The Iron Did Swim
PPT 1 Series Title
Gods best version of me
PPT 2 Today's Message Title
Where Did You Lose IT
We began our series talking about how God's call is always forward, and you will remember I used the example of a cars gears and asked are you in park, neutral, reverse, or drive? God's best version of you is being in drive. Moving forward, growing in grace, not stuck in a spiritual rut.
Then we preached, not only do we need to be reaching forward, but we also need to be very aware that we don't let slip the things God has already given us.
The thief comes for to steal...
What do you have the devil wants? Salvation, the Holy Spirit, deposits God has made in your life, a testimony.
PPT 3,4 Text
2 Kings 6:1-7
2Ki 6:1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us.
2Ki 6:2 "Please let us go to the Jordan, and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live." So he said, "Go."
2Ki 6:3 Then one said, "Please be willing to go with your servants." And he answered, "I shall go."
2Ki 6:4 So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
2Ki 6:5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed."
2Ki 6:6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw [it] in there, and made the iron float.
2Ki 6:7 And he said, "Take it up for yourself." So he put out his hand and took it.
Last weeks message we pointed out how he lost and said it was because he wasn't practicing due diligence. The leather that held the axe head on began to get lose and he didn't perform basic maintenance.
This week I want to talk about where he lost it, and next week we will wrap up this discussion showing an example from Abraham's life on how, when, where he lost it and how he got it back.
Last week as I said we talked about it being lost probably as a result of not keeping up with basic diligence of his tools as a Christian that speaks to us of 3 things: prayer, the Word, and attendance in the house of God. You cut back on any of those three and you will lose your ability to influence others and be salt and light in this world.
I want to make a general observation and then we will dig into our subject:
PPT 5
Character will take you places your gifting cannot.
Gifting can take you places your character cannot keep you.
John Wooden quote: "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
A good attitude at work, working hard when no when is watching, honesty, reliability, integrity, can advance you in the secular world places your skills are not best suited for.
Why? Because those things are as valuable to employers as skill sets are.
Secondly gifting can take you places your character cannot keep you.
You can be promoted to a place that you will face temptations your character cannot handle. History is littered with carcasses of Christians whose spiritual lives were destroyed because of advancement in the secular world. The pressure of the office Christmas party, or to look and act a certain way....
Illus: I like to watch American Idol, a couple weeks ago a young black woman told the judges her singing had its roots in the church. She was asked by one of the judges what church folk thought of her singing secular music, without hesitation and with force she said, I don't care what the say. My heart sunk as I heard her say that, to me it was if she had said. "I will willingly walk away from my faith if I can make it as a secular musician." Many have done so. But I was overjoyed that on the show this past week she made the announcement that she was dropping out of the competition because of the negative impact it was having on her walk with the Lord. Wow! How is awesome is that, that she did it and Fox broadcast it. I guess the Lord took her to the wood shed over her comments, and she made the right decision. I laud her honesty, and the fact she placed her walk with God as more important that worldly fame. Gifting can take you places your character cannot keep you, if that is true for you, like her you need to run from the situation.
Work as hard on your character as well as your gifting.
Back to 2nd Kings This man was asked a specific question by the man of God.
Where did you lose it?
And without any hesitation at all on his part he could point to an exact spot in the river and say, that is where I lost it. Last week we talked about when it is hard to identify any specific thing that caused you to lose your cutting edge this week and next we are going to talk about specifics.
Some of you, and some of you watching on line, can almost immediately think of something, some event, some life choice and you know without a doubt that is when you began to lose your walk in God.
1. He lost it when we he flew off the handle
Literally. But it is also true spiritually. I mentioned it last week, but it bears repeating. Flying off the handle at employees, coworkers, or children can deteriorate your ability significantly to speak into their lives for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you flip some one off while driving your car, what will they think of your Jesus Saves bumper sticker, or your follow me to church sticker? In like manner if you explode on the job it seriously damages your credibility and ability to speak about the Lord, you lose your cutting edge.
