This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you back to day four together of our fifth week of our look
through First and Second Kings. We're going to look at Second Kings 5 today, one
of the most familiar stories in all of the book of Second Kings. We're going to
take two or three days to look together at this story from some different
angles.

It's the story of the healing, the miraculous healing of a man by the name of
Naaman. Naaman was a man who seemed to have everything, but he had a problem, a
deep problem. He was suffering with leprosy.

Listen to what happens in verse one of Second Kings 5. Now Naaman was the
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. So here is this man who is a
commander of one of the enemies of Israel, but we begin to hear this story about
him. Now why are we hearing a story about one of the enemies of Israel?

Listen to what happens. In verse two to three, a solution is offered to his
problem. Now Bans 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. " Now what I'd like to do together
today is look at how Naaman reacts to this suggestion and also how that reaction
applies to my life, to your life, and how we trust God for his miraculous work.
Because just like Naaman had a problem that seemed unsolvable, no one could cure
leprosy in that day.

Still today there's treatment, but there's no cure for leprosy. Every one of us
is suffering from problems in our lives that we cannot heal on our own. We all
need healing.

We need spiritual healing. We need emotional healing. We need physical healing.

Spiritual healing is actually our greatest need. If we're not healed
spiritually, if your relationship with God is not healed, the effects of that
are going to last into eternity. We all have the problem of sin in our lives,
all of sin, Romans 3.

23. All have the problem of separation from God, and we need healing of our
relationship with God. Naaman was offered as the solution of meeting the prophet
in Israel.

You and I, we go to Jesus, the person of Jesus, the Lord. That's where we find
our healing. As we walk through this, I want to think specifically about
spiritual healing that you need.

I know your mind is also going to go to physical healing that you might need,
and that's okay, but I want to focus specifically on the spiritual healing that
we all need. We'll talk about physical healing the next couple of days together.
As we look through this personally, through the eyes of Naaman, what does it
take to be healed?

Three things. Three very simple things. First, you admit what you need, verses
four and five, chapter five, four and five.

Naaman went to his master, and he told him what the girl from Israel had said.
"By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. Naaman's first reaction to the
solution that's offered is a good reaction.

He's got the right attitude toward his problem. He could have run from his
problem. He could have been too ashamed to admit that he had leprosy.

He could have just said, "Well, I even tried. It's hopeless anyway. No one can
help.

" Or he could have been too proud to show a weakness. One of the greatest
weaknesses, of course, is pride. That's what lets problems engulf us and our
families for generations sometimes, but instead of having any of these
attitudes, Naaman has the attitude to say to himself, "I have a problem.

I am suffering from leprosy, and I'm going to seek a solution to that problem. "
There are millions of people in the world today who suffer from the problem of
sin in their lives, and they're living frustrated, purposeless, lonely, empty
lives simply because they're too afraid or they're too proud to admit that they
have a problem. Sometimes we're too afraid because we think there's not an
answer.

There is an answer to a problem of separation from God. There are probably just
as many people in this world who they know something is wrong, but they say to
themselves, "Well, there's no solution. I know I've got a problem.

I know I'm a sinner, but there's just no solution. " And they'll never find that
solution because they're not willing to look to the only one who has the
solution. The healing of your relationship with God starts with admitting that
you have that need, but then you have to do something with admitting that.

That's not enough. Second, you have to go to God with that need. So starting in
verse 4 down to verse 7, "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. ' As soon as the king of Israel read this letter, he
tore his robes and he 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.

So Naaman's got the right attitude. I got a need. He goes to his king and his
king sends him to the wrong person.

He gets off track. Even though he had the right attitude, he admitted his need,
he went to the wrong person to meet that need. Instead of the prophet, he went
to the king.

He went to what seemed to be the most powerful place. Instead of God, he went to
a man. And we do that today.

People turn to what seems to be the most powerful thing to meet their need. So
they turn to human actions and human philosophies and human religions to try to
meet needs that only God can meet. There are some things, obviously, if you've
got a plumbing problem, you can turn to a plumber.

If you've got a medical problem, you can turn to a doctor. But many medical
problems, doctors can help some, but you know that only God's going to do the
healing in the end. You trust God for what only God can do.

You don't trust a human being to do what only God can do. And only God can heal
your loneliness. Only God can bring your relationship with him back together
again.

You can't do that by your works. You can only do it by the work of God. Jesus
said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me, only through Jesus. " Now, it's
interesting. Naaman went to the king, realized that's not where I'm supposed to
be.

In a minute, we're going to read that he does go to Elisha finally. People can,
often do, go to God to get help. But then they realize they've not gotten the
help that they need.

Because the truth of the matter is, they're not really trusting God. They trust
in the person that they went to. People can, they often do help.

But you cannot expect another person to be God. Your best friends are the people
in your life who help you to get to God with your need. God cares about every
need in your life, even the plumbing problem.

He wants you to trust him for the anxiety you have about that. Only he can cure
the anxiety. Only he can heal that.

When you look at the healing ministry of Jesus, you see that those he healed
called out to him or they came to him. They admitted their need. So that's the
second part, the second step that we have to take.

You don't go to a human being with that need. You go to God with that need. He
may want to use some human beings in meeting that need.

No doubt about it. He often does. But you go to God for the meeting of that
need.

Now you think, "Okay, that's it. I admitted the need. I went to God.

" There's actually a third step. This is the one many people miss. Then you
trust God to meet your need.

Going to God is not enough. Trusting God is what you need to meet that need.
Listen to what happens in verses 8 down through verse 12.

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. " But Naaman
went away angry and he said, "I thought he would surely come out to me and stand
and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over me and over the
spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Fafar the rivers of Damascus
better than the waters of Israel?

Couldn't I have washed in them and been cleansed? " So he turned and he went off
in a rage. A lot of people go to God with their need who don't trust God to meet
that need.

I went to church, I prayed, but did you do what God told you to do when you went
to church when you prayed? Just saying I talked to God about it doesn't mean
that you're trusting God with it. Those are two different things.

And many, many people don't know Christ. They don't have a relationship with God
because they prayed about needs in their life, but they've never trusted God
with their lives, with your future, with your salvation, with your hope of
heaven. You're trusted in your good work still, the good things that you can do.

You have to trust him. Thanks to the king's advice, Naaman finally went to the
right man, but he walked away angry. Now, why did he respond this way?

Well, it was his pride. He wanted it to be really spectacular and it wasn't. It
was his lack of faith.

He couldn't understand how it could work. He could have washed in the waters of
his own rivers. So he began to leave in anger, but he's given some advice, some
super advice.

This is some of the most important advice about faith that you'll find anywhere
in the Bible. And it's right here in this fifth chapter of 2 Kings, verses 13
and 14, 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 he 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. " This is an amazing advice. If God had told you to do some great
thing, would you not have done it?

How much more when he tells you just to wash and be cleansed? Many, many people,
this is where they get stuck at having a relationship with Christ. Jesus says,
"Just trust me.

I've done it all. I'm offering you the gift. I died for you on the cross.

I was resurrected. It's just a simple prayer of trust. No, I can't do that, you
think.

I've got to do more because the gift is so big. " It's your pride that's saying
that. Just like Naaman's pride was telling him, "I've got to do some great
thing.

" If God told you to push a peanut with your nose up that mountain, you'd do it.
But when Jesus just says, "Just trust me," somehow you can't. That's how you
know your pride's involved.

In verse 14, Naaman finally puts it all together. He listens to his servant.
He's asking the right questions.

He went to the right man, and now he's got the right response. He trusts God,
and he's cleansed. This Old Testament story is an example to us of how God wants
to spiritually cleanse every one of us by trusting in Jesus Christ.

The healing from sin that Christ offers you, it's simple to understand, but it's
hard to accept for many people because you have to trust God and not trust
yourself. That may be the first time you've not trusted yourself. You've always
trusted just you, not even other people.

But certainly not a God that you can't see. The only way to get a relationship
with God is by trusting in what God has done, because I can't do enough. He's
God, and I'm not.

So I confess. I've sinned. I've done wrong things.

I repent. I turn the opposite direction from that sin and ask God to begin to
change my life. I ask Jesus to be the Lord of my life.

Maybe you've never made that commitment. You're not sure you've made that
commitment. You can make it right now.

If God had asked you to do some great thing, you would, but now he's offering
you this great gift. Just in prayer right now, just say, "Jesus Christ, I
receive your gift of salvation. I ask you to forgive my sins, and I thank you
that you've given the gift of forgiveness by dying on the cross.

And I ask you to give me life, the kind of life that you made me to live, and I
thank you that you've given me that life by being resurrected from the dead,
that that gift is right there. And so instead of trusting myself, I trust you,
because you are trustworthy. " Now maybe you made that decision, committed your
life to Christ many years ago, but you've got something different you need to
trust God with right now.

Some decision, some relationship, some hurt. God, I admit my need. God, I come
to you with this need.

And God, I trust you to meet this need. In Jesus' name, amen. Join us tomorrow.

We're going to learn some more about healing from the miracle of the healing of
Naaman.