Address—Robert Boulard
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Good afternoon, Let's sing #200 and 94294. We'll sing this hymn, and I'd like to. Halfway through our time, Lord willing, I'll remember. But since we tend to nod off in the afternoon after a good lunch, I suggest we sing a hymn at 2:30. We'll all stand up and sing a hymn at 2:30. That way it'll be a little bit refreshing. But would someone be kind enough to start 294?
Oh, come out.
For us by all the wine in the world.
And praying. And he's heard of the volume in order to scream in the following clouds. That's why I'm gonna get anything.
All right, Well, all over the area.
Of love, love, water and the daylight.
Nsnoise.
And so.
I thought that again.
Wrath of the Wild.
Boar's forever in the past.
And so I can change land walls by the world.
'S life all of the time. We can give you my heart and ground.
Let's ask Lord blessing on our meeting.
Our loving God and our Father, we thank Thee this afternoon that those of us that know the Lord Jesus as our Savior can address our God as our Father. We thank Thee for that love that sought and found us and now is desiring to conform us into the image of His own Son. And we thank Thee that Thou has given us a heart that is capable of enjoying and entering into the very things of God.
Enjoying the divine feast that is set before us as those that are believers to know the Lord Jesus and all that we have in Christ.
In the heavenlies, in Christ all, we thank Thee for such kindness to us. And now, as we open up thy precious word, we ask thee that there might be liberty in the Spirit.
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And in the power of the Spirit, that thy word might be presented, and that there might be fruit for the a new beginning in the past of different ones in this room. Decisions made to live for Christ to follow the Lord, and the decisions too made to hold fast.
In a passive faith until others come, Blessed Savior, so we ask thee for thy blessing, for clear thoughts and direction as the passages of Scripture turn to and comments made, and that our hearts might be encouraged and strengthened. We ask that our God and our Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I have it on my heart to take up a little passage. 3 little passages in second Kings.
And I'd like to read them before we make any comments on them. Second Kings chapter 3.
We'll begin with, and umm, just an introductory comment, uh, a comment that I would make is that this really was at a time in the low point in Israel's history.
Right before Israel was to be carried away captive, really there wasn't a lot of time left. And you and I live in a very dark day. We live in a day of declension, a day of departure from the truth of God, a day of weakness. There's a reason for that weakness. We can all look and point to ourselves. There's a reason for the weakness. We need to be exercised about why things are in such a weak state. And yet we find.
Of God and the love of God, He's never changed. And His purpose is to bless and He desires to encourage us in our hearts. And so we find in this passage a little bit of encouragement, but we find instruction. We find perhaps we might say rebuke as well, but we need it all. And as a Father, as we had in our readings this morning, He seeks to train us.
To identify those things in US that are not really suitable to the walk of one who calls.
Who is called a Christian? One who is named a son of God, an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ. So let's read these three little passages and we'll make some comments on them. Second Kings, chapter 3, verse one. Now Jeroboam the son of Ahab or Jehoram the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
And reigned 12 years. And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord.
But not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebath, which made Israel the sin. He departed not therefrom. And Misha king of Moab was a sheep master, and rendered unto the king of Israel, and 100,000 lambs and 100,000 Rams with the wool.
But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
And King Jehoram went out of Samaria at the same time, and numbered all Israel. And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up. I am as our my people as I people My horse is as thy horses.
And he said, which way shall we go up?
And the answer the way through the wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they fetched a compass of seven days journey, and there was no water for the host and the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel said, alas, that the Lord has called these 3 kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not any pro and not here a prophet of the Lord?
That we may inquire of the Lord by him. And one of the king of Israel's servants answered, and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaytan, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elijah said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee?
Get thee to the prophets of thy Father, and to the prophets of thy mother.
And the King of Israel said unto him, Nay, for the Lord hath called these 3 kings together.
To deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand. Surely, if were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward the north seethe. But now bring me a minstrel came to pass. When the minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord.
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Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet that valid.
Shall be filled with water, that you may drink both ye and your cattle and your beasts.
And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand, and ye shall smite every fence city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled.
With water and when the mall the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them. They gathered all that were able to put on armor and upward and stood in the border. And they rose up early in the morning and the sun shone upon the water and the Moabites saw the water and on the other side as red as blood. And they said this is blood. The kings are surely slain and they have smitten one another. Now therefore Moab to the spoil. Now let's just drop down to chapter 4, verse one.
Now they're cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets.
Unto Elijah saying, Thy servant, my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons, to be bonds men. And Elijah said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house.
Save a pot of oil.
Then he said, Go borrow the vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out came.
When the vessels were full, that she sat under her sun, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God, And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
And it fell on a on a day that Elisha passed to shun him, there where was a great woman for a wealthy woman.
And she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as off as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him.
They are 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 a day that he came thither. And he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to get his eye his servant, Call this Shunamite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. He said unto him, Now say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care, what is to be done for thee.
Wouldst thou be spoken to for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people. And he said, What man is to be done for her? And de Hazel answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, said, Call her. And 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. She said, Nay, my Lord.
Of God do not lie under thine handmaid, and the woman conceived, and bear a son at a that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life, while I read these three stories, because it was a day of weakness.
A day of a lacking of power in Israel and we have really 3 little stories that we read and it presents to us the thought in connection with the lack of water. There was a lack of water, There was death, and death was imminent, as it were, because of a lack of water. Water speaks of the word of God. We'll take it up that way here. And then there was umm.
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Here in, in chapter 4, there was uh, umm, oil. There was uh, making room. She needed to make room. This, uh, woman for oil, it was a spirit of God. There was no power in Israel.
And then we find that there was barrenness in connection with this woman who was a great woman, a wealthy woman, but she didn't have any posterity. She had no children. She was without child. It was a reproach in Israel for a woman of that stature, of any woman really, to be childless. And so there was fruitlessness, so where there was a lack of water.
There was no power, there was no oil, and there was there was very little oil.
And then we have this little picture of Baroness. So when I just take up these things individually, these little stories in connection with our own responsibility, and we find here that there was a reason why there was no water. And these men had these 3 kings had got together and hatched a plan. We know that the king of Israel.
Had this man the king of Mohab?
Under his thumb, so to speak, he had conquered Moab and, uh, they were subservient to him and they rebelled. And now he wanted to come back and put them back under dominion. And he enlisted the help of Jehoshaphat, a godly king. And he enlisted the help of Edom, the king of Edom. And he was an ungodly king, so he might say, here we have Jehoshaphat. He was a godly man. We have the king of Israel, Jehoram, and he.
Perhaps a professing child of God and we have Edom, the king of Edom, a godless, wicked man, and they joined in this venture together. It was an unequal yoke and God did not bless that union and that endeavor, that energy that they expended. They hatched this plan to instead of just cross the border into mob.
And go head on with this enemy that they would take seven days journey and go out behind and in the wilderness and then come up from behind and attack from behind and by surprise and get the victory and it would be an easy victory.
But they got to where they should have struck and they should have exercised their authority, and it was just a lost 'cause there was no water. Well, you know, you might say, well, how did Jehoshaphat get roped into this? How is it possible that this godly man got into this unequal yoke? Let's just turn to Second Chronicles chapter 18.
Read verse one. I'm gonna read it to.
In Mr. Darby's translation, if you'll just permit it.
Second Second Chronicles chapter 18, verse one Jehoshaphat had riches.
And honor in abundance. And he allied himself with Ahab by marriage.
You know, if you read Second Chronicles chapter 17, it's a fabulous picture of God's blessing to this king Jehoshaphat. Probably one of the most interesting and the most satisfying chapters that you could read of any of the kings.
In the Chronicles, God presents a picture of fabulous picture. It says, you know, it was about 35 years old when he began to reign and it says in verse one that, uh, he strengthened himself against Israel. The very first thing that God records is that this man, Jehoshaphat, a godly man that walked in communion with the Lord, he decided that he was not going to join forces with Ahab or with his household.
And he was going to strengthen Israel. They were not going to turn idolatrous. He was going to walk in obedience to the word of God. Well, we don't have time. It's not my purpose here tonight to this afternoon to talk about chapter 17. But it's a fabulous chapter to read encouraging what made him give up that walk of separation and.
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Is a very striking to me that he made an alliance by marriage.
With the household of Ahab, Ahab's daughter married Jehoshaphat's son. Now they were related. They were of the tribes of Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel. They have ruled over those 10 tribes. But you know, they had gone on in idolatry and they had gone on in wickedness. God paints a picture that Ahab's house was the most wicked that had lived and.
He had, he had not yet exercised complete judgment on the House that they have. Ahab was dead now, umm, but umm, we find that, uh, in the future, just a couple of chapters later, I think it's Chapter 9, even Jezebel is cut off and Jehu is raised up of God and the House of Ahab is dealt with. And so we find that umm, Jehoshaphat joins in this unequal yoke.
And he has no power, no strength.
He comes to the point in the back of the desert. They're just about to attack Moab. They have no strength. They have no water. They have no.
Word, they have no word from the Lord, and hear this king, this godless king professing king, perhaps he says in verse 10, second Kings 3, verse 10, the king of Israel said, Alas, the Lord hath called these 3 kings together to deliver them in the hand of Moab.
What a thing to say. If you and I dissipate the word of God, we join in an unequal yoke. Let's not blame the Lord for it. And let's not blame the Lord for the lack of fruit, the lack of success in the venture. And this was what this king was saying. And so the Lord will not bless if His word is set aside and the clear instructions of His word are not presented and obeyed.
That's what we find here, that they didn't have water and they was wasn't the king Jehoshaphat that sought the face of the prophet.
It was really the king of Israel and one of his servants that says, you know, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, he's here.
And so they called him, they came into his presence, those 3 Kings. And Elijah was agitated. He couldn't get a message from the Lord. He just didn't feel comfortable. And he says, bring me a minstrel and a minstrel. He says, just play me some soft music so that I can ease my, I'm just so agitated. I just need to wind down a little bit. I, I'm so upset.
And so they played this music, this minstrel played the music. Finally he calmed down a little bit and then the Lord could work with his spirit. And he says, I have a message from God, dig some ditches, dig lots of ditches. And there's going to be an intervention by God himself and the, and there's going to be an abundance of water and it's going to come not by natural sources.
It's not going to rain or anything like that. God's going to send it. So that's what happened in verse 20. It came to pass in the morning and when the meat offering was offered.
What's the meat offerings speak of? It speaks of the offering of the Lord Jesus and the perfection of his life morally to God. In this scene there was some little occupation with Christ, as it were. A little picture. These are symbolic stories. A little bit of occupation with Christ, The beauty of the person morally of the Lord Jesus as he walked in. Devotedness to his Father in this scene.
The Gospels, as we had brought out this morning, and.
Some occupation with that blessed one. And then the blessing came the water by the way of Eden, and the country was filled with water. Well, you know, what we find here is that there was an absence of water. There was as a picture of an absence of being in the Word of God, of reading the Word of God and having the Word of God before those souls.
They didn't have the word of God before them. They needed the water.
And what we need in the day that we live in is to have the Word of God before us. We need to be saturated with the Word of God. We need to read it. You heard me perhaps say this before, but I think of it often myself, even personally, for my own need. You know how long it takes to read the Old Testament? Approximately 37 hours, let's say 40 hours. So you could take a week off.
Work or a week off school, or if you're in school and you have summer break.
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You could spend a week read 8 hours a day and without meditation time. I'm not recommending that you don't meditate on it, but you could read the whole of the Old Testament in eight hours, in 40 hours, 8 hours a day. Have you ever done it? Have you ever read the Word of God front to back? The New Testament takes approximately 17 hours to read from Matthew to Revelation. Not very long, is it? So you could say maybe.
And a half and you could read the whole word of God. Have you ever done it?
You know, we need to make room for the Word of God and we need to understand that it's the Lord that has given the Word and it's what gives us the strength, the nourishment, the refreshment in the wilderness path to be able to have strength to meet the enemy. We will not be able to meet the enemy. We will not be able to.
Overcome in this scene by the Wiles of the enemy that we have.
Except that we know the Word of God, we have the strength of the Word of God, we read it and we're just enjoying it ourselves. Well, it says that they had to dig. You know, there's a little verse of Scripture in Proverbs chapter 2, and I'm just going to read it here in verse 4.
Proverbs chapter 2 and verse four. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her As for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
How do you search for hidden treasures you dig?
I'm not suggesting you just read the the scriptures and just read it and say, well, I read my chapter today and then I read my chapter tomorrow and I read another and then by the end of the month you've read 30 chapters, whatever.
Did meditate. It takes energy, you know, naturally speaking. Can I tell you this? You forgive me for telling your personal story, but when I was young, I used to like to read the book of Deuteronomy. So I would read the book of Deuteronomy, I'd lay down on the sofa in my father's house and I'd read the book of Deuteronomy. I just like Deuteronomy. And I'm saying it to myself yesterday when I was meditating about this passage. How is it that they could all of a sudden just.
Dig all these ditches. Did they all bring troubles with them?
Yeah, they did. It was part of the armor that they had. I think it's the 34th chapter of Deuteronomy. I didn't remember. No, it's the 24th, I think 24th or 23rd. And he says, umm, he speaks there of having, umm, a shovel. Deuteronomy TWE 23, verse 13, now the Spirit of God.
Will bring to remembrance things that you've read, even when you're a young person or a child.
And so in Deuteronomy, I remembered this from reading it when I was a teenager in verse 13, thou shalt have a paddle upon my weapon. Now, if you look at the new translation, it says shovel. You need to have a shovel with you when you go to warfare. So naturally speaking, they could dig these ditches. And it's going to take some hard work to read the word of God and to gain a little.
Portion for yourself.
And to be able to dig and dig and to be able to get a little portion to enjoy for yourself, to build yourself up, to refresh yourself. And those of us that are fathers and have responsibility in our homes and so on, we need to help and dig in the family Bible reading, perhaps in the morning, perhaps in the evening. And we dig and we dig and we help our kids to learn how to dig. And we they get to learn to be able to.
Study a line of truth.
Can I give you just one little other thought? You know, I, I like to search little lines of things as they go through the Scriptures. And I was thinking to myself one time, you know, John's Gospel is pretty simple and profound, probably the most profound book written in the New Testament.
What was the first thing that the Lord Jesus said in John's Gospel? I thought, well he says in chapter one they said that Master, where dwellest thou? He said, come and see.
And so they went, and they abode with him that night and the next day.
And then, umm, I said, well, what other little three line, three word expressions that the Lord used in John's Gospel?
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He says feed my sheep.
What other? What other do you see? It says on the cross. He says it is finished.
What's the last thing the Lord pulled his disciples in John's Gospel?
Follow thou me. That's the last thing.
You can read from Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The very last thing the Lord says to you or I says follow thou me.
Now there was a lack of water and there was a necessity of having water and refreshment. It meant life.
And you and I need the word of God. We need life. And there's not going to be blessing in your life or mine. And there's not going to be power in our lives. There's not going to be blessing in the assembly. There's not going to be blessing in the homes unless we have the Word of God before us. We study it, we dig, we use those shovels, we find those hid treasures. We meditate upon those things and we give ourselves holy to them. It's 2:30. We'll sing to Him.
Let's sing #5.
In the appendix.
Let's stand thing #5 in the appendix. Maybe someone can start it.
It's on danger and it's going to fall. And then pride and jealous blood.
Oh, dear friend, I always pray any time together forever remember that. And I think I'm going to be one of the strange things and everything is it. We'll go back to the flash radiation. We'll have a lot of light across that forever.
