How to bring spiritual life to those who are dead in sin, using the story of Elisha raising the Shunammite woman's son. It highlights that mere religious acts like confession, baptism, or communion do not impart life, but rather a genuine connection with Christ is necessary. The message emphasizes the importance of a burden for the unsaved, prayer, personal contact, adaptability, perseverance, and caring for new believers, likening the ministry to Elisha's actions in reviving the child.
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And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers, and he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. And she called unto her husband and said, Send me, I pray, thee one of the young men and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today?
It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. Then she saddled an ass and said to her servant, Drive and go forward. Slack not by riding for me except I bid thee. So she went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel, and it came to pass when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunemite. Run now, I pray, thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee, is it well with thy husband, is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.
And when she came to the man of God to the hills, she caught him by the feet. But Gehazi came here to thrust her away, and the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gert up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any, salute thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her. and Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff upon the face of the child, and there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore, he went again to meet him, and said and told him, saying, The child is not awake. And when Elisha was coming to the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in, therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. and 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 Gahezai and said, Call this Shunamite. So he called her, and 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. May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word. Now, we were speaking about this portion last night, and we were looking at some of the qualities that characterize one who is, you might say, esteemed in the sight of God.
We were speaking about greatness in the sight of God, and we were noticing some of the qualities as they are expressed for us in this Shunamite woman. Now, tonight we want to look at the rest of this story, some things that we passed over last night, We want to consider for a little while tonight how to raise the dead, because after all that is what our ministry is as you and I are in this world. You and I are in this world in order to raise the dead. Now that may seem strange to you perhaps, But after all, I'm sure that as we go on with this lesson tonight, while we will see that that is the mission that the Lord has given to you and to me, because we believe that people that are not saved are spiritually dead.
And people who are spiritually dead need spiritual life, and you and I are the instruments that the Lord uses to bring a message of life and a means of life to those who are dead in trespasses and in sins. Now last night we saw how this woman was given the promise of a son and we saw how this child was born. We looked a little bit also at how he died or his death and how he was delivered to his mother. But tonight we want to start us a world with the eighteenth verse. It says, And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers, and he said unto his father, My head and my head.
and he said to a lad, carry him to his mother, and when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died. Now, I don't think that there's anything more hopeless as far as man is concerned than a person that is dead. We know that science today and modern medicine today have made wonderful advances in helping people who are sick in lengthening and prolonging people's lives, and even people who are, you might say, physically dead, why sometimes they will open up their chest and take out their heart, and they'll massage that heart, and they'll seemingly bring a person back to life again.
Now what happens, does a person really and truly die? Well, I talked to a medical doctor about that one time. I asked him, I said he was a Christian. I said, what happens when people die? These doctors who are able to bring people back to life again, are these people that have really died? He said, well, you know, when we consider that a person is dead, it is. that that person is beyond all the help of medical science. In other words, that person is beyond all possibility of medical science doing anything for him.
We consider such a person dead, but it may be perhaps that we may open his chest and pull out his heart and we may begin to massage that heart and bring that heart, as it were, back to life and bring a person back to life again. Now, when we speak of a person as being dead, well, we mean that medically he is considered dead and beyond any possibility of medical science doing anything for him. Now, when the Word of God speaks of this boy being dead, well, I believe that this boy was, you might say, beyond all health. He was beyond all medical science. He was physically dead.
Now, I want you to notice we have quite an expression here, and I'm just suggesting this. It says, when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers, and he said unto his father, My head, my head. Now, evidently, this lad, we don't know how old he was. The Scripture doesn't say. But evidently this lad was hit with a sunstroke, and in a very short time when he was brought to his mother, and as he sat upon her lap, why he died. But where did the trouble begin? The trouble began in the head.
Now sometimes, you know, we wonder, well, how old does a person have to be before that person has to be saved? What is the age of responsibility? I heard about a certain preacher some time ago to whom a little girl came and she said to him, Do you think that I'm saved? She was only a very small girl raised in a Christian home. She had heard the gospel again and again, and she asked the preacher the question, Do you think that I'm saved? Well, as he looked at her, He said to her, Well, he said, I wouldn't say that you're saved, but I do believe that you are safe.
I don't say that you're saved, but I do believe that you are safe. In other words, if it should be that you should be taken out of this world, if you should die, I believe that you are safe, that you are under the blood of Christ, because you have not yet come to the age of accountability. Now notice, It was after this child's head was struck that the child died. And might I suggest, because it's something that is brought before us again and again in the Scripture, the Lord said that he did not destroy the city of Nineveh because there were six hundred thousand people in that city who knew not their right hand from their left.
They knew not their right hand from their left. Now, the only people that don't know their right hand from the left are only two classes of people, either idiots or infants. Those are the only two classes that don't know their right hand from their left. So here, when the child's head was struck, might it suggest to us that this point had come in this child's life the age of accountability, where that child for the first time recognized the rightfulness of right and the wrongfulness of wrong, where recognized, first of all, in a moral, spiritual sense, what was right and what was wrong, and recognizing that debt set in, just as spiritual debt, sets into the human soul when that soul recognizes that there is dead, that there is right, and that there is wrong.
Now, I believe, of course, that that age varies in different individuals. We can't say because the Bible doesn't say what that age is. But might I say that if there is one in this audience tonight, and you do know right from wrong, you do know what sin is and what sin is not, and yet you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior. Of you, the Word of God says, that you are spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and in sins, You are walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, and what you need is life.
What people need today is spiritual life, not religion, not churchianity, Not communion, not baptism. What people need is life. And this woman realizes that her lad is dead. She takes that lad and brings him and puts him into the prophet's chamber, closes the door, starts on the journey to see the prophet, and we find that she comes to the prophet and when she comes to the prophet, she comes with the words, Did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gaius, I gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way.
If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff upon the face of the child. But there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him and told him, saying, The child is not awake. Now I want you to notice, first of all, what will not raise the dead?
What will not raise the dead? Gehazi, the servant of the prophet, is sent with the staff, and he is told, lay the staff upon the face of the child. Well, when he lays the staff upon the face of the child, he comes back with a message. He says, there is neither voice nor hearing. The child is not awake. You know, there are many people just like that. They've had a staff laid upon them, and it may have been a very good staff, but there's neither voice nor hearing. There is no life. You know, voice or hearing We know that one of the first things that the nurse or the doctor, the parent wants to hear when a little baby is born, the first sound they want to hear is the cry of that child, because that means that the lungs are clear, that there is breath, that there is life, that there is real life there.
They want to hear the expression of that life in a cry. My friends, it's the very same with spiritual life. You know where there is spiritual life, there is a cry, there is an expression of life in one way or another, and there is neither voice nor hearing, there was no ear, because it was only a staff that was laid upon the face of the child. You know, there are many people today who have had staffs laid upon them, and there is no evidence of life whatsoever. Oh, I know that there are many people who would be shocked if they were told that they were not Christians, because they think that they are Christians.
They think that they're Christians because they've had some dead staff laid upon them. Oh, yes, the man says, yes, I'm a Christian. How did you become a Christian? Well, you know, when I came to a certain age, I made my confession of faith. I was questioned by the consistory of my church, and I made my confession of faith. That's why I believe that I am all right. I am a Christian. But, Have you been born again? Do you have life? Do you have real life from God? Do you have eternal life? Reminds you of the man who came to our meetings in Colorado, tent meetings.
He came to those meetings night after night. He was wheeled to those meetings in a wheelchair. And so we went to visit him. And speaking to him, we asked him, Henry, How is it with you? Are you going to heaven? When the door of salvation is closed, which side of the door will you be on? He says, I'll be on the outside. His wife says, Oh, no, Henry, you'll be on the inside. Why don't you remember, Henry, when you were converted? I says, Henry, were you converted? Well, he said I was supposed to have been. When I was seventeen years old, they had revival services in our church, and everybody was going up to the front. So I went up to the front too, and I knelt there, and I cried, and I prayed, and I felt good for a couple of weeks.
