Amen. Let's turn in God's Word
tonight. We're going to turn to 2nd
Kings. We're in chapter 4.
We're going to break into the chapter and we're going to read
from verse 38. Second Kings chapter 4, verse
38. I'd love to give you a page
number, but your Bible may be numbered differently from mine.
But Second Kings chapter 4 for those online, the words will
come up on screen and we're going to read from verse 38.
Let's hear the word of God. And Elisha came again to Gilgo,
and there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the
prophets were sitting before him.
And he said unto his servant set on the great pot, and seethed
pottage for the sons of the prophets.
And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and find a wild
vain, and gathered thereof, while gourds his lapful, and
came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them
not. So they poured out for the men
to eat, And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage,
that they cried out and said, O thy man of God, there is death
in the pot, and they could not eat thereof.
But he said, Then bring meal, and they cast it into the pot.
And he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat, and
there was no harm in the pot. Amen.
The Lord will add His blessing to this own public reading of
this precious Word, and we rejoice in the infallibility and
the inerrancy of the Word of God.
Now my text tonight is taken from Second Kings chapter 4, and
we're reading from verse 38 through to verse 41.
I've read it once and not read it again, but I've simply
entitled tonight's message There is Death in the pot.
Listen to one verse, the verse 39, verse 40 rather.
So they poured out for the men to eat, and it came to pass as
they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, O
thy man of God, that there's death in the pot and they could
not eat thereof. So our theme tonight, based on
this text, Second Kings chapter 438 to 41, is there's death in
the pot, or we could put it a different way, the poisonous hot
pot. The prophet Elisha had returned
again to Gilgal. Here we discover there's a
school of the prophets. They're sitting before him.
He is teaching them the word of God.
You think of a principal and a group of Bible students in a
Bible college. And we also read in the verse
38. And there was a dearth in the
land. Now that word dearth in the
Hebrew means a famine. And as the sons of the prophets
sat before him, and Elisha taught them the word of God,
Elisha said to his servant set on the great part, and seethed
pottage for the sons of the prophets.
The pottage was a kind of Stew. Young people, it's not porridge,
it's pottage, a kind of Stew. And according to verse 39, that
one went out into the field to gather herbs, found a wild vine,
gathered their off wild gerds A lapful, which means he he
probably held up his garment and filled it full and carried it
back to the place where they were cooking the pottage.
He then shred them into tiny little bits, added them to the
pottage. Now all this was done
innocently. All this was done accidentally.
It certainly was not on purpose. We read there in verse 39, for
they knew them not. And then in verse 40, as the
pottage was being served out, the men began to eat.
And then as they began to eat, they cried out and said,
according to verse 40, O man of God, there's death in the pot,
and they could not eat thereof. It was a poisonous pot, a
poisonous hot pot. And if the men had to continue
to eat, they could have died. Then Alicia did something
wonderful. There's a a wonderful miracle
here, a wonderful miracle that I'll not take time to explain.
But what he did was he ordered meal to be brought.
They cast the meal into the pot and then he said, pour out for
the people that they may eat. And according to verse 41 that
the last line of the verse, it says and there was no harm in
the pot. Now how, how do we interpret
this mighty miracle? What lessons can we learn from
this literal historical incident in the life of Elisha?
And the life of Elisha had many miracles to do with food.
And since we all love food, here's one of those miracles
tonight. I want you to think of four
things. I want you to think of the
condition that Elisha found. You see these events take place
at Gilgol. We read there in verse 38 and
Elisha came again to Gilgol that that's important underline the
word Gilgol. And here's the reality of the
condition. And there was a dearth in the
land. Now I've already told you in the
introduction the word dearth means a famine, so we can
literally read it. And there was a famine in the
land. Now Jericho or Gilgol was east
of Jericho. It was a place of lust
vegetation, a place of plenty, a place of fruitfulness.
Can you imagine the scene now in Gilgal?
There's no fruit in the vine, there's Baroness in the fig
trees, the the olive oil has field.
There's no crops in the field. There's no lambs or calves being
born. There's no herds in the stall.
You see, it's hard for us to imagine in the Western world
because we live in a land of plenty.
