So he goes down to the river and takes the first dip, and as he comes up, I can imagine him looking at himself, and saying to his servant, "There, there I am, no better than I was when I went in. If one-seventh of the leprosy was gone, I should be content." Well, down he goes a second time, and he comes up puffing and blowing as much a leper as ever; and so he goes down again and again, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time, with the same result, as much a leper as ever. And the people standing on the banks of the river probably said, as they certainly would in our day, "Why, that man has gone clean out of his mind." So when he comes up the sixth time, he looks at himself, and says, "Ah, no better. What a fool I have made of myself. How they will all laugh at me. I wouldn't have the generals and aristocracy of Damascus know that I have been dipping in this way in Jordan for all the world. However, as I have gone so far, I'll make the seventh plunge." He has not altogether lost faith, and down he goes the seventh time, and comes up again. He looks at himself, and shouts aloud for joy. "Lo, I am well! My leprosy is all gone, all gone! My flesh has come again as that of a little child. I never knew such a thing. I never felt so happy in all my life. I thought I was a great and a happy man when I accomplished that victory; but, thank God, praise God, I am the happiest man alive!" So he comes up out of Jordan and puts on his clothes, and goes back to the prophet, and wants to pay him. That's just the old story, Naaman wants to give money for his cure. How many people want to do the same nowadays? Why, it would have spoiled the story of grace if the prophet had taken anything. You may give a thank-offering to God's cause, not to purchase salvation, but because you are saved. The prophet Elisha refused to take anything, and I can imagine 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.