Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Kings 17. The Lord, in the manifest exhibition of
His judgment, sent a prophet, the prophet Elijah, to announce to the king of Israel,
Ahab, that God was not going to allow the blessing of rain
upon the land until God was pleased to send it again. In this day of calamities, diseases,
famines, pestilence, wars, mark this down. at the judgment of God on this
world. None of this is happening by
chance. Everything that is going on is
a message from God to this unbelieving and ungodly world. Man without
a substitute is going to perish. In 1 Kings, chapter 17, verse
1, the Scripture says, Elijah the Tishbite, who was
of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, I want you to notice the word
as here is in italics. This is what he says, The Lord
God of Israel liveth before whom I stand. There shall not be dew
nor rain these years but according to My Word." And then the Lord did something. After He told Elijah, you go
and you tell Ahab that I'm going to stop the rain. And verses
2 to 4 says this, 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, "...it shall be
that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the
ravens to feed thee there." The Lord providentially sent
this prophet to a place that God said, that's where I'm going
to hide you. You know, someone may ask, why
would God send someone to a place to hide Him? Couldn't God just restrain all,
just hold back? You're not going to touch Him.
He's going to walk in the midst of you, He's going to be out
in the open and you're not going to do anything to Him. Why would
God hide a man to the glory of Christ? Cherith is a picture. The brook Cherith is a picture
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the rock in whom all
of God's people are hidden. The Lord told Elijah, you go
to the brook Cherith. Who chose that place, Mark? God
did. The Lord told Moses, He said,
I'll put you in the cleft of the rock. I'm going to put you
there. I'm going to put you in My Son. And so therefore, to
the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God hid Elijah the prophet,
to bring honor and glory to his blessed son. You go tell Ahab
that I'm going to hold up on the rain until I say it's going
to rain again, and I'm going to glorify my son in that. He
is your city of refuge. And he said, when you go to the
brook Cherith, that's before Jordan, it shall be that thou
shout, drink of that brook." God's people drink of the everlasting
fountain Himself. And I have commanded the ravens
to feed thee there. I thought ravens were just scavenger
birds. They just pick up and eat on
dead, filthy, Almighty God is God. And God will take that which
this world considers to be nothing, unclean, and God said, I have
commanded the ravens to feed you. There is a picture of our precious
Savior hidden in Him, abiding in Him, fed by Him, drinking
of Him. And until the Lord is pleased
to move us, we wait. We wait. Elijah stayed at the brook Kidreth
until God was pleased to move him. Verses 5 to 16 of 1 Kings
17 said, So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord. For
he went and dwelt by the brook Kedreth, that is, before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread
and flesh in the morning, 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. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise,
get thee to Zarephath. which belongeth to Zidon, and
dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee." So he arose and went to Zarephath,
and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow
woman was there gathering of sticks. And he called to her
and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that
I may drink. And as she was going to fetch
it, He called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel
of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy
God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel,
and a little oil in a cruz. And behold, I am gathering two
sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that
we may eat it and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear
not. Go and do as thou hast said. But make Me thereof a little
cake first, and bring it unto Me, and after make for thee and
for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the
crews of all fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain
upon the earth. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house
did eat many days, and the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did
the cruise of oil fail according to the word of the Lord which
He spake by Elijah." Now you rest assured, when the Lord is pleased to close
one door, God Almighty is going to open
another back in The first part of where we were reading, the
Scripture says, verse 17, verse 7, it says, it came to pass after
a while that the brook dried up because there had been no
rain in the land. It didn't happen in one day.
Water had been flowing for a long time. And it hadn't rained. It started dwindling, and I'm
sure that as it started dwindling, it got to a point to where maybe
it wasn't flowing as freely, and it just got down to just
a little rivulet, just a little bitty thing. Wait. Wait. There's still water there. He was still drinking. But what
if the brook dries up? Wait. But don't you think that maybe
what I should do is wait. This is the greatest trial on
our flesh. Wait. But what if when the brook was silent, the
Scripture says it came to pass after a while that the brook
dried up. There was no more water in it.
It was gone. And when Elijah could drink no
more, there was nothing else there. The Lord said in verse
9, Arise, and get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sodom, and
dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee. No mention ever made that he
ever said anything to the widow woman. But Almighty God, who rules and
reigns in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
men, said, I have commanded this widow woman there to sustain
thee. Elijah had been providentially
kept for about a year by the brook Kedreth. And these ravens
came every morning and every evening and brought him some
bread and some meat he drank out of that brook. God's people must walk by faith. Oh, what a trial. What a trial. People speak of walking by faith. As if that's something that's
just so, you know, I just want my thing. I trust God. Let me tell you something. Your
flesh fights every second of that. I want to see it. I want to see it. I want to see
it in the bank. I want to see it in prosperity.
I want to see it in health. I want to see it. I want to see
it. Then I'll be settled. That's not the way it's going
to be. God's people are going to suffer. Suffer chastisement,
trials. Isaiah 54, verse 10, our God
says this, For the mountains shall depart, the hills be removed,
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace He removes, saith the Lord, that hath mercy
on thee." God Almighty is not going to fail His people. My flesh tells me He will. My
flesh says He can't be trusted. But my flesh is a liar. My flesh is a liar. My flesh
is from Adam. My flesh is of the devil himself. And my new man believes God. And I go through this world,
and you that know him do too, struggling. I've commanded a widow woman
to sustain thee. Well, surely it's a wealthy widow
woman. Surely it is a woman of means. But the Scripture says, God has
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. The Lord had fed him with ravens. Could he not do it through a
poor widow woman? He commanded her. I looked up that word, commanded
it, appointed. I have appointed a widow woman
to sustain you. So Elijah goes to Zarephath and
he meets this woman. And this is what she had. She
had a handful of meal and a little oil and a cruise. That's all
she had. And as far as she could tell,
I'm going to eat that for me and my boy. I'm going to make
us a little cake. And then we're going to die.
I don't have anything else. I'm hungry. She's out there gathering
some sticks. But in the evident to the flesh
hour of supposed hopelessness, God's mercy and grace shines
the brightest. Lord, help me here to believe. When things appear to be hopeless. God Almighty has promised, I
am not going to forsake you. Elijah in verse 10, he came to
the gate of the city and behold, the widow woman was there gathering
sticks and called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee,
a little water in a vessel that I may drink." That's an act of
faith on Elijah's part. God says, I've appointed, I've
commanded a widow woman to take care of you, sustain you. I'm
going to supply your need through a widow woman. So He calls to her. He said,
Would you get me a drink of water? She's going to get a drink of
water. He calls to her again. He said,
when you come back, he said, would you bring me a piece of
bread too? God's going to try her faith. Elijah wasn't being insensitive
to her need. But here, like Abraham, Elijah,
by the grace and power of Almighty God, I'm going to be honest with
you, my heart is amazed when I read this passage of Scripture.
I think, but for the grace of God, how could these things be? He staggered not at the promise
of God, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that what He had promised, He, God Almighty, was able to
do. I read this and I think to myself,
do I believe God at all? O me, Lord, by the grace of God
of little faith, but thanks be unto Him if I believe Him at
all. He's shown mercy to me. He told her, he said, bring me
a piece of bread if you would, when you bring me some water.
And she said, all I've got. This is all I got. I've got a
handful of meal. I thought to myself, she's just
a little poor widow woman. I bet you her hand's not as big
as mine. I know. I know evidently what
she could hold wasn't much. And just, she said, all I got
is I've got a little oil and a cruise. I just, it must have
just been enough just to kind of get a little bit of sustenance,
you know, holding capacity to that meal. And Elijah, by the
grace of God and the revelation of God, told her in verse 13,
Fear not. Don't be afraid. Verse 14, For thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste Neither
shall the cruise of oil fail until that day the Lord sendeth
rain upon the earth." And the evidence of a work of
God's grace, the Scripture says in verse 15, And she went and
did according to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her
house did eat many days. She trusted her life into the
hand of Almighty God whose faithfulness never fails. Let me ask you this. What else did she have? You say, well, all she had was
a little, just a handful of meal and a little bit of oil and a
crew. That's all she had. Well, I'm
going to tell you this right now. That was all that was standing
between her and death. Where else are you going to go?
What else are you going to do? This woman is getting ready to
die. And she did, by the mercy and grace of Almighty God, what
humanly speaking nobody would do. Verse 16 says, "...and the barrel
of meal wasted not. Neither did the cruise of oil
fail according to the word of the Lord which He spake by Elijah."
Do you know what she had every day left when she'd go to that
barrel? She had a handful of meal. That's
all she had there. And every day when she looked
in that little cruise It was the same amount of oil every
day. That's all she had. There was always enough for one
more meal. And they lived every day until
God sent the rain by faith. And God supplied their need every
day. The songwriter says, They who trust
Him wholly. Find Him wholly true. Stayed upon Jehovah. Now in closing,
now I'm going to preach the Gospel to you. I've told you everything
that that passage said. Now I'm going to tell you about
Christ. Knowing that all Scriptures look
to Him Now I want to look at Christ, a handful of meal and
a little oil and a cruise. What that woman had, she had
by the grace of God. Look, needy sinner. Now if you just sit You got in
agreement with hell and, you know, your works. You've established
a righteousness before God. You've done all that you needed
to do. And by your work and your will and your way, I'm good. I'm good. I'm not talking to you, but I'm
talking to you that you have nothing but God's work. You've got no goodness. You've
got no merit. You've got no righteousness in
yourself. I'm talking about you that have
nothing for what God Almighty supplies. Behold the needy sinner, a widow woman, poor and helpless
and no way to supply her need Tomorrow. She didn't even have
enough for today. Man in the fall. And if Almighty
God doesn't intervene, there's one end to this. I'm going to
die. I'm going to die. This life is fading. We're not going to hold on to
it. Behold, secondly, the mercy of
God. Electing grace brought this prophet
to that house. Electing grace. Predestinating
grace. The Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going
to read Luke 4, verses 25-26. The Lord Himself. Luke 4. The Lord Himself used this illustration,
this true story about this woman and God's grace in election,
God's will, God's purpose. He used this woman and that prophet
and they were up in arms about it because God has a right to
do what God has to do. Luke 4, 25-26, He said, I tell
you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias. When the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land, but unto none of them was Elijah sent save unto Sarepta,
a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." You behold the mercy and grace
of God Almighty The Lord told a group of people in the synagogue. He'd read the Scriptures. And He told them. He said there
were a lot of widows in Israel. But God didn't send a prophet
to any of those widows. He sent a prophet to a Gentile
woman. A woman that had nothing else
but a little bit of meal and a little oil in a cruise that
God had provided. God was going to save that woman
and her son by grace. He hath mercy on whom he will
have mercy. Thirdly, behold the Savior. A handful of meal in a barrel
and a little cruise of oil. What a picture! of our precious
Savior and His humility. The world is going to say, is
that all you've got? Yeah, but it's all I need. Because according to the Word
of God, back in 1 Kings 17, 16, the barrel of meal wasted not. I looked that up. It didn't end. He is the everlasting God. And
the Scripture says not only it wasted not, neither did the cruise
of oil fail. It didn't lack. According to the Word of the
Lord which He spake by Elijah. We speak of Him with absolute
respect when we say that Christ is our handful of meal. and our
little oil in a cruise. This is how God spoke of Him
in His humility. Isaiah 53, verses 2 and 3, For
He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, as a root out
of dry ground. He hath no form, no comeliness.
When we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire.
He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He
was despised, and we esteemed Him not." Dear friend, what Almighty
God has chosen to sustain His people, His glorious Son, God
Almighty, who humbled Himself and made Himself of no reputation A handful of meal and a little
oil and a cruise. Oh, who that meal is and who
that oil is. Lastly, behold God's power to
save. 1 Kings 17, verse 24, which we'll
look at, Lord willing, in this next message. And the woman said
to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God. in
that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." Friend, no man, our Lord said,
can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the
prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me." That
woman, a glorious picture of God's elect. Poor. She didn't have anything. That's
what we got. We don't have anything. This
woman susceptible to death, but for God's grace, but for God's
mercy. And God sent her a prophet. And God Almighty sustained her
until God was pleased to send rain. Lord, teach us of Your
mercy and grace for Christ's sake. Amen.