Philippians chapter two. And we're reading from Philippians chapter two, the whole chapter. And so give attention to the word of the Lord. If there be therefore in any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill me my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things. but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Of things in heaven and of things in earth and things under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, a perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, Rejoice with you all, for the same cause also, to eat joy and rejoice with me. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the Father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord, that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants, For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him. And not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation. Because for the work of Christ, he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me. And just a few comments here. Many examples in this chapter of those who regard not their own life who regard not their own things and who regard not their own well-being and profit or anything else above others. And this is summed up very well here. Verse four, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And now who is the greatest example of this? Well, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul tells us. There is no greater example of someone who, though he is God, looked not only upon his own things, his own glory, he did not stand upon his own glory, but yet he became as a servant. He made himself so low, he made himself humble, even unto death upon a cross. And for this reason, he has been given the name that is above all names. And this is how things are in the kingdom of the Lord, with Christ as the name above all names, that every tongue should confess Jesus Christ to the glory of the Father. But he is that example. No one has ever gone so low. No one has ever minded the things of others as Jesus Christ minded the things of others, minded the things of even his enemies, even sinners, as he did. And now this is the great example, and Paul uses Christ. to reinforce what he's saying. He says, let not every man look upon his own things, but let him look upon the things of others. He says he himself would count it a joy if he was just spent, if he was just poured out, if he was just used up. for the good of the Philippians. He said, I would just rejoice in it. I could be offered upon the sacrifice of service for your faith. He says in verse 17, the sacrifice, I could be offered the sacrifice and service of your faith. He said, I would joy in it. And then he says, I'll send to you Timotheus, I'll send to you Timothy. He's a man that looks not to his own things. He's a man that is my fellow soldier. He's my co-laborer. He's my yoke fellow. And I know, and you know, he says, that he's a man that minds the things of others. He's a man that pours himself out. And he says, if I can't send you Timothy, I'll just send you Epaphroditus, I'll send him to you first. And you know also, Epaphroditus was a man who minded the things of others, and he even became sick, and you sorrowed and I sorrowed that he became sick, but why did he become sick? We're told here in verse 30, because for the work of Christ, he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life. And so look at Epaphroditus. It was for the work of Christ. It was for the service of the faith of the church and of the faith of the saints. He labored and he labored and he traveled and he spent. Nigh unto death he was, but he said it matters not. It matters not that only they could have faith, that only they could be strengthened. And this is the great This is the great message, the great charge that we have from this passage. Look unto Christ, follow Him as His disciples. Look not to your own things, but to the things of others. And this is, with the Lord's help, this is something we'll return to as we consider the preaching, even these lepers. May the Lord bless His word to all of our hearts. Would you, excuse me, we're going to go back now to 2 Kings 7, and for the preaching. I'll just read a few verses from 2 Kings 7, verses 3 to 11. And there were four leprous men at the entering in 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 here, we die also. Now therefore come and let us fall under the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight to go on to 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 hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore, they arose and fled into the twilight and left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went out or they went into one tent and did eat and drink and carried then silver and gold. and Raymond, and went and hid it, and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not do well. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry to the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household. So they came and called unto 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 the 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. This is an account, this is one of these accounts in the word of God that you could just read and you could just say, that's a interesting story. You could go right over it and you could say, that's amazing. Look at what the Lord did. And you could go along with your day or we could meditate upon it a little further. and we could turn it over in our mind and we could make some connections, we could make some spiritual application because this is rich ground for us to make some spiritual application to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even small events that we read in the word of God, they are for edification. They are for spiritual profit if