So if you would, open your Bibles
again to 2 Kings chapter 7. As most of you know, I went to
Madisonville, Kentucky this past weekend and preached. And I had selected to preach
from this text about these four lepers. And on the way down there,
out there, whichever, it's a long way. I listened to the CD of
the message Bruce Crabtree preached here at the conference. Leper,
Come Unto Me, I think was his title. And I enjoyed listening
to that, and I thought, well, that's the same thing as what
this is talking about, about these lepers. This is a picture
of coming to Christ. This is a picture of what I've
entitled the message, The Incredible Gospel. I was sitting here thinking,
the gospel that we preach, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
is an absolutely incredible message. If we would preach the Word,
right, and we worship and hear or write and get a sight of the
Lord Jesus Christ, It, every single time, ought to just take
our breath. This is an incredible gospel. And that's this message that
these lepers bring to the king is a picture of this incredible
gospel that we preach. I pray the Lord will enable us
to see it. This is incredible. Now, we read
here, Wayne read for us in 2 Kings 7, the scene that's set before
us here is there's a famine in Israel. Because the Syrians have
come and they've besieged the city. Now, in our day, we don't
understand what a real siege or an embargo is. We've had an
embargo in Cuba all my life, and that place does pretty well. Stuff goes in and out of there
every day. That's not an embargo. The Syrians knew how to put on
an embargo. I mean, they locked that thing
down airtight. Nothing was going in or out of
that city. They just waited. They're going
to starve them out. And it was working. If you look back in
chapter 6, verse 25, I want to show you how bad the situation
is so we can understand this message that the lepers bring
back to the city. In verse 25, chapter 6, and there
was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it
until an ass's head was sold for four square pieces of silver.
And the fourth part of a cab of doves dung for five pieces
of silver. Now here an ass's head was selling
for roughly in today's money, $400. There wasn't much meat on that
head. And from what I read, it tasted
very bad. And this is the head of an unclean
animal that a Jew is willing to pay $400 to get his hands
on to eat. That's how bad it was getting. And this fourth part of a cab
of dove's dung, the writers don't know for sure what that means.
It could mean just a very small amount of dove's dung that they
used for fuel. Or it could be about a half a
pint of dried grain that they sold for today's money, about
$80. And the point of the whole thing is, is people were paying
a whole lot just to get nothing in return. And isn't that a picture
of modern day religion? People pay a whole lot, they
do a whole lot to get absolutely nothing in return. We'll read
on here in verse 26, it gets worse. 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 do not
help thee, when shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor,
or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What
aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give
thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son
to-morrow. So we boiled my son. She took her son, and they boiled
him, and did eat him. And I said unto her on the next
day, Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she had hid her
son. And it came to pass, when the
king heard the words of the woman, that he ran his clothes, and
he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, And behold,
he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Here they've gotten
the situation was so dire. Mothers were eating their own
children. I mean, it's just it's unfathomable. You know, we see on the news
a child gets abducted and, you know, the mother's making this
tearful cry, you know, for people to find their daughter or their
child. And it comes how many times that come around the woman
killed that that child and we just Think, oh, how much worse? A mother eating her own child. I mean, just it's unthinkable. And the king, he's not in his
purple robes and his crown on his comfortable throne. He's
covered in sackcloth. He just he's given up. The city's
in total despair. And God's been silent up to this
point when the whole city was out of resources when they were
in total despair, it got as bad as it could get. Not till then
did God give his servant a message. You see, we have got to be stripped
before we'll ever be clothed. God's got to empty us before
he'll ever fill us. He's got to make us hungry before
we'll ever come to Christ and be fed the bread of life. And
that's what happened. Now, when it gets as bad as it
could get in verse one of chapter seven, God's servant has some
good news. Then Elisha said, Hear ye the
word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord. Tomorrow about this
time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and
two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. Now Elisha's
message is, I know how bad things are for us here in this city,
but you just wait. Tomorrow you're going to experience
some wonderful things because of the grace of God. I know you've
spent $400 to get a donkey's head. Tomorrow, at this time,
for about $1, you're going to be able to buy two and a half
gallons of fine flour. Now, not just any flour, fine
flour, the best flour that makes the best bread. Just a dollar. Two and a half gallons. I know,
he says, you've sunk so low that you've eaten your own children.
But tomorrow, for $1, You're going to be able to buy a five
gallon barrel full of barley. That's going to make enough bread
to satisfy all your hunger. Your hunger is going to be over
for a dollar tomorrow by God's grace. It sounds like a dollar
tree, doesn't it? Everything you need for a dollar.
There it is. That's what he says you're going to have in the gate
tomorrow. And that's a picture of the message of the gospel.
The gospel we preach to the unbeliever is, I know how bad things are
for you. I know what it is to be a sinner,
to be helpless and hopeless and lost. But by God's grace, sinners
experience incredible things, incredible gifts of grace. I
have an incredible story of grace to preach to sinners. And I can
tell a sinner, I know where you're at. I know how lost in sin and
shame you are. I know how confused you are.
I know how much darkness you're in. I know because I've been
there. I know just how it is. I know
no matter what you do, all your best efforts get you absolutely
nowhere. No matter what you do, you cannot
find peace in your heart. No matter what you do, you can't
get any rest for your soul. No matter what you do, you cannot
find any assurance because no matter what you do and no matter
what any of us do, You cannot do enough to satisfy God, to
meet God's demands. And the more you try, the more
God shows you, you're in total despair. And if I could find
a sinner in that condition, I've got some good news for him. Because
in God's word, he's promised complete atonement in his son. And his command is, you come
to Christ and you rest in him. Quit all your labors and come
rest in Christ. Quit all your efforts and come
to Christ and enjoy the peace that He's made through the blood
of His cross. You come to Christ, you'll find
in Him everything you need. And you'll find in Him, more
importantly, everything that God requires. He's satisfied
all the requirements of God for His elect. You come to Christ,
you're starving, you're hungry, you're naked, you come to Christ.
You'll find in Him a feast of good things. Nothing like Christ
will satisfy the believer in this life. Nothing will satisfy
you like Him. And in the world to come, Christ
is all. He's all. You come to Christ. You have that in Him. But now,
my message is better than Elisha's. Elisha's a great man of God.
He had good news. I have better news. Elisha said,
tomorrow you're going to go down to the gate and get all the food
you want for a dollar. What if I scraped up my last $400 and
just bought a donkey's head? Don't have any dollars. Who's
going to feed me? The gospel says salvation in
Christ is free. You leave your wallet at home.
You come to Him empty-handed, He'll fill you. You come to Him
naked, He'll clothe you. You come to Him empty-handed
and receive from Him everything that God has for sinners found
in Christ. Now, I'm telling you, that's
the greatest story that's ever been told. You cannot find a
greater story than that. And it's disappointing, really,
how few people believe it and how little. I find rest from this, from Christ,
from knowing Him, from resting in Him. And the unbeliever, they
hear that message and they just scoff. That's not for me. Same
thing happened to Elisha in verse 2. Then a Lord, on whose hand
the king leaned, answered the man of God. Right there is his
first problem. He answered the man of God. You
notice that woman of Canaan, when the Lord, he wouldn't even
answer. And when he did answer, it sounded like an awful cruel
answer, didn't it? She just said, truth, Lord. She
didn't answer. She didn't talk back. She said
truth. This man, he answered the man of God. He said, behold,
if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?
And Elisha said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes,
but thou shalt not eat thereof. Very sarcastically, this man
said, Unless God would rain food from the sky, what you're saying
is impossible. Well, with men, what we're saying
is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And
for his unbelief, Elisha says, You'll see it, but you'll not
taste of it. You'll see it, but you won't
enjoy it. And unbelievers, Just like believers, they're going
to see the gate of heaven. The difference is an unbeliever will
not enter in. Everyone's going to see the Lord
Jesus Christ on the day of his return. The difference is the
unbeliever will not enjoy his presence. Look back at Exodus
chapter six. I noticed this a couple of weeks
ago as John was preaching through Exodus. Sometimes when you just get as
low as you can get, it's hard to believe that the good news
sounds too good to be true. That's what happened to the children
of Israel down there in Egypt. In verse 9 of Exodus 6, And Moses
spake so unto the children of Israel, telling them that God
had sent him to deliver them. But they hearkened not unto Moses
for anguish of spirit. and for cruel bondage. Their
spirit was in such anguish. The bondage was so cruel. It
just seemed too good to be true that God was going to deliver
them now. And before we beat too hard on
them, let's think about ourselves. We find ourselves in a situation
and we think, well, this situation is impossible. I mean, it's just
it's over. It's all over. You know, it's
Just like me watching Kentucky, they get down by five, so it's
over. I'm turning it off. You know, that's the way we get.
Now, before we find ourselves in that, not about basketball,
I'm talking about important things. Is anything too hard for God?
Honestly, is his ear heavy that it can't hear the cry of his
people? Is his arm shortened? Can you get so far away from
God, his arm is shortened, he can't reach you and save you?
No, sir. Nothing's too hard for our God. And as impossible as it may seem,
even when it seems too good to be true, God has promised to
save his people from their sins. And God is a covenant God. He always keeps his promise. And God has promised in his word
to save his people through the obedience and through the sacrifice
of his son. He sent his son into this world
made of a woman. And he accomplished the eternal
salvation of his people. He worked out a perfect righteousness
that he freely imputed to his people. And he went to the cross
and put away the sin of his people through the sacrifice of himself.
And their salvation is accomplished. It's sure. It cannot be changed. And the only reason this world
is spinning right now is all those elect, all those for whom
Christ died, have not been called out yet. All those that Christ
purchased are still being called out. And I don't know when it'll
be, but one day, the last one's going to be called out. And this
thing's going to be done. But till then, it's going to
keep spinning in space. The world's not going to run
out of air. It's not going to run out of water. It's not going to run
out of food. Because God's going to provide for His sheep until
they're all called out. As impossible as it may seem,
that God would save a wretch like me, I mean, I am so sinful,
I look at myself in the mirror and think, my soul, I can't stand
to look at myself. How can God look on me? Well, only in Christ. But I'm telling you this, grace
is for the guilty. That's who grace is for. Saving
grace is always amazing grace. There's no other kind of grace
than amazing grace. So verse 3, as this conversation
is going on there where Elisha was, in verse 3, there are four
leperous men at the entering in of the gate. And they said
one to another, why sit we here until we die? If we say we'll
enter into the city, then the famine's in the city and we shall
die there. If we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come
and let us fall into the host of the Syrians. If they save
us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall
but die. Now, you know that leprosy in
Scripture is given to us as a picture of sin. And these lepers represent
us, you and me, by nature. They're diseased. They're dying. They're cut off. They're excommunicated. They can't be around the city
and around public places where people gather. They're outside
the city. They're cut off. They don't have any hope. They
don't have any help. There's no cure for this disease. And
these four lepers, No, they're dying. Their disease is killing
them and the famine is killing them. They're twice dead. And
that's us. We're twice dead. Already we're
dead spiritually and our sin is killing the flesh. Now, these
lepers see the situation and they say, what are we going to
do? We've got three choices, they say. We could enter into
the city. They've got walls. They've got
houses, they've got streets, and all the form of civilization
in that city. Looks like a pretty good place.
But there's one problem. There's no food there. There's
no life in that place. And you and me could go to religion
for our sin problem. A lot of people do. They've got
so-called preachers that dress up in a suit and tie. They've
got buildings and organizations. They've got rules and regulations
for you to live by. They'll probably give you something
to do, keep you busy, you know. But there's one problem. There's
no life there. There's no power in their message. They have a form of godliness,
but they deny the power thereof. They preach a so-called gospel
that cannot save. They preach a Jesus that wants
to save you, but can't save you unless you let him. The obvious
conclusion is if we go there, we're going to die for one. We're
still going to be just as empty there as we are here. We're just
going to be dressed up different. So the second choice, The leper
said, well, we could just keep sitting here and do nothing.
But if we do that, we're going to die. And for our sin problem,
you and me could do the same thing. We could just sit here
and do nothing, keep doing what we're doing, you know, waiting
for lightning to strike, try to do our best and hope that
in the end, you know, the good will outweigh the bad and somehow
it'll work out all right in the end. But if we stay here in our
sin, without repentance and without Christ, we will surely die. And not only will the situation
not get better, if we just keep doing what we're doing, sitting
where we're sitting, the situation is going to get worse because
we'll become hardened in our sin. So the third thing the lepers
thought they could do, they could go to the enemy, throw themselves
on the mercy of the enemy. Maybe the enemy will kill them,
but they're dying anyway. Maybe the enemy will feed them
and save them, give them life. Now the Syrians here represent
God. God who's holy, who hates sin,
who must punish sin. And he's just awaiting the appointed
time to judge sin and destroy his enemies. And we have made
God our enemy. With our sin and our rebellion,
we've made God our enemy. And we have the exact same three
choices these lepers have. We could go to religion. We could
do nothing. Or we could go to God. and plead
for mercy. And you know, if we go begging
for mercy, we just might get it. We might. It would be just
like God to do it. Be just like Him. When my grandmother
was in the first stages of Alzheimer's, Janet would go over and spend
time with her and she would tell her stories about my grandmother's
life and things that she did and things that she said. And
she'd say, Grandma, do you remember saying that? And she'd say, no,
but that sounds like me. It'd be just like him to show
mercy to a sinner. Be just like him. Now, let's
be clear. God doesn't owe us mercy. It's
not like he's just waiting on us to come to him and all he'd
love to show us mercy if he's just, you know, all he's doing
is waiting on us. God doesn't owe us mercy. The
only thing God owes us is judgment. That's what he owes us for our
sin. But God delights to show mercy. And could be a merciful
God will show us mercy if we crawl to Him in the dust, begging
for mercy. Bob, there's one way to find
out. Go to Him and see. Just go and see. Go to Him. And
if I was that leper, if I was that sinner, and I am, I believe
I'd go to Christ, wouldn't you? Well, that's what they decided
to do. Look at 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
there. For the Lord had made the host
of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses,
even the noise of a great host. And they said one to another,
Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites
and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore, they
arose and fled in the twilight, and they left their tents and
their horses and their asses, even the camp as it was, and
they fled for their life. And when these lepers came to
the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and did
eat and drink and carried tents of silver and gold and raiment
and went and hid it. And came again and entered into
another tent and carried tents also and went and hid it. Now
the first thing these lepers discovered when they went to
the Syrians seeking mercy is nobody was stopping them. They
got to the perimeter of the camp and there was no guard. And that's
the first thing a sinner finds out. when He comes to Christ.
No one's stopping Him. No one's stopping Him because
the King is drawing Him. That's the very reason He's coming
to Christ in the first place is the King is drawing Him and
all those that come to Him. He said, I will no wise cast
out. God's given us a command to come
to His Son and bow before Him. He's not going to cast you out
for doing it. Now, without apology, we preach election. And really
more accurately, we preach the God who sovereignly elected a
people. He chose a people to redeem in
eternity past through the sacrifice of his son. And he chose those
people, not because they were any good or any better than anybody
else, because they weren't. He simply chose them out of a
lump of Adam's fallen race, simply because it seemed good in his
sight. An election does not mean that
some people are welcomed in. And some people are kept out,
even though they desire to come to Christ and have salvation
on God's terms. That's not what election is.
Our only hope of salvation is that God Almighty chose us in
eternity past. That he sent his son to redeem
us through the sacrifice of himself. That he called us by the Holy
Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, made us willing
in the day of his power. If God didn't first choose us,
we never would have chosen Him. Just like we love Him, but because
He first loved us. I choose Him, but only because
He chose me first. And all those whom God has chosen,
they come to Christ. They come to Christ and there's
no stopping them because Christ has cleared the way. He's removed
every obstacle and cleared the way, so nobody's stopping them.
And the second thing these lepers found out when they came to the
camp of the Syrians is there's a feast. They're waiting for
them. Everything was prepared. You
notice we read there it was twilight when they decided to go to the
camp of the Syrians. And at that same moment at twilight,
the Syrians heard this imaginary army and ran off. Well, they're
going through their normal day cooking and doing all Dinner
was just ready when those lepers came strolling into camp. God
had prepared a feast. He gave their silver and gold
and horses and donkey and clothes and food, everything that was
necessary for life. God had miraculously provided
for these four leprous men. Well, that's the second thing
a sinner finds out when he comes to Christ. God has graciously
and miraculously provided everything that's necessary for spiritual
life in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's provided life. He's provided
a new heart, a new nature. He's provided redemption, sanctification,
righteousness, wisdom, grace, mercy, peace, all in and by and
through the Lord Jesus Christ, who disposed of all of our enemies
at Calvary Street. Now, I enjoy that message. I
enjoy preaching it. I enjoy hearing it. I enjoy reading
it. And you can imagine how these lepers were enjoying it. Can
you imagine how hungry they were? Just how they were enjoying this? Well, look at verse 9. Here they
are, just stuck in their face. And they said one to another,
now we do not well. This day is a day of good tidings,
and we hold our peace. If we carry to the morning lights,
a mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come, that we may
go and tell the king's household." Now these lepers, you know, they
satisfied their own need. They had to take things and hide
it because once people came, you know, the general public
came to that camp, they couldn't be there anymore. The leper,
you know, had to put that thing over his face and cry unclean,
couldn't be there. So they got, you know, some things
for themselves. But there's a whole lot more in that camp than those
lepers could ever use up. And they're sitting there looking
at each other and they said, you know, everybody ought to know what
we know. Isn't that the heart of a believer? Everyone ought
to know, not what we know, but who we know. Everyone ought to
know who Jesus is. He's a lily of the valley. He's
the bright morning star. Everyone ought to know who He
is. We desire the gospel to be spread everywhere. I mean, here
in our town, Everywhere, across this globe, so the people would
hear the Savior come to him, enjoy in him what we've enjoyed
in him. So these lepers, they determined not just to go tell
just anybody. They determined to go tell the
king's household the good news. And that is exactly what preaching
the gospel is. Right here's the king's household.
The Lord Jesus Christ is king, and this is his household. And
preaching the gospel is telling the king's family who the king
is, what the king did, why the king did it, and where the king
is now. You know, people have several
times asked me, why don't you just quit? Why don't you just
quit? You're teaching this class and
you help fill in for John. Why don't you guys just quit?
I mean, nobody listens. Nobody believes what y'all are
saying. Well, maybe so. But I preach. I know this. Maybe it looks to me like nobody's
believing, but this is what I know. The king's family is going to
believe. When the king's family hears of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they're going to believe. They're going to be blessed and
they're going to be fed. We just preach God's word. His
word will not return unto him void. So these lepers said, we're
going to go tell the king's household. So verse 10, they came and called
unto 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. And he called the porters, and
they told it to the king's house within. Now, the lepers came
and they told just exactly what they had seen and what they heard.
They told just what they knew to be true. They didn't try to
explain it. They didn't try to exaggerate
it. They just told what they knew to be true. And that's what
preaching the gospel is. It's simply declaring it, declaring
the word of God. I don't have to explain God's
word. And it's a good thing because
most of it I can't. And I don't have to exaggerate
the story of grace to try to get people to believe it. How
can you exaggerate grace for the guilty? It can't be done.
You just proclaim it. Thus saith the Lord. And the
lepers went and told just what they knew to be true. And you
know what happened? The king's family heard the good news. They
always do. Our Lord said, my sheep shall
hear my voice. We're called on just preach the
gospel. He'll make sure the sheep hear His voice. They'll come
to Him. And here now, this is the second time, probably less
than 24 hours, less than 12 hours, probably, they'd heard this story
of good news. You'd think it'd start to click.
I think I've heard this before, but it didn't. It's that this
message still met with unbelief. Look at verse 12. And the king
arose in the night and said unto his servants, I will now show
you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we'd be
hungry. Therefore, they gone out of the
camp to hide themselves in the field, saying when they come
out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city.
The king heard this and he said, boy, this is too good to be true.
Now, this is not so. You mean our enemy has surrounded
us all this time and waited until they were ready to starve us
out and got a death grip on us, and then they just left? There's
no way. There's no way. That's too good
to be true. And isn't that a sinner's reaction to hearing the gospel?
They say it's too sinful. That's too good to be true. You
mean I've racked up this enormous sin debt, but I don't have to
pay it? You mean I don't have to even pay a little bit and
Christ will pay the rest? You mean to tell me that the
law who's against me, that I've broken every moment of my existence,
and God, who I've sinned against and rebelled against, who could
justly condemn me, just let me go scot-free? All because of
the obedience and the death of another that I've never met,
that I've never seen. That's too good to be true. You
mean to tell me I don't have to keep part of the law? You
don't even have just a few, you know, the most important ones
I got to keep? Why would God do that for me? That just doesn't make sense.
I don't deserve that. There's got to be some catch.
And our message, our answer to that is God's word is true. There's no catch. There's full
and free redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him and
feast. You see, this is part of the
mystery of the gospel. Salvation is free. But it's been
bought with a great price. It's free to you and me. But
it cost our Lord Jesus everything. He had to empty Himself. He had to suffer. Like no man has ever suffered.
He suffered being made sin. He suffered being separated from
his father. He suffered the full penalty
of the broken law. So his people can freely have
eternal life. And the King heard that story.
He said, that's too incredible. That's too good to be true. But
he does have some advisors that got a little bit of wisdom. Look
at verse 13. And one of the servants answered and said, Let some take,
I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in
the city. Behold, they are as all of the multitude of Israel
that are left in it. Behold, I say, they are even
as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed. And let us
send and see. They took therefore two chariot
horses, and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying,
Go and see." Now right here is a picture of the fall of Adam.
The once glorious, mighty army of David is reduced to two starving
horses to go out and meet the enemy. They thought they had
five. They got to the stables and three
of them were dead already. They're just two. And isn't that
these bodies? These bodies are just a mere
shell of the body that God created for Adam. God created Adam in
the garden perfect and upright with wisdom and intelligence. And he just had to be some specimen. And even after Adam fell, he
lived 900 years. Evolution, people believe evolution.
This thing's working backwards. Adam lived 900 years. I'm not
going to live 70 at the rate it's going. Evolution is going
backwards. These bodies are just a shell,
just like those horses were just a shell. David's army. But spiritually, listen now,
we're worse than that. We don't even have two starving
horses left. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. We're completely fallen from
life to death. But you'll notice the king had
the same three choices that those lepers had. Doesn't matter. There's no difference whether
you're a king or whether you're a leper. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. All men are equal before God.
And I mean equal in the dust. And the king, he could stay in
the city. But if he did that, he can send
his whole people to die. Or he could do nothing. He could
just keep doing what they're doing. I guess which would equate
to eating all their children. Pretty soon, they're going to
all die. Or he could go to the camp of
the Syrians. I mean, maybe he's right. Maybe
the Syrians are hiding in the bushes. They're laying in wait
for them and they're going to jump out and kill them all when they
come out. But they're dying anyway. His only hope of life for himself
and for his people is that the leper story is true. That God
has provided life in the camp of their enemy. And the only
hope that a sinner has for life is that this leper story is true. That God has provided life. He's provided salvation. in this
hated man, Jesus of Nazareth. So the king did the only thing
really he could do. He sent somebody to see if the
story was true. Verse 15, So they went after
them unto Jordan. And lo, all the way was full
of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in
their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king. Now
these spies found out the third thing that a sinner finds out
when he comes to Christ. It's even better than what we
heard. It's even better. Not only was the camp empty,
but the escape route was full of bounty. You know, when the
Syrians heard this army coming, they gathered, probably just
like all of us would, you know, your two, three most precious
possessions, and off they ran. Well, the longer they ran, the
louder this imaginary army got, and they're throwing this stuff
down, running, so they can lighten their load and run faster. And
the escape route was full of bounty. It was even better than
what the lepers told them. And that's what happens when
we come to Christ. We come to Christ and you want to go get
the pastor and say, why didn't you tell me? I read here and
I thought, this is so wonderful. Why didn't somebody tell me?
He did. In my case, he did. I just wasn't
listening. But more than that, you cannot
tell in human language the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
what Donny Bell says. It's heart language. You just
talk in heart language to God's people. There's some things we
don't have words for. You just have to experience it
for yourself. You experience Him yourself. So, verse 16, 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. And the king appointed
the Lord on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And
the people 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. The
people came out and feasted, just like Elisha said they would.
They got the flour and the barley for just a dollar. The unbeliever
was trodden down and killed, just like the prophet said it
would. And it happened just like the prophet said it would. Not
because Elisha was so smart. He's a man just like you and
me. It came true like he said that it would, because he spoke
according to the word of the Lord. When they very first came
to him, he said, hear ye the word of the Lord. He didn't start
mixing in his own emotions. You know, they would come to
kill him. He didn't mix in his own emotions, his own ideas and
defend himself. He said, hear ye the word of
the Lord. And that's why it came true.
And when a sinner is blessed by God, to hear one of God's
servants speaking according to the Word of the Lord, telling
the amazing story of salvation by grace, of substitution and
satisfaction. At first, it might seem too good
to be true. But as we come to Christ, as
we grow in grace, we find out, oh, it's so much better. It's
so much better than what I've heard. And we'll say with the
Queen of Sheba, the hat's not been told. Oh, He's so glorious. So I tell you, you come to Christ. If you go to religion, you're
going to die for lack of provision. And if you stay where you're
at doing what you're doing, you're going to perish in your sins.
If you stay without repentance and without Christ, you die in
your sins. But you come to Christ begging for mercy. Remember this,
he delights to show mercy. He'll show mercy to you. I've
never read in Scripture or even in my personal experience of
a sinner who came to Christ in the dust asking for mercy that
went away empty. And you won't be first. You know,
we like to think, well, I'm pretty special. We're not special. You won't be the first. He'll
have mercy if you come to him seeking for mercy. So you come
to Christ. And I've said this before, I'm
going to say it again because it bears repeating. Coming to
Christ is not coming down to the front of the church and shaking
a man's hand. Coming to Christ is not coming
to the baptismal pool. Although if you come to Christ,
you will follow him and believe his baptism because that's his
command. But being baptized is not coming
to Christ. Coming to Christ is not observing
the Lord's table and coming to Christ is not coming to an understanding
of the correct doctrines, the five points of Calvinism. You
can be a five-point calvinist and not know Christ. Coming to
Christ is a movement of heart. It's not a movement of the body.
It's a movement of heart. It's submission to Him. We read about that Canaanite
woman. Did you see submission in her? Truth, Lord. But dogs
eat crumbs that fall from the master's table. That's submission.
It's believing the testimony that God has given us concerning
His Son. You come to Christ in faith,
come to Christ believing that He will do exactly what He said
He'd do in His Word. Come to Christ trusting Him. You're not putting a foot in
the water to see how cold it is. You just come to Him, believing,
trusting Him that He'll do what He said He'd do. And coming to
Christ is not an isolated act. It's not, well, you know, back
in 1984, I came to Christ and everything settled since then. No. What did Peter say? To whom
coming. Coming. Constantly coming. To
whom coming. Looking. Constantly looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And I trust by God's grace, tonight,
I'm coming to him again. coming to drink of the water
of life freely. And if the Lord has enabled me
to stay out of the way, I hope you'll come to Him too. See Him.
Lay hold on Him. I thought a good song for us
to sing in closing would be hymn number 538, Jesus, I Come. So let's stand
together