The Way of Naaman's Salvation, Part 2

Recap: Naaman's Conviction of Need and God's Preparation

0:04 I would encourage you to turn in your own Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 5, 2 Kings and the 5th chapter as we continue our studies in the life and ministry of the successor to Elijah, Elisha, who is referred to again and again in the narrative concerning him as the man of God. We return tonight to that fascinating record of the healing of Naaman, this great Syrian military leader. In our initial two studies, we tried to look at the passage in terms of what it sets forth of the nature and character of God, and we noted particularly the unrivaled sovereignty of God, the unfathomable wisdom of God, and the unbindingness of God. The unbounded love of God so clearly manifested in this incident of the healing of this pagan military leader. And then last Lord's Day evening, we began to examine the passage in greater detail as setting forth the way of salvation illustrated in the healing of Naaman.

1:24 There is biblical warrant to believe that many of the physical healings of the Old and the New Testament, are set forth as object lessons, as illustrations of the nature and principles of spiritual healing. Of course, one of the classic incidents in the Old Testament is the one to which our Lord Himself refers in John chapter 3, when He says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him may have everlasting life. And then in the New Testament, we find our Lord in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, launching then into a great discourse concerning the way in which He is bread and drink to the souls of men. Well, in this incident of Naaman's physical healing, there is much to indicate that God has ordered the details of the record as well as the incident, which it reflects, to set forth in a very graphic way the great principles that are involved in the salvation of a soul. And there is clear evidence in the text itself that Naaman's healing of leprosy actually resulted in his conversion to the God of Israel.

2:52 I suggested in our study last Lord's Day evening, that first of all we see in the text Naaman's conviction of need for a divine deliverance from his malady. We are told in the first verse something of his greatness, of his stature as a military man, as a man held in great honor by his king and by his countrymen, and yet all of this was utterly powerless to cure him of this living death of leprosy. And it was that felt consciousness of the desperateness of his plight that made him willing to receive the report from a little maiden girl mediated through his wife, made him willing to make the great trip to Samaria to endure the insults of the prophet, and many other things that were very withering to his pride and to his fleshly stature. And all of this was because Naaman had a deep and settled conviction of the desperateness of his need. And so it is with God's salvation, in Christ our Lord said, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. They that are well have no need of a doctor.

4:09 And until you and I are brought to a felt consciousness of the desperateness of our plight as sinners, we will never know anything experimentally of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. The salvation of Christ is never conferred as a luxury. It comes to those who have been brought to the felt consciousness that without it they are utterly undone for time and for eternity. And then we began in the second place to consider the fact of the Lord's activity in preparing this desperate man for his deliverance from leprosy.

4:51 We saw that first of all God brought a report to Naaman's ears which gendered hope in his heart. It was that report of that little evangelist whom God had brought into Syria by way of a commando raid into Israel. It was the testimony of this little Hebrew maid that became the message of hope. And so it is with sinners.

5:17 Until the gospel with its message of hope comes to a sinner's ears, there is no way for him to discover the way of deliverance. How can they call on God? They call on him whom they have not heard. And then we concluded our study by noting God's engineering of this series of events to shatter all of the creature confidence of Naaman.

5:43 Verses 5 to 7 are a detailed account of how God shattered this creature confidence. Any notions that Jehovah could be manipulated or bribed, these hopes were shattered by the response of the king. And Naaman was brought to see that his hope could not be found, was not to be found in men, even the greatest of men. And in Philippians chapter 3, we have a detailed account of God's dealings with Saul of Tarsus to bring him to that same spiritual posture.

6:18 He said, If any man could have confidence in his flesh, I more. And then he mentions all of the things that were to his credit. If salvation were to come by good breeding, by good conduct, by good religious activity, the apostle Paul says, I had all that any man ever had and more. But he had to be brought to the posture where he said, I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, and I do count them but refuse.

