Address—B. Anstey
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With the passing of our brother Norman Clark, this last week has brought thoughts to my mind with regard to much of what he has given to us through the years that we sat under his ministry, and I like to just speak this afternoon of a passage that I can remember him bringing out to.
Much to the delight of the Saints and encouragement, and I think that it might be just encouraging for each one of us who have missed much of the ministry of his brother and perhaps have not really heard much, might have an opportunity this afternoon to feast on some of these things that he would regularly bring before us in meetings in Richmond or, as it was in those days, Vancouver.
His ministry wasn't particularly.
Strictly doctrinal.
Or strictly practical, with somewhat of a bridge between the two. And it was certainly filled with sweetness of the person that was the object of his life.
And when having said that, I just like to turn to this passage. There's so many passages we could turn to. I thought of this one particularly, and that's in the Kings, second Kings. There's a few little excerpts here from the life of the prophet Elisha, second Kings, chapter 3, verse 16. And he said, that's the prophet Elijah. Thus saith the Lord.
Make this valley full of ditches, where thus saith the Lord, ye shall not see wind.
Neither shall you see rain, yet the valley shall be filled with water, that you may drink both in your cattle and your beasts. Verse 20. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that behold, their king watered by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. And when the Moab bites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able.
And to put on armor and upward and stood in the border.
And they rose up, excuse me, early in the morning.
And the sun shone upon the water.
And the world might saw the water on the other side is red as blood. And they said this.
It's blood. The kings are surely slain. They have smitten one another. Now therefore mobbed to the spoil chapter 4 and verse one another cried a certain woman of the lives of the sons of the prophet unto Elijah, saying, thy servant, my husband is dead. And thou knowest that thy servant dead fear the Lord. And a creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be born. And Elijah said unto her, What shall I do for?
Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. And when he said, Go borrow of the vessels abroad of all the neighbors.
Even empty vessels borrow, borrow not a few, and then without come, and thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shall pour out into thine vessels all those vessels.
And thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and her sons, who brought the vessels under. And she poured out. And it came to pass that when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me in another 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. He said, Go and sell the oil, and pay the debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
Verse 8 And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunam, and there was a great woman, and she constrained and beat bread. And it was so that as OFT 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 passes by it continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall.
That is set for him there a bed and a table and stool, and a Candlestick, and it shall be.
Now when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither, and it fell on a day that he came thither and turned into the chamber and lay there. I've read three different incidents in the life of Prophet Elisha, and each of them there is an exercise. The exercise was to first of all make room for the water.
And then secondly, to make room for the oil, and then thirdly to make room for the profit.
Himself, these three things are types and we're to read and understand the Old Testament from this typical standpoint and what it teaches us. The water might speak to us of the refreshment of the word of God.
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We know from the New Testament there are many scriptures that tell us that by the washing of the water of the Word of God, Ephesians 5 for instance. And then we have as I said in that 4th chapter. Secondly, they making a room for the oil and the oil is a figure of the Spirit of God in Scripture and there are many scriptures that would bear this out. I trust each here as familiar with that symbol. But then thirdly, we have the making room for the sun, the.
The prophet Elisha and he in this passage is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. I realized that these passages can be taken in various ways, but for us this afternoon here, we'd like to look at Elisha as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. What then do we have before us? The need and the exercise to make room for the Word of God in our lives.
The exercise to make room for the Spirit of God in our lives.
And the exercise to make room for the Son of God, Christ himself. In this third chapter, we find that actually in all these chapters, the the ministry of the prophet Elijah is quite interesting. In fact, it is very much a ministry of grace. And that makes us think of the Lord Jesus, particularly as he is depicted in the Gospel of Luke. In fact, you'll find many correlations with the life of Elisha and Luke's gospel, One of them I just mentioned.
He said that there were no lepers. There were many lepers in the land of Israel, but none of them were healed.
In the days of Elijah, except for Naaman the Gentile who was a leper, its only found as I believe in Luke's gospel. But there are a number of different things that you can see correlate that gospel with the life of Elijah. In fact, the various things that Elijah was doing you'll find duplicated by our Lord Jesus even in a greater way in his ministry.
In that gospel loop, raising the dead, feeding, healing.
Helping and so wonderful to see this.
In the life of Elijah, more than that, you'll see too that the time in which Elisha was called the minister, things in Israel were in ruin. The Lord had said back in Deuteronomy that if they were to go on with Him in obedience, that there would be plenty of blessing.
They're the barns would burst forth, and their wine presses would burst forth with the abundance of food, and the heavens would give forth the rain, both the early and the latter rain, and so on.
But he also said that if you did not walk with him in obedience, that the disciplines of the Lord would be upon them, and the heavens would become brass, and there would be no rain, and there would be a lack of water for themselves and for their their cattle, and more than that, there would be poverty.
And there would be not an abundance of food to even be able to live. And furthermore, there would be, as an example with the great woman, there would be bearing us the fruit of our own bodies. That is the ability to have children. And we find that is what is represented here in these verses that we have had read to us. There was a problem.
There was no water. The next example was.
The woman there, she was in poverty, a condition that should never befall one of the Abraham's children walking with God. And then we find the Shunamite unable to bear which would might speak to herself bearing a fruit, fruit bearing. I would not want to say that this is a fault of these individuals altogether themselves, but the general condition of things in Israel at the time was that there was great departure.
It was in a day when.
Ahab had passed away, but his posterity was still around and.
It was much idolatry in the land it comes before.
It comes after rather the ministry of Elijah, when Ahab was reigning with his wicked wife Jezebel, who had brought in the Zidonian worship and idolatry. And it comes before, between the work and the raising up of Jihu, to break the power of Jezebel and to eliminate.
In Ahab's house.
And so it was a day when there was still much ruin and among the people of God. And then I should have called the minister at that time.
And what does he do but go about bringing blessing to every situation that he comes to? And each one was so variously different. And it's so wonderful to see him working. And I like to just look at that here for a minute. Now, the first one, you find that there was a need for water.
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These 3 kings had got together, if you know the story, they got themselves into an unequal yoke, a situation they ought not to have been in. But there they were and were thrown divided, and they had made this plan that they were going to make a big circuit and go into the wilderness. They were going to attack the mole bites from behind. That is helping the wilderness. They would never expect them to come from that angle, because remember that the wilderness was on that east side of Moore. Surely if the children of Israel were going to attack, they would come in from the West or the South. And so the Moabites were already.
And only to find out.
That they were going to come in from the east. It sounded like a great plan, but the Lord couldn't bless it because they were mixed with three kings. There was a godly king, Jehoshaphat. There was a man that was an ungodly professor in Durham who was the king of Israel at the time, and then a godless man and wasn't even the Lords at all, the king of Edom and the three linked together.
We're going to accomplish this, and all of their reasoning and all of their planning only got them into trouble.
And that should remind us that each time that we put, shall we say, the the destiny of our own situations in our lives, the hands of human reasoning, we're going to find that it's going to bring forth the same kind of barrenness. And here they were. They got open to the the desert and they found out they hadn't taken enough water and they were in trouble.
And so they call upon the man of God, and Elisha says.
You need to get down in the valley, which would be the low place. And they were to dig the ditches. They were to dig ditches. And the Lord was not going to send rain, but somehow there was going to be water that would fill those ditches, perhaps seep through the banks, I don't know. But the result would be that there would be a great collection of water in those ditches. And so the exercise first there is to make room for the water. And surely if we get in the path of our own devising and we're going to find the barrenness of it and we're going to need.
The refreshment of the word of God, if there's going to be restoration and the Lords blessing and it's going to come about through the same exercise that they went through and that is through digging, through digging they got water, through digging they dug and God provided water. Now if we take this as a symbol, a figure of the word of God, it would tell us that God is well able to provide.
For our souls in the word well able, but the exercise for us is are we willing to dig that we might get the water for our souls that we might be refreshed and sustained in our journey. This is something that required energy and took diligence. The water was not going to come if they were not going to dig. And so we, you and I as Christians, we cannot expect to have someone, oh we give us something from the word.
We're home, we have our Bible readings. Children may not be able to.
To extract from the word of God that which would meet their needs, because they're not able yet. We have Bible readings and we take these things and we try to bring out things that would be of practical use to them for their profit. But there comes a time as we grow in the Lord, as we should learn to be able to take that word and to dig into the word of God ourselves to get refreshment to sustain our own lives.
And if we do not, we are going to come into the same serious situation that they were in. They were going to they lacked water.
And now what we find is they get down, there's a humility and when they meet offering was offered. You find on that 20th verse that might speak to us of giving the Lord his rightful place about the Lord here into it.
If there came water.
Plenty of it, and it fills those ditches to overflowing. And they had plenty to drink for themselves. Now I want to mention something that I distinctly remember hearing a brother Clark mentioned.
And he says here in verse 22 and 23 that when the Moabites rose up in the morning, they looked out over the valley and the sun was just beginning to rise.
All of its power and it shone upon the water. And of course there was a reflection.
Upon the water, and as we know, when the sun comes up in the morning, it's red often, and lands when there is not clouds like we have, and often in the evenings. And you can imagine the glare that it must have came off the water. As they looked out over the valley, they saw what looked to them to be pools of blood. And they figured that the children of Israel had rose up and other kings had killed them and left blood everywhere. So they thought, well, the victory's been one for us. Let's run down there.
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And claim the spoil.
I remember him saying what looked like what was refreshment for the children of God.
Only looked like death to the man of the world.
I thought that was such an apropos remark here. These bull bites men that didn't know anything of the things of the grace of God that the children of Israel knew. They looked on that which was refreshment for the children of God, and they deserted to be death.
But it was a very lifeline for these ones, the children of Israel. And it's just the same, isn't it, when you try to?
Speak about the Word of God or talk about the things that.
May be a refreshment for us to someone you may work with or whatever. Well, they look at going to a Bible meeting or to a prayer meeting or something like this is death. Well, they're talking about the next ball game and they're all excited about who's going to win this thing and they're casting their vote or whatever at work and that this is what sustains them. And here you're talking about going to a Bible meeting while they look at that, which is for your refreshment, what you thirst after.
Oh, to be shut up in a room when they have that, when we can be having what we have, Isn't it true? The man of this world looks on. What is refreshment for the child of God has been nothing more than death. But you know, if we got a communion with the Lord and we haven't had our appetite, perhaps wet as it should be, that may be the same for us. There may be someone right here in this room here this afternoon is just waiting for.
4:30 So you can get out of here to find something that they think will sustain their souls in the way of what the world may have. I don't know. And perhaps they may look at this as rather boring death in that sense. But to the child of God, what is refreshment to us will only look at death, the man of this world. So we have that first great exercise of digging we must dig for.
Paul told Timothy that we are to study, to show himself a Workman that need not be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth. He told him to give himself holy to these things. There's many scriptures that would tell us to dig and we'll find great refreshment. I hope that's the desire for every one of us. And once we begin to taste of the refreshment that there is in the word, it will give us energy to dig more.
And as much as we dig, he will fill.
For the refreshment of his word, Mr. Hale used to say, and Mr. Clark was fond to quote him at different times. He used to say, I'm talking about the senior ham. We can have as much of Christ as we want in our lives, show how much we want. Let's look at the second exercise now. There was this woman. Her husband had died. There was death would come in, poverty had taken place. The creditor was coming.
What a situation, but there was yet a vessel partly full of oil, or at least there was some oil in the vessel, and it was that which she comes to Elisha with.
And almost.
Irremitable situation, how are these going to be sustained? And yet he finds that there is oil and that was enough. The oil is a figure of the Spirit of God. That's something every one of us have, no matter how poverty stricken we may feel that we are with regard to the things of God. We may look at ones who have much spiritual wealth and say I'm not like them, I don't have much. But you do have the pot of oil. You do have the Spirit of God. He's the one that can open up the things of God to you and make you a wealthy man or woman in a spiritual.
And so he says that's enough to have this pot of oil. He says your exercise should be to get vessels so that you can make room enough for the oil. And as many vessels that she brought, we find that the oil was poured out, and they're filled, those vessels with that oil. But notice that fourth verse particularly will not come in. Thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons.
And shall pour out into all the vessels.
Thou shalt set aside that which is full.
Here he gave her instructions as to what would make that oil to flow forth and this is what we want, of course, is to have the activity because the flowing forth of the oil is a is a figure of the activity of the Spirit of God, His power evidence in our lives for our health and for our benefit.
But he told her how this was going to be.
At least what was prerequisite for that oil, and that was to go after getting the vessels of providing room, and she was to shut the door upon herself and her sons. And when she did that, when she would pour out, their miracle would happen that the oil would run forth, and there would be plenty of oil that would fill all that she would provide room for. And that tells us something, doesn't it?
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It was, it was so very necessary for her to shut the door upon herself and her Son. And you know, this is one of the reasons why that the Spirit of God is probably not so evident in the life of Christians today. It's because we have been careless to leave the door open to fellowship with this world. And then we wonder why the Spirit of God doesn't take those things of Christ that the brethren tell us in the meetings and to make them precious to us. We open our Bibles or we try to have a time with the Lord. And it's not quite what the brothers are saying down there.
But did you close your door?
Have I got my door carelessly swinging open to the fellowship of this world? And not just upon herself, It was to be upon her sons too. And that takes in the responsibility of headship and home. Although the husband was passed away, it fell upon her nevertheless. Those were in the place of of headship and a home have to be very responsible that we shut through the door those things of the world that are going to come in.
My son asked me on the way here because we we were over Wenatchee and of course we took a motel room and we all know it's in a motel room. As soon as you walk in, there's this big window.
And I'm not talking about looking out over the parking lot, but there's window, but this control thing. And of course we say we'll have to look at that. And and when he wanted to know why, why wouldn't we want to look at that?
And I'm going to quote Mr. Clark again. I hope I can quote this right. But just when the TV was coming out from 1955 or something like this, the advertisements went around and the prairies there and they said.
Buy ATV and bring the world into your home. And he said he used to call his wife Gertie mummy and those of us who remember, and he would say, no Mommy, is that what we want? To bring the world into our home, you know?
I can still remember him saying that.
Well, he was careful to shut the door, wasn't he? And this is what you and I have to do if we're going to have the blessing that the Spirit of God would like to bring into our lives.
And so if the exercise of getting the refreshment of the water of the Word of God in the first instance was dependent upon their digging, now the blessing from the oil being poured out was going to depend upon.
They're shutting the door.
You know it says and James, the fellowship with this world is energy was gone. And so we need to be very carefully, each one of us. I lay my hand upon my own heart as I say these things. When she took that vessel and she poured out, the miracle began. She poured and she poured and she poured and as much as she could provide as far as vessels to contain, there was enough oil to fill it. Isn't that wonderful?
Every bit of room that you and I make.
For the Spirit of God in our lives, He will fill it and will fill it for our blessing. Isn't that wonderful? He will fill it for our blessing. All that she had got as a result of making that room for that Spirit refined the she meant reap the benefit of it because she was told to go and sell that and to pay the debt and then to live off the rest. And the great things the Spirit of God gives to us enables us to live spiritually.
It in a certain sense you know what I'm trying to say now we acquire spiritual truths and things that we can enjoy for the enjoyment of our souls as we read the word of God and we in the presence of the Lord take these things in. But you know you're something you acquire you acquire for life and as we were saying to some of the young people in Kirkland we could go or so that the scribe in the 13th of Matthew. He was to the householder there was to be like a scribe that.
The scribe was to be like a household I guess is the way it goes.
He was to bring things forth out of his treasury, things new and old. And we mentioned that there may be things that we have with with regard to the Kingdom of heaven that are old and things that are new. And the comment was made that we cannot bring forth things out of our treasury, something every one of us should have, a treasury where we put these divine precious things that we enjoy. We'll never be able to take anything out of our treasure if we haven't spent time putting it in.
Time alone with the Lord. Now I realized that the actual application of that verse things old and new is more to do with those things that are old that were said in the Old Testament and that pertained to the Kingdom of heaven, which would be the things that were given in Daniels prophecy. And the things that were new were the new things that Christ was giving and pertained to the Kingdom of heaven, which were the mysteries. I realized that but I'm just saying this in a practical sense that we too have a treasury and we want to put in those things that are.
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That we can collect for our own benefit and blessing for the help of others, and that is going to require.
The diligence of putting in, we cannot take out if we do not put in and so we can live of the rest and what a heritage we can collect over the years. Bill Johnson asked Mr. Clark, where did you learn these things? Where did you ever get them? He said, well, I'm not much of A reader, although we had quite a few books and every time we asked and he said, oh, I gave that book to so. And so he's got the book and we go over and sure enough he have it. So he had read a few, quite a few, but.
Self effacing brother as he was he.
Said, well, it's not. Income doesn't come by intelligence because he had only something like grade 5 education. You know, back around the turn of the century, they didn't go in for a lot of education. And he said the things that he had learned and taken in from the word of God he had got from Sam Denzin. I don't know who Sam Denson is, but he was a man that lived before him probably in the 1800s or whatever. And he said that Sam Denzin only had grade 2 education.
And so that was quite interesting that this man, Grade 2 education, had all this wonderful, precious things and truth.
Of another story here and I'll just make a digression here and I had no intention of saying this, but as I see Dave Whitaker back there I remember telling him this story a few years ago. There was this brother that came and his wife to the meetings. Actually, they had come to a Wayne Coleman's house where we're having Bible readings and he was really enjoying the things that Wayne and myself were bringing out and he was obviously wanted to get to the source of this and so he started asking what college were you trained at What?
Did you then come out of and we said well we got any samurai. We just go down to this old meeting hall down there in the center of Vancouver or we learn these things Well as a matter of fact, neither of us even have a high school diploma and in fact we were not in any way and I don't hear this afternoon evening encourage that necessarily. The Lord may call you to do other things is true, but.
For the young that are here, stay in school. I'm not even suggesting that you should leave.
And that's the Lord, of course, calls you to it. But anyway, we told him that that no, we didn't even, we didn't been to any seminary like that. We've been listening to these old men down at this hole. Well, of course, the next thing is he wanted to go down and see what this was all about. So he he went there and.
And he, of course, could realize that Mister Clark was a leading teacher there and bringing out these things. He came for two or three meetings and finally said, I want to talk to him. And so we went up there. And so Norman got talking to him about.
These things, and of course the man couldn't believe that these things could come from men. It didn't even go to any college, much less to come from this man whom we had told him he only had grade 5 education. So after talking to him, Norman told him that he had learned to lament much of the truth and this man had grade 2 education and that set this man off. He was met and normally didn't know a thing about it because he was just, you know, his self effacing way. And all these are not my own. I just think that have been passed to me by my older brother.
I'm making this point. Why am I making this point Well.
I think I'm trying to bring this notice because it's what the Spirit of God teaches, what the Spirit of God gives, not the schools of men.
Education is not something necessarily that is going to give you the truth of God here. She poured the world out and it was enough for her to live off of more her and herself and her sons and thereafter. How wonderful. Not belittling studies. I'm just saying that it does not take some super brain to take in and learn the truth of God. Sometimes we hear people saying I'm not able to take the word of God. It's so hard, it's difficult. Meanwhile, they're taking calculus in school and all these other things. I can't even.
Speak about.
And yet they can't understand some of the simple moral teachings of the Word of God. And I suggest it's got something to do with the doorway, but I can't always be. It may be the digging that is there isn't the diligence to want to. But whatever the case may be here this afternoon, we need to have what is connected with each of these three exercises. And now let's look at the third. There was this great woman, the Shunammite, and she spotted Elijah. He was coming by the way, and she discerned by the way in which he walked. I.
This is a holy man of God that passes by us continuingly. There was something in the way in which this man walked that gave her to realize this is an ordinary man. And I like to think of that with regard to the Lord Jesus. You open the Bible and you're looking at that blessed person. You should be able to see immediately This is no ordinary man.
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And she discerned, and as I said, I want to look at the election now as a type of Christ, she just turned that he would be a blessing and she wanted fellowship with him. And so she constrained him to come in and eat bread. The idea of eating in Scripture always brings up the thought of fellowship into communion. And so she took.
Advantage of the opportunity when he went walking by to call him in and to have fellowship with him.
He never asked her to go in, but he always turned in when she invited him. And it's just the same with the Lord Jesus. You know, he stands outside our lives, so to speak, and he passes by and there's an opportunity every day for us to invite him in, that we can have fellowship with him. He never invites himself.
He doesn't push himself on it, but he never turns away. One invitation for a child of God to invite him in, that we might have fellowship with him. And this is what she did. And he would turn in as often as he passed by. But something happened. Her appetite for fellowship with this man of God grew. She wanted more than just an occasional visit. What she wanted was to have his abiding presence with her. And so she suggests.
Husband, let's make a little chamber that we can have him more prolonged stays and this is too should be something that every child of God should desire to have the fellowship of the Son of God, not just some fleeting little glimpse of communion with him, but to have no the abiding presence of his of his fellowship. Now we were singing at him. What was the number what we were singing that it hadn't been in there.
76 Thank you 276.
May we in thy love of thy, and to know in full communion the sweetness, all the sweetness of thy love. How wonderful. Well, she suggests that a little chamber be made. And I can remember Mr. Clark bringing this out so beautifully. He said, what is the little chamber? Stick to herself, he said, I'll tell you what it is. It's our heart.
It's our heart because you and I, if we're going to have the fellowship of the Son of God.
Where two are going to have to make a little place in our hearts, a little chamber for him to come, a place that's just for him, that he can dwell. And isn't this what the apostle told, or at least encouraged and wrote to the Ephesians, and he prayed that Christ may dwell in your heart?
That ye may be rooted and grounded in love, that you may be able to all the Saints to comprehend the length and the depth of the bed and to know the love of Christ. Yes, this is what God wants for us is that we would make him that chamber. Make him a little chamber place where he can't abide, and we can enjoy the fellowship of sweet communion with him. Now it says make a place on the wall. That's not translated right. Apparently it should be.
Make a chamber, a little chamber with walls, Yes. She suggested to her husband that he would need to have walls on this chamber if it was going to be suitable for this man of God. And what do walls speak to us of in the Bible? Well, the walls in Scripture always speak to ourselves. Separation, doesn't it? Separation. And she knew, and we ought to know that if our hearts have not got the walls of separation.
A fellowship with this world that they have not been erected, it won't be a suitable place for fellowship for him to come. No, we have to be careful that there is with that chamber that we should be building in our hearts for him.
There would be walls. We need to be careful. And that reminds us of another hymn. Take thou our hearts and let them be forever closed to all but thee. 294 And that's what the Lord needs if it's going to be a suitable dwelling place for him. And then in verse 10, a little further in that verse, it says, and let us sit there for him. A bad, a bad. Why, what's a bad? Speak to us of place of rest?
Oh, isn't that wonderful, that we can provide something for the Son of God in our hearts, something that would give him rest and delight?
Isn't this something that there should be a desire in our hearts may have rest.
And then the table table.
What would a table speak to itself in Scripture? It's always a symbol of fellowship. He has to have sweet fellowship with him, and surely there is much that we need to have fellowship with him to learn, which is the next thing. A stool. The stool would speak to us of sitting at his feet.
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That's the place of the learner, that we might hear His Word, and surely He is much to communicate to us. And so let's make sure that there is that stool there, that posture of taking that place at His feet where He can give us the word of God. And that reminds me of Mary. Think of Mary there in the 10th of Luke.
She says that good part shall not be taken away from her. She had taken time out from the busy schedule of the work that around the house to sit at Jesus feet and hear his word. And this is what we need to do too, to have that that stool for for him to teach us. And we need to always be open to instruction from that blessed man.
That should fill our hearts. Some Christians don't think it's necessary to be taught.
They don't think the doctrine or the teachings of Scripture all that necessarily important. And someone once said, what does it really matter what we hold as long as we all love each other and get along? Oh, that's not at all accurate. We should love and get along, but what we hold is very important. What we and we need to have divine understanding and insight into the heart and mind of God. And this is going to come through learning at the feet of Jesus and then a Candlestick.
She thought that of that, too. What is the Candlestick? Speak to herself. To shine for him. If we're going to dwell, have him dwell in our hearts and to enjoy His company. Hear His word. There's going to, and there will be a shining forth for him, a testimony rendered for him. And so it fell on a day that he came through there, and chamber was provided for him. What do you think he did?
That's not big enough for me. I don't want that. I don't.
I'm not staying here. No. It says he came and he turned in and he lay there. He appreciated it. And you know, I just think of this. If you and I have the exercise to make him a little chamber, he will never turn it down and he will never.
Be a little but little space that our hearts may provide. He appreciated it and He came in and He lay there. What was her, her, her, her difficulty. I touched on it already at the beginning. The fruit of her body. She had no children. This period of Him. Deuteronomy 28. I think it is connected with the low state of God's people that He should be one of the ways in which He would touch.
People. And so he says to gaze, I call the Shunamite, and we see what we can do for a blessing for her. And you know, that's just what the Lord wants to do in a practical way in our lives. We let him in. We give him that chamber, so to speak, that place where He can dwell in our hearts and affection. And He is ready and willing to touch our lives in blessing.
He was ready and willing to dispense a blessing to this woman.
And so he asked you elected, he spoken to the king of the captain of the host. You want some fame and she said I dwell among my people. She had not that desire at all. She wanted his company and anybody who's touched the company of and the presence of the Lord Jesus fellowship with him is not going to want the fellowship for this world, its honors and glory. No. So he went and asked his eye what should be done for her and gaze. I said she has no child. Well, we know the story. What happened was that he said she will have.
Child. And in a certain season the following year, according to time of life, we find that she bears fruit of her body. And as a child, it wasn't without difficulty and wasn't without a problem. But what we find here in this passage is that she's now bearing fruit. And that would speak to us of the fruit bearing that each one of us as believers will do.
When there is that place made for Christ.
In our hearts and in our lives.
Now let's look back at these three things here very quickly. The exercise in the first instance was to dig that we might get the water of the Word. The exercise in the second instance was that we might shut the door to the fellowship of this world, that the Spirit of God may flow forth and blessing. And now the exercise of this third instance was that we might make him a place for him to dwell and notice. We might make him. I want to emphasize this.
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That is just something that we have to do. There may be there may have been rubbish in that part of the house, there may have been things that need to be cleared out. If it was going to be made, it was going to be something that had to be done, that they had to do.
Now we're going to make time for Christ and fellowship with Him. It's going to begin with ourselves.
And we need to renovate our lives, shall I say, if there's too much in it in the way of recreation and whatever else there may be, we need to have a moral renovation of our lives and to make that place for him. Then there will be the result of the bearing of fruit. It's not so sorrow in this woman's life. It's not without trouble. The pathway is never presented in in the path of following the Lord and faith.
One that it was easy. We find that the child is born.
We find that when he was grown that what happens is he goes out to his father and the reapers in the middle of the day and I guess he got sunstroke. He says my head, my head. Father says carry him to the mother. Doesn't seem like he had much interest in the the family as the mother certainly did. They carried him to the mother and he died. The child died. What a sorrow. The man of God had brought a blessing into her life and now a sorrow here comes in.
Perhaps it was sunstroke, we don't know.
But whatever the case is, you find here what she did.
She had, when he had taken them in, you brought him to his mother. Verse 20. And she sat on her, and he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. This was because the child was grown.
This tells us that one.
Child may get to an age where he's grown.
That we cannot always put all of the blinders in the restraints that a Christian home may have for a small child and children grow they get to in the age of teens there is there's nothing.
Left for us to do when they get full grown, but to do with what we have in that 20th verse.
And that is to hold your son on your knees. That speaks with a prayer, doesn't it? And that's what she did. The child dies, she goes to Elijah. We find it lengthen the chapter. I had no intention of taking up the latter part of the chapter. That he brings a blessing and recovers the child from the situation that he had gone himself into. That is the condition of death and blessing again is brought into the home. What a passage of scripture we have 3.
Exercises. I hope that's something that each one of us I've got an exercise for this afternoon.