Gospel—Randy Hale
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Open our gospel meeting this evening by singing together #14.
#14 it says.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the land?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? And then are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? And when the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white, pure and white in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions right and be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb 14?
Have you been to Jesus?
How are you?
Umm, so all right, we don't want to say I didn't have a lot of time.
We will fly at the end of your lungs, beginning in Christ, and that's all I can do by us from our own.
Call Joanne Baldwin. Credit for the man's son, right? And I've been involved in that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah, blah blah.
I'd like to turn first of all to a verse in the Gospel of John.
John, Chapter 7.
John, Chapter 7.
And verse 37.
In the last day.
That great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
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You know, for the most part of my life.
I've heard over and over again that the Lord Jesus is coming. I've heard over and over again that judgment is coming. And I know there are many in this room who have heard that much longer than I have, many more times than I have. And they've been waiting for the Lord to come for many, many years. And I know I look around and I see young people and children here who are being brought up in Christian homes.
And who have come to the gospel meetings many, many times.
And you've heard that over and over again. The Lord is coming.
The Lord is coming and judgment is coming. Are you ready? And you've heard that over and over again.
But I want to tell you something, there is going to be a last day.
In that time, when NOAA built that arc for 120 years, he preached of judgment to come.
And those people laughed at Noah and for a long time, perhaps at the beginning they might have taken him seriously, but later, when the judgment didn't come for a long time, they laughed. But there came a last day and the door was shut. And I'm sure they came. And they pounded on that door and they said, let us in, let us in. When they saw that rain come down and that judgment come, they pounded on that door in earnest. But it was too late the last day.
Had come and the door was shut.
Dear friend, you may have heard the gospel many times.
You may be scoffing. Oh, I hope there's no scoffers here tonight.
Tells us in proverbs, Thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.
But if I'll scorn, thou alone shall bear it, and you'll bear it for all eternity in hell. Because the Bible doesn't speak of anything else. It speaks of heaven and hell, forever with the Lord, for eternity in the lake of fire. And I say again, there's going to come a last day.
We've just been singing about the precious blood of Christ. It cleanses from all sin.
And I want to tell you, friends, this world has to answer for the murder of the Son of God.
They cast him out and they said we will not have this man to reign over us. And this world is stained with the blood of Christ, the blood of the Son of God, and it has to answer for that and it will answer for it.
You know, in Hebrews we read a verse there, it says about the blood of Christ that it speaketh better things than that of Abel. And you remember Abel, the story of Cain and Abel, most of you here, I'm sure all of you know that story, how Cain in anger and jealousy and in rage he slew his brother and killed him. And what did God say?
God said the voice, Thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and I want to tell you, friend, if you don't have the precious blood of Christ speaking for you.
You'll have it to cry against you in that day of judgment.
If you don't have it speaking for you, it will cry against you.
And with this world, you'll suffer the judgment that awaits you.
There's going to be a last day and it may be today, and I want to tell you something else further.
Bible says he did. Hath my word. Let him speak my word faithfully. And I wouldn't be faithful if I glossed over and told you only that God loves you. Oh, he does love you. He loves you more than anyone ever could. And I would be very unfaithful if I didn't warn you. Because aside from the judgment that you'll suffer along with this world, I wanna tell you there's coming a day when you'll stand before God alone. You'll stand before the great white throne.
Why is it white Bible speaks of other Thrones? There's a throne in Isaiah.
And Isaiah was cast down. He said, Lord, I'm a man of unclean lips. But there was an altar at that throne, and an Angel took a pole from off that altar and touched his lips. Then he could stand.
There was another throne on the ark, a mercy seat, and there was blood sprinkled upon that mercy seat, and so there was blood at that throne. And in the beginning of Revelation, there's another throne too, where the Lord Jesus is seen. And what's around that throne but a rainbow covenant of mercy.
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Even in judgment there is mercy.
But at that great white throne, there's no altar, and there's no blood, and there's no rainbow.
It's white because only there is the piercing light of God, and he knoweth the secrets of the heart. And it will search every corner of your heart, and it'll be exposed for all in the sight of a holy God, and you'll stand there trembling with nothing to say, and that light will cleave right through your soul.
