Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to Second Kings, Chapter 5? While you're turning there, a
few announcements. We will not have Wednesday night
services this week because of Thanksgiving. People going to
see their families. Also, James Carver is going to
confess Christ and believe his baptism after the service this
morning. And tonight I'm going to be speaking
out of First Corinthians 7. I've been preaching from First
Corinthians. This chapter seven, I recall,
I preached through this in 1997, and I remember when I got to
the seventh chapter, I just got through the whole 40 verses in
one sermon because I didn't really want to have to deal with all
the things that it spoke of. But in this chapter, it deals
with marriage, divorce, being single, sex, reconciliation,
and the responsibilities of husbands and wives to one another. Now,
that's a lot. And we're going to begin looking
at what the word of God says about those subjects tonight.
From First Corinthians, Chapter 7, if you have an opportunity
to read that chapter this afternoon. Second Kings, Chapter 5. Verse
11. But Naaman was wroth, he was
angry. And he went away and said, behold,
I thought he'll surely come after me and stand and call in the
name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the place
and recover the leper. Are not Abena and Barpah rivers
of Damascus better? in all the waters of Israel.
May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went
away in a rage. You know where Naaman got in
trouble? Behold, I thought. Now that's what hurt him. Behold,
I thought. I've entitled this message, It's
Not Like You Thought It Was. Look in verse one. Second Kings, chapter five. Now, Naaman was captive. of the host of the king of Syria.
He was a great man with his master. He was honorable. Because by
him, the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. And he was also a
mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. Now, Naaman, as we see,
had a very impressive resume. He was the five-star general
of this army of Syria, the captain of the hosts. It's pointed out
that he was a great man and he was an honorable man. He was
no cutthroat warrior. He was a man of honor, a mighty
man of valor, a man of virtue and a man of courage. And you'll
notice that the Lord used him to give Syria victory. Did you
notice how it said that? And you know who that victory
was over? Israel. Not only were Israel's victories
attributed to the Lord, but their defeats were as well. He had this impressive resume,
but the scripture says, but he was a leper. In spite of all these wonderful
accolades and glowing descriptions, he was still a leper. None of these things that were
said of him changed the fact that he was a leper. Now, leprosy in the scriptures
is a great type of sin. That's why so much time is devoted
to it. As a matter of fact, if you would read Leviticus chapter
12, chapter 13, two of the longest chapters in the Bible, all of
that time is devoted to the cleansing of the leper and what leprosy
actually is. It is a type of sin. Now, before
God, while All these great things could be said of Naaman before
God he was nothing but a sinner. Now Naaman, now you listen to
this, Naaman believed himself to be a great man who through
unhappy and misfortunate or unfortunate circumstances happened to be
a leper. He didn't realize that he was
nothing more than a leper. who happened to be a great man. Verse 2, 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's wife. What a coincidence. You know
better than that. This is God's adorable providence. He has sent this little maid
into the land of Syria with a message. Verse 3, And she said unto her
mistress, Naaman's wife, Would God, my Lord, were with the prophet
that's in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Now,
no doubt she knew of Elisha. She was from Israel and I suppose
about everybody in Israel knew of Elisha. She had heard how
the prophet's mantle of Elijah had fallen on him. She had heard
how the river Jordan parted and he walked through on dry land. She knew how he had healed the
bitter waters and made them drinkable. She had heard how the He had
taken a small vessel of oil and it was poured into many large
vessels and oil was used to fill those many large vessels. She'd
heard how that he'd restored a dead person to life and she
had heard these things. She knew he was God's prophet.
And she knew that God worked through him. So this is what
she said. Would God, my Lord, were with the prophets in Samaria,
for he would recover him of his leprosy. Verse four, And one
went in and told his Lord, saying, Thus and thus saith the maid
that is of the land of Israel. Now, this gave him some hope.
He heard there's a prophet in Israel, a man of God, who God
has used to work miracles. He has even given someone who
is dead life. That's a miracle. If he can do
that, it could be that he could recover you of your leprosy.
And I'm sure that this excited man, and I mean, here he is,
this great man, but he still has this blot against him, leprosy. If that can just be taken care
of, everything will be fine. Verse 5. Evidently, he went into the king
of Syria, his boss, and told him about What this little maid
said, and the king of Syria said, go to go by all means, go right
now. 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. Now, the king of Syria loved
Naaman, so he sent his gifts with this letter thinking it
would help. Would it? Anything that you have, God does
not want or need. I want to repeat that. Anything
that you have, God does not want or need. He thought he could
go and buy this favor, buy this At least make it more likely
to happen if I give these gifts. God says if I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. Please listen to me. God doesn't
need you. He doesn't need anything you've
got. You need him. So the king sent him this letter,
verse six, and the letter And he brought the letter to the
king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is coming to thee,
behold, I have therewith said Naaman, my servant to thee, that
thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. Verse seven, it came to pass
when the king of Israel had read the letter that he rent his clothes. He was very upset. He said, Am
I God to kill and to make alive that this man descend unto me
to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore, consider, I pray you,
and see how that he seeketh a quarrel against me. He knows that I can't
give a leper healing. I can't do that. He's just trying
to pick a fight with me. You can see this. He was very
upset. Verse 8. And it was so when Elisha The
man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes. He said to the king saying, wherefore
hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him now come to me. And he
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. Elisha heard all of
this and he sent this message to the king. So the king tells
Naaman to go see Elisha. So Elisha heads toward or the
Naaman heads toward Elisha's house, verse 9. So Naaman came
with his horses, with his chariot, and he stood at the door of the
house of Elisha. Naaman comes in all this pomp
and his pride, his official uniform with his chariots and his horses,
impressive to the flesh, but a leper nonetheless. He comes
to Elisha's door, still thinking himself to be a great man who
had the misfortune of being a leper. And there he stands outside the
door thinking, surely he'll come to me. He's got to be impressed
with this. Verse 10, 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. Elisha did not even come to the
door. Now, don't you think about that?
I mean, this man was somebody. He was a five-star general. He
was the one who the Lord had used to defeat Israel. He was
high up. And Elisha did not even come
to the door. He sent a servant out with a
message. Now, somebody that important
came to my house. I'd at least come to the door,
but not Elisha. Now you can be sure that Naaman
was greatly offended by this. He was insulted. Doesn't he know
who I am? Yes, Naaman. He knows exactly
who you are, and he's not impressed. You see, when you know a big
God, All men tend to be little, don't they? Elisha knew Naaman was a proud
man, and he wasn't going to give his pride any ground to stand
on. He doesn't even come out and
speak to Naaman. He sends a servant, a lowly servant. God speaks to proud men through
lowly servants. You know, we like to think we
can hear directly from Him, don't we? And that simply demonstrates
what a high opinion we have of ourselves. So to humble our pride,
He will not speak directly to us, only through His servants. And that is what the preaching
of the Gospel is. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching what's going on right now to save them that believe. I thought God would deal directly
with me. You thought wrong. You thought
wrong. God speaks through the preaching
of the gospel. Now he says to Naaman through
this servant, 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." Now, what he's saying to Naaman is, Naaman,
in all your pomp and in all your pride, in all your accomplishments,
in all your ability, in all the great things that can be said
of you, you're unclean. You're filthy. And what you need
is to be washed. Go and wash in Jordan seven times
and you'll be clean. Now, the word clean means pure.
It means uncontaminated. It means holy. And that's what
God does when he saves a man. He cleans them. He washes them. He makes them holy. He makes
them uncontaminated. He makes them pure. He didn't
name it in his leprosy. If God does something for him,
he's going to be named pure. Now, how in the world does that
take place? How can I be clean before God? Isn't that the issue? How can I be pure and holy and
clean before God? This can only be known, this
can only be understood through the cross. As the Lord Jesus
Christ, never sinned, perfect holiness before the law of God,
he lived a perfect life, and he was nailed to that cross.
Why? He never sinned, because all the filth, all the sins of
his people was placed upon him. He was made sin. And by his mighty work on the
cross, because of who he is, remember who's dying, it's the
Son of God who's dying. It's the Christ that died by
his Invincible, almighty death on the cross, he washed away
the sins of all his people and he made them clean before God.
That's how sinners make clean. We just heard that in Psalm.
How can a sinner be washed and be made clean? Through the blood
of God, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He washed away
the sins of his people. He by himself purged us of our
sins. Now. Was it the River Jordan
that would cleanse Naaman of his leprosy? Was it the waters
of that river? You know it's not. Only God can
clean the leper. It's only God that can make a
sinner clean. I love what the leper said to
the Lord in Matthew chapter 8 when he came up to the Lord and he
said, Lord, if you will, make me clean. I'm filthy. I can't
make myself clean. There's not a thing I can do
to make myself clean. My cleansing is totally up to
you. I have no control in this thing.
If you will, you can make me clean. That's what I need is
to be made clean. I can't make myself clean. My
cleansing is up to you. The rivers of Georgia Could not
make the leper clean. It was God. I want to ask you
another question. Did the rivers of Jordan cleanse
him? No, only God can do this. Would he have been cleansed if
he refused to do what the prophet told him to do? What if he said, I'm just not
going that direction and I'm not going to do it? Would he
have been cleansed? You know the answer to that question.
The answer is no. If he would refuse to dip down,
he wouldn't have been cleansed. Now, what this dipping down,
this going in the River Jordan and dipping down seven times
represents his faith in Christ. Now, you and I are called upon
to believe on Christ. for our cleansing. Now, it's
not our faith that cleanses us. Your faith didn't save you as
far as putting away your sins. Did your faith die for your sins?
Did your faith keep the law? No, Christ did those things.
Faith believes that. That's what faith does. Faith
doesn't, strictly speaking, faith doesn't save you. Christ saves
you. You believe that, don't you?
That's what faith is. You're relying on the Lord Jesus
Christ as your cleansing before God. Now, if we refuse to believe,
if we refuse to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, this is what
faith is. Faith is actually relying on Him as my cleansing before
God. I believe that when Jesus Christ
said, it is finished, my sin was completely washed away. I believe that I stand before
God without fault solely, solely, because of what he did. No other
reason. You believe that? Are you relying
on that? That's what faith is. Faith relies upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. But what if you refuse to believe
that? I don't believe that. And you won't be cleansed. It's
that simple. God will meet you at your point
of rebellion. And you will either bow or he'll
send you to hell. Now, you can write that down.
God will meet you at your point of rebellion, and you're either
going to bow or he's going to send you to hell. If Naaman would
not have dipped seven times, he would not be cleansed. Now, here's an example. Here's
an example. Baptism. Here's another example. Baptism. You know, the Lord said
he that believeth and is baptized. The same shall be saved. The
Lord said that. Does baptism save anybody? Does baptism wash
away sins? Does going down in the water
and coming back up, does that do anything for yourself? No,
it's just a ceremony. It's just a ceremony. It just
represents something. That's what it is. It represents
something. Somebody says, well, I won't be baptized. Then you
won't be saved. Now, that is the fact of the
matter. Somebody that refuses to be baptized, to confess Christ
and believe in baptism, remember what baptism says. Baptism says
my only hope of salvation is the life, the death, the burial,
the resurrection of Christ. When he was raised from the dead,
that's my hope of salvation, that all my eggs are in that
basket. That's what I'm confessing in
baptism. I'm confessing that this is my salvation. Somebody
says, well, I won't be baptized and you won't be saved. This
is your confession of Christ. This is the answer of a good
conscience toward God. This is obedience to Christ. And if I
don't confess him in believer's baptism, only a believer is to
be baptized. We don't baptize infants. If
you were baptized when you didn't even understand or hear the gospel,
you had some kind of religious experience, that's not baptism. Baptism is believer's baptism.
And if someone refuses this, they won't be saved. Same principle
that's taught right here. Now, let's see what happened. Verse 11. And Naaman was mad. 2 Kings 5.11. He was angry. I can't help but
wonder if there's anybody hearing this message right now that's
mad. I don't like this. You've got company. Naaman didn't
either. He was angry. He was angry. What did he say? Naaman was wroth,
and he went away, and he said, Behold, I thought. Here's where he got in trouble. I thought. Do you know, and you
listen to this real carefully, do you know that every thought
you have naturally about God is wrong? Behold, I thought. Now here's what I thought. Behold,
I thought, he'll surely come after me. I mean, this is ridiculous.
He thinks he's a servant after me? This is not right. I'm somebody. I thought surely he'd come after
me, at least greet me, at least, you know, pay me some kind of
respect. I mean, look who I am. I thought surely he'll come after
me and stand and he'll do something impressive. He'll call upon the
name of the Lord, his God, and he'll strike his hand over the
place. Boy, everybody would be impressed with that. Maybe the
skies would get dark and you'd hear thundering and so on. I
thought something really impressive would take place and he'd come
and recover the leper. That's what I thought. It's not
like he thought it was. It's just not. When men hear the gospel message,
the work of the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of God,
the Holy Spirit in salvation, when men hear the gospel message,
the work of the Father, God, before time began, elected a
people to salvation. He chose who would be saved and
only they will be saved. Well, I thought God loved everybody
and wanted to save everybody. It's not like He thought it was. When they hear the work of the
Son, that He came to redeem His people. He came and accomplished
salvation for those the Father gave Him. He died for the elect
and only the elect and accomplished their salvation. I thought He
made salvation available for everybody. And it's up to us
as to what we do with it as to whether or not we'll be saved.
We can accept it or reject it. That's what I thought. It's not
like you thought it was. You mean you tell me that I don't
have a free will? Yeah. Yeah. You can't hope that you do. Your
will is chained to sin. By nature. By nature. Chained to sin. And
you won't be saved unless God the Holy Spirit comes and invincibly
and irresistibly births you and gives you life and brings you
into the Kingdom of Heaven. But I... It's not like the Bible
says. It's not, is it? I thought, I
thought, Naaman, your thoughts are wrong. Well, how'd Naaman respond to all this? Verse 12. Here's what he said. Are not
Abena and far, far 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. He was angry. He was mad. But notice this. All of his anger
and all of his rage were all based upon a wrong supposition. Are not the rivers in my country
better than all the rivers in Israel? No. No. Water is water. Ain't one place
better than the other as far as that goes. He was all based
upon a wrong supposition. So Elijah, or Naaman, leaves
Elisha's house in a rage. Verse 13. And his servants, Naaman's
servants, came near, all of these wise servants, and spake unto
him and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some
great thing, Would thou not have done it? How much rather than
what when he said to be washed and be clean? If you give you something great
to do something that was impressive, you would have done it. But when
he tells you just go wash and be clean, you say. Now, this is foolishness. You
need to think about what you're doing. If I said. Eternal salvation
can be had for $10,000. You reckon you'd find a way to
come up with the money? I know you would. Beg, borrow,
or steal, you'd come up with the money. And you'd come up
with it for other folks. If you could get someone saved
for $10,000, some kid in this church, would you give them $10,000
for their eternal salvation? Sure you would. But if I say
salvation is utterly and completely free, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and ask him, he says, you know those people who walk
out of here unsaved and uninsured? Now, if it cost you something,
you'd pay it. And you know, he listened to
what they said. He listened to what they said.
Verse 14, Then went he down. Remember this, the way up in
the kingdom of heaven is what direction? Down. Always. When you get down to
the bottom, go a little further and you're a little closer to
the truth. He went down. And he dipped himself seven times
in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. Now, this
represents faith. The seven dips represents perfection. Seven is the number of perfection.
He did so according to the saying of the man of God. Now, there
he goes. He goes down one time, comes back up. What happens?
Nothing. He goes down the second time, comes back up. What happens?
Nothing. Third time, fourth time, fifth time, sixth time. What
happens? Nothing. He goes down the seventh time.
He comes up. What happens? His flesh is as
clean as a newborn baby's. He is made utterly and completely
clean according to the Word of the man of God. Now, this is
what happens when God saves a man. He becomes clean, clean before
God, holy before God, pure before God. If God has saved me, If
you ask, you know, I'm pure before God. No sin. There's two words that describe
what God does for somebody when he saves you. They're both biblical
words. The first word is justification.
And the second word is sanctification. Justification means when God
saves me, he declares me to be not guilty. And if God says I'm
not guilty, you know what? I'm not guilty. He doesn't look
at me as guilty but saves me for Christ's sake. No. Not guilty. Justified. A perfect standing
before the holy law of God. Clean on the outside. Clean on
the inside. That's what sanctification is.
He gives me a new heart. He gives me a pure heart. It's the new heart that He gives
in the new birth. Turn over to Revelation 22 for
just a moment. Hold your finger down, Second
Kings, and turn to Revelation 22. Verse 8, And I, John, saw these
things and heard them. Revelation 22, 8. And when I
had heard and seen, I fell down and worshiped before the feet
of the angel which showed me these things. Then said he unto
me, See that thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of this book. Worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at
hand. Now listen to this. He that is unjust, the time that
is at hand is talking about Judgment Day. When time is no more and
eternity begins, the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let
him stay unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let
him be filthy still. Do you know how you die is how
you're going to be raised? How you die is how you're going to
be raised to spend eternity. If you die unjust, you're going
to be raised unjust. If you die filthy, you're going
to be raised filthy. Look what he says next. He that
is righteous, let him be righteous still. Everybody that is righteous
and everybody Christ died for is righteous. His righteousness
is theirs. That's justification. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. Let him continue in this holiness. Now, as you die, That's how you
live. God has done something for you.
Christ has done something for you. You know what you are? You're
righteous and you're holy. Justification and sanctification. He came down seven times. At
seventh time, he comes back up and his flesh is just like a
little baby's. Totally clean. Okay, back to
our text. Verse 14, he went down and dipped
himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the
man of God. His flesh came again unto him, the flesh of a little
child, and he was clean. What a miracle took place. Verse
15. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company,
and he came and stood before him and he said, Behold, now
I know. Now, he wasn't real sure of this
before this took place. He might have had some suspicion
of it, but now he knows. Now I know that there is no God
in all the earth. But in Israel. I'm convinced
of this now. You know, when you hear the gospel
as gospel. You know, it's the only gospel. You know it, you don't have to
be convinced if I have to convince you, you haven't really believed.
When you believe, you know, this is the only gospel that will
save somebody like you. You know, it's the only place
you can find any hope at all. It's the only gospel. Now, understand
this. The gospel in its very nature
is inclusive. It doesn't keep people away.
It brings people in, doesn't it? That's what this message.
It doesn't shut anybody out. It brings people in who would
have been damned. It doesn't keep people from being
saved. It saves people. It's an inclusive message. It
brings people in. Aren't you thankful? Any sinner
who comes pleading Christ, God's going to save them. God doesn't
keep anybody from being saved. But it excludes all other ways. Yes, it's inclusive. Come on
in. There's plenty of room. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Come on in. This is for you. But it excludes all other ways. And he knew that. He said, now
I know God is only in Israel. I'm convinced of that. And look
what he does next. He says, now, therefore, I pray
thee, take a blessing of thy servant. Take some money. Here
it is. Take some money. Verse 16, But
he said, Elisha said, As the Lord liveth for whom I stand,
I will receive none. And he urged him to take it,
but he refused. He wouldn't take it. Now, why
is that? Elisha wouldn't take a nickel from him. He said, Come
on, take this. It's just a gift. He wouldn't take it. Why? He's
going to make sure this fellow knows and is convinced of the
fact that salvation is free. You can't buy it. You try to
buy off God, it won't work. He refused to take it. Verse 12, 17, And Naaman said,
Well, shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant
two mules burdens of earth? He said, Well, if I can't give
you anything, you give me something. Give me two mules burdens of
earth for thy servant will henceforth offer either offer neither burnt
offerings nor sacrifices unto other gods but unto the Lord.
That's the only one I'm going to offer sacrifices to from here
on out. I look to Him only. Now, verse
18, he says, In this thing the Lord pardoned thy servant, that
when my master goeth into the house of remnant to worship there,
and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of
remnant, when I bow down myself in the house of remnant, the
Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. And he said unto
him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. Now, what's
that mean? Well, John Gill and Arthur Pink
both say that this is in the Hebrew, and I can't read Hebrew.
I can just read what other men say. And they say that in the
Hebrew, this is in the perfect tense. And it should say when
my master went into the house of remnant and I went down with
him. Pardon me for that. Pardon me
for that. And it may mean that. I don't
know. But I don't know. But I know this. He's not justifying
false worship. He's not saying, let me go ahead
and go on in this false worship. You know it doesn't mean that.
So he said, go in peace. Now, this this story ends in
a very unusual way. Verse 20, let's just read the
last of this passage of scripture. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha,
he's the fellow that came out to Naaman in the first place.
He's the fellow that Elisha sent with this message. But Gehazi,
the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Behold, my master
has spared Naaman, this Syrian, and not receiving in his hands
that which he brought. But as the Lord liveth, I'll
run after him and take somewhat of him. I'll get in on this.
So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running
after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said,
Is all well? And he said, All is well, my master sent me, saying,
Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two
young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee,
a talon of silver and two changes of garments. He lied. And Naaman
said, Be content, take two talons. And he urged him and bound two
talons of silver and two bags with two changes of garments
and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bared them
before them. And when he came to the tower, he took them from
their hand, and he bestowed them in the house And let the men
go, and they departed. And he went in, and stood before
his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, That servant went
no whither. And he said unto him, Went not my heart with thee? When the man turned again from
his chariot to meet thee, is it a time to receive money, and
to receive garments, and all of yards, and vineyards, and
sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? Is this the
time for that? And the leprosy therefore of Naaman. shall cleave
unto you and to your seed forever. And he went out from his presence
a leper as white as snow." Now, if you try to take any of this
payment, you see what's going to happen to you. Do you know the Lord Jesus? I
talked about this passage of Scripture in Luke chapter 4.
Remember that? He said many lepers were in the
land of Israel when Elisha the prophet was preaching. There
was a bunch of lepers. And do you know God didn't cleanse
one of them? He simply cleansed Naaman, the
Syrian, a Gentile. And our Lord used this story
to remind us of the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. He saves whom He will. Amen. Let's pray together.