I am reading from the Gospel
of Luke, chapter 5, verse 12 is the subject and the title
of this message. It came to pass when he, that
is the Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Lord, if thou
wilt, this is the question, this is the issue, is the Lord willing
to save? If not, we will not be saved. If the Lord is willing to heal,
unless he is willing to heal, we will not be healed. The issue
concerning everything and everyone, every person, every place, everything,
every event, on earth and in the universe is the will of God
Almighty. All things are completely under
the divine control of God Almighty's will in all things. Listen to
Daniel chapter 4. This matter, verse 17, this matter
is by the decree of the watchers, that's speaking of the prophets
of God, and demand by the word of the Holy One to the intent
that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And in Daniel 4, verse 35, it
says, All the inhabitants of the earth are refuted as nothing,
and he, that is, God, doeth according to his will in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Nothing is left to
man's will. Man's will is depraved. Man's
will is corrupt. Man's will is sinful. The only
human beings who had free will, so to speak, were Adam and Eve,
the first man and woman. Free choice. They were tempted
by Satan himself. with this thing of if you will,
you will be as God's. Choose what you will. Who is
God to say what you can or cannot have? Choose what you will. What did their free will choose? They chose evil. They chose sin. They chose to rebel against God. But now all of that was according
to God's will or it would not have happened. because scripture
says he worketh all things after the counsel of his will. Now
all of us, because of Adam and Eve, all of us are born with
a will that will only choose sin, that will not choose good,
will not choose right, will not choose God, will not choose truth. The Lord Jesus Christ stood before
a vast crowd of people one time and he said, you will not come
unto me. that you might have life. Another
time he said, No man can come unto me, except the Father which
hath sent me draw him. And he said it again and repeated,
As I said unto you, no man can come unto me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. Now the false gospel being preached
today has man with a sovereign will and God hoping that man
will choose him. The truth is the exact opposite. This leper knew that. He came
to the Lord Jesus crying, begging, pleading, Lord if thou wilt. Listen to the scripture. Listen
to the scripture. This is what God's word says
on this all-important truth, this subject. In John chapter
1, John's Gospel chapter 1, it speaks of those who received
him. those who received him, as many
as received him, that is, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
To them gave he power, that is, the right or privilege, to become
the sons of God. To them that believe on his name,
and it doesn't stop there. It goes on to say, they were
born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the
will of man, but of God. The reason they received him
is because they were born of God. In Psalm 110 verse 3 it
says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Listen
to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9 it says, God
said to Moses, verse 15, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Scripture saith unto Pharaoh,
For this same purpose I have raised thee up, that I might
show my power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath he, that is God,
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will
he hardeneth. Now that's what the Scripture
says. In Philippians 2 verse 13 it says, of God's people,
it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. If anyone comes to Christ, if
anyone believes Christ, if anyone calls on the name of the Lord,
it is because Christ chose them, God chose them, called them,
drew them, exerted his sovereign will over them, spoke his word
of power to them, sent his Holy Spirit to draw them, because
God's people are made willing in the day of his power. This
leper knew that. This leper came because God had
chosen him. God willed for him to. You say
then, preacher, what's the point? What are you saying here? The
point is God's glory. Who gets the glory in salvation? Whose will is sovereign? The
root of all sin is man's rebellious will. It actually started with
Satan in Isaiah chapter 14, speaks of Satan who said, I will, I
will. And then he came later to tempt
Adam and Eve with this, you will, you will be as God's to no good
or evil. All damnable doctrine, all false
gospels start with this, if you will, God shall. But the truth
says, no, God says, I will, and you shall. Let's look at this
exactly as it is written in Luke chapter 5. It came to pass, while he was
in a certain city, this man full of leprosy came, and he fell
on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. Now how this whole story started
was the Lord came to this lake of Gennesaret, or the Sea of
Galilee, and there were ships in that water, and He chose the
ship that He would get in, who it belonged to. He chose Simon,
Andrew, James, and John. He chose them. He gave them the
command. He said, I'm getting in your
boat, and we're going to launch out and catch a draft of fish. And that's exactly what happened,
because He worked with all things after the council of his own
will. And he chose this ship, and he
chose these men, and he got in that boat and he shoved off.
