Well, last week we started to
look at the account of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 17. And we
saw that the day in which Elijah came on the scene was a day in
Israel of great idolatry. And idolatry is a turning away
from the living God. And I commend to you the article
that I've put on the back of the bulletin this week, which
is by Don Fortner. It's from his daily readings.
and we read it not more than a week or so ago, is my religion
idolatry? And that's a modern definition.
If you ask those questions, is my religion idolatry? In these
days of Ahab, it most certainly was. What is idolatry? Baal worship. Oh, we don't do that. Oh, we
don't do anything like that. Baal worship was the reasonable
religion of its day. It was the religion that all
the people sought. This is the reasonable thing.
It's what mum and dad and granddad have all followed after. We'll
follow after that. It was the reasonable religion
of the day. And Ahab was into it. And Ahab
flew in the face of what God's word had said. He did all of
the things that God's word had said not to do. He even had that
city Jericho rebuilt. And Joshua had put a curse on
anybody that would rebuild that city because it was such a symbol
of rebellion against the God of the universe. And yet he even
flew in the face of that and had that city rebuilt. And meanwhile,
Israel is the covenant people from whom Messiah must come.
If you read the early chapters of 1 Chronicles, first of all
I'll tell you something about the early chapters of 1 Chronicles,
they're hard work because it's name after name after name after
name begatting begatting name after name after name for seven
chapters at least, maybe more. And do you know why it's there?
Because this is the line from whom Christ would come. And if
anybody is to stand before God in heaven, if anybody is to stand
before their Redeemer, knowing their Redeemer lives, and stand
before him and see him in his flesh, if anybody will do that,
if anybody will go to heaven, we must have righteousness. And
we can only have righteousness if the law is satisfied. And
we can only satisfy the law If the Messiah come and die in the
place of his people for the soul that sins It shall die and he
came and died in the place of his people and here's this people
from whom alone He said to Abraham in your seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed Not coming from anybody else. In your seed. Descended from him. In his genera... All that genealogy is important
for that, because it shows that from there, Christ, who would
deal with the sins of his people, came. And he must come. And yet,
here's the people from whom he must come, fallen into the most
abject, dreadful, idolatry. You say, oh, weren't they just
religious folk? They did some terrible things. there was this heathen
god, Molech, to whom they used to sacrifice their children.
Do you know what they used to do? It's vile to think of it. They used to, this great big
metal god, they used to heat up its hands and sacrifice their
children. This is how evil these people were. No wonder God pronounced
utter destruction upon them when Joshua and the people came into
the land. And yet, Ahab and Jezebel were going back to all of that
sort of thing. How similar to today, not in that respect, but
in the respect of people doing that which is right in their
own eyes, of following after what they regard as a reasonable
God, of a salvation that they think everybody deserves and
everybody's going to attain to, and not knowing that only by
the satisfaction of divine justice can anybody be saved. Well, in
those days, Elijah was raised up. Truth was upheld in dark
days. Elijah was raised up. Elijah,
ordinary man, James tells us he was a man of like passions
as we are. You think, oh, Elijah floated
around with a halo around his head, several feet above the
ground. He wasn't like us. He was such a holy man. No, Elijah
was a man of like passions as we are. I bet he lost his temper
at things. I bet he, I bet he, wasn't in
the slightest little bit this kind of Mother Teresa of Calcutta
picture that most people have of a holy person. Not at all.
He was a man of like passions as we are, but God raised him
up. And God put a burden on his shoulders. And that burden was
the message of the truth of how God would save his people. God
would save his people if this idolatry was swept away, that
that line might be re-established, that true temple worship, which
is the gospel on display, was strengthened and re-established
and from it Christ would come. And he would save his people
from their sins. He was burdened with that message.
And being a man of God, Being a man who was a righteous man,
why was he righteous if he was of like passions as we are? The
only way that you or I are ever righteous, with the righteousness
of God. For Christ, who knew no sin,
was made sin by God. Made sin, that we, his people,
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And on that basis,
if you're a believer, you're made righteous. You're a righteous
person. And Elijah was the same. He was
a righteous person on that basis of salvation accomplished. And
the fervent prayer of a righteous man, James tells us, avails much,
achieves much, has a great effect, for it pleased God to hear the
prayers of his people. And Elijah prayed in accordance
with God's word. For God's word in Deuteronomy
had said, if the people go over to idolatry, If they forget me,
if they forget my commands, if they forget the gospel pattern
that I've given them, I'll punish them. And this is the punishment.
And this is one of the punishments pronounced. Drought. Drought.
Famine. Economic hardship. Exile, ultimately. And Elijah knew God's word. And
Elijah read it. And being a righteous man, he
prayed to God. And the prayer of this righteous
man, the fervent prayer, Because he prayed again and again and
again. It availed much. And God said, yes, I'll do it.
I'll bring drought upon the land. Go and tell Ahab. Go and tell
him. Put yourself in danger, go and
tell him. Ahab, it isn't going to rain until I say so. There
shall not be dew, not even dew, there's going to be a drought,
a severe drought. And the purpose of it? To bring
you to repentance from this idolatry. But that would put him in danger.
How would he be preserved when all the forces of Ahab and Jezebel
would want to kill him? For as they saw it, bringing
a drought, Upon the land, well, Elijah was preserved. And what
was he preserved with? Enough. All that he needed for
life to be sustained by a brook, just by a little brook that had
a reputation for being the first to dry up. Not the River Jordan
that had plenty of water in it for quite a long time. The little
brook that was the one that would quickly dry up. God said, go
there. And you can drink of that brook many days. And not only
this, I've commanded the ravens to bring you food. They'll bring
you meat and they'll bring you bread in the morning and in the
evening. Such unlikely sources, these
ravens. Good food for a while, but do
you notice that when they stopped bringing the food, when the brook
dried up, they were still ravens. And this is what I wanted to
say but didn't get time to last week. There are so many preachers
in all ages that are like that. They bring what is good food,
good spiritual food, in portions. But don't be deceived, they remain
ravens at the end of it. They remain ravens. That's absolutely
true. Take the wholesome food that
they bring, but don't be disturbed that they remain ravens at the
end of it. There are writings that some
men of old have written, and you can take good things from
it. In fact, I'll give you one example. And I don't like particularly
naming names, but I'll give you one example because he's long
since gone. Bishop J.C. Ryle of Liverpool is revered
in reform circles as a man who cannot be touched. He's just
on a pedestal beyond all others. He was Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
in the 1800s. And he wrote lots of very good
things. If you read Don Faulkner's books,
his commentaries, you'll find he's often quoting J.C. Ryle
with his expository thoughts on the Gospels, but J.C. Ryle
said this, he said, justification is God's work, but sanctification
is man's work. I'm sorry, that's not what the
scripture says. Take the good things that he
wrote, but remember, he was a raven at the end who brought lots of
stuff that wasn't good. So we take the good, and we ignore
the others. Are there not believers, not
just preachers, but believers like those ravens too, who look
to partake of wholesome food, but at the end remain ravens? What do we do to shoot, to see
that I, am I, am I as a preacher one of these ravens who might
bring you the odd morsel of good food, but at the end prove just
to be a raven? Are you as a believer, somebody
who has partaken of good spiritual food and tasted it, mmm, yeah,
that's good, but at the end proves to be a raven. Examine ourselves. Let us examine ourselves, whether
we be in the faith, but above all, don't look at yourself,
but look to Him. Look to Christ. Look to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Well, this brook dried
up, and presumably the food stopped as well. And Elijah waited for
the Lord to tell him what to do next. And we learn from that
that we must never get too settled in any situation. Because we're
on a journey. This is a journey. This world
is not my home, if you're a believer. This world is not my home, I'm
just a passing through, as that old chorus used to sing. I'm
just passing through, I'm just on a journey, and God changes
circumstances. Some of you will remember the
blessedness that we enjoyed in the 1990s, when the campus church
started, the blessedness that we enjoyed. Bill Clark was preaching
this gospel of sovereign grace and particular redemption, Sunday
morning by Sunday morning, and it was a powerful, powerful witness
to the truth. And what a blessed comfortable
position that was. We were there and we were drinking
at the brook and we were feeding on the food and then of course
Bill was taken from us and then others rose up and we still got
some good food but how did it prove at the end of the day?
Was it not ravens? Was it not ravens? We took the
good food, but at the end of the day it proved to be ravens.
That gospel stopped. That gospel dried up. It was
preached no more. It isn't preached today. It's
not being preached there. Elijah waited for God to speak. Now look what he said to Elijah,
verses 8 and 9. And the word of the Lord came
to him. The brooks dried up, the ravens had stopped bringing
food. What's he going to do, go dashing off into the open?
No, wait for God to speak. The word of the Lord came to
him saying, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to
Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee. Why Zarephath? Why Zarephath? You see, I've called this message,
sovereign grace, the sovereign grace of God confounds natural
reason. There's a way that seems right
to a man, but, says God's word, the end thereof is destruction.
What was said of the people in the days of the judges was that
every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And what
a way to destruction that way proves to be. Natural reason
will incline you one way, but sovereign grace confounds natural
reason. Not only was the brook cherished,
an unlikely source of water in the drought. Not only were the
ravens very unlikely sources of meat and bread during that
famine, but Zarephath is even more of an unlikely place to
go. Go to Zarephath, for I've commanded
a widow woman to feed you there. Zarephath? If you can imagine
the map of Israel, And towards the northwest on the Mediterranean
coast is the land that was Phoenicia, Tyre and Sidon, the cities of
Tyre and Sidon. You can still go there today
to those places, they're under different political jurisdiction,
but that was the land of Phoenicia. And that was where Jezebel came
from. Jezebel came from that place,
Sidon. Sometimes with a Z, sometimes
with an S. This is where she came from, Zarephath, that area. It was riddled with Baal worship. It was the center of Baal worship. She introduced Baal worship to
Ahab and the land of Israel. And this land was suffering exactly
the same judgment that Elijah called down from God for idolatry,
for falsehood. What an unlikely place for Elijah
to be told to go. You couldn't think of a more
unlikely place, but isn't that the way that God works? No, not
the way that we think. Sovereign grace confounds natural
reason. When our Lord Jesus Christ started
his ministry, if you look in Luke 4, you'll see he goes to
the synagogue in Nazareth, and they give him the scroll of the
book, and he tells them that the scripture he reads about
the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to
preach the gospel of peace. And he says, this day, this scripture
in Isaiah is fulfilled in your presence. Why? Because he is
the Messiah who's come, preaching the gospel of grace. preaching
the kingdom of God he says this day it's fulfilled and they looked
at him and they were amazed and he was from that area and they'd
seen him grow up from a little boy and they'd seen him work
with who they thought was his father Joseph in the carpenter's
shop and they'd seen him with his brothers and sisters and
they knew him they knew him and Jesus says no prophet is accepted
in his own country you know we know I've often told you this
the account of Lord Parkinson, Cecil Parkinson, who is now elevated
to the House of Lords. But he used to be a senior politician
in Margaret Thatcher's government. And his mother used to work with
my mother in lowly Carnforth. And people would say, oh, Lord
Parkinson, oh, highly elevated man. If you talk to anybody in
Carnforth, it was Cecil Parkinson, there we know him, we know his
mum and dad, we know his brothers and sisters, there's nothing,
they'd say up there, they'd say there's nothing special about
him, I don't know who he thinks, you see, a prophet is not accepted
in his own country. Jesus said to them, you all know
me, and I'm coming bringing the words of life as the prophet
of God, but you're not going to accept what I say, because
the words of life are all about sovereign grace, and this is
what he said, he said, I tell you a truth, Many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elias, Elijah, when the heaven was shut
up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout
all the land, but unto none of them, none of the widows of Israel
was Elijah sent, save unto Serapta." That's the Greek word for Zarephath. Serapta is the Greek word. You
know, like we call London, London, but the French call London Londra.
You know, we call Paris, Paris, but they call it Paris. You know,
it's just that. In the old Hebrew, it's Zarephath,
but in the Greek, where the New Testament is, Serapta. He says,
Elijah was sent not to any of the widows in Israel. Why not?
Sovereign grace. God is a God of sovereign grace.
Sovereign grace confounds natural reason. To a city of Sidon, Sidon! To a city of evil Baal worship. To a woman, not even to somebody
important, to a woman who was a widow woman in those days. About as low as you could get
in the social pecking order. A widow in the land of extreme
idolatry. Surely, Go to Phoenicia, this
land, go to the land of Tyre and Sidon, because, you've heard
of the Phoenicians, haven't you? You know what they were famous
for? Ships. Trading. They were great merchant
traders, the Phoenicians, they were known for it. They built
ships and they traded all around the Mediterranean. Ah, now, natural
reason. There's a reason to go to Phoenicia.
There's a reason to go to Tyre and Sidon. The ships, even though
there's a drought inland, the ships will still be doing trade
with places that will have food. Now you'll get some food if you
go there for that reason. And look up some of the rich
people, because they're bound to have stores of food. No, no. Go to a widow woman. And not
only go to a widow woman, but go to a widow woman who's got
nothing left. Everything's run out. She's got
nothing left. She's got the last meal that
her and her son are going to eat, and then they're going to
die of starvation. Go there, says God to Elijah. I've commanded a widow woman
to sustain you there. Why? It's just like Jesus said
in the next sentence when he's in that synagogue. He said, when
there were plenty of lepers in Israel, plenty of lepers in Israel
in the days of Elisha he said Elisha healed Naaman, the Syrian
general, the enemy of Israel. He didn't heal any of the Israel
lepers, and they were furious. And do you know the people of
Nazareth? In the synagogue, they tried to kill our Lord Jesus
Christ. They tried to throw him off a cliff nearby. They were
so angry, because the human heart is angry at the sovereign grace
of God, but the Word of God declares sovereign grace from front to
back in every way. How does God save who he will
save? By his sovereign grace. What
is his greatest glory? I will be compassionate to whom
I will be compassionate. I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy. Sovereign grace confounds natural
reason. Here, in this widow woman, This
foreign widow woman, this non-Israeli widow woman, this widow woman
in the land that was utterly bound up in Baal worship, was
an object of God's mercy. He didn't go out with an offer
to all widows. Here I am preaching a gospel,
and God wants you to help me, and God is looking for widow
women who are going to decide for him. And he didn't, like
these modern Armenian gospel preachers, they throw out an
invitation, and they throw out an offer for anybody that will
to accept it. No, he didn't throw out an offer. that the widow decided to accept,
God chose her to salvation. And that in the midst of idolatry. Chosen to salvation. How do we
know? She believed God. She believed
God. She heard God's voice when God's
preacher spoke. Who is this man? He spoke. And
to her, it was God speaking to her. She heard the word of the
Lord, and she went and did. This is election. This is sovereign
grace. This is how God saves his people.
You can kick and fight all you like, but this is how God saves
his people. Well, what if he hasn't elected
me? That's not the question to ask. For he says this, He says,
unto all who labor and are heavy laden with a burden of sin and
knowing that the justice of God must condemn them. Jesus says
this to all, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. and are concerned about eternity
and think that you're going to suffer the flames of hell forever
because of your sin. He says, come to me all you who
labor and are heavy laden. And he says this, and I will
give you rest. That's sovereign grace. Oh no,
election doesn't keep anybody out of the kingdom of God. Come
to me and I will give you rest if you're burdened and heavy
laden. If you're burdened and heavy laden, thank God for it.
For a sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost has made him so. This is what the Word of God
says, John 1, 11-14, He came, Jesus came unto His own, the
people of Israel, and His own received Him not. The people
of Nazareth, the synagogue, they tried to chuck Him off a cliff
and kill Him, because they were so furious with what He said
about God is the one who is sovereign over salvation. His own received
Him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on
his name." How did they get there? Did they just make a choice when
others didn't? "...which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Let
me remind you, look at Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9,
verse 8. Paul is speaking. of the fact
that not all those that call themselves Israelites are the
descendants by faith of Abraham. He says they're not all Israel
who are of Israel. He says this, verse 8, that is,
they which are the children of the flesh, descended by the flesh,
These are not the children of God, but the children of promise
are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, twins, neither
having done any good or evil, that the purpose, listen, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand. That's
the motto on the New Focus magazine, isn't it? That the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth, but of God who calls. It was said to her, Rebecca,
the elder The elder, Esau, shall serve the younger, Jacob. As
it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. I've loved
Jacob with an everlasting love, but Esau I've left to his own
devices. Injustice. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness, unfairness
with God? God forbid. For he says to Moses,
and this is the verse that I quoted to you, Exodus 33 verse 19, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. Let's bow before the sovereign
grace of God. It's of God that shows mercy.
For the scripture says to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised you up. Even you, you're in my hands
to accomplish my purposes of sovereign grace. That's what
it is. The purpose of God according
to election might stand. This is the message of God's
book. Don't anybody let you think that
the doctrine, I don't like calling it that, but the doctrine of
election is something that high-minded theologians have added onto the
Word of God as an optional extra for Christians to believe or
not believe as they choose. Absolutely not. You cannot be
a saved believer unless you believe that God is the one who is sovereign
over all of these things. It's what his book says. He wouldn't
have said it if he didn't think it was important that we know
it and we believe it. This is what Jesus said. John
15, 16, he said to his disciples, you have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit. And every chosen object, are
you one of the chosen objects of God? How do you know? Because
I believe the truth. If I believe this, I know it's
because I was amongst those people that Christ came to save. And
this is what you wonder when you compare yourself with others,
you don't say, oh well I can see the reasons why, yes I know.
No, you say, why me? Why me? Amazing grace, how sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but
now am found, was blind but now I see. Amazing grace, amazing
grace. There are some unlikely objects
of the grace of God. Natural reason would say this
is grossly unjust, but it isn't. It's in the purposes of God.
If you read on in the Old Testament from where we are now, several
hundred years, and you come to King Hezekiah, who was a very
good king. King Hezekiah did all sorts of
very, very good things in terms of getting rid of idolatry, but
his son was a man called Manasseh, who did evil above all that were
before him. Dreadful, dreadful things. If
anybody deserved hell, that man Manasseh did. But if you read
the account of him in 2 Chronicles 33, you will see in the midst
of the punishment, because he was taken away, he was put in
prison by foreign kings, and in that situation God came to
him and he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Extreme wickedness
But he was brought to repentance and faith. And it was faith that
worked, if you read the account of 2 Chronicles 33. What is that? You'd say, oh, it's an invitation
for us to sin. Let us sin that grace may abound.
We can do whatever we want, and then at the last minute we can
just pray for God to rescue us before we die. No, not at all.
That's not what that is teaching. But it is teaching this. There
is no sinner whose sins are so great that they are beyond the
grace of God. Manasseh was a saved man, despite
the wickedness he'd done. David was a man after God's own
heart, despite the fact that in that moment he'd had Uriah
the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, with whom he'd committed adultery.
He had him murdered in the front of battle, and yet he was a man
after God's own heart. It's not an invitation to sin,
but it does assure us that there are none beyond the grace of
God. That thief on the cross lived
a life entirely of self-indulgence and crime and wickedness to other
people, yet on the cross, in grace, he saw who this man was. He saw what this man was doing.
He saw that this one between him and the other thief, the
other thief went to hell cursing. And the one between them, he
saw, was the man who had come to satisfy the law, as the prophets
had said, as all the worship had said, as the book had said.
And he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
I have no other plea. Lord, remember me. Be pleased
to remember me. Have mercy. Pass me not, O gracious
Savior. Hear my humble cry. Whilst on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Hear my cry. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. This day I say to you, verily, surely, definitely,
you shall be with me in paradise. Oh, the blessedness of the man
to whom the Lord will not impute his sin. This area of Tyre and
Sidon where Elijah went, this area was where Jesus went. You
know he had to escape from the Jews because his time had not
yet come. He couldn't let them fall upon
him and murder him physically in his body. He couldn't let
that happen. So he spent a lot of time in Galilee and in the
northern parts away from Judea. And he even went to this area
of Phoenicia, Tyre and Sidon. And while he was there, another
woman, we don't know if she was a widow, she probably was, came
to him from that area, and she came pleading, have mercy on
my daughter, she's got an evil spirit, have mercy. And do you
remember how Jesus answered her? He answered her very harshly.
He said, the disciples wanted to send her away, and she kept
coming and pleading, and he said, I've only come to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. I've only come for them. And
she said, but, you know, I can't remember exactly
how it goes, but the next thing is, he says, it's not right to
give the children's bread, meaning the Israelites, to the dogs,
the Gentile dogs. You're a Gentile dog, it's not
right to give the children, and do you know what she says in
faith? She says, even the dogs can eat up the crumbs that fall
from the master's table. That was in that hymn that we
sang at the start. Even the children, even the dogs
lick up the crumbs. She said, I know I'm a dog. I
know I'm a heathen dog. I know I'm from a land of idolatry.
I know I've got nothing to do with the rightful people of God,
but have mercy on me. Oh, woman, how great is your
faith. It's done for you. It's done. You see, He went there
as well. This is sovereign grace. This is God working as He works. It's electing grace in action. You know, we once heard, didn't
we, about faith in action, which was some gimmick to try and prove
that all sorts of people are ripe for being Christians. So
if sportsmen can be Christians, you can be a Christian too. What
a travesty of the true, true gospel of grace. This is electing
grace in action. God still has his unknown multitude
that he calls. Why this widow? Because God had
commanded her to feed Elijah. God had commanded her. He does.
God rules in the affairs of men. Which brings me to my next point.
God's secret workings. What would Elijah have had to
organize if it was all down to him? How would he have known
where to go? How would he have arranged the meeting with this
woman? You can imagine some movie of a secret agent going into
a place and how the difficulties they have making everything happen.
What would Elijah have had to have done? But there he comes
to the gate of the city and there's this widow woman and he knows
it's her. And she's picking up a couple of sticks. God was ordering
all things for the accomplishment of his purposes. God had inclined
her heart to listen to Elijah. He moves in the affairs of all
this world. You know, we've got an election
coming up this week, and there's never been a more uncertain election,
and opinions are so polarized on the effects of the outcome.
And we all have opinions, I do too. But don't be alarmed about
it. Whatever the outcome, don't be
alarmed. God is in control of all things. What is God's ultimate
purpose? that Britain be a lovely, nice,
safe country where we can all live happily ever after in material
prosperity forever and all cure the problem of death and all
live... No, not at all. It's to take his people to eternal
glory. That's the purpose of God. That's
the purpose of God, to take his people to eternal glory. Let's
not be concerned what the outcome is, for whatever it is, it will
all be in the hands of God to accomplish his purposes. We think
we're alone as a little group. We think we're being deliberately
ignored and ostracized, regarding the conference, those that claim
to be evangelical who say, we're not only not coming, we're deliberately
not going to advertise your conference, we're not going to tell anybody
about it, we don't want anybody to come to it, because we don't
like what you preach and we hate it, because it's sovereign grace
and particular redemption. We think we're ignored and ostracized,
but you know, God gives us gospel friends in the most unexpected
places. You wouldn't, well, you would
if you saw it, but I am constantly amazed at the emails that I get
from places all over this country and different parts of the world
to people who, when these sermons go on the internet, they listen
to them and they write in. I tell you, I don't know how
many will ultimately join us in this message, but I know that
God knows, and we have gospel friends whom He has ordained
to eternal life in places that we would never expect. Look at
all the way He's brought you. Look at the way He has brought
you. Would you have it differently? We always want to try and do
things, but would you have it differently than the way He has
ordered things? Well, the time's virtually gone
again, but we read in the reading, Elijah went there and there was
miraculous provision. For two years, it would seem,
they were sustained. There's this woman gathering
sticks. She's got one handful of flour left. She's got a little
bit of oil and she's going to mix them together and she's going
to light a fire with the sticks and she's going to bake it and
her and her son are going to share one little bun of bread. And that's going to be the last
food they eat, because there's a famine in the land and she,
being a poor widow, has no access to any food. And Elijah says
to her, bake for me first, and then do for your son and yourself. Bake for me first. Isn't this
what Christ says to us, his servants? Doesn't he? You say, oh that's
selfish. Oh no, that's not right. It is
if it's anybody else. But if it's our God, in our Lord
Jesus Christ, he has a right to say this. Serve me first. Serve me first, and then all
the other stuff that you need will be added. This is the message
that we take from that little account. Like that widow, use
your last possession in my service. Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness. And all these other things that
you need will be added to you. God will not suffer his children
to go begging bread. Verse 14, look at it with me. For thus, this is what Elijah
said, for thus says the Lord God of Israel, God said this. Who's saying it? The preacher,
Elijah. And she, as a sheep of the Master,
is hearing the Good Shepherd's voice when Elijah speaks. Thus
says the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal, this little
bit of flour you've got, shall not waste. It's not going to
run out. Neither shall the cruise of oil fail. Use it. And you'll
find tomorrow it'll be there again. And tomorrow it'll be
there again. And it'll keep going on. Until the day that the Lord
sends rain upon the earth. And she believed him. For thus
says the Lord God of Israel. verse 15 and she went and did
according to the saying of Elijah she didn't question it she went
and did and they ate many days for two years they ate flour
and oil made into bread that's all they ate and they had water
to drink from a well no doubt flour and oil, that's all they
had. There was no more meat brought by the ravens, but there was
enough to keep them alive, just bread and water. And not only
them, we read later on in the account of Elijah that other
prophets of God, Obadiah, the servant of Ahab, was a godly
man and he had hidden the prophets by fifties in a cave and fed
them with bread from Ahab's table. God looks after his people. This
widow was an object of God's saving grace, and she was elected
to salvation. But do you notice something else?
She wasn't just elected to salvation, she was elected to service. She
was elected to serve. Daily she baked the bread from
that which God provided. Are you saved by God's grace?
Am I? Are you serving Him in whatever
way He shows you? Oh, we don't look at ourselves
for assurance that we're the people. We look to Christ, for
in Him is all our hope. But true faith is faith that
works. And true faith is faith that
serves. And this woman was saved to serve. And then look at the faithfulness.
This is my last point. the faithfulness of divine love. Verse 16, the barrel of meal
wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the
word of the Lord. If God says it, it happens. Which
he spake by Elijah. The word of the Lord which he
spake by Elijah. The faithfulness of divine love. God having said he'll do it,
he will do it. The barrel of meal wasted not,
according to the word of the Lord. Our God, Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is faithful. He will keep us. He will preserve
us. How long will He keep us? Until
He takes us to glory, if we're His. Oh, the blessedness of trusting
this God.