All right, we're going to begin
our second service with two hymns. The first hymn will be number
15 in your hardback. Number 15, Brethren, We Have
Meant to Worship. I'm going to play it again. Brethren, we have met to worship
and adore the Lord our God. You pray with all your power
while we try to preach the word. All is vain unless the Spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming, hell is
moving, can you bear to let them go? See our brothers and our
mothers and our children sinking down. Then pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about our
Savior, tell them Him we will be found. Sisters, pray in holy
manner, we'll be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely,
let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners
till our God makes all things new. Then He'll call us home
to Heaven. At His table we'll sit down. Christ will gird Himself and
serve us with sweet manna all around. Our second hymn will be out of
your soft folder, number 121, Go to Christ, 121. That's to
the tune of Rock of Ages. Is your heart all full of sin? Is your mind corrupt within? Do you seek God's just decree
that you die eternally? Go then now to God's own Son. By Him all salvation's done. Does the bleeding sacrifice accent
all your sin and vice? Does the cross your heart condemn? Do you cry, wretched I am? Jump into the cleansing flood
made of Jesus' holy blood. Righteous judgment on Christ
fell, Saving all His own from hell. Sins of scarlet crimson
died, Are forgiven eternally, For the one in Christ's trust. God forgives, for God is just, Why then do you hesitate? He'll forgive it, why do you
wait? All his promises are sure. Rest in Christ, you'll be secure. None who trust the crucified
ever find their soul denied. I'm going to read from 1 John
4. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are God, because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is not of God,
and this is that Spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already it is in the world. Ye are of
God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater
is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are
of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world
heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth
God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
the truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another,
For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. And this was manifest, the love
of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son
into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love. not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfect in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in Him, and he is in us, because he hath given us his
spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of our world.
Whosoever should confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and He that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him because he first
loved us, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother,
he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God loveth
his brother also. God has blessed me. Father, we
come before thee in the morning hour to stay. Thank Thee that
we could gather here and hear Thy word this morning already
and to hear Thy word again. Lord, we ask a blessing upon
our gathering, all that would be in our midst. Lord, that we
may look unto Thee, Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, for all our
help and our salvation, to trust Him and rest in Him. Father,
we think of those that are sick. And Lord, whatever is in him,
again, bring him back into our midst. Watch over and protect
us. We pray for Eric as he brings
forth this message. Lord, give him what he stands
in need of and do himself. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, take your Bibles and turn
to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, and we're going
to be picking up in verse 40 to the end. 40 through 45. Mark 1, 40 through 45. And there came a leper to him,
beseeching him and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him,
If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.' And Jesus moved with
compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto
him, I will, be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
And he straightly charged him, and forthwith sent him away,
and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man, but go
thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing
those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to
publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that
Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without
in desert places, and they came to him from every quarter. The man or woman that's here
this morning knowing themselves to be a filthy sinner, to be
as repulsive as a leper is repulsive to the people around them, whose
flesh is rotten and they're unable to heal themselves and to make
themselves To be cleansed, this passage provides great hope for
such sinners, great hope. For if Christ showed mercy and
grace to that poor leper in this passage, then perhaps Christ
will show mercy and grace to this poor leper standing before
you who is in need of his grace and healing and mercy. My prayer
this morning is that we'll see in this message here that there
is mercy to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's mercy to
be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The leper, this leper in this
passage, he came to the right one. He came to the Lord Jesus
Christ. For Christ receiveth sinners. He receives sinners and heals
them and their sin and their corruption and he restores life
to them. Our title is, A Leper Cleansed. A Leper Cleansed. We'll have
three divisions. The Need Felt, and then we'll
see Mercy Sought, and then Mercy Found. Alright, the Need Felt. We know that Christ healed many
people, right? When he was here in the flesh,
he healed many people. The scriptures say in Mark 134,
Christ healed many that were sick of diverse diseases and
cast out many devils. The fact that this text here
is in particular being highlighted for us, calling our attention
to this particular one, it should cause us to pause and think,
well, why is this one of all the healings that he's done,
why is this one in particular being brought out and brought
to my attention? And the reason is because when
looking at this leper and how this leper came to Christ seeking
mercy, it shows us how every sinner in need of grace is to
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see how we're to come to Christ
and to seek Him for mercy and forgiveness, and as that leper
found mercy and forgiveness, so we too believe and trust that
Lord, if you've done this, if you've shown me my need and caused
me to come to you, then surely, Lord, please have mercy. I trust
that you'll have mercy upon me and forgive me. So if there's
any among us this morning who's a sinner in need of Christ, listen
up, for this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Christ
is able and willing to heal and to receive and to forgive and
cleanse all those who come to him seeking that mercy and that
