Before we open our Bibles to
our text this morning, turn first to Luke chapter 4. I asked this question, and I've read that account of
Naaman's cleansing many times, and yet it was so profoundly
impressed upon me as I read it to you this morning again. Why
is this story in the Bible? Why is this story in the Scripture?
Well, Luke chapter 4, verse 25, we know that it's true because
our Lord Jesus Christ referred to it in his first sermon at
Nazareth when he returned from Capernaum on that Sabbath morning. when he read, this day the scriptures
foretell in your ears, he referred to this stover of Naaman's cleansing. Verse 25, Luke 4, I'll tell you
a truth. This is the truth. What I just
read from 2 Kings is the truth. Christ said so. Many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elias when the heavens were shut up
three years and six months, when great famines threw out all the
land. But unto none of them was Elias the prophet sent, save
unto Sareph the city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow,
a Gentile woman. And, Christ said, there were
many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet. None of them were cleansed. saving or except Naaman the Syrian. Naaman the Syrian was cleansed
in the days of Elisha, a Gentile from Syria, and not any lepers
from Israel. That's a true story. Our Lord
referred to it. I'm preaching this morning what
He preached. And He referred to it to show the sovereignty
of God in salvation. You see, these Jews had assembled
there in Nazareth on the Sabbath day, fulfilling their ceremonies
and Sabbath and holy requirements, thinking because they did these
things that God would show mercy to them, God would accept them
and receive them, and they'd be saved based on what they were
doing in God's honor. And he told them that salvations
of the Lord, The salvation is sovereignly given, and mercy
is of God, not of works but of grace. And the Lord show mercy
to whom he will. And there were many lepers in
Israel back yonder, and God didn't cleanse any of them but one,
a Gentile. But there's another purpose for
this account. So let's turn to 2 Kings 5. It
has a message not only declaring the sovereignty of God in salvation,
but the work of God in saving a center. How God saves centers. How God deals with those to whom
he shows mercy. I ask these two questions before
we read it again. Did the waters of Jordan cleanse
everybody that bathed in them of leprosy? No. Did the waters
of Jordan have any special powers to cleanse leprosy? No, sir.
Well, the second question, could Naaman have been healed had he
refused to bathe in the River Jordan? No, he couldn't. He turned to walk away and one
of his servants said, you better do what the Prophet told you
and dip in the River Jordan. If he'd have left, he'd have
left a leper. But he went to the Jordan, did what the prophet
told him, went home clean as a baby. So what's this teaching? Well, I'll tell you. Number one,
Naaman is an object of mercy. Christ said that. Naaman is an
object of God's mercy, chosen of God. A Gentile singled out
for mercy. God will be gracious to it. One
of God's elect. chosen of God. We know that.
Our Lord said God showed mercy to Naaman. I'll be merciful to
whom I will. But Naaman's got to be taught.
He'll come to God, but he'll come willingly. He'll come to
God, but he'll come broken. He'll come to God on the basis
of mercy, not work. Naaman's got to be taught. This
is what our Lord says in John 6. Listen to this. In John chapter
6, verse 37. Listen to this. John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
will come to me. Naaman's the object of mercy.
He'll come. And him that cometh out of no
wise cast out. But look at verse 44. But no
man can come to me, except my Father draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the Prophets. And they shall be part
of God. And every man that hath heard
and learned of the Father comes to me. So Naaman is an object
of mercy. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful, like solitarsis. on the cross, whomever, and he'll
come. But Naaman's got to be taught
some things, just like you and I have to be. Naaman's got to
be taught, number one, that God is God, that salvation's of the Lord,
that mercy's not deserved, it's sovereignly, freely given, all
of grace. all of God. Salvation is of the
Lord from beginning to end. He's got to learn secondly, got
to learn his own poverty, emptiness, and inability. Got to learn that. That in my hands no price I bring,
simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal know respite? No.
These for sin could not atone. Christ must pay. Christ alone,
all of grace. He's got to be broken. God save
as such as be of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Naaman's
got to be thirdly brought down. He's too proud. He's too arrogant. He's too important. He's too
rich. He's too full. His human pride
has got to be broken, and his merit and his works have got
to be brought down. Everybody whom God saves, He
convicts of sin, convinces them of sin, of inability, poverty. Every commandment of Christ,
to come to Christ, presupposes a need. Every commandment to come to
Christ presupposes a need, an inability. Oh, everyone that's
thirsty, come to the water. You don't have any water? You
can't provide the water? You'll die without it. Come to
the water. Ye that labor in a heavy laden
burdened down, broken under the weight of sin. Come, I'll give
you rest. I'm not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. If a person misses this convicting
work of God's Spirit, being convinced of sin, of guilt, of inability,
If he misses that work, if he misses that stripping work, he'll
come closed in his own righteousness. He's got to be stripped, broken. If he misses that humbling work,
that conviction of sin, he's going to miss repentance. See,
repentance is a broken heart. Repentance is a contrite spirit.
Repentance is crying, it's all of God, all of grace, all undeserved. That's repentance, turning from
our way to God. If he misses repentance, he's
going to miss faith, because faith is relying on Christ totally,
completely, wholly, unreservedly. That's faith. Faith is turning
loose of everything and everybody and reaching to Christ, laying
hold upon Him, resting on Him. And if he misses faith, he'll
miss Christ, because Christ is not going to be Lord at all if
he's not Lord of all. If he misses Christ, he's going
to miss life. So life, which comes through
faith, which is born of repentance, need, which is produced by conviction, that conviction's first. That's
the word. Naaman is an object of mercy.
He'll come, but he's going to come broken. God will have him,
but God's going to have all the glory in having him. He'll come,
but he won't come till God teaches him. And that's what's going
on here. So let's look at verse 1. Now Naaman captain of the host
of the king of Syria. I want you to notice this one
thing here, one thing in verse 1. Neheman had many commendable
traits, but something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong. Something was fatally wrong.
It says he was a great man. He was a great man. Secondly,
he was an honorable man, honest man. the man of honor. Thirdly, God had used him. God
had used him as a means to give deliverance to Syria. He was
a mighty man, a leader of other men, a man of victory, accomplishment,
all these things. You could say so many commendable
things about Naaman, but something was wrong. He was a leper. He had within him a disease,
corrupting him, consuming him, destroying him. Now the scripture says about
us, sons of Adam, there's none good, no not one, there's none
righteous, there's none that understand it. We're sinners. We have within us a spiritual
disease that's corrupting us, dividing us, destroying us, and
separating us from God. There are men who have many commendable
traits, men who do not know God, who are men of talent, men of
honesty outwardly, men of great leadership ability, men and women,
women of great beauty and strength courage, contribute to society. I think of all the great medical
professions, teaching professions, great statesmen, Lincoln, Jefferson,
Washington, these great statesmen, commendable things. But we got
a problem, and that problem is between us and God, and it's
a leprosy. It's a spiritual leprosy. And
Adam, by one man's sin, entered this world. And death by sin. So death passed on all men. David
was a great man, no question about it. An honorable man, a
great leader. But something was wrong. He was
a leper. And all of this greatness was
going to fade and be forgotten, and he was going to lie at a
rotten grave forever. Well, that young woman in his
home there, that little Israelite girl, knew about the prophet
and her man of God, who represented God, Elisha, in Israel. She said to Nehemiah's wife,
said, There's some hope for him. The prophet in Israel knows God. And if he was with that prophet,
I believe that prophet could do something about his condition.
And there's hope for us. There's a prophet, his name is
Jesus Christ the Lord. Moses said over there in Deuteronomy,
the Lord will raise up unto us a prophet. Like me, sir, a man, a God man,
and Him you shall hear, and God will, He'll speak the words of
God, the message of God, the hope, the good news of God. If
we can get to Him, we'll be made whole. So Naaman came, but he
came to the wrong place. He told his king about what that
little girl said, and his king said, well, that's, boy, let's
get Get the money together. I've got plenty of silver and
gold and all these things. You get it all together. You
go down to the king of Israel. And you give him all this stuff
and tell him to heal you. If there's healing in Israel,
go down there. If there's healing in the church, go to the church.
If there's healing in Catholicism or Judaism or Mohammedism or
Protestantism, get down there to those folks and go to the
head man. and buy it. You know, tell him you'll join
up, do whatever he wants you to do. He went to the wrong place. It says there in verse 5, the
king of Syria said, Go, I'll send a letter to the king of
Israel. Verse 6, he brought the letter to the king of Israel.
Verse 7, it came to pass when the king of Israel read the letter,
he tore his clothes. Naaman wanted nothing to do with
a lowly prophet. He figured he'd deal with the
king. But Scripture doesn't tell us
to go to the king. It doesn't tell us to go to the
Heavenly Father. It tells us to go to Christ.
It doesn't tell us to go to Mary. It tells us to go to Christ. It
doesn't tell us to go to the altar. It tells us to go to Christ. It doesn't tell us to go to the
preacher, to the Lord, to the baptist church. Turn to the book
of Acts, chapter 13. This is as clear as it can be
made. Our Lord said, Come to me. Naaman went to the wrong place.
In Acts 13, verse 38, listen, Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached to you the
forgiveness of sin, and by him All that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses." By whom? By this man. None other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must dissent. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me, Christ. Naaman was a great man, but something
was wrong. And when he heard there was healing,
he went to the wrong place. And so many folks are doing that
today. They're going to their altar, and they're going to the
baptistery, and they're going to preachers, and going to soul
winners, and going to Mary, and wearing crosses, and giving money,
and going to the Holy Land. And I'll tell you something else
about Naaman. He took the wrong things with him. Verse 5, I read it to you, the
king of Syria said, go to it, go, and I'll send a letter to
the king of Israel. And he departed and took with
him too much. Too much. He was going to buy
his healing. But let me tell you, before we
judge Naaman too severely, examine the way of religion today. Do not most pulpits present sort
of an exchange program between you and God. Give God your time. Give God your talents. Give God
your time. Give God your heart. And He'll
give you salvation. And this is what Naaman thought.
I'll give them the silver and the gold and change of raiment
and the beautiful clothes from Syria and satin and lace and
they'll give me healing. But scripture plainly says it's
not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according
to his mercy. Mercy, he says. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. We don't
bring anything to God. Turn to Romans 10. That's the
problem, Paul said, with the nation Israel. In Romans 10,
listen to this. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them record they have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness
of God. They're trying to purchase salvation,
earn it, merit it. Receive it as a reward. That
was Naaman's thoughts. Abide. Finally, Naaman came to
the right place. In verse 8, listen. Elisha came
with Sodom, and Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of
Israel had rent his clothes, and he sent to the king and said,
Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come to me. And he'll
know there's a prophet in Israel, there's a Savior in Israel, there's
a Redeemer in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses
and his chariots. Now listen, he stood at the door
of the house of Elisha. He came to the wrong place first,
the king. He brought the wrong things with
him to purchase healing. And now he came to the right
place, but he had the wrong attitude. He stood outside the door. He
wanted to be treated as a great man. You can imagine, this man,
you men that have been in the service, you've been around a
few of those fellas that carry the swagger stick and wear the
gold braid and the stars and all these gold stripes on their arm. Now
listen, they're proud men, arrogant men. When an airplane landed,
they got off first. Everybody keep your seats while
the colonel gets off. And this man was standing, I
can imagine Naaman's house must have been a very humble, about
like one of those adobes down in Mexico, with a thatched roof
and the limestone and dirt all around, a few chickens running
around, and this proud general with all of
his entourage behind him, how many servants he had, and camels
and horses laden down with all his riches of his, and he came
and had his white gloves on and his swagger stick and his gold
braid, and he stood in front of the door of Elijah. He certainly
was not going to stoop and go in there. He wanted to be treated as a
great man who happened to be a leper. That's the wrong attitude. He's
a leper who happens to be a great man. I read all those things commendable
about him, commendable about you and people of this world. I'm a doctor who happens to be
a sinner. No, you're a sinner who happens to be temporarily
a doctor. Soon you'll just be a corpse
in the ground. I'm a lawyer, a statesman or
a representative or a senator who just happens to be a sinner. No, you're a sinner, depraved,
polluted, dying under the wrath of God who just happens for a
little while. to play a part on a stage. And
after a while your part will be ended and they'll either applaud
you or boo you, but you'll move off the stage. But you'll still
be gone. And here he stood. He thought
a great man who happened to be a leper, the prophet of God who
knows all men and himself too, knows he's a sinner and a leper
who happens to be for the moment a great man. And Elisha knew
his pride. And he knew that has to be killed.
It has to be destroyed. God hates pride, number one. Seven things God hates. Number
one, a proud look. God resisted the proud and gave
grace to the humble. And Elisha knew his pride and
knew he was arrogant and knew he would remain that way. And
if God did something for him in that state, he'd stay that
way. And he'd take credit for it. He did it to me because of
who I am. So Elijah didn't even come out
to meet him. Didn't even act like he was out there. He sent the servant out there.
He sent this guy with a little loincloth on, you know, this
little fella with a loincloth on, with the shaggy hair and
the dirty fingernails, and he came out to the general. He came
out, oh boy, he came out, he didn't bow, he didn't salute,
he just came out and he said, my master's too busy to see you. And he told me to tell you to
go down there to the River Jordan, take your clothes off, dip seven
times and you'll be clean. And he ducked back in the door
and went in that little house. Naaman had the wrong attitude.
Now won't you listen to the... Naaman had the wrong thoughts.
Listen to his response. And Naaman, verse 11, Naaman
was angry. Can you imagine how angry he
was? And he turned on his heel and
stirred up the dust as he stomped away. And he said, I thought, man's thoughts are
not God's thoughts. Man's ways are not God's ways.
I thought that He'd have done it my way. I thought, listen,
He'd come to me. He would come out to me and stand
in my presence. I thought that God would come
out and stand in my presence, God forbid. And I thought he'd called on
his God. Now what's this, his God? He's
not my God, he's his God. I can see these divine healers.
It's the same thing going on today. These divine healers are
going to the towns and the places and getting these folks and standing
before them, putting their hands on them and calling on their
God. Doing whatever they're doing.
and strike his hand over the place and he'll make it. That's
what I thought. That's what I thought. Well, Nehemiah, you thought wrong.
You'll come to him, and you'll stand before him, and you'll
call on God. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. You'll call on him, and you'll
fall before his feet. There's no difference. Finally,
old Naaman did something right. Let's see. Finally, he did something
right. He said, if I wanted to dip in
the water, I'd go to Damascus, where the waters are so much
cleaner. May I not wash in them and be
clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And one of his
servants stood near, came near and spake to him and said, My
father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, would
you not have done it? That's all you have to do is
tell people something for them to do. You do this and God will
save you. You do this and God will heal
you. You do this and God will do this. You do this first. Wouldn't
you not have done it? Well, sure I would have. You
see all this stuff I brought. Well, how much rather than wash. Fall down at the feet of Christ.
Receive mercy, grace freely. Look to the one who can heal.
Be humbled and broken before Him. Humble yourself under the
mighty hand of God and He'll exalt you in due time. So he heard. And off came that
cap. Off came those white gloves.
Off came that coat with all those ribbons, hash marks. Distinctions. Everything that
distinguished him from them had to go. Now what? You hear what I said? Everything
that distinguished him from them. In Christ there is neither male
nor female, bond nor free, rich nor poor, black nor white, old
nor young. And if I come to Christ for healing,
for salvation, Everything's going to go that distinguishes me from
them. The thief, the robber, the murderer,
the harlot. He took off every mark of distinction,
laid aside everything that distinguished him from them, and stood there
naked. I imagine that the men turned
their head away. Leprosy. I've seen leprosy. in Mexico and what it can do.
That lady that begs us that you give the money to, but you won't
touch. Boy, I tell you. And old Edmund stood there ugly.
He stood there as he really was. He stood there in the real condition
in which he existed. He stood there A dying man, helpless,
hopeless, without hope, without God in this world. And he went down into that water, and he came out as clean as a
little baby. Tender skin. Tender skin. If God told you to do something,
would you do it in exchange for a redemption? I sure would. But
what if he tells you to do nothing? Would you do that? That's a lot
harder, you know? Be nothing, know nothing, have nothing, do
nothing. But with all the rest of us,
sons of Adam and daughters of Adam, naked sinners, look to
Christ. Lord save me or I'll perish. And tonight, we're going to show
you a nailman after that happened. There's another nailman. And
I'll tell you, when God's pleased to save a man, there's another
man. A new creature in Christ. Oh boy, there's a new, new creature
in Christ. He finds out, the man finds out,
as you'll see tonight, that where he was, there ain't much to it. Where God brought him in Christ,
that's something now. That's real honor, real glory,
real peace.