Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you would like to follow along
with me in your Bible this morning, you can be turning to Matthew
chapter 5. In Matthew chapter 5, beginning there, our Lord
preached a sermon that the translators of the scripture titled His Sermon
on the Mount. That's what it says at the top
of my page. Christ beginneth His Sermon on
the Mount. And this message that he preached
runs from chapter 5 through chapter 7. Chapter 5, chapter 6, and
chapter 7. And chapter 5 begins by saying
in verse 1, and seeing the multitudes, seeing the multitudes, multitudes
of people heard this message. Multitudes of people heard him
preach this message. And in the message, he dealt
very straightforwardly with them. He spoke the truth to them and
told it very plainly, very straightforwardly. He began by putting a difference
in those who are his people and those who are not his people.
That's how he started. He started by declaring that
there is a difference. He said, not everybody is going
to be blessed. Not every soul is going to be
blessed. He said, only those who are,
in verse three, he said, poor in spirit. The poor in spirit
will. Only those who, verse four says,
mourn, truly mourn in the heart over their sin. Only those who,
verse six says, hunger and thirst after righteousness. Those are
the ones who will be blessed. He dealt with the subject of
sin, just how deeply God looks on it, all the way into the heart.
He declared that sin is not just done on the outward man, sin
is all the way deep into the heart. In verse 21, he started
telling them that murder is committed in the heart. It comes out, but
it starts in the heart. That's where it is officially
committed. In verse 27, he said adultery is committed in the
heart. That's where it begins. And God sees it. We cannot hide
sin from God. We may hide it from a lot of
people on this earth. But we cannot hide sin from God.
In chapter six, he dealt with giving and he dealt with prayer. He taught us in this manner,
after this manner to pray. In chapter seven, he warned them
to beware of false prophets. If you look at Matthew chapter
seven, he said in verse 15, beware of false prophets which come
to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
They come in sheep's clothing. They appear to be of God, but
he said they're not. They're not. And he said, beware
of them. He told them in verse 21, that not every person is
going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. If you look there
at chapter seven, verse 21, not everyone that sayeth unto me,
Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. There's a
difference. And he said in verse 23, then
will I profess unto them. I never knew you depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. He declared judgment. He very
plainly declared the truth. He told them the truth. He told
them the truth. And verse 28 says, it came to
pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished
at his doctrine. They couldn't believe what they
heard. They were astonished at his doctrine. Now, it doesn't
say they believed his doctrine. It says they were astonished
at it. Now his disciples believed. Those that he had given faith
to every soul that he gave faith to, they all believed. But it
says every person that he preached to. Whether they believed it or not,
they were all astonished. At what he said. In verse 29
says, he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. He taught them with the matter
of factness of the authority of God, the absolute authority
of God. Now, chapter eight, verse one
says, when he was come down from the mountain, Great multitudes
followed him. There was a huge crowd of people
around him. A huge crowd listened to him
preach this message. And then when he was finished
and he came down the mountain, a huge crowd of people followed
him. Verse two says, and behold, there
came a leper. As if to say in this massive
crowd of people, this great crowd of people, one man had his attention. And behold, he was a leper. This man was a leper. He had
leprosy. Leprosy was very prevalent in
the Old Testament. You hear much about leprosy. It represented and it was a direct
result of sin. It represents sin and it came
to people as a result of their sin. Sin is what brings every
disease to a man or a woman, every sickness. It's the infirmity
of sin. In Numbers 12, here are just
a few examples. In Numbers chapter 12, Aaron
and his sister Miriam, they were with Moses. Moses, Aaron, his
sister Miriam. Miriam became jealous of Moses. Because God was dealing with
Moses directly, and she said, the Lord hasn't only spoken to
Moses, he's spoken to us too. She wanted to share some of the
glory. And the Lord heard it and he smote her with leprosy.
Because of her sin, he smote her with leprosy. And she repented
of it, and Moses entreated the Lord for her, and the Lord had
mercy. But that's how he dealt with
her, because of her sin. You may know the story of Naaman
the leper. There's a man in the Old Testament
named Naaman, and he was a leper. He had leprosy. And the Lord
healed him. And he was clean and out of great
thanks and great gratitude to the man that God used to be the
means of that healing, Elisha. He wanted to give him clothing
and he wanted to give him money and he wanted to give whatever
he had. He was just so thankful. He wanted to give in return for
the kindness of the Lord. And Elisha said, I'm not taking
it. I'm not taking anything in return for the cleansing of the
Lord. That redemption and that cleansing is not bought with
a price. It's not bought with any price that man can give.
So Naaman started on his way back home. And the servant of
Elisha, without Elisha knowing about it, he ran after Naaman
and he said, my master's changed his mind. He'll take your things. So Naaman gave him all those
things and he went home and hid those things and kept them for
himself. And God saw it all. He knew what
he'd done, and he took the leprosy that was on Naaman, and he laid
it on Elisha's servant, and it was because of his sin. King
Uzziah, you may have heard about this king named Uzziah. He became lifted up with pride because he was the king. He thought
he was worthy to go into the temple and burn incense on the
altar for an offering to God. The priests were called of God
to do that. But King Uzziah said, I'm the
king and I can do whatever I want to do. And he wanted to go in
there and burn incense. And as soon as he went into the
place where he was not allowed to go, 81 priests ran in after
him to stop him. And it says in 2nd Chronicles
26, they were valiant men. These were called men of God. And they all ran in and it says
they withstood him. And this is what they said to
the king. They said, it pertaineth not to thee, Uzziah, to burn
incense to the Lord. God has not called you to this.
That's what they said. God has not called you to do
this. You'd better not run in trying to do God's business.
without being called to do it. And they told him, you better
get out of here. And he got mad. Uzziah got wroth with all 81
of those men and he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't leave. So
God smote him with leprosy. All 81 of those priests looked
at him and pronounced him unclean. That was the job of the priest.
They said, you're unclean. And they thrust him out. And
it says, Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death,
and he dwelt in a several house. He dwelt in his own house, being
a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Cut off. That's why it says, Behold, there
came a leper. Behold. As if to say, behold. there came a sinner. There came
a sinner. Leprosy will always represent
sin. Anytime you see leprosy in the
Word of God, it represents a man's own sin. A man's own decaying
sin. Leprosy was a horrible disease. We don't hear much of it anymore
at all, but it was a horrible disease. I have a dictionary
in the back of my Bible. It's a wonderful help. It's a
wonderful dictionary. And it says, leprosy was regarded
as living death. If a man had leprosy, it was
regarded as living death. I believe that's a good way to
describe men and women as they are in the world today. Living
death. That's how all men and women
are as they go through the life of this earth, living death.
The dictionary says those who had leprosy had to shave their
heads, they had to rend their clothes, they had to tear their
clothes, and they had to cover their mouths. Shave their heads,
rend their clothes, and cover their mouths. That's what they
had to do. That's a good way to describe a sinner. He has
no glory of his own. No glory at all. There was a
man in the Old Testament named Samson. You may have heard of
Samson. His hair was his glory. He had this long hair. And his
hair was his glory. The scripture says a woman's
hair is her glory. Well, a sinner has no glory of
his own. None. His covering, his clothes,
the righteousness of his own works is rent. It's torn, it's filthy rags,
that's all it is. And the scripture says, whatever
is in a man's heart is going to come out of his mouth. Whatever
is in a sinner's heart that is going to come out of his mouth.
Job finally said, I'm going to have to cover my mouth. I believe
I ought to cover my mouth. I believe it's time I cover my
mouth because this heart is only evil continually. I believe I
need to cover my mouth. It says lepers were forbidden
by the law to enter any walled city. They had to shave their
head, rend their clothes, cover their mouth, and they were forbidden
by the law to enter into any walled city. Do you know what
the apostle John saw in Revelation 21 when he saw New Jerusalem,
the city of God, Zion? He saw a walled city. a walled city, and God said to
him, no sinner is going to enter therein. No sinner will be allowed
to enter into that walled city. The last thing that the dictionary
said about a leper was, if any man or woman started approaching
the leper, as that leper was walking down the street, if he
passed someone else and someone started approaching that leper,
The leper had to go to the other side of the street and start
crying, unclean, unclean, unclean. He had to cry unclean. He had
to let it be known. He had to confess. He had to
tell everybody, I'm unclean. You don't want to come near me.
I am unclean. That's why it says, behold. Behold, there came a leper, one
who had no glory of his own, one who had no covering of his
own, one whose heart was only evil continually, one who by
law, according to the law, was not allowed to enter in. One who was from the crown of
his head to the sole of his foot, wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. One who could not cry anything
but unclean. Unclean. I'm a dead man walking. That's all I am, a dead man walking.
Behold. Behold. Let me show you what
Luke's account says about this man. If you want to turn with
me over to Luke chapter 5, this is Luke declaring this same account. Luke 5 verse 12, it says, And
it came to pass when he was in a certain city, behold, a man
full of leprosy. Full of leprosy. Not only was
he covered in it, he wasn't in the beginning stages at all,
just a couple of spots. He was covered in it, but not
only that, he was in the late, late stages of it. Just eaten
up with leprosy. Leprosy rotted the flesh off
of the bones. It just ate, decayed and ate
the skin right off the bones. This man was a repulsive sight. To see this man, It was a repulsive
sight. Oh, the smell. Can you imagine
the smell of all of that rotting decay? All of that dead flesh,
we all know what dead flesh smells like. Horrible, just horrible. This
man was something that no one wanted to have anything to do
with. No one wanted to be anywhere near this man. But do you know
what our text is saying? And do you know what Luke chapter
5 is saying? It's saying in spite of the fact
that at that moment, a great multitude of people was following
the Lord. One person came to Him. A great multitude of people was
following the Lord wherever He went. He went up the mountain,
they went up the mountain. He came down the mountain, they
came down the mountain. They followed Him wherever He
went. But one man came to Him. One man came to Him. Our Lord was smothered by people. They were astonished at him.
They were curious about him. They wanted to be seen with him.
But one man came to him, and behold, he was a leper. He was a leper. Right here in
Luke 5, verse 12 says, And it came to pass, when he was in
a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who, seeing
Jesus, fell on his face. This man needed something. Oh,
he needed something. He fell on his face. He knew
he needed something. He knew he did. He knew that
he couldn't satisfy his own need. No other man on this earth could
satisfy his need. He knew that. But this one man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, And it says in verse 12, who seeing
the Lord Jesus fell on his face. He fell on his face. This leper
represents every unworthy. Naturally incurable. Decaying sinner, rotting, dying
sinner who knows, I mean knows that he has a need. Knows he
has a need and there's only one who can fill it. There's only
one person who can fill that need. That's who he represents. Now, does he represent you? Because
I'm going to tell you, he represents me. This man represents me. He represents every man and woman
who has a need and a desire in the heart to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Does he represent us? Many may
be astonished at his doctrine. But every hopeless sinner that
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ for help, every sinner that comes
is going to end up having the same story this leper had, same
result this leper had. Now, look with me back in our
text and we'll see how the story ends. Back in Matthew chapter
8, it says in verse 1, when he was come down from the mountain,
great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper
and worshipped him." What is true worship? What does true
worship look like? People all over this world say
and believe that they are worshipping the Lord. by way of rock concerts,
and by way of game nights for the kids, and by way of Christian
socials, and by way of share groups, and by way of outreach
programs, and community service, and all these other ways. Is
that true worship? Community service is a wonderful
thing, but is that true worship? The answer is no. This is true
worship. Verse two, behold, there came
a leper and worshiped him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. That's true worship. That is true worship. True worship
acknowledges him. To be the God that He is, He
said, Lord Jehovah. Lord means Jehovah, ruler, sovereign. True worship is totally unto
Him. Totally. True worship cries,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. Unto Thy name give glory. True worship acknowledges everything
to be in His hands. Everything in His hands. All
the decision. Whatever happens, it's in his
hands. This leper said, Lord, if you
will, if you will, this is completely dependent on you. This is up
to you. I know that my request is going to be left in your hands.
I acknowledge that to be so. Your will, your purpose. But
he said, Lord, I also know this. If you will. You're able to. If you will, you can. True worship
acknowledges Him, His will, and His ability. That's true worship. After all that is acknowledged,
true worship starts begging. After everything that is acknowledged
concerning our Lord and His will and His hand, true worship starts
begging, Lord, please, please, I see it's in Your hands. I see
it's all up to You. I see salvation is of the Lord. Please, please. I'm a wretched
man, Lord. I'm a vile man. I am not just vile to everybody
else. I'm vile to myself. Oh, wretched man that I am. You're
my only hope. Lord, you're my only hope. I'm
asking, I'm begging, please, if you will, you can make me
clean. Verse two says, and behold, there
came a leper and worshiped 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 immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. There is not one account in the
scripture of any poor sinner who begged Christ for mercy and
help and redemption and salvation and didn't receive it. There's
not one account. He said, Lord, would you please
make me clean? And the Lord said, I sure will. I most certainly will. And the
fact that he touched him That tells us how he did it, how he
made him clean. Everyone knew you don't touch
a leper. If you touch a leper, you will
get his leprosy. His leprosy will be imparted
to you. It's so contagious. In order
for our Lord to make us clean, in order for him to cleanse us
from our sin, he had to take it upon himself. He had to unite
himself to us. and take what we are upon himself
and impart what he is to us. And that transaction happened
on the cross of Calvary. That's where it took place. He
literally took all of our infirmities upon himself. That man cried,
please help me, Lord. And the Lord laid hold of that
man and he said, for this cause came I into the world. It's my
privilege. It's my joy. I'll bear your destruction
in my own body. I'll bear your decay in my own
body. And after he accomplished that
and he cleansed that man in verse 4, he said, you go tell no man,
but go your way and show yourself to the priest and offer a gift
that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. He said, you go show
yourself to the priest. And when he did that, according
to the law, in agreement with the law, Soon as the priest saw
he was cleansed, he gave him a clean bill of health. And everybody
knew it. And he got to grow his hair again.
And he got to wear whole clothing again. And he could uncover his
mouth again. And he was reunited with the
people back into the walled city. Complete redemption. Complete redemption in Christ.
And it was all in agreement with the law. That's what Christ accomplished. for lepers like you and me, sinners
like you and me. And in response, we cry thank
you. Thank you, Lord, for making us
whole. Thank you, Lord, for saving our soul. Thank you for giving
salvation so rich, so free. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.