Sermon Title: He Went Down
Text: II Kings 5: 1-14
Date: 1-2-2011
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
II Kings 5: 1: Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
Naaman had much honor given him but it was the LORD who had given deliverance to Syria, but Neaman was a leper. Leprosy Represents Sin
Isaiah 1: 5: The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
Job 14: 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
II Kings 5: 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 sovereign, fetching grace--The LORD used Naaman's army to bring this girl to Naaman's house…V2:…and she waited on Naaman’s wife
The Lord Jesus said,
Luke 4:27: And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
II Kings 5: 3: And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
Christ Jesus is THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HEAL you of your sin.
Mark 1:40…there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
II Kings 5: 4: And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5: And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and 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. 6: And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7: And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, 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. 8: 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. 9: So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
Here is stands Naaman— full of pride, with his horses and chariot, with all his valuable gifts. HE STANDS AT THE DOOR
II Kings 5: 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.
The message:
· You must be stripped of all your honorable attire—down to what you really are--a loathsome leper.
· Wash in Jordan 7 times--
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
· Thy flesh shall come again to thee,and shalt be clean—robed in God’s own righteousness, the righteousness of Christ Jesus the Lord.
II Kings 5: 11: But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will 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. 12: Are not Abana and Pharpar, 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.
Someone said—Total depravity offends man’s dignity, divine revelation offends man’s wisdom, and the blood of the cross offends man’s pride.
II Kings 5: 13: And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
ARE YOU A SINNER? WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
II Kings 5: 14: 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 clean.
Application: Matthew 9: 10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11: And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Zaccheus--come down!
Do you hear his Voice this hour! Come down--repent from all your righteousnesses--you are sick. Wash in the blood of Christ--believe on Christ Jesus. Thou shalt be clean!