But then he says it all passed away. I said, well, Henry, when you went up to the front, what did you get? He says, I didn't get a thing. I says, that's just it. The preacher perhaps shook your hand, and he says, the Lord has forgiven you, and you're bidding fair for heaven, but you did not come in contact with the author of life. You did not come in contact with Christ. My friend tonight, it merely coming up to the front, kneeling at the front, saying a few words of prayer, or perhaps shedding a few tears, is not salvation. There are many people who come up to the front, and they go back, and they go back just the same way that they came forward, except for a few tears that were shed.
They never come in contact, or they don't come in contact, with the author of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. How did you become a Christian? Well, I was baptized. You know, when I was baptized, that's how I became a Christian. Oh, you did. I remember one time being in the city of Grand Rapids. being in a railroad station, and I was distributing gospel tracks, and finally I came at the end to two men who were sitting there with an open Bible. I said, well, it's good that you're reading the good book. Yes, they said we're reading the good book. Well, then you'll be interested in this, and I offered them a couple of gospel tracks, and they gave me one of theirs.
And I said, well, let me ask you, are you going to heaven? Oh, well, we hope so. Well, are you saved? Well, we think we are. Well, why do you think you are? Because I've been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of my sins. I said, well, does baptism save you? I said, let me ask you a question. Is salvation of the Lord or is salvation of men? And he thought for a moment and he says, well, he says, I think salvation is of the Lord. Well, I said, if salvation is of the Lord, why, if some man baptized you, and that helped to save you, why, then you owe just as much to that man for baptizing you and helping to get you into heaven as you owe to the Lord for what he had done for you.
It was an argument, my friends, that he couldn't withstand. If I by thy baptism am saved, why, the man who baptized me helps to save me just as much as the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for me on Calvary's cross and rose again. No, friend, salvation is not by baptism. I'm merely having a rod. Now, I want you to notice... This was a prophet's rod. The rod was very good in its place, and baptism is very good in its place. We certainly believe in baptism.
We believe that every believer should be baptized. Everyone who is saved should be baptized after he or she believes the gospel, but it does not help our salvation. It can never give life. It can never impart life to a single soul. The staff was good, but in the wrong place it could never give life. Oh, yes, I received Christ. How do you receive Christ? Well, I receive Christ when I partake of the Lord's Supper. That's how I receive Christ. That's what people have told me. Every time I receive the Lord's Supper, I receive Christ.
Well, friends, Can the Lord's Supper give life? Is that receiving Christ? We never find that that's in the Bible spoken of as receiving Christ. Because partaking of the Lord's Supper is an ordinance. that I as a Christian do, just as baptism is an ordinance that I do. But the Lord's Supper never gave life to a single soul. It's just like the staff that is laid upon the face of the child. There was neither voice nor hearing. My friends, wherever there's life, there's an expression of life. People say, oh, Don't talk to me about that.
After all, that's between me and the Lord. Yes, it is between you and the Lord. But my friend, if you've got life, it expresses itself some way or other. It may be in the very simplest expression. It may be like the woman who listened to the gospel, and as she went out of the meeting that night and shook hands with the preacher, she could say, well, I know it's all right now. I know it's all right now because I've trusted Christ as my Savior. It may be that perhaps you're like one who says, well, I don't understand all about it, but I know that I'm a sinner and that Jesus died for me and that I've received him as my own personal Savior.
There's an expression of life. There's neither voice, though there's no expression of life, and there's no desire to hear. There's no ear. You know, I'm always afraid of those people who say they're saved, but they have no desire to hear the Word of God. They're in on the latest television program and in on the latest radio program. They know the latest tune. They know the latest all about the world events. But they have no desire to hear anything about God. the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no desire to hear the Word of God. Their taste is the same as it was before they ever made a profession.
