read the first seven verses of
2nd Kings chapter 4. 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, or in the house? And she said, thine handmaid
hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. Then he said,
go borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty
vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou
shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and 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 oral stayed. Then she
came and told the man of God, and he said, Go, sell the oil,
and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest."
Now this is a very precious and blessed story, and one which
I have been a great deal encouraged by, and I hope this morning that
the Lord has something for us all here out of this text. Now, what we have here at the
outset, I want to give you some of the things that the history
here itself suggests to us, some of the surface truths that we
find here in this story, and then we'll get into our message.
But let us open it up in this way. I'd like to say that here
is a widow of a prophet that has been left in destitution. Her husband was a prophet of
God, her husband feared God, her husband was a man who was
a preacher of the Word of God. And he dies, and he leaves his
widow and his two sons in destitution. Now the best of men may die in
poverty. Just because a man is godly,
just because a man fears the Lord is no indication that that
man is going to prosper so in life that when he dies he's going
to be able to leave his family well off and well provided for. There's no indication of that.
This man had died and left his wife and children in debt. and
in distress from which we learn that holy men may be in the worst
of circumstances, and yet that in and of itself is no proof
that the Lord has forsaken them. Just because an individual has
fallen on hard times, and is between a rock and a hard place,
just because an individual is destitute does not mean that
God has forsaken that individual. Now you cannot judge a person's
character by his position in life. What he does or what he
does not have is not an indicator of his character. He can be the
most righteous, you know, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
was one of the poorest men that ever walked on the face of this
earth. The Bible says that foxes have holes, birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has not a place to lay His head. The Son of Man has not a home,
the Son of Man has not a place. He's the builder of all things,
yet He has not a home His own the Lord Jesus Christ created
everything without him there was nothing made that was made
But yet he himself is a poor man now listen now poverty is
no sign of grace It's no sign of grace if a man is poor that
doesn't mean that he's religious or that he doesn't mean that
he's spiritual neither is riches an evidence of God's favor and
A man can be wealthy and prosperous in this world, but that is no
indicator that that individual is one who is favored of God.
Now many people have their portion in this life only and have no
inheritance in the life to come. And there's a lot of people,
when you look upon them, and you see their wealth, they have
no fear of God, they're not concerned about the Word of God, there's
not one sentence in the Bible that impresses them or in any
way places a claim upon their lives, and those individuals
are prospering every day, and beloved, but that's no indication
that that individual is being blessed of God, that individual
just has his portion in this life. and he has nothing in life
everlasting. Now it seems to me as a general
rule that true religion is more often found in the poor in this
world than among the rich. It seems to me that the poor
have the gospel preached unto them. They have an emptiness
and a desire to hear the word of God. They want to hear the
word because they're not wealthy after the world and they want
to be rich And the only way to be rich in this world, truly
be rich, is to be rich through him that became poor for our
sake, that through his poverty we might be indeed rich. And those are the rich people
in this world, those who are poor, after the things of the
world, but are rich in faith. Now let this encourage any of
you this morning that might be in low circumstances, because
here were the prophets and the saints of God have been in olden
times. God can lift you up. God can
lift you up and he will. The Bible says that he lifts
up the poor out of the dunghill and that he lifts up men and
sits them among the princesses of the earth. Well, God can lift
you up and he will when it's really for your spiritual good. When it's for your spiritual
good, I say. Many, many times God keeps men
and women poor because it's best for them spiritually to be poor. Because there are many people
that will never look up until they're down so far that they
have no confidence any longer in themselves or in their ability
to gain that which will please and satisfy them. And it's only
then that they'll look up to God. They'll call upon him and
God means to wean men and women away from this world until they'll
look up to him Until they'll trust him and that may be the
reason why that God has not delivered you or put anything more into
your hands than what he has Already is because of that very reason
he would have you to have a heart cry after him now remember my
friend that Make no difference how poor you are, you keep this
in mind, that your master, the Lord Jesus, was poorer than you
are in this world, regardless of where you are. And I think
that that ought to encourage you, and yet whatever else you
don't have, You have a share in the love of God if you're
a child of God. God loves you. And if God loves
you, my friend, then it doesn't really matter about what you
have or what you don't have. Now, you're to seek to be rich
in faith, and you're to bow as a child of God before the determination
of God's providence and ask him for grace to be patient under
your affliction. That's what you ought to do.
