him and said, My father, if the
prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not
have done it? How much rather then, when he
saith to thee, Wash, and be clean. It's good for us sometimes to
just think and ponder the contents of the Bible, those things which
God has ordained should be recorded. We have this account we read
together this morning of Naaman, and no doubt through the history
of the world there have been very many accounts of individuals
in their situations which would have been interesting and worth
reading, and yet we recognise that God in His mercy and in
His sovereign will and purpose ordained that certain accounts
should be recorded and obviously very many not. And therefore
we believe that God caused men over the years to write the accounts
which had occurred. They're not fiction, they occurred,
they are true, And what a blessing it is for us today to realize
that things were written. They weren't written in any haphazard
manner. They were written under the divine
direction of Almighty God. And therefore, they were written
for a divine purpose. And that divine purpose is indeed
for the Church of God. And it's wonderful, therefore,
that as we do read the Word of God and read certain accounts
We recognize the relevance of them in our little lives today. And they direct us and instruct
us. And it's good to realize, therefore,
that they're not the words of man. They're not my words. They're
not words of anybody else. They are the words written by
man. They're not words of man. They're words of Almighty God. And so we have this account of
Naaman the Syrian, obviously quite an outstanding character
in those days in which we lived, an important person in Syria. And we recognize that he had
leprosy, which obviously in those days was a very serious illness,
not one that there was normally any cure for. And therefore,
the only real way was to have a miracle performed. And obviously,
Naaman had been in Syria, and obviously there'd be no people
that had been able to cure his leprosy. And then as we trace
back God's wonderful purposes and how they were worked out,
and we see that the Syrians had gone in companies and had fought
against Israel. And on one of those occasions
they captured a little maid. And that little maid had been
taken from her family, her home, and had been brought into Syria,
and she was given the job of being a maid to the mistress
of Naaman. She could have been given to
many other people but knowing God's providence she was given
as a maid to Naaman's wife and it's good to realize that this
occurred in the plan of Almighty God that in our lives there are
situations which develop which show to us very plainly the great
plan of Almighty God sometimes we don't always realize it No
doubt this little maid didn't realize it but it was quite clear
that she did know about the true God and she did know there was
a prophet in Israel who under the influence of the Spirit of
God would be able to cure this man Naaman of his leprosy and
therefore she was able to speak to Naaman's wife. She wasn't
afraid And she spoke boldly to Naaman's wife, and clearly Naaman's
wife didn't count it as rubbish, didn't count it as something
of unimportance. And she obviously told her husband,
and then it came to the king's ears. And the king then said,
go to, go, and I will send the letter unto the king of Israel.
And he departed and took with him 10 talents of silver and
6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes of raiment. So he went right
away across to Israel. And again, that was no small
thing. Remember, they'd been enemies.
They'd been fighting. And now he was willing to come
to the king of Israel. He came to the king of Israel.
The king of Israel, as we read, wasn't very happy. He knew he
couldn't cure this man, but Elisha came to hear about it. And therefore he asked, he said,
Elisha, the man of God, had heard that the king of Israel had rent
his clothes, and he sent to the king saying, wherefore hast thou
rent thy clothes? Let him come to me, and he shall
know. And there is a prophet in Israel.
And so Naaman came. He came to where Elisha lived. And we can imagine, can't we,
this man, this eminent man coming in his chariot to the house where
Elisha lived. And I expect it wasn't a great
palace. I expect it was a very modest place. And as we read,
he expected the prophet to come out. and do some great thing
and demonstrate in a very powerful way so that this leprosy might
be taken away. But no, he didn't receive that
at all. He received something very different. In actual fact, Elisha didn't
come out. And of course, that upset Naaman. He wasn't happy with that. He
expected Elisha to come and address him. And again, we should realize
here we have an account. We may expect sometimes people
to take more notice of us than we really deserve and we really
need. We expect, perhaps, people to
come and bow down to us and look upon us and know this name and
didn't have that. Elisha just sent the servant
with a message. And the message wasn't very wonderful,
really. Just told him to go and dip in
the river seven times. Well, he wasn't impressed at
all, was he? In actual fact, he was very angry that that should
happen, that Elisha hadn't taken any notice of him. And sometimes
we can be quite angry when things don't work out as we expect.
