The Way Up Is Down

I'm going to speak to you today
from the book of II Kings, II Kings chapter 5, verses 1 through
14. I'd like for you to take your
Bibles and look at this scripture with me. Now, I've preached from
this passage before. I've preached on this subject
years ago on this television program. But the reason I'm repeating
it is because it's one of my favorite messages. It's one of
my favorite subjects. The title of the message, this
is the title of the message, The Way Up is Down. The Way Up is Down. Now, here
in II Kings chapter 5, verse 1 through 14, is the story of
a man by the name of Naaman. And most of you are very familiar
with it. You see, Naaman was a great warrior. He was a general. He was the leading officer in
the Syrian army. And he was a Gentile. He wasn't
a Jew. He was a Gentile. But God had used this pagan Gentile
general to bring deliverance to Syria. God had used this man
as an instrument of his power and purpose to accomplish great
things for the country of Syria. He was a mighty man, and Scripture
said he was an honorable man, a man of honor, a man of valor,
a mighty man, but he was a leper. He was a leper. And then it says
there was in his household, in the next verse, there was in
his household a young woman who was an Israelite. She was Jewish. And she had been captured and
brought to that country. And she was a servant in Naaman's
household. And she knew about the prophet
of God. It doesn't say she knew Elisha,
but she knew about Elisha. And she knew her master Naaman
was a leper. So she told Naaman's wife, she
said, there's a prophet in Israel. who could heal my master of his
leprosy." If he'd go to the prophet Elisha in Israel, then he'd be
made whole. Well, Naaman went to see his
own king, the king of Syria, and told him what this girl had
said, this young woman had said, that there was a prophet in Israel
who could heal him of his leprosy. So the king of Syria sent Naaman
down to Israel, sent him with gold and silver and a lot of
beautiful clothes and all kind of possessions and treasures
and he took these things and a letter down to the King of
Israel, not to the prophet, not to Elisha. But he sent him to
the King of Israel and he came to the King of Israel and the
letter from the King of Syria to the King of Israel said, I'm
sending you my servant Naaman, who's a leper, and I want you
to heal him. And the king of Syria rent his
clothes. He was beside himself. He said,
this man must be trying to make war with us. He said, am I God?
Am I God to kill a man or make him alive? I can't cure leprosy. What's behind all this? Well,
the prophet of God, Elisha, heard about, knew of what was going
on. God revealed to him what was going on. But the scripture
said he heard. that the king of Israel rent his clothes, and
he was beside himself and troubled over this situation. So Elisha,
the prophet of God, sent word to the king of Israel. He said,
send Naaman down here to me, and I'll take care of his leprosy. And he'll learn that there's
a prophet of God in Israel. You send Naaman to me, and Naaman
will learn that there's a prophet of God in Israel. Well, Naaman
came to the little house where the prophet Elisha lived, and
with his carriages, and his chariots, and his horsemen, and his soldiers,
and his silver, and his gold, his treasures, and all of these,
and his fine uniform, and his medals, and all these things,
and he stood before the door of the prophet Elisha. He stood. That's what Scripture says. He
stood before the door. He didn't stoop. He didn't go
in. He stood before the door. Expecting the prophet of God
to cater to it. Expecting the prophet of God
to oblige him. But Elisha didn't appear. He
didn't come out at all. Elisha sent a servant, a slave,
out to Naaman, to this great, important, impressive general. And his servant said to the general,
General Nailman, my master, said for you to go dip seven times
in the River Jordan and you'll be clean. And the scripture says
Nailman turned in a rage, in a rage. He was so angry, so angry. He turned in a rage and he said,
I thought, I thought surely he had come out to me Put his hand
on the place and call on his God his God and I'd be clean
and He stomped off. He was gonna leave and one of
his simple servants said to him master If the Prophet of God had told
you some hard thing to do it, would you have done it? If the prophet of God had given
you some expensive thing to give, would you have given it? Of course. Then why don't you do the simple
thing that he commands? Why don't you go down and wash? Well, here's the text. Then went he down. Then he went down. and washed
seven times in the river Jordan. And the Scripture said, he came
up. The way up is down. He went down and he came up. He went down humbled, stripped,
broken, submissive. He came up, the Scripture said,
with flesh like a little child, cleansed
and soft and new. Why is this story in the Bible? 17, 18, 19, 20 verses here committed
to Naaman, a Gentile heathen general who was healed of leprosy. Why is this in the Bible? Well,
number one, I know it's authentic. I know it is authentic. I know
it's genuine because my Lord referred to it in Luke 4 when
my Lord Jesus Christ went down to Nazareth to preach. When he
would define the sovereign mercy of God, when Christ our Lord
would define the sovereign mercy of God, he said, now you listen
to me, those Sabbath-keeping, legalistic, ceremonial Israelites,
he said there were many widows in the land of Israel in the
days of the prophet, and God didn't feed any of them. He fed
a Gentile. And there were many lepers in
the land of Israel in the days of Elisha, and God didn't heal
any of them. He healed Naaman, a Gentile. The Lord Jesus Christ used this
message right here Himself. I'm in good company this morning.
So, it's authentic. Secondly, I know it's not there
to instruct lepers to go to the River Jordan to be healed I Know
that a leper cannot be healed by lip-dipping seven times in
the River Jordan The River Jordan doesn't have any power to cure
leprosy none whatsoever never did didn't then and doesn't now
But I know this Nailman Could never have been healed of leprosy
if he had not gone into that River Jordan Now I know that
I can't explain that But I do know that river doesn't have
the power to cure leprosy, but Naaman couldn't be cured without
going in that river. I'm going to show you why this
story is in the Scripture. It's there to give us a picture
and an illustration of how God brings a sinner to himself. He brings us up. He translates
us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son.
He brings us to himself, up to himself. And the way he does
it is to strip us, and break us, and humble us, and bring
us down first. That's right. Just as the brazen
serpent is a picture of Christ crucified, Naaman is a picture
of the sinner who looks to Christ. You remember when the brazen
serpent was lifted up, Moses said, look and live, and they
looked, Well, that brazen serpent is a picture of Christ. And this
man, Naaman, is a picture of sinners like you and me who are
brought to Christ, brought to look to Him, love Him, believe
Him. You see, Naaman belonged to the
Lord. Even when he was in heathen Syria,
even when he was heathenism and paganism and idolatry and false
worship, he still belonged to God. just like Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus wasn't brought
to faith until he was 40 years old, but he belonged to God before
he was born. That's what the Scripture says,
God who separated me from my mother's womb called me by His
grace. And Naaman belongs to God. Naaman
is an object of God's grace. Naaman is an object of God's
mercy. Naaman is an object of God's
love. Christ said so. Christ said,
Naaman, God sent his mercy to Naaman. He sent his prophet to
the widow. But you see, listen to me now,
Naaman is an object of God's love, an object of God's grace,
an object of God's sovereign mercy, but Naaman himself must
learn who God is. He's got to learn that God is
God. He must learn his own inability. He must learn his own helplessness.
He must be brought to the place where he will willingly give
God the glory. Naaman must be brought down.
His pride has to be broken. He must give the glory of his
deliverance to God. If he buys it, if he purchases
it, if he pays for it, he gets the glory. If it's free and by
grace and by sovereign mercy, God gets the glory. He's got
to be brought to acknowledge that. He must realize he can't
buy grace. He must learn that salvation
is of the Lord. From first to last, alpha to
omega, it's of the Lord. He's got to learn that. And then
he's got to be brought to faith. He's got to be brought where
God brought him. Listen to verse 15. After he came up out of that
river, He went back to the prophet and this is what he said, Behold,
now I know, I know there's no God in all the earth but in Israel. The God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob is God. He didn't know that back yonder.
He knows it now. You see that? Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. This work must be done. It's the work of conviction.
It's a work of convincing men of sin. It's a work of humbling
and converting sinners. It's a bringing down. It's a
stripping. Man's never been lost, never
been found. Man's never been stripped, never been clothed.
Man's never been dead, never been raised. Man's never been
blind, never had his sight restored. And that's got to take place
if this proud general is to know God. And it has to take place
in every sinner whom God redeems. Because, you see, God resisted
the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
God said in Isaiah 45, 23, I've sworn by myself, the word has
gone out of my mouth in righteousness. It shall not return. Unto me
shall every knee bow. And every tongue shall confess
he's Lord. It has to take place. You see,
if you miss conviction, you'll miss repentance. And if you miss
repentance, you'll miss faith. And if you miss faith, you'll
miss Christ. And if you miss Christ, you'll
miss life. And it all goes back to this
point of conviction, humbling, breaking. Naaman is an object
of grace. He's a choice jewel in the crown
of Christ. But Naaman has got to be brought
down. Down. See that? All right. Let's look at it carefully,
at these verses, and see what we can find out. God dealing
with this man, Naaman, as He deals with us. In the first place,
Naaman had many commendable traits. You'll see there in verse 1,
it says he was honorable, he was mighty in battle, he was
well loved by his king and by the people. God had even delivered
Syria by this man's hand and by his cunning work in battle. But he was a leper. All these
good things that could be said about him, still, he's a leper. He covered it pretty well. He
had a uniform on. You couldn't see his skin underneath
the uniform. He had this fine, tailor-made,
best uniform on, but underneath, there was that old dying skin,
that scaly leprosy. And that's a picture of us. You
and I, and everybody listening to me, we might have some commendable
traits. Some of you are husbands and
fathers and sons and good neighbors and good workmen and Outstanding
citizens and some of you wives are fine mothers and daughters
and kind to your neighbors and so helpful, but you're a sinner. No use denying it. And we cover
it pretty well. We cover it with religion. We
cover it with morality. We cover it with smiles. We cover
it with a whole lot of things. But the scripture says there's
none good, no not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. All we like sheep have gone
astray. We turn everyone to his own way. Your sins have separated you
and God. It's an inward heart disease
that's responsible for all our troubles and sorrows and death
and darkness. He was a mighty man. Honorable
man. But he was a leper. A leper. He had something wrong. Something
that was fatal. Something that would eventually
destroy him. And there's something wrong with
us. Sin is a transgression of God's holy love. And our sins
that separate us from God and sin, when it's finished, bring
us forth death. Eternal death. Now what's the
second thing? Naaman wanted to be healed. But
he went to the wrong place. He went to the king of Israel.
Nothing was said to him about going to the king of Israel.
The young woman said, if my master could get to the prophet, the
prophet in Israel, he would be healed. But he didn't go to the
prophet. He went to the king. Who is this
prophet? If you read Deuteronomy 18, you'll
find that this prophet, not Elisha, but Elisha was a picture of that
prophet Christ. Moses said God will raise up
that prophet the prophet and Him you shall hear he shall speak
my words God says and everyone that hears my prophet will be
blessed and those that hear not my prophet I'll required of them
Christ is that prophet God spoke to our fathers with the prophets
he hath in these last days spoken to us by his son Nahum and went
to the wrong place He didn't go the prophet and we today Men
are going to the wrong place. Nothing was said to Naaman about
going to the king of Israel, the prophet. And nothing is said
to us about going to the front of the church, or going to the
altar, or going to Mary, or going to the law, or going to the baptismal
pool, or going to the sacraments, or going to the preacher. It
says, go to Christ. Come unto me, Christ said, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Come unto
me. I'm the way the truth and the
life no man come it to the father, but by me you see how like Naaman
we are Yet something wrong seriously wrong. He knew it but he went
to the wrong place and Thirdly he wanted to be healed. He not
only went to the wrong place, but he took the wrong things
with him He took silver and gold and raiment My friends, we do
the same thing. We can't condemn Naaman when
we offer God for redemption our tithes, and our times, and our
talents, and our hearts, and our morality, and our righteousness,
and our good works. Naaman came to the king of Israel
with all of these precious treasure, and he was going to exchange
this silver and gold for cleansing. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation received
by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish. Don't go to the wrong
place, and don't take with you the wrong things. When I think
about this name and taking the wrong things, I think about that
Pharisee who went to the temple to pray, and he stood and prayed
thus with himself, Father, I thank you I'm not like other men. I give alms to the poor. I fast
twice a week. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
an extortioner. I'm not like that publican. And
my Lord said he went home condemned. He offered God, in exchange for
mercy, his works. In my hands, no price I bring.
Naaman brought the wrong things. And then what's this? Finally,
he got to the right place. He came to the prophet. Finally,
he came to the prophet. The king of Israel sent him to
the prophet. God's prophet finally came, but he came with the wrong
attitude. It said he stood outside the
door. I can imagine that this little house where the prophet
of God lived, it wasn't very impressive. I imagine it's like
a lot of those little houses I see in Mexico with a thatched
roof and a curtain over the door. a round house with one room and
a dirt floor, and here this proud general standing there with his
uniform and his medals and his hat on, you know, and his swagger
stick and his scarf around his neck to cover his rotten flesh. And he stood there in his pride.
You know, old Naaman wanted to be treated like a great man who
happened to be a leper. And all he was, in reality, was
a leper. who happened to be a great leper. Elisha knew his pride. He knew
his arrogance. And he wouldn't come out to meet
him. He wouldn't cater to him. He sent his servant out. He knew
the man's problem. He knew the man needed to be
broken. Mercy is at the feet of Christ.
Where that adulterous woman fell and kissed his feet and bathed
him with tears and dried him with the hair of her head. Mercies
found at the feet of Christ as a humble sinner falls there and
this proud Arrogant general had to be brought down and you and
I've got to be brought down to the feet of Christ So that he
gets all the glory and there he stood the wrong attitude and
Elisha seen his servant out there and Gahazi the servant came out
and said My master said for you to go dip seven times in the
river Jordan now Naaman got the message. But he had the wrong
thoughts. He had the wrong thoughts. I
thought. You know, God said, your thoughts are not my thoughts.
Your ways are not my ways. There's a way that seemeth right
unto you. And the end thereof is death.
It's not what you think. It's what God says. The way of
life is not the way you think it is. It's the way God says
it is. I thought he had come to me.
Christ said, you come to me. I thought he'd come out and put
his hand on the place. That's what all the preachers
are doing now, laying their hands on people, people laying their
hands on television, laying, my hand has no power. Power is
in the blood of Christ, in the grace of God, in the mercy of
God, in the righteousness of Christ. I thought he'd lay his
hand on me and say some words and call on his God. No, sinner,
you're going to call on your God. It's not my God that's going
to save you, it's your God. You see what I'm saying? I thought,
I thought he'd come to me. He doesn't know who I am, does
he? Does he know who I am? Does he know who's out here?
I thought he'd come out here to me and he'd go through some
hocus-pocus and lay his hand and call on his God. Oh boy,
Thomas said, my Lord and my God. Well, he got, finally he did
something right. He had something wrong with him,
he came to the wrong place and brought the wrong thing and had
the wrong attitude and had the wrong thoughts. Finally, he got
straightened out. The word of a simple servant.
He said, now my master, if he told you something hard, do you
to done it? Why don't you go wash? And that's when I said,
why don't you come to Christ? Why do you go through all this
rigmarole of sprinkling infants and bowing and scraping and giving
all this money and time and talent and heart and hand and hustling
around and zeal and all this sort of thing, organization,
religion, all these things, and God holds it in utter contempt? That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. God saves sinners, helpless
sinners, stripped sinners, worthless sinners. Undeserving sinners
who in the dust at the feet of Christ looking to him for mercy
Like the thief on the cross Well, he took off his gold braid took
off his stars Lay down his swagger stick. He wasn't swaggering now
He was a naked leper and his soldiers I'm sure were looking
at him like they'd never seen in sight like that before decayed
rotten flesh And there he stood Like he really was. Like he really
was. Nothing to cover him. Don't hide
your sins. He that hideth his sins shall
not prosper. But whoso confesseth and forsaketh
and will find mercy. He went down in that river. Down.
Low as he could get. Muddy, dirty Jordan. But he came
up washed. His power in the blood. His power
to cleanse the guilty. There's power to save the helpless.
There's power to redeem the lost. There's power to reach the fellows
the furthest away. But let me tell you now, God's
not selling anything. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
ask you. The cattle on a thousand hills is His, and the silver
and gold that hadn't yet been mined is His. He doesn't need
you, me, or anything we got. You need Him. But if you come,
you'll come like nailmen. Stripped as you really are Nothing,
no veneer knows nothing to hide behind just an open dirty rotten
dying sinner in the dust in the dust Bathing in the blood and
you'll come up clean. You know what this man did he
went right back to the prophet He went in the house now and
he said there's no God in all the earth but in Israel and he
said to the Elijah, he said, I want to give you a little something
to help your ministry. Elijah said, I don't need anything.
I don't need anything. I'm just glad God did something
for you. And he turned and went home. There's more to it. I wish
I had time to tell you about it. But why don't you get the
tape and read the scripture. Send $2 and I'll mail you this
message. The way up is down. And the one
on the other side, some things I know. Till next week, God bless
you.

The Way Up Is Down

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