Now if you have your Bibles open
this morning to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3, I want you to look
at verse 5. I want to speak primarily this
morning on the subject denying the power thereof. Denying the
power thereof. But let me read the verse in
its entirety. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 5. Having a form godliness, but
denying the power thereof from such turn away." Now it is evident,
as we've heard this chapter read this morning, that the beloved
Apostle Paul is giving us signs of the times. those signs that
will be very evident to us as we get into the last days. And
certainly it is a conviction of mine that we're in those days
and have been in those days for many, many years. But we have
these signs of the times and Paul tells us specifically in
verse 5 that there will be those in the religious circles that
will have a form of godliness But they deny the power of God. They deny God's power. Therefore, he said, from such
you turn away. You turn away from these that
would deny the power of God regardless of though they might have a form
that looks very religious and very pious and very sincere. You turn away from them because
they deny the power. the power that must make all
things that God does, make them live and make them effectual.
God is a God of power. God is a God of might. God is
a sovereign God. He's a God of majesty and all
that would be filled at all at his great power. I appreciated
that song that we sang when it talked about in a nobler, sweeter
song, we'd sing His, what? His power to save in that day
that we're going to assemble there beyond this world with
the Lord. We'll sing of His power to save. I believe in the power of God
and I believe that when we're finished here this morning that
possibly you will. If you never thought about the
power of God, then maybe you will this morning. Now, let me
give you some examples of what the form of godliness says in
this world. First of all, a form of godliness
says this, and like I said, it may sound very religious, it
may sound very pious, it may sound like good preaching, like
very, very good preaching. They would say to you, God wants
to save everybody. They would say, he's not willing.
Don't you understand that any should perish? They might go
on to say, it is God's will, you know. God will have all men
to be saved. And God wants to save every person
in the human race. But quickly they will add, But
he can't. He just simply cannot do it.
Poor God. Pity, pity God. He's not able
to do it. He wants to save everybody. That
is a form of godliness, my friend. But denying the power thereof,
they say that he cannot do it. Why? And that is because they,
that is the sinner, that is the alien sinner, that is the fallen
sons of Adam, they will not let him. And they say that he is
not able to save them against their will. They say that he
will not go against their will. And they're denying the power
thereof. Well, I remember early in my
ministry encountering a preacher who was very much one of these
individuals. And I was invited over to Robinson,
Illinois to preach a meeting over there several nights for
this particular church. And this individual was a man
who said he believed that God was trying to save everybody.
And we argued and argued and argued. I told him God had a
people that he had given to Christ, and that God meant to save those
people, and that Jesus Christ did not die for any except those
whom the Father had given to him, and that the Father give
them to him and trusted them into his hands, and the Lord
Jesus would see them home unto eternal glory. He would bring
the many sons home to glory. And he argued and argued. And
directly, he said, before we went into the last night of the
meeting, he said, well, let us pray together before we go to
the meeting. And I said, well, what are we
going to pray about? He says, well, we're going to pray that
God will save sinners. And I said, well, you just said
that God was not able to save anybody unless they let him.
You just told me that God wasn't able to do this. and i'm not
about to ask god to do anything he cannot do if i'm going to
pray to god i'm going to pray believing that god is able to
do exactly what i asked him to do you see i believe that god
can save sinners i believe he can save whoever he will god
is able to do that i remember reading in john chapter five
and verse twenty one it says for as the father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them even so the son quickeneth whom
he will, even so the Son makes alive, whom he will. If he purposes
to save a man, he will. He's able to do it. God is able
to cross a sinner's will. God is able to hem him up and
hedge him about. God is able to fix it so that
he can bring him out of the dungeon that he's in and bring him out
of the prison house of the damned and set him free. God is able. He has the power to do that.
Next, a form of godliness would say this. God has a wonderful
plan and a wonderful purpose for your life, my friend. He
says, God has a wonderful plan. God has a wonderful purpose for
your life. But denying the power thereof,
they say, but His plan cannot help you. His plan cannot be
worked on your behalf unless you cooperate with Him and unless
you, in every detail, unless you help Him. Well, beloved,
I say that's denying the power of sovereign predestination.
