"Bury Your Leprosy" - Pastor Stephen Bohr

father heaven we thank you for the awesome privilege of being in your presence and father as we open your holy word this morning we ask for the guidance of your holy spirit i ask particularly that if there's anyone here this morning who has not made a full and complete surrender and commitment to jesus that today will be the day in which they will do it i know that there are many people in the valley of decision many people who have not decided to go to one side or to the other side and i just ask lord that you will touch hearts and you will speak to minds and the decisions will be made and i thank you father for the privilege of opening your word and for hearing our prayer for we ask it in the precious name of jesus amen the holy bible has very much to say about baptism and perhaps we have come to believe that baptism is a new testament phenomenon but did you realize that many of the most beautiful passages in scripture about baptism are found in the old testament in our study today we are going to examine a very well-known story probably to most of us who are gathered here we're going to study the story of naaman the syrian and so i invite you to open your bibles with me to the second book of kings chapter 5 and we're going to take a look primarily at the first 13 verses of this chapter and then we'll also notice two or three verses a little later on in the chapter and basically we're just going to go through the chapter verse by verse and try and draw out the lessons that god would have us learn today about commitment about conversion about giving our lives to the lord beginning at verse 1. 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 him given victory to syria he was also a mighty man of valor but a leper now the purpose of this verse 1 of chapter 5 is to highlight the greatness of this individual called naaman by the way naaman was a gentile he was not a member of the covenant community he was not a member of the chosen people of god and we're told in no uncertain terms that first of all he was commander then we're told that he was great and honorable before his master we're told that he was a mighty man of valor in other words he was humanly speaking a very great man but the verse ends with a big butt it says but he was a leper now today leprosy isn't such a great thing because there are antibiotics which can treat leprosy but in biblical times a person who had leprosy was under the sentence of death as we're going to notice a little later on in this passage in other words a person who had leprosy could kiss life goodbye forever and so we find this great man in spite of his all of his greatness were told that he was a leper and eventually he was going to die now in the household of this man naaman was a little girl who had been brought as a hostage to syria in one of the raids that naaman himself had done in the land of israel let's go on and read about this in verse 2. it says and the syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl ellen white emphasizes that she was very young a young girl from the land of israel she waited on naaman's wife now this young girl could have whined and complained about being far away from home not being with her parents she could have held it against her master for taking her hostage in fact she could have hated naaman for what he had done removing her from her household at such a young age but this little girl evidently had been very well trained at home she had had an excellent education by her parents in her youngest years and we're told in this passage that she had a passion for the healing of her master in other words instead of holding it against naaman instead of whining and putting a long face because of her plight because she wasn't at home she felt a passion for the healing of this man and we find this described in verse three then she said to her mistress if only can you just kind of experience the attitude if only my master were with the prophet who is in samaria by the way that would be elisha for he would heal him of his leprosy and naaman went in and told his master saying thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of israel so this little girl instead of having a negative frame of mind actually witnesses to naaman she becomes a witness to the salvation of this man and so we're told that the king gave naaman authorization to go to the land of israel to have an interview with the prophet elisha that's described in verse 5. it says then the king of syria said go now and i will send a letter to the king of israel so he took with him 10 talents of silver 6 000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothing now by the way this is tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold and silver not including all of the precious materials in other words he thinks he might just have a chance to buy his healing from the prophet interestingly enough his travels would have lasted several days i don't know whether you've looked at a map of israel but you have syria which is north and east of of israel of samaria so he would have had to travel several days in order to arrive there in samaria where the prophet elijah was found and so he goes with all of his gold and his silver and with all of his uh uh chariots and all of his soldiers and he says this is going to be easy because you know israel has been somewhat enslaved by us so this prophet is going to have to do what i ask him to do and so he arrives in samaria let's go to verse 6. 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 naaman my servant to you this is a letter sent by the king of syria to the king of israel that you may heal him of his leprosy can you imagine how the king must have felt we catch a glimpse of it in verse seven and it happened when the king of israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and now notice this and said am i god to kill and to make alive why would he say something like that to kill and to make a life as far as the king of israel was concerned this man naaman was what was dead in fact it was believed that a person who had leprosy was a living dead person and pastor jensen would certainly understand this having lived in india where undoubtedly he's seen this phenomenon time and again it was considered that though the person was alive the person was actually dead and so the letter from the king of syria comes to the king of israel and the king of israel says oh i'm doomed this man is dead only god could make this dead man alive it's an impossible thing and so it continues saying once again verse 7 it happened when the king of israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said am i god to kill and to 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 in other words he's picking a fight by saying that this man should be healed by the prophet elisha notice verse 8 saw it was when elisha the man of god notice the terminology he's coming to the man of god he's coming to god's minister 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 in other lord send them to me it's okay you know god can certainly take a dead person and make him alive and so we find in verses 9 and 10 the arrival of naaman at the home of elisha and here's where the story becomes very interesting it says there in verse 9 then naaman went with his horses and chariot what is naaman trying to do he's trying to what he's trying to impress through his greatness and it says and he stood at the door of elisha's house now what would you expect elisha to do if he knew that naaman had traveled many many days to have an interview with him well the most respectful thing that he could do would be to go and answer the door but i want you to notice now that the story begins to turn the story begins speaking about the greatness of this man you know great man of valor greatly admired by the king great conqueror it begins by telling of his greatness but as the story goes along we're going to find that naaman gets smaller and smaller so he comes to elijah's house and we're told and elisha sent a messenger to him would you consider that an insult here he's traveled all these days and elisha says to the messenger says you go out and talk to him what is elisha trying to do he's trying to humble this man exactly in the right sense of the word and so it says and elijah sent a messenger to him saying wash in the jordan which by the way in many places is a very muddy dirty river it's not crystal clear so he's adding insult to injury of all he doesn't have the the courtesy to come out and meet him personally and now he says go wash in the jordan river and mind you not only once but seven times by the way the number seven is symbolic of totality of completeness you know it took seven days to completely to complete creation seven drops of blood were sprinkled on the mercy seat to totally cleanse the sanctuary from sin seven times israel marched around jericho for the city to be totally destroyed the furnace was heated seven times hotter which means that it was heated to the maximum seven churches in revelation describe the totality of the history of the christian church seven horns on the head of jesus represents total power seven eyes total wisdom seven plagues the total wrath of god is poured out so in other words the number seven represents totality something total is going to happen now and so elisha says go and wash in the jordan and now notice the promise go and wash in the jordan god never gives us a command without at the same time giving us a promise and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be what you shall be clean have you noticed several times in this passage that it contrasts unclean with clean before he goes to the jordan river and submerges himself seven times he is unclean when he goes to the jordan and submerges himself he is going to be what he's going to be clean so what is the ceremony between unclean and clean it's the ceremony of of dipping himself seven times in the jordan river that's a transition point between unclean and clean let's go to verse 11. but naaman became furious do you think adding right humanly speaking to be furious humanly speaking yeah the old man was coming out the flesh if you please was coming out he says how dare this prophet first of all he's a prophet of israel i travel many days he doesn't come out personally and now he tells me to go wash myself in that dirty old river the jordan river so it says naaman became furious and went away and said indeed i said to myself he will surely come out to me certainly he would come out to me personally and stand and call on the name of the lord and now notice this is important and call on the name of the lord his god don't forget that before he submerges himself in the garden in the jordan river what what does he call god if this is elisha's god it's not his god and notice how he expected to be healed he says and wave his hand he i wanted him to come out and just just pronounce me clean just wave his hand and say you're clean but you see naaman had to take the plunge in order to be clean and he says if he would wave his hand over me he would heal my leprosy symbol of sin by the way leprosy jesus healed many lepers the leprosy on the body represented the leprosy in the soul and now notice what he says are not the abana and the far far the rivers of damascus better than all the waters of israel could i not wash in them and be clean why do i have to do what the preacher says why do i have to go dip in the jordan river why seven times i could actually go and do it in one of my rivers it says so he turned and went away in rage i like to imagine what it must have been like he must have been fuming doesn't this prophet realize who i am the great naaman a mighty man of valor great conqueror commander of the syrian armies how dare he not recognize my greatness well what what elijah is doing is he's reducing him to size remember what our theme is in this series of of sermons he who exalts himself will be what humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted let me read you a statement from ellen white on the attitude of naaman when elisha told him to go bathe in the jordan river this is in the book conflict and courage page 228 she says yes this great man considered it beneath his dignity to go to the humble river jordan and wash say be although his dignity to humble himself the rivers he mentioned now notice this there was a reason why he wanted to wash in those rivers besides the fact that they were cleaner than the jordan river the rivers he mentioned and desired were beautified by surrounding trees and groves and idols were placed in those groves many flocked to these rivers to worship their idol gods therefore it would have cost him no humility because he would be doing what everybody else was doing but it was following this what is this it was following the specified directions of the prophet which would humble his proud and lofty spirit willing obedience listen to that willing obedience would bring the desired result he washed and was made whole in prophets and kings page 249 ellen white explains in in a short statement but faith conquered and the haughty syrian yielded his pride of heart and bowed in submission to the revealed will of jehovah so did he humble himself did he yes he did did god help him a little bit for the prophet the lord helped him he brought him into circumstances that would humble his heart because it would do no good for him to bury his leprosy with a proud heart and you know when god actually heals he heals fully and completely now i'd like to go to verses 13 and 14 because we have something very interesting in you know when god asks someone to do something sometimes they get furious let me ask you can the friends of that person help to kind of alleviate the situation if you're really a person's friend when a call is made can can the friend kind of give a nudge and say come on let's notice verses 13 and 14 it says 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 i mean he could have told you to jump from the earth to the moon how much more then when he says to you wash and be clean do you notice once again that the washing makes us what clean verse 14 so he went down and dipped seven times in the jordan according to the saying of the man of god whose counsel did he obey the counsel of the man of god and who had given that counsel to the man of god god himself can you imagine what it must have been like for this man named this great man name and he's doing what an israelite prophet is telling them to do he's in the dirty jordan river and he's dipping himself in front of in front of his soldiers what a humiliating experience then of course you can imagine dips himself once leprosy twice leprosy three times leprosy four times leprosy maybe he's starting to wonder hmm who knows well i'm gonna look ridiculous here five times six times and then he dips himself the seventh time totality remember the number seven represents fullness or totality he dips himself the seventh time and when he comes out i want you to notice what scripture says once again verse 14 so he went down and dipped seven times in the jordan according to the saying of the man of god in other words he obeyed the command of god through his minister and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child listen here it was not restored like an old man because he was a grown man i mean he it was like he was born again because we're told here that the flesh that he had was not the flesh of old naaman scarred in battle it was the flesh of a little child in other words he had died and he had resurrected to newness of life he was like a little child is that happen is that what happens when we're born again yes that's what happens we're baptized the past is buried and we're born according to the bible to newness of life the old has passed away according to the scriptures now how did naaman look upon the religion of israel and the god of israel after his conversion was he did he just say oh it's wonderful i've been healed hallelujah now go on worshiping the gods of syria no notice verse 17. there's a very interesting little custom here know he lived in syria he didn't live in israel and and god was the god of israel so notice this verse 17 so name and said then if not because elisha had not accepted the gifts that he had brought if you're not going to take the gifts he says please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth what is he asking for he's asking for for two mule loads of dirt from where from israel interesting and he says for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods but to the lord do you know why he takes the earth because he wants to put that earth in syria and because it's earth from israel he's worshiping on israel's earth the true god had he been converted had his outlook and life been changed yes he says i live in syria but i'm taking a little piece of israel so that i can worship the god of israel wow what a change he says i will not worship any of the pagan gods anymore had his life changed not only his skin but his heart had actually been converted by this baptismal experience he had been totally transformed totally changed what a beautiful illustration in the old testament of baptism go with me to ii corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. second corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17 do you know that we are all afflicted with leprosy at one point in our lives we were all afric afflicted with leprosy the deadly disease of sin which is a mortal disease and we're told there in second corinthians 5 17 that something happens when we chose to take the step of baptism it says therefore if anyone listen to this is in christ he is what a new creation is that true of naaman physically was he a new creation yes he had the skin of a child therefore if anyone is in christ he is a new creation all things have passed away the leprosy is gone behold all things have become what new that was the experience of naaman the old naaman was buried and the new naaman came forth not only physically but also spiritually the big question is however how is it that we are in christ because it says here those who are in christ how we how do we get to be in christ well the bible says it very clearly go with me to galatians chapter 3 and verses 26 and 27 galatians chapter 3 verses 26 and 27 it tells us how we become in christ see according to the bible i am either in adam or in christ if i'm in adam i have the disease of leprosy i'm doomed to death so i have to change families into the family of the new adam i have to be born into a different family but in order to do that i have to bury the old family the question is how do i get rid of that adam nature that leprous nature and how am i born to newness of life like naaman was it says in galatians 3 verse 26 for you are all sons of god through faith in christ jesus and now notice this for as many of you as were what baptized into christ have put on christ at what moment is it that we cease being in adam and we are in christ at the moment of what baptism how important then is baptism it's vitally important it's the moment when we bury our old leprous name in nature and when we come forth we're born to newness of life like naaman who had the skin of a child and he had the heart of a child too because jesus says that we must become like children in order to see and in order to enter the kingdom of god go with me to romans chapter 6 and verses 3 and on romans chapter 6 verses verse 3 notice the apostle paul says or do you not know that as many of us as work notice this baptized into jesus christ how are we baptized we're baptized into what jesus christ if we're baptized into jesus christ are we then in christ so what happens before baptism we're outside of christ right and so it says or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into christ jesus were baptized into his death therefore notice we were buried with him notice we died with him we were buried with him through baptism into death but not only did we die with him not only did we were we buried with him but notice that we're also resurrected with him it says therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life now listen to what i'm going to say many many people even within the seventh-day adventist church misunderstand the meaning of baptism see baptism is not my own little death to sin and my own little resurrection from sin did you notice here that it says that whoever has been baptized has been baptized into his death and that we were buried with him and that we resurrected with him in other words when when i'm buried in the waters of baptism when in humility i come to god i said i'm i'm a sinner i'm leprous i have nothing to offer you i'm doomed to death when i come to god and i say that and i'm baptized at the moment of baptism you know what god says god says what you just did right now makes you to be included in what jesus did back there he died so you don't have to he was buried so you don't have to he resurrected so that you can resurrect with him in other words at baptism we're transferred back to what jesus did we're included in him see the law demands a perfect life doesn't it the law says obey and live and if you don't obey the law you what you die how many of us have lived in harmony with the law perfectly none of us so we're all on death row right so how can we be saved it's very simple we receive jesus as our savior we announce it through baptism and then at the moment of baptism his death counts as if it was mine his life is reckoned as mine and therefore now when i come before the father when i'm in jesus when i've buried my old self with him and have resurrected with him now when i appear before god the father the father doesn't see me he sees jesus because i am in him isn't that good news in other words at the moment of baptism is where the father no longer looks at me as me he looks at me through him and because he lived a perfect life the law doesn't condemn me because his life stands in place of my life and because he suffered the death that i should suffer i don't have to suffer death because his death counts as my death so at baptism i am included in what he did that's what the bible means when it says that we are in christ if we are in christ we are a new creation all things have passed away and everything is new because we are in jesus in other words at baptism we're transferred back to what jesus did and god includes us in him we're accepted in the beloved we have an advocate before the father jesus christ and when jesus appears before the father he says father i come here representing steve board and i'm dramatizing the father says where is steve bohr jesus says well he doesn't have to appear because he's in me and so when i appear here it's as if he appears because he is in christ that's what happens at baptism we are reckoned dead and alive in christ his death and his life now stand in our place is that good news or what baptism is a marvelous ceremony it's it's the way of passing from death to life now i don't believe in baptismal regeneration i don't think that baptism safe saves but baptism is a sign of salvation it's an external announcement of an internal experience with jesus christ have you ever noticed what jesus said to nicodemus was nicodemus kind of similar to naaman he thought he was a pretty good guy he was a leader in israel he was a rabbi he thought he knew a lot but notice what jesus said to nicodemus john 3 and we'll read verse 3 and we'll also read verse 5. john 3 and verses 3 and 5. to this great man who thought he knew much who thought he was great in israel we're told this jesus answered and said to him most assuredly i say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of god what did he mean notice verse 5 jesus answered most assuredly i say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit water bat this is talking about water baptism being born of water in other words that's for forgiveness of sins and the spirit is breathing new life which also we receive the holy spirit at baptism so most assuredly i say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god let me ask you is baptism then absolutely indispensable is it according to the bible it's absolutely indispensable jesus says you must be born of the water and of the spirit your old self must be buried and you must resurrect a newness of life you know god couldn't have chosen a better ceremony than baptism to illustrate this you've seen baptisms here in the church person stands the pastors up there in the baptistery persons in front of him the pastor says in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit the person who's going to be put under the water stops breathing like you do when you die and then the person is what they stop breathing they're buried in the waters and what's the first thing they do when they come forth on the water they breathe newness of life could god have chosen a better symbol or a better ceremony to illustrate death to sin resurrection to newness of life in christ there could be no better symbol that god could have chosen than this symbol of baptism it makes me think of one last person that i would like to mention that experience what naaman experienced that's the great saul of tarsus the great apostle paul you know if you want to read an interesting passage reach philippians chapter 3. there there the apostle paul tells us how great he was before he accepted jesus in fact let's go there quickly philippians chapter 3 and let's notice uh the the apostle paul's self-evaluation before his conversion he was just like naaman chapter 3 and verse 4 he says though also i might have confidence in the flesh if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh i more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel of the tribe of benjamin a hebrew of the hebrews concerning the law of pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless typical naaman but he had leprosy so then jesus confronts him on the road to damascus and saul of tarsus goes through the conversion experience and he goes to ananias house you know what ananias says to him let's read it acts 22 and verse 16. acts 22 even saul of tarsus had to go through this experience acts 22 and verse 16. ananias says to saul and now why are you waiting i like that why are you waiting arise and be what and be baptized and what does baptism do and wash away your sins calling on the name of the lord so what happens at baptism saul's sins were what were washed away so baptism is a glorious ceremony it's a ceremony where we pass from death to life as naaman the syrian past from death to life he buried his leprosy and he came out to newness of life [Music]

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Length: 40min 45sec (2445 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021