Second Kings chapter four and verse eight. And it fell on the day that Elisha passed the Shulam, where was a great woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was that as oft as he passed by he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, hold now i perceive that this is an holy man of god which passes by us continually let us make a little chamber i pray thee on the wall let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick and it shall be when he cometh to us that he shall turn in thither And it fell on the day that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. There's a text for Peter to have an afternoon rest. Now, and he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Trinomite, and when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care. What is to be done for thee? Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people. And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gahaz, I answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, Call her. When he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, Thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my Lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handlings. And the woman conceived and bare a son at that season that Elisa had set under her, according to the time of life. 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. He said to her, A lad, carry him to his mother. 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. She called unto her husband and said, Then may I pay 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 was thou go to him for day? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. She said, It shall be well. Then she saddled and asked, And said to her servant, Drive and go forward, slack not thy writing for me, except thy bid thee. So she went and came unto the man of God in Mount Carmel. came to pass when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gaius' servant, Behold, yonder is that Shulamite. Run now, I pray thee, to meet her and slay unto her. Is it well with thee? Is it well with her husband? Is it well with her child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gaius came near to the cost of her way. The man of God said, Let her load, 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 the Son of my Lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gahazai, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not. If any salute thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child. The mother of the child said, That the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, thy will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her. Gahaz, I 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. that is, Elisha, and told him, saying, The child is not awake. When Elisha was coming to the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in there, born, 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 hand. his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands, and he set himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child, whacked warm. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro, and went up and set himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes, and called to his eye, and said, Call this Shunemite. So he called her, When she will come in 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 the son, and went out. Over the years we've spoken on many characters on Mother's Day, many women, such as Sarah, Hannah, And also I remember one in the fifteenth of Matthew, the Sardinian woman, and also the mother of Timothy, mother of our Lord, and so on. But I like this character, and I want to speak something about, say something about this remarkable woman, a farmer's wife. You know, this was a remarkable chapter that you've been reading here. In other words, you have the prophet Elisha, and he was one of the prophets of God, and he performed fourteen miracles. Elijah, his predecessor, performed seven. And old Elijah was a very legal man, but Elisha, a very gracious man, showing that under law you don't get as much as you do under grace. Elisha performing twice as many miracles as Elijah did. If you had run down this chapter, you would find a poor widow getting her need met in verses one to seven. You'll find a woman childless, made the joyful mother of children. You'll find also the dead raised up, and then again the broken heart had bound up, and then the hungry, healed, and fed. And eleven times in this chapter, you'll read that expression, man of God, man of God, man of God, referring to Elijah, but only one could be called the Christ of God. Although you find many men of God in the Old Testament, they're referred to by that name, yet only one could be called in truth, the Christ of God, the Son of God. Of course, that's our Lord Jesus. You know, he said a remarkable thing about this woman in verse eight. She was a great woman, great in many ways. She was great in faith, if you were to turn over to Hebrews chapter eleven, why the apostle, whom we believe to be the author of that book, to the first the women received their dead to life again, undoubtedly referring to the faith of this Shunamite woman. She was also great in hospitality. How wonderful was her hospitality toward God's top? Then her discernment. She was great in discernment. She said to her husband, Is this a man of God that passes by us daily? She saw something about him, and she had good discernment. And so she was great in her discernment. And... when she comes to think, when you come to think of her discernment, he's a man of God, what does that mean to be a man? It means a man of God is one who believes in God. He belongs to God and he behaves like God. That's true. Oftentimes I'm very much embarrassed. That's why I don't take the word reverent. I find too many reverends that are not behaving like God. Every now and again in your newspaper or over the TV, whether they like to have something against the preacher and bring it out, the news media is very good at that. But you read things that you're ashamed. Read things that make your heart ache, the things that sum with a type. Look justly. like a remnant or a righteousness, should suit to the things that some of them suit to. I often wondered if they're even born again. But here she discerned, this is a man of God. I know he believes in God. I know he belongs to God, and I know he behaves like God. I see his life. And she was great in her generosity, a great woman. What does she do? Well, when I came south, fifty years ago, this year, quite often I heard an expression I never heard up in Canada, the Prophet's Chamber. I found that the folks back in those days, they always had a little room and they called it the Prophet's Chamber. Of course, North Carolina and Georgia spoken of as the Bible Belt. And many of the people in those days, when they built the house, they had one room set apart. And that's the property. I don't know whether the folk building in today had one or not. But back then, it was sold. In fact, I happened to be the recipient of the case of that kind. I came south and went to Raleigh, North Carolina. I stayed in the home of Jimmy Chapel. He died a couple of years ago. His wife died six months ago. And Jimmy was a pharmacist, and they had built a home, a nineteen-ten sunset vibe in God. And it was a lovely home. And they asked me to stay there for a few weeks. I was going to go back up to near Astro. But after staying there for a while, they approached me one day and they said, Brother Wilson, we have been praying for six years. Six years ago we built this house and we've been praying for six years that God would send us a young man to preach the gospel around here. Now they said we've had some come through, a lot of fine preachers and of God, but most of them were married and we didn't fear we could invite them. And some came through and they were all right, but their Irish was so that the public down here that people wouldn't understand their Irish both. And some were so scratch they wouldn't understand what was it? Well, I guess somehow coming from Canada, coming from England to Canada, my language wasn't scratch, it wasn't English. It wasn't scratch, it wasn't Irish, but it was England. So they asked me, they said, will you make this your home? And preach the gospel. It won't cost you any rent, and you can have your meal. We want you to preach in this area. And she said, that room where you're now sleeping, when we built this house, we said that was going to be the Prophet's save. I said, when did you build this house? She said six years ago. What month did you start the building? She said, the month of May. I said, I will save that month. The third of month, third of May, nineteen twenty-five. So evidently, when they were asking the Lord to send them somebody, he was an uncle up in Canada, had just gotten saved. And I stayed there three years and visited there many times while I was in the Carolina. What a godly thought. they had no children just like this kid. Godly company. And I tell you, I owe a lot to God because of Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Chapman. She was quite a character. Back in those days, I liked the priest a little longer, and I should. She's in a high school teacher. And I told them, I said, now, if I don't do things the way you think they should be done in the South, Some of my ways are a little different because of my background in culture. But tell me, one night we came home and I haven't preached about ten minutes too long. She said, Brother Wilson, when you look down at me, if I'm, she was, she's sitting right beside a husband. She said, if you see me close my Bible kind of quick, she said, time will quit. In other words, that's kind of the advice I got. And I appreciate it. thought they were a godly couple. And I stayed in that coffered table. And every time I went to Raleigh, in fact last year when I went to, I stayed there. That was a wonderful thing. But here is something very similar here in this instance. And here she made a bed and a table and a table and a candle and what even got. Well, a bed speaks a rest. And the table food, and the stool, learning, places to sit and read, and the light to see. Now that's what she had in this little room, that she had made for a lice of the top. It must have cost, it must have. Back in those days, we didn't do that for nothing. But here is a woman great in hospitality. Isn't that remarkable? Great in hospitality. but she was great in contentment. Why yet? Then when the prophet said to Elias, said to his servant Gehazi, I wonder what we can do for this Shunah night. She's so kind to us. And evidently Gehazi, the prophet, also shared the same room with Elisha. He said, I wonder what we can do. He said, follow the book. He says, will thou be spoken for unto the king, showing Elisha had a contact with the king? Or will thou be spoken of before the host, the man in charge of the host, the captain of the host? He wanted an elevator. He wanted to bring her into a circle of the upper class. Would you like me to speak to the king about you and all your kindness and what you've done for me, or to the captain of the host, and he'll see that you're protected? She said, I dwell among my own people. I'm perfectly happy where I am. Well, wasn't that nice? Wasn't she a great woman? She was perfectly content to stay where she walked. She felt this is where the Lord wants me, and here's where I'm going to stay. but she was great in trial the child died on her knees but it was quite young but she was great in her appreciation she appreciated that child as long as she had it and she appreciated alaisha now the story in detail They'll find how the promise of the son, when Elisha promised that she would have a son, and she didn't want to believe that. She said, don't tell me a lie. Don't make me a promise, and I'm not going to have cocaine. But it happened. Son was born. And then the time came when the young fellow, possibly around nine, ten or twelve, we don't know, he went out to be with his father in the field. It was harvest time. But how did he went into the field? You know, that's a sad time in the life of a godly mother and a godly father when your son or daughter goes out into the world. Because over in Matthew we read, the field is as well. And this mother likely felt when that boy went out, I wonder if he's safe. I wonder if you'll be taken care of. And I say this, it's a sad day sometimes when a young man or a young woman leaves home for the first time, especially if it's a godly home. and to go out into the world. Oh, the heavy hearts today, all across America, across the world, when godly parents saw their son or daughter leave their daughter across their poor step to go out into the world, it's an ungodly world. Yes, that's a sad, sad moment when that happens. But that's what happened on this occasion. The child went out into the field. You know, when you think of someone going out, the boy evidently knew what he was doing and where he was going. He was at the time of accountability. And that's a burden and a grief to every parent when a child wants to withdraw from the supervision and care of a godly mother and a godly father. I know something about this. I was brought up in a godly home. There was a Bible in every room. Grace sat at the table. Family gathered for family order. I was a black sheep of six children, four daughters and two sons. I wanted to have my way. I wanted to get out and enjoy the world. And I'll tell you, it was a burden to my mother. If I wasn't in the house by ten o'clock at night, she was worried. Well, today, children can stay out all night. And the boys and the family I went with. Their parents didn't go to church. Their parents didn't go to church. Didn't matter to the parents what time of the night. They came in or what they were doing. Not so, my friends. I've seen my mother at twelve o'clock at night, one o'clock in the morning, standing under the big tree, and every year when I go home, I stop there. There's where my mother used to stand, waiting for her wandering boy to compose. that the weather was bad. She'd be inside the side door waiting. They neither come. So I'm not going to say I stooped whenever he liked soap or drunk in his nose. I just wanted to have a good time. I want to have my own way. I love sport. I love hunting. I wanted to get into these things, boxing and playing hockey. I didn't want spiritual things. I was brought up in this. You know, I don't know. One of those families, the Ellis family, the Hubbard family, the Seaboff family, those fellas I ran with, whose parents didn't go to church and didn't share where they went. Apparently, I don't know one of those fellas who ever got saved. But I got saved. at the age of nineteen because I had a background of a godly mother and a godly father. And it was a heartbreak when my parents saw me going out into the world. And I tell you, that home rejoiced when I got saved. And so you find this boy going out into the field. Everybody had a case of sonship. But he went out... And there he was, out with his father in the field, he said, My head, my head, my head. The father said, Take him to his mother. That's a boy like a father. Take him to his mother. In fact, told him one of his servants. Take him to his mother. And so they took the child in the morning. And she took the child in her arms and it died on her knees at noon. That was a hard case, wasn't it? Oh, how she cherished that only child. The only one. Even then it was a miracle child given to her. Her husband was an old man. Yes, a heartbroken mother. And the child died. So she called her husband. She said, get me some transportation in a hurry. I got to go to Elisha. So he saw that she got the transportation she needed. The way she went after Elisha. And as she was going, finally, she saw Elisha. And Elisha said to his servant, Look, that's who the wife. At that moment we stayed with, and we had that son, something must have happened. Run and ask her, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with thy child? Way went Gahezai. And she just brushed him aside. She wasn't interested in Gahezai. She wanted to get to Elisha. He knew that he had dealings with God, and so she made for him. And when asked the question, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with thy child? She'd had a remarkable life. She said, no, it's bad. It's terrible. The boy died. She didn't. She said, it is well. Well, let her mind. It is well. How could it be well? Your child is done. I know all is gone. I know will of God. It is well. I'm going to bow to the will of God. I'm going to submit this to the will of God. This is what God wants. It is well with me. It is well with my husband. It is well with my child. I'm going to be amazed and asleep. I wish every mother in this audience would ask herself that message. Is it well with me? Is it well with my husband? Is it well with my children? Is it well? Are they saved? If you're not saved, it's not well. And if your husband's not saved, it's not well. If your children are not saved, it's not well. It's ill. She could say, it's well. I know the living God. My husband knows the living God. And that child, I'm confident that child has gone to be the daughter of Jesus. It is well. It is well. That's an amazing statement to think that she could say that. I wonder if you were to stop and think of this thing. Is it well? You know there's a hymn that says, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It's a grand thing to be able to get on your knees and say, Lord, it's well. I know Christ. I know my sins are forgiven. I know I have everlasting life. I'm never punished. I'm on the way to heaven. It well. There is contentment, there is commitment, there is submission and will of God. And I would say matured is the person who can say that under sad circumstances. Severe circumstances. It's wet. There is wet. You'll notice that when she was on her way to see Elijah and when she finally got there, She told Elijah what had happened. She said, Dehazai, take my staff and hurry and go and lay my staff on the face of that child. And as soon as I told her, she wasn't satisfied with that. She left the servant Dehazai one, back to her house with Elisha's staff with his hands, that she fell at the feet of the... Elisha. He says, I'm not going to go. Use that. Use that. And so Jehaziah, he went and he put the staff, the wooden staff, upon the face of the child, there was no reaction. So nothing else but Elisha must come, and he did come. And when he came in, Because when the child died, you'll notice what she did. She took the child up and put him on the bed of the man of God. There she put the dead child and shut the door, and that's when she went after the relationship. And so this man behaved, I, with his staff, he didn't accomplish anything. And the woman just brushed him aside. He went in and he put that staff upon the face of the child, but there was no reaction at all. It tells you that very plainly. If you want to read what you've got, I think it is in verse. And he went up, Lord, in verse thirty-one, and Gahait I passed down 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. In other words, the child there. There was no virtue or value in that staff, winded by a man who wasn't in touch with God. I want to say this is no man with all the titles in the world. He doesn't have the answers to the souls of men and women today. You may have your cap, your gown, your name, your degrees, your title. The dead staff of education, which is often the case in philosophy and formality and modernism. The dead staff of ethnature. placed upon the face of many a congregation this morning while I'm standing here. Some man with degrees and with a role and he's got the staff of eloquence, he's got the staff of being able to sway people. But then those wooden ideas and methods won't produce a thing. He didn't do in this case. And yet a lot of people are listening to that this morning. Everything but Christ, they're getting the staff, the dead staff. Why is it that God didn't use Gahazan? It's quite a sad story. God didn't have any confidence in his plan Gahazan. You can remember the incident he really read in chapter five. He was a servant of Elisha. And Nehemiah and the Syrian came to be healed. And Elisha healed him. He sent them through the river Jordan to dip seven thousand. And he wanted to pay Elisha. Oh, he was willing to give him money and clothing and all this. Elisha said, no, I don't want to die. And when Gahedah, the servant saw that and said, hmm. My servant shouldn't have done that. We should have kept all that money. And he went after Nehemiah. And he overtook it. And he said, Nehemiah. The Lord Nehemiah stopped the charge of me. He was so grateful for Elisha. And here's his servant. He said, what's the trouble? He said, why, we've got some company coming. And we need those things that you were going to give to my master Elisha. Oh, yes, said the Amon. Here, take twice as much, and he loaded it up. Gehazi took it up. All this and he went back. And he stopped in at a certain place of power, and he hid all the loot. Then he went into Elisha's house. Elisha said, Gehazi, where have you been? No, whether. Elisha said, Can I not go with you? What did you hide in that house? He was a deceitful young man. Behaved. He was a thief. And Elisha said, The leprosy of Nib shall cleave unto thy seed for the rest of their life. You and your family are going to have bad health. You're going to be leprosy just because of your nature. Behaved I. You want this word good. That's why God didn't use the Hades' eye and his staff. How did this, young man, get the power that he was restored? Well, it's quite easy. I want you to get this. All wooden methods of man will work. It was a living compact of a living man who brought about the restoration of life to this widow's son. Elisha went in where the corpse was, and he prayed, if you'll notice Gahaius, I didn't. Elisha did. He stretched himself upon the child, and Paul did the same thing in the twenty of Acts when a young man fell down from the third lap, third four, when Paul was long preaching, and Paul went down, and they said, Man, boy, dead. Paul stretched himself upon the child. I suppose today it's mouth-to-mouth of association. Something along that line. And that's exactly what Elisha did. And then nothing happened. So Elisha got up and he walked to and fro, praying, leading with God. Here's patience. Here's prayer. And he went again. And he stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child became warm. That's an amazing thing. A miracle must have happened. Here the body of the corpse becomes warm. And all of a sudden, the miracle, the life of Elisha entered into the young man, and he stood up, and he gave the child to his mother. What's the lesson? A living body contacted a dead corpse, a dead corpse. Here is the dead corpse of Adam's fallen race, and all the methods of men won't reach. a person who is dead in trespasses and in sin. Who's the living man? Jesus Christ. He's the one. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one. He's the living man. Christ Jesus stretched himself upon the cold, lightless cross of the human race. Live eyes. Yes, live eyes looked into a dead world. An alive mouth spake the sinner, dead in trespass, let him see. Live hands brought miracles among them. Live feet walked and worked among sinful men and women. Yes, that one. And Jesus Christ on the cross, is the one who brought to the human race life wonderful life yes friend he took my place the nails that went through the hands of the lord jesus should have gone through my hands and the nails that went through the feet of the lord jesus should have gone through my feet for i have seen The spear that went into his side should have gone into mine. The blood that was shed should have been by blood, for I have sinned against God. But Jesus Christ took my plea. And on Calvary's cross he breathed himself and was willing to take my plea. Yes, that's true. That my eyes might see. that my ears might hear the voice of God, that my hands might work for him, my feet might run as hell, and my life might be spent with him. This young boy got his life through this, live body of a life he had brought about his evening. And friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who came into contact with this world of sinners. He comes into contact with individuals today. And just as Elisha's body warmed the body of the corpse before there was light, people can get warmed. But maybe what I'm saying this morning is warming your heart, convicting you as sin, but you don't have light to. Convictions are lust. You need lust. just like you could see the life of Elisha entered into that boy. So the life of Christ enters into everyone who trusts Christ in you, the hope of God. How wonderful God sounded. And this is all free. Elisha didn't charge this. This is all free. You know the remarkable thing about this incident. Lyser did it all alone. No one helped. Jesus Christ died alone. He did it all alone. Alone upon the cross he hung that others he might see. What's the evidence of this young man having life? A remarkable thing. He sneezed seven times. We think that's a little humorous. There's nothing humorous in the Bible. God doesn't put a thing in the Bible without a meaning. What does the sneeze mean? Seven sneezes. It's a good evidence that he had life. Corpses don't sneeze. He sneezed seven times. Seven is the number of success. Number of perfection. He evidently had something wrong with his head when he cried, my head, my head. Was that a sunscreen? Whatever it was, it cleared up. And he sneezed seven times. Sometimes they say, when you sneeze, you blow the dust off your brains. I don't know if that's the case. I blow a laugh off mine. But anyway, he sneezed seven times. His mind is clear. There's no cobwebs now. It's all clear. I understand one thing. Friend, can you say this morning that it's all clear to me? I understand now. You know there are several remarkable verses. I hope I can get through these in a hurry. Seven sneezes in the Bible. Seven remarkable truths, and they're all in first John. This is the first one you find in first John relative to these needs. In first John, I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you. That's the first need. My sins are forgiven. The second one, we know we have passed from the death, from death unto life. That's first John, three, four, two. And that's the second scene. I know I've passed from death unto life. The third one, five, thirteen, these things have I written unto you that ye may know you have eternal life. I know I have eternal life. The fourth one, three, two, we know we are the sons of God. Four and six, hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of Aaron. This is what a Christian knows. He knows what's truth and he knows what's error. The Bible will tell him that. Not only the Spirit of God will tell him that. He says in verse thirteen of chapter four, we know that we dwell in him and he is in us because he has given unto us his holy spirit. That's another's new. We know we dwell in him and he dwells in us. And there's another one, by his spirit, that dwelleth in us, and here's the seven which need, we know we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Isn't that wonderful? All these seven things. I know my sins are forgiven. I know I pass from death into life. I know I have eternal life. I know I am the child of God, a son of God. I know I have the Spirit within my heart. I know the Spirit dwells within me. I know I shall see him and be like him forever. Seven things I know. They are the seven sneezes of somebody who's got life. And it was a live boy who had been dead, the sneeze seven times. And then now tell you, we're the beautiful bird in John five, twenty. And we know that the Son of God has come and have given 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. Now these scriptures that tear your head have all done. You get through those seven sleeves, if you don't mind on me, put it through. They do understand all those things. Now God didn't cause that to be put in his Bible, a boy sneezed seven times. I believe he meant it, just like he did. I could speak of three or four other sevens in the New Testament, evidence of a person saved by the grace of God. That was a full day in the light of a farmer's wife. The morning she was happy. There's her son, a gift from God. A doomed darkness. He died on her knees. Right, but even time, child is doing that. That was a full day, woman, in mother's life. Some of you mothers got up this morning. Maybe you were joyful and glad, healthy and happy. Maybe you had this chance on things this morning that made you sad. I've been telling you you're not a Christian or not going to heaven unless you're born again. that your good life, your church membership won't take you to heaven. You have an application of a staff with no life in it. You may know a little bit about the Bible. Yes, you may, but you don't know Christ. But you can have light at an even time. You can have salvation today. You can have light with you and light and know all the things in our life.