Open your Bibles if you were
to 2nd Kings chapter 5. The name of the message is a
changed man. Changed man. Now last week in our studies
in the life of Elijah we looked at how God in his providence
had had a little Israel maiden, the maiden of Israel, taken captive
by Syrian bandits and by God's providence and his wise decree
This little maiden ended up in the house of Naaman. And was the servant to Naaman's
wife. And she told Naaman's wife about
a prophet in Israel. A prophet who could heal Naaman. Now, as I said last week, Naaman
had probably exhausted all methods and all things available to him
in Syria. Much money trying to be healed. All to no avail. Because leprosy
is a picture of sin. And at that time it was absolutely
incurable. But that which is impossible
with man is possible with God. And Nahum is a picture of a lost
man. One of the Lord's lost sheep.
Who he lovingly draws to himself. shows us our sinfulness, regenerates
us by the Holy Spirit of God, and gives us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we spend the rest of
our days upon this earth rejoicing in our wonderful, merciful Savior.
And then when we get to home to heaven, we'll be singing praises
to Him, absolutely sinless. absolutely sinless, no sin at
all. We'll be singing praises to our
great God and King. So this little maiden of Israel,
her name is not told in this narrative, told Nahum's wife, and then someone ran to the master
of the house, which was Nahum, and said, the little Israelite
maiden said, that you can be healed by the prophet in Israel. So what comfort and peace we
have as Nahum was given here in ears. He didn't just blow
her off, did he? He's a man of wealth and a man of power. He
didn't just blow her off. Lord gave him and his wife here
in ears to hear what she had to say. And Nahum went to the king of
Syria, and the king of Syria said, take this silver, take
all these clothes with you, and give them to the prophet if he
can heal you. Well, Nahum went to the wrong
person, didn't he? He went to the king of Israel first. And
the king of Israel said, my God, I can't heal anyone. And he thought
that the king of Syria was conspiring to start a war with Israel. And Elijah hears about this and
says, tell him to come to me. And here comes Naaman. Now I
imagine there was a bunch of folks with him. He's pretty,
he's second in command. He's the king's general. He's
the king's general. And here he comes. He's got an
entourage with him. And here he comes. And what does
Elijah do? He sends out a messenger. and
says, go dip in the Jordan seven times. Just go dip in the Jordan. And Nahum becomes wrath. He's
filled with wrath. He gets so mad and he's in a
rage, he's angry. He stomps away and then his servants
come to him. And again, the Lord gives him
ears to hear because these are just his servants. He could have
killed them all right there saying, why are you even talking to me?
But the Lord gave him ears to hear. And they said, why don't
you just do what he says? If he told you to go and do some
great deed, you'd do it. Because you're a man of valor.
You're a man of courage. So what does he do? He strips
out, takes his clothes off, goes into the River Jordan, dips himself
seven times. And the seventh time he comes
out, white as snow. His leprosy is gone. His leprosy
is absolutely gone. Look at verse 14 of 2 Kings chapter
5. Then went he down and dipped
himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the
man of God. And his flesh came again like into the flesh of
a little child, and he was clean. Just like that. He went under
that seventh time with leprosy all over him, and he came out
that seventh time out of the water, cleansed of all his leprosy. Washed clean. And I brought forth
last week how, that's a picture of how when we are dipped in
the precious blood of Christ and the fountain of his blood,
we come out absolutely clean. All our sins are gone. They're
all forgiven in the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So now let's continue in chapter 5. And we're going
to see Naaman, he's going to go back to the house of Elijah,
and watch what he does. He professes, he professes that
there's only one God, and that's the God of Israel. This is a
changed man. Remember when he came to Israel,
he's an idol worshiper. He's a heathen, he's a Gentile.
He's worshiping the idols that they worship in Syria. He has
no care about the God of Israel. All he wants to do is be healed.
He has no care at all about God. Where were we before the Lord
saved us? We had no care about God, didn't
we? We didn't care about him. We weren't looking for him. No,
he found us, didn't he? He found us. He dipped us in
the fountain of Christ's blood. He clothed us in the robe of
righteousness that we're clothed in. He gave us faith to believe.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit and then given faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all the work of God.
