Wonderful song. Just a wonderful
song. Very fitting for tonight. And
isn't that why we come? We come to hear the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to hear more about our
King, don't we? More about Jesus. That's what we desire. For his
glory and for his honor and for his praise. More about Jesus. Tonight's message is called the
Shumite Woman. Now in between the filling of
the pots, which we looked at last week, and the narrative
of what this chapter ends with, which is death in the pots, is
this wonderful portion about the Shumite woman, which is actually
a wonderful portion about grace. And this woman is a dear example
of the believer, the elect of God, who'd been given faith by
the Holy Spirit of God, And that faith works by love. That faith
works by love. And also note the contrast between
the widow, which we looked at last week, and the Shulamite
woman, who we'll look at for the next two weeks. We're going
to spend two weeks on the narrative here, because there is the miracle
of the birth of her son, and then there's the miracle of the
resurrection of her son. Two miracles dealing with the
same person. And think of this. The widow's
residence is not given. Last week's narrative, which
we looked at, where her residence is, isn't given. But here, in
this narrative, we see that in verse 8, she lives in a town
called Shulam. And think of the contrast, too. The widow who we looked at last
week was financially destitute. And we will see in tonight's
reading that the Shiamite woman is one of great means. Also the
widow sought out Elijah and the prophet approaches the Shiamite
woman. So here's some contrasts. Again,
Elijah provided for the widow and a Shulamite woman ministered
unto him. The widow had two sons, but the
Shulamite woman was childless. She was barren. So these are
some things to consider as we spend the next two weeks. on
this portion, which again is broken up into two sections.
Tonight we'll be looking at verses 8 to 17, and then next week we'll
look at the other portion that deals with the Shulamite woman
as well. It's broken up again into two
sections. First, the giving to her of a son from the Lord, and
then the resurrection of her son again by the Lord. through
the prophet Elijah, who had died. She had died, or
the son had died, and we're going to look at that next week. So
let's read the first section. Verses 8 to 17 of 2 Kings chapter
4. And it fell on a day that Elijah
passed to Shunam, there was a great woman, and she constrained him
to eat bread. And so it was that as oft as
he passed by, he turned in to eat bread. So she said, come
on in the first time, and then he stopped by there all the other
times. And she said unto her husband, behold, now I perceive
that this is an holy man of God, which passes by us continually.
Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and
let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and
a candlestick. And it shall be, when he cometh
to us, he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day that he
came thither, and he turned in the chamber and lay there. And
he said to Gaziah, his servant, called the
Shurmite, and when he had called her, she stood before him. And
he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold,
thou hast been careful for us with all this care. What is to
be done for thee? What is thou be spoken for to
the king or to the captain of the host? So he's saying, do
you want me to speak to the king for you, or do you want me to
speak to the captain of the host for you? And she answered, I dwell among
mine own people. And he said, what then is to
be done for her? And Gehazi answered, verily she
hath no child, and her husband is old. Well, this is the same
as Sarah and Abraham, isn't it? And he said, call her. And when
he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, about
this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace
a son. And she said, nay, my lord, thou
man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaiden. And the woman conceived
and bare a son at that season that Elijah had said unto her,
according to the time of life. Now, God's born-again blood-washed
people are different people than we
once were. We now love those who've been
redeemed by the Lord, and when we can help them, we try to help
them. And we see this love and action
in this passage in verse eight. This Shumite woman, as often
as Elijah came by, she welcomed him into her home to eat. We're going to see later on that
that just doesn't mean to eat bread. That's actually fellowship,
sweet fellowship together. You know that joy we get when
we fellowship one with another, where our hearts burn within
us? Speaking of that. And it appears here in our text
that from Elias' history, he frequently traveled from Mount
Carmel to Samaria, and therefore it was necessary for him to pass
through this portion of land, to pass through Shunem, which
was a small city belonging to the tribe of Ishkar. But as the following events in
this woman's life make it appear, the Lord was overruling the prophet's
path. In this instance, to work a work
of mercy. And this brings back how our
great God directed the steps of Jesus when the evangelist
John tells us that he must needs go through Samaria. Elijah had to stop here, because
God was going to rot not just one miracle, but two. Tonight we'll look at the first
one. And our great God, he directed
the steps of Jesus to Samaria. He had to go to Samaria, didn't
he? He says, I must needs go to Samaria. It says this, when
therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
made and baptized more disciples than John. Though Jesus himself
baptized not, but his disciples, he left Judah and departed again
into Galilee. And he must needs go through
Samaria. He had to. He had to go through
Samaria. You know why? Because not just
one of his lost sheep was there, but many. Many. And he was going to speak to
that lady at the well, and he was going to profess to her that
he's the Messiah. And she's going to go back and say, come meet
someone who is the Messiah. He knows
everything about me, and I didn't tell him anything. Oh my. See, she was one of his
sheep. This Samaritan woman is also
one of the Lord's sheep. She's among the number which
God the Father had given to Christ for redemption. She, just like us at her birth,
was living in an unawakened state and God regenerated her and gave
her faith to believe. And how precious the Lord Jesus
is. As we see the holy constraint
in his heart about the gathering of his people. So that not one
of them is lost, he says, I must need go through Samaria. I must. He must go. The Father sends
the blessed Spirit of God to awaken sinners from darkness
to light and from the power of sin, Satan, to God, whereby now
we cry, Abba Father, right? And we will see that this woman's
faith was great tonight, but only because of God, as He's
the giver of faith. He's the giver of life. But we
also see, just like us, she has times of unbelief. My oh my. The flesh, the flesh,
the flesh. So we see that the Shulamite
woman had great regard for the prophet. For the preacher. So much so she constrained him.
Come and eat. Come and eat with me. Come and
eat with my family. And she sanctified God in her
heart, beloved. Now food, food for the preacher
might not seem like much, but you know, we serve the Lord by
also caring for the household of faith. And she perceived that, notice
this, she perceived that Elijah was a man of God. Who showed
her that? God did it. God showed her that
he was one of his men. Look at verses 9 to 11. 2 Kings
4, 9 to 11. And she said unto her husband,
Behold, I perceive that this is an holy man of God. I perceive
this. Who gave her that perception? God did. which passes by us continually. So he was making quite a few
trips, it sounds like, from Mount Carmel to Samaria, because that's
where this is in between. Let us make a little chamber,
a little room. I pray thee on the wall, and
let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and
a candlestick. It shall be when he cometh to
us, and he shall turn in fever. And it fell on a day that he
came thither and he turned in the chamber and lay there. What
a blessing for him. What a blessing to have a place
where he can stop and he can eat and he can have fellowship
with a dear sister in Christ. What a blessing. How he would
be refreshed. Remember, they walked to these
places. They walked. They didn't have
automobiles like we do to jump in and turn the key and drive
to places. They either walked or they rode in a horse or they
were carried in a cart. And a lot of them couldn't afford
to get a horse. A horse was expensive. So behold the generosity of this
woman's heart and mind. And yet, it was nothing costly
to her. She simply gave bread to Elijah,
and then gave him a place to lay his head to rest. Beloved,
she opened her home to him, didn't she? Now remember this too, our Lord
was a stranger in this world, wasn't he? He was a stranger. He had nowhere to lay his head,
the scripture says. He had nowhere to lay his head.
And think of how little we knew him when he turned and came into
our hearts. Do you know if he had not come
to us, we never would have come to him. We never would have chose him.
Turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 25. We see a similar situation as
we have before us in our text. And the saints do not even know
that they're doing this, doing these things unto the Lord. They
just do it unto the Lord. They don't know that it's a good
work in the eyes of God because it's something that God works
in us. See, for us to help the brethren is natural as a born
again believer, right? We want to help. Look at this
in Matthew, chapter 25, verses 34 to 46. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of the father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
God has prepared a kingdom for his people from before the foundation
of the world. That's wonderful. Look at this.
For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye
gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me in. Naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited
me. I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee
drink? Now let's go back in our minds
a little bit to when Paul, right? had that Damascus Road experience. When the Lord knocked him off
his horse and the Lord said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who was Saul persecuting? He
was persecuting God's people though, wasn't he? On earth.
And Christ said, why do you persecute me? Oh my. So look what our Lord
says here. And the king, Verse 40, and the
king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you,
insomuch as you have done it unto one of the least of my brethren,
you have done it unto me. Then shall he say unto them on
the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungered, and
you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger and you took
me not in, naked and you clothed me not, sick in prison and you
visited me not. Then shall they answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thee in hunger or thirst, or a stranger, or
naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, in so
much as ye did it to The least of these, God's people on the
right side. The least of them. That's all
of us, right? The least of them. You did it
not unto me. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto eternal life.
In Matthew 7 too, there's a group of people, religious people,
who say, Lord, have we not done all these things for you? Have
we not cast out devils? Have we not done all these mighty
works for you? He says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I never knew you. They're boasting about what they
do, and here the righteous are saying, when did we do these
things? And the only reason they're called
the righteous is because of the Lord Jesus Christ, no other reason.
And they say, Lord, when did we do these? And he said, as
much as you did it unto one of these, you did it unto me. Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? Me. Oh my. So we see in our text that this
woman was one of great substance or wealth. We can see this by
the fact that she had servants, and her husband had their building,
their home, furnished. And then they made a room off
the house, furnished it all, just for the profit of God, Elijah. So she was a woman of means. She had some money in this world. But you know, God has his people
among the rich and the poor. He has his sheep scattered all
through time and space. He has his sheep scattered through
all different stations of life. But this woman also had a great
need. Just as the widow we saw before
had a great need. Just like we all came into this
world with a great need. We need to be saved from our
sins. We need to be saved from our
sins. And what did God do? God sent his son, didn't he?
Made of a woman. Made under the law to redeem
us. To redeem us out from under the law. Praise be to God for
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this woman was great in her
faith. She was great in hospitality.
She had discernment. She perceived that Elijah was
a holy man of God. And in meekness, by owning her
husband's headship, she sought him for the bringing in of Elijah
into the home. She was also great in her thoughtfulness
for others. The fact that she took care of
Elijah and made him comfortable in her home opened her home up And then we see, we will see
later on, that she's quite content living where she's living, amongst
her people. She also had wisdom, realizing
that Elijah would desire to rest, realizing that he would desire
quietness on his journeys. And she was of great faith in
God, confidently, Counting upon God to show himself strong on
her behalf and work a further miracle as we will see. And all
this came about by God's grace and mercy. Just like our redemption,
just like our salvation, it all came about by God's great grace
and mercy. God had mercy upon us for Christ's
sake and in him through the Lord Jesus Christ. And obviously, she's a sheep
of God. She's born again the same way
we're born again, by the Holy Spirit of God. She has faith
to believe on God. She's showing evidence of the
fruits of the Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit working in her,
not of her doings, but of the Holy Spirit working in her. And she believes on the one true
living God. Let's read verses 12 to 13 now. Elijah says to his servant, call
this Shumite and when he had called her, she stood before
him. And he said unto him, say now
unto her, behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this
care. What is to be done for thee?
What is thou be spoken for to the king? or to the captain of
the host? And she answered, I dwell among
mine own people. Note that Elijah accepted her
loving hospitality, which the Shulamite woman had shown him
great hospitality. And he wanted to show his appreciation.
A.W. Pink brings forth that In this
he differed from some ministers we have met who appeared to think
they were fully entitled to such kindness and deference." You know, we preachers, we're
just like everybody else. We don't desire special treatment. That's why when I go out with
you guys, some of the guys, one buys one week and the other buys
the other week. Because I don't expect anything
free. My. Not at all. And think of this too. Elijah's,
he's generally grateful for the rest that he has on his trips. He's generally grateful for the
fact that he can for the fact that he can rest during his journeys. And now he's thinking about her. And he wondered how he could
help her, or if there's anything she desired. She obviously wasn't in financial
need. She lacked none of the good things
of this life. What then should be done for
her? Well, he was at a loss, no, but instead of dismissing
the thought, instead of saying, oh, well, she doesn't need anything,
he decided to ask her directly. And again, this is all by the
prompting of the Lord, beloved, because the Lord's going to rot
out a miracle. He's going to rot out a miracle. And from what we see here, when
he said, would you like to speak to the king or the captain of
the house? It's obvious now that after what we saw in chapter
three, with the great victory of the three kings, he now had
considerable influence. And not just with the king, but
also with his captains. By the deliverance and victory
obtained for them in chapter three, and Elijah gives all the
glory to the Lord. He knows it wasn't none of his
doing, it was all the Lord. He's just a mouthpiece for the
Lord. And note, though, he's not willing
to ask for anything for himself. He probably has his own needs,
but he's not going to the king and saying, well, I need this
much food all the time and this here, because they would have
gladly gave it to him, wouldn't they? But you see, the prophet
of God and the preacher of God, it's not about what we can get.
We're pouring our lives out for Christ. That's what it's about. Just
like you, serving the Lord with gladness and joy that the Lord's
put in our hearts. And he wants to show his gratitude on behalf of her kindness by
being willing to speak to the king. that her husband might be promoted
to some post in the court maybe. Because you know all Elijah had
to do was say something to the king and he probably would have
put him in his court. Or said something to the captain
of the host and he'd have found something for him to do there. And that would have put him in
high standing. but he wants to make sure it's
okay with her. How this pictures Christ Jesus
our Lord as the only mediator between God and man for us. He is the one mediator between
we who are sinners and God who is Jehovah, the Sovereign One. And note in verse 13, the contentment
of this woman's soul. Now God does that for his people. He makes us content where we
are and with what we have. Scripture says, oh, what's that one verse? Let
your conversation be without covenants and be content with
such as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Hebrews 13, five, I believe it is, or six. Be content. Be content. And look how content she is.
She's content right where God's placed her. Because she could
have said, oh yeah, speak to the king for me, for my husband. But she's not interested in that.
Look at her answer. And A.W. Pink brings forth this
fact about her answer. She says in the scriptures, I
dwell among mine own people. Pink says, it's as if she said,
speak to me not to man, speak for me not to man, but to God.
I'm content where I am. I'm happy where I am. I'm happy
right where God's got me. Because what was the prophet's
main interest? Serving God. What's the preacher's
main interest? Serving God. Preaching Christ
and Him crucified. What's the believer's main interest?
Serving God. In the furtherance of the gospel,
right? See, we're all the same. We're all the same. Oh, please. Please, beloved of God, speak
to the king of kings for me. Speak to the lord of lords for
me. Pray for me. I need it. Pray for me. See, her main interest was Elijah
speaking to God for her rather than going to a man, a king,
even though it was a king. She says, I'm content. I dwell among my own people.
I don't need to go anywhere. I don't need anything else. Beloved, if we have the Lord,
we have everything. We are the richest people in the world.
The richest people in the world. If we have Christ, we have, we
have, oh, we have, we do, we have literally everything. More
than silver, all the silver and gold and jewels in this world.
Christ is far more valuable. So she was content with such
as she had. She was content with her station
in life. She was content with what the Lord had provided for
her and her family. And she glorified God by being
kind to the prophet. Opening up her home. sitting
with him, fellowshipping with him. And the prophet always had
a place in her home, beloved. So much so that they built a
room for him on the side of the house. So she was a lady ready,
a lady to whom the Lord had shown grace. And because of God's great
work in her, right? Because of God's great work in
her, she was gracious. The only reason we're gracious
to folks is because God's showing us so much grace. And we go,
how little my grace is that I give people. But you know what? We show it unto one another,
don't we? And that's the fruit of the spirit, beloved. And she glorified God by, being
kind and helping God's servant Elijah. Again, the prophet always
had a place in her home. And she was gracious only because
God had shown her grace. This is one of the marks of God's
elect. Kindness and grace. My, oh, my. When she was saying,
I dwell among my own people, she was saying that she's fine.
And she's saying, I'm fine. I'm satisfied with the life I
have. She had enough. She had God. First and foremost, she had her
family. She had a place to be. Look at us. We have the Lord.
We have our church family. We have a place where God's planted
us. We're among all people most blessed. I said to Vicki today,
I said, we are the most blessed people. We as a congregation,
we're so blessed. We're so blessed. Elijah, though, was, even though
she said that, I dwell among my own people, Elijah was still
intent in blessing her. And so he called her again. Again,
this is a prompting of God, because God's going to do a miracle here.
He didn't just dismiss her and say, OK, well, you don't have
any great needs, so I'm just going to enjoy my time with you
and fellowship with you, which would be extremely sweet. And
then I'm going to go on my journey. No. No, he's being prompted by
God to keep talking to her. And he promised her the one thing
that is of premier interest to a woman in Israel at that time.
Because it was said that the Messiah would be the seed of
a woman. And to be barren was one of the saddest conditions
for a woman in Israel. And we see here that Elijah promised
her a son. And he only did that by the prompting
of God, right? Because only God can give life.
Only God can. And look at this in verses 14
to 16. And he said, what then is to be done for her? And Gehazi
answered, verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
And he said, call her. And when he had called her, she
stood in the door, she came. Man, when Christ calls, we come,
don't we? We come. We come running. And he said, About this season,
according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And
she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine
handmaiden. So Elijah promises her a child. Even when her husband is old,
and just as Sarah did, she doubts the word of the Lord. This shows us that we as believers
battle with unbelief. She was a woman of great faith,
and here she's battling unbelief. One commentator said she may
have just been astonished by it, but look at the words. Do
not lie unto thine handmaid. Don't lie to me. My oh my. In note she calls Elijah, thou
man of God. She desired the truth. And she
was counting on him to tell her the truth. But she wasn't believing
what he said here. Again, Lord help our unbelief. Help our unbelief. Several years
ago, Henry Mann went to the bedside of a dying member of his congregation. He asked the brother if he was
ready to meet the Lord. You know what his brother said
to him? Dear brother there, lying, dying, he said, I am if you told
me the truth. My, the importance of preaching
the gospel. The importance of preaching Christ
and Him crucified. What a simple but profound statement
that man made. This is the calling of the preacher.
It's not for us to organize rallies and do all these other things,
or counsel, or lord over the flock, the flock of God. No, each time
the preacher stands in the pulpit, I am commanded to tell you the
truth, to preach unto you Christ and Him crucified, and warn to
me if I don't do that. But I'll tell you what, in being
commanded to preach Christ, it's a great honor. As I told you
guys last week, I'd have to step down to be President of the United
States. It's a great honor to preach the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace and salvation in and through Christ alone.
It is the only saving message. Jesus Christ came to seek and
to save that which is lost and to save sinners. Paul says, of
whom I'm chief. And every believer says, so am
I, Paul. So am I. My, oh my. What a statement that man made.
I am if you told me the truth. Oh my. So the preachers declare the
gospel of salvation in and through Christ alone by his precious
shed blood redeeming our eternal souls, and then him rising from
the grave for our justification, and the fact that God sent him
into this world to die for us, it's amazing. God's grace is
amazing. And we see here, though, this
lady tells the man of God, And she had had conversations with
him. We'll find out when it says that she came to eat with him
again. They had sweet fellowship together. She said, thou man
of God. Oh, she acknowledges who he is.
Do not lie to thy handmaiden. Now, lastly, let's read verse
17. And a woman conceived. Oh, my. and bear a son at that
season that Elijah had sent unto her according to the time of
life. What a great miracle. What a great miracle. In the
last miracle, we saw a typical picture of redemption, of setting
free from the law, and the fact that our debt was paid by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now we're delivered
from the bondage of the law. And by the bondage of sin, by
the power of God, and all by his might, because he made that
oil to multiply, didn't he? And paid off, with that miracle,
she paid off her debt and still had enough to live for the rest
of her life. My. And it wasn't by her own
strength, was it? No, all they did was poor. Keep bringing the pots, sons,
keep bringing the pots. That's all they did was just
pour. It was God who multiplied that oil. It was a miracle of
God to show us a picture of us being redeemed, beloved, purchased
by the blood of Christ from a debt that we could not pay. We're
destitute sinners and Christ redeemed us, beloved. Praise
his mighty name. By his mighty work, the mighty
work of God and God alone, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man.
And in this miracle here we see the redeemed of the Lord are
gracious because the Lord's showing us grace. And we see the fruit
of the spirit being bought forth. And we know that this lady wasn't
kind. To Elijah, except out of a regenerate
heart, because I'll tell you what, the prophets weren't very
popular back then. As a matter of fact, most people
didn't want to be around them. My oh my. But this, this, this shows us
the work of God, the Holy Spirit, working in our lives. You see,
We see fruit that's bought forth, not by our own power, but by
God the Holy Spirit. We see fruit in others. We'll
never see fruit in ourselves, but we see it in others. My, and others see it in you
and in me. But we're not born again by anything
that we do, do we? No. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. The Lord said you must be born
again. To enter into the kingdom of heaven, you must be. And that's
by the power and might of God, the Holy Spirit. And note the
order between this miracle and the last we looked at last week. We see God
at work in both, and we see a picture of God's mighty work for believers
in Christ as being made free from sin. We've been redeemed.
You have fruit unto holiness, Romans 6.22 and 1 Corinthians
6.20. And this is not a product of
the old nature. No. In the old nature, we didn't
want to have nothing to do with God's people. We didn't want to have
nothing to do with God's preachers. We didn't want to have nothing
to do with God. Until he started to move in our lives. and with
loving cords, beloved, loving cords. And oh, can you just look
back and remember that? He drew us. He drew us with loving
cords. And we were born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe, and oh my, we rested
and trusted on Christ alone. And that's what we say to our
sinner friends. Because we're just safe sinners. We say, sinner
friend, flee to Christ. He's the only hope. The only
hope for sinners. But salvation is not a product
of our old nature. It's a mighty work of God the
Holy Spirit. To be born again is not a work
of our own. It's a mighty work of God the
Holy Spirit. Our salvation is a work of God
the Son in redeeming us. And God the Holy Spirit regenerating
us. And what does he do? He takes us from the kingdom
of darkness and we're translated into the kingdom of his dear
son. This is supernatural, beloved.
People are all into the supernatural. This is supernatural. This is. This is a miracle of
God. Every believer is a miracle of
God. It means supernatural work done to us. My oh my. It's the work of God and God
alone. And any fruit that we have is called the fruit of the
Spirit. It's not the fruit of our doings.
Right? We're going to look at it in
our study in Galatians, we're going to get to the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not the fruit of our flesh, it's the fruit of the Spirit.
There is the works of the flesh, but they're in total opposition
to the fruit of the Spirit. One's a work of man and the other's
a work of God. One leads to damnation, the other
one leads to salvation in Christ Jesus and Him alone. Because
only the redeemed are born again and will produce fruit by God's
power. I've got to keep emphasizing
that because I came out of religion where it was all about, oh, you
make yourself more joyous. I can't make myself more joyous
if I tried. But God can make me joyous. As
I listen to messages and I read his word, my heart is filled
with joy. As I talk to brothers and have
sweet fellowship, my heart is filled with joy. Is yours? It's
wonderful. It's wonderful. So we have in this narrative
the fruit of the womb, yet not by ordinary workings of nature
in man. Now, Her and her husband came
together and they had a baby. Just as in the case of John the
Baptist, let's turn to Luke chapter one. Remember, remember? Elizabeth
was barren. And the Lord said, he said to
John the Baptist dad. Zacharias, he said, you're going
to have a kid, you're going to have a baby. My oh my. And remember, Zacharias was filled
with doubt, and the Lord just sealed his mouth up until the
baby was born. And what happened after that? Well, he gave praise
after that, didn't he? You imagine not being able to
speak for nine months? My oh my. Look at this, Luke
chapter 1, verses 5 to 7. And there was in the days of
Herod, the king of Judah, a certain priest named Zacharias. Yeah,
Zacharias. of the course of Abiah, and his
wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous
before God. That's in Christ. That's in Christ. Not by anything we do. They were
looking to the Messiah, beloved. They were trusting in the Messiah. Righteous before God, walking
in all commandments and ordinance of the Lord, blameless. How could
they do that? How could they walk before God blameless from
the law? In Christ. In Christ, beloved. See, the Old Testament saints
were looking to Christ, and we look back to his majestic, sin-atoning
work, don't we? And they were looking forward
to it. And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren
and they were both were now well stricken in years. Now look further
down, verses 57 to 58. Now Elizabeth's full time came
that she should be delivered and she bought forth a son. And
her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed
great mercy upon her and they rejoiced with her. Remember Abraham
and Sarah? Sarah said, I'm well past my
time. Well, it appears like this sure might woman was too, and
her husband. We serve a wonder-working God,
beloved. You know that? We serve a wonder-working
God. And we are living monuments to
that fact. And all the saints in glory are
living monuments to that fact. We serve a wonder-working God.
It's amazing. And let us consider lastly the
beneficiary of this miracle before us is a woman called a great
woman. Great in position, great faith. One upon whom divine providence
has smiled. Furnishing her with the things
of this life that she needed, but more so by the grace and
mercy of God in Christ. Now, Grace found this widow. Grace found the widow in the
first section of this chapter in distress, poor, sued by the
law, unable to meet its demands. And Grace finds this Shulamite
woman in a prosperous situation, but both have a great need, spiritually. Both of them. This Shulamite
lady had lots of things of this world. but she still had the
one great need for sinners, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see that they've both
been shown favor by God in granting them faith to trust him and rest
in him. You know, God's grace is indiscriminate. It doesn't matter about your
standing in life. It doesn't matter about the color of our
skin. God's grace is indiscriminate. When it finds the lost sheep
of God, it doesn't matter what their standing in life is. No, all that matters is their
spiritual need. Their spiritual need, which is the most important
thing in this world, is all men and women need Christ. All. We all need Christ. We have a desperate need because
we're sinners. Sinners by birth, nature, and
choice. But God's grace goes forth and finds those lost sheep
who the Father gave to Christ in eternity and who the Lord
Jesus Christ redeemed. Now we don't know who they are,
do we? So we preach the gospel to all. And God does the saving. God moves, beloved, and draws
his sheep to him. He finds his lost sheep. And he finds every one of us
in a place of great spiritual need. Every one of us. But praise be to God, he don't
leave us there. Right? He saves us. We're born
again and granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because
we're sons Chosen in Christ from eternity because we're sons God
sends the spirit of his son into our hearts whereby now we cry.
I have a father father my father Oh my you hear that a lot for
me because I love that. It's so true. I have a father
I have a father Oh my God, you know God doesn't
deal with us according to our sins? Scripture says, I remember
Joe Terrell telling me one night, he woke up in the middle of the
night, and the Lord just impressed on his heart, if the Lord shall
count iniquity, who shall stand? And right away, the balm of Christ
came. God, God. does not deal with
us according to our sins. We have mercy, beloved, grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we find mercy, by
God giving us grace and showing us mercy. And you are God. Scripture
says He's a God ready to pardon. He's a God ready to pardon. Why? Because of the perfect sin atoning
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're pardoned, It's
because of the magnificent work of the Lord Jesus Christ on our
behalf. It's amazing. And in Christ Jesus, our Lord,
God deals with sinners according to the riches of his grace. We
don't get what we deserve. We get his grace. We get the
riches of his grace, beloved. All due to the precious redeeming
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now the redeemed of the Lord,
we cry out. We cry out that God and God alone
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father, Revelation
1, 6. It's all him. It's all his work,
beloved. My, oh my, in the righteousness
of Christ is imputed. To those, now think of this too,
the righteousness of Christ is imputed to those who are the
objects of God's eternal love. We are the objects of God's eternal
love, beloved. And he says, God says of them
in Christ, they are the excellent in whom is all my delight, Psalm
163. That's why it said about Elizabeth
and Zacharias that they were blameless, righteous, because
they're in Christ, beloved. And that's so for us, too. What
a salvation. What a salvation. My. So we see then when it speaks
of this woman as being great, she's one of those to whom God
the Holy Spirit is working out the fruits of redemption, the
fruit of the Spirit. It's being brought forth from
her and in her, working by the Holy Spirit of God. And again, everything recorded
of this woman indicates that she was one of the Lord's redeemed.
She honored and ministered unto the Lord's prophet, unto one
of his servants, again, in a day when it was not popular to do
that. And here she opens up her home. Has her husband built a
room? My oh my. So he can get some
rest. So the prophet can get some rest. And then in our text it says,
as often as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
Now, I found this through Pink, I believe. And he said, let it
be remarked that the expression to eat bread means far more in
their culture than it means to us. Because breaking bread to
us is just having dinner or lunch together. But in their culture,
at this time, it signifies an act of communion and also denotes
a bond of fellowship between those who eat a meal together.
Similar to when we go out and we have a meal together in fellowship.
It's just so sweet. So sweet. Elijah had sweet fellowship
with this Shumite woman. It's wonderful. And therefore, by such intimacy
of communion with Elijah, this woman gave further evidence of
being one of God's redeemed. Now in Christ, we see the child
of promise. and secure in our redemption,
God sent forth his son, sent forth his son into this world.
The word of God, the second person of the Trinity, sent him into
this world to save us, beloved, to redeem us from all our sins.
Therefore, think of this too, again, our God's a super, he
works supernatural miracles, beloved. Our God is a miracle
working God. Think of this, the divine incarnation,
that's a miracle. God became a man. That's a miracle. Then think of the death of the
God-man, the sinless one, dying for sinners, and crying, it is finished, and
redeeming a multitude that no man can number. That's a miracle. That's a supernatural work, beloved. And then the resurrection of
Christ from the dead. The fact that death had no hold
on him. He was sinless. Couldn't hold
a beloved. Couldn't hold him. And then the
fact that he's raised for our justification. Again, that's
a miracle. Our God, he's a miracle working
God. I'll tell you what, he really
is. He does these supernatural operations, but see, man doesn't
see that. They say, I don't believe that.
And then they go off looking at what they call supernatural
stuff, playing with demons and stuff. My, oh, my. God's a wonder-working God by
his wonder-working power, beloved. My. And we who are the receivers
of the redemption of the Lord and its benefits, we cannot be
so without a supernatural operation of God, right? God does an operation in us.
We don't see it. He gives us a new heart, a new
nature. A heart that now hungers and
thirsts after righteousness? Hungers and thirsts after Christ?
We can't explain that. One second we're in the world
and we're loving the world, and the next section, next time,
we're praising Jesus. No wonder the world says, what
happened to those fellows? Well, God worked a miracle by
his wonder-working power. And I'm so thankful he saved
me. Are you? Aren't you thankful he regenerated
you? Aren't you thankful that he thought of us in eternity
and chose us in Christ? Praise be to God. Praise be to
God. My, before saving faith can be
exercised, the soul must be quickened. You must be born again, right? The dead can't make himself alive,
but God can by a miracle of grace. One who's dead cannot move to
God. And then all of a sudden we're born again and what do
we do? We're running to God, aren't we? By his almighty power,
he gets all the glory, beloved. He gets all the honor, he gets
all the praise. And the same is true of our conversion
when we're born again. We see the soul turning from
the world and turning unto God. And this is impossible until
a miracle of grace is being brought upon us. Scripture says, turn
thou me and I shall be turned, Jeremiah 31, 18. I won't turn
on my own. In our natural state, we're like
nine turning. But I'll tell you why. When God wrought some miracle
of grace, it's, I love this, turn now me and I shall be turned,
Jeremiah 31, 18. Oh yeah, we'll be turned, won't
we, by the mighty power of God. And such a miracle as regeneration
and conversion whereby the soul enters into the redemption purchased
by the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary. necessarily followed by another
miracle which shows the miraculous fruits of redemption, the work
of God the Holy Spirit in us. Rotting out the fruit of the
Spirit within us, all by the power of God. Not by anything
we do. See, religion tells you it's
all about what you do. It ain't about nothing we do. The only
thing we can claim is our sin. That's the only thing we own.
is our sin. Praise God, God don't deal with
us according to our iniquities, does he? Oh, what mercy, mercy
we receive from God. And we see here mercy from God
in this case with a child being bestowed upon this woman. She
didn't seek it out, did she? She didn't even know what was
going on. She didn't say, well, you know Elijah, instead of going
to the king, I want a baby. She didn't say that at all. She didn't say that at all. She
didn't seek out this little one, and she didn't expect it. I ask you who are the redeemed
of the world, redeemed of the Lord, we who are the redeemed
of the world, is this not true in our experience as Christians
when it comes to our salvation? We didn't seek the Lord. He sought
us. Right? We didn't expect to be
saved. We were dead in trespasses and
sins and loving our sin. And God in his mercy and grace
saved us, beloved. He came to us. He found the lost
sheep. He picked us up and he put us
on his shoulder. And now we're forever gazing
in his face. He didn't break our legs. No, no, God don't do
that. He don't do that. He lovingly put us upon his shoulders. And now we gaze with that little
lamb on his shoulders. We're looking at the Savior.
Oh my. Oh my, what a Savior, what a
Redeemer. Oh. And when we came to Christ,
we came as a sin-burdened soul, didn't we? And redemption was
all that we were thinking about, right? Lord, save me or I perish. We weren't thinking about the
fruit of the spirit. We weren't thinking about anything. We were
just saying, Lord, I need you. Because God had shown us our
great need, hadn't he? And in showing us our great need,
he's already provided a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So what
can we conclude from this then? Well, I like what Jonas said. We can conclude that salvation
is of the Lord. Hallelujah. What a Savior, what
a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank
you so much for allowing us to be here together, allowing us
to look into thy word. Oh Lord, how much joy fills our
heart as we look at and see thy wonderful works, thy wonderful
mercy and grace at work, the fruit of the spirit at work in
the Shulamite woman. And we know that it's only by
thy power and grace that it's in us. Even though we don't see
it, we see ourselves more and more sinners, but in that way,
we're growing in grace. Because Paul, at the end of his
life, said, I'm the chief of sinners. My, oh, my. How you work in us, Lord. How
much mercy you have bestowed upon us, we cannot even calculate. Praise your mighty name, Lord,
for your mercy towards us. Praise your mighty name for your
grace shown to us, too, in Christ Jesus. We love you, Father, by
your grace we love you.