I've entitled this morning's
message, Me First. Me First. Now, we read in this
passage of scripture about a widow woman. A mighty famine was in the land. And this poor widow woman is
gathering up sticks to make a fire. to fix her last meal. She just had a handful of meal.
She had a little bit of oil in a cruise, and she was going to
make a meal for her and her son. And in her understanding, they
were going to die after that. Now, how did she feel when Elijah
came to her and said, make me a meal first? How would you have responded
to that? You're going to make your last meal and somebody that
you don't even know comes up and says, make me a meal first
and then you can eat. Look at verse 11, and as she
was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, bring me, I
pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said,
as the Lord thy God liveth, first Kings 17, verse 12, And she said,
As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of
meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruise. And behold,
I'm gathering two sticks that I may go and dress it for me
and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said unto
her, Fear not. Go and do as thou hast said,
but make me thereof a little cake first. Me first and bring
it to me and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither
shall the cruise of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth
rain upon the earth. Me first. That is something that comes
out of our mouth so naturally. Look at kids. Me first. Me first. That's just the natural thought
of the natural man. Me. First, from this attitude, me first
arises selfishness, envy, jealousy, a hypercritical attitude, strife,
ambition, false accusations, stirring up trouble, Manipulation
and deceit. Abuse. Suspicion. Using people. Dishonesty. Lying, stealing, backbiting. I suppose every sin comes from
this statement. Me first. Was that not the sin
of Satan? Me first. I'll exalt my throne
over God's. Me first. Was that not the sin
of our first parents in the garden? Me first. I'll be like God. I'll be equal to Him. I'll do
my own thing. Me first. Every conflict comes from this
sentiment. Me first. Now, this woman was
like. We are by nature. Me first. So what did she think when Elijah
comes to her and said, you make me a meal first? I would say,
well, who do you think you are? I would take care of myself first.
And that's the natural way of thinking, isn't it? I mean, I
would have been irritated if somebody comes up to me. I'm
going to fix my last meal and I'm going to die. And somebody
says, make me a cake first. Now. I say this reverently. God says. Me first. Turn to Matthew chapter six for
a moment, hold your finger there and first King 16 and turn to
Matthew chapter six. Beginning in verse twenty five. Therefore, I say unto you. Take
no thought. Don't worry, don't have anxious
thought for your life. What you should eat or what you
should drink or yet for your body, what you should put on.
Don't worry about these things. Is not the life more than meat
in the body than raiment? Behold, the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns.
Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
by worrying, can add one cubit unto his stature, add one moment
to his life? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not,
neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon
in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore,
if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or withal shall we
be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek,
for your heavenly Father knoweth. that you have need of all these
things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
to you. Seek the kingdom of God first. Everybody in here has concerns.
Isn't that so? Cares. Anxieties. Conflict within. Trying to know
which direction to go. What to do. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God His glory. His honor, obedience to him,
this is the divine order. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and seek ye first his righteousness. My great desire is to be found
in him and to have his righteousness. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. God knows what needs you have
and what needs you will have and you will not suffer. for
seeking first the kingdom of God. You can just write that
down. You will not suffer in seeking
first the kingdom of God. Now it was only in that poor
widow woman making the food for the prophet come first that all
of her needs were supplied. He said, you make me the cake
first. You take care of this first. And there's that little
cruise of oil you have, and that barrel of meal you have. It's
never going to fail. It's going to continue on and
on. All your needs will be supplied. Now, regarding this widow woman,
it had already been determined by God that this woman would
do this. Verse 8 of First Kings 17, And the word of the Lord
came unto him, Elijah saying, Arise, go thee to Zarephath.
which belongeth to Zidon dwell there, behold, I have commanded
a widow woman there to sustain me." Now this widow woman didn't
know anything about this. I mean, she didn't know. As far as she
could tell, she was making her last meal and she was going to
die of starvation after that. There had been no rain on the
earth for two and a half years at this point. And everybody
was starving. Everybody was in a bad condition.
And this woman did not have any knowledge that she was the one
that God had ordained and determined to take care of Elijah. All she knew was death was around
the corner, but the Lord was secretly and powerfully working
in her heart, making her willing to comply to the Lord's commands.
You see, Psalm 110.3 says, Thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power. Philippians 2.13 says, It's God
that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now, this woman didn't know anything
about this, but the Lord was working in her heart. God is
always at work. even before we know anything
about it. And notice he doesn't say, I
will command. He says, I have commanded. I have commanded. It's done. Now, the Lord Jesus
uses this woman as an illustration of the sovereignty of divine
grace. And we ought to look at that first, because the Lord
uses her in the New Testament to illustrate the sovereignty
of divine grace. So hold your finger there in
First Kings 17 and turn with me to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. Now, you remember the setting,
this is when the Lord had announced who he was in Nazareth. We read
beginning in verse 21. And he began to say unto them,
this day, is this scripture fulfilled in your ears? Now, remember,
these are the people he grew up with in Nazareth and all bearing
witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of
his mouth, and they said, is not this Joseph's son? He saith
unto them, you'll surely say unto me this proverb, physician,
heal thyself. Whatsoever we've heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily,
I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
You all don't accept me. You reject me. That doesn't surprise
me. No prophet is accepted in his
own country. But let me tell you the truth. Many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months. When great famine was throughout
all the land, many widows, all with the same need, dying. But unto none of them was Elijah
sent, save unto Sarepta, the city of Sidon, unto a woman that
was a widow." Now here we have this woman. She was a Gentile.
She wasn't a Jew. All the Jews, widows in Israel,
they needed water just like And God, in His sovereignty, passed
every one of them by, as an act of His irreprehensible justice,
and made Himself known to this poor widow woman. Now, God is
sovereign. He's uninfluenced, and He's independent. He has a will. He has the power
to make His will come to pass. He's omnipotent. He has the right
to make His will come to pass. He's God. He answers to nobody. And He does, in fact, always
make His will come to pass. Now, that is what is meant by
God is sovereign. Now, Daniel 435 says, He doeth
according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say
unto him, What doest thou? Give an account for your manners.
God doesn't answer to me. God doesn't answer to you. He's
God. He's God. He's sovereign. Now,
this sovereignty that our Lord is teaching with regard to this
woman, he did something for her and he passed all these others
by. His sovereignty, his sovereign will is seen in creation. He
willed this universe into existence, didn't he? Just as an act of
his will, the planets, the stars, the earth was brought forth.
His will is seen in providence, in that everything that happens
is according to his will, everything. Everything, not most things,
everything, whatever happens, it's his will being done. Now, I realize that men can say,
well, if I did that, it's not my fault if I did something sinful,
because it's only God's will being done anyway, because God's
sovereign. Well, you can say that if you
want. And half of it's true. Half of
it's true. You did what he determined for
you to do. But you're responsible for what
you've done. You're wrong in what you've done.
It was a sinful act. Yes, God is sovereign. He controls
everything. We believe that. But we don't
look at that as an excuse for wrong behavior and wrong action. But that being said, don't you
rejoice that everything that happened up to this point has
been His will being done. And even in the bad things, you
know it was for His glory and your good. And this is the glorious
thing about the Lord. He brings good out of evil. Remember what? Joseph said to
his brethren, you meant it for evil. You had wicked intent in
what you were doing, but God meant it for good. Oh, what a
glorious God he is in his providence and most especially his sovereignty
seen in salvation. As the father raises the dead
and quickens them, even so the son quickens whom he will. Now we have this poor little
widow woman. God passed by all the widows in Israel. That's
a lot of them. And he saved this one poor little
widow woman. Turn with me to Romans chapter
9. This is what this works like. Romans 9. You have to think about this passage of
Scripture. This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture
in the Bible. I love this. I just love it. Romans 9 and
11. Talking about Jacob and Esau.
for the children, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth that was sent unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it's written, Jacob
have I loved, But Esau hath I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair in loving Jacob
and hating Esau? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now let me hold on for just a second. Did you notice it says, not him
that willeth? Do you know that if you believe in what men call
free will, you do not believe in the sovereignty of God? It
is impossible to believe in free will and believe God is sovereign. Those two thoughts exclude one
another. They're mutually exclusive. Now, do men do what they want
to do? Yes. Yes, you do. And I do exactly what we want
to do. And when we see him, it's because that's what we wanted
to do. We do what we want to do. That's no doubt. But as far
as our free will, Our will is controlled by our nature, an
evil nature, a sinful nature, and to promote free will in any
way is a denial of the fact that God is sovereign. If you believe
free will, that means you believe man's will overrides God's will. And you can see how ridiculous
that is. It's ridiculous. God reigns. Now let's go on reading.
Verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens." What's that
mean? Exactly what it says. There it is. Verse 19, thou will
say unto me, why does he yet find fault? For whose resisted
his will? How can he hold me responsible for my actions if
it's all according to his purpose? And whom he will, he hardens
and he gives life to whom he will. How can I be held responsible?
That's not right. It's not fair for God to hold
me responsible for something that he determined for me to
do. I don't like that. I love Paul's answer. Nay, but
O man, who are you to reply against God? Since when are you enough
of a moral authority to sit on judgment on what God does and
say, I agree with that, or I don't agree with that, and to actually
say what He does is unfair? You say that, and me say that?
Us sitting in judgment on God? Nay, but, O man, who are you
to reply against God? Shalt the thing formed say to
him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
into honor and another into dishonor? So first of all, this woman illustrates
that, doesn't she? And this is the way our Lord
uses her. Many widows in Israel. The Lord passed them by and he
made himself known to this one poor widow woman. You know what
my response is? Lord, make me to be like this woman. Cause
me to be this poor widow woman in need of your grace. Now, not only was this woman
elected by God for saving purposes, but she was also chosen by God
for service. He said, I've selected this poor
widow woman to sustain you. She was a part of God's purpose
in service. Now, what was she to do? She
was to give to the prophet first. Now, what is. I've seen so many
of these TV preachers begging for money and they've called
and said, you know, give to me first and God will bless you.
You know, that's not what that means. It doesn't have anything
to do with it. But this woman, a poor widow woman, gives us
a look at the type of person God saves. One who's poor. Would that be you? Poor before
God, you don't have a penny's worth of merit in and of yourself.
You're poor. Helpless. This was a widow woman.
She didn't have anyone to take care of her. Helpless. Can't
save, can't provide for herself. And she was ready to die. Now,
back to our text in 1 Kings 17. Now, the Lord has commanded this
widow woman to sustain Elijah. Verse 10. So he rose and went
to Zarephath, and everything I read said this was a hundred
mile journey. Can you imagine going through a hundred mile
journey on foot before he got to this place away from Israel?
And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow
woman was there gathering sticks. She had no idea that the Lord
had commanded her to sustain Elijah. And he called to her
and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that
I may drink. I think of the polite, lowly way that he spoke to this
woman. He didn't say, give me something
to drink. I'm God's prophet. No, he said, fetch me, I pray thee,
a little water that I may drink. Don't you enjoy the humility
and the kindness, courteousness and politeness of the man of
God? He does. Fetch me, I pray thee, a little
water. And as she was going to fetch it, verse 11, he called
to her and he said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread
in thy hand. Bring me some to eat also. And she said, As the
Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake. I don't have a piece
of bread to give you. All I have is a handful of meal, ground
flour in a barrel, just a handful, and a little oil in a cruz. And
behold, I'm gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it
for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said
unto her, Fear not. Fear not. The only reason we have to fear
not is his word. And if he says fear not, Fear not. Let not your heart
be troubled. That's what the Lord says to
every one of his people. Let not your heart be troubled.
Don't be afraid. And here's why. He says in verse
13, fear not. But you go and do as thou said,
but make me thereof a little cake first. I remember she only
had a little bit of meal and he was telling her You take all
of what you have and make me a cake first and bring it to
me. You won't have anything left.
Nothing. You make me a cake first. Bring
it to me. First. And afterwards make for
thee and for thy son. And here's the promise in doing
this. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of
meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail
until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. Now, you put. Now, when he said
this, he says, you make me a cake first. What he says, you put
all of your trust in me. Don't try to provide for yourself.
Don't try to provide for yourself in any measure, to any degree.
You put all your trust in me to take care of you, to give
you what you need. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. If you do any investments, you
know that you're supposed to have a portfolio that has some
conservative investments that are safe and maybe some others
that are a little bit higher risk that you could make more
money on those. But you have it in different
spots kind of to protect you. If one goes bad, you still got
the other one. And so you're deemed wise to have a real wide
portfolio of different things. But our Lord says, no, there's
only one place to put your trust. one place, me only. And beloved, if I believe in
works, salvation in any way dependent upon me, it is a failure to commit
to Him. You use everything. Make me a
cave first. And in doing that, you're going
to find this little cruise of oil is going to be inexhaustible.
And this little barrel of meal is going to be inexhaustible.
Now, don't let anything come before him. He is first. He's first in all things. He's
first in my election. I love to think about this. God
didn't elect me and didn't give me to Christ. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then gave us to him, our living head. He comes first in
justification. He justified me. He gave me his
righteousness. It wasn't me doing anything.
He comes first. He comes first in my redemption. He redeemed
me. I didn't have anything to do
with that. I didn't even ask him to do it. He did it. He by
himself purged our sins. He comes first in my regeneration.
I didn't believe and then he gave me life. He gave me life. I believed. He comes first. He comes first in my faith. He
gave me the faith. He comes first in my repentance.
He gave me the repentance. Me first. In everything that
he might get all the glory. You know, even I receiving him.
That's the most. A man can receive nothing. Except
it be given him from above. Him first. With regard. To every decision we make. Him first, and this is liberating. It's liberating. With regard to any decision I
make. It really doesn't matter whether
you agree with it or not. And with any decision you make,
it doesn't really matter whether I agree with it or not. Here's
what matters. Him first. Him first. Am I seeking His will? His approval? His glory? His honor? Obedience to Him? First, I can't think but help
but think about that pearl of great price. A fellow was out
looking for pearls and he found the one pearl of great price. And he went with joy and sold
everything he had to have that one pearl. Now, there was a barrel
of meal. That word meal means that which
is ground. That which is crushed. That barrel
of meal represents the work of Christ for me. He was crushed under the wrath
of God. Why? Because my sin became his
sin. And God's wrath came down upon
him because of my sin crushed him. That's my food. That's all
I can live on. The fact that my sin became his
sin. He took it away. He bore it. He put it away. And now I have
no sin. I live off that. Do you? That's
what I live off of. What about the oil? The oil is
God the Holy Spirit. It's the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The meal is Christ's work for you. The oil is Christ's work
In you, the oil of the spirit of God, the oil and the spirit
of his grace, the work of Christ for you and the work of Christ
in you. And we're given this promise,
this promise. Me first, me first, you give your cake first to me
and this meal and oil is not going to cease. It's not going
to fail ever. Here we have the sufficiency
of grace. It will not waste. It will not
fail. And every day she would go to
it and there would be nothing. This is interesting. This only
happened a year. She had that many days means
a full year, 365 days. Now, the Lord could have made
it to where she had 365 days worth of food in her house. He
could have done that. And she could go, well, I got
food for tomorrow. Don't need to worry about it. I've already got it.
But, you know, the Lord made it So every day she'd use it
up. Every day, there'd be nothing
left. And she was made to trust him
for it to happen tomorrow. That's faith. Faith is always
in the present. It wouldn't have been good for
her to have this big stock of meal and oil, but nothing to
worry about. No, the Lord made it to where it would be empty.
And every day that miracle would take place again. There would
be the meal. there would be the oil. Verse 15. 1 Kings 17. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house
did eat many days a full year. Now, she did what he said to
do. And there's one reason why she did what he said to do. She
believed what he said. Now, here's faith. Here's faith
with no evidence that it would take place except the word of
God. That's all she had. She hadn't seen the oil or the
meal multiply yet. But with the only evidence she
had that God said it would take place, this prophet, she went
and she gave everything she had to make that cake and. Make the
prophet take first, believing that she would be supplied. And she returned and
continually found that barrel inexhaustible and that oil overflowing. You see, it's only when there
was nothing left that she was able to trust what he said would
be true. Only when there was nothing left. Him first puts everything in
perspective, doesn't it? Him first, me first, me first. I thought of several scriptures.
The Lord said, follow me. And the man's reply was, suffer
me first to go and bury my father. He said, you let the dead bury
their dead. You go and preach the kingdom
of God. Here's another scripture I thought of. Matthew 5, 24.
If you bring your gift to the altar and there rememberest that
thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before
the altar and go thy way first. Be reconciled to your brother.
And then come and offer thy gift. You see, him first puts everything
in its proper perspective, doesn't it? And then I thought about
where the Lord said regarding judging, judge not that you be
not judged. And don't say to your brother,
let me get that splinter out of your eye. Hypocrite. First, get the beam out of your
own eye. Then you'll be able to see clearly
to help out your brother. First. Seek ye first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. I think of that parable the Lord
gave, and I hope this is in my heart and my mind with regard
to everything. He said, When you are invited
to a feast, take thee Lois, What does me first say? I want the
highest seat. I want the recognition. I want
to be honored. Lord said, don't think that way. Don't take the highest seat.
That's me first. No, him first. You take the lowest
seat. And it's only in taking the lowest
seat that you're brought up. The way up in the kingdom of
heaven is what direction? Down. all the time. Me first. Now may the Lord give
us the grace to do just like this widow woman did. Elijah
said, Me first, which is really God saying, Me first. Let's pray.