“Dependent” 8-18-24
Overview
Sent Into Enemy Territory
There are days when the news, a phone call, or simply driving down the road makes us want to retreat into a safe little bubble, hidden away from a world that feels increasingly hostile. Yet Scripture reminds us that God's people are not called to hide—they are called to depend on Him in the very places that seem most unsafe.
Consider Elijah. In 1 Kings 16, we meet King Ahab, who "did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him," and his wife Jezebel, who hailed from Sidon and demanded the worship of Baal. After pronouncing the LORD's word of judgment against Ahab, Elijah is first sustained by ravens beside a brook. Then comes the surprising command in 1 Kings 17:8–9: "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there." Zarephath was nothing remarkable—a small seaside village known mainly for crafting Baal idols—but it sat in the homeland of Jezebel herself. The Lord, who could feed His prophet anywhere, deliberately sent him into enemy territory.
There Elijah meets a widow gathering sticks to prepare a final meal for herself and her son before they die 1 Kings 17:10–12. She is not asking how to fix her situation; she has accepted hopelessness. And here the text turns a mirror on us. When we honestly examine our thoughts, words, and deeds, we discover that our own sinful nature is enemy territory. Sin is like a stain that only spreads the harder we scrub. We cannot make it better. Left to ourselves, despair is the only honest response.
But Elijah speaks the word of the LORD: "Do not be afraid… The jar of meal shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth" 1 Kings 17:13–14. Notice—the jar never overflowed. God provided exactly what was needed: no more, no less, but everything. That is the pattern of His grace. He gave His own Son, the spotless Lamb, who poured out His lifeblood to atone fully for our sin. Nothing more was needed; nothing less would do. As Paul learned, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Corinthians 12:9.
This is why we pray for daily bread Matthew 6:11—not because God is unaware of our needs, but so that we might receive His provision with humble, dependent hearts. He gives the breath in our lungs, the beat of our hearts, the homes and friendships and communities that sustain us, and above all the eternal provision of Christ Himself. When you walk out your door into a world where the devil prowls like a lion seeking to devour, you are not sent unequipped. You are sealed in baptism, filled with the Holy Spirit, and entirely dependent on the One who supplies everything you need to live, to witness, and to carry hope to others who are preparing their last meal in despair. There is no need for hopelessness. Our jar will not be empty.
Transcript
Do you ever step out of your house or maybe you're still in your house and you turn on 3s
the news or you get a phone call and hear the latest from a friend or family member? 10s
And it just makes you want to hide. 16s
You just want to hide and stay in your own little space where it's safe, it's comfortable 19s
or if you're driving out in the world and it just comes over you that this is just not good 28s
and you want to just keep driving. 39s
You just want to be in your safe little bubble. 44s
Safe from anything that the world has to present. 51s
The day we are going to get in the car and we are going to drive. 58s
We are going to drive to Zerapheth. It's a little seaport village in Lebanon. 64s
And it's very interesting because unlike many of the places that we visited this summer on our 73s
drives, Zerapheth was not a cultural center. It was not a major port. Even though it was 80s
seaside, there was nothing very significant about Zerapheth. 89s
They were known. They were known for making idols. They were known for making idols that were used 97s
in the worship of the false God-bale. But otherwise, there was nothing so magnificent about 106s
Zerapheth. But it's not the town. It's not the town that makes the text that we'll study today 116s
interesting. But it's really what's surrounding and the context of how we find Zerapheth. 125s
In First Kings, Chapter 16, we get to learn a little bit about who hails from Zerapheth. 136s
We read that Eraheib's son of Amree did evil in the side of the Lord, 147s
more than all who were before him. Eraheib had been appointed King over Israel. And so, 153s
Hab was now overseeing Israel. He was the leader of the one in charge. And it says, 160s
in his as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam's son of Neba, 168s
he took as his wife, Jezebel. Daughter of King Esbeil of the Sedonians, and went and served 174s
Baal and worshipped him. He married the king of Israel married a woman from Thidon. 183s
Thidon is where Zerapheth is. And Jezebel in Scripture is known as one who persecuted the followers 197s
of Yahweh and demanded the worship of the false God Baal. In Scripture it says that Ahaib 208s
did more to provoke the anchor of the Lord, the God of Israel than had all the kings of Israel 216s
who were before him. So here we have the ruler, the one with power is King Ahaib. He is a bad dude. 223s
And he married Jezebel, Jezebel, Jezebel who hails from where they worship the false God Baal. 234s
And Jezebel is not a nice lady. And this is where we're going to travel. This is where we're going 244s
to travel to the homeland of Jezebel. Elijah, the prophet of the Lord, he saw, he saw what was taking place. 256s
And the Lord gave him a word to bring to King Ahaib. And Elijah, tell King Ahaib as the Lord, 268s
the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, their shall be neither due nor reign these years except 276s
by my word. He pronounces the curse to Ahaib and the Lord direct them out 283s
into the valley near a stream where he is fed and all his physical needs are provided for him 294s
by the Lord our God. And then he's told to go to Zerapheth. If you would please open your 304s
Bible to first kings chapter 17, this can be found on page 300 of the Old Testament if you are 317s
using a Pue edition of the Bible, we're looking at first kings chapter 17, beginning in verse 8. 326s
Where it says, then the word of the Lord came to him, that's Elijah saying, go now to Zerapheth, 337s
which belongs to Sidon and live there. For I have commanded a widow there to feed you, 344s
so he set out and went to Zerapheth. Sidon inscripture it symbolizes the wickedness of the world's 350s
system. It symbolizes the very epitome of unholyness. It is not a nice territory for Elijah to go to. 362s
And yet this is exactly where the Lord sends and directs Elijah. He directs Elijah to go and 374s
live directly in enemy territory. And so Elijah goes. He goes. The Lord could have provided food 383s
and water for Elijah anywhere. We had seen it right before. He was sent to Zerapheth. He was 398s
provided food and water by the ravens of the air. The Lord had already provided and yet 406s
and yet the Lord could provide. In any place at any time, anywhere he sends to Elijah directly 414s
into enemy territory, the homeland of Jezebel. And we don't get the privilege of having Elijah's 424s
inner thought. We don't know what he's thinking, but we know he goes. We know he goes. Part of me, 434s
part of me thinks there had to be something in him that said, you've got to be kidding me. 446s
Where are you sending me? I'm directed to go into enemy territory. And yet he went looking 452s
again at verse 10. So he set out and went to Zerapheth. When he came to the gate of the town, 464s
Owito was there gathering stick. He called to her and said, bring me a little water in a vessel 470s
so that I may drink. As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, bring me a morsel of bread 476s
in your hand. But she said, as the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked. Only a handful of 483s
meal and a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am now gathering a couple of sticks so that I may go home 491s
and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat of it and die. This widow is hopeless. 497s
She is in a date of despair. She is literally preparing her last meal so that she and her son may eat and then they can sit and wait to die. 506s
She is in a state of complete and utter hopelessness. 521s
And there is such a foreign concept there for us that utter despair. 529s
Does she just accept that this is her fate? Well, we drive off into the world into what we know to be 538s
in a military territory. We still have that little bit of surely there's something more 549s
and yet this widow that Elijah speaks to is just accepting of this terrible and tragic 562s
fate. She doesn't ask Elijah. How can you make this better? She doesn't ask for herself, 574s
how can I make this better? And the average person you and I, we look around and we 584s
think how can I make things better? Because we are sent into enemy territory and by Golly we're 594s
going to do something to make things better. But we look around and we see that it's not that we are 605s
sent into enemy territory because we stop looking around and we look at ourselves and we look at our 619s
lives and we look at our thoughts and words and deeds and we realize that our own sinful nature is 633s
our enemy territory. And we can't ask, how can I make it better? Because we know 647s
we can't. We can't make it better. So do we, do we prepare our last meal, 664s
instead and wait, just wait for the inevitable? Do we find ourselves in complete and utter hopelessness 681s
and despair? Because when we consider the weight of our sin, the weight of the enemy territory 692s
that is our heart when left to our own devices, there is nothing but despair and hopelessness. 702s
It's like the stain, the stain that is there and you try to, try to blot it out, 716s
but the more that you rub on this stain, the bigger it gets, the worse it gets, the more noticeable 724s
it gets, the sin in our lives, the more that we try to make it better, try to blot it out. 730s
It spreads and it gets worse and it's more noticeable. So do we make that last meal 739s
and prepare it and sit there and just wait for the inevitable to come. 752s
What did Elijah tell the widow? Look with me please at verse 13. Elijah said to her, 765s
Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said, but first, make me a little cake of it and bring 773s
it to me and afterwards make me some make something for yourself and your son. For that says the 781s
Lord, the God of Israel, the jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail 787s
until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth. She went and did as Elijah said so that she 794s
as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied. Neither did the 801s
jug of oil fail according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. 807s
Look at verse 14, the jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail 817s
until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth. Elijah brings her the promise of the provision 826s
of the Lord. He promises by the word of the Lord according to the word of the Lord that that jar of 837s
meal would not be emptied. That that jug of oil would not fail. And if you look at verse 16, 847s
indeed the jar of meal was not emptied. Neither did the jug of oil fail according to the word 859s
of the Lord, but notice that it does not ever say that that jar that jug were overflowing 866s
that it was an abundant, the Lord provided exactly what was needed. No more, no less, 878s
but exactly what was needed for the time, the place and the people that needed it. 891s
God, in our sin, provides exactly exactly what we need. No more, no less, but he provides 901s
exactly which we need, which is everything. And that is that God provides himself. God provides 915s
himself. He provided his very own son the perfect lamb for the sacrifice of our sins, the sacrifice 927s
for the sins of the entire world, the blood of Jesus Christ made a tone meant for your sin. No more, 937s
no less, because it is everything. It is everything. The jar of meal will not be emptied. 951s
The jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth. 965s
The sin that you hold within your heart, the sin that you have at the very tip of your brain, 975s
the thoughts and the words that sit there. Those were all taken upon the shoulders of the lamb. 989s
Jesus took every single one of our sins and he emptied his lifeblood. He gave his own spirit. 1004s
Nothing more, nothing less, because he gave everything so that you would be fully and completely 1020s
forgiven and redeemed. 1038s
The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians how the Lord told him, 1044s
my grace is sufficient for you. For power is made perfect in weakness, so I will boast all the more 1051s
gladly Paul says of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ made well in me. 1059s
Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the 1065s
sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then I am strong. The grace that we receive from the Lord 1073s
Jesus Christ is all that we need. It is all that we have ever needed and it is all that God 1081s
gives us. And out of his own grace not only does he give us that full redemption in 1091s
this Christ, but he keeps our jar of meal, our jug of oil, not emptied, but continuous. 1100s
He provides for our every single need. He provides the very air that we breathe. He provides 1114s
the very beat of our heart. He provides the community in which we live. He provides the homes 1122s
and the friendship, the schools, the jobs. He provides everything that we need to live. 1132s
In the fourth petition of the Lord's prayer, we ask, we ask that he would provide our daily bread, 1147s
and we know that he is providing our daily bread, and we ask that he would give us humble heart 1154s
to receive that daily bread, to acknowledge it is by his grace that he gives, and to give him 1163s
strength. Not only for the daily bread we receive here, but even more for the eternal provision 1171s
that he gives to us, not out of our deserving, but because he is good and gracious and merciful. 1182s
When we walk out these doors, when we walk out these doors and face the world that waits for us, 1194s
we know that we are entering enemy territory, we know that the devil is out there prowling, 1204s
looking to devour us. But we are still sent and we are promised that the Lord will provide 1213s
everything that we need. He will give us the strength of His Spirit. He will give us the power of His 1224s
Lord and He will give us the mercy of His loving grace to share that word with those that we 1233s
come in contact with so that they too would know that there is no need for despair, 1242s
that there is no need for hopelessness because our hope relies completely in the promise that we 1250s
have from Jesus Christ and we know as baptized children that we have been sealed in the promise 1260s
of the hope. We have been sealed in the promise of the Holy Spirit and that we are dependent 1269s
completely on Him because He gives everything to us, no more, no less because it is everything. 1278s