What To Do With Good News

2 Kings chapter 7. 2 Kings chapter 7, yes, you heard me right. 2 Kings chapter 7. I, starting on Monday of this week, began thinking about The Easter service coming up and was also trying to figure out what to preach on today and I had first went to Galatians chapter 4 and just was, ended up being led away from that and I began, as I was thinking about the Easter service, this coordinated corporate outreach opportunity that we have.

all of us, we encourage you to be out there witnessing individually sharing the gospel, but this is an opportunity, this service this coming week for us to come together as a body and engage in evangelism together, each of us playing our own respective individual part in the whole. And as I was thinking about that, I found my thoughts going to 2 Kings to an interesting story that we find in the Old Testament. And I want us to look at this story and we're going to learn some lessons from 4 lepers, 4 guys afflicted with leprosy, and by the time we're done with the message this morning, I hope we all will say, Man, I want to be like those lepers.

And so the title of the message this morning.

is what to do with good news. What to do with good news? think about it. What do you do with good news?

What do you do with it? Well, you share it. I remember the first date my wife and I went on. She asked me out on our first date.

And I'm being serious, it was a turnabout banquet where the girl asked the guy and we were juniors in high school, and I had been loving her from afar for 2 years, never thought she would ever be interested in me, but one day after an ice skating youth activity, she came up and asked me to this banquet, which was 2 weeks later. You cannot imagine. The joy that I felt. And, and, and then, she asked me, I said yes, and then it was a real quick conversation because we were so nervous around each other.

And, and then my next thought was, I can't wait till my parents come and pick me up to tell the family they're not going to believe it. And I got in the car and I tried to just act real calm and about half a mile down the road, I said, you're not going to believe this. But Donna Woods asked me to the Valentine banquet, and sharing that with them and having them get all excited about it, it completed the joy that I had and the good news that I was experiencing in my life at that time that this one I loved had asked me out on a date.

I'm not giving that as an example for you guys to follow.

But nonetheless, that was good news for me. And what did I do with that good news? Well, I definitely thought about it day in and day out for many days after, but I also shared it with other people. Anyone who was remotely interested, I was happy to tell them this good news.

So we're going to learn what to do with good news because we have been given good news, and that is a salvation through Jesus. That is insanely good news. What do we do with this good news? What's interesting in this story, this story itself has nothing to do with the gospel that we celebrate, even today, but the Greek word for gospel is found in the narrative of 2 Kings chapter 7 in verse 9.

The lepers say, this is a day of good news, or this is a day of gospel. Now it was a material gospel. It was material good news. It was a lesser good news than our good news that we celebrate through Jesus.

but nonetheless, as we observe what the lepers did with this good news, I hope that we feel a sense of conviction and maybe even shame that we can then take to the cross and then be more motivated to do the right thing with the good news that God has given to us through Jesus. Now to appreciate what the lepers do with their good news, we need to, look a little bit at the historical backdrop, and I won't bore you with this. This is actually interesting. This is, I think, around 830 BC and Jehoram is the king of Israel, and Jehoram is the, he is the son of Ahab and Jezebel.

So he's not the godliest guy, and this is not a very good time in the northern kingdom's history, which, this, this is called Israel, the northern kingdom. The events of the story take place around the city of Samaria. That's the focal point of the story that we're going to be looking at here in 1 Kings 7. And if you look up at the top of the screen where the hand is pointing, that's where the Aramaeans lived, the Syrians, and there's a point where the Syrians in this narrative came down and mounted a siege around the city of Samaria.

So this is a military attack. Rather than coming in and ransacking the city, they just set an encampment of thousands upon thousands of soldiers in thousands of thousands of tents around the city of Samaria, and they set a siege around it. And in so doing, what they did is they, they eliminated the possibility of anyone coming out of the city or going into the city with food or water or what have you. And so all of that traffic was eliminated.

Anyone who wanted to bring food into the city was now not able to because this siege prevented it, and no doubt somehow some way they had cut off and redirected the water supply that normally would have gone into the city of Samaria. And so now with no water coming into the city, no one able to go out and no one able to come in, bringing food and water and what have you. As a result of this military action, there was a great famine that began to plague the city of Samaria, and it became extremely intense.

In fact, just to give you an idea of how intense this siege was and the famine was that resulted from it, look at what the writer of 2 Kings says in 2 Kings 6.

He says there was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they, the Aramaeans, besieged it until You guys are not going to believe this. Listen to this. A donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and 1/4 of a cab of dove's dung for 5 shekels of silver. Isn't that amazing?

And you're all supposed to say, wow, that was a bad famine, even though we may not know what shekels are and what the value is translated into today's lingo. The original readers of 2 Kings would have read verse 25 and said, that is a terrible famine. And also to give you an idea of how bad the famine was, the writer of 2 Kings tells us of another incident that occurred in the depth. Of this dire famine, verse 26, and as the king of Israel, that's Jehoram, was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Help my lord, O king.

She's saying, I need your help. He instantly thinks that she wants food, and so he replies with sarcasm. and He said to her, If the Lord does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?

He's like, Well, ma'am, the Lord's obviously not helping you or us because of this famine. Where do you want me to help you from? The wine press, it's empty. Threshing floor, empty.

Which of those two sources would you like for me to help you from? He's being very sarcastic. He is in a foul mood as a result of the famine that his people are experiencing in the city of Samaria, and they're all trapped there and they're dying. Well, the woman persisted and so the king in verse 28 said to her, what is the matter with you?

What is the problem? What do you need my help with? And she answered, She points to this other woman. And she says, this woman said to me, Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

So we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her on the next day, Now give your son so that we may eat him, and she has hidden her son. Basically what she's saying to the king, just think of this as a king, you're faced with this counseling issue. This, this, this ethical counseling issue. Someone's coming to you for counseling.

And here's the problem. And that is that we had an agreement. I had an agreement with this other lady that we would eat our two children because there's nothing else to eat. And I gave my son yesterday, we boiled him, we ate him.

And then today I said to her, Give over your son so that we can boil him and eat him. And she says, I can't find him. I don't, I don't know where he is. And she's obviously hidden her son.

And so King, the help I need from you is make this woman to give over her son so that we can boil him and eat him. Well, how did the king respond? This is the last straw for him. And it came about when the king heard the words of the woman that he tore his clothes.

Now he was passing by on the wall, so he was visible to everybody, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body. That's how we know the king was not in a good mood at the start of this day. He was wearing sackcloth underneath his royal clothes. which was a sign of mourning and protest.

And yet he put his royal clothes over him and he walked outside trying to be a leader, trying to put on a brave front for the people. But then this woman comes to him with this ethical dilemma saying, I need you to have this woman give over her son so that we can eat him today. And that's the last straw. He tears his royal clothes, and everyone in Israel can see that he is wearing sackcloth.

He's like, what, forget all pretense. I don't care if everyone knows that I am devastated as a king over the state of this capital city. Of Israel So that's how bad things are, guys. Things are so bad in Samaria that people are resorting to cannibalism, eating their own children, creating all sorts of weird, bizarre, ethical dilemmas that the king is now confronted with.

But it's in the midst of this famine that seems like it's going to go on forever. The armies of the Aramaeans are encamped around the city. They're not going anywhere. They've been there for a long time.

They're not going to be going anywhere, it seems. And so this famine is only going to get worse and worse and worse, and we're all ultimately going to die. However, as the story continues, if you look at 1 Kings 7:3, Things began to change and it's really interesting what happens. It says now there were 4 leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die?

If we say we will enter the city, then the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit here we die also. So the lepers ultimately start looking at each other saying, Why are we sitting here just outside the gate of the city? We've got to do something.

But the problem is if we go into the city we die. If we don't do anything and we stay here, the famine is also here where we are just outside the gate of the city because we're surrounded by the Aramaeans, we're going to die here. So the odds are, it's a 100% chance that we will die if we stay here and die if we go into the city. So look at what they say.

Now therefore, come and let us go over to the camp of the Aramaeans. If they spare us, we shall live. They'll give us some food to eat and maybe throw away their scraps, and we'll be able to live off of the refuse that they're throwing away. But if they kill us, we shall but die, or literally we shall only die.

All right, so let's go to the Aramans. At least if we go there, we have a 50% chance of living. And if we die, we only die. It's a quick death compared to a slow death that we're dying here as a result of the ravages of this famine that we are suffering.