We look in our fridge, in our cupboard, and if there's nothing
there, then we go down to the supermarket.
You could go to Lidl, you could go to the Euro spa and you can
buy all that you need. We live in a land of material
plentifulness. But think of life in ancient
Israel. You see, life was such that
times were hard, times were such that starvation was just around
the corner. Starvation and hunger was never
really far away and here it is, we read and there was a dearth
in the land and it impacted upon Gilgol.
And this is 1 of 13 famines that we read about in the Bible.
Here's one of the best places in the land for plenty and
vegetation and yet there was a famine here.
Gilgol represents place of redemption, the place of
renewal, the place of refreshment, and yet it was a
not very place and there was a famine in the land.
The famine actually lasted 7 years according to Second Kings
chapter 8 verse one. Now that's the reality of this
condition and if I spiritualise that we are living in days not
of a literal famine but of a spiritual famine.
And in the book of Amos, in Amos chapter 8 and in the verse 11,
we read a tremendous statement there in relation to the subject
of famine. It says in Amos 8 verse 11,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a
famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
And is this not true today? See someone has rightly said the
Church of Jesus Christ must learn from its past, but can't
live in it. And the Church of Jesus Christ
in Ulster has an illustrious past.
Three times God visited this land.
With revival we we think of the multitude of churches that were
open to different denominations, all to the glory of God.
God's praise was sung, prayer was offered to the Almighty, the
preaching was clear and pay and men were called to repentance
and faith in Jesus Christ. The the preacher and the
eldership were energised by the power of the Spirit.
But the reality is today the Church of Jesus Christ in Ulster
as a mere shadow of its former self.
For many who name the name of Christ, they have a name to live
and are dead. How many churches have been
closed? How many churches have been
turned into restaurants? We pass one the other night
going through Dungalon to go into Cookstown.
Some have been turned into carpet warehouses, furniture
shops go down the Lisburn Rd. There's one there.
How is this possible? You see, sometimes we focus on
how's the church doing financially and I'm the one that
worries about the finances and leave it before the Lord.
And the Lord has supplied our need from our inception almost
50 years ago right up to the present time.
I'm the one that worries in a sense about numbers coming, and
I pray about that and pray over these seats and leave that
before the Lord. I'm concerned about the church
socially and I rejoice in how affectionate you are one towards
another and how much you reach out to one another, little cards
in the telephone and how you speak to one another in the
House of God. That's all important.
But how does the Lord see us? Is the Lord really interested in
the finances and the social ability of the church or, or, or
or its numbers? While they're important, they're
not the be all and end all. I believe the most important
thing is how do we stand spiritually before the Lord?
What does the Lord say? What does the Lord say?
See, I want you to think not only the reality of this
condition, but I want you to think of the reason for this
condition. I believe the reason for this
condition when it says that there was a famine in the land
had to do with sin. The people by and large in this
day had forgotten God had forsaken him.
The Baroness physically in the land was a saying.
It was a pointer to the Baroness spiritually in the land.
Yes, thank God there was a prophet of God here, and Elisha
came again to Gilgod. Elisha was God's prophet.
Yes, thankfully, in Gilgal there was a school of the prophets, a
faithful remnant, a group of young men going on with God, a
group of young men who were standing for truth and
righteousness, a group of young men that wanted to learn the
word of God, wanted the lesson. But remember, Elisha, the
prophet and the sons of the prophet lived in the midst of a
land that was almost destroyed by an ongoing spirit of the
apostasy. There was a great departure from
God. Because remember what we read in
the book of Jeremiah, in Jeremiah chapter 2 and in the
verse 13. Jeremiah 213 says this.
For my people have committed 2 evils.
They've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and
hewed them out. Cisterns, broken cisterns that
can hold no water. The people had turned their back
on God. This was a serious spiritual
departure from God. The people preferred to copy the
lifestyle of the heathen nations all around them.
People willfully had chosen a a path of sinfulness and a path of
recklessness. Beal worship, sadly, was the
order of the day. Beal worship was an evil wicked
system of man made religion and remember what the Bible tells
us. Proverbs 1434.