You see, God loves His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His
purpose and plan for all of His people is to make them just like
His Son. That's the predestination of
God. He means to make all of His people
just like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that's involved
in providence that falls out to the people of God is all working
to the end that they would be conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. And that sovereign predestination
is not going to fail. God has a wonderful plan, Sarah,
for you to have a son, but he can't do anything about it unless
you and Abraham get busy and help him. Well, Sarah says, I
just can't help him. I just can't help God. You see,
I'm 99 years old, and if I'm going to have a son, I just can't
help him. Abraham says, well, I sure Can't help him. There
isn't anything I can do. But God said, listen to me, God
said, at this time, at the time appointed, I will come. Sarah
shall have a son. And beloved, that is the power.
That is the power. God has a wonderful plan and
a wonderful purpose. And God means to accomplish it
in the lives of his people. But it takes the power of God
to bring it to pass. And these religionists, these
that have a form of godliness, They deny that power, but God
has the power and will bring it to pass. Next, a form of godliness
says this, God loves you, and Christ died for you, and all
men, he died for all men, that they all might be saved. But
denying the power thereof, they add, none for whom he died, none
that he loves, will be saved unless they accept him. Everyone
must accept Him. And unless they accept Him, oh,
they make a big to-do about that. Oh, but we must accept Him. But
we must accept Him. Well, beloved, let me say this,
that He According to the testimony of the Word of God, he cannot
fail. His love is potent and his blood is effectual. His blood is effectual. It sounds
good. God loves you and we all love
you. But God wants, He would like
for you to cooperate and accept His Son. But oh, how pious that
sounds, how sentimental, how religious and emotional that
is. He'd just like for you to open your heart and accept His
Son. But my friend, God is able to
bring, God is able to make a man willing in the day of what? In
the day of His power, He can make him willing. And God does
make sinners willing in the day of His power, willing to repent,
willing to believe, willing to receive instruction from, willing
to receive Christ as Lord in their life. He makes them willing.
It's God who makes a sinner willing. But when you say He can't, that's
denying the power thereof. Now the form of godliness would
also say this, the Holy Spirit knocks at every heart's door. He stands outside. He stands
outside, poor Jesus. He's nothing but a doormat. We
call him the doormat Jesus. And he stands outside, mercy,
mercy on this Jesus that's not able to do anything. He's on
the outside of everybody's heart. But denying the power thereof,
they say that he cannot enter unless you open the door because
you know the latch is on the inside. That's what they tell
us. The latch is on the inside. Well, I'm going to tell you this,
beloved. The latch, wherever you think the latch is, nobody's
heart ever opened except the Lord opened their heart. It takes
the power of God to open a sinner's heart. to break a sinner's will. It takes the power of God. Nobody
is ever able to deliver themselves from themselves and deliver themselves
out of their bondage unless God is pleased to open up their heart
and deliver them. It's God's work in the heart
that delivers the sinner. This is the denying of his invincible
and irresistible sovereign grace for a man to say that. It's the
denial of that. In John 10 and 16, other sheep
I have, Jesus said, which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be
one fold and one shepherd. Well, I've got other sheep. I'm
going to bring them. And they will hear my voice. I will so speak to them that
they will hear my voice, and there's going to be one foal
and one shepherd. And John 6, 37, all that the
Father giveth me, they shall come to me, and I will in no
wise cast them out. They will come because of his
power. We believe in his power here
in this place. Now having a form of godliness,
They would say this, we're born again. Oh, we believe we're born
again. We've cooperated with Jesus and
our sins are all under the blood. We believe they are and our names
are written, you know, in heaven when we believed while the Lord
got his pen out and wrote our names in the Lamb's book of life.
That's what they believe. And we all want to go to heaven
someday. Oh, we hope that we shall finally
at last enter into heaven and have a form of God. That sounds
mighty good, sounds pious and all of that. But then they go
on to say, that is, unless we fall away. Unless we fall away. Send away our day of grace. And
unless we lose our salvation, you know, it's in our hands.
And we may just lose it. We may just, we may, it might
just get away from us. Well, that's denying the power
thereof is what it is. Now, you see, salvation, I've
told you all over and over again, it's not a human project. I've
told you so many times that salvation is the work of God alone, and
that salvation is something that God does for the sinner. It's
not something the sinner does for God. Salvation is something
God does for you. Listen to me, my friend. Listen
to me. Our inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, the Bible says,
is reserved. in heaven for us. It's reserved
there for us. It's not something that God's
gonna get busy and at the very end if he sees that we've made
it and if we've held on and held on and held on, gonna get busy
and fix it up right quick before we get there. No, no, no, no. He says it's reserved for us
who are kept by what? By the power of God. Our salvation is in His hands.
It's in His hands. It's in the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ. When God committed His people into the hands of
His Son, He put the responsibility of whether or not they would
enter heaven's shore into the hands of Christ. And Christ became
the surety of their souls, the very surety of it. And there
isn't a chance on earth of any of us getting into heaven if
we don't get there by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. By
the power of God, we'll get there. If we get there, we'll get there
by that power. Jude 24 says, Now unto him that
is able. Now unto him who is able. Now
if I didn't believe that he was able, I'd give it up. I don't
always feel saved, do you? I don't always feel like I'm
on top. I don't always feel like I got all the victory there is
to be had. I don't always feel that way.
But I'll tell you what I do believe in. I believe in his ableness
to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the
presence of his glory with a static joy. I believe in that. I believe
in his power that he is able to keep us. And so these that
have the form of religion Sounds real good, but it just won't
stack up when it comes to the Word of God the power of God
ensures us That we're going to be there Jesus said I give it
to my sheep eternal life Not dare anybody try to get him out
of my hands and my father He's greater than I am and no man
gonna get him out of his hand. That's what he said That's exactly
what he said now in in Mark chapter 12 and verse 24 you follow with
me I'm gonna have to move rather rapidly here this morning to
cover this subject. But the Lord Jesus said in Mark
chapter 12 and verse 24, he said, but do you not therefore err
because you know not the scriptures, neither the power of God. He said don't you err because
you know not the scriptures, neither the power of God. My
friend, listen, we do err when we do not have in our hearts
full conviction of the ableness and power of God. You know, Abraham
believed that God was able to do what he promised. This was
the very basis of the faith of our father Abraham. He believed
that God was able to do what he promised. He was fully persuaded
that what he promised he was able to perform. And the Bible
says he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Who against hope
believed in hope, he being not weak in faith, is what the scripture
says. He believed God. Beloved, not
only did he believe the promise of God, but he believed in the
promiser. The promiser. Now listen to me,
the promise is only as good as the promiser. Do you agree with
that? The promise is only as good as the promiser. Now, I
can promise you many things. But I don't have the power to
fulfill them and you would be most foolish to believe me if
I just up and promised you just this and that and something else. I don't have the power, but if
I have, hear me, if I have all power in heaven and in earth,
then my friend, listen to me, then you can believe that I can
accomplish what I tell you. And the one I'm speaking of,
our Lord Jesus Christ, the master, the Lord from heaven, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Bible says in Matthew 28 and 18, all power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All power is given
unto me. Now, Jesus said, you have given
me power over all flesh, John 17, 2, that I might give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me. Well, beloved, that
settles it in my mind that all this we've been talking about,
Jesus has power. You say, well, I've been fighting
him. You may win a battle or two.
You may win a battle or two, but you will not win the war.
You will. not win the war. He said, I've
been given power over all flesh that I might give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me. Now, when you deny the power
of the promisor, then you don't have a promise, period. And if you don't believe, so
we gotta settle it. Who are we dealing with here?
We're dealing with Almighty God. That's who we're dealing with.
We're dealing with the Promiser, the one that made all of these
promises. And Abraham believed not only the promise, but he
believed basically in the Promiser himself. Now then, I want you
to turn back with me to the book of Luke, chapter four. The book
of Luke, chapter four. And here, I want us to, I'm talking
about having to form a tradition of religion, but denying the
power. And I want to use this, this
morning, as an example of what I'm talking about. Here in Luke,
chapter four, we see where that, in verse 14, The Lord Jesus returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee from being tempted of
the devil. He returned in the power of the
Spirit. He came to Nazareth, verse 15,
where he had been brought up. And as the custom was, you see
they had custom. He went into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day and stood up for to read now beloved it was
their custom to go in to the synagogue and to read the scriptures
and This was a forum that they follow we follow the same form
we come into this building we sit down we sing and we read
the scriptures the brother gets up and read the scriptures and
then we get up and we preach and And that's carried out all
over the world. All over the world this morning,
people have these customs and this form and this tradition
to go in and sit down and to read from the scriptures. Now, in verse 17, the scripture
here says that there was delivered unto him, that is, unto Christ,
the book of the prophet 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. They
have a Bible, and he's found the scripture, and he reads this
18th verse here that's out of the book of Isaiah, and this
is It's fulfilled in himself. This is talking about Christ.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, the Lord Jesus, because he
has 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, 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 down to the ministry.
You see, they had a preacher too. And he sat down and the
eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on
him. And he began to say to them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your very ears. and all bear
him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's
son? They really appreciated him.
