the day of glad tidings

Sharing the Gospel of Jesus is our business.

‚All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age‛ (Mt 28:18-20, ESV).


Mt 28:18-20.

‚Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem‛ (Lk 24:46-47, ESV).


Mt 28:18-20.

Lk 24:46-47.

‚You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth‛ (Acts 1:8, ESV).


Sharing the Gospel of Jesus is what this congregation is all about.


Sharing the Gospel of Jesus is what this congregation is all about.

We have made that our business.

But, we each have a responsibility to share the Gospel of Jesus.

2 Kings 7:1-11

We want to look at four lepers who remembered their business.

THE BUSINESS OF SURVIVAL.

THE BUSINESS OF SURRENDER.

THE BUSINESS OF SHARING.

The Business of Survival

v 3

‚Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, ‘Why are we sitting here until we die?’‛ (v 3, ESV).

To the lepers, death looked inevitable.

Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, had laid siege to Samaria & a great famine resulted (2 Ki 6:24-25).

The siege greatly inflated food prices (v 25).

The famine became so severe that a couple of women ate a child to stay alive (vv 28-29).

To the lepers, death looked inevitable.

Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, had laid siege to Samaria & a great famine resulted (2 Ki 6:24-25).

The lepers would have been worse off than most in Samaria.

They were forced to stay outside the camp: ‚He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp‛ (Lev 13:46, ESV).

Even if the people of Samaria are pooling resources, these lepers will be left out in the cold.

These lepers have nothing to do but to wait to die.

Regardless of what they do, they are going to die.

That’s the way it is with every sinner.

‚Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God‛ (Jn 3:18, ESV).

‚Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him‛ (Jn 3:36, ESV).

Whether or not sinners are aware, they have ‚The Business of Survival.‛ If they do not obey the Gospel, they will die.

That is why the Lord has made soul-winning the business of the church!

Indecision is a state of death.

If these lepers had not decided to try their hand with the Syrians, they would have died.

If sinners do not decide to try their hand with God, they will die.

Many have been indecisive. Felix to Paul: ‚Go away for the present. When I get an

opportunity I will summon you‛ (Acts 24:25, ESV).

Paul to unbelieving Jews in Rome: ‚This people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them‛ (Acts 28:27, ESV).

Indecision is a state of death.

If these lepers had not decided to try their hand with the Syrians, they would have died.

If sinners do not decide to try their hand with God, they will die.

Many have been indecisive.

There is no time for indecision. ‚How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?‛

(Heb 2:3, ESV).

‚See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven‛ (Heb 12:25, ESV).

If you procrastinate with salvation, your procrastination might be your undoing!

A Statement of Surrender

v 4

‚If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die‛ (v 4, ESV).

The lepers decide they are going to take action.

They are going to surrender to the Syrians.

There is great danger in surrender—The Syrians could very well kill them.

There is great hope in surrender—The Syrians could very well capture them & feed them.

So it is with Christ. If we are to find life, we must surrender.

Jesus calls for a full surrender.

Mt 8:18-22.

‚If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple‛ (Lk 14:26-27, ESV).

So it is with Christ. If we are to find life, we must surrender.

Jesus calls for a full surrender.

This is the great paradox in Christianity. If I hold on to my life, I’ll lose it; but if I surrender my life, I will gain life.

Matthew Henry: ‚I take God the Father to be my God; I take God the Son to be my Savior; I take the Holy Ghost to be my Sanctifier; I take the word of God to be my rule; I take the people of God to be my people; And I do hereby dedicate and yield my while self to the Lord; and I do this deliberately, freely, and forever.‛

The process of coming to Jesus is surrender.

Faith is surrender in Jesus.

If we are to have salvation, we must believe Jesus’ claims. ‚I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins‛ (Jn 8:24, ESV).

That faith says I need a Savior, for I cannot save myself.


Confessing that faith is also surrender.

If we are to be saved, we must confess faith in Jesus. ‚If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved‛ (Rom 10:9-10, ESV).

That confession is surrender, for I admit before men that I cannot save myself.


Repentance is also a surrender.

We must repent when we come to Jesus. ‚Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of

Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit‛ (Acts 2:38, ESV).

The Greek grammar makes clear that both repentance & baptism are necessary for the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance is surrender, for I’m saying, ‚I’ve sinned & I can’t continue to live the same way.‛


Baptism is also a surrender.

Baptism is essential to salvation. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ‛ (1 Pet 3:21, ESV).

Baptism is surrender, for (a) I’m giving my body to another to be lowered in water; & (b) I’m trusting the blood of Jesus—which I cannot see—to remove my sins.

Do you need to come & surrender to Christ this very night?

The Business of Sharing

vv 9-11

When the lepers arrive at the camp, they discover that the Lord has already defeated the Syrians.

This is yet another case where the Lord supernaturally defeated his enemies.

He defeated the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

He defeated Jericho by causing the walls to crumble.

The truth of the matter is that our enemy—Satan—has also been defeated.

‚Since . . . the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil‛ (Heb 2:14, ESV).

‚Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil‛ (1 Jn 3:8, ESV).

The lepers find life.

They discover food & clothing and begin to hoard them.

They realize, however, they aren’t doing right.

‚They said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.’ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, ‘We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.’ Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king’s household‛ (vv 9-11, ESV).

Do the lepers not provide a wonderful example for us?

We have found a life far more abundant than physical life. ‚I came that they may have life and have it abundantly‛ (Jn 10:10, ESV).

We have riches far more abundant than all the riches of this world. ‚Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places‛ (Eph 1:3, ESV).

Do we not have an obligation, therefore, to share what we’ve discovered?

‚Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ‛ (Col 1:28, ESV).

‚What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also‛ (2 Tm 2:2, ESV).

We have the right message! Do we have the right motives?

Do you need to come this night & surrender your life to Jesus?

the day of glad tidings

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