All right, now turn back to 1 Kings
17. Mark that. If you want to be turning and
finding the book of Amos, I will have you turn there and look
at a portion of scripture in a moment. This recent prolonged drought
that we have been having has made me think along these lines. We are living in a time of drought. and famine, and I'm not talking
about physically or materially, I'm talking about spiritually.
The Word of God is called the pure water, it's called the fountain
of all blessings, it's called the living water of God, and
it has dried up at the fountain. The fountain being, for the sake
of illustration, the pulpits. It's dried up, and very little
water is coming forth. from the pulpits, and subsequently
their spiritual famine throughout the land. There is much material
prosperity, isn't there? But not spiritual. I thought
about Psalm 106, verse 15, which says this, that they lusted in
the wilderness. This world is a wilderness. Scripture
says that the people lusted in the wilderness, tempted God,
and he gave them their requests. what they long for, but sent
leanness unto their souls. So that's the condition that
we've got right now in the land, isn't it? Men have all that they
could wish for, for the most part, but leanness of soul. And
the fountain, the word of God, is dried up. The Lord sends judgment
after judgment upon our land, famine, drought, pestilence,
disease, wars, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and so forth. And Psalm 14 says, The Lord looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand.
Men ought to understand that these things come from the hand
of God. They ought to clearly see it. I saw on one of the Time magazines
the cover of it showed a big picture of a lightning bolt or
a flooded land, and it said, Has Nature Gone Mad? They recognize
that this world, the climate and everything, it's going wild,
but it's not nature. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that he could understand. These things
come from the hand of God. and their judgments against this
sinful world. They are a foretaste of the final
judgment that is to come that is going to wipe it all and destroy
it all. The Lord looked down to see if any of them could understand.
I, the Lord, do all these things. I make alive, I wound, I heal,
I create peace, I create evil, I, the Lord, do all these things.
Do men understand that? No. They refuse to have it so. And he said that the Lord looked
down from heaven to see if any did understand and seek after
God. These things are meant to make
people seek after God. It has always been the case,
if you'll read down through the Old Testament It's always been
the case that when the people rebelled and sinned against God,
God withheld the rain. Every time, you look it up, every
time there's a famine in the land, it's because of the sin
of the people. He withheld the rain and created
a drought, and it's so now. It's so now. We have one nearly
every year, don't we? We have an extended drought.
Same God, same God. I'm the Lord, I change not. Look
here at Amos 4, look at verse 6, and follow. And I have given
you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread
in all your places, yet have you not returned unto me, saith
the Lord. And also I have withholding the rain from you, when there
were yet three months to harvest, when those little tender seedlings
came up and they needed it so bad. The former rain, he withheld
it, and the latter rain they need in the heat of August, he
withheld Now, cause it to rain on one city, cause it not to
rain upon another city. Cause it to rain on the just
and the unjust. I remember last year, I think
it was last year, wasn't it, Brother Henry? We had such a
long drought. One time it rained on Henry's farm, and we didn't
get any in Rocky Mountain. You remember that? I remember
that. That's the Lord's sovereign. Henry should have been thanking
God louder than anybody else, shouldn't he? Well, this is what
the Lord does. He withholds or sends rains according
to his sovereign purpose, and he goes on down to say that I
have plucked you, verse 11, as a firebrand out of the burning. Verse 12, Therefore this will
I do unto thee, O Israel, because I will do this unto thee. Prepare
to meet thy God, O Israel. That's the only scriptural billboard
I've ever seen all over the land. Prepare to meet thy God. That's
scriptural. That's Amos 4.12. And that men should do. Prepare
to meet a God who is angry. You don't do it. You do it now,
don't you? It's a preparation. It's so now.
In this recent drought that we've had, I wonder how many people
cried unto God for rain. Huh? I wonder how many people.
