The Walk of Faith - Part 1 — Larry Ainsworth

Well, that was really enjoyable singing tonight. It's good to be with you again. For those of you that weren't here this morning, we'll go back over and give you a little bit of what we're going to be looking at in our studies.

Six Character Studies in the Word of God

This morning we looked at the study of the two words that our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, follow me. We're going to be looking at six-character studies during our time together. We're going to be sharing in the Word of God, six characters out of his Word.

Like I told you this morning, being an equal opportunity speaker, we're going to have three men and three women, so nobody can go away and say that I'm chauvinist. I am, but that's besides the point. Three men and three women, three from the Old Testament, three from the New Testament.

We're going to be looking at a man who was a priest before God. We'll look at a woman who served God, a man who was dissatisfied with God, a woman who gave all to God, a man who walked with God, a woman who pleaded with the Son of God.

Those will be our six-character studies, and as I told you this morning, they will not be studies that you probably have normally engaged in. Maybe you have, but these will be six characters that we don't normally find in our studies.

But as I said earlier, the Word of God says that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. That means everything, and I don't believe that God put any character in his Word except they be there for our study and for our edification that we might be built up in the most holy faith.

Gehazi's Dissatisfaction with God

So that's the beginning of our study tonight. We'll take the first one, and we're going to look at a man who was dissatisfied with God. He was unhappy with God. So will you turn in your Bibles this evening to 2 Kings, 2 Kings, chapter 5.

Many of you remember and know the story of Naaman, who came from Syria to be cleansed by the man of God, Elisha. He first of all sought from the king of Israel, who referred him to the man of God, Elisha.

Remember, Elisha told him to go dip seven times in the Jordan. He would be cleansed, and after some disagreement there, he finally agreed to do it, and he was cleansed, and he comes back, reading in verse 14.

So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. When he returned to the man of God with all his company and came and stood before him, he said, Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel, so please take a present from your servant now.

But he said, As the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will take nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. And Naaman said, If not, please let your servant at least be given two mule loads of earth, for your servant will no more offer burnt offering, nor will he sacrifice to other gods but to the Lord.

In this matter, may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the house of women to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of women. When I bow myself in the house of women, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.

And he said, Go in peace. So he departed from him some distance. Now for our study this evening,. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, Behold, my master has spared this Naaman, dear man, by not receiving from his hands what he brought.

As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him. So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well.

My master has sent me, saying, Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophet have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.

And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents, and he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them before him.

When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and deposited them in a house, and he sent them in a way, and they departed. But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you been, Gehazi?

And he said, Your servant went nowhere. Then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and a time to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants?

Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and your descendants forever. So he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. The theme of our study for this weekend is some of the practical applications of the walk of faith in the Christian life.

We're going to look at some of the positive aspects and some of the negative aspects that we encounter in our daily life. You know, Gehazi is a lot like us. I'm reminded of the time when I was a young lad, a short time after World War II.

I know that dates myself, but I told you I was 16, but that was a little bit of a... Glenn and I know. A short time after World War II, as I was living in Colorado, I had a great aunt. And great aunts are great.

You know, you'll learn a lot of things from your relatives. But I remember that it was a special time in her life when the Sears Roebuck catalog arrived in the mail. I mean, this was, you know, that was back when the catalogs were this thick.

And I mean, they had everything. And she used to take that Sears Roebuck catalog, and I mean, that thing was precious. And she would take that thing and go page by page by page. I used to look at it. I said, you know, big deal.

It's got a lot of stuff in it. She says, you don't understand. This is my wish book. Your wish book. Yes, in here are all the things I wish I had. And I thought, hmm. And you know, as I grew older, in and through the course of life, you know, and as you have your own home, you receive catalogs.

And how these catalogs stimulate our interest. Oh, I could use one of those. I wouldn't mind having one of those. Hey, that'd be, you know, if I had one of those, I'd be something special. You know, the marketing place, they picked up on that.

And they said, that's true. You know, if we can create in people a need, even though it's a false need, they'll go out and buy these things. You know, it's just like I think it was Bill that were saying that if you came this evening and you don't smell too good to go back afterwards and put on, you know, the various things to make you smell better.

You know, we have this idea that unless we smell good on the outside, we're no good on the inside. You know, and if we don't look really great, you know, if we don't have those certain type of hairdos, if you got hair, you know, if you don't have, if you're a lady and you don't have that certain hairdo, you know, it's just, you aren't in, you know, you aren't, I forget what my 16 year old calls it, but anyhow, you're just not quite within group.

Or if you don't have certain clothes, it amazes me what, what our young people today call fashion. And I'm not going to say anymore. I told, I told my daughters, I'm not going to cut you down while I'm, you know, here at camp, but they know, and you all know that I know.

But nonetheless, the marketplace has created in us false needs. We lose track of what is reality and what is fantasy. What do we need and what do I want? And in a sad story of Gehazi, there stands a little bit of each one of us.

We can all relate to Gehazi because all of us have our little wish books, don't we? Our little want books. I really want that. Do I need it? That's beside the point. You know, we like to, when we see somebody with something, especially the guys, you know, when, when somebody buys a car, say, man, I wouldn't mind having one of those cars.

We kind of think it'd be neat to have that type of a car or any car even better to make us look a little better. We always want to be a little bit ahead of everybody. We want to look good. I hope that's a premonition of rain.

But anyhow, as we see, Gehazi had a problem. I wonder if any of us have this problem. Because let me say this, that as I studied the life of Gehazi, though short it's listed in the word of God, it leads us to some very, very important principles that we need to lay a hold of in our life to grab hold of that we might be strengthened in the faith.

Association with God's People Does Not Make Us Godly

First of all, we read about Gehazi. A servant. He was a servant of the man of God, Elisha. Now, all of you know about Elisha. We've all in our Sunday school classes, we studied about Elisha. We just marveled at how a man could stretch his body over a little child and the child who was dead would come back to life.

We marveled at how he, a prophet, was able to tell a woman that she was going to have a child. We marvel as we move through the book of Kings at the life of Elisha. But we notice this one thing. That Gehazi was a servant.

He walked with Elisha. He saw the miracles. He was a witness to the teachings of Elisha. But there was something wrong in Elisha's life. For you see, that association with a man of God does not make you a godly person.

You can have godly parents and not be a godly person. You can have a godly wife and not be a godly husband. You can be a godly husband and not have a godly wife. We need to understand that association do not make us godly.

There is only one association that will make us godly, and that's association with God himself. But so often we think that if we associate with the right people, we'll be all right in God's eyes, even though our lives are not God honoring.

For you see, Elisha was the man of God. Gehazi served him. And Gehazi normally did all of the right things that a servant of the man of God should do. He was a good servant, but he had a problem. He had a problem.

I wonder if you know what the problem is. Deuteronomy 5, verse 7. Let's see if you're all awake. Are you all here tonight? Are you listening? Deuteronomy, without looking at it. Deuteronomy 5, verse 7.

Who can tell me what it says? Now, in Deuteronomy, it's the book of the law. Okay, brother. Close. Just back up a little bit. You're just a little bit farther down. What's the first of the Ten Commandments?

No other gods. Has it changed? Has it changed? You said, oh, but Larry, don't you understand? They lived in the time of the law. Has it changed? As we move into the dispensation of grace. Does God say, well, now that you're under grace, you can have any other gods you want?

I don't believe so. For he again tells us the Son of God while he's here on this earth. He said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And everything that is in you, let you love the Lord your God.

That's the first and greatest of all the commandments. No other gods but him. For you see, the problem with Gehazi is the problem that we have. Other gods. Other gods. And oh, how easily they slip into our life.

Satan's Deception and the Judgment of Sin

How easily they slip into our life. Because we are not paying attention. Because you see, Satan, the master deceiver, is still doing his great work. And oh, if you believe that Satan is not powerful, it is not working today.

