Lessons on the Gospel from Four Lepers

Well, I read an extensive passage from 2 Kings. It is historical narrative. And I love historical narrative because as we read our Bibles, and particularly the Old Testament, we are encouraged and instructed to read it redemptively. We're looking for the shadows, the types that point us to the Gospel and to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this passage does that for us. So there is the story, the historical story, but there is a bigger story inside that story.

And that's what I want to draw your attention to. I want us to try and clear up any confusion that we might have in our thinking about our role and our responsibility that's related to the good news. And these are some of the questions that I have that I'm going to try and answer. What has God delegated himself to do? What has God done in the Gospel? What is the good news? What is our responsibility with the good news in terms of living it and declaring it? What role does the believer have related to the good news?

Are we mere recipients, silent spectators, or are we active participants? Let's go to chapter 6 and where I began beg some explanation. When it says, and it happened after this, curious minds want to know what is being referred to. Well, the enemies of God and of Israel were sending raiding armies against them. And they were being frustrated in their efforts because time after time, Elisha the prophet was warned by God of the king of Aram's plan. Now the king of Aram suspected an inside traitor, but in time discovered that it was Elisha who was the culprit. And in chapter 6 and verse 13, we're told that Elisha retreats to Dothan and his whereabouts was reported to the king of Aram.

The king went with great force by night and surrounded the city. And when Elisha's servant awoke the next morning, you know the story, he saw this innumerable army surrounding the city and he was filled with fear. And he reported his discovery to Elisha.

And what do we find? Verse 17, Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, strike this people, I pray, with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. Now Elisha said to them, this is not the way. So Elisha goes down and here's blind people, a blind army, and he leads them on a 10-mile track right through the gate into the city of Samaria. And Elisha prays to God in verse 20, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and there they were inside Samaria.

Doesn't God have a sense of humor? Here's a whole army coming against one prophet. And God is saying, just watch Elisha. I got you.

I've got your back. If we could say it that way. Verse 21, now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, my father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them? But he answered, you shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow?

Set food and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. So they set a feast before the king and his army. And it says, the end of verse 23, so the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.

And it happened, verse 24, after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. There was a great famine in Samaria. Food was scarce and that's an understatement. What food there was cost a fortune.

Conditions were so desperate that women were resorted to cannibalism, eating their own children. And when the king learned of this, he tore his clothes and covered himself in sackcloth. And who got blamed?

Who got blamed for this? Elisha the prophet. And they sought to kill him.

King Jehoraim, who was the son of Ahab, was a wicked king. And God revealed to Elisha that servants of the king were coming to capture him. And he spoke those words of prediction, that within 24 hours, not only would deliverance come, but he predicted that they would be able to buy six times as much food for one-fifth the present cost.

That's a pretty drastic change in economy. They scoffed and disbelieved the prophet's words. We read that in verse 2. And it ended up costing the man his life, chapter 7, verse 2. So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And he said, In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. And what happened to that man? He saw it, and he was trampled in the gate and lost his life, the narrative says. Then we're introduced to four lepers who were sitting outside the entrance of the city gate.

What do you think of the discussion they had among themselves? What's the point of sitting here? We sit here, we're going to die. If we go into the city, we're probably going to die. But if we sit here, we're certainly going to die. So let's go up to the city and surrender to the Syrian army, and perhaps they'll have mercy on us and let us live.

And if not, the worst thing that can happen to us is that they will kill us. Things were obviously desperate. They were reduced to few options, and none of them looked very attractive. But they were on the verge of a miraculous deliverance. Because verse five says, At dusk, notice, they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians, and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian army, to their surprise, no one was there. No one was there, not a soul, no enemy, not one.

What's the reason for that? Verse six, God's the reason for that. For the Lord had caused.

Don't miss that. Any man or woman who is rescued and delivered, God is the cause of it. Believer. If God rescues you from a precarious situation, He's the one to get the credit for it. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army, so they say to one another, Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. The army fled, left their tents, left their horses, their camp, just as it was. Verse eight records the initial actions of the four lepers. When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and did what? Eight and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried some from there also and went and hid it. They had an epiphany. Then they said to one another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news and we remain silent.

If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now, therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household. So that's exactly what they did. Verse 10, they went, called out to the city gatekeepers. The gatekeepers shouted the news and it was reported within the palace.

But King Jehoram was skeptical of the report, fearing a trap. So he sent men with two of the five remaining horses in Samaria. That's how desperate things had become. Two of the five remaining horses in Samaria to investigate and report back, which they did following the route of the fleeing army.

That's the story. Let's think now about the story within the story. I suggested to you in my introduction that this passage would prove helpful in clarifying roles and responsibilities related to the good news of the gospel. The present condition the nation found itself in was a direct consequence of God's judgment for the people's continuing rebellion. God had sent an invading army. God had removed his restraining hand and had brought judgment. And God, despite the sin and rebellion and the disregard for his word and the prophet, purposed again to show mercy and deliver this people. God had allowed the circumstances to get desperate. He had allowed the people to experience the weight and the consequence of bitter pain for their rebellion before he brought deliverance.

God had raised up and had given the nation his prophets, whom they ignored, despised, and attempted to kill. Was God under any obligation to rescue? Was God under any obligation to bring deliverance? No, God was under no obligation to save the city.

He had every right to destroy the city and the people and to use the Syrians in doing so. But God took pity on them. God had mercy on them. God was gracious to them. God delivered them.

And he did it in such a way that no man could take any credit. It sounds like Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, so that no man should boast in his presence. This country is ripe for judgment. I'm talking about this United States of America. God's under no obligation to deliver us. God is under no obligation to show mercy. And if God were to destroy this nation, he would be just in doing so. But our prayer is, O God, in judgment remember mercy.

Remember mercy. You see, it was God alone who put the enemy to flight. He caused the enemy to flee.

He secured the victory. And when we were hopeless and helpless, God sent his Son to the cross to purchase deliverance for his people. As we heard so eloquently in the testimony of Brandon this evening.

We don't contribute anything. No credit to us. All praise and honor and glory to him. So we learned some things about salvation that God has provided for his Son. Let me mention five things and we could mention many, many more.

But for sake of time, let me mention five things. Number one, salvation is miraculous. Salvation is miraculous. Salvation is not a decision a man makes. Salvation is a sovereign work of God where he transforms a man, breathes life into him, imparts spiritual life to him, the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of regeneration. Why do I say it's miraculous?

Because it's a kin. The power that regenerates, the power that causes a man to be born again is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Not a different power, the same power. And it takes that kind of power to save anybody. Children, teenagers, adults, young or old, it takes the miraculous intervention of God and his power. So salvation is miraculous. Salvation is of God from beginning to end. Salvation is of divine origin and of divine initiative.

We see that in this text. God caused this Syrian army, this enemy to flee, to hear noises of chariots and horses and to flee when there was nothing. Salvation is unmerited, it's undeserved. And salvation is to be believed and received and rejoiced in and heralded about. That's what we learn about salvation. In the four lepers we see something of the ways and the wisdom of God.

Think with me about this. We've painted the picture and how desperate things were inside Samaria. God chose the four most unlikely men in all of Israel to entrust the message that would deliver the city. Four lepers cast out of the city weren't even allowed inside the city walls. God entrusted the message that would deliver the city to four lepers. 1 Corinthians 1, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Why? So that no flesh should glory in his presence.

That's why. We see every believer's privileged responsibility in these four lepers as well. The fact that God used four lepers strips all of us of any and every excuse to be involved in the telling of the good news.

The telling of the gospel, the heralding of the good news, is every believer's privileged responsibility. God used these four lepers and he used these four lepers the way they were. He didn't heal them of leprosy and then use them. He used them as lepers. No evidence that he healed them.

And so often we excuse our responsibility. I'm not confident enough. I'm not learned enough. I'm not bold enough. I don't have any credibility. No one will take me serious.

No one will listen to me. Let me ask this question. How much credibility did four outcast, despised lepers have? Did they have any credibility?

No. And none of it mattered. I love the way someone has characterized evangelism. It's one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

Any of us can do that. I fear we're often guilty of what the four lepers were initially guilty of. Eating and partaking of the gospel feast week after week after week, knowing satisfaction ourselves, but failing to tell anyone else about the good news. Keeping it to ourselves.

And it was never, it's never meant to be selfishly enjoyed. It's the epitome of selfishness to be on your way to heaven and unwilling to tell anyone else how they can get there too. I'm not sure what it was that registered in the minds of these four lepers, but they understood in verse 9 that they had a sacred duty and a responsibility to discharge and failure to do so would bring some kind of retribution or chastisement or punishment.

Finally, let me show you various responses to the good news in this passage and it mirrors various responses that we get as we attempt to talk to people about the Lord Jesus Christ and the saving gospel message. Some blamed God for the predicament rather than calling on Him and looking to Him for deliverance. Some blame God, verse 33 of chapter 6, and while He was still talking with them, there was the messenger who came down to Him and then the king said, surely this calamity is from the Lord, why should I wait for the Lord any longer? God got blamed. Some were skeptical. If God were to open the windows of heaven, I can't see how this could possibly happen. Well, skepticism.

Some disbelieved and died as a result of their unbelief. Some believed and received the good news with rejoicing as it was received from the messengers. This is a day of good news. A day of good news. Hadn't your heart been encouraged this evening to hear the testimony of one who's been born from above, who God's had mercy on, who speaks of life in Christ, whose life has been redirected and a new purpose to live?

Today's a day of good news. And may God be pleased to replicate that work of grace in the lives of many, many others. Our responsibility is to communicate the gospel. Sow the seed of the Word of God.

It's not our responsibility to worry about results. Of course, we love to see results. We love to see God work and honor His Word in the lives of men and to see men saved. But some sow, some water, and it is God who gives the increase. The word evangelize means to announce the good news. And we have good news. There's more bad news in this world than there is good news. I've got to believe that if you showed up at work in the morning and said, you know what, I've got good news.

Most likely you'll have an audience because it's so rare in our day. And it's all right to pull a bait and switch on them because they're thinking good news in temporal ways. But you've got the good news that makes all the difference in the world. So may God give us fresh boldness and fresh energy and fresh commitment to the work of evangelism. The content of the message always centers on what God has done for sinners in Jesus Christ. Because none of us who are saved denounce the fact that we're sinners, it's easy to talk in the first person. And who's going to fuss at you if you're talking about what God has done for you? Perhaps it's been so long since God has saved us that we kind of forget where we've come from.

We forget how hopeless life was, how lost we really were, what path we were really on that was going to lead to destruction. Well, let's be like these men. There's nothing wrong in coming and feasting and being satisfied in Christ, but there's something wrong with keeping it to ourselves. These men, they tasted, they were satisfied, they became partakers and they did all of that before they told others. You can't tell somebody about the good news until you've received it yourself. And the greatest advertisement for the good news is a life that's been changed.

You know, there's always that bit of fear and trepidation. I remember when God first saved me and there was a desire to tell others and so I drove out to tell my father, not really knowing how he would respond to me. And Dad was a lost man and he said, well, I remember so and so. They got religion. That's how he understood it. Folks, we don't get religion.

You've heard people talk like that. We get Christ. Christ gets us. We're newly possessed of Him. But telling my dad encouraged me to tell others.

I think if we can get over that initial fear, God will embolden us and will use us. I've had the rare privilege of being in the operating room and witnessing the birth of two of my children. And there is nothing like it. The miracle of birth. But I've also had the privilege of being an observer, being in the birthing room, and see God birth men and women into His kingdom.

And I wouldn't trade anything for that. You say, well, you're a preacher. You get to do that. That's your vocation.

That's your job. Don't miss the whole point of this passage. Who were the messengers? Four lepers. How do you think they were dressed? Did they have a tie?

No. They had an attire fitting a leper. But they're the ones that were entrusted with the good news and they made haste. This is a day of good news and we're not doing right. We cannot keep this to ourselves. May God impact our lives in that way and may He use us. We're around lost people all the time at work, in our neighborhoods, in our families.

We need a new sense of urgency. One of my brothers that God was working in his life urged me one Sunday evening on the way home from church, we've got to stop and talk to Gary. We've got to stop and talk to him.

Well, in the passing of time, this brother really has shown no evidence of saving grace. That was urging me to talk to my brother. But because he was so insistent, we stopped and talked to Gary and Pam and pled with them, implored them, spoke truth to them and it was tense. Left that night, still on speaking terms, got to call the next day. Gary says, I want to thank you for coming to the house last night. Pam and I talked a long time after you left. I want you to know we trusted Christ after you left.

Am I thankful for that? If Gary was one of God's elect, God was going to save him, use somebody, but he chose to use me. He's in glory today.

Come this April, Gary will be in heaven seven years. So let's be messengers of the good news, folks. And let God use this passage in our lives to challenge us to that end. Let's pray. Father, thank you that this is indeed a day of good news. That a savior has come and has died and has secured salvation for his people. Loosen our lips, strengthen our backs, embolden us that we might go out and be heralds of this good news. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.