This morning we will be looking
at the book of 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5 is the story
of a man named Naaman who was a leper and the Lord healed him
through a prophet named Elisha. And yet this is the story of
how God saves every sinner that comes to Christ by the blood
of Christ. Verse 1 says, Naaman was captain
of the host of the king of Syria. He was a great man with his master
before the king, and he was honorable, admired by many. The Lord had
given deliverance through him. He was a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. He was a dead man while he yet
lived. He had this disease in his flesh
called leprosy. Sin is like leprosy. It's the corruption of the flesh,
dead flesh, filthy flesh. All of us are born with it, born
in sin, conceived in sin, born dead in trespasses and sin. You can cover it, try to cover
it, and mask it as Naaman I'm sure did, or perfume it, but
it will come out because it's there. Anger, wrath, malice,
hatred, envy, lies, lust, jealousy, hatred of God, hatred of authority,
self-righteousness. Sin is like leprosy. It begins
within, little outward signs, until the whole flesh is corrupt.
All men and women are lepers. Some happen to be great men among
men like Naaman. Well, in Syria at this time was
a little maid taken captive, and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said that, My Lord, Naaman
were with the prophet that's in Samaria. He would recover
him of his leprosy. And somebody went in and told
the king that what the maid said, that there was a prophet. Naaman
needs to go see the prophet. And she said what every single
child of God who's a servant A servant of God who is a witness
of Christ, that prophet, she said what every single witness
of Christ said. Would God that that person, that
every sinner would come to Christ. He's the only one that can recover
us from this leprosy, that can put away this thing called sin. For the king of Syria sent a
letter, verse 5, I'll send a letter, he said, to the king of Israel.
And so Naaman departed with this letter, and he took with him
ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, ten changes of
raiment. And he brought this letter to
the king of Israel from the king of Syria on behalf of Naaman
that he might recover him of his leprosy. Well, every single
child of God is called a king and a priest before God in Israel.
And they all know, like this king, that no one can recover
leprosy, no one can save a sinner but God, the salvation of the
Lord. And that's what this king said.
He said, I'm not God. I can't recover this man of his
leprosy. God must do so. Well, verse 8,
Elisha, the man of God, heard this. Elisha heard this, that
the king of Israel had rent his clothes, and that Naaman was
come, sent by the king of Syria. And Elisha said in verse 8, why
rent your clothes? Let him now come to me. Let this
leper come to me, and he'll know that there is a prophet in Israel,
one prophet. one who can recover him of his
leprosy. Now, Elisha, as with every prominent
prophet and king and man in scripture, is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. One time Christ said of the scriptures,
they are they which testify of me. To him, scripture says, to
him, Christ, give all the prophets witness. Elisha is called a man
of God. Well, Jesus Christ is the God-man,
chosen, called, sent by God. Christ, the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the man sent by God, came to this leper colony
called planet Earth, called this present evil world. And that's how God sees this
world and how He sees every single person in it. Not as good, moral,
clean people, but as sinners through and through. Scripture
says in Psalm 14 and so many other places, that God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand, any that did seek God. He said, they all
together become filthy. Filthy, that means stinking,
like leprosy. Leprosy left no soundness in
the flesh. And that's what Isaiah 1 says
about mankind by nature, that from the sole of his feet to
the The crown of His head, there's no soundness in Him. That's what
the Scripture says. That's how God sees us. He sees
us as we really are. Well, Christ came to this leper
colony to heal lepers, to heal His people, to purge His people,
to cleanse His people from their sin. And Christ stood up and
said, Come unto Me. Come unto Me. And you know, He
healed all who had need of healing. It says everyone that needed
healing came to Christ. And that's what the Spirit of
God makes a person feel, their need of healing. Our Lord said that in John 16.
He says when He comes, He'll convince of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. The Holy Spirit will convince
of sin. That there are sinners through
and through. Like David, against thee and thee only have I sinned.
Like Paul, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Of righteousness,
that we need one and don't have it. Our covering, our morality,
our good works, our religion won't cover this filth called
sin, this leprosy that is sin, and judgment. There's a judgment
to face, and we must be perfect, spotless, just like Christ Himself,
and we can't do it. Only Christ can. So He makes
us know and feel and even smell our sin, our uncleanliness, like
that leper that came down from the mountain one day and came
to Christ and fell at His feet and worshipped Him, and he had
one thing he needed. He said, Lord, I want to be clean. And he said, if you will, if
you will, you can make me clean. Every leper knows that he cannot
cleanse himself, that no one can cleanse him, that only Christ
can cleanse, and it's all according to his will, Christ's will. Well, Naaman brought money, he
brought silver, he brought gold, he brought changes of raiment,
and many do the same today. Many think they can redeem themselves,
pay for their crimes, pay for their sins, not knowing the depth
of their sin. It's against God. Many try to
bargain with God. Catholics even try to pay indulgences
to get their loved ones out of purgatory. Baptists are no different. They think we pay our tithes
and God is pleased. Methodists pay by their good
works and their humanitarian efforts. But we're not redeemed
with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation, or that is, from your morality or works.
We're not redeemed by tradition, by religion, but by the precious
blood of the Lamb. Nor are we changed by just merely
changing our arraignment, changing our way, changing our behavior,
turning over a new leaf. One way a leper is cleansed,
and that's by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here
comes this leper. Here comes old Naaman. A leper. He's a great man before men,
but before God he's a leper. Men can't see it. He's got it
covered up, but he's a dead leper. And he's full of pride. He's
full of the world. And I'm sure he's thinking, if
I can just get rid of this leprosy, I'll go back to being a great
man that I was. Not knowing. Not knowing that
he's a nothing and a nobody. And men and women don't realize
the depth of their sin and their true need before God. So he came. And he stood, verse 9, at the
door, he stood at the door of the house of Elijah, came with
his horses and his chariot, riding his high horse, in his pride,
in his glory, in his vainglory. He's a leper. Doesn't matter
how many medals he has, doesn't matter what victories he's won,
he's a dead man. And he stood at the door of the
house of Elijah. Every proud leper is going to
be brought down. And you know, every single proud
sinner is going to have to come and sit, going to have to come
to the house of God and sit like a nobody and a nothing, like
a little child, and hear the message from a servant of God.
Have to come to Christ the door in the house of God, like old
Naaman. He's going to have to come down.
Elisha sent out a servant. It doesn't say his name. He's
not important. And this servant, whoever it
was, a man, he's just a voice. He had a 20-word message, a 20-word
sermon. He said in verse 10, Go wash
in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee,
and thou shalt be clean. Go and wash in the muddy river
Jordan. And this is the message of every
true child of God, every true Preacher of God, it is the blood
that maketh atonement for the soul. Come down, sinner, come
down. Bow at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Not your works, not your accomplishments,
not your greatness, not your morality, but the blood that
maketh atonement for the soul. Well, Naaman was wroth. He was angry. He was angry. He got mad. I'm sure he thought
like most do. I'm not that bad. There's got
to be a better way than this. God's not that sovereign. God's
not that holy. God's not that strict. Sin is
not that bad. I'm not that bad. God loves me.
No, Naaman, you're a stench in the nostrils of God. You're a
leper full of pride, and God hates that word worse than anything.
He said in verse 11, Naaman said, I thought He would come out to
me and stand and call on the name of His the Lord His God,
and strike His hand over the place and recover my leprosy.
I thought, and this is what men and women all think by nature,
I thought that He would come to me, that He would be so glad
to see me. No, God is no beggar, nor is
His preacher. God doesn't need us. Church can
be church without you. We need Him though. We need His
mercy. We need His forgiveness. We need washing. We need to bow
before Him. If the Queen of England or the
President of the United States came into this congregation,
they would need to take their place like the bow center that
they are before the mercy of God. He said, I thought He would
come out to me. If Elisha had been the average
preacher today, he would have run out to see old Naaman. Why,
we're glad to see you, Mr. Naaman. You can do this church
some good with all your money and your fame and your fortune.
No, no. Not this man. Not the true man
of God. Well, he said in verse 12, Are
not Abana and Farpar rivers of Damascus better than all the
waters in Israel? I could go there and play. Well,
I could go down to Abana Baptist Church. That's a nice place.
They don't call me a sinner like this. I can go to Farpar Methodist
Church. Big, beautiful place. All their
beautiful programs about the beauty and glory of man and how
much they need me. No, Naaman, you've got to go
down to that muddy river Jordan. You've got to come down. Go down. Dip. Strip and dip. Strip your medals off. Take your
glory off. Take away all your accomplishments. Strip yourselves of your self-righteous
covering and come naked before God. He sees you as you are. You've got to come naked to be
covered. You've got to be a leper to be
cleansed. Every sinner saved by mercy, saved by grace, the
blood of Christ, the Holy Spirit humbles. The Holy Spirit breaks.
The Holy Spirit strips. and brings down, brings to Christ,
confessing their sins, confessing their guilt, crying unclean,
unclean. And all who do, all who confess
Christ in believer's baptism, baptism says, I am crucified
with Christ, buried, and yet I live. Everyone who comes down,
God raises up. Is that you? Are you a leper?
Or are you a great man? I pray God the Holy Spirit will
make you see and feel your uncleanness and bring you to Christ. Amen.