Good morning, everybody. I've told you all, but I'll tell
you again, I'm so thankful to be here. I'm so thankful to meet
you. I enjoyed meeting Joe and Joanne
at Darwin Pruitt's conference last year. I've been looking
forward to coming here. Every person, pretty much, in
Kingsport says hello. All the brethren in Kingsport
say hello. to tell you what an encouragement
you are to them. And we do pray for this group. We really do. We pray the Lord's
will be done. We pray the Lord would bless
this group and raise up a gospel ministry here and His will be
done. We'll wait and see what that
is. Turn with me, if you would, over to 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5 I want us to look at the story
of a man named Naaman. A precious man named Naaman. We just had our brother read
to us that this man went and told how great things the Lord
had done for him. And I believe Naaman, after this,
went and did the same thing. And that's what we all do, isn't
it? It's the only thing I have to say here. I love this dear
man. This story, just like every other
story in the Scripture, is written to show us salvation. That's the reason every word
is in this book. from the first word to the last
word, it's to show us salvation for sinners. Who God saves and
how He saves them. And by the end of this, I believe
we're all going to see that this is by God's grace. Salvation is by the grace of
God. It's all completely, totally
by sovereign grace. Verse 1 says, Now Naaman, captain
of the host of the king of Syria. Naaman was a Syrian, and the
Syrians were a heathen people. They were an idolatrous people. They were idol worshippers. They
did not worship the true and living God. Like most people
today, they don't worship the true and living God. They worship
the God of their imagination, but not the true and living God.
And the Syrians actually oppressed God's people. They oppressed
Israel. Verse 1 says, Now Naaman, captain
of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master,
and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria." Now, Syria was the enemy. Syria was the enemy, but even
though they were the enemy, God gave them deliverance. He gave them the victory in their
battles, including the battles against Israel. chosen people. Now, why would
God do that? Why would He give them the victory
over Israel? The answer is always for grace. It's always for good. It's always
because of mercy. That's the end result in everything
He does. Verse 1 says, Naaman, captain
of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master.
and honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor." There was just one problem. This was a great man. This was
a great man. There was just one problem. It goes on to say, he was a leper. He was a leper. That's the one
problem that every soul on this earth faces. You know that? That
is the one problem that every soul in this room faces. We see ourselves, man by nature
sees himself to be a good man. And others may see us to be great
men and women, honorable men and women. Men and women of valor. But every single one of us, the
Scripture says, was born into this world dead in trespasses
and sins. What in the world does that mean? I got up this morning. I got
dressed. We drove a car over here. Here
we sit. I can drink that. What do you
mean I'm dead in trespasses and sins? Spiritually dead before
God. Spiritually separated from God.
Dead. Once this life is over, death. This physical life is all I have
outside of Christ. And we're born into this world
dead in trespasses and sin. We're born into this world covered
from head to toe with a loathsome disease called sin. Isn't that
right? After all the good is said about
anybody, after all the good is said about me, it has to end
with this, but He's a sinner. That's all you can say. But He's
a sinner. And that's what this man represents.
He is a leper. He is covered with a flesh-eating
disease. Verse 2 says, 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. Syria went to war with Israel.
And God gave Syria the victory, and in their victory, they took
captive a little girl. Took her back to Syria. And I couldn't imagine. I have
two little girls. Could you imagine if one of them
was taken captive back to a God-hating land? Why on this earth would
God allow that? Why would He allow that to happen?
The answer is good. The answer is grace. The answer
is mercy. God purposed to show mercy to
a soul, and that was the means He chose to use to show that
mercy. Every single thing that God does
is for the salvation of His people. Every single thing that happens
in this world is for good. He's in control of all of it. There is nothing outside of His
control. Nothing. And all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His people. Every single thing that happens
is for the salvation of His people. Every bit of it. And we're never
going to fully understand our Lord's ways. I was talking to
some of you last night about how this happened and how that
happened. Naturally, some things don't
make sense to us, but you know they don't need to. He is in
control. His will is going to be done.
And it's all going to be for the purpose of mercy. It's all
going to be for the purpose of good and grace. Verse 2 says,
"...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, and she said unto her mistress,
Would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria,
for he would recover him of his leprosy." Out of the mouth of
babes, the Scripture says. We have some little children
right here. I'm so glad there are little children here. I love
that. To me, little children is hope.
I pray that these two little girls right here grow up under
the preaching of the Gospel. I pray they grow up. I pray a
seed is planted in both of their hearts. There's one more on the
way. Boy or girl, I don't know. I pray a seed is planted in their
hearts. I pray the Lord starts to open
their eyes and I pray He causes them to bear the yoke in their
youth. I pray they grow up with the
fear and admonition of the Lord. And it has been proven to me
that little children know more than the Pope knows who grow
up under the truth. Out of the mouth of babes, we
have some little girls in our congregation who are some really
good preachers. Really good preachers. One little
girl went back and told some of her family that they wanted
to decorate her room and put a cross on the wall. And she
said, I don't want a cross. It's idolatry. That's an idol. And I felt out of the mouth of
babes. Hear this little girl. You'd think she would resent
Naaman. Be angry with him. But you know, this is grace.
This is grace. She said, would God, my Lord,
were with the prophet that's in Samaria. This is a leprous
man. And she said, He would recover
him. He would. God allowed this little girl
to go there because she knew who Elisha was. That's the reason. Elisha represents Jesus Christ. And she knew him. She knew what
he could do. She had faith in him. Verse 3,
"...she said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord were with the
prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy."
She didn't say, maybe he ought to go to Samaria. I don't know
if he can do anything, but it's worth a shot. It won't hurt.
He ought to give it a try. She said, would God? He would
recover him. I mean, faith. Absolute faith. If he went to that man, he would
recover him. That's what God's messenger cries.
There is a man who is able to recover sinners from their sin. There is a man who is able to
restore what sinners have lost. And every sinner that goes to
that man will be recovered. Every sinner that goes to him.
She said, oh, I wish he could see this man. I wish he could
see this man. Isn't that our heart's desire?
That's the heart's desire of a true believer. the groaning
in the heart for those that we love, we say, would to God they
could know this man. Would to God he would get them
out of religion, get them out of the fog of the mess of church
and a suit and a tie and formality and we're doing what we're supposed
to do and this is just good and right and sure, I want to go
to heaven. Would to God he'd pull them out
of that and open their eyes. And they'd see a man. who is
able to recover sinners. Would to God he would call them
to himself and they would know him. She said in verse 3, Would to
God my Lord were with the prophet that's in Samaria, he would recover
him of his leprosy. And one went in and told his
Lord, saying, Thus and thus saith the maid that is of the land
of Israel. Naaman was told, There is a man
who can heal you. He can heal you of this horrible
disease." And Naaman wanted the healing. He wanted it. So he decided to go see this
man. He said, yes, I'm curious about
this. I would rather live than die.
Sure, yeah, I'll go see the man. That's the heart and that's the
mind of most people when they start to realize I have an end
coming. Men and women start out in this
world and they don't care. They don't care about eternity.
They don't care about God. They have a life ahead of them. They have college. They have
career. They have marriage. They have children. They have
money. They're more concerned about
retirement than eternity. But all of a sudden there comes
a point in men and women's lives when they realize, I have an
end coming. People do not continue forever. And it's faster than I thought.
And they start to realize, sure, yes, I want to be saved. I want
to go to heaven. Tell me something about heaven.
Tell me something about hell. So name and when. Here's what
we're going to see in this though. This man went the wrong way. And that's how man naturally
goes to God. The wrong way. Verse 5 says,
And the king of Syria, this was his master, said, Go to, go,
I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed
and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces
of gold and ten changes of raiment. This king of Syria, and that's
where Naaman's from, this king of Syria represents the nature
of a man. A man's natural rationale, a
man's natural thinking, a man's natural will. He sees himself
to be a king in his own eyes. He believes that he can bring
his best before God and God's going to accept him. Isn't that
what we all thought until God opened our eyes? You bring your
best before God and God will accept you. And he said, I'm
going to write a letter. That's what he said, I'm going
to make you a resume. I'm going to write down all your
qualifications. I'm going to write down everything
you've done. I'm going to tell him what a
great man you are. I'm going to tell him how honorable
you are. And isn't that what man does? He makes his resume
before God. People naturally believe in order
to receive a healing, they need to put their best foot forward.
I need to put my best robe on and I need to hide what I really
am. I need to hide all of my sins. And I need to bring my
best gifts and make myself appealing. That's what I need to do. I need
to make myself appealing to God. The fact of the matter is, in
the flesh, all that a man is, is sin. That's all he is. Just sin. Covered in sin. But Naaman came. He came. Verse 6 says, 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. This king of Israel represents
God's law. God's law. We're all holding
God's law. God gave Moses five books, didn't
He? God's Law. This whole thing is
God's Law. Men and women, when they want
to be saved, when they realize that they do need to be saved, the first thing they do is they
run to God's Law. Isn't that right? That's the
first thing to do. They open God's law and they
run to God's law. But here's the thing that man
does not naturally understand. God's law was never given to
save anybody. Never. It was never given to
save anybody. The law was given to expose sin. That's the reason the law was
given. Verse 7 says, And it came to
pass, 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 descend unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore, consider, I pray you,
and see how he seeketh a quarrel against Me." Now hold your place
right here and go with me over to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. And look
with me at verse 21. It says, tell me, you that desire to be under the
law, do you not hear the law? You who desire to be justified
before God by obeying this law. This is what God said to do.
So I'm going to do this and then he's going to be happy with me
and he's going to accept me into his kingdom. You who desire to
be under the law, he said, do you not hear the law? Do you
not hear what he demands? Look back at Galatians 3, verse
10. It says, for as many as are of
the works of the law, How does a man go to heaven?
How does a woman go to heaven? Well, honor your father and your
mother. Be kind to people. Be generous. I just try to be
fair with people. That's my thing. I just try to
be fair. I try to be nice. I try to forgive. I try to obey. I try to be the person the Bible
tells me to be. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. under the curse. Whoever goes
to meet God on those grounds is going to be cursed. For it
is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. To disregard
one point of the law is to break the whole law. The whole law. I've thought of this illustration
many times. None of us drive the speed limit. And usually you can get away
with a few miles per hour. But sometimes you'll run into
the man who's going to give you a ticket for 56 and a 55. And you can argue all you want
to, yeah, but it was only one mile over. You've still broken
the law. Isn't that right? You could also
argue that 55 of those miles per hour were in agreement with
the law. You still broke the law. You
still suffer the same judgment. Right? To break it in one point,
not just in deed, to break it in mind, or to break it in motive
of the heart, is to break the whole thing. All we have to do
is go into our minds. Just go into your mind. Go into
the lust of it, go into the covetousness of it, go into the hatred of
it, the anger of it, go into, just go into the mind. And we'll
see we've broken God's law. And if we don't keep all of it,
we're under the curse. And that's what he said right
here in Galatians 3 verse 10. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse, for it's written, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, that's evident. I mean, that's
just clear. for the just shall live by faith."
Well, then why did God write this law? Verse 24 right here
says, "...Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ." The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The law was the one who pointed
us to Christ. The job of the schoolmaster,
that was not the teacher. That was not the head teacher.
That was not the principal. That was not a teacher at all.
The schoolmaster was a slave hired by a father of a family
to take his children to school and make sure they safely make
it home. He took them to the teacher. And that's what the
law does. The law points us to Christ.
The law shuttles us to Christ. It condemns us of what we are
and points us to Christ. The law could not redeem us.
Could never redeem us. Romans 8 says, what the law could
not do in that it was weak through the flesh. It could not justify
this flesh. The law looks at us and could
not justify. I'm sorry, I just cannot justify
you. The law can condemn us, but cannot
justify us. And it says, what the law was
weak in that the law was weak through the flesh. I'm going
to turn over here so I quote it to you correctly. What the
law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. The law condemned us for our
sin. So Christ came and condemned sin. And that's our salvation. Well,
back in our text, go with me back to 2 Kings 5. Let's read between the spiritual
lines here in this verse. We've seen that Elisha is our
Lord, and this King of Israel is the Law. And verse 8 says,
And it was so when Elisha, the man of God, Christ, had heard
that the king of Israel, the law, had 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." I'm sure you all
are familiar with the story of Ruth. I love that story. The end of that story is Boaz,
who is a type of Christ, having a meeting with the nearest of
kin, who is a type of Bilal. And he says to the nearest of
kin, if you can and will redeem Ruth,
redeem her. And Ruth was marred in the nearest
of kin's eyes. And he said, I cannot redeem
her. And Boaz said, then give her
to me. If you can't do it, give her
to me. And that's what Christ said to the law. Don't fret. The law rent his clothes and
said, am I God to kill and make alive? Christ said to the law,
don't you fret. Send him to me. You send him
to me and he'll know there's a prophet in Israel. Verse 8
says, 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
come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet
in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses
and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. When God calls a sinner, that
sinner is going to come. And I love that. I just love
that. I rejoice in that. We declare
God's Word. And God does it all. And when
God purposes to save a soul, that soul is going to be saved.
When God purposes to call out a sheep, that sheep is coming.
He can resist it all he wants to, but he's coming. Nahum in
here, he went to the king of Israel. He went to the wrong
man. He was not told to go to the king of Israel. The messenger
said, the prophet is who you need to get to. If you would
go to the prophet, it's alright, don't worry. If you would go
to the prophet, he'll recover him. He went to the wrong man. He went to the king of Israel.
He went to the law, right? But in spite of his ignorance,
in spite of his rebellion, Elisha said, you bring him to me. Come.
He came. He came. And they're all coming.
And Naaman here, he's about to experience a rude awakening.
That's what God's people experience. When they come to see this truth,
it's a rude awakening. Verse 9, So Naaman came with
his horses and with his chariot, He came with all His gifts. He
came with His robes. He brought everything with Him.
Here it comes. Verse 9 goes on to say, "...and stood at the
door of the house of Elisha, and Elisha sent a messenger unto
him." And that's how God moves. Through a messenger. He's going
to send a messenger. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
this Gospel. 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." Do you know
what he told him? Do you know what that messenger
told Naaman? He said, Naaman, and here he
came with his horse and all that stuff. He said, Naaman, you're
going to have to get down off of your horse. You're going to
have to come down off of your high horse. And you're going
to have to get rid of all those gifts. Everything you're bringing
in your hand, all this price you bring, you're going to have
to get rid of all your gifts. And you're going to have to take
that robe off. You're going in that water. And
to go in that water, you have to take that robe off. You're
going to have to expose. And you're going to have to confess
before God and men that you are covered from head to toe with
a loathsome disease. You're going to have to expose
what you are. And then, after you humble yourself
in the sight of God, go wash. Go wash. Go wash in the Jordan
River. Our Lord was baptized in the
Jordan River, wasn't He? He was baptized in the Jordan
River. That river represents the blood of Jesus Christ. That blood is what unites a sinner
to Christ and what unites Christ to a sinner. What can wash away
my sins? Nothing but the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said seven times. You're going
in seven times. That's the number of perfection.
This is a perfect salvation. This is a perfect, complete,
finished cleansing. That's the message that saves
sinners. Perfect, finished salvation in
the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the message that opens
blind eyes, opens the heart, opens the ears. Look how the flesh naturally
responds to it though. Look at verse 11. But Naaman
was wroth and went away, and he said, Behold, I thought. And that's man's problem. He does too much thinking. That's
man's problem. 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. Are not Havana and Tharpar 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. Is the pride of man not amazing?
Is it not amazing? Here stands a leper. This man
is a leper. Here stands a man who is covered
from head to toe in a loathsome disease. He is nothing but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. He is so despicably contagious,
nobody will touch Him. No man will touch Him. He's literally a dead man walking.
But in His pride and in His arrogance and in His anger, He says, I
deserve better than that. I deserve better than that. Give
me something better than that. Give me something to do. I thought
this would be a great movement over me. You give me something
I can be glorified in. Don't tell me to humble myself. Don't tell me to humble myself. Don't you know who I am? Don't
you know what I've done? Man by nature will not have the
blood of Christ alone. He will not have the blood of
Christ alone. I don't want that washing. I
want to wash myself. I want to cleanse myself. I want
to sanctify myself. I want to choose my own way.
Can't I choose my own way? Man naturally wants salvation. He does. He does. There are people
meeting all over this town right now, and they want salvation. They do. They do. They just will not have it on
God's terms. They won't have it on God's terms. The blood of Christ alone. You
know my favorite two words I believe in the Scripture. That's hard
to say because how can you pick two? I believe two words that speak
to my heart more than any in the Scripture are, but God. But God. But God's grace. Everything we've seen about this
man is how We all naturally act toward God's
Word, toward God's Spirit, toward God's salvation. But God's grace comes. God's grace overrules the hard
heart, doesn't it? It's God's grace that humbles
a man. I mean, truly humbles a man.
You know God's people are humble. Humble people. God's grace makes a sinner bow. They bow. The angels in heaven
fall prostrate at his feet. Prostrate means it's as low as
a man can get. He's flat out with his arms in
front of him, face in the dirt. As low as you can get. God's
people humble, humble themselves before their Lord. And that's
God's grace. God's grace. He said, I will
make my people willing in the day of my power. God does that. God does that. He makes His people
willing. Naaman, he was so full of anger,
so full of pride, so full of self-righteousness and sin, but
God, who is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He
loved that man Naaman. He dealt graciously with him.
That's how God has dealt with us. What do we have to boast
in? What do we have to boast in?
Well, we know the truth. What do we have to boast in?
God's mercy and grace came to us. He dealt graciously with
us. And if we're in Christ, Scripture
says we're quickened together with Him. By grace, we're saved. Verse 13 says, His servants came
near, and they spoke unto Him. They spoke peace to Naaman. And they said, My father, if
the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not
have done it? How much rather then, when he
said to thee, Wash and be clean? Why would you despise the riches
of His grace?" That's what he's saying. Why would you despise
the riches of His grace? They came to him and said, it's
so simple. That man didn't want simple. Give me something hard. Why would you despise the simplicity
that's in the blood of Christ? He said, go wash. And those servants right there,
what they're doing here is they're giving Him a new mind. They're
giving him a new mind, a new mind of repentance, a heart of
repentance toward God. He said, in love and in mercy
and in grace, he said, I'm going to take out that heart of stone
and I'm going to put in a heart of flesh. And that's what God
does for His people. This heart is so hard. It has no reason to be hard against
the God who made it. But it is. And the Lord in mercy,
He comes and He takes out that hard stone, that hard heart,
and He puts in the heart of Christ, that heart of flesh. Verse 14
says, Then went He 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 cleansed. What grace. What grace. What sovereign grace. What particular
grace. God chose this man. God chose this man. I want to
show you something that is so precious. Hold your place right
here. And go over to Luke 4. Luke 4.
Grace is so loving. Grace is so particular. Grace is so sovereign. And we
see that right here in Luke chapter 4. Look with me at verse 27. It says, "...and many lepers
were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet." There were
many lepers. There were lepers all over the
place. The land was covered in lepers. And none of them was cleansed,
saving Naaman the Syrian. Only one. God chose him. And I tell you this, Springfield,
Missouri is covered with sinners. I mean covered with sinners against
God. Covered with men and women who
I believe you could probably say they're good men and women
by human standards. They're probably good, God-fearing
people. as we know it to be said. But
they're still sinners. And but for the grace of God,
we would be right with them in the ignorance, not knowing our
God, not knowing who He is. But God chose to have mercy on
us. God chose to cleanse us. And
here's my prayer, is that God will do a work for these poor
souls. I pray God does a work for this
poor soul. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
let me go. Keep me. I pray God will do a
work for this group right here. Keep us. I pray God will do a
work mightily in this town. The grace of God is sovereignly
given to whoever He chooses to give it to. May He give it to
many, many. Salvation is by God's sovereign
grace. I'm going to close with this.
Go with me back to the text. This is just precious. Our Lord
did not only do a work on this man's skin. He did a work on
his heart. Verse 15 says, 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." What he said is, would you please
take all these things that I brought with me. He brought them trying
to buy salvation. He brought them trying to earn
favor. He brought them trying to cleanse
himself. And now he's clean. And he knows
he's clean. He can look down and see he's
clean. I'm clean. You cleaned me. You saved me. And now I know there's no God
on all the earth but the God of Israel. And out of thanks
and love and appreciation, I beg you, would you please take all
my stuff now? All I have, I give it to you. Just to say thank you. I'm not
trying to buy anything anymore. Just to say thank you. Just to
say I love you. Verse 16 says, but he said, Elisha
said, as the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive
none. And Naaman urged Elisha to take
it, but Elisha refused. Elisha said, Naaman, what just
happened to you is absolutely free. I mean, it's free. It is completely free. God's
grace is completely free. That blood, that soul-cleansing
blood is absolutely free. Free gift. Mercy is great. Grace is free. That's a song
we sing. Mercy is great. Grace is free. And then he said in verse 17,
Naaman said, Shall there not then I pray thee, Be given to
thy servant two mules' burden of earth. Would you load down
two of my mules with the dirt from this place?" Could I just
bring a token back with me of the God of Israel? He said,
"...for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering
nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. In this thing
the Lord pardoned thy servant." that when my master goeth into
the house of Rimen to worship there, and he leaneth upon my
hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimen, when I bow down
myself in the house of Rimen, the Lord pardon my servant."
He said, I'm about to have to go back to the land of idolatry.
And that's where we are. And he said, my master. And we
saw just a moment ago that the king of Syria is man by nature.
That old man. He said, my master is an old
man, and he's going to want to go into his house of idolatry,
and he needs my help. He's going to lean on me so he
can bow down before his idol, and I'm going to have to go down
and help him down. He said, will God forgive me?
I'm bowing in body, and I'm not bowing in heart. God, forgive
me." And I say the same thing, and I know you do too. God, forgive
me for the sins that I will commit before this service is over,
and the sins I will commit before I get back to Kingsport, Tennessee,
and the sins I will commit the rest of my days on this earth.
God has washed our sin away in the blood of Christ. But we say,
Lord, forgive us. Isn't that right? God, forgive
me. As I continue on this path, would the Lord forgive me? Verse
19, and he said unto him, Go in peace. Go in peace. Christ truly has made you free.
Go in peace. So he departed from him a little
way. And I can see this man. This man represents us. Can you
not see him going all the way back to Syria rejoicing? Rejoicing, thanking God for saving
his soul. And what would you imagine he
did when he got back into Syria? I believe he started telling
everybody he could how great things the Lord had done for
him. You see this flash right here? I was a leper. But now, thank God for the River
Jordan. All because of the River Jordan.
I brought all my gifts. I was on my horse. I had the
robe of the king. That old man. The best that old
man had to offer. God stripped me of it. He plunged
me in the river. And now here I am clean as can
be. Oh, may God do that for more. May He do it for us. Okay. You're
dismissed.