If you'll turn with me to II Kings 5, I want to just share a few verses that Pastor Larry read to us, and we'll start with verse 25 through 27. And this is Gehazi after he got back home with his loot. And he went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, Where have you been, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant went nowhere. But he said to him, Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever. So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow. Father, speak to all of our covetous hearts. You know how this is a sin that raises its head from the day we're able to think for ourselves as little children until the day we die. I remember my mom, when she was blind and dying, I said, Mom, how can I pray for you? And she said, pray for me that I'll be content. And I cried. How hard to be content when you're blind. Lord, please teach us the tragic harvest of coveting. In Jesus' name we pray. and bring us to the Lord's table, Lord. Purify us and sanctify to Yourself our souls and our spirits, that we might worthily take the cup and the bread this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. It's not altogether surprising, and yet it's tragic, that the account of Naaman's healing from leprosy and his conversion to believe in the Lord God Almighty, that it ended in the covetous downfall of Elisha's servant Gehazi. What happened to this servant of the man of God? We're not sure, but we know from scriptures that the heart of coveting is discontent in our spirits. discontent in our spirits. Exactly what prompted Gehazi to do what he did? We don't know. But what is covetousness, you ask? Well, covetousness is a discontent with what we have and an intense desire for something we believe we don't have, but if we can get it, it will satisfy and make our souls happy. It will satisfy our souls. There's an old song that says, I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind. Will we, when God takes us home, go home satisfied? Or will we go home discontent? Coveting is, in fact, a lust. It's a lust. It is a lust that may begin as a legitimate desire that we carry to the point of idolatry. We can even begin to worship the thing that we lust for. We can worship what we covet. The Apostle Paul defined coveting as idolatry in Colossians 5 when he said put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. In Ephesians 5, Paul added, for you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, speaking of that as our practice, and who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and of God. It's a tragic harvest. Coveting is more than the desire for something we don't have. Beware when your discontent and your legitimate desires become covetous and your desires become uncontrolled. Uncontrolled coveting causes us, number one, to neglect Bible reading and biblical priorities. We ignore God, we ignore His will, we ignore His leading, we ignore the provision that He has given to us. Number two, it causes us to become miserable, unhappy, bitter, jealous, critical of others, angry at others who have what we want. Thirdly, coveting causes us to disregard set boundaries, set in Scripture by God. It leads us to go to unreasonable and unscriptural extremes such as going into debt to pay for what we want, or stealing, or adultery, or rape, or being unfaithful servants with how we use what God has given us. I want to share with you that the word for covetousness and for greed is a word that begins with the little word play on which means more. more." Pleion. And the word for coveting is pleion ecteo. It is a desire to defraud others or to take from others what they have to be your own. It's eager for more to have what belongs to others. Coveting thus is the desire for more and more and more of what we do not now have. God counters our covetous spirit with a command in Ephesians 4.28. He says to the covetous thief, He says, Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. I have found that a covetous spirit needs to go to work. You NEED to go to work! You need to make your own way! You need to work hard! Whether it's in your garden, whether it's at your job, whatever it is in the house, get your mind off what you're lusting for and do some good hard work. It will cure you. It's part of the cure is getting back to work. Now, the fall of Adam and Eve. You say, well, what's this got to do with the fall of Adam and Eve? Their sin, that first sin was a sin of coveting. Coveting. Adam and Eve both were together in the garden, and Eve was told by God, as was Adam, that they were prohibited from one thing, one thing, just that one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They shouldn't eat from it. They both apparently wanted it. Eve took the fruit and ate, and gave it to her husband with her, and the man ate, and they both fell into sin. And Genesis 3, 6 is the best definition of coveting I know. Just that verse. It says, So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her. and he ate. That's the definition of coveting. God had said, No, they went for it. Paul said in Romans 7 and 8 a very interesting thing about coveting. He says, For I would not have known what it is to covet, if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. The law lets us know what s in our heart. Going to our text today, Gehazi, seeing that Naaman had what he wanted, and seeing that his master, Elisha, didn t WANT what Naaman had, THAT exercised his covetousness to come and say, Well, if you don t want it, I know who does. I do! As the Lord lives, I'll get some of it! I'm reminded of a man by the name of Roland Diller that was a neighbor to Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois. He told this interesting story. I've told it many times. I'll tell it again. He said, I was called to the door one day by the cries of children out in the street, and I couldn't figure out what was going on. So I went to the street and I saw Abraham Lincoln with his two boys. And the boys were screaming at each other and crying. And he said, well, Mr. Lincoln, what's the matter with your boys? He says, what's the matter with the world? The whole world. I've got three walnuts and each of my boys want two of them. There's coveting. I've got three walnuts and both of my boys want two of them. Now let's get to this message in earnest, and let's learn the tragic harvest of coveting from the life of Gehazi. I believe in this baker's dozen of verses, 13 verses, There are five implied admonitions that speak to my heart and soul. I hope they speak to yours before we come to communion. What are these five admonitions? The first one is about a converted heart. It's all about Naaman. And the last four are all about Gehazi. The last four are about coveting hearts. The first is about a converted heart. but they're all admonitions to my soul. Let's look at them together. The first one's about Naaman. Converted hearts return to say thank you when they receive God's miracles that follow humble obedience. Remember, Naaman at first didn't want to dip into Jordan, but he finally did. Now notice, verses 15 through 19. This is a very, very interesting passage. He could have gone straight home. right out of the water, right back to Syria. But he returned to the man of God, and now finally got to meet the man of God. He and all his company, and he came and stood before Elisha, and he said, Behold, I know there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. So accept now a present from your servant. But he said, As the Lord lives, Elisha says, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he pressed him, he urged him to take it, but he refused. Then Naaman said, if not, would you give me something? It's kind of interesting. If I can't give you something, would you give me something? Please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of dirt. earth. For from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any God but the Lord. In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the house of Rimen to worship there leaning on his arm and I bow before and I bow myself in the house of Rimen. When I bow myself in the house of Rimen the Lord pardon your servant in this matter. He said to him, Shalom. Go in peace. Now this passage here of name and returning reminds me very much of the New Testament. How many of you remember what happened in Luke 17, 11 to 19? Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee and he entered a village And as he entered the village, he was met by 10 lepers. They stood at a distance, they lifted up their voices, they said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves to the priests. And as they went to show themselves to the priests, that's go to the doctor and see what he says, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, he pulled a naiman. He turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus' feet. He gave him thanks. Now he was what? All the rest were Jews. He was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered, were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, rise and go your way, your faith has made you well. Now, here in our text, we have another foreigner who has the grace and the gumption to go back and thank Elisha. And as he returned, he got to see the man who had sent the messenger to say, go dip seven times in the Jordan. There with his huge company, his entourage, verse 15. There he comes and stands before Elisha. He declares his faith in the only God in all the world, the Lord God of Israel, the Lord God of hosts. And Naaman was not only thankful, but he says, I'd just like to give a present. I mean, he came loaded. This man came loaded with gold and silver and garments. Elisha would have none of it. He was bent by God's will. He says, as the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will receive none. He urged Elisha, take a gift, and Elisha persisted. I refuse to take a gift. It was a wonderful thing for Naaman to come back and say thank you. As I was preparing this message right at this point yesterday, not yesterday, I should say, on Friday, it was a crazy thing. A fellow walked into my office, I'd only seen once before in my life. His name is Troy Levin. He is the associate of the pastor that I know down in Eldon Peterson, down in Logan, Evan Jokel Free Church down there. And as some of you know, he came up here, he gave the highest bid, and he bought the Subaru Outback. You remember all about that, Troy Levin. He's out here in a Penske truck, a moving truck, And he walks into my office and I look at him and give him a hug and it's kind of interesting. I said, what's going on? And something in my heart said, I hope everything's working right with the vehicle. He said, I just came back. I told dad I can't pass through here without thanking. the pastor for that vehicle. So he walked in and he thanked me for that Subaru Outback. He says, That's the best car I've ever had. It's wonderful. It's just fantastic. You can't believe it. And he told me about trips he'd taken in it. I prayed with him, and he's preaching on the Sermon on the Mount for his pastor back there in Logan today, and then he left, and I thought, thank you, Lord, it was a very timely, timely moment. I was just thinking of Naaman going back, and here this man I've only seen once before came back to say thank you. Now, as he's about to leave, he makes this strange request. Can I take a little dirt with me? Has anybody ever come to your house and asked for a little of your dirt they'd like to take home? This is amazing. What an odd request. Why did he ask for dirt? Naaman explained himself. He told Elisha that from now on he would only offer burnt offerings or sacrifice to the Lord God of Israel. And he was standing on Israel turf. when he said it. The dirt and Naaman's new allegiance to the Lord God of Israel were attached in his mind. He knew he had significant duties back home and he wanted Elisha to know that when he was worshiping his only sacrifices would be made on Israeli dirt. He would only be back there that he would worship God Almighty but he would have to as a duty for the general to do with the king. The king would lean on his arm as he went into Raman. That's the Syrian name for Baal. As he went in to worship Baal or Ramon, he would have to lean on his arm. So this is an interesting picture. He saw this new thing, this faith he had in God as kind of a cosmic turf war between Syria and Israel, between the dirt of Syria and the dirt of Israel. It's kind of an interesting, he's not even one day old. knowing God. So don't try to say everything he said was right, but just try to listen to his heart. He thinks, I've got to be on Israeli dirt to worship God. He's an interesting fellow. I was healed in the muddy Jordan, and that became holy ground for me. In his beginning faith, he saw Israel as holy ground. be certain Naaman could have omitted giving thanks. He had to go 30 miles out of his way and 30 miles back to get back to Syria. Don't be too critical of his mixed up ideas. All the commentators say how foolish he was in his ideas. I just want to tell you, I just want to give this not quite day old believer. I want to give him a little credit for thinking, thinking as a new believer. I just love going up yesterday with Marcy Rumbler and hearing her testify as a new believer all the way up and all the way back. And you know, I wouldn't say everything she said was perfect, but I can say everything she said was ignited with peace in her heart. It was so wonderful. I just loved it. And I'll say that probably as she's in the second service. It was wonderful. You know, what's he taking dirt back for? I know he had to wonder as they come back and he's healed, what happened? And he said, well, I went down in this muddy water seven times and dipped. And he says, I brought some of the dirt back with me. What's this dirt about? Well, it's about the Lord God of Israel. He's the only one that can heal. And you can imagine him telling Ben-Hadad that. And then they go in to worship Baal. And he says, I want you to know, pardon me, Elisha. Pardon me, he said to the prophet. Because when I go in there and he's leaning hard on my arm and he's bowing, I want you to know my heart's not in it. My heart's not in it. That's not where my heart is. My heart is with Israel. My heart is with the Lord God of Israel. And you know, I think Elisha gave him credit. He didn't say, well, now let me explain some things to you. He said, Shalom. Go in peace. In a way, what he was saying to him is, I'm praying for you on your return journey. I'm trusting God to use you in your new ministry back there in Syria. You've got a new ministry. Your leprosy is gone. You're going home with all your treasures. You have now two mule loads of Israeli dirt. You now know and serve the one and true living God. What a witness you'll be in the dark, in that dark place in Syria for the Lord God of Israel. You'll be able to go back and worship with your wife and with your wife's maid that told you about me. Now I want to say something to you before I go on. We're going to be talking all about covetousness from here on. But how many of you have received by God's grace something very special and you haven't yet gone back and said thank you? Maybe you need to write a letter. The people aren't around here. Maybe the person has died. You can still write a letter to them and present it to God and say, God, in the great cloud of witnesses, maybe they'll see it, but if not, at least I'm writing my thanks out. Somehow be thankful for what God has done. Thank the one or the ones who pointed you to Jesus. Now, these last four, number two, three, four, and five are all about coveting hearts. Coveting hearts, not converted hearts. Number two, coveting hearts ruin the lessons God wants to teach us about His free grace and our own selfishness. You'll notice verse 19 and 20. It's an interesting thing. He said to him, go in peace. Now when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, Gehazi, servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian in not accepting from his hand what he brought. And now in his covetousness he brings the Lord into his coveting." He says he swears by the Lord as he is coveting. He says, as the Lord lives, I'll run after him and get something from him. As surely as there is a God in heaven, I'll get this man's goods. This story, like you said, Pastor Larry, it's a made up story. It's a lie. It would feed Gehazi's passions. This story was about guests coming to visit Elisha just after Naaman left Elisha's house. What a doozy. Have you ever heard doozies? Lies that you say, that is a doozy. I haven't heard one quite that good. That's a doozy. Can you spin a tale in a moment? I wanna talk to you if you have a proclivity to lie. It's a dangerous place to be. If you lie often enough, you give place to the devil and it may open up your life to even a lying spirit. Notice the PRECISION of this instantaneous lie. He didn�t have time to make this up. He was making it up on the RUN! He was making it up as he went down the road after name I want you to know the reason it's such a precise lie is because the father of lies was working in his life, that lying spirit was in him. The devil is the father of lies, is all well, Naaman says as he gets out of his chariot for the servant. He's a changed man. He's all well with you. All is well, first lie. What's up? He's making up words on the spot. My master has sent me. No, he didn't send you. There has just come to me now from the hill country of Ephraim, oh no, two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing. All the details are lies. All was not well. Satan was leading Gehazi to his downfall. No two young sons of the prophets. These weren't sons of the prophets that come, they were no one. They have come from where? It's specific, the hill country of Ephraim. No one was needing a talent of silver and do changes of clothes. Gehazi was making up something on the fly. Something he wanted from her. Or Gehazi was making up a lie as he was on the way. The lie never made name and sin. Some people tried to say, as I studied it, he made name and sin. He didn't make name and sin. You know what he revealed in Naaman? A thankful heart. Naaman had wanted to give something. He wasn't able to give anything. Now the prophet wants a little something. Isn't that wonderful? I won't just give one talent of silver, I'll give two talents of silver. The devil meant it for evil in Gehazi, but God meant it for good for Naaman. Naaman, the most thankful man in the world, was willing to bless anyone. If you'd have walked up, he'd have given you two talents too. He was ready to give away everything he had. Naaman doubled the request. And when he did, he put, this is a heavy gift, he puts it on two of his servants and they go before him as they walk back. They get to the crest of the hill and when they get to the crest of the hill, Gehazi grabs all the stuff and he mans it and brings it into the house. You can just see it. And he puts it in the house. But I thought, where did he put it? And so I looked up the little word, pakad, for put. It means to carefully deposit somewhere. He didn't put it on the table where the prophet ate. He didn't put it on the prophet's chair in the front room. Oh no, no, no. He put it somewhere. And you remember He had brought God into His covetousness by saying, As the Lord lives, I will run after Him and get something from Him. I want you to know that when you hear religious words that mask a covetous spirit, BEWARE! One of the most godly persons you'll ever find is a seductive prostitute in Proverbs 7. Proverbs 7, she persuades a naive man with her smooth talk and she compels him. What does she say? She sounds like a saint. Proverbs 7, 13 to 15, she says, she seizes him and kisses him. And with a bold face, she says to him, I had to offer sacrifice. I just had to offer sacrifices today. And today I've paid all my vows. So now I've come to meet you and to seek you eagerly. And I have found you. She sounds like a saint. She's a covetous woman. In his home, Gehazi, he ran. He ran after Naaman. Gehazi is breathing heavily. I pulled it off. No worse for the wearer. Walks in to see Elisha. Wow. He got some of Naaman's wealth. Get into Gehazi's head for a moment. Naaman owed us. He owed us. He got away with not paying Elijah. In his covetous heart, his thinking is contrary to the grace of God. Gehazi must have thought, he owes me, he owes my master. Elijah missed his chance. After all, this Syrian general has stolen in all those Syrian raids. He has stolen people. He's stolen goods. He owed me. Coveting talks very smoothly, but it's all lies. Number three, the third implied admonition. Coveting hearts are clearly viewed by the Lord and are sometimes even known by His choice servants. Wow. Notice verse 25. Gahazel went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you been? Have you ever said this? Nowhere. I've been nowhere. Sweat's pouring down your face. You're breathing heavily. Where have you been? Some people think that maybe Elisha was a little bit hard of seeing or something, couldn't see very well. Well, I can tell you what, you can hear heavy breathing and you can smell sweat. There he is. Where have you been? Nowhere. Nowhere. Imagine it. Sweat's coming down his face. He ran after the chariot. He caught Naaman. He carried in all the loot into the house himself, told the servants to go home. His presence was not only visibly a tired servant, but a sweaty, probably out of breath servant. I want you to know when lies begin, before long they become pathological. They become part of who you are. They're pathological. They're part of your system. You lie because that's who you are. You have decided to fool others. It reminds me of the Oak Ridge Boys. One of their songs, Who do you think you're fooling? I'm a consecrated man. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're not consecrated. Not at all. He said, well how did Elisha know all this? Well he was looking through his binoculars, right? No they didn't have binoculars. He had God's vision. He saw exactly what went on. It was better than binoculars. He revealed the whole interplay to Elisha. He saw what the Almighty saw. And Elisha said to Gehazi, did not my heart go out with you when the man turned his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male servants and female servants? Oh, think of Elisha here. He not only saw what was happening in reality, but he saw what was going on in the mind, inside the mind of Gehazi. What was going on in the mind of Gehazi, inside his mind, what was he wanting? He was going to use these talents of silver to get olive orchards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and male and female servants. That's what he wanted from Naaman. Gehazi was coveting. And on this matter, Elisha saw the whole thing. But you know what happened in his heart? Elisha, his heart went after his servant. You say, well, did he even care about him? Oh, he cared about Gehazi. You see, he was attempting to do with Gehazi what Elijah did with him. He was the servant of Elijah. He poured water on Elijah's hands. This was Gehazi who poured water on his hands. He was gonna leave his legacy to Gehazi. But his heart went out to him. This was the one he said, put my staff on the Shunammite's son. This is the one that saw the dead boy raised finally. This man had seen it all. The dream of Elisha to leave a legacy, a legacy of faith and miracles. He literally chose to throw his future to the wind, to the dogs, and to his covetous lusts. Elisha's heart was broken. How tragic is it when we sacrifice our future on the altar of the immediate? How sad it is when we squander the blessings of God, and like Esau, we sell our birthright for a mess of pottage. Every one of us in this sanctuary are capable of pulling a Gehazi. Start with me. and then I'll go to you. Every one of us can pull a Gehazi. Thank God there's hope for us if we truly repent, but in our text the future of Gehazi was not redeemed. His future was lost in a moment and God and Elisha saw it all. The very last admonition Coveting hearts bring to us a worthless exchange from receiving God's blessings to facing God's judgment. He's still speaking to Gehazi when he says in verse 27, therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever. So Gehazi went out from his presence a leper like snow. Oh, the downward spiral of sin. It began with coveting, lying, and saying all is well, to having leprosy over all his body, and his leprosy as a legacy to pass on to his descendants. What a worthless exchange Gehazi made. He exchanged wonderful health, which is a gift from God, for a deadly disease, snow white leprosy, a judgment from him. He must now live not with Elisha, but he must live in a leprous cave, as Leviticus 13, 46 says, outside the camp. He gave up a fine vocation as a servant of God to living in poverty. He gave up the best spiritual counselor in all of Israel to leaning on his own impoverished understanding. He gave up the truth of swearing by God Almighty for good, to swearing and lying to Naaman to seek tribute from him to ruin his future. He got to say goodbye to Naaman by lying to him. He got what he bargained for, J. Edwin wrote these words. He said, Some exchange righteousness for a promising career. Some exchange health for addictions. Some exchange a good spouse and family for another spouse in a broken home. God said it from Sinai as His last commandment in Exodus 20 verse 17, You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. And so I pray in closing, dear Father, dear Father, make me content. Make our people content, make each of us content. Forgive us of our covetous spirits today. Give us another chance. Naaman didn't get another chance, or Gehazi didn't get another chance. Give us another chance to hold on to what you give us and let us say, thank you, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you, Jesus, for what I have. Forget about what you don't have. You and I have more than enough. Amen.