Sin Never Brings Peace - Doug Batchelor

[Music] Jesus is the answer well thank you so much for the invitation to come back to Michigan and to be able to share with you for your camp meeting it is an honor I've not been here very long but always since there is a really good spirit here good spiritual atmosphere that I really appreciate on this campground and I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to share with you and I hope you'll be praying for me but before I get to the message tonight if it's okay with you I just like to tell you a couple of exciting things that are happening with amazing facts and that I hope you'll keep in your prayers some of you heard did any of you hear about this National Geographic program I'm just wondering oh good yeah some of you heard about that that was very interesting we got a phone call a few months ago and someone said we're doing a film for National Geographic and we want to know if you'd like to participate in that first I told Bonnie our secretary I said this is a gag they're not I guess I don't have much faith and so I said find out more she said well they're doing a special on the riddle of Revelation and they're going to be interviewing Oral Roberts they're going to the Vatican they're talking to the Cardinal at the Vatican and some other charismatic pastors and you I thought why would the interview me and she know it was really exciting is it turned out it was true and I spoke to the producer and I said why did you want to lead you to amazing facts and they said well when we were studying prophecy to get our resources together all of these websites kept going back to amazing facts and so I thought oh praise the Lord now some of you don't know not only do we have of course the amazing facts website amazing facts has we have about a hundred websites registered about thirty of them are active and some of them are clandestine websites their province of different prophecy names people start studying like Sabbath truth calm we got death truth hell all truth we got all these different websites out there on all these different teachings and they just somehow bounced back to our lessons and so that turned into an interview they they came to the church and they videotape a little bit of the sermon and then they did a question and answer they're really interested you know National Geographic is not very religious and they're so I was very suspicious and they're very interested in you know The DaVinci Code and the Left Behind they want to know what this phenomenon of Revelation interest is all about so they were asking a lot of questions and someone at our church gave them a copy of the caveman book my testimony book and they called a few days later and they said we'd like to do one more interview there okay well was a you know camera broker open Eenie and they said no we want to fly you up to your cave and we want to we thought this was a great human interest story to add to the presentation I said no and I prayed about it I said Lord this this can't be good I mean because I could see it right now someone already asked me they said Doug we hear you're going to be on the cover of National Geographic I said no no this is not the magazine this is the TV program and all of I pictured this caveman on the cover of National Geographic magazine I said no no that's not it but so I prayed about it I didn't answer them but they said Lord if they call back if they email maybe we'll do this and then I said you know you can't get up to my cave anymore because the Indian reservation that lives at the base of Palm Springs they've blocked the entrance to the canyon which is really the only way to hike up there and so they said we'll fly you up in a helicopter and I thought you're serious aren't you and and then they said they said well we need to get permission from the people who actually own the property where the cave is which is not the tribe and I said well I don't know who owns that now so I called the only hippie that I remember from when I used to live in the cave I mean that we didn't have phones back then you know they'd have cell phones in the cave so I got ahold of this one guy Mountain Bob was his name Mountain Bob and he called chainsaw Dave and so we called these other people and he said you know it just so happens some of these hippies are pretty prosperous now I won't ask how they're getting their money but they've got farming I understand and and one of them bought the land where the cave is and so I called Dave up and I said you know National Geographic wants to come up and do this thing can we have permission he said yeah no far out Doug how you been you know haven't heard from you long time that's all you mean I made friends with all these guys that used to live up to we tracked them all down that was fun anyway so they they flew me to Palm Springs they rented a helicopter in LA flew at a hundred miles I got to the airport and it says little bitty lego helicopter and they had four adults in there with all their camera gear they flew up to the cave and they did an interview there they interviewed you know videotaped me reading the Bible and building a fire they had me like this match 50 times and walk down this log and they're very good at what they do anyway let me just cut to the end of this so finally we got word just a couple of weeks ago about a week ago that the broadcast date is July 16 and the 22nd it'll be on twice each day and we don't know what it is I got word little disappointing news the producer called said ugh I'm very sorry said after we produce the program and set it in National Geographic he said somebody did not like the interview of the Cardinal from the Vatican and they did not like the interview of you at your cave they thought that was too much of a paradox to go from asking the Vatican to asking you and your cave and so they've cut that out of the National Version it won't be on in North America but they said it will be on the international version and it will be on the DVD so I don't know that's an interesting story there I don't understand but pray about that now the reason I tell you that it actually all has something to do with Michigan is we're going to get this publicity in July four times which is international publicity then Dwight Nelson one of your pastors came to Sacramento about a month ago and we videotaped a half an hour program called the final events of Bible prophecy it's not the DVD it's related to the DVD and Dwight sort of does this interview thing where we talk about the final events of prophecy and we just reserved a half an hour on 9/11 of primetime television talking about prophecy and we're offering people this final events DVD and they send in don't you send in and ask for it you pay for because amazing facts has to send these things out so we encourage your friends on pax network I don't know if you know pax is in 91 million homes this is primetime 7:00 o'clock at night and so we're going to encourage people everywhere to tell their friends to watch the National Geographic broadcasts watch the pax the 911 broadcast on the final events of Bible prophecy then two days later we're doing this series called the most amazing prophecies with a at Andrews University it's a ten part satellite broadcast light and I did a meeting 10 years ago some of you remember the new revelation program we're going to do another any of you how many of your churches have a satellite equipment in this conference that would be everybody right use it because we're going to advertise on this half-an-hour program call this number and find out where this seminar is near you on the program we're telling people to tune in to the seminar at your churches so won't that be sad if they call and your church says well we're not doing anything so we hope that you will have your churches participate in this program the most amazing prophecies that'll be on satellite it's just 9 days 10 meetings short and sweet but we're going to get right into the beef of Bible prophecy tofu I'm sorry tofu a Bible prophecy and we hope that you'll utilize that you know I just a lot more I can tell you maybe I'll share a little snippet of some other things the other opportunities I have but I want to open the Word of God with you we've had a lot of announcements and things tonight and I've always thought that one person that should be part of every camp meeting platform is called the announcer bouncer and when the announcements go too long sorry we do this at our church too it's just a pastor you know by the time you finally open up the word folks are operating on three cylinders and and it isn't fair let's pray loving Lord we're just so thankful now as the Sabbath approaches that we can turn to Jesus and we want to hear what the Spirit says to the church please speak to our hearts we do pray that all of us will be better as a result of hearing the word and that it will germinate and bear fruit in our lives in Jesus name we ask amen please take your Bibles if you have them in turn to 2nd Kings chapter five a familiar story it's a story of naman and this is one of the great stories in the Bible you'll notice in our scripture reading Jesus referred to the story of naman as far as I'm concerned as soon as Jesus references the story that means it's a true story if it's not enough for you that it's in a Bible it ought to be enough for you that Jesus endorses it as a true story it's a miraculous story and it is filled with significance regarding salvation 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 that would be the king of syria because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria he was also a mighty man of Valor I want to pause there before I finish the sentence if I pause there you would think that Naaman has everything any man could want he's obviously got position he's the chief military officer in the land of Syria he is known for his bravery when he walked down the streets of Syria his medals would Clank on his chest for his valor he had worked his way up through the ranks the Bible says he was a mighty man he was not only brave but he was brave and successful strong he was no doubt rich probably had one of the nicest homes in Damascus there by the river had a retinue of servants had what most men would want this is a good sermon for the man probably rich famous good reputation and you would think that would be enough to make anybody happy but the last words five words in the King James Version change everything it says but he was a leper and especially the last word in that first verse changes everything now before I go on I want to just make sure that in case you don't know that you have some idea what leprosy is leprosy was the most dreaded disease of Bible times it was called the finger of God meaning that if a person was touched by leprosy was the curse of God it's a disease that if you've traveled to India or Africa we hear about it in America but I've seen the beggars on the street that have clubs where their hands should be their fingers are gone their toes are often gone their faces are disfigured because of this dreaded disease and I remember how pathetic it was one time I tried to give an offering of coins to a leper with their palm out and they fell out of the hand because they had no fingers it affects the extremities first not because you get leprosy in your fingers just fall off but what leprosy does is leprosy affects the nerves and the sensibilities in the nerves so that these people that have the leprosy they don't they'll be injuring crushing their toes or burning their fingers and they're they're touching hot rocks or crushing the toes and they don't know and it damages them and they often lose their extremities that way leprosy is a type of sin in the Bible and sin is the kind of disease where you begin to lose your sensitivity of what is harming you the most dangerous can in a person can be in is the lukewarm condition where they're doing that which is killing them but they think everything's fine and you can be destroying yourself and not feel it that's how sin works as long as you've got your conscience one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is conviction some people in their theology they try to remove that work of the Spirit they think if you're preaching and people are convicting and they're feeling guilty that's bad well that's good if you're lost you shouldn't be comfortable right I've told people to their face before they've come up after an evangelistic study and they said this really troubles me and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it I shall pray you're miserable until you surrender what do you want them to do become crippled yet what happens is through overexposure to sin we can lose our sensitiveness to what is bad they say that a person that drinks hot drinks too often can lose the sensation and taste in their tongue when you burn their taste buds and in the same way some people can get so used to something that is offensive that they stop realizing it's bad you know one reason I know this is true is because the censors who used to censor television program programming in America 4050 years ago they would not allow a man and woman to be seen in their bedroom together even with their clothes on and then gradually they allowed that but they would never be seen sleeping if they're sleeping snoring then they gradually waive that and then they had them sleeping but they could not be in the same bed some of you are old enough to remember what I'm talking about do you know who the first people were to appear in the same bed on TV Fred and Wilma Flintstone it's true but you know what they did it it's such it's a cartoon it's such an innocuous you know harmless thing but then after that it gradually was introduced into the soap operas and pretty soon they weren't just showing them sleeping in bed or waking up in the morning you know what I'm talking about and what Christians would never have watched because it would have naturally offended us if it had been thrown at us right away gradually because the sensibility of it has been lost through exposure that which should be offensive and revolting does not stun us anymore leprosy sin is like leprosy it kills you little by little it's like living under this death decree it's contagious sin is contagious did you know that I remember my father used to say if you sleep with dogs you get fleas and if you are the companion of fools you will be a fool if you would be wise hang out with wise people Naaman had prosperity position good reputation but what was it worth if he knew he was dying what is any blessing worth any comfort how comfortable can you be with any temporal pleasure if you know you're going to die tomorrow whoever enjoys their last meal on death row and if we're aware that we're living under a death sentence and how can you enjoy that not only that because of the contagious nature where they pee used to have name and go down the streets and there was a parade now they'd part run from lepers used to have to cry out unclean probably like king Isaiah had to dwell in a separate house by himself a king who is sequestered quarantined because of his leprosy King Isaiah Nahum and is now quarantine cannot take his children in his arms much less his wife you think he's enjoying life at all sin will never bring you happiness it may bring you momentary passing pleasure but it never offers peace the only way to have peace is to have life if God was to answer every one of your prayers and not give you eternal life isn't really an answer all it's like the people who are constantly praying Lord I'm in prison and it's no fun here so can I have a TV for my prison cell can I have a carpet for my prison cell could the food be better here in prison that's the way a lot of us pray we're asking God to make us comfortable on our way to destruction if you don't have life what good is it what God wants us to do is pray Lord get me out of prison right I need life and if you know you've got eternal life any other inconvenience doesn't seem so bad I believe that I believe that one reason that Christians are often reluctant to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Jesus is because we question whether we've got everlasting life we figure if I don't take it now I'll never have it so we're trying to get all the worldly pleasures now because we doubt we've got everlasting life but if you know you've got everlasting life you can put up with almost anything now because what is this life compared to eternity it's a name it's not happy he was a leper the story goes on and the Syrians had gone out and had brought back captive these are the rating bands they brought back captives a young girl from the land of Israel and she waited on a man's wife it was common for them to have border disputes and Raiders especially during the harvest they would cross over into the northern part of Israel and they would raid the farms and they'd try to carry away some crops and maybe some children that could be sold as slaves you remember one time they were burying a man after he like she died it says the rating bands of Moab came in the land they know what to do this man they didn't have funerals so they threw him on the grave of Elijah came back to life but just tells you about the rating bands it would and forth David when he was living with the Philistines he would go raiding told the Philistines I'm raiding Israel but he was really raiding the Amalekites and others so well this was a common practice and during one of these raids his little girl was carried off captive now I don't know how you would feel but if I was a little girl living on the farm with mom and dad and these foreigners came and carried me away and maybe killed my mother and father and burned the house and pillaged the farm I want to be very happy about these people and if my master these Syrian slave masters got leprosy I'd probably think good for you that's not her attitude maybe she read the story of Joseph and she saw Joseph's attitude towards his master Potiphar that Joseph Joseph figured Lord wherever you put me I'm gonna be faithful I'm gonna represent you I'm gonna love those around me and so when her master came down with leprosy she was concerned and she with her childlike faith and innocence she said if only my master was with the prophet in Israel that's Elijah he would recover him of his leprosy well that's really something when you consider Elijah had never healed anybody from leprosy before matter of fact the only person who had sort of been healed from leprosy was Miriam she got leprosy from God God took it away but no man had ever healed anybody of their leprosy before and that took a lot of faith but one thing she noticed about Elijah he had a double portion of