A Theology on Sin and Cleansing – Timothy C Glover<\/p>\n
2Kings 5<\/p>\n
Introduction:<\/p>\n
The Bible is full of stories that have theological implications, that is, they illustrate the truth of God – they tell us about God and the way he works.\u00a0 Remember last week’s message from Luke 4:14-30 about Jesus being rejected in his home town of Nazareth?\u00a0 His response to the people included this account from the O.T. about how God works.\u00a0 His grace will not be thwarted.\u00a0 If those whom he has chosen (the Israelites) would not receive it, he would give it even to the Gentiles.\u00a0 God’s own people during the time of Elisha the prophet were far from him.\u00a0 But Naaman the Syrian would come.\u00a0 He would need some prompting and some direction, but he came and he rejoiced in the true faith he found.\u00a0 God’s people were so hung up on the fact that they were chosen that they forgot that they must also choose.\u00a0 God’s cleansing goes to all who really want his grace and remains on those who do not abuse his grace.\u00a0 Today’s passage tells us a lot about sin and cleansing.\u00a0 You can remember and use this passage as an illustration of eternal truth for yourself and others.<\/p>\n
The players in this passage are Naaman, the commander of the Syrian forces; Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria or Aram; the Israeli servant girl; Joram, the king of Israel; Elisha, the prophet of God; and Gehazi, Elisha’s servant.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sin is Fatal\u00a0 (v.1)<\/p>\n
Human gifts, recognition and accomplishments cannot overcome the curse of sin which comes upon us all (Is. 64:6; Eccl. 9:11-12).\u00a0 These qualities cannot overcome in our battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil no matter how valiant we are, no matter even how moral we are.\u00a0 Our condition is debilitating and terminal – like leprosy (give analogy of sin and leprosy).\u00a0 We need help.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing is Available\u00a0 (vv. 2-3)<\/p>\n
God provides this help to us by sending us messengers of truth in some amazing ways, often in ways we wouldn’t expect.\u00a0 But we must act on what he shows us.\u00a0 God’s initiative calls those whom he has chosen (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:4-6), and yet we know there is no excuse (Rom. 1:20) in ignorance since Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1John 2:2) and the whole world is held accountable for sin (Rom. 3:19-20).\u00a0 If you really want God you will seek him and find him – and as you seek him he leads you in the path of righteousness.\u00a0 For some this path is a little straighter than for\u00a0 others, but he will not disappoint the one who is really searching for him.\u00a0 Perhaps you or I can be the one who brings the word of faith as God’s servant to someone who is seeking a cure for sin.\u00a0 We are like signposts along that path.\u00a0 We may lament our position or condition, like the servant girl might do, but it is being used by God.\u00a0 Our faith is contagious in overcoming the contagion of sin.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing is Valuable\u00a0 (vv. 4-6)<\/p>\n
Once we find a lead on truth and are willing to follow it, God will see that nothing stands in our way of carrying out our desire for obedience.\u00a0 It is as if he gives us a letter of reference and provides for the journey.\u00a0 The prospect of a cure for sin is worth a fortune.\u00a0 If we could pay it, we would be willing.\u00a0 Certainly there are others in our lives who would be willing to pay a fortune if they could get us cured of sin.\u00a0 They have a vested interest.\u00a0 We have great potential value to them, but we are damaged goods.\u00a0 They want us to be whole.\u00a0 They, too, are willing to help us if we let them.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing Comes Only From God\u00a0 (v. 7)<\/p>\n
Perhaps our first thought when we discover how sick we really are is to find us some human healer.\u00a0 This person may be important (a king), but when faced with the monumental prospect of a cure for an eternal illness, they have no recourse but to be honest and tear their robes in the anguish of inability.\u00a0 Any person who is truthful will admit that ultimate healing comes only from God.\u00a0 This healing for sin is tantamount to bringing someone back to life from death.\u00a0 Indeed, the one who is healed from the curse of sin will have eternal life.\u00a0 If anyone is ever sent to us for this healing we must point them to the only one who can heal which is Christ.\u00a0 When we defer to the ultimate authority, they cannot pick a quarrel with us.\u00a0 If we are called upon to act, we must do so in his Name – and we have a responsibility to remember that Name and to call upon that Name.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing Comes Only to Those Who Obey God\u00a0 (vv. 8-10)<\/p>\n
So God continues this journey of holy discovery for the one who truly wants healing.\u00a0 We are brought to the one who is able to act for him.\u00a0 For Naaman it was Elisha.\u00a0 For us it is Christ and those whom he chooses to act directly as his servants.\u00a0 The purpose for it all is that the seeker might know that there is a God in the land who is true and right.\u00a0 But still, the seeker must continue the journey, right up to the door (Mt. 7:7-8).\u00a0 He must not turn back prematurely, even if he feels rejected at the door.\u00a0 Perhaps God is testing his obedience.\u00a0 How badly do we want what we have come after?\u00a0 Is it because we truly want to be healed, or is it because someone else has sent us?\u00a0 Will we do what we are told even if it does not make sense to us?\u00a0 There was no healing power inherent in the water, but obedience to the Word which said “wash” was required.\u00a0 Even so there was no healing power inherent in the obedience either, but it was in the Word.\u00a0 The Word cleanses as we respond to it.\u00a0 It is whatever God says that heals, but we must do it (Mt. 28:19-20).<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God Defies Our Understanding\u00a0 (vv. 11-12)<\/p>\n
Let us admit it.\u00a0 Christianity seems too simplistic to be true.\u00a0 Here it is washing 7 times in the Jordan.\u00a0 Seven is a complete number.\u00a0 The Jordan is the river that separates us from the Promised Land.\u00a0 We must be cleansed from the sin which separates us from God in heaven.\u00a0 For us on the other side of the cross, we are baptized into God’s family in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The Promised Land is heaven.\u00a0 But Naaman thought surely there is something more I must do.\u00a0 He thought there must be something more than this – there must be some visible manifestation or act of God.\u00a0 He didn’t yet grasp the implications of the obedience of faith.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps he thought he deserved a personal audience.\u00a0 But until we are clean we have no audience with God.\u00a0 We get that audience by obeying in faith.\u00a0 Naaman tries one more approach.\u00a0 What about the rivers of other lands?\u00a0 That is, isn’t there some other religion that will perform a more elaborate ritual that can heal me?\u00a0 He thought, “I’ve come all this way for this?” \u00a0 He had some questions that needed to be answered.\u00a0 He needed to come to terms with God.\u00a0 God is patient with us as we discover that the only terms he accepts are his own, not ours.\u00a0 That is what is hard for us, to let God be the provider of everything that we need (Eph. 2:8-9).<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God is Complete\u00a0 (vv. 13-14)<\/p>\n
Naaman is still on his journey, although he backs up a few steps to check his course.\u00a0 A wise man listens to counsel.\u00a0 God uses many means we might not expect to direct us, like servants that we think are under our direction.\u00a0 This perhaps becomes a lesson in humility as we are enabled by God to apply this object lesson in coming to him.\u00a0 Perhaps part of the cleansing we seek is the humbling of our hearts.\u00a0 How wise the servants were!\u00a0 “Would you not have done the great thing?\u00a0 Then how much more the simple.” \u00a0 So he obeyed and found himself completely clean by the Word of God.<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God is Free\u00a0 (vv. 15-16)<\/p>\n
“Hallelujah, I’m free at last!” \u00a0 Can’t you hear him cry out?\u00a0 It certainly wasn’t because he did it himself.\u00a0 He must praise God for giving him faith, for honoring that faith, for setting him free.\u00a0 The greatest praise we can give God is in believing that he exists and that he rewards those who do so (Heb. 11:6).\u00a0 Our natural inclination is to offer some form of payment.\u00a0 But God will not accept perverted goods.\u00a0 And if he accepted it, it would pervert us once again from the cleansing we received.\u00a0 The only payment he accepts is the humble heart of faith.\u00a0 Once we have been cleansed, God will accept our works done in his Name, but he will not accept any payment for the cleansing except that which he provided through his Son Jesus Christ upon the cross.\u00a0 That is the only payment good enough.\u00a0 Anything else is an insult.\u00a0 And the wise man of God will not turn profits on blessings less they become curses upon his own head.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God is Continuously Available\u00a0 (vv. 17-18)<\/p>\n
We cannot buy heaven, but God gives it freely to all who ask.\u00a0 Naaman got the message.\u00a0 So he wants all of heaven he can get to keep him through the remainder of his life on earth.\u00a0 What better picture than to take all of the Promised Land you can carry with you?\u00a0 Does the prospect of heaven keep you going, and going, and going?\u00a0 We have been forever changed by our cleansing experience (2Cor. 5:17).\u00a0 We will never again serve a false god.\u00a0 But we still live in the world, and a certain amount of contamination is inevitable (1Cor. 5:9-10).\u00a0 That is why we have been given 1John 1:9.\u00a0 Isn’t God good?\u00a0 He has thought of everything.\u00a0 And we can even possess a little of eternity now.<\/p>\n
10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Woe to Anyone Who Would Abuse God’s Grace\u00a0 (vv. 19-27)<\/p>\n
And with all of this we can go in peace with the blessing of God.\u00a0 Except for one thing.\u00a0 There is always someone who wants to make us pay after we have been cleansed and let off the hook by the grace of God.\u00a0 There is always someone who says we got off too easily.\u00a0 There is always someone who wants to turn a profit on our good fortune even if it means creating disaster for us.\u00a0 Perhaps they think our sins were too bad to be taken care of so easily.\u00a0 They want a cut of the action.\u00a0 But they forget the power of God, the sacrifice of Christ, and the effectiveness of faith.\u00a0 And they may make us pay, but only with supreme cost to themselves.\u00a0 The curse of the sins that were forgiven will come down upon their own heads.\u00a0 That’s right, even if they try to make us pay a little, once true repentance has been wrought, they only curse themselves – and they denigrate God.\u00a0 Once something is dealt with at all levels and put under the blood of Christ, it shall not, it must not, it cannot ever be brought up again in God’s sight (Mic. 7:18-19).<\/p>\n
Conclusion:<\/p>\n
Do you know for certain that you are released from the bondage of past sin by faith in Christ?\u00a0 Have confidence before God that you have been cleared by the ultimate power of the universe.<\/p>\n
Do you hold anything against anyone, thinking that they have no present right to peace because of their past sins, even though truly confessed and forgiven?\u00a0 Beware of God lest you inherit what you detest.<\/p>\n
Do you know of anyone who desperately needs to be set free from the hopeless chains of sin by God’s gift of grace through faith in Christ?\u00a0 Perhaps you are called to be the signpost along the way.<\/p>\n
A theology of sin and cleansing.\u00a0 Naaman the leper, the Gentile, the child of God, perhaps an up and coming commander in the army of the Lord.\u00a0 A picture of the grace of God.\u00a0 And you?<\/p>\n
Sermon Notes:\u00a0 A Theology on Sin and Cleansing<\/p>\n
Scripture:\u00a0 2Kings 5<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sin is Fatal\u00a0 (v.1)<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing is Available\u00a0 (vv. 2-3)<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing is Valuable\u00a0 (vv. 4-6)<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing Comes Only From God\u00a0 (v. 7)<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing Comes Only to Those Who Obey God\u00a0 (vv. 8-10)<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God Defies Our Understanding\u00a0 (vv. 11-12)<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God is Complete\u00a0 (vv. 13-14)<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God is Free\u00a0 (vv. 15-16)<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cleansing From God is Continuously Available\u00a0 (vv. 17-18)<\/p>\n
10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Woe to Anyone Who Would Abuse God’s Grace\u00a0 (vv. 19-27)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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