Would you turn to 2 Kings 5.
2 Kings 5. I'd like to begin reading in verse 9. So Naaman came with his horses
and with his chariot and 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. But Naaman was wroth. He was
offended by this. And he went away. And he said,
behold, I thought he'll surely come out to me and stand and
call on the name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over
this place and recover the leper. Are not Abana and far, far rivers
of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash
them and be clean? So he turned and went away in
a rage. Now that tells me that this was
a very proud and self-righteous man. After hearing what he heard,
he turned and went away in a rage. He was angry. He was offended. He was mad. And his servants
came near and spake unto him and said, My father, if the prophet
bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?
How much rather then when he saith to thee, wash and be clean. Then went he down and 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. Now try to put yourself in his
place. That seventh time that he went down and came back up
He went down a leper and he came back completely cleansed. Perfect. His flesh like a little
child. Verse 15. And 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's no God in all the
earth but in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, take
a blessing of thy servant. He's a lot different, isn't he?
But he said, as the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I'll receive
none. He wouldn't take it. And he urged
him to take it. He, Elisha, refused. And Naaman
said, Shall not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant
two mules burden of earth, enough earth from Israel to put on two
mules and bring it back to where I'm from. For thy servant will
henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other
gods, but unto the Lord. In this thing, the Lord pardon
thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimen
to worship there, And he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself
in the house of remnant. When I bow down myself in the
house of remnant, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. And
he said unto him, go in peace. So he departed from him a little
way. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would be our Savior, that you would be our teacher,
that you would reveal yourself to us. We ask that you would
speak to our hearts from your word. Lord, deliver us from hearing
the words of a man and let us hear from thee. We confess our
sin. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
for Christ's sake. Oh, that we might be found in
him. In his name we pray. Amen. Now, what I'd like to try to
talk about is Naaman after Jordan. Now, before Jordan, he was a
haughty man. He was a proud man. He was an
arrogant man. He was a self-righteous man.
Sound like anybody you know? That's all of us. And then the
Lord did something for him. And when he came up clean, he
became a completely different man. Now he still had the old
man, but he's got a new man now. And that is seen in his attitude
after he came up after that seventh time, and he came as clean as
a baby. That's a reference to justification,
totally cleansed. totally cleansed. He was now
before God totally cleansed. And this cleansing was much more
than physical, as we're going to see in the attitude that he
demonstrated after he was brought up that seventh time and his
face, his flesh was clean. Now look in verse 15, and he
returned to the man of God. Now I think this is interesting.
He hadn't met him yet. You'll remember when he first came,
And he stood with his chariots and his mighty men of valor and
waited for Elisha to come out to him. Elisha didn't even come
out. He sent a servant. Oh, he was so offended by that.
He ought to deal with me one-on-one. Look who I am. But he just sent
a servant. And that represents the preaching
of the gospel. That's the way the Lord speaks.
It's through a lowly servant preaching the gospel. Now, he
returned and he's going to meet him for the first time. And he
returned to the man of God in all his company and came and
stood before him. And he said, behold, here's the
first thing. Behold, now I know that there's
no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Elisha now believes the gospel
that excludes all other Gospels. I was worshiping in the house
of Rehman. I know that that God is a false non-existent God. I know the only God there is,
is the God of Israel. He believed the Gospel that excludes,
this is important, listen to this language. He believed the
Gospel that excludes all, everything else. Now, the gospel of Jesus
Christ in its very nature is inclusive, not exclusive. In its very nature, it's inclusive.
Now, what do I mean by that? The gospel does not exclude men
who might have otherwise been saved. It includes men who most
certainly otherwise would have been damned. That's our gospel. The Lord said all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise for no reason cast out. The Lord said come unto
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest. Whosoever will Let him take of
the water of life freely. I love that scripture. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Now that is the language of the
gospel. It's inclusive. It brings people
in. But it's also a gospel that excludes
anything that is not the gospel. I have heard people for years
complain about, say, this church, you all make things too narrow.
I've even heard people say, you think the only people that are
saved are the people in the church you pastor. Well, I've never said that, nor
have I ever even thought it. I've not even thought it. But
I do know this, the only people who are saved are the people
who believe the gospel that we believe and that we preach. And if someone says, well, I
don't agree with that. Well, okay, but the Lord did
say straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads
to life and few there be that find it. Broad is the gate, wide
is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in
there at. Now the gospel Somebody that
doesn't believe sovereign grace, election by the father, redemption
by the son, regeneration by God, the Holy Spirit, and preach that
clearly, they don't preach the gospel. They don't preach the
gospel. There's one faith, one Lord,
one baptism. And this is what he saw at this
time. He saw the only God there is. is the God of Israel. That God that I had been worshiped
was a false God, nonexistent, nothing to it. There's only one
gospel. And he saw that, and he saw that clearly, and he confessed
that. That's the first thing that's
pointed out. I see that that God I was worshiping was false,
and I now believe the God of the Bible, the God of Israel. Now, look what it says next,
verse 15. He says, now, the last sentence in verse 15, now therefore
I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. He became a giver. That now is important to him. He became a giver. Touched on this a couple of weeks
ago, but we considered that man who brought
the first fruits in chapter three, giving ought to come first. As far as the way I think of
my money, what I give ought to come first. Not leftovers. What, when I make whatever money
the Lord gives me, Giving is to come first. And that's the
first thing that happened with this fellow. He said, take a
blessing. He wanted to be generous. He
wanted to give to the cause of Christ. Giving is such an issue.
And it's pointed out right now. The writer to the Hebrews said,
but to do good and to communicate or give, forget not. You know,
it's sad when people forget to give. Well, I just didn't even
think about it this month. Well, that is not good. That's
not good. Giving like it was with Naaman,
it came first. He became a generous man. Take
a blessing of thy servant. This is a privilege to me. God
loves a cheerful giver. That's what happened. Take a blessing of thy servant.
Now, the third thing that I would notice is his newfound humility. He had been this mighty man standing
out there with his chariots and horses and riches and waiting
for the man to come out to him. But now he says, take a blessing
of thy servant. I'm your servant. I'm a servant
of the living God. That's my concern now is being
a servant of the living God, of the God of Israel. I am now
thy servant. And if God ever saves a man,
it'll knock the starch out of him and it'll humble him. Humility is such a beautiful
thing. I love what John Calvin said when they asked him, what
are the three greatest Christian graces? He said, number one,
humility, number two, humility, number three, humility. Oh, what
a beautiful thing it is when the Lord humbles a man. You see,
it's only from that position that you can hear and see and
understand the gospel. Now he is thy servant. And he wanted to serve the interests
of Christ's kingdom. Now look in verse 16. But he
said, Elisha said, as the Lord liveth, Before whom I stand,
I'll receive none. I won't take a dime from you.
And he urged him, oh, take it, take it, but he refused. He said, I won't take a dime
from you. Now, Elisha was not being ungracious. Maybe at another time he would
take it, but Naaman needs to understand that salvation cannot
be bought. and he's going to make that clear. I don't want anything that you
have. You see, in this thing of salvation, Naaman received
all and gave nothing and paid for nothing. This is the gift
of God's grace. It doesn't have anything to do
with you paying for anything, and he's gonna make that clear.
Now, we're gonna consider next week how His servant went back
after Naaman left and got some of that money, and he turned
into a leper for it. I mean, we're gonna consider
that next week. I can't wait to try to deal with what that
means. But at any rate, Naaman refused to take anything. And
something else he learned about this is a prophet, he's not in
this for money. This is not what this is about.
You know, if there's anything that I despise, it's to see a
preacher with his hand out all the time. You all despise that
too. I've seen that, a preacher with his hand out expecting people,
no. This man said, I don't want anything
you have. And he wasn't being ungracious,
but I admire him. And he's teaching Naaman in this
thing of salvation. He understands where Naaman's
coming from. And this is a mighty man, a powerful man who's who
was able to get whatever he wanted with his money. He had great
wealth and great riches, and he said, keep it. I don't want
any of it. Verse 17, and Naaman said, after he saw
he couldn't give the prophet any money, and Naaman said, shall
there not, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules burdens
of earth? dig up some dirt here in Israel,
enough for two mules to carry back to Syria. And there I will
offer sacrifices to no other gods, but unto Jehovah, unto
the Lord. Let me have two burdens of earth. Now here is a couple of things
I want to point out about that verse of scripture. Number one,
Naming now that he's been born from above, he sees the need
of the sacrifice continually. I am always aware, by God's grace,
of my need of the sacrifice of Christ right now. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again
right now? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, how we are in continual need of the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said, I'm not gonna offer
sacrifices to any other God, but the God of Israel. And then
he says, let me take two mules, enough for two mules to carry
earth all the way back to Syria. And I can sacrifice on that earth. And you know, it doesn't say
what Elisha said about that. But I think I got some kind of
idea of what he said. That's not necessary. Is the
dirt in Israel any better than the dirt in Syria? No. What if I told you, I got some
dirt from Israel to put out in the front yard where the Lord
walked. He actually walked on this dirt. And I've got some
wood. This thing is made of wood from
wood in Israel. You know what I'd be doing? I'd
be committing idolatry, wouldn't I? Anytime you put any kind of
scripture or spiritual meaning on anything material, it's idolatry. That's all it is. And I think,
and you say, well, how was, Was Naaman that messed up where he
could think something like that? Sure, you could too. You could
too. We're all sinful, weak, and he
was, and I don't have any doubt that Elisha explained to him,
the dirt there is just as good as the dirt here. That is not
the point. But this lets us know the grave
clothes everybody wears. What did, Lazarus walked out
of the tomb with grave clothes. He was still alive and he had
grave clothes. And the Lord said, lucid. and let him go. But the point
being, he walked out alive and still had those silly grave clothes. And so Naaman, he thinks somehow
this dirt's going to be better to offer sacrifice. No, he didn't.
You know, but it doesn't say, Elisha said, yeah, good, here,
take this dirt. No. And you know, I think, and
we're going to see this in the next verse, I think quite often
the scripture leaves men enough rope to hang themselves if they
want it. Because somebody could say, see, dirt's better from
Israel. You could say that, well, Elisha never said that. It's
just presented there. He didn't even respond. And people
could say, well, see, we need to learn from him. No, no, no.
Let's go on reading. Look at this next verse. This
is even verse 18. And this thing, he
already has a moral dilemma. I think this is interesting.
He's thinking about what's going to happen in the future. And he
already knows I've got something I'm going to have to deal with.
And he's thought about it, that's come clear already. Verse 18. In this thing, the Lord pardoned
thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimen
to worship there, and he leaneth upon my hand, and I bow myself
in the house of Rimen, when I bow myself in the house of Rimen,
the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. Now, once again,
what I want us to notice is we don't read of Elisha's reply. He says, go in peace, but we
don't read where he told him that it's okay that you do that.
As a matter of fact, I believe that he told him no, but then
he said, go in peace. And he's speaking of the peace
of justification. Now, where are you coming up with that?
Well, what about Daniel? when he kept the windows open
so they could see that he was praying to the living God. He
knew he was going to be thrown in the lion's den because of
it. He did it anyway, didn't he? What about Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego? If you bow, you won't be thrown
into that fiery furnace. But if you refuse to bow, you're
going to be thrown in. They said it's not even a choice. We're not going to do it. And
they were thrown into the fiery furnace. How come they had to do that
and all of a sudden it's okay for Naaman to not bow? Now one thing I want to point
out about Naaman is he's like me and you. There's inconsistencies. There's contradictions. There's
paradoxes in this man. He's not like anybody else. But did Elisha say, it's okay
to bow down in the house of remnant. I don't believe he did. And I
think the Lord leaves this open and somebody can take this verse
of scripture and say, see, I can keep going to that church where
the gospel is not preached. I mean, Naaman got pardoned for
it. So why would not be pardoned for it? I mean, there's, this
is, this is open up. I think the Lord leaves a scripture
like this to let people hang themselves if that's what they
want to do. But that is not, we don't read where he said,
yes, that's okay. That's okay, go ahead and bow,
it's all right. We don't read where he said that.
I believe that he explained to him why you shouldn't bow, and
then said, go in peace. That is the peace of the gospel. The peace of knowing I stand
before God without guilt, without sin, perfect in the righteousness
and merits of Christ. Go in peace. Now, did he end up bowing in
the house of remnant? I don't know. Doesn't say, doesn't
say, I don't know. And you know, there's, I don't
know. I'm okay with that, aren't you?
Whatever God does is right, and whatever he told him is the right
thing. I do not believe that he did bow himself in the house
of remnant, though. After Elisha said that's going on with joining
up with that, which is false, and well, he'd lose his job.
Well, Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego were gonna lose their
life. Daniel was gonna lose his life. And they refused to bow. So I can't think that in any
way that this was OK. But the Lord had this is just
as inspired as the Beatitudes. It's there for a purpose. And
may the Lord be our teacher and may we be like Naaman in the
sense that we see the gospel is the only gospel that excludes
all others. It includes everybody includes
but excludes all others. May I be like Naaman, may I be
a giver. Not a taker, but a giver. He
was a giver, and I admire that in him. And he became a servant. He was a humbled man. He became
a servant. And may the Lord enable us to
imitate him in these things.