The gospel, the gospel points
to Jesus Christ and his perfect redeeming work for a particular
people. And those who have been enlightened
by the Holy Spirit just absolutely delight in that glorious truth
because we know God has chosen us in Christ to be recipients
of His grace and His mercy through that perfect redeeming work.
The world hates this gospel. I printed this out from Pastor
Don Fortner's bulletin for last Sunday, just this morning, and
I thought I would read it. It's not by Pastor Fortner. He
had copied written under it. I don't know who wrote this,
but I agree wholeheartedly with it. He titles it, Preachers Today.
And he said, preachers today are licensed and ordained by
the church. Men of old were ordained and
sent by God. Preachers today go forth armed
with degrees and credentials. Men of old went forth anointed
by the Holy Spirit. Preachers today are questioned
by committees and hired to preach what the church believes. Men
of old came preaching, thus saith the Lord. Preachers today give
themselves to programs, visitations, church business. Men of old gave
themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Preachers
today preach, and men are persuaded to move their membership. Men
of old preached, and they were pricked in their hearts and cried,
men and brethren, what shall we do? Preachers today pray,
and the organ plays softly. Elijah prayed and the fire of
God fell. Preachers today are afraid that
they will offend someone. The Apostle Paul was afraid that
he would not. If there is no offense, the gospel
has not been preached. And I say amen to that. We're
going through the book of Isaiah in a verse-by-verse study. If
you would turn please to Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9 verses
6 and 7 has been our text for several weeks and we will continue
with this as our text for a while yet. There's just too much in
these verses to just skip over lightly. But I want to read an
article that's in today's bulletin, just across from Don Fortner's
article on the inside back cover, titled The Almighty, taken from
Revelation 1-8. Follow along as I read this article. There are some false religionists
who will admit that Jesus Christ is a mighty God, but not the
Almighty God. They know that Isaiah referred
to the coming Messiah as the mighty God, Isaiah 9, 6. But
Revelation 1, 8 also has reference to Jesus Christ and plainly states
that he is the almighty. Those ungodly Christ-denying
self-righteous religionists are polytheistic. God himself tells
us in his word, there is no other God beside him. by saying that
Jesus is a mighty God, but not God Almighty. They're calling
God a liar, and they're foolish, sinful attempts to worship Him. Every enlightened child of God
is monotheistic. God has revealed to us that there
is only one God. There are three divine persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are equal in essence, power,
and purpose, but only one God. You might say, that's a mathematical
impossibility. Three can't be one. Explain that to me. Well, you
might be familiar with the mathematics of this world, but no finite
human being is familiar with the mathematics of heaven. I
can't explain how three divine persons can be one majestic God,
but I don't have to. That truth is plainly set forth
in the Holy Scriptures. I believe it, therefore I declare
it. Isaiah 9, 6 says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given, and his name shall be called the mighty God. Jesus
Christ has always been God, the second person of the blessed
trinity. He is our creator who spoke everything into existence
by the word of his mouth. But he has not always been a
man. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent his son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And the next verse says, because
you're sons, and because you're sons, God has sent forth a spirit
into our hearts whereby we cry, Abba, Father. It's because we're
his children. As a man, Jesus Christ purchased
his chosen people with his own blood. He, by himself, purged
our sins. He satisfied the holy justice
of God for all of his elect by laying down his life for us.
As God, he raised himself from the dead, and Jesus Christ, a
glorified God-man, is now seated on his throne in heaven as the
sovereign monarch over all of his creation. Those who have
been delivered by His sovereign power are kept by that same power
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. We see through the eye of God-given
faith Jesus Christ is our Savior, but we also see Him as Jehovah,
as God Almighty, as our Sovereign Lord. By faith we keep looking
to Him, longing for His blessed, imminent return when in His times
He shall show who is a blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords. Brethren, Jesus Christ is the
mighty God. So if you're in Isaiah chapter
9, let me read verses 6 and 7 in your hearing. The Word of God
says, For unto us a child is born, Unto us a son is given,
and a government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. Now we've been taking these different
descriptions that characterize our Lord Jesus Christ one by
one, and this morning we want to look at this phrase, His name
shall be called the mighty God. Now it's obvious these two verses
point us to God's darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot
deny that. Those who claim to be followers
of Jesus Christ but deny His deity, His absolute sovereign
power, that He's equal with God the Father, are nothing but religious
fools. Brethren, Jesus Christ is the
main subject of God's holy book, the entire Bible. Many of them deny that Jesus
Christ is even in the Old Testament. I shared this with you some time
ago. visiting preacher at a church back east, and the pastor had
invited him to preach, and there was another local pastor that
he had been trying to communicate with, but they had differences
of beliefs, and there was just a barrier between the two of
them. But he was in the services the opening night of these special
meetings, and the visiting preacher took his text from the Old Testament
and preached Jesus Christ. Well, the visiting preacher,
I think he left before the closing prayer. He got out of there as
quick as he could. Well, the pastor wanted to know
what he thought of the visiting preacher, so he called him a
few days later, or shortly after the meetings, and asked him what
he thought of the message the visiting preacher preached. He
said, you need to tell your visiting preachers if they want to preach
Christ to stay in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is not in the Old
Testament. Well, they're just religious
fools who say that. Our Lord Jesus said this to some
unbelieving Jews. He said, search the Scriptures.
