Anchors of Truth

Abana and Pharpar

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C. A. Murray

Series Code: AOT

00:15 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth,
00:17 live from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:23 Well we've enjoyed the first in our series last night.
00:27 We were really blessed as we heard a real message
00:35 about people who were crying by a river
00:40 thinking about Jerusalem in Psalm 137.
00:45 Quite a message; I was very much blessed
00:48 and encouraged by the message last night.
00:51 And tonight, Abana and Pharpar, two more rivers,
00:55 that we will be hearing about in this series
00:59 by our speaker C.A. Murray, who has entitled this,
01:04 A River Runs Through.
01:07 And Elder Murray is the 3ABN Proclaim General Manager.
01:13 He is also our director of live events for 3ABN.
01:20 And he is a man that God has blessed as a master preacher.
01:25 He has preached in many parts of the world,
01:28 pastored some very large churches,
01:30 particularly in New York City.
01:33 And he and his wife, Irma, are two people that we love,
01:39 we know, and we know that they know the Lord Jesus Christ.
01:44 Tonight before he comes, we're going to have music
01:49 by the Barry's; Celestine Barry, and her husband Michael
01:54 will be at the piano I believe.
01:58 And we're going to hear a song, Still, My Soul Be Still.
02:06 And then we will hear Pastor Murray as he brings us
02:12 tonight's message.
02:33 Still, my soul be still, and do not fear,
02:43 though winds of change may rage tomorrow.
02:48 God is at your side;
02:54 no longer dread the fires of unexpected sorrow.
03:02 God, You are my God,
03:08 and I will trust in You and not be shaken.
03:16 Lord of peace, renew a steadfast spirit within me
03:27 to rest in You alone.
03:41 Still, my soul be still, do not be moved
03:51 by lesser lights and fleeting shadows.
03:55 Hold onto His ways with shield of faith
04:05 against temptations flaming arrows.
04:09 God, You are my God,
04:15 and I will trust in You and not be shaken.
04:23 Lord of peace, renew a steadfast spirit within me
04:34 to rest in You alone.
05:16 Still, my soul be still, do not forsake
05:27 the truth you learned in the beginning.
05:31 Wait upon the Lord
05:36 and hope will rise as stars appear when day is dimming.
05:45 God, You are my God,
05:51 and I will trust in You and not be shaken.
05:59 Lord of peace, renew a steadfast spirit within me
06:09 to rest in You alone.
06:15 I rest in You alone.
06:25 In You alone.
06:36 Amen and amen. Thank you Celestine and Michael.
06:39 Very, very well done. A beautiful song.
06:42 Yesterday we had their daughter, and today we get
06:46 father and mother.
06:48 And we praise the Lord.
06:49 I trust you had a good day today.
06:51 It was sunshiny, started off a bit cold,
06:55 but warmed up nicely.
06:57 And the sunshine always makes us feel so much better.
07:02 Our subject tonight, Abana and Pharpar.
07:06 Turn with me, if you will, to 2 Kings chapter 5.
07:11 I'm going to jump around just a little bit as opposed to reading
07:16 the entire Scripture passage that appertains
07:22 to our message tonight.
07:25 But we want to take a look at some of the numerous lessons
07:30 that are found in this book.
07:34 I really like the books of 1 and 2 Kings.
07:38 They are strong books with strong narratives.
07:42 And back in 2000, I think it was 2009, I preached
07:46 exclusively from 1 and 2 Kings for that entire year.
07:51 There is much to be had in the Old Testament.
07:54 And in these particular books; 1 and 2 Chronicles,
07:57 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Samuel.
08:00 Very powerful narratives.
08:02 The line between good and evil, right and wrong, is drawn
08:05 very, very starkly, and we can learn much from
08:09 these particular books.
08:12 Father God, we thank You now and we praise You now.
08:18 For You are a good and great and everlasting God.
08:26 May we ask from You Your presence and power.
08:31 May we ask You to teach us those things that You would
08:34 have us to know.
08:36 And then enable us do them.
08:40 For the hour is late and the time grows short,
08:47 and we must be about our Father's business.
08:51 And we must be prepared for the second coming of Jesus.
08:58 Let nothing keep us from that appointed day,
09:02 and may we this night take one more step
09:07 along the road that leads to glory.
09:11 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen.
09:16 I should like to begin with 2 Kings 5:1.
09:22 Then I think we'll jump down to verse 11,
09:25 and continue on to verse 13, and then we'll fill in the rest
09:30 in the body of the sermon.
09:31 The Bible says, "Now Naaman, commander of the army
09:37 of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man
09:42 in the eyes of his master..."
09:44 I'm reading from the New King James.
09:46 "...because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria."
09:52 You note that the Lord had a hand in this.
09:57 Let us skip down to verse 11.
10:01 The Bible says, "But Naaman became furious,
10:05 and went away and said, 'Indeed, I said to myself,
10:11 "He will surely come out to me, and stand
10:16 and call on the name of the Lord his God,
10:20 and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy."
10:29 Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
10:33 better than all the waters of Israel?
10:38 Could I not wash in them and be clean?'
