TPC Connections

Sermon Notes

“This Is A Day of Good News!”
7/19/26
2 Kings 7:3-9 “Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate (of Samaria); and they said to one another, ‘Why are we sitting here until we die?'”
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Now, the context here is that Ben Hadad, the king of Syria, who had been at battle with Israel for some time, has come with his army and surrounded the city of Samaria, the capital of northern Israel in that day.
His intent was to conquer the city by starving them out.
Things quickly grew desperate in Samaria as starvation soon set in.
The Bible records, “The soldiers would not let people bring food into the city, so there was a time of terrible hunger in Samaria. It was so bad in Samaria that a donkey’s head was sold for 80 pieces of silver and one pint of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.”–2 Kings 6:25
At this critical, midnight hour for Israel, the prophet Elisha, who lived in the city, made a prediction to Jehoram, the king of Israel:
“Elisha said, “Listen to the message from the Lord! The Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow, there will be plenty of food, and it will be cheap again. A person will be able to buy a basket of fine flour or two baskets of barley for only one shekel (33 cents) in the marketplace by the city gates of Samaria.'”–vs 1
This sounded totally impossible, so much that the king’s assistant said, “Even if the Lord made windows in heaven, this could not happen!”
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Now, meanwhile, the 4 lepers in our text are sitting outside the city’s gate, probably kicked out of the city proper due to their leprosy.
And sitting there, they have a conversation where one of them asked a million dollar question–“Why are we sitting here until we die?”
Why sit here stagnant, waiting for circumstances to change?
We can either act, or be acted upon, do something, or do nothing and die.
We’ve got to do something, take action, make a move, get on the offense!
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You know, it is so easy to passively SIT.
Many churches today are just sitting on the PREMISES rather than stand on the PROMISES!
95% of their members are just sitting.
These 4 lepers decided that to just sit there was to die.
There comes a time when inaction is fatal!
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So they decided they were going to do something.
And that is where the church needs to get!
God is calling His born again children of God to rise up in this dark hour!
Some have much, some have little, but everybody has something.
Everybody has a gift.
How are you using your gift?
We can’t just sit anymore while our nation drowns in darkness–it’s time to ACT!
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Those 4 lepers had 3 options:
REMAIN where they were and die,
ENTER the city and starve,
or take a RISK by approaching the enemy camp.
So they chose to act by approaching the enemy’s camp!
They said, “…we might as well go out and surrender to the Syrian army. If they let us live, so much the better; but if they kill us, we would have died anyway. And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians” (7:4-5).
These 4 castaways cast themselves onto God’s mercy, stood up, and started walking.
–You know, Faith often requires stepping into the unknown, trusting in God’s guidance and faithfulness!
Never into something contrary to God’s word, nor into something you know is wrong.
Otherwise, Faith will cast itself upon the mercies of God and step out into uncertainty while standing on the THE certainty of God’s promises!
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Here is where the story takes an amazing turn!
5 “So that evening they went out to the camp of the Syrians, but there was no one there! 6 (For the Lord had made the whole Syrian army hear the clatter of speeding chariots and a loud galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching.”
The leaders of the army said:
“The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us. 7 So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else.”
As the 4 men walked by faith toward the Syrian camp, God moved on their behalf by causing the Syrian army to hear approaching chariots and galloping horses that weren’t there!
They fled in terror from a delusion, leaving everything behind, including plenty of food for the four men as well and the starving city!
This was a miracle of deliverance!
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Now, this OT story has a NT application!
Like those 4 lepers, we Christians were once infected with the leprosy of sin while living in a world that was spiritually starving.
And our fate, like the lepers, was terminal–as they would have died in their leprosy, we would have died in our sins.
But one day we heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and decided we weren’t going to just sit there till we died.
So we made the decision to run to the Cross where Jesus died in our place.
There we found forgiveness, the leprosy of our sin was washed away, and a bright new future unfolded.
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Then, having been saved we soon realized, like those 4 lepers discovered, that our enemy, the devil, had been completely defeated.
He had no more power over us!
And we also realized that, as children of God, we now had access to great riches the enemy had kept from us:
• Fellowship with God,
• the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit,
• the sweet honey of God’s Word,
• and above all–ETERNAL LIFE!
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But there’s one more thing–the same realization that dawned on the lepers dawned on us, and needs to dawn on us in a fresh way today!
It says:
While they were “eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it…they said to each other, ‘This isn’t right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone!”
Let’s unpack what they said…FIRST:
I. They had a moral awakening
“This isn’t right.”
They suddenly realized that their discovery wasn’t just for them!
So they felt a moral obligation to share their discovery with others.
Look what they said, “Now therefore, come, let us GO AND TELL the king’s household.”–vs 9
GO And TELL! Let’s go and tell the good news!
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And just like them, We have GOOD NEWS that is even better than their GOOD NEWS!
–In a day of darkness and gloom,
–terrorism and turmoil,
–war and woe,
–and Dire headlines of gloom and doom,
The church of Jesus Christ has GOOD NEWS that “God so loved the world…”
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Then next,
II. They feared God
“If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us.”–vs 9
They felt the eyes of God watching what they did with what he had given them.
Their discovery provided far beyond what they alone needed to survive–there was enough for the entire starving city.
And they knew that to keep it to themselves would be to sin against God.
As Paul the Apostle said, “If I did not tell the good news, it would bring me great trouble.”–1 Cor. 9:16
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Then next,
III. They felt an urgency
“If we wait till daylight…”
There was an urgency–people inside the city were dying.
The Bible expresses the same urgency regarding getting the gospel out.
“I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.”–2 Cor. 6:2
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10 “So they went back to the city and told the watchmen what had happened…11 Then the watchmen shouted the news to those in the palace.”
The Good News spread like wildfire!
16 “Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Syrian camp…and six quarts of choice flour were sold that day for one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain were sold for one piece of silver, just as the Lord had promised.”
Samaria was saved by 4 unlikely, rejected, dejected lepers that acted in faith, received a miracle, and shared their GOOD NEWS, saving an entire city!