Bow to God, bow under the providence of God, the determination of
God's providence. It's God's providence that has
placed us where we are. Bow and submit to that, and my
friend, pray for grace that you'll be able to bear up under the
afflictive circumstances that God has placed you under. Now
note, if you will, that this sorrowing widow went to God through
the prophet. Now this was the way that people
with broken hearts and spatial trials would then speak to God
or then seek God. It was as they would go to the
prophet, and they would seek God, as it were, through the
prophet. Now this woman was a prophet's
widow and she well understood the way and was acquainted with
the ways. So she went to Elisha to find
a solution to this problem. Her sons were about to be taken
away to become bondmen for a debt. that the family owed that they
could not pay. But now we have another mediator,
you and I, God's people, have another mediator and that is
Jesus Christ the righteous and every believer in trouble should
take his or her burden to the Lord Jesus Christ, to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this widow went to the prophet
And let us go, as it were, to the greater prophet, even Jesus
our Lord, and let us do it without hesitation or delay. Do you have
a problem? Do you have a trial? Is there
a need? Then take it to God, but go through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is not to say, my friend,
that there is no place for sharing, or no place for requesting of
preachers and fellow members of the household of God that
they pray for you, or that they help you to bear your burden,
or that they in some way or another offer counsel unto you. That is not to say that there's
not room for that. because certainly the Word of
God teaches that there is room for that and we ought to be sharing
with one another, praying for one another, and counseling with
one another as God enables us to do it. But remember that the
only way to God is through the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you don't need to go around
looking for a preacher to find God. All you have to do is go
to God through the Lord Jesus Christ And certainly the Lord
Jesus Christ is the way, and the way is open unto God through
the Lord Jesus. Now God was pleased to ordain
by His servant a way of escape for this poor woman. Look in
verse 2 at the question that Elisha asked this poor woman. He says, What shall I do for
thee? What shall I do for thee? Tell
me what hast thou in the house. What hast thou in the house? Elisha is looking for something
that God can bless and multiply to the solving of the problem. Now it's the rule, and you listen
to me, it is the rule of God's providence that His children
should cry to Him in the day of trouble and that He should
be gracious to them and that He should deliver them. This
is the rule of God's providence. The Bible says in Psalm 50, in
verse 14 and 15, offer unto God thanksgiving, pay thy vows unto
the Lord, and in the day of trouble call upon me, I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify me. And so the way of providence
is that God's people should cry, and then He will take up their
cause, and then He will deliver them. Now, God will never neglect
the children of His own house. God has a way, my friend. He
has a way to deal with your problems, your necessities, and your needs. I am poor, David said, and I
am needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. I'm poor and needy,
but God's got a plan for me, and He has a way to deal with
my problems. Now, whether your trouble be
temporal or whether it be spiritual, If you leave that trouble with
God, if you pray, if you walk in the fear of God, and if you
trust in His name, sooner or later and somewhere or other,
He must make a way for you to escape out of your necessity,
out of your burden, out of your distress. God will make a way. My friend, we read in 1 Corinthians
10 and verse 13, that there hath no temptation taken you, no trial,
no tribulation, no trouble taken you, but such is common to man,
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tested above
what you are able, but will with the tribulation, will with the
trouble, Will with the need, make a way of escape that you
may be able to bear." My friend, God will make a way. Some way
He will make a way. Don't give up. Keep on sitting
out as it were, the empty pots and the vessels. God will fill
them in His time. Now others can and will fail
you, but the Lord never will. The arm of flesh will fail you,
the psalm says, and you dare not trust your own, but trust
God. Trust God because He can and
will deliver you. Now the next thing I see here
is the way in which this woman was delivered. from her trial
and from her death was one which proved and exercised and strengthened
her faith. The way in which God delivered
her, it proved that she had faith, it strengthened her faith, and
it exercised that faith which God had given her. And that's
a pattern as to how God will deliver His people. Always God
will deliver His people in such a way so that it exercises their
faith. So that they have to believe
God in order to be exercised or in order to be delivered.
