Hope From the Word

Bill Luebkemann: The world is full of people today who have this disease called sin. God says, "I'm offering a free cure. His name is Jesus Christ. All you have to do is put your faith in Him." The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent. So all you have to do— "Oh, I don't want to believe. I don't want to do it that way. I believe all roads lead to heaven." But sir, excuse me, that road does not go the way you want to go. It goes another way. "Oh, yes it does. Oh, yes it does." You hear that all the time. All roads lead to the same place. But that's not true.

Guest (Male): Welcome again to Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann from Calvary Chapel of Marlton. If you enjoy in-depth expositional Bible study, then you've come to the right place. We're currently going verse by verse through the Old Testament book of Second Kings. Today, we'll begin a look at chapter five. The book of Second Kings is filled with exciting tales of bravery and, most of all, good lessons for you and me on the importance of trusting God. Here's Bill Luebkemann to begin our study.

Bill Luebkemann: We are going to look at Second Kings chapter five tonight. The story of Naaman, commander of the army of Syria, which was an enemy of Israel. In fact, Jewish legend has it that this guy Naaman was actually the guy that fired off the arrow that killed King Ahab. It's not in the Bible, but Jewish legend says he was a part of the enemy. This story would seem to be occurring during a time of relative peace between their lands.

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the King of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Here's a guy risen to this high position. He was the commander of the entire army. And it wasn't just any old army; it was a mighty army, an army that had defeated Israel. This guy was the commander of the whole kit and caboodle.

He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded. As you look through the Bible at different people who were called great men, it's hard to find too many who were not Jews who were referred to by this phrase. His master thought very highly of him. He was highly regarded by his troops. They appreciated his leadership in the army. They probably did what they were told when they went out fighting for him, and he brought them victory.

In fact, it was the Lord that had given him the victory. It says because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. So the Lord had put this guy in this position. Perhaps the purpose was to chasten Israel. Nevertheless, even though they were an enemy, this guy was great. The Lord had put him there, and through him the victory had come to his nation.

Valiant describes this man. He was a soldier of soldiers. He rose to the top, no doubt by working at it. He just had this one small problem: he had leprosy. Leprosy was a bad disease in those days. It's a nasty disease now, but it can be stopped now. It can't be cured, but they have drugs now to prevent it from getting worse. But back in those days, it was surely fatal.

It started out as little dots on your skin, little red dots, and then eventually turning into white splotches. Eventually, it would grow and get into different parts of you, making your hair fall out, your eyebrows even, getting into your joints, making them come apart. Eventually, your fingernails and toenails would become loose and fall out. Your eyes become swollen and sunken, and your lips shriveled up. Your jaw would become disfigured and unable to hold the teeth, and one by one, you'd lose your teeth.

Your whole body would fall apart, like some alien disease on Star Trek. But it took a while, took a toll, and it was highly contagious. So lepers were shunned, kept away from the rest of the people many times. I don't know how things were done in this other country, but this guy, a valiant soldier, probably could have anything he wanted. If he wanted to get a pay raise, he could probably get a pay raise from his boss. He probably could have all the cars and flat-screen TVs and chicks that he could get his hands on. Nothing limiting him. He probably had money, was loaded, wealthy, famous guy. Just one problem: he has this disease, and it's going to kill him, and there's no cure in his own land.

Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So you see, there was still some hostility going on. You get the impression as we read through this story that it was a time of relative peace, but they were still feuding with each other and raiding parties from Aram were going out and raiding Israel from time to time, sort of like what seems like what's going on over there now, except now they launch missiles into Israel. Back here, they had to do it on foot.

This young girl was taken captive. No doubt her family missed her dearly. No doubt it was a tragedy that she was taken. I don't know if her family was even killed or left alive. The Bible doesn't say. It doesn't even say what her name was. But here's a young girl that was schooled in the ways of the Lord. Here's a family, whoever they were, they didn't forget to teach this girl.

I think it's amazing because in the land of Samaria, there wasn't much faith in the Lord. So these raiding parties were going out, bringing back some people, and they happened to capture this young girl who has faith in the Lord. They could have captured any one of a number that did not have faith, but they captured one who did. We know the northern kingdom, Samaria, was destitute, Israel. It was destitute as far as its faith was concerned. It was broke. Its bank account was empty. There was no faith there to speak of.

But here's a family that had faith, and they taught it to this young kid. So she was acquainted with who the Lord was, and she knew about the powers of miracles. Here she is, one commentator I read called her a sort of a forced missionary. Here she is serving in another land, and she could have said, "I hope he dies. They got me here as a slave. I hope your husband gets everything he has coming to him. I hope he drops dead. That'll be judgment on him. That's what he deserves. He deserves judgment for bringing me here as a slave."

That disease is probably God's judgment, and he's probably going to die from it, and praise God, I hope he does. That's what she could have said, but she doesn't. Notice her disposition, still willing to share about the Lord with these people who are holding her captive. I'm reminded of First Timothy 6:1, "All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect." Why? "So that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered."

Here she was, a slave herself, but she hadn't even read the New Testament; it hadn't even been written yet. But she was giving a testimony for the Lord, sharing gratefully and telling to her mistress, Naaman's wife, "Gee, you know, there's a prophet down in Samaria, and if Naaman would just see him, he could be healed. He'd get rid of his leprosy. He'd be cured."

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. "By all means, go," the King of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the King of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the King of Israel read, "With this letter, I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

The king who Naaman works for, the King of Aram, obviously thought that the guy down in Israel must be worshipping the God, the same God of the prophet, right? There's a prophet down there in Israel, and so the king must be worshipping the same God. They must all be worshipping. This king here didn't know that the prophet who had this ability to communicate with God was really estranged from the kingdom.

The king in Israel wasn't really walking with the Lord. He didn't have a relationship to speak of. The prophet Elisha wasn't welcome down at the palace. He didn't get invited when they had the pageant at the palace. Elisha wasn't on the guest list. He didn't get Christmas cards. Well, they didn't send out Christmas cards before Christ; you know that. But he didn't get Easter— well, they didn't have Easter cards either. What kind of cards did they have? Whatever they had, he didn't get.

So Elisha was not on their mailing list. But the King of Aram didn't know that. He's thinking to himself, "Look, there's a prophet down there who can do this, so I'll just send you to the king because they probably all know who this is, probably all have this ability." It's easy to fool people into thinking that you have a relationship with the Lord. It's easy to talk the talk and pretend like you're walking the walk. It's harder to live it.

This King of Israel, maybe he fooled some people. Maybe he fooled some of his enemies. The Lord had given Israel some victories even though they really weren't really walking with Him. And so this king here sends Naaman off. You can see Naaman is very important to this guy. He's his right-hand man as much as anybody. He's brought him great victory. This king really wants to see Naaman cured, healed, cleansed.

So much so he sends all this stuff, ten talents of silver. A talent was something like 70 pounds or 100 pounds or something. So we're talking about somewhere around a third of a ton or a half of a ton of silver and six thousand shekels of gold. I have no idea how much that is except I'm sure it's plenty. And ten sets of clothing. This was not the same kind of clothing you buy at the gap where they have plenty in stock. Back then, it was obviously worth more.

He took this letter to the King of Israel asking that he heal his servant. Now the King of Israel doesn't take this too well. As soon as the King of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he's trying to pick a quarrel with me?"

This King of Israel, Jehoram at this point, this guy is all messed up here. He thinks that the King of Aram is trying to pick a fight with him. He thinks he's trying to pick a quarrel, start a war. "If I don't heal this guy, he's going to send troops in here and we're going to have a battle. Next thing you know, he's going to be trying to take over the whole land. But how am I going to heal the guy? What's he think I'm God? What a crazy request! He might as well ask for all my gold and all my silver. At least I could give him my gold and my silver. How am I supposed to heal a guy?"

But this king, right under his own nose, he has a prophet living in his own land that could easily ask the Lord for this miracle. He just doesn't know it. Well, he knows it. He doesn't have a relationship there. He's not a friend of this prophet. He's kind of disowned him. This king has been doing what's wrong in the sight of the Lord. So the idea never occurs to him. Or if it does occur to him, he doesn't say it. Or if he does say it, he thinks, "Well, I'm not welcome down at Elisha's house."

Instead, he flies off the handle here, gets all upset, tears his robes and says, "This guy's trying to pick a fight with me. How am I supposed to do that? He might as well ask me for the moon and the sun and the stars while he's at it." When Elisha, the man of God— somehow the word got over to Elisha, the prophet. He heard about it. When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the King of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." Elisha hears about this and he says to the king, "What'd you go doing a fool thing like that for, tearing perfectly good robes? Just send the guy over to me. That's my department. You the king, I'm the prophet. You fight the battles, I call on the Lord. Why didn't you think of that?"

Well, the king doesn't really have a relationship with this prophet and doesn't really have a relationship with the Lord. Elisha says, "Have the man come over to me and he'll know. He will know beyond a shadow of a doubt." This miracle is done so that it would be known that there's a prophet in Israel. If there's a prophet, there has to be a God, because a prophet is only as good as the God on whose behalf he speaks.

So the word will go out. There's a prophet in Israel, there's a God there. The God speaks through this prophet. This guy is powerful; he can work miracles. Somehow God had it in His mind that this guy Naaman was going to have some kind of a relationship with Him. I think this guy Naaman will be in heaven. I don't know about his boss.

So Naaman went and they all stopped down at the door of Elisha's house. But Elisha snubs the poor guy. He don't even come out. Now that's often Elisha's style, by the way. He was always delegating things. Naaman didn't have any way to know that. Elisha wanted the miracle to be about God and not about himself.

So Elisha sent a messenger out to him and said, "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to go down to the Jordan River and you're going to wash yourself seven times there in the Jordan River, and poof, your flesh is going to be restored and you're going to be cleansed. That's all you gotta do."

He stood up, this important guy, the commander of all the army of Syria, perhaps the second most powerful guy up there. He came and he's outside of this guy's house and this guy won't even answer the doorbell. He sends a messenger out. Perhaps it was his servant Gehazi who we're going to see in a little while here. Maybe it was his maid, maybe it was one of his kids. The Bible doesn't say he had kids. He sent someone out.

"Yes, sir, who is it, please? Oh, Naaman. Yes, go down to the river and wash off, please. Would you like fries with that?" Now Naaman's not too happy about this. But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

In other words, he stormed off. This guy was really ticked. He was unhappy. He had this idea God's going to do it a certain way. God's going to heal me and He's going to do it a certain way. I've got this idea in my head that God's going to go about it, and he better go about it this way. He's going to come out here and he's going to stand and maybe he'll dance around a little bit. Then he's going to call in the name of his God and wave his hand and maybe some hocus pocus and abracadabra even and maybe it'll get dark out and some lightning and maybe some incantation. Maybe he'll set up some icons and candles even. God's going to work this certain way.

God says, "Just go down the river and wash it off." That blows his mind. He doesn't want to get healed that way. He wants to get healed the way he wants to get healed. You know, the world is full of people today. They have this disease called sin. God says, "I'm offering a free cure. His name is Jesus Christ. All you have to do is put your faith in Him."

"Oh, I don't want to believe. I don't want to do it that way. I believe all roads lead to heaven." But sir, excuse me, that road does not go the way you want to go. It goes another way. "Oh, yes it does. Oh, yes it does. I'm just going around the world, but I'm still going to get to the same place. It's just a long way." You hear that all the time. All roads lead to the same place.

Somebody told me not too long ago there's all these bridges across the Delaware River; they all lead to Philadelphia. You can take any bridge you want and still get to Philadelphia. Her point was there's all different ways to get to heaven. Being an expert on bridges of how to get to Philadelphia and crossing every one of them numerous times each month, I could have argued the point that they all take you to different parts of Philadelphia, some more desirable than others. Depending on if you want to go to the airport or to Northeast Philly, one bridge or another may not be practical. Her point, of course, was it doesn't matter how practical; you still get to your destination.

But that's not true. No other river was going to cure this guy of his leprosy. No other Savior is going to cure you of your disease called sin except for Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven by which a man may be saved. This guy here thought he had God figured out. "He is going to heal me and he's just going to come out and jump around a little bit and poof, I'm going to be cleansed."

When he gets these instructions, he is really ticked. "Man, I could have stayed home. We got rivers at home. I didn't need to come here. I could wash in one of them." Well, excuse me, but did you try that? If they're just as good, why didn't you try that? How come you're still a leper? Lots of good questions to ask this guy.

He turned away and went off in a rage. Now his servants were smarter than he is, and they're just his servants. He employed quality servants, this guy did. You have to give him credit for that also. Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'?"

So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. Look, his servants had to talk some sense into him. They said, "You know, if he had told you to do some complicated thing, go to the nearest hilltop. Better yet, scale the highest mountain on a sunny day when there's no clouds and sacrifice one thousand bulls to the God of Israel. Then when you're done sacrificing one thousand bulls to the God of Israel on a cloudless day, then come back and see me. Then we're going to give you some magic potion. You'll rub the magic potion on your earlobes. After it's been on your earlobes for twenty-four hours, then you'll wash it off with this special solution which can only be bought in a health food store."

He thought it would be something complicated. His servants said, "If it was something complicated, you would have rushed right out and done it immediately. So why not do this?" The guy woke up and said, "Yeah, I guess we came this far, we might as well. What's the big deal?"

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in a study of Second Kings. You can hear this message and more Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill's messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet. Or if you prefer to listen via podcast, you can find Hope From the Word wherever you find your podcasts.

We'd love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10:00 AM, and there's a Wednesday evening service at 7:00. To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton or just go to our website for the link at ccmarlton.org.

And if you'd take a moment to write to Pastor Bill, it would be such a blessing to us. We're thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives, and we want to pray for you too. Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We'll continue our study in Second Kings next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann, a presentation of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.