from 2 Kings chapter 2 beginning at verse 19 and that's on page 572. The men of the city, now this is the city of Jericho which was a cursed city, we need to keep that in mind. The men of the city said to Elisha, Look, our Lord, this town is well situated as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive. Bring me a new bowl, he said, and put salt in it. And they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, This is what the Lord says. I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive, and the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. From there, Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. Go up, you bald head, they said. Go up, you bald head. He turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel from there and returned to Samaria. The word of the Lord. May we pray. Lord, help me. in dealing with a very troubling passage of scripture, the second portion of which we read today. Lord, we pray that you would bring to our hearts and our minds understanding and acceptance, and Lord, that we, as the chosen seed of Israel, might have the fear of God. For Lord, what we see here in this passage in the second portion is what happens to young males when a society has lost the fear of God. Lord, grant us that, we beg you, and make the word profitable to us today. For Jesus' sake we pray, amen. Now I want to make a couple of comments about this scripture. The thing I want you to see is, in verse 23, the word translated some youths. And there are two Hebrew words here. The first word is naar. Naar is the word normally translated youth. By the way, David uses that very word, Naar, to describe his son Absalom when Absalom had rebelled against him. And he warns his general, Joab, he says, deal kindly with that Naar for my sake. So we're not dealing here with kids that would be in our nursery. And may God grant one day we may have a bundle of kids in that nursery. But we're grateful this morning there's none there because we are so grateful to have our beloved nursery worker with us today. God bless you. And so we look here at Naar. And that's the first word. The other one is ketone and it means younger or smaller. And so the two together paint a picture not of infants or nursery age children or even children who would be in primary school. Get the picture here of a mob of teenagers. A mob of teenagers who are coming out of the center of idolatrous worship in Israel, because that's where Bethel was. That's where Jeroboam I created his rival system of worship, rivaling the worship of the one place God had authorized for worship to be, which was the temple in Jerusalem. And Bethel is the place where Jeroboam I creates his own temple, his own altars, appoints his own priest of anybody who wanted to be a priest, almost like what you can do today, send off and pay your $50 fee and somebody will ordain you to be a pastor. I know a lot of people who've had people perform marriages who were just good friends who sent off for a certificate and were able to produce it. and so that they could form a marriage for a friend. And so Jeroboam I, appointed priest of the worst of people, because religion, never forget, is the slickest way to part a naive person from his money. I'll say it again, religion is the slickest way to part a naive person from his money. And so these phony priests in Bethel and this phony place of worship set up under Jeroboam I, that's where these This gang of teenagers comes out. And this is not an innocent comment. This is a studied comment. It's not like you or me saying something ridiculous one time when somebody pulls in front of us on the interstate or decides to cross traffic and make a left turn when we were going straight and we almost rear-end them and that would be our fault. But this is a studied reaction of a gang young men and they are mocking Elijah in comparison to Elijah. What had just happened to Elijah? Elijah had been separated from Elijah and he had been caught up in a whirlwind to heaven. Elijah the prophet is one of two people who were with the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration in his body. Remember Moses' body was resurrected And remember that Elijah's body never died. And so this is important. This is a powerful thing. Now remember the description of Elijah that we're given in 1 Kings again and again and again. He was a man who was covered with hair. He was a very hairy man. And so what these boys are jeering Elijah is they're taking the example of Elijah who was really hairy, and they're comparing him and contrasting him with Elisha, who was a bald-headed man. And they're saying to him, in mockery, you ought to join that guy! Go up! Go up, bald head! Go up, bald head! That's what they kept jeering. And they were scoffing at the Word of God. And, yes. Thanks, David. And so, Elijah, hairy guy, Elisha, a man with not a lot of hair. And they're mocking him. Go up. But in other words, why don't you join your mentor and join him in going up to heaven? Because they've scoffed at the whole thing. They didn't see it happen, they heard about it because the word traveled like lightning across the area as Elisha crosses the Jordan River with the mantle of Elijah and he asked for a double portion. The double portion, remember in scripture, is what the firstborn always received. When a man died, his property is divided share and share alike, but the firstborn got a double portion, a double share. That's why when Jacob blesses the sons of Joseph, He gives them a double blessing. He blesses Ephraim and Manasseh. And that's why you have 13 tribes, as it were, rather than 12 tribes, because the tribe of Joseph gets a double portion. So Elijah gives to Elisha the double portion, that is, the share, meaning that Elisha is Elijah's successor. So that's another truth here. Now, there's something else here before we get back to the curse, and that is, notice what we see in Jericho in verse 19, 2 Kings 2, 19. The men of the city, again, I said that's Jericho, said to Elisha, look, our Lord, this town is well situated as you can see, but the water's bad and the land is unproductive. Now, if we were to look back in our Bibles, and we don't need necessarily to do all of that this morning, but if you're taking notes, if you read Joshua chapter 6 and verse 26, Jericho was the first city that the Israelites conquered in the promised land of Canaan. And when it was finished, when it had been burned to the ground and destroyed and everything had been made herem, herem is a word meaning devoted to destruction and separate. And that word sometimes refers to, as in the Muslim religion, they use those three letters, though in Arabic, not Hebrew, to refer to food that is okay to eat. It's been separated. And so anyhow, they have made it herem, that is devoted to destruction. Every last creature in that city was destroyed except for Rahab, who ran a public house. She, the prostitute, was saved and delivered by Israel along with her whole family. But the rest was made herem. And so this is interesting. Joshua pronounced a curse over that city. He said, cursed by the Lord, be the person who rebuilds the city at the cost of his oldest son, this at the cost of his youngest son, this. And we find it literally and exactly fulfilled in First Kings chapter 16 and verse 34, that during the days of the Amorite dynasty that has just been wiped out. except for the last one, during the days of the Amorad dynasty, that's Omri and Ahab and so on, the city was rebuilt by a man named Hiel from what town? Bethel. Hiel of Bethel rebuilds Jericho. And at the cost of his oldest son and the cost of his youngest son, he rebuilt it. But there was a curse on the city of Jericho. And so even though the city was rebuilt and was inhabited again, it had terrible water. I don't know what it is, but oddly something happens to the right Patman Reservoir periodically. And when I turn on the tap water in the hotel I stay in, I always know that something's up. When I turn it on after the water's been turned or something, I don't know what it is. But at least one good thing about Texarkana, the water may taste funny at times, but nobody miscarries because of the water, nobody dies because of the water, and nobody's vegetable garden is destroyed because of the water. But the trouble with the water near Jericho is that it caused miscarriages and death and it caused the land to be unfruitful. Now I want you to see something because it's important to put Elisha in perspective. Elisha's ministry begins with blessing, not with cursing. This is important. Elisha's ministry begins with blessing, not with cursing. And this is important. So what he wants is to see God's people blessed. And God's people can only be blessed when they're looking to the Lord himself and not to themselves. And so he blesses that polluted, foul, death-bringing spring of water by throwing salt with a new bowl into it. And from that point on, Jericho was a safe place to drink water from. And I myself, along with my preacher son-in-law, in the year 2000, drank water from Jericho. And it was good water. I'm still alive. And so Elisha healed the curse that had been put and now I want us to reflect about the blessing and the curse because Proverbs chapter 18 21 we might hold our hands there and turn over to Proverbs for a moment Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 21 tells us this and we should all all take this into consideration the power of life and death is in the tongue. Page 1011, looking at verse 20 to start with. From the fruit of his mouth, a man's stomach is fulfilled. With the harvest of his lips, he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Do you see how these two verses speak profoundly? What you speak is what you get. We would tend to think, well, if we're looking at verse 20, from the fruit of a man's physical labor, his stomach is filled. But that's not the case. And this, I want to say, is not simply a natural thing. In the natural realm, you know, if you start speaking negatively, you're going to not achieve much. If a football team goes out on Friday night and they say, We can't beat these people, it's foolish to even try. What would a football coach do if he heard that in the locker room? He would fuss at them, he would get that boy that was saying that and say, listen here son, you keep your mouth shut. Because negative words discourage and then people in the natural realm can't do. If you have a can't do attitude in the natural realm, it brings natural results. When you say can't do, It won't happen as a general rule. But there's more than that here. And this is what is important in verse 20 and 21. And this is very strong. The tongue has the power of life and death. And what do we see? Elisha has carried out a ritual, but Elisha has spoken the word of God with the power of life. So Elisha has spoken a blessing, and God guarantees that blessing through the ritual that Elisha performs. And he says, the power of life and death. Those who love it will eat its fruit. Now, I want to underscore this is not simply natural. If you turn over to Proverbs chapter 26, Proverbs 26, and we're going to look at verse 2, you'll see there. on page 1023, like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. Now I've used this passage a number of times and now over the five years I've been preaching to you on the Lord's Day. And if you've ever had a canary or you've ever had a parakeet and the bird got out of the cage, you know what it's like. That bird is going to fly all around looking for what? Looking for a place to roost. And if we had a bird that had gotten loose in here, Well, I suppose he'd try to light up there on these nice lights that are hanging. And because that would be an easy place to light. And you wouldn't want to be sitting under those lights. And so he says, like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest. I want you to go back to Joshua's curse on Jericho. It's uttered in 1406 B.C., and sometime before 853 B.C., somewhere between about 871 and 853, that curse was fulfilled. So think of it this way, in the words of Zechariah, the curse is uttered like a flying scroll. It goes flying out. 1406, 1405, 1401, 1301, 1201, 1001, and finally, in the ninth century before Christ, The cause is there. So that flying scroll, that darting swallow flying around looking for a place to light finally alights when Hiel of Bethel rebuilt the city of Jericho and the curse was literally fulfilled. Now you see something then as we go back to 2 Kings chapter 2 with this mob of violent, disrespectful young males. And what do we see? In verse 23, 2 Kings 2.23, page 572, From there, Elisha went up to Bethel. From Jericho, he went up to Bethel. Again, this wicked city. This is the wicked city of the false worship. This is the wicked city where Hael came from. As he was walking along the road, some youths, that's Naar, used by David of his son Absalom when he was in rebellion, came out of the town and jeered at him. I want you to understand what they're really doing. This isn't just somebody at the mall. When David goes in, said something about his bald head. That's not the case at all. Thank you, David, for letting me use you as an illustration. You're a great song leader. This is a group of people who hated the God of the Bible. That's what's very, very important here. These young men hated the God of the Bible. They hated the Word of God. They hated the idea that the Word of God specified that their city was a city of idolatry and false worship. They hated that. They despised it. And they were very glad to learn that Elijah had disappeared, and they want this prophet, Elijah's successor, Elisha, to get out of the way too. Get away! Go out! Get away from here! We don't want to hear what you've got to say! That's who they are. And let me tell you, young males can be very, very dangerous. Young males can be very, very dangerous. If you ever look at videos that sometimes people put on YouTube of violent acts, there is nothing more dangerous than a group of males who didn't have a daddy there to help correct them because it takes a village, that's the Christian church, and it takes a mama and a daddy to raise a boy. Because a mother is a loving, caring, nurturing soul, but the father is in there to help correct the boy so that he understands you don't act that way. I remember my daddy. Oh, my gracious. All my daddy had to do after he had done Pavlov's conditioning on me was to unbuckle his belt and rattle the buckle. Whenever I would get sassy to my mother, which I did from time to time, All he would do would loosen his belt and rattle the buckle. And like Pavlov's dogs, when they heard the bell, they salivated. I shut up because it takes a man to raise a boy. And there are many ways we can do that. You know, one of the things that God might bless this church to do. Years ago, I became very involved in the Boy Scouts, and I eventually became the last president of our local Boy Scout Council, the Attackabuck Council that merged with Monroe. And as I was looking for things, there was an old man who, as a high school principal, had started scout troops And we had a banquet to honor Professor Isles. And what that was, was this. Professor Isles was involved in Peabody High School, which was back during the days of segregation, the black high school. And what they did was to combine men who had been in the military, in particular, to become leaders in scout units. Mothers involved as den mothers of Cub Scouts, but they had men, good men, men who had served in the military, who had retired and worked either as school teachers or in some other way, and they put them together to raise the boys because boys need a man to raise them. And you know, I think about things because this church is in trouble and we all know that. What if we were to start an outreach to reach young men and we became involved in leading those young men? It's just something. Why don't we offer the world around us something that would cause people to say, I want to come to this church. This is unusual. This is different. Their men are involved with boys. And so here's what you've got in Bethel. You've got these young males on their own. out and about, and they hate the God of the Bible, and that's why they're mocking Elisha. Go up, you bald head! Go up, you bald head! And what they're doing is, they are mocking the God of the Bible. And that's why Elisha turned, and it says there, in verse 24, he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Was he right to do that? I don't see that we should do that in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament you have to understand the survival of the nation of Israel is at stake. Because Israel, the northern kingdom, went into exile because of false worship. And Judah as well went into exile because of false worship. In other words, we need to understand about ancient Israel and Judah That their loyalty to the Lord, that is their loyalty to Yahweh, was the critical thing. It was the central thing. Without that, there was nothing. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There was no fear of the Lord here. What can we say about our country today? Our country, in my lifetime, went from a nation that was God-fearing, though highly imperfect, with many terrible sins not addressed, but was essentially God-fearing to where we are today in the year 2024, to being without fear of God. And that's why malls can be dangerous places. Do you know that malls are dying in America? And when I worked on my doctorate in one course that I took on anthropology, we had to assess a local mall near Jackson, Mississippi. And we observed it and its decline. Why do people not like to go inside a mall? What happens when shooting happens? I live in a fairly, or live near a fairly dangerous city. For a city its size, it has an incredibly high murder rate. Incredibly high. You don't want to be trapped in the Alexandria Mall when gangs of teenagers having a war with each other decide to shoot guns. Where do they get those guns? You can outlaw every gun in America and people can still buy a gun on the black market. People are going to get what they want to get if they pay enough money or kill somebody and take the gun. So our malls in America have become dangerous places. Our cities in America become dangerous places. Why? Because there is no fear of God. You know, even people who are not Christians historically in our nation had a sense of the fear of God, a sense of the fear of God, and therefore they respected the rights of other people. But this is what you see here. These young males, mocking God, and the very survival of the nation is at stake. And so Elisha, looking at them, calls down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And then something happens. What happens? A curse without a cause will not alight. Was there a cause? There was. And so two bears come out of the woods and mauled 42 of that group. Were there only 42 there? There may have been 100 or more, but 42 of them are mauled to death. So, dear ones in Christ, pray for our nation. Pray for the fear of God to come on the people of this country. Even if they don't become Christians, that they would have the fear of God. Because without the fear of God, lawlessness will only increase more and more and more. And without the fear of God, our nation is done for. I'll say it again. Without the fear of God, our nation is done for. And it makes no difference who's in the White House in 2025. Without the fear of God, we have no solutions to our problems. They will only get worse. We need revival. Pray. And as you stand and you look at this, my last word to you is this, particularly if you're watching on the internet. You can look at this and you can say, what kind of a God does this? I'll tell you what kind of a God. The God that you are going to have to deal with one day. I would rather stand before Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, on the day of judgment than to stand before God Almighty in my own righteousness. I might be able to make a nice joke that Hitler would laugh at. Maybe even Stalin, he probably had a great sense of humor as he had his dinner parties and you never knew when you were invited if you were going to be selected to be the one murdered after the party. I might be able to cajole or joke or flatter my way out of it with Hitler or Stalin or Mao Zedong. But I have a word for you, if you're watching. The Lord God Almighty has the power to save and to destroy, to take people to heaven or to cast them into hell. And if you think this is cruel, think about where those 42 young males ended up. Not simply being mauled by two she bears, but ending up in hell, which scripture says, Jesus himself teaches us this, their worm does not die. Wow. Nor is the fire ever quenched. Eternal hell? Do you believe in eternal hell, Bob? I wish I didn't. I'd like not to believe in it. If I could take this book and tear out of it all the things I don't like, I wouldn't start with 2 Kings 2, 23. I would start with the teachings of Jesus about hell. I don't want to believe in hell. It gives me no delight whatsoever. It causes me nothing but anguish when I think about people whom I know and I love who are very likely on their way there. And what is our only hope to escape hell? It is to bow our knees before the God of Elijah and Elisha. and acknowledge that he is altogether just, and that whatever he might do to any of us is fair. No one in hell will ever say, you forced me to come here. I don't deserve it. Everyone who ends up in heaven will say, I don't deserve to be in heaven. But the people in hell will one day acknowledge, I deserve it, I'm getting what I deserve. So I appeal to you in closing, Submit to the God of the Bible. Submit to the Bible's teachings. Have the fear of God. May it be a restraint in your way of life. But above all things, turn from your life of sin and cast yourself on God's mercy and the Lord Jesus Christ, because it is never too late to turn to the Lord. And I'll say this of the 42 youths. If, as they were dying and suffering, they had called on the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, to save them, He would have saved them, and He will save you. May we pray. Lord, take this word, bless it and use it. May we love you, may we adore you, may we respect you. May we shut our mouths in silence when we read things that bother us about you. and trust that one day you will explain everything to us in that wonderful kingdom of heaven that Jesus died for us to gain. In Jesus' name, amen. Our closing hymn is number 680, All the Way My Savior Leads Me.