The document summarizes the biblical account of the siege of Samaria by the Arameans in 2 Kings 7. It describes how a famine caused people in Samaria to resort to cannibalism. Four lepers discover the Aramean camp abandoned and share the news with the king, ending the famine. The author draws parallels between this story and spiritual salvation, noting how unbelievers are spiritually dead but can be saved by believing the gospel message and sharing it with others. Belief in the gospel is urgent as those who reject it will face eternal punishment at the final judgment.

3. 24 Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered
all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great
famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head
was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s
dung for five shekels of silver.
- 2 Kings 6:24-25 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Siege of Samaria —
Cannibalism

7. 1 Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord,
‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a
shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of
Samaria.’” 2 The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning
answered the man of God and said, “Behold, if the Lord should make
windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold, you
will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.”
- 2 Kings 7:1-2 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Siege of Samaria

8. 3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they
said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We
will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and
if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to the
camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we
will but die.”
- 2 Kings 7:3-4 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers of
Samaria

9. 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of
our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
- Ephesians 2:1-3 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers of
Samaria

10. 5 They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they
came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no
one there. 6 For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a
sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army,
so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired
against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to
come upon us.” 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left
their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it
was, and fled for their life.
- 2 Kings 7:5-7 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Arameans Flee
Samaria

11. 8 When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one
tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and
clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another
tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.
- 2 Kings 7:8 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

12. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us
alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised
us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing
riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus
- Ephesians 2:4-7 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers of
Samaria

13. 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been
buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in
newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness
of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
- Romans 6:3-5 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

14. 9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a
day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light,
punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the
king’s household.”
- 2 Kings 7:9 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

17. 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How
beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
- Romans 10:15 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

18. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under
compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.
- 1 Corinthians 9:16 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

19. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
- Isaiah 61:1 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

20. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about
preaching the word.
- Acts 8:4 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Four Lepers Are Saved

21. It happened just as the man of God had spoken
- 2 Kings 7:18 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Invitation

22. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who
afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well
when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty
angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not
know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Invitation

23. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who
judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
- John 12:48 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Invitation

24. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that
each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to
what he has done, whether good or bad.
- 2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB
THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Invitation