The Lord’s Day Evening
May 6, 2012
“There is no God in All the Earth
but in Israel”
2 Kings 5
The Reverend Mr. Joshua M. Rieger
Tonight we come to 2 Kings 5 as we’re looking at the Scriptures.
We’re going to be looking at the story in 2 Kings 5 which is found on
pages 311 and 312 of your pew Bibles.
We’re going to be looking at the story of Naaman the general from
Damascus
who came to God’s prophet in order to be healed.
Before we do look at 2 Kings 5, though, let us go to the Lord in prayer.
Our Father who is in heaven, we come to You knowing that You alone are our hope
for salvation, knowing that we have no hope for anything apart from You, so we
come to You as we come to Your Word and ask, Lord, that You would teach us from
it, that You would instruct our hearts, that You would make us a people who love
You more dearly, a people who seek You more fervently, a people whose hearts are
transformed by Your Word as You have given it to us.
We pray, Lord, that we would leave here men and women who love You more
dearly than we came, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s read together from 2 Kings 5.
We’ll be reading the whole chapter.
“Naaman,commander of the army of the king of
Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor,
because by him theLordhad given
victory to Syria.
He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
Now the Syrians onone of their raids had carried off a little girl from
the land of Israel,
and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife.She said to
her mistress, ‘Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him
of his leprosy.’So Naaman went in and told his lord, ‘Thus
and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.’And
the king of Syria said, ‘Go
now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’
So he
went,taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekelsof gold, and
tenchanges of clothing.And he brought the letter to the
king of Israel,
which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman
my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’ And when the king of Israel
read the letter,he tore his clothes and said,‘Am I God, to kill and to make
alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?
Onlyconsider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.’
But when
Elisha theman of God heard that the king of
Israel
had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, ‘Why have you torn your
clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.’
So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood
at the door of Elisha’s house.And Elisha sent a messenger to
him, saying,‘Go and wash in the Jordan
seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’But
Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely
come out to me and stand and call upon the name of theLordhis
God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.Are
not Abanaand Pharpar, the rivers ofDamascus,
better than all the waters of
Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’
So he turned and went away in a rage.But his servants came
near and said to him, ‘My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to
you; will you not do it? Has he actually
said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?’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.
Then he
returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before
him. And he said, ‘Behold, I know thatthere is no God in all the earth but in Israel;
soaccept now a present from your servant.’But he said,‘As theLordlives,
before whom I stand,I will receive none.’ And he urged him to take it, but he
refused.Then Naaman said, ‘If not, please let there be given
to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not
offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but theLord.In this matter may theLordpardon
your servant: when my master goes into the house ofRimmon to worship
there,leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow
myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lordpardon
your servant in this matter.’He said to him,‘Go in peace.’
But when
Naaman had gone from him a short distance,Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man
of God, said, ‘See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not
accepting from his hand what he brought.As theLordlives,
I will run after him and get something from him.’So Gehazi
followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from
the chariot to meet him and said,‘Is all well?’And he said, ‘All is well. My
master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me fromthe hill country
of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent
of silver andtwo changes of clothing.’’And Naaman said,‘Be
pleased to accept two talents.’ And he urged him and tied up two talents of
silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his
servants. And they carried them before Gehazi.And when he
came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he
sent the men away, and they departed.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.’But he said to him, ‘Did
not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time
to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male
servants and female servants?Therefore the leprosy of Naaman
shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.’ So he went out from his
presencea leper, like snow.”
The book of Kings is a book that shows us the unfaithfulness of the kings of Israel and Judah.
The kings of Israel
and Judah are judged on their
actions throughout the two books of 1 and 2 Kings in relation to how they treat
or feel about the temple in Jerusalem.
It’s a book that covers the ministry of Elijah and Elisha.
At this point in 2 Kings, Elijah has already been taken up into heaven in
a fiery chariot. Through the
ministries of Elijah and Elisha, God lends credibility to His Word as it comes.
He does miraculous works through these men to attest to His faithfulness,
to His power. In a time when the
kings are disobedient, through Elijah and Elisha, God is testifying to the fact
that He is powerful and has all authority to fulfill His promises and indeed He
will fulfill His promises. The
people are evil, the kings are evil, and yet God is still faithful and He’s
going to see His promises fulfilled.
And this is the message of the ministry of Elijah and Elisha.
But as we come to this story we see four particular things I want to show you in
the story in 2 Kings 5 in the story of Naaman.
First of all, I want us to see the fear of the king of Israel.
The second thing I want us to look at is the pride of Naaman.
The third thing I want us to look at is the mercy of God towards Naaman.
And finally I want us to look at the justice of God that Gehazi, the
servant of Elisha, sees.
First of all the fear of the king.
There was a very famous battle during the rule of this king that Naaman serves.
Here it calls it Syria.
To most archeologists today we know this nation as Aram-Damascus.
It’s north of Israel.
There was a very famous battle between Damascus and Assyria
during the reign of this king. It’s
very likely that Naaman may well have made his name leading troops in this
battle. There were eleven kings with
the king of Aram-Damascus that went against the Assyrians.
One of those kingdoms that went against the Assyrians was
Israel.
In fact, the king of Israel mentioned here would have been the king
who led the people of Israel
up with this nation against the Assyrians.
So it was most likely in this battle that Naaman had one his fame and his
fortune as a general. He was
well-known, he was well-respected, and yet he had leprosy all over him.
And he’s come to a point where he knows that there’s nothing he can do
about his leprosy. He’d probably
bathed in these two rivers in Syria that he talks about in this passage before.
He’s probably gone to the priests in his temple.
He’s probably gone to local magicians and seers and sorcerers looking for
potential ways to be healed. He’s
come to a place where he knows, “I’m sick and there’s nothing I can do about it.
There’s no way to get rid of this.”
And yet his health comes from the strangest location.
There’s a young girl who is his wife’s servant.
The reason she is his wife’s servant is because Naaman had led a raid
into Israel and he’d taken this girl as kind of spoils of the raid and now she
was a servant for his wife. He’d
probably taken her away from her family.
He may well have in it some way injured or even killed her family and he
brought her to be his servant and now she’s serving in his house, she’s serving
his wife, and she’s the one who offers him a hope of healing, the last one that
you might expect to offer him a hope of healing.
I don’t know why she came and told him how he might be healed.
Certainly I would have had a little bit of animosity toward him if I’d
been in her place, but for whatever reason she comes to him and she offers him
the hope that, “There is a prophet in Samaria who can heal you.”
And so Naaman goes to his king and says, “There’s a chance that I might be able
to be healed in Israel. Send me to Israel.”
And so the king writes him a letter to the king of Israel and he goes and
he takes it and the king’s immediate response is, he falls to his knees in fear.
He tears his clothes. He
doesn’t trust in the Lord has able to take care of him.
He doesn’t show his trust in the Lord.
Rather, he shows that he is fearful in the face of his enemies.
The king of Israel is supposed to fear the Lord.
He’s not supposed to fear his enemies but it looks like this is a little
bit different from what we might expect.
God has been faithful time and time again to His king, to His followers.
His king here, Jehoram, he knows the history of God’s faithfulness to his
people. He knows how God brought His
people out of Egypt, how He brought them through the Red Sea, how He protected
them time and time and time again, provided for them in the desert, how He
brought them into the land, how He gave Moses and Joshua power as they battled
against their enemies, how He stopped the sun in the sky, how He defeated their
enemies time and time again at the hands of Saul as he was obedient and then at
the hands of David and at the hands of Solomon.
He knows of God’s faithfulness and yet he’s not fearing the Lord, instead
he’s fearing his enemies.
He knows God’s promises to Abraham that God will be a shield and defender for
His people. He knows how Abraham,
when he went into foreign countries, even when he lied, was protected by God
because of God’s promises to him, and yet he doesn’t believe these things.
He has sent His judges and His prophets to the nation and communicated
His will to them as we heard tonight in the children’s devotional.
He’s done all of these things and yet the king of Israel has no hope in
God. He doesn’t trust in the
miraculous works of God, he doesn’t trust in the God who placed him on the
throne, he doesn’t trust in the God who’s given him promises.
He is the one of all men who should trust the Lord.
He is the leader of Israel, the people to whom God has given promises and
yet he fails to trust in the Lord.
And then comes Naaman. Naaman comes
to the king and the king tells him, “I can’t heal you.
Go away. I don’t want to
fight with your king. Your king is
just sending you to me so that he has some excuse to do battle with me.
Get away from me. I don’t
want you anywhere near here!” So
Naaman leaves thinking that, “I didn’t think I had that much hope when I came.
I guess I don’t have much hope leaving.”
But he leaves, and as he’s leaving, Elisha hears of the king tearing his
clothes and he says, “Send him to me so that he will know that there is a
prophet of God in Israel.” And so
the king sends Naaman to Elisha. I
imagine the king, who is frustrated and fearful by this point probably is glad
to find any scapegoat who might take the credit for the failure to heal Naaman.
You know, “Don’t lay it on my shoulders, lay it on Elisha’s shoulders.
That’s okay.” He’s not
fearing the Lord with regard to his safety; I seriously doubt that he fears the
Lord with his ability to heal a leper.
And so Naaman goes to Elisha and as he gets to Elisha, he’s a well-known man.
He’s led raids into Israel.
He’s taken servants back with him from Israel.
He’s led in battles and won great fame and great honor.
He deserves a little respect and he knows that he deserves respect and he
expects that respect. And that’s no
entirely wrong. Some of it is wrong,
certainly, but that’s not entirely wrong.
When I was serving in the Navy and we’d have an Admiral come to the ship,
if we didn’t give him honor, we’d better be in trouble.
You know, we’re supposed to give somebody who has superior rank and has
earned his authority and respect the respect that he’s due.
I remember when I was a new ensign, I had only been on board for maybe
six months or a year, we got an even newer ensign than I was on board and he was
Attorney General, John Ashcroft’s son. And so the Attorney General would come
down from time to time to see his son.
And you know there are certain obligatory honors that you give to
dignitaries and admirals and things like that when they come aboard.
You ring a certain number of bells as they cross the quarter deck
depending on their rank and you announce who’s arriving.
And if it’s the Attorney General you would say, “Department of Justice
arriving.”
And so the first time he came aboard, you know I’m a brand new ensign, he sends
one of his lackeys ahead and says, “Don’t ring me aboard.
I don’t want to be here as the Attorney General; I just want to be here
as ensign Ashcroft’s father.” And so
you know, I obeyed the Attorney General.
I thought that was what I was supposed to do.
My captain was not happy that he didn’t have a warning that the Attorney
General was coming aboard. I
certainly didn’t give my captain the heads-up and the respect and the authority
that he would have expected.
Well in this case, Naaman expects a certain amount of respect because of who he
is. The problem is, he’s
prioritizing rank incorrectly. He’s
not coming to some lackey who happens to live out in a house somewhere in
Israel. He’s coming to a prophet of
the Most High God. There’s a
superior rank here. And so when
Elisha kind of just doesn’t pay much attention to him, doesn’t come out to see
him, sends a servant out and tells him, “Go over to the Jordan, dip yourself
seven times and you’re going to be clean,” Naaman is frustrated.
Naaman thinks, “Who in the world are you to tell me that you don’t need
to see me? Who are you to send a
servant to come see me? I don’t know
your name. I didn’t know of you
until my servant told me about you.
You’re not famous; you haven’t won battles.
You’re not a king somewhere; you’re just a prophet who lives out away
from the capital city.”
And really Naaman acts exactly like we would expect the leader in an opposing
country to Israel to act. He’s a man
who has no regard for the God of Israel and he shouldn’t.
He tells us later on he bows down to Rimmon, the god in Damascus.
He worships Rimmon. His only
concern for Israel in the way in which its king and its people can help him —
give him servants or give him healing or whatever else.
He’s a man who wants help. He
knows that he’s beyond help. No
doubt he has spent all kinds of time looking for a healing for this leprosy,
this skin disease. He probably has
dipped in the rivers of Damascus. He
can find no cure. They haven’t
healed him. His affliction should
have brought him a measure of humility and yet it didn’t.
He’s the one looking for help.
He’s not the one who should be dictating the way in which he gets it.
He’s the one who recognizes a need and yet he thinks that in some way he
is able to tell the ones who can meet his need how it should be met.
I have no doubt that if he had gone to one of his own king’s prophets he
probably wouldn’t have acted quite like he did here and yet he comes to the
prophet of the Most High God and he’s indignant when he doesn’t give him the
honor that he’s due. Having to beg a
foreign king for help doesn’t bring him any more humility.
It might bring him shame, it might bring him a little embarrassment, but
it doesn’t seem to bring him humility.
There is no hope in any but God.
He listens to a servant girl up to a certain point if he thinks it will
help him, but when it requires him to humble himself more than he’s willing he
doesn’t listen anymore. When Elisha
doesn’t treat him with the honor he’s due he storms out.
In the middle of this episode of pride and fury though, God’s mercy shines
through and we see how merciful is our God.
In many ways the servants in Damascus are the heroes of this story.
Certainly Naaman isn’t the hero, really God is the hero, but on human
terms God uses these servants from Damascus as heroes.
First the Jewish servant girl comes and tells him that there is a way for
him to be healed even though she certainly has no motivation for doing this.
She transcends whatever anger someone would expect her to have.
Now these servants tell him, “Wait a minute, didn’t he say if you just
dip seven times you’re going to be cleaned?
Isn’t it worth trying? You’ve
been trying to be healed for so long.
Why not just try one time — I mean you can dip for seven times; it’s not
going to cost you anything. You
might as well go over there.” And so
he goes ahead and he tries to dip in the Jordan.
Naaman must have had some good qualities I would think.
He must have been some sort of kind master, otherwise why would these
servants want to serve him above and beyond in this way.
There’s no responsibility on their parts to tell him about this man in
Samaria or to push him to go ahead and dip in the Jordan seven times, but for
whatever reason they do. So he must
have had some good qualities but the fact is, even this potential goodness is
not something that makes him a good man.
Naaman is a foreigner. He’s an enemy
of the people of God. He has led
raids into Israel. He has taken back
servants. Even worse than being an
enemy of the people of God he’s an enemy of God Himself.
He doesn’t show any respect for the prophet of the only God, the living
God. He’s not of the chosen people.
You know when we talk about election today in light of Christ’s coming,
in light of Paul preaching the Gospel to Gentiles, we recognize that there has
been a call that has gone out to many of us, most of whom are Gentiles, that we
received a call from before the foundations of the earth as we heard this
morning, that God has called us to be His own and yet in the Old Testament,
their only understanding of election was that the people of Israel were the
chosen of God, they were the ones that He had called to Himself.
Israel is a chosen race, the Israelites are chosen by God, they are the
elect of God, and this man, in their eyes, is not.
You know, there are even provisions for those foreigners who come in and
live among the people of Israel. You
know there’s provisions like the blessing of the Sabbath for the servants of
those who are people of Israel, not just for the people of Israel. But the
blessings of God extend even to their servants and even to those who have come
in to live with them.
But that’s not Naaman. Naaman lives
in another country. He battles
against the people of God. He’s
uncircumcised. He’s not one who’s
come within the tents of Israel.
He’s unclean for all of those reasons and then on top of that he has leprosy.
On top of that he has this skin affliction that also makes him unclean.
