A Miracle God Has For You

A MIRACLE GOD HAS FOR YOU

(The Miracle of The Water at Jericho)

2 Kings 2:19-2:22

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. The story is told that between heaven and hell there was a fence. The inmates of hell had a big fight and damaged part of the fence.

2. Peter called the devil and said, “It was fighting on your side that damaged the fence, so I’m expecting you to fix the fence.” The devil agreed.

3. But a long time passed without the fence being fixed. Finally, Peter called the devil and said, “If you don’t fix that fence by next week, I’m going to take you to court and file a lawsuit against you!”

4. The devil laughed and said, “Oh Yeah? And just where do you think you’re going to get a lawyer?”

B. TEXT

“Then the men of the city said to Elisha, ‘Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.’ And he said, ‘Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, ‘Thus says the LORD: I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’ So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.” 2 Kings 2:19-22

C. THESIS

1. Where is the least likely place would you except God to perform a miracle? We often think that miracles happen to other people but not to us. But frequently God chooses the most unlikely has called the most unlikely people and places to perform miracles.

2. Illustration: An alcoholic became a believer. He was asked how he could possibly believe all the nonsense in the Bible about miracles. A skeptic said, "You don’t believe that Jesus changed the water into wine do you?" "I sure do, because in our house Jesus changed the whiskey into furniture."

3. The greatest miracle is when a life is transformed by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

I. THE MERCY OF THE MIRACLE

A. JERICHO: A CURSED CITY

1. Behind this story is a long history. When Joshua and the Israelites entered Palestine, the first and greatest opposition they met was Jericho. Jericho was one of the oldest cities in the world, being first occupied about 9,000 B.C. It was a pagan city, with rampant idolatry, prostitution, and every other kind of evil. It stood as a symbol of a world without God, and as such, it was under a sentence of divine judgment.

2. It was the strongest city in Palestine, with double walls 32 feet high, the first wall 6 feet thick and the second wall 12 feet thick. It was a crowded city and had NEVER been conquered throughout its long history. The only way the Israelites conquered it was that God supernaturally made the walls fall down.

3. After its fall, Joshua & God cursed it; "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: "At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates" (Joshua 6:26). It was really more of a prophecy than a curse.

4. It had lain in ruins over 500 years (1451 B.C. – 910 B.C.) until the evil reign of King Ahab, when Hiel the Bethelite fulfilled the terrible prophecy, “In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun” (I Kings 16:34).

5. The city was rebuilt, but the spring and the soil upon which its prosperity depended still remained unhealed. The location and surroundings of the city were beautiful, but the water was bad and the land “miscarried.” The unusual word used here indicates that the water caused expectant mothers to miscarry or their children to be stillborn.

B. THE PEOPLE WERE HELPLESS

1. The situation created a sense of helplessness. Though generations had lived there and attempted to correct its deadly detriments, the struggle was useless; the land was barren and the water bitter. No effort by the people could remove the curse.

2. How striking is the image of godless civilization, stately and imposing, yet lacking the means to cure the spring of the corrupt human heart!

C. WE ARE UNDER A CURSE AND ARE HELPLESS

1. The Bible tells us that we, individually, are in the same trouble, spiritually, as Jericho.

2. Until we surrender to Jesus, we’re also under a curse, for God’s word says, “Cursed is the one who does not fulfill all the words of the Law...” Deut. 27:26. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and come short of God’s glory” and “The soul that sins – it shall die.” (Rom. 6:23; Ezekiel 18:20). Terrible judgment awaits us after death.