we would meditate and if we would have eyes to see. And so it is with these four leprous men that we see in 2 Kings 7. You see, it was a time of great adversity. It was a time of war and siege upon the people of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel there in the city of Samaria. And the people had gone through trouble after trouble. They'd gone through wars. They'd gone through famines. They'd gone through judgments upon them because of their rulers. Their rulers were very evil. And we know many of the kings of Israel were very evil. Ahab. It was very evil. Jehoram, evil in the sight of the Lord. Workers of idolatry in Israel. And so the Lord sends judgments and he sends armies against them. But along with that, the Lord also sends Elisha and Elijah, prophets. mercifully, to give warning, to give explanation, to say, you want to know why these things are happening? I'll tell you why these things are happening and why they will continue to happen. It's because you've turned your back upon the Lord. It's because you've gone running after idols. And so the Lord deals very patiently with these rebellious and idolatrous people in Israel. The Lord is still striving. The Lord is still working with them and sending prophets. And the prophet Elisha, he comes and he tells them, you're in the midst of this famine. You think that you're all gonna die, but yet the Lord is gonna show you mercy, and you're gonna be buying and selling flour and bread in just one day. What a message of deliverance that is. The Lord is very long-suffering with his rebellious people, but they don't know it yet. They see this mighty host As far as they can see, stretching out into the distance, they see these tents. And it's the Syrians. It's their old foes, their old enemies. And they are sieging the city, a great military power sieging the city of Samaria. And the siege was extended. We read just how bad it was in the chapter just before chapter six. It tells us about how bad it was. It says, there was a great famine in Samaria and behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver. And the fourth part of a cab of a dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, help my lord, O king. And he said, if the lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor, out of the wine press? And the king said unto her, what aileth thee? And she answered, this woman said unto me, give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So he boiled my son, and we did eat him. And I said unto her on the next day, give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes. And he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. And so that's showing you just how how extreme it was, just how extended this famine was, people resorting to base wickedness. And the king, there he rents, he rents his clothes. The king showing some sign, maybe some glimmer of repentance there. Maybe this is why the Lord works a deliverance. This is why the Lord brings a rescue here. But these are desperate and evil times that they're living through, an extended siege. Food is completely run out in the city. And we read in chapter seven, the siege is ongoing and people are on the verge of starvation. And then we have these four leprous men. And they're just sitting there by the gate of the city. They're not welcome in the city. And they're not going to go off into the camp of the Syrians. They're the enemy. But these men, more than others, are in a desperate strait because they're leprous. They have nowhere to go. And these are the men that we would concern ourselves with this morning. because something very remarkable happens. And so as we proceed, we'll take up these men, we'll take up this account under three headings. The first is dying and desperate. So close to death, dying and desperate. And then secondly, we'll consider supernaturally rescued. They cannot deny it is the hand of the Lord, supernaturally rescued. And then thirdly, we're going to consider compelled to witness. At each step with the Lord's help, I hope to explain and to show unto you how these things are connected very much to our own walking and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, our coming to him and our living in him. When we meet these lepers dying and desperate, this is first. And so most people would say it's already pretty desperate to be a leper in the first place. Even in times of prosperity, it's still desperate to be a leper. You're cast out of society. You're not welcome in the city. You might have this small, this small habitation on the outskirts there by the edges of the city, maybe depending upon people's mercy. But now, during this siege, the extended siege, they have nowhere to be, they have nowhere to go. And so they just huddle themselves under the gate, near the gate of the city. They're not welcome in. The Syrians are everywhere. Maybe they expect that they'll just receive some sort of shelter from the archers that are upon the wall. And so maybe the Syrians won't kill them because of the archers will keep them at bay. And so these lepers are desperate. Maybe at first people tossed food to them, but not anymore. Now food is run out, clear out throughout the whole city. We read this horrifying thing of people even eating the children, So nobody's gonna throw them any food at this point. And you can think of them there. They're diseased. They're despised. They're on their own. Maybe they can count their bones. Maybe they're emaciated. Maybe they begin to reckon. How many days do we have left? How many hours do we have left before we faint and we can't get up again? And so we meet them here and we see them in verse three. And now it's as though the wheels begin to spin in their heads. And they're thinking of their situation, they're considering their options, and they make this very important question. One of them says this very important question. These words, why sit here until we die? What would be the point of that? We're getting nowhere. There's nothing to come and deliver us here. Why sit we here until we die? It's a very powerful question if you stop and you think about it. It's really more than a question, it's a realization. It's a realization that they have reached the very end of the rope. There is nothing left for them. They are within possibly even days or hours of death. If you were in a situation like that, would you not try to do something? That's the import here. Would you not try to do something? Would you not be at least thinking, what could I do? Anything would be better. Anything would be preferable than to just be motionless, to just be sitting here still and have death coming straight for me, not to do anything. Well, the reality is there are many people in this very situation spiritually, and they do not know it. They do not know that there is the judgment of the Lord resting upon them and being stored up against them. But what do they do about it? What do they do about it? So many people don't want to admit it. But then you begin to think, what if they began to entertain that truth and that reality? Maybe the wheels would begin spinning for them as well. Maybe then they would begin to ask this important question, why sit here until we die? But people would rather would rather turn a blind eye to that question. They'd rather go on in their disobedience, in their pleasure, and in their ambition for worldly things. They'd rather go on to it because it's just more convenient. It's just easier than to stop and ask that question. Why sit here until we die? And so they deny it. And maybe they hold on to some completely vain, completely imaginary hope that it'll turn out right in the end. People think like that. Maybe I've been good. Maybe I've not been as bad as others. And maybe it'll just turn out right if I am to come before the Lord God of heaven. But not these men. They're convinced. They say it's not gonna turn out good. It's not gonna come right around. And so they say, why sit here until we die? And they go on and they list out a few ideas right here in verse three and four. They say, if we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there like everyone else. And if we sit still here, we die also. They've already figured that out. Now therefore, come and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians, and if they save us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die. We'll just be in the same situation as we already are. We don't have anything to lose here. And so they're going through their options and they're saying, this is looking better and better. Something that we would never, never normally do. Never would we decide to go unto the enemy, walk into the enemy and seek any kind of mercy from them. That would never cross our minds except now. And they're beginning to warm up to that idea. They say, what's the worst that can happen? We're just going to be in the same situation there as we are here. They know that the Syrians are their enemies. But they have this sliver of hope there that even though the Syrians are their enemies, there could be just this shred of common mercy. Because they're men, these Syrians, they're men. They might have lepers in their own country. Maybe there's a shred of mercy that they can find there. And so they completely fall upon that. That's what it says in the scripture. They fall, they say, let us fall upon this glimmer, upon this shred of hope. So there's desperation here. You could almost, hear a little bit about, you can almost hear a little bit of the words of that Syrophoenician woman. Remember when she was speaking to Christ and he said, should the children's food go to the dogs? And what does she say? She says, yet the dogs under the table, they eat of the children's crumbs. And so there she is, and she's just clinging on to this tiny shred. Maybe there'll be some mercy for me, even though I'm despised. And the lepers are the same way. They say, maybe there'll be this tiny bit of mercy. They can just toss a tiny crust of bread to us. And they say, it's completely up to the Syrians. We're gonna fall upon them and see what happens. So off they go into the hands of their enemies. Which brings us to our second heading here, supernaturally rescued. They set out in the twilight, in verse five. Maybe they don't want the archers on the wall to think of them as deserting, to think of them as trying to run away, and maybe the archers will take some shots of them. So they wait until the twilight to conceal their movements. Like Nicodemus. Nicodemus, he went out to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the nighttime. He wanted to be undetected. He wanted to test the waters, to see about the Lord Jesus Christ when maybe others wouldn't perceive it. But yet something drew him to Jesus Christ. Just like these lepers, something is just drawing them on. It's desperation, and they're being drawn on to go to the Syrians. And then what happens, verse five, Excuse me, verse eight. And when they were come to the uttermost part of this camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. They were amazed. There's no man. There's no night watchman. There's no guard. It's empty. All the tents are left in place. The ass is tied. The horse is tied. Items, weapons thrown about. And the scripture tells us why. There was a supernatural deliverance. There was a sound in the night. There was a sound there in the twilight that had caused the Syrians to run away in terror just before the lepers had arrived. just before, maybe just an hour before, they'd been caused by the Lord to run away, thinking that it's the king of the Egyptians, it's the king of the Hittites, the king of Israel has hired them, and we're gonna be no match for them, and they are gripped with this dread, this supernatural dread, that causes them to lose all their courage and rush away, even dropping their weapons as they go. And so this is the hand of the Lord working a mighty rescue. And these lepers are the first ones to discover it. And what do they find? Tents filled with food, treasures, changes of clothes, gold and silver. They are amazed. It's all theirs for the taking. And so they begin, they eat, and they even hide some things because they're thinking about what's coming ahead. They're thinking about their future, too. And they help themselves to a fine meal. They discovered so much more than they could have anticipated. They would have been elated, they would have been thrilled if only they had been tossed a half-eaten piece of bread, but what do they find instead? All of it for the taking. And now the spiritual point that I would make to you is that this is the way it is with those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will often bring someone to a point of desperation, a point of coming to the end of their rope because of their sin, because of their guilt. And there's this, there's this, Desire, you can say it's a compulsion, it's a drawing that is done supernaturally by the Spirit of God where someone says, I've reached the end of myself. I know that I have no power. I cannot overcome my own sin. My own sin is going to carry me down to destruction. It's too heavy for me. It's too weighty for me, but yet I've heard of the grace and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how He has been shown to be a faithful Savior. He's been shown to be in His word someone who receives sinners, and so a glimmer of hope arises supernaturally by the work of the Spirit, and a sinner ventures upon the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. and maybe they don't know what to expect. Maybe they're hoping for just a, as it were, a crust of bread from the Lord Jesus Christ, but what do they find instead? Who comes to Jesus Christ finds everything, everything for their soul. Who comes to Jesus Christ finds all treasures of wisdom and knowledge As we're told in Colossians 2, 3, all treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the taking, a rich feast of fine flour and wine upon the lees, honey from the rock for the soul. And it's amazing. It's so much more than finding a entire army's camp full of treasure. It's so much more than that. for the soul to come to Jesus Christ and to have pardon, to have forgiveness of sin, to have life in Christ, to have his fellowship and his communion, and to have that reconciliation with the Father. That is more than all the treasures of the world, so much more than what anyone could imagine who doesn't know. And so this is what they find, this is what we find, this is what anyone finds. when they venture, like these lepers, maybe just desperation, maybe just asking that question, why sit here until we die? I've heard of these accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he is long-suffering, how he's gracious, how he's humble. Why sit here until we die? Could there be grace for me? Mercy for me if I venture. And so, timidly and humbly, someone ventures upon Jesus Christ, and they're blown away. And so it is with all who come. Well, there's more to this account here. We come to our third heading, compelled to witness. Compelled to witness. Here they are, they're celebrating. And they're filling themselves. They've been starving, now they're filling themselves. And they're reserving the spoils, even for the days ahead. They're gleeful, they're joyous. But then something begins to weigh upon them. And they begin to experience a misgiving, you could say, in verse nine. Then they said one to another, we do not do well. This is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace. If we tarry to the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household. And so this is all happening in the same night. They went out in the twilight. They're eating and they're spoiling through the night. But even in the very same night, they say, if we tarry till the morning, we're not doing well. Let us go and let us tell. They fear, they fear. You see, even in the midst of their joy and their gladness, they still fear that they might offend against the Lord. And isn't that the way it is with all those that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't that the way it is with all those that seek to live godly in the Lord Jesus Christ? There's a life of joy and gladness, but there, right along with it, there's a fear It's not a bad thing. It's not a dread like that fear that came upon the Syrians that caused them to run away screaming and dropping their weapons. It's not like that, but it's a holy fear. It's a godly fear. That's what they have. It's a godly fear. They say, we do not do well. There's an obligation upon us. We've received so much. And so we don't do well if we don't act in accordance to the riches of grace that have been lavished upon us. We're not doing well if we don't respond to that in a godly way. And they're very right, they're very correct. And so you could say this is a holy fear. It's not just a fear of men. They're not just saying, oh, the king is going to be angry at us and the king is going to string us up and we're gonna be executed. It's not just the fear of men because they say some mischief will fall upon us. They're talking about something from the Lord, something that's beyond just the judgment of men. They say some mischief will come upon us. It suggests the judgment of God rather than only the judgment of men. Well, we don't know their hearts fully, do we? But it really seems as though there's this holy fear, this holy fear that's upon them, a godly fear. And it's out of their joy that it comes. And this is the way it is with those that walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's this fear of the Lord. that is born out of joy, because you love the Lord God so much and you recognize everything that He's done for your soul, and you say, you just say, woe be it unto me if I don't act accordingly, if I don't respond in a way that's fitting, and if I were to in any way cheapen that which the Lord has bestowed upon me, then that's a fear. that would be a disappointment to me. And so we see a really, a good definition here of what it means to have a godly fear. It's out of their joy. And they say, we've got to tell others. These spoils here, they can save the lives of many, many men, our own fellow neighbors that are in the city of Samaria. And so they say, we've got to go. They say it's a glad day, a day of good tidings. How then can we keep it in? How then can we hold it to ourselves? And so they go, they go to tell the rest of the people there in the city. And how much more joy should we have? We, if we have been given the treasure and the riches of knowledge, saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, so much better than a whole, a whole sea of tents of treasures and food and spoils, so much better. And should we not fear? If we are those that are happy not to say anything, and happy just to keep it to ourselves, we should have so much more joy, and be so much more willing, as we even sang earlier with Psalm 66, where David says, come in here, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. and we should feel that something is off. If we can be those that say we've received it, we know Christ, we know his riches and his glory, and yet we're not having the desire to let others know too. We can have some fear there, we can say there might be something off there if we're not willing, if we're not eager to go and tell others. You know, Jesus Christ, he puts a finer point on it when he says in Matthew 10, 32 and 33, this is a well-known verse. He says, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men. Him will I also deny before my Father, which is in heaven. So he puts a fine point upon it, but we should also be thinking, what if we're just very silent about it? We might say we're not denying him, but what are we doing? If we're just very silent and very evasive about the hope that's within us. No, something's off. Paul, he speaks about it like this when he says to the Romans in Romans 1, 14, he says this, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. And so he's aware of the riches of the glory of the knowledge of Jesus Christ that he's received. And he says, I'm like a debtor if I don't go and I don't share and I don't tell. There are so many that can be saved. There are so many that can have life. The Lord has enabled me to do it. And so in that way, it's like I'm a debtor. It's like I have this urge and this need and this drive to go and to tell all that I can about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it was with these lepers, and we're told that before the sun even rises in the sky, they're making their way back. And they come and they bring this good news. They bring it to the porter, they bring it to the chamberlain, they bring it to the king, It's fitting that it's the lepers that are doing this because we're reminded that those without faith and those that do not savor the ways of the Lord are going to despise, very often they're gonna despise the ones that come to them with the good news. And they're gonna look at them as though they're a leper. They're going to scoff, they're gonna mock. They're going to ridicule preachers of the gospel who come to them with the best news that anyone could ever bring. They should be saying, how beautiful upon the hills are the feet of those that bring good tidings, but they don't. They say, what are these lepers going to tell me? What are these despised men? Paul knows it, he said, it's like I'm the off-scouring of the world. Those that don't savor the word of God, who don't savor the things of the Lord are going to look upon the messengers of the gospel as lepers, so be ready for it. The king, even though he had shown maybe some signs, some hints of repentance earlier when he rent his clothes, he made reference to the Lord, he doesn't believe it. He doesn't believe it right away. He says, I know what's going on here. What you're telling me is too good to be true. There's no way that that happened. There's no way that the Syrians all just up and left. They're waiting, they're going to ambush us. And some people will receive the message of the gospel in that way as well. And they'll say, what you're telling me is too good to be true. The Lord God would not just forgive sins so freely to anyone who comes, to anyone who asks, to anyone who seeks that pardon and that forgiveness in the blood of Christ, it's too good. It's probably a trap. There's probably something off there that's going to come back and get people. And so people might respond that way as well. But nevertheless, the lepers did their part. They came and they told. They said what the Lord had done. They came and they delivered the message. People will stumble at it. The king stumbled at it. People will stumble at the gospel being shown to them and being told to them. It's because of the sinful heart. It's because of the heart that does not savor the things of the Lord, but instead savors the things of the world. And so people will stumble at it, but yet the lepers went anyway. And yet the lepers went and so should we. And even if people despise and mock and ridicule What are we told to do? Shake off the dust from your feet, shake off the dust from your robes and go right back out and continue on, continue on. This is the commission. This is what Christ gave his people to do. Go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples of the nation. Well, in summary, these lepers, they find themselves in this very desperate situation. And then they see this mighty working, a supernatural rescue, and they have this joy, and this joy is also combined with this fear if they do not tell others, if they do not respond in a godly way, and they give glory, well, they tell the king. We don't know their hearts, we don't know what happened to them, but there is so much rich ground here for us to consider some spiritual applications. Think first about what these lepers had to face to make the decision they did. They had to look upon their situation with understanding and with truthfulness and stare it right in the face. If we don't do anything, we're going to die. And I've told you, this is how it is for anyone who is outside of Christ, for anyone who is on in their own ways, who prefers their own ways, savors the things of the world, and holds dear their worldly ambitions and aspirations for the things that they want to enjoy, the pleasures they want to have. It's the same for anyone else. They will not look their situation dead on in the face and say, if I don't do anything, I am going to die, and they need to. They need to ask that question. This is the question that we want people to ask. When we go out and we preach and we tell people the good news of salvation in Christ, we also tell them that they're sinners. We also tell them that they deserve the wrath of God and that it's coming. And so this is the question that we want people to ask. Why sit we here until we die? So it's a very weighty spiritual question and a situation that these lepers, they face it head on. And we need to as well, we need to tell others to as well. But then think about next, secondly, what are the lepers, what do the lepers need to go through as it were to receive their objective? Now think about this for a moment. They admitted it. We could go to the Syrians and they could strike us down. They admitted it. They said, we have no guarantee here. And so you see, they had to step through a peril. They had to step through a losing of life potentially to get where they were going. And I tell you, it's similar to what the believer must go through as the believer comes to Christ and then walks with Christ in their life, it's just as Christ said to his disciples in Luke 17, when he said, whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. And so these lepers, that's what they did. In a sense, they were seeking to save their life, but to do it, they had to offer up their life. They had to put it up on a platter in front of the Syrians, knowing that the possibility of death was extremely high. They had to offer it up. And so this is the way it is in the Christian life as well. This is very similar to like, as Paul has said, he says, He says, therefore, in Romans 12, he says, I present my body as a living sacrifice, which is my reasonable service. And so there's a presenting, there's an offering up, as Christ said, whosoever should come after me, let him take up his cross. and follow me, and that's like a symbol of death. And so there's a willingness there of an offering up of the life to say, I'm falling upon Christ. I'm falling upon his mercy. Yes, in a sense, I'm seeking to preserve my life, but here's how I'm doing it. I'm doing it by dying to self, by dying to sin, by, in a sense, offering up myself as a sacrifice, as a living sacrifice, even to let go of all the worldly attachments and the worldly ambitions that we would have, just to lose it all. And so this is in keeping with what Christ says to do. And so this is illustrating to us something, to walk with the Lord. to live for Him. Christ says it's like a daily dying, it's like a death, it's like being willing to say, oh Lord, whatsoever is wrong with me, whatsoever is evil with me, oh Lord, let it be put to death, let it be cut out. He says it's better to take your eye out, it's better to cut the hand off than for the whole body to be cast into hell and the judgment of God. How much better is it to just be willing to put up whatever, whatever is obstructing, whatever is in the way. And so we can see an illustration in that. As I've said to you already, the lepers went out not expecting much, but what did they find? They found everything. And so it is with the one that comes to Christ. Maybe they're cautiously optimistic, but they have no idea. Not until they go and not until they learn of Christ, and take hold of Christ by faith. They have no idea of the endless riches that there are in Christ. And so this is a great illustration. Now thirdly, and finally, I'll charge you again, for anyone that's outside of Christ, Why sit you here until you die? It could be somebody that's even sitting in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It could be. and maybe they've reasoned themselves into thinking, well, I'm going to just sit here, and I'm going to just appear like somebody that is of the people of God, and I'm going to say the things that people might expect me to say, and I'm going to do the things that are in keeping with the outward, the outward behavior of those that are of the people of God, but there's no root of the matter. There's no heart devotion. There's no transformation. There's no real dying to sin, but there's just a concealing of sin. There's no real venturing upon Christ, but there's just an outward appearance of it. And I would say this very same thing. Why sit you here until you die? Because it will not go well for you. It will not go well for you to do such a thing. Go to him. It may feel like you are going through a death. It may feel like you are those lepers that are putting themselves up on a platter for the Syrians. It might feel as though you're going through the death, but it's only the death of your sin. It's only the death of your worldly ambitions. and let those be cursed because if you will not put those up upon that altar, if you will not put those to death, then those things along with you will be cast into the lake of fire in judgment. So it feels like going through a death, but it is the source of life. It is the way to be united to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith for eternal life. This is a quote from Puritan, Andrew Gray. He says this, even so I say unto you, that if ye abide in the state of unbelief, you shall surely be undone. Therefore go forth for you know not that God may work a great salvation for you. And if you will quit your unbelief and close with Christ in the offer of the great salvation by faith, you shall have no more to do but to eat and to drink and to divide the spoil." Thinking of those four lepers. You'll be like those lepers rejoicing. celebrating even the rest of your life, saying there's more treasure here, there's more treasure here, there's more than I could have imagined. What was I doing just sitting there by the gate of Samaria? What was I doing just dragging my feet? What profit did I have from that lifestyle? Nothing, nothing, only destruction. Don't be a fence sitter. Don't just continually, continually, Put off that question. But face it and say, if I'm outside of Christ, if I don't have that vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ, then why sit I here until I die? Venture and venture upon Christ for salvation. And there's more treasure to be found than can ever be imagined. May the Lord bless his word to all of our hearts. Would you stand with me now as we pray? Our Lord in heaven, Lord, these are very weighty things, but we're thankful for these illustrations and these ways that thou hast used thy word to bring these things to our attention. And we pray that we would be well considering these things and that if any are If any are outside of Christ, if any are still going about their own ambitious ways in the ways of sin, we pray that they would ask this question and that they would not be settled until they come to the resolution, until they come to the root of the matter and have deliverance and have rescue and eternal life through Christ. And we pray that those of us, as we walk with Christ, that we would not be hesitant to just put everything up there, to be willing to put to death sin and be willing to put all of it before thee, to say that we are walking in thy light and according to thy truth and with godly fear. And Lord, we also pray that we would have a fear a godly and a joyful fear to share these things abroad and to speak what needs to be spoken and to declare what the Lord has done for our souls. We pray that this would be something that that would work in us and grow in us. It's not easy. We're very timid, oh Lord. We pray that with thy help and with thy spirit that we would have courage, and joy and gladness simply to speak the word, simply to open the mouth and to give thee glory before others and to show them what thou hast done for our souls. Father in heaven, bless us we pray as we conclude and as we are continuing on in our day and help us to have that fellowship that is in thy name and to give thee praise for it and to come again and to give thee worship as thou art worthy. We pray all these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Please be seated. We now sing praise to the Lord from Psalm 42. We're looking at Psalm 42, verses one to five. Verses one to five, Psalm 42, it says, like as the heart for water brooks and thirst doth pant and bray, so pants my longing soul, O God. that come to thee, I may. My soul for God, the living God, doth thirst. When shall I near unto thy countenance approach and in God's sight appear? There are some words there of some desperation and some compulsion to come near unto God, to have a returning to God and to have a filling. of blessing and of mercy from the Lord. This is what we long for. Especially in a time that's difficult, as the psalmist says, my tears have been to me as meat both night and day. My soul is poured out unto me. But then I think about something, about going to God's house, about experiencing His truth and His mercy, And then it ends with verse five. Oh, why art thou cast down, my soul? Why in me? So it is made. Trust God, for I shall praise him yet. His countenance is mine aid. And so a self reminder. Why, oh soul, art thou so cast down? Why not think of all the richness there is in the Lord? Why not think of all of the abundance that he has for our souls? And why not, and why not, Remember that it is His loving countenance that makes all the difference, that we can be brought through anything. We could be brought through whatever calamity when we have His countenance, His loving face upon us in Christ. What else would matter? Now to the Lord's praise, and the tune is Spore. ♪ Like as the purple water flows ♪ ♪ In rivers shall heaven rain ♪ ♪ So has my longing soul, O God ♪ have come to thee I gaze. My soul for God, the living God, the first friend shall I hear. Until thy countenance approached, and in thy sight appeared. My tears have come to be redeemed of sin, love, and hate. While on to me continually, where is my God, they say. My soul is poor without giving. This I take upon Because that in the multitude I yearn to forevermore In them, in Duke, brought us silence, their voice of joy and praise. with the multitude that care the solemn and holy days. Oh, why art thou cast down, my soul? Why, if ye saw this day, trust not Would you now stand as we receive the Lord's blessing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.