Elisha Cleanses the Waters of Jericho

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for tonight, the chance to be in your word, the opportunity you've given us to study your word. And our prayer is that you'd open our hearts and minds, that we might be able to perceive you, understand your desire for us, that we might walk in obedience to your word. We thank you, Lord, for those who have taken the time to be here and pray that you bless them in a very special way, because they've decided to honor you above all else to hear the word of the Lord.

Thank you for our time together, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 2 Kings 2. We're going to cover four verses tonight, verses 19 to 22, looking at Elisha, and he cleanses the waters at Jericho. We have seen the call that God has placed upon Elisha, and how God called him when he was plowing the fields, when Elijah came by and threw his mantle upon him. We've also seen the commitment of Elijah, the dedication of the man to forsake all and follow God's call upon his life. And last week, we were able to understand a little bit more about Elijah when we saw the commencement of his ministry, how it all began, how he had to cross back over the waters of Jericho and come face to face with the sons of the prophets from Jericho and confront them on their lack of belief in the word of God.

And today we look at the power of God as it is portrayed in 2 Kings 2, dealing with the second miracle in Elisha's ministry.

And from here on out, every time we talk about Elisha, we're talking about one of the miracles that he performs, that God uses him to perform to make himself known. Okay, we're going to pick up the narrative in verse number 19. It reads as follows, Then the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, now the situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord sees, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. He said, bring me a new jar and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. He went out to the spring of water and threw salt in and said, thus says the Lord, I have purified these waters.

There shall not be from their death or unfruitfulness any longer. That's it. So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha, which he spoke. So how does that apply to you? What's that got to do with me today in the 21st century, trying to understand the cleansing power of God in the waters of Jericho? How does it apply to me? All scriptures inspired by God, all scriptures profitable for the man of God to be thoroughly equipped to complete God's will for his life. So what does this mean for you and me today?

And what is the meaning of the text as it applies to Elisha and the men of Jericho? We're going to look at four things tonight.

We're going to look first of all at the situation in Jericho, then the solicitation of bringing Elisha to handle the issue.

And then we're going to look specifically at the solution that Elisha gives. And then we're going to summarize everything for you to help you understand how this applies to your life.

First of all, the situation in Jericho is stated very simply in verse number 19. Then the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, now the situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord sees. In other words, you can see Jericho. You understand Jericho, Elisha. Now Elisha was here because he had met up with the sons of the prophets and they did not believe in what God had did with Elisha. Elisha told them, don't go looking for them, but for him, but they did anyway. And they came back and realized that Elisha was right.

That plays a very important part in this narrative tonight. For Elisha is pretty much done with the sons of the prophets. And so the men of the city recognize that Elisha is the man of God. They recognize that he has the power of God upon his life. And you will know that the men of the city do not go to any of the prophets in the seminary. They go to Elisha, the man of God, the man who displays the power of God in his life. And they go to him because there is a situation in the city. Although it's a beautiful city, although you can see, he says, by looking at the architecture of the buildings, by the gardens that are here, as you overlook the city and look to the East, you can see the Jordan and watch the sun rise in the East as it sparkles there on the Jordan river.

It's a picturesque setting, but no matter what you see, Elisha, we have a problem here in Jericho. We have a major problem and that problem affects everything that we do. We have a bad water system and it affects us in such a way that things are becoming barren, dry, unproductive. We have a problem. Now, when you read the text, it says, but the water is bad. That really doesn't explain exactly what it means. It's a word that means evil. Okay. It was first used in the book of Genesis to ascribe a tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The water was evil. In fact, it's the same word used in Genesis chapter six, when it says these words, Genesis chapter six, verse number five, then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So it speaks of the evilness of the water. In fact, the most time this Hebrew word is translated is translated evil. 31 times in the old Testament is translated wickedness. And so they're trying to explain to Elisha that this water is not just bad, it's evil.

It's wicked. So wicked. They say that it affects the land, making it unfruitful, making it barren, making it to a point that it affects everything that we do. One author said it this way. He said that the stream was thought to be the cause of untimely births, abortions, and the like among the cattle, perhaps even among the people who drank it. The water problem was severe. It affected the animal kingdom. It affected plant life. It affected human life to all, to all who drank it. And so therefore they were concerned and rightly so.

But you have to remember that there was a curse placed upon Jericho. That's important to the story. If you go back in your Bible to the book of Joshua chapter six, verse number 26, after Jericho had been destroyed, remember when Israel crossed over the Jordan, their first battle was at Jericho.

And they would defeat that city. And it says in verse number 26 of Joshua six, then Joshua made them take an oath at that time saying, cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city, Jericho with the loss of his firstborn. He will lay its foundation and with the loss of his youngest son, he shall set up its gates. That was Joshua explaining the curse upon this city. You, this city is so cursed. You can't build it again, because if you build it again, the curse is going to affect your children.

Well, if you go back again or go forward again, the first Kings chapter 16, you realize that during the reign of Ahab, there was an individual named Hiel who had two sons and he saw the pleasantness of the surroundings of Jericho.

He saw what it could be. So he decided to rebuild the city of Jericho. It says in verse 34 of first Kings chapter 16, in the days of Hiel, the Bethelite built Jericho.

He laid his foundations with the loss of Abiram, his firstborn and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son, Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of men. So as Hiel was rebuilding the city, taking no thought of what the words of Joshua were back in Joshua chapter six, he decided to forego the authority of the word of God and to rebuild the city. This was part and parcel to everything that Israel was doing at the time. They had been indifferent to the word of God, not just ignorant of the word of God, but indifferent to the word of God, not wanting to do what God said.

And under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, idolatry was rampant, immorality was rampant. Every man did what they wanted to do. And so Hiel decided to rebuild the city of Jericho, even though God said, don't do that because if you do, you're going to lose your sons. And of course he did. And they would pass it off as a construction accident. They were killed in the construction of the city because they did not think of the word of the Lord and its authority for their lives. The city was cursed because God had cursed the city.

God had destroyed the city. God did not want the city to be rebuilt, but Hiel had looked at the area. It was pleasing to his eyes. And no matter what the word of the Lord said, he would rebuild the city, even though it cost him his sons. If you go back to Joshua chapter seven, you also have another man by the name of Achan. God said, the city's under the ban. You cannot take anything from that city because it's mine. But Achan decided to take something from the city. And it cost Israel in battle.

They lost to a very small village. And Joshua would tear his clothes and wonder what had taken place. And God told Joshua to get up off his knees, to go and deal with sin that was rampant in the camp. Israel has sinned. And Joshua was thinking to himself, how has Israel sinned? We just defeated Jericho, a tremendous victory. But now there's been tragedy. What has taken place? And God said, there's sin in the camp. So they went through all the individuals, as God had said. And it says in Joshua chapter seven, verse number 21, Achan said, when I saw among the spoil a beautiful manta from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold, 50 shekels in weight, that I coveted them and took them.

Behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent. And behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua, and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the set of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him.

And they brought them up to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned them with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. I mean, how many times are you going to kill them, you know? And it says, they raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day. And the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Achan had the same problem Hael had, and that was that which the Lord had forbidden was pleasing to his eyes. A lot like Eve way back in Genesis chapter 3, when she saw the fruit and saw that it was pleasing to her eyes, and she would partake of the fruit and her husband with her. You see, Jericho, the city, is a reminder of the curse of sin upon man. And the city had been cursed. And even though Achan decided to go against the law of the Lord, and Hael had decided to go against the law of the Lord, and they suffered the consequences.

It helps you understand that what the eyes behold don't always tell you about the best things in life. And sure enough, so many times we face the consequences of our sin so severely, because we see, and we covet, and we want, and we set aside what God has said. God said, do not rebuild the city. Hael would rebuild the city. He said, if you do, you'll lose your sons. He lost the sons. God said, don't take anything from the city. Achan decided to take gold, and silver, and the garments from Jericho, and sinned against the Lord, and brought a defeat upon a nation.

And God destroyed not only him, but his wife, his kids, his oxen, his donkeys, everything, because they had sinned against the Lord. And God was angry with Israel, because they disobeyed the Lord. So many times we forget that life is a lot like Jericho. And Jericho could be stamped across a lot of things in our lives, something that's very pleasing to us, that makes us indifferent to the things of God, not knowing the effects of that sin in our lives. Could last us not just for a brief time, but for a lifetime, sometimes even our death.

Remember Lot? Lot would behold the valley. When Abraham said to him, you know, we can no longer be together. You're going to have to go your way. I'm going to go mine. You choose which way you want to go. And in the book of Genesis, the 13th chapter, we know that Lot would look towards Sodom, because that was pleasing to him. He had learned that because his uncle Abraham had taken him down to Egypt when there was a famine in the land of Canaan. And he saw what was in Egypt, and he liked what he saw in Egypt.

And when he had the opportunity to choose back in the land, he chose the way of Sodom. He looked that way. He would begin to lean as he moved his tents that way. He would then begin to live in the city of Sodom. So much so, the Bible tells us in Genesis 19 that he was at the gate of the city. He was leading in Sodom. But everything that he looked toward and everything that he wanted would cost him. It would cost him his testimony, his family, his credibility, his legacy. It cost him everything, simply because he would look to the ways of the world.

We read this story, we realize that Jericho is symbolic of the curse of sin upon the world. And there are so many things out there that are appealing to our eyes, that are costly. In the middle of the city, he would say to Elisha, you can see by looking at the city, it's a beautiful place. It's very pleasant to the eyes. Just look at its architecture.

Just look at its surroundings. Just look at its gardens. Just look at the palm trees. It's so beautiful. But what you see on the outside doesn't tell you the true story of what's happening on the inside. The city is evil. The city is wicked. It's cursed. The water system is destroying life as you see it. We need a solution. We need you, Elisha, to do something for us. And so they come and solicit Elisha, not the seminarians. They didn't even go to the water district or the businessmen of Jericho, because maybe they've already tried that and it didn't work.

But they went to the man of God who exemplified the power of God. This was a need that they had and they needed a solution. And so they went to the man of God. And Elisha was following in the footsteps of Elijah. And Elijah was the father of Israel and he was the chariot and the horseman of Israel. He was the provider of Israel. He was the protector of Israel. Elisha now becomes the protector of Israel. He now becomes the provider for Israel. How would he now provide for this city? How would he provide for these people?

How would he protect these people? He is following in the footsteps of his master, Elijah. And so they come and they ask him because he was a godly man. The seminarians did not take God's word at face value, but Elisha did. And there was something about Elisha's life that would cause others to go to him and seek his counsel. We'll see this throughout the story of Elisha, where kings will come and seek his counsel. He was a wise man. He was a man of God and he had the solution. That's why the Bible says over in 2 Samuel chapter 23, verse number one, now these are the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse declares, the man who was raised on high declares, the anointing of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalms of Israel, the spirit of the Lord spoke by me and his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds when the tender grass springs out of the earth through sunshine after rain. In other words, the man who rules in a righteous way is the breath of fresh air to everybody they come in contact with.

And that's why it says in Proverbs 29, verse number two, that when the righteous rule, the people rejoice, but when the wicked man rules, the people groan.

They knew Elisha was a righteous man. They knew he was a godly man and they had an issue in their city that no one could solve. So they went to the man of God who exemplified the power of God and said, we need help. We need you to deal with this situation. Elisha did not live in Jericho. He was there only for a brief time. We will see next week that he'll be on his way. He'll leave Jericho. But the unique thing about this is that he was in the city and the men took advantage of this man while he was there.

If they waited too long, he'd be gone. They had to take advantage of the opportunity of the man of God being in their city, which helps us understand a couple of things. One is this, is that, you know, the Lord gives us opportunities. The Lord presents opportunities for us to be able to understand Him and His Word. And so many people bypass those opportunities. When I was growing up, my father used to always say to me, son, don't forget now we've got prayer meeting and Bible study at church on Wednesday nights.

You got to be there. I said, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, dad. I know. Don't be late. Make sure you're there. I know, dad. I said, but couldn't I miss just this once? He said to me, son, you need to hear the Word of the Lord. I said, yeah, I know, dad. But, but, son, you need to hear the Word of the Lord. I can hear my dad's voice even today as I'm saying this, how he said it to me and how he pointed his finger at me and said, you need to hear the Word of the Lord. My dad said it to me once. He said it to me a million times while I lived in his house.

You need to hear the Word of the Lord. You need to take advantage of every opportunity you have to hear the Word of the Lord. You cannot bypass those opportunities. And he made that a part of my life. And even though I didn't want to hear the Word of the Lord, hearing the Word of the Lord changed my life. Hearing the Word of the Lord changed everything about my life. But my dad, who was not a well-educated man, knew that his son needed to hear the Word of the Lord. No matter what else he did, he needed to be where the Word of the Lord was preached, taking advantage of every opportunity.

And Elisha was here in Jericho. These men needed to hear from the man of God. They needed to hear the Word of the Lord. They needed to know that this man of God was the solution to their problem. And they would take advantage of the man who was there. And today, if you look at our churches today across the country, there are opportunities for people to take advantage of the Word of the Lord, to hear the Word of the Lord, to be under the teaching of the Word of the Lord.

But so many times they just bypass that. Something else becomes more important to them than to hear the Word of the Lord. And that's unfortunate. That's really unfortunate. Because the only solution to every issue that you have is in the Word of the Lord. Every situation you face, every difficulty you encounter, every relationship that you're in is all centered on what God's Word says. And we need to hear the Word of the Lord. And I, my heart breaks over people who, who say, you know, I've got something else to do, as if something else is more important than to hear the Word of the Lord.

But unfortunately, it is for most people. They just don't care that much. That's why they're not here tonight. I know I'm preaching to the choir. You're here. But they don't want to hear the Word of the Lord. They got something else they want to hear. They want to hear the debates. That's what they want to hear. I don't know why, but that's what they want to hear. And they, they want to hear the score of the game, or they want to hear the news, or they want to hear something else. But they want to hear the Word of the Lord.

Why don't you want to hear the Word of the Lord? What else do you want to hear? What do you want to do? And if it wasn't for my father telling me, you need to hear the Word of the Lord and making sure that I was in a place where the Word of God was preached and taught. God's Word took a great effect in my life. And I am where I am today by the grace of God and by a father who made sure that I heard the Word of the Lord. How many times have I told you as a father, if the only thing you ever do is take your kids to church, you've done the greatest single thing in their lives.

Take them to a Bible teaching church where the Word of God is preached. Sit them under the teaching of the Word of God and let the Word of God take effect in their lives. We minimize the power of the Word of God. Tonight we're going to maximize the power of the Word of God for you in this story to help you understand the power, the cleansing power of God's Word in people's lives. So these men would take advantage. Couldn't let Elisha leave. They knew he was a man of God. They knew he exemplified the power of God.

He was the prophet of Israel. He was following the footsteps of Elijah. So they went to that man, came to that man, and spoke to that man. You know, our generation squanders the opportunity. How many times did the Lord say, he who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit of the Lord has to say? If you have ears, listen up. You need to be listening. We listen to so many things that just don't matter in life. We listen to frivolous things. We go and do frivolous things. Hey, listen, I'm all for having a good time.

Look at me. I'm just a fun guy. I have good time all the time, okay? But frivolity, okay, and the trivialness of life seem to consume our time more than anything else. These men would go to Elisha because he was the man of God who exemplified the power of God. He had the solution. Here it is. It's really kind of simple as he does it. There's no horns and whistles and lights, and there's no TV cameras. There's no newspaper article written about Joshua in the cleansing waters of Jericho. It's just a very simple miracle.

Kind of a parapraxis when I say that it's a simple miracle, but it truly is. Listen to how it goes. He said, bring me a new jar and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. They didn't say, well, why does it got to be new? Can it be old? No. Bring a new jar. Does it have to be salt? Couldn't it be honey? Couldn't it be sugar? Couldn't it be something else other than salt? Why does it got to be salt? He says, bring me a new jar and bring me salt. And they went and got a new jar of salt. He went out to the spring of the water and threw salt in it and said, thus says the Lord, I have purified these waters.

There should not be from their death or unfruitfulness any longer. So the waters are purified. So what's the big deal about a new jar? Wouldn't an old jar work? Why does that have to be a new jar? And why does that have to be salt? What is the significance of salt? Does it play any significance at all? And you can read commentators on this and they can go and they can elaborate a lot about the new jar and a lot about the salt. The emphasis truly is on the word of the Lord. But there has to be something behind the salt and something behind the new jar as to why he would ask for a new jar as opposed to an old jar and salt rather than anything else, right?

So let's think about salt for a minute. Why salt? Salt is a preserver. Salt is a purifier. Did you know that when Israel offered the meal offering, the grain offering, salt was required? You probably didn't know that unless you read Leviticus chapter two, verse number 13 today, and I'm sure you probably did not do that, okay? But it required four things. It required oil. It required frankincense. It required fine flour. And it required salt, the meal offering. The meal offering was offered by the Jews in their worship of God, celebrating his provision for the people of God.

It would make the atoning sacrifice acceptable. But the meal offering was offered because it was a worship to God saying to him, we recognize you as our provider. We worship you as our provider. And we thank you for your provision. And it had to be very distinctly offered in a way that God would be pleased. Because when Jesus came, he would be a fulfillment of the meal offering because he is the bread of life. He would be the ultimate provider of man. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

But he is the ultimate provider of man. He said in John six, I am the bread of life. I am your provision. I am your meal offering. I am that which you worship. And some would say that the oil would be symbolic of the spirit of God because the spirit of God would permeate the Christ when he came. Others would say that because the flour had to be fine and crushed, it symbolized the crushing of the Messiah. And the frankincense would be that perfume offered only to kings. And because of his crushing, the perfume was a sweet aroma to his father in heaven.

And the salt was representative of the purity of the Messiah, the spotless sin offering that would be given by the one called the bread of life. Now was Elisha thinking about all that when he said I need a new jar of salt? I have no idea. Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't. But we do know that the salt is a purifying agent and the waters are purified. We also know that salt is a preserver because it would preserve the meats. They didn't have refrigeration in those days. And so it was a permanent preserver.

Therefore, we know that the waters are purified and they were purified permanently. So the salt would be used as symbolic of purifying the water. A new jar may be new simply because when the soul of a man is cleansed, he becomes a new creation. And so he would use a new jar with the salt, which was a purifier and preserver, put it in there and take it not downstream where the effects of what was happening from the spring were taking place, but he went to the source. He went to the spring itself. That would be very important because he'd go to the source of the evil, the source of the curse, and there he would pour out the salt.

But the emphasis truly is on the word of the Lord. You see, he went to the source of the problem. He didn't go to the effects of the problem. We live in a society where there are many effects of sin taking place. Let's just take, for example, the issue of racism in our country. That seems to be escalating with each passing day, unlike ever before in most of our lifetime. And so it's gotten worse and going to continue to get worse. And so people are calling for some kind of social reformation. That's not what is needed.

You can change the laws. You can make the laws even more strict. You can take guns away from people. So that killing stopped supposedly, but that's not the solution. Social reformation is not what is needed. Spiritual transformation is what is needed. And that only happens through godly men who preach the gospel of Christ to affect the heart and soul of wicked people. That's the only solution to the racial tension in our country. There is no other solution. You can put a band-aid on the problem. But would it be that the men of the city or the men of our nation would truly call upon godly men to help them with the source of the problem in their country?

But to do that would require them to submit to a higher authority, the king of the universe, and they don't want to do that. So the minister, he went to Elisha. And Elisha went to the source of the problem, the heart of the issue. He went to the heart of the evil and the wickedness that would cause the water to run by. He would run evil. And so he would take that jar, that new jar, take that salt and put the salt in it. And then he would pour it into that spring. And then it says these words, thus says the Lord, I have purified these waters.

