Participants:
Series Code: TWH
Program Code: TWH000044A
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00:01 Music...
00:31 Well, today I have chosen 00:35 for us to focus on a passage of Scripture 00:39 found in 2nd Kings chapter 5, 00:44 2nd Kings chapter 5. 00:48 It's the story of a leper 00:51 and the story is told in two parts... 00:55 and we're only going to look at one part of it today. 00:58 The name of the leper was Naaman. 01:02 King James has it... "Captain Naaman" 01:06 more up-to-date translations have it... "Commander Naaman. " 01:12 So it's a story of a... of a man... 01:17 a prominent man with leprosy 01:21 who needed to become cleansed or pure. 01:26 The second part of the story talks about a man 01:31 who was pure and clean but became a leper 01:37 and that was the servant of Elisha the Prophet... 01:43 his name was Gehazi and so we won't spend... 01:47 we won't have the time to spend looking at the second part today 01:53 we'll focus on the first part 01:54 and so our emphasis will be Naaman the leper. 01:59 I have... just to kind of help us along 02:06 in the understanding of the story, 02:08 I want to read the entire story, 2nd Kings 5 verses 1 to 14. 02:17 I've chosen to read it out of a version called: 02:22 The English Standard Version... ESV 02:26 now I'm guessing most of you do not have an ESV version 02:30 here today. 02:32 I'm guessing you have a New King James or a King James 02:35 but probably not an ESV. 02:39 The ESV version has a colorful and interesting history 02:46 of its origins and how it came to be. 02:50 It's the preferred translation of the conservative arm 02:56 of the Protestant Church... Evangelicals... 03:00 this is... this is their Bible, okay. 03:03 Its predecessor was the RSV... Revised Standard Version 03:11 that came out in the year of my birth... 1952... 66 years ago. 03:17 the RSV came out... 03:19 but it was rejected by the Evangelical or Conservative 03:24 Christian Churches 03:26 for some of the way it translated Scripture 03:30 but years later, when the Evangelicals rejected the NIV 03:38 for gender-inclusive language... 03:41 now, there's a difference between gender accurate 03:44 and gender inclusive 03:46 but NIV went to gender inclusive 03:48 that is putting female terms in where it's not there, 03:53 so the Conservative Christian Denominations rejected that 03:58 and commissioned that they take the RSV and sanitize it. 04:03 In other words, 04:05 look at the areas that they were very opposed to 04:10 and they got the Rights to re-translate it 04:13 and that's what you have here today. 04:15 Well, I just bought a new Bible 04:17 and I thought, "Well, we'll try this" 04:19 Mr. Babb has been gracious to put it on the screen. 04:24 You can follow in your own Bible 04:26 which may be a different translation 04:29 or you can follow it on the screen... as I read. 04:32 Let's bow our heads for just a minute, 04:34 "Father in heaven, we are... 04:36 we are now going to read the sacred text of Scripture 04:39 that you have preserved down through the ages, 04:44 that we might have it today 04:45 in the last hours of earth's history 04:47 and have it to be our guide and our teacher, 04:50 but we so easily go astray as we read from Your Word 04:57 and come up with all kinds of interesting and different ideas, 05:01 ones that you never ordained to be, 05:04 and so, we just ask that you again 05:06 would be our Teacher and Guide 05:08 as we read from the passage that we've chosen today 05:12 about Naaman the leper, in Jesus' name, amen. " 05:18 Audience: Amen. 05:19 "Naaman, commander of the army 05:24 of the king of Syria, 05:27 was a great man with his master and in high favor, 05:33 because by him the Lord... " get that... 05:39 "the Lord... " not the lords of Syria 05:44 but the Lord... 05:45 "had given victory to Syria. 05:50 He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 05:55 Now the Syrians on one of their raids 06:00 had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, 06:06 and she worked in the service of Naaman' s wife. 06:11 And she said to her mistress, 06:15 'Would that my Lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! 06:23 He would cure him of his leprosy. ' 06:28 So Naaman went in and told his lord... " 06:33 now, his lord was the king, 06:35 "And Naaman told his lord, 06:37 'Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel. ' 06:42 And the king of Syria says, 06:46 'Go now... I'll send a letter to the king of Israel. ' 06:50 So he went, 06:51 he took with him ten talents of silver, 06:55 six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothing. 07:01 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, 07:05 which read, 'When this letter reaches you, 07:09 know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, 07:13 that you may cure him of his leprosy. ' 07:17 And when the king of Israel read the letter, 07:21 he tore his clothes and said, 07:23 'Am I God, to kill and to make alive, 07:27 that this man sends word to me to cure a man of leprosy? 07:32 Only consider, see how he is seeking a quarrel with me. ' 07:37 But when Elisha the man of God 07:41 heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, 07:44 he sent to the king, saying, 'Why have you torn your clothes? 07:48 Let him come to me, 07:50 that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. ' 07:54 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots 07:58 and stood at the door of Elisha's house. 08:02 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, 08:05 'Go and wash in the River Jordan seven times, 08:09 and your flesh will be restored, and you shall be clean. ' 08:13 But Naaman was angry and went away saying, 08:16 'Behold, I thought he would come surely... 08:19 he would surely come out to me 08:21 and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, 08:25 wave his hand over the place' you know, the spot... 08:29 'and cure the leper. 08:31 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, 08:36 better than all the rivers of Israel? 08:38 Could I not wash in them and be clean?' 08:41 So he turned... went away in a rage. 08:44 But his servants came near and said to him, 08:49 'My father... my father... 08:51 it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; 08:54 will you not do it? 08:56 Has he actually said to you, 'Wash and be clean?' 09:00 So he went down 09:02 and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, 09:05 according to the word of God 09:07 and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, 09:11 and he was clean. " 09:12 That's the story. 09:14 Now, I will interject here, 09:18 verse 13 reads totally different than your Bible. 09:24 Pause. 09:26 Your Bible probably read 09:27 "And his servants came near, and spoke to him, 09:30 and said, 'My father, 09:31 if the prophet had said to you to do something great, 09:34 would you not have done it? 09:36 How much more then when he says, 09:39 'Go and wash and be clean?'" Okay. 09:42 I... I have an interesting piece of Bible software 09:48 that allows me to take about every translation as possible 09:53 and line them up in a row like this... 09:57 and then, look at any particular verse 10:00 and see how it's rendered in every single translation 10:05 pause... 10:07 this one is the odd duck in the group 10:10 for some reason 10:12 and I really did spend a little time 10:14 trying to find the answer to that 10:17 and I wasn't successful. 10:18 Why did this one read that a little differently? 10:22 I don't know the answer to that. 10:25 I do know that sometimes 10:27 Translators prefer some manuscript over other ones 10:33 because maybe they're older or some reason... 10:37 sometimes the Hebrew... particularly the Hebrew 10:42 is very cryptic 10:43 and you've got to fill in the blanks 10:46 and you can fill in the blanks in a number of different ways 10:49 and it will read differently 10:51 because you have to fill in the blanks. 10:52 It just gives you few... 10:54 so I'm not sure exactly what it was 10:57 but I'm going to keep digging to find out 10:59 and someday I'll know it 11:00 and maybe I'll tell you, how's that? 11:02 But either rendering accomplishes the same purpose 11:08 and that is... the servants came to reason 11:13 with an irate man who wasn't reasonable 11:17 and brought his rage down 11:20 so that he could think rationally... 11:23 and make a good decision 11:25 and see, that's what was trying to happen here. 11:28 So, that is the story of Naaman. 11:33 "Naaman, the Commander of the army of the king of Syria 11:42 was a great man... " verse 1, 11:44 great man with his master and in favor 11:48 because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. 11:51 He was a mighty man of valor and he... 11:55 but he was a leper... 11:57 the writer of the book of Kings 12:03 wants us to sense the prominence of this man. 12:10 I mean, this man is somebody, okay. 12:14 He's a Commander... 12:16 I mean, he's not just a Captain, he's a Commander. 12:22 The Syrian Army had brigades and each brigade had a captain 12:27 but all those captains reported to the Commander... 12:31 the Field Commander over all of the army... 12:34 I mean, this is like the Chairman 12:36 of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 12:38 of the armed services of the United States, okay, 12:42 this is the top dog... Naaman was a Commander. 12:47 He had great preference with the king. 12:51 It says that he was a... was a great man with his master. 13:01 So, the king, in fact, in the passages... 13:05 in the second part of the story, 13:07 Naaman says, "Forgive me when the king leans on my... 13:13 on my arm and goes in to worship at one of their gods... 13:18 you know... forgive me for that... 13:20 he leans on my... " 13:22 he was... he was tight with the king. 13:24 The king admired Naaman. 13:27 Naaman and the king had a... a close relationship 13:33 so, he was a man of prominence, 13:34 he was highly favored in the eyes of the people 13:38 and he received that favor because of his performance, 13:43 he performed well on the field of battle. 13:47 He was successful. 13:48 Now, the people of Syria didn't realize 13:52 that Naaman was successful 13:54 because the God of heaven was on his side 13:58 but he was still considered a mighty, mighty man of valor 14:04 so, we're told all these things about Naaman 14:08 because the writer wants us to catch his prominence. 14:14 This guy is somebody... somebody... okay... important... 14:19 but then it says he was a leper. 14:26 the Hebrew renders it more powerfully than the English 14:33 "and he was" are added words... 14:38 English words to make it flow for us. 14:41 The Hebrew... it just says, "a leper" 14:44 so it's kind of like 14:46 everything that we have learned about Commander Naaman... 14:51 all of his prominence... his valor... 14:54 his prowess on the field of battle... 14:57 I mean, everything about him is all wiped out by two words, 15:05 "a leper" 15:07 wow! this hits... okay... 15:11 pause 15:14 leprosy was a defiling, disfiguring, deadening, 15:22 disassociating and deadly disease, 15:27 bunch of "d's" 15:29 kind of sounds good doesn't it? 15:31 Pause. 15:33 We will look at the five major characteristics of leprosy 15:38 and as we do, we'll quickly see why Naaman' s malady 15:44 canceled out all of his prominence. 15:47 We'll also see that leprosy does to a person... 15:51 what leprosy does to a person physically... 15:56 sin does to a person morally and spiritually. 16:01 Pause. 16:05 Leper was considered... leprosy was considered defiling, 16:11 a leper was called unclean... 16:15 God's law for Israel required lepers to cry, 16:19 "Unclean... unclean... " 16:21 you'll find that in Leviticus chapter 13 16:23 and it was to warn people of their presence... 16:26 when a leper came to Christ, he asked to be made "clean" 16:32 Mark chapter 1. 16:34 When Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan 16:37 to be healed of his leprosy 16:39 the language was, "Wash and thou shalt be clean" 16:44 Naaman had just about everything any person could ever want 16:50 but he had one great lack and that lack was purity. 16:58 Pause. 17:00 Because he lacked purity, 17:02 his future was one of hopelessness... misery 17:05 and ultimately death 17:07 and so it is spiritually and morally 17:12 holiness is what we need. 17:16 Money, position, popularity 17:21 pause 17:23 sink into insignificance when we look at it 17:28 in perspective of eternity. 17:31 We may have all the world can offer 17:34 but if we lack holiness... if we lack purity... 17:37 we can only look forward to a hopeless end 17:42 rather than an endless hope. 17:45 Pause. 17:47 So, leprosy was defiling but it was also disfiguring. 17:50 I don't know if you've been on the internet 17:53 and looked at pictures of people with Hansen's disease... 17:57 the one that we call "leprosy. " 18:00 It's a... it... 18:04 a human being becomes very gross and disfigured... 18:09 anyone... when someone who was once beautiful or handsome 18:16 and attractive becomes a leper, 18:19 they become grotesque and loathsome. 18:21 It would change Naaman from attractive army officer 18:25 to an ugly, repulsive, unwanted person... 18:29 as prospect... it took all the luster out of his prominence. 18:36 In like manner, sin disfigures... 18:41 it destroys the beautiful... the attractive. 18:45 It disfigures the loveliness of a person's character. 18:51 It makes one's behavior perverted and grotesque. 18:55 We see it in television... in modern art... they call it, 19:03 in music and the moral decay of our society. 19:09 Yet in our folly we try to dignify such moral disfiguration 19:16 we put labels of culture and art 19:18 on deeds that are filthy and foul 19:20 but labels do not change the character of the deed, 19:25 they only deceive the depraved. 19:27 So, leprosy was defiling... it was disfiguring... 19:32 it's also deadening... 19:34 leprosy seems to attack... and I'm not a physician 19:40 but it seems from my simple readings... 19:43 it attacks the nerve endings and so you... 19:47 you lose feelings in your... your fingers... in your feet... 19:51 in your toes... and... 19:53 and even pretty soon your... your eyelids don't know 19:59 that they're supposed to go up and down 20:01 and lubricate your eyeballs and you lose your sight 20:05 because you... you don't blink, you don't know that 20:08 I remember reading about stories of leper colonies in India 20:16 and they had to be careful at night when they slept... 20:21 India has rats... 20:24 big ones... 20:26 and they come out at night and they would gnaw on the lepers 20:30 and the lepers wouldn't feel it. 20:33 They had to be careful around their cook stoves because 20:38 they could burn themselves severely 20:42 and wouldn't know it until they saw it 20:46 okay... 20:48 pause... 20:49 Naaman would eventually have been unable to feel the sword 20:54 or the spear or the bow with sensitive fingers 20:59 and this would be a crushing blow to a career man 21:02 which would make his prominence meaningless. 21:07 Sin also destroys feeling... it hardens the heart. 21:11 It sears the conscience... 21:14 it actually affects the countenance. 21:17 How hard and I'm feeling are abortionists 21:22 and murderers, pimps and drug peddlers? 21:26 So leprosy was defiling... it was disfiguring... 21:31 it was deadening... 21:33 leprosy was disassociating. 21:36 Israel had stricter rules than other nations 21:40 but all societies eventually segregated the leper 21:45 officially or unofficially from the rest of society... 21:49 they quarantined them. 21:51 The leper would be banished from society 21:55 regardless of who he was. 21:56 Miriam was shut out from the camp... 21:59 Numbers chapter 12 because of leprosy 22:02 even though she was the sister of Moses. 22:07 King Uzziah had to live in a separate house, 22:12 remember he became leprous 22:14 because he had reached out to touch what he shouldn't touch 22:18 and he turned a leper white as snow... 22:21 so he had to live in a separate house even though he was king. 22:25 Naaman' s grandeur would not stop his banishment either. 22:31 Sin causes banishment and disassociation 22:36 therefore, the Lord God sent him... speaking of Adam and Eve 22:41 out from the Garden of Eden 22:42 to work the ground from which he was taken... 22:44 He drove out the man... and at the east of the Garden of Eden 22:49 He placed the cherubim and the flaming sword 22:52 that turned every way 22:53 to guard the way to the Tree of Life. 22:55 In the end, sin causes the unrepentant soul to be separated 23:01 from both the righteous and from God. 23:04 They'll be banished to the fire of hell... eternal destruction 23:09 eternal separation... regardless of who that person may be. 23:14 Finally, leprosy was deadly. 23:16 Leprosy doomed Naaman to a premature death 23:22 for the Bible and Bible times, 23:24 there was no remedy for leprosy. 23:26 For us today, we hear the words "inoperable cancer" 23:34 pause... 23:35 the word "leprosy" struck the people of that day 23:39 like those words strike us today. 23:42 Once prominence was no value in stopping lepers... leprosy. 23:46 A leper was considered for all practical purposes to be dead. 23:51 Someone said, a leper is a walking sepulcher... 23:56 how that reminds us of the Scripture that says of sinners, 24:01 their throat is an open sepulcher... 24:02 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 24:05 you are like white-washed sepulchers" 24:08 which indeed appear beautiful outwardly 24:11 but within are full of dead men's bones, 24:14 and all uncleanness. " 24:15 Pause. 24:17 But although leprosy was a terrible incurable disease, 24:20 yet God was able to heal a leper 24:25 and though sin is a great curse of man 24:27 and power of man can eradicate it, 24:30 "He... that is Christ... 24:32 is also able to save them to the uttermost 24:37 that come to God by Him. " 24:40 Pause. 24:42 Well, let's go to verse 3... 2 and 3... 24:47 now the Syrians on one of their raids 24:52 had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel 24:57 and she worked in the service of Naaman' s wife 25:03 and she said to her mistress, "Would that my lord... " 25:09 the King James has... 25:10 "Would to God... that my lord were with the prophet 25:17 who is in Samaria, 25:18 he would cure him of his leprosy. " 25:22 Pause. 25:24 When you hit this spot... this is difficult. 25:31 We're talking about divine providence and how... 25:36 somehow this little girl found a place in a home 25:41 and all the circumstances that brought her there, 25:46 Scripture doesn't lay it out for us 25:48 but it would have had to been awful. 25:50 I mean, the raiders coming in and pillaging 25:57 and destroying... 25:58 doesn't tell us what happened to her parents... 26:03 were they still alive when she was dragged away? 26:05 Was she out in the field working or playing 26:10 and they came by and picked her up... 26:12 parents don't know what happened to her... 26:14 did she see her parents cut down and then she was dragged way? 26:20 We don't know the circumstances of the story 26:24 but whatever it is, it wasn't good. 26:28 Is God working like that? 26:31 Is divine providence somehow involved? 26:35 Well, I'll be the first to tell you 26:39 I don't know... 26:40 divine providence and how God works 26:44 is a mystery, okay. 26:48 Now we have, like the story of Job 26:50 and God takes the curtain and He sort of opens it 26:54 so that we can see a little bit behind the scenes 26:57 to understand why He's working the way He works, 27:01 in the story of Job we know 27:03 that it's not God that wiped out all of Job's possessions. 27:06 We know that it wasn't God who brought the wind 27:10 that knocked the house down 27:12 and took the lives of all of Job's and Mrs. Job's children. 27:17 We know that it wasn't the finger of God that touched Job 27:21 okay, we know it wasn't that, 27:24 it was the enemy that did all those things 27:27 but yet, God allowed it, okay. 27:34 Now, for me, I can understand, "Oh, I got all my camel's back, 27:40 I got my sheep back, I got my goats back, 27:43 I have my fields, I have my money, 27:45 I don't miss what's past but the kids... 27:48 I don't care how much more kids you give me, 27:52 if I've lost the first batch... 27:54 that doesn't undo the losing of the first batch... " right? 27:59 That's the mystery and is unfathomable understanding 28:04 of God's providential leadings in the lives of... 28:08 of human beings. 28:10 Pause. 28:12 I've troubled over that, when you think about it 28:16 but, you know, I can only say this 28:19 as I've looked over my 66 years of life... 28:24 or will be 66 years of life 28:26 and God's providential leadings in my life, 28:31 I've been through some pretty heart-rending... 28:36 heart wrenching situations, 28:39 but as I've looked back over the perspective of time, 28:44 I've seen how God used those for my good and not for my ill 28:52 and so, what... at least for me 28:56 and this might not answer it for you 28:58 but for me, the areas that say, "I don't understand... " 29:02 I've put on a shelf... "I-don't-understand shelf" 29:06 "It-doesn't-make-sense-to-me-God shelf" 29:09 I put it on there 29:10 and I leave it there trusting because 29:13 I know that He was good to me here 29:16 and meant it for my good over here... 29:18 and just because I don't understand it there, 29:21 I will one day... 29:23 there will be a day when I see Him face-to-face, 29:27 just as you will... and you can ask Him, 29:31 "Lord, why in the world did you do that?" 29:35 Why did you let this happen? 29:38 And I think, He'll make it clear to us 29:41 and when He does, Friends, 29:43 I have all the faith and confidence 29:46 that when He does, 29:48 we will say, "Just and true are Your ways. " 29:51 Audience loudly: Amen. 29:53 "Just and true are Your... 29:54 I agree Lord... absolutely... I agree... 29:58 I wouldn't want it any other way. " 30:00 Hmmm... God's providence. 30:03 God's providence has a purpose, 30:08 God's purpose in His providential leadings 30:13 in this little maid's life 30:15 was for her to help bring a pagan man 30:18 to the knowledge of the one true God 30:21 and through the miracle of God's divine grace 30:24 extended to Captain Naaman, 30:28 helped the entire nation of Syria see the love of God. 30:34 How rich and pure... how measureless... 30:38 it served to glorify God above the heathen idols of that day 30:44 and this is what happened 30:47 for Scripture says, 30:49 "After the healing, Naaman said, 30:51 'Now I know that there is no God in all the earth 30:54 but in Israel. '" 30:56 This little maid... 30:58 by her suffering providence of God... 31:02 caused God to be glorified in the eyes of a heathen nation, 31:08 okay, 31:10 so, we don't know where God's leading will take us, 31:15 but we need to be like that little maid... 31:18 trusting all the way. 31:21 Audience: Amen. 31:23 Pause. 31:30 Something else that... about this little lady 31:33 that I think is good for us to think about, 31:37 pause... 31:39 this little maid knew that there was a prophet 31:43 who could heal Naaman of his leprosy. 31:47 She also knew where he lived. 31:51 She says, "Samaria. " 31:53 Simple truth but very vital knowledge. 31:58 Pause... 32:01 Where did she learn this knowledge? 32:04 She had to have learned it in her home 32:08 pause 32:09 and it was obvious... it was a good home 32:13 for she did not only learn about Elisha 32:16 but she had learned to respect him. 32:19 A bad home speaks often badly about the prophet 32:25 or the preacher for that matter... 32:26 is critical of him... 32:28 and their children did not have the same... 32:31 and take on the same feelings and attitudes of the parent 32:35 but this little maid... she was instructed well by her parents. 32:40 How important is a good home... 32:43 without good homes, a nation sinks... 32:46 so does a church. 32:47 Not only was this little maid instructed well 32:51 but she was also instructed early in her life. 32:55 How important that this was in the story... 33:00 had her parents not taken time 33:02 to instruct her when she was young, 33:04 she would have been of little use in Syria... 33:08 little use in Captain Naaman' s house. 33:12 So we don't want to wait till a child is grown 33:16 to introduce them to spiritual truths. 33:20 The world starts teaching our children early about sin, 33:25 we need to start earlier about grace and God and love. 33:29 Pause. 33:32 Something else about this little girl that's really heartening 33:37 is how gracious she is, 33:42 I mean, most of us... if we had been in the little maid's place, 33:47 we probably would have been glad that Naaman had leprosy. 33:52 We would have felt... "It just serves him right, 33:56 after all, he was so cruel and heartless. " 33:59 We would have... 34:01 at the very least probably kept silent 34:04 about the possibility of his healing 34:06 but this little Jewish lass did not act that way. 34:10 She did not let hard feelings and hard trials make her bitter 34:16 and cause her to quit serving God. 34:18 Like Joseph who did not let the mistreatment of his brothers 34:23 the lying of Potiphar's wife 34:26 or his imprisonment keep him from serving well. 34:30 This little maid did not let her cruel capture and sad slavery 34:36 silence her witness and service for God. 34:41 She graciously gave helpful witness and service 34:46 in spite of her painful situation. 34:48 You know, that should shame many of us adults 34:52 or a number of us adults who get miffed at... 34:56 over something that happens in the church 34:58 and we say, "I'm not going to do that anymore 35:00 okay, because we got miffed. " 35:03 Well, this little girl stands as a rebuke to any of us 35:09 who would take that kind of attitude. 35:12 Verse 4 says now, 35:13 "Naaman went in and told his lord, 35:16 'Thus and so spake the girl from the land of Israel. '" 35:20 The text doesn't tell us how he got the words 35:24 of what the little girl said 35:25 because the little girl, of course, 35:27 was speaking to... Mistress, Naaman' s wife, 35:32 but we can kind of deduce that she probably told him 35:36 and he bought in to what the little maid was saying, 35:40 that's remarkable and so, he goes rushing in to the king 35:44 and the King of Syria says, 35:46 "Go now, I mean, don't wait, go now. 35:49 I'll send a letter to the King of Israel. 35:53 So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver. " 35:59 Bruce, that's 750 pounds... 36:05 that's 12,000 ounces of silver. 36:11 Now, I don't know what silver's worth today... 36:14 I looked up on the Internet, 36:16 and they said the stock price was $16.36. 36:21 Is that anywhere close? 36:23 Okay, that's close. 36:24 Well, if you want to do the little math on that, 36:27 that adds up to about $200,000. 36:30 Now, if any of you have 36:32 ten talents of silver 36:35 and you want to give it to Bruce for 3ABN, 36:38 no problem... 36:40 I mean, 12,000 ounces of silver... 36:43 Bruce can handle it... I tell you, okay... 36:46 but the story doesn't stop there, 36:48 it says, 6,000 shekels of gold, now that's 150 pounds of gold. 36:55 Ooooh... 2,400 ounces of gold, 37:01 now if the stock price of gold is $1,311 per ounce, 37:07 that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 37:10 3 million 150 thousand bucks 37:14 plus ten changes of clothes. 37:19 Now, in case you are thinking, "Wow! that's anti-climactic... 37:24 10 changes of clothes... 37:26 they're not talking about J. C. Penney suits, 37:31 okay... 37:33 they're talking about Melania Trump dresses. 37:38 You know the dress she wore to National Convention cost $2,190 37:46 and the heels that she wore... $675. 37:52 How's that for a pair of shoes? 37:54 Okay, 37:55 so the point is, Captain Naaman brought 37:58 a ton of silver... a ton of gold, 38:01 and a bunch of very costly custom-tailored outfits, 38:08 all right. 38:10 Pause. 38:12 This was a high-stake diplomatic mission 38:17 that Naaman was headed out on. 38:20 First the letter, 38:23 the letter from one king to another king, 38:27 secondly, the extreme value of the gifts that were brought 38:33 are to tell us that this was a high-stake diplomatic mission. 38:39 So what... why were the stakes so high? 38:42 Well, first of all, the cost of health care is high. 38:49 If you have a terminal disease 38:52 the cost of treatment is astronomical... 38:55 always has been... always will be. 38:58 So you thought this was a new thing, 39:02 a modern thing that when you go to the hospital today 39:05 you know, you come out with a bill 39:07 of a couple of hundred thousand dollars or more 39:09 for a day or two in the hospital, 39:10 or you get some medication that one pill costs 10,000 bucks 39:16 that's nothing new 39:18 health care was expensive back then 39:22 and it's expensive today, the King of Syria knew it, 39:25 Commander Naaman knew it 39:27 and they were ready and willing to pay. 39:30 Pause. 39:31 The other thing that was the reason 39:35 why this diplomatic mission was so high stake 39:40 was... there was a lot of fence mending 39:44 that needed to be done between Syria and Israel 39:49 and if you know Old Testament history 39:53 and I refer you particularly to 1st Kings chapter 20 and 22. 40:02 there are stories of this particular king... 40:07 his name was Ben-Hadad... 40:10 Ben means: son of 40:12 Hadad means: the name of the storm god 40:16 that was the major god of Syria 40:18 so he was the son of the storm god... 40:20 I mean, the high god of Syria, he was the son of it. 40:25 So Ben-Hadad had gone to war against Israel 40:29 two different times 40:30 raising a huge army and coalition of kings... 40:35 you find that in... in chapter 20... 40:38 goes against Israel with his vast army 40:42 and Israel is like a little podding bunch of nothing 40:47 compared to the huge army that Syria had raised 40:50 but because God wanted King Ahab to know 40:58 that a God rules in heaven and is looking out for Ahab, 41:04 I mean, this is the Ahab that married Jezebel... 41:08 the Ahab that brought in all the prophets of Baal... 41:12 and the priests of Baal... 41:15 I mean, that Ahab that God interposed 41:20 in Ahab's life two times 41:24 when they were totally outnumbered 41:26 and whipped the Syrians 41:28 but it made for bad blood, I'll tell you that 41:31 between the two nations. 41:33 One more time... this time in chapter 22 41:38 Israel decides to go against Syria, 41:42 all right 41:45 and so, you have in that interesting story... 41:49 you have King Jehoshaphat visiting King Ahab 41:54 and they're sitting on the their throne side by side 41:57 sort of chatting together... 41:58 this was a photo op... 41:59 you know, like the President does, 42:01 they sit in a chair... 42:02 and the other dignitary sits in the chair 42:04 and they smile and the cameras all flashing... 42:07 and they're... I mean, this is one of those scenes, okay 42:09 and Ahab leans over to Jehoshaphat and says, 42:15 "Hey, Jehoshaphat, 42:16 Ramoth-gilead... one of the cities... 42:18 the Syrians have taken that from me, it's not right, 42:21 I want it back, would you help me?" 42:23 Bring your army in and I'll bring my army in 42:25 and we'll go and we will whip them 42:27 and take that city back. 42:28 Jehoshaphat says, "Hey, I'm with you... 42:30 gang... I'm with you... 42:32 our army and your army... we are one... 42:33 with are brothers, we will do it, yes, yes, yes" 42:35 and then he stops and he says, 42:40 "Ahab, let's seek a word from the Lord" 42:44 and Ahab says, "No problem" 42:47 and so he brings in a whole bunch of his prophets 42:49 and they all prophesied... 400 of them... 42:52 prophesying... "No problem... go up... you'll whip them... 42:54 you'll get them, man... it's just going to be wonderful. " 42:57 One of them brings in some horns made of metal 43:00 and he says, "You are going to gore them to death, man, 43:03 you're going to get Ramoth-gilead back... go for it" 43:05 and Jehoshaphat... when they're all done 43:09 leans over to Ahab... 43:10 "Ahab, is there a prophet of God?" 43:14 He recognizes there is a difference between these 400 43:20 and one prophet of Israel... 43:21 "Is there but one prophet of God that we can seek?" 43:24 And Ahab says, 43:26 "Ha, that guy never says anything good about me, 43:28 Micaiah... he never says one good thing about me 43:30 and Jehoshaphat says, "Oh, no, no, no, that's silly, 43:33 I'm sure, he'll tell the truth" 43:34 and so, they go and get Micaiah the prophet. 43:38 Well, the man commissioned to go get Micaiah the prophet... 43:42 he... he takes it upon himself to admonish Micaiah, 43:49 he says, "Now, 400 prophets have all said, 'Go take it, 43:52 you're going to win so, come on, join the crowd, 43:56 say the same thing. '" 43:59 And so, Micaiah gets there, 44:01 he goes, "No problem, yes, go... go take it... 44:05 man, no problem... fight him, get him... you'll win. " 44:09 And Ahab stops and says, "Tell me the truth now. " 44:13 Audience: Laughter. 44:14 "I've told you not to lie, tell me the truth, 44:18 what did God tell you to tell me?" 44:19 And Micaiah says, 44:22 "I saw the armies of Israel on the hillsides 44:25 like a sheep without a shepherd. " 44:28 Pause. 44:30 The end of that story is, one of the Syrian soldiers... 44:35 not even aiming his bow... 44:39 just took an arrow and his bow, pulled it back and let it fly 44:43 not pointing it at anybody... 44:45 struck Ahab between a vulnerable place in his armour 44:51 and Ahab died that day. 44:54 Pause. 44:56 Now, do you understand that there was bad blood 45:01 between Syria and Israel... so the stakes were high 45:06 and so, the price was great. 45:08 They sent all this money... 45:10 gold... silver... changes of raiment 45:13 because now they... they were asking a favor 45:17 of their enemy... asking a favor... 45:22 pause... 45:24 so it says, verse 6 45:27 "... and he brought the letter to the king of Israel, 45:29 which read, 'When this letter reaches you, 45:32 know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, 45:36 that you may cure him of his leprosy. ' 45:39 When the King of Israel read the letter, 45:41 he tore his clothes and said, 45:42 'Am I God, to kill and to make alive... 45:45 this man sends word to me to cure a man of leprosy? 45:49 How...? 45:51 Only consider, how he is seeking a quarrel with me. '" 45:54 Pause. 45:56 How would you have responded? 45:59 I find it interesting that Naaman nor either king 46:05 referenced the prophet at all. 46:08 Remember this whole journey started 46:10 because a little nameless maiden told the wife of Naaman 46:15 about the prophet who lived in Samaria 46:19 and he started on this journey with all this money 46:22 and all this stuff and there is no reference... 46:25 not one single word about the prophet, 46:29 instead... even the king never thinks about the prophet, 46:34 instead he's thinking, "He expects me to heal him? 46:39 He's just aching for a fight. " 46:41 Pause. 46:43 Seems to me... 46:44 1st Corinthians 1:27 is a true statement... 46:49 God chooses what is foolish in this world to shame the wise. 46:53 God chooses what is weak in this world to shame the strong. 46:58 God chooses what is low and despised in this world... 47:02 a little maid... a little servant... 47:05 a little slave girl... 47:06 and even things that are not to bring to nothing... 47:10 things that are... 47:12 so that human beings... man... may not boast... 47:17 that no human being may boast in the presence of God. 47:23 Well, luckily... providentially 47:29 Elisha knows what's going on in the king's palace... 47:35 and so, when Elisha... 47:38 the man of God hears that the king of Israel 47:41 has torn his clothes, 47:42 he said to the king saying, "Why have you torn your clothes, 47:47 let him come to me 47:49 that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. " 47:52 "When the Prophet Elisha heard of the king's reaction, 47:56 he chided the king for such a foolish response. " 48:00 Pause. 48:02 This issue was nothing to tear one's robes over, 48:07 Jehoram... whose father was Ahab 48:12 whose mother was Jezebel 48:14 knew all about both Elijah and Elisha. 48:21 In fact, Elisha had helped him and his army 48:28 in a battle with Moab. 48:30 God singly interposed in their behalf. 48:36 1st Kings chapter 3... I mean, 2nd Kings chapter 3... 48:41 you read about it, 48:43 so, Jehoram knew about the prophet... 48:47 the prophet lived in his own hometown... 48:50 his own hometown was not a Los Angeles. 48:53 I mean, it was bigger than a Thompsonville... 48:57 maybe like Marion or something, you know, 49:00 so he knew about him, 49:02 but what is being contrasted in this story 49:06 is the simple faith of a little maiden 49:09 versus the lack of faith of a king. 49:13 How many times have we come against 49:16 seemingly impossible odds 49:18 like mountains that you sang about, Rosemary, 49:23 impossible odds... impossible situations... 49:26 and we lost our faith and trust in God... 49:29 it's so easy to do. 49:31 Jehoram had asked the question, "Am I God?" 49:37 Certainly he was not... 49:39 nor was Elisha... 49:40 but Elisha was a man of God who would address the concerns 49:45 expressed by the king of Syria and Naaman. 49:48 The real king in Israel was still Lord. 49:52 Elisha's message was passed on to Naaman 49:55 and so, Naaman ended up in front of 50:00 Elisha's house... 50:03 all his soldiers... his horses... 50:08 his chariots... 50:09 it was an imposing... 50:11 I mean, retinue of people. 50:14 It's like seeing a presidential motorcade... 50:18 if you've ever seen one of those... 50:20 it stops all traffic, I'll tell you that. 50:23 You can take the freeways of LA 50:26 and they'll be emptied to allow that motorcade through. 50:31 Every... every on and off ramp will have an Officer... 50:37 a police car blocking the way 50:39 so that that motorcade pshhh... goes through. 50:41 This was Captain Naaman. 50:45 Well, time is flying here 50:48 but Naaman was slighted by what happened next, 50:55 he didn't like it. 50:57 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots 51:00 and stood at the door of Elisha's house 51:03 and Elisha sent a messenger to him, 51:05 That was an affront to Naaman. 51:09 Elisha didn't come out himself and greet him, 51:13 after all, don't you know, this is... this is Naaman 51:17 and you didn't come out to see me? 51:21 Instead you sent a servant, ah, 51:25 and he says, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times 51:28 and your flesh will be restored 51:30 and you'll be clean. " 51:32 Naaman was angry and went away saying, 51:37 "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me 51:41 and stand and call on the name of the Lord 51:43 and wave his hand over the place and... and cure me... " 51:46 okay, 51:48 he didn't like the choice of river... 51:51 I mean, he says, "Damascus has nicer rivers 51:55 than this yucky Jordan mess... 51:58 why do I have to dip in that river 52:00 when I've got better ones over here?" 52:02 And so he left in a rage. 52:05 He felt slighted. 52:08 And so we find out 52:11 that Captain Naaman needed healing 52:15 from something far more than leprosy. 52:20 Captain Naaman needed the healing from pride, okay. 52:27 So, he was... he was upset... that's an understatement. 52:35 Naaman' s pride was the main reason for his rage 52:39 by this treatment by Elisha 52:42 and about the remedy described by the prophet. 52:45 Naaman wished to be treated like a great man 52:48 that happened to be a leper. 52:51 Elisha treated him like a leper that happened to be a great man. 52:56 Elisha was more concerned about Naaman' s disease 53:00 than his dignity 53:02 but Naaman in his pride 53:05 was more concerned about his dignity than his cure. 53:08 Sinful man will never come to salvation 53:13 until he becomes more concerned about his sin 53:16 than his earthly status. 53:18 Naaman in his pride also thought more of his idea for his cure 53:24 than he did of God's plan 53:26 but God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts 53:31 neither are My ways your ways, says the Lord. " 53:36 Salvation is God's plan not ours. 53:39 Naaman' s plan may have carried authority on the field of battle 53:44 but a prescription for leprosy... 53:48 he was out of his jurisdiction, okay. 53:52 Just as it was that a little slave girl 53:56 reached out to help her master, 53:59 so once again, it was a servant 54:01 who came to Captain Naaman to rescue him, okay. 54:08 Piano playing. 54:10 Verses 11 and 12 start out with anger and end with rage. 54:19 Verse 14 ends with "clean" 54:25 isn't that something? 54:28 Never would have thought of that, 54:30 often the conflict waged in the soul is worse 54:36 just before peace is found, 54:38 just as the demon-possessed child 54:41 who had been brought to Jesus, 54:43 the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him, 54:46 Luke chapter 9, 54:48 it was the last-ditch effort of Satan to prevent the healing 54:52 and so the rage of Naaman can be seen 54:56 as the last-ditch effort of Satan 55:00 to keep him from being healed and more importantly 55:04 from being converted from paganism 55:07 to the worship of Jehovah, 55:10 so it says his servants came near and said to him, 55:13 "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; 55:18 why don't you do it? 55:20 He's actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean. '" 55:27 What about us? 55:30 God speaks to us 55:32 in our unreasonable rages 55:37 and He says, "It's such a simple thing, 55:42 accept my offer... learn of me... 55:48 I'm simple in heart... 55:51 and you'll find peace for your soul. " 55:56 Pause. 55:58 And so he went down 56:00 and he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan 56:04 according to the Word of the man of God 56:09 "and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child 56:16 and he was clean. " 56:19 Audience: Amen. 56:22 Isn't that something? 56:23 Now that's a story worth pondering. 56:28 Let's pray. 56:30 "Father in heaven, 56:33 we are lepers... 56:36 defiled... grotesque... impure... unclean, 56:46 hopeless... 56:48 pause 56:51 thank you that you provided us a Savior 56:56 and it's without money or price. 57:01 We didn't have to come up with astronomical amounts of gold 57:07 and silver and ten changes of clothing 57:10 to pay for our healing, 57:14 instead, we just needed to accept your offer. 57:20 Thank you so much, 57:23 in Jesus' name and for Your glory, 57:26 amen and amen. " |
Revised 2018-10-10