In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of four leprous men who were starving in a city under siege by the Syrians. Despite their desperate situation, they decided to take a risk and venture towards the Syrian camp, hoping for food or mercy. However, due to the unbelief of the king and his advisors, they were hesitant to open the city gates. God miraculously caused the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and horses, causing them to flee and leaving behind abundant provisions. The preacher emphasizes the tragedy of unbelief and encourages listeners to trust in God's promises and not rely on their own understanding.

Now, Naaman was the captain of the hosts of Syria. He was a great man with his master. He was honorable because the Lord had actually helped him to subdue many nations. He was a mighty man and very brave, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies and brought away captives out of the land of Israel. And a little maid happened to be the servant of his wife. And she said, it's too bad your husband isn't with a prophet there in Israel because he could heal him of his leprosy. And so it was told to Naaman and he told the king that there was a prophet in Israel that could cure him of his leprosy. And so the king of Syria, Ben-Hadad, sent a formal letter to the king of Israel and sent Naaman down. And in the letter it said, I want you to heal my general of this leprosy. So when the king of Israel saw Naaman come in, knew who he was, this captain of the Syrian hosts and all, and when he gets this note, I want you to heal this guy of his leprosy, the king just became excited and concerned. He said, look how this guy's trying to pick a fight. Am I God that I can heal him of his leprosy? You know, the guy's just looking for trouble. He's trying to start a fight. And so the king had torn his clothes and was all upset. And word came to Elisha of how the king was so upset because of this demand. And he said, send him down to me and he will know that there is a God in Israel. And so Naaman came to Elisha's house. And Elisha didn't even go out to meet him, but sent his servant Gehazi out with the orders, go down to the Jordan River and just dip in the Jordan River seven times. And after you've dipped seven times, you'll be cleansed of your leprosy. So Naaman became enraged. He said, that guy didn't even have the graciousness to come out and meet me himself. Sent a servant out to me. And then tells me to duck in that Jordan River. We've got better rivers up in Damascus. And he headed home in a rage, just mad. And as they were going along, one of his servants said to him, you know, had that prophet told you to do some great deed, you know, go out and slay the dragon and get the seven golden apples. Had he given you some great deed to do, you would be glad to do it because it's just such a simple thing. Why don't you try it? What's it going to hurt? And so they came to the Jordan River and Naaman dipped himself in the Jordan River. And when he came up the seventh time, his flesh was pink like a baby's flesh. The leprosy was gone. He was so excited. He headed back to the prophet's house because he was loaded down with all kinds of gifts that the king of Syria had sent. And he came to Elisha and he sought to give to Elisha some of these gifts that he had brought from Syria. And Elisha said, no, I don't want your gifts. Keep them. Now, in coming back, he acknowledged that there was no God in all the earth, but in Israel. I know that, he said. I pray that you'll take this blessing. But Elisha said, as the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And Naaman urged him to take it, but he refused. Now, I told you that a fellow that would have this kind of a gift would have problems. And unfortunately, some people who have had a ministry of healing or whatever have been guilty of using that to enrich themselves. People become very excited when they see God work. They want to lavish the servant of God with gifts. But here is Elisha refusing the gift. Rightfully so. He didn't heal Naaman. The Lord healed Naaman. Why should Elisha receive a gift for it? And the guy urged him, but still he refused. In the healing of Naaman, we find some interesting things. And one of them is that typically, we all of us really have difficulty with just accepting the grace of God. We would all of us like to do some great, wonderful thing for the Lord. You know, I would like to go out and conquer a thousand giants or something. I want to do some great thing for God, just to receive from God the simplicity with which God gives to me. And the fact that He gives to me so freely and in such a simple way that I can't get any credit for it. Somehow I would like to deserve or earn God's blessings, but I can't. I can only receive by grace the goodness of God. And salvation is such a simple thing. The Lord says, just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Oh, how simple it is. But we rebel against that simplicity. No, Lord, I'm going to serve you and I'm going to go out and witness and I'm going to pray and I'm going to do this. And I'm telling God all of the things that I'm going to do for Him because of what He's done for me. It's awfully hard to accept