Would you turn to 1 Kings chapter
18. Verse 41. 1 Kings 18 verse 41. And Elijah
said unto Ahab, get thee up. eat and drink for there is a
sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to
drink and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he cast himself
down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. and said to his servant, go up
now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and
said, there is nothing. And he said, go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh
time that he said, behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of
the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, go up, say unto
Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain
stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile
that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was
a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel,
and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his
loins and ran before Ahab. to the entrance of Jezreel. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, the name that's above every name. And Lord, our
hearts are so grateful that all you require of us is found in
him. And we ask that we might be enabled
to worship him We ask that you would grant to each of us saving
faith. We ask that we might be enabled
to love him and see his glory and his beauty. Lord, forgive
us that we even have to ask for something like this, but our
hearts are so sinful, so contrary to what they should be, so We're
ashamed that we would have to ask for grace to love him who's
altogether lovely. But Lord, we ask for grace to
love him who is altogether lovely. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Oh, that we might be found in
him. Be with all your people wherever they meet together.
May your gospel be preached in the power of your spirit. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen. Now, we've been in this 18th
chapter for quite some time, and this is the end when God
finally sends rain. Now, why did God withhold the
rain in the first place? He withheld the rain because
of Baal worship. Three and a half years earlier,
you'll remember when Ahab or Elijah said, there won't be any
rain, except when I say it will rain. And it was because of this
Baal worship. And so three and a half years,
no rain. And now it's time to rain again.
Now, why is it time to rain? Look in verse 39. And when all
the people saw the fire come down and consume the sacrifice,
they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is the
God, the Lord, he is the God. Now, they hadn't been believing
that, now they do, and now it's time for rain once again. Now, verse 41, Elijah said to
Ahab, get thee up, Eat and drink for there is a sound of abundance
of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and drink
and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he cast himself
down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. Now that's
an unusual posture isn't it? What was he doing at this time?
Well we know for sure from James' account that at this time he
was praying for rain. He was praying for rain in this weird
posture. And what that lets me know is
that posture doesn't matter. Posture doesn't matter. Well
I need to fold my hands and get on my knees. No you don't. No
you don't. Posture doesn't matter. Prayer
is spiritual. And everything that God does
he does through the prayers of his people. If God's going to
give you something, he's going to move you to ask him for it. However, God's going to bless
you. You're going to say, oh Lord, bless me. God does what
he does through the prayers of his people. Now, the rain doesn't
come because Elijah starts praying for it. The rain comes because
God has purposed it. His purpose for Elijah to say,
send the rain down, and the Lord does send the rain down. Now
this is God. He works through the prayers
of his people. So always be encouraged to pray. Don't be fatalistic. Why pray
about this? I mean, God's already determined everything. He has. Pray about it. Pray about it. This is the way the Lord works,
and this is what he does with Elijah. puts his head between
his, puts his face between his knees, verse 43, and he said
to his servant, go up now and look toward the sea. And he went
up and looked, and he said, there's nothing. Now, what that's a reminder
to me is when I pray, how often is there nothing, as far as what
I see? I pray for something, it doesn't
take place. I ask the Lord for something,
it doesn't happen. He went and nothing happened. The skies were clear, I prayed
for rain, there's not a cloud in sight, I don't see anything
taking place. He experienced that, didn't he?
Go look over the sea, there's nothing, And he said, go again, verse
43, he said, go again seven times. Now, seven is so significant
in the scripture. We're going to look at that more
in a moment. But what he's telling him is
be persistent. Be persistent. Keep going. This is not a reason to stop
praying when you don't see the answer to that prayer. You be
persistent, you be like that. Remember the impertinent widow
who said, came to the king and said, avenge me of my adversary,
and he didn't pay attention to her, and finally she kept coming
and kept coming, and he said, I'm gonna give her what she wants,
unless by her continual coming, she weary me. What about the
fella that needed bread? He comes to his friend's house
at midnight and knocks on the door. Go away, I'm already in
bed. He knocks again. Go away, I'm
already in bed. He knocks again. He wouldn't
give the fellow any peace. And so he was granted his request. Now what that's teaching us is
importunity, a shameless persistence, keep asking in this thing of
prayer. The Lord hears and answers prayer
for Christ's sake. He doesn't hear you because of
your importunity. Understand that. He hears you
for Christ's sake. But we are encouraged by the
Lord himself to keep coming. Seven times, seven times. Let's go on reading. Verse 44, and it came to pass
at the seventh time, he said, Behold, there ariseth a little
cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. You can just barely see
it. And he, Elijah, said, Go up, saying to Ahab, Prepare thy
chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it
came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with
clouds and wind, and there was a great rain." First time in
three and a half years. There was a great rain. And Ahab
rode and went to Jezreel, and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.
And he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance
of Jezreel." Now, this is one of those examples in the Scripture
where he was supernaturally enabled to outrun horses and chariots.
Kinda like David was able to kill a bear with his bear hands
and rend a lion in two with his bear hands, like the thing Samson
did with his supernatural strength. It's an unusual thing about this,
him outrunning a horse at this time. The hand of the Lord was
upon him. And he got there before Ahab did. And this is where Jezebel
lived. And what I think is interesting,
and we're gonna consider this next week, but look in chapter
19. Now you would think, before I
go on reading, you would think that some kind of mighty revival
would take place, wouldn't you? All the people see the fire of
God fall upon the sacrifice. They say, the Lord, He is the
God. The Lord, He is the God. And
you think, well, things are going to turn around. Things are going
to get better. There's going to be a mighty revival. God's
people will once again worship. And look what happens. And Ahab,
chapter 19, verse 1, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah
had done, and with all how he'd slain all the prophets with the
sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the
gods do to me, and more so, if I make not thy life as one of
them by tomorrow about this time. Now, I would like to think Elijah
would have said, The Lord's hand's on me. You're not going to be
able to do anything to me. But look at his response to this
woman. And when he saw that, he arose
and went for his life. He ran for his life and came
to Beersheba, which belonged 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, and he requested for himself
that he might die. He was so disillusioned. He was
so discouraged. Things had not happened as he
desired. He thought a mighty revival was
going to take place. Nothing happened. He's scared
to death of a woman and run for his life because he's afraid
she's going to kill him. And he requested Lord take my life. I don't want to live anymore.
I mean, he was, in some respects, he was so depressed that he felt
suicidal. And he said, Lord, just take
my life. Discouragement. Disappointment. Things not happening the way
you thought they would. That's life, isn't it? That's
life. And we see that so clearly in
this case of, Elijah, this man that God had used in such a mighty
way, yet he's so discouraged and disappointed that things
didn't turn out the way he thought they would, that he asked the
Lord to take his life. He said, I'm no better than anybody
else. I'm just as bad as everybody
else and nothing's changed. Lord, just take my life. He's
so disappointed. And we're going to consider that
more next week. But what I want to do with the remainder of our
time is consider the significance of seven. Seven. Seven is in the Bible
so much. He said, you go seven times.
And it wasn't until the seventh time he went that the cloud appeared. Now, God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it. You can't read the Bible and
not see the significance of seven. It's considered the number of
perfection. Seven days or in a week. Jacob
labored for Rachel seven years. I think of the seven skinny ears
of corn eating the seven fat ears of corn and the seven skinny
cows eating the seven fat cows which demonstrated seven years
of famine and seven years of plenty. You think of the seven
branches on the golden candlestick. of the perfect light of the scripture. This Bible, this book, Old Testament
and New Testament alike, gives us light as to who God is. And it's perfect light. There's
no knowledge of God apart from this book. I think of the seven days that The children of Israel marched
around Jericho until the walls fell. There were seven priests
who crossed the Jordan with seven trumpets that opened up the Jordan
River. There were seven churches, seven
spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven vials, returned seven times
looking for the cloud. Now, it's going to happen. You go
seven times, but this is God's purpose. He's using prayer and
it's going to happen. Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't
give in to discouragement. Don't become fatalistic. You
keep going seven times. Now, don't I kind of think of what I thought
about when I thought about this attitude. I thought about when
the disciples had been fishing all night and they'd taken nothing. And they were in the morning
after fishing all night, they were tired and cleaning up their
nets. And the Lord said, go out and
cast again on the other side. And Peter said, Lord, We're fishermen,
we know what we're doing, and there's no point in that. Nevertheless,
at thy word, because you said it, I'll let down the net again. And you remember what took place. They made that giant haul at
that time. Now, don't be discouraged in
this thing of prayer. Go seven times. And then I thought
of the Sabbath, the seventh day. the seventh day, and what were
you forbidden to do on the Sabbath? You're forbidden to work. Now
most people when they think of that, they think of just a miserable
day where you can't have any fun, and that's not what the
point of the seventh day is. The Sabbath is given to picture
the rest we have in Christ. You know, just thinking about
that makes my body relax. I do not have to work to be saved. I rest in what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. They which have believed do enter
into a rest, for he that's entered his rest has ceased from his
own works as God did from him. Have you ever ceased from your
own works and looked to Christ only? Nowhere else to look. You rest. Now when you rest,
you're not doing anything. You're not working. You're not
working, you're resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, really believing
that all that God requires of you, he looks to Jesus Christ
the Lord for. You really believe that. And
you rest. They which have believed do enter
into a rest. And then here's another seven.
Seven sets of seven years. Seven sets of seven years, a
49 year period, and on the 50th year after the seven sets of
seven years, what did you have? You'll remember the year of Jubilee. And this is so glorious, and
I think it's interesting that while it is commanded in the
law, there's not one example of anybody ever observing the
year of Jubilee. Not one, and here's why. There's
some people who lost out of it. If somebody owed you $10,000
on the year of jubilee, when that silver trumpet sounded,
that debt was canceled, you wouldn't want the year of jubilee around,
would you? You see, the only people who loved the year of
jubilee are people who were slaves, people who were in debt, people
who had lost everything. But on this year of jubilee,
your debts were canceled. Can you imagine how that person
must have felt? If you were a slave, you were set free. What you'd
lost through inability to pay was restored to you. And the
land was given a year's rest. You had a year's vacation. Nothing
to do on the year of Jubilee. Now that happened. seven sets
of seven years, then the year of Jubilee, and it's glorious,
and I have no doubt when our Lord said this day is this scripture,
this year of Jubilee fulfilled in your ears, the only time it's
ever been fulfilled is when the Lord fulfilled it as our Redeemer
and as our Savior, as the one who saved us. But as far as examples
in the scripture, you don't have one example in the scripture
that the year of Jubilee was ever observed. But thank God
it is observed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs chapter 24 verse 16
says, for a just man falleth seven times and riseth. But the wicked fall into mischief. But the just man, the just man,
you know what that means? That means a justified man. That
means a man who's perfect before God, righteous before God, which
every believer is. A just man falleth seven times. Does that mean he doesn't fall
eight? No, seven means he falls all
the time. As long as you have a sinful
nature, you're going to fall all the time. Now, do you mean
he's always like robbing banks and giving in? I know that in
my experience as a sinful man looking to Christ only, I find
that I'm always fallen, I'm always risen in Christ. I'm always fallen
and I'm always justified in Christ. And that's what it says, a just
man, a righteous man, he falls seven times. Would that describe
you? Let's don't worry about what does that look like. I don't
know what it looks like, but I know that in my own experience,
I am sinful. and I feel like I'm falling nonstop. And I know that I'm just in Christ
Jesus, and I'm righteous in Christ Jesus, and he is my all in all. So take that for what it says.
As long as you have a sinful nature, you can understand what
he means when he says a just man, a justified man, a man who's
righteous before God, he falls seven times. That means all the
time, all the time, in your own spirits. And it's so important
when we're thinking about something like this Don't think well so-and-so
Just think about yourself don't think about anybody else think
about yourself. Don't worry about Anybody else? Are you someone who falls seven
times? You find that in your own experience
Yet you're just because of the righteousness of Christ for you
and in you. His work of grace. Now, here's
something else seven times. In all the sacrifices, when the
blood was applied, I don't care if it's the cleansing of the
leper, I don't care if it's the great day of atonement, whenever
the blood of the sacrifice was applied, how many times was it
applied? You remember, don't you? Seven.
Sprinkled seven times on the mercy seat. Seven times when
the cleansing of the leper. Seven times, and what that's
talking about, this seven, once again, is perfect cleansing. Now, that man who falls seven
times, you know what he is before God? Perfectly clean. without sin, without fault, perfect
because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
how effectual his sacrifice is. Hebrews 10, 14, wherefore by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I think of the perfection of
his sacrifice. God is going to say to me on
judgment day, and this is true of every believer, and this is
hard to get hold of. I realize that. It's hard to
get hold of, but this is how complete his sacrifice is. God
is going to say to every believer, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Enter thou in to the joy of thy
Lord. Now this is how real his glorious
work is. I'm going to hear him say to
me, well done. Do I feel like I've done well?
No. Do you? No. You seem almost ashamed to
think that anything like that can be said to you. But this
is the perfection of the sacrifice of Christ. Every believer really
has done well because of the perfection of his sacrifice. That's how completely he makes
us holy in God's sight, and sin is purged away. This is in his
sight. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Now, here's another seven. I just picked out as many as
I thought I could get jammed into 25 or 30 minutes, but here's
another one that's of critical importance. Remember when Peter
said to the Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother? Seven times?
And Peter thought he was being pretty magnanimous about that.
I mean, if I'm done wrong seven times, surely there's a limit. The Lord said, no, 70 times seven. Now, you know as well as I do
that the Lord did not mean that upon the 491st time, you don't
have to forgive anymore. Didn't mean that at all. 70 times seven means all the time,
all the time. Be quick to forgive all the time. I think what our Lord said when
he was giving us prayer, he taught us to pray, forgive us our debts,
our transgressions, our sins, as we forgive those who sin against
us. I'm asking the Lord, forgive
me the way I forgive others. Now, that's a solemn thing to
think about. I don't know how many times I've tried to deal
with that. Somebody says, well, that's making salvation by works. No, it's
not. No, it's not. You're forgiven for Christ's
sake. And if you ever really believe that, you'll forgive
other people. If you really believe that you're forgiven wholeheartedly
for Christ's sake, forgiven everything, you can forgive other people. And think of this. If you are
placed in a position, a very difficult position, where you
need to forgive somebody, what a blessing of God's grace. That's
his mercy toward you. That's his grace toward you in
allowing you to be like him. Because the most God-like thing
me or you could ever do is to, from our heart, forgive somebody
for Christ's sake. Don't have to have any other
reason. Not even forgive them because they've said, I'm sorry.
Although, listen, if you seem to get somebody apologize, be
quick to say I'm sorry, but that's not why we forgive. We don't
forgive somebody because they're sorry. We forgive somebody because
we've been forgiven for Christ's sake everything. So how many
times do I forgive my brother? Seven times? No, 70 times seven
all the time. Now I want to finish by turning
to 2 Kings 5. You're familiar with this story. Go look seven times for that
cloud. Look at the seven here, verse
1. Captain of the host of the king
of Syria was a great man with his master and honorable because
by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria." Now, do you hear
what he said? Israel was defeated by Syria
because of the Lord. The Lord gave Naaman this victory
over Israel. Our victories, our defeats, everything
is all according to the Lord. The Lord did this. And he was
also a mighty man of valor. He was a powerful man, but he
was a leper. A great man, an honorable, A
powerful man, but a leper. Now here's the thing about Naaman. He was a great man who happened
to be a leper. He didn't realize he was a leper
who happened to be a great man used by God. Big difference. Let's go on reading. And the
Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive
out of the land of Israel a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's
wife, and she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord was with the
prophet that's in Samaria, talking about Elisha, for he would recover
him of his leprosy. And one went in and told his
lord, saying, Thus saith the maid that's of the land of Israel.
And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I'll send a letter
unto the king of Israel. And he departed and took with
him 10 talents of silver and 6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes
of raiment, what he was going to pay the prophet in order to
heal the leper, Naaman. And he brought the letter to
the king of Israel saying, now, when the letter is coming to
thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, my servant, to thee
that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to
pass when the king of Israel had read the letter that he rent
his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive that
this man does sin unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?
Wherefore, consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel
against me. And it was so when Elisha, the man of God, had heard
that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to
the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him
come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet
in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses
and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him. I love that. He didn't come
out and open the door personally. He sent a messenger. And can
you imagine how offended Naaman was of this? I mean, I'm an honorable
man. I mean, I'm the general. And he's just sending out a lowly
messenger to me and not dealing with me face to face? I love
the way that represents the preaching of the gospel. God sent a messenger,
a lowly messenger, a nobody from nowhere, but with the message
of the prophet. He sent him out a messenger saying,
and Elisha sent a messenger saying, go and wash in Jordan seven times,
and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean.
But Naaman's wrath, he was angry about this. He went away and
said, behold, I thought you'll surely come out to me and stand
and call on the name of the Lord as God and strike his hand over
the place and recover the leper. I thought there'd be something
a lot more impressive than this. And then he says, are not Abana
and far, far rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of
Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned away
and went away in a rage. And the servants came near and
spake to him and said, my father, if the prophet bid thee do some
great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather
than when he saith, wash and be clean? And then he went down
and dipped himself seven times in Jordan. according to the saying
of the man of God, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh
of a little child, and he was clean. Seven times represents looking
only to Christ as everything in your salvation. Not six times,
not eight times, seven. And he came back clean. Now we're thankful for the number
seven, but we're thankful for the God of seven. Amen.