How Some Lepers Delivers a Nation

We examined how God used the widow woman to supply Elijah’s need, as well as how Elijah supplied her need. Reminding us of Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

How the Fire Falls (1Ki. 18)

During a Feeble time w/ Depraved leadership & Divided people

God provided a Faithful man, who challenged his people; chastised false worship; Corrected the Basis of Worship; who had Confidence in God & Called upon the same

A Falling Fire

Came Powerfully; Sufficiently; Convincingly & Effectively.

How to Get Back in the Saddle

I. The Immorality of the Enemy (v1-4)

Unmistakable; Unconverted; Unsettling

II. The Indulgence of the LORD (v5-8)

Elijah Retreated; God allowed him Rest (v5-6b); God provided Refreshment for the Moment (v5b-6a); God gave Resources for the Journey (v7)

III. The Insight of the LORD (v9-12)

A Prophet Disheartened; God’s Power was Demonstrated; God’s Presence was Discovered

IV. The Instruction of the LORD (v13-18)

Get Back Where you Belong (v15a); Bless the Next Generation (v15b-16)

Be Encouraged - I Have a Plan (v17); You are Not Alone (v18)

How to Have Peace Under Fire

I. The Reason for the Fire

For Following the Spirit’s Lead (v3); For Declaring the Word of the LORD (v4); For Having a Familiar a Description (v7-8)

II. The Right Way to Handle It

Be Situated Properly (v9b); Stand Fast in your Heritage (v10a); Stay Firm in Your Position (v9-12); Be Perceptive to the Spirit (v13-15)

III. The Rest of the Story

God Protected (v15); God’s Word was Proclaimed (v16); God’s Will was Performed (v17)

How to be Faithful in Times of Trouble

I. A Troubled Time

The Burden of Loss; The Opportunities it Presented - Reviving of the Brethren; Remembering of the Past; The Resolve to Continue the Work

II. A Testimony of Faithfulness

Through the Pressures of the Known; Through the Pressures of the Unknown; Through the Voices of Discouragement

III. A Transformative Result

Because He was Faithful… His Prayer was Answered; He Performed Miracles; He Proved His Calling

How to Set the Tone

I. The Waters were Cured

A Pitiful Land (v19); A Pristine Vessel and a Powerful Agent (v20); A Pronouncement Made (v21); A Purification Provided (v22)

II. The Mockers were Cursed

A Fallen City (v23a); A Faithless Generation (v23b); A Fury Unleashed (v24a); A Future Altered (v24b)

How to Solve a Problem

I. The Problem (v1a) - A Lack of Plan / Preparation; A Passing; A Pledge Unfulfilled

II. The Petition (v1b) - He had the Right Standing; She had the Right Source

III. The Plan (v2-6) - Was Faith Based; Faith in Procuring; Faith in Pouring

IV. The Providence (v7) - A Debt Settled; A Future Supplied

How to Bear Children

I. Our Conduct Unto Men - Her Description (v8a); Her Disposition (v8b); Her Duration (v8c)

II. Our Countenance Toward God - Her Discernment (v9); Her Devotion (v10); Her Deference (v13)

III. Children will be Born - Her Child was Born (v13)

How to Make the Dead Live

I. A Mediating Force

Her Care for him (v20); Her Commitment of him to God (v21); It was Crucial to Her (v22); Her Confidence (v23); Her Clarity (v24); Her Conviction (v27); Her Continuance (v30)

II. A Miracle-Working God

An Intervention (v30b); An Intimate Encounter (v32-34); An Indwelling & Expelling (v35)

How to Recover From a Mistake

I. There was a Responsibility Given - A Naked Land; A Noble Mission; A Needy People

II. There was Rot in the Pot - Was Placed by Accident; Was Polluting the People; It Brought more Peril than Plenitude

III. There was a Remedy Administered - It was by Intervention of Man; It was by Intercession of God; It Caused a Transformation & Continuation

How to See a Cleansing

I. The Start - Acknowledgement of the Good; Recognition of the Disease

II. The Spark - A Humble Voice; A Helpful Testimony

III. The Surety - A Chain of Faith (v3-5); An Investment by Faith (v5-6)

IV. The Simplicity - A False Impression; An Act of Faith

V. The Supplication - An Invested Servant; A Timely Intercession

VI. The Salvation - Submission to God’s Plan; Salvation Provided

How to Mess Up a Ministry

I. Recompense Refused - Healing brought Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving Inspired Restitution; Refusal (and Redirection)

II. Rottenness Revealed - Gehazi’s Perception (v20a); Gehazi's Passion (v20b-21); Gehazi’s Propaganda (v22-23); Gehazi's Posturing (v24-25)

