Okay, this evening now we're
looking at 2 Kings 6. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said down in verse 6. 2 Kings 6, verse
6. And the man of God said, Where
fell it? And he showed him the place,
and he cut down, that is, Elisha cut down a stick. or tree, as
that word can be rendered, and cast it in there and the iron
did swim. Now when you lose a piece of
iron, an axe head, down in a river or a creek, It doesn't swim naturally. It sinks to the bottom, it gets
stuck in the mud, and that's exactly where it's going to stay
until something outside itself causes it to do something that's
totally contrary to its nature. That is a picture of the way
God saves sinners. The iron did swim. Now, it did not simply float
on the water. God caused the iron axe head
to swim like a fish through the water. You say, well, that's
impossible. Not with God. Not with God. I believe the record of the Word
of God. Now, we see in this story another
miracle. The Lord perform through his
prophet Elisha." Now keep that in mind. The Lord performed through
Elisha. It was a miraculous miracle by
the will of God, by the power of God, by the purpose of God. Now it was not given just to
entertain our curiosity. It was given to teach us the
gospel and to show us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, the whole book of God and all the word of God is given
for that express, exact purpose, to show us Christ. You remember
Romans 15, whatsoever things were written aforetime, were
written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort
of the Scriptures, the Scriptures, that we might have hope, hope
in Christ. You, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
First Timothy Chapter 1 verse 1 he is called our hope our hope
of salvation is a person Our hope of righteousness is a person
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a good hope through grace
Christ in you is the hope of glory. Christ is our hope. All scripture is God-given, God-inspired,
to show us and to teach us Christ. We sang just a moment ago, in
thy book revealed, I see the Lord. Lord, reveal unto me those
things that are concealed, and in thy book revealed, what do
we see? We see the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't we? The Lord said to those Pharisees
concerning the Scriptures, He said, you do search the Scriptures,
in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which
testify of me. To him, give all the prophets witness,
they all witness, and they all write about one person, the person
and work of our blessed Savior. Now don't turn, let me just read
this to you. You remember the Lord said to
those two men, the resurrected Lord said to those two men on
the road to Emmaus, O fools and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures
the thing concerning himself. Everything we read in the Word
of God is relative to the person and work of Christ, the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the many miracles
of the prophet Elisha, and as I pointed out before, I didn't
really realize this until we started studying in 2 Kings,
because it deals so much with the ministry of Elisha, He's
known as the miracle prophet. But the many miracles of the
prophet Elisha, they pale in comparison to the greater prophet. Who is the greater prophet? That
is our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember the
promise God gave to Moses, I will raise up a prophet from among
the brethren, and he will speak my word and speak my truth. And those who refuse to hear
that prophet that said of God, God said, I'm gonna require that
your hand, I'm gonna hold you responsible. to hear the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord said to those disciples
of John when they came to ask the Lord Jesus Christ, are thou
he that should come? Are you that prophet that should
come? Or do we look for another prophet? You remember what the
Lord said, go and show John those things you do hear and see. And then he said this, the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. Is he that prophet? Is he
that Christ? Yes. The poor have the gospel
preached to them, blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me." If the gospel is not offensive to you, you're a blessed
person. If the gospel rejoices your heart
and causes you to look to the Lord Jesus Christ with a full
expectation of salvation in Him, you're a blessed person. The
gospel to the natural man is quite offensive. Paul refused
to remove the offense of the cross because when you remove
the offense of the cross you change the message. You've taken
the power out. Now let's consider this story
here of what happened and then we'll make a gospel application
for us. It's relative to us. We learn
here in verse 1 The sons of the prophets said unto Elijah, Behold,
