment
on this nation. God decreed it. Their strongholds
will haze out the king that will be king. God's going to use him
to judge this nation. Their strongholds will be set
on fire. Their young men you'll slay with
a sword and will dash their children and rip up the women with child. What a horrible, horrible judgment. the Lord sends upon this nation. Elisha weeps because he knows
what this man will do. It was nothing but what Israel
deserved for their continued idolatry and worship of Baal,
continually rejecting the prophets of God, the Word of God. But
Elisha didn't take this Judgment upon God with pleasure,
did he? Seeing the judgment of God, he
was brokenhearted. These are his people. Israel,
he doesn't take pleasure in their misery. He found no delight in
their ruin. How could a man be so gruesome
like Haziel to do these terrible and wicked things? Man, left
to himself, unrestrained by the Lord's restraining grace, is
a monster. Is a monster. This monster is
in every one of us, because of that fallen sin nature that we
have. If the Lord didn't restrain this
thing we call humanity, In just a few hours, we'd all kill one
another. God restrains us. Sometimes He
just lets the restraints go and we see what happens. There's
no evil that we're not capable of committing. Now, some people
say, well, not me. You don't know your own heart.
It's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I'm saying
completely unrestrained and let go. There's no wicked that we
will not commit. Haziel surely represents what
we are by nature, birth, and practice, doesn't he? We've all
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Our sins have separated
us from God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. But now, after hearing the awful
sin that Haziel is going to commit, And Elisha says, I know, because
I know the evil that you're going to do. Now look at verse 13,
Haziel said, What? What? Uh-uh, not me. Uh-uh. No, no, no, no. You got the wrong man. It's not
me. What? Is I serving a dog? Am I just
a brute beast that he should do this great thing? And Elisha
answered, the Lord has showed me that you not only do this,
but you're going to be king when you do it. You're going to do
it as king. When Haziel was confronted with
his terrible crimes against Israel and his sin against God, he said,
am I a dog? Am I a little beast? It reminded
me of what Goliath said to David when David came out to face him.
And he looked at him and said, am I a dog? That you come out
against me, this little old runt, this ruddy old boy, am I a dog?
I'm somebody, I'm Goliath. No, you're a dog. You're a dog. It's interesting that this man
thought such high thoughts of himself, he thought he was not
capable of such cruelty, and butchery. When we are faced with
our own sinful depravity, only those taught of God will own
it, confess it, and are convicted by it. Only when we're taught
of God. Otherwise, we'd say, Not me. Am I a dog? Am I a sinner? A dog was considered an unclean
animal. Am I unclean? Am I a dog? You're calling me a sinner. That's
what God says you are. You see, only those taught of
God will own their sinfulness when they're confronted with
it. Elisha confronted him with his
own sin, and he said, uh-uh, you're not talking about me.
You read the rest of the story. He commits murder the next day.
But those taught of God, I thought of two examples. When David showed
mercy to Mephibosheth and Mephibosheth knew that he did not deserve
mercy and he said, I am a dead dog. I don't deserve the least
of your mercy. He owned that he was not worthy
of David's kindness. But David showed kindness upon
him for one reason, you remember? For Jonathan, Jonathan's sake. And then the woman of Canaan,
that's why I read there Matthew 15. When the Lord confronted
her, I start right to take the children's bread and cast it
to dogs. And she said, I'm your dog. You see, when confronted with
her sin, she owned it. And when Mephibosheth was given
such blessings, he knew that he didn't deserve it. I'm a dead
dog. I don't deserve the least of thy mercies. Isn't what Jacob
said, Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies? You
see, the blessed good news of the gospel is that our Savior
came to save dogs. He came to save dogs. Unclean
sinner, dead dogs. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that the Lord came to save sinners. It's
only by His sovereign mercy, this mercy of God, that any of
us are made to differ. to own our sin, confess our sin. You see, it's only a sinner that's
convicted of his sin and guilt before God that will cry unto
the Lord for mercy, that will look to the Lord Jesus Christ
for mercy. Verse 13, the last part of that,
the Lord has showed me that you will be the king in Syria. How
do you know that? Well, God showed him that. God
had to create it to come to pass. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that's what he did in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places.
The Lord raises up one king and puts down another as he sees
fit. Psalm 76, 5. Promotion cometh
not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, but
God is the judge. He put it down one and setteth
up another. The Lord does these things. He was installed as king by God's
decree. Look at verse 14. So he departed
from Elisha, came to his master who said to him, what did Elisha
say? I mean, he was, wow, I want to
hear some good news. What did Elisha say? Oh, he answered. He told me, he said, you'll surely
recover. Wait a minute, he left out something.
You'll surely recover. Hazel came back with a message
for Ben-Hadad, but he only told half the message. He conveniently
left out the part about what the Lord said. You see, he left
out the bad news, didn't he? The man of God has showed me,
the Lord has showed me that You're going to die. You're going to
die. You see, half the truth is a
lie. Half the truth is a lie. Remember
what Satan said to Adam and Eve? God said to Adam, in the day
that you eat, you shall surely die. Remember what Satan said? He added one word. He added one word, you shall
not surely die. What kind of sounds like the
truth? It wasn't the truth, was it? You
see, half the truth is a lie. Hazael lied to his own king. Hazael left off the offensive
part, didn't he? He left off the unpleasant part.
He left off the part that said you're going to die tomorrow. You know, I thought about this.
This is what exactly goes on in religious circles today. Preachers,
for the most part, leave off the offense of the gospel of
Christ because they're afraid they might offend someone. Maybe
Hazael just didn't want to offend the king. It's okay. Peace, peace. It's going to be all right. No,
you're going to die. You see, they're so afraid of
offending someone. The sovereignty of God when it's
preached and declared, God will have mercy on whom He will, that
offends man's pride, doesn't it? The sinfulness of man when
that is declared, that offends him to the flesh. And the success
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the success in His atonement, bringing
in everlasting righteousness, All those things are offensive
to our flesh. The carnal mind receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. But think about this. I would
much rather tell sinners the truth, the whole truth, nothing
but the truth, and offend them than to tell
a lie and offend God. Now, which is more important?
I'd much rather tell the whole truth and offend somebody as
to hold back or change and tell a lie and offend God. Well, it came to pass, verse
15, and this is most interesting. It came to pass, I looked over
this word, on the morrow. I didn't catch
that at first. I mean the next day. On the next morning, it came
to pass on the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water,
spread it on the face of his king, so that he died, and Hazael
reigned in his stead." He reigned in his stead. It came to pass
on the next day, Hazael made haste to do what he said he wasn't
capable of doing. Oh, not me. Hazael made haste
to do his wicked deed, so much for not being a dog, so much
for not being a beast of the field. He desired this all the
while. He coveted to be the king, and
now he carries out his deed. He sees opportunity to exalt
himself. This man did exactly what he
wanted to do, but in doing so, He accomplished the purpose of
God. Now, don't ask me to explain
that. Is he responsible for his sin? Absolutely so. Did he kill
Ben-Hadad at the decree of God? Absolutely so. Is he responsible,
that is Hazel, responsible for Ben-Hadad? Absolutely. Absolutely. He did what he wanted to do,
but in doing so, he accomplished the purpose of God. We see that
very thing in the death of Christ, don't we? I mean, the death of
Christ was decreed and ordered of God. But it says, the Jews
and the Gentiles were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Are they responsible? Are they guilty? Absolutely so. You see, God uses, His providence
is so infinite and so beyond our understanding, God uses the
wickedness of men to accomplish His eternal purpose. It says
in Psalm 76 10, even the wrath of men, the wrath of man will
praise the Lord. He uses whom he will to accomplish
his eternal purpose. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. You remember the scripture from
Isaiah 46? He calls even a ravenous bird,
a man from the east, to execute his counsel. God's sovereign
over all things. He kills. He makes alive. I the
Lord do all these things. Now, verse 16, 17, 18, and 19,
Jehoshaphat was one of the few kings in Judah that did that
which is right in the eyes of the Lord, and he reigned 25 years,
it says there in verse 16. 25 years. He was a good king. And his son, Jehoram, reigned
in his stead. Thirty-two years old was he when
he began to reign, and he reigned eight years. And he walked in
the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab. For
the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil in the
sight of the Lord. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat,
God said to Jehoshaphat, he did that which was right in the eyes
of the Lord. But his son Jehoram had an eight-year
reign in his stead and he did much evil. He married into the
family of Ahab and Jezebel, the most notorious couple of idolatry
and rebellion against God. The point I would make here is,
you know that Jehoram saw his dad's reign for 25 years. He was taught in the ways of
the Lord. He saw his dad act in the way of faith, but Jehoram
did not walk in the way of Jehoshaphat his father. Salvation and grace
does not run in bloodlines. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Verse 19, Yet the Lord would
not destroy Judah for David's sake. even after all the rebellion
of these kings from David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Jeroboam, all the way
down now. All these wicked kings. He promised
David that he would raise up a son.
Turn back to 2 Samuel. Let's read this. Promise. 2 Samuel 17. It's in your marginal
reference there. 2 Samuel 17. He would not destroy
Judah, that tribe of Judah, because of Christ coming through that
line. 2 Samuel 7. I want not 17, 7. 2 Samuel 7
verse 12. 2 Samuel 7 verse 12. And when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers. I will set up thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels. I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Now,
remember the fulfillment of that? Turn to Luke 1, verse 32. Luke 1, verse 32. And here's
the fulfillment. You see, all that God has promised
Man, He will do it. He will do it. All the promises
of God, all that God had promised, He will perform. You remember
in Luke chapter 1, Verse 30, And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. Behold,
thou shalt conceive him in thy womb, and bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, he shall be
called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. He promised it, brought
it to pass. And he shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. That's where we started, Isaiah
9, 6. In the fullness of time God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Judah must
be spared because Christ must come from the tribe of Judah.
He's called in Revelation the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Genesis
49, Jacob prophesied concerning the Lord, "...the scepter shall
not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
Shiloh is the Son of Peace, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the
King of Peace. The Lord Jesus Christ was promised
to be our surety, Our Savior, our substitute, in that eternal
covenant of grace, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world, and in due time, He came. According to the time, He laid
down His life, He gave His life as a sacrifice for our sin, that
the elect of God, His spiritual Judah, would be saved for His
sake, for the sacrifice sake, just as He promised. The Word
of God, It's absolute soul, absolute truth. In His name we shall rejoice. In His name we have salvation. In His righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ, we shall be exalted. The Lord said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. That's what God says of every
one of us. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. We are accepted in the Beloved,
this is my beloved son. And we are accepted in the beloved
for David's sake, for Christ's sake, the greater David.