grace. To him, Peter said, give all the prophets witness that
through his name, whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission
of sins. All right, Mark 140, there came
a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him. Now
we don't have leprosy in our day. We don't see it the way
that it was affecting people in that day, right? So it's probably
good that we should consider what leprosy is, because probably
many of us don't even really know what it is. If you turn
over to Numbers 12, Numbers 12 there, all the way in the beginning
of the Bible, Numbers 12 verse 9, we find a place where Miriam
and Aaron actually were speaking against Moses. And they were
saying, Moses, you take too much to yourself, and you need to
share a little bit of things with us, because we're also children
of God, so why don't you share some of the leadership with us. And it says in Numbers 12, verse
9, that the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and
he departed, and the cloud departed from off the tabernacle. And
behold, Miriam became leprous. She's the sister of Moses and
she became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam
and behold she was leprous. Now this is a terrifying thing,
right? It's like going to the doctor
for a routine checkup and You have some blood work done and
you think, all right, he's just going to tell me, hey, your cholesterol
is a little high. And he comes in and tells you,
you have cancer and you're going to die in three months. You know,
it's very shocking to suddenly hear this. And so Aaron sees
this. And now suddenly Miriam, right
before his eyes, is white with leprosy. And Aaron said unto
Moses, verse 11, Alas, my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin
upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have
sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of
whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's
womb. He's talking about the effects
of leprosy. And when babies with leprosy
were born, they came out half consumed already in their flesh.
They were already falling apart and dying even at that young
age. Leprosy has been described as a disease that would make
the hair of a person to fall out of their head, fall out of
their eyebrows, but more than just alopecia, it would be your
fingernails would begin to rot and corrupt and fall out. Even
it says that the joints in your fingers and in your toes, they
would start to just corrupt and work their way back and just
fall off and fall off and fall off until you lost all your fingers
and your toes and your gums would disappear and your teeth would
fall out. and your eyes and your nose and your ears all that stuff
just starts to kind of like consume away and just melt off. So it's
very grotesque and it's horrific and you can kind of empathize
that if you had something like that just how horrifying it would
be. And Leviticus 13 speaks to it
if you turn over to Leviticus 13 but a person there, you know, it's
a long chapter and it's going over how a priest is supposed
to look at a person and determine whether or not they have leprosy
and you constantly see at the end of it, very few times does
it say, he shall be called clean. Most of the time it's saying,
and you shall pronounce him unclean, unclean. unclean. It's very disturbing
and Leviticus 1344, here's a summary of it, says he's a leprous man,
he's unclean, the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean,
his plague is in his head, and the leper in whom the plague
is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall
put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague
shall be in him, he shall be defiled, he's unclean, he shall
dwell alone, without the camp shall his habitation be." So
if you had leprosy, you know that you had leprosy. It wouldn't
be long before you'd be reminded, as you reach out, oh that's a
nice thing, and then see your fingers falling off when you
go to reach it, and you realize, I've got leprosy, and this is
not going away, and this is a terrifying thing. It'd be always reminding
you, and you'd be remembering it. So the thing is that leprosy
correlates to what sin is in us and what it's doing to us. Sin, like leprosy, makes us unclean. Sin, like leprosy, is incurable. Sin, like leprosy, it's all-consuming. And sin, like leprosy, is certain
death. It's a horrible, horrific death. So sin and leprosy, there's a
lot of similarities there going on. So this leper knew what he
had, and he had a great need, and he was made very desperate
And so he probably heard Christ preaching in one of the cities,
because it said just before this that Christ went about the cities
to preach the gospel. And he comes to Christ, he's
coming to God, who alone can heal leprosy. There was no doctor
in that day that could heal leprosy. Only God could heal it. So it's
a perfect picture of sin. And the problem is, is that in
their day, just as it is in our day, Men and women don't realize
how terrible and awful the condition of sin is. We don't see its effects
like they saw with leprosy. You could see leprosy right out
there in your face for all to see how awful it is. But that's
the death that's worked in our hearts and in our flesh. We're
corrupt. We're unclean. We're consuming
away, withering away, and we can't cure ourselves. We can't
make ourselves well and make this thing better. So it's not
just bad, it's worse than what we even think it is. Turn it
over to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 and verse 1. Ephesians
2 and verse 1. We go here often, I quote from
this, because it's a very good summary. It's a reminder of what
we are as sinners in our very nature. Ephesians 2.1. And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience." We all walked
that way. We all were there under that
same power. Verse three, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind
And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So
just stay there in Ephesians 2 for a moment. What Paul is
saying is we're dead in trespasses and sins. We can't correct this. We can't fix this. We can't make
ourselves holy and righteous. We need someone else to cleanse
us of our sin. We need to be healed and forgiven
of our sin because in our minds by nature, we're enemies of God. We won't even seek after God
except God first seeks after us and shows us what we are in
our nature and shows us our need of Him. We're all judging Adam. Paul wrote to the Romans, just
stay in Ephesians, but Paul wrote to the Romans, he said, by one
man's offense, death reigned. Death reigned. And he said, by
one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. He's talking
about Adam. We all sinned and died in our
father, Adam. We go about now, having heard
the gospel, we preach and declare the gospel to every creature
because that's how God saves his children. He calls them out
by the gospel with his spirit, attending it in power and his
authority. He gives life to the sinners
so that they can hear what's being said. So it's the work
and the power of God. Now Romans 10 16 says, but they've
not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah saith, Lord, who has believed
our report? So we're out here preaching it,
but who's believed our report? No one seems to be hearing it.
No one seems to care. No one is a sinner. No one's
affected or moved or desiring to be forgiven or healed or cleansed
for their sin. In 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4 says,
but if our gospel be hid, it's hid unto them that are wise,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." So how is it? Who makes the difference in the
sinner? How is it that if none of us are hearing it, we're all
dead in trespasses and sins, which means we can't do anything
to save ourselves, we don't have the ability to heal ourselves
or to correct this condition, who makes the difference? How
is a sinner saved? How is a sinner forgiven by God? Well, look there in Ephesians
2, verse 4, and you see who the difference is. But God. But God. God is the one who makes
the difference. But God who is rich in mercy,
For his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved. By which we understand that God
has a people whom he loves, a people whom he chose out before the
foundation of the world, the people that He determined to
save and to cause to hear His gospel, cause them to know their
need, to feel their need of forgiveness, and to see that Christ and Christ
alone is the one that is able to forgive sin. Our God is the
one that delivers us out of the bondage of sin and of Satan wherein
we are bound. Satan is that strong man spoken
of in the scriptures and Christ went in there and he bound that
strong man and he plundered him of that which was valuable. Those
people whom God set his love upon before the foundation of
the world and he delivered those people, those elect children
of God, whom God loves, He delivered them out of the hands of Satan
wherein all this world is bound in darkness and in corruption
and in sin. And Christ, because of His love,
because of His work, He gives us His Spirit, He's giving us
life to the dead sinner, and the Spirit washes us in the blood
of Christ, making us clean and whole and healthy and restores
us once again to the power and the grace of our God. Because
it's only then that we hear this gospel. We actually hear what
it's saying. You might hear it for years and years and years and
be dead as a doornail, never moved or care about it one bit
until the Spirit of Christ comes upon you and causes you to hear
it with that ear of faith that only He can give and work in
a sinner. Alright, now Ephesians 2 verse
8. Look down there in Ephesians
2, 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. And here's that difference. Verse
10. For we are his workmanship. It's not our workmanship. It's
not what we're doing that makes a difference. God is our work.
He's the one who does the work. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. God before ordained this, that
we should hear this gospel, be called and awakened out of death,
called into his light, and to believe, given faith by him to
believe that Christ is the only one that can heal me, and he
does, he does that work. And that's why it says in another
place, in Acts 13, 48, that all that were ordained unto eternal
life believed. When God worked it, because he
ordained it to be so in the hearts of certain people. They heard
it and they believed. So because of this, because this
is how God does it, he's going to cause all his children to
feel their need. He's going to cause all his children
to know what corrupt sinners they are. As corrupt and dirty
and filthy and stinky as a leper. We're going to know our need
of Christ and that he alone is the one that heals. Alright,
mercy sought. mercy sought. Let's read Mark
140 again. Mark 140. And there came a leper
to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto
him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. This man came
humbly before Christ. He came seeking mercy at the
hand of the Savior. He's going to the only one that
can heal him. Matthew says that he came worshiping Christ. Luke records him as seeing Jesus. He fell on his face. And so Mark
here says he kneeled. He probably got on his knees,
put his face in the dirt, and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me whole. You can make me clean, Lord.
Have mercy. And what a picture it is of every
true sinner in need of grace. They come seeking Christ for
mercy and grace. Many today, you know, there's
a lot of churches out around us. There's plenty of churches
around us, bigger and more pretty and more beautiful, more parking,
more people, more money, more of everything, more programs
and what not, but the problem is they're preaching a lie. They're declaring, Jesus died
for everybody and he wants you to be saved, right? He's done
all he can do and he can't do no more and now it's up to you.
He put the engine before you but you gotta pour in the gasoline
of faith and you gotta pull the cord to get that engine going
because he's done all he can do and he can't do no more. It's
up to you now. You either take it You leave
it. It's your decision. But that's not the language of
Scripture. Scripture doesn't talk like that. Scripture declares
that Christ accomplished the salvation of his people. Others
go so far as to say that Christ is up there weeping and crying
and wringing his hands and saying, oh, why won't they believe? And
he's kicking over garbage cans and getting all upset because
they won't hear the truth and they won't come to him for salvation. They teach that Christ's blood
was shed for some in vain. It's doing no good for lots of
people. They're all going to hell for whom he died. That's
what they teach. But there again, that's a lie. That's not at all what the scriptures
teach. The scriptures teach that all who come to Christ seeking
mercy shall find forgiveness because those are his people.
He works that need in them. They come to him and they shall
find mercy. by the Savior because Christ
died and shed his blood to put away their sins and there's not
a single person in hell for whom Christ died and put away their
sin. They all shall be saved and they
all shall come to hear the truth. The reality is that every one
of us by nature rejects Christ. If it was up to us, we'd all
go to hell because everyone by nature rejects Christ. Everyone
by nature says, no thanks, I got a God. They might let God help
a little bit if that's all they need is just a little help, a
little push. They're willing to believe in their free will
and say, yeah sure, it's my will that makes the difference. All
of us reject Christ by nature. We don't want nothing to do with
Him, or if we have something to do with Him, we want to have
some part in it, so we can receive some aspect of the glory and
boast in what we've done. I believe, but you poor sucker
didn't believe, and that's why you're going to hell, but I'm
better than you because I believed. Because that's what you're saying.
You're saying it's not God, it's not God's choice, it's man's
choice. Man makes the decision. He's
the deciding vote, and it's not what Scripture teaches. Turn
over to Romans 9, Romans 9, verse 6. You know, if it was true that
people are going to hell, then why would the scriptures word
it this way? Why would Paul say in Romans 9, 6, that it's not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect. for they are
not all Israel which are of Israel." Look at verse 8, that is, they
which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children
of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
God has a people that are the children of promise. He promised
to the son before the foundation of the world when he chose them
out for his son. Look at verse 11, for the children,
he gives an example of Jacob and Esau, the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Priests say it to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's
not of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy." So take your free will, ping it
in the forehead, and chuck it out the window because it's not
going to do you any good. Our will is not free. When Adam
sinned, we all fell in Adam. Our nature, our will, that free
will became bound in sin, and in death, and under the power
of Satan, so that we can't set ourselves free. We can't deliver
ourselves. It's a work of God that He must
perform in the sinner. The language of Scripture declares
that Christ is God, and that God is God. He's not begging
us to receive Him. We're begging Him to receive
us, to make us clean, to set us free, to forgive us of our
sins. We need His grace and mercy.
He doesn't need anything from us. We need Him and what He's
done for us. Daniel 4.35 says it this way,
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And God doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His
hand or say unto Him, What doest thou? We're the creature. We can't say to God, what are
you doing? How dare you do that and smack his hand? No, no. God
does whatsoever he pleases and we stand by and we watch and
say, Lord, it's your will. It's your power. You can do as
you please. This leper wasn't coming to the
phony Jesus spoken of in many churches. He came on his face
to the only one that could have mercy. He desperately needed
it. So he wasn't playing games and he wasn't coming there just
acting all high and mighty and haughty like he had it all together
and Jesus needed to do for him what he asked him. He came submissively
asking, Lord, if you will, you can have mercy on me. You can
clean, you can cleanse me and make me whole. Turn over to Luke
18. Luke 18, verse 9. Our Lord gave a parable here
in Luke 18, verse 9. Because there are people that
do come to services. There are people that come to
worship God. not really to worship him, but
to be worshipped, because they've got things together and they're
doing such a good job. So Luke 18 verse 9 says, And
Christ spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others. So these despisers
were thinking they had done something to warrant their salvation. They
did something to earn their salvation. Something like made a decision
for Jesus. That's because men take that
and turn it into a work. The reality is you hear what
Christ has accomplished in putting away our sin. You either believe
it or you don't. It's not a decision to be made.
You either hear it and believe or you hear it and you don't
believe and say that's nonsense. That's not how God saves. It's
one way or the other. It's not a decision. It's faith
that's worked in you or it isn't worked in you. It's a work of
God. It says in verse 10, two men
went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other
a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He wasn't praying to God, he's
praying with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this Republican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. So this Pharisee is rather content
with himself. He's very confident And everything
he's done up to this point, he walked an aisle when he was 10
or 11 or 12 years old, or he was baptized when he was a young
person believing on Christ, and so he's got this. And thank you,
God, so to speak. But I got all these deeds done
that I can count on and depend on for my righteousness, and
I'm not worried in that day when I stand before you. Listen to how the publican comes
in verse 13. It says, And the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Sounds like our leper who hit
his face in the dirt. I tell you, Christ said, This
man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For every
one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted." If we ever see what we are, that
we are poor, helpless, defiled sinners who are corrupt and base
and just have nothing to boast in, nothing wherein we can boast,
then we'll bow like the sinner here, like this leper here in
our text, we'll bow with our face to the ground saying, Lord,
if you wilt, you can make me clean. You know, many are brought
low in this life. If you live long enough, you
have some tough days. Everybody has some tough days,
right? And we live long enough and we realize, yeah, things
don't always go the way I think that they should go. I try, you
know, I think how they should go and I do my best and it just
doesn't always work out. So everyone knows to some level
or to some degree that they don't have the power of God, but they,
you know, just because you recognize a certain level of weakness,
that's not what we're talking about here. What we're talking
about here, what we need to know is, are we a sinner? Are we sinners
in need of his grace? Do we see that our condition
is as bad as the lepers? That we are dying, we are consuming
away and we can't be set free. But there's one. There's one
that can set us free, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this
world to save sinners. And if you're not a sinner, then
He's got nothing for you. But if you're a sinner, unable
to save yourself, He is all merciful and kind, stands ready and willing
and able to receive all those who come to Him seeking mercy,
because He worked that in them. He's going to work that in His
people and He'll draw them to Himself. Romans 7-9, Just in
case you don't know what the law says, Romans 7, 9, Paul said,
When I was alive without the law once, or I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Romans 3, 19 and 20 says, Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that's all of us, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in the sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Do you
hear? Have you heard what the law says?
Have you heard what the law says to you? It says guilty. Guilty. Guilty. We're all guilty. There's
no hope. by our works of the law to stand
before God and say, Lord, do you like what you see? I'm righteous.
I've done all these good works. I've tithed. I've come to services
regularly. I read my Bible every night.
I say my prayers. I do all these works. Lord, are
you happy with this? Are you pleased with this? Am
I righteous now? Can I enter into heaven? Nope. you're guilty
because you're looking to your works, you're trusting in what
you've done to make yourself righteous. And our Lord said,
accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of
heaven. So we need a better righteousness
than our own righteousness. We need the righteousness provided
by Christ alone. The psalmist saw the king sitting
in his throne. He saw Christ risen from the
grave, now ascended, having all authority, all power, and able
to do all things. And he said in Psalm 2 verse
10, Be wise now therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, you judges
of the earth. That's us he's talking to. You think you're so royal and
that you rule your life and that you're a judge and a discerner
of what's good And bad, listen up, he says, verse 11, serve
the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son
lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is
kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. So Christ isn't there. weeping
up in heaven and so upset that people aren't coming to him.
He saved these people. He accomplished salvation for
his people there on the cross when he bore their sin and shed
his blood to redeem his people. He purchased us from the wrath
of God. He purchased us from our death
that we were in, delivering us from death once and for all.
