1st Kings 17 17 and it came to
pass after these things That the son of the woman the mistress
of the house fell sick and his sickness was so sore that there
was no breath left in him and She said unto Elijah. What have
I to do with thee O man of God? Art thou coming to me to call
my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? Says it came to pass after these
things and of course these things were the famine three and a half
years a famine that the Lord had Imposed upon this land because
of the evil of Ahab and Jezebel and The famine had left this
family this mama and her boy destitute and And after God sent Elijah there,
as our Lord said, there were many widows in that area, but
God sent Elijah to this one. Only this one. And miraculously, God made it
so that what little she had left, she was about to make a pitiful
meal for herself and her son and then die. But God made the meal and the
oil to perpetually replenish so that now they had food through
the famine. But now, after that, after these
things, the widow woman's son gets sick. And as always, when
the Lord is teaching us concerning our predicament, our natural
condition, our spiritual condition before him, He is doing here. He's teaching
us about that. It's a sore sickness It was severe it was so severe
that he was a goner he had no breath left in him and This woman's
words are for our instruction You can feel the the anguish
of her heart This was the cry of of her heart, it's not particularly
admirable. She accuses Elijah of coming
there to slay her son, when in truth her son would have died
of starvation, which is not a pleasant way to die, long since had not
Elijah been sent there. She's not thinking about that,
she's just hurting. And she ought not to talk like
that, but neither should we. The next time we complain about
anything, anything at all, might we consider for a moment where
we would be without God's grace? Elijah clearly and beautifully
represents Christ in this story, and she says she doesn't want
to have anything more to do with him. Does this remind you of anyone
in the scripture? The Israelites sang the praises
of the Lord on the far banks of the Red Sea after the Lord
had Delivered them from certain and horrible death by the hands
of the Egyptian army But then just a little later
they were discontent And remember what they said to
Moses you should have just left us in Egypt What a thing to say. It couldn't
have been a lot worse for them in Egypt. That's our nature. And that's what was happening
here with this poor woman. She was bitter. She was hurting. The Lord Jesus Christ had saved
the disciples from hell. come down from heaven to do that.
But when the storm arose, they said, don't you care about us?
What a thing to say. The Lord brought the storm to
teach them. And the Lord brought this storm
in our text. That's what this is. It's a passing
thing. It comes to pass, doesn't it?
The pain that we go through, the fears, the troubles, the
heartache. It's a storm that blows in and
the Lord brings that. And it came to pass. He takes
the storm away, but he taught this woman, he taught
this son, He brought this storm to bring this woman to verse
24. Look at verse 24. The woman said to Elijah, now
by this, I know that you're a man of God. And she was saying that
mockingly in the first, this tells us that. I know you're
a man of God. When she was saying, oh thou
man of God, she's saying that mockingly at first, isn't she? You can't even, you know, you
came here to kill my son. She was bitter. She said, now
I know you are a man of God and I know what you say. When you
speak for the Lord, it's the words of truth. It's the words
of truth. But the Lord brought her to that
verse through these other verses. You don't get to verse 24 by
sitting in your armchair eating your meal cakes and enjoying
the crackling fire in the fireplace. You get there via falling on
your face before God, helpless and hopeless, crying out to him
for mercy. You get there while that which
is most precious to you is hanging in the balance. and he's the
only one that can help you. That's how you get there. She
mentions her sin as rash and inadvisable and lacking
in faith as her words are, it seems that she knows at least
that if God did kill her son, she would deserve it. Have you come to call my sins
to remembrance and kill my son? If she did understand that, if
she did understand that if God killed her son, he'd be right
to do so, she was correct. God is good when he gives and
God is good when he takes. We know from the scriptures that
when he takes, if he takes, it's not necessarily because of particular
sin. The disciples asked that about
the man who was blind from his birth, who did sin. And the Lord
said, nobody, this is so that the glory of God can be shown
forth in him. It's not about that. But being sinners, we should,
we must resign ourselves to God's will and say like Eli
in 1 Samuel 3.18, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Does that verse ever come to
your mind throughout your experiences? I think it should, don't you?
It's the Lord. Let him do. What seemeth him
good? Whatever seems good to the Lord
Jesus is good The soreness of this sickness
our spiritual sin sickness Is not just an indication of the
severity of our case, but also of our utter inability to do
anything about it and That's one of the most important
aspects of understanding the gospel. Because God has mercy
on those who need mercy. Not a leg up. Not me and God
got a good thing going. Not if God will just give me,
if he'll meet me halfway. We've got to come to the place
of utter helplessness before God. I've realized more and more that
that's what's lacking in religion. Sinners are told, well, you've
done some bad things, and the Lord's gonna have to put you
in hell unless you come down the aisle and make things right
with God. There's no ever coming to the
place where God's gonna put you in hell. And when he does, he'll
be right. When he said to Zacchaeus, come
down, come down. How far down did Zacchaeus have
to come? All the way down, all the way. When the disciples asked the
Lord who then can be saved, he plainly stated to them with
men, it is impossible. That's where we have to go. By grace are you saved through
faith and that's not of yourselves. were just as dead spiritually
as this boy with no breath in his body. Wherefore, Romans 5.12, as by
one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so
death passed upon all men for that all have sin. If God ever saves you, you're
not getting any glory out of it. It's not going to be I made
a decision or I did anything. It's going to be like this. We're waiting on God. We're going
to see if God will do something for us. The minute somebody says God
offers salvation, but you have to accept it, you know, with
as much certainty as you can possibly have in this world,
that that person is lost. You can't be any more sure of
that than you can when they say that. If you have to do something in
the matter of salvation, you're a goner. You don't know God. There was
nothing this boy could do. There was nothing this woman
could do. Let me quote the rest of Ephesians
2, eight and nine. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. God is gonna have to do something.
And he deliberately tells us that it's that way, that he brings
us to that place so that we will not boast, and yet religion loves
to boast anyway. God's done all he can do, now
it's up to you. You've got to believe. That's
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works. So quit boasting. It's the gift, the gift. And
look, I was in religion for long enough to know what religion
would say about that. Well, don't you have to accept
a gift? Did you accept life when God
first gave it to you? Physical life did you have to
accept that? Well, then I guess you don't have to accept a gift
God just gives it and you receive it Did you accept Anything did you
have to accept anything that God has given you? No, he just gives it We must be born again it that
has to happen again spiritually just like that Us having nothing
to do with it Except that we need it. That's our part. We
need it Verse 19 look at this beautiful beautiful story he
said unto her And you think about this now? the Lord gave us The Lord gave us an imagination.
My pastor in Texas, he always said, he gave us this gift to
picture things in our mind. And we're not saved by that.
People picture things a little bit differently than others,
but words invoke thoughts and they're meant to, they're given
for that. And we're meant to enter into
this story now to apply ourselves. And you think about this. He
said to her, she just got through saying, I don't want anything
to do with you. And he said, give me that boy. Give him to me, give me your
son. And he took him out of her bosom.
Can you picture that? We may have different ideas about
that, you know, different images in our mind. That's not hard
to picture. He took him out of her bosom.
Carried him up into a loft where he abode And laid him up on his
own bed. Do you see the gospel in that? As harsh as her words were this
woman is required to resign the case to God Give me your son Does that ring
any bells Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and sacrifice him unto me. Give
me your son. We think of Abraham at Mount
Moriah. We see this in the first picture
of salvation that the Lord showed us involving this woman. You
just got a little bit left. Go make some cakes, but make
me one first. We see this in the offering of
the first fruits. We see this in the story of the
rich young ruler. Go get rid of all of it. Everything
that stands in your way of being with me and having only me, get
rid of it and come follow me. Elijah takes this boy out of
her bosom, it says, and she had to give him up. She had to give
him up in her grief. In her grief, she was ugly, she
was impetuous, and yet she knows in her heart that Christ is her
only hope. She gave him that boy. You know,
you know why. And all I could think of about
that was this. Give it to the Lord, whatever
it is. Whatever is precious to you,
whatever you need, your needs. What a desperate need this was
for her to see her boy live. Give your broken heart Give your
sin-ruined soul. And it's all your own fault,
you know that. You come to remind me of my sin
and to kill my son. Resign yourself to him. And all of your burdens, all of your burdens, give them
up. lay him down at his feet. Are you familiar with the word
submit? And how that that's what we're
talking about here. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. What we need is life. And what we've got to give up
is all of our hope of having it apart from Him. They have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Not you doing your best, not
you living the Christian life, not you making a decision, not
you doing anything. Christ is the goal, the purpose
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. That's
what believing is, in other words, submission. Cast my helpless soul Upon the
Son of God If those that you love are going
to be saved It's going to be between them and the Lord He took that boy up into a room
away from her, out of sight, to where this thing was between
those two. Pray with all your heart, but
know that salvation is between them and the Lord. The boy couldn't
take the first step. He couldn't pray the sinner's
prayer. This is the place where salvation happens. This is where salvation happens. Remember who Elijah represents
in this story. The boy is the dead sinner, dead
in trespasses and sins. Elijah is Christ by whose intercession
this boy's gonna live. But here's where salvation happens
right here, helpless in the everlasting arms of the King, the King of mercy. laying helpless
in his arm. That's where it happens right
there. His arm is not sure that it can't
save. Held up by his power, lifted
up by his strength, breathed upon by his spirit, this sinner
lives. And every sinner that lives lives
like that. Look how many times in this one
short verse, the word he is written or assumed. He said unto her,
give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom
and he carried him up into a loft where he abode and he laid him
upon his own bed. What's your testimony? Reminds us also of the the good Samaritan. All of this happened to the boy.
That's how salvation comes. You don't get saved. The Lord saves you. And then
look at verse 20, and he cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord,
my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying
her son? And he stretched himself upon
the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord,
my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul Come into him again. I Wanted to read both of those
verses together because he cries to the Lord twice and I want
to consider what it is that Elijah cried here in this prayer and
notice that Elijah doesn't say what Satan has done a number
on this boy and Would you would you rescue him from the devil?
I? Elijah's not questioning God's
right to indeed bring evil upon this widow. He's not questioning
that This is an honest question Is that what you're gonna do?
Is that what you're gonna do are you gonna bring evil upon
this woman and then He prays not He prays not Salvation happens
Christ intercedes for those that he loves John 17 that I pray for them
pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me
were there that When the Son of God intercedes
for those he loves I Salvation Isaiah 53 12 therefore will I
divide him a portion with the great and He shall divide the
spoil with the strong Because he has poured out his soul unto
death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bared
the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors That's all part of it isn't it
He died for them. He rose again for them. He intercedes
for them. He stands before the Father for them. Romans 8.34, who is
he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God who also maketh intercession for us who shall lay anything
to the charge? Who shall condemn one of his
he is even now at God's right hand Praying for them And notice in all of these passages
the basis upon which intercession is made I just read you three
verses of scripture that speaks of the Lord interceding for his
loved ones, for those that the Father gave him. But look at
the basis upon which that intercession is made. In John 17, it's Father,
the hour has come. The hour has come. The hour of
redemption. The hour of Darkness upon the
earth but light in the souls of God's sheep In Isaiah 53 I Should have had
you turn well you couldn't look at all three of them anyway But
listen to this in John 50 and Isaiah 53 on what basis it says
he made intercession for the transgressors and Then right
before that it says this because he hath poured out his soul unto
death. The Lord doesn't just intercede
with us based on, well, you know, it's not their fault or they've
tried, they've done their best. No, he intercedes upon the basis
of his shed precious blood for them. In Romans 8, it is Christ
that died who also maketh intercession for us. And when it says in our text
that Elijah stretched himself upon the child, think about this
beautiful truth. Christ put himself where we are. He took our place. in our death
and in our predicament, in our helplessness before God. Yet without sin, there we were
dead in trespasses and sins, and he comes and identifies with
us where we are. If you looked at that deathbed,
all you would have seen is Christ. And when God looks at me, As wretched as I am, all he sees
is Christ. In verse 22, and the Lord heard
the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him
again, and he revived. The Lord heard the voice of Elijah.
You see how he represents Christ, the Lord Jesus said, the Father
heareth me always. He heareth me always. And because
he does, we live. When he intercedes for us, the
Father hears and sees the ransom paid, the basis upon
which intercession is made, and we live. The Father says, ask
of me the heathen, and I'll give them to you. And the Lord asks,
and they're given. The word revive means to live. Colossians 2.13, and you being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Quickened
together with him. And when Elijah rose up out of
that bed, that boy rose up out of that bed. He's our life, we're
quickened together with him. When he rose, we rose. And we signify that in baptism. He is, because he died and was
buried and rose again, we are risen from the dead and live
in him. Verse 23, and Elijah took the
child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house
and delivered him unto his mother. And look what Elijah said, see,
thy son liveth. How beautiful is that? Those
who preach the gospel are witness of the Savior. We come showing
forth the miracle of life. The miracle of salvation in the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we say, see? See, Christ
is all. See, his precious blood is enough. See, he gives life to whom he
will. God's mercy and love are in Christ. Do you see? You remember Nathaniel? When they told him about the
Lord, he said, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
You remember what Philip said to him? Come see, come see. Salvation comes when the Lord
shows you. Remember what he said to Doubting
Thomas, reach hither thy hand and be not faithless. but believing. He showed him, it says that he
showed him, showed them his wounds. That's where salvation happens
too, isn't it? When you see Christ crucified
for you. Verse 24, and the woman said
to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God and
that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth. Remember
how we've taught always from the book of Acts and other places
where the Lord gave his disciples the power to do miracles like
this in the New Testament and why? It was in confirmation of
the word, right? It wasn't they were just going
around putting on a magic show. The Lord gave them power that
can only come from God so that they would hear the word that
can only come from God. That's what this woman said.
I see now that you're a man of God. Therefore, the word of the
Lord in your mouth is truth. That's why the Lord gave Power
to do those miracles and then the last lesson here We're seeing
how God saves sinners, aren't we? Salvation happens when you're
laying helpless in his arms Salvation happens just between
you and him Salvation happens because he
takes your place and Your deathbed Salvation happens when the Lord
Jesus intercedes Before the very throne of God
for you when he enters into that holy place Not made with hands
for us but Now I know you're a man of God
and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth salvation
happens When the gospel is not just a doctrine. It's not just
something that you agree with When Christ It's not just the Savior He's
the savior of the world, they say. When he becomes your savior,
that's when salvation happens. When it's not so much a question
of does God love everybody, but does God love me? When the gospel to you is the
very word of God, that the word of the Lord is in you, my mouth or the mouth of someone
else. When what's preached is not just
the opinions of men or the rhetoric of religion, it's the word of
God. Now we're talking about salvation. When God reveals the truth of
Christ in the gospel to your heart, 2nd Timothy 2 25 we're so familiar
now With this verse, but listen, she acknowledged the truth. Didn't
she the Word of the Lord is coming out of your mouth Is the truth? Sound like Elijah had been doing
a little preaching you reckon In meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance. This woman changed her mind,
didn't she? Now I know, I see, I know who
you are. I know this is the word of God
and it's the truth. If God per adventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. We just keep saying
to sinners, see, See? See who he is? See what he did? See why he did it? See what he accomplished? See how God saves a sinner? And maybe God will give them
repentance so that they say, that's the truth, Christ is all.
Salvation's not up to me, it's up to him. I believe in his blood. Salvations of the Lord. If you ever see, you will come to him. And he said, him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out.