2ndly we lose it when we let a standard slip.
When you changed your mind about something that used to be wrong, and now maybe its not so bad.
Under the heading of not being legalistic many Christians have returned to the vomit God delivered them from. What they failed to realized with each move away from that standard a basket is put over their spiritual luminosity.
Couple beers won't send you to hell, but it may be a sign that you have lost your edge and now you are seeking stimulation elsewhere because you are not finding it in God. Your quote "Christian liberty," end quote may be nothing more than the veil you wear over your face to hide the fact that your spiritual glow is gone. My wife had a saying written in her bible I read when we first started dating, and it has stayed with me ever since: (30 years and counting) "Temptation is the spirit crying out to be fed." Usually we think of temptation as the flesh crying out to be fed, but it just as much a truth that it is evidence you are drying up spiritually.
Ga 5:16 [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
And again:
Be not drunk with wine which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
When you are seeking stimulation outside of God, it is evidence you are drying up spiritually. Drink the real wine, and you won't want the wine that causes all kinds of problems.
Slipping standards is a surefire proof of a cutting edge that has been lost.
Have you taken up cussing again?
Have you stopped praying for those that spite you?
Is church attendance an option, a chore, or a joyous necessity?
Standards almost always slip as the glory fades.
Standards almost always come during a spiritual high.
The reason most Christians let standards slip is because they are hanging out with people whose edge has dulled.
When you live and hang around luke warm people you can feel comfortable there is no discomfort, but get around someone that is full of the Holy Ghost your spirit man will cry out in anguish at the realization of where you really are spiritually:
2Ki 6:5 But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed."
He realized he lost it in the presence of the prophet Elisha. There are a lot of people whom you can be around and never feel uncomfortable about the fact you have gotten Lukewarm.
When you are around dull people you cannot get a true reading of where you are at.
One standard that slips more that has caused a great many spiritual failures is found in this passage of scripture
PPT 6
2Co 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (NAS)
2Co 6:14 Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? (MSG)
1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Slipping standards is one of the things Jesus hinted at would be present in the last days:
PPT 7 Text
Lu 12:43 "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
Lu 12:44 "Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
Lu 12:45 "But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves, [both] men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;
Lu 12:46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect [him,] and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
Assign him a place with the unbelievers!
Now I want to stop this message right here, and start moving in a positive direction.
Because I could continue for a while on "where's", as in where did you lose it. But I have said throughout this series, I want it to be a series that helps with getting from here to there.
So lets do that. Let's get from lost to found.
It begins with his crying out and the realization he lost it. That is the first step in recovery.
Secondly he is asked a probing question. Have you ever noticed how many times God slapped people back into their senses simply by asking a question to them?
Adam, where are you? (He had to admit where he was)
(To Jacob) What is your name? (He had to admit he was a cheat)
Whose inscription is on that coin?
Children have you any meat? (They had to admit they rand from the call fished in the world all night and caught nothing)
Peter, do you love me? (He had to overcome the condemnation and reaffirm his love for Jesus)
Where did it fall, where did you lose it?
1st he become painfully aware of its loss.
2ndly he is asked a question that forces him to admit where things had gone wrong.
Thirdly PPT 8
2Ki 6:6 And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast [it] in thither; and the iron did swim.
The prophet cuts down a stick and it causes the iron to swim.
How can a stick cause iron to float?
Sticks float, the iron sunk. Never the two shall meet.
What's going on here? This is the gospel in the OT
In Bible college many of my professors hammered in this one truth:
The OT is the new concealed, the NT is the Old revealed
PPT 9
Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
He cut down a stick, and cast it in. He cut down a branch. God does nothing accidental, this is one of those secret nuggets of truth that is hidden in the Word of God. Jesus is the righteous branch, He was cut down for our sins, and any life He gets involved in He raises that person up from the muck of this world that they may be caught in. If you have ever been stuck in mud, it is one of the most difficult things there is to get out of. It takes power to get released from it's hold. Jesus has the power.
