And tonight's message is called
Empty Ditches Filled. Empty Ditches Filled. My. Tonight we'll look again at the
life of Elijah the prophet. Last week we saw a quick judgment
fall upon those who mocked God's prophet Elijah. A group of people
were mocking Elijah at the end of chapter two, and two she-bears
came out and tore apart 42 of them. Quick judgment. Very, very quick judgment. Tonight
we'll look at a miracle of ditches. Ditches. Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings
chapter three. We're going to read verses 1
to 20, but we're going to do it in pieces here. And take note
that in these verses we will see that Moab, who was a tributary
to Israel at that time, which means they paid in sheep and things to the king
of Israel in order to keep him at bay that he wouldn't attack
them. They rebelled. They rebelled. Now, this chapter we're going
to break into two messages. This one here about digging ditches.
Empty ditches filled. And then next week we'll finish
the rest of the chapter where it's just incredible how God
provides for his people. We'll see tonight. Empty ditches
filled. Let's start in verse 1. Moab
rebels against Israel and now Moab wants to destroy Israel.
It says, now Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began to reign over
Israel and Samaria the eighth year of Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah, and reigned 12 years. So Jehoram, again, is the son
of Ahab, and he's ruling over Israel. And then Jehoshaphat,
who's a good king, he's reigning over Judah. And he reigned 12 years. And it says, Joham here, he wrought
evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and his
mother. So he wasn't like Ahab and Jezebel, but he was still,
he was a son of his mother and father. For he put away the image
of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he cleaved unto
the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to
sin. He departed not therefrom. In
Mesha, king of Moab was a sheep master and rendered unto the
king of Israel 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams with the wool. So he had to pay that to Israel
each year. But it came to pass when Ahab
was dead that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of
Israel. And the king, Jeroahim, went out of Samaria at the same
time and numbered all Israel. Now this is occurring after Isaiah
has died at the word of the Lord, and Jeroam now reigns over the
ten tribes of Israel. And though he had put away the
image of Baal, he still worshipped the golden calf. He still worshipped
the golden calves. that Nebat built and still employed
the prophets of his mother and father. He still had prophets
of Baal. So he sinned in the eyes of the
Lord just like Ahab and Jezebel. And like those who preceded him,
we see in verse 2 that he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord.
In this chapter is a record of him going to war with the king
of Moab. who after the death of Ahab had ceased paying taxes
to Israel which we see in verses four and five. Meshach king of
Moab was a sheep master and rendered unto the king of Israel and a
hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with the wool but
it came to pass when Ahab was dead that the king of Moab rebelled
against the king of Israel said I ain't gonna send you those
anymore no more And we see Jehoram, we see numbers
Israel, in order to set his army in array. And then we will see in verse
7 that he calls Jehoshaphat to join him in battle. Now he may
have done this out of some kind of superstition. Kramacher actually
mentioned that he might have done this out of some kind of
superstition. Believing the presence of Jehoshaphat would bring him
some kind of good luck. Because see, Jehoshaphat was
a God-fearing man. Now, something we're going to
see here is Jehoshaphat says to Jeroboam, he says, well, you're
just like me. No, he's not. Jehoshaphat's a
man of God. Ahab and Jezebel's son, who's
now king, he's just like them. And we will see that Jehoshaphat
agreed to join him. and supplied the plan of attack
through the wilderness of Edom, whose king also joined the forces
of Jehoram. So now you've got Jehoshaphat,
you've got Jeroham, and you've got the king of Edom as well.
Edom, I heard, according to the commentators, was also a tributary
to Israel, so they automatically, they were an ally with them,
they automatically would join in. It's just like when if one
country went to war and they have several allies, they come
in with them. So that's the setting of this time right here. And
Jehoshaphat served the God of Judah. He didn't serve the gods. He didn't serve the gods that
Jeroham served. Jeroham served false gods. Jehoshaphat
served the one true living God. And the plan that he came up
with, Jehoshaphat, to go through Edom, one commentator said this
was probably designed as a flanking maneuver. To attack the king of Moab on
his weak side, regardless, now think of this too, regardless
of the wisdom of the plan, right? Divine providence was at work.
And God had different designs for these kings, we're going
to find out. See, man plans and God disposes, right? And notice
something here. They didn't seek the Lord. None of them have sought the
Lord about this. Kramer again brings out that it's wrong to
rely on the arm of the flesh rather than the arm of God. That's
why we must take things to Christ. That's why we must always go
to Christ, Jesus our Lord. Let's now read verses seven to
nine and see that man plans but God disposes. And he went and
sent to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, saying, the king of
Moab hath rebelled against me. Will thou go with me against
Moab to battle? And this is where Kraumacher
said, Josephette's a man of God. And we're going to see him align
with a worldly. And he says, what they're doing
here, this is a mistake by Josephette. But it all happened in God's
providence. He mentioned it was a mistake
to do that with the ungodly, but yet God used it and turned
it around. It was all part of God's plan, wasn't it? I think
for lessons for us, too. See, God never does things on
mistake, does he? Never, never, never. So he said, Moab, they rebelled
against me, and will thou go with me against Moab to battle?
And he said, I will go up. I am as thou art. No, he's not.
He's a godly man. She wrote him. He's an idol worshiper. My people as thy people, and
my horses as thy horses. And he said, which way shall
we go up? And he answered, the way through the wilderness of
Edom. So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the
king of Edom. And they fetched the compass of seven days journey,
and there was no water for the host and for the cattle that
followed them. I'll tell you what, from reading history books
about the Roman legions and stuff, if there wasn't water, there's
trouble. Now, think it's not only the
army that needs to drink water, it's the cattle as well. Because those cattle, we're going
to sustain them as they go further and further into the wilderness.
And further and further into the land of the Moabites. Armies run on stomachs. They
do. In seven days, in the wilderness, with no water, Stranded in the
desert is hard for that army. And this is a large army, but
they can't drink. And the cattle can't drink. My oh my. If one cannot drink
water, one is in a very bad predicament. And we see here, it says there
in verse 9, and there was no water for the host and for the
cattle that followed them. And note how Jehoram, who is
again a picture of natural man. Now look at this. Here's such
a picture of natural man. I saw myself before conversion
right here. See if you're here too. Now Jeroham,
again a picture of natural man, he's quick to blame God for what they fell into. Now
they came into that by their own devices, didn't they? But
see how natural man react? Look at this. Look at 10. So
the king of Israel said, Alas, that the Lord hath called these
three kings together to deliver them into the hands of Moab.
Oh, he's just doom and gloom. God sent us into this predicament. You see how natural man thinks?
It's his own devices that are there. It's because he wants
to attack the Moabites. And he's gathered this allegiance,
and they're going through the wilderness to gum the backside
of Moab. And he says, this is God's
fault. It reminded me of Adam and Eve,
and Adam says, it's the woman you gave me. And Eve says, it's
the snake. See, we're always trying to pass
blame, aren't we? Now, we as sinners, saved by
the grace of God, we don't do that anymore. Well, sometimes
we can, yeah. I'm going to stop right there.
Yeah, Dave's laughing, because it's true. We don't want to do
that. That's better, eh? We don't desire
to do that, but we still do, eh? But that's natural. That's natural for man to blame
God. You know, even this horrible
shooting in Nashville. Yeah, and people are blaming
God. My, it's sin. It's sin. That's what it is.
Bottom line. My. Look at this again. Let's read
verse 10 again. And the king of Israel said, Alas, that the
Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them
into the hand of Moab. And this is so true of us sinners.
This is so true. Ever ready to shift the blame.
It's right there, isn't it? And we see here that until the
sinner assigns responsibility for their estate, they never
do it to themselves, they always assign it to God. some terrible calamity says,
and they say, well, where's God? Well, He's on the throne, let
me tell you that. He's not moved. He does whatever He wills. We're
going to see that here, too. In the armies of heaven, and
the inhabitants of the earth, He does whatever He pleases. I heard a statement today. You
guys have heard me say there's no maverick molecules, right?
Think of this. There's no maverick molecules
if God's sovereign. And he is sovereign. So there is nothing that's not
under his domain. He can put his finger anywhere
and says, mine. Anywhere in this universe, anywhere.
Anything we see and don't see, mine. That's our God. And that's who's going to perform
a miracle before us here in the text. That's our great God. So, Jehoram, he blames God for
putting these three kings together, even though it was his plan to
gather them all together. He decides to accuse God with
a sinister plan to destroy the armies of Israel and Judah by
the hand of the king of Moab. And it didn't matter to him that
they didn't seek God's counsel. Didn't matter to him at all.
He wasn't a worshipper of the one true God. Didn't bother him
at all. He made his plans. And all these
plans had been made before they even went to the Lord. Kraumacher brings forth that
they were trusting in the arm of the flesh and not in the arm
of God. That's exactly what they were
doing. And both the Israelites and the
heathen are again made to feel whatever might be
the issue, that it's not bought about by the arm of the flesh. They're going to realize after
this that this miracle is not bought by the arm of the flesh.
Even the victory they're going to get is not by the arm of the
flesh, it's by the arm of God. Again, Victory for us is not by human
wisdom, not by our strength, but only by Him. Only by God
the Father, who doeth all things according to His will in the
army of heaven and among all the inhabitants of the earth.
He does whatever He wills. And we say, praise be to God.
Wonderful. I don't want to be in control.
I make a mess of my life when I'm in control. When I try to take control, is
it so for you? Oh my, my. Think of this, he's the dispenser
too of courage and fear. Courage, he dispenses courage,
doesn't he? And what is the beginning of
knowledge? The fear of the Lord. To know who he really is. And he directs the arrow to its
mark or turns it aside. We see that in scripture, an
arrow shot, and it goes right through the clink of an armor. My. We see that divine, divinely
guided stone. David's swinging. Whoosh! That
stone's divinely guided, let me tell you. Right between the
eyes of Goliath. Drops dead right in the spot. My. At God's command, the sun can
put forth its hottest beams, and whole armies can languish
and pine away at his command. Be utterly destroyed, he can
send forth irresistible frost, and the limbs of his adversaries
are fettered with invisible chains. He can bring pestilence and famine
upon a country. And what then avails the warrior's
prowess or the commander's skill? Nothing. Nothing can stop the
hand of the Lord. Nothing. That's our King, beloved.
That's our Savior. That's our Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Jehoram's pride cost him
heaven. He had a dim view of who God
was. We see that in his verbiage here. Well, God's brought us
together, now he's gonna kill us by giving us into the hands
of Lamar. He's got a dim view of God, doesn't
he? He's got a wrong view of God. And we can see here, he's taken
on the attributes of his mother and his father, hasn't he? I
was saying to Vicki about our boy, that's my son. He's taking on my sinful attributes. My oh my. My oh my. He's following false idols and
cruel and conniving idols. And this force is brought together.
It's an opposing force. And think of it as it's marching
through the wilderness. At the front of it is three kings.
Not just one, but three. This is a big army. This is an
opposing army. And what several commentators
thought is that they might have went forth like that so that
the Moabites might have saw them and said, we're out of here. But the Moabites were fierce.
