Matthew chapter eight. Matthew chapter eight. We are going to look at three
different people this morning. That's in this portion of scripture.
A leper. A centurion. and a sick woman. You know, when the Lord saves
a sinner. He comes to that center. We always
talk about coming to Christ. Well, that's so we do. We come
to Christ. But Christ must first come to us. We'll never come
to him. We'll never come to him. We do
not have the ability to do it. Not naturally. We are spiritually
dead. We are spiritually sinful. We
are just ate up with sin. That's the way the scripture
says. You know, the scripture says, there's none good, no, not one.
That's what the word of God says. And we naturally now, we naturally
find that offensive. But I tell you, it is however
God says it is. However God says it is, that's
the way it is. Now all the miracles that our
Lord performed, speak of his ability to heal us of all our
spiritual diseases. These are not written or given
to us to know that the Lord can heal us physically. Of course
he can heal us physically. He made us. He's our creator. He made us, he made our bodies.
He can heal us if he please. And we'll see this in this leper.
But all the healings that our Lord does in the gospel is for
you and I to see that he gives the blind sight, spiritual
sight. Here's what I need. I need spiritual
eyes to see Christ. I need spiritual ears to hear.
Lord, let me hear your voice this morning in the message.
I hope you don't just hear me. I truly hope you hear him. It'll
give me understanding. This is what I need. Now, the first person we meet
here is a leper. Our Lord had just finished his
sermon on the Mount. He comes down from the Mount
and great multitudes follow him. They heard him speak. They said,
you know, this man speaks with authority, not like the scribes. But there was one person, one
person comes to him out of need, out of need. Now this leper,
leprosy in the scripture represents sin. And I think that's what
we have here. And the reason we have this story
is that we are full of the leprosy of sin. We're full of it. Leprosy, if you'll read over in Luke concerning
this man, it says he was full of leprosy. It permeated his
old being. There was no part of his body
that was not full of leprosy. And there's no part of me that's
not full of the leprosy of sin. No part of me. And then it says
here, he came. It says in verse two, and behold,
that is take notice of this. standing, really standing, all
of this, there came a leper, a leper. Here's a multitude following
him. You know, a leper was to, when
the leper walked down the street, that leper was to cry, unclean,
unclean, and everybody was heart. Everybody get away from him.
And everything this leper touched, Was unclean. You go over to the
book of Leviticus and you'll see. Anybody had leprosy, anything
they touched was considered to be unclean. Unclean. And behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him. Over in Luke and Mark, it says
he fell down. One of them says he knelt down.
One says he fell down at the Lord. Fell down at his feet.
Prostrate on the ground. He knew his place. He knew his
place. But he came. He came. He came to the right one. He
came to the right person. He came to the only one who could
do anything for him. Every sinner whom God saves comes
to Christ. He didn't go to religion. He
went to the one who could heal him. He went to the one who could
do something for him. He went to the one who could
cleanse him. He went to the one who could save him. Like that
woman with the issue of blood, it says she had tried many physicians
and every one of them proved to be physicians of no value.
But this physician, this physician proved to be priceless. Priceless. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God saves a sinner,
that's exactly what's gonna happen. God is gonna draw that sinner
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the thing he's gonna use
to draw that sinner to Christ is his need of Christ. I always like when Mike Bartram,
I've requested it back home so many times for him to sing a
song, give me Christ or else I die. And that leper knew that the
only hope he had was standing right in front of him. The only
hope he had was a person, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only hope we have.