He hasn’t even come to the priests to be examined like Leviticus 13 says
that he’s supposed to, which would be the first step.
You have to be declared unclean before you can be healed but he hasn’t
even done that. But he isn’t Jewish
so no one expected him to do that.
As an aside, by the way, it’s interesting that the king allows him into his
presence as a leper. You know the
king is actually not obeying the law of God in Leviticus by allowing this leper
into his presence. That doesn’t have
much direct dealing with this story except it shows us one more way the kings
disregard for the fear of the Lord.
God has mercy on this man, though.
As unclean as he is, uncircumcised, a foreigner who doesn’t care about God, who
doesn’t care about His Law, who leads raids against His people, God has mercy on
him in several steps. First, He
provides a way to cleanliness through this man’s servant who is an Israelite.
Second, He provides a motive for obedience.
He gives him these other servants who, even as he storms off angry,
encourage him to at least take a chance on it.
You know, “Try dipping in the Jordan seven times and see what happens.
How’s it going to hurt you?”
Third, God actually cleans his flesh.
Just like in Luke, as we’ve learned several times as we’ve been going
through Luke over the last couple of years, when Jesus comes into contact, when
Jesus the Son of God comes into contact with uncleanness, it doesn’t make God
unclean. When God comes into contact
with uncleanness, the person who is unclean becomes clean.
And in this story we see God’s mercy bringing cleanliness to the flesh of
Naaman.
And finally, not only does He clean his flesh, God brings cleansing to Naaman’s
heart and to his soul. He turns his
heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
He takes the proud foreigner and He humbles him.
Where he was unwilling to do even the simple thing that the prophet asked
him before, he comes back to the prophet and he says, in no uncertain terms —
excuse me, I lost the spot. I’m
sorry — “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.”
This cleansing has humbled him to the point that he knows the god he bows
down to in Damascus is no god. No
other god is any god. There is no
God in all the earth but in Israel. The Lord God of Israel, Yahweh, is the only
God, and we see that God has cleansed his heart.
Naaman submits to the Lord God of Israel when the Israelites wouldn’t
submit to the Lord God of Israel.
When the Israelites king wouldn’t submit to the Lord God of Israel, this
foreigner who’s not circumcised, who hates the people of Israel, who is unclean,
is the one on whom God places His mercy.
It’s amazing at the mercy of God in this situation.
But the story doesn’t end there. It
goes on with Elisha’s servant. You
know when Naaman comes back and he praises God, he says, “This is the God in
whom I believe. I will no longer
give sacrifices or worship any other god.
This is the only God that I believe.
In fact, I want to take some soil from this place with me so that when I
get back from Damascus I can continue to worship this God.”
He says, “But please ask your God to pardon me, for one of my
responsibilities as a general is to go into the house of Rimmon with my king to
allow him to lean on me as he bows down to Rimmon and then to bow down with him.
Will you ask your God to pardon me?”
Now that’s a strange request.
Honestly if we’re reading this, it seems like God’s answer or God’s answer
through Elisha should be, “No way.
If you’re going to worship God, worship God, don’t worship Rimmon,” but for
whatever reason Elisha says, “Go in peace.”
That seems a little bit different from the way that Daniel, when he went
into exile, worshiped God, but for whatever reason, God through Elisha tells him
to send Naaman on his way and tell him to go in peace.
But before he goes, Naaman says, “I want to pay you in any way I can.”
He brought ten talents of silver.
He brought all of this gold.
He brought ten changes of clothes, fine linens and clothing, and he wants to pay
him. And Elisha says, “Don’t pay
me.”Elisha isn’t willing to take credit for something that God has done.
Elisha isn’t willing to take payment as if he is the one who has done
something to heal Naaman. Certainly
not with a foreigner who doesn’t understand the worship of God, he doesn’t want
to do anything that would detract from God’s glory, from God’s honor.
He doesn’t want to do anything that would lead a foreigner to not
understand that our God is a God who gives mercifully not because He’s going to
receive something in return but because He is a God who is love.
And he wants Naaman to understand this and so he does not want any gift
in return. And so he sends him off and so Naaman leaves.
But Elisha’s servant — you know you’ve got good servants up in Damascus but
apparently you don’t have good servants down in Israel.
Elisha’s servant thinks, “He let Naaman off way too easy.
I mean, Naaman raids us.
Chances are a lot of that silver and gold and clothes came from here!
I’m going to go after him and I’m going to get some!”
So he goes off to Naaman, he goes running after him, Naaman sees him
coming, Naaman stops his chariot and steps down, and he says, “Is there
something wrong?” And Gehazi says,
“Yeah, there are two men, sons of prophets who just came right after you left.
They need clothing. They need
some silver. Will you give me one
talent of silver? Will you give me
two changes of clothing?” And Naaman
says, “I’ll give you two talents of silver and two changes of clothing.”
And Gehazi comes back. When
he gets to the hill he sends the servants who helped him carry this stuff away
right away. He goes into Elisha.
Elisha says, “Where have you been?”
He says, “I didn’t go anywhere.”
And Elisha says, “The moment that Naaman stepped off his chariot to see
you my heart turned. The very
judgment that was on Naaman is now on you and all of your descendants forever.”
This is a servant who isn’t obedient, this is a servant who lies; this is
a servant who is out for number one.
He wants to further his own career, line his own pockets, make sure that — you
know there’s a little bit of Jonah’s spirit in there — make sure that Naaman
gets what’s his due for being what he is.
It’s a tale really, in 2 Kings 5 of flipping everything you’d expect
upside-down. The unclean,
uncircumcised foreigner receives the mercy of God and the Israelite who’s trying
to get back at the one who’s evil is ultimately the one who receives judgment.
God’s very healing of Naaman is a judgment on His people because you see
God giving mercy to this man who doesn’t deserve it meanwhile giving judgment to
His people who think they deserve it.
They don’t realize that they are just as unclean and just as filthy as
Naaman was. They don’t recognize the
place of their own hearts. The one’s
whom God has called won’t listen, they won’t obey, they won’t love the Lord
their God with all their hearts and with all their souls and with all their
minds. Naaman learned from God’s
miraculous work; he came to trust in God.
Gehazi who had seen many more miracles than Naaman had seen — go back
after church tonight and flip through the last three or four or five chapters
before this. All Gehazi has been
doing is watching amazing miracles.
He’s been watching the oil that was poured out of a small cup fill barrels and
barrels and barrels. He’s been
watching people be fed without food.
He’s been watching people be healed. He’s been watching all kinds of amazing
miracles. He’s seen all kinds of
miracles of God and yet he hasn’t learned.
This is the story of the stones crying out because the people whom God has
called refused to. The very last
person you expect to worship God, worships God, and the people who should be
worshiping God, don’t. Naaman
learned not to trust in fame or in silver and gold.
Gehazi’s greed showed that it was in these very things that he placed his
hope. The very uncleanness that
Naaman was healed from was the uncleanness that Gehazi was cursed with.
And ultimately, the very uncleanness that was on all the surrounding
nations, all the nations around Israel who worshiped foreign gods, who worshiped
idols, the very uncleanness that was on them was now the uncleanness that was to
be on God’s chosen people, Israel.
As we look at this passage we learn a few things.
First of all we learn the amazing abundance of mercy that is to be found
in our God. You know, tonight, whether you come to church as somebody who comes
every single Sunday night, somebody who was raised in the church, someone who’s
been here since you were a child who memorized the catechism, who went through
communicants or whether you come as somebody who’s a first time visitor who’s
never set foot in a church before, you are in need of God’s grace.
I know people here tonight who grew up in this church who would tell you
that their testimony was that after years of being here, well into their adult
years, they realized they had never placed their trust in the Lord.
And they went back and they pled with God for His mercy and He had mercy
on them. It doesn’t matter whether
you are somebody who grew up here and kind of knows the Gospel and understands
the story, if you come tonight and your hope is in anything apart from Christ
and His shed blood and His resurrection, then you’re in the same place that
Gehazi, Elisha’s servant was in.
You’re in the same place that Naaman was before he came to trust in the Lord.
Not only are you outside the people of God, you’re unclean, you’re
uncircumcised of heart, you are filthy and dirty in God’s eyes, you’re the
vilest of sinners, but you don’t have hope.
And so the thing to realize is that if you come burdened by sin, burdened by
guilt, by shame, by an inability to battle sin under your own strength, by a
hope in wealth or by a hope in your family relationships or by a hope in
something else, then you need to flee to Christ because there is nothing so bad
that Christ’s death and God’s mercy is not great enough for you.
You know this story reminds us that God is going to send an even greater
Prophet. Tonight in the children’s
devotional we heard that one of Christ’s offices is that He is our Prophet.
And this story reminds us that God is going to send an even greater
Prophet who’s able to heal from something other than leprosy.
Whatever sin you’re facing, you have hope in Christ.
But the story also reminds us that there is a payment for those who would reject
God and His mercy. There is a
penalty for the people, even if they’re inside the community of the people of
God, for the people who would chose, as the King James calls it, “filthy lucre,”
over humility and love of God and hope in Christ.
There is a justice that they should fear.
We’re told to flee to the God of Israel in Exodus 34:6.
It tells us, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious.
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
But the fact is, just because He’s slow to anger doesn’t mean it’s not
there. And if you are a person who
time and time and time again has rejected God’s mercy, you found your hope in
other places, you trusted in the fact that you show up to church on Sunday and
so that makes you safe, then eventually your chances are going to run out and
you’re going to be just like Gehazi was.
You’re going to be an Israelite who has been cursed.
Paul, in Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 10, tells the story of the Israelites
who were coming out of Egypt and he tells the story of Exodus and Numbers and he
brings up five or six or seven of their sins and he points to all of these sins.
He says, “All of these people were baptized in the Red Sea, all of them
came out, all of them were redeemed, and yet most of them did not believe.”
And he said, “Take heed, lest you fall.”
And that’s the message of Gehazi.
We have a great hope in this passage because for most of us here tonight,
we are Gentiles. We are not of the
chosen people of Israel, and yet Christ has called us, God has called us, Christ
has brought us in, He has placed His mark on us, He has sealed us with His
Spirit, and He has called us His own.
And he offers that to those of us who are not trusting in Him and yet
there is also a warning for those who fail to heed this mercy that God offers.
And so we can’t read over these passages without being aware of the fact
that as great as God’s mercy is, as slow as His anger is, that time that we’re
given eventually runs out if we don’t turn to Him.
Flee to Christ. There’s a
reason tonight that we sang, “In Christ Alone.”
Christ is our only hope.
Let’s close in prayer.
Almighty God, You are the Creator of the universe.
You are the Redeemer of Your chosen people.
There is none so sinful that he doesn’t have hope in Christ. God, we ask
for those of us who believe in You, Lord, that You would continue to humble us,
You would continue to make us a people who say, “Behold, I know that there is no
God in all the earth except our God,” that You would make us a people who don’t
hope in the things around us, don’t hope in money or security or anything else,
but place our hope in Christ alone.
For those, Lord, here tonight who may not have placed their trust in You, Lord,
I pray that You would make them aware of this in their heart of hearts, that
they would recognize that they have no hope and that they would turn and flee to
Christ. I pray that there would not
be one left tonight still rejecting Your mercy, that Your Word and Your mercy to
Naaman would be a beacon, beckoning us to You.
Lord, I pray that Your Word would powerfully drive home Your message of
mercy and justice in our hearts. In
Jesus’ name, amen.
Please rise and receive the Lord’s blessing and then we’ll sing stanza four of,
“Gracious Spirit, Dwell in Me.”
Peace be to you and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace be with all who love
our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Amen.