Please turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of 2 Kings, the book of 2 Kings chapter 4, and you will find that on page 358 in most of the Pew Bibles. 2 Kings chapter 4. Now in chapters 4 and 5 we're presented with a catalog of miracles performed by the prophet Elisha. miracles of grace and mercy. Miracles that echo the ministry of Elijah, even as they anticipate the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Elisha's namesake. And we consider the first of these miracles this morning, which vividly testifies that God's grace is sufficient, not only for one unnamed household, but also for the household of God. Follow along as we read the word of God from 2 Kings chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, Your servant, my husband, is dead. And you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves. Elisha replied to her, How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house? Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except a little oil. Elisha said, go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side. She left him and afterwards shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one. But he replied, there is not a jar left. Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God and he said, go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left. Here ends the reading of God's word. And as we read this story, this short story, we are immediately confronted with the distress of this one unnamed household. Their misery is palpable. The woman's husband, the boy's father, has died. His place at their table is empty and silent. His warm embrace will be felt no more, and the memory of his face had already begun to fade. All seemed lost and empty. for all there was to know about him we know nothing except that he was from the company of the prophets that he labored in service to Elisha and he revered the Lord so he was clearly a pious man who gave at least some of his time and his talents to the service of the Lord but now he was gone and with him went the income that was holding a creditor at bay And that brings us to the crux of the story. For reasons we cannot know, we're not told, the husband had borrowed money against his future and the future of his family. And with his death, that debt became due. And the creditor was at the door to collect his collateral, the labor of his two sons. This may sound strange to us because when we borrow money, we give things as collateral. We give our car, our house, our work, our job, our business assets. But in Israel, where possessions were few, borrowers raised money by offering themselves as collateral and their children. So that if the debt was not paid and it came due, he could take them as his servants to work off the debt. Indentured servitude, it's called. But according to the law of God, justice demands that the debt be paid. This was a lawful thing. The creditor was within his rights to make these sons his servants. To make them what the King James Version calls bondsmen. And according to the law of God, this justice, however, was to be tempered with mercy. Amongst the people of God, this justice, this debt that must be paid, must be handled with mercy. And that's why Israelites were to loan money to one another without interest. There was to be no added burden to the burden of the poor. And mercy demanded that the term of this servitude, this work for pay, or this work to pay off the debt, was limited to six years or less. It could be interrupted by the debt being paid in full, either by the servant themselves that they saved enough money from their wages, or from a close relative who would come and pay the debt in full, what's called a kinsman-redeemer, if you remember the story of Boaz and Ruth. Boaz paid the debt. But it could also be interrupted by the Lord himself on the Day of Atonement, in the year of Jubilee, every 50th year. The ram's horn was blown, and liberty was announced to all. Debts were forgiven, property returned, all debts were cancelled. All those things could end this burden. And Mercy demanded that the creditor treat his bondsmen not as slaves. The NIV uses the word slaves, which may mislead it. Not as slaves, but as hired workers. In fact, at the end of their service, he was to release them with a severance package. Enough to get them started on their own once again. Or if the servant decided to, he could ask to remain a servant the rest of his life. Some people are better able to supply their lives working for others than for themselves. But above all, mercy demanded that the debtors not be exploited, not be taken advantage of, and especially the most vulnerable among them, widows and orphans. In Exodus chapter 22, beginning in verse 22, we read this clear command and this sober warning. Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do, and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. The law of God, the justice of his law allowed for this. The debt would be paid, but it was to be tempered with mercy. Now there's a lot that we are not told in this story. There's a lot that we would like to have about how and why and when and where this all took place. but we're not told. But what we do know is that this widow did cry out. And this fact, coupled by the fact that we must remember the story takes place in Israel, the apostate Israel where the king and his people had thrown off God in the restraint of his law. That we might consider and rightly conclude that this creditor had somehow sinned against this family, against this widow, by ignoring mercy, as he pursued justice. But all misery, we know this people of God, all misery is born of sin. And in this story, his seems to be the likely one, the creditor. But even so, we will never know what other sinful thoughts or words or actions took place by any of the players that may have made this misery worse. We just don't know. But their misery is undeniable. And sin stands behind it, we can be sure. yet although she was weighed down with this misery and her sin the widow acts and she acts in faith she knew where to turn for help she cried out to the Lord by crying out to his prophet Elisha whose name means Yahweh saves he was now considered the man of God no longer walking in Elijah's shadow No, he was the prophet of God in the model, in the mold of Moses. And he was the man to go to, to seek the favor of God. And what she knew of the word of God, she believed to be true. And she cried out to the Lord who had revealed himself to her and to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 17 and 18. The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords. the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. Not only was the Lord Almighty able to do all things, He was willing to judge her fairly, even as He defended her and her sons against injustice. Indeed, as Psalm 68 declares, he is a father to the fatherless and a protector of widows. And she cried out to him. And having cried out to him, she knew what to do. And that was to trust and obey his word to her. So the prophet, and therefore the Lord, heard her plea and he answered her. And he began with a question. A question that not only exposed to her her lack, but also revealed the means by which the Lord would provide, by his grace, all her needs. Elisha said to her, tell me, what do you have in your house? To which she answered, your servant has nothing there except a little oil. One small cruse or vial of oil, if you will. We don't know what kind of oil it was, whether it was for cooking or for burning in lamps or for making perfume. But what we do know is all she had left was one more use. A little bit of oil. Now, Elisha himself had nothing to give her except for the word of God. And so he told her what the Lord would have her do. And he said to her, beginning in verse 3, Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side. The Lord's promise to her was that as she poured out the last of her oil into those empty jars, they would be filled, each and every one. Now to the rationalistic mind of our day that believes only what we see, this is impossible. It's incredible. It's unbelievable. We would probably stand with our jaws dropped. But true faith believes the word of God and believes that it's true and it trusts it to act on it, which is what she did. Out of a deep-rooted assurance created in her by the Holy Spirit through this promise, she went to work. And so, without hesitation it seems, she left him and afterwards shut the door behind her and her sons. they brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one. But he replied, there is not a jar left. Then the oil stopped flowing. You see, the widow's true faith showed itself in two ways in this story. First, she obviously gathered the vessels. It's interesting that the details left out of our narrative, it doesn't tell her going around the neighborhood getting all these vessels, but she did. And the gathering of the vessels, like the digging of the trenches we considered last time in chapter 3, revealed a hearty trust on her part that the promise the Lord had made would be fulfilled. She just needed to do what he said. And secondly, the word of the Lord was given to her, and she is the one who obeyed. No one else trusted and obeyed for her. Not the prophet and not the people of the town who were locked outside the doors. Not even her sons who were inside the house to help her. She alone acted on the promise of God, certain that it was true for her. She alone poured out all that she had, trusting that the Lord would provide all she needed. Now, we don't know whether she acted with a bold assurance as she raced around for these jars or whether she had shaky trepidation, feeling insecure. We cannot know and we need not know because that's not what faith is about. There's nothing in this story to invite the speculation that many give it as to whether or not her faith could have been stronger or whether or not she could have gathered more jars or whether or not she really received the full blessing of God. Those speculations are not born of faith. it's not what the faith is about. The miracle, this miracle, as in all of God's gracious acts toward his people, was his work. It's about God's work. He revealed to Elisha what she must do. He revealed that she was to go to her neighbors, those neighbors that he had already providentially arranged for empty vessels in their house. They're not like our kitchens. They didn't have kitchens like ours full of Tupperware and extra dishes laying around. There were empty dishes that normally would not be empty and they gave them to her. And he provided every drop of oil that filled every jar to the brim before it stopped. And it's he who worked true faith in her to do that which he called her to do. You see, the Lord's the author of this miracle. From first to last. And it was perfect because her faith was true. And her faith was true because God is the one who worked it in her. Now, the climax of the story, we see God's grace is sufficient for this household, this unnamed household, to provide a complete and an abiding redemption. This miracle was not about the oil. This miracle was about what the oil could do. And the widow's true faith led her back to Elisha, and she asked him, what was she to do now? and we read in verse 7 that she went and told the man of God and he said go sell the oil and pay your debts you and your sons can live on what's left well just as she had held back nothing when she poured out the last bit of her oil she was to hold back nothing now and to sell all the oil she was not to hoard it she was to use it and with the money she gained she was to do two things first she was to complete the debt that is she was to pay the debt in full no negotiations for a discount for early payment no negotiations for a discount because of a lump payment payment in full justice demanded that the payment be complete in order to redeem her and her sons from this bondage and she paid it herself but not because she had earned it but because the Lord had intervened as her kinsman redeemer and provided her with the money to pay her debt and the sin that was attached to it was to be put away once and for all forever and second she and her sons were to live on what was left God's grace was sufficient not only to provide a complete redemption for them but also an abiding redemption giving them as a family the means by which to avoid becoming entangled in sin and bondage again this was not just gravy that they could use if they wanted to. This was not just money to set aside for a rainy day. This was their future. Instead of borrowers, they would be givers and lenders, as David explains and observes in Psalm 37, verse 25. David says, I was young and now I'm old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They're always generous and lend freely. Their children will be blessed. The Lord provided not only for their redemption from bondage, but he provided for their preservation day after day. So we see in this story that God's grace is sufficient for one unnamed household who was distressed by misery and sin, who acted in faith by turning to God and trusting and obeying his word, and who enjoyed complete and abiding redemption. But why have we seen it? Why, when the rest of the world was locked outside those doors, were we invited in to see the miracle of the oil and the provision that it made? Because this story, this short video clip, if you will, serves to remind us all, all believers of every age and every generation that God's grace is sufficient for the household of God. It's a picture. It's to show us something greater. This story reminds us that God's grace is sufficient for the household of God who will continue to be distressed by misery and sin until Christ comes back in glory to take us home. We're all sons of Adam. And we all know what it is to be distressed by misery. We all know what it is to grieve the death of a loved one. We all know what it is to battle a frail body in the darkness of soul. We know what it is to wrestle against the bondage of debt. We know what it is to face our finitude day after day. To be reminded that there's misery under the sun. Everyone knows the misery of this world. But as the children of God, we also know the misery and the distress of sin. Not only the sins of others against us, destructive actions and hurtful words that we are quick to identify. But also by the grace of God and the work of His Spirit, more and more we know the distress of our sin. Our sin against God and our sin against each other. Sin that still clings to us and so easily entangles us, even though we belong to Jesus Christ. See, the perfect law of our holy God, as we heard this morning, as we hear every Lord's Day, and as we open our Bibles and we read, we run into it over and over again. The perfect law of God is a merciless creditor that constantly demands that he be paid in full. It confronts us with our sin, And it reminds us that despite all of our best efforts, we have nothing by which we can pay. We have nothing. How great our sin and misery are. Yet the story also reminds us that we're not stuck there. It reminds us that God's grace is sufficient for the household of God who are continually enabled to take action in true faith. You see, through true faith we know and we believe what the Word of God reveals about Jesus so that we trust in Him. Through true faith we know and believe 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15 that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners and to trust that it's true not only for other people but for me too. And through true faith we know and believe Romans chapter 10 verse 9 that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. And because we trust in Him, we will never be ashamed. We know this. We believe this. We trust this. And therefore, through true faith, we know where to turn in our sin and misery for help. We know to look away from our sin and misery. The answer is not in here. But we are to look away and turn to the true Elisha, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God in the flesh, Yahweh who saves, who came into this world to save sinners like you and like me. Because God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. You see, it's He alone who perfectly obeyed the will of God as it is revealed in His law, in the place of His people, in the place of the household of God. And it's He alone who suffered all the misery that our sins deserve, including the eternal wrath of God against them for the household of God. He alone satisfies God's perfect justice against the sins of His people. And where else would we go? He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. No one has peace with God except for Him. No one else intercedes with God except for Him. He alone satisfies God's mercy toward us as the people of God. We know where to turn for help. And through true faith, as we turn to Him, we also know what to do. Like the widow, we know that we need to acknowledge our lack and act on the promises of God. We need not wait for a special word from Him. We need not wait for an attesting miracle. He's given us more than the widow ever had. He's given us His Word in its fullness. Every promise of God is yes and amen in Jesus Christ and it's revealed for us here. And as we trust in His merits alone for salvation, as we dive into His Word in the strength of His Spirit, we find the good works that He has enabled us to do, that He has planned for us from before the foundation of the world to pursue, to act upon. It's revealed in His Word. And finally, the story reminds us that God's grace is sufficient for the household of God because He has already provided complete and abiding redemption for His people. Jesus Christ has come. The King. He's come and He's given His life for us. He's been raised for us. He's been exalted for us. He intercedes for us. He has provided it all. And the profit from the oil in the story not only saved the widow's household from the bondage of debt and slavery, it also provided for their living day after day. And with that picture in mind, listen to what Paul says of our redemption in Christ Jesus in Titus chapter 2, beginning at verse 12. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all our wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. He came, we might say, not only to redeem us from all wickedness, once for all by his death on the cross. But also through the ongoing work of his Holy Spirit, he works to purify us for himself, to be a people that pursues that which is pleasing to him, eager to do good as we wait for the day when he comes back to relieve him from all our sin and misery, when our true faith will become sight and our redemption will be fully and finally and completely realized, body and soul, in the presence of our God forever. you see God's grace is sufficient for the household of God who will continue to be distressed by misery and sin who will act in true faith by turning to Christ and obeying his word and who already enjoy complete and abiding redemption in him that will be fully realized when he comes again in glory now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine and according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we thank You for this word this day. This sneak peek into the household of Israel. a peek at your redemptive mercy and grace through your prophet Elisha to this family that pictures for us our life in this world as your people. We thank you, Father, that we leave encouraged to know and be reminded that your grace is sufficient. It's not only all we need, it's all that we have. And you have provided abundantly for us. And yes, Father, we know and we acknowledge that we continue in this world under the weight of misery and struggling against sin. We thank you, Father, that we may endure this struggle in true faith, looking outside of ourselves for our answers and looking to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and looking to your word for your directions to us for how it is we will live as we wait for his return. And thank you above and beyond all that, Father, for the redemption that is ours in him. That he has fully paid the debt that we owe you. That he has provided for our lives all of our days in the power of the Spirit. Father, keep us mindful of these things as we struggle in this world. To the glory of your name and to our encouragement and good hope. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.