(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, the title of the sermon this evening is called Two Brooks. What I'd like to do this evening is just look at two brooks that are mentioned in the Bible, and as we go along, mainly we'll look at just the one that's mentioned in this chapter here in verse 23. It says, And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over, and the king also himself passed over the brook Cai-dron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. There's two brooks that I want to look at this evening. Mainly the main one we want to look at is Cai-dron. We'll spend a lot of time and make application as we go, and then when we get towards the end, we'll just have kind of a final point. But there's several attributes that we can see about the brook Cai-dron that we could apply to our own lives, and also mainly what we should look for in a church. I believe that the brook Cai-dron, there's a lot of attributes there, a lot of positive mentions of the brook Cai-dron that we could apply to those things that are attributes that we should seek for when we're looking for a good church. One of the first things we notice here is that Cai-dron, for David, was a place of refuge and of safety. If you get the context of the chapter, of course, this is when Absalom has committed conspiracy against David and has rose up against him, and David flees for his life, and it's the brook Cai-dron that he passes over, which acts as a barrier between David and his men and Absalom and his men. We see that, first of all, one of the attributes of the brook Cai-dron is that it's a place of refuge and of safety. It serves as a form of division between David and Absalom there. If you would, turn to Matthew chapter 10. One of the first things we can understand about a good New Testament church is that it's a place of safety and of refuge. When we come into a local New Testament Baptist church, when we're in an independent, fundamental Baptist church, we should feel, to some degree, that we are in a place of refuge and a place of safety, that we're amongst like-minded believers, that we're amongst people that we don't have to worry about stabbing us in the back or turning on us or anything like that, that these should be people that we can be friends with, that we can develop relationships with, and that we can enjoy our time together. But you have to understand that that refuge and that safety came in a form of division. And you're there in Matthew chapter 10, in verses 27 and 28, the Bible reads, What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and that which ye hear in the ear, that preach upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Now we all love the boldness of those verses, where Jesus is challenging us to speak that which we have heard in darkness. And verses 29 and 31 are very encouraging, where it says, Are not two sparrows told for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore. Ye are of more value than many sparrows. We see those are very encouraging verses that tell of God's care for us. Also we're very challenged by verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him also will I confess, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. So we see in these verses, you know, the boldness and the encouragement and the challenge. We have to consider the cost that Jesus lays upon us as well. If we're going to be followers of Jesus Christ, if we're going to be part of the local New Testament church, if we're going to find the safety and refuge that we seek, then we're going to have to understand that it comes in the form of division. Jesus said there in verse 34, Think not, I am come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace but a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. So we love all these other verses leading up to this one, the encouragement, the challenge, the boldness. But this is really where the rubber meets the road where if we're going to follow Christ and if we're going to find that safety and refuge, we have to understand that it's going to come in the form of division. And it might be that in our own lives a man's foes shall be they of his own household. It may be someone very close to you, it might be your kindred, it might be a brother, a sister, a parent, it might even be a child. There are going to be divisions that may need to be made in our lives, there may have to be a chidron, so to speak, between us and others in our lives. So we all want that safety, we all want that benefit of refuge, but we have to understand that the benefit of refuge is just that, it's a benefit. And it's something that we receive when we perform the duty that Christ has laid upon us to divide from those that would hinder us in our walk for Christ. Now that is the example that Jesus set there in verse 24, it says the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. Is it enough? It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his own household? So it's an example that Jesus Christ himself set, that when he came unto his own, his own received him not, and that he had to create divisions and separate from those that would do him harm or mock him, he endured the mockery and the ridicule of his own house. And it may be that that's what falls upon us as well, but that's what we have to endure if we're going to want to have the refuge and the safety that the local New Testament church can offer. Now if you would please turn back to 1 Kings chapter 2. So we see that Caiadrin represents safety in the form of division. David had to put distance between him and Absalom, and it may be also that we have to separate from our own kin. You're turning to 1 Kings 2, I'll read to you from 1 Kings 15, and Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his father, and he took away the Sodomites out of the land and removed all the idols that his father hath made. And also Maica his mother, even her he removed from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove, and Asa destroyed her idol and burnt it by the brook Caiadrin. So we see again that Caiadrin is being mentioned in a story where somebody is having to divide from somebody else and even their own family. It was Asa here who had to divide from his own mother because she was doing that which was evil, and Asa sought to do that which was right. And when he straightened things out, it was to the brook Caiadrin that he went when he burnt her idols. You're there in 1 Kings chapter 2, we see first of all that Caiadrin is a place of refuge and of safety, but it also represents a place of boundaries, and that's what we should expect when we come into a New Testament church. When we come into a Bible believing Baptist church we should expect that the preaching of the word of God and the reading of the word of God is going to set up boundaries in our life. That is what the brook Caiadrin represented to David and to others that represented a boundary that hopefully that Absalom would not cross. So we have to understand that there are going to be boundaries also in our life. And a good example of that is Shimei. If you look there, Shimei is given a boundary by King Solomon. Now Solomon, this is of course, David has passed on, Solomon is now reigning, and he's carrying out David's dying wishes concerning certain people. Some people David had put to death, others were shown mercy, and one of those was Shimei. If you remember Shimei, when David crossed over the brook Caiadrin, it was Shimei that cursed David, called him a man of Belial, and cursed David when he fled from Absalom. But he was given mercy upon his return, if you remember. That's where we'll pick it up in 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 36. And the king sent and called for Shimei and said unto him, build thee in house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. For it shall be that on the day that thou goest out, and passest over the brook Caiadrin, that thou shall know for certain that thou shalt surely die. Thy blood shall be upon thine own head, and Shimei said unto the king, thy saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will thy servant do, and Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. You see, we also are given boundaries in our own lives. We were given boundaries just as Shimei was given a boundary. He said, look, the brook Caiadrin, that's going to be your boundary. If we're going to dwell in a New Testament church and we're going to make it in the long haul, we have to understand that there are certain boundaries that the New Testament church sets up for us as well. There's the boundary of the abstinence from sin. I'll read to you from 1 Thessalonians 4 where the Bible reads, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. So there's a boundary that God has set up in his word that we as believers should abstain from fornication. That's a practical boundary that we can look at and say that's something that we have to take heed to. The king of heaven has set up a boundary for us, just as the book of Kings there had set up a boundary for Shimei, there's also a boundary set up for us that we should not be fornicators. You see, abstinence from fornication is a very specific boundary. And there's many other boundaries that are set up for us. We won't take the time to look at all of them, but this is one that we all need to take heed to. 1 Thessalonians 5.22 says abstain from all appearance of evil. So there's many other things that we should be abstaining from in our lives. There should be certain boundaries, there should be a brook hydrant in our lives that sets up a boundary for us. We should set up a boundary from those that are in sin. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5.9, I wrote it to you in an epistle not to accompany with fornicators. So it's not just that we shouldn't be fornicators, but if somebody else is living in fornication, meaning they're having relations with another person outside of the bonds of marriage, those people are to be marked and avoided. There's also other people that are to be marked and avoided, other sins that they could fall into. It says here, if any man that has called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner, would such a one know not to eat? There are certain people that we have to set up a boundary, we have to put a brook hydrant between us and them, because that's what the Bible has stated for us to do. Also those that would teach heresy, those that would be thrown out from the church for being heretics. Those are people that we should divide from. Those are the people that are to be marked and avoided. We need to set up these boundaries in our lives because they are what protects us. The Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness. It says in verse 17, wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. We need to have these boundaries in our lives. Now these boundaries were applied specifically in the second kings there to Shimei. And I think it's interesting that Shimei, I think there's a lot of things that we have in common with Shimei. I think the story of Shimei is a picture of salvation. The Bible says in 2 Samuel 16, if you would turn there, 2 Samuel 16, while you're turning I'll begin reading in verse 5, 2 Samuel 16 beginning in verse 5, and when King David came to Bahuram, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth and cursed still as he came, and he cast stones at David and all the servants of the King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered up the kingdom in the hand of Absalom, thy son. Behold thou art taken in mischief, because thou art a bloody man. So we see Shimei, the first time he shows up in scripture, he's cursing the king. Now were we not also at one time the enemies of God? The Bible says in Colossians 1 21, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. That's something that we share in common with Shimei. That we at one time had offended a king. He offended an earthly king, but at one time we also had offended the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Bible says in Ephesians 2 1, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Where in times past you walked according to the course of this world, among whom we all had our conversation in times past, and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. We were children of wrath before we were saved. Just as Shimei was an enemy of King David. But just as King David, another attribute that we share with Shimei is that yes we were the enemies of the king, but we also were shown mercy from the king. 2 Samuel 19, if you want to turn over there, 2 Samuel 19, I'll begin reading in verse 16. And Shimei the son of Gerah, Benjamin, which was of Bahuram, hastened and came down with the men of Judah to meet the king. And there was a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him. And they went over Jordan before the king, verse 18. And there went over a ferryboat to carry the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gerah fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan. And he said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servants did perversely the day my lord, the king, went out from Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned. So here we see Shimei coming to the king and confessing his sin. And if you're saved tonight, that's what you had to do to get saved. You had to come to the king of glory and you had to confess that you were a sinner. That you had broken his commandments. And you had to ask for mercy. You had to ask for that forgiveness. You had to put your faith and trust in what Jesus Christ did for you. And when he died and was buried and he rose again. And just as surely as we receive that mercy, the Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. When we put our faith and our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will receive that mercy. And just as in the same manner, Shimei came to King David and he also received mercy. Verse 23, Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him. So he had the promise of the king that he would not die. That he would not be punished for the iniquity that he committed. And it's the same case with us that we have a king that has forgiven us and has sworn unto us and has promised us that we would be his children. That we would be saved under the day of redemption. Now it's interesting because that's not the only parallel with Shimei, it goes on. In 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 36, And the king sent forth for Shimei and said unto him, Build thee in house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not thence any whither. So King Solomon says, Look, you're going to live with me. You're going to stay in Jerusalem. This is where you're going to live. Right? And he says, Don't go anywhere else. And that's the same thing that God in a sense has told us. That we are to dwell with him. That we are to be close to him. That we are supposed to not wander away from him. We're not supposed to cross that brook kydron. That serves as that boundary. Remember that's what we're talking about. That there's a boundary that God has set up for us. And we are also destined to dwell in the presence of the king. The Bible says in John 14, In my house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Just as Shimei dwelt with the king one day, we too will dwell with the king in Jerusalem. And he was also, you know, he was forgiven, he was shown mercy, and he was destined to dwell with the king. But he was also given boundaries by the king. And that's the same case with us. We also have been boundaries. We've looked at a few of them. And we've read of others, and there's many other boundaries that we could turn to that are given to us. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2, But ye are a chosen generation of royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which were in times past not a people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have attained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts. That is a boundary that our king has given us, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Now there is no excuse for crossing these bounds. Jimmy and I had no excuse to cross the Brook Chydrin. And we don't have any excuses today. There's nothing that we could say, well, you know, I know God doesn't want me to be a fornicator. God doesn't want me to be a drunkard or covetous, but he doesn't understand my situation. It's okay for me to do it. I get a pass. There is no pass. Now we're saved by grace, and we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're destined for heaven. We'll never lose that. But we can suffer consequences on this earth prior to reaching heaven. And that's exactly what happened to Shimei. If you look there, if you're in 1 Kings chapter 2 and verse 37, he said to him, For it shall be in the day that thou goest out, and passest over the Brook Chydrin, that thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die, shall surely die, thy blood shall be upon thine own head. So he's telling Shimei, he says, look, you can live with me, I've shown you mercy, here's this boundary, the Brook Chydrin, don't cross over it. If you do, your blood's going to be on you. The Bible says in Galatians 6, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. We will reap what we sow in this life. If we cross the boundaries that God has set for us, we will reap the consequences. And we've agreed to those terms. We understand that if we're members here, if we've heard any Bible preaching or we read the Bible, we know that there's many do's and don'ts in the Word of God. That there's certain boundaries that God has set up, and we are without excuse. We have been warned. And Shimei has agreed to those terms. He said, in verse 38, And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good, as my Lord hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. And if we're here this evening, you know, it's safe to, we would assume that most of us, like Shimei, have consented to the terms that have been laid upon us. That if we haven't found ourselves tossed out of the local church for being a fornicator or a drunkard or a railer or a heretic, that we're abiding by certain boundaries. That's why we're still here. We have agreed to these terms. We've consented. But we have to be careful that we don't make the mistake that Shimei made. Shimei made the mistake of getting comfortable. That's what he did. The Bible says he dwelt there many days. And we see Paul in his writings to the several churches saying things that he's trying to make sure that these people that he's writing to do not get comfortable. He wrote, he said, for me, it is meaningful to write unto you the same thing is good. He said that he wrote to put them in remembrance. He told Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him. He didn't want these people getting comfortable. Because he understood that when we get comfortable, when we get lax, that's when we get a little loose and we start to cross those boundaries and there's consequences for crossing those boundaries. See, Shimei got comfortable in verse 39, it says, and it came to pass at the end of three years. So for three years, Shimei managed to stay on the right side of the Brook Hydrant. He abode there where he was supposed to in Jerusalem. He was obedient to the king. And after three years, that two of his servants, two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish, the son of Maacah, king of Gath, and they told Shimei saying, behold thy servants being Gath. Now this is where Shimei starts to fall. This is where he has an excuse now. Well, I've got to go find my servants. Now that sounds reasonable, doesn't it? That he needs to go find his servants, they've run away. Maybe these are people that were indebted to him in some way, that they needed to serve out their time with him. And Shimei, in verse 40, and Shimei rose and sat on his ass and went to Achish to seek his servants, and Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. So it seems like everything's fine. He goes, he gets his servants, and brings them back. He wasn't just taking off across the Brook Hydrant to go, you know, gallivanting or to find another place to dwell, in fact, he even came back. I wonder if he even tried to do it secretly, maybe if he snuck out at night and came back with his servants. So he comes back, but notice, he doesn't get away with it. Shimei suffers the consequences in verse 41. So we see that Shimei might have thought that he was getting away with it, but notice in verse 41 it says, and it was told Solomon, be sure your sin will find you out. There is no secret sin that we can cover up that will not be found out, that will not be brought to light. We need to seek mercy. If we're in this position, if we've crossed the bounds, if we've crossed God's word, we should seek mercy and hope that the consequences don't come upon us. God is very gracious and long-suffering, and I believe that, and the Bible says, whosoever confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy. So we ought to be careful of that, because the Brook Hydrant here, it represents boundaries. It represents a place of refuge. It also represents a place of cleansing. I'll read for you in 2 Chronicles 29, during the reign of Hezekiah, the Bible says in verse 16, the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the Brook Hydrant. So when they're cleaning house, when they're cleaning the Lord's house, it's the Brook Hydrant that they take all the uncleanness that they find. And when they seek hydrant, there's another attribute to it that we can glean from, is that it is a place of cleansing. Not only, and I won't develop that too much for the sake of time, but the Bible says in 2 Kings 23, and the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant. So we see that it begins with the word of God. That's where the cleansing takes place, is when we hear the word of God. Bible says in verse 2 there, 2 Kings 23, it says he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant, which was in the house of the Lord. We also were cleansed by the word of God. When we come into the house of God, and we hear the preaching of the word of God, when we read the Bible for our own selves, that's when we're going to receive that cleansing. That's when the temple of our own body, our vessel will be cleansed, when that which is unclean will be brought out. The Bible says in Ephesians 5, husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. We see also that it was for everyone. The Bible says there in 2 Kings 23, and the king went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. So the point is here is that the word of God is what cleanses us, and it's the word of God that applies to all of us. You see, and this cleansing will only come through the Bible. Not only does a chidron represent cleansing, not only does it represent a place of refuge and safety, not only does it represent a boundary, chidron also represents revival. Chidron represents revival. In 2 Chronicles 30, when Hezekiah sends posts and declares the Passover, the Bible says in verse 14, and they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for the incense took they away and cast them into the brook chidron. So we see when people are trying to get right with God, when people are trying to get back to the old paths, they take all the altars and all these idols and these wicked things, all these false gods, and they go to the brook chidron with them, and that's where they get rid of them. In verse 26 it says, so there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of King David of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem. There was no other Passover quite like this one, and it was when they got right with God. You see, chidron also represents for us revival. So where is chidron today? This is where we can, we've seen some of the attributes of chidron, we've seen that it is a place of refuge and safety, we see that it's a place of boundaries, it's a place of cleansing and revival, but where is it today? We're not looking for a physical brook, but there is a place where we can find it, and that is in the New Testament church. That's where we find it. We find the chidron that we are looking for today is in the New Testament church. And we need to understand that it's great that we have a church like this, that I believe represents all these attributes of a brook chidron. This is a place, in faithful word, of refuge and safety. This is a church that has boundaries, that cannot be crossed, they will be enforced. We've seen that. This is a place for cleansing, many of us that have come here have come to try and get things right in our life, to be better Christians, to be better husbands and wives and parents, and to get our lives right and to straighten ourselves out through the preaching of the word of God. It represents a place of revival, many of us have come from churches that are lukewarm if not dead, they do no soul winning, they don't have any great works going on, we've come here because we see the zeal that the church here has. So we see that faithful word as a good representation of a church like the brook chidron, it has these things, but we have to understand something. The chidron also represents sacrifice, that we don't have a church like this without sacrifice. Chidron is a place of sacrifice, all things come at a cost. Jesus in John 18, and when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook chidron, it's a different spelling in the New Testament that's the same brook, the brook chidron is the brook chidron. Where was a garden into which he entered and his disciples? Judas also which betrayed him knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees come thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, when he's ready to make a sacrifice, when he's ready to lay down his life for the sins of the world, it's the brook chidron, the brook chidron that he passes over. So we see another mention of the brook chidron being a place where sacrifice is made. Jesus knew when he was passing over that he would pass over and be arrested and then crucified, that he would lay down his life. He was willing to make himself a sacrifice and he set that example for us. That's what we want. If we want a church that is going to have these attributes of this brook chidron, we have to understand that it comes at a sacrifice. First John 3 16 says, here by perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. You see, all that chidron offers, all its safety, all its boundaries, its cleansing, its revival, it all comes at a price. And we should never have this attitude when we come to this church of, well what can this church do for me? Now it's great if we're in need, if we have a genuine need. If we're in a time or a season of life where we're down on our luck or we just need some help, I think of often when the ladies here give birth, that's a need that we see fulfilled daily. But we should never come just with this attitude of, well what's in it for me? We need to understand that a church like this is here for others. That's what should be out of attitude. We shouldn't ask what it can offer us, but we should ask what can we offer it? What can we sacrifice for the church? You see, it's what we do for others that's what makes this church what it is. And if there's anybody that makes any more sacrifice, it's the preacher. It's the man who gets up behind the pulpit three days a week and preaches and takes a strong stand on the Word of God. And the world comes at him, even other preachers come at him, and all these other people. And we should never take that for granted. We should always remember that it's those that watch for our souls, those that are shepherds of the flock, they are making the greatest sacrifice. We also should ask, what can we do for others? That's why I think this church is such a great, soul-winning powerhouse that it is. It's because we have people here that understand this, that understand that, you know, Brook Hydron is a place of sacrifice. Faithful Word Baptist Church is a place where we can sacrifice, a place where we can go out and seek to see others saved. That we can sacrifice our own time, our own resources, our own energy, and go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in and see others saved. And we help one another selflessly. That should be our attitude, that we are willing to sacrifice one for another. So we see that there's all these great attributes that the Brook Hydron represents, and that it all comes at a sacrifice. But the title of this sermon is Two Brooks. So there is another brook that we need to look at very briefly before we close tonight. And it's found in 1 Kings 17, if you would turn there. We'll look at another brook. In 1 Kings 17, we'll look at the brook that is called Cherith, the Brook Cherith. So if we're going to liken the Brook Hydron onto a local New Testament church, like Faithful Word Baptist Church and other churches like this, well, what would the Brook Cherith represent? I believe it would represent your average church that's out there today. Your average, average independent fundamental Baptist church. Your watered down, lukewarm, no soul winning, no hard preaching church that's out there. And they're in abundance today. That's the Brook Cherith, your average church. 1 Kings 17, verse 1, And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these three years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the Brook Cherith that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord, for he went and dwelt by the Brook Cherith that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. So we see here that the Brook Cherith is where Elijah was commanded to go. You know, there was a drought in the land, there was famine in the land, and is that not what we see going on in our land today, spiritually speaking? We see a drought, we see a famine of soul winning, we see a famine of hard preaching, we see a famine of standards, of biblical standards, of a line being drawn in the sand with the word of God. But Elijah is told to go and hide there. And really that's the only attribute that most preachers have with Elijah today. Elijah was a great man of Gaiot, a bold preacher, and he was obedient in going there, he was told to go there. But that's really the only attribute that most preachers have today with him, is that they're hiding. They're too afraid to get up and preach the word of God like it needs to be preached. They're too afraid of the persecution that will come if they get up and say what the word of God says. There's several issues we could talk about, about the Sodomites, abortion, even these things about fornication, we'd upset people, or drunkenness, or King James only, you name the issue. And we've got preachers today that are cowering in the Brook Cherith, and there's a famine in our land. Now there's a lot of people out there that they don't have a church like this to go to. I will say this, that the Brook Cherith will do in a pinch. If that's all you've got, that's where you've got to go. You need to find the best church you can. And if you've got a man of God there at least, maybe he's hiding, but at least you've got a man of God. At least you're not having to go without church completely, because that would be really hard to do. You should find the best church you can, even if it is a Brook Cherith. If you don't want to do that, then you need to make the sacrifice, as we spoke of earlier, and move and get here. Now I'm kind of preaching to the choir, but maybe we're visiting and we know we've got everybody out there in YouTube land, maybe they need to pack up and move here. That's how a lot of people ended up here. Now Elijah was commanded to go there. God commands you to be in church. God commands us to be in certain places, just as he commanded Elijah to be at the Brook Cherith. We should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Now the man of God, Elijah, was there. He was a man of God. And if you're in one of these churches, if you ever find yourself in a church that is more of a watered down church, like the Brook Cherith, you should respect the authority of that pastor. You shouldn't go in there looking to make trouble and trying to, you know, just debate everybody. You should go there with respect, sit down, be quiet, and be a blessing. See there was water there. It's not like you could go there and die. You could still go to these churches and at least get some water, and maybe that's the only thing you'll hear is the, you know, the gospel being preached, the water of life being repeated every Sunday, every Sunday, the same thing. All you'll get is water. Now there is meat. This is what I find interesting. You won't die of thirst spiritually, but you might get a little famished. But there was bread and flesh there for a time. But notice where it came from. It wasn't there. It had to be brought from somewhere else. That's what I think a lot of people on YouTube do. That's why these, this church has so many YouTube views because, you know, they're at the Brook Cherith and yeah, they're getting a little water from the pulpit and they're not completely parched. But if they want to get that bread, if they want to get that meat, you know, it's going to have to come in from afar. The raven of the internet is going to have to bring it to them. The raven of YouTube is going to have to feed them, right? That's where they're going to get the strong meat. That's where they're going to get the bread. You can get it also for yourself, get the bread out of the word of God by reading it for yourself. So you won't die of thirst there at the Brook Cherith, but you might have to find another source for your bread and meat on YouTube. But eventually you have to understand something, that that brook is going to dry up. And that's what we see happening with the old IFB. They're going to dry up and shrivel up and go away. They're going to turn to dust and they're not going to, there will be no more. The people that are coming out of their Bible colleges are weak, watered down, they're not doing things God's way. And that's why churches like this stand out. Because it's not because we're anything special, it's just we want to do it the way the Bible says it. Now God may ask you to move to a strange place. Once he realized, hey, the Brook Cherith, it's drying up, he had to go to another place. He had to go to another land and let a widow feed him. That might be what some of these people that are living in some of these churches have to do, that are attending these churches, that they don't want to just continue to, you know, you can only get so much out of YouTube, right? You need to get in a good church. Now there is this unnamed brook, there's another one, and it's a dead, cold church. And I think that's what a lot of these other churches are too. It's just a dead, cold church. You know, the pastor is deceived and he's deceitful. There are those churches too. You could do a lot worse than the Brook Cherith. You could be in one that's just wicked. Not just watered down and weak, but just wicked. There's dead, cold churches out there where the pastor is a deceiver and himself deceived. And even in these cold churches, you know, it's not too late for them. God could thaw them out. Bible says in Psalm 147, he giveth snow like the wool. He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels. Who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word and melteth them. He causeth the wind to blow and the waters to flow. God, if these people would take heed to the Word of God and preach the Word of God, they could experience a great thaw. They could thaw out, as it were. But the problem is with a lot of these churches is that they just can't take the heat. The Bible says in Job 6, my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away, which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is head. What time they wax warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. That's why these churches that are in the deep freeze, these frozen, these blackish, hoarfrost churches are going to stay that way is because the Word of God is the only thing that can warm them up and thaw them out, and they can't take the heat. They vanish away, and they're consumed out of their place. I guess the thrust of this sermon is that we're in a great church that offers us a lot of great things. It offers us a lot of these attributes that we find in the brook hydrant, the safety, the boundaries, the revival, the cleansing, all these great things that we would want out of a New Testament church, and we have to understand that they come through sacrifice of others and of ourselves. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I wouldn't want to be in a brook church. That's why I moved here. Sometimes the waters get a little rough when you're at a church like this. The pastor gets up and makes some waves, and the boat starts rocking, and sure enough, people start putting on the life vests and jumping ship. That's unfortunate, and we've seen it happen, but this church continues to grow, and I'm excited for that. I'll close with this illustration. I remember when I was about 15 years old, I went on a canoe trip with my family, my mom, stepdad, and some aunts and uncles, and we were canoeing down the Pine River. It was just in spring when everything had thawed out, so all the snow was melting and running down into the Pine River, and so the waters got pretty rough at times. I remember at one point, some of my aunts and uncles, they ran into a log jam and were tipping over. We ran into them, and I was very hectic, and I just remember my one uncle falling out and getting pinned by his neck between my canoe and his canoe, and we're all bailing into this ice-cold, frigid water, and all the stuff goes floating everywhere. I go under. My one aunt reaches up and grabs a limb. It was a big log pile and breaks it, and she ended up getting a black eye, and everyone goes into the drink. Everything's floating down the river. My stepdad, he was an old lifeguard, and I look over, and he's diving in and grabbing everything he can and pulling everybody out, and I get out just drenched, freezing. Everything's soaked. We got miles to go. I tell you what, it was the best time of my life. That's the canoe trip I remember. It's a lot better than just going out on some placid lake, just by myself and my kayak. Everything's nice and calm. I like that rough water. If we're in this church, we're here, I believe, because we want to do great things for God, but we have to understand that the waters might get rough at the brook, and we shouldn't bail. We shouldn't try to avoid that, because it's boring over at the other ones. The brook cherith is drying up, and it's no fun, so we'll just keep that in mind, and let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the preaching of it. Father, I pray that you would just help something that I've said here this evening to be an encouragement or a help or a blessing to somebody, and Father, I pray that you would just bless us as we go our way. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.