We're looking this evening at
1 Kings 17. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 16. Verse 16 of chapter 17. Verse
16, and the barrel of meal wasted not, was never exhausted, never
exhausted. Neither did the cruise of oil
fail, it just kept producing oil and oil and oil. And all
this, here's the title and the subject, According to the Word
of the Lord. According to the Word of the
Lord, which he spake by this man known as Elijah." Lord, the
Lord is Jehovah. The Lord God is Jehovah. According
to the Word of the Lord, all blessings we enjoy, think of
it now, all blessings we enjoy, physical blessings, spiritual
blessings especially, God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. All blessings we enjoy,
both natural and spiritual, are according to the Word of the
Lord. According to the Word of the
Lord. All the salvation that we have, According to the word
of the Lord and the word of the Lord is his decree his decree
Every ounce of mercy that we've experienced is according to the
word of the Lord every drop of love that flows from the throne
of God Almighty unto us is according to the Word of the Lord. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God. Every element and trace of grace
that we enjoy, that we have experienced, saving grace, sovereign grace,
fetching grace, electing grace, redeeming grace, is all according
to the Word of the Lord, isn't it? According to His rich mercy. Hold your place here and find
a familiar scripture. It's one of my favorite, especially
in the book of Philippians. Turn to Philippians chapter 4.
Philippians chapter 4. According. According. God blesses
us according to His abundance of His grace. But my God, Philippians
4, 19. My God, the true and living God,
the Almighty God, My God shall supply all your need according
to His riches, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The barrel of His grace, mercy,
and love can never be exhausted. can never run dry. He blesses us according to the
richness of His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Long ago,
someone said, when the Roman Empire flourished, someone said,
and you've all heard this statement, all roads lead to Rome. And it did in that day. It was
the center of the culture in that day. Those who study the
scripture with a desire to know the only true and living God,
Jesus Christ, whom he sent, will do well to learn this lesson
first. In the scriptures, all roads
lead to the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember he told those Jews,
you are they which search the scriptures, but they are they
which testify of me. They all lead to Christ, they
all speak of His person, His glory, His redemptive glory,
His redemptive work. To Him give all the prophets
witness. From Genesis to Malachi, the
Old Testament scriptures declare, The Messiah is coming. Someone
is coming. The Christ of God is coming.
The gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John declare, behold,
He's here. Behold the Lamb of God who has
come to take away our sin. And all the epistles declare
unto us salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
for us and that He's coming again. He's coming again. As a matter
of fact, the revelation said, Behold, He cometh. And that means
He's on His way. He's coming again. Now last week,
we considered the first seven verses of 1 Kings 17 and learned
how God, in a most unusual way, provided for His prophet Elijah
by commanding the ravens to give up their food and to feed the
prophet of God. Look at verse four, and it shall
be that thou shall drink of the brook. I have commanded the ravens
there I've commanded them. That is, all creatures of the
earth are under His rule. He controls them. He controls
all things. He's the sovereign God over all
things. So he went, that is, Elijah did
according to the word of the Lord. He went forth and dwelt
by this brook Kirith. And the ravens brought him bread
and flesh in the morning, bread and flesh in the evening, and
he drank of the brook. He had everything he needed.
God supplied his every need according to his riches in glory. And then we studied about after
a while, the brook dried up because there was no rain. The brook
dried up and the Lord moved his prophet to a most unusual town
in Zidon, a town that's called here Zarephath or Sarepta as
we read in Luke chapter 4. This town was the hometown of
a notorious woman. Her name was Jezebel. This was her hometown. You remember
back in chapter 16 verse 31? It came to pass, this is Ahab's
queen, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the
sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. that he took to wife Jezebel,
the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidonians, and went and served
Baal and worshipped him. Jezebel was from the exact same
city that God told Elijah to go down to Zidon and dwell there. He didn't say, oh, wait a minute
now. Those folks down there don't believe the gospel. They don't
worship the true and living God. The place is run over with prophets
of Baal. They hate you and they hate God's
servant. Go down there to Zarephath. Arise, get thee, verse 9, to
Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon. Dwell there. Behold, I've commanded
a widow woman there to take care of you. It was, this town was
the place, hometown of Jezebel. It was a place of idolatry where
the religion of Baal prospered. I mean, they prospered. But Elijah
was told there to go there and to meet a poor, desperate widow
a Gentile dog who would care for him. Now see, the Lord used
those ravens. They were, according to the law,
they were unclean birds. The Lord didn't use a dove. He sent a raven. And the Lord
sent Elijah not to Jerusalem to find the best of the best,
his elect among the Israelites. He sent him to this notorious,
idolatrous city, to a widow woman, a Gentile dog, who would care
for him and sustain him. We read earlier in Luke chapter
4, when the Lord there in Nazareth, in his home city, the Lord plainly
declared the sovereign mercy to unworthy Gentile sinners,
the religious Pharisees stirred up the whole assembly, to wrath
and anger so much so that they drug the Lord Jesus Christ out
of the synagogue, out of the city and took him to a steep
place and would cast him off the hill to end his life and
to end his ministry. Why'd they get so angry? They hated God who is sovereign. That's why they got so angry.
