As the Lord might help us this
evening, I'd like to draw your prayerful attention to the chapter
we read together, the second book of Kings, in chapter five.
And we take as our text verse three. And she, that is the little
maid, said unto her mistress, would God, my Lord, were with
the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his
leprosy. The second book of Kings, chapter
5 and verse 3. The setting of this subject is
that the nation of Syria, which was just northeast of the northern
kingdom of Israel, remembering at that time it was a divided
kingdom, and the Kingdom of Judah was in the south. The capital of the southern kingdom
was Jerusalem, but the northern kingdom, they had three capitals
that we know of. One was in Shechem, one was Terza,
the other was in Salaria, which is where Elisha was at that time. And as we have read together,
it's quite obvious that the two nations, Syria and Israel, were very rarely
on good terms. nation of Syria was a growing
power in the days of Elisha and to exert their strength and power
and make it known the Syrian army quite often worked in bands
and they would send out a band, a raid and go over the border
and conduct one of these raids into Israel to aggravate and
bring about political confusion. At that time, of course, we read
that sadly the nation of Israel had a wicked king following the
reign of King David. There was a number of kings who
did not fear the true and living God. They worshipped idols. They went about their own way. tried to govern everything by
force and the fear of the Lord was not known by a great number
of the inhabitants of the land of Syria. And at one time they conducted
a raid just over the border into Israel and they brought away
captive a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife. These things are all ordered
by God. And this little girl became Naaman's
wife's servant. She was taken, kidnapped, taken
away from her home, her family, her friends. a home nation. But what they
could not do was take her away from her God. And it's quite
obvious from what we read, what little we read about this young
lady. She's referred to in the scriptures
as a little maid. So it gives us the impression
that she hadn't finished growing. She might have been a young teenager. But we never know. who God will
use as an instrument in his powerful hand. The power and the glory
and all the blessing comes from and belongs to the true and living
God. It's rather like, dear friends,
you read about the birth of Samuel. Now when, Anyone in politics today wants
someone to be used in a particular sphere or capacity to do something. They seek out someone with experience
and education and power, and they say, well, that's the man
to do that job. God is not like us. He worketh all things according
to the counsel of his own will. And when God saw fit to raise
up a great prophet, Samuel, as a reformer amongst his people, Israel, how
did it begin? Well, it began with a broken-hearted
lady's prayer, a lady that couldn't have children. And she was so
downhearted, she poured out her heart to God. And you know the
account of how Eli at first mocked her and said she was drunken? She said, no. I poured out my
heart before the Lord. Eli had a change of heart. He
said, the Lord bless you. And what happened? Samuel was remarkably born and
Hannah kept her about. She gave him even as a young
lad. to the work of the Lord. The Lord blessed him. Samuel,
even as a young lad, was so faithful to the work that God gave him
to do, which wasn't easy to send a very sad message to Eli. But we read that Samuel was faithful. The word of God says, he let
none of his words fall to the ground. And so, God raised up
Samuel, and of course Samuel had the privilege of anointing
King David as King of Israel, and of the line of King David,
our Lord Jesus himself was born. But to come back to this little
maid, she became a powerful instrument in God's hand. Yes, she was taken
away as a slave, But this young girl's faith is so remarkable. We're not told her name, but
I think we could call her faith, couldn't we? She would answer to that wonderful
ability, wouldn't she? She was blessed with a God-given
faith. And what a contrast this is to
King Jehoram, who had been the king in Israel at that time. He knew not the Lord. He was
a man, obviously, with a very short fuse, and he fell into
a rage and tore his garment when he got the news that a man was
being sent to him to be cured of leprosy. He straight away
said, well, see how he seeps a quarrel against me. And when
the word was made known to Elisha, it was so when Elisha, the man
of God, had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes
that he sent to the king saying, wherewith hast thou rent thy
clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there
is a prophet in Israel. So this young lady, this little
maid, we don't know much about her. What we do know is that
she was taught of God. She came from a family, no doubt,
where they obeyed God's instructions to set before the children the
law and the power of God. And she was taught, and she was
used by God to eventually bring healing to this great warrior,
Naaman, and of course, to give faith, the gift of faith at work
in him, to know the true and living God, who alone can do
wondrous things. God had placed this little girl
exactly where he wanted. We never know how we might be
used in the pattern of God's almighty and sovereign will. I'd like to divide this up into
three headings. Firstly, this young lady was
taught. She was taught these wonderful
blessings which come from God, and these wonderful blessings
we read of are in God's Word in so many and various places. And what we read is when Moses was
afraid to go forward in leading the children of Israel, he said
to God, know therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in
thy sight, show me now thy way. that I may know thee, that I
may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation
is thy people. And he said, my presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Now it's quite possible
that little girl might have been instructed in the things of Moses. And Moses, of course, left them
with instruction to teach their children. And that young lady, obviously, had
been taught because the faith that she showed, showed that
she believed in the true and living God. One went in and told the Lord,
saying, thus and thus saith the maid
that is in the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, go
to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And
he departed. And he loaded him up with all
this 10 talents of silver and 6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes
of raiment. He showed how valuable Nahum
was to him. because Naaman, we read in that
very first verse of five star points that he had. Naaman was
captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with
his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor.
