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Thank you very much. All right, everyone. Welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. If you'd please make it to your seats. We'll be turning to song number 363 for our first song. Wonderful Words of Life. Song number 363. On the first, sing them over again to me. Wonderful words of life. Let me more of their beauty see. Wonderful words of life. Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. On the second, Christ the blessed one gives to all. Wonderful words of life. Sinnerless to the loving call, wonderful words of life. Also freely given, wooing us to heaven. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Wonderful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. On the last, sweetly echo the gospel call, wonderful words of life. Offer pardon and peace to all, wonderful words of life. Jesus, only savior, sanctify forever. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. All right. At this time, we will have the announcements. All right. Well, welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. We'll go through these announcements here real quick. Weekly church service times, Sunday mornings are at 1030, Sunday evenings at 6, and Wednesdays are at 7 p.m. Underneath there is a list of soul winning times. Soul winning is when we go out to the community and preach the gospel to the lost. This month, soul winning is every single day. So if you want to go, just give me a call or send a text message to the church, 208-391-5323. All right. Next page tonight will be in 2 Kings 13. So our reader's not here tonight, so after the next song, just open up your Bible to 2 Kings 13. We'll just get right into it. Next Sunday, Brother Corbin Russell from Faithful Word Tucson, he will be here preaching for us, so I'm looking forward to that. Let's see here. The 22nd on Wednesday is the birthday beating, and you don't want to miss that because Kenley's getting beat. Verse of the week is Matthew 16, verse 15, which says, He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And of course, we talked about that this morning. We are a family integrated church. We're still working on that room over there. We'll have it done hopefully by Wednesday. I have some internet issues off and on today. Let's see here. Don't forget to turn your phone off or place it on silent so it's not a distraction. And again, just another quick reminder, if you have prayers, prayer requests or praises, just put them in the box back there. Or you can always send a text message to the church, and we will put that on the list for Wednesday. So again, with that being said, we're going to have one more song, and then right after that, we're going to turn your Bibles to 2 Kings 13. All right. For our second song, we'll be turning to song number 281. Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior, song number 281. On the first. Pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. On the second. Let me at a throne of mercy find a sweet relief. Kneeling there in deep contrition, help my unbelief. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. On the third. Trusting only in Thy merit, would I seek Thy face. Heal my wounded, broken spirit, save me by Thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. On the last. Thou the spring of all my comfort, more than life to me. Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in heaven but Thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. All right. Well, go ahead and open up in your Bibles to 2 Kings, chapter number 13. 2 Kings, chapter number 13. Last week, we were able to go through chapters 11 and 12, and that basically got us through the southern kingdom of Judah's queen, if you will, Athaliah, and her grandson, whom she tried to kill. And, of course, we took a look at his or Jehoash's tragic ending to his life. Remember what we talked about, how the Bible says that Jehoash, as he was following the word of God, following the guidance of Jehoi to the priest, things were going well, he was doing well, but as soon as Jehoi to the priest had died, he started to cling to the counsel of the people that were around him, and, of course, he turned his heart away from following the Lord, and he basically went down in a tragic way, what a horrible way to end your life, by basically turning your back on the things of God. And so now in chapter number 13, we're going to pick it back up, and it's going to be talking again about the northern kingdom of Israel. So, just pay attention tonight, and then obviously we're taking a break next week, but when we come back, I'll go over these names again, because it's going to start to get really confusing. There's two Jehoashes, and a lot of times they're said different ways, and so when you get to this part of Israel's history, it can be a little bit confusing, but I believe we'll be able to clear a lot of that stuff up for you tonight, and again in a couple of weeks. So, just again, just to really quickly get you caught up with the northern kingdom, remember we had been dealing for a long time with what we call the Omri dynasty, remember there was Omri, and he had Ahab, and Ahab obviously wicked, Ahab had Ahaziah, he didn't reign for very long, and then it was Jehoram, his son which reigned for several years, and of course the Bible says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord, however there's a lot of good interactions recorded with him and Elisha the prophet. And speaking of Elisha the prophet, tonight is going to be basically his end, and because of that I titled the sermon Them Bones, which we'll get to here at the end of the sermon. And