Here we have these religious people, went to church, read
the scriptures, had a preacher, and they heard something read,
and the eyes of all of them were fastened on that one who'd done
the reading, and they were impressed. They said, this is a hometown
boy. This is our own, this is our own Jesus. This is who this
is. He was raised right here. We
remember seeing him run around his father and mother's place
and in and out of the carpenter shop. We know this, they were
impressed a great deal with his ability. But beloved, all we
have here is nothing more than just a form of religion because
these people fulfilled the things that were written of him in condemning
him. They had nothing but a form of
religion. Now I want you to hold your finger
here in Luke 4 and turn over to the book of Ezekiel chapter
33 and let me read some verses that describe these people and
describe many in our own day. Ezekiel 33 beginning with verse
30. although thou son of man, the
children of thy people still are talking, also thou son of
man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee
by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one
to another, every one to his brother, saying, come, I pray
you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. That's what they're saying. Come
and hear What is the word of the Lord that cometh forth from
the Lord? And they come unto thee as the people cometh. Oh, they come unto thee as the
people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people. They sit before
thee like they were God's people, like they were looking for a
word from the Lord, very, very sober, very, very somber, very,
very pious. We're looking for a word from
the Lord, but They will not do them. They will not do them,
for with their mouth they show what? Much love. And that's what
these people did. Oh, they were amazed at his gracious
words. Their eyes were fastened on him. Oh, this man, this man. But they will not do them, for
with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after
covetousness. All they are interested in is
their own things. They're interested in theirs.
What's theirs and what they can get in their journey through
this world. And in verse 32, And lo, thou
art unto them as a very lovely song. as a very lovely song of
one that hath a pleasant voice. Oh, you know, I can't forget
this. Many, many years ago, I had those
people that come in Brownsburg, Indiana, and we'd have 100, 125
people, and over half of them were there just cause, when I
was a young fella, being zealous and a little bit, you know, carried
away with perspiration rather than inspiration. and quite zealous
in loud-mouthing things, you know. They were impressed with
just what, they were impressed with the way I talked. And they
came just to hear what I... But the minute they heard what
I said, that was the end of it, my friend. They was done with
me when they really heard what I had to say. And you're just
like one of them that has a very lovely song, one that has a pleasant
voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy
words. but they do them not. They do
them not. They'll hear you, but they won't
do them. Turn back to Luke chapter 4 because
here, these people, here comes the power now. Here comes the
power. These religious folks are all
gathered there and our Lord, look down here at verse 24 and he said, Verily I say unto
you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. You people getting
all excited here. Jesus knew their hearts. He knew
they didn't hear a thing he said. He knew they would crucify him.
They'd kill him if they get their hands on him. He knew that. And
he said, a prophet is not accepted in his own country. But I'll
tell you the truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was 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 Serapah, a city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. Now, our Lord uses this
illustration here of this widow woman and how that Elijah, how
that he was sent to her, how that he, God, bypassed all of
the widows in Israel through sovereign purpose and sovereign
plan. God bypassed all of those of
the favored nation. and sent his servant unto a poor
widow in Zarephath. And the Lord here defines his
grace, he explains, and he illustrates it. Now, I want you to understand
here that God has bypassed the favored nation. He didn't go,
he didn't send his servant to any of them. What this points
out is the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of a
soul. God's sovereign grace. Romans
chapter 9, if you want to turn there with me, I wish you would. And this is very important that
you get this. I want you to follow with me.
In Romans chapter 9 and verse 15, he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. I'll send my prophet to whomever
I please to send him. I will. This is God's way. You
people don't know anything about it, and you're not interested
in hearing about it, the Lord Jesus would say, but none of
the widows in Israel got a visit from Elijah. And God passed them
over, because I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose,
have I raised thee up, that I might what? That I might show my power
in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. I raised you up, Pharaoh, so I could dump you in the Red
Sea, and declare my name and my power over all the earth. I want men and women to know
that I've got more power than Pharaoh. And I use you just to
illustrate the fact that I'm an all-powerful God, an almighty
God. And I'm going to throw, and He
did. God threw Him right into the ocean. Therefore, in verse
18, or the sea it was, Therefore have He mercy on whom He will
have mercy. and whom he will he harden. Thou
wilt say that unto me. Why doth he yet find fault? Why
is God finding fault with people if he's doing whatever he wants
to do whenever he wants to do it? For who can resist his will? See, these people understood
what Paul was talking about. And the queerest would ask, why
does he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
No, O man, God is not going to give an account of his matters
to anyone. God's not gonna explain to you what he's doing. Oh man, who are thou that replies
against God? Who are you to get up in God's
face and begin to question his purpose and his will? Shall the
thing, oh that struck me with power, shall the thing, the thing
formed. God is God, we are just a thing. That's what we are. Make no difference
how intelligent you are, you're just a thing. You're just, well,
a whole nation just is a drop in the bucket. Why hast thou,
well, thing form say to him, why hast thou made me thus? Why
have you made me like I am? Why is it that you have allowed
me to be like I am? Why didn't you make me different?
God had a purpose. Verse 21, hath not the potter
power over the clay? The potter has the power over
the clay of the same lump. Now, I want you to get what he's
saying here. What he means when he says the
same lump, he says the same mama. He says he has the power over
the clay of the same mama to put two sons in the womb, Jacob
and Esau, and one of them God hates and the other one God loves. He has the power, you see, and
he is God and his sovereign will determines here that he loves
Jacob and he hates Esau. That's exactly what we read up
here, verses 10, 11, and 12. Their mama was Rebekah. And in
that same womb, at the same time, God raised up these two boys. And that's the way he felt about
one of them. He hated him. And the other one, he loved him.
That's God's sovereignty. And so what if God, willing to
show His wrath and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that He might
make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy,
which He have for prepared unto glory, even those of us whom
He has called? Now, this is so very important
that we're able to see this. Beloved, that God is absolutely
sovereign and God's purpose is to show forth His power. Everything
He does, God, listen to me, seeks His own glory. Seeks His own
glory. Is that alright? Well, I just
believe, and I'm jealous about God's glory. I want God to have
the glory. I want Him to have the glory.
And so God tolerates, puts up with the wicked. God just allows
things to go on just like they are. He purposes to one of these
days wipe the face of this earth, like a man would turn a plate
up and wipe it out on the end. God's going to show His power.
And you say, well, I don't know whether God's ever going to do
anything about all this wickedness or not. Just wait around, my
friend, wait around. The judgment of God, the mill
of God grinds slow, but it's certain God is going to get around
to bringing judgment and to revealing his great power in this world. Now then, turn back quickly with
me to the book of Luke chapter 4, and our Lord has told them,
and I'm not going to get into the second part in verse 27,
but I want you to look up, skip up to verse 28. Our Lord's told
them about this widow, and I must hurry, but, and all they in the
synagogue, when they heard these things, Everybody in the synagogue,
when they heard about God's sovereignty, still humbled themselves and
say, Oh, my soul, it looks like that we've been passed by God
and getting on their face and repenting in sackcloth and ashes.
No, they didn't do that. They just got a form of godliness.
That's all they got. They don't have anything else.
And they heard these things that were filled with wrath. They
got mad. God just fighting mad and rose
up, thrust him out of the city and led him under the brow of
the hill where on this city was built that they might just cast
him down headlong. We'll destroy this one. will
destroy him, him having the nerve to say something like this to
us, the favored nation, having the nerve to get up and talk
about God passing by the widows of Israel. You see, they knew
nothing about God and His purpose. Now, I know I'm on safe ground
here. Turn back with me to the book
of 1 Kings chapter 17, and I want to just quickly say a few words
to you this morning about what we have here. in this book of
2 Kings. And I hope that we're able to
get something, glean something here at the last. This is an
illustration. It is 1 Kings chapter 17. I'm
very sorry. 1 Kings chapter 17. And here's
the illustration that our Lord used. And I want us to get something
from this. And Elijah the Tishbite, in verse
1, was of the inhabitants of Gilead, and said of Ahab, as
the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall
not be dune or rain these years, but according to my word. And
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence,
verse 3, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook
Shireth, that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt
drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed
thee there." Now here's the servant of God, and there's been famine
in the land, there's been a great drought, and it's at his word
that the rain will return. But God has a mission for him,
and it's this very mission that our Lord talked about in Luke
chapter 4. And the Lord said to him, he
said, you turn eastward, you hide yourself by the brook. Ahab
was after him, Jezebel was after him. And so he said, you hide
yourself there, and I'm going to take care of you. And I like
this a great deal. You see, here's what happened.
The prophet of God, Elijah, finds himself by that brook there,
and it's still flowing even though there's a drought in the land.
And God says, I've commanded the ravens to feed thee there. You see, O Elijah had meals on
wings. He didn't have meals on wheels,
he had meals on wings. And the ravens, in verse 6, brought
him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening,
and he drank out of the brook. Now I want you to get this. He
had commanded, God had. Now is this weakling God that
these religionists talk about? He commanded the ravens to feed
Elijah. And the ravens brought him flesh
and bread in the morning and flesh and bread in the evening
and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a little
while, you see God provided for him up until the time that he
wanted him to move, but the Lord provided. You see, there's a
lot of things that come to my mind here. Quickly, one of the
things is that God always has a witness. God always has a witness,
and Elijah is his witness. He's his man. He's going to preach. He's going to work out a truth
that's going to glorify God. He's going to be used in that.
I thought about what Amos said about there being a famine, not
of water and not of food, but a famine of the Word of God.
And how that is so very, very true in our day and time. We're
coming to that place. But God has his witnesses. And
I also thought about in Luke chapter 19, where the Lord Jesus,
when he went into Jerusalem, and his disciples were going
in with him, you know, they got that coat, they loosed the coat,
and they were going down into Jerusalem, and they were all
throwing their clothes, and they were singing, oh, they were singing
and rejoicing, and the Pharisees, The Pharisees, they said to Jesus,
why don't you rebuke these disciples? They were praising Him and glorifying
Jesus. Why don't you rebuke them and
shut them up? And the Lord Jesus said, well,
if I were to shut them up, if the children were to cease, from
praising me, he said the very stones would cry out. They would
praise me if they didn't. And I just think of the greatness
of our God. So many, many things that just
impresses my heart when I think on these particular truths here.
But we'll have to deal with some of them later on. But God provided
for his servant. He provided for His servant.
Miraculously, through His power, God provided for His servant.
Can you think about a raven, a carnivorous bird that would
bring this bread and flesh and give it all the way to God's
servant? In order that he could eat in
the morning and the evening, God commanded them by his power
to do it. And it reminds me of this poem.
Listen to this poem. Though troubles assail and dangers
affright, Though friends should all fail and foes all unite,
One thing secures us whatever the tide. His promise assures
us the Lord will provide. The birds without barns from
storehouses are fed. From them let us learn to trust
for our bread. His faith, what is needed, shall
never be denied, so long as it is written, God will provide. No strength of our own or goodness
we claim. Our trust is cast, all of it,
on Jesus' name. In this, our strong tower for
safety we hide. The Lord is my refuge. The Lord will provide. God will provide for his people. Now then you look at verse 7
and we'll hurry on to conclusion here. And it came to pass after
a while that the brook dried up. because there had been no
rain in the land. The brook dried up. Well, and
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, and get thee
to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold,
I have commanded." There's that word again. Behold, I have commanded
a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to
Zarephath. And when he came to the gate
of the city, behold, What do you think? The woman was there. The woman was there. Well, you
see, when the Lord gives a man a promotion, God wanted him to
move on, and when the Lord gives a man a promotion, when he moves
him from one place to another, he doesn't always, you know,
necessarily, the place doesn't look so spectacular at first,
and the situation doesn't look maybe like it's going to be as
good as the one he'd had. Oh, Elijah camping up there,
you know, by the brook. and drinking out of the brook
and being fed morning and night. But here he's sent now and he
comes down here and the Lord, I believe, was humbling him and
deflating him. Maybe he was being brought down
and brought low. But verse 9, here's this Gentile
woman. Now you see, he says, I've commanded
this woman to sustain thee. And here she is at the gate when
he gets there. What else would you think would
have happened? Well, that's God's way, you see. If God has a man
and he has given him a message, and if God's enabled him to preach
it, there's going to be somebody to hear it. God's going to raise
up somebody to hear it. And here's this woman, right
there. You see, she don't know a whole lot about what's going
on, but God has commanded this widow woman to sustain him. God's
ways are not our ways. I do not know how long it will
take us to know that. The woman at the well, the Lord
Jesus, He only went that way one time that I know of. Was
that an accident? No, it was no accident. And many other cases. Zacchaeus up in that sycamore
tree. How many times do you think our Lord passed that sycamore
tree? I don't think He passed it but one time. One time. I think what God does, He does
on purpose. And this woman was there because God had commanded
her to be there. She didn't know she was one of
God's elect. She didn't know that. I'm sure
she didn't know. But God had prepared her heart to be his
obedient servant. God had prepared her heart. You
say, I wish I knew whether I was one of the elect or not. Well,
I don't think so. You say, well, I just would really
like to know whether I'm one of the elect or not. Well, make
your calling and election sure through faith in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you can know. Make
your calling and election sure. Now we preach the person and
the work of Christ in that order. In that order. The work is no
good without who the person is. Get that straight in your mind.
You want to know? You say, I really would like to know whether I'm
one of God's elect or not. Well, a lot of men have died
on a cross, but it is who died on that cross that matters. In that order, the work is no
good without who the person is. We sometimes say that we're trusting
the finished work of Christ. Did you ever say that? I'm trusting
the finished work of Christ. But what we really mean to say
is that we're trusting the Christ who finished the work. That's
what we're saying. And so my friend, if you want
to know whether you're one of God's elect or not, trust Christ and trust
him alone. The efficacy of the blood is
in who shed it. And you don't want to trust election.
You must trust Christ and trust Him alone. Well, look at verse
10 here. And we see that, So he rose,
he went, and when he came to the gate of the city, the woman
was there, and she was gathering sticks. And he called to her
and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel that
I may drink. I call this grace before grace
because this woman here has been provided. God knew this woman.
Although she didn't know very much, I'm sure, but God knew
her. You may not know him yourself, but he knows you, he knows you,
he knows all about you. You remember what he told Jeremiah?
He said, before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. And
before you came forth out of the womb, I had sanctified you
and ordained you to be a prophet unto the nations. Now, I don't
know whether you remember this or not, but in the movie The
Ten Commandments, you remember what Moses' wife told him? He
said, I don't know your God. And she said, that's right, you
don't know my God, but he knows you. But He knows you. This woman may not know much
about God, but God knew her, and He had prepared her heart
by His grace. She was there. She was gathering
sticks. God's people may be poor, but
they're not lazy. She was going to feed the prophet
of God for years. She didn't know that, but she
was there. And she was gathering sticks.
And see what was going to happen here? And she was going to fetch
it. He said, get me a little water
and a vessel. She was going to get it and he called her and
said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread and thine hand.
And she said, as the Lord by God liveth, I've not a cake,
but a handful of meal in a barrel, a little oil and cruise. Behold,
I'm gathering two sticks that'll make them go in and dress it
for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. We're down to
our last meal. This is it. This is all we got.
And he said, you bring me. Bring me. And Elijah said, verse
13, don't fear, but go and do as you've said, but make me,
therefore, a little cake first. Make me a little cake first,
and bring it unto me, and after, make for thee and for thy son.
You see, this woman was called upon, she was to commit all that
she had, all that she had in this life. commit everything. You see, this prophet, so we
have the command for committal first, then the promise of a
full supply. What does he say? He said, you
make this little cake for me, and bring it unto me, and after,
you make for thee and for thy son, gonna be plenty. Gonna be
plenty to go around for a long time. You just make this cake
for me first. A committal, see, a committal.
Now, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of
meal shall not waste. Now, how do you explain it? One
way to explain it, the power of God. That's the only way you
can explain it. Neither the crews of oil failed. The power of God
sustained them and caused this barrel of meal to remain full.
And the crews of the oil never failed, even though they poured
out of it and dipped out of it every day. It never failed. until
the day the Lord sent us rain upon the earth, and she went
and did according to the saying of Elijah." That's very important. She went and did according to
the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house
did eat many days a year according to what many say. And the barrel
of meal wasted not, neither did the crucible fail according to
the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah. So God spoke
through Elijah and fulfilled this purpose, and the power of
God was evident. Now, I want to tell a little
story here, and I'm going to hurry. I realize that the time
is getting away from me, but I want to illustrate something
here. I said that the command for committal was first. She
had to give everything. Had to commit everything. And
then the promise of a full supply. and the full supply came as she
obeyed the words of Elijah. I remember hearing a story one
time about a missionary who was in upstate New York many years
ago and he'd been preaching to some Indians up there and there
was an old Indian chief that had heard his message and so
he came to the missionary and he brought his tommy hawk and
said, I give my tommy hawk to Jesus. And the missionary said,
Jesus don't want your tommy hawk. Jesus don't want my tommy hawk?
No, the missionary said, he don't want your tommy hawk. Then he
came back a little later with his bow and arrow and said, I
give my bow and arrow to Jesus. And the missionary said, well,
Jesus don't want your bow and arrow. He didn't want that. And
then he came back a little later and he brought his headdress.
