Make This Valley Full of Ditches
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And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches.
Introduction.
Introduction.
In a few weeks we are going to have our annual meetings. Oh how I would like to see an outpouring of the Holy Ghost! We need it in Egypt as well.
Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother: 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.
And then, here his son come along, Jehoram, taken the place of his father and was a very wicked man, still worshipping the idols of his mother Jezebel.
Marrying out of their ranks, that’s what did it. It’ll do it in your home too. Marry amongst unbelievers and see what takes place. You lose your victory right there.
And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel.
And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, 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 a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.
They got all tied up in business and didn’t stop to consult God.
Have we prayed about the meetings? have we prayed about the trip?
When you come to the meeting tonight, if you’re sick, did you come say, “Now, Father, I’m going down there. I ask You to be merciful to me, and let my faith be raised up tonight to a place where I can believe Your Son and be healed.”
Did you think to pray when you heard the meeting was going to be up here? Did you pray, go around and get the neighbors and have little prayer meetings. We forget those things and that’s why we get in trouble.
They went seven days out into the wilderness. (Seven Church Ages)
Never fetched no compass. And come to find out, they got in trouble; they went without consulting God. And all the water supply was cut off. That’s what’s the matter with the church tonight. The water supply is cut off, trying to carry the church on without the supernatural.
Trying to try to carry the church on just in its natural. Trying to pattern after the other churches of the world, and that’s the reason we’re not having the blessings we used to have.
Spurgeon:
We must have the aid of the Holy Spirit, for ours is not a mechanical religion. If our worship consisted in the reading of forms “appointed by authority,” we could do exceedingly well without the assistance of the Spirit of God. If we believed in the manipulations of priestcraft, and thought that after certain words, and genuflections, and ceremonials, all was done, it would matter little to us whether we had the conscious presence of God or no.
If we could regenerate by water, applied by hands saturated with the oil of apostolical succession, we should have no particular need to pray for the benediction of the Holy Ghost; and if the utterance of certain words, it may be by profane lips, could turn bread and wine— oh, horrible dogma! — into the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we could wondrously well afford to dispense with the Spirit of God.
But we cannot thus deceive ourselves. Ours is not a religion of mechanics and hydrostatics: it is spiritual, and must be sustained by spiritual means. If our religion were, on the other hand, one of mere intellectualism, we should only need a well-trained minister, who had passed through all the grades of human learning, who had stored himself with the best biblical criticism, and was able to instruct and illuminate our understandings, and we, if we be men of judgment ourselves, could profit exceedingly well.
Our faith standing in the wisdom of man, the wisdom of man could easily be found, and our faith could be confirmed. But if, my brethren, our faith standeth not in the wisdom of man nor in the eloquence of human lips, but in the power of God, then in vain do we make a profession, unless the Holy Ghost dwelleth in our inner man.
And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!
But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.
God had a man named Elisha.
But Elisha had poured water on Elijah’s hands. What a marvelous prophet. He had a double portion.
Elijah, the old prophet, represented Christ. Elisha represents the church, the young prophet.
And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el.
And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.
And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
Notice, he said, “Ask me what you will now, and I’ll give it to you.” Watch.
He wasn’t afraid to ask. He said, “I want a double portion of your Spirit. Amen. I like that. Ask abundantly. Ask for great things. Believe for great things.
Elijah took that mantle and walked down to the Jordan, stood there and there’s the school of prophets over there looking at him, see what he’d do. He took that mantle and doubled it back and forth and struck that old Jordan and said, “Where is the God of Elijah?” and she divided one way and the other way: a beautiful type of the church who’s come down through the Lutheran age, the Methodist age, and through Pentecost age, and now crossing the Jordan.
(Jesus and Disciples)
Now, He gathered them up there and blessed them just before they went away. And He said, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you’re endued with power from on high. The things that I do shall you also, and greater than this shall you do.”
A double portion was promised to the church. And I tell you, they went to the upper room and stayed there until the day that Jesus was taken up. And the same baptism of the Holy Ghost that He had on Him, fell on the Pentecostal people. Hallelujah. There’s your double portion.
Why, you people who claim to kiss the rim of the cup of the golden blessings of God? Who could set still in such a day? When you’ve got a double portion among you.
Where is the God that was on Jesus Christ. Where is He at? The One Who knew the thoughts of the people’s mind, the One Who did this, that, or the other, He said, “The things that I do, shall you also.”
The baptism that I’m baptized with, you’ll be baptized with the same and a double portion shall come.” Hallelujah. Where is the God that was on Jesus Christ? He’s here sweeping over this building right tonight, the same Holy Ghost. A trouble of it is, you’ve felt it and you know His Presence is here, but you’re afraid to turn loose to it.
And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
And Elisha 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. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before 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.
But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.
Now, you people don’t believe in music in the church, what about that? The minstrel begin to play and the spirit come on the prophet.
If music helped bring the Spirit on a prophet, then it’ll do the same thing tonight.
And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches.
For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
And the Spirit of the Lord come upon Him. And when the Spirit come, he begin to see things. A vision come. And he looked around; he said, “THUS SAITH THE LORD. Get out there and go to digging ditches, for you’re not going to hear any wind or see any rain.
But THUS SAITH THE LORD, the ditches is going to be filled up with the water.” Brother, I’m telling you, they went to digging. Right out there in that desert. How’s it going to come? There ain’t going to be no rain. That’s God’s business to take care of that. It’s your business to dig ditches.
They went to digging. Some of them said, “Well, I’ve got the digger.” The deeper you go, the more water you’re going to have. That’s the same thing tonight. Get to digging some ditches so the Holy Ghost can travel through it.
That water come from that Rock that was in that desert out there, that had been smitten in the days of Moses. It was still there. (Vision of the Rock)
It’s still here tonight, that same Rock that the children of Israel drank from. He was that Rock. “God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him, not perish.” A perishing people, from the smitten Rock, lived. And He’s the smitten Rock tonight, to a perishing people, the only hope of Life there is.
The trouble of it is, you go to digging, the first thing you know, you stick your shovel down: say, “Pay ten percent.” Oh, oh. Can’t do that. You don’t get much water.
If you’ll just keep on digging, brother, and keep on digging, and dig them old doubts out, them old dish pans and rocks and stones and things like that, dig deep enough to throw it all out, and get enough water flowing through there so you can get a good decent drink once in a while.
What’s the matter tonight? You got to dig away from your church, dig away from this, dig away from that, and dig into Christ Jesus.
Conclusion.
Conclusion.
Digging in the desert is hard work, you get sweaty and tired. Are you willing to dig? What is stopping up the water? Worldliness? Social Media? Internet? Entertainment? An unforgiving spirit? I invite you to dig it out at the altar.