God Crushes Naaman's Human Pride and Carnal Wisdom

6:52 Well then, let's pick up our study of the passage by considering a third element of the Lord's activity in preparing this man, Naaman, for a gracious work of deliverance. God not only brought a message which gendered hope for deliverance, God not only engineered a series of events which shattered his creature confidence, but thirdly, God guided the prophet's actions and words to crush all of Naaman's human pride, and carnal wisdom. God guided the prophet's actions and words to crush Naaman's human pride and his carnal wisdom. And this is seen particularly in verses 8 through 13. And it was so, when Elisha the man of God 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.

8:03 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth and went away and said, Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Farpar the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?

8:46 May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 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!

9:09 Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the 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. Now what we see in these verses, read in your hearing, is not some arbitrary or capricious action on the part of God, or even what may appear on the surface to be a bit of social naughtiness on the part of Elisha. Though God is utterly and absolutely sovereign, he is never arbitrary or capricious in his ways.

9:50 Now we may not always be able to unravel the wisdom and the love that lies behind the doings of God, but often, with a little meditation and reflection, we are able to discover the precise purpose of the Almighty in his dealings with his creatures. What we know of God precludes any thought that God acts capriciously or arbitrarily, and what we know of the revealed character of Elisha underscores that he was not a social boor. He was obviously a very sensitive man. You'll remember that when kindness was shown to him by the Shunammite woman, it was unthinkable that he would simply reason, well, I'm the prophet in Israel. You know, it's a pretty good deal for her to have the prophet in her house. She kind of owes that to me. No, no.

10:44 He had no sense that it was owed to him. He felt in debt to that woman. And you remember it was his own sense of indebtedness that prompted the question through Gehazi, what does the woman want me to do for her? I must do something to show my gratitude and to show human and common kindness.

11:02 And throughout the entire record of the life of Elisha, this element of his social sensitivity, this element of the consciousness of human relationships stands out again and again, much more so than in his predecessor Elijah, who was somewhat of a recluse and a rather strange man. But the human element comes through again and again in Elisha. So when we read that Elisha did not even go out and give him a proper greeting, when Elisha treated him in a way that you wouldn't treat even a common ordinary peasant, let alone a great military leader coming with credentials from a foreign king, there must be some reason other than social boorishness or aloofness on the part of the prophet. And I would suggest that this entire section read in your hearing is a record of the activity of God continuing to prepare Naaman for this great work of deliverance. But it was calculated at this point to crush his human pride and to shatter his carnal wisdom. Now why is this so?

The Principles Behind God's Humbling Work

12:18 Well, for the simple reason that the law of God's kingdom is articulated in such verses as these. God resists the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. James chapter 4 and verse 6. With respect to the matter of human pride, God says that His grace is never conferred until first of all there is a disposition created by God that makes the reception of that grace possible.

12:56 He resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. With respect to this matter of carnal wisdom, it was our Lord who articulated the law of the kingdom when He said in Matthew 18 and verse 3, I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise, enter into the kingdom of heaven. And it's because of these very fundamental principles that God in preparing Naaman for deliverance sets out to deal with that two-fold problem that existed in the heart and thinking of this man, his human pride and his carnal wisdom. Notice specifically now how the Lord did this. We read in verse 9, Naaman came with his horses, with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. As we've suggested in previous studies of the passage, he comes with all of his military and royal entourage.

Specific Ways God Crushed Naaman's Pride and Wisdom

14:07 He has a letter from his king. He comes laden with close to one thousand pounds of precious metals. And you convert that into their worth in today's market of silver and gold. And he came with something more than loose change.

14:24 And here he comes with all of this impressive entourage to the very gate or to the door of the house of the man of God. And the text tells us Elisha sent a messenger to him. Elisha apparently seeing from his house top or through an opening that we would call a window does not leave the door of his house. But he simply sends a messenger.

14:53 And there is no indication that until he is healed and returns to show gratitude to the man of God that he has any personal dealings with Elisha himself. Now why? This is a man who loves people. This is indicative of him throughout the entirety of the record as we've already suggested.

15:17 Well, this was calculated by God to go to work on this whole element of human pride. Doesn't Elisha know who I am? I am Naaman. When I walk out into the streets in my own country and in my own village everyone turns his head to catch a glimpse of me Naaman, leader of the armies of Syria.

15:45 For the opening text says that he was honorable because by him the Lord had given great victories. Does not Elisha see all about me the symbols of my importance my weight in Syria my wealth, my prestige, my station? Can he not see all of this? Why one of his little lackeys?

16:08 Well, you see this was a wound to his preacher pride. And to show that we're not reading in more than is warranted by the text he tells us what he was thinking down in verse 11 but Naaman was wroth and went away and said, behold I thought he will surely come out to me whatever else will happen Elisha will come to me Naaman! And Elisha doesn't come to him. He treats him with what appears to be social indifference what appears to be and particularly in eastern culture a social indifference.

16:49 A social insult. It would be as though someone stuck out a hand to greet you and you held your hands behind your back. Or in other cultures where there is an embrace and a kiss upon the cheek if you withheld that it's regarded as an insult. Well, this is precisely the activity that is directed by the Lord to the prophet Elisha that he might go to work in this matter of Naaman's pride.

17:18 Then notice secondly the directive of the prophet to go wash in Jordan. The latter part of verse 10 the messenger opens his mouth and the words that come out are these go and wash in the Jordan seven times. The word wash was a strange word. Jordan complicates the strangeness seven times is adding insult to injury.

17:49 But those are precisely the words that God gives appended with a marvelous promise go wash in the Jordan seven times thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean. But it would appear from the subsequent record that it's doubtful that Naaman ever heard the word of the promise. The words go wash wash Jordan seven times so shattered his expectation as to how this healing was to take place that I personally doubt that he ever even heard the promise. You and I know what it's like in our dealings with people. We start to say something and the opening phrase so triggers them emotionally they never hear the last part of the sentence. And everyone around us could hear I didn't hear you say that all you said was thus and thus and thus and thus and thus. Well the whole context which speaks of him going away in a rage and he was wroth when those passions of carnal heat are pumped up into the head they cauterize the auditory nerve.

19:05 And it's amazing how little we hear when the passions of the heart are pumping into our judgment all of that heat. You know that laugh with which you've just laughed is a nervous laugh of confession that you all know all too well what I'm talking about and not simply because you've seen it in others. You've known it in the naughtiness of your own heart. Well what was the purpose of this?

19:31 Why this directive? Go wash seven times in Jordan. If waters are to be the instrument of healing he immediately makes this comparison with the waters back in Syria clear waters. And reading some of the commentators who are knowledgeable concerning Bible lands in detail they say that these rivers that are mentioned by Naaman are indeed beautiful clear crystal rivers and by comparison Jordan was a dirty mud hole.

20:08 And so aesthetically it's understandable. If waters are to be made the instrument of my healing why not waters that at least reflect in the way they appear something of cleansing value not that filthy dirty muddy red Jordan river. Not that river. Well what was God doing?

20:28 Well God was nailing his pride again. If you're to be healed you'll be healed my way by means that are utterly abhorrent to your flesh. Sure the rivers of Samaria or the rivers of Syria are better rivers I made them. I made them the way they are.

20:49 But I also made Jordan and my word to you Naaman is go wash in Jordan seven times. So just as surely as Elisha's activity in ignoring him and sending a servant was a wound to his pride now there is this additional wound to his pride a directive that cuts at the very heart of that which he Naaman thinks is fitting. And then thirdly the absence of religious fanfare in any pompous ceremony by the prophet is calculated absolutely to counter his carnal wisdom. You see he says in verse 11 behold I thought and it's interesting Spurgeon has a whole sermon on that little phrase behold I thought and obviously out of his deep and intimate pastoral experience with people who have all their notions as to how they should be saved he builds a whole sermon on the I thoughts of sinners. Well I'm not about to do that I simply want to underscore this fact. Behold I thought he will surely come out to me. You see in his trip all the way from Syria to Samaria to the king and from the king's place down to Elisha's

22:16 Naaman is building up in his own mind what we would say is an a priori assumption as to how his healing will come based on the stuff of his own pride his own notions of religion his own ideas as to how holy men called prophets should function and how they can manipulate the gods based on his own pagan ignorance. Rooted in his own carnal wisdom and fed by his own wretched pride he's got it all figured out. Behold I thought and this is what he says I thought first of all he the prophet will surely come to me if I'm going to be healed I'll be healed by a personal audience with the prophet. Well God negates him at that point. And says my wisdom is ordered otherwise. Your healing will come without you so much as laying your eyeballs on the prophet let alone the prophet laying his hands upon you or touching you.

23:27 You've got it all figured out Naaman but I've purposed the way in which I'll bring the healing and I will not be subject to your thoughts. Furthermore he goes on to say behold I thought surely the prophet will come out unto me and stand and call upon the name of Jehovah his God. He had it all figured out that there would be a very dramatic religious exercise similar to that upon Mount Carmel and perhaps he had even heard of that incident when the man of God Elijah stood in the presence of the prophets of Baal and called upon Jehovah. And he had it all figured out this is the way it's going to come there'll be a personal encounter with the prophet there will be some visible demonstrable religious exercise by the prophet he'll call upon Jehovah then he'll go through the official motions and incantations of a holy man he'll wave his hand over my leprosy and then he says dramatically and wonderfully I will be made clean. He will wave his hand over the place and recover the leper. But you see his healing is ordered to come in a way that absolutely counters every one of the expectations of carnal wisdom. No personal encounter with the prophet

24:53 no visible prayer of the prophet no visible religious symbolic actions of the prophet the healing will come in the depths of a dirty river. Now what's he doing? God's going to work not only on his pride but on his carnal wisdom. God's going to work on all of the notions that arise from the corruption of his own heart and from the ignorance of pagan religion to do what?

The Universal Process of God's Humbling Work in Salvation

25:26 To prepare him to be healed God's way. Now this process is precisely the process that goes on in the heart of every sinner whom God draws to the knowledge of himself. Before you and I will ever know the joy of sins forgiven in the way of God's appointment before we Naaman's of the earth will ever know the cleansing of the leprosy of our sin there must not only be that felt consciousness of the desperate plight in which we are in as sinners but there will be that work of God bringing a message of hope to us so that we do not utterly despair but then when we begin to pursue the content and the essence of that message of hope God by the spirit through the word will work on this matter of our creature confidence he will work on this matter of our carnal wisdom and of our creaturely pride. Now sometimes he does it in a way that is marked by great violence of soul sometimes by a much more gentle and almost imperceptible work of the spirit sometimes very quickly sometimes over an extended period of time

26:54 sometimes very softly sometimes with thunder and lightning often by using as he did in this incident those who speak to us of the reasonableness of the ways of God when the first reaction upon our carnal pride and our human wisdom is a violent reaction he goes off and blows his car he turns away in a rage but God now uses not a true Israelite as he used to create the initial ray of hope but he uses one of his fellow pagans to say to him now my master my father will you not listen to reason and God makes efficacious the pleadings of that pagan servant to heed the word of the prophet by whatever means over whatever length of time with whatever intensity is pleasing in his sight and I would set up no stages of conversion that would in any way indicate to the slightest degrees that the work of God in imparting saving grace is stereotyped no it is not but the essential principles are there wherever and whenever the grace of God comes to us and until you and until I have been brought to the place where all confidence for salvation

1 Corinthians 1: God's Method of Grace Shatters Human Pride and Wisdom

28:23 in the creature is shattered when all expectations born of human wisdom is shattered or are shattered and until all the pride that would keep us complying with God's method of deliverance from sin is shattered we will never become the children of God and perhaps the best commentary on this passage is first Corinthians chapter one first Corinthians chapter one for this passage reveals that God has calculated the method of grace to shatter human pride and human wisdom now let me repeat that God has calculated the method of grace to shatter human pride and human wisdom I begin reading with verse eighteen for the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness but unto us who are saved it is the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discerning discernment of the discerning I will bring to naught where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world

29:51 hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for seeing that in the wisdom of the world the world through its wisdom knew not God it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the thing preached that is the word of the cross to save them that believe and the Jews ask for signs you see the spirit of Naaman is the spirit of the Jewish nation come do the spectacular do it in a way that is dramatic the Jews seek for signs the Greeks seek after wisdom the deliverance has got to come in a way that fits our categories of what is wise but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block unto the Gentiles foolishness but unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men for behold your calling brethren not many wise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God chose here is the calculation of the method of grace

31:19 God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise and God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong and the base things of the world and the things that are despised did God choose even Jordan rivers and the things which are not that he might bring to naught the things that are to what glorious end that might bring no flesh should glory before God but of him are ye in Christ Jesus who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord you remember the words of Jeremiah let not the rich man glory in his riches nor the mighty man glory in his strength but let him that glorieth glory in this in that he knoweth me that I am the Lord you see what God is doing God is shattering Naaman's own carnal wisdom he is going to work on his own creaturely pride what is Naaman's wisdom I thought God says it's foolishness you may have thought that your deliverance would come this way I have determined it shall come another and my friend that's thought

32:46 that's the heart of the message of the gospel once you begin to take seriously those ultimate questions I don't mean questions that aren't worth a hill of beans the ultimate questions who am I how can I deal with my sin how can I know God how can I be sure of sins forgiven how can I be certain of my identity in life my destiny in eternity my friend no human arm is able to come forth with an answer it is the revelation of God in the gospel that answers those ultimate questions it is the wisdom of God in Christ crucified and in that sense Christ crucified is God's Jordan and before we ever dip and become clean there will be that crushing of human pride that crushing of creature confidence and the shattering of carnal wisdom as we embrace Him who is the wisdom of God the cross is God's perpetual and unchanging Jordan to which every sinner is directed and God says go to that fountain open for sin and uncleanness and find your deliverance there but you say but I thought

Naaman's Obedience of Faith and Its Deliverance

34:14 here's what you think your dilemma is beyond your power to resolve that's why God put life in a virgin's womb that's why God opened the sluice gates of divine wrath and judgment until they inundated His own beloved Son until the billows of heaven went over Him and submerged Him in the baptism of Golgotha my friend God has made foolish the wisdom of this world and it's in Christ crucified that the answer to the great and ultimate questions is to be found well we hurry on then and conclude by noting briefly having seen Naaman's conviction of need and then having traced out the Lord's activity preparing Naaman for deliverance notice finally then the obedience of faith which actually brought the deliverance in verse 14 and in very simple language we read then he went down that is from Elisha's house wherever it was to the Jordan then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the saying

35:41 of the man of God and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean now here's where a preacher must put a rain on his imagination but if you want some fruitful meditation you just go home tonight and think what must have gone through Naaman's mind as he made his way from Elisha's house having had his angry passion subdued through the instrumentality of his servants reasoning with him you see he wasn't so hot headed that he missed the blessing the servant was able to reason with him and reason prevailed by the blessing of God and now he makes his way down to the Jordan and notice now the three specifics about this obedience of faith first of all it was an obedience rendered to the word of God then he went down dipped himself according to the saying of the man of God you see he saw beyond the servant who brought the word of Elisha and when it designates Elisha as the man of God the intimation is he saw even God even beyond Elisha for he knew that Elisha was a true servant of Jehovah as he indicated in verse 11 I thought he would call upon the name of Jehovah his God so as Elisha makes his way

37:08 down into that muddy unsightly river I'm sorry as Naaman makes his way he is doing it as an act of obedience to the word of God he is not doing it because he wants to please the servant who brought the message or his own servants who prevailed upon him he is having dealings with the word of God the second thing we note is that it was an obedience explicit in its details he had been told to go down and wash seven times in the Jordan and to make sure that the washing was nothing less than a complete washing he dipped himself seven times he didn't stop at six he didn't reason well four is more than half of seven that ought to suffice he explicitly followed the directive of the word of God so there was an obedience rendered to the word of God an obedience explicit in its details and thirdly it was an obedience crowned with deliverance according to the promise the promise given two times the end of verse ten thy flesh shall come again to thee thou shalt be clean then we read in verse fourteen

38:37 we have I'm sorry the reminder of the promise in the end of verse thirteen how much rather than when he saith to thee wash and be clean and now the fulfillment of the promise as he dipped himself into the Jordan his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean now this is a marvelous illustration of what Paul calls in Romans one in verse five the obedience of faith responding in faith to the gospel is an act of obedience when the gospel comes to us it comes as command and promise it comes announcing all of the facts concerning God's activity in his son Jesus Christ and based upon that activity Almighty God commands us to repent and to believe and he attaches to that command a marvelous promise that our sins will be blotted out that we shall be saved that we shall be accepted in the beloved one and what is it to become a Christian well it's more than simply coming to the consciousness of one's need it is more than even being brought to the place where we realize

The Gospel as Command and Promise: Explicit Obedience Required

40:05 that the need cannot be met in any creature the need must be met not according to the dictates of human pride or human wisdom but according to the gospel until there is obedience to the gospel as a word from God there will be no salvation and you see that's the great problem with many of you who sit here tonight because you have heard from the dawning of consciousness the essential facts of the gospel the divine commands and promises of the gospel they have become as it were just a part of your human experience and you have never seen beyond mom and dad never beyond your Sunday school never beyond your pastors and elders and preachers who proclaim the command and promise of the gospel but oh my friend until you embrace it as a word from the living God you will never become a Christian that's why Paul could say to the Thessalonians God be thanked that when you receive the word of God from us you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which worketh in you that believe believe it how believe it as a word from the living God and oh that God would grant

41:33 that even in this hour the same old message I have no new message to bring may come home to your heart with the power of God himself convincing you that this message to repent to turn from your sins to embrace the offered savior is not something we conjured up in our own heads it's not something we are simply parroting from our protestant tradition it is the word of the living God it is God who commands you to repent it is God who commands you to believe and it is God who promises that the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses from all sin you must not only as Naaman render obedience to the gospel as the word of God but it must be an obedience explicit in its details he was told go wash in the Jordan seven times clear directions the promise was only valid if the obedience was explicit and God has given wonderful promises in the gospel through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins Paul said that by him ye can be justified

43:03 from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses but my friend the command of the gospel is explicit you must repent you must believe God commands no more but he commands no less and the reason some of you have not come into the experience of gospel forgiveness according to the promise gospel joy the gift of the spirit the attestation of sonship and all the privileges of the children of God is because you are not rendering explicit obedience to the gospel you are desperately trying to believe without repenting there is some darling lust it may be a carnal base physical appetite it may be an ambition it may be a mental lust or appetite Paul speaks of the desires of the flesh and the mind and the reason you seem to be utterly unable to lay hold with any kind of firm grass upon the promise of the gospel is that you are refusing to render explicit obedience to that gospel which says repent repentance to what repent of your own carnal pride repent of your own carnal wisdom

44:29 some of you are in the danger of perishing because of an unmortified head as well as some of you in danger of perishing because of an unmortified member of your body the gospel must be received as a word from God it must be obeyed explicitly you must repent turn from the disposition of thinking your own thoughts about God and sin and life and forgiveness turn from your love of the world and sin renounce your allegiance to the devil but you must believe and what is it to believe it is in the language of the scriptures to feed upon Christ to receive Christ to look to Christ all of these analogies to come to Christ the Bible gives us no philosophical definition of faith but a rich panoramic description of faith it is the soul running to Christ who is the city of refuge while the avenger of blood is at our heels it is the sick and smitten sinner as an Israelite bitten with the fiery serpents looking to the provision of God with that fixation of desperate yet of confidence allegiance

45:58 and going out of the heart to him it is a coming to Christ it is a taking of the yoke of Christ this is the language of scripture and my friend you must believe no one will believe for you the Holy Ghost is not going to so come upon you that while you are in a state of suspension of mind and volitional consciousness you'll suddenly just find yourself caught up in the joy of sins forgiven when the jailer said sirs what must I do to be saved the answer of Paul and Silas was not do nothing it was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and oh my friend the joy of sins forgiven that awaits the one who simply believes the promise of the gospel I know you say that sounds too simple I thought yes you thought but who cares what you thought well I thought that I had to experience deep groanings and mornings and I thought that I had to seek the Lord for months and years and I thought I thought who cares what you think my friend your soul is at stake it's what God planned the deliverance as he planned it for Naaman

The Crowning Joy of Deliverance Through Belief

47:27 he planned it for us that little woman in Naaman's household he ordered the negative reaction of the king of Israel he directed the prophet to ignore him to tell him to go wash this is God's perfect plan unfolding before our eyes when Naaman was finally brought to the spirit of a little child obeying the word of the gospel to him it says he came away clean my friend it doesn't matter what you think what I think it is the word of the cross that is the power of God to everyone that what believe my friend it's the power all that you would believe upon him upon his mercy and then you with Naaman will find the crowning joy of the deliverance that perfectly accords with the promise God said go wash seven times in Jordan your flesh will return you'll be clean Naaman came up and stood on Jordan's bank and he could say the promise is valid in every facet of its glorious realization

48:55 and sinners are able to say the promise of the gospel is valid in all the breadth of its wonderful provision when they believe on the Lord Jesus and for you who are the people of God and whose own experience attests to the validity of everything preached tonight I hope you never grow weary of tracing out God's marvelous ways with you imagine Naaman's trip back to Syria he probably chuckled at his folly blowing his cork hot-headed pride he probably wept as he thought of how close from the human side he missed the blessing because of his own rotten carnal pride his own human wisdom and how he must have marveled again and again as he traced out the ways the little servant girl who first gave the ray of hope and then the shattering of all confidence that he could manipulate God or that he could bribe God when the king rent his clothes and then his hopes are all raised that he stands outside Elijah's house and then God shatters his pride and then God works on him further and God smashes his human carnal wisdom oh how his heart must have overflowed with wonder and praise

Pastoral Exhortation: Never Lose the Wonder of God's Ways

50:22 as he traced out the ways of God child of God I hope you never weary of tracing out the ways of God with you how God himself prepared you for the message of the gospel prepared you for the delivering grace of the gospel wrought mightily in your heart and oh that is the people of God the glow of that wonder will never leave us if you ever get too old in grace to shed a tear of amazement to break out in the holy laughter of wonder and bafflement God have mercy upon you God have mercy upon me it is the joy of the Lord that is our strength look unto the rock from whence ye were hewn and unto the pit from whence ye were digged is the command of God and for you who like Naaman go away from this place week by week if not in an outward rage and an inward rage too simple it doesn't meet my expectations I can't cut that business oh my friend you could leave cleansed and hold if you'll but repent and believe the gospel let us pray

Prayer for Humility, Faith, and Enduring Wonder

51:46 oh our heavenly father we would this night confess from our hearts our sense of amazement and wonder that you would condescend to deal so patiently with proud recalcitrant stubborn arrogant sons and daughters of Adam oh God we see ourselves in Naaman strutting boasting thinking our own thoughts but how we bless you for the work of your spirit in bringing us to that disposition of embracing your provision in Christ in the way that you have appointed oh God do that work in the hearts of boys and girls and men and women in this building tonight that that last day when we stand before you may reveal that on this hot night in August of 1979 by the same spirit who wrought mightily in Naaman you worked mightily in the hearts of men and women

53:15 in this place we pray for your children that we may never lose the glow the sense of wonder that you would be so merciful to us we do thank you our Father for your goodness to us this day we thank you for your word that was preached to us this morning oh may we not be foolish men and women boys and girls but may we be those wise ones who dig deeply and lay a solid foundation of nothing less than vital union with your own dear Son oh God bless the word taught and preached to us this day and may we reflect in our lives the reality of its influence upon us as we enter a hostile world and seek to live as light and as salt hear our prayer and receive our praises as we offer them through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen