2nd Kings chapter 7 I'm taking
the title For the message from the words found in verse 9 and
when I initially read through this I Was thinking about a title
and when I read these word then they said one to another these
four lepers who were blessed with such an abundance, who were
so needy, we do not well, that is, in keeping these things to
ourselves, this day is a day of good tidings." This day is
a day of good tidings. This day is a day of good news. That's the gospel, isn't it?
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is called good news, glad
tidings. These poor, sick, starved lepers
were on the brink of death. So desperate. They were so desperate. that they were bold enough to
approach the very camp of the enemy and to beg for food. They said, well, if we go there,
we're going to die anyway. Let's go there and maybe they
will show mercy. They were mercy beggars, but
when they came to the camp of the enemy, what did they find? They found plenty. Thinking how
they were so abundantly blessed, they wanted to tell their starving
friends where they found food. They said, it's not good for
us to hide this and keep it all to ourselves. Let's go back to
the city. Let's tell our friends. Let's
tell our families. We found bread. We found money. We found drink. We found raiment. We found all these things. That
is our gospel. That's the good news of the gospel.
And it is one beggar telling another beggar where he found
bread. That's what these men were doing.
We found bread. And they were anxious to get
back to tell the others. Now again we learn about another
miracle. The Lord brought through the
man of God called Elisha. You remember I pointed out before
he's called the miracle prophet. I didn't know that, didn't realize
that till I started looking into the life of Elisha. All this
came about, this whole scenario came about by the good providence
of God for one reason, for one reason, that we might use this
as a story, as a providential type of the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What we see here is needy sinners
seeking mercy where mercy is found. Where is mercy found? In the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the Lord abundantly providing for them And that's a picture
of our every need being met in Christ. Our God shall supply
all our need according to his riches in glory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, our God is not stingy.
He's not stingy. He's plenteous in redemption.
there is an abundant of blessings in him." Now notice this, the
Lord brought this great famine upon this city of Samaria and
upon the children, for it says there in 2 Kings chapter 6 verse
24, And it came to pass after this. Now, it just didn't happen. It
wasn't luck, fate, or chance. It wasn't lady luck or misfortune. It came to pass by the sovereign
purpose and providence of God. It came to pass because God brought
it to pass. Everything we see going on today
is under the absolute sovereign control of our great God. He rules and reigns over all
things. I must confess, I don't understand
all the mysteries of God's providence, but I don't need to understand
whatsoever the Lord please. That's what He does in heaven,
earth, seas, and all deep places. The people were so desperate
in the city, the Jews in the city of Samaria, that they were
eating unusual things. They were eating up all the livestock. They just had five horses left.
No doubt they had thousands. They were eating and reduced
to eating the head of a jackass. Now, there's probably not much
meat on the head of a jackass. Some have suggested that they
were eating the dung of birds or using the dung of birds to
fuel fire, or some have suggested that what is mentioned there
is some kind of a herb that they had to dig up and to root out
to eat. And then others were so desperate
that they resorted to cannibalism. The cravings of hunger are a
very strong desire. There's probably not a greater
craving that we crave naturally as to crave water and food. But I can't imagine being so
desperate that I would kill my children, boil their body, and
eat them. Now, I've never been that hungry. But we've seen that happen many
times even in the history of this country where this has happened. But you can see just how desperate
they were. The king of Israel, Joram, this devastated him when he heard
about these ladies fighting over their children and eating them.
And he wanted the head of Elisha. He blamed the man of God for
all his troubles. You know who the blame was on? The king of Israel himself, who
had been reduced to idolatry, who did evil in the sight of
the Lord, just like his father Ahab had done. He had no one
to blame but himself. But he was willing to take the
head off the shoulders of Elisha and to blame him. Isn't that
just like human nature? Blame everybody but yourself.
Everybody else is at fault but you. And that's what this man
was doing. But in essence, who was he really
pointing the finger at? Elisha was called the man of
God. Joram's real problem was he is
in rebellion against God Almighty. And that's man's problem. He's
in rebellion against God. Elisha prophesied that there
would be plenty of food the next day in 2nd King chapter 7, verse
1 and 2. He said, we're going to have
so much food, so much flour, so much barley that there's going
to be an abundance of it. And just exactly as the man of
God said, It came to pass, verse 18. It came to pass, just as
God said it would come to pass, as the man of God had spoken
to the king, saying, two measures of barley for a shekel, a measure
of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in
the gate of Samaria. I mean, they brought back wagon
loads of food. This army had deserted all their
supplies, everything they left, and took off. Back home. And Israel had an abundance.
They didn't fight for it. It's free. And they had it abundantly. And just exactly as the man of
God said, it came to pass. Not one word of the Lord will
fail. All things that He has spoken
will come to pass. Every promise that He has promised.
And He's promised a lot of things. in his word but not one word
will fail not one word will fall here are four leopards in need
and we see how the Lord met their need by a miracle of his power
the reasoning they had was good they said if we sit here we're
going to die if we go into the city we're still gonna die because
there's no food in the city so then they said let us go where
the food is and beg for mercy and just Maybe they'll feed us,
or at least we'll have something to eat before they kill us, but
we'll have that need met. They rose up that evening, it
says in verse 5, and went toward the camp of the enemy. You think about their thoughts.
Think about their thought process. No doubt they were wondering,
what are we going to find? What are we going to do? What
are we going to say? And they ventured on their faith,
believing God would provide. They rose up that evening, went
toward the camp of Nehemiah, and the place was deserted. It
says there in verse 5, the camp of Assyrians, behold, they came
to the camp of Assyrians, and there was no man there. I mean, they had completely forsaken
everything and skedaddled back to their home country. Now, I
love what it says in verse 6 and verse 7. The Lord had made the
host of the Syrians. Now, this was the whole army
of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses,
even a noise of a great host. They said, Lo, the king of Israel
hath hired against us. They've got the Hittites and
the Egyptians, and they're come upon us. Wherefore they rose
and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses,
their asses, the camp as it was, and they fled for their life.
They were terrified. They were terrified. But here's
the thought. The Lord so controlled them and
confused them, He controlled their thoughts, He controlled
their will, He controlled their emotions, to think they were
under attack from Israel. And they fled so quickly that
they left everything. Now a lot of people in false
religion think that God will not interfere with man's will. They think somehow man's will
is some kind of shrine that God can't invade that shrine because
he would violate their will. Well, he violated their will
here, didn't he? They were going to attack Israel. Their mind was set to do them
harm, and God controlled them completely and confused them,
and they skedaddled back home. Now, don't tell me God doesn't
control all things. He controls all things, in heaven,
earth, sea, and all deep places. He's sovereign over all things.
Whatsoever the Lord please, that's what He does. These four lepers,
poor, starving, desperate men, verse 8, when these lepers came
to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent
and they did eat and drink. Just imagine they were having
a big time, weren't they? I mean, they were eating, they
were drinking. They carried the silver and the
gold and the raiment. They hid it and they came and
entered into another tent. Now, these aren't pup tents.
These are big tents. These are tents that housed all
their supplies and housed all the extra armament and raiment
and gold and silver. They went to another tent and
found it and went and hid that. These four lepers went from one
tent to another, enjoyed what was freely provided for them
from the hand of the Lord." The Lord supplied this, didn't he?
They didn't fight for it. They just went and received what
the Lord freely provided. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. He provides all things for us
freely. Freely. Being so blessed, in
verse 9, they said one to another, we do not wail this day. We do
not wail. This day is a day of good things.
We do not wail, that is, in hiding and keeping everything to ourselves.
If we tarry to the morning light, maybe some mischief, maybe they'll
come back. Now therefore, come. that we
may go and tell the king's household. And they went and called to the
port of the city and told him, saying, We came into the camp
of the Syrians. Behold, there was no man there,
not even a voice. Horses, asses tied up, and all
their tents were there, full of all the good things they received
freely. Being so blessed, they wanted
to share what they had discovered with the king's household. Now, let us look at these verses
and learn again the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
showing mercy to sinners. Let us always remember the Lord
delights to show mercy. His mercy is sovereign mercy.
