Now the pulpit is an awesome,
awesome place. I've been doing what I'm doing
tonight for a long, long time, 44 years. I've been pastor of
the same church 43 years, and I always approach this business
of preaching the gospel with fear and trembling, and agonizing before God, praying
that he'll not leave me alone, but rather he, for his glory
and the good of the people to whom I preach, will give me a
message. My son is pastor of a church
in Virginia. I was over to visit him not very
long ago. He's 38 years old. He said, Dad, how have you done
this 44 years? Preaching the gospel, studying,
preparing messages. He said, I'm suffering from PPD. I said, what on earth is that?
He said, pre-pulpit distress. I approach every sermon with fear
and trembling. I said, what's the rest of it? He said, post-pulpit depression. I'm always dissatisfied with
the job I've done. How can we ever be satisfied
with what we do. Old Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said,
I'm never satisfied with the effort I put forth in preaching. He said, I think I've preached
two, what I consider two great messages in my entire ministry,
in both times I've dreamed them. I heard a story one time that
helped me. Mr. Spurgeon, Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, told this story in one of his books. He said there was a young minister
invited to preach at a certain place, a well-known place, and
he labored diligently, prepared his message well, got his points,
his antidotes and illustrations and doctrines straight, and he
was quite satisfied, quite pleased with his effort. And when the
old elder introduced him, he bounded up the pulpit steps,
you know, with vigor and vim and vitality and tore into that
sermon. And he fell flat on his face.
He just struck out. He just fumbled the ball. He
did a terrible job, and he knew it. He didn't even finish the
message. He just burst out crying, his
head bowed, weeping, and walked off the pulpit steps and went
down and sat down on the front row and sat there with his face
in his hands, weeping over his failure. And the old elder dismissed
the congregation, came over and put his arms around the young
man, and he said, My son, if you had gone up there like you
came down, you might have come down like you went up there.
Good possibility. May God speak tonight through
his word and his servant I pray that I have his message. I'll
be speaking from 2 Kings, chapter 5. Now, this is a familiar scripture,
and some of you here heard a message on this scripture just two or
three weeks ago. But I want you to listen to it
again. There's a message here for all
of us. I'm going to read 2 Kings, chapter
5. beginning with verse 1. Would
you follow in your Bibles while I read? Now Naaman, captain of
the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master,
and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria. He also, he was also a mighty
man in valor, but He was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out
by companies and had brought away captive out of the land
of Israel a little maid. And she waited on Naaman. Why? And she said unto her mistress,
Would God, my Lord, Naaman, were with the prophet that's in Samaria,
for he, the prophet, would recover him of his leprosy. And one went
in and told Naaman, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is
of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria, Naaman's
boss, said to him, Go to, go, I will send a letter to the king
of Israel. And Naaman departed and took
with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold,
and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter to
the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto
you, 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 he said, Am I God? 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." He's trying to start
a fight. 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 he stood at the door of the house of Elisha. He wouldn't
go in, he stood at the door. And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times. and your flesh shall
come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." But Nahum was
angry, and he went away, and he said, Behold, I thought he
would 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 Pharpha, 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. So his servants came near and
spake unto him and said unto him, 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. The title of this message is
The Way Up is Down. The Way Up is Down. 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 cleansed. Now why is this story in the
Bible? Why is so much of this precious,
precious space in God's Word given to Naaman and his healing? Naaman, a Gentile, Naaman, a
Syrian, and to his healing, recovery from leprosy. is so much space
in God's Word given to the healing of this man. Now, I know the
story is authentic. In Luke chapter 4, you needn't
turn to it, you're familiar with it, when our Lord went down to
Nazareth, as His custom was, He went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. And He read from Isaiah
61, and then He had some things to say to them, and they reacted
to what He had to say, and then He said this, I'll tell you a
truth, There were many widows in Israel in the days of the
prophet. And unto none of them was the
prophet saved. God didn't send his prophet to
feed a single widow in Israel. But he sent his prophet to a
Gentile woman, a woman who was a Gentile, and fed her. And,
he said, there were many leopards. Israel in the days of Elisha,
and none of them, none of them, none of them were clean except
Naomi, a Gentile. Now when I read this story, two
things, two questions arose. The first one is this, did the
waters of Jordan have power to heal leprosy? No, I cannot remember
any other leper who was cleansed by dipping one, two, three, four,
five, six, or seven times in the River Jordan. Do you accept
Naaman? I can't read of any other leper that went to the River
Jordan and came out clean. So the River Jordan didn't have
any power to cleanse leprosy. Secondly, but could Naaman, could
Naaman, this man, have been cleansed? without dipping in the river
Jordan. He answers again, no. He had
to do what the prophet did. So what's taught here? What do
we have here? Well, I'll show you. First of all, we know that
Naaman is an object of God's elective grace. Christ told us
that. The Lord chose to show mercy
to Naaman. Our Lord Jesus Christ used him
as an example. of God's sovereign right to show
mercy to whom he will. When our Lord spoke to those
Jews in the synagogue on that Sabbath day, those descendants
of Abraham who felt that they had a corner on God because they
were descendants of Abraham, he said to them, God doesn't
owe you anything. You have no corner on God. The
Son will quicken whom He will. God saves whom He will. He said
there were many widows in Israel. God fed none of them. He fed
a Gentile. There were many lepers in Israel.
God healed none of them. He healed a Gentile, Naaman,
sovereign mercy. And I know this from the foundation
of the world. Naaman was an object of God's
grace. known unto God from the beginning
are all his works. Jesus knew from the beginning
who would believe on him and who would not believe. The Apostle
Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 said, but we're bound to give
thanks. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. and he called you by our
gospel. Charles Spurgeon said if there
was not another verse in the Bible that taught God sovereign,
everlasting, election of grace, he said this would be sufficient.
It's a doctrine of praise. I'm bound to give thanks to God.
It's a doctrine of love for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord.
I have drawn you, I have loved you with an everlasting love,
therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you. It's a doctrine
of eternal choice. God has chosen you from the beginning. It's a doctrine of salvation
to salvation. It's a doctrine of means through
the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. and
belief of the truth. God's people will. He said, Other
sheep I have which are not of this foal, them I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one foal and
one shepherd. All that my Father giveth me
will come to me. Naaman was one of those the Father
gave to the Son. Naaman was one of those God chose
to save. I know that. But here's what
we have here. Naaman's got to learn. some things. Naaman's got to learn some things.
And there are those here tonight who are God's elect, God's sheep. But all of us have to learn some
things. He said, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Naaman's got to learn that God's
God. He doesn't know that. Naaman's
got to learn his own inability, his own poverty, his own helplessness
before God. Naaman's a proud man. He's got
to be brought down. Naaman's got to be humbled and
Naaman's got to be brought down. Human pride and works and righteousness
and merit must go. Naaman's got to learn salvation
is of the Lord. Vailman has to learn salvation
is the beloved. Old Jonah learned it. He learned
it in a strange place, didn't he? When he was tossed overboard
from that ship and God prepared the fish to slaughter him and
Jonah said, I was in darkness and the iron bars were about
me and the seaweed was about my head. And I turned toward
his holy temple, and I said, Salvation's of the Lord! He graduated. If I get out of here, he'll have
to save me. If I'm delivered, he'll have to deliver me. And
that fish vomited him out on dry land. I heard a preacher
say one time that the reason that fish, when Jonah said, Salvation's
of the Lord, with such strength and power and And so convinced
that that fish vomited him because he couldn't stomach a Calvinist. Somebody asked Mr. Spurgeon,
what is your Calvinism? He said, I'll tell you what it
is. I'll tell you what my Calvinism is. The whole of the work, the
whole of the work from Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end,
the whole of the work. whereby a lost, ruined, damned,
depraved sinner is lifted from the dunghill and mired in corruption
and inability of seeing and washed and sanctified and justified
and translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
God dear son. Seated with Christ on the right
hand of God and perfectly conformed to the image of his son All of
that work from beginning to end is of the Lord and of him only
That's my job and that's grace, grace, grace Old Naaman's got
to learn that Naaman's got to get lost Man's got to be lost
before he's found. Somebody ask a A preacher one
time said, You think I'm saved? He said, I don't know. Have you
ever been lost? If you've never been lost, you've
never been found. If a man misses conviction, if he misses conviction
of sin, he's going to miss repentance. If he misses repentance, he's
going to miss faith. If he misses faith, he's going
to miss Christ. If he misses Christ, he's going
to miss salvation. He's going to perish. You gotta be lost. Have you ever
been lost? Helplessly, hopelessly lost? In need? Unable to do anything? Out there
lost? There's a little boy named Billy who
lived in a suburb. And he's on the outskirts of
a heavy, heavily wooded area. And his mother and daddy always
told him, Don't go into the woods. Don't go into the woods. But
boys don't always mind their daddies, do they? And one day,
Billy got his BB gun, and away he went to hunt in the great
woods. And with his BB gun, he kept
getting deeper and deeper and deeper into the woods, deeper
and deeper and deeper into the woods, not realizing that he
had never found his way back. And he hunted birds and he hunted
rabbits and he hunted squirrels with his BB gun and finally after
some length of time he decided, I think I'll go home now. He's
lost but he doesn't know it. And so he starts out this way
and he walks and walks and walks and he decides that home's not
that way. But he's not lost yet, he's got some more ways to try.
So he decides to go this way and he walks and he walks and
he walks and he walks and he got so tired. He said, well,
home's not that way. But he's still not lost. He's
got a few more ways. So he tried this way, and he
walked and walked. Look at those big trees. And he went this way, and he
walked and walked. And finally he came back and
sat down on a log and started crying. He's lost now. He's lost. He's tried every way he knows.
And he sits there, and that's why he said, Daddy! Mama! Help me! I'm lost. That's lost. Helplessly lost. No other way to try. I'm lost. And that's where God brings the
sinner when he saves him. He cries, Lord, save me or I
perish. Huh? You ever been lost? I'm lost.
After a while, he heard the voice of his daddy, Billy! Here I am! Oh, here I am! Come over here!
Here I am! So happy. And you'll know when
you're found. A young man talked to me one
time. He came and he said, Brother man, he said, I'm lost. I've been a church member for
years, and I realized I'm not saved. I'm lost. And we talked
a while, and finally I told him, I said, now you, you get into
the Word, you seek the Lord, you come and listen to me preach,
don't you miss the service? He said, well, how am I going
to know when I'm saved? I said, how'd you know you're lost? He said, God showed me I was
lost. I said, He'll show you when you're saved. I can't save
you, God saved you. I can't speak peace to you, that'd
be peace, peace, when there is no peace. Isn't that? I can't
speak peace to a man. I can't speak peace to my own
wife, much as I love her, as close as we are. Save her. She'll have to be lost, and he'll
have to find her. And she'll know when he'll find her. That's
right. Old Naoman, he's got to be lost.
God's got to shake him up. Now, let's look at him. Let's
look at him. Here it says, and see how a sinner
comes to Christ. Naoman is a picture of a sinner
coming to Christ. In verse 1, Now Naaman, captain
of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man, great man, but
he was a leper. And he was honorable, but he
was a leper. And by him God had given deliverance
to Syria, but he's a leper. And he was a mighty man in valor,
but a leper. And I look out here and I see
some People with who are honorable and talented and successful sons
of Adam Every one of you painters musicians Artists mothers dads
men and women of principle and character But one thing y'all
got in common your centers That's right senators By one man, sin
entered this world, and death by sin, and death passed upon
all men. We got a disease in here that'll
destroy us in hell. It's an inward disease with sinners.
We don't think right, talk right, walk right, live right, dream
right, imagine right with sinners. From the sole of our feet to
the top of our head, there's no soundness in us, nothing but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been bound
up. We died in Adam. In sin, my mama
conceived me. The seed that my dad planted
in my mother's womb was a sinful seed, and I came forth from the
womb speaking lies, and so did you. We left first. I was preaching on television
a few years ago. My message was along this same
line. How sinful are we? How holy is
God? How can God be just and justifier? And there was a young man up
in the mountains of West Virginia whose name is David Klein, a
coal miner, married with several children. And he turned the television
on right at the time. Right at the time, he had never
seen me before on television, never heard me. He went over
to turn the television on, he told me later, to get some good
gospel music. And he turned it on, and there
I was with my finger pointed at him. And he said, the first thing
you said was this. Now there's a lot of difference
between me and you, but we got one thing in common. I'm a sinner
and you're a sinner." And he said, I got so mad, I spit that
thing off. He said, I ain't no sinner. And
he said, I went over and sat down in my chair, mad as a hornet,
and I realized my anger was single. And he said, I said out loud,
he said, maybe I am a sinner. And he went over and turned the
television off. That young man, God save him,
he's a member of church in Piteville, Kentucky and drives 125 miles
every Sunday round trip to worship God where the gospel is preached. God has to break a man before
he saves him. Old Naaman had a lot of good
points, but something was wrong. He's a sinner, a leper, and you
and I have a lot Not I, but you do. You have a lot of good points.
I can't find any in myself. You probably can't find any in
you. But to me, you've got a lot of good points. What's the next thing? Old Naaman
found out there's healing. He found out there's healing
in Israel, but you know what he did? He went to the wrong
place. It says here, in verse 4, verse
5, and the king of Syria said, Now you go and I'll send a letter
to the king of Israel. The young lady, the maiden from
Israel, didn't say anything about going to the king. She said there's
a prophet. Isn't that what she said? God
has a prophet in Israel, and here this man's going to the
king. Who is this prophet? This prophet's
Elisha. And this prophet is a picture
of that prophet. That prophet. You know what they
said to John the Baptist one time? Are you the Christ? No. Are you that prophet? Are you that prophet? That's
Christ. The prophet. No man has seen
God. The Son declares Him. The Son
reveals Him. The Son is that prophet. God,
who spake to our fathers by the prophet, has spoken to us by
His Son. Turn to Deuteronomy 18. You want
to see this. Deuteronomy 18, listen to this.
Verse 18 is speaking of Christ. And old Naaman, he wanted nothing
to do with a lowly prophet. He wanted to go to headquarters.
He wanted nothing to do with a mediator. He wanted nothing
to do with an advocate. He didn't want anything to do
with an intercessor. He was going to the king directly.
The young lady said, go to the prophet. He went to the wrong
place. Listen to Deuteronomy 18, verse
18, God said, verse 17, And the Lord said to me, They have well
spoken that which they have spoken. I'll raise up a prophet. I'll
raise up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee.
I'll put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him and it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak
in my name." I don't require it of him. You've got to hear
the prophet. That's Christ. My sheep hear my voice. They said, if you be the Christ,
tell us. He said, I've told you, and you believe not. You believe
not because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. They hear the prophet. But I'll
tell you men today, they're like nail men. They want nothing to
do with that man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were,
our faces from him. There's no beauty that we should
desire him. Everybody, to anybody, turn thumbs
down on Jesus of Nazareth. They'll go to the Pope, they'll
go to the priest, but they won't come to Christ. That's right. Men will go to the church, they'll
go to Mary. Hail Mary, mother of God, have
mercy on us all sinners. They'll go to the confessional,
they'll go to the altar, they'll go to the law, they'll go to
the baptistry, they'll go to the preacher, they'll go to the
front, they'll go to the inquiring, they'll go anywhere but to Christ. Poor Naaman, he heard about healing,
but he went to the wrong place. He wouldn't go to the prophet.
Well, turn back to the text. Oh, Naaman! Poor Naaman, he heard about healing,
but he went to the wrong place. He wouldn't go to the prophet.
Well, turn back to the text. Old Naaman took the wrong things
with him. Look at here. It says in verse 5, And the king
of Syria said, Now you go to gold. I'll send a letter to the
king of Ishmael. And Naaman departed and took
with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold
and ten changes of raiment. He's going to buy and bargain
for his healing. But let's don't get too harsh
with them when we're guilty today of the same thing. Paul said, I have great sorrow,
heaviness of heart for my brethren according to the brethren record.
They got a zeal for God. They got a zeal for God. They've
got religion, but it's not according to knowledge. They're ignorant
of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of God's holiness.
They're ignorant of God's righteousness in Christ, and they're going
about to establish for themselves a righteousness, aren't they?
And they will not submit. They will not submit to the righteousness
of God, which is Christ. Christ is the confirmation of
the law. Christ is the end of the law.
Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes in him. He's my righteousness. No, we come to God with our time
and our talent and our ties. Even one fella says, give your
heart to Jesus. And I thought, well, what does
he want with my old polluted, wretched, hard heart? I need
him to give me a new heart. I got nothing to give him. Top
lady said, in my hands no price I bring. Tempted to the cross, I cling.
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could never atone. Christ must save. Christ alone. Do you believe that? Charlotte Elliott said, just
as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.
And that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.
Just as I am poor, wretched, blind, but slight, richest healing
of the mind, all I need in Him divine, Lamb of God I come. See I am, do with me what you
will, but you got me on your hand because I'm a sinner. Just
as I am, and waiting not, waiting not, to rid my soul of one dark
blot, to thee whose blood can cleanse ever thy Lamb of God,
I'm coming. Just as I am, thou wilt receive."
He will. Welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because you'll promise, I believe.
God said, O Lamb of God, I come. He said, every beast of the forest
is mine. The cattle upon a thousand hills
is mine. I know all the fowls of the mountains
and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. For the world is mine and the fullness
is thine." What you gonna bring? I'm gonna come naked. Miserable, wretched, poor Naaman,
poor Naaman, bringing all these things to God. Well, finally Naaman came to
the right place, but he had a wrong attitude. This fellow's in a
mess, but we're just like him. We got something wrong. We go
to the wrong place. We try it for years, and we waste
our substance on it. many physicians and no better,
we won't come to Christ. And then finally he came, but
he came with the wrong attitude. Look at here, it says in verse
9, so Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and he stood
at the door of the house of Elisha. Can't you picture, you fellas
in the service, you remember those officers with the gold
braid and the swagger sticks, you know, and the tailored uniforms,
they were something else. Oh, I used to think I'd like
to buy him for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks
he's worth. But old Naomi came and stood
there, and I imagine that little house of that prophet was a whole
lot like some houses that I've been in down in Mexico, just
little round huts with thatched roofs. and had a curtain over
the one door, no windows, just the door with an opening with
a curtain over it, and here he came and stood there with his
gold braid and stars and bars and swagger stick, you know,
and his high-heeled boots with the things they wear on the back
there, the gowns, what are those things? Yeah, that's it, spurs! And he stood there, you know,
waiting on a flasher to come out. You know what? He wanted to be
considered and treated as a great man who happened to be a leper. And all in the world he was,
was a leper. A rotten, dying leper who happened
to be, for a while, a great man. Don't you ever forget that. when
you feel like that God or his prophet or his people ought to
recognize you and honor you and bow straight before you. I hear
people say, preacher, boy, he'd make a good member. He's got
money. He'd make a bad member. He'd be like Naaman. He won't
buy his way in. Oh, he's got influence. With
whom? With God? I'll take him. He's got that kind of influence.
But I'm not interested in his influence with City Hall, are
you? Nehemiah stood there, you know,
waiting, waiting for the prophet of God to come out. And Elisha,
Elisha knew, Elisha knew that man's pride. And he knew it had
to be, it had to come out of him. It had to. Preachers, we've got a solemn
responsibility to be honest with people, even when it makes enemies.
Paul said, am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? Well, I'll
just have to be your interviewer, because I'm going to tell you
the truth. Elisha knew that he had to be
humble. This man has got to be shut up
to grace. So he sent word by, he didn't
come out, he sent word by his servant, said go out there and
tell that man to go dip, go wash seven times in Jordan and he'll
be all right. I'm from Alabama, and I heard
years ago about, and read about some of the revivals that took
place during the Civil War. There were some unusual revivals
that took place in those years, in the 1860s, around that terrible
time. And I read about a revival that
was going on. It was told to me about a revival
that God gave to a plantation to the slaves. There was a gifted,
gifted preacher, one of the slaves. His name was John. He was a gifted
preacher. And he was preaching every night
to those that would come to hear him. When they'd finish their
work in the field, they'd gather out there in the open air, and
John would preach. And God just sent blessing after
blessing. People were brought to Christ,
heard the gospel, and prayed. And the master of the plantation
slipped out one night under the shade of the tree, under the
darkness of the tree, and listened to John preach. And God sent
the air of conviction into his eyes. And he went back the next
night and stood out there by himself under the tree and listened
to John preach the gospel. And God dealt with him strongly
that night. After the crowd was dismissed,
he came down and sought out John alone. He said, John, he said,
I'm lost. I'm a sinner. I need God. What can I do? John said, Master,
He said, you see that hog pen over there? You go over there
and climb over the railing and get in that hog pen and lay down.
Oh, he got so mad, he was like Naomi. When Elisha told him to
go dip in the river, George, he walked off in a rage. But
the next night, he was back under that tree. And John preached,
faithful to his God. And God stripped that man again.
He came down after everybody's gone privately and said, John,
don't, don't. He said, John, I'm serious. Don't
be, don't be funnin' with me now. He said, John, what can
I do? He said, Master, you see that old man? Go climb the rail
and lay down. Stomped off again. Same thing
happened next night. And he came to John. He said,
tears running down his cheeks. He said, John, I'm a sinner. I'm lost. What can I do? Master, you see
that hog pen? And he turned and started walking.
And John watched him. And he walked slowly with that
white suit and those shiny boots. And he put one foot on the railing
and the other foot on the next railing and swung that first
leg over that top railing. And John said, Master, what are
you going to do? He turned and he said, John,
if I have to get in a hog pen to be saved, I'll get in a hog
pen. And John shook his head and smiled.
He said, Master, you don't have to really do it. You just got
to be willing. That's the same thing Elijah
said, isn't it? Willing. Come down. Come on down. Come on down. Broken. The haughty spirit is
going to be destroyed. The proud sinner is going to
be stripped. Well, old Naaman heard these words. He heard,
listen here to verse 11, but Naaman was angry and he went
away and he said, I thought, I thought. This man keeps doing
the wrong thing. Came to the wrong place. He brought
the wrong thing. He had the wrong attitude. Now
he's got the wrong thought. He said, I thought. Now he heard
what the man said, didn't he? And he understood what the man
said because he said, the rivers in my home country are better
than these dirty rivers. He understood. Somebody said,
I don't understand the Bible. Yes, you do. You just don't like
what you're reading. Those Pharisees understood Christ.
They understood exactly what he was saying, just exactly.
But they wouldn't bow. They wouldn't, the scripture
says, they would not be baptized of John because they would not
receive God's accusation against them. They wouldn't justify God. David did. David said, God, if
you damn me, you're clear. When you charge me, you're just.
But I want mercy. I don't want justice. And old
Naaman said, I thought. Your thoughts are not my thoughts,
God said. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. I thought, I thought,
well surely he'd come to me. No, you're going to come to him.
He's going to come to him. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. I found in him a resting place
and he made me glad. I thought he'd come to me, and
I thought he'd lay his hand on the place. No, you're gonna reach
out and touch the Lord. Like that woman with the issue
of blood, she said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment,
if I can just, she crawled and she reached out and was made
whole. Reach out. Reach out and touch the Lord
while he passes by. The Lord may have said, you'll
find he's not too busy to hear your hearts cry to your center. I thought he'd call on his God. You get what that man's saying?
His God. His God. No, your God. He's your Lord. Somebody says,
make Jesus your Lord. You're not going to do that.
God made him your Lord a long time ago. God beat you to it. He is your Lord. Every knee's
going to bow and every tongue's going to confess that he's Lord
to the glory of God the Father. The issue is, when are you going
to confess it? Now or in judgment. Here's Lord!"
No, my Lord. Like Thomas said, my Lord, my
God. Well, finally old Naaman did
something right. Listen, one of his servants,
verse 13, came and said to him, Master, my father, if the prophet
had told you something hard to do, And they tell people, make
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They tell people, come here and
do this, give your tithes, join the church, do this, do that,
do the other, keep the law. If he told you to do, would you
crawl on your knees from here to San Jose to be saved? Most
people would. Give it a shot anyway. If he
had told you to do something hard, wouldn't you have done
it? Why don't you wash? Why don't you? I don't see any
reason for anybody here going out of this place lost tonight.
The Lord is plenteous in mercy. He's gracious to sinners. He
came to save sinners. Put up your shotgun. Lay down
your shotgun. Put up your sword. Surrender.
Submit. Get out in the dust. Make your
headquarters in the dust. Submit to Christ. Believe. Very easy. If God gives you the grace, isn't
it? What took you so long? I couldn't see. Ah, I see him. He takes off that hat. And there's
that leprosy. He takes off that coat and those
bars of metal. He's skinny. Takes off that shirt. Everybody
turns their head. Oh, my. Well, all that was covered
up. We looked pretty good under the
veneer of our religion. Boy, folks could see our hearts. We'd turn our heads and they
would too. We'd pull this screen down and
focus up here tonight your thoughts and imaginations through this
day and you'd never show up to this conference again. Never, never, never. I wouldn't
be on a program. That's right. And old Naaman
had her well covered, and he had her uncovered. When you come
to Christ, you come uncovered, sinners. He only saved sinners,
nobody else. Out there in front of his men,
that despicable, diseased, dying man. And then he walked down
into that water. He went down. I love that statement. Then went he down. Down, down,
down. Get down just low as you can.
Well, preach, I'm down low. Get a little further. But I'm
wretched. Get a little further. Mr. Nothing From Nowhere, that's
us. And he dipped seven times according
to the saying of the man of God, and listen, and his flesh came
again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. So listen
to the next verse, and he returned to the man of God. He and all
his company, and he came and stood before him. He came in
this time. Ain't no place too humble for
him now. He ducked his old proud head and came through that curtain
doorway and walked up and stood in front of God's prophet who
was sitting there on that box turned upside down. And he said,
now I know, now I know, now I know there's no God in all the earth
but in Israel. Now therefore I pray you take
a blessing from your servant. Oh, Elisha didn't tell him to
give. He's got a new heart and he's
willing to give. Elisha didn't tell him to witness.
He's got a new heart and he couldn't wait to witness. You see what
I'm talking about? He's a different man. He's a
different man. He's come to God. He's a different
man. The poem goes, it was battered
and scarred. And the auctioneer thought it
scarcely worth his while to waste much time on that old violin,
but he held it up with a smile. And he said, what am I bid for
this old violin? Who'll start the bidding for
me? A dollar? Two dollars. Somebody make it
three. Going once, going twice, but no. From the room far back,
a gray-haired man came forward. He picked up the bow and tightened
the loosened string. Then he played on that old violin
a melody like a caroling angel sings. Then the auctioneer, in
a voice that was quiet and low, he said, now what am I bid for
the old violin? And he held it up with a bow. A thousand. Two thousand. Going for two. Somebody make
it three. Going for three. Going and going, cried he. And
the people cheered. And some of them said, we don't
understand. What changed the words of that
old violinist? He said, the touch of the master's
hand. And many a man, woman, boy or
girl would laugh out of tune, so out of tune, battered and
scarred by sin. auctioned off by a foolish crowd,
just like at Old Valley, and a game, a drink, a fall, a summer,
and he travels home. He's going once, he's going twice,
he's almost home, and the mask will come. The mask will come. That's the
key. And the foolish crowd never can quite understand the change
that's wrought in a sinner's heart. The way up is down. That's for
me and for you. May God, in his mercy, do for
me what I can't do for myself. Bring me down and keep me there,
that he might get all the glory, because salvation is of the Lord. Bless the word preached tonight,
the messages and songs, the testimonies, the prayers. Throughout this
day, make all of thy word and the preaching to be effectual
to our hearts. Give us true conviction of fear,
true repentance toward Thee, and true faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Humble us, Lord. Bring us down
that we may be exalted in Him. And for His glory, through His
name we pray. Amen.