now the place where we dwell with thee is too straight. That is, we're dwelling in this
school and it's too small. We've outgrown our building. We've outgrown this school. We learn here the school of the
sons of the prophets soon became too small to properly and comfortably
house those who came to sit at the feet of Elisha and learn
from God's prophet, and to learn God's message, to learn about
the salvation of the Lord. It must have been a special school. to sit under the ministry of
Elisha. God spoke through this man. But
even this school prospered, even in the midst of rampant idolatry
that was widespread in Israel. There was idolatry everywhere. Yet the school prospered, even
though Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, betrayed his master and
greedily ran after the covetous and greedy desires that he desired
from Naaman, remember the Syrian. Do you remember the judgment
that fell upon him? He was made a leper. It not only
affected the house of Gehazi, but it also affected not only
Gehazi, but his whole house, rather. Yet, in spite of all
the idolatry, in spite of Gehazi who betrayed his own master,
Elisha, with his greedy and covetous desires, the Lord was still blessing
his people. in the land. The prophet's school
was so enlarged, so much, that they needed to build a bigger
building. I think of it. Amidst all that
was going on in that day, idolatry, rebellion, unbelief, war, rumors
of war, all these things, God still blessed His people. Nothing, now here's the lesson
for us, nothing can hinder the purpose of God in building up
and establishing His kingdom. Nothing. Nothing. He said, I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We might be tempted to think
especially in our day. All is black and gloomy, yet
the Lord will always accomplish his purpose and he will bless
his people, even in the midst of our great turmoil in our land
and in our country. Even though we live in perilous
times, The Lord's purpose is not affected. His purpose will
be done. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. All is well in the kingdom of
God. Everything is on schedule. Everything
is on time. His purpose cannot be changed. The cause of Christ is certain
and sure, the purpose of God cannot fail, the Christ of God
cannot fail, the foundation that is laid by God will not crumble. We can rest upon that foundation
with the assurance, the Lord said, behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. He that believeth on him shall
not make haste. You know what that means? That
means we'll never be forced out. That means that kingdom of God
that we rest upon, he says, will never be confounded and we'll
never be ashamed. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, and that is Christ the Lord. The
foundation of God stand assure having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. God will call out his elect through
the means he has ordained, the preaching of the gospel. The
Lord is still in this day of apostasy and rebellion that is
rampant everywhere and idolatry and false religion. The Lord
is still adding unto his church such as should be saved. We read about that in the book
of Acts. The Lord added daily to the church such as should
be saved. Now who does the adding? He does. Who does the saving? He does.
The Lord adds daily unto His church. He will bless His people
and supply our every need according to His riches in glory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He will come again and receive
us unto Himself He said, I go away to prepare a place for you,
and I'm going to go away to prepare a place for you. And if I go
away, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I
am, there you may be also. You see, you cannot hinder the
purpose of God and the kingdom of God. It is certain and sure. All the promises of God in him
are yes. Amen, and in Him, and to the
glory of God. Now look at verse 2. He said, the prophet said, well
the place where we dwell is too small, it's too straight for
us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take then to
every man a beam. Let's make us some beams, some
rafters, some floor joists. Let's make some beams, and let
us make us a place there where we may dwell. They requested,
they asked Elisha if they could do this, and he said, well, go,
go ye. And one said, well, be content,
I pray thee, go with thy servants, and go with thy servant. And
Elisha answered and said, well, I'm gonna go with you. We're
going to go and we're going to build a bigger building, and
we're going to cut down some trees, and we're going to make
some beans, and we're going to lay a foundation, and we're going
to build a house, and we're going to have a bigger school." Was that ungodly ambition? No. There was a need. There was a
need. The schoolhouse being too small,
the house too small to house the growing number of the profits.
They asked Elijah if they could build a larger building. They
didn't take on this project without the permission they asked Elisha
if they could do so. They didn't take on this project
without the permission of Elisha, without Elisha, without his blessing,
without his instruction, without his presence, without the blessings
of the Lord. You see, they came to sit under
Elisha to learn of him, and they didn't want to go anywhere, even
out into the forest to cut down some trees to build a bigger
house. They didn't want to go without him, without his instructions,
without the blessing of the Lord. They came to sit under his ministry
and to learn of the Lord. This is the way we are to instruct
young men who God has called and put in the ministry. That
is the way the Lord trains up ministers in that day and in
this day. When God calls a young man and
puts him in the ministry, what is he to do? Run off to school
somewhere? No, he's to find a faithful gospel
preacher and camp at his feet and learn from him the ministry
of the Lord, about the ministry of the Lord. Now, I had a good,
good teacher. Pastor Mahan had a preacher school
in Ashland for a number of years back in the 1980s, early 80s,
79, 80, 81. And young men from many places
around the country moved there to sit under his ministry and
to learn from the prophet of God. Now I could name many of
those men who sat in that school or who sat under his ministry
and who are out now preaching the gospel and pastoring churches. I know personally many of them
and have stood in their pulpit and preached for them. Even myself,
I was privileged to sit under his ministry for 12 years. and to learn more about Christ. What a blessed, blessed. This
is the way the Lord trains up ministers. That's the biblical
way to do it. Walter Groover has followed this
same example in Mexico. Brother Walter's been there for
50 years, and many of those years, those native pastors whom God
had saved and God had put in the ministry, Brother Walter's
had that preacher school, and Brother Cody now working with
him for the last 20 years, they've had a preacher school that meet
They meet once a week, and those young pastors, many of them ride
in from the countryside on bicycles, or they'll ride a bus. They don't
have transportation like we do in this country, and many of
them live many, many miles away. But they come there and sit under
Walter's teaching, teaching, and he has been blessed to teach
those young pastors. These young men we see in our
story here were eager to roll up their sleeves, and when there
was a need that arose to build a bigger building, they were
eager to roll up their sleeves and do the work themselves. Paul called himself that those
who labored with him in the ministry, he called them fellow laborers. This is the right attitude for
all those placed in the ministry. Now listen to me, I've made this
statement over the years and I'm going to keep making it because
it's true. Every believer is in the ministry. Every believer, male or female,
is in the ministry. They might not do the things that the pastor
does, but every believer serves the purpose of God, and every
believer ministers one to another in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we serve Him, by serving
one another. And God's people, when they're
saved and justified in Christ, and made new creatures in Christ,
they're eager to do the will of the Lord. You remember when
Saul of Tarsus was converted on his road of rebellion? And you remember what he said
to the Lord after the Lord revealed himself? The Lord, what would
you have me to do? He was eager, just as more so
he was zealous of the tradition of his fathers, but when the
Lord saved him and justified him and made him a new creature
and put him in his right mind, boy, he was zealous to go and
preach the gospel. And you can read all of his travelings
there through the book of Acts. You see, when there's a work
to be done for the fervent of the gospel and the good of the
Lord's church, let us go about the work with zeal in our heart
for the glory of God, and he'll bless it. He'll bless it. He will, I'm confident. I'll
show you why. I can say that with such boldness
because he has said, find 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 57. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be you steadfast Unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor in the Lord
is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. We never labor
in vain. God's people are zealous of good
works. Not to be saved, not to recommend
ourselves unto God, not to find assurance, but rather because
we love Him. We desire to do His will. Verse
3 in our text says that they desired Elisha's presence to
go with them for this work detail. It reminded me of the prayer
of Moses in Exodus 33 when he asked the Lord to show him his
glory. And he said unto the Lord, if
thy presence go not with me, don't let me go. Carry us not
up hence. They not only desired his presence,
but they did not want to leave off hearing the instruction from
the Lord. Elisha represented the Word of
God and the voice of God to these men. They needed him because
they needed to hear a word from God. That's why they said, we're
going to go, but you go with us. We need to hear a word from
the Lord. Blessed are those people who
have a need to hear the word of the Lord constantly. His word
is a means whereby God speaks to us, whereby God feeds us,
whereby God blesses us, whereby God instructs us, whereby God
reveals Christ unto us. Remember our study in the book
of James, He said, let us be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to anger. Let us be swift and eager and
ready to hear the word of the Lord. Psalm 119, you know this
verse, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. We desire to hear the word of
the Lord. Elisha, verse three and four,
when he was asked to go with them, he said, He answered, verse
3, well, I'll go. I'll go. So we went with them. And when
they came to Jordan, they, they, they cut down wood. I take that to mean that Elisha
was an active participant in timbering this wood. He got about
the business. He rolled up his sleeves, spit
on his hand, grabbed that axe handle, and started whacking
down trees and started shaping some beams for the floor. some
rafters for the wall. It wasn't beneath his dignity,
was it, to roll up his sleeves and to get to work. Elisha, when
he was asked to go, he said, I'm ready. Let's go. I think
of that scripture, the Apostle Paul, when he talked about preaching
the gospel to them at Rome, he said, for as much as in me is,
I'm ready. I'm ready to preach the gospel
because I'm not ashamed of the gospel." And then when Paul writes
back to young Timothy, he said, be ready to preach the word always. In season, out of season, in
every place, in every way, at any time. A sermon without the
Lord Jesus Christ is a worthless thing. Is a worthless thing. We preach Christ and Him crucified. God's servants are always ready
to roll up their sleeves and put their work boots on and get
down in the mud if necessary, if that's what it takes. They're
ready to honor the Lord. God's servants are men ready
to serve, ready to help. And I'm talking about all of
God's people. You see, all of God's people are God's servants.
They're ready to serve, ready to help, ready to do whatever
they can do to assist one another, to assist God's people, God's
church, to assist other servants in their work of the ministry. Now, I thought about this in
Acts chapter 16. When Paul was getting ready to
go into Macedonia, you remember he had that vision of that man
that said, come on over here and help us. Remember? What did
he do? Well, you know, I'm too busy
for that. No, he went and preached the gospel to those there in
Philippi, and God raised up a church with Lydia and that Philippian
jailer. God will bless his servants to
preach the word, and they're ready to go. When needed, the
Apostle Paul, it says in Acts chapter 18, when there wasn't
many that were able to support the ministry. The churches weren't
yet established to send support for the missionary work and to
support pastors. Remember, when needed, Paul built
tents to provide for himself. He was a tent maker. And on another
occasion, when the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked, remember, And
they were shipwrecked on that island of Melita. Was that the
name of it? It was cold and they were wet. And you know, remember
who was out gathering up sticks to build a fire? Paul didn't
say, you guys go over there and get some. He was out there gathering
up sticks. You see, God's servants are eager
to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He has given us to do. It may be in a nursery. It may
be in cleaning a building. It may be in preaching the gospel.
It may be in whatever area, whatever thing God has gifted you to do,
do it as unto the Lord. Whatsoever you do, do as unto
the Lord. And He will bless that effort.
He will bless that effort. Now in verse 4 and 5 we see this. So he went with them, and they
came to Jordan, and they cut down wood. But as one was felling
a beam, the axe head fell into the water, and he cried, Alas,
my master, for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where
fell it? And he showed him the place, and he cut down a stick
or tree, and cast it in, and the iron did swim. When they were going about doing
the work of the Lord, The trial was sent. Trial. This man lost
his borrowed, he borrowed his axe and the axe head flew off.
He borrowed it and it flew off. Somehow the handle shattered.
It flew off into the water. He was alarmed. Alas, my master,
my axe head's gone. He had borrowed it and now it's
lost and he knew he couldn't replace it. But more importantly,
The work that was so vital to be done, now he had no tool to
cut down any trees. And you know what he felt? He
felt useless, didn't he? I've got nothing to work with.
It's like trying to build a house without a hammer. How many nails
are you going to drive without a hammer? If you lost your hammer,
you'd be in trouble, wouldn't you? You'd say, well, you know,
I can't drive any nails. This man felt useless. He felt
he could no longer contribute to the cause of God. Trials are
often sent our way to make us more dependent upon God. He cried
out for help when this trial came. Trials are often sent our
way to make us more dependent upon our God, to strip us of
any confidence in the flesh, to cause us to cry out unto our
God for help. You know, trials are called precious
trials that are sent from the hand of God. to try us, whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. Our trials are only opportunities
for God to manifest His love, power, and mercy unto us." Think
about it. Our trials are opportunities
for God to bless us. and to help us. Our trials are
called light afflictions that work for us and exceeding abundant. grace. And the Lord has promised
us grace for the trial. And also, He says, every trial
works together for good to them who love God, to them who are
called according to God's purpose. Well, in verse 6 and 7, the Lord
sent another miracle to relieve the trial that He had sent. Isn't
that the way the Lord always works? Elisha, by miraculous
power of God, cut down a tree, a tree, cast it into the muddy
Jordan, river of Jordan, and made the iron hacks head to swim. And the workman pulled it from
the water and went about his work rejoicing in the Lord."
It's like that story we read back in chapter 2 of 2 Kings
where the water was bad And Elisha took that salt and threw it in
there, and the water became useful. This is another miracle of God,
and all this is done to teach us and to reveal the gospel unto
us. Anything too hard for the Lord? Can He make an iron axe head
to swim? Oh yeah. God can do whatever He will. He can make an iron axe head
to swim like a dolphin if He's pleased to do so. No problem.
We can't, but God can, and He did. Let us never despair in
any trial or any heartache. The Lord our God alone is always
the answer. It is written, with God all things
are possible. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. With God nothing shall be impossible. We've read that so many times
in Scripture. Example after example. We saw
that Sunday. Could that man with a withered
hand do anything about his hand? No, with him was impossible.
But with God, with the command of God came, stretch forth that
hand. That's exactly what he did. If
you're in great trouble, be of good cheer. Our Lord said, in
this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome. Our God is a God who makes the
iron to swim. It's not needful or even best
for us to know how he can make the iron to swim, but he did. It's best for us in our utter
helplessness to lift up our eyes into the hill from whence cometh
our help, to look to Him who made the iron to swim, to trust
Him, to believe Him, to rest upon Him, and see with the Lord
all things are possible. Let's see if we can specifically
see the gospel in this story. And here's the second part. We
see a vivid picture of that salvation of the Lord. The Lord, through
the means He employed, retrieved, intervened, and recovered this
iron axe head and made it to swim. Now the first thing that
Elisha did Verse 6, And the man of God said,
Where did it fall? And he showed him the place,
and he cut down a stick. And that word right there can
be, and it is rendered in other places, a tree. He cut down a
tree, and he cast the tree into the water. Now this is the muddy
river of Jordan. This is a big river, and it's
muddy. And he said generally, where
did that act, where did you lose it? And he showed him and he
cut down the tree and threw that tree in the water, made the iron
to swim. Now, here's the gospel. The first
thing Elisha did was to cut down this tree, cast it into the muddy
Jordan River. This too is a picture of our
blessed Lord who made a sacrifice for our sin upon the tree. He bare our sin in His own body
on the tree. What retrieves a dead, lost sinner? Christ and Him crucified. That's
what I see in that tree. You remember in Deuteronomy chapter
21 verse 23, cursed is that one that hangeth upon a tree. And
then in Galatians 3 verse 13, that verse is quoted. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. The curse is every one that hangeth on the tree. I see
in that tree being cast into that muddy Jordan. Jordan is
what? A picture of death, isn't it?
The river of death. And the tree of life was cast
into that river of death, and that dead iron, picturing the
dead lost sinner, is made to live. That's the gospel. Who
and what is the only remedy to save the lost? That soul that
sunk down in the muddy river of sin? What is iron made from? It's made from the dirt, isn't
it? It's made from the minerals of the earth. I don't know exactly
how that process is made, but that iron there pictures fallen,
ruined man dead in the mud of sin and retrieved by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Cast in the tree. That's what
we do when we preach the gospel. We preach Christ and Him crucified. That is the only message, the
only gospel that will bring the lost sheep home. Right? Cast in the tree. And that's Christ. Christ crucified
upon the tree. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
once for our sins, the just for the unjust that He might bring
us unto God. Dead sinners are made alive like
that axe head, made to swim by the power of God in the gospel
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. Now here's the second thing.
The Lord Jesus Christ is called the tree of life. In Genesis
chapter 2, in Genesis chapter 3, but turn over here to Genesis
chapter 22. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Tree of Life. We live and move and have our
being in Him. Revelation 22 verse 1, and He
showed me a river of water, water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and in the midst
of the street, albeit on either side of the river, was the tree
of life. Christ is that tree of life.
which bear twelve manner of fruit, and yielded her fruit every month,
and the leaves of the tree were the healing of the nation." With
his stripes we are healed. Now, turn to another scripture,
find Psalm 1. Remember when the Lord described
the blessed man in Psalm 1? The blessed man, blessed is that
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sitteth in
the seat of the scornful, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Who is this blessed
man? Psalm 1-1. That's Christ. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, And in his law doth he meditate day and night, and
he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand. Salvation is not what we do for
God. It's what God has done for us.
The axe head was lost. You remember what it said there?
It fell. We were ruined in the fall and
Adam all died. The axe head was lost in the
fall from the axe handle. We too were lost in the fall
of our father Adam. By one man sin entered in. into
all man, in Adam all died. The only remedy for our deadness
in sin is Christ in Him crucified upon the tree. He is the way,
the truth, the life. He is life and He is salvation. He is the tree of life unto us,
isn't He? You see, salvation is in Him.
You remember from that verse we studied recently in 1 John
5? He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Cast in that tree, and that's
what we do. And God makes the iron to swim. You know why? Because he quickens
us. He gives us life. You have to
quicken who were dead in trespasses and in sin. Here's the third
picture about the gospel. God through Elisha, Elisha intervened
and made The difference between the axe head remaining stuck
in the mud or the axe head swimming. Now who made the difference?
It was God who made the difference. This too pictures the gospel
of God's sovereign grace. Christ is the difference between
life or death, heaven or hell, saved or lost, Salvation is of
the Lord. Do you remember the question
the Apostle Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 7? Who made you to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't receive? It's only
because God has intervened by His sovereign mercy and has made
you to differ. I would yet be in the mountains
of Utah worshiping idols ignorant, dead, without God, without hope,
and without Christ. Had not God intervened, I'd still
be in the mud. I'd be like that ax head, stuck
in the mud. And that ax head is not coming
out by itself. It's stuck. It's got to be pulled
out. And that's exactly what God does.
It is always sovereign intervention, the intervention of Christ with
the gospel brought to our heart in the powerful hands of God
the Holy Spirit that causes us to swim in the river of faith. It's God that causes us to swim
in the river of faith. You see, we hear the word not
only in, we hear not only in word only, but in power, the
power of God, the Holy Spirit. Now here's the last thing, verse
seven. Therefore said he, when the iron
was swimming, Elisha said to the young prophet of God, take
it up, take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and
he took it in. Now, when he put out his hand,
did that cause it to swim? No, it was already swimming.
He just simply received it. And this is a picture of saving
faith. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. This young student prophet was
instructed to take up the axe head. He put out his hand and
received it. He did rejoice and went about
the work of the Lord, rejoicing in that which was lost is found. And that's why I read those three
parables. We rejoice in God finding his
people. Reaching out his hand did not
make the axe head to swim, did not cause the axe head to swim.
He simply received it as a gift of God's grace and a gift of
God's power. Faith in Christ is not the cause
of salvation. Did you get that? Faith in Christ
is not the cause of salvation. It's to mean God has ordained
to receive him. Christ is the cause of salvation,
is it not? Grace is the cause of salvation.
Purpose is of God, cause of salvation. Faith is a means that God has
ordained to receive him who accomplished all salvation for us, and we
know that it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. Our faith in Christ does not
give us life before God. He gives us life, and we receive
Him by God-given faith. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Life is given by the command
of God, yet we are commanded of God to lay hold on eternal
life. And that's what we do. Faith
is a hand that reaches, the eye that looks, the feet that run,
the ears that hear. Faith is given of God. We are
commanded of God to lay hold on eternal life, 1 Timothy 6,
19. And a sinner born of God does just that. Believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ, we lay hold on Him. We receive Him who is salvation
and who is life. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power. May God be pleased to cause our
faith to grow, to grow in faith and in the knowledge of Him.
The apostles asked the Lord, they said, Lord, increase our
faith, increase our faith. Now isn't that a good story?
It's the gospel, isn't it? It's the gospel. And everywhere
we read in the Word of God, it's the same story.