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And with that let's get into the word. Second Kings chapter 13 tonight. I really did try
to do two chapters, but I didn't want to rush through this chapter. There's quite a bit
here and I'm looking forward to what the Lord has for us. So why don’t we pray. We’ll
ask God's blessing on our time together, if you would join with me. Loving Heavenly Father
we’re once again finding ourselves here on a Thursday night ever so grateful to You
for this midweek Bible study because it's really a time for us to put everything aside
and focus our attention on You and that which You have for us in Your word. And so Lord
this chapter that we have before us tonight, would You minister to us in and through it;
and Lord speak into our lives we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Alright, let’s jump
in. Verse one, ‘In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah,
Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.
And’, here it is again; I hope you’re getting used to it; we’re going to read
a lot of this, ‘And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not depart from them. Then’, verse
three, ‘the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into
the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all
their days. So Jehoahaz’, verse 4, interesting, ‘pleaded with the LORD, and the LORD listened
to him; for He saw’, and this is why, ‘He saw the oppression of Israel, because the
king of Syria oppressed them.’ I want to begin with a couple of thoughts that are going
to be germane to our understanding of what’s taking place here in Israel at this time.
First Jehoahaz becoming king over Israel and Samaria actually fulfills second Kings Chapter
10 verse 30 concerning the promise that was made to Jehu as king and when he was king;
and specifically the promise that God made to him was that even though Israel they continued
in their idolatry. Jehu’s descendents would still sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth
generation; and this is a fulfillment of that; and this is the fourth generation according
to the promise that God had made. Now the reason I mention this is because here again
we have one of those places in God's word where we see God being faithful in spite of
our being unfaithful. This is, and should be a source of great encouragement. It’s
also one of those places where, in spite of our being unfaithful, we see how that God
will still hearken unto the voice of our cry. The question that is asked oftentimes, you
know: When is it that God will not hear our prayers? I mean if we’re in willful disobedience
and sin, does God not hear our prayers; do our prayers bounce off the ceiling? And the
answer is really yes and no. In other words, it depends. It depends on the heart. What
is the condition of the heart if we are harkening, if we are praying, and pleading with the Lord
in the heart of repentance? God will always hear that. I'll take a step further and suggest
that God finds a repentant heart irresistible. He cannot resist it when one of his own approach
Him in that way. I was thinking about this the other day, about how hard it is as a parent
when your children are little to hear them cry. I'm mean, it's infinitely more difficult
to hear somebody else's child cry, that's irritating. But when it’s your child you
know you are just sort of wired really to respond to the child's cry. And I see that
with God, in the sense that he will hearken to our cry unto Him. And now that’s not
to say though, that God turns a blind eye to our willful disobedience, it’s sin, that
cannot be. But in His willingness to hear or answer our prayers, He will hearken unto
the voice of our cry when we plead with him out of a sincere heart of repentance. And
such was the case here at this point. This actually ties in to the second thought which
has to do with the reason that Jehoahaz would plead with the Lord in a true repentance.
Now it's important to note in verse four that it was the Lord who saw the oppression of
Israel, and he’d seen this oppression because the king of Syria had oppressed Israel. And
it's important to understand that this was actually one of the lowest points, if not
the lowest point in Israel's history. I suppose you could say that Israel had hit rock bottom.
And this is the reason why we're told that he genuinely seeks the Lord for deliverance.