He said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, right?
Sovereign mercy. But let us not forget He said,
I will show mercy. Micah 7, 18, Who is a God like
unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, that passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delights in mercy. The Lord always displays his
mercy against the background of the sinner's misery. Blind Bartimaeus. Remember, sitting
by the wayside in his filthy, ragged garment, Lord Jesus, have
mercy on me, thou son of David, have mercy. And the Lord showed
mercy to this poor beggar. These four lepers certainly represent,
who would they represent? You know who they represent.
They represent the sinner. They represent us. These four
lepers certainly represent what we are by nature before God. Diseased, sinful, guilty, dying
under the judgment of a holy God because we've sinned against
God. This is true of the whole human
race. When Adam sinned against God,
the Lord pronounced judgment upon him and upon all men. Therefore, we read in Isaiah,
the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint from the top of
our head to the bottom of our feet, and everything in between
is wounds and bruises and awful, running, open, wicked sores. guilty before God. This is our
spiritual condition before God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understands,
there's none that seek after God. This total depravity, and
that's what we call it, man is totally sinful. in his thoughts,
in his mind, in his ways, in his emotions. He is by nature,
by birth, by practice and choice, totally depraved. This totally
depraved and sinful condition is not recognized or known by
natural thought, is it? Ask your neighbor next week,
are you a sinner? Well, I used to be. I've reformed
now. You see, there's not many men
that will own themselves to be sinners. You see, our natural
thoughts are always high. We think highly of ourselves
and we think too low of God. Our thoughts are always wrong
about ourselves and about our God. Psalm 50 says, our Lord
says this, You thought I was altogether such as one as thyself.
God is not like us. We are sinful. He is most holy. God is most holy and we're most
wicked. Isaiah realized that when he
saw the Lord high and lifted up and the angels cried out,
holy, holy, holy, holy. You remember what the prophet,
the man of God, Isaiah said, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean
lips, but eyes have seen the Lord. You see, we only realize
our sinful condition, how terrible it is in the light of his bright
holiness. Job had the same experience.
Lord, I have heard of Thee, but now my eye sees Thee, wherefore
I hate myself. I repent in dust and ashes."
We don't understand. If we don't understand something
of our total ruin, our total ruin, we will not see
our need of redemption. Now get a hold of that. If we
don't see Our total ruin, if we don't understand our total
ruin condition, sinful, guilty, we will not see our need of a
Redeemer, our need of a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. But who needs
redemption? Good folks don't need a Redeemer.
Good folks don't need a Savior. Who needs redemption? Sinners.
You see, if we don't understand sin, we'll never see our great
need of salvation revealed in Christ. Will we? That's why men
are always going about to establish a righteousness of their own.
They do not see themselves as guilty before God. We don't understand
something of ruin, we won't understand something of redemption. We don't
understand something of sin, we'll never understand what happened
at Calvary and salvation accomplished in Christ. Something else we
see, these four lepers, knowing their desperate condition and
their great need, went about to find a solution, a remedy
to their problem. They reasoned in this way. If
we sit still, we're going to die. If we go into the city,
we're still going to die. Our only option is to seek bread
where we know bread is found in the camp of the enemy. So
they went and found plenty, and the Lord, by a miracle of his
power, provided for them. Now, considering our own hopeless
and desperate case, what shall we do? What shall we do? What can we do? Well, the question
was asked to the Apostle Paul, what must I do to be saved? And
the Apostle Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. If we stay here, that is, content
in our sin, in our unbelief, in our guilt, we shall justly
perish under the wrath of God. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. If we go
into the city, we shall die there also. What does this city represent? the city that had, the city of
Samaria here. What does it represent? I think
it represents religion without Christ. This city had everything. They had activity, they had buildings,
they had people, they had organization, they had activity, they had all
these things, but they lacked the essential. They had no food. They had everything but what
was necessary to sustain life. They had no food. You see, you can have everything
in religion, you can have activity, you can have traditions of the
fathers, you can have a nice building, you can have lots of
people, you can have the best organization. But if you don't
have Christ, you've got nothing. You see, salvation is in a person,
not in a place. Salvation is in a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in a plan. Salvation is in a person, not
in a pool. Salvation is not in a pool of
water. How deceived can one be to think that one sinner baptizing
another sinner and that sinner is regenerated and made a new
creature. and his sins are washed away.
I mean, that is just totally contrary to what the Scriptures
teach. Salvation is in a person. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. The Lord said to His disciples,
when he has fed that crowd of 5,000 people, and then he said,
no man can come to me except the Father which sent me, draw
him. And those 5,000 people dropped, following him, and turned and
walked away. All they wanted was a full belly.
They were not interested in Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. You remember what the Lord did
next? He turned to his 12 apostles
and he said, will you also go away? If you want to leave now,
just follow the crowd. Now's the time to leave. Peter
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? We believe and we are sure
you have the words of eternal life and you are that Christ
of God. That's a blessed man, is it not?
You see, religion without the true Christ of God, and there's
a lot of religion that uses the name of Jesus, But it's not the
Christ of God. Paul talked about another Jesus
and another gospel and another spirit. Religion without the
true Christ of God is worthless as a refuge of lies, Isaiah talks
about, that will be exposed. What we need is not a refuge
of lies. What we need is a solid foundation. The foundation that God said,
behold, I lay in Zion for foundation of stone and tritone of precious
cornerstone. You see, there is no other foundation
but Christ. A house without a foundation,
a house without a foundation Now, when we built this new house
over here, I'm so thankful. You know, we've been there five
years in that house now. I'm so thankful the Lord provided
that for us in such a marvelous way. But the first thing we did
is we dug a footer and poured a foundation, and then we built
the house. That house wouldn't be standing
if we just dug a footer and just put the lumber right down on
the ground. The termites would have eaten
it by now. It would have been gone. You have to have a foundation,
and that foundation that God said he has laid is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's that foundation. Well, what
shall we do? Let us do what these sinners
did here. Let's cast ourselves on the mercy of God like these
four lepers did. The publican did and received
mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God. According to your loving kindness,
according to your tender mercy, God have mercy upon me, the sinner.
And the Lord said that man went down to his house justified.
You see, there is no other option but Christ. Neither is there
salvation in any other. but the Lord Jesus Christ. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. Even though
we merit no mercy, even though we are most sinful and guilty
before God, we've all sinned to come short of the glory of
God. The wages of sin is death. But let us not forget the second
part of that verse. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Even though we deserve
nothing but wrath, thank God He came to save sinners. Thank God He came to show mercy. Oh, it is sovereign mercy, make
no mistake, but He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself to enable God to be
just God and Savior and to show mercy not at the expense of His
holy justice. That's the gospel. Something
else we see here, what did these four lepers find and what did
they experience when they came seeking mercy, when they came
seeking help? They found the enemy was gone,
number one. They found an abundance of goods,
food, drink, raiment, gold, silver, livestock. They found everything,
shelter, tents. Isn't this our story? When we
come to Christ, being drawn by Christ, coming to Christ by faith,
we find all our enemies gone. Everything that was against us
and contrary to us has been conquered by the Lord Jesus Christ. We
talk about our sin, He put it away by the sacrifice of himself.
We talk about the law that's against us and contrary to us,
the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us. We talk about the accuser of
the brethren, the devil, Satan himself, the Lord said he's cast
out. The Lord said I've crushed his
dominion, I've crushed his power. When we talk about death, The
Lord said, I'm he that liveth and was dead, behold, I'm alive
forevermore. I have the keys of hell and death.
He said, because I live, you shall also live. You see, he's
conquered all of our enemies. He's the captain of our salvation
that's bringing many sons unto glory. These four lepers came
to that camp, and they found their enemy gone, conquered by
Who conquered them? God conquered them, didn't He?
Second thing we find when we find that the Lord Jesus Christ
has provided an abundance of food for us. He is called Jehovah-Jireh,
Genesis 22. The Lord will provide and He
provides all things in an abundant way. Notice the things that are
mentioned here. That says in verse 8 there, they
went into one tent, they did eat and drink, carried the silver,
gold, and raiment, all these things. These materials, these
material things, are all typical of the spiritual blessings that
we find in Christ. They drank, didn't they? They
found water and wine. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
called the water of life. He told that woman at the well,
you drink of that natural water, you're going to thirst again.
But if you drink of that water that I will give you, there'll
be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And
she said, Lord, give me that water. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our bread. They had found They found barley,
they found flour, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the bread of
life. And the Lord Jesus Christ, these
lepers found silver and gold. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Him
we have everlasting true spiritual riches, don't we? Heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. Something else they found, they
had a raiment. They found plenty of raiment,
clothes to put on. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
raiment, isn't he? He's our covering, isn't he?
He clothed us with the garments of salvation, with the robe of
righteousness. You see how all this is typical
of the gospel. All of this, we see the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? Lastly, what they did when
they were so abundantly blessed. At first, they only thought of
themselves. They enjoyed these things themselves. Matter of
fact, they even went and dug a hole and thought, well, we'll
just hide these things for later. But then they thought of others
who were in need. Maybe they thought of their family.
Maybe they had children. Maybe they thought of their neighbors
and their friends. They said, let's go tell others.
Let's go spread the good news. I love this statement. This day
is a day of good tidings. And that's what we see in the
gospel. The gospel is good tidings, good news to sinners. This too
is our experience when the Lord is pleased to reveal Himself
to us. We desire to tell others of how great things He has done
for us. Turn over here to Psalm 66. Psalm
66. You know, it's strange how you
remember some things when reading scripture. I remember one of
the first times I read this scripture, someone else was reading it,
giving a devotion from Psalm 66, verse 16. Come and hear all
ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for
my soul. Boy, I've never forgot that. It's been 30 years ago. or longer. I've never forgot that verse.
Our Lord told that wild man that was healed. You remember that
wild man that dwelt naked in the tombs when the Lord clothed
him, put him in his right mind and sent him home? He said, go
and tell how great things God had done for you. That's what
we do when we preach the gospel, going to all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. One last word here and I'll let
you go. In verse 12, at first the king did not believe the
report. He said, yeah, those Syrians,
they've set a trap for us. They know that we're hungry and
therefore when we're gone out of the city and gone in the camp,
they're going to hide out and then they're going to come and
take care of us. catch us and take the city." The king at first
didn't believe the report. Remember what Isaiah said, who
had believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? By nature we don't believe the good news, do we?
This king didn't. He said, well, it's a trap. It's
too good to be true. We can't go there. Someone wisely
said, well, maybe we ought to just take a couple of horses
and go down there and find out. And they did. They said, let
us go and see. They took therefore, verse 14,
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, vessels the
Syrians had cast away. And messengers returned and told
the king, and the people went out and spoiled the tent of the
Syrians. So a measure of iron fly was
sold for a shekel. and two measures of barley for
a shekel according to the word of the Lord." You see, he blesses
us according to the word of the Lord. They found the report to
be true according to the word of the Lord. You remember what
I read back here? Don't turn, let me just see if
I can find it for you. The woman said, Come and see a man who told me
all things that I have done." John 4.39, the many of the Samaritans. Now it's interesting that it's
the same city. Did you notice that? The same
city. this woman at the well. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which
testified, he told me all that I ever did. They heard, this
day is the day of good news. So when the Samaritans would
come to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them,
and he bowed there. And many more believed because
of his own word, this day is the day of good news. And said
unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for
we have heard him ourselves. And know that this indeed, this
is indeed the Christ. He is the only Savior in this
world. No other. Salvation is in no
other but the Lord Jesus Christ.