The salt didn't purify the water. The jar didn't purify the water. Elisha didn't purify the water. The Lord purified these waters. There shall not be from their death or unfruitfulness any longer. No more death, life. No more unfruitfulness, but fruitfulness. The curse is done. The curse of the water system is over, and it's over forever. And that's what the word of the Lord said. You see, the word of the Lord was the purifying agent. The salt was symbolic of the purity, but the word of the Lord purified.

That's why Christ says in John 15, verse number three, you have been cleansed by the word that I have spoken unto you.

This tells us about the power of the word of God, the miraculous power of the word of God, and the permanence of that word as it pertains to the issue at hand. And so when Elisha would speak the word of the Lord, he was helping the people to understand, because his name bears this, that Jehovah is my deliverer. Okay? Elijah, Jehovah is my God. And Elisha says, Elijah's God is my God, and my God and Elijah's God is the only deliverer. Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have purified these waters. And not only have I purified them today, I have purified them forevermore, so that the land now will bear good fruit, not bad fruit, that those who drink of this water will experience the abundance of freshness.

What's the summation of all this? How does this apply to us? This second miracle of Elisha reminds us that God is in the business of removing the curse of sin.

And only God can do that. No one else can. The soul of man is like Jericho. It is under the curse of sin. And the soul of a man is what needs to be dealt with, not the things that he does. Those things need to change, but they can only change if the soul of a man is changed. And Christ is that purifier. And so when Nicodemus came to Christ in the middle of the night, in John chapter 3, asking about the Christ, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him.

And Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Okay. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?

Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So as everyone is born of the Spirit, Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? And Jesus said, And you are a teacher in Israel?

You've got to be kidding me. You are a rabbi in Israel, and you have no idea what I just said to you? Who are you teaching, and what are you teaching? I mean, Jesus says a little bit nicer than that, but I mean, that's exactly what he's saying.

You're a teacher in Israel. You should know these things. What should Nicodemus know? He's a teacher of the law. He should know about the cleansing power of the Messiah. He should know what the prophet Ezekiel said, because he's a teacher of the law. In Ezekiel 36, verse number 22, Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. God makes it very clear.

I'm doing what I'm doing because of who I am, not for your sake, but for my sake. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. And then, here we go, here it is, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers, so you will be my people and I will be your God. That is the promise of the new covenant. That is the promise of the cleansing power of Christ to make you clean and to take each person and give them a brand new heart.

And so, God says, Christ says, God says, one and the same, says to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

You must be born of water and of the spirit. And Nicodemus says, what are you talking about? And God says to Nicodemus, and you call yourself a teacher of Israel, a teacher of the law, and you don't even know about the new covenant promise of the cleansing power of God.

How can you not know that, Nicodemus? Because Israel had gotten lost in all the minutiae of their laws and ordinances that they had forgotten about the power of the word of God in the heart and soul of a man. And the Lord wanted to remind Nicodemus of the cleansing power of the spirit of God. That's why the Bible says in Titus 3, verse number 5, it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the spirit that man is saved.

And that's why in Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 26, it talks about the cleansing power being washed clean by the word of God. It's God's word that cleanses us. It's God's word that purifies us. That's why when I read this text, I was drawn back to my father and his words. You must hear the words of the Lord. You must hear them. You must act upon them. You must know them, because those words are purifying words. Those words are that which cleanse the soul. That's why it's so important to read the text, to make sure people are taught the text, because it's the cleansing power of the word of God that does its work in the life and soul of a man.

That's why it's so important to hear what God has to say. And so here we have Elisha doing something very simple, only in Jericho for a brief time. And the men know that they can't go to the seminarians, because they don't believe in the power of the word of God, by virtue of the fact that they didn't believe what Elisha said about Elijah. So they go to a man who does believe in the power of the word of God, because they need a solution to their city's problem. And in that miracle, Elisha demonstrates the power of God's word to purify and to cleanse, that only God's word can do that.

And the summation of this miracle is that, listen, God's word is the only thing that's going to clean your life. There's nothing that you can do. It's not by works of righteousness. Nothing that you muster up that's going to make you clean. Oh, you can clean up the outside like the Pharisees did. They were all clean and white on the outside, but they were dead man's bones on the inside. They were a walking tomb on the inside. They were dead. They were spiritually dead. They were totally depraved.

They were satanically deluded, as it says in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 to 5. They were completely dead in their trespasses and sin. And only Christ can cleanse that. And that comes through the cleansing power of His word. That's why He said, you've been cleansed by the word that I have spoken unto you. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to the word of the Lord. Psalm 119. God's word is the only thing that's powerful enough to crush a soul. That's it. You can't change anything about anybody, but God's word can.

Because Jeremiah 23, 29 says, is not my word like a hammer? Is not my word like a fire? It's a refiner. It purifies. It's like a hammer. It crushes up the hardened stone soul. And so therefore, my word, God says, is like a hammer.

It's like a fiery furnace. It cleanses and purifies everything. That's why you preach the word of God. That's why you teach the word of God. That's why you memorize the word of God. That's why you listen to the word of God, because nothing else can do that. And not only does it crush the soul, it convicts the soul. Oh, the law of the Lord is righteous, convicting the soul, converting the soul. It convicts it. It converts it. It cleanses it, because it crushes it up. And only God's word can do that.

At the same time, only God's word can comfort the broken soul. Psalm 119, verse number 50, I have found comfort in thy words. They have revived me, O Lord. And so God's word becomes a source of everything for our lives. And here was Elisha coming off of a miracle of parting the Jordan, believing in what God had said, trusting in what God said, that his master was gone. He had departed off into glory, and he kept his eyes fixed on his master, because he knew that that was a source of all things, knowing what the word of the Lord had said, and comes across the Jordan.

There were seminarians who didn't believe that, but Elisha did. He stuck to his guns. He knew exactly what he needed to do. And somehow that touched the men of Jericho, that would say, Hey, Elisha, come help us. We have a, we have a problem. He says, okay, this is what you do. Need a new jar. I need some salt. They run and get a new jar, get salt. They don't say, well, why do we have to do that? They just go and do it, because the man of God was speaking to them. And when the man of God speaks, they move because he was a prophet of God.

He spoke the words of God. And they went and they got the jar, they got the salt. He took it, put the salt in the jar, went to the source of where the spring was and, and, and, and poured it in there and said, thus saith the Lord, God is doing this. I have purified these waters because only God's word can cleanse the filthiest soul. Only God's word can cleanse someone of all of their sin. And so by way of symbolism, by way of application, we can read this story. We can see what Elisha does. And Elisha, he doesn't preach the gospel to them.

Elisha doesn't say anything else. That's all he does. But if it is true that Elisha would use salt because of the meal offering, the grain offering, and the effect of the purifying aspect of that sinless sacrifice that would be offered, foreshadowing the coming of the Messiah, who would be the ultimate bread of life, if that's what he was trying to invest into the lives of these, these citizens of Jericho, he never came out and said it that way. But very slowly, very simply, he would articulate the truth and say, God is the purifier of all evil, of all wickedness.

And only God can do that. And we gather together and we hear the word of the Lord. And we leave realizing that this book, these words of God, this God-breathed book, is the book that cleanses the filthiest soul alive. Only God can do that. And not only does he cleanse it, he gives it a brand new heart so that the power is permanent. Forever it's changed. Forever it's purified. And when God saves you, you are forever purified. You are forever one of his. The speaker, the promise of the permanence of God's word, how it affects our lives, which gives us the joy of realizing that God is true to his word.

The cleansing waters of Jericho. Never thought that four verses could say so much to a people who so desperately need to understand the power of God's holy word, but it does. And throughout the life of Elisha, you will see more and more of the power of the word of God in action as he would lean upon those words for his life. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for our time together this evening, the truth of your word, the opportunity we have to study it together. And we pray that everybody here tonight would understand the cleansing power of Christ, that they know that they have been washed from their sins, that they know that the word of God has cleansed them and they are new creatures for the glory of God's kingdom.

We thank you Lord for Elisha. We thank you for his ministry. We thank you that you put into print his life, his works, that we might study them and learn and grow and be like Christ. Give us the grace to accomplish your will for our lives in Jesus name. Amen.