That's the only hope a sinner has is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he came to Christ as
he was. If you could see this man, if
you and I could see him, it would be repulsive. It would be repulsive. The smell
would be awful. It would be awful. But he came
to Christ and he came to Christ as he was. There was no other
way for him to come. He couldn't hide his leprosy. When we come
to Christ, we come to Christ as we are. We don't try to clean up first
and then come. We come as we are. You see, this
physician heals the sick. He says the whole don't need
a physician, but the sick do. And they are the ones who truly
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they come as they are. That Pharisee said, Lord, I thank
you. I'm not like the other men. And
he goes off this list of things he didn't do and things that
he did. And that publican said, Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner, the sinner. That covered everything about
him. You know, just standing before God as a sinner says everything
about me. It says everything about me,
a sinner. And then when he came to the
Lord, he sued for mercy. He sought mercy. You know, mercy
is something I don't deserve. He's saying, Lord, he's saying
here, you can make me clean if you will, if you will. He's asking for mercy. He's asking
for something he doesn't deserve because he says this. He says
in verse three, and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him
saying, I will be thou clean. Well, back in verse two, behold,
there came the leper and worshiped him saying, Lord, if thou will,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He's standing before
the Lord of glory. And he understands, he understands
that he has the power to cleanse. He has the power to say, but
he also understands this. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. You can save my, Lord, if you
will, you can save my soul. You can, you can. He bowed before
the Lord of glory. He confessed his need and he
confessed that the Lord is, he said, Lord, you're able to do
this. You're able, if you will. And he stood there at the mercy
of the Lord. At the mercy of the Lord. I tell
you what, when God saves a sinner, for the first time in that sinner's
life, that sinner realized that God can save him or her or damn
them. He can save me or leave me alone. He can save me or leave me alone.
That was so astounding to me when I heard the gospel. I understood
God could save me or leave me alone. And that's when you'll worship.
That's when you and I will worship God, when we worship the Lord
who is sovereign. He threw himself on the mercy
of the sovereign God of heaven and earth. And then listen here,
he did what he was told to do. The Lord said, after he healed
him, after he touched him, after he touched him, Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him. I can't begin to explain the
power of his touch. If he but touch me this morning,
if he but touch you, just a touch from the master's hand. You know
what the power of a touch is? Do you know what it's like not
to ever be able to touch someone? Or not have anyone be able to
touch you? That's the situation with this leper. No one could
touch this leper. If so, they'd be unclean. He
couldn't touch anyone. If he were married, he could
never touch his wife again. He couldn't hug her. If he had
children before he got this leprosy, he could never touch his children.
He could never hug his children. They could never touch him. Do you have any idea what just the
power of a touch is? And this man, what it says, was
full of leprosy. And the Lord reached out when
he asked the Lord, he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. And it says the Lord touched him. He laid his hand on him. He laid his hand on that putrefying
flesh of a man. Oh, the power of his touch. And then the Lord told him, he
said, go show yourself to the priest. And the reason he did
this, he said, and offer the gift as a testimony, not as a
cause, not as a reason, but as a testimony. You see, Christ
hadn't died yet, and the law was still in effect. And he honored
the law. Christ never broke the law. So
when he did this, he says, you go to the priest and show yourself
to him. And he didn't have to worry about
that. You know what this leopard had to do? He went and took,
he went to the priest, stripped down naked and stood before the
priest, stood before the law and stood there and just turned
around like this. And that priest examined him from head to toe and then pronounced him clean.
That's how complete salvation is. That's how complete, our
salvation, in Christ is so complete that we can stand before God's
law and it cannot find a blemish in us. Christ satisfied God's
law so completely that everyone for whom he died for, everyone
whom he saved are holy. They're as holy as God. You couldn't be in God's presence
if you're not as holy as he is. And in Christ, I have that. In
Christ, I have that. So he had no problem showing
himself to the priests. His sorrow, listen, this man's
sorrow for who and what he was, was real and he understood it.
He understood what he had. He understood the disease was
incurable. Do you and I really understand
that sin is incurable? You know, I could buy an aspirin
for a headache. And no doubt many of you out
here are taking some kind of medication for something that
helps cure it or alleviate pain or whatever it is. But the very
root cause of every problem we have is sin. And there's no medicine
for that. They cure one thing and another
pops up. Cure it and another pops up. But there is one who can cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. There is one. There is the balm
of Gilead. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
could wash away all my sins. All of them. This man knew his need. He knew
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to him. He submitted to the Lord's sovereign
mercy and the Lord saved him. The Lord has never, ever turned
away a sinner in need of mercy. In one place it said, all who
needed healing, he healed. Now we come to this centurion
in verse five. A centurion came to him, beseeching,
that is begging, begging him, listen to this, begging him to
heal his servant. He came for someone else. He
came for his servant. Wouldn't you love to have an
employer like that? Wouldn't you like to have an
employer that went to the Lord for you? When you're sick, you
call in sick at work and you're sick and you can't make it and
you're, you're in the bed and you've got an employer that actually
goes to the Lord of glory and beseeches and begs for his mercy
on you. Man, wasn't an employer. But this man, this centurion,
this Roman centurion, He came to Christ and he came to Christ
like that leper. He came believing. He didn't
come just to see if he could get something out of him and
see if this might help. And just like the leper, the
leper didn't just say, let's see if this works. No, he said,
if you will, you can make me clean. You can save me. And that's
what that centurion came. That centurion came believing.