the reason why I title that is because I'm a 90s kid from the Seattle area, and of course if you're familiar with any of that, there was a band back in the day called Alice in Chains, and they had a song called Them Bones, and it's basically the guy complaining and singing about how he's going to end up a pile of bones, and unfortunately for him, you know he's a Christ rejecter, he actually did die a premature death, but these pile of bones here actually do something miraculous, which we'll talk about here in a little while. So we are on now to the Jehu dynasty, remember Jehu put an end to the Omri dynasty, not only that but he also put an end to this ecumenical thing going on here between the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, and of course God said because he was so zealous, because he did follow the Lord in executing what God wanted him to, God said that up to the fourth generation after you will remain, you'll basically have an offspring on the throne of Israel, so we're going to be learning about Jehu's children and how they reigned, and unfortunately it's nowhere near as good as Jehu, so with that being said let's start off here in verse number one, the Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 13 verse 1, it says in the three and 20th year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, so it's just trying to give you reference here, so in the three and 20th year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned 17 years, so again this Joash, Jehoaz, Jehoaz, all these different names here can get confusing, the important thing for you in your personal Bible reading is to just keep reading over this, don't be afraid to slow down, back up a chapter or two if you need to, or simply something that can help you and you can come see me later, we have charts with all the kings in order, so if that's something that you want you can either email the church or you can call, or you can just come see me if you're here afterwards and I will provide one for you, sometimes it helps to look at that as you're reading through the Bible, but basically the context here we're back focusing on the northern kingdom, but as these chapters progress throughout the rest of the book you're going to see more of Judah be integrated, and the reason for that is because the northern kingdom is about to be wiped out in a couple of chapters, so back on track here look at verse number two it says, and he, referring to Jehoahaz, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin he departed not there from. Now to make matters even more confusing there's another Jeroboam that's going to be king, and he will be mentioned in this chapter as well. Now okay let's talk about this here okay, why is God upset, why does the Bible say that Jehoahaz did that which was evil? Well because if you think about it when Jehu cleaned house, got rid of Baal okay, when Jehu got rid of the prophets of Baal got the images and all that stuff out of the land, Israel had a chance to start over. They actually had a chance to do the right thing and go down to Jerusalem, and do worship the way that it was meant to be done in this time in their history, but they neglected and you know what that part of that that that blame there has to rest on Jehu's shoulders too, because the Bible does say that Jehu did fail to get rid of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which you all know by now the golden calf worship okay. So basically in a nutshell you know the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he basically provided a convenient so-called easy way to worship the true God, but in the northern kingdom again they were trying to prevent people from coming from the north down, to the southern kingdom to worship because the king was afraid of losing control, and it's really the same thing you have going on today. A lot of these churches that are out here in the world today, they're nothing more than golden calf worship centers okay. They're convenient ways to get your ears scratched or your back scratched, your ears tickled however you want to put it and to make you feel good. Look these stories a lot of times there's a lot of hard truths in them and they don't make us feel good, but that's what we need if we're going to be good soldiers for Christ, if we're going to stand firm on the truths found in the Bible. And so what we're seeing here is that they had a chance to start fresh, to start over, to get it right they didn't do it okay. And of course God is upset look at verse number three, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Okay so God is upset he has given them some time, he has given them some space look what it says, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael all their days. Now this goes back to what God told Elijah when he was on the run from Jezebel. He said okay whoever Elisha doesn't slay who Jehu will slay, and whoever Jehu doesn't slay, Hazael will slay. Okay God is trying to get their attention here. He's trying to get their attention, but they are not waking up to the truths that God wants them to wake up to. So he delivers them into the hand of the enemy. Now look at verse four it says in Jehoaz, besought the Lord. Okay now understand something here just because these kings did evil, doesn't always mean the reprobate or rejected or anything like that. Look when this guy realizes hey I've got no way out of this, we're done, we are through. Look what the Bible says, And Jehoaz besought the Lord, the Lord in all caps, that is the God of Israel, and the Lord hearkened unto him, for he saw the oppression of Israel because the king of Syria oppressed them. Now keep something right there, and I want you to go forward in your Bible to Psalms, the book of Psalms. We're going to go all the way over to Psalm chapter 103. Now we were here this morning, but I want to highlight something that I see here, and something that I think we often, I guess neglect maybe gets passed over in conversation and just in sermons in general. So what you have going on here in 2 Kings, you have a disobedient king who the Bible says wholeheartedly basically did evil, meaning he did more harm than he did good. However, when he gets in trouble, he wholeheartedly and honestly calls on the Lord for help. And you know what the Lord does? The Lord helps him. And I want to read some verses out of Psalm 103 where we read from this morning, and I want to show you something and give you some hope and give you something to think about. Because once again, what did Paul say about these Old Testament books? He said that these things were written for our admonition. These things were written for our learning, and there is something that we need to learn from this passage here, and I want to show you this. Psalm 103, let's take a look at verse number 8. So this is a psalm of David. Look at what this says in verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. I think sometimes even us as fundamentalists, I think we often become this ruthless judge over ourselves. And I think sometimes when things in our lives start to go bad, or maybe we just realize, you know what, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that. I think we have a tendency to really beat ourselves down, almost to the point to where we beat ourselves out of church. And I want to read these to you and talk about them because I think it will provide just some encouragement that you may need one day. Look at verse number 9, it says, he will not always chide. What does it mean to chide, to go back and forth, to fight, to have conflict? It says he will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. You know what this means? That when God takes care of something, when God says, you know what, for example, Jehoah has, because you want to be a cluck, and you want to do your own thing, I'm going to send this nation after you, and they're going to beat you down. You know, as soon as that king says, I've messed up, I acknowledge that. God immediately wants to restore fellowship, okay? The Old Testament God, this is important for us to understand here because a lot of people will tell you and will challenge you and say the Old Testament God was just as horrible, mean, nasty, whatever, okay? Nothing could be further from the truth because this psalm states the fact that he is merciful, he is gracious, but it also says that he is slow to anger. Slow to anger, I mean, think about the chances that this nation has had. How many prophets, how many judges, how many kings, how many people has God raised up to try and get their attention? You're talking a couple thousand years at this point, a few thousand years at this point, okay? Look at verse 10, it says this, so after David tells us that he doesn't keep his anger forever, look at verse 10, he has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our inequities. You say, wait a second here, why are they getting punished? Why are sometimes we go through chastisement? Remember the whole point of chastisement to the Christian, it's to correct behavior, it's to get an acknowledgement, that's all it is, okay? God's not like up there just constantly trying to bring up every single thing that you have done wrong in your life. He is simply trying to get your attention and get a change in your courses of action, that is what this means. Verse 11, for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Now, Jehoah has obviously wasn't doing everything right, obviously he has issues, but you know what? He obviously also fears God on some level, because if he didn't, he wouldn't call out to him in the time of distress. And then of course we spent some time here this morning, verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. And we connected that with Romans chapter four, and we talked about the fact that our sins are forgiven, all of them, past, present, future. Look at verse 13, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Look, if you're saved, obviously you need to understand something here. You need to understand the relationship between parents and children. You need to understand, if you're a child, how your parents have pitied you, meaning how they have cared for you, meaning how they have not enjoyed hurting or disciplining you, though it may seem like that's the case, and yes, there are outlier situations, I understand that, we're not dealing with that tonight, but the fact is, the way that your parents are like, man, I really don't want to have to do this, God is like that with us, okay? And the moment we get the message, the moment we get the point, God is like, okay, now I can come in. Now that fellowship is instantly, immediately restored, and God is not holding grudges, okay? That is what this is saying. This is so important for us to understand, because I cannot tell you how many people I have seen beat themselves out of the Christian church because of the things they've done, the things they've thought, or what have you, okay? Learn what these things mean, and understand the fact that God is not up there just trying to cause you to fail, wanting you to fail. It is not like that whatsoever. It wasn't like that then, and it's not like that now. Verse 14, for he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. Now the question is, do we remember