The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
The Sinners' Grand Entrance (PART 2 of 2)
The human desire for spectacle over substance plagues our spiritual lives. Like Naaman, the Syrian general who arrived at Elisha's door expecting grand ceremonies for his healing, we often want God to perform for us on our terms. When Elisha simply instructed Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River, the proud commander nearly walked away in disgust. How could something so mundane cure his leprosy?
This reluctance to embrace divine simplicity mirrors our modern spiritual struggles. We create elaborate religious performances—salvation ceremonies, grand entrances, public displays—rather than submitting to God's straightforward prescription. Only when Naaman humbled himself and followed the prophet's instructions did his skin become "like the flesh of a little child." The transformation was undeniable, visible to everyone who knew him.
After his healing, Naaman made a remarkable declaration: "Now I know there is no God in all the earth but in Israel." This proclamation, made before his entire entourage, demonstrates true conversion. Yet even then, he immediately tried to pay for his healing, revealing how deeply the transactional mindset was ingrained in his thinking. Elisha's firm refusal teaches us that divine grace cannot be purchased or earned through gifts, rituals, or performances.
The question for all who claim spiritual transformation remains: Is your change visible to others? Naaman couldn't hide his healing—everyone could see the difference. Similarly, authentic spiritual transformation should be evident in our lives. Have you truly changed, or are you merely wearing religious fig leaves while bearing no fruit? The prescription for salvation remains remarkably simple yet profoundly challenging: complete surrender to God's way through Christ alone. No negotiations, no terms, just humble obedience that leads to genuine transformation. Will you dip seven times in the Jordan?
Do something for me, put on a show. And unfortunately, you have a lot of churches who give these people just that Salvation ceremonies, grand entrances, public displays, altar calls, going into front of a church speaking and battling in what they would think is tongues or some secret language, which is ridiculous. This is what people want Big performances, big displays. They want to be entertained, even when it comes to their salvation. God showed me, open up the skies and let the whole world see that you are paying attention to me. When all that is done in true religion is intended to glorify him and what he's done so intended to glorify him and what he's done, so the man, the servant of Naaman, reasons with him. So in verse 14, it says that, after listening to the reasoning of his, of his, of his servant, it says in verse 14, that then Naaman went down, he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the prophet Elisha had told him, and his flesh came again, like the flesh of a little child. He was clean, he was clean, he was clean. And then it says and he returned, after going to dip into the river Jordan, with baby, fresh skin, clean skin, no leprosy, nothing left. He's cleansed. So he returns to Elisha's house, he and all of his company Verse 15. And he came and stood before him. Now remember when he first got there, when he first got there, when he first got there, he was upset because elijah wouldn't come out and stand before him. So after he's been healed, now he returns a lot to elijah, to elijah's house, and it says that he meaning naaman. Now he stands. Now he is standing before elijah, but previously he expected it to be the other way around. Elisha, come out and see me, do something grand, make me cleanse, show the whole world that I am to be treated like the gods of the earth. But Elisha wouldn't see him. Elisha would not come out and stand before him. And, just like in our lives today, god has no responsibility to put on any displays or to stand before us in any unusual way. If we would have salvation, we would do what God requires, and if we don't do it, we will not. It is simple as that. Elisha would not go out and stand before Naaman. But now, after he's been healed, naaman that is, now he comes and he stands before Elisha in verse 15, and all of his entourage was around him. But now there's a different reason.
Speaker 1:It says in verse 15, the second second part of it. It says and Naaman said behold, listen to this, listen to what he says to Elisha behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. He says now I know, now I know. And he says now, therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. So now here's what's happening. Naaman has been healed of his leprosy. He comes back to Elisha's house with his whole entourage and he says to him in front of, he says to Elisha, in front of all of his servants, in front of them all, and he says now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. In other words, he's acknowledging that God, that the God of Israel is the only God there is. And he makes this claim. A Syrian army general, he makes this claim in front of all of his own people, and his claim is memorialized right here in this book, in our Bible, and no doubt, when those of us who are believers enter into the next life, one of the people perhaps that might be greeting us there is this man, naaman. Because not only was he healed of his leprosy, but he equated his. He equated and annexed his understanding of what happened to him to be something that was done by God, who he acknowledges in front of all of his own people that God of Israel is the only God. Now, imagine saying this in front of all of his people, who are Syrians. Now they're going to go back to Damascus, where they're from, and that story is going to be told to everyone, a story that is still being told because we're talking about it right now. We're talking about it right now, but this is what happens when a person really becomes a believer, when a person is truly converted, when a truly, when a person truly gets to, gets to be a recipient of god's blessing and of god's healing and, in our case, the healing of the soul. And this is what we're supposed to take away from all of this. What salvation is like, what healing really is? It is being transformed by the renewing of our mind and being conformed to the image of God's son. Naaman now recognizes that God is the only God in all the earth. What a claim, what a major claim for a Syrian general to lay and to admit in front of his own people, who, no doubt, are going to go back to Syria and tell everybody in Syria what happened. And so it says here that as a result of him being healed of his leprosy, as a result of him being cured of his leprosy, it is then where he says now I know there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel, he didn't know this before. He didn't know about God before. He no doubt heard about it, heard about God, he heard about Israel and how they worship God. No doubt he heard about it. Everyone knew, but he didn't really believe it until he was changed, until he was made clean. It was then. It was then, and then only when he recognized who God was.
Speaker 1:What's the point in this? Here's what I'm trying to say Unbelievers, they always want this big show. They want evidence, they want proof, they want this, they want that, they want evidence. They want all these things before they will commit to God. But the message that we have for them is this you will never know any of these things, the requirement to know those things, if you want to know the glory of God, if you want to know the benefit of salvation by grace, through faith, if you want that joy, if you want that peace in your heart and to be alleviated from all those things that plague your soul, all the darkness that plagues your soul.
Speaker 1:If you want to be rid of all of that and if you want to know who and what God is and what he does and what he's all about, what needs to happen is that you need to be rid of all of that and if you want to know who and what God is and what he does and what he's all about, what needs to happen is that you need to submit to him first, and then you shall know these things. He reveals them to people who have taken an interest in him, a saving interest in him. If you want to know about God and his ways and who he is, if you want to understand the glory of his salvation that he offers to his son, that he sent to heal us of all of our inward grief in our soul not just our grief, but what? What is the? The grief that is a result of our own sin if you would be rid of all those things, you don't get to make deals and negotiate with god. You don't get to. You don't get to lay out terms of a transaction. You don't get to write the prescription and and transaction. You don't get to write the prescription and tell God, give it to God so that he can fulfill it on your terms. When you go to the hospital for a sickness, whatever it may be, the one who's healing is you are entrusting for your healing. He is the one, the doctor, he is the one who writes the prescription and you go, get it fulfilled. God is our great physician, he is our great healer. So if you would be saved, if you'd be made whole, then you must take a prescription from him, the one he writes, not the one you orchestrate, manufacture or draft in your own mind.
Speaker 1:Naaman found this out and he found out that all he had to do was to go dip seven times in the river Jordan. He did it eventually. He was reasoned with and he found out that it was a good thing to do. But what he also found out was who God actually, really and truly is. All the ideas. What he also found out was who God actually really and truly is. All the ideas that he may have had about the God of Israel.
Speaker 1:No doubt he would have thought that the gods of Syria were greater and more suitable for exercising divine things. Clearly that wasn't the case. Case he had leprosy and had he not had a little maid who was from israel, who was captured and brought among them to be the servant to name his wife, he may never have known. He may never have known who god really was. So you also see in this scenario the providence of God this one little Israelite little girl who was a servant to name his wife. She pleads to name his wife and tells her there's a prophet in Israel. He can take away our master's leprosy. So we see that the providence of God was working on Naaman's behalf long before he got to this point. It just so happened that the one Israelite person in Syria was a captured little girl who was made the maid of Naaman's wife. God no doubt had his hand or his eye on Naaman all along and Naaman would take this message about God back to Damascus and no one would doubt. No one would doubt what happened, because over there there was no healing of leprosy. And when this man comes back, cleansed and washed, everyone is going to see that something special happened to this man. It is no doubt going to be known to everyone in Damascus that something transpired, because this man no longer has leprosy, and they all see his change and they all see his change.
Speaker 1:Christians, when you came to Christ, when you shrugged off sin and put on the righteousness of Christ, having been washed in his blood, which is what you say has happened to you, what does everyone else see? Can they see that you've been cleansed? Naaman couldn't hide his cleansing. He was a leper. God cleansed him and no doubt when he went back to Syria, people looked at him with great marvel. Look at him. He's changed. Something happened. How did this happen? No doubt there were others who probably would have liked to have the same thing happen to them, but one thing's for sure they all saw this change. Naaman was a new man. Leprosy was gone. His transformation was visible to his entire nation.
Speaker 1:Christians, do those around you, do they know? Do they know that you have changed? Can they tell you have changed? Is there any difference between what you were before you knew Christ and what you are now, after having come to Christ? Has he really changed you? Because if he has, others are going to know.
Speaker 1:Certainly, we wrestle with our convictions, but so many of us believe that the salvation that we have in Christ is something that is to be kept under a blanket, something that is to be hidden. Some of us who call ourselves Christians don't want anybody to know, so we continue to mingle with what we, uh, lingered in before, the old ways. Are you really a new person? Are you really a new man or a new woman? Or are you still the same person Having a bunch of fig leaves but no fruit?
Speaker 1:Naaman couldn't fool anybody. What happened to him Couldn't fool anybody. He was a leper, a leper who now had the skin of a baby. And so, in his, in his attempt to show his appreciation, naaman wanted to give. He wanted to give Elisha a gift. He wanted to give him a gift, but Elisha said as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing from you. And he urged him to take it, but Elisha refused to take it. But Elisha refused Because, see now, what was happening is now, when Elisha, when Naaman, came to visit him in the first place, remember, he brought gifts. He brought six changes of clothes and he brought talents, and he brought some gold or whatever it is he brought, but he brought this gift.
Speaker 1:Now, initially, his mentality, his idea is, like so many people, is that I'm going to go. I have something I have to give. I'm going to give this to you if you will heal me. He thought that his, his, his cleansing is something that could be bought, like the blessings of god are on a shelf and you can just go pay the right price and get whatever gift you want. But even now, after having come to faith and knowing that God of Israel is the only God of the entire earth, after being healed, his first reaction is that will come to go is to go to Elisha and say, hey, let me give you this gift. See, he didn't get out of that mindset of a transaction. We are bred, especially here in America, to see everything as a transaction. I can't take this great gift unless I can give you something for it. The mentality of Americans is that we don't want to owe anybody anything. I don't want to owe you. I can't take this gift because then I owe you. But what gift can you actually pay gift to? What are you actually giving to him?
Speaker 1:You have so many people who say they are Christians because of something they did. There are whole denominations who believe that their salvation is predicated upon what they give back to God. There is nothing that any man can give God other than his heart and his soul. There's nothing your will does not get you saved. There's no gift you can offer. There's no dance you can do, there's no song you can sing, there's no incense you can envelop yourself in. There's no temple or synagogue or building that can save you.
Speaker 1:What is required is simply to look to Christ all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. It is that simple. It is that simple. It is that simple, and when you relinquish yourself of the weapons that you had formed against God, lay them down and submit humbly. He will then show you who he is. He is not waiting for you to come to him with your terms. The terms have already been laid out. Look to his son to be saved. That is the term, and there is nothing else that can be done, and your salvation will be as immediate as you opening your eyes, awaking from your sleep. But the problem with humanity is that we always want to make a grand entrance. We always want to make a grand entrance.
Speaker 1:So when Elijah refused the gift, when he refused the gift, naaman said well, is there someone else? I can give it to One of your servants. Can I give it to somebody else? For your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods except to the Lord only Verse 18. To other gods except to the Lord only Verse 18,. In this thing, the Lord pardoned thy servant that when your master goes into the house of remnant to worship there and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of remnant, when I bow down myself in the house of remnant, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him go in peace. And so he departed from him a little ways. And this is the end of how Naaman ends up getting cleansed of his leprosy. Now it goes on. Now it goes on and the story ends with one of the servants of Elisha running out to meet with Naaman when he's leaving, and he goes to him and he says I'll take those gifts, can I have them? And then Naaman gave it to them and Gehazi, the guy who did this, he ended up having a dreadful ending later on.
Speaker 1:But here's the point of today's message, this morning, and I'll conclude with this we in this scenario are like Naaman. We in this scenario are like Naaman. We are Naaman as he was covered in leprosy. We are covered in sin. There is nothing that Naaman could have done to rid himself of that leprosy in Damascus. There was no solution for him. There was no remedy for the severity of his disease. It was so bad that it was something that only God can heal, that only God can fix. This is the same situation that we were in Full of sin, covered in sin inside and out, and, like Naaman, there is no remedy. There is no remedy for ridding us of sin except for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the prescription that God made.
Speaker 1:Elisha stood in the place of God, he was God's representative to man, and the prescription was tell him to go dip into the river Jordan seven times and he will be healed If we come to Christ with our complete heart. This is what I see as being similar to the dipping in this water seven times. Seven has always been a number emblematic of totality, of completion, going the whole distance name. It had to dip seven times in the river Jordan, and we too, if we would have salvation, we must also dip in the river Jordan seven times, symbolically, of course, but what? The point is that we must come to God with our whole heart, not part of it, examine ourselves and come to him completely and wholly, and come to him completely and wholly. Some of us only give him a part of us. There is no salvation if only a part of us that we have offered up to God. The sacrifice of obedience is what brings us salvation.
Speaker 1:And eventually Naaman made the sacrifice of obedience. He came with gifts, but that would not cleanse his leprosy. He came with a great army and great pomp and great show. That would not do anything to further what he's seeking. He had all these expectations of what salvation should look like, what being cleansed should look like, what the ceremony should be, but none of it was acceptable to God. Nothing was acceptable, except for him to go dip in the River Jordan seven times, and likewise with us. There is no other way to God but through Christ. No other way. There is no other way. There's no ceremony, there's no ritual, there's no pomp and glory, there's no big inauguration parades, there's no big altar calls. None of these things save. The only thing that saves is obedience, obedient to the prescription that God has made in order to obtain salvation. And the only prescription that God has given man is to look to Christ and to be saved.
Speaker 1:If you would have salvation, don't let your salvation be dependent on some grand display that you think God is going to organize. God is not your party organizer. He is not a party organizer. So many people think that if he just organizes this event for me and shows off that he is really God, then I'll come. But no, god says if you want to know, know me. You come and stand before me, you submit to me, you bow before me, you lay down your weapons of warfare that you had formed against me, and I will equip you to banish your sin forever and give you life eternal With me. And you will know me, even as you are known by me. Take a lesson from Naaman. Do not frustrate the simplicity that is in Christ. Come to him and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. Be provoked, be persuaded, and may God bless you all on this Lord's day.