Grace

2 Kings 4:38–44 NASB95

When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were. So they poured it out for the men to eat. And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” And they were unable to eat. But he said, “Now bring meal.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people that they may eat.” Then there was no harm in the pot. Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat.” His attendant said, “What, will I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’ ” So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

INTRO: I love this section of Scripture because we get to examine 2 miracles and they both revolve around food! If you aren’t ready to go eat lunch by the time we are done… what am I saying- you’re probably already hungry!

Anyway, before we get into the lessons from our passage, I want to take a few minutes and set the context. I don’t know if I’ve ever said this before, but context is vital to our understanding and application of Scripture. If we do not comprehend who the original audience was and what they understood, then we will likely miss the intention of the text.

The location is Gilgal, which is in Israel. If you were here a few weeks ago, we looked at how Elijah, in his last days on earth, traveled from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan. It’s all area that is designated to the nation of Israel.

Now, Israel is the nation that God chose to covenant with. They were to be His people; to obey His commands and to be a shining light of God’s glory to the surrounding nations. This covenant was proposed by God and accepted by the nation following God’s rescue of them from Egypt where they were slaves.

In this covenant, God delivered into Israel’s hand their enemies and gave them the land that they were to possess. But this covenant was not so they would be a bunch of bums- rather they were to live like they belonged to God! Let me read to you a short passage from

Leviticus 26:1–4 NASB95

‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God. ‘You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the Lord. ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

These words of blessing continue through v. 13, promising security, plentiful food, peace, and most importantly fellowship with Yahweh (11-12)

However, this promise had a but… let me read

Leviticus 26:14–20 NASB95

‘But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. ‘I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. ‘If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. ‘I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. ‘Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

This actually goes on a bit more describing how God disciplines His people in order to bring them to repentance...

By the time of Elisha, Israel had been in defiance of God’s law for generations. Wickedness and idolatry was everywhere! People didn’t have reverence for Yahweh- they didn’t obey His commands, but they did evil in the sight of the Lord.

That’s why God raised up Elijah and then Elisha- to be His mouthpiece and speak His word against the nation that was running headlong into Hell. And the miracles that we have studied all validate that this is God’s anointed prophet so that the people would also recognize that the message He would deliver is also anointed from God.

And it’s in this context that we will get to see God’s Amazing Grace as it was offered in Elisha’s time and as it is offered today. Our sermon is titled, “Grace” and I invite you to take your bulletins and use the enclosed sermon guide as we seek to learn together today.

The first lesson that we see demonstrated here is that

Grace is Required (38-40)

READ 38-40

There is a famine in the land. The famine is due to Israel’s idolatry and even the sons of the prophets - men who were God-fearing seminary students of their day - even they were affected by this famine. And so as they all sat in front of Elisha with their bellies grumbling, he told Gehazi to put on a big pot of stew.

The problem is there was nothing to put in the stew. So, someone went out into the un-farmed area and scavenged for wild vegetable and spices. He found some that looked ok, but nobody really knew what they were. That didn’t matter, any food has to be better than no food, right? Maybe not...

Now, I’m no chef, but I imagine that it is really likely that Gehazi did not try the stew before he served it. There is no way my wife would put out something that she was not sure tasted good!

Anyway, perhaps there was a bitterness or foulness of some sort that alerted the men, but their expression says all we need to know “There’s death in the pot!” They knew this was not going to go well.

IOW, this stew was either going to kill them or make them wish it killed them.

But at that point, what do you do? I mean, you cannot un-eat the poison.

These men were in desperate need of grace. They needed an intervention/ rescue because without it, they would be dead. And so they cry out to Elisha because he is God’s prophet. “O man of God! We are dying!”

We can parallel this to our story. You see, we too are in a land of spiritual famine. Idolatry and wickedness are at every turn. And even as we hunger for the basics- housing, food, redemption, etc., we find ourselves scouring through the wilderness of this sinful world to supply our needs.

And though we find that which looks pleasing and perhaps promises to fill us, the truth is that there is death in that pot.

The question is, do you recognize it? Can you see the danger in your diet?

Just as Israel was being shown that following idols leads to punishment, so we too need to see that there no hope in anything but Christ. We have all been poisoned by sin and we cannot undo it! We must cry out to the Lord for we need rescue! Grace is required.

Elisha’s response comes next and it’s here we observe that

Grace is Applied (41)

Look with me to v. 41 (READ)

Just like Elisha healed the poisonous waters at Jericho, so too he miraculously not only made the stew edible, but reversed the harmful effects of the ‘death in a pot’ stew.

There was no power in the meal that Elisha added; No flour-power for you Mario fans. No, this was God’s power on display here which brought healing.

But look here, Elisha added the meal to the pot and the men were again told to eat. If they were going to be healed, they must obey God’s command through Elisha. God’s Grace was applied as they partook of the new stew by faith.

The text does not tell how these folks reacted… I bet it was more than a simple sigh of relief. No, you see they were DYING and helpless! This is not like adding a little salt to an otherwise bland dish. No, this was nothing less than a wondrous gift that transformed these people from death to life.

That’s what grace does. That’s MY story!

You see, when we cry out to God because we recognize our plight- that we have sinned and fall woefully short of His perfect standard; when we acknowledge that we cannot make ourselves holy nor can we undo that which condemns us- THEN, trusting that Christ has paid the penalty in His own body for my sins, God applies His grace on our lives.

Not only does He cast our sin as far as the East is from the West, but He lays over us the very righteousness of Christ! He has taken away our indictment so that we can live!

But listen, Gehazi and those folks in Gilgal likely didn’t go running back into the woods to find more of the ingredient for that stew… do you see what I’m saying?

Grace applied does not mean that we willingly go back to the sinful things that God has warned against and just assume God will be ok with it. Folks- that’s foolish, not to mention disrespectful and defiant. Listen to the author of Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:26–27 NASB95

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

Grace is required because we are all sinners and there is no way but through the grace of God to be reconciled to Him. Thank God Grace is applied because God is rich in lovingkindness and mercy.

There is a final lesson that I want to point out in the second miracle of our text. Here, we observe that:

Grace is Multiplied (42-44)

Let’s read these last few verses again (READ)

Here, God takes a humble offering and multiplies it to feed the crowd. Does that remind you of anything?

Some of you are nodding- It should remind us of how Jesus took the bread and fish and fed multitudes of 4k and 5k. It’s kind of funny that even Gehazi’s reaction is like that of the apostles - “What? That’s not enough food!” Like he didn’t just witness a half-dozen impossible miracles.

Why did he doubt? Likely because he’s human, like us. Don’t we, at times, look at the situation in front of us and think- “This is impossible”? But in our weakness and limitations, God’s grace is multiplied, just like the food was in this passage! This is EASY for God!!

Look back- it was at the hands of the weak, unbelieving servant that God demonstrated how His grace abounds!

“Give them to the people that they may eat!” And look, there was more than enough to go around!

Can you imagine Gehazi’s face… he’s been passing out bread and corn for a good half-hour and his basket isn’t being depleted. This is nuts! No, this is GRACE!

And God still multiplies His grace through weak vessels like you and me. You see, when God’s people who have been empowered by His Holy Spirit and equipped with His Holy Word are faithful to set before others what we have for God’s glory, He will indeed multiply His grace in abundance so that all may know that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Oh Church, the Hope of the world is not found in the things of the world… By God’s Grace we have the Gospel Hope;

Let us Go and make disciples! Go and be fruitful and multiply the church of Christ! Go, trust God with your resources and allow Him to multiply His grace at your hands!

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!

If you are here and have not yet experienced God’s grace, I invite you to come.

Discuss: Describe the depravity of mankind as we think about our sin and God’s holiness.

Discuss: Do you think that we have a right understanding of grace?

Discuss: What will you do this week to share God’s grace?