Now she and her sons had to go out and they had to borrow empty
vessels of her neighbors. Now you think a little bit with
me now this morning. Strange enough indeed, my friend,
that she went to the neighbors and went out to the neighbors
and knocked on their doors and said, I want all the jars, I
want all the empty pots and jars that you got. Well, now they
might wonder, you want empty jars? I mean, why wouldn't you
be asking for jars that are already full? Why do you want empty jars? Strange enough indeed. Now, unbelief
might have said, well, this is a very wild proceeding indeed
to go out here up and down the streets, across the fields, and
into people's houses, begging and asking for empty vessels,
empty jars. How can you fill these vessels
out of just one little pot of oil? You've got one little pot
of oil and you expect to fill up all these vessels? You filled
your cart, you filled everything, your arms are full of jars and
pots and you think you're going to fill them up out of that one
little pot of oil? that you've got at home. Can't
you imagine what was going through this woman's mind and heart?
Oh, my friend, listen, the prophet, somebody would say, Satan would
say, the devil would say, the flesh would say, Satan or this
prophet has mocked you. He's mocked you while He is exposing
you to the jest and the jeers of all of your neighbors. Getting
you to go out here acting so crazy. You think that something's
going to become of this? My friend, this is the way that
faith is exercised. You see what I'm saying? This
woman had to trust God, had to believe what the prophet said.
Go out here and get these vessels and bring them in. God's going
to do something with them. But she did what she did because
she believed God. She believed the word of the
prophet. She did it in faith. And the
result answered the end, my friend. The result answered the end. God delivers His servant in ways
that exercised her faith. God delivered this woman, this
destitute widow, in such a way that her faith was proven and
everybody could see that she surely must believe God. Faith
must be tested. Faith will grow strong in the
people of God. Faith will come to full assurance
in the Lord's people. Expect tried believer. Expect old. pride saint that
God's going to bring you through, but do not expect Him to bring
you through in a way that human reason would dictate or that
human reason would agree with or suggest. Human reason, my
friend, is contrary to faith in God many, many times. Now,
that would not provide any development for your faith if God was to
deliver you in a way that human reasoning would suggest. You
be very careful when you're in trouble, when you're in deep
trouble, taking the way that flesh suggests or the way the
philosophers or the counselors of this world suggest. Be extremely careful. It may
work for the fellow next door because he's a whirling, because
he has no God, because faith is not in him. But if you're
a child of God, if you truly belong to Christ, You must wait
on the Lord and you must do as God commands and as God leads
because the way God's going to deliver you is a way known to
Him and it's a way planned by Him to so exercise you that you
will be what you ought to be in the family of God. Do not
make a map for God to follow, my friend, for him to deliver
you by. Don't make a map and say, this
is the way, God, you must deliver me. No, my friend, the Bible
says he plants his footstep in the sea. Provide no vehicle for
him because he rides upon the storm. God has a way of his own. And He will not look to you for
a suggestion on how He will deliver you. God will deliver you in
His own way, and in a sure way, but it will be a way that will
exercise your faith and develop the faith in your soul. Well,
He does as He pleases, the Bible says. And you and I ought to
be content to stand still and see the salvation of God. Be
content for God to try us and be content for Him to deliver
us in His own way. Now then, this is what I was
talking about when I was talking about surface truths. when I
was talking about the general lessons that we learned here
from the history of this particular part of the scripture. Now, I
want to suggest that we turn, you can keep your finger here,
but turn over to Philippians chapter four and look at verse
19. Philippians chapter four and
look at verse 19, where the scripture says, Paul the apostle speaking,
he says, but my God, But my God, the God of providence and the
God of grace is Paul's God. And he said, but my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Now the best translation of the
Greek, which I think nearly touches the meaning here of what Paul
is saying is this. Now listen to this. My God shall
fill up all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. My God shall fill up. He shall
fill up. all your need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now I think if we join this story
that we've been talking about, the story in 2 Kings chapter
4 verses 1 through 7, with this verse, that we'll have indeed
the text for our message this morning. Now, I want to talk
briefly about four things in the time that I have left this
morning. Briefly about four things. First of all, the empty vessels.
