October 14, 2007
Scripture:
Scripture:
I’d like to look at a word that has come before us much this morning. It’s in John 9; this is one of the miracles that the Lord did, also called signs in John. This is the story of how the blind man received his sight; after Jesus had put clay on his eyes, we read v. 7: *“And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.)”* This little story highlights for us that word sent. Although it is a small word, there is much to ponder in it. It brings many questions to mind: Who is the sender? Who was sent? To whom is he sent? Where was he sent from? Where was he sent to? We could go on; that word sent highlights a significant activity. It is precious to have some of these thoughts before us this morning. “The Father sent the Son a ruined world to save.”
Children’s Meeting—Norman Burgess
EG Hymn 346 – Jesus who lives above the sky
Prayer
Let’s look at the story of Four Hungry Lepers. The setting of this story starts in 2 Kings 6:24 & 25. There was a great famine in the city of in the . Their enemy Ben-hadad king of had besieged the city with his army. (Diagram on white board showed the city with the Syrian army encircling it so that all supplies were cut of). There was a state of emergency as the starving people paid very high prices for very repulsive stuff to eat! This, in type, is a picture of this world, besieged by Satan, with starving people willingly spending their money on worldly occupations trying to satisfy the inner hunger of their starving souls.
Turning to chapter 7:1 we find Elisha, the prophet of God, with a message from God telling the people the good news—that on the morrow there would be good food sold at a reasonable price in Samaria. Our “good news” is that God offers the bread of life now and free. Elisha’s good news was met with unbelief and scoffing (V. 2), just as the gospel often is today.
Four lepers at the gate of realized they would be dead men, either from leprosy or starvation, if they stayed where they were, or went into the besieged city. Driven by their need they went into the camp of the enemy and found the Lord had gained a marvelous victory for them.(Vv. 3 & 5). So has the Lord dealt with the enemy at the cross of .
What a bounty they found in the Syrian tents. It was more than they could contain (Vv. 6 to 8). They shared it with others – “a day of good tidings”. The message goes from the porter to the king. Like so many with the gospel today the king is slow of heart and reasoning about the news (Vv. 9 to 16).
The word of the Lord through Elisha came to pass. What a day of blessing! (Vv. 17 to 20).
1 Peter 2:12 to 15
If our hearts are right with the Lord on the inside as exhorted in verse 11, our manner of life will be right on the outside as exhorted in verse 12.
We are reminded that walking an upright life will bring opposition from unbelievers, like the Gentiles spoken of in verse 12. This should not discourage us from boldly standing for the Lord. From this verse we learn there will be a “day of visitation”—a reckoning day, when the unbelievers will find out that they were the “evildoers”, and those they called “evildoers” were doing the “good works”. Then God will be glorified in His just judgment of them.
We need not be concerned if unbelievers call us “evildoers”, but we might well be concerned if those in authority prove us to be “evildoers”. Hence we are exhorted to submit to “every ordinance of man” from the monarch to the constable (Vv. 14 & 15). There could be an exception to this as it does say, “in the Lord”. In situations where there is a conflict between obedience to the law and obedience to the Lord the believer has Scriptural grounds to stand on the Lord’s side. (See Acts 4:19). For this reason we pray for those in authority—see 1 Timothy 2:2.
EG Hymn 169 – Blest be the tie that binds
Prayer