Syrian Leper Gospel Chapel Ministries HOME SERMONS SERMON NOTES
#343 WASH AND BE CLEAN, 2 KINGS 5:13-14
"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? 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." (2KI 5:13-14)
In order to understand the significance of the lesson in this chapter, we need some knowledge of the disease of leprosy. Leprosy is a disease in which part of the body begins to die, gangrene sets in, and it begins to rot. It progresses to the point where the rotted part will fall off. There was no cure. In Biblical times the plague of leprosy was dreaded greatly. It could not be stopped or reversed; it was incurable. It was so feared that any one who contracted the disease was put out of the gate. They could no longer come into the sanctuary; they were outcasts. If they came into contact with others, they had to put their hand over their mouths and declare, "Unclean, unclean." It cut them off from all communication and communion with other people, the house of the Lord, and the Lord. Leprosy was the most dreaded disease. This is the background we need to remember as we consider the story and message of the Syrian Leper.
Naaman had the plague of leprosy, and all of the pomp and glory he commanded were of no value. His leprosy was his death warrant, and it usually progressed quite rapidly. Our text says the simple cure was to wash and be clean. It was so simple. However, the thing the prophet told him to do made Naaman very angry.
Many things can be gleaned from these verses; such as the exercise of saving faith, "...if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?" In this verse there is a lesson on the action taken when he believed, and that action brought about the cure. He could have believed greatly, but if action had not accompanied his believing, he would never have been cured. It was so simple; all he had to do was walk into the water, wash, and he would be clean. Until he surrendered unconditionally, until his rage was gone, and his will was in total surrender where he would put action to his faith, he would never be cured. There could be a complete message based on this aspect of our text.
We must also take special note of the voluntary nature of this obedience of faith. It was a matter of coming into total surrender of his own free will without any compulsion. He was told what to do; it was up to him to do it or not. He could go back to Syria in a rage or he could obey. It was his decision. Now take notice of the wording of "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God." We are now speaking of a humbling effect.
I like to correlate that unto a Scripture the Lord blessed me with one time. ISA 66:12 says, "For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river...." Do you know what the Lord laid upon my heart from that verse? The river begins at the top of the mountain with little trickles of water. The further it moves down the slope, the larger it becomes. As all the trickles meet in the valley of humiliation, it grows into a river of peace. We receive a little peace here and a little peace there. As we grow more humble, descending into the valley of humiliation, we receive peace as a river as it comes down to us. "Then went he down..." indicates that the blessing begin to flow to him. He is now a candidate for God's blessing. The Syrian Leper went down and dipped himself the full seven times as he was directed to do by God's messenger.
We must also notice how the simplicity of the gospel of grace is often our greatest stumbling block. We presuppose how God will work grace in our soul. I have been through quite an experience covering over twenty years as the Lord has led me in a legal matter. In talking strictly from my experience, the Lord laid a passage of Scripture on my heart. The natural inclination is to think this and this and this. We add to what the Lord said and think we have it all figured out. Then the Lord led me to PRO 30:5-6. "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." I have discovered that every time I think I have it all figured out, everything I thought should happen, didn't happen. Why? The Lord says He will lead in a way I have not known.
Since the Lord leads in a way we do not know, it will be in a way that when He has brought it about it is so different than our plans that we have no way to take any credit for designing the master plan. So it was with Naaman; the plan was entirely of the Lord.
This is what Naaman did; he had it all figured out, "...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." (2KI 5:11) He presupposed how God would work grace in his soul. God didn't do anything according to Naaman's thinking. He didn't even come out; He sent a servant. What he thought became a stumbling block to simple obedience. The simple obedience of faith was hindered by his presumption of what he thought it would or ought to be.
ISA 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." How many people have missed Christ because they are looking for Him in a mansion instead of the manger. They are really saying they don't want to humble themselves to come down to where He is.
Naaman had to bow his stiff neck and humble himself. He had to dip himself in the waters of Jordan. He had to come down to find the cure. That is the same principle we will also find, every time. Every time we find a blessing, we will find we must come down into the valley of humiliation to find it.
The ways of the Lord are through the valley of humiliation, "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God." Not only did he have to come down into the waters, he had to dip himself bending his knees as well as his stiff neck.
The goal is reached by the way of humiliation of humbling oneself. PHI 2:8 says of Jesus, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." You and I are going to walk in His footsteps to humble ourselves unto the death of the flesh.
Who really got dipped in the waters? See the word himself in our text. Self, that is where the problem lay. What we must notice is that it is that ugly monster "self" that must bend and bow in true humility to do "...according to the saying of the man of God." These are the lessons we learn from what happened in this washing.
In the first place we want to consider the malady which was to be cured. It was leprosy, an incurable condition. Let's analyze this thought. The venom we all inherited from the fall of Adam went straight to the heart. Why? When a serpent strickes, the venom goes into the blood and straight to the heart. From the heart it is circulated throughout the whole body. We need to understand this principle to understand what happened. The words animosity, antagonism, bitterness, enmity, malice, corruption, poison, decay, vindictiveness, as well as rot (or leprosy) are all synonyms for the word venom. The serpent’s words to Eve were as venom.
Where does leprosy come from? What do we understand about the word leprosy? We see the vindictiveness in man's nature that came from the venom of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It is the leprosy of sin that comes from the serpent' venom. The venom got into the blood, and from there into the heart, and from there it defiled the whole man. See how this follows through in MAT 15:18-19, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."
The venom went into the heart, and there is the leprosy of sin. That was the beginning of sin; our hearts are filled with a spiritual leprosy.
A person once told me every person has cancer in their system; it is just a matter of where it will break out. Similarly every one of us has leprosy within us; it is either breaking out or it is held in check. The seeds of vindictiveness, our old nature, are in every one of us. When that leprosy breaks out, we must identify the exact spot. Then it is necessary to go back and wash all over again; it is necessary to return to Jordan. It isn't a matter of ever being fully cured in this life.
Do you understand now why the blood of Christ is so precious? He is not a descendant of Adam; He does not have that venom of sin in His blood. All the spirit of antagonism and bitterness was not His inheritance from Adam as it is for us. Why? He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. That is what makes His blood so precious. It is the only cure. We need a transfusion of His pure blood.
Now as this venom which is in the heart by nature circulates throughout the body, it breaks out in certain areas in the form of a festering boil. Have you ever experienced that? Who would not have to lay his hand on his mouth and cry out, "Unclean, unclean"? It is the plague of leprosy that breaks out in bitter thoughts.
LEV 13:19 says, "And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish, and it be shewed to the priest." Who is the priest? The Lord Jesus Christ is our Priest. Every time one of these red spots break out, we must go back to the Priest. Why? It is a boil of leprosy, the leprosy of sin, breaking out.
When we have our soul's eyes opened to see our leprosy breaking out, we recognize every evil thought, every bitterness, and all the antagonism as sin. We are victims of the terrible plague of leprosy. Now we come to our heavenly High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, for cleansing. We need the cleansing of His precious blood that has no leprosy. We must point to the exact spot where we see it breaking out as did those who went to their priest to show their disease. Then the priest could diagnose the spot as leprosy or something else. So we must come for cleansing every time we find that the ugly monster has broken out again. We must come to the Lord Jesus Christ and put our finger on the spot and admit we did this to a certain person on a certain day at that certain time.
We must come to the Lord and say, "I was bitter, I showed hatred instead of love." When we become an old soldier of the cross, we understand this need which brings us fleeing to the altar open for all sin and uncleanliness.
To wash and be clean we must come to the fountain spoken of in ZEC 13:1, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." We must come again and again. Naaman had to dip seven times.
It is in this fountain that we must come and bend our stiff necks and dip ourselves seven times. Do you know the meaning of the word seven? The meaning of the number seven is so much more important and richer than we could imagine. The word seven as it is used in our text is very significant! It comes from the Hebrew word shib'ah which means "seven as the full one, an indefinite number." That means as many times as necessary; it may well reoccur at any time. What a privilege we have; the Lord doesn't cut us off at seven times coming for forgiveness. As often as may be needed we may flee to Him.
Therefore, our text does not teach us that we can merely come to Christ and repent seven times and be clean, but we must repent every time we see that sin of leprosy break out in our heart or come to the surface. It may not even come to the surface in the form of a foul spirit; we may catch it when it is a wrong attitude in the heart. There are times, as lying in bed, when a thought comes to mind, and we need to ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts. It happens before we've said or done anything, but it has made its presence known in the heart. We may come to the Lord Jesus as often as necessary.
Jesus teaches this principle in MAT 18:21-22. "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." In other words, we must forgive our brethren as often as necessary. There are many days when we must turn to the Lord more than seven times in that one day. We must ask His forgiveness for our wrong attitudes and thoughts, and we need to ask Him to restrain our behavior so as not to offend others. Leprosy of sin keeps breaking out; we need to come back so often to dip--as often as necessary--every time the filthy leprosy of sin breaks out.
This venom does not break out on every person in the same area. HEB 12:1 says, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." You see, each person is plagued by weakness unique to them. Something which is a great trial to me may never be a trial to you. Therefore, we must identify the sin which besets us; then we flee to the fountain and wash seven times or as often as necessary. Every time that weakness surfaces, whenever we fail in that area, we must come back to wash again.
Let's consider some scriptural examples. The Apostle Paul saw the venom breaking out in the area of covetousness. ROM 7:7-8 says, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." The word concupiscence means a longing for what is forbidden. That was a problem Paul faced; you or I may have a different problem. Too much venom.
Peter and David also had different problems. Each person has "...the sin which doth so easily beset us," but where ever our sin breaks out, "...a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." We must go back and wash and be clean seven times, or as often as necessary. It is an unspecified number.
Paul's eyes were opened to see this venom had broken out into plain sight. His soul was very grieved, and he bowed his stiff neck and went for the cure. He said in ROM 7:21-25, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. [Now see his total humility and repentance.] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Do you see how the knowledge and recognition of his sin brought him to the fountain, Jesus Christ, for cleansing? His eyes were opened to see his sin; he had been a leper all the time, but when he saw the grievousness of his sin, he repented.
The Apostle Peter had venom breaking out in his life; he had the same tainted blood flowing in his veins as you and I being descendants of Adam and Eve. Peter's problem was in the area of pride and self-confidence.
MAT 26:33 tells us, "Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended." Yes, the venom broke out in his life. After his shameful fall, he was bowed down with shame and remorse, which brought him back to the fountain for cleansing. That is the important point. He went back to the fountain. Every time the venom breaks out in a boil here or there, we must go back to the fountain for cleansing as many times as necessary. When is it necessary? It is needed every time we see another part of the evil nature break to the surface.
What did Peter do? MAT 26:74-75 says, "Then began he to curse and to swear [The leprosy broke out to be seen by the world.], saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. [He was convicted immediately.] And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly." Do you see Peter's humility? He knew he had sinned, bowed, and bent his stiff neck to repent with great remorse. This is another example of what we need to learn from the leper.
Do we not find in our own lives that when we go down, and dip ourselves "...seven times in Jordan," that it may occur again and again? The Hebrew word shib'ah means "seven as the full one, [or] an indefinite number." It means that we must continually run back to the fountain. Do you find a special blessedness in the word seven? Isn't it wonderful that we may return as many times as necessary? It would be an entirely different story if Jesus had told Peter He'd already forgiven him seven times, and that is enough. That would have had dire implications for you and me. I would have chalked up enough violations in one day to separate myself from the Lord. What a preciousness we see in the word seven. It is not seven times, but seventy times seven, and that may be in just one day.
Oh, how grateful we should be for the long-suffering patience of our Lord that He is still willing to allow us to come to that "...fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (ZEC 13:1) Can you picture the patience of our Lord? He allows us to come again and again.
When we see "a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish..." begin to arise in our flesh, LEV 13:19, it is so urgent that we flee to our heavenly High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing. The more often it happens, the more dreadful that red spot becomes. I have said before, and let me say it again now, that heaven and hell have never been my concern. Nothing can be more dreadful that to see the leprosy of sin break out. How dreadful when the Lord turns us loose to live in sin. What could be more dreadful than allowing the leprosy of sin to destroy our souls? There is nothing I fear more than I fear sin.
When we see that outbreak of leprosy, we must flee to our High Priest so our leaven does not leaven the whole lump. That would be terrible. When something like bitterness break out, not repented and allowed to fester, it becomes hatred and anger. Then it spreads to others in the assembly. Contentions build, all because the leprosy wasn't immediately brought to the fountain for cleansing.
1CO 5:7-8 says, "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven [the evil within us], neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Did you know what unleavened bread signifies? The old leaven of wickedness must be purged out. The only way to do that is at the fountain where it can be cleansed. Otherwise, it will spread.
You and I must "...lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us..." What are those sins that seem so unique to us personally? We must bring those sins to the court of our conscience. We must make this a very personal application. "What have I done to offend my brother?" The important point is not what has my brother done to me. To learn what kind of sins we are discussing, let's read ROM 2:6-8. "[GOD] will render to every man according to his deeds [I do not have to account for what you did to me.]: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life [that is the reward of the righteous.]: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [their reward is] indignation and wrath." Do you see why we cannot allow evil things to remain unrepented in our hearts? If we we see the "bright spot" blemish our soul, we must immediately go to our High Priest to be cleansed in the fountain. It must be taken care of and not allowed to smolder or rot.
If we see "a bright spot," of contention beginning to rise in our hearts, must we not flee to that fountain that was opened "for sin and for uncleanness," and bend our stiff necks in humble repentance? We must sacrifice our proud selves to bend in humble repentance. Going into the River Jordan amounted to more than just getting wet. The parable teaches us to go as often as necessary to be cleansed. It was an acknowledgment of deserving death. There is no claim of merit.
How dare we walk in contention when God's Word says in PRO 26:20- 22, "Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly." If we have a problem in an area, we infect others if we aren't washed clean.
The woman is symbolic of the church, and when the old leaven is not put out we find the truth of PRO 21:19. "It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman." If the old leaven is not put out, the whole body is filled with contention. In other words, we are talking about the body of the church being filled with contention. It would be better to be alone in the wilderness than to be a part of the contention. Do you see why it is so important that all the old leaven be put out? Every red spot must be dealt with immediately because to ignore one the bit of leaven will eventually leaven the whole loaf.
So many people go to church week after week with the question in their heart, "What must I do to be saved?" The answer is in 2KI 5:10, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." Recognize the plague of leprosy that is destroying their souls; each and every soul is plagued, and must be cleansed as many times as necessary. It is seven times or as many times as it reoccurs that we must go into the water to wash again. We go back to the fountain which is the perfect sacrifice of Christ. That is our lesson.
This simplicity of the gospel becomes the greatest stumbling block for being saved. Why? It mortifies the proud to go "...down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God." It is so simple, yet it impossible for any person to do without grace. Do you think that means it is easy? Just try it. Find out how easy it is to go to your brother or sister and confess to them, "I am guilty. It was my fault; the contentions is all on my account. Forgive me." Try it once, and you will find it takes grace.
Yes, there is the simplicity of the gospel, but it is also a stumbling block. The proud neck will not bend, the proud knees will not bow down. The proud heart will not go down by nature. It requires grace. Have you heard the expression, "All you have to do ...?" Humble yourselves; that is the message of our text.
Such mortification of that ugly monster, self, takes away all pretense of any merit. How? It is by the exercise of saving faith. It is not a matter of merit; it is a matter obedience as an act of saving faith. It is most humbling to come in humble obedience as an unworthy one. We would like to come with some merit; we'd like to have something to offer. ISA 55:1-3 says, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Read that again and see how many times the word come is used. Why don't we come? We are too proud. Humility has not been worked in our hearts. We are not ready to come as a beggar and accept salvation as a free, sovereign gift. There is no merit in this kind of religion.
There is no difficulty on the grounds of painfulness or expense; it is free. The only thing we must part with is our pride, and by nature we will never willing do that on our own. The Lord Jesus said in MAT 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." When we realize we are laden heavily with sin, we have a plague of leprosy. After we have dipped in the water a few times, we don't see just a few scattered spots of sin, we realize we are leprous from head to toe. The whole body is covered with wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores. There is nothing we can claim.
Then the invitation in MAT of our Saviour is heard. "Come unto me..." We are invited to come into His service, no longer serving our own pride. How can we come to a Christ that is meek and lowly without becoming meek and lowly? As long as our knees and necks are too stiff to bend and bow, we can't come under His yoke. His yoke would be beneath us; we'd walk over the top of it. If we bend, take up His yoke, we'll find rest for our souls. How is that possible? It will become our chiefest delight to do His will. Coming into His service and doing His will be the choicest delight of our hearts. Our greatest concern then would be being led away from His yoke.
Man's pride says Elisha's method is not good enough, not great enough, i.e., its below our dignity. There is no thrill; there is nothing in it for the flesh. I want to experience something where each step leads to something bigger and better. No. Do you know what must happen? Those stiff knees must bend.
2KI 5:10-11 says, "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. 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."
Naaman came with his chariots, pomp, and servants expecting certain things. It was otherwise; he had to leave all that pride on the bank and go down...go down seven times. He thought about what would happen, but God's thoughts were higher than his. So often that is such a hindrance to our salvation. We aren't willing to come down to the place of salvation; we stand too high.
It is a pity that man holds his head so high that he cannot see the feet of God! He will not bend down to follow in the footsteps of Christ in the way of humility. God moves on lowly levels. MAT 11:29 says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
Those who have been washed understand PHI 2:3-5. "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind [become servants] let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Do you understand that except you have the Spirit of Christ, you are not His? What is the Spirit of Christ? It is the same mental disposition as Christ. The mind and attitude must be in us. If you don't have that attitude, you are not of Christ. That cuts it pretty close.
Our Saviour began His ministry saying, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (MAT 4:17) The law of entrance into that kingdom is the humbling of our pride; the lintel of the door is very low, and we must bend our stiff necks to get into His kingdom. We must stop serving self; we must humble ourselves to come into His service.
Our Saviour was willing for our sakes to humble "...himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Are we better than our Master? Jesus humbled Himself; He became a servant. He was obedient to the Father, even unto blood and giving His life. Are we better than our Master?
ROM 6:10-11 says,"For in that he died, he died unto sin once [Don't you think we must also die unto sin?]: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." If we do not walk in the footsteps of our Master, we are not in His kingdom. If we are not in His kingdom, we have no part in Him. It is very important that we understand this principle.
The Apostle Paul leaves us such a beautiful example of the attitude of one who is walking in the footsteps of Christ in PHI 3:8-10. "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ [To win Christ is first priority; everything else takes a lower place.], And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith [Why?]: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."
Do you and I understand the power of His resurrection? What is it? It is to be raised above the things of this world; raised above sin. Let's turn to ROM 6:3. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
If we are to know the power of His resurrection, it must be in walking in newness of life. That includes the fellowship of His sufferings.
Notice Paul's priorities; he wanted to know Christ. Paul wanted to fellowship with Christ, or the Spirit of Christ, in all His sufferings, and Paul knew what suffering was. What is the criteria? "Father, Thy will be done." Paul goes on to say, "... being made conformable unto his death." What was His death? It was dying unto sin, and he wanted to be conformable to His death.
Our text says, "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? 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." (2KI 5:13-14)
To each person I must say, "Wash and be clean. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and come under His leadership, under His kingdom. Every time you see one of those filthy boils that break out, every time you see something in your life where the venom breaks to the surface, flee to the fountain." Why? Let's see what the Lord Jesus says in JOH 3:14; it is such a blessed lesson. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." Do you know why Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness? Every time someone was bitten by a serpent, they had to immediately look at the brazen serpent. Then they would live. Even as Moses had to lift up the brazen serpent, so must Christ be lifted up. That was the purpose of this sermon. Anytime you realize you have been stung by that fiery serpent with the venom breaking to the surface, immediately look to Christ. Why? So you might live. When the Israelites looked, they lived. It is so simple, and so impossible by nature.
"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." When you go down into that Jordan to dip yourself seven times, that means as many times as necessary. Anytime you see the leprosy of sin begin break forth, immediately flee to the fountain. "...and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child..." What does it mean by being like the flesh of a small child? It means like it was before he sinned. In other words, it was as if he were perfectly innocent. Why? His sins were washed away; he was as clean as he was before he ever had leprosy. If you are washed clean, you will be restored, whole, in the blessed faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
These on-lines sermons are a ministry of Gospel Chapel located in Conrad, Montana. We also have a daily devotion. See also, our sermon notes.
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