Sermon by Jory Leong @ SSMC Sunday Celebration, 17 Nov 2013. Continuing series on "nameless nobodies in the Bible"

1. When God promises
2 Kings 6:24-7:19

2. Date:
Offender’s name:
Offender’s status:
Number of victims:
Crime:
Reason:
February 1960
Yi Wucheng
Poor Peasant
Four
Exhumed the victims’ corpses
and consumed the flesh
To survive

3. Date:
Offender’s name:
Victim’s name:
Relationship with
offender:
Crime:
Reason:
February 25, 1960
Yang Zhongseng
Yang Ecshun
Younger brother
Killing and eating victim
To survive

4. Date:
Offender’s name:
Punishment:
Crime:
Reason:
November 30, 1960
Wang Ziyou
One ear chopped off,
both legs tied with iron wire,
10-kilogram stone dropped on his
back, branded with sizzling tool
Digging up a potato to eat
To survive

6. When God promises
2 Kings 7:1-4
1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord.
This is what the Lord says: About this time
tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for
a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel
at the gate of Samaria.”
2 The officer on whose arm the king was
leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if
the Lord should open the floodgates of the
heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it
with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you
will not eat any of it!”

7. When God promises
2 Kings 7:1-4
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.”

8. 2 Kings 6:24-7:19
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Samaria under siege by Aramean army
Terrible famine gripped the city
Food became scarce
Resorted to cannibalism
Elisha prophesied of God’s providence
King’s officer doubted
Scene shifts to four lepers at city gate

9. 2 Kings 6:24-7:19



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Lepers ostracised because of leprosy
Asked themselves: “Why stay here until
we die?”
Weighed their options
Decided to enter Aramean camp
Aramean army fled in fear
Left all their food and supplies

10. 2 Kings 6:24-7:19




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
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Lepers filled their stomach & pockets
Returned to Samaria to inform the King
King sent messengers to check out
Messengers confirmed situation
Israelites rushed out to get food & supplies
Doubting officer trampled to death
Famine ends as prophesied

11. When God promises
2 Kings 6:24-7:19
1. God
made a PROMISE
2. Lepers made a CHOICE

12. God made a PROMISE
Promise Made - 2 Kings 7:1
"Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is
what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a
seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and
two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of
Samaria.”
Promise Fulfilled - 2 Kings 7:18
"It happened as the man of God had said to the
king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the
finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of
barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

13. Russell Herman

15. Conditional
Unconditional

16. Because He is…..
TRUTHFUL
Numbers 23:19 “God is not
human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he
should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not
act? Does he promise and
not fulfill?”

17. Because He is…..
Hebrews 10:23 “Let
us hold unswervingly
to the hope we
profess, for he who
promised is faithful.”
TRUTHFUL
FAITHFUL

18. Because He is…..
TRUTHFUL
1 John 4:8-9
FAITHFUL
“8 Whoever does not
love does not know
LOVING
God, because God is
love. 9 This is how God showed his love
among us: He sent his one and only Son into
the world that we might live through him.”

19. Because He is…..
Psalm 103:19
“The Lord has
established his throne
in heaven, and his
kingdom rules over
all.”
TRUTHFUL
FAITHFUL
LOVING
POWERFUL

20. Russell Carter
(1849-1926)

23. Lepers made a CHOICE
v.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?”
Options
A. Enter the city
Consequence?
Die
B. Remain at the gate
C. Go to Aramean camp
Live?

24. Lepers made a CHOICE
Faced facts
Made a choice
Moved forward
Acted in faith?

26. When God promises
2 Kings 6:24-7:19
1. God
made a PROMISE
2. Lepers made a CHOICE

30. “I'll walk with you
Wherever you go
Through tears and joy
I'll trust in you
And I will live
In all of your ways
And your promises forever”