I come before you this evening
seeking, Lord, that our hearts might be yielded up, and our
minds as well, to consider for a while this portion of God's
Word, how we thank You for all of Your Word, and the great lessons
that are there for our admonition. And Lord, here are several things
to come before us this evening, practical and that might bless
and help us And we pray that you'll bless the reading and
also the preaching of your Word today. For we ask it in the name
of Christ, who is our Lord and your Son. Amen. Alright, 2 Kings
chapter 5, I said that. 1 through 3, then 9 and 10, then
jumping around. Now, Naaman, 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 in valor, watch this, but he was a leper, a mighty
man in valor, a leper. And the Syrians had gone out
by companies and had brought away captive out of the land
of Israel a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress,
Would God, my Lord, were with a prophet that is in Samaria,
for he would recover him of his leprosy. Now verse 9 and verse
10, So Naaman came with his horses, with his chariot, stood at the
door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall
come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." Verse 14, Then
when he down 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. Verse 18 and
19, In this thing the Lord pardoned thy servant, that when my Master
goeth into the house of Rimman to worship there, he leaneth
on my hand, I bow myself in the house of Rimman. When I bow down
myself in the house of Rimman, the Lord pardoned thy servant
in this thing. And he said unto him, Go thy
way, go in peace. So he departed from him a little
way." Now here's the title of my message. Naaman, the leperess,
cleansed, converted, and thankful. Naaman, a leper, cleansed, converted,
and thankful. Perhaps the first thing to consider
about this incident with this man by the name of Naaman is
that it occurred during the period of the ministry of Elisha, one
of the great prophets of God in the Old Testament. You remember
that Elisha faltered immediately upon the heels of Elijah, that
his mantle fell upon Elisha, and that he took up the good
work. Between the two of them, there, no doubt, was the greatest
period of miracles recorded anywhere in the Old Testament. while at
the same time it was a period of spiritual declension when
Elisha was a prophet. And though we cannot at this
time speak particularly or at length of the nature and the
essence or the purpose of miracles, suffice it to say that the times
when they were present see the spiritual result and therefore
we can put together the work of God concerning miracles. Usually
they came when there was some new revelation, when there was
some new way that God would take His people or work that He would
do. They came to certify that the
Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the anointed of God. It was by
miracle that the people recognized in Moses a deliverer come unto
them from God. But in our text, it is Elisha
who, by the power of God, completely heals a man of leprosy. And that it came to pass was
an example of the divine, sovereign providence of God. How this all
fell out is a marvel of the providence of God. A remarkable exercise
of divine providence brought Naaman healing from his leprosy. First, however, let us meet the
cast of characters that make up the drama in this chapter
of God's Word. Some of them have major roles,
and others have only bit or minor parts in this matter. But the
major players are Naaman the leper, the Syrian general, if
you will, and Elisha, the great and greatly used prophet of God
in the land of Israel. Now, special mention, however,
as a cast of characters, also goes to the little Israeli maid
whose words set the whole thing in motion. And some bit players
are the king of Israel, the king of Syria, the attendants of Naaman,
and the villain Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. We won't have time
to look at him today. But as the curtain opens or goes
up on this drama, Naaman is the first one that we see up on the
stage. He was a man high in government. He held a high government position. He was captain of the host of
all of the armies of the king. He was a successful military
strategist. He had been instrumental in gaining
the freedom of the Syrians by whom the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria. A national hero, we could possibly
call this man. But for some time now, as we
raise up the curtain, Naaman had begun to notice sore blotches
upon his skin. He began to see swelling arising
on parts of his body. He began to see scabs forming
on his flesh. And then it began to spread and
it grew worse. Raw flesh then appeared upon
him in places, and the flesh of his skin began to burn and
to itch, and the sores in his head and his hair began to fall
out. How do I know that? Well, I've
read Leviticus chapter 13, the discovery of leprosy. Soon it became evident. It could
not be hidden any longer. His wife knew. His underlings
knew. And the housemaid even knew that
Naaman was a leper. It became common knowledge so
that all the promise seen in this man, all the position and
all the power that he held seemed to be dashed to pieces by those
words in verse 1, but he was a leper. Yes, a mighty man in
valor. Yes, an important man in the
kingdom, but he was a leper. Now, I want to say something