For in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me." And he was speaking of the Old Testament
Scriptures. And when he spoke to the two
on the road to Emmaus, John writing the account said that He, the
Lord Jesus Christ, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
expounded in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Jesus Christ preached Jesus Christ, and He preached Himself from
the Old Testament. The New Testament had not yet
been written. And so, these men who deny that the Old Testament
scriptures do not hold Christ and His Gospel do not teach that. They're reading with blinders
on. They're just blind. Also, there are many religious
fools who say the church of Jesus Christ wasn't in the Old Testament,
and the gospel of Jesus Christ wasn't preached in the Old Testament.
But I remind you of Stephen, the first martyr in a New Testament
church, just before he was stoned to death by those wicked Christ-denying
Jews, quoted the words of Moses, one of the Old Testament writers
who said, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren like unto me, him shall ye hear. Now Moses
wrote those words in the Old Testament. He wrote the first
five books of the Old Testament. Stephen pointed those unbelieving
Jews to the Christ of God that had just been crucified by their
wicked hands. And he said, this is he, speaking
of Jesus Christ that Moses said would come, the prophet like
unto him. He said, this is he that was
in the church in the wilderness. with the angel which spake to
him in Mount Sinai, and with the fathers who received the
lively oracles to give unto us." They hated that. They put their
hand over their ears and then stoned him to death because he
preached the truth. The gospel is offensive to the
natural man. Then the writer of the book of
Hebrews illustrated God's righteous judgment on those unbelieving
Jews who were not allowed to enter into the promised land. Joshua led those who were 20
years and younger into the promised land. Joshua is the same name
as Jesus. Christ is the one who leads us
into the promised land. The law of Moses does not do
that. But the writer of Hebrews Speaking of those who perished
in the wilderness, said this, Unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. So the
gospel was preached in the Old Testament. The church was in
the Old Testament. There's only one church. Only
one body. With one head. The Lord Jesus
Christ over that body. And He has His people from every
kindred and tongue and tribe and nation from the fall of Adam
up to this present day. And He has His people yet who
will come out of darkness into His marvelous light as Ruth was
singing. The blood of Jesus Christ will
never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be
saved to sin no more. And when that last sheep for
whom Christ died is brought into the fold, I believe that's when
He's coming back, our Lord's coming back. There's only one
Gospel. Peter made no distinction between
the Word of God and the Gospel when he said, Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as
grass. And all the glory of man is the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." He made no distinction between
the word of God and the gospel. The gospel is on every page of
God's holy Bible. And we need to read with a desire
to see Christ. on every page. Now I want to
ask you to turn over to Isaiah 43. I know we'll get to this portion
of this book, but I think it will be a little while yet. So
what I want to share with you from this 43rd chapter will be
mentioned many, many times, Lord willing, in our messages before
we get to this 43rd chapter. But let me share this with you
and I do thank God for your prayers for Judy and I as we went to
Reading to be with her relatives and to attend her sister's funeral.
Our subject this morning is Jesus Christ the mighty God. And I
had the honor of preaching at Judy's sister's funeral some
truths that I preach every time the Lord allows me this honor.
