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2 Kings 7 Bible Study (Elisha Promises Food/The Syrians Flee) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Meet me in second Kings Chapter 7.
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  By the grace of God, we're going to complete this chapter in its
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  entirety this evening. So let's turn there and begin in
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  verse one. And I want to remind you that
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  this. Chapter does not introduce a new
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  story, nor does it transition us into a new thought.
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  Instead, it begins in the middle of a conversation between Elijah
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  and Delicate sent from the king of Israel, who were sent to
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  arrest him and to execute him. That's where this chapter
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  begins. And we have to remember from our
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  previous study that Israel during this time was weathering
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  a severe famine, and with that famine was attempting to survive
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  Syrian siege, the army of the nation of Syria surrounding them
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  and hoping to starve them into surrender.
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  And due to the siege, inflation is through the roof and the
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  people of the Northern Kingdom have even resorted to
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  cannibalism in order to survive. Things are bleak.
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  Things are desperate and devastating.
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  But while Samaria is in shambles.
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  The last site that we had of the prophet was that he was at home
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  sitting calmly waiting on his God.
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  On the other hand, the King of Israel, through a spontaneous
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  reaction to the horrors that he is discovering among his people,
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  chooses to blame God and the man of God for the suffering that
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  his country is experiencing and decides in his rage to kill the
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  prophet. And so he sends a messenger, and
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  he will follow that messenger. But we're dealing with a prophet
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  here. And so the Lord speaks to Elijah
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  ahead of time, and Elijah is notified, and he tells the
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  elders to protect the door of his home.
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  And they do so. And then suddenly the messenger
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  of the king arrives on the scene and the king behind him, only to
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  realize that God is the one who has a real message.
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  And it's a message for the king of Israel, and it's a message
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  for the people of Israel. And we're going to read the
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  first 2 verses of this chapter to discover it together.
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  Second king, 7 verse one. But Elijah said, hear the word
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  of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Tomorrow
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  about this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a
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  shekel, and to see is a barley for a shekel at the gate of
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  Samaria. Then the captain, on whose hand
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  the king leaned, said to the man of God, If the Lord Himself
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  should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?
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  But he said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you
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  shall not eat of it. Lord, we ask in humility that
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  you help us with this study. Touch our lives, touch our
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  minds, touch our hearts, change us.
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  O God, we need you here. We need you day by day, we need
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  you as we engage with your word. So we depend on you and we
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  gladly admit that you are the teacher, we are your students
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  and we receive from you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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  I believe that in verse one alone we can learn three things.
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  Verse 1 alone, and I want to just touch on those things
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  briefly. The first thing that I want to
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  draw to your attention is how often man's evil is met by God's
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  grace. It's incredible, isn't it, that
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  you had the king of Israel wanting to execute the prophet
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  of God, despite the fact that Elijah has done so much to help
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  Israel and even unworthy king such as Jeraham.
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  And yet this king wants to remove his head from his
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  shoulders. And with all the things, the
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  series of graces that this king has experienced, he would think
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  that after this, this is a this is a whole new low that he would
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  finally be dealt with in judgement and punishment and
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  divine discipline. And instead, what do we read?
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  That Elisha gives him a promise of provision, That he lets him
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  know that salvation is just a night away.
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  And as I look at this, I'm reminding you of another real
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  life example of how the grace of God reveals itself and how it
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  often reintroduces itself in the midst of our sin.
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  While men hate God, rebel against God, despise God, God
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  meets them in that place while they are yet enemies and
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  embraces them with grace. And I've said this so many
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  times, I don't want to be redundant, but I can't help it
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  that the more I study even the Old Testament, the more I'm
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  convinced that God is a God of grace.
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  And for people to make this claim that God is in a better
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  mood in the New Testament than he was in the Old proves to me
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  ignorance of the Scriptures and that you have not really delved
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  into what the Word of God has to say about the character of God.
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  Here you have the king who wants to kill a mighty man of God
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  without cause, and yet God prompts Elijah to give a message
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  of grace and hope as a response. It's staggering, and it's not an
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  isolated thing. The second lesson is about how
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  God can change any circumstance in any amount of time.
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  God can change any circumstance in any amount of time.
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  Notice that the astounding prophecy that Elijah gives is
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  not just about, you know, specifying this new.
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  Kind of price for these goods. It also, it also unveils that
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  there's going to be the presence of products that were not in
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  existence within the city's borders.
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  Remember, the products that were on demand were two things that
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  are unthinkable. Donkeys, heads and the dung of
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  doves. And now all of a sudden we hear
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  and we read that there's going to be fine flour and there's
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  going to be barley provided. And it makes you wonder, how is
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  this going to happen? There's a siege going on here.
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  How will these products be imported?
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  How will these goods even arrive?
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  Left to human ingenuity, it's impossible for this to be a
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  reality within 24 hours. And that's the point.
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  This prophecy is preparing the people for a miracle.
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  This is a supernatural announcement.
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  It doesn't make any sense. And this is one of the many
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  miracles that should always be remembered by us whenever we are
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  facing something where we don't understand how God can come
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  through, especially when all odds are against us.
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  That's the point of this. Left to human reasoning, there
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  is no logical answer. And yet we are supposed to be
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  impressed by this, that God is able.
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  That God is able. And when I'm looking at this I I
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  can't help but think in our context as a church, I will
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  never forget and by the grace of God never fail to testify of how
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  He has done something so similar in our story.
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  You think about the history of this church, and you think about
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  how within a day. After an unforeseen transition,
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  we were able to gather as a people and some of you, this is
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  foreign to you. You don't know the history
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  behind how we are here in this specific location.
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  But let me summarize it. It was a miracle.
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  And for those who were there, you know it very well.