King James Version says the iron did swim the Hebrew word is tsoof and it means to overflow, to cause to float. In other words a power got underneath that axe head and shot it to the surface. Since it usually refers to overflowing water, I don't think I am over spiritualizing the text if I were to suggest that the living water Jesus promised shot down from the cross and pushed that iron up out of the muck.
It swam, it is as if the axe head said, I'm a coming back. I'm a swimming back to you. It flew to the surface with violent force. When the branch is thrown in restoration is immediate. Feelings may not be, but restoration is.
Lastly,
PPT 10
2Ki 6:7 Therefore said he, Take [it] up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.
Deliverance always has a part God must do, and a part we must do. Acts 13 the angel opened the gates, but told Peter to put his cloak on. God won't read your bible for you. God won't go to church for you. God won't come to this altar for you. God won't fast and pray for you. But He will open prison doors, cause an axe head to swim, set the captive free.
Close: You know this is the 3rd week on this subject and I didn't want to preach this message, I felt like it was already covered. But I feel like there are some here today who at a point in their past have grieved the Holy Spirit, and God wants to expose something significant that was quickly covered up.
Illus: I recently heard of a Pastor who 20 years earlier, when he was a youth pastor and his father was the senior pastor was involved in a serious indiscretion. They covered it up, and nothing was ever done about the situation. 20 years later it came out (he was now the senior pastor) and the church split, some thought he should step down others thought 20 years had past and he had repented. There is no condemnation in Christ, but there is a place for Godly sorrow and recognizing deep hurt that we caused ourselves, others, and also the grief we caused the Holy Spirit. Adultery, abortion, premarital sex, these are serious sins, and while God may forgive that doesn't mean He won't ever bring you into His office to help you understand the seriousness and the wrongness of what you have done.
Forgiveness is easy, but it came at a steep price His son. Just because you asked God to forgive you doesn't mean you have properly dealt with a wrong you have done.
If you asked Him to forgive you He did, don't get me wrong, but that doesn't mean you have come to grips with the seriousness of what you did, the impact and hut it made on others, the fact that it caused your axe to fall into the bottom of the Jordan, gave the devil and opportunity to make fun of the situation, or kept your for a season from being God's best version of you.
The bible says let repentance have its perfect work. Meaning let it produce Godly sorrow in you. I was raised Catholic and they had an interesting word they used in the Catholic church, I have hardly ever heard it in Protestant circles, and I think we are missing something because it is not enough a part of our vocabulary, that word is, "Contrition." It simply means to be sorry for your sins.
Sometimes God will take us to the wood shed and discipline us, and sometimes He will take us into His counselors office and try to get us to understand the evil of what we have done, so that we will be so sick of what we have done we will never do it again. That is letting repentance have its perfect work.
I did prison ministry for several years and perhaps the thing I saw little of was a sense of empathy on the prisoners part. Their attitude was I asked God to forgive me, He did, it's settled. Yes it is, but you haven't grown us a person until you come to grips with the hurt sin causes. I'm not talking about walking in condemnation, I am talking about what the Bible calls, "godly sorrow." Real repentance sometimes involves a season of mourning about what you have done.
Getting back to that pastor, it may be someone brought up his past as an act of spite or vengeance, I don't know, I certainly wouldn't approve of that. But it may also be it was God's way of saying, "Yes, I forgave you, but we haven't really dealt with this issue." Sometimes it is the enemy who brings up the past and sometimes it is God. I think today God would like to work some contrition in all our hearts, and it will be a good thing if we let Him do it.
Close: Are you aware of a place where you lost it? If you haven't you need to ask for forgiveness, if you already have, than perhaps today you should ask God to let repentance have its perfect work in you that you may be complete lacking nothing.
When we go to God through the "Branch," he can make our cutting edge swim swiftly back to us.