I was asked to be brief and I honored that request. It took me about
10 or 12 minutes to tell the folks what I believe the Bible
teaches. I started by telling them that
I attended the same church that Ruth's mother and Judy's mother
attended when the Lord saved me. And that my pastor taught
me some truths that many of my relatives, some who were professing
Christians, just absolutely hated. But I've been studying the scriptures
now for over 40 years and those truths that were taught to me
by my first pastor are found right here in the Holy Word of
God. So I told them there's only one God. Now that's no deep,
profound spiritual truth. Even the devil believes that,
but at least he trembles. And then I shared with them what
was in that article we just read. There are three divine persons
that make up one glorious, majestic God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
All true followers of Jesus Christ are Trinitarians. There are no
exceptions. And I mentioned the work of each
member of the Godhead. The Father, God the Father, chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Conditional upon
what His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would do. And when He
came to this earth, He came to do His Father's will. Those conditions
were set forth in that eternal covenant of grace before a star
ever twinkled in the sky. And our Lord Jesus met all the
conditions of the eternal covenant of grace and his blood is referred
to as the blood of the everlasting covenant. I told him how Jesus
Christ by himself purged our sins. How he obtained eternal
redemption for us. how He saved His people by His
perfect redeeming work. I told them how He raised Himself
from the dead on the third day. How He ascended into glory there
to appear in the presence of God for us. How He is now seated
on His throne in glory as the glorified God-man with all power
on heaven and earth belonging to Him. He rules and reigns over
everything. With boldness I declared that
Jesus Christ is God Almighty. Our Lord gave me that boldness.
I didn't preach loud, boisterous. I was gentle, loving, caring,
praying for God to give the increase. Told them that the Holy Spirit
is the only one who can reveal the glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ to us. And at the close of my message,
reminded them that all of us are going to go through that
same door that Judy's sister went through. That's appointed
and we better be ready. And I left them with that. Now,
it didn't even take me five minutes to say that. I shared some other
things. But you can preach the gospel in a short time. You can
say a lot in 10 or 12 minutes. But only the Holy Spirit can
make it effectual. Only the Holy Spirit can take
the truths that God has revealed to us under the preaching of
His gospel. and reveal that in a way that
causes us to believe, giving us faith to believe in Him. This
is God's work. Salvation is of the Lord, as
Brother Steve quoted just a moment ago. The words of Jonah. Salvation
is of the Lord from start to finish. He planned it, purposed
it, executed it, and reveals it to us for the glory of His
darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this. There's only
one God, and we're in Isaiah 43. So I want to read in your hearing,
starting at verse 10, down through verse 33. Our God tells us in
His Word, speaking to His chosen people who have been enlightened
by the Holy Spirit, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord. Now
those who claim to be Jehovah's Witnesses who deny that Jesus
Christ is God Almighty, they are not Jehovah's Witnesses.
They're led by the spirit of Antichrist. And I'm not ashamed
to say that. When Jesus Christ reveals himself
to us, we will be faithful witnesses of the truths of the gospel.
And we just looked at a portion of scripture not long ago in
Isaiah that says, if they speak not according to this word, it's
because there's no light in them. So God's enlightened children
are His witnesses. But listen to what it says about
His witnesses. Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and
believe me, and understand that I am He. Before me there was
no God formed, neither shall there be after me. There's only
one God. And God Himself tells us that. He says in verse 11, I, even
I am the Lord and beside me there is no Savior. Now, if we believe
in our heart that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Confessing that
He has been raised from the grave. Believing that He is Lord God
Almighty. God has enlightened us. There's
only one Savior. His name is Jesus Christ the
Lord. And so, God is telling us in verse 11, I, even I, am
the Lord, and that God is Jesus Christ. Beside me there is no
Savior. Look at verse 12. I have declared,
and have saved, and I have showed when there is no strange God
among you, therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that
I am God. Our Lord is telling us what is
going to be accomplished by what He does for His people when He
comes to this earth. This is a prophetic... or prophetic
statements concerning Christ our Lord. There is an allusion,
I'm sure, to God delivering His people out of Egypt. But the
main thrust of the Word of God points us to what Jesus Christ
has done for us, and these are prophetic statements concerning
Him. Look at verse 13. Jesus Christ is telling us that
He's going to do His work, and He's not going to ask anybody's
permission to do it either. When He created everything that
we see, and it was Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who created
all of it, He didn't ask anybody's permission. And He created everything
just exactly like He had purpose to do it. And salvation, was
purposed by God Himself before time began. Everything concerning
salvation was purposed by God before time began. And Jesus
Christ came, like I said earlier, to do His Father's will. That
scripture in Isaiah 9.6 Unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given. You cannot deny that that is
pointing to Jesus Christ. A child born points to His humanity. A son given points to His deity.
And it points us to Jesus Christ when He came into this world.
And our text here in Isaiah 43, where the Lord says, I will deliver,
I will work and none shall let her or hinder it. When He says,
I... Let me read it. Yea, therefore the day was...
Yea, before the day was, I am He, and there is none that can
deliver out of My hand. We're safe in the hands of Christ.
We've been delivered by the sovereign power of God Almighty, the Lord
Jesus Christ, when we came unto the sound of the Gospel. He delivered
us from darkness. That power of darkness that held
us. We were held in a prison house
of unbelief. We hated God just like the wicked
who will spend eternity in hell. We shook our fist in His face.
We ran from Him. We drank a nicotine like water.
We loved that darkness we were in. We would not have come to
Him if God the Father had not drawn us by His sovereign, irresistible,
drawing power and brought us under the preaching of His gospel
and taught us the truths. And therefore, those who are
taught of God shall come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that
in John chapter 6. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Let me read a couple of verses
from Isaiah chapter 45, and then I want to take you into the New
Testament. Look, starting at verse 20 of
Isaiah 45. Our Lord tells us, assemble yourselves
and come, draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations.
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. This goes right along with
the psalm that Brother Steve read to us earlier. Tell ye,
and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together, who
hath declared this from ancient time, who hath told it from that
time. Have not I the Lord, and there
is no God else beside me? A just God and a Savior, there
is none beside me." God is telling us this. He's telling us this
in His Word, that there's only one God, there's no Savior beside
Him. I'm not denying the Trinity.
I'm just pointing you to this one glorious truth. Jesus Christ
is the second person of the blessed Trinity, and He's equal with
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. There's only one glorious
God. Look at verse 22. Look unto Me,
and be ye saved. all the ends of the earth. This
is God himself saying you can't look to him through the physical
eye. We must see him through the eye
of faith. Look unto me and be saved all
the ends of the earth. This is the only way you're going
to be saved. This is the only way we're going to be delivered is
by looking to Jesus Christ. That brazen serpent that was
raised up in the wilderness when the poisonous snakes were biting
the Jews, the Israelites, and they were dying when Moses was
instructed of God to set that pole and put that brazen serpent
on that pole which represented the poison that was in those
people. If they looked to that brazen
serpent, they were healed. Can you imagine anyone not looking? Our Lord tells us to look unto
Him. Don't look to self. You look to self, you're going
to get in trouble. And that's the problem with this religious people,
this religious generation we're living in. They keep looking
to themselves. Look what I have done for the
Lord. Look what I have accomplished for the Lord. Look at me. I have
made a decision for Jesus. I have exercised my free will.
That's why I got Satan in trouble. That's why he fell. He's pointing
to himself. I will be like the Most High
God. sit on here. You know folks, it's just of
the devil, this religion of works. We need to look to Christ. Read
on, it says, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the
earth for I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by
myself, verse 23, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall swear. Now keep that in mind as we go
to Philippians chapter 2. That scripture in Isaiah 45,
God Himself telling us that every knee is going to bow to Him,
every tongue is going to confess Him, points to Jesus Christ. Those very words are almost repeated
in this second chapter of Philippians. And when God says He's going
to do something, He's going to do it. And I'll guarantee you,
every knee is going to bow down to Jesus Christ, and every tongue
is going to confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now, if we don't do that in this
life, we'll do it when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. When He returns, When our Lord
returns, He's going to show that He is a blessed and only potentate,
King of kings and Lord of lords. You know what that word potentate
means? The Greek word is dynasties. That's where we get our English
word dynamite. It has to do with power. He's
going to show. Our Lord Jesus is going to show
that He is a blessed and only power. The only power. All power in heaven and earth
has been given to the Christ of God. I know folks don't like to hear
that. I'm not talking about just the power of God unto salvation. That too. Paul said I am not
ashamed of the gospel. Jesus Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. For therein is
the righteousness of God revealed. It is written, the just shall
live by faith." So from faith to faith, we keep looking to
Jesus Christ. But it's not just that power
that delivered us from that awful pit that we were in. That power
is over everything. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. And we're kept by that same power
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed for the
last time. This power that belongs to Jesus Christ is so wonderful
it cannot even be put into words. Words can't describe the beauty
and the wonder of it all. I'll just give you something
to ponder. Next time you take a drink of water, think about
this. All the little streams, all the
tributaries that dump into the rivers and all the rivers that
are in this world all dump into the sea. Yet the sea doesn't overflow. All that water that goes into
the ocean, the same amount is drawn out of the ocean, purified
by our God. His name is Jesus Christ the
Lord. put into clouds and moved by the power of Jesus Christ
wherever he wants that water to go that's in those clouds
and he drops the water in locations as it pleases him so that there's
a continual supply of water for his people and for all of that
which has life on this earth. But only God's enlightened children
recognize this power and give Him the glory just for a drink
of water. Now, our Lord Jesus said, if
you give a drink of water in my name, you shall in no wise
lose your reward. And we're not talking about rewards
in heaven. That's in this life. But that's,
I think that's what that's pointing to. That this water comes from
Jesus Christ, who has been supplying this world with water ever since
He created it. And that's just one aspect of
his power. But every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess.
So read along with me from Philippians chapter 2 starting at verse 5. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." Now you have heard me quote this
portion of God, of His Word, many, many times, but I wanted
to read it as your mind is filled with those words from Isaiah
chapter 45 when God himself said unto me every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall swear. Listen to this verses 9 through
11. Wherefore, speaking of Jesus
Christ, God also hath highly exalted him, because he was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, God has highly exalted
the God-man, Christ Jesus, and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now folks, that's
playing to me. I don't know if it's playing
to you, but it's playing to me. God has highly exalted His darling
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the object of all worship.
And every knee better bow down to Him, confessing that He is
God Almighty. The word Lord, the Greek word
is Kyrios. It means supreme controller.
He governs this whole universe. He's on his sovereign throne
of power. He's a sovereign despot over all of creation, ruling
and reigning over everything, working all things after the
counsel of his own will. And nobody's going to stop him
from doing what he has purposed. Oh, I love that truth. Do you
love that truth? I love the truth that my Savior The Lord Jesus
Christ has all power. Nothing can happen to His enlightened
children. Nothing can happen to His elect
except that which He allows. And we're as sure of heaven as
if we're already there because of His sovereign power that not
only redeemed us at Calvary, not only delivered us under the
preaching of His gospel, but keeps us safe in His loving arms
so that absolutely nothing happens. except that which is for His
glory and for our good to His chosen people. Let me show you
something in Luke, if you will, chapter 5, and I'll bring this
to a close. Chapter 5 of Luke. The Apostle Paul, and I quoted
this a while ago, tells us that we should not be ashamed of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. Now all of God's elect, all who
were purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shall
come by His sovereign, irresistible, drawing power. If you've come
to Christ, it has nothing to do with what you have done. Matter
of fact, all of us were dead in trespasses and sins. We hated
Jesus Christ. We didn't want Him. But He made
us willing in the day of His power to come to Him by faith. And so all who come to Him will
come to Him recognizing and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the mighty
God. All come to Him under the preaching
of the Gospel. No exceptions. You're not going
to learn about Jesus gazing at the stars. We can see the handiwork
of God, but you won't hear the gospel except from those who
faithfully preach the gospel. And this is the instrument that
God has chosen to draw His people unto Him. All come to Him under
the preaching of the gospel and all hear. All of those who are
His chosen blood-bought people at His appointed time will hear
the voice, the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to their heart.
We will hear His voice. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me, our Lord Jesus said. We will
hear His voice. That's inwardly. That's not an
audible voice. I question those people who say,
I heard the audible voice of God. Don't you? I'm not sure. where they are. I'm not questioning
the fact that God cannot speak audibly, but those who say they've
heard the audible voice of God, they don't preach the Gospels
if God didn't speak to them. All are given faith to believe
the record of God's Son that is clearly set forth in the Holy
Scriptures. I know, I know that faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the word of God and we don't understand
all of the gospel when God first delivers us. It's line upon line,
precept upon precept. But we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Jesus Christ under the preaching of His Gospel.
God enlightens the mind. We're babes in Christ. We become
young men and young women in Christ. We become mature in Christ
as we grow in this grace and in this knowledge of Christ our
Savior. But we will. This is God's appointed plan
for His chosen people and all All of God's enlightened children
see themselves as helpless, hopeless, bankrupt, hell-deserving, undeserving
people, unable to come to Christ on our own. We absolutely abhor
any doctrine that teaches anything that man does for salvation. And when God enlightens our mind,
He convicts us of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. And we see ourselves
not just sinners by what we do, but sin, what we are. Dead, spiritually
dead. And that's when God moves upon
us to cry out to Him for mercy as He reveals Jesus Christ, the
mighty God who by himself purged our sins. Now this account in
Luke chapter 5, or these two verses that I want to read in
your hearing, has to do with a man who had leprosy. Leprosy, and that's a picture
of sin. There was no known cure for leprosy
in those days, but this man was cured, healed by the power of
Jesus Christ. And I might add, every physical
healing that we read about when our Lord was here on this earth
during His public ministry, every miracle He performed in the opening
of blind eyes, the unstopping of deaf ears, and the healing
of the impotent people who had never walked, and all of those
miracles of physical healing point to the spiritual healing
that God performs in the lives of His chosen people when He
delivers us from the power of darkness. So this leper is a
picture of us. Look at verses 12 and 13 of Luke
chapter 5. It says, And it came to pass,
when He, that is our Lord Jesus, was in a certain city, behold,
a man full of leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, fell on his face, and
besought Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me
clean. He didn't say, I exercise my
free will so therefore make me clean. He didn't say that. And
that's what false preachers are telling you to do. God has done
all He can, the rest is up to you. You're the master of your
own destiny. Poor Jesus, won't you give Him a chance? Exercise
your free will. Make a decision for Jesus. That's
blasphemy. He cried out for mercy. He had
a condition. a condition that made him an
exile. He couldn't be social with his
friends, his loved ones, those who did not have leprosy. He
could mingle with other lepers, but when he walked down the street
He had to put his hand over his mouth if somebody was coming
toward him and cry with a loud voice, unclean, unclean, and
avoid them because leprosy was contagious. Well, it's a picture
of us. We're outcasts. We can't have
fellowship with God. We can't have fellowship with
His people until we're cleansed of that awful, awful, sinful
condition we're in. And this is the power of God.
But He moves upon us by His Spirit to make us aware of our sinful
condition so that we'll cry out with the leper, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. And listen to what our Lord said.
He put forth His hand, it says in verse 13, and touched him,
saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed
from him. So this is the power of Jesus
Christ. And He touches His people by
His Spirit in such a way that we can identify with what took
place with this leper. He comes in the person of the
Holy Spirit, takes up residence in our heart. Folks, this is
a need. This is a necessity. We will
never cry out to God for mercy until the Holy Spirit dwells
in here. No man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit.
But when He takes up residence here, He's already come to us
in a way that just defies any words that we can use to describe
that. We must be born again. But when
He comes to us and touches us by His Spirit and makes us aware
of our need, that's the problem. People don't see their need of
Christ. False preachers, prophets of
Baal are telling them they don't need Christ. They need to do
something for Christ to have permission to do something. But
God's people, we see our need, just like this leper saw his
need, just like blind Bartimaeus saw his need, and just like dead
Lazarus knew of his need when he heard the life-giving voice
of Jesus Christ saying, Lazarus come forth. Now he had been dead
for four days. But when he heard that voice,
he wasn't dead. God had already given him life.
Dead men can't hear. So when Christ comes to us in
the person of the Holy Spirit, makes us aware of our need of
Him, and moves us to cry out, Lord, if You will, You can make
me clean. He has already touched us. And
He has already done what no other could do. He has already paid
the redemption price in full. He has already shed His blood
for His people. He has already satisfied the
holy justice of God. He has already ascended into
glory there to appear in the presence of God for us. And He
moves upon us, making us willing in the day of His power to cry
out for mercy in His name, and I'll guarantee you no hell-deserving,
ill-deserving, undeserving sinner who sincerely cries out for mercy
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be turned away. But it's Christ that's moved
upon us to see our need of Him and to cry out for mercy. Have you cried out? Do you know
Him? Have you seen yourself as nothing
but an ill-deserving sinner? If you don't cry out for mercy
in this life, you will never ever have God's mercy. If we see, if God is pleased,
and I leave you with this, if God is pleased to command the
light to shine in our hearts that we, by faith, see His glory
in the face of Jesus Christ, we will never settle for any
other Jesus but the one who is clearly set forth in the Holy
Scriptures. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Are the words of
Christ our Savior. Look to Him and keep looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Amen.