WASHING

^[p. 284] WASHING

Luke 4: 27; 2 Kings 5:1-3;2 Kings 5:9-16

I have before me the subject of washing. The apostle Paul refers to the Corinthians as washed — “Ye have been washed” he says (1 Corinthians 6: 11); and in the book of the Revelation we have a remarkable series of passages dealing with this very subject; indeed it is one of the most prominent subjects in Scripture. So in Revelation we have the saints praising the Lord as to it. “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood” (Revelation 1: 5). They celebrate in that song what the Lord did for them — He had washed them from their sins.

But later in the book (chapter 7) the prophet sees a large number of people, so large that they are innumerable, and one of the twenty-four elders inquires from him as to who these people were that were arrayed in white robes; he answers, “Thou knowest”. And the elder says, “These are they who come out of the great tribulation”, they had come out of every nation and tribes and peoples and tongues, and they had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb — they had done it. Primarily, Christ alone can do it, for God must be satisfied that the washing is effective, so that there should not be a stain upon us as before Him; but, on the other hand, this great number did it also.

In them we are reminded of wisdom in men and women; they had not neglected this. They had been in the midst of kingdoms and nations and tribes and tongues — filthy; but now they are washed; they had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Had they neglected this matter, they would not have been there, nor would they have palm branches, speaking of victory, in their hands. The ^[p. 285] means of washing had been brought to them, the testimony of the death of Christ had come to them, and they had availed themselves of it — thousands of them. Thank God for their number, for the vastness of it! Thousands upon thousands of them had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It may be that there are those here who have had the same testimony brought very close to them, time after time, and yet have not accepted it. It cannot be said of you that you have discovered what Isaiah of old found, that he was filthy, although religious. He said, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64: 6). And again, “Woe unto me! for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6: 5). In learning that you will also learn that God has provided, in the blood of Jesus, a means of cleansing; it is “through faith in his blood”, as we read. We Christians say, “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Revelation 1: 5, 6). We can say that — some of you cannot — and we are here tonight in order that you may join the vast throng of the redeemed.

Then again, in the last chapter of Revelation, you have what refers to those who are mentioned in the other chapters I have alluded to. They are spoken of, not as having washed, but as washing; it is in the present tense — “they that wash their robes”, it says, “that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city” (Revelation 22: 14). That is a continuous thing; it is for Christians. They are, or should be, characterised by washing.

Returning to Luke 4, the Lord alluded to this subject in the verse I read. It is significant that it comes in at the very outset of His service as anointed to preach. He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings”. There He stood in the synagogue in Nazareth, and He announced that He had been anointed to preach the gospel. In the course of His remarks He says, “There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian”. It was a very solemn matter that only one leper out of many was cleansed. Convicted soul here, you want to be that one, do you not? How great is the thought that you may be selected out of the many lepers of today! If you only knew how loathsome your disease (sin) is, as before God, and how prevalent it is abroad, you would seek to be that one! Not that you wish to be alone, no one of us wishes to be alone in redemption, but then, if there is to be only one in any locality, you want to be that one; you do not want to miss it.

In that day there was to be just one leper cleansed out of many, and that one knew he was a leper and earnestly sought to be cleansed.

One day it came to him through an unexpected channel, a little maid, as she is called, who had been taken captive, and who was a servant in his house. She had no official status whatever, she was in a foreign land, captive, but she had light. She knew of Elisha the prophet that was in Israel; she knew of him and she knew where he was. Unexpected people bring light to you, but you are to discern the light, that it is the word of God whatever the vessel. With this little maid it was no mere perfunctory matter, she was full of it. You will note in your Bibles an exclamation mark after the word “Samaria” (verse 3); she was urgent, as every gospel preacher should be, for the need was great, and the remedy was infinitely greater. The more we know of the disease and of the remedy, the more feeling we ^[p. 287] shall have; so it is with every true preacher of the gospel.

