Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. Very familiar passage of scripture. Matthew chapter 8. The Lord In chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the
book of Matthew, preached what we know as the Sermon on the
Mount. And he talked about the blessing
of his people. Verse 3, chapter 5, the poor
in spirit. Those that mourn of what they
see in themselves. The meek. Those subject. Those servants. Those that hunger and thirst
after righteousness. Gods, not theirs. The merciful. have obtained mercy and show
mercy. The pure in heart, those given
a new heart, they're going to see God. The peacemakers, those
that peace has been made for. And he preached this message,
and the scripture says, after he preached, now in chapter 8,
verse 1, When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed Him. Now, for what intent, we don't
know. There were times that people
followed Him, great multitudes followed Him, and the Lord began to preach to them,
and they began to leave. I know this. If the Lord doesn't
keep us, we won't stay. We will leave. But the scripture says in verse
2, And behold, now great, great multitudes followed him. But take a look at this amazing
thing, is what the Spirit of God says. There came a leper
and worshipped him. Leprosy was the most fearful
and dreaded of all diseases. Leprosy, no cure, no known cure,
humanly speaking. Man had leprosy, he gonna die,
he gonna die. But is that not a fit picture of sin. Now listen, every man, every
woman born in this world is born in sin. And we're going to die. We're
going to die. Wages of sin is death. We're not going to get out of
this world unless the Lord comes back. second coming. We which remain on this earth,
we're not going to prevent those that die. We'll meet the Lord
in the air after they do. It's a precious thing to die
in the Lord. The Lord is going to bless it. Those that died in Christ, they're
going to be raised first. We'll meet Him in the air, be
with the Lord. But scripture says, All that
great multitude followed Him, and behold, take note, a leper,
a sinner, one that was eaten up with this dreaded disease. And that's the way we all are.
We're eaten up with a dreaded disease, sin. And the Scripture
says that this leper worshipped Him. Mark 1.40 says concerning
this account, beseeching Him and kneeling down to Him. The
Lord gave us some understanding concerning John 4. You can hold
your place there. I'll read, if you want to, I'll
read John 4. He was talking to a woman at
the well. He had gone through Samaria and
Luke I'm sorry, John chapter 4, verse 23. He said, The hour
cometh now is true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. Not that He's trying to find,
trying to find somebody. No, He seeks them and they come. And they worship. It gives them
a new heart. Whenever Abraham was told by
the Lord concerning Isaac, his son, his only son, that's what
the Lord said. He said, I want you to take that
son. Now you have to understand, I've said this before, but it
never ceases to amaze me, the wonder of God-given faith. Isaac was Abraham's son. And in Isaac, the Lord said,
was going to come the Messiah, thy seed is going to be blessed.
Come down through the lineage of time and through the loins
of Isaac was going to come the Messiah into this world. And the Lord told Abraham, he
said, I want you to sacrifice Isaac unto me as a burnt offering. Scripture says that Abraham staggered
not at the promise of God. That's an amazing thing. And
Isaac is going to come to Messiah, I want you to sacrifice him unto
me. And Abraham believed God. And he saddled up the donkeys,
got the helpers. It took Isaac three days. They
came to the place and God said, this is the place. And the scripture said, Abraham
told the servants, you stay here with the ass. He said, I and
the lad are going to go up yonder and we're going to worship. Worship. The essence of worship
is obedience. Obedience. hear the Word of the Lord. The
Spirit of God gives a man, a woman, a heart to hear the Word of the
Lord and they worship. True worship is a response of
the new heart which by faith manifests obedience to God's
Word. Whatever the Lord says, I said
this last week, whatever this book says, That's the way it
is. That's it. I've said before. Did God say
He elected the people from before the foundation of the world?
Let me tell you what worship does. It believes God. I believe
God. I believe God's got an elect.
That's worship. I lay down my life for the sheep.
Worship is believe God. That's worship. That's worship.
to believe God, trust God's word. Worship is found where a sinner
believes the Lord and beholds Him as our life. And again, places
no confidence in the flesh. And this leper worshipped. And what he did was, worship
was of the heart. He told that woman at the well,
you know. True worshippers. Worship in
spirit, and truth. And out of the abundance of a
believer's heart, his mouth speaks, he just says what's inside. There
came a leper and he worshipped him, saying, Lord, either he's the Lord or I'm the
Lord. Either He's God or man is God. There can't be two gods. Either God Almighty rules and
reigns or man rules and reigns. Now which is it? Lord, if thou wilt. That's either God's will or my
will. It can't be both. Either God's will is the issue
or my will is the issue. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. It's either God's power or my
power. It's either God's work or my
work. God's ability or my ability to cleanse me from all pollution. If you will, you make me clean. It's either Christ's blood or
my decision. Now what's it going to be? I'll
tell you what the true worshipper does. They believe God. Lord, you can if you're so pleased. And I'll tell you this, that
is the continual plea, request, worship of everyone made to see
themselves as a helpless, needy sinner. He came. I love that. He came. And He worshipped. And let me
tell you what a believer does. He comes to Christ. And then he comes to Christ. And then he comes to Christ. The scripture says, him that
cometh to all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me, him that cometh, I've told you that ETH,
that is a progressive, that's a continual, continual. I've
heard so many people say, I've said this foolishly years ago,
when based all of my hope, my profession, that I came to the
Lord when I was 11, 14, whatever. I came to the Lord. Let me tell
you something. Whenever you consider your salvation,
if you go back to a date, that's too long ago. That's just too long ago. Him
that cometh to me. A believer will go to his grave
coming to Christ. Him that comes and comes right
now. You that believe, you're coming
to Christ right now. Everyone that cometh to me and
keeps on coming appealing to His mercy, to His
strength, to His will. This is what I plea right now.
Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. Almighty God has saved us, He's
saving us, and He will save us. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. I need Christ to save me." And
the scripture says, "...and Jesus put forth His hand, that hand
of omnipotence, and touched him." All that come to Him, He's touched
and touches. that hand of power, He fastened
Himself to the leper and spoke the words of power, I will. To hear Him by faith, for me
to ask Him all that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast Him
out. And right now, I say as I have
said and by the grace of God will say, Lord, I'm coming the only way I know
how. I don't know any other way to come. I don't know what else
to do. In my heart, that heart that's
been made to see and to need and to love, I'm coming the only
way I know how. Lord, I believe that You're the
Lord. And I'm asking You, Lord, if
You will, will You save me? Will You make me clean? And the
scripture says, Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying,
I will be thou clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. I'll tell you what a believer
believes. He believes that coming to Christ and based on his word and his power and his grace and
his mercy Lord, You said, Lord, You said, He that cometh to me. And Lord, I'm coming. I'm coming. I'm not trusting. That leper
wasn't trusting his ability to get rid of leprosy. I can tell
you that. If the Lord doesn't save him,
cleanse him, he's going to die. He's going to die. I know this,
if Lord doesn't cleanse me, I'm going to die. Lord, don't leave
me to myself. Lord, I'm in trouble. I need
some help. I need for you to cleanse me.
He touched him. And his leprosy was cleansed.
You know what I believe? I believe that for a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them in Christ Jesus. I believe that. Do you see the evidence of sin
in you? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Do you feel the weight
of that sin warring against you, new man? Yes, I do. Yes, I do.
But I'm going to tell you something. I believe this. I believe that
this corruptible, this corruption is going to put on incorruption.
That's what I believe. I believe I'm going to be changed.
I say with Job, I believe with these eyes I'm going to see God,
but they're going to be some clean, new eyes. Going to be
my eyes, but there's not going to be any sin there. I tell you
what, that's some comfort, that's some peace. And in closing, Jesus
saith unto him, See thou tell no man, but go thy way and show
thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded
for a testimony unto them. See thou tell no man." What he
did was done in the open. Everybody saw it. They knew what
it was. But what he was saying is, don't
stop on your journey. You do what I command you to
do. Don't stand there and converse. You go your way and show yourself
to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded. is doing
exactly what he came to do. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law, I came to fulfill it. The law of Moses commanded that
the leper that was cleansed was to show himself to the priest
and the priest would pronounce him clean. Every jot and every
tittle of the law was honored by the Lord Jesus Christ. That
ceremonial law at that point in time was not abolished. He
had not died. And He did just exactly what
He had come into this world to do, to fulfill the law. Earning the righteousness and
obedience to the law here. He was obedient what he told
that man right there. I Needed that right there charge
to my account. I needed obedience. Oh But what
a glorious picture here in Christ Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness Have I obeyed the law? Yes, I have. In Him. In me? No. No. I've never obeyed one point.
But I'll tell you this, with His righteousness imputed to
me, I have obeyed God in Christ. And as the Father says to the
Son, that is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased, everyone
in Him, chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world, God's well pleased with them
too, being in His Son. Lord, I'm coming to You. And Lord, I'm asking, if you
will, and I know this, you said you're going to have mercy on
whom you'll have mercy. That's what you said. And Lord,
I'm not saying, I'm not declaring that I've got any worth. I'm
just asking you, would you have mercy and compassion on me? Lord,
would you save me for Christ's sake? He said, all that come
to me, I'm not going to cast you out. Don't look to you. Don't look inside. There's no
comfort there. You look to Christ.