Second Kings 6. I know many biblical
stories people try to water down and use a different word for. I was talking with my friends
the other day and I said, you know, now in our days a harlot
is just about a Disney character. That's something kind of sweet
and nice. Not what we are, you know. And
many biblical stories, they are not what we would call PG. And
that's okay. Because our sin is anything but
PG. We need to see these things.
This is an expositional message. I want to go through chapter
6 and chapter 7 and tell you what this says. And this is an
evangelical message. God may be pleased to save somebody
here today. That would be wonderful. And this is for me. An experiential
message, that means it's a message that's been experienced. I have
first-hand understanding of what takes place here. I know it.
I know it. Some of you do too. This is a
story about a nation of people starving to death. A whole nation
is surrounded by an enemy and they're starving to death. And
the absolute worst of them, the ones that ain't allowed in, are
the very ones that found food and they went and told others
where they could find food. That's a story. That's a story.
This shows us, here in 2 Kings 6 and 7, this story of these
lepers and them being surrounded by the Syrians, this shows us
what we are outside of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man
by nature, left alone. That's what we are. And that
has a physical context and that has a spiritual context. We're
all of it. And what we are, the story shows
us, what we are inside the mercy and inside the forgiveness that's
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well nourished. Abundant. abundant mercies, abundant nourishment.
And, once we see we're outside of Christ, we see inside of Christ.
And then we see four lepers going and telling all that need mercy,
all that need Christ the bread, where I found mercy, where I
found Christ the bread. That's it. I emailed this out.
I don't know if any of y'all got it, but if you was able to
read it, that's a summary of everything you read yesterday
or this morning. Here's the situation that these lepers that are going
to go tell about this, experience this. Here's the situation they
were in. Verse 24, 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6, verse 24. And it came to pass after this,
that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his hosts and went
up and besieged Samaria." Samaria is right smack dab in the middle
of Israel. And he went and surrounded them,
took everything he had. He besieged them. Tactically,
I see that a lot. That's just how my brain's wired.
I can't help it. This is not what we called cordon and search.
They didn't surround them and then start going house by house
and block by block and kicking in doors and taking everything
out and inventory everything and looking for the bad people.
That's not what happened. Back what happened back in the 90s,
this isn't what they called shock and awe. They didn't come in,
surround them, and then just bombard them top to bottom, left,
right, and center, until they just cried uncle and gave. They
gathered all of his hosts, they went up, and they surrounded
them, and they were going to wait them out. It's going to
be long, and there's going to be suffering. But this is going
to be good. This is going to be good. Verse
25, And there was a great famine in Samaria, because they were
surrounded by the enemies. And behold, they besieged it
until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver,
until you went and found a donkey's head and you paid 80 pieces of
silver for a head. Some say, well, that's a head
of cattle. That was the whole thing. No, it just says the head. I
think that's it. And you know what come to mind
when I thought that? Some people say, well, we eat head cheese.
Well, you can eat a head. Yeah, you can, but what's a head
mostly? Bone. I can't stand buying chicken
that's got bone in it. That's cheaper. Yeah, but you're
paying for bone. I can't eat a bone. I can boil it and make
broth, I guess, but that's paying 80 pieces of silver for a head
that has hardly any meat on it at all. That's high dollar, isn't
it? That's hyperinflation. That's
what we call it nowadays. It was mostly bone. And the fourth
part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. This
situation, it wasn't bad enough, they was just eating the head
of a donkey for an extreme price. This was costly for them. But they were purchasing a quarter
cab of dove's dung. How much is that? I don't know.
It's dove's dung. Couldn't be too much. There's
a lot written about this. They said, well, they use that
as fuel to cook with. And I thought of Ezekiel bread.
People said, I eat Ezekiel bread. And they said, you want some?
I said, not if it's biblical, I don't. Go read about that. I don't eat
that. It was cooked with dung too,
wasn't it? But this is likely what it meant. They would buy
this dove dung, mason jar full of it, and they would pick through
it. to find a seed or to find something undigested to be able
to eat so they didn't try to starve to death. They bought
doves done. Well, there's some good things
in it, right? They say some good things. That's
what mankind says. This is our spiritual condition
outside of the mercies of Christ. We think we're saving ourselves.
We think we know everything. We think we have understanding.
We need no man teach us. And we think we can figure it
out, and we're just going to keep on keeping on, and we're going
to wait it out, and we'll beg, borrow, or steal if we have to.
But the reality is we're eating dung. That's it. We think we're doing okay, and
we think we're getting some true things, but we're eating dung. Paul was doing the same thing.
Did you know that? Until we look like last hour, until God surely
visited him. He surely did. Paul was of the
right tribe. He was circumcised the right
day. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was moving up the political
chain. He was in line to be the Sanhedrin, probably going to
be high priest. I mean, he was an up-and-comer, buddy, and had
to whirl by the tail on a downhill pole. He knew his Bible. He sure did,
didn't he? He didn't understand a lick of
it, but he knew his Bible. He said, but what things were
gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord,
for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done, that I may win Christ. He said, all those things I was
doing outside of Christ, it's done. And I was paying a pretty
penny for it. Sin comes at a heavy cost. But
I count all that stuff before. dung, because now I see Christ,
that I may win Him and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
not providing my own seeds that I dung out of. Dove dung, which
is of the law, that's doing. But that which is wrought through
the faith of Christ, through His faith, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Paul said, oh that's dumb. This
ain't a sob story about hyperinflation. You understand? The Lord's teaching
us something here. If the Lord leaves us to ourselves, we're
going to waste a lot of money on things that we can't eat.
We're going to try to eat things and say, well there's good stuff
in it. And then we're going to turn to cannibals. We'll start
eating one another. If He leaves us to ourselves,
what's the source of contention? You ever had any contention?
You said, things just ain't going good down there. God says the
only source of contention is pride. And our pride, our fangs
will come out and we'll devour whoever's next to us. Look here
in verse 30. I'm sorry, verse 26. And as the King of Israel
was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto Him,
saying, Help my Lord, O King. And He said, If the Lord Did
not help thee, whence shall I help thee? Ain't that the truth? He
was right twice that day, wasn't he? He said some true things.
If the Lord can't help you, I can't do nothing for you. But she made
a pact with this other lady. She tells the king, she said,
we're going to boil my son one day and eat him. And then tomorrow
we're going to boil your son, your infant, and we'll eat him.
She said, so yesterday we ate my son. And today we went to
boil her son, and she's hit him. Now you need to do something
about this, king. What a thing to take before the law. How could
that ever happen in our day? What's happening in our day?
We're fighting on how many babies they can kill a day. Nothing's
changed. Ain't nothing new underneath
the sun. As that sin waxes grosser and older and bigger and bigger,
it's not that this world's getting more corrupt. It's that we're
growing in grace and we're understanding what we are. It's me. All that good stuff I thought
I was doing in them laundry rooms Bible thumping was for naught. It was done. That's all it was.
And I thought I had me a good old pile of it. Verse 30, And it came to pass,
when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his
clothes. And he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked,
and behold, he was in sackcloth within upon his flesh. Oh, he
was just tore all to pieces, but he didn't repent. He was
tore up because of the things that were happening. He was really,
really sad. They didn't cry out to God, did they? This is all
happening because Israel had sinned against God. All of my
problems, whether it's something big or it's a little bitty wrinkle
or a dot that popped up yesterday and it's growing weird, whatever
it is, gray hair, it's because I sinned against God. The reason
this body's dying is sin, that's it. Not somebody else's sin,
this fella's sin. If I'm on a dessert, you take
a person and clean them the best you can, I mean just sterilize
them. Douse them in rubbing alcohol and put them in a sterile room
and leave them alone. What's gonna happen four days
later? That room's gonna smell bad. Because that's what we are.
That's what we are. We sin against Thee and Thee
only. Outside of Christ, outside of that new creation left in
our old hearts, who do we blame? Who do we blame for all this
stuff going on? Just like our father Adam, it's God's fault,
isn't it? It's all God's fault. But the Lord wasn't physically
there for this king to blame. So what's the next best thing?
Look at verse 31. Then he said, God do so and much more also
to me if the head of Elisha, the son of Shepta, shall stand
on him this day. If I don't cut Elisha's head
off before the sun goes down, the Lord do to me and much more.
Get that prophet over here and let's kill him. This is your
fault. You know what you said two years ago, Elisha? That's
why we're in the mess we're in. It wasn't Elisha's fault. He
was with the elders. He was back there praying for
the Lord to work in him. The king sent a messenger, look
at verse 32. But Elisha sat in his house and the elders sat
with him, the other preachers. And the king sent a man from
before him. But ere the messenger came to him, Elisha said to the
elders, You see how the son of a murderer has sent to take away
my head? That king is going to kill me because of this. Look,
when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at
the door, and then we're going to listen. It's not the sound
of the master's feet behind him. You hide and watch it. There's
going to be somebody coming. You just pin him down, and that king's
going to be coming right behind him. Mark my words. Mark my words. What you know, Elisha. You know
exactly what's happening. That's what he knew. Verse 33,
And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came
down unto him, and he said, Behold, this evil is of the Lord. I think
Brother Gil missed that. Elisha said, what's going on
is bad, but the Lord did it. It's fine. What, should I wait
for the Lord any longer? Why should I have them hold him
up, try to prove a point? The Lord's working. This is fine.
This is fine. And now the prophet's going to
speak. Chapter 7, verse 1. Then Elisha said, Hear ye the
word of the Lord. What are you to hear? The word.
Whose word? The Lord's word. Thus saith the
Lord. Tomorrow about this time shall
a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel." You go down and
get you a 10 pound bag of flour, that's going to cost you half
a penny. And two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate
of Samaria. Tomorrow morning, the economy
is going to turn 180 degrees and there's going to be food
coming out of your ears. The Lord shall surely visit you.
You know what Joseph said? He's going to bring you out.
He's going to pour out great blessings. What your need is,
if you truly have a need, what your need is, it's going to be
multiplied. It's going to be multiplied in
this His Word, in what He says. And He's able to do anything
He says, and anything He wills to do is what's going to do,
because He's the Lord, and He can take it to the bank. That's
who's speaking. Life said, I'm speaking on God's behalf. That's
a frightening thing. And nothing's changed. I have
to speak on God's behalf. And I pray earnestly He's with
me. Don't leave me to myself. Paul
said, now unto him that's able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think. That's the same thing Elisha's
telling them. You've been starving. It ain't
like, well, I got some food at the house. They're eating babies.
They're eating dung. And he said, the Lord's will
come in and your cup's going to overflow. And they're about
to kill him because of that. That's happened too, wasn't it?
Moses prayed to the Lord. He said, they're about to stone
me to death. And them apostles, they killed them and threw out
time on those martyrs. He kept telling them, this is good news. He's telling them, he said, the
Lord has a people and he's going to provide all things for those
people. That's election. He was preaching election to
them. And that's a good thing for people that can't feed themselves
and can't fend for themselves. But it seems impossible to many,
it seems wrong to many, doesn't it? Look at verse 2. Then a lord,
that's a lower case l, that's just one of the servants there,
the king. Then a lord whose hand the king leaned answered the
man of God. Here's the right hand man of
the king. He's moved up, he's got, I have a position in this
carnal world, so I'm gonna tell that prophet what's up. That's
what this is. And he said, behold, if the Lord
would make windows in heaven, might this thing be, the Lord's
going to have to open up the skies and pour out flour and
barley for this to be possible. He said, yeah, right. That's
what he's saying. Are you kidding me, Elisha, what you're telling
me? Do you know what would have to take place? I've calculated
this. God would have to open up windows. Have you ever seen
a window up in the sky? No. And that's what's going to
have to happen. That's ridiculous. That's exactly what the Lord
will do. What's His words say? Do you
remember? You remember? Remember it, sirs. Malachi 3.10, he said, "...bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house. And prove me now how it saith the Lord of hosts." Who's
speaking? The Lord of hosts is speaking. He says, "...if I will
not open you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing that
there shall not be room enough to receive it." He said, try
me. Try me. Watch what'll happen.
He didn't say he's gonna pour out money. He didn't say he's
gonna pour out wheat or barley or whatever. He said, blessings.
You have need? I need mercy. I don't know if
he's got enough. Oh, he's got plenty enough. You just stand
back and watch. Try him. Try him. He said, I'll open up
windows. In the verse two, Elisha says
to him, and he said, behold, thou shalt see it with thine
eyes. You gonna watch it happen, but thou shalt not eat thereof.
Buddy. You're going to be right on the
outside of that city refuge, but you ain't going in it. Not like
that. Ain't going to happen. And he didn't. And he didn't. What a mean, austere man Elisha
was. Absolutely not. He came with
warning, didn't he? That's going to chop his head
off. And he said, you're going to see it, but you ain't going
to eat it. Look in verse 17. Chapter 7, verse 17, And the
king appointed the Lord, that's that same fellow on whose hand
he leaned, to have the charge of the gate, when all this good
news had come. And the people trod him down in the gate, and
he died. They were running so hard to
Christ, they trampled him, as the man of God had said, who
spake when the king came down to him. If a man is speaking
on behalf of God and he tells you what God says, the Lord says,
touch not mine anointing. That's a frightening thing, isn't
it? On both ends of the fence. It's a frightening thing to say.
This is what the Lord says. I better know what I'm talking
about. And to those that reject it, what a painful thing. The Lord must give faith to believe
Him and His Word. But we have to warn people about
unbelief, don't we? His word says that. Yeah, but. That's the most common response.
The family members I have, and the friends that I have, and
the people I grew up with, I'm saying, yeah, but. God says this,
yeah, but. Well, you may say it, but you
ain't gonna taste it. Unless God gives you a new heart. He has to give us faith to believe
Him. What was faith we learned last
hour? Believe in Him. That's what He says. You got
a good handle on it? No, but he said he'll keep me
and he'll teach me. So if he ain't taught me it,
I don't need to know. That's good enough, isn't it? Not believing
God is eternal death and to die in your sin. There's not a gray
area here. There's not a, well, a little
bit of living ain't gonna hurt nobody. There's truth and there's
death. There's life and death. That's
it. The Lord said that Holy Spirit's going to come to His people and
He's going to convict them of sin because they believe not
on Me. If we were going to make a list,
if I was going to list to you all the war crimes or whatever,
the worst things I've ever done in my whole life, do you think
number one on that list would be unbelief? God said it and I didn't believe
Him. That's the worst. That's the worst thing. That jailer asked him, boys,
in Act 16, sir, what must I do to be saved? And he said, they
told him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. It doesn't say do nothing or
pray nothing, just believe Him. Believe God, you already are.
What is it to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
We've looked at His names before, haven't we? Jehovah-Jireh, the
Lord shall provide. That's what Elisha's telling
them. God's going to provide this. And then sarcastically,
someone's always going to open a window. He says, very much
what you're talking about, that's exactly what God's going to do. That's
what His Word says. He will provide. Jehovah-Ray, for the Lord has
healed you. You're sick, you're emaciated. That's our natural
condition. Well, we're too far gone, not
for this great position. He's Jehovah Raphael. Jehovah
Nissi. Who are you going to talk about after this happens? How
you found it and how you did it and you chose Jesus? Absolutely
not. You'll fly across our banner. He did it all. Jehovah M. Kadesh. We always forget that
one, don't we? You know what that means? Remember?
The Lord that sanctifies you. We have to sanctify ourselves.
You can't. That's God's work. And to take
that work on, it means you're taking the name of the Lord.
We'll take on His. We don't do that. It's His work.
Christ is our sanctification and redemption, isn't it? Jehovah
Shalom. If all this happens, and our
last name's the Lord, our righteousness, Jehovah Sikhenu, just like His
last name, He's Jehovah Shalom. That's peace. That's contentment,
isn't it? We might still have some struggles
to go through, but we got peace in the heart. Because He's our
peace. Jehovah Nisi, Lord our banner
and Jehovah Rehab, Lord my shepherd. He'll guide me through every
bit of it. It's fine. I ain't worried about it. Eat your ham
sandwich. Believe the Lord. Believe what
He says. Not what a man says. Not what a creed says. Not what
I think. Not what I determine. But what
the Lord says. Believe Him. Elijah had a word
from the Lord. God will deliver you and that
right early. That's what David wrote, wasn't
it? God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her in that right early. First thing tomorrow morning,
don't you worry about it, boys. Elijah said, the Lord will provide.
And the lepers were provided for. They said the Lord will
provide. That's what they said. Book of
verse 3, here's our lepers. And there were four leprous men at
the entering of the gate, and they said one to another, why
sit we here till we die? If we say we will enter the city,
then the famine's in the city, and there shall we die. And if
we sit here, we stay where we're at, we'll die also. Now therefore
come and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. If they
save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall
but die. We're dead, Ben. This is a wonderful,
wonderful profession of faith. God gives this understanding.
This knowledge is understanding. And they said, if we stay right
where we are in ourselves, we're going to die. If we go into that
city, that's against the law. I'm a leper. I ain't allowed
to be in that city. And if I was allowed in that
city, I'm still a leper, and they're starving to death anyway.
What's inside that city can't provide life. I'm going to die.
And so I'm going to go to the enemy. And if that enemy's pleased,
I beg mercy, we'll live. They'll take care of us. And
if they don't, we're going to die anyway. And they're right
to kill us, because that's the enemy. But we've got to go to
the enemy and beg mercy, and they might save us. David, when his son died, They
said, how come you was praying so hard before? We said your
son died and now you went and you shaved and you got cleaned
up and oranged yourself with some cologne on and you went
down to the house of God to worship. And he said, while the child
was yet alive I fasted and went for I said, who can tell whether
God will be gracious to me that the child might live? That's
what these leopards are saying. Abraham interceded for Sodom.
He said, peradventure, What if there's 50 righteous in that
city, Lord? Would you save it? The Lord said, I'll save it.
What if there's 45? Per adventure, I'd save it. Per
adventure, 40. Per adventure, 20. Per adventure, 10. The Lord
said, I'll save them. If there's righteous there, I'll
bring them out. Don't you worry about that, Abraham. But we're enemies. The series
here is a picture of the Lord and us for a brief moment, isn't
it? That's when the Lord won't save
us. Not when we're buddies. Not when we're best buds. If
we find out we're enemies of God, God's starting to work in
somebody. That's when He saved us. That's what Paul said in
Romans 5, verse 4. If when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled shall
you be saved by His life. Christ died for us while we were
still in our sins. While we hated God. The carnal
mind is entity. against God. Not at war with
Him, is war against Him. You hated God and I hated God
until God revealed Himself. Why do these lepers go to the
ones who are right to kill them? That's the enemy. If we go to
God for this mercy and He kills me, He's just. That's right. For God to send me into eternal
damnation because of old man Kevin, He's absolutely correct. Why do we go there begging mercy?
You only do it when there's absolutely no other option. There's no more
dung to eat, you can't eat it no more. There's no more horse
head to eat, you can't eat it no more. There's no more babies
to bull. We have to go to Him or we die. That's a good place
to be. When did they go? Verse 5. And
they rose up in the twilight. You know when that is? Right
then. It was so early, it was still late. It was so early in
the morning, it was still last night. Right then, early, first
thing, they got up, 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 there. The Lord makes us enemies, makes
a sinner out of us, and we say we have to beg Him for mercy,
and He's right to kill us. And we come to beg for mercy. When that happens, we find out
mercy has already beat us there. There ain't no enemy. There ain't
no enemy. The Assyrians weren't there.
Who did that? How'd that happen? But God. Look at verse 6. For the Lord,
because the Lord had made the hosts of the Assyrians to hear
noise of chariots and noise of horses and noise of great hosts,
and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired
against us the king of the Hittites and the king of the Egyptians
to come upon us. Wherefore, they arose and fled in the twilight,
and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even
the camp as it was." They left everything in place and fled
for their life. They got out of town. How'd that
happen? The Lord did it. He cast out
all the enemies. He drove off everything that
was against us, the handwriting of ordinances, sin, death, the
grave, Satan, ourselves. He went in, and in His business,
in the way He saw fit, He drove it all out. Thoroughly and they
just dropped the shotgun took off running What a provision
of the Lord Look at verse 8 and when the lepers came to the uttermost
part of the camp They went into one tent and did eat and drink
and carried ten silver and gold and raiment and went in and hit
it and came again and entered to another tent and they carried
fence also and went and hit it every tent we go in it's just
there's food and there's gold and there's things to drink and
and weapons and body armor and whatever's needed. It's just
everywhere. It's just at every tent. Every
one we go in. And there's no enemy here. But
they went and hid it. They took those things and they
buried it, didn't they? These men were wealthy right
then. These four lepers, rich. Rich,
real rich, not rich, wealthy. They were wealthy. I was pulled
into a conference one time and there's two men parking right
next to each other. One was an old beat up Ford Ranger
and right next to it was a brand new Range Rover. And both them
men got out and they shook hands and hugged and I thought both
them men are loaded. I mean, they're the two wealthiest
men that ever, don't matter what you drive and don't matter what
kind of shoes you got on. God saved them. God gave them His
Son as their righteousness. They're wealthy. They're wealthy. But these lepers, at first, they
hid this, didn't they? What was they doing that for?
They hear these things, because this was individually, this was
personally, and they wanted to look out for number one. It was
self-preservation. And that's what we read in Matthew
25, the Lord gave that parable of the talents. And He said to
that one which received the one talent, He came and said, Lord,
I know you're a man that's hard. You're austere. And you reap
where you don't sow. And you gathered where you didn't
straw anything. And they said, I was afraid.
I went and hid thy talent in the earth. You know what these
men were doing? The Lord had been just so gracious to them.
And they took it and they buried it underground. They went and
hid it in the earth. So they keep it for themselves.
But the Lord did a heart work in these men. This is off the
same night. This is maybe 10 minutes, maybe 10 hours, I don't
know. But right then, the Lord did
a heart work in them and He sent them. Look here at verse 9. And
they said one to another, we do not well. They had done wrong,
but the Lord gave them some wisdom. And they said, what we're doing
is wrong. What we're doing is wrong. We're not doing well.
This day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace. We've
got good news. That's what gospel means. Good
news. We're going to run out? We're
going to run out of good news? We're going to run out of mercies
and living water and bread of life? Lord, ain't gonna run out. I think that often. It snowed
there for most of the country and it rained here for us. And
Lord told Job, he said, do you know how much hail I have in
a storehouse to turn a war if I want to? Elections are coming,
it froze them out. They said, how they gonna vote?
I said, well, that's the Lord's storehouses of snow coming down, isn't it? We have this good news, good
tidings. They said, 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. Lord will kill us if he give us such good things
and we did nothing with it. Just sat here on it, consumed
it on our lust. We had good tidings. We have to go tell somebody.
You know what the Lord made in them right then? Witnesses. He
did something good for them. This is His doing. Mercy there
was great and grace was free. Pardon was multiplied to me.
Calvary wasn't. We've got to tell somebody. They
made preachers out of them. Verse 10, So they came and called
to the porter of the city, and they told him, saying, We came
to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there,
neither voice of man. But horses tied, and asses tied,
and the tents as they were. Everything was right in place.
And he called the porters and told it to the king's house within. What is this good tidings? The
war is over. The enemy is gone and all things
are provided. How did Paul word that? There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
None. Right now. No condemnation. who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law
of the Spirit of life and Christ hath made me free from the law
of sin and death for what the law could not do in that city,
at the gate, or with that enemy. And that it was weak through
the flesh God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, being made us, and for sin, condemning sin in the flesh,
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." What's that mean? The enemy's
gone. God did it. Go eat. That's what
they're saying. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him
freely give us all things? Right there it is, boys. He told
Peter, rise, kill, and eat. Eat what you want. He's provided
all those things. That's too good to be true. That
doesn't fit human logic, does it? The king says this is a trap. He said, we're going to go outside
of these walls. We have our protection. We've established our protection.
And if I was to go outside of this protection, I'm going to
go in that tent into a tabernacle. Instead of this fortified city,
do you see? Get that? If I was to leave this thing
I built, I'd have to trust God. And them Syrians would kill us.
Didn't they? And so they said, well, let's
take some horses with us. We'll take five horses. And them
horses, they're as starved as we are. They're just five of
them. We happened not to eat yet. But their bones are showing
through. They said, let us take five of
them out there. We'll go check it out for you. We'll send a reconnaissance
party out. So verse 14, They took therefore two chariot horses,
and the king sent after the host of the seer, and said, Go and
see. And they went after them unto Jordan. And lo, all the
way was full of garments and vessels. The whole way, the whole
trip, there wasn't nothing but vessels and garments on the sides
of the road. Everything needed. Well, what
if them horses get thirsty? There's a vessel full of water
right there. Look at that. Look what the Lord did. which
the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers
returned and told the king. And the people went out and spoiled
the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was
sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel according
to the word of the Lord." He said his servants won't go
hungry. David said, I've been young and I've been old and I've
never seen the righteous begging bread. He said in Isaiah, therefore
thus saith the Lord God, behold, my servants shall eat, but you
shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but you're going
to be thirsty, and my servants are going to rejoice, and you're
going to be ashamed. Now is that talking about physical bread?
There's probably some believers that's been hungry before, ain't
there? There's probably some believers that's been thirsty
before. He's talking about Christ, the water of life. That's how
he taught us to pray, is to give us our daily bread. Does that
mean I need some sourdough, Ms. Kimberly, to make me up on top
of the hill? Well, yeah, I'm going to have to eat something.
I need Christ today, and that right early. First thing in the
morning. Get up early before the dawn
breaks. I need to see Him then, and I need to see Him at lunchtime,
and I need to see Him at dinnertime, and I'm going to need a snack
before I go to bed. And if I wake up at 3 a.m., I'm going to need
Him then, too. That's what that means. And He said, My servants,
My children, they ain't going hungry. If they need Christ,
they're going to get Him. I ain't seen the Lord in just
days, and I'm so dark. Have you asked Him? Sometimes
I struggle for a message. I say, Lord, I've worked hard. I've got a full-time job going
on someplace else. I've got a full-time job studying
here, and I ain't getting nothing. Have I asked Him, Lord, would
you give me a message? And then, fast as these little
fingers can type. Fast as I can scribble it down.
He's faithful. He's faithful. Verse 17, those
that find Him precious are going to get to Him. They ain't going
to stay off by themselves and be warmed by their own fire.
They're going to run to the feet of Christ. If we know who we
are and we know who He is, you're going to get to Him as quick
as we can. Look at verse 17, and the king
appointed the Lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge
of the gate. He said, you go down there and
make sure everybody don't leave at once. We need to do it orderly fashion.
And the people trod him trod upon him in the gate, and he
died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came
down to him." They just run him over, just trod him to death.
And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king,
saying, two measures of barley for Shekel and a measure of fine
flour for the Shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the
gate of Samaria. And that Lord answered the man
of God, and said, Now behold, if the Lord should make the windows
of heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou
shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And
so it fell out to him, for the people trod him upon the gate,
and he died." What a thing that is. What a blessing it is for
the Lord to show us. A lot about windows. I was looking
at that Psalm 59 tie-in up here. The Lord had a window in that
ark, didn't He? There's one way you're going to get life. One
way. There's one way we're going to
be blessed if the Lord opens up Christ the window of heaven
and blesses us. And if He does that, we'll forsake
father and mother and daughters and sons and friends and jobs
and still leaving a job for a better job, we'll leave a job for a
better gospel. and we'll run to Him and cling to Him. Because
He made us. Is that cause we're so good? He made us hungry and
He drew us with famine and hunger. That's kind, isn't it? I've seen
a lot of distended bellies and flies on kids' eyes and just
starvation. And that's a terrible thing.
But it's wonderful if the Lord uses something like that and
He saves somebody. We know what we deserve, don't we? He's precious.