Applying Grace (Part A)

Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening an axe. It makes perfect sense. Preparation is vital. So I'd like to think that we all know how important it is to be ready.

How else? How can the Lord assign us to anything if we're not ready? And you know like I know, if you get a chance to preach the gospel and you're not ready, you bear the shame of that.

We'll be right back. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what makes the whole thing different. The motive, the love, the passion. In fact, when praying, I don't feel comfortable as a rule praying, Oh God, because it's not personal enough.

And I have a personal relationship. And that relationship is keenly expressed by the name Jesus. I pray to the Lord Jesus. I pray to Christ. I could certainly pray to God. I'm not at all saying that's not appropriate.

But I am saying that we can go a little further, a lot further. For the Jew, it wasn't much different. They had not the name Jesus, but they did have Yahweh. It was to mark a personal relationship with the Creator.

Well, many of the Jews did not take advantage of that. In fact, this King Jehoram, who is likely the king in this chapter, from chapter 3 deep into 2 Kings, the ministry of Elijah. You know, he was one of them, like Jeroboam, wasn't satisfied with the word of God.

He wanted to mingle in to worship the golden calves. That is defiant worship and it is unacceptable to God. It is idolatry. It's not a little thing.

It is a great big thing. And we're going to see the consequences of this when we get to the last section of 2 Kings chapter 6. Knowing the grace of Christ and my friendship with Him, what would I give to make a difference in lives around me if I knew that I would face hardship in bringing grace and bringing light into other relationships? What would I give if I knew that it would please the Lord? Well, each Christian has to answer that themselves and I don't know that it can really be answered until you're really faced with the situation that is in front of you.

Is this worth it? Is this pleasing the Lord? Well, this prophet, Elisha, he is loaded with grace and let's look at verse 1 now. Then the sons of the prophet said to Elisha, see, see now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. Well, the school of the prophets had outgrown its present location. Their ministry was fruitful. This was a ministry highly influenced, maybe even having as an overseer Elisha and for sure Elisha now is overseeing this ministry, this assembly of those loyal to Yahweh.

Those two prophets are responsible for this growth. Now this is just one school. They were different places, one in Jericho, another in Bethel. They were scattered around.

This particular school is saying we're expanding, we're growing, we've outgrown our present space. Ministry is continuing without Gehazi if this is in chronological order, which is not always easy to establish. But here Gehazi, you know, he is defrocked, knocked out of ministry because of deception and greed. Well, deception coveted this for sure. And so the ministry continued, the prophet continued to work like nothing happened and that's a warning to all of us that Christ doesn't need us, but he would like us.

He would like to have us. And so here's this remnant loyal to Yahweh, opposed to Jezebel's gods, opposed to calf worship in the face of their own culture. In other words, their neighbors could be worshiping idols. They weren't giving in. They were not backing down.

They stood their ground. This is not what we believe. This is what we believe and you should believe it too. In verse 2 it says, now the servant is still speaking to Elisha, one of the, well the servants, plural. Please let us go to the Jordan and let every man take a beam from there and let us make there a place where we may dwell. So he answered, go. So again, he is overseeing it.

They're asking him permission to do this. Now he is itinerant in that he travels around teaching and that's why we see him going from Samaria to Mount Carmel to Gilgal to Shunem. He's out of, between he and Elijah. Elijah didn't go to the desert, Elijah, but Elijah seems to have been very centered on these various locations. In this chapter we'll see him in Jericho and in Dotham.

After, incidentally, Elisha goes to heaven, we don't read of the sons of the prophets. No pun intended, but I don't know that we can read too much into that, but of course he is a leading figure and that is why we get information about them. And so the expansion of their assembly, in this expansion, each of them play a role. The sons of the prophets are saying we're outgrowing the space, we're all going out with permission to cut down timber and to expand the building. This church building had many men and women very much involved and the fruits of their labor is still here.

Everything from the drapes to the painting on the walls to the division of the walls and it's ongoing. The men's maintenance ministry just continues to do so many things. If you come to the church and wonder why things aren't broken, you can thank the Lord for those men. Anyway, verse 3, then one said, please consent to go with your servants and he answered, I'll go. I will go. It only took an invite.

One of them stood up and said, we want you to go with us. This is dangerous work, incidentally. Lumberjack work.

There's nothing easy about this. It's hard work and it's dangerous work. And once you drop the tree, that's not the end of the work, of course.

You've got a bucket to take off the branches and bring it in and just so much work they had to do. So yeah, they want their pastor with them for this dangerous task and he doesn't fuss, he goes with them. Verse 4, so he went with them and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. Well, pastors with axes or chainsaws, it's a good thing, as long as they're not chasing anybody with them. But we do take, we do, we Christians are to take axes or chainsaws to misconceptions about Christ.

Sometimes it may not merit such an aggressive tool, but it is a lot of fun when it does. But anyway, back to this, Matthew chapter 3, this is John the Baptist who is linked to Elijah in his fire for his passion for God. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Well, that Elijah and John the Baptist, there is that connection, but Elijah is largely connected to Christ as far as the character goes because he's so gracious and that's going to come out in the story, not only amongst friends here, this is an easy one, he's amongst his brethren. What happens when he's faced with the enemy? Well, while we're talking about axes, let's see what scripture says because this is very much applicable to our work for the Lord. If an axe is dull, Ecclesiastes 10-10, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength, but wisdom brings success. Well, we have a proverb or proverbial saying, work smarter, not harder, and here's an example of preparation. So much so important is preparation. You know, pastors' study time is preparation, but there has to be heart preparation also. There has to be some connection between what he's reading and who the Lord is.

You just can't study, okay, I got all the facts right and I'll just go point out the facts. It has to be this communion with the Lord and if it's for the pastor, it's for the people. No different for you either. Keep the axe sharp. Abraham Lincoln has an interesting quote about this.

He says, at least he is said to have said, I wasn't there that day. So, anyway, give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening an axe. Makes perfect sense. Preparation is vital. So, I'd like to think that we all know how important it is to be ready. How else, how can the Lord assign us anything if we're not ready? And you know, like I know, if you get a chance to preach the gospel and you're not ready, you bear the shame of that. I knew I should have looked that up.

I felt it the other day or something along those lines. Verse five, but as one was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water and he cried out and said, Alas, master, for it was borrowed. Well, Elijah could have said that's a personal problem or he could have said, well, I'm glad it wasn't my axe head. Of course, all of that would have been wrong.

But here he is, laboring in ministry, doing his share of the work, and here's this loss, this huge setback. And for them, it wasn't just, well, just go down to the hardware store and buy another axe head. It was far more complicated than that.

Evidently, this tree, clearly, planted by the water, mindful of Psalm 1, you know, the tree planted by the waters. It was prolific, strong, made the perfect specimen. Too bad he didn't stay in bed that day. He would have avoided this problem. Well, you have to be a participant if you're going to achieve.

You've got to be ready, the sharpening of the axe, and you've got to participate and you've got to apply. And he's doing these things and then this happens. And again, it is a big deal. And he cried out and said, Alas, master, for it was borrowed. And then he anguished in his voice, Man, this wasn't even mine. I can't afford to pay it back.

And the law requires that I pay it back. I don't think he was thinking, well, can you do something for me? I think to him it was like, this is done. It's like, you know, you drop a glass and it breaks, it's done.

Well, that what does what? It leaves this man in debt. Now we're starting to move into spiritual applications from the story, which is why it's preserved. The man that loaned this axe head and the axe handle with it likely to this servant might have said something like, Okay, I'll loan it to you, but don't, please take care of it. Don't lose it.

I need it. And then he loses it through no fault of his own. He's serving God through no fault of his own, a mishap.

And he is very mindful of that. Paul wrote, We give no offense in anything that our ministry may not be blamed. Well, unlike, remember the servant that went out and just found some mushrooms or gourds or something and said, I'm going to put these in the pot and we'll eat them. Didn't know what they were. Human error. That's not the case here. This is not human error.

This is equipment failure. So as he loses the axe, he's got to say to himself, Great. Right in the water. I could have just gone a few feet to the left and been in the leaves or something.

Well, on the other side, you can say to him, Well, cheer up. Thank God nobody was injured because the law would require more from you. You'd be running to a city of refuge if you'd killed somebody with that flying axe head. The law demands payment for the axe. And if you had hurt someone, it would have demanded payment for that too. Had Elisha not been there, the axe would have been lost.

The servant would have been in his state of debt. But when the man asked him, Elisha, whoever the man was, Can you come with us? And he said, Yes.

I would like to think from personal experience that he felt led to go with them. He felt this, Yeah, I need to be there. And now, here he is. As I mentioned, the axe would have been lost. Had Jesus not paid for our sins, then we would be lost. Well, that's kind of a lesson that's there on the surface.

It's a good lesson because it's on the surface does not devalue the lesson. I think about the lost axe head. I think about my lost soul. I think about Elisha being there for the servant.

I think about Christ being there for me. But there's so much more just in this paragraph. Verse 6, So the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place.

So he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. Believers hope to ask unbelievers, Where did things go wrong for us? How did you become a sinner like me?

This is an important question. In fact, when Adam sinned in the very beginning, we read in Genesis 3 verse 9, And Yahweh called to Adam and said, Where are you? Well, Adam could have said, Here I am lost in my sin.

Because it didn't go that way. But the same question exists for every human being. God says to them, Where are you? And we say, We're at the cross with Christ.

But most don't. In fact, water baptism is the answer to that question. Water baptism is to say, Here I am. I'm with the righteous now, those that are saved by the blood of the Lamb. It says here, And he showed him the place. Well, to receive God's mercy, we have to point to the place where the loss took place, where the disaster, the catastrophe happened.

So he cut off a stick. Well, Elijah was moved by the Spirit to do this because Moses, his teacher, of course, time removed and looking through the scriptures, he would have known the story about Moses. And practically speaking, placing a branch upon the water put the prophet in agreement with Moses. By this act, he's saying, Moses did this, I'm doing this.

Exodus chapter 15 verse 25. This is the Jews, they're out of Egypt now. They're out of water also. And they're out of grace. Because what do they do? They start bad-mouthing Moses right away, which is understandable.

What kind of leader are you? You bring us out here, we know we need water. So he cried out to the Lord, Exodus 15, 25. And Yahweh showed him a tree, because the tree is the solution as we Christians metaphorically look at the story we connected to the cross. It's a no-brainer for us, but it wouldn't be a no-brainer if we didn't have the rich teaching of the scripture to get us there.

We would never have figured this out on our own. It says in Exodus 15, when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them.

And there he tested them. Well, here is the prophet Elijah throwing, taking the branch and putting it into the water. Prophetically speaking, it speaks of Christ and I think we know it. John chapter 4, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up in the last day.

Well, this lost axe head is going to be raised up. So the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, he applied these Old Testament stories. He taught us how to use the Old Testament. Matthew chapter 12 verse 40, Jesus speaking. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. He goes on to say in another place, Moses was lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man. So we're justified in looking at these events in the scripture and making applications to our lives, lives around us, our personal problems.

They're very real, they affect our moods and moods can get out of control and cause a lot of problems or they can be, there's such a thing as a good mood too. And hopefully faith gets us there and holds us there. God knew every bit of the symbolism and so do we. And so to prove or to make that point to expand upon it, when you see a rainbow, you're seeing a statement from God. God says when I see, when you see the rainbow, I see the rainbow. When I see the rainbow, I remember my promise to you. When you see the rainbow, we're on the same page God is saying. I'm speaking to you, God says from the rainbow. We say to the unbeliever, you missed it, you missed out.

You better get there or else it'll be too late and you should have been there. And so Romans chapter 4, speaking about the faithfulness of Abraham, Paul says now it was written, now it was not written for his sake alone. This is not just for Moses, that it was imputed to him but also for us. We share in these lessons, that's what he's saying. And it shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. It's all connected, it all makes sense.

I'm not going to be finished with that, I'm going to come back to that. Because the devil, so long as there's breath in us, he will not tire of challenging our belief in God's word and he will do it by things flying off the handle and sinking out of sight. Are you still going to believe in God even if he doesn't raise the axe head out or not? My faith is not based upon what God can do at the moment or not, it's who he is, that's what my faith is based on.

He doesn't have to do any miracle for me to believe who he is. That's what Jesus was telling Thomas. Blessed are those who don't see it and believe it.

It says here, and he threw it in there. Metaphor and applications abound in this first paragraph. Well the first meaning is that the prophet used wood to raise iron.

That's the first meaning. He used wood to perform a miracle. It could have been just these two men knowing were there, it doesn't mean there was other witnesses, it didn't have to be. But what is certain is there's a miracle taking place. And a miracle can only be explained a little bit, but enough.

That little bit is enough. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth from nothing. That's a miracle. Man today is like the axe head. He slipped off the handle. He has fallen. He is depraved, he is lost in the river of guilt, and he is sinking into the mud. That stick, of course, speaks of the cross of Christ, and man today can rise from the waters of death and judgment by way of the cross of Christ. And of course, Elijah wasn't factoring his mind more on Moses or just being led by the Spirit, one or the other, or both. We come and we see this with a fuller understanding of the finished work of Christ and his plan for salvation, and we have no excuse. You can't miss the point. Regardless of what problems won't go away in your life, the point stands, and it stands in the face of the devil. Faith defies Satan, and faithlessness, the kind that worships idols, for an example, it defies God.

When you pick which one, which side are you going to be on? So, man can rise from the waters. He can be placed back on the handle. He can be put to use again. He can be put back on the handle he flew from, to God's purpose, so that God can use him. He can be used by God for the work of the kingdom of heaven.

What an honor! It doesn't feel like that, though, and God doesn't seem to be answering my prayers, but it's there, and I know it, and you do too. Lost souls are still at the bottom of the Jordan River, metaphorically speaking.

They're still underwater. They're still in over their heads, in need of Christ, who lifts up whatever is lost by way of the cross. And so John, chapter 12, verse 32, Jesus said, And if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. And there he is again, applying a lesson from the Old Testament. Christ didn't have to take a sermon.

He could just make one statement on a verse, and it'll last forever. What use is a cutting tool at the bottom of the river, lost in the mud? What use is it to God?

None. It is not until Christ lifts up that life really begins, even if the hardship continues. And I am lost without the work of Christ and the cross over me. This is Christ in the Old Testament. And there are other appearances. There are Christophanies of Christ. There are theophanies of God.

And there are illustrations of Christ that are stark. And how many people outside of this room right now have no knowledge of it? How are they ever going to find out these stories? Thanks for joining us for today's edition on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 2 Kings has been something to remember. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series, go to crossreferenceradio.com. Once more, that's crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. Our time is about up, but we hope you'll tune in again next time as we continue on in the book of 2 Kings. We look forward to that time with you, so make a note in your calendar to join Pastor Rick as he teaches from the Bible right here on Cross Reference Radio.