Address—Robert Boulard
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Good afternoon. I wonder if we could sing #218.
#218 I'd like to speak this afternoon a little bit.
And open up the Word of God to different passages of Scripture that might be a comfort to our hearts. We live in a day of sorrow and at the end of the day of grace, the Lord is allowing different difficulties in our lives and we long for the comfort of the Scriptures. We long for the comfort of the person of the Son, and there are many passages of Scripture that we can turn to that give us comfort in the Scriptures.
But also reveal to us the heart.
As the Lord Jesus our Savior. And so with the Lord's help, I'd like to look at that subject. So this little hymn speaks of the weeping and the grief and the suffering here, and it's just about to end. And in faith, we can sing this little hymn together this afternoon.
Soon will the moon.
Instead of singing a hymn at the end of the meeting, perhaps halfway through, Lord willing will sing another hymn. Maybe we'll stand for that one so that we won't be as sleepy as we normally are. I'd like to just turn to Romans chapter 15 first and just read a couple of scriptures there.
Romans, chapter 15.
And we'll read.
First four for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that through patience and comfort of the scriptures.
We might have hope.
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one accord, with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we could turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter one.
2nd Corinthians chapter one and verse 3.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies for compassion, and the God of all comfort or in the new translation this word comfort is translated encouragement. So the God of all comfort or encouragement, who comforteth us or encourages us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort one of them which are in.
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Trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual and the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether become we be comforted, it is for your consolation.
And salvation. And then one other passage here in Acts chapter 20.
Acts Chapter 20.
And.
1St 18.
And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you all at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations or trials, which befell me by the lying weight of the Jews.
Well, I read these portions of Scripture, you know, they're written by the Apostle Paul.
One who was saved after the thieving of Sto, the stoning of Steven, and how he suffered at the hands of the Gentiles, and he suffered at the hands of the Jews. And he knew what it was to suffer. And he speaks here in connection with himself, I believe, and he speaks to us as well. By divine inspiration God had him write these words.
And he speaks of how these stories that are written in the Old Testament and the stories that are written in the New Testament.
All the passages of Scripture that are written are written for our learning, and they were written that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
You know, brethren, every one of us has different trials, different difficulties, and we are, we have each one of us. If we've accepted Christ as our Savior, we've entered into the school of God and He's training each one of us.
And it's, uh, in the training, as her brother mentioned yesterday, it's not only discipline. The thought of discipline is the correction, perhaps, and to correct our thoughts, correct our actions and to discipline us, to punish us, perhaps. But the Lord Jesus, the Lord is desiring to train us and to God is desiring to mold us into the image of his well beloved Son. And he's allowing trials and he is caused and developed.
A curriculum for yourself, for myself as an individual.
In the school of God, God deals with individuals, He saves individuals, He brings individuals into the knowledge of the truth, and then He has that work within us to desire us to bow the knee and to buy the truth for ourselves. And He's willing to work with us. And he's not limited by time. He has all the time, and He's going to take the time that it needs to take to do a work in your soul.
And that you might be conformed to his image and he's willing to develop, as I say, a curriculum just for you.
That there might be fruit for himself in your life and it may cause suffering. It may may allow suffering. He may allow heartache and just disappointment. But we know that we can read the scriptures and we have an example in Scripture. The first example I'd like to look at we know very well, but.
In Luke's Gospel chapter 22, in connection with the Lord Jesus, that perfect man who always did those things that pleased his Father.
He knew what it was to suffer, and he didn't need to be in the school of God. In that way. It says that he learned obedience, but it means that he experienced obedience. He became a man so that he would be able to experience the process of being obedient to His Father.
And so he obeyed, and it says that he obeyed unto death, even the death of the cross. But in Luke's Gospel chapter 22, we'll just read, umm, verse 39. Came, came at, and he came out and went as he was born to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
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And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me nevertheless.
Not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping. For sorrow said unto them, Why sleepy, rise and pray.
Lest ye enter, not lest ye enter into temptation. While I read these.
Verses of Scripture because, beloved brethren.