And then you'll realize the terror of what's to come. You'll know what's to come because the last day has passed.
And you'll stand before that great white throne with nothing to answer. And it says the books were opened and they were judged according to their works. They will be judged according to your works.
Everything will be exposed, and it also tells us that the Book of Life was there, and whosoever was not found written in that book was cast into the lake of fire. And that Book of Life will be there to mock you because your name won't be in it.
And you'll know what's coming.
And I tell you, friend, you may have gone through things in your life that frightened you, that terrified you, but there will be nothing, nothing compared to the terror of standing before that great white throne that will go through your soul.
And it'll be for all eternity. There's coming, friend, a last day. But today is still the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. You still have the opportunity to accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Do it now before it's too late.
Well, I'd like to turn to a story about a man tonight in Second Kings chapter 5.
And you know, in the past month I've listened to 22.
Two brothers speak upon this.
Period Chapter.
Second Kings chapter 5.
You know the Gospel is a very simple message.
And I believe that this portion illustrates very simply the gospel of the grace of God.
And I also want to turn to this portion tonight because I believe that this portion speaks very clearly about the kind of world we live in, especially here in North America, because we live in a society in a world that's characterized by pride.
It's characterized by pride.
Is there anyone here who would say there's no pride in their heart?
You know what, dear friend? You know that every one of us is filled with pride.
And man is filled with pride.
There's nothing more hateful to God than pride. Nothing more foolish than pride.
Tells us that everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. An abomination. And further on in Proverbs it says everyone that is it. It says umm, gives a lift of the things that God hates. And at the top of that list is a proud look. Just simply a proud look. God hates pride. Well, this story is the story of a man who is very proud and he almost let his pride send him to hell.
So I just like to begin and read right through this chapter.
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 and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel. A little made, and she waited on Naaman's wife.
And she said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord, were with the prophet that is, in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went and told his Lord, saying Thus. And thus saith the Maid, that is, of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go to go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him 10 talents of silver, and 6000 pieces of gold, and 10 changes of raiment.
And he brought the letter to the king of Israel.
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Saying Now, when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naim and my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive, that this man does send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
And it was so when Elijah, 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 red thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naomi came with his horses and with his Chariots, and stood at the door of the House of Elijah. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan 7 times, and I flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
But Naaman was wroth and.
Went away and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand and call in the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the Leopard, Arnot, Urbana, and far par rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of I Israel. May I not wash in them and be clean? So we turn and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had, did thee do some great thing? Must thou not have done it?
How much, rather than what he says, did he wash and be clean? Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh came again, like under the flesh.
Of a little child, And he was clean, and he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him. And he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant. But he said, as the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. And Naman said, Shall there not then I pray thee be given to thy servant? 2 mules burden of earth.
For thy servant will henceforth author, offer neither burnt offerings, offering or sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.
In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the House of rimmen to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the House of Remen, when I bow down myself in the House of rimmen, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. But Kahazai the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naam in the Syrian in not receiving his at his hands.
That which he brought. But as the Lord Liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him. So Gahazi followed after Naaman.
And when Naman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master have sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments. And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags.
With two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bare them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house. And he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in and stood before his master. And Elijah said unto him, Whence comest alga has I? And he said, Thy servant went No whither he said unto him, When not my heart with thee, When the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee.
Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments and all of yards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and men, servants and maidservants? The leprosy, therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
As I say, the story is about a man who is very proud.
And we read first of all some things that this man had some characteristics that said he was captain of the host of the king of Syria. He was a great man with his master. He was honorable, and he was mighty man in valor. And you notice right what it says in the middle of verse, it says by him the Lord had given deliverance on the Syria. By him the Lord had given deliverance. I want to ask you, dear friend, all the things that you have, you count them as your own.
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Do you have a good mind?
You have a good job, you have good health.
You have lots of money.
I want to tell you everything you have is given to you by God.
There's not a thing. You have the very breath you take, Elvis in Job, that God in whose hands is the soul of all, every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. The very breath you brought tonight is given to you by God, and what are you doing with it?
Are you taking it as if it was yours? Are you taking as if as if you had no account to give to God? Just everything you have is your own and you're using it for your own pleasure.
Well, it's not.
It's given to you by God everything you have.
So you may be like this man. You may be honorable.
You may be a mighty person in dollar, you may be a great man or a great lady, but whatever you have comes from God. Everything.
What a terrible thing to take all that and to walk in pride.
You know this man Naaman, He may have been a great man and everything he received was from God, but he had one problem.
He was a leper. He was a leper and it was a very deadly problem, a serious problem.
You know, leprosy, in those days there was no cure. It was like a sentence of death.
A sentence of death.
And you may laugh off many things in your life, dear friend, but you can't laugh off the King of Terrors.
And it comes at any time. It comes sometimes when you're young, comes sometimes in middle age, and sometimes when you're old. You don't know when. It can come anytime.
You know, one time, some may have heard this before, but I had a man on my bus one time and he was an older man and he was quite jovial and he came on the bus and he told the whole bus how to be happy. He told everyone that if you don't like what you're doing, get out of there.
Years ago or so I couldn't. I hated my job and I didn't like what I was doing and I was miserable and I was dying. Doctor told me I didn't have long to live. Did. So I quit my job and I started to do something my life. And he said today he said I've never been happy. That was 20 years ago. Said I'm getting to be an old man because I love life. He told everyone that's the secret to happiness, the secret to life.
Well, he didn't stay on too long. As he got off the bus, he had his back to me and I asked him. I said, are you going to live forever? He stopped. I didn't see his face, but I know that that big smile had faded away. He just shook his head and he said no, and he walked off. Your friend, you're not gonna live forever either. You may be enjoying the pleasures of this life. You may think you have the world by the tail, but when you face the King of Terrors, what will it be then?
One time there was a brother.
And he worked in an office and there was a young man there. He used to speak to this young man about his soul.
And the young man didn't have any time for these things. He didn't have any care for these things at all. Eternal matters didn't matter to him at all. He was thinking about his future life here below. So one day the brother sat down with us and he said.
What are your plans for life?
And he said, well, said, I'm gonna work real hard and I'm gonna pretty soon I'm gonna get a promotion, My brother said. What's that?
I said well, I'll keep on working hard and I'll save up a lot of money. I'll probably get married and have a family.
My brother said what then? He said, well, I'll work real hard in the company. I'll try and rise up as much as I can. I'll put away some money for retirement.
My brother said what then? He said, well my family will probably grow up and I'll retire, maybe play golf and enjoy the rest of my life.
And the brother said, what then?
He said well, but I guess eventually I'll die.
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My brother looked him in the face and he said what the.
And that's the question, dear friend. That's a big question. What then?
God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day into which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, and that man is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And man is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he's going to judge the secrets of the heart.
I say again, Death is the king of terror, but it says it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
What's that?
Well, this man was sentenced to die.
And he was concerned about it, very concerned in all. Leprosy in the Bible speaks of sin too.
And is there anyone in the world who is not afflicted with that scourge of sin?
Is there anyone here who would stand up and say no, I have no sin?
Because the Lord says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, No, not one. And that's God's destination, not mine and not yours. That's God's estimation of you and I.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You know, there's some boys here this evening, young children in the room too, and young people. And you may think, well, I'm only little. I haven't done a whole lot of bad things. What could I do that was so wrong?
Well, we're born in sin, but let me tell you something else.
Sometimes, you know, when we're young, we think that we can have just a little bit. We can fool around with thin just a little bit.
We'll only go so far and I'll be able to pull myself out. I'll be able to stop at a certain point before it goes too far. But I wanna tell you, children and young people, you won't be able to do that. There's a little story that I remember reading to the boys when they were smaller, and it concerns a man.
And he was what they might call, I suppose, a snake charmer.
And he had gotten his snake when it was small, it was just a baby, a little snake, one of those pythons that coil themselves around their prey. But it was just a little baby. And he trained that snake. He trained that snake that when he blew a whistle, the snake would come out and it would crawl up on his hand and circle around his finger. He would blow that whistle again. And the snake would crawl off his finger and go right back into its little back while the snake got a little bigger. And he would blow that whistle and the snake would come out and it would come up and it would wrap itself around his arm, up to his elbows.
He would blow the whistle again and the snake would uncoil itself and go right back into that basket.
You know, by this time the man was getting quite a crowd and people would come and watch this. They thought it was quite a thing, but he kept doing it. But that snake kept growing and growing.
Finally, that man, he trained that naked, would come out now at the blow of the whistle, and it would circle around and coil around his legs, right up to his waist. He would blow the whistle and the snake would uncoil and back into that basket and the people would come. And you know, the man had added a little something else to his act. He would start to scream and turn and everything else as if the snake was squeezing him, taking the life out of it. And the people thought this was quite a display, and they would come from all around to see it, and they knew that the man was only pretending.
You know that man, he thought he had that snake.
Under control.
One day he blew the whistle and that snake came out coiled itself around. At this time it was rather large and it coiled right up to his chest.
We started to roll around and scream and the people applauded. They thought this was a wonderful show. The man blew the whistle. Nothing happened. The snake just kept squeezing, squeezing.
And he blew the whistle again. No one did anything because they thought this was part of the act.
And let's make it squeeze, squeeze.
You do it one last time because he had no breath.
Snake never went back into his back.
I don't know what the name of that snake was.
Yeah, the name of that snake? Sin.
And that's the way it is. If you think you can control it, I wanna tell you you'll never control it because it gets out of control and pretty soon you don't control it, it controls you.
And if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, it will be too late and you'll never get out of it.
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Just a warning to those especially who are younger, but to those all of us don't play with sin.
You don't have a chance. You're no match for Satan. He'll outwit you every time.
Well, this man had that plague of leprosy and there's not one of us that don't have a plague of sin. So let's find out what he does about it because there is a remedy. There is a remedy and it's found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, you see in verse two that there was this little maid in his home, a little maid that was brought captive out of the land of Israel.
You know, she was just a little girl, but she knew about the God of Israel. She knew about the one true God. Doesn't even tell us her name here.
You know, it doesn't matter who I am, doesn't matter what my name is, I'm just a Sinner saved by grace. And I want to tell you that the Lord can do for you what he's done for me too. Just a Sinner saved by grace. But he's brought me into his family. He saved my soul for all eternity, and He's given me a new life. He's given me a new life.
That I can enjoy. It's giving me new desires and He can do it for you too. The Lord Jesus said I am calm that they might have life.
And they might have it more abundantly. You know, the Lord not only wants to save your soul, but He wants you to have a happy life too. He wants you to be happy. Sometimes those of us who know the Lord is our Savior, sometimes we feel with the problems we face in our life. We heard a little bit about that this afternoon. Sometimes we think the Lord really doesn't want me to be happy down here, but He does. He really does. He wants you to have a happy life, not just to save soul. And He's the only one that can do both for you.
He's the only one that can do both.
Well, here was this little maid and she had the answer.
And the Lord Jesus has the answer stands before you tonight, and he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Come unto me, all the ends of the earth, be safe, for I am God, and there is none other. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved well.
He hears from this little girl from his wife passed it along about this.
Man of God in Israel. So Naaman goes to his master, and he gets a letter, and he's sent to the king of Israel.
But is that what the little girl said? Did the little girl tell him to go to the king of Israel? Oh, she said, there's a prophet in Israel, a man of God. And dear friend, are you going to the wrong place?
You know, if you would ask anyone, I don't think anyone would honestly say they want to spend eternity in hell. But there are so many people who are going to the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, getting the wrong counsel.
The word of God tells us.
The place to go The Word of God tells us the remedy for sin, but how many people are seeking to join a church do the best they can?
How many people are seeking in those ways to earn their way to heaven? Now it tells us in Isaiah that all our righteousnesses are as filthy ranks. Not just the good things we do, but our righteousnesses are as filthy rag.
There is nothing acceptable to God but Christ. Dear friend, you're either in Christ or you're without him. You're on your way to hell or you're in Christ and you're on your way to glory. There's nothing else the Bible speaks on.
Nam and Wen, first of all, to the wrong place.
Don't go to the wrong place. There's only one place, one name, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well.
He goes to this man and he finds out that this man can't cure him. But what happens? Verse 8 And it was so when Elijah the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes that he sent to the king and saying.
Wherefore us thou rent thy clothes. Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. You see, Elisha waited until the man had found out that there was no salvation in the king of Israel.
And sometimes the Lord has to wait until we're at the end of our rope, because in our pride and stubbornness, we won't come to the only place where there's salvation. And so the Lord waits patiently until we're at the end of the rope. But isn't it lovely? Elijah sent it on him. He says, send them to me, send them to me.
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And that's what the Lord is saying tonight. Come to me.
Come to the Lord and be saved. So he obeys. He goes down to the prophet.
But he comes to the profit in all of his pride, things that he thought were his, and that's the way he comes. Are you trying to come to the Lord in all your pride? I want to tell you, dear friend, you'll never find the Lord Jesus in your pride.
I say again, God hates pride.
You'll never, never find the Lord Jesus in your pride. You have to come down. And so Naiman comes with all his pride, and what does he say? Elijah sent a messenger unto him saying, Go and wash in Jordan 7 times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
The profit sent unto him a very humbling message. I've never been over there, but I've seen pictures of that river in Jordan. It's not a very pretty pretty river. It's muddy, it's very dirty. Not a pleasant thing to go and take, take a swim in. But this is what the Prophet says to him. He doesn't even come out himself. He sends a messenger and he says you go and dip in Jordan 7 times and you'll be clean. What a humbling thing for this man. But you know.
It's a pretty humbling thing to accept the precious blood of Christ, isn't it?
It's a pretty humbling thing to admit. The Son of God had to go to Calvary and suffer on a cross for your sins. It's hard, isn't it? It's humbling, isn't it? That river was not very pretty. But I want to tell you, dear friend, it wasn't very pretty. When the Lord Jesus went to Calvary for your sins and for mine. He hung there on that cross with nails in his hands and a crown of thorn on his head.
And it was for you.
Because.
Illogical. It was for you because he loves you.
You know, there's a story, many of you know, that track called The Scarred Hand about a man. And there was there was a fire in a house and there was a little boy upstairs and he was going to die in that fire. There was no way up but a pipe which went up the side of the house.
So that man climbed up that pipe and that pipe was red hot.
And he climbed up that pipe and he got hold of that little boy, and he put him on his back.
And then he got back out that window and he slid down that pipe and his hands were completely destroyed, scarred beyond anything you can imagine.
Well, that little boy didn't have any parents.
And the authorities were looking for someone to adopt him. And there was a day when the when the court was sitting and they were trying to decide what to do with this little boy. And he had some relatives there who laid claim to him and they wanted the little boy.
And the judge asked what what their claims were upon him. And they said, well, he he belongs to us. He's a relative of us. And then in walk, this man was no relative.
He said that little boy is mine. Should I clean that little boy?
The judge said, why, what's your claim upon this little boy? He held up his hands and he showed the scars in his hand. That's my claim. Those are the scars of love. And says in Isaiah, dear friends says, can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yay, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee, behold that graven thee upon the palms in my hands.
The Lord Jesus carries those prints with the nails, those marks of love.
For you, are you going to turn it down? Are you going to turn away from someone who loves you so much because you know there's nobody, nobody ever will or ever could love you like the Lord Jesus Christ?
He went to Calvary for you so that He could have you with Him for all eternity, and all you have to do is accept Him. Yes, Lord, save me. He longs for you to come tonight, but you have to come down and accept the precious blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin. You know, one time I was speaking to a man at work.
We were talking a little bit about children raising our children and I mentioned that there were certain things I didn't allow my children to do. He said to me, why? He said, is that for some religious reason? And I said feebly told him. I said, well, I'm a Christian. He said to me, well he said I'm a Christian too. What does that mean? So I thought to tell him that I'd taken my place as a Sinner before God and accepted the precious blood of Christ to wash my sins away. You know what he did? Turned away with a disgusted look on his face.
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He was too proud to accept the precious blood of Christ.
It was too humbling for him, and yet he told me he was a Christian.
Your friend, are you really a Christian? Have you gotten down and accepted the precious blood of Christ to cleanse you from all sin? Because that's the only way, Nahum. And what did he do? Just like that man I spoke to. He went away in a rage and didn't go away in a rage, but he was disgusted. Naman went away in a rage. Are you gonna walk away in a rage because you're too proud? Are you gonna let your pride take you to hell?
Well, thankfully, Naaman didn't.
They haven't listened the second time. Naman had another opportunity.
How many times has the Lord spoken to you? How many years has the Lord been seeking for you, speaking to you? And what's He gonna have to do to make you listen?
Maybe, dear friend, there's coming a day when you'll cross that line. It's.
Seeing a little Him, there's a line that is crossed by rejecting our Lord. The call of His Spirit is lost, and He counted the cost.
I say again, there's coming a last day. I hope there's no one here who's rejecting the Lord Jesus because that last day is very near. Well, we find that He did, He did accept what he was told and he went down and he washed in Jordan 7 times. And what happened? Well it says.
In verse 14, he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan. According to the saying of the man of God, he obeyed. He obeyed the gospel.
And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Is that wonderful?
He wasn't just healed, he was cleansed, it says. His flesh came as a little child.
And you know if you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
He doesn't just change you, He doesn't just change your heart. He gives you a brand new life, brand new one with new desires. He doesn't just change you, He gives you a brand new life, a life that will live for all eternity with Him and the glory, new desires. You can do that for you and He wants to do it for you now. But you have to come and you have to come down to a humble Christ. You know, Lord Jesus wasn't too humble, or rather too proud.
To go to Calgary for you, are you gonna be too proud to accept him as your Savior? It says he humbled himself even to the death of the cross. The Son of God humbled himself for you.
Well, this flash was like a little child. And that's what the Lord can do for you, give you a brand new life. And then what does He do? I think this is very lovely. What comes next?
He said.
He tries to give a gift, you know.
And you can't pay for salvation. Salvation is free. It's a free gift.
It cost the Lord everything, cost him his life, but it costs you nothing. All it takes is a cry of faith. Sometimes people think, I've heard people say, well, the Lord, yes, he died for me on the cross, but now I have to do my part. You don't have any part in it, dear friend. The Lord has done it all. The Lord's done it all. There's no part for you to do except to say yes. Lord, you remember that thief on the cross? What was his cry? Lord, Remember Me?
That was all a cry of faith. Did he have time to go out and do something good? Did he have time to be baptized? It's right and proper, if you know the Lord, to be baptized, but he didn't have time for that. What was the Lord's answer to him? Did he tell him he'd have to go and do something, pay something? Oh no, he said today. The response was immediate. Today shall thou be with me in paradise?
Paradise. What a word.
And that's all it takes to your friend is a call of faith to the Lord Jesus. Well, the next thing we see Nahum in here.
He has a little bit of a problem. After this he says, Naaman said, Shall there not? Verse 17 Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant? 2 mules burden of earth. For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering or sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord in this thing. The Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the House of rimmen to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the House of women, when I bow down myself in the House of Remen, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing.
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There was this mighty man of valor.
And yet he was strayed. He could stand up against armies and he could fight.
He was a mighty man, he was courageous, but when it came to the things of the Lord, he was very much a coward.
And you know, many people say, well, I'd like to become a Christian, but I don't think I could. I don't think I could live the life. I don't think I could stand for the Lord. Your friend, the Lord's not asking anything of you. He doesn't ask you to do anything for him. He just asks you to come.
Because the Lord will give you, he'll give you the strength, He'll give you the grace when the time is needed. You know, way back in the Old Testament when the Lord called that man a holy ad to make the things for the Tabernacle, He said, I've called him by name. And then he said, I've given him wisdom. I've put in him wisdom to make all these things. And then he said, and I've also given him someone to help him and the people to help him.
The Lord supplied everything.
Call that man by name. He gave him the wisdom and he gave him the means to do it, and the Lord will supply everything. You don't have to do anything. Lord wants to save you, and He'll give you the grace to live for Him. You ask Him for it, you know. You know what's our frame? He remembers that we are dust and He understands our weakness. He understands how feeble and weak we are. And so I like what he says here.
Says in verse 19, And he said unto him, Go in peace.
So he departed from him a little way, so he couldn't follow closely. He had to follow from a little distance. He had to be a little ways away. But I think it's lovely. The Lord Jesus says, I want you to come. You may say you're a coward, he says, but I still want you anyway. Better to come as a coward than not come at all. It's all safe. But how wonderful it is to follow the Lord closely.
How wonderful it is because he not only wants to bless you, He only wants to save your soul. But I tell you, he has blessings for you for time as well. He wants to bless you in your life and he has things for you that the world can't offer. And that brings us to the little time that's left. I'd just like to speak about this last little portion here because you know what? Paul preached the whole gospel.
Bible says that God wants all men to repay. He wants everyone to come to a knowledge of salvation, rather to come to salvation and to acknowledge of the truth. He not only wants you to be saved, your friend, but He wants you to come into the knowledge of all the blessings that belong to you. When you do get saved, you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior and you're brought into the family of God. You're made a child of God. We have had a little bit about that in meetings today.
You brought in to the family of God.
That wonderful, you know, not too long ago it was a brother at home and it was just after Sunday school. We were talking and he has a class of young boys and he said the boys asked them. They said are you rich? And he said yes I am. He said my father owns the cattle on 1000 Hills.
The boys looked at him and they couldn't believe. I thought that was wonderful and he went on to explain to them.
That he knew the Lord as his Savior, that he was an heir of Christ, joint heir with Christ. And those of us in the room tonight who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. Do you realize what belongs to you? Do you realize what's yours in Christ? Everything.
You're a child of God, you're a joint heir with Christ and everything belongs to you and you're gonna have it. You may not enjoy it now, you may not, you may not enter into it now. The Lord wants you to enter into it now, but someday you're gonna have it all. But you can enjoy it now. You can enjoy those things, the confidence that it gives even now. And the Lord wants you to. But you know, there's so many hindrances, aren't there, to a child of God entering in.
To all that belongs to him, and I think we see a little bit of that in this last portion because it's rather sad, but I'd like to speak about it anyway for just a few minutes. That's left. We have the servant of Elisha.
And Gahazi had a problem, you know, if any licensed servant, and he'd seen all these great things.
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Those of us in the room tonight who know the Lord is our Savior, what great things He's done for us.
What great things he's done for us and what great things he wants to do for us. But Gehazi had something else in his heart.
Gehazi had something else in his heart that got between him and Elisha. And I wonder, as those who know the Lord as our Savior, those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, are we letting things in these last days get between us and the Lord? And are we going to lose the blessing that He wants to give us even now that we can enjoy even now because something has gotten into our hearts?
You see this sad story, Gehazi?
He ran after Damon.
And he said to him, Naheem had said, Uh, rather verse 22 And he said, All is well. My Master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray, the Italian of silver, and two changes of garments.
Nagajazi had covetousness in his heart.
Covetousness in his heart. What an awful thing.
What an awful thing. You know, Israel, we look through their history and the thing that they always had problem with through their whole history was idolatry. You might say it was their national sin. It continually got between them and the blessing that God wanted to give them.
Brethren, it tells us in Colossians covetousness, which is idolatry.
Has that not gotten in and spoiled our enjoyment of the things of the Lord so much? He wants to bless us with all spiritual blessings. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. But are you letting a covetous heart rob you of this? Are we letting covetousness rob us of the blessings? Because that's what Satan wants, wants to rob you of the enjoyment of the things the Lord has for you.
So here was a covetous heart, and he lost the enjoyment of those things. You know, I say, and I wanna say plainly, that you can never, never lose your salvation. Or Jesus said, none can pluck them out of my Father's hand. Nobody will ever take you out of the hand of God, but you can certainly lose the enjoyment of your salvation, and you can certainly lose the enjoyment of all the blessings that the Lord wants to give you.
Covetousness, which is idolatry. Well, that was his problem and we just noticed a few things here.
He came to the tower, and He took them verse 24 from their hand and bestowed them in the house, and He let the men go, and they departed. He hid these things away.
Sometimes, you know, things aren't obvious. Sometimes there's hidden things in our hearts that rob us of the blessing the Lord wants to give us. We hide them down deep. Well, that's what Gehazi did.
And he came to Elisha and says, But when he went in and stood before his master, Elijah said unto him, Whence comest thou? Gehazi think that's nice? He asked him a question. He gave him opportunity to repent, gave him opportunity to turn from his way. He knew what he'd done, but he gave him opportunity. And the Lord is so patient with us. He wants us to enjoy those blessings so much. He gives us plenty of opportunity to turn from our ways and plenty of warning too. Gehazi didn't take the warning. He didn't take the opportunity. He kept it up.
Verse 26 And he said unto him, Went not my heart with thee, when the man turned against again from his chariot to meet thee.
Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and all of yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men, servants and maidservants?
Brethren, everything belongs to us. Everything. But it's not the time for reigning now. Someday we're gonna rain with Christ over the earth and everything is gonna be ours. But the reigning time is not now. It's not a time to receive these things. One time there was a king in Israel.
And he hired some soldiers to help him in a war, cost him 100 talents of silver, a great sum. And he hired those servants and then God sent him a prophet and he said shouldn't have done that. That's not trusting in me. You don't need those. Those soldiers from Israel is all take care of you.
And the king was all concerned about the money he spent. He spent a great sum, he said. But what about the money I've done with to hire these soldiers? You know what the answer was? The answer came from God. God is able to give thee much more than this. Let me tell you, dear friend, your brother and dear sister, if you give up anything for the Lord, you'll, you'll never be your debtor. You'll never be your debtor. You go ahead, you give it up. Give it up for the Lord, and he'll bless you more than you could ever imagine.
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He wants to bless you. It's not a time to receive those things now. The Lord will never be anyone's debtor. It all belongs to you well.
Before I turn to a verse in closing, I just want to look at the last part here.
Verse 27 The leprosy, therefore of Naeem, and shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever, anyone out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
You notice it says he went out from his presence, doesn't say that Elijah sent him out. I say again, you can't lose your salvation, but you can lose your communion with the Lord through that kind of a spirit, a coveted spirit, letting things get into your life, into your home.
You can lose that enjoyment of the Lord in communion with him, but I think very solemn here says, Shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever.
No, brethren, how solemn it is. When we allow things in our homes, we're responsible, especially those of us who are fathers. We read a little bit this afternoon about fathers. Those of us who are Christian fathers are very responsible for what comes into our homes.
And it's not easy. Sometimes it just seems as though the world is crowding in. Satan is trying to push his way into our homes.
For the sad result here, you may not lose your salvation, but what about your children?
You feed them on the world.
And they never get saved because the world is put into their heart. What a responsibility we had, We also had before us this afternoon. Hold fast till I come. Hold that fast which thou hast. Rather than let's keep those things out of our homes. Let's bring up our children. Seek by grace to bring up our children, and the nurture and admonition of the Lord Cleveland, and thy seed. Solemn thought.
But I say again, the Lord wants to bless. He wants to give you a happy life, and He wants to bless you for all eternity. So I'd just like to close with a verse in Malachi.
Last chapter excuse me. Chapter 3 of Malachi.
Alekhai, Chapter 3.
And verse 10.
Bring ye all the tides into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now here with saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive. Had a wonderful verse. Not a wonderful verse.
But at the beginning it says bring the ties into my house. The Lord says put my things first. Brethren, in these last days, let's put His things first.
We all love to quote that wonderful verse. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
But it is also in Ephesians. Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Brethren, you and I are part of the Church of God. We're part of that building. What are we giving for the thing that's precious to the heart of Christ? Are we seeking to build each other up in our most holy faith in these last days? How important that is. Say again, the Lord will never be anyone's debtor.
Bring the tithes into the house. What the Lord thinks first. Put his people 1St and he'll take care all your needs.
Or Jesus said, Your Father knoweth he had need of all these things to seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Brethren, let's put the Lord's things first.
And he'll bless us. He wants to bless us. But let's put his things first. And if there's anyone in this room tonight, all of these things can belong to you too. A child of God, blessed for your whole life.
Joy and radon into eternity, A joy that never ends. All eternity with Christ in the glory. How can you refuse it? Accept it tonight. Come, come to the Savior. Let me just pray together.