I have a feeling most people are cussing God, don't you? Cussing him, not calling on him,
or crossing their fingers or something. And what about when it did start
raining yesterday? Do you reckon anybody went outside
and thanked God for it? Stood out in the rain, lifted
their eyes toward heaven? Thank you, Lord, for this sweet
rain. Anybody? I believe somebody did. A remnant,
a remnant. And for these reasons and many
more, it's evident that man is a depraved, wicked and sinful
creature, isn't it? John, the thing that sustains
life on this planet is water. That's what we need to live by.
We can't go very many days without it, can we? Water. Where does
it come from? It just comes down from above.
The skies open up and pour down rain. precious life-giving water. Do men give that a thought? They
attribute it to luck, chance, science. They worship and serve
the creature more than the Creator. They might as well do a ring
dance, hadn't they? And it's no wonder man deserves
death and judgment. But God is rich in mercy, and
he loves some people, and he chooses some people to save them
out of this drought afflicted land. And this is the story here
in 1 Kings 17, the salvation of one of God's elect in a time
of drought and famine, the widow of Sarepta. Elijah is the prophet
here. Elijah is God's choice prophet. He is the man who has been sent
by God to God's people. And in this story, a particular
person, a certain widow, Elijah, arguably, is the greatest prophet
in all the scriptures. He was such a great man that
he didn't even die. He walked into heaven. Remember
that? God came and got him on a chariot. Surely this man must be a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That prophet, the greatest of
all prophets, such a great one that the Lord sent clouds to
receive him up out of the people's Elijah is a picture of Christ.
Let's read 1 Kings 17, let's read the first seven verses and
comment on them. Elijah the Tishbite, who was
of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God
of Israel liveth, before whom I stand. This is the picture of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ was sent by God, just like Elijah, sent
by God. He is that prophet who Isaiah
53 says shall grow up before him. Doesn't it? It says he shall
grow up before God. Christ was the one who stood
before God, and as it were, he stood between us and God. He stood before God, before God's
holy law. He stood between God and man
as the mediator, and men. The one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus. The one mediator, one substitute,
one intercessor, the one Savior who stood before God for his
people. And it says, read on, Elijah
said, There shall not be dew nor rain these years. but according
to my word." In other words, Elijah said, all blessings are
in my hand to bestow. Whenever I say the word, it will
ring. But until then, it won't ring. And that's our Lord, isn't it?
All power, he said, all authority, all power is given unto me, power
over all flesh, over all the earth, over all the universe.
God has made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. and in
his hands are everything. All blessings are his to bestow
or withhold, aren't they? He is the sovereign Lord, and
he can bestow them or withhold them. Read on. It says, The word
of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee
eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cheereth, that is,
before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the
brook, I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to this place, the place where Elijah visited
was an ungodly place, the place where he sojourned was a godless
place. He was one godly man among many
ungodly men. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this ungodly place and sojourned among us, didn't he? And the
scripture says that Elijah was sustained by ravens while our
Lord was sustained by angels, wasn't it? Scripture says that
he gave his angels charge over him, lest he dash his foot against
a stone. Read on, verse 5. So he went, Elijah went and did
according unto the word of the Lord. And Christ came and he
did all the Father's bidding. He did everything according to
God's word, didn't He said, Thus it behooves us to fulfill all
righteousness. Christ did that for us. Not a
jot or a tittle from God's word shall pass away till it all be
fulfilled. And Christ fulfilled it all,
according to God's word, for his people. He came and dwelt
here on this earth for us, fulfilling God's word. Read on. Verse 6
and 7. 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." Christ, the Scripture says, drank the cup of God's
wrath. He said, This cup, shall I not
drink it? Shall I not drink the wrath of
God against the people's sin? Shall I not drink that cup? He
said, If I don't drink it, you'll have to. And he did. He drank it. Did he drink most
of it and leave some for us to drink? He dried up. The wrath
of God dried up when Christ drank it all. He
drank it all, drank the full cup of God's wrath, and there
is therefore now no condemnation to them whom Christ walked this
winepress and drank this wine of wrath for these people. Sent to God's chosen ones. Look
at verse 8. He was sent to God's elect. This
is Elijah. The word of the Lord came unto
Elijah, saying, verse 9, Arise, get thee to Sarepta, which belongeth
to Sidon. Now stop right there a minute.
It says dwell there. The town of Sidon was a town
of Tyre and Sidon. You've heard that name many times
in Scripture. a wicked, idolatrous, vile Baal
worshipping. They worshipped a goddess named
Asherah. This was the hometown of Jezebel.
They suffered that prophetess Jezebel, that false prophetess,
to dwell there. They worshipped false gods. They
worshipped Baal. This was a place and another
place where the children of Israel were constantly besieged by the
Sidonians. The Sidonians hated the people
of God in the book of Judges, John, and they attacked them
and harassed them constantly. They were enemies to God's people.
And their downfall, the downfall of this town of Sidon, was prophesied
by many prophets, many prophets. And finally it happened. as the
prophecy said. They were finally taken captive
by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians. This town was wiped out. Well,
this is the place that our Lord came to, a vile and wicked, God-hating,
idol-worshipping place. He came to this place. Read on. The Lord, the commandment, came
to Elijah, saying, You go down there and dwell inside, and behold,
I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." A widow,
I have commanded. A poor, bankrupt, poverty-stricken,
unknown little lady living with her young son to sustain this
mighty prophet. Well, the scripture says in 1
Corinthians You see your calling, brethren, don't you? Not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are
called. God hath chosen nobodies. God
hath chosen the weak things, the foolish things, the base
things, things that are nothing, things that are base, things
that are not, to bring to naught things that are. That's a picture
of this little widow woman, and that's a picture of all that
God Almighty chooses for salvation. Nobody, nothing, nobody, worthless,
idolatrous sinner. This little widow woman was living.
We have a tendency to kind of feel sorry for this little woman,
but she was an idolater like everybody else. She was a no-good,
rotten sinner like everybody else. Just because she was a
poor little widow, that doesn't mean she was a sweet little lady.
Right, Violet? Ellen? Sinner. She was a sinner
just like everybody else, in need of mercy, deserving of God's
wrath and God's judgment. She was plucked as a bran out
of the burning, wasn't she? She was chosen by God, and that's
who God chooses. Nobody, nothing, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. That's how God chooses, too.
Look at it again. Did you notice these words? He
said, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee. I didn't
ask her if she would accept Elijah as her personal prophet. I commanded
her. I commanded this widow. This
is how God chooses people, doesn't he? He commands them to hear
the gospel. He commands them. He commands
the Spirit to go and convict of sin. He commands them to repent. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repent. He commands us to call on him. As many as the Lord God calls
upon, only they will call upon him for mercy. He commands us
to believe Christ, doesn't he? He does all this, and if you
come to hear and be convicted and repent and call for mercy
and believe on Christ, it will be because the Lord God chose
you and commanded you to do so, not of your own free will. And
because God sent his Son down to save you, to do everything
for you, because God sent his Holy Spirit to call you by his
gospel and send a prophet with a word from him to arrest your
heart. in your mind and your thoughts. It says that he commanded a widow
to sustain this prophet. Do you see that, verse 9? Now,
if you read with me the first part there, God had miraculously
upheld and sustained his prophet, hadn't he, up to that point?
The Lord had commanded the creatures, the ravens and He had taken care
of his prophet up to that time, and he could continue to do so,
couldn't he? Elijah lived not by bread alone,
but by everything that came, the word of God that came from
God and the provisions from God Almighty. And he could have continued
to sustain Elijah in this way, but he didn't. He sent him to
this woman, and it appeared like she was doing something for him,
doesn't it? It appeared that this woman was
helping him out. In reality, Joe, he had come
to save her, hadn't he? He didn't come down there. It
appeared that she was doing something for him, doesn't it? No. No. He was trying her, but it was
he that was doing for her, wasn't it? And Christ came down here
to this world made of woman, subject to the flesh. Scripture
says in Hebrews that he was compassed with the feeling of our infirmities.
He was subject to the flesh, made a little lower than the
angels. He did nothing for his own sustenance. And there were
times when he asked his disciples for a little bread, and he asked
at times for a drink of water, didn't he? Did he need that? Do you remember
us reading over in Isaiah the other day, last Sunday? He said,
if I were hungry, I wouldn't ask you. Why was he doing it? Salvation comes to those that
he comes to. In reality, he was the one that
was sustaining life. He was the one, the provider
and sustainer of life. Read on. Verse 10. So Elijah
arose and went to Sarepta, and when he came to the gate of the
city, behold, the widow woman was there. She just happened
to be at the gate. Boy, wasn't this lucky for her.
She just happened, of all the times, when Elijah was coming
through, she was in the right place at the right time. Thank
her lucky stars. No, later she would thank her
sovereign covenant-keeping God Almighty who had ordered this
meeting before the world began, and sent this prophet to save
her life and the life of her son. And here's what Elijah said
to her, commanded her. He called her and said, he met
this woman in the gate, and he called to her and said, Fetch
me, I pray thee. Now, he's not asking. That word,
I pray thee, means I go now, do this. I looked it up. It doesn't mean please or would
you please, pretty please, with sugar on. I'll be much It means,
hey, fetch me, go now, go do it. He commanded her, fetch me,
I pray thee, a little water and a vessel that I may drink. Does this sound familiar to you?
Does this make you think of any other story in the scripture?
Surely this is no mere coincidence, is it? John 4, where the Lord
met a certain woman at a certain well at a certain time. and came
up to her and said, Give me a drink. He was fulfilling this scripture,
this type of himself, when he came and did that. Fetch me! Fetch me! And verse 11 says,
As she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, And
bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. fetch
me some water and bring me some bread now. Do it now." And as
she was going and he started doing it, finally she stopped
and threw up her hands and said, wait a minute. He'd given her
two impossible commands. Bring me some water. There wasn't
any water to spare. There wasn't any water to go
around. She didn't have enough water
for her own sake. There was a drought going on. And bread, she didn't
have any bread. That's what she tells him. He
was requiring something impossible of her, wasn't it? Impossible.
I believe he was bringing her to see her hopeless condition.
Look right on, verse 12. And she said, As the Lord, she
finally threw up her hand as she was starting to go get him
some water, and then he said, Bring me some bread while you're
at it. And he said, Yeah. And turned back around and said,
As the Lord God liveth, I have not a cake. I don't have a dry
biscuit in the house. I don't have anything. All I've
got is a handful of meal in a barrel, and I'm going to scrape to get
that, and scrape the bottom of the barrel. And you're scraping the bottom
of the barrel when you come to me. And a little oil in a cruz,
a little oil in a little jar. And behold, I'm gathering two
sticks, all I can find to heat the fire, two little sticks,
it won't heat much of the fire, that I may go in and dress it
for me and my son, that we may eat, because we're going to die.
It's not going to do us any good anyway, we're dying. And when the Lord God first confronts
a sinner by this gospel, he makes us see our hopeless condition.
That's what the gospel is. The gospel doesn't come with
words of of love and mercy and goodness and sweetness and all
that first, it comes with words of conviction to tell us of our
hopeless estate, doesn't it? To tell us of our damned, doomed
estate before God, to see us as we are, to show us as we are,
nothing in us to recommend us to God, no goodness, no righteousness,
no holiness, no strength, no power in ourselves to save ourselves. And we're going to die dead in
trespasses and sin. Isn't that the first thing you
saw about yourself you didn't see before? Yet God comes with
two impossible commands, doesn't he? Not requests, but commands. Repent, and what else? And believe. Repent, I say, and
believe. Two impossible tasks. With man,
this is impossible. He's not going to repent, John.
He's not going to repent because he doesn't see himself as a sinner.
He thinks there's still some goodness in him. This woman still
thought she had something, but it wasn't enough to give her
life, was it? But man is impossible with man
to repent of his own free will. He's not that bad of a sinner.
He's not that bad of a sinner when the goodness of God leads
him to repent. With man it's impossible, but
with God He can bring a proud Pharisee down, like Saul of Tarsus. And believe! Faith is God's gift. We can't drum that up of ourselves,
can we? That's the gift of God. He has
to command faith. He has to give it to us. Verse
13. Elijah said, here's the promise
that comes to this woman on the back of this impossible command,
these two impossible commands. Verse 13, Elijah said unto her,
Fear not. You know, the Lord said that
more than any other command in the scriptures, more than any
other. He said that to his disciple.
Fear not. Fear not. Fear not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure
to give unto you the kingdom. Fear not, little widow. Fear
not. Go and do as thou hast said. do according to your faith, so
be it unto you. Go and do as thou hast said,
but . . ." Now, here are the key words of this message here.
Make me thereof a little cake first. Make me a little cake
first, and bring it unto me, the firstfruits. And after that,
make for you and your son. use this story. I've heard Brother
Tilton, it seems like every time I turn the TV on he's preaching
from this. Every time, preaching from this. They use this story
to extort money. The scripture says they devour
widows' houses. Note that. To extort money from
poor little widows to try to prove to them, if you'll give
me God's prophet, send me your money, send me your Social Security
check, and God will bless you. That's not what this is all about. What this is teaching is Matthew
6, verse 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, which is Christ. He's the kingdom of God. Then
he says, the kingdom of God is among you. He's right here, the
dominion of the king. He's right here, the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. Who's that? Christ, the righteousness
of God. Seek ye first, this is eternal
life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou seest. This is what this is teaching
here, that a man, a woman, a young person is to seek to win Christ,
to be found in him, to know him, whom the know is the eternal
life, and all these other things be added unto you. Not necessarily
riches and all of it, but things needful. Seek ye first, not give
to the preacher. That's not what this is teaching
here. But seek Christ. Come to know him. Seek his face. Seek him, and he shall give unto
thee eternal life and save thee and perhaps thy house right along
with you. Here's the promise to this poor
little widow. Verse 14, "'For thus saith the
Lord God of Israel,' and I like this, and you're going to like
it too, "'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of
meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail. Thus saith the Lord,' did you
notice that Elijah didn't say, well, here's what I think. I just believe now, if you'll
do for me what I told you to do, that it just somehow is going
to turn out all right. No. He brought her a message
from the word of the Lord, didn't he? He said, this is what God
says, not what I think. And that's a true prophet, isn't
it? This is what the Lord says, and that's what you need. Not
what I think, not what any man says, but you need a word from
God. Psalm 3410 says this, that the young lions do lack and suffer
hunger, that they that seek the Lord shall not want any good,
and the word translates, word. It says, thing, but the original
Hebrew says, shall not want any good word from the Lord. You know, he gives us good things,
he gives us all things richly to enjoy, but what do we need
the most, huh? How do we live? A man doesn't live by bread alone.
He gives us that. He tells us to ask for it, give
us this day our daily bread. She needed a word in dry season,
didn't she? She needed the Lord God to touch
his finger in a little water and dip it on her dry tongue,
didn't she? She needed a promise from the
Lord, and that's exactly what she got. Thus saith the Lord,
The barrel shall not waste, and the crew shall not fail. What's
that talking about? The barrel and the cruise. The barrel of meal and the cruise
of oil. The barrel of meal. What a meal when you make out
of it. When you make meal, you make bread out of it. And oil,
it's something you anoint with. Well, that's the body and the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? The body of the Lord shall
not be wasted. This is particular redemption.
So you're getting a lot out of that preacher. No, this particular
redemption. He didn't waste, he did not waste
the broken body of his son, but it was broken. He said, this
is my body, which is broken for you. Who? Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. This is my body. The body of
Christ was not wasted. He was crucified for his people.
He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He shall
see the crucifixion of his own body. He laid down his soul,
laid down his life. It wasn't wasted. And the crews
of oil, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall not fail. Never. Never fail. The blood
makes atonement for the soul. Still does? Always has. Terry,
it always has. The blood was sufficient and
saved the first sinner. And it'll be sufficient and it'll
save and shall not fail to save the last. And I've only been going about
30 minutes and I've got time to tell this illustration. You
remember back when I bought this piece of property over here and
I went around the property saving trees? You remember that? Remember I bought some red tape
and started taping trees up with it and the ones that I taped
with that red tape? I told the tree cutter to pass
those by, don't cut them down. Cut everything down that doesn't
have red tape on it. That's what I told him. And you
know what worked? Every tree I had to tape around
is still standing. Still standing. Well, I bought
me another piece of property. And the other day I went out
and got some more tape. Reckon it will work? Will it still save
trees? Will the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanse us from our sin? We sinned yesterday, but
we're going to sin in the future. It will still save. It will not fail. That cruise
of oil shall not fail. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us, and it will cleanse every sinner that comes
to God by him. The blood will cleanse. It will
never fail. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. It's still effectual, and it's never wasted. And turn over to Psalm 72 real
quick. He said there, the barrels of
meal shall not waste, neither shall the crews of oil fail until
the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. You won't need it then. until
the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth." Psalm 72, turn
over there. Someday, the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to return to this earth. And all through the scriptures,
that day is called that day. It's called the day, the day
of the Lord, all through the scripture. That day, the day
of the Lord, the day of the Lord, that great day is going to come
when The Lord comes himself and shall rain fire and brimstone
upon this earth and burn it up. The Lord is going to rain judgment
upon this earth, more surely than I am standing here right
now. He is going to stand on the four corners of the earth
and rain fire and brimstone on it. When Christ comes again,
it will be a day of wrath and judgment to all them that know
him not. It will be a curse and a day
of wrath and judgment, and every person is going to be cut down
by his wrath. But that day is going to be a glorious,
sweet, refreshing time for all those Saints that remain upon
this earth when he comes. There are going to be some people,
according to 1 Thessalonians, that are still upon this earth
when the Lord comes. Maybe us, maybe in our generation. I kind of think we'll see. Wouldn't
that be great? Even so, come, Lord Jesus. This will be a time, a glorious
time. Look at Psalm 72, verse 6. It says, He shall come down
like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
I went outside after that evening rain, and there's nothing sweeter. I had just cut my grass the day
before. There's nothing sweeter smelling, more life, more promise
of life and refreshment, and just everything smells sweet
and renewed and regenerated, doesn't it? After a fresh rain,
that's what it's going to be like for God's people when the
Lord Jesus Christ comes. A time of refreshing. a time
of regeneration for the Saints of God. Back to the text in 1
Kings 17. Also, I believe this meal and
this oil represent many things, and you could come up with some
things yourself, I'm sure. I think the meal represents God's
word. I think the oil represents God's
Spirit. The scripture does say, Not one
word shall fail of all God's promises. It will not fail. And
the Holy Spirit, he said, I'll never leave you. I'll send my
Comforter and he'll never leave you. He'll never leave you. The
Holy Spirit will be with us until the day the Lord comes back to
the earth, until he sends rain, until he reigns and rules over
all. And I believe it represents mercy
and grace. His mercy and his grace will
never fail. I believe it represents joy and gladness. Oh, many things. Many things. Think about it more
on your own. Let's read on, let's finish this
up. Verse 15. And since she went and did, she
did according to the saying of Elijah. She did according to
the word of the Lord at the mouth of Elijah. She, she did it. Well,
was the Lord true to his word? He sure was. And she and he and
her house did eat many days. When people were dying people
were starving and people were literally dying, she was fed. The Lord had prepared a table
for her in the midst of his enemies, hadn't he? She lived by faith
also. She did, according to his word,
and it says in verse 16, in the barrel of meal, wasted not, neither
did the cruise of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord. And
you see her now, Barbara, every day. Why didn't the Lord just
fill up her barrel? Well, the Lord didn't give the
Israelites food but for one day, didn't he? Why? They had to live
by faith, didn't they? I can just see her now, Barbara.
She's going into that house, and she wakes up in the morning.
Will there be anything there? Will the Lord be merciful this
morning? She taught sinful thoughts. She
was a sinner. She sinned that night. She woke up with sinful
thoughts, sinful dreams. She maybe woke up complaining
about her lot, and she thought, I've got to get something to
eat. And she saw the barrel. Is anything going to be there?
Will the Lord be merciful again? Will it be there? Oh, Lord, please. There it is. There it is. I need some oil. I need some
oil. Lord, anoint the meal. I can't
make anything out of this meal without oil. Is there going to
be oil there? Lord, please fill my cup. Fill that cup up. Thank you,
Lord. His mercies are new every morning.
Sin, we sin, we sin. Our sins are new, too, aren't
they? Constant. Our sins are over our
heads. David said, My sin is ever before
me, but so is the Lord's mercy. He said the barrel won't waste.
He said the croons won't fail. Come on, come back to the barrel. What's the barrel? It's right
here. It's full, it's full. Come back, dig, dig down. You've got to dig for it, though,
and you'll find mercy there to help in time of need. A cruise
of oil. And she brought out a handful.
She reached down in that barrel and dug and brought out a handful
on God's purpose. According to the word of God,"
it says, according to the word of the Lord, which was spoken
by Elijah. Elijah was just a bystander in
that. According to the word of the
Lord. And I say unto you, as a result of this, this promise,
fear not. Bid a sinner keep coming to the
barrel, keep coming to the Lord. To whom coming? The scripture
says, keep coming to Christ. Sinner, as you may be, keep coming. He's got storehouses of mercy
and grace. Keep coming, keep drawing from
God's barrel, it's there. It's there for every sinner that
comes to God by Christ. It's there. You'll get a meal.
You come empty, come hungry, hungry and thirsty for a word
from the Lord, it's there. You'll find a handful, a heartful,
a headful. You'll find bread, you'll find
meat to help. We already read it, but this woman wasn't exempt
from trials, was she? didn't lose sight of his promise
to her, did he? His promises will never fail.
Not one word of his promise. He said, It will be well with
you and your son. He said that. And there is a beautiful picture
of Christ there that says that Elijah laid himself on the sun
three times. Three days the Lord laid in the
grave for us. And we have life because of that. We're brought forth from the
dead. And this woman said in her final confession, verse 24,
said, Now by this I know thou art a man of God, and that the
word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth. And we ought to know
by this word, we ought to know by the Lord's faithfulness to
us. We sang that song. summer and
winter and springtime and harvest? He has been faithful to us from
the very outset. Have we forgotten the Lord's
faithfulness? When should we ever, ever complain or worry
or fear? He has been faithful to us all
these years, especially you older people. Some of you live 60,
70, 80 years. You, above all people, should
never worry. The Lord has been more faithful
to you than anybody here, right? He's been more long-suffering
and faithful to you. So why do you think he's going
to quit now? He put up with you this long. He's got too much
invested in you. The Lord is long-suffering. How
long? However long you live. Just however many years you've
got left. That's how long his long-suffering is going to hold
out. Let's come up, Mr. Sherry. Let's
sing this hymn in closing. Hymn number 40, Great is Thy
Faith. Sing all three verses. Great
is Thy Faith.