A monument for God

It's nice to remember the Lord with you all today and appreciate you being here now. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 5, please, 2 Kings chapter 5. And I want to thank the Assembly for hosting the conference, for the nice time, going through all the effort to secure the facilities and all the logistics and organization. We appreciate it, and the meals have been very nice, and the snacks, so the coffee, we appreciate it.

2 Kings chapter 5, it's a story I think even the Sunday school children would know, but I just want to read part of it here. We'll start at verse 13, 2 Kings 5 13, and his servants came near and spake unto him, his name and servants, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather than when he said to thee, Wash and be clean. Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God.

And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and his company, 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 Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules burden of earth? For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor 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 Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself, when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him, Go in peace.

So he departed from him a little way. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman, this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. But as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him.

So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman 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 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 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 bear them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them into the house. And he let the men go and they departed.

That'll be enough to read. As this scene closes, we see two men going two different ways, but they're really entouraged. We have one man with his chariot and all of his company, but he's accompanied now with something that he didn't bring into the land of Israel.

He's got two mules burden of earth and Gehazi is walking away from him with two servants, with two bound individual talents and two changes of garments, all these twos. I'm not going to talk too much about the twos, but I just think it's interesting. This scene, to me, one man going back to Syria, one man really staying where he is, just going back to his little chamber, a rich man, a rich servant.

But I want to spend my remarks really on Naaman, the man who is going back to Syria, back to, as it's mentioned, the house of Rimen, three times, the house of Rimen, the house of Rimen, verse 18. He's going back to this ungodly place, people that didn't know the living God. They had their worship, they had their culture, their opinions, whatever it might be, but he's going back, a different man, a different man.

And it's remarkable to me that he's taking back these two mule loads of earth and Gehazi, who would have seen all of these things, would have seen that the work of God and he was the servant of the man of God, we're told. He's going back, his mind's not, their minds are in two different places. This, that's the scene I want to just present with you for a few minutes.

As my wife and I are again traveling up from Michigan across the northern peninsula, the UP, I should say, and then coming down, even in Wisconsin, we saw several markers, markers, to different people, that things happen. As we're driving by, some of my red, you know, a short trip can turn into a long trip. My wife, she's like looking at her clock sometimes, because it's like, there's a scenic overlook, there's a marker, there's a historical marker.

What happened there? Something great happened here. Maybe we should pull over and see what great thing happened. We read that the servant said, if he had asked you to do some great thing, you would have done it.

But this wasn't going to be a time when the great thing was going to be a tribute to a man. This was going to be a time when the great thing was going to be attributed to God. God was going to do the great thing in this chapter, in this story.

And the one person who really realized it, who really appreciated it, was Naaman. God, the great God, the living God, as he calls him, the Lord, his, his, how he addresses him changes a little bit from God to the Lord. The great living God of Israel was going to do some great thing for Naaman the Syrian, he's called, Naaman the Syrian.

The servant says, I'm going to go catch up with this Naaman, this Syrian. I don't want to put too much emphasis in that, but the living God of Israel did some great thing for Naaman the Syrian. And Naaman takes back these two mule loads of earth.

And if we could have asked him, or maybe people asked him when he got back into Israel, what's the meaning of these mounds? Why do you have these two mule loads worth of earth? And maybe he would have said in some way what I'm going to relay, at least. But I was thinking of the mule loads of earth. How much does a mule carry? You can move out your phone, but I already did that.

About 150 to 300 pounds, apparently, from what I could find out. There's also apparently a side-by-side called the mule, which doesn't count. But two mule loads worth of earth.

So you can picture two mules with maybe two bags each on either side of them, maybe carrying five or six hundred pounds total. And then you have two men who were carrying each a talent. Apparently, a talent, we read it so often in our Bible, but they're not exactly sure, some scholars, how much what actually a talent was.

But we know at least a man could carry a talent and a change of garment. Two servants carried a talent and a change of garments, and they were walking with Gehazi. So what the weight of what Naaman was taking back with him was greater weight, we understand, than what Gehazi was carrying back with him.

And but people would say, well this is certainly more valuable than this. But not in Naaman's mind. Not in Naaman's mind.

He had some appreciation of the mounds that he was taking back. And when he brought it back, did anybody ask him, Naaman, what's the meaning of this mound? When we read here, he talks about worship. I'm not going to worship anyone else.

What did he say? In this thing, for thy servant, in verse 17, for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifices unto other gods, but unto the Lord. Perhaps it was going to be some kind of an altar or, but certainly some place linked with the God of Israel. And he was going to have some of the land of Israel back in that place.

Really a testimony to the God of Israel in a pagan land is really what I want to get at. A testimony to the God of Israel in an ungodly land. And as I drive across the country, I'm interested in these markers that are indications of some great event or some great person.

