I'd like to say it's good to
be here. I've truly enjoyed today and fellowship with your pastor
and his wife. Words can never express how grateful
I am that over the years that God has allowed our paths to
cross and allowed us to rejoice in our great God and our Savior.
He is truly, truly gracious. Truly. If you would, turn in
your Bible tonight to the book of Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. I'm going
to begin at verse 9, before I begin reading these verses, reading
down through verse 18, to remind you that this is what is commonly
called one of the prison epistles written by the Apostle Paul while
he sat in a prison cell. Now, the prison cell he was in
is not like a cell we would know today. It was more like a very
dark dungeon, probably very little light ever entered into where
he was at. And even though he was there,
he was there by the purpose and providence of God, that God was
still there with him, and God met his need, even in that prison
cell. And we begin in verse nine. It
says, those things which you have both heard, both learned
and received and heard and seen in me do. And the God of peace
shall be with you. Verse nine of verse 10. But I
rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care
of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful,
but you lacked opportunity." But what Paul was saying, he's
writing to these Philippians because this group of believers
had decided that they wanted to do something for Paul. They
had sent a gift to Paul. We don't know whether it was
finances or it might have been clothes, it could have been food,
it could have been a lot of different things. but God allowed it to
come to their heart, and they sent this gift to Paul. In verse
11, he said, not that I speak in respect of want, and I want
you to see this, he said, for I have learned, and we have to
learn this over and over and over again. What did he say I've
learned? I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content,
whether it's out of prison, whether it's in prison, I have learned
to be content. Oh, that God would enable us
to learn to be content. Verse 12, I know how to be abased. I know how to abound. Everywhere
and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry. both to abound and to watch this
and to suffer need. Unless anyone would misinterpret
what Paul was saying and to think that Paul was saying that he
could do this in and of his own strength, he was the Apostle
Paul, but he was still just a man. He was just a man saved by God's
almighty, marvelous, amazing grace. And he said in verse 13,
I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I can be
content in whatever state I am. I can suffer need or I can be
full. I can do all these things through Christ which strengthens
me. Notwithstanding you have well done that you did communicate
with my affliction. Now you Philippians know also
that in the beginning of the gospel, When I departed for Macedonia,
no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving,
but ye only. For even in Thessalonica you
sent once and again unto my necessity, or you sent once again and again
unto my need. Not that I desired a gift, but
I desired fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all,
and abound I am full. having received of Ephroditus
the things which were sent from you." Now watch this, an odor
of a sweet smell. This gift that you sent was an
odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to
God. You mean that little gift that
this small church, probably just a small poor church is the way
the world would look at it, that that gift that they sent was
well-pleasing to God. How can anything that we as sinners
do be well-pleasing to God? There's only one way. Through
Jesus Christ our Lord. He said it's well-pleasing. And
it's acceptable to God. Verse 19. But my God. But my God. shall supply, or shall someone
said, or shall fill to the brim, shall supply all your need, whether
it's a physical need, whether it's a spiritual need, whatever
that need is, my God shall supply all your need, how? According
to his riches in glory, and he's rich. He's not some pauper. He's not some beggar. He is rich. in glory by Christ Jesus. Everything that God does for
a sinner, he does through Jesus Christ, our mediator. If God
supplies your need, if he supplies my need, whatever that need is,
he will supply it through Jesus Christ and him alone. And we're
needy people. We are needy people. And that's
kind of what I want to look at tonight, this subject of great
need. And how does God supply that
need? So I want us to look, if you
would, turn over to 2 Kings chapter 4. 2 Kings chapter 4. I think this passage of scripture,
2 Kings chapter 4, verses 1 through 7, illustrates that great thing. of God supplying that need. And the title of the message
is, God Filling Empty Vessels. Verse 1 of chapter 4 of 2 Kings. Now there cried a certain woman
of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying,
Thy servant, my husband, is dead. And thou knowest 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 hast thou in thy
house? And she said, Thine handmaid
hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said,
Go, bury thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty
vessels, bury not a few. And when thou art come in, thou
shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, 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
to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the
vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet a
vessel. And he said unto her, there is
not a vessel more. and the oil stayed. Then she
came and told the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil
and pay the debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest."
