We're going to 2 Kings and chapter 4, and we're going to be reading the first seven verses. And I'm really quite excited about this because we are starting now upon a series of very interesting accounts in the life of Elisha. And they'll stretch through this chapter and into the next chapter and into the chapter after that. So actually, we're in a rich little section of the book of Kings, of Second Kings, yes. We've been reading a lot about some of the bad kings and the troubles of the kings in recent weeks, but I think, well, I hope we're all going to enjoy the accounts that we have before us in the coming weeks. So let us press on and ask the Lord to guide us and to illuminate our minds and our hearts and teach us his will out of these passages. We're in 2 Kings chapter 4 and verse 1.

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. That just means slaves. So these creditors were coming to take this woman's children to be slaves. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee?

Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. It came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word. I always like to notice when the Bible begins a passage or an account with the phrase, a certain man, or in this case, a certain woman. I looked it up. There are eight occasions in the Bible when we are told about a certain woman. And the inclusion of the word certain is significant. It would be possible to read this opening verse like this.

Now there cried a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha. However, it was not simply a woman who cried. but a certain woman. A woman upon whom the Lord was pleased to set his blessing. A woman upon whom the Lord would supply her need in a marvellous, miraculous way. And using this word, the use of this word, sets this lady apart. It distinguishes her. as one whom the Lord has specifically chosen to help and to bless. One who is purposefully set apart to do his bidding, to accomplish his purpose, or to convey his message in some way. And yet, what a poor soul this certain lady was.

Her husband had died, leaving her owing money, and she owed more than she could pay. She had lost her husband, but not his debt. Her dead husband's creditors, that's the people that she owed money to, were coming to take away her two boys in order to make them slaves. They said effectively, if you cannot pay your debts, we will take your sons and make them slaves. We'll sell them and make them somebody's slave and that will be in payment of your debt. This certain woman would be left with nothing, having had a husband and children, having had a home and a family. Suddenly it was all taken from her. All that was precious to her would be taken from her, either by nature or by human greed.

I can remember hearing this story as a child, probably younger than some of you who are listening today. And I remember being moved by it. I could relate to it. I was one of two boys with a mum and a dad, and I could identify with this little family, perhaps in a way that I didn't identify with any other. family in the Bible.

I wondered what would happen if my father died. Could children still be taken from their mother and made to work? And the difference between living in a happy family and complete ruin and desolation seemed very small when I was reading this story or having it read to me. Many of us, I suspect, have no real idea of the pressures that some families face, especially lone parents.

We learn in the opening verse that the woman's husband had been a son of the prophets. So he was one of this group of faithful men that the Lord had preserved in the land during the time of Ahab and Jezebel. And we learn two things from this. First we learn that the sons of the prophets were not forbidden to marry. Okay, well that's just a little point for us to note. The sons of the prophets, the prophets of God, were not forbidden to marry. That's what this little verse tells us here.

The second thing is that just because a person honours God, and the woman was able to say to Elisha, you know that my husband feared the Lord. Just because a person honours God and serves the Lord, doesn't mean that they are without troubles. The Lord's people knew hunger and poverty and debt during this time. Israel was a divided society. It was filled with idolatry. And the Lord's servants often had to hide. And it's possible that this man had found it difficult to work. because he was a believer in the Lord and because he was being discriminated against for his faith. There are places in the world where that is still the lot of those who endeavour to follow the Lord Jesus. And this woman in her need, this woman in her sorrow, we learn, was wise.

She took her trouble to the Lord She went to Elisha. Elisha was the man of God there at that time in Israel, and she took her troubles to the Lord through Elisha. She appealed to him for help. In verse 2, Elisha said to her, What shall I do for thee?

Now, I get the feeling that this was not an invitation for the woman to ask for whatever she wanted, but rather it was said with a sense of hopelessness, even on the part of Elisha, as if he was saying, what shall I do for thee? Elisha was himself a poor man. He had no money. He didn't have anything to give this lady. He had no rich friends from whom to obtain a loan.

Perhaps in asking her, what have you in your house? He may have been inquiring if she had anything of value that she could sell. Well, she hadn't. Everything of any value was already gone. and all that remained was a little oil in a pot. But I admire that the woman told Elisha about this oil. How much easier it would have been simply to say, I've got nothing. I've got nothing. But she didn't. She told him the little she had.

I think that's a little bit like Andrew. just before the feeding of the 5,000 in John chapter 6 in the New Testament. Just before the feeding of the 5,000, Andrew said to the Lord Jesus, there is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishies. But what are they amongst so many? It's hardly worth mentioning them to the Lord. Ah, but it was all that it took in the hands of the Lord. And I think that at the mention of the pot of oil, the Lord revealed to Elisha what he was about to do.

Elisha tells the lady, go and borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. He says to her, don't just borrow a few, borrow as many as you can get. He said, go abroad. Now, he didn't mean go overseas, but he says, go as far as you are able to go. Go to the next village, maybe.

Her neighbours might have been cautious to lend any vessels to her that were full, given that she was such a poor woman. but they had little to lose by giving her their empty pots. She, on the other hand, had much to gain by collecting as many empty pots as she could. And I've got a feeling, I suspect that Elisha indicated to the woman not to think small, but to think big. Go to all your neighbours. I think he likely emphasised, borrow not a few. I think he probably drew to her attention exactly what he was saying here. And I like to think that she understood what he was saying and that she gathered a huge, huge quantity.

The next task was to go inside with her boys and shut the door. No one need see the miracle that was about to happen. No one need see what was occurring. No one needed to interrupt her while she was about this business. So she went inside and she shut the door and she began to pour. I've got a picture of her pouring from one pot to the other. And maybe one boy bringing the empty pots and the other boy taking away the full ones. until every pot was used. And not until the last one was filled did her own pot stop flowing.

The woman came and told Alicia what had happened. Now I like that too. She might have assumed what was happening here. She might have thought, this is great, this is wonderful, look at all the oil that I've got, I can sell this. She could have gone right ahead with that plan. But she didn't. There was a sense of presence. There was a sense of humility with the woman.

She first went back to Elijah with gratitude and, as I say, humbly. to tell him, did I say Elijah? My apologies, Elisha. She went back to Elisha with gratitude and humility to tell him what had happened. He had directed her actions, he should advise her next step. In her need, she had sought out the man of God at the first, and she would not presume to pass him by in her plenty. It is always right to thank the Lord for his provision and to wait upon his word for what to do with it. Here are a few lessons that we can take from this account today. It's a really powerful miracle. It's a really stark account of God's grace and mercy. And it carries with it some lessons for you and for me today.

The very first thing is to notice that this dear lady turned to the Lord. Yes, it was Elisha that she went to, but she went to Elisha because the prophet was the Lord's representative there in the land at that time. But in doing so, she was going to the Lord. And that's what we must do as well.

We are poor. We are sinful men and women and boys and girls. We have offended God and we have broken his law. And the law demands that we pay the price for our wickedness. Not in pounds or dollars, but in blood. It says, the soul that sins, it will die. And we can't pay our debt, just like this woman couldn't pay her debt.

So what are we to do? We need help. The woman needed help and she went to Elisha. We need help. We need a substitute. We need someone to pay our debt for us. We need one who has shed his blood for sinners like us. One who is able to redeem us from the curse and claims of the law.

And where to find such a one? The Lord Jesus Christ is such a one. I am sure that this lady had tried all that she could by herself to pay off these debts, but to no avail. All she had left was to go to the Lord. And we cannot save ourselves. We too must go to the Lord. This certain woman, poor as she was, found grace in the sight of God. And may you also find grace in coming to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy and salvation. Here's another wee lesson for us. I admire the faith of this lady. She did what the prophet Elisha told her to do.

Her boys might have been saying to her, what's with all the jars? What's with all these pots? Why are we collecting them? They would be saying to her, isn't it enough yet? Do we have to go to the next village and ask them for their pots as well? They would have been saying to her, this is silly. What are we doing here? And still she collected more pots. And the more she collected, the more her faith was justified. The greater her faith, the richer her supply from the Lord.

I am sure that we all lose blessing by not trusting the Lord as we should. We hamper our personal experience of God's boundless grace by failing to think big. Now we're going to be speaking a bit more about this in a few minutes when we come to the main sermon, but let me put it like this for the young people. There is a fullness in Jesus, a plentiful supply of grace and goodness that Christ delights to give to his people. If we fail to enjoy all that we might, it is not because Christ's supply is limited. It is because of our unbelief and lack of faith. It's because we didn't collect enough pots. The Lord admonished his disciples. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Wherefore didst thou doubt?

And I repeat here again, one of my favorite statements in the whole Bible. And may it be a prayer for us all. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. The final lesson we have today from this miraculous event in the history of Elisha and this woman's experience is that the proceeds of God's grace should be spent according to what is right and according to what is God honouring. The prophet said to this certain lady, go, sell the oil and pay thy debt and live thou and thy children of the rest. The grace the Lord gives is to be used for His glory.

There was enough here to pay all the woman's debtors. There was enough here to redeem her sons. And enough here for her family to live going forward. And similarly, There is complete sufficiency in Christ for all our needs. He pays our debt to the law and justice. He redeems our soul and he gives us grace for living. We do not waste the grace that he gives. We do not abuse or misuse the grace that he gives. It would have been terrible ingratitude once the debtors had been paid for this woman to have spent her family's portion on frivolous things. Wasted it. Wasted what the Lord had given her. When the Lord forgives our sin and we live thereafter as those set free from debt, We don't live as those who are free from responsibility.

We live for the glory of God. We live thankfully. We live humbly. We live reflectively, knowing that all we are and all we have is because of the love and grace and mercy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.