(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, 2 Kings 7, we're going to jump back, there's a few verses, into chapter 6 just to get the context because chapter 7 starts off with Elisha responding to something that was said in chapter 6. So we're just going to start reading here again in chapter 6, verse number 31, the Bible says, then he said, this is talking about the king of Israel, because remember, they're besieged by the Syrian army, there's a great famine because they know supplies are coming in and out, so everyone's super hungry, the king had just heard this story about the women who were, you know, eating their children, because they're so hungry, and the king gets angry about this, and basically he's putting the blame off now on Elisha as if it's Elisha's fault that they're in the situation they're in now, even though Elisha had been helping the king and telling him where the enemy's been and all this other stuff and being a great help, now all of a sudden it's Elisha's fault that they're having such these problems. So in verse number 31 it says, then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shabat shall stand on him this day, so he's ready to go out and kill Elisha. Verse 32, but Elisha sat in his house and the elders sat with him, and the king sent a man from before him, but ere the messenger came to him he said to the elders, see how this son of a murderer had sent to take away mine head, look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door and hold him fast at the door, is not the sound of his master's feet behind him, so Elisha prophesies before the messenger even gets to his place, he's saying, ah, he's sending a messenger here, so when the messenger gets here, hold him fast right at the door, just grab hold of him, don't let him say or do anything basically, and his master's coming behind him. So that's what he tells to the people that he's hanging out with, Elisha here, verse number 33, it says, and while he yet talked with them, behold the messenger came down on to him, sorry, he comes, and he said, behold, this evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer? This is not Elisha speaking, this is the messenger, he's saying, you know, behold, this evil is of the Lord, what am I doing waiting around for the Lord anymore? What is it that I have anything to do to wait around for God? This is the attitude, this is the message that the messenger is bringing to Elisha. Why should we just wait on God? And then Elisha answers him, and that's where we start off in chapter seven here in verse number one, then Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord, tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. So his response, he's saying, you know, why should I wait for God anymore? And Elisha tells him, okay, well, you know what, tomorrow, here's what's going to happen. And to show you how incredible this is, and that's why, let's just read verse two, it says, then a Lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. So this guy is doubting, he's saying, you know, God is going to make windows in heaven, like, how can that possibly be? If you remember in chapter six, at this point, they are to the point of famine, where in verse number 25, it says, there was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for four scorpions. So 80 pieces of silver got you an ass's head. Now, how much food do you think you're really going to glean from an ass's head? Not very much. I mean, if you know anything about animals, I mean, you don't even have to be a butcher to know this stuff. You're going to get the tongue, the throat, maybe, I mean, stuff that's kind of nasty anyways, you don't typically, you know, do much with a head of an animal, because you've got the hair, you've got skin, you've got, you know, but for 80 pieces of silver, that's a lot of money just for that ass's head. And then he goes on to say, and a fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. So we're going from that five pieces of silver for dung, for bird dung to eat because the famine is so bad that people would actually be willing to pay money to eat dung and get to the point to where they're looking at murdering their children and eating them because they're in such famine, because they're so hungry. Going from that within one day to what Elisha said here, a measure of fine flour for a shekel is a piece of a part of silver. So it says like 30 pieces of silver, 20 pieces of silver, five pieces of silver, those are pieces of silver, a shekel is smaller than that. So you're going to actually get real food. You're going to measure a flour, you're going to get two measures of barley for just a shekel. How could that possibly, you know, if God were to make windows in heaven, how could this possibly be, right? How is it possible? And just doubting the word of God and just casting this doubt, that's what this Lord, God whose hand the king leans, right, this trusted man of the king and his position, is doubting not just the word of the Lord from Elisha, not just doubting what he's saying, but even the power of God himself, as if God's not capable of making this come to pass. It's one thing to doubt the messenger, but to even doubt that God's capable of doing such a feat, like, I mean, is anything too hard for the Lord? Of course not. I mean, what kind of God do you even believe in to say that, how could that even possibly happen? And I think this is one of the reasons God's just showing them, okay, you don't even, you don't think I can do this? You're going to see it happen, you're going to know that I can do this and you're going to see it happen, but you're not going to partake in any of it. And of course that comes to pass later. But we ought to be able to have faith in the word of God, but even beyond the word of God is just who God is and what he's capable of doing. We know enough from scripture who God is and what he's capable of doing. We need to rely on that and believe in that and not doubt the potential and the capability of our Lord and realize who it is that we really do serve. And again, it sounds nice to talk about these things when everything's going fine and you just kind of blow it off, but the times when you need that the most is when you are in your most need to never forget what a powerful God we serve and what he's capable of doing. To maintain our reliance on the Lord, relying on him and trusting completely in God to see us through our worst of worst times. And to not think that anything is impossible, anything is too hard, that there's any situation that God cannot save you out of. Let's keep reading here, verse number three here in chapter seven. And there were four leprous men at the entering end of the gate. And they said one to another, why sit we here until we die? 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 into the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall but die. I like this story, and this is pretty much how the rest of the story then goes on where these lepers, they're sitting there at the gates. Because they're lepers, they're not just gonna be mingling in with the rest of the people. I mean, lepers are always outcast. They would have been completely outcast in another community because they're being besieged. You know, here they are at the gate of the city. They're saying, what are our options? If we stay here in the city, well, obviously there's a famine going on. They're like, we're just gonna die here because that's the whole point of the siege is to get them to the point of just giving up or just dying. They're saying there's no hope sitting and waiting around here because the resources are all spent. And if we just sit at the gate, well, there's nothing for us here either, we're gonna die here. At the very least, let's just go to the enemy, let's surrender to them, and you know what, maybe they'll kill us, but maybe they'll keep us alive. Maybe they'll give us some food and take us prisoner, like it's better to be a prisoner to the enemy than just to sit here and die. So they've got nothing left to lose. This is a situation they're in. And this is a situation, honestly, I think that we need to get to, one, to get saved. These are leprous, they're leprous men, they're diseased, and you think about that as a picture of our sin, I don't understand what people have left to lose to put their faith on Jesus, to put their, just to go to Jesus Christ and say, what's the worst that could happen? You know, I mean, believing that there's no God, I mean, you're gonna die, we're all gonna die anyways, you're not gonna escape the death. You know that you've got, I mean, you know that you're a sinner, and especially if you believe in a God, sticking around in the city, trying to do your best to try to get out of that situation isn't gonna do you any good. But I don't, I mean, that's, you know, obviously one point I'm making, but I don't think that's a primary point. I think that we can have an attitude, or we should have an attitude, where we have nothing to lose. So if you go to Esther chapter 4, and what I don't see here is necessarily despair, it's looking at your situation and choosing the best options, because they're able to look at the situation and say, well, this isn't gonna go anywhere, this isn't gonna go anywhere, let's at least try this, there's at least some hope here, let's go to where there's some hope. Don't despair and resign yourself to defeat in situations that look hopeless. Find that hope and keep pushing forward, even in the face of possible death. We have a good example of this from Esther. And you're in chapter 4, look at verse number 13. So basically what happens is, in chapter 4, the proclamation had gone out for all the Jews basically to be exterminated, to be killed from Haman. Haman sent out, because he was so angry with Mordecai, that he wouldn't bow down to him, and he had, in the king's name, sent out this decree that basically there's gonna be a slaughter of the Jews. And Mordecai found out about it, he was really upset, and Esther's trying to talk to him, and he basically tells her, look, you need to go to the king. You need to talk to him about this and see if you can do something to change this, because right now it's not looking good for the Jews. Obviously I'm paraphrasing. But then Esther responds and says, look, there's a rule, if I just go into the king, like if I'm not called into the presence of the king, then I'm gonna be put to death unless he reaches out his scepter to give me, basically to forgive me and allow me to come in and talk to him when I wasn't called. That was the rule at the time, and she's like, he hasn't called me for like 30 days. Like I'd like to help you out, but sorry, my hands are kinda tied. You know, if I go into him, I might die. And look what his response is, look at verse number 13 here in chapter 4. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews, for if thou all together holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will have fast likewise, and so will I go unto the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. And this is the attitude that Esther ends up having, you know, Mordecai's reminders say, look, don't think that you're gonna escape this. Don't think that you're just gonna get off the hook. He's going after all the Jews, and he says, you know, God probably placed you here in order to grant deliverance unto the people. He said, look, God, see Mordecai had faith in God, he's like, God's gonna bring deliverance. God will save us. But you need to stand up. You need to weigh your options, and she's, you know, she was facing death. But either way, look, if she would have sat there, she would have faced death, because the decree was already coming out. If she goes, chooses to go and speak unto the king, king has yours, she could face death there too. But she chose the best option and the right one, you know, for her situation was to do, was to go in and do her best, even if it's in the face of possible death. To go out and not just, basically, to not just sit around, to go out and do something. And then we see the same thing with the lepers on a smaller scale, is that they could have just sat around and been hopeless and just said, like, well, we're just gonna die here and just sold themselves off as just being dead. But instead, they said, no, let's do what we can, let's do whatever it is that we're capable of doing, and you know what, maybe we will die, but at least we're gonna try to do something. And we need to make sure we get to, you know, we don't ever get to this point of just despair where you're not willing to try anything. You're in a bad spot, you're not gonna do anything to help yourself out, to help out the situation, or to help other people out, most importantly. Esther was crippled by fear at first until Mordecai returned her answer, the answer to her saying, you know, that she basically needed to do this and that she wasn't gonna escape anyways. Don't think that you're gonna go and be just fine in the situation if you just hide. No, you need to be vocal, no, you need to speak up. And she had it right at you, you know what, if I die, I die. Turn to Philippians chapter one, Philippians chapter one, because if you think about it, we really have nothing to lose in this life. When you really boil it down, now look, there's a lot of things that we have value, value with your family, obviously children, your family, spouses have a lot of value in this world and in this life. I'm not downplaying that at all. But when it comes to serving God and just doing what's right, at the end of the day, when you're saved, there's really nothing to lose and everything to gain. And the scripture will be able to explain a little bit better than I can. Look at Philippians chapter one, verse number 19, to get a proper understanding of what I'm trying to express here. Verse number 19, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and my hope. That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. So he's talking about the purpose that he has in his life, saying that I'm not going to be ashamed in anything, but with all boldness, he says, Christ is going to be magnified in my body. So however I'm living, it's going to be a way to bring glory and honor unto Jesus Christ. So whether that means through my life and the things while I'm living I'm doing, or whether it's through my death, the way that I die, if death is appointed unto me, basically what he's saying is that either way, life or death, I'm going to do all to bring glory to God. I'm going to live and walk in such a way that Christ is magnified through his physical body, through the things that he's doing, whether life or death, and he's not going to be ashamed. And see, oftentimes people get scared and get fear, especially when confronted with something as serious as death, and then become ashamed. Because a fear has shamed you into not doing what you ought to be doing. Look at what he says in verse 21, he says, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And this is kind of what I'm talking about with not having this fear and being willing to do whatever, not falling into despair, because at the end of the day, if you're going to live, hey, live for Christ. To live is Christ, but to die is gain. It's not a bad thing when you're saved and you die. So there's nothing to be fearful of in death. When you feel hopeless or whatever, especially in situations like this, I'm not saying you may never be faced with this, and I hope you don't have to face something like that, but to where your only options is possible death, choose the right one where you'll be serving God, but don't be afraid of it. Because to die is gain, to live is Christ, to die is gain, verse 22, but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what I shall choose I what not, for I am in a strait betwixt two, having desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Paul is like, look, I'm waiting, this is going to be awesome, it's an excitement of going to be with Christ. In that sense, it's a really good thing, he's saying, it's way better to be up there with Christ than to be going through everything I'm going through right now. He had the proper attitude, which allowed him to do even more, because when you have that attitude of like, great, if I die, I'm just going to be with Christ today, then nothing is restricted from what you're willing to do. Having this mindset, I'll say whatever I want about the word of God to whoever I want, to kings, to people in power, to people who might take my life away from me, doesn't matter. Why? Because to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why? Because, go ahead, send me to be with Jesus. I'm not going to be afraid of that. However, he adds in verse 24, and very importantly, I might note, before everybody thinks, yeah, we don't just have this death wish, it's not a bad thing to die, he's expressing that, hey, it's great, send me to be home with Jesus, but nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. So that's why we're not just like, offing ourselves and exalting suicide or anything like that, because it's way more needful to be here in the flesh and to serve other people and to help other people out. And there's a purpose for us to be here, and we ought to live unto Christ in our flesh and glorify God. Obviously there's a lot of sin involved with that, it's just, you can have the proper view of dying and that being a good thing when you're saved because you're going to be with Jesus without just thinking like, oh man, what do you guys just always want to just die? No. We have a job to do here. But if it weren't for the job that we have to do here, think about this, if it weren't for the work that God's given us and for caring about other people and trying to get other people saved and save souls from hell and live the life for others, heaven's way better than this earth. It's way better. I mean, there's a lot of sadness and grief and all kinds of things that happen in this life so it's like, well why would I want to wait to go to be with Jesus? Well the reason why is because of other people. The reason why is because it's more needful for everybody else that you're going to be leaving behind for you to stay and do the work of God and do the work of Christ. And ultimately in the end there's also rewards that you receive too for the work that you do here. So you're going to be accumulating that much more in the long run. But all of this, the whole point is, I'm going to keep reading through this passage, is to stress the mindset of not being locked by fear or being hopeless in despair. And even to the point of worried about death. Because we have nothing to worry about in death. Christ is your savior. I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. So we don't need to be fearful of that. We can live in a way where if I'm doing what's right, hey let whatever's going to happen happen. And the fear of even death isn't going to withhold me from serving the Lord and preaching his word. Look at verse number 25 it says, in having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. So he's confident. He's like, I have this confidence. Even though yeah, to depart and be with the Lord is far better, he's saying I am confident, I know that I'm going to abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. I know that God's going to keep me here for a while longer to help sustain you and to bring you joy and your furtherance. Verse 26, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries and being scared, terrified by your enemies. Girls sit still and pay attention. In nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me and now here to be in me. We need to be able to work and do and live and preach without fear, without being terrified by our adversaries. There's a mentality in the world. There's even a song, I think it's a country song, I don't know, that was made that teaches you to live like you're dying. Has anyone heard that before or heard that expression before? And the point, the concept is that you need to be able to get up and live your life and do the things that maybe you wouldn't normally do because if you were to be told you have this X amount of days to live, how much more important your time would become to go off and do these things and to live with that type of mentality. While there is some good truth to that, I think that mentality is a little bit misguided because the concept of our life being short and being like a vaper is absolutely true and that's taught in scripture that we need to remember that and we need to redeem the time and make use of the best use of our time here today, but unfortunately when the world gets its hand on that type of a truth, they spin it into thinking that the emphasis is just on yourself and having fun, right, like you've heard of the bucket lists, well you need, I need to go and skydive and I need to visit this place and I need to gratify my flesh in this way and I need to make sure I have this meal and I need a meal and that's what they're talking about when they say, you know, live like you're dying, but I'd like to rephrase that to point it in the right direction, I think we should really be living like everyone else is dying because that's the attitude that puts the emphasis on other people. Yeah, take, you know, make the best use of your time, but if you live like all of your loved ones around you are dying and all the people around you are dying, which many people are in our community, they're dying and going to hell, then that could help you take the maximum use of your time to do what you're supposed to be doing anyways and using it to serve others, to minister others, to have the mind that Christ had, to esteem others better than yourselves. Yes there's an urgency in our own lives because we're only here for a short time, but don't waste that on just the vanity of this world, of thinking I just need to do everything to gratify myself and if I don't go to Disneyland or I don't go see this site, then oh man, I kind of wasted my life. That's not what life's all about. Once you're saved, your life is about getting other people saved, leading other people to Christ, literally, that is the primary, that should be the primary focus and goal of our life is to be ministers for other people. Don't just live like you're dying, live like other people are dying because you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring with someone else in your life, for that other person that oh yeah, I'm just waiting to give them the gospel, for this perfect opportunity to arise, you don't know if they're going to be there. I've had close friends of mine already, up to this point in my life, pass away and die and one of them specifically, the most recent one, I'm really glad that I seized the opportunity and brought up the gospel to him before he died because he did get saved and you know what, it wasn't this perfect opportunity necessarily