Here in this story, we see this woman. She was a wife of one
of the sons of the prophets, probably one of the 7,000 that
had not bowed to the image of Baal, and he had died. She's
left now with her and her two sons. and she's also left with
a great debt. And she comes out of great need
because the creditors have come to her and they said, we're going
to take your sons and they're going to be bond servants. They're
going to have to serve us. Why? Somebody's got to pay off
the debt. Somebody's got to pay off the
debt. When Adam sinned, he incurred a great debt. Wherefore, is one
man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin? So death passed
upon all men, for all have sinned." The world would like to think,
well, it's not my debt. They come to those sons, they
come to this woman and they said, someone's got to pay the debt.
And this woman now comes out of what? Great need. She has an earnest need because
she's in a desperate situation. knowing human nature as I know
human nature, I probably assumed that she probably sold everything
she had to try to pay off the debt. Because you'll notice in
verse 2 it said, when the prophet asked her what she had left,
she said, I don't have anything in the house but a pot of oil.
That's the only thing that I have. And she would have parted with
everything else but this pot of oil, the only thing that was
of any value to her. We cannot, of our own efforts,
pay off the debt, but it's still got to be paid. Somebody's got
to pay the debt. And this woman knew it. And she
says, what am I to do? What am I to do? Desperation. And let me tell you something.
You know, when we come to God, when we're needy, needy, needy,
desperate, Get nowhere else to go. We come to our great mediator. We come to him in time of need. And that's when we really cry.
She came. She came to the prophet. She
said he did fear the Lord. He did serve God. Even though
he did those things, that was no evidence that he would not
die in poverty. He died in poverty. Died in poverty. And look in verse two. In Elisha,
the prophet said to her, What shall I do for thee? You know
what he's saying? How can I help you? I'm poor
also. You know what that's a picture
of? That preacher, this preacher,
or no other preacher can help a sinner. I know we preach the
gospel, we point people to Christ, but only God can help a sinner.
In religion, preachers love to be called reverend. They love
to be called doctors. The papist and those in a Baptist
church are no different. They want people to come to them
and confess their sins, and they actually want people to think
that they can help them. They can help them. And that's
what this prophet says, how can I help you? How can I help you? Let me tell you, he did have
a remedy. You know what he told her to
do? He said, you and your sons, go to your neighbors and borrow
empty, empty vessels. To us, that sounds so foolish,
doesn't it? What sounded reasonable to us
was, why don't you go borrow some money? Why don't you go
borrow some full vessels? But go borrowing empty vessels.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness. People think, well, the gospel
just won't get the job done anymore. We've got to have something else.
Surely God needs some help. We must have a bake sale. We
must have a rummage sale. They had the most stupid thing
I've ever seen a couple of weeks where I live in the paper. I
thought I'd seen everything. But now they have this thing
called a Christian Sportsman Banquet. And they sell these
tickets. And they sold every ticket they
had, run out of tickets, probably sold 500 tickets. And they had
a big picture in the paper, a big ad, had a big deer head with
antlers out right here, and then in the middle of it had a cross
that says, we're hunting for Jesus. And people will come to those
things and buy tickets, and they will not come and hear the gospel. Why? It's foolishness to them. God works in ways that he gets
all the glory. He gets all the glory. God chose
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Why? That
no flesh glory in his sight. When Gideon was getting ready
to go out and battle against the Midianites, he said, you've
got too many. You've got too many. Why? I will
get the glory. I will get the glory. And God
worked here in the life of this widow and met her need in such
a way that he got all the glory. This woman was in a sad position. She was desperate, desperate,
desperate. She came to the prophet in her
need. He was pleased to provide her
a way of escape. And listen, God takes care of
us in ways that exercise our faith. And God will bring you
through, but do not expect him to bring you through in a way
that human reason would suggest, for that would not provide any
development for your faith. He brings you in a way that increases
your faith. And I'll tell you tonight, if
you have faith, God gave it to you. If you have faith, it's
a gift of God. And if you have faith, God will
try that faith, so you look to Him more and to yourself less. And you must depend upon Him. Say, how am I going to have my
need met? Don't you think Paul felt that
way when he was sitting in a prison cell? How's God going to meet
my need? How is God going to take care
of me? He will, and He did. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and he rides upon the storm. He will
and he does take care of his people. I try not to be too personal. But when Debbie, my wife, when
she took ill and was sick, she was in the hospital for probably
about nine weeks. But when she first got sick,
when they told me that she might not live, I didn't think I could
handle it. But nine weeks later, it was
a lot easier. Say, well, you're just strong. No, God met the
need. And you know, we prayed and said,
