Your Success Can't Save You | Filed Away

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we're beginning a brand new

teaching series called Filed Away, where we're

going to dive into one chapter of one book in

the Old Testament. We're going to go into 2 Kings

2 Kings 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, where we hear about the story of Naaman.

And Naaman seems to have it all. He's really

successful in his career, he's well -liked, he's

got lots of money, but Naaman has one problem.

And that problem leads him to God. So let's ask

together, how do people come to seek God? And

how does God meet us in our seeking? Today's

reading is from 2 Kings 5, verses 1 -15. Now

2 Kings 5:1–15

Naaman was commander of the army of the king

of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his

master and highly regarded, because though him

the Lord had given victory to Aram, he was a

valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands

of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken

captive a young girl from Israel, and she served

Naaman's way. She said to her mistress, if only

my master would see the prophet who was in Samaria,

he would cure him of his leprosy. Naaman went

to his master and told him what the girl from

Israel had said. By all means go, the king of

Aram replied. I will send a letter to the king

of Israel. So Naaman left, taking with him ten

talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,

and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he

took to the king of Israel read, With this letter

I am sending my servant Naaman to you, so that

you may cure him of his leprosy. As soon as the

king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes

and said, Am I God? Can I kill and bring back

to life? Why does this fellow send someone to

me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he's trying

to pick a quarrel with me? When Elisha, the man

of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn

his robes, he sent him this message. Why have

you torn your robes? Have the man come to me

and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and

stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha

sent a messenger to say to him, Go wash yourself

seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will

be restored and you will be cleansed. But Naaman

went away angry and said, I thought that he would

surely come out to me, stand and call on the

name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over

the spot, and cure me of my leprosy. Are not

Abana and Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better

than all the waters of Israel? Can I wash them

and be cleansed? So he turned and went off in

a rage. Naaman's servants went to him and said,

My father, if the prophet had told you to do

some great thing, would you not have done it?

How much more then, when he tells you, wash and

be cleansed? So he went down and dipped himself

in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God

had told him, and his flesh was restored and

became clean like that of a young boy. Then Naaman

and all his attendants went back to the man of

God. He stood before him and said, Now I know

that there is no God in all the world except

in Israel. The word of the Lord. In August of

2022, something really strange happened down

in Palm Beach, Florida. At 8 .31 on August 8th,

FBI agents arrived at Mar -a -Lago, the personal

residence of President Donald Trump. And they

came with a search warrant that had been derived

after months of subpoenas and surveillance. And

the charge was this. retention of classified

documents. Could it be? Could it be that President

Trump was hiding in his own house classified

and secret files? Well, agents poured into his

house and they went to work searching everywhere.

They searched under the floorboards, nothing.

They searched through the ceiling tiles, nothing.

They searched under the mattress, nothing. But

then Eureka, the motherlode, they found them

hiding in plain. over 100 classified files, some

of them marked top secret, not hidden in a secure

facility, not hidden behind some false wall,

but hidden in the bathroom. That's right. There

they were. They were stacked beside the toilet.

They were stacked beside the sink. They were

stacked beside the shower. It was strange but

true. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a little light

reading when they're on the can, I guess. Which

leaves us with two questions. Two questions.

How could something so important be hidden in

such an ordinary place? And the second question

is, what was in those files that he decided he

had to hold onto them so carefully? Now, someone

knows the answer to that question. It's certainly

not me. But we can all rest easy knowing that

this case is now in the hands of the... Justice

Department, and the FBI of the United States

of America. I'm probably going to be on a no

-fly list now for saying all this. Speaking of

investigations, though, this morning we are opening

another file. This is a file that has been hidden

for a long, long time. It hasn't been hidden

in Florida. It's not hidden in Washington, but

it's hidden in our own Bibles. If you were to

flip through your Bible, you would eventually

come to this one file, just really one page of

your Bible that I like to call the Naaman file.

And it's this little story. It's tucked away

in 2 Kings chapter... Chapter 5, it's hidden

in plain sight. I mean, if you are not paying

attention, you are going to go right past it.

And you might say, well, okay, fine, Rob. The

Bible is full of stuff that I've never read.

Why is this one page, this one file so important?

