You Can't Buy the Cure

The human heart erects barriers to the truth of the gospel.

And Stephen Davey describes one of those barriers like this. The problem with the gospel, beloved, as you share it with those around you, the problem with the gospel is not that it's too hard. The problem is it's too humiliating. You mean I've got to kneel?

I've got to abdicate the throne of my life? You mean I can't just believe anything I want to believe? I can't believe any other cure? You mean there's no other name? There's no other way? There is no other truth or life?

The answer is yes. One of the problems many people have with the message of the gospel is that it requires great humility. We have a desire to try to save ourselves, solve our own problems and be our own savior.

That tendency goes back to the beginning of mankind. We're going to see an Old Testament illustration of that today. You're going to meet a man named Naaman. There were hundreds, if not thousands of lepers living during the days recorded in 2 Kings. They sought all kinds of cures, but only one leper was healed. Why did Naaman find the deliverance he needed when others did not?

Find out in this compelling message. This is Wisdom for the Heart, and today Stephen's message is called, You Can't Buy the Cure. The gospel is troubling to so many people because it demands they abdicate the throne and kneel, as it were, at the feet of Christ.

But the truth remains, spiritual humility always precedes spiritual healing. Now the truth of that is dramatically played out in the life of a forgotten man from the Old Testament. He was at the top of the ladder, successful, impressive, wealthy, powerful. He was the man who could do just about anything but kneel.

Sensibility would not be in his vocabulary, and it will almost cost him his future. He's briefly mentioned. There are only 14 verses that reveal a little bit of his biography. I invite your attention to 2 Kings and Chapter 5. In the book of 2 Kings and Chapter 5, we're about to meet a very proud man who had everything going for him, except one very obvious problem.

Look at verse 1. Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, Syria, was a great man with his master, that is, before his king, and highly respected because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior.

Now let's just put a period there for a moment. If we did, here's what we know about Naaman. The Hebrew text informs us that he was actually the leader of the army. You need to think in terms of the title Supreme Commander. That's who he was. Think of him as a five-star general. When he walked into a room, everybody stood. Other Hebrew words or terms here inform us that Naaman was a great man. That means he was a man of high social standing. His influence, by the way, is reached to the king.

The Bible tells us that he was highly respected. You could translate that literally, one who was lifted up of face. He had a lifted up face. We use the same kind of expression in the negative when we refer to somebody losing face.

They lose credibility. He had it all. He had the highest respect we could imagine. You'll notice he's also called here a valiant warrior to whom the Lord had given victory. Now we won't take this sidetrack here for the sake of time, but it's interesting to discover if you want to write a text into your margin, write 1 Kings 22 because in that text we're told that Naaman was the commanding officer of the army that defeated King Ahab, the husband of Jezebel. You may remember that very wicked couple who ruled the northern tribes of Israel after it had split off from the southern tribes of Judah. As far as we can tell, it didn't seem that any of the northern kings ever followed after the Lord, and Ahab was probably the most vile of all of them, and the Lord prophesied his death. Well, he goes into battle with Syria, and Syria defeats Israel, and Ahab is killed. If you go back to that study, you discover that Ahab decides to camouflage himself, disguise himself.

The prophecy's against him, so he says, well, I won't even let the army know who I am, and so he disguises himself. The text tells us he is fatally hit by an arrow shot randomly into the Israelite army by some anonymous Syrian soldier. It's interesting that Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, records in his antiquities that that nameless archer was Naaman.

Now, we don't know for sure, because we're not told, but it does let us know that if it is an urban legend, it does reveal that Naaman was indeed a living legend within his pagan Syrian empire. So if you put a period right there in verse 1, after all these titles, Naaman would have been at the top of the heap. He's in control of his world. He's prestigious, honorable, wealthy.

In fact, you could translate the term valiant for wealthy. One author wrote it this way. Naaman was in command of everything but one thing. He could not command his health, because there's not a period there, is there? Verse 1 ends with, but he was a leper. He was a leper.

Just the sound of that changes everything we've read about him so far, because none of it mattered anymore. There are numerous kinds of leprosy if you want to do the research. We're not given the specifics of his. It could be like Hansen's disease that Kenneth Brand spent his lifetime battling among his patients in India. Leprosy, we tend to think of people missing fingers and feet. It's actually a disease that numbs the pain cells, the system of pain in the body.

It loses the warning system. So without the warning of pain, those with leprosy don't think to blink their eyes, and so they eventually lose their eyesight. Ken Brand would talk about patients of his who would reach directly into a fire to retrieve a potato they dropped or a stick and go untreated. They never felt any pain. And so the sores on their hand would fester and eventually bring gangrene and amputation.

Let me tell you how desperate this is. It's not going to be long before Naaman can't grip his sword. It isn't going to be long before he can't squeeze the sides of his stallion with his legs. He won't feel them. He won't be able to lead a charge. Frankly, he won't even be able to walk. He is no longer going to be sought out. All his medals will seem like trinkets. In fact, the text implies that Naaman has only recently contracted this disease. So starting now and over time, he is going to become an outcast. He's going to be a tragic story on everybody's lips.

There isn't a person in Syria who envies him now. Of all the titles, of all the awards, now people will just sort of cast their eyes downward and say, whisper to their companions, there goes Naaman the leper. Dr. Brand wrote, leprosy is death by degrees. Bodily injury, physical scarring, ignorant abuse, a thousand different disorders, all because the ability to sense pain no longer exists. By the way, this becomes then a perfect illustration for sin in the Old Testament. Sin is death by degrees.

As sin develops and the conscience hardens, there is an inability to sense any danger or any self-destruction that it brings. I mean, tomorrow when you go into work, you ask that unbeliever in the cubicle next to you how his weekend went. You know, it was nothing more than sin and debauchery and carousing, and he's going to say, it was great.

I can't wait till next weekend. He feels absolutely no pain from his sin. And that brings me to at least say this much, that throughout the Old Testament, as you more than likely know if you're older in the faith, the judgment of God was often seen in sending leprosy to an unrepentant person. As if to say, you don't think you're a sinner. You don't feel the fact that you're sinning. So I'm going to give you a physical picture of what it means to be unable to recognize the danger that you are in, which then means that it was effectively an act of the grace of God, that God would give a clear outward physical reminder that warned them, you need help.

You need spiritual cleansing. Evidently, not many Israelites during these days wanted to repent and ask for God's cleansing. In fact, Elisha, the prophet who was ministering, we'll see him in just a moment, during this period of time, during the days of Naaman, didn't have any conversion stories to tell of.

And I say that because of an interesting connection that I never put together until studying this week. Over in the gospel by Luke, I'll just mention this in chapter four, Jesus is delivering his first sermon in that synagogue that I know you've studied as he launches his public ministry. And in that sermon, he makes a comment to his audience about the days of Elisha. And his comment creates such rage that they literally rush him and whisk him out of the synagogue and attempt to throw him off a cliff to kill him. What was it that Jesus said just before they rushed him and carried him away?

I'll quote it for you for the sake of time. Luke 4.27, Jesus ends his sermon by saying this, and there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. End of sermon. Let's kill him.

Why? Jesus is saying, in other words, the only person to repent of his sin and to listen to the word of God was not a Jew, but a pagan Syrian idolater. The Jewish audience is infuriated. Don't tell us that we're worse than that guy, that we're sinners. Don't tell us we need forgiveness like some Gentile leper. That's exactly what Jesus was saying. So now we go back to the scene and we have the story of a Gentile leper who will discover that the grace and forgiveness of God cannot be bought.

The cure is free. Look at verse 2 now. Now the Syrians or airmans had gone out in bands and had taken a captive a little girl and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said to her mistress, I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, that's Elisha, then he would cure him of his leprosy. And Naaman went in and told his master, that is the king, saying thus and thus spoke the girl who was from the land of Israel.

