Well, good evening everybody. It's good to be here.
Glad to see everybody. I don't know about you, but I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord on the first day of the year. We don't get to do that every year, so it's kind of a unique opportunity, opportunity to start off this year in the right place at God's house.
I'm excited for that. So tonight I'd like to take some time to look at a surprising story in the Old Testament. A story about a couple guys that do the exact opposite of what you're thinking they're going to do. A story where God shows both great mercy and divine wrath. A story of God fulfilling His covenant in a way that we wouldn't necessarily expect Him to do that.
This is a story with an unexpected outcome. Tonight I'd like to spend some time looking at the unlikely story of Nahum and Gehazi, or Naaman and Gehazi, excuse me. So turn your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 5. We're going to start there and read the first five verses.
The plan is to get through the whole chapter tonight, so if you would please stand when you find your place. We're going to read the first five verses there. It says, Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance or victory unto Syria.
He also was a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited or served Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God, or if only my Lord, were worth the profit that's in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in and told his Lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is in the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel.
And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for a chance to be in your house this evening. God, I pray now that as we dive into your word that you would, God, open our eyes to what you would have us to understand. Lord, I pray that you would help me to teach with clarity. Lord, in boldness proclaiming your word. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen.
You may be seated. So we're looking first now at this Syrian commander. This is the Syrian commander.
That's how our story starts. It introduces a man named Naaman. Now Naaman was an impressive man, to say the least. The Bible tells us that Naaman was the commander of a Syrian army. He was highly esteemed by the king of Syria, greatly honorable, the Bible says.
He was honorable, which meant that he was a very rich man. He was a victorious warrior. He had many valiant victories that the Lord had given him.
And these victories that God had given to Naaman were interesting victories, because they were victories over God's people of Israel and Judah. 1 Kings 22 lays out a war that was going on between Israel and Syria. The king of Israel, his name's Ahab, I'm sure you've heard of that guy who's a great king, right? But the king of Israel, Ahab, recruited the king of Judah to wage war against Syria. And this battle goes horribly for king Ahab. King Ahab is pathetic. He's scared of being targeted, so he dresses up in the clothes of a foot soldier.
That way they wouldn't try and single him out. I'd like to look at that text because I think it's of benefit for us tonight. It's 1 Kings 22, I'll start in verse 30. It says, And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, enter into the battle, but thou put on your robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariot, saying, Fight neither with small or great.
Only go after that king of Israel. And it came to pass that when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Surely this is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him. They're chasing Jehoshaphat to kill him. And Jehoshaphat cries out. And it came to pass that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it wasn't the king of Israel. Oh, that's not Ahab.
That's not who we're hunting right now. They turned away from pursuing him. And a certain man drew a bow at venture, or a random individual. And he smote the king of Israel between the joints of his harness, his armor. Wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thy hand and carry me out of the host from wounded.
And the battle increased that day, and the king stayed up in the chariot of the Syrians, and he died in the evening. So the Syrians are looking specifically for Ahab. And the Bible says that a certain man drew his bow back at venture. He sees this man, random foot soldier, says, You know what? I'm going to shoot that guy.
It's one more Syrian out of the way, or one more Israelite out of the way. And he draws back and he shoots this foot soldier. Now they weren't even going after him.
They were looking for the king. And at random, the Bible says, at venture, he decides to take out this guy. Little did he know that he killed King Ahab. He shot him right between the joints of his armor.
Let me tell you, nothing was random about that shot. God had providentially put that certain man in that situation to kill King Ahab. This man thought he was just taking out one more Israelite.
I'm just doing one more. But God's sovereignty, he put Ahab there to fulfill the promise to take Ahab out. And I know what you're thinking, Ty, what does this have to do with Naaman, right?
We're on a whole side tangent. Well, I think it's interesting that, according to David Guzik, Jewish legends say that the person that killed King Ahab was Naaman. That's what the Jewish legends say. So it's interesting that those battles that the Lord had given to Naaman, according to legend, those were even battles over the kings of Israel. This is a very decorated man.
He's a very impressive individual. God had given Naaman great success. He had made him very wealthy.
He had made him a mighty man in war. But there was only one issue that marred Naaman's life. There was only one thing that was distaining on him, and that's that he was a leper. He had leprosy. Now, what does this mean for Naaman? Is this like a big deal?
