WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.860 We're going to read together from the Old Testament, from the book of 2 Kings, and we'll read chapter 4. 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:11.839 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:17.260 your servant, my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:23.019 but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:27.080 And Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you? 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:34.039 Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:40.200 Then he said go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty the vessels, and not too few. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:46.359 Empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:50.679 pour into all these vessels, and when one is full set it aside. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.239 So she went from him and she shut the door behind herself and her sons, and as she poured, 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.960 they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.320 bring me another vessel, and he said to her, there is not another, and the oil stopped flowing. 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:13.719 She came and told the man of God, and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:20.140 One day Elisha went out to shun him, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:25.280 So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food, and she said to her husband, 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:30.480 behold, now I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:35.519 Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:39.840 table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:46.120 One day he came there and he turned into the chamber and rested there, and he said to Gehazi, his servant, 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:52.240 call this shunamite. When he had called her, she stood before him, and she said to him, say now to her, 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:56.319 see, you've taken all this trouble for us. What is it to be done for you? 00:01:56.679 --> 00:02:01.679 Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army? 00:02:02.039 --> 00:02:07.079 She answered, I dwell among my own people, and he said, what then is to be done for her? 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:11.079 Gehazi answered, well, she has no son and her husband is old. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:19.039 He said, call her, and when he had called her, she stood in the doorway, and he said, at this season, about this time next year, 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:24.799 you shall embrace a son. And she said, no, my Lord, O man of God, do not lie to your servant, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:31.120 but the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her. 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:36.159 When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers, and he said to his father, 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.879 oh, my head, my head, the father said to his servant, carry him to his mother. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:46.680 And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:51.080 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him, and went out. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:55.520 Then she called to her husband and said, send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.599 that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again. 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:03.879 And he said, why will you go to him today? It is neither a new moon nor Sabbath. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.319 She said, all is well. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:13.640 Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, urge the animal on, do not slack in the pace for me unless I tell you. 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.919 So she said out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.079 When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Ghaazi, his servant, look, there's the Shunamite. 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:28.039 Run at once to meet her and say to her, is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:31.879 Is all well with the child? And she answered, all is well. 00:03:32.359 --> 00:03:36.519 And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.000 And Ghaazi came to push her away. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:43.400 But the man of God said, leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress. 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:45.800 And the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me. 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:49.000 Then she said, did I ask my Lord for a son? 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:51.639 Did I not say, do not deceive me? 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:56.039 He said to Ghaazi, tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. 00:03:56.439 --> 00:03:58.439 If you meet anyone, do not greet him. 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:02.439 And if anyone greets you, do not reply and lay my staff on the face of the child. 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:07.400 And then the mother of the child said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:09.400 So he arose and he followed her. 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:15.400 Ghaazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:20.439 Therefore, he returned to meet him and told him the child has not awakened. 00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:24.920 When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:28.920 So he went in and he shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:32.920 Then he went up and he lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:35.319 his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands. 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:39.800 And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.800 Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house. 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:49.800 And he went up and he stretched himself upon him and the child sneezed seven times and the child opened his eyes. 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:53.319 Then he summoned Ghaazi and said, call the Shunamite. 00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:57.800 So he called her and when she came to him, he said, pick up your son. 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:01.240 She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:03.240 Then she picked up her son. 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:07.240 And she went out and Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:11.240 And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:15.240 set on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets. 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:23.240 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds. 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:27.240 And came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:31.240 And they poured out some for the men to eat. 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:37.240 But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, oh, man of God, there is death in the pot. 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:39.240 And they could not eat it. 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:45.240 He said, then bring flour and he threw it into the pot and said, pour some out for the men that they may eat. 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:47.240 And there was no harm in the pot. 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:53.240 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the first fruits. 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:57.240 Twenty loaves of barley and fresh years of grain in his sack. 