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  It was a miracle. How is it that through a
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  transition again that left? To human reasoning would lead us
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  to think that we need much more time to be able to do what we
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  were able to do in that time frame.
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  We didn't have to postpone one meeting, cancel one prayer
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  service, delay 1 Bible study, nothing of the sort.
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  I hope for those who were there to experience it.
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  We'll never forget that in the Word and for those who live for
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  the Lord. God is able to flip the script
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  within the blink of an eye. That's who God is, and you have
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  to believe that he's able to do that.
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  And when you experience something like that, you'll
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  never be the same. And so I read the story and yes,
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  I'm looking at history, but I'm also looking at the same God
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  who's done it for us. And he is able to do it again
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  and again and again. He's not constrained by time.
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  He's not limited by lack of resources.
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  But here's what you have to remember that believing the Lord
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  can do that. Does not mean that you and I
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  will be given the blueprint of how he will do it.
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  Believing he can do it doesn't mean that he owes us explanation
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  to how he is going to do it. Did you notice that when Elijah
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  prophesized about how the economy is going to shift
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  drastically within 24 hours, he doesn't tell the king how it's
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  going to happen. He didn't say so here's how it's
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  going to happen. The Syrians, as we're about to
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  read in this, the Syrians, they're going to hear a sound.
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  I'm going to let them hear the sound of Chariots and horses.
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  They're going to flee and all the things that they leave
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  behind. That's what's going to bring
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  about the deliverance to the people doesn't, doesn't say
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  anything of the sort. He just says it's going to
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  happen. And knowing that God is able
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  must be enough to win our faith. Just knowing that he is able,
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  not trying to understand the intricacies and the danger also
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  of limiting him to our methodologies, that will
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  suffocate your faith. If you think that God is limited
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  by how you think he should or how he can do it, that's
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  dangerous thinking. Just give up.
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  Give up speculating, give up planning, give up trying to
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  figure out how he's going to do it.
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  Just trust and while you wait, worship.
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  I find an issue how we get a glimpse of the thinking of the
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  King's right hand man as he hears this and couldn't help
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  himself but respond to this prophecy.
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  And what does he think? He thinks, OK, if this were to
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  happen, then the only way that it could occur is that God would
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  make fine flour and barley rain down from the heavens, right?
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  Remember he says that though with the make heavens have
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  windows and those windows would open up and he was to release
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  these things. OK, But even then he says, could
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  it really bring about the results that you're Speaking of?
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  But interestingly, God is not going to.
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  Literally make things fall down from the sky as he did with
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  mana. He has a whole different idea
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  about it. And God is going to open the
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  heavens in a metaphorical sense. And we have to be careful
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  thinking that the Lord is bound to our predictable solutions.
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  Here's the last thing that we can learn from verse one, the
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  last, the third thing, it reminds us very close to the
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  second point, how God is not bound to our schedules.
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  He's not bound to our timing. Go back to the second Kings 633
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  to know what I'm talking about. It says here.
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  And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came
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  down to him being Elijah and said this trouble is from the
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  Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord
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  any longer? Why should I wait for the Lord
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  any longer? That's what the King says now.
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  One would think that in the face of such desperation and
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  devastation, the Lord would act without delay, right?
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  That if this is going to be this abundant provision made, why not
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  say by this afternoon it's going to happen?
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  Why not say by this evening you'll see it come to pass?
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  Why tomorrow? Why tomorrow?
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  And we're not giving an explanation.
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  Not in this story, and in many cases not in your life either,
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  but when things will unfold for you, when things will come to
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  pass for me. But I think when you read the
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  rest of the story, there is a timeless principle that can be
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  applied to anything that we are waiting on the Lord for.
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  Because as we're going to discover in a moment here, there
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  are key players that still need to be positioned, and there are
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  parallel stories that still need to be woven together that will
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  require time to achieve. And if it will require time to
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  accomplish, then it will demand our patience.
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  And we need to be patient. Study the Psalm, study
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  narrative, study the stories and how much is mentioned about
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  waiting. It's almost like an inescapable
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  discipline for the Christian learning how to.
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  Wait, it's everywhere. It's everywhere.
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  Imagine everything came with every prayer on the demand.
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  What kind of faith does that pull out of you?
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  Can God do it immediately? Yes.
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  I and I pray that way. I pray believe in that God can
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  come right here, right now before I even say Amen.
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  You have the right to pray that way.
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  But if He doesn't, what do you do?
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  You believe that He is bringing together a story, a testimony
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  that is greater than you can imagine.
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  And it requires time. It requires time.
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  Well, let's read. Let's read on in verse two, the
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  first part we learned that there was not just a messenger or the
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  king in attendance that there was the captain on whose hand
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  the king leaned the right hand man of the king.
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  And he couldn't help but react to this prophecy.
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  And unfortunately his reaction isn't 1 of gratitude and faith.
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  Instead it is filled with. Scorn and unbelief.
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  What does he say if the Lord were to make windows in heaven?
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  Could this thing be, in other words, if God was able to drop
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  this flower and barley from the skies with the reverse of our
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  situation, as you say, actually come to pass?
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  And the captain should have known better because he should
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  have remembered that this is not the only time where God has
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  metaphorically provided something through the windows of
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  heaven. Can you think of a time before
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  this where God acted through the symbolism of the windows of
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  heaven being opened? Any idea?
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  You can answer if you know man out, Sure, but I'm looking for
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  the specific phrase the windows of heaven.
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  It goes all the way back to the beginning.
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  Very good. Genesis Chapter 7.
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  Look at it with me in verse 11 and Genesis 711.
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  It relates to Noah. And notice what Moses writes in
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  Genesis 711 in the 6th, 100th year of Noah's life, and the
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  second month on the 17th day of the month.