10:43 So he turned and went away in a rage."
10:52 Let me go back to just one additional line now in verse 1.
11:02 The Bible says he was great in the eyes of his master,
11:07 because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria.
11:12 Then there is one additional line.
11:16 "He was also a mighty man of valor,
11:19 but a leper."
11:25 The number of lessons that can be drawn from 2 Kings 5
11:32 is almost endless.
11:36 There are, to my count, no less than two dozen plots
11:42 and subplots with strong protagonists and powerful
11:49 moral and faith lessons.
11:53 Some pointed, directive, the consequences of
12:00 pride and lack of faith, and greed, and hubris,
12:08 are all painted in bold relief in this particular chapter.
12:14 There are many, many, many sermons that can
12:17 be drawn from 2 Kings chapter 5.
12:22 Right is very right, wrong is very wrong,
12:25 and you can see good and bad in bold relief.
12:32 Here, then, is what I find intriguing at the outset.
12:36 For the Bible says, and the spirit of prophecy states this
12:41 and alludes to it also, that God used Syria,
12:48 its king, and its captains, to chastise His people.
12:56 Now this is not the first, or even the most notable,
13:00 and certainly not the last of the occasions
13:05 when God will use a heathen king and a heathen nation
13:10 to spank Israel.
13:13 It happens over and over again.
13:18 These, brothers and sisters, are the days of Ahab and Jezebel.
13:25 Ahab had died in an epic battle, the battle of Qarqar,
13:31 trying to reclaim Ramoth-Gilead.
13:34 He had joined forces with the two and a half southern tribes.
13:39 They fought against the armies of Ben-Hadad.
13:42 Israel and Judah together were defeated by Ben-Hadad,
13:46 and Ahab was slain by an errant arrow
13:52 shot by no one in particular at no place in particular.
13:58 It killed King Ahab, after a tumultuous 22 year reign.
14:07 But from that time on, even though Syria was in the
14:11 ascendency, there was this, shall we say, cold war
14:15 between Syria and Israel.
14:20 There was an uneasy truce there.
14:23 There was a constant border warfare.
14:29 And this story begins when a Syrian raiding party
14:35 seizes and carries off a young maiden, and she is assigned
14:43 as the handmaid/servant slave of the wife of the commander
14:50 and chief of the Syrian army.
14:54 His name is Naaman.
14:56 Ellen White says, in discussing this matter and this chapter,
15:00 that he was indeed a great and honorable man,
15:05 a man much beloved and respected by his king
15:09 and his fellow soldiers, a man of valor.
15:14 And I need to say here parenthetically,
15:16 there are people in this world who are not Christian,
15:20 who are not members of the Adventist church,
15:22 but they are good and decent people.
15:27 And that is one of the reasons why God's people
15:30 have a command by God to get the gospel to those people,
15:36 because they're looking for a Savior too.
15:38 And sometimes they don't even know that it is Jesus
15:41 that they need to complete the circuit.
15:44 Naaman was such a man.
15:46 Good, honorable, upstanding, very much dedicated to his duty,
15:55 to his king, and to his country.
15:58 In all points, a pretty decent guy.
16:04 But then there are three words that change everything.
16:10 The Bible says, "...but a leper."
16:16 Now I don't know precisely how leprosy was viewed
16:19 in the Syrian economy.
16:22 Or even what form of leprosy Naaman had.
16:26 It probably was not the most contagious, because
16:30 the most contagious form of leprosy was responded to
16:33 by quarantine.
16:35 And Naaman still held court with the king,
16:38 he still commanded the army.
16:40 So probably it wasn't the most contagious form of leprosy.
16:47 We know that in Israel leprosy had a medical consequence,
16:53 but it also had a religious consequence.
16:56 There was this religious component.
16:59 It was viewed with scorn and distain,
17:01 and as the finger or stroke of God.
17:07 Treatment of lepers was codified,
17:09 it was written down in the Mishnah, the Gemara,
17:12 which form the Talmud.
17:13 The way you treat a leper was written down.
17:15 You didn't have much choice.
17:17 They couldn't own property, they couldn't stay in the city,
17:20 they had to go to a leper colony and be quarantined with others.
17:24 They weren't allowed to go to church.
17:26 Church people were not allowed to associate with them.
17:28 Priests were not allowed to pray for them or visit them.
17:31 They were as one walking dead.
17:37 So we don't think Naaman had this extreme form of leprosy.
17:42 But yet the Bibles says he was indeed leprous.
17:48 And I suspect leprosy was feared and hated as much in Syria
17:52 as it was in Israel.
17:56 So now this chairman of the joint chiefs of staff,
18:00 this military genius, this mighty man of valor,
18:05 has leprosy.
18:08 And now the Bible changes scenes.
18:12 For this little girl is a casualty of war.
18:18 A cold war probably, but a war nonetheless.
18:22 It occurs to me, brothers and sisters, than when trauma
18:26 or drama enters our lives, there are two ways
18:31 in which we generally deal with trauma and drama.
18:37 One is, "Lord, why me?"
18:43 The other is, "Lord, why not me?"
18:48 That's pretty much the way we deal with drama in our lives.
18:54 And the option that we choose as individuals
18:57 is usually predetermined by the depth of our
19:00 relationship with God.
19:03 "Lord, why me?"
19:06 "Lord, why not me?"
19:10 In fact, that may be the best barometer of what you've got
19:13 inside; is how you deal with disappointment,
19:17 how you deal with trauma, how you deal with drama,
19:21 in your life.
19:22 Maybe that's the best way to determine what kind of Jesus
19:26 you serve and what's Jesus doing in your life.
19:30 Because the truth is, everybody gets a turn.
19:34 Can you say amen?
19:35 Nobody will go to heaven drama-free or trauma-free.
19:43 The truth is, everybody gets a turn.
19:49 And how you respond to that trauma and/or that drama
19:55 proves many times whether that experience
19:59 can be a blessing or a curse.
20:02 Ellen White says, trials bravely born can be a blessing
20:08 in the life of the son or daughter of God.
20:11 Everybody gets a turn.
20:13 And if you haven't gotten your turn,
20:16 as someone said to me years ago, just keep on living.
20:19 Your turn is coming.
20:23 So now this great man has leprosy.
20:29 Let me add something here that I want to refer
20:31 back to over and over again.
20:33 It may not make sense now, but hopefully it will later.
20:37 God has no comfort zone.
20:42 Now before you react to that viscerally,
20:45 chew on that just a little bit.
20:47 Because we're going to come back to it again.
20:50 God has no comfort zone.
20:54 One of the unavoidable side effects of walking with Jesus
21:00 is the realization that in every circumstance
21:05 God is with you.
21:06 Can you say amen?
21:09 In every circumstance, He is able.
21:12 In every circumstance, He is faithful.
21:16 In every circumstance, He is trustworthy.
21:21 God has no comfort zone.
21:24 The power and presence of God didn't stop
21:29 at the Israeli border.
21:32 As we said last night, God can find you in Babylon
21:37 just like He can find you in Jerusalem.
21:41 And I'm convicted that God can find you in Damascus
21:44 just like He can find you in Jerusalem.
21:47 So the presence and power of God doesn't stop
21:51 at the Israeli border.
21:54 Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews 13:5-6.
21:59 One of my favorite texts.
22:02 Hebrews 13:5-9
22:08 The Bible says, "Let your conduct be
22:10 without covetousness..."
22:13 Don't envy anybody anything.
22:16 "...be content with such things as you have."
22:19 Why?
22:20 "For He Himself has said..." What?
22:23 "'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'
22:28 So we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper;
22:34 I will not fear.
22:37 What can man do to me?'"
22:41 And if you read the Clear Word, it says, "What can man do
22:48 to my soul."
22:51 It hearkens back to Christ's words, "Don't worry about
22:53 him who can destroy the body.
22:55 Be concerned about him who can destroy the soul in hell."
23:02 So since man can't hurt you, this is among the greatest
23:09 of the texts in the Bible, but it only gets real
23:15 when you go through stuff.
23:17 Amen?
23:18 These are nice words, but they take on an additional meaning
23:24 when you've been through some things,
23:26 when somebody has tried to do something against you.
23:29 That's when you really understand
23:32 that God is your helper.
23:34 And man cannot really hurt you because they cannot
23:38 destroy your soul.
23:42 So this little girl is ripped from her parents home.
23:49 But her God is with her, and she knows it.
23:53 She's a young maiden.
23:55 We don't have an age, but over and over again
23:57 it is referred to that she's pretty young.
24:00 She's a maiden, she's unmarried, she's living with her parents.
24:04 And she is taken forcefully from her home
24:08 by the Syrian army.
24:10 She is a maid to the wife of the general.
24:15 Could be worse.
24:17 Not in the field, she's not given to the soldiers,
24:22 she is not beaten and forced to work in the mines.
24:25 She is the maid to the wife of the chairman
24:29 of the joint chiefs of staff.
24:32 So I say, God can find you in Damascus
24:36 just like His can in Jerusalem.
24:38 And He can take care of you in Damascus
24:41 just like He does in Jerusalem.
24:44 Prophets and Kings, page 244.
24:48 "A slave far from her home," Ellen White writes,
24:52 "this little maid was nevertheless one of God's
24:56 witnesses, unconsciously fulfilling the purpose for which
25:00 God had chosen Israel as His people."
25:02 Remember we said last night, God wanted Israel to
25:05 spread the gospel to the whole world.
25:08 And since they wouldn't do it voluntarily,
25:10 He had to force them out.
25:13 So this little girl, this little maid, now is one of
25:16 those witnesses of God.
25:21 She wasn't whining, "How can I sing the Lord's song
25:25 in a strange land?"
25:27 Um-hmm.
25:29 You didn't hear her crying.
25:30 She wasn't hanging her harps upon the willow.
25:34 She took her God with her.
25:39 Prophets and Kings, page 245. I love this.
25:42 "The conduct of this captive maid, the way that she
25:47 bore herself in that heathen home, is a strong witness
25:52 to the power of early home training."
25:57 See, God followed her to Damascus.
25:59 Amen?
26:01 He didn't stop at the borders of Israel.
26:04 The same God that was with her in Jerusalem
26:06 was with her in Damascus.
26:08 "There is no higher trust than that committed
26:12 to fathers and mothers in the care and training
26:14 of their children."
26:16 Amen.
26:17 "Parents have to do with the very foundations
26:20 of habit and character.
26:23 By their example and teaching..."
26:26 See, your words have to match your deeds.
26:27 If you say one thing and do another,
26:30 I'm tending to go with what you do and not what you say.
26:35 Um-hmm.
26:37 "By their example and teaching, the future of their
26:40 children is largely decided."
26:43 I'm almost tempted to tell a story.
26:45 But I'm looking at my time.
26:47 I better hold my story for later.
26:50 Rather than being bitter, Ellen White says this
26:54 about this maiden taken from her home as a young girl,
26:57 probably early teens.
26:59 "Her sympathies were aroused in behalf of her master."
27:06 She's taken from her home,
27:07 she's a slave in the home of Naaman,
27:10 but her sympathies are aroused in behalf of her master.
27:14 Now compare that with what we read last night in Psalm 137.
27:20 She felt bad for Naaman.
27:25 Her sympathies were aroused when she found out
27:27 that her master had leprosy.
27:32 She didn't say, "Good for you.
27:36 You come in and tear up our kingdom,
27:39 you take me out of my home; I hope you get cancer."
27:44 No, Ellen White says, "Her sympathies were aroused
27:47 in behalf of her master."
27:49 Ladies and gentlemen, that's Jesus.
27:51 Amen?
27:53 Now I'm not saying that it's an easy thing to do.
27:58 It's not easy to treat someone good who deliberately
28:03 treats you bad.
28:05 Amen?
28:07 So I'm not saying it's easy.
28:10 I'm saying it's possible.
28:12 I'm saying, Christ can put that in your heart.
28:16 Christ can change your life so you don't repay evil with evil.
28:22 Amen?
28:23 So this little lady had learned something from her parents,
28:26 and she took it with her.
28:29 She took it all the way to Damascus.
28:34 And she talked to her mistress.
28:37 She said, "You know, it's too bad that we're not in Samaria,
28:46 and that your husband is not there, because
28:48 we have a prophet of God who could cure him."
28:55 Now that takes a lot to say that when you're a slave
28:59 in somebody's house.
29:01 Your life is in their hand.
29:04 And if they took her life, no one would say a word.
29:07 But she's got Jesus inside.
29:10 So she tells her mistress, "You know, if your husband was in
29:15 Samaria, he could get cured of that.
29:19 We've got a prophet of God and we've got a God above all gods
29:23 who can fix that."
29:27 And evidently the wife believed it, because
29:29 the wife told her husband.
29:32 Here is some collateral that comes from serving God
29:35 faithfully, ladies and gentlemen.
29:38 People know and believe you when you're telling the truth.
29:43 And when you're telling the truth in Jesus' name,
29:46 there is an air of believability that comes
29:50 with speaking for the Lord.
29:53 And again, I'm not saying these things are easy.
29:55 But I am saying these things are possible through Jesus.
29:58 All things are possible through Jesus.
30:03 Prophets and Kings, page 246. This is a great story.
30:06 "The parents of that Hebrew maid, as they taught her of God,
30:11 did not know the destiny that would be hers."
30:15 They didn't know she was going to be taken away
30:17 to the house of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
30:19 of the army of Syria.
30:21 "But they were faithful to their trust;
30:25 and in the home of the captain of the Syrian host,
30:34 their child bore witness to the God whom she learned to honor."
30:40 Page 245, the same, Prophets and Kings.
30:42 "Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection
30:46 of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God
30:51 awaken in the child gratitude and reverence."
30:58 She spoke a word for the Lord.
31:01 Naaman heard that word.
31:04 And evidently Ben-Hadad, the king, also believed that word.
31:10 Because the Bible says, and Ellen White backs this up,
31:12 that the king had to sign off on this trip that Naaman was
31:16 going to take there back to Samaria.
31:21 And of course, there's another subplot
31:24 and another sermon.
31:26 For the king sends a letter of presentation to Israel's king.
31:32 And here's where things get kind of good.
31:35 "Be advised that this is Naaman my servant.
31:39 He is a good man.
31:41 And when you get this letter, cure him."
31:48 Now we have many reasons to believe that Ban-Hadad himself
31:51 was a pretty decent fellow.
31:54 And we come to this a little bit later.
31:56 And also that he too believed the words of this young lady.
32:01 So this faithful little maiden got into the ear and head
32:05 of the king of the country.
32:11 He believed the report of Israel's prophet
32:16 and Israel's God.
32:17 Now let me ask you a question.
32:18 Let me ask you a question.
32:21 If any of us, you or I, Jim Gilley, president of 3ABN,
32:25 were to write a letter to President Obama,
32:32 who do you suppose would answer your letter
32:34 if it ever got to him?
32:39 If you ever got a letter back, who do you suppose
32:44 would write that letter?
32:48 More than likely, it would be an aide.
32:53 Odds are your letter, my letter, Jim's letter,
32:57 is not going to get to the desk of President Obama.
