ELISHA’S MINISTRY - THE WOLF AT THE DOOR - LUST WHEN IT HAS CONCEIVED BRINGS FORTH SIN - GEHAZI 2Kings 5:20-27 PART 2 OF 2
SERIES – MESSAGES ON ELISHA – HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY Number 16
THE TIME OF RECKONING. There is a saying of man which is, “Beware, your sin will find you out.” That is not always the case in this increasingly sinful world. Only those who get caught, get found out, and if it is a public figure, they offer the most lamentable apologies, not in sincerity, but because they got caught. However, the sins of men and women are nearly always concealed and they go to the grave with them. However they are not forgotten because the great white throne looms ever closer for the judgement of the sins of every individual who is not covered by the blood of Christ.
2Kings 5 v 25 [[but 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.” 2Kings 5:26 Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? 2Kings 5:27 Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your descendants forever,” so he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.]] In Gehazi’s case, his sins were disclosed by the Lord Himself to Elisha. Verse 25 was a lie. Verse 26 discloses his sin for God told Elisha. Verse 27 is God’s verdict on sin. Gehazi went out a leper, and a leper had no contact with civilisation but had to live apart, even though we meet up again with Gehazi in Aram.
I feel sorry for Gehazi. He lived a great deal of his life with Elisha. He travelled with him, he stayed in the Shunamite’s house with him. He ministered to him, and witnessed all the wonderful miracles Elisha did through the power of the Lord. What went wrong? How did he slip up? Are we capable of going that way as well? The answer is, “Yes”. I’d like us to consider the great warning in these verses - Hebrews 3 v 12 “Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God, Heb 3:13 but encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Sin is deceitful and too great for any one of us. However we are in Christ and we have His resources. Move our eyes off the Lord, and we do fall into sin.
The deceitfulness of sin is very powerful, and the man who thinks he stands untouchable, take care lest you fall. Sin often takes advantage of the exact situation at the exact time. In other words without warning it has pounced on you and all your barriers are down and then you fall.
There is such a thing as premeditated sin where people scheme and plan some evil – bank robberies, terrorism, a careful undermining of a person’s position etc. but all too often when God’s people get caught out by sin, then it is the wolf that pounces, almost before the person can reason it all out. Caught out in the devil’s snare. I was intrigued at the way birds were caught in the Old Testament days by people called “fowlers” and it was by snares and nets, so much so that I wrote a poem about that:-
BEWARE THE FOWLER
Beware the fowler in the way,
The schemer with his traps adept;
That cunning trickster who will lay
Ensnaring nets where he has crept.
The fowler knows his craft so well -
Each habit and routine discerns.
The ways of birds expertly tell;
Entrapment plans so well he learns.
To map his prey so cunningly,
And plan with subtle art his haul,
The fowler works strategically.
An expert he, the best of all.
Now Satan has his fowlers trained -
His followers in his control,
Whose traps are set, the cords are strained,
To catch God’s children, is their goal.
Each subtle means will be employed:-
The lust of flesh, the lust of eyes,
To cause God’s work to be destroyed;
To capture saints by wicked lies.
Beware the fowler’s changing guise;
His trickery is most refined.
On every cunning trick relies
To cause God’s own to be maligned.
Deliver us from fowlers’ snares.
On every path these nets are laid.
Direct us, Lord, for our God cares.
Our trust’s in Him. On Him we’re stayed.
Poem is copyright but may be used in Christian ministry with acknowledgement.
On one occasion I had a bottle of loose change in my vehicle for emergencies, a lot of one and two dollar coins. One day when I was just up the road a little bit from the vehicle, walking out in a rural area, a bicycle rider managed so cunningly to steal that bottle with a loss of about $100. It was so sly. That caused me to think.
If a Christian had stolen that money, he would have been convicted by the Holy Spirit and would have felt so guilty, unsettled and not at peace. However there is a vast divide between one of God’s children and one who is a natural man, unredeemed. The natural man has no qualms whatsoever in sinning. It means nothing to him. It is like water off a duck’s back. He can sleep at night unconcerned. That is because a non-Christian behaves the way a non-Christian is expected to behave. He is a sinner in a world of sin, and sinning (whatever form you consider) is just so natural for him. It is just the way of life of the unbeliever.
I wonder about Gehazi. He was the assistant for Elisha and saw all that Elisha did and heard all the words of instruction to the sons of the prophets, but was that man truly one of God’s or was he like a Judas? I do not know. We do know that he was tempted and fell. The wolf was at the door and he could not withstand it. Was he a believer who got caught out and fell, or was he a non-believer really, who followed his natural instincts? I do not know, maybe you do. The story ended tragically and we do not ever hear of any “redemption” past that point.
There is an expression that the world uses as an excuse – “The devil made me do it,” and that is a lie because the devil did not make you do it. There is only one devil and he is NOT omnipresent or omniscient. What made you sin was your own sinful nature that in an unsaved person is the only nature you have. Christians have another nature, a “new nature” given by God when a person is born again. It is that new nature that knows right from wrong. That does not stop a Christian from sinning, but certainly makes him aware when he does sin.
One might say that the punishment God gave to Gehazi was too harsh and not merciful. That person might argue he did not deserve it after all the years of faithful service to Elisha. Why was the judgement such as it was? Just before that is answered, I want to mention Moses who failed the test and was barred from entering the promised land because he hit the rock with a staff instead of speaking to it. The two cases are similar.
Here is the reason. There is a principle in God’s word where the greater privilege demands the greater responsibility. Those who have greater light and have failed will incur greater penalty. There is great danger here for the people living in western, so called “Christian countries”. These nations were founded on biblical principles but the stubbornness of the human heart and deception sees people in Australia, the USA, Great Britain, and so many other nations thumb their noses at God. They have had greater light and will bear greater responsibility.
Maybe you are listening to (or reading) this and you have never given your life to the Lord. You need that matter fixed right now, and you need to be born again. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. Please surrender your life to Christ.
The final passage I will leave with you, the great passage of victory over sin, is this one - Romans 8 v 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Rom 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Rom 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Rom 8:34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Rom 8:36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered,” Rom 8:37 but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, Rom 8:38 for I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, Rom 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is a serious story and a sad one. Stories like this are entered into the bible for our instruction. Let the bible be our instruction manual forever more.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