Even our blessed Savior longed for the comfort and the encouragement of the Scriptures. He longed for encouragement and umm, there in the burden heart that He had in the Garden of Gethsemane, we find that the Father sent an Angel to comfort his Son and to strengthen him for the work that lay ahead. And we know that the Lord Jesus.
Shrunk from the thought of having our sins laid upon him and being made. The sin offering and the awfulness of sin. And if there's anyone that knows what death is.
It's the Son of God. He knows what what death is. He knows and he's he had been the one that could pronounce the soul that sinneth it shall die.
Oh, he knew what death was. We know from James that when the body is separated, the spirit is separated from the body. Why? There's death? And it speaks of separation. And so then we were going to be eternally separated from God. But the Lord intervened in your life and mine. If you know Him as your Savior, He intervened in your life one day.
And you saved your soul, but you know we have a savior.
Who knows what it is to have been comforted, to have been strengthened by his God and Father?
And he knows how to strengthen the heart of the Christian. He knows how to encourage the heart of the Christian. He knows how to give grace as we go through the trials that we have. He knows the heart of the believer and he longs to comfort the believer. Well, let's look at, I'm just reading a couple of verses, the introductory that might set the stage. As before, we look at some of these.
Passages in connection with the Old Testament Saints and New Testament Saints.
Uh, Jeremiah, Chapter one.
We'll just look at a few of these scriptures that introduce this little subject of, uh, comfort, encouragement in the face of discouragement, or perhaps disheartening circumstances that we face.
That says here in Jeremiah chapter one, verse four, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou came us forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.
And I ordained the a prophet unto the nations.
What a wonderful to think of how the Lord Jesus knew you before you were formed.
You know, we're in the language of, uh, the New Testament. It says that, uh, I've forgotten the train of thought, but uh, Ephesians chapter one, that delightful, very instructive passage of Scripture that tells us of the blessings that we have in Christ. It says in verse five, chapter one of, of Ephesians verse 5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, or should say sonship.
You were predestinated unto the Sonship by Christ Jesus.
By Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, in a past eternity, before the foundations of the world were laid, God wanted you to be a son. He wanted you to have the blessings and the nearness of relationship to be a son.
Not a save Sinner. Not even a forgiving Sinner. Yes, you have forgiveness if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. You're no longer guilty before God. Your sins were dealt with at the cross of Calvary. He'll never mention them ever again to you.
Not one God, blessed Savior, never one at the judgment seat of Christ. He'll delight to review your life and mine individually, and he'll reward everything that he can reward, but he'll never remind you of the sin of disobedience against himself, a sin that he paid for. Maybe there's going to be a little bit of the sense of loss, as our brother said yesterday, a sense of loss, a sense of.
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Loss that says, I think it's in first John.
It says that we be not ashamed before Him. It is coming. I think that's really a sense of loss, that the judgment seat of Christ. But here we have this little expression given to us in Jeremiah.
That before I form the in the belly, I knew thee.
You know, the Lord has been interested in your existence from before you were made and at the time that you were born, He was very interested in your birth. He was very interested in you, took a very great interest in your development as a child. And if you're still a child, he's very interested in you.
He's interested in the name that your father and mother gave you, and he's looking forward to that time. If you've received him as Savior, he's going to give you a new name, and that name will suit you better than the name that your mother and father gave you. But it will denote that you belong to Him and that you have a new authority in your life. That's the authority of the Lord Jesus and that He has.
Formed you for his own purpose.
But he says here I sanctified thee, I took you.
So the sanctification, we might say, is to be set apart by God.
Set apart by God for a holy purpose. God set you apart for himself before you knew it.
And now he's trying to work out things in your life and in mind that we might be more conformed to his image. And he's willing, as I said before, he's willing to take as much time as it will take.
But all of his work is done in love. Not nice. All of his work is done in love with the purpose of love and needs to be on our part. But a purpose of love on his part. Well, let's look at a couple of passages of scripture I wanted to look at.
The life of David very briefly in Second Samuel or First Samuel chapter 30. I'm sorry, maybe we'll read a little bit be before that, but.
Let's read just to introduce this. I'm not going to read a lot of verses, but we need to get the picture. Chapter 27.
First Samuel chapter 27, verse one. David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me.
Then I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me to seek me anymore in any coast of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.
Verse 7. The time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. And David and his men went up and invaded the Gerges rights, and the Grizzlies and the Amalekites. For those nations were of old of the inhabitants of the land, as I'll go us to sure even unto the land of Egypt. And David smoked the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, took away the sheep and the oxen, and the ***** and the camels, and the apparel.
In return came to Akish. Akish said, Whither have you made a road today? David said against the South of Judah, and against the South of Jeremiah. Jeremiah lights and against the South of Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to God, saying, lest they should tell on us saying So did David, and so.
Will will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the land of the country of the Philistines. And Akish believe David, saying he had made his people Israel utterly to bore him, abhor him.
Therefore, he shall be my servant forever.
You know, brother.
This is a very instructive to us. The David was anointed. We could read a little bit earlier. I think it's first Samuel chapter 16. He was anointed in the presence in the midst of his brethren. He was anointed to be the king of Israel.
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And it was never the intent of the Lord for his people to ever leave the nation of Israel, leave those boundaries, you might say, and to go out beyond those boundaries to seek to escape what he was doing in their lives. And the Lord, you know, was using David as a type of the Lord Jesus in connection with his rejection in this world. He was being chased by Saul from one place to another. It was a beautiful type of Christ.
But, you know, we got tired of the conflict. They said, you know, there's nothing better for me than I should just escape this whole thing. Saul's gonna despair if I just go to the Philistines. But, you know, he came and dwelt among the Philistines. It was a false position for him. He was serving King Akish there. And the first thing you find is he's telling lies about what he did. He went out and he slayed, slew some people. He went against the Amalekites here in verse 8.
The Girgashites and or the Joshuaites and the Guess rights and the Amalekites.
And he didn't leave anyone alive to tell the story about what he'd really done. And then he deceived King Akish. But then, you know, God loves his people. He wasn't gonna let David go with this. And you and I may seek to this to, uh, escape the hand of the Lord in some way and some difficulty. And we may seek to just compromise the truth of God that we know and just.
Try to deflect something of the trial that the Lord has allowed in our lives. And David did this, but it says in chapter 30 of First Samuel that the Lord now he's going to intervene and as it were, and he's going to restore David and he's going to bring him back into the land. It came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the South.
And Ziklag and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, taken the women captives that were there in, and they slew not any, neither great or small.
But carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. David's two wives were taken captives, a Hinnuum, the Jezreelitis, and Abigail the wife of Nabel the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed.
For the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord and his his God. And David said to Abiathar the priests, the Himalayas son, I pray thee, bring me hit her the ephod. And it by thar brought thither the ephod David. David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this truth? Shall I overtake them? He answered them.
Answered him, Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. So David went, he and the 600 men that were with him, and came to the brook Beazor, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and 400 men for 200 bowed behind, which were so faint or so exhausted that they could not go over the brook. Be sore. Well, I'm not going to read the whole story, but in verse 18 it says David recovered all that the Amalekites had.
Straight away and David rescued his two wives that were there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled nor anything that they had taken to them. David recovered all. David took the flocks and heard which they drove before those other cattle said, this is David spoil.
Well, isn't it nice to see how, even in spite of David's lack of faith, he failed in the in faith?
You know, you and I often times fail in faith. And as I say, we take perhaps a false position and we deny what the Lord is perhaps trying to do in our lives and we try to deflect something of it. And David dwelled a whole year in four months in the land of the Philistines, a whole year and four months. You know, it says that he was 30 years old, I believe, when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years.
7 1/2 years in Hebron.
And then, uh, another 33 years in, umm, Jerusalem, but, uh, the Lord was working with him and, uh, a year and a bit, maybe not quite a year and a half, a year and four months, he loses faith. He loses his, uh, patience for the process of, uh, waiting for the Kingdom. And he leaves. He goes into the land of the Philistines. I just want to say this, beloved brethren, many of us.
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Suffering different circumstances in our lives. And let's be patient because you know, the coming of the Lord Jesus is so near. We're just about to see Him face to face in all of His glory. And umm, how He longs to have us abide in His presence, waiting for Him in the assembly in the end, as it were, in that temporary place of dwelling in His presence while we're waiting for Him to come.
He's he's wanting us to wait.
In his presence and to enjoy his companionship. But David left that one year and four months, and the Lord in his mercy brought him back into the land. But he had to use this process. And he sent this king of the Malachites. He allowed the Amalekites to come. They invaded the South and they smoked Ziklag and they burned with fire. You know, fire is very destructive.
You'll forgive me for giving a personal.
I'll illustration of it.
Jonathan lost his shop, his workshop, his wood shop and his machine shop in February, February the 17th at about 1:20 in the morning, we got a phone call and, uh, he raced out of the house and the sky was all lit up. And so, uh, I called 911 and uh, the others, uh, ran up the hill to see what could be done.
And he drove a tractor out of the burning building.
There was nothing really that could do except save some of the vehicles that were outside the buildings. And it was.
A painful for me to see him pacing in front of those that building, pacing in the front of the building while it was burning, just walking back and forth and seeing what was going up in flames. The work that he's been working on for the last seven years, setting things up and absolutely nothing he could do.
And you know, to think of these deer.
One is in David's company, come to Ziklag. They'd follow David in his rejection. And here he's gone out of, uh, the land of Israel. He'd taken those 600 men with them. You and I, if we're unfaithful to the Lord, sometimes we're going to take others with us. And, uh, they were there with him and everything that they had there, they saw the city burned with fire, and they saw their wives gone and the children that are gone.
And they wept. They wept, it says in verse 4, until they had no more power to weep.
Why did the Lord pass David through this? Why was this necessary?
God is God, man is man. God in his wisdom passed David through this process. And we know that it's a little encouragement to us as well that all that we have in this world is going to perish. It says in Timothy that for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And so it all passed under judgment and the fire.
And so David had to go through this process, but you know.
The people fake of stoning him and it says in verse 6 David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
Are you encouraging yourself in the Lord? You're gone.
When you think of Jeremiah, chapter one of how the Lord knew before He was formed in the belly, He knew Jeremiah. He knew you before you were formed in the belly. He knew before you were born.
And He longed for you to be saved. He labored with you. And He labored to bend your knees, to bow to Him, and to receive Him as Savior. He labored with you to bring you to the knowledge of the truth. He labored with you now.
He's laboring with Hugh to have a desire to walk in the truth of God, and he may allow painful situations that we might be more dependent upon him. And so this is what we found, what we find with David in verse eight, he inquired at the Lord. We don't find him inquiring as to whether he should flee into the land of the Philistines, but we find him now after the fire.
Inquiring of God and so there are Saints of God isn't a wonderful thing to go through those trials together.
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With the Lord and I think David had a sense of the grace of God and he prayed and he asked the Lord for wisdom as to whether or not he should go after these men. And the Lord told them what the end of the matter would be, that he would recover all. And so he recovered all. But it's interesting how the Lord allowed this circumstance in his life and he was restored. And then if we turn back to turn a little more forward to.
Chapter 2. Samuel.
Let's look at.
Chapter 2 Verse One came to pass after this, that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said on them, Go up. David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said unto Hebron.
Put it nice that he's restored to the Lord. He's a man of prayer.
If you want to have the comfort of the Lord, the comfort of the Scriptures, oh, what a precious privilege it is for us and the day that we live in, to walk independence upon the Lord and to pray to Him. We're halfway through. Not as far as I'd like to go, but let's stand up and sing 197.
Let's turn to the New Testament, the book of the Acts, chapter 21.
Acts Chapter 21.
Let's read from verse 10. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea certain prophet named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girl, and he shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place.
Besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered what meaning to weep and to break mine heart. For I am not, I'm ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we cease saying the will of the Lord be done. And after those days we took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem. And then a little bit later on, let's read.
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Verse Chapter 21. Verse 30.
Well, let's read from verse 26 just to get connections. Then Paul took them in, and the next day, purifying himself with them, entered into the temple, signifying the accomplishment of the days of persu purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews, which are of Asia, when they saw Him in the temple, stirred up all the people.
And laid hands on him. Then verse 30 all the city was moved.
And the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut, and they went about to kill him. Tidings came unto the chief captain of the band at all. Jerusalem was in an uproar. And then a little bit later on, let's read chapter 23.
And verse 10.
And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing Les Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. And the night following the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also.
At Rome and then one other passage in Second Timothy.
The last chapter.
Second Timothy, chapter 4.
Verse 16.
At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear that I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Well, I've read these little passages of Scripture.
Because, you know, the Apostle Paul often had tears to shed.
He shed tears. He wept because there were those that counted themselves, they were actually enemies of the cross of Christ. He wept when the Saints didn't go on. Well, he was a man of tears, but you know, he got himself into a situation where he wanted to, He loved his Jewish brethren and he wanted to go to visit those Jewish brethren, but he wasn't being directed by the Spirit of God to go down.
And but he wanted to go anyway.
And it says, you know, the Lord tried to intervene. He sent prophet to speak to him, Agabus. And it says when he would not be persuaded, we see saying the will of the Lord be done. And so Paul was arrested. He was dragged out of the place where he was trying to in the temple, trying to, he was really compromising his position.
And, umm.
The people went about to kill him and then he was arrested.
He was brought before the Romans. We have a little bit of a history there. But you know in verse 11 of chapter 23, it says the night following the Lord stood by him. Well, I sometimes wondered about that little expression, the night.
Following.
I wonder if it wasn't the first night that the Lord allowed him to be alone with his thoughts. The work of repentance and restoration of a St. is always a work of the Lord between the soul and it's a process, you know. And so the Lord appeared to the apostle Paul. I believe he appeared to him seven times. This is one of the times it's recorded that he stood by him. He didn't stand with him in his disobedience, in his going up without direction from the Spirit of God to Jerusalem.
Got himself into trouble, but he stood by him. And then wonderful beloved Saints, often times we get ourselves into trouble. We get to something happens and we ought not to have been in certain places, certain time. And uh, we did it in self will and perhaps there's consequences. And isn't it wonderful to know that the Lord will stand by you? He doesn't forsake his own. It says, umm, in Hebrews chapter 13 that umm, I will never leave thee nor.
So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And so you and I can boldly say and truthfully say, the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. And even the mighty apostle Paul.
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In his disobedience and striving against the work of the spirit of God went into another man's vineyard, so to speak. He knew that Peter was the one that had been given the work to do among the circumcision, and he was to go to those that were of the circumcised uncircumcised. We have that in Galatians chapter 2. But the Lord stood by him is a wonderful as we suffered different consequences of sometimes an act of disobedience. Yet the Lord.
Is with us, he stands by us but then at the end of his life the apostle Paul speaks and he says the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. You know Paul was facing death. He was facing circumstances that perhaps none of us ever will face in this room. He was facing an unjust judge. He speaks of the righteous judge in verse 8 shall give me at that day a crown.
Not to me only, but until all of them also that love his appearing, but he was facing death and he felt alone. The Saints in Rome had the first trial had didn't show up. They didn't show up to comfort them. And so here he was alone and uh, facing the Roman authorities. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. Well, have you ever felt the Lord just standing with you?
And strengthening you as you go through a trial, as you go through circumstances that you've never been through before.
And yet you have the Lord Jesus, who is the God of all comfort, the one who wants to encourage your heart, and you know that he'll never leave you nor forsake you. And you have a sense, a special sense of his presence with you.
Now, I spoke to Jonathan a few days after the, uh, fire that had destroyed his, uh, better part of his business and, uh, I asked him a few things about it and he said, dad, he said, uh, I wouldn't like it to be the way it was before.
I wouldn't wanna have those old buildings back again. It says that the Lord has made himself more precious to me. And I feel the sense of the Lord's presence with me as I go through this trial. And that's what the Lord is doing in your life and mind. He wants us to value His presence. He wants us to have a sense of His presence. And it's not an intelligent prayer to pray. Lord be with me. He is with you. He always will be with you. But sometimes we lose the sense of His presence. And so.
It's good for us to pray and ask the Lord for a sense of his presence, and so we can just encourage one another in that way. So here we have this apostle who had this trial that he went through. Let's look at his sister, umm, a woman of faith in the Old Testament, Second Kings, right at the beginning of Second Kings. I think it's chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 4 and verse eight It fell on a day that Elijah passed to shoot him where was a great woman.
