God doesn't heal on partial humility. He heals when humility has been made complete. Jonathan Evans explains the difference between self-promotion and God's promotion. Continue to exalt yourself if you want. Then He'll let you stay there. But if you humble yourself, He will exalt you.
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Success, power, prestige. Naaman had it all, except for the one thing he wanted most. As a mighty commander, he was feared on the battlefield. But behind closed doors, he was fighting a battle he couldn't win. Today, Pastor Jonathan Evans steps into Naaman's story from 2 Kings chapter 5, giving us a first-hand account of what it means to look whole on the outside while decaying on the inside, and how true healing only comes when we surrender to God's way.
Let's listen in as Jonathan tells Naaman's story. I was known as a valiant warrior. Any time I stepped foot on the battlefield, people would play dead for fear that I would kill them.
That's just the way that it was at the top of my game, and you couldn't tell me nothing. It's similar to what you're trying to do with your life, aren't you? You're trying to build a status before men. You're trying to build a reputation.
You want to have a four-star status by the world. But there's a difference between me and you because I actually reached success. I was at the height of life, but I had one major problem. Don't you hate it when things are going well, but you know yourself, there's this one thing that if it wasn't for that one thing, everything would be great.
I'm feeling it right now just talking about it. I can't stand it. It was a nuisance in my life. You see, I had this annoying disease that was on me, and all of my power and prestige could do nothing about it.
You see, in your day, they don't know that much about it, but in my day, we called it leprosy. I was living life, but I was living life as a leper. You see, I was decaying from the inside out. I was hurt. Everything in my life looked great, but it wasn't.
My nerves were numb so I can hurt myself or scratch too hard, and I wouldn't even know that I was bleeding, so infection would set in. I was a walking infection. My relationships were all broken. Broken family, broken friendships, everything was broken. I was given the perception of being whole while being totally broken. People could not be around me for fear that they would get infected with what I had.
Can you imagine what it feels like to be a captain and totally alone? That's who I was. That's what it was, and I had no hope because this disease, you see, it's incurable, and only death awaited me. What was it for me to gain the whole wide world and totally lose my soul? It's a terrible feeling, you know, to be one way to people and another way, you know, to yourself. And if the truth be told, many of you have the exact same disease, don't you? It may not be a disease on your skin, but I can see that it's ravaging your souls. You're being eaten alive by unforgiveness, aren't you? You have an addiction that nobody else knows about but you, and it's crippling you. Some of you have covetousness in your heart.
You're trying to get a position that God didn't even give you. And there may be a few in here that you know that you're struggling with adultery, aren't you? And nobody knows it but you. And you may be thinking to yourself, how in the world do you know me? I can see straight through you.
This is the way that it was for me. And I know you're thinking to yourself that I'm decaying spiritually. I go to church but it's not working. And there's some of you that can continue in your sins and you don't even feel the wounds of your ways because you're spiritually numb, aren't you? You're a leopard just like me. Broken relationships, broken marriage, broken families, broken this, broken that.
You look good to everybody else but I know and you know who you are. And you feel hopeless, don't you? Because it goes on over and over and over again.
You think like I thought. It's totally incurable. And if you continue in this way, trust me when I tell you, only death awaits. Death of a legacy. Death of a family. Death of a destiny, a purpose. Death of your usefulness to God. And for those of you who have never even accepted God, if you continue that way, literally death awaits you.
It's a bad place to be at the top and at the bottom at the same time, isn't it? It hurts. And in my pain, I didn't know what else to do.
So I sent my men, a band of men, to go ransack Israel. I wanted to put a hurt on somebody else and you may ask, why in the world would you want to hurt somebody else? Because that's what hurt people do.
It's a symptom of being hurt. That's what I know to do. That's what I was good at. So I sent my men, a band of them, to Israel, to ransack Israel simply because, well, I was bored. And they came back with slaves, one of which was a little slave girl. We had ripped her out of her home. She was crying. She was in desperation because we put her in a place she didn't want to be.
And I could care less. But I did her a favor. The favor that I did her because of all of the tears that I saw boo-hooing and going on is I allowed her to work for me. I made her a slave to my wife.
Do what she tells you to do. And little did I know that while I was harming her, she would make a statement that would set the stage for my salvation. One day, she said something to my wife that gave me hope upon hope.
And sometimes you need a word to give you hope. And this day, this little girl went to my wife and said, I just wish that my master with the prophet is Samaria. If he were with the prophet, he would be cured of his leprosy. What did she just say?
Is there a possibility that I can be cured of my leprosy? And who said it? This little slave girl. Could my salvation come through the word of a bondservant? I put her in a position she did not want to be. She was crying and complaining.
But somehow she was still willing to help me. Let there be a lesson to all of you complainers about, I don't want to be here. I wish God didn't place me there. Well, if you'd stop thinking about yourself, maybe you can serve his purposes.
Maybe you can actually be usable if you're not thinking about the human trinity, me, myself and I. Christian narcissist. Maybe there's a leper around you that needs salvation. She said that I can be saved in this place called Israel. Isn't that the place that I just attacked? And how can the place that I attacked now be the place and location of my salvation? Maybe you know that you were once an enemy of God. And that's the same location of your salvation.
I couldn't believe what I heard. So I ran to my king, the king of Aram, and I let him know that the slave girl said thus and thus to me. I have hope. King of Aram, can you please write a letter to the king of Israel so that I may go get healed?
The king of Aram wrote that letter for me. I took it and I began to pack my things. I took 10 changes of clothes with me because, well, I got it like that. But the reality is I took 10 changes of clothes because lepers had to change often to appear healthy. That's why you don't even know who you are.
You're changing all the time to appear like something you're not. And then I grabbed 10 talents of silver with me and 6,000 shekels of gold for the journey. In your day you call it a bankroll.
I had that too. But as Naaman would soon find out, some things can't be bought, no matter how much wealth you bring. Jonathan will explain when he continues Naaman's story in just a moment.
Don't go away. The biblical roles of husbands and wives, the source of our authority as believers, understanding the concept of grace, winning spiritual battles. They're all important subjects but seem as different as night and day.
Would it surprise you to know there's a common thread running through all four? You can discover what it is by taking the course on Ephesians in the Tony Evans Training Center. One by one you'll dig into the powerful themes of this book and make new discoveries about what Jesus' death accomplished, how to maintain unity at home and at church, what spiritual armor is all about. The course includes custom content from Tony not available anywhere else. Work through it at your own pace.
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But don't wait, this is the final day we're offering them bundled together in the special thank you package. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. Now let's return to Jonathan Evans as he continues Naaman's narrative. I fully planned on being able to pay for my own salvation, to take the journey, take the letter, take the clothes, take the money, and pay for my healing. Well, because I had earned it. And so I made the journey to try to get my healing situated and I took my letter that was given to me by my king and I handed it to the king of Israel with hope in my heart because now I knew that I was going to be saved.
I had the money and now I'm in the right place. And I took my letter and gave it to the king and he read it and it said, as this letter comes to you, behold, for I have sent my servant that you may cure him of leprosy. Cure him of leprosy? I am the king of Israel. I'm not God. I cannot kill or make alive. I can't heal this man of leprosy. What do you mean? I paid you.
How can you not cure me of leprosy? I made this journey. I did all of the things. What do you mean? I've gone to the most powerful places.
How can you not do your job? And at this moment I realized that God was teaching me that salvation is not achieved, it's received. I was furious. I knew I should have never listened to that slave girl. She lied to me. She said to my face that there was a prophet in Israel. And at that moment I realized that she never said anything about a king. I took it upon myself to hear a word and then go do something else.
Doesn't that sound familiar? Many of you are hearers of the word but not doers of the word. And then you complain that you're still a leper. You don't go to Jesus. You take your money to the judge and do it yourself, don't you? You're not interested in your majesty. You'd rather use your money. You don't want to go to God's wisdom.
You'd rather use your own. You come to church and listen to the servant, but figure you've done enough to figure it out yourself, learning a valuable lesson. I wanted healing, but I wanted healing my way. Then Elisha the prophet made mention, why is the king of Israel so frustrated? Send him to me and he will know that there is a prophet in all Israel. I knocked on the doorway of Elisha and his messenger came out. And when his messenger came out, he said to me, the prophet Elisha has sent me to tell you, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean. I'm tired of the servants telling me what to do.
I was waiting for one of those healing services where he would touch my head and we'd all fall down like dominoes. But no, he wants me to dip in the dirty Jordan. Doesn't seem like God knows what he's doing. Doesn't he know? He's a prophet, isn't he?
There are rivers in Damascus that are much better than the rivers in Israel. I'm tired of hearing from all these low people unless God was trying to make me a low person. He was beginning to teach me that he would not heal me of my pain until he first healed me of my pride.
What was I going to do? I had to figure out whether I really wanted to deny myself for this healing. And many of you would rather stay lepers, not because Jesus can heal you but because you simply don't want to dip into your healing. So you'll stay in leprous unforgiveness. You'll stay in a leprous marriage. You'll stay in these leprous circumstances and a leprous heart.
You'll just stay in it because you'd rather have you than God. I had to make a choice. I was standing at a crossroad. I had to decide whether I was going to keep my position and lose my healing or gain my healing and lose my position. But I could not have them both. I made my choice. I decided I was too tired, tired of being sick and tired. I wanted a change in my circumstance. I will let my position go.
You don't want to apologize because you want to keep your position. You don't want to give your life to God because you want to keep your life. And all the while, you're dying. So I decided to do what I wouldn't normally do, to get what I wouldn't normally get. And I went to the Jordan River and yes, it was still dirty. But I dipped. I dipped one time and nothing happened. I dipped two times, three times, four times and my situation was unchanged.
I was getting skeptical. I dipped five times, six times, still nothing. And then I dipped a seventh time. And when I came back up, I had the skin of a little child.
It was almost as if I was born again. I wonder why God made me dip seven times. He wouldn't heal me on one, two or three.
Those attempts were just a part of getting to seven. Because God doesn't heal on partial humility. He heals when humility has been made complete. Continue to exalt yourself if you want. Then he'll let you stay there.
But if you humble yourself, he will exalt you. I chose for myself and I chose life. That's why I have it now. I'm no longer a leper. That was my decision. But what will yours be after hearing this story?
Is it going to be life? Or will you stay a leper? Pastor Jonathan Evans, bringing name and story to a close.
And he'll come back shortly with a personal challenge for you. Today's message from Jonathan was entitled, Life or Leper? And if you'd like to hear the full length version, including material we didn't have time to present on the broadcast today, you can find out how to do that when you visit our website at tonyevans.org. And while you're there, don't miss your final chance to get Dr. Tony Evans' Life Under God 365-Day Devotional Book, along with all 10 full-length messages from Jonathan's recent audio series, Survivor. These resources are our gift to you when you support this ministry with a financial contribution, helping us continue bringing God's Word your way each day. Just visit tonyevans.org to make your request. You'll find the details for this special offer right on the homepage. Or call us any time of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource team is ready to assist you with your request.
That's 1-800-800-3222. In a broken world, believers are called to lead with compassion. Tomorrow we'll revisit a timeless sermon series that reveals how one man's faith in God sparked renewal in the face of overwhelming obstacles.
Right now, though, Jonathan is back with this closing challenge. Now it's your turn. We had that testimony from Naaman, not for you to just see something you like, but for you to decide whether you really want to be healed. Many of you are ravaged by different things, continuously, over and over and over again. And God is waiting for full humility so that He can give you what you're asking for. And some of you, you may not even have accepted Christ.
You haven't lost your life so that you can find it. And today hopefully is your day that you'll come with complete humility and say, I've been doing it my way, but now I'll do it your way. And my humility will be made complete. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.
