#118: The Simple Call of the Gospel, Part 7: Its Effect
So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
II Kings 5:14
What words come to mind for the change in a person who has been saved by Jesus Christ? Perhaps we think of being “born again” (John 3), “regenerated” (Titus 3:5), “effectually called” (WSC Q&A #31), or “justified” (Romans 5:16, and 18). These are all good words. We might also think of “washing” and “cleansing.”
“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5). “And such were some of you. But you were washed…” (I Cor. 6:11).
Why does Scripture give us this picture of washing and cleansing? There is a filth that completely covers us and it is the filthiness of sin. The wages of sin is death and hell fire forever. There is no one who has done good no not one, all are guilty and completely polluted with sin (Rom. 3). To be saved from the filth of sin we need cleansing, we need to be washed.
The disfiguration and destruction of the body caused by leprosy made it the great picture in the Bible of the filth and destruction of sin. As leprosy ate up the body and destroyed so sin destroys the sinner and leads him to death. The only escape from leprosy and the only escape from sin is cleansing.
When the Spirit of God enabled Naaman to embrace the Word of God, Naaman obeyed the Lord, dipped in the Jordan river seven times, and when Naaman came out, Naaman was clean! God washed away Naaman’s leprosy. The simple message of the man of God was successful in the life of Naaman and Naaman was made clean by the power of God.
We must not miss the extent of the cleansing Naaman received. It was not a return of the skin to “normal” or a “pre-leprosy” condition. It was brand new skin like that of a little child. Consider the cleansing the Lord does for us. When we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ we are not merely forgiven of our sins (though we are forgiven) but we are also cleansed from all unrighteousness. We are not just restored as if we had not sinned and now we can try again to be righteous, but we are given the perfection and righteousness of Christ that we might be counted once and for all time as righteous in God’s sight (II Cor. 5:21).
The prophet Isaiah says, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes…Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:16,18).
Dear friends, ministers, evangelists, Christians witnessing to neighbors and relatives, do not be discouraged by the reception you receive to the Word. There were “many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27). The Word of God did not return void in Naaman but was successful and the effect was the cleansing and washing away of Naaman’s leprosy. Pictured in that miracle was the washing away of our sins.
The simple call of God is successful today. The Lord is still washing away the filthiness of sin by His own blood so that sinners like you and me might be clean. Let us proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to sinners far and wide. Let us believe the good news of Jesus Christ and be holy even as Christ is holy. Naaman believed and obeyed the Word of God and Naaman was cleansed!
“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all you filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:24-28).
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