four where we commence our message this morning and we'll seek to conclude it tonight second Kings chapter four and verse thirty two second Kings four and verse thirty two And where Elisha was coming to the house, behold, a child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in there, called, and shut the door upon them, twain, and prayed unto the Lord. He went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands. And he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro, and went up and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called to Heza and said, Call this Shunemite. So he called her. When she was coming unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went out. This morning we were speaking from this very interesting passage, and there are some wonderful things in the Old Testament, but when you apply them to the new, I believe they only intensify an interest and an importance. For instance, here is a woman, her mother, the Shudamite, and she had lost her boy. He had died. And it was really a miracle that she had the boy given to her. And so here is this boy, and he has passed away. And the lies of the prophet, led by the Lord, because he prayed about it, he went into this boy. The boy was laid upon his bed by the mother. And he went in, and he put his eyes right opposite the eyes of the boy. In other words, he looked right into his face. His lips, his warm lips upon the cold lips of that corpse. his hands upon his hands. The remarkable thing was that the flesh of the boy began to get born. And the prophet rose up again and were left and walked in the room two and four and paid to God and went back and repeated that act. And the boy sneezed seven times and light entered into him. We were trying this morning to give the application to that incident. he found a prophet stretching himself upon the cross, a live man coming into contact with that which is dead. What is the application Jesus Christ upon the cross, stretched himself upon that Roman gibbet? There it was that he, the living son of God, came into contact with this world, which is but a cross, Adam's sinful fallen race. for God says all of sin and comes short of the glory of God. And God looks upon this world as one vast cross, dead in trespasses and in sins. How did this boy get his life by a living man coming into contact with him? And how do we get life? Because Jesus Christ, the living son of God, came into contact with the human race when upon that cross His hands were nailed where my hands should have been. His feet were spiked where my feet should have been spiked. The crown of thorns was placed on his head. It rightly belonged to me. The spear plumbs into his side and spit his heart in twain, a propense flowed blood and water. That room of spear should have entered my side. Let his blood flow from his body when sinful blood should have flowed from mine. He took my place. I had sinned. He never had sinned. Yet he that just one took the place of me, the unjust, that I might be brought to God and friend, that's the only way you can be saved. Receiving Christ and he that hath the Son hath life, I wonder what is meant by the body being worn before life entered into it. I believe you have the thought of conviction here. The very nearness of Elisha to that boy's body brought about that streak of warmth, eventually light. And you know it's the presence of God in the meeting that brings about conviction of sin. When you sit in a meeting and the gospel is being preached, and the power of God is present, and the Lord is near, your heart becomes strangely warm, just like that cross became warm when contact was made with the cross. I've known what it is to have a warm heart when God the Holy Spirit stole with me before I was saved. And finally I received Christ and I was saved. Maybe the word of God in this chapel has warmed your heart, and you've been brought under conviction, but remember, friend, conviction is not conversion. That boy's body has been warmed, but he's still a corpse. There's no life in him yet. But finally, there is life. He receives life, and conviction leads to conversion. Repentance moves to the redemption of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. How do we know the boy lived? It says he sneezed seven times. I think that was a good indication. We were noticing this morning how this boy had a case of sunstroke. He was out with his father in the field. But all of a sudden he said, my head, my head. But he had to be carried to the home, to the mother. Show him the trouble was in his head because when he was well or when life was restored to him, he sneezed seven times. And oftentimes that's where the trouble is. I think the difficulty with most Christians is in the head. I know that's the trouble with most sinners. It's in the head. Their thoughts are amidst. They have wrong and improper thoughts of God. The understanding is darkened. But in this case we find the boy and he sneezes seven times and sometimes a good healthy sneeze is a good thing for you, you feel better. And I wouldn't be surprised it wasn't his case. You get dust and sometimes other things are in your nose and you sneeze. I know after these seven sneezes his head was quite clear, all the cobwebs were out and no more fogginess were missed. bogginess or mist, his head was squealed. Oh, think of these seven sneezes. I did a little pondering over them this week, wondering what they might teach us. I believe it indicates understanding. Before you're saved, you don't understand. The Bible says, they have no understanding, according to Romans chapter three. They have no understanding. You explain the gospel to an unsaved person. He says, I just don't understand it. You say, I know I'm saved and going to heaven. I've no doubt about it. The unsaved person is. Well, I just don't understand that. I don't understand how a person can be saved and know it. Friend, it's in the book. You may understand. And the very fact you don't understand it is indicative of the fact that you're not a Christian. You're not born again. You haven't even had the first sneeze. And so you find this boy and the evidence of a fact be as light in that he sneezed seven times. In other words, understanding simply means this. I know. Once I didn't understand, now I do. Once I was in the fog, but now everything's clear. Once I was misunderstood, or everything as far as I was concerned was a misunderstanding, but now I understand. I can see it. are rejoicing. I found at the first epistle of John where you have the little word no mentioned something like forty times. And John is writing to the saints, God's people, those who are born again. And so around forty times he uses the word no or knowing. The words in that connection I think about forty times, knowing. being assured of, something different. Now let us notice seven things they knew. And this every Christian, every born again Christian, everyone who has life should know. First of all in John, first John chapter two and verse twelve, Paul is writing to these Christians and he says, I write unto you little children, the only one is he's not saying sinners, I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name said. Now they knew their sins were forgiven. That's how to pray you feel a lot better when you know your sins are forgiven. That's the first need. And I think that's about the first thing a convert knows when God saves him is that his sins are all forgiven. How are our sins forgiven? tells you in... the fifth verse of the third chapter. We read these words, and ye know, ye know, notice that word, and ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins. Who was manifested, the Lord Jesus? And on that cross he shed his blood to put our sins away. And he says, your sins are forgiven, you know that. How were they forgiven? Jesus Christ was manifested, and ye know that. he was manifested to take away our sin Isaiah forty four twenty two puts it this way he has blotted out as a thick cloud our transgressions and as a cloud our sin God says return unto me I have redeemed thee nothing hopeful about that or doubtful or uncertain he says I have whether your sins be few or many Whether your sins be white and greasy, or whether they be black and glowing, it makes no difference, friend. A little tiny white cloud in the sky prevents it from being above the sky. And you may have just a few little sins. You look upon them as little sins, like little blakes. But remember this, as God sees them, they're as black as cold. And as God sees you in all your life, Your life is covered with clouds of sins. God says, I'll block everyone out. I'll block it out as a thick cloud, thy transgression, as a cloud thy sin. Please turn unto me what I have to do. A born-again person knows his or her sins for him. Do you know? Do you know right here and now that your sins are forgiven? you say I won't dare forgive me this young fellow he was alive and he knew he was alive and then if you're saved you know it and you know your sins are good there's no question about that how do you know you've got the word of God for it do you want any better authority the next thing that these people knew is found in the fourteen verses of third chapter. He says, and I noticed it, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. The brethren there doesn't have a capital letter. You can't make a denomination out of brethren, the word brethren. It's the small letter B, not the capital letter B. Here he put it to all of God's beloved people. And he says, we know that we have passed from death unto life. Isn't that something we're going to? Because we love to death. We love God's people. Yes, we know we have passed from death unto life. How do we know? John five, twenty-four says, verily, verily I say unto you, and the Lord Jesus is speaking. Very, very I say of you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that set me, after the lasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. How do we pass from death unto life through receiving Jesus' rights? Believing what he has said. That's how we know. How do we evidence it? That we pass from death unto life. by our love to the Lord's people. We know our sins forgiven. How do we know? Because Jesus Christ died for them and suffered for them on the cross. We know we pass from death unto life. That's the second sneeze in the passage. How do we know we pass from death unto life? Jesus Christ said that we believe with all our heart what he has told us. We have eternal life. We'll never come into condemnation. We have passed from death unto life. He doesn't say we hope we have. He says we have. The third thing is these things have I written unto you in verse thirteen of chapter five of first John. These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God that ye may know. Notice that? Not that you may hope or guess, but that ye may know that ye have eternal life. So they knew their sins were given. They knew they had passed from death unto life. Now they know they have eternal life. You know you have eternal life. How do they know? By the written word. The Bible says you know if you're a saint. He that hath the Son had life. And so here is the third thing that these people knew back in John's day, and certainly all were born again, know the same today. Know that you have eternal life here and now, yes. Know that you have eternal life right here and now. Isn't that wonderful? What's the fourth thing? He says in chapter three, verse two, we know we are the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Isn't that remarkable? Why, it gets richer all the time. And here's the fourth sneeze or the fourth indication that a person's born again. He knows he is a child of God. First, he knows his sins are forgiven. Second, he knows he has passed from death unto life. Third, he knows he has eternal life here and now. Fourth, he knows he's the son of God. Now Jesus Christ is the son, but he's going to bring many sons unto glory, and that refers to all who are born again. Then we're sons of God. How do we become sons of God? John's Gospel, chapter one, verse twelve tells us, To as many as received him, Christ, to then gave he the power or the authority, to become the children or the sons of God. That's how we become the sons of God. Why? These people knew a lot, didn't they? What's the fifth thing that they knew? He says in chapter four and verse six, Hereby know me. Notice that word know again. Hereby know me. The spirit of truth and the spirit of error. These Christians knew what was right. They knew what was wrong. Doctrine of it. And you know it's a mysterious thing. Then when a person's really born again, right away he's able to detect error. He knows what's right and he knows what's wrong. Do you know what's right or wrong before you're a Christian? Because God has given you a conscience when it comes to model things you know what's right or wrong. But an unsaved person doesn't understand what is right or wrong, not timely, or a lot of things in the Bible. He doesn't know which is right or which is wrong, which is truth or which is error. But there's no error in your Bible. But after a person is saved, it seems a strange thing, no matter how young that person is, he knows what's truth and what's error. For instance, no born-again Christian would ever call for Mormonism. or ever power for spirit is, or Christian sight. There's something in them, all that Jehovah's with. There's something in that young convert that tells them that's right. And what is it? Oh, John tells, the same anointing teaches you all things. And he says in that verse, Hereby know me the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. How do we know? by his spirit that dwelleth in us. Now that's what you've got in the Bible. When the spirit of God comes in, he's able to set the evidence and tell you what's weak and what it bears, tells you what's truth and he tells you what's error. And I say this, no child of God would ever call for error if he read the Bible. and knew something of dwelling in fellowship with the Lord, the Spirit of God would immediately put his finger upon error, but he would also endorse the truth. And that's something these young Christians knew back in those days, which was the spirit of truth and which was the spirit of error. And I think today is a shameful commentary upon any Christian who calls for error when there's a full Bible to read, on an open door into the presence of God for prayer, a throne of grace where you may have fellowship with your Lord. And if you avail yourself of that provision that God has made for his pilgrim people in their passageway through this day, there's no need of any Christian being sidetracked by any kind of doctrinal error. You'll be kept straight because the Spirit of God is relieved for that purpose and the Word of God will enlighten you. So here's the fifth thing. They knew. They knew what was truth. They knew what was error. But there's another thing. He says, we know, and here again, we know, in verse thirteen of chapter four, we know that we dwell in him and he dwells in us. How do we know? Because he has given unto us his holy spirit. Here's the sixth thing those young Christians knew. They knew that God dwelt in them, and they dwelt in him. God dwells in every born-again Christian, by the Spirit, that's true, as this very verse says, by his Spirit that dwelleth in us, because he has given unto us of his Holy Spirit. As to my source of strength, as to my source of energy, to navigate the rough and stormy waters of this life, and to be able to make progress in the face of all kinds of adverse winds and circumstances, to get the victory over the world and the flesh and the devil, where is my results, my strength, my victory from which I draw the strength and the energy to make progress? The Holy Spirit is in me for that person, for that reason. And so his being in me is the source of strength, the source of my joy. But my being in him speaks of my security, my position, my safety. Your life is hidden with Christ in God that no one can pick you up. There is your position of security. You are in Christ. But remember, he is in you as the source of your strength and the source of your energy of God. Look at it this way. The bird is in the air. The air is in the bird. Of course, the bird being in the air in that element is such a tremendous area. I am in Christ. I am in God, your life is hit with Christ in God, but think of how great God is. But the air is in the bird. But oh, how little of the air is in the bird. Not because there's not plenty of air, but because there's such a small capacity for the air to lodge in. I am in Christ. Who think of the vastness of Jesus Christ? Because Christ is in me. but only a timely portion. As far as my apprehension and enjoyment of Jesus Christ is concerned, not that there isn't plenty of Christ, but there's such a little part in me. I can dig in so little, and like a child paddling on the beach of a mighty ocean. I have a great faith that the reason I don't enjoy more of his presence, his peace, his power, simply because I have such a little capacity. That's it. So, he says, you Christians, you know that God dwells in you and you dwell in him. You dwell in him as to your security. He dwells in you as the source of your joy, your peace, your happiness, and your strength. The seventh day, when all we shall be like him. Now notice those words again we know. We know we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is in verse two of chapter three. How do we know we're going to delight and see his promise? It says up in John fourteen one, My father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. and proceed you unto myself. I know I'm going to be with, and like Jesus Christ, I have no doubt about that. They knew it. Jesus, beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. so you have seven things that these Christians knew, and how they knew. These are evidence that you have light. Boy, sneeze seven times, seven healthy sneeze, indicating this he was well alive and wide awake. Friend, if you take in all these, and you know them when you rejoice in them, You're well alive and you're wide awake as a Christian. You have understanding. Your mind is clear and there's no mist or fogginess or misunderstanding here. And John summarizes the whole thing. I think this is good. He summarizes all the things you've been mentioning in verse twenty of chapter five. Now listen to this. And we know once again he's on that word no. And we know that the Son of God is come and have given us an understanding. He has cleared our head. We have given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true. Even in his Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. These scriptures should clear your heads of all doubt as to your being safe and knowing. That boy was dead. He received light through the mysterious act of Elijah the prophet, and he seized seven times to prove that he was alive and his head was clear. of us who are saved tonight, who are saved, who are like the Ephesians, Paul refers to in chapter two, verse one. He says, you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. I was dead in trespasses and in sin. I was just a spiritual corpse. Dead in sin, but now alive unto God, with Jesus Christ our Lord. dead in sin, jest, but now alive. And the more you know, the more alive you seemingly become, not that you're any safer or any more saved, but your enjoyment of your salvation increases with your increased knowledge. And if you're saved tonight, then, saved by the grace of God, death defies human power. Think of the marvelous missiles and all kinds of other weapons that our scientists can revisit. Think of the miracles of the laboratory, but I'll challenge any man to call a person of the realm of death in the realm of life. Death defies human power. That's what salvation is. Salvation is being brought into life out of death. And who is that life? Jesus Christ. He says, I give unto them eternal life. We are spiritual corpses. Finage, but Jesus Christ gives us life. Friend, you don't get life by joining the church. You don't get life by being baptized in that water. I'll tell you that. And if you're not born again and you get baptized, you just go down a dry center and come up a wet center and a little soap would have given you a good bath. If you're not born again, the water means nothing. That water is only an illustration, an indication of what took place in your heart when you trusted Christ. And when you trusted Jesus Christ, new life entered your heart. no human eyes saw it God saw it and he knew it now says God I want you to publicly confess that in the waters of baptism we're buried with him by baptism in the dead but like us Christ was raised up from the dead just like that boy that Elijah raised up that as Christ was raised up from the dead for the glory of the Father, even so ye are the walk in newness of life. That walk in newness of life is just another way of putting it. Seven healthy seed sneezes as an indication you've got life. You know these things. You know. I'll tell you, there are some mighty good undertakers in this business. I mean in the book. they can really embalm some souls the friend is a big difference between an embalmed corpse and a living man although they can make that corpse look very much alive how do they embalm well they give a drunk to give up his drink and they get him to give up a few other things they pump a few good shots of some kind of bombing fluids such as do the best you can little moral energy a little moral support and a few little ideas and a few little injections of human resolve and so on and again to try to read the Bible again to join the church and associate with others who can deliver from alcoholism and boy the first thing you know you got that fella who was once rolling in the gutter and he'd walk down the street just looking fine doesn't touch it anymore He's quit all his bad habits. He's going to church now. He doesn't even swear. He took the chimney off the top of his head. He doesn't smoke either. Or he's really been embalmed. But he doesn't have any life. Good case of embalming. You know it says in the last verses of Genesis they embalmed Joseph and put him in a confident Egypt. And the trouble with a lot of our churches today is that Jews are occupied with a lot of embalmed corpses. And all they've got to do to prove that is preach some of the truths of God word to them, and they can't get a response of them, not even a tear. I'd expect a dead man to respond to it. In other words, then there's a big difference between a person who really has life and one who's a good case and a good exhibit or a good case of involvement. Just turning over new meat, polishing up in your life, joining the church, putting on a good front is a good case of reformation, but not regeneration. Regeneration is what is needed. So I must... through these scriptures. I'm only one third through my sermon, but I'm going to quit. Seven, seven indications of a person who has life. These things indicate that a person has the life of God that has been born again, saved by God's sovereign grace, kept by his mattress fall until their life and death. You know, there are seven cases of people being raised from the dead in your Bible. And in each case, there's something different. Now, this boy got his eyes open. So did Dorothy get her eyes open. There you have vision. And in each case, there's something different to illustrate that these people had life. Lord, brethren, we'll speak on those Wednesday nights, as far as I think not. And then there are seven other things, characteristic of a person. We've been noticing seven things that a saved person knows. Then we have seven things with these people who were raised from the dead, seven things that are associated with a person who has found life in Christ. Then there are seven things that are born again person loved. Seven divine persons and things that are born again person loved, and only alive persons and loved. our corpse handlocked for the living person dead. A person alive in Christ, there are seven things that he loves and rejoices in. The ministry concludes, I trust, friend, that you're not Satan. If you don't know these things that we've been going over, simple things, if you don't know these, if you do not know your sins for them, if you do not know that you have everlasting life, If you do not know that Christ is in you and you're in him, you do not know that you've passed from death until night. If you know not these, then in heaven you have never been saved. You're just hoping you are. Whereas if you were really quickened by the Spirit of God born again, these things you would know, you rejoicing and your understanding would be clear. to be able to say, well, thank God I know now. I used to hope. Now I know. I know. How do I know? God sure has said that. If God says something, it's true. If I doubt it, I'm doubting the word of a living God. You're not a Christian. You have come to Christ this night to have this happy experience of passing from death, spiritual death, on through spiritual life, in Jesus Christ. Now the baptismal service is going to follow, and that's going to actually lead up to him. I think that one cost and obeys the Buddha for that occasion. And the one being baptized will go back on my right to the hallway there, the first door where the ladies go in, the second one where the boys and the men go in to prepare for baptism. I have one verse for him in case someone here would like to be saved, they'd like to ask for the Savior, we give you that offer.