Or at least, I thought it was
good. It made me contemplate and think
of things and self-examination, etc., etc. So, like I said, we're
going to read verses 20 through 27. We'll finish this chapter
this evening and we'll mainly note Gehazi, the servant of Elisha,
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. Now we pick up basically in verse
19, the last conversation that Elisha has with Naamim, the once
leper. And it says, so he departed,
Naamim, from Elisha a little way. And Elisha told him to go
in peace. He was concerned about a situation
that may crop up. And he said, go in peace. So
that's the last conversation that those two men have. Now
it enters in Elisha's servant. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha,
the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naamim,
this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought.
But as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat
of him." Now this Gehazi, every time we've seen him, it's not
in a good light. He's selfish, we'll see what
more he is. And it's a picture of religion
in our day, in the flesh. So Gehazi followed after Namum,
And when Nahum saw him running after him, he lighted down from
his chariot to meet him and said, is all well, or is there peace? And of course, Gehazi said, all
is well, my master has sent me, saying behold, even now there
be come to me from Mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of
the prophets, give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and
two changes of raiment. And Nahum said, be content, take
two talents of silver, and he urged him, urged Gehazi, and
bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of
garments and laid them upon two of his servants, that is, Nahum's
servants, and they bared them for Gehazi. Now these talents,
from what I read, is about 200, 250 pounds, so each. So then he offers them more,
he gives them to his servants to follow him, you know, he assumed
back to the master's place, but no. And when he came to the tower,
that is a secret place, that is Gehazi, he didn't go back
home, he went to a secret place or a place before choosing. 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, so now he's back with his master. And Elisha said
unto him, whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, thy servant
went nowhere, nowhere. And Elisha said unto him, went
not mine 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, maidservants, and manservants, and maidservants.
The leprosy therefore of Nahum shall cleave unto thee and unto
thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence
a leper as white as snow." So this is a frightening thing because
of the first our first point, verse 20, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha,
the man of God. This is what we see here, this
first point, is the mind of the flesh, the mind of one who must
add something to free grace. And we'll see where this is at.
And we'll see that Gehazi, in his mind, he knew He knew the
gospel. He understood it, not in his
heart. He understood it. It's just like the Pharisees.
A message was preached so many years ago by Tim James. It was
the gospel according to our enemies. And he talked about how the Pharisees
and Sadducees, they said, like, this man received a sinner. He
said, that's the gospel, but they didn't know it. This is
what's going on with Gehazi. Now here's the frightening thing.
Religion does, at least often, in the intellect, understand
and just see how grace works, but they must add something to
it. They cannot leave free grace alone. It's free grace plus something. Something of their own device,
something of the law or whatever. They must add something to it.
Now here's the first thought under that heading. The sad truth
and reality is Gehazi had seen all these previous miracles.
He had been around Elisha and his teachings. He was his personal
servant. He had been around Elisha's instructions
and doctrine, which was grace, full and free. Mark this down. If the heart
is not changed, man will always try to alter the message, the
method, and the means of God's grace. The second thing we see
in the heart of Gehazi is he had no real regard for Naaman,
because he says, Behold, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian. This Syrian. It's like he didn't
deserve to have his leprosy cleaned. This Syrian. That's not a phrase
of endearment. Grace in the heart produces care
and concern for others. Grace in the soul shows itself
gracious, kind, not like Gehazi, we'll see, covetous, greedy,
and lustful. And look at what else he says.
This Syrian, He says, my master hath spared. Hath spared. Isn't that what the good news
of the Gospel is? The sparing of a leper? Spiritually
speaking. Gehazi should have been excited,
overjoyed, and rejoiced that maybe this Gehazi, maybe he had
a family at home. Maybe whatever, but now he could
go back to his people clean. Every whit. But, you know, he
didn't rejoice. He was bitter. Bitter, because
the love of money, profit and gain, had him this way. These are all part of Gehazi's
problems. And this is the part of the problem
with religious hucksters and hirelings. They are more interested
in profit and gain and increase in income than they are people's
souls. The third thing I see in this
verse 20 is, Gehazi mentions, as did the Pharisees, the heart
of the Gospel. Look at what he says. Gehazi
said, Behold my master, he didn't spare this guy, this Syrian,
but look, here's the Gospel right here. This next phrase. In not
receiving at his hands, or not receiving from Nahum, that which
he brought. Salvation cannot be bought, which
is what Nehemiah thought. He brought all this stuff in
his pride and arrogance, and the Lord humbled him, cleansed
him, brought him down, humbled him, cleansed him, and Gehazi
is still thinking about the money. No. He got saved. He got redeemed. He got cleansed. He owes my Master. He owes Him something. He should
have taken some money. No. Salvation cannot be bought. But this is the Gospel. Not receiving
of His hands that which He brought. In my hands, no price I bring.
Salvation costs us nothing. We can't earn it. We can't buy
it. We can't pay for it. Because Christ has done all the
work. We rest in Him. And that's why
I said I'm not going to take it. He understood about the prophet's
school. He understood the needs of the
time in a family. He understood all these things.
He refused to take any money for that which is free. Elisha
freely received. Elisha freely gave. But Gehazi,
he knows more than his master. He knows more than God. This
man received as sinners is what the Pharisees said. That's what
they accused Christ of doing. And I'm so thankful that God,
that salvation is, doesn't cost us anything. He didn't receive
anything at His hands which He brought. And we bring a lot of
things to the foot of the cross. We bring a lot of things. But
if it's for salvation, for purchase, no, we can't purchase it. We
can't buy it. It's not for sale. So I'm thankful
that it's so. The fourth thing we see here
is He takes the Lord's name in vain. We're still in verse 20. "...receiving at His hands that
which He brought. But as the Lord liveth..." Don't
you hear this all the time? Religious folks, they're using
the Lord's name in vain. They don't understand what they're
talking about. They don't understand the Gospel. They're standing behind pulpits.
They're leading singing. All these different things. And
the very thought of God is blasphemous. But He uses it, as the Lord lives.
Not if the Lord wills. This is what I'm going to do.
And I expect God to approve of it. I will run after Him and
take somewhat. Take. What a good word. Take
it. I'm going to take it. Religion takes the name of our
Lord in vain. As the Lord liveth, He says,
one day, all who will bow not to Christ will choke on these
words, as the Lord liveth. Lord, Lord, didn't we? Do this
in your name? Lord, Lord, didn't we do that?
And again, he says, I will take. Again, religion must get gain,
it must get property, it must raise money for the church, bake
sales. I remember we talked about this
years ago. We're not going to have a bake sale because we don't
rely on the world for this place to circulate, to be maintained. God will maintain that which
He will maintain of Himself. It's all an abomination to God.
This is what was in Gehazi's heart. Before we get to verse
27, we'll see even more brazen attitude. Go to verse 21. So Gehazi followed after Naamim,
and when Naamim saw him running, he lighted down from his chariot. Now this is a little different
than when he first appeared to Elisha. He just stood there and
expected all these different things because he thought he
was something. Then the Lord took him down, He went down and
washed, humbled Him, saved Him by His free sovereign grace.
Now He looks back. He sees the servant of the man
of God running. He gets down off His horse and
is concerned. What difference in attitude?
You see the difference in one's greed and one's... He's trying
to help. But Gehazi's eyes fall on the
money. And I say, let us be warned against greed, covetousness,
overstating our needs, which is really our wants, if we can
get them confused. But look at Nahum. He's still
gracious, he's still humbled, yet he's a young convert. We
need to remember that he's a young convert. He was fooled, he was
tricked, he was deceived. He went down to meet Gehazi,
and in the margin it says, he says, well, in the margin it's,
is there peace? Yes. There is peace by being
redeemed, being delivered, being shown the grace of God by the
free mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is that peace that
passes all understanding. But as I said before regarding
Gehazi, all privileges and advantages Gehazi had seen, heard and witnessed
was not mixed with faith. It talks about in Hebrews, not
mixed with faith. But he had a love of money. May
the Lord have mercy upon us here that this be not charged to us. That we be more concerned about
our name, a position, whatever, in a community. To be seen of
men. That's the problem. To be seen
of men. But verse 21, he gets off his chariot and he meets
Him. And look at what he does. He
says, verse 22, he says, is it well? Is it peace? I can answer the question. I
can make a verbal, outward quiz, but the heart, in reality, it's
not moved. But it's easy to answer somebody,
to answer the questions, to answer Tulip, to get these things straight. I'm safe because Nahum, he's
a young believer, he doesn't know much, he's easily deceived. From Nahum anyway. And then he goes on and he says
in verse 22, my master, he blames it on Elisha. My master, Eli,
blames it on the man of God. Thirdly, he makes up the story.
It sounds nice, it sounds syrupy. It hits the heart strings, doesn't
it? He's got men coming in from the school of prophets. We're
in a famine. All these different things. It
plays on emotions. And that's what I warn us again tonight.
False religion, it can tug at the heart strings. Boy, they
are really good at the old stories, the old emotional stories. Verse
23, He asked for a talent of silver, a bag of silver, two
changes, and the gracious name of Him who has been shown grace,
He gives more than is asked for. This should be the same with
us. May we go further, may we go greater, may we go more because
God has graced us with much and more. As I said many times, that saying,
There's an old man sitting there with some water and bread and
he's praying, what, a piece of bread and water and Christ too?
You know, that should be our attitude. John Wesley, which I found out
John Wesley said this, I can attribute it to Henry, but Henry
got it from one of the Wesley brothers. He said, get more so
you can give more. Get more so you can give more.
May we be moved likewise. May we teach our children likewise. May we of all things show charity."
And this is what he's doing. He asks for this amount. Nahum
doesn't know he's being hoodwinked. And the children of the king
are often You know, we're often sincere and humble. Somebody
asks you something, you just give. But He showed charity and He
showed more. For the love of Christ constrains
His people. Love with wisdom. And this would
be the only thing that I would add here is we need to love with
wisdom and we need to love with purpose and intelligence. It's
not wrong to research. Somebody keeps coming, and he's
like, you know, I need to do a little research, find out what's
going on. Instead of just keep handing
stuff out. So, but like I say, Nahum, he thought he was coming,
representing, and that's the sad thing. He'd had all these
privileges, and so you assume that Gehazi is representing Elisha. Lying is telling a big story. Plus, Nahum has his servants
carry this. It's heavy. So he has to take
care of it. And verse 24, they come to a tower, that simply
means a secret place. So he didn't go back to the man
of God, he went to a secret place. And he says later on, when Elijah
is rebuking him, he talks about vineyards, olives, what he was
doing, And all the commentators agreed. I think it's actually
accurate and correct. He's going and taking and hiding
the money because he's going to do vineyards, he's going to
buy maidservants, he's going to take care of himself. He's
going to take care of himself. And who does this sound like?
In Joshua chapter 7, you don't have to turn there, but there
was a man named Achan, he hid gold. You can't hide things from
God. So, watch out. When we begin
trying to hide our sins, God may uncover it to our shame. He wanted to buy land and vineyards
and sheep. In verse 26 we see that. He simply,
the basic point is He simply took from the rich to assist
Himself in future endeavors. Nobody will know. Now look at
verse 27. I'm sorry, verse 25-27. Then he goes back to his masters,
to Elisha, and Gehazi goes in and stood before his master,
and Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? If I could
emphasize a couple things, this would be one thing. This is very
similar to what God said to Adam, where are you? He's given him
space to repent. He's given this sinner space
and time to repent. But like Esau, he didn't even
seek it bitterly with tears. Esau did, and it wasn't granted. This sounds very familiar. This
question sounds like when God was speaking to Adam. He's giving
Gehazi the opportunity to confess, repent, and do unto God in humility. Now, this is for all of us, and
this is for the kids. When you do something wrong,
it's best to confess and move on. It's always best to confess
and move on. Because I know as a child, my
mom and dad had eyes in the back of their heads, they had networks
that I didn't know about, and whatever I did would always come
back. Jackie's laughing, that's true. But more importantly is,
God sees everything. We cannot hide our sin. Just own up to our sins. Confess
it and be done with it. Where have you been? Whence comest
thou, Gehazi? And here's what he said, Thy
servant went nowhere. But God had left him to himself,
he tries to hide it still, and God, or Elisha as the Lord Jesus
Christ, will not be made mockery of, nor will his truth be made
a mockery of, or his gospel, or his way. If we desire this
world's riches, praise, fame, and love, we will do anything
at any time for it. This is what he's doing. He's
excusing, he's justifying, he's lying, he's doing this, he's
doing that. He's trying to do everything to make it right. Well, verse 27, but we will perish
with our riches and our praise and our worldly fame as well.
Gehazi got from Nahum what he didn't want, and that was his
leprosy. Not only did he get it, but his
family and every generation thereafter. Verse 27, the leprosy therefore
of Nahum shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever, And
he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow." That
white as snow, that's incurable. He's gone. He's going to die
from it. The key of the whole thing is
this, in verse 20, we cannot fool around with God's grace
in Christ. The whole reason why he went
was because Elisha did not receive from Nahum, from Him, that which
he brought. because he realized grace cannot
be bought. Grace is free and grace is full
and grace is in Christ. That's what started the whole
thing. That's what started the whole thing. And if we fool around
with God's grace in Christ, which is free to all who believe, if
we mess around with this, we do so to our own utter ruin,
our own utter destruction. If it were me, I wouldn't have
said anything to Gehazi. I wouldn't have asked him where
he went. I wouldn't have given him a space. But I'm not God, and God is gracious. We're too exacting. We don't
forget a wrong or this or that. What a lesson. What a lesson
for us. What a lesson for our children
to own up to our depravity, own up to our sin, and confess Him. And He's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins. That's what He says. Well, I'm sure he didn't get to spend
the money. I'm sure it was all over. But not only that, it cleaved
unto him and unto his seed forever. That's his entire posterity from
generation to generation to generation to generation to generation.
You say, oh, that must be one of Gehazi's kids. And that sin
just keeps on bringing itself back up, because you're not going
to get rid of it. It's there forever. Nathan, would
you close us please? Heavenly Father, we have heard
the Gospel and we see the outward picture