Transcript
Will you turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5. Second Kings chapter 5. Our text begins in verse 15, but for the sake of connection we will read verse 14.
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.
Then 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.”
But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two 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 Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon. When I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, 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 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has let Naaman the Syrian go away without receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”
So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and 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 Naaman said, “Please take two talents.” And he urged him, and 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, or as the margin suggests, when he came to the hill, 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. And Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” 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 Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.”
And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.
His name was Melvin Nurse, spelled N-U-R-S-E, just exactly like it sounds. He was 35 years old, and he was the youth pastor at the Living Way Christian Fellowship Church International in Jacksonville, Florida.
On September the 24th, 1998, which was a Thursday, he was preaching a sermon at the church to an audience composed of 250 young people and their parents.
With him in the pulpit he had a .357 caliber pistol. He was trying to get over to the young people the message that sin is like playing Russian roulette. That if you run with the wrong group, if you do drugs, if you carry a gun, that it will catch up with you.
During the course of the sermon he opened the gun cylinder, he inserted a blank, he spun the cylinder, and then he closed it again. Then each time that he would mention a sin he would repeat that motion, although he did not insert any more blanks. Then he would fire the gun over his head.
Now Nurse had grown up on the streets of Jacksonville, and he was telling the youth and his audience that they ought to turn in their guns. And he was telling the parents some of the places where kids hide their guns.
When he came to the end of the sermon he put the pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. The blank inside shot apart, shattered his skull. He was rushed to the University Medical Center Hospital, where a week later on the following Thursday he died.
Michael Cooper, the associate pastor at the church, said, “I did not know he was going to dramatize it like that.” He says, “We were absolutely stunned. Nobody moved. We thought it might be part of the sermon and that he would pop up again. We knew he was using a blank, so I was not particularly uncomfortable with the demonstration.”
But in the audience that day were Melvin Nurse’s wife Deborah and their four daughters, aged 8, 9, 14 and 15. And even though Cooper said that the incident had an impact on the church, nothing could hide the fact that this was a sad, unnecessary and tragic event.
And I suspect that when we hear a story like that it is very difficult for us to believe that something like that could happen in a church, behind a pulpit, during the course of a sermon. But not only could it happen, it did. It did.
But do you realize that this morning all over the United States of America there are men in pulpits and there are people sitting in the pews who are playing with a gun that is capable of blowing their spiritual brains out. It is capable of devastating their Christian life and experience.
And this morning that is what I would like to talk to you about just a little bit, under the topic which is this: “This Gun Is Loaded.” And that topic, of course, is also the title of my message this morning. And so to fasten it on your minds let me repeat it: This gun is loaded.
Now I suspect that all of us realize that Hollywood is very fond of making sequels. So we not only got Jaws 1, we got Jaws 2. We not only got Godfather 1, we got Godfather 3. And the list goes on and on and on.
And there is a sense when we turn to 2 Kings chapter 5 this morning that we are looking at a sequel. Last time we were together and looked at this chapter we had the leprosy of Naaman 1. But this time we have the leprosy of Naaman 2.
Please remember that Naaman the leper was also a highly successful military general in the army of Syria. And in part one Naaman humbles himself and he agrees to obey the instructions that God has given to him through His prophet Elisha. And he goes and washes seven times in the river Jordan, and his leprosy is washed away and his skin becomes clean like the skin of a little child.
But that brings us to part two. That brings us to part two. You see, Naaman is very, very grateful for the wonderful healing that he has received. And so he returns to the house of Elisha. Even though the first time he came in, Elisha did not even come out of the door to say hi to him. Now he is permitted to stand in the presence of the prophet of God.
And Naaman has a very important announcement to make. He says, “Indeed, I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” And therefore he says, “Please receive a gift from me.”
Now remember that Naaman had brought with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of raiment. And somebody has estimated the silver alone as worth nearly four million dollars. He had a lot of money with him.
And so Elisha replied, “Thank you very much. I really do appreciate your generosity. And I want you to know that I need a group within called the sons of the prophets, and we are often really down to our last shekel. And sometimes we do not even know where our next meal is coming from. And I want you to understand that the gift that you are giving to me will help us a very great deal.”
What is that you say? It is not in your Bibles? Well, if it is not in your Bibles I guess it must not be what Elisha said. No, my friends, in the presence of this amazing offer Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” I will receive nothing.
And even though Naaman urges him to take it, Elisha steadfastly refuses. So Naaman says, “Okay then, since you are not going to take anything from me, I have another request of you. Please allow your servant to take two mule loads of dirt from the land of Israel back to my home country. Because from now on I will not offer sacrifice or burnt offering to any other god except to the Lord.”
Now I say, is this impressive or what? He is going to carry back some earth from the land of Israel. He will put it, no doubt, somewhere on his estate, probably in his garden. On top of the earth he will build an altar to the God of Israel. And on that altar he will offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to God. Very, very impressive indeed.
And then he adds this. He says, “One thing more, please, that the Lord pardon your servant when he goes into the temple of Rimmon with his master the king. And when my master bends over in the presence of Rimmon and I bend over with him, may the Lord please pardon your servant for this.”
And as I have said, “What? Did not you tell me just a few moments ago that there was no God in all the earth except in Israel? And now you are telling me you are going to go into the house of the false god Rimmon? And not only are you going to go into his house, you are going to bow down to the idol that represents him? If you want to do that maybe you better leave a gift after all. That will cost you. That will cost you.”
If you want to do that… Hey, I got it wrong again, did I not? He did not say that. No. And Elisha replies, “Go in peace.” Go with the pardon of God. Go in peace.
And do not you see, my friends, this morning that not only has Naaman learned that there is no God in all the earth but Israel, he has also learned that the mercy and grace of this God are absolutely free. I do not need to tell this audience that one of the tragedies of the American church is that there are so many churches all across this country who teach and believe that you cannot get into heaven unless you are willing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
That you cannot get into heaven unless you are actually willing to surrender all that you have to Him, including your money. That you cannot get into heaven unless you surrender to the lordship of the Son of God. And people who think that way about the God of the Bible do not understand the God of the Bible.
The Bible says,
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Bible says,
By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
And in the very last chapter of the Bible we read these beautiful words,
The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who is thirsty come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Freely. Free.
And if you are here this morning and you have never been sure that you are going to heaven when you die, you can go there free. And you can be sure this morning that you are going. You see, Jesus said,
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
And until you know the God of the Bible that way, you do not know the God of the Bible. So Naaman learns that the grace and mercy of God are free. And he turns around and he starts on his journey back to Syria.
But there is somebody standing there who is thinking, “This does not make sense. This simply does not make sense.” And to our amazement, my friends, the person who was thinking that way was none other than Gehazi, the servant of Elisha.
And in his heart he says, “Look, my master has let Naaman the Syrian go away without taking anything that he brought with him. I am going to run after him. I am going to run after him and get something.”
Please do not think that Gehazi thought this way because he did not believe in the Lord or because he did not know that God worked in His mighty power through Elisha. Because listen to his words in his heart: “As the Lord lives,” says Gehazi, “as sure as God is, I am going to go get something from Naaman.”
And do not you see, my friends, Naaman is headed home and he is physically and spiritually healthy. But Gehazi is spiritually sick. And he is afflicted with the most widespread disease that you can find in America today, both inside and outside the church.
And the disease is G-R-E-E-D. Greed. Greed. And the next thing we know Gehazi is chasing after Naaman’s chariot. And graciously Naaman stops his chariot, gets down, and he says, “Is everything all right?”
And Gehazi says, “Everything is all right. But my master has sent me with this message that just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Would you please give them a talent of silver? Would you give each of them a change of clothes?”
And Naaman says, “Please take two talents of silver.” You know, I am almost prepared to laugh as I watch Gehazi in my mind saying something like this: “I better not sound too anxious or he will turn it down. But on the other hand I better get it before it is withdrawn.” And that is exactly what happens, my friends.
He decides to accept the offer of Naaman. Naaman turns to some of his men and he tells his men to put a talent in a bag with a change of clothing, another talent in another bag with a change of clothing. And then he says to two of his servants, “Carry these bags ahead of Gehazi till he gets back home.”
Hey, talk about success. Talk about success. Yeah, Gehazi was more successful than he imagined he could be. Instead of getting one talent of silver he got two talents of silver. And on top of that he got two servants to carry the talents of silver.
Oh, but do not you see that Gehazi is now sicker than he was before? Because greed has found its spiritual twin. The Siamese twins of sin are greed and deceit. Greed and deceit.
And you show me a person who is driven by greed and I will show you a person who will eventually engage in lying or cheating or deceit. Maybe you watched it on TV this past week. Sharon Watkins, the former vice president of Enron Corporation, testified for four hours before the congressional committee that is investigating the collapse of Enron.
She blamed the fall of Enron on the CEO Jeff Skilling, on the CFO Andrew Fastow, on the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, and on the law firm of Vinson & Elkins. But she said she thought that the president, Ken Lay, and the board were deceived. And this is what she said.
She said, “I do believe that Mr. Skilling and Mr. Fastow and two very highly respected organizations doomed Ken Lay and the board.” Are you surprised that the collapse of Enron is the story of greed inseparably interwoven with deceit? Greed inseparably interwoven with deceit.
The Bible says,
The love of money is a root of every kind of evil, for which some, in their eagerness, have strayed from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
And it is a good idea for every Christian in this audience to ask themselves whether or not they are driven to any extent by the love of money.
But Gehazi was not thinking of it that way, was he? He was probably congratulating himself all the way back. And when they got to the hill that apparently wound up just before they got to Elisha’s house, he dismissed the two servants.
He took the two bags and he snuck them, I guess, into the house and concealed them inside the house. And then he went and stood before Elisha as if nothing had happened, as if he was prepared to serve Elisha again just as he had always done.
And I am sure that Elisha’s first words struck him like a thunderbolt. And Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” And right away Gehazi lied, “Your servant did not go anywhere.” How dumb can you get? It was a man who was trading on the miraculous power of God to enrich himself. And he thought there would be no reckoning. He thought he had gotten away with it.
And Elisha says to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you?” And then he asks Gehazi a penetrating question. He says, “Is it the time to receive money and clothing, to receive sheep and oxen, to receive olive groves and vineyards, to receive male and female servants? Is this the time for this, Gehazi?”
No, it was not. It was time for Gehazi to serve God by serving his prophet. And the day of pleasures for the kingdom of God which was yet to come. You know what surprises me? You know what really, really, really surprises me? It is not unsaved people being greedy.
Lots of unsaved people think that this life is all there is, so they, you know, got to get everything they can get while the getting is good. That does not surprise me. What does surprise me is Christians who know that they are eternally saved, who know that they will spend forever in the kingdom of God, who know that this is the only chance they will ever have to lay up riches in God’s kingdom.
And they spend their time, they spend their energy, they spend their effort earning money, buying homes, buying boats, buying cars, buying TV sets. And if there are a few pennies left over, maybe God gets those pennies. How about you? Is that the way you live your life?
And then Elisha dropped the other shoe. He said, “Gehazi, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And Gehazi walked out from the presence of Elisha with a body that was just as sick as his soul, white as snow, covered with leprosy.
What had Gehazi done? Let me tell you what he had done. He had taken the pistol of greed, he had put that pistol to his own head, and he had blown his spiritual brains out. He had ruined his physical life. He had brought leprosy down upon himself. How dumb can you get?
What is the bottom line? Are you with me? Do not play with greed because that gun is loaded.
Ary Scheffer was a very well-known artist many years ago in the city of Paris. One of his friends was Baron Rothschild, the famous banker, who was one of the richest men in all the world.
One day Ary Scheffer was painting a portrait for which he needed a beggar. And Baron Rothschild happened to be visiting his studio that day. So Baron Rothschild said to him, “Wait till tomorrow. I will come dressed up as a beggar and I will make you a very good model.”
So the next day Baron Rothschild turned up at Ary Scheffer’s studio dressed as a beggar. And a very miserable, pitiful looking beggar he seemed to be. And while Ary was painting him, another man came in who was generous, good-hearted.
And he looked at this beggar and he felt so sorry for this pitiful, miserable, poverty-stricken beggar. So he took a louis d’or, a gold coin that was used in those days for French money. And as he passed by the beggar he slipped him the gold coin. And the beggar received it and put it into his pocket.
Ten years later, ten years later, this generous man got a note, a bank note, from the Rothschild bank in the amount of 10,000 francs. And with it came the following letter. It said, “Sir, one day in the studio of Ary Scheffer you gave me a louis d’or. I have invested it and put it to good use. And I am now returning your capital along with the interest that it has earned.”
And the air folks, the Lord does not need your pennies or mine. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. But if we are smart we will invest everything we can into His capable hands. And He will return it with magnificent interest in the kingdom of God.
And let me tell you something. If we have any spiritual brains left, that is exactly what we will do. And we pray, Father, teach us the horrible destructive force of greed and the marvelous potential of being generous toward Thee. We ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.