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[0:00] Who art thyself the God, the only Lord God, the creator of all things, and the sustainer of all things, the ruler of all things.

[0:31] Help us this day, we pray thee, to come into thy presence with a due sense of what thou art, what thou hast made thyself known to be.

[0:48] Not only as the great and omnipotent creator, but also and especially as the God of all grace.

[1:04] Amen. Able and willing to meet thy creatures in order to supply their needs according to thy riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

[1:24] May we this day be conscious of thy greatness and thy goodness, thy graciousness towards the undeserving and the ill-deserving, yea, the hell-deserving.

[1:47] We beseech of thee to send thy light forth with thy truth, that we may be guided to thyself in order to worship thee in the beauty of holiness.

[2:06] Rending unto thee what is thy praise and glory and honor and majesty, world without end.

[2:21] And to this end give unto us thy blessed spirit to work mightily in us, instructing us in the things that pertain to thee, giving us the knowledge of the holy.

[2:48] And renewing us in the spirit of our mind to behold and appreciate the revelation thou givest of thyself in the sure word of the gospel, that our soul may go out unto thee in adoration and gratitude.

[3:14] Yea, that we may be enabled to pour out our heart unto thee, confessing our sins and imploring thy mercy and exalting thee for the certainty of that mercy to all who call upon thee in truth.

[3:39] For whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Leave us not to ourselves we beseech of thee.

[3:52] We are so ignorant and so dark, so far off from righteousness, so self-centered, that if left to ourselves, the most we can do is please ourselves.

[4:07] O Lord save us from this and give us to understand increasingly that our chief end should be not to please ourselves, not to please our fellow creatures, but to be pleasing unto the Lord.

[4:34] For this is what will abide. Everything else will pass. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

[4:47] And he that doeth the will of God is well pleasing unto God. Save us from the folly and the fallacy of thinking that we can be well pleasing to thee as we are of ourselves.

[5:06] And give us more and more to deserve the truth of that scripture doctrine that declares that in order to be pleasing to God, we must be pleasing to him in Jesus Christ.

[5:27] For it is in Christ Jesus that the saints are perfect. It is in him they are well pleasing unto the Father.

[5:40] And we pray that this may be our concern. To be found in him. To be found in him.

[5:53] Not having your own righteousness which is of the law. But the righteousness which is through the faith of Jesus Christ. The righteousness which is of God by faith.

[6:09] And only as we stand righteous in thy presence. Can we be pleasing to thee. Only as our persons are accepted.

[6:21] Can our service be accepted. In Christ Jesus. Bless us each one we pray.

[6:33] According to our varied needs. Grant that our soul may be conscious of thy presence among us. Kindling.

[6:45] In our heart. For that glowing affection. Which characterizes those who are thine and who are exercised in thy ways.

[7:01] And only thine own presence can do this. Grant then that despite our unworthiness thou wouldst be pleased to be with us.

[7:13] To dwell among us. To walk among us. To walk among us. According to thy promise. Bless thy word this day whenever it is proclaimed.

[7:25] Accompany it with thy power. And crown it with thy blessing. That there may be fruit unto holiness. The end of which will be life everlasting.

[7:38] Lord remembers. Not only as individuals. Not only as a people. But also as a generation.

[7:51] Oh that thou wouldst look upon the earth in compassion. That thou wouldst bring to naught the evil counsels of men. That thou wouldst make known the power of thy right hand.

[8:07] In turning the wicked to thyself. In repentance which shall never be repented of. Give wisdom to those in authority to rule in thy fear.

[8:22] Remembering that they are accountable unto thee. O Lord grant that the day may come.

[8:33] When rulers and rulers will have the fear of the Lord in their heart. And be actuated by that principle in all things.

[8:47] Be with all who are denied our privileges. Do thou comfort and sustain them. And restore them to health as that is in accordance with thy purpose.

[8:58] Take away our sins and accept of us in Christ. And thou shalt have the praise. Amen. And we may now consider as we shall be enabled.

[9:10] Words you will find in the chapter we read together. The second book of Kings. Chapter seven. As the third verse.

[9:26] Second Kings chapter seven. Reading from verse three.

[9:39] And there were four leprous men. At the entering in of the gate. And they said one to another.

[9:50] Why sit we here until we die? If we say we will enter into the city. Then the famine is in the city. And we shall die there.

[10:02] And if we sit still here. We die also. Now therefore come. And let us all unto the host of the Syrians.

[10:13] If they save us alive. We shall live. And if they kill us. We shall but die.

[10:26] And so on. We may consider this whole incident. Of the three of the four leprous men.

[10:42] And how it fared with them. The historical setting.

[10:59] Is one of those times. In which Israel.

[11:10] In which Israel. Had proved disobedient. Or rather in this case. Judah had proved disobedient unto the Lord. And was being chastised.

[11:24] For their disobedience. Through the instrumentality of the Syrians. The Syrians. The Syrians.

[11:35] Had laid siege. To the city. And matters were getting worse and worse.

[11:46] The besiegers couldn't hold out. Much. Longer. Hammon was stuck in the streets.

[12:00] The morale of the people was low. And was but a matter of time. And a short time. And a short time.

[12:12] At that. Until. They would be compelled. To capitulate. But if the condition of those within the city.

[12:25] Was bad. Hmm. It was even worse. With the lepers men. Who were outside the city. There may. There might still be a little left.

[12:38] In the city. But there was nothing at all. For the lepers. For at best. They had to exist. On the leaving. Of others. Hmm.

[12:49] And due to their circumstances. These four leperous men. Are compelled. To consider. To consider. The. The. The.

[13:00] The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The.

[13:11] The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. Our.

[13:22] The. The. The. The. The. It. The. The. The. The.

[13:33] The. прим. The. The. The. The. Was. The. The.

[13:44] History. This. The. That was the question. What could they do? Well, they soon discovered and discussed that there were only three courses of action open to them, none of which seemed very promising.

[14:17] If we go into the city, there's nothing there. The famine is in the city, as the famine is outside of the city.

[14:34] If we stay here, we die also. If we go to the camp of Desiree, we'll be able to die.

[14:50] And that in ordinary circumstances would be a very dangerous course to adopt. But in the present circumstances, it is the only one that offers the least hope of success.

[15:10] If we go to the Syrians, if we fall to the Syrians, they may kill us. It is very likely that they will. But on the other hand, they may not.

[15:26] They may save us alive. And even at the worst, they can but kill us. And that is what is staring us in the face, whichever way we look.

[15:45] Stark death. Now, like wise men, they took the course that offered some success.

[16:04] At least, the possibility of success. notice at this juncture, it is their own condition that is pressing hard upon them.

[16:23] they are compelled by their circumstances to do something.

[16:36] It is not that they are attracted to the Syrians. It is not that they would take that course if they had another alternative with some hope of success.

[17:00] But their own misery presses upon them. The pangs of hunger demand an answer. Hence, hence, they are compelled to adopt this course.

[17:23] And of course, having come to a conclusion, they take action. And however, fearfully, they make their way in the twilight to the camp of the Syrians.

[17:51] It was twilight with them in more than one sense. Certainly, their prospects were not bright. They were anything but.

[18:06] Nor were they altogether hopeless for the Syrians might show them mercy. It was a twilight condition.

[18:24] And in that twilight they went their way till they came to the camp.

[18:40] And lo, what a surprise! if there ever was a situation that seemed too good to be true, it was this one.

[18:58] When they expected to find their enemies ready to fall upon them, they find an empty camp. That is, a camp denuded of defenders.

[19:13] An open camp, but not empty of the things that they needed. Everything was there as if it had been prepared for their immediate and special need.

[19:29] The tents were full of food, and more than food, full of treasure as well. What a surprise!

[19:44] How unexpected it all was! They had never dreamed of this. The best that they had hoped for was a little food to appease their hunger.

[20:02] yea, the most that they had hoped for was that they would not be put to death. But how different everything is from the picture that they had formed of it.

[20:19] Here they have pledged and have it for the day. They haven't to ask anybody to leave. They can help themselves to all and more than they need.

[20:37] know, when they had considered how things had fallen out with them, they think of others.

[20:56] They think of those in the city where the famine is killing its thousands. And they say, we do not well to hold our peace this day.

[21:13] For this is a day of glad tidings. We do not well to hold our peace. Let us go and tell the king's household.

[21:27] So that is what they do. And again the news is received with skepticism.

[21:40] The king especially sees a plot in the door. He puts it down to the cunning of the Syrians to employ such a strategy as this to capture the city.

[22:05] In his sight also it was too good to be true. But it turned out to be exactly as the leprous men had said. And according to the prophecy of the man of God that very day there was enough food in the city of Samaria barley and wheat were sold for a reason of some the relief was sudden and great.

[22:56] But if the situation is not devoid of tragedy there is the man who has the temerity to question the verity of the man of God.

[23:10] how can this be? That same man saw as the man of God had foretold he saw this being realized but he wasn't able to partake of it.

[23:33] He was trodden to death in the gate of the city. Now that is the historical story. The historical incident as told by the pop.

[23:48] Now in turning into account we may take the lepros men as typical of those who are in dire straits.

[24:06] and to see no sure way of escape. Now the mystery of these men is twofold.

[24:24] They are leprous and they are hungry. but at the time brought before us in the narrative it is their hunger that is uppermost in their gods.

[24:53] It is of their hunger they are more painfully conscious than even of their leprosy. now from the historical point of view to revert to that the only thing to make the story perfect the only thing lacking in the story what would make the story perfect is that these leprous men would have been healed.

[25:28] They got food but they were still leprous their condition for the moment was better but at last they had to take up again the isolated existence of the leper.

[25:56] But when we turn to what this prefigure or at least when we turn to what this may be taken as an allegory of we find that those entire strains have to contend like these lepers with leprousy and hunger.

[26:23] and at times the thought of the one may be uppermost in their thinking at other times the thought of the other may take precedence.

[26:48] leprousy and hunger what an over combination. But when we look at man as he is in and of himself in a fallen state he is in this condition he is leprous he is polluted he is unclean he has been driven out from the presence of God he is separated from all that is holy and his cry ought to be unclean unclean but he is also in a state in which he is dying of want whether he knows it or not in one sense he is dead of ghost in another sense he is dying dying of want on his way to the second death man and this may be the case while he himself is unconscious of it but it is one of the blessings that come through the word of

[28:51] God that men and women are made conscious of their position and condition and condition but they are brought to realize in some measure that they are indeed dying of hunger this was the consciousness uppermost with the prodigal son when he came to himself saying how many hired servants there are of my fathers who have bread enough unto spare while I die of hunger I will arise and go to my father dying of hunger it is a blessing to be made aware of this to be brought into circumstances and states where we have to consider a course of action what shall we do what shall we do that question lies at the very foundation of all true religion of all spiritual life in the souls of men what shall we do men and brethren what shall we do that's the cry we hear on the day of pentagos the cry that is always connected with the descent of the spirit what shall we do it is a blessed thing to be brought to a condition in which we have to think and to think seriously and to think scripturally he came to himself that is another way of saying he began to think there were thoughts arising in his heart he was being made to remove the past and to face the future in a bleak present what shall we do if we stay here we die that is as certain as God's truth can make if we go back to inform and unconcern we die also what shall we do

[32:10] I will arise let us let us go who knows but God may be merciful who knows now there are some who would say that such thinking is unnecessary that one are to go to go to God boldly not considering the past or the future but that reason it fails to take account of sin no one who has been taught what sin is what his or her own sin is can heedlessly and unthinkingly dare to come into the presence to come to come into the presence of God is to be ignorant of it all together as sin it necessarily follows that the man who is convinced of sin is convinced also inevitably and naturally of his own unworthiness his own unfitness to draw near unto

[34:12] God there are many considerations pressing upon his mind arguing oh no it is not for you to draw near to God it is not for the like of you to call upon his name and the adversary knows well how to use all those weapons he knows well how to discourage the soul that is dying of hunger that is ready to perish nevertheless the question still remains what shall we do and as the question remains so the teaching of

[35:22] God continues in the soul in the soul and notice what is what makes this situation what it is it's not that the soul is attracted to God but that he has to consider him that he is compelled to consider him yea that this is the very question that is basic to all his thinking his relationship to God what shall he do in relation to God that is the question now through the teaching of God spirit that this soul is led to God himself and what does he find there he finds the greatest surprise of his life the greatest surprise a person can have this side of the grave he discovers that

[36:46] God is merciful for the soul that God brings to himself discovers the mercy of God and when he expects judgment to fall upon him he is ushered into the planet the super abounding planet of God's mercy in Christ here he draws his breath glory glory of God's grace here he bows down to worship in adoration wonder wonder and gratitude here he exhales the name of the

[38:00] Lord for his mercy and for his wonderful works done unto the sons of men why he satisfies the loving soul and the hungry soul he fills with goodness it is not a meager provision that God has made for sinners for his own it is the fullness that he uses himself he places at their disposal the same eat my friends drink my beloved healing none to hinder you eat and drink and water my lashes me indeed and my blood is drink indeed here is our fullness over flowing fullness to meat more than meat all their hunger all their desire after sustenance to live and to live unto

[40:01] God in the case of the lepros we remarked that was the end of their story that is they found provision for their wants but the soul that has led to God in Christ finds more there is here healing for his deceased for as the blood of Christ is drink indeed so also it cleanses from all sin if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses from all sins as he fills their mouth with good things so he healeth their diseases this has begun recovery but the healing of the disease is not to make them unconscious of it the healing of the disease begins by making them more conscious of it making them realize that they are indeed deceased but that

[41:49] God's provision is sufficient for all their needs in all their depth in all that multitude here is provision full free and sufficient here is all they need and all that they can decide hence they are given a testimony they are the witnesses of God that he is what he says is and they do not well to hold their peace they may be reticent as far as words are concerned but here after their whole life not their words merely and not their words particularly but their whole life will be a witness to the fullness of

[43:13] God's provision in person of son they cannot but bear testimony to what they have seen and heard we do not well and sometimes this testimony takes the form of which the psalmist speaks when he says come come on the lost does have destroyed what do we know of the glad hides what do we know of Christ Jesus born in our own soul through the spirit that is the question that is the question that abides that is the question the answer to which determines infallibly our eternity it is true that

[44:43] God is gracious it is true that he meets with his grace all who come unto him by Jesus Christ it is true that he is eternally glorified and showed mercy all all these propositions that's true but what do we know of them what do we know of his mercy can we join the psalmist when he says God's mercy I will ever sing and with my mouth I shall thy faithfulness make to be known two generations all let us pray oh Lord be merciful to us according to the riches of thy grace the multitudes of thy loving kindness enlighten us in the knowledge of thy name for none other can enlighten us and we need to be enlightened this knowledge if we have to put out trust in thee for only those who trust thy only those who know thy name put their trust in thee lift lift lift upon us the light of thy countenance bless thy word to our heart take away all our iniquities and receive us graciously for

[46:25]  Christ's sake amen to