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What Is True Repentance According to the Bible?

What does real repentance actually look like?

In 2 Kings 6–7, we are given a sobering picture of outward sorrow that does not match inward surrender. The king of Israel tears his garments. He wears sackcloth. He acknowledges that the calamity has come from the Lord.

And yet, his heart tells a different story.

This passage forces us to confront a difficult question:

Is our repentance real, or are we simply going through the motions?

The Siege of Samaria: A Crisis That Exposed the Heart

In 2 Kings 6:24–29, the king of Syria besieges Samaria. The famine becomes so severe that food prices skyrocket to unimaginable levels. The suffering escalates to horrific depths. The situation is devastating.

The crisis exposes the moral and spiritual state of the nation.

Calamity has a way of revealing what is already in the heart.

When the king hears of the unimaginable tragedy within the city walls, he tears his clothes. But as he passes by, the people see that underneath his royal garments, he is already wearing sackcloth.

Sackcloth in Scripture symbolizes humility, repentance, mourning, and sorrow before God. It was rough, uncomfortable material worn against the skin to signify brokenness.

On the outside, it appears the king is humbling himself.

But is he truly repentant?

Outward Signs of Repentance vs. a Broken Heart

The king says in 2 Kings 6:33:

“Surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

This statement reveals the true condition of his heart.

He acknowledges God’s involvement. He recognizes divine judgment. Yet immediately, he expresses impatience and frustration. He wants to stop waiting. He wants to take matters into his own hands.

That is not surrender.

True repentance does not demand that God move on our timeline.

The king’s outward actions appear correct:

• He tears his garments.
• He wears sackcloth.
• He acknowledges God’s hand.

But internally, he resists God’s authority and blames Elisha. He even calls for Elisha’s execution.

Outward religion without inward transformation is not repentance.

Why “Why Should I Wait on the Lord?” Is a Dangerous Question

“Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

This phrase is central to the passage.

It reveals:

• Impatience with God’s timing
• Frustration with perceived delay
• A desire to regain control

When we feel powerless, we are tempted to manipulate outcomes. We want answers now. We want relief now. We want resolution now.

But waiting on God is not passivity. It is trust.

The king wanted deliverance without submission.

Real repentance includes surrendering our timeline.

The Trap of Formula-Based Christianity

One of the most dangerous spiritual traps is believing Christianity is a formula.

If I:

• Pray enough
• Read enough Scripture
• Attend church regularly
• Do the right religious actions

Then God must respond the way I expect.

But Scripture does not present a formula. It presents a relationship.

Jesus healed differently in different situations. He responded uniquely each time. There was no step-by-step system.

The command was simple: “Follow Me.”

Following requires trust. Not control.

The Church Today: A Form of Godliness Without Power

2 Timothy 3:5 warns of people who have “a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.”

This passage in 2 Kings mirrors that warning.

The king had:

• The appearance of humility
• The outward symbols of repentance
• The correct religious language

But his heart remained unchanged.

The power of godliness is not in appearance. It is in truth lived out. It is in genuine transformation. It is in humility that yields control to God.

The condition of the heart determines whether repentance is real.

The Parable of the Sower: The Soil of the Heart

Jesus explains in Luke 8 that the seed of God’s Word falls on different types of soil:

• Hard ground where it is taken away
• Rocky ground where it has no root
• Thorny ground where it is choked
• Good ground where it bears fruit with patience

Notice that last word: patience.

True repentance produces fruit over time. It endures temptation. It waits. It trusts. It does not demand immediate outcomes.

The soil represents the state of the heart.

The question is not whether we hear the Word.

The question is what kind of soil we are.

When God Delivers in His Timing

In 2 Kings 7, Elisha prophesies that within 24 hours, the famine will end.

And it does.

God brings supernatural deliverance. The Syrian army flees. Provision floods the city. The Word of the Lord proves true.

God was not absent.

He was working.

The king’s impatience did not accelerate the miracle. God’s timing remained perfect.

The lesson is clear:

The answer, the victory, and the provision are found in God’s time, God’s way, and God’s will.

True Repentance: Rend Your Heart, Not Your Garments

The ultimate issue is not outward behavior.

It is the heart.

Do we truly want God’s will?

Or do we want our will with God’s blessing?

True repentance means:

• Taking responsibility
• Submitting control
• Trusting God’s timing
• Allowing the Word to define us

We do not carve our own version of Jesus to suit our preferences. We allow Scripture to expose and transform us.

Truth confronts.

But truth also sets us free.

Reflection

Ask yourself:

Are you wearing sackcloth on the outside while resisting surrender on the inside?

Or have you truly yielded your heart to God?

Because the only place of lasting victory, provision, and freedom is found in complete surrender to Him.

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

Jaime Luce (00:00.622)
Welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. If you’re new to this podcast, this is just our opportunity to take some time to really dig into the word. I know that you probably make it your habit to spend some time on your own, whether you call it a quiet time, a time of prayer and a time of reading God’s word.