I mean, if it's so important, why is it hidden

away? It can't be that important. You're wrong.

You're wrong, actually. There is more here, something

more transformative, something more revealing,

something more important is here in the name

and file than anywhere in the file. files of

Mar -a -Lago. So for the next three weeks, this

is what we're going to do. We're going to leaf

through the Naaman file together. And we are

going to see that though this case has in some

ways been closed for like 2 ,500 years, I mean,

this story happened 500 years before Jesus was

even born. It's the mother load, folks. It has

everything. It contains everything that you need

to know about two really, really important questions.

Why do people seek God? And secondly, how do

people find God? Those are the two questions

we're going to tackle today. You received some

sermon notes when you came in, so you can kind

of follow along and make sure that we all get

the most out of the name and file. But let's

just start with this first question. Why do people

seek God? What causes someone to go on a search

to find God? What has to be going on in their

lives? I have to tell you that the story of Naaman

that we just read, Naaman is the... most unlikely

person to go seeking for God and to find God.

First of all, Naaman is a Syrian general. And

the Syrians were like arch enemies of the Israelites.

In fact, even at this time, I believe they were

engaged in a war. And even at this time, I believe

that Syria, Naaman and his armies were in fact

victorious or winning the war against Israel.

So why? Why would Naaman, a rich guy, a powerful

guy, an accomplished guy, an all -around good

guy, why would he, a Syrian commander, go to

Israel? Israel seeking for God. He had everything.

It would be like if you found out that Elon Musk

was sneaking into the back of Trinity services

to listen to the sermons. Why? Would he do that?

Why do people seek after God? Maybe you've heard

about this so -called Gen Z revival. Have you

guys heard about this? This idea that people

who are in Generation Z are flocking back to

churches. They're rediscovering Christianity.

It makes for great headlines. Although it must

be said that just this past week, Pew Research

published an article that said, okay, okay, okay.

They're not actually all flocking back to church.

And maybe we've embellished the numbers a bit,

but they are searching, right? Generation Z is

searching. They're Googling for things at 2 a

.m. They're journaling, right? They're praying

under their covers. They're scrolling through

TikToks about spirituality. But why? Why do people

seek God? Maybe a better question is, why are

you seeking God? Why do you see? Why did you?

seek after God? Guys, the answers are all in

the Naaman file. So let's open the file and see

what we can find. Here is the first answer to

the question, why people seek God. According

to the Naaman file, people seek God when they

finally come to this place where they realize

that they cannot help themselves, where they

realize they are out of their depth, and they

realize that they do not have the ability. They

do not have the self -sufficiency to solve their

own problems. I mean, let's look at Naaman. Naaman

was probably the most talented, most capable

person you would ever meet. I mean, verse 1 reads

like a resume. Naaman, he was a commander of

the army. He was a great man. He was highly regarded.

He was victorious. He was a valiant soldier.

I mean, this guy is amazing. Do you know that

even the name Naaman, do you know what it means?

It means pleasant. Naaman was a good guy. He

had every single thing going for him. He was

successful. He was strong. He was popular. He

was pleasant. This file reads like a profile

piece, right? Until you get to one sentence that

changes everything. But he had leprosy. That

terrible, wasting skin disease. And here it is

that we realize. Sometimes there are problems

you just can't fix for yourself. No matter how

great your resume might be, no matter how wonderful

of a designer life you might have created for

yourself, right? There is always something. There

will always be something you can't handle. There

will always be something that will come along

and ruin everything. And it might come from the

outside. right it might be like the death of

a loved one it might be like a relationship broke

down for you maybe the doctor called and and

you found out you had an illness maybe it was

a financial crisis you were going through or

relational betrayal i tell you no amount of success

no amount of power no amount of of achievement

can shield you from those things that are gonna

come and happen to you or or maybe or maybe It

all started from the inside, right? Anxiety that

destroyed you, resentment that brought you down,

bitterness, addiction, you know, pride. I don't

know. The point is that at some point, something

is going to rise up and it is going to take you

down. And you will realize at that moment that

all your self -sufficiency cannot help you. It

isn't enough. It never was enough. You don't

have what it takes to overcome your problems.

And it is at that point. And it is probably not

until you come to that point that you will start

really, really seeking God. I mean, Naaman's

file, it looks flawless. Maybe your file looks

flawless too, by the way. You're all some pretty

accomplished people here this morning. But I'll

tell you, every case, every file has something

in it, something hidden that reveals the truth.

We aren't as strong as we look. We can't handle

things on our own. We need help. We need God.

That's the first reason why people go seeking

for God. This second one, by the way, in your

notes has a bit of a typo. But there's another

reason why people go seeking for God. And it's

not just that we realize that we can't help ourselves.

It's actually we realize that the world can't

help us either. Other people can't help us either.

The system can't help us either. You see, when

Naaman realizes that he can't help himself, what

does he do? He goes looking to the world for

help. He heard that, oh, maybe there's someone

down in Israel who could help him. And so he

says, I know how the world works. I know how

the world works. I know how to get what I want

from the world. And so he heads off to Israel

and he takes with him the three things that he

thinks get you what you want in the world. He

takes money. He takes his connections. And, of

course, he goes taking his own power. But because

that's how the world works, right? He takes money.

He takes lots of money. You know, scholars argue

over how much money this is. Some people say

like Naaman could very well have been like a

billionaire, that kind of money. Why would he

take so much money? Because that's how the world

works. That's how you get things from the world.

Money talks. Money gets you things, right? Second,

he takes his connections. I find this funny.

Naaman had all these connections with all the

people at the top, the people at the very top.

He has a letter of reference from the king himself

that he takes down to Syria because Naaman knows

that in the world, you know how you get things

done? It's not what you know. It is who you know.

And that's why he goes looking for help. And

where does he go when he's looking for help?

He goes. To Israel, and he goes straight to the

top there. He goes straight to the king there,

right? He says, king, from my king to your king,

here is a letter of reference. I'm here to get

the help I need. Look at the connections I have.

Now give me what I want. But the world can't

give him what he wants. And the third thing is,

he goes with all his power. We're going to see

this a little later in the reading, but Naaman.

is fully prepared to do anything to get his cure.

He is willing to do the most courageous task

to accomplish the bravest feat, whatever it will

take, whatever he must do, he is willing to do

it to earn his cure. He's got the money. He's

got the connections. He's got the power. And

usually if you have these things, then you can

get what you want from the world. But Naaman

finds out those things aren't going to help him

either. When he gets to Israel and he brings

all his money and all his connections and power

to the king, the king of Israel starts freaking

out. He's like, well, what are you doing? I can't

help you. He says, you think I'm God? You think

I can sort out your problem for you? Can I bring

people back to life? You think I can heal you?

You think that's how it works down here? I don't

even know where to begin. He starts ripping his

clothing. He is so frustrated. Naaman, he says,

that's not how it works. That's not how it works.

You want healing. I can't help you with that.

If you want healing, you can't get that here,

right? The world can't give that to you. That

is something only God can give you. Now, I don't

think we should be too hard on Naaman because

in many ways, we're all just like Naaman, right?

When we have trouble, where do we go, right?

We look to money. We look to our connections.

We look to our own power. We go to the top. We

go to the top doctors. We go to the top lawyers.

We go to the top scholars. Go to the top authors.

We listen to the top podcasts, whatever. We're

always looking to the world to get the answers

to our big problems. But Naaman ends up learning

what we all have to learn. And that is all of

us will come to a point, and actually maybe some

of you here, you've already come to this point

through life experience, where we're going to

realize that not only can we not help ourselves,

But the world also can't help us either. And

until we realize those two things, we really

won't turn to God. And we really won't start

seeking after God. Now, if that is where the

name and file ended, it'd be a pretty sad file,

depressing. Might as well just put it in the

paper shredder and forget about it. But no, there

is more. to this file than that. Because the

file doesn't just tell us why people seek for

God. It actually ends up telling us how people

end up finding God. If you read the name and

file carefully, you will see he discovers, again,

he discovers two things. And they are, in fact,

the same two discoveries that all of us must

come to if we are really going to find God in

our lives. I'm telling you guys, the name and

file is super important. super important. Here

is the first thing we learn from the Naaman file,

that if we want to find God, that will only happen

when we finally figure out what our real need

is. When we finally figure out what our biggest

problem really is. You see, Whatever problem

you have, whatever problem you have, we need

to realize that our presenting problem is actually

not our biggest problem. Whatever we think we

need, we have to understand that our biggest

need is actually not our biggest need. There

are problems, bigger problems beyond your problems.

And there is a bigger need beyond your needs.

So I'm just going to come out and say it and

then we can talk about it. But the biggest need

we have. is to have a relationship with God.

The biggest problem we have in life is when we

don't have a relationship with God. Now, I am

not trying to downplay or minimize any needs

or any problems that we may have in our lives

or downplay any of the real needs and real struggles

and real problems that we see in our world all

the time. But I will say this, no matter how

big the need, There is one need that is above

them all. We need a relationship with God. Put

another way. We don't just need something from

God. We need God. We need God more than we need

a solution to our problem. So, you know, maybe

you would say, well, then my biggest need, in

fact. is not my need to get a job. My biggest

need is not to get healed. My biggest need, I

mean, these are all real needs, but my biggest

need is not to get out of debt. Our biggest need

is a relationship with God. That is the first

step to finding God. Do you guys remember this

story? Remember the story from the New Testament

in the Bible? where four friends bring this paralyzed

man to Jesus. It's a very familiar story. It

seems obvious when they bring their paralyzed

friend to Jesus what his need is. Obviously,

he needs to walk. Jesus, he's paralyzed. But

then Jesus says to the man, he says, son, your

sins are forgiven. And I'm sure his friends were

like. Yeah, okay, but obviously that's not what

we brought him here for. To which Jesus would

probably say, well, that just goes to show you

don't know what his deepest need is. The real

problem isn't that he can't walk. The real problem

is that he doesn't have a relationship with God.

The real problem is that he's not right with

God. Naaman. Had leprosy. Yes, that is a real

problem. But he also had no connection with the

living God of Israel. And that is the bigger

problem. Now, I know you can look at the story

and you can say, ah, Rob, but look, see, see,

God does heal Naaman. God does solve his problem.

But if you look closer, look closer. When Naaman

was cured. Notice what he says when he comes

up out of the water and his flesh is restored.

He looks like a newborn baby. He says to Elisha,

he says, thanks for meeting my need. No, that's

not what he says. Let me read that again. He

says, thanks for solving my problem. No, he doesn't

say that either. If you look at what does he

say? He says, now I know. that there is no God

in all the world except in Israel. Now I know

God. The leprosy was gone. Yes, but more than

that, he had finally encountered the living God.

Naaman went down to Israel looking for a cure

to leprosy, but what he found was God. Naaman

washed seven times in the Jordan River, but not

only did he develop new skin, he developed a

new faith. And this is true of all people who

find God. People who find God don't just find

a solution, they find a savior. They come to

realize that the problem that they thought they

had wasn't in fact their biggest problem, the

bigger problem. Was that they actually didn't

know God. That they didn't have a relationship

with God. You this morning. Again you might have

financial problems. You might have relationship

problems. These are real real problems. I'm not

downplaying them. But they're not your biggest

need. Your biggest need. Is to have a relationship

with God. Because if you had that. And this is

important. If you had that. Then you would actually

find. That these other problems don't destroy

you. They don't consume you. They don't ruin

you. Why? Because you've got this other thing.

You've got this something, this someone, this

God who is more significant than anything else

and therefore gives you a surety and a confidence

and a hope and a security in your life that you

can get through anything if you have that God.

You know, in other words, people who find God.

They don't just find the answer to a problem,

right? They find a God who will walk them through

any problem. That's what the Naaman file shows

us. All people who come to God and find God must

first figure out what their real need is. But

lastly, lastly, everyone who finds God. also

discovers what Naaman discovered. And that is

that our salvation is something that we receive.

It is not something that we achieve. This, I

would say, is the most important finding in the

whole of the Naaman file. Here's what happens.

When Naaman goes to the prophet Elijah's place

and he goes to get his healing, he ends up being

really, really upset. Why is he upset? Well,

for three reasons, really. First, Naaman's upset

because the prophet didn't even come out to meet

with him. And so he's like, doesn't he know who

I am? Doesn't he know how important of a person

I am? Why doesn't he even come out in person?

He just sends his servant out to give me a message.

I'm an important guy. See, he's already being

humbled here, okay? Secondly, Naaman wanted Elisha

to conjure up some Harry Potter spell and do

some spectacular thing. So that he would feel

special like that. But Elisha won't do that either.

And the reason is because Elisha wants to make

very clear that this healing he's about to get

is from God and not from Elisha. But third, and

I think this is the most significant one. Naaman's

upset because he wanted to do something. He wanted

to do some mighty thing for God. Like Bilbo.

He wanted to go to the Lonely Mountain and kill

the dragon himself. Or like Frodo. He wanted

to take the ring of power. And he wanted to go

to Mount Doom and throw it in there. Or like

Dorothy. Go and get me the broomstick of the

Wicked Witch of the West. Naaman would have said,

I can do it. I will go do it. I'll accomplish

it on my own. This is how Naaman. thought that

salvation works, strong people, people like Naaman,

they should be able to earn it. That's what they

want to do. I don't know if you guys remember

the story of Hercules. Hercules, to attain eternal

life, Hercules had to do these 12 like incredible

tasks. He had to kill the Nemean lion. He had

to clean out the Aegean stables in like one day.

And I got to tell you, this idea is deeply, deeply

embedded in each and every one of us that to

get God's blessing, surely, surely, surely, there's

something I have to do to earn it. But just go

wash in a river. Any idiot can do that. Any child

could go and do that. A weakling could do that.

Wait, Naaman says, are you saying that there

is no difference between me and people like that?

And that is exactly what Elisha is saying. Exactly

what God is saying. It's exactly what Paul said

in Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned. All have

sinned. and fallen short of the glory of God.

There is no difference between the prostitute

and the king. There is no difference between

the beggar and the commander. Everyone is in

the same boat. Salvation is not something that

you achieve. It is something that you receive.

And actually... And actually the servants of

Naaman know this better. They're like, listen,

listen, listen, master, master, before you run

away, before you go all the way back to Syria

without your cure, listen, if he had asked you

to do something really hard, if he had asked

you to go and, you know, slay the lion or whatever,

you would have done it, right? So why don't you

do it if it's kind of easy, right? But here's

the thing, it's not easy. This is, in fact, the

hardest thing for Naaman to do. You might think

it's easy for him to go wash in a river, but

it turns out that was his kryptonite. That was

the hardest thing to do. And maybe you can relate.

Maybe you can relate because you want to earn

it, right? God, I will go to church every week.

I want to earn it. God, I will give you 10 %

of my income. I want to earn it. God, I will

volunteer. I will serve. I will give. I will

do all those things. Then maybe I too can earn

my salvation. But here is the thing. And I love

this quote from Tim Keller. He says this, the

great thing we must do to receive our salvation

is to admit there is no great thing to do. Isn't

that a great line? And so here is the great deed

for Naaman to do. To admit there's no great deed

to do. This is the biggest finding in the whole

Naaman file. If you get this, then you have cracked

the case. And when we discover this, when he

discovers this, he's cured. And not only is he

cured, but as we're going to see next week, his

whole life begins to be transformed. And just

winding down here now. You might say, well, okay.

How is that even possible? How is it possible

that there is nothing that we can do? How is

it possible that our salvation costs us nothing?

It's because of this. It's because the great

thing that Naaman thought he could do, somebody

else would actually do for him. Somebody else

was going to go slay the dragon. The dragon of

evil. The dragon of death. On the cross, Jesus

did all that needs to be done. And guess what?

He did it by grace. So now we're saved by grace.

We are saved through faith. Look at it. And it

is a gift for Naaman and for you and for me.

That's why all we have to do is just go and wash.

Go and wash. All of this is in the Naaman file.

Naaman was a great, great person, just like many

of you. I think you are all great people, right?

But he was still clueless until he realized what

his biggest need was and how only God could meet

that need. And so may this gospel that saved

Naaman's life also save our lives too. And may

we all find in God, not just our healing. And

not just the answer to a problem, but a God who

loves us and a God who we can follow for the

rest of our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks

for listening to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity

Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on

February 1st, 2026.