(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So again, there you have it. You have a lot of this seven going on in the Bible. Seven days a week. Seven is a number of completion. Okay? The seven churches which be in Asia. You know, all these different things here. So, this seven here means you go wash in the Jordan seven times and you will be made whole. Okay? So just further proves that point there. That's what that seven is referring to. And obviously this has a spiritual application. Verse 11, but Naaman was wrath. Naaman is like, this isn't what I expected here. You want me to go wash in the Jordan? I don't think so. Verse 11, but Naaman was wrath. So he was angry. He was wrath and went away and said, behold I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of his God. So at this point it's his God. It's Elisha's God. It's not Naaman's God yet. So it's his God and he's going to strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. So, here it is. You've got Naaman who's a picture of the world and he's got this grand idea of how awesome his healing experience is going to be. But he doesn't understand yet. He doesn't understand yet this fact that the leprosy is really the least of his problems. See, he's got another disease that people that aren't saved have and it's called being lost and if you don't get saved you're going to hell. Okay? That's what he doesn't understand but verse 12 he goes on to say this So this rage here, obviously this rage is the result of self-centeredism just this self-gratification on steroids. He's rehearsed this obviously in his mind. He's like, okay, you know, I'm going to go down there. I'm going to have my entourage with me and Elisha's going to come out and he's going to do the thing with a stick and everyone's going to just look at me I'm going to be healed and oh, it's just going to be a great thing. You know, it's just going to be such a show. All my men are going to be happy and life is just going to be great and I'll just go back and serve like I was before. So he doesn't like this. Verse 13 Verse 14 So they have some sense. They're like, hey hold on for a second here. We've also heard these miracles. We've also seen all of this stuff here. We came all this way. Maybe you should just try it. Verse 15 And he returned to the man of God Wait, let's finish verse 14 Then he went 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. So he listens to his men which also goes along with what we learned about Naaman in the beginning. That he's honorable. He has a good leadership style. He just got a little upset. He's hopped in the flesh. Nothing that none of us have done before obviously. We've all done this. But he takes the advice of his men. He does it. And he comes out clean. Okay. Now look at what he's actually thankful for here. Verse 15 And he returned to the man of God. He and all his company and came and stood before him. And he said, behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. Now therefore I pray that you take a blessing on my servant. Okay. Now we're going to stop right there and kind of break this down here. Okay. So understand you know, his issue is the leprosy. Is the disease of the flesh. Okay. His men are like, hold on man. Just give it a try. Just give it a shot. He does it. He comes out right. And he doesn't even say the Bible doesn't even record him saying like, wow, you know this is what I'm really happy about. The fact that they don't have leprosy anymore. What does he say? No. He says 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 is no God. I'm sorry. Now that I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. Okay. So obviously he's grateful for the miracle that he no longer has leprosy. But he gets it. He understands it now. He's all in. He gets saved and he realizes, oh, so he got more than just a fleshly healing. He got a whole body healing. He got saved. He confessed with his mouth. He believes in God therefore he is saved. Okay. So let's break this down though and just kind of talk about some of the meanings here in these verses. So going back to verse number 11. Okay. Look at the first few words there. Verse 11. But Naaman was wroth. So what happens? The word of God comes out. Okay. The order comes out. He stands, you know, right outside the door of the prophet Elisha. And Elisha speaks the word of God. Go dip in the Jordan seven times. What did that do? That triggered an anger response. Naaman is angry. It says, but Naaman was wroth and went away and said, behold, I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of his God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. So why is it that he's angry? What was it about that message that angered Naaman? Well, number one, look at verse 13. I'm sorry. Look at the rest of verse 11 here. I just skipped over. But he says, he will surely come out to me. So what made him angry is the fact that he wanted some grand thing to happen. Okay. He wanted this spectacular event to take place. And because it wasn't spectacular, because it wasn't according to the flesh, that bothered Naaman. Okay. It wasn't this great event to partake in. And it wouldn't have involved lifting up Naaman in front of all of his guys. Okay. So Elisha, he's like not even coming out yet. He's like, I'm not committing myself to you. Here's what you need to do. Here's the word of God. Here's the truth. Now the ball's in your court, Naaman. What are you going to do? Okay. And a lot of times when we preach the gospel to people, it's the same thing. You know, we knock on people's doors sometimes and they're like, yeah, I don't know what to do to be saved. And we tell them and they're like, but I've gone to church my whole life. And what about all these things that I've done? You know, I've fed the poor. I've done all these great works. They start listing off things in Matthew chapter 7. You know, which is weird when they tell you, you know, like you go to church and you don't even know what you're saying. But it's a real thing that we all experience just about every single week. That's what's going on here with Naaman. Okay. It's human achievement. He's still in that mindset of human achievement. He's like, wait a second here. I mean, why do you think they came with money? They wanted to buy this healing. They wanted to buy the gift. See, a lot of people in the world today, because they're in the world of human achievement, which says you basically get what you pay for. Okay. If you want something, you have to work for it. You have to do it. And you can do it. Well, guess what? When it comes to getting into heaven, you can't do it. All you can do is take the Word of God, like the Bible says, and receive it. Believe it. Place your measure of faith on Christ. Get saved. Once you're saved, you're saved forever. Okay. That puts mankind down into the position of needing a savior. That's what's going on here. God wants Naaman through Elisha to know that he needs to be saved. Not just physically, but spiritually. Okay. And so the fact that the situation is what it is, where Elisha doesn't even come out, he just sends a servant and says, go tell him to dip in the Jordan. You know, the Jordan's not as pleasant as the rest of the world. And that's what he says in verse 12. We're not a banner in Farpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel. May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. Sometimes when we give the gospel to people and say, all you have to do is believe. Here's all these verses. Sometimes they get enraged. They're like, you telling me I don't have to do any works? You telling me I don't have to go to church? You telling me I don't have to repent of my sins? Yes. That's what I'm telling you. Right? But look at what the guys say. You know, the guys got it perfect, verse 13. And his servants came near and spake unto him and said, my father, if the prophet had bid thee, do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather than, when he saith to thee, wash and be clean? So if the word came out and said, okay, Naaman, you need to do a thousand jumping jacks in cartwheels. You know, I'm just joking, obviously. But what if he just came out and said, okay, you need to conquer these three nations here. You need to do all these mighty works. Naaman would have done it. He'd have been like, oh yes. And why would he have done it? Because that would have brought glory to him. That would have put man on a pedestal. And that's not how the system works. It's never worked like that. The Bible is written to put man where man belongs. Man is down here. God is up here. Okay, and you see that literally in all of these stories. So that's why Naaman was wroth initially. Because he's like, wait a minute, what about my efforts? I brought money here? I'm a general? This guy's a prophet. I've heard what he's done. And he doesn't even confront me. He just sends a message? Yep. You know what? Jesus doesn't come down and face to face knock on people's doors. He uses us as a vessel to preach the word of God. And sometimes people even get mad at that. They say, no, no, no, no, no. When I hear from him, then I'll know he's real. Then I'll know he's true. Well, he's the word. We're here with the word. You can know he's true today. You know? We need more people like this in verse 13 that say, hey, you know, if he would've told you to do some great thing, you would've done it. So why not just try the small thing? You know, why not just put all your faith and trust in what the word, what the prophet said, and see what happens. You know? And what happened? What happened was salvation. Okay? So again, look at verse number 15. And he returned to the man of God. So think about it. It's not just Naaman that gets to see this. All his men. Now we don't know who got saved and who didn't, but this is obviously a great place to come prove that the word of God spreads to other nations. You know, because all this company gets to hear the awesome word of God. And you know, I believe a lot of them probably did get saved. I mean, this is Naaman. He's in charge. You know, people follow the leader oftentimes. And I wouldn't be surprised if you see a lot of these guys in heaven someday. Even though we don't get their names. But it says he returned to the man of God. He and all his company and came and stood before him. And he said, Behold, now I know that I don't have leprosy. No, that's not what it says. No, what's he most excited about? What is recorded for us to read? 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. But he said, As the Lord liveth, be form whom I stand. I will receive none. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So why does Elisha refuse the gift? Or refuse the money? Because he doesn't want Naaman to get the wrong idea that he bought and paid for his salvation. That he bought and paid for this. Right? It's the same thing with us. Okay? We don't want people to get that idea. Um, go to Romans chapter number 10 real quick. Keep your place there, but go to Romans chapter number 10. And then we're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. Romans chapter number 10. Very familiar verses for all of us, but let's take a look here. You know, let me just kind of prove to you, really hammer this down on why I believe that he is saved. Romans chapter 10 verse 9. We use these verses all the time, but let's take a look. Verse 9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Okay? Now obviously the name of Jesus wasn't mentioned in the Old Testament. That's a New Testament thing, but we know that Jesus is the Word, and the Word was there in the beginning, and the Triune God has always existed. He's eternal. So how do people get saved in the Old Testament? By calling upon the true God. Okay? And that's what Naaman did. He confessed. He's confessing before the prophet. He's saying, hey, I now know that there's no God but the God in Israel. Verse 10. For with a heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. Verse 11. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. That truth has always been truth. From Genesis all the way until you get to the end of Malachi. Okay? People always got saved the same way. It was never by works. It was never by works, and it was never just down, secluded to one group of people. And a whosoever, that has always been the program. Verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And of course, verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not to believe? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? Okay? Remember the nation of Israel collectively, they had the oracles of God. Their responsibility was not just to wage war and beat the world into submission. Okay? It was to defend themselves. It was to rid the world of the, you know, the wicked Canaanites and the people like that. But it was primarily to be a light unto the world. Okay? Remember Solomon acknowledges this in 1 Kings chapter 8. He said, let this temple basically be your home and let the name of the Lord go throughout the entire earth and whosoever comes to this place, please hear him and let him be saved. And we don't have time to get into that. But that has always been truth. And unfortunately, in Israel during the time that we're reading, they weren't doing that. Okay? So God sends Elisha the prophet to Naaman to allow him to hear the word and be saved. We know that because he gets a confession. And we know that it's forever because of what we just read at the beginning of the service. Okay? We read that Naaman's like, hey, you know, when I go back and my master, you know, leans on me because he can't bow down himself, you know, please forgive me in this thing. We'll get into that. And what does Elijah say? He says, go in peace. Verse 16 But they, it says this, now look at verse 15, it says, And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Verse 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel for it is said, or saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? Verse 17 So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And that's exactly what you see happen in 2 Kings chapter number five. So go real quickly over to 1 Corinthians chapter number two. 1 Corinthians chapter number two. And I want to show you another picture that I see here in 2 Kings chapter number five. So remember when Naaman first goes to Elisha. Elisha wouldn't come out. And Naaman's like, I thought he was going to call on his God and have him do this spectacular thing. Didn't happen. But now that he's saved, he actually gets to talk to the prophet. Okay? What does that symbolize? Well, it symbolizes this. 1 Corinthians 2, look at verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things that not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Okay? Let's stop right there. They are foolishness unto him. What Elisha said initially, go dip in the Jordan seven times, to Naaman that was foolish. He's like, what do you mean? The water up in Damascus is clear. We have better fish. It's, you know, filtered. But it's just like, it's cleaner. This is foolishness. He didn't get it. Okay? That's literally what I see a picture of here. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Look at the rest of the verse. Neither can he know them. Because they are spiritually discerned. So now that Naaman is saved, Elisha comes out and he's able to have that conversation. He's able to have that one on one conversation and able to communicate with him. Verse 15, but he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Verse 16, for who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. So when you get saved, you get the mind of Christ. You get the Word of God. You get the tremendous gift to be able to read the Word of God and come face to face with it and have spiritual discernment. That's what you get. That's a great thing. And so go back to 2 Kings and chapter number 5. And that's what I see here in verse 15. Because remember verse 11 Elisha's like, I'm not coming out there. I'll go send the servant. Okay. We'll preach in the Word and see what happens. Well after the internal wrestling match that Naaman has, he follows the Word of God right, which seemed foolish at first. Gets saved. Verse 15 and he returned to the man of God. He and all his company came and stood before him. So now that he's saved, he's able to stand before the Word of God. He's able to communicate with the Word of God. He's able to get blessings from the Word of God. Okay. And this is also why we tell people, look, you know, if you're not saved, if a person's not saved, you know, you can discern that a pastor is not saved. He's not going to be able to offer you anything. Okay. Yeah. He can regurgitate commentaries. He might have some great insight that he picked up somewhere else, but he's not going to be able to do his own spiritual truthful work. It's not going to happen. Okay. It's not going to happen. Look at verse 16 or verse 17. So after obviously Naaman, he's excited and you can see the babiness in him, right? He's like so happy. He still just wants to give this money, you know, but Elisha is like, uh-uh, not happening. We're not taking it. We're not trying to be disrespectful, but this is free. We want you to glorify God and that's it. That's what God wants. Okay. God wants obedience rather than sacrifice. Verse 17 and Naaman said and Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules, burden of earth, for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. Okay. You see that? There's more babiness. He's like aren't you going to give me two mules? So this is a measurement here. You know, aren't you going to give me two mules worth of dirt? So he's thinking like I need the dirt of Israel to go back to Syria so I can set up like my own little holy place and make an altar for earth. That's what he's saying here. He's a babe in Christ. He's a babe in God. He doesn't know. Okay. He needs to be taught. Again, that goes along with what I was talking about this morning. Just because you get saved doesn't mean you automatically get everything. The only thing you got is who the true God is. Okay. Now you need to be taught. And Elisha is trying to teach him, but now that he's saved, he's getting a little bit of teaching here. Okay. Verse 18 and this thing, no I'm sorry verse 17 again shall there not then 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 in this thing the Lord pardon thy servant that when my master goeth into the house of Ramon to worship there and he leaneth on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Ramon when I bow down myself in the house of Ramon the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing so Naaman knows that he's going to have to go back to his master go back to his boss okay go back to his king who he serves and he's had to help his master worship this false god Ramon whatever you want to call him and he knows that that's not going to be able to change. He can't give up his life. He's saved, but he has to go back he has responsibilities he has a family okay he's got what's going on he knows he's out he's got to go back and so he's thinking about his future okay because now he's saved he's got these questions like man you know please ask the Lord on my behalf that you know he doesn't smite me dead for this what does Elisha say? No! You got to move down here No you got to maintain your salvation buddy that's not what he says look at verse 19 and he Elisha and he said unto him go in peace so he departed from him a little way so what was Elisha's response? go in peace don't worry about it okay look sometimes and every one of us has a different background okay sometimes you're going to get people saved and they may have a lifestyle that they're living they may be in a situation to where they can't even come to a great church maybe they're in an unequally yoked marriage okay maybe they're a teenager in a house with parents that hate God I mean the scenarios go on and on and on okay or maybe they're at work and they're just blaring this crazy music and there's just gossip and all sorts of wickedness around all of us can probably relate to that you know what's the response oh I'm too holy to be here no the response is to ask the question like Naaman did and what was the word of God? what was the answer? go in peace you know when you are in circumstances like Naaman you cannot escape that is your life okay you start there and you work towards where you want to be okay that's what we always tell people because sometimes we'll get people saved and they'll come in here and they'll be super gung-ho like I'm going to tell my wife to quit working like right now and I'm going to you know just go complete ham you know and I'm going to be a Baptist of Baptists like overnight okay we get super nervous when we start to hear things like that we're like whoa slow down man first of all can you even afford to do that okay because you know you need to think about these things you need to if you want to move look if Naaman wants to move down to Israel first of all he'd have to move down to Judah you know to really be in a better place but he would have to I mean go through all sorts of provisions you'd have to ask permission to leave and go through all this process and stuff you know and he doesn't do that he goes back you know it's just his lot in life okay he's a general in that army he's going to stay there but applying this to us you know applying this to people that you know when you get them saved and they get excited or maybe you share a sermon with them and they're just like that's it I'm a Baptist I'm new IFB now all in man I'm doing everything okay just throw up your hands and say hold on man you need to learn to go in peace for a second okay slow down let's just chill for a minute okay let's start with reading the gospel of John the whole thing okay let's just start with coming to church you know let's just just back off okay no I'm going soul winning seven days away he's like no you're not we're going to stop you okay we want to take this thing slow so I don't know I just kind of see that as I'm reading this you know but Naaman his heart's in the right place he wants to do right and he's got some concerns and Elisha gives him that peace why because he's saved you're not saved by works you don't stay saved by repenting of your sins and all this junk not even in the Old Testament why would Elisha say hey Naaman I understand your situation go in peace you know and that's what we need to tell people sometimes right when they're like man I would love to do this but I can't because of my current circumstance I got child care I got this they've got all these crazy things going on I got a custody battle but I'd love to be there on Sundays you know what sometimes go in peace sometimes that's the answer go in peace your heart's in the right spot you love the Lord let's just work up some kind of a plan where we pray for you maybe it's an unspoken prayer request maybe it's a plan and we sit down and we work through a process of goals over the next year to get you on the right path okay but don't just throw everything away recklessly it always ends up bad every single time so let's move on with the rest of the story here okay verse 20 but Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God said behold my master hath spared Naaman the Syrian so look Gehazi he don't even like this he's not like behold Naaman got saved what a great thing he's like uh uh look what he says my master hath spared Naaman the Syrian he doesn't talk about salvation doesn't talk about the healing of the leprosy he's like nah we spared you boy you're lucky you're so lucky okay and because you're so lucky you owe me okay he's getting greedy here and not receiving at his hands that which he brought but as the Lord liveth I will run after him and take somewhat of him so he's like first of all you're lucky that we even helped you get saved and you're lucky we spared you on that money okay so guess what I'm gonna come and get a little bit of it okay this is a wicked wicked thing here that Gehazi does look at verse 21 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 so look Naaman he's in his chariot he's going his way he sees Gehazi he knows who he is and he comes right down to earth comes right down from the chariot no problem this time whereas before when you read about it it just says he shows up at Elisha's door in the chariot right I envision him standing tall in the chariot like the general is here to be healed you know but now he sees he sees Gehazi and he's just down to earth he's saved he's got the right mindset he's like what's going on is everything okay verse 22 and he 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 garments and Naaman of course Naaman remember he's a baby doesn't understand much 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 bear them before him okay so Naaman has no no problem he's like take it all you take this stuff here be content with this it's good to go verse 24 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 verse 25 and he went in and stood before his master and Elisha said unto him whenst comest thou Gehazi and he said thy servant went no with it this is this should blow everybody away how long has Gehazi been with Elisha doesn't say but obviously long enough to see some miracles obviously long enough to know that the Lord is on his side what does he do he gets greedy he wants glory and he tries to hide it it's like I didn't go anywhere nothing to see here this never happened thinking he could take down the man of God and it never works ever verse 25 but he went and stood before his master and Elisha said unto him whenst comest thou Gehazi and he said thy servant with no other verse 26 and he said unto him went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee is it time to receive money and time to receive garments and olive yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid servants good question Gehazi you know the Bible says there's a time for money there's a time to be poor there's a time for war there's a time for peace a time for love a time for hate a time for everything and what Elisha is saying is Gehazi right now was not the time for this stuff this blows me away that this guy could hang out with Elisha for this long or even for a small period if you want to say that and completely throw it all away and think he could lie and get away with it how do people get like that there's several ways there's pride there's greed there's glory there's narcissism I mean there's just a whole host of things here going on okay but honestly Gehazi feels pretty special doesn't he he feels like you know what I can get me some of this stuff I won't take it all I'll just take a little bit and no one's gonna know it's fine the man of God's real quick to shut him down verse 27 the leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and here's where it gets really bad look at this and unto thy seed for ever and went out from his presence a leper as white as snow so the lesson is you know if you want to act like a pagan you're gonna win pagan prizes okay but on the other end of the spectrum you become a believer you get access to the healer okay that is the lesson here that is the moral of the story and so I am going to leave it here with that and we'll pick it up next week let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer thank you so much Lord for these great stories in the bible that we may learn from them and for preserving them just pray you bring us back safely on Wednesday and bless the fellowship after the service in Jesus' name I pray Amen Alright everyone for our final song of the evening we'll be turning to song number 143 song number 143 blessed assurance on the first blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh the foretaste of glory divine heir of salvation purchase of God Lord of the spirit washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long on the second perfect submission perfect delight visions of rapture now burst on my sight angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy whispers of love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long on the last perfect submission all is at rest I in my savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting looking above filled with his goodness lost in his love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long Alright, let's bow our heads on a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this time we had to hear your word be preached. I ask that you please bless the fellowship after the service and everyone's travels home. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.