Skeletons of Sermon 2 Kings 5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?… I. THAT GREAT MEN ARE NOT EXEMPTED FROM THE EVILS WHICH ATTACH TO OUR COMMON NATURE. From one class of evils riches might exempt their possessors — the evils of poverty, perplexity, anxiety, and embarrassment. But from other ills they have no exemption. 1. None from those which attach to the body. 2. None from those which attach to the soul. Great men like others are involved in the effects of the original transgression. II. THAT THERE ARE NO EVILS ATTACHING EITHER TO BODY OR SOUL, WHICH GOD CANNOT REMOVE. 1. He can heal the body. 2. He can heal the soul. III. THAT THE SIMPLICITY OF GOD'S REMEDIES ARE FREQUENTLY OFFENSIVE TO THE PRIDE OF MAN. Look at the ease before us. What could be more easy than the remedy suggested? "Go, and wash in Jordan seven times." But its simplicity was that which rendered it objectionable with Naaman. 1. It led the Jews to reject Christ. They desired the Messiah, as Naaman desired a cure. 2. It leads many to reject the peculiar doctrines of the gospel. The divinity of Christ, the doctrine of the atonement, and spiritual regeneration. 3. It hinders many from closing in with God's method of justifying the ungodly. He offers a free pardon to men as sinners. The pride of the human heart rejects this, and brings a price — comparative innocence, works Of righteousness, acts of charity, or tears of penitence. IV. WHEN GOD'S REMEDIES ARE ADOPTED, THEY NEVER FAIL TO SUCCEED. Look at the case before us, verse 14. In the cures by the brazen serpent, in the case of the man whose eyes were anointed with clay, in the conversion of St. Paul, of the Philippian jailer, of the great cloud of witnesses in every age, and especially of the present. Conclude — 1. With an address to those who are insensible of their disease. See how the moral leprosy has affected all your powers. 2. Address those who desire to be healed. The Jordan is flowing, the fountain is open. Come now, wash and be clean. (Skeletons of Sermon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. |
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