Salvation's on the Lord. So let's read verses 15 to 19
in 2 Kings chapter 5. This is speaking of Naaman. And
he returned to the man of God, He and all his company, see he
had a bunch of people with him, 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. What a statement. What a statement. He's confessing, beloved of God,
he's confessing that there's only one true God. There's only
one God. And he's confessing that one
true God, isn't he? The God of Israel. He was an
idol worshiper before he went in that river. And now he's confessing
God. We were idol worshipers before
the Lord saved us. We were worshiping self, weren't
we? We were worshiping all kinds of things. Some of us were caught
up in religions where there was statues and idols that were worshiped. Some of us were just lost, like
everybody else. Not religious at all. But God found us, didn't he?
He found us, amen. He drew us, didn't he? He brought
us to a place where we could hear the gospel of this wondrous
salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. This wondrous
salvation of the fact that the work of Christ is a complete,
finished work, completely sufficient. All that a sinner needs is found
in Christ. And we found that out, didn't
we? By revelation of God. We had no clue. We talked about
David. We had no clue about who Christ was. We had a God of our
imagination cooked up. But oh, when he revealed himself,
oh my! He's not at all what I thought
he was. Right? Oh, it's amazing. God's grace is amazing. So here
he is, this former idol worshiper. He says, behold now, look at
this, now I know. See, God's people know some things.
We know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We know that
Christ is the only Savior of sinners. We know that there's
only one true God. We know that salvation's only
through the blood of Christ. And we're saved by that precious,
precious blood and clothed in His perfect righteousness. We
know that now. And we know that there's only
one God. This is a confession of a saved man. This is a confession
of a born-again man. He says, there's no God in all
the earth. So he's saying, he's saying all
those idols back home, they're not gods. And he says, any other
idols in this world, they're not gods. That's what we say
as believers do, isn't it? Oh my, it's wonderful. There's
no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now, therefore, I
pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. I like what several
commentators said. Now he's giving that gift not
to buy salvation, like he was before, not to buy the favor
of Elijah, but now he's giving it out of a heart that loves
God. See, at first when I looked at that, I thought, oh, he's
still got some grave clothes on because he's doing that. But then I read
several commentators and they said, Hawker brought out the
fact that he's doing this out of love now. He's doing this
out of the love of God. in his heart. That's been shed
abroad in his heart now. But look at Elijah. Gospel preachers
aren't after money. I'll flat out say that. We're
not after money. I remember Norm one time, we
were going through rough times here, and Norm said, he said,
I'll come and I'll preach, you don't have to give me nothing.
Well, we ended up being able to give him something. But he
said, I don't want nothing. I'm going to come and preach
the gospel. Henry Mahan used to go to places all over the
place just to preach the gospel. You know what he said? I found
out. You know what he said? Find someone in the church that
has a need and give what you were going to give me to them.
Isn't that amazing? He says, I get a full wage back
home. They take care of me. I don't
need the extra money. Give it to someone who needs
it. Isn't that amazing? No one ever knew that, did they?
My. When I found that out, I thought,
oh my, what a blessing. What a blessing. But he said,
as the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none.
See, the gospel's free. Salvation's free. That's what
I picked up in this verse. Salvation's free. You can't buy
it, you can't earn it, you can't merit it. It's absolutely free. And preachers don't want nothing
in return. No. He says, he says, I will receive
none of it. I don't want any of it. God takes
care of me. Right. And he urged him to take
it, but he refused. He said, no, I don't want. I
think Elijah in this situation didn't want to be perceived as
someone who was getting gain from doing those miracles. Because
he knew who did the miracles. It's God and God alone. He's not seeking a following,
is he? He could have lived pretty wealthy if he had taken that
money. He said, nope, I don't want none
of it. Because he knows the Lord takes care of him. He takes care
of him. And Naaman, he just wants to
give it to someone. Look at this. He said, And Naaman
said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant
two mules, burden of earth? For thy servant will henceforth
offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto God, but unto
the Lord, or other gods. So he's saying, I'm not going
to offer any more sacrifices to false gods. Look at that.
What a changed man. What a changed man. He's a new
creature in Christ, beloved. My oh my, and it says, in this
thing, the Lord pardoneth thy servant. that when my master goeth into
the house of Rimmon, so there's who they were worshiping in Syria,
the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand,
and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bowed down
myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardoned my servant
in this thing. And he said unto him, go in peace. So he departed from him a little
while away. We're going to look at a little bit more into that
later on tonight. But marvel, Let us consider the great change
in Naaman. He's a changed man. He's not
a changed man by anything he did. The river Jordan didn't
change him, right? Dipping himself seven times didn't
change him. Water has no power. Who changed
this man? God and God alone. Who made you
and I to differ, beloved, from our family and our friends? Who made us to differ? God and
God alone. God and God alone. So marvel
this great change. Not only is his rage subdued.