And after Simon Peter saw who this was, in verse 8 he says,
Depart from me, Lord. He fell at his knees. He fell
at the Lord Jesus Christ's knees and said, Depart from me, Lord.
I'm a sinful man. In other words, Simon Peter found
out that this man named Jesus is none other than the Lord of
Glory. who knows everything, and every woman, who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. He commanded
these fish to get in that net, and he gave command for Simon
Peter to come to him, and he gave command for this leper to
come to him. And so he came. All that the
Father giveth me, Christ said, shall come unto me. And here
comes this leper. Behold, a man full of leprosy. Now, leprosy was a disease that
was always fatal. started on the inside and it
began to manifest itself in the flesh until the whole man, the
whole person was corrupt, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores and mass of corrupt flesh from the sole of the feet to
the top of the head, no soundness in it. That's a picture of sin.
That's what God says of man in Isaiah chapter 1. And not only
is man corrupt in his flesh and all that he does, but his mind
is corrupt, his heart is corrupt. That's what leprosy does. That's
what sin does to man. He's dead and trespasses in sin.
That's why the Lord said, you will not come unto me, because
his will is depraved. Man's nature determines his will. Man chooses what is his nature.
One time he said, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can a leper
Leopard changes spots? No, neither can you do good who
are accustomed to doing evil. You will not come. God must change
a person. They must be born of God. They
must be regenerated by the power of God. They must be quickened
by the gospel of God, by the truth of God. That's what he
said in Ephesians 2 to his people. You have to be quickened who
were dead. He said you walked according
to the course of this world, the prince of the power of the
air, were children of disobedience even as others, children of wrath,
hating the truth, hating God. But God, but God in sovereign
mercy and sovereign grace quickened some people, gave them eyes to
see the truth, eyes to see themselves for what they are, eyes to see
his glory. ears to hear his word, ears to
hear his voice. That's life. Life. He gave life. Christ said, I am come that they
might have life to know him. And they come like this leper
and they fall at his feet upon hearing the truth of who God
is and what they are. Sinners. And that Christ is the
only way. And that's why they come. Because
God chose them. God gave life to them. revealed
to them the need of Christ. And they come and they fall like
this leper at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
what they say, Lord, if thou wilt. If thou wilt. Not I've decided to accept you
as my personal Savior. That's not in the Bible. He's
not up for acceptance or rejection. We are. He's not the one on trial. We are. It's not our will. It's his will. And this leper
fell on his face, and that's the fear of the Lord. Everyone
who comes to know and believe and hears of the true Lord Jesus
Christ, they fear him. And they come like this leper
and say, Lord, if thou wilt, you don't have to. I don't deserve
for you to. You don't need me, but I desperately
need you. Lord, if thou wilt, you can. Yes, he can. God can save anyone. Well, who does he save? Whosoever
he will. Whoa, but Preacher, it says,
whosoever will, let him come. No, it doesn't say that. It says,
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Well,
who will do that? Well, that's in Revelation. It
says the Spirit and the bride say come. The Holy Spirit says
come. Whosoever comes, come because
he said to. Well, what's the point for you?
Why are you saying this? Because it's God's glory, not
man's. It's not up to man's will. It's
up to God. That's why we pray, God, thy kingdom come, thy will
be done. Whose will is it? Whose glory
is it? Who's the beggar, man or God? Who calls who? Who needs
who? Who did the choosing? Who did
the saving? Who gets the glory? God gets
the glory. of the Lord. What about you?
What about you? Do you know who this is, the
Lord Jesus Christ? Have you come to him? Have you
bowed to him? Have you called upon him? Do
you know whose will it is? If you've learned who he is,
you'll cry like this leper, Lord, if thou will. You can. And you know what the Lord did?
He said, I will. Be thou clean. Amen.