As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this evening, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention
to the first part of the chapter we read together, that is the
second book of Kings, chapter four, and those verses from verse one to
verse seven. We take as our text verse two, 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. Second book of Kings, chapter
four and verse two. I think we can rightly say that
uh Elisha worked about twice as many miracles as Elijah did. Whether there's any, it could
well be that there's some truth in the record of when Elijah
was taken up into heaven and Elijah asked that his mantle
might fall upon him so that he would continue the work of the
prophet. He pleaded for a double portion
to be given. And in Elijah's busy life, I
think he performed about twice as many miracles as Elijah did. Of course, he was the instrument. It was God's power that worked
the miracles. And we must always make sure
and put the crown on the right head. But Elisha was a faithful
servant of God. And we have before us this poor
woman who was in a desperate situation. 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." Now, in the time when Elijah was very downhearted and he thought
His work was finished. What happened? He thought that
there was nothing left for him to do. And there he was, in such a terrible
situation, thinking that he had nothing left to do because the
blessings were against him. He said that his work was finished and God had a completely different
work for him to do. He said that He said, I have been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken
thy covenant, they have thrown down thine altars, and slain
thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I only am left, and
they seek my life to take it away. And he said, go forth,
and stand upon the mount before the Lord, and behold the Lord
pass by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and
breaking pieces of rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not
in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small
voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard
it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out, and
stood in the entering of the cave. And behold, there was a
voice unto him, and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And
he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because
the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine
altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I,
only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And the
Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness
of Damascus. And when thou comest, anoint
Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi,
shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the
son of Shaphat, Abel Meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet
in thy room. and it shall come to pass that
him that escapeth of the sword of Haziel shall Jehu slay, and
him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet
I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not
bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." The
Lord had yet 7,000 people. It could well be that in those
days of Elijah that this woman's husband was
one of those sons of the prophets. And this poor woman was pleading
her cause before Elisha and before God. I'd like to look at this
from three headings this evening. Firstly, her plea. Her plea. And then God's power and then
God's provision. Her plea was that her husband
was a man that feared the Lord. And this poor lady had nothing
in the house. It would seem that she'd sold
her furniture, her tables, her chairs, all her furniture. She had nothing. A bare floor and bare walls and
a roof over her head, but she had no money and she had nothing
to give. And that's just how people come
in all their helplessness seeking for salvation. They come with
nothing. So often they're brought to the Savior with the words
of that hymn, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross
I cling. And there, their total dependence
is on God. And what a treasure it is that
God is able to work mightily even with nothing. The same God
who when this world was created, he looked down and the world
was without form and void. Darkness was upon the face of
the earth. And we read, and God said, let there be light. And
there was light. This was before the sun was created.
And we can believe that because we're told that in heaven there
will be no need for the sun. We read the lamb shall be the
light thereof. The light of the Lord Jesus will be the light
in heaven. Slaves or servants and that will be her payment
for the debt that she owed this man. What a situation she was
in. If they were young lads in their
teens they would have been If the law was observed and they
came back after seven years, you think if they were 14, they'd
have been 21 by the time that they were released. And not only
that, how was this poor lady going to live? If she had no
income, a poor widow with no income, and if there was no work,
what could she do but depend? on the true and living Lord God.
And she cried, this woman, to Elisha, her plea. And Elisha said unto her, what
shall I do for thee? This reminds us of poor Bartimaeus
who sat by the highway side begging, doesn't it? He sat by the highway
side begging. How long he'd been a beggar,
we don't know. But that was his way of life. He might have sat
there with his begging bowl in his lap. He couldn't see. He lived a life of darkness. But he was not in despair, was
he? Because he heard a crowd of people going by. And he asked
what it meant. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the
people that live in this area, all these houses up and down
these roads and these new estates that are built, if they, when
they see people coming in through those doors every week and in
the week, if they had a spirit of inquiry, if God gave them
that and they asked what it meant, what is it that attracts these
people to that building? Well, it's not the building,
is it? What we know is that where God's people meet, there he is.
And that's where God pours out a blessing from people here to
their soul's prophet. And we trust that they're encouraged
through the preaching and teaching of the word, which is God's divinely
appointed way of people being taught and enjoying. that love of God
made known in their very hearts and souls. Bartimaeus heard these
people going by, he asked what it meant. And they said, what,
Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And all those people were
following Jesus and in his mind's eye he could, although he was
blind, he could imagine all these people following Jesus. And then
he lifted up his voice, this blind Bartimaeus, And he cried
out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. They told him
he was Jesus of Nazareth. But someone had told Bartimaeus
he couldn't have read it because he wouldn't be able to see and
read the Lord Jesus being the son of David, would he? But that
identified Jesus as to who he truly is. I understand from Bible
scholars that Jesus was The name given to a number of
young boys in those days, it meant saviour. But Bartimaeus knew that there
was only one Jesus who was the saviour and that is Jesus, the
promised one of the family of David. Jesus, the son of David.
So he cried out in a loud voice, Jesus, son of David, have mercy
on me. And Jesus stood still. And Jesus didn't say to the people
around him, well go and get that man Bartimaeus, tell him that
he can come to me if he wants to, I'm here. No. When Jesus
works, he works by his irresistible grace. And Jesus commanded him to be
brought to him. It might have even been those
who tried to quieten him down when he cried out, Jesus, son
of David, have mercy on me. But whoever it was, Jesus commanded
them to bring this poor blind man to him. And then he asked
him the same question as Elisha asked this poor lady. He said
to blind Bartimaeus, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
Well here, the same sort of expression, what shall I do for thee? Well
Jesus knew all about Bartimaeus. He knew all about this poor lady. But God does require us to ask.
He says, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall
find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. And then he goes on to elaborate
it. He said, everyone that asketh
receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh
it shall be opened unto him. Now this poor widowed lady, there
she was. with the two sons expecting to
be taken away by this cruel creditor. He was already there. He said,
the creditor is come. Not he's coming, but he is come. And then Elijah says, 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. She remembered
that she'd sold everything, there was nothing left. But up on her
pantry shelf, there's a little pot there with oil in it. That's
all I've got. What could happen to her? Well,
what we read is quite remarkable, isn't it? God who created all
things is able to recreate and in the miracles following this,
The last one in that list, there was just a little quantity of
bread. Yes, but it fed a hundred men. Tom, they'd all had a few slices.
You'd think that would all be gone, but no. As it was distributed,
so it multiplied. And in God's hand, like when
the Lord Jesus fed the 5,000, it was enough and to spare. And God's grace is enough and
to spare. There is a plenteous supply for
all who come. His inexhaustible mercy and favour
he is able to put forth. And then this poor lady was told
to go and do something. He had not anything in the house
save a pot of oil. Oil, of course, was a valuable
possession. Olive oil grows from the fruit
of the olive. When it is harvested, it's crushed
and pressed. And oil, olive oil, it was then,
it is now a valuable commodity. You can make soap of it. It's
used in soothing soreness, in injuries. You can light a lamp,
lovely white light it gives, and so on. There's plenty of
use for oil. It was always in demand. And
of course, it was used in the ceremonial lamps. And in all
these things, Of course, in food and cooking, olive oil is used. And this lady with this little
pot of oil did not know what was going to happen. Air-felt nothingness cannot be
compared with God's greatness, can it? We feel as we are nothing,
we have nothing to give. No, but God's greatness is beyond
all our calculation. He's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we can ask or think according to the power,
his power, that worketh in us. How this should humble us to
think that God is able to although he is high and holy
and lifted up, can't descend to dwell in the hearts and lives
of people on this earth and show them such kindness and love and
mercy. And true faith is a dependence on a person and their promises,
true faith. Abraham was a great man of faith.
We read of Abraham that he believed that what God had promised he
was able also to perform. Abraham and his wife Sarah were
old people and God had promised Abraham a son, a son of promise. Eventually, Isaac, their son,
was born. He was the son of promise. And
his life was preserved. And I think we mentioned it this
morning that Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob
had a family of sons. One of them's name was Judah,
and of the family of Judah came the royal line of the family
of David, of whom the Lord Jesus was born. But Abraham believed, even as
a very old man, and God provided him with that promise. But Abraham
believed, yes, he went through all sorts of difficulties Yet
God foretold his promise. And when we hear people talk
about faith, our faith needs to be rooted
and grounded in a person. Even the Lord Jesus Christ and
his perfect righteousness. Faith is in a person and the
promise that is given. And we who are blessed with believing
in the accuracy of scripture and the saving knowledge of he
who inspired the holy word have so much to praise God for. We
should daily praise God from whom all blessings flow. Now how does God bring about
his blessing here? Elisha said to this poor woman,
Go, and we read the word go twice in these words. Go, borrow thee
vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, 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. It reads
as though this poor lady didn't even have a saucepan or a kettle. She had nothing. She was on good
terms with her neighbour and many of us are blessed with good
neighbours and we should continue to pray for them. We know not
how the law will work but we might be used as instruments
But this poor lady, you can imagine her up and down the road asking
someone, can I borrow something that could contain oil? And they
said, well, what do you want that for? Well, she didn't know,
but she was told what to do, and she believed what she was
told. She was given faith to trust. and not be afraid. You can imagine her coming back
down the road with her hands full of empty vessels, as many
in each hand as she could carry and then go back and get some
more. She was told go and borrow empty vessels, not a few. And
I think there must have been a good number of them because
we read that the, go borrow vessels abroad of all
thy neighbors, all thy neighbors, empty vessels, borrow not a few. Well, she came home with all
these. And she went from Elisha into
her house and shut the door upon her and upon her sons who brought
the vessels to her. So there they were, these two
boys going across the room, one at a time, and their mother got
this jar of oil down from the shelf and started pouring. And she filled one up, and they
bought another one, and the oil still kept flowing, and they
bought another one, and so they went on. And, She kept pouring and as she poured
the oil kept coming. What a blessing. And thou shalt set aside that
which is full. The son brought the vessels to
her and she poured it out and It came to pass, when the
vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet a
vessel. She said, I'll keep pouring,
this one's full up, bring me another one. And he said, well
we haven't got any more vessels. And when he said that, the oil
stopped flowing. Her faith was rewarded. And we
know exactly how much oil she poured out, don't we? It was
exactly the amount of the capacity of those vessels that she borrowed.
We're not given the figure of it, but her faith was rewarded. If she'd only borrowed one vessel,
that would have been full up, yes. But she took God at his
word. Empty vessels, not a few. And
it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to 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. He told her
to go and borrow vessels. And now he says, go, sell the
oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the
rest. What a blessing it is that God
is true to his word. And every empty vessel that was
brought home by this good lady was full. And it seems that Elisha
set her up as an oil trader. Yes, he said, go sell the oil
and pay thy debt. Well, that was some of it gone,
yes. And live thou and thy children of the rest. Having sold that, she could have
gone to the local oil press and bought oil wholesale and sold
it retail. She might not have made a lot
of money, but she would have gained enough that she could
pay her way in life. She was set up in business. Yes,
he who has begun a good work in you, we read in the first
chapter to the Philippians, being confident of this very
thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. When God begins a work, He continues
it. There's always an opening up
of things and this points us to God's almighty power. Power belongs to God, doesn't
it? God's power was at work here. The psalmist says in Psalm 121,
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh
my help. My help cometh from the Lord
which made heaven and earth. Now there is no greater power
than God who created the heaven and the earth. It is he whom
the psalmist looked up to. He looked beyond the hills to
the creator of the hills and he says, he who created the heaven
and the earth, power belongs to him. And that poor lady that
came with her plea to Elisha was taught the power of God in
performing that wonderful miracle of multiplying her oil and providing
for her need. And that provision was an ongoing
provision. You can imagine that every time
she poured a drop of oil out after that, that reminded her
of that remarkable day. when God miraculously met her
need. She could pay her debt. How? Well, because God had worked
mightily in her and for her. And these wonderful truths are
found in the wonderful mercy and favor of our almighty Lord
God. We read in Isaiah 61 some remarkable words. If we read from Isaiah 61 and
verse nine, We read, and their seed shall
be known among the Gentiles, that is the non-Jews, people
like us, Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All
that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed
which the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God. For he hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. For as the earth
bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things
that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Now these are the promises that
God gave through the prophet Isaiah, promises to his church,
to Zion. And all these things right through
the ages are being made a blessing to his people. We should never
despair, but we should trust and not be afraid. She came and
told the man of God. She told him, and what a blessing
it is to hear what God the Lord does for his people. God does
work for his people, and his name is praised when they tell
others of the wonderful blessings that they have as the subjects
of his grace. Yet she told the man of God,
and his reply was, go sell the oil, pay thy debt, and live thou
and thy children of the rest. When we are brought to realize
that we have a debt, our sin, and we're unable to pay that
debt of sin to the righteousness of God, God's righteous justice
demands the Lord Jesus himself met that
need. By his perfect righteousness,
he has paid the debt that was owed to God's justice. He paid
it by giving himself that supreme sacrifice once for all and God's
perfect righteousness and justice is satisfied. How do we know
that God is satisfied with the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus for
our sin? Well surely it's in the resurrection,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus was laid in that tomb And on the
third day, that glorious resurrection day, they went looking for his
body, and an angel was there. He is not here, for he is risen. Come, see the place where the
Lord lay, and go and tell his disciples, and so on. The Lord Jesus had served his
prison sentence in that cell. And when he arose from the dead
on that glorious Easter morning, it was as though the receipt
was paid and written out and signed that sin is dealt with. God is satisfied. And therefore,
Christ the Lord is risen today. Let us praise him from whom all
blessings flow, especially that blessing of the forgiveness of
sin. and the glorious promise of life
eternal through him, whoever lives to make intercession for
us. So may the Lord bless these few remarks this evening to his
praise. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn from
Hymns for Worship, number 175. 175. Who is on the Lord's side? Who will serve the King? Who
will be his helpers, other lives to bring? who will leave the
world's side, who will face the foe, who is on the Lord's side,
who for him will go. By thy call of mercy, by thy
grace divine, we are on the Lord's side. Saviour, we are thine. Hymns for worship number 175. Who is on the Lord's side? Who will serve the King? Who will be His helpers, other
life to win? ? Who will be the by-sign ? ?
Who will face the foe ? ? That is from the Lord's side ? ? Who
for Him will go ? ? By Thy call for mercy ? ? By Thy grace divine
? We are on the Lord's side, Saviour, we are Thine. Jesus, Thou hast taught us. But we know no death. And we're Thine own lifeblood
for our dying. God has made us free, God has
made us free By thy great bridges, by thy bridge divine We are on the Lord's side, Saviour,
we are Thine. Be the conflict, strong may be
the foe, But the King's own army none can overthrow. Round here stand arranging, Victory
is secure, for His truth unchanging makes the triumphant sure. Joyfully enlisting by Thy grace
divine, We are on the low-side, Xavier,
we are. Soldiers in an alien land, Chosen,
cool and faithful for a captive land. In the service loyal, Let
us not grow cold, Let us be right loyal, And true and bold. Master thou, keep us, By
thy grace divine, Always on the Lord's side, Savior, always. Now unto him that is able to
keep us from falling and present us faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.