33:00 Here is why.
33:02 We live in a country of 318 million people.
33:08 The president's office gets 65,000 letters per week.
33:15 He gets 100,000 emails per day, 1000 faxes per day,
33:24 and anywhere between 2500 and 3500 phone calls per day.
33:32 When President Obama went into office,
33:35 he asked that a random selection of ten letters per day
33:39 get to him personally.
33:42 So the odds that your letter would break through that
33:45 65,000 are very slim.
33:49 And if your letter did get in, it would be answered
33:54 probably by a fellow by the name of Mike Kelleher,
33:59 or through his office.
34:02 Mike Kelleher heads the office of Presidential Correspondence.
34:07 It's his job to sift through the letters, determine which one
34:13 gets to the president, and then pass off the rest
34:17 to an aide, or an aide's aide, or an aide's aide's aid,
34:22 who responds to your letter.
34:27 So you wouldn't expect to get an answer from the
34:31 president himself unless you wrote something threatening.
34:36 And then you wouldn't get a letter, you'd get a visit.
34:40 So your letter will probably go to the office
34:43 of Presidential Correspondence.
34:46 Now suppose Vladimir Putin wrote a letter,
34:51 or Angela Merkel wrote a letter,
34:53 or Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter,
34:55 or Ban Ki-moon, or Bashar al-Assad if he so chose,
35:00 or even Sir David Cameron.
35:01 Suppose they wrote a letter.
35:03 Who do you suppose would respond to that letter?
35:07 I dare say, that letter would get to the president's desk.
35:12 Heads of state communicate with heads of state.
35:18 So Ben-Hadad sent a letter with Naaman
35:22 to be given to the king of Israel,
35:24 because kings talk to kings.
35:28 Doesn't that make sense?
35:29 Kings don't talk to common people.
35:31 He doesn't know anything about prophets.
35:33 He doesn't go to talk to anybody on the street.
35:35 If he's sending his chief general, he's going to send
35:38 his chief general to the king.
35:40 Because kings talk to kings.
35:44 But when the Israeli king gets this letter,
35:48 to use modern day language, he freaks out.
35:55 He tears his clothes.
35:57 And that, of course, is a sign of great distress and anguish.
36:00 Tearing your clothes or tearing your clothes and throwing
36:03 dirt on your head, that means you've lost it.
36:05 You have no control.
36:06 You have no answers.
36:08 You're just gone.
36:12 Israel's king sees trickery.
36:15 He smells a rat.
36:18 He's thinking, "We just finished a war with this country.
36:24 And they defeated us.
36:26 Obviously, this king is trying to find a reason
36:32 to pick a fight with me so he can take me off my throne
36:36 and own my kingdom."
36:40 He smells a rat, and he's afraid.
36:47 But Ben-Hadad was just following political protocol.
36:51 Kings talk to kings.
36:53 Israel's king, who, by the way, his name was Joram or Jehoram,
36:57 depending on which translation you use,
37:01 is just really showing you how estranged he is
37:04 from his own God.
37:07 See, when you don't have God in your life,
37:10 you don't always see things straight.
37:13 You know?
37:15 Sometimes you think that something that is, is not,
37:20 or something that is not, is.
37:23 Years later, Hezekiah got a letter.
37:26 You remember that story?
37:28 And this letter was much worse.
37:31 It came from Sennacherib of Assyria.
37:34 The letter basically said, "We are coming.
37:39 We are coming to take your kingdom.
37:41 We're coming to destroy your world.
37:45 Now these are the facts:
37:48 Every country we want, we get.
37:53 Every place we want to go, we go there.
37:57 And every country that we have destroyed,
38:01 they had a god too.
38:03 Their gods were not able to help them;
38:07 and your God will not save you.
38:12 So get ready, because we're coming."
38:16 Now to me, that's the time to tear your clothes.
38:21 When you get a letter like that, that's the time to get worried.
38:25 If you're talking about losing your cool and freaking out,
38:29 that's the time to get a little upset.
38:34 Because the Assyrians were ancient terrorists.
38:38 They were merciless killers and blood thirsty warriors.
38:44 The Assyrians would rape, and kill, and burn,
38:47 and cleave skulls and put them on poles
38:51 just outside the city for no other reason than
38:54 they wanted to incite terror.
38:56 There are many countries that when they heard
38:58 the Assyrian empire was coming, they simply turned the city over
39:02 and ran for terror.
39:06 But Hezekiah's response is remarkably different
39:10 to that of Joram.
39:13 The Bible says Hezekiah took the letter and laid it before God,
39:19 and prayed, and asked God to save his name and his kingdom.
39:27 And God said to Hezekiah, "This king is raising his
39:32 voice against Me."
39:36 And then one night one angel slew 185,000 Assyrians.
39:46 Sennacherid, who wasn't at the battle but down in Egypt
39:49 trying to keep the Pharaoh from doing a flanking movement
39:52 behind him, was not even there, got the news by courier,
39:56 ran back to Assyria, and his own family
40:00 slew him in his own house.
40:04 Is anybody listening to me when I tell you
40:07 God takes care of His own?
40:11 You need not fret, you need not fear.
40:14 God takes care of His own.
40:19 All we have to do is put our trust, put our faith,
40:24 in Him, for He is able.
40:31 So Elisha goes to the king.
40:32 The king should have been going to Elisha.
40:34 Elisha goes to the king and asks, "Why are you
40:37 tearing your clothes?
40:38 Send Naaman to me and let God work,
40:45 and let God have a chance."
40:46 So Naaman comes with his entourage,
40:48 his horses and his chariots.
40:49 Sort of like a presidential motorcade.
40:51 I've got to tell this story real quick.
40:53 A couple of years ago, Jim Gilley and Erma and Camille
40:56 and I were in New York City.
40:58 And Jim had rented a car, and they didn't have the right car.
41:02 So they gave us one of those big black presidential SUV's
41:06 with the windows all blacked out.
41:08 And we had such fun in that car.
41:10 You remember that?
41:12 We drove all over the city and people were looking
41:13 to see, "Who's in there?"
41:15 Because you have those cars all over New York City.
41:16 The United Nations is there, they drive those cars.
41:18 When the president comes in.
41:20 We had this big black limousine, and I would park...
41:22 In New York City if you park too close to a fire hydrant,
41:25 that's a $250 fine.
41:26 And we couldn't find any place to park,
41:28 so I parked too close to the fire hydrant.
41:29 We went into the church and had a meeting
41:31 with Elder Wilson and some other people.
41:34 And we came out; no ticket.
41:37 We drove down and around the city and people would look,
41:39 you know, look to see who's there.
41:41 And it was kind of cool, I was driving.
41:43 Since I know New York City, Jim let me drive.
41:44 We go to Dallas, he drive. He knows Dallas.
41:47 We'd pull up to the light and people would look to see.
41:49 And I'd roll the window down, you know, roll the window down,
41:52 and just look at them.
41:53 Then roll the window back up.
41:55 You know, and everybody is looking at
41:57 this big black limousine.
41:58 And then Erma decided that she wanted to get a slice of pizza.
42:00 Do you remember that?
42:02 And so we pulled up in front of the pizza place.
42:05 No parking zone.
42:06 Jim and Erma ran in and got the pizza.
42:08 And I stayed in there and let the engine keep running.
42:10 Nobody said anything.
42:11 Cops went by; nobody touched us, nobody talked to us.
42:13 You know, it's good to have one of those big black limousines.
42:15 We ever go back to New York, I want to get one of those again.
42:18 It's really great.
42:19 So Naaman pulls up in his chariot.
42:22 And Ellen White says, the Bible Commentary says rather,
42:25 everybody's on horses, he's in a chariot, nobody's walking.
42:28 He pulls up in front of this humble little house,
42:31 this is Elisha's house.
42:32 Humble man.
42:34 He expects to be treated like a dignitary.
42:36 He is indeed a dignitary.
42:38 He expects to be courted, and schmoozed,
42:41 and fussed over.
42:42 He expects someone to come out, fall on the ground,
42:45 call on the Lord, touch his sore, heal him.
42:49 But Elisha doesn't even bother to come outside the house.
42:54 He sends a servant and tells him, "Dip seven times
42:58 in the Jordan, you'll be fine."
43:02 And the Bible says Naaman is ticked off.
43:08 Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
43:12 as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth,
43:15 Naaman is upset.
43:18 He's a good man, a gallant man, but he's not a perfect man.
43:23 And Ellen White says he's got a heaping helping of pride
43:27 that needs to be dealt with.
43:30 2 Kings 5:9, he's got it set up in his mind.
43:35 He's expecting it to go the way he wants it to go.
43:41 But Elisha doesn't even come outside.
43:49 Naaman is upset.
43:55 "Does he know who I am?
43:59 Does he know who's out here?
44:02 Does he know my rank?
44:04 Does he know who's name is on my door?
44:08 Does he know what I've done?
44:10 Does he know he's part of a defeated country?
44:16 Does he know who I am?
44:20 I thought he would come out, bow down,
44:23 call on the name of his God, fuss over me,
44:28 and then cure me.
44:31 And he sends his water boy out to tell me, 'Dip seven times.'"
44:40 The Bible says he went away in a rage.
44:49 "We've got rivers way better than that,
44:52 than Jordan, in my country.
44:56 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,
45:00 ten times better than the Jordan?"
45:02 And you know what? He was telling the truth.
45:05 I did a little study.
45:07 Abana starts up in the mountains.
45:09 It is a mountain stream.
45:11 And Pharpar also starts up in the mountains.
45:15 The same Mount Hermon system where the Jordan begins.
45:20 Mountain streams, gorgeous.
45:22 And the Bible dictionary says that these were big,
45:25 beautiful, flowing rivers.
45:26 The Jordan is a nice river.
45:29 We'll talk about that a little bit more tomorrow.
45:31 There are times when it floods over and it's fairly impressive.
45:35 Having been there, the Jordan, I guess, where we do our
45:39 baptisms, Jim, is what?
45:40 From about this wall to maybe that wall wide.
45:43 But there are times when the Jordan gets
45:44 down almost like this.
45:46 Then it opens up again.
45:47 It comes down from the mountain, fed by tributaries,
45:50 into the Sea of Galilee, out of the Sea of Galilee
45:52 the south end, ends in the Dead Sea.
45:54 It's an impressive little river.
45:56 But it's not Abana and it's not Pharpar.
45:58 And he's saying, "Listen, if I'm going to be healed,
46:01 I want to be healed on my terms.
46:03 And I want my rivers, not yours."
46:08 I can relate to him.
46:11 A couple of years ago when we were in Panama,
46:12 Erma took us to a river that comes from the mountains.
46:16 And these mountain streams are fabulous.
46:18 And we went to a river, we went to a river
46:22 that in the middle of the river it's ice cold.
46:25 But on the edge of the river it's hot like bath water.
46:28 Because it flows through one of those geyser kind of things.
46:34 So when you step in the water, it's pretty hot.
46:37 You take two steps, it's kind of hot.
46:39 You take four steps, it's a little cooler.
46:41 And then in the middle, it's ice cold.
46:43 So you can have your river any temperature you want.
46:47 Mountain stream. Really, really great.
46:50 So if you ever come down to Panama,
46:51 let us take you to that mountain stream.
46:53 Because you can have a cold shower and a hot bath
46:56 in the same water.
46:58 Really impressive.
46:59 So when he says, "Abana and Pharpar are better than Jordan,"
47:02 he's telling the truth.
47:04 But the problem is, Abana and Pharpar are not God's choice.
47:09 They are his.
47:11 Naaman wanted healing on his own terms.
47:14 What he needed was humility.
47:17 God was testing him.
47:20 And you know what?
47:21 God is testing us today.
47:23 You know, I need to say this.
47:24 There is nothing in this world that commends us to God
47:27 like humility and a humble spirit.
47:30 You can't make demands of God except that Christ says
47:33 you can make demands of God.
47:35 There's nothing in your own right.
47:36 The only thing that commends us to God
47:38 is our inability to do anything without Him.
47:42 And this is a sin that is particularly
47:44 amenable to church people.
47:46 "Lord, I want to be saved, but I want to be saved
47:49 on my own terms.
47:51 I want to stay within my comfort zone,
47:54 and I want you to save me in my comfort zone."
47:57 But I said this before, God has no comfort zone.
48:04 He is proud and worldly, and God know he's got to be humbled
48:11 before he is cured.
48:14 Then another side note is that Abana and Pharpar
48:18 were the rivers at which the Syrians worshiped their gods.
48:23 God didn't want any confusion as to where Naaman's
48:26 healing was coming from.
48:27 "You have to do it on My terms, in My river, in My country,
48:31 and following My directives."
48:33 That is a lesson, brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen,
48:35 that we need to learn even today.
48:39 God has been doing this God thing an awful long time.
48:42 And you know what?
48:43 He's pretty good at it.
48:45 Amen?
48:46 And if you work with Him, and follow Him,
48:49 and serve Him, He will save you.
48:54 Naaman had to understand that.
48:57 Naaman had to understand that it was God's way or no way.
49:01 But the Bible says he went away in a rage.
49:04 And I like with the SDA Bible Commentary says.
49:06 It says, sometimes those who we don't think can teach
49:09 us a lesson can teach us a lot.
49:11 It was his servants that said, "Master, listen,
49:16 if he had asked for a million dollars
49:18 in single non-sequential unused bills,
49:22 you would have found it.
49:24 He told you go take a bath seven times.
49:27 What's wrong with that?"
49:30 There's a commercial out for, I can't remember what
49:33 sneaker it is, it says, "Just do it."
49:36 I think it's Nike that says, "Just do it."
49:38 That's what they told him.
49:39 "Just do it.
49:41 The only thing that's going to be hurt is your pride.
49:45 But your body is going to be healed."
49:47 And when he turned that chariot around
49:51 and headed for the banks of the Jordan,
49:54 he was right where God wanted him to be.
49:59 When you're walking God's way, even though it is an
50:02 unfamiliar way to you, even though it is outside of
50:05 your comfort zone, God has no comfort zone.
50:12 See, comfort zones bespeak limits,
50:15 and God has no limits.
50:17 Now let us quickly, before our time gets away,
50:19 examine what Pharpar and Abana represent.
50:25 Abana and Pharpar represent our desire to have things our way.
50:30 And that is dangerous for Christians.
50:33 When you come to Christ, you must sell out to Jesus.
50:37 You must go where He wants you to go,
50:40 you must do what He wants you to do,
50:42 you must say what He wants you to say,
50:45 you must live how He wants you to live,
50:48 and then let God be responsible for the outcome.
50:52 And that, brothers and sisters, is tough sledding
50:55 for some of us.
50:56 You've got to sell out.
50:58 You can't give Him half, you can't give Him three quarters.
51:01 You've got to give Him all, particularly when you don't
51:04 know where it's going, you don't know how it's going,
51:08 and you don't know how it's going to end.
51:10 But God knows.
51:11 Let me say this to you, remember this always.
51:13 Just because we don't have a clue doesn't mean
51:17 that God is clueless.
51:19 Amen?
51:21 All you can see is today.
51:24 God can see tomorrow and forever.
51:28 So as Jim has often said, Danny has often said,
51:32 your faith doesn't begin until your sight ends.
51:37 If you had all the answers, you wouldn't need God.
51:42 Amen?
51:44 So you've got to sell out to Him.
51:47 Half way will not do.
51:52 Number two, we cannot have, will not have,
51:56 a trial-free Christianity.
52:00 Amen.
52:01 Ellen White encourages us that trials are God's workmen.
52:08 Nobody... Well let me ask it this way.
52:10 Is there anybody here that likes trials?
52:12 Like it when stuff goes tough?
52:15 Like it when you get up in the morning
52:16 and you can't find your car keys?
52:19 Like it when you have trials?
52:20 Like it when you come to the end of your money
52:22 and you've still got bills to pay?
52:23 Anybody like that?
52:25 Anybody love that?
52:27 Like it when you and your wife get into arguments?
52:29 Anybody?
52:31 Not me.
52:32 Like it when you don't get along with the people you work with?
52:36 Anybody?
52:38 Not me.
52:40 But you know what?
52:42 They're necessary.
52:45 Amen.
52:46 Now not the wife stuff.
52:48 That's not necessary.
52:50 Amen.
52:53 But the other stuff is.
52:55 Trials are God's workmen.
52:59 They increase strength, and increase faith.
53:05 They are necessary for our Christian growth.
53:10 God allows trials, God sends trials,
53:16 because you need trials.
53:20 You can't always have it your way.
53:22 If I was picking the trials, I'd like to have the trial of,
53:26 "Lord, give me all the money I want,
53:30 and let's see if I can be faithful with it."
53:33 I'd like that trial.
53:34 I know Jim would like that trial.
53:36 When I see him shaking his head saying,
53:37 "Oh, we need some money at 3ABN,"
53:39 I know he'd love that trial.
53:41 But he doesn't have it.
53:42 He's got the other trial...
53:44 be faithful with what you've got.
53:49 I'd like to have that trial.
53:50 You know, there's a story, and this is not in my notes,
53:51 but there's a story.
53:53 There's a woman that, I don't remember her name,
53:54 but she prayed for years for God to make her wealthy.
53:58 And she said what she would do for the church.
53:59 And Ellen White writes this, I think it's, Testimonies,
54:01 volume six.
54:03 And so the Lord allowed her to get a lot of wealth.
54:07 From the day she got the cash, she stopped going to church.
54:13 And within one year, back to poverty.
54:17 And Ellen White says that sometimes God withholds
54:21 blessings because He realizes that we can't handle it.
54:26 So He metes out His blessings, He keeps us on our knees,
54:31 because He knows that's the best way for you
54:34 to land in the kingdom of God.
54:37 So Brother Gilley, we may not have all the money we want.
54:40 But we're heading to the kingdom.
54:42 Amen?
54:44 So God gives us trials because trials are God's workmen
54:50 to keep us in the right way.
54:53 I found out something interesting.
54:55 Ellen White says that Abraham's trial of his son
54:58 was more severe than Adam's.
55:01 And I had never seen that before.
55:03 And she says, what is a trial to one person
55:06 may not be a trial to someone else.
55:09 But everybody is going to get some trials,
55:13 because everybody needs trials.
55:16 Now I may look at your trial and say, "That's light stuff."
55:20 You may look at mine and say the same thing.
55:23 But everybody is going to get trials, because
55:25 trials are God's workmen.
55:27 "Bitter and hard trials are a blessing when endured in faith."
55:34 Thoughts From the Mount of Blessings, page 10.
55:36 "Trials born well bring us into close fellowship with Jesus."
55:41 Amen?
55:43 "Self-righteousness is squeezed out by trials.
55:46 The church," she says, "will be tested by trial."
55:49 And I believe we're going to see that in just a little bit.
55:53 But God is with His church.
55:55 And God is with His people.
55:57 And so, ladies and gentlemen, Naaman learned the lesson
56:02 that each and every Christian is going to have to learn.
56:07 Every child of God is going to have to learn the lesson
56:11 that it is God's way or no way.
56:16 Not only is God's way the better way,
56:21 God's way is the only way.
56:25 There's only one way.
56:27 And that's God's way.
56:28 And God's people need to follow Him,
56:30 come what may, whether you understand it or not,
56:36 whether you accept it or not.
56:39 Ellen White makes this statement in summary of this
56:42 whole series of acts.
56:45 When we get to heaven and look back over the way
56:49 that God has brought us, we will see not only that it was
56:54 the right way, but that it could have happened
56:57 no other way.
57:00 And that God's way was indeed the best way.
57:06 Father God, we praise You now, and we ask, dear Father,
57:12 for the strength to walk in the pure and natural
57:18 and holy way of God.
57:20 Help us not to turn to the right nor to the left,
57:24 but to follow steadfastly after the Savior.
57:30 Keep our feet in the right path.
57:32 And we thank You, dear Father, for blessings great and small.
57:38 In Jesus' name, amen.

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Revised 2016-02-03