So the lepers decide the odds are better if we go to the Aramaeans. We still may die, but let's go there because we have a chance of survival. And so in verse. 5, the narrative continues.

So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Aramaeans. So in other words, the sun had gone down, it was not visible, but there was still light enough to see. They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Aramaeans. And when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Aramaeans, behold, there was no one there.

They see this military encampment surrounding the city. Tens of thousands of soldiers, thousands of tents, horses, donkeys, all the stuff you would associate with a military encampment, but nobody's there. No one comes out to stop them, saying, What are you doing approaching us? No one comes out to greet them or to stop them.

And as they approach the outskirts of the camp, they look in and they see all this military stuff, and there's not a single soldier visible anywhere. How strange. There was no one there. Why?

Verse 6, for the Lord had caused the army of the Aramaeans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. So the Lord causes this noise. To happen and the Aramaean soldiers are like, oh no, we're being attacked and so they just get up and they take off running. Look at what it says they did.

Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight and they left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp, just as it was, and fled for their life. Now keep in mind these soldiers were enjoying plenty. There was no famine where they were. The famine was in the city as a result of the military siege.

So they had tons of stuff in this encampment, but they hear this noise and they think they're being attacked by the Israelites, the Hittites, and the Egyptians, and they just, they freak out and they just get up and they run away from their encampment, away from the city of Samaria, and leave everything behind. In fact, we find out later in the story that as they were running, they shed, whatever equipment they did grab. They, as they were running, they were throwing their military equipment down and even shedding their clothing so that it would not slow them down.

They are terrified, so they leave the encampment as it is, take off running.

They may have grabbed their spear or sword or something and grab some clothes and they're running, but even as they're running they're like, man, and they're just throwing their clothes off and their military equipment, their swords and spears, and there's just a trail of debris of this stuff. As they fled, so back to the four lepers, the lepers come to the outskirts of the camp. They're dying of hunger and thirst, and they've been living in famine. The whole population of the city of Samaria, they're dying inside and eating their children and what have you, and here they are now.

They're going to surrender themselves to the Aramaeans and hope that maybe they will be allowed to live and have some scraps to eat, but they get to the outskirts of the camp and no one is there anywhere to be seen. So That's good news. And we're going to see here beginning at this point of the story 4 responses of the lepers to this good news. They now realize that from the appearance of things there is a huge massive military encampment.

With all the stuff that you would associate with a military encampment, food and, and drink and all this stuff, and no soldiers are here, meaning this is ours. We could go in here and do whatever we want and take whatever we want. And so how do they respond to this good news? They do say in verse 9, this is a day of good news.

This is good news for them. How do they respond? Well, here's the first response. I want to give you 4 responses of these leprous men to this good news that they're confronted with in the midst of terrible news that they have been living in.

Response number 1, if we can steal language from our church's mission statement, they sought to experience this good news in all of its fullness. They did not say, Wow, this is interesting. There's a military encampment here and there's no soldiers here, and so it looks like all that is in here would be available to anyone who wanted to come and take whatever. This is interesting, but let's go back to where we came from and just stay there.

No, they, according to the narrative, go into this encampment and look at what they do. Verse 8. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent. And ate and drank.

They go into the first tent, all 4 of them, and they see food in there. And you can imagine the delight of these men who have been starving for food along with everyone else in Samaria. And so they eat and they drink and You can bet they didn't nibble. They devoured this.

They gorged themselves on the food and the drink that was inside this first tent. And then they snoop around more in the tent, and they found silver and gold and clothing. It says, and they carried from their silver and gold and clothes and went and hid them. And so just imagine being in their position.

You have not eaten anything for many days and you're dying and you're just plotting how can I avoid death and just barely survive. All of a sudden now there is so much plenty around you. All of this provision, not a soldier is there. You go into the first tent and you find food and you just start stuffing your face with this food and drinking and what must that have been like for them and then you find silver and you find gold and you find clothing and no doubt their clothing that they had.

was, was just a mess and disgusting and so they gather up all that they could gather into their arms and they went back to where they lived and they hid what they had taken from that first tent for use at a later time. So what did they do next, he says, and they returned and entered a second tent, and they did the same thing and they carried from there also and went and hid them. This is a great gig. we have full access to all of this, and it's more than we could ever fully utilize.

They plunder the first tent. There's so much they have to stash what they might need for later, and then they say, Let's go back and they go back to the second tent and they plunder that tent and take food and drink and clothes and gold and silver, and they carry all of that back and they hide that also. And I just want to make a point about our gospel, guys. This is their good news that they're enjoying right now, but we need to understand that God is our Savior, is he not?

He is our Savior. He has saved us from the wrath of hell that we deserve, the eternal poverty that we deserve. But God is more than just a savior. We cherish Him as Savior, but He is more than a savior.

He is also a lavish benefactor. He saves us from the hell that we deserve, and then he lavishes upon us all of this blessing that is inside of the gospel. We learn in Ephesians alone, we're blessed with every spiritual blessing. Paul speaks of God's grace, which he's freely bestowed upon us.

Paul speaks of the riches of His grace, which he has lavished upon us. Paul speaks of his surpassing riches of His grace that is always towards us in Christ Jesus. In other words, all of the provision, all of the goodness, all of the bounty that God gives to us in Jesus surpasses our ability to make use of all of it. He saved us, but then he gives us this bounty.

Paul in chapter 1 verse 18 speaks of the riches of the glory of this inheritance that we have, that is in Christ. what, we were bound for eternal poverty, we were already wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, just like these lepers. If God would have just been our savior and said, I will save you from that. And then we would have continued living and surviving, just having been saved, we would have had eternal cause to be grateful to God, right?

But God did not just save us. He also just opened the windows of heaven, and has made us multi-trillionaires. And Jesus. Paul even says to the Ephesians, I am praying that you will know the height and the breadth and the length and the depth of the love of Christ.

But I know that prayer won't be answered this side of glory because it surpasses knowledge. You can never fully experience all that God has given to you. But what we're commanded to do? in Ephesians alone, in Ephesians, it speaks of God who fills all in all, Jesus who fills all things, the Spirit's desire for us as expressed through Paul's prayer in chapter 3, verse 19, is that we would be filled up to all the fullness of God.

God speaks to us in Ephesians 5:18, and he gives us this command, be continuously filled up. All of the stuff I've given you, don't just stare at it, fill yourself up with it. Gorge yourself on these blessings that are given to you in Jesus. Don't sip, gorge yourself until you are full.

Be in a constant state of fullness as you are taking in and enjoying the provision that I have given to you through Jesus with such amazing generosity. And what, these lepers, they see what's available and they're gorging themselves. They're plundering the first tent. They're stashing, there's so much they're stashing it, and then they're going back to the second tent.

They are experiencing the fullness of God's provision for them as much as they possibly can to the point where they are experiencing fullness in themselves from a physical standpoint. And what is amazing to me is that we have been blessed with an even greater gospel, and there are Christians in this room. who are not full. In fact, some of you are starving.

And you're spiritually weak and emaciated. You don't even have the strength to deal with the stuff that's going on at work. You don't even have the strength and the wherewithal to deal with what's going on in your marriage and in your home. Why are you in that state?

Is it because the bounty of God is not available to you? Is it because it's not been given to you? That can't be the reason because it has been given to you and Jesus. The reason is, is because you're not plundering.

You're not gorging yourself on this incredible provision. You're not experiencing the gospel in all of its fullness. God has written a book for you that we call the Bible that has over 700,000 words from him to you. Are, are you plundering these words?

Are you, are you taking them and, and, and, and, and partaking of them, and then actually hiding them? in your heart for later use and just stashing them like I might need this tomorrow in this situation. I will memorize this. I will hide this in my heart so that I can make use of this at a later time, guys.

what? Every one of us, including me, can be much more greedy than we are. Amen. We should be doing a lot more plundering of the spoils of the victory that God has accomplished for us than we do.

And, and God would say, you plunder all you want, you are never going to exhaust all that I've given to you, in my word and in Jesus. And in the gospel We all need to do better of experiencing our gospel in all of its fullness. The lepers experienced their gospel in all of its fullness from a material standpoint, but there's a second thing that the lepers do that I think should challenge us, and that is they begin to feel guilty for enjoying this good news without announcing it to others.

