From Now On
Seeing the Sacred in the Secular

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All right, good morning, church. It’s good to see all of you here in person! Welcome to you that are watching online, as well. We’re in part two of our series, “Seeing the Sacred in the Secular.” We have this idea that we can often be moved by secular songs. We’ll hear a song that stirs us in a certain way. There’s a truth in the world that touches us because what’s true humanly still touches. You’ll hear a secular song and you’ll think, If only it went a little farther. Do you know what I’m saying?

Here’s the thing that that we’re realizing; we’re thinking about all truth is God’s truth. Even those people far from God are exposed to the truth of God through creation.

The book of Romans, chapter one, teaches that all of us are without excuse because we have creation itself that points to a Creator. We have what’s called General Revelation; all of us are exposed to a certain amount of truth. But , because we have God’s word, we have Special Revelation. We know, even deeper, what God wants to say about things.

In this series, we’re listening to secular songs. Maybe, you’ve never seen that happen at church before. It’s a way of addressing things that people far from God might be feeling and then helping them go and see the real truth that it’s pointing to today.

We’re entitling this message, “From now on.” The song, “From Now On,” might be a song you might not have heard . Some of you may have heard it. It comes from a musical in 2017 called, “The Greatest Showman.” It starred Hugh Jackman; he was depicting a historical figure, P. T. Barnum. Of course, they had some license there to tell the story the way they wanted to tell it. It’s about a real historical figure, P. T. Barnum.

The way the story goes, he kind of gets past what made him famous. He becomes more and more famous because of the circus, but then he falls. His heart goes toward this opera singer and he starts traveling with her. He leaves behind his wife and kids and all the people that made him what he was. He forgot them. But then, toward the end, it looks like he’s going to lose everything. The circus burns down, and that’s when this song happens in the story. He starts singing this song because he makes a decision. He’s hit rock bottom. It looks like he’s lost his family. It looks like he’s lost his business. He sings, From now on, these eyes will not be blinded by the lights. From now on, what’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight. He remembers what really matters. That’s the focus of the song.

A truth is there, isn’t it? So many of us do that. Have you ever done that? You have said, From now on, I’m not gonna lose my temper like that anymore. So, for those who have an anger problem, you’ve hurt your spouse or you’ve hurt your kids, you say, From now on, I’m not going to do that. Maybe you’ve had a problem with addiction with drugs or alcohol, and you say, Okay, from now on,I’m not going to do this anymore. Maybe you’ve become a workaholic, and you’ve forgotten to put your spouse and your kids on the calendar, and then, you start having some family problems. You start having some problems with your teenager or you start having some marital problems. You say, From now on…” and you kind of “draw a line in the sand.” It’s this idea that we think we can do this. We think we can say, From now on, but then if we do this, we run into a problem, don’t we? The problem is, wherever we go, there we are. You can’t get away from yourself. And so, you say, From now on, but then you can’t help yourself. You can’t change your own heart. You can’t make the change. You need help.

This song points to a need, but it doesn’t quite get to the solution. We’re going back home. We’re going back home, but the true home of our heart is to get a new heart through Jesus Christ. That’s the truth. That’s the true heart that God made us for Himself. If we want to be able to say, From now on, and make real life change, then we need help and we have to admit that we need help. God is our help. That’s the idea of the sermon today.

We’re going to be looking at a man. He was the general of the Syrian army. He was a man of great renown. He had great favor with his king. He was wealthy in every way.He had it all. His name was Naaman, The scripture says he was a leper. He had it all, but he was a leper. He makes this statement, he says, “From now on, I will worship the Lord God.” We’re going to look at what happens to this man, Naaman. As we look at the story, we will see that Naaman is a great man, but he is a leper who was healed of his leprosy because of his obedient faith.

I believe today, that when we express obedient faith, it can lead to salvation and cleanse us from our sinful leprosy because leprosy is like a symbol for our sin. Let’s look at the text today, and we’re gonna be looking at three steps for how obedient faith is saving faith.

2 Kings 5:1-19 (ESV) 1 “Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” 5 And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.Are 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, 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. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” 16 But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, take it, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD. 18 In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.” 19 He said to him, “Go in peace.” This is God’s word. Amen.

Have you ever heard a sermon on this story, from 2 Kings, about Naaman the leper? I’ve never preached this story before, so I’m excited to preach it to you. I say I’ve never, but I preached it at first service, so you’re getting the second time. But it’s the first time I’ve preached it. I might have talked through it before, but never preached it .

How to be saved by obedient faith in God’s Word: 1. Recognize your condition apart from Christ.

Naaman is a picture of you and me. He’s a picture of you and I. Elisha the prophet is a man of God and a picture of Christ. That’s how we’re going to unpack the story. Here’s what all of us should know. Listen to me for a second. Here’s how you understand the Old Testament. You read it through the lens of the New Testament and you look for Christ. You look for what the Old Testament story is telling me and revealing to me about Christ. Christ is the lens through which we understand scripture. I’m looking at this and I’m thinking, Okay, what can we learn about ourselves from Naaman?

Let’s unpack it. Let’s look at the first seven verses and think about who Naaman is. Look at verse one . It says Naaman was a commander of the army of the King of Syria. Okay, so right off the bat, we know he’s an enemy of Israel. He’s the commander. He’s the general of the Syrian army. Okay, He’s an enemy of God’s people. He was a great man with his master. In other words, he was great with the king. He had high favor. It even says that the Lord had given him victory. So God, the Lord had even used Naaman to discipline Israel. There was a sense where the Lord had already had His hand on Naaman. He was a mighty man of valor. And then, right at the end of verse one, we see that he is great, mighty, wonderful, wealthy and famous. But he was a leper. It’s kind of like this: he had it all, but he had a terminal disease that was killing him.

You see, leprosy, in Bible times, was incurable. It always led to death, a little at a time. Leprosy starts off in the blood, and so, it’s invisible. You might have it for years before it shows up, and then it begins to show up on the extremities, the fingers, the toes, the nose and the ears. It begins to kill the nerves, so then, you can’t feel if you get cut, burned or you hurt yourself and you don’t even know it. Little by little, the extremities begin to die, and the bloodstream has decreased. That part dies and begins to fall away. It’s an ugly disease; it smells and looks horrible. The person little by little is dying. It’s a picture, in the Bible, of sin. It starts out and no one can see it; it starts out in the bloodstream. Little by little, as days go by , it’s like the walking dead.

That’s what sin is like from the day we are born. There’s a day appointed, unto man, when he will die and, after that, the judgment. Death is already in us from the day we start. Aren’t you glad you came to church today? Aren’t you glad you’re watching online? Such encouraging words from the pastor. It is encouraging if you’ll understand your status and if you will understand your condition. We’ve said this before, “The beginning of healing is admitting you’re feeling.” You need to tell yourself the truth. You need to admit your condition.

Here’s Naaman; he’s a leper. He has everything going for him, but he’s a leper. And then, verse two says that he had captured a little girl on one of his raids to Israel. She is a little Israeli girl, a little Jewish girl and she’s a slave. Let’s picture this for a second: He’s as great as you can imagine and she’s as small as you can imagine. He’s big. She’s little, He’s a man. She’s a girl. He’s a great man. She’s a slave, He’s a Syrian and she’s a slave in Syria, from Israel. She’s lowly. He’s great. But she knows something he doesn’t know; she knows the Lord. Can you see her? She’s cleaning something off and talking to her boss’s wife, her master’s wife. And she says this, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” of Israel.” Here’s how you know that Naaman was in a desperate condition; when he heard that he responded to it. You never know. No matter how little you feel when you’re talking to your boss or somebody you think is more important than you, your grandparents or somebody and you wonder, How do I talk to them? They don’t know the Lord, but I want to talk to them. Just remember this little girl’s witness and how that was the beginning. Now, he doesn’t come to faith, but she sows the seed. Are you willing to just sow the seed?

Notice the little girl in her witness. She’s not influential, but yet she’s very influential. She plants the seed. What does Naaman do? He goes straight to the king. Naaman goes and tells his Lord. This is in verse four, 4 “So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” He repeated the whole story, and the king gave them permission and said, You know what I’ll do. I’ll write a letter to the King of Israel so you can come in in peace. And so, he writes a letter. It seems appropriate that he would go to the king and ask for permission and then get permission to go into Israel because he’s an enemy of Israel. So all of that seems to make sense.

But, as I’m thinking about it through the lens of the New Testament, I see a man that’s accustomed to using his power and influence to get what he wants. I see a man that thinks, Well, of course I’m going to get a letter from the King. Of course, I’m going to pack up a bunch of mules,camels and chariots with silver, gold and clothing so I can purchase this healing. Of course, I’m going to do this through my own effort. He gets a witness, but he’s not there yet. He is still high and mighty. He still thinks he can do it himself. He hasn’t quite understood his condition yet, but he will. He will before this story is over.

He goes with this letter to the king; he goes on a pilgrimage. Now let’s pop up this map. You all know I love maps. So here’s Damascus, Syria, way up here. 210 miles he travels on the witness of a little girl. Okay , ne’s desperate. So he goes from Damascus all the way down to Samaria, which is the capital of the Northern Kingdom. Because this is during the time when the Kingdom of Israel was divided between Israel and Judah, the capital of Judah was Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Samaria. So he’s going 210 miles and he gets all the way to Samaria. He gets there and gives that letter to the King of Israel and it freaks him out. The letter read that I sent my servant to you so you could heal him of leprosy. The king says, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?” Am I someone who can raise the dead? I mean, what in the world, you know, this is a terminal disease.

It would be as if you showed up with stage four brain cancer or something like that. You’ve tried everything in the world.

Verse 7 continues, “…Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” He’s trying to pick a fight with me is what he ultimately decides. He’s trying to quarrel with me so he has a reason to attack. He thinks it’s political.

Here’s the thing about the Northern Kingdom of Israel kings, none of them were followers of God. This king was probably one of the nicer ones, but even so, he forgot that Elisha was a prophet in his land. But Elisha heard about it, and that gets us to where we’re headed. But before I go there, let me look through the lens of the New Testament with you for just a minute.

Remember when I said that he was an enemy of God? He’s a general. Did you know that we are all enemies of God before we come to Christ because of our rebellion? That’s what sin is. Sin is not so much an action as it is an attitude of rebellion, that says “I will do it my way.”

Think about your own children. It’s easy for me to remember what my children said. As soon as we had our first child and he could speak in complete sentences, he said something like, I do it myself. There’s this attitude that we’re all born with; it’s called sin. The Bible calls it sin. It’s an attitude of rebellion that says, I will do it my way, not Your way, God. That’s what sin is. It begins as an attitude and it becomes an action. As a result, it is rebellion.

Here’s what says in Romans 5:10 (ESV) “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Notice that says, “while we were enemies.” Apart from Christ, we are enemies of God; we are in rebellion.

Notice this; we are already dead in our sins before salvation. Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV) “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” We are already dead in our sins. We are an enemy of God. We are dead in our sins. If we die in that condition, we will die apart from God. Our destination will be a future and eternity apart from God in a place that the Bible calls Hell. That’s why we need a Savior. Naaman’s seed has been planted, and he’s willing to go to great expense and get letters from the king. A lot of people will do anything. But then it’s often hard to do a little thing. That’s where we’re headed. People will do any great thing, but they often hesitate to do a simple thing.

The gospel comes at us and it assaults our senses; it assaults our intellect. It’s too simple. We want something more complicated. It’s too easy. It’s free because Someone else paid for it. If you look at this story through the lens of the new testament, you begin to see this.

Would you admit today, as Norman has admitted, that you have the leprosy of sin and that you need healing, you need to be made clean and you need something you can’t do for yourself? That’s the beginning. Here’s step two:

(2) Receive salvation through faith in Christ.

We’re going to unpack verses eight through 14. We’re at the midpoint of the story . We’re going to meet this man named Elisha. We haven’t heard about him yet, but here he is in verse 8, “But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” “Come now to me.” Does that sound familiar? It sounds familiar to me. “Come unto me.” I heard someone else say that in the New Testament.

Here’s what I want to say to you about Elisha. Do you know what his name means in Hebrew? The prefix, “El,” means God. You’ll see it at the beginning and often at the end of Hebrew names. In the name, Samuel, “el” is at the end. Here we have Elisha. The “El” means God and the “isha” is a shortened version of Yeshua, which, in Hebrew, is salvation. What does Elisha’s name mean? His name means, “God is my salvation.”

If we flip over to the New Testament, we have this Person that we worship and follow. He is the son of God, Yeshua, which in English we pronounce it, Jesus. The prefix comes from Jehovah or Yahweh, which is the covenantal name of God. There’s that “shua” again at the end. Yeshua, Jesus, it’s salvation. So, Elisha’s name means “God’s salvation,” and Jesus’ name means “God’s salvation.” What we have here is a clear typology, a foreshadowing. Elisha foreshadows and points to Jesus. Their names mean the same thing. The forerunner of Elijah was a man named Elijah. His name meant “God is Yahweh” or “The Lord is God.” He had both Yahweh and God in his name; he’s a forerunner. He prepared the way for Elisha.

Jesus tells us, in the New Testament, that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. You see the repetition. The Old Testament prepared, Israel prepared the Jews to recognize Jesus when He came and often gave them examples so they would know what to look for.

I have made the point that Elisha foreshadows Christ. So now, let’s look at him that way. He’s a man of God; he says, “Come to me,” just as Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 (NIV) 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Elisha said, Send him to me. Did you forget there was a prophet in Israel? The king sends Naaman to Elisha.

Naaman goes down there; he’s been getting the “runaround.” Let’s look back at the map just for a second. It’s kind of funny to me. He travels 210 miles down to Samaria, and then he has to go back to where Elisha lives. He had already crossed through there. Now, he’s got to go back there; he gets to Dothan and Elisha won’t even come to the door. Naaman gets all the way back down there; he’s got his chariots and all of his entourage. He knocks at the door and Elisha sends his messenger to the door to tell him what to do.

Elisha says, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” So, Naaman is angry. Now I have to go over here here to the River Jordan. That’s a lot of that’s a lot of traveling around. Do you see this? Great and mighty Naaman needs to come down. He needs to come down off of his high horse. He’s disappointed. He had an expectation of what this healing would look like. First of all, I didn’t think he thought he would get the runaround. Do you ever think like that? You are good all the way there. Then, when you get there you have to go somewhere else.

Naaman knocks at Elisha’s door. Well, the man didn’t even come to the door; this great, so called prophet didn’t even come to the door. How do we know this? Did I just make this up? No. Let’s look at what happens here. Naaman came with his horses, (verse nine) and his chariots. He stood at the door and Elisha sent a messenger saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” How does Naaman respond? In verse 11, “But Naaman was angry.” I can kind of understand that. He went away . 11 “But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.” Behold, I thought, in other words, he had in his mind an expectation of what healing, what salvation, would look like. He thought it would look like this. Maybe, like the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, getting struck blind for three days. Maybe lightning would hit him or maybe he would hear a voice from heaven. But, Elisha didn’t come to the door. Naaman thought that, surely, he would come out and stand. Surely, he would come out to me and call upon the name of his Lord God. Surely, Elisha would come out and say, Lord, God come down. Naaman thought he’d wave a hand over him. He had all of this in his head. But, Elisha didn’t come to the door. He sent a messenger.

Can you feel Naaman’s pain here? A little girl slave plant the seed, he finally gets there after all of this traveling and then another slave comes out to tell him the message. He keeps getting things told to him through people that are less than him. He gets told to go to the river Jordan and dip seven times; this assaults his intellect. All of this has assaulted his pride, his desire to do something great and to earn it. And now, this assaults his intellect. He goes to the river Jordan.

Some of you, that grew up singing hymns, do you remember singing hymns about the muddy Jordan? I’ve been there, and some of you have been there with me. I’ve baptized some of you in the river Jordan. It’s not as impressive as you would hope it would be. It’s just a river and it’s kind of muddy.

He says, in verse 12, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” Why didn’t you just say that’s all I had to do? Why did I have to come down here? I could have stayed home and dipped seven times in something cleaner than this. It’s too simple and that bothered him. It assaulted his intellect. It doesn’t make sense.

If we come across the Bible bridge and we come into the present, looking at the New Testament, some of us look at the cross and we think, I don’t get it. How does Jesus dying on the cross 2000 years ago affect me today? Okay, so I need to believe that and if I believe that I make Him Lord of my life. In other words, I say, Jesus, I’m going to put You in charge of my life. I believe that You died on the cross and were raised from the dead and that You live today and that it will cleanse me of the leprosy of my sin and I’ll be clean. I’ll have eternal life. Yeah, that’s it. But, that doesn’t make sense. What If I did this, what if I joined the church and got baptized and worked really hard? We want to do something great to earn it. What if I just be a good person and work really hard? From now on, I’m going to be a good person. From now on, I won’t do this, and from now on, I won’t do that. From now on, I’ll do…

No, it’s free. I can just believe it here. Our mind, our pride, our intellect…it tears it all down. This is what’s happening to Naaman; God is tearing him down before He can build him up. He’s got to get him down to where he really sees his need. He has some more servants talking to him. He had a little girl who planted the seed, he had the servant, Gehazi give him the message from Elisha. Now, he has his own servants talking to him.

Look at verse 13, 13 “But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” I mean, it seems like a simple thing; you should at least try it. He does; he goes down. You see, you have to godown before you can look up. He went down and he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan. I wonder if he looked at his leperous hands after dip one. It’s still there. Dip two. Nothing. Dip three, dip four, dip five… Maybe he’s looking up at his servants, and they’re all trembling, wondering, Oh boy, we talked him into it. Now he’s getting humiliated because it’s not working.

When he dipped the seventh time, he came up and the Bible says in verse 14, “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child.” He hadn’t looked that good in years; not only was he healed, he had flesh like a little child. He was clean. How is that different? He was purified. He was given a new heart. He was given a new way of thinking.

Gary, where are you getting that? We’re going to get to it. He was obedient. Obedient faith obeys the word of God.

It says in Romans 10:17 (ESV) “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So, we hear the Word, we hear the gospel, and then we have a decision about whether or not we will respond to it. You see, you can’t earn salvation. You can only receive it by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” It’s free, and the way you receive it is by faith, obedient faith. You believe the gospel, which is the good news that says Jesus died for your sins. He was raised on the third day. He lives today, and anyone who believes this and confesses Jesus as Lord will be saved. It seems too simple, but it’s true. And if you place your faith in it, it’s true.

The gospel and the Scriptures reveal the Word “to bring about” obedient faith. Romans 16:25-26 (ESV) “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation… according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.” Here is what happens: We hear it, and then something happens in our heart that says, I want to obey this. So, it’s faith in action; it’s not passive faith.

Some of you might be here and you’ve been praying that prayer at the end of the service every Sunday. You don’t feel any different. It might be because you are like Naaman. You are looking for a lightning bolt from heaven or a voice from heaven, instead of recognizing that He, first, wants you to go down and recognize it’s not going to look or feel like it needs to for you. Yes, some people actually do have a big occasion when they come to Christ, But, for some people, it’s just simple and quiet. At first, they don’t notice anything. But then, they begin to notice that their desires are beginning to change. It’s unique for each of us. If you’re looking for an experience, you’ll miss it. But if you will be obedient to the word of God and say, I will make Jesus Lord of my life. I believe He died on the cross and was raised from the dead. He did it for me. I have chosen obedient faith, obedient to the word of God.

This is what Naaman finally does. In Verse 14, it says, “ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” He obeyed the word and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean. Have you done this? Let’s go to step three:

3. Rest in the peaceful assurance of Christ.

Rest in the peaceful assurance of Christ . If you recognize your condition and having done so, have you received? And now that you’ve received , are you assured you have peace with God. You know, when you lay your head on your pillow at night that you don’t doubt anymore. I know that I know that I know.

Or, are you still worried about it? You prayed the prayer but the prayer is not magic. The prayer doesn’t save you. It’s your confession of obedient faith to Jesus that saves you. It’s not the prayer. The prayer is not magic. It’s your obedience to Jesus. You can pray that prayer 100 times. You can pray it seven times 70. It won’t save you. It’s not the prayer. Jesus saves. Have you placed your faith in Jesus? This is the important thing.

Here’s a “sidebar” story. Maybe, you’ve heard me tell this before. It’s a story about the guy who rode a unicycle, stretching a tight rope from one tall building in New York City to another tall building in New York City, He invited the press and it was front page news. “Come and see this man who’s going to ride a unicycle from one building to the other. He’s going to cross a major thoroughfare in New York City on a unicycle.” So the roof was covered, people were taking photos. He says, “How many of you, in the crowd, believe that I can ride this unicycle across the tightrope?” Most everybody raised their hands, I believe, we believe. He goes on the unicycle and he rides across to the other side. He did a little hop and jumped back on and rode it back. He holds his unicycle off to the side and says, “Now, how many of you believe?” Every hand went up. They all believed he could cross across the tightrope on the unicycle. Now, he asks, “Alright, now , who’s ready to ride on my back? All their hands went down.

Obedient faith says, “I’m going to place my life in the hands of Christ.” Obedient faith is assured faith. It’s faith that says, “I know that I know that I know that I’m right with God because I’ve staked my life on believing in Jesus.” That’s active faith. There is a difference between passive and active faith.

Let’s look at verse 15. We’re going to get to the end of the story now. “Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know…” Do you remember, back in Verse 11, where he said, “Behold, I thought…” Now he says, “Behold, I know…” he’s moved on. He used to think one way; he thought, Well, it’s gonna look like this or it’s going to look like that. Now, he knows that he knows. “Behold I know…” What does he know? He knows something now, and he confesses it publicly before Elisha. He says, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.” He has a confession of faith. The man has gone from being a polytheistic, believing in many gods, to a monotheist, believing in one God. He is God and there is no other God.

How did he get there? Who told him, little by little, until he dipped down in obedient faith. All of a sudden, the spirit of God speaks to him. He knows some stuff nobody’s even taught him yet because the Lord now has started speaking to his life. Do you see it? This man is a new man. He comes out with a confession of faith that is as great as any in the Old Testament: 15 “Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.” He knows; he’s confident.

We see three expressions or three actions he takes. First, he givesa confession of faith. Secondly, he offers a gift, except now, a present from your servant. Remember all of that gold and silver and those ten changes of clothes that he had brought along? Nowm he’s not trying to buy the gift. He’s already received a gift. Now he wants to give it but Elisha won’t receive it because Elish doesn’t want him going home saying that he paid for this. Elijah wants him going home knowing it was free. It cost him nothing, that the Lord had paid for it.

Elisha says, in verse 16, “But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He wouldn’t take one penny from it. Thirdly, Naaman asks, “Can I have some dirt?” Earlier, the river wasn’t even clean enough for him. He had cleaner water back home. Well, now the dirt’s good enough for him. Man, can I have some dirt from Israel? I got a couple of pack mules here. Can I pack up some dirt and take it home? It seems a strange request. He explains why he wants this dirt. He says,in verse 17, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD.” Notice that the word, LORD, is in all caps. When you see that in an English translation, it’s translating the covenantal name of God, Yahweh. If you see the word, Lord, it’s Adonai, which just means Lord. But if it’s in all caps, it’s the covenantal name.

Naaman says, “From now on, I’m going to sacrifice to the covenantal name of God, Yahweh, which was the name given to Moses in Exodus, chapter four, ‘I am that I am.’”

So, he’s made a confession; there’s only one God. He’s made an offering; Elisha wouldn’t take it because he wants him to know it’s free. And then he says, I need to take some dirt home. This seems strange, but if you look over in the book of Exodus, you see in Exodus, chapter 20 when God had given the Levitical law to Moses, he says, Exodus 20:24 (ESV) “An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings…” God never wanted the Israelites to make a fancy altar. He wanted it to be simple; just make it out of earth because I don’t want you to worship the altar. I want you to worship Me. I don’t want you to worship the church building; I don’t want you to worship the pastor. I don’t want you to worship the stuff. I want you to worship God. Make the altar from earth.

I don’t know how Naaman knows this, but he knows, When I get home, nobody worships You. Nobody worships the true God. So I guess I’m gonna have to build a little chapel in my backyard. I’d probably have to put a wall up around it. Okay. He’s already thinking about it. If I take some dirt home from Israel, then I can have a place where I can make sacrifices to Yahweh, the true God. He’s going home a changed man. Probably, the first thing he’s going to do is build that altar.

Remember that little Israelite girl that’s a slave of his? I bet he calls her daughter. I bet he elevates her to his daughter, don’t you guess? I bet he tells his whole family. I bet they all come to believe in the one true God.

But now, he’s got a problem he’s thinking about. When I get home, I’m going to need something. I’m only going to sacrifice to Yahweh, to the one true God, but, I have a problem. And he asks Elisha’s advice: Can I get a pardon on something in advance? I have a problem when I get home. Here’s his problem; look at verse 18, “In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.” When my master, the King, goes into the house of Rimmon, which is some foreign god, it’s a god of the Syrians to worship, he leans on my arm and I am by myself with him. Now he’s worshiping this god, but I’m not going to worship him because I believe, but I have to go in there with him because that’s what the general of the Army does. He’s already working it out . How does my faith now impact my job? How do I live my faith out in my culture? He can’t go back the way you used to be, but he’s asking for a pardon here because he knows that will get him killed because he’s got to go in. Can the LORD pardon me in advance in this matter? You’d almost expect Elisha to say, No, you’re gonna have to own that, buddy. But that’s not what Elisha says. He says, in verse 19, “Go in peace.” Shallom. Go in peace.

Come on, Elisha. Why don’t you correct him? Well, here’s why. Because Elisha recognized already how far that man had come. If the Lord had brought him this far, then I’ll let the Lord deal with that. If I put that extra burden on him right now, it might ruin his growth so far.

We say in our church, “Come as you are and be forever changed by the love of Jesus.” If we try to make people change too quickly, if we try to do it, if we say no, you shouldn’t be doing this and we get judgmental, we will abbreviate and maybe even run them off. We might abbreviate their growth or scare them so badly that it stops their growth for a little while. We have to let the Lord do the work in people’s lives, and we have to be the kind of church that makes room for that. We have to be more like Elisha, whose name means “God is my salvation.” We have to be more like him and say, Okay,I heard his confession. I know he knows he’s got to work on this. I’m going to let the Lord deal with him. Go in peace and keep going in peace.

Can we be that kind of church? We are the “hospital church;” we are across the street from the hospital. This is the 911 church. We’re not a fancy church. We bought the old movie theater. We are the ER church. People come in here with leprosy and we have to provide a place where they can get down so they can look up. But they have to have room to grow, so let’s not be judgmental. Let’s be loving. Let’s give peace to people; peace and assurance.

It says in 1 John 5:13 (NLT) “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” Naaman said, “Behold, I know.” Do you know? You don’t have to doubt anymore. You can know, like Naaman, who declared his faith. We can declare our faith in Jesus.

Romans 10:9 (NLT) ”If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Not “maybe” not “later” you “will be” saved. Jesus is Lord. If you believe it in your heart you have obedient faith. He will save you.

Jesus offers this invitation. He offers it just as Elisha offered it to Naaman. He says, Matthew 11:28-29 (ESV) “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” “Come unto me,” He says, Have you done that? Have you given your life to Jesus? From now on, will you give your life to follow Him? Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for this Word. Thank you that you’ve called us to follow Jesus and that we can turn our life over to You. I pray, first of all, for that person here today that would admit and say, I’m a leper, I’m a sinner. I’ve tried living by my own strength. I’ve tried making those claims, from now on, I’m going to change this. From now. I’m going to change that, but I keep on falling back. I need help. Would you admit that today? Would you admit that you need the help of God? He’s offered us Jesus. You can say this right now. What matters is the attitude of your heart. It is this obedient faith. Do you express this as true, heartfelt faith? It’s not the prayer. The prayer is only expressing faith. You can say it right now, Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. Will you forgive me of my sins? I believe You died on the cross for me, that You were raised from the grave. I believe that. I believe that You live today. I invite You to come and live in me. Forgive me my sins and make me a child of God. If you’re expressing those words, they don’t have to be those exact words. But if you’re expressing a prayer saying that to Jesus right now, by faith, He will save you. He will give you a new life. He will cleanse you of all unrighteousness and give you a new life, a new heart, a new way of thinking. And then He’ll begin to cause you to make changes in your life so that you don’t go back to the life you had before. Others are here today and you’ve received Christ. But you’re still on that journey. For some of us, we have tried to go back. Maybe we’ve been doubting our salvation. We can’t say, I know that I know. Would you talk to the Lord about that right now? Maybe it’s some area of sin that you need to turn away from. Maybe it’s a place you need to ask for forgiveness. Do business with God right now so that you know that you know that you know that He is your Lord and Savior. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.