This is what I was thinking of too. Not only his rage is subdued. Look at in verses 11 and verse
12. Look at this. But Naaman was
wroth. So he was so angry, remember? He was so mad. He left in a fury. It says here, but Naaman was
wroth and went away and said, behold, now here's the self-righteousness
that we looked at, right? Behold, I thought he will surely
come out to me. And I bet you he's screaming
this. He's yelling this. He's mad. He is angry. As we said in Canada, he's spitting
mad. I'll tell you what, he is mad.
I thought he'd 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 my leprosy. I thought he'd just go and say
some words and God would heal him. But see, God's ways aren't our
ways. His ways are not our ways. Look at this. Are not Abnana
and Pharpar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of
Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So, look at this,
he turned and went away in a rage. You ever been in a rage? I think
all of us have been in a rage at least once in our lives. Yeah. In a rage. Now look at him. Marvel at the
restraining, subduing grace of God in Christ. Marvel that his
rage was subdued. And he was the rage against,
it was against the prophet, it was against God. And marvel at how God has subdued
our rage. Marvel at how we were before
the Lord saved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins.
Marvel how he's subdued we rebels by nature. That's what he's done,
hasn't he? Every one of us is a trophy,
a monument of the grace of God and his almighty power. We rebels,
just like Naaman, have been changed by the grace of God, having been
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and having been subdued
by His almighty power. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Nothing. Nothing's too hard. for our great
God. Now let's look at the confession
of Naaman after his leprosy is being cleansed. And remember,
leprosy represents sin in the scripture. And take note of this
wonderful confession of Naaman. As I was looking at this, I was
just amazed. This confession of Naaman. He's now born again,
and he confesses Jehovah's God. Remember again, he was an idol
worshiper. He was an idol worshipper when
he was standing at that door with Elijah. When he expected Elijah to come
out, now comes the servant. He's a full-on idol worshipper.
He's an idol worshipper when he goes into that water. And by the grace of God, and
the mercy of God, now by the power of God the Holy Spirit,
this former rebel, has been subdued. This former idol worshiper is
now worshiping the one true living God of the universe. All by the
grace and mercy of God. Do we not see ourselves in this?
Do we not see what God's done for us? Isn't it amazing? Isn't it wonderful? Just warms
your heart, doesn't it? Oh, it's absolutely wonderful.
And this confession is a confession of a born-again believer. It's
a confession of a born-again believer. I've texted Marcus
today and just telling him what the name of the title, A Changed
Man. He goes, that's all of us. That's
what he wrote back right away. That's all of us, brother. Yep,
he got it right on. It's all, every single believer,
we're changed people. We're not the same people we
were. We're new creatures in Christ now. And now we confess
and praise that there's only one true living God. My. So let us behold again the
wonder, work, and power of our great God. It's wonder, work,
and power. I'll tell you that. That's all. It's power, power,
wonder, work, and power. It's true in the blood of the
Lamb, isn't it? So Naaman's not the same man.
He's not the same man as he was before he went in that water.
He's a picture of a sinner saved by grace. And remember this too,
he's a Gentile, which pictures us. He was outside the commonwealth
of Israel, but he's been a sheep of God
from all eternity. He belongs to the true Israel
of God, you see. Oh my, he was a lost sheep. who's
now being found, who's now being found. Let's read verses 15 to
18. And he returned to the man of
God. He and all his company marvel at this. Look at the change again.
And stood before him. And he said, behold, now I know,
I know this now, that there is no God in all the earth but in
Israel. There's no other God. All the other gods are just false
gods. Who gave him that knowledge? God, the Holy Spirit, beloved,
just like he teaches us, just like he reveals to us that truth.
He's revealed it now to Naaman. Oh, it's wonderful. Now, therefore,
I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. And here's Elijah's
answer. But he said, as the Lord liveth,
before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take
it, but he refused. And Naaman said, There not then,
I pray thee, be given to thy servant two meals burden of earth,
for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offerings
nor sacrifices unto the gods, but unto the Lord. He's calling himself Elijah's
servant. And he's saying, I'm not going
to ever again offer burnt offerings to false gods. My, what a change. What a change! In this thing the Lord pardoned
thy servant, that when my master, he's talking about the king of
Syria, goeth into the house of Rimon to worship there, and he
leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimon,
when I bow down myself in the house of Rimon, the Lord pardoned
thy servant in this thing. Again, note the change. He's
even asking Elijah if God will pardon him if he goes into the
house of Rimon a false god, with the king, because the king leans
on his arm. He must have been an older fellow. Leans on his
arm and he helps him up. And he's saying, will God pardon
me for that? Well, we're going to look at that a little bit
later on. And note the change, again, rotten in naming by God
and God alone. He once hated the people of Israel.
He hated them. He hated the God of Israel. because
he was worshiping idols. He was a self-righteous rebel,
as we saw in those two verses earlier on. And now, this self-righteous
former idol worshiper, hater of Israel and of Israel's God,
the one true living God, now says, there's only one God in
all the earth. Oh my, it's incredible, isn't
it? Think of us. I was locked down in Catholicism,
didn't know anything. Went from Catholicism to independent
fundamental Baptist stuff, from the fire to the frying pan, into
landmarkism, and then God, by his grace, saved me. My, oh my. Religious is all get-go
through it all. And now I know, now I know, like
Naaman. And you know too, don't you,
beloved? Now we know the one true living God, and we bow down
to him. And we will not serve anyone
else but him, by the grace and mercy of God. So this self-righteous rebel
idol worshiper has now been turned into appraiser of Jehovah. That's us. That's a picture of
us. Now he praises the one true living
God. Look at verse 15 again here. And he returned to the man of
God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him.
And he said, Behold. He's saying, Behold. He's saying,
I want your attention. Behold. Now I know that there
is no God in all the earth. Now think of it. All his company
is still standing there, aren't they? They're all a bunch of idol worshippers. They're going to wonder, what
happened to Nahum? He went in that water, one of us, and now
he's praising the God of Israel. And do you not think that Nahum
went home and started telling people about the God of Israel? All that company would be going,
what happened to him? What's with that water? There's
nothing in the water. It's just the river. Oh, my. My, oh, my. Behold, now I know, I know, that
there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. He's had God revealed
to him. And now, therefore, I pray thee,
take a blessing of thy servant. Again, was the water of Jordan
that cleansed him of his leprosy? Is that what changed him? Was it the water that made Naaman
a true follower of God? Well, the answer to both questions
is no. It's the power and might of God,
the Holy Spirit. It's the power and might of God.
The same power that raised us from the dead state we were in
is the same power that raised Naaman. It's the same power that
raised the Lord Jesus Christ from his grave. Same power. power of God Almighty, the Holy
Spirit. My. And note, he's cleansed from
all his leprosy. He's gone. It's gone. Leprosy pictures sin. It's gone, beloved. My, it's the power of God and
God alone that cleansed Nahum of all his leprosy, which pitchers
sin. And it's the power of God and
God alone that made Nahum a worshiper of the one true God. And it's
the same for you and I, beloved. It's the same for us. It's wonderful. Turn, if you would, to Daniel
chapter 4. When I read this great change
that happened to Naaman, I cannot but think about Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was eating grass
for a while, remember? God was humble with him. He said,
is this not this great kingdom I built? Not even knowing that
God gave it to him. God gave him that great kingdom.
So God humbles Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar makes a confession
here, and I believe he's a saved man. Look at this confession
of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel chapter 4, verses 34 to
35. And at the end of the days, at
the end of the days of him eating grass like an oxen, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, he looking up to the one true
living God. And my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed
the Most High. Look at that. He's praising the
Most High, isn't he? He's praising God. And I praised
and honored him that liveth forever. How does he know that? He was
eating grass for months. God revealed himself to him,
didn't he? Oh my. Look at this, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. To God, all the inhabitants are
reputed as nothing. Nothing. Now, we humans think
we're something, don't we? And the scripture here tells
us we're nothing. But some of us are something
to God. We're His jewels. We're His elect. We're the apple of His eye. We're called the sons of God
in Scripture. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us. We who are the people of God,
And all the inhabitants of the earth are repeated as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will. We hear a lot about man's
free will. Well, the scripture here tells
us God does whatever he wills. So if you're saved and I'm saved,
it's according to the will and mercy of God. We were made willing in the day
of God's power to flee to Christ, weren't we? Oh, this is magnificent. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven. He's king of heaven. He's king over all.
He's an absolute sovereign monarch, and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, what doest thou? None can say to him, what are
you doing? None can stop his hand. He's
sovereign. He's almighty. Now look at verse
37. Look at this. This is a magnificent
two. Now I never can answer, praise
and extol and honor the King of heaven. That's our God, beloved. That's our Savior, the King of
Heaven, all whose works are truth, and His way is judgment. And
those that walk in pride, He's able to abase. Well, we once
walked in pride, didn't we? He put us right down on the ground,
didn't He? And we're thankful that He did that. We're thankful
that He did. He didn't leave us where we were.
He's abased us, but it's good. And he's able to abase the problem.
He abased Naaman, didn't he? Oh, Naaman was a proud rebel,
just like we were. And now we see him come. We see
him come to Elijah, and he's like, now I know there's only
one God. Oh, I could just imagine his
heart filled with joy. Now I know him. I know him, the one true living
God. He's revealed himself to me. It's wonderful, isn't it? Absolutely wonderful. Turn, if
you would, to Romans chapter 10. I also see in this confession
of Nahum, I'm reminded of Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10
in verses 9 to 13. Romans chapter 10 verses 9 to
13. There's been a wonderful work done here. It's a work of
God. Remember, to be born again is
an operation of God. It's not anything man can do.
We can't merit salvation. We can't earn salvation. Look
at this, Romans chapter 10, verses 9 to 13. That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Do
you believe that? Oh, by God's grace I do. By God's
mercy I do. There was a time when I didn't
believe that. Now I believe it. I believe every word of the Bible
now. I don't understand it all, but I sure believe it. Oh my. For with the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. What did Nahum do? He confessed
that there's only one true God. What did Nebuchadnezzar do? He
confessed that there's only one true God. All the Old Testament
saints were looking towards the Messiah. We look back. He's come. His name is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners. For the Scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference,
look at this, between the Jew and the Greek, that's Gentile.
So there's no difference between those who are saved that were
of national Israel, and there's no difference between them and
Naaman. And there's no difference between us and them. Why? Because we're all one in Christ.
He's the head, we're the body. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call Him. Oh, He's rich in mercy, isn't
He? He's rich in grace. And we've tasted that He's gracious. For whosoever call upon the name
of the Lord, shall be saved. It's not by anything we do. It's
not by anything we do after we're saved. We're saved by Christ
and Christ alone. You see that? Isn't that wonderful? We could rest our souls there,
can't we? That's absolutely wonderful. My salvation does not depend
on anything I do. And we say hallelujah, don't
we? Now, do we keep on keeping on? Do we keep trusting the Lord?
Absolutely. We know he keeps us, doesn't he? But if our salvation
was dependent upon anything we do, we'd lose it. But praise
be to God, it says right here, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Praise be to God. And take note
of the wondrous confession of Naaman. I ask you, are his words not
the words of a born-again, blood-washed believer? Remember, he's born again by
the same Holy Spirit as we are. He says, behold, now I know. I know
something now. I didn't know this before. That's
what he's saying. I didn't know this. Now I know. Can you imagine the joy that's
coming out of his heart? Now I know that there's no God
in all the earth but in Israel. What a confession. This is truly
amazing. He says this before his own men.
Now they're going to go back and tell folks, they're going
to say, we don't know what happened to Nahum, but he confessed that
there's only one true God. You know they would. He don't
care, does he? He doesn't care at all. He doesn't
care at all. He's a changed man. He's a man
who's been saved by the grace and mercy of God, and he comes
to be cleansed of all his leprosy and leaves a man saved by the
grace of God. All he wanted was his leprosy
cleansed. And he comes back to Syria, not only cleansed of his
leprosy, but a man saved by the grace of God. Even more greater, God has saved him. Turn, if you
would, to Matthew chapter 10, and we'll read here the words
of our great and merciful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the words
of our Master. And look what our Master says
here in Matthew chapter 10, verse 32. He says, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my
Father, which is in heaven. Do you confess Christ before
men? Isn't that wonderful? Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. Then in Acts chapter 4, the scripture
declares this, for we cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard. Something happened to Naaman.
By the grace and mercy of God, he's a changed man. And he's
had a revelation. He's had God reveal himself to
him. Remember Joseph with his brethren? That's like Christ
revealing himself to us, beloved. Oh. He says, behold, now I know that
there's no God on all the earth but in Israel. And can we not,
as the redeemed, born-again, blood-washed children of God,
can we not but speak of the wondrous things that God's done for us?
