Applying Grace (Part B)

You can't beat Satan with human reason.

It is impossible. It is spiritual. The carnal man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And this is what is happening with this king, just human reason. Well, we have a man that is being told by God the future, predicting where we're going to be, giving him knowledge.

Let's subduct him instead of, again, converting. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 2 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now, here's Pastor Rick in 2 Kings Chapter 6 with his message called, Applying Grace. 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. 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. And 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 under water. 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 lasts 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? May we pray that God give us a chance not only to tell the stories, but to recall them and the lessons we gain. In verse 7, the Holy Spirit says, Therefore he said, telling the story, Elijah speaking, Pick it up for yourself.

So he reached out his hand and took it. God wants to use our hands. The prophet didn't, he said, I've already done a lot.

I went and got that branch. That's certainly not the bottom of the story. But God wants to use our hands. God wants us to participate.

But he will not force himself upon anyone. We have some responsibility in receiving redemption and sanctification. We have a responsibility too. Otherwise, we just all go to heaven.

We just believe that who needs Christ? God does it all. So the metaphor and the applications from this little section. First question is, has God found you flying off the handle in some rage, in anger? Our English word for danger has the word anger in it. All you got to do is take the D out the way. Put the D back in. And you have danger and anger mixed in together. The flying off the handle, have I done it?

Yes. Christ forgives me. I love this verse from James because it applies to me. The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Flying off the handle is not what God wants. It's not what he's after.

But we do it. The loss of the axe head, on the other hand, may ask this question, have you lost your cutting edge? So familiar with Christianity, you're no longer excited. So beat down from prayers not being answered over the decades, you no longer really believe in prayer. You're not excited to tell the truth. You're not excited to do your devotion times.

You doubt more than you believe. You've lost your cutting edge. I don't want to be that guy. And I have to fight to keep it. Not always. Sometimes it's right there. Other times it's not.

But I know, I know how to get it to where it needs to be. 1 Timothy 5.15, for some have already turned aside after Satan. They've turned away. That's apostasy. They were once headed in the right direction and then they turned. No one forced them.

They just jumped that way. Another lesson is, it was borrowed. So are my talents and my gifts. Whatever I have, if I'm a business owner, that business belongs to Christ. If I am a family member, that family belongs to Christ. Whatever I have comes from God. And God lays this out in various Old Testament and New Testament verses, but we'll only take one. Because it comes from John the Baptist. It's just appropriate to put him here. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

Of course, Paul elaborates on that. What do you have that you have not received? Is there anything? The question, where did it fall? That merits investigation.

It's worth looking into. The unbeliever doesn't believe it is worth it. I'm all right. I'm a good person. You know, compared to the guys on death row, I'm actually a saint. That's how they would talk.

We would have to mock such a stupid statement. You're not being judged by the guy on death row. You're being judged by Christ Jesus, who did not deserve death row. In fact, he went in the place of another.

Barabbas, who was on death row, who should have been executed. Wood floating iron. Wood causing iron to float. It's not magic. It's the power of God. The cross of Christ is miraculous.

It's not fictitious. It's miraculous. And you either believe in the, a miracle means that God is at work in a way that no one else can work. Genesis 1, 1 is a miracle. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. No one else can do it.

The angels can't do it. Satan, the only thing he can create is trouble. Where he says here, pick it up for yourself. I have a role to play. To go out to chop wood, to participate, to function, and to stick my hand out and take hold of that which Christ puts before me to grab. Jesus can recover. This is, this is another part of the lesson. Jesus can recover what was lost in the work of ministry. You know, we often quote Jonah. God saying, you know, I will, not Jonah, Joel, restore what the locusts have eaten. Well, here he is restoring what is falling off the handle.

Equipment failure. He gives it back in the life of his servants. He's not doing this to Jehoram. This is to one of the servants of the Lord. This miracle, it's lost. The meaning is lost unless you have a relationship with God. In this miracle, we learn that we are lost without God.

In the next miracle, we'll learn that we're blinded without God. And so we now come to the next section, verse 8. Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel and he consulted with his servants saying, my camp will be with, will be in such and such a place. And the man of God sent to the king, verse 9, of Israel saying, beware that you do not pass this place for the Syrians are coming down there. Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him and he was watchful there, not just once or twice. So the king of Syria wants to catch or kill or catch and kill the king of Israel. That's his target. Remember that as the story unfolds. It's critical to what's going on. Syria, of course, the northeastern border, a neighbor of Israel, and we don't have enough information, historical information in the narrative to be certain that it is King Jehoram, but we have no reason to doubt that it's any other king because he's the last one mentioned way back in chapter 3 when these three kings went out to the, to the desert. So it is likely him and the responses are typical. Jehoram was impetuous.

You know, he just did emotional things. Let's go, let's go to the desert and make war and then do this and didn't think it out and then he's going to show up some other places. So I'm going to approach it that way.

I think that is the right way. So here also is the gift of knowledge that Elisha has been given. The king of Syria is saying, okay, let's set up ambushes and Elijah knows where they are and it's just given to him. God is giving him this knowledge and he tells it to the king and the king sends out and says, verify this and they verify it and he keeps doing it.

He does it so much that the Syrian king thinks he's got a mole in the palace. He's got a, you know, a spy. This Elijah, he was surprised when God did not tell him what was going on. Remember when the widow came, not the widow, the mother came, her child had died and she come running to him and he's like, God has hidden it from me.

He's not told me what's going on and this isn't right. So, of course, God told him that Gehazi went to Naaman and Naaman turned back. He tells him the troop locations. He tells, we'll get to where he tells the Syrian that you're going to kill your master. God tells this man things. Verse 11, therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing and he called the servants and said to them, will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? Verse 12, and one of his servants said, none my lord, oh king, but Elijah the prophet, who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom. Well, first off, that means that there's a spy or there's an unfaithful servant in the palace of the Jews. That's how this Syrian was going to know this. He's saying the information is going back and forth and he said, you know, Elijah keeps telling the king, maybe it's not a spy, maybe it's just somebody with loose lips, you know, loose lips, sink ships that came out of World War II. It might have been World War I, too. Anyway, World War I also.

Couldn't be World War I, too, because World War II, okay, never mind. Anyway, so, it's so accurate is his knowledge, so miraculous, that the Syrians, you would think the king would say, wait a minute, God is telling this man, I want to change to that god. I want that god to be my god.

No, that's not what happens. So God is using the prophet to intercept the evil intentions against Israel for the sake of the remnant, mainly, with the hope, of course, always the hope that the people are going to, the ones that are engaged in idolatry, are going to snap out of it. We have no reason to doubt that some did not, some likely did, but the majority did not, and that's going to show up at the end, verse 13, so he said, go and see where he is, that I may send and get him, and it was told him, saying, surely he is in Dothan. So the king wants to abduct the prophet.

He is not the target, he is the hindrance to the target, he's the obstacle. And Dothan, this is where Joseph found his brothers. Naive Joseph, hey, I had a dream, I'm going to be better than all of you, and God's going to do this to me, you're going to bow down to me, but Joseph, shut up. Anyway, he couldn't keep a secret. However, back to this, where they put him in the pit and sold him into slavery.

Well, that factors into the story because that means this is a trade route, it's a busy area, and that's where the prophet is, he's probably ministering to one of the schools of the sons of the prophets, and the Syrian king wanting to kidnap, abduct him. But again, why not convert? The unbeliever who is not our enemy is our opportunity, or they can become an enemy for sure, anybody can become an enemy. But the unbeliever, they are armed only with human reason, and therefore they are unarmed against the deceptions of Satan. You can't beat Satan with human reason, it is impossible.

It is spiritual. The carnal man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And this is what is happening with this king, just human reason.

Well, we have a man that is being told by God the future, predicting where we're going to be, giving him knowledge, let's abduct him instead of again converting. Verse 14, therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. Later he's going to send troops again, but it will not be a great army, it will be the whole army, and that distinction is important, again, to the story. This is likely a battalion size, a thousand men at least. They come with enough force to surround the city and to be ready for resistance.

Well, that was wise. No commander is going to go out and say, listen, I've got to guard my flanks, I've got to guard my rear, I've got to be ready for anything, and that's what they're doing. But again, humans without God are impressed by human strength. Even gorillas aren't impressed with human strength. You watch some of those animal videos and you see what a tiger can do.

You can sleep in the gym, you're just never going to get that strong. And from God's standpoint, gorillas and tigers are just created beings, they have no strength to him. Anyway, the early Christians were ridiculed as being weak because their king allowed himself to be crucified. Well, the carnal man, again, does not understand, and we have to clarify it for them if we can. But we can't clarify it for them, even if we're right there in front of them, if God is not working. So you can have somebody that says, well, tell me about the gospel, and you got nothing, because God has figured out this person is not sincere.

