I've told some of you this, but
about 30 years ago, I was talking to Brother Walter Groover. I was in Franklin, Tennessee,
and I knew that Brother Walter and Betty had been down in Mexico
at that time, I guess about 20 years. They'd been down there
about 50, hadn't they, Cody? I was just amazed. I'd heard some of the stories
of the things that they'd gone through, you know, the trials
of being down in Mexico, things that they had done and waiting
on the Lord. and the sicknesses that they
had gone through, the kids growing up down in Mexico and things. And I asked Walter one day, we
were sitting down on the back porch, a friend of mine, and
I asked him, I said, Walter, what is it, how do you know when
you take and you pick up your family and you move from Texas
and you go down to Mexico. You just go down there and start
preaching. Going into these villages and
making arrangements to show a movie and get permission, you know,
to go down there and do that and then ask them afterwards,
can I preach a little bit? Can I do this? How do you know? And he said, and I thought this
was wonderful statement. He said, when something becomes
more important to you than what you're doing right now, he said,
that's when you'll do it. And I thought, you know, that's
the truth. When something is more important,
I think, why did I come here when something's more important
than what I was doing? Well, in time, as Brother Walter
and Betty, they were carrying the brunt of that ministry down
there. Cody and Winna got married. Cody had been in the service
and he came back. They got married and the Lord
was pleased to send Cody and Winna back to Mexico and has
been pleased to continue that work. down there in those churches
that God has raised up. And we've had, I've had, and
some of you here have had the privilege to be able to go down
and go into those villages there in the Pueblos and to meet some
of these people that you just, I mean, you love them, but you
can't understand a word they say, you know, unless Cody or
Winna, Walter or Betty is there. And these years that we've had
to be able to be down with the Groovers and visit with them
and have the fellowship, it's just been wonderful. And I thank
the Lord that He's allowed Cody and Winna to be up with us tonight. They're going to be in the States
for about a month traveling and they'll leave tomorrow going
on to be at Don Fortner's conferences. weekend and then go from there,
Bruce Crabtree's and on and on and on. But I'm so thankful,
Cody, that you're with us. I thank God that he sent you
our way. Why don't you come preach for us? It's a privilege to be here with
you tonight and a joy and I love your pastor, his wife, And we've,
beside being brothers in Christ, we've become good friends. And
I'm thankful for the fellowship. And the fellowship of this church
over almost 50 years, this congregation has stood by and supported the
work of the ministry there in Mexico with first brother Scott
Richardson for many years and now the Lord is faithful keeping
the gospel here what a great privilege keeping his candlestick
here and I thank the Lord for your pastor and for the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ to keep us, to keep us And that's our
only hope, is it not? That's our hope. That which He
has begun, He will perfect. He will complete until the day
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I bring you greetings from
the churches in Mexico, especially the church in Merida, and the
churches in Cancun. And your pastor loves to call
the name of this church, Zitzantun. and those that have been there,
we have got to worship together and you understand when I say
that they truly, truly appreciate this time and what a blessing
it is for your pastor to come and minister the word to the
congregations just as much as this congregation loves to have
Pastors from other states here in the United States come, and
you don't expect to hear anything different. You know we preach
the same gospel. We believe it, otherwise we wouldn't
have fellowship. Our fellowship is with the Father
and the Son, Lord Jesus Christ. Our fellowship is in the gospel.
But we don't expect to hear anything new or anything different. And
the ministry of the Word here is the same as the ministry of
the Word there. And we preach the Gospel and
wait on the Lord to call out His people. And the same comfort
and hope that you have in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the same comfort and hope of the churches there in Mexico. Tonight, I want us to open your
Bibles again and just hold them there for a moment. I want to
talk about this one thing that Naaman said. Naaman said, I thought. I thought. When he was wroth
because that he heard the word of the prophet of God, he said,
behold. Or as we would say, look here.
Look here, I thought. I thought. And the thoughts and
imaginations of men are enmity against God. Man in his natural
state. These are, the thoughts and imaginations
of men are weapons. Weapons. against, in the hands
of wicked men, against the Lord Jesus Christ. Our thoughts and
imaginations, by nature. You see, when God created man,
He created man upright, perfect. And Adam, the Lord said to Adam,
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And Adam
did eat disobeyed and ate of that fruit, and he died, died
spiritually, and his mind was darkened. He lost at that time,
at that moment, he lost the life of God, he lost the way to God,
he lost the truth of God. He lost this in the garden. I believe Romans chapter 1 verse
21 where it says, Because when they knew God, they glorified
Him not as God, neither were they thankful, but became vain
in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. I
believe that Adam, and well there's two times in the history of the
world where everybody in the world knew that Jehovah God was
the true God, and that the only way to come to God was by sacrifice. Adam. God taught Adam when he
offered those animal skins and dressed Adam and Eve and also
when Noah came forth out of the ark. But man, apart from the
grace of God, apart from being made a new creation, a new creature
in Christ Jesus, comes up with all kinds of imaginations, idols. As I've said another time, Man's
mind is an idle factory. Every mind is a different idle
manufacturer. And you hear it when they say,
I think God is this way. I think God is this way. My God
is not that way. Have you ever heard anybody say
that? That's not my God. They're telling you the truth.
Because they fabricated a false God. Their darkened understanding. Their understanding was darkened,
being alienated, says in Ephesians 4.18, of the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their
heart. And you know, when God judged
the earth in Genesis chapter 6, you remember it says, God
looked down. God looked down. God saw. that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination, not 90%, not
5%, not 10%, not 90%, 100%, every imagination, every imagination,
that is, of the thoughts, of the thoughts of his heart were
evil continually. continually. So man's thought
from his carnal mind or enmity of God, that's what the Romans
8 says, 8, 7 says, the natural man is enmity, the carnal mind
is enmity against God. They that are in the flesh, the
scriptures say, cannot please God. They cannot believe God. When a man A woman or child believes
God is because God has made him a new creature. It's because
the Holy Spirit has given him life, and it's that new creature
that believes God. It's that new man that believes
God. It's that new man that has a new mind, the mind of Christ. Man thinks that God is like himself. That's when man thinks about
God, he fashions a God after his own as to have his own self. That's what Satan said to man.
He said, when you eat the fruit, you'll be like God. Knowing good
and evil. He lied. And they believed it. And now man does not have the
thoughts of God. God said, thou thinkest that
I was altogether such and one as thyself. Because God doesn't
strike a man down in the moment that he commits evil, he thinks,
well, God's like me. God's like me. Well, man in his
thoughts does not believe that God is truly holy. Man in his
thoughts does not believe that God is truly holy. Nor does he
believe that he's truly, truly a sinner. And the only way a
man is going to know who he is, is if God reveals himself in
the person and the work of the Lord. If God reveals Jesus Christ,
we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and in
that light, it reveals who we are, who we are by nature, by
practice and by choice. And man does not believe that
the only way to come to God is by the sacrifice of the Lamb
of God. Man does not believe. Man's thoughts
are enmity against God. Now, man must be reconciled. Man must be reconciled. When
God gave His Son a people, before the foundation of the world.
The scriptures say that the Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. So that in the mind and in the
purpose of God, God in Christ was reconciled to his people
because he never looked to his people. When he gave his son
a she, a people, from that moment he looked to them. and never
looked to the Lord Jesus Christ and never looked to them. So
that God in His purpose, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, God in His purpose
and mind is reconciled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it had
to come in the fullness of time that the Lord Jesus Christ come
into this world. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ came
in in the fullness of time, made of a woman, made under the law
that He might redeem us. So, in the fullness of time,
He came into the world, and as a man, He established, that is,
honored God's holy law and established righteousness here in the earth
as a man. He obeyed God in every jot and
till of the law. Honored God. God said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Because we must have the righteousness
of God if we're going to be in God's presence. We must be holy,
righteous, just. But we had also a debt of sin.
A debt of sin that we could not pay, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ went to the cross in Calvary, and there gave His life a ransom
for His people. He died to put away the sins
of His people, and He did that. And God is reconciled to His
people. God, He made peace through the
blood of His cross. That's it, it's done. But we,
in this world, by nature, still have thoughts of enmity against
God. The Lord Jesus Christ, God was
reconciled to Saul of Tarsus, when Saul of Tarsus was doing
everything he could do to get rid of everybody that confessed
Jesus to be the Christ. And yet the Lord crossed his
path on the road to Damascus, knocked him down off his horse,
and revealed himself to him. And Paul was reconciled to the
Lord Jesus Christ when he said, What wilt thou have me to do?
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? So a man must be reconciled. God is reconciled. The reconciliation
was purposed in eternity, promised and typified in Genesis and all
the Scriptures, and made in the fullness of time. The Lord Jesus
Christ came and made reconciliation. This is our message. This is our ministry. This is
the ministry we have been given. If you hold your place there,
I know I haven't got to 2 Kings, I'm going to use 2 Kings 5 to
illustrate what I'm saying. So if you will just turn with
me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, you know the text well. But in
order for me to quote it right, I'm going to go to it. I want to quote it in Spanish. Marvin can translate for me. Romans, excuse me, 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 18 says, And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. When was this? The moment
He gave His Son a people and He became our surety. There's
no, this is not a possibility salvation that we're talking
about. With God, when He thinks it,
it's done. when he thinks that it's done
from eternity. He hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation,
given us the apostles, given us the preachers, given us the
gospel is the ministry of reconciliation and this is what we are to preach.
God is reconciled. God is reconciled to his people.
To wit, that God was in Christ. The eternal Son of God, equal
with God the Father, was made bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Reconciling that world of people
that the Lord Jesus Christ received from God the Father. He reconciled
His people. Notice it says, not imputing
their trespasses into them, not charging them with their sins,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Well,
who did He charge it to? To the surety, to the Lord Jesus
Christ, when He was made sin, is what it says. He's committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we as ambassadors of
Christ, as though God did beseech you, Now notice it says, as though
God did beseech you by us. God doesn't beseech, we do. God commands. That word in Spanish
is plead. As if God did plead by us. Because you hear us saying, believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why will you die? Believe, come.
Don't walk out of this place without trusting in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we would do anything just
to cause you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But God doesn't
speak that way. When the Lord Jesus Christ says,
come, His people come with an effectual call. Lazarus, come
forth. And Lazarus got up and came forth. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God, for
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." Man must and will
be reconciled to God by the preaching of the Gospel. This is the means
whereby God is pleased to reveal Himself, reveal the Lord Jesus
Christ, Man must and will be reconciled to God by the Holy
Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, and this is the
ministry of reconciliation. That is, God the Holy Spirit,
in regeneration, gives life, gives a new heart, gives a new
mind, a new affection, and a new will. The new man believes God
as he claims to be. The new man believes everything
God said. God is holy. Man believes it. Do we understand what it means
by God is holy? I think that word is an abstract
word to us until we know what the Lord Jesus Christ did on
the cross. That word is abstract. It means
separate, alone. None other. There's no other
God. But we still do not understand the Word until we hear the darling
Son of God the Father, the One who pleased God, who the Lord
said, God the Father said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. When He was made sin and hung
on the cross, He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? And we cannot Understand it,
much less explain it, that God the Father forsook God the Son
on the cross. But the answer comes in verse
3 and says, Thou art holy. That's why. Thou art holy. And when He was made sin, God
the Father turned His back. And He suffered separation. He
suffered the hell that we deserve to suffer. And he made satisfaction. Man is going to be reconciled
to what God says about himself. What God says about man. Man
is going to be reconciled to what God says about man. Man
has wrong things about who God is. Man has wrong thoughts about
who himself he is. And man has wrong thoughts about
how he's going to approach unto God. The man is going to be reconciled,
is going to be convinced like the Holy Spirit. It says the
Lord Jesus Christ said when the Holy Spirit comes, He's going
to convince of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because
they have not believed on me. People have the wrong idea what
sin is. People think sin is what we do. Sin is who we are. It's what
we are. Sin is what we are. It says He's
going to convince of sin not because they stole something
or because... and that's sin. It's a breaking
of the commandment. But here's the sin that condemns
a man you have not believed. This is the condemnation, said
the Lord Jesus Christ, that light. Jesus Christ is the light of
the world. He's the light to the understanding of who God
is. He said, He that has seen me
has seen the Father. He's the revelation of the invisible
God. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells bodily in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that when we who love
the Lord and love the Lord Gospel, love the Lord Jesus Christ, when
we get to glory, when He brings us there, the only God we're
going to see is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we're going
to see. Man's going to be reconciled.
He's going to have right thoughts. He's going to know he's a sinner. The Holy Spirit is going to convince
of righteousness and of judgment. Well, man is going to have to
forsake his ways. If you look in Isaiah 55, Isaiah
55 and verse 6, it says, Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Man's thoughts are enmity against
God. And let him return to the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God and he will abundantly
pardon. See in that verse both repentance
and faith. Forsake his thoughts and turn
to God. Alright, I want to illustrate
these thoughts in 2 Kings chapter 5. Notice first in chapter 5
verse 1, Naaman is a picture of all men by nature. And he's
a picture of all God's people by nature. All men by nature. There's no difference. Before
the Lord Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit does a work of grace in
our hearts. We are by nature children of
wrath even as others. We are led about. We are under
the power and influence of the prince of the power of the air,
the rule that now works in the children of disobedience. Now
Naaman, Naaman must be is a picture of all man by nature and all
God's people by nature. Notice it says, "...Naman, a
captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man, with
his master an animal, because by him the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor,
but he was a leper." But he was a leper. Man, his thoughts about
himself, He thinks too high of himself.
Man thinks that I'm a great man and I just happen to have a little
problem with sin. Leprosy is a picture of sin in
the scriptures. Leprosy renders a man unclean. Unclean. When you think of When
the scripture describes or reveals the Lord God, it says, He is
holy. That's the one word that we could
use to describe God. He is holy, holy, holy. But when you describe man, it's
the word unclean. You remember when Isaiah in chapter
6 says, In the year that Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and
lifted up, and His train filled the temple. You remember that
he saw that he heard the seraphims cry one to another. With twain
they covered their eyes, and with twain they covered their
feet, and with twain did they fly. And they cried out one to
the other, Holy, Holy, Holy. What did Isaiah say? He said,
Then, he said, Woe is me. Woe is me. When did he see himself? When he saw the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And until we see the Lord Jesus
Christ for who He is, we don't know God. We can have high thoughts,
but our high thoughts are enmity against God, because we don't
know God. A man has thoughts, and he thinks
of himself. that this matter of sin is not
such a great thing. I happen to be a good man, I
might be a great man, but what man is doing really is one worm
comparing against another worm. That's all that is. Vanity of
vanities. The best of men is nothing but
vanity. All together, vanity. Man is
a leper. He may be valiant, he may be
well-liked, But a leper. In a leper, everything he touches
is unclean, uncontaminated, polluted. He's death walking. That's what
a leper is. Leper is a good picture of man,
renders him unclean. God is holy. Man is unclean. Now, God in his mercy, God in
His mercy determined to heal Naaman. Who thinks that this
happened by accident? Nothing happens by accident with
God. Nothing happens by accident.
God determined before the foundation of the world He was going to
heal Naaman. He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and
He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. One
day He came back after He had He had been preaching in Capernaum,
and he came back to Galilee. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
Galilee, and he went into the synagogue, and he was given a
scroll to read, and he read the portion, and this is in Luke
chapter 4, and when he closed the Scriptures, he said, this
day the Scriptures fulfilled in your ears. And they all marveled
at the words of grace that came from his mouth. They all gave
good testimony of him. And he said, you're surely going
to say this proverb to me. He said, you're going to say
this proverb. Physician, heal yourself. And then he explained
what it meant. He said, all the good works we
heard you do in Capernaum, do them here also among the people
you grew up with. Men think that they have a corner
on God. Men think that they have some
kind of influence. Men think that They have some
kind of influence. You see, your mother, your father,
your cousin, your uncle, they know God. Roman Catholicism,
this is their teaching. If you have somebody that's in
the church, you have an entrance. Men think that they have a pull
with God. And the Lord said this. He said,
there were many widows in the days of Elias. And to none of
them was the prophet sent but to this woman of Sarepta, a Gentile
woman. And there were many lepers in
the day of Elijah. And to none of them was the... None of them were healed but
save Naaman the Syrian. And you know what the Lord was
saying there? You're saying, do this, do this, do that. Do the things you did over there
in Capernaum, do them here. The Lord is teaching them, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. He is sovereign in salvation. Man thinks that he has some kind
of pull, but God in His purpose determined to cleanse Naaman,
to deliver Naaman from his leprosy. What a picture. of the salvation. God, this salvation is on purpose,
is on purpose. God is not saving a people by
accident. God is not doing things that
depend on you accepting it. God from the eternity has determined
to save a people and they're going to be saved. Now here's
Naaman. Get the picture. Naaman, he's in the world alienated
from the commonwealth of God, without Christ, without God,
without hope in the world. He's got leprosy, but he's not
looking for God. He's happy with his God remnant.
He's happy with his false God. He's not looking for God. He
doesn't know the true and living God. But the Lord used these
marauders, you know, they went out and captured captured this
young maid from Israel and took her away in captivity and this
maid landed in the service of Naaman's wife. Landed in the
servant of Naaman's wife. Can't you see there that the
Lord is going to send the gospel? The Lord is going to send his
gospel where he's got a people. And it doesn't really matter
in the sense as we should look at it, because God has ordered
all things, all things work together for good to them that love the
Lord, to them that are called according to His purpose. And
He's going to use His people to the furtherance, to the fulfillment
of His purpose, to bring the gospel to all the world. And in this case, this young
woman was taken captive. And I imagine that was a very
sorrowful thing. But the Lord had a purpose. The
Lord had a purpose and that purpose was for her to testify to this
pagan general of the prophet in Israel, the God of Israel
that can and will heal him. And you notice it says there
in And verse 2, and the Syrians had gone out by companies and
had brought away captive of the land of Israel a little maid,
and she waited on Naaman's wife. Like I said, Naaman, he wasn't
thinking about what he was doing as far as getting any, other
than trying to get his wife to be quiet. You know, she wanted
one of the little girls to come back and help with the chores
in the house, you know. But he's like here, Go serve
her. But Naaman has a problem. Naaman
is a leper. And he has no reason to have
any hope. The Word was delivered to Israel. He's outside of Israel. But this woman, this little maid
said, she said to her mistress, Would God, my Lord, were with
the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his
leprosy. Don't you love that word? He
didn't say he might. He can, if Naaman would just
give him a chance. Would to God, people would come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He saves sinners. It's not a
maybe. It's not a maybe. It's not, he
saves his people from their sins. Well, Naaman heard that news. Heard that news in a far country,
and Naaman has wrong thoughts, just like all men by nature.
When they have a little compunction, maybe just a little,
they get the idea that they've done something wrong, you know,
and maybe they were caught. And what they think is they're
going to start turning over a new leaf. They think they're going
to start attending church, you know, maybe they're going to
be baptized, maybe they're going to start joining the choir and
do all these other things. They think, they have thoughts,
they're going to do God a favor. They think that by their doing,
they could purchase salvation. This is what Naaman, he went
to the king to get letters of recommendation. recommend me. I say, I'm somebody. I want you,
when I go over there, I want Him to treat me like I'm somebody.
And people come into the church and they want to be treated like
somebody. And believe me, where they don't
preach the gospel and they're preaching a false message and
when they're looking for their own gain, pastors do cater to
them. Churches do cater to them. and
they fawn over them and everything, and what they're trying to do
is just get their money. That's all they're trying to do. But
when a man or a woman comes into a church and the pastor, we're
cordial, we're friendly, but the pastor doesn't show them
any deference. You're a sinner. They're like, whoa, I never heard
that before. But man's thoughts are not God's
thoughts. This man thought he was going
to get letters of recommendation because he still thinks that
he's somebody. I want to be treated differently.
God makes a difference between one person and another. You see,
if I were a poor beggar coming to the prophet, you know, he
would treat me differently. We don't have a gospel for the
rich, and a gospel for the poor, and a gospel for the old, and
a gospel for the young, and a gospel for the educated, and a gospel
for the... It's one gospel. Everybody's going to come the
same way. Well, he takes these letters to the king, as we've
read, and the king, well, he rent his clothes, and he thought
he was picking a fight with him. He just came to the wrong person.
He didn't know. But the woman said, the little
girl said, if he were before the prophet. And how many people
when they get an understanding that maybe they've done something
wrong, they go to the wrong place. You cannot come to the front
of this place and get forgiveness of sins. This is not the altar. This is not the altar. You can't
come to this man or that man to get forgiveness of sins. You're
going to the wrong place. And you can't raise your hand
and repeat certain words after a man and then everybody, hallelujah,
you're saved. You're going to the wrong person.
There's only one person that can save and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, Elijah, the man of God, heard
that the king of Israel rent his clothes, that he sent to
the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him
come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet
in Israel. Come to me, and I'm going to
tell him what God says. That's what a prophet does. A
prophet tells what God says. You come to me, and he'll know
that he's going to hear a word from God. There's a prophet in
Israel. So Naaman came. Now here's still
Naaman with his wrong thoughts. He said, I thought. He came with
his horses and with his chariots and stood at the door of the
house of Elisha. He thinks that he's going to
come in with all this wealth and pomp and ceremony and he
stands there and Elisha, he didn't even come out to say hello to
him. He sent his messenger. Boy, don't
you know that was an offense. That offended him. Well, he sent
this little messenger out there and he said, Go and wash in Jordan
seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt
be clean. And when he heard that message,
that message was a message that offended him because he had wrong
thoughts. When God reveals the truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ, And He reveals who we are. God's people
are not going to be offended when God says, it's not right
for me to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. You
know what God's people are going to say? Truth, Lord. That's what
God's people are going to say. They're not going to be offended.
Can anything God say to you offend you? This is what the Lord said.
Will you go away? Will you go away? Does this gospel
offend you in any way? You'll go away. But this man,
he thought that he was somebody. He was wroth, he was mad. And
you know what? I like it when people get mad.
I do. I don't like for people not to
be indifferent. I don't want them to be mad at
me. I hope I don't offend them. But
the gospel offends man's pride. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the truth, offends men in his self-importance, his self-thoughts
of dignity. He doesn't need a dying, suffering
substitute to put away his sins. He's not that bad. You can get
a man to agree that he's a sinner. Have you lied? Well, yeah. Well
then, you're a sinner. Oh yeah, I've sinned. Oh, but
the Gospel says, the Scriptures say you're a dead dog sinner.
Oh, wait a minute now, don't go offending me now. I'm not
that bad. I'm not that bad. The Gospel says, the Scriptures
say that there's nothing sound in you. That from the head to
the toe, you're nothing but putrefying sores. Abomination in yourself
and nature. That there's nothing in you that
pleases God. By nature, man is dead. Cannot
please God. Well now, wait a minute. I'm
not that bad. Man thinks that he's not that bad. So his name
was very, very mad. Very wrong. And he went away. And notice he said, I thought.
I thought he will surely come out to me. Now, he may not come
out to this man, you see. But he's going to come out to
me. He has his thoughts about what he's going to do for God.
I'm going to do this for God and He's going to come out and
do this for me. And people come up and they come in here and
they hear you preach and you don't give them an invitation?
Why? They're offended. What are you
talking about, not giving an invitation? I thought he was
going to give an invitation. And I was going to come down
forth, and I was going to kneel, I was going to cry at the front,
and I was going to do it. They think they're going to do
all this and that they're going to somehow or another impress
God. They're going to impress God
and that God is going to save them. That's not the way God
saves His people. I thought... He will surely come
out to me and stand and call the name of the Lord his God."
Notice, he will call the Lord his God. He still has his own
God. "...and strike his hand over
the place and recover the leper." He's got a ceremony down. He's
got a ceremony. He's got to do this, that, and
pomp and ceremony. He's got to show. And then he
said this, That's not the only way. Surely that's not the only
way. You see, he said go into Jordan and dip seven times. And
he said, well the rivers from my land are crystal clear. They're
beautiful. They're attractive to the eyes.
They're crystal clear running water. Who wants to go jump in
a muddy river when I can go to this crystal clear water and
it's pleasant to the eyes and I can go dip. It's the same.
Have you ever heard anybody think, well, it's the same, it doesn't
matter if you come by, you know, Buddha, or you come by Mohammed,
or you come by Mary, or you come... They're all the same. We just
have to be sincere. They're all the same. The Scripture
says there's none other name given among men whereby he must
be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. Well, he said, are not Abena
and far, far rivers of Damascus better than all these other waters?
May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned away and
went in rage. Like I said, I don't mind people
being mad. Sometimes they get mad and then they get glad. Sometimes they get mad and then
they get glad. So he was going away and his
servants came near to him. And he heard this little small
voice and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee some
great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather
than when he said to thee, Wash and be clean. Wash and be clean. Believe. Now here's the grace of God.
Because we see what's a natural man, his thoughts. We see what's
in natural man's thought. He was mad. He was wrong. He
thought, surely these others are better. But something happened. Something happened. There was
a repentance of his thoughts. They came to him and they said, why don't you do this? The gospel
says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Someone said, well, that's easy believism. Well, do it. Do it. The fact is no man can believe
except the Lord Jesus Christ giving faith. It's a gift of
God. But still we say, believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And so he went
down. So when he goes into the muddy
river, When he goes into the Muddy River, what a picture.
He goes into the Muddy River, he goes believing the Word. And there's no... He's trusting
in what the Prophet said. Go, wash. Seven times. And can you imagine, when he
went down to wash, he was in his chariot. He was somebody.
But when he had to go into the Muddy River, Jordan, he had to
strip. and he had to lay bare his flesh that was putrid. Everybody else can see. Oh, you're
not that, you know, he's not that great a man after all. And man is going to have to come
down. Man is going to have to come
down of his pride and of his self-reliance and who he thinks
he is. He came down and he stripped
naked and he went into that water. What an offense to him. But you
know the gospel is offensive to the carnal mind. But yet the
Lord gives grace to trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come, wash in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll
be clean. The thoughts of man are against
God. So he did. He did, by the grace
of God, go into the river, and when he came out, after seven
times of washing, he was made clean. He was made clean. Man
thinks he is someone before God. Man thinks that he has someone
to offer God. Naaman went with the letters
of recommendation. Naaman went with presents. Man
tries to buy his salvation. But salvation is not by works. God is not a debtor of anything.
Salvation is by grace. And in this matter of salvation
by grace, you can't mix grace and works. If you mix one work,
then it's all works. It's 100% grace and no works. None of works, lest any man should
boast. The gospel comes to sinners.
with their wrong thoughts and says, go to the one that died
on the cross and wash there. Be reconciled to God. Take down
your arms, your weapons, your thoughts and imaginations and come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thought, I thought I was somebody. until the Lord Jesus Christ showed
me who I was. I thought I had something to
offer until I saw that I was nothing. I thought until the
Lord gave me life and now I think differently. May the Lord bless
His Word.