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please turn with me in your Bibles to second Kings chapter 5 second Kings chapter 5 last week we saw Elijah's ministry within Israel God's grace displayed to Israelites here we see that grace now go forth on an international level with the healing of name it the man is not only healed from his leprosy but he's healed from his idolatry he does turn to Israel's God and receives that blessed Redemption that God the Lord provides to believers I'll begin reading in 2nd Kings chapter 5 at verse 1 now naman commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria he was also a mighty man of Valor but a leper and the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel she waited on naimans wife then she said to her mistress if only my master were with the Prophet who is in Samaria for he would heal him of his leprosy and Amon went in and told his master saying thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel then the king of Syria said go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel so he departed and took with him ten talents of silver six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothing then he brought the letter to the king of Israel which said now be advised when this letter comes to you that I have sent name and my servant to you that you may heal him of his leprosy and it happened when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said am i God to kill and make a life that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me so it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes that he sent to the king saying why have you torn your clothes please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel the Neyman went with his horses and chariot and he stood at the door of Elijah's house and Elijah sent a messenger to him saying go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean but naman became furious and went away and said indeed I said to myself he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord is God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy are not out of the abinell and the far par the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel could I not wash in them and be clean as we turned and went away in a rage and his servants came near and spoke to him and said my father if the prophet had told you to do something great would you not have done it how much more then when he says to you wash and be clean so he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean and he returned to the man of God he and all his aides and came and stood before him and he said indeed now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel now therefore please take a gift from your servant but he said as the Lord lives before whom I stand I will receive nothing he urged him to take it but he refused so naman said then if not please let your servant be given to mule loads of Earth for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods but to the Lord yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the temple of Rimon to worship there and he leans on my on my hand and I bow down in the temple of Rieman when I bow down in the temple of Rieman may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing then he said to him go in peace so he departed from him a short distance but Ghazi the servant of Elisha the man of God said look my master has spared name the Syrian while not receiving from his hands what he brought but as the Lord lives I will run after him and take something from him so Ghazi pursued naman when naman saw him running after him he got down from the chariot to meet him and he said is all well and he said all is well my master has sent me saying indeed just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments so naman said please take two talents and he urged him and bound bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and handed them to two of his servants and they carried them on ahead of him when he came to the Citadel he took them from their hand and stored them away in the house then he let the men go and they departed now he went in and stood before his master Elijah said to him where did you go Ghazi and he said your servant did not go anywhere then he said to him did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you is it time to receive money and to receive clothing olive groves and vineyards sheep and oxen male and female servants therefore the leprosy of name and shall cling to you and your descendants forever he went out from his present presence leprous as white as snow a man will let us pray our Father we thank you for the written word we pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us now in our study we pray that you would forgive us for our sins and our transgressions and God caused us to reflect upon your glory your majesty your power and your excellence as it is so clearly revealed in this passage of Scripture how we thank you for both the old and the New Testaments how we thank you for the great things they teach us concerning a great God who is infinite eternal and unchangeable a God worthy to be praised glorified worshipped loved and adored may you cause us now by your grace and for your glory to receive with thankful hearts the written word and cause us to marvel at your amazing grace and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well last week as I said we considered the miracles that Elijah wrought to manifest the mercy and the goodness of God in Chapter four Davis makes this observation we enter a segment of Elijah's ministry in which he shows that Yahweh's power is triumphant over debt we saw that in chapter 4 verses 1 to 7 death chapter 4 verses 8 to 37 droughts chapter 4 38 to 44 disease here in chapter 5 verses 1 to 27 and then difficulty in chapter 6 1 to 7 so God is a God showing forth his power his excellence and his glory in the life of his servant Elijah there are three things we ought to observe in our chapter here this night first the Providence of God in verses 1 to 8 secondly the healing of namin in verses 9 to 19 and then finally the greed of gauzy in verses 20 to 27 but note with reference to the Providence of God the target of His grace it's very amazing that we see here this man who's not only twice removed from Israel being a Gentile being a leper he's actually three times removed because he's a vile enemy of Israel notice naman the command a commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria and he was excuse me he was also a mighty man of Valor but a leper so we see that he is in fact a great man he is a man of renown he is a man of power the Lord by him grants victory to Syria it is intriguing naman did not acknowledge the God of Israel naman did not acknowledge that his victory came as a result of the God of Israel but nevertheless the author tells us everything that happens in this world is under the power and control of the God of Israel so the Lord in here his sovereignty raises up this naman raises up the nation of Syria and grants them victory at this particular time in the history of the world Davis again says Yahweh the text implies controls Syrian politics and foreign affairs I think that's an encouraging thing for us to meditate upon at least for a moment because we live in a nation we live in a world scene where oftentimes it amazes us at the ineptitude and the downright wretchedness and wickedness of our civil leaders we see them engaging in lies and deception and and all manner of wickedness and godlessness and it can provoke the people of God to fret and to fear and to live with great trepidation but we need to see that behind the scenes there is a sovereign God working out all things according to his own purpose and plan that's what providence is he governs all his creatures and all their actions for his glory for the execution of his plan so the text implies that God controls Syrian politics and foreign affairs God is no small-time director of an Israelite ghetto not some mascot of a little Jewish club here is the God of Psalm 24:1 Yahweh is both God of the church and Lord of the world yahweh draws near to his people but that does not mean he allows pagans to run around unsupervised so the Lord God is behind the victory of Syria again the gravity of his problem is highlighted in that small statement he was also a mighty man of Valor but a leper this is not a good thing for a military commander it is a terrible disease now notice the exercise of God's providence this Syrian I'm sorry this Israelite servant girl notice in verses 2 to 4 the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel remember that last week we saw that God is the god of nameless we don't know this girl's name we just know that she's a young girl we know that she is a servant to naimans wife we know that she was of a faithful Israelite family and we know that because she has confidence that if naman meets up with Elijah then Elijah will be able to heal naman so she understood something of who God is she understood something of who God's prophet is and she understood that if these two men came together then it would be proved beneficial to naman this leper as well we ought to consider the fact that she had been a part of the family and she had been captured she had been taken out of her family she had been removed from her land she had been enslaved to naimans wife matthew henry makes the observation the unhappy dispersing of the people of god has sometimes proved the happy occasion of the diffusion of the knowledge of god this is probably not the way we would want to see syria evangelize this is probably not the way that we would want to see naman convert it we wouldn't want it to be the case that a poor young girl is taken captive taken out of her family out of her land into the home of a pagan but this is God's way God makes the the crooked thing straight God takes a terrible situation and brings good from it God is sovereign in his providence and he works in the life of this little girl to bring naman to Israel's God and so we see here an illustration of something else that chapter 4 sets forth remember that God is the god of the big stuff in chapter 3 there is a rebellion by Moabite and so Israel goes to battle against them God grants victory to Israel over the Moabite rebellion that's big stuff that is you know huge affairs that is things that affect nations but God is the God of the small stuff the insignificant the nameless ones the no bodies and we see that going on in this particular chapter naman is a big stuff sort of a thing and then we see this little servant girl this small stuff sort of a thing and God uses the one-two bring about blessing for the other notice in verse three she said to her mistress if only my master were with the Prophet who is in Samaria for he would heal him of his leprosy she had confidence she had faith she understood who God was she didn't see Elijah as a magical sort of a man she saw him as a prophet of the living and the true God so with reference to naman and with reference to this little girl he is a Syrian she is an Israelite he is a great and honorable mighty man of Valor she is a young girl so God's providence works he works in this way to show us his power and his excellence he is a commander of the army of the king of Syria she is a captive servant he is famous for his military savvy she's just another nameless nobody on the pages of Holy Scripture so God works through this little girl's testimony to bring naman to Israel's God notice in verse 5 this the king of Syria sends a letter to the king of Israel and that and then Elijah is loaded up I'm sorry not Elijah but naman is loaded up with a whole host of riches you see in his religion this is how you've got your blessing so you got your benefits you grease the palm of the deity and you got your wish sort of like blow out the candle and make a wish and then good things will come if we don't blow out the candle is it not going to happen there's there's a means there that we have to employ in order to get the blessing or to get the wish granted same thing with throwing a penny into the wishing well that's how the pagan deities operate you greased their palms you'd do something specific you pay their profits and out comes your blessing and so he's loaded up with all of these riches in order to pay off israel's prophet and in order to get the stuff that he wants no the letter is sent to the king of israel the king of israel according to verse 6 gets this letter this is joe harem this is the the king joe harem and note his response in verse 7 it happened when the king of israel read the letter tore his clothes and said oh my god to kill and make alive that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me Joe harms got a bit of self interest here he doesn't want to quarrel with Syria there might be a truce at this particular time between Israel and between Syria and he doesn't want to rock the boat he doesn't want to shake things up but note the contrast the little girl has great faith in the Living God and the Prophet whom he uses the king has no faith the King is destitute of faith the king does not believe for a moment that Nieman's going to actually get healed when he comes to Israel he is fretful he is fearful he doesn't want to engage in a squirt of skirmish with Syria and then note Elijah's response well let's just move on I'm sorry verse 8 so it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel a tour has closed that he sent to the king saying why have you torn their clothes please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel oh I just got faith the little girl's got faith the king of the covenant community does not have faith all over East baa Elijah's descendent are nothing to worry about I got nothing to prove I don't have anything to be fearful of I am the prophet of the Living in the true God he's not arrogant he's not callous he's not bold he's not self-promoting but he believes in the true and living God and he knows that if God is orchestrating this particular event then it is the case that he must make contact with naman and that brings us secondly to the healing of naman in verses 9 to 19 note the instruction by Elisha naman shows up at Elijah's house now this is probably not what Neiman's used to name ins the commander of the army of Syria he probably has a palace he has enough on his donkeys and with his retinue to finance the prophets operation until the day that he dies I'm not I'm guessing that Elijah's house wasn't a palace it probably he wasn't that big and that impressive it was probably more akin to a hot and so he pulls up outside and note what Elijah does according to verse 10 Elijah sends a messenger to him saying Elijah doesn't even go to him and that irritates naman and I'm gonna just cut to the quick and tell you why this is I think it's because this is what naman expected naman expected the Prophet himself he says as much naman expected some prophetic razzmatazz he says as much and when the Prophet sends out his messenger naman feels slighted but I think that the reason why Elijah does that is to teach naman a most important lesson it's not the power of the Prophet it's not the presence of the Prophet it's not the razzmatazz of the Prophet it is the god of the Prophet that you need to take heed to it is the God of Israel that you need to come into contact with it is the the Lord Most High the true and the Living God so he gives him this information the messenger does verse 10 Elijah to the messenger he sent a messenger to him saying go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean now verses 11 to 13 highlight the fury of name and he expects the Prophet I mean come on I'm the commander of the army of Syria you're gonna send out your messenger I'm the commander of the army of Syria we've been given great victory over the past little while I'm like the the head honcho and in all of Syria and you're gonna slight me by sending out this messenger he is furious notice verse 11 naman became furious he went away and said indeed I said to myself he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy he expected prophetic razzmatazz he expected something like Benny Han he expected that sort of push of the hand and the person's fall down under the great weight of the miraculous power of the prophet of God this is what he wanted this is what he came to expect this is all he understood with reference to the gods of Syria you primed the pump you grease the palm and out pops the blessing it is an unfortunate reality that much of Christianity today has more in tune with or is more akin with that Syrian theology than the theology of Israel the Lord our God is not manipulated the Lord our God is not coerced the Lord our God is not paid off in order to produce blessings the Lord our God is a free sovereign most glorious being who is full of mercy who is full of grace who is full of kindness but he will not be treated like some pagan deity that if we just say the right things if we just exercise the right religious formula then out will come our blessing no that is not the God of heaven and earth that is not the God that we worship we worship the true and living God naman expected far more pomp and show for such a one as him notice in verse 12 are not the abana and the far par the rivers of damascus 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 it was an offense to him and may I suggest there is a parallel here with the gospel there is a parallel with the gospel you see the gospel is not go out and try harder and God will be so pleased with your efforts that he will receive you unto himself that's not offensive is it that's what we expect just do your best try harder the offense comes when we tell all men everywhere that they are wicked depraved miserable wretch he'll deserving sinners if that doesn't offend them this next step most certainly does the only way of salvation is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ you see sinners are offended by that you mean I I don't just need to clean up a few things in my life I don't need just a bit of moral reform I don't need to just add a little bit of religion to my life and make everything hunky-dory it's an offense doesn't Paul tell us that in 1st Corinthians 1:18 225 isn't the cross offensive the Jews seek after signs and the Greeks seek after wisdom but what do we do Paul says we preach Christ and him crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to those of us who are being saved Christ the wisdom and the power of God the message of the gospel is an offense to the carnal man it's an offense to persons to hear that wretched how the serving sinners are actually going to go to heaven when the people of the world see the conduct of world lanes that outshine some Christians they just can't get their heads wrapped around the fact that that very upright morally good sort of pagan is going to go to hell and sometimes Christians who can be unfortunately pretty you know dismal abysmal is that the word just not that great when it comes to good works is gonna go to heaven that's offensive isn't it I don't know what circles you travel in but I often hear the words or people say well that's not fair unfair that somebody could go to heaven after having done this I had a conversation this week and the fellow said you know what if somebody killed all these people and he pointed to specific shootings that had transpired in the last couple of of months and he said if they if they believe the gospel if they repent would they be saved yes I don't have any reason to suspect that those particular men did but yes doesn't that offend it's just not I mean a guy who does wretched things ought to go to hell that's fair well grace Brethren is amazing it's not necessarily fair if we got fair we'd all be in hell we'd all be suffering under the wrath and judgment and fury of God naman is offended because certainly there's something I could do there's better waters I could dip in to commend myself to Yahweh and the same is true in the new covenant era men do not like the breaching of the cross it is an offense to them and last by the grace of God God gets ahold of them and shows that that it's a most blessed wonderful and beautiful thing what was once an offense has become a joy a blessing a great encouragement to God's people one man comments with reference to naman he expected Israel's God and prophet to be just like what he had known at home hitching palms and magic shows he had brought plenty of money and so he expected the Prophet to deliver on the magic naman wanted vending-machine grace put your money in and take out your blessing the Prophet was expected to it appear except the pay and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy you see why I say that there is some of that extent in the Christian Church today I did the right things God I I went to church I read my Bible I paid my tie so you need to make sure that I get that promotion at work brethren we are not serving bail we're not serving tomash we're not serving Molech we're not serving at the temple of riemann we are not in that kind of a barter system with our God we are absolutely constantly positively dependent upon his grace and I can think of no better place to be brethren Elisha sends his servant and had namin go to the Jordan far from the Prophet himself so that when naman is healed it isn't the power of the Prophet it's the power of the prophets God again a connection with the New Covenant what does Paul say concerning gospel treasure where does God deposit it he puts it in earthen vessels so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of men you know who the earthen vessels are in that context it's men called to the gospel ministry it's men gifted by God to be preachers of the word it's men who are crackpots it's men who are not angelic beings it's men who go through sorrow and trial and affliction and difficulty and hardship it's men who have the same sorts of burdens that everybody else has and God takes gospel treasure puts it into those broken vessels and those men preach that gospel treasure and when God applies that message the excellence of the powers of God and not of man he never said it's because of that preacher because of Ch Spurgeon it's because of John Piper it's peak it's because of the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ that we have anything gospel ministers who are faithful can be useful they can certainly be helpful they can certainly be beneficial but at best they are crackpots entrusted with gospel treasure so that when that gospel treasure is received by sinners God gets the glory that's why Elijah does what Elijah does now remember I said that oftentimes God works through small things note verse 13 we ought to be thankful for servants in the book of books of first and second Kings servants more often than not saved the day servants more often than not speak wisdom to Israel's Kings and hear to Syria's commander verse 13 his servants came near and spoke to him and said my father if the Prophet had told you to do something great would you not have on it how much more than when he says to you wash and be clean nameless nobody servants come to the rescue this is good sense this is common sense this is wisdom naman is furious naman is flown off in a rage name in his content to live with his repla leprosy all the rest of his years he is