Address—Bill Prost
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Tell you what I'm gonna suggest.
That some other brother give out the opening hymn and I will sing it with you and quietly be before the Lord, and then we'll ask him for a message. So if some brother has a hymn on his heart, let's sing it together and then we'll see if the Lord, I'm sure he'll have a message for us 282.
Same one we sung at the end of the previous meeting.
And that's the one you gave out Date. Thank you, 282. No, Bruce David wrote it. I can't remember who David wrote. It doesn't matter anyway, 282.
Master Wayward no longer.
I'm always look on. Thou shalt give no more.
Grass dawn has deepened.
All Shore.
Let's ask the Lord's help.
Well, let's turn, please, to the Old Testament.
And what I would like to speak on is an incident in the Old Testament that isn't very long, but I have enjoyed it many times for my own soul. Second Kings chapter 4.
I think it's chapter 4.
Yes, Second Kings chapter 4.
Verse one and we're just going to read the 1St 7 verses of this chapter, Second kings four and verse one.
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elijah, saying, Thy servant, my husband is dead.
And thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditors come to take.
Unto him my two sons to be one.
And Elijah said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house?
And she said thine hand made half not anything in the house save a pot of oil.
Then he said, Go borrow the 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 shall pour out into all those vessels.
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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 up.
And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said under her son, Bring me out a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil state.
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.
Well, there's the story.
And we know that in the Word of God, as Scripture tells us, the things that were written aforetime were written for our learning.
So God doesn't put a story like this in his word just for.
General interest.
And there can be different thoughts as to this story.
What I'm going to, I trust from the Lord, bring out to you this afternoon. I have to confess to you that I didn't read anywhere, but I trust it's of the Lord and I know it's been very good to my own soul.
Here we find that this was in the time of the prophet Elijah, and you will remember that he was the successor to the prophet Elijah.
And Elijah was a man who was there to return the hearts of the children of Israel to the God of their fathers.
He was a very faithful man, an outstanding man, and in some ways you'd say no man like him because he was a man whom God chose to take directly up to the glory without going through death. Wonderful.
But now here we have his successor, Elisha. And Elisha, in contrast to Elijah, is a man of grace. A man of grace. And if Elisha perhaps represents.
The return to the law.
Eli Elijah represents the return to the law. Elisha brings before us grace and all the miracles of Elijah.
And we find the grace of God brought out here in what Elijah does. And so let's look at the situation here for a moment.
We find here a woman.
Says that the wives of the sons of the prophets, and she's in a bad way.
What do the sons of the prophets speak to us about?
Well, there can be different thoughts as to it, but if I could put it this way, I believe that in those days there were those who aspired to be prophets of the Lord, and they learned under, shall we say, senior profits. And so there were what might be called schools, schools of the prophets in those days.
Now you and I, at least not I believe, according to Scripture, don't have schools today where we learn the things of the Lord. There are Bible schools in that, but I say it kindly, not critically. But I don't believe that's really God's way, although I do admit that in many cases the Lord uses them. God, though, has a school where He teaches us.
But the sons of the prophets would speak of those who are brought up in a place of privilege.
And I'm looking largely at those who have been in a place of privilege. Most of those here have heard the Word of God. Most of those have been in assemblies where the Word of God is read and explained. And we can be very thankful for that.
But sometimes things, things don't always go well, do they? Sometimes they don't go too well. And this poor woman.
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It would seem was kind of complaining about her life.
She says in so many words to Elijah. You know.
My husband, he feared the Lord. And now look where I am. My husband is dead.
And I am in debt and now the creditor says pay up or I'm going to take your two sons to be slaves.
You know, in the land of Israel, according to the law, if you faced what we would call today personal bankruptcy, you didn't just declare bankruptcy and then that was it. No, if I could say it kindly, the law drove the point home in a rather hard way because not only were all your possessions sold, but you yourself.
Were sold too. You and your family were sold, and for a period of time, six years, you had to serve that creditor.
And then in the seventh year, you could go out free and start over again. And so it was a rather strong reminder about the seriousness of getting into death. And this woman complaints to Elisha that here are my two boys and the creditors coming. I don't have the money to pay the debt. And, and what, what, what am I going to do?
I don't mean to suggest that people here are in debt, although monetary debt, as we well know, is a big problem today and we need to be warned against it because debt is rather easy to get into today. And I say it publicly and you know it's right that it's a disgrace to a believer to do that.
Before the Lord can resent our circumstances and we can complain about them. And I have heard dear believers say, well, you know, I have been.
As it were doing my bit, I've been behaving myself. I've been trying to fear the Lord. I've been trying to do what's right, and now look at the difficulties and problems I'm in.
I had a young brother say to another young brother quite a few years ago now, referring to a difficulty in the assembly, he said, quote, the system failed me.
The system failed me.
On another occasion, I knew of a young brother who was even more explicit.
And I hesitate to repeat his words, but he said, The Lord let me down, the Lord let down.
And I have known others and I don't point the finger because.
If we're not careful, we can all think this way, but I have known others who felt in their lives and not just young people.
Who felt that they had done their best in their lives to please the Lord and then found out that things did not turn out the way they expected.
Very hard to take, sometimes very difficult, and I have no doubt that this woman was telling the truth.
Well, it's always wrong, I say to my heart, as much as to yours. I'm pointing 3 fingers back here. It's never right to feel sorry for ourselves, and if you and I are ever guilty of that luxury, let's not allow ourselves to fall into it. We never find the Lord Jesus feeling sorry for himself, nor am I ever aware that we find the Apostle Paul feeling sorry for himself.
No, it's not a luxury that we should allow ourselves to have as believers. For me is never a right attitude.
But this woman was going to, in that sense, the right source, because she was coming to Elisha, who here I believe is a type of Christ, but he could also be a type of one who with the mind of the Lord is going to be a help to someone.
What does he say?
What hast thou in the house? What have you got? What shall I do for you? What do you have?
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And her attitude was rather typical.
In some cases, she says in verse 2, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. As if, well, yeah, I've got a pot of oil, but what good is that? That's not going to do much for me. But other than that I don't have anything.
Do we sometimes act like bankrupt believers?
Do we act as if we're bankrupt spiritually as well as bankrupt in other ways? You know, it's an awful thing to feel that way. It's an awful thing to feel as if we don't have anything. And I have heard, dear believers, at least, if they don't say it too much publicly, they have talked like that. And sometimes we feel as if, well, you can remember the case of Gideon in the Old Testament.
And when the Angel came to Gideon and said, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor, what was Gideon's response?
Do you remember what he said? Gideon said. Oh, he said the Lord has forsaken us.
Hello, where are all those miracles that our fathers spoke of? Now the Midianites are in the land and look at the mess we're in.
And sometimes, you know, there is that tendency. May I say it?
And the tendency is in my heart too, to look at the condition of things in these last days, to look at the weakness and coldness within Christendom. So look at the weakness and coldness among believers, to look at our own hearts and say this is just too difficult. We don't have anything.
It's possible to look at things like that.
Save a pot of water.
Save a pot of oil.
What does oil speak of?
I don't think we have to go too far to know what oil speaks of in Scripture. It brings before us primarily the Spirit of God. Is that not so in New Testament terms? And in the Old Testament as well, oil speaks of the Spirit of God. And one thing, if I could emphasize it, and it's been mentioned in the readings, one thing that is peculiar to the dispensation in which you and I are living.
Is the presence of the Spirit of God here on earth? Do we realize the importance of that?
On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came down and indwelt every true believer.
But it did more than that. It formed them into one body. And then from Paul's ministry later on, we know that God is forming believers. As the House of God into what is Scripture calls inhabitation of God through the Spirit, so the Spirit dwells individually in every believer.
But he also dwells collectively among believers as a whole, as the House of God.
That was never true before the day of Pentecost, and it will not be true after the Lord calls us home, because the Lord says to the disciples the Spirit of truth, and he says he will abide with you for ever.
The spirit in this world today hinders the outbreak of evil that would otherwise occur. It holds it back.
But when you and I are called home at the coming of the Lord, the Spirit of God leaves with us, and then that restraining influence will be gone, and terrible distress and problems will break loose.
Now, of course, the Spirit of God will work. It'll work in a mighty way during the Tribulation and otherwise, even in the Millennium, to bring souls to Christ who hear the gospel of the Kingdom. The Spirit of God worked mightily in the Old Testament.
Worked in souls to impart new life. Worked in the Old Testament writers of the scriptures to inspire the word of God. Worked in those who were given to prophecy and give out the word of God.
But he never indwelt anyone permanently in the Old Testament. He didn't dwell on earth among believers as the House of God. Nor will he do so after you and I are called home.
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You and I live in a unique time.
Do we sometimes treat the Spirit of God? Oh, well, we yeah, we have this pot of oil, but that's all we've got. Do we realize the significance of that?
It's not our purpose this afternoon to go into all of the ways in which the Scripture speaks of the Spirit of God and His function during the time of God's grace.
But what we want to speak about is here that this woman thought she had nothing save a pot of oil, and Elisha takes her up on that ground, and he is going to give this woman a tremendous lesson in type which I trust you and I can observe and enjoy and take to heart this afternoon.
Not out, she was thinking, as we are sometimes apartment to do. I don't have anything.
If she, if we could put it in simple terms, this woman was saying life is not fair. Have we ever thought that as believers?
Maybe. And maybe if we haven't said it out loud, we've thought it in our hearts. Life is not fair.
Well, the man of God, he gives her a rather an A rather unusual command.
Verse three. What does he say? Go borrow the vessels abroad of where all thy neighbors.
Even at the vessels.
Borrow not a few.
You know, it brings before us, I believe in type what you and I had before us, at least in part in the last meeting.
And I emphasize that there is a tremendous danger among believers today.
To focus on ourselves and without wanting to be critical, many of the songs that are current among believers today focus on what the Lord is doing for us. I'm not being critical because the Lord does much for us.
But if we're not careful, our thoughts turn inward, turn inward, turn inward, and.
There is a danger of thinking about ourselves, what the Lord is doing for us, our experiences, even good ones. And if we're occupied with those, inevitably we become occupied with self.
And that's never right.
Someone has said.
Whether I am occupied with myself in a positive way, or whether I am occupied myself with myself in a negative way, Satan doesn't matter or doesn't care as long as I'm occupied with self in some way, shape or form. And the great thing in Scripture is not to be occupied with self either positively or negatively, but rather not to be occupied with self at all.
And if the Spirit of God occupies me with self, it's only to judge what is not according to God, and then to go on and to have my heart turned toward Christ. And when my heart is turned toward Christ, we will find in type what Elijah was saying to this woman, because immediately he turns her thoughts away from herself. And where To her neighbors. Neighbors.
She was saying Elisha I need help.
The Lord's going or not the Lord, but the creditors going to take my sons for bondsman. Help me, what am I going to do?
And the Lord immediately turns your thoughts out to her neighbors. Go and borrow vessels up. And you know what's interesting? That the Lord, through Elijah, doesn't say how many, but he just say, don't just get a few. Don't borrow just a few.
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We're living in the last days.
And on the one hand, it is a mistake. I believe this needs to be emphasized for you and me to expect to turn the clock back to the days of Pentecost and recreate the power and blessing of the early church.
In fact, I believe it would be a mistake to try and turn the clock back even 50 or 100 years.
Some of us have almost felt like that once or twice in our lives, if I can speak of it. I remember the first time I went to Romania, right after the communist government had been overthrown, and I felt as if the clock had been turned back over 100 years. Because you could open a hall and announce a gospel meeting and have it absolutely jammed with people, and you could go down the street and hand out gospel tracks and you couldn't hand out enough.
And if people knew you had a Bible, they'd come running down the street and grab you by the arm and want one.
But that's rare, and it didn't last. It didn't last.
We thank God for that, but the point is, we're living in the last days. On the other hand, it's not a day to be discouraged. Yes, it is not a day to expect to turn back the clock. We need to remember that we're in the last days. We're in days when the church is ruined.
But at the same time, I believe with all my heart that there's no limit to the blessing God can give as long as we recognize where we are.
A brother again, many years ago, said these words. This isn't word for word, but it's close. He said in these last days, wherever there is an attempt to set up and display the power and the unity among Christians, there will always be nothing but a mess and a failure. God will not take that place with us. In order to have His strength, we must be in the place of his mind, and that is in the recognition of the failure of the Church.
But then in so many words he went on to say, But once there is a recognition of where we are, there can be no limit to the blessing that God can give.
I believe that's what the Lord was saying here. Israel was in a bad way, Elisha prophesied. Among the 10 tribes, there was departure from the Lord.
But there could still be real blessing, and there can be in your life and mine.
Borrow those vessels where from thy neighbors.
Oh, why? Because they were empty. The neighbors didn't even have the pot of oil. They had nothing but empty vessels.
Eliza says you borrow their empty vessels from them.
Do we recognize, brethren, our neighbors have empty vessels? Who is my neighbor? The Pharisees and lawyers said to the Lord Jesus in the New Testament.
A neighbor was a man who fell among thieves. The neighbor may be the man next door. The neighbor may be the person I work with. The neighbor may be someone in another country. It doesn't matter. He's an empty vessel and he needs something that we have. This woman had the pot of oil. The Lord says through Elisha, go borrow those vessels and don't think small. Don't think small.
Borrow not a few, but no number given.
Verse four And when thou art come in.
Thou shall shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shall pour out into all those vessels.
And thou shalt set aside that which is full.
I suggest a thought on this. You can decide for yourself if it commends itself.
There is a need on the one hand to reach out to others.
But equally true, there is a need to be alone in the Lord's presence.
This woman and this is a type, remember, keep that in mind. This woman in type was feeling sorry for herself. This woman was saying life isn't fair. My husband feared the Lord. Now he's dead and I'm in trouble.
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In tape she has to get inside closed doors.
Before there can be blessing.
She had that pot of oil, but before she can fill those empty vessels that she had collected, however many she might have taken from the neighbors.
There had to be.
They're getting a loan in her home with her sons before the Lord, and that's a very necessary thing we find in the life of the Lord Jesus. During the day he was out preaching and teaching. During the night he went out to the Mount of Olives to be alone with his Father.
And there's a need to be alone with the Lord. And I say to each one here this afternoon, never neglect. And it was emphasized this morning, the reading of God's Word and personal prayer. Do it as a family. Wonderful. That's what this woman did. But do it personally too, and let the Word of God speak to you.
She had to do it behind closed doors.
And she poured out into all those vessels. What was the result? That little pot of oil that she considered to be so insignificant and not worth much. What happens? She starts pouring and pouring and pouring and the oil kept uncomfortable. Isn't that beautiful?
You know, the Lord doesn't give us a sense of all that he's going to do.
Right away.
We had this morning before us the precious truth, and also this afternoon that God has given every believer a gift, and He has also given you the Spirit of God, which is the power to use it according to the mind of the Lord.
But He doesn't tell you the whole picture right away. We like to have it all laid out for us. But in the Christian life, very often we have to do what the world sometimes says. And that's a good thing to remember in spiritual things. Do the next thing. Do the next thing. Do something that's right in front of you. Do you want to do something for the Lord? Do something that's right in front of you. It may be that as time goes on, God will enlarge your sphere.
But even if he doesn't, it doesn't matter.
God. God is a God of quality, not quantity. God loves quantity and that's why he told this woman.
Don't borrow just a few vessels.
But you remember John the Baptist.
A young man. How old was he when Herod beheaded him?
31 Maybe something like that, not very old. And yet when the Lord Jesus speaks of him, he puts him right up there with all those great men of the Old Testament who perhaps lived and served the Lord, lived for and served the Lord, in some cases for many, many years, in some cases even hundreds of years.
But he says of them that are born of women, there have not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Why?
Because he was where the Lord wanted him, and he did what the Lord wanted him to do, and they paid the highest commendation to him when they said John did. No miracle.
But all things that John spake of this man were true. Isn't that beautiful?
Every time they came to John the Baptist and questioned them about anything, what did he do?
He, as it were, took the spotlight rate off himself and shot it onto Christ and said there's the one you need to look at, There's the one you need to be occupied with. Don't look at me. Don't ask me whether I'm Elias or whether I'm this or that or the other thing, and don't start questioning me why I'm baptizing in that. That's not relevant. There's the one you wanna look at. That's the one I wanna talk about.
And he did it, and he only did it for a short time.
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But the Lord gives him full credit.
For doing what was necessary because he did what the Lord wanted him to do. And so I believe it is with you and me in these last days. Do you start off just with a pot of oil? Never mind. As you begin to pour out of that pot of oil, you'll find that more and more and more and more will come, whether it's in a small sphere, out of sight of everyone, as it is with this woman here.
Or whether it's something in the public eye that isn't critical.
And that's the way it works in the body.
As most of you know, I practice medicine for many years and I trust I had some understanding of the human body. And there are others in this audience who are in health care and they understand too, and there are parts of the body that are very important.
And there are parts that are lesser important and there are parts that are seen publicly. I'm glad for my right arm and I use it a lot, and I would miss it terribly if I lost it, but I could live without it.
You can't see my liver and.
I'm not gonna show it to you, but if you took it away from me.
That wouldn't work, would it, Bruce? I wouldn't live very long, would I? No more essential than my arm, even though you can't see it.
What my liver does is behind the scenes, but most essential. And so it is with many things in the body of Christ.
The Spirit of God is there to give you the power to do whatever the Lord would have you do. So what happens here? Our time is going. Verse 5. So she went from him and shut the door upon her, upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.
Verse 6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her, Son, Bring me out a vessel.
And he said unto her, There is not a vessel morph, and the oil state.
Now here we find something that I believe on the one hand shows us how the Lord works in our lives, but it's also a lesson to us.
Turn to a verse in John 3.
John's Gospel, chapter 3.
John's Gospel, chapter 3.
1 moment here.
Sure. And verse 34, John 3 and 34.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. And I'm going to read the next clause as it is in the Darby translation.
For God give us not the Spirit by measure, period.
God giveth not the Spirit by measure.
That strikes a death blow if I can say it kindly. Just as an aside to those who say that you get part of the Spirit and later on you can get more of the Spirit of God. God giveth not the Spirit by measure. He doesn't do it that way. Once I am saved, I can never have more than the more of the Spirit of God than I have at the time.
But I do trust that as we go on in our Christian lives and walk with the Lord.
That if we could put it this way, the Spirit of God has more of us. And that's what it means to be filled with the Spirit. I can't have more of the Spirit than I have when I'm, uh, I'm sealed, anointed, whatever you want to call it by the Spirit when I'm saved and dwelt with the Spirit, but the Spirit of God can have more of me.
And the work that I do for the Lord in my life is dependent upon what we had before us this morning, the measure of faith that I have now. The Lord gives faith as a gift, but our faith can be increased. How many vessels did this woman get from her neighbors? As many as she had faith to go and get.
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And it doesn't say how many she was supposed to get. It just says not a few. And it doesn't say how many she did get. But the point is whatever she did get.
The pot of oil kept filling more and more and more. But then she says to one of her sons, bring me another one.
And the Sun says, well, there aren't any more. There are no more vessels.
In the oil state.
God giveth not the Spirit by measure. We measure it sometimes by the lack of faith in our souls, and we might say that every type falls short because.
There is always a measure to everything that we do.
Turn over to John's gospel again for a moment.
John's Gospel.
Chapter 21.
And verse 25.
Here is the result of one who was not bound by measure.
The last verse of John's Gospel. John 21, verse 25.
And there are also many other things which Jesus did the which they should be written everyone I suppose.
That even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
The power of the Spirit of God exhibited in the blessed Lord Jesus.
With no hindrance resulted in so much.
Can you imagine writing books to the extent that even the world couldn't contain those books?
I understand.
That there are some libraries in the world, such as.
For one, the library at the.
For university in England.
Tries to get a copy of every new book that is printed.
That's a job, isn't it?
Because I think in the United Kingdom itself there are probably 80,000 new books come into print every year, and maybe 50,000 in the United States.
Just to mention two countries that produce a lot of new books and if you included the whole world there would be thousands more.
But the library at one of those universities does not even begin to occupy much of the world, does it?
The work of the Spirit of God in the Lord Jesus.
Was infinite.
In your life and mine, we're bounded, bounded by what we are in ourselves. And as we said this morning, or rather this afternoon, and it bears repeating, there was only one who at the end of his life could say, I have finished the work which thou gave me to do.
None of us will be able to say that.
We can say, I hope with the Apostle Paul, I hope we could say it. I have thought it should read the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. That's as much, I believe as any believer could say.
But when they brought her the last vessel to that woman and she asked for another one, the oil stayed. And so the Spirit of God will continue to work in this world until the work of the Lord is finished. And he'll see that it's finished. Even if you and I don't complete what He gives us to do, the Lord is able to finish His own work.
Well, no, it happens verse 7.
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.
Sell the oil.
Here were all those containers full, but for whom was that oil? Oh, I say it again. It was for the blessing of all of those neighbors and all of those others. Oh, you say that she was going to sell it.
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Well, we have to take that word cell in its right context.
Turn to Isaiah 55 and there we see a verse that, to me anyway, explains in type what we have here.
I say in type because this verse that we're going to read in Isaiah 55.
It really is for Israel in the coming day, although we can apply it to ourselves. It's really the call, shall we say, to the 10 tribes when they come back into blessing in the coming day. Come, there's blessing here. Come and get it. But notice the language in Isaiah 55 and one.
Oh, come everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye. It says, buy and eat. Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
So anyone here ever tried to go and buy something without any money?
Doesn't work, does it? Not in this world's commerce anyway. Now I don't mean with a piece of plastic in your hand. I'm talking about not having anything. You don't get it for nothing, do you? But the Lord says come and buy without money. I believe there are two thoughts here. On the one hand, the gifts that God gives are not in that sense able to be bought. But on the other hand, there is a cost.
To you and to me to enjoy the things of the Lord. And if we are going to enjoy the things of Christ, there is a cost. There's no cost to salvation for the unbeliever, but there is a cost in the sense that he finds himself suddenly at odds with the world in which he lives. As someone has said, salvation is free. But then the believer finds that discipleship is costly. And you and I are going to find that if we want to enjoy the things of Christ.
There's a price tag for them, not only in the opposition from the outside world, but because God rewards diligence. Diligence.
Why does a parent a wise parent? If his son comes and says, Dad, I'd like a new bike, why does he often say, OK, son, I want you to work, I want you to get a job, and if you raise half the money, I'll put up the other half. Why does he do that?
Because he knows that the boy, or the girl in some cases, will value that much more if he or she has to put a little effort into it. Isn't that true? We value more what we have had to work for, and it's true of spiritual things. God rewards diligence. And I can still remember reading about a brother whose name at least is legendary in eastern Ontario, James B Dunlop.
Buried up on the Scotch line just outside of Perth. Serve the Lord for many years, long before the time of anyone here and.
What got him going when he was a young man was that verse in Proverbs. The soul of the diligent shall be made back, he said. If I want to have the things of the Lord, God will reward diligence. And so here this woman is going to.
Sell all of that oil. She's going to sell all of that oil. There's going to be untold blessing to others. He turned that woman's eyes out.
And I say to you and to me, what we need in these last days is not to have our thoughts turned inward on ourselves, either individually or collectively. Don't, Don't let that poor ME syndrome ever take hold of yourself.
Don't start moaning and groaning.
About the assemblies getting smaller in all this, Now don't get me wrong. Shed tears over it, yes. Be burdened about it, yes. Get on your knees and cry to the Lord, yes. But having a pity party with your brethren about it, no.
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We never find that in the Word of God. If you read the whole book of Second Timothy, which is written when things were breaking up and when Paul could have been a thoroughly defeated and discouraged man, is he burdened about the whole thing? I'm sure he is.
He has to say all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. He has to warn Timothy about things. But there is not a word of discouragement in the whole book. Not one word of discouragement. Oh no, he says, Timothy, you go on and hold on to those things.
And God will reward faithfulness in a day of ruin. Shall we say it even more than He'll reward faithfulness when things are going on well?
Because it's easy to jump on the bandwagon when everything's going well. It's easy to be part of an expanding work that's going on.
Much harder to stand alone or with a few when it's not happening.
And what happens when she sells all these vessels of oil?
Live thou and thy children of the rest. Ah, no more need for the boys to go into slavery. No more need for the poor bankrupt woman to have to say, oh, what am I going to do for my boys?
I hear parents gathered to the Lord's name worried about their children.
And in some cases, and I don't want to point the finger, I don't want to point the finger. I'm not doing that. But let's be, let's be honest about it. We hear them say I have to go somewhere where they get more fellowship. I have to go somewhere even if it's not where the word of God is fully honored, even if it's unscriptural. I have to go somewhere to have more for my children.
If you think about that, remember Samuel.
I wonder how many young people Samuel had to encourage him when he was growing up. I remember. I wonder how many children Samuel had in the temple there with Eli to encourage him not.
Too many Diddy. I don't think so, but the point is he was where the Lord had put him and the Lord blessed him because his mother had faith. Now I'm not saying everything is going to be smooth sailing and anyone that knows anything about me knows that it hasn't been smooth sailing for some of us either. But the point is let's look outward. Let's look to the Lord to be used in blessing and we'll find.
We'll find that the Lord will look after us. He'll be as good as His word. Now, I'm not saying that every time that we do that, that our children automatically are going to do everything we hope they would do. It doesn't always work that way, and that's another question that we don't have time to take up this afternoon. But there's plenty here, not only for her, but for her children to have of the rest.
And if you and I are occupied with Christ's interest in this world, we won't lack for food for our souls. We won't lack for blessing for ourselves and our families. God will see to it that He will encourage us in His way.
Let's sing another hymn in closing.
This again is a favorite hymn of mine, 312.
312.
Lead Almighty Lord, lead on to victory and.
Encouraged by thy blessed word, with joy we follow thee, 312.
00:55:05
MMM.
Bring.
Along.
In the Grove.
Blessed God.