Let's open our Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5. While you're turning there, just listen to these words again of our Lord in Luke chapter 4. He spoke, he said this, he said, again, many lepers were in Israel in a time of Elisha the prophet, but none of them was cleansed save one, Naaman the Syrian. Many lepers. And God was pleased to save just one. God is sovereign. He's sovereign in all that He does. That's a truth that the believer rejoices in. And yet it's a truth that is hated by this world.

Our Lord said this in Matthew 20, 15. He said, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? David wrote this, he said, Our God is in the heavens, and He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. This world, the religion of this world, it amazes me, they'll have God anywhere and everywhere, but they will not have Him on the throne. God's sovereign. He rules. He reigns in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Many, many lepers. God was pleased to save one.

Let's look at this passage this evening. Here are just a few verses in 2 Kings 5. Again, verse 1, it says, Captain of the host of the King of Syria, he was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. Think about that. The captain of the host of Syria said he was a great man with his master. That means he was a distinguished man. He was set apart. He was a great man with his master. He was an honorable man. Another word for honorable is gracious. He was a gracious man. He was a kind man. Gentle. Forgiving. And we read that by him, by Naaman, the Lord had given deliverance. He had given victory to Syria. A mighty man in valor. It just goes on. Wouldn't you love to have him as a neighbor, or an employee, or a fellow to work for? A mighty man, a man who stood for something. He stood for what was right. A great man, an honorable man, a gracious man, a mighty man.

In spite of all that, he was a leper. A leper. And leprosy, as we've been taught, It's a picture of sin. What leprosy is to the body, that's what sin is to the soul. Despite all of those good qualities of Naaman, he's a leper. He was ruined. And leprosy was an inward disease. Even though it was seen outwardly, the real cause was inside. That's true of sin as well, isn't it? It's seen outwardly. But the problem is in me. In this flesh dwelleth no good thing. We're not sinners because we sin. We sin because of what we are. We're sinners. Isaiah 1 verse 6 says this, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head, there's no soundness in it. Nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed up, they've been bound up, they've not been mollified with ointment.

I was reading this about leprosy. It's a disease that affects the nerves, the skin, The eyes, that's the whole body, isn't it? That covers the whole body. That's a picture of us. That's a picture of our sin, of who and what we are. Leprosy was a separating disease. Those with leprosy, they were cast out. If they were to come into a crowd, they'd have to shout, unclean, unclean, and that way people could separate and stay away from them. They couldn't go in even to the temple to worship. They were cast out. Isaiah 59 too says this. Just turn over there. Let's turn there. Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59, beginning with verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear, but your iniquities, your sin, separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear."

A separating disease. Our sin has separated us from God. Leprosy couldn't be cured by human means. You couldn't go to the doctor and get a prescription and be healed of your leprosy. Human means could not cure it. And the same is true with sin. There is no human cure for sin. Human means cannot take away our sin any more than a man in that time could heal himself of his leprosy. Only God, only God could heal a leper. Only God can take away sin. We sing that song, what can wash away my sin? What is it? Just one thing, nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Him and Him alone.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews 1, look at verse 3. None but Christ can take away our sin. Hebrews 1, look again at verse 3. The Lord Jesus Christ, being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, When He had by Himself, no assistance from man there is, when He had by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Only Christ can put away sin and He did. The work finished. He said that on the cross, it's finished. He sat down.

So here in our text, we see Naaman, a man named Naaman. We see his leprosy, his sin. We see God's providence. Look again at 2 Kings 5, look at verse 2. The Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid. In that battle, in the midst of that battle, this little maiden, she was taken and she was brought back to serve. This young girl, she waited on Naaman's wife. Think about that. Think about that just for a minute. This little maiden, this young girl in a battle, she was taken from her home, taken from her family. And I don't know, I look at this and not knowing the end of it, it would be pretty easy to say, What good? What good could come from that? You ever ask that question? I know we shouldn't. I know I do. Something happens, and I ask myself, could anything good come from that? What good? You ever say that? What good could possibly come from that?

Romans 8.28, you don't have to turn there. It says this, we know. Don't miss those first two words. We know. We don't always understand, but we know. We know that all things work together. That which we call good, that which we call bad, all work together for good. Is that a blanket promise for everybody? Who's it for? To them that love God. To them that are called according to His purpose. There's mercy in store for Naaman. Almighty God who orders and directs all things causes this little girl to be taken from her home and placed in another home for a purpose, for a purpose. Naaman is gonna learn, he's gonna, He's going to learn something about God from this little maiden girl. Almighty God is a God of purpose. Well, we see that over and over in Scripture. Think about there. Remember when Pharaoh He was going about killing all the young boys. And somehow, we know how, Moses gets placed in a basket, placed there along the edge of the river. And of all the people to come by and notice that, it's Pharaoh's daughter himself. And she sees that little baby and has compassion on him. And she takes him to be her own. Who's going to raise that baby? Who's going to nurse that baby? His own mother in the house of Pharaoh himself. God's purpose is going to be accomplished. Don't ever let that be in question. He directs all things. All things work together for good.

Well, 2 Kings 5, verse 3, let's read on. This little maiden, she said unto her mistress, would God my Lord were with the prophet that's in Samaria, he would recover him. of his leprosy.

I don't know how this little girl was. I don't know what she knew. She obviously knew something of Naaman's leprosy. She knew something of his need, his need of healing, something of his sin. And she knew this. that God would use Elisha to heal him, to recover him. She knew God was able, able to heal, and no doubt that He could heal Naaman, that He could cure him of this leprosy.

That little girl had been taught at some point Isn't that important at all ages that we teach our children and take every opportunity to have them in the service, to have them hear the gospel? Not just our little ones, but all of us, right? That we be taught, that we be brought up under the sound of the gospel, taught of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Wouldn't it be, wouldn't it be, wouldn't it just take great joy if we could say this from a child, just like Paul had said of Timothy, from a child. You've known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, this little maiden, she says, would God my Lord were with the prophets in Samaria, he'd recover him. He would recover him of this leprosy. God's sovereignty, man's sin, God's providence.

And then if we read on here, we see something of Naaman's self-righteousness and pride. Something that's easily seen, well, maybe not so easily seen, unless the Lord gives us eyes to see, that which is within us, our self-righteousness, our pride.

That little maid, she told Naaman, she said, go to the prophet of God, didn't she? That's who you need to go to, the prophet of God. I don't know if Naaman thought he was too good to go to the prophet, or if he thought maybe the king would have more power to heal. But who did he go to first? He went to the king, didn't he?

What was it? Go to the prophet of God. God's prophet, that great prophet for healing, for forgiveness of sin, for salvation. There is only one. There is only one to go to and that is the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of him.

So Naaman, he goes to the king and he gets a letter and some changes of clothes and some gold and all these things. That's us, isn't it? We'll turn to anything. Anything but him. We turn to the law. We'll go get 10 commandments to stick out in the front yard for folks to see, right? We'll turn to our idols. We'll turn to the church. We'll turn to our works. But I did this. But I did that. I gave this. Anything. By nature, we'll turn to anything but Christ.

Remember that woman over in the book of Mark? She had an issue of blood. And she spent everything she had. Everything she had. Every dollar she had. And she didn't get any better, did she? Scripture says this. Just worse. Just worse. It wasn't until she turned to Christ. The Lord, can you just see the Lord passing by? And she says within herself, if I can just touch the hem of His garment. Reach out. Reach out and touch Him as He passes by. And what happened? She did, and immediately that issue of blood was dried up. Well, let's go on here in our text, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9. Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. There he is, standing proudly, gifts in hand, dressed in the best apparel. No doubt the best raiment money could buy. I'm confident of this. He probably had long sleeves on too, didn't he? He probably trying to cover up in gloves, trying to cover up that leprosy, every bit of it. That awful, filthy leprosy. But he can't cover it, can he? Sounds like Adam back in the garden. He and Eve, they're knitting those fig leaves together. I'll cover my own nakedness, right? I tell you, we might be able to cover it, but we cannot take it away.

A picture of self-righteousness. and all that, it all has to be put off. Everything that we would use to cover our sins has to be put away. Our Lord told that rich young ruler, he said, you go and sell everything you have. Give it to the poor, get rid of it. It all has to be put off. You know, we have to be brought low before we can be raised up. Stripped. Stripped before we can be clothed. We have to be brought to see our helpless estate, our inability.

Well, let's read on here again. Verse 10. He didn't even come out. He sent a messenger to him. And he tells Naaman, go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall come again like the flesh of a little child, and thou shalt be clean. Pretty simple command, isn't it? What are we told? Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

What was Naaman's response? Scripture says he was wroth. He went away. And he said this, he said, I thought... I thought this would happen. I thought he would do this. Our thoughts aren't his thoughts, are they? That's what was declared over in Isaiah. He said, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. Naaman said, I thought surely he would come out and he'd stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leprosy. Are not, and he had better ideas, right, of how he could be cleansed. Are not Havana and far for rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?

No. No. We always want to do things our way, don't we? He turned and he went away in a rage. Back there in Luke, we read this to open the service, Luke 4, when our Lord said there were many lepers and God was pleased to save one. God was pleased to heal one. Remember the people's reaction to that? Was it one of rejoicing that he would be merciful to any? What was it? They were in a rage, weren't they? They picked him up, took him out, and would have cast him over a hill head first. They went away in a rage. You've seen that. Some of us have experienced it. Hear the truth. And we refuse to believe it for a time. We go away in a rage.

Men by nature hate God's free and sovereign grace. Seeking to establish what? Our own righteousness. We wanted our way. We wanted our way. Naaman was wroth, but just for a little while. Those men in Luke that were angry, that were wroth, they were angry over God's sovereignty. Men get angry hearing about depravity. The natural man does. about hearing about our helplessness, about our sin, about the truth of the gospel. The gospel has to be revealed. Christ's redemption, it offends our pride. Again, we want it our way. Naaman, he would have preferred to do some great thing. That's what his servant asked him, wasn't it? He said, if the prophet would have asked you to do some great thing, Maybe make a donation, get your name put on the front of a building or name in the paper. Do some great thing. By nature, we want credit. We want to show what we've done. But it's Christ's redemption. Christ has redeemed us. from the curse of the law, and he gets all the glory. It's all his. It's his work.

Men get upset over the lordship of Christ, that he does his will. Naaman, just like all of us, is going to have to be brought down. We must take our place at his feet as sinners. Romans 10.3 says, they being ignorant of God's righteousness, they go about to establish their own righteousness, having not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

Well, let me close here. Last point here. Here we see God's power to save. Look at verse 13. The servants came near and spake to him and said, Father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? If he had asked you to do some great thing, would you have not done that? How much rather then? Listen to the simplicity of this. Wash and be clean.

and name it, he went down, didn't he? Went down and he washed. Brother Henry wrote this years ago. He said, and I like this, he said, when sinners are ready and made willing to quit lying, to quit trying, to quit buying, and simply bow to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive salvation as the free gift of God. They'll be saved.

In Matthew 9 verse 10 it says, It came to pass, Jesus sat at meat in the house, and behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him. And when the Pharisees saw it, They said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? And when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick, go and learn what that meaneth. I'll have mercy, not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Isn't that good news? The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Naaman, here we read, he went down and he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of man of God, and his flesh came again as the flesh of a little child. He was cleansed. You know what that means? He was innocent. He was holy. That's what God's done for his people in Christ. Cleansed us, made us spotless, holy, given us the righteousness of his dear son.

All right, Isaac, come lead us in a closing hymn.