Sin is a reproach to any people. Righteousness exalteth the
nation and I want to tell you tonight, sin is not a good
choice. Sin pays wages for the wages of
sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life.
The soul that sinneth that shall die.
Ezekiel 18 and four, and no nation can turn its back in God
and expect to prosper. Sin brings the displeasure of
God. Because of sin, God withdraws.
Remember what the prophet Isaiah said.
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot see,
neither does this ear heavy that it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not
hear. Is I have 59 one and two through
the prophet again he said, is I have 58 and one, listen to these
words. Is I have 58 and one, cry aloud.
Spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my
people their transgression and the House of Jacob their sins.
God withdraws His presence and His power because of sin.
And all of this happened in the days of Elisha, in the days when
he sat in Gilgal teaching a tiny remnant of the sons of the
prophets. The famine came about by divine
appointment, not by accident. God had warned him.
Forsake me, forget me, and here's a sign of my displeasure.
Your land will suffer. And the land of Israel at this
time was suffering under a load of sin, and our United Kingdom
is suffering tonight because of the wickedness and sinfulness of
the people in our nation. Remember what the Lord Jesus
said in the Gospel of Mark. He said this about the human
heart, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, theft,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lusciviousness and evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil
things come from within and defy the man.
And over in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 21 and
verse 8, we read this. But the fearful, the man or
woman who's afraid to get saved and unbelieving, and the
abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and
idolaters and old liars that have their part in the lake,
which burn of the fire and brimstone, which is the second
death. We could flag up other
references. Romans chapter 1, verses 18 to
32. Too long a passage to read, but
there's a whole catalogue of sins there.
And people think because of these sins that I have read,
God's judgement is coming upon the United Kingdom.
And it is. But let me tell you, it goes
much deeper than that. The sin in the land is a sign of
God's great displeasure already. And we need to understand this.
The great sin is not merely what men do to themselves or men do
to men, or men do to women or women do to men.
No, the great sin is this, that although men and women in
society knew that there was a God, a God that would bring them
into judgement, the true and the living God, Creator, Maker,
Sustainer and provider, the great sin is this that didn't
want them in their life. So let me ask you this, do you
know God tonight? Do you know God's Son, Jesus
Christ? Is he your Lord and Saviour?
Are you in a right relationship with him individually?
Have you received him? Do you rest alone in him for
salvation? Do you love him tonight?
Are you living for Him? See, we want to call the United
Kingdom tonight to repentance. We need to say to the King on
the throne, King Charles, We need to say to the Prime
Minister and all the Westminster parliamentarians and those in
the House of Lords, we want to warn them that sin pays wages,
sin brings consequences. One of the most important things
that they need to bear in mind is this what you will you do
with Jesus, which is called the Christ because God has done all
that God has done, creation, Providence and redemption.
God has done all this for the sake of and on behalf of His Son
Jesus Christ, and in all of life's during time as it
progresses, right until the end of day.
All that God has done, He's done because of on behalf of His Son.
And yet how many have refused him?
How many have rejected him? The sin of Christ's rejection
and all the other sins of our day and generation has robbed
our land and robbed the Church of great spiritual blessing.
It's wonderful tonight to know that Elijah didn't give up.
We thought this morning, stand fast in the Lord.
Well, Elijah stood fast in the Lord.
He didn't quit. He kept on doing what God had
called him to do. Here's Elisha in the midst of a
teaching session. He's sitting before the sons of
the prophets. Here's a Bible school.
Here's the lead principal teaching the pupils.
Or we could say it's a teaching conference.
Or we could say it's a church service, like a pastor.
People relationship. The sons of the prophet are
sitting at delicious feet and he's teaching the word of God to
them, teaching the word of God that he's teaching hungry
students. Here's a big deal.
The food is scarce, people in the land and the brink of
starvation. You would think that that would
cause a crisis, that would cause a panic that would draw your
mind out. Where's tomorrow's food going to
come from? But what are the sons of the
prophets doing? What is Elicia doing?
Recognising there's a greater famine in the land?
For they gathered a feast in the word of God.
I told you this morning, I repeat, man shall not live by
bread alone, but be every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God. Thank the Lord, in a licious day
there were 7000 that had not bowed to need a Beal.
I know, hardly a massive movement, but a godly remnant.
And here at Gilgal, even in the place of famine, God is about to
work a miracle. The word applies to the Sinner.
The word can apply to the Saint. You see we have here in this
story one man's action and death is passed on.
Does that not remind us of Adam and his disobedience and Eden?
Romans 5 and 12 where for us by one man's disobedience sin
entered into the world, and death by sin and death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned.
When did we all sin? We sinned, and Adam as an Adam
all die. See, sin is universal, death is
universal. What impact sin has not one you
that this man's action would bring about the passing on of
death. There was not one aware, not one
awake. Here's the fact there was death
in the pot, and they were so insensitive to that because they
were insensitive to sin. Not aware, not awake, couldn't
see the danger, couldn't see death.
Is that a picture of you tonight?
It applies to the Saint. As I told you, Alicia didn't
give up. He kept going.
He was not swayed from his divine purpose.
And there's a lesson here for us.
We can take heart those that tell us there's no point to a
gospel preaching service on a Sunday night.
There's no point of doing outreach.
The people isn't interested. There's no point in having
children's ministry because the children won't come.
Remember, this is a day of apathy, a day of apostasy, a day
of religious decline and declension.
And yet, what was Elisha doing with the sons of the prophets?
He was teaching those who wanted to hear the word of God.
And that's what we need to do the same tonight.
Let's just think of the condition that Elisha found very
quickly, the contamination that Elisha faced.
See, think of this hot pot of food, this pottage of Stew.
One of the men went out and brought a lap full of gourds.
He cut them all up into wee bits, put them into the pot.
But this action, accidentally as it was, meant the entire pot was
contaminated. It meant there was poison in the
pot, and it was all rooted in a lack of discernment.
Look at these words, for they knew them not, neither the young
man that brought them or those that watched them, cutting them
up and putting them into the pot, for they knew them not.
Think of the poisonous pot tonight.
Is that not a picture of our United Kingdom?
You think of the sinful things that have been added into the
life of the nation because there was a lack of discernment,
whether at the high essence or launch of society.
The King, members of Parliament, the members of the House of
Lords because of this back cloth of forgetting God and forsaking
him. We could list the things they're
trying now to bring in ID cards forerunner to the mark of the
beast abortion and demand transgenderism assisted suicide
in euthanasia Sunday training to add into the gambling laws and
the drinking laws and and and wanting to push for legalisation
of drugs. It's all there.
It's all part of a poisonous pot.
It's impacting on the life of the nation.
Think of this poisonous pot tonight as a picture of the
professing church United Kingdom.
Many churches have contaminated, contaminated because of the
leaven of apostasy. This apostasy came in unnoticed.
Sadly it was brought in by the clergy.
I say that to shame the clergy. But remember we read there in
the book of Jude, in Jude verse 4 it says this.
For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of
old ordained in this condemnation ungodly man,
turning the grace of our God into lusciviousness.
In other words, a licence to sin and denying the only Lord God.
Imagine clergymen sin. There is no God, God doesn't
exist and our Lord Jesus Christ denying him in his person and
work. I've already told you his
churches in Belfast have been turned into eating houses,
social clubs, warehouses, studios, centres for sin and
vice. And part of the rot that came in
I, I, I, I say this deliberately was because of the church's
decision to throw out the faithful translation of the King
James Bible and bring in modern versions under the guise that
they're easier to read and easier to understand.
They've added to and they've taken away from the word of God.
You think of the mix of the ecumenical movement, the
charismatic movement, the liberals, the modernisation of
the day, the higher criticism, resurgent Romanism, the
influence of Islam. All of this is part of this
poisonous part. Let me say this very quickly.
You know, we live in a day when you've got the stupidity of the
specialist that that was a sermon titled by Joseph Parker
from First Peter chapter 2. The builders refused the
cornerstone of the building. The so-called building experts
said no to the cornerstone and he entitled a sermon on that.
The stupidity of the specialist societies crumbling all around
us. There's a breakdown or break up
of family units. There's a rejection of the old
foundations based on the word of God. the United Kingdom,
remember, was built on a tradition of 1500 years of judo,
Christian values, and it's been rejected and set aside.
For what? For rationalism.
What is rationalism? It's man's reason.
It's sufficient to solve the problems of life.
I want to tell you man's reason is darkened, Man's reason is
depraved, man's reasoning is deceased.
Man's reasoning was to set aside the Bible and to set aside the
God of the Bible. And once you set aside the Bible
and set aside the God of the Bible, it's like eating from a
poisonous pot. Does Bible colleges today, not
all over the land, have a new brand of Christianity?
Many have thrown out the 10 commandments and say it belongs
to the Puritan age. Rejected that it's the universal
moral law of God, Rejected the fact that it's a guide to show
us how sinful we are. It's a guide to show us God's
high and holy standard that we can't attain to ourselves that
points us to Christ. We live in a day when even Bible
colleges, professors and lecturers have redefined sin.
Oh, it's not a transgression of the law of God.
They they call it now a sickness.
Does any wonder the church is rife with coldness,
prayerlessness, worldliness, carelessness, and a selfishness.
And the main set of the majority of professing Christians is to
get all you can can all you can get and depart with everybody
else. We're in the midst of a
spiritual famine, folks. Why?
Because there's poison in the pot.
There's a picture of our land and his Natal Kingdom.
It's a picture of the church. Very quickly, think of the
challenge that Elijah felt. There was a cry in verse 40.
Oh, thy man of God, there's death in the pot.
They could not eat thereof. Here's the challenge that he
felt. There was a great awakening.
There was a discovery the food is poisoned and thank the Lord
for those that are discovering and have awakened and at least
acknowledge that the food in our land, spiritually speaking is
poisonous to the landless people.
And it's the same with the church death in the pot.
They became conscious of it. And we need such an awakening in
our United Kingdom. And I believe there is a
stirring and even among the young people there is an A
stirring because this great awakening leads to a great
alarm. There's a cry death in the pot.
I know we could rediscover why our land is in the state that
it's in and see what sin has done, because sin's a reproach
to any people. And there's a great abandonment
here. It says in the text.
And they could not eat thereof. In other words, they stopped
eating. And that's what we need.
We need the Sinner to discover his own sinfulness before God.
We need the Saint to discover there's nothing to be gained by
sin and abandoning the old past and the old truth.
There's all to lose and all we could learn from our past.
We'd love our past, not live in it.
This sin needs to be repudiated. Churches need to repent.
Great discovery of a great danger.
There's death in the pot. Can I finish tonight?
Think of the cure that Elisha focused.
What did he say Then? Bring meal and he cast it into
the pot and said poor right for the people that they may eat and
there was no harm in the pot. Elisha the prophet had a cure.
What's the antidote meal? The meal speaks of Christ.
See, Christ is the antidote. Christ is the answer.
Remember what we read in John chapter 12 and in the verse at
24 and we read of something wonderful when we think about
the harvest time. Except the corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die. It abide it alone, but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
The meal speaks of Christ. Christ is the answer to the
poisonous part. You see Christ tonight as our
great high Priest. Christ tonight is our holy
prophet to teach and tell us the way of salvation.
Christ tonight is our heavenly Prince.
He feels your burden. He says he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life. And he's calling the Sinner.
He's calling the Saint to discover the antidote and the
answer to the Church and to life's problems.
I trust and pray that as we thought about this miracle
wasn't a magic trick. This is a real historical,
literal account, a real literal miracle from God.
And it was put into the Bible for our education and for our
encouragement and for our learning.
Let's remember the condition that Ilijah found, the reality
and reason for the famine. Let's think of the contamination
that he faced, a poisonous pot. Let's remember the challenge
that he felt. Oh man of God, they were crying
out. There's death that they told
them they were looking to him for help and he was the cure
that he focused on. Bring the meal.
The meal is a picture of Christ. Will you have Christ tonight?
May the Lord help us to rediscover and rejoice and
receive Christ. Christ alone.
The Lord bless you. Thanks for coming.
I pray that what I have tried to speak on, hurriedly prepared,
will be a blessing and a help in these days.