And verse 1, or rather verse 8, And
it fell on a day that Elisha passed
to Shunem, where was a great woman, and
she constrained him to eat bread.
And so it was that as oft as
he passed by, he turned in thither to
eat bread.
And she said unto her husband, Behold now,
I perceive that this is an holy man
of God, which passeth by us continually.
Let us make a little chamber, I pray,
beyond the wall, and let us set for
him there a bed, and a table, and
a stool, and a candlestick.
And it shall be, when he cometh to
us, that he shall turn in thither.
And it fell on a day that he
came thither, and he turned into the chamber,
and lay there.
And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call
this Shunemite.
And when he had called her, she stood
before him.
And he said unto him, Say now unto
her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us
with all this care.
What is to be done for thee?
Wouldst thou be spoken for to the king,
or to the captain of the host?
And she answered, I dwell among mine own
people.
And he said, What then is to be
done for her?
And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child,
and her husband is old.
And he said, Call her.
And when he had called her, she stood
in the door.
And he said, About this season, according to
the time of life, thou shalt embrace a
son.
And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man
of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
And the woman conceived, and barest son at
that season, that Elisha had set unto her,
according to the time of life.
And when the child was grown, it fell
on a day that he went out to
his father, to the reapers.
And he said unto his father, My head,
my head.
And he said to a lad, Carry him
to his mother.
And when he had taken him, and brought
him to his mother, he sat on her
knees till noon, and then died.
And she went up, and laid him on
the bed of the man of God, and
shut the door upon him, and went out.
And she called unto her husband, and said,
Send me, I pray thee, one of the
young men, and one of the asses, that
I may run to the man of God,
and come again.
And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to
him to-day?
It is neither new moon, nor sabbath.
And she said, It shall be well.
Then she saddled an ass, and said to
her servant, Drive, and go forward.
Slack not thy riding for me, except I
bid thee.
So she went, and came unto the man
of God, to Mount Carmel.
And it came to pass, when the man
of God saw her afar off, that he
said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is
that Shunammite.
Run now, I pray thee, to meet her,
and say unto her, Is it well with
thee?
Is it well with thy husband?
Is it well with the child?
And she answered, It is well.
And when she came to the man of
God to the hill, she caught him by
the feet.
But Gehazi came near to thrust her away.
And the man of God said, Let her
alone, for her soul is vexed within her,
and the Lord hath hid it from me,
and hath not told me.
Then she said, Did I desire a son
of my Lord?
Did I not say, Do not deceive me?
Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy
loins, and take my staff in thine hand,
and go thy way.
If thou meet any man, salute him not,
and if any salute thee, answer him not
again, and lay my staff upon the face
of the child.
And the mother of the child said, As
the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth,
I will not leave thee.
And he arose, and followed her.
Verse 35 Then he returned, and walked in
the house to and fro, and went up,
and stretched himself upon him.
And the child sneezed seven times, and the
child opened his eyes.
And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this
Shunammite.
So he called her, and when she was
come in unto him, he said, Take up
thy son.
Then she went in, and fell at his
feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and
took up her son, and went out.
May the Lord bless to us the reading
of his word.
What I have before me, especially this morning
in reference to the incident that we have
read, is to bring out some of the
qualities, or seven qualities, that make a person
great.
Now, we find in the word of God,
that the word of God frequently speaks of
men who are great.
But I believe that this is the only
woman of whom it is said that she
was a great woman.
This is the only woman in the scripture
of whom it is said that she was
a great woman.
And the remarkable thing about it is, that
this woman was not a queen.
This woman was not a prophetess.
This woman was not to, as it were,
serve in a public sphere.
But she was a woman, who if we
were to describe her, was a simple housewife,
who lived with her husband, and functioned in
her home, never seeming to step out of
the sphere of her home, until later on
we find that after a famine, when the
prophet had bidden her to go out of
the land, she had gone out of the
land.
And you know, talking about being in the
right place at the right time, after those
seven years of famine, she came back to
the land.
And you remember that the king of Samaria,
or the king of Israel, had Gehazi before
him, and he was asking Gehazi, tell me
some of the great things that Elisha did.
And while he was recounting some of the
great things, it just happened that he was
recounting how Elisha had raised the son of
the woman from the dead, and just at
that moment, or time, when he was recounting
that story, this woman, with her son, came
into the court, as it were.
She was going to ask the king for
her lands that she had had to leave
for that period of seven years, and just
as Gehazi was telling that story, why, there
she was, right at the court, and Gehazi
said, why, your majesty, your honor, why, here
is the very woman with her son to
whom this wonderful miracle was performed, and so
she had the privilege of giving her personal
account, and the result was that the king
ordered that all the land should be given
her, and all that had been reaped in
those seven years of famine should be given
to her as well.
But that is the only time, as far
as I know, that we have this woman
in a public place, but it is after
the things that transpired which made this woman
in the sight of God, and which he
recorded of her that she was a great
woman.
What were the qualities that went to make
this person great?
After all, you know, the thing is, what
do we esteem the most?
Do we esteem most how we are in
the sight of God, or how we are
in the sight of men?
Which is most important to me as a
Christian?
Is it what I am before God, or
is it what I am before men?
We can be sure of this.
If you and I are right before God,
he will surely make us right before those
whom he would please amongst men.
And so the important thing for us is
to be right in the sight of our
God.
Here in this fourth chapter of 2 Kings,
we have brought before us this woman who
had an experience with Elisha.
And as we said, Elisha is to us
a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here was this woman in the ordinary course
of human life, tending to the cares of
her household and to the cares of her
family, and yet she had the wonderful experience
here that as Elisha passed to Shunem, it
says she constrained him to eat bread, and
so it was that as oft as he
passed by, he turned and hither to eat,
he turned and thither to eat bread.
The first thing we notice about this woman,
of course, we must understand that this woman
was undoubtedly a believer.
She was one who knew the Lord and
knew what it was to worship and serve
the living God.
But she is introduced to us as a
woman who opened up her home to this
prophet who was passing by from time to
time, and she constrained him to enter in.
Now, if we look at Elisha for a
little while as a picture of our Lord
Jesus, we know that that is the desire
of our Lord Jesus.
Remember that the last picture we have of
the Lord Jesus in regard to the church
age is brought to us in the third
chapter of the book of Revelation.
There we see a church which, as it
were, has put the Lord Jesus Christ outside,
and we have the Lord Jesus standing knocking
at the door, and he is saying, Behold,
I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open
the door, I will come into him and
will sit with him and he with me.
What a thought it is to us that
in this day of ecclesiastical departure, in this
day of apostasy, it is possible for you
and me to have an intimate fellowship, an
intimate nearness with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as Elisha passed by that woman's house
from time to time, every time that he
came by, when she constrained him to come
into her house.
Now, someone has very well said we get
as much of the Lord's company as you
and I desire.
How true that is, that we in our
personal experience can get as much of the
Lord's company as you and I desire.
We remember that incident in the twenty-fourth
chapter of Luke, that as the Lord Jesus
Christ passed and these two were on the
road to Emmaus, suddenly he appeared with them
and he began to speak to them.
You remember the story, but as he unfolded
to them the scriptures concerning himself, and their
hearts began to warm, they finally came to
their home.
And remember what it says?
It says, they constrained him to come in
saying, Abide with us, for it is toward
the tenth hour.
They wanted him to enter into their homes
and to abide with him.
You know, I think that these two things
are related.
If you and I have a place in
our homes for our Lord Jesus Christ, we'll
have a place in our homes for the
people of God and for the servants of
God as well.
Sad it is that today there seems to
be a lessening of that wonderful quality of
hospitality.
Hospitality today is seemingly becoming a lost art.
It is seemingly becoming something that is being
lost amongst the people of God.
And yet, my friends, it is one of
the rarest privileges and one of the rarest
experiences that it's possible for us to have
in our Christian life.
To be able to have fellowship with the
Lord in our homes and to have fellowship
with those who belong to him.
You remember then the fourth chapter of 1
Peter.
Peter is speaking about using the gifts that
he has given.
Now let us just turn for a moment
to that fourth chapter of 1 Peter, and
I'd like to notice this beautiful relationship that
we have here in this fourth chapter of
1 Peter.
Notice the apostle is speaking, and he is
speaking, sometimes we often hear this verse quoted,
of course.
It says in the eighth verse, "'And above
all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for
charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
As every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another as
good stewards of the manifold grace of God.'"
