How to Go Broke

Introduction

Tonight we continue our series on Elijah and Elisha. We began this series:

How God Sustains His People (1Ki. 17:1-6)

We saw the manner in which God mightily supplied the needs of Elijah in the midst of a drought in the land.

How God Uses His People (1Ki. 17:8-24)

We examined how God used the widow woman to supply Elijah’s need, as well as how Elijah supplied her need. Reminding us of Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

How the Fire Falls (1Ki. 18)

During a Feeble time w/ Depraved leadership & Divided people

God provided a Faithful man, who challenged his people; chastised false worship; Corrected the Basis of Worship; who had Confidence in God & Called upon the same

A Falling Fire

Came Powerfully; Sufficiently; Convincingly & Effectively.

How to Get Back in the Saddle

I. The Immorality of the Enemy (v1-4)

Unmistakable; Unconverted; Unsettling

II. The Indulgence of the LORD (v5-8)

Elijah Retreated; God allowed him Rest (v5-6b); God provided Refreshment for the Moment (v5b-6a); God gave Resources for the Journey (v7)

III. The Insight of the LORD (v9-12)

A Prophet Disheartened; God’s Power was Demonstrated; God’s Presence was Discovered

IV. The Instruction of the LORD (v13-18)

Get Back Where you Belong (v15a); Bless the Next Generation (v15b-16)

Be Encouraged - I Have a Plan (v17); You are Not Alone (v18)

How to Have Peace Under Fire

I. The Reason for the Fire

For Following the Spirit’s Lead (v3); For Declaring the Word of the LORD (v4); For Having a Familiar a Description (v7-8)

II. The Right Way to Handle It

Be Situated Properly (v9b); Stand Fast in your Heritage (v10a); Stay Firm in Your Position (v9-12); Be Perceptive to the Spirit (v13-15)

III. The Rest of the Story

God Protected (v15); God’s Word was Proclaimed (v16); God’s Will was Performed (v17)

How to be Faithful in Times of Trouble

I. A Troubled Time

The Burden of Loss; The Opportunities it Presented - Reviving of the Brethren; Remembering of the Past; The Resolve to Continue the Work

II. A Testimony of Faithfulness

Through the Pressures of the Known; Through the Pressures of the Unknown; Through the Voices of Discouragement

III. A Transformative Result

Because He was Faithful… His Prayer was Answered; He Performed Miracles; He Proved His Calling

How to Set the Tone

I. The Waters were Cured

A Pitiful Land (v19); A Pristine Vessel and a Powerful Agent (v20); A Pronouncement Made (v21); A Purification Provided (v22)

II. The Mockers were Cursed

A Fallen City (v23a); A Faithless Generation (v23b); A Fury Unleashed (v24a); A Future Altered (v24b)

How to Solve a Problem

I. The Problem (v1a) - A Lack of Plan / Preparation; A Passing; A Pledge Unfulfilled

II. The Petition (v1b) - He had the Right Standing; She had the Right Source

III. The Plan (v2-6) - Was Faith Based; Faith in Procuring; Faith in Pouring

IV. The Providence (v7) - A Debt Settled; A Future Supplied

How to Bear Children

I. Our Conduct Unto Men - Her Description (v8a); Her Disposition (v8b); Her Duration (v8c)

II. Our Countenance Toward God - Her Discernment (v9); Her Devotion (v10); Her Deference (v13)

III. Children will be Born - Her Child was Born (v13)

How to Make the Dead Live

I. A Mediating Force

Her Care for him (v20); Her Commitment of him to God (v21); It was Crucial to Her (v22); Her Confidence (v23); Her Clarity (v24); Her Conviction (v27); Her Continuance (v30)

II. A Miracle-Working God

An Intervention (v30b); An Intimate Encounter (v32-34); An Indwelling & Expelling (v35)

How to Recover From a Mistake

I. There was a Responsibility Given - A Naked Land; A Noble Mission; A Needy People

II. There was Rot in the Pot - Was Placed by Accident; Was Polluting the People; It Brought more Peril than Plenitude

III. There was a Remedy Administered - It was by Intervention of Man; It was by Intercession of God; It Caused a Transformation & Continuation

How to See a Cleansing

I. The Start - Acknowledgement of the Good; Recognition of the Disease

II. The Spark - A Humble Voice; A Helpful Testimony

III. The Surety - A Chain of Faith (v3-5); An Investment by Faith (v5-6)

IV. The Simplicity - A False Impression; An Act of Faith

V. The Supplication - An Invested Servant; A Timely Intercession

VI. The Salvation - Submission to God’s Plan; Salvation Provided

How to Mess Up a Ministry

I. Recompense Refused - Healing brought Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving Inspired Restitution; Refusal (and Redirection)

II. Rottenness Revealed - Gehazi’s Perception (v20a); Gehazi's Passion (v20b-21); Gehazi’s Propaganda (v22-23); Gehazi's Posturing (v24-25)

III. Ruination the Result - His Deception is Revealed (v26a); A Dilemma is Posed (v26b); His Downfall was Apparent (v27)His Destruction was Not in Isolation (v27)

How to Get Back to Work

I. Labouring for Purpose - A Worthwhile Cause; A Constraint for Growth; A Common Effort ; A Careful Approach (v3)

II. A Lost Edge - A Beam to Fell; A Borrowed Tool; A Broken Axe; A Beleaguered Labourer

III. A Lesson of Hope - Begins with a Profession; Then with a Plea; Next by Pursuit; Lastly by Picking It Up

How to Stay Out of Trouble

I. Understand there’s an Enemy - He has Devices; He will Discourage; He will Disrupt;He will Detour; He will Destroy

II. Understand there is an Enlightened One - He’s Omniscient; He’s Omnipresent; He’s Omnipotent

III. Look for the Escape He Provides - Hear God’s Direction; Heed with Discipline

How to Be a Leader

I. He Led a Brother in His Faith - His Servant was Panicked; Elisha Preached the Truth; Elijah Prayed For Him

II. He Led an Enemy Unto Submission - He Led Them Rather than Fight Them; By Prayer; By Pity; With Persistence

III. He Led a King to Show Grace - He Preached for Wisdom; He Pleaded for Grace and Provision;

IV. He Led Those at War Unto Peace - A War was Pacified; A People had Peace

I've titled this message "How to Go Broke" and while we will see financially destitute people, I'm not speaking solely about their finances. They are utterly broke Spiritually.

The first thing we see is a Relaxing

I. A Relaxing

They were Comfortable

We want to make sure and remember the context of this as it did not happen in a vacuum.

2Ki. 6:8-23 We see The Syrians, these very people after Elisha (after they couldn’t come against the King of Israel). Then they surround Elisha, God strikes them with blindness and Elisha leads them into the midst of Samaria, which could have been their destruction.

However Elisha instructed the king not to slay them but to feed them and send them on their way. This created a temporary peace at the border.

After this the children of Israel got comfortable. They assumed that once they escaped this danger they would not encounter any anymore.

Many Christians fall into the same trap. They get into trouble. God delivers them in a great and mighty way. They experience a wonderful victory and then they get comfortable. They get settled as if that's the end of their troubles…

…Church, let me assure you: until you draw your last breath, you will encounter trouble this side of heaven. Job 14:1 “Man that is born of a woman Is of few days, and full of trouble.”

We cannot get comfortable with temporal victories, as the enemy is still there! Syria was not defeated. They were dissuaded for a time but they would be back as we see.

You may, by the grace of God, enjoy victory over Satan or temptation or trials. But make no mistake, he may be dissuaded for a time but he is not defeated until after Christ's return.

They were comfortable, which led them to be complacent.

They got Complacent

How in the world did the Syrian army get all the way to Samaria? There is no record of a conquest inward. They would have had to have traveled somewhere in the neighborhood of 140-160 miles to get there.

In other words, where they were so comfortable, they ignored any warning signs of the Syrians' march upon the heart of the kingdom.

This is what being comfortable will get you. You will become complacent unto your own destruction.

Make no mistake, great sin does not just happen. There are always warning signs but when we are comfortable and complacent, we ignore those warning signs until it's too late.

The Bible instructs us to be vigilant: 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

Sober (def) In your right mind

Vigilant (def) Watchful; circumspect; attentive to discover and avoid danger

Because we have an enemy that is waiting to devour us!

The Northern Kingdom had an enemy looking for opportunity to devour them, they got complacent, and found themselves in a terrible situation.

They got Complacent

A Relaxing

II. A Reckoning

As they say the children of Israel's chickens came home to roost. This is a principle found throughout Scripture.

Job 4:8 “Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, And sow wickedness, reap the same.”

Hosea 8:7 “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: It hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”

Proverbs 26:27 “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: And he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.”

Galatians 6:7–8 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

The COI are now facing the recompense for their actions.

God had brought Peace

Again going back, God is the one who brought peace in the land.

I want us to look at this from the standpoint of backsliding Christians. The COI were Jews and therefore under the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant at that time.

So in this context, the COI were God’s people. He’d brought them peace - but then something happened

God brought Peace, but Sin Permeated the Land

But Sin Permeated the Land

Because of their rebellious hearts.

Because of their rebellious kings leading them to destruction.

Sin was running rampant through the northern kingdom of Israel. We see the status at the onset of Jehoram’s Kingdom: 2 Kings 3:1–3 “Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.”

They were following after the sins of Jeroboam - and God warned them about this!

(Read Lev. 26:1-5; 11-15)

Sin Permeated the Land, so God (in response) pronounced Judgment

God Pronounced Judgment

Let’s read more on the ‘but’ (Lev. 26:14-29)

A Relaxing; A Reckoning

III. A Repulsion

Caused Economic Hardship

Two things to understand: both a donkey's head and a dove's dung were unclean. Not only were they unclean in the eyes of God, they were gross in the eyes of man and they were expensive.

(Ill.) I thought of those times we've seen in the last hundred years where economies have experienced hyperinflation and their money became worthless. (Show pic of Germany’s time - Weimar Republic burning money because it was cheaper than firewood)

Let me say this: You may have 1 billion dollars in the bank… if there’s no bread to buy it doesn’t matter!

Sin caused an economic hardship

Many people today suffer financially because of their sin, whether it be lust or greed or pride.

Sin can cause an economic hardship

Caused Physical Hardship

These were starving people.

I have hungered before but never because I had to. I've hungered by choice. I don't know what it's like to starve. But these people did - In the gravest way possible.

Sin caused a physical hardship

Caused Familial Hardship

Sin brought division within the family here in the nastiest way possible. A mother would boil and eat her child.

(Ill.) When I was a boy, I shot a squirrel (a whole traumatic story there), but one of the great trauma’s was when my dad had me help skin it… It was the partial cure for me ever wanting to hunt again.

Can you imagine killing and cooking your child?

Sin caused Familial hardship

Many times when we sin, our sin will come between those closest to us. Be it our spouses, children, parents, siblings…

Sin causes Familial Hardship

Caused Societal Hardship

Not only did it cause a problem between her and her child, but between her and her neighbor as well.

They were going to cook and eat her neighbor’s child, but she hid him (as you know).

Sin causes problems within our society

(Ill.) Consider the sin that is permeating our society for a moment… let’s consider either the Kardashians or Taylor Swift. Both of these entities promote lewdness, promiscuity, fornication. What effect do you think that is having on young girls in or society?

Sin causes Societal Hardship

Continued Ignorance

But what's amazing is we see all of these things transpiring but what is the response? Let's consider just a few of them.

The Petition of the Woman Who Ate Her Child. (v28-29)

Do you realize that she is not complaining simply because they killed and ate her child? She's mad because they didn't kill and eat her neighbor's child too! She wasn't lamenting that she ate her baby. She was lamenting that she didn't get enough! How depraved must you be!

The Attitude of the King (v27)

Is the King's response to demonstrate and preach repentance of sin from the people? No it's to blame God for their plight.

How many times have you seen people do this very thing, where they create a mess for themselves and their lives and then they point the finger at God as if He were the author of it?

The pride standing in the way of repentance (v30)

We see that under his kingly clothes he had on sackcloth. This was a sign of repentance. But unfortunately his pride hindered any power that the repentance had.

I wonder if the Lord will show me when I get to heaven how many people either lift up their eyes in hell or live a backslid life under my preaching because they were too prideful to come to the altar and make things right with God.

They figured that they could wear their sackcloth underneath their kingly robes and it would mean something to God but it doesn't.

A Relaxing; A Reckoning; A Repulsion

IV. A Refuge

A Demonstration of God’s Grace

The king nor the people did anything to merit God's divine intervention but as you will see in the next chapter, he demonstrates it anyway.

The sad thing is God had made provision. If they would have demonstrated repentance, that woman would still have a baby.

God gave this instruction many years ago when the Kingdom was United. 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

This held true for the COI - and it holds true for America today. We as a nation must turn back unto God with a broken and contrite heart.

I believe many Christians think that America is ‘too big to fail’, but that’s simply not the case.

God has been Gracious unto our country for nigh a Century now - but there will come a time that God will stop demonstrating Grace to a rebellious people, and bring the Judgment down in full - as He did the COI.

There is a Refuge to which to Turn - we must turn back unto God!

Conclusion

This message is both a solution and a warning:

If you’ve ‘Gone Broke’ Spiritually, it’s because of your sin & you need to turn back unto God. He will heal you if you will

If you’re good now, make sure to stay sober & vigilant. For you can go broke if you don’t.