The account of the lost axe head in 2 Kings 6 to illustrate the fallen state of humanity and the power of the gospel. It begins by describing the curse of God on those who try to earn salvation through works, contrasting it with the finished work of Christ on the cross. The lost axe head, sinking into the muddy river, symbolizes a sinner lost in darkness and unable to save themselves. The miraculous recovery of the axe head by a living branch thrown into the water represents Christ, the "Branch," who, when "lifted up," draws all men to Himself and provides salvation. The message concludes by urging listeners to accept this free gift of salvation, emphasizing that Christ is the only way to be lifted from spiritual death to life.
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In our Bibles, over to First Kings, Second Kings rather, verse one. Always a joy to get back to the Piedmont to remember things that happened half a century ago. Second Kings chapter six and verse one. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take, thence, every man, a beam.
And let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, O ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them, and when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water. And he cried and said, Alas, master, for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it?
And he showed him the place. and he cut down a stick and cast it in thither and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, take it up to thee, and he put out his hand and took it. That's all I want to read. Like to speak on the curse and the cross and the crises. Many, many years ago, I think right here we spoke on this passage of Scripture, but we spoke on to Christians. And the subject then was lost power. Lost power in the life of a Christian, and that's a tragic thing.
When a Christian loses his grip on God, then God loses his grip on that Christian. when what he does in the way of service is mechanical and the presence of God in the spirit of God is not in it lost power. But I want to speak this morning on the power of the gospel. How wonderful to think of the power of the gospel of the grace of God. And this is applicable to the unsaved. You have over in Numbers fifteen a scene.
And here you have, first of all, the curse, which is the background of the cross. You'll find the young man, he went out on the Sabbath day, and he picked up some sticks, and he's going to make a fire. That was a violation of the word of the living God. For God had given his word that there was to be no work done on the Sabbath day. And I'll read this to you in Exodus thirty-one fourteen. He shall keep the Sabbath thereof, for it is holy unto you. Every one that defiles it shall surely be put to death.
For whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. And so the death penalty was imposed upon anyone who disobeyed the word of God and was found working on the Sabbath day. And the honor or dishonor done to the Sabbath day was the test under law. But the honor or dishonor done to Christ is the test under grace. Under the law, your test of your fear of God and your obedience to God was to keep the Sabbath day.
The test under this day of grace is your acceptance of Jesus Christ and your absolute obedience to God's word. This man was working when he should have been testing Oh, but this man might have said, it's cold, I need a fire. Or he might have said, I've got to have something to eat, I've got to cook. God says, thou shalt not work on the Sabbath day. Today men and women are violating on the right hand and left, disobeying God's word in this marvelous day of grace.
When the work's been done, there's nothing for you to do. The work has been done. And it is a slander on the person of Christ, for you to try to work your way to heaven when he has done the work. Come unto me, all ye that labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Christ said on the cross, it is finished. and even after Christ has finished the work, made it possible for you to be saved by sovereign grace. Men and women today are dishonoring God and Christ by trying to work their way to heaven.
How sad, thou tragic that is. When the Bible distinctly says to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Also by grace are ye saved whose faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so the curse of God rests upon all who would seek or would presume to work their way to heaven. Unlikely there are some sitting right in this auditorium this morning, not to mention many other auditoriums.
You ask them if they're going to heaven, yes? How are you going to get there? Well, I live a good life. I work. I strive. I try to help the poor. I try to give. I try to be regular at church. Works. Works. When the work has been done, the Lord Jesus Christ finished the work at Calvary. If salvation is by works and salvation by works is a criminal doctrine, if salvation is by works, why did Jesus Christ die?
If salvation is by works, his death was a mistake and an eternal tragedy. Jesus Christ came to provide a salvation for you. If there could be a law given that could give life, salvation would have been by the law. But no salvation is obtainable by keeping the law. your salvation is resident in, dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for you at Calvary. And if you are trying to get to heaven any other way, you are dishonoring God, disobeying His word, and first of all, you're under the curse of God.
Against that background, we come to our text. Here you find these divinity students and they're wanting to expand. So the prophet agreed. They took their axes and went down by the River Jordan where some of the best trees were. And they started to chop down trees with a view to building, a place for their schools. While one young student was using the axe with all his might, the handle threw up, and down it went into the river joint. And the axe head was the most important thing.
The handle is useless without the axe head. Here you have separation between that which is essentially accented and that the handle. You can accomplish nothing by beating a tree to the handle. Separation. Your sins have separated between you and your God. The most important thing about a human being is his soul. There's weight there. You're going to accomplish something. Relax it. Or just a hammer. You're just a piece of wood. And so man today, if he's not saved, all that he does is absolutely profitless.
useless. God's eyes fixed upon the most important thing concerning you, and that's your precious soul. And here you find this axiom, and it's down in the bottom of that muddy river Jordan. And you can't see it. There it is, down in the bottom of the river. And the deeper it went, the darker it got. That's his tendency. The tendency of the axe head, belion or steel, was to go down.
And you've got a fallen nature this morning, and its tendency is to go down. Down. And if you're not a Christian, this morning your soul is like the ashes in that river of death. And it's down. Yes, a sad picture. In the dark, dead, cold, down. Unable to bring itself up. Because there's a pressure keeping that action down, and the pressure is the water.
But I am heavier than water. And there's a pressure that's keeping you down. And that's your sin. Your sins are keeping you down in that place of death and darkness. how men and women today don't seem to realize that awful pressure of your sins are keeping you down, down, down. The fallen nature of man, the nature you were born into this world has a tendency to sin. You don't have to teach children to do wrong, they'll do that all right.
You have to teach them to do right. because by nature man wants to do wrong. The human nature is in violation with the mind and will of God. And here the act said is done. And over in Luke fifteen you have a lost sheep, a lost piece of silver and a lost son. The Lord Jesus is teaching the lesson that man is L-O-S-T lost. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Without God, without Christ, without hope in the world, that's man's life.
Sad picture, isn't it? And this experience must come before ever you're going to be saved. You've got to realize your true condition before God. Man is at the end of his road, just like this axe said, he couldn't go any further. It hit the murky bottom of the Jordan. It could go no further. And then you've got to come to an end of yourself, the point of no return, before there's any hope of you ever being saved.
Man has got to come to the place where he realizes I'm open. I'm locked. I'm in the dark. There's no more that I can do than just to admit it. That axe head couldn't lift itself up. Absolutely impossible. For that axe head to try and lift itself up to the surface of the Jordan River. It couldn't do it. And friend, it's absolutely useless for you to try and save yourself. You're down there in that place of death and darkness and you can't get out of it.
You can't work your way out of it. You're just as helpless and just as hopeless, just as dead and just as cold as that axe head and the bottom of the river joint. That's man's condition. You'll notice this student when he lost to be said, Allah, Master, Allah. Friend, if you're not a Christian, You might well say this morning, alas, alas, I'm just lost. I'm in a place of death and darkness and dismay.
The prodigal hit the bottom. And before anyone gets saved, he's got to hit the bottom. You'll never be saved until you do. Man comes to the end of the rule. The end of all his efforts, his striving to save himself, is the question, what must I do? Isn't it? God be merciful to me, the sinner. How long man is? But think of the amazing miracle that happened on this occasion. The prophet said, Where fell it?
And the student said, Right there. What did the prophet do? Did he pick up the old axe hammer and pull it up on the raw water? No. It had no life in it, the axe hammer. It's a piece of dead wood. But he cut off a branch, something that had life in it, and leaves on it. And he cut off the branch, and he cast it into the river. And the iron came up. I love some texts in my Bible. I'm going to read four of them to you. Over in Jeremiah twenty-three-five, I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper.
Jeremiah thirty-three fourteen in those days, and at that time I will cause a branch, and that's in the capital letters, a branch of righteousness to grow up. to David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness of the land. Zechariah three-eighth, I will bring forth my servant the branch. Zechariah six-twelve, behold the man whose name is the branch. He shall go up and build the temple of the Lord in the land. At all but one occasion the branch is in capital letters.
Who's he speaking of? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the branch, the living branch. In him is life. You know, as the prophet cut off their branch, Jesus Christ was cut off. The Bible tells you that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. What happened? Jesus Christ was cut off out of the land of the living, not for himself, but for the transgression of the children of Israel.
And also Daniel tells us the end of four hundred and eighty-three years from the time the order was given to build the temple, shall Messiah be cut off, not for himself, but for the people of Israel. Twice you have the branch being cut off. Cut off. Jesus Christ was cut off from the presence of God. He was cut off from fellowship with God. Well, on the cross he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from heaven be, and from the words of my glory?
But thou art holy. Jesus Christ, at the only time he used the word why, when Christians used it very often. Why does this happen to me? Why should this take place? Why should I suffer? Jesus Christ only used that word once. He says, Why hast thou forsaken me? But he gets the answer, thou are holy. He recognized that God, in order to save you and me, he must be holy, he must punish sin. And he did punish sin. Jesus Christ was cut off at Calvary.
How wonderful. And only when that branch was thrown onto the face of that river of Jordan You saw movement in the iron, the axe head. It began to stir, and it came up. Amazing. Yes, the Lord Jesus said, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. He's a mighty magnet. He's the one who has the power to lift poor sinner out of the depths and darkness of death unto himself. What a magnificent picture.
How wonderful. You see that huge plane with its four motors wide open and it's going off the runway. Here you have the power of aeronautics overcoming the power of gravity. For if those motors were to stop, the plane would come down. But what lifts that plane, all its cargo, up into the air, defines gravity? It's the power of autonomous. What is it that lifted that axe head from the bottom of the river up to the top?
There was a power in that branch. And what lift the poor sinner out of the depths of darkness of sin? The power of Jesus Christ. The power of God. You can't do it yourself. That's what he wants to do this morning. He wants to save you. He's ready this very moment to lift you out to the darkness, the dismal situation that you're in, at the end of your road, of all loss, helpless, undone, ungodly, unworthy sinner.
There's power from above. for that's what it was that lifted the axe head up of power from above. It was in that branch. Jesus Christ is that mighty power. He is that magnet and he can lift you up this morning. He's the only one can. And he's willing to do it. You'll notice what happened here. There is the axe head associated with the branch. And the prophet said to this student, Reach forth your hand and take it.
He didn't have to get into a boat and roll to it. He didn't have to wade into Jordan to get it. It was an arms mix. It was right there. And the stung student reached out his hand and he took it. How handy is God's salvation? The word is nigh, the even in thy mouth, the word of faith which we preach. That thou shalt believe with thine heart the Lord Jesus, thou shalt receive. God's salvation is in your mouth, swallow it. We've tried to put it there.
Jesus Christ died for you. He suffered for you. He shed his blood for you. and his mighty power is available to save you and save you forever. Swallow it. Take it in. You won't choke over it. Just swallow it. God's wonderful, marvelous salvation. Here he's reached out his hand and he took it. I wish you'd grab God's salvation Just like a astounding man grabs a life belt, he doesn't want to look at the brand name of who made the life belt.
He's honest with that. He wants to get a hold of that life belt. Friend, if you find yourself lost down in sin and darkness, Christ is available within your arm, drink, rattle. They hold them, like a drowning man will a lifeboat. Or a man swimming, I can make it, but a boat pulls alongside a lifeboat, and he grabs it. Those in the boat try to help men. Friend, I'm trying to help you in that boat this morning. If you're willing, get in the boat.
As all of us here this morning are in it. We once were in that where you are. If the fireman's net hears a building on fire and up around the fifteen-story, someone is aware of the danger, the sheath of smoke, and look out and down there is a fireman's net with about fifteen firemen around, holding on, and a horn blares out the sound. Jump! It looks like the size of a dime. Jump, yes, it's your only hope. The elevator shaft is full of flame.
If you jump without the net, you're dead. Your only hope this morning is trust, Christ. You jump on the net, you'll catch it. Jesus Christ will save you. He'll save you this morning. You've got to make the jump. You must touch Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I may have told this since then years ago about a man who had a dreadful disease. And of course he was constantly blaming his parents had the same disease they never should have got in mind.
He's got it. No hope for him. Bad disease. One day he met another fellow and he got chatting. And so the fellow said, listen, I had the same disease. I think it was more advanced than what you got. Oh, how did you get that? He said, a certain medicine was commended to me. I went and got three bottles. And I took all three bottles. And I'm as healthy as I've ever been. And I've got such confidence in that medicine I'm going across to the pharmacy and buy three bottles for you.
I'll pay for it. And I'll give it to you. And he did. Now he says, go home and take this medicine. You'll get the same results I did. Three weeks later, he picks up the newspaper and victories. He sees that man's name, dead. Can't understand it. So he makes his way to the home. Someone answers the door. He walks in. The first thing he sees is a parcel on the man's behalf. He walks over the three bottles of medicine.
The man hadn't touched. Who's to blame now? Not the man nor the medicine himself. He failed to take the medicine. If you go to hell, friend, you'll be the way. God has prescribed the remedy, the medicine. That medicine is the glorious gospel of the grace of God. God has provided everything essential for your salvation. It won't cost you a dime. It's free. And that's the medicine God's offering you, poor sickly soul, poor dying man and woman, spiritually.
God's offering you the medicine, the precious blood of Christ, that the million fluid that flowed from Emmanuel's name. That's the medicine. It's paid for, it's free. All you've got to do is take it. Why don't you take him this morning? All provided from darkness to light, from death to life, from sin to him. A person, Jesus Christ, from uselessness to usefulness. Now the Acts have found a new handle.
and the student can perceive the chopped down trees. How wonderful to know Christ, to really have it in your heart. I told this to three or four this week. Before I left Aubrey on the sixteenth of June, one Sunday morning, we were informed of this lady being present at Jehovah's Witness and a very strong one. Been in it ever since she was eleven, she was about thirty-five, and there she sat. For six Sunday mornings she listened to the gospel.
I gave some tapes to Clay Miller, and this was to do and take care of the negative side of things. These tapes told the story of other Jehovah's Witnesses who had found Christ, and they left that cult. They're the women. And also another tape that tore that system to threads on the Trinity. I let those tapes do the negative work. I preached positive for six Sunday morning the remedy, the mess, the branch, the branch.
And during that message, that it is accepted practice. I'm not talking about the negative this morning. You know you're a sinner. You know you're lost. You know you're going to hell. You know what you're doing won't save. The church you're a member of will not suffice. That's the negative. The law can save you. A good, clean, honest respect of a life won't save you. Sincerity won't save you. Earnethness won't save you. Money won't save you. Jesus Christ can and will.
That's why he died on the cross. That's the positive side of the gospel. And I can't wait till I get back in a couple of weeks to talk to Betty. Betty, what do they say that let the light in? What did I say that released you from the grip of an awful cock into freedom and the family of God? I'm sure she'll say what you said about what the Lord Jesus did for me on the clock.
Thank you. And that's all that will save you this morning. It's all that's necessary. And the iron did swim. Contrary to nature, the iron rose to that branch. It had light in it. And out of the depths of where you may be today, you hit the bottom. Maybe some so hard you bounce. You're at the end of the road. You tried everything. You're at which end corner. Yes, there's a crisis in your life, and it can take place this morning, as there was a crisis when an axe head rose to the ranks.
What is a crisis? We mentioned it over the radio. Crisis is a serious crisis. or decisive states of things or the points of time when an affair must soon terminate. Or you'll suffer a material or spiritual change. A crisis is a turning point, a critical juncture in the life of a person. I've got a lot of people in my life who were in the crises. And it was abandoned.
Some that was marital. Others that was financial. Many that was spiritual. A spiritual crisis. Are you in a spiritual crisis this morning or lost? You're on the way to hell. Jesus, Christ is the cure. And this is how you pass from the bottom or the river to the top to see daylight and sunlight. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but is passed from death unto life.
Would you like to take that passage this morning from the curse, the curse of God upon all who are trying to work their way to heaven, the cross of Christ for all who want to be saved and start the road to glory. The decision is yours, the choice is yours. as an intelligent man and woman with your precious soul in the balance. What is your choice? What is your decision? I will accept Christ or I won't.
I do or I don't. It's up to you. This is a critical moment. It's a crisis. And may the entire future and your eternity will depend upon what you do right now with Jesus Christ. What will you do with Jesus? What will your answer be? God helps you to say, I'll take him and he'll lovingly, graciously, immediately take you.
and embrace you forever. Will you take Christ? And he'll take you. Now, shall we pray? Our Father in heaven in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Christ Son, our Savior. We thank thee for the one thou hadest sent, the provision thou hast made of the salvation of the sons of men. For everyone here this morning who is, they, rejoicing on the road to glory. We thank thee that there are some who are not. and the devil's busy trying to keep them back.
May they get the victory. Realize that the Lord Jesus said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw them unto me. May they feel that divine tug, that holy pole of the Holy Spirit, by thou and take Christ, and we say, we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Shall we sing three, seven, six, three hundred and seventy-six. Three hundred and seventy-six out of thy bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come.
Jesus, I come into thy freedom, gladness and light, no longer in the dark. Jesus, I come to thee. I trust you with. I'm standing right up the front. If you have trusted Christ, or you want to trust him, if I can have him, I'll be right here, delighted. Thank you for listening.