People perhaps don't acknowledge us as we expect. But people don't
bow down to us, perhaps, as we expect. Well, thankfully, we
see although Naaman was wroth and went away, there were those
who were there, who recognized that it was at least worth following
the words that Elisha had dictated. And it's a blessing when there
are those around us who perhaps direct us in the right way. And there we were, reluctant,
but the blessing was that God, and this is the wonderful element
we see here, God, through this servant, changed the heart of
Naaman. And it's wonderful to know that
God today hasn't lost His power or His ability to do things. And God changed the heart of
Naaman so that Naaman was willing to listen to what this servant
came and spake to him. Well, we see how God changes
hearts. We see how God does things in
specific ways to bring honor and glory to himself. It's always good to realize in
our lives, this is the great purpose of your life and my life
here on this earth. If we are the children of God,
it's to bring honor and glory to God so that we won't be able
to say, well, of course, this happened in my life. And this
wonderful occasion occurred. This person recognized I was
important and needed something like this. God Almighty looks
upon us and we are indeed, as the Word of God describes it,
just mere grasshoppers, really nothing in the sight of Almighty
God. And yet his people are gloriously
precious. in the sight of God. And the
great blessing is God doesn't leave us in, just wander away
in our own way. The Lord doesn't allow us to
continue and to place barriers there. No, the Lord's gracious
and deals in love to our souls. So here we see this man, Naaman,
not a believer, but a God who graciously came and changed his
heart so that he was, he became a believer because he realized
he was doing that which Almighty God had commanded. So what a blessing it is in our
lives if we recognize that God is dealing with us as sons and
daughters of the Most High God. He's not casting us away. Perhaps
we didn't realise His mercy. But God, my friends, is compassionate
to His Church. He's very gracious. He bears
with us. He's mindful of us. And He leads
us in the right way. And that should be very humbling
to us, as we look at ourselves and realize, perhaps we've rebelled
against God, perhaps we've said, I'm not gonna have this man to
rule over me. I'm gonna do this. I want God
to direct me in this way. I don't want to do that which
God has laid before me. Well, God gave Naaman grace to
submit himself under the mighty hand of God. And how wonderful
that is in your life and my life. When God gives us grace which
it is, the unmerited favour of God, to not stand on ceremony,
to not fulfil our plan, but to Humble ourselves. Humble ourselves. Indeed under the mighty hand
of God. And how tremendous it is to recognize
that Almighty God looks upon us. Wonderful, isn't it? And it's really worth pondering
this truth sometimes. It's good just to meditate. Meditation is a good thing. And
to come and meditate and realize that God who created all things,
not just this world, which he did amazingly, but the whole
universe, which is utterly beyond your and my comprehension and
understanding. Everything was made by Almighty
God. And all the people that live
in the earth today and ever have lived and ever will live, God
is the one who gives life. And to think that that great
God so powerful, so almighty, looks upon you and me in our
little place where we are and has watched over us from the
moment we were born into this world. We haven't always realised
it. Perhaps we often have not realised
it. but the thing that God has watched over us and yes God appoints
God appoints times in our life and the hymn writer tells us
which agrees with scripture there's a time when the Lord comes not
to propose but to call by grace you and I may propose to one
another certain things but you see God always is successful
in those things which he does. God doesn't propose and then
it doesn't work out. And he says, well that didn't
work, I better try something else. God knows his way in your
life and my life. And he knows when he will work
and how he will work. This man, Naaman, born in a foreign
land, not a God-fearing land at all, but God in His mercy,
looked upon him, looked upon him. There he was in that foreign
land and watched over him, brought him into this place where he
received leprosy. No doubt he wasn't very happy
with that at all. Sometimes you and I may not be
happy with what God brings upon us. But you see, God brought
leprosy upon him for a blessed purpose. A blessed purpose. And what was that purpose? That
purpose was no less than to reveal to him the true God in heaven. To reveal
to him the all-powerful God in heaven and to cause him to turn
from following a false God to a true God. You see, initially
when he objected to following the advice of Elisha and he said,
well, aren't Abana and Phapa rivers of Damascus perfectly
adequate? No, God had given a command.
God had said, go and dip in this river. It wasn't to go anywhere
else. And God divinely tells us today
what to do. And so he came. And we see that
Naaman then was willing to submit to the advice of one of his servants
who had come and told him, well, if the Prophet had told you to
do some great thing, you'd have done it. Sometimes that's the same in
our life. We want to be thought something of, we want to be important.
So we want to achieve something rather grand and glorious. The problem is with that, then
you and I take to ourselves the honour and the glory for achieving
that which God has done. We want to claim the glory. Well,
you see, God gives us things like this to do. Just like Naaman,
it was a very simple instruction, wasn't it? perhaps we might say
and he was really very unusual instruction he was to go and
dip himself in the river seven times what good would that do?