to give him the gospel, I just decided to do it because at the end of the day, that's what you have to do with people is you just have to say, I'm just going to give him the gospel, I'm going to be focused on doing this, whether it's the perfect situation or not, I'm just going to bring it up and you'll do that if you're living like other people are dying. You might not have another opportunity to give the gospel to somebody. So you need to seize the opportunity you have right away. Don't let it pass. Let's go back to 2 Kings. So these lepers are like, we've got nothing else to lose. This is our best bet. Let's go out and see what's going on here. So they're just going to let themselves go to the host of the Syrians and hey, if we die, well, we were going to die anyways. So let's go and do this. Verse number five, and they rose up in the twilight to go into the camp of the Syrians and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host. And they said one to another, lo, the king of Israel hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore they rose and fled in the twilight and left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. So they come upon the camp, because they were setting up camp, that's what a siege is. They're just encompassed around the city and just making it so that no one can go in and out of the city and bring resources in, bring food in, stuff like that, bring supplies in. And they just set up camp. And they're there. And they're there for the long haul. When they're setting up a siege, obviously you have a certain store of food within the city. So they needed to be sitting out there until they run out of their food within the city. So they've got camp, I mean, they've got camp set up. Significant camp set up, because they're sitting there for a while. They've got all their food. They're getting their resources going back and forth to them, because they're in control of that area. So they're waiting there. The lepers go out now to the camps to surrender to them, and they're all gone. Nobody's left there. So they see this, and the Bible explains that the reason why they all fled is because God made them here. It didn't happen, but he made them here like it sounded like a whole bunch of horses, and these armies were coming in to help Israel, and they thought that Israel must have hired these other mercenaries, the Egyptians and other people, to come in and save them and rescue them, and they weren't ready for a battle of that magnitude from what they thought they were perceiving, they were hearing. So they turned around and fled. Turn if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 20, and see what the Bible says is that they feared. They heard the noise of chariots, the noise of horses, even the noise of a great host, and they said to one another, lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us, and they fled for their life. Why? Because they were afraid. God was able to make them afraid because they didn't have their faith in God. And I was able to use that against them because their faith wasn't in God. If your faith is in God for your defense, there's nothing that should move you. Think about it. Even if God did make you to hear the sound of all these horses and chariots and stuff like that, if your faith is in God, you should be saying, well, it doesn't matter who they're going to send against me, because if I'm doing what's right and God's with me, then it doesn't matter if the whole world is against me, because God can see me through this. But when you don't have that faith in the Lord, when you don't have that faith in God, then the fear will come upon you that all these other things are going to be able to scare you. And we need to make sure that we are without fear because our faith is in God. God can deliver you out of everything. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse number 1. The Bible explains this. When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them. For the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Say, look, when you've got battle, you have no reason to fear no matter how many people they have. They can have horses and chariots and a great multitude. Don't fear. Verse 2. And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint. Fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you. We have no reason to fear. The world, everyone, you know, people who don't believe in the Lord, they do have reason to fear. They have reason to think about things just worldly speaking and in the manner of the way that the world works. And they'll be fearful of a lot of things, but if you have faith in God, you don't have to be fearful of those things because God is your defense. Turn to Leviticus 26. This is the verse that I was thinking of last week. Remember when I said that the king was angry at Elisha and wanted to kill Elisha, blaming the siege and everything that was going wrong on Elisha. But I said that there was a verse where the Bible says one of the curses is where they're going to be eating their children, because that's what ended up happening in this story. It's in Leviticus 26, this is where it's from. But this verse also explains more than that. Let's see what happens here, we're going to start reading in verse number 3, because the Bible talks about what God's going to do if they do right, if they listen to the Lord, if they're doing the things they're supposed to be doing, how God is going to protect them, how he's going to bless them, the good things he's going to do for them. Verse number 3 says, if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season and the land shall yield or increase and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and your threshing shall reach unto the