that we are dust? Or do we have this high, arrogant, pompous attitude that we don't deserve to be treated a certain way because we're something special? You know, sometimes we need to take a step back and realize, you know what? At the end of the day, we're dust. And God died for that dust, and God provided the ultimate sacrifice that all you have to do is put your faith and trust in him, and you're saved forever and ever and ever, and he cares for you. Verse 15, as for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field. So he flourisheth. Verse 16, for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. That's us. That's humanity. Your life is like a vapor. It's here today, gone tomorrow. That is what the Bible is saying. However, God still cares for you. The Bible says that God knows how many hairs are on your head. Okay, think about that. When you are faced with anxiety and you're faced with your past and it's haunting you and it's beating you down and it's preventing you from doing what you want to do. You need to let go and understand, wait a second here. I don't have to beat myself up. I understand that what I did was wrong. I understand what I'm doing is wrong, and I understand that God is slow to anger and he's full of mercies, and his mercies are new every morning. And if he loves us that much, even though we are dust, even though we're here for a moment, gone the next moment, we've got nothing to worry about. We can move forward. We can take whatever we have gone through and push forward and stop allowing the flesh or these demons that whisper in your ears to slow and bog you down. Verse 17, But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children. Verse 18, It says to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them. Who are those that keep his covenant? What's his covenant? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Call upon the name of the Lord and thou shall be saved. I mean, that's the covenant. So if you're in that covenant and you remember his commandments, which is to love God, you have that key. You have that direct access to God any time that you need it, any time that you need help. And that is what you're seeing in second Kings chapter 13. Go back to that chapter if you would. So again, second Kings 13 verse four, And Jehoahaz besought the Lord. Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that this evil king, this guy who did evil in the sight of the Lord is now going to get help? Yep. That's exactly what I'm telling you. Look at verse five. It says, And the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians, and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time. Think about that. Think about that as far as mercy. All the stuff that this nation, this northern kingdom has done, that this king has done, he still hasn't got rid of the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Abed. He calls out to God and God helps him. Okay. I don't know anybody in here or that attends this church that is even as bad as this king. So why wouldn't he help you? Think about that. Think about that the next time you are facing some sort of mental fight that is holding you back from doing the things that you want to do for God. Okay. Verse seven says this. I'm sorry. Verse six. Look at verse six. Nevertheless, they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked therein, and there remained the grove also in Samaria. Now, I'm not endorsing this. The Bible's not endorsing this. It's just highlighting a fact for us. That's how much God cares about his people, which his people are you. Verse seven. Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz, but 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 footmen for the king of Syria had destroyed them and had made them like the dust by threshing. So understand how severe this beatdown from the Syrian nation was to the northern kingdom of Israel, and God still helped them. You might be sitting here or you might know somebody that's in a real bad place. Like, I don't have this much money. I don't have any resources. You know what? Can you at least acknowledge the Lord? Can you at least do that much? Because if you can, I promise you, he is going to help you in some way, shape, or form. Now, that's not a license to just do like they did and just, you know, okay, well, I got some help. Thanks a lot. I'll just go ahead and keep worshiping that golden calf Baptist church. You know, that's not what I'm saying here. You get the point. The point is ultimate, you know, connecting that fellowship, that relationship that God wants to have with his children. Okay? Verse eight says, Now the rest of the acts of Jehoaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And of course, we know that it is. So, verse nine, And Jehoaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his stead. Okay? So remember, the southern kingdom of Judah, they have their own Joash. Okay? Now we're back. We're talking about the northern kingdom, okay? And so this is Jehu's grandson, and now his name is Joash, and we're going to talk about him. Verse 10, And the thirty and seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, began Joash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. So you've got about 33 years now since Jehu has departed, unfortunately. Verse 11, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel descend, but walked therein. You see, this does also bring up the fact that the decisions that we make affect, or can affect, our children and our children's children, because that's the one thing that Jehu failed in. The one thing that Jehu did not get right was he didn't get those stupid calves out of Israel. Had he done that, I feel that we would be reading a totally different story right now. Verse 12, Verse 12, And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did in his might, wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, were they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. So you can see now they're kind of back to where they were before the Omri dynasty. Okay, so instead of Judah and Israel palling around and compromising, okay, they're back, actually back at each other's throats again, which is better than being ecumenical, which also kind of brings me to this point, I guess. You know, I believe, you know, like the Bible says, you know, what did God tell or say in Revelation? You know, he said that I would, what did he say to Laodicean church? I would that you were rather be, I would rather you be either cold or hot instead of lukewarm. Okay, I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point here. And that's kind of the state that now God has both of these kingdoms in. Israel's cold, and Judah's either cold or hot, depending on their king. Of course, we'll talk about that at a later time. Verse 12, it says in the rest of the Acts of Joash and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah. Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And of course, yes. Verse 13, and Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne, and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And that kind of brings me back to something I was going to say, but it just kind of slipped my mind. There's a lot of people come after us, and a lot of people will attack you. They will attack me. In fact, this happened on Friday. And they like to bring this up, and I talked about it a little bit this morning, and that is that none of the churches around here like us. Big deal. I don't care who likes me and who doesn't. I never have. That's probably why I'm in this position to begin with. But the point is, God doesn't care either. God wants his people to be zealous for him and to fellowship with other people that are zealous for him. Us befriending some lukewarm, golden calf-type church isn't going to do anything unless they throw away their lukewarmness, unless they want to throw away all that garbage and trash that they're doing and come and be like us. It's going to produce nothing. If we were to compromise and be like, okay, well, I think we can get along and go along to get along, we would be the ones lowering our standards, and that's not going to happen. And God is okay with that. God would rather us be hot and few in number than large and lukewarm. Okay? Verse 13. It says, And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne, and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And so there you have it. Just a basic, quick rundown of the Jehu dynasty. You've got Jehu, then you've got Jehoaz, Joash, and then Jeroboam II. Okay? And the Bible will bring him up a little bit, but it's going to go and switch gears a little bit, and we're going to talk about Elisha the prophet. He is about to pass on here, and let's talk about him. Look at verse 14. It says, Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness, whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. So again, you see this pattern sometimes with these kings in the northern kingdom, where they get into trouble, but yet they'll recognize the prophet. Okay? So what is he complaining about here? Well, he's upset because of the economic state and the military might that has been lost. Verse 15. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows, and he took unto him bow and arrows. Okay, now Elisha's going to have him do something that a lot of people don't understand, and it may seem kind of weird, but we'll break it down. Verse 16. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it. And Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. And then Elisha said, Shoot, and he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria. For thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. Now again, nothing is in the Bible by coincidence or just as filler. Okay? Why does it say Aphek? Well, going back to Ahab, remember when Ahab was told by God that he had the opportunity to smite the Syrians through and through. Okay? And what did he do? He pulled the king's soul. He did not finish the mission. He had compassion on the enemy, which God said was a bad thing. And he said, Oh, is the king still alive? He is my brother. Remember that whole thing a few weeks ago? Okay? It's funny how God is now bringing that back full circle, and Jehu's grandson is actually going to be the one to carry out and actually finally fulfill that. However, there is a problem with Jehu's grandson concerning zeal. Verse 18. And he said, take the arrows, and he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, and this is very important here, not like anything else, but look what it says, smite upon the ground, and he smote thrice and stayed. Okay? So Elisha says, okay, take this arrow, take the arrow and smite, or take the arrows, plural, and smite upon the ground. He doesn't say just hit the arrows. He doesn't say just hit the ground. Right? He's basically saying, hey, take those arrows and hit the ground. Like start smacking the ground, like constantly. Okay? This is what he's trying to say. Hit the ground. Okay? And so what does the king do? He hits the ground three times and stops or stayed. That's what that means. Now look at the response from Elisha the prophet. Verse 19. And the man of God was wroth with him and said, thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria, but thrice, meaning three times. Okay? So it's kind of interesting here. Why is Elisha upset? Well, it helps when you understand the picture of Elisha that we've been talking about, and Elijah, that he represents the word of God. Okay? So since he represents the word of God, go back to verse 17 real quick, and let's understand this. So this is Elisha here, and he said, open the window eastward, and he opened it. Then Elisha said, shoot, and he shot. And he said, the arrow of the Lord's deliverance. Okay? So the arrow in this situation here symbolizes God's deliverance from Syria, from the oppression. Okay? Remember how badly they have been beaten. They've been beaten down almost like into the dust, the Bible said. Okay? A very bad beating. They have lost economically. They have lost militarily, and they lost themselves religiously. So these guys are doing terrible, but here Elisha, on his deathbed, is basically trying to tell the king here to get some zeal, to get zealous. And he tells him, hey, this arrow represents the Lord's deliverance. Now take that arrow, take those arrows, which represent the Lord's deliverance, and start smiting the ground. Okay? What would have happened if he would have just gone crazy and just said, blah. You know, Elisha would have been able to say, okay, stop. You're just gonna basically smoke the nation. But because he's like, okay, one, two, three. Is that good? Okay? Elisha was mad because he didn't get the message. He didn't get the point. He didn't understand. He half-heartedly did this. And what does that mean for us? Well, that exposes to us the fact that these guys were lacking in zeal. Therefore, that is going to affect them for the rest of their lives. That's what this means here. Now Elisha tells him, okay, that's fine that you did it three times. You're gonna smite Syria three times, but you could have really wrecked him. You could have done a complete and thorough utter destruction, and God would have been on your side. But because you're half-hearted, because you're not all in it to win it, God, you know, the prophet said, you're basically not going to ultimately win. And you're just gonna see these Syrians coming back and forth, back and forth. Okay? All the way pretty much until chapter 17. But look at verse 19. I'm sorry, verse 20. And Elisha died, and they buried him in the bands of the Moabites, invaded the land at the coming end of the year. So these guys just one problem right after the other. And I'm sure you've been there. I've been there. I've all basically felt like that. Now, up until this point, okay, if you study this out, and I'm gonna read these here just very quickly for you. From the time Elisha comes on the scene and he basically gets the mantle from Elijah the prophet, do you remember what he said? He asked, because Elijah was like, do you have any last requests before I leave? And Elisha said, I request a double portion of your spirit on me. That means that there would be 14 miracles that Elisha would be a part of because it's a double of the seven that we find in Elijah's ministry. Okay? So up until this point, there's 13, but Elisha's dead. Oh no, the word of God's failed. No, that's not it. We're gonna read the 14th one. But just for quick review, okay, the first miracle that is associated with Elisha the prophet is the fact that he parts the Jordan. Number two, if you remember, he heals the waters at Jericho. Number three, he cursed those children that mocked him. Remember those kids that came out, or those children, little children it says. They're not like munchkins, but you know, like your punk teens that are out here. And they basically are mocking Elijah and they're saying, go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head. You know what Elijah does? Sends two she bears. He curses them. That's what the Bible says. He curses them and two she bears, two female bears, come out and just mop these kids and just demolish them. Okay, that's the third miracle that we see. Number four, if you remember, going back again to the Moabites, when they were attacking the land and the northern kingdom of Israel's king calls the southern kingdom of Judah's king and they come up to fight the Moabites, Elijah says, all right, dig ditches and fill them with water. Remember when the Moabites showed up? They saw those ditches as filled with blood and so it deceived him and it allowed the nation of Israel and Judah to prevail. That was number four. Number five, if you remember, he multiplies the widow's oil. Number six, remember the Shunammite woman? There's a couple miracles with her. Number one, she was barren. Elijah said, you're gonna bear a son. That happened. Number seven was he resurrects that son later on. Number eight, remember he purifies the poison in the pot. Okay, remember that whole story with the prophet sitting around? He purified that stew. Let's see here, number nine, Naaman's leprosy. Remember that? That whole deal with Naaman the Syrian. Naaman the Syrian coming to see the prophet. Elijah tells him to go dip in the Jordan seven times, he does it. Leprosy gone, he offers money. Elijah says, nope, don't need it, don't want it. Just go ahead and go back to your land, live a happy life. Then Gehazi follows him and is like, you know, about that money, I'll take a little cut. Elijah's just a little too modest but we could use it. Okay, so that leprosy clings to him. That would be number 10. The iron floats. Remember when the ax head was lost and it was borrowed? Big deal, okay? Because of Elijah being there, it was able to float up to the surface and they were stayed from that. Number 12. Number 12 was where Elijah is being confronted with a large army and they are surrounded and his spirit, or his spirit, his servant is like, we're surrounded. What's gonna happen? We're doomed. And Elijah, what does he do? He prays to God that his servant's eyes would be open and that he would be able to see the innumerable amount of chariots and angelic beings there to help them and to stay back the enemy. That is number 12. Number 13 is when he blinded the Syrian army and led them on a wild goose chase and then took their blindness away and they're like, all right, I guess we're good. We're done here. And then, of course, number 14 actually happens after he dies. Let's go back to the chapter here real quick and let's look at verse 20 again. It says, and Elisha died and they buried him and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming end of the year. In verse 21 it says, and it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band of men and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha. And when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet. And so there that double portion is sealed. It is completed. Miracle number 14 in the Bible. And I wonder what the looks were like on their faces when they saw that. But, of course, there is symbology here. This is also metaphorically picturing life. It pictures an open tomb. Well, we all know who opened the tomb and walked out of it after death and now gives new life and that is Jesus Christ. So that is all inside of this passage here. Verse 22 says, but Hazeo king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. And, again, that could have been prevented had he had a little bit more zeal. Okay, sense of urgency. Something, again, that I see lacking in today's society and a lot of people today. This is a major, major problem. Any time that comforts abound, hey, we all love our comforts, we all love things that are convenient. But, unfortunately, what comes with that is always complacency, something we all need to be aware of and just keep monitoring and looking out for because we do not want to follow Jehoahaz's example in life. Verse 24, so Hazeo king of Syria died and Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his stead. And Jehoahaz, the son of Jehoahaz, took, again, out of the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Zale, the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz, his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him and recovered the cities of Israel. Okay, and then in chapter 14, it's gonna go back to Joash and Jehoahaz, okay? I think what I'm just gonna do after next week is I'm just gonna reprint out those charts of the kings and we're gonna kind of review these names again because this even confuses me and I've read the Bible way more than even 20 times. I have lost track, okay? And I even study these things. I'm like calling this guy Jeroboam when it's Joash, you know? So I get it. I understand the frustration, but remember the points, okay? Remember, any time we're going over these things, don't let this type of stuff bore you. I know we're not in the New Testament, but these things, again, they were written for your admonition. They were written for you to learn something, learn what to do, learn what not to do, learn what God does for his people, and furthermore, you wanna be part of that 1% of Christians that are out there that can explain your history. This is your history. Oh, this isn't just some Jew's history. No, this is your history. You're saved. You're a child of God. This is your history. You need to be able to explain these things and have a good foundation and sense of navigating the Bible and that is gonna set you apart from all these other people out there that claim to be teachers and scholars and this and that, and you're gonna be the one getting people straightened out on doctrine and helping people out and edifying other people that wind up coming in here. So we're gonna leave it there for tonight. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you again so much, Lord, for the time that you allow us to worship you. Thank you for all that you have done for us and continue to do for us. We just ask that you bring us back safely on Wednesday and bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. All right, everyone. For our final song of this evening, we'll be turning to song number 205. He keeps me singing. Song number 205. On the first, There's within my heart a melody Jesus whispers sweet and low Fear not, I am with thee Peace be still In all of life's ebb and flow Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go All my life was wrecked by sin and strife Discord filled my heart with pain Jesus swept across the broken strings Stirred the slumbering cords again Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go On the third Feasting on the riches of his grace Resting in the sheltering way Always looking on his smiling face That is why I shout and sing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go On the fourth Though sometimes he leads through waters deep Trials fall across the way Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep See his footprints all the way Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go On the last Soon he's coming back to welcome me Far beyond the sorry sky I shall wing my flight to world unknown I shall reign with him on high Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go Alright, let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this time we had to hear your word be preached. I ask that you please bless everyone's travels home tonight. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you for watching! you you