They were fierce themselves. So they thought, oh, maybe the
enemy will see the allegiance and three armies. And maybe this
will be enough to destroy their insurrection. And maybe the rebellion
would fail. But take note from our text that
another unexpected enemy appears. Against which they had not even
calculated. They hadn't even thought of it. And now it threatens the combined
armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom. With imminent destruction. Even before they reach the Moabites
frontier, they are faced with destruction. They had advanced for some days,
marched through the wilderness, and now the heat had become unbearable,
and more important, the waters in every direction had dried
up, and the troops were exhausted and depleted. We cannot live
without water. Amen. We can't live without Christ. Or perish. He's the water of
life. He's the fountain opened. for
sin and uncleanness. My, so they face destruction. You don't have water, you're
going to die. You don't have the water of life, you're going
to perish in your sins. See the parallels here. My oh
my. Now note here too, Note here
they went seven days. And think of the increasing thirst
of the soldiers. They'd start murmuring amongst
each other. They would start to do that. And they would very
quickly consume the supply of water that was in the camp. You
got this vast of an army, it's not going to take long to run
out of water. And we see that they end up in a place where
there's no water. My, oh, my. And what a terrible
death to die without water. What a terrible death to die
without Christ, who is the water of life. And their leaders, no
doubt, pushed them on. They probably said, keep on going,
the water's just ahead. Keep on going, the water's just
ahead. And I know them soldiers, they start grumbling. They'd
be like, ah, these guys are feeding us a line. But their discipline
would keep them going. But in their minds, they're probably
thinking, we're going to die out here. And I'll tell you what. There was no spring around. There
was no water to be found. There wasn't even a shady wood
where they could take shelter or rest. They were cooking. And think of this, the fainting
warrior falls, gasping to the earth. The horse is overpowered
with fatigue. Can't go any further. Thirst. Can no longer proceed. And the
camels, too. They had camels as beasts of
burdens. They would be doing the same thing as the horses,
just stopping. exhausted under their, they got
these burdens and they got no water to drink and they're carrying
these burdens. Think of how it's been when we're
out in the day, I remember when I was a kid, used to go take
off on a bike. Go riding around. I always made
sure I had some water with me, but the water would run out.
And then you start to get parched. And you're riding that bike to
get home so fast, right, just to get a drink of water. He'd
come around and say, Mom, can I get a drink of water? And she'd
make me a nice cold drink of water and give it to me. And
I'll tell you why. And that's nothing compared to
these fellas being seven days in the heat. Seven days in the
wilderness. My, let's read the next verse,
though. And notice Jehoshaphat. Now, he's joined up with him,
but notice Jehoshaphat. Oh, this is wonderful. And this
is not true of us who are born-again believers. When we start to think
about our King, boom. Look at this. This is wonderful.
This is wonderful. But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet
of the Lord, of Jehovah, that we may inquire of Jehovah by
him? Now, we need to go to the King. See? Yeah. But Jehoram's not saying
this and the king of Edom's not saying this. It's Jehoshaphat
that's saying this. And that's how we are as believers.
We must go to the king. After the armor of flesh has
failed, right? We must go to the king. And I'll tell you what. We keep experiencing this, don't
we? We keep experiencing this. My
oh my. And we just need to go to the
king. Look at this. And one of the king of Israel's
servants answered and said, here is Elijah, the son of Shepheth,
which poured water on the hands of Elijah. Now look at this. I love this next verse. This
is the cry of a believer. And Joseph had said, the word
of the Lord is with him. The word of the Lord is with
him. I can just hear the excitement in his voice. So the king of Israel and Joseph,
the king of Edom, went down to him. Now notice Elijah is identified. They know who he is. Now remember
whose parents, whose parents, Jerome's parents
are. Yeah. Yeah. Ahab and Jezebel. And they had seen, he had seen
things happen, right? He'd seen the prophets of Baal
consumed. He'd seen things. He'd seen the power of God fall. Oh my. It just shows you that
judgment won't change man's heart. It's got to be the Holy Spirit.
Right? Because he saw those things happen.
Or at least he heard about them. My, oh my. It's only the Holy
Spirit that can turn our hearts, isn't it? That we're born again
by the power of God. An operation of God, like we
talk about, Brian. Oh, it's so wonderful. He does
an operation in our hearts. We're born again. We're given
faith to believe. And oh my, we're never the same
again. And here's Jehoshaphat, our dear
brother. He's like, he has the word of
the Lord. Oh my beloved. It's with him. I love that. Oh, the name of
Elijah has barely been uttered before the desponding heart of
Jeroboam, and Jehoshaphat exclaims joyfully, the word of the Lord
is with him. He knew the prophet. He believed
in his divine commission. And here the king discovers the
words The truth in the words, in God I will praise his word,
in God I have put my trust, I will not fear what flesh can do unto
me. Jehoshaphat's experiencing that,
isn't he? And beloved of God, you are the
blessed of the Lord. We're the blessed of the Lord. We're the blessed of the Lord
who made heaven and earth. That's our king, that's our redeemer. Our Lord is the true and living
God, beloved. And so let we, who are the people
of God, give Him glory. Give glory to His name, that
He's chosen us out of the world and translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's done that by His
almighty power. And we praise His name for it.
Now, there's no water for the army as well as the cattle or
the beasts of burdens. Let's look what Elijah said unto
them. Look at verses 13 and 14. Look at this. Now there is a
nugget of gold in here. My oh my, look at this. And Elijah
said unto the king of Israel, what have I to do with thee?
Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of
thy mother. So he's saying to Joram, what do you got to do
with me? Go to your false prophets. Go to them. You want nothing
to do with God. And the king of Israel said,
Nay, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to
deliver them into the hand of my... He's got religion all of
a sudden. My, oh my. Now look at this verse. Look at this magnificent verse. And Elijah said, as the Lord
of hosts liveth, for whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard
the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not
look toward thee nor see thee. My beloved, if it weren't for
Christ, if it weren't for Christ, We
would not see God. And we would not be able to come
into his presence. And if it weren't for Jehoshaphat,
Elijah would not have entertained the king of Israel or the king
of Edom. My oh my. It's the presence of
Jehoshaphat that causes Elijah to see them. It's Christ that causes God to
see us in mercy and in grace, beloved. In God alone. We see the three kings go to
Elijah. They didn't call Elijah, they
went to him. probably out of respect for the
Prophet and certainly for Jeroam for a show of honor and respect
that he might alleviate some of the bad history between Elijah
and Ahab and Jezebel. His family had history with the
Prophets and it wasn't good. And Elijah makes it clear, so
clear, so clear here, that if it were not for Jehoshaphat,
if Jehoshaphat was not with those two kings, he would not give
Jeroam the time of day. And he mockingly told him that
he ought to go and see the counsel of his own false gods. and the false prophets who were
bought and paid for by his mom and dad. This is a man of God. This is
a man standing firm for God, in his word, by the power of
God. See, no man can stand on our
own. It has to be by God's power and
by God's strength, right? My. And he's blunt with this
fellow, isn't he? Praise be to God, beloved. Praise
be to God that we have access to the Father through Christ. That God doesn't look at us in
judgment, but he sees us in Christ. Oh, what mercy! The only reason
we have access, like the King of Israel had access. He had
access through the presence of Jehoshaphat. We have access through
the Lord Jesus Christ. access to God. It's wonderful. You know what this is? This is
God's distinguishing grace on display. This is God's distinguishing
grace. We have, through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who's cleansed us from all our sins, we have access being born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. We have access to God the Father
through Christ. We have access to the one true
living God. The one true living God. We have access to him fully at
the throne of grace because of Christ. Oh my, oh my. Praise be to God. Praise be to God that we can
approach him through Christ Jesus our Lord. And the fact that we're
clothed in his precious righteousness. makes us fit to be in God's presence. My, oh my. It's all about Christ. It's all about him. And note
here and reflect on this. The only reason God is going
to show mercy to these three kings is because of Jehoshaphat. That's the only reason. And we know that from what he
says here, from what Elijah says. He says, were it not that I would
guard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of the Judah, I would
not look toward thee, nor see thee. You wouldn't even catch
a glance from me. My. My, oh my, blood. And note here
and reflect, again, the only reason God's going to show them
mercy is because of Jehoshaphat. And this is a picture of God's
distinguishing grace. I'll tell you why. With those
words, we see that. Were it not that I regard the
presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look
toward thee nor see thee. Turn if you would to Malachi
chapter 1, and then put your finger in Romans chapter 9. And we're going to see it brought
forth here. Where's another picture that
we see this kind of thing brought forth? Oh, we see it right here. God's distinguishing grace. My
oh my. Malachi chapter 1. Starting in
verse 1, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. "'I have loved you,' saith the
Lord. "'Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? "'Was not Esau
Jacob's brother?' saith the Lord. "'Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, "'and laid
his mountains and his heritage to waste "'for the dragons of
the wilderness. "'Whereas Edom, saith, we are impoverished, "'but
we will return and build the desolate places.' "'Thus saith
the Lord of hosts. They shall build, but I will
throw down. And they shall call the border
of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation
forever. And your eyes shall see, and
ye shall say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of
Israel. Now turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 9. So we saw
there, yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau. Now look at Romans
chapter 9 and here we get a clear picture again of God's distinguishing
grace. And remember this is in light
of the fact that those three kings, Elijah is only entertaining
them, talking with them, because of Jehoshaphat. No other reason. He said otherwise I wouldn't
even acknowledge it and I wouldn't even look at you. My oh my. Look at this. Now I'll tell you
what. God's mercy to you and I as believers,
we can't measure it. And if we can understand it,
if we can ever get a grip, it's easy to understand why God hated
Esau. He should, by nature, he should hate all of us, right? But the wonder of this passage
is that he loved Jacob, and that he loves us. That's the wonder
of this passage. And that's all because of God's
distinguishing grace. This is, this is, this is a mountaintop
scripture, beloved. This is a, this is a point where
we can look at this and go, it's all you, Lord. You set your love upon me. I
didn't love you, but you loved me before I loved you. Right? He chose us for we chose him. Right? And the only reason we
chose him was we were made willing in the day of his power. Oh my,
look at this. Romans chapter 9, verses 10 to
13. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by
one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good, right, or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election. Why do men, why do
men hate election? It's in the Bible. because it
wounds their pride. It takes away any power they
think they have. My, I as a sinner, I am so thankful
that this is here to show me that it was nothing to do with
what I did. It's all God. And marvel at the
fact that his love was set upon us, the sinners. before the foundation
of the world. Look at this. For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, the purpose of God, that's the most important
thing, the purpose of God. Was it part of God's purpose
that Christ would come to save sinners? Yes. He came to save
His people from their sins, all according to God's purpose. Did
He die on the cross? Yeah, according to the foreknowledge
of God. The purpose of God? Yes. died for you and I, beloved."
Look at this. That the purpose of God, according
to election, that means choosing in the Greek, to choose, might
stand not of works, but of Him that calleth. Not of any works
we do, but of God who calls us. Right? So before we were even born,
God knew us as His sheep. That's what that's saying. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. It is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What do we see here? A vessel
of honor and a vessel of dishonor. We don't know who they are. We
don't have any idea who they are. It's all in God's hands,
beloved. It's all in God's hands. All
in his hands. But I marvel I marvel that God
loved me. Do you? And that He still loves
me. It's truly amazing grace. And let's go back to our text.
We see here, and think of this as a picture towards Christ,
right? You know, I was talking to Vicki about this this afternoon.
You know, our Lord told those two in the road to Aramaeus,
the law and the prophets, they testify of me. Well, here we
have a portion here. It's testifying to Christ. Because
the only reason God shows His elect mercy is Christ. The only reason He looks upon
us with favor is Christ. The only reason He shows us His
grace is because of Christ. You see, the parallel is incredible,
isn't it? My oh my. And then he sent his son, like
we were marveling in that study in John 17. Sent, sent, sent. It's all through the gospel of
John. Sent by my father. He was sent by God to save us,
beloved, from our sins. God himself. My. Now let's read this verse 15
again. No, verse 15 now. But now bring me a minstrel.
And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand
of the Lord came upon him. And the hand of the Lord there
came upon Elijah. Not the minstrel, the Elijah.
I like what Tim James says here. I have to quote this. He brings
forth the minstrel buff, comes and plays music, because the
presence of Jeroham is an irritant to Elijah. He's irritated at
Jeroham. He needs some music to calm him
down. That's what Brother Tim said. He said, Elijah calls for
a minstrel to play some music to calm his spirit. Music soothes
the savage beast. He says, when the minstrel plays,
the hand of the Lord comes upon Elijah. This means that the word
of the Lord concerning this incident came to Elijah. Beloved of God, the word of the
Lord was For these thirsties, the word of the Lord was for
these thirsty armies to dig ditches in a valley. Dig a bunch of ditches. Dig a bunch of ditches. And the
Lord would fill them with water to take away their thirst. Yeah,
go dig a bunch of ditches. Just go and dig. Yeah, that's
exactly right, Brother Dave. He's going to fill those ditches.
We're going to see. There's not even a thunderstorm. He's just going to fill them
full. And next week, we're going to
see another picture with all those water, too. It's incredible.
My, oh, my. Oh, my. They're there to dig
them ditches, and the Lord's going to fill those wells, fill
those holes. Look at this. Elijah tells them
that. They will not see thunder, no wind. Just as in the day of
Elijah, they won't. Look at this, verse 16. And he said, Thus saith the Lord,
make this valley full of ditches. Go and dig a bunch of ditches.
Could you imagine? You know, I marvel at this, because
later on, we're going to see, he's going to tell Nahum down
the road, as we go through the study, he's going to tell Nahum,
well, just go and dip yourself in that Jordan. And Nahum gets
all mad and says, there's all kinds of rivers in Syria. Could you imagine the king's
going back to the man and saying, dig a bunch of ditches? They're
dead beat tired. They're thirsty. And he said,
just dig the ditches. They must have thought their
leaders had lost it. Some of them probably thought
that. What in the world is going on here? But they did it, right?
They're soldiers. They did what they were told
to do. Look at this. For thus saith the Lord, ye shall
not see wind, neither shall ye see rain. He's going to fill
these up without rain. It's going to be a miracle, beloved. Who's the water of life? Christ,
right? My he's a fountain opened isn't
he by God for sin and uncleanness? They're gonna see a miracle here
It's not gonna rain and those those those holes are gonna be
filled with water Look what he says for that say the Lord you
should not see wind neither shall ye see rain Yet the valley shall
be filled with water That ye may drink both ye and
your cattle and your beasts and And now look what he says. Look
at verse 18. Oh my gosh. Is anything too hard
for the Lord? Right? Is anything too hard? That's why we say, forget about
how black your sin is, because all our sin is black. Come to
Christ. Come to the fountain, filled
with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath
that flood lose all their guilty stains. Right? All of them, Galilee. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Oh my. Look at this. And this is but
a light thing in the sight of Jehovah. Just look, just, just
look. He will deliver the Moabites
also into your hands. So not only are they going to
get water, but he's going to deliver their enemies over to
them. My, oh my. What a great God. And ye shall smite every fence
city, and every choice city, and ye shall fell every good
tree, and stop all the wells of water, and mar every good
place of the land with stones. Desolate it. And take note of these words
of Elijah. He tells them the word of the Lord is for them
to dig ditches. What's the one thing needful
for their survival? water. What's the one thing needful
for our eternal survival? The water of life. Even on this
earth, you can live without food, but you can't live without water.
You can live longer without food, but when you lack water, look
out. My oh my. And Elijah tells him, it's but a light thing. It's but a light thing in the
sight of Jehovah. In other words, he's saying,
it's nothing for God to do this. It's not even going to rain.
It's not even going to rain. Where's the water going to come
from? The Lord, amen. It's nothing
for him to do this. Think he parted the Red Sea,
didn't he? Nothing for him. He created this world. Nothing
for him. It's a live thing. If he's done
all that and he hasn't, if he's absolutely sovereign and he is,
this is nothing. Oh, but beloved, our salvation
cost something, didn't it? And our King gave his life for
us. Oh, what a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful, merciful Savior
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. So our Lord tells him, it's nothing.
Through Elijah, it's nothing. Elijah says, nah, not only am
I going to give you water, but I'm going to deliver your enemies
into your hands, too. What a miracle. What a miracle,
beloved. They're to dig ditches, and the Lord will fill them without
rain. What a miracle! If we dug ditches out here, we'd
have to wait for rain, wouldn't we? These are going to fill without
rain. This is a miracle of God. And that thirst is going to be
quenched, right? Right? Blessed are they who hunger
and thirst after what? Righteousness. Righteousness. Do you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? That's Christ. Do you hunger
and thirst after Christ? Oh, you'll be filled. My. Our thirst will be quenched,
won't it? That's why we keep coming to the gospel well. And
draw on that beautiful water, hey. It's the water of life! Oh my! Christ is the water of
life. Without He who is the water of
life, our eternal souls would be damned. But praise be to God,
the Lord Jesus Christ has saved us. He's redeemed us with His
precious, precious blood. And Elijah further tells him
that this entire thing with the ditches is but a light thing
in the sight of God. This means that this miracle
with the ditches and the water was but a means to an end for
the Lord. A means to an end. The main thing
was that the Moabites would be delivered into their hand. My beloved. Now look at verse
19 and we see Moab is routed and the armies of Israel are
to destroy everything in Moab. They're there to destroy everything.
Look at verse 20, though. And it came to pass in the morning,
when the meat offering was offered, oh, when the meat offering was
offered, when the sacrifice was offered. Who's that picture?
Christ. Right? That behold, there came
water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. There was an abundance of water. My, oh my. After they offered
the sacrifice. So again, we see at verse 20,
at the time of the morning sacrifice, water appears. Water appears. And began to fill the ditches
so that Edom was filled with water. This is a miracle of God,
beloved, provided by God and God alone. And truly, our God
is the one true living God. He's sovereign over all. And
this is but a light thing for him. It's nothing. My beloved. That's the one who holds us in
his hands. That's the one who saved us by
the giving of his life. What a savior, what a redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
called the water of life. He's the water of life. Without
Him, you perish. Without Him, you perish in your
sins. But if He saved you, then like the woman of the well, we
find out that He's a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Let's turn there. John chapter
3. Let's turn there. John chapter 3. Just read a quick
portion here. Oh my. This is one of my Another
one of my favorite portions of scripture, which is pretty well
all of it. So, right. Oh my. John chapter four. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his
disciples, he left Judah and departed into Galilee, and he
must, look at this, he must needs go through Samaria. Why must
he go through Samaria? because there's one of his sheep
there. And not just one. You find out later on in the
chapter, there's a whole bunch of sheep in that city. Look at
this though. Oh, in Samaria. Then cometh he
to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel
of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Now Jacob's
well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied
with his journey, sat thus on that well, and about the sixth
hour there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus
said unto her, Give me to drink. Now this is why he must need
to go through Samaria, beloved, right here. He's got a divine
encounter. For his disciples were gone away into the city
to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it
that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman
of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knowest the gift of God, And who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink? Thou wouldst have asked of him,
and he would have given thee to live in water. Live in water,
water to quench the thirst of a thirsty soul. The woman saith
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep. From whence then hast thou living
water? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
give me this water. Give me this water. Oh, give it to me, please, that
I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her,
Go call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and
said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
said well, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that sayest
thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
I perceive you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus said to the woman, believe
me, the hour is cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. you worship you know
not what we know what we we worship for salvation is of the Jews
but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall
worship God worship the father in spirit and in truth for the
father's seek as such to worship him God is spirit and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth The woman
said to him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ.
When he has come, he will tell us all things. And I'm going
to close with this next verse, because it's absolutely a mountaintop
scripture. Look at this. Jesus said unto
her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Woo, he just identified
himself, didn't he? He's the Messiah. He's the only
one who can make us to differ. And the only way, again, that
God will accept us is in Christ. This is my Beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. And we are what? Accepted in
the Beloved, aren't we? We're accepted in Christ. My,
what a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. Brother
Zane, would you mind closing us in prayer?