Open—Wally Dear
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When you sing together hymn #100 and 38138 Soft, the voice of mercy sounded sweetest music to the ear. Grace abounds where sin abounds is the word that soon fear 138.
Saw the voice of mercy sounded. Because you're the sanctuary.
We also sing.
326 #326.
Grace.
And shall endure.
As sure as yourness is given.
More happy, but not more secure.
The seriously part into the heaven.
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Well, this afternoon I've been thinking.
About another account in the Old Testament.
This one.
Is in First Kings chapter 17.
And I'd like to turn here.
With the Lord's help.
To share a few thoughts that I trust might be an encouragement to us.
No, we live in a very dark day.
And it's man's day, and he does as he pleases.
With no reference to what?
God's claims are he'd like to leave God out of his thoughts.
It's a sad state of affairs and some are even going to the extent to say that there is no God.
Well, I read a statement recently that I thought was rather interesting it it said this.
The very.
Fact that there are those that call themselves atheists.
Proves.
That there is a God. Why? Because.
If there were no God, there would be no atheists.
That's something to think about.
Well, I trust here this afternoon there's no one who's going to speak in those terms that there's no God because the fool has said in his heart there is no God. But you know, as we read here in the Book of Kings, we find out that.
Jehovah.
Is being given up.
In exchange for idolatry.
And I believe idolatry becomes full blown here in Ahab's day when we find that Ahab marries.
Jezebel, who is the daughter of Ethel.
As it tells us in First Kings chapter 16.
And verse 31.
31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of ETH Bale, king of the Zidonians, and went and served bail and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for bail in the House of Bail.
Which he had built in Samaria. Is it possible?
That God's people.
Who had?
Been the recipients of God's communication in a wonderful way. They would forsake the living God for this heathen God. Bale. Well, this is what took place.
And we know that Jeroboam, he led God's people to sin. He set up idolatrous altars. He compelled the people to worship.
Calves and I believe.
This account that we're reading about here took place 58 years later.
And you know what?
Every king since Jeroboam was a wicked king with no exception.
We find among these kings there were those that were murderers. One king was a drunkard.
Another king, he seized the throne, I believe it was Omri, and it tells us that he did worse than anybody before him. But then his son Ahab, he did worse than his father. And so things had really degenerated here.
In Israel.
But you know, God never leaves himself without a testimony, and we find that He brings upon the scene a prophet, and his name is Elijah. Now Elijah.
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The first three letters Eli, Eli, it means my God.
We find that when the Lord Jesus spoke on the cross, he said Eli, Eli. So back then, I my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Eli means my God and.
Jahi believe would refer to Jehovah, so the meaning of Elijah.
Is my God is the Lord or my God is Jehovah and so?
Elijah comes on the scene.
To seek to recall the people to the worship of the true God to Jehovah.
And.
He is going to confront.
Ahab.
And let's read about it here in chapter 17, First Kings chapter 17, it says, and Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be, do, nor reign these years.
But according.
To my word.
And so Elijah is a bold man, willing to confront this wicked king who is given over to the worship of Baal.
How is it that he has such boldness? I believe it's because, as he says, here I stand.
I stand before the Lord God of Israel.
He had a sense in his soul.
That he was in the very presence of the Lord God, and it gave him boldness, it gave him strength.
To meet the evil that was present there in Israel now.
I believe you and I, we get strength and we get direction from being in the presence of the Lord. Now. We sang about it in the hymn.
In thy presence.
We can conquer.
In thy presence we can suffer. In thy presence we can die.
But wandering from thee, we are feeble.
The hymn writer said Let thy love Lord keep us night, may we ever.
Be in the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord.
Now not only did Elijah stand in the presence of the Lord, when we turn over to James, we find that he also knelt in the presence of the Lord.
He was a praying man and perhaps it would be in order just to read what it says there about Elijah over in James chapter.
Five Elijah's prayer.
James chapter 5 and verse.
16 It says, confess your faults 1 to another and pray for one another.
That he may be healed, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to light passions, as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
And so we find that Elijah prayed, and he prayed according to the will of God.
And if we were to turn back over to the book of Deuteronomy, and perhaps I'll turn back there because I must say I don't recall all these scriptures.
By memory, but it tells us here in Deuteronomy.
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In verse 13, Deuteronomy 11/13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart, with all your soul, that I will give you the reign of your land in his due season, for the the first reign, and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine.
And thy oil and I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle.
That thou mayest eat and be full, take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived. And ye turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. And then the Lords wrath be kindled against you. And he shut up to heaven that there be no rain, and that the land yield not our fruit, unless he perished quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. We could look back and elect Leviticus later on in the Deuteronomy.
We find that if the people were to turn aside to idols that it tells us in one case.
The sky or the heaven would become as brass in another place, it says it would become as iron, and the rain would be like just powder coming down. You know what? Elijah recognized that.
The people.
Had turned their back on God. They had turned to idols, given up the living God. And if something did not happen?
To wake them up, they would continue on.
In this evil course.
And so when he prayed, I think he had not only the Lord's glory.
On his heart and on his mind, but he also had the good of the people.
And so he prayed that it would not rain. He prayed according to the word of God and.
We know the Lord answered his prayer.
Now, dear ones.
We have in our hands the word of God.
And we have the privilege of prayer. The question is, do we pray according to the word of God?
The next question is how are we supposed to pray according to the word of God unless we know the word of God?
And you know, if we pray according to God's will, we have that for which we prayed for it. And that is going to bring glory to Christ and happiness to you and to me. But we need to know what's in this book. This book here that we have in our hands is the revealed will of God.
And yet many set it aside.
You know they take it out of the schools.
And they don't want it. And I noticed in the hotel rooms there doesn't seem to be as many Bibles as there used to be. I look in the drawers. There's no Bible, no word of God.
I went to a school one time.
And you know the Gideons they had brought to that school.
Little New Testaments and there was a whole shoe box full of these New Testaments sitting on the counter and the principal said to me, I don't know, I can't pass these New Testaments out in this school.
This man.
Was opposed to God and to his Word, and we weren't given permission to use the school. Now later, another principal.
Came on the staff.
Very receptive to the Word of God and we had opportunity to use that school. But I think the opposition to God into His word is growing today, is becoming more evil. But let's not be discouraged because we find that God has his eye upon you and me just as He had his eye upon Israel.
And so Elijah.
Confronts the king.
Boldly.
And it tells us here.
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There shall not be due nor reign these years, but according to my word, and that's the word of the Lord.
And then in verse two we have the word of the Lord. Again, the word of the Lord came unto Elijah, saying, Get thee hence turn the eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
And it shall be that thou shalt drink up the brook.
And I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there.
So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord.
For he went and dwelt by the brook sheriff, that is, before Jordan, and the Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank up the brook, And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Elijah has ears to hear.
He's tuned in to what God has to say. Is that true of you and me today?
We find that obedience to the Word of God is what will make you and me happy. Now salvation comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but I do believe happiness comes through obedience to His Word.
And so it tells us here that Elijah went.
And did according unto the word of the Lord.
Now I'd like to draw attention to one word.
And that's at the end of verse 4. You see that word there THERE?
There.
This is the most important word there is where?
Elijah would have his needs met. There it is that the Ravens would come and feed him and he could drink out of the brook. Now we leave. We read that little word there often in the Scripture. You know, we had reference to it this morning. I believe in Matthew 18 and 20.
The word dared, it appears.
Where two or three are gathered together unto my name.
There.
Am I in the midst of them?
Where is he in the midst?
Two or three that are gathered together.
Together in his name, or unto his name.
And it's such a privilege to be where the Lord is. Now there's another there and I'll turn towards over in Luke chapter 22. I'd like to draw attention to this because.
You know people today, they got the idea that they have.
The prerogative, it's their right just to go here and there and anywhere, and the Lord is going to be in the midst.
No.
I saw.
On a sign in front of a so-called church building.
It said church shopping.
Question mark.
We're open on Sundays.
Church shopping.
Is that really what?
God desires is that we should be shopping around for a church.
Well, you know there once this afternoon God gives explicit direction.
As to where he would have us?
To meet.
Where do we get the direction? It's in his word.
And over here in Luke chapter 22.
It tells us in verse.
Seven. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.
And he that's Jesus sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city.
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There, there, as you enter into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he enters in, and you shall say unto the good man of the house. The master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover?
With my disciples, and he shall show you a large upper room furnished.
THERE, there, make ready explicit directions as to where to find the Lord Jesus in order to observe this Passover feast. He doesn't leave us in a quandary, He tells us.
The question is, do we have a heart? Well, should I say it first, say, an ear to hear in a heart to receive and act upon His word? And they went, it says in verse 13, and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready to Passover, and sure enough, 14 when the hour was come.
He sat down and the 12 apostles with him. He showed up right where he said he would.
Now you know there's another.
Fortunate, and it's back in Deuteronomy, God's people were not entitled to offer their sacrifices wherever they pleased, according to their own whim and will and this is what.
We find in Deuteronomy chapter 12.
Over and over there is reference to offering in the place that the Lord would choose.
I do not have the right, the prerogative to choose.
Where?
Worship.
It's the Lord that places his name.
And.
It's our privilege and responsibility to find where that place is.
Now Deuteronomy chapter 12.
And it tells us here in verse 5.
But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name.
THERE there.
Not here.
Some other location there explicit direction.
And we find the Word there over and over again in this chapter and further chapters throughout Deuteronomy and the Word now in my Bible and perhaps in yours, you have a center reference.
Chapter 12 of Deuteronomy, verse 5.
And in that center reference I'm seeing reference after reference after reference.
That has to do with the Lord choosing the place.
Where he would put his name, he makes the choice.
It tells me in my Bible here, verse 11 of this chapter, verse 14182126, we go over to chapter 14. There it is in verse 232425 and then chapter 15 verse 20, and then chapter 16 verses 2:00 and 6:00 and 7:00 and 11:00 and 15.
And 16 and then chapter 17 verse eight in chapter 18 verse six. And then chapter 26 verse two. And then chapter 31 verse 11. Are you getting the point?
And the list goes on.
There once.
How is it that people think?
That they can choose the place where the Lord has put His name.
The Lord chooses the place and then He shows us where it is, and He leads us to that place through His Word. Well this may seem off the subject here, but it just comes to mind in connection with the instruction to Elijah. In order to get the Lorde blessing and benefit, he need to follow the direction of God. And it tells us here He went and did according unto the Word.
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Of the Lord.
And the Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning. You see, God knows what our needs are.
He meets these needs in a most wonderful way.
You know, we go over to the dining hall and the feast that is on the table.
It's the goodness of God, no doubt, that gives us all these good things to eat.
But even more wonderful is that spiritual food that God gives us to meet the need of our souls. And people don't place any importance on that. You know, they talk all day about food, they talk all day about clothes, they talk all day about houses. But you try to talk about the Lord Jesus.
It's like talking to a wall.
Not interested but you know God is good and God.
He desires our happiness. He's a happy God.
I know our brother Henry brought this forth in the Gospel over in Saint John some years ago, and I never forgot it. He's the blessed God. He's the happy God, and he wants to make you and me happy and he alone.
Can do that. So we got good food for the body, Christ for the soul, and God supplies both.
He just loads us with benefits day by day, I mean.
You know, people talk about Thanksgiving.
If you want to feel rich, think of all.
The gifts that you possess today.
That money could not buy. Think about it.
And just you're going to start feeling wealthy.
Now God gives food, and he gives. Raymond tells us that having food in raiment, let us be there with content.
Elijah was getting food here. You know, most miraculous way. Ravens bringing meat. You wouldn't expect a Raven to be sharing its meal.
With anybody, what I've seen of Ravens is they're one of the most selfish birds.
And they'll grab a piece of meat and another bird comes to try to share it. Take it. No way.
Raven flies away, but you know God has command over all of his creation, and just like he prepared a whale.
To swallow Jonah.
And also there was that wild little donkey that we sing about, remember?
The Lord Jesus needed a animal to ride on, and so he went.
And sure enough, there's that little donkey. Nobody had ever ridden on that donkey. And so no doubt he'd be kind of wild. But you know, Jesus went on the donkey and he went just the way that he should, that little donkey, because Jesus was on him. And Jesus has control. And so here he brings these Ravens to feed Elijah as miraculous. But God is working miracles.
Today.
Now I recall reading.
A story, I believe it was a true story about a missionary.
And she was working in this dispensary, a clinic.
Over in foreign field and she went out of doors to have her lunch with a friend of hers.
And so she opens up the lunch.
On the table.
And then she proceeds to give thanks for the lunch. So she and her friend, they bowed their heads.
And thank the Lord for the lunch. When she opened her eyes, only a part of the lunch was on the table. Part of it was missing.
And they couldn't believe what had taken place. How did this ever occur?
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Some miles away.
Somebody else was praying.
And this person wasn't thanking the Lord for a lunch.
She was asking the Lord.
For a lunch.
Because she had nothing to eat and she asked the Lord for something to eat in prayer.
And when she opened her eyes there, she saw some food in front of her.
And she looked up.
It was a bird.
Flying away that bird, apparently.
He had dropped.
Food.
For that dear soul.
Well, it was sometime later that this.
Dear Salt, she goes to the dispensary for some sort of treatment and.
She gets talking to this missionary and they put the two stories together and here apparently that bird had come and taken the lunch off the table, taking it over to the other one that was praying for the lunch, dropped it.
And God answered a prayer, so you see.
You might say that's a far fetched story. No, there's nothing too hard for the Lord.
And he works in a miraculous way, a wonderful way to meet the needs of his people.
Now the time came when the brook dried up.
Because there was no rain in the land, did Elijah despair? Did he find fault with the Lord? No, because I believe Elijah was waiting on the Lord.
And he knew the Lord was for him. And in verse eight it tells us the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get the tazarifat which belonged to Zaiden, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
So he arose and went to Zarephath. Isn't that beautiful? This is simple obedience.
Here in the first part of the chapter.
The Lord told him to go and hide himself.
And it says he went.
And now we come to this account here the word of the Lord says, Arise, get thee to Zarephath. And it tells us he went. You know this is the path of happiness in our lives.
Not to question the Lord, not to bring up issues, but in simple faith, take him at His word and trust Him for the consequences. How important.
This is simplicity of faith.
It yields great results. And so it was with Elijah. Elijah might have said, well, why should I go to Zarephath? That's inside. That's a heathen place. That's where Bale originated. Why would I want to go there? But I believe what we're seeing here in this portion is the grace of God that's expanding.
Beyond the limits of Israel and if you turn over to Luke chapter 4.
You find the Lord referring to Naman the leper, who is a gentile. He got healed, and also to the woman of Zarafat, the widowed woman.
Who received the benefit of God?
Outside of Israel.
The grace of God overflowing the bounds of that nation.
I believe we have a picture of it right here.
So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city. Verse 10. Behold, the widow woman was here there gathering of sticks.
Just as the Lord had said, the woman was there. She was there.
He had told Elijah I commanded a little woman there to sustain thee.
So she's gathering sticks. He called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel.
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That I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil, and a cruise. Behold, I am gathering 2 sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.
A very pessimistic outlook this woman had. But you know Elijah speaks a word that I believe is a great comfort, encouragement to her. Elijah said unto her, Fear not go and do as thou has said, but make me thereof a little cake 1St and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
Now to the woman that might have seen a very selfish request.
On the part of Elijah.
But you see, Elijah had.
More to say than just that. And in verse 14. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the crews of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did he many days the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the crews of oil fail.
According to the word of the Lord.
Which he spake by Elijah.
Now I believe the meal in Scripture often would speak of Christ the Lord Jesus could say, I am the living bread. He that cometh to me shall not hunger.
And the oil, I believe, speaks of the Holy Spirit.
Is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, the oil.
And what I'm seeing in this is that God by his Spirit.
He makes Christ precious to our hearts, to our souls, and He keeps us happy and content in a world where we find anything but happiness and contentment. We live in a dark day. The world is in confusion, as has been said more than once at this conference.
But how wonderful the resources that God has given to us.
We have this account, this picture in the Old Testament that we read in the light of the new, and I trust it is a comfort and encouragement to our hearts that we might indeed have hope.
Because we know Christ will never fail. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the Spirit of God never fails, always exalts Christ and enables us to enjoy in our souls who He is, what He has done in all that we have.
In our Savior, the Lord Jesus and it tells us here.
This did not fail until the day that the Lord sent rain upon the earth. So.
It was going to continue until the benefit came that would relieve this nation of this terrible situation. And you know, for you and me, the benefit that we look forward to is the coming of Christ.
He says, Surely I come quickly, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
But in the meantime, He gives us that which is needed to lift us above this world that we might enjoy in our souls.
True happiness and contentment.
And it doesn't tell us that it was a full cruise of oil.
Or a full barrel of meal that they drew from day by day. Maybe it was just a handful of meal, but it was always there. You know, by nature we like to make a stockpile of things. And I've seen those that they're concerned about some kind of a.
Terrible state in the world. And so they begin to stockpile food and they go to the grocery store and they're buying cans and cans and cartoons and boxes of food and putting them in storage for a future day. But you know what, dear ones? I don't think we need to do that. I think, you know, the Lord would have us to live a day at a time, don't you think?
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The manner was provide day by day.
There was enough each day to satisfy the people. On Friday there was double portion.
The Lord Jesus could say to his disciples, seek ye first.
Kingdom of God in all these things shall be added unto you. Simply trusting every day, trusting through a storming way, even though my faith be small, trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting is the moments fly. Trusting is the days go by, trusting Him what ere befall.
Trusting him, that is all.