Turn back with me to 2 Kings
5. 2 Kings 5. The story of Naaman. 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. Naaman was the captain of the
king's army, the king of Syria. And when I read this first verse,
The first thing that stood out to me was how highly the Lord
spoke of Naaman. He spoke so highly of him, didn't
he? And I thought, our Lord is so
good. He's so kind. He's so good to
us worms, isn't he? He's so kind to us worms. We all know, because he's the
one who said it, that all have sinned. We know that, don't we? There is none good. We know that. Everything that we think is a
righteous work is actually a filthy rag in the eyes of our God. It's an awful stench in his nostrils. And we are by nature rotting
dead bodies covered with putrefying sores. We know that, don't we? But listen to how our good Lord
and master speaks of the filthy rotten sinners that belong to
him. Just listen to this. Listen to
how he speaks of Job. He said, there was a man in the
land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and
upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil. Job was a
sinner. We know Job was a sinner. In
verse 8, God said, The Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered
my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth? None
like him in the earth. A perfect and an upright man,
one that fears God and eschews evil. Listen to how the Lord
spoke of Simeon. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost
was upon him. Listen to how he speaks of Cornelius.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of the band called the Italian band, a devout man. and one that feared God with
all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and he prayed
to God always. Isn't he kind? Isn't he so kind? Our text 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. He was also a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. Every wonderful thing, every
single wonderful word that can be said about another man is
completely nullified by the fact that he's a sinner. Everything that seems to be good
about a person. He goes to church. That's great. That's great. I would rather
my neighbor be a moral person than a. The opposite of that. He's honest. That's great. That's wonderful. He gives to charity. That's great. I wish I did. I wish I gave more. That's great. He's a good provider
for his family. He loves his wife. He loves his
children. Family man, upstanding moral
citizen. That's great. That's great. The problem is he's a sinner. That's the problem. The fact
that Naaman was a leper means he's a dead man walking. That's what Naaman was. He may be all those wonderful
things, but he's a leper. He's a rotting man, a rotting
man. He's a sinner. And that's the
problem that every single man and woman born into this world
faces. That's all of our problem. We
are all born dead in our trespasses and sins. Turn with me to Psalm
58. Psalm chapter 58. Psalm 58 verse 1 says, Do you
indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Everybody congregates together
and bless you, brother. Do you indeed speak righteousness,
O congregation? Do you judge uprightly, O ye
sons of men? Yea, in heart you work wickedness. You weigh the violence of your
hands in the earth. You weigh how much can I get
away with and still look good in front of everybody else. The wicked are estranged from
the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. If a person speaks lies, that's
an evidence that they are the wicked. Guilty. We are all born speaking lies.
Well, back in our text, 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. He was also a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. 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.
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. And one went in and told his
lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land
of Israel. This little maid, Syria, the king of Syria sent
Naaman, this captain out to Israel. And they captured this little
maid, this little girl. And she waited on Naaman's wife. And I hope and believe Naaman
and his wife were good to her. And Naaman was the head of that
house. And she told her mistress, oh, I wish Naaman was in Israel. I know of a man there. I know
of a man who is able to heal his disease. I only know of one. There's a prophet in Israel. I believe Naaman knew that he
was a leper. I believe he could see his spots.
But I don't believe that Naaman realized just how serious his
problem was. And the reason is because he
was not seeking a cure. It's not until it gets serious
that we hard-headed men will go to the doctor and seek a cure,
is it? He wasn't seeking a cure. He
was off trying to be a great man. He was trying to win battles.
He was trying to conquer all. He was trying to take the spoil.
He was trying to gather up. And isn't that us? We live our days. Let's wake
up and get it. We're gonna go get it. This little maid who represents
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, Just
planted a seed. Just said something. She was
probably doing something, working for her mistress, Naaman's wife,
and said, oh, I wish my Lord was in Israel. I know a man over
there. Just planted a seed. A desire for a cure. Something causes somebody to
start desiring a cure. Something happens that makes
me say, you know what? I don't know where to go and
I don't know what to do, but maybe I need to go to church.
That's my first thing I guess I need to do. Something's wrong. This desire to seek a cure didn't
begin with Naaman. That desire was put there by
somebody else. He was doing His own thing. Somebody
else put that desire in Him. It's the same desire that the
Holy Spirit puts in every sinner when he or she realizes, I have
a problem. I'm a sinner and I need a cure. I have spoken lies. A seed is planted that says,
maybe you should seek Christ. Maybe you should become a seeker. Naaman now knows that he must
seek this prophet who represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows
he must come to Christ, but he doesn't know how he must come. He doesn't know. And he comes the wrong way. There's
only one way to come to Christ, and Naaman doesn't know what
it is, and he comes the wrong way. Look at verse 5. The king
of Syria, Naaman's king, said, Go to, go, and 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. 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. First of all, Naaman didn't go
to the prophet. The little maid said, I know
of a prophet, He didn't go to the prophet. He went to the king. He went to who he thought was
the one. He thought, I deserve to go straight
to the chief seat. There's somebody higher than
that. He's got big robes and he's got a nice big palace. He thought, I'm going to bring
some gifts. With all the gifts that I'm bringing, he's bound
to accept me. He's bound to grant me my request. He came, but he came the wrong
way. He went to the wrong man, and
he brought the wrong things. He brought his letter of recommendation. He brought his work. He brought
his resume. Our Lord said in Matthew 7, many
shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? And in thy name have cast out
devils. And in thy name, we listed them
all right here. We've done all these wonderful
works. He brought his resume. He brought
his money, 10 talents of silver and 6,000 pieces of gold. He brought his goods, 10 changes
of raiment, the fruit of his work. Cain tried that. It didn't work. What he needed to bring was the
blood of a lamb. He didn't know. He didn't know that. Well, in
verse 7 and 8, this king that Naaman comes to represents a
true preacher, a true servant of God. Verse 7 says, 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. And 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." A false prophet. A false preacher tells people,
come in here to me. I have just the right Hail Mary
to fix your problem. Tell me what it is, I got it
for you. A false prophet says, come in
here to me. I have just the right tongues
for you to speak that will fix your problem. A false prophet says, come in
here to me. I have just the right clothes
for you to wear. Just the right way of life for
you to live. I have all the do's and all the
don'ts. And it'll fix your problem. A
false prophet says, come in here. I've got the perfect pool of
water back here for you to get in. It'll fix your problem. That
is not what God's true preacher says. He says, don't come to
me. Don't come to me. I can't do
anything for you. You're going to have to get to
Jesus Christ. There's one prophet in Israel
and it's not me. Don't pray to me or Mary or anybody
else. You need to pray to God. The
true preacher says, don't speak any tongues. Let our words be
few. We're standing in the presence
of a holy God. Let us put our hands over our
mouth. The true preacher says, naked we came into this world,
naked we're gonna leave this world. Your clothes aren't gonna
do you a bit of good. That bonnet's not gonna do you
a bit of good. The only covering you need is
the blood of Jesus Christ. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood, that's all. The true preacher is going to
say, don't come near this water until you've come to him. You
must go to Him first before you can come anywhere near this water.
This water is not going to do you a bit of good. Well, this king told Naaman,
you've come to the wrong place. There's one prophet that you
need to get to. Verse 9 says, So Naaman came
with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door
of the house of Elisha. First, he brought the wrong things. And then he went to the wrong
place. Now, he's at the right place. He's at the right place. But he has the wrong attitude. Verse 10 says, And 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. But Naaman was wroth and went
away. He got mad and he rejected it. A sinner is only going to hear
from God through a messenger. That's it. He's only gonna hear
from God through a messenger. Naaman's pride said to him, I
deserve to see the man myself. He sent a messenger out. He didn't
even come out to see him. It was an insult to his pride
that Elisha didn't come out, but he had to hear the word through
a lowly servant. And that simple servant told
him, the first thing you're going to have to do is wash in the Jordan River seven
times. Now let me show you three things
about the Jordan River. The first one turned to Genesis
chapter 13. Genesis chapter 13, and look at verse 10. It says, And Lot lifted up his
eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered
everywhere. before the Lord destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of
Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain
of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves,
the one from the other." The river of Jordan ran straight
through Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what made it so well watered. It's the river of sin. The river
of sin. That messenger told Naaman, you're
going to have to get in that river. You got to get in that
river. The second thing about the Jordan
River is in Numbers 32. Turn with me to Numbers chapter
32. Numbers chapter 32, verse 1 says, Now the children
of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude
of cattle. And when they saw the land of
Jazar and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a
place for cattle. It was a good place for cattle.
Good graphs, good plane. Verse five says, wherefore they
said, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be
given unto thy servants for a possession and bring us not over Jordan. Don't bring us over Jordan. And
Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of
Reuben, shall your brethren go to war? And shall you sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the
heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land
which the Lord hath given them? Verse 10 says, And the Lord's
anger was kindled the same time, and He sware, saying, Surely
none of the men that came up out of Egypt from twenty years
old and upward shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, because they have not wholly followed
Me. In verse 19 they said, For we
will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward,
because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan, eastward. In order to reach the promised
land, you have to cross the river Jordan. It's the river of death. And that messenger said, you
must acknowledge that river. The third thing about the River
Jordan is back in our text, 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5, look at verse 12. Are not Abana and Pharpah rivers
of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash
in them and be clean? The Jordan River was unclean. It was filthy. It was unclean. The rivers of Damascus were fine. And his proud attitude was saying,
that's too dirty for me. I'm cleaner than that river.
You want me to get in that? I'm a leper, but there's some
good spots on me too. I'm a sinner, but I'm not a total
sinner. I'm not perfect. Don't get me
wrong. I'm not perfect, but I'm not a total head to toe putrefying
sore covered sinner. There's some good in me. There's
a little good in everybody. No, there's not. Not according
to scripture. Not only does Naaman have the
wrong attitude, he has all the wrong thoughts. Everything about
Naaman is wrong. Wrong thoughts on worship, wrong
thoughts on how God operates. Verse 10 represents true worship. Verse 10 says, Elijah 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. Verse 11 represents false worship. The operation of a false God.
It says, but Naaman was wroth and went away and 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. What I thought was I was going
to get to walk right up on stage to the guy holding the microphone.
And I was going to tell him my problem, and he was going to
stand up and make a big commotion unto his God, and strike his
hand over the place, and I would fall out and be healed of my
leprosy. And then he said in verse 12,
Are not Abana and Farpar 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. The truth is
offensive. It really is. It is offensive. Naaman represents all of us.
We're no better than Naaman. We're no different from Naaman.
The natural man rejects the truth because it absolutely kills the
flesh. It just slaughters the flesh.
It kills his works. It kills his way. It kills his
methods. It kills his pride. It kills
his thoughts. It forces a man and a woman to
say, I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I renounce everything
I've believed my whole life. Everything I thought was wrong.
Everything I've done is wrong. I'm just wrong. Naaman is not there yet, but
he's about to be. Verse 12 says, the end of verse
12 says, so he turned and went away in a rage. Verse 13 says, and his servants
came near and spake unto him. I believe that these servants
represent the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The goodness and the kindness
of the Lord's voice. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
1. Isaiah chapter 1. I want us to
notice how kind the Lord is. Just how kind the Lord is. Isaiah
1, look at verse 18. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Let us reason together. He doesn't
have to do that. A child says, why? The parent
says, because I said so. I don't owe no explanation. He
doesn't have to do that. Our Lord is so kind to sit down
and say, let me explain it to you. I'll explain it to you. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If you be willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord
has spoken it. Naaman wasn't willing. He rejected
it in a rage. He went away in a rage. But God
made him willing in the day of his power. God made him willing. If God makes you willing, And if God makes you obedient
in spite of you, you're gonna eat the good of
the land. Our Lord said, my sheep, my rebellious
sheep that go astray will hear my voice. I'm gonna be the one
that speaks to them. My word will pierce their heart,
and I will give unto them the gift of repentance." I'm going
to do this for them. The actual definition of repentance
is a change of mind. A change of mind. A change of
mind about God, who God is. A change of mind about His holiness
and what He demands and what He requires. A change of mind
about me, a change of mind about my sin, I really am that bad. I need some help. Our text, 2 Kings 5 says, in verse 13, and his servants
came near and spake unto him and said, my father, if the prophet
had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?
How much rather then when he saith to thee, wash and be clean,
then he went down. He went down. Come, let us reason together.
The word of the Lord pierced his heart, changed his mind,
and made him willing. Then he went down. Naaman was
storming off. I imagine he just stopped. Changed. It's like a light coming on.
A person hears the Word, hears the Word, hears the preaching,
hears a man, hears a mortal man, and all of a sudden, one day,
they hear God. A light comes on. He got it. It's not by works, lest any man
should boast. In my hand no price I bring,
I'm saved by grace. I'm saved by grace. Doesn't matter
what I bring with me, I'm saved by grace. I have one great need, and Jesus
Christ is made to be all I need, all I need. I believe Naaman
said, where's that river? Where's that river? I've got
to get in that river. I must confess what I am before
the God that I've offended. I must get in that river. 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
clean. seven times, the number of perfection,
the number of completeness, the number of wholeness. I believe
he hollered, I'm a sinner. And he plunged himself into the
river of sin. And then he came back up and
he said, I'm a dead man. And he plunged himself in the
river of death. And he came up and said, I'm
a leper. I'm unclean. This is what I deserve. God, be merciful to me. I'm a
sinner. Save me, Lord, lest I perish. Seven times. 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 clean. He was clean. Naaman didn't deserve it, but
the Lord God had great mercy on Naaman. And Naaman had so
much to be thankful for. I love this. I love this. He
had so much to be thankful for. Naaman ought to be real proud
of himself for his humility and getting in that river, shouldn't
he? He had so much to be thankful
for and here's why. I will close with Luke chapter
4. Turn with me to Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4, look with me
at verse It says, And many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. God cleansed one leper. There were lepers everywhere.
It wasn't just one leper. There were many lepers in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet. God chose to cleanse one leper. Thank you, Lord. Oh, why me? Why me? Of all the lepers in
Israel, you chose me? It's God's grace. It's God's
mercy. It's God's choice. It's God's
work. Salvation is of the Lord. Thank you. I pray the Lord would bless His
Word. Let's stand together. Be dismissed.