In Matthew chapter 8, in verse
1, it says, when He was come down from the mountain, our Lord
Jesus Christ had been preaching there His Sermon on the Mount,
in this mountain. And as He came down, it says,
great multitudes followed Him. And behold, now these are shocking
words, and behold, There came a leper. It's spoken as if he comes from
this crowd. There in the midst of this crowd
that's following him, there comes a leper. This is shocking. The disease of leprosy was such
a horrible disease that lepers were quarantined. They were kept
separate, without the camp, cut off from the people. And if a
leper came near to a person, he had to cry out, unclean, unclean,
so that he didn't come into contact with anybody else. So you picture
this scene now. Here's this leper, and he's making
his way along with the clamor of this people, with this crowd
of people. And he's probably crying out, unclean, unclean,
as he comes through. And the people, can you imagine?
Everybody jumping clear of this fellow, standing back from this
fellow. He's a leper. And he comes and
they don't even want to touch this one that's got this awful
disease. They don't want to come in contact
with this fellow. And so finally he gets to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it says there in verse 2,
"...and he worshipped him..." That means he fell on his face
at the feet of Christ. "...saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean." Now I picture this crowd in silent
suspense. just stopped in their tracks.
This man is a leper. This man's unclean. Anything
that comes in contact with this man is unclean. This is a contagious
disease. What's the Master going to do?
What's the Lord Jesus Christ going to do? Can you Picture the suspense
of this crowd standing there watching this. What's Christ
going to do? Verse 3, And Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. I've titled this message, Mercy
Salked, Mercy Found. This leper that nobody else would
even as much as touch, much less show any mercy to, he came begging
mercy from the hand of the great physician. And this leper obtained
mercy. The Lord cleansed him immediately
with a touch. He cleansed him. Is there anybody
here, is there anybody, young or old, male or female, that is in the condition that
this man was in? A sinner. Absolutely hopeless. in yourself. Absolutely incurable
in yourself. Absolutely helpless to help yourself. This man didn't have a friend
in the world. Not a friend. This man didn't
have anybody that could help him. He was alone. Is there anybody here like that? Do you see hope for you in this
leper? The Lord made this man whole. Why wouldn't He do the same for
anybody that comes to Him like this leper came? Do you see hope for yourself in
this leper? Christ Jesus cleanses all that come to Him seeking mercy. I can say that without reservation.
I can say that without any hesitation at all. The problem is do we know what
it is to come seeking mercy? To come seeking mercy. He forgives, He cleanses, He
makes whole everybody that comes to Him seeking mercy. So why don't you come to Him
seeking mercy? If He did it for this leper,
do you think He'd do it for you? Somebody might say, but how do
I seek mercy? How is it I seek mercy? That's what we're going to look
at right here in this verse. Mercy obtained is mercy sought for. And mercy
sought for will always be mercy obtained. Always. I want you
to see three things here. First of all, to seek mercy from
Christ is to come in desperate need. The second thing to seek
mercy is to come in true humility. This man came and fell down at
his feet. And the third thing to seek mercy
is to come submitting in faith to Christ. This man said, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Now somebody here might
say, well, this doesn't apply to me because I've already come
to Christ. I've already come to Him and
sought mercy and I already found mercy from Him. So this doesn't
apply to me. Listen to me and listen carefully. Seeking mercy from Christ is
not something we do and get it out of the way and we're done
with that. That's not seeking mercy from Christ. Seeking mercy
from Christ is not deciding one day, okay, I'm going to believe
on Him. It's not deciding, all right,
I'm going to let Him do something for me. It's not deciding one
day, I'm going to be baptized. Those things, being baptized,
following Him, confessing Him, is the fruit of what Christ does
in the heart. Seeking His mercy is the fruit
of what Christ does in the heart. He seeks us first and then we'll
seek Him. We'll seek Him. But mercy is
something the believer comes begging Christ for all the days
that we live on this earth. It's a perpetual state of life
for the believer. If you've ever sought mercy from
Him once, you know mercy is what you need constantly. And mercy
is what you seek of Him continually. And you never stop seeking mercy
from Him. And the way we begin seeking mercy from Him, right
here as we're going to look at, this is how we seek mercy from
Him the rest of our days. All right, let's see. First of
all, to seek mercy from Christ is to come in desperate need.
This man was a leper. Leprosy is one of the best pictures
in scripture of what sin is. Leprosy, just like sin, it made
everything it touched unclean. That's what sin does. Our sin. Like sin, it was incurable. It couldn't be cured by a man.
Like sin, it consumed. That's what leprosy did. That's
what sin done. Leprosy would consume a man's
hair would fall out. His nails would fall out. His joints would become out of
joint and dislocated. His teeth would come out. His
skin would deteriorate and fall off of the skeleton. When you look at a baby, And
you see it just smooth and just pretty. And then you look at
a man who's been around for 80 or 90 years. Do you see what
sin does? Sin does exactly what leprosy
does. Just looking at it in the outward
form, just in the flesh, we see what sin does. It becomes worse
and worse in the heart, and it always ends in death. In death. You may not have leprosy,
but you have a disease worse than leprosy. It's sin. It's
sin. This leper knew he had a desperate
need. This leper, if he looked in the
mirror, the only thing he saw was leprosy. This man, if he
was doing anything at all, He was making everything unclean.
This man, if he was doing nothing at all, was a leper. And this man, if he left in this
condition, he's dead, he's dying, and he will be eternally dead. He's a picture of sin. That's
what this man is. Do you know that condition? Do you know that's what you are
by nature? That's what you are in this flesh,
is sin. That's what the believer is in
the flesh, is sin. Sin. And I think this leper knew
he had something worse than leprosy. I think this leper knew his problem
was sin. He didn't come and say, heal
me of my leprosy. He came and said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. The Lord had been in this mountain
preaching. And He had been rebuking the
self-righteous. He had been declaring that sin
is in the heart. And I don't know if this leper
was somewhere around that mountain. I don't know if he was listening
to what was going on. But this leper did exactly what
the Lord said as he preached this message. Turn back to Matthew
5. Matthew 5 and look at verse 20. He said, I say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Now these were men that if you
looked at them you thought, you can't get any more righteous
than these folks. Look at what the Lord said. You've
heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Whoever say to
his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever
shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire." He's
saying this thing is in the heart. Sin proceeds out of the heart.
This is what defiles a man. This is what makes a man unclean. It's not that which is without
a man. It's what's coming from within
him that makes a man unclean. And look what the Lord said,
Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave
there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled
to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with
thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him,
lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and
the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into
prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out
thence, till thou pay the uttermost farthing. You know what this
leper did? He did exactly what the Lord
said. He came and agreed, agreed with his adversary very quickly. He came and agreed with him while
he was in the way with him. He came while Christ was near. Christ was the one that had ought
against him. God's the one that had it all
against him. And this leper came to him right away. The rest of
them were following, came down out of the mountain, were following
behind him. This man came to him. He came to him. That's what Christ is saying.
He said, don't try to come to me offering me gifts. Leave your
gifts behind. You come and agree with your
adversary, confess what you are. Come to me and own what you are. That's confession of sin. Repentance
is owning that everything we are, everything we've ever done,
everything we've ever thought, everything we've ever said, everything
about us is absolutely leprosy. Nothing but sin. And this man
came right away. Do you see your need of his cleansing? Do you know that without Christ
you're like this leper? Just like this leper was. So
before any sinner seeks mercy, before we seek mercy, we're gonna
have to have need. And that need means we don't
have anything to bring. We got nothing to bring. We got
nothing to bring to the table. We got nothing to offer. That's
what mercy is. It's giving you something you
don't have and can't have. Only Christ can give it. Here's
the second thing. To seek mercy is to come to Christ
in true humility. Verse 2 says, and behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him. Luke tells us, seeing Jesus,
he fell on his face. Seeing Jesus, he fell on his
face. When are we going to fall on
our face? When we see the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what
true worship is. It's to be prostrate. That means
flat. That means broken and contrite
in the heart. It means, you can lay down on
your face all you want to. You could come up here, if we
had a mourner's bench, you could come up here and lay down until
your head's bruised. It's a heart contrition. It's
a heart brokenness. That's what it is. Through the
gospel, Christ comes. In this covenant, this light,
He breaks the hard heart and He gives the heart of flesh.
And when He gives the heart of flesh, that's when we become
undone. That's when all our righteousnesses
become as filthy rags. That's a nice way of putting
it. It's mistral cloths. That's what everything that we
have ever done is. That's what all our righteousnesses
are now, that believe, apart from Christ cleansing blood.
We're made to be fully unclean when we behold Christ the fountain
that's open for cleansing. We're made to become fully poor
in spirit, nothingness, when we see Christ who is all. We're
made to become absolutely mourners, sorrowful, crying, desperately seeing the abhorrence of our
own condition when we behold Christ. That's when we're going
to be made to hunger and thirst after righteousness, when we
see Him who is righteousness. St. Job said, I've heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. You know where the dust is? It's
in the ground. It's at the sole of the foot. You know where this man came? He came and bowed down to Christ. That means if we're going to
come to Him, in the first hour, in every hour, in all hours,
in the hour of worship. in the hour of prayer, in the
hour of need, in the hour of plenty, every time we come to
Him, we're coming to Him down. We're coming to Him down from
the pride of our self-righteousness. We're coming to Him down from
the pride of some self-sufficiency in us. We're coming to Him down
from anything that's in us at all. We're coming down to the
feet of Christ. Our Lord said in that sermon,
broad is the way, Wide is the gate, many go in that way, and
few enter in at the straight gate. That way is narrow. Our
Lord says the majority of the people in this world never seek
Christ's mercy. You know why? They never come
down, never have a need, never come down and heart is broken
from that pride to bow down at his feet. This leper came down. And you know what happens to
those who are broken in spirit? Look back at Matthew 5.3. Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. That's
all going to be done by Christ. All going to be done by Him.
Here's the third thing. To seek mercy is to come to Christ
submitting in faith. Look at what He said, verse 2.
He said, Lord, not just Lord as some other earthly master. He came on in Christ to be the
Son of God. Lord. Lord, if thou wilt, if
you're willing, thou can make me clean. As bad as his disease
was, as bad as his sin was, though he'd been cast out of the camp,
though everybody had turned their back on him, he heard Christ
say something. He heard this in his heart. If
he didn't hear it in that particular Sermon on the Mount, he heard
this in his heart. Christ said this in this sermon. Look at Matthew 7. Christ said this, ask, and it
shall be given you. Seek, and it shall be opened
unto you. You shall find. Knock, and it
shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.
And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Not everybody
asks. Not everybody seeks. Not everybody
knocks. But those that do, this is what
the Lord says, it's open to them. They receive, they find. This man came making absolutely
no demands whatsoever. He didn't come making any demands.
He came and said, Lord, if you will, are you thinking Anybody
here so arrogantly, foolishly, deplorably ignorant as to think
we're going to be saved by our will, that we're going to make
God willing to do something by our will? We can't stop ourselves from
catching a cold by our will, much less cure ourselves of it.
We can't do it. The will of man is the most impotent,
weak, nothing thing there is in this world. Salvation depends
upon the will of the Lord. Salvation is not dependent upon
our will. Mercy is His to give to whomsoever
He will. The Lord said to Moses, I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion upon
whom I'll have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
God put a people in Christ by his will. Christ came and laid
down his life and redeemed them from all iniquity, purging them
of all their sin by his one offering, by his will. And it's by the
will of the Spirit of God that he calls a sinner. In the season
of his love, he regenerates us. And in the day of his power,
then he makes us willing. And when we were made willing,
will come to Christ saying, Lord, if you're willing, if you're
willing, if you're willing, it's your right to give me mercy or
to withhold mercy from me. It's your right to shed your
grace on me or withhold your grace from me. Lord, whatever
is glorifying to you, Lord, if you're willing, And until then,
we're just arrogant little pygmies stomping our feet like a little
temper tantrum in front of God trying to make him do something
by our will. Until we're just down at his
feet saying, Lord, whatever you will, whatever you will. But
he came in that way believing God. That's what coming in faith
is. Look at this. He said, Lord,
if you will, thou can make me clean. I believe you can make
me clean." And do you see what he said here? I believe you can
make me clean. This one who is absolutely so wretched in sin, Lord if you're
willing, you can make me clean. even me. See, salvation's personal. Here's the question. Do you believe
Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe Christ is God's
Christ? That He's God's salvation? That
He's the only salvation that God is saved by? Do you believe
that Christ has done what he claims he's done? That when he
said, it is finished, do you believe Christ finished, thoroughly,
making you completely and totally accept of God so that there remains
absolutely nothing else to be done? Do you believe Christ has
power to cleanse you of all sin? Without faith. It's impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, that He is, that He is God, that He is salvation,
that He is righteousness, that He is sanctification, that He
is redemption, that He is all. And coming we believe He is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You see, to come to
Him the way this leper came to Him, this is what it is to diligently
seek Christ. To diligently seek Him. How did
He come? He came in desperate need. Into
my hand no price I bring. I don't have anything, Lord.
He came in complete humility, broken down at Christ's feet.
And He came submitting in faith, completely surrendering to the
Lord's will, completely casting all hope of salvation into Christ's
hand. If thou wilt, thou can make me
clean. Now listen to me one more time.
The Lord Jesus Christ has never He says this, He never rejects
a sinner who comes the way this leper came. Never. God is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Don't seek your will, don't seek
your wisdom, don't seek your work, don't seek your acts, don't
seek anything you have done. Diligently come completely and
totally cast it all into his hand. He said this, the Lord
said this, Malachi 3.10, prove me. He said, try me. Test me. Prove me, he said. Sayeth the Lord of hosts, see
if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a
blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
He said, prove me. There has to be something. That
leprosy has to be so thoroughly, desperately wicked in us, sin,
that would make us sit and not come to Him. When He says that
freely, come to Me. Come to Me. That tells us the
only ones that's coming are those He's drawing. The only ones He's
broken. The only ones He's made to come.
Listen to this song. Will you prove him? Listen to
this song. I can but perish if I go. I am resolved to try. For if
I stay away, I know I must forever die. But if I die with mercy
sought, when I, the king, have tried, this were to die. This would be to die as sinner
never die. You see the wisdom in that song?
If I sit here in my sin, a complete and total dead man, dying, wicked,
I'm going to never be clean. If I come to it, the worst that
can happen to me is I'm going to end up being right where I'm
at. But there's never been anybody
that's tried the King. There's never been anybody that's
tried Him, His faithfulness to His Word. It come to Him truly
seeking mercy. There's never been a sinner that
perished in his sin that ever came that way. It's coming completely
trusting Christ to do everything. God to get all the glory and
all the praise. We have to save you by His grace.
This leper sought mercy. Did he find it? Did he find it? If just one sinner that ever
came this way seeking mercy found it, that ought to be all the
evidence I need that God will receive me if I come like he
came. This is what he found out, verse 3. Jesus put forth his
hand and touched him, saying, I will, I will be thou clean. If God's willing, all He's got
to do is say, be thou clean. And immediately, his leprosy
was cleansed. Remember this right here, if
you don't get anything else from this message, remember this.
Mercy, salt. True mercy. Mercy, salt. He is always mercy obtained. Amen.