I want to recommend a book by Ronnie Simon. Many of you who went to Israel with us know
him as our tour guide. He just sent me his recent book. And it is fabulous. It's subtitled:
Give Us A King. And it's really a great reference too. For those of you know Ronnie, he’s
what we call a walking encyclopedia. This guy is a historian of historians, and just
really amazing. If you're interested, and I would highly recommend it, let me know and
I'll put you in touch with him. You can actually go to his website and order it. But it's interesting
what he wrote about this. He said, “The lowest point in the history of the kingdom
of Israel was reached during the reign Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. And the, with things worse
than they had ever been for Israel, we are told: “So Jehoahaz pleaded with the Lord
and”, more importantly, “the Lord listened to him.” I think you probably already know
where I'm going with this. But wouldn't you agree that it's when were at our lowest point,
that when we hit rock bottom we’re the most prone to cry out to the Lord, and seek the
Lord. You know when things are going well our prayers sort of show it. You know when
thing are going well our prayers are just: Lord bless me, and bless them, and bless this,
and off we go. But boy let adversity strike, and it's amazing how your prayers, that the
whole complexion of them is changed. I think of Ecclesiastes 7:14, one of my life verses,
it goes basically like this, during times of prosperity enjoy. But during times of adversity
stop and consider and realize that God allows one as well as the other so that man can discover
nothing about his future. In other words, so that we will always be dependent upon the
Lord for our future. In other words, when things are going good, when God is blessing
and prospering you enjoy it. Don't apologize for it; don’t feel guilty about it; but
know that alongside of those times of blessing also come times of adversity. When, not if,
adversity strikes, it will usually have the effect of causing us to stop. And sometimes
I’m convinced in my own life that when I'm so busy, maybe too busy, God has a way of
getting me to stop dead in my tracks. And all it takes is for Him to allow something
to strike, hit, happen. And I just I stop, and I said okay Lord, You got my attention.
And often times, it’s only in those times that the Lord has our undivided attention.
And sometimes if that's what it takes for the Lord to get our attention, then wouldn’t
it stand to reason that He’s going to allow those times for that very reason. I think
that there are those times when we realize just how completely and totally dependent
upon Him we are. You know when things are going good you can have this false sense of
you know, things are going my way and it almost creates this invincibility, this you know
hey it's always going to be like this. And we tend to you know, sort of rely on our own
strength, the energy of our own flesh. And it doesn't take much, but God is always so
faithful to remind us of just how completely dependent we are upon Him. And in those times
we realize how weak and vulnerable we are; and that's the time that we cry out to the
Lord in our day of trouble. This is what Psalm 50 verse 15 says, ‘Call upon Me in the day
of trouble; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.’ Oh how I wish that this
is what Israel does when God delivers them, but as we’re about to see that doesn't happen.
It says verse five, ‘Then the LORD gave Israel a deliverer,’ we don't know who it
was, we just know that it was, ‘so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians;
and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before.’ And here it is, verse
six, ‘Nevertheless’, I don't like this nevertheless here because it says, ‘Nevertheless
they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin, but
walked in them; and the wooden image also remained in Samaria.’ Isn't that just how
it is. Less we be too *** the Israelites, we’re prone to do the same. We cry out to
the Lord. The Lord delivers us; the Lord hear us; the Lord answers us; the Lord moves on
our behalf; and he answers our prayer; and he delivers us out of our trouble; and then
right back we go. This is going to really, really, really date me; and I'm very careful
about quoting movies, especially nowadays. But do you remember that really, really old
movie with Burt Reynolds in it when he's drowning in the ocean. I see a couple people like this
(nodding); younger people are going (looking puzzled) who’s Burt Reynolds. Nevermind,
we’ll get back to you on that. So he’s out there in the ocean and he’s drowning.
And he prays, God if you'll let me get to shore; and I mean he promises and he vows
to God that he will do all of these things. You know, I’ll give all my money to the
poor, you know, I’ll start, you know going to church. And he’s grocery listing all
of these things if God would but just save him from drowning. And then God hears. And
he gets closer to the shore, and as he gets closer to the shore he starts kind of reneging
on all that he had vowed when he was about to drown. And by the time he gets there, and
God delivers him, and God saves him it's been reduced to thank you Lord, I’ll go to church
this Sunday. Wow, really you know here when you're about to drown you cry out to the Lord.
I mean you're willing to do everything, to give everything and that God does it, and
then it's kind of like, thank You Lord. And that's sort of Israel has done here. Well,
it says verse 7, ‘For He left of the army of Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots,’
that’s nothing, even ‘ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed
them and made them like the dust at threshing. Now’, verse eight, ‘the rest of the acts
of Jehoahaz, all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Israel? So Jehoahaz rested with his fathers,’ verse nine, ‘and they
buried him in Samaria. Then Joash his son reigned in his place. We’re going to see
this Joash is quite an interesting man and I will talk more about him in a moment. Well
here again this is textbook in the sense that once again we see Israel's pattern of turning
from God, which leads to their defeat at the hand of their enemies; then they’re under
this oppressive rule of the enemy; then they cry out for deliverance; and then the Lord
that delivers them; but then they don't repent; and it's cyclical. We see this throughout
the history of Israel. They turn from God; they’re given over to their enemies, oppressed
by their enemies; they cry out for deliverance; God delivers them; and then they go right
back; and such is the case here. Now the question becomes: Why? Why? Well, I believe that it's
because there's not this Godly sorrow. You see the Bible describes two kinds of sorrows.
