"Take A Chance And Surrender"

“Take a Chance and Surrender”

II Kings 7:3-8

2KI 7:3 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.

INTRODUCTION

• This is a rather obscure Scripture but it gives us a powerful message this morning.

• The four lepers show us three directions we can possibly take in our spiritual lives:

I. RETREAT {vs 4}

4 If we say, `We’ll go into the city’--the famine is there, and we will die.

• One of their options was to go back into the city…but there were serious consequences that awaited them if they did so

• Also this morning, if we choose to backwards in our spiritual life, serious consequences await us as well

1. FAMINE

 Nothing can make your life more dry and unfulfilling than going backwards spiritually

2. FATALITIES

 A spiritual death awaits people who choose to go backwards

• How do we “retreat” or go backwards in our relationship with God?

We pick up old sins we have previously been forgiven of

We pick up old habits that slowly chip away at our spiritual lives

We de-emphasize our personal devotional life

Going to church regularly is not a priority anymore

II. REMAIN {vs 3, 4}

3 …They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4 …And if we stay here, we will die.

• The could have chosen to stay right where they were but that also would have resulted in certain death

• Friend, when we choose to stay right where we are spiritually, we can expect certain spiritual death

Someone gave a sundial to a group of people in the jungle. They regarded it as a fetish and wanted to keep it holy, so they built a house over it to keep it safe. This of course, kept the sun away from it. They had rendered it useless by trying to protect it. They honored the sundial, but they made it of no practical use. That’s how many people regard Christianity. It has become something they have enclosed within the beautiful walls and stained glass windows of cathedrals. But, far worse, they also wall off their Christianity from their own individual daily lives.

III. RUN {vs 4-8}

4 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.

• The lepers decided to take a chance and proceed to the camp of the Arameans

• What will we find if we take a chance and proceed and move on in our spiritual lives?

1. Security (5-7)

 The lepers weren’t sure what the future would hold when they took the action they took…but God intervened!