Rewards of Obedience

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 7th. When God tells you to do something, do you respond with swift agreement? Today's podcast teaches you about the enduring rewards of obedience. But there's a companion truth that goes with that. Our failure to obey God will bring suffering and pain to us eventually.

Now, neither the reward nor the suffering are always immediately evident in our life, but eventually they're going to surface either the joy of my reward or either the pain of my suffering. Now, you and I are not to be obedient to God, motivated simply because we want to be rewarded. Because if you'll think about it for a moment, I think there are three primary reasons you and I should be motivated to obey God.

One of them is that He's God. And because He's God and He is the sovereign of this universe, He deserves to be obeyed. Secondly, He's a wise God and only requires of us what is best for us, so that wisdom says you do what is always best for you. And the third motivation ought to be of our love and devotion to Him.

But let me ask you this. What is God telling you to do today? And the question is, are you doing what God is telling you to do? Now, this passage of Scripture we're going to deal with is a perfect example of a man's struggle with obedience and the result of his reward in being obedient to God.

So the title of this message is The Rewards of Obedience. And so if you'll turn to 2 Kings 5, beginning in verse 1, the Scripture says, Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. There was in his household, the Scripture says on down in the passage, a little girl who had been taken captive as a slave as the Arameans had plundered the nation of Israel. They had taken this little Israelite girl, and he had taken her as a servant. She was a servant to his wife, that is, Naaman's wife. One day, while the servant and Naaman's wife were in conversation, the little girl said to Naaman's wife, I wish that my master, that is, Naaman, were with the prophet who is in Samaria.

Then he would cure him of his leprosy. She was so convincing to Naaman's wife when Naaman came home, she said to him, Our servant said there is a prophet in Israel, his name is Elisha, he can heal you of your leprosy. That little girl was so convincing to the wife, and she was so convincing to her husband, that Naaman immediately went to the king and told him what the little girl said. Verse 5 says that the king said to Naaman, Go now immediately. Now if you want to know how valuable Naaman was to the king, look in verse 5. Go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.

He departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of raiment, which in our money today would be over a million dollars. So the king felt that Naaman was so valuable that he sent to the king of Israel over a million dollar gift in order to have his servant Naaman healed. Well when he arrived on the scene, verse 6, the Bible says he brought the letter to the king saying, And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy. It came about when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?

But consider now and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me. So the king of Israel misunderstood what the king of Aram said. He was simply saying to him, Would you be responsible to see to it that this man comes in touch with the prophet in Israel so he can be healed of his leprosy because Naaman had already told him it was the prophet there who healed people of their leprosy. So when Elisha hears that the king is tearing his clothes and is in in furor and saying that the king of Aram is seeking quarrel with him, he says in verse eight, Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him that is Naaman come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Now watch that. Elisha's purpose for healing Naaman was far greater than simply removing an incurable disease of leprosy. He wanted Naaman to understand that the God in Israel is God and that Elisha his prophet has relationship with God, whereby when he talks to God, God is able to cure the incurable disease of leprosy. So he sends him that is Naaman to Elisha the prophet.

So here comes Naaman with all of his following his soldiers that chariots their horsemen. And they come before the household in Samaria where Elisha is living. Now something happens. There they are standing before Elisha's door.

And what happens? Elisha's servant, not Elisha. Elisha's servant comes out and addresses the captain of the host. This very, very prized soldier and warrior of the king of Aram. And the servant, not Elisha, says to Naaman, sir, if you would be healed of your leprosy, my master, the prophet in Israel, Elisha says, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River.

Immediately Naaman becomes furious, the Bible says. Wash myself seven times in the Jordan River. If I wanted to take a bath, I would have stayed at home. Besides that, the rivers of Damascus are far better rivers than the rivers of Israel. The River Jordan, that muddy river. He says, you're telling me to go wash myself seven times in the Jordan River? He says, beside that, he says, I expected the prophet to come out and to wave his hand over me.

That is, over the place where he had leprosy and that I would be healed. So he turns in anger with his soldiers and they began to march off. But his soldiers said to him, wait a minute, hold it, sir. If the prophet had said to you, do something very difficult, you would have done that.

So at least give him a chance. He told you to wash yourself seven times in the Jordan. You have leprosy. That's an incurable disease.

You're going to die. Please consider what he said. Into the Jordan he walks, humiliated before his soldiers, having himself a pity party and a humiliation fit. And he dips himself seven times in the Jordan River to come up the seventh time, cured and totally healed of his leprosy. Now, against the background of that event that happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago, I want to give you five basic principles, my friend, that if you will exercise in your life, God will reward you in every area in which you apply these principles.

Every single area. Here is the first one. And we'll put these against the background of the scripture.

The first one is this. Our needs, our needs are oftentimes God's opportunities for lessons in obedience. Our needs are oftentimes God's opportunities for lessons in obedience. What was the greatest need in Naaman's life? It was to be healed. It was to be cured of leprosy, which would destroy him. That was the greatest need of his life.

It didn't make any difference what else he had. Fine, wonderful family, servants, money, position, the favor of the king. But overshadowing all of this was that dark shadow of leprosy that he knew one day would incapacitate him and eventually destroy him. He would become an untouchable, ultimately separated when that had covered his body. And so he goes to the prophet of God. My friend, God sometimes creates needs. I'm not saying he sent leprosy to him, but he allowed the leprosy to come to him in order for God to do a dramatic work that not only influenced him, but multitudes of others. Sometimes God allows a need to come into our life.

Sometimes he creates the need. What is it that God wanted to teach Naaman? He wanted to teach him, first of all, that the God of Israel is God. That Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim, the God of Israel, is the only God.

And the evidence of his sovereignty is that he can cure what no man can possibly cure, and that is leprosy. God wanted to teach him, first of all, to place his trust in the God of Israel. He wanted to teach him how very important it is to be obedient to this God. You see, God wants to bless us. He desires that you and I become everything he wants us to be. He's provided that we will be and can be, but only in response to obedience and faith in him. So God used this experience in Naaman's life to teach him a very valuable lesson.

Second thing I want you to notice here. Obedience may often require what appears to be impractical and unreasonable. Now listen, here is Naaman standing before Elisha's door. Out comes the servant and he says, If you want to be healed, you go to the Jordan River and you dip yourself seven times.

There's nothing rational about that. And you see, this is more than likely it was Naaman's thinking, and it's pretty good thinking. Wait a minute. You're telling me to go dip in the Jordan River.

What about all the other folks who've got leprosy? Why aren't they down there dipping in the Jordan River? Here's the reason. Now watch this. Because God didn't tell anybody else to go to the Jordan River and watch seven times. Listen to me carefully. If you look around to see what other people are doing and choose to be obedient to God on the basis of what other folks are doing, you will disobey God.

I want to ask you a question. Suppose Naaman had not gone to the Jordan. He would have died a leper. Suppose you do not obey God. You, listen, you will never know what God would have done in your life because you failed to be obedient to him.

I cannot tell you how important that is. Third thing I want you to notice in this passage. That our failure to obey God may cost us the very thing we desire most. Our failure to obey God may cost us the very thing we desire most.

What is the greatest need? What was the greatest desire of Naaman's heart? To be cured of his leprosy.

But you see, suppose he had done what most people do. First of all, he said, this is ridiculous, this is foolish, I'm not going to do it. He had three problems. Number one was pride.

Me, Naaman, captain of the army, my king has sent over a million dollars to the king of Israel and you, the prophet, you will not even come out to even speak to me. His pride hurt him. His second problem was his anger. He became furious because, listen, because his expectations were, they crashed. He said, I thought that surely he would come to me and stand and call in the name of his Lord, wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. He said, he was furious because his expectations were not met. And his third problem was unbelief. He didn't believe that in obeying the prophet of God, that Almighty God would cure him of his leprosy. Did you know that those three problems sometimes are ours? Especially that matter of pride and that matter of unbelief.

Now, think about it. Here's old Naaman on his way down to the Jordan and he looks at that muddy river, and I don't know what he says in his language, but it's probably pretty foul. Here's the muddy Jordan and here stand his soldiers, men who followed him in battle right into Death's Valley. And what does he do? He turns around and looks at them and with great humiliation, he walks into the Jordan, muddy Jordan River.

So what does he do? He holds his nose and goes down one time and comes up. He says, see that?

Didn't I tell you? Just the way I went down, same old disease. Humiliated, he goes down the fourth time, the fifth time, the sixth time. He says, six times, that is enough.

I'm getting out of here. But they said, Naaman, one more time, please, seven times. Okay, seven times, he goes down the seventh time and he comes up the seventh time. And what do you think happened to him immediately when he came up the seventh time? All of a sudden, all of his unbelief vanished. And what was he saying?

The God in Israel is God. He saw a demonstration of the supernatural power of God in his own life. He became a believer. Suppose he had only dipped six times. Six times would have kept him a leper.

Let me ask you a question. Have you only done partially what God has told you to do or have you been totally obedient? You know what obedience is? Obedience is doing what God says, when God says, how he says it. I don't have to understand how.

I don't have to understand why. All I have to do is to be obedient to Almighty God. Obedience is the key to God's blessings. The rewards of obedience.

When we do what God says do, when God says do it, how God says do it. Listen, all of heaven opens because, my friend, God will never become indebted to us. He's going to reward. He's going to bless. He's going to pour out his blessings. Fourth thing I want you to jot down.

A very important point. Right counsel. Right counsel always encourages obedience to God. Right counsel always encourages obedience to God. These soldiers of Naaman said to him, Naaman, or captain, please, please, just try it. You have nothing to lose by dipping in the Jordan.

Please try it. Now I want you to listen carefully. Be very careful the kind of counsel you listen to.

You see, there are many people who just don't like to see other people hurt or see other people in need and want to rush in and show them how to take care of themselves. When they may be interfering with God. Be very careful that when you counsel somebody you always counsel them to obey God.

One last principle I want you to get down. And that is the rewards of our obedience will strengthen and encourage our faith and the faith of others. The rewards of our obedience will strengthen and encourage our faith and the faith of others. Look what happened to Naaman. I mean, he came out of the Jordan River, a total believer in Jehovah God. Not only did he become a believer, but his soldiers believed. They went back to the king and he, of course, could not deny that the God of Israel is God. How that must have gone through that army like lightning and through the whole nation that the God of Israel heals leprosy. Nobody heals leprosy. The God of Israel heals leprosy.

He must be God. And my friend, all I'm saying to you today is I don't know about you, but one thing I'm going to do is I'm going to be obedient to God. There are rewards in obedience beyond my ability to tell you. I only ask you for your sake, the sake of your family, the work of the kingdom in this country and around the world, and our influence upon multitudes of others. Obey God and he will richly reward you. Thank you for listening to Rewards of Obedience. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.