what good would that do? what we fail to often realize
is this is the divine way that Almighty God directs us to so
that he will receive the honor and glory You see, Naaman couldn't
claim anything, could he? Just going and dipping in the
river. Nothing great. He wasn't called upon to fight
some amazing battle and show how great he was. No. A very
simple thing. And so, what a blessing it is
when God is in charge of us. And just to repeat what I said
earlier, He makes us willing in the day of His power to do
His will. Very humbling, isn't it? And
it's God that does it. Because we may have said, well,
I'm not gonna do that. Just like Naaman, he wasn't gonna
do that. It was beyond, underneath him. He didn't want to do that. But
you see, God moved his heart. That's the essence. That's the
difference. When God comes and moves our heart, changes
us. Indeed, as we preached recently,
gives a new heart. What a change that is. Different
attitude, different outlook, a willingness to do the will
of God. Well, said this servant, my father,
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou
not have done it? How much rather then, when He
says to thee, wash and be clean? You might say, well, what's the
relevance of that today? Well, it may be very simply this,
to direct us to come to the Saviour. The blessed God has shown us
what we are by nature, unclean, a sinner needing to be washed. and shows to us that we can't
cleanse ourself we can't wash ourself what a mercy it is if
we're directed to come to the Saviour to pour our heart to
Him tell Him all about ourself you see no one understands us
better than God no one you can tell people You can expect them
to understand. They may not. But God does. And that's why
God gives us the glorious pattern of prayer. What a mercy, then,
to come to our God and to pour out our heart before him, explain
to him exactly what we are, how undone and how lost and ruined
we are. and to realise the Scriptures tell us Jesus came to seek and
to save that which was lost. Not those who are righteous,
not those who are proud with what they're doing, but those
who are lost and those who need a great and glorious Saviour.
And so here was this advice by this servant of Naaman again
that's quite surprising really because Naaman was the boss and
he was so willing to tell him really well you're doing the
wrong thing Naaman just humble yourself and just do what Elisha
has told you to do well you see how God deals with his people
and deals with us with love to our souls that's amazing isn't
it? God had a love toward Naaman
because he cured him of his leprosy and because he proved to him
that he was the true God and it was because in Naaman's case God had a love to Him. It's wonderful, isn't it, to
think that God has a love to us. He hasn't cast us off, and
He hasn't told us, you're a rebellious person, I don't want anything
more to do with you. He's kind, He's gracious. He was to Naaman. And Naaman
was willing to do the instruction of God. I know it was through
Elisha, but it was the instruction of God to go and dip in this
river, Jordan, these seven times. And so we're told. Then went
he down. A change had occurred. What a
wonderful thing when God changes our hearts. And so he changed
the heart here of this important person. Yes, he was brought down
to not recognize himself of any importance. He came then according
to the saying of the man of God. Yes, he did that which he'd been
instructed to do. And what was the result? Did
he have to wait for the result? No he didn't. Sometimes you and
I may perhaps be instructed to do things and we might think
we're gonna have to wait a long time for the answer. Sometimes
we may have to, but sometimes the answer is immediate. So it
was here. And so he came and he dipped
himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the
man of God. And his flesh came up again, like unto the flesh
of a little child. And he was clean. You see, God
doesn't do things in half measures. Man does, but God, you see here,
demonstrated the wonderful power by cleansing him and making His
flesh return as a little child. A little child's flesh is very
wonderful, isn't it? It's clean and it's perfect and
there's nothing wrong with it. And that's what the blessing
was here. God showed, God demonstrated very clearly this was His work,
His power. No, there were no scars, there
were no marks. There was it returned. just like
the flesh of a little child the flesh came again like under the
flesh of a little child and he was clean so what was the response? what did he do? did he say oh
well that's it I'm now back to Syria? no he had to go and he
had to acknowledge and he had to give thanks And it's almost
good, isn't it, if we follow the pattern we have in the Word
of God in our lives. And so he returned to the man
of God. He had all his company. He didn't
go by himself. Brought his company, those who
witnessed what had occurred. And now they came and stood before him, came back
to stand before Elisha and told him a very great and glorious
truth. Behold, so often in the word
of God, we have this word, behold, when there's something really
important. And to Naaman, this was something really important. And therefore he comes and he
says to Elisha, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. That was a grand statement, wasn't
it? It's a very important statement. And it's good for you and me
in our little lives When we come to that understanding that there's
no other God, there's only one God, the almighty God, the ruler
of the universe. The God has looked down amazingly
upon me. We surely come and stand where
John Newton said, amazing grace. How sweet the sound. that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found. His grace has set me free. And that's exactly what happened
to Naaman, the grace of God, the free unmerited favor. There
were no doubt hundreds of thousands of Syrians who'd never received
the mercy of God. But here was the Lord, in His
divine mercy and His great plan, to call Naaman, singled him out,
brought him into this place of leprosy, brought him to Elisha,
gave him grace to do that which he was instructed to do, and