It’s also really beneficial for us to really dig into the word. Sometimes we just read and let the word wash over us and that’s wonderful and I commend you, but there’s also a benefit to really digging into the word and seeing what maybe we might have missed in just our reading. And so I kind of like to think of it as I’m not an actual baker. don’t bake, but I do like

to think of this as because the word of God is the bread. Jesus is the bread of life, right? And he gave manna every day for what they needed every day. And so I kind of like to think of it as that I get to be a baker since I’m not a baker and I get to bake some fresh bread and I love to share. I love fresh bread. Fresh bread take me to a restaurant. The first thing I want is bread and butter. I love fresh bread. But I also love to share fresh bread.

and we’ll see even that that little statement correlates today with what we’re talking about. But so today I hope that you will enjoy this fresh bread. We’re going to be in 2 Kings and we’re in chapter 7. And last week if you’ll remember we went over this passage but there’s more here and I wanted to spend some extra time to talk about this particular issue.

And we’re going to be talking about two different kinds of people today. Whether you are someone who is in the palace, a person of influence, has everything going for you in the right place with the right people, so to speak, you know, in the clique, whatever. If you are that person or if you are the person

Jaime Luce (02:07.054)
who is the one who’s outside the camp. You’re ostracized. You’re not a person of influence. You’re someone who is maybe frowned upon, looked down upon, labeled. I’m gonna talk about both of these groups of people because they share something very important in common. And I’ve kind of given a loose title to this today that you get to choose. You get to choose. There’s so many things I could have

actually called this, but it really boils down to this. You get to choose. Now you get to choose what. And so that’s for that, for that definition to look at this. I want us to read this passage. We’re going to be talking about the difference between the servant of the king versus four lepers. So you’ve got the one group in the palace and you’ve got the ones outside the camp and the lepers

I really want us to dial in, dial down on the condition of the lepers and what that means, how that pertains to our life and how to address it, what to do with it. all of those things today. And by doing so, we’re going to dig into many scriptures today to see the fullness and the truth of what’s here. So, if you’ll go with me, we’re going to start reading in verse one, we’re going to read

whole chapter. We’re reading through verse 20. I’m going to try to read it quickly, but there are several things in the first four verses specifically highlighted things I want to enunciate strongly for you where we’re going to be camping out and also the very last verse, verse 20. So I really couldn’t leave anything out. But again, this is Bible study, right? So we love the word. We love to read the word. If you have your Bibles with me, read along with me.

But it starts here in verse one. Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord. Right off the bat, we are hearing a word from God. From Elisha the prophet, we are hearing a word from God. Then Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord. Not Elisha’s word. Not someone who is, like I said, maybe someone who’s in the palace, someone with influence.

Jaime Luce (04:31.934)
not somebody who you think can make things happen in the natural, not your natural means, not your natural ways. God, a word from God. Thus says the Lord, tomorrow about this time, a say of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two say as of barley for a shekel and the gate at the gate of Samaria. Now they’re in the middle of a famine and starving so badly.

You go back and listen to last week, but so badly that people are doing despicable, horrible things to survive. A woman convinces another woman, kill your son and we’ll eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll kill mine and eat mine. mean, cannibalism, terrible, murder of your own children. It’s just, it’s beyond comprehension what they were facing and what they did, not just what they were facing, what they did in the midst of their trial.

And this is a heads up for us. How you act, how you respond in the middle of a fire, in the middle of the trial, in the middle, whatever’s down deep inside of us is gonna come bubbling up. It’s gonna come up. If there are hidden things in us, put some pressure on and whatever’s in there is gonna come up. And it’s usually a really good time for us to be able to self-examine. When we’re in a fire,

and we’re in survival mode, we need to kind of do a surveying of what am I seeing? Is there unbelief in me? Is there fear in me? Is there anger in me? Is there blame in me? What’s coming up? What issues are coming up that the pressure of the storm has put on you that’s causing that to bubble up? It’s a good thing to look at.

Verse two, so an officer on whose hand the king leaned, so this is somebody who stays next to the king wherever he goes, he’s right there. He’s a support to the king. It’s a person of influence. He doesn’t just serve the king. He lives there at the palace and he is literally the one closest to the king at all times. So an officer whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said,

Jaime Luce (06:59.742)
Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? So there is no belief, no faith, full doubt, not just doubt, unbelief. It’s, it’s one thing to say like the man who brought his son to Jesus. And he said, help my unbelief. He said, I believe, but help my unbelief. What he’s saying is I believe in you. I’m struggling.

to believe this is possible, but I believe in you. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I brought him to you. Okay. So there’s some belief and unbelief can kind of be a balancing act that we’re trying to, make sure we see some of the other side, but to have complete unbelief, it’s not just doubting. It’s not just thinking, I doubt it’s going to happen. It’s, don’t, this isn’t possible. There’s no belief in it. It’s unbelief. It doesn’t matter that God is saying this.

So this man did not believe the word of the Lord because he’s, he’s trying to make his point. says, look, if God even made windows in heaven, could this thing be like that? Just to him that was so far-fetched, that’s not even worth trying to put faith in it. Okay. And he said, in fact, this is now a response that he said is now Elisha. In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you

shall not eat of it okay very specific word to the officer of the king verse three now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another now they’re dealing with the same famine why are we sitting here until we die if we say we will enter the city the famine is in the city and we shall die there

And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall only die. Meaning it can’t get any worse. What’s the worst possible thing? Let’s just sit here and do nothing and die.

Jaime Luce (09:25.698)
That’s the worst. There’s a possibility for life. Now they didn’t hear the word of the Lord. They didn’t hear the word of the Lord, but they’re still wanting to choose life and the possibility of life over death. A big, big decision. Big choice right there. They’re faced with not just the famine that’s all around them, but they are faced with their leprosy. Okay.

that they have a definite double whammy going on for them compared to everyone else. Verse five, and they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, no one was there. For the Lord.

had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses and the noise of a great army. So they said to one another, look, the king of Israel has hired against us, the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. Therefore they arose and fled at twilight and left the camp intact their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and they fled for their lives.

And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and they ate and they drank and carried from it silver and gold and and gold and clothing and went in hid that. And then they came back and entered another tent and carried some from there also and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, we are not doing right.

This day is a day of good news and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now, therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household. So interesting thing here, these lepers don’t even realize that they are under the unction of God. Their choice for life was a choice that

Jaime Luce (11:48.056)
had extenuating consequences for the good. And it was God’s hand. God miraculously, supernaturally sends a noise that the camp of Syrians hear to cause them to think they hear a great army. In fact, they don’t think they hear one army. They think that the king of Israel has hired two additional armies to come against them. I mean, they really think they hear three armies coming against them to do battle.

they are so frightened they leave everything everything and run for their lives I mean run for their lives okay so let’s go back to the scripture verse 9 then they said to one another I’m sorry verse 10 so they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them saying we went to the Syrian camp and surprisingly no one was there not a human sound only horses and donkeys tied

the tents were intact. All the gatekeepers called out, sorry, and the gatekeepers called out and they told it to the king’s household inside. So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. This is not a man of faith at all. He’s not referring at all or remembering at all the word that Elisha had just given them. Not even 24 hours ago. They know that we’re hungry.

Therefore they have 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. And one of his servants answered and said, this is a wise servant. We’re not gonna talk about him today, but this is a wise servant. Please let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. I mean, he’s basically got, you have to choose, let’s choose.

You think it’s bad news, we’re hearing it’s good news. This could be a plot, this could be life. The same fate that the lepers were facing. If we do either of these things, we die. But if we go in, maybe there’s life. So everyone has a choice. No matter your circumstance, everyone has a choice. Please let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look.

Jaime Luce (14:05.934)
They may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it. And he’s saying the same thing the leper said, listen, if we don’t send them, they’re just gonna die in Sihirot anyway. Or indeed, I say they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed. So let us send them and see. Therefore they took two chariots with horses and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army saying, go and see.

Go and see. He’s made a choice. He’s made a decision. Go and see. And they went after them to the Jordan. And indeed, all the road was full of garments and weapons, which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. They want to run so fast, so hard that they are literally shedding themselves of anything that would weigh them down, dropping their weapons, dropping their clothes.

God did such a miraculous thing here because they have left their weapons. They’ve left their horses and donkeys. Everything is now they, even if they wanted to come back, even when they realize that the sound is just the sound of the Lord, no matter what they think, even if they, even if they find out that it wasn’t real, which they think it was, I mean, they’re scared for a reason. They think it was.

But even if they were to find out that it wasn’t and they come running back to the camp, they would be coming as just men with no armor, no weapons, no horses, no way to conquer an army. God did such an overwhelming miracle. It’s boggling. It’s mind boggling. It blows my mind. It’s one of those things that you just think God is not just the God of deliverance. He’s

He’s so much more than we can think or imagine. He does above and beyond what we could think or imagine. He’s so good. But there’s a choice on whether to believe him, to believe his word, to believe what he says.

Jaime Luce (16:17.816)
Hi, my name is Jaime Luce. I wanted to share with you some information about a brand new book entitled, Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God. It’s a playbook for miraculous provision. And I want to share it with you because it solves the problem we are all facing right now. The economy is going crazy. Gas prices are soaring. There’s wars and rumors of wars. We’ve got everything hitting us all at once with interest rates rising. You need to know what to do. And so many times we think we need the money.

but you don’t need money. I’m telling you the answer is you need God. And that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book. We’ll give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it so that you get answers now. You can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to jamylouc.com. can also find this book at youdon’tneedmoneyyoujustneedgod.com. This book is available today.

Jaime Luce (17:17.016)
Verse 16, then the people went out and plundered. I’m sorry. I think I skipped 15. Let’s go to 15. And they went after them to the Jordan. Indeed, the road was full of the garments and weapons with which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. So now he knows this is true. The report is true. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So.

A sayah of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two sayahs of barley for a shekel according to the word of the Lord. Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. This is the man we saw at the beginning. But the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened, just as the man of God had spoken to the king saying, two sayas of barley for a shekel and a sayah of fine flour for a shekel shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria. Then that officer had answered the man of God and said, now

Look if the Lord would make windows in heaven could such a thing be you can hear the sarcasm and he said he had said in fact this is what Elisha said you shall see it with your eyes but you shall not eat of it verse 20 and so it happened to him for the people trampled him in the gate and he died

So the word of the Lord, there were two words of the Lord. One was that by this time tomorrow, the famine’s over. You’re gonna be buying and selling and it’s cheap, because there’s gonna be so much. It’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be fantastic. This is God. And the man didn’t believe. The servant of the king didn’t believe. An appointed man, a man of influence, a man who, there’s a danger.

Jaime Luce (19:40.748)
I think this is why so many times the scripture talks of the warnings of money, the trappings of money, because it doesn’t say that the love of money, it doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil. says the love of money is the root of all evil, all kinds of evils. And the problem can be that once we have a certain amount of money or prestige or power and position,

Once we attain certain things in this natural world, many people fall prey to feeling that they can be self-reliant. They forget their need for the Lord. And when you become self-reliant, you throw off the needs that build faith. You don’t walk by faith anymore. You walk by sight because things are easier for you. I just take from here. I do with this. I do with that. I call on this person. I just, you know, I can make it happen. If I want it to happen, I can make it happen.

And we don’t understand the danger of self-reliance. It’s really touted in our culture that we should be people who are self-sufficient, know, self-made man. It’s one thing to work hard and to build. That’s a good thing. We’re supposed to occupy and we’re supposed to multiply. That’s a good thing. But your journey of growth and your journey of attaining whatever it is that God’s calling you to must

be a journey of faith. It must be the narrow road of obedience that God is calling you to so that you don’t get so far off the path that you don’t recognize I’m making steps and decisions for myself and I’m not waiting on the voice of God and I’m not I’m not walking in a place of need to hear from my God.

I don’t want to wait on his manna every day. I don’t want to wait on his word or his instruction. I think I know the best course of action and I just, have it in my power to make. It’s a very dangerous place to be. And we find that this King’s servant was such a man and he allowed the external world and the external circumstances that they were facing

Jaime Luce (22:06.498)
become so large in his eyes that it was impossible. I mean, we already know that this king did not serve God. I mean, he literally, the only reason he heard the word of the Lord about this was because he had just went to go kill Elisha. He wanted to have his head. I mean, it wasn’t going to hear a word from the Lord, but God’s mercy to the people of Israel was that he would speak through Elisha, even though Elisha wanted nothing to do with this king. And.

He, you know, what it starts at the head, it’s true. And it trickles its way down. That’s also true. So this King didn’t believe and neither did his servant. wasn’t a faith in God was not a part of their daily way. And this was the people of God. This was God’s people and they were not living this way. They were not serving. Now God had a remnant, of course. That’s why he wanted to save them. But this is, this was the natural course.

you surround yourself with powerful people, make sure those powerful people are godly people. Make sure that you’re not relying on worldly wisdom. Make sure your reliance is on godly wisdom. And this man did not, this man did not. So his attitude towards faith was that of complete unbelief versus four leprous men. Let’s look at these men. I wrote down some things that I thought were really,

measures for us to take a look at do we think that we fit in this category. Now you may not have a skin disease called leprosy but leprosy caused certain a sequence of events to happen and we can see ourselves in those sequence of events. So these men had an actual physical illness and their physical illness was a permanent problem.

It was also a, it could cause physical disfigurement, which is painful. People who deal with arthritis and things in the body that cripple and disfigure the body, it’s painful. It’s not like saying I have an illness, but I don’t have any symptoms that there are symptoms and they are painful symptoms. Okay. three, it caused isolation.

Jaime Luce (24:26.612)
So they were isolated. If you had leprosy, you were forced out of the camp and out of the city walls. You could, you were banished basically from your own family, from church and community, from living a life of work. And it was damaging to yourself. your worth, because you, you felt not just,

the ostracization, that a word? you didn’t just feel that isolation, but you felt the, each person needs a will to live for a reason. have to have purpose. And if you don’t have God, you don’t have purpose. so for somebody who works to accomplish and to use their life as

even in servitude to God or family or community, if you don’t have that ability to do that, then why am I here? What is my existence for? It causes deep depression and and not just loneliness, depression and and worthlessness. It’s very severe. They also had self degradation, shame, terrible shame.

that they would even bring on themselves, even if they didn’t want to, it was forced on them. They were literally forced to cover their top lip wherever they went and to call out, to make sure anybody within earshot could hear them. Unclean, unclean. It’s like saying everywhere you go, have to tell everybody your deepest, darkest sins, even if they’re under the blood.

You got to spill it all and tell your whatever you’re ashamed of and spill your shame constantly telling people I’m unclean, I’m unclean. Which says, and I’m not able to be cleaned. This is my permanent condition. Can you feel what that does to somebody? Take away their value and their worth, their ability to work, their ability to contribute or give or be a part of anything or anybody.

Jaime Luce (26:50.412)
And to also bring shame on themselves constantly to it’s like the voice in, your head that constantly tells you you’re bad. You got it wrong. You’re worthless. You’ll never get it right. Or the voice that you hear of someone who said those kinds of things to you over your life that you carry the weight of that, that you carry, you’ll never be anything. You always mess it up. Why couldn’t you be like this? If it was just different, if you were just different, if you were just born,

in a different family, a different country, a different circumstance.

Jaime Luce (27:25.058)
Number five, you do get labeled by others. Not only is this brought on by you, but now there’s this label from everyone else, they’re a leper. To have a biblical leprosy was literally the word what they would use and how they would talk to them. The word meant you are like the living dead, like zombies, you’re the living dead. I mean, that’s quite a label.

It’s one thing to be dead man walking. It’s another thing to be already dead. You’re walking in death, no, they’re sitting in it. There’s no place to walk. There’s no life left. You are the living dead. I mean, you can picture with that whatever conjures that brings to you. Leprosy spiritually symbolized several things. One being sins, destructive, isolating,

and contagious nature. Because leprosy, the reason you would yell unclean is you, this could spread. It’s why they kicked you out of the camp. It’s why no one else wanted what you had. I mean, severe loneliness. Nobody wants to be around you because they’re afraid of you. What you have is gonna rub off on them. Now, sin is contagious.

That’s why this is a picture spiritually of sin Leprosy is a spiritual picture of sin because it’s it has a contagious nature So being leprous meant experiencing a Devastating life-long sentence of social physical and religious exile

You are just, you are forever put in exile. That’s just your lot in life. Now thank God, we know Jesus dealt differently with lepers. We’re not gonna talk all about that today. I might hit that at the end. Jesus changed all of that. But in verse three, we see this sentence is the foundation for today’s word.

Jaime Luce (29:48.47)
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another, why are we sitting here until we die? There is a real base understanding here. If we do nothing, we will get nothing. Doing nothing in this position, sitting here waiting to die, we’ll do just that. Only

cause us to sit and wait to die. That’s torture. That’s just torture. And it is certain death. They had two choices. Life or at least to them, the possibility of life. They were willing to hinge their decision on the possibility that they could live if they got up from this place. It wasn’t guaranteed.

This, this, there was just a possibility. The other choice they had was to sit and die. So their choices were life and death. Our decisions, folks, no matter what circumstance we are sitting in, our decisions should be filtered through the holy lens of spiritual life and death. What do I mean by that?

Everything that we do either feeds our spirit or it feeds our flesh. One or the other. And depending on what I am feeding on will determine what grows spiritually or naturally, carnally. So we have to decide no matter what decision we’re making, is this spiritually going to bring life?

or spiritually is this going to bring death? Is the thing I’m wanting, is the thing that I’m hoping for, the thing that I’m dreaming of, is that thing going to build me up spiritually or will it inevitably cause spiritual decline and spiritual death? There’s a real, how do we say, clear and present danger.

Jaime Luce (32:16.99)
of the decisions that we make either taking us to God closer to him or away from him and further isolation. Only the isolation is not just physical with people. It’s with God. And if it’s isolation away from God, that’s death not just now, but eternally. That leads to a second death that leads to hell.

It’s forever. It’s forever. Because no matter what you’re facing right now in this world, it’s temporal. It’s temporal. It won’t last forever. It is temporal. Even if it leads to a physical death in this life, there is eternal life hereafter. is not, that thing is not eternal. It is temporary. The circumstances we face right now, and it’s hard to remember this, when we are in them, boy, do they feel eternal.

They, every second is like killing you. It’s draining you. It’s exhausting you. I know I get it. I do. get it. I have felt it too, but we have to understand it’s not always going to be this way. This isn’t eternal. No matter how bad it is, it’s not eternal. So the decisions I’m about to make, will they lead me closer to God or will they take me away from him? A good way to measure and no.

Is this a right thing to do or a wrong decision to make?

Is your personal situation that you’re sitting in right now, whatever you’re dealing with, is it spiritually a place of death? Does it feel like death? Does it feel? And some people, it’s not that they feel it, it’s that it is their reality.

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If you’re a female, you feel it. If you’re a man, you may have feelings about it, but it feels more like weights you can’t throw off, crushing maybe underneath weight.

Is spiritual leprosy plaguing you? Do you feel like it’s plaguing you right now? If so, you’re the one I want to talk to today. You’re the one I want to talk to. Cause if you’re not, you might, well, I want to talk to both groups because if you, if you don’t feel like it is, if you’re in a different place, just make sure that you don’t end up in that snide, cynical place of unbelief of self-reliance.

What it’s time to do, what it tells us it’s time to do, is it’s time for us to get a word from the Lord. It’s time for us to let the word of God minister, feed us, or read us.

Let’s ask some questions. Ask some real questions of yourself. What is the cause, the root cause of my isolation? Is it spiritual or is it natural?

What is the cause of this impending death? This finality, this thing that feels like it’s all or nothing. It’s all encompassing. It’s all surrounding.

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What is the root cause of the leprosy or its effects such as loss in relationship, whether that be family or friendships.

maybe church community, what’s the reason for that? What’s the cause of that? Are you dying in your situation because of fear? We talked about this not too long ago, but fear of lack can cause these circumstances, fear of danger, fear of an enemy.

fear of death. If fear leads, causes, and this is for all of us, it will cause you to freeze in your circumstance and to render you immovable and keep you stuck feeling like there are no options. That’s what fear will tell you. And

If you know it’s fear, most people know when they’re afraid, but some people don’t recognize that it’s fear. If you know that it’s fear, then we know we need to take that fear captive and make it subjective, so underneath the word of God, because we know that we have been told we are not to fear. We are not to fear. Fear not, have no fear. Be bold and very courageous. But fear.

You’ll know fear is acting. You’ll know fear is present when you feel frozen and you feel immoved. can’t, you’re immovable. You’re stuck. That’s what fear will do. You will feel like there are no options for you. You must ask, like these four lepers asked, why, why am I sitting here until I die? What is it? Why, why would I choose to be frozen and immovable?

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and just die if there’s a possibility of life. Why would I do that? Verse four says basically, I’m gonna kind of paraphrase these, paraphrase this. There are problems everywhere. So we might as well move out from this spot to another. This problem is everywhere. So let’s not let this keep us here. It’s this way everywhere.

And the famine was everywhere inside the gate, outside the gate. Didn’t matter. Famine was there. And it basically meant to do nothing will only ensure death. Doing nothing will only ensure that death comes. Have you ever known someone who was battling with a real physical illness and

They were so sick and tired of that illness that they, as they thought about it, had the thought, no, I’m not going to just lay here and die. I’m not going to welcome and embrace hopelessness and helplessness. I’m not going to succumb and give myself over to come to, to death, but I’m going to fight it with everything that I’ve got. I’m going to

Fight it with it. I’ll do anything. I’ll research anything. I’ll participate in anything. I mean, there are people who have decided if there’s a possibility of life, I’m choosing it. Well, that seems like an obvious scenario if our life is on the line physically. But do you realize we can have that same attitude no matter what our circumstances?

The Bible puts it this way in Matthew 11 verse 12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. This scripture shows that there is a spiritual battle that is happening and the spiritual battle that’s happening that this scripture is referring to is the converting of sinners unto salvation.

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There’s a real battle that goes on to take somebody from unbelief to real belief. It’s a holy violence that stands against sin and self will as well as the opposition that the gospel faces and the attack against making progress as a church, as the body of Christ. We know that this scripture tells us

Heaven literally suffers violence. It’s at war. This is not just a little battle. This is a war. But it says the violent take it by force. Those who understand the battle, they kind of raise up. They say like these people who decide, I’ll do anything. I’ll try anything. I’ll do anything. Whatever it takes. That’s what I’m gonna do. The enemy’s desire is to keep us stuck and immovable

whether literally immovable or imagined. He wants to keep you in a lost, sick, rejected, despised, ostracized, hopeless state of the flesh. Keep you in an unbelieving state.

basically starving for life. That’s the enemy’s goal. Even naturally speaking, the world knows and understands this. There’s a very famous poem that was written by a Welsh poet named Dylan Thomas. And the title is, Not Go Gently Into That Good Night. And it was written to his father. He wanted him to fight for life and don’t just let yourself die. Don’t go quietly.

Don’t go gently. If you go out, go fighting. Don’t go gently into that night. Charles Spurgeon’s view of the violent in this verse in Matthew 11, 12 was of those whom God has made deeply earnest about their salvation. They are seriously zealous about their salvation.

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And these are people who lay hold of the promises with intense spiritual struggle. Struggle. I mean, as they say, the struggle is real, right? This is how Charles Spurgeon spoke of it. This is a spiritual struggle and you will have to battle. It also represents the violence of opposition to the kingdom. In other words, what life is, true life,

in Christ versus in the natural physical realms means it’s the, okay, here’s the picture. It’s John the Baptist. There’s a struggle against it. On the one hand, John calls Jesus forth, is used to call Jesus forth, baptize him into his ministry. And at the same, then on the other hand, he’s put in prison and eventually his head cut off. That is a spiritual battle showing you both sides.

That’s why the scripture says that since the days of John the Baptist, this has been the struggle. His life depicts the struggle. Okay. Has the threat of something kept you in a leprous prison to suffer and die.

These lepers in 2 Kings chapter 7 came to the truth and understood that this prison that they were sitting in, rotting in, dying in, doomed to be in forever, was actually a prison of choice.

When they first went into this prison, they thought it was mandatory and it wasn’t their choice. They didn’t choose to be leprous. They didn’t want leprosy. But they came to the realization when real death faced them.

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Real death? Eternal death? Not just physical death? Spiritually speaking?

When you come to the truth of what real death is, then you understand this prison is a choice. I am not choosing death. I want to choose life.

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We need to understand that if we are stuck, we have a choice just as they did. And we can choose to stay there and die, or we can get up and go. Get up and go. There were no guarantees. This was a possibility. I can’t guarantee you that if you’re praying for healing that you’re gonna receive healing. But I can guarantee you that if you are someone who believes in Jesus,

And you are crying out to him that you are not destined to die in this state and you won’t be in this state forever. That you will walk the rest of your life with the grace of God and the hope of God, not leaving you hopeless, not living a life of shame, but he’ll bring you out of shame, out of hopelessness and give you eternal real life in your soul.

It’s the difference on how you live your life, no matter what you’re facing or how bad the problem is that you’re facing. No matter how deep the well is that you’ve sunk, no matter how far, how far down and depressed you’ve become, there is a way out of that prison. Jesus is the way truly believing in his word is the way.

2 Corinthians 5, 7 says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. It’s we don’t believe because we see, we believe until we see. I don’t believe because it went the way I wanted it to, so now I’m a believer. How many people have we heard who say, I’ll believe in Jesus when I actually, or I’ll believe in God.

when I see something that proves to me that God is real. there’s no, it’s the reason why Jesus knew our hearts were so hard that when he came, he would minister healing to so many people so that they would believe. Because otherwise they just wouldn’t believe. Their hearts were so hard, especially his own hometown.

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We have to examine our hearts. Am I truly believe in you, Lord, that no matter how bad this looks, no matter how hard this is, I can trust you with my life.

What do you want me to do? will put, if your get up and go is simply, all right, Lord, I trust you. I trust you. I’m not going to sit here and unbelief. I trust you. You have begin speaking the word over yourself. I have a promise in you that you have promised me that you would never leave me. You will never forsake me that you are with me always.

that you will give me grace, that your grace is sufficient, that it will carry me. But I have to eat that word. I have to actually digest that word, take that word and live that word. That’s why Jesus said, eat of my flesh, drink of my blood. He was saying you have to actually take it in. You have to really take this in. You have to not just believe it up here, you have to let it in. You have to feed on it. If you don’t feel good, you have to eat the right foods.

That’s when you lose an appetite, we know you’re sick. So we try to feed you. We try to feed you nourishment. Even if this word, even if you’re struggling, choose to get up and get in it. Feed yourself, eat of this word, walk in it, live in it. This is why Psalm 119, 105 says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. You don’t need a lamp for sitting. You don’t need a lamp for laying down and parking.

You need a lamp to light your way because you’re walking. It might be dark, but this word will lead you in the dark. This word, while it’s dark, will light the path for you to know where to go, what to do, what to say, what to believe. You need this word. It is your light. It is your lamp.

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we have to do just as the lepers did and just as the gatekeepers did and the servant who said to the king you just have to go and see get in the word and see what God would say to you what does he have to say to you

Right now, I know we live in this tension in our world with the way the world affects us naturally, our physical bodies, how we are affected naturally and our struggle that we have here and our tendencies because of our flesh nature and whatever sin that so easily besets, right? Versus, the tension is that, versus what we know to be true through God’s promises.

But the only way you’re gonna know God’s promises is if you are eating this word, this bread of life. The only way you’re going to know the promise of God, the word of God. They were in famine. They needed to eat from the Lord. They needed to eat the bread of life. And the word was, this famine’s going to be over. But they had to receive that word. It wasn’t until the king said,

Here it was available. The day before it was already available. The lepers men had already partaken. They ate, they drank, they had clothes, they had gold and silver, they had it all. They had so much, there was more than they could ever do with it outside the camp. And they knew they needed to share what they received. That’s what I’m hoping to do with you today. I have had to live this too. And I want to share this encouraging word with you.

If you get up, you can live. Don’t sit here and die. But if you get up and eat of God’s Word, you will live. You will live.

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They got to partake of the promise of God, the Word of God.

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It’s so we just need we need it so bad. We need it so bad. We must use the word. The word is a sword. That’s what the scripture tells us. The word is a sword and it produces faith. Scripture tells us in Romans 10 17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I have to be able to hear the word of God for faith to arise.

Now once faith arises, because the word is a sword, once that faith arises, that’s a weapon. This word is a sword in my hand, a weapon.

Um, it, okay. I want to read you well, before I go there, let’s talk about this for a second. Faith is a weapon and because it’s a weapon, we use it right to force. because since it’s a weapon, I’m, I’m, I’m going to mess you up. Let me slow myself down. Faith is a weapon. It’s a sword in our hand. We also know that the kingdom of God

I’m melding the two thoughts together for us. The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. In order to take it by force, you need to employ and use your weapons. It’s why the Syrian army was left helpless because they dropped all their weapons and ran. Now the Israelites are able to collect all these weapons, everything they had lost up to this point. They were down to their last five horses.

Now they have an army of horses and donkeys and weaponry. Everything that the famine had sucked out of them, everything that it took from them, God’s word, God’s promise gave back to them. The life that was lost, God gave back to the nation. God gave back to the nation. So we have a…

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spiritual battle that needs to be taken by force. So we need to use the weapons of warfare, which are not carnal, but are mighty through God to pull down strongholds. Okay. I’m not going to take the time to read all of those scriptures, but we have to put on the armor of God.

If I use my natural senses, I will miss out. If I am someone who refuses to walk by faith and instead walk by sight, I will miss my opportunity. I will miss the blessing of God. The servant who lean that the King leaned on, he was someone who walked by sight and not by faith. And you will lose. There’s imminent death.

for those who refuse to live and walk by faith. It’s imminent death because you’ve chosen to sit there. You’ve chosen it. You chose death, not life. It’s such a danger to allow yourself to think, but that’s what is happening. That’s what I see. I’m not telling you to deny the problem. The lepers knew the problem. They were living the problem, but they still went forth in faith with hope. Okay?

You have to set your eyes on Jesus Christ and his promises. Not on your own dreams, not on your own whims, not on your own good thoughts. I always laugh when I hear people who call themselves Christians say, I’m sending you good thoughts. Well, that’s so stupid. I’m sorry. That’s just ridiculous. That does nothing. I’m sending you good thoughts. Whatever. I can’t receive your thoughts. Your thoughts don’t have power. Your thoughts don’t have power over my life.

The word of God has power. The word of God. This word will not pass away. It will accomplish what it was set forth to do. It has to do it. It has actual power. You want to encourage somebody? Send them forth with the scripture. Give them the word. Speak the word because faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. Don’t send me your thoughts. I don’t want your thoughts. You want to send me the word of God? Send me the word of God.

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I’ll take that. can chew on that. I can feed on that. can, my starving, famished, famines filled soul can feed off of the word of God and be nourished.

So we don’t want to walk by sight. It leads to death. It’s how the world thinks that they’re going to win. All I see is, in fact, all I see if I use my eyesight is that I think the world is winning. It’s very defeating to look at what I can see with my eyes right now. That is just so, so hopeless to look with your eyes. But if I use faith, if I use faith, then the kingdom of God is here.

because that’s what the word says. And I will seize its promises by trusting in what Christ Jesus has done for me. I’m a part of that kingdom and that kingdom is not a hopeless wreck. That kingdom is advancing. That kingdom is growing. That kingdom will have the final say. John 10, 10 says, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill.

and to destroy. And then Jesus says, but I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Again, there’s a choice, life or death.

John 16 33 says in the world you will have tribulation. We don’t deny that. But be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. Is this world sick? Yes. Is everything in it sick? Yes. But Jesus says don’t don’t worry about that. I’ve overcome. I’ve overcome the world. He created the world and he’s overcome the world.

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He’s overcome sin and evil and disease and distress. Every problem that exists, he has overcome those two verses together. John 10, 10 and John 16 to 33. If you hold them together, they help us understand this life that we live. They help us understand that to have an abundant life, we must be anchored in the truth. Here’s the truth. God’s word that God’s promises.

are not living in a fairyland somewhere, but they are grounded in reality. They are the truth. And we must walk by faith in a fallen world because there is trouble out there in this fallen world. And this world is at war against us. Though there is a real enemy that we have to battle and fight, we serve the one true living God who overcame

and he tells us to be of good cheer. That scripture reference is sandwiched. The one in John is sandwiched in Jesus himself explaining that he is the good shepherd. He calls himself the good shepherd. And I wanted to just read quickly David. King David was a shepherd.

a boy, a shepherd, before he became king, he was a shepherd boy. And he knows what it takes to be a good shepherd and what a shepherd looks like and what that constitutes. And let’s look at what he says about God. And this is a verse we all know, verses we all know in Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Thy rod.

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and thy staff, they comfort me.

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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Even in their presence, I can feast on the Lord.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.

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Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life I don’t know about you, but I need his goodness and his mercy following me everywhere I go and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever I’m not gonna dissect that whole thing. There’s so much there but So I want to ask you today this good shepherd we have is overcome and he lays before us choice

I’m gonna ask you just like the lepers asked each other, why are we sitting here until we die?

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It’s time to get up. It’s time to choose faith. It’s time to take it by force. My wield the weapon that Christ has provided for you and get up from that place of hopelessness and death and walk in this life with his everlasting life.

to choose to stay sitting in your leprosy would be choosing death. That’s physically and spiritually speaking. The servant of the king immediately after hearing the word of the Lord made a decision and it was to deny the power of God’s word. He chose death and he chose…

He chose it certainly. He chose certain death. And that choice produced the death that it prescribed. Literally. Let’s read it again, verse 16 through 20. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a say a fine flour was sold for a shackle and two say as a barley for a shackle according to the word of the Lord.

Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate and he died. Just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king saying, to say is a barley for a shekel and a say a fine flower for a shekel shall be sold tomorrow. About this time in the gate of Samaria.

then the officer had answered the man of God and said, now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be? And I’m asking you today, I know, I know it can seem impossible. I do.

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I have faced those things too!

But you have a choice to make.” And he said, if the Lord would open windows in heaven, could such a thing be.

And Elisha said, in fact, you will see it. I mean, what torture to actually then see that you were wrong, to actually see with your eyes the blessing of God. And it’s literally within your reach. It’s right there. But because you chose death, that’s what you received.

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verse 20, and so it happened to him that the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

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So wherever you find yourself today, I remind you, you have a choice. This prison, this place, this exile, this pain, you have a choice. You can choose life or death.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that you and your seed may live.

Choose faith, not faith in faith, faith in God, faith in his word, faith in the truth, faith in the one who is overcome. Choose life. It is a choice, my friend. Choose it. Choose it.

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You have a weapon and this weapon is more powerful than any two-edged sword and it will cut between bone and marrow and tissue and sinew and thoughts and intentions. Use the word. Wield your weapon of faith and watch God do exactly what he said he would do. His word cannot lie.

If you don’t know what the promise of God is, get in the word and get it. Get one. Get one. God will give it to you. He’ll be faithful to you. His word is speaking. We just have to be listening. Open your word. Eat of this bread of life. It’s the fresh bread today. I hope you eat it. I hope you’ll take it. Choose life, my friend. Choose life. Let me pray for you.

Father, I pray for each one listening today. If they need encouragement, if they need a hand to help lift them up out of the place they’ve been sitting for a very long time. If they have felt hopeless and ostracized, made to feel ashamed and carrying weights that no one should have to carry.

Lord Jesus, I just ask for your grace today. You said your grace is sufficient and I am asking for the grace of God to be poured out on each one who is under the sound of my voice. That they would know that your word is truth. Father, let them even smell the fresh bread that you are offering them, the promise that you are setting before them.

that they could partake of it and eat it and be nourished by it and live. Let faith arise in their souls today, Let them get up from this place and go forth and partake of the blessing that you have set for them to have. Stir their faith up, stir their hearts up, stir their strength up today, God. May they receive from your hand today.

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May they be blessed by it. We ask these things in Jesus name.

Thank you so much for taking time to eat my bread today. If this was a blessing, share this with someone who needs encouragement today. If it encouraged you, it might encourage somebody else. Be that one who shares. These lepers had the good news and they knew it isn’t good for us to keep this to ourselves. We need to share this. Share what God has done for you. If you have a testimony, share the testimony.

This is how we advance the kingdom, how we violently take it back by force. Share the good word of God today. If you have any questions, if you want anything to be prayed for, if you have any praise reports, you can go to my website, Jaimelewes.com. Send me an email. That address is mail at Jaimelewes.com. I’d love to hear from you. It was a pleasure being with you today. We will see you next time. Bye bye.