you will let's turn to 2nd Kings
chapter 5. 2nd Kings chapter 5. We'd look at this Wednesday night
and we remember that Nahum and was that leper. And he came to
have, he was a general who happened to be a leper. It turned out
he was a leper who happened to be a general. But he came wanting
a blessing. But he brought the wrong payment.
And he went to the wrong place. And he talked to the wrong person.
And he had the wrong attitude. And he had the wrong expectations. And then, after the Lord sent
four servants to him to reason with him, he went and dipped
in the Jordan seven times, did what the prophet told him. And
he was made like a brand new baby, didn't have a wrinkle on
him, brand new skin, he was healed. And God worked in that man. God
revealed his power to him. We're gonna see that Elijah,
I thought about that too. Some of y'all have been in the
military. A general shows up, the head one, the five star,
the head general of Syria shows up with an armed escort. His
men were with him. And they had all that silver
and all that gold and those 10 chains of arraignment. Probably
about a couple million dollars worth of stuff. That was guarded.
And Elisha didn't even walk outside. He sent someone who happened
to be in the house of the prophet, doesn't mean that they believed
God. He sent that servant boy out there to tell him to go dip
in the Jordan. He insulted that man. A man's sin of God ain't like
other men. God's with him. But he's gonna teach this leper
something. Elisha told him to go dip in the Jordan seven times,
and Naaman's gonna come back. And the prophet, he's not just
a prophet, he's the preacher. He's Naaman's pastor now, and
God's gonna use him to teach him some things. He's a babe
in Christ, and just like our children, we don't let them be
feral. That's what this nation's starting
to appear, a bunch of feral children. We teach them. If you love them,
you teach them and you correct them. And you said, come on,
this is how we're going to do this. And they ain't going to understand
why, but you do it anyway. We'd be steady, don't we? Well,
Elisha is going to teach Naaman some things, but Naaman had a
complete change. It's hard to be around, had great
expectations, wrong about all of it. Verse 15, 2 Kings 5, verse
15. He went and dipped in a Jordan
and he returned to the man of God. he and all his company and
came and stood before him. Remember before, he was outside
the gate. He got right up to the church
house and he wouldn't go inside. And that's wrong. Now he come
in, he stood right in front of Elisha. He hadn't even seen Elisha
before that. He come right up to him. Him and all his company,
everybody he had the influence over, said, you're gonna come
here, Elisha. And if them soldiers said, well,
I don't wanna go, he said, well, go be soldier somewhere else.
You don't have to be with me. You go here." And he wanted those
men that he was around to know that this one he was offended
by, he said, I want to be identified with Elisha. That's my friend.
I love that man. I care for that man. And I want
you all to know it because I want you to care for him. I want people
to love the people I love. Don't you? He wanted them to
know Elisha. He wanted them to hear a word
from Elisha. But he come back, he returned to the man of God,
he and all his company, and came and stood before him and said,
Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but
in Israel. God revealed himself to me, Elisha.
Now therefore I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. Of
thy servant. You see the difference in the
attitude now? He said, take a blessing of thy servant. God did that. God did that. Up in verse 11.
First time, he said, go dip. It says, Naaman was wroth and
went away and said, behold, I thought he surely would come out to me
and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and strike
the hand over the place and recover the leopard. That's what he thought. That was his expectation. And
now he's there standing before Elisha. And he said, the Lord,
my Lord, used to be just your God, now it's my God. He's revealed
himself to me. He made me clean. This man's
been humbled. And here he is in front of God's
prophet, and instead of wanting a blessing, he wanted to be a
blessing. You see the night and day on
that one? A whole bunch of people go to church because they want
a blessing. Well, I want to feel warm and fuzzy, or I want to
get rich, or get healthy, or something. When the Lord works
with somebody, they want to go there, see their brethren, and
be a blessing. I want to be a blessing to you. I want to have a word
from God to your hearts. I want that, I ask him often.
But Naaman wanted to be a blessing. And he was given some understanding,
too. This man wasn't ignorant. He's been clean, he's been humbled,
and he's been enlightened. Verse 15, he said, Behold, now
I know. He doesn't say I think, or you
know, it probably is. He knew. I know that there is
no God in all the earth but in Israel. There's no little, gee,
God's a figment of your imagination. It might as well be wood. There's
one God. He's the God of the sons of Jacob. He saved sinners. I'm a sinner. He saved me. That's what he's
saying. I know this. God revealed himself to Naaman.
Now, Elijah's going to teach him some things. Naaman is a
newborn babe in Christ. Ten minutes. It's brand new,
isn't it? But he's the Lord. He's a new
creation. Christ dwelling in him. And Elisha's
gonna teach him some things. That's Elisha's job. He's God's
prophet, but he's the preacher there. And his job is to preach
and to teach. That's what the Lord said when
we read the first scripture. He said, go in all the world, you
preach this gospel and make disciples. That means I'm gonna work in
them, but I'm gonna do it through your mouth. And whenever they
believe, I don't care what they've done before. I don't care if
they've been baptized twice a week for 50 years. They're going to
profess me in believer's baptism. You baptize me in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And then, teach them. We're just saying it. Teach me
thy way. Thy way is capitalized. Teach me Christ. But I want to
know everything about him. He said, you teach them all my
commandments. Teach them why I did things. Show them these things. Teach them how to give. Teach
them how to love. Teach them how to sit still and wait on
the Lord. Everything. He said, you go down there, wherever
I teach you, you teach them. I have to learn these things
first before I can tell somebody else about it. I don't just read
books on this stuff. I live. And the Lord showed me
things. I want you to know them. Because
he's precious. And I think you'll find him precious,
too. I thought of that, too. This general, I mean, the head
man, not one of the generals, the general, he said, I'm your
servant. How could a man go from being
a general to a servant? He was there to be... I'll tell
you, if God works in somebody and you have ears to hear, you'll
be made teachable. You won't resist every word that
comes out of the man sent from God and fight him tooth and toenail.
You'll shut your mouth and listen. Because you want to. I want to
learn things. If I'm doing it wrong, I want to see what this
word says. I want to know what the Lord thinks about it. And
I want to do His way. I'm going to mess it up. But
I want to. I have that desire. That's the
same thing in Naaman. He had ears to hear. He was made
teachable. This mighty general, he said,
I'm your servant. I'm your servant. It says in verse 16, he said,
I want to give you something. I want to give you a blessing.
Verse 16, Elisha answers him. And he said, does the Lord live
before whom I stand? I will receive none. I ain't
taking no offering from you. I ain't taking no blessing from
you. And he urged him to take it. Now he said, now, come on
now. I want to give you, I got all this stuff here. I want you
to take it. Before I was going to buy something and now, but
I just want you to have it. And he refused. Elisha would not
take what that man came to give him. This is the first lesson. This is the first lesson. I want
to learn this. Do you want to learn it? God's
teaching his people something. Silver and gold cannot buy healing
of the soul. Or it can't buy God's messenger
either. A man's sin of God can't be bought.
And leprosy of the soul, the sin, You can't buy it. You can't buy it. Now, Naaman
tried that. He ain't got the lesson yet.
He just showed up and all of a sudden he's clean and he's
got a heart that's just overflowing. But he's gonna have to learn.
Elisha ain't gonna have him start with bad habits. We're gonna
get off on the right foot. And I ain't taking your gift.
And Naaman ain't gonna get it for probably 15 years. And in
15 years from now, Naaman's gonna look back and say, boy, I get
it now. Thank you, Elisha. Glad God made you faithful. He
has a new attitude, but Elijah knew that this lesson needed
to be established firmly before they moved on. Now, there'll
come a time, Naaman's gonna bless a whole mess of people, I'm sure.
He ain't mention no more, but he's about to bless a thief at
the end of this chapter, but unknowingly, but that heart's
in him to give. But right now, ain't the time for that. You
just need to listen and learn. You just need to listen and learn,
to Elisha. And you know, we can compare scripture with scripture,
and what I'm telling you is true. I've learned it from, I know
it from experience, God's taught me, and I know it from this word.
Remember Simon, not Simon Peter, but that other fellow, Simon
the Magician, he saw the apostles, they was laying on the hands
of the Holy Ghost of people, and they were receiving the Holy
Ghost, and he said, well, that's neat. Can I do that? Let me give you money." He offered
them money. They're in Acts 8. And he said, you let me have
this power also. I want to have the Holy Ghost
so I can put it on people. I want to do this party trick because
that's all it was to me. The Lord hadn't worked in that
man, Simon. And Peter said to him, he said, thy money perish
with thee. "'cause thou hast not thought that the gift of
God "'may be purchased with money." What are you thinking? You can't
buy this. And that's neither part nor lot in this matter,
for thy heart's not right in the sight of God. Your heart's
in the wrong place. I ain't taking it. Peter wouldn't take it, Elisha
wouldn't take it. Now, Nehemiah's heart might've
been in the right place. He wanted to be generous. He was a greedy
man before, now he's a giver. Henry said that Lord may save
a tightwad, but he ain't gonna leave him that way. He wanted
to help but there's a time and a place and this ain't the time
Naaman. So just you keep it I ain't taking
it he was a babe and he had to learn and that's gonna take time
and you know like a Just like a normal child a child of God's
we ask why don't Little kids why why I wonder why I don't
want to know why right now. I Well, you know, just do as
I say. That's what you need to do. That's
what we tell our children, right? You do it, why? Because I said
so. You'll learn it later. But why do we want to do that?
Why would Elijah do this? Why would he refuse this offering
of Naaman? I thought, what would happen if he didn't? What would
happen if Elijah would have took this big old gift that Naaman
wanted to give him? Well, right now, as a babe, Naaman's
going to tell somebody else. And he'd tell the story wrong,
because he ain't learned how to tell stories yet. You know
that? You ever heard a little child
tell a story, and they just get the punchline on the wrong spot?
It takes a long time to learn how to tell a joke, learn how
to tell a story, don't it? He'd tell the story wrong. He'd say,
you know what? I was made whole when I gave that prophet $100,000.
What's the unregenerate gonna hear? Well, I just need to go
give that prophet $100,000, and I'll be made whole. And later
on in life, as he grows, and he grows in grace, and he grows
in understanding, he won't word it that way. He's gonna be taught
some things, and that won't even be mentioned whenever he's matured.
He'll say, God healed me. God healed me. He won't bring
up him giving a gift. Right now, he's a babe, and he's
used to people giving him gifts and him giving other people.
As a general, there's protocol, and it's gotta be recorded. This
still happens in our day. If I get a gift under $50, you
have to keep a spreadsheet, and I had to do all this stuff, but
he was used to it. This is just normal, right? But
he has to learn this has to take place, not with a host of men
around him, this has to take place in private. Yeah, and our
scripture's compared with scripture, right? What did Christ say when
he walked this earth? In Matthew 6, he says, when you
do your alms, when you do your giving, let not the left hand
know what the right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret,
and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee
openly. You're gonna give something, you're gonna do something. Everybody
don't need to know about that. And it'd be good if I didn't know
about it. If I was the one giving. If my
left hand did not know what my right hand was doing. If I could
forget about it, that'd be good, wouldn't it? He's wanting to establish
that there's no mixing at all whatsoever of getting grace because
you did something. That's what Elisha's teaching.
And he's teaching him that the prophet of God can't be bought
or influenced at all. The next day, he don't have the
temptation to say, I gave you a bunch of money yesterday. You
need to be preaching out a Psalm 15 or I want a message out of
this or I want to sing this song tomorrow. I want you to do a
special. No, Lysol wouldn't put up with it. Paul said that. In Acts 20, he was preaching
to him. He said, I've coveted no man's
silver or gold or apparel. And he said, isn't that apparel,
changes of garment? Same thing, isn't it? And ye
yourselves know, you know, he said, these hands have ministered
unto my necessities. What was he talking about? In
Acts 18, he met up with Priscilla and Aquila, they were tent makers.
And Paul showed up at Corinth, and he went and made tents. And
he worked all week making tents, and he preached on the weekends.
And he told the church at Thessalonica, he said, you remember, brethren,
our labor and travail. He said, you pray for us, and
you remember how hard we worked. We labored night and day. I worked
all day, and I studied all night. So you can have a message because
we would not be chargeable to any of you if we preached unto
you the gospel of God. We're not saying we're going
down here doing this for money. That has to be established. Naaman
needed to learn it, the people of Thessalonica and Corinth needed
to learn that, and we need to learn that. can't be influenced. Paul wouldn't take a paycheck
from Corinth even though he plainly taught Timothy and the Word of
God said a man's gonna live by the gospel. If you're gonna show
up and preach, you're gonna live by the gospel, not by the gospel
and something else. The Lord's gonna provide for
it. And if the Lord ain't in it, he won't provide for it.
And if he's in it, you can't stop him from providing for it. He'll
come out of the ground or something. But Paul's trying to teach Corinth
this, and later on there in 2 Corinthians 8, Paul ends up taking an offering
up from Corinth. He wouldn't take a paycheck from
them in the get-go, but after they grew some and they learned
something, after that was established, he says, all right, now let's
take up offering for Jerusalem. It was the richest town going in
that time. Reach deep, boys, this is our brethren down there,
and they need some help. You see that? Once that's been
established, once it's been taught. Now there at the end of verse
15, Naaman says, now, therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing
of thy servant. What was he going to give him?
How much was he going to give him? They don't say, does he? They didn't say take two talents.
He didn't say take three garments. He said, take a blessing. It's
something I had to learn. You tell me what I can do to
help. What do you need? There's a time and place for
giving, but it's gotta be willingly. If Elisha said, I need this,
he's purposed for Naaman, he said, this is what you gotta
give. Well, the Lord says, whatever's purposed in your heart, Lord
put it in the heart of his people to give, and you just do it.
You just pick something, like I wanna do this, then go do that,
do it. Don't let nobody tell you what
you gotta give or what you don't gotta give or all those things, just
do it. He said, well, what do you need?
You ask a believer, what do you need? I told brother Bob that
one day. I said, I need to learn this.
I need to stop saying it. But if you need anything, call
me. But I know you ain't going to
call me. I said, just show up, shouldn't I? A child of God ain't
going to say, well, I need this, this, and this, and two pairs
of tennis shoes. I'm fine, Lord, take care of me. They won't say
anything. If the Lord's put on our heart to do something, just
do that. It's not set, is it? I had to learn that. I was going
to get a bunch of ACs for Mexico for the pastors down there so
they could be comfortable in a heat wave years ago. That way they
could study in comfort and stop sweating on their notes. And
a wise old believer that's used to spread the gospel internationally.
The Lord used them mightily to spread it. They sat me down and
they said, don't do that. I said, if them people want their
pastors to have ACs, they need to get them an AC. And I was
mad, frustrated. Why? That's what I asked. And
they said, just wait, just wait. And I said, okay, I believed
him. I trust him. Lord taught them a lot of things
and grew them. I figured he'll grow me too, wouldn't he? Well,
guess what? Years later, I got it. And then
there was a church call and said, hey, can you put an air conditioner
in our church? I said, I'll be there Saturday. Lord, let me
do that. But he established that in me. He taught that to me. I still
need to learn, if you need anything, let me know. Pray the Lord to
work on me on that. Elisha, he was beginning to teach
Naaman, neither grace nor the man can be bought or bribed.
That's what he's starting to teach him. The second lesson,
verse 16. But he said, the Lord liveth,
as the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I'll receive none. And
he urged him to take it, but he refused. And Naaman didn't
say anything. Naaman didn't bud him. He didn't
argue with him. He didn't say, well, now have
you thought about this? What says this over there? He just
said, okay. He had two refusals and he said, okay. Verse 17,
he went on another topic. Here's a second lesson. Naaman
said, shall there, not then I pray thee, be given to thy servant
two mules burden of earth. He said, I used to play religion. He's got a lot of understanding,
he really does. He said, everything I was doing in the past, I've
heard believers around the world say this. Not that that church
is wrong, that church is wrong, this church is right. He said,
I was wrong, I was wrong, and the Lord's right. And everything
I did in the past was a waste. I wasn't fellowshipping. I wasn't
worshipping God. I didn't know who God was. But
from now on, I ain't burning a sacrifice to them idols no
more. From now on, I'm worshipping God. That's good, isn't it? But he just wanted to give Elisha
something. Now he's asking something from
Elisha. He wants two mules' burden. You know what that is? He wants
as much dirt from around Elisha's house that two mules will carry.
I want three yards of dirt is what I want. What in the world's
he wantin' that for? Remember what just happened?
He just despised this land. He despised, look here at verse
12 again. Are not Anaba and Farpar rivers of Damascus better than
the waters of Israel? May I not wash them and be clean?
So he turned and went away in a rage. He was so mad, he said,
look at these nasty rivers, this dirty dirt. I don't want nothing
to do with this place. And now he says, can I have two mules
worth of dirt from around your house? I ain't worshipin' false
gods no more. You know, maybe he knew some
things. Now he wants to take some of this land home with him
to worship on. We read where that altar was established. It
was an earthen altar, wasn't it? He's gonna sacrifice to God.
And he said, that land of Syria that I love so much, I fought
for it. I bled for it. It means nothing to me. And this
here is holy ground. That's where I'm gonna worship
God on. Sounds good, doesn't it? Elisha's gonna teach Naaman. He's gonna have to learn there's
nothing special about a building, there's nothing special about
a land, there's nothing special about a conference or an area
of the country or whatever. All of this is part of this cursed
earth. Okay? It's all, this is a church house,
remember? This ain't the church of God,
we're the church of God, this is just a house we happen to
meet in, it's a church house. He's gonna have to be taught that
nothing on this earth is anything good. It's all cursed earth.
You can take a trip to the Middle East. A lot of people wanna go
over and see Jerusalem and say, oh, this sure is, and they feel
all spiritual and something or whatever. You may have a fun
time going there. You will not be enlightened.
If I'm sent with God's word, here's his word. You can go there
if you want to, you will not be lied. You may be captivated
by the sights, and you may end up in captivity. You may end
up in a jailhouse down there. Leave it alone. We don't worship
Lord in buildings, we worship him in spirit and in truth, don't
we? That might be us gathered in this wilderness here in this
building. This building may burn down. We may have to pitch a tent out
in somebody's backyard or something, I don't know. I preached in Angus'
driveway. The Lord was with us. That's got to be taught. Elisha
didn't let him take it. I'll bet you two kidneys he didn't
let him take that dirt. It's not mentioned, but I'm telling
you, he didn't. We compare scripture with scripture,
and not only knowing what it says, but understanding it and
getting the principles of it, right? If we have the principle,
the particulars will fall into place. If the Lord teaches us
about him, then we'll know, right? Look over in Acts 7. Acts chapter 7. I was telling
you about Stephen preaching there. We'll take a look at it. Verse 44. Acts 7 verse 44. Now the Lord had instructed them
how to make a tabernacle in the wilderness, didn't he? Acts 7-44,
"...our fathers had the tabernacle of witnesses in the wilderness,
and he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make
it according to the fashion as he had seen." The Lord told Moses
how to make this thing. "...which also our fathers that
came after brought in with Jesus unto the possession of the Gentiles,
whom God drove out before the face of their fathers unto the
days of David, who found favor before God, and desired to find
a tabernacle for the God of Jacob." Solomon built him a house. Howbeit
the most high dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Ask
saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne. Heaven is my throne,
and earth is my footstool. What house will ye build me,
saith the Lord? Or what place of my rest? Hath
not my hand made all these things?" Dirt ain't gonna be something
special for Naaman. He's going to be taught that. A building
ain't gonna be something special. Having a cross or one of those things,
beads, people wrote prayer beads and stuff. The Lord ain't in
those things. He's in the heaven. He owns the
earth, doesn't he? His hand made everything. He
makes all these things. So with that said, Stephen shoots
some sharp arrows to those he's preaching. Verse 51. You stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, do you always resist the
Holy Ghost as your fathers so do? You're clinging to all this
stuff and this experiences and these tabernacles and buildings
and dirt is all it is. Dirt, same thing Adam was made
out of, it's cursed. You're clinging to it and you're
resisting the Holy Ghost. They wouldn't resist Stephen's
preaching. I don't like that preaching. You didn't like the
Holy Ghost is what it was. If the Spirit's with them, that's
what they were refusing. How would Elijah even know how to
address this Gentile leper? Like when this question, if somebody
came here and said, hey, can I take some carpet up? What in
the world? How do we say? How would Elisha
know this? How would he have been taught
this? Turn to 1 Kings 19. You know how he learned it? A
man taught him. Elijah taught him. Because Elijah had learned
it. First Kings 19. Look at verse 11. The Lord's speaking
to Elisha. First Kings 19, 11. He said,
go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And he went,
and behold, the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind, rent
the mountains, and break it in pieces, the rocks, before the
Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind,
an earthquake came, but the Lord was not in an earthquake. And
after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in a fire.
And after the fire, a still small voice. The word of God came,
not in dirt, not in a place, not in ceremony, not in the way
grandma always used to do it. God came. God gave ears and spoke
to a sinner. What's the response to that?
And it was so when Elijah heard that he wrapped his face in a
mantle, he hid his face and went out and stood at the entering
of the cave. He come out of that place. That's a lesson we gotta
be taught. God's not worshiped in things
and in certain places and whatnot. We're gathered together, we have
this place, we're thankful for it. I'm thankful we have a place
to meet. We don't have to sneak in here at night and risk going
to prison tomorrow for doing so. We're living good and we
ought to thank God for it. But if it ain't here, it could
be across the street or it could be across the border in Arizona
or something. We have to be taught those things.
The Lord's with us. He's with us. Now the third lesson, back
in our text, verse 18. Elisha didn't even address it.
There was no yes or no. He probably just looked at him.
That woman who had a sick daughter came to the Lord and she said,
you need to heal my daughter. And he ignored her and just stared
at her. And then she said, you need to help my daughter. And
he said, I ain't taking the children's food and giving it to dogs. And
she said, I'm your dog. Took a while, didn't it? So Naaman
asked him that and Elisha didn't even speak. It didn't give him
a dirt, I'll tell you that. The third lesson. Naaman keeps talking. Verse 18. In this thing, the
Lord pardoned my servant. He said, I'm going to tell you
about something. And I want the Lord to pardon me. I'm your servant,
Elisha, but I want God to pardon me on this. That when my master
goeth into the house of Rimeon to worship there, and he leaneth
on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimeon, when
I bow down myself in the house of Rimeon, the Lord pardon my
servant, this thing. He's saying, I'm gonna go back home to Syria.
Now, the king, I'm his right-hand man. I'm the head servant, I'm
the general. And whenever he goes to church, that's false
church, I know that now. But when he goes in there, I
gotta go with him. And he leans on my arm. And now he's gonna
bow down. And if I'm holdin' on to him,
I'm gonna have to lean down so he can bow down. And I'm gonna
bow in that house. Now you actin', the Lord's gotta forgive me for
that. That's what Naaman's askin'.
He wants the Lord to pardon him for that. He said, I'm gonna
go in this false house, and I want God to pardon me. I assure you,
Elisha did not encourage Naaman to attend a false church knowingly. I assure you of that. 2 Corinthians
6. Here's what the Lord's Word says.
2 Corinthians 6 verse 14. The Lord's word's the Lord's
word. Whether we like it or we agree with it doesn't matter.
It's true. It's so. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. I thought to be yoked. You ever
seen two oxen out in a field with a yoke on, just standing
there? No, they're doing something. They're performing a task or
pulling a plow, right? Don't try to worship together.
Don't try to, it's like if your child was doing heroin, you wouldn't
go down and do heroin with them to get them off of heroin. It's
ridiculous. Don't be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? And what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. Remember, we ain't talking about a building. We're
talking about you. You're the temple of the living
God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them.
And I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore,
come out from among them. Lord, leave them in there. Now,
if they're his, he delivers them. He gets them out. That's what
he said. I can confidently say it because
he said it. Wherefore, come out from among
them, be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I'll receive you, and be a father unto you, and
you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. The Lord's faithful to bring
his sheep to himself, and we're freed from the law. Christ fulfilled
every jot and tittle of the law, right? Now, can we have other
gods? Do you want to have other gods?
Do you want to have images before you? Do you want to go that place
where they say a horrible thing? If somebody's bad-mouthing my
wife or my family, I ain't gonna listen to it long. I don't wanna
hear it. Best case scenario, I walk away. Best case scenario
for you. I won't hear it. If somebody's
lying or they don't know my God and they're leading people astray,
the blinds leading the blinds, I don't wanna part in it. I can't.
I can't be yoked with them. Well, they say some good things.
No, it's poison. 99% of poison is water or something
good, a carrier, right? Just a little bit of poison in
there, that's all it takes. In Exodus 20, the Lord spoke and
he said, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of
the land of Egypt. I brought you out, out of the houses of bondage. Thou
shalt have no other gods before me. Does that mean, well, I can
have him, and then in second place, I can have another God?
No. That word before me, it means on or in front of, like in order,
but it also means in the present. You can't have no other gods
in my sight. When you're looking at me, you ain't looking at nobody
else. You can only look one thing at a time. He said, you're gonna
look at me. You have no, thou shalt. That
means his people won't. We're in Christ, Christ fulfilled
that law. But this is the Lord's doing. He saves people. Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above or earth beneath or that's
under the water of the seas, under the earth. And thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. Now even saying
to Elisha, now I want you to pray for me, I'm gonna go bow
down there. Elisha said, Lord said, you ain't bowing down to
nobody but him. nor serve them, for I am the
Lord thy God. I'm a jealous God, and I visit the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generations
of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands to them
that love me." You love me? You want to go there? Do you
want to go hear that? I don't. I don't. And keep my commandments. The Lord spoke at Matthew 8.
He says, other disciples asked him, said, Suffer me first to
go bury my father. I gotta go down there and have
a church service, and I'm gonna have sat through it, and I'm
gonna have a funeral service for my father. I'm gonna attend
that, and then I'm gonna be a disciple, then I'll follow you. And what'd
the Lord say? Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.
You don't need to go down there. You don't go in that house. You
come where I am. That's it. Once you know him,
you don't want nothing to do with them places. That's so. Elisha
would have told him, he said, you tell that king if he asks
you, you go find you another helper, but not you. Not you. The king of Syria might get offended
in that, wouldn't he? The Lord said in Matthew 10,
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul, but rather fill him which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell. We know God, we honor God, we
fear God now. I can't do that, I'm a child
of God. Naaman's gotta learn that, and it takes a lifetime
to learn these things. This ain't something you get in one lesson,
one Sunday school when we get taught. It's a lifetime, day
in and day out, and the Lord willed those things out of us.
He will. Gil had brought this up. He said that Naaman may have
been referred, he's trying to help Naaman out. He was covering
up, walking in backwards on old brother Naaman, and he said,
Naaman may have been referred to what used to happen, and he
wanted God to pardon that, and that's so. Lord will, he'll forgive
his sins, won't he? I'm sure of that. But he wasn't
gonna go listen to a heathen god no more. He said, there's
one god, I ain't going in there. He said, I used to go there and
God forgave me for that. God forgave me for all those
times I've been underneath a false gospel. And I feel sorry for
those that preach the false gospel. I've talked to them, that eats
at them. And they beg God to forgive that department. So Naomi
taught some lessons. I'll hurry. I gotta get to the
end of this chapter. There's another application for
us to learn. Naaman's taught these lessons.
There's something for us to learn. He gave him a lesson on giving.
That the gospel can't be bought and the men can't be bought.
He gave him a lesson on idols. Put them idols away. You don't
need this dirt. And he gave him a lesson on going to the house
of other gods. Leave it alone. Leave it alone. I hope the gospel's in a lot
of places, but there's places I know it is. So if I'm driving
up north, I'm gonna stop and rescue. The gospel's there. I
hope it's all through Sacramento, but I know where it is. That's
where I'm going. I ain't gonna try out every place underneath
the sun. Go where it is. Lord will bring us together in
the wilderness if he so pleases. But he taught him these things.
And it says in verse 19, and he says to him, go in peace.
So he departed for him a little way. He went about a mile down
the road and set up camp. Go in peace. Go in peace, Naaman. Verse 20. I wish it was but God. That's when good
news comes in and we always get bad news. But God, this is all
good news. Now, I taught you some things.
Now go in peace. Go learn what these things mean.
I pray the Lord applies this to you and he grows you in grace
and doesn't leave you an infant until you die. Go in peace."
And he went, buck hazy. The servant of Elijah, the man
of God, said, Behold, my master has spirit name in Assyria. He
could have took him for a ride, and he didn't take nothing from
him. He could have sold that dirt to him. He said, Oh, no,
that's fine. Yeah, you go sit underneath that
church with your husband or your wife and your king, and you come
here on Wednesdays, but you go there on Thursdays or whatever.
He could have done that. But he left this guy hanging.
He, my master, spared Naaman the Syrian, and not receiving
at his hands that which he brought. But as the Lord liveth, I will
run after him, and take somewhat of him. This is the one that
went out and told him to go dip seven times. Elijah had a servant.
He was in the house of the prophet. He was being taught by the prophet.
He worked with the prophet. And through this trial that the
Lord sent, he made a new creation in Naaman, and he revealed the
wickedness of this servant in God's house through one act. through the confession and the
profession of one of his children, of his child Naaman. So Gehazi,
verse 21, followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running
after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said,
is all well? He saw him coming. He said, that's
that boy from Elisha's house. And he jumped off of his chariot.
He got down to meet him. He said, everything okay? Is
Elisha all right? How's my buddy doing? And he
said, Oswell, he said, my master has sent me saying behold, even
now, there's come to me from Mount Ephraim, two young men
of the sons of prophet. Give them, I pray thee, a town
of silver and two challenges of raiment. What did this guy
here say? A lie. That ain't what a lie
should say. He made this up. Here's this
little servant boy running after this rich general. He said, hey,
I was talking to the prophet. And he said, he changed his mind.
There's some family coming in, and we're going to have some
expenses. And so if you could, give me a talon of silver and
two changes of garments. I don't need much. Just a little bit, cover expenses,
you know. And Naaman, here's this boy wanting
to take Naaman, this new creation. Be content, take two talons.
He told him what he needed. I need one talent and two garments.
He said, you take two, I'll double it. He's generous, wasn't he? And he urged him and bound two
talents of silver to the bag and two changes of garments and
laid them upon two of his servants and they bear them before him.
When he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and
bestowed them in the house. And he let the men go to helpers
with him and they departed. He went and hid it in the house.
And when he went in, he stood before his master. And Elijah
said unto him, where comest thou, Gehazi? Where you been? And he
said, thy servant went nowhither. I didn't go nowhere. What are
you talking about, Elijah? Elijah knew he'd done something. And
he said unto him, went not my heart with thee, when the man
turned again from his chariot to meet thee? My heart was with
him. Elijah wasn't just a preacher
like we are. This is a God's prophet. And
he knew, his heart was knit. I've been telling you this. His
heart was tied to that one that heard the gospel through him.
Their hearts were knit together. They were brothers now, spiritual
brothers. And he said, as he jumped off
that chariot, I felt it. And you took advantage of him.
Is it time to receive money and to receive garments and olive
yard and vineyards and sheep and oxen and menservants and
maidservants? Is this what you're here for? Are you here to get
all this stuff, Gehazi? What's taking place? Now listen
to me. The prophet of God, the man sent
of God, is teaching the children of God something, and the one
that's in the very house is the one that's undoing everything
he's teaching. He's going behind his back without his knowledge
and saying, now, that ain't what he's talking about. Now, here's
the good thing. Here's what y'all... I know he's...
I think this. Now, this has been my experience. You do what I
tell you to do. Elisha just told him to do something, and Nahum
is none the wiser. That's so sad. I've seen newborn
babes in Christ be taken advantage of by wicked people shortly after
the Lord works in them, and they're generous, and that's a shame
is what that is. That's a shame. Whether it's
of money, of garments, of knowledge, of instruction, and everything
else, it's a shame when it takes place. What's the outcome of that? Well,
that prophet's gonna teach Gehazi something. Verse 27, the leprosy
therefore from Naaman shall cleave unto thee and to thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence
a leper white as snow. The very one that wanted to take
something from a child, the Lord wasn't joking. I tell people
that, and they're back talking, but, but, but, he said, touch
not my anointed, do my prophet's no harm. I was bringing up, somebody
broke in their van one time and at a park, Cameron had the children
out playing, they busted a window out and took a purse. And somebody
said, you mad? I said, well, if I was there
and I could get my hands on them. But I said, that ain't nothing. They
don't know this shit. They stole the Lord's daughter's
purse. You think I'm hard to deal with? You're about to meet
a holy God. That's a child of God. But anyway,
poor name ain't mentioned again until the Lord mentions him.
Christ is on this earth. And he said, you know, there's
a lot of widows down there. Ain't none of them was fed but a Gentile
woman. There's a bunch of lepers. And
there wasn't no lepers in Israel that was healed. saved Naaman
at Gentobel. The Lord saved him, didn't he?
And he taught him some things. And I want the Lord to teach
me some things. I want to learn. I want to be a faithful servant.
I want to be a servant, just like Naaman. He said, I'm your
servant. I want to be a servant, and I want to be a son, and I
want to be a good son. I do. And his wife teaches that
now. I hope that's a blessing to you. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for our brethren you send to be with us and encourage
us and comfort us. Grace is on their lips and we
pray grace be on our lips too, Lord. Give us a sweet fellowship
today and be with our brethren that couldn't be with us and
those around this world. Be with them as you promised
you will be, Lord. Carry them through the trials
and comfort them and teach them and keep us. Thank you for our
great king, our kinsman redeemer, our sweet husbandman. Thank you
for this day. It's because of Christ we ask.
Amen.