Good morning, it's truly a joy to be with you today. When you take out your Bibles and you can turn to the book of 2 Kings with me. 2 Kings chapter five is where we'll be asking God to speak to us this morning. And as you do that, let me bring you greetings from Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Canada. That's the church where I'm a member of, the church where I serve as an elder and pastor. If you're ever in the Toronto area, maybe work or maybe vacation would bring you up there. Very welcome to join with us, and I trust you'd find us a very like-minded group of Christians who are serving the Lord in the little calling to which He's called us there. We're looking at 2 Kings chapter five, and we'll be looking there, because I'd like to introduce you today to a big and mighty man. A big and mighty man who lived about 2,500 years ago in ancient Syria. That's a nation just to the north of Israel. And this man's name is Naaman. And at the time we meet him in the book of 2 Kings, he is one of the heroes of his generation. He's one of the mightiest warriors. He's one of the greatest military commanders of the era. He's the kind of person who has everything he's ever wanted. He's accomplished everything he's ever dreamed of. There's just one problem. He also has one thing he never wanted, one thing he would never have dreamed of, even in his worst nightmare. So let's turn together to 2 Kings chapter five, and I'll read the first 14 verses. Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians, on one of their raids, had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, would that my lord were with the prophet who's in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy. So Naaman went in and told his lord, thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he went, taking with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, when this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman, my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy. And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and to make alive that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me. But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king saying, why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean. But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, my father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you. Will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, wash and be clean? So he 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. This morning I want us to spend just a bit of time getting to know this man, Naaman. I want us to see first a big man and a little girl and the contrast between them. Then I want us to see a faithless king and a faithful prophet and the contrast between them. And best of all, I want us to see together a kind and powerful God. A kind and powerful God who loves to heal those who are broken and wounded and diseased. So first we need to see a big man and a little girl. And Naaman is introduced to us as a big man. He's introduced as a big and powerful man. Just in these first verses we learn that he's a commander of armies, that he's great, and that he's favored, and that he's mighty, and that he's known for his valor. Seems like everything is going his way in life. Everything except for that one little word that comes at the end of his biography, he is a leper. When the Bible speaks of leprosy, it can refer to quite a number of diseases, but whatever he has, he's got a skin condition that's visible, that's embarrassing, it's probably disfiguring and most likely fatal. Not only that, it's the kind of disease that's contagious, and so it evokes fear and horror in other people. It causes them to back off in case they come into contact with it, and they contract it themselves. And so maybe it's like the author is posing a question here. It's like he's saying, Naaman, it's great that you're valorous. That's a great thing. But what does valor really mean when your body's covered in these open, painful sores? It's great that you've got the admiration of the people, but what does that admiration matter when they're afraid to even come near you? And then what will all of that fame and all of those accomplishments and all of that notoriety, what will that actually do for you when that disease finally claims the victory and you're just laid in a tomb? And I suppose it should make you ponder as well. What will your accomplishments do for you when you approach the end of your life? If you've lived to be famous, and many do, if you've lived to be famous, what will that fame do for you when you contract a fatal disease? I mean, maybe thousands of people will attend your funeral instead of a few people will attend. Does that really bring you any comfort? Or if you've lived to be rich, and many do, what will your money do for you when you take your last breath? You think about it, does it really matter if you're buried under a slab of marble or under a slab of concrete? Either way, you're dead, you're in the ground. There's nothing at all wrong with accomplishments. We love accomplished people. But you should stop to ask, what will those accomplishments actually do for you as you encounter illness, and as you approach death, and as you pass from this life into whatever it is that comes beyond, whatever comes next? And so the story introduces us to a big man, a big man who's got big accomplishments, but he's also got a big problem, a big and scary disease. And then it introduces us to kind of the opposite of a big man, it introduces us to a little girl in verse two. Now the Syrians, in one of their raids, had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. So at some point, the army of Syria had raided Israel, and as was done in that day, as you sometimes hear about even in our day, they had raided Israel, and they carried off whatever they could capture, gold, silver, cattle, and even people. So it might have happened something like this. A little Jewish girl was sitting in her family's home and she heard the sound of an approaching army and her father screamed at her, run and hide. And she heard the sound of a battle unfolding outside of her house. Maybe she heard the sound of her parents pleading for their lives. And a soldier burst in and he found her and he snatched her up and he took her away. I think sometimes we can read stories in the Bible, and we read them commonly, or they're at such a distance from us, we fail to take them seriously, or fail to think about the true horror of what happened here. Just this little girl, taken from her family, and carried off to a different land, a foreign land, to Syria, where she's got no home, and no family, and no friends, and no rights, and no prospects. This little girl is forced to be a servant to this big man. And then one day she hears people talking about this big man's big problem. She hears them talking about this terrible disease. And as she hears them talking about Naaman's disease, it triggers a memory. She remembers that back in Israel, back in her homeland, she had heard people talking about the fact that God had raised up a prophet. And she had heard them say that God was working through this prophet to do incredible things. Maybe she herself had witnessed some of these things. And so what should she do with information like that? We need to remember, there had been a horrific tragedy in the life of this little girl. Her family was probably destroyed in this raid, and then she was carried off by the army that destroyed her family, and then she was enslaved by the man who commanded that army, who had carried her off and destroyed her family. So you've got to assume that her natural temptation then, as she heard about the reports of this man's illness, her natural temptation would have been to say just, all right, good, it serves him right. She could have just sat back in glee and watched him die and thought, serves him right, he's getting what he deserves. But instead of being bitter and angry, instead of withholding information and just watching him die, she chooses to speak up. And so in verse three we read, she said to her mistress, would that my Lord were with the prophet who's in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy. See this little girl loves her enemy. This little girl loves her enemy and she tells him how to be cured. She tells him how he can be saved. And it reminds me that God loves to do big things through even little people. A small child who knows God is far wiser than an old man who denies God. The words of a little child have great power when that child is speaking about our mighty God, which is why we teach and train our children in the ways of the Lord. For all of us, I think there are times when we feel like children. Maybe our beliefs are being challenged by someone whose intellect or whose education or whose knowledge is just far greater than our own. And we can feel like a child by comparison. But if God can speak through a child, as he did here, God can speak through you. So don't be afraid to speak. You've got truth on your side and you've got God on your side and you should never discount what God can do through people who seem so small, through words that seem so simple, through people that seem and really are so very powerless before these great and mighty people. And so we've seen this big man and this little girl. The author is setting up the story for us by introducing these two characters. Now he's gonna introduce two more. We're gonna meet a faithless king and a faithful prophet. And so Naaman's wife quickly rushes to her husband and tells him what this girl has said. Now you gotta assume that Naaman thought this was pretty unlikely, right? This little girl has said, I know a guy who can cure you of your disease. But you can also assume that Naaman is just ready to try anything. He's desperate, he's a desperate man. So he figures this is probably worth a shot, but of course there's a problem. He can't just go to Israel now and ask for a favor. He can't just cross into Israel without causing a ruckus. Why is that? Because he's been going into Israel and stealing children from the country. So he's not in a position now to go and ask for a favor. And so Naaman goes to his king to work out this problem. He says, verse four, thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel. In other words, this kid says there's a guy in Israel who can heal me. The king of Israel, I guess he decides that this miracle cure is worth a shot, and why not? Naaman is his number one general. The king wants him to keep serving him, to keep fighting his battles on his behalf, to live, to fight, to serve. And so the king of Syria, he thinks about this for a minute, and he figures out a plan. He writes a letter to the king of Israel. And so verse five. The king of Syria said, go now and I'll send a letter to the king of Israel. So he went, taking with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 changes of clothing, we could say several million dollars, verse six. And Naaman brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, when this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy. And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and to make alive that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me. Let me explain what's happening here. It's maybe a little opaque as we read it all these thousands of years later, but essentially here's what's going on. The king of a very weak nation receives a letter from the king of a very strong nation, and the letter says, I'm sending you millions of dollars, and in return, I expect you to cure this guy of his leprosy. The king of Israel happens to know that he has no ability to cure anyone of anything, much less to cure a man of an advanced case of leprosy. And so he assumes this must be some kind of a trick. He assumes that what's happening here is Syria is manufacturing some sort of international incident that's gonna provoke another war. That's what he thinks. that the king of Syria is just finding a way that he can provoke a new war, and he's gonna come and he's gonna raid Israel again. And maybe this time do more than raid them, maybe this time just conquer them. And so as a sign of his grief, as a sign of his confusion, of his sorrow, he tears his clothes. Strange custom to us, but a very common one in the Old Testament. We're about to meet that faithful prophet I told you about, but before we turn to him, it's worth asking this. What should the King of Israel be doing at this point? He's in a scary situation, no doubt. He's afraid, he's intimidated, he's facing a much stronger enemy. What might be a better response than shredding his clothes? Well, you know, he should be asking God for help, shouldn't he? Because even if it's true that Syria does intend to attack, the king's got it wrong, but even if that is true, that the king of Syria is going to attack, hasn't God proven himself against far greater odds in the past? I mean, this is a God who destroyed an entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea. This is a God who flattened the walls of Jericho with nothing more than a shout and a trumpet blast. This is a God who scared off the army of Midian with just the sight of torches and the sound of breaking jars. God has proven His power, and He's proven His willingness to help. He's done that repeatedly in the past. And so this king, the king of Israel, he should be humbling himself in prayer rather than cowering in grief. He should be tearing apart his pride rather than tearing apart his clothes. He should be trusting in the might of God rather than fearing the power of Syria. And that makes me wonder, what's your first instinct when times of trouble and times of uncertainty come? You probably don't tear your clothes apart. It's not a custom that's meaningful to us, but do you tear your life apart through anxiety? Do you tear your joy apart through anger or through desperation? Do you tear your faith apart by unbelief or by just raging against God? One of the hardest but the most important lessons we ever learn as Christians is to bring all of our cares to the Lord. To go to God first, not last. To tell God all your problems, to tell Him all your fears, all your sorrows, to submit all of these things to Him. And also then to remember all his faithfulness in the past. God is such a track record of faithfulness here in the scripture and of course in our lives as well. He's been faithful again and again. So as you turn to the Lord, as you remember his faithfulness, he will give you what you need to endure your sorrows well. He'll even give you what you need to emerge unbroken and victorious in Him. Through those sorrows and through those griefs and through those uncertainties, our God is so willing to hear and so willing to help and so willing to guide us. When contrasted to that faithless king, we see a faithful prophet as well, verse eight. But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may know that there's a prophet in Israel. So Elisha knows, he sees the king is behaving like a faithless coward. So he decides it's up to him now to take over the situation. He says, let Naaman come to me that he may know there's a prophet in Israel. And we wonder, why does Naaman need to know that there's a prophet in Israel? How does that help him in any way? Because if there's a prophet in Israel, there's a God in Israel because we're a Where a prophet speaks, God speaks. And where a prophet acts, God himself is acting. And so Elisha sees here an opportunity to display the power of God. Verse nine. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house. And so, kind of fun to imagine this big group of people coming to a stop. all these officials and chariots and all this pomp and circumstance, it all comes to a stop outside Elisha's little home and then a spokesman announces, the great and mighty Naaman is here and he stands there, he steps off his chariot and he stands there waiting for Elisha to come out and to bow down low before him and then to heal him. It's not exactly how it goes, verse 10. And Elisha sent a messenger to him. I love that one so much. Elisha just sent a messenger. He sends a mere servant. He doesn't go himself. And the servant passes along a simple message. Yeah, Elisha says, go and wash in the Jordan seven times, your flesh will be restored, and you'll be clean. How does Naaman receive this instruction? Not very well. He's furious. Verse 11. But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. Okay, two questions here. Why does Elisha send a servant instead of going himself? Why would he choose to do that? The second question, why does Naaman get so angry? Well, to the first question, Elisha's making a point. He wants to make absolutely certain that when healing comes, Naaman knows it's the work of God rather than the work of any man. So he's just gonna remove himself altogether from the picture. Now, if you ever see a faith healer on TV, and to be clear, I don't recommend that you see a faith healer on TV, but if you do, I guarantee he will not express that kind of humility. Have you ever seen a humble faith healer? Of course not. I guarantee he won't show that kind of humility. I also guarantee he won't actually heal you, but he'll tell you that you're healed and he'll make a big production of it. He'll do exactly what's described here. He'll wave his hands and maybe speak in some gibberish tongue and he'll try to push you over, whatever he does. he will make absolutely certain that he is in the front and he is in the center, that he's the one people see and remember and honor, right? Benny Hinn or whoever, he wants to heal you on stage so he receives the glory and he receives your money. Elisha wants this man to be healed in isolation so God receives the glory. That's his concern. So that first question, why does Elisha send a servant instead of going himself? So absolutely no one will be confused as to who is the healer. So if there's any glory to be given here, that glory will go to God rather than Elisha. Great example of humility. The second question, why does Naaman get so angry? Well in part because his pride is wounded. He's affronted, he's embarrassed by the way he's being treated. So maybe you can imagine that pastors here through the week, they get an email from some big wig celebrity, I don't know who's famous in Texas. Some big wig celebrity says that he's decided he wants to come and visit your church on Sunday. He'd like to worship here the next Sunday morning. And so Sunday morning comes around and I guess he pulls up out front in a big old stretched SUV or something like that and his security people rush and open the door for him and he steps down and he strolls to the front of the church and he gets the same treatment as everyone else. At least I trust he gets the exact same treatment as everyone else. He sits in the same seats, he gets the same greeting, he sings the same songs, he's treated identically as everyone else. And I think he would be tempted to get angry. He'd be tempted to get angry because people so often treat him like his power or his fame or his awards, like those elevate him above the rest of us. But if he walks into church, he is just another sinner in need of grace. He is no different, no better, no worse than you or me or any of us. He's just another person. And so Naaman was angry that he's not being treated like the VIP. He's absolutely certain he is. He's not getting what he thinks he deserves. And I think he was also angry that the solution was so unexpected, maybe even insulting. Elisha's servant basically said, just go dip yourself in that river over there seven times and your problem's solved. That's all he had to do. Turns out Naaman isn't a fan of the Jordan River. He knows there are much nicer rivers in his own country, and he knows this as well. If the cure could be had by just dipping in a river seven times, I could've just stayed home. I could've saved myself a lot of bother. I could've gone out in my backyard, dipped myself in one of my own rivers seven times, and I know that would not have cured me. And so Naaman, he's angry, he's embarrassed, he's muttering under his breath, he storms off. What a total waste this whole thing has been. And I wonder if you've ever seen people show interest in the Christian faith, similar to this. They listen respectfully when they're told about humanity's problem with sin. They nod their heads and, yeah, I've done some bad things. And they listen with interest when they're told about Jesus dying for their sins. What a great man. And maybe they've even asked, well, what do I need to do to become a Christian? And you've said, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. And maybe they've responded a little bit like Naaman here. They've scoffed or they've rolled their eyes or they've just lost interest and they've gone away. Why? because grace is so offensive. We need to understand how offensive grace is, how unique grace is to the Christian faith. There's no other religion that preaches grace. Only the gospel preaches grace. People expect when they start to interact with Christians and they start to hear about Jesus, they expect that they'll be told they need to earn their salvation. At the heart of every person is that desire I want to earn my salvation. They don't want to receive it by grace. They want to earn it by works. They want their salvation to be deserved instead of undeserved. And so instead of accepting Christ, they reject Christ. Now, if Elisha had told Naaman to do something difficult, I think he would have done it. Something hard, something heroic, right? Climb a mountain, or swim a sea, or fight a dragon. Naaman would have said, yeah, let me go do that. But he was told something simple. It was clear, you can't earn this. This has to be received as a gift. This has to be grace. He didn't like the solution, so he stormed off in a rage. And that should be the end of the story. Naaman goes back to Syria, he dies of his leprosy, the end. But it's not the end of the story. And that's because our God is gracious. Naaman couldn't storm beyond the reach of God. And I wonder how many of you stormed off from God? How many of you ran away when you began to hear the gospel and when Christ began to reach out to you? How many stormed off but then found you couldn't outrun him? How many tried to run but found that God gently and patiently drew you back? See, God has a plan for Naaman. He's not gonna let him get away. And so added to the big man and the little girl and added to the faithless king and the faithful prophet, we now meet this kind and powerful God. Verse 13, but his servants came near and said to him, my father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you. Will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, wash and be clean? So, Naaman's servants appealed to him by breaking it down so it's really simple. You've got a bad disease. This guy's offered a solution. Don't you think you should at least try it? And wisely, Naaman listens to his servants. Interestingly, this is the second time he's been redirected, really the third time he's been redirected by weak and powerless people. A little girl, a servant, and now his servants. This big and powerful man keeps getting redirected by these little people. Verse 14, so he 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. So God works a miracle. This kind God displays his power in healing Naaman from his disease. And this kind God shows his mercy. He shows his mercy because Naaman has done absolutely nothing to deserve this. He is an enemy of God. He's a destroyer, an enemy of God's people. Yet God, in his mercy, reached out to him and healed him. It's worth asking, what does Naaman need to do to be healed? What does he need to do to be saved from his leprosy? Now I'm sure he's taken hundreds of pills and endured all kinds of probably terrible treatments. In the end, what finally is effective? What does he need to do to be healed? Well first, he has to believe the word that was spoken to him. Even though the instruction seems simple or even simplistic, he has to hear it and he has to believe it. And second, he has to humble himself, right? He has to step down from his chariot, he has to strip off all the symbols of his power and might, and he has to walk down into a very ordinary river. If he's gonna be cured, it's gonna take belief rather than doubt, and it'll take humility rather than pride. And then third, it will take obedience instead of defiance. He has to wash. It's not enough to look at the water. It's not enough to dabble in the water. Not enough to just kind of splish splash in the water. He has to do exactly what he's been told. He has to go out into the water and dunk himself under it seven times. Seven times, which in the Bible represents completion and perfection. And when he's fully obeyed, he is fully cured. When he emerges the seventh time, he's a whole new man. The text says his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean. It's almost like he was reborn. He goes into the water scarred and scabbed and disfigured. He emerges from the water healed, restored, unblemished. God works a miracle. God saves Naaman from his disease. He displays his kindness and his power. So what would an account like this mean for the people of Israel thousands of years ago when it took place, when it was written down? We should always ask that, right? What did this mean to them then, the people who originally heard the story, encountered the story, who witnessed it? What proved to them that the God who has the power to heal a body has the power to deliver his people from their enemies, right? This was an intimidating context they were in, and yet here is God displaying his power. If we were to continue to read the story, we'd see that Naaman actually becomes a worshiper of Yahweh, of Israel's God. And so here God saves a man who's not only a foreigner, but also an enemy, and he's starting to prove that his salvation reaches across boundaries, across national boundaries, and ethnic boundaries, and every other boundary, because this was his plan all along. We see just a little glimpse of what God intends to do here, of his purpose all along. So this was history, a true story that occurred with real people in real time, real place. But it was history that blessed God's people, that instructed them and encouraged them. As we start to wrap up then, we should also ask this, what should this account mean to you? It should encourage you in those same ways, of course, that God is powerful and sovereign, that he's got his people in a host of places and nations and ethnicities, and we praise God for that. We praise him that his salvation has gone beyond ethnic Israel. If you're a Christian, you should consider that just like God healed Naaman's body so it was cured and restored and unblemished, he does the same for your soul. When he saves your soul, he heals your soul. And of course, we get this beautiful picture of that in baptism, right? Buried with Christ in his death. Raised to walk in newness of life. Diseased, restored. Corrupted, renewed. It's all pictured in that beautiful symbol of baptism. What a great work God has done in you. He's restored your soul. He is restoring your soul. And whether you're a Christian or not, I think this is worth pondering. What did Syria ever really do for Naaman? And what has this world ever really done for you? What has it ever given you that delivers lasting satisfaction, that addresses your deepest needs? It can give you fame, but fame is fleeting. This world can give you money, but money is easily lost. It can give you health and beauty, but someday you'll be as sick and as weak and maybe even as disfigured as Naaman was. A friend of mine recently came down to his final days on earth, and this man was a very successful and well-known man in the world of business. Christian organizations pleaded with him, be on our board of directors. He was that kind of respected and respectable man. He had so much. And like Naaman, some would look at his life and say this man had it all. He has everything he could ever want in this world. But like Naaman, he also had that one thing he dreaded. He had contracted a fatal disease. And as he came to his final days, I asked him, what's on your heart? What are you learning in this time? Here's what he said. I have learned that God wants me to be free of anything in this world. What I came in with is what I'll leave with, and that's nothing but Him. Nothing but God's mercy and God's grace. He said I'm no longer a CEO, no longer have a fancy title, no longer a part of a board of directors. I'm just a man who has to submit to God's good and gracious will and be faithful to Him. When you've stored up treasures in heaven, it makes it so much easier to leave this world behind. So this world gave my friend so much, truly great blessings, and he was thankful for those blessings. They were well-earned in their own way, but in the end, he left with absolutely none of it, not a bit of it. But he did leave with his faith. He did leave with his savior. He did leave with the strongest and best and firmest hope that anyone can have. So what has this world ever really done for you? And what hope does it offer you when it's your time to leave this world? So let's allow this account to remind us that this world ultimately always only ever disappoints. And the way to live a fulfilled life on this side of the grave, the way to have hope for life after the grave requires the same thing. Just as Naaman needed to find a cure that came from outside of himself, outside the borders of Syria, you need to look beyond yourself. You need to look beyond the borders of this world. And there's just one trustworthy guide for humanity that comes from outside this world. It comes from the mind of God who created this world and it's here. It's right here. This Bible is meant to teach you how to live here and now and how to have hope for what comes beyond here and now. The absolute best life is the life that's committed to believing this book, to obeying this book, to living out this book's every command. This book tells us that Jesus Christ came from outside this world to save this world. Though he's God, he became human so he could redeem humans and he offers salvation to anyone who will believe in him. And Naaman, in his own way, shows us how. You need to hear and believe the word that's spoken to you. You need to set aside your desire to save yourself and instead receive salvation as a gift of grace. and you need to obey God, to obey Him all the way. God doesn't tell you to go dip yourself in a river seven times. He tells you to repent and believe, to confess that you're a sinner and to believe that Jesus died to save sinners, sinners like me, sinners like you. God never tells you to try, He tells you to trust. Don't try to save yourself. You need to trust that God can, that God will, that God loves to, that God longs to save you. So why wouldn't you just trust in him? It's as easy as believing. And if you do, you'll find your soul satisfied by something that can never ever be taken from you, even by death, you'll be satisfied by God himself. If you do that, you put your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll find hope that extends far beyond this world into the endless ages beyond. If you do that, you'll be as whole and as blessed in your soul as this man Naaman was in his body. Let me pray for us. Our Father, we thank you for the precious, precious gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you that it is your desire to heal us, to heal us of our sins and all the consequences of our sin. We pray, Lord, that we would be so willing to believe and obey. Keep us from trying to save ourselves. Help us instead to rely fully on you, you who has the power, the desire, the ability to save us. I pray that there would not be one here who leaves today without depending on you, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving salvation. I pray all these things in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen.