Session 2 Sermon 2

What a powerful night in the Spirit! Words fail to describe the exhilaration in our spirits as His liberty and freedom reigned throughout the service. Thank you Lord for the ministry You preformed last night!!

Message

1 Kings 18:1

Command and Promise

I am and I will

1. Elijah enters upon his work of reformation
   
   1. Three and one-half years symbolic of "want and suffering"
      
   2. Real drama was about to begin
      
      1. Ravens and brook not real drama
         
      2. Widow's oil and barrel not real drama
         
      3. Raising son from the dead not real drama
         
   3. The answer to the original prayer was about to begin
      
      1. Our prayers may not be answered in just the "order" that we think they should be…but they will be answered when prayed according to His will—command and promise.
         
2. For the answer to take place Elijah had to grasp the principle of Command and Promise or the Lord's I am and I will
   
   1. Moses
      
      1. Exodus 6
         
         1. I am (2, 6, 8, 29)
            
         2. I will
            
            1. Bring you out from under burdens of the Egyptians
               
            2. Rid you of their bondage
               
            3. Redeem you with an outstretched arm (v. 6)
               
            4. Take you to me for a people
               
            5. Be your God (v. 7)
               
            6. Bring you into a land
               
            7. I will give it you for an heritage (v. 8)
               
   2. Joshua
      
      1. Joshua 1:7-9
         
   3. Gideon
      
      1. Judges 6:14-16
         
   4. Elijah
      
      1. 1 Kings 18:1
         
3. When there is a command and no promise it becomes necessary to try and see whether our own strength can fulfill the command which is contrary to His will and Word.
   
4. Golden Nuggets "Promise"
   
   1. The first one is, "He hath said, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee' " (Heb. 13:5). The translation says, "He hath said." But it is intensive in the Greek. "He Himself hath said." That is, the Lord Jesus Himself personally made this promise. The word "leave" is not from the usual Greek word which means "to leave," but from a word which means "to uphold" or "sustain." In the Greek there are two negatives before the word "leave," presenting a very strong negation. The promise is, "I will not, I will not cease to uphold or sustain thee."
      
   2. The second promise is, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Here again we have two negatives before the verb: "I will not, I will not cast out." The words "cast out" are from one word made up of two words, the word "to throw" and a preposition meaning "out from within." That is, our Lord is speaking of those who are in salvation, in the Father's house. He gives us a double-strength promise that He will not throw us out of that house. But there is another word in the Greek which does not appear in the English, the word "outside." Literally, the promise reads, "The one who comes to Me, I will not, I will not throw out into the outside." Imagine a heavenly Father throwing His own child out. That is exactly what the Greek word means. This word "outside" is found in Revelation 22:15, where it is translated "without." The New Jerusalem is spoken of in the previous verse, but "without," that is, "outside, are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." We have the solemn promise of our Lord that the Christian will never be ejected from the Father's house and thrown into the outside where those are who have rejected His grace.
      
   3. The third is, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you" (John 15:7). The words, "ye shall ask," are in the you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto imperative mood, which makes them a command, and are to be taken in the sense of "I command you to ask." "Abiding" implies fellowship with the Lord, "nothing between myself and my Saviour," and dependence upon Him. To those who thus abide, God issues the gracious command, "ask whatever ye desire." It is more than a command. It is a challenge. It is as if God said, "You meet the conditions, and I challenge you to ask, and then see how faithful and able I am to answer your prayer." The word "desire" implies a desire that proceeds, not from deliberate forethought, but from inclination. This is a perfectly safe command and promise, because when we live in close fellowship with Jesus, our desires and our inclinations are His desires and His inclinations.