Is this a side thing he doesn't have to worry about? Would leprosy cripple him for pursuing greater things in his career? Leprosy is a skin disease that would destroy the flesh and was contagious upon contact. So it was a very nasty disease that was rampant in those days. Jews that had leprosy were outcast and were forced to be outside of the community and weren't allowed to be in part of the fellowship. This wouldn't have been the case for Naaman, though, because he was Assyrian. The leprosy may not have been extremely advanced, because he's obviously continuing in his career, but it was so serious that it was becoming an issue to Naaman.
He needed this to be taken care of. It's interesting when you look in the Bible that leprosy is typically an illustration of sin. Not always, but a lot of times, leprosy becomes an illustration of sin.
I would like to look at this here for a second. Warren Wiersbe had this to say, pointing out the correlation between sin and leprosy. First off, leprosy is deeper than just the skin. It's not just a rash. It's not something on the outside.
Leprosy was not merely a surface eruption. It was deeper than that. How much is that like sin? The problem's not merely on the surface.
It's deeper than the skin. The problem lies in the sinful human nature. The Bible has nothing good to say about the flesh, because our sinful nature is the source of so many of our troubles. Sinners can't be changed by shallow surface remedies, just like leprosy couldn't be fixed by shallow remedies.
Sinners must have their hearts changed. So not only is leprosy not just an issue of skin, it's deeper. Leprosy also spreads. It's very contagious.
Leprosy is not isolated to just one sore on one part of the body. It had a way of spreading through and defiling the whole body. Sin also spreads. It begins with a thought, then it turns into a desire, and then an act, and when it's finished, it brings forth what? Death.
It spreads. Leprosy defiles. In the Jewish custom, this was a ceremonial defilement. Lepers were not allowed to participate in religious services.
They had to be outside. They must warn people that they're unclean. You can't come in contact with me. Anyone who touched a leper was also defiled. This is the tragedy of sin. It defiles the mind, the heart, the body, and everything that it touches. One sinner can defile a whole household.
Think of the story of Achan. Leprosy also isolates. Lepers had to isolate themselves from the community.
They couldn't be a part of the community. Sin isolates us from our friends, our family, and most importantly, it isolates us from our Lord. Leprosy, this is the most interesting to me, leprosy destines things for fire. Any garment that was found defiled with leprosy was to be burned. There's only one place for sin, and that's in the fires of judgment.
Jesus described hell as a place where the fire never burnt out. How interesting is it how close leprosy correlates with sin? It's not always the case, but many times where leprosy is, that's where sin is.
Naaman had a great issue. His success and his wealth had no way of helping his issue with leprosy. No matter how successful we become in life, no matter the achievements, the fame, the things that we can accomplish, we can't remedy our sin issue. He can't fix it.
He couldn't fix himself. During Naaman's raiding parties in Israel, he had captured for himself a slave girl for his wife. That's what verse two tells us. It says, the Syrians went out by companies and brought away the captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife. As a servant captive in a foreign land, this little girl is an amazing example for us.
It's interesting the way that she handles herself. She doesn't owe Naaman a thing. She doesn't have to help Naaman in any way.
She doesn't have to give him information that would help him, but this little girl does something selfless. Look at verse three. She said unto her mistress, would God, or if only my Lord were with the prophet that's in Samaria, if only Naaman would go to this prophet in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. This Israelite girl points Naaman in the direction of the only thing that could help, the prophet of the true God.
What does that bring to mind? To me, that's immediately Matthew 5 43, right? You've heard it said that thou shall love thy neighbor and hate your enemy.
This little girl has been enslaved by Naaman, taken away from her homeland. She has no reason to do anything nice to him. I love my friends and I hate my enemies.
She has every right in her mind, right? That's what they've been taught. You can hate your enemy, hate him. But this is what Jesus said, I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you.
Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That's exactly what this little girl does. As a captive in a foreign land, she does good to the person that enslaved her. She takes care of him trying to benefit him.
Look at the contrast between this little slave and Naaman. She's an Israelite and he's a Syrian. She's just a little girl and the Bible describes him as a great man. She's a slave and he's a commander. She's lowly and he's very honorable to his king. But yet she chose to help Naaman, to love her enemies. She gave him what she knew would help most. Power and glory can't save Naaman, but this information could. So what does Naaman do with this information? Why does he have any reason to trust this little slave girl? Why do I have to listen to you?
