So we are going to be reading 2 Kings chapter 5, beginning at verse 4. And one went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria 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, that is Naaman, 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. 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 doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 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. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 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, 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.

Are not Abana and Farfar, 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. And his servants came near and spake unto him, and 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 saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

No sooner had the little maid in Naaman's house uttered the words about a cure from leprosy by the prophet in Israel than a message was conveyed to Naaman and from Naaman to the king of Syria. Can you see the difference between a man who knows himself a leper in need of a cure and a man who does not. Had this child, this little maid, had this child spoken to anyone else, they might have smiled at her idea and ignored her. But the words of the maid and the neat of Naaman came together and fitted perfectly. Naaman was desperate.

Is a cure for leprosy even possible? And yet here is a child who speaks with certainty about a possibility Naaman had never even considered. Undoubtedly, his own idol god, Rimman, had been often approached, probably with sacrifices, probably with prayers, probably with tears, and had done nothing, could do nothing. But what if the God of Israel could help? Wasn't it worth trying?

And I think this teaches us something very important. Men and women and boys and girls will never seek forgiveness from God, will never seek forgiveness from God, will never seek salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ until they realize they have a need of forgiveness and they have a need of salvation.

Do you remember what we have said concerning this leprosy? How that leprosy is a picture of sin. We don't have leprosy today, but we all have sin. Naaman knew that he was a leper. And therefore it made this little maid's message meaningful to him. And it is only when we realize that we are sinners before a holy God that we will feel our need of saving grace. Only then will the gospel the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, the good news of forgiveness by his sacrifice, of cleansing by his blood, of salvation through his death, be truly meaningful and truly personal to us. Naaman told the king about this little girl and about the possibility of a cure in Israel.

And like all good kings, the king of Syria knew exactly what to do. He would send a letter to the king of Israel, Jehoram. Jehoram was the king of Israel. He was the son of Ahab. Ahab was a wicked, idolatrous king. Jehoram was little better. He had made a few concessions in Israel. Perhaps he had lifted some of the judgments that had been against the people of God. But he was still an idolater.

And the king of Israel, the king of Syria, sent a note to the king of Israel asking him to cure Naaman's leprosy. Let us give the benefit of the doubt to this king of Syria. Let us assume that he thought if Elisha was Jehoram's subject then Jehoram could command Elisha's obedience and obtain a cure for Naaman. But clearly the Syrian king understood very little about Elisha's God, the God of Israel.

Elisha, you might remember, had delivered Jehoram once before when the three kings king of Israel, the king of Judah, and another king, I've forgotten who it was. But the three kings went to fight the Moabites and ran out of water in the wilderness. Jehoram knew Elisha. He knew that Elisha had delivered them once before, that he had made water to flow in the desert, that it had filled up great pits, and that he had delivered the Moabites into the hands of these three kings who otherwise would have been stranded in the desert. Jehoram knew that Elisha had no respect for him. Jehoram knew that Elisha answered a higher power than Jehoram's command. And Jehoram was troubled.

He assumed the king of Israel was trying to pick a fight, that he wanted to bring his armies, the armies of Syria, against the armies of Israel, and that this was his way of starting a fight. Jehoram says, am I God to kill and to make alive? Can I make this man Naaman alive? Am I God to kill and make alive that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? See how he seeketh a quarrel against me? and he tore his clothes. Now that, we've encountered this before.

It's a public display of distress. Sometimes people would put ashes on their head. That was another way of showing that they were sorrowful or they were in mourning or they would wear a particular kind of cloth and that again would show to the people around about that they were troubled in their heart and in their minds. And this tearing of the clothes was a picture of the king's anxiety.

And that anxiety, or news of that anxiety, soon reached Elisha's ears. And Elisha sent to the king. He sent a message to the king. And he said, let Naaman come now to me. This is what he said. And he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. a prophet who is able in the name of the Lord to work miracles. Elisha expressed no doubt about this.

Naaman would be healed and Naaman would acknowledge the glory of the God of Israel by the cure he received, by the miracle that was performed upon him. And actually, I think that Elisha's words were also a rebuke to Jehoram, because Jehoram had also obtained a miracle. And yet he would not acknowledge that there was a prophet in Israel and that there was one true God of Israel. So that Jehoram's rejection of God and his neglect of God's prophet was a rebuke against the King of Israel as well. So Naaman came.

He came with his horses, he came with his chariot, he came with his servants, and he stood outside of Elisha's door. He hoped for great things. He certainly expected to be treated in a manner becoming his rank and his status. And he waited. And he waited. And no Elisha appeared. So he waited some more. And then the door opened and out came Elisha's servant. Now that's probably Gehazi. And he had a message for Naaman. It was simple. It was abrupt. Go and wash in Jordan. That's a river. Go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee. and thou shalt be clean.

Well that was not what Naaman expected. It wasn't actually what he wanted to hear either and it made him angry. He felt humiliated and he felt frustrated. The king had not helped and now this prophet would not even show himself. And what was this that he was asking?

I tried to do a little bit of arithmetic. I tried to work out what was involved in Naaman going to the River Jordan. And I've had to make a number of assumptions, but let us assume that some of those assumptions might be right. I think that it was probably around 25 miles from the city of Samaria to the River Jordan. That would have required a day's travel by chariot, assuming that there was a direct road. So they're assuming that he could make that journey as the crow flies, which might be a big assumption. I think it was probably about 25 miles and at least a whole day's journey. And as well as that, Naaman knew that the River Jordan was a shallow, muddy river. What was Elisha playing at? Mere water was useless to cure leprosy, and the beautiful clear rivers in Syria were better than this Jordan. Naaman thought these people were making fun of him, and he'd had enough. He was going home. So he turned around and in a rage he headed back towards Syria. And then his servants spoke to him.

They'd seen what had occurred and perhaps being of lower status than this mighty general and perhaps not being personally insulted by Elisha's actions, they had another perspective. A less emotional response, a more rational view of things. They said, we've come this far. The prophet isn't asking a lot.

Had he required some great gesture from the general, Naaman would have been pleased to do that. This was humbling, yes, but it was simple. If this is what was required, said Naaman's servants, just do it, just do it. In fact, these men were more than servants to Naaman. They were friends. They reasoned with their master out of love, out of affection for him. And they convinced him with their argument.

What was it? Wash and be clean. What's difficult about that? So Naaman stopped. turned around and he went to the River Jordan and there he dipped himself seven times in the waters of the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God. I'm sure that Naaman looked at the leporous patch in his skin after every dip.

Once. Twice. Three times. No change. Four times. Five. Six. Nothing. But when he emerged out of the water for the seventh time, there was not a mark of leprosy upon him. We read, his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

What a moment for Naaman. What a moment for his servants. What joy must have filled their hearts. But then, What amazing implications must have flooded their thinking as well. There certainly was a prophet in Israel. The prophet of a God of mercy and power. Naaman was changed. Yes, he was changed on the outside from his leprosy. but he was also transformed within. His leprosy was gone. And as he travelled back to meet Elisha, he had time to consider his own state, his own condition, his own attitude, his own heart before such a God as this.

Here are a few applications for us today. Let us not fail to notice the Lord's hand in every stage of this miracle for the blessing of Naaman. That's what it was about, the blessing of Naaman. That's what God intended, the blessing of Naaman. The capture of the little maid was the Lord's purpose for the blessing of Naaman. Her being delivered into Naaman's house amongst all the houses of Syria was the Lord's doing for the blessing of Naaman. Her testimony that was given to her mistress was prompted by the Lord. Her mistress's hopes were encouraged by the Lord, as indeed were Naaman's. They were stirred up by the Lord. The letter from the king of Syria, the Lord's hand was in that. The anxiety of the king of Israel, his hand was in that. All ordained by God. All contributing and working together to bring this man to Elisha's door.

Even Naaman's servants were tutored by the Lord to give their master wise counsel. Do you see how the Lord works all things together? How step by step he accomplishes all that he has ordained? And I want you to consider the purpose of God in your life and how he arranges events and directs circumstances beyond your knowledge and beyond your control and with his power brings about his will. In sovereign distinguishing grace, in sovereign goodness, the Lord purposed mercy for Naaman and chose to call this Syrian general, in all truth, a very unlikely character, but chose to call him to faith in him. And it is my prayer that the Lord has ordained mercy for you. And even that the fact that you hear these Bible accounts, the fact that you are confronted by the story of Naaman, the fact that you think about this little servant, Geral, the fact that you know about the Lord Jesus Christ, that these little services will be God's way of teaching you to seek Him, to seek for mercy, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

Here's another thing that we can learn from this account. Notice that the Lord showed Naaman his need. Now you might say, well that was quite obvious, wasn't it? It was a raised white patch of infectious, leprous skin. He was a leper. And it was growing. And it would ultimately cover his body and take his life.

You can't see your sin on the outside. but you see and feel the effects of sin. We all have sin in our heart, in our mind, in our soul. And the Bible speaks of conviction for sin. That is when the Holy Spirit convinces us that we are sinners in need of a saviour. Now he does not convince everyone, only those that he intends to save.

But has the Lord shown you that you are a sinner? Simon Peter, one of the Lord's disciples, once caught a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that glimpse of Christ's glory caused him to realize that he was a sinner. In Luke chapter 5 verse 8 we read this, When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

The Lord told Peter not to be afraid. He had a purpose to show Peter grace. And then we're told that Peter forsook all and followed Christ. And once again, it is my prayer that the Lord will show you two things today. One, your personal sin. And two, his personal salvation. And once you have seen yourself as you truly are and see Christ as he truly is, like Peter, you will follow him as well. Quickly, here's my third point, and then we're done today.

The washing away of Naaman's leprosy occurred in the river Jordan. It was a smelly, muddy river, but the Lord used it to humble Naaman's pride. The washing away of our sin requires something much more precious, powerful, and particular. Not the muddy waters of the River Jordan.

Do you know what the washing of our sin requires? It requires the blood of Jesus Christ. The cleansing power of Christ's precious blood has to be applied by God's Spirit to your conscience. When the Saviour, when the Lord Jesus died on the cross many years ago, His blood was shed by the nails that pierced His hand and His feet and the spear that pierced His side. But in God's sight, that blood that was shed has power.

The word that we use is efficacy. It is effective to cleanse and wash away the sin of all for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. And just as completely as Naaman's leprosy was washed away, The Lord Jesus Christ's blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness, from all sin.

At first, Naaman was too proud to think he needed the Jordan water. He'd rather do something great to earn God's mercy, but that's not how grace works. Naaman was hoping for some big dramatic moment. Elisha would come out and do his healing ritual. but the Lord brought him down to a muddy hole to show him where true glory lay. May the Lord make us all humble before his glory and give us faith to trust and obey his call so that we all may know that our sins are forgiven and our souls are clean in God's sight. Amen.