before we get into his actual healing. That is, brethren, leprosy
in that day was nearly uncurable by any conventional method. It has been called a living death
for those that caught leprosy. And it would certainly seem,
and this is important I think, that leprosy in the Scripture
is a type of sin, such as A. A. Bonar, who wrote a book on
Leviticus, wrote the words, quote, The workings of leprosy were
appointed for the purpose of showing forth sin in all of its
features, unquote. Now think about that. Leprosy,
a type of sin. Let's see if we can establish
that fact and see that it is true from the language that is
used in the Scripture to describe sin and sinfulness. It could be the description of
leprosy, that description of sin. For example, Isaiah chapter
1 and verse 6. The whole head is sick, even
from the whole heart is faint. from the sole of the foot to
the top of the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores." Could that be a description of
leprosy? But it is a type of their sin. Again, in Psalm 38 and verse
5, as the psalmist writes, confessing his sin, he said, my wounds fester
and are loathsome because of my sinful folly, so that they
are described alike in the Scripture. Now the providence of God as
it worked in the healing of Naaman's leprosy was after this fashion. Remember we read a little Jewish
maid had been taken captive from Israel, brought to Syria, and
made to serve as the handmaid of Naaman's wife. That's in the
second verse. And one day she said to her mistress,
Would that my Lord were with the prophet Yonder in Israel,
He would cure him of his leprosy. And in the providence of God,
this lowly maid is a means of a very powerful and influential
man of Syria becoming a subject of the living God. Not only was
He cured of his leprosy, but He became a subject and a worshiper
of the living God. Now, it's amazing, is it not,
upon the very credit of the word of this little Jewish maid about
the prophet in Samaria, now we shall see how his cleansing came
about. He comes to the prophet's door
in verse 9, and may we imagine the scene, if possible, that
our imaginations and our minds light up this evening as Naaman
comes before the door of the prophet Elijah. He's not by Elisha. He's not by himself. He has a
great entourage, his servants, all this company, as we read
in verse 15. Horses, Naaman's chariot, others
to pack the goods and the gifts that he came bearing, in verse
5, which were intended for his physician, the prophet of God. Even in an advanced state of
leprosy, Naaman still kept up the power and the pomp of his
office. And a certain air of pomp and
dignity came with him as he came there. All would have to see
what an important man he thought himself to be as he came unto
the prophet. And he got less than he expected
from the prophet of God. He thought the prophet would
come out, greet him, and make honor unto him, in courtesy and
respect and dignity that the prophet would come out and meet
him. This cure would be effected by the prophet calling upon his
God and striking his hand over the body or the leprosy of Naaman. But the prophet, in verse 10,
takes another route. He simply sent a messenger to
his door. And maybe it was Gehazi. And
he said to him, you go and tell Naaman to go down to the Jordan,
dip himself seven times in that river, and he shall be clean
of his leprosy. Now, this angered Naaman greatly
upon two accounts. Number one, that he got no personal
appearance from the prophet. He thought surely the prophet
would come out. Now, we have a saying today,
I hear it among folks today, he dissed me. Now, dissed me,
I guess that means paid him no respect. And Nehemiah thought
the prophet had respected him less than he ought to be expected. Secondly, that the waters of
his own country were good enough and fit enough to cure his leprosy? Why must he dip in this Jordan
when he had greater rivers yonder in his own land? Majestic rivers
watered Damascus in all of its part, made the land very, very
fruitful, so that if it were a matter of dipping in water,
he thinks to himself, certainly the waters of my own homeland
are better than these. Naaman is determined to return
to Syria but he's still a leper. Let us not forget. And Joseph
Hall wrote in his book Contemplation, here is a true picture of human
nature. Here is a picture of a carnal
man who despises the simplicity of the ordinances of God that
may put healing virtue in the muddy Jordan according to God's
will and God's power. is a perfect, perfect prototype. That means he is a model for
many today who count the gospel as nothing but foolishness. They
say how foolish that the death of one man may give life unto
the other. And so, they must do some great
thing. As Naaman was reminded, if it
were a great thing you were called upon to do, no doubt you would
have done that. They will cut their flesh. They
will deny their body food and water. They will live a hermit's
life somewhere in seclusion. They will burn candles. They
will ride their bicycles all over town. But to believe upon
Christ for the salvation of their soul alone, they count foolishness
and also insufficient. Naaman is in rejection. of the
sure and simple remedy which the prophet of God has described. And Naaman would keep his leprosy
rather than lose his pride and do as the prophet had commanded.
He would die at that point in his life rather than humbly submit
to the words of the prophet of God. He was determined to return
again home to Syria. Now there is an amazing turn
of events that occurs here in verse 13. And as one expositor
wrote, next to the mercy of God and the faithful prophet Elisha,
Naaman must thank his servants that he did not die of leprosy. He finds out the cure from the
little maid, and now he is persuaded by his lowly servant. Thank God for them. Now there
are two miracles that are to be seen in the thirteenth verse. A. That Naaman's servants dare
to take the side of the prophet. That they dare to take the side
of the prophet against their master. That they dare speak
to him about dipping in Jordan in obedience to the word of the
prophet. But they would not be silent.
It is as if God had opened their mouth and given them the words
to say. But the second miracle, when
Naaman would be persuaded by lowly underlings to go and do
a thing. Usually he's given the command.
Usually he is formulating what is to be done. That he would,
in his anger, accept the treaty of his lowly servants. that he could be calmed enough
for his reason to return to him that he might do as the prophet
said. But notice his servant, their
reasoning is solid to tell the leper, had the prophet prescribed
some great thing? Something that cost you great
money or something that was to be done at great pain? Had he
called upon you to walk over hot coals? or to singe your body
with fire, or a regimen of painful, painful exercising, or a painful
surgery, or to seek a rare and expensive medicine, to move away
completely to another climate, had he prescribed a remedy that
called for repeated visits to the prophet, or something difficult
to be done, as well as painful and expensive. or consume a very
bitter medicine for the cure, some great thing, then, they
said, you might well do it. But He has bidden you to do an
easy thing. The Prophet has simply called
upon you to dip yourself in Jordan. He's not laid any great thing
upon you, even in thought or word, but just simply to go yonder
and to dip in Jordan. And it is as they said, Why not
give it a try? What can it hurt? And it might
do some good. After all, it was a prophet of
God who had told them to go, go wash yourself seven times
in Jordan, you'll be whole from your leprosy. Now the instructions
are very clear. Go wash. Go wash in Jordan. Go wash in Jordan seven times. The instructions are clear. Methinks
it is a wonder. that this headstrong Naaman,
a powerful and influential man, snorting in anger like a wild
bull, yields then to the suggestion of his lowly servant. Notice
verse 14, Naaman does as he has twice been told. That is, he
goes to Jordan, he dips himself seven times, and as the prophet
said, a miracle was performed in that Look at verse 14, the
last part. His flesh came again, was restored,
and was made clean like a young child. Gone at once was the festering
sore all over His skin. Gone was the disease that ultimately
would have taken His life. Gone were the ugly scars, sores,
and blemishes. Every trace of His leprosy His
skin becomes as smooth as that of a youth. The same God that
returned the time of life to Sarah, Abraham's princess, did
so to disease Naaman. Returned to him his health and
soundness. Do you believe these things,
my brother and sister? I do. I am persuaded that they
are absolutely true. And should we consider the question,
Wherein lay the cure? Exactly where is the cure? Was it the waters of Jordan?
Was it that literal water in the river of Jordan? Did the
seventh dip do what the first six could not and did not do? Was the healing power in the
water? Or might other lepers come? Jump in at that same place and
wash and be clean like Naaman was. Even in that same spot could
they come and be healed. Had this been the case, I'm sure
Jordan would have been filled with lepers and the people would
have worshipped the river and worshipped the water. They would
have built an altar and a shrine there before that place where
Naaman was healed of his leprosy. But it was the will and the power
of God that made the dipping of Naaman the cure of his leprosy,
not the actual water alone. Joseph Hall wrote, it is by the
ordinance of the Almighty that efficiency is given to those
means which of themselves are both impotent and improbable. For another leper to come, Jump
in that water would not have affected a cure. Consider, if
you might, how the Lord during His ministry gave sight to a
man that had been born blind. The record you have in John chapter
9. And how the Lord there used a
two-fold cure, if I may say it that way, in verse 6 and verse
7. First, we notice that He mixed
clay and spittle together and that he anointed or spread it
upon the eyes of the man. And then the Lord sent the man,
go wash in the pool of Siloam." And in verse 7 we read, "...he
went, and he did so, and he came seeing." He received his sight. Who never had sight before. a man that was born blind, received
sight after the Lord touched him and after his washing in
the pool of Siloam. Now Christ might have given the
man sight just by touching his eye or just by speaking, and
it might have been so. For that matter, the Lord might
have spoken and caused the man to see without any means whatsoever. But it was pleased, the Lord
was pleased, to make use of means and some very unlikely things
to become the cure. Would you expect spittle and
clay to do more harm to the eye than good? Would you expect the
waters of Siloam to give man a sight? Would you expect muddy
waters of Jordan to cleanse a man of his leprosy? But returning
to the original text in II Kings, coming now to the second aspect
of our study, and that is the conversion of this man Naaman. For he received a cure that day
far much more than his leprosy. The change was not restricted
to the flesh of his body, for he was given a new heart that
day in that experience. He came out of the water cleansed
of his leprosy. He looked upon himself, he saw
it, his dread leprosy cleansed away according to the word and
the promise of the prophet. It had not surprised us, not
surprised me to read, that he hurried home to Syria as fast
as he could to show his wife, show his king, show his family,
and say to the little maid, you're getting a raise, I'll tell you,
you are. But he didn't do that. Instead, he forgot those things
for a time being. And after his conversion, it's
all the more amazing when we consider that as Thomas Goodwin
the Puritan noted, Naaman neither came to the prophet nor washed
in Jordan in a way of faith. He did not do either in a way
of faith, nor even in regard to the God of the prophet. Matthew
Henry said it well, Naaman washed himself in Jordan only as an
experiment and only at the urging of his servants, yet with no
great faith or resolution toward God. He strictly sought healing
from his leprosy with no regard to his soul or everlasting life. Only upon this account he went
to seek the prophet and finally consented to wash in Jordan. And though he sought it not by
faith, as Goodwin put it, God cured both his body and his soul
at once." He not only was given new skin, but a new heart as
well. Both his outward and his inward
leprosy were cured or healed that day. For though his outward
man was corrupt, yet more the inward man was corrupt. Consider how it was the case
with the Lord Jesus, that some who sought Him only for the cure
They only asked for the cure, were also converted. And they
believed on Him as the Son of God, and they confessed Him to
be the Son of God. So let's see the evidence, or
rather let's hear that a sudden conversion has taken place. A
blessed revelation has been given to this man Naaman, seeing himself
cleansed of all leprosy, No sign of it, nothing left of it at
all. He returns to the prophet's house. And this time, Elisha meets Naaman. And there are two confessions
from the man with a new skin and with a new heart. And I want
you to look at verse 15, the last part, and let me read it. Behold, now I know that there
is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now, therefore, I
pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. Then look at verse
17 and the last part. I pray thee, be given to thy
servant two mules' burden of earth, for thy servant will henceforth
offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods,
but unto the Lord only. Naaman promises that he will
worship only the God of Israel. that he will forsake all other
gods, for he is cured of his leprosy and of his idolatry at
one and the same time, as often is the case. Here again, how
strong was his confession? I know, I am persuaded, I do
believe no god except the God of Israel. From this time on,
Him only will I sacrifice unto." Now this is the confession of
every child of God, that only Jehovah is God. To us there is
not but one God, and that is the Father, and one Lord, and
that is the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
by Him. Paul. 1 Corinthians 8, verse
5 and 6. You see, all Christians are monotheistic. That is, they believe there is
but one God. There are not two. There are
not three. There are not many. There is
but one God to every Christian. Those that are called gods and
those that are called lords by others are in fact no more than
figments of the imagination of those who purport to worship
unto them. What a sorry concept do they
have who claim that they are Christians and then allow that
other gods exist and are acceptable to worship. What a sorry Christian
does that make to confess that there are other gods beside Jehovah. For none is a true worshipper
of God. unless and until they confess
that He alone is God. To admit other gods is idolatry,
to admit that they exist. Notice a strange request put
forth by Naaman in our text today. In verse 17, this is kind of
humorous, I think, he craves to carry home as much dirt as
two mules could carry. He wanted to use it back in Syria
to make him an altar, an earthen altar upon which he might offer
his sacrifices. Since he couldn't stay in Israel,
he'd do the next best thing. He'd take some Israel dirt, make
him an altar, and there he would make a sacrifice unto his God. Matthew Henry said he did it
here, as Gil wondered if he wanted the earth from Elisha's garden,
or as a superstition. That He gave cleansing power
to the water so He might impart some holiness to the soil of
Israel. But now let us consider the thankfulness
of Naaman. Not only is he cleansed and not
only is he converted, but he has a thankful heart. That he
left the prophet's gate in a rage. He returns to the prophet's gate
bearing gifts which he urges the prophet to take from his
hand. Verse 16, Naaman urged the prophet
to take a gift. Elijah rather refused, but Naaman
is thankful for the prophet who guided him into the way. Remember when the Lord Jesus
healed ten lepers in the New Testament in Luke 17? Verse 12 to verse 18 you have
the account. All ten lepers, and they were
standing by the way. They were not allowed to mingle
in close with the people. And so they stood afar off. And
as the Lord passed by, they pitifully cried out unto Him. And the Lord
healed all ten of them of their leprosy. Or rather, He said to
them, Go thy way, show thyself to the priest. And in going,
all of them were healed of their leprosy." Here's my point. Only one. Out of the ten, only
one turned back to fall at Jesus' feet and give glory unto God. Of the ten, only one turned back. Now, as we study this passage,
it might teach us that while nine were cured of leprosy, the
other was both cured of his leprosy and saved, for the Lord speaks
of the man's faith who came back to thank Him. How like Naaman. who wish both to declare his
faith and bless the prophet with a monetary gift for his blessing."
Now, there are two more things of interest in this chapter here
that is before us. One is the request of Naaman
in verse 18. The second is the judgment of
God upon Elisha's personal servant Gehazi. And we consider only
one, and that is the strange request of Naaman in verse 18. And let's look at that, see what
you think about this. There are a lot of views on this
verse. But he thinks ahead. He has professed to the prophet,
now look, I will only worship one God, Him and Him only will
I worship, and that's the God of Israel. But then Naaman thinks,
what about his position? What about his duty to the king
back home when he was required to accompany the king into the
house of Remen as his personal servant, which Naaman now considers
an idol's temple? And when he went there and the
king leaned on his hand, that's an expression you'll find in
2 Kings 7 and 2 and verse 17 as well. When the king went,
an assistant went, and the king leaned upon his hand. For the
first time, Naaman makes conscience of being in the house of Rimen
and bowing there. The question is whether he is
thinking of what he did in the past or what he was required
to do in the future. And this is where a lot of theologians
disagree. That he's asking forgiveness
or doing it in the past. Others that he knows is a part
of his official duty, and so he is asking forgiveness ahead
of time. Now, if the latter, then the
meaning is, it will be only as a duty to the king, not reverence
for the false deity, that I go into the house of remnant. Here
he is there as a servant, not as a supplicant or as a worshiper. Imagine a Christian, a person
who is a Christian, who is perhaps a caretaker or a chauffeur or,
well, let's make it a Buddhist or one of Islam, a Muslim or
Jew or a Catholic, and because they're the caretaker of that
person, their duty requires them to carry them at certain times
to the house of worship. It might at first give the conscience
a great pain to have to do so, but it'd be part of their duty.
I want to illustrate. I remember in the early 60s,
I worked at a meat packing house in Houston. A man that was in
the church owned it, and he asked me. I went to work for him, and
we deliver meat to hospitals, schools, grocery stores, supermarkets. And one day I went out on my
delivery, and I had a box of hamburger patties for a beer
joint. And I said, oh, my goodness. I'm going to have to park right
here in front of this beer joint and go right in there, and everybody
and their brother are going to see me go and come out of this
beer joint. Now, I hurried on my way, but
I want to tell you, it smarted my conscience someone I knew
might see me coming out of a beer joint. I feel sure my conscience
smarted as would Naaman's in the house of Remen, as it should
be for our whole allegiance to God that saved us. Him and Him
alone. One final thing, the words of
the Lord. In Luke chapter 4 and verse 27,
He said to a group of people one day, many lepers were in
Israel in the time of the lash of the prophet, and unto none
of them was he sent, but unto Naaman the leper, who was a Syrian,
he was a foreigner, he was a stranger, He was a Gentile, a stranger
enters the land, yes, a former enemy of Israel. What is this
but divine sovereignty? Many lepers in Israel, and yet
the prophet heals a leper from Syria. That Israelites were left
under the power of leprosy to suffer and even to die, while
a foreigner is most wonderfully cured And that one of the major
prophets and prolific miracle workers of God is responsible
for that. Only to him was Elisha sent. God dispenses his favors as he
will, and his mercies upon whom he will. And then, how leperous
were our souls. If we may use the simile of the
metaphor, how leperous were our souls. unclean, filthy, unrighteous,
cleansed by the blood of the Christ who died upon the cross. Yes, Naaman is a great example
with many lessons. Okay, let's bow our heads, please,
together for a word of prayer.