Of what benefit is that? Does he listen to this girl? Verse four says, and one or Naaman went in and he told his Lord, that's the king, thus and thus says the maid that is of the land of Israel. This is what she said, king. She said, there's a prophet in the land of Samaria that can heal me.
King, this is what I've been told. And that king says go to go and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And Naaman departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter unto the king of Israel saying, now when this letter is come unto thee behold I have sent therewith Naaman my servant to thee that thou may recover him of his leprosy. So Naaman anxious with this possibility of healing, he hears of an opportunity to be healed of this disease that's eating him. He runs to his king and gives him the information. King, look there's an opportunity for me to be healed. And this king does what he knows to do, he acts like a king. He's like alright I'll send a letter to the king of Israel.
Sends it over. And he sends Naaman to the king. Naaman takes with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of clothes for the king.
This seems like great news, does it not? I get to be healed, I'm going to the king of Israel. The king of God's people. There's an opportunity for me to be healed.
I don't have to deal with this issue anymore. But what benefit is it to Naaman to go to the king of Israel? Does that man have any more power than his king?
No. Look at the king's reaction to the king of Syria's request. It says, and it came to pass that when the king of Israel read the letter that he rent his clothes. And he said, am I God to kill and make alive? That this man does send me to recover this man of leprosy. Wherefore I consider I pray to you and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.
The king's distraught. Who do you think that I am? I'm not God. I can't kill and make alive. I can't heal this man of leprosy. Who do you think that I am?
I'm no one special. How am I supposed to heal Naaman of this leprosy? And he's distraught in this. This begs the question, though, why would the king be upset at this request? Why does he have any reason to care about Naaman? He's an enemy. Why doesn't he just kill him and be done with him, right? Well, it's important to remember who he's talking to. Legends say that the man that's in front of the king of Israel was the one that killed Ahab.
This guy's a serious dude. He's a commander of the Syrian army, the enemy of Israel. The king fears war.
That's what the end of that verse says. See how he seeks a quarrel against me. The king's distraught because he's like, if I can't heal this guy, they're going to come war against us and kill more Israelites and take more captives. He fears war. This is a very dire situation. This is a situation that needs help. Verse eight, and it was so that when Elisha, the man of God, heard this, that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king saying, wherefore hath thou rent thy clothes?
Why'd you rip your clothes? Let him come now to me and he shall know that there's a prophet in Israel. When the man of God hears this opportunity, when he hears what's going on, he sees an opportunity to bring God glory, an opportunity to prove that God has a prophet in Israel. When he says that there's a prophet in Israel, what he's saying is there's a God in Israel.
While the monarch of Israel may not be able to heal you, the God of Israel can. So Elisha sends for Naaman to come to him. That way Naaman could be healed and know the power of God. This is where our story starts to get interesting.
This is where it starts to pick up. Look at verse nine. It says now Naaman came with his horses and his chariot and stood at the door of Elisha. Naaman pulls up to Elijah's house, gets there with his horses and his chariot and stood boldly in front of Elisha's house.
Now this would have been an impressive entourage, right? He's coming there. He's got all of his gifts, his guards, his servants that are all with him.
He's pulling up. This is one of the most powerful men in the world that's showing up to Elisha's house. You can imagine just this giant entourage coming up and Naaman standing up big and bold in front of Elisha's house. He's expecting this great big thing.
This would be quite a sight. No doubt Naaman is standing boldly ready to meet this mysterious healer from Israel. Look at verse 10. And Elisha sent a messenger out unto him.
It says go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will come again to you and you'll be clean. Elisha doesn't even come out to say hi. Hey, go tell him to take a bath.
You're good, right? Doesn't even care who he is. He simply sends out a messenger to Naaman and say, hey, go take a bath seven times in the Jordan river. Think about how that must have made Naaman feel.
I'm the most powerful man in the world and you can't even get up off the couch to come say hi. Think about the pride of Naaman. He's got this big entourage showing how amazing he is and Elisha sends out a little messenger boy.
Go tell him out. How infuriating must this have been to Naaman? Elisha was simply putting out a test of faith. He's just putting out a little test of faith.
He's put out a cure that requires humble faith. Elisha challenges Naaman's pride. How do you think that Naaman responds to this? Look at verse 11. But Naaman was wroth and he went away and said, behold, I thought surely he's coming out to me and he'll stand and call upon the name of his God, strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Phapar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?
May not I wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away and rage. Naaman's enraged at Elisha's response. You can't even come out and talk to me. How dare you assault me, Elisha? I came to you bringing gifts and you don't even bother to come see me. I thought that you would come out, stand boldly, holler out to your God, wave your hand and heal me magically.
I'm expecting this great, big, spectacular thing. But you didn't even do that. You told me to go take a bath seven times in that nasty Jordan River. The rivers of my hometown are far better than the Jordan.
Why would I do that? And he leaves enraged, so upset at Elisha's confront. Elisha's command didn't fit what Naaman was expecting. Naaman wanted a spectacular event to take place. He wanted a great show of healing, but that's not what God wanted to happen. God wanted Naaman to go down to the Jordan River and to be washed seven times to be cleansed. How often do people reject God when they find out the cost of following him? When following Christ isn't exactly what they were expecting to happen. All Naaman has to do is obey in humble faith and he's going to be healed. But that's not what he wants to do.
That's not what he's expecting. One New Testament story comes to mind when you think of this. For me, as soon as I read this, Matthew 19 pops right into my brain. Verse 16 says, and behold, one came unto him, said, good master, what things shall I do that I may have eternal life? And Jesus said, why do you call me good?
There's no one good but God. If you will enter an eternal life, keep the commandments. And this young man says, which ones? Which commandment are you talking about, Jesus? He says, thou shall not murder, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and thou shall love thy neighbor as yourself. And this young man in his pride, I've done all those things, check box done, what do I lack?
I'm good, Lord, I got that. And Jesus said, if you're going to be perfect, if you're going to be complete, go and sell what you have, give it to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions. When Jesus challenged this young man's idol of money, he left grieved. Following Jesus wasn't what he expected.
He's expecting a pat on the back, good job, bud, and move on. But that's not what Christ responded with. It wasn't all show and magical. It didn't puff this young ruler up.
It didn't make him feel good. It required humility. It required faith and dependence on God. Praise the Lord that someone stopped Naaman from making the same mistake that this rich young ruler did. Look at verse 13 in our home text. It says, and his servants came near and spake unto him and said, my father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it?
How much rather than when he says unto thee, wash and be clean. Naaman, if Elisha had given you some great big list of accomplishments to do, wouldn't you have done? If he wanted you to just do this one big thing, wouldn't you have done it? Then why are you getting hung up on this easy thing?
How true is that statement? How many more people would go to heaven if it was just a checklist to get in? In our flesh, we want a checklist of items to be good with God. I want to go to church on Sunday.
I'll give you maybe a Wednesday night, and I should be good. I want to check my box and move on. We want to do all the things so that we can justify ourselves, right? Why do you think all of the world religions are works-based? Do this, do this, do this, because it appeals to our flesh.
It appeals to what we want. If salvation was based on works, then we would have reason to boast in ourselves. That's what Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 says, doesn't it? For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God. Listen to this verse. Not of works lest anyone should boast.
If it was in works, we could boast in ourselves. Look what I did. I filled the boxes out faster than you did. I'm better than you.
I'm doing better. It's a pride. If works are involved, it removes faith. If works are involved, it removes grace. Works bases salvation on us, while grace bases salvation on Christ. Salvation doesn't come by works.
It comes by grace through faith. That's what Romans 4, 5 says. But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Naaman would have done any amount of work to get healed, but he was enraged at the idea of humble faith and what God's prophet told him to do.
Thank the Lord that someone challenged that. Verse 14, then he went down and he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh became like under the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Upon his encouragement, Naaman goes and does what the Lord had told him to do. Naaman humbled himself and acted in obedient faith, and God healed him. The gospel must humble us before it can heal us. This is the greatest conversion of a Gentile in the entire Old Testament, in my opinion. God saved a Syrian general that was willing to obey in humble faith. Well, Ty, how do you know that he was converted? Just because his leprosy is gone doesn't mean that he's saved. A lot of times leprosy illustrates sin, but that's not a good enough argument to say that he's saved.
You're right, it's not. But now his life in the following verses show fruits of repentance. Look at the next verses. Verse 15, and Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all of his company, and he came and stood before him and said, Behold, now I know that there's no God in the earth but in Israel.
There's no other God but the God of Israel. Now, therefore, I pray you, take a blessing of thy servant. But he, Elisha, said as the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will receive none.
I'm not taking anything. And Naaman urged him to take it, but he refused. And Naaman said, Shather not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules burdened of earth, for thy servant will henceforth neither offer offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but only unto the Lord. In this thing, the Lord pardoned thy servant, that when thy master goes into the house of women to worship there, he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of women. When I bow down myself in the house of women, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him, Go in peace, so he departed the little way.
There's a lot here, so we'll break it down. First thing we see is Naaman makes this confession of faith. I know that there's no other God besides the God in Israel.
He is the only real God. Then there's a few fruits of Naaman's conversion. First, he asks if he can give Elisha a gift. He goes from his powerful greed of trying to get healed so he can expand his career and keep moving to now he's being generous.
In this request, Naaman refers to himself as Elisha's servant multiple times. Can thy servant give you a gift? Would you give thy servant this? Can you pardon your servant?
See his attitude flip? From I'm this great man, how dare you not come to... Can your servant help you? His whole heart has changed toward himself. He's no longer the king of his life.
He's now the servant. He's flipped his mindset. This shows humility instead of the pride that he was consumed with just a few verses earlier.
God changed this man, not just physically, but inwardly. Second, he asked if he can take two mules worth of dirt home with him so that he can make an altar under the Lord. This doesn't make any sense to us. Like when you ask for two mules worth of dirt to take back, that doesn't make sense in our minds. It didn't make sense in my mind.
It doesn't. But what he's asking for is, hey, look, I can't stay here, but I want to worship the Lord. Can I take some dirt so I can take it back home so that I can worship God there?
He doesn't necessarily understand the way that everything works. New Converse don't always, but he's trying everything he can to worship the Lord. Thirdly, Montgomery says that transporting holy dirt from one place to another was a fairly common ancient custom. They would do that so that they could worship the God of that land.
That was a common thing. Naaman was doing what he could to serve God in his homeland. Thirdly, Naaman asked for a pardon. Look at verse 18 one more time. It says, in this thing, the Lord pardoned thy servant, that when my master, the king, goes into the house of Remmon to worship there, he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Remmon. I bow down myself in the house of Remmon. The Lord, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing.
So what is going on here? The house of Remmon is the Syrian house of Baal. This is a temple to a false god, to Baal. What Naaman is essentially asking is, will the Lord pardon me when I go in to bow down in the house of Baal with the king? Naaman is saying that in his position as the commander, he has to go in with the king to the house of Baal. The king leans on him and he is forced to then bow his head. Naaman's already said, look, I'm not worshiping any other god besides the God of Israel.
I just have to do this. I don't have a choice. And what does Elisha's response to this? He's asking for a pardon. Elisha responds, go in peace. And Naaman departed a little way. Naaman went away from Elisha different than when he first came to him. The leprosy that represented his sin was cured when he obeyed in faith. And that sin was washed away. Naaman went from being a prideful man to a servant of God. This highly esteemed commander obeyed the command of humble faith and left different than when he came.
The Syrian became the servant of the God of Israel. Do you find it hard to obey the Lord when you think there's a better way? A lot of times we can want this great big show. God, I want to hear from you. Why can't you just talk to me? I just want.
And he says, just obey in reading my word. God, I just want to hear your voice. I've given it to you. God, I want to talk to you.
I want to have a conversation. Pray. It's not always these big glamorous things. Just obey. Obedient faith.
That's what he's saying. He just wants obedient faith. Does the call to humble faith cause you to leave angry or do you run to accept the grace that a holy God has offered? We've seen this Syrian commander. Now let's take a minute to look at the Israelite servant. The Israelite servant. This is verse 20. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God said, behold, my master spared Naaman this Syrian in not receiving his hands, which he brought. But as the Lord lives, I'm going to run after him and take somewhat of him. So Gehazi followed after Naaman and when Naaman saw him running after him, he lied it down from his chariot to meet him and said, is all well? Is everything good, man?
And he said, all is well. My master sent me saying, behold, even now they're coming to me from Mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.
Naaman said, be content. Take two talents. And he urged him and bound two talents of silver and two bags and two changes of garments and laid them upon his two servants and they bare them before him.
And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house and he let the men go and they departed. This man, Gehazi, is a servant of Elisha. He's training under Elisha. One would think that by spending your life under the prophet of Elisha, you would begin to mimic his life.
But Gehazi proves otherwise. Elisha wouldn't receive a gift. I don't want it.
I stand before the Lord. I will receive nothing. I don't want a gift. I'm not doing it for that.
I just want to serve the Lord. Gehazi did not have that viewpoint. When he heard that Elisha didn't take any kind of gift from Naaman, he's unsatisfied.
You're too lenient. Why can't we take something? He offered it.
Take it. So Gehazi comes up with this plan. I'm going to go catch Naaman before he gets too far gone.
And if Elisha won't take it, I'm going to. And he goes and does that. When Naaman sees Gehazi running behind him, he stopped his chariot and gets down. It's all well. Is everything going all right? Gehazi, you're good, man. At this point, Gehazi chooses to lie outright to Naaman. Straight up to his face lies.
He says, everything's fine. My master sent me. Elisha sent me. It's a lie. He says that two young men came to give us, or came to us.
Can you give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments? Look at the greed of this guy. Not only is he lying outright, he's lying in the name of Elisha, but now he's asking for enough stuff for two people. Not just to take care of himself.
I need two changes of clothes and a talent of silver. Look at the greed, the selfishness. Compare the generosity of Naaman to the greed of Gehazi. The Syrian that hadn't grown up in Israel, knowing the God of Israel, has all the generosity. And the man that's trained under the man of God is so consumed by greed that he will lie to get what he wants. Gehazi's true heart is shown by his deceitful ploys to take advantage of this generous new convert.
But look at Naaman's response. Be content. You want one talent? I'll give you two, man. And he urged him and bound him up.
And he took two changes of garments and he put them on his sermons. My guys will carry it for you. You don't need it after they carry it, Gehazi.
They'll do it for you. And they take this stuff and they go and Gehazi capitalizes on this generosity and takes his offer quickly. The Bible says in verse 24 that when he came to the tower, when he got to his house, he took the stuff from their hand, laid it down in the house and he let the men go and they departed.
Gehazi took the gift and hid it in his home and sent the servants away. He did it. I got away with it. Nobody saw me.
Nobody's going to know. We're good. I took advantage of that Syrian. Took advantage of him. He expects us to work for free.
Think of all that he could do with those two talents of silver. I'm rich. I'm good. I got what I need. I can go build my vineyard and do whatever I want and I don't have to go hang out with that bum Elisha anymore.
We don't have to be poor. He's good. Keep reading. But when he went in, he stood before his master and Elisha said unto him, whence comest thou, Gehazi? Where'd you come from, man? He said, thy servant went nowhere.
I didn't go anywhere. He lies again to cover his greed. This is snowballing fast. And he said unto him, Gehazi, didn't my heart go with you when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it time now to receive money to receive garments and all of yours and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid servants? Is that what you're focused on? We're trying to serve the Lord.
And that's that's what you're focused on. The leprosy therefore of Naaman will cleave unto you and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence as a leper white as snow. Gehazi couldn't hide his covetousness from the man of God. He couldn't hide his sin from the Lord. His sin highlighted itself like it never had before. As a punishment for his sin, the leprosy of Naaman will now cleave the Gehazi and his descendants forever.
Just like sin to not only affect one, it affects the lot. Naaman was healed from leprosy showing that he had been justified from his sin. And Gehazi was cursed with leprosy showing that he was full of sin from the beginning.
This is a story that contrasts what we would expect. This Syrian general now leaves with the grace of God and the servant of the man of God now leaves cursed with leprosy. Gehazi inherits Naaman's leprosy just as it seems that Naaman inherited Gehazi's faith. One man goes away healed because of his obedience while the other man, the man that should have known better, walks away with the leprosy. This evening don't make the mistake of Gehazi. Don't be caught up in the things of this world and forfeit eternity. This guy should have known better. He was the guy that was at church all the time but yet the moment that his sin could be capitalized on, that's what he did. Sometimes instead of big wondrous signs, instead of big great displays of miracles, God just wants us to walk in a humble, obedient faith just like Naaman had too.