Umm.
So this first story is a little picture of making place, making room in our lives for the Word of God. We need to dig ditches.
And it may also speak of repentance. You know, it's in the valley, in a low place and in humility, dependence upon the Lord. We dig those ditches, dig and dig. Next story is in chapter 4. And we have this woman of the one of the lives of the sons of the prophets, and her husband is dead and so she has no sustenance. Her sons are about to be sold.
And she only has one little pot of oil.
In the house and oil, as we know in the Scriptures, is a picture of the Spirit of God. There is little power in the day that we live in, isn't there? Very little power, you know, I'm going to tell you.
A little story. There's a young brother, he's probably about 32 years old in Brazil, in Sao Paulo. I stayed in his home. His wife, Regina, you know, he's been at the Lord's Table for about a year, has a son.
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Brought up in the Pentecostal church system and he said, you know, the, uh, in the Pentecostal church system, I was 14 years old and I said to the men that were there, he said, I'm saved. I know the Lord is savior. They said, no, you're not. He said, what do you mean? He says, well, they told me I had to speak in tongues or else I, I wasn't indwelled with the Spirit of God and I wasn't truly saved.
And he said I started to read the word of God.
Uh, let's turn to Ephesians chapter one. I'll tell you what he told me.
His name is Diego.
Brother Diego and he says, you know at 14 years old I read Ephesians chapter one and I believe what God said, he said this.
In umm.
Verse 13 In whom ye also trusted, he says I trusted, I trusted Christ.
After that ye heard the word of truth. I know that's true. I know the word of God is true.
In whom also after that you were believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, he says. I'm indwelt with the Spirit.
He said I soon laid hold on that scripture. I said I'm indwelled with the Spirit of God. I'm sealed by the Spirit, the work is finished. And he began to read the word of God. He said I wanted to find out what else they were telling me that wasn't right.
He came into the knowledge of the truth by looking on the Internet. He umm.
Stumble on a site that said, umm, God's answers. And then he said he stumbled on Mario Persona's, uh, umm, the Evangelio and Tres Minutos website Gospel in 3 minutes and you listen to a few of those and he got in contact with Mario and umm, he got into another website that is responding.
Questions that are answered on doctrinal issues.
And he looked at eternal security and he listened to these messages. He says it's possible to be saved and then know you're saved forever.
And he began to attend the meetings a little over a year ago in Sao Paulo. His wife thought he was crazy. Virginia, she wouldn't go with him.
And soon he took his place at the Lord's table. And then he saw a change at home. They began to read the word of God. Can you imagine a church system that says, don't read the word of God? It will confuse you.
He started to read the word of God in his home at the table.
His in laws live next door and they thought he'd gone crazy and then his wife started to come to the meetings.
You know, if you read the word of God, it's going to change your life. His wife started to come to the meetings and she's been at the Lord's table about five months now.
But her parents are distraught. They think that she's lost her salvation because she left the church and because she has the audacity to read the Word of God in her home with her husband and children.
The Word of God says that a believer is sealed with the Spirit of God. It's the sure, umm, you might say the security. Let's turn to 1St Corinthians, the 2nd Corinthians chapter one.
I just want to point these things out because this is a type the oil in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
But we need to recognize that the work of the Spirit is real, and the reason that we don't have the power in our lives and the power in the assembly partly is because we don't live in Pentecostal power days. The church has fallen into ruin. The testimony is in ruin, but the Spirit of God is unchanged. The power is still there.
And so if we read in Second Corinthians chapter one and just.
Read verse 21 Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, hath anointed us, is God.
Who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Well, it's not my intent to go through all of the things that the Spirit of God does. But when it speaks of the anointing of the Spirit, you can read it in first John, the epistle of first John. He speaks of the anointing or the unction and he gives us the power to discern the right the the difference between.
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True doctrine, false doctrine, and true doctrine. He gives us that power. We're anointed with the Spirit. We have that power.
The powers of discernment, if we walk into obedience to the Word of God and in separation, we have that little picture of separation here, We'll get into that. It's necessary. But He also seals us with the Spirit. And so the thought of being sealed is security. We're sealed by the Spirit.
We're forever secure for Christ himself. The work is finished. You have new life and you're going to finish the work. He's going to redeem your body. He's going to bring you to Himself. The work has finished its field. But then he says to hear that we have the earnest of the Spirit, and really the earnest is a picture of the down payment, that the work is going to be entirely complete. You're going to be. Your body is going to be.
He goes into that in Romans chapter 8. We don't have the time to go into all those types, but I want to say this that.
The Lord desires that you and I would go on in the power of the Spirit. There's two things that we do in connection with the Spirit. We can grieve the Spirit or we can quench the Spirit. So the quenching of the Spirit is spoken of in Ephesians chapter 4, and we have the grieving of the Spirit that's spoken of in, uh, First Thessalonians chapter 5. We grieve the Spirit by disobeying the word of God.
And getting into a bad state of soul.
Or we quench the spirit by by the Spirit of God urging us to do something and we will not do it. We don't want to do it, or we're not in the state that would allow us to do it. And so we have this picture in first in second Kings chapter 4. This woman, there's no power. Her son's, she's impoverished.
And, umm.
Man of God says he puts his finger on the problem. He says, umm, take this pot of oil, take it up into your house and shut the door.
And then get all these borrowed vessels and start filling them up.
And so you know what she did, She in verse four it says the instructions given, Thou shalt shut the door. And then in verse five she went from him and shut the door.
It speaks of separation. You know what the problem is? Oftentimes, as we have the door open to the world, it's like eudicus. We're sitting in the window watching what's going on in the world. One foot in the assembly, one foot out of the assembly, you might say. And we wonder why there isn't power in our own lives, why there isn't power in the assembly. Why do we come into the assembly at the breaking of bread? And it's so hard.
I just don't seem to have anything to give to the Lord.
There was nothing more precious to his heart, nothing of a higher consequence to him in his thoughts, than to leave heaven, the courts of glory where there's purity, where sin can never come. And to come into the filth of this scene, no higher priority but to leave that glorious scene and to come down here.
They're walking this scene in obedience to His Father's will.
And then in obedience he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, treated like a criminal outside the city days of Jerusalem to die for me, to die for you.
Oh, it was. One purpose was to please His Father. That's what we had before us this morning in Hebrews chapter 12. One purpose.
But you and I have our doors open, wide open to the world.
But there's not going to be power in our lives, and there's not going to be evident power. The Spirit of God, the ability to give God what is rightfully his, except we shut the door. We need to shut the door. The brother before this meeting asked us to shut our cell phones off.
I'm not a very good example. You'll forgive me. Please forgive me for giving a little personal example, but I try in the morning not to turn my cell phone on, not to look at it, not to look at the computer until I spend an hour with the Lord first. Because I know if I look at that cell phone that there's going to be an emergency that I have to deal with. But really it didn't make a whole lot of difference whether it was now or an hour later. But I think there is a reason why I have to go and do it now.
The enemy is going to try to distract you. Shut the door.
00:45:03
Are you shutting the door and allowing the Lord to do his work with you? You know, let's just look at this little picture.
She poured in the oil. She poured in the oil. She poured in the oil. It was exhaustless.
The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it. You know what I think in the new translation? It says the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and labor out of out of nothing to it. Your labor or mine will add nothing to it. And the Lord is willing to bless. He's willing to give us the energy to live a spiritual life.
My beloved brethren, I speak to myself as well. We need to close the door to this world.
We need to close the door to all of its overtures, its entertainments, and all of the things that it desires to have us distracted in this world. Well, she did, she obeyed, came to pass that the oil stayed in verse six. She went and she came and told the man of God. He said, go and sell the oil and pay thy debt and live thou my children of the rest.
So there's going to be more blessing than we can possibly use for ourselves. The blessing will overflow.
If you personally spend time in the Word of God and dig with your own shovel.
And you close the door to this world and seek to walk in obedience to the word of God, in fellowship with the Lord, in communion with the Lord.
There's going to be a blessing that flows in your life, in your family and in the assembly.
Make no mistake.
God is unlimited in His power. The power of the Spirit has not changed. We don't live in Pentecostal days. I'm not suggesting that, but I am suggesting this, that there is a reason for the weakness that we feel. We need to spend time in the presence of the Lord and allow Him to do His work by His Spirit. Now we have this story, the third one in connection with this little chamber. And so the first little story speaks of making room for the Word of God in our lives.
The second one, making room for the Spirit of God, giving place to the Spirit of God in our lives to do His work with us, allowing him the liberty to use us and being exercised about being used as a spirit to do the work that He has for us to do.
Now it's making room for the Son of God in our lives, making room for Him.
Is there room?
We have room and time for just about everything.
This world has room for everything except Christ, and this world is trying to make their priority your priority.
And I have to say that there are some places I go back.
I travel in a little RV, you know.
And sometimes I'll go back to my RV and I cry.
Because some of the young people went to work at McDonald's or something for minimum wage on the Lord's Day morning and they didn't come into the presence of the Lord that morning.
Or, like a brother Enoch Enos was saying, The reading meeting is so bare and so sparse.
I feel rich, richly fed in my souls oftentimes at a reading meeting.
But the young people, some young people aren't there. They didn't come into the presence of the Lord to read the scriptures.
They thought there was a higher priority somewhere else.
They didn't make that little room for the Lord. You know, Elijah is a type of Christ here. And this woman, she had a sense.
At observing Elisha, she said this is no ordinary man.
And you know, the world should look at you and say this is no ordinary boy, this is no ordinary girl, that this person is a little special.
Well, we know that Elijah spent time in the presence of the Lord.
And you and I should spend time in the presence of the Lord. But she used her resources. She identified that this man was one that she wanted to have communion with. And So what does it say here? It says that.
Elijah passed to shoot him in verse 8 where was a great woman and she constrained him to eat bread. She wanted fellowship with this man.
00:50:07
Do you want fellowship with the Son of God?
Do you want fellowship with the Son of God?
I think of it often, Brother, the one who created the universe created me. He only made one person just like me.
Only one person just like you. He wants to enjoy your fellowship. In the place of his rejection, he wants to enjoy your company.
We're gonna have to make room for it. We're gonna have to make time for it. She wanted the fellowship of the Son of God.
A little type in connection with Elisha and she constrained him to eat bread so it was as off as he passed by, he turned into her to eat bread. You know the Lord isn't going to force you.
To have fellowship with him.
He's not going to force you.
You know, he made it so he would have gone past in, uh, Luke's gospel chapter 24. You know, the Lord Jesus who wasn't gonna force himself on those two that were going on their way onto their, to their home in Emmaus. No, I wasn't gonna force them. He's not gonna force you to get down on your knees and pray in the morning. He's not gonna get force you to read your Bible and to spend some time and to dig with that shovel, to dig and to dig.
It's not gonna force you.
There's nothing more that he would love.
He says to the Ephesians, you know, he says that was left by first love. It should be really translated. I believe thou is left thy best love, the best part of life, the best love. Oh, he felt it. And the Lord feels that if we're cold towards him, he wants our fellowship. Well, this woman, she made some effort here. She seemed to have discernment where her husband didn't have discernment.
He wasn't too interested.
And, uh, it was so that as off as he passed by, he turned into her deep breath. She said to her husband, Behold, 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 or with walls. If you look at the new translation, it says with walls. What's the little chamber?
The little chamber is a little place right here in your heart.
Let's make a little place.
In our hearts for the Son of God.
The One who loved us and gave himself for us wants to have fellowship with us. Let's make a little place in our hearts to enjoy the Son of God. Well, it had to be with walls. We have this little picture of separation in these pictures. Jehoshaphat was in an unequal yoke. He wasn't in a separated place, and God couldn't bless him and this woman.
Of the wise, of the sons, of the prophets.
She had to shut the door, place a separation, she had to shut the world out and all those influences that she might be brought into the blessing of that oil. And now we have a little chamber with walls. Let us set for him there a bed. Can the Lord rest with you? This is a restful thing for you to spend a little time alone with the Lord. And does He rest in your presence? Does He refresh?
Oh, he ought to be refreshed. You know the Lord Jesus is going to be satisfied.
When He sees you in the glory, when he sees you in heaven, you're going to be satisfied. He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. But He longs for us to be satisfied with Him now.
In this scene, while we await his coming and so she set a bed there speaks of rest and refreshment. A table speaks of communion.
You tell the Lord.
What you think about them?
Do you? Do you tell the Lord how you appreciate what He did for you?
How often do you tell the Lord what you appreciate about Him? Do you ever read the Word of God and just put your Bible down and thank the Lord for what He just wrote to you? Do you ever do that?
I confess I don't do it often enough, but I do it by the grace of God. I just put my Bible down. I just thank the Lord for writing what He just wrote, and I just try to appreciate it and I tell him that I appreciate what He wrote.
Well, he's looking for that. He's looking for fellowship. And then the Candlestick that speaks really of umm.
00:55:02
Our testimony, there's going to be a testimony. You know, if we render the time, we give the little, make a little room, make a little time for the Lord, a little place in our hearts for him, there's going to be a testimony. And then it says a stool. Now what would you use a stool for?
You use a stool to sit like Mary at the feet of Jesus.
Sit as his feet as a learner.
All of us are learning and I'm not standing here tonight, this afternoon, because I know more than anybody else.
No, no, we're all learning, we're all learners, and we need to fit at the feet of the Lord Jesus as learners. And the Lord Jesus appreciates us to sit at his feet in humility and with a desire to refresh his heart and to learn from him. And so she said that when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day that he came thither, He turned into the chamber and lay there.
You know, if we make a little place for the Lord, a little chamber, a little room on the wall, a little time that's separated just for him, He's going to come and we're going to enjoy that sweet time with him. We're going to enjoy fellowship with the Son of God, and He'll come. He's not going to force himself, as I said, upon us, but there's going to be sweetness, there's going to be fellowship. And then we find that she had a child. Now we know that He tested her about that child.
Child died and was raised to gain.
But you know, she had this child.
She had fruitfulness. It's a picture to us that if we make room for Christ, the Son of God in our lives, we prepare for him that little room and we prepare that bed, that place of rest and refreshment. We enjoy Rest and refreshment is present. We sit at the stool to be as learners at His feet, true disciples.
And there's going to be fruitfulness in our lives.
Why is there such barrenness?
Why is there such fruitlessness?
Because he hasn't got the 1St place, that's why.
If he doesn't have the 1St place and he doesn't have your heart, he doesn't have what he wants. My son, give me thine heart. He says give me thine heart. He's not going to barter with you. He just asks you to give that little portion that belongs to him. Well, our time is gone. I just wanted to bring those little passages of Scripture for you. Three things. One is that we need to dig those ditches. We need to have the Word of God before us continually.
Need to memorize the word of God. We need to have it before us all the time.
Need to be a part of the fabric of our lives. We need to walk in the power of the Spirit, not to grieve the Spirit, not to quench the Spirit. And then we also need to make that room in our lives for the Son of God, that little chamber with walls, walls of separation from this world that we might live and enjoy the communion of the Son of God and sitteth learners at his feet without the distractions of this world. Let's commend ourselves.
Our loving God, our Father, we thank the for thy precious word, these, uh, little stories that I was put in the Old Testament to give us instruction. We thank thee that thy word has been given to us as a lamp on our feet and a light under our path. A lamp to give us light for one step at a time in the path of faith and a light that shows us the end of the path of faith. Help us not only to have begun in the path of faith, but to finish.
And to finish with joy, we ask Thee for Thy blessing. Commend ourselves to Thee for the remainder of these meetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.