They began to feel guilty for enjoying this good news without announcing it to others, so they plundered the first tent.

They bring the stuff back, then they go back to the second tent and they plunder that and take food and drink and gold and silver and clothing. What have you, and they go back to wherever they were living and they stash that for later use. And then after they had plundered that second tent, they looked at each other, their bellies are full, they're happy. It's like look at this.

All of this is available to us thousands of tents containing all this stuff. And they're experiencing it in all of its fullness, but suddenly a feeling of guilt comes over them. It says after they plundered the second tent, it says, then they said to one another, we are not doing right. This is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent.

If we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Look at the thinking process. what, guys, we're not doing right. Are they feeling bad for plundering and taking of this provision that God had miraculously provided for them?

No, that's not what they're feeling guilty about. But they're feeling guilty over the fact that that's all they were doing. That they're plundering and enjoying all of this provision while meanwhile a city full of dying starving people. lies inside the walls waiting to die.

And they're like, we're not doing right. This is a day of good news, but we're keeping silent. We're just enjoying this ourselves, and we're not making it known to the dying people inside the city of Samaria. And look how intense they're feeling this.

If we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. They're like, now at this point it's no doubt dark, and they're like, what, we need to do this right away. If we even just wait until the sun comes up tomorrow. We feel that punishment would probably already have overtaken us.

We need to act. We need to make this news known. We need to make it known right away. You see, guys, when you plumb the depths of the gospel, and you are experiencing the gospel in all of its fullness, there is a gospel ethic that begins to rise up within you, a certain gospel sensibility that causes you to think of those that are not experiencing the gospel, those who have not yet been saved through Jesus, and you begin to think of them and feel a burden and a concern for them.

And yes, you're doing right to be plumbing the depths of the gospel, but your thought will eventually become, I am not doing right to just be enjoying this myself. I must go share this with those who are not enjoying this. Think about how this happens in the New Testament with the apostle Paul. Paul is in the book of Romans, he's just rehearsing the gospel, writing out the gospel, laying it open.

In Romans 5, he talks about our justification by faith. Romans 6, how we're totally freed from sin. And in Romans 5, by the way, 3 times he says, we exult, we exult, we exult. In other words, we rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, we're free from sin.

Romans 7, Paul seems to confess that this freedom in Christ from sin has not yet been fully realized. In his own daily practice, nonetheless, coming into Romans 8, he says there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. We have been freed from the law of sin and death. God has given to us His Spirit who resides inside of us.

This Spirit communicates with our Spirit in a mystical way, affirming us as children of God and as heirs of eternal glory. The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. He prays along with us with groanings that we can't even begin to utter. What a friend, what a companion.

is the Spirit of God. He goes on to say that all things work together for good for those who love God. Every circumstance in our life, God will cause it to work together for our good and His glory. He who spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how will He not also with His Son freely give us all things?

God has been generous to us. Paul says in Romans 8, today, yesterday, today, and he will be generous tomorrow and through all of eternity. And then he goes on to say at the end of the chapter. The most amazing thing is this love and this bounty that we experience today will be with us tomorrow and the next day.

Nothing ever can separate us from this love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Man, Paul is just, he's preaching the gospel to himself, savoring the depths of the gospel, and you might ask yourself, well, as Paul is meditating upon these things, obviously he's enjoying them. He says in Romans 5:3 times, we rejoice, we rejoice, we rejoice. So he's obviously feeling good emotions of joy and rejoicing over these truths.

But what is Paul fully feeling as he is plumbing the depths of these gospel meditations? Well, if you want to know the depth of his feelings, keep reading. Don't stop at the end of Romans 8. Paul just climaxes the chapter in Romans 8.

Nothing in heaven or hell or on earth will ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And from those heights of gospel meditation and gospel enjoyment, the very next words out of his mouth are these, I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow. Guys, be honest, that's the last thing.

We would expect Paul to say, Right after finishing what he says in Romans 8, he says, I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Paul's experience of the depths of the gospel produced in him a corresponding equally intense grief and burden for those that were outside of Jesus. Having not yet tasted of the bounty that is in him. And the lepers, the same thing happens to them, man.

They're just plumbing, they're plundering and enjoying all of this and hoarding it and eating it and drinking it and so forth, stashing it away, and then suddenly they have the same feeling come over them. We're not doing the right thing here. Because there's thousands of dying people in that city, and here we are gorging ourselves while they're dying, some of them even eating their own children. we do well.

To come to church on Sunday. Keep coming. We do well. To worship God with gospel-centered lyrics, we do well to get excited about the gospel and to celebrate that, but Something feels wrong about us gathering behind these walls and then speaking and singing at the top of our lungs, just savoring this incredible good news.

While around us outside these walls people are dying. And going to hell. To a Christless eternity. There needs to be an ethic.

that rises up in our hearts that says, Are we doing the right thing? And as we think about that, we shouldn't say, well, therefore I'm going to stop enjoying the gospel. No, keep doing that. But you need to say this is a day of good news.

And yet I am keeping silent in terms of speaking this good news to those who most need to hear it. There's a third response of the lepers. And that is they determine to announce this good news to others. They decided, what, we've been enjoying this, but we're not doing right to keep it to ourselves and to be silent.

So they determined to go and announce this good news to others and to do it right away without delay. In verse 9, it says they said to one another, We're not doing right. This is a day of good news, but we're keeping silent. If we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us.

Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household, Let us go now and announce this good news to the king's household, and he will then Announce this to the people, and they can come out and enjoy everything that we are enjoying and become participants in this good news. So they determine, they resolve to announce this good news to others, and then the fourth response that might seem redundant to you, but it's really not is they actually did announce this good news to others.

They followed through and actually did announce this good news to others. You say, Well, isn't that saying the same thing?

No. Response number 3 is they determined to announce the good news to others. Response 4 is they actually did what they determined. Have you ever determined to share the gospel with somebody?

And then not follow through on that determination. I know that's happened to me. So the lepers, they determine to announce this, and then they actually do it. Verse 10, look at the bottom of the screen.

So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and they told The Now, Let's, let's realize these lepers are not two dimensional creatures who are saying to themselves, yeah, let's do this, and we're going to end up in 2 Kings one day in chapter 7, and we're going to, we're going to be in the scriptures for this. No, these guys are human beings, flesh and blood human beings like us, and they're experiencing all of this, and they're realizing we need to go tell people in the city.

And so they go and they tell, they resolved to do it and then they actually follow through and do it. But I'm just amazed that they actually followed through with this because they had a lot of reasons not to.

They were unclean., as they do their evangelizing of their good news, they have to put their hand over their mouth and their mustache and warn people, I'm unclean. I just want you to know I'm unclean, but I have some good news for you. How many of you would go out and share the gospel with people in this community if you were unclean, and you had to warn people and cover your mouth as you spoke? Be discouraging.

Also, they were contagious, and they were definitely viewed as being contagious to where people wouldn't want to be close to them for fear of contracting the leprosy that these lepers had. So again, imagine going out and sharing the gospel with people, even though you're unclean, you got to warn people that you're unclean, your hands got to be over your mouth, and you're also contagious, and no one even wants to get physically close to you because of the disease that you have that is obvious to them.

And speaking of it being obvious, most lepers were ugly people. It's just the way it was.

As a result of their leprosy, they lost the sensation because of the breakdown of their nervous system, and so they would be injured and their body would not feel that. They would not know that it was not uncommon for lepers to end up losing digits, losing their hand, and having serious skin. Wounds that they don't even feel and skin is falling off of them and, and these lepers, no doubt, especially if any of them are progressed in the operation of this disease, they're not attractive people, they're ugly people, they're contagious, they're unclean.

And I think most of us probably if we were like that probably wouldn't feel In an evangelistic mood to just go out and share with people, when our skin is falling off of our face and we look hideous as a result of a disease that we're suffering from and everyone's afraid of us.

They don't want to get close to us because we're contagious and we have to warn people that we're unclean. There's also another reason they had not to tell this good news, and that is that no doubt these lepers had been rejected by the people. That's just the way it worked. You get leprosy, you go live outside the city.

We don't want you in here. And I'm sure there were some people in the city that may have been good to these lepers, but I have no doubt that these lepers had been mocked and mistreated and made fun of. And whenever they came anywhere near people, the people would like just scream and move away from them and tell them to get away. And so these lepers are living.

A life of rejection by the people in the city. That's why they're at the gate of the city on the outside of the city, because they're not allowed in. So no doubt they have at some point been mistreated by the people along with just the reality of their condition requiring that they be expelled from among the people. The lepers could have said, well, given the way that they have treated us throughout our suffering of this disease.

We're going to enjoy this ourselves and not make it known to them. They also could have been discouraged from telling it to the people of Samaria because of the incredible nature of the news. They could have said, well, no one's going to believe us. We're going to go say to the king and the people, hey, we were just at the camp of the Aramaeans, there's been a famine going on because they've been around.

The city and we were just there and no one's there. You see the encampment out there? There's actually no soldiers there and we were just there and we plundered a couple of tents and just wanted you guys to know so you can go do that. They could have said, what, no one's going to believe us, so let's not do that.

In fact, in the narrative of the story when it was announced to the king's men and the word came to the king, the king did not believe them. And they gathered up the few horses that remained in the city that were alive, and they took some horsemen out to the camp. They found that the encampment indeed was empty of any soldiers, and then they also, because the king thought it was a trap by the Aramas, his thought was they're going to, they're going to seduce us out into this encampment and then they're going to ambush us.

But he sends horsemen out and they find there's no soldiers there.

Then they go on the other side of the camp and they see a trail of clothing and equipment that had been dropped along the way. And eventually the king is convinced that they indeed have fled. And so it's announced to the people and in chapter 7, verse 16, it says, so the people went out and plundered the camp of the Aramans. The famine is now over.

The cause of the famine is now over. because the army is not there, but the people don't even have to wait to have food to eat. It's all sitting there around the city of Samaria for them to come and enjoy right away, and they know that they can enjoy this because it has been announced to them. Now wrapping this up, guys.

We need to realize that we live in a day of good news that is far greater than what the lepers experienced. We also need to appreciate the fact that we have more reason than the lepers did to feel convicted over keeping this good news to ourselves, because our good news is greater and because those around us are in greater danger and even more dire straits than what the people of Samaria were in. He needs to go out to those that are lost and outside of Christ. We do not well to just gather here and experience the gospel in all of its fullness, to go to our homes and experience the gospel in all of its fullness, to read our Bibles and experience the gospel in all of its fullness, to fellowship with one another and experience the bounty of God in all of its fullness.

We do not well to do all of those things and then not say a word to those that are dying around us. And that is the entire reason. That we are wanting to have this outreach service this coming Sunday. We're having Ray Comfort speak.

This guy is a committed evangelist gifted by God with the gift of evangelism, and he's going to be standing in this pulpit and our two services next week and preaching the gospel in a way that's going to be a blessing to those of us that are believers. I am fully anticipating being blessed. By the message and being strengthened by it, but also, he will be speaking the gospel to the lost that are invited to the service next, Sunday. And I don't want you guys to think, OK, we're having an outreach service next Sunday and Ray Comfort's gonna be preaching the gospel.

And that really what's the most important thing that's going to happen is going to happen up here. I want us to realize that every single person in this body plays a part. Every person plays a part. As you leave this morning, there's going to be an opportunity to sign up to bring food for the continental breakfast that is going to be provided.

And lest you think that's not important. The apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians, We gave to you the gospel of God, not just in word but also in deed. Alright, when we do something, even physically in providing food for somebody, we are actually acting out the gospel. We're being generous the same way that our Savior has been generous towards us who were on our way to hell and undeserving of that generosity.

And so we are ministering the gospel through word and also through deed just in signing up to bring some food for the continental breakfast. Those of you that are going to be serving the food as you're serving. Serving that food, you're ministering the love of Jesus in a very tangible way to those that will be attending next Sunday. And as you greet them with a smile and speak with them, you are ministering the gospel through word and through deed.

Our ushers and greeters, what our goal, those of you that are going to be involved in ushering and greeting, my goal is for people to experience the love of Jesus as soon as they drive onto this campus all the way to the time that they drive off of the campus. From entrance to exit, they experience the love of Jesus. And I don't want you to think, guys, that, well, we have official greeters, so thankfully, I don't have to greet anybody who's coming next Sunday. No, all of us are greeters and just come.

come early, just make yourself available if any One looks lost, try to answer whatever questions they have or direct them to an usher or a greeter or to the information booth, but you very well may be the first impression that somebody gets when they come onto the campus of Cornerstone. And so bring your friendly spirit with you, all right. take that with you to church next Sunday. If you don't, we may send you home to go get that friendly spirit and then come back, with it.

even those of you involved in the facility and showing up early, we appreciate those who do that from week to week and They're going to show up early and just make sure even the little things that are in place we're sharing the love of Jesus in even these ways our worship team and counselors after the service. I would love to have people down in the chapel room praying during the first service, during the second service. Just ask God if He wants you to do that. what?

I'll come to the first service and then I want to be in the second service down in the chapel room praying that God will do a miracle in the lives of people, even between now and next Sunday we've got flyers. that are available for you to distribute and even beyond distributing flyers inviting friends and family and neighbors and coworkers to come to this service where they will hear the gospel. I also just want to say this and I'm going to wrap this up real quick because we're running late.

You also are going to be ministering to people through your worship as you come next Sunday.

How are you going to worship the Lord? You want to worship God in a way that if a nonbeliever looked at you, that nonbeliever would say to himself or herself, Wow, what, what has happened in this person's life that they're talking about in this service must be really amazing. God must be really amazing. for this person to be worshiping God in the way that I see them worshiping Him, you need to think about that.

What effect will my worship have on those who observe me? You may say, Well, Pastor Milton, I beg to differ. When I worship God, it's just me and God. I don't even think about how it impacts other people.

I don't even care about that. I'm so absorbed in God. And in fact, I don't even think it's biblical to think about the effect of my worship on other people. Really, let me give you an inspired example.

Psalm 34. Carlos read this earlier in our service, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord.

The humble will hear it. And rejoice. He's resolving to worship God and he's thinking about, he's contemplating the impact of his worship upon other people. who hear him And even beyond your worship, as the message is being preached, what will your posture be?

Will you be attentive? I speak especially to younger people. it's not cool to be excited and worship. That is, that's from the pit of hell, frankly.

We get excited about so many other things, but about this one who came down this hill and suffered for our salvation, we'll just Not get excited about that because of what other people might think of us. Does that spirit come from God? Where does it come from? And, and even younger people when it comes to attentiveness, and I would say this to older people also, get some sleep the night before.

Don't stay up late so that you can be awake, and really listen and attentive to the message, because if a nonbeliever is here and Ray Comfort is preaching his heart out and he's giving the pure gospel, and a nonbeliever turns and looks over at you and you're slumped in your seat and you, you are in la la land. completely asleep, what will a nonbeliever think? They might think to themselves, well, maybe this message is not quite as exciting. As what the speaker is making it to be.

So guys, we're always giving off messages through our attentiveness, through our worship, through our spirit of friendliness. Let's bring all of that. Let us bring all of that next Sunday, and every single one of us, every one of us, not just me, not just Ray Comfort, not just the worship team, every single person who's going to be here next week that is a part of this church body, we all need to feel a sense of individual responsibility. What is it that God wants me to do?

I am coming to this service next week, and I'm going to preach the gospel through my words and through my countenance and through my deeds. I am here to minister. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning. We see 4 lepers, many, many years ago.

who have their own version of material good news. They're excited about it. They enjoy it They feel wrong in keeping it to themselves, so they resolve to share it with those who were dying, and they actually follow through with that resolve and share it with those who were dying. Lord, we have a greater gospel, and those around us are in greater need.

They're not just in Heading towards physical death, but eternal death, irreparable death, a dying that will never end. And amazingly you give us an opportunity. To show your love to them. Paul said to the Corinthians, God is beseeching you through us.

We, we have the opportunity, Lord, to position us to where you actually call sinners and beseech sinners through us. And may we all be at our post. Every day this week in prayer, Lord, and even next Sunday to just be here. Lord, what do you have for me?

How do you want to use me? Help me to be a blessing. So that those who come will experience your love from entrance. To exiting the campus.

We just give ourselves to You, Lord, and we give the days of this week and next Sunday to you in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, Amen.