vintage and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely and I will give peace in the land and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid and I will rid evil beasts out of the land. Neither shall a sword go through your land and you shall chase your enemies and they shall fall before you by the sword and five of you shall chase and a hundred and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword for I will have respect unto you and make you fruitful and multiply you and establish my covenant with you and you shall eat old store and bring forth the old because of the new and I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you and I will walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt that you should not be their bondman and I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you go upright. So had the children of Israel been obeying God in this sense, these blessings would have been upon them at this point. They wouldn't be living in fear. They wouldn't be besieged. They wouldn't be having the famine and everything that they have here. If as a whole as this nation was doing what's right and not only were they not receiving any of this stuff. We know that that it's their own fault not Elijah's fault because of the curses that came upon. Look at verse 14. But if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments and if you shall despise my statutes or if your soul abhor my judgment so that you will not do all my commandments but that you break my covenant I also will do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror consumption and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart and you shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you and you shall flee when none pursue with you and if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me then I will punish you seven times more for your sins and I will break the pride of your power and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass and your strength shall be spent in vain for your land shall not yield or increase neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits and if you walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you which shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle and make you few in number and your highways shall be desolate and if you'll not be reformed by me by these things but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times more for your sins. Is this continue a downward spiral or God's continuing trying to get a hold of them say look if you keep doing these things I'm going to make things worse and worse and worse for you verse 25 and I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant and when you are gathered together within your cities I will send the pestilence among you and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy and when I have broken the staff of your bread ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight and you shall eat and not be satisfied and if you will not for all this hearken unto me but walk contrary unto me then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury and I even I will chastise you seven times more seven times for your sins look at verse 29 and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat and I will destroy your high places and cut down your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols and my soul shall abhor you and I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. They did not have Elisha to blame for this siege and for the fact that they had a famine so bad that they were eating their children they had themselves to blame for turning their backs on God and for worshipping idols and going after strange gods. That is the cause of why God judges Israel the way that he does as written in Leviticus 26. I think the only reason why they do end up getting deliverance at the end is because the king was wearing sackcloth now he had the sackcloth on underneath his clothing but he still you know there was some that that designates some form of repentance some form of sorrow and he still went on to Elisha even though he wanted to kill him and God does bring that deliverance. So let's go back here to second Kings chapter seven. Second Kings chapter seven let's pick up where we left off here. Verse number nine then said they then they said verse number eight and when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp they went into one tent and did eat and drink and carried then silver and gold and raiment and went and hid it and came again and entered into another tent and carried then also and went and hid it. So they go in there and they see wow these people left you know this is awesome they go and just start taking stuff and hiding it and going back and taking more you know it's a great day. Verse nine says then they said one to another we do not well this day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household. So they're saying you know what this isn't right like we can't just take all this up for this is a great day there's a famine going on in the city we need to tell other people about this and they're basically I mean they're thinking like karma is going to get them or something like we don't do this we're going to end up dying in the morning because we're not telling everyone else about this is supposed to be a happy day. So they go and decide to tell the king verse number 10 says so they came and called on the porter of the city and they told them saying we came to the camp of the Syrians and behold there was no man there neither voice of man but horses tied and asses tied and the tents as they were and he called the porters and they told it to the king's house within and the king arose in the night and