The Gospel of Naaman: Spiritual Treasure

Redeeming Grace Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

I've titled this sermon, The Gospel of Naaman's Spiritual Treasure. That's the topic I want to talk to you about today.

00:07

I put an outline in your bulletin. You can refer to that. Please, if you have any questions, you can look at that. Route 90 is a nondescript or uninteresting highway that bisects

00:17

Texas from west to east. If you're ever on the part that lies east of a city called Valentine, Texas, you will see mile after mile of arid terrain, arid or desert -like, that is unmarked by people or buildings.

00:29

This section of road would not normally be noteworthy. It's just a plain highway, except there's an interesting art installation located there.

00:36

Several American artists have collaborated to place a Prada storefront in the middle of this harsh landscape.

00:42

I've included an image in your bulletin for reference. So if you look in your bulletin, you will see an image of a Prada storefront in the middle of nowhere.

00:49

If you're not familiar with Prada, it's a luxury brand that's known for making medium to high -end handbags, shoes, and clothing.

00:56

I'm sure many of the women here might know what that means. Most of us men probably don't. Surprisingly, this store is not functional.

01:02

The door is sealed shut, and it has no employees. But it does contain many authentic Prada products inside.

01:09

The juxtaposition of this luxury pop -up store against an empty landscape creates a very, very striking image.

01:16

That's why I thought of this when I was thinking of an introduction for this sermon. Thus, it has become quite a tourist attraction as people flock to the store to take pictures of it and with it.

01:28

When we consider the worth of the world's goods, with what standard do we measure them? How do you measure the world's goods, the things the

01:34

Lord gives you, clothes, shoes, whatever it is? Most unbelievers, they spend their entire lives laboring for temporal possessions that must be left behind when they die.

01:44

Like visitors to this storefront, they take away pictures of God's blessing, but they leave the real blessing behind.

01:51

The sealed -up Prada store, I think it's a great metaphor for this world as well. We come into this life naked and without possessions, and we will leave it the exact same way.

02:01

You will take nothing out of this life when you leave but your soul. Additionally, what use are luxury clothes and accessories if someone is stranded on Route 90 without bread or water?

02:10

It's foolish to tell a man dying of thirst, or rather, isn't it foolish to tell a man dying of thirst, hey,

02:16

I've got a gift of brand new Prada sunglasses for you. They're worthless. As outlandish as this sounds, millions of people are going about their lives today with this exact same worldview, prioritizing things of this life over things of eternity.

02:30

As Christians, we need a very different outlook on material things, right?

02:36

What are our material things? They're objects to get us through life, but they should never surpass our love for God or cool our desire to reach our heavenly home.

02:46

Material things should be used to advance God's kingdom on earth and to lay up spiritual treasure in heaven.

02:52

Those are the two uses of material things. If you're clinging to them for any other reason, you're clinging to an idol. Returning to the book of 2

02:59

Kings, we see a new convert that understood this reality. As commander of the army of Syria, Naaman had many possessions.

03:06

He was a very wealthy man. One of the first signs of this new spiritual life was that his worldview changed from collecting goods to worshiping the true and the living

03:17

God. Please turn with me to chapter five of Kings, and we're gonna read verses 15 through 19 together.

03:31

2 Kings 5, starting at verse 15. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and he came and stood before him.

03:39

And he said, indeed, now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.

03:47

But he said, as the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

03:54

So Naaman said, then if not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth, for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods but to the

04:04

Lord. Yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant. When my master goes into the temple of Rimen to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down to the temple of Rimen, when

04:15

I bow down to the temple of Rimen, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing. Then he said to him, go in peace.

04:22

So he departed from him a short distance. Please pray with me. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for the treasure of your word.

04:29

This is the true spiritual treasure. We pray that you would seal these things to our heart, help us to learn more about you,

04:35

Lord, and look into the word as one looks into the mirror, that we may work out our sanctification with you, and not just look and go away, but look and change and be transformed to the image of your son.

04:45

Christ's name. Amen. This sermon series is called Naaman's Gospel, not because the gospel originates with Naaman, that's foolish, it doesn't originate there, or it was because only for him, but because this narrative details

04:58

Naaman's path to salvation. Every person is saved by the gospel. If you're in this room and you're saved by the gospel, you are saved by the same facts, but the route by which they are saved is as different as your fingerprint.

05:10

Everyone's story is unique, and if you've talked with anyone in here, you know that. The gospel truth is an objective fact, there's no getting around that, but God does fashion subjective experiences in our lives to bring us into his kingdom, that is also a fact.

05:24

In Naaman's case, we see that a physical ailment led to his spiritual healing. In keeping with repentance, he started down the road of sanctification by laying up spiritual treasure in heaven.

05:36

The godly gems of gratefulness, generosity, and growth are unearthed in this conversation with Elijah.

05:43

So when you look at these five or six verses, you'll see each of those gems coming out. Additionally, we see the internal struggle as he realizes that his newfound faith makes him a religious alien in his native country, in the country of Syria.

05:57

Where are the bounds between his responsibilities to the state and his allegiance to Christ? These questions are of vital importance to the

06:04

Christian as we live this life, we're stuck between a perishing kingdom and an eternal kingdom, we're between two worlds.

06:10

I believe Martin Lloyd -Jones said that, we're in between two worlds. Verse 15, I like to look at the gem of gratefulness, so I'm gonna reread it real quickly.

06:18

And he returns the man of God and stood before him and he said, indeed now I know there is no

06:23

God in all the earth except in Israel, now therefore please take a gift from your servant. Naaman returned.

06:31

Consider the import of that sentence. Elijah did not command Naaman to return and speak to him after he was healed, we don't see that.

06:39

Prompting by his servants encouraged him to bathe in the Jordan, but Naaman appears to have returned to Elisha on his own initiative.

06:48

This is a clear sign that gratefulness was sprouting in the soil of Naaman's heart. As a child in the faith,

06:55

Naaman did not know much about God and he did not know much about the true worship. It's very probable, actually it's almost certain, he had never read the

07:01

Pentateuch. However, he did know two important facts. God had saved him and he owed

07:07

God his praise. God directs the hearts of the Christian through the promptings of the

07:13

Holy Spirit. He did that in the Old Testament, he does it today, our God doesn't change. This warrior of Syria had now enlisted in the army of the

07:21

God of heaven. If you are prompted by the Holy Spirit to do something, you need to obey immediately, not tomorrow, not the next day, do it now.

07:30

Now how do you know if the Holy Spirit is moving you? That's a very common question today. How do I know if it's the Holy Spirit or the devil or just myself?

07:36

Measure the command by the word of God. Those thoughts that align with the word of God should be followed.

07:42

Those ones that don't should be discarded. That's your standard. Did Naaman return because he was afraid of looking ungrateful in front of his servants?

07:51

That thought occurred to my mind as I was reading that. However, if you look at that quote, that seems like an apt explanation at first glance.

07:58

He didn't want to look like an ungrateful person so he returned. But if you examine the text closely, this idea falls flat as well.

08:06

Naaman was not a foot soldier. He was a Syrian general. Naaman could have sent one of his servants back to thank

08:12

Elisha, or Naaman could have sent a letter to Elisha after he returned home to Syria. Both routes would have been very courteous without compromising his time or his position.

08:23

Early in this chapter, and we looked at the previous sermons, what did the king of Syria do? He sent an introductory letter to Naaman for the king of Israel.

08:31

If it was good enough for the master, it should suffice for the military servant as well. Elijah's miracle of healing occurred from a distance.

08:39

He wasn't physically present. Naaman could have showed his gratitude the same way. Elijah said, go back to Jordan, he was healed from a distance.

08:45

I'm gonna show my gratitude from a distance, right? But he didn't do that. By returning to Elisha, Naaman was honoring

08:52

God's prophets and by extension, he was paying homage to God as well. I love the example of homing pigeons.

09:00

Homing pigeons can return to their home roost even when released in bad weather at any time of the day and night or unfamiliar locations.

09:06

They were used frequently in World War II for that exact reason. You throw them up and they'll go back. True believers give

09:13

God gratitude in different places at all hours of the day and under various circumstances.

09:19

Like a homing pigeon, their environment cannot stop them from returning to the throne of grace. So if you wanna know if you're a

09:25

Christian, do you give gratitude to God in all things? That is the mark of a true Christian. You love God, you give him gratitude in all things, in all trials, in all circumstances.

09:35

For those that don't consider this action extraordinary, consider how often God's miracles were met with grumbling and not gratitude in the wilderness wanderings.

09:45

After God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, they complained the Egyptians were gonna slaughter them by the

09:50

Red Sea. Receiving manna from heaven, that didn't stop them from pining for the vegetables and meat they ate while they were slaves in Egypt.

09:57

Frightened by the Canaanites, the Jews stubbornly refused to enter the promised land, despite God's miraculous work in delivering them to the borders of the promised land and keeping their clothes from wearing out.

10:08

They had seen all these miracles and yet they still did not believe. Never underestimate the hardness of men's heart without the

10:14

Holy Spirit and the gospel. They're not gonna change. Many people today, they think miracles are the panacea or the cure -all for people's lack of belief in God or his word.

10:23

They say if a person personally experienced a miracle or if they witnessed a miracle, they would certainly believe in Christ.

10:30

That's all it has to do. God will give them a miracle and they'll believe. Charismatics use this reasoning all the time.

10:36

And in fact, if you talk to them about why they believe in the continuation of apostolic gifts, that's the number one reason they'll give, right?

10:43

They'll say, oh, God will use miracles to save people. But look at the vast majority of the Israelites who saw miracles, they perished in the desert.

10:49

This misconception, it really underestimates the hardness of man's heart.

10:55

Far from bringing people to faith, miracles cannot cause unbelievers to believe or even make them grateful without the work of the

11:03

Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit does nothing. John 12 10 records the Pharisees plotting to kill

11:09

Lazarus and Jesus after Jesus had raised him from the dead. Is this not the height of falling?

11:16

How can you kill one who's proven that the keys to undo death hang from his belt?

11:21

You just saw him raise a man from the grave. Like, let's put him back in the grave with the guy he raised, that's foolishness.

11:27

The writer of Hebrews summarizes this up well in chapter 10. He says, moreover, brethren,

11:34

I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the same cloud, all passed to the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was

11:51

Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

11:59

That's the end result of this generation that saw more miracles of God than probably any generation since then.

12:05

If experiencing one miracle can lead a person to salvation, then exposure to many miracles should convince every person to trust

12:11

God, right? Not quite. Hebrews says, as I just said, Hebrews said that most of these people die in the wilderness.

12:17

Let us strive to never become jaded to the providences of that God daily showers on us. Every day he loads us with benefits.

12:24

An unthankful or an ungrateful spirit makes us cousins to an unbeliever. You are a cousin to an unbeliever when you have an ungrateful spirit.

12:32

Societal norms may make people feign or pretend outward gratefulness, but only true believers can be grateful to God in their heart.

12:39

That's a gift from God to be grateful. Like the rivers feed the ocean, a grateful, thankful heart is the spring from which true

12:47

Christian joy flows. You will not have true Christian joy if you do not have a thankful, grateful spirit.

12:52

I like what John Calvin says. He says, joy is the quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the saving goodness in Christ Jesus.

13:00

That's true Christian joy, contemplating that. Earthly joy and godly joy, they display similar emotions.

13:08

From the outside, they look very similar, but the consequent actions reveal its true character. If you read 2

13:15

Corinthians 7 .10, the apostle Paul delineates or lays out the difference for us between worldly and godly sorrow.

13:21

That's a very famous chapter, a very famous verse, rather. Likewise, physical healing can precipitate either type of joy.

13:30

Worldly joy focuses inward and rushes to make up for the days that were lost to sorrow. Godly joy focuses on the character of God and seeks to honor

13:39

God with the firstfruits of your newfound health. That's what godly joy does. Like the emaciated cows in Pharaoh's dream who ate up the healthy cows and still remain sickly, worldly joy gobbles up any spiritual benefit that may come from God's physical healing.

13:56

Let's consider the case of the 10 lepers that was recorded in the Gospel of Luke. So in Luke 17, 11 through 19, we read the following.

14:05

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. And as he was going into the village, 10 men who had leprosy met him.

14:14

They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, master, have pity on us.

14:20

When he saw them, he said, go show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising

14:29

God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, were not all 10 cleansed?

14:36

Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except for this foreigner?

14:42

Then he said to him, rise and go. Your faith has made you well. One parallel you see right off the top of it, just by looking at this, is you see

14:51

Jesus healed the same way Elisha did. He sent them off and they were healed on the way. He didn't heal them immediately there. Does anything catch your attention about this passage?

15:01

Only 1 10th or 10 % of this group of lepers returned and glorified Jesus for their healing.

15:07

The Samaritan leper in essence was a living tithe to God. Naaman gave God the first fruits of his time after healing.

15:15

Both him and the leper, when they were giving back the first minutes of their renewed lives, each one showed,

15:22

I value my creator more than a gift of physical health because I'm gonna give back what he's given to me.

15:29

How many years had Naaman, this other leper, waited to be cleaned? Put yourselves in their shoes for a minute.

15:35

Missed communal gatherings, strained relationships, ravaged bodies, damaged social standing, had dogged these men for years.

15:44

How eager they would be to return to their families and friends and start their lives anew. This is a temptation that a carnal man could never resist.

15:52

I'm gonna go back to my family first. Who cares about the one that healed me? The testimony of Naaman in 2

15:57

Kings and Luke in Luke's gospel shows that both lepers returned because they had put their faith in living

16:04

God. That's why they returned. The Samaritan leper was so grateful, he skipped the final step of the purification ritual.

16:12

You weren't purified until the priest pronounced you clean, but he was so excited to return to Jesus that he skipped that and said,

16:19

I'm gonna go back to the person who healed me first. He came to Jesus ceremonially unclean, and yet Christ gladly received him and pronounced him spiritually clean as well.

16:30

You're no longer ritually unclean, you are spiritually clean. Who needs a physical priest to pronounce you clean when the great high priest can cleanse your body and soul together?

16:40

That's what Jesus can do. What a wondrous picture of the gospel of Christ. He does that to us when we're saved.

16:46

He cleanses our body and he cleanses our soul. Naaman the Samaritan leper, they also made a public confession of their faith before assembled witnesses.

16:55

Returning to 2 Kings, let's read verses 15b together. And he returned to the man of God in all his aids and came and stood before him and he said, indeed, now

17:05

I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now therefore, please take the gift from your servant.

17:14

In these verses, we see that Naaman's main purpose in returning to Elisha wasn't primarily to thank the prophet, but it was to confess his faith in God.

17:24

That was the main purpose he went back for. This is evident when you look at these verses, you see God's name figures prominently in Naaman's words, and Elisha is absent.

17:34

He comes back and gives thanks to God. Looking past the prophet, Naaman recognized that the source of Elisha's power was an omniscient

17:42

God whose power stretched across national boundaries. He said, this is no power of a prophet, this is the power of an almighty

17:49

God behind him. This was quite a departure from the religious beliefs in Naaman's time.

17:54

Most of the Near Eastern religions, and there's a lot of them, they believe their deity's power was tied to the people that he worshiped or the geography of the nation.

18:02

We see the Egyptians, they would tie their deities to the storm, the wind, the canal, whatever, but they believe that their deity had a little area of operation.

18:10

But God owns everything, he doesn't have a certain area. If you turn forward 15 chapters in 2

18:17

Kings, we will see the religious beliefs of Syria recorded in more detail. 1 Kings 20, 23 says this, then the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we.

18:31

But if we fight against them in the plain, then we will surely prevail. So you see again, this hyper -localization, we lost to the

18:39

Israelites because we fought in the hills. Let's go to the plains and then we'll beat them. Idolatry is folly.

18:45

These verses make it very, very clear. Rather than admitting their deity was not real, the

18:50

Syrians resorted to reducing his power to certain locales. As I was reading through these verses,

18:58

I couldn't help but think of excuses people make for their children or for their pets. My son performed poorly on his test because he didn't get his sleep last night.

19:05

Our dog tore up the furniture because he was bored. When others notice issues with their car, we offer up apologetic responses for the condition of how it drives.

19:13

It's an older car, I did this. Since mankind creates false gods in their own image, perhaps it's not surprising that they imagine their deity has the same limitations they do.

19:24

My power is limited, therefore the deity's power I worship must be limited too. That's how false gods are.

19:31

Why does the Lord do miracles and for whom does he show forth his power? You could think of a dozen answers to that, but I'd say primarily

19:38

God does everything for his own glory and he delights to use his power to save his people.

19:45

That's his primary purpose. This heathen Syrian was God's chosen vessel and he delighted to show mercy to him.

19:53

The psalmist captures this sentiment perfectly in chapter nine of the Psalms, this heavenly poetry. And those who know your name will put their trust in you for you,

20:03

Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Jew, Gentile, it doesn't matter.

20:09

Greek, God is the savior of all. Naaman, he sought God for healing and he ended up finding a heavenly father.

20:16

He got more than he bargained for. Is this not God's mode of operation? We go to him for our physical needs and he ends up supplying our spiritual needs as well.

20:25

God knows the deepest need of our heart and he provides salvation for us before we're even aware of our need for a savior.

20:31

In the eternity past, he's provided salvation for us because he knows what we need. As it is today, religion back then was very, very much tied up with people's patriotism and nationalistic identity.

20:43

To publicly repudiate or cast off one owns God's, well, that was a form of cultural or political suicide.

20:52

You were just making yourself a pariah. Many cultures were polytheistic to promote national unity.

20:58

We see this in the Old Testament a lot. When new people were captured and assimilated to the empire, worshiping their gods along with your own was a great way to cement the bond between different ethnic groups.

21:10

So we conquer these people, bring their gods in as well. We conquer these people, bring their gods and we'll have a big old party of gods and then everyone will be in one nation.

21:17

Trouble only arose when a culture was monotheistic and claimed that truth was exclusive to their religion.

21:24

And that's why the Jewish nation was hated by all the people around them because they wouldn't say the Canaanite gods plus Yahweh. They said

21:30

Yahweh above all and no one else and that's why the nations hated them for that. Doesn't that sound a lot like our culture today?

21:36

People are willing to admit that Jesus is either a prophet or a great man, but when you say he's the only way to God, then you start making enemies.

21:43

You've made enemies at that point. As a high -ranking government official, Naaman had a lot more to lose with his public declaration of faith.

21:50

He has a high position. There's a lot of privileges there. It's highly likely the Syrian king would view his conversion as weakness and either remove him from his position or even throw him in prison.

22:01

If you flip forward to the next two chapters, six and seven, we see that Syria and Israel are at war and that Jerusalem is being besieged by the

22:08

Syrian army. Second King 6 -8 mentions the king of Syria's name, but Naaman is conspicuously absent.

22:15

What happened to Naaman? It's certainly possible that he refused to fight against God's chosen people and he was thrown in jail or maybe he was killed for his faith.

22:23

High rank or position can often tempt people to compromise their faith. John Wycliffe put it this way.

22:30

He said, the higher the hill, the stronger the wind, so the loftier the life, the stronger the enemy's temptations in that position.

22:38

We cannot know for sure what happened to Naaman on this side of eternity, but we do know this, all those that seek to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

22:49

That's a fact in scripture. Are you prepared to suffer for the Lord? That is the question I pose to you today.

22:56

Please ponder that and ask the Lord to give you endurance when that inevitable persecution comes. You will be persecuted for your faith.

23:03

Naaman had put his hand to the plow and he did not look back. His unbelief in verse 11 manifested it in the words,

23:10

I thought. After he was saved, these words became, I know in verse 15. Keith pointed out to me this subtle language change a few weeks back and I thought it was very helpful.

23:19

For a New Testament parallel, consider what the Samaritans said to the woman at the well after meeting Jesus. They said to the woman, now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the

23:34

Christ, the savior of the world. That's John 4 .42. In front of witnesses, both

23:40

Israelites and Syrians, Naaman made a public declaration that Jehovah now had his allegiance.

23:47

What a great example for us all. This is a great example we should copy. We are often more cowardly than Naaman and yet we live in a nation where freedom of religion is embedded in our

23:56

DNA. We have freedom wherever we can go to evangelize people, talk about God, but we're more cowardly than him. Naaman lived long before God inspired

24:04

Paul to write Romans 10, nine through 10. However, the Holy Spirit inside of him prompted him to follow these commands hundreds of years before the verses were written.

24:13

Please read them with me. Romans 10, starting at verse nine, it says that if you confess with your mouth the

24:20

Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

24:26

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

24:34

Naaman believed God's word privately and then he publicly the same day was healed, believing the gospel.

24:40

Once you believe the gospel, you receive Christ's imputed righteousness. That's at the moment you believe.

24:46

And then when you own him as Lord, you're showing the world you serve a new master. You don't serve the old gods you used to do.

24:52

You don't live in the old lifestyle. You serve God now. God wants our hearts in praise. In that vein,

24:58

Jonathan Edwards said this. He said, let the mouth of God's people be filled with praises for saving them from sin.

25:06

Gratitude to God is often demonstrated by desire to please him and serve him. This is the second jewel that is unearthed in the life of this new

25:13

Syrian believer. Picking up at first 15B, please follow along as we witness

25:18

Naaman's generous spirit. And he returned the man of God to all his aides and stood before him.

25:23

And he said, indeed, now I know that there's no God in all the earth except in Israel.

25:29

Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant. But he said, as the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.

25:35

And he urged him to take it, but he refused. As I studied these verses, several things caught my attention.

25:42

Naaman's spiritual sacrifice preceded his physical sacrifice. He trusted God in his heart first, and then he publicly confessed his authority before he gave a tithe to Elisha.

25:54

Remember this important truth. What good is the gift of an unbroken horse? If you have a horse that refuses to follow commands or won't be ridden, it's a burden, not a blessing.

26:05

There's nothing good about an unbroken horse. Until that horse has submitted itself to its master's will, it's actually worth more dead than alive.

26:12

Glue was often, actually, if you look back at the history of glue, glue from horses' hooves and bones was quite common into the middle of the 20th century when we developed polymers.

26:22

Until the Lord redeems us, our souls are only useful to demonstrate God's justice through eternal punishment of our transgressions.

26:28

That's the only use. After salvation, we are living trophies of his mercy. Richard Baxter summed it up like this.

26:35

He said, so then let deserve be written on the door of hell, but on the door of heaven and life, the free gift.

26:42

That's the difference. The free gift on heaven deserved on hell. God's mercy is the glue that binds us to him in this life and the next life.

26:53

His mercies are what bind us to him. We'll be seeing his mercies and his praises for all eternity. Additionally, Naaman, he was insistent on giving a gift to God.

27:01

He did not ask one time. He kept pressing Elisha to take a gift even after his offer was declined.

27:08

How many people have you seen they'll offer their time or their resources half -heartedly while hoping for a refusal?

27:15

I've witnessed this behavior several times in my own social circles. Many people offer to help you, but their body language, their track record, their stipulations, what do they show?

27:24

They're not sincere. Like lukewarm water, they're useless for cooling the body or warming the spirit.

27:30

God desires a cheerful giver, not the gift himself. That's what he desires. He already owns everything in this world.

27:36

I like how Asaph summarized God's outlook in Psalm 50 verses nine and 11. He says,

27:42

I will not take a bull from your house nor goats out of your foals, for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills.

27:50

I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the fields. They are all mine. If you read this verse in context, this verse is not referring to God's provision for believers.

28:01

We frequently read it that way, but actually it's talking about his rejection of the sacrifices of hypocrites.

28:07

If you love God, then he is pleased with any offering no matter how meager. Conversely, God loathes, he hates the gifts of the unconverted.

28:17

Though they were to offer him the entire world, he hates them. Gratefulness to God should naturally flow into generosity toward others.

28:27

How can one hoard material wealth when we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ? God is the giver of every perfect and good and perfect gift, and we reflect his character when we help those around him.

28:40

As citizens of the heavenly kingdom, they seek eternal riches. They don't seek the baubles and the trifles of this earth.

28:46

Consider a tourist visiting a foreign country for a few weeks. What would you think if he started, or he or she, started converting his native currency into thousands and thousands of units of a foreign currency?

28:58

Would you believe the duration of his trips only are a few weeks? Or would you start suspecting, hey, this person plans to live here permanently.

29:04

They're converting all their cash from the USA into Spanish cash, or into pesos if you're in Mexico. Both unbelievers and true

29:11

Christians will quickly discern if a person is serving God or money. Matthew's gospel exhorts us with these words in chapter eight and verse 10.

29:21

Freely you have received, freely give. Christ loved us, so we should love our neighbors.

29:28

Salvation is free, so we should emulate his example and give our resources and expect nothing in return.

29:36

That's what the Christian should do. Naaman called himself Elisha's servant when he offered him a gift.

29:42

This is what Jesus taught when he said Christians should be poor in spirit on the Sermon on the Mount. Naaman was

29:48

Elisha's superior by rank, wealth, class, maybe even intelligence, he probably was smarter than him.

29:54

However, this Syrian recognized that Elisha outranked him because Elisha was a representative of the omnipotent

30:01

God. Earthly distinctions have no value in heaven. God doesn't care about your background, how smart you are, how accomplished you are.

30:08

However, spiritual leaders who faithfully serve God, they can experience the joy of reuniting with the souls of people from their earthly flock.

30:16

That is a blessed gift for those that are shepherds like our pastor. All leaders are appointed by God, but spiritual leaders, they should receive double honor because they work for our everlasting good.

30:26

They don't just work for our physical good, they work for our eternal good. Additionally, when

30:32

Naaman used the possessive adjective your to modify the word servant, he was choosing to identify himself as what?

30:39

A member of the people of Israel. Though servants were below free Israelites in social status, they and their masters were both co -heirs of God's promises.

30:49

Servants were circumcised, they celebrated the Passover, they honored the Sabbath, and they journeyed with their masters to the temple in Jerusalem.

30:56

Living in ancient Israel, these servants had a great advantage over even the highest -ranking people in other

31:02

Gentile nations because they knew the true God and they could read his word. Naaman realized that this treasure far surpassed the combined wealth of the entire

31:13

Syrian kingdom, he realized that. It's unlikely that Naaman would have read Psalm 84, and I don't know if Psalm 84 was written at this time, but the

31:21

Holy Spirit gave him the same mindset as the psalmist. I love Psalm 84 .10. It says, for a day in your courts is better than 1 ,000.

31:29

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tent of wickedness.

31:35

And we have to remember, too, back in these days, a lot of them were nomadic, they had some very elaborate tents, huge, massive, palatial tents.

31:41

So tents are not a downgrade from a palace. There was massive tents back then, too. God is all -sufficient, he needs nothing.

31:49

In this life, we can only behold him by the eye of faith, so we cannot physically give God anything.

31:55

You can't physically walk up to God and give him something. How can we give money to God under these circumstances? In his providence,

32:02

God has arranged two avenues for us to share our physical wealth. Primarily, we should give to support the ministry of our local church and missionaries around the world.

32:11

That's your primary giving, you should give to them first. Supporting the household of faith should always take priority when we're giving.

32:17

The household of God should not get the crumbs that drop from the table of our giving to other causes.

32:24

Doing so, that inverts the order that God has designed. Righteousness must first be practiced where?

32:30

First in your house, and then it's applied in the community. For another example of this, please read

32:36

Hebrews 13 .3 with me. Hebrews 13 .3 says the following. Remember the prisoners, as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.

32:49

What prisoners are being referred to in this verse, and why are they in prison? Some liberal scholars or pastors misinterpret the verse to say that all prisoners are in view here.

33:00

This is incorrect. These prisoners are listed as being mistreated, i .e. in prison for their faith, and are part of the body of Christ.

33:07

We must not forget our brothers and sisters all around the world who have been jailed for their Christian witness. I'm not saying that we should not minister or serve non -Christian prisoners.

33:14

Those are good too. But helping those jailed for Christ should take precedence over supporting those who were sent to prison for actual crimes.

33:23

There is an order there that God wants us to follow. Paul makes this point even clearer in chapter six of his epistle to the

33:30

Galatians. In Galatians 6 .10 he says this, therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

33:42

They come first. First you support your church family and fellow Christians, then you support the world. Having determined that we should prioritize giving to fellow

33:50

Christians, I would like to proceed to the second category of people on whom we should focus our charitable work.

33:57

Christians are called to help those who are poorer than themselves.

34:03

These two categories are not mutually exclusive. Our fellow Christians who are less affluent or less rich than us fit both categories.

34:09

So assisting them should be our highest priority. If God places someone in your life that's a fellow Christian and they have less wealth than you and they have a need, you've received the equivalent of a flashing red traffic signal from heaven.

34:20

Stop and give to them because that's the person you should give to first. Luke records these words of Jesus in chapter 14 of his gospel.

34:28

Then he also said to them who invited him, when you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you will be repaid.

34:40

But when you give a feast, you invite the poor, you invite the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

34:53

God watches who you invite, not just if you invite, but who do you invite? Do you prioritize the people that he would prioritize?

34:59

Do you love the people that are outcasts, the people that have nothing to give to you, that it's hard to talk to, whatever the reason is?

35:05

Those are the people you should prioritize if you wanna be like Christ. Being a prophet of God meant being very unpopular with the people of Israel.

35:14

And usually these men had very little money or possessions. The priests and Levites were paid tithes.

35:20

When the Old Testament Israelites paid tithes, who did they pay them to? The Levites and the priests. But the prophets had no financial support.

35:27

They were supported by God. Seeing that Elisha was not rich, I don't know the state of his house, but I'm assuming it was a humble one,

35:34

Naaman desired to share his material blessings with the one that had spiritually blessed him. Is this not the heart of the gospel?

35:42

The best solution for a covetous and a stingy heart is to think of all that Christ gave up on our behalf.

35:48

Hear the words of God in 2 Corinthians 9, sorry, 2 Corinthians 8, rather. For you know the grace of the

35:53

Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, what?

35:58

He became poor, that you through his poverty might become what? Rich. That's what Jesus did for us.

36:04

That is our example. We are to give up what we have to help those that have less. Marble bread, have you ever seen marble bread or stone with the same name?

36:13

It's layered with contrasting swirls of white and gray or black. You see how it's a mixture. Lighter tints of colors reflect light and they appear more vibrant when you contrast them with darker shades that absorb sunlight.

36:25

The Christian's generosity is a bright light that presents a very striking contrast with the selfishness and callousness of this world system.

36:35

Your actions are like a marble stone. You see that white stand out or you see that white lie in the rye or you see shades, you know,

36:40

I guess people see that. Other than forgiveness, nothing makes a Christian resemble

36:46

God more than when he freely gives away what he has received. Do you think anyone arrives in heaven wishing they had held more tightly to their possessions while they were on earth?

36:55

You seriously think anyone gets up there and says, I wish I had got a better car. I wish I had a better house. No one thinks that way when they get to heaven.

37:01

They say, I wish I had spent more, I had done more for Christ because that's all that matters when you go into eternity. Your material possessions, they're worthless in heaven's economy.

37:11

They have zero value. There's nothing you can, once you're up there, they have no value. However, if you use those possessions to advance

37:18

God's kingdom, then you can exchange physical wealth for spiritual wealth to the glory of God.

37:26

Moses understood this better than anyone else. I love reading Moses. He was a very godly man and there's so much there, but one of my favorite verses is

37:33

Hebrews 11, 24 about him. It says, by faith Moses, when he became of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

37:42

That's a big privilege. He gave up the princely of Egypt. He did not want it. He said, I don't want it. What did he choose?

37:47

He choose to suffer affliction with the people of God. He said, I want to be afflicted and be in the wilderness, the people of God, then to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

37:57

Why did he do that? Because he esteemed the reproach of Christ. He said, the reproach of Christ is greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.

38:06

For he looked to the reward. He had his eyes focused on the eternal reward. So next time you're tempted to take your eyes off it, remember what

38:12

Moses gave up. He gave up a lot more than we did. And he looked to Jesus. Returning to 2

38:18

Kings 5, verse 17, the final thing we see is we see this new believer growing in grace.

38:23

That's the final gem that's dug up in Naaman's life. It's the gem of spiritual growth. 2

38:30

Kings 5, 17. So Naaman said, then if not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth.

38:38

For your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods but the

38:43

Lord. Yet in this thing, may the Lord pardon your servant. When my master goes into the

38:48

Temple of Rimen to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow down in the Temple of Rimen, when

38:54

I bow down in the Temple of Rimen, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing. Then he said to him, go in peace.

39:00

So he departed from him a short distance. Isn't it amazing how Naaman trusted God with vastly less revelation than we have today?

39:08

He had a single command from God's prophet. And yet he demonstrated a faith that far surpasses that of the ancient

39:14

Jews of the Pentateuch. Our faith sometimes was 66 books of God's inspired word. He was lacking knowledge on clean animals, altar construction, sacrificial rituals.

39:25

Nevertheless, he made up in eagerness what he lacked in knowledge. He was eager to serve

39:30

God. He wanted to serve God. He did not know how, when, or where to serve the

39:36

Lord, but he was determined, I am gonna serve only him. That was his determination.

39:42

Zeal with little knowledge is a hallmark of new believers. God steps into this void, and God has a specific program of spiritual growth for every one of us, to grow us in Christ.

39:52

And that spiritual growth, that program, is tailored to our character and tailored to provide holiness.

39:58

In fact, our entire lives are fitting us for our future home in glory. That's the purpose of this life here.

40:04

We are in the dressing room, as the Puritans would say, for eternity. Circumcised hearts, they were the substance, the symbol of physical circumcision pointed to.

40:14

Naaman's story shows that God desires, he desires a clean heart over a ritually clean body.

40:19

He doesn't care about ritual cleanness. He wants your heart to be clean. The story of Cornelius the centurion in Acts 10, that's the

40:26

New Testament parallel to the story of Naaman. In this chapter, it's very unique because God is shown pouring out his

40:32

Holy Spirit on the Gentile believers for the very first time in the New Testament era. We see the spirit poured out on Cornelius.

40:40

Removing the first few bricks in Naaman's story from the wall, God fully topples the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles in the era of the

40:50

New Testament apostles. God knocked the wall over in the New Testament, and that's where we live today. Does it often feel like your spiritual life is one step forward and two steps back?

41:02

I experienced that in my life sometimes, and I think if we're honest, we all feel that way. We gain victory over one sin, but another sin pops up to fill its place.

41:11

This is because the work of sanctification is an ongoing process. The Lord must remove our old nature, and he must remake our nature in the image of Christ.

41:20

If you have a slab of hardened concrete, it will not bond to new concrete that is poured on top of it.

41:26

I'm sure Keith knows this with his deck work. You have to break up the existing slab, haul away the old concrete, and if you lay a new slab, that's the only way to ensure proper adhesion.

41:36

In the same, as it is in the world of construction, so it is in our soul. The Holy Spirit must demolish the old structures in our soul.

41:44

Hidden sins, dullness, erroneous doctrine, sinful motives, rebellion, and pride, that all must be broken away before it can be replaced with a temple that's fitted for a living

41:56

God. That must be removed. Our politics, our personalities, our experiences, our education, our preferences, they must all be submitted to the holy will of God.

42:08

I don't care about your background, your politics, you must submit to God. That's what the Lord is doing in sanctification. He's chiseling away and saying, you're not right there, you're not right there, come into alignment with my word.

42:19

This is a very uncomfortable process as sin clings to our soul. And it must be chiseled away, and let's not forget, the work of sanctification is a synergistic work.

42:29

You work out your salvation with fear and trembling. God works in you and you work it out. So God is chiseling and you're chiseling.

42:36

Andrew Fuller described sanctification in this manner. He was an early Reformed Baptist minister in England. He said, hold

42:41

Christ in your religion with a tight grasp, but me and every other creature with a loose one. And this is talking about, of course, we're not talking about justification here.

42:49

In your sanctification, you grip on and say, the Lord has given me the means of grace, I'm gonna grip on and hold on to them.

42:55

Let's return to our text where we'll see a few more of these spiritual growing pains through the lens of Naaman the

43:01

Syrian. Naaman publicly renounced his idols. That's real spiritual growth.

43:08

The Reformers differentiate between three categories of faith, knowledge, acceptance, I'm sorry, three categories of true belief.

43:15

You have knowledge, you have acceptance and trust, or the Latin terms, notitia, assensus, fiducia.

43:21

Those are the three stages of faith. The book we're going through in Sunday school, I saw this in last week's lesson, it uses three different categories, but they're very similar.

43:28

It says acknowledge, believe, and confess. True believers must possess all three. It's not enough to be, my dad would say growing up, it's not enough to be a

43:35

K, knowledge, or a K -A, knowledge and acceptance. There's plenty of Ks and Ks -As that are going to hell. The devils are

43:41

K -As. You gotta be K -A -T, you gotta trust Jesus. When Naaman rose to the river in verse 14, he knew that God existed.

43:50

Confessing that God alone was the Lord in verse 15, he accepted this truth. Finally, in verse 17, he trusted

43:56

God by what he said, I'm gonna put away every other idol in my life. That's trust.

44:02

For those of you in the audience, can you say the same? Have you put your eternal hope in Jesus Christ alone and his finished work on the cross?

44:11

If not, I urge you to repent. Today is the day of your salvation. Don't put it off. Repent today and say,

44:17

Jesus, I've been a K or a K -A my whole life. I wanna be a K -A -T. I wanna trust you. I wanna have a knowledge of you that surpasses, no mere intellectual knowledge will get you into heaven.

44:27

The devil is the greatest theologian you'll ever meet, and he's a devil still, and so are the demons. The intellectual knowledge, if it's not paired with the trust in Christ, will never save you.

44:35

You must have trust, and you must get that through Jesus Christ alone. Naaman trusted, if you refuse to do this,

44:44

Naaman the Syrian, he will rise up at the judgment and condemn you. He trusted the Lord with less gospel light in his entire life than most of us receive in one year.

44:53

He'll say, I trust the Lord with a few sentences, and you had 66 books, and you refuse to trust God? Demons and false converts, they know there's a

44:59

God, and they accept it, but they cannot trust God because their heart is still wedded to this world.

45:06

Their heart loves this world, the things of this world, the pleasures of this world, and until God separates them in divorce, they will cleave to their old flesh, and they will cleave to the world.

45:17

If you've ever had an interest in gemology or gemstones, you'll know that uncut gemstones, they're rarely found loose in gravel, sand, or rock.

45:24

Sometimes they are, but generally, they form inside of an inexpensive or worthless rock that must be chiseled away to reveal the jewel, so they'll get, like when they mine for diamond ore, they don't mine for diamonds, they mine for, it's called kimberlite.

45:38

They get big chunks of kimberlite out of the ground, and they take those chunks and chisel away, and they find the diamonds inside, and that rock kimberlite, by the way, is worthless.

45:46

It's absolutely, I mean, the only reason kimberlite's valuable is because it might contain diamonds. In Naaman's case, superstition and cowardice hid the gleam of a sanctified heart.

45:54

By washing off the sand of superstition and sanding down the impurities of cowardice,

45:59

God intended to make Naaman fit for heaven like he does for us. Though we don't see it happen in this account, we can be certain the

46:06

Lord would not leave Naaman's character in such a crude state. He didn't leave him here. Despite being called the

46:13

Holy Land, the land in Israel, it possesses no more spiritual power than the state of Georgia.

46:19

There's nothing special about the dirt of Israel. It's even more foolish to cling to the dirt of this country as if this organic matter had the power to make worship acceptable in the sight of God.

46:29

I mean, the dirt of Israel is worth nothing. It seems that Naaman had already forgotten the lesson that he learned in the waters of Jordan.

46:36

God uses means to accomplish his ends, but we should never attribute power to the means he has appointed.

46:42

God is the power, not the means themselves. The Roman Catholics recite rote prayers to ward off demons, and in doing so, they underestimate the evil power these spirits wield.

46:52

Demons are not toddlers. They're not scared off by a few sternly pronounced Latin sentences. That's ridiculous. If you are not indwelt by the

46:59

Holy Spirit, then no incantation can prevent demons from taking up residence as the masters of your soul.

47:06

It's foolish to place our trust in religious tokens. Do not place your trust in a token.

47:12

If you look at the history of Israel, it's replete or it's full of accounts showing this form of superstition. Do you remember the bronze snake that Moses lifted on the pool in the wilderness?

47:21

This symbol, which pointed to our Messiah, was used as an idol in the worst kind of religious adultery.

47:28

The Jews named this idol Nehushtan, or the serpent. The Israelites unwittingly paid homage to Lucifer, the father of idolatry.

47:35

Isn't it funny they said we're worshiping these serpents? Actually, you are worshiping the serpent, because God didn't intend them to look at the serpent.

47:42

It was look behind the serpent and see the reality that God saved, not a bronze image. King Hezekiah finally destroyed this symbol during the period of reforms.

47:50

If you look at 1 Kings 18 .4, you'll see a footnote where it says he destroyed the serpent that the Israelites worshiped.

47:56

Consider the case of Hophni and Phinehas. They thought bearing God's ark in the battle would ensure victory against the

48:01

Israelites. God avenged himself by ordaining death for them and defeat for Israel.

48:07

And then he gave their new idol, the ark was an idol, he gave it to the hand of the Philistines. Beware of turning the ordinance of God into an end for themselves.

48:16

Praying for praying's sake, going to church to feel good about yourself, and reading the Bible without the desire to apply it to your lives are the surest way to slide softly into hell.

48:28

You want to soft slide into hell? Do those things exactly. Use the ordinances, but don't worship the

48:33

God behind them. God desires truth in our inward parts. He doesn't want mere outward conformity.

48:39

He wants our hearts to be changed. Concerning Naaman's request for earth, Matthew Henry wrote the following in his commentary.

48:46

He said, he, or Naaman, that a while ago had spoken very slightly of the waters of Israel, now is another extreme.

48:53

He overvalues the earth of the Israel, supposing that since God has appointed altars of earth, that an altar of earth would be most acceptable to him, not considering that the earth is the

49:02

Lord and all the fullness thereof. The earth has got no power. The God that created everything, he's powerful.

49:08

Perhaps he was now idolizing Elisha, and not the God Elisha serves. Here are some more thoughts from Matthew Henry.

49:14

He said, or perhaps by the transport of his veneration and affection for the prophet, not only on account of his power, but of his virtue and generosity, made him, as we say, love the very ground that he went upon and desire to have at home with him.

49:27

This is Elisha's ground, I'm gonna take it home with me. Either of those are false. We know that neither of those has any power. If you idolize pastors, no matter how great, you build your foundation on sinking sand.

49:38

Flee from this temptation. Do not idolize your pastors, idolize Christ. Well, he's the only person you can't idolize.

49:44

Our hope is founded on Jesus Christ and him alone. Haven't we seen many leaders in the reformed circles fall into sin in the past several years?

49:51

Heed the words of the prophet Isaiah. He says, put no more trust in man who has only breath in his nostrils.

49:57

What is he really worth? That's Isaiah 2 .22. God gives man breath, and he takes it away when he sees fit.

50:04

It's foolish to depend on the arm of flesh, and I don't care how exalted or godly or holy the person is, it's foolish.

50:13

In verse 18, we see Naaman ask Elisha for religious exception. It seems that his official duties as commander of the army of Syria, he would accompany the king of Syria to worship at the

50:22

Temple of Rimen. Naaman asked Elisha, would you please pardon me when I bow down to the idol, because he was afraid of what his master might say.

50:31

The name Rimen is the Hebrew word for pomegranate. Commentators believe that the Israelites rearranged the vowels of his name to that of a common fruit to despair of this false god.

50:40

I think that's pretty funny, actually. But the Syrian name for this god was Hadad. He was supposedly the god of the rain, wind, and thunder, also known as Baal.

50:49

This Canaanite deity had proven to be a snare to the children of Israel after they had settled in the Promised Land.

50:55

So Rimen is just Baal under a different name. You see the spiritual slippage in the pattern of Naaman's words?

51:02

Superstition naturally leads to idolizing men or their approval. Idolizing men or their approval easily progresses into worshiping false gods.

51:11

We must guard carefully against this tendency in our own hearts. You must be resolved to worship

51:17

God and him alone no matter the costs. However, there is hope in this story.

51:23

God keeps all those that trust in him and will raise them up on the last day. If you turn one chapter forward to 2

51:29

Kings 6, you'll read a miracle there about how Elisha made an iron axe head float. Perseverance of the saints, it's a miracle.

51:35

It's really like the iron axe head that floats. We are made from the dirt like iron. We are born with a sinful nature.

51:42

We must fight the currents of a wicked world that hates gods and his laws, and we are dropped here for a duration of time.

51:48

The nameless prophet who dropped this iron axe head in the river, he started to despair. He said the axe head was borrowed and rescue seemed hopeless.

51:56

But God took pity on this man and he allowed Elisha to perform a miracle to rescue it from the river.

52:02

Are not our souls much more valuable than this iron implement? Our souls are worth infinitely more than that iron axe head.

52:09

The God of floating axe heads will not lose a single soul that has been purchased with Christ's priceless blood.

52:15

It won't happen. You can take that to the bank. Elisha was a great prophet, but God sent his only son to accomplish the much greater task of our redemption.

52:24

He didn't send a prophet. He sent the second person of the Trinity. We should not take

52:32

Naaman's requests for an idolatry exception as prescriptive for our lives. This is one of the error people make when they read the text.

52:38

No man can serve two masters at one time. The weakness of saints in the Bibles is not recorded for us to provide cover for similar failings.

52:46

We're not to look at Abraham and say, Abraham lied, therefore I can lie. You're supposed to look at Abraham and say, Abraham's a liar, I can lie, and I want to be like Christ.

52:55

Marriage is a creation ordinance. God intended for one man and one woman to be united in holy matrimony for life.

53:02

And we see this increasingly under siege in our culture. Several of the Old Testament saints, they followed the manner of the heathens and they practiced polygamy.

53:10

There are those today who use these verses to justify this practice. And when you see people online, and I've seen them doing that, they're arresting the scripture to their own destruction.

53:18

When they try to say, well, Abraham had multiple wives, Jacob had multiple wives, I could do it. The Lord gives them leave to play with scripture to send them to hell.

53:27

Like Dathan and Abiram, people that do this will suddenly be swallowed up in God's judgment. As New Testament Christians, we live in much greater light than our forefathers, the patriarchs.

53:37

We have all this light. We know the Bible's over and over. Marriage is one man and one woman. We see the pattern of it. There's no excuse for going back to that.

53:43

How can we brashly sin against God when we have so much more revelation than the Old Testament Christians did?

53:51

Elijah's response to this request is unique. Most of this paragraph is a paraphrase of what Matthew Poole says in his commentary on 2

53:58

Kings. Note that Elijah simply tells Naaman to go in peace. This answer does not condone compromise or idolatry.

54:06

Rather, the prophet dismisses him with a farewell that neither answers his request or condemns his doubt.

54:13

He says, go in peace. The Holy Spirit moved Elijah to reply in this way because Naaman was a novice and he was not yet able to handle the harder truths of his faith.

54:23

The Holy Spirit sometimes gives and other times denies information as he sees best to best nurture the spiritual growth in unbelievers.

54:33

You can see something very similar in the Gospels. That's one of the things I love doing is look for the Old Testament and mirror it to the New because they are mirrors of each other.

54:39

In John 16, we see Jesus talking to his disciples. And what does he say? I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

54:48

However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for guess he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come.

55:00

Do you see why Elisha demurred to answer this question directly? It's because he wanted

55:06

Naaman to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not use God's messenger as a spiritual crutch.

55:12

Elisha and Naaman parted ways, never to see each other again but the Holy Spirit would stay with Naaman forever.

55:18

The prophet is also a sinner. The third member of the Godhead is not. The Holy Spirit was the source of the power from which

55:26

Elisha's, the Holy Spirit was the source rather from which Elisha's power and wisdom flowed.

55:32

Who would play in a puddle when the seaside is readily available? All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in God and his servants, they're just signposts that point us to the throne of him from whom all heaven and earth flees.

55:46

That's what they point us to, they point us to Christ. The treasures of God's goodness are clearly visible to the story of Naaman.

55:53

God's free grace sparkled in the servant girl's tip. It shone in the commands of the prophet Elijah. It dazzled through the heaven -sent humility in the

56:01

Syrian commander's life. Pouring from his soul, the heavenly jewels of gratitude, generosity, and spiritual growth, they burst into the sunlight.

56:11

Naaman was not seeking God. Naaman was seeking physical healing, but God had greater things in store.

56:16

But God, isn't that the story of all of our lives? He had greater things in store for us. God had selected this pagan general to be an object of his free grace and provide a foretaste of Jesus' atonement for the sins of the elect of the whole world.

56:30

This was a foretaste of what you'd see in the New Testament era. I would like to close with the words of God from the

56:36

Epistles to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1 .18 says this.

56:43

The eyes of our understanding may be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power.

57:01

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the story of Naaman.

57:08

Lord, we thank you that he, we marvel that he has a great faith. We thank you that he so quickly caught on to many things. And yet at the same time, we see that there's still weaknesses in his life.

57:16

He still gravitates back to our superstition. He still desires the approval of men. Lord, we thank you that you've given us a pattern,

57:21

Lord, and you know that, Lord, you will be with us. You have promised that he who started good work in us will complete it to the day of Jesus Christ.

57:28

Pray that in all these things, we'd be more than conquerors. And that we would read the Bible, especially the Old Testament. It's not just the mere words of man with the words of God.

57:36

The Old Testament examples are recorded for our instruction. They're not just there for our information. That you apply these to our lives and help us to love you with every day.

57:45

And when we come to our final breath, we can say truly the Lord has been good to me and my lines have fallen in pleasant places.