Now, we're turning in our Bible
once more to 2 Kings chapter 8. 2 Kings chapter 8. I'm entitling the message from
the words, the King of Israel. His name was Joram, the King
of Israel. And he speaks to this Shunammite
woman whose son had been raised from the dead. And this is the
statement that caught my attention right away. And this is the title
of the message. Restore all that was hers, all
the fruits of the field since the day that she had left, even
until now. Restore unto her not some things,
not most things, but give unto her everything. It's all hers. Restore unto her all things. Now only the king of Israel had
the right to give back and to restore or to return all that
was taken away from this woman while she spent seven years in
the land of the Philistines. Now it was kind of unusual that
the man of God would instruct her to go into the land of the
enemy, but that's what he said to do. We can be assured that
the king's command was not ignored. What he said, the king of Israel,
was carried out. What he spake, it was done. It was not a suggestion. I'm not suggesting that we maybe
take a vote and see if everyone would agree and see if we should
turn all of her land back unto her family. It was not a suggestion. Notice the king appointed an
officer to carry out his command, his decree. He said, restore
all unto her. And we know this, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is our king, but not only that, he is the officer. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
appointed officer who is our mediator, who is our surety. He's a surety of the everlasting
covenant. He is our advocate who intercede
for us to carry out the decree of the gospel, to carry out the
decree of grace, You see, the Lord Jesus Christ, by God's own
appointment, makes the Lord Jesus Christ our ever-living mediator,
advocate, and intercessor. Wherefore, he's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for us. You see, what we have in
this story is the gospel in a nutshell, don't we? We read in Psalm 33,
for the king spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood
fast. The blessings of the gospel that
we enjoy come to us, not because we're deserving, they come to
us because God has decreed and commanded for us to have that
eternal inheritance. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 46 I quote
this all the time. He said yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass
I purposed it You reckon it'll come to pass
he said I purposed it I will also bring do it. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will in whom we have an inheritance being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. What we see here is
a loss and a gain. This woman lost everything and
yet she had gained back everything by the king's decree. You see the gospel there? All
that we lost in Adam, we have all restored in Christ, plus
much more. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of another,
shall many be made righteous. Grace reigns unto eternal life. Grace reigns by righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What Adam lost in the
garden, we lost in that same chapter in Romans 5. By one man,
sin entered into the world and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men in whom all had sin. What Adam lost, we lost. When he fell, we fell. What he did, we did. Think about
this. What we have in Christ now and
forever is so much better, much more. And what we have in Christ
can never be taken away. We can never lose the blessings
we have in Christ Jesus. He gives us eternal life. He's
obtained for us eternal salvation and eternal redemption in the
Lord Jesus Christ. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of another,
shall many be made righteous in Him. That's the blessedness
of the Gospel. Now, as we look at this story
here, In 2 Kings chapter 8, we see how the Lord providentially
brought this to pass. All this whole story happened
for one reason, that God might be honored and glorified, and
that someday, many years later, we might look at this story,
inspired by God and given by God, that we might preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we see what came to pass
providentially by the Lord. He brought this to pass to show
us the gospel in picture, type, and shadow. To him give all the
prophets witness. Elijah. Ezekiel, Elisha, Jeremiah,
Isaiah, go on and on. They all speak about Christ,
the glories and the mercies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you
remember the woman, the story about the Shunammite woman back
in 2 Kings chapter 4. She was a godly woman who provided
for Elisha when he passed through the city. You remember, they
provided a little lean-to, and a table, and a bed, some food. When Elisha came through there,
doing God's business, preaching the gospel, you remember how
she provided for the servant of God. She was a barren woman. And an old woman, her husband
was old, she had never had given birth to a child, and Elisha
wanted to give her a special blessing, a special gift. Remember, turn back there to
chapter 4, verse 16 and 17, 2 Kings chapter 4. 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 thy handmaid. And the woman conceived,
and bare a son at that season, that Elisha had said unto her,
according to the time of life." This is the time that God had
determined to bless this woman. It was a time of love, wasn't
it? It was a time of mercy. The Lord gave her a special son,
but remember the rest of the story? Remember when the child
was grown? He went out into the field to
be with his father, and he fell sick, and he died. Remember? Well, the Shunammite
woman called for the man of God, Elisha, to come and raise the
child from the dead, and he came, and stretched himself upon that
child and God gave life through the prophet Elisha. God raised
a child from the dead. Now there is no doubt that Elisha
is a personal type and picture of the greater Elisha, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the greater prophet, isn't
he? He is the prophet promised of
God. What Elisha was blessed to do
and the miracles he performed only prefigured the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the countless miracles that he performed. It says there in the book of
John, if we wrote about every miracle that he performed, well
the world itself could not contain the book of all the miracles. We have just the tip of the iceberg
that we read about in the Word of God. Behold, our Lord said
that greater than Solomon is here. He is a wise king, Solomon
was, but the Lord Jesus Christ is wisdom Himself. He is the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. It is only our God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who can raise spiritually dead sinners
from the grave. You have He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. He prayed this way in John 17,
Father, You've given me power over all flesh. that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given to me. As the Father raises up the dead
and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. I need an almighty Savior, don't
you? Because I'm so dead and so vile
and so wicked. If He's not almighty, I have
no hope. If He's not almighty to save,
I have no hope. Now here's the first point in
this lesson. Verses 1 and 2 in 2 Kings chapter 8, Then spake
Elisha unto the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying,
Arise, go thou in thy household, and travel wheresoever thou canst
sojourn. For the Lord hath called for
famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years. And
the woman arose, Boy, she was obedient. She heard the Word
of the Lord. And she was obedient to the Word of the Lord, and
did after the manner of the saying of the man of God. And she went
with her household, and she sojourned. She lived in that land of the
Philistine for seven years. She was obedient. And she received
a blessing, not only her, but her household. Here we see the
Lord's providential care of his special covenant people. The Lord loved this woman. He
called her by His power, by His grace. He made her a new creature
in Christ. He washed her sin away with the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord will provide
for His people, will He not? He said, I am the Lord. I will
provide. And what the Lord God provides,
that He will accept. And we are accepted in the beloved. The Lord brought, notice it says
there, the Lord brought this famine. The Lord called for famine. The Lord brought another famine
upon the land of Israel for their continued rebellion against Him,
for their continued idolatry against Him. We read in Psalm
107, the Lord can make the bountiful dry up to be a wilderness. He just stops the rain. We've
experienced that here, haven't we? The Lord just stopped the
rain and the woods dry up and the fires, they run everywhere. I heard on the news tonight there's
35 wildfires in the state of Kentucky going on right now. You see, the Lord just stopped
the rain. It's His rain. He can bring it or He can stop
it. Well, the Lord brings judgment on the multitude in Israel. He
secretly and securely provided for this woman and her family. That's exactly what the Lord
does for us. Remember in the days of Elijah,
when another famine came because the Lord stopped the rain, how
God provided for Elijah when there was a famine, For what,
three and a half years? He provided for Elijah by a raven
down by the water brook, remember? And then when the brook dried
up, a poor widow woman whose barrel of meal and crews of oil
did not fail until the Lord sent the rain. You see, God will provide
for us. He may use normal means or He
may use unusual means. You see, whatever the Lord pleases,
that's what He does. The Lord has promised to never
leave us or to never forsake us. He has promised to never
fail us. He cannot fail. He will always
provide for us. Because He has said He'll never
leave us or never forsake us, we may boldly say, The Lord is
our provider. The Lord sent a word of warning
to this woman, and she was able to escape the land of poverty,
and she went to the land of plenty, and she did so by the word of
the Lord. That also is a picture of the
gospel, is it not? The Lord is sovereign in His
providence. He held the reign from some and
gave it to others for the benefit of that woman. and her family. Even though the Philistines,
they enjoyed that, the Lord sends his reign on the just and the
unjust. The Lord has given us in his
word an abundant warning to flee from the wrath to come, to flee
to the Lord Jesus Christ who is our refuge, because our refuge
is Christ himself. He said, come unto Me and I'll
give you rest. The Lord is called in the Scripture,
He's called the Great Shepherd of the sheep that was brought
again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
You see how He's provided for us? A great Redeemer to put away
our sin. He's called the Good Shepherd
that puts away, that lays down His life for us. He's called
the chief shepherd who will come again and give us a crown of
glory by His grace. But I love what it says in Psalm
23. The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I shall not want for
anything. God's people don't want for anything
because the Lord has provided everything for us. I love that
scripture in Philippians 4.19. But my God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Jesus Christ
our Lord. He provides for us abundantly,
fully. It says in one of the Psalms,
I can't remember right now what it is, but it says, when He opens
His hand, He satisfies the desire of every living thing. When He
opens His hand. His hand is a hand of mercy.
His hand is a hand of plenty. His hand is a hand of power. I want to be found in His hand,
don't you? We're called sheep of His hand, sheep of His pasture. Now here's a second point. The
marvelous providential timing of the Lord. Haven't you experienced
this in your life? the providential timing of the
Lord. Look at verses 3, 4, and 5. And
it came to pass. Now, it just didn't happen. It wasn't blind fate or luck
or chance. It came to pass. At 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. Evidently, her land had been
taken from her. And the king, about that time,
the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man
of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that
Elisha had done. and it came to pass as he was
telling the king how he restored a dead body to life no doubt
he talked about many other things but particularly how he restored
a dead body to life of this woman that behold the woman whose son
he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and
for her land and Gehazi said my lord oh king this is the woman
Isn't that amazing? As Gehazi was telling the king
of Israel, Joram, of all that Elisha had done, and how Elisha,
by the power of God, had raised up this dead son of this woman,
and here she comes in. And she says, oh, by the way,
there's that man, there's that woman. You see the impeccable
timing of the Lord. And Gehazi said, my lord, oh
king, this is a woman, this is her son, whom Elisha restored
to life. He was dead, my son was dead,
but now, now he lives. Seven years later, when the woman
returned home after the famine, she found that her estate Her
home, her land had been taken away, and she immediately went
to the only one that could help her, the only one that could
relieve her need. She went and cried unto the king,
O king, have mercy on me. That again is a picture of the
gospel, is it not? When sinners find out they're
in great need, that they have lost everything, their only recourse
is to cry unto the king and to beg for mercy. About the time
she brought her complaint to the king, Gehazi was telling
the king about all the miracles that Elisha had done. The king
addressed Gehazi in verse 4 and said, all great things that Elisha
had done. Tell me, I pray thee, don't tell
me about what you have done." Gehazi didn't have a very good
story to tell, did he? Gehazi was, I hope, embarrassed
and ashamed of his behavior. Tell me, I pray thee, all the
great things that Elisha had done. While Gehazi was telling
the king about all the miracles of Elisha. Raising up the son
of a woman, she walks in with her son. Here's the impeccable
timing of the Lord. Here's the evidence. Gehazi said,
well, here's the evidence, here's the proof that Elisha indeed
is a man of God. That Elisha indeed is the one
Son of God with the power of God. That Elisha indeed is the
one who speaks for God. But I love what he says here.
You tell me all the great things that Elisha had done. Is not that what the servants
of the Lord do when they preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ? We declare what the Lord has
done for us. Our Lord said, I must be about
my father's business. And then he said on Calvary's
tree, it's done. It's finished. It's over. The work is done. Salvation is
accomplished. You see, the false prophets in
our day, they always declare unto sinners what you must do
for God. Do this, do that, do the other. There's always something to do,
do, do. The true prophet of God declares
what Christ has done for us. He's done all things for us,
has He not? Look at two Psalms here, Psalm
57, Psalm 57 verse 2. Psalm 57, verse 2. You see, we
declare not what we must do. That's not the gospel. The gospel
is what He has done for us. Psalm 57, look at verse 1. We'll
begin there. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in thee,
yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refute, until
these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth Well, most things for me, all things
for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.
Where did the Lord Jesus Christ come from? The Lord sent from
heaven, didn't He? From the highest resources possible.
He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of
him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy
and His truth. He shall perform all things for
us. One other Psalm, Psalm 66, verse
16. By one man's obedience shall
many be made righteous. Not by our obedience now, by
His obedience unto death. He has done all things for us.
Psalm 66, Verse 16, "...Come and hear all ye that fear God,
and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." What He has
done for us. All that God requires of us,
the Lord Jesus Christ has fully provided for us. Righteousness
established. Redemption accomplished. Reconciliation
performed. Resurrection guaranteed in Christ. He is our resurrection. He is
our life. You see the gospel declares all
things that the Lord Jesus Christ has declared for us. Now here's another passing thought. Remember that Gehazi before had
lied to Naaman and unlawfully had taken silver and gold, and
when Elisha had found out about this, remember what happened
to him?" Let's turn back and read it there for just a moment.
It's found in chapter 5, chapter 5, 2 Kings chapter 5, verse 26, Verse 25, Elisha said unto him,
Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went
nowhere. And he said unto him, Went not
my heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot
to meet thee? Is it time to receive money,
to receive garments? olive yards, vineyards, sheep,
oxen, men servant, maid servant. And the leprosy therefore of
Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and into thy seed forever. And
he went out from the presence of..." A leper, white as snow,
a leper. Immediately leprosy came upon
this man. Gehazi lied to Elisha, lied to
Naaman, and when Elisha found out about this, God, by the power
of God, by the word of God, made him a leper. The point I'm trying
to make here is this. Old Gehazi knew by experience
the power of God, and he knew it. He knew it in his heart. And here's where I'm going with
this. The Lord will use whom He will,
when He will, for His own glory. The Lord uses sinful lepers,
sinful men, to declare the message of His grace. The Lord uses frail
creatures, that he may receive all the honor and glory. Frail
creatures who have known by experience the power of God, we know what
we are by nature, lepers. And we only know that because
God has revealed that unto us what we are. Now, it reminds
me of this scripture. Don't turn because you're very
familiar with this. But let me turn and just remind
you of it. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, where
Paul says, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servant for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
a earthen vessel, in an earthen vessel. that he, that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us." He uses sinners to
declare the gospel of his grace. Gehazi's message was confirmed
by this woman and her son who walked in whom God had raised
from the dead. Sound familiar? Our message of
the gospel is confirmed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ from the dead, is it not? That was the message of the early
church and the apostles all through the book of Acts. I'll have you
to turn this one, find Acts chapter 2. All through the book of Acts
and the sermons in the book of Acts. You know what they always
preached about? You killed the Prince of Life.
God raised Him from the dead. God raised Him from the dead.
Turn to Acts chapter 2, look at verse 22. You men of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know,
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken by wicked hands, and you've crucified the
Lord of glory, and slain, whom God raised up." He was delivered
from our offenses and raised again for our justification,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should be holden by it." Again in the book of Acts, look at
chapter 3, verse 13, "...the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of
Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son, whom
you delivered up and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when
he was determined to let him go, you remember what they said,
away with him, crucify him? But you denied the Holy One and
the just and desire of murder to be granted unto you, and you
killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses this day." And all the way through, you can
go all the way through, one more reference over here in Acts chapter
5 verse 29. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be Prince and Savior, for to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins." You see, the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the validation of all that He said
and all that He did was accepted of God and was true. All that
He said, all that He did. His resurrection is proof and
validation. He said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
You see, if He had not risen from the dead, We have no salvation. If Christ be not raised up, we
are yet in our sin, and our preaching is vain, and we have no hope
of the gospel, do we? We have no hope of forgiveness.
If our Lord Jesus Christ, His body is still in the tomb in
Jerusalem, we're goners. We have no hope. But thank God,
when He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high, where He ever lives to intercede
for us. Now here's the last point, verse
6. 2 Kings 8, verse 6, And when
the king asked the woman, she told him, O it is a fact, it
is true, my son, he was dead, and he is alive. So the king
appointed unto her a certain officer, a certain mediator,
saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruit of the
field, since the day that she left the land, even until now. The king command of the king
was to restore all, not some, not most, but all the land and
all the fruit of the land. It reminded me of another story
where we see someone who was restored everything that he had
lost. You remember 2 Samuel chapter
9? You already know where I'm going,
don't you? 2 Samuel chapter 9, the story
of Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, who is lame and crippled. And
when David, the king of Israel, was anointed king, and when he
sat on the throne, he called for Mephibosheth to come forth.
He sent someone to fetch him, verse 5 of 2 Samuel 9, verse
5. Then king David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makar, out of the son of Amiel from
Lodabar. And when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come, But under David, he
fell on his face and did reverence, and David said, Mephibosheth!
And he answered him, Behold thy servant. David said unto him,
Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy
father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy
father. And thou shalt eat bread at my
table continually. And he bowed himself and said,
What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon me such a
dead dog? as I am restored." Now, did Mephibosheth
deserve any of the blessings from the hand of David? No, but
David showed mercy on Mephibosheth because of that covenant he made
with Jonathan. And my friend, that's the only
reason that God has blessed us is for Christ's sake and that
eternal covenant of grace. You see, again we see the blessedness
of the gospel. In Adam we lost everything. We
lost the way, we lost truth, and we lost life. In the day
you eat, you'll die. In Christ we have all things
restored, plus much more, don't we? Christ, He is the way. Salvation in no other. The Lord
Jesus Christ, He is the truth. He is the living God, the true
and living God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is life. We have life given to us, fully
restored, much more than Adam ever knew. Adam had life, but
he didn't have righteousness. The righteousness he had was
Adam's. What we have is the righteousness
of God in Christ. So much better. So much more. Remember that verse I read a
moment ago? Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by our Lord Jesus Christ." No sinner is ever a loser following
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have gained all things in
Him. That's why Paul said, I count
everything lost and ruined and dumb that I might win Christ. and be found in Him. In Christ
we have all things restored. In Him dwells all the fullness
of God bodily in a body, and we stand complete in Him. Christ is all and in all. Where sin abounded, grace. does much more abound. One more verse and I'll let you
go. Psalm 69, like Psalm 22, the psalm of the cross. Psalm
69 verse 4 says this, They that hate me without a cause are more
than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy me, being
my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that which I
did not take away." We have all things restored in Christ. All things restored to us in
Christ, and much more. We have in Him an eternal inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that will never, never fade away,
that's reserved in heaven for you. Alright, Lord bless His
Word.