“Oh would my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria!” she says, “then he would cure him of his leprosy”. She was in earnest, and she had no question as to the ability of the prophet to cleanse, not a bit of doubt about it. No one should announce the gospel who does not believe it; the gospel of Mark emphasises that the preachers of the gospel should believe what they say; so the word of the little girl was not unheeded, it was effective. Naaman was a leper and he knew it, but then, what appears is that God was working with the man — indeed He had used him already — a very remarkable thing, showing that we may be used in that way and have part in the testimony, and yet not know what leprosy is and how it can be cleansed. And (as often happens when God works with souls) the natural mind begins to act. Naaman goes to “his lord”, we are told. You see he did not go to the right Lord — “there are gods many, and lords many, yet to us there is ... one Lord, Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 8: 5, 6).

There are those who have dignity and title religiously in this world, and people go to them instead of Christ. I heard of a man lately in a cathedral city who became exercised about his soul, and he was like this man Naaman, he went to the bishop and told him that he was exercised about his soul — he had soul-trouble. The man he went to was a dignitary you know in this realm there are “lords temporal” and “lords spiritual” — this was one of the lords spiritual. And he turned the man away, and said, ‘I have too much to do. Have you seen one of my deacons? I have no time to attend to such matters’. You see he turned to the wrong man. Not that it is not right to go to a Christian for help, or that bishops are not right — there are bishops in Scripture, those who should care for the ^[p. 288] souls of the people of God; but then there is the Bishop — “Ye ... have now returned”, says the apostle Peter, “to the shepherd and overseer of your souls” — Christ; (1 Peter 2: 25). And so I would say to you, if you are exercised about cleansing, be sure you go to the right man. The right man, in this instance, was the prophet that was in Samaria; but Naaman turned to the king of Syria, and he said, “I will send a letter to the king of Israel”, another ‘lord’. What could he do for a poor leper? Naaman sets out to go to the king of Israel with his letter, no doubt thinking he was in the right way, as many do; but to their sorrow they find that they have taken the wrong way. If the word of God comes to you, be sure that you go by it. The little maid said not a word about the king of Israel, nor did she say a word about the king of Syria; she spoke about one man only who could cleanse, that was the prophet that was in Samaria. So the gospel is about one Man only; it is about “the man Christ Jesus”, the Son of God. The gospel directs your heart to Him. As Peter said, “by faith in his name, His name has made this man strong” (Acts 3: 16) — it was the name of Jesus.

Naaman set out on his journey in his chariot with garments and gold, and everything to denote that he was a man of rank and pomp and luxury — very unbefitting when it was a question of being cleansed from leprosy. Underneath all that show was a poor leper, unfit for any society. Did he know that he was unfit? No; he had a bit of light, he was concerned, but he was governed by natural feelings. That is the danger with young people till God works with them; they allow natural or current religious feelings to govern them, and they miss their way and reap the bitter fruits of it. You may go for years without relief or deliverance, although God is working with you; you may remain years without ^[p. 289] the knowledge of forgiveness, or the possession of the Spirit of God. What deprivation, what loss, is yours, because you do not go simply by the word of God!

Naaman reached the king of Israel, and what could he do? Nothing; and he knew it. He said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to cure a man of his leprosy?” The thing was absurd to his mind! And so it may be with some of you here; you have reached the wrong man, you have not obeyed the word. Paul says, “Ye ... have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed” (Romans 6: 17). The gospel is for the obedience of faith, that is to say, you bow to the word of God and look into the Scriptures for your guidance, and not to tradition or current religious thought. You want the sure word of God. But then Elisha knew what was transpiring — as the Lord Jesus now knows what transpires with us, but in an infinitely greater way — he said, “Let him come now to me”. Thus you can see now how the Lord’s eye is upon you, and He would have you saved. He has died in order that you may be washed from your sins in His own blood. He is watching over you, and the brethren are too, they have their eye on you.

Elisha says, “Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel” — for the believer is to know that; you are to know more than that you are cleansed, you are to know that there is a Prophet in Israel, that is to say, that there is a Christ in heaven. Christians are to know about Christ, that He is a living Man in heaven, that He has got power to cleanse and save; and as He has cleansed and saved you, you can tell others.

Well, Naaman is still under natural influences, and so he sets out, and the Spirit of God tells us, “he came with his horses and with his chariot;” The Spirit mentions things in keeping with the state of ^[p. 290] the person He is referring to — that man is occupied with his chariot and with his horses. The Spirit tells us he came with all this retinue and pomp and dignity according to man, and he stood before the door of the prophet — you will never get anything there! You see, the little maid did not say a word about the door of the prophet; she said there was a prophet and he would cleanse him; it is the prophet you want. There is not a word said about his moving off his chariot or entering the door; he sat in his chariot, as much as to say, Let him come to me. That will not do, you have to get lower than that, Naaman!

Saul — great man as he was in his own estimation — fell to the ground when the Lord spoke to him; “Lord”, he said; you see there was a complete acknowledgement of Christ and His authority with him. Naaman was governed by natural thoughts, but a leper must come humbly to be cleansed. Think of what a loathsome person a leper is! The one thought in his mind should be, how am I to be cleansed? What are horses and a chariot if I am a poor leper to die the death of a leper in a ‘several house’, unfit for anybody’s society? That is what happened to another leper, king Uzziah; 2 Chronicles 26: 21. Naaman went to Elisha in pride — you will never get the blessing in that spirit; there has to be a humble spirit, a lowly spirit. As another leper said to Christ, “If thou wilt thou canst cleanse me” (Mark 1: 40) — he had no chariot, no pride in his heart. The Lord said, “I will; be thou cleansed”.

Elisha never showed himself to Naaman, he did not come out at all — he just sent a message. The point is, you must go by the word, for the Lord loves you too well to minister to your pride. He sends out a message, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times” — notice the word “wash”. Well, I need not go over the ground as to what Naaman ^[p. 291] said — you have often heard this; how he got into a rage. You see, he was under natural influences, he was governed by natural feelings, and hence stood in the way of his own blessing. I would beg of you, if you are at all exercised about your blessing, not to spare yourself. Humble yourself, a poor hell-deserving sinner, before God; what rights have you? What have you got to your credit? Nothing. Naaman would not have this chariot or these horses before the great white throne, if he died unconverted. As we are told, “We have brought nothing into the world: it is manifest that neither can we carry anything out” (1 Timothy 6: 7).

But Naaman was in a rage, and he said, “Behold, I thought, He will certainly come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper”. That is, he was a ceremonialist; he thought that he could get saved by some sort of a ceremony, such as anointing, holy water, and the like. These things do not save; but how many are under the influence of ceremonialism! “I thought”, he said; no doubt he was governed by the current view that a man who acts for God must have some form or ceremony. But nothing of that marked Elisha; he simply sent word, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean”. Be sure if you want to be cleansed, if you want to be saved, you must listen to the word of God, and throw your pride and your religious thoughts to the wind!

But the word was very simple — there is the Jordan, a well-known river, go down there and wash seven times. But better thoughts arise in Naaman’s mind, and he became amenable to advice. His servants were very considerate-they call him “father;” so the people of God will be always tender with you, considerate of you, that you should not be turned ^[p. 292] aside, but be helped to do what God says; you must go by the word of God. Your natural mind is against it, religious thought is against it, religious training is against it, and Satan is behind all these things to hinder you from the blessing of God. But it is a question of God’s word: “Let God be true, and every man false” (Romans 3: 4). Let us learn that our natural thoughts are deceitful, we must come under the influence of the word of God. So the servants entreat him, “My father, if the prophet had bidden thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?” Yes, people will get up in the morning to go to four, six and eight o’clock mass — -you wonder at them; but we see illustrated in them the power of fleshly religion; how much it influences people! In the East we know how much is done in that way by Mohammedans and those of other religions there. They go even to the length of sacrificing persons to carry out religious requirements. All is utterly false and satanic. Yet it shows what we are capable of, and the urgency of what I am saying, that we should throw to the wind all mere natural thoughts in regard to God.

So we are here to urge you to do just what the word says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16: 31). Nothing could be simpler, it is a question of faith, you see, in the word of God: “That Christ died for our sins ... and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once” (1 Corinthians 15: 3 - 6). The word of God is a certainty, and you are called upon to believe it. The servants said, “My father, if the prophet had bidden thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?” And it says, “Then went he down”, and what did he do? The word is changed — instead of “washing”

he “plunged himself” in the Jordan. He is now under the influence of faith, obedience to the word of God.

As soon as you are moved by faith all else is thrown aside, and you do just what you are told to do by the word of God. He “plunged” seven times in the water. Plunging is more than washing, he plunged in as if he were wholly now under the influence of the word of God; and sure enough, his flesh became as that of a little child, as the prophet had said. When he was sitting in the chariot and expecting the prophet to come out, that was not the little child, that was the pretentious man who had to be changed, that was the natural pride of the heart; but now he is, as it were, a little child. In the gospel of Luke the Lord took a little child and set him by Him, that is the idea — you see how He could take that man Naaman, or the representative of Naaman, here tonight, a truly subject believer who is washed in His blood; the Lord would take you and set you down before Him, and would say, “Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receives me” (Luke 9: 48).

And so Naaman acts now in a comely manner; he returns, and the Holy Spirit tells us not a word about the chariot, not a word about the horses, but that he returned to the man of God, he and all his company. The people are noted as with him; I do not say the chariot was not there, I only say that the Holy Spirit says not a word about it. The Holy Spirit speaks according to the state of the man He is describing; He loves to describe a cleansed leper, that is to say, a forgiven sinner. The Holy Spirit loves to dwell on the effect of faith in our movements afterwards. So it says further that he came, not to the door of the prophet, but to the man of God. The door is omitted; he has now got the person before him. He had himself before him when he went there the previous time. He is a changed man now, and so the Holy Spirit tells us that he returned with ^[p. 294] all his company. Attention is called to the people that were with him now — the men who said “my father;” typically, these are Christians, and they are with him, as we are with you now.

And he came to the man of God, not to his door simply, and stood before him. How different from the first visit! Not a word about expecting Elisha to come out to him; he went to him, that is a sure evidence of faith being in action. He went to the man of God and he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; and now, I pray thee, take a present of thy servant”. He has now the knowledge of the true God. This is the result of fully accepting the gospel. Obeying from the heart what is presented to us in the gospel, we come to know God. But Naaman would have the man of God take a present. You must understand that while the believer should be marked by giving, salvation is not on that principle. Current religion would say that it is on that principle; indeed it goes so far as to say you can buy your way out of ‘purgatory’ — terrible lie! Indeed, everything in Christendom today, in mere religious circles, is based on money.

The Lord said, “I counsel thee to buy of me”, (Revelation 3: 18). Why do not people go to Christ if it is a question of buying? You find He has got more than any one can give you, and He will not charge you anything really. The prophet insists, “I will receive none” — it is “without money and without price” — on your part at least; it has cost Christ infinitely to make cleansing possible, but He is not asking anything from you, it is “without money and without price”. Will you have it? Will you not do what Naaman did? It is a simple matter of obeying the word of God. He did what he was told to do, and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child.

^[p. 295] He said one thing more to Elisha; he asked for “two mules’ burden of this earth” — that is to say, he wanted to be in fellowship, as we speak. Give me “two mules’ burden of this earth”, he said; he had in his mind that he would be in fellowship, he would worship God. That is the next thing that comes into the mind of the cleansed believer, but I cannot dwell on it now. There are many, doubtless, here, who are not committed to the Lord and His people, though they have got some light. Now Naaman intimates to us that he intends to worship God. We could build much on that, but there is not time now.

What I have in mind is to press upon you that you can get cleansed by obedience to the simple word of God, by obeying from the heart the gospel, that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin 1 John 1: 7. It is available to you on the principle of faith; the gospel is on the principle of faith to faith, it is for the “obedience of faith”. May the Lord grant it to some of you!