for the past three years, has completed his master's degree at Westminster in California here, and has begun his doctorate of ministry degree, right, in Philadelphia, at Westminster in Philadelphia. David very soon will be flying his family back to Spain, and we at the Church have the privilege to send him at the end of June. At first he'll work with our other two missionary families, the Leightons and the Phillips there, But David's long-term goal is to plant a like-minded church in Barcelona and to establish a biblical counseling ministry in Spain, much needed there. David is a very gifted preacher in Spanish, Catalan, and English. Not many men I know can do that. The Lord has blessed him greatly in that way, many areas of ministry that he can influence And he's been preaching regularly in the Spanish-speaking ministry of the church in Valley Center, our sister church, Valley Center Community Church, and has preached at GBC here on Sunday evenings. And we wanted, as elders, we wanted the entire church to be exposed to David's ministry, since we'll be supporting and praying for him in the years to come. And so we have invited David to come and bring the Word of God for us this morning. David, please come. after that introduction I should hide instead of being here in the pulpit hope like God was praying before that my action is going not to be a distraction to any of you but just the opposite one more means the Lord is going to use for you all to pay more attention and I invite you to open your Bibles in 2 Kings chapter 5 and we will keep our Bible open in that chapter because we will be preaching from that chapter and we will be following from verse 1 to the very end the whole passage. But before starting in verse 1 I would like to make some comments about the context in which this story is taking place. In this chapter we have a miracle. And it's not just a miracle, but it's a miracle in a season of miracles. We all remember different seasons of miracles in the scriptures. We remember the time of Moses. Moses that took the people of God out of Egypt and opened the Red Sea. And his successor, Joshua, who also performed miracles and conquered Jericho and entered the Promised Land. We also remember Elisha, and before him Elijah, and then Elisha. who also performed miracles. We also remember a third season of miracles with the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have to relate all the miracles that the Lord did. And his apostles, his successors, who also performed miracles. So we have three seasons of miracles in the Scripture. And we sometimes have the concept in our minds that a miracle is something God performs to help someone. That's true almost all the time, but that's not the main reason of a miracle. And we have an example here in 2 Kings 5. The main reason for a miracle to take place is to give glory to God. And in these three seasons of miracles, we have them, and God is performing great miracles because He is saying that those men bringing the message are coming from Him. Moses, Elijah, the Lord Jesus Christ for God is supporting their ministry legitimating their ministry Moses representing the law Elijah representing the prophet the Lord Jesus Christ representing the new covenant in his blood and we have this purpose of miracles here in this chapter we go to verse 8 Elijah says speaking of Naaman now let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. He's not saying, come to me and I will heal him. No. Come to me and he will know there is a prophet in Israel. There is someone speaking from God. There is someone bringing God's message. And miracles are showing that. And the miracle we have here, 2 Kings 5, is very peculiar, isn't it? It's almost like a coin. A coin has two faces. And here we have two faces of a miracle. In one side we have Naaman being healed. It's a miracle that's bringing to us a message of hope, a message of change. On the other side of the coin, we have Gehazi and the leprosy of Naaman falling on him. We have another miracle, but this is a message of warning, even a message of threat to all of us, that we have to consider. We're going to spend the majority of our time in the first one, but we are not going to ignore the second. Verse 1, the first character is introduced to us, Naaman. A mini set of Naaman. The Naaman was a great man. Literally from the Hebrew we could say Naaman was a big man. And that doesn't mean Naaman was the size of an NBA player or that he was very wide or a large man. He's not big in that sense. He's big in another sense. Neyman was big and considered big because he was very wealthy, very well respected, very famous. He was a mighty warrior. Neyman was a big man in that sense. He was the strongest of his society, of his time. He was the most excellent. He was the most respected. I can imagine all the kids looking at Neyman, walking on the street and thinking, oh, when I grow up, I want to be like Neyman. Neyman was big in that sense. He was the pride of a nation. Let me put it this way. Neyman was a superman of Syria. He was that. He was the incarnation of the pride of a whole country. And he was a leper. Can you imagine? The best of humanity, a leper. The best of humanity is full of leprosy. What a contradiction, isn't it? What a message this passage is bringing to us. The big man, Naaman, was a leper. His name was Persephemus. His chariots were dressed with gold and silver, but his body was dressed with the skin of the untouchable and excluded. What a contrast between the external Naaman and the internal Naaman. Exteriorly, Naaman was dressed with gold, silver, silk, but inside he has a skin that is broken and thick. What a huge contrast. This is a great picture for us. This is an illustration of the proud man. What does the proud man say? Everything is external. Everything is big. Everything is great. He can do everything. He is powerful. But what's inside the proud? It's a tremendous need for God's intervention in his life. This is a great illustration for you and me. about our life without Christ. We think we can do everything, we think we are powerful, but we really are even unable to change our own lives without the power of God. The contrast, and this is a chapter of contrast, the contrast continues in verses 2 and 3. Another character is introduced here. A little girl, verses 2 and 3, says that There is a little girl, and I think the author's writing uses those words on purpose to make the contrast. In one hand, we have Naaman, the big man. In the other hand, we have this little girl. Obviously, there was big difference socially. One was the master, one was the powerful, was the rich. The other was just a slave, servant. But it's not talking just about that. There is much more here. Naaman was the big because he was thinking big. Everything was big for him. He was using man's way to deal with problems, to deal with issues, as we are going to see. The little girl is showing to us a narrow way, a way of humility, a simple way, a way of dependence on God, a way of pointing to God as a true solution of our problems. In that sense, we can talk about big Naaman, and that little girl. And that little girl is saying a lot to us. Not just about our attitude. Was this little girl being evangelistic? Do you think she was? In the midst of that problem, she was pointing to God's solution, to God's prophet? Sometimes we have in our minds the concept that evangelism is preaching a whole sermon to one person. To a relative, to a co-worker. But this girl was not preaching a full sermon. She was just pointing to God's solutions. And that's what we have to do in every context we are. In our family, in our work, in our friendships. Point to God's solutions. Because there is only solution in Him. What a great example this little girl for all of us. She had all the excuses in the world not to speak. She could have said, how I'm going to say anything to my Master? She may think I'm rebellious. Or I'm a nationalist because I'm pointing to Samaria as the source of solutions, and I'm pointing to the prophet of God. But we are called to be salt and light in the world. That means we have to speak. That means we have to point to God. And we can imagine what God can do with our five loaves of bread and our two fishes. Don't think you can say very little, because that's going to be used by God. The little girl shows to us a message or attitude of simplicity, but the big ears of Naaman did not understand that. He did not understand what the little girl was saying. Naaman does not go to the prophet, because the prophet is not dressed with silk, and the prophet has not a palace. No, Naaman goes to his king, and he's asking his king letters to the other king, the king of Israel. Naaman likes to deal with big people, just like him, not with little people. And then Naaman is not bringing a fleet, but an order to the king of Israel. And the order says, And now, as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy. What an order! and the King of Israel gets very desperate, I would be very desperate also to heal someone from his leprosy. Naaman thinks he can solve everything man's way. Everything, even this issue. If Naaman had read Psalm 146 when it says, Do not trust in princes, in mortal men, in whom there is no salvation. I wish Naaman could have read this psalm, there is no salvation. And Naaman illustrates the human way of dealing with salvation. We think we can put something in our salvation. We can put some effort. We can manage things. But salvation is man's thing, but it is not. It is God's business. Have you seen how much gold and silver Naaman is taking? And I ask the question, Naaman, where are you going with all that money? Do you think you can pay the profit? Do you think you can pay for your salvation? Do you think you can pay for your healing? Do you think you can impress the prophet with all those chariots and servants and gold and silver and silk? We find a true solution to this problem in verse 7 in what the King of Israel is saying He says, am I God to kill and to make alive? That this man is sending word to me to cure a man from his leprosy? Am I God? He's pointing to the true solution. This is something that belongs to God. I can do anything. I'm just a human being. Naaman, this is not King's business. This is God's business. You are very wrong. This is not a question of money and wealth. This is a question of grace. This is not something you can do, something you can pay. This belongs only to God. Naaman, this has nothing to do with presenting all your, impressing the Prophet with all your gold and silver and servants. This is a question of coming to the King of Heaven on your knees and with empty hands. There is nothing you can give God to receive your healing. then the prophet Elijah calls Naaman verse 8 says now let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel and Naaman does that he takes everything all his servants all his chariots and horses he goes to Naaman's door to Elijah's door can you imagine the situation Naaman there knocking at the prophet's door with all those chariots, horses, servants How many people in front of his door? And Elisha does not show up. Isn't it amazing? Elisha does not show up. He sends a messenger. Let's put an example. Let's imagine it's your home. Let me put Spain somehow in this example. Let's say the king of Spain is coming to your home. And imagine the king of Spain coming and knocking at your door, and then you look through the window and you see the king of Spain there, eight or ten bodyguards, and all the limousines parked there, and the journalist taking pictures, and cameraman, and so on, and you say, wow, should I go outside or I'd rather be at home? You may feel very tempted to go outside, don't you? You may think, if I go outside they will take pictures with me and the king together, I might be in the news tomorrow. Do you think Elisha thought in those terms? He was thinking, if I open my door and invite Naaman for dinner, I might be in the newspaper tomorrow, or so on. No, Elisha did not think that way. Elisha did not think that way. He was not impressed at all with Naaman. and all his grandiosity. Not at all. He was not impressed because he was the man of God. He was seeing Naaman as God. He is Naaman. Elisha did not see Naaman the big. No. Elisha saw Naaman the leper. Naaman the proud. And he was responding to him according to his pride. God is using all these contexts, all these circumstances to break Naaman's pride. Naaman's pride is collapsing in front of this situation. What's going on here? My big things, my resources are not working. God works in another way. I don't understand. Naaman's pride is collapsing. Elijah was not impressed at all, but poor of those Christians that are impressed by the world. Be careful. brothers and sisters, full of us if we are not like Elijah, but we are impressed by the world. Full of those Christians that smile to Naaman and invite Naaman to dinner and they think, oh, I maybe sound like Naaman, rich like Naaman, famous like Naaman, powerful like Naaman. Those that prefer the world and man's way instead of God's way. We should not smile to Naaman. We should not accept his gifts. We should not rely on the world. human prestige, academical degrees, financial stability, political influences, all those are man's ways, God's ways, much superior to all that. It's to man, it's to God, not to man we have to fear. Proverbs 29.25 says, The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. And we also read in Matthew 10, 28. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. We Christians don't fear men. We shouldn't fear men. We should fear God. Don't be afraid of what people may think of you. Be afraid of what God thinks of you. Don't be afraid of what people are seeing in your family, in your personal life. Be afraid of what God is seeing in your heart. That's what really should scare us. How God is seeing my life. How God is seeing my life. And you know, when we fear God, when our heart is full of the fear of God, there is no space for other fears. It fills our hearts. There is no other space. If we look at the world, there are all kinds of fears. There are fears of everything. Fears in the world are so intense that they call it sickness. You have heard about phobias, don't you? And there is arachnophobia and aquaphobia and agoraphobia and all kinds of phobias. And now this season maybe there is, for some students, finals phobia. and my kids are not behaving they may have daddy phobia and so on everything is a phobia everything is a sickness because there are so many fears and they are so strong that we call it sickness but what the scripture says is we don't have to fight to cope against those fears we have to fill our heart with true fear we have to fear the one that has to be feared And when we fill our hearts with that fear of God, any other fear just fades. Disappears. There is no space for any other fear. This reverent and loving fear for God is the fear we have to have in our hearts. I have a quote here from a Puritan, Joseph Simon. It says, It's very strong, just listen to it. It says, the fear of God is one of the main pillars of his throne. And so far he is not our fear, he is not our God. Did you listen to that? So far he is not our fear, he is not our God. And the question is, brother and sister, what are you fearing? What do you fear? Because that thing, or that person, or that circumstance you fear, that's becoming your God. That's becoming your idol. Scripture is saying, don't fear anything else. Just fear God. He is really the one we have to fear. Not to be scared of. Fear with loving and reverent fear. Because He is the powerful one. And as we read in Hebrews 12, and that let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. Elisha, we can say he was a true Christian. Elisha was a true Christian because he was not seeing man in his appearance. He was seeing man in his need of God. And then life changes very much. He was seeing his necessity Then Elisha says, verse 10, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you, and you will be clean. Elisha is giving an order to Naaman. Naaman, the great Naaman, the big Naaman, the one that gives orders to everybody, is receiving an order. Can you imagine? I don't know where is Naaman's pride right now, but it's very, very low. Receiving an order. What a lesson for Naaman. God is much bigger than you Naaman. You think the world is big. God is really big. Just humble yourself before the Lord. Receive an order and obviously then he gets mad. He gets very very angry. An order to me? I the great Naaman? I come to the Prophet? I knock at the door of the Prophet and the Prophet is not showing up? He's sending a messenger to me? How rude. He's not receiving me? Is he afraid of touching me? What does he think I am, a leopard or what? Me, the great Naaman, I'm coming with a serious problem, with a great sickness, and he's telling me go and wash? Does he think I'm dirt or what? I, the great Naaman, was thinking, verse 11, this verse is very very key in this passage, verse 11 And the great Naaman was thinking, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. What was Naaman thinking? Oh, I'm big, so the prophet will present to me a big solution, a great miracle. And now what? Where is the prophet? Where is the fire coming from heaven? Where is the miracle? Nothing. Go and watch. This is ridiculous. and sometimes that happens to us sometimes we are so proud we are so big that we think that our problems deserve big solutions from God and sometimes what the solution God is presenting to us is so simple that we don't see it how can it happen to you? it's so simple but the Lord is telling you that you don't see it you are waiting for something big like Naaman The Lord is teaching Naaman just the opposite. Leave your pride aside. Humble yourself before the Lord. Humble yourself before the one that is really big. 1 Peter 5 says, Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. Naaman gets so angry that in his thinking he's already going back to Damascus and he says oh the rivers of Damascus those are big those are nice are not banal far far the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel could I not wash in them and be clean? what should I tell to Naaman? of course you can be clean water cleans don't you think? you take water and you wash yourself Naaman, you can go to those rivers, probably those rivers are bigger, are nicer. The question is not if you want to wash yourself, the question is what kind of cleansing are you looking for, Naaman? Do you want to take some water and take the dust and the dirt from the way, from your skin? That's all the kind of cleansing you are looking for, Naaman? Or rather you are looking for a new skin? I think you need a new skin, not something temporal, not something cosmetic, not just cleaning the dirt from your skin that will come later on. You need a new skin, a skin that has not leprosy. And you know, Naaman, today only in the waters of the Jordan you are having this kind of cleansing. What kind of cleansing are you looking for, Naaman? In the scripture we see leprosy compared to sin, or leprosy as an illustration of sin in so many places. I would say that even all physical problems can be compared to sin in the miracles the Lord performs. But here is a great example of it. Let me compare for a second leprosy with sin. First of all, leprosy in that time had no treatment, had no solution. There was no medicine. If you were a leper, you were a leper all your life. Only a miracle, like the one we have here, could heal you. Isn't it the same with sin? You are a sinner. And you will be a sinner all your life, unless there is a miracle from God in your life. And that miracle is performed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And only His blood can cleanse you. And only He can transform sinners into saints. Only He. Second place. Leprosy is progressive. The leprosy in his skin, those white dots that are growing and then perforating the skin and the skin gets thick and broken and there are flaws. It's progressive. It's worse and worse. Isn't it the same with sin? When the sinner is trying to cope with his own sin by his own resources, he sees himself deeper and deeper and deeper into his own sin. And in third place, leprosy is contagious. It's not contagious like the flu, that is very contagious. But if you have relationship with lepers, if you have fellowship with lepers, if you touch lepers, if you have intimacy with them, you become a leper. Don't you? Isn't it the same with sin? If your relationship are with sinners, and you have fellowship with sinners, and you are all the time with sinners, you adopt their sin. We read in Proverbs 22, 24 and 25, Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you will learn his ways and find the snare for yourself. And just the opposite we find in Psalm 1, when it's talking about the blessed man. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. So in the same way, leprosy and sin are contagious. That doesn't mean we don't have to relate at all with sinners. We have to preach the gospel to sinners. I'm talking about intimacy, fellowship, relationships. Then we adopt the sins of them. A great example we have in Numbers 12. And what does the Lord do? He sends a leprosy to Miriam, and Miriam becomes white as snow. That sin was already in her heart, but what the Lord does is that sin comes to the surface and is seen in her skin, and she becomes a leper. What if the Lord does that with you today? Can you imagine that the Lord does that exactly now? All those sins that we all are storing in our hearts, that you are storing in your heart, those sins of envy and bitterness and selfishness, that the Lord makes those sins coming from your heart to your skin and you become a leper? Would you be white like a snow? I would. And that is exactly what the Lord wants us. The Lord wants us to recognize that we are lepers in our souls. that there is sin in our souls, that we need his transforming power. Do you long for a new skin in your soul? Do you long for a cleanness in your soul, just like the Lord did with Naaman? We have another wonderful passage in Matthew chapter 8. If you want to open your Bibles in Matthew 8, we are going to read three verses here. Matthew 8 there is a wonderful moment when a leper comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and it recalls me a lot of Naaman Matthew 8 it says when Jesus came down from the mountain large crowds followed him and a leper came to him and bowed down before him and said Lord If you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing. Be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Here we have another Naaman in the New Testament. But how different the healing, don't you think? I'm thinking, why the Lord doesn't say, okay, leper, come here. Do you remember 2 Kings 5? Do you remember Naaman? Go to the river, wash yourself seven times, you will be cleansed. No, the Lord is not doing that. The Lord stretches his hand and touches him. The prophet Elisha was recognizing that power and healing was not in himself. The prophet was saying, go and wash in the Jordan. The power of healing was outside himself. He was pointing to Christ. But now what does the Lord say? The Lord touches because he is the one that heals he is the powerful one he is the one where we can find change in our lives the Lord Jesus Christ is the waters of the Jordan the waters of the Jordan in 2nd Kings 5 are pointing to the true solution the powerful one the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus just touches him the Lord is not telling you go in some place go to some person The Lord Jesus Christ is telling you, come to me and you will find change and you will find healing for your soul. Like Naaman cleansed his skin in the waters of the Jordan, now today you and me can go to the Lord Jesus Christ and wash our souls in his blood. exactly the same way. And maybe we have been trying hard, and you have been trying hard in other waters, Havana, Far Far, rivers of Damascus, you have been trying hard to wash yourself in other waters, and you have found temporal relief and temporal change, you have removed the dirt from your skin, you have tried other religions, other philosophies, I don't know, maybe you have tried with moralism, maybe you have tried with good works, and so on, but only in one river, only in one place, there is real change for your life, real change for your soul, and that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, where the skin of your soul can be changed. Neyman thought that the worst problem in his life was leprosy, but it wasn't. The worst problem in his life was the leprosy in his soul. was the sin and pride he had. Then he was rejecting the cure because it was too simple. Go and wash? That's nothing. I'm going back home. I don't want to wash. And his servants come to him. If the Prophet would have asked you something complicated, you have done it. And now look at this. Just go and wash? So go and wash? What do you want to do? Is it too simple? Do you also think that God's solutions are too simple? Do you also think that Christ is too simple? Just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? No. That's too easy. I want to do something hard. Lord, ask me something. Something difficult. Ask me to climb a mountain on my knees. Ask me to perform good works all my life. Or to do tennis. Ask me something. Why? to keep your pride in its place the Lord is just doing the opposite with you the Lord is destroying, is collapsing your pride just like he did with Naaman the Lord is saving you by grace and that's what the grace of God does there is no place for our pride because there is no merit at all in us like we read in 2nd Corinthians my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. And also the Apostle Peter writes, God is supposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And that's what Naaman was learning in this experience. All the merit of salvation belongs to Christ. All the benefits are for you. but all the merit of salvation belongs to Christ and in this passage 2 Kings 5 God is very glorified because the life of one man is changed not only the skin of one man is changed the soul of one man is changed the life of Naaman is changed both the leprosy and the leprosy of sin are healed in verse 15 we read something very interesting Naaman says Behold now, I know there is no God in the whole earth, but in Israel. Naaman was truly converted. Naaman believed in the Lord, in the promises of the Lord. He was truly converted. And now, he is asking something really weird. He says, he is asking, two millions load of earth? David, did you mean that when we become Christians, we become crazy? What is this? Well, a little crazy, see, a little crazy by the Lord, for the Lord. But what is this? Why Naaman is asking to move loads of earth. This, in that time, this is the most wonderful manifestation and promise of faithfulness to the Lord Naaman could do. In that time, in ancient Near Eastern cultures, it was believed that gods were territorial. The gods were only in one country. And Naaman was thinking that way. We know by scripture the gods is everywhere. But that was the mindset of that time. So Naaman is thinking the goddess Israel is in Israel. And Naaman is thinking, but now I want to worship the God of Israel the rest of my life. So how I can do it? Give me earth of Israel. I will take it home. And Naaman takes the earth of Israel home, and he spreads the earth on the ground, and he builds an altar, and he starts worshipping the true God all his life. And probably many in his household were joining him, especially the little girl that we saw. That's what Naaman is doing. This is a great conversion experience. Not only his body was washed, his soul was washed. And we can talk about Naaman as a Christian. Yes, I know the cross is still to come. We are in 2 Kings 5. The cross is centuries ahead, but Naaman is already under the shadow of the cross. Naaman is already waiting for the cross, expecting the salvation of God. Like we read in Colossians 2.17. All things in the Old Testament are the shadow of the things to come. and the salvation of Naaman also and the healing of Naaman also we read also in Hebrews 11.39 that Old Testament believers did not receive what was promised did not receive what was promised Old Testament believers received healing they received earth they received wealth but that was not what was promised that was just the shadow of what was promised and that's Christ Any promise, any promise in the Old Testament is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Naaman, relying on the word of the prophet, believing the word of the prophet, is looking at Christ, is believing in Christ. And we say that there was a great conversion experience here, because Naaman finally humbled himself. We read in verse 14, I invite you to look at verse 14, it says in verse 14 that Naaman 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 at last the big Naaman becomes like a little child Naaman humbled himself, or rather the Lord humbled him, so he could be saved. The big man at last becomes a little child. Naaman. His skin was not restored into the skin of a healthy, mature man as expected, no. His skin full of leprosy was changed into the skin of a little child. And again, His skin was expressing the condition of his heart. He was changed inside. He was changed in his heart. He became a believer in God. That's exactly what the Lord is demanding from us. The Lord is asking us to come to Him with humility, humbling ourselves before Him, recognizing our sins, and recognizing our inability to change our own lives. because unless you are converted and become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven and that's the message of the gospel and you may be thinking, but wasn't Naaman a gentile? Naaman was a gentile how can a gentile be converted? how can a gentile be saved? In 2nd Kings 5, that's a problem in the New Testament, Gentiles, non-Gentiles, but in 2nd Kings, a Gentile is saved? Yes, for sure. There are Gentiles saved all over the Bible. Gentile was saved as a... Naaman was saved as a Gentile, just like Raphael Jericho, just like Ruth from Moab, just like thousands of Ninevites when Jonah preached. Those were Gentiles. Those were saved. Can you see the message of hope the Bible is bringing to us? Naaman, a gentile. Naaman, a leper. Naaman, a big man, a proud man. And God changes his life? Don't you think God's changed your life? And can do exactly the same he did with Naaman? This is a message of hope, of change. But we have the other side of the coin. Jihazi. If Naaman is bringing a message of hope, Jihazi is bringing to us a message of warning. This is the second part of this miracle. Jihazi is just the opposite of Naaman. Jihazi had all the blessings from God. He was close to the Prophet, to the man of God. He was listening to God's word. He enjoyed God's blessings. and there is a moment in his life when he leaves God's things and he goes after the pleasures and the wealth of the world there is a moment when he prefers gold and silver and silk and he runs after Naaman to get from his gifts and this is a message of warning because we see that the leprosy taken from Naaman is falling upon Jehoshaphat. That the condemnation fought for the unbeliever is coming for that one that we thought was a believer and we saw wasn't. 1 Corinthians 10 says, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. And again in Luke 8.14 with the parable of the seeds We have another warning, don't be like the seed that falls among the thorns. It says, these are the ones who have hurt and as they go on their way, they are chopped by worries and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity. This is Jehashari, one that seemed to believe and finally had the leprosy of Naaman upon his life. Just to conclude, some final thoughts. Here in 2 Kings chapter 5 we have a baptism, don't you think? This washing of Naaman is a baptism. And this baptism is a Christian baptism. And this baptism is the gospel we preach. Humble yourself before the Lord. Be washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will see your whole life restored. And you will have salvation. This is the baptism we preach and celebrate. And there are many, many points in which we are similar to Naaman. We are full of leprosy in our souls, and we need God to wash us. Like Naaman, we come to God with our wealth, with our strength, with our resources, with our pride, and we think we deserve salvation, and we think we can collaborate with salvation, Like Naaman, we want to be saved our way. Naaman says, I thought the Prophet would do this and that. Like Naaman, the salvation the Lord is presenting before us offends us because we want something big and we want to do something big to save ourselves. But like Naaman, we see before God how our pride collapses and how big is the grace of God. and how big his grace is that humbles us and changes our heart like Naaman went down to the waters of the Jordan and washed his skin and he received a new skin just that way we can go to the Lord Jesus Christ to be baptized into his blood and receive a new heart like Naaman God wants you to become little God wants you to become little so you can enjoy the greatness of his salvation Amen. May the Lord bless His Word in our hearts.