We've read the story of a man
who in the beginning knew nothing of the grace of God, cared nothing
for the grace of God, but is brought into the picture. The
Lord brings him a distance. In the New Testament, the gospel
of Luke chapter four, the Lord Jesus preached on the subject
of election, divine election. And his audience was prejudiced
Jews in the synagogue at his hometown of Nazareth. And he said to them in the time
of Elijah, the prophet, when it never rained for three and
a half years, people were starving to death and dying of thirst.
And there were many desperate widows in Israel. But Elijah
the prophet was only sent to one. And she not an Israelite,
but a Gentile. And she and her house were sustained
throughout the famine. Then in that same message, he's
preaching in Luke four. He mentions this story we read
this morning. He said in the days of Elisha,
there were many lepers in Israel. And none of them were cleansed,
save Naaman the Syrian. Syria was the bitter enemy of
Israel, but there is no respect to persons
with God. People misinterpret that to mean
that God loves everybody the same. You don't read that in
the Bible. The world God so loved, John
3, 16, is not the same world Christ refused to pray for in
John 17, 9. He said, I pray for them which
thou hast given me. I pray not for the world. People God loves don't go to
hell. He's bigger than that. So. The scriptural statement
that there is no respect of persons with God does not mean that he's
an equal opportunity God. It simply means he don't respect
your person. He don't respect my person. He
is no respecter of persons. All the mercy anyone receives
is for Christ's sake. That's what it's saying. So in
this story, second Kings five, There's several things of interest
that are very profitable to us. And certainly I'll not exhaust
the passage. I need three or four hours, I
guess, just to get going here. But I've jotted down 10 words
that I want to kind of try to stay in line with and get through
this. Don't know if we will. And the
first word would be the shame, S-H-A-M-E, shame. Verse one tells
us that this man named Naaman, is the captain, the military
leader of the entire Syrian army. He is bold. He is courageous.
It says he's a mighty man of valor. He is respected by the
king of Syria, a great man with his master. And he's honorable. He's highly esteemed by all the
soldiers and all the citizens of Syria. Why? This verse tells
us, because the Lord had given deliverance by him, the Lord
had given deliverance unto Syria. He had a successful career in
winning battles as Syria's military leader. But don't miss the wording
of God's word. Even this proud, popular officer
never succeeded in himself. Look at the wording we read not
that he did it, but that the Lord by him had given deliverance. You'll say, well, the Lord don't
bless people that don't love him. The Lord don't help people
that don't know him. You better, you better open the
Bible or read a while. See the world don't realize this.
They think it's every man on his own, but according to this,
even the proud, and the prosperous and the popular and the praised
among us. Entertainers, actors, musicians,
politicians, attorneys, business executives, all the success any
person on earth has is God's doing. God's doing. Now that's big if that can sink
in. So the truth is, if you want
to be rich and go to hell, he might let you. If you want to
be famous and go to hell, he might let you. But to go to heaven,
you've got to be identified with and partaker of the last five
words of verse one. But he was a leper. When you read verse one and stop
before those last five words, every man in Syria would have
swapped places with this man. He was a great man. But after
you read those last five words, no man in Syria would have swapped
places with this man. It changes everything. Leprosy. as you know, is a picture of
sin. And this man, Naaman, is a clear picture of every man,
woman, boy, and girl in Adam's race. We're all infected. We're
all defiled. We're all corrupted. We're all
literally eat up with spiritual leprosy, sin. There's rottenness
in our flesh and bones. That's why this body is going
to die and go back to dust. Sin has done this to us. Now that's the sinful shame,
the awful shame that's upon us. Religion does not remove the
shame. Morality does not remove the
shame. Education does not remove the shame. Culture does not remove
the shame. We breathe God's air. We drink
God's water. We enjoy the beauty and the blessings
of God's green earth. And yet we spit in His face and
say, I'll live my life. I'll do as I please. I don't
owe God anything. What a shame that folks would
think and live like that. And what a greater shame that
even the Lord's people would fall into that vein so many times. Now this man is not occupied
with pointing out the leprosy in others. No, his heart is consumed with
the reality, I am a leper. That's what I need. That's what
you need. I mean, you can have this religious
world that's all about who can outdo who, who can be the biggest and the
best. Paul said in Philippians 3.8, he said, I was in that competition
mess one time and I stood my ground well, but now I count
it all dung. If you don't know what that is,
go walk through a cow pasture and you'll find out. It don't
smell like strawberry shortcake. Paul said all that religious
competition, who outdoing who and all that kind of stuff. Me, a sinner, trying to appease
a holy God by my doing. Oh, it stinks. It stinks bad. That's
what he's saying. There is great shame on Adam's
entire race because of what sin has done to us. We're spiritual
lepers. And without a miracle, leprosy
will kill this man. and without a miracle, spiritual
leprosy will put you in hell and me in hell. And we're all
diagnosed spiritual lepers. What a shame, what a shame. Not
only shame, there's the shame of this, but the second word
is secret, secret. You talk about a secret hidden
in the province of God. no one knew. In Naaman's own house, a little Israelite maiden that
had been taken captive as a slave out of Israel, pulled away from her family,
taken from her home and made a slave, a handmaid to Naaman's
wife, in their home. How awful that sounds from the
human side, but there's a secret. God did it. God did it. He put her there and gave her
a word to be fitly spoken at the right time. Proverbs 25,
11, a word fitly spoken. He's like apples of gold in pictures
of silver. We don't know how long this girl
was there, maybe years. We don't know how many times
she swept the floor, made the beds, washed the dishes. That's
why Naaman had her there. But that's not why God had her
there. If you and I had a half sense,
we'd be asking, Why does God have me where I am? We'd rather blame everybody and
everything. I'm telling you, this is the school I've been
in in recent months. Stress is a killer, they say.
We'd rather fume and fuss and blame and boil when we're not
able to make things happen the way we want them to happen. But read this Bible, Genesis
to Revelation, and you'll find that nobody has sense enough
to do anything except what God had determined beforehand to
be done. That's the way it's gonna go
every time, every time. So there's a secret. And this
says one day, this little maid, One day says to Naaman's wife
in verse four, would God, my Lord were with the prophet that is
in Samaria. She's talking about by my Lord
with a little L she's talking about Naaman in his misery. And
I said, Oh, would God that he were with the prophet that's
Elisha. Ms. Naaman might have said, what
good would that do? And the girl then says, for he would recover
him of his leprosy. She is not suggesting any greatness
in Naaman's person, but in his God. He is God's prophet. And coming to him meant coming
to God. He's the representative. So the
secret is out and things begin to happen. The third word is
system, system. Everything needs a system, but
a messed up system is a messed up system. It's really messed
up. I hate the messed up political system and the messed up legal
system, and especially the messed up religious system in this country. Naaman took the secret word from
the little maid and went to the king of Syria. He's going to
get the bigwigs involved now. He went to the king of Syria
and he wrote a letter to the king of Israel and sent Naaman
to him. That's the messed up system. The girl had said nothing about
the king of Syria. or the king of Israel, or a letter
being written, all she said was, would God, my Lord, we're with
the prophet. The system didn't work, it still
don't. Verse six, he brought the letter to the king of Israel
saying, now when this letter is coming to thee, behold, I
have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee that thou mayest
recover him of his leprosy. I've sent this man to you that
thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. Well, the King of Israel,
he lost it. What? Am I God? I can't recover a man of leprosy. He accused the king of Syria
of picking a fight with him. The system don't work. Is the man picking a quarrel
with me? And the king of Israel rent his clothes and he went
all to pieces. The system don't work. Well,
Elisha the prophet heard about it. And he said, send the man over
to my house. And now here comes the fourth
word, special, special. Name and thought, name and thought,
because of who I am, I'll get special recognition and special
attention. Well, verse nine, when he pulled
up to the prophet's house in his fine chariot and horses,
Elisha didn't even come out of the house for a great man like
this. How rude was that? Verse 11, Naaman was wroth, went away, said, behold, I thought,
boy, that's really something isn't it? I thought. Surely, he will surely come out
to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, strike
his hand over the place, and recover the leper. I thought he'd treat me like
the special somebody that I am. You know what Elisha saw? A leper. That's all. He didn't see the
uniform, the bodyguards, the servants, or the chariot, the
fine horses. He saw a leper. But this man thought he was special.
We've had lots of people come through these doors that thought
they were special. and expected special treatment because of their being special. Some because of their money.
God don't need it. He don't need you. One was a politician that came
a few years back. One was a business owner. One
was a fire chief. We don't mistreat people at all,
but they all pulled a Naaman, got mad as a devil. Why? Because I only preach to lepers, not special folks. That's all Naaman saw, nothing
special, just a leper. That's all the preacher's supposed
to see because that's all the preacher is. Preacher really ought to wear
a blindfold. Oh, you look so nice. It messes
me up. I just think you're a lot better
than you are. Now, if I didn't love you, I
could entertain you every Sunday. But I need to tell you the truth,
you need to hear the truth. Lepers, lepers. The saddest thing
on earth is for good people to sit in church every Sunday for
40 years and have their trust in themselves. or in something
else other than the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, I hadn't been
a bad person. You have been a terrible person. Don't be comparing yourself to
people. We've got to meet the one who is infinitely holy. Fifth word, simplicity. Verse
10, Elisha sent a messenger unto
him, gave him just a simple prescription, simplicity. Say, go and wash
in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee
and thou shalt be clean. That's all it'll take. He never
gave him a religious to-do list or a don't-do list. He just said, get your filthy
blankety blank down to the Jordan River and dip seven times. Now there's a whole lot of stuff
in here I can't get to. Jordan means descending, going
down. That Jordan River, it passes
through the Mediterranean Sea, then runs on down into the Dead
Sea or Salt Sea. It's called the Dead Sea because
of the salt. No fish, no vegetation, no life. It's the Dead Sea. It's the lowest
elevation on earth. descending down, down, down.
It's the bottom. That's where the Jordan River
goes. This is where Naaman was sent.
A very simple prescription with a certain promise. You do this
and thou shall be clean. But that's not all. Don't just
go down there, that's simple, but this is also simple. Just
dip seven times. I won't elaborate on the seven,
but many of you know from the creation itself, the book of
Genesis and all, especially in the book of Revelation, seven
is the perfection of God in Christ. So it's not just the river. but
dip seven times. How about six times? No, no,
no. Seven. The prophet Ezekiel chapter 47. Some hard reading back in those
prophets, I know, but I want you to sometime this week, make
it a point to read Ezekiel chapter 47. The prophet is given a vision
from the Lord. And he saw a little trickle of
water coming out from under the threshold of the temple on Mount
Zion at Jerusalem. And the stream increased to ankle
deep, then knee deep, then waist deep, then it was over a man's
head. And the stream in that vision,
it went down out of Jerusalem, east side down through the Judean
Valley, and into the Jordan. Christ is that stream in the
vision. He's the one that came out from
under the threshold, the temple, from the holy of holies of heaven,
left the glory and came down. You remember how many times he
said in John 6, I came down. I'm the bread of God. I came
down from heaven. That's descending. That's descent.
That's Jordan. That's Jordan. So he is this
stream. And when the stream hits the
river and flowed on down into the dead sea, in Ezekiel's vision,
there was foliage. There was many trees on each
side of the river. And in the sea there was multitude
of fish. And the waters were healed. And the scripture said, everything
shall live whether the river cometh. That's Christ. So the simplicity,
just go to the river, dip seven times, trust in Christ. Trust in Christ. The sixth word,
suspicion. Naaman says there's got to be
more to it than that. There's no way there's healing
in that filthy Jordan. We've got better rivers in Syria. 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. This is twice he's got mad. Verse 11. He got upset. Verse 12, he went
away in a rage. I'm wasting my time. I'm getting
out of here. This don't make any sense at
all. The gospel don't make sense to
folks trusting in themselves. Or trusting in someone else.
If you bring us, bring them a sack of money, they'll help you. Name
a thought. This, this is worthless. A wasted
trip. The seventh word is servants,
servants. In verse 13, his servants came
near and spake unto him and said, my father. Now that was a, an
appropriate respectfully address. Said, think about this. If the
prophet had bid thee do some great thing or pay some great
price, You'd have jumped right on it. But this is so simple. You think it's worthless, but how much rather when he said
to the wash and be clean. Since we're here, they said,
look, Beggars can't be choosers. You've come this far. You'd do
something difficult. You'd pay a lot of money, but
while we're here, why don't you just do what the man said do? After all, he didn't say it might
work. After all, he didn't say this
could help. He said wash and be clean this
will do the job come to Christ The eighth word is submission
Verse 14 then he went down. Oh, don't miss those four words
Then he went down Not just in body But he went down in here I'm going to do it. He's talking to himself. This
might be the most fool thing I've ever done. But he went down. He went down.
He went down. And in his going down, what did
that consist of? It consisted of this. He's not
the captain of the Syrian army now. He's a leper. He's not the military hero now.
He's a leper. He's not the proud and praised
successful man. He's a leper. He's not better than his servants. He's not better than anyone.
He's a leper. He went down. He went down. He dips one time and comes up
wet as a rat. And the devil says, you are an
absolute fool. Is this who you are? He dips again and comes up. And the servants say, that's
two. Five to go. Hmm. How painful is this? He dips
again. And the devil says, you'll be
the laughingstock of all Israel when this gets back to town. This gets out on you. But he's been brought down with
every accusation of hell. Naaman can't do but one thing.
He keeps saying, I am a leper. I am a leper. I am a leper. And if God ever brings you down,
you'll quit this mess of who you're better than. And all the
bad you don't do and all the good you do do, all that's garbage.
If God brings you down, it'll be, I am a leper. and I'll perish in my sins if
he don't do something about it. He dips again, comes up flexing
his muscles. Oh, what a man. Tattoos on both
arms. Shining in the sun. Beautiful
physique. Mister, you're something great.
No, I'm a leper. I'm a leper. He does it seven
times. This is how God does it. It's not about how much money
you've got. It's not about how important a position you hold. It's not about how religious
you've been. It's not about whether you have or haven't ever been
drunk. I trust you haven't and won't be. But it's about going to the Jordan,
death, and embracing Christ. Dip seven times. Trusting Him
as the only hope. for the stinking leper you are. Number nine, the word is supernatural. Then he went down and dipped
himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the
man of God and his flesh came again, like onto the flesh of
a little child, a supernatural work. It was the same in the
New Testament, Matthew chapter 8, there came a leper to him
and worshipped him. By the way, you don't come to
him without worshipping him. You stop short if you don't
worship. There came a leper to him and worshipped him. And he
said, he said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. He never questioned the Lord's
ability. He questioned his will. Lord, you can if you will. And the Lord said, I will. Be
thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. In the New Testament, leprosy,
by the way, is spoken of as being cleansed more than being cured. It's spoken of, the emphasis
is always on defilement, uncleanness before God, defilement
rather than disease. It is an awful disease, but it's
the defilement that's emphasized. A supernatural work. The answer
is mentioned several times in the whole text. Verse three,
he'll recover, not just get a little help. Verse 10, shalt be clean. It's not, it might help. Verse
12, wash and be clean. And he asked, well, won't my
way work? No, it won't. Verse 13, wash and be clean. Why not do exactly as he said,
the servants say. And then verse 14, he was clean. present tense. I don't know how
Naaman died or when he died, but I promise you it wasn't from
leprosy. That was gone. The supernatural. And the 10th word is security.
Security. It's a done deal. And the last
words we read in verse 14, and he was clean. He's not on the way hoping that
he'll get good enough someday to make it in. No. It's a supernatural work
and there is a security. He was clean. This is the gospel in the Old
Testament. There is none that seeketh after
God unless he takes the initiative to draw you to him. You'll perish
in your sins. And if he draws you to him, it
won't be to hand you a ticket to heaven. It'll be to change
your heart, to bring you down from the something you think
you are. to the reality of the nothing you are. That's how he works. That's how he works. So this
morning, I challenge you, confess your leprosy, plead for mercy. Our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood. and my part. No, no, that's not
it. Jesus blood and righteousness. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus
bless his holy name.