14 Lucky Lepers

Sermon: 14 Lucky Lepers November 22, 2009

Scripture Ref:

II Kings 7:1-11 & Luke 17:11-19 & James 1:17 & I Corinthians 4:7

This morning I want us to look at 2 PASSAGES of SCRIPTURE as we TAKE NOTE to the TRUTH that the LORD is the SOURCE of ALL GOOD THINGS in OUR LIVES.

II Kings 7:1-11 ‘Then ELISHA said, Hear ye the word of the LORD, Thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, & two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of GOD, & said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this be? & he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shall not eat thereof. & there were 4 leprous men at the entering of the gate: & they said one to another, ‘Why sit we here until we die? If we say, we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, & we shall die there, & if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, & let us fall host unto the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live, but if they kill us, we shall but die.‘ & they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians, & when they were come unto the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, & a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host, and they said one to another, ‘Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites & the Egyptians, to come upon us.’ Therefore they arose & fled into the twilight, & left their tents & their horses & their asses, even the camp as it was, & fled for their life. & when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat & drink, & carried thence silver & gold & raiment, & went & hid it, & came again, & entered into another tent& carries thence also, & went & hid it. Then, they said one to another, ‘We do not well, this day is a day of good tidings, & we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us, now therefore come, that we may go & tell the king’s household. So they came & called unto the porter of the city; & they told them saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians & behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, & asses tied, & the tens as they were. & he called the porters & they told it to the king’s house within,’

Luke 17:11-19 ‘& it came to pass, as HE went to Jerusalem, that HE passed through the midst of Samaria & Galilee. & as HE entered into a certain ship, there met HIM 10 men that were lepers, which stood afar off. & they lifted up their voices & said, JESUS, MASTER, have mercy on us. & when HE saw them, HE said unto them, ‘Go show yourselves unto your priests, & it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. & one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, & with a loud voice, glorified GOD. & fell down on his face at HIS feet. Giving HIM thanks, & he was a Samaritan. & JESUS said, ‘Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the 9?’ There are not found that returned to give glory to GOD, save this stranger, & HE said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole.’

James 1:17 ‘Every good gift & every perfect gift is from above, & comes down from the FATHER of LIGHTS, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’

I Corinthians 4:7 b ‘…. & what has thou that thou did not receive? Now if thou did receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou had not received it?’

Introduction:

I am using for a THOUGHT this morning: 14 LUCKLY LEPERS:

I will ADMIT that this is NOT a very SPIRITUAL SOUNDING TITLE for the MESSAGE this morning, but I’m using it to MAKE a POINT. {At least I am HOPING it will make a POINT.}

Actually, it is NOT the TITLE I would CHOOSE for these 2 STORIES but it is the TITLE that PERHAPS many people would USE to DESCRIBE these 14 LEPERS who we just read about.