My friend, if there's no voice, if there's no expression, if you've got nothing within you, And if you've got nothing within you that expresses itself, or nothing within you that desires to hear more of the Savior, why, friend, you better examine yourself, because you may be just in this condition that this lad was in, dead. And no matter how many prophets, no matter how many prophets' hands are laid upon you, you'll never receive life through any works that you can do or that any man can do for you in a religious sense.
I know that's one thing about this woman. She wanted to make sure that her son had life. She, as I said last night, was single-minded. She wanted the prophet and no one else but Elisha. And might I say the parents of children who are not saved should desire nothing less, and they should sincerely desire that their children really and truly come in contact with the living source of life, our Lord Jesus Christ. That they really and truly come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as their own personal Savior, because it's only the one who has the Son who has life.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God shall not see life. And this woman, she wanted only one man for her son, and that was Elisha. She wanted Elisha. And we should want only one for our families, one for those souls, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we find... that when the prophet comes in, we notice in the thirty-first verse it says, The child is not awake. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead and laid upon his bed.
Now we want to find a first step that is necessary to raise people from the dead. What is it? Here was the prophet. He goes into the bed chamber. And when he comes into the bed chamber, why, there is the bed upon which he is used to lying, and he would often lay there and feel refreshed. But when he comes to that bed this time, why, there's a dead child in that bed. Now, I wonder how many of us here tonight could go to sleep in a bed where there was a dead person. Could we? How many of us tonight could go into a bed room and sleep in a bed if we knew that the occupant of the bed was already dead?
I don't think there's one of us tonight that would be willing to sleep in a bed with a dead person. As soon as he saw that child in that bed, there was no rest. for the prophet Elisha. The prophet Elisha could not rest in that bed as long as that child that was dead lay in that bed. And might I suggest that here we have the first thought, the first thing that is necessary, and that is there was a sense of responsibility concerning that one that was dead that so disturbed Elisha and so bothered Elisha that Elisha certainly could not rest in that bed as he was prone to do on previous occasions.
I wonder, do you and I have a sense of burden? Do we have a sense of responsibility that disturbs our rest as we think perhaps of precious souls that don't know our Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps in our own families. Perhaps there are those of us here tonight, and we have children that are not saved. Let me ask you tonight, are you indifferent and careless to the fact that you do not have children that are not saved? Or let me ask you tonight, is there a loved one close to you that does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior?
And let me ask you, are you indifferent and careless as to that loved one being unsaved? That it doesn't make any difference, it's not too much, it doesn't matter too much. Oh, as you and I think of the reality and the imminence of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord Jesus Christ might come at any moment and that when He does come, His people are going to be caught up to be with Him, and then the door of salvation is going to be closed, and the unsaved, who are not saved, are going to be left behind to go through that awful period of tribulation, to fall a prey to the lie and the deception of the Antichrist, and to go through that awful tribulation, and then on to judgment, and then into the lake of fire forever and forever.
You know, I had that impressed upon me the other day, just reading a little sentence that I read in a certain paper, and it was speaking to people that were unsaved, and it says that you will be someplace a billion years from now. Just think of that. a billion years from now. Every one of us are going to be someplace a billion years from now. Think of a soul in eternity in the misery of the lake of fire for a billion years. That's a thousand million years.
And after those billion years, and who can measure how long that is? after those billion years have run their course, there will be another billion after that. And then another billion after that, and my friends, eternity will go on for millions and billions and millions of billions of years. I can't fathom it, my friends, and to think that there are souls perhaps in this meeting you're not saved. And those millions and billions of years, if you die without the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be an everlasting torment.
You will be in that misery that will be so long, my friend, that this little span of life that you are living here is just going to be so far left behind and going to be so insignificant in comparison to the ages that you will spend in that lost eternity, that you will wonder how is it possible that I could have been so foolish and so blinded as to have sold out my chance of salvation for the little trivial trinket of pleasure that I had down there on earth for only that little while.
My friends, as we think of souls going into that endless eternity, unsaved, how can we rest? How can we be complacent about it? How can we do nothing about it as we think of men and women around us, boys and girls around us, going to a lost eternity? I think that we need to have a revival of a sense of responsibility and a sense of burden in our hearts concerning the unsaved as individuals. There was only one little lad in that bed, but the prophet could not rest because that little lad was dead.
There was a burden upon his heart. He desired to see that little lad brought to light. You and I have a sense of burden for the unsaved. The Lord reached us and saved us. And let me ask you tonight, Are you and I doing anything after we are saved? Are we doing anything to reach the unsaved after we are saved? Are we doing our little bit or our part? Do we feel a sense of burden, a sense of urgency, a sense of responsibility in regard to those who are not saved as we think of the awful endless eternity that stares each and every one of us in the face.
Here was this little lad, he was dead, and the prophet sees that lad in the bed, and the prophet can't rest. The prophet can't rest. The child is dead. The child needs life. And so we find that the prophet, when he finds the lad dead, and laid upon his bed. I want you to notice, laid upon his bed. Perhaps there's someone here tonight who says, well, I have no immediate relatives that's not saved. I'm thankful I'm able to look and see that everyone that I know belonged to Christ.
Well, let me ask you tonight, will you pray to the Lord, Lord, lay some soul upon my heart and love that soul through me? that I may do my humble part to win that soul for thee. Here the child was laid upon his bed. And we find that when the child was laid upon his bed, the thirty-second verse, the thirty-third verse, he went in therefore and shut the door upon them twain and prayed unto the Lord. We find that the Prophet, as he sees the child upon his bed, he goes into the room and he shuts the door upon them twain.
In other words, my friends, he closes out everything else and he faces what is his primary and his foremost responsibility. Let me ask you tonight, what is your primary? and foremost responsibility in life. Oh, well, mine is to support my family. Mine is to take care of my family. That's what I've got to spend all of my time and all of my energies on. Is it, you know, Kerry, William Kerry, was a shoemaker in the little village where he lived.
And everybody that came into his shoe shop, why he gave him a gospel track, or talked to him about the Lord. And of course, William Carey wasn't an ordained preacher. And so some of the religious people began to resent it. And so one day when one of them came in, and Mr. Carey began to speak about his soul, he said, Well, after all, Carey, he says, You're only a shoemaker. How come you're talking to me about religion? after all that's what we've got a preacher for and you're a shoemaker you take care of your shoe building and Terry says oh no he says he says you know I'm really here because I'm first of all a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and he says I only cobble shoes to pay expenses but my first responsibility is to be here As a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, he had a sense of what was first and most important in his life.
When this man Elisha closes the door and shuts the door upon them twain, he as it were, is saying, I am facing what is my first. and foremost task in life. My first and my foremost task in life, my primary objective in life is to bring that soul to life. That is my primary objective. That is my foremost object in life. My friend, let me ask you, have you ever tried to win a soul for the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever experienced the joy of leading a soul to the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, I think the next to salvation, why that's one of the greatest joys that a person can ever have.
And if you've ever tasted the joy of leading a soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, why let me tell you, friend, you've tasted a rare and a precious joy. Because leading another soul to Christ, why, friends, it almost surpasses the joy that we have in our own salvation. Let me ask you tonight, have you faced What is most important? Have you considered that a soul led to the Lord Jesus is worth more than the whole world? That it's more valuable than the whole world? And we find that when he closes the door, we find that he prays unto the Lord.
Here we find the second thing, a sense of dependence. He prays unto the Lord. He realizes that this is something that is too big for him. This is something that is too much for him. He can do this. He needs divine power. He needs the power of God. And so we find that he prays unto the Lord. How much time do we spend in prayer for the unsaved? You know, as I read this, I think of a woman whose son was unsaved. He was seventeen years old. He was in school.