grace gracefully, isn't it? Just to accept the fact that God loves me and to receive His gifts gracefully. Now, the servant Gehazi, when he saw Elisha turning down these gifts, he began to think, Wow, what I could do with just a little bit of that loot. I could buy an olive orchard, a vineyard. I could hire me some servants. Man, I could be set up if I just had a little bit of that loot. And he started thinking of what he could do with some of that reward that Naaman was offering. And so, he went chasing after Naaman. And they said, hey, it looks like the servant of the prophet's coming. And so he said, let's wait, maybe something's gone wrong. And when Gehazi came up, they said, is everything fine? And Naaman said, yeah, everything's fine, except that my master had a couple of young prophets come in and they didn't have much. And so, he'd like a couple of changes of apparel for them and a talent of silver. And Naaman said, oh, here, take a couple of talents of silver. And he was happy to give it to him. And in fact, they sent a fellow back carrying it back. But when they got to the gate of the city, Gehazi said, that's great, I'll take it from here. And he took it and put it in his house. And came whistling in. Elisha said, where have you been? He said, I didn't go anywhere. And he said, did not my spirit go with me? When you received, when you went out to their chariot and stopped them, and you received the money, and you received the garments, and the olive yards, and the vineyards, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the men's servants, and the maidservants. Now, you see, he starts to read his mind at this point. Or he starts to discern what was on his heart. These are the things he thought he would buy with the money. The olive yards, and vineyards. He's going to have servants of his own. He was going to buy some oxen, and he was going to buy some sheep. He was going to set himself up. And the prophet starts laying out the things that he had in mind to do with this money. And he said, the leprosy that was upon Naaman is going to be upon you and your family. And so Gehazi went out from his presence, a leper. Now, the sons of the prophet said, hey, we have a hard time living, you man, you live too straight. We need to build us a house to live in down by Jericho. And so he said, fine, go down to Jericho and build you a house. They said, well, come down and help us. And so he went down to Jericho with them. And they were felling some trees by the Jordan River. And one fellow's axe head flew off and went in the water. And he said, oh, no, I borrowed that axe head. Elisha said, well, where did it fall in? He said, over in there. So Elisha took a stick and cast it into the river, and the iron floated. And he said, grab it. And so he grabbed the axe head. Now, the king of Syria was warring against Israel. And he had a meeting of his generals. Now he said, in such and such a place, we will set up camp and we will ambush the king of Israel when he comes by. So Elisha sent to the king and warned him of the ambush that Ben-Hadad had sent. And he saved Ben-Hadad from the ambush. I mean, he warned the king of Israel. And he saved the king of Israel from the traps that Ben-Hadad had sent more than once, more than twice. And so Ben-Hadad figured that someone of his upper council had to be leaking the secrets. There was a security leak somewhere. And so he called his generals and he said, okay, which of you guys is for my enemy? And they said, none of us. But there's a prophet over there in Israel. You can't talk to your wife in your bedroom, but he knows what you're saying to her. And he said, go and bring him back a captive. So they said, well, he's in Dothan. And so the Syrian army came to the city of Dothan and circled the city of Dothan with their horses, chariots, and a great company of men. And they came by night and circled the city. So in the morning when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, got up and went out, he looked and he saw the Syrian army had circled the city of Dothan. And he went running back in, woke up Elisha and said, we've had it. We're surrounded by the Syrian army. And Elisha said, don't be afraid. There are more with us than are with them. And then he prayed, O Lord, open up his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, and he saw the chariots of fire round about Elijah and about the Syrian army. Spiritual insight, it sure makes a difference on our whole outlook in life. Lord, open our eyes that we might see the truth, that we might not just see the obvious physical things, but that we might see the spiritual realities. For many times in the physical realm it looks like sure, certain defeat, unless you can see it in the spiritual realm and you know there is a sure, certain victory. If we look only at the flesh and at the physical, we are prone many times to be filled with fear and with despair, hopelessness, because it looks like things are hopeless. That's only because we're looking at the things which are seen. But Paul said, we look at the things which are not seen. They are the eternal things. Now it speaks of the men of the Old Testament in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, as it talks about