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:01.240 And Alishah said, give to the men that they may eat. 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:05.240 But his servant said, how can I set this before a hundred men? 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:09.240 So he repeated, give them to the men so that they may eat. 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.240 For thus says the Lord, they shall eat and they shall have some left. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:19.240 So he said it before them and they ate and had some left according to the word of the Lord. 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:23.240 This is God's word. 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:27.240 Okay, what a chapter, very long chapter. 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:35.240 And as we said in the last few weeks, in these long chapters, it's impossible to talk about everything that the chapter says. 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:48.240 So forgive me when I miss out on some of the things, but I have to pick and choose and try to talk about a few points rather than everything. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:54.240 And I don't want to preach for three hours, so I don't think you want me to preach for three hours. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:58.240 We have three, four stories actually in this chapter. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:08.240 We could look at each one individually, but I'd like to look them all together and to see what the common theme in this is, 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:11.240 what the commonalities of those stories are. 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:17.240 So in the first story, Alishah, he helps out a woman who had just lost her husband. 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:22.240 Her husband was part of the son of prophets, kind of like an order of prophets. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:31.240 And as a consequence, her children are taken away from her because she can't pay the debt, she can't put food on the table. 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:41.240 However, miraculously, God provides through Alishah endless amounts of oil, which is very valuable. 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:47.240 So the woman can sell that and pay off her debt, get back her sons and live on the rest of the money. 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:50.240 And then after that, you hear about a woman in Shunem. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:57.240 The Shunemite woman who is very kind to Alishah and she provides him with a room to stay. 00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:01.240 And to return the favor, Alishah promises her a son. 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.240 And she's not yet a mother, probably quite old. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:12.240 She reacts in a way that where it seems like she tried to have a son, but it didn't work. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:17.240 But indeed, the next year, she gives birth to a son. 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:19.240 But then events take a dramatic turn. 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:26.240 The son dies and the Shunemite woman, in her desperation, seeks Alishah and through the power of God, 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.240 Alishah brings her son back to life. 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:33.240 And as if that wasn't enough for one chapter, we get another story. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:41.240 Alishah wants the sons of the prophets, the group that he hung out with, to make some stew. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.240 At that time, there was a famine in the land. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:50.240 So the sons of the prophets, they go out and one of them finds something interesting looking 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:56.240 and he cuts it up, he puts it in the stew and they actually realize that it's poisonous. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.240 So that guy probably never cooked again for them. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:07.240 Alishah knows just what to do, he puts in some flour and the stew becomes edible again. 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:12.240 And the theme that I think combines all these three stories is a theme of death. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:19.240 Death in the pot, that's what I titled the sermon just because it sounds very dramatic and gives a good effect. 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:23.240 But we see death in all three stories, don't we? 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:27.240 We see death in the pot, we see a dead son. 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:35.240 We see death of the land in the form of a famine which causes a woman to lose everything. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:40.240 And the good thing about this chapter is that things don't stay that way. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:46.240 Instead, God performs great miracles and signs through Alishah, his prophet. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:51.240 And through that, he shows us his plan for the land of Israel and for the people in Israel. 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:58.240 And if we would look at the next chapter, we would see that it's for the non-Israelites as well, for the Gentiles as well. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:00.240 But we're not there yet. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.240 I've got three points today. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:06.240 So it's going to be a good sermon, right? 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.240 There are not very fancy names, the three points. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.240 I'm not at the level of... 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:16.240 So yesterday I saw Thomas Davis at the Free Church Youth Conference and he always has these alliterations. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.240 I'm not on that level yet, but we'll get there eventually, I'm sure. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.240 Now the first point is called Death Through Idolatry. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.240 So let's talk about that for a second. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.240 Death through idolatry. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:33.240 We see that in this chapter there is a lot of death going on. 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.240 And why is that? 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:40.240 Israel has a problem, or many problems, but one main problem. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:45.240 And the main problem we talked about already, the main problem is idolatry. 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:50.240 Rebellion against God, having our own little gods in our life. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.240 And the Israelites had that. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.240 They had their bals, you know, their gods. 00:10:55.240 --> 00:11:01.240 And we already talked about that idolatry and sin leads to death. 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:05.240 We know from Genesis 3, from the fall, that sin leads to death. 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:11.240 We know from verses like Romans 6, 23, that the wages of sin is death. 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:20.240 And I mentioned two weeks ago that in James chapter 1, we see that pattern of having desires, wrong desires, 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.240 and the desires leading to sin, and then sin leading to death. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.240 So we have this emphasis on death. 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:30.240 And here in this chapter this is made very obvious. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:37.240 The land is dead, people experience death, and people become deadly as well. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:38.240 What do I mean by that? 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.240 I mean that their behavior is deadly. 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:44.240 Their behavior is not life-bringing. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:49.240 Think about the people who take away the sons of the widow. 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:51.240 I mean, what kind of behavior is that? 00:11:51.240 --> 00:12:00.240 That's heartless behavior, cold behavior, not life-bringing, but rather taking away greedy behavior. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:07.240 And all of that is caused by their idolatry and by their falling away from God. 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:10.240 And that is weird, isn't it? 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:17.240 Because God promised them that Israel would be a fruitful land, 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.240 a land where milk and honey flows. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:26.240 And Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, he promises them a lot of blessings. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:30.240 If the people keep the covenant, right? 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:36.240 But he also says that if they don't keep the covenant, there will be consequences. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.240 Covenant curses, as it were. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:44.240 So let me read from Deuteronomy 28, I think it is. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:50.240 It says, curses shall you be in the city and curses shall you be in the field. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:54.240 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.240 So that's what's happening here in Israel. 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.240 That's what happens in this chapter. 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:05.240 The city is cursed, the fields are cursed, the fruit of the womb is cursed, and the fruit of the ground. 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:10.240 All of these curses are given here in this chapter in 2 Kings 4. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:18.240 And to our 21st century western minds, that is a bit difficult to hear, isn't it? 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:24.240 It almost sounds unfair, you know, they messed up okay, but just forgive them and get on with it. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:31.240 But if we're honest, then the Israelites knew exactly what they were agreeing to in the first place. 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:41.240 But then the kings start to go astray and Israel finds itself in so much idolatry that it becomes unbearable. 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:48.240 It's not that they messed up once or twice or three times or four times or fifty times, 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:54.240 but it's continually walking away from God over years and years and years, and God sending prophets 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:00.240 and trying to get them back on track, but they just keep on sinning and rebelling. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:03.240 And at some point, God has had enough. 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:11.240 Every parent will know that if you have a child and you tell them to do something and they won't listen to you. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:16.240 There is no, it doesn't make sense to just keep telling them. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:19.240 There have to be consequences at some point, right? 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:24.240 So God does that and God sends a famine and things become poisonous. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:31.240 And symbolically, this chapter is trying to tell us that death has entered the culture and the land. 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:39.240 So the Shonomite woman's son, as soon as he leaves the house and goes to the field, he dies. 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:41.240 He starts feeling ill. 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:46.240 The little food that the land is producing becomes poisonous. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:55.240 People's hearts are far away from God because the way they treat orphans and widows is just horrendous. 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:58.240 It's not what God's word says. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:07.240 One commentator says, what's going on here is that we have a social, an economic, and a religious death in Israel. 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:14.240 Now let me press pause on that because there's a guy called Philip Reeve, an author, a Jewish agnostic. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:19.240 He died in 2006, but he wrote a book called Death Works. 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.240 And in that book he says this. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:26.240 He says, culture and sacred order are inseparable. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:29.240 So culture and sacred order are inseparable. 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:34.240 No culture has ever preserved itself, or there is not a registration of sacred order. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:35.240 What is he saying? 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:43.240 He's saying that culture will die and devote itself to death works, as he calls it, if a sacred order is denied. 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:51.240 So when people begin to disconnect themselves from a higher being, from God, from some sort of higher being, 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:57.240 that gives them morals, that gives them commands, that gives them meaning. 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:03.240 And when people start to disconnect from God, they start to create their own meaning. 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:10.240 They start to create their own pleasures, their own morals. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:14.240 And all of that finds expression in what Reeve calls death works. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:22.240 So for example, if you have art that makes fun of religion, of tradition, of religious symbols, or is blasphemous, 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:24.240 that is a death work. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:35.240 Or even comedy that talks about religion and tradition in an ironic way, sarcastic way, can be a form of death work. 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:45.240 Taking something out of the sacred order and separating it and doing something that God didn't mean for it to happen is a death work. 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:48.240 So pornography is a death work. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:52.240 Taking something out of the sacred order, doing something different. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:58.240 Talking about God in a cynical way is a death work. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:02.240 And if we look around us in our culture, we can see that. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:09.240 We can see that our culture is full of these death works, of separating, disconnecting from that sacred order. 