A Sermon.
(No. 817)
Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, June 21, 1868,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
at the [27]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get you to
Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have
commanded a widow woman there to sustain you." 1 Kings 17:8,9.
THE Prophets taught as much by their doings as by their sayings–they
were as truly prophesying to the people by the miracles which they
worked, as by the messages which they delivered. There was oftentimes a
symbolic meaning in their actions, in fact, they were constantly
teaching the people by outward symbols, which, alas, those people were
usually of too dull an understanding to interpret, but which,
nevertheless, were a sign unto them. In the case of Elijah, a Prophet
of laconic speech who said but little, but said that with a voice of
thunder, I do not doubt that the narratives connected with his life are
meant to be to us a kind of acted prophesying, full of richest meaning.
Let us see what we can gather, this morning, from the inexhaustible
barrel and unfailing cruse of the widow of Sarepta. I know not how it
is that I feel bound in spirit to preach upon this incident this
morning, but this widow seems to have followed me for the last two or
three days with all the importunity of the widow in the parable who
would take no denial! And I trust that there may be some here for whom
I bear, under sacred constraint, a message from the Lord. Grant it so,
blessed Spirit, and we will praise Your name!
I. Our first observation will be, this morning, that the case of this
woman of Sarepta is an instance of DIVINE ELECTION. We are not now
inventing anything of our own. We have the warrant of the great Apostle
and High Priest of our profession for this assertion, for when He went
to Nazareth and opened the Book and preached, did He not Himself say,
"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; but unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta,
a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow"?
Election passed over all the poor widows of Israel who might have been
expected, as belonging to God's Covenant people, to be first provided
for in the day of scant, and it lighted in sovereignty upon a heathen,
a woman living in a country which had been accursed of God and given
over before to the sword of the seed of Jacob. Election, I say, passed
over all the likeliest ones and pitched upon her who seemed to be
beyond the verge of hope–ordaining in mercy that she, entertaining the
Prophet, should be saved thereby. Surely, Brothers and Sisters, we have
here an instance of the sovereignty of electing love!
If Divine Grace must go to Sidon for its object, why must it select a
widow? She seemed to be the least likely person to answer the design of
the decree, namely, the sustenance of the Prophet. Were there not
princes in Sidon with secret stores of food? Were there not merchants
who had passed over the salt sea and knew where grain was to be found?
Were there not men of understanding who could, by their conversation,
cheer the Prophet's lonely hours? No, but though they be great or wise,
or wealthy, God bids His chariot downward to roll away from the lofty
towers of nobles to the humble cottage of the poorest in all Sidonia's
dominions–and a poor widow woman becomes the object of special Grace!
Here is an illustrious instance of distinguishing Grace, yet not such a
striking one as mine, nor such a remarkable case as yours to you. I
seem as if I can understand God's having chosen you, but I shall never
cease to wonder that He has elected me–
"How many hearts You might have had
More innocent than mine!
How many souls more worthy far
Of that pure touch of Yours!
Ah, Grace! Into unlikeliest hearts
It is Your choice to come;
The glory of Your light to find
In darkest spots a home."
The choice is in every case made by the supreme will of Jehovah, and is
not ordered according to the will of man nor the will of the flesh, nor
blood, nor birth. It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs,
but He who rules all things according to His own good pleasure. He
gives as He wills and withholds as He pleases, and who shall say unto
Him, "What are You doing?"
At the same time it was a most just choice. I have never heard anyone
complain that this widow of Sarepta was thus preserved in famine. And
who could complain? For if the whole people had been all subject to the
same pinching need they all deserved it–and if God's special bounty in
a single case turned aside the evil by His own remarkable power, shall
not the Lord do as He wills with His own? Is our eye evil because His
eye is good? So also in the realm of Divine Grace–none of us have any
right to God's mercy–if you think you have, go plead your rights and
God will give them to you. God shall treat no man worse than he
deserves, but, indeed, infinitely better! "He has not dealt with us
after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."
But what if He chooses to give to some His special and abounding Grace?
Men may quibble if they will, but the only answer God will give them is
this, "No but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the
thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?"
But, Beloved, although God condescends not to explain His modes of
action, nor to prove His own justice–for who is He that He should
stand at our bar, and should speak for Himself, and explain His
actions?–yet is He always just. Who are we, the ephemera of an hour,
that we should arraign the Infinite, the Eternal One, from whose hands
we spring? He will do as He pleases.
Yet for all this, His Throne is settled in judgment and His scepter
rules according to righteousness and truth! And in the daylight of
eternity we shall all of us admiringly discern that sovereignty was
never dissociated from justice, and that when God did absolutely as He
willed, He always willed to do the thing which was upright and just.
The choice was as just as it was sovereign. But what a blessed choice
it was for her! She saw her neighbors famishing–all over the land the
people felt the bitter pangs of starvation–but in her house there was
no need, for bread and oil abounded!
This was no luxury, but was similar to bread and butter among us, for
the Easterns use the oil as we use butter. There was just plain food
enough to support, but not enough to gratify delicate tastes. The
Prophet had lived upon better fare before, when he had meat twice a
day, but now he must do without it altogether. The Prophet's Master
would not have the Prophet be dainty about such things. This woman had
enough–meal and oil were, to her, right royal dainties– when there
was famine through the land.
And, Beloved in Christ Jesus, how blessed are we who rejoice in our
election! What food we have! What bread and what oil–no, what supplies
of richer dainties than earth could possibly yield–redeeming Grace and
dying love! The flesh of Jesus and His precious blood to be our meat
and drink! If election brings us such stores as these, let us forever
magnify the merciful sovereignty which ordained us to such Grace!
The choice of this woman, while it brought such blessedness to her,
involved service. She was not elected merely to be saved in the famine,
but to feed the Prophet. She must be a woman of faith. She must make
the little cake first, and afterwards she shall have the multiplication
of the meal and of the oil. So the Grace of God does not choose men to
sleep and wake up in Heaven, nor choose them to live in sin and find
themselves absolved at the last–nor choose them to be idle and go
about their own worldly business–and yet to win a reward at the last
for which they never toiled. Ah, no! The sovereign electing Grace of
God chooses us to repentance, to faith–and afterwards to holiness of
living, to Christian service, to zeal, to devotion.
Ah, many a man would wish to be chosen for Heaven, but he has no wish
to be chosen for holiness! Then why does he quibble at election? If he
does not wish it himself why need he grudge those that have it? Dog in
the manger, what right have you to howl at those who rejoice in what
you do not care for yourself? You do not desire holiness, then why
complain that it is worked in others? If any man here wishes to be
chosen to holiness, wishes to be chosen to give up his sin–if that is
a sincere wish it is a sign that he is chosen already, for such a wish
as that could not grow up in his soul by nature–God must have
implanted it. Let him be thankful that he finds it there.
But, Beloved, let us never think about proving our election unless we
bring forth fruit unto holiness by the Grace of God. If you hope you
are chosen like this woman, let me ask you, are you feeding the
Prophet? Are you exhibiting daily a faith in the living God? Could you,
like she, at the Lord's command, take out the handful of meal and oil
and believe that God would still supply you? Are you living as the just
do, by faith, in simple dependence upon Jehovah whom you cannot see,
but whose promise stands fast to you? If so, you can be sure you are
chosen to it, for you have obtained it! You may be clear of your
election, for you have made it sure because you have brought forth the
fruits of it! You are elect unto holiness, elect to be conformed to the
image of His Son, predestinated to be one of the family of which He is
the Firstborn and Pattern. Inasmuch as you are made like He is, this
proves that you are ordained to be made like He, and you may rest and
rejoice therein!
I beseech our friends never to be afraid of that doctrine of election
when they hear it spoken of. It is not to be controverted about every
day in the week and insisted upon as though it were the whole Gospel,
for it is only one Truth of God among many, but it is a very precious
one. There are certain preachers that get this doctrine into their
theology as the organ grinders get a tune put into their barrels, and
they can never grind out anything but election, over, and over, and
over again! Such persons bring a most Scriptural doctrine into
disrepute.
At the same time, it is an indisputable truth of Christianity, and one
full of the richest comfort to the child of God– one which is intended
to kindle in him perpetual flames of adoring gratitude–a truth which
lays him low and makes him feel that there is nothing in him, and then
raises him up and bids him, like a seraph, adore before the Throne.
Distinguishing Grace is a fact! Prize the Truth and hold it firmly!
Live upon Jesus Christ! Bless Him that you are made a partaker of His
eternal love.
There always will be some who will pervert and wrest this doctrine, as
they also do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. But I
hardly think I need stop to speak to them. Still there are some who
say, "If I am to be saved I shall be saved." Did they ever hear of a
certain Ludovic, an Italian philosopher who had imbibed the idea of
predestination to the exclusion of every other truth? He could see
nothing but fate, and thought religions activity useless. A physician
who attended him during his sickness, a godly man, desiring to convince
him of his error, said to him as he stood by his bedside, "I shall not
send you any medicine. I shall not attend to you. In fact, I shall not
call any more, because if you are to live you will live, and if you are
to die you will die. Therefore it is of no use my attending to you."
He went his way, but in the watches of the night, Ludovic, who had been
the slave of a notion, turned it over and saw the folly of it. He saw
that there were other truths besides predestination, and he acted like
a sane man. As God accomplishes the healing of the sick by the use of
medicines, he usually accomplishes, also, the saving of souls by the
means of Grace. And as I, not knowing whether I am elected to be healed
or not, yet go to the physician, so I, not knowing whether I am elect
to be saved or not, yet will go to Jesus as He bids me go and put my
trust in Him. And I hope I shall be accepted in Him.
Dear Hearer, do not trifle away your soul by thrusting your head into
doctrinal difficulties! Do not be a fool any more, but go to Jesus as
you are, and put your trust in Him and you will not find this knotty
point a terror to you! It will, indeed, become like butter in a lordly
dish to you. It will be to you savory meat such as Isaac's soul loved.
And as you feed upon it you will become like the three holy children in
Babylon, both fatter and fairer and more lovely than those who have not
received this precious Truth of God.
II. A second Truth we learn from the text is the doctrine of the SECRET
OPERATIONS of God upon the human heart. This is illustrated here, for
we read, "I have commanded," and yet we do not find that the Lord had
spoken a single word to this woman, certainly not by Elijah, and I do
not know that there was any other Prophet at that time within reach of
her. No command had been given, and yet God said, "I have commanded a
widow woman there to sustain you."
She does not appear to have been at all aware that she was to feed a
Prophet. She went out that morning to gather sticks, not to meet a
guest. She was thinking about feeding her son and herself upon the last
cake–certainly she had no idea of sustaining a man of God out of that
all but empty barrel of meal! Yet the Lord, who never lies, spoke a
solemn Truth when He said, "I have commanded a widow woman there." He
had so operated upon her mind that He had prepared her to obey the
command when it did come by the lip of His servant the Prophet.
Even thus, and blessed be God for this comforting Truth, long before
the minister is sent to preach the Gospel, God prepares the hearts of
men to receive the Word! Long before the actual living message comes as
a matter of instruction to them, there have been secret operations,
both of Providence and of Grace which have been making ready a people
prepared of the Lord who shall be called in the day of His power!
Beloved, there is a time, no doubt, when the Spirit of God begins to
operate upon the heart of saved ones–and even from infancy the Grace
of God begins to prepare the heart for salvation! And long before
conversion all the moral agencies, all the Providential afflictions,
and indeed, all the events of life have been working together to
prepare that character for translation from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of God's dear Son!
There are gracious operations long before there are operations of the
Spirit of Grace! I call them gracious because they are directed by
Grace, though they are nothing more than moralizing, restraining, or
awakening operations. When I came to preach, this morning, I did not
know who may be in the crowd, but I did know that I would preach to a
picked congregation whom God had Himself selected, and that I would
speak to some who need me, and to whom I am sent of God. There will be
tinder somewhere for my sparks, and though there will be many to whom
the discourse will be worth nothing, yet there will be chosen ones to
whom it will be the power of God!
Still does the widow woman meet Elijah–she may not know why she comes,
she may come with a very low motive, as it were only to gather a few
sticks–but the Lord has sent her. No one can give God's message to her
but the chosen preacher and she is the woman who must receive his word.
So in all places where my Brothers in the ministry are preaching the
Lord not only sends His servants, but sends the persons whom He means
them to meet! He equally prepares the preacher and the hearer!
It is to be hoped that many here have been hopefully prepared for the
reception of God's Gospel, for they are the children of godly parents.
I would sincerely hope that when the Gospel comes to them they will
receive it because they have seen the proof of it in their mother's
piety, and in their father's holiness. I trust that having known, like
Timothy, the Scriptures from their youth, they will be like the thirsty
land which gapes with huge cracks as if thirsting to drink in the
blessed shower–and not as the hard rock which turns an ungrateful
surface to the gentle dew of Heaven. I trust there are some here, young
in years, of whom the Lord has said, "I have commanded a little girl,
or a young lad, to receive Jesus today."
Many I know have been prepared for the Gospel by having long attended
the ministry. Ah, though you are not saved yet, I hope that God is
getting you ready for that day of effectual Grace. How have I knocked
at the doors of some of your consciences! Surely, the mark of the
hammer may be seen there now! You have found it hard to sin, though you
have gone on sinning. You have been almost persuaded, though not
persuaded after all. Still you are not what you once were. You have
been sobered. You have been made to think. You have become uneasy. The
sinful pleasures which were sweet to you have been abandoned. You
cannot altogether shake off the thoughts of eternity, of judgment, and
of the life to come. Ah, well, I hope this preparation will not, after
all, turn out to be a bud that does not knit, an up-springing blade
that never comes to the ear! But may Divine Grace even now lead you to
Jesus, for today is the accepted time–today is the day of salvation!
May you be as ready for the Gospel today as the widow woman was for
Elijah when he met her with Jehovah's command.
Many are prepared by Providential trials. I have blessed God a hundred
times that He does not leave His preachers to do the work of winning
souls alone. When I have gone to see the sick I have felt that my Lord
has been there preaching sermons which have touched flesh and blood,
and pierced to the very quick, while my words, alone, would only have
gone in one ear and out the other. He has laid that dear child dead and
the mother cannot forget that her infant has gone to Heaven while she
is on another road. There is the husband looking down upon the corpse
of the beloved wife, and he cannot laugh at death and eternity now!
There is space for a word of admonition now.
Ah, when you come fresh from the bed of fever, when you come here after
having been detained at home by weeks of illness and weariness–then is
my time with you! God has broken up the clods, plowed up the fallow
ground, cut up the thistles and made room for His good Seed so that it
may fall where it shall live and grow! Be thankful for your troubles if
they prepare you for the Gospel! And if any of you have come up here,
this morning, fresh from fiery trials, now that you are like melted wax
may God put the seal on you, lest if you grow cold any more you may
never be melted again, and never have another opportunity of receiving
the stamp of the Cross of Jesus, the mark of the genuine faith in a
bleeding Savior.
Others are prepared for immediate salvation, because the Spirit of God
is actually resting upon them, though they know it not. There are the
incipient germs of repentance! There is the embryo of faith! There is
everything which goes to make the Christian life–but it has not as yet
come to such development as to be known to be such. When the minister's
voice, or the Word of God in the Bible shall explain and enforce the
Truth of God, the man will perceive it and discover himself to be in
Christ!
The observation may arise in some mind, "Well, if this is the case,
that God is preparing for the Gospel, could we not dispense with the
ministry altogether?" This is unreasonable. This, instead of putting
the ministry on one side, will have with every thoughtful mind the
opposite effect. How it ought to encourage us to preach if there are
some who are ready for it! Well may we distribute the Bread of Life
when there are hungry souls waiting for it! Well content may we be to
compel them to come in that the house may be filled, when there are the
poor and needy under the hedge and in the highways who feel their need
of the sacred banquet! How this ought to cheer the Christian minister!
No man is better pleased to go fishing than he who fully believes that
he shall catch abundance of fish–no warriors march more cheerfully to
the fray than those who are assured that they must win the victory. The
certainty of success inspires a man to be doubly earnest. The preacher
feels that he should be in arduous labors yet more abundant when he
perceives that all these labors are backed up by the Providence of God,
and made effectual to the most Divine ends. Send your servant to sow
the seed upon a rock, and to plow all day, and see if he does not grow
weary with his useless labors! But if you give him a good piece of
ground to till, it is comparatively light work for he foresees a crop
springing up.
Even the worst of men have this mind about them. I have heard that our
military prisoners, when they were punished by being made to carry
large shot from one end of the prison yard to the other, did not feel
it to be so much a punishment when they saw the pyramid of shot at one
end of the yard growing larger and the other diminishing. At last it
was resolved to make them carry the same shot from one end of the yard
to the other and back again continually–then the sense that they were
working very hard and accomplishing nothing made the punishment far
more irksome. So would it be to the Christian minister. Give him the
conviction that he is really achieving success–success for which God
works in His Omnipotence side by side with him–and the man becomes
strong as the bullock for the draught, strong as the lion for the
fight. He can do all things, for Jesus strengthens him!
There are some things which may indicate a preparedness for the Gospel.
Listen, you unconverted ones, and put your hands into your heart to see
whether you have any of these. Some men are evidently ready for the
Gospel because they are out of love with all the world's joys and are
the subjects of a constant unrest. They used to be quite satisfied, but
they do not know how it is, now, that nothing pleases them. They were
charmed once with the theater, but the drama now seems dull and
insipid. The viol and the bowl, the dance and the merrymaking–these
were once a Heaven below, but by some means, they scarce know why, they
have lost all enjoyment for them! They have accumulated a little
money–they hoped that this would satisfy them–but now they say of it,
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Literary pursuits which once
engrossed them, give them, now, no satisfaction.
Now, you seem to me to be the persons for whom the Gospel is intended.
Jesus cries, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest." Let us hope that when the Gospel comes to you,
this unrest, though it is not a saving thing, will prove to have been a
preparation for the saving work. Others we meet with who have a
constant dread of coming judgment. They are somewhat superstitious, it
may be, but still, even their superstition may become the basement for
something better. The fear which haunts men so that they can scarcely
sleep at nights–the dread of punishment which overshadows them–may in
some way lead to the worst of results, but in others it is overruled to
drive them to Jesus, who gives joy and peace in believing.
Frequently have we met with persons oppressed with great distress of
conscience. It is not the Spirit's work, but merely a natural sense of
wrong-doing. Yet for all this it is a fine joint in the harness for the
arrow to lodge in. They feel that they have done wrong. The
recollection of some one sin, or of a series of iniquities, haunts them
and they cannot be at peace. Let us hope that now these fluttering
doves will fly to the cleft of the rock and find peace in the wounds of
Jesus!
It seems to me that God has put a preparation for Grace in the minds of
those who are of honest straightforward disposition. I do not want to
say anything which could be thought unorthodox, and I do not mean it
so, but I think where our Lord speaks of honest and good ground, He did
mean that there was a good quality in the ground before the Seed
came–not exactly a saving work, but a God-worked readiness for the
Seed, and that readiness was honesty. You cannot do anything with
rogues. God Himself seldom saves cunning double-minded tricky men. I do
not expect to meet in Heaven a single man who was an habitual shuffler
on earth–it seems as if such were never converted. I have met with
double-dealing professors, but I do not believe the Grace of God had
anything to do with them. And whenever I catch members of this Church
who are not straightforward, I always think of them, "I wish I had
known this before you had entered the Church, for I would not have
advised the Church to accept a double-minded man, let him be as fine a
professor as he pleased."
How often are those called by Grace who, wicked as they are, are
downright honest fellows! Look at Jack Tar, swearing big oaths,
drinking and fighting when on shore, and thinking nothing of it–but at
the same time never found doing a mean thing, but transparent as glass.
Now, when Jack hears the Gospel, he is the very man to receive it, for
God has worked in him an outspoken honesty which is like a furrow for
the heavenly Seed to fall upon. Honest persecutors have often become
honest martyrs. Take, for instance, the Apostle Paul. What an honest
man he was! He never received a conviction but he carried it out at
once. He was "exceedingly mad" against the servants of God, but so soon
as he knew that Jesus was the Christ, what a bold defender of the faith
he became!
It delights me to see in men the operations of creation and Providence,
like secret commands of God, preparing men for mercy so that when the
open command comes with the Spirit of God, the men receive it and are
saved! There are other matters of this sort, but I shall not mention
them. I only want to bring out the point that, apart from the Spirit,
and before the effectual Grace of God, there are workings in Providence
without, and mental operations within, by which men's minds are made
ready for the Gospel so that when it comes it is as readily obeyed as
was the command of Elijah to the widow woman, because, by some
mysterious working, God had secretly moved her to sustain him.
III. In the third place, our text affords us an instance of ACCEPTED
INSTRUMENTALITY. Here is a woman selected to sustain the Prophet–she
is poor, and a widow. Brethren, if our heavenly Father had so willed
it, the spread of the Gospel need not have required a penny of our
money–but He has ordained it from the very beginning that wherever the
Gospel comes, it should make an appeal to the liberality of those who
profess it–for its support. There are certain persons who say that the
minister ought not to be supported and that it is a very high and
honorable thing for him to earn his own living in trade.
I have no doubt it is a very honorable thing. I almost envy the
preacher who is able, like Paul, to carry on business and to support
himself. But I must confess I am very well satisfied to be as honorable
as my Master was–and as He never carried on any trade from the time He
took to the ministry, but was supported by the free-will offerings of
His people– it is, so far as I am concerned, enough for the servant to
be as his Master, and the disciple as his Lord. From the very first,
when our Lord began to preach, the people entertained Him and supported
Him. And His rule was, when He sent forth His Apostles, not, "Pay your
expenses, and mind you do not mention anything about money to the
people," but, "Into whatever house you enter, eat such things as are
set before you."
They were evidently to live upon the people to whom they preached, for,
said He, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Now, why has our Lord
been pleased to put it so, that the carrying on of the Gospel should
always require money? There is something so distressing about the very
sound of the word money that some superfine Christians feel quite ill
when the box comes round! They are so heavenly-minded that the idea of
any allusion to Mammon grieves their blessed spiritual-mindedness! Why
did our Lord put it so that there should ever be any need of speaking
about funds? Why did He talk of the widow's mites, and sit over by the
treasury? Why not abolish the treasury altogether?
Surely He was as spiritual as we are! Why did He introduce the topic of
money, or render it necessary that it should be introduced? Was it not
because the giving of something to God is the truest form of worship,
especially when you give till you feel you have given? To sing a hymn,
to pray, yes, these are well enough, but what hypocrite will not do
these? What really is there of self-denial in these? If we have sung we
can sing again and it costs us nothing. But he who gives something, he
who like the Sareptan widow is willing to give all of his little, has
given a real tribute to the Most High! There is no shame about that,
and of all the offerings which come up before God I will venture to say
that the money gifts of His people are among the most real, and the
gifts of the poor when they have to deny themselves in order to give,
are as acceptable to Jesus Christ as the wrestling of Jacob by Jabbok,
or the songs of David when he danced before the ark.
May not our Lord have been pleased to address us in Scripture
concerning "the collection," because liberality to the Lord's work
sanctifies the toils of earth? During six long days the Lord's people
are working among bricks and timber, or in the field at the plow-tail,
or standing behind the counter–what a dreary thing were this for an
immortal spirit if it could not be sanctified to noble uses! The Lord
enables you to sanctify the labor of the six days by bidding you
consecrate a portion of the earnings of the six days to Him–week by
week presenting your offering through Jesus Christ. It links earth with
Heaven. It links your merchandise and shipping, your exchanges and
warehouses with the heavenly Jerusalem and its streets. Instead of
degrading religion by bringing it down to connection with Mammon, the
demands upon your generosity elevate you by enabling you to do
something for God, and compel this world's toils to yield a tribute to
the Lord of All.
There is another reason for the calls of the Gospel upon our purses,
which is not at all a small one. God intends, thereby, to conquer in
His people covetousness and earth-love. He calls upon them to support
the cause of religion, not because religion could not exist without
them, but because they could not healthily exist without giving of
their means to the Lord. Even Christian men would soon grow covetous if
God took not His tithe. If there were no portion for the Lord's poor
and the Lord's work in the world, it would come to this–the greedy
shoveling in of all we have and the putting of it by for our children
and our heirs–the adding of house to house, and field to field till we
were left alone in the world. There would scarcely be the possibility
of Christianity in us if God did not require from us as a loving token
that we should contribute to His work.
Then there is another reason. It puts such honor upon us to be allowed
to give to Christ! I do not know how you feel, but when I am permitted
to give anything to Him who opened His five wounds for me, who gave
heart and soul, and all that He had for my redemption, I am full of
delight! When I receive I fall flat on my face, but when I am permitted
to give, a hand is laid upon me to lift me up and I rise honorably
accepted with my gift. You would all feel honored if you were permitted
to present a gift to a queen–how much more to give to the King of
kings! The cattle on a thousand hills are His. If He were hungry, He
would not tell us. If He were thirsty, he would ask no drink from us.
But yet in condescending love He comes to us, and His Church comes to
us, informa pauperis, and begs us to assist to support His work among
men! And when we give cheerfully to Jesus we are honored in the giving!
In the case before us God commanded a widow woman to sustain Elijah.
Now, if there must be money found for the Church, why does not our
exalted Head send a few rich people who shall give all of it, and let
the poor go free? The Lord very graciously does send a few richer
Brethren who give by far the larger proportion of all religious
contributions. But I have always noticed that our Lord will never send
a spiritual Church enough rich people to let them be able to do without
the poor, because His intention is that the blessing of being allowed
to give to Him should come as much to the widow of Sarepta as to Joseph
of Arimathea.
It is His intention that His rich people should give in proportion, but
He never wishes that anything should prevent the very poorest
contributing their penny and receiving the consequent blessing. "I have
commanded a widow woman to sustain you." It was a good thing for the
widow woman to have such a task assigned her! She was to sustain a
Prophet. It was an honor to her and it was no loss to her. What the
Lord's servant took with one hand he gave back with the other. And very
often we have seen that if God lets His servants give to Him by
shovelfuls, He will return it to them by wagonloads at the back door!
He will never be a debtor to His creatures.
Of course, if they give to receive again, they do not give at all–they
are only investing for themselves. But when they give with a free,
willing heart, they shall receive even in this life and certainly in
the life to come, an abundant recompense. Therefore, let the poorest
always cast their mites into the treasury. On the first day of the week
let every man lay by in store, be he rich or be he poor. Let none
appear before the Lord empty, but bring Him an offering with joyful
heart.
IV. Lastly, the text is a specimen of UNEXPECTED INTERPOSITIONS. Here
is a Prophet to be sustained. He cannot be hidden away anywhere in
Israel for the king is hunting after him. He must go into another
country. Who will support him? Jezebel belongs to Sidon, if, therefore,
it is once known that Elijah is in Sidon, he will be seized. But a
widow woman living just on the border is prepared by God to entertain
the Prophet. None of us would have thought of such a thing, but so it
was–God unexpectedly finds the right woman who does the work in the
right way–whose very obscurity and poverty contributed to the security
of the Prophet.
Let us believe in the unexpected interpositions of God. He lets His
people reach an extremity and then it is His opportunity. You have
said, "The last card is played," then God has come in. The ship has
gone to pieces, the soldiers are talking of killing the prisoners, the
sailors mean to get out into the boat and escape, and yet "some on
boards, and some on broken pieces, they all come safely to land." Rest
upon God and remember that He has servants everywhere–he can help you
when you have not a friend left and He can turn your bitterest enemy
into your best assistant. And this confidence, Brothers and Sisters,
should dwell in the Church of God in all the times of her need.
How many, in this matter, sail upon the wrong tack! Years ago it used
to be thought that if somebody, when he died, would endow a Chapel,
what a good thing it would be because then there would be something
certain to keep it up. But there has never been, that I have ever
known, a single place in our denomination in which an endowment has not
proved a crushing curse! The Lord will not have us contrive to do
without Him–He will cast us on Himself! A Church of England paper
charges me with wishing to endow the College. I never had such a
thought! I would not accept such a thing!
I will spend now, at once, all I can get for the needs of men are great
and pressing. Peter and Paul, whatever they had, would have used it
personally and immediately for the spread of the Gospel and then left
the next generation to do their own work–with the living God to help
them as He has helped us! If we should ever come to a point in any of
our enterprises, so as absolutely to need help–if there was not any
rich person found to help us–God would command a widow woman to do it!
If there remained no friend on earth, He would send an angel to do it!
He will never suffer any enterprise that is carried on with a single
eye to His glory, and with simple faith in His promise, to know real
lack. He may try it, but not destroy it.
Lastly, this also is true with regard to men for Christ's Church. We
ought to expect that God will raise up men to preach the Gospel in
places where we never thought they could be found. He found a widow
woman at Sidon to feed the Prophet. I should not wonder if the coming
man should be found in Whitechapel, or St. Giles, or a Roman Catholic
seminary, or the shoe-black brigade. Perhaps the mighty Evangelist and
lover of human progress may even be found in so unlikely a place as
among the bishops! It may be possible for Jesus to find Apostles among
the frequenters of the turf.
When God would have the greatest Apostle to preach the Gospel, where
did He find him? Among the bigots, a Pharisee of Pharisees! When He
would kindle a morning star for England–a man who should translate the
Scriptures and deliver the pure Truth of God–where did He look? Why,
He found a Popish priest, one Wickliffe of Lutterworth! When He would
send forth a man who should thunder against the Pope–a man with a brow
of brass and a heart of iron to be a bold defender of the faith–where
did He look for him? From a monastery He selected a monk with a shaven
crown! "Come here, Luther," said He, "I have commanded you to preach
the Gospel," and away he came.
The Providence of God may yet make Mr. Disraeli the instrument of
dissolving the unholy union of Church and State. Grace may, in the same
way, select the greatest blasphemer to become the most useful preacher
of the age. I am expecting that my Lord will do such things. Every day
I expect to hear that there are converts in high places–that the
highest Puseyites have left the Church and denounced the ceremonies
which once they doted on! I expect to hear that the Roman Catholic
cardinals have begun to learn that salvation is by faith and not by
works!
Why not? It is what our Master has done before, and all power is given
to Him in Heaven and in earth. He called a widow woman to feed His
Prophet, and He has found His instruments in the most unlikely places.
Why should He not again? He can choose the mightiest trees and make
them fair as the cedar of Solomon's temple! He can raise up children
unto Abraham out of the stones of Jordan's stream! He can take men who
were full of devils, even till they were called Legion, and make them
sit at His feet, and afterwards tell of the glory of His power!
Rest, then, in God, you doubting ones! Think not His Church is in
danger. His cause goes on in spite of foes! It must do so! Pompey said
once, "I have only to stamp my foot, and all Italy will turn to
soldiers." God has but to lift His finger, and all lands shall be
supplied with preachers! Charles I threatened the citizens of London,
that if they did not behave themselves a little more loyally, he would
take away the court from London. But the Lord Mayor replied, "If His
Majesty does not intend to take away the river Thames, we shall do
exceedingly well, after all."
Even so, if Jesus shall abide with us, and His Spirit shall dwell among
us, we can lose a thousand helps and fare none the worse. If we can but
have the benediction of the Father, and the smile of the Son, and the
dew of the Holy Spirit, we shall still rejoice in the Lord, and in His
name set up our banners, for He has said, "I will never leave you nor
forsake you."
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The Pleiades and Orion
A Sermon