We're to set all of them out in a row. Every empty vessel
that we can find, all your need is what's represented by these
empty vessels. All your needs. God can fill
them up, all your need, and so set them out. The second thing
is, who is going to fill up these vessels, these empty vessels? And the answer is, my God shall
fill up all your need. And the third thing is, after
what fashion will God do it? Well, it's according to His riches
in glory. His riches in glory. Fourthly, by what means will
He do it? And that is by Christ Jesus. By Jesus Christ. Well, first
of all then, let's talk a little bit about these empty vessels
which represent all of our needs. Set out. Set out the empty vessels. Did you get the picture there
in 2 Kings chapter 4? The sons and the mother are shut
up in this house. The doors are shut up and pots
and vessels and pots are sitting around everywhere, jars sitting
around everywhere all over the house. And here they are, they
got them set out and the boys are handing them one after another
to their mother. And she's pouring out of one
jar, one pot, and she just keeps filling them up, keeps filling
them up, keeps filling them up. And that jar never runs empty,
that pot never runs empty, she just keeps filling them all up.
Well, the Lord would say to us this morning, set out your pots.
Set them out. Get them out and set them out.
Well, now when we think of this, and I don't suppose this morning
it will be necessary for you and I to go out and borrow any
needs from anyone else. I'm sure that we got plenty of
our own at home. Our needs are many. There are
needs that are various and varied, but we have many and various
needs of our own. We have needs for the body, needs
for our souls, needs for ourselves, needs for our families. Needs
for the present, needs for the future, needs for time, needs
for eternity, needs for earth, and needs for heaven. We have
many, many needs. We don't need to go borrow any
from our neighbors like this lady and her sons needed to borrow
the vessels, the empty vessels from their neighbor. There seems
to be a new need every moment I live in this world. I don't
know how it is with you. But as many as the hairs of your
head this morning are your needs. That's the number of your needs. If I could begin, listen, I couldn't
begin to tell you, I don't know how to compute all of my own
needs. But I do know that my needs are
enormous, and they're increasing every year that I live. My needs
are more and more all the time. Needs as a man, needs as a husband,
needs as a father, needs as a pastor. It seems that every position
that we find ourselves in, it just adds to our needs, to what
we need more and more. It puts God in no straits. Let
me say, it puts God in no straits for us to have needs. Now I want
you to listen to these next few comments that I'm about to make. It may sound strange to you that
I would say the things that I'm about to say, but I want you
to listen to what we're saying. There's just so much more room
for God to work His miracles of grace when I have needs. The more needs I have, the more
room God has to work the miracles of His bountiful grace in my
life. It is when the vessels are empty
that there is room for God to work because not even God can
fill a vessel that's already full. And so it's when we have
needs and we bring these needs before God that God has the ability
to fill those needs and to meet those needs. Now, all our needs
are occasions then for blessing. Every need. Don't sit here and
say, well, I just, you know, it's terrible, I have to fill
up all of your needs. Now, then, the more in need,
do you hear me? The better. Now, I would have
your faith this morning to believe that strange statement. The more in need you are, the
better off you are because the more occasion you have for God
to intervene in your life and lift you up. God can lift you
up out of your circumstance. God can deliver His people. God can fill up. Your pots and
all of your jars, He can fill them up. And so every need you
have, God can fill them. Now, your poverty will be your
riches, my friend, your weakness, your strength, your abasement,
your exaltation. Your extremities shall be an
opportunity that God will use to show the riches of His grace
until you're cut. runneth over, until your cup
runs over. Now don't weep then over your
empty jars. You say, Preacher, that's all
I got. Every place I look, the box is empty, the pans are empty,
the jars are empty, everything is empty, Preacher. Well, my
friend, don't weep over that, because that is the way God would
have them to be, and He would have you to bring them before
Him. And Paul said, My God is going to do something about that.
Some of your empty vessels, I know, are getting bigger, they're growing
bigger, as it were, every day that you live. And you say, Preacher,
I've got a lot to cry about. Well, my friend, no, not really. Not really. You say there's more
to table now than there used to be. It takes more! I got to
have more all the time, more to feed my family, more to keep
them under roof, more to clothe them, more. More infirmities
now, you say, than I ever had in my life. More afflictions,
more problems, more stress than I ever operated under in any
time in my life. Well, beloved, listen, I want
to tell you something, that whatever a person wants or whatever he
has need of when he's a young person, he's going to want more
of the same thing when he's older. And he's going to need more of
the same things when he gets older. He needs more love to
God, an older person. He needs more patience. He needs
more resignation. than he ever had in his life.
You gotta quit fighting. You gotta quit swinging at every
time there's a nap that comes by. You gotta resign yourself
and as it were go with the flow in this life. You need more grace.
more humility, more charity, more wisdom, more holiness. God's
people need more all the time of the very thing they needed
when they were younger. We desire more faith and a brighter
hope, and especially in the prospects of death, more courage, more
bold, simple, childlike confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ than
we ever had in our lives. We're facing the grave. and we
have a greater need. Many, many, many needs. The older we get, that vacuum
within our spirit expands and it enlarges and we cry out, more
knowledge. of the scriptures, more of the
Holy Spirit, more power to serve God, more power to do right in
this world. We cry out, there's something
within us, there's a vacuum and there's a need and God only can
fill these needs. We want more and more of the
mercy and the mercy is this, my God shall supply, he'll fill
up all your needs. This is the promise that was
made by the Apostle Paul through the Spirit of God to the church
at Philippi, I take it that it was made to God's people, members
of God's living family, believers. I think that's who it was spoken
to. And while the oil is flowing, While the oil is flowing, get
out them needs. Get out them pots and them pans. While the oil is flowing. Because
listen to me now. You say, well my pots and pans
are all in the back room, preacher. And I don't want to even think
about them today. They're all empty. I don't want
to think about them. I'll worry about them tomorrow. No! Bring
them out! Set them out, bring them out
today in faith and set them out. God's gonna fill them up and
he'll fill you with a song and fill you with praise while he's
doing it. God can and will deliver his
people. The oil did not stop flowing
until there was no vessel left. The mother said, bring me yet
a vessel. And the boy said, there is not
a vessel more. And the oil stayed, that's the
end of it. There's no more empty vessels,
no more oil. It's all over with. It's done.
Nothing more to pour it into. It's over with. Bring them out,
my friend. Don't say, I'll just live with
it. No. Bring them out. Set them
before God. Do it today. Do it tomorrow.
Keep on bringing them out. and setting them before the Lord
because God's got plenty and he's not hard up and he's in
no straight because you've got a need and don't ever forget
that. God can do anything he purposes
to do and it'll be his purpose that determines what he does
and you wait on him. You worship him and you bow to
him and submit to him because God is gonna do what's right
and you're gonna trust him to do it and you're gonna bring
out these vessels. Now then That brings me to the
next thing. Who is to fill these vessels?
Paul says, my God. My God's going to do this. Now
if it were not God, We'd be a fool to get up here and talk about
this, wouldn't we? I don't know if anybody else
could fill up everybody's needs. I don't know anybody who could
meet all these needs I've been talking about this morning. But
it begins, it's God. God can supply all the needs
of His people, for He is all-sufficient, but nobody else can do it. He's
the only one that knows. all of our needs. We can't even
tell other people about all our needs, can we? Why, you don't
even know all your needs yourself, Carl. You don't even know all
your needs yourself, you folks over here. You don't know all
your needs. God only knows all your needs, so he only could
supply your needs. Now, he can do it alone. He can
do it without any help. For nothing, the Bible says,
is too hard for the Lord, Jeremiah the prophet said. And they that
wait upon the Lord, the Bible says, they shall not want for
any good thing. Trust in the Lord and do good,
so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. God can do it. There is no bounds
to the goodness and power of Almighty God. He can do it. My
God shall fill up all your needs, says Paul. Now Paul's God He
is the God of providence and what a wonderful God that is.
Now you see God has a purpose and the outworking of that purpose
is providence is what that is. The outworking of that purpose
of God is his providence and what God's doing. Now he had
a plan for this old world. He had a plan for every creature.
He had a plan for every man and God's working that out in his
providence. Now, who are we here this morning? Well, we're just a little speck
on the wall is all that we are. We're a drop in the bucket, less
than a drop in the bucket. We're what's left when they take
the donut and they eat the donut. We're just, as it were, we're
a zero with a sideboard knocked off of it. That's all that we
are here in this world. We're nothing in this world,
but yet God opens up his hand And He satisfies the desire of
every living thing every day. God takes care of that fly over
in the woods where there doesn't seem to be anything to sustain
it. God takes care of all creatures. He takes care. Your Heavenly
Father takes care of man, beasts, creatures, birds, insects, name
them. He takes care of all of them.
Your Heavenly Father feeds them all. Listen to these words. He
that made my heaven secure will here all good provide. While
Christ is rich, can I be poor? What can I want beside? What
can I want beside? Now, this text here in Philippians
4.19 was on the front or on the cornerstone of Charles Spurgeon's
orphanage. My God shall supply all your
needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. George
Mueller, who had an orphanage and almost constantly for a lot
of years, I don't know for sure how many years, he had at least
2,500 orphans in those orphanages. I think he had six buildings
that housed these 2,500 orphans And they lived, you know how
they lived? They lived by faith. That's how
God provided. He just believed God, he trusted
God, he asked God to provide and God sustained and he raised
those orphans and turned them out year after year into society. They went out into society. kids
that have been disciplined and raised and provided for and they
were provided for by God alone. Nothing is warning where God,
my friend, is the provider. You say, well, there's some things
I'd like to have, but now wait a minute. There is nothing wanting
where God is the provider, and if you wait on the Lord and trust
God and bow to Him and be submissive to Him, all shall be well with
you, my friend. That brings me to the third thing,
and that is, in what style will God provide His people's needs? How's He gonna do this? I mean,
what style will He do it? Well, the Bible says in Philippians
4, 19, He'll do it in a style that becomes His wealth. in a
style that is becoming to his wealth according to his riches. That's how he's going to do it.
According to his riches. now this is uh... let me try
to explain it this way there's more than one way to give a quarter
to a beggar you can throw it at him you can throw it down
in the mud at his feet and say there it is get out of my prairie
I don't want to see you again get it and go or you can hand
it to him graciously with a smile and you can do so in such a way
as to convey the uh... the love of your heart toward
a fellow creature You can do it in a way that makes that individual
feel that you don't begrudge or that you're not a miser and
that you're willing to assist and to help a fellow human being.
You can do it in that manner. And I think this is the way that
God gives. The best way, my friend, is the
way that God gives. He does not give miserly and
he does not give grudgingly. The Bible says God loves a cheerful,
Giver. God loves a giver who will give
hilariously. He doesn't want somebody to give
and say, well, I didn't want to do that and I really can't
afford to do that. I don't want to do it. No, God
loves a cheerful giver. Somebody who will give hilariously
like He gives. He gave His Son. He spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. And how shall
He not also through Him freely give us all things? That, of
course, is the next point. But God gives. I hope you never,
listen, I hope you never have to eat at a man's table that
will begrudge every bite that you take. I hope you don't have
to do that. But I want to tell you this, when God feeds you,
you'll feel welcome. When God gives to you, you'll
feel welcome to receive it because God will never in any way demean
you by giving to you and supplying your needs. Well, how does he
fill up these vessels? not according to our standard,
not according even to our desserts, but according to His riches.
He gives like the God He is, according to His own God-like
riches. That's the way that God gives.
It is according to His riches in glory, Paul said, which means
this, that as rich as God is in glory, so rich is He in His
giving. God gives because he's rich,
and not only that, he never demeans himself in the mercies that he
gives. He gives so as to bring him new glory. New glory all
the time. And God's people, when they are
delivered, they glorify their God which is in heaven. Now the
fact is, brethren, God gives gloriously. That's the way He
gives. And so that's the way, that's the standard that God's
going to use in filling up your pots and filling up your needs. Is He going to do it gloriously? Well, that's the God we worship.
Now my friend, we need to keep our eyes on this God. Listen,
stop this niggardly stuff and saying well you know we're just
poor and that's the way it is. Listen, you've got to believe
God and trust Him and rely upon Him and think upon a God who
gives, who is rich. He is in no trouble. He is in
no trouble. America is in trouble. You can
read the figures there in New York City where the figures are
They're flashing all the time about the national debt. America's
in trouble, but God's in no trouble. And you and I need to quit listening
so much to these politicians and what's going on in Washington
and start reading the Bible more and believing what God says and
depending upon this God who gives gloriously. That brings me to
the last point. But what means does the Lord
fill our needs? Well, he fills them, Paul said
in Philippians 4 and 19, by Christ Jesus. All of this is by Christ
Jesus. Now this is the best part of
the sermon. This is the wonderful part of
the sermon. It's by Christ Jesus. Now listen,
first of all, what does that mean? It means that by giving
them Christ, He gives us everything because everything is in Jesus
Christ. If you have Christ, you have
it all. You got everything God has if
you have Christ. When you have him, you got it
all. Christ is all. All things are yours for you're
Christ and Christ is God. You cannot, my friend, go to
heaven without Christ. You can't get to heaven without
Jesus Christ. He prepares your mansion. He
provides your wedding dress. He leads you home. He's the one
that brings many sons home to glory. Without him, you can do
nothing. God will supply all your needs
by giving you, first of all, by giving you the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how you'll do it. Do you
value Christ? I'm afraid too many of us, my
friend, have a low esteem of Jesus Christ. He doesn't mean
much to the average professor in our day. Christ, what does
He mean to you? He's God's all. He's heaven's
best. He's the beloved Son of God.
He's the Son of God's love. What does He mean to you? My
friend, listen, God will begin to supply your needs by feeding
that deep, deep need you have in your own soul of Christ. Christ is all. And then moreover,
all things will come to you by virtue of Christ's merit. That's the second thing that
this means. You and I deserve no good thing.
We deserve no good thing. Is there anybody here this morning
could stand up and say, I deserve good things from God's hand? My friend, you and I are all
sinners. We're all sinners. We're broke and in debt to God. We can't pay. We're bankrupt. We don't have any way of raising
what we owe God. And he's been merciful and good
and kind and gracious and compassionate to us all these years. And we're
in debt to God. and we don't deserve any good
thing. But let me tell you something,
there is one who does deserve everything, and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He deserves everything. There's
nothing that he does not deserve. Christ deserves it all. And God's
not going to give it to you. But let me tell you something
else. He'll give it to Christ. He'll give it to Christ. And
if you got a need and you're in Christ, God will give it to
you by virtue of the merits of Christ. And that's the only way
you get anything from God. by virtue of the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to me, my friend.
Don't let this discourage you. It ought to put you out of business,
but then it ought to put you right back into business again
as you look to the Lord Jesus Christ. His dear, dying, risen,
pleading Son, to Him the doors of heaven's treasury opens. To Him the doors open wide, to
Christ, not to you. If you have begun in the Spirit,
do not attempt to be perfected by the flesh. If your only hope
is in what Christ has done, stick to that and add nothing to it. You say, I want my vessels filled.
Well, Paul said, God's going to do it according to his riches
in glory, but he's going to do it by Christ. That's the way
he's going to do it. He's going to do it through Christ. He's
going to do it through the merits of Jesus Christ. None but Jesus
is the motto of the true child of God, the true believer that's
learned the truth about himself. Jesus is our all. We are complete
only as we stand in him. And God will hear him. God, I
mean the name of Jesus, it don't mean much in this world. People
call their children Jesus down south in Mexico. And people always
talking about Jesus this and Jesus that. And Jesus don't mean
much in this world, but it means something in heaven. And it means
something at the throne of God. And when you can use that spiritually
before God, the virtue and merit of Jesus, it means something.
And it means a whole lot before God. When we go to the bank of
heaven, it'll mean something. Our name is no good at that bank,
but His name. Oh, His name is above every name.
His name, my friend, no name like it. It's honey. It's honey
to the taste, and it's melody to the ear of the true child
of God. Listen, that name, that name,
it means something at the bank of God. Now, all that Christ
wants of you, poor sinner, is that you should be empty. That's
all He wants of you, is that you be empty. You say, well,
you mean telling me that that's all He wants of me? That you'd
be empty, my friend? No good works, no prayers, no
anything. Just come just as you are, empty
by nature. That's the way God wants. Come
to Jesus. He got everything. He has everything,
and if you want from God, you gotta get it from God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has everything. God only fills
empty vessels. Do you have a rag left to cover
your sins? Do you have anything left? Now,
listen, this man receiveth sinners only. Christ died, the Bible
says, for the ungodly. You say, I'll take care of my
own business, preacher. I'll just take care of my own
business. I'll not be dependent on God. I don't want to fall
into any of these fanatical ideas that you're expressing, that
I'm bankrupt, that I don't have anything, and that God has all
in Christ. I don't want to be shut up to
that. My friend, Christ is all. And you and I are beggars, and
there's no way around that. If we'd have God's way, if we'd
have God's truth, you and I are beggars. Now, sinner, all that
God demands of you, He must give you. You cannot provide it yourself. It's got to come through Christ. Listen to me. It is better to
drink the water of life out of the deep, inexhaustible fullness
of God than to go on pumping and pumping on that shallow well
that you have, that shallow well that's dry, that cistern of yours
that's broke and busted and all the water's leaked out, there
ain't anything in it. And it's better for you to go
to God and look to Him. You can have everything through
Christ and you have nothing without Him. This is our plea. Jesus
first, Jesus in the middle, Jesus last. He's everything and we
get nothing except through Him. Now we must present the bleeding
lamb before God each morning and every time we come before
God. We got to bring the bleeding lamb, that sacrifice that the
Lord Jesus made. Seek no mercy from God apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Lay hold on Him, you'll have
God's mercy, and you'll have all you need in Him. Now the
question is this, as we're about to close, are you an empty vessel? Are you an empty vessel yourself? The question is not whether Christ
can fill you, The question is, are you empty? While there were
empty vessels, the oil just kept flowing. When there wasn't any
more, there wasn't any more oil. The question is, is there any
empty vessels here this morning? Are we empty? Are we empty? Well, none are excluded but those
that exclude themselves. Listen, emptiness is eligibility,
if you please, It's to be eligible if you're empty. God can and
will fill you through the Lord Jesus. Now in this miracle, I
want to emphasize this, all that was required was empty, empty
vessels. In Luke 1 and 53, He hath filled
the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty
away. The songwriter said, dear dying
lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all
the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Keep on
until the last one of God's elect comes empty. The power of Christ,
the blood of Christ is available to cleanse and to wash. The oil
was in the one pot. not in the empty vessels until
it was poured in the empty vessels. The oil is in one pot, brother,
sister, and that pot is Christ. That full pot typifies the Lord
Jesus and we, the elect, are all those empty vessels. The
oral was in one part. Okay, well, I want to close with
these words. These words were from an old
preacher and I like them. I wrote them down. Listen to
this. He said, do not try to be a full vessel. Don't try to
be a full vessel. He said, don't try even to be
half full. Don't try. He said, but be an
empty vessel and Christ We'll fill you. He'll not miss or overlook
one of you that is empty. And the reason is because nobody
gets empty till he empties them. And he sees you. He knows where
you're at because he's emptied you out. Now, what he said, listen
to this now. He said, you be dead. Let him,
or as it were, He'll be your life. You be dead, He will be
your life. You the beggar, His the riches. You sick, Him your health. You lost, Him the Savior. You nothing, Him all in all. Is that alright? Do you understand
what I'm saying? Do you understand it? My friend,
if you understand what I'm saying this morning, I believe it's
because God's emptied you out and you know something about
the fullness that's in the Lord Jesus. And of His fullness, John
said, have we all received and grace for grace. God's people
have received of His fullness. And it's grace upon grace. over
and over again, grace received, grace blessed to us. We are full because of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I hope this morning that
your appreciation of the Lord Jesus is more than what it ever
was before. I hope you feel the weight of
what we preached here this morning, and I hope that God will use
this to the edification, the up-building of your heart. Just
remember that, my friend, remember that He is full and you are empty
and that's real and He can fill you out of His fullness. Trust
Him to do it. Father, we thank you for your
word and thank you for this precious time that you've given us together
this morning. And we just ask, Father, that
you'll use this message, accomplish thy purpose, give some poor sinner
here hope and encouragement from hearing this word today. Thank you, Father. You've given
us so much grace and so much mercy and so much help and how
we praise Thee. Forgive us of our unbelief and
forgive us, Lord, wherein we have walked contrary to your
mind, and contrary to all that you've done, aid our hearts and
lives, and strengthen us, O God. And may we never forget what
we've heard today. We pray it for Jesus' sake, in
His lovely and wonderful name. Amen.