All you need to do is look around you. But we need to realize that Satan realizes more than anyone else. He realizes more than any other person, anything else, that his time is growing short. It's coming to a close.

And when it draws to a close, we're going to hear something. We're going to hear a shout. For then Satan knows that the time is very, very short. And he must do his work. And then for a thousand years, he will be put aside.

He will be put away. Then only at the end will he be released. But then he knows all is lost. All is lost. Because then there is only one place left for him. And that's the lake of fire forever and ever.

And for those who would follow him, for he is their God. They will be with him. And they will understand that the master deceiver has deceived them for the countless ages of eternity. Dear ones, we're speaking of serious things tonight.

It's a serious thing to live in the world today and to reject the living God. God is a God who is not mocked. And in the life of Gehazi we see, God says, I will not be mocked. For how else can we understand that Elisha would know what went on?

There was no way he could possibly know. Now, you may think of all kinds of things. But I believe the word of God that was revealed to Elisha by God himself. That this servant of his would come to understand how grievous God looks at sin.

It's a grievous thing to God. He cannot look upon sin and he cannot look upon sin in our life. But the first thing that we notice in the life of Gehazi is he had another God. I wonder, what do you suppose was Gehazi's God?

Materialism as a Substitute for God

I think it was the God of materialism. Do you think we live in a materialistic society? We'd have to be a total fool not to believe that. All we have to do is look around us. The God of materialism is everywhere.

You need to have these things to really live. If you don't have these things, you aren't living. You aren't living. And so materialism slowly and very purposefully edges into our life. Cutting out the God of all creation.

Discontentment and the Temptation to Covet

Next we notice in the sins of Gehazi, first of all he had the God of materialism. But we notice the second thing is, is Gehazi's discontentment. Today in our hospitals around our land, over 50 of the patients that are in for physical ailments, they say, better than 50 of people that are put in hospitals, registered in hospitals, are there with so-called physical ailments that really have a spiritual background.

And the greatest of these things is discontentment. I'm missing something. I'm missing something. I don't have this. Or this is not working in my life. You know, men, they're unhappy. Because they don't have a better job.

They don't have a better car. They don't have a better wife. A better, well, okay. Wives are unhappy because they don't have better husbands. We don't have better children. Everybody's got something better than us.

We don't have it. And we're losing. We're losing in the game of life. And we're discontented. And we're unhappy. Poor old Gehazi. He allowed that discontentment to ease in there. Oh, what a work it did.

What a work it did. Let's see what happens. James chapter 1. We were there this morning for a few moments. Let's go back there. James chapter 1. And look at some verses. James chapter 1. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial.

Verse 12, excuse me, James 1, 12. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved to receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil. And he himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed. When he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth, it gives birth to sin.

And when sin is accomplished, you notice the words next. The sad tragedy of sin, it brings forth death. It brings forth death. Not always physical death. But death to God. Death to the relationship that man has with God.

The living and the true God. The God of all creation. The sadness of Gehazi's life. Began with a seed of discontentment. Discontentment. He looked around. Now Elisha, you say you're a servant. You can just see these thought patterns going.

You know, we all have them. Maybe you don't have them. Maybe you don't have these thoughts. But you know, when I talk to people, I find out that I'm not really as far away as I thought I was in their thoughts.

Yeah, we have the same thoughts. And isn't it interesting? You know, you can see Gehazi in his thought patterns. He's sitting there in his room and he's thinking. Now Elisha, you claim to be a prophet of the great God.

The God who is above all gods. But look at you. What have you got? Nothing. You're lucky to have clean clothes. And not always do you have that. And what have we got to show for serving this living and true God, Elisha?

What have we got? Nothing. Look at this ramshackle place we live in. It's nothing. And look at those people over there. Those ones over there that worship those gods. Look at what they've got. Ever felt that way?

No, huh? No, we never acknowledge that we really feel that way. But we do by our very actions. We deny God. Because we go. We go to the broken cisterns of the world to find happiness and there's nothing there.

But yet we always have in the back of our mind, because the world keeps telling us, we've got it and you don't. But if you want it, come to us and you will get it. But yet we go and there's nothing. There's nothing.

Charles Colson and the Emptiness of Worldly Success

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting at a breakfast with Charles Colson, the man who was one of the perpetrators of the Great Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. Here was a man who sat in an office directly across from the Oval Office of the President of the United States.

He was a man who had everything. He recounted, he said, I had one of the most prestigious offices in the United States. I was at the very seat of power in the world. I had a wonderful home. I had a better than six-digit salary.

I had a yacht on Chesapeake Bay. I had a chauffeured limousine that would take me anywhere I wanted to go. I had at my disposal transportation anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. I had everything.

And he said, I sat in a jail cell and realized I had absolutely nothing. I was the most sick man in all the world. He says, because I looked at what I had and none of it, none of it gave me a moment's peace or a moment's joy.

He said, I was the most empty man that you have ever met. And he said, there I sat in a jail cell and God began to work with me. We all know he's gone on to work in one of the great prison ministries, the Prison Fellowship.

The Lord has truly blessed that work. Now, I don't agree with everything Charles Colson says and does. That's not important. But God works in the lives of men and women, and it's not through materialistic things.

He's telling us that life is found in him in a life of service. If we're discontent with our lot in life, have we taken a true evaluation of where we're at? You notice that Gehazi had in the back of his mind that maybe if he served, if he served this man of God as Elisha, maybe God would give to him what was really the desire of his heart.

If you drop down and read in that verse 26 about all the things that Elisha drew to his attention, he said, is this the time to have all these things? And he recounts a list of things. I think Gehazi wanted to be a farmer.

He wanted to be a wealthy farmer with a lot of animals, a lot of servants. He wanted the things of this world because he thought there, there is joy, there is peace. And yet, God in his mercy dealt with Gehazi.

God in his mercy dealt with Gehazi. For even after Gehazi had purposed, he purposed in his heart to be disobedient to God. Now, I know none of you here this evening would ever purpose in your heart to be deliberately disobedient to the word of God.

You don't have that problem. But I'm sorry to say that there's times in my life when I have purposed to be disobedient to God. And you know, God is a God who is not mocked. He says, when you're disobedient, expect to hear from me.

You know, the wonderful things are the lessons that I've learned in being a father. Just untold lessons. And how many times in those lessons in raising my family, I've learned the lessons that God deals with me as one of his children.

You know, my children, when they disobey, and I find out about it, they know they're going to hear from dear old dad. They know that there's going to be a problem. And they know that they're going to be called to account for their disobedience.

You know, in our home, we have a set of standards that we live by. And everybody in that family, from the youngest to the oldest, is expected to abide by those standards. And defilement of those standards leads to discipline.

You know, I would have been very sad if in the life of Gehazi, if he had just got a verbal chewing out. I would have said, but God, is that sufficient? Is that sufficient for what he's done? Look at all that he did.

Look at how he lied. How he used the name of the prophet in lies. And how he defiled your position, God, as not accepting things from the heathen. God, look at all the things this man did. And yet God was merciful.

And I look at my own life, and I said, if I can call Gehazi into account, should not I call myself, first of all? Gehazi purposed that he was hired to be disobedient. And you know that. Because it says that as soon as Naaman left, Gehazi sat there and went through his little pity party.

Said, man, I just can't understand what's the matter with Elisha not taking those things. And it doesn't say he kind of ambled out, you know, and started on the trail after him. It says he ran. He purposed, he took off with great intent to catch Naaman.

He said, man, I don't want this fish to get away. I want, I want to catch this man. And he ran. And he ran purposefully to be disobedient. First John, chapter 2. First John, chapter 2. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

The one who says, I have come to know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

The one who says he abides in him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. Here's the answer to the Christian's walk of faith. To walk as he walked. In Ephesians, chapter 5, Paul begins this great chapter with these words.

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of God. Be an imitator of God as his children. Be imitators of God as beloved children. An imitator of God. I ask you this. Who was Gehazi imitating? Was he imitating those things that Elisha had exhibited in his life as a follower of God?

I think not. He imitated those things of the flesh. Those things that cried out for satisfaction. And all the sadness of a life that would search a broken cistern. Going to a well that is empty with nothing but dust to parch the thirst.

To take the dirt and try to satisfy the thirst. What a tragedy. Naaman is so taken up. The course of events have gone so far now. He's lied to Naaman. He's taken the stuff, the goods, wrongfully. He now has incorporated others, the servants, other servants.

He says, here, let's carry this stuff back. He gets to the home, back to the house. But before he gets there, he tells the servants, here, give me these things. I'll take them. And you know, they just assumed that he was probably going to take them in and give them to Elisha.

But you know, Gehazi waits until they get out of sight. He slips in. Puts the stuff away. Doesn't want anybody to see it. Doesn't want anybody to know about it. Puts it away. He didn't want them servants coming along, you know.

If he didn't take the stuff right into Elisha, surely they would start asking questions. You know, Gehazi, what are you doing? This stuff belongs really, you know. Who are these two guys that you are talking about?

He didn't want anybody around. Nobody to muddy up the waters of his deception. Takes the things in. He puts them away. You ever been caught in that? Ever done things in the secret? Nobody else. We want nobody else involved.

Nobody else to know. Puts the things away. He goes into Elisha. Elisha, where you been? Well, now the deception has gotten such a hold of Gehazi that he knows there's no turning back. Oh, I didn't go anywhere.

Didn't do anything. Why? Why would you ask, Elisha? What's the problem? And I think the minute he said those words and he looked into Elisha's eyes, he knew the jig was up. Oh, Gehazi, was I not there when the man turned aside from his chariot?

I can see Gehazi's jaw start ricocheting off his chest bone. How did he know? How did he know? How could he possibly know? He had forgotten. In so short a time he had forgotten. Here was a man who communed with the living God.

And God had revealed it to him. In that moment, I wonder what went through Gehazi's mind. Did he say, I've done a dumb thing? I've really blown it. Did he plead in repentance? Did he seek mercy? Doesn't say.

But the word was given. Now God starts dealing with Elisha. Or with Gehazi through Elisha. You see, Gehazi had associated himself with the man of God, but he forgot all of the principles. To which he could have learned about God in the life of Elisha.

For if he would have paid attention when Naaman came, he would have learned of the power of God to heal. God can heal. And God is still in the same business today as he was in the time of Elisha. Of healing.

All types of healing. And not at the hands of man. God is still in the business of doing healing. For he is the one who planted the seed. That every one of us is here today. For the Lord God is still the maker of life.

He is still the one who is the master of life. And he is the one who can heal the body defiled by sin and corruption. But Gehazi had forgotten the power of God to heal. And Gehazi did not take awareness or did not become aware of the mercy of God to the heathen.

Was there any reason, any reason at all, while Elisha should help this one who was a self-confessed heathen? For he didn't really want to go on. He said, why do I have to go to Israel? Because there is a man of God in Israel.

God was in Israel working through the life of Elisha. Gehazi had forgotten the mercy of God. You know, in the many times that, no doubt, in their travels together, Gehazi would hear Elisha pronounce judgment as he would soon hear himself in others' lives.

He forgot about the judgment of God for sin. He'd been around it for so long, he'd become callous towards it. Do we ever slip into that mode where we become callous towards God's judgment for sin because we've been around it so much we think that it does not apply to us?

We've forgotten that it applies to us. God deals with sin. He judges every sin. He will judge sin. What can we learn? What can you learn from the life of Gehazi? One of the things that I continue to learn is God still shows mercy.

He still shows mercy. What would have happened if Gehazi had not been caught in his sin? What normally happens to you when you aren't caught in your sin? Think about it. What do you do? Do you ever do it again?

Do you ever have that little pet sin in your life? That little sin that, you know, well, this is just kind of between me and God, you know? He understands me, you know, and this is just a kind of a sin that we don't deal with it.

It's a little pet sin. And we don't really talk to God about it. Oh, we might mention, Lord, I wish you'd remove this from my life. But, you know, we're not really sincere. We're kind of half-hearted about it.

But God showed mercy. He showed abundant mercy to Gehazi that day. Because if he hadn't shown Gehazi mercy that day, I am fully assured, because I know Gehazi was made of the same flesh that I'm made of today, and I know how my flesh is, and yours is the same way.

We'd have gone on in our sin. We'd have continued on. And God wanted to show Gehazi mercy. He didn't allow him to pursue his course that was leading to his destruction. One of the things that we can also learn is that sin has a tremendous price.

For all that he wanted, for all that he wanted, every time that his arm would come out from under his cloak and he would see that whiteness of leprosy, do you think he'd be reminded of the cost of his sin?

I wonder if in our lives, if God dealt with us as he dealt with Gehazi, and because of our sin, we had leprosy. For that pet sin, there was leprosy upon our hands and arms, that every time we looked at ourselves, we would be reminded of that sin.

But sin, God deals with it, and it has a price. If you take anything away from here tonight, we might remind ourselves of three things. Three things that we can learn from the life of Gehazi. Emphatic things.

Keeping the Rooms of Life Free from Other Gods

Keep the rooms of our life free from other gods. Now, all of us have these rooms in our lives in which we live. You know, we have that room, men, we call the work room. You know, and at some times, that work room, we go to work, you know, sometimes we have to set aside certain principles, don't we?

We feel justified. You know, if we're going to get ahead, we have to do these things. And yet there's a pricking of our conscience. Is this what my Lord would have me to do? But we set up other gods in the work rooms of our lives.

The God that says, if you're going to advance, if you're going to make it, you've got to do these things. But they're not what God would have me to do. But you don't understand. I've got to do them. And we set up another God.

It's the God of this world. We're letting the world speak to us. Oh, for the young people that are here. What about the God you set up in the schoolrooms of life? Oh, as a parent, I thought I was knowledgeable of the pressures that are put upon young people today in the classrooms, in the school place.

For a good part of my life, I spent in the classroom of the university, working my way slowly and methodically toward that degree. And I remember sitting under a variety of teachers and professors that proclaimed things that were not according to the word of God.

And I kept thinking about all these things that our young people are faced with and how easy it is to set up the God of knowledge. That if I know these things, everything else is going to be added unto me.

We look in the schoolrooms, we look in the classrooms, we look at the people that walk on the college campuses, the high school campus, the grade schools, wherever they go. They're faced with a variety of pressures that many of us don't even understand.

And how the world wants to shove a God before them. And how easy, how easy Satan makes it. It's just a little corner, a little corner of your life. You can just put it there. Nobody needs to know. It's just there.

There is one great room that every one of us has. And every one of us, I feel that I can say this without any hesitancy, that everyone here has a God set up in that room. Now I may be wrong and you can challenge me later, but it's called the playroom of our minds.

The playroom of our minds we set up God's. For you know in the playroom of our minds we can do things that nobody else knows. No one, not another living soul, not my wife, not my husband, my children, other Christians, God forbid.

No one else knows. But in the playroom of my mind I can do things that no one else knows. And they are sin. They are sin in the eyes of God. God says bring your sins, every one of your thoughts into his control.

Yet in the playroom of our mind we feel we can do things and not pay a price. One of the greatest things that we need to understand today and has become a pathe teaching, but it still stands strong and true today.

Be not deceived. God is not mocked. What we sow we shall reap. Romans says it very plainly. The wages of sin is death. The price of sin has not changed. God has never ever changed the price of sin. It's been death since the beginning and will be death until the end.