why don't God heal her? God, would you touch her body
and heal her body? He did. It might not have been
the way we would have wanted, but he did. He did. He met that need. He met her need. And you know
what? He gets all the glory. We see here in God filling these
empty vessels, every one of them. They were every one filled. If you have a need, He'll fill
it with His grace. What did He say in Philippians
chapter 4? According to what? The riches. of His grace. He's rich and increased
with good. He's rich. Listen, as long as
there were vessels to be filled, as long as there is needs to
be filled, the miraculous oil of grace continued to flow and
it only ceased when there was no more jars to contain it. Nothing
else in the universe restrains the flow of oil but the want
of vessels to receive it. The vessels failed before the
oil failed. Our powers of receiving give
out long before His powers of bestowing. What a gracious God. He come on the mountain one day,
fed 5,000 from five loaves. And He told the disciples, you
go take up the fragments. They was 12 baskets full. He
filled every one of them, every man, woman, boy, and child. He
filled. He met every need. And He still
does. He still does. He still does. When they were in the wilderness,
the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. And God sent them manna every
day. Every day. He sent them just
enough for one day, except on the sixth day, he sent them enough
for two days. Why? So they would trust God
for each day. Human nature has said, boy, I
wish you'd send me a week's supply at one time. If they tried to
hold it up, it would mold. But he met their need. Today
and tomorrow. Let me tell you this, if you're
his, you need grace today, You need grace tomorrow. You need
grace the next day. And he will meet that need. What is our greatest need? We
need him. We can do without a lot of things, but we can't do without
him. That is the greatest need we have. The only thing that
this woman had was a pot of oil. The only thing. But it continued
to stream forth as vessel by vessel were placed under this.
It continued to flow. This also is a picture of God's
saving grace bestowed upon empty, helpless sinners. Said, as long
as she brought a vessel and placed it under the pot, the oil would
flow. As long as there's one of God's elect out there, the
oil will flow. And when he's brought the last
one in, When the last sheep has been gathered in, all the church
has been gathered in, the oil will stop and will be gone. When I was coming up the road
this morning, something was wrong with my CD player. It just would
not play. So I could not pick up local
stations. So here I am trying to find something
to listen to, try to stay awake this morning. I come across some
religious station. And this man was talking about,
and I have not heard this in years. He was talking about the
mid and post-tribulation and all these things. He said, oh,
I believe this. Let me tell you this. There was
a man named Lot that lived in a place called Sodom. And God
was going to destroy that place. And he could not destroy that
place as long as Lot was there. And God sent his angels and brought
out Lot. And the day that God brought
Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah, it rained hail on that place
and God destroyed it. The only thing that holds back
God's wrath from this earth is God's people. And when He's gathered, He is.
We're going home. We're going home. And the oil
still flows. God's grace still flows. You know why? There's more empty
vessels. There's more empty vessels, and he will fill every empty
vessel. The only requirement for those
vessels was when the prophet told the woman to go out and
find the vessels, the only requirement was. He said, you must find a
lot of them. Find as many as you can get,
but they've got to be empty. They've got to be empty. I can
see her neighbors say, well, here's one about half full. No,
it won't do. This one's got a little bit of oil. No, it won't do.
It's grace or no grace. There's no mixture. The only
requirement is that God requires is that the vessels must be empty. The grace is with him, not with
us. Just as the oil was in the woman's
pot, not in the empty vessels. A full Christ is for empty sinners
and for empty sinners only. As long as there's really an
empty soul, there'll be oil to go forth. It's not our emptiness,
but our fullness that can hinder God's grace. Somebody asked Mr. Spurgeon one time. He said, don't
you think the greatest hindrance to salvation is man's sinful
self? He said, oh, no. Man's greatest
hindrance is his righteous self. You know people, and I know people.
And most of them claim to be religious. They're just like
the Laodicean church. You know what they said? We're
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Oh, that God would make them
empty. God would make them empty. And God would make us and keep
us empty. You know, our biggest problem
is ourself. Let's talk about that man serving
two masters. Paul, I don't know how long he
was saved when he made that statement, but he'd been saved many years
when he said, oh, wretched man that I am. He didn't say, oh,
wretched man that I used to be. He said, oh, wretched man that
I am. We don't get beyond that. We're still nothings and nobodies. We're still filled with sin.
Our best effort is sin. And oh, that we would come to
God as empty vessels. No man's too bad to come to Christ,
but many are just too good. The Pharisee in the temple, he
said, Lord, I thank you I'm not like other men. I'm not like
that old publican. I give my tithes. I do this,
and I do this, and I do that. And that old publican over there
wouldn't even lift up his eyes, and he'd beat up on his breasts.
He said, God, be merciful. God be merciful to me, the sinner. And what he was, he was an empty
vessel. Empty vessel. Empty vessel. As long as there
is anything good left in any man upon which he puts his trust,
the grace of our Lord will not flow into him. And we sing the
hymn. It says, dear dying lamb, thy
precious blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed
church of God be saved to sin no more. Do you need forgiveness? Tonight, do you need forgiveness?
The oil of grace will flow when we come to him as empty-handed
sinners. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply
to thy cross I cling. Some people say, well, I'll make
all these good resolutions. I'm going to promise to do better
and do this. And that's all it is, is resolutions.
Everybody, the 1st of January, makes all these New Year resolutions,
and that's all they are. They probably mean every one
of them. And we fail every time. If you can save yourself, Christ
will not save you. And that's our problem today.
people think they can save their self. They say, well, you take
the first step. If you can take the first step,
you don't need God. We must be emptied of all self
in all forms before grace will fill us. Christ does not need. He does not need our help. I know it pleases God through
the foolishness of preaching, and I know He uses preachers,
but it's still up to God. If the only voice you hear tonight
is mine, we'll leave just as empty as we came. But if you
hear Him speak, that's a different story. That's a different story. We should give up once and for
all, depending upon what we have done or what we think we shall
do. Oh, that we would find more empty
vessels. I talked to people and all they
want to do is talk about what they've done. So I remember I
made a decision years ago. I was baptized. Boy, it's nice
to find a sinner that realizes that they have nothing. They're
bankrupt. Their pockets are empty. They're
needy. needy. What do they say? Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for
they shall be filled. That's spiritual hunger. That's
spiritual thirst. We don't know much about physical
hunger. We just eat because we like to.
We usually don't get hungry between meals and that's just to be honest.
But you ever seen a man really hungry? I'm talking about really
Hungry. Hadn't eaten anything for days.
He's hungry. He wouldn't let anything stand
in his way. You see people that drive several
miles just to hear the gospel. And what you was talking about
that church who went for years and just watched tapes and things.
Why? They was hungry. They was nowhere
else to go. You know what? They is empty.
Empty. They was hungry. Hungry. Hungry. In this miracle, as soon as these
empty vessels were brought under this pot of oil, they were all
filled. And I want to stress the word,
it was a miracle. How did it happen? It's only
one pot. How can one pot fill so many
vessels? That's a miracle. The salvation
of a soul is a miracle. It's a miracle there's anybody
here. It's a miracle anybody believes.
It's a miracle. A miracle. The new birth, it's
a miracle. An illustration of that is Abraham.
God said, you're going to have a son. Well, in a fit of unbelief,
he goes in to Sarah's handmaid, Hagar, and they produce a son
named Ishmael. Abraham would say, look what
we did. But God said, I'm going to give you a son. I think Ishmael
was probably about 13 years old, somewhere along in there. And
God was faithful to his promise. And God overshadowed Sarah. She
conceived and had a son named Isaac. And I can see Sarah, she
holds up that baby and she says, look what God did. That's a miracle. That's a miracle. Do you believe tonight? That's
a miracle. God filled your empty vessel
with the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Filled you with what? Filled you with Christ. It's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And you don't want anything or
anyone else. You just want Him. He makes you
willing to want Him. We didn't want Him. We did not
want Him. But he wanted us. He did. He wanted his bride, and he came
for his bride. He had his bride, and he got
his bride, and he made her with him. It didn't matter what the
size of the jar. It could have been a small jar.
It could have been a large jar, and they were all filled. He
can save any sinner. The size of the vessel, the age
of the vessel, the shape of the vessel, it didn't matter. That
was immaterial. It was only to be brought empty. When a sinner receives Christ,
he shall receive all the grace he wants to his full. My sister used to be wrapped
up in Catholicism. She used to be wrapped up also
in holiness and Pentecostalism and all these things, seeking
two or three works of grace. And I would talk to her at great
lengths. And she said that those people
would actually tell her, you need to seek the Holy Ghost.
You need to speak in tongues. You need to seek these things.
The Holy Ghost will point you to him. And when you have him,
you're full. And that's all you ever want.
You are what? Complete in Him. Full. Full. There's grace to
pardon you, grace to change your nature, grace to keep you changed,
grace to preserve you, and grace that will bring you all the way
to glory. There's grace. And let me tell
you, he doesn't have to feel. He says they were filled. to
the brim. Like what David said, he said,
my cup runneth over. I just can't contain it. Has God ever filled your empty
vessel? It was just more than you could
stand. I like that little article you had in the bulletin. Rather
to have heart without words than words without heart. When God
fills your vessel, sometimes you don't know what to say. Just
don't know what to say. As long as there exists an empty,
penniless, poverty-stricken soul that longs and yearns after a
precious Christ, there is a precious Christ for that longing, needy
soul. There's more to be filled. The
woman said, she turned and looked at her son and said, is there
not any more empty vessels? And I'll ask you tonight, is
there not any more empty vessels? Is there not any more? You know,
I hear people talking about what happened in Spurgeon's day. What
happened in Jonathan Edwards' day. What happened in Whitefield's
day. What's going to happen in our day? We still serve the same
God. We still preach the same gospel.
He still saves sinners the same way. He still fills empty vessels. He still fills empty vessels. Are you dead? He'll give you
life. Are you sick? He'll be your health.
Are you a beggar? He'll be your riches. And are
you lost? He'll be your savior. This can be applied to any spiritual
blessing. We bring our empty vessels, and
therefore, when there's no more empty vessels, the oil is stayed. We don't sufficiently see our
poverty. Unbelief hinders the flow of
oil. He said one time he did not many
mighty works there. Why? Because of their unbelief. Unbelief declares it's impossible
that more oil could come from the pot, and refuses to bring
more empty vessels. Oh, if we only believed. God
help our unbelief. Pride's a hindrance to grace.
Soul poverty leads to fullness, but carnal security creates barrenness. The Holy Spirit delights to comfort
every hungry heart, but the full soul loafteth to honeycomb. And
this also can have reference to prayer. The prophet told the
woman to borrow empty vessels, not a few. If she had borrowed
few, she'd have got little wool. In reference to ourself, What
if this woman had brought the vessels into the house and not
used them? Sometimes we say, well, God wouldn't be concerned
with that. He careth for you. He wants you to bring those empty
vessels to Him. To Him. In reference to others,
we ought to treat others as if they were empty vessels to be
filled. Oh, that God would lead us to empty vessels. And this can have reference to
you praying for your pastor. That God would make him aware
of his emptiness. That God may fill him with his
grace. And that God would enable all
of us when we come to the house of God to fill our emptiness. And that God might fill us with
His grace. With His grace. And we should
do the same for our children. Our relatives. We should not stop praying for
them till they're all converted. Many times we say, well we prayed
for them, don't seem like anything happens. Keep praying. Keep praying. Keep praying. I'm reminded of, there was some
men one day, they were going to bring their friend, Christ.
They came to the house where Christ was at. The whole house
was filled. They couldn't even get to where
he was at. You know, they could have, they would have probably
said, why don't we just take him back home? Maybe it's not
meant for God to heal him. But you know what they did? They
got up on the roof. started tearing the roof off.
They said, if we can get our friend to Jesus, maybe God will
show him mercy. And they let him down through
the roof where Christ was at, and God healed that man. Oh,
that God would give us faith to believe that God still fills
empty vessels. This also has reference to the
work of the Holy Spirit Works like the wind, so mysterious. On the day of Pentecost, when
Peter preached, the very same man that only a few days earlier
denied that he even knew our Lord, began to curse and to swear.
And this same man stands and preaches the gospel, and God
fills 3,000 empty vessels at one time. He's still the same God. Still the same God. Something
I want you to see. The prophet told this woman to do
something. He said, you go get the empty vessels. You take those
empty vessels, you and your son, go into the house. And he told
her this twice. He said, shut the door. Why shut
the door? Shut out every hindrance. Have you ever come to the house
of God been hindered? Does it seem like your mind runs
in a thousand different ways? Or am I the only one just talking
about me? Block out the hindrances. You know, voices come and say,
God can't do that. That's impossible. There's no
way that God can fill all these empty vessels. He can fill every
one of them. Our God's a sovereign God. He sits on the throne of
this universe. And there's not anything he can't
do. Unbelief said, they're too bad
a sinner. God just can't do something for
them. Oh, yes, he can. Oh, yes, he can. And yes, he
does. In closing, I want you to look
at verses six and seven. It said, 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 in the old state. And she came and told
the man of God, and he said, now watch this, go sell the oil
and pay the debt. God provided the way that the
debt could be paid. Then he said, what's left, you
and your sons live on it. God pays the debt, and we live
on his grace. Every. Single. Day. May God fill empty vessels.