That's all we want to do. We've had some wonderful time
with our dear sister, just talking about the Lord, talking about
the things He's done, talking about what's happened in our
lives. Amazed at how God, in His providence, had you guys
meet, what, 40 years ago, you said? 40 years ago. And that
friendship has lasted. It's all through Christ, isn't
it? It's all through Christ. Now, one may ask, what is a Christian?
Well, a Christian is a person who's been chosen by God in God's
eternal election as an object of his love and grace. Now, let
that sink in. If you're saved, if you're a
born-again believer, you are an object of God's grace and
love for eternity. And nothing can change that.
Nothing. Nothing can change that. A Christian
is one who's been redeemed from the curse of the law by the blood
of Christ, which was shed for the satisfaction of God's divine
justice for God's elect, because we sinned against God. So Christ
dies before God in our room and place, satisfying His holy justice,
perfectly fulfilling His holy law, In that which is impossible
for men, we can't fulfill one law, can we? We cannot satisfy
the justice of God by ourselves. He does it all for all the elect
of all the ages, one time. My, a Christian is one who's
been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God through the preaching
of the gospel. A Christian is one who, by the irresistible
influence of God the Holy Spirit, freely acknowledges their sin.
We freely acknowledge we're sinners, don't we? And believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ, confessing Him as our Lord. We don't make
Him Lord, we just confess that He's Lord. He's already Lord.
You hear people say, just make Him Lord of your life. Well,
God beat us to it. Right? We don't make Him anything. He's
already Lord. He's God. He's God Almighty in
the flesh, dying for sinners. And a Christian is a person in
whom Christ dwells. Scripture declares this, to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
majesty among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. Christ in us, the hope of glory. When we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, Christ comes into the sinner's heart,
taking possession of us, ruling us, and causing us to become
a follower of himself. If he hadn't chosen us, we never
would have chosen him, would we? My, what love. Matthew 12, 29 says this, or
else how can one enter into a strongman's house and spoil his goods, except
he first bind the strongman, and then he will spoil his house.
Christ bound up Satan at Calvary's cross. He bound him up. Henry used to say, we should
hang a sign on our hearts saying, under new management. Right? Under new management. Oh my! It's Christ. And a true Christian is a believer,
a true believer, is a man or woman who desires to be conformed
by the Holy Spirit of God to the image of Christ. We desire
to be one day in the presence of God sinless. We hate our sin. Oh my. And if we could, we would
wish to never sin anymore. We're sinners saved by the grace
of God, aren't we? But in glory, we'll never be
plagued by sin again. Never. The presence of it will
finally be removed. See, we're saved from the penalty
of it. We're saved from the power of it, right? And then we'll
be saved from the presence of it when we go home to be with
the Lord. My. We desire perfect conformity
to Christ, but we know we can't do it. But we desire it. If we couldn't sin again, we'd
love it, wouldn't we? But that's not the way God has it. We're
saved sinners. And we long to be like Christ.
We long to To see him. Here are four things characterized,
that characterized our Savior's life. Turn if you would to Matthew
chapter 21. First is his unflinching boldness
for the honor of God. His unflinching boldness for
the honor of God. I'll tell you what. Look at this. Matthew 21 verses
12 to 13. And Jesus went into the temple
of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple.
He cast them out. And overthrew the tables of the
money changers and the seats of them sold doves. And he said
unto them, it is written, my house shall be called the house
of prayer. But ye made it a den of thieves. See his unflinching
boldness for the honor of God. Number two. What marked our Lord
was his gentleness and love. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
8. His gentleness and his love. Oh, this narrative here, this
narrative here so shows his gentleness, shows his love for his people.
Look at this. John chapter 8, verses 1 to 12. Jesus went into the Mount of
Olives, and early in the morning he came again to the temple.
And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught
them. And the scribes and Pharisees bought unto him a woman in adultery. Where's the man? Where's the man? Some commentators
and a lot of grace preachers, we believe that the man was one
of them. He was one of them. And the scribes and Pharisees
bought unto him a woman taken in adultery. when they had set
her in the midst. And they said unto him, Master.
They call him Master, but they don't mean it. This woman was
taken in adultery in the very act. In the very act. Now Moses and the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. Oh, do you see how legalistic
they are? How hard they are? The fellow's
not there, but they got the woman. Oh my. Moses and the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. They said this, tempting him.
