You would open your Bible to
Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. Begin reading at verse 14. Luke
chapter 4 verse 14. I want from these verses, with
the Lord's help, to introduce this morning's message and also
this afternoon's message. Verse 14, and it says, And Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And there
went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And
he told in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he
came to Nazareth. You knew that's where he was
raised. where he'd been brought up. And as his custom was, he
went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up for
to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophets, Isaiah. And when he had opened
the book, he found the place where it was written. The spirit
of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives and recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister
and sat down. And the eyes of all that were
in the synagogue were fashioned on him. And he began to say unto
them, this day Is this scripture fulfilled in your ears? And all
bear him witness and wonder at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? He was not Joseph's son. He was
God's son. And he said to them, You will
surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever
we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
All the miracles and things that we've heard you do in other places,
we want you to do them here, in our town. And he said, verily
I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
Now verse 25, but I tell you of a truth. Many with us were
in Israel. the days of Elijah, when the
heavens were shut up three years and six months, when great famine
was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah
sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Zion, and to a woman that
was a widow. This morning we'll be trying
to look at this illustration. Our Lord actually referred from
this actual account of Elijah and this widow woman. That's
what we're going to be looking at this morning and this evening
we'll be looking at the one in verse 27 and he uses another
illustration. What is he illustrating? He's
illustrating sovereign grace and God's sovereign mercy. That
he can show his mercy to some undeserving Canaanite and leave
those Jews alone. They thought they had a corner
on God and God just owed them something. In verse 27, and many
lepers were in Israel, many lepers were in Israel in the time of
Eliseus the prophet or Elisha the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, save Naaman the Syrian. In verse 28, and all
they in the synagogue When they heard these things, they knew
exactly what he said. He just made reference to these
stories. They knew those stories. They
knew the scriptures. These were recorded. And when
he just made reference to these things, they were filled with
wrath. Now, these are people that were
raised with Christ in this little town of Nazareth. He goes off
and does these miracles and now he comes back and they said,
oh, do some miracle for us. There were many widows, and God
saved one that was a Gentile. There were many lepers, and God
saved one that was an Assyrian. God shows mercy to whom He will
show mercy. And whom He will, He'll just
leave them alone. Leave them alone. Now if you
would turn to that story, that account, in 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17. Give you a little background.
What I can understand that after the tribes divided after the
death of Solomon, remember they were the ten northern tribes
which were called Israel and the southern tribes were called
Judah. And Rehoboam reigned over Judah, the southern tribes, and
Jeroboam reigned over the northern tribes. And Jeroboam began to
set up another form of worship. a worship of Baal, a worship
of another God. And he began to set other men
up into the priesthood. You know, God had set it apart
that the Levites would be the one that ministered at the tabernacle.
And he said, they don't have to be priests. We can just choose
anybody. They'll be okay. They'll serve
this purpose. They were never called of God
and they never were equipped of God. And what I can understand,
it was about 50 some years from that time up till now, and they
went through seven different kings, and every one was wicked. Every one did evil in the sight
of God. And every one, the next one and
the next one, they just got worse, and they got worse, and they
got worse, till this time right here. Till Ahab was born. And Ahab was raised up, and now
Ahab's king over Israel. And it said if it wasn't bad
enough that he did more wicked than all the kings that were
before him, he did something even more vile. He picked a wife
whose name was Jezebel. Even the name Jezebel to this
day is synonymous with wickedness and evil. Nobody that I know
of would ever name their daughter Jezebel. I mean, just the thoughts
of that name and he married this woman. so wicked, so vile, and
he made temples for and set up all these false priests and all
these false gods, and that's what's happening in the nation
of Israel. That's what's happening in this time. In verse 1 of chapter
17, and Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of
Gilead, said to Ahab, It's almost just like He appears on the scene.
