"And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."
Matthew 11:1-6
Sermon Transcript
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Matthew chapter 11 opens as follows,
And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding
his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach
in their cities. And when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and
said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear
and see. The blind receive their sight,
and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Now these words are a great encouragement
to every believer who finds himself where John the Baptist was. And
they are a great proof and declaration of who Christ is and the power
of his gospel. John John the Baptist from prison
sends disciples unto Christ to ask, are thou he that should
come or do we look for another? John asks this. John the Baptist
who had heralded the coming of Christ who had been the voice crying
in the wilderness. John the Baptist who was the
messenger sent before Christ's coming of whom Christ speaks
later in this chapter saying among them that are born of women
that have not risen are greater than John the Baptist. And yet
John who knew Christ, who baptized Christ, who heralded his coming,
who pointed at him, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world, who knew him, John the Baptist, in prison,
sends his disciples to ask, aren't thou really he that should come,
or do we look for another? and what a response he has sent. Jesus answered and said unto
them go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see
the blind receive their sight the lame walk The lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Yes, John, I am he that should
come. Yes, John, a prophet like none
other. when cast into prison, facing
death, he who had been granted great insight and great faith,
even he, in such a circumstance, wondered. And there may be many
a time when we as believers Even when God in power has delivered
us from death, has washed us clean in the blood of Christ,
has given us faith to behold him, has caused us to cry out
for mercy and heard his voice and heard his assurance, even
as believers there are times when we are brought low, when
we as it were find ourselves in prison, When the accuser comes
unto us and says unto us, do you believe? Do you know? Where is thy God? Where is he
now? Where's your saviour now? Here
you are, cast down in trial. Cast down in your circumstances. He's abandoned you. Are you sure He's your Saviour?
Are you sure He's your God? Where is He now? Look where you
are! And we're brought to a question.
O Lord, art thou my Saviour or not? Art thou He that should
come or do we look for another? Was I wrong all this time? We tend to see as it were, blessing
as being that which is external often. When things are well,
people say, oh the Lord has blessed you. And when trouble and trial
comes, should we be afflicted with great disease? Should our
reputation be brought down? Should our finances or our position
be stripped away? Should we come into hard times?
Should we be put into great trials? Then people will say, well the
Lord's not blessing you now is he? Where is thy God? And no matter how strong our
faith and no matter how much we may know and no matter how
great the proof, we can be brought down to nothing to question.
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? And yet again, whoever it is
that asks the question, whether it is John the Baptist in prison,
whether it is the cast down believer full of doubts and fears, or
whether it is those who know him not who say, where's the
proof? Christ answers and says, Show
them the things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached
to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Is he the saviour? Yes he is.
He makes the blind to see. He makes lame to walk. He cleanses the leper. He raises
the dead. He causes the deaf to hear. He
causes the poor to have the gospel preached to them. He's a saviour,
mighty in deed and power. I doubt you. Do you fall into this description
somewhere? Are you blind, in need of sight? Are you lame and cannot walk? Are you a leper, diseased from
head to foot? Are you deaf? Are you dead? Are you poor? There's not one man, one woman
on the face of this earth that does not fall into this description. The blind receive their sight. Christ came to make blind men
see. Oh, how blind we all are. by nature. Not necessarily with
a blindness of the physical eye. Some are, some aren't. But we
are blind inwardly, blind spiritually to the truth. We see things externally
and we have an understanding externally. But we cannot see
the truth. John, though he knew who Christ
was, even he in prison questioned and said, aren't thou he that
should come? Can you not see, John? Did you not see? Can you not see? Is it not evident? Christ can come before us. Christ
could stand before us this day as he stood before John, as he
stood before the people in this day and age. He came and he preached,
he healed the sick and they could not see. He can come before us
and we could see him outwardly and hear his words and never
comprehend, never see him for who he is. Because naturally
speaking, we are blind to the truth. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Naturally speaking, he is an
offense to us. Because we are nothing before
Almighty God. We are nothing in the presence
of the Son of God. The reality of knowing Him, the
reality of seeing Him, is that we will see ourselves for who
we are and what we are, that we are nothing before a holy
God, we are but dust. He has created us, He has made
us out of nothing, He sustains our life. and all we have done
with the life that he has given us is to rebel against him and
to seek our own glory. The fact that he is our maker
and our sustainer, the fact that he is a sovereign God that doeth
what he pleases, the fact that he can condemn us or justify
us his decree the fact that he is all-powerful offends us we
are in his hands by nature we're offended at him
so by nature in religion men will receive and will worship
and will love a God of their own making that serves them They
will bow down to a God who gives them what they want when they
ask for it, that does their bidding. They will talk of a Jesus who
stands waiting to save them at their command according to their
will, who rewards them according to their good deeds. We will
bow down to a God who is our servant, but we are blind and
offended. at he who is Christ. We do not see him and when we
hear of him we reject him. We cannot see unless he opens
the eyes. This is why at the close of this
chapter, having spoken of John and his witness, having spoken
of the hardness of the hearts of the generation under whom
Christ came. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have rejected long ago in sackcloth and ashes. I say unto you it
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment
than for you and thou Capernaum which are exalted under heaven
shall be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which
have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained
until this day but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee.
Christ speaks of the generation. in which he has come and unto
which John was sent and how hard their hearts were even though
he came giving the blind their sight
causing the lame to walk cleansing the leper making the deaf to
hear raising up the dead and preaching the gospel unto the
poor. Despite all the mighty works,
this generation remained hard of heart. And in the end, they
rose up with one voice, away with this man. We shall not have
him to reign over us, crucify him, crucify him. And what was true of them, It's
true of you and I by nature. Though Christ should come and
stand before us and preach unto us and do his mighty works before
us, we will not believe. Which is why, having declared
this, Christ goes on to say, in verse 25, Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him. We will not know God, we will
not know His Son, we will not know Christ the Saviour, except
the Father reveals Him unto us. Art thou he that should come
or do we look for another? We will never know. Except the
Father comes in the Gospel by his Spirit and preaches Christ
unto us and makes us to see him. Makes us to see him. Gives us
eyes that see. For except he opens the eyes
we will remain blind. Is that you? Is that you? You say you see
and you see nothing. You say you know and you know
nothing. You say you understand and you
understand nothing. By nature we go according to
our own wisdom, our own understanding. We're so confident, we're so
sure. And yet we follow lemon-like,
the multitudes that head for the cliffs and jump to our destruction. We're blind. As Paul writes in Ephesians 4,
This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their heart. who be in past feeling have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with
greediness. The blindness is within, in our
hearts. The ignorance that is in us is
because of that blindness. Our understanding by nature has
been darkened Our minds are but vanity, taken up with all sorts
of nonsense, all sorts of comings and goings, which profit not,
while shut and darkened and closed and blind to the truth. We are
past feeling, we're so blind, so lost, so darkened in our understanding
that we are past feeling. These things don't move us. When
we hear the truth preached it washes over us, we're unmoved because we're like blind men
and we see nothing. No matter what is presented to
our gaze, we see nothing. Except the Father come unto us
in the gospel and reveal his Son unto us. But when John asked, art thou
he that should come? Christ sent this encouraging
word. Go show John again those things
which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight. I am not come into this world
to condemn, but to save. Art thou he that should come?
Yes he is, he came. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He came to the blind to touch
their eyes and make them see. He came preaching the gospel
to the poor and he comes this day in our midst with his gospel
to touch the blind eyes and make them see. He gives the blind
sight, spiritual sight, faith to believe. He gives his people
faith, his faith, his faith. the faith by which he walked
before his God, the faith by which he communed with God, the
faith by which he walked through the darkness, the faith which
sustained him in the darkness of this world, when all men rejected
him, when all men despised him, when mankind rose up to crucify
Him, when He was nailed to the tree, nailed to the cross, when
the sins of His people were laid upon Him, when He was made sin,
and the light of the sun was taken away, and darkness was
upon the face of the earth for three hours, when He cried out,
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? When He hung in
the darkness, abandoned by all men, And when his own father
turned his back upon him, it's his faith that sustained him,
that brought him through. When he was in the prison and
there was nothing to see, he believed. He waited upon his
God. He knew the light would return. As Paul writes, I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe if to the Jew first and also to the
Greek for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written the just shall live by faith. When Christ hung in the darkness
When God laid upon him the sins of all his people, when he was
made sin, God judged his son in righteousness. God manifested
his righteousness. The righteousness of God came
down upon his own son in judgment and judged every last sin according
to the exact pure righteousness of God in every way. And Christ
the righteousness of God hung by faith upon the cross as the
fires rained down upon him and his love for God and his love
for his people his love for sinners his love for the elect for his
own was manifested it shone in the darkness out of his faith
to be received by their faith. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith, from the faith of Jesus Christ, to
faith, to the faith of those whom he opens the eyes of, the
blind who receive their sight, those whom he gives faith to
see him and to know him and to see their sins washed away upon
the cross, as it is written. The just shall live by faith. How do these sinners, these blind,
these deaf, these dead, these lepers live? How shall they be
made just? How shall they be just before
a holy God? Through Christ, who took their
sin and washed it away and made them to be the righteousness
of God in Him. the just shall live by faith,
by his faith, through which he justified them, by his faith
which he gives them, by his faith by which he makes the blind to
see. As he come in his gospel and
touched your eyes, and said, Look at me, all ye ends of the
earth, and live. See, receive thy sight. See where I went for you. See
what I suffered for you. Art thou he that should come,
or do we look for another? Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. show John again those things
which you do see and hear the blind receive their sight as
he come unto you blind man and made you see and the lame walk the lame walk we're blind by nature we're also
lame We're so fallen in our sin and our depravity we have no
strength, we cannot walk, we cannot do a thing. Not spiritually,
we're full of our own strength naturally. We grow up as young
people into the height of life and we think we're invincible.
until age comes upon us and we're robbed of that strength we once
had or until sickness comes upon us or circumstance. Soon our strength physically
is gone because sin will have its effect in every way. We're dead spiritually from the
day we're born but soon we will die physically And soon even
the mirage of strength we think we have as humans is taken away
and we enter the grave and we're gone. We have no strength. And
before God spiritually we cannot walk, we're lame. There's no
power in us. And we don't know the way to
walk, we don't know where to go, we don't know where to head. All our wisdom, all our understanding
has taken us another way. Who seeks after God? None. We're like lost sheep, each and
every one of us, we've gone another way, we've gone out of the way.
There is none that seeketh after God. There is none that runeth,
there is none that willeth. We're lame, without strength. Oh that God would teach us this.
Because the reason a man does not come to God, is because he
thinks he sees. And he thinks he can walk. And
he thinks he's clean. And he thinks he hears. And he
thinks he lives. And he thinks he's rich. When
the reality is, he is none of these things. You think you walk
and yet you're lame. We are just like Mephibosheth,
Jonathan's son. Lame in both legs, without strength,
without ability. We cannot live righteously before
a holy God. Men come unto religion, the Pharisees
did, these people to whom Christ came preaching this day. They
come unto religion and they think they can attain unto heaven by
their own strength, by their own deeds, by their own works,
their own righteousness. When they've got none, it's in
tatters. All they've got is their own
pride and arrogance. They're lame. were worse than
Mephibosheth. Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son
that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel. And his nurse
took him up and fled. And it came to pass, as she made
haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. And his name was
Mephibosheth. Do you know your lameness? Do
you know your weakness? Are you a Mephibosheth? Perhaps you know you are. Perhaps
you feel desperate at times. Perhaps you feel like you cannot
do anything. You're like those In Jesus' day,
like the impotent man at the pool, you can't move, you can't
get yourself in the pool to cleanse yourself, to heal yourself. You
can't do anything. Perhaps you feel that Christ
will never come your way. He's abandoned you. You're not
one of his. You're lost. Well, the encouragement is that
King David Mighty King David heard of Mephibosheth and sent
word to show great mercy to him. He brought him to his table.
He brought him into his house. He caused this lame man that
could do nothing for himself to eat of the king's table to
be looked after the rest of his days. He showed great love and
mercy to this lame man. He saved him. He saved him. The king sought him out and brought
him to his house to save him. And Christ makes known unto John,
the blind receive their sight and the lame walk. I came to visit the lame, to
touch them, to heal them, to give them strength, to cause
them to walk, to cause them to follow me, to lead them by the
right way, to be their shepherd. He came unto the lost sheep of
Israel, lame sheep, weak sheep, and to gather them into his fold
and to lead them forth by the right way. He's their shepherd,
he's their guide. He gives them strength to walk
and he leads them in the right way. Oh, the mercy of God that
Christ, the King of kings, of whom King David was but a figure,
that Christ should seek out the Mephibosheths in his kingdom.
Bring them to me. bring them to my table, give
them everything. The blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed. Lepers! Oh, what a disease leprosy is. And oh, what a horrific picture
we see of it in the scriptures, where leprosy was, death was. lepers were cast out of the towns
and the cities lepers lived in caves lepers were unclean such
a contagious disease such an easily spread disease such a
terrible disease that eats away at the body and disfigures and
dismembers such an awful disease that no one wanted to go near
a leper no one would touch a leper no one would go within meters
of a leper, and yet Christ came to save, to cleanse lepers. He did what none other would
dare to do. He went to them, he touched them,
he loved them, he showed them mercy, and he healed them from
head to toe. What a picture of our sin, leprosy
is. We are lepers by nature, unclean
inside and out, unclean from head to toe, full of sin, wretched,
corrupt, diseased, wasting away. Wasting away. This leprosy of
sin affects our very being. It affects us physically. All
the weakness and frailty we have is a result of our sin. But it
affects us spiritually. We cannot know God. We cannot
see God. We cannot do one thing aright.
Everything we do, we do from a sinful motive. It stains our
every action. It stains our every motive. How
evil we are. How desperately wicked our hearts
are, we're lepers. Like Naaman, captain of the host
of the king of Syria, a great man and honorable, because by
him the Lord had given deliverance under Syria. He was a mighty
man in valor, we read, but he was a leper. He was a leper. and he was dying
and he was in desperate need to be cleansed and the Lord showed
mercy to him and cleansed him. What worth was his position in
this world as captain of the host of the king of Syria? What
worth was his great deeds He's a mighty man in valor. What good did any of these things
do him when he was a leper? What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? You may hear the gospel and pass
it by. You may live your life and seek
out your own goals and ambitions. You may seek a life of pleasure
and riches. You may do many great things
in this world. You may rise up through the ranks
and get to a great position in society. You may be thought well
of. But what good does it do you
if you're a leper about to waste away to nothing? frankly that's
what we all are. No matter who we are, where we
are, what position we attain to in life, we are a leper. Diseased from head to toe, full
of sin, corrupt, heading to the grave, lost. And yet Christ saved Naaman the
leper. And Christ healed lepers. He came unto them. He came unto
them in the gospel. He walked amongst them. He came
unto those that nobody else would have anything to do with. They'd
cast them out. And they may cast you out, sinner. You may have done things and
said things that have offended people, that have ruined your
reputation. men and women may despise you and say do you know what they've
done do you know what they said you may feel cast out by all
but there's one there's a savior Jesus Christ of whom John the
Baptist spake who came to cleanse sinners, to make them clean head
to toe, to make them righteous, to take away their sin. to take
away the corruption, to take away that which would cause them
to die, to clean them head to toe, to make them the righteousness
of God in Him. He went to the cross in the lepers'
stead. He took the lepers' disease upon
Him. He took all their leprosy of
all His people upon Himself. He was made sin in their stead. that he might wash them clean
in his blood and make them perfect without spot or blemish as he
come unto you a leper and touched you and cleansed you the blind
receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear the deaf hear how this finds us all out Here
we sit, hearing with the outward ear the Gospel of Christ, hearing
of Christ and His mighty works, hearing the witness sent unto
John the Baptist, of whom Christ is, that yes, indeed, He is the
One that should come. You look for none other. He is
the Saviour of sinners. Here we hear, but do we hear? We may have heard the Gospel
a thousand times, but did we ever hear? Has God the Father,
by His Spirit, spoken unto us concerning His Son? This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Oh, what a witness the father
gave to his son when he was baptized of John. John was there, and
yet John imprisoned doubts. Have you heard the witness? Have
you heard the Lord speak from heaven on high, this is my beloved
son? Has he caused you to hear? By
nature we're deaf. We cannot hear. We hear the words,
but we hear nothing. We hear the gospel, but we hear
nothing. Spiritually, we're dead, blind,
deaf. Nothing enters in. Yet Christ
comes unto the deaf and makes them hear. He is their ears. He causes them to hear what the
Spirit sayeth to the churches. He touches the deadiers, the
deafiers, and causes the sound of his gospel by his Spirit to
enter in. As Isaiah writes, Hear ye deaf,
and look ye blind, that ye may see. Hear ye deaf, and look ye
blind, that ye may see. Oh that God should come unto
us, where we are even today. And if that's us, that he should
say unto our souls, hear ye deaf, and look ye blind, that ye may
see. The blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and
the dead are raised up. the dead are raised up why are
we blind to these things? because we're dead dead in trespasses
and sins why are we lame without strength? because we're dead
why are we lepers? because we're dead in our sins
and those sins have slain us Why can we not hear? Because
we're dead. Dead by nature, dead spiritually,
dead in trespasses and sins, dead from head to toe, dead totally. We are totally depraved, totally
without life. What we call life is just for
a moment, a physical sustaining upon this world, but when we
enter Eternity, if we know not Christ, we will enter into darkness
and enter into judgment. We're condemned already for our
rebellion. We're dead and we need to live. Dead man can't make decisions. Dead man cannot respond to a
call to come to the front. Dead men do not receive Jesus. Dead men do not accept Jesus
into their hearts. Dead men cannot live righteous
works. Dead men cannot keep the law
of God. They're dead. And dead men require
a Saviour to come unto them and call unto them. Live Can these bones live, Ezekiel? Can these dead, dry bones live? Thou knowest, Lord. Cry unto them, live. And they
will live. Lazarus was dead. Dead in the
grave four days. Rotting in his death in the tomb. But when Christ came unto him,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Yes, Christ makes the dead to
live. He gives them life. He speaks
and they live. He is their life. Everlasting
eternal life. Is he your life? Has he come
unto your graveside and said live? Or are you yet dry bones in a
valley of death? Unable to move. Does the gospel
just wash over you? meaningless irrelevant of no interest you
have no concern because you're dead or has the spirit of God
begun to blow and begun to stir and begun to awaken has he sounded
an alarm has he caused you to cry out art thou he that should
come Can you save me? Can you make me to see? Can you
cause me to walk? Can you cleanse me of my leprosy,
my sin? Can you cause me to hear? Can
you give me life? Oh Lord have mercy upon me, the
sinner and the poor. have the gospel
preached to them. We're poor. We may have all that
this world can give us. We may be like Naaman. We may
be a captain of the host, a mighty man of valor. We may have been
raised up to a great height, but he was a leper. He came into
this world with nothing, he'd go out of this world with nothing.
Truly he had nothing, he was poor. And no matter what we may
have, no matter what ability we may have, no matter what knowledge
and wisdom we may have, no matter what position or birthright we
may have, truly we are poor. Spiritually
we are dead, blind, deaf, unclean. We have nothing in ourselves,
nothing of any worth, none of our righteousnesses are of any
worth before a holy God. We're dead in our sins. We're poor. And yet it's the
poor unto whom Christ comes. However he won that first death. Come ye to the waters and drink.
He that is without money, come ye by and eat. Are you poor? For it's the poor that Christ
comes unto. How poor were the blind in his
day! They could not see, they sat
by the wayside and begged. How poor were the lame! They
could not walk, they could not work. How poor were the lepers
living in the caves. How poor were the deaf. How poor
were the dead. The poor have the gospel preached
today. When you're rich in your own
eyes you've got no time for it. You've got no need for it. When
you're rich in your own righteousness you think you live you think
you know like the Pharisee you think you're upright you think
that you're walking a right oh you're full of your own riches
like the rich young ruler that came unto Christ sell all that
ye have and he went away sorrowful give it all up count it all as
done like Paul did count it all as loss in your knowing Christ. See yourself for what you are. See your good deeds for the filthy
rags that they are before a holy God. See them as wickedness and
as pride. See your poverty. When God makes
you to see your poverty, then you will hear his gospel. then you shall no longer be offended
in Christ, then you shall be blessed. Has God shown you your
poverty? All we've got by nature is our
sin. That's all we have. And yet Christ
comes unto poor, needy sinners who've got nothing but sins to
offer, nothing but their blindness, their deafness, their leprosy. When the poor and needy seek
water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for first,
I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The poor have the gospel
preached to them. Are you poor? Are you blind? Are you lame? Are you deaf? Are you dead? Thou sayest, I
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked, the Lord says in Revelation. Are you rich, increased with
goods and in need of nothing? Or are you wretched, miserable,
poor, blind and naked, in need of a saviour to pass your way? Christ died for sinners like
you and I. The poor, the miserable, the
blind and the naked. He came to where we are and He
comes to where we are. He seeks us out wherever you
are and whatever you've done and however proud you may be
in your position put it all to one side and be honest before
God that you're nothing and you need saving for He and he alone
makes the blind to see, the lame to walk. He cleanses lepers,
he makes the deaf hear, he makes the dead live, and in the gospel
he makes the poor rich. How does he? By being plunged
into the darkness for those who are blind. By walking the heavy
steps to Jerusalem, outside of Jerusalem, to the cross upon
which his feet were nailed to give strength to the lame. By
taking the leper's very corruption and sin upon himself, being made
sin from head to toe, bearing the sinner's sins that he might
cleanse them, cleanse the leper, wash him clean and make him righteous
inside and out. Did he bear your sins, your corruption,
your leprosy? How does he save? By preaching
his gospel from the cross. declaring Christ and him crucified,
by showing forth unto the world this is who I am and this is
where I went that you should live, by dying that dead men
should live. by hanging in their place, suffering
the wrath of God that they deserve, by becoming poor in order that
he might give his all to the poor, that in him they might
be rich. How does he save? By dying in
the sinister. Oh has God shown you when you
cry out, is He the Saviour? Is Christ real? Is He the one
that should come or am I looking for another? Oh that He should
say unto you. The blind receive their sight. The lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor
have the gospel preached to them, because I hung upon the cross
in their place. Look unto me. Look unto me, ye poor, and be
rich. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Yes, how does he save? He went
into the darkness that the blind should see. He walked to the
cross that the lame should be made whole. He was made sin that
the leper should be cleansed. He died that the dead should
live. God give us grace to come unto
Him. and live. Christ says at the
end of this chapter, come unto me all ye that labour and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find
rest unto your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Come unto me. and live, ye dead
sinners. Come unto me and see ye blind. Come unto me and walk ye lame. Come unto me and be cleansed,
ye leper. Come unto me and hear ye deaf. Come unto me and be rich, ye
poor. Come unto me and live, you who
are dead. O God, give us grace to come
unto Christ, the Saviour of sinners, He who should come. Amen.
About Ian Potts
Ian Potts is a preacher of the Gospel at Honiton Sovereign Grace Church in Honiton, UK. He has written and preached extensively on the Gospel of Free and Sovereign Grace. You can check out his website at graceandtruthonline.com.
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