There’s the sorrow of being caught, and then there's the Godly sorrow that leads to
a genuine repentance. I’m going to use my new best friend Sargent Art Kendle. Let’s
say that he pulls me over for speeding. I never speed by the way. I’m a law-abiding
citizen. You know that right? Is there a lightning bolt behind me? And he pulls me over. Now the
first words out of my mouth are, “I'm sorry”. Now the question becomes: not am I sorry but
what kind of sorry am I? Am I sorry because I got caught speeding, or am I genuinely sorry?
Is it a Godly sorrow that leads to repentance? How will you know? Well will it lead to a
change in how I drive? If it's a true Godly sorrow, then I will repent, which basically
means change. I will change my driving habits, because that is a genuine sorrow. If it's
the sorrow of just being caught and knowing that Art is going to write me a big fat ticket,
then that's a different sorrow. And I would suggest that this is the sorrow that Israel
has here. It's the sorrow of their suffering. This is what Charles Spurgeon had to say,
“Israel’s repentance was only half-hearted; they repented because they suffered. They
repented because of the suffering rather than because of the sin. They went back to the
sin after they escaped from the sorrow.” Which is what again we’re prone to do. Verse
10, 'In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became
king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. And’, here it is again, ‘he did
evil in the sight of the LORD.’ If my math is right, this is like 18 kings in a row who
did evil in the sight of the Lord. Remembered there were only nine kings, and none of them
in Israel; they were all Judah; nine kings of whom it was said that he did that which
was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. And of those 9, 8 towards the end of their life
messed up. Only one of the nine finished well where there is no recorded sin or evil associated
with his reign as king. Again I mentioned that I'm looking forward to doing a study,
yet future on these good kings, and looking at what we can learn from their lives, the
eight kings of the nine; and what was it about that ninth king of whom it’s said, nothing
about any evil alliance that he made, any disobedience, any willful disobedience or
sin in his life as he reigned as king. Well, let’s move on. Again we read, ‘He did
not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked
in them. Now’, verse 12, ‘the rest of the acts of Joash, all that he did, and his
might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Joash rested with his fathers.’ Verse
13, ‘Then Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings
of Israel.’ Here again we have yet another one of these kings who did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and we’re told that he as well did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam.
But that's basically all we’re told. He reigned 16 years and then that's it. Now when
we get to Second Chronicles chapter 25 we’re going to have a little bit more detailed,
kind of fill in the blanks, especially as it relates to this war with Amaziah which
led to his utter defeat. Now the reason I mention this again here is because it speaks
to the grace and the mercy of God, Who, in spite of Israel's sin grants them the victory.
Let me say it again, that's not to say that God turns a blind eye to our sin, but as we’re
about to see, God, for the sake of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, will deliver
Israel in spite of the grievous sins of these evil Kings. Again I want to quote Ronnie Simon
on this’ he says, “With all of the fire and brimstone hurled at the kings of Israel
over the generations, there were also a few moments of grace. One of these moments comes
in the story of the death of Elisha, which is what we're about to read next, “when
Joash, a king of Israel who both sinned and caused others to sin, visits the dying prophet.” That’s
where we’re going to pick it up in verse 14. ‘Elisha had become sick with the illness
of which he would die.’ I want you to hang on to that because I want to talk about that
for a moment. ‘Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face,
and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” ‘ Again
we’re going to get back to this encounter between Joash and Elisha, who were told is
now on his deathbed. This would've been a real serious concern for Israel because of
the influence that the prophet Elisha had in and on Israel. But notice, we’re told
that the Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Does that not sound
like a firm grasp of the obvious? Well not necessarily. I would suggest that there's
more to it than that, and I think we’d be grossly remiss if we didn't take just a moment
to look at this a little bit closer. Elisha is about 80 years old at this point, and it's
believed that he serve the Lord for the last 55 years faithfully as a prophet and as a
Godly influence in Israel's history. It’s interesting to note that there are no sins
or evil recorded in Scripture concerning Elisha. Now again that does not mean he was sinless.
Joseph is another one I think of that there is no recorded evil or sin. There is not so
much as really a mistake. That doesn’t mean that Joseph was sinless. This doesn’t mean
that Elijah was sinless, rather I would suggest that it just testifies of their blameless
life, their Godly life, their holy life. They weren't sinless. They were blameless. It's
also interesting to note that the only one, other than Elisha, of whom there are more
recorded miracles, is the Savior himself. In other words, there is nobody else in all
of Scripture of whom there are more miracles associated with then Elisha. He's second only
to the Savior. We’re actually going to see a very interesting and peculiar miracle even
after his death. It’s associated with his remains. But spoiler alert, so we'll get to
that. Now why do I point this out? Because as great and Godly as Elisha was, and even
as many miracles as he had performed, he still gets sick and he still dies. What are you saying?
Well the death of the prophet Elisha brings up the matter of a false teaching that has
taken up residence in many churches today. This is probably one of the of worst. I mean
they’re all horrific, but this one particular is one of the worst of all of them; and what
I'm speaking of it is what's known as the word faith teaching. You know what I mean
by the word faith teaching? Some have humorously called it the name and claim it, blab it grab
it doctrine; where you just believe and speak it, and if you have enough faith you’ve
got it, if you have enough faith. Then, oh by the way if you have enough faith, you'll
never be sick. Well so these famous word faith teachers on TV, when they get cancer they
claim that they don't really have cancer, that they actually have enough faith and they
claim their healing. This is, what’s the word I’m looking for: insidious. It is,
it is evil really, because it is so damaging especially to a younger believer. So a young,
new believer prays and God doesn’t answer their prayer. And here's this word faith brother
or sister in Christ who’s all too ready to say, man if you just had enough faith god
would've, you know given it to you. You must not have enough faith. This caused many sadly
to walk away from the Lord. You know many years ago when my daughter had died, I had
somebody come up to me and say to me, and I'm…To this day all these years later, it’s
been what almost 10 years later, and Noelle would've been 10 on December 28; and all these
years later it's still is fresh because she said to me, “If you would've had enough
faith Noelle would not of died”. Now, I had the presence of mind, and I hope and believe
the grace of God, and the spirit of God to sort of gather my thoughts and respond in
what I hoped and believed was a loving response. And so I queried hear this way, I said let
me ask you a question. Are you telling me that when Paul prayed three times for this
thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God did not remove it, that the apostle Paul himself
didn't have enough faith? Really? Let me take it a step further, and this is the last question
I’ll ask. Are you telling me that, if Jesus who perspired his own blood there in the Garden
of Gethsemane, and prayed to the Father asking Him, Lord Father if it be your will let this
cup of suffering pass from Me, that if Jesus the Savior, God incarnate, would've had enough
faith that cup of suffering would have passed from Him. She said not a word. She said not
a word. Elisha, the prophet of God, the man of God, a man of faith of whom there are more
miracles recorded in association with him, second only to the Savior himself, if he would
have had enough faith he wouldn't have gotten sick and died. He could have claimed his healing.
I’m not going to even go there. I mean how is it even possible that one could ever come
to that conclusion. I heard a pastor share an account of someone coming to him of this
belief, and he asked a very good question. In fact the next time this happens, if there
is a next time I’m going to ask this question…Okay so if you just have enough faith God will
heal you, you'll never be sick, right? Okay, and of course if you have enough faith, then
it would stand to reason that you wouldn't die either, right? Right? Well then what happens
when someone who is a word faith believer dies. I mean how do you people die? That was
the question. How do you people die?.....So the question was how do you people die, right?
Because if you just have enough faith you'll never get sick, you will never die. So how
do you people die? And as God is my witness this was the answer, “we release our spirit.”
Wow, it is appointed unto man, once for them to release the spirit and then the judgment.
Oh, it is appointed unto men once to die. God holds in his hands, in his hands only
the day of our birth and the day of our death. How arrogant is that? How arrogant is that?
How blasphemous is that? Well, ‘And Elisha said to him,’ this is Joash now, ‘ “Take
a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the
king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his
hands on the king’s hands. And’, verse 17, ‘he said, “Open the east window”;
and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of
the LORD’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike
the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” Then’, verse 18, ‘he said, “Take
the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”;
so he struck three times, and stopped. And’, verse 19, the man of God was angry with him,
and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria
till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” ‘ All
right, to me this is probably one of the most dramatic accounts in all of Scripture that
speaks to limiting the all mighty hand of our Almighty God. And I'll explain what I
mean by that. This is exactly what Joash has done here. And by the way it's kind of out
of character for Elisha. I could see Elijah getting angry, but to see Elisha. This wasn't
a guy that was prone to getting angry, yet he does, and he does so because Joash only
strikes three times instead of five or six times. Well, here's what I’m thinking, like
what Joash does here, we’re just as prone to do the same thing. And again it’s one
of those places where I don't think we should be too *** this guy, because we too tie
the hands of God's limitless blessings with the ropes of what one has called a scarcity
mentality. I mean that the truth of the matter is Joash didn't trust God for more then only
three victories over Syria. And here again sadly we’re much the same in that we’re
all too ready to limit that which God desires to do in our lives. We too are prone to striking
our Syria with the bow only three times. I think of the study a while back where the
Israelites were told to take many trenches, and as many as they could, and as and as deep
as they could. And the more they dug the more God would fill with water and use that to
then also deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. And they did, and I assure
you they were glad they did. And here we have Joash not doing what Elisha had instructed
him to do. Charles Spurgeon, I absolutely love what he says about this concerning the
living our lives by trusting God to do grand and glorious things, not limiting God by our
own, you know, limiting understanding. He says, “Dear friends, let us seek so to live
that even ungodly men may miss us when we are gone.” In other words, live your life
in such a way that you leave a mark, so much so that even ungodly men are going to miss
you when you're gone. That was, I see Elisha in that way. Now before we move on to verse
20, there’s something else I want to take note of. It has to do with the symbolism,
more specifically the symbolism of Elisha having Joash fire arrows, and not only fire
arrows, but in the direction of Syria. This was seen as a declaration of war. Adam Clarke
explained it this way, “It was an ancient custom to shoot an arrow or cast a spear into
the country which an army intended to invade. ...The dart, spear, or arrow thrown, was an
emblem of the commencement of hostilities.” In other words, what Elisha was wanting Joash
to do was to strike many arrows, because the more arrows symbolically he fired, the more
victories he then would be on the receiving end of as it relates to Syria. There's another
thing that Elisha is doing here. Elisha is wanting to encourage Joash to trust God for
Israel's strength and deliverance after his death. And again I think we err greatly if
we under estimate the influence that the prophet Elisha had on the nation of Israel. He was
a Godly influence; and here true to form he deemed it necessary to assure Joash that God
will continue to strengthen and deliver Israel after he’s gone. I think about after Pastor
Chuck Smith went on to be with the Lord, there were many people who were really concerned
about the Chapel movement, after, you know Pastor Chuck was gone. And so he goes home
to be with the Lord, and God has continued to bless the Calvary Chapel movement. There
are many, many Calvary Chapels that are started up all over the world. God is using Calvary
Chapel mightily, not because of us, not because we’re so special, but God continues to bless
the Calvary Chapel movement, even after Pastor Chuck is gone. I would suggest that it’s
for this very reason Elisha gets so angry with Joash for only firing three arrows towards
the enemy. Had Joash but trusted God for a grand and glorious victory over Syria, he
would've struck five or six times instead of just three. And I suppose the question
is why didn't he, why didn’t he? Well, I believe that he didn't do it for several reasons.
And I want to kind of share those here with you real quickly. First I don't see Joash
as one who possessed boldness. I don't see him as being a bold man. I see him as being
sort of halfhearted. And I see him as being timid. This is evidenced by his apprehension
when he stops at just three. A second reason is that in his halfhearted timidity, it seems
to indicate that he himself was ungodly, and we know this from verse two when we’re told
that he did evil in the sight of the Lord. You know there comes a sanctified strength
and boldness with godliness. Let me illustrate it this way. When you're walking in obedience
before the Lord there is a sanctified boldness before the Lord as well. And conversely when
you're walking in disobedience you don't have that same confidence and even boldness before
the Lord, because of your disobedience before the Lord. A third reason that he didn't fire
more than three is because I believe he was the quintessential excuse maker. And I'll
explain why I say that. I see him as being in the kind of guy that just makes an excuse
for his inaction. He’ll give you every reason why he won't do something, and no reason why
he should have done something. I mean this was a guy that was just, you know an excuse
maker. I don’t know how else to say it. You know it kind of reminds me of Saul, always
excusing himself and blaming others. He never took responsibility for himself, and indeed
there is no account of any remorse on the part of Joash after Elisha gets angry at him.
There’s no response. It doesn’t mean he didn’t respond but surely I think the Holy
Spirit would have deemed it necessary to record his response if it was one of remorse and
regret. Oh, but Elisha had I but known that I should've struck five or six times, certainly
I would've done it. There is no mention of that. I mean the narrative is conspicuously
silent concerning that. The fourth reason is interesting to me; it's because Joash was
likely the kind of man who placed little to no value on that which he saw as just a little
thing. And by that I mean the act of simply firing arrows in Syria’s direction seemed
of little value to him, which is why he treats it as such. And here's the point, Joash treated
this little thing by acting upon it in a little way, which limits God in his littleness. You'll
forgive the play on words there, but I think you kind of get the sense of what I'm trying
to say here; God is a big God. There’s nothing too hard for the Lord, and so too is there nothing
too little for the Lord either. God is a big God, but that doesn’t mean that God is not
concerned about the little things. The one who is faithful in the little is the one who
we’re told is entrusted with the much. And I think God does pay particular attention
to what we do with the little fact things, the things that are deemed insignificant and
little. And if we’re faithful with the little, then God will entrust us with the much. I
think about when we first moved here and planted of this church; and it was little, it was
really little, it was really small. And it reminded me of when Elijah was running, and
really running from God, not so much Jezebel; and he’s hiding in the cave. And God asks
what you doing here. And it’s not that God didn't know what he was doing there, but you
know God isn’t in the big, you know the fire, the earthquake, the wind he's in none
of that, but he’s in the still small voice. And what was really striking to me was that,
and what God ministered to me during those times in the beginning when, I mean, it was
when we first got this church to rent, it was July 2005; and it was only like 15 people
here; and half of them were my wife's family. And I mean my voice would echo off of the
empty wooden pews. And it was like well good morning, good morning, good morning because
there was nobody there. And what the Lord ministered to me was, I am in the still small.
Yeah but Lord it's still small. Yeah but I’m in the still small. I'm not always only in
the big. I'm in the little, the still, and the small. Charles Spurgeon again has an interesting
thought in this regard. “It is a fact that God has purposed all things both great and
little; neither will anything happen but according to his eternal purpose and decree. It is also
a sure and certain fact that, oftentimes, events hang upon the choice of men.” Listen,
“Their will has a singular potency.” In other words: what do you do with that little,
that still small, that God is in, and has entrusted you with? Verse 20, ‘Then Elisha died, and they
buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year.
So it was,’ verse 21, ‘as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of
raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and
touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.’ That would, that would
send me over the edge probably right there. I mean could you imagine the shock that they
would've had when they saw this. This is really peculiar. It’s a peculiar account and for
a number of reasons, not the least of which it's one of the most and more unusual miracles
in the Bible. There is little in the way of an explanation as it relates to this, this
miraculous resuscitation of another man by simply coming into contact with components
of Elijah. Many Bible commentators speculate as to why this happened, and why the Holy
Spirit would deem it necessary to include it in the Scripture. One thought is that it
may have to do with Elisha himself. One commentator writes this is one of the more strange and
unusual miracles in the Bible. There is little explanation, and the silence of the record
suggests that there was not inherent power in the bones of Elisha to resuscitate others.
This seems to be a unique one time miracle to bring honor to the memory of this great
prophet. Think this through with me. Think about the contrast of how Elijah, Elijah not
Elisha, Elijah left this world. Right? He was caught up in a fiery chariot and taken
into heaven, and remember Elisha was there when it happened. Now if I'm Elisha, I’m
thinking wait a minute, so Elijah gets go up; he doesn’t even have to get sick and
die. He gets taken up in his fiery chariot ride. And oh sure, you know I get sick, I
have to get sick and then I have to die of the sickness of which I became ill with. And
that’s how I’m going to go out? And it’s almost like God saying, okay I get it, that's
fine. We’ll do this. Is that okay if I just have somebody come back to life when their
remains touched yours. It’s conjecture, I'm just speculating but it is an interesting
thought. But let’s finish out the chapter and bring it to an end. Verse 22 ‘And Hazael
king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the LORD was gracious to
them, had compassion on them, and regarded them,’ and here it is, ‘because of His
covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ that's why; it wasn't because of them these
evil Kings, it was because of God and his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ‘and’
it says he, ‘would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence. Now’, verse
24, ‘Hazael king of Syria died. Then Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place. And Jehoash
the son of Jehoahaz recaptured from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities
which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war.’ And then here's the
last sentence in the last verse in the chapter. ‘Three times’, three times, ‘Joash defeated
him and recaptured the cities of Israel.’ Only three times, exactly as the prophet Elisha
had said, only three times. That could've been an ultimate defeat of Syria. That could've
been five or six times, but instead we read only three times. I think one of the takeaways,
and there are actually many, is that God desires to bless us, and God desires to deliver us.
And his desire to do this is limitless. And one of the things that I’m learning in my
walk with the Lord is that God wants to bless us. God wants to bless us. I think about,
and I try always to think of it, and see it, and view it through the lens of my own parenting,
as a father. I desire to bless my children. You know when my boys were young, and boy,
they just used to fight all the time. I'm sure your kids are perfect, but they used
to fight all the time; they were close enough in age. And boy we just really had to discipline
them, and we were constantly disciplining them. And I remember one time, I'm telling
the both of them that their mom and I don't wake up in the morning and look forward to
disciplining them. We don’t wake up in the morning and go, oh I can’t wait to discipline
those kids. No, the opposite is true. We wake up in the morning and I want to bless my kids.
I want to, you know, bless them. And I wanted do things for them. I even want to buy things
for them when I can afford it. And I don’t want to discipline them. You know that line
that no kid could ever understand when a parent says it: this is going to hurt me a lot more
than its can hurt you? What kid believes that? I don't think so. This is going to hurt me
a lot more than it’s going to hurt you, Dad. No, you don't understand. It is hard
for me. I don’t desire, I don’t take delight in this. And we know this of our Heavenly
Father, He doesn't delight in the punishment of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in punishing
the wicked. And so to with God, I operate with this presupposition that God is always
wanting two bless his children. God wants to bless us. He's looking for ways to bless
us, not to discipline us. He will discipline us. He disciplines those whom he loves. But
with that comes this responsibility on our part where we have to have the trust, and
the faith, and the obedience. You one of the most convicting passages in all the Bible,
and we’ll close with this, it’s in Matthews gospel chapter 9 verses 27 through 29. We
have this account of Jesus healing two blind men. And the reason it’s so convicting is
because Jesus first asks them this question: do you believe that I'm able to do this? You
got two blind men that are following Jesus, and they want Jesus to heal them. And Jesus
asked them this question: do you believe that I'm able to do this? To which they replied:
yes Lord, yes Lord. And so with that Jesus touches their eyes and then he says this according
to your faith be it unto you. Wow, according to your faith let it be unto you. Because
you believed, because you had faith that I'm able to do this, it will be done unto you
according to that faith. I think about Joash, do you believe that God is able to deliver
you out of the hands of the Syrians and grant you the ultimate victory over the Syrians?
Yes Lord, yes Lord. Then according to your faith let it be unto you, and with that they
were healed. And this could have been written of Joash. We could be reading, and with that
they were delivered. But we don't. Why? Because according to your…And this works both ways,
according to your faith let it be done unto you. Why don’t you all stand. We’ll pray.
Loving Heavenly Father thank You for Your word, and thank You for this chapter in Your
word. Thank You for the many lessons and many applications that we can take home with us
tonight, and begin that process by your Holy Spirit of applying them to our life. Lord
we ask You to do this, we want for You to do this, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.