Now notice how the Lord uses here the
thought of hospitality and associates it with using
the gift or the ministry that the Lord
has given to us.
I believe that one of the things that
went to make this woman great was that
she was a woman who had room for
those who belonged to the Lord, and having
room for those who belonged to the Lord
was an expression of the fact that she
had room for the one to whom they
belonged.
Remember in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew,
"'In that coming day the Lord will say
to those on his right hand, "'Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, "'ye have done
it unto me.
"'Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto
one of these my brethren, "'ye have not
done it unto me.'" If we could only
see the people of God as those who
are His.
I remember when I was first saved we
had a Sunday school treat.
We used to have it New Years.
And I remember a girl getting up and
giving a reading that I've never forgotten, and
that's over thirty-five years ago.
And I was just a young Christian at
the time.
And it was a reading about how a
Christian woman was told that the Lord was
going to visit her that day.
And you know, of course the Lord going
to visit her, while she became very busy
about getting the house thick and spanned.
And suddenly there was a knock on the
door while she was busy about her work.
And there was a little child.
And I don't remember what it was that
the little child wanted.
It wanted some kind of attention of some
kind.
And the woman says, "'Oh no,' she says,
"'I'm too busy.
"'The Lord is coming today.
"'He's coming to visit me.
"'I don't have time for you.'" And she
turned the little child away from the door.
And she continued busily about her housework.
And there was another knock on the door.
And there was an old beggar.
And he was asking for a piece of
bread.
And, oh, she says, "'Oh, I don't have
time right now.
"'I'm expecting the Lord to come and visit
me today.
"'And I just don't have time to bother
with you.'" She says, "'Please go away.'" And
a third person came in the afternoon.
And she was thinking herself so happy because
she was making so much progress in getting
the house ready.
The Lord was going to come to visit
her.
And she turned this third person away.
I don't remember what the problem was.
But she turned that person away.
She was so busy.
The Lord was going to come and visit
her.
And you know, in the late afternoon, she
had the house all stick and span.
My, she had it ideal.
And she thought, "'My, the Lord hasn't come.
"'He certainly has timed everything perfectly.
"'And you know, supper came and He hadn't
come.
"'The evening came and went and He hadn't
come.
"'The late hour came and He hadn't come.'"
And she thought and she thought.
And then she says, "'Oh, Lord, why is
it that You haven't come?
"'You promised You were coming today "'and the
hour is drawing near to midnight.
"'Still You haven't come.'" He says, "'Ah, my
child,' He says, "'I came three times and
knocked at your door.
"'And each time that I came, "'you turned
me away.
"'I came three times and knocked at your
door.'" Ah, friends, He had come.
He had come in these various guises.
But she didn't recognize Him because she didn't
have a heart.
She didn't have room for the one that
was in need.
She had no room for Him.
Ah, yes, she was great because she had
room for the one who was in need.
She was hospitable.
Notice in the ninth verse it tells us,
"'And she said unto her husband, "'Behold now,
I perceive "'that this is an holy man
of God "'which passeth by us continually.'" The
second thing about this woman that went to
meet her great was that she was a
woman of spiritual discernment.
She discerned that this man who was coming
to her door was indeed a holy man
of God.
Spiritual discernment.
Oh, how it's needed today.
Have you ever thought that when we turn
to the Word of God, we find that
the last judge in the history of Israel,
in the book of Judges, was a blind
judge.
Samson lost his eyes, you remember.
They took out his eyes.
The last king in Israel was a blind
king.
You remember how this king had rebelled against
Nebuchadnezzar?
And you remember how Nebuchadnezzar finally caught him?
And Nebuchadnezzar caught him and his whole family,
and he slew his family before his eyes.
And then the last thing that he saw
was to see his sons killed before his
eyes.
And then Nebuchadnezzar had his eyes gouged out.
The last king in the history of Judah
was a blind king.
The last church age, the last church that
we find in the book of Revelation is
a blind church.
They say, we are rich and increased for
goods and have need of nothing.
And he says, thou knowest not that thou
art wretched and miserable and poor and blind.
Oh, the spiritual blindness.
In the book of Leviticus, it tells us
that there were certain things that disqualified a
man from being a priest.
You remember that?
And you remember that one of the things
that sounds so strange is a man with
a flat nose was disqualified from being a
priest.
A flat nose.
Just think of that.
A man with a flat nose was disqualified
from being a priest.
Why?
Why would a man with a flat nose
be disqualified from being a priest?
A few years ago, it was the privilege
of my wife and I to be up
in Expo 70, up in Montreal.
And in the course of our visit there,
we went to the place where believers had
this testimony for the Lord.
And we happened to be there the day
when they were giving a lecture on illusions.
Illusions.
And they showed how you couldn't believe your
eyes.
As you sat in the seat, they had
things taking place on the platform, things turning
and various things.
You would swear as you looked at it
and saw it, you would swear that this
thing was going through this circle, and yet
if you were to get up there, you
would see it was not so.
It was an illusion.
And one of the things that they said
is most people believe that they experience taste
with their mouth.
But they said that's not so.
Scientifically, that's not so.
The fact of the matter is that you
experience a great measure of taste with your
nose.
You take up an orange, you take up
a pear, you take up any of those
things, and as you raise them to your
mouth, your nose discerns what it is, communicates
it to you, and the result is it
enhances and activates your taste.
And they said, for instance, if you've got
a terrible cold in your nose, well, your
nose is blocked.
And it's not very easy to smell.
Your sense of smell is impaired.
Why?
Your sense of taste is impaired because your
sense of smell is impaired.
The priest with the flat nose was not
allowed to function because he was a man
who had no discernment.
He couldn't discern.
His sense of discernment was impaired.
And his sense of discernment being impaired, he
could not function as a priest.
A man who could not discern between profane
and sacred, between holy and unholy, between clean
and unclean, was a man who was disqualified
from functioning as a priest.
If we don't discern between what is holy
and what is not holy, we won't function
as priests.
We won't be able to commune and fellowship
with God.
Today we need discernment.
Oh, the need of discernment!
A brother that led me into the work
of the Lord and with whom I accompanied
often used to quote a verse.
You know what that verse was?
He would say to me, Joseph, he said,
we need to have our eyes anointed with
eye salve that we may see.
In this day of religious movement, in this
day of religious activity, in this day when
there are so many various movements, there is
need today to be able to discern between
high-powered salesmanship and really and truly being
able to discern between high-powered salesmanship and
what is truly the work of a holy
man of God.
To be able to discern between holy men
of God, men who are teaching the truth
of God, and men who are only speaking
beautiful words which take in the simple, perhaps
presented in a beautiful way, but which leave
our souls empty, our souls dissatisfied and subject
to deception.
She was a woman.
You know, this is a good thing.
A woman of discernment.
The third thing we notice about her was
in the tenth verse she says, Let us
make a little chamber, I pray thee, on
the wall, and let us set for him
there a bed and a table and a
stool and a candlestick, and it shall be
when he cometh to us that he shall
turn in thither.
She was a woman of common sense.
Here we find that she, as this man
passed by so often, she wanted a place
where he could always come and be at
home.
And she was very simple and practical about
it.
She was going to provide only what he
needed.
She says, Let us make a little chamber.
I wonder, do we have a little chamber
for the Lord?
Do we have a little chamber in which
you and I can have fellowship with the
Lord?
Have we made a little chamber in our
life where you and I can have fellowship
with Him?
There were four simple articles of furniture in
that chamber.
There was a bed.
Why a bed?
A bed so he could rest.
You know, you and I need to find
the rest that there is in Christ.
Oh, we're living in a world today that
keeps us so busy, that keeps us so
active.
I read one time about a great nerve
specialist.
And a woman came to him with all
frayed nerves, all distracted and upset.
And after examining her, he found that there
was nothing organically wrong with her.
It was simply a case of tension and
nerves.
And he said to her, I'm going to
give you a very simple prescription.
Well, what is it?
She said, I'm going to give you the
simple prescription of every day for one hour,
just sitting down and reading your Bible just
for one hour and just speaking to the
Lord.
And at first she was sort of flabbergasted
and sort of, you know, like, what a
prescription.
But then she thought to herself, well, it's
not expensive anyway.
It doesn't cost too much to do that,
and I can spend that hour.
And so she did.
And for a whole month, that's what she
did.
Every day for an hour, she just withdrew
and quietly read the Word of God.
And peace began to come into her heart.
Rest began to control her mind.
And after a month, she came to him
vastly improved.
And she says, Doctor, she says, you know,
I wouldn't have believed it, but it's worked
wonders.
And he opened his drawer and he pulled
out his Bible.
He says, if I didn't spend the time
with the Lord every day, he says, I
wouldn't be able to carry on the practice
that I do.
I need to find rest in Him.
And then there was a table.
And the table, of course, suggests to us
not only rest in Christ, but to commune
with Christ, to commune with Him.
Oh, what a wonderful privilege to have Him
speak.
You've heard the proverbial story about New York
taxicab drivers.
Perhaps you've seen the television advertisement of the
woman giving them one of these pills or
something.
Well, there was a Christian sister, and she
got into the taxicab one time.
And oh, of course, that taxicab driver was
driving through that traffic, and he was furious
and fussing and fuming at everything that took
place.
And the sister said to him, she says,
you know what you ought to do?
You ought to read the Bible every day.
And if you read the Bible every day,
you'd get something from the Lord.
Well, do you read the Bible every day?
She certainly does.
I certainly do.
Well, but what did you get from the
Lord today that would help you in a
circumstance like this?
Because I get a word from the Lord
every day.
What did you get from the Lord that
would help you in a circumstance like this?
She says, what I got from the Lord
today is this little verse.
And she pulled out a little piece of
paper on which she had written the words,
Let patience have her perfect work.
Patience for a circumstance like this.
That's the result of communion with the Lord,
of having Him speak to me.
And then, of course, the stool.
And the stool, of course, suggests to us
sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus,
learning of Him.
My, what a privilege to learn of Him.
And remember, that's what Mary had.
Oh, Martha was so busy about her service,
but Mary sat at His feet.
And then the candlestick.
The candlestick speaking of the light which He
gives to us.
My, how much we need light today for
life, don't we?
Problems arise.
Decisions have to be made.
We need light.
Where can I get this light?
Why, the Lord will give me light when
I walk through the darkness.
Thou will be a light for me.
She was a woman of common sense because
she prepared a chamber for Him.
She had a place for Him.
Do you and I have a place for
Him in which we retire?
And then you notice it tells us there
in the 11th verse, and it fell on
a day that He came to him and
He turned into the chamber and lay there.
And He said to Gehazi, thy servant called
the Shunammite.
And when He had called her, she stood
before Him.
And He said to him, Say now unto
her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us
with all this care.
What is to be done for thee?
Wouldst thou be spoken for to the king
or to the captain of the host?
And she answered, I dwell among mine own
people.
The fourth thing that characterized her was that
she was a woman of contentment.
Contentment.
My, that's a rare...
I browse around in most unusual places wherever
I go.
I like to pick up books here and
there, used books.
And I picked up a book recently written
by one of the old Puritans.
And you know what it was called, what
the title of it is?
The Rare Jewel of Contentment.
Contentment.
What a rare jewel.
You've heard the story of the man who
advertised in newspapers.
He had 15 acres of land that he
wanted to give away.
And he would give it away to the
man or the woman.
California.
To the man or woman who was perfectly
content.
He wanted to prove that nobody was content.
And sure enough, a man came to his
home and he says, you're the man that's
advertising these 15 acres of land that you
want to give free to the man that's
content.
He says, well, he says, I am that
man.
He says, I am perfectly content.
And so I think you ought to give
me the land.
And he said to him, well, if you're
content, what do you want with my land?
If you're content, what do you want with
my land?
Contentment.
Here he said to her, would you be
spoken of to the king?
Do you want me to bring you before
the captain of the host?
My, he wanted to elevate her in society.
He wanted to present her to the king.
She says, I dwell among my known people.
I'm content to be with the people that
I'm with.
He said, are you and I content?
Are you and I content with the people
of God?
Are we content with the assembly of God's
people, mine own people?
You know, we have troubles in assemblies.
If we didn't have troubles, we'd never grow.
Because don't forget this, we grow by means
of troubles.
We grow by means of difficulties.
We have troubles in the assemblies of God's
people.
We have needs in the assemblies of God's
people.
But I still think they're the best that
there are.
I still think that they're the delight of
the earth.
Of course, all of God's people are his
delight.
But I still think they're his people, and
therefore they're my people.
I dwell among my own people.
Are you and I content?
Content.
She was contented.
And another thing we find, the fifth thing
we find about her is, in the 13th
verse, while he was lying on the bed,
he said unto Gehazi, say now unto her,
behold thou hast been careful for us with
all this care.
What is to be done for thee?
Now she had been very kind to Elisha,
and Elisha wanted to do something for her.
But I want you to notice here this
expression, behold thou hast been careful for us.
Now in the revised version, margin, we have
it says, behold thou hast showed us all
this reverence.
Behold thou hast showed us all this reverence.
You know another quality that made her great?
She was reverent toward the servant of God,
and of whom he spoke, our Lord Jesus
Christ.
You know, reverence is something that is almost
lost today amongst the people of God.
I'm so glad to see in this place
that before the meeting they sit quietly while
the organ is playing and meditate.
You know, as I said, I was raised
in the Roman Catholic Church.
I haven't been in it for 35 years.
But one thing about a Romanist, when we
stepped inside the doors, we had a sense
that we were in the presence of God.
And we need today to have a sense
of the presence of God.
Turn for a moment to the 89th Psalm.
Notice what it says in the 89th Psalm.
We have these words, the 89th Psalm, and
the 7th verse.
It says, God is greatly to be feared
in the assembly of the saints and to
be had in reverence of all them that
are about him.
God is greatly to be feared in the
assembly of the saints and to be had
in reverence of all them that are about
him.
When we come into the assembly of God's
people, we're coming into the presence of God.
You know, if you and I were to
come into the presence of the President of
the United States, how we would behave ourselves.
I mentioned a brother that I preached with
before the Lord took him home, our brother
McCullough, an Irish brother, rather quaint and unusual,
those of us who knew him.
He told about how one time he came
to Chicago, and it was his custom to
go, to drop in unexpectedly.
And so he dropped in unexpectedly at the
prayer meeting.
And of course, when he came to the
prayer meeting, why, of course, he took part.
And after the prayer meeting, why, he was
taken to a home, but it was not
usually the home that he stayed in.
And so when he got to the home
where he was to stay that night, he
called up his old friend.
And when he called him up, why, he
says, Brother Tom, where are you?
He says, I'm right here in Chicago.
I'm right here.
He says, why, he says, I missed you
in the meeting tonight.
Why, he says, Yes, Tom, if I knew
that you were going to be there, I
would have been there.
And Tom says, Well, he says, you know,
somebody greater than I was there.
Well, who was it?
Who was it?
Well, he says, the Lord Jesus was there.
The Lord Jesus was there.
God is greatly to be feared in the
assembly of his saints, and to be had
in reverence.
And you know, I think that today, familiarity.
I realize we're not in bondage like the
Romanist.
We're not in darkness like he is.
But I wonder if we haven't slumped to
the other extreme today.
Familiarity.
Why, it's a wonderful thing to have an
open Bible.
It's a wonderful thing to have boldness into
the presence of God.
It's a wonderful privilege to be able to
know that as a believer, I'm a priest,
and I don't need a human mediator here
on earth to stand between God and me.
That I have the Lord Jesus Christ.
But I wonder, has this familiarity with these
precious truths made us careless and irreverent, so
that we, as it were, are very careless
about how we come into the presence of
God, how we comport or behave ourselves in
the presence of God, and that we have
to do with God?
I wonder sometimes, even in our speaking about
the Lord, I find today an increasing talking
and speaking of him as Jesus and Jesus
Christ.
Now, I'm thankful his name is Jesus, for
that means Savior.
But we know when we come to the
Word of God, like the 13th chapter of
John, for instance, the Lord Jesus says to
his disciples, Ye call me Master and Lord,
and ye say, Well, for so I am.
I always love to hear the Lord Jesus
giving his title that belongs to him.
Oh, I know people say, Well, after all,
isn't he our elder brother?
Is he our elder brother?
Does the Bible ever call him our elder
brother?
No, it doesn't.
The Bible does tell me he is not
ashamed to call them brethren.
If I was to come into the presence
of the President of the United States, would
I say to him, Dick?
I certainly wouldn't.
If I came into his presence, I would
certainly give to him the title that becomes
him in his office.
And if he dared to call me Joe
and say, Well, Joe, so-and-so, I
certainly wouldn't feel free to say, Well, Dick,
this is the way I think about it.
He might, in his condescension, call me by
my first name.
But that doesn't give me the warrant to
become familiar with him.
He is my President, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God hath made this same Jesus whom ye
have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Let us be reverent in our speaking of
him.
Give to him the honor and the title
that belongs to him.
Reverence.
Elisha says, Behold, thou hast been careful, or
hast showed us all this reverence.
Are we reverent?
This woman was great because she was reverent.
But you know, this woman was great because
she was a woman of faith.
Now, you would have put that first, wouldn't
you?
That's what I would have done.
You know, many people have a strange idea
of the Christian life.
They think that if you become a Christian,
everything is going to be smooth for the
rest of your days.
But you know, that's not the way it
is, is it?
The Christian has trials.
The Christian has heartaches.
The Christian has difficulties.
I wonder, when Elisha told her she was
going to have a son, you notice it
says in the 17th verse, The woman conceived
and bare a son at that season that
Elisha had sent unto her according to the
time of life.
And the 18th verse, it says, When the
child was grown, it fell on a day.
It doesn't say a word about Elisha visiting
that woman from the time that the child
was born until that child was old enough
to be out in the field with his
father.
Now, we don't mean to say that Elisha
hadn't visited, but the Scripture doesn't say it.
And the silences of Scripture are just as
suggestive as the statements of Scripture.
Is it possible?
Ah, yes, the Lord had given her this
son.
And the Lord intends that we should enjoy
the relationships of life.
Some people seem to have the idea that
the Lord doesn't want us to enjoy.
He says we are to enjoy the good
things that He has given us.
Enjoy them, because they come from Him.
But I wonder, is it possible that perhaps
she became immersed in the earthly occupations, the
earthly cares, and suddenly affliction strikes.
The child falls sick, and the child dies.
What does she do?
Ah, here's where we see her faith.
You know, afflictions, oh, they come into the
lives of Christians.
Do they mean that perhaps we've done wrong?
Not necessarily.
Affliction, someone has very well said, you know,
when the king is going to knife anybody,
he'll take a sword.
And, of course, if that person vows, he'll
bring that sword upon him.
When he brings that sword upon him, it
is an honor.
The Lord doesn't trust everybody with affliction.
Afflictions are very beneficial.
Afflictions give us a sense of appreciation.
Perhaps many of you here know my first
wife was afflicted with cancer.
After surgery, she had x-rays.
And these x-rays, while they were being
taken, afflicted her arm to such an extent
that she had such terrific pain that she
had to go to therapy and to work
that arm.
And she'd go to therapy, and then every
day, every day I would have to exercise
her arm to get that movement back into
that arm so that that pain would disappear.
It was a grievous affliction.
But you know what it did?
It gave me an appreciation of just the
simple ability to move my arms around like
things that I just took for granted.
A person with arthritis, of course, would know
what it is to have the freedom of
movement that we take just so for granted.
But the affliction gave me a sense of
appreciation for the simplest movements of my arm
and my legs that I took so for
granted.
You know, I think that's one of the
blessings of visiting the sick.
When you visit the sick and you see
what they've got, well, it gives you a
sense of appreciation for the blessings that the
Lord has given you.
That's what affliction does.
It gives us a sense of appreciation.
Affliction makes the promises of God real to
us.
It is said that in the library at
the University of Cambridge, Thomas Bilney's Bible is
there.
And Thomas Bilney's Bible is marked in various
places.
But one place in particular that it is
turned to is the 43rd chapter of Isaiah
where you read these words, When thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.
And that verse is underlined.
Why?
Because as he read his Bible that night
before he was going to be led to
the stake and burned, he underlined that verse
in his Bible.
When thou walkest through the fires, thou shalt
not be burned.
Offerings, afflictions, trials make the promises of God
real to us, don't they?
As we read those promises, which perhaps we
had passed over until we got into the
circumstance that we were in.
And suddenly those words became real.
Those words became living.
Those words meet a need.
Affliction.
Affliction draws us to God.
I read a little story about a general
who had a man in his army who
had a disease.
And this man was always the best warrior
that he had.
Why, he was always in the forefront of
the battle.
He didn't seem to regard his life at
all.
He was in the forefront of the battle,
fighting and winning victories.
And Antigonus, the old Greek leader, thought so
highly of him that he sought out the
best physicians.
And finally he found a man who had
a remedy for his disease.
And he cured him.
And when he was cured, he was no
longer in the forefront of the battle.
He says, oh no, he says, I don't
want to be in the places of danger
anymore.
I've got everything to live for now.
I've got a family.
I've got a home.
I've got riches to enjoy.
Oh no, he says, I'm not going to
be in the forefront of the battle.
He lost a good warrior by curing his
affliction.
Isn't it true that when we get into
places of trials and afflictions, it draws us
closer to the Lord?
We see the emptiness and the vanity of
the world.
Last year about this time when I was
down in a little place in Ottumwa, Iowa,
we went to visit a man who had
a blood disease.
And the wife was called.
She says, you've got only four or six
hours to live.
The blood count had gotten so low that
he couldn't live, the doctor said.
And so as I visited them, the saints
had prayed and he had come up.
He had come up.
Still below normal, but nevertheless still come up
and there was improvement.
And I remember as I visited them, the
husband and the wife says, you know, when
we got that message and I was here,
I thought to myself, my, the emptiness and
the vanity of the things of time.
They're absolutely worthless.
They're useless.
Because everything was being taken away.
You know, when we get into such circumstances,
we find the vanity and the emptiness of
things.
We find the worthlessness of things.
We find the things that really matter.
Here this woman, when this came, what did
she do?
When this child got sick, when this child
died, what did she do?
Did she give up?
She had faith.
Faith to trust God.
Faith to seek the prophet of God.
Faith to lay her knee before the man
of God.
She drew near to him to get his
help.
That's what faith does.
And faith was rewarded in that son being
healed.
And that brings us to the last quality.
We find it in the 36th verse and
37th, when the child opened his eyes, he
called Gehazi and said, Call this eunuch.
So he called her.
And when she was coming unto him, he
said, Take up thy son.
Then she went in and fell at his
feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and
took up her son, and went out.
Gratitude.
Now, I want you to notice carefully this
37th verse, because this verse is contrary to
nature.
It takes more than human nature to do
this.
What would have been the natural thing to
do?
Notice in the 36th verse, Elisha says, Take
up thy son.
What does it say?
She took up her son and went out,
thanking the prophet?
Oh, no.
That's not what it says.
It says, Then she went in and fell
at his feet.
She didn't touch her son.
She didn't touch her son until, first of
all, she fell at his feet, and bowed
herself to the ground in an attitude of
worship and gratitude.
And only then did she take up her
son and go out.
Contrary to nature, the natural thing would be,
Take up the son, take him to your
breast.
That would be the natural thing for a
mother to do, wouldn't it?
Take up her son, clutch him to her
breast, and walk out thanking the prophet.
That would have been wonderful too.
But here we see, she thanked him first,
and then she took up her son and
went out.
Gratitude.
Are you and I grateful?
Are we thankful?
Gratitude.
Gratitude to God.
Gratitude for His blessings.
Gratitude for what He does.
She was a woman of hospitality.
She was a woman of discernment.
She was a woman of common sense.
She was also a woman of reverence.
She was a woman of contentment.
She was a woman of faith.
She was a woman of gratitude.
Seven qualities that go to make up greatness
in the eyes of God.
Seen in a woman, a common woman you
might say, available to you and me, may
they be developed in your life and mine
in increasing quantity and character.
Shall we pray?
Our Father, we desire to thank You this
morning for our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank You that He passes by us
continually, that He desires to dwell with us,
that He desires to do great things for
us, that He desires to bestow upon us
blessing, that He desires to develop within us
those qualities that will endure for eternity.
We thank You this morning, our Father, that
Thou art training us and fitting us for
eternity.
This little life down here passes by, but
what we become, what we learn, what we
acquire of our Lord Jesus Christ is that
which we will carry away with us and
enjoy throughout the countless ages of eternity.
Bless Thy Word to each one.
We thank You for all who are here
this morning, and remember those who could not
be with us in the name of our
Lord Jesus.
Amen.