A Portrait of Sin
Notes
Transcript
On September 3 of last year - we started making our way through the book of 1 Kings.
On September 4th of 2022 - we started making our way through 1 Samuel.
And so for the past year and a half - we’ve been immersed in the Old Testament.
And I feel like within this past year and a half -
…my - APPROACH to the Old Testament has really changed...
And it changed when I began asking myself this question...
SLIDE:
What was God trying to teach mankind, about Himself, through the situations, the people, and the times of the Old Testament text?
When I started asking THIS question of the text, I feel like I began to see a deeper level of truth -
…beneath the seemingly ordinary - and NOT-SO ordinary stories.
NOW - whether I was always RIGHT in what I saw - remains to be seen I guess...
But I DO believe the question on the screen is a VALID question to ask of the text of the Old Testament.
And TODAY’s text is no different.
The text we’ll get into today - has some heavy things in it.
And yet I think that’s part of the point - as we’ll see.
Let’s read thru the passage - and then circle back.
24 Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
26 Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
27 And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?”
28 And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body—
31 and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”
32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33 And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
Heavy words - about a heavy situation - in the history of mankind.
We look out at our world TODAY - and I THINK we think - it’s just getting WORSE and WORSE!
“Back in the DAY - there was less evil in the world!”
Well - when you read about people EATING their children - by choice...
We might have to reconsider our previous thoughts.
Today’s passage - is saturated with - death.
Death reigns in this passage - and its something that we should dive into.
If you remember the title of this sermon - it might make a little more sense now...
“A Portrait of Sin”
The REASON I did not title it - - A Portrait of DEATH...
Is because SIN - begets - death…and so - we want to - need to - go to the ROOT of the matter.
And so - A Portrait of Sin is what we see here today.
And if we circle back to v24 - we see this...
24 Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.
If today’s sermon is titled - A Portrait of Sin...
We should stop here and consider the city of Samaria...
And in considering Samaria… we see this…and START here.
SLIDE: A Portrait of Sin: The Embrace of Sin Has Consequences
A Portrait of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
In context here - something that isn’t explicit in this PARTICULAR passage -
…is that Samaria was a place - where every KIND of sacrifice was tolerated.
You guys remember king Ahab? From 1 Kings?
Remember what he was like?
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.
More details?
32 He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.
33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
And so Samaria wasn’t exactly a - portrait of proper worship.
Ahab had cultivated SIN in the life of the city...
AND NOW - His son - Jehoram - followed in his father’s footsteps as King of Israel...
And speaking of Jehoram...
2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.
3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.
And SO - Israel had embraced SIN.
And what we hopefully KNOW - and what we’ll see today - is that...
The Embrace of Sin Has Consequences.
Back to our text...
24 Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
So Syria - the enemy of Israel - comes and SURROUNDS the city of Samaria.
And due to this - there is a famine in the land.
What we’re going to see here - is a consequence of sin...
SLIDE: A Portrait of Sin: Suffering as a Consequence of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
if we go back to v25 - we see that there was a famine in the land of Samaria...
And this was NO SMALL famine...
This famine was SO devastating to the people OF Samaria...
That we read this...
26 Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
27 And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?”
28 And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
Wow - CRAZY - stuff...
YET - the WEIGHTINESS of it - actually reflects the deeper issue.
Israel - as we said - Samaria - was allowing SIN to saturate their existence.
And what ends up happening here - is that God brings - JUDGMENT.
And the judgment God brings is in the form of SUFFERING.
God uses SYRIA - to SURROUND the city - and by doing so - cause a FAMINE in the land.
OR AT LEAST - elevate the SERIOUSNESS of the famine that was already in place…when Syria arrived.
So WHY would God cause suffering?
It’s simply a way for God to TEACH mankind - about the - -
the “consequences of sin”
And it’s an INTERESTING thing for SURE - because if you think about it...
The apostle Paul SUFFERED - for OBEYING Jesus...
And these people here - SUFFERED - for NOT - obeying God.
Hmm… on one hand (with PAUL) - the SUFFERING OF Paul displayed the WORTH of Jesus/God to those AROUND Paul as he CONTINUED to PRAISE God thru it...
And on the other side - (the Samaritans) - the SUFFERING displayed God’s Holiness and Justice - in showing SIN to be an OFFENSE against God’s character.
But this isn’t the ONLY TIME in scripture where we see - God bring SUFFERING as a consequence of SIN.
Let’s go ALL the way back...
16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
Sin - when it entered humanity - brought with it - SUFFERING...
And ultimately - DEATH
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
And not to forget -
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Suffering can be a means that God uses to MAKE US more like Him.
If we continue to RUN to sin - God CAN - and will - at His own pace, and level of degree...
… bring judgment.
Is this LOVING? - - yes!
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
In our text today - Samaria had embraced ALL KINDS of sin...
…making all kinds of sacrifices - to all kinds of idols
AND if we look at this famine as the CHASTENING HAND of God - We should KNOW that the INTENT of the famine was to cause REPENTANCE~!
Though up to this point - that didn’t happen.
Sin was having its effect… and it continued...
29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body—
31 and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”
What does this King of Israel say here in v31?
“May God do so to me and more also - if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today...”
So we KNOW what he says here - YET - we also know that this suffering that has come - is due to the people’s SIN…!
EVEN the sins of the king...
YET - what does he do here?
Who does he blame?
SLIDE: A Portrait of Sin: Amnesia as a Consequence of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
Here we see - Jehoram - king of Israel - blame - ELISHA for the suffering of the people.
It seems that Jehoram assumes that SYRIA wants to take Elisha OUT!
Remember a COUPLE WEEKS AGO?
Syria came and SURROUNDED the city of Dothan where Elisha and his servant was?
What ended up happening?
Elisha prayed the eyes of the SYRIAN’s would be blinded...
He led them to SAMARIA...
And then - Elisha ends up PROTECTING ISRAEL - - FROM the Syrians.
The King of Israel - Jehoram - MUST have been BLINDED to that reality!
Did he FORGET?
He must have = FORGOTTEN...
But that’s what SIN DOES to us...
It cultivates AMNESIA...
It wants us to FORGET what God has done for us!!
It wants us to FORGET the MERCY God has shown us!
And in DOING so - it causes us to - do the OPPOSITE of what Colossians says...
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
SIN will cause us to REVERSE this verse…and set our minds on earthly things...
To set our mind on - OUR PLANS…not God’s FOR us.
To set our mind on - OUR desires - not God’s FOR us.
To set our mind on - OUR SUFFERING - not GOD’S FOR us!
Jehoram - had forgotten - or at least was NEGLECTING - the MERCY that Elisha (God) had shown HIM AND Israel...
And in doing so - he chose DEATH for Elisha.
THINK of that - he wanted DEATH for the one WHO brought RESCUE!
He wanted DEATH for the one where LIFE is found.
Do you see what SIN DOES?
It BLURS our vision of God - and ALL that He is for us...
For the UNBELIEVER - Sin HOLDS you CAPTIVE until God AWAKENS you to faith!
For the BELIEVER - Sin tries to CONVINCE us to walk off the CLIFF of God’s judgment.
And AMNESIA is a consequence of us embracing SIN.
And in forgetting the mercy that we’ve been shown - we become Spiritually - ENTITLED.
Our OWN God…in a sense. In our own mind.
And this leads us to the next Consequence that we see!
SLIDE: A Portrait of Sin: Rebellion as a Consequence of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
A Portrait of Sin
back to our text
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body—
31 and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”
32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33 And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
There is actually some debate it seems as to WHO actually spoke these words in v33...
REGARDLESS - if it was the messenger - OR king Jehoram himself - the THOUGHT came FROM Jehoram.
And so WHAT THAT TELLS us - is that king Jehoram and Elisha had spoken ALREADY - before this - about the famine - or the famine that WAS to come - (before it happened)...
And it seems Elisha’s guidance TO king Jehoram was - WAIT on the Lord - and He will turn things for good - should repentance come.
And so - with that understanding - this comment makes sense - TO Elisha...
“This suffering is FROM the LORD - Why WAIT ON THE LORD any longer!!???”
Again - what do we HEAR in this?
ENTITLEMENT!
How many times has mankind, EVEN US…ourselves - in a state of rebellion against God, reasoned like Jehoram!??
If God’s not gonna COMPLY with MY desires...
If He doesn’t grant me the healing of one close to me
doesn’t rescue me out of my material difficulties...
THEN PEACE OUT!!
I'm DONE with all of this!!
He no longer exists for me.
HOW do we GET - there…?
We get there - WHEN- just like Jehoram, our heart does not wish to go to the root of our trouble — sin — and admit of its consequences.
Like Jehoram - We DON’T WANT to repent; our pride refuses to cast itself upon the mercy of the judge, recognizing that He (GOD) would be right to condemn us.
And in our CONTINUAL rebellion against God - we very well may find that our hearts become MORE HARDENED against Him.
And it becomes this CYCLE...
SIN will always - and I mean always - seek to justify itself.
And let’s close out today - by going back to our text - to see an aspect of our story...
In our text today - ISRAEL came to be JUDGED by God...
And God used SYRIA to cast a LIGHT on that judgment.
And so in this account - SYRIA is - - the ENEMY.
The PRESENCE of the enemy - brought the judgment (the famine)
The FAMINE was a consequence of the presence of the enemy.
In our text today - the ENEMY - surrounded the city.
The enemy was ALL AROUND.
When we make choices in our lives to continually INDULGE in SIN...
And we INVITE sin - to SURROUND US...
What will be the result?
SUMMARY - Well - what have we seen today?
A Portrait of Sin
The result of SURROUNDING ourselves with SIN - will be...
Suffering as a Consequence of Sin
Amnesia as a Consequence of Sin
Rebellion as a Consequence of Sin
And the scary part is - The rebellion phase of this - will loop us back around to the TOP - to KEEP us in the SUFFERING.
To try to HOLD us there - for as long as it can.
This account today - isn’t over - there’s MORE to this story - but it will have to wait - till next time.
…to be continued!
Let’s pray