Now behold the mercy and grace of our great God, our great Savior.
They said this, tempting him, that they might have to accuse
him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the
ground as though he had heard them not. Just like he's ignoring
them. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted himself up and said unto them, look at this. Oh, what a statement. Remember, he's God in the flesh.
He knows their thoughts. He knows these men are full of
self-righteousness. He says, he that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again, he stooped down and
wrote on. All he had to do, remember, he's the son of God. He's the Son of God. He knows
their thoughts. He knows who they are. He knows
what their whole reason behind coming to Him is. He knows they didn't bring the
man. And they which heard it being
convicted by their own conscience. went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone
and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted
up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman,
where are those thine accusers? Now, he didn't ask this for information.
He already knew. This is for our learning. Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, look what she calls him too here. Beloved, look what
she calls him. No man. Lord, Lord. She calls him Lord. Only God's people call him Lord.
No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither
do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. That's one of his sheep,
beloved. Neither do I condemn thee. That's
God in the flesh saying, I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more. Now would she sin again? Yeah.
But if she's in Christ, what does God consider her? He sees
her in Christ, doesn't he? She called him Lord, and then
he said, go and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of man. The next
thing of Jesus, characteristic of Jesus, was self-abasing humanity. Turn, if you would, to Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. We'll
read verses 5 to 11 which tells us a little bit about Christ
our Lord. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. So he was the son of man,
fully man, but he was fully God too. But made himself like this,
of no reputation. Talk about humility. This is
God the King. He makes himself of no reputation.
He took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things on the earth and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What humility
was shown by our great king. Angels bowing down, worshiping
him in glory. He comes down to this world.
People are spitting at him, calling him a false prophet. And he'd done that for us. He abased himself, made himself
a man of no reputation for us, for we sinners. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And then his
righteousness. Turn if you would to Luke chapter
2. His righteousness was evident in his life too. This little portion we're going
to look at here, the the masters of Israel were absolutely stunned
that this little 12 year old was asking the questions that
he was. But they do not know that he's God incarnate in the
flesh. They have no idea. Look at this in Luke chapter
2, verses 46 to 52. And it came to pass that after
three days they found him in the temple. Remember they left
Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem, and they're like,
oh no, he's not with our kin. So they go all the way back to
Jerusalem. And there, could you imagine the anguish that they
had looking for him? And he's about his father's business,
beloved. At 12 years old, he's about his
father. He's full of righteousness. He's about his father's business.
Look at this. They found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking
them questions. Now these doctors, these masters
of Israel, had all kinds of students with them too. So there would
be a lot of people there. And he's sitting there, asking
these masters these questions. And all that heard him, all that
were within earshot, were astonished at his understanding and answers.
They have no idea that the very one who gave them the scriptures
is standing right in front of them, or sitting in their midst.
They have no idea that God incarnate in the flesh is asking them these
questions. And they're amazed. How does
he understand this? How? He's only 12 years old. And when they saw him, they were
amazed. Even Joseph and Mary were amazed. And his mother said
unto him, Son, why hast thou dealt with us? Behold, thy father
and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is
it that you sought me? See, no man will seek God. How
is it that you sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about
my father's business? 12 years old, he's already about
his father's business. And they understood not the saying
which he spake unto them. And he went down with them and
came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. Just as the law said,
he honored his mother and he honored Joseph. But his mother
kept all these things in her heart, these sayings in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with
God and man. So we see in our text that Naaman
is a changed man. And he's not afraid to confess
that there's only one true living God, is he? He's not afraid. Again, who taught him this fact?
God the Holy Spirit taught him this. Just as he teaches all
we who are the elect of God. All the elect of God in the Old
Testament, all the elect of God in the New Testament, and even
now today, we're all taught the same thing, aren't we? That there's
only one true living God. Jehovah the Father, Jehovah the
Son, and Jehovah the Holy Spirit. The three are one. One God. One God. Turn, if you would,
to John chapter 14. Oh, who taught naming this fact?
God the Holy Spirit. He's teaching all the blood-bought
sheep of God the same truth. John chapter 14. We'll look at,
again, the Master's words. These are the words of the Master.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. There's
weight to these words. There's weight to all the scriptures.
But, oh, listen to these words of the Master, starting in verse
16 of John chapter 14. He says, And I will pray the
Father that he shall give you another comforter. So he's about
to depart. Remember in our study in John
chapter 17, we looked at how 14, 15, and 16 are all one time,
one prayer, one sermon with the apostles. And in John 17, he's allowing
them into the midst when he's praying to the Father. Even the
spirit of truth is one of the names of the Holy Spirit, whom
the world cannot receive. Well you mean, what about all
those people that say they bow their head and repeat this prayer
and receive Jesus? Scripture says they can't receive him.
They can't receive him unless God sends him. Right? Oh my. Because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him, but ye know him. We know him. Remember what Naaman
said? Now I know. We know him, don't
we? By the grace and mercy of God,
we know him. My oh my. But ye know him, for he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see
me. Because I live, ye shall live
also. At that day ye shall know that
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself
to him." Do you know God's manifested himself to us? You know, that's
the only way we know him. It's amazing. Judas saith unto
him, not ascariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest
thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus answered and
said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. My
Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our
abode with him. He that loveth me, he that loveth
me not keepeth not my sayings. And the word which you hear is
not mine, but the Father which sent me. These things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter,"
now he's gonna name him, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you. Who taught Naaman?
Who taught us that there's only one true living God? The Holy
Ghost did that. The Holy Spirit did that. But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Now he
says this, look at John 14, 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Now note that, peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you. Let's go back to 2 Kings
chapter five. There's something here. that
I'd like us to take note of. We're starting verse 16. We'll
read all the way to verse 19. Remember, the Lord said there,
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. So it's not the worldly peace
that they can be at peace for a while and then they're going
to be fighting again. No, we have peace with God through the
Lord Jesus Christ, right? We have the forgiveness of all
our sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. 2nd Kings 5.16, but he said,
As the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive none.
And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So again we see
that salvation can't be earned, it can't be bought. Naaman wants
to give a gift to Elijah, but the prophet again refuses it.
He just refuses it. Now look at verse 17 and 18.
Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray
thee, be given to thy servant two mules burden of earth? For thy servant will henceforth
offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifice unto other gods,
but unto the Lord. In this thing the Lord pardon
thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon
to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself
in the house of Rimmon, When I bow myself in the house of
women, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. Now look
what, look what Elijah says. Do you remember what the Lord
said to his disciples? And he said unto him, go in peace. Go in peace. All your sins are
forgiven. Go in peace. Go in peace. So he departed from him a little
way. Now Nahum is concerned that when he goes into the temple
of the false god Rimmon, and his king leans upon him and bows
down, he's concerned about this. And note the wonderful words
of Elijah. What words of grace. What words of mercy. And he said
unto him, go in peace. So he departed from him a little
way. What comfort we can find in these words. Just like our
brother Naaman, all our sins and iniquities are pardoned.
All of them. God knows that he will just be
helping the king in his duty, but in his heart, Naaman will
be praising the Lord. Naaman will be praising the Lord.
Elijah's telling him by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, go
in peace. He's telling us that too, isn't
he? You're in Christ, go in peace. Go in peace. My. All our sins are pardoned. All our transgressions are pardoned.
Praise be to God. And so let we who are the redeemed
rejoice. Let us leave here rejoicing. Rejoicing in this wonderful fact
that we've been pardoned by the complete, perfect, sin-atoning
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're absolutely pardoned. No
one can bring any charge against us. Man can say whatever they
want about us. Can't do nothing. Go ahead and rail on me. What
did Paul say? Who can bring any charge to God's
elect? It's God that justifies. Right? Amen. Praise be to God. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Oh my. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord, washed in his precious, precious blood, let us leave
here tonight in awe and wonder at this vast work that God did
to Naaman. Upon his heart. Upon his heart,
just like he's done for us. The leprosy of his skin was not
only washed away, but the leprosy of unbelief of his soul was washed
away. And he's at once convinced that
there's only one true living God. He's revealed himself to
him, and he's like, there's only one God. That's it. There's no
other gods in all the earth. And that's exactly what we say,
by the grace and mercy of God. So let us consider, again, how
his heart was affected in wishing Now for Elijah to take this blessing,
as he called it, no longer as a price of his cure, but as a
token of his love. And also note how precious Israel
is to him now, and the God of Israel more so. The God of Israel. Let us remember that we who are
the born-again, blood-washed saints of God have had these
effects take place upon us by the wonder-working power of God.
The same power that did this to Naaman is the same power that
regenerated us. And what do we say? Say what
Dave says all the time now? And what do I say? Hallelujah.
Praise be to God. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer?