Elijah Prays to Die

Elijah's Retreat and Despair After Carmel

0:04 In the previous chapter, we had the very graphic record of how God vindicated His name and the truth of His being before the entire nation to bring it to its face before Him.

0:19 And after this great national vindication of the character and reality of Jehovah as the true and living God,

0:30 the focus of the entire narrative in this section moves away from the multitudes and once again falls upon the prophet himself. Prior to this experience on Mount Carmel, the focus was upon the prophet, and we saw how God was preparing him for this, His most glorious hour of ministry, there upon Mount Carmel. Now that that hour is past, we find the focus once again upon the servant of God, Elijah. I shall read this evening as I did last.

1:05 I shall read last week the first eight verses of the nineteenth chapter to impress again the very facts of Scripture upon our minds. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

1:23 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them, by tomorrow, about this time.

1:39 And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life, and came to bear Sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. I use the term broom tree, and someone asked me what a prune tree was. I apparently did not say distinctly enough, broom.

2:07 Tree. B-R-O-O-M. A tree very common to that area of the desert that had large blossoms, which was one of the few places that a person could find shade in this particular area. So it was a broom tree.

2:26 And the prophet under that broom tree requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough now, O Lord. Take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay down and slept under a broom tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals, and a cruise of water at his head.

3:00 And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again, the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. Let us pause again for a moment of prayer to ask the Lord's help as we seek to understand this portion of his word.

3:38 Father, our hearts are full of praise for so many things. Tonight, and certainly not the least of those things, is the gift of the word of God in our own language, and the privilege of assembling together to be instructed in its precepts.

3:57 But we would acknowledge very consciously our present need of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. For we know that he alone can open to us this word that he inspired. May he be to us the spirit of illumination in this hour, applying that word with power to our own individual hearts.

4:23 Lord, we ask this as one of those blessings purchased by the blood of the new covenant.

4:30 And so we ask in the confidence that you will not deny our plea. Amen.

4:40 Last week, as we looked at this portion of the narrative, we considered the facts as they stand before us, giving us in the first place the report of Ahab that he brings to Jezebel. Secondly, the reaction of Jezebel to that report. She binds herself with an oath by her false gods that she's going to take the life of the prophet. And then the retreat of the prophet upon hearing that report.

5:07 He runs, goes to the southernmost part of the kingdom of Judah, 90 to 95 miles away, leaves his servant and goes another day's journey, probably about 20 miles further into the wilderness, slumps down beneath one of these broom trees and says, Oh God, take me out of this mess. He wants to think out, to use contemporary jargon. Well, in our study last week, we tried to ascertain what it was that brought the prophet to this terrible state where he just wants God to take him off the scene. And I suggested there were at least four things clearly hinted at or expressly taught in Scripture. There was the physical drain of the concentrated ministry of the past days. There was the problem of loneliness, the problem of blurred spiritual perspective, and the terrible jarring effects of disappointed hopes and expectations. And you let a spiritually sensitive man be drained physically when he's poured out in the ministry.

6:20 Be lonely and have no human compassion. You let him be a companion with which to share his heart. You let him get his vision blurred in which he no longer sees him who is invisible, but sees the painted witch who sits within the gate of Jezreel.

6:38 You let him have a few good hard knocks of disappointed hopes and you'll have a broom tree with a prophet of God beneath it.

The Substance of Elijah's Prayer to Die

6:50 And so this is essentially why the servant of God was brought to that condition. Now, as he was brought to it, and this is where we pick up the thread of our study tonight, will you notice very carefully the prayer that he prays and then we will begin to discover something of how God dealt with his servant in that circumstance. Those will be the two areas that we'll focus upon in our study tonight. The prayer of Elijah.

7:18 We didn't look at it in any detail last week. We want to do so tonight.

7:24 Verse 4. He himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came to the Lord. He came to the Lord. He came to the Lord.

7:28 He came to the Lord. He came to the Lord. He came to the Lord. He came and sat down under a broom tree and requested for himself that he might die.

7:34 It is obviously a prayer. He makes a specific petition. He requested for himself that he might die. And these were the very words he used, directed to the Lord himself.

7:47 It is enough now, O Lord. Take away my life for I am not better than my father's. Now, what was the substance of the prayer that he prayed? Of Elijah.

7:59 What is he saying when he says, God, it's enough. Take away my life. I am no better than my father's. I would like to read from Krumacher's old standard work on the life of Elijah because I think he captures the spirit of the prayer of the prophet as embodied in these words.

8:19 And as I tried to think of how I might condense this and put it in my own words, I felt I'd spoil it. It'd be like me trying to reinterpret a Rembrandt painting for you. It's better to hold it up and let you see it. And I will do that at this time.

8:32 Here's the prayer of the prophet. This is the mood. This is the climate. This is the atmosphere of that prayer.

8:43 It is enough, O Lord. Why should I remain longer in this land of travail? My existence is useless. If my labors in Israel in the midst of so many signs and wonders have missed their aim, where shall they be of any service?

9:01 If the miracles won't turn the hearts of privileged Israelites, where would they do any good? It is enough. Why should I remain here any longer to witness the decline of thy kingdom? Therefore, take now, O Lord, my poor and troubled soul from me, for I'm not better than my fathers.

9:19 Certainly, I hope to see what many kings and prophets have desired to see, but I too have been disappointed. But who am I that I should venture to desire such great things at thy hand? And who am I that with presumptuous hope could promise myself a preference for which saints whose shoes I am not worthy to bear have long been vain? It is enough, Lord.

9:43 Take away my life. Thus spoke Elijah, distressingly excited in mind. It was from a strange mixture of feelings that his prayer arose. His soul was not in a state of harmony, and yet in the midst of the discord the sweetest tones arose, which could be breathed from the human soul.

10:02 His prayer was not like the peaceful and cheerful language of Simeon. Remember the man who held Christ as an infant in the temple and prayed, Now lettest thy servant depart in peace. It wasn't that prayer. Nor like that clear, considerate, and calm expression of Paul, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.

10:24 But yet it was not the same as that of Jeremiah, who said, Curse be the day in which I was born. Nor was it like the prayer of Job, who said, Let that day perish. Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Elijah's state of mind was more subdued and gentle, and therefore not so wretched as theirs.

10:45 The discordant groans of vexation at fruitless labor and disappointed hopes certainly sound too audible through his sighs. But at the same time his words breathe an affectionate sorrow for the poor people and a holy grief at the apparent decline of the kingdom of God. It must be confessed that there is something in his prayer that looks like a complaint against the Lord himself. But we perceive at the same time that tears of regret are already pouring out to quench it in his heart.

11:17 And at the very moment when the complaint escapes him, he feels the sinfulness of it, and on this very account is filled with grief. It cannot be denied that in the expression it is enough, we behold the anguish of a soul which, disappointed in its fairest expectations, seems to despair of God and of the world and is impatient and weary of the cross. And then Krumacher goes on to enlarge. Do you feel something of his prayer?

11:46 He has enough of spiritual bearing about him that he is addressing his prayer to the right person. He is praying to Jehovah. He is not just sitting under a tree and commiserating, just grumbling. He is addressing a conscious petition to the Lord.

11:59 He has got enough spiritual bearings about him that he knows God alone has the right to give and take life. No suggestion here of self-destruction. There is much that is admirable in his prayer. But at the same time as Mr. Krumacher brings out, there is much that is a revelation of fleshiness and of self and even of sin. That is the substance of his prayer. After he utters it, what is the sequence to his prayer? Notice.

Lessons from Elijah's Unanswered Prayer

12:26 After he prays this,

12:29 it says, He loves He loves He loves He loves He loves He loves He loves lay and slept under a juniper tree or under the broom tree.

12:39 The suggestion seems to be that possibly he hoped as he slept the Lord would just take him home.

12:46 At this point, sleep was not only a welcome rest for his body, but was in reality what it often is for us, a retreat from the world of reality with which we are very discontent. Sleep many times becomes to the Christian what drink is to the non-Christian. A retreat from the world of reality. I don't want to go on in this circle of circumstances.

13:15 Lord, take me out of it. And having enough spiritual senses, did Elijah that we would not make attempts to answer that prayer ourselves. The next closest thing is that land of Nobd where we are severed from that real world that is bringing all the pressure to bear upon us. Now, what lessons should we learn from this prayer of the prophet of God?

13:43 Well, it's interesting that it's the only prayer recorded in scripture that he prayed that God didn't pray, that God didn't answer.

13:51 We read in James that Elias was a man of like passions and he prayed that it might not rain. It rained not. And he prayed again that it might rain and it rained. We read the record here as we have in past weeks of how when he prayed that God would restore the life of that child, God did restore its life.

14:09 As far as I know, it's the only prayer recorded of the prophet that God didn't answer.

14:18 And if ever anyone lifted up hallelujahs for unanswered prayer, this prophet did.

14:26 And so the lesson I believe God would teach us from this prayer and the fact that it was unanswered is to learn the blessing of unanswered prayer. We often say, now let's share any answers to prayer we've given. I think one of these days I'm going to ask, let's share the blessing of some prayers God didn't answer.

14:47 Elijah would be the first one to come straight and forward and say, I've got one. You see, God didn't answer that prayer. Why? Because he still had work to do and God had a better way to take him home.

15:00 Only two people went home to glory the way he did. Enoch, he was not, for God took him and Elijah.

15:08 What a terrible thing to have just sort of slipped out this way. And somebody come and find the prophet head slumped on his chest and touch him and find him cold. And say, well, there he is. Ran from that old wicked queen.

15:22 Found a lonely place in the wilderness and died of starvation. What an inglorious ending when the very mention of the name Elijah brings before us the picture of fiery chariots and the prophet ascending in a blaze of glory right into the presence of his God.

15:39 You see, God had something better for the prophet in life and in death. So he didn't answer his prayer. For this prayer was more prompted by what one author has called the burst of carnal passion than the fire of sacred love. And how often our prayers are prompted not by the fire of sacred love and by the light of sacred truth but by animal fleshy selfish passion.

16:12 In a fit of passion or petulance we complain something to the Lord and we send up a request which in our more sane and composed spiritual moments we have to say thank you Lord that you didn't answer that prayer.

16:32 You just sit there tonight and think of the prayers that you've uttered in haste. Aren't you glad God didn't answer them?

Beware of Supposed Areas of Strength

16:40 The prophet was, I'm sure. Second lesson we see in this prayer and how God dealt with it is that we should beware of our areas of strength. We should thank God for the blessing of unanswered prayer and we should beware of our supposed areas of strength. When you think of the prophet Elijah up to this point the only kind of words that describe him are these words a man of courage moral and spiritual strength and fortitude boldness fearlessness isn't that the whole picture you've gained of this man from the time we first get introduced to him when he comes out of nowhere plants his size 11's in front of the king and says as the Lord God liveth no rain but according to my word turns on his heel and walks out and leaves the whole court in a daze strength fortitude fearlessness unbending tempered steel now if ever Elijah's going to fall you'd say certainly wouldn't be in that area and yet that's the precise area that God focuses upon to record and illustrate that he was a man of like passions and this is a principle illustrated elsewhere in holy scripture for you're all familiar with the fact that the scripture records that Abraham the father of those who believe is the one whose faith

18:09 failed him when he went down into Egypt we're all aware that Moses was called the meekest man of the earth and yet he was forbidden to go into the promised land because of brashness you bunch of scallywags you want me to bring water out of the rock boom God says alright no promised land for you meek man who bore some of the worst indignities from that crowd of people and bore it graciously one time says Lord blot me out before you ever bring judgment on them meek selfless and yet the area of his strength was the area of his weakness think of Peter we can go right through the scripture the story is told that there on the hill it is the entrance to Edinburgh Scotland there's a castle and only once in the whole history of that city was it ever captured by an invading army and it was captured because there was one slope leading up to that castle that overlooks the city that the defenders were so confident no one could ever climb that they left it unguarded they guarded all quote the weak parts all the parts that they thought were susceptible to invasion and by leaving unguarded their strongest place of approach they fell before the invaders who were who would have ever thought

19:36 that scripture would record this bold fearless man who did not flinch before a king his entire court an entire nation and all the false prophets who now shakes like an aspen leaf before a painted witch but that's the picture that scripture gives us and so I say with all seriousness tonight let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall particularly in the areas that you think are your strength strong areas for what this passage reveals is that in a child of God his strongest graces are the fruit of grace and if grace is withheld he'll be nothing but a mass of weakness in the area of his greatest strength you see we're tempted to look at Elijah and say he was bold and fearless because that's what his temperament was and God as it were says alright I'll show you how wrong that is I'll just withhold the support of my grace in that area and you look at him he becomes a jellyfish kind of a man full of fear and cowardice now what are your strong areas the areas that you say well somebody else could fall there but not me oh I know I might fall here but not there ah my friend let him that thinketh

21:06 he standeth take heed lest he fall how we need to accept the exhortation of that hymn take every virtue every grace and fortify the whole leave no unguarded place no weakness of the soul take every virtue every grace and fortify the whole so God has given us the record of this prayer and some of its lessons the blessing of unanswered prayer secondly beware of your strong points and may I mention just one other thing the prayer beware of contributing to ever leading a servant of God to pray that prayer remember now what brought him there well ultimately it was sin yes but what contributed remember those factors physical weariness loneliness disappointed hopes and expectations and blurred spiritual perspective and many a servant of God many a Christian parent many a laborer in the vineyard of God whatever the sphere of labor has been as it were helped to take his place under a broom tree by the sins of omission in the people of God

22:33 if you pray fervently that God will keep his servants humble and you ought to don't feel that a sincere word of testimony of what their ministry has meant in your life and what it is doing in their lives will cancel out your prayer and make them fall before the sin of pride I don't speak as someone who is licking his wounds and is hurt I can say that honestly before the Lord you'd be surprised how many weeks can go by literally that the only encouragement I receive tangible is what I may get in letters from preachers and people in other places who've been helped by my ministry and I say I don't say that as someone who's saying now here's my bucket throw accolades into it I'm just saying that to illustrate I'm confident of the love and the affection of most of you people so I dare to say that I wouldn't say that if I wasn't confident of your affection but I'm saying that to point out a principle some people are not strong enough to take that I believe I'm able to read the expressions of God's work in your lives in other ways some men can't I spent a good bit of my time this past week in talking with a young man trying

24:02 to keep him from going under a broom tree he was about three yards away from one and one of the reasons for it was this very point that there has been little or no expression of gratitude to God for his ministry and as a young preacher establishing many of the patterns of his life he's seeking to be a diligent student seeking to be a tender under shepherd and for the most part he wonders if anything is coming on it oh you say that men of God ought to be strong enough to serve the Lord without it right so should Elijah have been but he wasn't and if Elijah can fall into this state so can many of his lesser servants this applies Christian children or children of Christian parents as you begin to appreciate the things they do for you those words of appreciation won't hurt when you see a lonely servant of Christ draw near to him even if you're not invited draw near loneliness can lead to juniper trees and you see someone beginning to lose perspective and groan and complain about the fact that nothing seems to be going and moving you try to help get their eyes up where they ought to be and clear away some of the cobwebs well I don't want to labor that point I want to move on

Elijah's Sins and God's Gentle Dealing

25:34 but an answer did not come how did the Lord deal with his servant now the first question I want to ask as we begin to consider this was Elijah guilty of sin here he is under his tree praying that he might die that there is physical weariness and weakness and spiritual fatigue everyone would agree is there any evidence of actual sin I believe there is I believe the prophet is obviously at this point guilty of the sin of disobedience as we saw last week at every other point of a geographical move scripture is careful to record the word of the Lord came to him saying go here go there no evidence of that here it says when he saw that that is the threat from the wicked woman Jezebel he flees possibly fleeing a post of duty he had stayed there who knows what might have happened I believe there is evidence of disobedience there is obvious evidence of unbelief because he can't see what God is doing he concludes God is not doing anything later on God assured him he was he said I reserved me 7,000 I haven't been silent may look like I haven't been at work but I've been at work guilty of unbelief walking by sight

26:57 as we'll see later on I even I only am left there's obvious discontent with his present state that's why he says Lord take me out of it rather than having the attitude that when God knows that I'm ready to go and my work is done he'll take me so I think there's clear evidence that he was guilty of some of these subtle sins of the spirit that Paul calls in 2 Corinthians 7 1 let us cleanse ourselves of all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit and the sins of the spirit are much more subtle and much more difficult to grapple with than the sins of the flesh and here are those sins of the spirit so here you have a servant of God in a state of sin disobedience of unbelief of wounded pride and discontent now how did God deal with may I say that God's dealings with him can come under the canopy of several statements of scripture that I want to read they just flashed into my mind as I was preparing for the ministry tonight will you look at two verses in the psalms and we're going to see these verses illustrated very clearly in the life of the prophet the first one is in psalm 18 and verse 35 David is thanking God for

28:26 the victories that he has wrought for him and through him as a military conqueror on behalf of Israel he says in verse 35 of psalm 18 thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand hath holden me up and thy gentleness the marginal reading in many of your bibles thy condescension thy stooping low to succor thy gentleness hath made me great now isn't that a strange phrase thy gentleness has made me great we'd expect there thy power has made me great or thy wisdom has made me great but instead we read thy gentleness hath made me great now turn over to psalm 37 psalm 37 verses 23 and 24 the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord and he delighteth in his way though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord uphold him with his hand you see the picture is that even when the good man falls he never falls out of the hand of God he's being upheld even when he falls

29:53 and how beautifully that's illustrated in what we're and then a verse in the Proverbs Proverbs 24 and verse 16 for a just man falleth seven times and rise it up again but the wicked shall fall into mischief you see the difference between the fall of a righteous man and the wicked when the wicked falls he's ensnared by his evil and overcome and judged in it but though the just man falls seven times he rises up again now let's see how God's gentleness made the prophet great as we come through our study I trust we'll be convinced that what the Lord did in summary was to meet every need that the prophet had physically emotionally and spiritually but now how did he begin the process let me suggest you that the first thing God did in dealing with his dejected sinning servant was to assure him of his love and his concern for him that's the first thing he did why you say wait a minute when you sin

God's Assurance of Love and Meeting Physical Needs

31:22 against the Lord and you're guilty of unbelief and fleshy dejection and disobedience the first thing God does is rebuke you and spank you and what he did here the first thing he did was assure the prophet of his love and his concern and how did he do it by this peculiar visit of this peculiar angel God who sent ravens to feed the prophet by a brook could have sent some creature to bring food to his servant couldn't he the God who had a widow woman who was about to die of starvation become the instrument of providing the prophet with food for a couple of years could have sent a wayfarer with some provisions but he didn't do this God did not use as it were some means that the prophet might in his dejection misinterpret and say oh it's just coincidence somebody just happened to be coming by or maybe somebody dropped his lunch going through here a couple of days before you see God begins to undertake to meet his need in such a way that the prophet can come to only one conclusion out here in this wilderness a day's journey from my servant almost a hundred miles from the last place of triumph and every step behind me be

32:52 speaking my defeat and dejection and unbelief and disobedience he wakes up and he sees an angel and he knows enough about the ways of God to know that angels aren't free agents that angels are the servants of God who stand at his throne and wait his bidding and fly to the ends of the earth to serve and minister according to the revealed will of God so that when the servant of God is awakened and looks up and sees an angel God is saying by sending that angel two things Elijah I want to assure you that you have not gotten beyond the sight of my eye and you have not roamed beyond the love of my heart for the angel was there not with fiery eye to rebuke him but with powder dusted hands having patted a cake for him to meet his name what is God saying to his servant I suggest that he's saying those two things Elijah here you are out in the middle nowhere but you're not beyond the sight of my eye and you are not beyond the love of

34:22 my heart the very presence of the angel was an assurance of the love and concern of God and secondly the way the angel treated him was an assurance of the love and concern of God I've been fascinated with this little word and the angel touched him verse five and then again verse seven and the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and immediately my mind leaped way over the New Testament to a place where another servant of God was sleeping and needed to be roused by an angel remember the instance Peter's asleep in the prison but the Bible says that the angel came and what smote him on the side there's no difference between being smitten and touched I hope you know

35:19 firmness in Peter's case there was a time element so the Lord didn't have time to just gently touch him and have him tunnel up through he gave him the kind of whack that would bring him right up through into full consciousness real quick just as quick I'm sure as a sergeant's bark in a barracks there he touches him to awaken him and then when he comes to consciousness he sees in his head this cruise of water and he sees the steaming coals that have been made together into some kind of a little oven baking oven and there is a fresh baked cake some kind of a flat pancake like a tortilla for the Spaniards pancake for the Americans and a chapati for the Indians alright that kind of a thing was there I almost thought I was going to forget the word but it came now what does this say again God is playing host and servant to his servant to express to him not just that he's concerned about his physical needs but that his heart is toward him in love and in the concern that is genuine second thing God does after assuring him of his love and concern by the presence of the angel and by the ministry of the angel he meets his immediate physical needs and what were they two fold

36:48 food and rest two of the most elementary physiological biological needs of human beings you can eat all you want but if you don't get adequate sleep you'll be a mess you can sleep all you want but you don't eat adequate food there needs to be some measure of a proper balance of both food and rest and so

37:14 he eats he goes back to sleep awakens him again and he eats what's all this here for is this just filler so we'll have an extra paragraph in the bible no no all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine God is teaching us the doctrine of how he deals with his sinning servants and if their physical weariness and privation or deprivation for normal physical necessities has in any way contributed to that God does not bypass that God does not act as though the body and the spirit are separate entities the Lord's going to deal with his sin the Lord's going to probe his conscience the Lord is going to bring him to face the fact that he has no business being out there in the wilderness he's going to ask him the question two times what do is thou here Elijah but God knows and it's a general principle that we are not fit to grapple with deep basic spiritual issues if we're in a state of physical imbalance I've been amazed how many times my basic spiritual problem was resolved with a good eight hours of sleep how other spiritual problems what I thought were spiritual resolved when I got some regular problems and

38:44 sufficient exercise I began to think there was some kind of demons of dopiness that were attacking me in the afternoon when I just couldn't seem to pray or study for anything I actually began to wonder is this satanic just this awful fear to heaven so I bought myself a sweat suit and started jogging and it's wonderful how those demons left me you see the problem was purely physical purely physical and I don't mean to be irreverent but all the praying in the world wouldn't meet that need for God has constituted the human frame the way it is and if we ignore what he has made then we will suffer for so the Lord comes to undertake to meet those needs now what does this say to us as God's people and probably this as far as we're going to get tonight is the application of the first thing these first two things God did assure him of his love and concern and meet his immediate physical needs what does this tell us well I believe the whole thrust of the message of this to our own hearts will be clearly understood if we ask and answer this question who was that angel was this just any old angel all the years I've read this passage and as far as I know all the commentators I've checked and it's been at least one two three four five six seven there are at least eight books some of them great

The Angel of the Lord: Christ's Tender Care

40:14 segments I'm working through I've just about read through four or five complete books in the life of Elijah in preparation and all my standard commentaries I checked what they say and I don't know one that captured this and so obvious you notice in verse five it says an angel touched him but verse seven says and the angel of the Lord came again the second time that term the angel of the Lord is a peculiar term it's a special title for a special angel and maybe sometime we can take an evening to just have a study on who the angel of the Lord is but if you check it through the Old Testament you will find that this angel unlike other angels receives worship from the people of God when Abraham would fall at the feet of the angel of the Lord to worship him that angel doesn't say like the angel in the book of the revelation no no I'm a fellow servant he accepts worship this angel carries the very name of Jehovah in himself this angel does things that

41:25 seriously what scripture teaches agree that this angel of Jehovah is a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ himself he was the angel of the presence of God that was with the people of God in the wilderness and so what we have here is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus fulfilling that role of which the prophet Isaiah speaks in Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 3 the bruised reed he will not break and the smoking flax he will not quench I may have explained in other occasions that figure but since the audience changes and there's a turnover let me take a moment to explain it what is he talking about the bruised reed he will not break here's a reed that like your flowers at times sometimes you know you're out working your

42:28 shouldn't and that stem is bent and all it would need is one more bend in the opposite direction it would break right off but if you put a stake in there you do this with your tomato plants I did a number of times last summer and you very carefully tie it up in place that plant will heal itself if it hasn't been damaged too much but it be so easy when the reed is bruised to just break it off it takes unusual carefulness and tender loving care to keep it from breaking now Messiah Isaiah says when he finds a reed of his planting a reed that is there because God has done a work of grace and that reed is bruised and could so easily be broken off he will not break that bruised reed and nor and the figure changes but the same truth is there he will not quench the smoking flax flax was the material that would be put down into the bowl of oil and brought up through like the gravy pitcher type lamp and when the oil ran down then the wick itself the flax would begin to burn and generally what was done you'd extinguish it you'd snip off the part that had been burned and charred fill it with oil and relight it but it says the lord won't do that where there's a wick that burns because god has lit that flame

43:57 even though it begins to get an awful smoky flame and the oil the supply that keeps it burning brightly begins to diminish he'll never quench that smoking flax but what he does is he comes and pours in more oil and tenderly cares for that flax until the lamp burns brightly again I've just been amazed as I've studied this passage and tried to immerse my mind in it over the past couple of weeks at how the gentleness of our savior is what makes us great he is the one who is pledged that his bruised reeds would not be broken and the smoking flax would not be quenched childhood God there's no explanation for the fact that you're sitting here tonight with any measure of grace than that Jesus is that kind of a tender savior how often have you been in Elijah and when it would have been easier to have the Lord come with fiery eye and smite you he has assured you of his love and his concern and he has stooped to minister to your needs

Application: Dealing with One Another in Gentleness

45:24 it's how I understand a savior like that I don't either I don't either may I say by way of the closing application I believe we have a picture of how the Lord would have us deal with one another granted scripture teaches there is a time and I quote from scripture those that sin rebuke sharply that others may fear and there's a time when men who sin need to be rebuked sharply there is a time and again I quote scripture mark those that cause divisions among you and walk contrary to the traditions you've received of us and keep no company with them there's a time for that there is a time and I quote from scripture again deliver such and one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus there's a time

46:27 for that and a place but listen when one who has given positive evidence of spiritual life is overcome and is under a juniper tree of dejection through any of these contributing factors that we've mentioned granted they have sinned and the sin needs to be dealt with and the conscience needs to be awakened but how did the Lord deal with his sinning servant he came to him in gentleness for the assurance of the love of God in spite of our sin is the surest way to break our hearts for our sin let me repeat that the assurance of God's love in spite of our sin is the surest way to break our hearts for our sin and that would break you more than anything else when God gives a glance of his love and I personally am convinced that's exactly what our Lord gave Peter that broke his heart I can't prove it but if you don't agree with me I'm sure you will after you ask the Lord and we get to heaven I don't believe it was a look like this but it was a look that I can't imitate I won't try to I'd be prostituting the purity of it

47:55 and Peter went out and wept bitterly say how are you so sure well the first words we find him uttering with regard to Peter afterwards go tell the disciples and Peter I go before you into Galilee and then the Lord prepares a meal on the shore for his disciples what a wonderful way to tell them exactly what God told Elijah through the visit of the angel you fellas are dejected you want to quit you're going back to fishing he comes and invites them to a meal he plays host to them to assure them of his love and his concern and I plead with you brethren as God has spoken to my own heart about this we need to cry to God that God will give us that kind of attitude for one another and only God can give it to us for scripture says in Galatians 5 22 and 23 the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness you see this is a spiritual thing it's something that is supernatural in that sense left to ourselves what do we do we either sinfully tolerate what should be condemned and rebuked or we pharisaically condemn those whom we ought to forgive and to whom we ought to be gentle left to ourselves that's what we'll do

49:24 we'll either excuse sin in our brethren when it needs to be rebuked or we'll draw robes around us in pharisaical smugness when we ought to be doing what the Lord did with his servant and so we need to cry to God oh God slay in me what is natural to my flesh and give me this grace and fruit of the spirit holy spirit gentleness and then give me wisdom to know how and when it should be exercised and so the Lord undertakes to pick up his servant who has fallen but since he is a true child of God he will not he cannot be utterly cast out the only reason any of us will persevere in grace is because the God who has begun a good work in us has pledged to perfect it and carry it on until the day of Christ I trust these lessons from the prayer of the prophet an unanswered prayer and the beginning of God's dealings with his dejected servant will prove helpful to us in our own relationship to the Lord and then in our dealings one with another I would be surprised if at least one or two of you didn't think of the prodigal what a beautiful illustration of this

50:53 this guy went out into those haunts of iniquity and sin with his eyes wide open used his father's hard-earned money in the process and yet the father sees the son and the whole implication of scripture is that this wasn't 50-50 you come halfway I'll come halfway it says when he saw him afar off he ran the father the father ran threw his arms about he made it very obvious that he loved him child of God the hardest thing for you to believe when you're under a broom tree is that God loves you in that condition if you've got a biblical concept of God that's the hardest thing in the world to believe God loves me in spite of this isn't it it's not hard to believe boy God ought to give me a kick in the shins do you find it hard to believe God loves you when you fall do you or do you find that easy if you find it easy you have a defective view of God that's

52:07 longest it's easy for Elijah to believe God loves him when he's up on Mount Carmel vindicating God's name slaying those wicked prophets doing the obviously revealed will of God takes a little faith to believe God loves you when you're walking in the way of his commandments you stumble and fall and find yourself licking dirt dejected there you see some messenger of God that assures you that his eyes upon you his heart is kindled in love towards you and God puts forth his hand not to rebuke you and to put a stroke of chastisement but as it were he just whips you with his love it's hard to believe that's the way God is now men who aren't acquainted with God will take that and they'll run out and they'll use it as an excuse to sin and they'll hang themselves with this area of truth let them do it they'll be accountable to God you see if you don't understand the grace of God in such a way that this objection would be made if sin abounds if grace abounds where sin abounds let's sin the more that grace may abound you see Paul so preached the freeness of grace that people actually drew that conclusion they said if that's the way grace is let's go on out and sin that grace may abound Paul says no God forbid because free grace has at its very core

53:33 union with Christ and if we're united to Christ we don't want to run into the paths of sin to magnify grace and so though some may abuse the kind of preaching that I've given tonight it's there in scripture and I've got to be true to scripture for what is abused by carnal unconverted religionist is a sweet morsel to the true child of God wrestling with the problem of sin and corruption may God help us to receive the comfort of scripture and not to rest the scriptures to our own destruction I would commend to you for your serious study the next couple of paragraphs see how the Lord then after meeting his basic physical needs begins to undertake to meet his spiritual and his emotional needs and we will see a pattern of how God deals with us as his children well let's pray commit these matters to the Lord