If you'll take your Bibles now
and turn with me to Matthew, Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter
8. We'll be looking at the first
four verses of this chapter. I've entitled this message, Christ
the Willing and Able Savior. It says, when He was come down
from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, stop,
look, consider this, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying,
Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put
forth His hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And notice what
happened, and immediately the leprosy was cleansed. Immediately. And Jesus saith unto him, See
thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. And here we have a very familiar
story before us, the healing of the leper. The healing of
the leper. Jesus was followed by this great
multitude of people. The Scripture then trains our
eyes. It says, Behold. It says, Watch. Look here. It trains our attention
to focus on this one man who came out of a great multitude
of people. And this man was no ordinary
man, no common man. He was the lowest of them. He
was a leper. A leper. And he comes to Christ
worshiping Him, saying, if you will, you can. And Christ says,
I will. And touches him. And immediately
the leprosy is gone from his body. And then Christ gives him
this command. Go and show the priest, as Moses
commanded, for a testimony unto them." Now, we know that all
Scripture is given by the Holy Spirit and profitable for us,
for doctrine, for improved correction, instruction, and righteousness. Now, why is this here? Why is
this passage concerning the leper given to us by the Holy Spirit?
It's not to show off. Christ could heal anyone. He
could do it without even being in the same vicinity as this
man. He could have healed him from
heaven. He could have done any of that
to heal him. He didn't have to do it this
way. This is His purpose. Why? Why is this written? It's not to fill space. But each miracle of the Lord
Jesus Christ is set forth in Scripture to show us this, the
deity of Christ and His power to forgive sin. You remember
that man that was sick of the palsy, he was paralyzed, and
his friends had lowered him down from that roof. And what did
Jesus say to this man? He said, son, be of good cheer,
Thy sins be forgiven thee." That was unexpected, wasn't it? You
would have thought He'd say, get up. But no, He said, Thy
sins be forgiven thee. So if that man lay sick of the
palsy for the rest of his life, he could be of good cheer because
his sins were forgiven him. And they said, how can one forgive
sins except to be God? And Jesus said, which is easier
to say? Thy sins be forgiven thee, or rise up and walk." Well,
you know it's easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven. Nobody
could see that. But that you might know the Son of Man have
power to forgive sins. He said to the sick of the palsy,
Take up thy bed and walk. He has power to forgive. This
was a display of His ability and power to forgive sins. That's what miracles were given
for. Now, in this passage of Scripture,
I've got three points. Three things we're going to focus
on. First of all, we're going to focus on the leper. I want
you to look at this leper. I want you to see this leper.
Then I want you to see the One that healed him. I want you to
see the Son of God. I want to set Him before you
so that you are plainly, you can understand His power and
His will concerning salvation. And the third thing I want you
to see is the command of the Savior given to the cleansed
leper. So let's see these in order.
First of all, the leper. Behold, the Scripture says, there
came a leper. Now the plague of leprosy was
not looked upon as a disease. It was a curse of God. The curse
of God. So when a man had leprosy, he
didn't go to the doctor, he went to the priest. Because only God
could heal leprosy. God gave leprosy as a curse,
and only God could heal the leper. Now if the priest found leprosy,
now if you want to read that for yourself, Leviticus 13 is
the chapter concerning the inspection of the leper. And if you want
to hear a message, we did a message, I did a message called The True
Leper. If you want to listen to that
later, you can. But it says this in Leviticus 13, it says, It
is an old leprosy in the skin of the flesh, and the priest
shall pronounce him unclean and shall not shut him up. for he is unclean." It did not
matter how important a man was. It didn't matter if he was a
king or a peasant. If he had leprosy, this man was unclean. This man was unclean. When the
priest found the leprosy, when he found that this man was a
leper, he was unclean from that time forth until he was cleansed,
he was unclean. Now there's no need of further
inspection of shutting him up. You don't need to shut him up
anymore. This is it. This is leprosy. And when one
was a leper, he must be stripped of everything. So consider this
