Introduction:

We are going to examine Naaman and his command given by God through Elisha to dip seven times in the Jordan to be cleansed as he was a leper.   While the Jordan was a dirty river, it was not the water that did the cleansing but the act of obedience.  WE too must be obedient in our cleansing through water.  We will find that through this lesson man could not cleanse Naaman, man was not God, and finally how we can be washed and made whiter than snow.

Naaman told to dip seven times in the Jordan
KJV 2 Kings 5:1-14
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.

The obedient will be right with God
KJV Isaiah 1:19-20
19.  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

I. Man could not cleanse Naaman (verse 7) “Power of God”

Christ used the “Power of God” to make whole
KJV Luke 9:38-43
38.  And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
 39.  And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
 40.  And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.
 41.  And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
 42.  And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.
 43.  And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,

The “Power of God” today is salvation
KJV Romans 1:16
 16.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Through the cross is the power of God displayed (salvation)
KJV 1 Corinthians 1:18
18.  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
 Note: Through the blood of Christ
------KJV Matthew 26:28
 28.  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

------KJV 1 Peter 1:17-19
 17.  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
 18.  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
 19.  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

------KJV Romans 5:8-9
 8.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
 9.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Not man’s wisdom but God’s power
KJV 1 Corinthians 2:5
  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The word brings that salvation “POWER”
KJV 2 Corinthians 6:1-7
1.  We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
 2.  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
 3.  Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
 4.  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
 5.  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
 6.  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
 7.  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

WE will live because of that “power”
KJV 2 Corinthians 13:4
.  For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

II. Man is not God

A God of GREATNESS
KJV Psalms 145:3
 3.  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

The God of great wisdom
KJV Romans 11:33-36
33.  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
 34.  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?
 35.  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
 36.  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

The God that has done for us great things
KJV Job 5:8-9
 8.  I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
9. Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

The God whom created us
KJV Malachi 2:10
10.  Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

The truth is that there is one God
KJV Mark 12:32
 32.  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

One God who is the Father
KJV 1 Corinthians 8:6
 6.  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

The Seven ONES
KJV Ephesians 4:4-6
 4.  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
 5.  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
 6.  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

One God, Christ being the go between
KJV 1 Timothy 2:5
 5.  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

The devils believe there is ONE God, that is not enough
KJV James 2:19
19. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

III. The Washing occurs in baptism

KJV Acts 22:16
16.  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Washed in his blood
KJV Revelation 1:5
 5.  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Death, Burial, and Resurrection
KJV Romans 6:1-6
 1.  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
 2.  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
 3.  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
 4.  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.
 5.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
 6.  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
 
 

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