when he plainly told them that God will have mercy on whom he
will. Elijah was sent to a Gentile
dog, and then he said, Elisha was sent, and God sent Naaman
to this prophet to be healed of leprosy. And they got so angry,
got so mad. You say, well, men are different
today. No, they're not. No, they're not. The sinful minds
of depraved men still hate salvation by the sovereign mercy of God."
They say, well, that's not fair. When you tell someone God will
have mercy on whom He will. I've had this said to me more
than one time. Well, that's not right. That's
not fair. Well, who are you to decide what's right? See, I'm
not the judge of all the earth to do right. Whatever He does
is right. You see, salvation is not by chance. They say, well,
everybody has a chance. It's salvation not by chance,
it's by grace. Men are no different today, are
they? The sinful-minded, afraid men still hate salvation by the
sovereign mercy of God. They insist upon salvation by
their merit, by their works, and yet they have the brazenness
to call that, they call that grace. But when you really pin
them down and get right down to it, it's merited mercy or
merited grace. It's not sovereign grace at all. They insist upon merit rather
than mercy. But what does the word of God
say? Let's read this one more time, Titus chapter three. Turn
over there, Titus chapter three. Titus chapter 3. I quote this
probably every time I preach. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done but according to his mercy. Titus 3. Look at verse 4. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of
righteousness which we have done. If you read the preceding verses
We ourselves are also foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts, pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating
one another, but after the love of God appeared. That just destroys
any kind of merited mercy, doesn't it? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That
being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. It's not by works, it's by His
grace, by His mercy. Now again, I want us to glean
some gospel thought from this story, the story of the prophet
most interesting and the widow woman. You know, her name is
not even given. Sometimes the Lord names His elect, Ruth, Hannah,
the lady Rahab, the harlot. But here, she's just a widow
woman. Her name's not given, but we
can be assured the Lord knew her and ordained her unto eternal
life in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Elijah was sent to
meet her. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed the gospel. This poor woman, desperate, her
case was desperate. She was fixing her last meal
and getting ready to lay down with her son and die. This poor woman, a Gentile dog,
a sinner, was one of God's elect living in a place of idolatry. But the Lord had his eye upon
her from all eternity. The Lord had loved this poor
woman with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness, He's
going to draw her to Himself. You see, the foundation of God
standing sure, having His seal, the Lord knoweth them that are
His. The Lord knows His people. Now,
if you'll turn over here, there's another, this is interesting,
find Matthew 15. Matthew 15. The Lord Jesus Christ in His
earthly ministry among sinners, in Matthew 15 verse 21, the Lord
Himself went to this same city and found another Gentile dog
and called her to Christ in saving faith. Matthew 15, 21, Then Jesus
went, thence, and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon,
same place, same area. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. Like that woman, The
true and living God. Thou son of David, my daughter
is grievously vexed with the devil. And he answered her not
a word. And his disciples came and besought
him, saying, Send her away, for she cries after us. But he answered
and said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Then she came, then came she,
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, Lord, help me. But he answered
and said, it's not meat, right, to take the children's bread
and cast it to dogs. She said, you're right. Truth,
Lord. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from the master's table. She said, I'm your dog. I'm a
Gentile dog, you're right, but I'm your dog. Then the Lord answered
and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. O woman, great is thy faith. Where'd she get that thing? It's
a gift of God, wasn't it? A gift of God. The Lord our God
will cross the path of his elect with the word of truth, with
the gospel somehow, some way, wherever they are and call his
people to himself and give them saving faith. It pleased the
Lord through the preaching of the gospel to call out his people.
