2 Kings 7:3-17, Report the gospel in despair

2 Kings 7:3-17, Report the gospel in despair

3-17,
3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, `We'll go into the city' -- the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die." 5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. 9 Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." 10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there -- not a sound of anyone -- only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were."  11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.  12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, `They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.'" 13 One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here -- yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened."  14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has happened." 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the LORD had said. 17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.

  There are four lepers in despair(3-4). They are unclean and expelled from the community. The city was surrounded by the enemy Syrian army. Now they have nothing to eat. There are three choices for them. 1) Abandonment - Stay and die. 2) Go into the castle - die there. 3) surrender to the Syrian army - die or live (50%).  They decided to surrender to the Syrian army and entered the Syrian camp (5). This is a life act. However, there was no army there, and there were only objects and donkeys left. In their desperate determination to live their lives, they meet the gospel (life is gained). They ate and drank. And they decide to announce this good news to the Israel palace (9). They go and proclaim the gatekeepers (10). Eventually it is delivered to the palace. And all the people are free from despair and hopefully have life.

   Humans are in despair because of sin. Look to God of power with faith and hope. The cross is the greatest despair. But through the cross of Jesus, mankind was saved. Let us preach this gospel to all the world. Whoever believes in Jesus, he will salvation.
2 Timothy 4: 2 (Preach the Word, prepared in season and out of season)

1. There is a way to live in despair (3, 4).
The Syrian army took their lives and ran away. God left his way to the lepers. They chose the third of the three choices. It is the way they live. God leaves a way to live no matter how we fall in despair.

2. The Almighty God is the only help in miracle in despair(Ps. 46:1, 6-7).
  The Syrian army fled after hearing the sound of the hats (chariots, horses, and large army) sent by God. * Moab's army: seeing the water with blood and defeat (2Ki 3: 20-27),
  In the end, leprosy patients experience the grace of God in despair and become the ones who preach the gospel. The Almighty God comes and helps us in our frustrations today. The answer is not to me but to God. Do you live by your ability? Do you rely on power from above in situations of crisis? * Exodus: Israel's despair in front of the Red Sea, compare them with Moses. What is God 's help?

3. In the midst of despair, we will preach the gospel and save our neighbors
  (9-10). "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." If you lead many people to the right, they will shine forever like the stars in heaven. I bless you as saints who preach this gospel. Amen.  * Origin of the marathon