said unto his servants I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us they know that we'd be hungry therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field saying when they come out of the city we shall catch them alive and get into the city. So basically the king's saying this is a trap. They came out and they see all this stuff just left there he's saying this is too good to be true they know we're hungry in here and if they think you know if they just just hide what they're doing is they're hiding and waiting for us to come out of the city and then when we come out of the city he said they're going to come in and you know our defenses will be down they're going to take over and and that's how they're going to get us. That was all just a ploy just a trap. But so then they try to talk him into one of the servants in verse 13 answered and said let some take I pray thee five of the horses that remain which are left in the city behold there is all the multitude of Israel that are left in it behold I say they're even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed and let us send and see he's like can we at least just send like five horses like to just to check this out and what he's saying here when it says behold there is a multitude of Israel that are left he's saying they're just like the people here they're famished like what's the big deal even if it is a trap what's the big deal if we lose five horses that's what they're saying like let us check it out because if we lose five horses I mean they're in just as bad shape as the rest of us here like this isn't going to be some great loss of our arms or defense if we lose a handful of horses but if this is you know if this is actually true look at what we could gain by this so it says in verse 14 they took therefore two chariot horses and the king sent after the host of the Syrian saying go and see and they went after them unto Jordan and lo all the way was full of garments and vessels which the Syrians had cast away in their haste and the messengers returned and told the king and the people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrian so a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel according to the word of the Lord so they found it exactly the way the leper said they said you know they they left in a big haste all this stuff was just thrown all over the place because they were just running for their lives and it says according to the word of the Lord the the food was sold for that because of the abundance of what they had left behind because they had so much in their camp and so much food that it was able to supply you know supply and demand that's why the the an ass his head cost 80 pieces of silver because there was nothing left to eat that's why the cost goes up so much but when you have a huge abundance what happens the price goes way down it's not as valuable anymore verse 17 and the king appointed the Lord on whose hand he lead leaned to have the charge of the gate and the people trode upon him in the gate and he died as the man of God had said who spake when the king came down to him and it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king saying two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria and that Lord answered the man of God and said now behold if the Lord should make windows in heaven might such a thing be and he said behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shall not eat thereof and so it fell out unto him for the people trode upon him in the gate and he died and I like how the Bible's making a very God's making a point here the same words are repeated exactly this was just in the same chapter of what the guy said and what happened three times the the price of the food is mentioned on purpose God is making a very clear distinct point here of saying when I say something it's going to come to pass no matter what it is no matter how unbelievable you think it may be when the Lord speaks his words always come to pass every word of God comes true every single time nothing returns void things always happen exactly the way they are prophesied when a man of God speaks which is why word for word this was repeated in the story saying yep he saw it so that guy that was that was saying oh can God really do this yo if God were open up windows in heaven might this thing be and Elijah said yep it's gonna happen you're gonna see it and not partake of it well he saw it because he was in charge of the gate so they had to open up the gates of the city and think about when people are so hungry that they're willing to eat their own children and they know now what's going on that there's food out there that yo the Syrians are gone and all of that stuff is out there I mean this is worse than Black Friday at Walmart where people are getting trampled on I mean this guy this is way worse than that which is it's ridiculous that that even happens at all in a country that has so much abundance of wealth but he's in charge of opening the gate so he can't even get the gate he's getting the gates open and basically they just they just run him over and he dies so he saw the wealth he saw this come to pass and he ended up dying he didn't get to partake in it and God's Word of course comes to pass God has a high value on his word if we don't have the Word of God we don't have salvation if we can't rely on the truthfulness of God's words we don't have anything but there's a reason why Jesus Christ is called the Word of God he's called the Word in the beginning was the Word and the Word is with God the Word was God and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father we need to treat our word with the same amount of importance that God treats his word God knows how important it is if he says something how can you have faith in something how could you trust how could you believe something if you know if the person that's speaking to you is a liar right you can't there's no way your your your testimony is shot the reason why we believe in the Lord the reason why we believe in God and Jehovah and Jesus Christ the reason why we believe the God of the Bible is because every single thing that's been prophesied and written down has come to pass every single thing without fail you'll be there why why do you believe that and not the Quran because those other books are false those other books do not have the same testimony and and track record of truth the people have spoken in the name of the Lord the true prophets of God everything has come to pass there is nothing nothing that has been aligned nothing that has not come true except for things that haven't come to pass yet but they will just as sure as everything else has we need to you know for as important it is to be able to believe in God because it's it's everything we need to treat our own words with a high level of importance so the things that you speak other people can believe they can trust when you say something they don't have to wonder oh is this person lying to me is this truthful and you know even if it's not intended to be false think about the things that you say be very careful with what you're going to claim and the words you're going to use if you're getting you say oh you know because you can't just use it oh well it's given bad information and then just repeat that to somebody else because that's gonna tarnish your word also we need to be able to speak with confidence and with truth and if you don't know something for sure then you probably shouldn't be saying it or at least make very very clear what you're saying our word is extreme we live in a day now and it's and it's saddening and sickening how everything is turned on its head not that long ago was a time where people actually really put a lot of credibility in the in a person's spoken word you make a deal with somebody what's good enough for people to do business with a shake of a hand yeah I'll give you my word that this will get done or that'll get done these days with the soda so many liars out there I mean you got to come up with all these government contracts and bindings and all you know all kinds of extra stuff that's that's more than just your word you say something you're gonna do it and you can rely on a person to do it we as Christians so I mean that's how the world operates we ought to be able to be good for our word if you're gonna have a good testimony of Jesus Christ if you want people to believe you about how what it takes to be saved which comes from God's Word you ought not to have your own testimony shaken to where it's like well you've already lied to me about a bunch of other things why should I believe you about this and you guys this is why we don't do Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy and all these other lies to our children either because we want our kids to know that when we tell them something that it's the truth we're not just gonna make up some some fantasy some fairy tale something that and try to get them to believe something that's a lie and just string them along for however many years and then all of a sudden oh yeah all those things and all those games that we played where you leave out the cookies and you leave it and all the stuff that we did to make you believe something that was a lie yeah that was just a lie but believe in Jesus even though you can't see him believe in God even though you can't see him but we're not lying to you this time you've shot your testimony whether you think it's all in fun or not your word ought to matter to you don't be saying something's real when it's not James 5 12 says but above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yay be yay and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation you're saying yes no you say one or the other and let it stand let your yay be yay when you say something yes right it's right it's yes when you say something nope it's no no that's in between no this shaken testimony unless you fall into condemnation your word is way more valuable than any material things that you may possess we get good reminders of how important God's Word is let's apply that to ourselves and let's be people who when you say something it comes to pass also that you could be a good reflection of God a good have a good testimony of Jesus Christ because you are also true to your word let's bar rides have a word of prayer your Heavenly Father Lord we thank you so much for these great lessons we can learn through the Bible Lord I pray that you would please help us all to be mindful the things that we say that we would only say things that are truthful and right and that we can also have a record and a testimony where the things that we say are true and will come to pass if we promise to do something dear Lord that we don't just break our promises I know we're not perfect your God but you are we were glad that you are we're glad that we can trust and rely on your word more than anything and I just pray that you would help us to put a put a filter on our on our own words that we would only say things that are true and right and help guide us into the truth and the knowledge dear Lord that we wouldn't be repeating lies and we just pray that you would please also embolden us and strengthen us give us the the faith to an understanding to not be fearful of death of our own death and that we can live our lives without that fear and live like other people are dying around us with the importance and the urgency to to preach your word to Jesus name we pray amen