Our Lord said, my sheep, hear my voice, I know them and they
follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never
perish. Much like when Peter was sent
down to Caesarea to the house of a Roman centurion named Cornelius,
Before Cornelius ever got there, the Lord God was already working
on Cornelius, wasn't he? And when Peter got to the door,
you remember what he said? We're all here to hear all things
commanded thee of God. Like this woman, before Elijah
ever got there, the Lord is already doing something in her and with
her. And like Philip when he was sent
to the eunuch. Philip was down in Samaria, a
great revival broke out. And the Lord took one man, Philip,
and sent him down to a desert country to meet a eunuch. Going back from Jerusalem, back
to his home country, just as lost and confused as he was.
But the Lord was doing a work of grace in his heart too, and
the Lord sent him a gospel preacher. How can I, the Ethiopian said,
except some man show me and reveal, give to me the meaning of the
scripture and teaching of the scripture. Elijah was told by
the Lord where to go and who he would meet, back to verse
9 of 1 Kings 17, and rise and get thee to Zarephath. And dwell
there, and behold, I've commanded a widow woman there to sustain
thee." So he rose and went, and when he came to the gate of the
city, well, he got lucky. By chance, he bumped into this
woman. Behold, the widow woman was there
gathering sticks. The Lord crossed their path with
one another and arranged all these things by His sovereign,
good, eternal providence of God. The Lord arranged this meeting
from all eternity and in time brought it to pass. It's no accident
that you just didn't bump into the Gospel. God sent you the
Gospel through the Gospel ministry. I've commanded a poor, destitute,
desolate woman there to sustain thee, to take care of thee, like
He commanded the ravens to feed Elijah. You see, the Lord speaks
when He speaks. He didn't suggest that the ravens
feed Elijah, nor did he suggest that the woman take care of him. The Lord speaks by command because,
well, he's the Lord. He's God. Psalm 33, turn over
there, Psalm 33. I often think of this scripture
when I think about the Lord's command. Psalm 33 verse 9, have
you got it there? For He spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord, the
decrees of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his
heart to all generations. The Lord does not change. His
decrees are eternal. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a command. when it's sent in the power of
God the Holy Spirit to His people. The gospel is not a mere invitation. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a mere invitation. He doesn't just simply invite
sinners to accept Him as their personal Savior. That's not in
the Word of God. I had an interesting conversation
with some of my friends across the street here on Monday morning.
I took that impact hammer back that I had borrowed, and the
men were out there getting ready for the day's work. And I don't
know how this come up. It's just by the good providence
of the Lord. One of them said to me, he said,
well, he said, preacher, he said, have you heard about that revival
going on over in Williamson? And I said, well, yeah, I've
heard a little bit about it. And he said, what do you think?
I said, well, for the most part, all they're doing is getting
folks to come forward and make a decision. I said, that's not
salvation. He said, well, what about Billy
Graham? Wasn't he a true prophet? I said, absolutely not. He's
a phony. Wow. The Lord gave me about 10 minutes
to give them the gospel. And I told them three lies that
they're telling over there. They're telling everybody over
there that God loves everybody. They're telling everybody that
Christ died for everybody. They're telling people over there
that the Lord Jesus Christ and God Almighty is trying to save
them, but they just won't cooperate. And I said, do you know that
all three of those things are a lie? And they stood there and
listened to me. You know who they are. They stood
there and listened to me intently. Intently. They didn't argue.
And I went back over those three things and I gave them the scripture.
Gave them the scripture and preached to them. You see, when the gospel
of Christ comes to his elect, it comes as a command. This is
the work of God, the command of God, that you believe on Him. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power. God Almighty speaks with an absolute
command when He sends the gospel to His people. It just doesn't
come in word only. It comes in power. The power
of God the Holy Spirit. And His sheep are raised from
the dead. His sheep are given life. As we read there in John chapter
11, when the Lord stood before the tomb of His dead friend,
Lazarus, who had been dead four days. And the Lord didn't go
before that tomb and suggest or invite Lazarus to come forth. Lazarus was dead. And my friend,
that's the problem. Folks don't understand that we're
dead in sin, spiritually dead, and it takes a power of God to
give life. It's just not making folk come
forward and make a decision. You can make as many decisions
as you want. God's got to do something in
you by His grace and make you a new creature. You hath He quickened
who were dead. Now only the power of God can
raise a dead man. Only the power of God can give
a sinner life. It is by the will of God alone,
not the sinner's will. Men love darkness, they don't
love light. Of His own will beget he us with
the word of truth. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power. And that's the only way that
we willingly embrace Him and lovingly come to Him. They shall
be willing in the day of His power. Well, Elijah meets this
poor, desperate woman and says to her in verse 10, He arose
and went to the gate of the city. Behold, a woman was there gathering
sticks. I mean, she's about to make a
little campfire. And to bake some cornmeal with
a little bit of oil, like they do in Mexico, they have, you
remember that, them little pueblos, they have a little stove out
back with some bricks and a little plate of steel and they put that
cornmeal on there and make tortillas. They do it outside just with
some sticks and they gather it up and that's what's going on
here. He called her and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little
water and a vessel. As she was going to fetch it,
he called to her and said, ìBring me, I pray thee, a morsel of
bread.î Boy, heís awful demanding, isnít he? And she said, ìAs the
Lord thy God liveth.î I have not a cake, but a handful, a
handful, I mean just a handful, thatís all Iíve got left. ìA little oil in the crews. Behold, Iím gathering these two
sticks, that they may go and Dress it for me and my son, eat
it and die. Give me some water." Well, it
was hard to come by on that day. I mean, they're casting out the
gold. Give me the water. Silver and
gold won't do. Hard to come by on that day.
You remember the famine had been going on for over a year. No
rain, no dew. Then he said, bring me a morsel
of bread first. Crops had all dried up. Most
of the animals had probably all perished by now. She had a handful
of meal in this barrel and she was ready to eat her last meal
and she's getting fixing to die, ready to die. But notice this
carefully in verse 12. And she said, as the Lord thy
God liveth. Now she knew something of a true
and living God. How she knew this? It's only
by the sovereign mercy of God. You see, the heavens declared
the glory of God. She looked up at the heavens
and somehow God spoke to her. The heavens declared the glory
of God. The firmament showeth out His handiwork. As the Lord
thy God liveth. The old timers called this grace
that precedes grace. They called it provenient grace,
provenient grace, grace before grace. This is an amazing statement. She had some knowledge of a true
and living God. This was given and revealed to
her by the Lord. And to some measure, she was
given faith in the true and living God. That reminded me of this
story. Turn over to Joshua chapter two.
You remember Rahab the harlot? when the spies came to her house,
and she hid them up on the roof," verse 8 of Joshua 2, "'And before
they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof, and
she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you
the land.'" How did she know that? Read on. "'And that your terror is fallen
upon us, and all the habitants of the land faint, Melt away
because of you. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea when you came out of Egypt,
and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on
the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, and you utterly destroyed
as soon as we heard these things." Oh, she heard something, didn't
she? You see, faith is not born of ignorance. She heard something,
she knew something. Her hearts didn't melt, neither
did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For
the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and in the earth
beneath. Rahab was not ignorant of a true
and living God, neither was this nameless poor widow in the city
of Zidon. Now notice verse 13 and verse
14 back in our text. And Elijah said to her, she said, we're going to eat
our last meal, we're going to die. And Elijah said to her,
don't fear, don't fear, fear not. Go and do as thou hast said,
but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto
me, and after make for thee and thy son. For thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither
shall the crews of oil fail, until the Lord sends the rain
upon the earth. And she went, and she did, Now she had no guarantee other
than, thus saith the Lord. She didn't stand there saying,
now prove that to me. You just prove it to me. No, I'm going
to tell you what God said. And God gave her faith to believe
it. According to the same Goliath, she and he and her house did
eat many days. Most think about two years. And
the barrel of meal wasted not. Neither did the cruise of oil
fail according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah."
Elijah gives her the promise of the Lord. The barrel of this
meal, I take it to mean cornmeal, will never be diminished. The little bottle of oil, the
cruise oil, the olive oil, will just keep right on producing
oil. and will do so for a number of years until the Lord is pleased
to send us rain. I see in this barrel and in this
oil, this bottle of oil that does not fail and will not be
diminished, I see a type and picture of the gospel promise
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises of God in Him
are yes and in Him. Amen. And to the glory of God
by Christ Jesus. These are the exceeding great
and precious promises that we read about in the Word of God
is exceeding great and precious promises. The meal of God's grace,
the substance of His grace, the meal of His grace will never
be diminished. toward His elect, will never
fail toward His elect. The meal of His grace, and His
grace is sovereign grace, it's the only grace there is. The
meal of His grace will never be exhausted. You cannot exhaust
the grace of God. It is eternal as God Himself. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the meal. He is the meal. He is the bread
of life. Where sin abounded, grace does
much more abound. You cannot exhaust the sovereign
grace of God. We read about His grace, His
grace who saved us and called us, not according to our work,
but according to God's own purpose. And then we read about that dying
grace and the richness we have because of His substitutionary
death. For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you
through His poverty might be made rich. The meal of His grace,
the sovereignty of the grace of God will never be exhausted,
never be diminished. It's eternal grace, isn't it?
It's everlasting grace. It's electing grace. Where sin
abounded, grace does much more abound. And the oil of His Spirit That effectual Holy Spirit, the
work of God the Holy Spirit in us will never fail. I give unto them eternal life
and they'll never perish because His love faileth not. God the
Holy Spirit comforts us. God the Holy Spirit quickens
us. God the Holy Spirit reveals unto
us. God the Holy Spirit guides us
and it will never fail. It will never fail. God the Holy
Spirit has given us His Word that is rich and true and powerful. And His Word faileth not. It can't. Because the Lord Jesus
Christ, He cannot fail. The meal of His grace, sovereignty
of His grace will never be diminished. Through all of His Spirit, the
work of God the Holy Spirit will never fail toward His elect. The Lord has promised to never
leave us and never forsake us. And His mercy, the storehouse
of mercy He has toward us. You know what it says in Lamentations?
It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed because they
do not fail. They are new every morning. The storehouse of His mercy.
You can't exhaust His mercy. You can't exhaust the oil of
His love, the grace of His salvation. Can you? Not at all. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion
of the Holy Spirit as the Apostle Paul closes 2 Corinthians 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
always. Amen, he said. You see, the riches
we have in Christ, they are unsearchable riches, aren't they? God, who
is rich in mercy for his great love, for which he loved us.
His blessings unto us are called the unsearchable riches of Christ. And the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is called the unspeakable gift of God. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ the Lord. In closing, Verse 15 and 16, she heard the
word of the Lord, she went and did according to the saying of
Elijah, which was the word of God. She and he and her house
did eat many days, and the barrel of meal, it didn't waste. And
all the crews of the oil, the oil in the crews never failed
according to the word of the Lord. This poor woman, destitute,
desperate, heard the promise of God to bless her and to sustain
her and she believed God and was blessed. God worked a continuing miracle
just as the loaves and fishes were increased while the disciples
were sitting there eating. It reminded me, turn over here
to Matthew 14, I believe it is. Matthew 14, remember they just
had five loaves and, was it five loaves and two fishes? Matthew
14, see if I can find it here. Matthew 14, look at verse 15.
Matthew 14, 15. And when it was evening, his
disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place. The time
is now past. Send a multitude away, that they
may go into the village and buy themselves vittles. And Jesus
said to them, They need not depart, give them to eat. Now wait a
minute, there's 5,000 men here, not counting the women and the
children, and we have five loaves and two
fishes. It's just not going to work.
It's not going to work. I have a handful of meal. The
barrel will keep on producing because it's God's. They said
in him, we have but five loaves and two fishes. He said, bring
them here. Bring them to me. And he commanded. There's that
command again. The multitude sat down on the
grass and took the five loaves and two fishes. Looking up to
heaven, he blessed and break it and gave the loaves to his
disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they all did
all eat and were filled and took up fragments that remained twelve
baskets full. And they that had eaten were
about five thousand men besides the women and children." Who
say that's impossible? With men it is, not with God. With God, all things are possible.
Is that right? Anything too hard for the Lord? What a shining example of faith
in this woman. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Without faith, it is
impossible to please God. Like Abraham of old, she believed
God and was strong in faith, giving glory to God alone. This is the saving faith of God's
elect, is it not? They not only hear the Word,
but are blessed to believe it, and are obedient unto it. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of the Lord. Now,
I want you to find one more Scripture, and I'll close with this. Find
2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Charles Spurgeon was always asked,
to point to a verse that would describe saving faith. And this
is the verse he always pointed to when anybody asked him to
describe saving faith. First of all, we know that saving
faith is the precious gift of God, not a work which any man
should boast. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of the Lord. This is 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
12. Did I tell you 2 Timothy? Okay. For the which cause I also suffer
these things. Verse 11 says, Whereunto am I
appointed a preacher, an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles? For
which cause I also suffer these things? Nevertheless, I am not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day. Now, three things he says. Knowledge. Knowledge. I know whom I have believed. Saving faith always looks to
Christ, never looks in here. Looks to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly, confidence. I'm persuaded that He is able. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. And then the third thing is which
I've committed unto Him against that day." What part of salvation
have we committed unto the Lord Jesus Christ? All of it. That
which I've committed unto Him, everything in salvation, all
things. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent.