Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Kings chapter 6.

Last week, we looked at this awesome story of how God protected a life. Remember the armies of the syrians came to get Elisha. They surrounded his little village.

And Elisha prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant, and his servant saw that all around them was surrounded by angels. Remember, Elisha prayed, and all of these Syrian soldiers were struck with blindness. He walked them right into the middle of Samaria, and then God opened their eyes. The king of Israel wanted to kill them. But Elisha said, "No, feed them instead." And that brought about a period of peace.

Well, that piece didn't last very long because in this story, the Syrian army is back. This time, they are surrounding not Elisha, but they are surrounding Samaria. They're surrounding the capital city of Israel.

I think we are going to see two different types of foolishness in this story. Unfortunately, they are still two common types of foolishness.

The Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God’” At the heart of foolishness is a disbelief of God. We're going to see that tonight in our story.

So are you in 2 Kings chapter 6? Let's start reading in verse number 24.

24 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
27 And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
28 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.
29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.
30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.
31 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
2 Kings 6:24-31 (KJV)

The first kind of folly that we're going to talk about is

The folly of a practical half-hearted religion.

We see this in the king whose name is Joram. By the way, he's not named in this passage, but it's King Joram. He's the son of Ahab and Jezebel.

Samaria, the city, is surrounded. It's under siege. And because of that, everybody inside is starving to death.

This has always been a common war tactic. If you can cut off your enemy's food source, if you can cut off their water source, they're not going to last very long. And that's what the Syrians do to Israel here. They cut off the city of Samaria. So you have all these people inside that can't get out and they can't get food. And it becomes a very, very desperate and terrible situation.

And to show us how desperate it is, the Bible gives us this story: King Joram is going for a walk along the city walls, and he meets some ladies who are in a desperate way. They ask for his help. And he says, "I can't help you. There's no food. There's no wine. God, that's God's department. I can't help you. But what do you need?"

And they tell them what happened. They say, "We both have sons, me and this woman both have sons, and we made an agreement that we were going to boil and eat my son yesterday, and today we're going to boil and eat her son." And I killed my son, but she's refusing to kill her son.

Can you imagine a more desperate and terrible thing that mothers are killing and eating their own children? This has happened before in history. There are stories of this happening in the Ukraine in the 1920s, where people were so desperate for food that children started to disappear.

And Joram is just heartbroken by this, and he immediately rips his clothes. He doesn't offer to help but he rips his clothes and as he's running away in tears, people can look up and they can see that Joram is wearing sackcloth.

Now, in that day, if you wore sackcloth like that, that was a sign, an outward sign, that you were repenting. What this means for us is that Joram was going through the motions of repenting. He saw this famine and he was trying in his own way to seek God.

But when he hears this awful story from these two women, he says, "You know what? I am gonna get Elisha. I am gonna kill Elisha. This is his fault. I'm going to take his head off.”

It's almost like a king is saying, "You know what? I tried religion, I tried following God, and it didn't work. It didn't work, so I'm against this."

And there are so many people out there that this is their testimony: "I used to go to church. I used to try to be involved in a local church. I tried religion, and it didn't work for me. So now I'm completely against religion."

But that's not a heart of true repentance. That's not a heart that's truly bowing itself before the Lord. That's somebody that's trying an experiment. That's somebody that's tipping their little toes in the pool, not somebody that's diving in.

And what King Joram in this story shows us is that if you're going to repent, you need to repent all the way down and you need to trust the Lord with all your heart.

We'll come back to King Joram in a minute, but I want to keep reading and I want to see the second kind of folly in this story, which is

The folly of a cynical heart that doubts God's Word.

Let's pick up in verse 32 and read down through verse number two of chapter seven.

32 But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?
33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?
1 Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
2 Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
2 Kings 6:32-7:2 (KJV)

So the king has vowed that he's going to take Elisha's head off. At this point Elisha is sitting in his house and he's got a bunch of elders, a bunch of leaders around him. He tells them, "Guess what, the king is going to send somebody to take away my head. Listen, he's going to send a messenger and when he sends the messenger, you guys need to not let him in, don't let him in because guess what? The king is going to be right behind him."

While he's saying that the messenger comes and right on his heels comes the king. The king says, "This evil is of the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?"

Now remember the folly of half-hearted religion, the folly of practical religion. The king is saying, "I tried this thing. I waited on God and God allowed this evil to come into my life, so why should I wait for the Lord anymore?"

His heart was never really in it in the first place.

And so Elisha offers him an amazing prophecy, an amazing word from the Lord. He says, "Listen, tomorrow at this time you're going to you're gonna be able to buy a sack of flour for a shekel and two sacks of barley for a shekel, right in Samaria.”

Now I didn't cover this but in the scripture that we read earlier, it had gotten so bad that people were buying donkey heads and cups of pigeon manure for exorbitant amounts of money. They were eating donkey heads and pigeon manure. That's all you could buy. Elisha says, "No, tomorrow you're going to be able to buy a sack of flour for a decent price and two sacks of barley for a decent price right here in Samaria."

Now in that group of leaders that were with Elisha, there is one man who is especially close to the king and he says something like, "Well even if God opened the windows of heaven, that couldn't happen."

If the King was a practical half-hearted false believer, then this man is a cynical doubting false believer. Even though Elisha has always been right, even though every single one of his predictions has come true, even though these people seeing God do miracle after miracle, He still just cannot bring Himself to believe that God can do this.

And so Elisha says to him, "Listen, you're going to see it but you're not going to get to partake in it. You're going to see what God does but you're not going to get to have a part in it."

Now listen, this guy was not an unbeliever. He was in the room with Elisha. He was one of the leaders, the religious leaders. He was one of the elders. And yet when he hears the Word of God, when he hears the promise of God, he's like, 'Hmm, can't see it. Can't see it happening. Can't believe it. Even if God opened the windows of heaven, I couldn't believe that that would ever happen.'

And I want to warn you, older men: there is a certain kind of cynicism that seeps into older religious men, where they say, "Hmm, I just can't believe. I just can't believe God's going to do anything. Never seen it before. Not going to see it again. That's too big. It couldn’t happen.” And what you become is you become a wet blanket thrown over any fire of enthusiasm.

This story teaches us about the unbelief of having this practical (well I tried it and it didn't work) kind of faith but it also warns us about another kind of unbelief. There is a settled unbelief. There is a cynical unbelief that says, "I just can't believe God could do that."

So church, are you either one of these kinds of unbelievers because both of them are religious? Both of them go through the motions. Both of them, the king had the sackcloth of repentance on. The elder was there in the room with Elisha but they just couldn't believe that God would do what he said he would do. Are you one of those? Are you a cynic? Are you somebody that's just here to dip your toes in the water but you haven't really believed?

I love how the rest of this chapter goes because we've seen this elder who should have known better and we've seen the king who should have known better. We're going to see the most unlikely people that actually show some faith.

Look at verses three and four.

3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
2 Kings 7:3-4 (KJV)

There were four lepers. Now remember, lepers is a disease that we don't really have anymore but it was a problem in Bible times. Lepers were cast out. Leprosy was a death sentence; basically you were a walking dead man for like 10 years and they were cast out of society. They had to live on charity and they're in the middle of a famine. Everybody's starving to death. These lepers had to be in a terrible way.

They're sitting there and they're like, "Well we can't go into the city. If we go to the city, they'll kill us. If we stay here we're going to starve to death." So why don't we just go to the Syrians? Why don't we go to the Syrian army? They might kill us and if they kill us we're going to be in the same boat. We're going to die here. We're going to die in the city. So let's go to the Syrian army. Maybe just maybe they'll take us in.

Can I tell you something? I like the faith that just does something, right? These lepers had their back against the wall. Everything seemed hopeless and they just refused to do nothing. They said, "If we have an option we're going to take it."

Anytime you try to do something, there are going to be people that stand up and try to pull you down. There are going to be people that say it can't be done but you know what? The world is changed by people that just try, something even if it's desperate, even if it doesn't have much of a chance of success. They just try something.

I'll give you a silly example. I think about this all the time: The town of Casey.

Casey is not in a very good spot. It's dealing with the same problems that all of the other towns around here have been dealing with. All these small towns that are isolated. The businesses are gone. There's not a lot of money coming into the town.

Do you know what the good people at Casey, somebody decided, "You know what, to get some people here, I'm gonna build a giant rocking chair." What a silly, dumb idea, right? Then they're like, "Let's do something else. Let's make giant knitting needles. Let's make a giant mailbox." And they kept building all these big things. And if you go to Casey, it's kind of amazing. They have some decent restaurants. They have a downtown. They have all of this stuff that has eluded all of the other places around here that have just decided we're going to give up and die because they tried something.

These four lepers just said we're going to do something and their desperate move was we're going to go to the Syrians. We're going to get up first thing in the morning and we're going to go to the Syrians and maybe they'll take care of us.

Let’s keep reading.

5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
6 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
8 And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.
2 Kings 7:5-8 (KJV)

Don't you just love this? They go out to the camp of the Syrians, to the army of the Syrians, and there's nobody there. God had sent a noise, God had sent fear into the Syrians. The Syrians thought they were outnumbered. They thought that Israel had gone and hired some mercenaries, that the Hittites and the Egyptians and all these other armies had come to them, and they ran for their life. They left everything: they left all their possessions, food and their drink, and their silver and their gold, and their horses and everything, and they just took off.

These lepers, they come into a ghost town. They come into this place that's just food everywhere and money everywhere, and there's not a soul to be seen, and they are just having the time of their lives.

Can you just see these guys in the tent, having a toast? Big old turkey leg in their mouth. Nobody's eaten for weeks and they're pigging out. They're just having a time, wearing the king's, the Syrian king's robes, man! Then one of them wakes up and says, "You know what? This isn't right. It's not right for us to just enjoy this thing all by ourselves. We didn't work for this. We need to share it. Look at verse 9."

9 Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.
2 Kings 7:9 (KJV)

You know these lepers didn't do anything to get this wonderful bounty. They didn't do anything to get this food. They didn't do anything to get these clothes and this gold. It was all God's doing. They were just the lucky ones that had been blessed with this thing they knew they didn't deserve and they realized, "We got to share this. We got to tell somebody else about this. This isn't right."

And what a picture this is of evangelism. If you are a saved person today, you are part of God's family, you are an inheritor of God's blessings. God has poured His goodness out on you and you did nothing for it. You are surrounded by the bounty of God's blessings and you just stumbled into it. God gave this thing to you by grace and you know what? It's not right for you to keep that to yourself. It's not right when you know there are starving people everywhere that haven't heard about this yet. You need to share that good news.

Someone said that evangelism is just starving people telling other starving people where the food is and that's what we see here in this story.

Let's go ahead and read the rest of the chapter.

10 So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.
11 And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within.
12 And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
13 And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.
14 They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.
15 And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.
16 And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
18 And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:
19 And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
20 And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.
2 Kings 7:10-20 (KJV)

So the lepers go back and they tell the gatekeepers, "Hey, nobody's out there. The camp is empty. There's food everywhere." And word gets to the king.

Now watch King Joram. Watch what he does. Verse 12 — he doesn't believe it. He says, "Oh no, this is a trap. They're hiding in the fields waiting for us to come out so they can ambush us."
Do you see the pattern? The king can't believe good news. He's been wearing the sackcloth but he never really trusted the Lord. And when God actually does something, when God actually moves, he can't even recognize it. He's so stuck in his unbelief that when the answer to his problem is literally sitting right outside the gates, he's suspicious of it.

Thank the Lord for the unnamed servant in verse 13 who says, "Well, look, we've got nothing to lose. Let's just send a couple of guys out on horses and check." And they go out and they find — the road to the Jordan is just littered with stuff. The Syrians dropped everything as they ran. Clothes and pots and supplies just scattered everywhere. It's confirmed. God did exactly what Elisha said He would do.

Verse 16 — the people go out and they plunder the camp. And look at what the Bible says: *"So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord."*

I love that phrase. According to the word of the Lord. Not "sort of close to what God said." Not "in the general ballpark." Exactly what God said would happen, happened. Down to the price. Down to the timing. Tomorrow about this time — and that's exactly when it happened.

God's Word is always fulfilled. It doesn't come back void. When God makes a promise, you can set your watch by it.

But now we come to the saddest verse in this chapter. Verse 17 — remember that lord, that elder, that cynical man who said, "Even if God opened the windows of heaven, this couldn't happen"? The king put him in charge of the gate. And when the people of Samaria heard the news and came rushing out to get food, they trampled him. They ran right over him. He died right there in the gate.

Verse 19 repeats it for us just so we don't miss the point: he saw it with his eyes, but he did not eat of it. Just like Elisha said.

What a tragic end. He saw the miracle. He saw the flour and the barley being sold for exactly the price God promised. He saw the proof that God keeps His Word. But he never got to taste it. He never got to benefit from it.

And church, that is a warning for every single one of us. You can be in the room where God's Word is preached. You can see God work. You can watch other people's lives get transformed. You can have a front-row seat to the blessings of God, and if you refuse to believe, you will see it but you will never taste it.

So let me close with this. We've seen three groups of people tonight.

We've seen a king who tried religion and quit. He put on the sackcloth. He went through the motions. But when things got hard, he turned on God's man and said, "This isn't working." And when God actually delivered, he couldn't even believe the good news. Some of you are like Joram tonight. You've been going through the motions, but your heart has never really been in it. You've been experimenting with God rather than surrendering to Him.

We've seen an elder who was too cynical to believe. He'd been around religion his whole life. He was in the room with the prophet. But he had this settled, hardened unbelief that said, "I just can't see it." And it cost him everything. He saw the blessing but he never tasted it. Some of you are like that elder. You've been in church a long time. You've heard the promises of God over and over again. But somewhere along the way, you stopped believing that God could actually do something. You became the person in the room who says, "That'll never happen."

And then we've seen four lepers who had nothing and risked everything. They weren't religious leaders. They weren't in the inner circle. They were outcasts. They were the last people you'd expect to show any faith. But they said, "Why sit we here until we die?" And they got up and they did something. And God blessed their desperate, simple faith in ways they never could have imagined.

Tonight, which one are you? Are you the half-hearted experimenter? Are you the settled cynic? Or are you willing to be like those lepers — to say, "I don't have much, but I'm not going to sit here and die. I'm going to trust God and take a step"?

And if God has blessed you — if you've tasted His grace, if you've stumbled into the riches of His salvation the way those lepers stumbled into that camp — then remember verse 9. "We do not well." It's not right to keep this to yourself. There are starving people all around you. Tell somebody where the food is.
Let's pray.