He was beginning to drink in the agnostic teachings. And he was becoming quite agnostic, rebellious against the faith of his father and mother. And he was home on a vacation. His mother had to make a visit to a friend or a relative some miles away. And this particular day she became so burdened about her son that she just felt she had to pray to the Lord. And she went into the bedroom where she was staying, and she closed the door upon her, and she determined, I'll never leave this bedroom until I know for sure that my son is saved. And that was quite a thing.
But she was really and truly so burdened, really and truly so earnest, and the thing was so obviously given of God that she got down her knees and she prayed, and she prayed for her son. And meanwhile at home, the son was at home on vacation, and he couldn't do anything. He was just restless. He didn't know what to do with himself. The house was empty. Father was gone, mother was gone. And so he wondered what to do. And so he wandered into his father's study. And he picked up a little gospel track. And he thought to himself, I'll read it. And I'll read the story. And when I come to the application, I'll stop.
But before he knew it, it was right from the story, right into the application, the story of the crucifixion. And he came suddenly upon those words as Jesus hung upon that cross and said, It is finished. and he read those words it is finished and he stopped and he thought what is finished what is finished why the work of Christ for salvation is finished well if the work of Christ for salvation is finished there's nothing more left for me to do but believe it and Hudson Taylor believed it right in it there and Hudson Taylor was saved and he became a servant of the Lord a founder of the China Inland Mission, but it all began.
His mother prayed. And at precisely that moment, his mother felt the burden roll away. People say, well, prayer is just, what is prayer? Well, this was definitely of God. She felt the burden rolled away, and she had the assurance within her that her son was saved. And she thanked God for saving him. And went out with a white heart. And when she came home a few days later, her son ran to meet her and says, Mother, I want to tell you something. I'm saved. She says, I know you're saved. You were saved just at that particular time, weren't you? The other day. And he says, Yes, how did you know?
Well, I was praying for you. And as I was praying for you, burden for you. I felt the burden roll away and I knew God had saved you. Elisha prayed. That's where the power comes. Power comes in answer to prayer. We can't bring a soul to life. Elisha felt it. Elisha prayed. And then it says he went up and lay upon the child. Now here we have the third thing, and that is contact. Contact. You know, souls can't be reached unless they're contacted.
A man was praying to the Lord for his neighbor, and one morning as he was praying, he says, Lord, lay your finger upon my neighbor, and the Lord says to him, you're my finger, you go and talk to him. You're my finger, you go and talk to him. You go and contact him. Elisha laid himself upon the child, laid himself straight out upon the child. There has to be contact. My friend, you have contacts. You have contacts with souls. What about those souls that you contact? There are those that you rub shoulders with.
There are those that you meet with every day. You in your little corner, we used to sing a little song. We don't sing it anymore. Some of those old hymns, you know, they were really wonderful hymns. They had wonderful truth. And one of them is, you shine in your little corner, and I'll shine in mine. My friend, you've got your little corner. You've got your circle of contacts. You've got your circle of friends. You've got your circle of acquaintances. Let me ask you tonight, Are you contacting them for the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, you can contact them as perhaps no one else can.
You can impress them as perhaps no one else can. Elisha lay upon the child. There has to be contact. There has to be this contact. And then it says, He put His mouth upon His mouth and His eyes upon His eyes and his hands upon his hands. There was adaptability. He adapted himself to the child. He put his mouth upon the child's mouth, his eyes upon the child's eyes, his hands upon the child's hands. What does that suggest? We've got to adapt ourselves to those to whom we speak.
You know, we can't reach everybody the same way. We can't reach everybody with the same pet phrase. I don't know how many of you like to go fishing, but I like to go fishing. And one thing I do know about fishing, and that is you can't catch all fish with the same kind of bait. Mr. Linston and I went fishing one time in Kansas, and Maya, we caught a wonderful mess of fish, six beautiful, tasty catfish, with some what I've never seen since. I suppose I'd find it if I went down to Kansas looking for it, and that was stinking bait. Now, I don't know what that stinking bait was, but it certainly got the fish.