Elijah's spirit anybody that ever came to Elijah with a problem he helped them I challenge you to find an example in the Bible of anybody who ever came to Elijah with a problem and he turned them away he helped everybody whether it was a sunken axe head or leprosy whatever it was Elijah helped them now you realize the name Jesus and Elijah are very similar Jesus name is Yahshua that's Yahweh is Savior Elijah's name is Elohim schewe Elijah it's almost the same name Elijah's like Jesus so Naaman when he hears about this great prophet in Israel you know Hope Springs a turtle and he's dying and if there's any hope and he hears this as treatment I know so many people I hear of that they come down with some terminal variety of cancer and they hear that if they go to Mexico or they go to one of these places that there's these treatments and these drugs and they'll sell everything they've got to get there if there's hope of life God wired us to live and so Naaman goes to the king and says king I've heard that there's a prophet in Israel King you said I've heard of Elisha too since they tell you what well let me read it to you out of the Bible so the king of Syria is said to name and verse five go now in other words get ready to go and I'll send a letter to the king of Israel and that's kind of strange because they didn't get along much better then than they do now you can just picture the prime minister or the president of Jordan are serious sending a letter to the Prime Minister of Israel saying I want you to do me a favor I would like for you to heal my general that's been orchestrating the battles against your gentle does seem like a strange request so he knew it would be strained he thought maybe if I pay him enough he'll know I'm sincere so he departed he took with him this letter from the king of Israel and ten talents of silver six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothing these are the clothing the kind of clothes that were bought on Rodeo Drive that's what they wore in the palace this is not your Walmart variety of clothing and they brought the letter to the king of Israel and here's what the letter says now be advised when this letter comes to you that I sent name and my servant my general that you might heal him of his leprosy period here's the money well I would be a little be funnelled if I was the king of Israel and it happened when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and he said am i God to kill him to make alive see they knew that this was a death sentence he's wanting me to reverse this terminal condition of his general a my god to kill and to make alive that this man sentence to me this man deed healed him of his leprosy therefore please consider how he seeks a quarrel he's trying to cause an international incident he's looking for an excuse to start another war well the King began to look at things from a human perspective and he lost faith and torres robes and he forgot that there was still a God in Israel and we would do well if all of our political leaders would lean on the arm of the Lord when they come into crisis so it was when Elijah the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes it was in the tabloids the next day meanwhile probably Nahum and his entourage he didn't go alone oh by the way he's got five million dollars worth of silver and gold and clothing he's got a retinue of soldiers that are guarding all this traveling with him they're staying in the Hampton Inn no probably the Hyatt and they're waiting for some word from the king well meanwhile Elijah gets word king of Israel's torn his robes he's totally confused about what to do because this letter has come and of course Elijah would have known if he hadn't read it in the paper because he's a prophet and God would have revealed it to him and he says when Elijah the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes he sent to the king of Israel saying why have you torn your clothes please let him come to me now who does Elijah represent I told you were you listening he's a type of Christ nobody ever came to Elijah that was turned away can you think of anybody that came to Jesus for healing that was turned away if anyone came to Jesus for salvation where they turned away the thief on the cross Christ's hands are nailed to the cross but can he still save let them come to me we should bring our problems to Jesus amen and he won't know that there is a prophet in Israel now I'm looking at the clock back there and trying to pace myself because there's a lot I'd like to say do you know there's still a prophet in Israel I just want to tell you as straight as I know how that I believe God gave a prophet to his people the reason I am a seventh-day Adventist today is because somebody gave me the book great controversy when I was living up there in that cave 30 years ago you know this is a side note when I was flying up during the helicopter going back to the national geographic thing I had this little Epiphany it was almost exactly 30 years earlier that I flew up there at a helicopter with an NBC film crew right after accepting the Lord and say Lord I don't know how you'll ever use me to witness I live in a cave I don't know if any of you remember that story but that just blew me away the way that God 30 years later I'm going back up again with a film crew I mean he could have done it for my church but going back to the cave it was great because I can't hike up there anymore so got a free trip all these evolutionists flew me back praise the Lord now where was I oh yeah and so it troubles me as I travel among God's people to hear the cynicism regarding the inspiration of Ellen White it breaks my heart too and you know I often find it's almost never people who are converts to the faith it's people who are second or third or fourth generation that if somehow maybe her writings were not applied correctly or or used as a club or IR misinterpreted I'm not sure exactly what the circumstances are but boy you get on the internet and there are a lot of very bitter ex Seventh day Adventists out there that have influenced some who are in the church and I'm surprised that the the questioning of the most wonderful gift that God has given us next to the by people of truth and it's so sad that people just aren't reading it anymore you know I'm telling you as soon as seventh-day Adventist lose that anchor we're like a ship blown to and fro with every wind of doctrine that is the reason we have become an international movement is because God raised up a prophet you know why ancient Israel became who they were because God raised up a prophet named Moses and Moses maybe didn't live to see them cross over but he was used of God and maybe Ellen White didn't live but God raised her up to get us ready to cross over and there is a prophet in Israel and we need to take advantage of these writings God has given us let him come to me and he'll know that there is a prophet in Israel so now Naamans a little frustrated he's gone to see the king the King doesn't meet with him and there's a whole bunch of scuttlebutt the palace and he has a translator but he realizes things don't look good and sort of humiliating for him because everybody's having fun there at the Hyatt Neiman's in a room by himself because he's got leprosy so he sequestered matter of fact they're very when they check him in reluctant to give him the Presidential Suite because after all it's going to be contaminated after he's in it so it sort of humiliating for him and then the next day he's given a message and it says the King can't see you but we're told that you should maybe go see Elijah personally instead of bothering the King so he turns around he goes to the humble dwelling where Elijah is Elijah does not come out and see him Naaman went with his horses and his chariot and he stood at the door of the house of Elijah and Elijah sent a messenger to him saying and this is probably a haze I go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored to you now the very fact it's his flesh restored implies that he had lost flesh it was advanced he was dying probably looked a little pitiful go wash in the Jordan River and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean now he comes to Elijah and he gets him to do something about being clean and he's really offended now first of all he's used to dealing with the king he's in the upper echelon of government there in Damascus and he comes to Israel he's treated like this the King won't see him then he comes to see the poor profit profit doesn't come out but profit seen sends his servant it's bad enough he has to get the message from a little Jewish girl but now the servant of the Prophet comes out to him says go wash in the Jordan now the Jordan I remember how disappointed I was my first trip to Israel because I'd sung these hymns mighty Jordan roll Jordans bill Oh sounds like an ocean you know and you who live not too far from the Mississippi you get the Missouri River I think Amazon Nile these big rivers and you go Jordan River man you can jump across it in the summertime it's a series of stagnating pools I was disappointed and it's the lowest river in the world it does have that distinction Louis River in the world and the water is not clear because it doesn't come from mountain glaciers it's what washes off the top of the deads of the Sea of Galilee and so it's sometimes green or brown depending on whether it's flooding or stagnating so when you tell somebody we're not asking you to wash in the waters of Lebanon we're wanting you to go wash in the Jordan when I was growing up I come from that era where when your family took the baths that if you had several kids in the family you filled the bath and they all kind of took turns into the bath so when we used to like turn off lights when we left the room to save electricity and I for some reason I was always asked to bathe after my brother and or stepbrother and I never wanted to get in the water after they got out but they were sending me a message that you're the dirtiest dug so you get in last I was the youngest and when someone tells you to take a bath what are they implying what are they implying when they tell you to take seven baths what are they telling you when they say take seven baths in a brown river I mean you can understand why this was enough when they a man hears this he throws his hands in the air head and if your lip or that can happen to you know so I'm sorry I've never said that before it just came to me that wasn't nice I'm sorry that was not appropriate these things just go through my mind and I say them but he became upset and he said I didn't know there's a bad time because this is serious he became furious and he went away and said indeed I said to myself he'll 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 or the leper you notice he doesn't say heal me and he was used to the way they did things back in Damascus you know when you went he gave this much money to a prophet big offering like that you ought to get a good show and you come out and dance around the fire and throw some chemicals in and get some sparks or smoke or something laid his hand over the place go through a ritual and even if I'm not healed tell me I'll be healed next week and send me away give me some hope but to tell me just to without even giving me an invoice what an insult go wash seven times in this muddy river he's thinking they're mocking me because I'm from Syria and you know what it was humiliating to him you know why God told could Elisha have simply said be clean he would have been clean a leper came to Jesus one time and said Lord if you're willing you can make me clean Jesus said I am willing he touched them in he was plans could have been that simple why did he tell name and to go wash in the Jordan seven times well a number of reasons for one thing this story is the story of salvation the Jordan River is where John baptized it's where Jesus was baptized it represents death burial and resurrection if you look through all the songs in your hymnal to talk about the Jordan the great hymn writers knew that though through Jordan thou leadest me it's talking about most people when they get from the wilderness of the promised land they die first and the border was of the Jordan and going down to the Jordan that lowest river on earth represents death and if you want to be clean you must be crucified with Christ you've got to be willing to die if you want to be clean dipping down seven times well Mary Magdalene had Seven Devils cast out of her didn't she though righteous man falls seven times he'll rise again it signifies totally dead to self that's one reason but even a bigger reason Naaman thought his problem was leprosy you know what his problem was same problem with all of us pride selfishness the great sin Spurgeon said we should never be proud of race or place or face we have nothing to be proud of a haughty spirit goes before a fall this is called the great sin pride Andrew Murray said something here humility is perfect quietness of heart is to expect nothing to wonder it nothing that has done to me to feel nothing done against me it is to be at rest when nobody praises me when I am blamed or despised it is to have a blessed home in the Lord when I can go and shut the door and kneel to my father in secret and I'm at peace in a deep calmness when all around me above is trouble that's what it means they have the spirit of meekness the humility of Christ effie meyer said I used to think that God's gifts were on the shelves one above another and the taller we grew in Christian character the more easily we could reach those gifts I've now found that God's gifts are in shelves one beneath the other and that it is not a question of growing taller but stooping lower God's best gifts are on the lowest shelves you know you are never too small for God to use but you can be too big for God to use you're never too little for God to save but you can be too big for God to save and before God was going to cleanse a name and he was a good man mighty man brave man smart man there's a proud man and that disqualified him for heaven because the Spirit of Christ is one of humility in Christ object lessons page 154 the evil that led to Peters fall that shut the Pharisee out from communion with God is proving the ruin of thousands today there is nothing so offensive to God so dangerous to the human soul as pride nothing pride self sufficiency of all the sins it is the most hopeless the most incurable like leprosy we don't feel our need we become self-sufficient Jesus had the well weight I want to back up and say this differently whoever humbles himself will be exalted whoever exalts himself will be humbled the one ultimately who exalted himself the most in the universe is the devil I will be like the Most High he is going to be brought down to the lowest parts of the pit the one who exalted himself will be humbled the most conversely the one who humbled himself the most you know this in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 and being found in the appearance of a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the Cross when God became a man and died on the cross he huh himself the most therefore the Lord is giving him a name that is above every name and he will be the most highly exalted everybody here follows one of two masters we're either seeking recognition and exaltation and you'll be humbled or were following Christ emptied of self and then he'll exalt you in his due time there's only two roads Naaman thought his problem was leprosy his problem was pride now God and His goodness makes it difficult for us to be lost I'm so thankful for the patience of God with me I mean you don't know what I know God is patient with me take my word for it His mercies are new every day and he is desperate to save us the cross of Jesus stands as an obstacle to our destruction and as Naaman pulled his horse around and galloped off back to Damascus in a rage ranting to his soldiers I could go back to a bana and par father the rivers of Damascus are cleaner than all the waters of Israel he's insulted he's furious but you know it's a long ride you eventually cool off don't ever have an argument with your spouse when you're not an airplane on your way to India it's a bad timing sitting together got all that time and here he's riding along he's riding along and you know what in order to get to Damascus guess what River he's got to write across Jordan River to get from where Elijah lived and as they're riding along the banks getting near the Ford it says his servants drew near to him you know what that implies these servants that are guarding this five million dollars in silver gold and clothing they've been keeping their distance because he's got leprosy and they drew near they kicked the horses and they rode up alongside him they realized that once he leaves the Jordan to his back any hope that this was a true man and that he would be healed as lost and they said master and verse 13 my father if the prophet had told you told you to do something great would you not have done it if Elijah had said Naaman I want you like you know Saul said to David and you want to marry my daughter I want you to go kill a hundred Philistines and bring the evidence David said I can handle that I'm a man I'm going to kill 200 that's how men are we want a challenge we want a venture I mean what man you want to be great take a bath man is not our idea of a challenge men need to be challenged put your life on the line I can do that take a bath that's not manly if it's manly you don't ever bathe right a bunch of men got a camping trip we start bragging about how long it's been since we had a bath go take a bath my father it's true if he said climb a mountain he would have done it going to battle he would have done it so how much easier if he says wash and be clean it's too easy you wonder how many people will be lost eternity because it seems too simple I've met men before who said how can I just ask him to forgive me for all that I've done it's too easy I don't understand it it's a gift you can't pay for it there is something you must do though you come to Elijah just like you are and then you go to the Jordan just like you are and so the Bible says so he went down he humbled himself he had to get off his horse probably was wearing his dress uniform when he went to the king of Israel take off his armor and all his medals had to strip himself you know that's how we come to Jesus isn't it step off down into the water others watching maybe was a little humiliating and he dipped himself down came up now how far down do you think he went do you think he just washed his feet if you've got leprosy and if you're going to try the treatment you want it all over don't you it's like Peter said Lord wash not just my feet only but my hands in my head so he probably baptized old himself he went down came back up look to themselves still had leprosy nothing to change maybe it was stinging a little bit dipped himself again that's humiliating now every time he went down his leprosy didn't seem like it was changing but his pride was being washed away every time God has you go down he's preparing you for cleansing by the way in the Bible never are we to pray God humble me you won't find that in the Bible the Bible says humble yourself because meekness is a choice humility is a choice you can't force a person to be humble have you ever tried to force someone to be humble what effect does that have it's the opposite it's like trying to push a buoy into the water bounces right back up twice as high you must choose to humble yourself and every time he willingly chose to dip himself God was washing away his proud heart four times five times do you think he was any cleaner the sixth time than he was the fifth of the fourth physically would he have he had gotten out of the water after two or three times what do you still had his leprosy why did it make a difference that he did it seven times Lukis God said the blessing was not going to come the miracle the cleansing was not going to come until you did it not only the way but the number that I say to me it's mystifying how Christians can say it doesn't matter what day we keep we can just sort of pick our own whether it's the first day of the seventh day it doesn't matter God doesn't care they don't read about the same God I read about in the Bible God means what he says and don't you ever apologize don't you ever be embarrassed because we are seventh-day Adventist let everyone else be embarrassed you've got of thus saith the Lord for what you're doing the reason I say that is I still I run into seventh-day Adventist Christians that are almost apologetic that we go to church a different day of the week we go the day Jesus went and that should be enough for me that should be enough for you he said seven times God means what he says what if Joshua had marched around Jericho six times and blew the trumpet walls might still be there he means what he says seventh time he dipped himself came back up again at this point he is totally surrendered to do whatever it takes he's on his way home to die he's got to do this if he wants to live so he takes the Prophet at his word he obeys the word of the Prophet are you with me and he goes down the seventh time now you know sometimes people come to the Lord may may not feel anything right away but I'll tell you named and felt something that day because if you're missing a finger here and a toe there and they pop back into place you got to feel something matter of fact his problem was before he didn't feel anything he had leprosy and when he goes down the seventh time I don't know what he felt but he felt something and all of a sudden his flesh was restored the Bible says fingers and toes and maybe the tip of his nose began to pop into a place again not only that I love this part of the Bible you got your Bibles you got to read this verse this is great so he went down and dipped until seven times in the Jordan according to the sane of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child that always cracks me up because Naaman is a seasoned soldier he's a general this the other soldiers say my father he's not right out of boot Kim can you picture when he gets out of the water here you've got this soldier with baby skin and I can just picture the other servants they're coming up to him they're saying praise God can I pinch because he's soft like a baby now isn't that an oxymoron a general with baby skin I mean do you ever put those two together but you know that's what a Christian is a Christian is a soldier who is like a little child the Bible says unless you become converted and become as a little child you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven Naaman is proud brave valiant mighty successful general had to assume the humility and obedience of a little child and when he did that it says he was clean God cleaned him how do you think he felt he is so happy now he can go home hug his wife he doesn't have to be ashamed and veil his face going down the streets of Damascus to take his children up in his arms again he's got life and you know what's interesting is instead of going home now he wants to go back and thank Elijah he's got to turn around the other way and bring his money back he doesn't even have an invoice yet but he's so thankful he doesn't care he's what and he's willing to give everything wouldn't you he's willing to give that whole not part of it he's willing to give everything because he's got life now what profit is that if you gain the whole world and lose your soul but if you've got eternal life it's worth letting go of everything isn't it he was clean you know this story is really a story for all of us and it's in the Bible because God is desperate to save us he wants us to be clean you know I asked if they could sing a song in closing and please I'd like to make an appeal sometimes when you mention this at a camp meeting everyone's got places to go and they fly out of the room so if you could just be still I'd like to have us turn to our closing song which is whiter than snow and I want to have special prayer for you before we close this service and this is a sacred time as the sabbath approaches and i believe that there may be some of you here who have been touched by leprosy you're losing the sense of conviction you question whether you've got life you want to be clean you want that joy that peace everything else in the world is worth nothing if you're living under a death sentence he that has the son has life he that doesn't have the son does not have life and why don't we could we stand together as we sing and I think we've got a song let's begin with the first verse and then I'd like to make an appeal for you Lord Jesus I long to be perfect I are they forever to live in my soul rained on every castle [Music] why [Music] why I shall be boy [Music] some of you may have just arrived it kept meeting this afternoon some of you may have been here all week especially for that latter group I'd like to trust the Holy Spirit's been talking to you through this week through the seminars and the various speakers you want to be the same when you go home or do you come to camp meeting because you really want to have a change of heart you want to love the Lord better to know him better I'd like to invite you to make that decision now in your hearts today lord I really want to be clean you may have some leprosy in your life you know what those things are you know where those spots of infection are in your life if I were to ask you to identify them and you were honest with your own soul you could do it in seconds you know what it is if you have any question then you say Lord search me try me if there's any wicked way in me you show me and he will what would you like to be pure would you like to have that baby skin and know you've got eternal life you can ask Jesus right now you come to him just like you are you accept the cleansing the Jordan represents death and say Lord I'm going to take up my cross I'm gonna fall but beyond then as we prepare to sing the next verse there may be some of you here who have never yet been baptized people come to camp meeting and maybe you've been visiting the church your spouse is a member or maybe you're here with friends and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus that's a very clear command of the Lord there may be some of you here or baptize years ago but you've wandered a long way and you need to go back to the Jordan you may need rebaptised as we sing this second verse I'd like to have special prayer for you right here at the front I'd like to invite you to come we're going to sing verse 2 together come if you're interested in Baptism remapped ISM and the rest of you will be praying for a cleansing a new beginning let's come in so we sing first [Music] the skies and Oh sacrifice I [Music] [Music] No before we sing the third verse this is a part where I've got to appeal to you some of you feel a struggle in your hearts you know you've never been baptized the Lord has commanded praise the Lord come brother some of you know you need to be rebaptised you're afraid what will people think that's pride what do you care what they think they've got the same problems you got God's watch angels are watching it's between you and him if you're feeling that battle in your heart right now that's between your Jesus and your devil and you've got to decide who you want to listen to you know that you need that new beginning those of you who have never been baptized you know that's part of God's plan do you think help but Doug I don't know if I can be good enough we're not going to baptize you tonight it's a decision to choose to accept Christ and to follow him we'll help you prepare as you're ready make that decision tonight at least you've made the decision God will activate his power in your life come as we sing verse three [Music] in truth wait for my plate now [Music] me amen we got one verse left you might thank pastor Doug haven't you gone long enough when you consider eternal decisions are being made why don't you regret looking back in heaven at this moment and thinking you know I was in a hurry and that one more verse a person made a decision that's why they're here now eternal things are being weighed in this context God is calling I did a camp meeting two weeks ago someone was murdered right after that camp meeting that was there I take this very seriously so if the Holy Spirit is speaking here and there may be some here you've already made your decision to be baptized you've already told the past and your friends you want to haven't been baptized yet but you want to reaffirm that decision you come now also as we sing last verse verse 4 [Music] [Music] No [Music] praise God amen for these is his praise the Lord to God be the glory you know I'd like to tell all of you something I'm trusting that everybody here in our hearts are saying Lord I want that cleansing you may have been members you may not need read baptism or baptism but you do want to be clean amen and those who have made this decision after an appeal you might think what do I do from here just follow him moment by moment don't worry about what you're going to do just walk with Jesus right now he'll give you his power he'll walk with you and fill you with his spirit let's pray together father in heaven we would like to claim a double blessing right now the sacred hours of the Sabbath are beginning this is a holy moment also because you are present here and we're in your presence you promised to be in our midst Lord this is the purpose of camp meeting that we might come learn about you rededicate our lives you come to Jesus be empowered by your spirit and then go from this place to live like Christ lived Lord we want to humble ourselves forgive us for our pride our selfishness our sins forgive us Lord for the insensitivity we've had that leprosy where we've just lost sometimes our sense of what's right and wrong give us a gift of the Holy Spirit I pray that that may even mean the gift of conviction but also Lord give the gift of comfort and cleansing be with these dear souls that have come forward seal their decisions in their hearts to get a new beginning with Christ one that will last until you return and we pray for the continued outpouring of your spirit on this camp meeting on the leaders in every program evict the devil and all his plans and we just pray that you'll fill this place and just hover over these grounds fill every heart and help us to live in the atmosphere of heaven we thank you and pray these things in Jesus name Amen this meeting was produced by hope media ministry for this and other great witnessing material please visit our website at wwlp.com our addresses home media ministry P o box seven five to eight of Michigan for nine 301 you can also email us at Hope at Hope video.com our media news DVD video and CD audio and cassette you can also listen to much of our media and our online media center for free at WWE open yo jack that's home video you you

Channel: hopemedia

Views: 67,941

Rating: 4.8416424 out of 5

Keywords: doug batchelor, amazing facts

Id: pOZA1iGT-BY

Length: 64min 21sec (3861 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 25 2011