If you'd like to follow along,
please turn to 2nd Kings chapter 4. 2nd Kings chapter 4. And I'm just going to read like the
first seven verses. Now there cried a certain woman
of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying,
Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou knowest, and thy servant
did fear the Lord. And the creditors come to take
unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elijah said unto her, what
shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thine
house, in the house? And she said, thine handmaid
hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. Then he said,
go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy 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 the vessels, and thou shalt
set aside that which is full. So she went from him and shut
the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels
to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the
vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet a
vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And
the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man
of God, and he said, go. Sell the oil, and pay thy debt,
and live thou and thy children of the rest. I read something good in a bulletin
the other day, where it says people will tell
you, when you talk about election
and when you talk about sovereignty, And you talk about God's work.
People will tell you, well, I believe in whosoever will. Well, the
answer to that is, well, me too. I believe in whosoever will.
But I like what Tim James wrote about it. He says, as a matter
of fact, I believe in whosoever will, and I can tell you who
they are. That's right. And he was right.
He says, all that the Father gives to me shall come to me. And I am willing no wise cast
them out. Everyone chosen in God, or by
God, in Christ Jesus shall come willingly. Willingly. I still remember Earl's song
about hornets in the room and all that. He says, he can make
you willing to go, he can make you willing to come. All those that labor and are
heavy laden shall come willingly, and Christ Jesus shall give them
rest for their souls. My sheep shall hear my voice,
and they follow me. Guess what? That's whosoever
will. And here's the kicker. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Now, So Christ makes his people
willy. But here in this scripture, I
believe, we find another characterization of those that come to Christ.
They are empty vessels. And that's the title, Paul, empty
vessels. Elijah told this woman, she lost her husband. And the
creditors were coming. Because see, back in those days,
if your husband died owing something, it was still up to you to pay
it. And they were going to take her sons and make them slaves
to pay off his debt. And Elijah said, here, what can
I do for you? What have you got in the house?
And she said, I got a pot of oil. That's all I got, nothing
else. Then he said, go, borrow the
vessels abroad of all thy neighbors. Even empty vessels, borrow not
a few. Okay, so first of all, what do
we see here? What does the prophet tell this
woman to gather? Vessels. But specific vessels. Empty vessels. Empty vessels. Clay pots. Empty clay pots. That's a certain kind of vessel.
Nothing more, nothing less. Empty vessels. Go abroad to all
of your neighbors. and gather empty vessels. I mean,
that's the only qualification for these vessels given here. Understand, they don't have to
be big. They don't have to be small. They don't have to be
tall. They don't have to be short. They don't have to be wide or
narrow. They just gotta be empty. Empty, that's the qualification.
That's the instruction given here by the prophet of the Lord. Now, I'm not gonna tell you that
in this illustration, Elijah is a type of Christ, but he definitely
holds the office of prophet, which was one of Christ's offices,
prophet, priest, and king. And if you don't like that thought
of Elijah maybe being a type of Christ at times, don't read
the rest of the chapter, where he helps this woman get a son. Then that son dies, and he raises
him from the dead. So don't say, anyhow. I'm just
saying. But that's what he told her.
He said, bring empty vessels. And not a few. Not a few. Get as many as you can find from
all of your neighbors. From everyone you know, look
for an empty vessel and get an empty vessel. All of God's requirement for
these vessels, and this is a true story. Just for an illustration,
this is an actual event that happened. God saved this woman's two sons
by this oil from being cast into slavery. But he said they had to be empty,
just empty. Understand, God didn't want any
quarter filled vessels here. He didn't want any that was half
full. He didn't want any that was three quarters. They had
to be empty. That's the qualification. Empty vessels. You know, he didn't
even want any vessels that had just a smidgen in them. These vessels were to be completely
and totally empty, void of anything in themselves. What am I saying here? God only
fills empty vessels. Don't bring anything of yourself
to offer to Jesus Christ. You understand, he won't have
it. He doesn't want it. I hear him,
I heard him not that long ago. Don't, quote, give your heart
to the Lord, end of quote. He doesn't want your desperately
wicked heart. He doesn't need your deceitful
heart. Don't, and I quote, give your
life to the Lord. Without Jesus Christ, you don't
have a life. He doesn't need what life you
have. Here's the thing, you need him
to give you a new heart. You need him to give you his
life. The only life there is. Boy,
that's hard. Well, maybe it is, but it's so. That's the way it is. Elijah told this woman to bring
empty vessels, and he meant empty vessels. Absolutely nothing in
those vessels of their own, nothing in them at all. Because God only
fills empty vessels. He doesn't need the vessels,
the vessels need him. I like that. And here's the thing. God does not want or need any
contribution from those vessels. And he never has. This is Old
Testament, and it's no different in the new. Jesus Christ is not
in the business of finishing what you think you've started. God will not, and listen carefully,
I'm gonna try and say this correctly. God will not complete your salvation. He gives his salvation to empty
vessels, to empty vessels. A hundred or so years ago, a
man asked Spurgeon, so don't you think that the greatest
hindrance to a man's salvation is his sinful self? his sinful
self. Now most people might agree with
that statement, it sounds good. But Spurgeon told him no. That's
not the greatest hindrance to a man's salvation. Because Jesus
Christ saved sinners. He saved the chiefest of sinners.
He ate and he drank and he talked with publicans and sinners. And I know of two publicans he
saved. One of his disciples was Matthew and Zacchaeus. And Lord knows how many sinners
he saved. Well, wait a minute, all of them. We do know. But the Pharisees and the scribes
saw him sitting there eating with publicans and sinners and
talking with them, sitting at the same table. And he said,
they said to his disciples, they didn't talk to Christ, they said
to his disciples, Why does he eat with publicans and sinners?
The implication being, doesn't he know better than that? But
Christ heard him and he answered him. He told him. He said, they that are whole
have no need of a physician, but they that are empty, they
that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners. to repentance. And here's the
thing, he didn't stop there, he said, go ye and learn what
that means. I will have what? Mercy and not
sacrifice. That's quoting the Old Testament.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Now, who asked for mercy? The righteous don't. They want
what they deserve. The guilty ask for mercy. Understand,
a fellow pleads for guilty and asks for the mercy of the court.
The guilty ask for mercy. I will have mercy in that sacrifice. Spurgeon told this fellow, he
says, no, he says, I think that the greatest hindrance to salvation
is our righteous self. Our righteous self. because nobody's
too bad to be saved, but there's some people who think they're
too good to be saved. I'm a pretty good guy, God'll
save me. He's looking for empty vessels. Oh my, empty vessels. I am not come to call the righteous,
but the empty vessels, sinners. So what am I saying? Well, right
now, as the same as back then, an empty vessel, an honest sinner,
is a hard thing to find. It takes the work of God to bring
an empty vessel. It takes the work of God to let
you know you are a sinner. You have nothing. You are nothing
in and of yourselves. So that's the kind of vessels
this woman was to bring. Then what did Elijah tell her
to do? When you come in, shut the door. And shut the door on
you and your sons. And pour out into all those vessels
that thou shalt set aside. After you have all these empty
vessels, he didn't say go into your house, he said come into
your house. Come into your house, I like that. And shut the door. and shut the door. This woman
and her two sons were to be in that house alone. So what I'm
seeing here, when God is filling empty vessels,
the world is shut out. Understand the world's not to
know. I think I told you all a few
years ago, I've got a front door on my house, and that front door
has two purposes, both complimentary, I think. They're to keep me and
my family, my friends, inside. But it's to keep the world out.
Understand, God filling empty vessels is not the world's business. And to be perfectly honest about
it, they wouldn't understand it even if they saw it. What's it mean though? Ah, God
filling empty vessels is a family business. It concerns the family
of God. That's what it is. Filling empty
vessels is the business of the family. Come in, you and your
sons, come in. And what? Shut the door, shut
the door. Then the prophet told her to
pour out into these empty vessels. Well, not quite. He told her
to pour out into all of the empty vessels. And then set them to
the side when they're full. Set them to the side when they're
full. Now when she started, she had
one vessel of oil. One. That's the source for all the
oil in all the other vessels. Understand, there's only one
source for the work of God in an empty vessel. There only ever
is. She didn't take this pot and
pour it into that pot, and then take that pot and pour it into
another pot. No, she kept the same single
pot. There's only one source for the
oil to fill an empty vessel. There's only one mediator between
God and man. There's only one, one substitute,
one sacrifice for sin forever, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a single source for all of the oil that goes into
all of the empty vessels. Remember that. Only one had oil
in it to start. And every empty vessel was filled. She had her sons bring them to
her, and she poured. And they set it aside, and she
poured. And they set it aside, and she poured. And she said,
bring me yet another vessel. And the son told her, there aren't
any more. There aren't any more. What was
the result of all these empty vessels in their house is all
of these empty vessels were filled. Every single empty vessel was
filled. And every single empty vessel
was filled with that oil that came from that one source. That
one source. And every empty vessel was full. And then it says this, and the
oil stayed. The oil stayed. All those many empty vessels
were filled, and there was still oil in the original vessel. And there was now, in that house,
with that family, no empty vessels. Understand? If you're empty, God will fill
you. If you're empty, God will fill
you. If you're a sinner, Christ will
save you. Well, that's too simple. No,
it's not simple. It's the work of God. You understand? It takes the work of God to get
you there as an empty vessel, and it takes the work of God
to fill you, and then it takes the word of God to tell you you're
filled. He had to tell us, ye are complete
in him. You know why? Because sometimes
we're too dumb to know when we're filled. We don't know. I don't feel like I'm filled. He didn't tell you to feel like
you feel. He told you he filled you. We
are complete in him. There's plenty of oil today.
The oil stayed. That original pot still had oil
in it. The only thing that original pot was looking for now was what? More empty vessels. More empty
vessels. I thought all the oil was waiting
on was more empty vessels, because this oil is sufficient because
Christ Jesus himself is sufficient. The Holy Spirit is sufficient
to fill every believer. And God's grace is sufficient
for every sinner, for every sinner. What was it, that message? An honest man will never die.
and on a sinner will be filled. Wow. And there's plenty of oil today. Then she came and told the man
of God, and he said, go sell the oil and pay thy debt, and
live thou and thy children on the rest, on the rest of it. God provides for his people.
God provides for His family. Graciously, He provides. And we live by His grace. And we not only live, we live,
we move, and we have our being in Him, in Him. We live by the life that he gives. By him. And we live the life
that he gives. Full. Complete in him, even when
we don't know it. Even when we don't feel it. He
says, I will never leave thee, and I will never forsake thee.
Because see, if God fills you, you're an empty vessel and God
fills you, you will always be filled. You understand? Your oil is not going to run
out. Once you were an empty vessel,
now you are a filled vessel and you will never be empty again. Guaranteed by him. in his life. I will never leave
thee, no, never forsake thee, because if Christ fills you,
you're filled, and you'll stay filled. See, now the question is, what
are we looking for here? Well, we're looking for empty
vessels. We're looking for empty vessels, because Empty vessels
will be filled. It's not us that does the filling.
It's the old that does the filling. Oh my. See, we're looking for
honest sinners. You know why? Because Christ
will save an honest sinner. We look for empty vessels because
Christ will fill an empty vessel. We, all believers, are called
earthen vessels, clay pots. And here it says that we're filled.
Second Corinthians four and verse six says this. For God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, earthen vessels, that the excellency
of the power may be of God. Earthen vessels, empty vessels.
God will fill. He will. Every single one of
them. Because then, in the Old Testament,
and now, an empty vessel will not stay empty. He'll see to
it that it's filled. What? Has shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Then opened he their understanding
of the scripture. That's what it says about Christ
in the last chapter of Luke. Then opened he their understanding
of the scriptures. These are the sole authority
that we have. These scriptures right here. And these scriptures
here are telling us that God's gonna fill every empty vessel.
God's gonna save every honest sinner. He didn't come to call
the righteous. He came to call sinners to repentance. And he's doing it wherever he
pleases in his own good time. In the fullness of time, God
revealed his son in me is what Paul wrote. In the fullness of
time, God filled Saul of Tarsus and he became the apostle Paul. Christ will not stop until every
single one of his chosen empty vessels is filled. After all the empty vessels were
filled, the oil stayed. You understand? The oil's not
going anywhere. The oil's not going anywhere.
And that oil stayed. The source, the one source for
all of the others stayed, stayed. You know, he could have said
that it stopped, but they wrote it in here that it stayed. You
know why? Because he'll never leave you,
and he'll never forsake you. He's going to stay. The wall
stayed. He's going to stay. That original
vessel was still full after filling all the others. The original
vessel was never empty. Never empty. And I said a couple
weeks ago, we have received of his fullness. And I told you
a couple of weeks ago, he's still full. He's still full. Oh my, you understand. He gives unto us the robe of his
righteousness. And he gives that robe of righteousness
to every one of his people. So that means there's a lot of
robes, right? No, there's only one. His robe, his robe, his
robe. We've received of his fullness
and believers are absolutely no longer empty, empty in Christ. They are no longer empty in Jesus
Christ. He has become unto them wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And how did that
happen? He says, well, of God are ye
in Christ Jesus. Well, he's still full. He's still
full. And so are we. Every one that
he has filled is still full. It's still full. I wish I could
get a hold of that, you know? That old saying about my feet
wouldn't touch the ground, you know? But it's true, it's true. Be of good cheer, I am with you
always, even unto the ends of the earth. I have filled you,
I'm going to keep you full. And them that come unto me, what
am I going to do? I'm going to raise them up at
the last day. And you know what that last day?
Those empty vessels are still going to be full. They're no
longer empty vessels. Those are going to be the filled
vessels, and they're going to still be filled. Ah, I like that. Our Heavenly Father, thank you,
Lord, for all that you've given to
us. Through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been given
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Lord, be with Walter and Paul
as they come to preach your word. Give us more of your gospel that
we need to hear and help us to hear it and understand it and
take it to heart is when we leave this place. Lord, thank you. In Christ's name, amen.