I know there are other fish that we caught with the worms, and there were still others that we caught with just a shining lure. Well, you know, you catch different fish with different kinds of bait. That's the way it was with our Lord Jesus. He didn't catch all the fish the same way. He spoke to that religious man Nicodemus. And what did he say? Nicodemus, you must be born again. And that rocked Nicodemus. To be born again. Why? You mean to say that my religion... doesn't fit me for heaven? Well, I'm a leader of the Jews.
You mean to say that doesn't fit me for heaven? No, he says, Nicodemus. Oh, Nicodemus says, you know, I'm looking for a teacher who will lead me into higher realms of spiritual truth. And Jesus says, Nicodemus, what you need is not a teacher. Nicodemus, you must be born again. Because except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He spoke to Nicodemus about being born again, and that one, Nicodemus. But that poor woman at Cypher's well, he spoke to her of living water, didn't he? He didn't mention a word about the new birth to her. He met her hungering, aching need.
with a message of living water. And you know, the Lord doesn't catch all the fish the same way. He doesn't catch all the fish with the same hook or with the same bait. He catches one one way and one another. When Elisha stretches himself upon this child and put his mouth upon his mouth, And he put his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands. It means to say he was speaking to him in a way you and I to speak to a person in a way they can take it in. We've got to see things the way they see things. We've got to do things the way they do them.
We've got to enter into their lives and adapt ourselves to them. Try to win them for the Lord Jesus Christ. Adapt ourselves to be. How can I win that soul? Jesus says, Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. Fishers of men. To win a soul for Christ. It means I've got to put myself out. He put his hand upon his mouth and upon his mouth. His eyes upon His eyes, His hands upon His hands, and He stretched Himself.
He put forth an effort. He stretched Himself. You know, some people are afraid of stretching themselves. They're afraid of putting themselves out a little bit. They're afraid of putting themselves out beyond their measure a little bit. Elisha stretched himself. He adapted himself, and he stretched himself, and it says, the flesh of the child waxed warm. Now, you know, some of these things, we can contact them. We can adapt ourselves to them.
But my friends, maybe only their flesh wax warm. There's still no life there. The flesh is waxing warm. People are beginning to like us. People are beginning to warm up to us. They say, I like that. Or I'm interested in that. But that's still not salvation. Joining the church is not enough. People need life. And Elisha wasn't satisfied with the flesh waxing warm. He wasn't satisfied with just a person beginning to warm up a little bit. He wanted that person to have life.
And so we find the next thing. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up and stretched himself upon him. He persevered. He didn't give up. He didn't give up. He stretched himself upon them again. Perseverance. Do we give up? You know, all people aren't won by the first message we bring them. All people aren't won by the first tract we give them. All people are not won by the first effort. Maybe we try again and again and again and again.
And still we haven't won them. What then? Do we give up? Elisha didn't. Elisha tried again. You know, I'm thinking of a couple. They're both with the Lord now. This is something took place a number of years ago. They were both very concerned about her sister and her husband, and no matter how this couple talked to them, no matter how they pleaded with them, no matter how they invited them, no matter how they entreated them, No matter how they talked with him, they couldn't seem to get in with him anyway. And finally the husband said to his wife, Well, I'm through. I'm not going to try anymore.
All they do is laugh us in the face. And all they do is make fun of us. I'm not going to try anymore. And so he didn't. Now it happened that these people live right next to the Gospel Hall there in the city of Chicago. And the man and his wife who were Christians lived right across the street. The unsaved people live right next to the Gospel Hall. And so this particular Sunday, this brother and wife were walking along across the street, coming to the Gospel meeting, and the unsaved man and his wife were upstairs. He was looking out the window and he saw the man walking across the street. He says, I wonder what there is in that place over there anyway. You know, they've been wanting us to come for a long time.
Well, you say we go tonight. And she says, yes, I'd like to go. I've been wanting to go for some time. And so they both went. And there were only a couple of local brethren preaching that night. One of them was an old farmer, and the other one was a laundry man. And as this laundry man began to speak, why they sat in the audience, and they were dumb fun. Why did that man get all that Bible knowledge? Where did he get all that? And then the old farmer got up, and he began to speak. And my, they were amazed. Where does he get all that? And they were both convicted. After the meeting, they invite the brother-in-law and sister-in-law to the house over a cup of tea or a cup of coffee.
And lo and behold, as they opened the Scriptures, the unsaved man is one for Christ. And a few days later, the wife is one for Christ. And that's over thirty years ago. They're still going on for the Lord. The couple gave up. But the Lord still worked. Do we give up? Elisha stretched himself upon him again. And when he stretched himself upon him again, the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. There was life. You and I have a message of life. We have a message of life that we can communicate and impart to the unsaved.
just as Elisha imparted life to this child that was dead. You and I have the message of life. Do we give up or do we continue to try? Just like Elisha did, communicating that message of life that is able to give life to the unsaved. The child opened his eyes and he called Gehazi and said, Call the Shunamite. So he called her, And 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. What was the last thing that Elisha did?
Elisha put that child which was brought to life. He put it into the hands of a good nurse. He didn't just say, Well, the child's alive now. I'll leave it to itself. He put that live child into the hands of a good nurse. He wanted that child cared for. And you know, when the Lord gives life to a soul, He wants that soul to be cared for. That's what the assembly of God's people is for. That's what the elders in the assembly are for, to have a care for the people of God. To have a care for newborn babes. to see that they go on in the ways of the Lord, to see that they're fed so that they become strong, healthy, mature Christians, to minister to them of the things of Christ.
Elisha committed that child that was alive into the hand of someone who would care for him. Let me ask you tonight, are there Christians here? Do you have a care for newborn babes? Do you have a care for fellow believers? You know, it's not only elders who are to have a care, but all Christians should have a care. You know, if you have a family, I happen to have had two sons. And you know, when the first son comes along or the first daughter, why, he begins to walk and begins to talk.
But you know, when the second one comes along, he seems to learn faster than the first one, doesn't he? Why? Because the one who's just been on the way a little longer, just a couple of years perhaps, he begins to communicate to that younger one that's coming along. And that young one seems to learn how to talk and learns how to walk much faster, you might say, than the first one did. Maybe, of course, yours weren't like that. But, you know, that's the way it is in the Christian life, too. We may think to ourselves, well, I'm not on the way very long. What can I communicate? What can I do? Well, you know, the amazing thing is, that if you're on the way only a little while, if you communicate what the Lord has given to you, you will find that it not only helps the one to whom you communicate it, but it will help you too.
It will strengthen you too. It will enlarge your capacity too. It will be a means of help and development to you too. It's not enough to see souls saved. That's wonderful. That's wonderful, but when those souls are saved, they need to be cared for. They need, you know, there was one lad who wasn't cared for. He was dropped by his nurse when he was five years old. And you remember, Mephibosheth was lame to the day of his death. And there are some believers like that too. They're dropped. They're not cared for the way they should.
and they bear the marks of it, you might say, to the very end of their journey, we need to have a care, have the same care one for another. Let me ask tonight, are you an instrument that the Lord can use to impart life to someone, to bring a message of life to someone? Are you an instrument that the Lord can use to bring a message of life to someone that is dead in trespasses and in sins. Is there someone that the Lord can lay upon your heart, that you can be burdened with, that you can make an object of prayer, that you can make an object of concern, that you're going to contact, that you're going to adapt yourself to, that you're going to try again and again to win that soul for the Lord Jesus?
You know, there was a very great man of God, and he said, if one soul from Anwar meet me in heaven, my heaven will be two heavens for me. In other words, if one soul from this little town where I live is one to Christ as a result of my effort, as the result of my testimony, my heaven is going to be twice as happy to me because of that one soul that the Lord used to lead me to lead to Christ.
May you and I really and truly have a concern. May you and I try to win souls for Christ. Shall we pray?