Open—D. Rule, R. Bouland, D. Mearns
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Can we sing #318?
#318.
Still keep us close to my.
It's all day.
I believe.
To force and slam slaughter.
Two Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.
For the love of Christ.
Constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all.
Then we're all dead.
And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that which died for them.
And rose again.
And then?
First Corinthians, chapter 6.
First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 20.
For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body.
And in your spirit, which are gods?
And one more verse.
In John's Gospel chapter 17.
John's Gospel chapter 17 and verse 4.
I have glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do, and now, O Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
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Scripture teaches us that God is light and God is love.
And we naturally.
Enjoy, focus on, appreciate the love of God more than we do, that God is light.
The God being light brings before us.
His Holiness and His glory.
And the point I want to make.
Is to encourage our hearts.
To seek to know our God better.
In his glory.
And to know His glory better.
Because of our need as sinful creatures, we easily go to God in that need after we come to the Lord Jesus and draw for our need on His love.
And thank him for his love and appreciate it.
In our measure.
And when we see a need, we go to God to meet that need, and we think of his love as that which we seek to take care of the need.
We recognize God is holy and just. And so in some way, I say more.
Less we tend to say, well, God has to do it right. He has to do it in a certain way that takes care of that side of things. But I would suggest sometimes we don't focus on it in a way that.
Would help us to know God better.
God.
Does not, cannot, will not do anything in love which is inconsistent with His glory.
And we do well.
To think about that, to appreciate that, to sometimes when we want God to do something, to stop and ask our own hearts.
Can God do this for his glory or can he not?
In our own lives and in our own little way of love and so on, we will sometimes.
Do a little less.
On somebody we really love and have a close relationship with, we might do something that kind of sets aside some of the aspect of what I would call God's glory for the sake of the circumstance and that individual. If it's somebody we don't know so well and don't have such a close relationship with and so on, we're a little more.
Inclined to uphold righteousness, then.
Maybe in the personal family, brethren relationships.
We had this morning the Lamb of God and the fact that God will provide for himself a lamb for the burnt offering.
If we could stop and look at God's side of it for a moment.
We would recognize that in all his love.
For the Israelite and all this love for you and I.
There was number solution to our need in His love.
That, in the tiniest way, sacrificed his glory.
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It must be anything that could be done has to be done in a way that maintains God as he is.
And for God.
The cost of redemption.
To satisfy his heart of love.
Required the ultimate price for him to pay.
His son.
His son.
We can't measure. We can't appreciate.
What it cost God?
To save our souls.
In measure because perhaps we don't appreciate his glory.
But it is valuable for us to seek to know it. And that's the burden of my heart to share, to seek to know it, because in any measure in which we seek it out.
Will know God better.
And we'll know his love better.
We will know and appreciate him more.
And so the Lord Jesus, who perfectly.
Understood.
When his life was coming to a close.
He didn't say.
Father, I want you to know that I've showed everybody how much you love them.
True, he did.
It's a true statement.
But he said, Father, I have glorified thee.
I have glorified me.
For the first time in the history of mankind, God had been glorified in a man on the earth.
In a full life.
There were certainly actions that were taken by men that honored God, that displayed His Excellency, His Majesty, aspects of His glory.
But it was the first time that it could ever be said of a life. I have glorified thee on the earth.
So.
The Lord Jesus.
We are.
Exhorted.
The love of Christ constrains us, and the love of Christ doesn't constrain. An unsaved man, doesn't constrain the lost man because he doesn't have a nature, he doesn't have a life that's constrained by love. That is the love of Christ.
But we are. We're constrained by that love.
And.
So that law constrains us to properly in our measure, respond to him.
That they which live should not live henceforth to themselves, because that law of constrains in the sense that we had this morning, that we're not our own anymore.
We belong to him as purchased by his precious blood, and so were his.
We say Lord, and as Lord He has that authority over our lives, and at the same time we enter into His love.
In daily life, that would constrain.
Us to respond properly to that love in our lives. So that's one side of it. The love of Christ constrains us. But we also read another verse.
In First Corinthians chapter 6.
You're bought with a price.
The price?
That maintained the glory of his First Corinthians 6 verse 20, the price.
Paid to uphold the glory of God.
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And save us.
The price, the supreme price that God had to pay.
Which was the giving of the son?
Not only the giving of him, but as was mentioned this morning.
In type and figure, that lamb that the Israelite offered on the Passover night was put to death.
And then it was burnt.
In other words, it was a merciful thing of God that the animal felt nothing of the fire.
In contrast to that.
The Lord Jesus.
Was a living sacrifice.
In those hours of darkness on the cross.
Having refused anything that would dull his senses, not taking the wine or anything else that in the tiniest measure might mitigate or make less what he was going to go through.
Our sins were laid on Him, and He bore the punishment of them.
To exhaust the holy wrath of God.
Which was required according to God's glory.
But also.
And perhaps more difficult for his soul.
Was to be made sin.
Because.
He was the Son of God.
And as the Son of God and understanding the glory that belonged to them.
His holy being.
To the thought of being made sin.
Taking the place of sin, what man is in his nature?
Was.
Almost, you might say, incomprehensible to his holy soul.
His very glory of His being was such that to think of.
Being made sin.
Father, save me from this hour.
That's a significant part of the hour.
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Is in its greatest aspect, perhaps the being made sin.
Because there the issue of glory was in its greatest intensity.
Having to be born in his person as being made sin and.
Brethren, while we can't understand it, it's well for us to think about it at times and to seek to say, Lord, help me to understand.
And the practical result in our lives. You're bought with the price.
And as we enter into that price in our souls in any measure that we do.
Then comes the therefore glorify God.
Just as the Lord Jesus says, I have glorified not just as, but the Lord Jesus says, I have glorified thee on the earth.
May our hearts also desire.
And satisfying the heart of God.
That in some measure, when life is finished.
It can be said not only this person loved like the Lord Jesus loved.
But this person lived to the glory of God like the Lord Jesus lived the glory of God.
To the glory of God and body.
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And in spirit.
For both.
Our gods.
That was the price of redemption to make us gods.
To make us God's possession in holiness and truth and love.
And so we are constrained by His love.
As we appreciate the price that's been paid, we are also exhorted.
To live life to His glory.
And God found great joy and satisfaction in His Son.
Who honored him?
In His glory, and at the same time, at whatever cost it was to Himself, he maintained that glory and expressed the heart of God's love.
May the Lord help us to do that as well.
Just like to look at a couple of passages of Scripture that have to do with the Saints refreshing the heart of the Lord. I know that we come together like this and we so often have the tendency to think, well, I'm, I'm coming here. I really want to be fed and my soul want to be encouraged, want to be strengthened and so on. And that's those are right thoughts and right feelings.
But oh, how often we neglect to think about the heart of the Savior and how He delights to have His heart refreshed.
In connection with His Saints being with Him, and as our Brother has brought before us the glory of the Lord, how often we think of that verse in John's Gospel chapter 17. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. For Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. So maybe we could turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 10 and read from verse 38 to verse 42.
And one other passage perhaps in Mark's Gospel chapter 14.
Very briefly to look at these two incidents in connection with Mary's life. Mary Bethany.
So Luke chapter 10 verse 38 it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said Lord.
Dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
That she helped me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary have chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. While this little passage of Scripture we know very well. And Mary of Bethany, and how these two sisters.
Were found in the presence of the Lord Martha, it appears that.
Had a home and here she had the Lord Jesus come into this home and she had a sister. I've often wondered whether Martha or Mary was a little bit younger, but you know, the Lord Jesus says that she had chosen that good part and the world we live in a world that's based, activity based, project based. Everyone has to have a project has to have.
Some goals and be driven, but you know this woman.
Came into the presence of the Lord Jesus and there was nothing more important to her.
Than to sit quietly at his feet, You know, to sit at the feet is a little picture of sitting in submission and listening to the word of the Lord. And she had heard, no doubt, the words of the law, and she had a fear of God, and desired to know the Lord. We know that the law gave a commandment, and the penalties were stiff for disobedience to the law, oftentimes with death.
Sometimes it was something different, and every time that there was a sin, there was an offering that had to be made, had to be given. The Old Testament Saints never knew what it was to have all of their sins forgiven. They couldn't walk down the street and say, all my sins are forgiven.
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One sin was committed. A little lamb had to die. A sin offering a trespass offering.
One more sin, one more offering.
One more sin, another offering, and here this dear woman, perhaps a young woman, sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus and heard things she'd never heard before, how they must have comforted her heart. But you know, brethren, I think it's really a sense that the Spirit of God gives us here in these few little verses, less little nutshell of a story of how it must have refreshed the heart.
Lord Jesus, to have that young woman sit in His presence and to hear what He had to say. I just wanted to give this as a word of encouragement to us, each one of us. Sometimes we have what we feel are more important duties, more important obligations than to be found sitting in the presence of the Lord.
To hear his word. And it doesn't get any easier as we get older, does it?
There are many distractions. There are many things that come in, whether it's an e-mail or whether it's a phone call or whether it's activities. And we're we're getting called away quickly. That's why the children of Israel were to gather manna first thing in the morning before the sun waxed hot.
I just want to encourage us each one.
That the most important thing to refresh the heart of the Lord Jesus, to come into his presence, to be found at the assembly meetings, to be found where he is in the midst and the citizen feet in humility and to hear his word and to be exercised about what we hear and to enjoy what we hear because we're going to hear words from a man that never man spake like this man.
And so the Pharisees and those that came to question the Lord Jesus could speak in that way. How much more can we? And so this was really refreshing to the heart of the Lord. But you'll notice that she encountered this resistance. Lord, doth not, doth thou not care what my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bitter, therefore, that she helped me.
And so perhaps we live in such an active activity oriented.
Society and activity oriented even in our Christian activities, and sometimes we forget how necessary it is just to sit still in humility at the feet of the Lord Jesus individually in our own homes, in our own lives, and then at the assembly meetings to just come and to sit in his presence and to refresh his heart. The Lord's heart was refreshed and when there was resistance to it, Martha was.
Place she was a little bit of out of sorts and even perhaps you might say rebuked the Lord for allowing it to be so. The Lord had to rebuke Martha and say one thing is needful. It was absolutely necessary for his heart. It was necessary for her as well and she had chosen the good part.
So how wonderful it is, what a privilege it is for us just to sit in His presence. Well, we find a little bit later on I should back up. There are different passages we can turn to, but Mark's Gospel, chapter 14.
Let's read from verse 3.
After two or verse 3, Mark 14, verse three, and being in Bethany in the House of Simon the leper, as he sat at meet, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment, a spikenard very precious, and she break the box and poured it upon his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this?
Of the ointment made, for it might have been sold for more than 300 pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her, and Jesus said, Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. For you have the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good, but me you have not always. She have done what she could.
He has come beforehand to anoint my body.
To the burying.
Well, we know in another passage of Scripture it says the whole house was filled with the order of the ointment and Sparknard Spikenard's very costly apparently was an ointment or a.
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A spice that was very precious, very expensive, grows at high altitude in India and different places and very steep, dangerous places to go to get this.
Spikenard and this woman had a valuable.
Commodity. She had 300 pence worth. Apparently she had perhaps an A year's salaries worth of.
Spike Nard, she had a very valuable.
Precious ointment and perhaps had been saving it for some occasion that would be warrant the use of it.
And just in reading some of the commentary on this little passage I've enjoyed, this little comment that was made is this woman may have been the only one that was truly in communion with the Lord as to what he was just about to accomplish. She knew that the time was just about up and that the ferocity, the the hatred of the Pharisees and the scribes and the whole of the nation of Israel had risen to such a crescendo that the Lord Jesus was perhaps about to lose.
Life, and she was the only one that seemed to be in communion with his thoughts at this occasion. And she took this very precious ointment, and she anointed the head of the Lord Jesus. Another place she anoints his feet.
But, umm, it brought that animosity out. It brought the.
Contempt of even the disciples because they understood not. But you know the Lord's heart was refreshed in this.
Occasion the order of the ointment and the cost of what she had done, the price that she had paid, while it was nowhere near what the price would be paid by the Lord Jesus to redeem her. It is as if she said there's nothing more important in this world than for me to take the resources that I have, this spikenard and to anoint the feet of the Lord, to anoint the head of the Lord.
Nothing more important and we noticed that.
Some had indignation, they murmured, and they said that this should have been given to the poor. They murmured against her.
And so sometimes we think that these resources that we have that are delivered to us, that are given to us are to be used for all kinds of activities, all kinds of different occasions that. But when it comes to glorifying God in connection with the resources that we have, sometimes we're not as exercised as we should be. And so this woman.
Who had sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus? Who had heard his Word, and whose word?
Had refreshed her own soul, and whose soul apparently was in communion with the Lord.
Why she takes this spikenard she anointed the Lord and he had value it refreshed his heart and she he says in verse six let her alone. I've thought of this. You know the Lord Jesus defended Mary and your brethren may not value some of the things you do try to do for the Lord.
In the using the resources that you have to be a blessing to the Saints of God to be a support to the Christian testimony to the assembly where you are. But you know it's it's really is affects the heart of the Lord refreshes the heart of the Lord. If you use the resources that you have to refresh the Saints of God and to really bestow some glory, some honor upon some dignity upon the Lord Jesus. And so he defended her, he says.
Trouble ye her, she hath wrought a good work on me. So as I say, she may have been the only disciple that really was in communion with what was going on at this time. And she offered this spike nard anointed the Lord, and there was evident blessing. We know that in another Scripture. Well, verse nine, it says, verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world.
This also that she hath done shall be spoken of her for a memorial of her. Isn't that nice? You know you never do anything for the Lord that you'll forget about, that escapes his memory. But as He has purchased each one of us with his own precious blood, the price was paid to redeem you. It wasn't an afterthought, it was specifically.
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For you, it says, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.
So everyone of us individually that know the Lord Jesus as Savior, he delights to have us in his presence and he delights that when we desire to refresh him and refresh his heart. It's nice to come to the remembrance of the Lord and to wonder, you know, to to enjoy some little portion of Scripture, some line of things perhaps of the Spirit of God brings before our hearts. But you know how nice it is if we come into the presence of the Lord Jesus and in that burnt offering character of.
Remembrance of the Lord we express to the Father how much the Son means to us and it refreshes the heart of God. It refreshes the sun. Yes, we may receive refreshment ourselves. It says this do in remembrance of me. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do sure announce the Lord's death until he comes. It's wonderful to be able to do it and.
To refresh our own hearts. But it's wonderful to to be able to refresh and to.
Express ourselves in the presence of the Lord and to refresh His heart. So I just had all my heart just to speak of these two incidents in the connection with Mary the Bethany and how she refreshed the heart of the Lord Jesus and to encourage ourselves. Each one of us to seek, to encourage, to seek to refresh the heart of the Lord as we come into His presence. Not to be self-centered, but to offer Him something that would refresh his own heart.
Turn with me please to 2nd Kings Chapter 4.
Second Kings chapter 4.
And verse 8.
It fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunam.
Or was a great woman, and she constrained him to eat bread.
And it was sold. As often as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now I perceive that this is a 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 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.
It fell on a day that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber and lay there, he said to Gehezi his servant called the Shunamite.
And when he had called her, she stood before him.
And he said unto him, saying, I want to her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care.
What is to be done for thee?
Would a thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell in mine own among mine own people.
And he said, What then is to be done for her In Gehezi answered, Verily she hath no child, her husband is old. And he said, call her. When he had called her, she stood in the door.
And he said about this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace his son.
And she said, Nay, my Lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived and bare a son at that season.
And Alicia, that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank thee for the Lord Jesus. We thank thee for that which sell us brought before us already.
Now let us work things in our lives for Thy glory.
We thank thee for being able to look at these two dear ones too.
The one who found out that Dallas didn't need care Blessed God and to realize that as these two, we too can have the privilege of bringing refreshment to the.
We thank you for this, our God. And now as we have read this further portion in my precious word.
We haven't come here, our God, to hear the ramblings of a brother as he shares the meditation. But our God, our desire is to hear thy voice.
And we thank you, we've heard it already, this meeting, and we just would pray it would continue, so we'd ask for thy help, worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
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It's it's been impressive to me that.
This woman.
Says she's a great woman.
And the eighth verse that we read it, it says it. So it was that as often as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. Just the concept of every time that Elijah landed at this woman's door, she had bread for him. That's a that's a challenge to my own soul that those I come in contact with that I would have a portion for them, this woman.
It's as OFT as he turned in there every time he stopped by, she had bread for him. It's a real challenge to my own soul.
She's a great woman and she, as we've as we've read, and there's much instruction in that little chamber. There's much instruction in the the table, the bed, the stool, the Candlestick. It's not my thought this afternoon to take up those things or even to go through what transpired in this chapter, but to realize that.
One of these times.
Elisha said to hazelight this woman and she says to the woman, you've been careful for us with all this care.
What is to be done to you? Would you, would you be spoken up to the king, or would you be spoken up to the captain of the guard? She says. I don't need that. I'm content. I really don't need that.
I covered that.
My own soul.
While she gets a son.
We know what transpires. The sun passes away.
She goes, she knows where to go. She goes further on the passage that we didn't read. She goes to where life is.
And.
Verse 25 It says, She went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel. It came to pass. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said, Take his eye, The servant, behold, Yonder is the Shunamite. Run now I pray thee to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answers.
It as well.
Boy, I covered that in the very next chapter.
That same question is asked to to get his eye. Is it well? And he answers the same way, but it wasn't well. But here you think of the implications of what's on this woman's plate. And the question is asked, is it well? And she says it's well, it's well.
Well.
The time comes when Alesha is going to send her away, and he says in the 29th verse to gaze. I take my staff in thine hand and go thy way. If they'll meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not. Lay my staff on the face of the child. The woman of the child said, As the Lord liveth, as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
I thought of that and I thought.
This was really impressive to Elisha because he understood this faith. There was a time a few chapters back when Elisha and Elijah together and Elijah says to Elijah, you stay here because the Lord has sent me to Bethel.
And Elisha says I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to leave you. It happens the second time.
Elijah says to Elisha, you stay here.
The Lord has sent me to. Where is the second place?
Gilgal thank you Lord has sent me to Gilgal and and Elijah says the same thing. I'm not going to leave you and the third time he says it Elijah says to him, you stay right here because the Lord has sent me to Jordan and again Elisha says I'm not going to leave you. So when this woman.
When she says to Elisha when he's sending Ghee's eye off to take the staff to heal a child, all that's implied here and the exercise of heart that she's in with a dead child, she says to Elisha, I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to stay right with you.
You know, we know the end of the story.
Unless it goes and there's much instruction on, unless you're stretching himself and the child. It's not my thought to go into that, but there's tremendous blessing. Turn over now to Chapter 8.
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Chapter 8 in the first verse.
And then speak Elisha unto the woman.
Whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise and go, thou and thine household, and sojourn whithersoever thou canst sojourn. For the Lord hath called for a famine, and shall come upon the land seven years.
You know, I dare say.
Elisha was waiting to hear those words. I'm not going to leave you.
It's not there.
You know, brethren.
A time of famine had come.
Maybe there's someone here in this audience.
A famine has come into your life. A famine.
Famines are going to come. There's ten of them in the word. They are going to come in our lives. What is our reaction to going to be in a time of famine? And so here is a test. It's a time of famine. And Elisha, he says to the woman, go soldier and wherever.
The Lord has called for a famine.
And I dare say there was tears in his eyes as he watched her head off into the sunset.
And that's not fanciful. Verse 2 The woman arose, did after the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
The land of the Philistines. Are you kidding me?
That's what it says. The land of the Philistines. Seven years.
This can't end well. It can't.
Think of a time of famine in Abraham's life. Where did he go? He went to Egypt in a time of famine. Did it end well? No, it didn't end well.
An end well at all. Think of Hagar, think of Ishmael, Think of the Middle East right now.
Abraham's going to Egypt in a time of famine. Think of Elimelech. And if time and famine, where did he go? He went to Moab. Did it end well? No, it didn't. Is this going to end well?
No, it's not what we're talking about. A woman that at one time says I'm content, we're talking about a woman that that that has gone through tremendous trial in their life and is able to say in the midst of that trial.
Well, it's fine.
Here the test comes.
Time of famine, and here she goes off to the land of the Philistines.
You know, if it had been any other.
Any other of the enemies of the people of God we might understand that. Turn with me to First Chronicles.
First chronicles the 1St chapter. This. Just reading this in my personal reading.
Just last week, First Chronicles chapter one.
It's very, very interesting the way it's worded here.
In First Chronicles chapter one and verse 12.
If you go through this this chapter, there is.
Man after man that were the beginnings of the enemies of the people of God. One of them is the Philistines. And we have here in verse 12 Pathrusim and Kaslu him and noticed here it's like in big red letters. Of whom came the Philistines. Now if you go through the chapter in this chapter, we read about Midian, we read about Amalek, we read about Moab, we read about Edom. It doesn't say about them of whom came.
The Edomites, or of whom came?
The Amalekites or of whom came. It doesn't do that, but it does about the.
Those stories and now why? Why is it? Why is it so highlighted in this chapter where the Philistines came from? It's because the Philistines and what they speak of are a constant snare to the people of God. They were an enemy that was in the land, but they didn't go through the Jordan and they didn't they didn't go through the Red Sea and they didn't go through the Jordan.
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You remember, remember Pilgrim's Progress and as pilgrims walking along.
There's the two that came up over the wall. And Pilgrim said, I don't think this is what's supposed to happen. I think you're supposed to come in through the Wicked Gate. And they said, oh, no, no, it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. And Pilgrim said, well, you know, I got to scroll here. No, it's going to be fine. Well, it didn't end well for them.
It's like the Philistines.
They speak of religious flesh, you know.
Sampson tried to deal with the Philistines. What happened? He lost his eyesight. That's what the Philistines do. They take away our discernment.
Simpson's hair grew back but never got his eyesight back. Think of David as he goes against the Philistines. Time after time after time, he goes against the Philistines and they're back the next day.
He defeats them entirely and they're right back again.
You know.
The apostle raised at Timothy, and he says.
Flee youthful lusts.
I used to think when I was younger, you young folks here, I used to think that that meant that there was lust that pertained, particularly to those who were in their youth. That's not the thought at all.
Flea Youthful lusts. The thought there is the lusts are always youthful. They never get old, they never get tired. It's like the Philistines. You defeat them and they're back again. You defeat them and they're back again, time and time again. And that's where this woman goes.
To the Philistines, as I said, it can't end well.
So 7 years, it's hid from us. What happens?
In this chapter.
Verse two of first Kings eight. It came to pass the woman arose and did after the man of God. She went with her household and soldier in the land of the Philistines seven years.
It came to pass that the.
At the seven years end that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to cry unto the King for a house and for her land.
You know, we think what happened to the faith that didn't meet the king. It was offered to her. Would you be spoken up to the king? No, I don't need that. I'm content. Got Elisha. I've got the Lord. I don't need that. But what happens when the Philistines? They work their work? Where does she go when she's got a problem? Does she go straight to Elisha? No.
She goes straight to the king.
Exactly where she goes. And the king talked with Gehezi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.
It came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and for her land and gaze. I said, my Lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.
And when the king asked the woman, she told him so the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying.
Restore, although it was hers and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.
As I said, you know there was a time in her life when her son had died. She went straight to Elijah.
Now when she's got a problem, she goes straight to the king.
Now you know it's ironic.
Because.
The king appoints an officer to give her back all the fruits from the time she left until now. So we think it was a time of famine. I thought there was no fruit.
And that's the whole point. Is the Lord able to provide for us in a time of famine? Was the Lord able to provide for her? Yeah. There was a crop the first year when she was in the land of the Philistines, there was a crop in Shunam on her property. The second year there was a crop. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th. A crop every year.
She wasn't there to appreciate it.
She wasn't there to enjoy it.
You know, it's like that in my own life. So often when a time of famine comes, I want to take things into my own hands. And I think, you know, it's marvelous the way the Lord has provided up until now. But right now, this particular situation is just out of the Lord's control, and he's not able to provide in this particular time in my life, in this particular famine. And so I've got to deal with it. And to me, it's so ironic.
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That the king says you go back and restore her everything in the group, all these seven years when she could have enjoyed it. You know what the solemn part is?
We never read she got all her fruit back, but we never read this one ever. Getting Elisha back.
In fact, we never read a verb again.
A woman that showed such promise.
A woman that it says that Elijah could say, you've been careful for me with all this care. A woman who provided bread for Elisha every time he passed by. There was such fruit in this woman's life and in a time of famine.
We would say a moment of weakness. She goes off to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines work their deadly work. There's no discernment.
And she you know, if you look at the story of David and Goliath.
Goliath. He lived by sight and he disdained what he saw. David lived by faith and he looked way beyond it. Goliath.
The work of the Philistines is to see the believer lives by sight and not by faith. So when this woman comes back, they have done their deadly work. As I say, she gets all her fruit back, but she doesn't get Elisha back.
She doesn't, and we never read of her again.
Turn with me for one last verse to the Psalms, Psalm 33.
Psalm 33 and verse 18.
Behold.
The eye of the Lord.
Is upon them that fear him.
Upon them that hope and His mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive.
And famine.
Famines are going to come.
And come they will.
Oh, that we would not do what this woman did in a time of famine. We would realize that the Lord is well able to provide in a time of famine.
#276.