that the Lord was able to do just what he was asking him to
do. He believed that. He came to our Lord in faith,
believing that Christ could heal his servant with just a word. Just a word. I know this morning
the Lord can save anyone here with just a word. It's like when
he passed that baby, he was laying out there in a field. He said,
when I passed by, I said, live. live if he says live i promise
you you'll live if he commands life you'll have life i promise
you will and notice this is a gentile coming to the lord jesus christ
this is a soldier of rome which they consider to be an enemy
of jew but not this one not this one god made him a gracious man
god had already god had already been at work in this man's heart
god had already been at work I tell you what, if you have
an interest in Christ, I can assure you God's already at work. That's not natural. That's of
God. And he came believing that Christ
had the power to speak the word only. And he recognized his lordship. Like the leper, he recognized
his lordship. He believed the Lord was able,
he believed he had the power to save, the power to heal. Listen to what the centurion
says. He says, when he asked him to
do this, and the Lord said he had come to his house, he said,
I want you to listen to this. Verse eight, the centurion answered
and said, Lord, Here's a centurion calling a Jewish man, Lord. That's a work of grace, calling
him Lord. He says here, I am not worthy
that thou shouldest come under my roof. I'm not worthy. He did not say my servant for
whom I'm asking this mercy for, my servant is not worthy of what
I'm asking for. He said, I'm not. He said, I'm not. You know, he
said, I'm a man under authority. I have soldiers under me. I'm
somebody. You know, in Rome, he was, in
Rome, he was somebody. He had men under him. He had
authority. He could say to one, go, and he goes, and another
come, and he comes. This man had authority. But speaking,
when he, when he comes to the Lord, he said, I'm not worthy
that you should come under my roof, that you should even enter
into my house. Oh my. I'm not worthy. Not many people
know this, not many, but this once proud soldier knew his unworthiness
before God. Do I know mine? Do you honestly
know yours before God? You know, God has never saved
a good man yet. He's never saved a good man yet. He said there's not any. God
said that. God said that. This soldier recognized that
the Lordship of Jesus Christ superseded that of Rome and of
all others. He knew this was the Lord of
Lords. He knew that. And he believed that the Lord
need only speak the word and his servant would be healed.
That's what he says. He said, you don't need to come
to my house. I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, but speak the word only and my
servant shall be healed. Just speak the word, just say
it. I can say that with confidence
this morning, Lord, speak the word and sinners will be saved. Sinners will be saved if he speaks
the word. Oh, to have the faith of this
man. He said, I've never seen such great faith. No, not even in Israel. When
Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, verily
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith. You know, when
you think of great faith, you think of someone who can move
a mountain, don't you? Do you know what great faith really
is? Great faith is to believe God. without doubt. It's to believe
God without doubt. This man has great faith. And
he says, speak the word only. If the Lord speaks the word of
the gospel to us in power, salvation will happen. Salvation
will happen. But now he's not going to do
it without his word. It's interesting here because he says, speak the
word only. He's not going to say without his word. I guarantee
that. He's going to say with his word. Of his own will beget he us with
the word of truth, with the word of truth. That's why it's so
important to be under the gospel. That's why it's so important
to invite people, bring people, let them sit under the gospel.
Because God's not gonna save one soul without the word. Not
one. And he recognized here in verse
nine, he recognized the Lord's power and the Lord's authority. For I'm a man under authority,
have his soldiers under me. I say to one go and he goes,
another come and he comes. My servant do this and do that.
He recognized the Lord's power. He recognized the power of his
word. You know, you can say you've
got a lot of power when you say something and it happens. That's
when you can say you've got some power. When you say something
or you command something or someone and it happens. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. And he said, let there
be light. And what was there? There was light. Brother, that's
power. That's power. That's power. His power is unlimited by any
of us. It's unlimited. And the Lord
marveled, he marveled and said to them that followed, I have
not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Where it ought to be found. They
had the promises, they had the tithes, the pictures, they had
everything. And the scripture says when he
came unto his own, his own received him not. They turned thumbs down
on him. Even a very orthodox religion
can miss the Lord Jesus Christ. They had it all, but they didn't
know him who is all. Here's a sobering truth he gives.
He says, many shall come from all over the earth. They're in
verse 11. They're going to sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. People are going to come. He's
going to have people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation
under heaven. They're all his. He's going to save some here,
some here, some here. He said the children of the kingdom,
many of them, they're going to be cast out. Because when he
came, they didn't believe. When they came, they rejected
him. When he came, they turned thumbs down on him. But they're gonna be many. Our
Lord is gonna have, he's gonna have everyone he died
for. It's not a shot in the dark. I'm telling you, it's not a shot
in the dark. Salvation was not, it's not a, Calvary is not a
rescue attempt. That's not a rescue attempt.
IT IS A CERTAINTY THAT GOD IS GOING TO SAVE A MULTITUDE OF
SINNERS THAT NO MAN CAN NUMBER. AND HE GAVE THEM TO JESUS CHRIST
AND CHRIST DIED FOR THEM. HE PURCHASED THEM. HE PAID THEIR
SIN DEBT. HE'S GONNA HAVE THEM. THERE'S GONNA BE MANY THAT THE
LORD'S GONNA SAVE. He's going to save publicans,
harlots, drunkards, religious people, people of all kinds,
people of all kinds, all ranks in life will save all kinds. And notice what he says here
in verse 13. As, as thou hast believed, Jesus said unto the sinner, Go
thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. Now,
did he believe? Did he believe what he was asking
for? Well, we have evidence of it. And his servant was healed
in the self-same hour. Absolutely, he believed. That
servant was healed. I can't imagine, you know, when
he went home, if you read it over in Luke and stuff, when
he went home, they told him at the very hour when he was, when
he was healed, when he began to, when he was better. And he
knew it was the hour that he asked the Lord to heal him. He
knew. I just can't imagine, uh, having someone like that. You
know, you're just, he's a servant and his, uh, his, uh, His boss
goes to the Lord and begs him for mercy on this servant. What
a, what a work of grace God does when he does it. What a work
of grace. And then last of all, you have
Peter's mother-in-law. She was sick of a fever. And when Jesus was coming to
Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laying and she's sick
of a fever. She's very sick. This woman's
very sick. Her service was useless. She
was lying in bed. She couldn't do anything. She
couldn't do anything. And it says that the Lord touched
her hand. Here's the power of his touch
again. Heath walks over to her, takes her by the hand and her
fever left. Just like that leper, when the
Lord said, I will be thou clean. He became clean immediately. Salvation is immediate. God does
not put us on probation. It's immediate and it's perfect. It's complete because it's in
Christ. And he, he took her by the hand
and it says, and she, uh, her fever left her
and notice what she did. And she arose and, and this is
how complete her salvation. This is how complete the healing
was. This is how complete salvation or salvation is the Lord's salvation.
And she arose and ministered unto them. She just got up out
of bed. You know, when you get done,
when you've had a fever, you get up, you're weak, aren't you? If you've had a real bad fever,
you've been sick, the first thing you do, you start to get up,
you start to take some nourishment, you know, and people start to
bring some things to you to help you get stronger. This woman
immediately, Cut up out of bed and went about serving. When
she was thankful, she was happy. And the first thing she did was
get up and serve the Lord. She got up and served him. She
served. I thought of this scripture says
we are bought with a price. We are not our own. We are his
servants. We are his servants. That's my reason for my existence.
That's the whole reason for your existence, is to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ. I don't have any other reason.
You know, the only reason for the existence of John the Baptist
was to point out and say, behold, the Lamb of God was taken away
in the sin of the world. That's the only reason. The only reason for my existence
is to serve, worship, and honor Jesus Christ. And how do I do
that? How do we do that? When we serve
one another, we serve Him. When we serve one another, look
after one another, take care of one another, we're serving
the Lord Jesus Christ.