Scripture reading comes to us from the second book of the Kings, the Old Testament, the second Kings, chapter 5, reading verse 19 verses. Second Kings, chapter 5. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. Then she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. And Naaman went and told his master, saying thus, and thus said the girl, who is from the land of Israel. Then the king of Syria said, Go now, I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Niaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy." And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me." So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. But Naaman became furious, and went away, and said, Indeed, I said to myself, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abana and the Arfar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean? So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. He returned to the men of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him, and he said, Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel, and now, therefore, please take a gift from your servant. But he said, As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So Naaman said, Then, if not, please let your servant be given to mule loads of earth, for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offerings or sacrifices to other gods, but to the Lord. Yet in this thing, may the Lord pardon your servant, when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon. When I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing." Then he said to him, go in peace. So he departed from him a short distance. Thus far the reading of scripture, and we also want to point out Luke chapter 4 and verse 27. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, where the Lord Jesus is preaching in Nazareth. Luke, chapter 4, verse 27, in the words of the Lord Jesus, And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian thus far." Congregation, many of us I trust are familiar with this story about Naaman the Syrian, the account of this man who got leprosy, and a young girl who was captured by the Syrian army, and knew of the power of Israel, witnessed in that household of the great power of the Lord. And she witnessed in such a way that the result of the history was that Nahum, the Syrian, became healed. It's an account which we're familiar with to emphasize the power of the God of Israel, and the evangelistic use of witnessing to the power of God, the ability of God to make use of a child in witnessing for him a number of aspects of this are familiar. But one aspect Jesus brought out in the city of Nazareth in a synagogue, and that is the aspect of the sovereign grace of God in the life of Naaman the Syrian. And we want to look at this account from the perspective of sovereign grace. Sovereign grace in the cleansing of Naaman We see this sovereign grace when we consider the object of grace, secondly, when we consider the power of grace, thirdly, the selection of grace, and fourthly, the rule of grace. First of all, sovereign grace is magnified, it's extolled, it's amplified and illustrated by the fact that a man such as Naaman, would be saved. If you consider, first of all, his alien nationality, the fact that he belongs to a nation outside of Israel, that he is a member of the nation that is at enmity with Israel. And throughout the course of history, there has been this enmity, animosity, this hatred between the nation of Assyria and the land of Israel, the Israelites. And Jesus speaks here of God's mercy toward Naaman the Syrian in Nazareth, and it creates some offense, it causes a stir in the synagogue, because God's grace is sovereign and works in the lives of those whom we do not expect to be saved, and he will cut right across our prejudice. He will reach right over the walls that we might place in the way. He is a God who is sovereign over all the world, and he saves whom he will. in nations even where the covenant has not yet been extended. His alien nationality is a factor to emphasize sovereign grace. We know how many times in the course of Jesus' ministry this was the fact of offense when he would imply that the Lord would bypass the covenant nation, that he would go and he would have mercy upon Gentile nations, these things were hard to swallow for anyone within the borders of Israel, certainly even more so within Judea and Jerusalem, that God would have mercy upon enemies. And yet, how thankful we should be that while we were yet enemies, Christ died for the ungodly. And notice the great tragedy of the circumstances of Naaman's life. He was a great man. He was a great man. He was a powerful man. He was a four-star general, a captain of the hosts of Syria, and he was a man who was highly favored by his king, because through him victories had been won. He was a man who was brave, a man of valor. We would call him maybe a man of the caliber of a Navy SEAL type of man. But the tragedy of his life is, as great a man as he was, as powerful a man as he was, Ne'eman was a leper. He had contracted a disease that affected all of his body. He had blotches all over him, swelling was taking place, and as the disease would progress, he would lose the function of his fingers, and some appendages would even become shriveled up, and he would become weaker and weaker, and the paradox of this great man, this mighty man, this hero of the Syrian armor being reduced to this weak state. That is part of the sovereign plan of God, isn't it? That those who become proud in their arrogance, become proud of their strength or of their wisdom or of their success that the Lord brings them down. Pride comes before the fall. The Lord will humble the haughty. Think of Nebuchadnezzar with his bragging that he had created such a grand kingdom and within hours he had lost his mind and he was out in the fields eating grass. will, in his sovereignty, humble those who are proud, and gives grace to the humble. And so, while experiences of humility, experiences of being humbled may seem so negative to us, so often they are the preparations by which God prepares to apply grace. He gives grace to the humble. This object of grace becomes a trophy of His sovereign power, of His sovereign grace. And we think of a number of other examples in the course of Biblical history, and we see how the Lord takes someone who was famous or powerful and humbled that person and then made that person a trophy of his grace. Think of the Apostle Paul himself. He was humbled on the road to Damascus and then the Lord made out of him a believer and used him in his service. We see the sovereignty of God amplified in the object of grace, secondly in the power of grace. One of the most marvelous things about this account is how the Lord uses a variety of circumstances to bring this man to the knowledge of the God of Israel, and bring him to humility and to faith in the God of Israel, and even to personal cleansing, not only from his sin, but also from his leprosy. there is the preparing power of God. God prepares everything toward the point of our conversion. It may be that it is through the teaching of parents and through the covenant household that we're born in. It may be through the ministry of the church. It may be through a variety of circumstances But God is sovereign, even able to bring people who are so far away from the means of grace, and bring them into contact with the message of His mercy. The Lord used this Israelite slave girl. Just imagine the trauma of parents and relatives who have to experience the loss of a little girl. We hear it in the news so often, the tragedy, and it just tears at your heart to think of the sorrow of parents who have to hear so-and-so, your daughter is missing, and we don't know who has taken this girl. It may be these bad men from this different country. They have stolen this girl away and kidnapped her. And imagine the feelings of anger and tragic loss that they are going through, and how it tests their faith to continue to believe in the God of Israel. And yet, this little girl, who had received training in her youth, became an instrument in God's hand. to bring the truth to Syria and to bring this captain to faith. Just think of the miracle of her love. God worked in her heart and changed her heart so that she began to love this captain and desired for his good. I mean, by nature, think of it, children, if you had been that little girl, wouldn't you have responded, oh, my captain is sick? You might have naturally thought of the response of, good, there's a right for stealing me away from my parents. But she is broken-hearted about this captain's disease, and she is probably praying for him, and she is talking to God about him, and the Lord is working in her heart in such a way that he gives her the faith to believe that if he would go back to Israel, he would be healed. And God is in control of all of this. The king of Syria hears about her saying this to someone. That is, after he has heard it from Naaman, who has heard it probably from the ladies in the household, maybe his wife. And so this news of this little voice of this young girl in the household spreads through the household and goes to even the throne room of the king of Syria, and he sends him to Israel. He allows his captain to go for this. Now, according to the understanding of people at that time that the miracle would take place, then you need to bring all kinds of gifts. You do that out of courtesy for a foreign king, and so he was given gifts of gold and all kinds of clothing and so. But also the idea is that there would be payment made for the miracle. And the king finds a letter and orders the king of Israel to heal him, and we have read about the devastation of the king, but God is sovereign in all of these things. God is able to use even the weakest means to produce the miracles of grace in people's lives. the preparing power of grace. Also, we see the drawing power of grace. There were various barriers you could imagine along the way, but the Lord drew this Naaman's heart all the way to the point where he came into contact with the grace of God. You think of the barrier of ignorance and suspicion that is felt here. He brought a letter to the king of Israel saying, now when this letter is come, behold I have sent Naaman my servant to you that you may recover him of his leprosy, and then the king of Israel is is amazed and astounded that this would be requested, and he suspects that there is a conspiracy here to stir up trouble, to hit some kind of a cause of complaint against Israel, and then that that would lead to war. But God is in control, and Elisha hears of this, and God ushers Naaman right to the door of Elisha, right to the place where he needs to be. The sovereignty of God is so encouraging when we consider the work of evangelism, because God is able, being sovereign over all things, He is able to bring the gospel to the people of the world, or he is able to bring the people of the world to the gospel, all whom he sets his eye upon to save, he will bring them." What a glorious prospect that the Lord would possibly make use of some of our covenant children as instruments in his hands. And as hard as it may be to process, but that the Lord may be opening doors for them to go into all the nations of the world and preach the gospel, to bring the gospel to foreign lands as missionaries. God is sovereign and he does that. But it is a marvelous thing also when he brings people from all the nations of the world to the doorstep of the church, like he brought Naaman to the doorstep of Elisha and brings them in. And we as a covenant congregation need to be ready for that. Are we ready to welcome into the door of the church those who would come and who would say, well, I have heard about God and I want to know more about Him. Would we welcome them? You see, all of this may be part of God's sovereign plan to bring someone to our doorstep so that they would hear of the mighty power of God who is able to save sinners and to wash them of their sin and to heal them of the disease of depravity. which leprosy represents. God draws Naaman, and one of the biggest hindrances is Naaman's pride. We see Naaman's pride being overcome every step of the way. He comes, and when he comes to the door of Elisha, He expects that Elisha would come and honor him as this famous man from Syria, etc., etc. Until he sends Gehazi out, sends out his servant. Oh, by the way, you know, give him this message. What an insult he feels. You know, I thought he would come and he would honor me, and then there would be some ritual of healing, and he would touch all the spots, and he would do this or that. as maybe they had seen the attempts being made in their own country of healing. God was still humbling Naaman, because his healing would come in the way of humility. Another aspect of the humbling is the instruction that he's given to wash seven times in the Jordan River. I don't know, I haven't seen the Jordan River personally, but I'm told that it's really not that attractive a river. And that probably Naaman was right, that in the high countries of Syria, in the mountains where they have these streams flowing, that they have much more attractive rivers and much better looking water than this muddy stream. that's flowing along the silt bed of Jordan. He was insulted that he would have to wash in this river. Again, it was requiring humility. We see in this, not only then, the power of grace preparing circumstances, the power of grace drawing Naaman to the place where he hears the call to repent, to humble himself, and to trust in the instruction of Jehovah. But the great power of God, Verily, is this humbling power of grace. Because as pride keeps raging, keeps being inflamed and he goes away in a rage, and that the Lord in his grace would use his own servants then, who must have loved and respected their master greatly, to dare to tempt his anger by asking and reasoning with him in a very careful way, and saying, now master, if he had instructed you to do some real difficult thing, some very hard thing. If Master Ne'eman, if the Prophet had said, do some great thing, you would have gone to much expense and much effort to do this thing that he had told you. And you know that attracts people. If you call upon them to do very difficult things, For instance, if the Lord would say to us, if you want to be saved, then you have to do this, and do the other thing, and do the other thing, and go through all these kinds of penitential actions, and those kinds of ceremonies, and do these rituals. It is amazing how many rituals we are willing to go through in order to be saved. But how humbling when the Lord says, believe only believe and you'll be cleansed and the reasoning of these servants is this is such an easy thing just go to that river and you submerge yourself seven times how much more then should you be willing to do this and this reasoning strikes the heart of Naaman. And the amazing words are read here in verse 14 of this chapter in Kings. Then he went down. Then he went down. You know, down off of his pinnacle of pride. Down off of his glorious chariot. down the river bank of Jordan, and down into the water of that muddy river. But that's a glorious thing. Have you been brought down? Down from the mountain of your pride? Down from the high horse of your arrogance? Has God brought you low? Grace humbles us to the point where we join that publican in the temple and pray, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what grace does. And grace worked faith in his heart. Grace worked a faith in Naaman's heart so that he went down in response to the call. He went down trusting in the promise, wash and you'll be healed. At the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, obey his call and you will be healed. congregation, he calls us through the gospel, and it is signified and sealed also through baptism. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and your sin will be washed away. Trust in him. This is the means that he has instituted. Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved. And generations later, Jesus went down into that same river, and he was baptized. He was washed in that river. Why? Because he unites himself with all who humble themselves and trust in his name, and he washes their sin. and his flesh came again like the flesh, the skin of a little child, and he was clean. Grace saves sinners. We see the sovereign grace of God in the selection of this individual. That was the point that most offended the people in the synagogue in Luke 4 verse 27. Congregation, you may be wondering while we hear of the Lord doing great things in the Old Testament times. He did miracles, a great revival in the apostles' time, a great awakening in the early American history. Why does he not do great things now? And that's what the Israelites were thinking in Nazareth. They were thinking Why doesn't Jesus do great miracles in our synagogue? We've heard about these great things. And Jesus reads the scriptures in Luke 4, verse 16. And then he says, this day the scripture is fulfilled. But he was saying through that, here I am, Jesus of Nazareth. I am the one whom the prophecy of Isaiah is speaking. I am the one who is anointed with the Spirit. to declare the good news, deliverance to the captive, renewal. And they were sitting there with unbelieving hearts. They were sitting there grumbling. They were sitting there opposing him. And Jesus said to them, what is being, taking place here is what happened in those times as well. There may have been many lepers in Israel, but God reached his hand past all those lepers in Israel, and he laid his healing finger upon a Naaman the Syrian in a foreign country. He had mercy upon him, and bypassed all the lepers of Israel. Jesus, in Luke 4 verse 30, bypassed the Nazarites as they grumbled, as they hated him, as they brought him to the edge of a cliff and they wanted to throw him down, they wanted to destroy him. because he had implied that God would exercise this kind of sovereignty, that he would bypass the Israelites and save a Gentile. But the New Testament teaches us also, congregation, that God would justly be sovereign if he would bypass every baptized member of this congregation. and have mercy upon a Syrian who hates the Israelites and saves him. With all the leprosy of our sin, God would be sovereign if He bypassed the Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon worshipers of this Nazareth, and have mercy upon the people in China, or the people in the Sudan, or the people in Indonesia, and gather greater numbers of believers from among them, as they humble themselves before God and believe in the name of Jesus." And our congregation, what should be our response? Should we begin to grind our teeth and say, never we've been baptized and we have a right and we come to church and we do all these things, then we would be reacting like the Nazareth people in the synagogue, thinking that baptism makes us better, thinking that we deserve more than they. The congregation, God is sovereign. He has every right. And you see, this kind of doctrine teaches us that we also, as covenant people, need to go down. Down out of our presumption, down out of our pride, down from our trust in our good works, and down into the Jordan, believing nothing But the blood of Jesus Christ can save me. Whether the Lord saves me as a covenant member, or as a Gentile pagan, it is sovereign grace. For he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. And now, if we have understood grace, we will say amazing. that God would save me, that God would have mercy upon me. I deserve, just like those people in the synagogue of Nazareth, to have Jesus pass me by. Know how the cry should come out of our heart, O Lord, while on others Thou art. having mercy, do not pass me by. Save me also. Save me for the sake of thy Son, who has been portrayed in baptism. For the sake of thy perfect Son, and for the sake of His blood, free grace Oh yes, if we understand sovereign grace, then we are amazed at it, aren't we? Someone has written a book, we should put the amazing back into grace. Is it amazing? You see, this man needed to be taught that it is free grace, he came back with his gifts And he comes to Elisha's household after the miracle, and he wants to give this, and give that, and give the other thing, and Elisha refused all of those gifts. Why? Because he needed to go home knowing that the God of Israel gives salvation for free. And when we are amazed at free grace, then we also want to serve Him. We want to worship him, and so to dedicate himself to the worship of the God of Israel, he takes some soil to remind himself, and he's going to put that in his backyard, so to speak, and whenever he worships, he's going to worship on Israel's soil, to remind him that there is only one God. Let us remember that. There is only one sovereign God of all the earth. Let us worship him, and if we've been saved, let us serve him with gratitude. The God of Israel is sovereign and ruling over all. What a miracle on the day of Pentecost that The Lord Jesus extends his kingdom in all the nations of the world, and sometimes we worry about, well, how would those people over in that country worship the Lord, and how would they worship him there, and are they thanking God in the same way I'm thanking God and worshiping him? Don't worry about that. God rules in the conscience of all his people everywhere. And this man, he was still going to go into the temple of Riman. And he was still going to be the bodyguard of his king. But he says, just allow me that. And the Elisha simply says, go in peace, because he trusts God will take care of his own. Sovereign in his rule of grace, over all of his people, in all the nations of the world. Amazing grace. Does the sovereignty of God encourage us also? Oh, let us go out then, and speak of His mercy, that we may be instruments in the lives of others, as this little girl from Israel. Weakest means, fulfill His will, because God is a God of sovereign grace.