So this is principally for the
children, but I'm sure the adults will benefit from listening in
as well. We're going to be reading some
verses from 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5. So turn to that passage, please. 2 Kings 5. And we're going to
be reading from verse 20. You know, sometimes the Bible
tells us things. Sometimes the Bible tells us
about people and about how we should live and about the various
revelations that God has for his people and sometimes the
Bible shows us things, shows us examples, shows us from the
lives of men and women examples of the way that things are. There is a little verse in Proverbs
15 and verse 27 and it says this, listen to this verse. He that
is greedy of gain troubleth his own house. He that is greedy
of gain troubleth his own house. And here in the passage today,
we have an example of just that truth. Let's listen to the account
of the man called Gehazi. Gehazi was a servant of Elisha. And in verse 20, we read, Gehazi,
the servant of Elisha, the man of God said, Behold, my master
hath spared Naaman, 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. Elisha had said that
he didn't want any money, he didn't want any payment, he didn't
want any of the riches that Naaman had brought with him and offered
to him for the miracle and the cleansing of his leprosy that
had taken place. He said, no, I will not receive
any of these things at your hand. please go in peace. And Naaman
turned around and went away, and Gehazi thought to himself,
this isn't right. I'm going to get some of this
money for myself. So Gehazi 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? And he said, All is well. My
master hath 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 garments. And Naaman said, be
content, take two talents. And he urged him and bound two
talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments
and laid them upon two of his servants and they bared them
before him. And when he came to the tower,
he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house
and he let the men go and they departed. But he went in and
stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence
comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went
no whither, no where. And he 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, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy,
therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed
for ever. And he went out from his presence
a leper as white as snow. This is a very solemn account
that we have before us here this morning. Gehazi was Elisha's
servant. He lived with Elisha. He talked
with Elisha. He worked with Elisha. He knew the man of God to be
a man of principle and a man of prayer and a man whom God
spoke to. And Gehazi, when he was with
Elisha, he maintained an outward appearance of service and religion
and conformity to the ways of God. But in truth, in his heart,
he was fixed on serving himself and enriching himself and enriching
his family. And here was a wonderful miracle
of grace that had taken place. Here we could see that Naaman
had been cured of his leprosy. Grace had been demonstrated in
his life and faith had been implanted in his heart. Absolutely, this
man was a believer in the one true God and he understood something
of grace in his life's experience. Here was a man that God was going
to look after and it was a wonderful thing that had transpired. A
Syrian of all people, a mighty man. a rich man and God had saved
this man's soul and Elisha was excited about that and Gehazi
ought to have been excited but Gehazi rather was thinking to
himself I'm not going to let this opportunity to enrich myself
pass. Gehazi wasn't thinking about
God's glories. He wasn't thinking about the
riches of God. He was thinking about the riches
of Naaman. And he was thinking about how
he might get them for himself. So he chased after Naaman. And
he chased after him with a story. He had concocted a story. Now,
there might have been some truth to it or not, but certainly Elisha
had not sent him. There was a lying spirit in Naaman's
heart. He chased after Naaman and he
talked of unexpected need. And Naaman, of course, was happy
to think that he was being helpful to Elisha, whom he had come to
respect and to love. And he was happy to give even
more than Elisha apparently had requested. But it was all a lie
and Gehazi wanted the riches for himself. I thought about
this and I thought that the way that the story unfolds I don't
suppose that Naaman ever knew the real story behind Gehazi. He headed back to Syria and there's
no reason to imagine that he ever knew that he had been deceived
and he had been lied to. But you know, that wasn't Naaman's
problem. Naaman had been generous and
kind when he saw the need. and God would hold Gehazi accountable. God knew what had happened, even
although Ne'erman didn't. Gehazi probably imagined that
he was getting these riches for himself and his family. What did it matter? Elisha didn't
want anything. He'd said that. Naaman was happy
to hand something over. And Gehazi would be the man in
the middle who would benefit from all of this. But God told Elisha exactly what
had happened. And the thing is that we will
discover in life, young people discover this and old people
know it to be true, that lies beget lies. What does that mean? Do you know that once you've
told a lie, you have to tell another one to cover that lie
up? And after you've told two lies,
you've got to tell another one to cover those up as well. Lies make lies grow. Lies beget lies. And this is what we see in Gehazi's
life. Elisha says to Gehazi, Gehazi,
where have you been? Gehazi couldn't even think up
a good excuse. He said, I've been nowhere. You
know, if ever you go into a room and you say to somebody, what
are you doing? And they say nothing. You know
that they've been doing something they shouldn't have been doing.
And that's how mums and dads learn about what's happening
with younger people. You need to have a good lie if
you're going to tell a lie. And Gehazi didn't even have a
good lie. Gehazi wanted what Naaman had,
and he thought he'd been very clever at getting it, but he
got more than he bargained for, and so did his children. Look
at verse 27, and tell me if there's not something very frightening
in this verse. The leprosy, says Elisha, thereof,
therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed for
ever. And he went out from his presence,
a leper, as white as snow. Naaman had come with leprosy
to see Elisha and he'd gone away a clean, cleansed, converted
man. And Gehazi went out from the
presence of Elisha with the dreadful disease in his body. But do you
see what else it says? That this disease would cleave
to him and to his children forever. That's a very solemn thing. Did
you notice that when we read it? Some people might think that
that's terribly unfair, that gehazi's children should become
lepers too. But this tells us an important
lesson about sin. Sin doesn't just affect us. When we sin, it doesn't just
affect us. It affects the people round about
us too. And mums and dads need to remember
that. It affects relationships. It affects children. It affects
the way that we live and the connections that we have and
the circumstances in which we are in. Sin is a terrible thing,
a dreadful thing. And when we embark upon sin,
it's like lies. Sin begets sin and it brings
trouble into lives and it brings trouble into families. How many
children today are endangered and jeopardised because of their
parents' sin? We must never play games with
God. We must never try to outsmart
God, never try to deceive God. God sees, don't pretend with
God. God hates lying and he hates
hypocrisy. There's grace in this story and
there's judgment. There's cleansing and there's
condemnation. There is going in peace with
God and there is going out from the presence of God, a leper. There's a Naaman and there's
a Gehazi. What will we be? Will we be cleansed
by the grace of God or cursed by the condemnation of God? In Romans chapter six and verse
23, the word of God tells us, the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are all sinners. We all tell
lies, we all disobey God, and the wages of our sin is death,
just like Gehazi, and just like Gehazi's family. He wanted to
make his family rich, and he made them lepers. but there's
grace with God. There's grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. May the Lord grant us life and
cleansing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.