The Sinners' Grand Entrance (PART 1 of 2)

Pride stands in the way of our salvation more often than we realize. The story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5 powerfully illustrates this timeless truth as we explore what happens when our expectations of a "grand entrance" into faith collide with God's simple requirements.

Naaman, a celebrated military general, successful and respected by all, carried a devastating secret—he suffered from leprosy. Despite his accomplishments, this disease threatened everything. When told a prophet in Israel could heal him, he gathered his entourage, chariots, gifts, and wealth, making what he believed would be an impressive entrance worthy of the miracle he sought.

But God's ways challenge our human expectations. Instead of an elaborate ceremony with the prophet waving his hands over Naaman's diseased skin, Elisha simply sent a messenger with basic instructions: "Go wash in the Jordan seven times." No spectacle. No recognition of Naaman's importance. Just a simple act of obedience requiring humility.

The general's furious reaction mirrors how many approach salvation today. We want God to acknowledge our significance with signs, wonders, and spiritual fireworks. We imagine salvation should be a spectacular experience that honors our journey and status. Yet God consistently offers a path that begins with humbling ourselves.

What ultimately transformed Naaman wasn't a grand miracle but a servant's simple question: "If the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, wouldn't you have done it? How much more when he says something so simple?" This profound reasoning cut through his pride, leading to healing that came through surrender rather than spectacle.

Are you waiting for God to make a fuss over you before you'll believe? Have you rejected the simple gospel message because it doesn't match your expectations of how salvation should feel or look? Perhaps the miracle you seek is waiting on the other side of humility. Dip seven times in the simple truth of the gospel. No grand entrance required.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Christians. I'm going to be in the book of 2 Kings, in the book of 2 Kings and the 5th chapter, and I've labeled this message the Grand Entrance. I've called this message the Grand Entrance, and what do I mean by that? What I mean by that is that there are many folks. There are many folks who believe that their introduction to Christ, that their introduction into the household of faith, before they are willing to participate and become one of those who would be, would have interest in Christ like us, many folks believe they need to have some kind of a grand entrance. There needs to be some kind of a big display, some kind of a big show that inaugurates their interest in Christ and their place in the household of faith. But I want to give you an example in the scriptures of how that is not the case. That is absolutely not the case, and we ought to come to faith with humility. And we need to come to faith with humility and we need to come to faith recognizing that God requires something more of us after we come to faith. And that Christian journey that you have when you have been converted is a really tough one in general. It is a really tough one in general.

Speaker 1: 2:11

But I want to deal with this character, this man, naaman, who was the captain of the armies of the king of Syria, and we see in verse one of second Kings five. It begins by saying now Naaman, a captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and he was honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper verse 2 and the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid and she waited on Naaman's wife and she said to her mistress would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria, because then he would recover of his leprosy. In other words, if he went to, if he went to Samaria, there would be a prophet there who could heal the king or heal the general of his leprosy. And then it says in verse four, and one went in and told his Lord the same, saying this, and that the maid said that this is of the land of israel. And the king of syria said go to go, and I will send a letter unto the king of israel. And he departed and took with him six talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten thousand changes of raiment, and he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying Now, when this letter has come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, my servant, to thee that you may heal him of his leprosy. And it came to pass. When the king of Israel heard the letter, or read the letter, that he tore his clothes and he said am I God, do I kill and make alive that this man, that this man that you sent unto me to recover of his leprosy? Wherefore, consider, I pray you, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me? So here's the picture. Let him come to me that he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So here's the picture. You have the king of Syria who has this faithful general. This general has led successful campaigns, war campaigns for the king of Syria, and so the king of Syria is concerned for the health and welfare of his general. He loved the man and he no doubt needed him, as he was a good general.

Speaker 1: 5:15

But he had one problem he had leprosy, and leprosy was a grotesque disease transforming the skin, transforming the appearance, and in Israel, when people had leprosy, they had to be banished to other areas where they were to all to, where only leprous could be A horrible place, grotesque, and it usually resulted in awful pain, awful itching, oozing and all sort of things that happen and eventually a person dies. And it's so much so that when they had to be removed to these colonies where other lepers were, when they have it, when they had it, they also, whenever they walked amongst people, they had to tell everybody and make sure everyone knew that they were a leper. So they'd have to walk and they'd have to yell out leper, leper, leper, and let everybody know that to get away from them. Leprosy was very contagious, as one sister recognized, very contagious, and leprosy, throughout scripture, has always been identified as a principle of sin, and so in this passage we see Naaman the leper and we gather from this that this was a man who was filled with sin. Now, it is true that his issue was actual leprosy, but for all of us today, the big lesson here, the grand lesson here, is that leprosy is a principle of sin and he was covered with it just as we are and just as he was in need and desirous to be healed. From this, we should be in a place where we are desirous and that we should lead other people to want to be desirous, to be cleansed of the wickedness and the evil of sin that keeps us separate from God.

Speaker 1: 7:13

So the king of Israel gets this letter from the king of Syria saying hey, we heard from this little girl that you can heal my general of his leprosy. So the king of israel says I'm not god, I don't give life, I don't take life, I can't do this. And he sat down and rinse his clothes, which was a symbol of his sorrow and his grief, because there's something he cannot do, and he's pleading with god to ask him for direction or seeking direction. And word comes of this to elisha, the prophet, and the prophet goes to the king and he tells the king, or he sends message to the king, to let naaman come to him, and when he does, he will know that there is a prophet in Israel. So in verse 9, it says so Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and he stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

Speaker 1: 8:16

Now think about this for a second. The king I mean the general gets redirected to Elisha, at the request of Elisha to the king of Israel. So Naaman gets his horses together, gets in his chariot and he came with his whole entourage to the house of Elisha. He comes to Elisha's house in all the pomp and glory of a general, and this is why I titled this message the Grand Entrance. There are so many Christians, there are so many people who are not Christian, who don't come to Christ because they think that the experience should be something grand, something big, something glorious. There should be this big inaugural parade announcing your entrance into the kingdom of Christ. But that's not how it is and we're going to see how things went with with Naaman. So he brings his whole entourage and he comes to Elisha's house and Elisha didn't immediately come to him at all.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Elisha sent a messenger, he sent a messenger. So imagine this general of this great king of Syria, of this great king of Syria. He sends With all pomp and glory, his servant, this general, and his entourage To Elisha's house. A king's general, successful general, a man who is able to destroy armies. He comes to this one prophet's house seeking healing of his leprosy, a cure for his leprosy, and Elisha doesn't open a door. Elisha doesn't perform some big grand party. No, he doesn't even open the door and greet the general. What does he do? He sent a messenger to him. He sent a herald and he told him to say to Naaman go and wash in Jordan, go and wash in Jordan, go and wash in Jordan seven times and your flesh shall come again unto thee and you will be clean. Now listen, elisha, he didn't even open a door. He sent a messenger, like he sent some assistant, to go and tell this great general to go into the river jordan and to dip seven times and you will be clean. This was all he had to do and his leprosy and all of his horrors would vanish. And Elisha, the prophet, told him that he would be clean.

Speaker 1: 11:20

But notice verse 11. Naaman was angry. He was angry and he went away. He turned around to leave and he said behold, I thought he would surely come out to me, said behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. Look what happens.

Speaker 1: 11:51

This man wanted salvation, and I'm saying salvation as it respects us. He wanted to be cured from his leprous disease, which only leads to death. So he didn't want to die and he didn't want to live the remaining days in humility and embarrassment from this incorrigible disease. And all he had to do was to listen to the prophet, go to the river Jordan and dip himself into the river seven times. That was all that he had to do. That was all that he had to do, and he got angry. He was angry. He was angry because the remedy was simple. The remedy was simple. For those of you who lost your place, I'm in 2 Kings 5. Now I'm at verse 11. 2 Kings 5, verse 11. So, anyway, naaman is upset. He doesn't like what he heard. He didn't appreciate the simplicity of what was required for him to receive this grand benefit. He was more concerned with the fact that his grand entrance wasn't accepted. It wasn't met with the pomp and glory and honor that he felt he deserved by this prophet, the one who, in the land, is only able to give him what he sought after, which was complete and utter healing of his leprosy.

Speaker 1: 13:51

It says in verse 11, naaman was angry, he was wroth, and then he went away. And then he said he thought that Elisha would come out to him and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover him of his leprosy. This is like so many people today who don't come to Christ. We tell them that all you have to do is trust in God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Repent from your sin, turn to Christ and you will be saved from an everlasting condemnation. All you have to do is to repent and believe and you will be saved. That is it. That is all that is required. But no, this is what people say.

Speaker 1: 14:59

They say things like this well, how do I know I'm going to be saved? Show me evidence. What's the evidence that he exists? Why doesn't God reveal himself to me in a special way? Prove to me that he is the creator. Why, if he's God, does he take the lives of someone else that you love? Why did he do that? How can I believe he exists if he allows this to happen? How do I know that god really wrote the bible? Far as I can tell, only men have wrote it, have written the word of god.

Speaker 1: 15:43

My point is is that people want all these things. They have all these prescriptions that they want God to fulfill in order for them to believe, and we all know that even if he did do those things, they still would not believe. Case in point the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man, who fared sumptuously every day, had everything that his heart could desire in this world. Outside his house there's a poor man, lazarus, who's picking his sword, and dogs come to him and lick his wounds. Both of these men die, one righteous and one unrighteous. But the rich man, when he dies, he lifts up his eyes, being in torment, and even in his torment, he doesn't change. His personality doesn't change. He gets there. He gets there, and one of the things that he makes a request of Abraham is could he send Lazarus back to earth to witness to his brothers so that they don't come to this awful place that he himself is in? So what happens? Is that the rich man or is told by Abraham?

Speaker 1: 17:04

Listen. If Abraham listen, if your brethren do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they're not going to heed the message and keep from coming here, even though one was raised from the dead. So even now we have our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, and it is his resurrection that ratifies in our minds who he is and who sent him. We are clear from his resurrection that we now too can live because a man came to earth and took our position, taking our sin upon him and becoming our substitute. And by becoming our substitute and us putting our trust in him, not only do we receive the satisfaction of having been obedient to the law that we could never have done because of his efforts on our behalf, but he also imparted to us and imputed to our account his righteousness. And so now, not only is our sin removed, but we've been added to us in its replacement, the righteousness of christ and, as a result of that righteousness that we have, of christ and having our sin removed by his death, now we have reconciliation with the father. And here's what is required for us to lay hold of this great salvation Believe, repent from our sins and turn to Christ and believe that his atonement was yours. That is all you have to do, that is all that is required, and it is his blood that washes away all of your sin. All you have to do is believe, and your sins will be washed. You'll be cleansed from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 19:15

So in verse 11 of 2 Corinthians 5, naaman was angry. He thought that the apostle or that the prophet would come out for sure and come outside and stand outside and wave his arms and call to the heavens and some great downpour of blessedness was going to happen and it was going to be overwhelming. This guy wanted to make his cleansing about him. He wanted to make his coming to Christ his salvation. He wanted to make his salvation, as it were, some big grand show and display. So many of us are like this. We see this today in many churches. They have these altar calls and they do this big song and dance and they call people to the front and people go running to the front and there's this whole display Salvation with a grand entrance. Not that quiet gentle calling out to the Lord, asking and begging and pleading with the heart to be saved from your sin. No, they want big, big displays your sin. No, they want big, big displays. They want their salvation to be the result of some grand entrance. See God, look at me. See God's people look at me. I came to Christ. Now Christ is blessed because I have arrived. This is what happens today.

Speaker 1: 20:47

In Christianity, everything has to be an entertainment event. Every Sunday in many churches is the Super Bowl of Salvation Altar calls and dim lights and soft prayers and mood music and people running to the front stampeding the altar, then are told that now they're saved. This is what so many people want a big show, a grand entrance into the faith. Grand entrance into the faith, grand entrance, salvation. So this man, naaman, expected this.

Speaker 1: 21:41

And then, in verse 12, it says Are not Abana and Farfar rivers of Damascus? Aren't these rivers better than all the waters of israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in rage, naming the king, all he had to do, or naming the the general. All he had to do was to go into the river Jordan, dip seven times and come out, and the prophet told him he would be cleansed. He was upset. He's going. Why would I want to get into the filthy river Jordan? Why do I need to get into Israel's river? Why do I need to dip in that filthy river? Don't we have better rivers? We have better rivers in Syria, in Damascus.

Speaker 1: 22:35

This is how I'm greeted A general, a great leader, a man of pomp and splendor. I ride a chariot, I have an army. I've done so many great things in his life. I've built businesses, I've given people jobs, I've won battles, I've raised children. I'm a conqueror. And you tell me to leave. I was compelled to leave the beautiful rivers and the landscaping of Damascus To come to you to be healed of my leprosy, to be healed of my sin, and you tell me to go dip in Israel's filthy Jordan River when I have Abana and Farfar in Damascus, he's like.

Speaker 1: 23:34

This is ridiculous. You see, he had his own ideas of what his salvation should look like. He had his own ideas of what salvation should look like. This is how man is when it comes to salvation. We believe that there is a specific way, that if we are going to be saved, that God must do it that way. Otherwise, I'm not going to go and I'm going to take my toys and go home. This is what's happening with Naaman. This is what the Bible means in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, when Paul says do not let, do not let your um, do not frustrate the simplicity that is in Christ. Salvation is simple. There are no grand displays required. It's not going to be an event that extols your glory, but it is an event that shows forth the glory of the Lord, jesus Christ. What God can do. That's what it's about. So he goes away in rage.

Speaker 1: 24:47

So in 2 Kings 5, verse 13, it says that his servants came near and they spoke to him and they said my father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, wouldn't you not have done it? If he had told you to do something great, wouldn't you have done it? If he had told you to do something great, wouldn't you have done it? How much. Rather than when he said to thee, wash and be clean. So this general had this good, this good servant, this wise servant that he has, someone who has, who's logical, who thinks, and they go to his general. He goes to his general and he says listen, father, if the prophet had asked you to do something great, wouldn't you have done it? And the obvious answer, which is rhetorical, demanding an emphatic response of course he would have done it. If it was a great thing, he would have done it. So the servant of naaman reasons with him and says wouldn't you have done it if it was a great thing, answer being yes. So then he says to him, to his Naaman well, how much more so, since he told you to do something simple, which was just to go dip in the water and be clean. Should you not do that? If you would have done the complex thing, then isn't it sensible that you should go do the simplest thing?

Speaker 1: 26:26

There's no great requirement. There's no great song and dance. There's no ritual. There's no yoga performances you need to do. There's no stretching that you need to do. There's no incense that you need to sit around and smell while you sit in the position with your legs crossed. There's no song you have to chant. None of these things. This is what Naaman wanted some grand display. And this is what so many people on earth want, if God is real.