But as I drive across this country and even beyond, I'm thankful that there's markers, that there are places that are testimonies to the living God. And really, sadly, ungodly lands. But I'm thankful there are these preserved markers, mounds, as it were.

Would somebody have asked Naaman back at his home, what's the meaning of the mound? He could tell him, well, I could tell you this. It's a mark of an experience with God, with an experience with God. What does he say in verse 15? And he returned to the man of God and his company, and he came and stood before him and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.

I know there is no God in earth. Why did he know that? Because that God had an experience with him, a personal experience coming down and meeting him. And I could say we can relate to that, a personal experience with the great God of heaven through his son.

I was thinking how great God is the the Lord of hosts. And we're so small, so small in so many ways. We're just a speck in time out of the great eternity.

We're just a speck of mass. Our bodies come and go. We're here for such a short time.

We're a little bit of dust and moisture that goes through the great experience of time and matter, space, time. We're just a little speck and the great God of eternity. And yet.

We've been connected, linked by the Lord Jesus Christ. How is it possible that the eternal infinite God could be linked and reached and touched by us little individuals? It's how great and how great the work and how great the step and how great the person is of the Lord Jesus Christ. He bridges the eternal with the small, finite people that we are.

The blessed Lord Jesus Christ. We've all had an experience. Those that have come to Christ, we've had an experience with the living God.

This man Naaman would say it's it's marks an experience with the living God. But not only that, it marks his gratitude to the living God because he says there in verse 15, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now, therefore, I pray they take a blessing of thy servant immediately in his heart.

It's been said before. He dipped down seven times in the Jordan River after the sixth time, and he comes up after the sixth time. There was no change.

After six time, no change. He goes down the seventh time. What's the difference between the seventh and the sixth time? It was just the obedience of the word of God.

He knew it's not the river. The river didn't change him gradually. He knew it was the word of God.

And interesting enough, he knew it wasn't the man of God. He knew the man of God was just relaying truth to him, relaying the mind of God. What he came up out of that water with was, that was a tongue twister.

I just had an experience with the Lord of hosts. It wasn't the river. It's not the man of God.

He's not trying to take bottles of or crocks of water of the Jordan back with him. He didn't like the Jordan River. He wasn't trying to stay with the man of God.

He was going to go back home, but he was going to take land. And immediately after that experience, he has this desire of gratitude. What can I do? What can I offer? What can I give? This mound, as he was taking it back and he would place it where he was, would be marked by an experience with God and gratitude to the living God.

But not only that, there's something else that welled up in him, an impulse, an inspiration. This mound was going to be, was going to mark his desire, his inspiration to worship, to want to worship. I think we all have a desire, do we not? To be thankful to God.

But also beyond that, to want to worship God, to offer something, not just out of gratitude, but out of some awareness of his greatness. Of the wonder of who he is. Naaman had come from a place where there was another house.

Why is it it's mentioned three times, the house of women, the house of women, the house of women. He was going to go back to his country. And there was another house there.

He knows all about this God and how they worship him. And he knows what he has now is the one true God. He says that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.

How does he know that he had conquered other nations? He had been around. He had seen other places. He had known other houses of worship.

And even in his own town, in his own place, with his own king, there's the house of women. But he immediately knows after this experience with God, there is only one God. There is no God in all the earth.

Had he been to every place in the earth? I don't think so, but it certainly had been around. But he knew after this experience with God, how could there be any God like this God? And I want to worship this God. And he had this desire to worship this God.

Is it something I would think it's in the heart of every one of us? And it's not just something that happens on a morning meeting, but to be able to go through life with this impulse, with this inspiration, with this drive to worship the great God. The eternal, and we're able to do that through the Lord Jesus Christ. One who brought us into this relationship.

These two mounds of earth marked an experience with that God, his gratitude towards that God, and his inspiration to worship the God. Yes, but that's not exactly what he says here. He says, I pray thee, verse 17, give, be given to that term two mules of earth for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burn offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord Jehovah.

He changed it. He had talked about God earlier. He knew he had an experience with God.

But again, in a very short period of time, this man understands he's not just God. But he's the Lord, the Lord, a great appreciation for a man who one minute was raging, raging. And now he's has this desire in his heart to worship the Lord that he knows the Lord that he knows.

You don't have to wait till many, many years or you think. I have to get more experience if you have an experience with God through salvation, through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all you need to be able to worship.

This great eternal Lord. A personal experience. With the most time.

And so he's taking these mounds of earth. As a marker as and whatever he was going to do with them, but they were going to be they were going to be marked by this place and this desire to worship the Lord. In contrast to what was going to be happening in the house of women, he knew I have a real relationship with God and I have the ability and the opportunity to worship this God.

Not long ago, I was actually John and I were having meetings in Alaska. I have family up there. He has he lived up there.

So we have both have a personal connection with the area in the valley. They call it the Wasilla Valley. And at one point I went into a convenience store and there the man behind the counter was doing a good job and I ended up I passed along a magnet to him with a little Bible verse on it and he took it and he read it and he had had a recent experience with God and he was appreciating the verse and he was appreciating his newfound relationship with God.

And he says, I love this. And he goes, I'm so grateful for what he has done for me. And he says, I can pray now and mean it.

I can pray and mean it. And I kind of thought, well, yeah, that's what we do. But I don't know if he had prayed other times.

But in his realization, his experience, I can come before God and I can pray and mean it with a realization that I'm actually talking to somebody in his other experiences. He didn't have that. But now he could pray and mean it.

We can worship and mean it. We can talk to God and mean it because it's a real relationship. And though it was it.

A great distance because of what Christ has done, we can pray, we can worship and we can mean it because we can understand he's hearing what I'm saying. He's appreciating what we're offering. He's enjoying the communion as great as that is, as wonderful as that is, as amazing as it is.

All his people today, all around, I got my watches right here, all around the world are appreciating communion with God and he's appreciating everything that his saints are offering him and lifting up from their hearts audibly and silently. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, through the work of the spirit of God, Naaman didn't know all that. But what he knew is I'm going home with something real.

I'm going home with a relationship with God. This mound represented that. The mound also represented peace with God and experience with God, gratitude to the living God, inspiration to worship the Lord and peace with the Lord.

He's he's he understands immediately when he thinks about the Lord. It's inconsistent. How can I go into that house? The house of women, the house of women, the house of women, it's just immediately hitting him in his conscience.

How can I go in there? But I'm going to have to go in there. Part of his job, part of his relationship with the king. How can I go in there? It's inconsistent.

I know the one true Lord. How can I go anywhere else? How can I worship anyone? How can I pretend to worship anyway? How can I even just hold the hand of of my master when he's going in there? But I have to do that. That's I'm a servant.

And he, Elisha says unto him in verse 19, very wonderful words, go in peace, go in peace. So he departed from him a little way, but he was walking away with this understanding. I have peace with God, peace with this Lord.

Now, obviously, we have the fulfillment of the scriptures and understanding. We worship differently in our day and we gather differently in our day and we understand there are ways that the Lord has lined up and the apostles doctrine means for us to come and gather. This man was going back to a pagan land.

But with this understanding, when I do what I have to do as a servant, I have peace with God. My relationship with him is secure. What happened in Jordan wasn't because of Jordan.

What happened when the most high, when the one true God reached me? That's never going to change. And I don't know how he would have articulated that, but he knew this. I'm going back with this security.

I have peace with God. Go in peace. And this mound would represent in a pagan land where they didn't have any peace or any security or any.

Hope of eternity, he had this mound. I have peace with God, peace with God. But maybe something else that is maybe the most precious.

He's going back to Syria, to the house of his master, to the house of Rimen with his little mound. And Gehazi says, I'm going to get something. Behold, in verse 20, my master has spared Naaman, this Syrian, this Syrian.

You know, my mind went to Deuteronomy. Maybe you remember that passage in Deuteronomy 26. When a man came into the land and when he received the bounty from the land of his inheritance, he was going to he was to bring a portion to the priest and he was to say this in verse 5 of Deuteronomy 26.

And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord, thy God, a Syrian ready to perish was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became their nation, great, mighty, and populous. A Syrian ready to perish.

I think Naaman would have realized at some point, maybe he wouldn't have articulated it this way. I was just a Syrian ready to perish. And now I've come into this great relationship with the God of Israel, with the Lord of Israel.

And that little those few hundred pound mound would represent the personal grace of God, the personal grace of God reaching a Syrian, reaching a man who had fought against Israel. And now he's going back with a personal relationship. So this mound, and I'm thankful for, I don't want to read more into it or put more emphasis on what it is.

But to go around the country, and see these markers of some great thing, it's interesting. But to go around the country, and to know there are mounds where they're marked by an experience with God, men and women who had an experience with God. They have great gratitude toward God.

They have a desire to worship God. It's a place where there's peace with God. I wanted to say that verse from Romans, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And they're marked not just with peace, but the very evidence of the personal grace of God to each one of us. We're here from various places, I think various states, various states of mind, and other variables. But we're all here because of the personal grace of God.

And may I never lose the wonder and the delight of all of these places, mounds, in an ungodly world that are marked by these five things, places precious to God. That would have been a precious mound to name in, up against the culture of the day, and up against the house of women. But precious to God, this man brought it back with two mules.

The mules had no idea what the precious cargo that they were carrying. And it was just earth, people looking at it. But oh, what it speaks to naming, what it spoke to naming of, what it spoke to God of.

And all of these delightful companies, they're precious to God and precious to the Lord's people.