God Waits for Us to Be Empty
God waits for us to be empty, and when we do, He fills us with His unlimited fullness.
Watchman Nee emphasizes that God desires us to be continuously empty in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He illustrates this through the story of a woman who had only a pot of oil, highlighting that the more we empty ourselves, the more room we create for God's fullness. The sermon teaches that our responsibility is to keep emptying ourselves, while God's role is to fill us with His Spirit. Nee reminds us that God waits for us to recognize our need for Him, and only those who acknowledge their emptiness will be filled. Ultimately, the message is about the importance of maintaining an open heart to receive God's abundant blessings.
Text
"And she said, thy handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil." 2 Kings 4:2
The work of the Holy Spirit is not "once empty, always full"; it is "keeping on being empty to keep on being full." The woman's difficulty was having too few vessels. She was told to borrow "not a few." which is to say "the more the better." The greater the space, the greater will be the fullness. This is the rule which God wants us to learn.
He waits for us to be empty. If you have an unlimited vacancy, the Holy Spirit will occupy it all, dispensing to you his unlimited fullness. Let me repeat; our emptying needs to be continuous. To the degree that we empty ourselves. God can fill us. The emptying is our responsibility, just as the filling is his. God wants to see the hungry filled with good things. Only those who presume to be rich will he send away empty.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Work of the Holy Spirit
- A. Not 'once empty, always full'
- B. Continuously empty to be continuously full
- II. The Problem of Limited Vessels
- A. Having too few vessels
- B. Need to borrow 'not a few'
- III. The Rule of Unlimited Fullness
- A. Greater space, greater fullness
- IV. Our Responsibility in Emptying
- A. Continuous emptying
- B. God's responsibility in filling
Key Quotes
“The work of the Holy Spirit is not 'once empty, always full'; it is 'keeping on being empty to keep on being full'.” — Watchman Nee
“If you have an unlimited vacancy, the Holy Spirit will occupy it all, dispensing to you his unlimited fullness.” — Watchman Nee
“Only those who presume to be rich will he send away empty.” — Watchman Nee
Application Points
- We must make it our responsibility to continuously empty ourselves to make space for God's fullness.
- God wants to see us hungry and in need, so He can fill us with good things.
- Presuming to be rich and self-sufficient will only lead to being sent away empty.