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:15.240 We already talked about the little bals and gods in our hearts, in our lives. 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:20.240 And the freedom that we want to choose and to control our own lives, 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:26.240 maybe even the freedom to choose about our own life and death. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:35.240 If I look around me, I see that people start thinking that death can be a good thing. 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:39.240 Advertisements for euthanasia, for abortion. 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:43.240 I'm not an expert on these things and I don't want to talk about these things tonight. 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:52.240 But it seems to me that our idolatry, our longing for freedom, freedom from God, has led us to a culture of death. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.240 And we can see that here in Edinburgh, around us. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:04.240 But what this chapter is showing us is that God wants to bring life into death. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:09.240 God wants to make dead people alive again. God wants to make poisonous food edible again. 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:13.240 God wants to give hope to the hopeless. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:19.240 God's kingdom is not a kingdom of death, not a culture of death, but a kingdom of life. 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:23.240 So let's look at our second point, faith in the living God. 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:29.240 In this chapter, we have two really strong examples of faith. 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:34.240 One of them is the first woman, the widow, her faith. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:40.240 In this chapter, we see God providing to her what she needs, when she needs it. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:45.240 The widow receives oil to pay off her debt. 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:52.240 And what does that tell us about God's nature? He provides, and he provides abundantly. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:19:00.240 And I don't want to preach a prosperity gospel and I don't want to say if you pray really hard, you will become super rich or anything like that. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.240 But I believe that God loves to provide. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:09.240 And when you need something and approach God in prayer and seek Him, He will help you. 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:15.240 He will give you what you need, often something different than what you expect. 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:23.240 But that is not all. Oil in the Old Testament is very valuable, but it's also a symbol. 00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:26.240 It's used as a symbol for grace throughout the Bible. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.240 And I want to think about that for a second. 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:35.240 In the story, the oil keeps pouring out as long as the widow is able to receive it. 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:38.240 In verse 6, we can see that. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:49.240 So what that seems to imply is that God probably would have given her even more if she would have found more vessels to contain the oil in. 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:51.240 I want you to think about this for a second. 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:55.240 Receiving God's grace. 00:19:55.240 --> 00:20:05.240 The Westminster Confession says that faith is the instrument by which we receive God's grace. 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:09.240 By faith we ask and by faith we receive. 00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:16.240 So we will talk a little bit more about faith in a second, but my question is quite simple tonight. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:20.240 Do you have faith here right now? 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:23.240 Do you have faith? 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:29.240 If you do, then I think the task is quite simple. 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:31.240 Give thanks to God for that faith. 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:34.240 Ask Him to provide for you, to continue to provide for you. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:38.240 But do give thanks tonight when you pray before you go to bed. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:45.240 If you don't have faith tonight, then I would just like you to think about that, to consider that. 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:56.240 To think about what it means that there is a God who gives life and that you can have all of that by faith. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:06.240 One simple but powerful example of how I experienced that in my life was that when I was thinking about coming to Scotland to study here, 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:08.240 I was struggling financially. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:14.240 I was applying for the degree at Edinburgh Theological Seminary just across the street, 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.240 but I didn't really have the money to fund it. 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:22.240 My parents told me, you know, you can do that, you can go, but we can't support you. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:27.240 So I started praying and I had to trust God that He would provide for me. 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:34.240 And as I started praying, people started messaging me and they said, 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:39.240 look, I know you want to go to Scotland, so I would like to support you. 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:46.240 One friend even offered me 20,000 euros, said, my parents put this aside for me, I don't need it if you want it, you can have it. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.240 And I was like, wow, okay, prayer answered. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.240 Now, I never needed that money, I wasn't, I never relied on that money. 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:59.240 I was able to fund myself, but I knew that God was there for me. 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:01.240 I knew that God was going to provide. 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:04.240 Money wasn't going to be the problem. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:08.240 Faith was much more important. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.240 But God doesn't just provide financial means. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:17.240 He cares about a physical well-being, a spiritual well-being. 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:20.240 But also whether we are safe or not. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:25.240 So the woman, the widow, she is an example of faith. 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:32.240 Now, the other woman in this chapter, the Shonamite woman, she's also an example of faith. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:42.240 And I'm actually, I'm not sure why it's always women in the Bible who portray strong faith, but it's interesting, isn't it? 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:52.240 And maybe, I thought maybe in this chapter, the Shonamite woman is such a strong example because she knows what it feels like to have a son. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:59.240 And all the mothers here will understand what the love is that you have for a child. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:01.240 I don't understand, I'm not a mother, obviously. 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:04.240 I don't have a son, I'm not married. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:12.240 All the mothers and fathers here will understand what it feels like to love your child. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:16.240 And she wanted a child and she couldn't have it. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:22.240 And then she got it and then God took it away. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:27.240 But the interesting thing is that she didn't give up. 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:33.240 She had faith. 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:47.240 She had faith so much that even though her child was dead, she wanted to go and find Elisha because she was sure that if there was any chance of her child coming to life again, 00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:53.240 it was through the power of God, it was through this man of God who she knew. 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:57.240 And her husband, her husband asked her, why are you going to see Elisha? 00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.240 It's not Sabbath, it's not Sunday, right? 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.240 It's not the full moon, it's not any other special day. 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:08.240 You don't go and see a prophet on just a normal Tuesday afternoon, right? 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:12.240 In that time, I was accustomed to visit a priest, a prophet, on special occasions. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:16.240 But the woman says, I don't care, my son is dead. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:21.240 I don't care about anything else because I know that if there should be any chance for him to become alive again, 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:25.240 it will be through that prophet, it will be through the power of God. 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:31.240 I know he's a man of God, I know he is a man of the living God, the God of Elijah, 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:36.240 the God who gives and takes away, the God who created everything, who gives life. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:43.240 So she says, no, I don't care whether it's full moon or half moon or Sabbath or Easter or Christmas, I'm going. 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:48.240 Because I'm not giving up hope because I believe. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.240 Can you feel that faith? 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:55.240 I don't have to come up with an illustration in this sermon because the whole chapter is an illustration of that. 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:59.240 The desperation that you feel when everything around you seems to crumble, 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:07.240 when the whole world starts falling down, when you receive a message that changes everything. 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:13.240 The death of a loved one, a diagnosis that your life might be over soon. 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:20.240 When suddenly all the light seems to leave the world and you're left behind in darkness. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:28.240 And all you manage to do is to hold on to a promise maybe that you read in the Bible, 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:33.240 to hold on to something you heard in a sermon many years ago. 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:38.240 And you remember, there is a God who cares, there is a God of life. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:45.240 When you need something, someone to hold on to and you go and like this shonamite woman who throws herself at the feet of Elisha, 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:52.240 you go and you throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and you say, help me. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:59.240 Out of desperation because you're surrounded by death and illness and sickness. 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:05.240 A good friend of mine lost his son about half a year ago. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:12.240 And his son was three weeks old and they had a couple of difficult surgeries. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.240 But he died. 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:19.240 And again, I don't know what that feels like. 00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:25.240 But I do remember looking my friend into his eyes and seeing that he lost weight 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:31.240 and that he couldn't sleep at night and that instead of toys, 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:37.240 they had to choose between different gravestones. 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:40.240 Pure desperation and the question, why God? 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:45.240 Why did you give me a son and took it away again? 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:47.240 And that's what the woman does. 00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:52.240 She cries out in front of Elisha and she asks, did I ask my Lord for a son? 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:56.240 Did I not say, do not deceive me, don't give me false hopes? 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.240 She never asked for any of this. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:02.240 So why does God first give and then snatch it away again? 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:04.240 And I can't tell you. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:07.240 I don't have a good answer for that. 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:10.240 But I do know that God is the one who's in control. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:15.240 And that in this chapter we see his amazing grace, supernatural grace, 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:17.240 something that is mind-blowing. 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:23.240 And he sends Elisha and Elisha goes there and it's not Elisha, it's not the rituals he does. 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:29.240 That's just trying to show you that he's breathing live into that child. 00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:39.240 Just like God breathes live into Adam and he raises up the son again. 00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:43.240 Elisha is much like Elijah. 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:45.240 He learned from him, right? 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:48.240 His miracles in this chapter are very much like Elijah. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:50.240 But there are some differences. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:53.240 Elijah was bringing bad news to the kings of Israel. 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:56.240 Elisha is bringing good news. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:59.240 Elisha prophesies judgment. 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:02.240 Elisha announces life and healing. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.240 Elisha is the bearer of bad news. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:08.240 Elisha is the bearer of hope. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:15.240 And what Elisha is doing is portraying God's mercy and God's grace in desperate times, 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:17.240 in times of death. 00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:22.240 Do you see the picture that this chapter is trying to paint for us? 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:27.240 Elijah is a prophet of justice and Elisha is a prophet of grace. 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.240 And that's what we see on that cross, isn't it? 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:41.240 God's perfect justice meeting God's perfect grace in his son who bears the punishment for us. 00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:50.240 Hanging there, bearing all the sin of all the world, of all the times, of all the ages on his shoulders. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:53.240 And he dies so he can live. 00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:56.240 God truly is the life giver. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.240 And that's my third and last point. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:00.240 God is the life giver. 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:07.240 And what I mean by that is that God is a God who is a life and who gives life. 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:13.240 You see, Elisha is traveling around the northern part of Israel. 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:17.240 They don't have Jerusalem, they don't have the temple. 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:29.240 What they have instead is a man of God, Elisha, in a little room upstairs in some random woman's attic or whatever. 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:35.240 And he's doing the work of God, the life-giving work of God. 00:29:35.240 --> 00:29:40.240 It's very interesting, one commentator that I read points out that his room is actually a bit like a temple. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:45.240 The furniture we see mirrors the furniture in a temple, especially the lamb. 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:52.240 It's this seven candle lamp that we know from Jewish traditions. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:54.240 It's called menorah. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:57.240 And it indicates that this is a bit like a temple, right? 00:29:57.240 --> 00:30:07.240 God is starting revival from one small little room in north Israel somewhere with a man with a receding hairline. 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:15.240 You know, not an attractive guy, but someone who trusts in God. 00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:23.240 And the point that I'm trying to make is, I think, that God is not dwelling in that room or in the temple only. 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:30.240 But we see that God shows his life-giving power through Elisha, and wherever his prophet goes, God's power is made visible. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:34.240 It's truly amazing. It's truly amazing what happens there in Shunim. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:47.240 And very near that place, not far from Shunim, but many, many, many years later, we find another man of God walking on probably the same roads as Elisha. 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:53.240 But this time, not just a man of God, but God as man. 00:30:53.240 --> 00:31:00.240 The God-man, the truly incarnated son of God, Jesus, our Lord, Jesus the Messiah. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:04.240 And Jesus walks around, and in Luke chapter 4, you can read about that. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:13.240 You can read about Jesus going into a synagogue, and he announces the great jubilee, the great year of redemption. 00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:18.240 And he quotes from Isaiah 61, and he says, 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:40.240 And Jesus quotes this, and he talks about it. 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:45.240 And Jesus quotes this, and he talks about Elisha and Elijah. 00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:52.240 And you see the connection right there. Elisha is a little bit like a proto-incarnation, to use a fancy word. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:56.240 Like a first incarnation of Jesus, one who foreshadows that Jesus will come, 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:01.240 and that Jesus will bring life to those who need it, and hope to those who are hopeless. 00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:08.240 And he will help the poor, and the widows, and the orphans, and those who need God. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:14.240 And Jesus does a similar thing. We can see that in the New Testament. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:23.240 He raises up the servant of a centurion, and the centurion portrays so much faith in Jesus that Jesus says, 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:27.240 Not even in Israel have I found such faith. 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:33.240 And the centurion and the woman in Shunam, the Shunamite woman, they have this in common. 00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:41.240 They understand that in a crisis, the only thing that matters is the kind of God we have. 00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:48.240 In other words, the only comfort that we have in a crisis, the only comfort we have in a culture of death, 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:54.240 where it seems like God and all life is squeezed out, is gone. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:33:01.240 The only hope we have is that we know that we dwell in the shelter of the most high. 00:33:01.240 --> 00:33:10.240 And the 1901 calls it, the most high our God, Yahweh, the God who is, the God who was, the God who will be. 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:16.240 He's a God of life in a dying world. And he's a God of hope in a desperate society. 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:21.240 And he's the one who gives life, and who takes life away. 00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:29.240 The God who becomes like us, and who gives his life, and who dies, so that we can have life forever. 00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:34.240 Jesus came to make things right again, to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:39.240 to release captives, and to console those who mourn. 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:44.240 And in this chapter we see that Elijah foreshadows this in the Old Testament. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:49.240 And Jesus made it a reality. And that is true for me, and that is true for you, 00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:55.240 and true for the Shunamite woman in the widow, and all who hear it. 00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:58.240 So let us pray and give thanks for that. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:03.240 Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word today, for these stories. 00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:08.239 We can see death because we started falling away from you. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:14.239 And Father, we give thanks for your son. We give thanks for the work, his perfect obedience, 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:20.239 all the way to the cross, which we will celebrate soon in Easter. 00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:27.239 Father, it's hard to grasp, it's hard to describe in words sometimes what that means to us. 00:34:27.239 --> 00:34:32.239 So I pray that through your Holy Spirit you would make it a reality to us. 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:37.239 I pray that those who don't have faith will have faith as a gift from you, Father, 00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:43.239 so they can see and that they can hear all the promises that you have given them. 00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:52.239 Father, I pray that in this coming week you would make it a reality for every single one of us to live, 00:34:52.239 --> 00:35:00.239 to live in a culture of death, and to mirror and reflect the life that you give. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:26.239 Forgive us all our sins. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.