LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 7 MARCH 2021 pm
2 KINGS 4 VERSES 1 - 7
As we come again to the Old Testament scriptures we look at an event that happened in this woman's home. She was heartbroken. As we look at this story we can trace the footsteps of the gospel in this story.
The despair this woman was in. She is sitting with her head in her hands. She doesn't know which step to take. "My husband your servant is dead." Emptiness and void in her home and soul. We have a void in our souls that can only be filled with the presence of God. We were born in sin, shapen in iniquity but there is a hollow in our hearts. Death is no respecter of persons. This man, her husband was someone who loved the Lord then death stepped in. It is appointed unto man once to die and then to stand in judgment. Jesus took all our sins on his body that we might go from death into eternal life. Death enters into every home. For each of us death will one day visit our homes. This woman was in great despair. Psalm 40 the psalmist describes a time when in great despair, he had no-one to help him. The Psalmist could say that the Lord set his feet on a rock and gave him a new song. Remember the prodigal son. He came to a place of no return. He had been living it up, party after party but soon his money ran out, his friends left him. Romans 7 "O wretched man that I am ... deliver me from this death." There is no-one who can deliver you today, to reconcile you back to God again except Jesus. Notice the doubt that she had. According to the law her 2 sons must be sold. She owed a debt she couldn't pay. Jesus came into the world to pay the greatest price ever paid. He came to bring the greatest atonement. "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life." I should pay the price of my sin but Jesus stepped in. He took the punishment of our sin. John 17 "I have finished the work you have given me to do." He paid the supreme price. Think of the Judgment Hall and Pilate's decision. One man had to be set free. He offered Jesus but the people cried "crucify him". He made the decision to set Barrabas free. Jesus was offered on behalf of Barabbas. Barabbas' sins were paid for as are yours. You can be set free from your sin by trusting in Jesus.
The decision she makes. She brings her plight to Elijah thinking he coud help her. He would not turn her away. "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast away." He is giving you an invitation to come to him. This woman made a decision. She was going to do something about it. Maybe you are still in your sin. The Lord is waiting for you to step out of your sin and come. The demon possessed man said to the Lord "if thou wilt thou canst make me clean." The Lord will not turn away anyone that cometh to him. The Samaritan woman came one day to the well. She met Christ and he did not turn her away. The prodigal son made his way home, back to his father's house. He realised there was nothing he could do for himself. There was no use thinking about it. It was no use pondering it. He had to arise and go. Maybe you know you are not saved. You realise you need to be saved, to come to the Lord. You have a decision to make. There is no use thinking about it. There is no use knowing you need to be saved. You need to come and trust him as Saviour and Lord. The prodigal son made his way back to home, to his father, to his family. He confesses to his father "I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight. I am no more worthy to be called thy son." The father was waiting for him to come home. Jeus is waiting for you. He paid the full price of sin. He opens up a way for you to come. The woman had nothing to pay the debtor but made a decision to go to the prophet.
The despising here that she made - verse 2 "I have a pot of oil." She despised this pot of oil. That was all she had. That would be the saviour to her. The pot of oil - never thought of it. "He came unto his own and his own received him not." He was despised, rejected but he was the Saviour of the world. Think of the woman at the well. How she met Christ and how he talked with her. He asked her for water to drink. He had nothing to draw from the well. He was not talking about physical but a spiritual water he would give her. Have you overlooked what Jesus has done on the cross? Have you turned your back on him today?
A delivery that she proved. She came to the man of God. Nothing but this pot of oil. He told her to go home, take her 2 sons, borrow as many pots as they could. She was to go into her house, close her door and begin to pour it into the vessels, She did exactly as she was told. She filled all the pots and called for more but there were no more to fill. The man of God told her to sell the pots and pay the debt with the oil then leave all the rest. A miracle of grace. Every man and woman is saved by grace. He gives the grace to live day by day after that. "If I was saved, I couldn't keep it." Jesus tells us he will keep us. It is not of works, it is the gift of God less any man shall boast. Will you accept this gift, the gift of God's salvation. Don't mistake it for a religious ceremony. Make sure you are saved and saved by God's grace.
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