Now let's try to climb back in here as if we've never seen this story before and many of you have. This shows how desperate Naaman is to be cured. He heard from his wife's servant girl about an anonymous prophet who could cure leprosy.

Let's go. That's all he had. And look at what he's willing to do. Verse 5, and the king of Aram said, go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him 10 talents of silver and 6,000 shekels of gold and 10 changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying, and now as this letter comes to you, behold I have sent Naaman my servant to you that you may cure him of his leprosy. And it came about 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 is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me.

Get this scene. Here's the commanding officer of Israel's enemy showing up. They're not friends. They're actually enemies. And now this five-star general arrives in Israel's court, no doubt surrounded by his own guard.

They're effectively guarding a pot of gold. And the letter he reads from his king to Israel's king says, cure him. The king of Israel assumes this is a trick.

This is a ploy by Naaman, this living legend to start another war. By the way, the king never even thinks of Elisha, doesn't even suggest the prophet of God. But notice what does happen, verse 8, and it happened when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king saying, why have you torn your clothes? In other words, why have you not thought of God and his prophet? Now let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. In other words, the prophet of God is alive and well, by the way. Send him to me. Now I want to point out that as Naaman and his entourage get back on their horses and get back in their chariots and take off for Elisha's home out in the suburbs, Naaman is under two misconceptions.

Number one, the first misconception is that healing is something you can buy for yourself. Notice verse 9. So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elijah.

Imagine cluttering his driveway. There they are, all of them. Now if you go back up to verse 5, you know that he's standing there on the doorstep waiting for Elisha to come and he has with him, verse 5 tells us, 10 changes of clothing to give the prophet.

These are not ready-made suits. These are rolls of cloth and enough for the making of 10 garments, which would have been quite a wardrobe in this day and time. We're also told that he had 10 talents of silver. A talent is about 844 troy ounces of silver, so he has 8448 ounces of silver.

I'll do the math in just a minute. We're also told he's ready to hand over a chest of gold, 6000 shekels of gold. Archaeologists have helped us understand that's right around 2400 ounces of gold. In today's economy, Naaman is standing on Elisha's doorstep ready to give him, in exchange for his healing, $3.1 million, which is another way of saying Naaman has no doubt leveraged everything he has. He's probably borrowed from the king and friends. They chip in, we're rooting for you, Naaman.

Go get your cure. There's no price too high. He has all he could somehow gather, and it is a staggering amount, $3.1 million. Now you'd think Elisha is ready to rush the door to greet this living legend and receive a prophet's pension for life. Is God good or what? The truth is he doesn't even answer the door. Look at verse 10. I love this. 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.

Oh, by the way, thanks for coming. Are you kidding? You can almost see Naaman's face turning purple. Verse 11 tells us he was furious. See, Elisha knew that Naaman needed to be humbled before he could ever be healed. And so does every unrepentant sinner in the world today, right? Even those of us who know the Lord that lose fellowship with the Lord, humility comes first. Now in Naaman's reaction, you discover the second misconception and the entire world of unbelievers have the same about cleansing from God. First, they think that the cure can be bought, earned. I've got a bucket load of good works I can give God that'll get me in.

That'll pay him off. Or secondly, they think that the cure is something they can create for themselves as if it's some kind of designer system. Naaman is fuming. Look at verse 11, the middle part. Look, he's just blustering that at his soldiers. Look, I thought, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord as God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

In other words, I expected that my healing would be, you know, the prophet comes out, he prays a short prayer, waves his hand in the air and I'm cured, I can pay the bill and go home. By the way, what's this about the Jordan River? Nobody wants to swim in there. Verse 12, are not Abana and Farpar, the rivers of Damascus better than all the water of Israel?