And she constrained him to eat bread. So it was he off, as off as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. She sat under her husband. Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make him 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.
Just drop down a little further on verse 14.
He said that what then is to be done for her? Gehazi 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. He said, about this season, according to the time of life, Thou shalt embrace the sun. And she said, Nay, my Lord, thou man of God, do not lie into thy handmaid. The woman conceived there a son at that season, and that Elijah had said unto her, according to the time of life.
When the child was grown, it fell on a day that when it was when he went out unto his father to the reapers, he said unto his father, My head, my head, He said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. She called under her husband, said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, one of the ***** that I may run.
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Man of God and come again a little further on verse 27.
Well, let's read verse uh, just at the uh end of verse 26, she answered it as well. When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet, but the haze I came near to thrust her away. And the man said of her, uh, the man of God said, let her alone, for soulless vexed within her. And the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me. Then she said, did I desire a son of my Lord?
Did I not say, do not deceive me?
Then a little bit further on, let's look at, uh, verse, uh.
33 He went in there for shut the door upon twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up and lay upon the child, put his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, his hands upon his hands. He stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed worm. He returned and walked in the house to and fro, went up, stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed 7 times, and the child opened his eyes.
And he called his eye and said, Call this shunamite. So he called her.
And when she was coming unto him, he said, take up thy son. She went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, took up her son and went out. Well, I just thought it would be an encouraging little part of the word of God to take up this, uh, just to read this little passage and comment a little bit on it. It speaks here, this woman, that Shunamite, and she was a spiritual woman. We don't have really a sense that the man was a very spiritual man and perhaps.
You know, all of our marriages are a little bit different. It's nice to be married to a spiritual girl, uh, for those of us that are men and it's nice for a sister to have a spiritual husband, but I'm afraid that it's not always that way. And so we have here this child that was given to this sister, particularly to this woman of faith. And, uh, she hadn't asked for the child, but she had the child that was from God and our children are given to us for.
Little time, a very little time, and her husband didn't enter into the life. That doesn't seem to be that he entered into the life of this child, wasn't too interested and it was just the mother's job to raise this child. So on he went out to his father to the field and appears that he had a sunstroke and then the father isn't even interested enough to bring the child to the house. He sends a servant to bring the child to the house and then the child died upon the knees of the mother.
And there was more weeping, there's more sorrow, and some of us in this room know what it is to have a child die before ourselves.
I haven't had that experience except for my wife having a couple of miscarriages when we were younger. And it was a time of sorrow. It was a time of weeping, and we'll see those two young ones in a future day. But, umm, the Lord allows death to come in in this, uh, situation.
And he was perhaps testing this woman of faith and but there was a solution to the, uh, situation that she found herself in, and that was to run to the man of God. What a wonderful to think of how you and I have the resource of running to the man of God. And she ran to him, and as she fell at his feet, and she poured out her heart to him.
And the Lord often times works out those circumstances in our lives that make us willing to run to Him.
And to lay at His feet and to grasp His feet, those blessed feet that ever walked in obedience to the Father's will and ever walked his hands that ever dispense blessing. We know that Elisha is a type of Christ and she had her son restored to her. Now, I don't want to read too many different things into it, but I just want to say this in connection with this particular story, that there are these stories in the Scriptures.
Of godly women coming into the presence of the Lord looking for that encouragement, looking for comfort in the circumstances they had. And we know that this woman received her son back to life. Now let's turn to the New Testament and we'll see in Luke's gospel.
I think it's chapter 19.
No, Mark's Gospel. I meant, uh, Chapter 9.
Let's look at a father here that.
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Patterson.
It says.
In Chapter 9 of Mark verse 14, when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. Straightway all the people when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted him. He asked the scribes, What question you with them? One of the multitude answered, saying, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which has a dumb spirit, and where's whoever he taketh him, he teareth him.
Any Falmouth and gnashes with his teeth, and pineeth away. And I spake unto thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered him and said, Oh faceless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you bring him unto me. They brought him unto him. And when he saw him straightway the Spirit carry him, and fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. He asked his father, How long is it ago since this came upon to him? He said of a trial.
Oftentimes it has cast him into the fire to destroy, and in the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus saith unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out with said with tears, But I believe, help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou.
And deaf spirit I charge, they come out of him, enter no more into him. Spirit cried in random sore, and came out of him. And he was as one dead, insomuch that they said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. He rose. When he would come into the house, His disciples asked him privately could Why could we not cast him out? He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer.
And fasting? Well, we find in another account that they were.
Striving with one another to see who was the greatest among them and they didn't have the power and to cast out this demon. And here we find at the end of the, uh, story that the Lord Jesus says that, uh, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. So there was a spirit that was required. They were going through a trial, this Father.
Doesn't say anything of the mother in this story. In the the book of the Second Kings that story, the mother is involved and the father.
He's really not too interested. But here it seems that the father had more of an interest in his son, felt more of a responsibility, and he was seeking the blessing for his son. And some of us that our fathers have burdened for our sons, our daughters, and it's a good thing here to bring them into the presence of the Lord. And so it's nice to see how this father came right into the presence of the Lord with his son.
In whatever condition he was.
And he brought him for a blessing, though there must have been tears in that home. There must have been a lot of sorrow in that home. But the Lord was working with this man, and he was working with him. That he might come and that he might be exercised in faith, and that he might come and bow before the Lord and bring his son was a lack of prayer and lack of.
Really dependence upon the Lord in connection with the disciples. And so they weren't able to comfort and bring a blessing.
To this man, but the Lord Jesus was the man of prayer. He was a man of dependence. Mark's gospel, it says in chapter one verse 35, that rising great while before day he went up into a mountain to pray and he brought blessing to his people. And all through the New Testament you can read these little stories.
Beloved brethren, I believe Brother Gordon Hale used to tell us that there's a story in the Word of God that we can read, every one of us that will give us instruction for any circumstance that we might find ourselves in. And I believe that it's true too. In connection with the circumstances of life, the comfort that we desire, the encouragement that we desire, the Lord is able to use those passages of Scripture to encourage our hearts.
And so as we think of those Old Testament Saints, some of them that, like David, compromised his path, compromised the truth, the Lord stood by him. He was working with him to restore him, and he knew how to comfort David. And David was brought into the Kingdom. And you are going to be brought home safely. You're going to be a part of the church. You are a part of the church. If you know Him as Savior and you are going to have a reward, then shall every man have praise of God.
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But if there's a a compromise in the path of faith, the Lord is seeking to draw our hearts back. And then in connection with Paul, if there's disobedience, we're not walking in obedience to the course that God has given us. And we know what the truth is. The Lord will work to restore us. And we know that the apostle Paul found himself in prison, perhaps four years. He was given liberty to write and he was under house arrest and the end of Acts chapter 28 and.
He wrote he wrote Ephesians and Colossians, Philemon, Philippians. He wrote 4 epistles I believe while he was under house arrest. And so the Lord is merciful and he gave him opportunity to.
To be used in a fruitful way, let's just close with one more verse and Job.
The Book of Job, last chapter.
I was a little boy and my father was reading the scriptures and he quoted this verse to me. I've never forgotten it. I would encourage you as fathers, mothers, to quote the Scriptures to your children. Doesn't matter how old they are, they're going to remember. I have a grandfather that quoted me one passage of Scripture in John's Gospel. I remember it to this day standing in the kitchen.
Of my father's house 50 years ago, in 1968, he quoted this verse. He said, umm, that Satan is a liar and the father of it and uh.
John's Gospel, chapter 8. I never forgot that quotation, but my father quoted this in Job chapter 42.
He says in verse 12, So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.
The old beloved brethren were passing through this scene.
There's different sufferings that the Lord is allowing in each one of our lives, but we can be sure of this.
That the Lord is going to bless our latter end more than the beginning and so we're soon going to see him face to face and let's not do what David did leave the land, leave the assembly, leave the path of faith, obedience to the word of God to seek to deflect something of what the Lord is allowing in our lives. Let's just go on together in the presence of the Lord and encourage one another says that not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as a manner of some is.
But encouraging one another and so much the more you see the day approaching.