Let's think on the subject, the double cure. Tonight, the double cure. Naaman here needs a double cure, and I'll explain that, and thank God he gets a double cure. Bible students are familiar with this chapter. This is the healing of the leprosy of Naaman. And we're going to think about Naaman, we're going to think about Elisha, and we're going to think as well about the little hero of this chapter, A little girl who's not even named. This is an incredible event that's recorded in the Word of God for our encouragement and for our instruction and inspiration. A miracle. As you study all the Bible, I'm sure you've noticed that you don't find a miracle on every page. There are certain periods of time in which God chose to perform miracles by human instruments. For example, the days of Moses, the days of Elijah and Elisha, and the apostolic age. So, though we've been studying about miracles in the ministry of Elisha now for a month or so, we should not think that it's God's program to do miracles all the time. For example, there were 400 silent years after Malachi and before John the Baptist came on the scene, there was not even a man of God, let alone a miracle. So these people today who are looking for signs and wonders and miracles every day, I'm sorry, but that's not biblical. That's not biblical. God's not doing miracles today. That is, He's not raising the dead. and cleansing lepers and performing physical miracles as he did in days gone by. We have to remember these folks didn't have the Bible. In fact, the men and women to which Elijah and Elisha preached, they didn't have any priest, they didn't have a temple, they didn't have anything hardly. So I believe in every miracle of the Bible, but I say at the same time, it's wrong to be looking for miracles today, and it's wrong to think that God performed miracles every day or every year or so throughout the Bible. That's not the case. There were certain periods of time in which God chose to do miracles, and it was not the norm, and it was not the standard. So I just wanted to say that because we've said a lot about miracles. And I do believe every miracle. In fact, I've often said if the Bible said that Jonah swallowed a whale, I'd believe that. That's right. If God said it, I'd believe it. So here's one of those miracles that's undeniable and instantaneous. The first main character is Naaman. Naaman, his name means pleasant. Naaman is a Gentile. He's a Syrian. He is the captain of the host of the Syrian army, well-known, respected, a man of influence, no doubt a man of wealth. And yet the Bible says he's dying of a dread disease. He is a leper. He's dying of leprosy, which throughout the Bible is a symbol of man's sin. Let's think for a moment about leprosy. Leprosy was contagious. And that's why when a man was determined to be a leper, he had to live away from everybody else. He had to live among the other lepers. And if someone approached from a distance, he had to cry out, unclean! Don't come near me! I'm contagious! You'll catch this! You'll die as well! Well, this is not Israel, this is Syria, and so Naaman is still allowed, for a while anyway, to live among his own family, but it's just a matter of time. He'll be another victim, another casualty. Leprosy was incurable. There was absolutely no hope for a man who had contracted this dread disease. Leprosy was uncleanness, it was corruption, it was foulness, it was the decay of the flesh. It's often been described as living death. I'm sure you've seen gruesome pictures of lepers and as time progresses, their fingers fall off, their ears fall off. It's a terrible, dreadful disease. Leprosy. An agonizing death. And so Naaman, his dying of this disease of leprosy. I'm sure he'd gone to the best doctors in his nation, but there's nothing they could do. It's just a matter of time. We come to the second main character of this chapter, and that is a little girl. I don't know how old she is. She's unnamed. She's a Jew. She's a little servant girl to Naaman's wife. She's the hero of the story, or should I say, the heroine. Look at verse number 2. I like the way this little girl is described. And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife. She's a little maid. Now, bear in mind, she's a captive. She's a slave. The Syrians had gone across into Israel and taken some slaves and she was one of them. And she's waiting on Naaman's wife. You know what? It would have been very easy for her to do. It would have been very easy for this little girl to have hate in her heart. And they said, I'm not going to serve Miss Naaman. I'm not going to serve anybody. You tore me away from my homeland. You tore me away from my mom and dad and my brothers and sisters. She could have been very bitter and very resentful. But that's not what she did. She said, I guess God has a purpose in all this. And I'm just going to serve the Lord right here where I am. Whatever he may have for me to do. And so she becomes the hero of the story, as we shall see. This little maid has such a great faith that she says to Naaman's wife one day, I know your husband is dying of leprosy. And I just feel like in my heart, if you could get him over into Israel, there's a man of God there named Elisha, and he'd cure him. Now, that's great faith. Number one, because Elisha had never cured anybody of leprosy. And yet, this little girl, has heard of all the other great miracles of Elisha. So she feels like if God can use Elisha to do these other great miracles, God can use Elisha to bring healing to Mr. Naaman. So that's the basis for her incredible faith and incredible claim to Miss Naaman. If you can just get him over there to the preacher, he'll be alright. That's faith, friends. That's incredible faith. And God will reward this little girl's faith. Just a few words spoken here. Would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria, she says, exclamation mark, for he would recover him of his leprosy. That's just a few words, but that's just about to make a commotion in two kingdoms. Well, in verses 4 through 7, the king of Syria, Naaman's king, sends him to Israel, to the king of Israel. He sends him to the wrong place. Because the little maid had not said, Naaman needs to go see the king. The little maid had said, Naaman needs to go see the preacher. And so when the king of Israel finds out why Naaman has come to him, he says, Who do you think I am? I'm not God. I can't heal you, Naaman. Nobody can heal you. We've got lepers dying here. Why did the king of Syria send you to me? I can't help you. Why, I guess the king of Syria is trying to make some political move here and use this against me and cause war. The king of Israel is thoroughly disgusted and confused that the king of Syria would send Naaman to him. Elisha finds out about it and says, send him on down here to me. That's where he should have come in the first place. So I visualize Captain Naaman and all of his fine horses and chariots and entourage, they've traveled a great distance already, and now they're headed down toward the humble cottage of Elisha. Naaman's in for a big surprise. You see, Naaman's got another disease besides leprosy. He's got a disease called pride. And one's just about as bad as the other. And in fact, pride is the leprosy of the soul, just like leprosy will destroy the body. And I guess being the captain, if you were the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army and you were rich and famous, it'd probably be easy to be proud. He's proud. Leprosy, however, has humbled him to an extent, so much so that he has despaired of all efforts. And can you imagine that this captain is actually willing to go on the words of a little slave girl? That's how desperate he is to stay alive. Did you know God put it in you to stay alive? We all talk about going to heaven, and thank God we're going to heaven. But when we get sick, we go to the doctor. God put it in us to want to stay alive, and this Naaman is so desperate to find some way, any way to stay alive, that he's actually going on the words of a little girl who's promised something that has never, ever happened before in the history of the world. This man's desperate. And when you're desperate, you're in pretty good shape to get some help from God. Well, Elisha is the third main character and Naaman comes to Elisha's home. And I'm sure, as the Bible implies here, that Captain Naaman expects a public ceremony. After all, he is not just an average fellow. He's the commander in chief. He expects the man of God to come out and have a little recognition. And he expects for Elisha to wave his hand in front of Naaman and for the leprosy to suddenly disappear. Those are his expectations. Some recognition, a public ceremony, an astonishing performance. That's not what happens. That's not what happens. Naaman's got to be humbled a little bit more before the miracle can happen. In fact, Elisha doesn't even come out and see him. He sends a messenger out to him. Boy, that makes Naaman mad. He's not used to people not bowing when he clicks his fingers. That's right. The Bible says that Elisha sends a messenger out the door and says, go tell him to go dip in the Jordan River seven times. Well, this is a test for Naaman. What's he going to do? Is he going to obey or is he going to get mad and go back home and die a leper? There's no ceremony, no elation. Now, he's mad and he's just been told to go dip seven times in the muddy Jordan River. He had clean rivers back home in Damascus. This is very humbling. This is not what he expected. But he needs to be humbled quite a bit. Did you know most people go to hell over pride? That's right. Just over pride. And Amon's proud. And he needs his pride to be dealt with and removed just as much as his leprosy. And he actually says, Behold, I thought! I thought he would come out and recognize me and say, it's so good to see you, Captain Naaman. You've done great favors for your nation, and it's my honor to take away your leprosy. I thought, he said. Like a lot of people today, they set up their own ideas against the authority of God's Word, their own opinions. I thought my good works were good enough. I thought being baptized was alright. I thought any denomination was okay. I thought as long as you're sincere. I thought all roads lead to God. I thought it's a very dangerous path. You better ditch all that. It actually doesn't matter what you think. All that matters is what the Bible says. And this man almost went home and died a leper because he thought. Behold, I thought." Well, if it hadn't been for his servants who took him aside and said, now hold on just a minute, don't be so mad and don't go back home yet. After all, Naaman, he's not asking you to do some miracle, something hard. All he asks you to do is go down there to the river and dip yourself seven times. If he had asked you to do some big hard thing, you would have tried that. What have you got to lose? Do what he says. Submit yourself. You've come this far. Obey the man of God. Submit your will to his will. And they persuade him to consent. And so he does. And he proceeds down to the river. Can you see it in your mind's eye? Down to the Jordan. And that's another study in itself. The Jordan River in the Bible represents the judgment of the cross. Of course, this is all typology. And every time we've studied Elisha, he represents Jesus Christ. And we'll see that in the fuller way as we go along. But you never get rid of the leprosy of sin until you come to the cross. Amen. You've got to come to the cross. Well, Naaman is headed to the river and nobody can do this for him. You see him walking down into the Jordan River. I've been to the Jordan River. It goes from the top to the bottom of the nation. From Dan to Beersheba. I don't know how wide and deep it was at this point. But it was so that he could walk into the Jordan River. I see him dip once and then again. No change. Again, but no change. The leprosy remains and everybody's watching. But Naaman is determined to do what the preacher says. The prophet Elisha had said seven times. Not six, not eight, not ten, seven. That's the number in the Bible of completeness. Seven times. And so Captain Naaman plunges seven times beneath the waters of the Jordan River. They're breathless as he rises up after the seventh time. Has it all been a cruel joke? Has it been a sincere mistake? Well, not at all. Not at all. Because now everybody can plainly see his leprosy is gone. The disease is gone. The blemishes, the scars. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it didn't grow a few fingers back. God can do that, you know. Amen. Sure. The pain is gone. The humiliation of leprosy is gone instantaneously, divinely and undeniably. The miracle is wrought. And thank God, something else is gone, not just the leprosy is gone, but the pride is gone. And the God of Israel, Elisha's God, has done for him what his own gods couldn't do for him back home, what all the best doctors in Syria couldn't do for him. Without money and without prize, now he's healed. The leprosy is gone. You know what his entourage did? They shouted, they cried, they hugged next, and they glorified the true God, the God of Israel. He went back to thank Elisha. Of course, Elisha hadn't come out the first time. They hadn't met yet. But Elisha came out this time. And Captain Naaman said, Behold, now I know there's no God in all the earth except your God, the God of Israel. He did for me what nobody else could do. He asked Elisha to take a gift, but he wouldn't take it. So Captain Naaman heads back home where his wife and of course the whole nation is waiting to hear what's happened. And when he sees his wife, she's not so sure it's him. Because last time she saw him, he looked rather detestable. And now he's got baby skin. The Bible says his flesh came like a little child. She said, honey, is that you? You look like a baby. It's me, honey. Look what God did for me. And they hugged again. Of course, the happiest person in the whole story is that little girl. And she said, told you so, told you so. Amen. I don't know what she said. I just know she said, praise God. I knew God could do it. It's never been done before. But my God can do anything, even for a heathen like you, name it. Amen. Isn't it amazing how many times the finger of childhood can point adults in the right direction? Sure, there are many times when sinners will listen to children before they'll ever listen to the preacher. Or listen to adults. Sure, many times. A little child shall lead them, the Bible says. That's a prophetic statement, but that's true in this dispensation as well. Cyclone Max used to tell about a fellow. He wouldn't go to church, but his little girl climbed up in his lap one night and said, Daddy, would you go to church? He hadn't been in 50 years. And she said, she said, he said, I'll think about it. She said, that's not good enough. I want you to promise to go tomorrow night. He said, now, honey, she said, Daddy, I'm not getting out of your lap till you promise. And he promised and he he went and got saved the next night. See, even children can serve God. Amen. That's right. You take this little girl out of this story, this would have never happened. But thank God it did happen. Let me give you one final thing and I'm done. Here's another amazing dimension to this story. And that is that in preaching in Luke chapter 4, the Lord Jesus Christ told about the healing of Naaman. So if you don't believe that happened, you're going to have to take that up with Jesus because he mentioned it. He said there were many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisha. But none of them got healed. The only person who got healed was that man that came across the boundary from Syria, who'd been told by the little girl, if you can get him to Elisha, I believe he'll be healed. Jesus said there were many in Israel, they didn't get healed. But Naaman did. Naaman the Syrian. Why did Jesus tell about that? Two reasons. Jesus mentioned the healing of Naaman, number one, as a tribute to the faith of this little girl. And number two, it was a foreview of the grace of God to the Gentiles. Naaman was a heathen, a pagan, a dog, a Gentile. That's what we were called. Those are all Bible names for you and me, Gentiles. And every now and then in the Old Testament, something great would happen to a Gentile like Ruth, like Rahab, like Naaman. It was a promise of better things to come for whosoever will, for the whole world, not just for the house of Israel, but for all people everywhere. It was a foreglame of the church. It was a promise of the grace of God to Gentiles like you and me. And look what God has done for the Gentiles. The books would fill every library in the world. We were the enemies of God, helpless and hopeless, vile and unclean, strangers and covenants to the covenant of Israel, aliens, unworthy and undone. But now we are washed. Now we are redeemed and sanctified, justified and cleansed and made whole. What happened to Naaman is what happens to everybody that gets saved. Our leprosy gets cleansed. Thank God we're not dying anymore. Thank God I'm not a leper anymore. I'm not a sinner anymore like I used to be under the condemnation and wrath of God. I'm not lost anymore. I'm not the child of the devil anymore. Amen. Well, that's what God did for Naaman, and that's what God's done for you and me. Maybe we could be a little maid for somebody. Maybe we could just put in a little word that might start the wheels a turning, that might save somebody's life. Do you know how much it takes to start a fire? Just a little spark. That's right. Just at the right time. We need to be looking for opportunities. And if you think leprosy is bad, If you think it's bad for people to lose their fingers and become deformed and their whole flesh putrefy, if you think that's a sad, loathsome, despicable picture, and it is, let me tell you that what sin and Satan does to the soul of man is just as repulsive. That's right. Sin is ugly. is totally destructive to mind, body and soul and spirit. And there's only one answer and that's dipping in the Jordan. That's coming to the cross where you can be forgiven and saved and redeemed and made new. You can be born again. That's the message we get to tell people. We should not ever be ashamed of the gospel. Amen.