Nothing is recorded except where He came from. His father's not
mentioned. His mother's not mentioned. It's
just like God all of a sudden raised Him up. Some, you know, would say, well,
He was an angel. That's not what it says in James
chapter 5. It says He was a man of like passions as we are. He was just a human being that
God raised up. But he was a righteous man, and
he prayed that it would not rain. And you know what happened? It
didn't rain for three and a half years. You say, why did he pray
that? Well, first of all, Elijah was
jealous for the honor and glory of God. He heard of all this
that was going on in the name of God and in all this religion
and all this and said, does not anybody serve God? Does not anybody
jealous for the glory of God? And here's what it says in Deuteronomy
chapter 11, verse 6. This is what God said to the
nation of Israel. Take heed to yourself. that your
hearts be not deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods
and worship them. And then the Lord's wrath be
kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, and there be no
rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, unless you perish
quickly from off the good land, which the Lord giveth you." In
essence, Elijah prayed according to this word. He said, God, that's
what you said you'd do. He said, don't send any rain. And that's what God did. That's
exactly what God did. What's God doing? He's bringing
judgment. They probably thought, well, look, it's went on for
all these years and everything's just got worse and God just doesn't
really care. Let me tell you this morning,
it may look bleak, it may be look bad, it may be look pretty
black, but God's still concerned. God's still on the throne. And
God can still withhold the rain. And he does. And he does. Elijah, from these verses, we'll
be looking at verses 1 through 16, looking at the prophet, the
woman, the message. and the response. Here Elijah
appears on the scene in probably one of the darkest hours of history,
of Israel's history. It seemed like it was just so
dark. You know on over in chapter 18
where it talks about Ahab standing against the false prophets of
Baal and they were 450. That's untelling how many more
they were. We live in a land today where
it's on every hand. And I don't know around here,
but where I live, it just seems like it gets worse and worse
and worse. And it's all done in the name
of God. But Elijah appeared. He appeared
on the scene. And in what I read in Luke chapter
4, when Christ said that when Elijah came and God withheld
the rain, he said there was severe famine. We maybe go a couple of months
without rain. You imagine going years without
rain. And not only no rain, but there's
no dew. What I understand in Palestine, there'd be months
where there maybe wasn't any rain, but God would send such
a heavy dew, it would keep everything a little bit damp where there
wouldn't be so much dust. But God sends us famine. Now
listen, in Amos chapter 8 verse 11, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land. Now, it's not a
famine of bread. We have all the bread we could
want. Nor is it a thirst for water. We have all the water
we could want. But what is the famine? The famine is but the
hearing of the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea, and from north even to the east. They shall run to and
fro, and seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. Does that not describe the day? Go try to find a grace church
where the gospel is preached. We are in a famine. A famine. A famine. Verse 1, Elijah the Tishbite,
who was the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, now watch what
he said to him. As the Lord God of whom Israel
liveth, He's the God of Israel, not all these other false gods.
He's the God of Israel. And He lives, He's not dead.
Before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years,
but according to my word. God sends Elijah to this wicked
man Ahab and he said, here's what's going to happen. It's
not going to rain. Some believe it probably already
been six months now that it hadn't rained. And God tells this wicked
King Ahab, it ain't going to rain. It's not going to rain. He's obeying the words of God.
He comes on a message just like when Moses came to Pharaoh and
stood before him and said, let my people go. And God speaks
through his prophet and he still speaks through his prophet. He
spoke through his prophet Elijah. God has never been without a
witness. Never been without one. He said it looks awful dark and
awful bleak. God had Elijah and he had Obadiah
who had about a hundred hid down there in a cave and was feeding
them. And even when Elijah got discouraged, you know what God
said to him? I've got 7,000 that's not bowed to the image of Baal.
God's still on the throne. I don't care how it looks and
how bad the famine is. God is controlling the famine. Look what it says in verse 2. And the word of the Lord came
unto him saying, came unto Elijah, get thee hence and turn thee
eastward and hide thyself. Arthur Pink said, can you imagine
what Elijah thought? You know, here God's sending
him on a mission to go down here and tell Elijah. Now he's delivered
the message to Elijah. Elijah probably thought, boy,
I'm going on a preaching campaign now. I'm going into all Samaria.
I'm going to preach the gospel to all these places. No, God
said, you're going to go hide. God said, go and hide. God still hides his message. He hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed it unto babes. He said, you go
hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it
shall be that thou shall drink of the brook. And I have commanded
the ravens to feed thee. God told him to go hide. God
told him to go not to a river, but to a little brook, just a
small stream. Men's Andy was coming up the
road yesterday. You know, you can see where they
cut through the rocks and the water was coming off just a little
stream. That's what it was, just a little
brook. You say, why didn't God send him somewhere besides a
little brook? That's where God wanted him to go. God teaches
us to walk by faith, not by sight. But by this little brook, God
had him hid. David said, I've never seen the
righteous forsaken or ever seen his seed begging bread. And God
commanded the ravens to feed him. Verse four, and it shall
be that thou shall drink of the brook. And I've commanded the
ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according
to the word of the Lord. For he went and dwelt by the
brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought
him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening.
And he came and he drank of the brook. Don't despise the day of small
things. God watered him by the brook
and God even commanded these ravens. How many has ever seen
a raven? I mean, Sandy was sitting out in the car this morning waiting
to come in and looked out there across the field and he was just
a big old black, black raven. Most everybody would think, oh,
they're nothing fit for but just to shoot and get rid of. They're
scavengers. They eat dead things beside the
road. Surely they wouldn't bring anything to God's prophet or
God's preacher. That's against their nature.
If they picked up a morsel of bread or a morsel of meat, they'd
eat it before they ever got there. But God said, I've commanded
them to feed you, Elijah. God commanded them. He said,
how does that apply to us? God can take the most wicked,
ungodly person and use them against their nature and feed you. Ain't
that what he did here? Every morning and every evening,
here they came. Not mills on wheels, but they
were mills on wings. He's right where God wants him
and he's hid by this little creek. It says that they looked for
him and they couldn't even find him. Why? God had him hid. God
had him hid. God had him hid. Look in verse 7. Don't you know
Elijah liked it by that little brook? Got his meals in the morning
and meals in the evening and go out with this little brook
and didn't have to deal with aggravations of everything else
going around him. He's right where God wants him.
In verse 7, and it came to pass after a little while that the
brook dried up. Why did it dry up? Because there'd
been no rain in the land. This same brook is still affected
by God's wrath and God's judgment. God's children are not exempt
from the things that go on in this world. Not exempt. Still affected. But what I want
you to see here, God dried the brook up. Why did God dry the
brook up? God wanted him somewhere else. Well, I'm just not going to leave
until the brook dries up. So God's going to dry the brook
up. God knows exactly how to get you to move. He'll dry the
brook up. You say, what happens when the
brook dries up? Well, you can either sit there and thirst to death
and starve to death if you want to, but God gets, he's going
to move Elijah. He's got to get him up to Zarephath.
He's got to get him up out of that widow. And the only way
he'll do that is God dries up the brook. God forced him out. And there's
something for all of us to learn right here. Now, listen to me. Elijah didn't move till God moved
him. I can picture one day he's going
out every day to get some water and it gets a little bit less
and a little bit less and he goes out there and you know it's
finally just a little trickle and he wakes up one day and he
goes out there and there's nothing. Knowing human nature we'd all
said what in the world are we going to do? I don't know how long it was
between verse 7 and verse 8 till God told him to go, but he stayed
right there till the brook dried up. And then, verse 8, the word
of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath,
which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. You know what Zarephath means? It
means refining. The place where metals are melted. God's gonna refine Elijah. And
you know where Zidon, you know what Zidon was? You know where Jezebel was from?
Her father was the king of Zidon. You said, what a most unlikeliest
place for God to send his prophet to this wicked, ungodly place
of Ziodin. But in that ungodly place, God
had an elect of God that he's going to show mercy to. And he
drives up the brook to get Elijah to move and go to this place
called Zarephath, which belonged to Zidon. And he said, dwell
there. Behold, I have commanded a widow
woman to sustain thee. Back in verse 4, he said, I commanded
the ravens to take care of you, and now I've commanded a widow
woman. A widow woman? She's going to
take care of me? In a place called Zion? If that's
not a refining place, I don't know what it is. God will teach
us to trust him no matter what. You may be trusting the brook.
And you know what God'll do? He'll dry it up. And when he dries it up, if you're
his, you'll move. You'll move. I heard Henry Mahan
say one time on the tape, he said, how long will a man go
to a well where there's no water till he gets thirsty? How long
will a man go to a table where there's no food till he gets
hungry? He'll leave. God's gonna show mercy to this
widow woman. Our Lord said, there were many
widows in Israel. Why didn't he send Elijah to them widows?
Why didn't he say, go down there to Israel? I've commanded a few
widows down there to take care of you. No, he said, go to Zarephath.
Probably 75 miles through the desert, going where God sent
him. God sent his prophet to this
woman. He singles out this woman for
mercy. God sent him to this most unlikeliest
place. He said it was in Zion. And let
me tell you this, God and his elect must cross paths. They have to. This woman was
chosen before the world was made as a recipient of God's grace.
But God's got to cross her path with the gospel. It's got to
happen. You say, what's the odds of this
woman ever hearing the gospel? What's the odds? Verse 10. So he arose and went. God told him to go and you know
what he did? He got up and went. When he come to the gate of the
city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering the sticks,
and he called her and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water
in the vessel that I may drink. You know, Elijah doesn't know
her, and she doesn't know him. She doesn't have a mark on her
somewhere, said, now she's the elect, she's the one, she's the
widow. He didn't know who she is, he
doesn't know if she's a widow. It reminds me of Like when Abraham,
remember when he sent for Isaac a bride, and he sent the servant,
and the servant goes down, and he gets down to the well, and
he says, how will I know which one she's the one? And he says,
he says this prayer, and he says, the one that not only gives me
water, but gives also the camels water. And he said, it's before
he got done speaking, right there she was. You notice in verse
10, it says, when he came to the city, When he came to the
gate of the city, in verse 10, behold, the widow woman was there. When he got there, she was there.
Is that not how God works? God works on both ends. I love to read stories in the
scripture where I see God showing mercy to a sinner. A chosen sinner. He doesn't know her but she doesn't
know him. He'd have never gone to this
woman. He'd have went anywhere else but here. God's mercy is sovereign. God
told Elijah to go and he went. And he went to this place. God
had already started the work in this woman's heart. Long before
Elijah had got there, God said, I've commanded a woman to sustain
thee. This woman's different. God makes
His people willing in the day of His power. He makes them willing. She's one of God's sheep. God's
going to cross her path with the gospel. And that's when we
come to the message. We've seen the prophet, the woman,
and now we come to the message. What's the message that Elijah
is going to bring to this woman? Verse 10, so he arose and went
to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the
city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering the sticks. And he called to her and said,
fetch me. I pray thee a little water and
a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch
it, he called to her and said, bring me, I pray thee, a little
morsel of bread in thy hand. Here she comes. Roger comes to
this city and here this woman is just gathering sticks. You
know what she's doing? She's gathering her some firewood.
She's a boy, she don't even have any firewood. She's just out.
I just picture her as she has one son. She's a widow, has no
husband. The boy's probably so sick and
weak he can't even get up out of bed. She's got one little
handful of flour and one little bit of cruz of oil in a bottle.
And she says, I want to go out and gather some sticks and build
a fire and we're going to make us our last meal and we're going
to die. She's out here just gathering
sticks. Gathering sticks. She may be
poor, but she wasn't lazy. She wasn't wanting to hand out.
She was out there gathering these sticks. And look how Elijah approached
this woman. Elijah said to her, fetch me
some water to drink. What was Elijah doing? He's getting
her attention. He is finding out if she's the
one. Will she listen? Will she respond? Do you have
problems finding anybody that'll just listen? Boy, I do. Isn't it nice to find somebody
that'll listen? What if he says, fetch me some
water? He said, that seems so insignificant. Like I said about Eliezer going
to find Rebecca when she came, he said, would you draw me some
water? When the Samaritan woman came to Christ, what did he say?
Give me a drink. Ain't that what he said to her?
Give me a drink. Give me some water. He's getting
her attention. God had already begun a work
in this woman's heart. And look in verse 11. I want
you to see this. He said in verse 10, fetch me,
I pray thee, a little water in the vessel that I may drink.
And as she was going to fetch it, she didn't say anything. She could have said, you get
it yourself. None of that. Who do you think
you are talking to a Gentile like me? Get it yourself, she
says. No. As she was going to get the
water, no questions asked, she goes and gets it. And as she
was going, he said to her, bring me, I pray thee, a little morsel
of bread in thy hand. And then she said, as the Lord thy God liveth. I have not a cake, but a handful
of meal in a barrel, a little oil in a cruise, and behold,
I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for
me and my son, that we may eat it and die." You know what he's
getting her to do? Doing? Confessing her need. How can I give you anything?
I don't have nothing. I don't have anything. That's how God deals with sinners.
He gets your attention. And He gets you to see your need,
not only to see it, but to confess it. Nothing in my hand I bring simply
to thy cross I cling. Nothing. Nothing. She confessed her need. As the
Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal
and a barrel. Oh, it's hard to find somebody
with a need. It's hard to find somebody that'll listen. He's
got to establish a need. God doesn't give His promises
to people that are without needs. She said, we don't have anything,
we're hopeless and we're going to die. She knew it. She knew
it. Let me tell you, this is when
God will show mercy, when we see that we don't have anything.
Here's what it said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Pink
said, these are people who have nothing, know nothing and can
do nothing. She says, I'm just poor, bankrupt. God is dealing with this woman
where she has to be dealt with. She must confess her inability. What's the problem today? People
think they can do something for God. They think their righteousness
is sufficient and God just ought to accept it. That God owes them
something. This woman says, it's like he
taught this morning in the Bible class. That one man on the cross,
he said, we're justly getting what we deserve. So he got her attention, he brought
her to the place that she confessed her sins. Now verse 13, Elijah said to her, fear not. Go and do as thou hast said,
but make me thereof a little cake first. But Scripture say,
seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and
all other things. shall be added unto him, unto
you. You go do what you was going to do first, but make me a cake
first, and bring it unto me. And after, make for thee and
for thy son." Make mine first, and then you go make you one.
She's saying, how can I make me one when he ain't enough but
for one? And here's the promise. Our faith is based, it's not
blind faith. It's not blind fatalism. It's
based upon the authority and the promises of God. Abraham
believed what? Abraham believed God and it was
accounted unto him for righteousness. What was the promise of God?
God said, you're going to have a son. And here's the promise
that God gave to this woman. For thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall a cruise
of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the
earth. That's the promise. He never
said the barrel would be full, but it won't waste away. You
won't never have a cruise plumbed full of oil, but there'll be
enough. You go do what you was doing.
You make my cake first. Then you go make you and your
son one. And she believed God. She believed God. Isn't that
how God works? Your faith is based not upon
your feelings. I can see her going back every
day. She reaches in and she gets out a handful. Said, that's all
that was in there. She goes back that evening and
there's some more in there. Just a handful. You know what
he said about Ruth when she came to Boaz's field? He said you
dropped some handfuls on purpose for her. You know what was in
that barrel? Handfuls on purpose. That's the promise. That's what
God teaches us. to depend upon him. He said,
Elijah, I've commanded this widow woman and she's going to take
care of you. How in the world can she take
care of me? She can't take care of herself. He said, you leave
that up to me. And the barrel never wasted.
The crews never went empty. There's still several more years
of famine. Other people are starving to death. perishing and she's
living fine. Let's see the response. Verse 15. She went and did according
to the saying of Elijah. She and he and her house did
eat many days. Some believe they ate for a whole
year. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise
of oil fail according to the word of the Lord, which he spake
by Elijah." Can you imagine what this woman
thought? Here just a little while earlier, she's going out and
gathering sticks. Oh, this is it. We're going to
die. We don't have anything. And God
shows her mercy. She lays down that night, her belly so full
she can't hardly sleep. Her little son over there, he's
laying there in the bed and he's so content. I can just picture
her saying, why me? Why me? Why did God show me mercy? Why
did God show you mercy? Just look around. We are living
just like Elijah did in the day of a famine. It seems like God's
got His word hid. But He's got with us that He's
going to show mercy to. He's going to cross their path
with the message of the gospel and He's going to show them mercy.
He's going to give them faith to believe. Believe and He's
going to meet their need. The barrel of meal represents
Christ, the bread of life. The cruise of oil always represents
the oil of the Holy Spirit. We need both. I need Christ. I need his presence. Every day. You know, God may meet with us
and God may speak to your hearts on Sunday. Do you need fresh
oil on Monday? Do you need to go back to the
barrel on Monday? And it's not empty. It's not empty. In conclusion, God help us to
learn these four lessons. Number one, God will take care
of us in a famine. He'll take care of us. God will
make us willing to go where He wants us to go and when He wants
us to go, He'll drive to brook. And God will bring us across
the path of His elect. And God will give dead sinners
faith to believe and trust His word. God help us to learn those
lessons. Amen.