there was a glorious cleansing. Yes, he was clean. What a mercy
then to realize the passion that we have. And so here was this
man now saying, behold, now I know there is no God in all the earth,
but in Israel. Now, therefore, I pray thee,
take a blessing of thy servant. And we have the wonderful position
of Elisha. we're told, he tells us later
on when Gehazi went behind Elisha's back and did that which was not
true and Elisha was a man like us and he saw that this was a
wonderful gift but he didn't accept it, no he didn't accept
it realising what had happened was that God had done that which
would be of his honour and glory what was Elisha? Elisha was just
the mouthpiece of Almighty God. God had wonderfully privileged
Elisha to just give the instruction. It wasn't anything more than
that. It wasn't his idea of Naaman
going into the river and dipping. No, it was the Word of God which
had come to him. He was just God's mouthpiece. And so how could he accept anything
in a material way? What had he received? He'd received
the wonderful favour that God had demonstrated, that what he'd
been instructed to say emanated from God. And the answer was shown so clearly,
and the effect it had also on the heart of Naaman. So it wasn't
only just physical change it was also a spiritual change well
what a blessing that was for Elisha to be able to just be
God's mouthpiece in this wonderful plan and as we look at it and
we realize it was planned in eternity past So it is in your life and my
life. Every little thing God has planned. It doesn't just
come and go. Just think up things and think,
oh well, perhaps I better get on with it and do this. No, it's
all in God's divine purpose. And it was here in this man of
Naaman. And therefore, Elisha was privileged
to hear the outcome, was able to observe the outcome in a natural
way, and able to understand it in a spiritual way. When this
man, Naaman, was able to come and declare, Behold, now I know
there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. That's a great
blessing, isn't it? And it's wonderful when we are
able to hear people declare that because it's a revelation. that
God gives, nowhere else. It's the work of the Spirit of
God to convince of sin and direct to the Saviour. What a mercy. What a mercy. Well, we see then
that Elisha wasn't willing to accept any gift. No, he'd been
blessed. And later on, as we read in this
account, when he came back to Gehazi, the servant came back
to Elisha and he went in and stood before his master and Elisha
said unto him, whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy
servant went no whither. Interesting, isn't it, how Gehazi
thought that Elisha wouldn't have noticed that happened, but
he had. And then he tells us, he said, Went not my heart with
thee when the man turned again from his chariot? Of course,
he was an orderly man, Elisha. He was a prophet. He was a man
with light passions like you and I. And there he'd seen Gehazi. And yes, he would have thought,
well, I could have done with those things. But no, God gave
him grace. God gave him grace to accept
what he'd possessed and what he'd been given, and not to desire. natural goods. God had blessed
him then with these spiritual blessings and these spiritual
revelations. Well, you know, we have this
account here. And as I started this morning
by saying, God ordains that such accounts are recorded in the
word of God for the clear direction of his children and encouragement
of his children, and perhaps in a very special way. we may
have read an account like this many times just passed over our
head it's good sometimes when God applies his word to our hearts
and then we know it is the Word of God and then we see the wonderful
revelation of it and again as I've already intimated it's wonderful
when we see the natural picture directed to us in a spiritual
way and to realize and just to just very quickly to say leprosy
in the Word of God is a picture of sin and leprosy historically
could not be cleansed it needed the work of God and so if leprosy
represents sin so we today are in the same situation. We all
are leprous. We're all sinners and we all
need to be cleansed. And how are we to be cleansed?
How are we to be made clean? And just like this man was, to
wash and be cleaned. We can't do it ourselves. Naaman
couldn't do it himself, but praise God, God can. And what does he do? How does
he do it? He directs us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that glorious direction is
this, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth
rhyme God and there's none else. What a mercy when God directs
us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to Him for salvation,
to look for Him for forgiveness. And then as the Holy Spirit directs
us to see the glory of the work of Jesus. Jesus came into this
world to save them which was lost, and He did it in a glorious
way, in giving His own life The only way which was acceptable
to our Father in heaven to take away our sin, to wash us clean,
is through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matt, the hymn writer, has a
word, invaluable blood. And it is so. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. that makes us clean. Wonderful, isn't it? A glorious
gospel. And what a favour to realise
that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world for that divine
purpose, to save our souls, to redeem us from all our sin, so
that by His grace one day we shall be with Him forever in
glory. Well, my friends, it's a wonderful
little account. It's a true account. May we realise
it and may we be able to understand the great relevance as it directs
us to our spiritual condition and realising that we are leprous,
we are sinners and we need to be cleansed. And we are cleansed
only through the death of our blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if the Holy Spirit shows
to us the wonder of redemption, we should indeed go on our way
rejoicing. And what we will be able to say,
we'll be able to join with Naomi and say, behold, now I know that
there is no God in all the earth but in
Israel. Amen.