gine no one
felt more rejoiced than he did. So Naaman starts back to Damascus a
very different man than he was when he left it. The dark cloud has
gone from his mind; he is no longer a leper, in fear of dying from a
loathsome disease. He lost the leprosy in Jordan when he did what the
man of God told him; and if you obey the voice of God, even while I am
speaking to you, the burden of your sins will fall from off you, and
you shall be cleansed. It is all done by the power of faith.

Well, you may be sure when he got home there was no small stir in
Naaman's house. I can just see his wife, Mrs. Naaman, when he gets
back; she has been watching and looking out of the window for him with
a great burden on her heart. And when she asks him, "Well, husband,
how is it?" I can see the tears running down his cheeks as he says,
"Thank God, I am well"; and then they embrace each other, and pour out
mutual expressions of rejoicing and gladness; and the servants are
just as glad as their master and mistress, as they have been waiting
eagerly for the news; and there never was a happier household than
Naaman's now that he has got rid of the leprosy. And so, my friends,
it will be with your own households if you will only get rid of the
leprosy of sin to-day. Not only will there be joy in your own hearts
and at home, but there will also be joy among the saints in heaven.

Another thought is suggested to us by this history of Naaman in the
fifteenth verse of the chapter; and which shows what Naaman's faith
led him to believe. "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." Now what I
want particularly to call your attention to is the words,

I KNOW.

There is no hesitation about it, no qualifying the expression. Naaman
doesn't now say, "I think"; no, he says, "I know there is a God who
has power to forgive sins and to cleanse the leprosy."

Then there is another thought. Naaman left only one thing in Samaria,
and that was his sin, his leprosy; and the only thing God wishes you
to leave with Him is your sin. And yet it is the only thing you seem
not to care about giving up. "Oh," you say, "I love leprosy, it is so
delightful, I can't give it up; I know God wants it, that He may make
me clean. But I can't give it up." Why, what downright madness it