Would you turn back to Second
Kings, Chapter seven? I've entitled this message the
lepers logic. The lepers. Logic. We read in verse three of Second
Kings, Chapter seven. And there were four leprous men
at the entering in of the gate. Now, you know that leprosy is
used in the scriptures as a type of sin. It was a horrible. Loathsome disease. It started
on the inside. You didn't know you had it at
first. But it would always manifest itself on the outside And there
was no medicine you could take to make it better. It was humanly
incurable. Not incurable, but humanly incurable. Now, these men had leprosy in
its worst form, and that's why they were outside of the gate. Turn with me for a moment to
Leviticus chapter 13. Hold your finger there in 2 Kings
and turn to Leviticus 13. Beginning in verse 42. This is
the laws concerning leprosy. And if there be in the bald head
or bald forehead a white, reddish sore, it is a leprosy sprung
up in his bald head or his bald forehead. Then the priest shall
look upon it and behold, if the rising of the sore be white,
reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as leprosy
appeareth in the skin of the flesh, he is a leprous man."
That's who we just read of, four of them. He is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him
utterly unclean. His plague is in his head. and the leper in whom the plague
is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall
put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean,
unclean! All the days wherein the plague
shall be in him, he shall be defiled. He is unclean, he shall
dwell alone, without the camp shall his habitation be." Now these men were utterly unclean,
shut out of the camp. And what a miserable existence
this must have been. And I wonder if there's somebody
that I'm preaching to, and I'm including myself, who is utterly
unclean. and contaminated by sin, unfit
to be around anybody else, someone who ought to be shut out of the
camp, you feel as though you're the one who must cry, unclean,
unclean, stay away from me. I'm utterly unclean, much like
Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter six, when he
said, woe is me, I'm undone, for I'm a man of unclean lips. And what comes out of my unclean
lips comes from an unclean heart, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. I think of what Peter said when
he saw who the Lord was. He said, Depart from me, Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. I am a sinful man, a man full
of sin. Now, not only were these four
men unclean, and shut outside the gate, they were starving. They were starving. Look back
in chapter 6, verse 24. And it came to pass after this,
2 Kings chapter 6, 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, there was nothing to eat and behold, they besieged
it. They surrounded it so no one
could get out and look for food until an ass's head was sold
for four score pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab
of doves dung for five pieces of silver. This is how straight
things have become to where this is. This was a great value and
they paid a lot of money to get something like this to eat it.
Let's go on reading. This is how bad the famine was.
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there
cried a woman unto him, saying, Help me, Lord, O king. And he
said, If the Lord do not help thee, when shall I help thee?
Out of the barn floor, out of the winepress? And the king said
unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered the woman, 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 had hid her
son. Now, do you see the desperate,
evil situation that they were in? What a famine where people
were eating dove's dung and even boiling their own children. And
these lepers were in this condition of famine. They were starving. Now, These men use some logic. Here's
the leper's logic, verse 3. And there were four leprous men,
2 Kings 7, verse 3, there were four leprous 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 will enter into
the city, Remember, they were forbidden by the law to enter
into the city. But if we say we will enter into
the city to try to get some food, then the famine is in the city
and we should die there. And if we sit still here and
do nothing, we die also. Now, therefore, come and let
us fall into the host of the Syrians. Remember, the Syrians
were the ones who had besieged the city. And they were keeping
from food, from getting into the city. And they were the ones
in control. They said, come, let us fall
under the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall
live. And if they kill us, we will
but die. Now, we read of three options
these men had. First, we can go into the city. And if we go into the city, we'll
die. Second, we can do nothing. We
can just sit here. And if we do that, we're going
to die. But here's the third option.
We can go fall before the Syrians and surrender ourselves to them.
They may kill us. They may kill us. And we'll die
if they do. But they may extend mercy toward
us, feed us, and then we will live. Now, option number one. Walk through the gates of the
city now that, as we read in Leviticus, Chapter 13, was forbidden
by the law. They had to stay outside of the
city. They had to keep a cloth over their upper lip and cry
out unclean, unclean when anybody came around them. They were forbidden
to come into the city by the law. They were to stay outside
the camp. Now they would be lawbreakers. if they entered into the city.
And even if they did go in that way, the famine was there also.
But here's the point. Any attempt at being saved by
law will only end up in a curse. Any attempt at being saved by
what I do, if I is in the equation anywhere, Any attempt to be saved
by my works in any fashion, to any degree, will only end up
with a curse, because all we do is break God's law. You know, even if you could enter
into famine still there, there's no spiritual nourishment in the
law. Now, option number one is what
we'll call the doing option. And if that's the route we go,
do something that I do. Salvation will come to me because
of something I do. All that will end up with is
death. Option number two, we can sit
here and do nothing. This is called the doing nothing
method. Now, I can listen to this man
who does nothing. Well, we can't be saved by our
words. That's obvious. We can't be saved. The Bible
says that. Salvation is by grace. God is absolutely sovereign.
It's up to Him. That's the way or not we're going
to have any grace. There's nothing we can do to get it. Why? We're dead
in sins, therefore there's no point in calling on the name
of the Lord. We can't. We're dead in sins. We're totally dependent
upon God to choose us. We're totally dependent upon
Christ to do something for us and to die for us. And we don't
have any control of that. He either did or he didn't. God's
grace. It's irresistible. Well, nothing
we can do about that. The only thing we can do is nothing. That's it. Nothing. That fellow
that said, Church, what must I do to be saved? He was trying
to come to God on legal grounds. You can't do anything to be saved.
Just do nothing and wait and see what happens. That's all
we can do. God's sovereign. We believe that. We'll just sit
here and do nothing. Now, if we take that route, you
know where that'll lead to? Death. We'll die that way, too. It's all fixed. It's all determined.
There's nothing I can do. Therefore, I will do nothing.
Well, OK, what about option number three? He talks about the Syrians. Now, therefore, come these other
two options actually are not options at all. And let me say
this. You listen real carefully. The only time you ever really
come to Christ and sue for mercy is when there are no other options. Everything else has been exhausted. You see, there's nothing but
death here. There's nothing but death there. If I take the long
route, I'll die. If I do nothing, I'll die. Now,
here's what we're going to do. There's the host of the Syrians.
They're besieging the city. And if we come into their presence,
It could be that they could say, what are you bunch of leprous
Jews doing here? Why, you're going to come in
and contaminate this place. We don't want you to, well, we're
going to put you to death. What an act of presumption for
you to come here like that. But you know, they could have
pity on us. They don't have to. But the only
hope, the only option we have of life is to come and fall into
their hands. If they have mercy on us, we'll
live. If they don't, we'll do what
we would do anyway. We'll die. Our only option is the mercy
of God in Christ Jesus. Now, this I know. If I try and enter in the city, If I try to come into God's presence,
all God's going to do is curse me and kill me. Now, I know that
so. If I try to enter into his presence
because of something I've done and think that there's something
that I've done that obligates him to save me, I'm going to
be cursed. I'm going to be cut off. If I
do nothing, well, God's sovereign. Nothing I can do. I'm just going
to sit here and wait and see what happens. Well, you can do that
all you want, but you'll be cursed there, too. The only option is
to come before the sovereign of the universe, the one your
life is in his hands. Now, he doesn't have to have
mercy on you. There's no obligatory part on
his part where there's something about you that makes him need
to have mercy on you. Now, he must be just. He must
be just. He may be merciful. He will be
merciful. I know He's going to be merciful
because He is merciful. But just, I come not saying you
have to save me because I've come. I come and fall in His
hands saying, have mercy on me. I throw myself on the sheer mercy
of God in Christ. I may die. I may hear him say,
depart from me. Who could blame him as sinful
as I am? How my damnation would magnify his justice. Would your
damnation magnify and honor the justice of God? But then he may
show mercy. He may show grace for Christ's
sake. And how my salvation would magnify
and glorify the freeness and the greatness of his grace. Now, these lepers use some sanctified
logic here, didn't they? Now. Logic won't get you anywhere.
But sanctified logic will. They came to the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this. Him. Out to the gracious King approach. whose scepter pardon gives. Perhaps he may command my touch,
and then the suppliant lives. Perhaps he will admit my plea. Perhaps will hear my prayer.
But if I perish, I will pray, and only perish there. I can but perish if I go. I am resolved to try. For if I stay away, I know I
must forever die. But if I die with mercy sought,
when I, the king, have tried this were to die, delightful
thought, as sinner, never died. You see, beloved, no one has
ever come to God for mercy that he turned away. It's never happened. It'll never happen. Anybody who
comes like these lepers did seeking mercy, they'll find mercy. Turn with me for a moment to
Mark, chapter one. Hold your finger there in second Kings.
Seven turned to Mark, chapter one. Beginning in verse 40. And there came a leper to him,
and we know from Luke's account this man was full of leprosy.
He would have been repulsive to look at. You sure wouldn't
want to touch him. He was full of leprosy. A leper came to him, beseeching
him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, If thou
wilt, thou canst. make me clean." And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth His hand and touched
him, and said unto him, And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him. It was gone. And he was cleansed. And let me tell you four or five
things that this leper knew. This leper knew that he was unclean. He knew that he was altogether
contaminated and defiled. He knew that. Second thing this
leper knew is he knew that he could not make himself clean. There wasn't one thing he could
do to make himself clean. He knew that. Third thing he
knew is he knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was able to make
him clean. He believed that. Think of these
things he knew. Number one, he knew he was unclean. Two, he knew he couldn't make
himself clean. And number three, he knew the
Lord could. But you know what? This fellow
wasn't real sure about the Lord's willingness to do it. He could
understand why the Lord would pass him by. He could understand
why the Lord would refuse him. He looked at himself and he thought,
why would he? So he comes into the Lord's presence
and he says, Lord, if you will, it's all up to you, your sovereign
appointment, if you will. I can't make myself clean. I'm
unclean. I know you can. I'm not so sure
about your willingness, and I can understand why you wouldn't want
to cleanse me, but if you will. You can. Make me clean. Now, can you come like that right
now? I'm unclean. I can't make myself clean. He
can. And my only hope is that He will
will my cleansing as an act of His free and sovereign will. Now, let's go on reading. Verse
42, And as soon as He had spoken. Verse 41, And Jesus moved with
Compassion. When the Lord saw this man come
this way, he was moved with compassion. Now, there's other folks who
come to him and he wasn't moved with compassion by them, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, he wasn't moved with
compassion when they came into his presence. But when this man
came this way, The Lord Jesus Christ was moved with compassion,
and he reached forth his hand, the scripture says, and touched
him. Now, can you imagine him touching
this revolting, disgusting man? But he did it. And the scripture
says when he did that, immediately the leprosy departed from him. It went somewhere else, didn't
it? He bore our infirmities and our sickness and our disease
and our sins. He bore them. And the scripture
says that immediately he was cleansed. So off these four lepers
go to sue for mercy at the hands of the Syrians. Now turn back
to 2 Kings 7. Verse 5. And they know their
only option. It's for the Syrians to sovereignly
decide to let them have mercy. They know that's their only option.
Verse 5, And 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 left their tents and their
horses and their asses, even unto the camp. And it was they
fled for their life. So here these lepers come in
and they find the camp full of food, full of goods. Verse 8, And when these lepers
came to the othermost part of the camp, they went into one
tent, did eat and drink, and carried then silver and gold
and raiment, and went and hid it, and came again, and entered
into another tent, and carried then also, and went and hid it.
They got seconds. They got seconds. They come in with all the, they
come in with full bellies. They're given silver and gold.
What is silver and gold for? It's to purchase things. It's
to buy things. It's buying currency. And raiment,
and you know what that represents. The silver and gold represents
the payment, the redemption payment of the blood of Christ. They
found complete redemption. That raiment is the righteousness
and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they even got seconds,
didn't they? They got plenty. I mean, they
came in and they got all this bounty and all this good. And
they were so happy. Here they are having a feast,
having a party. They were so happy. Verse nine. Now, before we get there, let
me say this about this, this had already been determined by
the Lord. You see, the place where the
famine was so bad, people would buy buying doves, dung beet and
boiling their children. We just read about that. That's
such a horrible thing to think about. But look, look back in. In. Chapter seven, verse one. Then Elisha said, Hear ye the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord tomorrow
about this time. Now you think about the famine
they've been going through, eating dovesgum, people boiling their
children. He said tomorrow. This is before
we're introduced to these lepers. This happened before the lepers.
Tomorrow, about this time, shall a measure of fine flour be sold
for a shekel, a very cheap price. and two measures of barley, a
large amount for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. Tomorrow,
this famine is going to be over. There's going to be plenty of
food for everybody. This was prophesied by the prophets.
Then the Lord, on whose hand the king leaned, answered the
man of God and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows
in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt
see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof. But we
see that this is something that the Lord had determined. And
I love the way verse six states, For the Lord had made the hosts
of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses.
What happened is what the Lord made to happen. Now, here's salvation. It's what the Lord makes to happen.
He made him to be sin for us. He's made unto us wisdom and
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. This is all about
what the Lord made to do. It was a predetermined blessing. Now, here are these fellows with
their bellies full. Now look in verse nine. Then they said one to another. With their full bellies. Their
silver and gold, their beautiful raiment. We do not well. This is wrong, fellas. This day
is a day of good tidings. And we hold our peace. We don't
tell other people about it. If we tarry to the morning light,
some mischief will come upon us. Now, therefore, come that
we may go and tell the king's household. We do not well. There are a bunch of starving
people in Samaria, afraid to leave the city for the fear of
the Assyrians waiting to kill them. But the Assyrians are gone. The Lord made them leave. They're
gone and there's plenty of food. Now, if we hold our peace. And
don't tell about this bounty. Now, there's times when it's
a good thing to hold your peace. A lot of things we say ought
not ever to have been said, I believe that more now than ever have.
But there's a time where it's not good to hold your peace.
Like right here. It's not good to hold your peace. How treacherous it would be to have the gospel and not tell other sinners about
it. I want each one of us to think about that. How treacherous it would be to
know the Lord, to know of His grace, to know of the power of
His blood for sinners, to know the gospel, and to not tell other
sinners the gospel. It's a crime, isn't it? It's
a lack of love. It's an indifference. It's wrong. It's just flat wrong, they said,
we do not wail in this. And beloved, you and I do not
wail when we hold our tongue regarding the gospel. This is
wrong. We do not wail, this day is a
day of good tidings, verse nine, 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 unto the porter of the city that
was. Shut up and in famine, 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, remember
that fellow that said this is impossible. There's no way all
this food is going to be here within 24 hours. It just can't
be done. Remember that as we read this. Verse 12. And the
king arose in the night and said to his servants, I will now show
you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we'd be
hungry. Therefore, they've gone out of the camp to hide themselves
in the field, saying when they came out of the city, we'll catch
them alive and get into the city. And one of his 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 all as
the multitude of Israel that are left in it. Behold, I say
that They are even as 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. And 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, 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, just like Elisha said it would take
place. Exactly. And the king appointed the Lord
on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gates, and
the people trod upon him. That one who questioned this
in the gates, and he died as the man of God had said, who
spake when the king came down to him. And it came to pass,
as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures
of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall
be to the mall of at this time in the gate of Samaria. And the
Lord had answered the man of God, said, Now behold, if the
Lord should make windows in 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 unto him,
for the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died." Now,
leper's logic. What can we learn from these
four leprous men? Well, first, I'm to know where
the place of death is certain. It is certain that if I approach
God with an eye in my speech, Lord
save me because I did this, or I did that, or because I believe,
or because I intend to be better, or I intend to turn it around,
or I believe all the right things. Know this. There's a curse. You'll die. Know that if I just
sit in fatalistic, stoic indifference, well, nothing I can do. God's
sovereign. I'll die. fall into the hands of Christ,
sink or swim, I'll go to Him. I can but perish if I go. I am
resolved to try, for I know that if I stay away, I will forever
die. I'm to come to Him surrendering. You know, surrender is defeat,
isn't it? If you surrender, you're defeated. But here's the one
time where if you surrender, you win. The victory comes in
surrender. I fall at his feet. I'm in his
hands. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And he will. Don't hold your peace. Tell others
of this great salvation. And may the Lord God make this
our life's mission, to be like these lepers, to tell where mercy
and redemption and a glorious arraignment is found. Let's pray.