these great men of faith. And in referring to the deeds and the exploits of these great men of faith, it says, and they endured as seeing the invisible. What was the secret of their endurance? What was the secret of their power? What was the secret of their ability to go through all of the things that they had to go through and all the things they endured? Because they could see beyond just the obvious physical things. Because they could see the realm of the Spirit, they endured as seeing the invisible. Men who have spiritual insight actually see so much more. And that is why their lives are so stable and so secure. Even though the world around them may be shaking, yet because they can see spiritually, they are not shaken. Then Elijah prayed to the Lord and he said, Smite these people, I pray thee, with blindness. And the Syrian army was smitten with blindness. And Elisha said, This isn't the place you fellows wanted, I'll lead you to the place you want to go. And he led them to the city of Samaria, into the gates of the city, and to the king of Samaria. And he said, Now Lord, open up their eyes. And when they opened their eyes, they found they were in the center of Samaria and they were surrounded by the Samaritan army. And the king of Samaria was all excited. He didn't know what to do. Shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And Elisha said, No. He said, If you'd taken them as prisoners of war, you'd feed them. He said, So feed them and send them home. So he prepared a great feast for them, fed them, sent them home. And they didn't come for Elisha again. Now it came to pass after this, though, that Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, gathered together his host and brought them up to Samaria and he set up a siege, cutting off Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria. So bad that a donkey's head was sold for 80 pieces of silver and a pint of dove's dung sold for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was walking along the wall, a woman cried unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, What do you want me to do? Sweep up the barn floor for you or get the culls out of the winepress? What ails you? And she said, This woman yesterday said, Give me your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. And so yesterday we ate my son, and now she's hid her son. Make her produce him so we can eat him. And when the king heard this, he tore his clothes and he said, God help me, if I don't have the head of Elisha the prophet by tomorrow. Now it is interesting. It is because of the fact that this king was leading the people into idolatry that they were having these problems. And yet he wants to blame God and the servant of God for the problems. How irrational can a person be? But it is interesting how many times when a person has problems, they want to strike out at a servant of God. They want to blame you. They think you've been praying for them or something. And, you know, they really get angry with you because of the problems that have come into their lives. When the problems are there because they have forsaken the Lord. But that's just a part of the irrationality of people. And so he was blaming the prophet of God. God help me, tomorrow I'm going to have that guy's head. And so Elisha was sitting in his house and some of his friends with him. And as they were sitting there talking, he said, How about that? Look what that son of a murderer is going to do now. He's sending a guy down here to get my head. He said, when he gets to the door, pin him, hold him fast. For behold, the feet of his master are right behind him. And so this guy came running up on the porch and the guys opened the door and held him, pinned him. And the king came up. And Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow about this time, they will be selling a bushel of fine flour for 65 cents. And two bushels of barley for 65 cents right in the gates of Samaria. Now the prime minister, the guy upon whom the king leaned, said to the prophet of God, If God would open up windows in heaven, could such a thing be? Now it is interesting that so often we try to figure out how God can do His work. God gives us a glorious promise, but I want to know, how is He going to do it? I've got to be able to somehow figure it out in my mind. Now the Bible says, My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, that's great. But how is He going to supply? You know, I've got the bills coming. How is He going to meet the bills this way? How is He going to do it? As though I need to know the methods. Now, I'm always trying to figure out how God can meet my needs. I'm always trying to figure out a way by which God might answer my prayers. And when I figure out a way by which God might answer them, then my prayers are usually direction prayers rather than direct prayers. My prayer turns into my solution. Oh Lord, I've got it worked out. If you'll just do this and this and this Lord, then it's going to come. You know, it'll happen. But God doesn't always follow my directions. And that's where we have problems. Because if He isn't following my directions, then I get upset with Him. I don't think He wants to help me. I don't think He wants to answer my prayer, you know. Why? Because He's not following my directions. I've got it all worked out the way God's going to do it. Rather than just direct prayers, I'm telling God how to do His business. And so, this guy tried to figure out, rationalize how in the world, when they're selling a donkey skull for 80 pieces of silver, how in the world they're going to be selling fine flour for 65 cents tomorrow. God could go around and open up windows in heaven and dump flour all over the place. And so, mocking the promise of God. Now, this is through unbelief. He mocked the promise of God because of his unbelief. Because he could not figure out in his mind a way by which God might do what God said He was going to do. Now, I often cannot figure out how God is going to do things. And that's when I really panic. As long as I can figure out a way by which God might do it, I'm usually in good shape. But when they've made the Reader's Digest drawing and my number wasn't drawn in the Grand Suisse, now how God going to do it? He's failed me. I had it all worked out. All He had to do is pull my number out of the box. He couldn't see. Now, I want you to know that God has resources that you know nothing about, and God has ways of working of which you have not even thought. God says, My ways are not your ways. My ways are beyond your finding out. My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are beyond your finding out. It isn't up to me to discover or to know or to figure out how God is going to do His work. It's only to believe that God is going to work, because He said He would. And if God said He's going to do it, He's going to do it. But this fellow, through unbelief, mocked the promise of God, and the Prophet said unto him, Fellow, let me tell you something. You'll see it, but you won't eat it. God's going to work in spite of your unbelief, but you're not going to partake. And that's one tragic thing about unbelief. So often, it keeps you from partaking even after God has done His work. Now, God has done a glorious work of salvation for you, but many people have not partaken of that glorious work of God through unbelief. Unbelief keeps you from God's work in your life. And you can see the work of God, but not partake of it. You can see what God has done. He did what He promised He'd do, but you yourself cannot partake because of unbelief. So, how unbelief can rob you of the things of God and the blessings of God. You're going to see it, but you won't eat it. Now, that night, outside of the wall of Samaria, there were four leprous men living in the garbage dump. In those days, leprosy was such a loathsome disease that the people were ostracized from the community, and they were forced to live apart from the community. When people approached them, they had to start crying out, unclean, unclean, so people wouldn't get too near. Now, these people usually lived outside of the city wall, outside of the area of the wall where the people would dump their garbage. And they would survive off of the garbage that was dumped over the wall. But the famine was so bad in Samaria, they weren't dumping garbage, they were selling it. Nothing coming over the wall, and these guys are really getting hungry. Of course, you can imagine what it is if they're eating babies in the city, what it would be trying to survive off of what's thrown over the wall. These four guys sitting there starving to death, one of them looked at the others and he said, Why just sit here till we die? That's a good question. Why just sit here till we die? In other words, if I don't do anything, I'm going to die. Just sitting here, I'm going to die. Why just sit here till I die? Now, there's no sense going into Samaria, for they're starving in Samaria, so they can't give us any food in there anyhow. Let's go over to the camp of the Syrians, and if they kill us, we haven't lost a thing, because we're going to die anyhow. But it's possible that they'll have mercy on us and give us a crust of bread. So, these four fellows were taking a venture sort of in faith. But it's on that philosophy, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. I mean, if they kill us, what have we lost? We're going to die here anyhow. We're starving to death. So, if they kill us, we haven't lost a thing. But they might feed us, you don't know. And so, they headed toward the camp of the Syrians. Four leprous men. Now, God worked a miracle. As these four leprous men were clanging down the road to the camp of the Syrians, in that evening darkness, the Syrians thought they heard the sound of chariots and horses and a multitude of men. And they said, Oh, the king of Samaria has hired the Egyptians and they're coming up against us. Let's get out of here. And they started running. And the guy said, Hey, where are you going? The Egyptians are coming. Oh, you know, and they started off. And pandemonium broke out in the camp of Syria as the guys all took off, running back towards the Jordan River and across up into the Golan into Syria. So, by the time these four leprous men got to the first tent, there was nobody around. So, one guy opened up the tent flap and he said, Wow, look at that. Table set with food. And man, these guys pounced on it and began to scarf it up. And some of the treasures that were lying around in the tent, the guys dug a hole and began to bury it. Someone ran to another tent and said, Come on over here, another tent. And they ran over there and started grabbing things and burying them. And one of the fellows suddenly stopped and said, Wait a minute. We're doing wrong. If we keep this up, mischief is going to come on us. For just right over close by in the city of Samaria, people are starving to death tonight. And if we are out here and we just keep this to ourselves and we just gorge ourselves but don't let them know, then mischief is going to happen to us. We better go back and tell them that there's plenty of food for everybody. So, they came back to the wall of Samaria and the guard was up there pacing back and forth looking for the Syrians, pulling his belt tight, feeling the hunger pangs. These guys called up and they said, Hey man, the Syrian camp is empty and there's plenty of food for everybody enough to feed the whole city. And so the guard ran to the king and he said, I've just received a report. The Syrian camp is empty and there's plenty of food for everybody. And the king said, It's a trap. Don't let anybody go out. Lock the gates. Those Syrians, they're sly people. They know how hungry we are so they've just pulled back into the bushes and they're hiding back in the bushes and they're waiting for us to open the gates to the city and come flooding out. And as soon as we open the gates, then they'll come pouring in and they're going to wipe us out. Don't let anybody go. Look again at the tragedy of unbelief. Here God has provided just like He promised He would, but unbelief keeps them from even partaking of God's glorious provisions. One fellow said, King, there are five horses left in town that haven't been eaten. Why don't you let five of us guys go out and we will scout around and see if we can find any of the Syrians. So the king says, Alright, go. And so these guys got on the five remaining horses in town and they went riding down toward the Jordan River and they came back in the morning and said, It's true, King, there's not a Syrian around on this side of the Jordan River. All the way to the Jordan River we found sandals and coats and stuff that they threw off so they could run faster. They're gone. And so the king said to this guy that he leaned upon, sort of his prime minister, who the day before had said to the prophet of God, If God would open windows in heaven, could such a thing be? The king says, You go down and you watch the gate as the people go in and out. So this guy went down to watch the gate and the people in their hurry and in their desire to get out trampled him to death. So the word of the prophet came to pass. He saw it, but he didn't eat it. The tragic price of unbelief. Now, Elisha's speaking to the woman whose son had been restored to life and he said, You better get out of here because there's going to be a seven-year famine in this area. And so she left and she moved down to the area of the Philistines and stayed there for seven years. Now, after the seven years, she came back from the land of the Philistines and she found that people had moved into her house and onto her property and taken over her land. Now, it so happened that the king at this time was talking with Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, and Gehazi was telling him all of the miracles that Elisha had performed. And the woman was coming to the king and going to seek that he give her her land back and all. And so Gehazi was telling her about this woman that had this son and how the son died and was healed and all. And at the same time, she came up to the king to see if she could get her land back. And Gehazi said, as the Lord liveth, this is the woman. This is her. This is the one I was telling you about. And so the king inquired, this is the boy. This is the boy that was healed and all. It was dead and is healed. And so, the king had her land restored to her plus all of the fruits from the field from the time that she had left. Now, Elisha came to Damascus. Now, up into the area of Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria who was very sick. And they told Ben-Hadad that Elisha has come on up. So, he sent Haziel. Now, you'll remember that last week as we were studying Elijah's flight down to Mount Horeb when he was hiding in the cave and the Lord said, what are you doing here, Elijah? Elijah said, I've been jealous for God and they have broken your covenant and they've broken down your alders and they've killed your prophets and I'm the only one left. The Lord said, no, what are you doing here? He's doing nothing. And God says, now look, get out of here. Go up to Damascus and anoint Haziel to be king over Syria. Now, this is some time later. Elisha is up in Syria and the king, Ben-Hadad, is sick. And he sends Haziel, the one that Elijah had anointed to be the king over Syria, he sent him to Elisha to inquire whether or not the king was going to recover from this illness. And so, Haziel came to Elisha and he said, the king wants to know if he's going to recover from the illness. And Elisha just stood staring at him. And he said, well, what's wrong? And he said, well, he said, the king will surely recover from the illness, but he's going to die. And he kept staring at him. And he began to weep. And Haziel was very uncomfortable. So, he said, why are you weeping, my Lord? And he answered because he said, I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You're going to set their strongholds on fire. Their young men will you slay with a sword and you will dash their children and rip up the pregnant women. And Haziel said, am I a dog? That I should do these horrible things? And Elisha answered, the Lord hath showed me that you're going to be the king over Syria. Now, again, here is that marvelous spiritual insight as Elisha could see what the future held, what this man, Haziel, was going to be doing to the children of Israel. This is much like when Jesus was on the Mount of Olives and He was looking at Jerusalem on the day of His triumphant entry. And as He began to weep, He said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if you'd only known what belonged to your peace in this day. It's hid from your eyes. And now, desolation is going to come. Your children are going to be slain in the streets. And He was weeping as He could see what lay in store for this city that was before Him as He was there on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city. He could see the devastation that was coming. And He wept over it. So here the prophet Elisha could see what this man was going to do. The horrible devastation. The atrocities. And He began to weep. And of course, the guy was embarrassed. He said, am I a dog that I would do these kind of things? He said, the Lord has shown me you are going to be the king over Syria. Well, he went back to Ben Hadad and he said, what did the prophet say? And he said, the prophet said, you would surely recover from this illness. But he took a wet blanket and he smothered Ben Hadad. And Haziel became the king over Syria. Now in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat, then being the king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah began to reign. So here's where you've got these two Jehorams reigning. One is the son of Ahab. The other is the son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat and Ahab were sort of co-conspirators. They were friends and perhaps they decided to name their sons the same names. He was 32 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel because he actually married the daughter of Ahab. And thus the idolatries in all of the northern kingdom were now introduced into Judah, the southern kingdom through Jehoram. He was a wicked, evil king and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. But the Lord would not destroy Judah for David's sake. Now in his days the Edomites revolted against Judah. And he came down to smite them but he himself was put to flight by the Edomites. And then Libna joined in the revolt against Judah. And Jehoram slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. Now Ahaziah would be then a relationship to Ahab and Jezebel. He's sort of the grandson. And in the twelfth year of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, did Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, begin to reign. He was 22 years old. When he began to reign, he reigned only for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a wicked woman. She was the daughter of Omri, the king of Israel. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. And he went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, to the war against Hazael, the king of Syria, and Ramoth Gilead and the Syrians wounded Jehoram. And king Jehoram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given to him when he fought against Hazael, the king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel because he was sick. And so, Azahiah went up to see the king to sort of comfort him in his sickness. Now, next week we will pick up at chapter 9 and we will move on as these two kings are assassinated as they are visiting there. And so, Jehu becomes the king over Israel and a new king over Judah. So, we stand. David said, Thy word have I hid in my heart, O Lord, that I might not sin against Thee. Also, the entrance of Thy word giveth light. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. And may God enrich Your knowledge of Himself through the study of His word. And may we learn the value of commitment to God. And may we learn the dangers of unbelief. May God teach us through the word how to walk with Him in faith. And may God grant to us spiritual insights. In these days to come especially, in which evil days are going to wax worse and worse, if you don't have spiritual insight, you're going to be going under. May God grant to you that spiritual insight that you can see behind the scenes. You can see what the others aren't seeing. That you can see that God is working and that His hand is actually in these things that are transpiring and God is bringing to pass His will and His purposes for Jesus is coming very soon. And may God grant to you great spiritual insight as we move into this dark period of the history of the United States. May you be sustained by the power of the Spirit and by the hope that is ours through the word of God.