Turn with me to 2 Kings chapter
5. We had a good look at Naaman this morning. Naaman before Jordan. Naaman, object of grace. And the Lord had stripped Naaman,
the proud general. The Lord had humbled the old
leper. Brought him down, way down, way down. It says in verse 14, then went
he down. When God dealt with him, effectually, in grace, through the gospel,
he went down. Dipped himself seven times in
Jordan. He went naked. into the Jordan,
a corrupt, defiled, wretched, unclean leper. And it says, and he came out, his flesh came again like unto
the flesh of a little baby, a little child, and he was clean. As every
object of grace is brought down by the Spirit
of God, humbled unto the mercy of God, and brought to receive
Christ and to bathe in His precious blood. As every sinner goes down,
guilty, filthy, vile, under the blood, he comes again clean and
pure and perfect in the eyes of God. Come, let us reason together,
though your sins be as scarlet, leprous, unclean, they shall
be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool." Now in verse 15, we're going to look
at Naaman after Jordan. Naaman after Jordan, verse 15,
and he returned to the man of God. He and his had been down
to the river, and he had gone under the water, humbly, broken,
obediently, willingly, came out clean. He returned to the man
of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before
him. Before he went into the Jordan,
he expected the prophet to come and stand before him. Didn't
he say that back in verse 11? When the prophet sent his messenger
out to talk to Naaman, tell him what to do? Verse 11, Naaman
was angry. And he said, I thought he'll
come to me. Doesn't he know who I am? How
important I am? But I thought he'd come to me,
and I thought he'd stand before me and call on his God. But now, He comes to the prophet. And
He comes to give thanks. He comes to thank God. He comes
to praise God. Listen to Him. Behold, He said,
verse 15, Now I know. Now I know. When a man is taught
of God, he can say, Now I know. The Son of God hath come and
given us an understanding that we may know the true God. That we may know Him that is
true. and that we're in Him who is true. This is the true God.
Now I know, now I know. What do you know, Naaman? I know
that there's no God in all the earth, but in Israel. I know. I know there's no God. It's like Isaiah wrote over there
in Isaiah 45. Turn over there with me to Isaiah
45. It seems like this. The theme of this chapter, Isaiah
45, it keeps repeating, there's no God but me. Verse 14, the
last line, there's none else, there's no God besides me. Down here in verse 18, the last
line, I'm the Lord, there's none else. Down here in verse 21, the last
line, there's no God else beside me. I'm a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. No hope,
no help, no strength, no grace, no salvation. Look to me! That's
what Naaman had done. He'd looked to the Lord of Glory,
the Lord Jesus. You look to me and be saved.
Listen, all the ends of the earth. I'm God. There's nowhere else
to look but no one else. I'm God. And that's... He knows
that now. Taught of God. There's no God in all the earth
but in Israel. Oh, there are a lot of idols,
but there's no God except in Israel. Now then, watch this. Now therefore I pray thee, take
a blessing from my hand, from your servant. Before he came to exchange his
talents of silver and gold and changes of rain for a blessing. He came before to buy something.
And now he comes out of love and gratitude to give something. When he doesn't have to give,
he wants to give. And notice this, Naaman didn't
ask the prophet, do you need anything? Had he asked Elisha, do you need
anything? Elisha would have said no. Oh
no. Like Abraham, I've lifted my
hand to God. And I'm not asking a man. He
didn't ask him, do you need anything? He said, I pray you take a blessing
from me. And I know people may mean well,
but this is not the way to do it. A missionary will come along,
and it's happened to my friends, missionaries, godly men, faithful
preachers of the gospel. It's happened innumerable times. I couldn't tell you the time.
And people mean well when they do it, but the missionary will
come along and say, now, do you need anything? Tell me, do you
need anything? A true servant of God will never
say yes. Never. Yes, I need this, I need
that, I need... No way. The way to give is don't
ask a person if they need something, give it to them. If God lays
it on your heart to help a servant of God, or to help a neighbor,
or help a friend, or help a loved one, don't go and say, if you
need anything, call on me. They're not going to do it. And
I'm going to call you up and say, We need this, that and the
other. They're going to call Him up
and tell Him they need it. And He lays it on the heart of
His people to give. And that's the way to give. And
you just wipe that remark out of your vocabulary when it comes
to giving. Don't ask somebody if you need
something. Because a true servant of God
will never say yes. Do like this man here. He brought
his blessing and his gift and said, would you please take this
from me? Do you understand what I'm saying?
I'll tell you the truth. Will you take it? In verse 16,
but Elisha refused the gift. He refused the gift. Listen.
But he said, as the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive
none, nothing. Urged him to take it, but he
refused. Brother Pastor, can you help us there now? Yes, sir.
I can help you there. Tip, I can help you there. I'll
give you three reasons why this experienced old-timer servant
of God did not take this man's gold and silver and change his
arraignment, this new convert. this new believer. Now, you always
remember to whom you're talking. Our Lord didn't deal with everybody,
didn't give everybody the same pill, as one fellow used to say,
because there are babes in Christ and young men in Christ and old
folks in Christ. But this was a new man, new kind,
just been washed, just been saved, just been brought out of darkness
to light, just been brought out of bondage to freedom, just been
brought out of ignorance. To some knowledge, very little,
but some. He said no. Here's the first
reason. Elisha didn't heal this man.
God did. Elisha didn't have anything to
do with this man's healing. God healed him. And Elisha did
not want to give the impression that he had anything to do with
it and did not want to take a reward for service rendered. Exactly
why he didn't take it. That's the first reason. That's
the first reason. Secondly, he didn't want to give
the impression that he ministered for material gain. He did not
want to give this young man, this new convert, the impression
that he was in the ministry to gain materially from his ministerial
work. Now Paul did this. Turn with
me to Acts chapter 20, chapter 18. Paul came to Corinth, that
great city, that powerful city, that rich city, and preached
the gospel for 18 months. Now listen here in Acts 18. After
these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth and
found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from
Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded
all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. And because
he was of the same craft, he was of the same skill and work,
he abode with them and wrought, for by occupation they were tentmakers. Paul lived with these people.
And because he was a tentmaker and skilled at it, He made tents. And over here in Acts 20, he
tells you why. Acts chapter 20. And he's talking
to all these elders before he leaves them to be seen of them
no more in Acts 20, verse 32. Now brethren, I commend you to
God. Acts 20, 32. And to the word of His grace
which is able to build you up. to give you an inheritance among
all them that are sanctified, I have coveted no man's silver
or gold or apparel. Yet you yourselves know that
these hands have ministered to my necessities and to them who
were with me." When Paul went to this new city to preach the
gospel, he didn't want anybody there to even suspect that he
was in the ministry. but what he could get out of
it. So he made tents and work so that no one, these new people
who were hearing the gospel, would even suspect that he was
interested in their possession. I don't covet your things, I
covet you. Now later on, when Paul visited
some of these older churches, remember? And he told them to
take up an offering for the saints in Jerusalem. Remember that? And he took from them, but Naaman
is standing before Elisha here, new in the faith, and wanting
to supply all these abundant gifts, and Elisha said, no. I
didn't heal you, God did. And I don't want you to have
the slightest impression that I'm in the ministry for anything
materially. Third reason is this. Elisha
wanted this new believer to understand clearly and plainly that salvation
is free. It's free. Free. Therefore, being
justified by faith, without cost, free, without payment, without
money, come without money, without price, rich or poor, he freely
forgives. Freely forgives. Christ is all. If it's of grace, it's all of
grace. And the last you want this man
to understand is I want you to understand that we are redeemed
by the grace of God from first to last, plus nothing, minus
nothing, like the thief on the cross. He didn't walk. He didn't work.
He didn't contribute. He didn't witness. He wasn't
baptized. He believed. God saved him, and
Christ took him to glory with him. And I believe Elijah is
establishing that one thing for this year. You're not passing
a hat. We're not taking anything from
you. It's the grace of God. The grace of God. Don't ever
forget it. And he settled it. In verse 17,
there arose another problem, another matter. And Naaman said,
Well, shall not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant? Who's he talking about there?
He's talking about himself. Two mules, burden of earth. Two mules, burden of earth. The
earth that two mules can carry. I want you to give me something. I want you to give me as much
dirt as two mules can carry. I don't know how much dirt that
is, but that's a heap of dirt, I imagine, that two mules can
carry. What in the world is he going
to do with that? I want some dirt dug up around your house
here, your place here, that two mules can carry, that I can take
home with me for thy servant needs, he's saying. I will not
henceforth offer burnt offerings or sacrifice to other gods but
unto the Lord. I'm going to build an altar,
And I'm going to sacrifice to the Lord. And I want enough earth
that two mules can carry. Well, if you turn to Exodus chapter
20, you get a little insight into what he's got in mind. Exodus chapter 20, verse 22.
Exodus 20, verse 22. said to Moses, Exodus 20 verse
22, the Lord said to Moses, Thus thou shalt say to the children
of Israel, You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
Now you shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall
you make unto you gods of gold. But an altar of earth, dirt,
an altar of dirt and earth shalt thou make unto me. And you sacrifice
their own. When you burn your burnt offerings,
you make an altar of earth. And your peace offerings, your
sheep, your oxen, and all places where I record my name, I'll
come to you and bless you. Now, if you make me an altar
of stone, I shall not build it of hewn stone, for if a tool
touches it, you've polluted it. Don't you fix this thing up all
pretty. Neither shall you go up by steps
into my altar, that your nakedness be not discovered thereon." In
other words, God said, you come before me to offer a sacrifice. Won't you build a fancy altar
that you can take pride in? Like some of these church buildings
that are being built today, you know, that we can take great
pride in what we've done for God. Simplicity of worship. Simplicity of faith. Just make
the altar of dirt, my earth, my dirt, and offer it to me. And this man wanted some dirt
from Elisha's place, from Israel. Now he could have gotten that
down the road as he went out of town. He could have gotten
dirt anywhere, but he wanted an altar made from dirt from
Elijah's house. This is the reason the Apostle
Paul said, I didn't baptize any of you. Lest any man should say, my baptism
is a little more special than yours because Paul baptized me.
I tell you, these human natures are human, and they're weak,
and they're prone to idolatry, and they're prone to things that
aren't pleasing to God. It's all Christ. It's all of
grace. It's all of God. And we've got
to build us a cross and fix it up real cleverly and fancy. And
God says, even when you build your own, just make it dirt.
Paul worried about the church, that they'd be deceived by Satan
and taken from the simplicity of Christ. And here this man,
and I understand he's untaught, he just knows he's a sinner and
God saved him, which is all he needs to know. But he wanted
to get some dirt right there from the house of Elijah, and
take it down there to Syria. And somebody said, that's a dirt
altar, and he said, yeah, but it's not just anybody's dirt. Do you know where that came from?
Do you know where our cross came from? Mount of Olives. Do you know where the water in
the Baptistery came from? Jordan River. You know, it's special
dirt. It won't do. It won't do any
time. It won't do. Alright then, you've got to have
another problem. I'm sure Elijah, Elisha, dealt with him on that. But here another problem arises
in verse 18. Now in this thing, the Lord pardoned
thy servant, that when my master, now you remember he's a general,
the chief officer of the king of Syria. And the king of Syria
is a pagan. He worships in the temple of
Rimen. I don't know who Remond was,
but it's a false god. And so the general here, evidently
when the king of Syria went into the temple of Remond, the false
idol god they worshiped, he'd lean on the arm of this trusted
servant, Naaman. You see, we read this morning
what an honorable man of valor and how God had given victory
to Syria through this man, and this old king would lean on the
arm of Nab and going into the temple. And this is what he said,
he said, Now this thing the Lord pardoned my servant, that when
my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and
he leans on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon,
when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardoned
my servant in this thing. Is he asking Elisha to give him
clearance to go bow in a temple of a heathen god? That's the interpretation that
most people give and for a long time that crossed my mind too. But I don't believe that. I just
don't believe that Elisha would give a man permission to continue
to go to a pagan idol temple and worship. What kind of testimony
would he have to his king? What kind of testimony would
he have to the people? I've been redeemed. There's no
God in all the earth but in Israel. And what are you doing in this
temple? The commentaries that I read,
and John Gill is my favorite, he said, this is what the man
is saying. He said, that's what I've been
doing all these years. I've been going to the house
of Renlund with my master leaning on my arms, and I've been bowing
with him in the house of Renlund, evil, false idol. In this, will
God pardon me? Will God forgive me? God has
washed me and cleansed me, but will God pardon me? And I think
everybody who comes to know Christ looks back at the dumb things
He's done. Evil sins He's committed. The
wretched way He's lived. And those things bother Him as
they were bothering this man here. And he said, the Lord's
been good to me and cleansed me, but will He forgive me? See
what he's saying? He's cleansed me, but will He
forgive me? Are my sins all pardoned? Are they put away? Just can't
believe? I'm a babe in swaddling clothes
compared to Elisha, but if a man came to me and said, I work for
a big outfit out of Cincinnati, and the owner and president who
pays my salary, worships in a Satan temple, an
evil temple. And he depends on me to go there
with him. Do you think it would be alright, brother of mine,
if I go down there every Saturday evening and go in there and worship
with him? I'd say, quit your job, son. Quit your job. You'd better get out on the street
with a tin cup and sell pencils. You'd better get out of that
outfit. Isn't that right? Well, in verse 19, Elisha said
to him, go in peace. No, he didn't tell him, go to
the house of Rehman in peace. He said, you go in peace knowing
your sins are all forgiven. The fact that you once worshipped
in an idol temple, forget it. Can you do that? Can you just?
They're under the blood. No matter how idolatrous wicked,
sinful they might have been. Let's forgive them. Go in peace. So he departed. He left. Now, here's another man named
Gehazi. This is the servant of Elisha. Let's see him after Jordan. This
is interesting. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. He was Elisha's Right-hand man. He served with
him. He ministered with him and to
him. He's a servant of Elisha. And he said, Behold, my master
has spared Naaman this Syrian. There's a lot of things in this
man's talk. He calls Naaman this Syrian. Not this brother, this Syrian. He's got a bad attitude. Poor
Naaman. He calls him this Syrian. And
he said, my master let him off the hook. My master spared him. My master should have made him
pay something. My master should have. My master
spared him in not receiving at his hands that which he brought.
He ought to have taken all he could get. It may have been when
I was talking a while ago about Elisha not taking this for several
reasons, somebody might have thought, Flash through your mind,
well, he ought to have taken it anyway. No. This man thought
so. But you're going to say he was
wrong. He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll run after
him as the Lord liveth. I'll run after him. I'll take
something from him. I'll take somewhat of him for
myself. I'll run after him. I'll take
something. Oh, covetousness. Plotting and planning. Alright,
so Gehazi followed after Naaman. He followed, ran after him. Naaman was in a chariot, riding,
and he ran. He made haste and ran after them.
They ran him down. And when Naaman saw him running
after him, he told the chariot driver to stop, and he lighted
down from the chariot and stepped out to meet him. And he said,
is everything all right? Is everything all right? Is the
servant of God all right? Is Elisha all right? Verse 22, now covetousness leads
to many sins. That's the reason our Lord said
the love of money is the root of all evil. It's not money that's
the root of all evil. Lack of it or plenty of it. That's
not it at all. It's the wrong attitude toward
it, the love of money, the greed, the covetousness to have these
things somehow. And he said, listen, it leads
to so many sins. This is a prophet's assistant. He's Elijah's. Right in there
with him all the time. Oh, he said, my master, all is
well, my master sent me. My master sets a false claim.
Master didn't send him. And here he lies. He said, Behold,
even now, even now, there be come to me from Mount Ephraim.
This is what my master said. He said for me to say, Behold,
even now, there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young
men of the sons of the prophets, two preachers, two seminarians,
two fellows that are studying for the ministry. They've come. He made up a charity. He made up a charity. He wants
some donations, so he made up a charity. He made it look good.
He really made it. Two young men dedicated to God,
going to preach the gospel. They've come down hungry and
naked from Ephraim. Don't have any money. And would
you give them, would not me, would you give them, would you
give these two young men a talent of silver, just a talent, and
to change his arraignment you were that's been you know what
the talent walk i've told you this morning i'll tell you again i don't know but iraq john gill
set up a lot of silver in seventeen hundred and eighty and ninety
was equal to five hundred american dollars three hundred and seventy
five english pat five hundred dollars 200 years ago. You know
what a talent's worth now? $10,000. He's thinking big, isn't
he? Giving a talent for each of them. $10,000. Now, if Naaman had thought
carefully, he would have known this to be an unreasonable amount
from a prophet who wouldn't take anything. to one who wants $10,000
each for two men. If he'd have thought, we think
through some of these religious hucksters, we'd know they're
phony. We wouldn't give to them at all.
But let me tell you, Naaman's heart was so full of gratitude
and so thankful for God's mercy, he came to town a leper and was
going home clean. And he was so glad and so happy,
he wasn't going to offend anybody. He wasn't going to offend one
of God's servants. He certainly wasn't going to
offend Elijah. So he says in verse 23, Naaman
said, take two talis, $20,000 a piece. You know, I'll tell you a little
something here. You say, well, Brother Man, we can't check up
on everybody and everything. Sometimes we give to things that
aren't legitimate and aren't real and are made up. Yes, that's
true. We do here. But God doesn't look on your
gift as being one somebody needs. He looks on the attitude with
which you give it. In other words, if I see a man who says he's
hungry and I give him a gift, He may be going to buy a pint
of liquor. He may be going to buy a gun to shoot somebody with.
But I don't know that. And God blesses his people who
give out of a generous heart no matter what people do with
it. So thank God for Naaman and his generous spirit and his generous
heart. And he said, you ask me for one
town, I'll give you two. You ask me for one change of
arraignment, I'll give you two. Take it. Not only that, but listen.
Take two changes of arraignment, and here's two of my servants
to take them to go and help you carry all these things. Well,
Gehazi's a crook. He's a religious crook. He's
the worst kind of crook because he's stealing in the name of
God. But Nahum was a generous man. He's a believer. And he gives. He gives to a fool. He gives
to a crook. But he doesn't know that. And
he gives out of a generous heart and a warm heart and a willing
heart. He'd have given him everything he had if he'd asked him. And
God's going to bless him. Is that point clear? You see
what I'm saying? God's going to bless him. And God's going
to deal with this other fellow too. So don't go back over your
lap and try to figure out, did I do right giving it? Just give.
as God leads you. So, watch it now, verse 20, and
they bear all that he'd given. And verse 24, when he came to
the tower, that's like the town square, he came to the town of
Samaria is where it was, the tower of Samaria. He took them from their hand.
He told his servants, he says, I'll take the silver now. and
I'll take the raiment and he bestowed them in the house."
Somebody said that he came to the tower where there was a watchman,
where there was a person or persons whom he could trust, who would
care for the loot that he could hide or that he could store somewhere
until he could take his leave of the prophet. and live richly
the rest of his life. Down here in verse 26, let me
show you how he was intending to live, and Elisha knew it.
Verse 26, And Elisha said to him, Went not my heart with thee,
when the man turned again from his chariot to meet you? Is it
time to receive money, to receive garments, and olive yards, and
vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants,
Gehazi had $20,000 and all kind of wardrobes. He's fixing to
buy a farm and a vineyard, sheep, men's service and maid's service.
And he had it all stored away. He got it dishonestly. He got
it using the name of God. But men like that are without
conscience. They don't know Christ. Well,
he stored it all away, now verse 25, and he went in and stood
before his master. How in the world could he do
that? Absence of grace of God. And Elisha said to him, whence
comest thou, Gehazi? Where have you been? And he said,
I didn't go anywhere. I didn't go anywhere. And that's when Elisha said to
him, went not my heart with thee? Don't you know that I know where
you went? And when the man turned again
from his chair to meet you, I know about that. Gaze I, is it time
to receive money? Is this time in this earth? Lay not up for yourself treasures
on earth. where moth and rust doth corrupt
and thieves break through and steal, there for yourself treasures
in heaven. Is it time for the service of
God to accumulate the things of this world? God feeds the sparrow, Christ
said He'll feed you. God clothes the lily, He'll clothe
you. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, these things will be added to you. Now listen, I close. The leprosy
therefore of Naaman shall cleave to thee and to thy seed forever. Naaman came to God and lost his
leprosy. Gehazi left God, turned to the
world, and Naaman's leprosy fell on
him. He wanted Naaman's money, and
he got it, but he got his leprosy too. Isn't that something? So he went out from Elisha, a
leper as white as snow. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. That's where the heart should
be.