ready to go back he's ready to take his stuff the Prophet didn't want it the Prophet didn't do his razzmatazz the Prophet isn't treating me seriously he is not giving me the honor that is due my name and the servant said look it he told you to do something really difficult you'd have done it he's telling you to go and wash in the river Jordan yet really should go do that verse 14 we see the healing of naman and the conversion of naman verse 14 so he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan you know what that word is in the Greek he was he baptized he baptized seven times in the joy that doesn't mean he sprinkled a little bit of water if he poured a little bit of water he dipped into the water that's why we're Baptists because of naman at the river Jordan oh but it is interesting he went down and he dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean the narrator here is just beautiful naman is essentially pointed to salvation by a little child naman now dips in the River Jordan and his flesh is like a little child he is healed physically but even more importantly he is converted spiritually note first with reference to verses 15 to 19 his change of attitude he now refers to Elijah as your servant five times here is the guy that was full of rage and fury feeling ever slighted by the prophet Elijah now referring to himself as your servant to Elijah the prophet notice his confession of faith verse 15 he returned to the man of God he and all his aides and came and stood before him and said indeed now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel now therefore please take a gift from your servant this is the sort of confession that ought to make our hearts jump out of our out of our chest this is a Gentile an enemy of Israel a leper three times removed from the Commonwealth strangers to the covenants of promise one who had bowed down to idols confessing that God alone is the living and the true God this is a Rahab like confession this is a Ruth like confession this is ascribing oneself a one soul to the living and true God Ian probe and made this observation he says why has the event now that it has happened in the Jordan rather than outside Elijah's house made such an impression on him the point of the delay now becomes clear he had looked to the Prophet for a cure based on the words of his Israelite informant the way the cure has been wrought however has made it clear to him that Elijah's God is not simply a convenient metaphor for unnatural prophetic powers but a living being that's important Bale molap these were convenient metaphors for unnatural prophetic powers he goes on to say healing has not come via a semi magical wave of the prophetic and it has been delivered by the living Lord at a distance from the Prophet it is the directness of God's action that has convinced namin of God's reality and it was necessary to take him to the Jordan if he was to experience that directness ambiguity would have remained had Elijah been involved that's why Elijah in essence has nothing to do with this he is simply the means by which the instruction is given to the man so that he will go and dip in the Jordan and there fine the living and true God notice his gratitude toward God remember that threefold paradigm and the heidelburgh guilt grace gratitude you can always tell a converted sinner because they're now happy and thankful and that's what he does I mean remember that he brought all this dough in order to grease the palm of the Prophet to get what he wants he's gotten what he wants and now he wants to give the dough do you see the difference there one is a consequence and the other is a condition I've often thought that if the people of God understood the difference between a condition and a consequence everybody would be doing better in theology as a condition he brings this stuff in order to get as a consequence he gives this stuff because he has been healed this is gratitude and it's a great deal of gratitude when we consider the amount of stuff that he was going to give now Elijah refuses that verse 16 as the Lord lives before whom I stand I will receive nothing and he urged him to take it but he refused now I could imagine that some would come to this passage and say well we're not gonna pay the pastors in the church because after all filthy lucre is something that you should resist and you should reject the Scriptures tell us very specifically with reference to pastoral and you narration I suggest that Elijah here is teaching named in something that naman knew nothing of but God's grace really His grace this is why the greed of gauzy is condemned by Elijah at the end of the chapter jaha's II is undoing what has been done naman needs to appreciate that the God of Israel is not the gods of Syria where you give them something and then give you in return it's not a quid pro quo but God gives graciously God gives mercifully God gives expecting nothing in return I don't think this is a proof text to sort of suggest that never ever should anybody be compensated for pastoral ministry but rather Elijah the Prophet wants to underscore for this man how grace really is grace notice not only the gratitude of naman but we see his resolution in verse 17 again this is sort of the anatomy of a conversion isn't it aren't these steps something that we should see in the lives of God's people a change of attitude we are now servants to the Prophet a confession of faith he is the true and the Living God gratitude toward God this gift given to the Prophet and then the resolution of naman notice in verse 17 then if not please let your servant be given to mule loads of earth for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods but to the Lord what's he resolving there when I'm done on this visit I'm going back to Syria and when I go back to Syria I am no longer worshiping Syrian gods and Elijah can you do me a solid and let me take two mule loads of Israel dirt because I'm gonna bring that I'm gonna be in his front yard if he's gonna have a garden in the back but he's gonna put that Israel dirt there to maintain a connection to Israel's God and Israel's people it's not magic it's not special dirt it's a sign it's an emblem it's a symbol it's the bread it's the wine it's the water it's the earth that connects namin to his God and to God's people and then notice his sensitivity the sensitivity of naman in verse 18 now this is probably going to bother some I'm just gonna make that known at this point I don't have all the answers I'm gonna give the best explanation that I can and draw out hopefully a practical application but notice in verse 18 yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant now naman is a commander of an army naman works for the king the King hasn't dipped in Jordan the king hasn't come into saving contact with Yahweh the king is still a pagan the king is still a heathen the King still goes to the temple the King still bhau's before the idols naman with this sensitivity now is starting to think ahead naman is starting to see that there's going to be a problem with my newfound faith when I go back singing the praises of the God of Israel which he will he's nevertheless going to have to serve his master and notice what he says verse 18 yet in this thing may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the temple of Rieman to worship there and he leans on my hand and I bowed down in the temple of Rieman when I bowed down in the temple of Rieman may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing now riemann was a syrian version of bale as far as naman is concerned this is not a religious thing this is a matter of state this is a matter of trade now I know that some are gonna say well wait a minute if I start thinking this way then God will forgive me for being a prostitute no don't think that way don't take the passage and run it to some foolish ends matthew pool says this is not a religious action towards the idol but only a civil respect for his master but the thing about it is is that he is sensitive to it it already is providing some pangs of conscience it's already weighing heavily upon him as he thinks about when he leaves Israel loaded with those two mule loads of Israel dirt to go back to his home to set up his place where he can sacrifice and worship the true and living God he knows that my master is going to go to the temple and he's going to bow to remod and when my master does that my master leans on me in order to do that and I want to ask you Elijah if the Lord God of Israel will pardon me and will provide mercy and forgiveness and grace and notice what Elijah says in verse 19 he said to him go in peace so he departed from him a short distance isn't that intriguing you need to quit your job and move to Israel you need to renounce the fact that you're a commander of the Syrian army you need to go right in there and tell that King that Rimon is an idol and you're going to go to hell no he departs he lets him depart in peace I mean from a basic reading of the text it seems like Elijah's okay with this situation now two thoughts before we move to the greed of gauzy and that won't take us long so don't worry two thoughts the first is simple life is messy isn't it it's just not the case that people get converted they get to quit whatever bad job they have and they get ushered into a brand-new great job where they're surrounded by believers that doesn't happen typically I guess it could happen you might say but it happened for me good you're the exception to the rule for the rest of us life is messy difficulties are present we want everything tidy and controlled we want everything domesticated we don't want any questions of conscience that bother us to any degree whatsoever but this passage indicates naman indicates that when I go back I'm gonna be asked by the master to go into the temple and bow before Iman I am NOT doing it with religious significance I am doing it as a matter of state as a matter of profession to make sure that my boss kill me brethren we would like it to be the case that life was always about flowers and rainbows and no rain sunshine and a nice 70 degrees every single day it's just not that way it rains it snows there's muck there's dirt there's difficulty there's disease there's heartache there's hardship life is messy and as hard as we might try to tidy it up and to fix it and to legislate we're dogs not called us to legislate in order to make it tidy it's still a mess so that's what last lesson I think we ought to appreciate life is messy I don't mean appreciate it like wow great life is messy but appreciate it in the fact that life's messy you got to deal with that but the second practical thought is that he is sensitive about it he is concerned about this situation that's not true of Johor 'im he could care less the very king of the covenant community could care less about what the Lord God Almighty thinks about it he could care less about bowing before idols he could care less about bowing before bale are they the calves of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he does not care one whit and neither does the bulk of Israel they're not sensitive they're not thinking in terms of Yahweh this newly converted naman however is sensitive and he is thinking in terms of Yahweh that's always a good sign that the grace of God is at work and the hearts of men because they're now sensitive to questions of conscience and they may seek help in dealing with those things listen to Davis he says the fact is that Elijah sent naman off in peace and didn't seem overly concerned about the matter perhaps because naman was miles ahead of scores of Israelites note positively what verse 18 shows it shows a sensitive conscience here is a man who feels the rub between his exclusive allegiance to Yahweh and the expectations of his workplace and it bothers him would that Bethel visiting or Bale kissing Israelites were bothered like this would that they could have have the uneasy conscience of this Gentile would that apparent inconsistencies drove them to seek pardon in the grand scheme of things what name in this place here is a whole lot better than what anybody in Israel is it is displaying so life is messy let's look quickly and finally at the greed of gauzy and you ought to appreciate the contrast between the converted pagan verses 15 to 18 and the perverted Israelite in verses 20 to 26 this is a commentary not only on the facts and the namings in the series and all of those sorts of things but on the religious life of Israel the servant of the Prophet is a perverted Israelite we've just seen the conversion of a pagan know his desire in verse 20 Ghazi the servant of Elijah the man of God said look my master has spared name in the Syrian while not receiving from his hands what he brought but as the Lord lives I will run after him and take something from him you kind of get the process that Ghazis going through here well I should did you see what he brought did you see how much stuffy and I cannot believe Elijah wouldn't have taken that cannot believe that Elijah for services rendered mind you wouldn't avail himself of the loot of Syria after all Syria's our sworn enemy we're probably just taking back what is rightfully ours anyway jaha's he is driven by greed filthy lucre has control over this man's heart notice his deception in verse 22 verse 21 Ghazi ron's makes contact when a man a man says is all well verse 22 and he said all is well my master has sent me saying indeed just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments this is a flat-out lie this did not happen Gazi is trying to work name it or manipulate a man into giving money to cover these two unnamed prophets it is deception now naman again I think consistent with his gratitude toward Yahweh says please take two talents of take two talents and he urged him and bound two talents of silver and two bags with two changes of garments handed them over to two of his servants and they carried them on ahead of him when he came to the Citadel he took them from their hand and stored them away in the house then he let the man go and they departed so we see now he is very very much in control or being controlled by the love of money jaha's he got what he wanted and now he has to confront the prophet notice in verse 25 now he went in and stood before his master Elisha said to him where did you go Ghazi now we the reader know what's happening here right this is that God to Adam in the garden who told you you could eat or or who ate from the tree this is God investigating them for the purpose of damned confess it for the purpose of them blaring it out same thing here with Elijah we know that he knows but Ghazi doesn't know so go continues to lie your servant did not go any where then he said to him did not my heart go with you and the man turned back from his chariot to meet you is it time to receive money and to receive clothing olive groves and vineyards sheep and oxen male and female servants he's talking about all the stuff that no doubt Nahas he's going to buy it's gonna go to Costco he's gonna load up it's gonna be a big day he is going to score because he's taken this money via deception from name in the prof from name in this pen that has been converted unto the Lord Jesus Christ so before we end on what Elijah does with reference to Gaza why the fuss why the problem shouldn't the Prophet get a little kick back for his services shouldn't the Prophet gain a little bit because he gave that valuable advice to go and to dip in the Jordan gave us again says why was Elijah so adamant about refusing naimans gift doubtless because he wanted to impress upon naman that Yahweh is a God of grace one doesn't bribe manipulate or cajole Yahweh like pagans do their gods Yahweh doesn't forever have his hand out looking for a payoff Yahweh is simply a giftie God and then dillard comments on why what Ghazi did was so bad it was because Ghazi was undoing what God had done God wanted naman to know his free grace but Ghazi was trying to put a price on the goodness of God the God of Israel did not accept bribes he would not be manipulated by money or make room for human pride his grace was free jaha's II was implying otherwise and it would be at a great cost to him that's the problem the text is not telling us it's always wrong to give somebody in the prophetic ministry or in the pastoral ministry a goat or a ham or a chicken or you know shoes that's not the point of the passage jaha's II is showing something that is untrue of Israel's God Gahan Z is underscoring by his wickedness that Israel's God is just like all the other gods that can be bought paid for manipulated bribed and whatnot this is the reason for the great judgment that comes upon him notice in verse 27 therefore the leprosy of name--and shall cling to you and your descendants forever and went out from his presence presents leprous as white as snow Matthew Paul says this was not too severe he had it coming to him by giving this message concerning Israel's God he now reaped the judgement that at one time belonged to naman Oh brethren that is the exposition just a couple of thoughts and then we'll close first of all the theological lessons of this passage are manifold God has comprehensive absolute unrivaled unparalleled unparalleled sovereignty he is sovereign over Syrians he is sovereign over Israel he is sovereign over servant girls he is sovereign over disease both in blessing by removing it and in cursing by imposing it on Ghazi certaintly the Providence of God is an amazing reality this servant girl who is taken on a syrian raid becomes the means by which god's grace comes to naman i bet when naman got home that night he looked at that servant girl a whole lot differently i'm sure he gave her a hug and a kiss and thanked Yahweh that she was now in his home one small serving girl points this man to the living in the true God thirdly we ought to appreciate the inclusion of a Gentile in the Covenant promises of God Nathe naman was removed from the Commonwealth of Israel but he's been brought nigh through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we see the power of God's grace in verses 15 to 18 go dip in the Jordan seven times and you will be cleansed believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be cleansed that's the power of grace it's not what you do it's what Christ has done it's not what you can perform or Merit it's what Jesus has done and when we by God's grace look to him we live that is the exercise or the execution of the power of God's grace and then secondly we to appreciate the gospel significance of this particular section we ought to appreciate the humbling effect of God's grace the humbling effect of God's grace doesn't it humble naman I mean a man's upset how dare you offend me by not sending they're not coming out yourself the gospel is designed to humble men the gospel is designed to lay us alone at the foot of the cross the gospel is not designed to promote ourselves or to be puffed up or to be arrogant or prideful one of the most unfortunate realities is proud Calvinists or proud reformed people we ought to be the most humble when we understand the doctrines of grace who of us should go on Facebook flexing our intellectual muscle and demonstrating our pride and just bow before the Lord Jesus Christ that's with the gospel lot to promote we ought to appreciate the simplicity of God's grace he doesn't say go do this go do that go do this and then pay the prophet and everything will be fine no dip in the river Jordan same as in the New Covenant look to the Lord Jesus Christ and then the thoroughness of God's grace he is washed clean his flesh is like the flesh of a little child he then confesses his faith he then expresses gratitude toward God he then shows consequentially a desire to give he shows this sort of sensitivity with reference to the reality that is his life his messy life this is a thorough work of the grace of God in the heart of a sinner if you ever wonder what it looks like to be converted look at name it if you ever wonder what it looks like to be a genuine believer look at Damon if you ever wonder what it's like to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ look at name it you will confess Christ as Lord and Savior by God's grace when when when you do that and he receives youth help gratitude you won't come and sing hymns as if it's some sort of a death march for you it'll be a joyful thing to praise God it'll be a joyful thing to lift up your voices one of the things I appreciate about our church is that people sing me a terrible thing if people didn't sing now probably all of us could sing louder and saying you know with more oomph and unction and earnestness but how depressing or wretched as a church where nobody's lifting up their voices and praise to God how terrible God saved us he calls us to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs on the Sabbath day to him we're gonna just you know mutter it out will scream at a TV set when somebody makes a goal in hockey and we won't actually open our mouths to confess the glory of God and song shame on us if that's our attitude gratitude brethren that is always evidence of a conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ resolution you know you may come to the Savior and you may have laughed various idols this resolution of name and is seen in the reality that I will no longer sacrifice to any other gods there is one true and living God so what is involved here is something of repentance leading off the old and putting on the new all of this is typical of New Covenant salvation and as well it is typical of God's judgment against Israel this is the other example in Luke's Gospel in chapter 4 when Jesus in Deitz the generation that was in Israel at his day there were many widows in Israel but Elijah went to the widow in Zarephath there were many many lepers in Israel but God had dealings with name and that was a word of judgment upon the people in that synagogue in Luke chapter 4 brethren let us rejoice that God is indeed not only the god of Elijah and Elijah but naming the Syrian let us pray father we thank you for your word we thank you for the clarity of this passage read from a new covenant perspective we see it as genuine conversion to Israel's God and how we pray and asked that these things would be true in our own hearts that we would express that sort of gratitude that we wouldn't express that sort of resolution and repentance and and single-minded devotion to the God of heaven and earth and that we would Express as well a sensitivity to questions of conscience give us grace Lord to put into practice the things that your word calls us to go with us now watch over us bless and encourage each of our hearts strengthen us with might and the inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts richly through faith and how we thank you and praise you for a wonderful weekend we praise you for the events of yesterday we praise you for the events of today we praise you for your addition to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ another elder and we do look forward with great joy and anticipation to the planting of the church in Surrey we pray that you would be in this thoroughly that you would bless it thoroughly and that you would use this for your glory and we pray these things through Christ our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed