Filling the Empty Vessels

Filling the Empty Vessels

(No. 1712)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 17, 1882,

BY C, H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.

VERY beautiful, to my mind, is the sight of "Paul the aged" confined in
his prison at Rome, likely, by-and-by, to be put to death, but calm,
quiet, peaceful and joyful. Just now he is so happy that a gleam of
sunlight seems to light up his cell and his face shines like that of an
angel! He is exceedingly delighted because he has been, in his deep
poverty, kindly remembered by the little Church at Philippi, for they
have sent him a contribution. See how cheerful the man is–I was about
to say, how contented, but I drop the word because it falls far short
of the mark! He is far more happy than Caesar overhead in the palace.
He is charmed with the love which has sent him this relief. Probably
the gift does not come to very much, if estimated in Roman coin, but he
makes a great deal of it and sits down to write a letter of thanks
abounding in rich expressions like these–"I have all things, and
abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which
were sent from you."

His heart was evidently greatly touched, for he says, "I rejoiced in
the Lord greatly, that now, at the last, your care of me has flourished
again." See how little a gift may make a good man glad! Is it not worth
while to be free with our cups of cold water to the Prophets of the
Lord? Instead of a little money, the Brothers and Sisters at Philippi
receive a boundless blessing and are enriched by the fervent prayers of
the Apostle! Hear how earnestly Paul invokes benedictions on the heads
of his benefactors! Is it not a blessed state of mind which enables a
heart so soon to be full to overflowing? Some would grumble over a
roasted ox, but here is Paul–rejoicing over a dinner of herbs!

So great was the disinterestedness of Paul, that there was nothing of
selfishness about his joy. He did not speak in respect of need, for he
knew how to suffer need without complaint. But he looked upon the
kindly contribution as a fruit of the Grace of God in the
Philippians–a generous proof that they were lifted out of heathen
selfishness into Christian love! There was little enough of kindness in
the old Roman and Greek world into which Paul went preaching the
Gospel. Those were times of great hardness of heart, even to cruel
heartlessness. There was no sort of provision for the poor. If a man
was poor, why, that was his own problem, and he might starve and die.

You know how hardened the people had become through the fights in the
amphitheater, so that the sight of blood produced a fierce delight in
their brutal bosoms and human suffering was, to them, rather a thing to
be rejoiced in than to be prevented. There might be, here and there, a
tender hand that gave coin to the poor, but, for the most part, charity
was dead. The voluptuaries of that most degenerate age planned no
hospitals and built no orphanages–they were too intent upon their
gladiators and their mistresses. Self was lord paramount in Caesar's
court and all over Roman realms!

But here are people at Philippi thinking about one who had preached the
Gospel to them and who is now suffering. They are moved by a new
principle–love to God in Christ Jesus has created love to the man
whose words had changed them. They will not abandon him–they will, out
of their own slender means, cheer his sad condition. There were
Churches that had no such hearts of mercy, alas, that so early in the
Gospel-day holy charity should be so rare! There were people whom Paul
had blessed greatly, who even quarreled about him and denied that he
was an Apostle of Christ! But not so the beloved Church at Philippi.
They had, again and again, ministered to his necessities and Paul, now,
rejoices in them, again, because he delights to see another instance of
the transforming power of the Grace of God upon character, so that
those who were once selfish now rejoiced, unprompted and unasked, to
send their offering to him.

Was Lydia at the bottom of that subscription? I should not wonder! We
know that she was open-hearted. Did the jailer add his full share? I
feel sure of it, for in the prison he courteously entertained the
Apostle. These were a generous people and Paul is happy in thinking of
them. I may here dare to say that I, also, have had the same joy over
many of you when I have seen how freely you have given of your
substance to the work of the Lord. It would be unfair if I withheld

commendation for liberality from many now before me. You have rejoiced
my heart by your gifts to the cause of God. You have given up to the
measure of your means and some of you beyond what we could have asked
of you. The Gospel has taught you this. To God be glory that it is so.
Continue in the same spirit, that none may rob me of this joy.

The Apostle makes to them an assurance in the following verses that
they shall be abundantly repaid for all that they have done. He says to
them, "You have helped me; but my God shall supply you. You have helped
me in one of my needs–my need of clothing and of food. I have other
needs in which you could not help me, but my God shall supply all your
need. You have helped me, some of you, out of your deep poverty, taking
from your scanty store. But my God shall supply all your need out of
His riches in Glory. You have sent Epaphroditus unto me with your
offering. Well and good! He is a most worthy Brother, and a true
yoke-fellow. And for all that, God shall send a better messenger to
you, for He shall supply all your needs by Christ Jesus."

He seems to me to make a parallel of his needs with theirs, and of his
supplies from them with their supplies from the Lord. He would seem to
say–Just as God has, through you, filled me up, so shall He, by
Christ, fill you up. That is a translation of the Greek which most
nearly touches the meaning–"My God shall fill up all your need
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Will you allow me to
make a break, here, for one instant? I read you, just now, the story of
the Prophet's widow whose children were about to be taken for a debt,
and how the oil was multiplied in the vessels which she borrowed until
there was enough to discharge the debt, and sufficient surplus for
herself and children to live upon.

Now, kindly take that picture and join it on to this–and we have here,
first, the empty vessels. Set them out in a row, "all your need."
Secondly, who will fill them up?–"My God shall fill up all your need."
Thirdly, after what fashion will He do it?–"According to His riches in
glory." Fourthly, by what means will He do it?–"By Christ Jesus." Keep
the widow and the vessels before you and let us see the miracle worked
over, again, on a grand scale in our own houses and hearts. May the
Holy Spirit make the sight refreshing to our faith.

I. So, then, we will begin our discourse this evening by asking you to
SET OUT THE EMPTY VESSELS. "My God shall supply all your need." Bring
forth your vessels, even empty vessels! "All your need." I do not
suppose that you are under any great obligation to go out, tonight, and
borrow other people's needs, for you have enough of your own at
home–needs many and varied. Very well, set them out. Hide none of them
away, but put them down, one after another, in a long row, all of them.
There are needs for your body, needs for your soul. There are needs for
yourselves, needs for your families–needs for the present, needs for
the future–needs for time, needs for eternity. There are needs for
earth, needs for Heaven. Your needs are as many as your moments–as
many as the hairs of your head.

I suppose it would be useless for me to attempt a catalog of
them–however carefully we made the list, we should have to add a host
of sundries altogether unmentionable until circumstances suggested
them. I could hardly tell you all my own needs, but I know that they
are enormous and increasing with my years. I have needs as a man, as a
husband, as a father, as a citizen, as a Christian, as a pastor, as an
author–in fact, every position I take up adds to my needs. If I went
through my own personal bill of requests, I could fill a document like
the roll mentioned in the Old Testament, written within and
without–and hardly then could I enumerate all my own demands upon the
Bank of Heaven. But if I attempted to take all the thousands that are
gathered beneath this roof and to let each man state his particular
needs, where would the computation end? The sands upon the seashore are
not more innumerable!

Dear! Dear! We would need a library larger than the Bodleian to hold
all the books which could be written of all the needs of the needy
congregation now before me! Well, I am not sorry for it, for here is so
much the more room for the Lord to work His miracles of bountiful
Grace! Sometimes, when I have been in need for the work of the
Orphanage and the College and such things–and these times have
occurred–I do solemnly assure you that I have felt a wonderful joy in
my spirit. I have watched the ebb of the funds till nearly everything
has been gone and then I have joyfully said to myself, "Now for it! The
vessels are empty! Now I shall see the miracle of filling them." What
wonders the Lord has worked for me, I cannot, now, tell you in detail,
but many of you who have been my faithful helpers know how hundreds and
even thousands of pounds have poured in from our great Lord in the
moment of necessity. It will always be the same, for the Lord God is
the same.

Until the funds run low we cannot expect to see them replenished–when
they get low, then will God come and deal graciously with us! Money is,
however, our smallest need–we need Grace, wisdom, light and
comfort–and these we

shall have. All our needs are occasions for blessing. The more needs
you have the more blessing you will get. God has promised to fill up
all your needs. That is, all your empty vessels will be filled and,
therefore, the more the merrier! What? The more in need the better?
Yes, I would have your faith believe that strange statement–your
poverty shall thus be your riches, your weakness your strength, your
abasement your exaltation! Your extremity shall be an opportunity that
God will use to show the riches of His Grace! To your utter exhaustion
He will draw near with all the fullness of His inexhaustible Grace and
He will replenish you till your cup runs over!

He will fill up all your empty vessels. Be not slow to fetch them out
from holes and corners and place them before the Lord, however many
they may be. Weep not over the empty jars, but place them out in rows
in full expectation of their being filled to the brim! These empty
vessels of yours are, some of them, I have no doubt, very large, and
they even grow larger. Most of our needs grow upon us. You still pray,
"Give us this day our daily bread," but the one loaf which was a large
answer to the prayer when you were single, would not go far at your
table, now–the loaves vanish like snow in the sun! You needed faith 50
years ago, but you need more, now, do you not? You have more
infirmities and, perhaps, more trials than in your younger days. I know
that, apart from my loving Lord, I am much more needy, now, than I ever
was before. Whatever a man requires in the things of God, usually the
older he grows and the more experience he has, the more he needs, and
the more of it he needs.

He needs more love than he had when he was younger, more patience, more
resignation, more humility, more charity, more wisdom, more holiness.
He desires more faith and a brighter hope. He needs, especially in
prospect of death, more courage and more bold, simple, child-like
confidence in his Savior, Why, some of us have needs that could not be
supplied if we could turn the stars to gold and coin them and pay them
away–these could not touch the hunger of the heart and soul! The
world, itself, would be but a mouthful for our spirits' necessity–a
drop in a bucket. I know some saints that have grown to be so deeply in
debt to their Lord, to His Church and to the world, that they are
hopelessly involved in boundless obligation.

How can we meet the demands upon us? Our responsibilities are
overwhelming! All that some of us have made by our lifelong trading is
a bigger stock of needs than we ever had before. The vacuum within our
spirit expands and enlarges, and we cry out, "More knowledge of the
Scriptures! More of Christ! More of Grace! More of God! More of the
Holy Spirit! More power to serve God!" Our oil vessels would, each one,
hold a sea–and even these are expanding! We need more and more, and
the mercy is that the text before us keeps pace with the growth–"My
God shall supply all your need." This includes the big needs as well as
the little ones! It comprehends all that can be as well as all that is!
It guarantees us that our growing needs shall all be supplied. Let the
vessels expand to their utmost, "Yet my God," says Paul, "shall fill up
all those needs of yours."

Certain of our needs, again, are of this extraordinary kind, that if
they were filled up, tonight, they would be empty tomorrow morning!
Some of our necessities are fresh every morning. The crop is a daily
one, it springs up every moment. The Grace I had five minutes ago will
not serve me now. Yesterday I may have possessed great love, great
faith, great courage, great humility, great joy–but I also need these
today–and none can give them to me but my Lord. You had great patience
under your last trial. Yes, but old patience is stale stuff. You must
grow more of that sweet herb in your garden, for the trial that is now
coming can only be sweetened by the herb content, newly gathered from
the garden of your heart and mixed with the bitter water of your
afflictions.

Our condition apart from our God may be compared to those fabled
vessels that we read of in mythology that were so full of holes that,
though the 50 daughters of Danaus labored hard to fill them up, they
could never accomplish the task. You and I are such leaky vessels that
none but God can ever fill us! And when we are filled, none but God can
keep us full. Yet so the promise stands, "My God shall supply all your
need"–all the vessels shall be filled and shall be kept full! We have
certain needs, dear Friends, that are very pressing and, perhaps, most
clamorous at this moment. Some needs are urgent–they must be supplied,
and supplied speedily–or we shall perish with hunger, or die of
sickness, or wither up in despair. Here let me add a caution–I dare
not tell you that God will supply all the needs of everybody, for this
promise is to the children of God–and in its most emphatic sense it is
only to a certain class, even, among them.

Those persons who profess to be Christians and, when they were
well-to-do, never helped anybody else–I think the Lord will let them
pinch a bit, and know what a condition of poverty is like that they may
become more sympathetic with the poor. I have known good stewards and
the Lord has sent them more, for they have dealt well with what they
had.

They have given away their substance by shovelfuls and the Lord has
sent it back by cartloads and entrusted them with more! Others who have
been bad stewards and have not served their Master well, have lost what
they had, and have come to poverty. Let us hope that their substance
has gone to somebody that will use it better! But, meanwhile, they have
to pinch, and deservedly so.

But, remember, the Apostle is speaking to people of a very different
character from that. He is speaking to the Phi-lippians and I think
that there is a point in that pronoun, "My God shall supply all your
need." You have been generous in helping the Lord's servant and the
Lord will repay you. Up to the measure of your ability you have served
His Church and helped to carry on His work in the world and, therefore,
God will supply all your need. This is not spoken to hoarding Judas,
but to the generous who had voluntarily yielded of their substance when
a fit opportunity was given them. Will any of you bring your need to
God and test Him by the same conduct? Remember that old promise of His,
"Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat
in My house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of Hosts, if I
will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

There is that that scatters and yet increases. Give, and it shall be
given unto you. Oh yes, our gracious God will fill all the vessels at
once, if time presses! If your needs urgently require to be filled,
bring them to Him. I began by saying that few of us had any great call
to borrow other people's empty pots. Yet there are some of us whose
main anxiety is about the vessels that we have borrowed. We need more
oil than others for this very reason, that we care for others. Certain
of us have been called to a life which intertwists itself with many
lives. We have been led by Grace and Providence to take upon ourselves
the needs of thousands. Every genuine warm-hearted Christian does this,
more or less. We try to make other men's needs our own needs by working
for the poor, the ignorant, the sick, the helpless. You that care for
our orphan children may well join with me in prayer that the Lord will
fill up all those empty vessels which we have borrowed of poor widows.

Think of my hundreds of borrowed vessels in the Orphanage and of the
number in the College. Blessed be the Lord my God, He will fill up all
these! Those whom we try to help in different ways, especially those we
try to lead to the Savior, are like the woman's borrowed vessels–and
they are not a few! You have made their spiritual needs your own. You
have come before God to pray for them as for your own soul and you
shall be heard. You have talked to your neighbors and laid yourself out
for their good, as if your own eternal destiny were in their
stead–rest fully assured that the Lord that filled the borrowed pots
in Elisha's day will also supply your borrowed needs! "My God will fill
up all your needs." It is a blessed word! Bring out your vessels and
see if it is not true!

I should like to see every Christian here setting out all his vessels
in rows at once, whatever they may be. Do not put your cares away in
the back room and say, "I shall draw them out tomorrow and begin
worrying over them." Instead of that, while the oil is flowing, bring
them here, before the Lord, that the oil may have free course and find
suitable storage. Would you limit the miracle? Have you one forgotten
need? Make haste with it! Still, the oil is multiplying! Come one! Come
all! Arrange your vessels and the Lord will fill up your needs, by His
Grace, and fill your mouths with a song!

II. Secondly, let us enquire, WHO IS TO FILL THESE VESSELS? Paul says,
"My God will supply all your need." "My God!" Oh, that is grand! It
were foolish talking if any other name were mentioned! God can supply
all the needs of His people, for He is All-Sufficient–but nobody else
can. He can do it without any help, for nothing is too hard for the
Lord. He is able to number the myriads of His creatures and attend to
the commissariat of them all, so that not one of them shall lack–"He
calls them all by their names, by the greatness of His power not one
fails." "They that wait upon the Lord shall not want any good thing."
As for you, dear Brothers and Sisters, "trust in the Lord and do good,
so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." He that
promises to fill up all your empty vessels is one who can do it–there
is no limit to the goodness and power of God!

Then, notice that sweet word which Paul has put before the glorious
word, "God." He writes–"My God." As Paul looked at the money which the
Philippians had sent him and, perhaps, at the warm garments that would
cover him in the cold, damp jail, he cried, "See how my God has
supplied me!" And then he says, "My God shall supply you." This same
God, Paul's God–"shall fill up all your need." Wonderfully had God
protected Paul from the malice of those who sought for his life. Very
wonderfully had he been carried by Divine power through unparalleled
labors, so that he had

been made to triumph in every place in the preaching of the Gospel! And
thus Paul had learned from day to day to get a firmer grip of his God,
and say, "My God!" with more and more emphasis.

Jehovah was not to Paul the unknown god, but, "My God." With God he
dwelt and in Him he reposed all his cares. This same God is our God!
Think of that, poor friend, in your hour of need. Think of that, you
afflicted widow woman–you have Paul's God to go to! Think of that,
dear child of God in trouble–you have the same God as Paul had and He
is as much yours as He was Paul's! His arm has not waxed short, neither
has His heart grown hard towards any of His children! "My God," says
Paul, "who is also your God, will supply all your need." Who is this
God that will supply all our needs? Paul's God, remember, was and is
the God of Providence! And what a wonderful God He is.

We speak as if we were some very important part of the universe, but
really, what are we? Our little island can scarcely be found upon the
globe till you hunt long for it! What a tiny speck this congregation
must be! But God supplies the needs of all the millions of mankind.
"Mankind," I said–but I ought to have included all the other
creatures, too– the myriads of herring in the sea, the multitudes of
birds that sometimes darken the sun in their migrations, the countless
armies of worms and insects, strangely supplied, we know not how! And
yet, "Your heavenly Father feeds them."

Is that all the sphere of His Providence? No, far from it! I suppose
that this round world of ours is but one apple in the orchard of
creation, one grain of dust in the corner of God's great palace. But
all yon orbs, with all the living things that may be peopling every
star, He supplies. And how? "He opens His hand and supplies the need of
every living thing." See how easy to Him is this universal
provision–He does but open His hand and it is done! This is the God
that will supply all your need! He calls the stars by name! He leads
out Arcturus with his sons. He loosens the bands of Orion. He does
great things without number–and shall He not feed and clothe you, O
you of little faith? Yes, be you sure of this, the God of Providence
shall supply all your needs for this life and its surroundings.

If that suffice you not, let me remind you that this God is the God of
Grace, for Paul, above all men, counted Divine Grace to be his
treasure–his God was the God of Grace. Chiefly He is the God who gave
His Son to bleed and die for men. Oh, stand at Calvary and see God's
great Sacrifice–the gift of His only-begotten Son! And when you have
marked the wounds of the Well-Beloved and seen Jesus die, answer me
this–"He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things?"
What will He deny us who has given up the best jewel that He had, the
glorious One that Heaven could not match? There was never the likes of
Jesus, and yet He bowed His head to die on our behalf!

Oh, my dear, dear Friends, if you are anxious, tonight, and vexed with
many cares, do think of that! It is the God and Father of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ who says that He will fill up all your need! Do you
doubt Him? Can you? Dare you distrust Him? Now, take a flight above
this present cloud-land and behold the God of Heaven! Think of what God
is up yonder–

"Beyond, beyond this lower sky

Up where eternal ages roll,

Where solid pleasures never die,

And fruits immortal feast the soul." Behold the splendor of God! Gold
in Heaven is of no account–the streets of that city are all of pure
gold like unto transparent glass! The riches and the merchandise of
nations are but as rags and rottenness compared with the most common
utensils of God's great House above! There they possess inexhaustible
treasures and everything that is precious, for the walls of the New
Jerusalem are described as made of 12 manner of precious stones, as if
these stones were so common in Immanuel's land that they built the
walls with them! The gates are each one a pearl. What pearls are those!
Is God rich? Inconceivably, incalculably rich, so that He clothes the
very grass of the field more gloriously than Solomon clothed himself!

What am I doing to be of a doubtful mind? Is He my Father and will He
let me suffer need? What? I, starving, and my Father owning Heaven? No,
no!–

"He that has made my Heaven secure, Will here, all good provide While
Christ is rich, can I be poor? What can I need beside?"

My precious text is one which, years ago, when we built the Orphanage,
I caused to be cut on one of the pillars of the entrance. You will
notice it inside the first columns on either side whenever you go
there. "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in
glory by Christ Jesus." This I took for the foundation of the
Institution and set my seal to it as true. And it has been so! Time
would fail me if I were to tell how often God has interposed, there,
for His numerous family–those children that are cast upon the Divine
Fatherhood. He has honored His own promise and our faith–and I believe
He always will. There on the forefront of the Orphanage stands also the
words–"The Lord will provide." You shall see whether it is not so. As
long as that place stands, my God shall supply our need and it shall be
a standing encouragement to us all.

Think of the far more extensive orphanage of our Brother Mueller, of
Bristol, with those 2,500 children living simply through prayer and
faith, and yet as abundantly supplied as the Queen in her palace!
Nothing is needed where God is the Provider. The Lord will supply
without fail! Let us trust without fear. Go and plead this promise with
the Lord your God and He will fulfill it to you as well as to the rest
of His saints.

III. Now, thirdly, let us enquire IN WHAT STYLE WILL GOD SUPPLY HIS
PEOPLE'S NEEDS? He will do it in such style as becomes His
wealth–"according to His riches." There are several ways of doing most
things. There is more than one way of giving a penny to a beggar. You
can throw it at him, if you like, or pitch it in the mud as if you
threw a bone to a dog. Or you may hand it to him in a sort of huff as
if you said, "Take it, and be off with you." Or you may drag the coin
out of your pocket as unwillingly as if you were losing your eye-tooth.
There is yet another way–namely that which makes the copper turn to
gold–by a way of doing it courteously and with kindness which
expresses sympathy with the poor creature's need. Always give good
things in the best way, for your heavenly Father does so.

Now, how does God supply His children? Stingily, miserably, grudging
them every penny's worth? Certainly not! I hope that it was never your
misery to dine with a grudging man who watched every mouthful that went
down your throat as if there was so much the less for him! Why, when
one does eat, at whatever table it may be, if it is the most common
fare, one likes a welcome. It is the welcome which makes the Covenant
invitation so sweet, when you hear the exhortation, "Eat, O Friends;
drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved." One enjoys the welcome of a
heart which pleases all it can–like the Scot woman at a great
communion meeting when there was nobody to take the people in–"Come
in," she said. "Come in! I have room for 10 of you in my house, and I
have room for 10,000 of you in my heart. Come along with you. Nobody so
welcome as you that have been sitting at my Master's table with me."

How, then, does God dispense His favors? How does He fill up the
vessels? The way He does it is not according to our poverty, nor
according to our merit, "but according to His riches." He gives like a
king! Brothers and Sisters, I must correct myself–He gives as God and
as only God can give–according to His own God-like riches. No, that is
not all. He will do it in a style consistent with His present Glory. It
is "according to His riches in glory," which means that, as rich as God
is in glory, so rich is He in giving. He never demeans Himself in the
mercies that He gives. He gives according to His rank and that is the
highest conceivable. He gives so as to bring Him new Glory. I never
heard of one of His children receiving a great blessing from Him and
then saying that it did not glorify God to bestow it. No, no! The more
He gives, the more glorious He is in the eyes of men!

And He delights to give, that His Glory may be seen, and that the
riches of His manifested Glory may be increased. Withholding would not
enrich the Lord of Heaven! Rather would it impoverish Him in Glory. But
giving enriches Him with more revealed Glory and He, therefore,
delights to scatter His bounty. The fact is, Brethren, God gives
gloriously! The calculations of God–did you ever think of them? Well,
let me say that He always calculates so as to leave something to spare,
by which to illustrate the infinity of His goodness. I know that it is
so. He does not give us just as much light as our eyes can take in, but
He floods the world with splendor till we shade our eyes amidst the
blaze of noon. After this fashion did His only-begotten Son feed the
thousands when He multiplied bread and fish for them to eat. We read
that "they did all eat"–no doubt they were hungry enough to do a great
deal of that sort of labor! So far so good. But it is added, "and were
filled."

It takes a good deal to fill men who have come a long way into the
country and have had nothing to eat for a whole day. But they were
filled, fainting and famished though they had been. Yes, but do not
stop there–"And they took up of the fragments 12 baskets full." The
Lord always has baskets full of leftovers remaining for the waiters. He
will be sure to fill all your needs till you have no other need
remaining and have provision on hand for needs not yet arrived. Will
the

day ever come when we shall say, "Bring yet another need for God to
fill," and the answer will be, "I have no more needs"? Then the oil of
Grace will stop, but not till then! No, according to what I have said,
it will not stop then, but it will go on flowing and flowing, and
flowing and flowing, world without end, "according to His riches in
glory by Christ Jesus." The Lord will give enough, enough for all time,
enough of all, enough for all, and more than enough!

There shall be no real need of any Believer but what the Lord will fill
it full and exceed it. It is a wonderful expression "filled with all
the fullness of God." It pictures our being in God and God in us. One
has illustrated it by taking a bottle, holding it in the sea and
getting it right full–there is the sea in the bottle! Now, throw it
right into the waves and let it sink–and you have the sea in the
bottle and the bottle in the sea! So God enters into us and, as we
cannot hold more, He makes us come into Himself! Into the very fullness
of Christ are we plunged! What more can the amplest imagination
conceive, or the hungriest heart desire? Thus God will supply our
needs. Well may you fill others, who are yourselves so filled by God!
Well may you serve His cause with boundless generosity when the
infinite liberality of God is thus ensured to you!

IV. Lastly, let us notice BY WHAT MEANS THE LORD FILLS OUR NEEDS. It is
"by Christ Jesus." Does God supply all His people's needs by Christ
Jesus? Yes, first, by giving them Christ Jesus, for there is everything
in Christ Jesus. Christ is all! The man who has Christ has all things,
as says the Apostle, "All things are yours, for you are Christ's, and
Christ is God's." You will never have a spiritual need which is not
supplied in Christ. If you need courage, He can create it. If you need
patience, He can teach it. If you need love, He can inspire it! You
need washing, and there is the Fountain. You require a garment, and
there is the robe of Righteousness. You would have great needs if you
went to Heaven without Christ, but you shall not go there without Him!
And even there He shall supply you with everything! He it is that
prepares your mansion, provides your wedding dress, leads you to His
Throne and bids you sit there with Him forever. God will supply your
eternal needs by giving you Christ.

Moreover, all things shall come to you by virtue of Christ's merit. You
deserve no good thing, but He deserves it and He says, "Set it to My
poor servant's account." You may use Christ's name at the Bank of
Heaven freely, for though God might not give His favor to you, He will
always give it to His dear, dying, risen, pleading Son! When Jesus'
name is quoted, all things are yielded by the Father. God will give you
all things by Christ–therefore do not go to anybody else after those
things. If you have begun in the Spirit, do not attempt to be perfected
by the flesh. If your only hope is in what Christ has done, stick to
that and add nothing to it! Be this your motto–

"None but Jesus! None but Jesus!"

Jesus is our All-in-All! We are complete in Him! We need no addenda to
the volume of His love. Christ, and Christ, alone, shall supply all
your need–all your fresh springs are in Him. "It pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell; and of His fullness we have all
received, and Grace for Grace."

Now, once more, I would to God that some poor soul here that has no
faith–that has no good thing about him– would, nevertheless, look
over his house and see whether he has not an empty vessel somewhere.
All that Christ wants of you, poor Sinner, is that you should be empty
and come and let Him fill you with His Grace! Come along with you, just
as you are! Bring no good works, no prayers, no anything–but come with
all your sins, follies and failures which you may look upon as so many
empty pots! Come to Jesus for everything. "But I have scarcely a sense
of need," you say. Come to Him for that, too! You must be very needy to
be in need of that. Come and get it from Him. I tell you, Soul, you do
not need a half-farthing's worth of your own–for what you think you
have will only keep you from Jesus!

Come in all your poverty–a beggar, a king of beggars! Come and be made
rich by Jesus! You that have not a rag to cover your sin with–you that
are only fit to be put into the devil's dust bin and thrown away as
worthless–come along with you! My Lord Jesus is ready to receive those
that Satan, himself, flings away! If you are such that you cannot find
anything in yourself that is desirable and even your old companions,
who once cheered you on, now think you too mean for them–yet come into
my Master's company–for, "this Man receives sinners." Come with your
beggary and bank-ruptcy–you cannot dig, but to beg be not ashamed,
for, "My God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus."

As for you that have not trusted my Lord and boast that you can do very
well without Him, I suppose I must leave you to fight your own way. You
declare that you will carry on your own business and will not be
dependent upon God,

nor fall into any fanatical ideas, as you are pleased to call them. But
we shall see. Already we see that the youths faint and are wearied and
the young men utterly fall. We see that the young lions lack and suffer
hunger and, also, that the best-laid plans of wisest men go oft awry.
And they that have felt assured that they could fight their own
way–even they have come to terrible failure. We shall see how you
fare. They that mount up with wings as eagles and are proud and
vainglorious–even these go down to destruction so that no flesh has
reason to glory.

As for me, let me wait upon the Lord God and live by faith in Him. Is
it not better to drink of life out of the deep, inexhaustible fullness
of God than to go forever pumping and pumping at your own shallow
cisterns which hold water? Self-reliance may be well enough, but
God-reliance eclipses it as the sun outshines the stars! "Oh, rest in
the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." "Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." "He shall
cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust: His
truth shall be your shield and buckler." There is a God and those who
love Him and trust Him and serve Him know that He is a good Master. Job
was slandered by the devil when he came and said, "Does Job serve God
for nothing?" He insinuated that Job made a good thing out of his
religion and was moved by selfish motives.

It was a great lie and yet, in a certain sense, it is true. If anybody
says the same of you, admit that it is true. Acknowledge that you do
make a fine thing out of your religion. God will not let you serve Him
for nothing–you shall never have to ask the question–"What profit is
there if we serve God?" You shall have His peace, His love, His joy,
His supplies according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! You
shall know that in keeping His Commandments there is great reward!
Believer, you shall have everything through Christ and nothing without
Him! He that trusts not the Savior and prays not to Him, shall be like
Gideon's fleece–when all around it was wet the fleece was dry! But the
man who trusts God and blesses His name shall be like Gideon's
fleece–when all around was dry it was full of moisture!

God will not hear a man's prayers except through Christ Jesus! But if
that name is mentioned, the gates of Heaven fly open! God withholds no
real good from the man of God who is in Christ. But our plea must be
Jesus, first, and Jesus last, and Jesus in between! We must present the
bleeding Lamb before God each morning and each night. I pray you seek
no mercy of God apart from Christ, but lay hold upon God in Christ–and
you shall have enough for all your need! May God the Holy Spirit cause
you to abide in Christ Jesus for His name's sake. Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–2 Kings 4:1-7 and Philippians
4. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–84 (SONG II), 23 (FIRST VERSION),
708.