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THE SEVEN DIPPINGS IN THE RIVER JORDAN

Our text this afternoon, dear friends, is found in 2 Kings 5:10-14. It is this chapter which gives us an account of the experience of Naaman, the Syrian. You remember this man occupied a very high station as one of the captains of the hosts of the king of Syria, and we remember all the peace and joy and blessing he might have found was marred by the leprosy. We recall that leprosy was incurable in those days as it is incurable in our day. And the account tells us how there was a prophet in the land of Israel to whom God had given such power that he could cure that leprosy. And it was told to Naaman, and we remember how finally he came there and sent messengers to Elisha, and Elisha didn't even come out to him, but sent word. We read of Elisha's message in the tenth verse:

"And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."

We remember that Naaman was rather indignant at this message. He thought that a man of his station ought to receive more attention that Elisha had shown. He thought Elisha would at least come out and say some words and call on His God and heal him, but he didn't do that, but continually sent him a message. Naaman said they had rivers of their own and he might as well plunge in one of them. But his servants remonstrated with him. They reminded him of how he had been led to Elisha, and why not test the message? And he was prevailed upon, and it says in the 14th verse:

"Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child and he was clean."

We are going to talk, dear friends, about the "Seven Dippings in the River Jordan." We must not confuse these dippings with the subject of baptism. About forty or fifty years ago a man rose up in the State of [PE306] Virginia who created quite a little excitement. He contended that this passage meant that Christians should be baptized seven times. And he.formed quite a little denomination. I believe the denomination has practically gone out of existence by this time. But he had the erroneous thought that baptism was to be performed to a seven-fold degree.

There is a lesson, and a valuable lesson to you and me in this. We find that in the word leprosy from its very nature is a very appropriate type or figure of sin. We often are in the habit of speaking of wrongdoing as the leprosy of sin. Leprosy was an incurable disease-so is sin. No human being is able to remove that awful disease of leprosy, but divine power can. And this is the way with sin. All the philosophy and science of man have not been able to eradicate sin, but there is a divine power that can set us free from the power of sin. We find that leprosy was a very loathsome disease. It marred the very life of the one who had it. It mattered not how high his station. And isn't that the way with sin? How many men have found their hopes and joys marred by sin! How often sin has cut people prematurely short in life! How often sin has been so loathsome and dreadful! And as Naaman could not get away from that sin, neither have you and I been able to get away from the leprosy of sin. But the Lord arranged that Naaman should get free from the natural leprosy. And we know that there is a time coming when everybody is going to get free from the leprosy of sin-when it will cease altogether. But Naaman was one of those who enjoyed beforehand this deliverance from leprosy. And so, dear friends, we know there is a time coming when everybody is going to get free from the leprosy of sin-moral sin-we are glad of that-but there is a Naaman class whom the Lord has been delivering beforehand, and that is the class we want a place in, and that is the reason we want to consider these seven dippings. We will find it corresponds with seven steps the Christian must take.

When Naaman came up the first time he was not free. The second time the leprosy was still there. The third time it was still there. The fourth time it was still there. Also the fifth time and the sixth time he found it still there. But the seventh time it was gone! It says his flesh had become again as fresh as the flesh of a little child. And so it is, dear friends, if you have been dipped in the Jordan. The first time we know you have got the leprosy of sin still. And the second time it will still be there. You might dip the third time and the fourth time and the fifth and even the sixth time, but still it is there. But, dear friends, take heart! Some day we will dip in the Jordan the seventh time and then our leprosy of sin will all be gone.

Now, this subject will be profitable to us because of the way it will [PE307] enable us to locate ourselves. We will find how far we have gone. Whether we have been dipped the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or whether possibly we have been dipped the sixth time. And if we have, then we know the seventh will not be far off.

The First Dipping.

What is the first dipping in the River Jordan? We answer, it is the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Redeemer. When you and I have come to the place where we realize that Jesus has died for our sins, we accepted it not as a theory, but as a fact. We saw that it was actually so, that our sins could be offset by the merit of that Redeemer that had come down to this earth for that very purpose. And what a blessing we got! I don't wonder that that means so much to some that they mistake it significance. You hear people say, "I was born of the Spirit when I accepted Jesus. I had such a wonderful experience. It seemed I was living in a new world. I just knew I was converted. Nobody could doubt that." Why, dear friends, no wonder they had a wonderful experience, and that wonderful experience was largely a result of recognizing that Jesus was the One who had borne a certain sense upon the cross the burden of their sins; that He had become their sin-offering, and that they had accepted this One. And yet, dear friends, after you and I accepted Jesus as our Savior we were not free from sin. The leprosy of sin was still there just as it was in the case of Naaman. So when we accepted Jesus it was still there. But we had taken one step in the right direction. And then, friends, we come to the second step.

The Second Dipping.

The second step naturally follows the first one. Having accepted Jesus as our Savior, realizing that He died for our sins, we begin to feel that this means so much to us now. We would learn more about the Savior. We would learn of the things God has for us in the future. And in consequence we now take a new interest in the Bible. We begin to study our Bible, read our Bible, pay attention to it. We did not formerly. We understand this is the second dipping in the River Jordan-when we come to the Word of God and come under the cleansing influence of that Word. No one can come in contact with the Bible and not be blessed by it. It seems to me that even though all people could not understand the Bible, it almost looks as though the very fact the Bible came to them brought a blessing. It seems you could see a halo about the Bible. It seems to me that is so exemplified in the history of the world. We have got a little idea of the terrible conditions that prevailed in the [PE308] world until the Bible came in. You know up in the northern part of Europe, in Germany, before the Bible came into that country, back in those days it was the custom in certain places for the children to kill off the parents. When the time would come that a father or mother got well off in years the children would meet together and have a family council and decide whether father or mother was any more useful. And the daughter may say, "I don't think father is any more useful." One of the sons may say, "Yes, he has outlived his usefulness." And when they decided he was of no more use they would have a large club, and they would take that club and knock him in the head and knock him out of existence. They thought that was perfectly right until the Bible came among them. What a wonderful influence the Bible has had in so many cases.

Just think of the way the Word of God has been referred to for the introduction of hospitals into the world. They never dreamed of those things before the spirit of the Bible began to permeate the people in some degree. Back in the past they didn't have any hospitals. They would lay a person in the street where everybody could see him, and they would try all kinds of remedies upon him. No thought of any more humane, systematic way of treating the sick.

In the same way I have thought of woman's place in the world. You remember how after the Holy Spirit had descended, there arose a murmuring because their widows were neglected." Why, that wasn't wonderful! It was a customary thing then that widows should be neglected in those days. But it seemed that immediately there was a different spirit when these widows were neglected. They appointed deacons to look after the matter, among whom were Stephen and Philip.

We find, dear friends, that was the influence of the Christian religion. No other religion had such ideas as that. It seemed that with other religions of earth no one could draw near to God unless he neglected his family. Take for instance Buddha. There has been a good deal of mythology connected with Buddha, and yet we know that Buddha was a very good man back in his day. He was a man that wanted to get near to God. And how did he do it? Why, he neglected his wife and children. He couldn't see how he could draw near to God without deserting his wife. He couldn't see how he could draw near to God without neglecting his loved ones. Take the case of Socrates. You remember how he was to be put to death. When the hour came to die his poor wife came to see him and Socrates was in a discussion on some philosophical point, and when she came in crying he ordered her out of the room! He didn't have much respect for his wife. He was thinking of that philosophical point. But, dear friends, the Christian religion is [PE309] different. You remember how the Lord Jesus Christ thought of His mother even on the cross. He reminded John how he had the privilege of taking her to be his mother. We find this has been the influence of the Bible in a general way wherever it has gone. And if that has been the influence of the Bible, why how much more of an influence it has exerted where one has accepted Jesus as his Savior and has come to this Book, saying, "I want to find out more about this Savior, and I have got such a joy that I want more of this joy." And it has a certain cleansing influence just like each time Naaman went down under the water, the water had a cleansing influence upon him to a certain degree. But it was not anything like the cleansing influence that was going to operate by divine power when he went down the seventh time. And when we began to study our Bible, took that second step, wanted to learn more about this Savior, it had a certain cleansing influence upon us. The "washing of the water by the Word" began.

The Third Dipping.

But now we come to the third dipping in the River Jordan, the third step the Christian takes-partial consecration. We find that there is but a comparatively small part of the Lord's people who make an entire consecration of themselves. Yet a great majority, if they study their Bibles, come to the place where it begins to have an influence upon them. They say, "I am going to try to be a better Christian. I am going to pray more and read my Bible more. I am going to imitate Jesus more and put away the wicked things and bad habits." You see, they have not consecrated. Consecration means more than that. That is a partial consecration, a limited consecration from God's standpoint. It is a step in the right direction. A good many never go any further than that, and a good many never make a full consecration, but they think they have made a consecration. A sister said to me, "Brother Barton, I am glad to tell you that since you were here I have consecrated and been baptized. You know I went to the convention at Louisville. I said if I go to that convention and find these people like usual Christians, I am not going to consecrate, and when I got there I found they were grand people." You see, that sister was not consecrated at all. She thinks she is consecrated. She consecrated to nice people. Now, I have no doubt, dear friends, but what there are a great many among us that are possibly of that class. They have made a kind of consecration. They have been willing to consecrate from their viewpoint. They have been willing to give up the bad things and wicked things. They say, "Since the thing is bad I am going to give it up; I am ready to sacrifice." But they would not be willing to give up good things for the Lord-something actually [PE310] necessary.

I think the Lord wants us to get to the place where we will make an entire surrender regardless of what the consequences may be. We want to get to the place where we can say, "Father, not my will, but Thine be done." And there that one has made that consecration. But if one has not made that consecration they say, "Well, now, Lord, I am willing to do some things you want me to do. If you want me to give up my tobacco I will give it up. I will stop going to the theater." But if the Lord would say, "My child, there are other things. Would you be willing to serve me if people would laugh at you? Would you be willing to serve me if there was opposition in your home? Would you glorify me in spite of that opposition? Will you say, 'I want to serve the Lord no matter what it costs or doesn't cost?'" Well, dear friends, that is consecration. The moment we took that step we became the Lord's indeed.

The Fourth Dipping.

That is the fourth step. The third dipping in the Jordan was a step forward. Why, it is grand if the Word of God has brought us to the place where we are willing to praise the Lord to a limited degree, to give up all the bad habits. And by the way, there is another thought here. We ought to be very patient towards those who have not gone beyond that third step. But I trust we have gone beyond that; that we have gone down in Jordan the fourth time. And when we went down in Jordan the fourth time it meant the baptism of our will into the will of the Lord. There was where we came to the place where we could say, "Lord, I am going to do Thy will, be what you want me to be, and go where you want me to go." It was there where a transformation of mind began. You know, the Apostle says in the 12th chapter of Romans, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God."

You see, dear friends, when we consecrated our lives to the Lord, from that time onward our mind is being transformed. From that time onward we have a perfect will. When we talk of the mind we must remember that it is made up of different things. It is made up of will, reason, imagination, etc. All these mental qualities make up the mind. The mind would not be complete without these things. But we recognize none of those things wholly constitute the mind. We understand from the moment of consecration we have got a new mind. A new will has taken possession. I think of the mind like a city government. Here is a city. We will suppose they have a lot of trouble there. They have had a mayor and he has been dishonest. Also the police department and the fire department and all other departments. Everything has been [PE311] unsatisfactory. They have an election and elect a new mayor. As soon as the new mayor comes in there is a new administration. The city is just the same, and the only thing new is the mayor. They have got the same police department; the same fire department, the old water department, but a new mayor. And so there is going to be a new administration. Now, you know the will is the mayor of the mind. The mind is like a little city. The reason is one department, imagination another department, and the will is the mayor. You have got a new mayor at consecration. The old mayor comes in and so you have got a new mind just like you have got a new administration, but it is not altogether new in reality. There is just one thing new about it, and that is the will, and that will is a perfect will.

But now if that mayor is the right kind of mayor he begins to transform the city departments. He calls up the chief of police and says, "See here, this department has got to be run differently from what it has heretofore. We are not going to have any more grafts, and here are these saloons; I want you to close these up." And there is a little friction. The Chief of police says, "I do not think we ought to be hasty." The mayor says, "No lost time; go ahead and do this." You see he has begun to transform the city departments, and he has some men put out of office and better men put in their places. But it is slow work and it is pretty hard to give up the old mayor. But he works and works, and day by day you can see changes. People say that the police department does more work than it used to do. The city water works has gotten rid of its corruption, and so on. You see, there is a transformation. And that is the way in the mind. The new will gets control. The new will begins to transform the mind. The will says, "See here, you have got to reason on a different basis from that hereafter. You used to reason how to make more money." But the old will says, "But see here, the children will starve to death." But the will says, "You have to reason the way I want you to. I will see that you reason sufficiently to look after the wife and children, and yet at the same time you have got to reason in a different way." And the new will brings imagination in, and says to imagination, "See here, I am dissatisfied with the way you are doing things. Under that old will you used to imagine how dreadful it would be if you would lose out in this race. Try to imagine how little these trials will be after this course is run." It is a slow work just like in that city and the different city departments. They were not in harmony with the new mayor. So in our mind the different qualities are not in perfect agreement with the new will. And that is the reason the Apostle says, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God." [PE312]

If that mayor goes in office and yet the departments go on just like they always did, it would prove that he is not as good as they thought he was. The same thing is true in the mind. If you and I have received the Lord's will and if there is no transformation going on, there is something wrong. If that transformation takes place we will prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. Now we see consecration means the moment we get that new will we must please the Lord, do what He wants us to do, to be in subjection to Him in all the affairs of life.

The Fifth Dipping.

Well, we are going to go a little further. We come now to the fifth dipping in the River Jordan. The fourth step was that of entire consecration, the step where we became new creatures in Christ Jesus, but the fifth step is the step that is taken when we are "quickened" of the Spirit. We have all seen how the Lord draws a comparison between the natural and the spiritual, and represents you and me as being begotten of the Spirit, and in the resurrection as being born of the Spirit. We see the illustration is a very fit one. When a child is in a begotten state it has no independent life. It is living on borrowed life. It is simply borrowing life from its parents. But on the other hand, when it is born it has life of its own. The moment you and I consecrate ourselves we are begotten of the Lord's spirit, but we are not actually living an independent life. We are living a borrowed life. But in the resurrection you and I will not live a borrowed life any longer, but we will live an independent life. But now, we find just as between begetting and birth there is always that period they call quickening in nature, so we find that the Apostle tells us how that God will quicken our mortal bodies by His spirit. In nature the quickening refers to the time when there is real evidence that a child is in existence. When the fact is demonstrated, a proof that existence is there, that is what it means to be quickened. And so in the spiritual sense.

When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord there is not any real evidence, and very definite evidence that we have been begotten. Why we lived just like we used to live. We think and carry out the same plans. Before consecration we planned to build a $5,000 house, and after consecration we think of building that house. We are planning just as before our consecration. We thought a good deal about certain pleasures, and after our consecration we take an interest in those pleasures to a certain degree. There is a change, but there is no evidence of it; there is no manifestation of it. We find, dear friends, this is so with all. It was so with Jesus. You remember the Lord Jesus was begotten of the [PE313] Spirit at Jordan and there was no outward visible demonstrations for forty days. Why He was just out there studying and thinking over the plan of God. When those forty days were up then Jesus began His ministry. Then the world had evidence of the fact that Jesus was really different from what He used to be. We find it is the same way with us. The only change we had at first was a mental one. But at last the time came, dear friends, when we were quickened into activity. If we had thought beforehand of building that $5,000 house we now talk of giving up those plans. Now we are quickened. We begin to think of what the Lord wants us to do in this matter. We begin to think of cutting this off and laying that down. After one consecrated you wouldn't notice him interested in giving out literature, and probably months went by and he didn't think about that particularly. Now you begin to see him talk about how he can get opportunities for giving out this literature. We find then is the fifth step, but that is not enough.

The Sixth Dipping.

We are going onward, progressing, and finally we come to the sixth step. And what is that? That is the place where we reach the mark for which we are striving, that mark of perfect love. "There is no fear in love, for perfect love casteth out fear."

We come finally not merely to the quickening, but this one makes progress and by and by he reaches the mark. We ought to strive after quickening has been experienced to reach that mark as soon as possible, and yet a good many do not reach it for a long while.

We ought to get a right thought of what it means to reach that mark. Supposing that we have God's love perfected in us means a good deal. You hear some say, "I do not hate my enemies." To have perfect love implies that we have all the qualities the sum of which makes up love. It not only means that we have all those qualities, but that we have the perfectly developed in us. For instance, we find it has been so well said that love is the sum of all the graces. Therefore, if you are lacking in anything you have not love in its fullness. If you didn't have faith, patience, humility, godliness, you couldn't have perfect love. All these things go to make up perfect love. And the Apostle says in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, discoursing on this perfect love, "Though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Your love is not perfect if that was the case. Why, if you have all faith, yet you would have to have more than that. He tells us other things. We would have to have that love which suffers long and is kind, the love which vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. If you have got pride you can't have love, because pride is contrary to the spirit of [PE313] love, because one of the active component principles of love is humility. You may have some kind of love, a weak kind of love, for love is weak without humility. You may have a poor kind of love somewhat like the doctor who tells you he has some Castoria for you, but it is weak in hydrochloric acid. It might have some pepsin in it, but evidently the acid was not there. It was not worth much. And so that is the way with love-the pepsin must be there.

You know how it says in the first chapter of James, "Let patience have her perfect work." We must have patience, and patience must be perfected. It must have perfect work. He went on to say then we will be perfect and entire. Entire would mean having all these qualities, the entire list of attributes that compose live. It would mean that we have faith, patience, meekness, knowledge, brotherly kindness, etc. We have got to have even this love that would reach out and love our enemies. When we have got all those things we are entire. But now we must not only be entire, but perfect and entire. Not only have patience, but patience must be perfected. And godliness must be perfected. Humility must be perfected. And meekness and brotherly kindness must be perfected. You see, there must be a perfect balance, a perfect equilibrium. Then we have perfect love. But if that is not the case, if you and I have all these qualities and they are not perfect, if you have got a full measure of patience, a full measure of godliness, a full measure of brotherly kindness, a full measure of gentleness, but only about a half measure of humility, how could you have perfect love? How could you have perfect love if you were lacking in humility?

You might say, "Well then, reaching the mark means more than I used to think." Yes. I feel that is so with a good many of us. But we must be careful not to confuse the difference between having this perfect love and exercising it in our bodies. I often think of this perfect love as being like a driver and the flesh the horse. The horse may be a little treacherous. It may get balky and so on, but you wouldn't blame the driver but the horse. But the driver should always be on the alert. If you find sometimes your flesh is going wrong and the New Creature has hold of the reins, and if the flesh gets a little contrary and gets frightened at an automobile and jumps to one side, don't blame it on the New Creature, but blame it on the flesh. Then learn to whip the flesh. Don't let the flesh have its own way. Do like a brother did who had quite a little experience with a balky horse. It got balky and he said, "I will fix it." He took off the traces and tied the horse's tail and fastened it to the single-tree and made the horse pull the buggy for half a mile that way. He said his horse didn't balk any more. I thought that would be a grand way to do with the old nature. The old nature will see that it has got to submit. Learn [PE315] to crush the flesh under the New Creature, so that if the time comes that you have got some opportunity for service, the flesh will say, "I don't like to do that, but I am afraid I had better do it, because I know if I don't the New Creature will tie my tail up and make me do it, and I had better do it whether I like to do it or not." But then, dear friends, there is such a vast difference between having that perfect love in ourselves and being able to manifest it perfectly in our flesh.

We find that sometimes the Lord's people do not distinguish between that as closely and carefully as they should. You hear a brother say, "I feel so fearful sometimes about various things. The thought comes to me, isn't that untrue, or isn't this? and I tremble and fear. Just think! Wasn't my faith in a terrible condition?" No brother, I do not think that. When you said that, wasn't there something inside of you that said that? "Yes." Well, that was not the New Creature. It was the flesh that was wrong. Sometimes even when we fear to gain the victory it was the flesh that was wrong. And yet we don't want to make that an excuse for being careless.

And thus we see this perfect love is no little thing. It is not in our flesh. Just like in that city. You know where that new mayor is going into office, a policeman may be standing on the street corner and see something going on that was wrong and fail to do his duty, but you don't blame the mayor for that. The mayor will bring the thing around all right. And thus that is just the way with us. We realize the flesh is weak and even wicked down to the end. We will not be able to live like we want to live. We will still be deficient. We will long for the time when we can lay away this earthly tabernacle.

We have gone as far as we can go now. We have made all the progress that can be made. We have got all those qualities and perfectly rounded out. Now, dear friends, the thing is to stand at that mark. Let nothing drive us away. What is likely to drive us away. Sometimes discouragement. Sometimes they say, "I am so weak and poor. I can't do anything just like I want to. I believe I will just have to give up." We see, dear friends, they are allowing discouragement to take possession of them. The Lord wants you and me to get to the place where we will never give up. You know two wrongs will never make a right. What would you think of a man who had $100 and thieves get into his house and steal $50. Suppose he would say, "I have lost $50, and I guess I will throw away the other $50." Would that correct it? And yet you will find some of the Lord's people just like that. They have lose a victory and they will say, "I will just have to give up. I have lost so many victories that I will just throw all the rest of them away." We have got to expect to come short each day. If we could do as the new will desires, I tell you it would be [PE316] time to take us away from here. You and I have got a perfect will to do with, but we have an imperfect body. So you see the Lord is looking at the new desires, at the motives. Do you want to be impatient? Do you really want to talk unkindly? "No." Well then, the heart is in a good condition. I am glad the Lord did not say, "Blessed are the poor in flesh." The lord looks at our intentions and desires. The thing is to stand at that mark and remain faithful unto the end, to finish our course, -until the time comes for us to lay away this earthly tabernacle.

"Well," some one might say, "do you think I will know I am going to be one of those overcomers?" I understand from the Lord's word every one of the faithful overcomers will know it before that day. Jesus realized it, and Paul knew it. You remember he says, "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but also to all them that love His appearing." Paul knew he had been faithful and we all will. Our Lord gives us a parable and showed how the Lord would say to the faithful servants, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joys of thy Lord." When does the Lord say that "Well done?" In this world or in the next? On this side or the other side? Why, He says it to us on this side of the veil. He said it to Paul on this side and He will say it to all of us on this side the veil. "I will make thee." He says it before the time has come to make him ruler. This implies that before they have been made partakers of that divine nature, made ruler over many things, they will hear the Lord's voice saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant." If you are faithful and I am faithful, some time before we die-it may be a few minutes or a few hours with some; it may be a few days with some, a few weeks-with Paul it was a few months-not that we will hear it audibly, but the thought will be that the Lord will make matters so clear to us that we will know we are acceptable to Him. The Lord will make it clear to us that our heart is in the right attitude; that though we may have some shortcomings, that was the flesh, and we wanted to do our best, and we will have that assurance of the Lord's approval, His "Well done." Oh, what a joy that will be to die that way, dear friends!

The Seventh Dipping.

Then when the time comes for our earthly course to be finished, we will go down into the Jordan the seventh time. We will not have any sin then. The leprosy will be all gone. We will have a body to go [PE317] with that spirit. We have got a holy spirit today, but an unholy body; but then we will have a holy spirit and a holy body altogether. Think of passing into death with all these weaknesses and imperfections, these blemishes, and rising to find ourselves in the likeness of our Lord without ache or pain or taint of sin or wrong or imperfection that we have to struggle with now! Without any further necessity for fear we might come short! Without any dread that we might do something to displease the Heavenly Father! How we long for that change when we will be perfect and holy; holy as respects our eternal life, and that thus in the state we may serve our perfect Lord for all the perfect ages of the future.