man. He was stripped. Listen to what
the law says. And the leper in whom the plague
is, his clothes shall be rent, his head shall be bare, and he
shall put on a covering over his lip and cry, unclean, unclean. He was from this time on to cover
his lip and cry unclean. And because he was unclean, the
law says everything he touched was unclean. This is why he had
to warn people so they didn't bump into him. He had to warn
them of his uncleanness so they could make way. And not only was he unclean,
not only was he a leper, but listen, this man was cast out
from everything he knew. In Leviticus 13, verse 46 it
says, all the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall
be defiled and unclean. He shall dwell alone without
the cap. shall be his habitation." Can
you imagine the sorrow of this man in this plague that he was
cast out from the wife that he loved, the children that he had,
any family member. He was to be alone. He was to
live alone. He was to die alone. According
to the law, he could not be in the presence of anyone. He was
to be utterly alone And imagine this plague. It was a plague
of the flesh and the flesh would rot off. He would lose his limbs. He would lose his arm, his legs. And he would be alone. No one
to comfort him. But worse than that, he was outcast
from God. He had no part in the sacrifices. No part in the worship of God. No communion with God. He was
an outcast not just from man, but from God. What a horrible
existence this man must have endured being a leper. He was
outcast from everything and cut off from God with no hope. But what is leprosy? None of
us have leprosy this morning. What does this have to do with
us? Leprosy in Scripture is a picture of sin. It's an outward expression
of an inward plague. An inward curse. This is the
best picture of sin. This is the curse of God upon
all the sons of Adam. For when Adam sinned, he immediately
became a leper. Dead in his flesh. dead in His
flesh. Therefore, by one man's sin,
leprosy entered into the world, and death by sin by leprosy. So death passed upon all men
for all have sinned. So what is leprosy but the death
of the flesh? You know, this leprosy always
started out like a little small dot. But one of the things about
leprosy is it never remains small. It grows and spreads. But it
didn't matter if it was a spot or it was the whole body. A leper
was a leper. And so then we all have sinned
against God. We all by nature have the leprosy
in our flesh. And so then, since if a leper
was one who had only a little spot or it covered his whole
body, listen, it doesn't matter if you're a great sinner or a
moral sinner. If you're a religious man or
a vulgar man. If we all by nature are unclean
in the sight of God. What then is there hope for the
leper if he was outcast from God? If the sinner is outcast
from God, if the sinner is defiled and all the sinner does and all
the sinner touches like the leper is unclean, how then may we be
accepted? The only way the leper was ever
brought back in is that he be cleansed of his leprosy. He had
to be free from all his leprosy. He could not have one spot left. And the only hope for the sinner
then is to be fully clean of sin. Fully holy before God. That's the only hope that you
be righteous. Well, how does this happen by
law? No. No. in the law of the leper. Remember, the law could only
expose the leper. It could only pronounce him unclean. It could only pronounce him clean. It could not make him clean. Therefore, Paul says in Romans
chapter 3, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in the sight of God. For by the law is what? the knowledge
of your leprosy. If you want to know your leprosy,
look at the law. If you want to know if you have leprosy,
look at the law. We have all lied. We have all
sinned against God. We have not loved God with all
of our heart, soul, mind and body and strength. We have not
loved our neighbor as ourself. What does that make you? What
does that make me? A leper. We're sinful. This man pictures
us. He was cast out by the law. It
was the law that cast him out. It wasn't the law that healed
him. And just as a leper has been cast out from God, even
so we have been cast out, alienated from God, separated from communion
with God. The natural man by nature is
a religious creature. I'm not saying man isn't religious. Lepers aren't religious. Lepers
are religious! But what they cannot do with
all the sincerity of their heart is know God. They cannot commune
with God because one thing divides them, and that is their leprosy. The thing that divides you from
God is your sin. That's what separates us from
God. What causes the law to cast us
out? Because we have sinned. And what
does man do with this? He tries to cover it up. God says this, Who shall ascend
unto the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in this holy
place? Listen, He that hath clean hands. That's leprosy free. You have to be free of leprosy.
You have to have clean hands and a pure heart to stand before
God. I pray that God with Holy Spirit
would let this sink really deep into our souls and hearts, sink
into our minds, that all who seek to worship God by law and
religious works are outcast lepers. They're just as vile as those
wicked men, those sodomites parading in the streets. You may be in
church this morning, but if you are not as holy as the Son of
God, you are an outcast. You're an outcast. And those
who seek to find God by their will and works, they will be
cast eventually, eternally from the presence of God. And the
Scripture says, "...and their sorrows shall be multiplied that
hasten after another God." This man is a picture of all men by
nature. Secondly, this man is... I want
you to see this leper coming. This leper, he didn't isolate
himself, he came. And Scripture says, Behold, there
came a leper. Came a leper. Let this man be
a lesson to all who find themselves in this leper's condition. To
all those who are exposed of sin by the law and unclean before
God, that are cast out of the mercy of God, let them come even
as this leper comes. How did he come? How did this
leper come? He came in repentance seeking
to be clean. He came out of this crowd. He
came out from among them who had no need of healing. Can you
see the crowd? See the large mass? None of them
came to Christ like this. They followed Him. They followed
Him around. They didn't come to Him. This
one came to Him for one reason. He had a need. of cleansing,
a need of forgiveness. And that's the only way that
you as a sinner will come to Christ if you ever see your need
of cleansing. All men need cleansing, but not
all men know there's a need for cleansing. You know, you only
go to the doctor when? When you're sick. You'll only
come to Christ Most of that multitude didn't
have leprosy. They had it. They didn't know
it. It was inward. And they didn't come to Christ.
The natural man, he may feel his sin, but rather than come
to Christ, what do they do? They cover their leprosy. They
may see a spot of sin. What do they do? They take religion
and cover it. They take works and cover it.
They take law. The very thing that cast them
out they think is the thing that's going to bring them in. And it
won't. This was the condition of this
leper. He found himself in and he saw the law could do nothing.
The law could not heal his plague. But when he heard Christ preach,
he heard one speak as one that's having authority. What did he
see when he saw Christ? I'm going to tell you exactly
what he saw. He saw God manifest in the flesh. He saw God manifest
in the flesh. He saw Christ was the One, the
only One who had the authority to heal. Now listen, am I talking
to lepers this morning? Any leper. Anyone. Now this message is no good to
clean folk. To lepers, this message is important. You should take this man and
mark him because this is how you should come. Come seeking
help and healing from the only One who gives it, Christ. That's
how He came. He came and worshipped Him saying,
Lord, If you will, you can. Now, what did this man know?
Well, first of all, he knew that this was God manifesting the
flesh. In the Old Testament, you remember
old Naaman had leprosy and he came to that king of Israel.
He didn't really come to the king. He was coming for the prophet.
But the king, he said this, Am I God that I can heal? Leprosy. Everybody knew that only God
could heal leprosy. So when this man came, he knew
this. That's the Son of God. That's
God manifest in the flesh. And he came displaying this when
he said, Lord, worshipping Him, saying, Lord. He recognized His
deity. This man came with the understanding
of his lack of merit. He came worshipping. If you ever
know your needs, you're going to understand you're not going
to merit what you're asking. He had no merit. He came worshiping,
bowing down in the very presence of the Son of God, which was,
listen, not allowed by law. You see, He didn't come by law.
If He came by law, He would not come at all. If you come to God
by law, you'll never come at all. But he must abandon that. He's got no hope in the law.
So what does he come for? One word. Grace. He comes for
grace. He comes not for merit, but for
mercy. He comes worshiping Christ. Sinner,
if you wait until you're better, you'll never come. What are you waiting for? You
that have not come, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting
for a day where you feel like coming? Are you waiting for a
day that there's going to be a better day to come? Listen, leprosy only grows. It
doesn't get better. Your sin will not get better.
It will only grow worse. If you tarry to do better, you'll
never come at all. The leper understood that he
must come to Christ at all costs There was no healing anywhere
else. That's what he knew. If you're
ever a leper, you'll come to Christ knowing this, there's
no other place to go. This is the only one who can
heal. This leper, listen, he believed also that he had the
power to heal him. Now listen, if he didn't believe
he wasn't able, do you think he'd come? If he didn't have a need, he
wouldn't come. And if he didn't know that this man was able,
he would never come. So he knew something that this
man had the ability. He said, Lord, if you will, you
what? You can. I know you can. I know
you can. So if there are any lepers, listen,
come now without delay. Come as you are. Come and bow
down, believing on Christ alone is able to save. For there is no salvation in
any other name given among men whereby we must be saved. There
is no other name. You got how narrow that is? You
know how narrow that is? That excludes every other way
to God. Why do you think Christians are
hated? Because we only believe in one way. And that excludes
their way. The only way is Christ. The only
way of healing. Can you not see the humility
of this man pleading for the mercy of Christ? That's how sinners
come to Christ. Believer, isn't that how we came
to Christ? Is this not man and not us? Can you not see us here?
I can. I can see myself. Do we not see at times still
seeking forgiveness? Still seeking pardon? Still seeking
mercy? I'll tell you what, I come like
this every day. I come like this every day seeking
forgiveness and pardon and mercy. And what does it say? If we confess
our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us all sin. Do you
know what it says? He said He cleanseth us. It's not just a
one-time cleansing for us. It's a constant, perpetual cleansing. Now then, let's look at the Savior.
Let's look at the One that healed. Now the first response was to
this one, I'm sure the most unexpected response. Look at verse 3. And
Jesus put forth His hand and what? Touched it. What did I say about
the leopard touching anything? He was not allowed to touch anything.
No one had touched this man in how long he has ever been a leper.
No one could ever touch him. You ever not been touched? You
know how miserable a life that is not to be touched by other
people? You know, they did a study one
time. Cruel studies they used to do. They used to put a baby
in a crib and they wanted to see what it was like if nobody
touched it. The baby died. How much do we need touching?
Affection? Love? And this man was without
that. And the most unexpected thing
happened. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
first one to touch this baby. He was unlawful for the leopard
to be touched because anyone who touched Him could be defiled.
But this is the only man that could touch Him and not be defiled.
Christ was perfect. He was impeccable. That sin could
not defile Him. Why did He touch Him? He touched
Him to show how He had come to identify with Him as a representative
man. You know, that's what Job said,
how can I be accepted of God except I have a daismen? Someone
to touch God and touch me. To mediate between me and God. Christ, by touching this man,
is mediating between this man and God. That's what happened
to us. When He touched me, And so when He touched this man,
as of yet, that sin was not defiled in Him. But this also speaks
of what Christ did at Calvary. He did take that man's sin in
Himself. When God made Him to be sin for
us, He made Christ to be a curse for us. He bore our leprosy in
His own body. And God punished our Savior in
the stead of the leper. Christ who had no sin, committed
no sin, was clean of sin, yet was made sin. And where was He
crucified? The same place the leper was
cast out. Outside the camp. Outside the
camp. And notice then, the will of
the Savior. He said, Lord, if You can. He
knew He could. He knew He was the only one that
could. He came to Him, Lord, if You will. The Savior is God
and man, the High Priest of His people. Only He could do this. The question then is not, does
He have the power? The question then is, will He?
That's when the sinner comes. Isn't that the question we had?
When we came to Him, that was the question. Is it possible that you will
save a wretch like me? Is it possible that you will? I know you can. I know you have
the power. I know your blood is sufficient.
I know your righteousness is sufficient. But will you cleanse
me? Will you cleanse me? And listen
to these two words. I will. You got any doubt? Is there any
leper that has any doubt of Christ's willingness? He just told you, I will. I will. Do you not suppose that was probably
the most joyful sound that man had ever heard? Can you imagine him trembling, wondering,
will He throw me away? Will He send me back to the Lord?
Will He cast me out again? I know this was the only one,
my only hope. Will He? What joy must have filled
his heart when he said, yes, of course I will. Of course I
will. It must have filled his heart
like it filled my heart. Like it filled your heart when
he said, I will. He is a willing Savior. He is willing to save who though?
Only lepers. Not pretend lepers. Real letters. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Is there any need? Is there any
need of forgiveness and pardon? Have you been exposed? You pay
attention. Christ is willing to save. Willing to save everyone that
comes to God by Him. Everyone. You just make that
as broad and as wide as you want to. Everyone who comes to God
by Him will be cleansed. Why? He said, I will. I will. Greater love hath this no man
than this, than a man lay down his life for it. He is willing. He willingly came,
didn't He? into this world. He willingly
obeyed the law of God. He willingly died at Calvary. He willingly took the throne
of God. He willingly did this to save
His people. This is the will of God. This
is God's will. You want to know what God's will
is for your life? People ask that question all the time. They
want a hocus-pocus answer. They want to see the future or
something. You want to know what God's will is? Here it is. This
is the will of God. That all that the Father gave
to Christ will come to Him. And Him that cometh to Christ,
He will in no wise cast. He said, I will, I will in no
wise ever cast Him out who come to me. Who come to me. Why? Because all the elect are lepers. To delay to come to Christ is
nothing but foolish pride and arrogance. It is total unbelief that He
is not a willing or able Savior. That's why you don't come. You
either come because you don't know your need, you either come
because you don't know your need, or you don't know His ability,
or you don't believe He's willing. All of those are unbelief. But if you know your need, you
know His power, I want you to know this, He's willing. But do you who are willing and
know He's willing, do you doubt His power? That's the third thing
I want you to see about Christ is His power. He is not only
willing to say, but He is powerful to say. What did He say? Look
at the text. I will be thou clean. And what? Immediately, his leprosy was
cleared. See, it's one thing to say something
and not have power. Scott, you have a million dollars.
Now, I said it. There's no power. Don't check
your bank account. It's not there. There's no power
in my voice. There's no power in our word.
There's power in His word. If He is willing, listen, He's
able. He's able. What good would it do if Christ
was willing and had not power? Matter of fact, that's the modern
Christ, isn't it? The modern Christ of today is willing to
save everyone. But what does He lack? He lacks
the power to do it. Ask Him. Well, God wants everybody
to be saved. Why ain't everybody saved? Well,
because man. Oh, so the power is in man then. Not God. Not my God. That's not the Christ
I just read to you. Christ said, I will, and the
power was there. The power was there. Thou has
given him power over all flesh. He may give eternal life to as
many as the Father has given Him. This man came with nothing
to offer, seeking mercy, and Christ said, I will. Be thou
clean and immediately. And that's exactly what it is
when a man comes to Christ. Immediately his sin is gone.
Just as sure as that leprosy left that man's body absolutely
completely, I bet his skin was as smooth as a baby's bottom,
from top to bottom. I bet it was perfect. In every
way, no blemish in this man. Christ made him perfect. And
that's exactly what Christ does to the soul of a man when He
saves him. He makes him perfect. In fact,
He creates a brand new man. He creates a brand new nature
that is absolutely impeccable and cannot sin. And He puts it
into the man. Immediately, his leprosy was
cleansed. The power of Christ unto salvation
rests in Christ alone. He came, He cleansed, He cleanses
us from all our sins. That's what John says. The blood
of Christ cleanseth us from all our sins. Marvelous grace. Free and sovereign grace. That's what we found as lepers
when we came to Him. But now I want you to see the
command of Christ. Before I get off of that, I want
you to see what this cleansing has done. You know, I'll just
go through this and we'll get to it. I'm going to come back
around to it. Let's see the command now of the Savior. We saw the
leper, how he came, how he knew what he knew. He knew Christ
was alone with Abel. And he found Christ to be both
willing and able to save him and he was cleansed. Now Christ
gives him a command. Look at this command in verse
4. And He 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 thee for a testimony unto them. Now the Savior commands
this man who was cleansed by His grace and power to make haste
and run to Jerusalem to be examined under the law of Moses. Now why
did He do this? Why? Well, first of all this, Christ
had to obey the law of God. He was still being our representative
and according to the law, that was required of Him. So that's
one reason Christ said it, but I think there's a greater reason
here. There's a better reason. The other reason is for the benefit
of the leper so that he might see and witness the Gospel before
his eyes. That's exactly what the cleansing
ceremony of the leper in Leviticus 14. It is a beautiful picture
of how he was cleansed. Now you believers in Christ,
do you not want to know more of how you were cleansed? I want
to know more. I want to understand more of
how. And so Christ sent him to the
only place he could learn it. to the house of God. He sent
Him to here now as a cleansed man, now as a free man from sin. He sent Him back to see the Gospel. Now what did He have to see?
I'm going to tell you this, in Leviticus 14, you can read this
too, because this is very interesting, to one who has been cleansed.
It says in Leviticus 14, this shall be the law of the leper
in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest.
and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest
shall look and behold if the plague of leprosy be healed."
Listen. He sent him back for inspection. He sent him back for inspection.
This man was to be inspected and examined by those priests.
They must thoroughly look him over in order to see he was clean. Believer in Christ. We by nature
lepers under the curse of God have come to Christ. We have
had full leprosy. We came not demanding, but came
as beggars. And we found Him both willing
and able to cleanse us. And He said, Thou art clean. What did He tell the apostles
in the last Lord's Supper? He said, You are clean every Wicked. Totally clean. That's what He said. Jesus said,
if a son of man shall set you free, you shall be free in what?
In deed. We heard the will of the Father
was that He should not cast us out and we found it to be true.
What liberty and freedom we have found at the feet of our Lord
Jesus Christ when we came to Him. But let me ask you this. How long before the struggle
began? after you were cleansed. How long before the warfare began
in your flesh? How long was it till the enemy
came in accusing you and your conscience accusing you? How
long was it before you began to doubt whether you're whole
or not? Today, right now, in your own self, examine yourself,
how many of us daily wonder if I'm really clean? He says, how can you be clean?
The enemy. The conscience. You're so still
full of sin. You're so full of unbelief. You're
so prone to wonder from Christ. So prone to sin against Christ.
How could you claim to be free of leprosy? Surely there's a
spot somewhere. Therefore, let us see the significance
of Christ's command. We have been cleansed by the
blood of Christ. Then let us be examined by Christ. Isn't the priest supposed to
examine us? Who's that? The same one that cleanses us,
isn't he? He's supposed to examine us. We must be examined in the
eyes of God's justice. Hebrews 4.13 says that all things
are naked and open before God. I'm sure I can imagine the fear
of this man when that priest began to look. Can you not see
it? He's looking in every place. every fold of his skin, all through
his old matted hair. He's looking for one reason to
cast him out. He's saying, is it really gone?
Am I really clean? Will God really accept me? Even
so, we because of the old man of sin still remain. We are so
much in doubt and fear of Christ's cleansing. The enemy in our conscience
daily accuses us and we must confess in my flesh dwelleth
what? No good. We confess, O wretched
man, that I am. But here's the verdict of the
man and the verdict of everyone cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Here's your verdict. When God Himself inspects you,
this is what He's going to find. Holy. Spotless. without one spot or stain of
sin. Listen, not before the eyes of
men, not before your own eyes, but before the eyes of God. God
finds those that are cleansed of Christ. He finds no sin. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 50
and verse 20. In those days and at that time, when you're cleansed,
in that time. Thus saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for." In other words, He's searching.
God's holy eyes are searching for sin. He's looking for sin
to punish. He must punish sin. He must punish
it wherever He finds it, in whoever He finds it. When He found it
in His Son, did He not punish it in His own Son? Surely He
would punish it in you and me if He found it. But He says it's
going to be sought for. But this is His conclusion. After
His inspection, He says, and there shall be none. The sins of Judah shall be sought
for and they shall not be found. Why? For I will pardon them whom
I reserve. I will cleanse them. I will cleanse
them. Now then, how will He do it?
How did he do this? Now the man is going to get a
picture of the Gospel, and I'm going to give you a crash course through
Leviticus 14. It's a long process, but it's
so beautiful in this picture. Can you imagine what this man
saw? I want you to, by grace, if God would give us the visualization
to see what this man saw. First of all, he was outside
the cave with that priest. He inspected. He says, I don't find
any leprosy. So he takes these two birds.
Two birds. He cuts the throat of one bird
and runs water over this bird. The water. And He pours it into
this bowl. Alright? He takes that other
bird and He ties some cedar and He ties some scarlet thread to
this bird. He dips it in the blood and He
lets the bird go out. Oh man, what in the world is
that? Then He takes that blood and He sprinkles it on the newly
cleansed leopard. What is this? Both birds are
Christ. Both birds are Christ. Christ
died under the running vengeance of God's wrath. His blood was
caught in an earthen vessel, so none of it was spilled. None
of it was wasted. All that God purposed to save,
He will save. And He takes that other bird
with the cedar. Cedar wood is an incorruptible
wood. What does it say about His flesh? He said, His flesh
shall not see corruption. Now scarlet, we know that that's
a picture of the blood because that's what happened to Rahab.
When she put that scarlet thread, she would say, take that scarlet,
you dip the bird in the blood and he goes up into the heavens.
Isn't that the resurrection of Christ? He took his own blood
before the Father and he said, here, I've obtained their pardon
with my blood. And God said, yes you have. It's
accepted. Your blood is accepted. That's
what this man saw. He saw a picture of how he was
redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now that's not
it. This man, he gets to take off
that old robe. Imagine that old filthy thing
he's been on for years. Lepers are only supposed to have
one cloth. Audrey, how many clothes do you have? You've got so many
clothes. We just bought clothes and you just keep buying clothes.
Lepers had one garment they wore every single day. It was a filthy
rag. It was rags. That's all it was. Isn't that our sin? All our unrighteousness
is what? Filthy rags. And you know what
the leper that cleans gets to do? He gets to take that off
and he gets a brand new set. He gets a wash set that's putting
on the robe of Christ's righteousness. And not only that, he washes
himself He's washed. He's cleansed. And that old hair
that must be matted up. Nobody's able to touch or help
clean that old matted hair. He shaves all that hair off.
Can you imagine the relief of that? Oh, thank God, I'm rid of this.
I'm rid of this matted hair. Why? So that new growth comes
out. Isn't that what happens in our new nature? We put off
the old man and put on the new and spiritual growth. Spiritual
growth. See what this man gets to see?
And that wasn't it. Then you've got to go inside
and do another ceremony. And this one shows the cost. Those
two birds, they give a picture, but they don't give a picture
of the cost. Birds are cheap. This man was to bring three lambs,
a very costly sacrifice. Three lambs. All three picture
Christ. The burnt offering, the sin offering,
and the meal offering, or the thank offering. Listen, the burnt
offering, you take that whole thing, you throw it on the fire.
Burns everything. flesh, everything. Picture Christ,
how He was consumed by the wrath of God as a sacrifice for our
sins. And as the smoke enters into
heaven, you see that the acceptance of God for that sacrifice. The
sin offering was to cut the insides out and burn them. What is that
picture? That picture that Christ made His soul an offering. Not just His body, but His soul
an offering for sin. And the meal offering. What do
you think we're doing today? We're eating the meal offering.
We're eating the sacrifice of Christ. We're enjoying it. We're
relishing it. We're rejoicing in what He's
done for us. And this is another thing that
has to be done. He takes that blood of the meal offering and
He puts it in His hand. He takes it and He puts it on
His right ear, on His right thumb, and right toe. Big toe. What
is this? Don't you know that every evil
comes in through this? How many thoughts and intents
of the heart come right through this? This is what it's saying. Everyone who is cleansed of Christ,
everything they think, feel, is cleansed before it goes in. Before you ever have an evil
thought, it's already cleansed. The blood's already here. It's
before it goes in. What about the thumb? Every work
we do is cleansed by the blood of Christ. You're worshiping
this morning. Would you dare take that worship to God as an
offering? But you can because Christ already
stamped His blood on it. It's acceptable. This worship
this morning is acceptable. What about the tote? Don't you
know this? We walk by faith in the blood of Christ. Walk by
faith daily, constantly walking in faith. That's not it. He takes
some oil now and He takes this oil and puts it in His finger
and He does the same thing on His ear, His thumb and His tote. What
is it? Picture the Holy Spirit. You see the Holy Spirit seals
in the blood. The blood's applied and the blood
is sealed. What does this mean? It can't
be removed. And so now everything that goes
in is not only cleansed, it's sanctified. Which means that
we are able to hear this message. You're able to receive this message.
You're able to love this message because the Spirit of God has
anointed it in your heart, in your ear. Spiritual ears He's
given you. What about the thumb? All your
work is moved by the Spirit of God. You're here this morning.
If you're a believer in Christ, you want to be here. Why do you
want to be here and not everybody else? The Spirit of God moved
you to this work. A good work. And doesn't the
Scripture say that the Spirit of God, we are led by the Spirit
of God? If you are the sons of God, you
are led. When you've got that toe, it's
walking. We are walking in the Spirit.
Walking by faith in Christ. You know what He did the rest
of it all? He dumped it on His head. Nothing wasted here. The Spirit of God anoints us. What does this mean? We are sealed. and no one could remove us from
Christ. That's what's pictured. Don't
you see the need of this command? Isn't this why we come and hear
the Gospel every time? Don't we need to be reminded
of these things? We do. The Spirit of God keeps us. Why? Because God willed that we be
saved because God purposed us to be saved. Christ obtained
our salvation and when we came to Him as lepers in humility
and fear, He said, I will be thou clean. And you know what?
You are clean. You are clean. Pastor, I don't feel clean. That
don't matter. So what if you feel clean? Does
that make you cleaner? with His holy garments on, I'm
as holy as God's Son. Don't you see you've been cleansed?
Do you need to be cleansed? That's a question to lepers.
Do you need it? If you need it, listen, Christ
is able. God accepted His offering. He's
able to save you. Yes, but is He willing? He said,
I will. Be thou clean. And when He says
it, it's done. And God says, clean. Clean. What do I care what Satan or
myself says? If God says I'm clean, I'm clean. I believe God. And I'm a liar and Satan's a
liar, but God's not. Give me faith, Lord, for that.
And I may hold to Christ.