Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Our Lord preached
a message that the translators titled his Sermon on the Mount. That's what it says at the top
of my page. Christ beginneth his sermon on the mount. This
sermon is recorded for us throughout chapters five, six, and seven. All three of those chapters are
this one sermon on the mount. Chapter five begins by saying
in verse one, and seeing the multitudes. seeing the multitudes, multitudes
of people heard this message. Multitudes of people, great multitudes
of people heard this message. In the message, he dealt very
straightforwardly with them. He began by putting a difference,
setting forth the difference in those who are his people and
those who are not his people. He said right off the bat, not
everybody is going to be blessed. Only those who are, as verse
3 says, poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those who are, as verse 4 says,
mourning. Those who mourn. Only those who, verse six says,
hunger and thirst for righteousness. He dealt with the subject of
sin to great multitudes of people. In verse 21, he showed just how
deeply God looks on sin all the way to the heart. He started
telling them, murder is committed in the heart, not just with the
hands. He wanted great multitudes to
know this. Murder is in the heart and God
sees it. It happens in the heart. In verse
27, he said, adultery is committed in the heart. Don't be fooled. That's where adultery is committed.
And God sees it. We cannot hide sin from God. In chapter 6, he dealt with giving. He dealt with prayer. In chapter
7, he warned them to beware of false prophets. That's what he
said in chapter 7, verse 15. Beware of false prophets. They're
going to come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves. in the heart, what God sees in
the heart. He told him in verse 21, not
every person is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Verse 23, he said, Then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. This was his sermon on the mount
to great multitudes of people. 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. It doesn't say they believed
his doctrine. It says they were astonished
at it. Now his disciples believed. Every
person that he gave faith to believed, but it says every person
that he preached to, whether they believed it or not, was
astonished at his doctrine. Verse 29 says, for 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. He taught
him on the authority of God. Chapter 8 verse 1 says, When
he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. There was a huge crowd of people
around him. I want us to really get that
in our minds. They are astonished at him. They marvel at his at
his matter-of-factness, things they never heard before. They
marvel at his miracles that he performed. And now here he comes. He finishes
his message and he's coming down the mountain and a great crowd
of people is following him. They're all around him. Verse
2 says, And behold, there came a leper. As if to say, in this massive
crowd of people, one man had his attention. It doesn't just say, and there
came a leper. It says, and behold. I love that. Behold, he was a leper. This
man was a leper. Leprosy was very prevalent in
the Old Testament. Very prevalent. It represented
and it was a direct result of a person's individual sin. It represented sin and it was
the direct result of a person's sin. They contracted it because
of their sin. In Numbers 12, Aaron and his
sister, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Miriam became jealous of Moses. She became jealous of Moses,
God was meeting with Moses face to face. And she became jealous,
and this is what she said. She said the Lord hasn't only
spoken by Moses, he's spoken by us too. She wanted some of the glory
in it, that's what she wanted. And the Lord heard it and, boom,
he smote her with leprosy. Now she repented, Moses interceded,
God was merciful, but it came as a direct result of her sinning. God saw it and he smote her with
leprosy. You remember the story of Naaman
the leper? The Lord healed that man. And
out of thanks, out of gratitude, he wanted to give Elisha, the
Lord's prophet, the one that the Lord used to be the means
of the healing. He wanted to give Elisha a bunch
of clothing, a bunch of money, whatever he had. He said, I want
you to just take all this stuff. I'm so grateful for this. Take
all this stuff. And Elisha said, nope, I'm not
taking it. God's healing is not purchased.
You can't buy this. There's no trade involved. This is a free gift. So Naaman turned around and went
home. As he was going home, Elisha's
servant, without Elisha knowing about it, he ran out and called
up to Naaman and he lied to him. He said, Elisha changed his mind. He'll take your stuff. So Naaman
gave it to him. And he took it and hid it to
keep it for himself. God saw him and took Naaman's
leprosy and laid it on that servant. It was a result of his sin. King
Uzziah, in the year that King Uzziah died, King Uzziah, he
became lifted up with pride. He thought because he was the
king that he had the authority. He thought he was worthy to go
into the temple and burn incense on the altar as a sacrifice to
God. And as soon as he went into that
temple, 81 priests ran in after him. 81 priests. They went in to stop him. It
says in 2 Chronicles 26, they were valiant men. These men were
warriors. God called men. They ran in and
withstood him. And 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 warned him of.
God has not called you to this. You better not run in trying
to do God's business for him, Uzziah. You better get out of
here. You better get out of here. Uzziah got wroth with all 81
of them, and he would not leave. They said, Uzziah, we're warning
you. You better go. He got mad. He would not leave.
God smote him right there with leprosy. While he had the censer
in his hand, it came, smote him with leprosy. All 81 of those
priests looked on him and pronounced him unclean, and they thrust
him out. King Uzziah. And it says, Uzziah
the king was a leper unto the day of his death. He remained
a leper to the day of his death. And he dwelt in a several house,
his own house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house
of the Lord. That's why it says, behold. Behold,
there came a leper. There came a leper, as if to
say, behold, there came a sinner. I mean, there came a sinner. There came a sinner. Leprosy
will always represent sin. Leprosy was a horrible disease. It was a horrible disease. There's
a dictionary in the back of my Bible, and it's a good dictionary. I use it a lot. And it says that
leprosy was regarded as living death. That's how it was thought
of. Living death. I believe that's
a good way to describe men and women who are on this earth right
now. Living death. The dictionary says those who
had leprosy Had to shave their heads. This is how you could
recognize them. They had to shave their heads.
They had to, by law, rend their clothes. And they had to cover
their mouth, had to wear a mask and cover their mouth. That's
a good way to describe a sinner. A sinner has no glory of his
own. Samson's hair was his glory.
The scripture says a woman's hair is her glory. A sinner has
no glory of his own. His covering the righteousness
of his own works is rent, is torn. It's filthy rags. The scripture says
whatever is in a man's heart, it is going to come out of his
mouth. is going to come out of his mouth. Job finally said,
I think I'd better cover my mouth. I'd better put my hand on my
mouth. This heart is only evil continually. 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 law to enter any walled city. Do you know what the Apostle
John saw in Revelation 21 when he saw New Jerusalem? Zion glory. He saw a walled city. Here's a wonderful wall. All
manner of stones. God said to John, on the Isle
of Patmos, no sinner is going to enter therein. No sinner. The last thing that the dictionary
said about a leper was, if any man or woman started approaching
a leper as he was walking down the street, he had to go to the
other side of the street and start crying, unclean, unclean. By law, every time he passed
someone else. Every single time. How often
do you pass somebody? They didn't have cars. How often do you think this man
cried, unclean, unclean, unclean? All day long this man had to
remind himself, I'm unclean. I am unclean. That's why it says,
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. I'm a dead man walking. I'm coming
as a dead man walking. Unclaimed. Behold. Behold. Now let me show you what Luke's
account says about this man. Go with me over to Luke chapter
5. Luke chapter 5 verse 12 says,
And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold,
a man full of leprosy. Not only was this man covered
in it, he was in the last stages of it. Full of leprosy. Leprosy rotted the flesh off
of the bones. That's what it did. It rotted
the flesh right off the bones. It was a repulsive sight. The smell of his rotten decay. Can you imagine? Rotting flesh. The smell of death was in him. It was on him. This man was something that no
one wanted to have anything to do with. You couldn't touch a
leper. It was so highly contagious.
You couldn't touch anything a leper touched. But do you know what our text
is saying and what Luke 5 right here 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. One person, out of this great
multitude of people, came to the Lord. The Lord was smothered
by people who were astonished at Him, curious about Him, and
they wanted to be seen with Him. But one man came to Him, and
behold, 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. This
man needed something. He knew he needed something. He knew that he could not satisfy
his need and no other man on this earth could satisfy his
need but this one man. Seeing the Lord Jesus Christ,
he fell on his face. This leper represented every
unworthy naturally incurable, decaying sinner who knows that
he has a name. He represents every single person
who knows there is only one man who can help me. Does he represent you? He represents me. He really does. He represents me. I have a need.
I cannot cure it. No other man on this earth can
cure it. There is one man who can help me. This leper represents
every man who not only has a need, but a desire in the heart to
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many may be astonished at his
doctrine. We're going to run into many
people who are astonished at his doctrine. They're going to
be so taken with it, just completely astonished by his doctrine. But every hopeless sinner that
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ himself for help is going to
end up having the same story this leper has. All right, we're
going to finish the rest of it in the text. Go back with me
to Matthew 8. Matthew chapter 8, verse 1 says, 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? True worship. People all over
this world say that they are worshipping God by way of having
a rock concert through the service. Worshipping God by way of having
a game night for the kids? Worshipping God by having Christian
socials and share groups? Let's all get together and share
our feelings. And they have outreach programs
and they have community service. Is that really true worship?
This right here is true worship. None of that is worship. except
for the flesh. This is true worship. Verse two
says, and 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. It acknowledges Him as the God
that He is. Lord, that means Jehovah, God
of heaven and earth. True worship is totally unto
Him. 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. All the decision. on whatever
happens is in your hands. All of it. This leper said, Lord,
if you will, if you will, Lord, this is up
to you. I need salvation and Lord, it's
up to you. It's up to you. You are God. It's in your hands. It's up to
you. But Lord, I also know this. If
you will, you can. If you will, oh, you can. True
worship acknowledges Him. It acknowledges His will and
purpose. And it acknowledges His ability.
And after all that is acknowledged, this is what true worship starts
doing. It starts begging. It starts begging, Lord, please.
Please, Lord, I'm a wretched man with no hope. I'm a vile creature, not just
to everybody else, I'm a vile creature to myself. Look at me. Lord, you are my only hope. I'm asking, I'm begging, please,
if you will, you can make me clean. Back in the early 1900s, there
was a missionary to Sudan, Africa. Sudan, Ethiopia, and Africa.
And his name was Paris Reedhead. And this man was walking with
some other men through the jungle. And they heard a very faint,
weak voice crying, somebody help me. Somebody help me. So they followed the voice until
they came upon this man laying there in the jungle who was in
the last stages of leprosy. And he said, it's the most horrible
thing I've ever seen in my life. He said, this man's skin was
gone, mostly gone. The skin on his face was almost
all gone. And he said he just had two studs
for arms and all he could do was lay there crying, somebody
help me. Somebody help me. And Mr. Reed had said, as I stood
there watching this man said, I never felt so helpless. He
said, the sorrow I was having for this man. And he said, as I stood there
looking at him, this thought went through my mind. If I could pick this rotting,
broken, fallen apart man, if I could pick him up and press
his flesh-eaten face and body to mine and impart my health to him,
And take all of his rotten deadness into me. I would have a better understanding
of what it is that my Lord did for me. And he said it, it became real
to me. I can't do that for him, but
that's exactly what my Lord did for me. Verse 2 says, Behold,
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 immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. There is not one account in the
scripture of any poor sinner who begged Christ for mercy and
didn't get it. There is not one account. He
said, Lord, would you please make me clean? Please help me. The Lord said, I'd be happy to. I will. I most certainly will.
And the fact that he touched him tells us how he did it. Everyone
knew, don't touch a leper. Whoever touched that leper took
his leprosy upon himself. And in order for our Lord to
make that man clean, he had to take upon himself all of his
uncleanness. And that's what he did on the
cross. He literally took all of our infirmities upon himself. Literally. Just like what Mr. Readhead saw. He literally took
all of that rotting deadness and touched it and took it upon
himself. That man cried, please help me.
And the Lord laid hold of that man and he said, for this cause
came I into the world. That's the whole reason he came
into the world. He said, it is my privilege, it is my joy, I
will bear your destruction in my own body. Verse 3 says, And
Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be
thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See
thou tell no man. Our Lord did not come to lift
up his voice and cause it to be heard in the street. He came
to save his people. Verse 4 says, 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 testimony
unto them. Not only did he say that because
the law demanded it and he came to fulfill all the law, but he
also said that to restore the man. He did come to save his people
and restore his people. Once that man showed himself
to the priest, he was given a clean certificate of health. The priest
pronounced him to everybody, clean. He was pronounced to the
entire kingdom clean. And the man who was clean at
that point could freely grow his hair. All the glory restored. The man who was clean wore un-rimmed
clothes. Clean and spotless. Perfect.
The man who was clean could enter right on into the walled city.
Welcome in. The man who was clean was reunited. He was accepted with all the
people. Every bit of that was in total agreement with the law. That's what Christ accomplished
for his people. Total agreement with the law. Full acceptance. That is in total
agreement with the law. That's how every single child
of his enters the kingdom. Every single child, he did not
come to take away the law, he came to take away the sin against
the law. Fully restore his people with
the law. Judgment was met, the law satisfied, mercy was born
when a ransom was found. Every filthy sinner that was
washed in that blood is now clean. Every sinner who has been cleansed,
every single one has a heart to run and tell everybody else.
If he will, he can make you clean. If he will. This is my message
this morning. If he will, he can make you clean. And if you come, he will. He will. If you come running. If you come crying, if you fall
down, He will. Come as a leper, come worshiping,
come begging, and He will. He will. All right, let's all
stand together.