Reaching Those Within Reach

Sermon Transcript

Why should we seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to Philadelphia? That’s the big question we are going to consider this morning. Why should we pray, give, and go to reach the unreached nations whom God has brought right here to the Philly region? Why should we seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to Philly? Our passage this morning, perhaps surprisingly, provides several answers to that question. Before we answer the question, let’s get the lay of the land for our passage. After the great prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven, the Lord raised up a new prophet to speak for the Lord named Elisha. The Lord blessed Elisha with a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and, as a result, Elisha performed many miracles. Elisha’s miracles were not a mere display of power, they were proof that the Lord was with Elisha and that the Lord is God not only over Israel, but all peoples and nations, a point well made in our passage this morning.

The narrative in 2 Kings 5 begins with the narrator introducing us to Naaman. Naaman was the commander of the king of Syria’s army – a gentile from the nations, not Israel – and in those days Syria and Israel had a very tenuous relationship. The king of Syria highly favored Naaman because the Lord had given Naaman great battle victories on behalf of Syria. Yes, you heard that right. Since the Lord is the sovereign God over all nations, even Namaan’s victories as the leader of the Syrian army were ultimately the Lord’s work. So, Naaman was a strong, powerful, valiant warrior and military leader. However, he was also afflicted with a horrible skin disease: leprosy.

On one of the raids that Naaman led, the Syrians captured a little girl from the land of Israel. Our narrative doesn’t name her. She’s simply called a little girl from the land of Israel. The Syrian’s carried her off as a prisoner and she became a slave in Naaman’s home, forced to serve Naaman’s wife. One day, the little slave girl expressed to her mistress just how much she wished that Naaman, her lord and captor, were with the prophet Elisha in Samaria because she knew that Elisha could heal Naaman of his skin disease. It’s amazing that she cared. Naaman learned about what the little girl from the land of Israel said about Elisha and his ability to heal and Naaman went straight to the king of Syria and told the king what the little girl from the land of Israel said. The king of Syria immediately sent his great general Naaman to Israel with a letter of commendation to the king of Israel. So Naaman went to Israel and took a massive wealth of goods with him to pay for his healing. Naaman brought the letter of commendation directly to the king of Israel and the letter read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” Immediately after the king of Israel read the letter from the king of Syria he panicked and became furious because he knew that he didn’t have the power to heal Naaman. He figured that the king of Syria was just trying to pick a fight with him.

When the prophet Elisha heard about Naaman’s leprosy and that the king of Israel tore his clothes in fear and anger over the king of Syria’s letter, Elisha sent word to the king of Israel and told him not to worry. He told the king to send Naaman to him so that Naaman would learn that there is a true prophet in Israel. So, Naaman traveled to Elisha with all his chariots and his wealthy gifts, but Elisha didn’t even come out of his house to meet Naaman. Instead, Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman to tell him that all he needed to be healed was to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times. That simple and the Lord would heal him. Well, Naaman was furious. His pride was wounded because Elisha didn’t come out and heal him directly. Didn’t Elisha know how important he was? His hopes were also dashed because the rivers in Syria were better than the river in Israel. No way something as simple as washing in a river could heal him. So, Naaman stormed away furious. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. Naaman’s servants loved him and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had asked you to do something incredibly difficult, you would have done it to be healed. Instead, he told you to do something really easy and you refuse? Why don’t you give the seven dips in the river a try.” So, Naaman did it. He dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, just as Elisha the prophet of God commanded, and Naaman was completely healed. Upon being healed, Naaman confessed that there is no God in all the earth but Israel’s God. But when Naaman tried to pay Elisha for the healing, Elisha absolutely refused. As Kevin DeYoung wrote on this passage in his children’s Bible, “there are some gifts money can’t buy, and some money we shouldn’t accept.”

Ok – Let’s return to our big question: Why should we seek to reach the unreached nations whom God has brought to the Philly region? I’m not asking “how.” For the answer to that very important question, you’ll need to come to the missions seminar on Saturday. If for some rare reason you can’t make the seminar, you can email Pastor Mark (mark@citylightphilly.com) for ideas. This morning we are going to focus on the question “why?” Our passage provides at least four answers: 1. The lostness of man 2. The love & sovereignty of God 3. The free grace of the gospel 4. The exclusivity of salvation.

THE LOSTNESS OF MAN

The first reason why we should seek to reach the unreached nations whom God has brought right here to the Philly region is the universal lostness of man; all people are by nature without hope and without God in the world. We see this in 2 Kings 5. The reason why the narrative from 2 Kings is so urgent is because Naaman’s situation is so hopeless. The severity of Naaman’s skin disease is highlighted in multiple places in the narrative. First, it’s seen in the little girl from Israel’s concern for him. She knows that there is no hope for Naaman in all Syria. Next, the hopelessness of Naaman’s problem is seen in the lengths Naaman is willing to go to solve it. Naaman is prepared to travel to Israel and pay a fortune for his leprosy to be healed. Finally, Naaman’s hopelessness is seen in the interaction between the king of Syria and the king of Israel. Naaman’s situation is so dire that the king of Syria is willing to ask a favor from his enemy. Naaman’s situation is so dire that the king of Israel panics at the request because he knows only God can heal leprosy. Naaman is lost and without hope because his disease is terminal and he cannot do enough or pay enough or go far enough to cure it.

Naaman’s physical disease is similar to the universal spiritual disease that the Bible calls “sin.” Everyone in all the world, ourselves included, is born infected with the disease of sin. We inherited it from our first parents, Adam and Eve. And the terminal severity of the disease cannot be overstated. The 1689 London Baptist Confession describes the disease of sin that has infected all peoples and nations this way, “They [Adam & Eve] being the root, and by God’s appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.” Citylight Church – the reason why we seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to the Philly region is because everyone without exception is infected with the disease of sin, eternally lost, and without hope unless Jesus Christ sets them free. We know the severity of the disease because we’ve experienced the sweetness of the cure. Therefore, we must seek to bring the cure to everyone. As Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” The first reason why we should seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to the Philly region is because of the eternal severity of the disease of sin; because of the universal lostness of man. The second reason is…

THE LOVE & SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

The little girl from the land of Israel reveals and displays the love that the God of Israel has for all nations. Isn’t she amazing? She was captured in a violent raid, perhaps her own parents were murdered, she was kidnapped from her home and country, and she was brought to Naaman’s house as a forced servant. I don’t know about you, but I think I would hate Naaman if I were in her position. Let the leprosy bloom and throw some shingles in for good measure! That’s how I would react, but not the little girl from the land of Israel. Her heart for Naaman’s healing reveals the heart of her God for the healing of the nations.

Way back in Genesis 11, all the people of the earth were gathered in one place and they decided to build a tower that would reach into the heavens in order to make a name for themselves. They wanted to rob God of the glory that only he deserves so that they could have it for themselves. They wanted to steal God’s glory just like Naaman stole the little girl from the land of Israel. So, God confused their languages at the Tower of Babel, and scattered the people as many nations. However, God so loved the nations that in the very next chapter, Genesis 12, God chose to bless a man named Abram (Abraham) and make him the father of a great nation that would bring God’s blessing and forgiveness to all the scattered and rebellious nations of the world. Do you see that the little slave girl’s heart of love for the lost and hopeless Naaman is a reflection of her God’s heart of love for the lost and hopeless nations? Perhaps the best known verse in all the Bible displays God’s love for the nations. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world – peoples of all nations – that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. The reason why we pray, give, and go to reach the unreached nations whom God has brought to the Philly region is because of the love of God for the lost peoples of the earth, a love which is ultimately displayed in the death of His Son for the sins of all who believe in Him.

But it’s not only God’s love, but also his sovereignty that motivates us. Do you notice how God sovereignly changes peoples geography in the narrative so that Naaman can be healed? First, God sovereignly gives Naaman victory in battle. Then God sovereignly brings the little girl from the land of Israel to live in Naaman’s house so that she can announce the good news of healing to him. Then God sovereignly moves Naaman to Israel where he can actually experience healing through Elisha. God was sovereignly moving people here and there so that Naaman could be saved from leprosy. In a similar way, the Lord is sovereignly bringing the unreached nations to the Philadelphia region, changing their geography so that they can be healed from the disease of sin. From immigrants to international students, countless unreached people-groups and nations reside in the Philadelphia area. They may have little to no access to the gospel in their home nation, but, like Naaman, the Lord has sovereignly brought many of them to Philadelphia to hear the eternal message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second reason why we seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to the Philadelphia region is because the God of love has sovereignly brought his elect from among the unreached nations to our doorstep. The third reason…

THE FREE GRACE OF THE GOSPEL

Two of the many interesting elements in 2 Kings 5 are Naaman’s shock over the ease by which Elisha plans to heal him and Elisha’s refusal to receive payment or gifts from Naaman. These two elements point toward the third reason why we should seek to reach the unreached in our region: the free grace of the gospel.

Did you notice how angry Naaman became when Elisha told him to wash seven times in the Jordan River and he would be healed of his leprosy. Part of the reason why Naaman is so angry is it sounded too easy; too good to be true. Naaman searched far and wide for healing and never found it because he was looking in all the wrong places. Similarly, the unreached among us are searching far and wide for the cure for their sin, even if they don’t exactly know what they’re searching for. They experience the emptiness that sin brings, even if they can’t articulate it, and they search for the cure in sex, money, power, beauty, stability and peace. Given Naaman’s extensive searching and the extensive searching among the unreached, surely it can’t be as simple as washing in a river. Surely the cure for sin and its resulting emptiness can’t be the free forgiveness and grace offered in the gospel, received by simple faith. When Naaman finally came to the place where he could receive God’s healing/blessing – and receive it he did – he learned an important lesson about God’s grace along the way. When Naaman received God’s healing and tried to pay God back, he learned an important lesson about God’s grace. The ease of just washing in a local river and Elisha’s refusal to be paid for the healing both point to the free grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that’s why we seek to reach the unreached among us. We seek to reach the unreached among us because they’re all searching for the cure in all the wrong places because they don’t even know that they’re enslaved to the disease of sin. We seek to reach the unreached among us because the true cure is too good for anyone to discover on their own. We seek to reach the unreached because the only cure for the disease of sin is the free grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are some things that money cannot buy because they’re free.

The grace of God is free to sinners because Jesus Christ paid the high cost. The unreached among us, just like us, have an infinite sin debt before God. However, through his sinless life, his sin-atoning death, and his victorious resurrection over the grave, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid the infinite sin debt for all who receive and rest in Him alone for the forgiveness of sins. The unreached among us, like Naaman, will never know that the cure for what ails them is the free grace of the gospel unless you tell them. So, tell them. Tell them of their disease. Tell them that the only cure is the free grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And tell them that they must not try to repay Christ for the cure. Rather, they must only receive and rest in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins with a believing heart. The third reason why we seek to reach the unreached that God has brought to the Philadelphia area is the free grace of the gospel. The final reason why we seek to reach the unreached among us is…

THE EXCLUSIVITY OF SALVATION

Naaman’s response to God healing him provides the final reason why we should seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to Philadelphia: there is only one God who saves. Notice 2 Kings 5:15 – Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” There is no God in all the earth but the one true God of Israel. And there is salvation in no one but His Son. Acts 4:12 – And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name [Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And similarly, the Lord Jesus Christ himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). No one could heal Naaman but the God of Israel and no one can save the unreached among us then His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose for the forgiveness of sins.

Before I send you out to pray and seek to reach the unreached whom God has brought to the Philly region, I want to ask you the most critical question: Have you received the free, exclusive grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Receive and rest in Him as your only hope in life and in death. Then take the cure everywhere, especially among the unreached nations whom God has brought to Philly.