Can I not wash in them and be clean? I mean, if you're going to make me take a dip or two, or seven, why can't I go home and plunge into the crystal clean waters that flow down into Damascus from the snow-covered Ammanus Mountains? Let me design it my way. That way, I can pay up and I can go home and I can sing the tune that the world loves most.

In fact, it's recorded more than any other song in history. I did it, what? My way. My way. If I'm going to be saved, I'm going to do it my way. Let me create my own cure.

Now, Elisha knows that these misconceptions are eternally more significant than leprosy. See, he's after more than just curing this malady. You can't buy forgiveness from God. You only get the cure for sin if you follow the word of God.

Frankly, Naaman illustrates the heart of man. The problem with the gospel, beloved, as you share it with those around you, the problem with the gospel is not that it's too hard. The problem is it's too humiliating. You mean I've got to admit I'm a sinner? Don't you know who I am? You mean I've got to kneel?

I've got to abdicate the throne of my life? You mean I can't just believe anything I want to believe? I can't believe any other cure? You mean there's no other name? There's no other way? There is no other truth or life?

It's Christ alone. Does this mean that if I believe in Buddha that I'm going to find out one day too late that I was wrong? Perish the thought. Do you mean that one day I find out that I've been following the Dalai Lama, I'm going to discover too late that I was perish the thought wrong? The answer is yes. Does this mean that if I follow my own concoction of a religion that picks and chooses from this or that to fit me and make me comfortable in the process and where I can be in control of my own destiny and my own future, you mean I could be wrong and lost forever?

The answer is yes. And that's the problem with the gospel. The problem with God's cure for terminal sin is not that it's too difficult. The problem is it's too dogmatic. Either believe in him or die a leper.

Donald Gray Barnhouse, the former pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church and a faithful expositor once said it this way, everybody has the privilege of going to heaven God's way or going to hell their own way. The cure for sin is not a multiple choice question. The only antidote is the blood of Christ. For Naaman, this Old Testament illustration of pride and the cure from God's prophet requires the destruction of his two primary misconceptions.

The cleansing can be bought or earned and it can be self-made. And now verse 12 tells us he's heading home and he is in a rage. He's in a rage.

Now we're not told how far down the driveway he gets. But some anonymous servants tug on his sleeve, they probably risk their life, verse 13, and they say this, they spoke to him and said, my father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? In other words, this is really an issue of pride. How much more then when he says to you, wash and be clean. In other words, humble yourself. Kneel before the command of the word of God through the prophet.

Somewhere in there he decides he will. They travel some 20 miles, verse 14 tells us, and he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God. By the way, where did Elisha get seven from? According to the Old Testament pattern of cleansing prescribed by God recorded in Leviticus chapter 14 for a leper to be cleansed. He was to be sprinkled by the blood of a sacrificed animal and he was to be bathed in water including his clothing.

Elijah is playing the part of the priest. And God is allowing the waters of the Jordan to play the role of the cleansing fountain, ratified later ultimately by the sacrifice of Christ. And so Naaman becomes a picture of a humbled repentant sinner cured by faith in the word of the prophet of God and then the work of God free of charge.

It makes me think of those wonderful lyrics. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain. And how much did it cost you? It was free. The Bible records as his biography ends and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean like a new birth. You can't buy this cure.

You can't design this cure. You simply plunge into it and receive the work of God on your behalf. Naaman becomes a lasting reminder of the truth that we are not saved by bringing gifts to God.

We are saved by receiving gifts from God like cleansing and forgiveness through the river of Christ's blood in whom we are immersed and cleansed forever. I'm glad you were able to be with us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. Your Bible teacher Steven Davey is in a series called Forgotten Lives Remembered Truths. If you've been enjoying this series so far, I want you to know that we have it published as a set of CDs that you can add to your resource library or share with a friend. You'll find them in the resource section of our website, wisdomonline.org. I'm Scott Wiley and on behalf of Steven and all of us here, I want to thank you for listening today. Join us next time for more Wisdom for the Heart. You