THE CREDITOR
Our text is found in II Kings 4:1. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying; Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord; and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondsmen.
Now there is a message in this text about how the widow had to take what she had and surrender it to the Lord and began to pour out to other vessels. When she began to do that, the little that she had became much.
Satan may have told you that what you have is small or that your gift or your part at church is unimportant. That’s a lie! If you will give out of what you have, and serve as unto the Lord, God can take it and make it much.
That is not the message I want to bring to you today.
As we read this text we see that this lady had a debt she could not pay. Elisha couldn’t pay it for her either. It would take a supernatural act of God to pay her debt, and it would take her being obedient to what the Lord told her to do.
If she had not been obedient to the instruction of the Lord, her debt would not have been covered. The creditor would have come and taken all she had.
In verse 1, she told the man of God "the creditor is come".
The point I want to make to you today is this. The creditor is going to come.
Let this be a truth in the heart of saint and sinner alike.
Sinner you might be a good person, but you were born into a debt that you cannot pay.
Christian, the creditor is checking on your account also. He is making sure you haven’t run up a new bill.
Zechariah 3:1 says, And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
This was Joshua the text says the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and the old accuser standing right there.
Christian, you can be sure that the creditor checks every day to see that your name is still in the paid by the blood section.
Jesus told the disciples one day, Luke 10:20, Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather because your names are written in heaven.
Going to church once in a while won’t pay the debt. Shaking the preacher’s hand won’t pay the debt. I don’t care how much money you pour into a church or some TV evangelist, you don’t have enough to pay your debt.
ONLY THE APPLIED BLOOD OF JESUS CAN PAY YOUR DEBT!
Friend, the creditor is going to come.
Luke 12:16-21 says I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruit and my goods.
We read of a rich man whose ground produced plentifully and he said, I will tear down my barns and build bigger barns. He said to himself, I have plenty. I’ll take it easy now and I’ll drink and be merry. I have plenty stored up for years.
He never said, I have plenty. I can help the poor and support the gospel.
That night his debt became due, and all that he had could not pay the price for his soul.
What would a man give in exchange for his soul? What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?
Turn to Daniel chapter 5 and read of a king named Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. He inherited all the riches of a kingdom.
This king made a great feast for 1,000 of his lords. He brought the vessels out of the temple of the house of God. They drank wine and sang praises unto false god’s.
This man had all the riches of a kingdom, but he dishonored God, and the things of God. In the night of his celebration a hand began to write upon the wall.
The interpretation of that message was "Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting."
The king’s countenance changed, his thoughts changed, and his knees began to knock together. That same night the creditor came. (verse 30) Belshazzar was slain, and all the riches of a kingdom couldn’t pay his debt.
Am I trying to scare you? Maybe.
I just don’t want the creditor to come and find any of us with an outstanding debt, when Jesus has already paid the price and offers redemption.
I don’t want any of us to be like the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. They had left their first love. The Lord told them to remember from where they had fallen and repent or He would remove their candlestick.
In other words, if they chose darkness, then He will let them have it.
Christian, ask yourself today. If the creditor comes, can I boldly face him knowing my debt is paid? Am I covered by the blood of the Lamb of God, or have I left my first love? Have I become neither hot or cold?
Sinner, we love you and that is why I am going to tell you; if you have not received Jesus into your life and the creditor comes, in all eternity you’ll never be able to pay the debt.
There will be no fullfilment of desire in hell; only weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not.
I am asking you to make a choice. Heaven or hell.
Accept what Jesus has done for you. He was and is the only one who could pay your debt.
Deuteronomy 30:19 - I call heaven and earth to record this day against you. That I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live.
