7 Dips in a Dirty Pool
2 Kings 5
INTRODUCTION: This familiar story is an excellent illustration of the need of every human being for spiritual healing, and the things that hinder us from that healing.
NOTICE NAAMAN’S:
1. POSITON. Vs 1 He was a man of:
A. AUTHORITY: The Captain of the host of the King of Syria
B. INFLUENCE: a great man with his master.
C. SUCCESS: by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria.
D. INTEGRITY: an honorable man.
E. ACTION: a mighty man of valor.
> HIS POSITION COULDN’T MAKE UP FOR HIS PROBLEM.
2. PROBLEM: Vs 1 But he was a leper
A. IT TAINTED EVERY SUCCESS. (Mt. 16:26) For what is a man profited, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Lk 12:20 Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things
be, which thou hast provided? (Luke 12:20)
B. IT BROUGHT A SLOW, HUMILIATING DEATH. (Romans 6:23; Heb. 9:27)
C. IT WOULD BRING SEPARATION FROM ALL THAT HE LOVED. (Rev 20:14)
Isa. 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
Isa. 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
3. PROSPECT: Vs 3
A. THE CONFIDENCE OF THE SERVANT. Vs 2,3
1) There is no trace of bitterness in her.
B. THE CONFUSION OF THE KINGS. Vs 5,6
1) The King of Syria sent him to the King of Israel for healing.
2) The King of Israel thought it was a set up. Vs 7
(1 Cor. 2:14) the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
C. THE COMMITMENT OF NAAMAN:
1) He had to make a 120 mile journey into enemy territory.
2) He had to go to the enemy to ask for help.
NOTE: We too have only one prospect. Acts 4:12
4. PRIDE: Vs 5-12
A. HIS REASONING: (HE THOUGHT HE COULD BUY HEALING.) (Isaiah 55)
10,000 talents of silver; 6000 pieces of gold and 10 new suits!
NOTE: The world is still trying to buy spiritual healing but God says that it’s Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. (Tit 3:5)
B. HIS REACTION. Vs 11, 12 (Anger)
1) Anger is one of the first evidences of a possible pride problem. (Pr. 13:10)
2) Anger is the natural result of frustrated expectations. Vs 11
(Psa 62:5) My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
3) Anger (PRIDE) can only be overcome with humility and obedience. (James 4:6)
Temper gets people into trouble. Pride keeps them there.
5. HIS PARTICIPATION IN GOD’S PLAN. Vs 13-19
A. THE REASONING OF A WISE FRIEND. Vs 13
B. THE RESPONSE OF FAITH. Vs 14
1) Once he responded, God was able to heal him.
2) Probably not a progressive healing, but a powerful one.
C. HIS REQUEST. Vs 17-19
APPLICATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS:
1. Sin, Like leprosy, will eventually eat away at us until it affects every part of us.
(Num 32:23) ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.
2. God wants to use our needs to teach us lessons in the school of obedience.
> Naaman’s greatest need was not physical, but spiritual.
> God used the physical need to draw Naaman to himself.
> Even Jesus attended this school! (Heb. 5:8)
3. Obedience will often require us to do things that seem inconvenient or even unreasonable.
a) God’s requests of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Gideon, and virtually every one else he used
mightily were all unreasonable from a human perspective. (Isa 55:7,8)
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
b) This is one way in which God deals with our Pride.
“God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. “ D L Moody
4. Our failure to trust and obey God may cost us the very things we need most. (Ps. 37:5,6)
5. Wise counsel always encourages obedience to God. Ps. 1:1 (Pr. 19:27)
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
6. The rewards of obedience (or disobedience) will affect others.
a) Naaman and his family. (Including that servant girl!)
b) The men with him and their families.
c) The King of Israel.
d) The King of Syria.
Illustrations:
POSITION
The famous actor Robert Redford was walking one day through a hotel lobby. A woman saw him and followed him to the elevator. "Are you the real Robert Redford?" she asked him with great excitement. As the doors of the elevator closed, he replied, "Only when I am alone!"
PRIDE
The essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
There never was a saint yet that grew proud of his fine feathers, but what the Lord plucked them out by and by; there never yet was an angel that had pride in his heart, but he lost his wings, and fell into Gehenna, as Satan and those fallen angels did; and there. shall never be a saint who indulges self-conceit and pride and self-confidence, but the Lord will spoil his glories, and trample his honors in the mire, and make him cry out yet again, "Lord, have mercy upon me," less than the least of all saints, and the" very chief-of-sinners."
* Spurgeon.
Winston Churchill knew that public favor was no proof of real success. Once, after he gave a speech for which 10,000 people came out, a friend asked, "Winston, aren't you impressed that 10,000 people came to hear you speak?"
Churchill replied, "Not really. 100,000 would come to see me hang."
SIN
If you want to clear the stream, get the hog out of the spring.
American Negro Proverb
It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the light and out into nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft under foot, without sudden turnings, without signposts. C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake.
Billy Sunday (1862-1935)
