of forgotten people. And I couldn't wait to get there. I've never preached on this individual. And I'm not going to preach on him tonight. But I knew that if I was going to preach on this individual, I had to preach on another one. And another individual. And I sort of let down because I wanted to get there. And then the more I studied today, the more excited I got. And so, I want you to look at II Kings chapter 5. Now, you know something? That bathing, bathing, for the most part, now listen, for the most part, is a daily occurrence in modern America. Alright? But it's not always been that way. As a matter of fact, in 1842, Boston, Massachusetts made it illegal to bathe without a doctor's prescription. I guarantee this would give some kids, if it was like that now, they'd be happy. 1843 Philadelphia followed suit. They made it bathing illegal between November 1st and March the 15th. I guess between November 1st and March 15th, you just stunk. I remember my grandparents, they grew up at the end of the depression. And I remember my granddaddy and my grandma telling me that when they were little, when they were children, they were only allowed to bathe, because you bathed outside, you were only allowed to bathe in months with an R in it. Now I hope they were just kidding, but they acted like they were serious. You know? I believe there's some little boys that loved to be living back then. What do you all think? Matter of fact, to tell a little boy to go take a bath, for the most part, and I know there's exceptions to the rule, for the most part, and you don't make sure that it happens, for them to come out clean might be a miracle. It might be a miracle. And it sort of reminds me of a little boy, hey, take a bath. And his mom said, now son, you go upstairs. I want you to take a bath. And he said, oh mom, you know, I don't like taking a bath. Do I have to? She said, no, you want to be a clean little boy, don't you? He said, well yeah, but couldn't you just dust me off a little bit? You know? According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association, the modern bathtub was invented in 1883 by a man by the name of John Michael Kohler. He added four decorative feet to the bottom of a cast iron horse trough and covered it with white enamel. Now I think that's coming back popular. Yeah, and here's how they advertised it, all right? Horse trough, hog scalder, when furnished with four legs, can serve as your bathtub. Can you imagine that? So if you're not watering your horse or scalding a hog, you can take a bath in it. And it was soon denounced as a luxurious vanity. Isn't that something? Well, II Kings chapter 5, you're going to read about a man who takes a bath. Boys and girls, he's not going to take a bath in a tub, but in a muddy river. He's in a muddy river. He's not going to just wash one time. He's going to bathe seven times in a row. I mean, one right after another in this muddy river. And when he comes out of this river, he's not just going to come out of the river clean on the outside, but boys and girls, he's going to come out clean on the inside. God, the water's going to wash him on the outside, but God's going to clean him up inside and out. Isn't that amazing? I want you to look with me, if you would, 2 Kings 5, and look, if you would, please, verse number 1. And we're going to get as far as we can get in the life of the man by the name of Naaman. The Bible said, Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man. with his master and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper." And the Syrians had gone out by companies, that means roving bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid. She's a young woman, probably in her early to mid-teens, and she waited on Naaman's wife. You know what's interesting? We have no idea what this little maid's name is, but God's going to use her in an amazing way. Listen, even in Scripture, we don't even find her name, but her story, what she does is going to impact this man by the name of Naaman and then even us today. Verse 3, And she said unto her mistress, Would God, it's almost like a prayer, What God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria. If he could just go down and meet the preacher in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in and told his Lord, that means they went to King Ben-Hadad, saying, Thus and thus, this is Naaman's king, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is in the land of Israel. And the king of Assyria said, Go to, go. That's just a way of saying, Hey, get with it. And I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And Naaman departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten chains of raiment." Now that's a pretty big treasure, isn't it? And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. Now when he gets there, I want you to get with your prophets and make sure that my guy, my servant is to recover leprosy, and here's what I'm going to give everybody. Look at verse 7, And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, he ripped them in two, and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive, that this man descend into me to recover or heal a man of his leprosy? Who does he think I am? Am I God? I can't do that. Wherefore I consider, pray you, And excuse me, I turned two pages instead of one and see how he's seeking the cross. He's just trying to start a war. Look at verse 8, And it was so when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent or torn or ripped up thy clothes? Let him come now to me, let Naaman come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan, which is a muddy little river, seven times. And thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, he had a meltdown, and went away and said, Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike, or wave his hand over the place, and recover, or heal the leper. or not are Banna and Farpar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?' So he turned away and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spake unto him and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, something big, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? Then went he, Naaman, down, and dipped, he bathed himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." He was lapper all over. He had sores all over. all over his body. And when he did by faith what God told him to do through the prophet, a miracle took place and God cleansed him of his leprosy. And I want to preach tonight, and I hope we get done. If not, it's okay, naming the man who bathed in a muddy river. Let's pray together. Lord, thank You for the sweet Spirit already tonight. I know, Lord, that I went a little long tonight in our prayer time. And Lord, there's so much to be prayed for. And Lord, that's a serious matter. And Wednesday night is prayer meeting night as well as Bible study. And Father, we prayed together as a church. And I believe that honors You. And we prayed for some right things. And I believe that pleased You. And Lord, now as we open Your Word, I pray that You'll speak to our hearts Lord, rejoice our hearts, teach us Your truths, and let Christ be magnified in our midst. And I'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Naaman was a man who bathed in a muddy river. I want you to notice the Bible tells us right at the very beginning that Naaman was a diseased man. When the Bible introduces us to this man Naaman, he's a forgotten man, but he has a fascinating life, and we find out that he's not an Israelite, he's a Syrian. That means he's not a Jew, but a Gentile. Did you know God loves Gentiles? By the way, let me just go ahead and tell everybody tonight, boys and girls, God loves everybody and God loves you. And this man doesn't worship Jehovah, the God of the Bible, but idols. He worships idols that are made with hands. Aren't you glad we don't worship idols tonight? Aren't you glad we don't worship things that are made with man's hands? Things that man made? We worship the God that made man, that made everything. We worship the God of heaven. And the Bible gives us His resume and it's impressive. I want you to notice his marvelous character in verse number 1. He's a valiant captain. The Bible said he's captain of the host of the king of Syria. And it goes on to say that he's a mighty man of valor, that he's not just a five-star general, he's a war hero. He's the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Syrian army. I mean, he's in charge of the entire army of Syria. He's probably second in command to the very king of the nation. He's head of one of the most powerful armies in the world at that day. Naaman would be the George Patton, the storming Norman Schwarzkopf of his day. He was a valiant captain, but I'm going to tell you something else. He was a victorious commander. Verse number one tells me in the latter part of the verse that by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. Up to that time, Israel had been the dominant nation. And up to that time, Israel had dominated Syria, but because of Israel's sin and their wickedness, God was going to break that power and give it to the enemies to teach Israel a lesson. And so He led the Syrian army to victory over all of His enemies. And many believe that it's Naaman who drew back his bow back in I Kings chapter 22, and let fly the arrow that found its mark and struck wicked King Ahab. according to the prophecy of Elijah that the dogs would lick his blood out of his chariot when he died. And that it was Naaman who shot that arrow that God divinely guided into the body of King Ahab. And it led to a rout of the armies of Israel and changed the balance of power from Israel to Syria. He's a valiant captain. He's a victorious commander. Number three, he is a virtuous citizen. The Bible says he's a great man with his master. Look at that in verse 1. And he's honorable. That means not just the master, but the people. He was more than a military general. He was a statesman. He was King Ben-Hadad's right-hand man. And he was honorable. He was held in high esteem by the Syrian people. And he had all of the prominence and the prestige and the riches and the wealth that went with such a powerful position in that nation. And I'm just going to tell you, Naaman is a man that everyone wanted to be but. Look at verse 5, last part. It talks about all the marvelous character and the wonderful things, but the last five words, but he was a leper. Now as a man of marvelous character, he had a miserable, he lived a miserable condition. That little word but can make all the difference in a life. But he was a leper. Think about it. Valiant, victorious, virtuous, but a leper. Leprosy was an ancient dreaded disease much like cancer is dreaded in our day. To go and be told that you had leprosy, what we would understand as modern Hansen's disease, what was a death sentence. And what would begin as a small sore in the skin would spread and in its late stages would disfigure and slowly but surely would take the life of its victim. And I'm just going to tell you Naaman was in trouble because he had a disease that was going to take his life. Naaman was the victim of something that there was no cure for apart from the miraculous intervention of the God of heaven. Now listen to me boys and girls. A God that Naaman had absolutely no knowledge of. Oh, he had probably heard God's name. He had probably heard His name taken in vain, and people cursed that name, and misused that name, and mocked the name of God, but he didn't know God. You know people like that, that out in the world, and maybe even you have some friends, that they take God's name in vain, and they mock His name, and they misuse His name, and they abuse His name, but they don't know His name. They don't know Him. And by the way, that ought to break our heart, church. And Naaman was a man that didn't know God. And no doubt Naaman, in his desperate condition, had tried every ointment, every salve, every medicine, every doctor, every hospital, every clinic. I bet he even tried every homemade holistic remedy known to the Syrian people, but to no avail. Nothing helped him. There was nothing going to keep the leprosy from covering his body, oozing with his sores, disfiguring him, and then eventually taking his life. Did you know in the Bible leprosy is a picture of sin? God gives three chapters in the book of Leviticus comparing leprosy to sin. An Israelite who had leprosy never went to the doctor, he went to the priest. He was never said to be healed, but always to be cleansed. Because leprosy worked from the inside out. And boys and girls, and listen to me church tonight, sin always works from the inside out. It defiles us on the inside, and it comes out on the outside. And Naaman's outward condition mirrored his inward spiritual condition. He wasn't just a leper on the outside. He was a sinner on the inside, and He was just as helpless and hopeless on the inside as He was on the outside, and Naaman needed God. And can I help us to understand something tonight, church? All around us are people like Naaman. Oh, they may be okay on the outside, but they are diseased on the inside. They have the disease of sin. That is true of every man, woman, boy and girl who is apart from Jesus Christ. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. And you know what the worst part is? Leprosy can doom somebody's body, but sin dooms the soul. I want us to never lose sight of the fact, church. On a Wednesday night, that all around us are people who may have everything this world has to offer, but... Oh, they've got wealth. Oh, they some have position. Oh, they some have all kinds of pleasure. They have all of these things. Sometimes Christians even envy them, but they're sinners that need a Savior. Maybe you're here tonight and you've never been saved. You're like Naaman, you're a sinner and you need a Savior. He was a diseased man. Right at the very beginning, that's what we're told. But I want you to notice, secondly, the good news. That's the bad news. Let me tell you the good news. He's going to be a delivered man. Now, I'm going to throw this in hyperdrive. Are you ready? Number one, or letter A under that, he heard of God. He's going to hear about God. Look at verse number 2. And the Syrians had gone out by companies. That means these roving bands of marauders, and they had brought away captives. They had been raiding the outward regions of the nation of Israel, and they took captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, a little girl, a young woman in her early to mid-teens, and she's going to serve Naaman's wife. She's on the lowest rung of the social ladder in her day, but she had a heart for her master. You know what? Her being an Israelite, him being a Gentile Syrian, she's the captive and he's the master. She had been ripped from her family, ripped from her home. She had been taken there and made a slave, and she could have been bitter and uncaring different, and maybe she was just so insignificant, what she knew didn't matter. But instead, this little Jewish girl had compassion on her Gentile master. And I just want to remind us, the Bible said that some have compassion making a difference. If we're not careful, we look at the world and we get mad at it for being the world. We fuss at sinners for being sinners. Sinners do what sinners do. And somebody needs to have some compassion. And if anybody is out of compassion, it ought to be God's people. I just want to remind us tonight, church, love makes a difference. We've heard that sung about in two songs. How many times has it been said people don't care how much we know until they know how much we care? This little slave girl from the land of Israel is going to make a suggestion, and Amon's wife, it's almost like a prayer, that he go to a foreign land, an enemy land, to a prophet he had never seen to receive a cure he wasn't even sure was there. Look what she says, verse number 3. Would you look at it? And she said unto her mistress, It's just an off-the-cuff statement. She's burdened. She's broken for the condition of Naaman. Would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria. I know there's hope. I know there's an answer for his condition. If he just could get with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him. He would heal him of his leprosy. Can I just stop and say, listen, in our world, there is an answer. There is hope. Friend, thank God. There is a Savior tonight. A witness that brought hope to Naaman's hurting heart. Do you know there are some people around us we need to bring some hope to this week? They need to hear about a Jesus that loves them, a God that cares about them, that wants to change the situation that they're in. Christians never underestimate the simple witness of a gospel tract. The simple witness of a word for God on the job or among family members and friends and neighbors. A simple invite to church. I hear people say, well, I invite, and I invite, and I invite, and nobody comes. But you know what? When you invite, God blesses that. are coming and lives are being changed. Hey, we just want to be faithful like this Jewish girl. Maybe it's a simple welcome. Maybe it's a simple handshake. Maybe it's a simple, I'm glad you're here at Calvary Baptist Church. And God takes that simple, kind gesture and witness and does something great in somebody's life just like He's going to use this little maiden girl in the life of a man by the name of Naaman. Listen to me. Don't ever consider anything you do for God as small. Everything that's done for God is a big deal. It's a big deal. We may not be building walls like Nehemiah, but every one of us said, listen, I'm doing a great work. Every time you do something for Jesus, it's great. You know what? Everybody in this room that knows Jesus was at one time like Naaman and somebody had compassion on you. Word comes the king of Syria. He's going to write a letter. We've already read this. He's going to send his ambassador with that letter and he's going to send Naaman and all these riches and the king of Israel is going to have a meltdown. And then suddenly Elisha the prophet hears about that and he sends a message to the king and he said, have you forgotten that there's a prophet in Israel? Have you forgotten there's a God in Israel? You may not be God and you may not be able to recover the leprosy, but I can tell you one thing. I can tell you there is a God and He can recover the leprosy. So this Naaman heard of God and he responds to it. You know, there's people all over our nation, all over the world that need to hear about God. And you know what? Some's going to respond like Naaman did. You don't know who's going to respond. That's why we just need to be faithful, share it with everybody, but somebody's going to respond. Then he was humbled by God. Let me move quickly. Naaman makes his way to the land of Israel. He finally arrives at the door of Elisha, the prophet's house. There's Naaman standing at the door with all the pomp and the air and the arrogance that goes to the man of his stature. There's the entourage of soldiers and servants and donkeys laden with treasure. And I tell you what, he probably walks up to that door, probably got the medals hanging off of his chest. He's probably got everybody gathered around him. And he thinks, boy, I tell you what, I'm going to impress this prophet. He's going to have to come out here. I'm such a great man. He's going to have to come out here and do what he needs to do, recover me and my lepers. I mean, look who I am. I'm Naaman, the captain of the host of Syria. If he understands who I am and what I'm getting ready to give him, he'll have to come out here. You know what? Naaman's like a lot of people today, had a lot of misconceptions about coming to God. Can I just give you a couple of them? How about number one, they think they can impress God with who they are? Can I help us understand God's not impressed with human greatness and human goodness? If you come to God, you've got to come just like you are, sinner in need of a Savior. You know what He's doing? He's stripping Naaman of Naaman. He's helping Naaman to know that when you come to the God of Israel, hey, it's not like your gods that you worship. When you come to God, you need to recognize that it's not about you, it's about Him. And you're helpless and you're hopeless and you need God. We come to God on His terms, not ours. Let me give you number two. They think they can buy God with their possessions. Can I just help us to remember tonight that forgiveness of sins and salvation is not for sale? It's priceless. Matter of fact, God said you come without money and without price. You say, without price? Preachers, that money doesn't cost anything. Listen, God's too rich to sell and we're too poor to buy. We're too poor to buy. It's all of grace. Grace, by its very definition, is free. When you start trying to do something to be saved... Listen, let me just tell you. There's a lot of people, they think that they can repent enough to get God to love them. that they have to go through all this process. Let me tell you something. God loves you just like you are and He wants you to change your mind and come to Jesus. That's what He wants. Some people get the idea they've got to dress themselves up and drop some sins and clean themselves up so they can come to God and that God's going to be impressed with all that and they can earn God's favor and God's merit. Let me just tell you, friend, you come to Jesus just like you are. That's how we come to Jesus. And there's a lot of Christians out there trying to impress God with who they are. And let me just remind us that God isn't impressed with who we are. He's impressed with what He does in and through our lives as we yield ourselves to Him. It's amazing the last of the prophets doesn't even go out the door to meet Naaman. As a matter of fact, he doesn't even answer the door. The door opens and a messenger comes out. with some instructions telling Naaman what he needs to do if he wants to be healed. And Naaman flies into a rage. The Bible uses the word wrath. You know the Jews had 11 words for anger in their vocabulary, and this is the strongest one in the Hebrew language. He had a proverbial meltdown. He is upset. He's mad. He said, Who does this guy think he is? Does he not know who I am? I thought surely he would do this and that and come and wave his hand over it and strike and do some incantations and say this and say that and then recover me of the leprosy. I thought he was going to do something great. I'm not going to go down to that muddy river and muddy little river down there and bathe in that river. I've got great rivers, crystal clear water in my own country. If I'm going to go bathe in a river, I'm going to do it in Syria. I'm not going to do it in Israel. He's upset. A lot of people get upset when they realize salvation is free. Grace by its very nature is free. They think God's working has to be sensational. I can hear Naaman now. It can't be that easy. It can't be that easy. It can't be that simple. How many people will go to hell because they believe salvation is too easy and too simple? And I'm just going to go on record and say this. I get upset when preachers make it hard for people to get saved. The worst form of wickedness is when a preacher makes it hard for people to come to Jesus. God's already done the hard work. He sent His Son Jesus to die for us. To rise again. Somebody says, I don't believe in easy-believe-ism. Tell me what's hard about it. You got a problem with Paul? Paul said to a Philippian jailer, he said, what must I do to be saved? It would have been wonderful to add a whole lot of stuff there and say, well, you've got to do this and do this and be that and be sorry enough and this, that and the other. He said, believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what he said. Wouldn't you think if there was some other way or you needed to add something to it, Paul would have brought it in there at that point? Can I tell you some people struggle with their salvation because they feel like it wasn't sensational enough? Can I help you understand you don't have to get knocked off a donkey for your salvation to be real? I had a person tell me one time, he said, Preacher, my testimony is not very exciting. I said, really? He said, yeah. He said, I was just a little boy and I heard a preacher and I knew as a sinner and I come forward and I got saved and I've just lived for God best I could most of my life. I said, I thought that was a pretty sensational testimony if you really want to know the truth to me. As a parent, I'll take that one. I'll take it. I don't think you have to live a wicked, vile, ungodly life before you have to come to Jesus. All you've got to do is realize you're a sinner. You can't save yourself and you're going to go to a place called hell and He died for you and rose again. And if you'll put your faith in Him, He'll save you. Aren't you glad God saves little children? He said, suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not. I read an article about a preacher who said he didn't think children could get saved because of the complexities of the doctrine of soteriology. I thought, wow! That impressed me. I thought, wow, Jesus didn't think that. He told some disciples, He said, you get out of the way. You let these little children come to me. I'm excited about little children getting saved. By the way, I've got people in here, testimonies of being saved, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 years old and you've lived for God. Tell me what's wrong with that. You know what? Some people's testimonies may be a little more sensational than others, but nobody goes to heaven by their testimony. They go to heaven by what Jesus did for them. Isn't that something? He was humbled by God. I didn't fill out number three, did I? They think God's working has to be sensational. Hey, you think I can be done in five minutes? You ready? He was healed by God. I've been telling the story because we read it, but look down if you would please. Look down at verse number 13. He's had his little meltdown. He's had his little fit. He's pitched his tantrum, verse 13, and his servants came near and said, Soft answer turneth away wrath. My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? Listen, it may seem simple. It may seem easy. It may seem unexciting. It may seem anticlimactic. It may seem like it's foolish. But if you know nothing else worked, why don't you just believe what he has to say and go down there and wash in that river? I love verse 14. Then he went down. You know what that is? That's called faith. He acted on faith. Then he went down and dipped, bathed himself seven times in Jordan according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child. And he was clean. You know what? I can see him go down that water. He dips himself one time. He dips himself two times, three times. But on the seventh time when he goes down to the water, he comes up instantaneously and completely. He's cleansed of all the disease, all the defilement, all the disfigurement, all of it's gone. the skin that was ravaged with oozing leprous sores. It's gone. It's like the skin of a newborn baby. Can I tell you that's the picture of what God did when He saves every person that puts their faith in God. Do you know Jordan River is a picture of death and that place of death became a place of life for Naaman? And can I tell you it reminds me of Calvary where the spotless Lamb of God took my sin and your sin and was nailed to a cross and shed His blood that we could be cleansed of our sin. And that place of death, that gory place of death called Mount Calvary became a place of life and that's where I got set free and made alive in Jesus. Hey, He died that we might live. By faith we're receiving a Savior. We're washed in the blood. The moment we say yes, we are instantly and completely made clean. All the disease, all the defilement, all the disfigurement of sin is gone. Oh, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath its flow, lose all their guilty stains. I don't know about you, but I'm glad my sins are gone. And it's all by faith. He's not just a cleansed man. I've got a couple minutes. He's a changed man. Now preacher, what's the big deal about that number seven? You know what? A lot of preachers want to attach a whole lot to that. I've been thinking about that all day. I've been studying about that. You read all kinds of stuff. I don't believe there's really anything magical about it. You say, well, seven in the Bible is the number of completion. I don't think Naaman knew that. Do you think Naaman knew that? Do you think that Elisha gave him the theological implications of numerology in the Bible? I don't think so. You say, preacher, what was it about 7? I think what it was is that faith leads to action. It pays to obey. Now if you want to say that it means he was completely clean, I'm fine with that. I just believe it was the instruction that God gave and whenever God tells us to do something, we ought to do it. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. I want you to notice his assurance, verse 15, real quickly. And he returned to the man of God. He comes up clean in all his company, came and stood before him and said, Behold, now I know, I know. Will you underline those two words? I know that there is no God in all the earth. I know something. Oh, my gods are weak and worthless and dead. There's no God in all the earth, but your God, here it is. Now therefore I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant." Now we're going to talk about that blessing. We're just going to leave that there. Did you notice Naaman didn't say, I hope, I think, I feel. He said, I k-n-o-w, I know. Aren't you glad for blessed assurance tonight? Friend, if you put your faith in Jesus, I John 5, verse 13, you can know that you have eternal life. And then he gives some allegiance to God. He gives himself to the Lord. Look at verse 17. And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules burdened of earth? Let me have two mules. That means probably on a pack there'd be two big bags of dirt, bundles of dirt on both sides of that mule to equal it out while they traveled. For thy servant will henceforth... So that two mules will be four bags of dirt. For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods. but unto the Lord." He's a changed man. Not just in his assurance, but his allegiance. Two mules burden. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to go back to Syria. I'm going to go back to my country. I'm going to go back to my home and I'm going to build an altar of dirt to God. It's not anything that I've done. It's not my wealth. It's not my riches. It's not my position. It's not my prestige. It's God. Friend, listen. Can I remind us tonight? Anything that happens good in our life, it's not us. It's God tonight. Salvation is of the Lord. And I want you to look at verse 17. I love this. Listen to these words. Given to thy servant. It's no longer naming the captain and naming the general and naming the hero and naming the statesman. It's naming the servant. Did you catch that? Boy, what a change. Here this arrogant prideful man's a humbled man. He's met God. And like the Thessalonians, he's turned to God from idols. See, here's our problem. We're trying to get everybody turned from sin to God. That's not the Bible way. That's not the Bible way. God said that Thessalonians turned to God from idols. That means they're turning to God turned them away from their idols. See, if we're all the time telling sinners to quit sinning, it's futile. You go all day long. Now listen, you quit your drinking. Quit your drugging. Quit your adultery. Quit your this. Quit your that. They can't. They can't. Oh, but when they turn to God, they can. See the difference? They turn to God from idols, not from idols, to God. And here's a man that turned to God and it turned him away from his idols. You know what I found? When you turn to God, it turns you from everything else, doesn't it? Wow. who went down to a muddy river and bathed himself and he was made clean. And friend, just simple faith in Jesus Christ makes people clean. And you can be like a little maid tonight, just a simple witness this week can make an eternal difference in somebody's life just like her witness did in the life of a man by the name of Naaman. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.