Have you washed? Wash before you…
Text: 2Kings 5:1-5
9-21-97
by Ronald George
Why do I need to wash? Why do I
need to get baptized? Why do I need to go the river and wash 7
times? I can’t see where that will do me any good. I
don’t see any dirt on me. I don’t need to be baptized
to go to heaven do I? Why should I be baptized and/or join the
church?
2Kin 5:1 (KJS)
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. {with: Heb. before} {deliverance: or,
victory} {honourable: or, gracious: Heb. lifted up, or, accepted
in countenance}
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. {waited...: Heb. was before}
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. {with: Heb. before} {recover: Heb. gather in} 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.
{with...: Heb. in his hand}
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. 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. 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. {I thought: Heb.
I said} {strike: Heb. move up and down} {I thought...: or, I said
with myself, He will surely come out, etc} 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. {Abana: or, Amana} 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? 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. 15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his
company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now
I know that [there is] no God in all the earth, but in Israel:
now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
Key Verse: 2Kin. 5:13 (KJS) 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?
Did you know -- In 1842 the first bathtub was denounced as a "luxurious and democratic vanity." Boston made it unlawful to bathe, except on doctor's prescription. In 1843 Philadelphia made bathing illegal between November 1 and March 15.
How tragic most Christians have adopted a similar schedule of spiritual cleansing. We would rather put up with the stench of our unconfessed sins than come clean before God!
1.The Disease: The disease is caused from tiny germs too small for the human eye to detect, but the results are devastating. Incurable disease such as Aids is this disease called S.oul I.ncapacitating N.umbness or S.I.N. Soul Leprosy is a disease that we all have and need cured of.
Leprosy is a disease that was incurable and untreatable. It deadens the nerve endings in the extremities and works it’s way up your limbs until the patient had lost use of his limbs.
Sin is a dreadful disease that gradually creeps up your life until it’s completely got you. But you don’t realize that you are held tight in its grasp.
Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
2. The Referral: from the one who knew of the cure to one in need. The captured slave girl loved the man, Naaman and sent him to get the cure. Sometimes we need a referral. Can you see the love in the slave girl’s heart. She knew the God of Love. She pointed her master to Jesus. Would you point someone to the cure?
3. The Cure/The Procedure:
Faith to believe the Word of the Lord and wash in the River that the Preacher spoke of. Faith to believe that we will do it God’s way and not someone else’s or our own. Faith to wash in the cleansing fountain. The fountain of the Blood of the Lamb is source of our cleansing. We have to believe in the power of salvation through the Lord. We must want to be made whole.
Man does not like to admit that his sinfulness and rebellion are at the heart of the problems of society. He's much more comfortable discussing imperfections, weaknesses, mistakes, and errors in judgment. We have become so politically correct that we no longer call sin, sin. Now, a shoplifter is called an alternative shopper. Those who chose not to follow God’s plan for humanity and live lives that are in agreement to His word are called those who have Alternate Life styles. These terms are socially acceptable, and almost everyone identifies with them. But an outright acknowledgment of guilt before a holy God, a 100-percent acceptance of responsibility for wrong- doing, runs against the grain. Yet this kind of honesty is the first step to the freedom from sin and guilt that God longs to give us and has provided in the death of Christ
3. The Application: Have you washed up?
The washing isn’t the cleansing of the soul but the Faith in the Lord of all creation that has the power to clean us from the sin that destroys our lives. Washing is the joining of ourselves to the Lord of all creation that cleanses us from all of our sin.
A hermit was guided by an angel into a wood, where he saw an old man cutting down boughs to make up a bundle. When it was large, he tied it up, and attempted to lift it on his shoulder, and carry it away; but, finding it very heavy, he laid it down again, cut more wood, and heaped it on; and then tried again to carry it off. This he repeated several times; always adding something to the load, after trying in vain to raise it from the ground. In the meantime, the hermit, astonished at the old man's folly, desired the angel to explain what this meant.
"You behold," he said, "in the foolish old man an exact representation of those, who, being made aware of the burden of their sins, resolve to repent, but soon grow weary, and, instead of lessening their burden, increase it every day. At each trial, they find the task heavier than before; and so put it off a little longer, in the vain hope that they will by and by be more able to accomplish it. Thus they go on adding to their burden till it grows too heavy to be borne; and then, in despair of God's mercy, and with their sins unrepented of, they lie down and die. Turn again, my son, and behold the end of the old man whom you saw heaping up a load of boughs."
The hermit looked, and watched him attempting to remove the pile in vain , which now had accumulated far beyond his strength to raise. His feeble limbs tottered over their burden; the poor remains of his strength were fast ebbing away; the darkness of death was gathering around him; and, after a convulsive and impotent attempt to lift the pile, he fell down and expired.
Have you ? Will you? Trust in God for the cure for your S.oul I.ncapacitating N.umbness?