Trust God Not Fear – 8

Trust God Not Fear – 8

Subject – Why Sit There Until You Die

by Rick Welborne

2 Kings 7:1‑4 (NLT) 

1 Elisha replied, “Listen to this message from the LORD! This is what the LORD says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, five quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.” 

2 The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, “That couldn’t happen even if the LORD opened the windows of heaven!” But Elisha replied, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!” 

3 Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. 

4 “We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.” 

1. Things can be better for you.

–You don’t understand, Pastor, I am a leper...I am an outcast...I am separated from my loved ones...I have an incurable sickness...an incurable addiction...I am a loser. I am afraid of Covid 19.

–I may be surrounded by people, by family, by your church but if everyone knew my dirty little secrets no one would accept me...I am a lost cause. Leprosy hurts.

–Maybe you have had words spoken to you or over you that have found a resting place in your heart and you know you will never be anything but a leper...word curses. Curses can be broken!

–You have it bad (you think) but listen to how bad it was for the people of Samaria...Ben Hadad had the city besieged and everyone was starving.

2 Kings 6:25‑30 (NLT) 

25 As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver. 

26 One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!” 

27 He answered, “If the LORD doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.” 

28 But then the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 

29 So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.” 

30 When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his robe next to his skin. 

–Let me caution you parents...single or married...Your decision to sit there until you die may cause your children to be devoured. The enemy targets our kids for sure.

–You can get into such a place that you can convince yourself that God has doomed you to destruction:

2 Kings 6:33 (NLT) 

33 While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king said, “All this misery is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”   

–Good News. The message from the Lord is that in just a day there can be abundance from the Lord but you must not sit there until you die. Jesus said:

John 10:10‑11 (NKJV) 

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 

–Why sit there when God is promising life and that abundantly.

John 8:36 (NKJV) 

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 

2. Why not confront your enemy.

–I wish to God that there would arise in us a spirit (Holy Spirit) that would say...this enemy of mine will be confronted and if I die, I die! Please be willing to go out fighting! Fight fear with your faith!

–What glory is there staying in the pig pen of life and just deciding this is all there is? God is looking for people who will, by His grace, overcome their fear, and finish their race.

–These four lepers need to motivate us not to accept the status quo but to realize beyond this present situation can be a glorious miracle. How will you know unless you confront your fears?

–If we stay here we die...if we go to the city we die...but let’s face our enemy and sees what happen...Paul said:

Philippians 1:19‑21 (NKJV) 

19 For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 

20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 

21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

–We need someone at the gate to put their “I know” on...I know that this will turn out for my deliverance ...whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV) 

12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. 

Job 19:25‑26 (NKJV) 

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 

26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 

Job 42:2 (NKJV) 

2 "I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 

Psalm 56:9 (NKJV) 

9 When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. 

Psalm 135:5 (NKJV) 

5 For I know that the LORD is great, And our Lord is above all gods. 

Philippians 4:11‑13 (NKJV) 

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 

12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

--It is good to know but it is better to know to the point that you will run toward your Goliath and confront your enemy with what God has put in your hands.

3. Why not be the hero of the story.

2 Kings 7:5‑11 (NLT) 

5 So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there! 

6 For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another. 

7 So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives. 

8 When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it. 

9 Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.” 

10 So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!” 

11 Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace. 

–One thing is for sure...you will never be the hero of the story if you do not get up, arise from your sitting, and face your enemy. 5 So many Christians wallow in their mess so much that they never get out. Fear.

–When they got there they did not have to face the enemy because the enemy had been confronted by the face of God. The battle is not yours but the Lord’s!

–These four were set up to be heroes because God made the enemy hear what was not there...chariots, horses, a great army. Do what you can and God will do what you can’t.

–Pastor Rick, I don’t have...I can’t because...It is not possible because...how do you know what God will or will not do? Why sit there until you die? Get up and see a miracle.

Mark 10:27 (NKJV) 

27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." 

–When God does the impossible please do not forget where your miracle came from...

--God’s deliverance and rescue of you is not all about you!

2 Kings 7:8-9 (NLT) 

8 When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it. 

9 Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.” 

–God’s miracle for you can be and should be a miracle for someone else. Why sit here until we die becomes Why sit here until they die? We have the good news!

–When Israel was being routed by their enemy...Joshua fell on his face and began to cry out...There is a time to cry out but there is a time to “Get up” and do something.

–Time to get up and get out of the boat...time to get up and face your enemy...Sounds like God was a little frustrated with Joshua:

Joshua 7:10‑13 (NKJV) 

10 So the LORD said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 

11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 

12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. 

13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: "There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you." 

–If you will be a hero for God...why sit there until you die...Get up! Get up!

--I went to the enemy’s camp and I took back what he stole from me!