Pastor Adam Wood · 2 Kings 6:24–7:20 · November 23, 2025

Transcript:
Second Kings, chapter six, verse 24. Let's pray and then we'll begin reading in that verse. Our Father, thank you so much for the testimonies of your people here tonight. Thank you, Lord, especially, but that behind the testimony is the work of the Lord, individually, with one sheep who was gone astray, with one little one, with one whose soul you did not want to see perish. Lord, as you said this morning in Matthew 18, it is not your will that any of these little ones should perish. Thank you for the testimony of your work in each person here. And Lord, we pray that you would do it over and over and over again among us. Lord, I think of these little kids that are here, Lord, in our church that are growing up, learning, growing. Lord, give them a testimony like this, of salvation, not only of salvation, but also of a great work of God in them. And we ask that to an individual, to the individual, Lord, that every single child would be affected by the gospel and by your work in their lives. Bless our time in your word now in Second Kings. We pray that you would guide us and help us to receive the truth in Jesus' name, amen. Second Kings 6, verse number 24. And it came to pass after this, that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his hosts and went up and besieged Samaria. Okay, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna use this story, this narrative of Ben-Hadad and his siege of Samaria as an illustration to get to a certain point, because this story provides kind of a ripe illustration for one truth, as I said, that I want us to take away from this. So Ben-Hadad is the enemy of Israel, okay? He is, he really shouldn't be, but he is. He's the enemy of Israel, and he is coming against Samaria to besiege it, that is, to surround it and let no one in and out, okay? And the result, this time, the result of a siege was that the city would go into a famine, where people could not, you know, eventually everything in the city is exhausted, nobody's bringing anything in, taking anything out, and so eventually you're gonna run out of water, you're gonna run out of food, you're gonna run out of everything that you need, and then it really starts to get difficult, and the siege can last for quite a while. So this is what he's trying to do, and he represents Satan. Now, I will show you why in just a minute, verse 25. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. Yes, exactly, what you're thinking is what I'm thinking too, that's disgusting, all of it. Verse 26, and as the king of Israel was passing upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king! And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, when shall I help thee, out of the barn floor or out of the wine press? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give me thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and did eat him, and I said unto her the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him, and she hath hid her son. This is a terrible, terrible place to be. You think, well, the things they used to do back then, oh no, it's not back then. This is what humanity does when they're in dire straits. In 2025, we have not progressed. In fact, in many ways, we've regressed. But here's the thing. So you have Ben-Hadad, who represents Satan, has, through his power and temptation, has brought humanity into this place of depravity. Now, not directly, just like Ben-Hadad had not attacked the city, but as a result of his siege, humanity is now exhibiting these terrible indications of depravity, so I'm just trying to, just as an illustration. And so these people are doing what sinners do. They're sinning, they're depraved, they're wicked, they're eating their kids, all right? And the illustration to that is that the depth of human depravity, it knows no bounds. You can sound it and you're not gonna get to the bottom. There is no echo. It's deep. Humankind is full of sin. And that was all started originally at the prompting of the devil. When the devil tempted man, and of course he continues to tempt man, but originally he tempted man and became what is the first cause of man's wickedness and depravity. And this is what Ben-Hadad is doing to them. And as a result of the famine, so think about the famine, picture the famine, or think of the famine as an illustration of man's depravity. Where has it brought them, right? These people are, at the end of this siege, are completely destitute. They have nothing, right? And this is a degraded spiritual state of destitution. And this is where these people are right now. Verse 27, notice what the king says kind of inadvertently. He says this. And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, when shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor or out of the wine press? And this is the thing we need to remember, thinking of the famine, thinking of the human condition, thinking of our sin. There's only one person who has a solution for that. It's not a man. It's foolish to trust in the arm of man. It is God himself. And the king kind of reveals that unwittingly when he says, if the Lord doesn't help, there is no help to be found. Is that not true of salvation? It is true. There is no help for the sinful condition of man, except God himself provides it. Now he goes on to say this, verse 27, out of the barn floor, out of the wine press. So this is the king speaking. The wealthiest man around, he is the king of Israel, right? He is the top dog. Not even the king has the wherewithal to help this lady. The king himself is destitute. How then can a man who is also destitute from the famine help another who is likewise destitute due to the famine, starving because of the famine? And the king in this case kind of reminded me of the religious leader, kind of the religious gurus of our day, the popes of the world, the imams, who want to tell others the way that they can be delivered from this famine. They can be delivered from their sinful condition and keep the laws and the rules and all that, but they themselves can't keep it. You know why? Because how can that person save someone when he himself is also destitute? That's the fundamental problem. And this is why when our savior came, he had to be sinless. There is no savior that has sin, for he has his own sin, how can he help another? But we continue, verse 28, or let's continue, go through verse 30. And it came to pass when the king had 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. 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. 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 how this son of a murderer has 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? And while he yet talked with him, 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? Now we get to verse number one. Now we know that Elisha is a prophet, that's key, verse one. Then Elisha said, hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow 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. You know, Elisha, being a prophet, the one through whom God speaks, he has a message. God has given him a message and here's the message. It is a message of salvation. It's a message whereby the condition of these...