There's Death In The Pot

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

2 Kings 4:38

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

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

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

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

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

2 Kings 8 · chapter mention

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,

Amos 8 · chapter mention

we read a tremendous statement there in relation to the subject

of famine. It says in Amos 8 verse 11,

Amos 8:11

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

Jeremiah 2 · chapter mention

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

Romans 1:18–32

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

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

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

John 12 · chapter mention

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.