III. Ruination the Result - His Deception is Revealed (v26a); A Dilemma is Posed (v26b); His Downfall was Apparent (v27)His Destruction was Not in Isolation (v27)

How to Get Back to Work

I. Labouring for Purpose - A Worthwhile Cause; A Constraint for Growth; A Common Effort ; A Careful Approach (v3)

II. A Lost Edge - A Beam to Fell; A Borrowed Tool; A Broken Axe; A Beleaguered Labourer

III. A Lesson of Hope - Begins with a Profession; Then with a Plea; Next by Pursuit; Lastly by Picking It Up

How to Stay Out of Trouble

I. Understand there’s an Enemy - He has Devices; He will Discourage; He will Disrupt;He will Detour; He will Destroy

II. Understand there is an Enlightened One - He’s Omniscient; He’s Omnipresent; He’s Omnipotent

III. Look for the Escape He Provides - Hear God’s Direction; Heed with Discipline

How to Be a Leader

I. He Led a Brother in His Faith - His Servant was Panicked; Elisha Preached the Truth; Elijah Prayed For Him

II. He Led an Enemy Unto Submission - He Led Them Rather than Fight Them; By Prayer; By Pity; With Persistence

III. He Led a King to Show Grace - He Preached for Wisdom; He Pleaded for Grace and Provision;

IV. He Led Those at War Unto Peace - A War was Pacified; A People had Peace

How to Go Broke

I. A Relaxing - They were Comfortable; They got Complacent

II. A Reckoning - God had brought Peace; But Sin Permeated the Land; God Pronounced Judgment

III. A Repulsion - Caused Economic Hardship; Caused Physical Hardship; Caused Familial Hardship; Caused Societal Hardship; Continued Ignorance

IV. A Refuge - A Demonstration of God’s Grace

Today I want to share with you this message titled: "How Some Lepers Deliver A Nation." As we go through this message, one thing that I hope that you see is that God can use the unclean to do good things. Once they find bread

I. Unlikely Hero’s

I'm speaking about the lepers

A Hopeless Situation (v3-4)

They were Not Wanted

You must remembered what these lepers were like.

Leviticus 13:45–46 “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”

These were "unclean” people. They were to dwell alone. It was somewhat fortunate for them that they had the company of one another.

Lepers are a picture of lost people in Scripture, those who are unclean and are in a cureless state.

They were not wanted

They had Nowhere to Go

Not only were they not wanted but they had nowhere to go. Examine their contemplation here for a moment.

2 Kings 7:4 “If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.”

They said we can't go back; we can't stay here. All we can do is move forward and see what happens. They were at a turning point in their lives, a moment of decision.

Every saved person has come to that point of realization. They realize that they can't go back to the life from which they've had, that it's empty and it leaves you wanting. You can't stay where you're at. You gotta do something different.

They had nowhere to go but then we see there was help discovered.

A Help Discovered (v5-8)

(Read v5-8) They trusted the unknown and found riches and blessings there.

(Ill.) 26 years ago as I knelt by my bedside, I trusted the unknown. What I mean is not that God was unknown or his plan of salvation was but what that life would bring me. That's what was unknown. I never lived the Christian life before. I didn't know if it'd be something I liked or not.

But when I put my trust in Christ and began to experience that life, do you know what I found? I found riches beyond measure. I discovered a life that I never knew that I wanted, that I now could not live without.

It's a true saying and that is, to know Him is to love Him concerning Christ and the more you know Him the more you love Him.

(Ill.) In the 26 years that I've known my Lord Jesus, I still learn things about him and the love that I have for him grows deeper each day.

We see a help discovered.

An Honorable Choice (v9-11)

These lepers who society had cast away, who were not desired, who were not wanted, found themselves the recipients of tremendous blessing.

What they could have done was kept this blessing all for themselves. They could have taken it all in and got their bellies full and lived satisfied while others were hurting but they didn't. They decided to tell the others how they could receive this great blessing as well.

Let me ask you: how selfish would it have been for those lepers to be filled themselves but let others starve, knowing that there was more than enough to go around?

Isn't this exactly what we Christians do all the time? We put our trust in the Lord and we abound in riches untold and yet instead of letting others know how to be filled, we selfishly keep it to ourselves.

I heard Scott Pauley’s dad once say: “I’m just a beggar who found some bread wanting to tell other beggars how to find it”.

It was an Honorable Choice for them to share the wealth with a needy people

We see some Unlikely Hero’s

II. An Unbelieving King

He Doubted (v12)

Now notice here when I say that he doubted, I don't mean that he doubted that it would come to pass but rather that it did come to pass.

He didn't question Elisha like his adviser did. He questioned the word of the lepers when they came back to tell them what God had done.

(Ill.) Let me ask you this: Has anyone here ever prayed for something, that God would move, God would do something? When it comes to pass you begin doubting: "Well was that an answered prayer or was it coincidence? Was it that God really answered my prayer or did he answer someone else's?"

God had done a mighty work and a miraculous thing and when it came about the king doubted if it could really be so.

Let me just say this: Nothing is too hard for my God. My God can bring anything to pass whenever He wants to. He is able. He is a great and mighty God. He is supreme. He reigns over all and there is no one above Him.

Our fleshly nature wants to doubt and so that's why God gives people in our life to direct us.

But was Directed (v13)

We see his servant here in verse 13. Encourage him to find out if these things were so.

Doubt is an instinct and it is powerful and this is why God puts so much stock in faith because faith is the opposite of doubt.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

We should encourage one another in the fact that our God answers prayer and not just any prayer but God answers my prayer. And the more faith you place in Him, the greater chance you'll see your prayers being answered.

I say greater chance because there are some things that hinder our prayer and some things that we do not know that can affect it.

(Ill.) I think of the legislative appointment. I prayed that God would deliver that unto me. God in His great wisdom allowed it to go a different way, and in looking back on it, I’m so thankful that He did. If not, over the last month, I’d have spent more time in Charleston rather than at my dying mother’s bedside.

When we see our brother or sisters faith waining, we must direct them to “TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD”. In other words, direct them to trust the LORD in both His deliverance and His wisdom.

He was Directed

We see some Unlikely Hero’s; an Unbelieving King

III. An Undeserved Deliverance

I mentioned this last week somewhat.

They Suffered for their Sin

Last week one of the points was a reckoning. We looked back and saw that God had warned them that if they continued in sin and followed after the gods or the heathens, God would bring judgment upon them. That's exactly what He did.

Proverbs 14:34 “Righteousness exalteth a nation: But sin is a reproach to any people.”

Read (De. 30:15-20)

The more I study history and the more I study my Bible, the more similarities I see between Israel and America.

When I look at what's going on in America today and so many Christians are puffed up with pride, thinking that America is too big to fail, we look and see what's going on in Iran and we just think of how tough we are… Church, don't think for a minute that America is safe from the Judgment of God. It's times like these when God's judgment could fall in a moment.

(Ill.) You know it could be that while all of our military and stuff is taking on Iran, China could be just waiting for us to expend much of our arsenal before it begins its cyber warfare upon this country.

The children of Israel certainly suffered for their sin. Don't think that America is any better than them.

They Suffered for their Sin

God Showed them Grace

But on the other hand even though Israel fell into sin, God showed them grace.

Grace (def) “Unmerited Favor”

Church, for the last 70-90 years God has shown us grace. America has, by and large, rebelled against God. Now there is a remnant that is still seeking his face but that remnant is dying off every year and we're not replenishing those that have gone to heaven.

Thomas Jefferson said, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

We must take heed for God will bring judgment upon sin. He has shown us grace yet His justice cannot sleep forever.

An Undeserved Deliverance

We see some Unlikely Hero’s; an Unbelieving King; An Undeserved Deliverance

IV. An Unsatisfied Soul

Finally let's turn our attention to the advisor of the king.

We see he would not believe.

He Would Not Believe (v2)

Once again drawing a contrast between this man and the King. The King doubted but he did not doubt that God could do it, but that God really did do it. This man doubted God Himself, that he was capable of doing such a great thing.

He could not wrap his mind around how God could do such a thing as this.

Church, know this: it's not our business to worry about the hows, because the Bible tells us: Isaiah 55:8–9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

There’s a lot of people who just will not believe it, because they themselves cannot understand it. Church, but I want you to understand that YOU’RE NOT GOD - AND NEITHER IS ANYONE ELSE! THERE’S ONLY ONE GOD, AND WE AIN’T HIM!

(Ill.) When I got saved, I didn’t doubt that God COULD save me, I doubted WHY HE WOULD WANT TO…

I was like the Leper in Matthew 8:2 “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”

But one thing you don't have to worry about is that if God said it, he meant it and he will bring it to pass.

This man didn’t believe that… so he did not receive it

So He Did Not Receive (v17-20)

Elisha told him he wouldn’t, and he didn’t.

If you don’t believe that God loves you enough to die for you, then you’ll not received Salvation

(Ill.) There was a man who had a son who was demoniac and I love the exchange found in Mark 9:21–24 “And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Jesus said ‘If you believe, you will receive” - the man said, I believe, but my faith is weak…

Church, if you want God to answer your prayer, don’t simply believe that He CAN, but that HE WILL! And know that if by chance it doesn’t come to pass, that God had good reason.

He did not believe, so he did not receive.

Conclusion

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