All right, now let's take our
Bibles and turn to 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 7. 2 Kings chapter 7. I began this past week to read
in the book of Kings and my heart was drawn to these two passages. In the passage we consider now, I want us to behold the miracle
of God's saving grace toward hopelessly in themselves lost
sinners. Four leprous men are found at
a gate that enters into the city that's besieged by a powerful
enemy. Now just turn back, hold your
place there, but turn back to 2 Kings 6, 2 Kings 6, verse 24,
25, 2 Kings 6. Here's what's happening. And
it came to pass after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered
all his host and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was
a great famine in Samaria, And behold, they besieged it until
an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver. I looked
it up, it said about $300. And the fourth part of a cab
of dove's dung, about a half pint, half pint of dove's dung,
for five pieces of silver, a little over $19. These four men we're going to
look at for a second, they're types of all men by nature. They've got leprosy, which is
a type of sin. They're outcast, like all of
us, outcast by God because of our transgressions. Men who were
pictures of all who are without God, without hope in this world,
in bondage to Satan, death, grave, what a plight. The scripture
sets forth in 2 Kings 7, starting in verse 3. There were four leprous men at
the entering end of the gate, and they said one to another,
Why sit we here until we die? Now, they're sitting in a gate
in this city. Picture of this world, all of
its pleasures, false religion, famine, spiritual famine is the
order of the day. And those within the city, there's
nothing there to eat. Here again, this is a picture
of this world. There's nothing, any sustenance to eat. And those within the city, it's
besieged, it's surrounded. Those within the city would gladly
eat the disgusting flesh of an unclean animal to survive. Or they'd take, as one writer
said, to buy a half pint, a half pint of dove's dung. They'd give
five pieces of silver just to get what a dove, who was a clean
animal that would eat grain and things that were good, they'd
buy a half pint of dove's dung, try to find just some undigested
seeds or grains that could be picked out and eaten. And then
when there was no other hope, cannibalism took over. I'd hold your play, turn back
to six, Chapter six, verse 26 to 30. I'm telling you, this
city is a picture of this world. You know, sometimes we try to
paint this world, this is kind of a nice place. This is, you
know, this world is prosperous. This country, oh, I pray God
have mercy on this country. This country is still the greatest
country in the world. I thank God for it. But this
country, like this world, spiritually speaking, this is the way it
is. This is how it is. The problem is we just don't
know it. God has told us what's in this
world. But here's the attitude. This is what, you talk about
depravity. Somebody say, I'd never do this.
Don't kid yourself. Second King 626, and as the king
of Israel was passing upon the wall, there cried a woman unto
him, saying, help my lord, O king. And he said, if the lord do not
help thee, whence shall I help thee? What words of wisdom. Out of the barn floor, out of
the wine press, and the king said to her, what aileth thee?
She answered, this woman said unto me, give thy son that we
may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled
my son, and did eat him. And I said unto her on the next
day, give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her
son. And it came to pass, when the
king heard these words of the woman, that he rent his clothes,
and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and behold,
he had cycloth within upon his flesh. Oh, the immeasurable depth
of man's depravity. This world offers no hope, no
peace, no comfort. Solomon wrote about that in Ecclesiastes. I'm going to give myself to mirth.
I'm going to give myself to pleasure. I'm going to do this. I'm going
to do that. I'm going to be happy. There is nothing here that will
sustain us, that will satisfy us. I said it again. Go anywhere
you want to go. See anything you want to see.
And after you've seen it, you've seen it. I've never been to a lot of places
in this world. I've looked at encyclopedias.
I've looked at pictures. I've seen it. It's not going
to satisfy. It was a city besieged. It was famine. People would pay
good money to buy nothing. And then after you ate that,
get you a half pint of dove's dung. Well, that's something
to look forward to. Here's these lepers, back to
2 Kings chapter 7. These lepers, four lepers. And
they're sitting at the entering in the gate, entering the gate.
And inside there's nothing. It's bad enough. There's no food
there. There's cannibalism. These men are lepers. They are
the worst of the worst shape of anybody. Man, sitting at the gate and
said to one another, Why sit we here until we die? These men are corrupt. The scripture
sets forth concerning mankind, Genesis 6, 12, and God looked
upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt. These men are sitting
there, their flesh is rotting off. I hate to be so graphic,
but this is the way it is. This is the way it is. Tell men
exactly what they are, how they are before God. Because when
you take your last breath, I'm gonna tell you something right
now, you're gonna know it then. You will know it then. God looked
upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth. Here's where we are. By birth. And what can we do about it?
Nothing. These men were sitting here and they asked this question. Why sit we here until we die? Going
back into the city wasn't an option. There's nothing there. The law of God forbid that they
go back and be around in your body, hold your place, turn to
Leviticus 13. These men are lepers now. Leviticus chapter 13, verse
45 and 46. If the leper in whom the plague
is, his clothes shall be rent, his head bare, he shall put a
covering upon his upper lip, shall cry, unclean, unclean,
all the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be
defiled, he's unclean, he shall dwell alone, without the camp
shall his habitation be. And go back to the law. Scripture
says in Romans 3.20, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. God's law must be satisfied because
God's just. The penalty for the broken law
is going to have to be satisfied. Ezekiel 18, for behold, all souls
are mine is the soul of the father. So also the soul of the son is
mine, the soul that sent it, that shall die. So if we're going
to, if we're going to take that, which the spirit of God has set
forth for our instruction, teaching and correction, we would do well
to consider these four lepers right here. Consider these four
lepers as types of us. Go ahead and let's just realize
we are born walking dead men, possessing no power to change
our condition. Scripture says in Jeremiah 13,
23, can the Ethiopian change his skin? or the leopard his
spots, then neither may we also do good that are accustomed to
do evil. Leopards sitting in the gate,
outcast, nothing inside, no hope. In the midst of what appears
to be total despair, the Spirit of God is pleased to record the
conversation and the action of these four lepers, which reveals
the evidence of God's mercy that has been shown to undeserving
sinners. What these men said and what
they did sets forth the only hope we got. So here's what we
got. First of all, these men were blessed with a grand conclusion. They came to a conclusion. These
four lepers were made to behold in picture and type their spiritual
state. Again, verse 4, if we say we
will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and
we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we
shall die also. That's a pretty good conclusion.
Here's a discovery that was made. Turn over to Luke, Luke chapter
15. There was a discovery made by these men, and here's a picture,
type. That same conclusion that was given to the prodigal son,
Luke chapter 15, verse 11, he said, a certain man had two sons,
and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me
the portion of goods that fall to me, and he divided unto them
his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered
all together and took his journey into a far country, and there
wasted his substance with riotous, reckless, loose living. When it spent all, there arose
a mighty famine in that land, just like in that city. And he
began to be in want. Went and joined himself to a
citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to
feed swine. He would fain have filled his
belly with the husk that the swine did eat, just like they'd
eat a donkey's head, or a half pint of dove's dung, and no man
gave unto him. When he came to himself, he said,
how many hard servants of my fathers have bread enough to
spare, and I perish with hunger, I will arise and go. These men came to the conclusion,
if we go back into the city, we're gonna die, and if we sit
here, we're gonna die. The conclusion, of a man's desperate
condition is only known spiritually. It's only known when the Spirit
of God opens his understanding to perceive how hopeless his
case is. I can sit here and preach, and
preach, and preach, and preach, and preach. I've been here over 20 years
now, and men can hear it, and hear it, and hear it, and hear
it, and I can talk about man's depravity, and about our state
before God being born in Adam, and when God opens a man or a
woman's heart, and they hear it, they're gonna say, and in
their heart, they'll realize for the first time, I'm in trouble. I am in trouble. These men said,
we're sitting right here, and there's nothing there, and ain't
nothing here where we're sitting. If we go in there, we're gonna
die. And if we sit here, we're gonna
die. And here's the conclusion spiritually. I need some help. I'm in trouble. I have sinned against God. David
said in Psalm 51, against thee and thee only have I sinned.
and done this evil in thy sight, until a man or a woman realized,
I am a sinner. I'm not talking about, you know,
I took a, you know, I slipped out a little something out of,
you know, five and dime there, stuck it in my pocket, you know,
I mean, I realize, but no, I'm talking about, I am a rebel against
God and I deserve to be in hell right now. I deserve to be there. And if God gives me what I deserve,
that's where I'm gonna be. I'm in trouble. They came to
a grand conclusion. We're dying. We got a disease
that's gonna kill us. And there's no help in that.
Well, having seen their plight, these men were brought to behold
the only hope that they had. any kind of continued sustenance,
and it pictured that which a wretched sinner, by the grace of God,
knows. Here's the second thing. They
knew this. We need mercy. Back in verse
four again, the last half. Well, I'll read the first part.
If we say we'll enter into the city, then the famine's in the
city. We shall die there. If we sit here, we'll die also. Now therefore come and let us
fall upon the host of the Syrians. And if they save us alive, we
shall live. And if they kill us, we shall
but die. We're gonna die anyway. If I
sit here, I'm gonna die. If I go in there, I'm gonna die.
I ain't got nothing to eat. My flesh is falling off. If we go to the Syrians, if they
let us live, we'll live. But give us something to eat,
we'll have something to eat, something to drink. And if they kill us,
well, we're just gonna die anyway. We got that. Only hope we got.
What a blessed place for a needy sinner to be found. Hemmed up
to where there's no other hope but that God Almighty would show
mercy. These lepers, because of where they were, were really
enemies to the Syrians. The Syrians had them besieged.
These lepers said, well, what did I ever do to you? Well, you
belong to that city right there. And we want the city. So you
are the enemy. Let me ask you this, were we
not, because of what we've done, spiritually dead lepers, enemies
of God? in our mind. Scripture says,
by nature, the children of wrath, even as others. These powerful
Syrians had the upper hand and therefore they were the ones
before whom the four lepers must plead for mercy. Who are we dealing with? We're
dealing with God Almighty. Sinned against Him. That's what David said, against
thee and thee only. Well, I thought I did this against
you. Well, I did, but it's against God. All sin's against God. What does God's Word reveal concerning
mercy that is shown to sinners who come to the Lord for mercy
in heart? What does Scripture say? Micah
7, 18, who is a god like unto that pardoneth iniquity and passeth
by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth
not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. Oh, what
a blessed truth. He delighteth in mercy. Lord, teach me. Lord, teach me my need. Lord, draw me, cause me to call. Colossians 121. that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind. I think about that. God's people,
God's elect, they were enemies in their mind by wicked works,
not in God's mind. God Almighty has everlastingly
loved his people, loved his sheep, his elect in Christ. And you
that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled." Oh, there's mercy with the Lord. If God's given you a heart and
you need mercy, there's mercy with the Lord. And mercy's eternal.
Psalm 103, 17, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness
unto children's children. His mercy, mercy. I told you
mercy sets forth that we're guilty. We're guilty. We're lepers, spiritual
lepers. His mercy's boundless. Psalm
108, four, for thy mercy is great above the heavens and thy truth
reacheth under the clouds. Beloved, look for him in all
of the word. He's there. Here's four lepers. Again, that's us, spiritually. By birth, that's us. Spiritually
shut out from hope in ourselves. No hope for men who needed, like
us, mercy. We're gonna die right here. For
them, they had to go to the Syrians. The Syrians, that part, I could
see that, Syrians, as a picture, a type of almighty gods, spiritually
speaking. They're the powerful ones. They're
the ones before whom these lepers are gonna have to stand, spiritually
speaking. Well, they knew they were gonna
die. They were gonna die in that gate. They were gonna die at
the hands of the Syrians, but they were gonna die. Mercy was
their only hope. Look to this world, look to its
emptiness, look to religion, false religion, you know, get
all you can, can all you get, build bigger barns, look to the
deceiving drink of false religion, and there's nothing but death.
We sit here, we're gonna die, we're going there, we're gonna
die. If we go to the Syrians, who knows? Well, thirdly, here's
the next point. What'd they do about it? Here's
where we are. Here's our conclusion, this is
where we are. What do we need? We need mercy.
Well, what did they do? Well, look at verse five. Well,
they rose up in the twilight to go unto the camp of the Syrians,
and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of
Syria, behold, there was no man there. Now, again, we behold
a beautiful picture. of the miracle of God's grace
to his people. Those has been made to know what
they are, something of what they are. I don't know the depth of
what I am. If I knew the depth of what I am, truly, by being
born in Adam, I'm sure I'd go crazy, I couldn't stand it, to
see myself for what I really am. But I know this, I know something
of myself. I know I can't help myself, I
know that. I know this, I know I'm gonna
die. I know I need mercy. So by the grace of God, what
does a man or a woman do? He that cometh to me. These guys
were going to the Syrians because that was the only place that
they could go. Here's a picture of us. We by nature, I know that
we don't We will not, Isaiah 30, 15, for thus saith the Lord
God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you
be saved. Now you think about what he just
said. In returning and rest shall you be saved. In quietness and
in confidence shall be your strength. Here's the last four words of
that verse. and ye would not. Isaiah 31 warning. Water them
to go down to Egypt for help. Stay on horses, trust in chariots
because there are many, and in horsemen because they're very
strong. But they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither
seek the Lord. That's man by nature. I'm just
going to tell you right now. You that know him not, if you
don't want to come, that's just natural. That's just natural.
That's just as natural as sunshine. But you're going to die. You're
going to die. If you sit where you are and
you die, you're going to face God. You're going to hear him
say, Depart from me and you're going to lift your eyes up out
of hell. That's what you're going to do forever. But if almighty
God given you a heart. To know I'm in trouble. I've always been in trouble.
I've always been in trouble. I need God to do something for
me that I can't do for myself. If he does that. I can tell you
what's happened. Almighty God has given you a
heart. If you say that from the heart, Almighty God has given
you a heart in the day of His power, now you're willing. Now
you're willing to come. These four lepers came because
they could not do anything else. They couldn't do anything else.
They came because there was no other place to go. Those that
hear the Lord proclaim His sovereign right, sovereign will, sovereign
pleasure. Those by nature that hear that
and will turn like that multitude and follow Him no more. That's
what man wants to do. I'm not going to listen to that
mess anymore. That's what they say. I'm not going to listen
to that mess. But for those that God's been pleased to show something
of themselves, they're going to say like Peter, when the Lord
asked him, you want to go away too? Lord, to whom shall we go? Where are we going to go? I'm
sitting in this gate. I got spiritual leprosy. There's
nothing inside. There's nothing in me. I need
some help. Would God have one like me? Would
Almighty God have one like me? I mean, I'm telling you, I'm
telling you, like me, I told you before, you don't wanna compare
your past life with mine. You don't want to. I'm just telling
you that for a fact. Me, a stinking, spiritually rotting
sinner. Turn to Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah one, verse 18 to 20. Would he have one like me? I've seen a lot of it and done
a lot of it. Isaiah 118, come now. Let us reason together,
saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If you be willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord
hath spoken. Would he have one like me? These four lepers decided, picture
of us by the grace of God, we're going where we can only
find mercy. They kill us, they kill us. What
did Job say? Job 1315, though he slayed me,
though he slayed me, yet will I trust him. I don't
have any other place to go. When they came, an amazing thing
was discovered. I'll wrap this up. Back in 2
Kings 7, verse 5, they rose up in the twilight to go into the
camp of the Syrians. And when they were come to the
uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man.
Therefore the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a
noise of chariots, a noise of horses, even the noise of a great
host. And they said one to another, The king of Israel has hired
against us the king of the Hittites and kings of the Egyptians to
come upon us, therefore they arose and fled in the twilight
and left their tents and their horses and their asses, even
the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when those
lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went in
one tent, did eat and drink and carried then silver and gold
and raiment and went in and hid it and came again and entered
into another tent and carried thence also and went and hid
it When they said one to another, we do not wail. This day is a
day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry till the
morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore
come, that we may go and tell the king's household. So they
came and called into the port of the city, and they told him,
saying, we came to the camp of the Syrians. Behold, there was
no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses
tied, and the tents were as they were. These four lepers that
came to the camp of the Assyrians and an amazing thing happened.
God had removed that which held these lepers and that city in
bondage. That whole city was bound and
These four lepers came, and when they got there, there wasn't
anybody there. But all of the provision was there. And they
feasted on what God Almighty had provided. They were hiding
it. Then they said, wait a minute,
whoa, whoa, whoa. This ain't right. This ain't right. If we wait till the morning,
some evil is gonna happen to us. We need to go back and tell
them. There's food out here. There's water out here. There's
sustenance out here. There's clothes out here. There's
horses out here. They wanted to go back and tell
them there's life here. It's like that delivered demoniac. that wanted to travel with the
Lord after the Lord had delivered him from that legion of demons. Lord, I want to go with you.
The Lord suffered him not to go, but here's what he tells
them. He said, you go home. You go to your friends. You tell
them how great things the Lord has done for thee and has had
compassion on thee. These lepers went and there was
no enemy. There was no enemy. They had
done spiritually. They had cast themselves, in
their heart, they're gonna cast themselves upon the mercy of
Osirians. You let a man or a woman, by
the grace of God, be brought to cast themselves upon the mercy
of God. Turn with me to Ephesians 2, and I'll, I've got one other
scripture after this, and that's it. Ephesians 2. You let a man
or a woman, by the grace of God, cast themselves upon the mercy
of God. And all that held us bound, Satan, penalty of sin, the judgment
of the law, the justice of the law, all that held us bound is
gone, gone. Ephesians 2, 13, 15, but now
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off. but made nigh by
the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both
one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace. Last verse, Colossians 2, Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians 2, 13 to 15. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Beloved, we're all spiritual
lepers. We're all born dead in trespasses
and sins. We're living in a world that
is nothing but spiritual famine, a world that cannot provide any
sustenance for life eternal. God Almighty is our hope. We need Mercy, because we cannot
change by our own ability, by our works, we can't change our
state. Come to Christ as a leper, a leper in need, and say as that
leper that came to the Lord, Lord, if you will, He that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out. I pray God bless this to us.
Gary.