Five things, yes, and one thing was a great problem. He was a
leper. God had given Syria deliverance,
yes. God had permitted in his sovereign
will that the land of Israel should be under a sanction, we might say, because
they weren't trusting in the true and living God as a nation,
as they should be, And God permits sometimes invasion
and things to come into the lives of people whereby they turn again
to him. We don't know the extent of this,
but what we do know is that Elisha was greatly used, Naaman was
greatly healed, and God's name was honored and glorified. This young lady was obviously
taught, but of course she was taken. Can you imagine a young
lady, vulnerable, helpless, taken from her family, her home, and
all that she knew, her friends, no doubt the next morning after
that raid, she would have looked for her friends, or her friends
might have looked for her, but they wouldn't have found her
there. No, she'd been taken over the border into Syria. But in God's wonderful providence,
and providence and grace go hand in hand, she was employed in the house
of Naaman. And it might well be that she
saw the sadness on Naaman's wife's face She might have even caught
her weeping because Naaman, being a leper, he would have to be ostracized, taken into another
area as a leper, and his life would be nothing like he hoped
it would be. But we don't read before in the
word of God how someone was healed of leprosy. But this little girl,
believed. We read in the scriptures that
it was accounted to Abraham for righteousness, that he believed
God. And Abraham's faith, we read of in Hebrews, is very great,
isn't it? He believed that even if his
son Isaac was taken when he was told to go and offer him up as
a sacrifice, even if his life was taken, he would live because
the promise of salvation by grace through faith to the church of
God in Christ Jesus was to be made known through the promised
son of Abraham. Abraham believed what God told
him. And this young lady said to her
mistress, would God and she referred to her mistress as my Lord, but
with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his
leprosy. She would have addressed her
mistress very politely, and she believed that the true and living
God, if he was with Elisha, These wonderful blessings would
happen. We read in the Psalms that the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. This young lady was taken away,
yes, but then no one could take away from her the fear of the
Lord which was dwelling in her heart. And she very bravely made
it known in that unbelieving household that her God was able
to recover Naaman of his leprosy. And that set the whole matter
afoot, whereby this misunderstanding by the king of Israel, and then it came to the notice of
Elisha, wherewith hast thou rent thy
clothes? Let him come now to me and he
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So this young lady
who was taught and taken, she told. She was taught, she was
taken, and she told of her wonderful love to the Lord God and her
faith in believing what her God was able to do. Now this great man Naaman, it's
quite obvious from what we read that he was filled with pride.
He enjoyed being a great warrior. He enjoyed being captain of the
host of the king of Syria. We read he was a great man with
his master. Yes, he matched up to all that
his master wanted as a man. He was honorable and God had
used him. That is, the Lord God Jehovah,
in capital letters, had given deliverance unto Syria. He was
also a mighty man of valor. He was brave. But he was a leper. And leprosy is a terrible disease. If ever you see pictures of someone
who suffered from leprosy, it affects the extremities of your
body, your fingers and toes for a start. and the nerves become
numbed, they don't work, the circulation stops, and bits of
your body actually drop off. It's a horrible thing. But I
understand it begins in the blood. Isn't it a type of the sin which
does so easily beset us? Sin has the effect of numbing
our senses. And we read even in God's word
of characters who have sinned and their actions don't seem
to affect their conscience. No, it seems to numb them. And
so it does with people that we hear of even today. They rise
up into a position of power. They don't seem to have any feeling
or conscience. They do their worst unless God
intervenes. Now here we see God intervening
power. Naaman, this great man, he arrived
with his servants, his chariot, his horses. It must have been
quite a sizable chariot because it's got horses in plural. this great man arrived outside
Elisha's house. So Naaman came with his horses
and his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And no doubt he expected some
sort of reception committee because he was coming from a neighboring
land and he pulled up outside. And he sat in his chariot and
you can imagine him waiting, what's going to happen? There's
Elisha's front door. What's happening? What we read
of in this passage, dear friends, is much about the servants. Elisha sent a messenger unto
him. A messenger. Doesn't even mention
his name. Saying, go, wash in Jordan seven
times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shall
be clean. Did Naaman begin to realize that
Elisha was working through God on his behalf? This little maid was a servant,
and she had been a messenger, and through her few words, all
that she spoke was contained in those two sentences in verse
three. And now this great man pulls
up outside the house of Naaman. Naaman pulls up outside the house
of Elisha, and Elisha doesn't come out, no, he sends his messenger. Never despise God's messenger. He may not be polished, he may
not be as educated as many people, but if he comes with a message,
a divine message, hear. And Naaman heard it, but it didn't
have the right effect on him. Naaman was wroth and went away. Imagine him telling, well, lead
the horses on a bit further. I'm not stopping here. This isn't
the reception I expected. He had his own thoughts, his own
way. He was wroth and went away and said, behold, I thought he
will surely come out and unto me and stand and call on the
name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the place
and recover the leper. That's how he thought. What he didn't know was God had
a divine purpose. God was going to teach him humility.
The River Jordan is the lowest river in the world. He had to be brought down. The
Lord Jesus himself was baptized in the River Jordan. He who was High and holy, what
do we read? He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Our Lord Jesus humbled himself,
this man had to be humbled by his servants. A servant, a messenger
came out to tell him the instructions, go to the River Jordan and wash
in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee
and thou shall be clean. But he went away in a rage and
he said, I'm not a barner and farper, rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel. May I not wash in them and be
clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants
came near and spake unto him. He must have respected the servants.
They were his servants, weren't they? He employed them, but they
were now realizing that their master was out of order in rejecting
what the almighty Lord God had made
a provision for him. His servants came near and spake
unto him, and note the concern they had and the instruction
they gave. Servants in this chapter are
important. My father If the Prophet bid
thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much
rather, then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean. The inference is that he was
a great man. He obviously was honorable, as
we read for a start, and no doubt when he had won a battle and
the king was pleased with him, He would be saluted and honoured. But this time, when he was in
great need, God is able to work in us according
to his will and his purpose, in his way and in his time. Ours is to learn obedience. And this man had to learn. It was interesting that it was
his servants who were greatly used. What they're saying is, this
man isn't demanding much. Just go to the River Jordan and
wash yourselves seven times in the water and out again, seven
times. Seven being the number which
stands for completeness in God's word. And what happened? Then went he down and dipped
himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the
man of God. He then thought again, didn't
he? The saying of the man of God,
the saying of Elisha, the message that he gave when he walked out
to him at his chariot and gave him instructions. He went and dipped himself seven
times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God,
and his flesh came again, like unto the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean." If I was suffering from leprosy,
my fingers were likely to drop off. scars and tissue in a mess and
suffering from this terrible terminal disease, and my skin
came back like it is now, I'd have much to rejoice over. When
God does a work, he works perfectly. And this, dear friends, surely
teaches us of the new life which is alone
found in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does he say? A new heart
will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you, I will
take away the stony heart of your flesh, I will give you a
heart of flesh. God doesn't just patch up the
old, no. He gives a new heart, a new spirit,
and we have it here His flesh came again like unto
the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. When you look at the skin of
a little baby, it's so smooth, unblemished. Beautiful, isn't
it? And the little fingers and toes
and the hands, perfectly formed. All the nerves and the sinews
ligaments and wonderful, isn't it? And it's all brand new. And here we see this man who in a matter of a year or two
might well have been living in a leper colony, not able to mix
with his wife, his family, or whoever. He's now got the flesh
of a little child. And a little child speak to us
of humility, doesn't he? This man learnt humility. Oh
yes, humility is a gift from our almighty Lord God. And we
read in the Acts of the Apostles, after the words of the Apostle
Paul. Therefore they were scattered
abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. And Philip was sent
down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And
the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which
Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For
the unclean spirits cried with a loud voice and come out of
many that were possessed with them, and many taken with pauses,
and that were lame, were healed, and there was great joy in that
city. What a blessing. They rejoiced over that healing
blessing which came from our Heavenly Father into their very
life. It transformed their life because
of God's healing power. But God uses who he will to do
these things. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider the heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou
hast ordained, What is man that thou art mindful of him, and
the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a
little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, the beast of the field,
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth. These blessings are gifts which
cannot be bought. When Nicodemus came to the Lord
Jesus on that dark night, it was certainly nighttime, It could
well be because he didn't want the Pharisees to see where he
was going. But the Lord Jesus became his
light, didn't he? And it was then that the Lord
Jesus gave to Nicodemus that wonderful verse that we are so
familiar with in John 3, 16, that God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, whosoever, believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that
everlasting life, friends, begins here on earth. God, who has begun
a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will carry on, he will continue
it through time and to his glory, in glory, with him. This man Naaman was saved from his leprosy freely. What a blessing it is that these
things are all of grace. It was grace that saved Naaman
from leprosy. It is grace that saves from sin
so freely. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
those Ephesian believers, he reminded them of what they were
by nature before they came to a saving knowledge of our Lord
Jesus. The Apostle Paul had such a great love to those early New
Testament churches. Remember the Philippian church
was made up of characters who were brought out of darkness
into light. The Philippian jailer, there was Lydia, there was a
young girl who was possessed with an evil spirit. These were
the founder members of the Philippian church. And the Ephesians were
brought out of darkness difficulty and darkness. He said to them,
among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in
the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, we read, who is rich
in mercy with his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with him, by grace
ye are saved, through faith. And he has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What blessings these are. The same power that saved this
man's life. so that he could live on until
he was finally brought to glory. But this work began in God. And these rich blessings of humility
and obedience came to him by God's messages And God used him
as an example to all who follow him to hear the instruction of
God, to walk in his ways, and to enjoy fellowship with his
people. Now look how great a friend Elisha
was to this man Naaman. The layman would have loved to
have parted with all his wealth and given to Elisha a present. And what happened? He refused
it. He urged him to take it, but
he refused. And Naaman said, shall there
not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mil burdens
of earth? You can't buy God's wonderful
favor, can you? It is a gift of grace, not of
works, lest any man should boast. This man tried to pay for it. Elisha refused it. But he said he would like to
have two mil burdens of earth. He wanted a bit of Israel soil
to stand on. So that when he went into the
house of Rimmon to worship there, no doubt he had to help his elderly
master to bow down. And it worried him because he'd
come to trust in the true and living Lord God. He said, now
I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. But he asked for the Lord's pardon
in this thing. It could well have been that
when he got back to Syria, the Lord worked so nicely that he
did not need to have this worry about going into the house of
Rimman to worship. No, he became a true worshiper
of God. So he departed from him a little
way. And now we come to a sad part of this account. But Gehazi,
but Gehazi. If Gehazi was tempted to tell
a lie to gain that money that we read of, that's not unusual. Where Gehazi went wrong was He gave way to the temptation.
He thought, now there's an opportunity. I'm only a servant. But if I
can extract some silver and gold from this man, I won't need to
work as a servant. No. I can buy a bit of land. I could be my own master. It's
all here in the context. Naaman, when he asked for his
talent of silver and changes of raiment, Naaman said, be content,
take two talents. And he urged him and bound two
talents of silver in two bags with changes of garment and laid
them upon two of his servants and they bare them before him.
And he even employed his servants to carry the weight of the silver,
two of them. And when he came to the tower,
He took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house.
And he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in and
stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, whence
comest thou, Egehazi? And he said, thy servant went
nowhither. He wasn't going to tell him.
He must have said, well, I haven't been anywhere. That was an absolute
deliberate falsehood, wasn't it? Well, Elisha said to him, went
not my heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot
to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money,
and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards, and
sheep, and oxen, and menservant, and maidservants? That temptation
that you've given way to, Gehazi, God is not pleased. What was
he condemned to? The leprosy, therefore, of Naaman
shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went
out from his presence a leper as white as snow. What a terrible thing it is to
Go against the will of the Lord. Go our own way. Seek after greed,
and not after the things that we need. It is by grace we are saved through
faith, and that not of ourselves, It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. And we do pray, may it be our
prayer, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not
of us. May it please the God of all
grace to place this eternal treasure, which is hid in earthen vessels,
in our hearts and may God guard us from the
sin of Gehazi and help us to believe as this little maid did,
simply and yet truly and powerfully. She was a light in a dark place
and God uses whom he will to do his will. And so this little
maid is left on record. We don't know her name, but we
do know that she was taught of God and she was taken from her
home, but not from her God. And she was a witness. She told her mistress and the
outcome was that God had all the praise and the glory because
he had eternally designed that these things should come about.
What a blessing it is that we have on record things to encourage
us to believe and may it be our wonderful privilege to have that prayer in our hearts.
Lord, increase our faith. If God increases our faith, it
makes our faith more active. And I feel sure that if our faith
is exercised aright, under God's mercy and favour, our faith doesn't
get weaker through this, no, it grows stronger. What it is,
a wonderful blessing to have believing faith. And may these things have the
effect of the blessing that the Apostle Peter left with us. You notice if you read the epistles
of Peter, when you come to the last one, I think I'm right in
saying the very last verse is Peter's final recorded words. He says, but growing grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless these words
from the Holy Scripture to us this evening, and may we be among
those who grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Lord bless us each. Amen.