Maybe later they will be. Anyway, verse 15, and when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots, and his servant said to him, alas, my master, what shall we do? And Elijah said, run! No. That would have changed everything, right? Would it not?

Was this the same servant that had the ax head float? We don't know. But this is kind of rude. You wake up in the morning. They come at night, and you wake up in the morning, and you're doomed.

You're doomed as doomed could be. Verse 16, so he answered, Elisha speaking, do not fear for those who are with us, or more than those who are with them. Well, of course, Elijah saw the enemy close up and strong, but he also saw God was closer and stronger. Psalm 34, verse 7, the angel of the Lord encamps about those who fear him and delivers them. But the servant, justifiably so, is not convinced. I know you're the prophet, and you say so.

You can make an ax float. That's pretty good. But these guys are going to kill us when you're faced with fear like this, when you're faced with a genuine threat.

Man, it can be pretty tough. So Elijah, on this day, he's ready. Verse 17, then Elijah prayed and said, Yahweh, I pray. You see the covenant name?

That fellowship is there. It's not just a generic God. He is God, but he's more to us. Yahweh, I pray, opened his eyes that he may see. Then Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw.

And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Well, Elisha is probably older now, thus the distinction of the young man, and the young man could have been in his 30s or younger. Again, Gehazi missed this. He should have been there. He's the missing man. He doesn't recover as we would have liked. John, Thomas, Thomas was the missing man.

I don't care. I'm not going to believe it unless I put my fingers in his wound. He was the missing man, but he recovers. He couldn't stay away.

He was so heartbroken. I'm just done. But he couldn't stay away, and he comes back in the picture, and Jesus, and that's recovery. That is recovering that which is lost to the muddy waters and getting the cutting edge back. Step one in overcoming an army of troubles. What is step one for the believer? Talk to God. That's step one.

And it is unconditional. A time to pray for those who just don't get it, and that's what is happening here. The servant just didn't get it.

I'm in the profession of talking to servants that just don't get it. Not all of them, of course, not by any means, but there are many, many times on a Sunday morning how many people just, you know, don't get it because they're not in the Word. They don't come to church regularly, perhaps. Or maybe they've made themselves too busy, and so they're missing points.

They can't connect them. They're sort of insensitive to it. I don't mean insensitive in an emotional way.

I mean in the sense that they haven't developed the sensitivities to sense, okay, I know what that is. And we do that through exposure to God's Word. But God's Word will not cure you of your problems, not by itself.

Many of those problems you still have to face. Well, anyway, but you face it with God and His Word. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ, that's what the Word of God does through the people of God who believe in the Word of God. It's all connected.

No part of it should be separated from the other part. Continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine in prayer and fellowship in the communion of the saints. Well, communion with the Lord. So Elijah's Word is going to affect the vision of his servant in this case. Later, he's going to affect the vision of his enemies.

He's a busy guy. I started to entitle this The Busy Prophet, but it sounded just, you know, not appropriate for a man of such stature. Anyway, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elijah. Well, fire is often associated with the divine presence, with God being present, and it is so here. But there can be no movement against God's people without God knowing it.

It's not possible. It never goes unnoticed. Whatever problems you face or have faced or will face, God, it's noticed by him. The enemy could not see the chariots of fire. I wonder what would have happened if Elijah had prayed, Lord, let the enemy see the chariots. Well, they probably all would have just been petrified, and that would have ended the story, and we'd be closing in prayer.

But there's more to come, and there's a reason why, I think. But coming back to this point, God caring, Matthew 10 29, are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will. And then he goes on to say how you are worth more than a sparrow. Sparrows are not worth much to men, but men are worth a lot to God.

They're worth blood, his blood. Remember, Jesus is God the Son. Fire, the emblem of that which purges and that which empowers fuel. Revelation 19 14, and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. This coming time, when we will be the army of God, and the armies in heaven, there's a lot of people going to be in heaven, and brought us away wide as the gate that leads to destruction.

There are many that go in by it, but straight as the way narrows the gate, and there are few relative to how many get lost, but still a lot of people will be saved and in heaven. That certainly would include other spiritual beings in that Revelation 19 verse, verse 18 now of 2 Kings chapter 6. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said, Strike this people, I pray, with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

So God listened to his prophet and struck them with this blindness here. 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.