All right, glad you're here. Jesse asked me to fill in this morning and tonight, so I'm going to do that. You know, I thought I would take my time this morning and, you know, since he's out of town, I figured I would talk about every divisive topic possible. I got a list here. So we got pre-trib versus post-trib rapture, King James Version versus modern translations, giving and tithing, music, politics at the pulpit, who is the Antichrist, where Moses is buried, the cross's gospel, and replacement theology. All right, we talked about it, that's good. Guys, that's a joke, don't take that, that's a joke. No, I wanted to talk about this topic up here, the sin of the desert. Now, I'm not gonna tell you what that sin is until later, so I'm gonna leave you in suspense. You know how to do that? You tell them later. Anyway, the sin of the desert. Go ahead and take your Bible and go to 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6. And you're like, I haven't read that in years. You're gonna read it today. 2 Kings 6 with me. We're gonna look at, now I could say we're gonna look at a lot of scripture, but when I say that, some of you might get offended. So we're gonna look at a little bit of scripture here this morning, okay? 2 Kings 6, we're going to start around verse 20, once I make up my mind. But I wanted to tell you a little bit about me. My name is Trent, for those of you who don't know me very well. I'm the youth director here. I work with the teenagers. I also run the media, so I made that slide there, and the YouTube channel and that sort of thing. So I do that, and Jesse asked me to speak from time to time, so I'm happy to do so. I'm thankful for the opportunity, but a little bit about me. I usually start off my testimony with telling people I believed in Christ as my Savior, probably when I was about four years old, as a young tot. Because as far back as I can remember, I knew John 3, 16, and I think I may have believed the gospel that Christ died for my sins, was buried, and rose again. when I was about four, but I usually leave that out because I'm not sure on that. It was really about 12 when I gained my assurance, when the gospel was shared with me clearly, and I know I trusted Christ as my Savior, and I knew I was going to heaven, and I knew I didn't have to go to hell. And that was at the youth camp that Mr. Freddy Coyle would run. It was in June every year. I've done it for years now, but when I was 12, I wasn't even supposed to be there. I wasn't even supposed to go. The age range was 13 to 18 years old. I was 12. And so my uncle John, he really wanted me to go. If any of you know John Hembree, that is my uncle. He's a pastor now at Northside Baptist Church in Georgia, where I grew up. But he really wanted me to go. So he was like, Freddy, I really want him to go. He's 12. He's so close. Can you just let him go? Turns out my brother, my older brother Donnie, was going. Some of y'all didn't know I had a brother. Yeah, I have an older brother, cool guy. He was going too. And so since he was going, Freddie was like, okay, you can go too. And John got so excited, so hyped up. I didn't really know anything about much Bible. I didn't know anything about, I didn't really think about it. I just went to school, did my business, played my video games when I got home, didn't care. But in the summer, mom, dad, grandma, and Uncle John, especially Uncle John, so excited for me to go to this camp. And I was like, what is camp? What is that? I don't want to go to this camp thing. I was probably about 230 pounds not muscled back then. I didn't do much running around, so when I heard camp and sweat and sports, I was like, no thanks. But they got me to go to this camp because it wasn't really my choice, and they paid my way. So I went, and I went with my brother. Turns out my brother got kicked out the second day of camp. Yes, sneaking out of the cabin. Anyway, he knows that. All is forgiven. He got kicked out. They allowed me to stay, even though I wasn't supposed to be there. And about Wednesday, if I recall correctly, Wednesday, after they'd preached the gospel over and over and over, as they do at the camp, they shared with me the clearest news, and I understood it, that Christ died for my sins, was buried and rose again. And you know what really resonated with me? I didn't want to spend eternity in hell. I didn't want to have to be separated from God for all eternity. That's what clicked with me. And that's what I shared the next day on Thursday night when we had the testimony night. I stood up with tears in my eyes, I couldn't get many words out, and I was like, now I know that I don't have to go to hell when I die. And I sat back down. And I understood it that week when I was 12 years old. Some time passes, you know, and I knew I had done that, but I didn't really dive into my Bible much. I didn't really grow. You know, you're saved, but you can have times where you don't grow. So I was saved at 12, but I didn't really grow thereafter much. I didn't really go to church much after that. They had a youth group and they had normal services, but I didn't go. It was really when I was about 14 or 15 when I started to go to the youth group, and I continued to go to camp each year. And I went to the youth group and I started to hear the Bible taught, messages like, I'm going to bring you. This was taught to me when I was about 15 or 16 years old. And I would hear these messages and I would realize the responsibility I now have as a believer in Christ to do things like sharing the gospel, spending time with other believers, and actually reading what His Word says. So I decided to read the scripture every day. I would actually take a photo on Instagram. When I had Instagram, I would take a photo of the favorite verse of the passage and I would post it. My friends got me to do that as a habit. And so I stuck and I eventually got through the Bible and I was growing and I was understanding. Well, Uncle John comes to me one day and he's like, hey, do you know how to do that? He used his wallet, but the little send thing, do you know how to do that? And I was like, not really, I see you do it every week, but I don't know how to do it. And he challenged me. I don't remember what the reward was, maybe $20. He was like, if you learn that, I'll teach you if you learn it, and then I'll give you this $20, or whatever it was. So I learned how to do it, and I was so excited to learn how to share the good news with my friends, because that was a method I could use to make it simple, plain, and clear, and share it with my friends. So I learned how to do it, and I shared it with my Uncle John, and he was so excited. It just so much excitement that I was able to learn and do that. And I wanted to share it with Freddie. And Freddie is a busy man, but he sat down and he listened to me share it with him. And he was so excited that I was able to do that. And then I continued to take this tool and I began to share it with lost people as well. First person I ever witnessed to was my barber at Great Clips in Athens, Georgia. And nice lady, sweet lady, those barbers. God bless you. You're so sweet. I love you guys. Any barbers in here? Love you guys. Anyway, such a sweet lady. She was so kind. She was willing to listen. I was fumbling all over the place because nerves, you know, nerves get up when you're doing something you've never done. The people you don't really know, the nerves, they rack up. You know, my nerves are just about gone up here, guys. Don't worry. But I shared the good news with her, I made it as clear as I could, I got through the whole illustration, and she believed in Christ as her Savior. I was probably 15 or so, somewhere in there. And she believed in Christ as her Savior. And I was so thrilled to lead my first person to Christ. I began to pass out tracts, I began to share the gospel more. We would go to the mall in Athens, Georgia, which is not really a mall anymore. It's kind of a police station. If you go up there in Athens, it's called the Georgia Square Mall, a police station. They kind of made it one of their own things, and there's just a few stores now. Some of these malls, they don't last long, y'all. But we would share the gospel when that mall was popping, when it was like Citrus Park Mall, lots of people. and we would go, and I would go with my Uncle John and a guy named Mr. Tim King, and I would go, if any of you know Justin Fields, Tyler Hamby, they used to come to college here, and some others, and we would share the good news of the gospel with them, with people there. And there was this one old gentleman who, he was walking away from me, And Tim was talking to somebody else, and I was like, well, Tim's got this conversation under control. I'm going to go try to give this guy a track or talk to him. So I go after this guy. Old gentleman, seemed like we were going to have a fine conversation. I say, hey, sir, if you were to die right now, do you know if you'd go to heaven? And he got right in front of my face. right in front of my face, right here. And he used some choice blankety-blank words, and he told me, you need to get out of this mall. You don't need to be talking to people that way. And whew, boy, that just shut me down. I was scared to death. I was scared to death. Thank God for men like Mr. Tim King, who would come alongside me, get his arm around me, and be like, hey, that's going to happen. Some people won't believe it. Some people are going to reject the message. But remember those who do believe it. And for the one that rejects, there's nine more who want to hear. out of 10. And so we kept going, and as time goes on up, it's not a pat on my back, I probably led thousands to the Lord, praise God. But sharing the gospel, and the joy, and the peace, and just the excitement that comes from sharing that good news is like no other. So I want to share with you a story this morning. I title this, The Sin of the Desert. Tell you later. But we're going to look at 2 Kings chapter 6. We'll start, let's go verse 21. And this is an interesting story. You'd think if I'm talking about sharing the gospel, I'd go to the New Testament, right? Well, the Old Testament has a fascinating parallel here. I'm gonna draw some application. Okay, you have interpretation, you have application. Interpretation is, what does the text say? You don't wanna read into it. You don't wanna make it say something else. You let the text speak for itself. It says what it says. Application is, hmm, this seems like it's saying something else. It's not exactly what it is, but I'm gonna apply this and create a message from it. That's interpretation, application. So I'm going to draw some application for you this morning. 2 Kings 6, look at verse 21 with me. It says, Elijah came after Elijah. That was his protege. Elijah went up. Interesting attitude Elisha has here. that they may eat and drink and go to their master." So they captured some guys, they were smitten with blindness and brought to a certain place and Elisha was asked by the king of Israel, the king of Israel, he seems like he's all about war, all right, a sinful man, not doing the things that are godly at all. following in the footsteps of Ahab and the like. And so he's like, you want me to just kill him? I'll smite him, we'll kill him. And Elisha's like, no, no, set bread and water before him. This is a point where I believe the king of Israel and Elisha really begin to just like, not like each other that much, okay? Friction is created. And you'll notice that in the attitude of Jehoram, the king of Israel. Okay, verse 23, he prepared great provision for them, for the captives, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. So that was a small group of people, when it says the bands of Syria, a small group, the Syrians, the enemy, and they weren't gonna send any more small groups, but then you get right to the next verse in verse 24, and here's what happens. It came to pass after this, that Ben-Hadad, that's a name, don't name your child Ben-Hadad, don't do it. Don't do it, bad dude, bad dude. That's like snack on a rib, snack on a rib, menhadad, don't do it. The king of Syria gathered all his host, so a lot of people, his whole army, and went up and besieged Samaria. Oh boy, yikes. So this is gonna be war here, he's gonna take it over, he's gonna capture this city, Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria. So this is a rough situation we're in now. So there's a famine, and the king of Syria, he's coming against Samaria? A great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it until an ass's head, that's a donkey's head, was sold for four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung, say that in my Georgia slang, dove's dung, for five pieces of silver. Y'all can tell I teach kids, right? Woo-wee, you got a donkey's head. Raise your hand if you've eaten a donkey's head. Please don't raise your hand, that would be, I don't know if I wanna hang out with you, I'm just kidding. A donkey's head, usually the discard, all right, most people don't eat the heads of animals typically, okay, for four score pieces of silver, that's 80 pieces of silver, I looked up to see if we could draw a calculation as to how much that is. It wasn't clear, it wasn't clear, because you have to actually put it in that time frame, and you have different things like inflation and all that. Speaking of inflation, guys, no, I said I wouldn't talk about politics from the pulpit. But I'm a father of three, and when those egg prices went up, oh boy. Y'all, pray that the tariffs work. I don't know if they're gonna work. There's a lot of debate. Pray they work. No, I'm just kidding. But this was some inflation right here, y'all. This is worse than any eggs, okay? Four score pieces of silver. I looked up, it could be anywhere from thousands of dollars in our currency. It could be just a few hundred. But you're paying that much for a donkey's head, y'all. You would think that a donkey's head would be like $3 or something like that, because nobody wants it. Maybe three pennies. But it's four score pieces of silver. This is a bad, bad famine. This is a rough time. then they have a cab of doves dung so the droppings of the bird for five pieces of silver all right expensive I don't want to be eating that verse 26 And as the king of Israel, here's our guy, Jehoram, was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, help my lord, oh king. So here we go, the situation's gonna get even more dire. Help my lord, oh king, help me. And he said, if the lord do not help thee, when shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor or out of the wine press, you can kind of get a sense of his attitude. It's almost like he doesn't care. And the king said unto her, What ill of thee? And she answered, She's going to tell a story. This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. You know, the Bible's graphic. It's a graphic book, but we got to see what it says. So we boiled my son, verse 29, and 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 So apparently she made a promise with another lady, we're gonna eat my son today, we'll eat your son tomorrow. This is bad, this famine is so bad, people eating each other, this is terrible, cannibalism, yikes. And so the woman lied to the other woman, was like, mm-mm, you're not gonna eat my kid, I'm gonna hide away. Yikes, the situation's so bad. Look at the king's response, verse 30. Came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes, He passed by upon the wall, and the people looked. And behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh." So this is a typical response. The kings would rip their clothes off, put the sackcloth on, and it's like mourning and weeping, and typically they would go to the Lord in prayer and pray for provision and those sorts of things. But look at his response here. Look at what he says in verse 31. Then he said, the king said, God do so and more also to me if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. What does he mean by that? If Elisha's head is still on him today, See, this is the beginning of the king of Israel. He is doubting. He is against any provision that may come. He doesn't even care. And we see his attitude here. He's like, Elijah's head better not be on his head anymore today. It needs to come off his neck. So what is he gonna do? He's gonna send messengers, verse 32. But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. He's chilling. And the king sent a man from before him. But e'er the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? So the king sends messengers and he wants Elisha dead because of this dire situation. Because he knows Elisha is connected to God, he's a prophet of God, he's able to bring provision. Before this happened, Elisha did many miracles. Elisha is a picture of Christ in the Old Testament, okay, and we'll see that fulfilled even further here. He's doing miracles. He's even resurrected a kid from the dead. He put his mouth on his mouth and breathed into him, and God raised that kid up that had died. He's done many wonderful miracles. Surely the king knows this, and now he's just fully against Elisha because of this famine, and people are eating each other. It's terrible, terrible situation. So he sends the messenger. He's going to take Elisha's head off. And Elisha's like, you see how he sent this guy to take my head? Middle of verse 32, look. Look when the messenger cometh, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. Don't let him in. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him. And he said, behold, listen to this, listen. Behold, this evil is of the Lord. What should I wait for the Lord any longer? Bad response, King, bad response. He's like this, the famine, the circumstances. Look at what God did. Why should I wait on him, Elisha? What is he gonna do? People are eating each other. The situation is so bad. They're doubting God. Surely they know that God led them through the Red Sea, out of Egypt, all the way through, conquered Jericho. Surely they know these things, and then here we go. The sinful king and his messengers, they're against God. What should I wait for the Lord any longer? So we ignore the chapter division, because the story continues. Verse one, then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord. Okay, now I want you to remember Elisha, he's a picture of Christ in this story. So he's gonna give a promise here. Elisha, hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow, the next day, tomorrow, about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, one shekel. and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. Where's the famine? Samaria. So we like flour, we like barley. What can you get from that? You can get some bread and some other goods from that. You can bake, you can make food. One shekel, not much money. All right, just think some change. Cheap. What did we go from? Eighty pieces of silver and five pieces of silver for a donkey's head and some bird droppings, to now we're going to have flour and barley sold for almost nothing. It's almost free. It's almost free. Verse 2. So, the king has sent a messenger and then you have another powerful man, he's on whose hand the king leaned, so he's a lord, he's higher up, okay, the lord on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of God, here's what he says. If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be windows in heaven? Let's think of an event where maybe God made some windows in heaven. What do you think of? The manna that literally came out of heaven. Don't you think they knew this story? And don't you think they knew when Israel had complained, wanting water, wanting food, wanting this, wanting that. He gave them quail, it came out their noses. All these things, you think they would have remembered this from the Pentateuch? The five books where Israel was going through the wilderness, you'd think they wouldn't remember this. And so this Lord, he says, if God would make windows in heaven, might this happen? You could see the attitude just all over this. And he said, this is what Elisha responds. He said, behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. This is gonna be the next day. You'll see it with your eyes, but you won't eat thereof. So the story is about to shift here. The story is about to shift. But I want you to remember these things. This is so key. It is a dire, dire situation. There is no hope. There is no getting out of this. The people, they can't get any food. They're going to the donkey's head and the bird droppings. They're going to the bottom of the barrel. People are going to start dying, if not already, guys. Children are being eaten. There's doubt by the king himself. He's ripping his garments. He's doubting that God is going to be able to get him out of this. The prophet of God, he wants his head off. The scene changes. Chapter 7, verse 3. Some people are introduced here. Let me take a sip. I'm getting excited, y'all. This gets so good. And there were four leprous men. What do we know about that? They look different. They got skin problems, okay? Sometimes leads to death not a good disease to have four leprous men at the entering in of the gate And they said one to another why sit we here until we die so they're gonna contemplate they're like well We're gonna die from our leprosy. We're gonna die from this we're gonna die from that we might as well do something Okay, so they have a good head on their shoulders Why sit we here until we die? Verse four. If we say, we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. Okay, so if we go into the city and try to survive, well, there's a famine, the food's running short, we're just gonna die there. No hope, okay? Option two. And if we sit still here, we're gonna die also. We have leprosy. We just stay sitting here? We ain't got no food here. We're gonna die here too. All right? Now therefore come. Here's option three. and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians." That's not very exciting. If they save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall but die. So, they figure if they go in the city, there's no food. If they sit here, there's no food, and they have leprosy, they're gonna die anyway. But if they go to Syria, because Syria besieged and took a lot of the goods, and they have goods, so they're gonna go to the Syrians and see, well, maybe it's a 50-50 chance, even if it's a 90-10, 99-1. Maybe they'll save us. Who knows? If they kill us, well, we were going to die anyway. All right? We were going to die. But maybe they'll save us alive and we'll live! Woohoo! So we'll go with the best odds here. Verse 5. And they rose up in the twilight to go unto 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. What? In the world, what happened? Nobody's there. It's empty. Let's see what happened. Verse six, 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. So the Syrians heard a great noise, and they're like, we better get out. And they got out so fast, they left everything. They left all the goods, the food, everything, the gold, everything that they had, they were just gone. They took their lives and went, goodbye. must have been a pretty loud noise. I wonder what it sounded like. Verse 7, or before we read that, I want you to notice the attitude of the four leprous men. They're like, they're seeking for a way out. They're seeking for a way out. They're hopeful that there is some way out. Remember that. Verse 7, wherefore they arose 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 left everything and they just took and went. Verse 8, And when these lepers, the four men, came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and did eat and drink. So there's food, carried then silver, we got the cash, and gold, and raiment, and went, and what did they do? What does it say they did? They hid it. They found food, water, they found gold, silver, there's horses, donkeys, there's everything they could possibly need for these dudes, and they decide to hide it. But let's see what they continue with. Interesting. So they find everything they need and they hide it. Now, they know that Samaria is in a dire situation. They know they need food. They know they could use the money to go buy some more food from surrounding areas. They know what the need is, but they hide it. They hide it. Hmm. But then, into the next verse we go. Verse nine. Then they said one to another, we do not will. We ain't doing good by hiding this, guys. This day is a day of, look at this, good tidings. And we hold our peace. We're holding it back. We're not sharing this. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come that we may go and tell. Circle that, go and tell. Circle good tidings. If you write in your Bible, circle good tidings, then circle go and tell the king's household. We need to go back. We need to go tell them. We found the goods. We found life. We need to go and tell them about it. We can't hide this. We could die. We got leprosy. Some mischief's gonna come upon us. We need to go tell somebody. Verse 10. 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 voice of a 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, So he's excited, he's getting up at nighttime. He's like, all right, this is interesting. And said to his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. Okay, all right, king. He's doubting this whole situation again. He's not really believing these leprous men. He thinks there's gonna be a trap. He thinks this is a setup. It can't be true. It can't be true. So he says, I'm going to show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we 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 the king is like, they're probably off hiding in the field. They're making it seem like the city is empty. But as soon as we go in, they're going to get our necks, man. They're going to get us. That's what the king is thinking. And he's conjuring all this up in his mind, thinking it's not what it is. It can't be true. There's no food and water and raiment and goods there. No, surely not. What did Elisha say? Tomorrow, you're gonna sell flour and barley for change. Mm, 13. And one of his servants answered and said, let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, there as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it. Behold, I say, there even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed. And let us send and see. So the king, he gives in. They took therefore two chariot horses, So I don't know if that means there's not five, but we got five divided by two, that don't add up. So maybe you give him four, maybe you give him two horses. So Eddie caved in though, he gave him a little bit to go. Two chariot horses, then the king sent after the host of the Syrians saying, go and see. The king's like, all right, you know, I think it's a trap, but go see, we'll see. 15, 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. Hey, I can tell how many people have Schofields in here, we all turn the page. It's okay. I wasn't talking about divisive topics today. I'm just kidding. And the messengers returned and told the king. So they found it. They're going to return and tell the king. Verse 16. And the people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So they hear this. We don't even get the dialogue between the king and the messengers who went to go check it out. And they, man, I can imagine. It's just, they're going after it. They're so hungry. They need it. And they're going to go spoil the tents of the Syrians. It's true. The promise Elisha made was true. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel. That's cheap, y'all. That's almost nothing. According to whose word? The word of the Lord. That word of which the king of Israel was doubting, who he thought held no ground. He wanted Elisha's head cut off. He didn't believe it, but the thing came true. Let's see what happens, verse 17. So you have the king and you have this guy who's in charge with him. So the man on whose hand the king leaned, the lord, this guy, lowercase l, this guy, he died. The people were getting out so fast, they ran on this guy and he died. Because remember what he said. He said, if you open up the heavens and pour it out, maybe I'll believe it and we'll get some food. He died as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. Elijah called it, y'all. Verse 18, And it came to pass, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, 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 not see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof. And so it fell out unto him, for the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died. So the king and the lord, they both die. Interesting. So now I want to get to some of our applications, some of our parallel that I see, and I know some of you are like, I see where Trent is going with this. Okay, I hope you do. If you go back to chapter six, we're going to glance at some of these. Number one, I want you to look at some chapter divisions here. You see from chapter six, verse 24 through 31, we see the dire situation they're in. We see that there's no hope. They cannot Listen to me. They cannot save themselves out of this situation. They cannot save themselves out of this. They're eating each other at this point, y'all. Only God can resolve this. Only God can bring provision. He alone can give a way out. And I kind of label that, if you're making little divisions, 24 through 31, chapter 6. Division number 2 is chapter 6, verse 32, through chapter 7, verse 2. We see the promise, Elisha makes a promise, the promise of life is offered to all. The promise of life is offered, it's presented, the provision is made for all. For the very next day, it's promised. And you know what? All they had to do was believe it. Interesting. Chapter 7, verse 3 through chapter 7, verse 11, this is what I put here as my division to kind of divide this story up. The enemy was crushed by God alone. What happened? That great noise came. The leprous men didn't scare him away. Samaria didn't scare him away. I mean, they were besieged, okay? Judah didn't help out. They didn't help out. So God, he brought provision. He scared the enemy away. You see where I'm going? The enemy was crushed, and I put the message was proclaimed. Go and tell. We have good tidings. We shouldn't hold our peace. Go and tell. Chapter 7, verse 12 through chapter 7, verse 20, the end of chapter 7. Acceptance to life, rejection to death. Acceptance to life, rejection to death. The Syrians, they're a picture of the enemy, and the enemy always loves to cut us off from life. Satan, he's our true enemy. He doesn't want us to have life. He's the blinder of the lost. He doesn't want any provision made. And they were in a dire situation. All hope was lost. The Israelites here, the people in Samaria, picture them as the lost individuals, all right? Without any hope, without God in the world. Where is that from? Ephesians chapter two, go there. Ephesians chapter two. Hold your spot in a second, Kings. Who knew there was an Old Testament story that sounds like it belongs in the book of Acts, y'all? Ephesians chapter two, verse, look at verse one real fast. And you hath he quickened, that means made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead, separated, away from God. Skip, skip, go to verse 11. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. I wanted verse 12. That at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. Listen, having no hope and without God in the world. The condition of the lost man separated from God. There is no way for him to save himself. There's no hope or without God we need. a savior. We need help. We need provision made. So the Israelites picture them as the lost condition of the world. Elisha, remember I said he's a picture of Christ. He's the interceder. He's the one who made the promise that God would come through and fulfill that promise. And how did God fulfill that promise? Through his son Jesus Christ, we know, made a way. Man cannot save himself, There's no way out. Well, Jesus, remember, he paid our sin debt when he died on the cross. His death, when he shed his blood, he paid for all of our sin. He made provision for us. And we'll see that some will believe it and some won't. And notice the attitude of the leprous man was, I noted that they were seeking. The lost man is seeking. They're seeking. They are wanting to know, is there a way out of the situation of this life? I'm a sinner. I need saving. There are people who are seeking. Remember what I said, there's nine people who want to hear for the one that doesn't want to hear. It's so true. The one, the two that don't want to hear the king and the Lord on whose his hand leaned. They didn't want to hear it, but what did the rest of the city do? They went and they wanted to hear it. The leprous men, they needed help. They needed to get out of their situation. They put, they weighed the odds and they found life. They found life. And another picture of the leprous men is they're believers that have a decision to make. Believers that have a decision to make. Remember, look at verse 9. Look at verse 9. When they found it, they hid it in verse 8, but look at verse 9 says, then they said one to another, we do not well. The believer who hides the message of the good news of Jesus Christ, we do not well. This is not a good thing to hide that message. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the glorious gospel of Christ which is shining to them. I butchered that a little bit, but we'll look at it later. We don't wanna hide that message. The leprous men, they were convicted evidently, and they decided we have good tidings. Look at the rest of the verse. This is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning, some mischief will come upon us, and now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household." King Jehoram and his lord, their picture of unbelievers. They reject the message. And what is their result? Death. They died. Because the promise was made, Elisha gave the promise. God made he did the work he made the provision and they were given a choice you can believe it or you can reject it The king and his lord they rejected that message and death came upon them The pricing of the goods. I gave this a little representation. The astronomical price of the donkey's head and the dove's droppings. Astronomical. Picture that as the wages we owe. There's no way. It's just impossible. This situation, it's impossible. But then notice the freeness The flour and the barley, how cheap, almost free. The gift is free. Just believe it, King, Lord, believe it. But they didn't believe it. The leprous men and the rest of the city believed it, and they got life. They got life. Go with me now to Isaiah 55. You can leave 2 Kings. You're probably still wondering, what is the sin of the desert? We'll get there someday. Someday? You mean some minute, Trent? Yeah. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Isaiah, great, great book. I did a message on Isaiah once, showing the gospel, how it's illustrated through Isaiah, the prophetic element. Isaiah 55, verse 1, 761 in a church loan Bible. Verse one says, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. This is God here. Verse three. Incline your ear, and come unto me, hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. I believe this is a picture of the foreshadow of Christ, Christ the son to come of David, right? Who in reality, he offers something without money, without price, something free, something good. Incline your ear, listen to what I'm telling you here. Believe it. Your soul shall live. Go with me now to John chapter six. Verse 35. John 6, 35 says, look at 34. Then said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. It's referring to the bread that gives life. Verse 35, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40, and this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. But the key in on 35 says, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. This offer, this free gift of eternal life. This is the message that we are to steward and we are to share because there are people who are seeking, there are people who are hungry. They're hungry. Oh, I gotta share this with you. There was a lady, I don't know if she's an audience here, but there was a lady who came to the church outside the gym. Steve was doing some work, Stevie, the elder was doing some work, and I was helping Louie in his office. And this was just like a week ago. And so, we come out of Louie's office, we're coming down, down the gym hallway, if you can picture it, and we come out of the double doors, and Steve is talking to a young lady, she's 22. And so, we're like, alright, we'll interject, you know, she's here, she's got something, she seems concerned, and so, Louie, he goes ahead and he shares the gospel with this young lady. And she hears how Christ died for her sins, was buried and rose again, and all she has to do is believe it, and she believed that message. She understood it clearly. She was seeking, y'all, She said she just felt the need to come here. And what are the odds you have two elders and a deacon on the spot? We are never together like that, that frequently. Outside of the gym in the back, we're usually doing our own thing, but what are the odds that would happen? I don't chalk that up to odds. She believed that. And she came Wednesday night. And I asked her, how are you doing now? Because she was going through a hard time. We prayed for her. We gave her some scripture. She was going through a really hard time. She said, I'm so much better. I'm feeling so much better. I'm so thankful for that conversation we had. You know, we talk a lot about Calvinism here, and I'm not gonna dive into that, but you think of what the Calvinist says, that the lost man is so dumb, they're not yet dumb, I'll use that word, because that's how they treat people, so dumb that they can't even believe the message in which Christ gave? They don't even have the ability within themselves to believe this message? No, guys, lost people are seeking the truth. They want to know. Inflation is hurting people. The government, we can't trust them. We can't trust the UN, we can't trust what we see in this world to provide what we need. People need the good news of the gospel. They need what will give everlasting life. That's the parallel I want you to see. We do not well when we do not tell. They need that message. Go with me now to John chapter three. Turn back a few pages. Remember in the story you had some that evidently believed the truth that Elijah spake, the promise, some who rejected the king and his lord. Look at John 3 verse 17. We like verse 16, like a 17. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. See, the offer has been made to all people. The promise has been issued. If you believe, you receive everlasting life. So, There's people that will believe it. There's people that won't believe it. There are people who are seeking and they want to hear the truth, but that truth has to come from our mouths. We have to speak it. We have to share it. We have to tell it. Those who believe receive. Those who don't believe pay the wages of their sin. Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Let's go now to Romans chapter 10 with me. drawing more of these parallel passages together. Romans chapter 10. I want to beat you there. We do sword drills with the kids in ranch. They love it. What is a sword drill? I'll show you. It's where they take the Bible And they hold it above their heads like this. And we tell them, all right, stretch it on up, stretch it on up. And you call it a sword drill because sometimes we like to pretend like, shing, like a sword. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, Hebrews 4.12. And they hold it up above their heads. You ever seen a pastor do this, y'all? No, I'm just kidding. Hold it up above their heads and I tell them a verse. I'm like, all right, John 3.16, go. And they find it and they hunt for it. and they try to find that verse, and they stand up and they get to say it, and so everyone hears that verse, and then I explain that verse, and we give them a little prize, whether it's money or candy. Very effective. Yankee and others used to do that at camp, and it made an impact on me. It helped me to understand where I was going in my Bible, where the books were, where certain verses were, and they were intentional to do gospel verses, like John 3, 16, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, that sort of thing. That was a tangent. Romans 10 verse 14. Skipping some context here, okay, but it makes a fair point. Verse 14 says, I do encourage you, if you're looking to Romans, don't just jump to 9, 10, or 11. Read from Romans 1 first, but verse 14 for the point. How shall they hear without a preacher? Paul is making a plea here, and he's going to carry this plea through the rest of the book, especially in Romans 12, when he begs the audience to be willing to give up their own lives for the sake of the gospel, right? in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. You should cross-reference that in 2 Kings 7. What did the lepers say? We have good tidings and we hold our peace. We're holding back. Samaria's dying. We want to share that. And they shared that good news. how beautiful are your feet to those of you who go and share that message. Verse 16, but they have not all obeyed the gospel, they haven't believed it. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? And Isaiah's day, he had a lot of people coming at him like that old man got up in my face. They did not like Isaiah, they didn't like Jeremiah, they didn't like those guys. They didn't like Elisha. There were people who came against. But remember, verse 17, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The word of God has to be spoken. The gospel is a message that has to be spoken or read, right? But words have to be brought out. We have to show it and plea with people. Believe, believe the truth. Believe that Christ died for your sins and you get life. Look with me now. We like to quote this, but go there. Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one, verse 16. We're gonna be right on time for communion, y'all. How about that? Yay? Romans 1, 16. Verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. You know, I'll tell this story in brief. I have a friend, his name is Jeremy. He doesn't mind me sharing this. He's thanked me day after day for talking with him and sharing the gospel with him. But Jeremy was a friend of mine who came to this church a long time ago. I don't know if it's been one, two years now. But he came here and he was in Judaism. What is Judaism? Basically, the Jewish religion, what they believe, right? Writing off the whole New Testament, Jesus is not the Son of God, that sort of thing. He's not he's not a Jew, but he's in Judaism, and he believed this and anyway. We would go to Starbucks He picked not me. I'm a Duncan kind of guy, but anyway. We would go meet at Starbucks and not a political statement and and James with California this morning got me all but We would go to Starbucks and we would chat, nice little outside seating they have over there in the old barn. We would talk and we would talk Bible and we would go into all sorts of things. And I remember Yankee telling me, don't go on the rabbit trails, share the gospel. And I was like, I did share the gospel with him, Yankee, I did. But he sure did take me on some rabbit trails, y'all. He took me and he wanted to know this and that and this prophecy and that prophecy. Because remember, he has in his mind written off the New Testament. It's not validated by God. It's not truth. And so he was stuck to the Old Testament. This is what he was in at the time. So we would go through different things. We went to Daniel 9 and Isaiah 7 and all the different big prophecies of Jesus. But you know what changed his mind? The power of God changed his mind. It wasn't that I shared with him Daniel chapter 9 and the perfect exegesis of Daniel 9, that I walked through it verse by verse, or that I walked through Isaiah and went through all this. It was that he heard the good news and he believed it. Why? He understood that it was free. It was a gift from God and God could do it no other way. He realized, I can't earn my way to heaven. He understood eternal security, that once I'm saved, I'm saved forever. Now he comes to me and he says, man, this preacher's crazy, man. He thinks he can earn his way to heaven. He tells me that stuff. I know, Bob, you talk to him. That's the kind of stuff he's telling me now. Isn't that great? He's coming to me, he's saying, I've been listening to Pastor Jesse, I've been listening to Yankee, and Bob, he listens to you, and he's... He's now clear on the gospel, but he trusted Christ as his savior because of the clarity of the message. It wasn't that I did the prophecies and worked through those or that I was a great orator or anything like that. I wasn't really. We would actually kind of chide a little bit because it got intense, but he changed his mind because he heard the good news. He believed it. The Bible says the power of God is the gospel message. It is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. You're wondering, what is the sin of the desert? I might get there. Go with me to Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11. Freddie Coyle, he used to do like little things like that. That's probably where I get some of my style from. I sat under him for years and years and years, and it is true. You know, when a pastor references Freddie Coyle when they're in this pulpit, someone who knows him, and they say, isn't that good, isn't that good? Yeah, he would say that all the time. So if you ever hear that, just know, it's ingrained into my head, it's ingrained into their head. Isn't that good? Yes, it's so good. This is so good. Sharing the gospel is very good. It's of utmost greatness, if you want some bigger words. Proverbs 11 verse 30 says this, I never forgot this verse when I learned it at camp. Thank you to my camp teachers. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And he that winneth souls is wise. What a random nugget found in the Proverbs. There's a few of these. He that winneth souls. What is it to win a soul? It's to share the good news of Jesus with somebody. And they believe it. You have won that soul for Christ. That sounds like a song I know we do on Wednesday night. You wanna win people to Christ. Christ is your friend, right? You're his friend if you do whatsoever he commands. Well, he commands us to witness, so if he's your friend, you want him to be other people's friend too, right? Well, we gotta share our friend with other people. I want Him to be a friend of the whole world. Well, they can't be a friend of Him if they don't believe in Him first. They need to know who He is and what He's done for them on the cross and believe it. He that wins souls is wise. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Trent, why would you take us from Romans back to Proverbs back to 1 Thessalonians? That's like left, right, left, right. because I'm putting you in suspense, remember? The scent of the desert. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4 says, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the, what? the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts." See, we want to share the gospel because it's what God wants us to do. We need to speak that message. We need to speak it clearly. That's why it was so crucial in my life to be able to share the gospel using the illustration with the Sin Block or with a wallet, with a phone. I've usually used my phone. And how I can show people they can see it and they can hear it. Just a little side note, when people see something and hear something, even if you can get them to do it, that's amazing. But when they see it and when they hear it, then it's able to get across in their mind better. This is a teaching technique. That's why teachers use illustrations, right? And if you can get the kids to do like different crafts and things, that's even better because they learn things faster. But anyway, that's why we like to do that every week. But we need to speak it clearly. We've been put in trust with that message. God has entrusted you with a message. Does that make you feel special or not? Isn't that good? Point yourself and say, God has entrusted me with a message. Do it, do it, do it, come on, we can do this. Point yourself and say, God has entrusted me with a message. He has, it's true, it's true. He wants to use you to get that message out. Last verse here, 2 Corinthians chapter four. Told you we'd go back there. 2 Corinthians chapter four. And we'll start in verse one. Page 1232 in a church Bible or a Schofield Bible if you got it. Verse 1 of 2 Corinthians 4 says, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, As we have received mercy, we faint not. So Paul is saying, I have this ministry. I have received mercy. How? Through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ. I've received this. So what is my responsibility? Don't faint. Don't quit. Don't hide. Verse 2. But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully. That's a lot of big words, but let me break it down. Essentially, Paul is saying, I've also lived my life in such a way that I can be able to share the gospel and be able to share it clearly and effectively because there's nothing nasty in my life that other people see to which that message would be rejected. See, another important key is we don't just want to share the gospel, share the gospel, share the gospel flippantly, and don't even pay any attention to the rest of our lives. It's very important that you live a godly, clean, and pure life as well because you won't be an effective soul winner if your life is dirty and nasty and filled with sin. If you're consumed with lust, how are you going to share the gospel with a beautiful woman? That's a fact for some people. If you're consumed with doing other things, well, how are you going to share the gospel with, or if you're at work and you're never thinking about your coworkers, or if you're always just so bogged down and you have an opportunity, but now you're tired and you don't want to share that message, so you're hiding away and you're scared of what they might think of you, you're scared of what they might say. No, no, no, no. We need to be ready. prepared to share that message. Because verse 3, look at the importance, verse 3. And I'm telling you, the lost people, they are seeking. They want to know. In whom? Because here's the enemy. Here's the Syrian enemy, right? Verse four, in whom the God of this world, Satan, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus's sake. Keep reading, for God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. You have this message, earthen vessel, that's your body, that's you. You have this message and God wants to use you to share it with people. What's the center of the desert, y'all? You want me to tell you? The sin of the desert, write this down, is knowing where the water is and not telling. The sin of the desert is knowing where the water is and not telling. What's the significance of that? Jesus, he is the water of life. He has that message, and if we know about this and we don't share it, Well, we're committing the sin of the desert. We know where the water is. We know that Jesus is the person that people need to believe in. They need to trust in Him. He died for their sins. He was buried. He rose again. But I'm too busy doing what I want to do. I don't want to share that message. I want to hide. I'm going to cower away. Ever seen a pastor do that? No. We don't want to be that kind of person, y'all. We don't want to commit the sin of the desert. We want to share that message. We don't have the attitude of the lepers. We do not well if we don't tell. We want to share the good tidings, the good news with people. Most people, they'll listen to you. Most people I can testify, they'll listen to you. You just got to be willing to go and share it. Go and share the message. You can close your Bible. Look up here. This is the first time that I get to use the giant sin block. I was so excited to use this. Thanks to Gil. Thank you, Gil. Letting this hand represent you and me and the whole world and letting this represent our sin. This is how you can know for sure that if you died, you would go to heaven. So pay close attention over the live stream too. Us, sin. God, he loves us. He doesn't like our sin. Why? Well, our sin separates us from God. It's a barrier between us and God, and it separates us. And so, because of this sin, we deserve to die and spend eternity in hell. We deserve to be separated from God forever in a literal fire-burning hell. That's what we deserve. That's the payment. That's the wages of sin. That's what we deserve. God loves us, though. Remember, He wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven, you have to be holy, righteous, perfect, just as God. And that's the whole problem. Nobody is. We all have sin. We deserve death. And you cannot get rid of this sin on your own. You can't work it off. You can't be good enough. You can't turn from it. You can't try to do some crazy thing some preacher said. Enough works. You can't do anything to get rid of your sin. You deserve to die and spend eternity in hell. Only God made a way for your sin to get paid, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. He made a promise. Jesus Christ came, and He who had no sin, the Son of God, holy, righteous, and true, took all of your sin on Himself. You see that? He took all of your sin on Himself. He died, He was buried, He rose from the dead. The sin that separated you from God was paid in full. And if you believe that He did that for you, you receive everlasting life. And if it's everlasting, it lasts forever. All you got to do is believe in Jesus Christ who died and paid for all of your sins, was buried and rose again, and you get to go to heaven when you die. Would you believe it if never before? Would you trust in Him? Believe it right now. You get everlasting life. Second thing, if you already know that, because I think James said we don't have a new visitor here, so I'm going to make the assumption, but if you already know that, Don't commit the sin of the desert. Be willing to share it. Don't hide the message. Guys, I think we're getting closer to the rapture than you think. I really think it's just gonna jump upon us one day and we'll be up there with Jesus, and it's gonna be great, but what could have been if we would have hid that message a little less? What impact can you make? Don't hide it. As we go to prayer now, I'm gonna ask the guys who are helping with the communion service if you could go to the back, but let's bow our heads, close our eyes, let's go to prayer. We're going to get ready for communion in just a moment. We need about eight guys. Let's pray. First, a question for the audience with heads bowed and eyes closed. My first question is, would you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, paid for your sins? Would you believe in him and receive eternal life if never before? And if you would do that, I'd like to know so I can pray for you, not gonna embarrass anybody, not gonna ask you to come up, not gonna ask you to do anything crazy. Would you raise your hand to let me know that, yeah, Trent, I believe in Jesus, that he died for me. For the first time, I understand that, I believe it. Would you raise your hand to let me know? Anyone at all? Slip that hand up, put it right back down and just let me know, yeah, I believe in Jesus Christ for the first time. All right, over the live stream, you can do that. Believe right now, he died for you, paid for your sins. You get everlasting life. Second thing, don't commit the sin of the desert. This is for me too. I've had opportunities where I could have shared it and didn't share it, but the good news is waiting to get in the ears of those who are seeking. So share it. Don't be afraid. Stand up. Share it. Speak. Heavenly Father, I pray that you give us the courage to share that message. I pray that you would lead people our way who are dying to hear the good news, and they may not even know anything about it, but we have the voice to share it. Help us to be prepared, help us to be meek, humble, and ready to go. Pray for Louie and Jesse again as they are sharing that message and doing the work that they need to be doing in different countries. Bless them, strengthen them, and I pray for the communion this morning that it will be honoring to you and we will remember the sacrifice that you made. In Jesus' name, amen.