Storms Creek Church 10-22-2023

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Episode Transcript

(00:16):
Good morning, and welcome to StormsCreek Missionary Baptist Church this Sunday morning radio
program. This morning, we'll bejoining Pastor Kenny Hurts because we once again
open descriptions and study God's work.Okay, this morning we are going to
be in the Book of Second Kingsin chapter five. But before we begin.

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In chapter five, I want toread a verse from Luke chapter four
and verse twenty seven. It says, in many lepers were in Israel in
the time of Elijah the Prophet,and none of them were cleansed, say
saving Naeman the Syrian. Then inSecond King's chapter five, I want to

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read verse one. Now, Naeman, captain of the host of the King
of Syria, was a great manwith his master, and honorable because by
him the Lord had given deliverance untoSyria. He was also a mighty man
in valor, but he was aleper. I've titled the message for this

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morning Healing a Gentile Leper. LastSunday I preached a message on Luke chapter
four, verses fourteen through thirty.And in that message we looked at the
account of Jesus as he returns backto his hometown of Nazareth. He's been

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gone for all about a year orso. He's been in Jerusalem and the
area of Judea. He has beenpreaching, and he has performed miracles.
In fact, he's becoming pretty wellknown. His reputation is starting to spread,
and so he makes a return tohis hometown of Nazareth. Now,

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how do you think people in hishometown would receive him. You would think
they would welcome him with open arms. Well, as we looked last week,
we saw that that wasn't the case. They didn't welcome him. In
fact, they rejected him, rejectedhim to the degree that they tried to
throw him off the cliff and tokill him, but he was able to

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escape. Now, part of therejection was because of the fact that he
basically was claiming there in the synagoguein Nazareth that he was the Messiah.
But he also referred to a coupleof Old Testament examples of God's mercy being
shown to gentiles, and in doingthis, she also was pointing out the

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fact that these gentiles were more spiritualreally than the Jews that Jesus was addressing
that particular day. Now, oneof the examples that we looked at from
the Old Testament was a gentile widowwho with her son was on the verge
of starving. There was a greatfamine. They were to the last of

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their food. This widow had determinedthat she was going to fix one final
meal for her and her son andthen they were going to die. Well.
All this is found in One Kingschapter seventeen, which we did look
at, and we see there thatElijah the prophet came to her and asked

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if she would fix him a mealwith what she had left. That he
promised her that if she did that, that she would never lack for food
for her and her son during thetime of famine. And so she believed
Elijah. She trusted what he said. She didn't ask for any evidence,
she didn't ask that he performed somemiracle. No, she just trusted him.
She believed his word, and wellshe was taken care of well.

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The other example that is mentioned therein Luke chapter four is the gentile captain
who's the leper by the name ofNaeman. And in this case God didn't
use Elijah, but he used theother prophet, the other miracle working prophet,
and that would be Elisha. Allof this was found in Second Kings

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Chapter five. Now I didn't dealwith this, I didn't turn to this
passage last week. So what Iwant to do this morning is I want
to look at the account of Naeman'shealing, and it's found in Second King's
chapter five. It's a story thatis most definitely worth looking at because what

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we see in this story, Ibelieve, is a picture, a beautiful
picture of the God and what theGospel does in saving those who are lost.
Just as well, Naeman was healedby his leprosy. So here in
Second King's chapter five, what dowe know about Naemen. Well, we're

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told in verse one, first ofall, that he was a captain.
He was a great military leader.He was the commander of the Syrian army.
He had led them to a greatvictory in war. He was also
an honorable man. He was highlyrespected there in Syria. Everybody knew about

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Naemen. Naemen was someone that thepeople, well, they all held in
the highest esteem. We're also toldin verse one that he was a man
of valor, a valiant warrior.He had power, he had respect,

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he was an important person. Hewas a man of influence. And so
you can see that there's a lotof good that is said about Naeman.
He was, he was a greatman there in Syria. But with all
that has been said there in thatfirst verse, with all that I've just
mentioned about this man, there wasnot a man in all the land of

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Syria who would trade places with Naemen, not the lowest slave, not the
poorest, most humble person in allof Syria. And why you ask,
because of what we see at theend of verse one. But he was
a leper. Leprosy was well adreaded disease back in that day and time.

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He was about as bad as hecould get to be struck with leprosy.
We know that the Bible often usesleprosy to picture sin and the influence
of sin and the effect that sinhas on people. And so in healing

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this gentile leper, we see thatGod is a god of mercy and grace,
not just for the Jewish people,but for all people, for all
the nations of the world. Sowhen we look at this account, we
see that God shows mercy to agentile, a gentile leper. So with

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that in mind, what I wantto do this morning is I want us
to look at the healing of Naemen, and in looking at how he was
healed, I want to use thatand compare that with the healing that the
believer receives from the dreaded disease ofsin when we put our faith in trust

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in Jesus Christ. And so thefirst point I want to make in this
comparison is, Naemen had a fataldisease. Naemen had a fatal disease,
and again we know that that diseasewas leprosy. Leprosy, I understand,

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starts with a small sore, justa very small sore. But then that
small sore quickly spreads until the wholebody is as one man described, one
running sore. And so the bodysimply just corrupts, it just decays.
And so then how does leprosy comparewith sin? Well, first of all,

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we could say that both are contagious. Leprosy was passed down or often
passed from person to person. Itwas it was contagious. If you had
it, people that were close toyou, people in your family, whatever,
they were likely to have leprosy aswell because it was highly contagious.

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Well, can we not say thatsin is contagious and the sense that sin
came into this world through our firstparents, who when they sin they're in
the garden. Their sin didn't justaffect them, Oh no, it affected
all of their posterity. It affectedall who would come from their loins.

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Every child who's born into this worldhas the sin of Adam imputed to them,
and they also have his sin nature. That's the way that all are
born. Oh there is one exception. That is Jesus Christ. He was
born of a vision. He wasborn without a human father. So this

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sin that Adam and Eve committed,that sin was charged to him. But
all the rest of us well,that sin is contagious in the sense that
it has spread to each and everyone of us as well. Secondly,
both make a person unclean. Leprosytotally corrupts the body. That's why leopers.

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Not only were they contagious, andbecause they were contagious, they had
to be isolated, separated from everybodyelse, which just added to their shame.
Sin is that which corrupts the wholebody. It afflicts us from head
to toe. All of our bodyis affected by sin. That's why when

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the Bible talks about total depravity,when you hear that word, use that
doctrine It just means that our wholebodies, our whole being is touched affected
by sin. I wish you tolisten to what the apostle Paul says in
Romans chapter three and verse ten.This is what he says about our uncleanness

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and how sin totally corrupts us.As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. There'snone that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God. They are allgone out of the way. They are
all together become unprofitable. There isnone that doeth good, no, not

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one. Their throat is an opensepucher. With their tongues they have used
deceit. The poison of asp isunder their lips, whose mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness. Their feetare swift to shed blood, destruction not
known. So you see how sincorrupts. Thirdly, both have no human

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cure. With leprosy, there wasnothing that any person could do. There
was no cure, no human cure. Notice here in Second King chapter five
he says verse five, and theKing of Syria said, go to go,
and I will send the letter intothe King of Israel. And he
departed and took with him ten talentsof silver, six thousand pieces of gold

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and ten changes of raiment. Andhe brought the letter to the King of
Israel, saying, now when thisletter is coming to thee Bild, I
have therewith sent Naem and my servantto thee that thou mayst recover him,
to help him to recover from hisleprosy. And it came to pass when
the King of Israel had read theletter, that he rent his clothes and
said, am I God to killhim to make alive, that this man

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does send unto me to recover aman of his leprosy. So he realized
that there was nothing that he coulddo to help this man. I'm sure
Naeman has seen every doctor in Syria, had taken every kind of medicine prescribed,

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tried every possible cure or remedy,but there was no cure. A
friend, so it is with sin, there is no human cure. All
man's tried. He tries to reform, tries to clean up his act,
drop his bad habits. He's justgoing to live a better life. He's

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determined. He's going to try harder. Or he passes certain laws that may
be promote a good and going totry to try to live by those laws
and be a good citizen, orgo through some religious All of these will
be done in vain, because noneof these things can well deal with the

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problem of sin. And then fourthlywe see that both well are no respector
of persons. Leprosy afflicted people fromall walks of life, young and old,
male and female, rich and poor, king or the lowest subject in
the kingdom. All can be andoften were afflicted with leprosy. As great

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a man as name and was.The Bible says there in verse one,
but he was a leper. Someonehas said, there is a but in
every single person's life, apart fromcoming to Jesus Christ for salvation. Yes,
we're different. We come from differentbackgrounds, we come with different interest.

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But all of us, all ofus, all of us here in
this church, all who are listeningto this message, all of us,
have one thing in common. Weare all sinners. We're born sinners.
We're alienated from God. The dreadeddisease of sin flows throughout our body and
corrupts us. That's why in Israelall lepers were shunned. Whether you were

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the king or whether you were aslave. They all stood on common ground.
Well, sin is certainly no respectorof persons. It afflicts all mankind.
There is no exception Romans three twentythree. For all have sin to
come short of the glory of God. So you can see why no one

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in Syria would trade places with Naeman. He was a leper, he was
dying, and there was nothing humanlyspeaking that could be done for him.
And so it is with sin,every person, every person born in this
world without Christ, it is dyingnot of leprosy, but something much worse,

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dying eternally because of sin. Andthere's nothing that any man can do
about that. Well, secondly wesee that then Naeman heard of faithful witness
verse two. And the Syrians hadgone out by companies and had brought away
captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid. And she waited

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on Naeman's wife. And she saidthat into her mistress, would God,
my Lord were with the prophet thatis in Samaria, for he would recover
him of his leprosy. And onewent in and told his lord, saying
thus, and thus said the maidthat is of the land of Israel.
So in Aeman's home was a littleHebrew slave girl who had been captured and

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was working for Naeman's wife. Butshe really was a servant of a greater
master than that, because she servedthe God of Israel. She was a
faithful witness for her master. Solet's look at some of the ways that
she was a faithful witness. Firstof all, she was concerned about Namen.
I mean, she was basically aprisoner of war, captured by the

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enemy, taken from her home andfrom her family. But she shows no
hostility, she has no animosity,She's not trying to seek revenge. No.
In fact, she's concerned about Namen. She's concerned about his health.
She doesn't want to see him suffer. Now, when we look at this
situation, we think, why wouldGod permit this little girl to be taken

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from her home and taken to thisforeign country and be made a slave.
Why. Well, because God hada work for her to do. There
was a purpose in this. Shewas to be a faithful witness for her
lord in a foreign land. Youknow, we live in a foreign land,
we live in enemy territory, welive in a sinful world that hates

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us. So why are we here? So a lot of times we ask
why is it that when we're saved, Why does the Lord just immediately take
us into Heaven, get us outof this evil world, take us home
to where we're going to be forall eternity. Why doesn't he do that?
Why does he leave us here?That's a good question. Why are
we here? We're for save We'rehere because the Lord has work for us

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to do, and that work isto be a faithful witness wherever He's placed
us, whether it's home or ina foreign land, whether it's in the
workplace, at school, in ourneighborhoods, wherever we are, to bear
a faithful witness for the Lord.She also had a confidence in God.
In verse three, she said,and to her mistress, would God,
my Lord were with the prophet thatisn't Samaria, for he would recover him

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of his leprosy. She couldn't helpNamon, but she knew someone who could,
a prophet of God, a manof God, a man who worked
miracles with the power that God gavehim. Elisha, he can help you
well for us. There's nothing thatwe can do for those who are dead

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and trespasses and sins. For thosewho are spiritually dead, we can't raise
the spiritual dead. But we canand we can't pay man sin debt.
We can't save anybody, but weknow one who can. In his name
is Jesus Christ, which leads intothe third point that his name and was
told of a foolish remedy. We'retold that Naemon goes to Israel, he

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goes to see the prophet, buthe almost goes back home still a leper.
Why because the remedy what he's toldhe needs to do, seems totally
foolish and totally unnecessary. So firstof all we see that he was a
humbled man. Verse sayden it wasso that when Elisha, the man of

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God, had heard that the Kingof 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. So Naeman camewith his horses and with his chariot,
and stood at the door of thehouse of Elisha. And Elisha sent a
messenger unto him, saying, gowashing Jordans seven times, and thy flesh

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shall come again to thee, andthou shalt be clean. So he arrives
with his gifts and with escort,with great pomp and pageantry, and he
goes to the house of Elisha,this great prophet. The stage is set
for a dramatic meeting between these twogreat men. Then you notice in firsten

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it says that Elisha sent a messengerunder him. What a letdown. Elisha
doesn't even go out to personally meetthis fellow. He sends a servant who
tells him, get back in yourcarriage, go thirty two miles to the
Jordan River. When you get tothe Jordan River, get out of your
carriage, go into the river anddip yourself seven times, and you will

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be clean. That's it. That'sall I have to do. That's all
you have to do. Well,how to day Am to respond to this
verse eleven? Annam was wroth andwent away and said, behold, I
thought he would surely come out tome and stand and call in the name
of the Lord, his God,and strike his hand over the place and
recover the leper. He was furious, his pride, his hurt. He

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thinks he deserves special treatment. Notonly do Eli Sha not come out to
see him to greet him, buthe tells him to do something that is
completely foolish. You see nam asa humbled man. Well, so it
is with the Gospel God's remedy forsin folks. It humbles us. This

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shows us that we're spiritual paupers.It shows us that we are sinners that
cannot save ourselves, that we've brokenGod's law. We're spiritually poor. There's
nothing we or any other man cando to save us. Our only hope
is that God would show mercy andgrace, which he does. In the

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Lord Jesus Christ Isaiah chapter sixty fourand verse six I think describes us best.
It says, we are all anunclean thing. All of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. You see, all the money, all the gifts
the name and brought couldn't cure him. He had to believe what Elisha,

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what Elisha's servant told him to do. No, friends, we are not
redeemed with silver or gold, butwe are redeemed with the precious blood of
Christ. Then again, it seemedfoolish, which I've already touched on,
says verse eleven. But name itwas wroth and went away and said,
behold, I thought he would surelycome out to me and stand and call

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the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place
and recover the leper or not Abanaand far par rivers of Damascus better than
all the waters of Israel by notwashing them and be clean. So he
turned and went away in a rage. If all that was needed was for

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me to take a bath in theriver, why did I come all the
way to Israel to do that.There are plenty of rivers in Syria that
are closer and cleaner. You see, the gospel seems foolish to the natural
man. First Garantians, chapter one, in verse eighteen, For the preaching
of the cross is to them thatperish foolishness, foolishness, that God would

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become a man, that he wouldlive in this sinful world, he would
live in poverty, that he wouldlet sinners nail him to a cross and
crucify him. And all I haveto do is believe that he died in
my place, that he did thatfor me, And there is nothing I
have to do that doesn't make anysense. That's foolish, It seems foolish,

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seems so hard to believe. WhyWhy is it foolish? Because it
gives no place for man's work,for man's merit. It's all of God's
grace, he says in verse thirteen. And his servants came near and spaken
to him and said, my father, if the prophet had bid thee to
do some great thing, wouldst thounot have done it? How much?

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Rather than what when he said tothe wash and be clean. See,
man naturally wants to believe that hehas to have some part in his salvation.
It was true back then, andit's still true today. If Elisha
had told Namon, now get onyour hands and crawl back to Syria,
I think he would have been morewilling to do that than to go and

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wash in the Jordan river. Andthen lastly, we'll finished up with this
Namon's favorable response. Then went hedown and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the Manof God, and his flesh came
again Liken to the flesh of littlechild, and he was clean. He

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does what he's told to do,he obeys, and the result is we're
told that he is clean. Hewas clean, he was healed name,
and doesn't obey. If he goesto the Jordan and say he dips six
times or one time, he'll goback to Syria still a leper. He

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has to do what God has toldhim to do, what Elisha has commanded
he do. He has to followhis instruction. He has to do it
his way. And when he doesthat, he is healed. Imagine the
joy that he felt at this time. We're not told how he reacted,

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but I'm sure he probably jumped upand down and hoot and hollered, and
he was having a good old time. He was a leper, he was
dying, and now he's clean.What about us today? You know,
the Bible says that there is salvationno other name under having given among men,

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whereby we must be saved. Forwe're going to be saved today.
It has to be God's way.It has to be his remedy, and
he has told us the way thatwe're saved, the way that we are
cleansed from the disease of sin,is to simply put our faith in trust
in Jesus Christ and trust that hedied in our place, that he paid

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our sin debt. You say,that's all that's all we got to do,
is just believe that Jesus paid oursins, that he died in our
place, and we just have totrust completely in what He has done,
and there's nothing that we have todo. Preacher, Is that what you're
saying, That's exactly what I'm saying. That's the way that we're saved.

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There's no reason for any of usto leave this earthly sanctuary today still in
our sin When there is a remedy, there is a way for us to
be saved. Just like there wasa way for Naming to be healed of
his leprosy. There's a way forsinners to be saved from their sins.
That is by looking to Christ,trusting Christ as Lord and Savior. And

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what a joyful day that is whena person is cleansed, when a person
is saved, when a person ismade a child of God. If you
haven't looked to Christ today, oldtoday is the day of salvation. May
today be the day that you sinnerthat you are, that you put your

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faith in your trust, not inanything that you can do or anybody else
can do for you, except forwhat the Son of God, what Jesus
Christ has done, its offering himselfin our place as a sacrifice on the
cross for sinners today, my friend, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ

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is your Lord and Savior, doso right now. It's the only way
for you to be cleansed. Justlike the only way for Naming to be
healed from his leoprosy was to goto the Jordan and dip seven times.
Just like he was told. Today, look at Christ, receive him as
your boy. There's your receiver.We'd like to thank you for listening to

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our program this morning. We praythat God has used this message to draw
you closer to Him. Storms CreekMissionary Baptist Church would like to take this
opportunity to invite you to any ofits services. We have a Sunday School
which starts at nine thirty am,Sunday Morning Worship ten fifteen, and our
Sunday Evening service starts at six pm. We also have a Wednesday Night Bible

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Study which starts at seven thirty pm. Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church is also
on the Internet under sermonaudio dot com. You can go to www. Dot
sermon Audio, look for Stormscreet MissiontionaryBaptist Church and listen to any of our
sermons in full length audio at theside again, we'd like to thank you

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for listening this morning and make Godbless you throughout the week.