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  On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and
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  the windows of the heavens were opened.
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  So you see, God has opened the windows of heaven before, but
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  for what reason? According to this account, to
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  pour out his judgement in a metaphorical sense, What was he
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  ready to do in the account of Second Kings Chapter 7?
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  To pour out his grace. And in many cases, some find it
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  more difficult to believe that God is willing to extend grace
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  than to unleash his wrath. I've met those people, and this
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  hesitation is implied in another passage of scripture in the Old
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  Testament, where the windows of heaven are referenced yet again.
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  Any idea? I'm talking now the right side
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  of Second Kings. Any other idea where the
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  reference windows of heaven is brought up?
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  Not Revelation. Still in the Old Testament, Not
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  Daniel. Nope.
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  Malachi. Somebody got it.
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  Go to Malachi chapter 3, verse 10.
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  This is a very familiar passage. Malachi 310 here's what the
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  prophet says bring the full tide into the storehouse, that there
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  may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the.
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  Test. Isn't that fascinating?
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  You'll be hard pressed to find another place where God tells
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  the people to put him to the test.
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  But in this case, he says, Put me to the test, and thereby put
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  me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the
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  windows of heaven for you, and pour down for you a blessing
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  until there is no more need. Here's a translation of what the
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  Lord is saying here. Evidently you people, my people,
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  do not believe that I am willing to bless you for your obedience
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  to My law. And in my law there is a demand
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  that you give a portion of your resources in order to fund the
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  ministry at the temple and to help the priest as they
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  minister. And you know how that was
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  revealed? They did not give the tithe.
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  No, no, they didn't give the full tithe.
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  So they gave in part. And God reveals here indirectly
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  why they gave in part because they were hesitant not give
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  everything because we're going to lose if we give.
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  And God says you don't believe my word.
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  Put me to the test. Give in accordance to what I ask
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  of you. Watch how I'll open the windows
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  of heaven and pour all my. Blessings on your life Now, many
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  in the New Covenant use this old Covenant law to try to press
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  people to obey the tithing law that was binding in the Old
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  Covenant. There's a different principle of
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  giving in the New Testament and in the New Covenant under the
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  law of Christ, but the principle of obedience is applied
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  universally. Blessing will never be realized
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  in a place of partial obedience. They gave some, they didn't.
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  Give what God asked and he said only when you give fully will I
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  bless you truly. And that's true for any command
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  of God if we are consciously, willingly, strategically in our
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  sin, holding back obedience, and are wondering why we're not
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  experiencing the windows of heaven being blessed.
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  Over our lives then we have to reconsider and re evaluate the
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  sincerity of our obedience. That's what we see here.
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  And the most dangerous type of unbelief is to disbelieve the
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  goodness of God in light of the gospel of Christ.
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  And I want to elaborate on that here.
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  So come back to 2nd Kings and notice the second part of verse
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  2. Elish proclamation of grace
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  swiftly turns into a declaration of judgment.
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  That's what we find. Right.
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  He gives a personal verdict to this man who in great disdain,
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  does not believe the word of the Lord.
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  And So what happens? He says you're going to see it,
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  but you're not going to partake of it.
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  You're going to. Witness God's blessing, but
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  you're not going to have a share in it.
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  And in the same way, those who understand the call of the
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  gospel, the glory of the gospel, the gift of the gospel, yet do
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  not respond appropriately by faith, we'll have the same
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  destiny as available as the gospel is You and I can reject
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  it to the degree that it can be so close and yet never realized.
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  And I'm thinking of a fascinating verse.
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  When I was studying this yesterday, I was thinking about
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  a fascinating verse from the book of Galatians.
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  In chapter 3, verse one where he tells this group of professing
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  Christians, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched
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  you. And then he goes on to say
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  something profound. It was before your eyes that
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  Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
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  Hold on, the Galatians are Gentiles.
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  The Galatians came to faith shortly after, yes, but not at
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  any time where Christ was on earth.
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  He already resurrected. He ascended.
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  What is Paul saying to these Galatians when he says it was
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  before your eyes that you saw Jesus Christ crucified?
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  The only way to explain this is that when Paul preached to the
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  Galatians, he did so with such clarity, such detail, such
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  power. It was as though the Galatians
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  witnessed the crucifixion. It was palpable.
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  It was so real, it was so vivid. The Holy Spirit translated in
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  such a way in which it impacted them, as though eyewitnesses to
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  the actual event. And yet they were being
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  enchanted by false teachers, and they were being swayed to deny
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  the sufficiency of the gospel and add works to their
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  salvation. And Paul reminds him, you saw
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  it, but you're in danger now of falling from grace.
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  By the way, that's where that term actually comes from.
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  Have you ever heard, as heartbreaking as it is, when a
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  spiritual leader falls, even in the secular news, they'll say
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  so. And So what fell from grace,
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  right? And what they mean by that is
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  they send in a dramatic, public way.
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  But when you actually look at the origination of that phrase,
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  falling from grace doesn't necessitate you doing something
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  grievous or heinous. It actually means denying the
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  sufficiency of the gospel. That's what the Galatian Heresy
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  was that you need. To add works to what Christ has
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  done, and if you base your salvation on addition to what
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  Jesus accomplished at the cross, you are falling from grace.
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  That's where that comes from. And even though they witnessed
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  that so clearly, they saw it, but they're in danger of not
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  partaking in it. You might be.
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  You might be one of those people tonight.
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  You know how to articulate the gospel probably better than some
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  preachers can. But are you saved by that
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  gospel? You might be able to explain the
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  doctrine of justification by faith.
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  OK, good. Are you justified though?
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  And so this is something that we have to answer for ourselves.
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  And if this teaches us anything else, this account in Second
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  Kings Chapter 7 is that God takes unbelief very seriously.
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  Very seriously. You think of the Israelites who
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  came out of Egypt and all the foolery and all the mistakes and
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  all the acts of rebellion and what?
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  Was what was the point where God says that's it, this generation
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  is going to die, this desert is going to become their graveyard
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  and I'm going to raise up a new generation to go on.
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  What was it? Unbelief.
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  Unbelief that after the spies came back, ten of them says we
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  can't do this to this is no, no, no, we can.
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  They believe the majority. They deny that God was able to
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  bring them through. And God says that's it, that's
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  it. Unbelief is what changed
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  everything. This man didn't believe and he
• 24:28
  was familiar with Elijah's ministry and what God had done
• 24:31
  through him before. And he still didn't believe.
• 24:34
  Now for the rest of this chapter, you and I are going to
• 24:37
  see how this prophecy is going to be realized.
• 24:40
  We're going to see come to life. We're going to see a play by
• 24:42
  play, scene by scene unfolding of what Elijah declares.
• 24:50
  And there's so much in this, so much of this pertaining to our
• 24:52
  walk with the Lord and the gospel of Christ.
• 24:54
  So let's read the first 2 verses of this new Section 3 and 4.
• 24:59
  We'll pause and pluck some golden grains of truth.
• 25:02
  Verse three. Now there were four men who were
• 25:04
  lepers at the entrance to the gate, and they said to one
• 25:08
  another, Why are we sitting here until we die?
• 25:12
  If we say, let us enter the city, the famine is in the city
• 25:15
  and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also.
• 25:20
  So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians.
• 25:24
  If they spare our lives, we shall live.
• 25:26
  And if they kill us? We shall but die.
• 25:32
  So let me tell you in advance that it's going to be these 4
• 25:36
  lepers who will be used by God to bring the good news that the
• 25:42
  Syrians have been defeated and that salvation from God has
• 25:45
  come. I can think of 10 other types of
• 25:51
  candidates to do this kind of thing.
• 25:56
  Of all the kinds of people that God could have used, the most
• 26:00
  despised in this society. The.
• 26:03
  Outcast the rejected. So are.
• 26:09
  Are there more people that could have maybe had a more impressive
• 26:14
  background or appealing appearance or more inviting
• 26:17
  presence? Perhaps.
• 26:19
  But we're discussing about the God who chooses the foolish
• 26:22
  things in this world, the things that are lowly in despise, even
• 26:26
  the things that are not to accomplish as well.
• 26:30
  Why? So that no human being may boast
• 26:32
  in the presence of God, that's why.
• 26:35
  And it's no different here. These lepers are not aware of
• 26:39
  how this is going to play into a bigger picture, but God in His
• 26:42
  Providence is prompting them, and they're going to be the
• 26:45
  means by which Samaria will be delivered.
• 26:50
  And here's where I'm comforted. If the Holy One of Israel is
• 26:55
  willing to recruit lonely, rejected, diseased individuals
• 27:00
  who are barred from any meaningful interactions with
• 27:04
  average citizens, how much more is He willing to use us to make
• 27:07
  an impact? That's the point of this.
• 27:09
  I believe. These guys that are relying on
• 27:14
  the scraps on the dump outside the city to survive, these are
• 27:19
  the ones that are going to be used.
• 27:21
  How can you be discouraged? And if you need more
• 27:25
  encouragement, here it is that God uses those who make the best
• 27:30
  of the opportunities they have. Now again, let me say this.
• 27:36
  These lepers don't know that their course of action is going
• 27:41
  to play into a massive testimony, totally unaware.
• 27:48
  There is no indication that the Lord spoke to these lepers and
• 27:51
  said, I need you to go to the Syrian camp.
• 27:52
  There's a surprise for you. And what you see there, I need
• 27:55
  you to bring it back to the people.
• 27:56
  Nothing. No supernatural revelation,
• 27:59
  nothing of the sort. Just them thinking logically.
• 28:03
  Pertaining to their situation. At the same time, what they're
• 28:09
  doing in principle is instructive for us.
• 28:11
  How so? Because they are choosing the
• 28:14
  best possible outcome for their limited situation.
• 28:20
  With the options that they have, they choose to move in action.
• 28:26
  What if they had simply just stayed and decide to shrivel up
• 28:29
  and die? That was possible.
• 28:33
  You know what would have happened?
• 28:34
  They would have never made that discovery of a defeated enemy,
• 28:38
  and they would never have realized the treasures that were
• 28:42
  ready to be claimed. And like manner, I believe that
• 28:47
  God will honor us if we make the best out of what seems to be
• 28:52
  outside of our control. This is applicable to the
• 28:56
  giftings that you have and to the ministries that are
• 29:00
  providentially provided to you. You might look at yourself and
• 29:03
  say, I don't feel like I have much to offer.
• 29:06
  I don't feel like I have a spectacular gift or a
• 29:11
  significant platform or a number of people that I can really make
• 29:15
  an impact on. All right, what options do you
• 29:19
  have? And with whatever options you
• 29:22
  have, take the best route, the most fruitful route.
• 29:27
  And like these men who chose to move forward, God made it
• 29:31
  something better. God made into something more
• 29:35
  wonderful. And that's what you and I have
• 29:38
  to understand. What is before you and what is
• 29:41
  the wisest, most righteous, most glorifying way to go about it.
• 29:46
  And God will honor that. God will honor that.
• 29:50
  If they had stayed where they were at, this would have been a
• 29:53
  much different story. But they chose to move.
• 29:57
  And as they move forward, we're going to see more qualities of
• 30:00
  these lepers. But there's a pause because the
• 30:02
  Holy Spirit wants to now take us behind the scenes of the miracle
• 30:05
  that these lepers are going to stumble upon.
• 30:08
  Let's read on in verse 5. It says here.
• 30:12
  So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians.
• 30:15
  But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians,
• 30:18
  behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army
• 30:23
  of the Syrians hear the sound of Chariots and of horses, the
• 30:26
  sound of a great army. So that they said to one
• 30:29
  another, Behold, the king of Israel is hired against us, the
• 30:31
  kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against
• 30:35
  us. So they fled away in the
• 30:36
  twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their
• 30:40
  donkeys, leaving the camp as it was.
• 30:43
  And fled for their lives. You know what I find so
• 30:47
  interesting? Then in the previous chapter,
• 30:51
  God opened the eyes of Elijah's servant to see the mountain full
• 30:57
  of horses and Chariots of fire, remember?
• 31:03
  And here in Second King 7, he opens the ears of the Syrian
• 31:07
  Army to hear the sound of horses and Chariots.
• 31:12
  I wonder if what they heard is what the servant saw, that this
• 31:19
  sound is the sound of the very army, the celestial army that
• 31:25
  surrounded Elijah from Second Kings chapter 6.
• 31:29
  I like to think that's the case, that God made them in tune with
• 31:34
  the spiritual realm and and all those horses and Chariots had to
• 31:38
  do is just Rev their engine a little bit and that was enough
• 31:41
  to spook them. Moreover, I can't help but be
• 31:47
  confronted with yet another demonstration of the grace of
• 31:51
  God. You know why?
• 31:52
  Because later on in Second Kings, we're going to read of
• 31:55
  another foreign enemy that's going to come against the people
• 31:58
  of God. Not the Syrians, but the US
• 32:00
  Syrians. You know how God takes care of
• 32:03
  them. In one night He sends an Angel,
• 32:06
  and he will slay 185,000 of those soldiers.
• 32:10
  One night, close to 200,000 of them will be slain.
• 32:15
  He doesn't do that here, though. He doesn't destroy them, he just
• 32:19
  lets them hear the sound of an army and he allows them to
• 32:22
  escape. So I see the grace of God here
• 32:26
  and allowing that right? And you would think, OK, this,
• 32:29
  this will finally bring the Syrian king to his knees and
• 32:33
  realize. He didn't just spare my army
• 32:35
  once, he didn't just heal one of my greatest generals, he did it
• 32:38
  again. Well, just to give you a heads
• 32:42
  up, you're going to be disappointed in Second Kings
• 32:44
  chapter 8, but I have another. Thought another thought.
• 32:48
  I can't help it. Isn't it amazing how it takes so
• 32:54
  little for God to do something so massive?
• 32:58
  So when it came to comforting one of his servants, he just
• 33:01
  gave him a glance. And when it came to putting an
• 33:04
  army to flight, he just let him hear a sound.
• 33:08
  That's how mighty God is. That's how big he is.
• 33:13
  He doesn't even need to necessarily act, just see this.
• 33:17
  Hear this and history can be changed.
• 33:24
  So what happens? How do the lepers respond to
• 33:28
  this? Look at verse 8.
• 33:29
  And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went
• 33:32
  into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and
• 33:37
  gold and clothing and went and. Hid them.
• 33:41
  Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off
• 33:43
  things from it, and went and hid them.
• 33:47
  Pretty predictable, right? You don't blame them, right?
• 33:53
  Well, that's not it. Verse 9.
• 33:55
  Then they said to one another, we are not doing right.
• 34:00
  This day is a day of good news. If we are silent, wait until the
• 34:04
  morning light punishment will overtake us.
• 34:06
  Now, therefore, come, let us go and tell the King's household.
• 34:13
  So we look at this and we think to ourselves.
• 34:16
  What do they do in their destitute state?
• 34:19
  They, they just pounce on the spoils, right?
• 34:21
  And they go from tent to tent. And not only do they devour
• 34:25
  whatever is left in terms of food, but they see all these
• 34:28
  resources, money bags and gold perhaps.
• 34:31
  And they thought to themselves, we, we hit the lottery.
• 34:34
  And so they found some secluded place where they marked it and
• 34:37
  they dug up, you know, their personal savings account and
• 34:40
  they stuffed the ground with it. And they thought we'll come back
• 34:42
  for that later. And and they were essentially
• 34:45
  setting themselves up for a future, never mind being a leper
• 34:51
  once in a generation kind of discovery of turn around of of a
• 34:57
  pivotal change. But as they are making this
• 35:02
  personal investment, their their consciousness are stricken and
• 35:05
  they think to themselves, this isn't right.
• 35:09
  Because as much as we are preparing for a future that no
• 35:13
  leper has ever known in all of history, there are still mothers
• 35:18
  eating their children and there was an entire population of a
• 35:22
  city dissolving into extinction. We have to tell others about
• 35:28
  what we found. Now again we we backtrack and we
• 35:34
  think what would have happened if these lepers stayed exactly
• 35:37
  where they were and just rotted until they died?
• 35:41
  What if they have not moved forward?
• 35:43
  Makes us wonder. Now we can ask that question
• 35:45
  here. What if they had stayed in this
• 35:47
  state of mind and just accumulated for themselves and
• 35:51
  concerning their own self preservation and prioritizing
• 35:55
  their future, their prosperity? What?
• 35:57
  What would have happened? How many more people would have
• 36:00
  died? You say, oh, well, somebody
• 36:01
  might have discovered it eventually.
• 36:02
  Sure. But what kind of casualties in
• 36:04
  between? Here's another lesson that we
• 36:07
  can we can gain from these lepers because the moment that
• 36:11
  they chose to appropriately respond to this conviction, God
• 36:14
  guided them and LED them to be the means to again bring about
• 36:17
  deliverance for the Samaritans. We best position ourselves to be
• 36:25
  used by God when we don't focus on self.
• 36:31
  If you're a person here who is preoccupied about your own
• 36:36
  accumulation, self preservation, your own gain, your own
• 36:42
  investments, your own feasting, you leave God very little to
• 36:47
  work with when he wants to touch other people's lives.
• 36:53
  But the moment you recognize that there's a bigger picture
• 36:55
  that life is, it's not about your satisfaction, it's not
• 36:58
  about securing a safer future, then the Lord is ready to guide
• 37:03
  you into a way of life that will ultimately glorify Him.
• 37:06
  And in that be the most satisfying thing that you can
• 37:11
  ever experience. So these lepers now are are not
• 37:16
  just saved in themselves. They are going to be the vessels
• 37:20
  that God's going to use to to preserve an entire group of
• 37:23
  people. And where did it start?
• 37:26
  It started when they stopped thinking about themselves.
• 37:32
  So hold the things of this life very loosely, right?
• 37:39
  And allow God through your heart that is open to whatever he
• 37:43
  would ask of you to be able to recruit you and send you and and
• 37:48
  use you for His glory. You suffocate the purposes of
• 37:54
  God in your life when you're selfish.
• 37:56
  You strangle that to death. But when you are all about
• 38:01
  whatever God is all about, you have an exciting future ahead of
• 38:05
  you. So that's where it changed for
• 38:08
  these lepers when they realize that it's not about them.
• 38:13
  But look at this language. It's so hard to ignore the
• 38:17
  gospel theme in it. Verse 9.
• 38:20
  Then they said to another, we are not doing right.
• 38:22
  This is a day of good news. This is a day of good news.
• 38:27
  And then they go on to say if we're silent, punishment will
• 38:30
  overtake us. Reminds me of Paul's words when
• 38:33
  he says woe to me if what if I don't preach the gospel?
• 38:37
  Woe to me, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
• 38:41
  That's what they're essentially saying here.
• 38:42
  We discovered something and it is terrible of us if we keep it
• 38:47
  to ourselves. Now many have referenced this
• 38:50
  Old Testament story as a way of stirring up Christians to not
• 38:55
  keep the gospel to themselves. That in the revelation of Christ
• 39:00
  defeating our ultimate enemy, sin, death, Satan, that we
• 39:05
  should not be quiet, right? And that's completely
• 39:08
  appropriate. But I see something else here.
• 39:10
  I, I see in this story a way to help Christians share the
• 39:16
  gospel. I mean, the Bible provides many
• 39:20
  avenues, many motivations for us to be able to muster up the
• 39:25
  boldness and to be intentional about opportunities to share the
• 39:29
  gospel. And I think this is another one
• 39:30
  that you can add to your arsenal.
• 39:35
  Say, what do you mean? Listen if you feel unworthy, if
• 39:37
  you feel fearful about opening your mouth and telling others
• 39:42
  about this truth. This is what's helped me.
• 39:47
  See yourself as a leper. See yourself as a leper who was
• 39:53
  in the same state as everybody else, starving, and you made a
• 40:01
  discovery. And this discovery is an
• 40:05
  abundance of provision that will change the rest of your life.
• 40:11
  And all you're doing is as one beggar going to other beggars
• 40:16
  and letting them know where they can find living bread.
• 40:21
  If you see yourself in that light, as one beggar who is
• 40:26
  spiritually starved, yet you'd made a discovery that doesn't
• 40:29
  just help you but can help anybody, then you will approach
• 40:33
  sinners with a greater humility and a greater sincerity.
• 40:40
  And there will be a tenderness, and there will be a love, and
• 40:42
  there will be the right amount of force that will at least
• 40:47
  persuade the person that you care about them.
• 40:52
  You might not win them, but it's able to at least present the
• 40:55
  gospel to them in a way where they can't deny that you care
• 40:58
  about them. That's all these lepers are
• 41:02
  doing. We were dying.
• 41:06
  We found something. It's supernatural, it's an act
• 41:09
  of God. So is Calvary, and now you're
• 41:12
  just going to others who are in need of what you have, and
• 41:16
  you're just willing to share with anybody who's willing to
• 41:18
  accept it. I found living bread.
• 41:22
  I found a fountain of living water that never runs dry.
• 41:25
  And the invitation is for you as much as it was for me.
• 41:32
  But be prepared that as you share the gospel for a variety
• 41:36
  of responses, including the one that we read of with the king of
• 41:40
  Israel. So what happens?
• 41:41
  Let's look at verse 10. So they came and called to the
• 41:44
  gatekeepers of the city and told them we came to the camp of the
• 41:48
  Syrians. And behold, there was no one to
• 41:49
  be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied, and the
• 41:52
  donkeys, donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.
• 41:56
  Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the
• 41:59
  King's household, and the king rose in the night and said to
• 42:02
  his servants, I will tell you what the Syrians have done to
• 42:05
  us. They know that we are hungry.
• 42:08
  Therefore, they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves.
• 42:10
  In the open country, thinking when they come out of the city,
• 42:13
  we shall take them alive and get into the city.
• 42:20
  So here's what the king of Israel is saying.
• 42:24
  No, no, no, no, no, no. It's not as you say.
• 42:27
  I I figured it out. This is a trap.
• 42:30
  So they know that we are stubborn and we're resilient.
• 42:33
  And so they come up with a different strategy.
• 42:34
  They went out to the outskirts and they know that we're in such
• 42:37
  a desperate place that we're going to go out and try to find
• 42:39
  some food. And once we do that, they're
• 42:41
  going to ambush us. The king of Israel heard the
• 42:46
  prophecy that Elijah gave, and now it came to pass and he's
• 42:50
  still denying it. What are you to make of this?
• 42:54
  That no matter how well you explain something, or no matter
• 42:57
  what kind of testimonies people witness, some are determined to
• 43:02
  explain away the truth of the matter.
• 43:07
  Some are devout in their skepticism.
• 43:11
  Some are unwavering in their ideas, and I'm not speaking
• 43:15
  about those who have an honest skepticism or inquiry.
• 43:19
  I'm talking about those who have this fatalistic trust in their
• 43:23
  human wisdom. You've probably met those
• 43:27
  people, I've met many of them who are extremely critical and
• 43:32
  devoted to their conspiracy theories about the person of
• 43:35
  Jesus Christ, the emergence of the church, the formation of the
• 43:41
  Word of God. No matter what way you come from
• 43:45
  the historical angle, from the internal evidence, from the
• 43:48
  beauty of Jesus, from the wonder of the gospel, no matter what
• 43:53
  way I just, they're able to swat it away and their arguments are
• 43:57
  so silly, has no weight to it. It's fluff, it's humanistic,
• 44:06
  it's emotional, it's shallow. Or what about these people who
• 44:11
  are extremely insufferably skeptical of Christians and
• 44:15
  Christian leaders? Were they always?
• 44:20
  They always point to a hypothetical motivation of
• 44:24
  ministries that is selfish and sinful.
• 44:27
  Are there ministries and ministry team leaders out there
• 44:29
  that are wolves? Absolutely.
• 44:30
  The Bible tells us that. But everybody, every Christian
• 44:34
  you know, every pastor you know, is a predator.
• 44:42
  Or is money hungry. So no, I I know what your people
• 44:49
  of I know what church is all about.
• 44:51
  I know what I know what passes are really like.
• 44:53
  It's an ambush. It's a setup.
• 44:58
  It's actually God's deliverance in this story.
• 45:03
  But there's some people who just no matter what you tell them,
• 45:05
  what even even supernatural invasions in their lives, they
• 45:11
  won't submit. And it's in those moments where
• 45:15
  you have to seek the wisdom of the Spirit to determine, do I
• 45:18
  move on from here and work with different soil or do I stay here
• 45:22
  until that person's heart is thawed?
• 45:27
  When it comes to the king of Israel, there is some
• 45:31
  pliability. How so?
• 45:35
  Look at verse 13. And one of his servants said,
• 45:39
  Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that
• 45:43
  those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of
• 45:46
  Israel who have already perished.
• 45:48
  Let us send and see. So they took two horsemen, and
• 45:52
  the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying.
• 45:55
  Go and see. So a servant speaks up.
• 46:01
  O King, we're dying. We don't have much time left
• 46:07
  here, so why don't we just take a few people to just go and see?
• 46:12
  I mean, if they die, we're going to die anyway.
• 46:16
  What do you say? All right, go and see.
• 46:23
  Yet another example of how a servant.
• 46:27
  Remember how many times we've seen this in Second Kings?
• 46:29
  How a Servant exercises greater wisdom, greater insight than
• 46:34
  someone who is superior in terms of status and position, proving
• 46:39
  to us again that your occupation or your heritage does not equate
• 46:48
  to true valuable knowledge. The servant says, why don't we
• 46:52
  go about it this way? And the king agrees.
• 46:55
  And what happens? Look at verse 15.
• 46:57
  So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all
• 47:02
  the way was littered with the garments and equipment that the
• 47:05
  Syrians had thrown away in their haste.
• 47:07
  And the messengers returned and told the king, look how specific
• 47:12
  the Bible is. What was the primary need of the
• 47:15
  people of Samaria? Food, food.
• 47:20
  We just need real food. I can't eat donkey's head again,
• 47:25
  right? I can't try to make soup out of
• 47:28
  Dove's Dong again. Food is what we need, and I'm
• 47:33
  sure they would have been more than content to discover scraps
• 47:37
  of food. But what did they find more than
• 47:43
  food? Look at the word there in the
• 47:44
  middle, verse 15. And behold.
• 47:46
  In other words, OK, you've been reading, but now look at this.
• 47:48
  Hey, pay extra close to attention here.
• 47:51
  And behold, all the way was littered with garments and
• 47:56
  equipment that the Syrians have thrown away in their haste.
• 48:00
  So Elijah prophesied there's going to be no shortage of food.
• 48:04
  In fact, there's going to be so much food, everybody's going to
• 48:07
  be able to eat. And when they came to
• 48:09
  investigate the site, not only did they find food, they found
• 48:13
  equipment. They found garments.
• 48:17
  Meaning what? God gives more than what He says
• 48:23
  He's willing to do. In many cases, He does
• 48:25
  abundantly, more than we can ask or imagine.
• 48:28
  So he prophesied food and they come and they go.
• 48:30
  No, we even have clothes and we have practical resources.
• 48:36
  That's the goodness of God. You ask for something, you
• 48:40
  believe God for something, and he does more.
• 48:43
  Why? So he can get more glory, that's
• 48:46
  why. So let's read the remaining
• 48:50
  verses of this chapter and conclude, shall we?
• 48:54
  Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the
• 48:56
  Syrians. So see, a fine flour was sold
• 48:59
  for a shekel, and two seas of barley for a shekel, according
• 49:02
  to the word of the Lord. Now the king had appointed the
• 49:05
  captain on whose hand he leaned to have.
• 49:07
  Charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in
• 49:10
  the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said, when
• 49:14
  the king came down to him. From when the man of God had
• 49:17
  said to the king, to see as a barley shall be sold for a
• 49:20
  shekel, and to see a fine flower for a shekel.
• 49:22
  About this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria, the captain had
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  answered the man of God. If the Lord himself should make
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  windows in heaven, could such a thing?
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  Be And he had said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but
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  you shall not even eat of it. And so it happened to him, for
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  the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
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  The reason for the repetition in such a close proximity is
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  because God wants to make sure that we don't end this testimony
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  without being reminded that what He says, He will do Every detail
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  of it. This repetition is detailed to
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  remind you and I that God, when He says something, He intends to
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  keep everything that He said. And God is just as faithful with
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  His warnings of judgement as He is with His provisions of grace.
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  So he came through and provided exactly how he said he would
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  provide, but he also judged exactly the way he said he would
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  judge. And there's that phrase again,
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  right? That he would see with his own
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  eyes, but he would not eat of it.
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  And the way this story ends, I'll end it this way, is the way
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  that the end of the grand story will come to pass.
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  So what are you talking about? I'm talking about the story of
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  human history. I argue that this is a little
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  preview of a universal experience.
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  This man saw God's provision, God's promise come to pass, but
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  he died. Turn to Revelation, their final
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  verse, tonight in Chapter 1. And look at verse 7.
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  Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see
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  Him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth
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  will wail on account of Him. Even so.
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  Amen. Just because every eye will see
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  Him does not mean everyone will be saved.
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  And just because this man, this captain, saw the promise come to
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  pass, it didn't mean that he would partake of it.
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  That's going to happen when Jesus Christ comes.
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  What God had said about his return, about his reign, about
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  what he's done, what he will come to do, it's going to be
• 52:12
  realized. And even those who didn't
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  believe it will see it. But when they see it, it will be
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  too late. And I end this Bible study
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  hoping that nobody here will be in that situation, that you
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  should look on him now, as Isaiah says, and be saved, not
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  look on him when he comes to judge.
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  I hope you know Jesus Christ, this time of the year is very
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  meaningful to me. Not just because it's Christmas.
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  Because in 2011 I was a beggar spiritually.
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  I was a 20 year old college student who felt like growing up
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  in the church was just a way for my parents to keep me morally
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  good and controlled and civilized.
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  And I responded to, I forgot how many altar calls and youth
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  conferences and plays that would pull on your heartstrings and
• 53:17
  demand an answer. I responded to so many of them,
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  but I wasn't saved until the age of 20.
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  And I always wondered why. And it wasn't until a few years
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  ago that it dawned on me. It's because every time I sat in
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  a meeting like this, or went to an event or a conference, and
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  when there was a call to be saved, though I answered
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  positively, affirmatively, I never really gave my heart
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  because down deep inside, I believe that the world had
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  something to offer. And so I would try to try to
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  bargain for both. I mean, I'll I'll take what
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  Jesus has to give me, but but with one hand and and this hand
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  will just kind of flirt with the cooking jar.
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  Here and it wasn't until I realized at 20 I was eating
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  donkey's head and the dung of doves.
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  And it dawned on me that just outside of the city gate, God
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  made a provision for my soul. And I'm just a beggar willing to
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  tell other beggars about where they can find living bread and
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  why. Again, I say this is a
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  meaningful time of the year because it happened around this
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  time. And New Year's of 2012 is when I
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  became a follower of Jesus Christ. 2025 can be a new year
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  for you too. If 2024 and every year prior was
• 54:54
  a faulty walk with Christ, it can change in 2025.
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  Why waste another year? Why reserve yourself from the
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  one who made you, who died for you, who wants to walk with you,
• 55:10
  and who wants to use you? But he's waiting for you to deny
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  yourself. Just like these lippers, as long
• 55:17
  as you go from tent to tent, experience to experience,
• 55:19
  country to country, job to job, girl to girl, guy to guy, OK,
• 55:23
  you can hop around all you want. It's not until you realize this
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  whole thing about life and my existence, it's bigger than me.
• 55:32
  There's a more important and glorious and eternal story
• 55:35
  that's being written. This universe doesn't revolve
• 55:38
  around me. Only when you realize your sin,
• 55:44
  your selfishness, is what's holding you back from true life
• 55:47
  now and eternal life to come, will Christ become attractive
• 55:57
  and the and the person that. Will deliver you and position
• 56:01
  you to know a life that you've been searching for all along.
• 56:05
  And so I invite you into that. I invite you into that because
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  it's real. It's real because this book says
• 56:12
  it's real and it's available to you.
• 56:17
  And if you are skeptical for whatever reason, have you ever
• 56:21
  been skeptical of your own skepticism?
• 56:24
  You're a skeptic, so be skeptical of your own
• 56:26
  skepticism. Have you ever tried that?
• 56:29
  What if you're wrong? What if you're wrong?
• 56:34
  Are you so confident that you're in the right, that Jesus Christ,
• 56:37
  maybe in your thinking, is not even real, or Jesus Christ is
• 56:40
  not worthy to be followed? Why question your questions?
• 56:47
  I pray that this might be the beginning of a new journey for
• 56:49
  some of you, maybe some who might be watching, I don't know.
• 56:52
  I'm just the messenger. God does the saving.
• 56:56
  Let's pray. We thank you that you've been
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  faithful to us in 2024. And Lord, you've been faithful
• 57:08
  to us in these Bible studies. Every week you speak to us.
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  You speak to us because this word is opened and it's
• 57:16
  dissected and it's explained hopefully in your power.
• 57:25
  And we asked Lord that tonight as we reflect on these truths
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  that they would translate in in real life change.
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  And so, Lord, we humble ourselves as we sit here and we
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  bask in your glory, and we ask that you would receive more
• 57:39
  glory as we sing in Thanksgiving to you.
• 57:42
  In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Amen.
• 57:46
  As the praise team comes, I invite you to just sit and
• 57:50
  reflect and just enjoy what was heard.
• 57:55
  Commune with the Lord. We're going to sing in a few
• 57:57
  moments here, but just take your time and commune with God and
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  we'll close very shortly, but take advantage of this time.