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A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. PROBLEM: UNBELIEF
II Kg 2:16-18 They said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps the Spirit of YHWH has caught him up and blown him onto some mountain or into some valley.”
He replied, “Don’t send them.”
But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men, and for three days they searched for him and found nothing.
When they returned to him (he was staying in Jericho), he rebuked them: “Didn’t I tell you ‘Don’t go’?”
A. MAN’S WILL
1. SETTING OF THE PROBLEM
2. SIN OF THE PEOPLE (II Cor 5:10)
B. GOD’S WAY
1. SOLUTION OF THE PROPHET
2. STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE (Eph 6:11, 13; I Pet 5:9; I Cor 16:13; Heb 4:14; 10:23; Phil 4:1; Josh 23:6; Prov 19:10; I Tim 4:12)
Lesson = “Stand Firm”
Lesson = “Allow others to learn from their mistakes”
Lesson = “Respond in Kindness”
II. PROBLEM: UNFRUITFULNES
II Kg 2:19-22 The men of [Jericho] said to Elisha, “Behold, the location of this city is pleasant, as my lord can see, but the water is poisonous and the land is barren.”
He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. He went to the spring and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says YHWH, ‘I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor barrenness will come from it.’”
So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word Elisha spoke.
A. MAN’S WILL
1. SETTING OF THE PROBLEM (Is 5:7)
2. SIN OF THE PEOPLE
B. GOD’S WAY
1. SOLUTION OF THE PROPHET
2. STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE
Lesson = “Obey God’s Word in spite of what we see”
Lesson = “Be Salt” (not pepper)
Lesson = “God can make the foulest clean”
III. PROBLEM: UNRESPONSIVE
II Kg 2:23-25 From there he went past Bethel, and while he was approaching it, some young men came out of the city and mocked him, saying, “You go up too, baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
Seeing them, he turned around and cursed them in the name of YHWH. Two she-bears came out of the woods and injured forty-two of them.
From there he went to Mount Carmel, and then continued to Samaria.
A. MAN’S WILL
1. SETTING OF THE PROBLEM
2. SIN OF THE PEOPLE (Gen 41:12; II Sam 14:21, 18:5; I Kg 3:7)
B. GOD’S WAY
1. SOLUTION OF THE PROPHET
2. STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE
Lesson = “Be Faithful no matter what Road you are on”
Lesson = “Respect for those proclaiming God’s Word” (Ps 105:15)
Lesson = “Remember God – not you and I – will judge Sin” (Rom 11:22; Acts 5)
Lesson = “Also, God rewards Righteousness”