The works are finished. Christ has done it. And he now
sends forth that gospel and his people hear it. And they believe
it. And they come to Christ seeking
mercy and forgiveness. All right now, our third and
final point, mercy found. In Mark 1, 40 and 41, we'll read
40 again. And there came a leopard to him,
beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand and touched him. He willingly touched this
filthy sinner. I don't know about you, but I
don't even like touching little kids' snot. And he actually,
you know, let alone a grown man's oozing, filthy sores. But he touched him. And he had
mercy upon him. And it's just, it amazes me. Our Savior put forth his hand
and touched him and saith unto him, I will be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken
immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. Our Savior bore that man's sin
that was the cause of that leprosy in his own body. And our Savior
bore that man's sin before and after that he would commit in
his own body. And our Savior bore that man's
disease, that leprosy, in his own body to put it away, to deliver
him of all that filth that he was in. Isaiah 53, 4 and 5 says,
Surely he hath borne our griefs. And that word is illness, our
sicknesses. He bore our illnesses and our
sicknesses. And he carried our sorrows, all
our pain, our grief, our sorrow, our suffering, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed." So our God in mercy sent his own darling son,
who knew no sin, to be the righteousness of his people to fulfill everything
that we needed and to provide all the salvation for us. They
are going to the cross, bearing us in his body, bearing our sins
so that when he died, we died. When he rose again, God declared
us righteous because Christ made us righteous so that we could
stand before him. 2 Corinthians 5.21 For he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. The reality is we vastly
underestimate the power of sin and of darkness and of Satan
and his craft and his subtlety and the things that he's worked
in the people here on this earth. And it takes the power of God
to deliver us from that. It takes God doing the work,
a supernatural his powerful work with his authority and his ability
to deliver us from the bondage that we were in by nature. In
John 3.19 it says, and this is the condemnation, that light
is coming to the world, that's Christ Jesus, he's the light,
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. That's their righteous works
and their works that are not righteous. For every one that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But there are some that do hear
of Christ, and do come to Christ, and bow down before him. And
here's how it's done, verse 21. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest. Here's
the difference maker, that they are wrought in God. They are
wrought in God. God did this work in His people.
So our God gets all the glory, all the praise for salvation
and for delivering us. In Zechariah 12 verse 10 it says,
God says, I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. God's going
to pour it upon His people and they shall look upon Me whom
they have pierced And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn." So, the question
is, has God shown you your need of Him? And if He's shown you
your need of Him, that you have need of being forgiven for your
sin, has He shown you that Christ and Christ alone is the one who
is able to forgive you? that he's the one who cleanses
his people and delivers them from that bondage and their love
of sin and delivers them out of darkness and delivers them
into the kingdom of his father. This, you know, this man is really
the first one in the scriptures like this, in the gospels, because
before that everyone that was healed, they were either brought
to Christ by something they did I mean, they were either brought
to Christ by someone that they knew, they were brought to Christ
by someone that they knew, they carried them there to Christ,
or Christ went to them. But this is the first one that
actually came to Christ seeking mercy and forgiveness. He's a
leper, he shouldn't even probably be there. They're not even supposed
to be around, they're supposed to be without the city, but he
was given boldness and nothing prevented him. That's what Christ
works in his people, to know that I've got no other hope or
other choice. I've got to be forgiven by the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's not us acting first and
then God says, oh, good job, let me have mercy on you. But
he works that in us first to feel our need of him. and to
know that we're doomed, we're a sinner. In fact, many people
feel like they're so condemned that God will never receive them.
And that's how this leper came. He said, if you're willing, Lord,
you can forgive me. You can make me clean. He didn't
know if God was going to forgive him. But we're blessed to look
and see Christ receive sinners, all who come to him seeking mercy.
knowing that they've got nothing he'll receive. He won't turn
you away. If you know you're a sinner and that he's the only
one that can save you, he'll never turn you away because he
works that in his children. So Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand and touched them and he said unto him, I
will be thou cleansed. Let me just close with Matthew
11, 27 and 28. Our Lord said, 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. Come unto me, he said, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Go to the Savior. He is the one
that's able to heal and forgive. All right, let's have you close
with a hymn first and then I'll come back and correct. Our closing hymn will be in your
folder. It'll be the last one. 125, come ye sinners poor and
needy. Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, joined with power. I will go and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior,
oh, there are ten thousand charms. Come, ye needy, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance,
without money, come and buy. I will rise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms. Come ye weary, heavy laden, Bruised
and mangled by the fall, If you wait until you're better, you
will never come at all. I will rise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior,
oh, there are ten thousand charms. Let me none to take you linger,
Nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him. I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms, In the arms of my dear Savior,
O, there are ten thousand charms. You Him prostrate in the gardens,
On the ground your Maker lies, On the cross He Christ is finished. Sinner will not this suffice
I will arise and go to Jesus He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior Oh, there are ten thousand charms
Lo, the incarnate God ascended, pleased the merit of His blood. Venture on Him, venture wholly,
with no other trust in truth. I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior,
oh, there are ten thousand charms. Thank you, Father, for giving
us today to worship you, Lord. Give us your Spirit, Lord. Cause
us to Take in the message we heard, Lord, and look to your
son and him alone. In your name we pray. Amen.