Well, good morning folks. Welcome
to our services. I consider it an honor to be
asked to fill in for Brother David in teaching a Sunday school
class, so I call your attention to the fourth chapter of Luke,
if you would turn there just for a moment. Then we're going
to go to 2 Kings chapter 5. I was listening to a man yesterday
morning Not very long, but I was clicking through the channels
in the religious section, and he caught my attention with these
words, God is in control of all things. So I thought, well, I
want to listen to him. But that wasn't what he was saying.
He was mocking the sovereignty of God and saying, if, I missed
that first word, if. If God is in control of all things,
we can't punish child molesters. If God is in control of all things,
we can't send a murderer to prison. And as I listened to him, I found
out why he was mocking the sovereignty of God. His motive for doing
that was to gain filthy lucre from his hearers, and they were
laughing with him, agreeing with him, and I found out their motive
for agreeing with him. He was saying, the Bible says,
cast your seed and he went like that upward and God will return
your giving tenfold. So he wanted the people to know
that God's not sovereign in all things. You have to obey God
and give or he will not bless you. And the people of course,
would be giving in order to receive tenfold, so their motive for
giving was to gain more of this world's filthy lucre. Anyway,
I got to thinking about that, and scripture went through my
mind, and the sovereignty of God went through my mind, and
salvation of His chosen people and how our Lord taught distinguishing
grace. And here in Luke chapter 4, starting
at verse 25, our Lord is talking to some unbelieving Jews. He
said, I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elisha when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But
unto none of them was Elisha sent, save unto Sarepta, city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath." Now
just a few minutes before this they were amazed at the words
that came from the lips of our master. But now they're filled
with wrath, and they rose up and thrust him out of the city,
and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was
built, that they might cast him down headlong, but he passing
through the midst of them went his way." Now that's the reaction
of the people during the days of our Lord when he walked on
this earth. They were religious people. They
were people who were dedicated to their religion. They supported
their religion with their presence, with their monies, but they hated
God, they hated Christ without a cause, and they hated His doctrine
and would have killed Him if they could have, but His time
wasn't yet. Now I want you to turn to 2 Kings
chapter 5. I want to walk us through this
account of the Lord cleansing Naaman the leper and just bring
out some things that I trust will draw our attention to things
that happened that are very similar to what took place in the life
of Naaman and his cleansing. Now, our Lord Jesus knew just
exactly what those unbelieving Jews were going to do when he
told the truth. He knew that they would try to
kill him. He knows all things, he's omniscient,
he's God Almighty. And he knew how many widows were
in Israel during the days of Elisha and he knew which one
he would send the prophet Elisha to because he's the Lord that
did that. he knew how many lepers there were in the land during
that time as well and he knew because he ordained what he was
going to do he knew everything about Naaman and every event
that took place was according to what God had predetermined
before the foundation of the world and our Lord Jesus tells
us And if the world hated me, they'll hate you also. And from
experience, I know the reaction of the people of this world who
do not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. I know what
the reaction will be when you tell them these truths that give
our God all the glory. I've experienced it. God's preachers, all of us for
that matter, are to be like a watchman on the wall. We're not to fear
men. We're not to compromise the gospel
for the sake of getting along with those who hate Christ. And
God help us to realize that we're in a war. And those who have the Spirit
of God dwelling in them were to be faithful and not compromise
the truth for the sake of getting along with those who hate God.
Starting at verse 1 of 2nd Kings chapter 5 we read, Now Naaman,
captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with
his master and honorable because, now catch this, By him the Lord
had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. Now he had a lot going for him.
He was a captain of the host of the Syrians underneath the
king. He was a man of valor. He had
gained victory after victory after victory because our Lord
Jesus gave him the victory. But he had a problem. He was
a leper. No matter how things might be
going for him, no matter how mighty he was, no matter how
preeminent he was in the land, he was still a leper. And I don't
know about now, but back then that was an incurable disease.
In verse 2 we read, and the Syrians had gone out by companies and
had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little
maid and she waited on Naaman's wife. Not much more is given
concerning this little maid, but this event was ordained by
God as well as any of the others. This little maid was taken captive. We don't know much more about
that. But she had parents. Whether they were killed in a
battle or were already dead or what, I don't know. But if they
were still alive, can you just imagine how broken hearted they
would be over their daughter getting taken captive? or the
sorrow that this little maid went through being taken from
her land, taken from her parents, her loved ones. But she was right
where God wanted her to be. And she waited on Naaman's wife. See the providential hand of
God? This man, Naaman, was going to get the message of the power
of God in Israel through God's prophet who Elisha was a type
of Christ and so God put her right there waiting on Naaman's
wife and she was a faithful witness of God's grace look at verse
3 she said unto her mistress Naaman's wife would God my Lord
were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover
him of his leprosy So she's planting a good seed concerning the power
of God through Elisha that he could, by God's power working
through him, heal Naaman of his leprosy. So we read in verse
four, one went in and told his Lord saying, thus and thus said
the maid that is of the land of Israel, And this reached the
ears of the king of Syria. And he said to Naaman, Go to,
go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And
Naaman departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six
thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter to
the king of Israel saying, Now when this letter is come unto
thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee,
that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. Now Naaman went
with the wrong attitude. He went with an understanding
of his importance before the men of his land and felt that
he would be important before the prophet Elisha. he went with
a letter from his master recommending, this is typical of unbelieving
unregenerate sinners, Naaman went to buy his cleansing and that's exactly what a lot
of religious people try to do, either earn their salvation by
what they do, or purchase it, or do something to gain favor
with God, some deed that they might perform. Naaman not only
went with that attitude, he went to the wrong person. He wasn't
told anything about the king being able to heal his leprosy. He was told that it was the prophet
in Israel And he went with a letter of recommendation from the king. He just had the wrong attitude,
the wrong person that he went to. Everything about him was
wrong. His thinking was wrong. All of this is typical of human
behavior in a sinner who does not have the Spirit of God dwelling
in him. And it came to pass, it says in verse 7, when the
king of Israel had read the letter that he rent his clothes and
said, Am I God to kill and to make alive that this man doth
send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider,
I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. So he was
wise enough to know that he couldn't heal Naaman, God is the one who
kills. God is the one who makes it alive.
God is the one who heals the people that have an incurable
disease, and we witness that in the reading of the New Testament.
When our Lord Jesus was here on this earth, He healed all
manner of disease. He healed lepers. He raised the
dead. So it's the power of God that accomplishes these things.
Even the apostles who were given power to confirm their message. It was God healing, it was God
doing those miracles through those apostles. So the king gets upset and when
Elisha heard this, it was so when Elisha the man of God had
heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes that he
sent to the king saying, wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let
him, let his Naaman come now to me, and he shall know that
there is a prophet in Israel. So Elisha steps up knowing that
the king couldn't do anything, but knowing that God had put
his spirit within Elisha and that he, by the power of God
working through him, would heal this leper. So we read in verse
9, Naaman came with his horses. and with his chariot, and stood
at the door of the house of Elisha. Now he's coming in all his pomp
and splendor with his wrong thoughts, thinking that surely this man
of God is going to recognize my preeminence, who I am. He's heard of my fame. He's going
to come out and heal me, showing It's God that I'm a great man.
Look at verse 10. Elisha sent a messenger unto
him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall
come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. Now, Elisha knew
this was a proud man, and he had to be humbled. So he doesn't
even go out to talk to him. He just sends one of his servants
with a message to give to Naaman. to let him know what he must
do in order to be cleansed well this upset Naaman we read in
verse 11 but Naaman was wroth and went away and said behold
I thought that was his problem I thought that's the problem
with a lot of these people in this land who don't know the
gospel they have wrong thinking and they'll keep thinking wrong
until God enlightens our minds with his spirit of truth and
guides us into the truths of the gospel. But he said behold
I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call
on the name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the
place and recover the leper. Get the picture. He's mad. Nahum is mad. He's angry with God. He's angry
with God's prophet. And he's standing there expecting
something great to happen. The prophet to come out himself
and strike his hand and wave his hand and call on the name
of his God and recover his leprosy. And when that didn't happen,
it upset him. We have that today. people coming
into churches where the gospel is being preached and you get mad at the messenger
for telling the truth and they don't want to agree with the
truth and so they speak out against the truth and go away mad. Do you think people get mad when
they receive bad news from the postman. You think they get mad
at the postman? Why would they get mad at the postman? He's
just delivering the letter. Why would people get mad at us?
We're just preaching the gospel. We're telling people Jesus Christ
is God Almighty who became a man and came to this earth and obeyed
his father's will he was obedient unto death even the death of
the cross and when he laid down his life for his people he accomplished
their salvation he by himself purged our sins and if you don't
believe on him you're not going to be healed of your sins And
that's the truth. We tell people Jesus Christ has
risen. He's on his sovereign throne
of power working all things after the counsel of his own will.
And they don't like that. They'll put up with a Jesus that
was born of a virgin. They'll put up with a Jesus that
was laid in a manger. They'll put up with a Jesus that
was nailed to the cross. But they don't want a resurrected
Christ of God who is sovereign over all things. So they get
mad at the preacher. former member of our church out
in rescue, tell a new member who was acquainted with the new
member, don't go down and listen to that man, he believes in predestination. Well if you don't believe in
predestination, you don't believe God's Word. Anyhow, this man,
Naaman, was wroth. We read this in verse 11, but
Naaman was wroth. In verse 12, he gets mad at the
instructions he received from a licensed messenger. Are not
Havana and far part rivers of Damascus better than all the
waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be
clean? So he turned and went away in
a rage. Now, Brother Henry Mahan, in
his book called Pictures of Christ in the Old Testament with New
Testament Eyes. He said could the waters of Jordan
River cure leprosy? The answer is no. Could Naaman
be healed of his leprosy without going down into the waters of
Jordan? The answer is still no. And so
it is with the gospel. God must give us faith to believe
the gospel. But faith cannot remove our sins. Faith looks to the object of
true saving faith, to Jesus Christ who by himself purged our sins. Faith looks to Christ, always
looks to Christ. So faith doesn't remove our sins. Our Lord Jesus did that at Calvary
2,000 years ago. But nobody is going to have their
sins removed who do not have faith in Jesus Christ our Lord
and our Savior. So the picture is there. We read
in verse 13 where name and servants came near and spake unto him
and said my father if the prophet had said If the prophet had bid
thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much
rather than when he said to thee, Wash and be clean. Now these
events are taking place by the divine purpose of God and name
and servants brought to him something that we need to bring to the
people that we have the opportunity to witness to. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now believing is no
small thing, but the messenger of the gospel doesn't tell the
people we preach to or the people we witness to to do some hard
thing. to have your sins removed? No. Just look to Christ and believe
on Him and believe what the Bible says about Him. How He took our
sins upon Himself when He went to the cross and paid the price
in full so that God would tell us in His Word that nothing can
be laid to the charge of God's elect. So these servants of Naaman
are encouraging him to do what the prophet said. It's not difficult. He would have, Naaman would have,
if God's prophet had told him to do something difficult. So
as they reasoned with him, he, Naaman, and we read in verse
14, went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan according
to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh came again like
unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. He had to obey
the words of Elisha. He had to be
obedient or he would never have been cleansed. And even if he
went reluctantly, he went. And in fulfillment of what Elisha
had sent the messenger to tell him, When he dipped in that Jordan
River seven times, he was clean. His flesh came just like the
flesh of a little baby. I can see the expression on his
face, how amazed he must have been. Then he had some understanding. Look at verse 15. And he returned
to the man of God, he and all his company, and came and stood
before him. And Naaman 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. But he lies his head. As the
Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged
him to take it, but he refused. You can't buy favor with God. It's mercy. It's mercy. Some lady was pleading to a king
back in dark ages to have mercy on her son. And the king had
already showed mercy one time before. And so he said to this
man's mother, he doesn't deserve mercy. And she said, truth sire,
but if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. And that's the way
it is with us. God's mercy is sovereign. and
when he has mercy on whom he will have mercy we'll recognize
that he's a sovereign God that does what he pleases and will
give him all the glory for having mercy on us. Let me bring this
lesson to a close by sharing a couple of illustrations of
the events that led up to some of the people in our little church
out in rescue who receive the truth of the gospel of God's
grace. We have a man by the name of
Lamar Garner who called me one day and said, do you allow women
to preach in your church? I said, no sir, that's contrary
to the scripture. He said, I'll see you Sunday.
Now his reason for coming was because we didn't allow women
to preach in the church. But while he sat under the preaching
of the gospel, our Lord Jesus enlightened his mind, gave him
an understanding of the truth, gave him faith to believe in
Jesus Christ. Him and his wife started coming. I had the honor of baptizing
both of them. God enlightened them. but the events leading up to
that wonderful experience, the miracle of the new birth, was
purposed by God. We have a couple who are still
there, Mike and Shirley Loveless, and he heard the truth from one
of God's preachers over family radio, and he began looking for
a place where They preached what he heard. He had visited just
about every church in El Dorado County. One day his daughter
asked him, can I choose the church that we might go to this Sunday?
He said, sure. Well, she went to school with
our daughter Becky. She said, I have a friend in
school whose dad is a pastor in rescue. Can we go there? and he said sure and he told
me this he said as I was walking up the ramp where the doors of
the worship hall were I saw you standing up there out by the
door grinning from ear to ear and I thought to myself what
am I getting into and he said I sat there through all the preliminaries
And when you started preaching, I sat up on the edge of the pew,
and I thought to myself, this is it. This is where God would
have me to come. All of that was ordained by God. He had already received faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but he needed a place
to where his faith would grow, where he could meet and worship
God. He's still there. He's one of the elders. He's
helping the pastor rescue right now in a big way. And this is
what I'm trying to convey to you. Everything that happened in your
life from the time the Lord formed you in your mother's womb throughout
the time when you walked in disobedience without any understanding of
Christ and His gospel, the time when you came under the preaching
of the gospel, when God gave you faith to believe the truth,
and every second of every minute since, and will continue until
the end of the world, God was in control of all of that. Salvation
is of the Lord. and he will get a preacher to
his lost sheep or he'll get his lost sheep to a preacher and
our Lord Jesus will make sure that we hear the truth because
he's the only one who can enlighten the mind and he has mercy on
whom he will have mercy so God help us not to take this gift
of faith of what God has blessed us with lightly. To God be the
glory, great things He hath done. Amen? Amen. Thank you. God bless you.