Open your Bible to 2 Kings chapter
four. While you're turning, I'd like
to say it's so good to be here this morning. I was sorry I couldn't
come back in January. I had what I thought was some
health problems and they told me I was okay. You know, like
Lindsey was talking this morning about trusting. I thought all
you can do is just trust what they say. But I'm glad to be here. I'm glad that God in his providence
has allowed us to gather one more time to worship Him. Lindsay, I enjoyed that lesson
this morning. Bless my heart. Bless my heart. Here in 2 Kings chapter four,
we'll be reading verses one through seven. It says, now there was a certain
woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying,
Thy servant, my husband, is dead. And thou knowest that thy servant
did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two
sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, what
shall I do for thee? Tell me what thou hast in the
house. And she said, thy 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. When thou art come in, thou shalt
shut the door upon thee and upon thy son, and thou shalt pour
out into all those 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
unto 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 thee all, pay thy debt,
and live thou and thy children of the rest. Here we have in
these seven verses this beautiful picture of God's grace towards
sinners. We have this woman, she's a widow.
Her name is not mentioned. Her husband's name here is not
mentioned. She has these two sons. And we
see Elisha the prophet, the man of God, and we see this one called
a creditor who came to this woman's house. Now she was not always
in this state. She was not always a widow, and
she was not always in debt, but now she is. Something has happened. We know that is a picture of
our state before God. God created man perfect in the
garden, and he put him there. God had communion with Adam,
and then Adam sinned. And when Adam sinned, he plunged
this whole human race under the wrath and judgment of God, and
there is a debt that has to be paid. You know, as I thought
about this woman, now in the picture with me, here she is
and her husband dies. She buries her husband. We know
he was a believer. He was the servant of God. And
she lives with her sons. And one day she hears a knock
on the door. the creditor comes knocking on
the door. She may have no clue about the debt. She had no idea
that there was even a debt that was owed until the creditor came
knocking. And she said, what are you here
for? He says, I've come to collect the debt. Collect the debt? What debt are you talking about?
Well, your husband accumulated this debt and we've come to collect
it. You said, you know, naturally
speaking, you know what we would think, how heartless. This man,
he comes to this widow's house and she only has two sons, probably
just a poor dwelling. He says, I've come to collect
the debt. And she says, I don't have any money to pay the debt. I don't have anything to pay
the debt with. He said, do you have any children? We're gonna take your sons, and
they're gonna be bond slaves, and they're gonna have to work
to pay the debt. Can you imagine how she feels?
You imagine how her sons feel? You imagine if they're standing
there, I can see them standing beside their mother and saying,
what are we gonna do, Mama? And you imagine the horror that
comes over this woman's heart. This is a picture of what happens
when the law comes knocking on the door. Paul said, I was alive
without the law once, but when the law came, sin revived and
I died. Oh, I can just see this dark
cloud now comes over her head and over these children. She's
in a desperate situation. her husband died. He died leaving this very large
debt. Now some believe this could have
been a man named Obadiah. And if you remember in 1 Kings
18, and this is the time when Elijah, the prophet before Elisha,
when he reigned, in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, listen to
what it says in 1 Kings 18 verse three. And Ahab called Obadiah, which
was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly,
for it was so when Jezebel, that old wicked king, wicked queen,
you know what she did? She would kill all the prophets
of God. She said, I'll destroy them all.
While that is going on, well, she cut off all the prophets
of the Lord, Obadiah. took 100 prophets and hid them
by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. Probably of his own expense,
he may even have borrowed the money to take care of those preachers
living in a cave. hiding themselves. That's not
rained for years. So water would have been very
scarce and very costly, but he found bread and water and he
took it and he fed these men. That could have been her husband.
And this is what he did. So he was not a lazy man, but
he did this at great cost and expense to himself. And when
he leaves, when he dies, there's this debt. What is this woman
to do? Where is she to turn to? As Lindsay
said earlier, you know when we begin to seek the Lord? When
we're desperate. Don't you know that while her
husband lived, she looked to her husband? She would ask him
for his life, but he's not there. You know where she goes? She
goes to the prophet. How did she know to go to the
prophet? I think her husband probably instructed her. And
she goes to the prophet. She goes out of great need. She
went to the prophet who's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. She goes to the prophet because
the creditor has come to her house and she don't have a clue. She don't have any idea what
she's gonna do. The debt has to be paid. Listen in Matthew chapter 18. Our Lord spoke about this one
day. He talked about a man who owed this great debt. And he
said, but for as much as he had nothing to pay, the Lord commanded
him to be sold, his wife, his children, and all that he had
and payment to be made. You say, You know what that is? You know what that is a picture
of? That is a picture of the strictness of God's law. Every one of us are born debtors. Every one of us are born incurring
this great debt upon our heads that we owe to God. And the debt
has to be paid. God just will not sweep it under
the rug. Like I said, in our human minds,
our depraved thinking, we'd say, why didn't he just say, okay
lady, it doesn't matter. We know you're just a widow and
we know your sons are just, that's all you've got and you don't
have that much. It really doesn't matter. Oh
no. That debt. This is the sobering
thing. The debt has to be paid. This world has no clue about
that. They have no idea who God is and God's justice and God's
character. God is holy. And she comes to the prophet.
She's desperate. I see a picture here of a person
that's lost. They are at their wit's end.
You ever been to that place? Since the weight, you knew you
were a sinner. She didn't know it for years,
now she realizes it. And what am I to do? What am
I to do? Somebody tell me! I'm desperate! Or am I to turn? The wages of sin is death. We've
sold ourself for nothing. She had nothing. She couldn't
deliver herself out from under the demands of the law. But I think she believed God,
that's why she came to the prophet. She's forced to go to him. He's the only one. He's the only one that can help
her. The only one. This woman's husband
probably died believing that God would provide for his wife
and his whole family after he was gone. He lived by faith,
he died by faith, he feared God. He lived upon the promises of
God. Listen to this promise, Jeremiah 19 verse 11. Leave thy fatherless children,
I will preserve them alive. and let thy widows trust in me. You ever noticed how many times
in the scriptures it talks about widows and the fatherless? You know what it says in James
about what pure religion and undefiled before God and the
Father is? To visit the widows and their afflictions and the
fatherless and keep himself unspotted from this world. All this happened. Lindsay talked
this morning about providence and circumstances. Why has God
brought this woman to this place right here? I'll make it personal. Why has God brought you to the
place where you're at right now? Let me make it an even more personal
question. Why has God brought you to this
place right here this morning? Why? You may have not ever known that
you owed a debt, but I'm here to tell every one of us this
morning that there's a debt that has to be paid. She needed a word from the Lord
about what to do. She has nothing, and that's a
good place to be. I thought about the woman with
the issue of blood. She's desperate. It said she suffered many things
of many physicians and spent all that she had and was nothing
better, but yet grew worse. And she goes to Elisha. Don't
you see this? What does Elisha say to her?
What am I to do for you? You know what he's saying? You
know what he's actually saying? I can help you. God has called me to preach his
gospel, but I can't help you. I can't pay your debt. Elisha
knew it. He said, I don't have anything. What do you want me to do? And
this is interesting. What do you have in the house? He asked her a question. What
do you have in the house? And she said, thy handmaid, I'm
your servant. Thy handmaid hath not anything
in the house. There's nothing there. Some said she had probably sold
everything she had to try to pay the debt. And he said, what
do you have in your house? And I can see it. If she had
any furniture, it's gone. If she had anything of any value,
it's all gone. There's nothing left. And now
she realizes it. My question to you is, what do
you have in your house? As long as you think you've got
something in the house that you can bargain with, you're going
to use it. And she said, I have nothing left. Save a pot of oil. I wished I had looked up the
word pot. I just thought that was an odd
name. It didn't say a vessel oil. It said a pot of oil. I'll give you something to think about.
But she now, now she thinks maybe, I wonder how many times she'd
walked by that pot of oil. I wonder how many times maybe
she hadn't considered the pot of oil. And maybe she had considered
it. Maybe she would have parted with
everything. She did part with everything except this. And this,
listen, this is all she has. And if she hadn't been made to
see it before now, she sees it now. She sees it. She said, all I have is this
pot of oil. I wonder where she got the pot of oil. I think maybe
her husband left it to her. I don't know, I'm just speculating. But she wouldn't part with this. What she had, God gave her. This was all she had, and let
me tell you something, it's all she needed. It's all she had, and it's all
she needed. It may seem small, but don't
despise the day of small things. What does he tell her to do?
Notice this word. He tells her to do this twice
in these verses. Then he said, she said, oh, I've
got the pot of oil. Well, now what am I to do? Go. Go. Go do what? Go to your neighbors and bury
empty vessels. As many as you can find. Don't
borrow a few. Borrow as many as you can find
and bring them back home. That's what she used to do. You
know what she'd say? How stupid. Why don't they say go borrow
full vessels? What is an empty vessel going
to do? You know what you can do with
an empty vessel? You can fill an empty vessel. How can empty vessels help? I owe a great debt. You know
what this is? You know how she goes? By faith. Can you see her sons? Her sons,
I can see them, they're going out with them. Said, Mama, what
are we doing? We're out here borrowing vessels. Well, why
am I borrowing vessels, Mama? Because the prophet told us to.
Well, how do I know when I go up and knock on that door that
they're gonna give me their vessel? Do you think God works on both
ends? And they give them their vessels. as many as they can
find. Our Lord makes us helpless. But what I want you to see, she
acts upon the light that God had given her. No matter how
it looked, no matter what people thought, she's doing what God
has instructed her to do. All she could do was borrow.
Not full vessels, empty vessels. What is God teaching her? And
God has to teach us that she has nothing and she of her own
strength and of her own ability can produce nothing, nothing. All the vessels, every one of
them, have to be completely empty. By nature, we think there's a
little bit there. I heard a message, listened to
a message coming up the road from Brother Bruce, and he was
talking about two of the greatest lies of our age, and he said
one of the biggest lies is men think, and they've been taught
there's a little bit of good in everybody. That's not an empty
vessel. And you know, as believers, we're
not exempt from this. We still have an old nature.
And when we sin, we think that there's something we can do to
maybe pay the debt a little bit. Now, if I read my Bible and I
pray and I do these things, well, just maybe. No, it won't. You
got to be empty. Empty. Empty. That means it's empty. It doesn't
have anything. It doesn't just have a little bit. It has to
be empty. Empty. If the vessel had anything in
it, it would be adding something to it, and it has to be empty. You must come empty to be filled. Our whole life,
God in his grace keeps emptying us of our self. We have to come with nothing. Our Lord doesn't give seeing
men sight, he gives blind men sight. He doesn't clothe those
who have clothes, he strips them naked and then he gives them
clothes. He makes those rich and they become totally bankrupt.
Everything we have, listen to me, everything we have, As Lindsay
prayed, whether it's our time, whether it's our talents, or
whatever it is, God gave it to you. God gave it. He gave her the pot of oil. He gave the woman a husband,
didn't he? And he took him away. Nothing
happens by accident. The prophet told the widow to
go borrow the vessels and not a few. Bring as many as you can
find. And you know what our instruction
is? What is our instruction as believers? What is our instruction? Go into the highways and hedges
and compel them to come in. You know what I'm looking for
this morning? I'm looking for an empty vessel. You know, the
problem is, I don't seem to find many. Men think they're self-righteous
in their own strength and in their own wisdom. He says, get empty vessels of
all shapes and all sizes. Get many vessels, why? Expecting
great things. Can I ask you a question? Do
we really believe that God saves sinners by the preaching of the
gospel? Do we really believe that? Do we really believe that? That
God in his grace still speaks to sinners through the means
of the gospel by the power of his spirit who quickens the dead
and gives them. Oh, that we may go and find empty
vessels. Empty. God, make them empty.
Make them desperate. And when people will come, when
they're desperate, when they're desperate. As I thought about this, I thought,
and Lindsay made reference to God feeding the children of Israel
with the manna. In John chapter six, verse five,
our Lord is going to feed 5,000 people. Said when Jesus then
lifted up his eyes and he saw a great company coming to him,
he said unto Philip, whence shall we buy bread that these people
may eat? And this he said to prove, Philip,
for Christ knew himself what he was going to do. Philip answered
him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient, that every
one of them may even take just a little. There's a lad here
which has five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what
are they among so many? And Jesus said, make the men
sit down. Now there was much grass in the
place, so the men sit down and number about 5,000. And Jesus
took the loaves. and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them which
were set down, and likewise of the fishes, as many as they would,
and listen to this next statement. And when they were filled, 5,000 all filled from five barley loaves
and two small fishes, he's not done. He said to his disciples,
gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
And therefore they gathered them together and filled 12 baskets
with the fragments of the fouled folly loaves, which remained
over and above of them that had eaten. Every disciple got a basket
full. Don't despise the day of small. Our Lord gets all the glory in
filling empty vessels. She gathered them all together,
as many as she could find. Okay, now you picture this. She gathers all these vessels.
She gathers them all. Now what's she to do? Well, the
prophet told her what to do. Go into the house, you and your
sons, and you shut the door. Why shut the door? To keep out
onlookers. There's no credit there in the
house. Elisha's not in the house. This is between that woman and
her sons and her God. Shut out the distractions. As
I thought about this, you remember when Jairus, ruler of the synagogue,
he came to our Lord and he said, my 12-year-old daughter is almost
at the point of death. Would you come and save and heal
my daughter? And our Lord said, I'll go. And
while they're on the way to go to Jairus' house, that's when
the woman with the issue of blood came. And she's had this issue
for 12 years. And he heals this woman. And
can you imagine Jairus is standing here looking and he's seeing
this and he's saying, well, I wish we could hurry up so we can get
to the house. And he heals this woman with
the issue of blood. And here comes somebody running
up and said, don't trouble the master. It's too late, the daughter's
already dead. You know what our Lord said?
Only believe. All things are possible to him
that believes. And he took Peter, James, and John. And when he
gets to the house, oh, these people, they're just weeping
and lamenting. And Jesus said, why are you weeping
for? She's not dead. She's only sleeping. They said, you're crazy. She's
dead. They said they left him to scorn.
That's what it said. Mark 540. So what did he do? He put them all out. He took the father and the mother
of the damsel and them that were with him, Peter, James, and John,
and he enters in where the damsel was lying. All those onlookers,
all those unbelievers, they're outside. And he said, he took
the damsel by the hand. And he said unto the damsel,
Tabitha Cuma, which is being interpreted, damsel, I say unto
thee, arise. Did they know what happened in
that little house? Oh yes, they did. Who did the work? He did
it. And he said, okay, now you see
this woman, she's in there with her little sons. And they gonna start pouring
the oil. shut out all the distractions. The widow was to use what God
had given her. She has a pot of oil and two
sons and they begin to pour it. They fill this vessel. She said,
bring me another one. They fill that vessel. Bring
me another one. And she keeps filling vessels. Out of one little pot of oil, Filled every vessel? Till she said, is there any more
vessels? And her son said, mama, there's
not any more. And you know when the oil stayed?
When the last vessel was full. God's grace and God's mercy will
flow. as long as there's one empty
center left. And it stopped. And they're standing around.
And do you know, the prophet never told her what to do next.
He never told her what to do next. We have to walk in the
light that God's given us. And now she goes back, well,
what am I to do with all this oil? Who gave her the oil? Now
what am I to do with the oil? Look in verse seven. Then she came, and told the man
of God. Can you imagine what she told
him? Elisha, you ain't gonna believe
this. You know that little pot of oil,
it filled every one of them vessels. If we'd have had some more vessels,
it'd have filled them. It never stopped till the last
one was full. What am I to do now, Elisha?
Go. Go. Sell the oil. Why to sell the
oil? The debt has to be paid. And live thou and thy children
of the rest. I picture in my mind, especially
in those days, especially after Ahab and Jezebel, I would say
this, I'd say this oil's very precious. I'd say it's very costly. And she goes down and I can see
her in her mind, I can see her thinking, I don't know exactly
how much the debt is. And I wonder if there's enough
oil here to pay that debt. Reckon there's enough here to
pay the debt. And she gets down there, and wherever she takes
it to, and the man, he pays her for the oil, I can see him say,
do you realize how much you've got? And I can see her going
maybe into the tax office, and she goes in there, and she said,
my name is such and such, and she said, I've come to pay my
husband's debt. How much is it? And he said,
well, it's this, and she starts counting it out. She said, oh
my goodness, I got a whole lot left. Why don't you picture this? I can see these little boys standing
there with her. She bites the teeth. And I can see her as she walks
out. She's got that little boy in each hand. They look up at
her mama. And they say, Mama, is the creditor
coming tonight? Is he going to come get us tomorrow?
Are they going to come get us, make us slaves, Mama? And she
said, no, son. You don't have anything to worry
about. The debt's paid. Do you ever feel terrified? Satan
comes with the law and just beats you over the head and said, I've
come to collect the debt. And you know what Christ says,
who paid the debt, it's done. I can see them little boys, I
can see them. And she took some in at night
and said, mama, mama, you sure that was enough to pay the debt?
Yeah, it's okay. You can lay down and rest. He
ain't coming back. And I can see them on their way
home. I can see her stopped by the grocery store. And she brings up a bunch of
groceries. Her and them two boys sit around
that table that God provided. We come here and we sit around
his table that He provided. He paid the debt. It was enough to pay the debt,
and where's enough grace? We live on it all through this
world and for all eternity. Oh, what a Savior. What a Savior. He gave her everything. Did He
not feel, you know what? Remember something I just thought
about? He filled her empty vessel. He filled her empty vessel. I pray he fills yours. God always brings to pass what
he's promised. She went in, trusted him, did
exactly what he told her to do. She honored him, and he honored
her. The spirit of God, the oil of
God's grace did not cease to flow until the last elect of
God is saved. The song says, dear dying lamb,
thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
church of God be saved. He said no more, no matter how
many vessels he's filled, there's still grace. There's still grace. There's still grace. The debt is paid. Paul said, my God shall supply
all your needs according to his riches in glory. by Christ Jesus,
every need is supplied. The Lord made the promise and
she trusted in the one who made the promise. Our great God takes
care of all his spiritual witness. His church will be provided for
in whatever trial they may go through. That's what she's a
picture of, her and her sons. It's a picture of the church
and her children. As long as there's one chosen
sinner left in this world, the oil of the spirit of grace will
continue to flow. And listen to me, he will fill
every empty vessel that comes to him. He'll make them empty. You know, you can't empty yourself.
You know, the scripture's talking about humbling yourself before
God. We can't humble ourself. By the time we think we're humble,
we get proud of it. He empties us, and then he fills
us. If there's an empty vessel here
today, bow before him, and ask you, ask him to fill you with
his grace. Amen.