And that headdress meant an awful lot to him. And he said to the
missionary, I give my headdress to Jesus. The missionary said,
Jesus don't want your headdress. He don't want it. So the Indian chief went away
and he was gone a considerable length of time. So finally he
came back. And he came with nothing in his
hands. Reminds me of the song that Spurgeon used to quote all
the time. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross
I cling. He brought nothing in his hands
and he bowed down before the missionary and said, missionary, he said,
I give myself to Jesus. And the missionary says, you
got it. He's got you. He's got you. Now, if he has
you, then he has you, Tommy Hawk. If he has you, my friend, he's
got your bow and arrow. If he has you, he's got your
headdress. If he's got you, he's got your
moccasins. And he's got your pockets and
everything in it. If he's got you. I'm talking about commitment. Laying it down. Laying it down. This woman had to lay it all
down. All she had. She never saw this
fellow before. But the Lord had done a work
in her. And it came to the place where she had to commit. And
she did it. And that's what you're called
upon to do. Give yourself to the Lord. Lay yourself down at
His feet. Lay yourself down. You say, I don't know what He's
going to do with me. Let Him determine what He does with you.
Because that's the way it's going to come out in the end. He'll
have His will with you. Yes, He will. And so you give
yourself unto Him. I was reading recently testimonies
of Spurgeon. There was some who said, well,
when you get saved, you know, you've got to know that you've
got a personal interest in everything that went on on the cross and
so on. And old Spurgeon said, you know, I didn't know any of
that when I got saved. I didn't know anything about this personal
interest. And all he said I knew was that
I was a sinner and I was lost. And I knew that he said, look
into me. and be you saved and he said
I looked and I was saved you know I heard a story and it's
a true story and I leave this with you close with this there's
a fella down in Louisiana and he's a a sovereign grace believer
and his last name is Horn but his grandfather's name was Bernstein
Now you may, this is the story here, but anyway, he's a full-blooded
Jew, and he's a Christian, and he loves the Lord. But somebody
asked him, said, how come it is that your name is Horn, and
your great grandfather's name was Bernstein? And he said, well, let me tell
you the story. So his grandfather lived in Germany,
during the First World War. In 1917, the Germans were being
defeated. They were suffering terrible
losses in the trenches. And the word came out to him,
his grandfather was 17 years old. word came you report for
duty you're going to the front lines trying to fill up the space
where so many was being killed and he didn't want to die and
he didn't want to go and so he ran he ran all the way across
Germany to the Swiss border and took him a long time but he got
over there and the authorities were after him but he got over
there and he found a farmhouse knocked on the door And there
was a fella came to the door, an old farmer, and he told the
farmer his situation. The farmer had compassion on
him, said, come in, come in. So he went in, and they took
care of him, and in a day or so, they told him, they said,
now here's what we're gonna do. Said, our son just recently died. He's buried right out there in
the family cemetery. and his name is on the marker
out there. He said, now this is what we're
going to do. We're going to take your name, and we're going to
put your name on that marker. And we're going to give you our
son's papers. He was your age. We're going to give you our son's
papers, and you're going to take them papers, and we're going
to give you some money, and you go on and make your way to America.
And that family's name was Horn. Now, you know, this is the way,
and I got to thinking, this is the way that god saves a sinner
this is exactly how he does it his son died don't you see? and I got his name Christian
that's where I got my name, I'm a Christian I got it from him
and you know when the authorities showed up at their house he stayed
in touch with them through the years until their demise And
the authorities got there and they showed him the grave and
said, this is where Mr. Bernstein, this is where he's
buried, right here. And when the law shows up after
me and you, you say, well, see that death right there? That
death was my death. He died for me. He died for me. And I died in him. And I'm alive
now. And that's where I got my name,
Christian. The power of God. How wonderful it is. God able. God able. God is able. He is
able. He is able. All power in heaven
and earth. Well, that's a long sermon. It
could have been longer if we had jumped a few more rabbits
along the way. But nevertheless, may the Lord bless what you heard. and may the Lord use it for his
glory. Father, on the message we commit
it in your hands. May you, our Father, give us
understanding, more understanding, that we'll be able to exalt our
God in the earth. May the greatness of our God
so permeate these feeble minds of ours that we should rejoice,
full hope of the glory of God, that day when all of his great
power shall be on display before us. Glory, glory. We glory in
thee. Father, have mercy on us now
and save some poor sinner here. May it already have taken place.
We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.