But that line that says, tell me the old, old story if
you would really be in any time of trouble a comforter to me. And then the next line, the last
line says, tell me that story when you have cause to fear that
this world's empty glory is costing me too dear. Well, I have caused
fear. Not only for you, but for me. That this world's empty glory
is costing us in it. It's costing us peace. It's costing us comfort. It's
costing us assurance. It's costing us time and effort
and energy and money and worry. Matthew 8. This is the old, old
story. This is the gospel story. This
is how Christ It saves sinners. This is how we must come to Christ
for that one thing we need. This is how we must come to Christ
and what He says if we do. A very simple story. Many of
you have heard it before. Some in here have never heard
it before, either literally or spiritually. I've never heard
it. I pray that you will. I pray that I do. It says in
verse 1, when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him. The Lord had just preached his
sermon on the mountain, and our Lord attracted many followers. They followed him by the thousands
back then and even now. There are many Jesus followers
today. And they followed him for various
reasons. Most followed him, he said, because
of the miracles. They were amazed by him, the
stories about him, his apparent power and person. And they were amazed by the miracles.
Then there were the hungry, those that wanted to get something
out of him, get their bellies filled. They followed him. By
the thousands, the thousands followed him. But now look at
this. Verse 2 says, Behold, there came a leper and worshipped him. Thousands of people, persons,
followed him. Many followed him by the thousands,
then and now. But it says here in our story,
Behold, one fellow came, to him. Many followed him. This one fellow,
in Luke's gospel says, fell down on his face before him and worshipped
him. One man. Thousands following
him. One man came, fell on his face
and worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ, because he had a desperate
need Many people want, want, want,
want, want. Gimme, gimme, gimme. God, gimme.
Gimme, gimme, gimme. I want this. I want that. What
do you want? And you know, God gives most everybody what they
want. Yes, He does. God gives most everybody what
they want. Gimme, gimme, gimme. This man,
before he asked for anything, He has need. He has a desperate
need. He has one need. He has one thing
that he needs. But before he asked for one thing,
he worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in this story, we're
going to see who it is that God has chosen who it is that God
calls, who it is that God brings, causes to approach unto Him,
who it is that God speaks to, who it is that God saves, who
it is that God brings them to. And what they cry and what they
all hear, every single one is going to hear the same thing
from the same person. And it's wonderful. It's wonderful. This is it. Whether we know it
or not, we need one thing. Male, female, old, young in here
this morning need one thing. Some don't know it. Don't know
it. Don't have a clue. But he came and worshiped Him.
You know, the Scripture says, Oh, come, let us worship and
bow down before the Lord. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our Maker. Why are we here this morning?
Why are we here this morning? To worship. God is to be worshiped
and be had in reverence before His people. Worship. Oh, come
and let us worship. What does worship mean? It means
praise. It means thanksgiving. It means rendering unto God the
honor and the glory that's due unto Him. Render unto God the
thanks. Thanks. The worst thing you can
call a person is ungrateful. If someone does everything for
them, does something, anything for them, but does everything
for them, feeds, clothes, houses, keeps, protects, provides, And
they don't thank that person? Everything we have received comes
from above, from God. God, our Creator, in whose hands
our breath is and all our work. We've received everything from
the hands of our Lord. It is our reasonable service.
It's the service, the reasonable service of every human being
that's under God's divine care and provision to worship Him. It's not something for show. It's not something to be seen. It's not something that, you
know, God is just so happy that you do it, and you're doing Him
a favor. He has given us everything. And
He says, now you come every day to give thanks, but you come
one day a week and you just sit and you worship me. You just
give thanks to me. It's not unreasonable. It's His
due. It's His justice. The Scriptures say, our Lord
said, He said, the Father, true worshipers, worship True worshipers. God's true people. Why do they come to church? Why? To worship. He said true worshipers worship
the Father in spirit, that is, from the heart. Oh, I know too
much of the time we've drawn near with our lips. Too much
of the time we sing these songs we've been singing for years
and we weren't thinking about what we were singing. I know
that. And I mourn over that, don't
you? Too many times we come and hear
the gospel and we don't hear it at all. We're a sad lot. Do you know
that? Starting with this fellow up here. Too many times I preach
messages just to preach messages. God is to be worshipped. Why? Because He's our God. He's our
Creator. He upholds us. Everything about
us. He feeds us. He clothes us. You
say, I can't see Him. That doesn't mean He's not there,
does it? He is. I am thy God. Worship Me. Worship the Father. In spirit,
from the heart, truly worship. God's not worshiping me in hand.
All this stuff goes on in religion today. Flesh, that's nothing
but flesh. God does not worship with the
flesh. He worships with the Spirit, the heart, the inner man. Thank
you. Why do we come here? If you're
a sinner, you come here to thank You, Lord. Thank You for having
mercy on me. Thank You for sparing me another
death. Thank You my soul is not in hell. Thank You that You revealed
that there is a God to me. Thank You that You revealed to
me that I am a sinner before You. Thank You that You revealed
to me that there is a Savior. Thank You, thank You, thank You.
This fellow came and worshiped. Why? Because he's worthy. What
are people doing in heaven? You know who's going to be there?
Those that worship him. That's all they're doing. Nobody's
going to be there that doesn't worship him now. Nobody's going
to be there that doesn't love to worship him. Doesn't know
what it's about. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,
but their lips and their hearts are far from me, he said. But those that worship him now
will be there forever in all they're doing. That's all they're
doing. Worship. You wouldn't want to be there
then if that's all they do and you don't enjoy it now. And what
we hope and praise the Lord to show us all our need to worship
the Lord. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. What is truth? It's not a what. It's not a doctrine. You're going
to come to God. You're going to be before God
someday. With that vast song of people,
you're going to know why you're there. You're there because Jesus Christ
saved you. And you're going to be worshiping
God who you cannot see in Jesus Christ. That's it. Spirits and a truth. True people. True worshipers. Worship, fear,
reverence, amazement, adoration. Many followed Him. A great multitude
followed Him. Behold. Look at this. Look at
every word. Just four verses. That's all
we're going to look at. It says, Behold, many followed
him. Thousands followed him. Vast
throngs followed him. Look at religion today. Look
at all of them following him. Are all these people believers?
Are all these people Christian? Someone once said that two out
of... I saw a survey that said one out of two American adults
is a Christian. That is a lie. Our society wouldn't be like
it is if that were so. There is a remnant, a small remnant,
according to the vastness of population. Our Lord said that. Many are called, yes. Many call
themselves that, yes. But few are chosen. And this
is how you know them. Every single one of them. Every
single person that God chose, that God purposed to save, that
God does save will come to Him like this man. Everyone. Everyone. Without exception. And if you have not come to Jesus
Christ like this man, you don't know Jesus Christ. You're not
saved. All right, here it is. It says,
Behold, there came a leper and worshipped him. Behold. Whenever you see the
word behold in Scripture, that means you stop and consider this.
Stop and look at this. Be amazed at this. Stop! Behold!
Look at this. Thousands followed, thousands,
thousands, a vast throng of people all around, touching him, jostling
him, doing this, listening to him, receiving from him, all
that. And behold, here comes a leper. It fell down before Christ's
feet, a vast throng, but this man fell at his feet and worshiped
him. Now, there are several things
to see. It's amazing that this man came. Like I said, there's these thousands
of people following him, but you know none of them had come
to him. One time our Lord said that.
He said, no man can come unto me. He said, you will not come
unto me. He was talking to a crowd of
people. There was a crowd of people all around him. And he
said, you will not come unto me. Don't you know some of them
thought, well, we're here. And they're listening to him. They're
observing him. And they're watching him. And they're interested in
him. And they're curious about him. And they want some things
from him, you know. They believe he's a healer. They believe he's
a prophet. They believe this and that and the other. They'd
let a cat come to see him. No, they had not come to him. Another time there was a vast
crowd of people around the Lord, jostling. Can you imagine? He's
in a crowd everywhere he goes. Everywhere he goes there's a
vast crowd of people around him, thronging him. And he had to
wade through people, literally, seas like a cornfield, wade through
people and all that. And he stopped one day. He stopped
and he said, somebody touched me. And the disciples, you know,
were all around him. They said, Lord, does this vast
crowd of people, everybody here is touched. He said, No. No. Somebody touched me. That's what it means to come
to Christ. I've got to have you But I'm
going to die. Now, here comes a what? A leper. A vast crowd of people. Most of them don't need anything
except their bellies filled. This man needs his finances taken
care of. This man needs his marriage all straightened up. This man
needs his life all turned out. He's got a problem with drinking.
He's got a problem with tobacco. And he's got a problem with this.
And he's got a problem with that. And this person, this woman,
this. And this woman, that. Here comes a leper, a leper! And fell down and he cometh to
Christ. He sees in this one person all
his hope, all his help, all his salvation. Everything, he had
one thing needful and he saw right there is my answer. Right
there is all I need. I don't need anything. I don't
need a new car. I don't need a new house. I don't
need a new marriage. I don't need a new job. I don't
need anything. I need Him. And he came to Him. And every person whom the Lord saved,
this is where they come. To Him. Oh, he came because he was a
leper. Leprosy is unheard of in our
modern society. I could preach this message all
over and very few people, if any, would know anything about
what leprosy is. You try to describe it and nobody
has seen it in our modern day. except a few people. But I tell
you what, every single believer, every single person God saved
knows what this leprosy is all about. Every one of them knows
what it means, how it feels to be a leper. All to a man, to
a woman. Do you? Leprosy is a disease
our Lord healed most often, more than any other. There were many
lepers in Israel. Our Lord said that. There were
many lepers in Israel. Leprosy is a picture of sin. Just like every other disease
our Lord healed, it's a picture of sin. The Lord healed the blind.
Nobody knows what it is to be blind except the blind man. He
healed the lame. Nobody knows what it is to be
healed from lame unless you've been lame. He raised the dead. Who knows who had been raised
from the dead? Somebody was made alive. Dead. Leprosy was always
fatal. Leprosy was always fatal. If
you had leprosy, you're dead. You're dead. You may look pretty
good for a while, but you're dead. You're a goner. You know, we quote these verses.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. By one man's
sin, sin entered into the world and death passed upon all men
for all have sinned. We quote these verses. But you
can't make anybody know what sin is until God makes them feel
it. Until God shows them what they
are. Dead. And that's when he says, and
you, to his people. Everyone, and you, have been
quickened. You were dead in trespass and
sin. Dead. Dead. Dead. God first kills before He makes
alive. He first wounds. He first shows
us that we are lepers before He heals us. And this leprosy
is always failing. It always begins on the inside.
Leprosy is a disease of the blood. the disease of the bloodstream.
It starts on the inside. And you may not be aware of it.
And it may not show itself. No one else may be aware of it.
You may seem like a pretty healthy person on the outside. You may be as white as a sepulcher. But if you've got leprosy, you're
dead. And it's going to begin to manifest
itself. We have children that are born of us. our seed,
sons of Adam, our sons and daughters. And they're born in sin. That's
not just a doctrine, it's a fact. They're born with this thing
called sin in them. It's a leprosy. And at first
it doesn't show itself. It doesn't reveal itself in all
its horrors, in all its deadly corruption in their flesh. They seem like they're innocent
little children, don't they? They seem like they're sweet,
kind little children. But in time, if you wait long
enough, you'll start hearing them speak lies. You'll start
hearing them speak hatred. You'll start hearing them, and
unless God restrains them, like us, be the next devil. And that's a fact. Because of
this thing called sin. David said, and sin did my mother
conceive me. He said, I come forth from the
womb speaking lies. It doesn't show itself at first.
But it's an all-consuming, corrupting thing. It's the flesh. It eats
up the flesh until finally, after leprosy is in its full-blown
corruption, then finally from the sole of the feet, To the
top of the head, that person with leprosy, there was no soundness
in their flesh. Nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. It's a horrible, despicable thing
to see. Leprosy. It's true. It's true. And that's sin, and that's what
God says about it. And that's how God sees it. That's
not a cunning and devised fable. That's a fact. Lepers were cast out from society. Lepers were told they couldn't
come in to where clean people could live. God cast Adam out
of his garden. He said, you can't come back. God is holy. Man became sinful. He cast him out. He says, your
sins have separated you between you and your God. And when one knew, finally found
out that they were a leper, finally this leprosy began to manifest
itself to that person until they could not stand themselves. And the law, the law of the leper
was this. The Lord said concerning the
leper, the leper is to go about, he cannot come where clean people
are. He must cry out wherever he goes. Unclean. Unclean. Come not nigh me. I'm unclean. Until he died alone. Behold,
there came a leper. He's not supposed to, but he
did. I remember returning to church
as the prodigal son. I was the prodigal son. I remember returning to church
for the wrong reasons. But after a while, the Lord began
to reveal to me through the gospel, through the preaching of his
Word right then, a man took this message and other messages just
like it and preached to me faithfully the gospel, the gospel, the gospel,
until finally by the In the mercy of God, by the grace of God,
finally one day the Lord began to reveal to me, you're the man. Thou art the man. Paul, it's
you. You're a leper. And I remember thinking, I distinctly
remember thinking, I don't deserve to be here. I'd look around me and I'd see
those people I knew as a child, people like your mother and your
father and others, your mother and father and people I admired
that I believed were very Christlike people, believers. And I remember
distinctly thinking, I don't belong here. I'm so ashamed of what I've done,
what I am. I don't belong here. I'm unclean. You know what? I realized later,
and I'd say that to some of them, and you know what they would
tell me? Oh, honey, you're in the right place. I realized that
every one of them knew. They were lepers too. I like
that story. I love that story of Rahab, you
know. that talked to, you know, she
had a son named Boaz. Rahab the harlot had a son named
Boaz. And Boaz went out and found a
young Moabitess, a nice young lady named Ruth. And Boaz brought
Ruth in to meet his mother Rahab. And Ruth was just honored to
meet Rahab. She said, I heard so much about
you, Miss Rahab. Oh, Miss Rahab, I have... I have
admired you for so long, ever since your son has been telling
me about you. What a wonderful woman you are. What a wonderful
mother you are. Miss Sister Rahab. Ruth would
say, Miss Rahab, I don't deserve to be a part of this family. And Rahab. You know what Rahab
would say, don't you? You know what Rahab would say,
don't you, Earlene? You know, because when a sinner comes in
here and they think, I don't belong here. I'm an old... I'm
a leper. You know what you're thinking,
aren't you? Oh, honey, we're all lepers.
Honey, if you only knew, Rahab would say to Ruth, if you only
knew. I'm not going to tell you because I'm too ashamed. But
if you only knew me, you don't know me. I'm worse than you. I'm worse than you. That's why
we're here. This is a hospital for lepers. This is a leper colony. Let's
change the name of this church, Stephen. Leper Colony Baptist
Church. Lepers. Oh, my. This man came
for one reason, one purpose, to worship Him. It's amazing
that He came. Behold, there came a leper. I think about how amazing it
is that I'm here right now. Right now. Even now. It's amazing
I came in the beginning. You know, no man can come. You
will not come unto me. No man can come unto me, Christ
said, unless the Father which hath sent me draw him. My parents tried, others tried
to convince me as a young rebel, a young radical, a young know-it-all,
a young sinner, a hell-bound slapper of leather, slapping
leather. tried to convince me. Stop! They couldn't stop me.
Why? What have you got to prove me,
son? Tell me why I should come there.
They couldn't. I know who can. I know who only
can. I know who did. And when it pleased
God to separate me from my mother's womb in the fullness of time,
that's when it's going to happen. And if there were one of his,
buddy, that's why, Mary, we love sovereign election, because he's
chosen a day of coming. You can't make them come. I can't
make them come. I can holler. I can cry. I can
scream. I can't make anybody come. I'll
tell you who can. I'll tell you who does. And I'll
tell you every one of them that will. All that the Father has
given to me shall come unto me. Stop right there. Turn around. You look at me. That's why this leper came. He
didn't come of his free will. He came because God made him
willing. He came a leper. I'm amazed that I'm here today.
I told you this morning. I thought, I'm just not going
to go. I'm rushing around. Trying to get ready. Trying to
get my message prepared. I threw away two of them. Threw
them totally away. Spent hours and hours. Just threw
them in the wastebasket. How many times have you done
that, Dad? Threw them in the wastebasket. I'm rushing around.
I thought, I'm just not going. You do that sometimes, and you
don't. The necessity is laid upon me. Why'd I come? Because God brought
me. That's why. Why wouldn't I come? I wouldn't keep coming. I wouldn't
keep coming, would you? This gives me hope. All that
the Father giveth me shall come. I did, I do, I shall. I keep coming. I feel like I'm worse than ever.
I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. I'm prone to
leave the God I love, head out. Here I am, 50-some years old,
approaching 60 years old, and I feel like I'm 18. I feel like
that prodigal son. I'm leaving. But God says, no,
you're not. No, you're not. That's a fact. I wouldn't be
here. You wouldn't either. We wouldn't
stay. Behold, a leprechaun. Well, here's
how he came. He said, Lord. This is a nine-word prayer. And nobody's ever come to Jesus
Christ who hasn't come crying out this prayer. Lord. They didn't call him Jesus. Nobody
that knows the most high potentate who hung the moon and the stars
in the sky, who sits on the circle of the earth and the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed to him as nothing, as grasshoppers,
would dare to call him Jesus. I've never in my life called
this man. Because just a man, mind you, and I am equal with him. Right? And I never and never shall call
him Henry. I do it in the third person,
Brother Henry or Henry Mahan or whatever, but to his face.
When I am referring to him or talking to him, Father, Dad. The fear of the Lord. is the
beginning of wisdom. And everybody that comes to the
Lord of glory, they're going to come like this man. Lord. Not with the lips, but with the
heart. They know He's Lord. Meaning,
He's the sovereign ruler and controller of this universe. He's the one in whose hands my
breath is in all my ways. He's the one who holds my soul
in His hand to do with it as He pleases. to save me or damn
me, to kill me, to make me alive, to accept me or reject me, Lord. Look at this. He said, Lord,
if thou wilt, are you with me? Are you still with me? Listen,
if every person, without exception, comes to Christ like this, Lord,
you're the Lord, I'm a nothing. You're God. I'm a worm. You're
a sovereign ruler. I am nothing. A leper. Lord, if thou wilt. If thou will. It's completely
and totally up to your will. If. What's going to happen? If it happens. If the world turns,
if we live another day, if I breathe my next breath, if my soul lives forever, if it will be by His will. Anybody who says, who thinks
that they have a free will, doesn't know God. Anyone who stands up and says,
if you will, then God shall, is a false prophet. It is God that worketh all things
after the counsel of his will. It is not of him that willeth
or of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy. I'm hollering this morning. I
know that. I got one shot at this. May the Lord make an arrow
pierce as many as receive him. to them
gave he the power to become the sons of God, the right to become
the sons of God, which were born, not of bloods, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. But how about whosoever will,
preacher? I'll tell you about whosoever will. It is God that
worketh in us both to will and do of his good pleasure. Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power." When he says,
I will, you shall. That's the God of the Bible.
If you don't know Him, you don't know God. If you don't come to
Him saying, if you will, you haven't come to Him. It's completely and totally up
to your will. Completely. He didn't claim anything. A leper can't claim anything. Can you imagine if some preacher
had told him that he wants to? He'd say, he needs you. A leper? A leper? Lord, if thou wilt, look at the
next thing. He said, thou canst. If thou wilt, thou can. You can,
if you will. False preachers say, if you will,
you can. Don't they? Our Lord said, without
me, you can do nothing. Didn't he say that? Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? Can the leper change his spots? Neither can ye do good what you're
accustomed to do in evil. The Lord said, without me you
can do nothing. But the Lord can. With man it's impossible, but
with God, God can. And I know preachers say that
all the time, God can't. They don't mean it. Abraham believed
God. Would he believe that he was
able? If he will. Of course he can. He's God. Preachers
say that. God can't. God can't. People
say, of course he can. He's God. The point really, here's
the question, if he will. Will he? He doesn't have to.
But will he? Is he willing? He's sure he's
able. He's God. But will he? Will he? Oh, my. Well, here's what everyone that
is godly prayeth for. in a time of salvation. Here
it is. Here's what he needed. He needed
one thing, okay? He said, Lord, worship. This
is how every person comes to Christ. Lord, as a leper, if
you will, you can, you're able, if you will, do what? What do
you need? Look at it. Thou canst make me
clean. You know, you can preach this
all you want. You can tell it to people all
you want. But they're not going to hear
it until God makes them feel it. And God brings it down into
their bones. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender
mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me. Lord, I want to be
clean. Cleanse me from my sin. My sin
is ever before me. I was shaken in iniquity, and
sin did my mother conceive me, purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O
God. Renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence. Don't take your Holy Spirit from
me. Lord, what do you need? I want to be clean. That's it. I've got one problem, and it's
sin. And in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. My loins are filled with a loathsome
disease. We read that. I want to be clean. You know,
the publican, well, look at our text, and I quit. He said, And if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. And it says, very simply, very
shortly, gloriously, Jesus put forth his
hand. He reached out and touched him. I believe he
laid his hand on that man. A leper. You wouldn't want to
be near him. He smelled bad. He looked bad. I'm sure when he came, that whole
crowd parted. Oh, unclean. Look at him. You know they did. The whole
crowd. Oh, they were all fearful they were going to be like him.
I want to be like him. Oh, yes, you do. Oh, yes, you
do. You do. They all parted, got away from
Christ until all that was left was our Lord and a leper. And
it says, like the Lord cleaned out all those innocent fellows
that thought they were, and that one woman, adulterous woman,
let it be. And the Lord reached down to
that leper and laid his hand on him. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. Nobody touched him in months. Maybe he hears. Nobody wanted
to be close to him. And I'm doing what I hate to
do. But this is true. Nobody had been near him. Nobody
wanted to be around him. Nobody had anything to do with
him. But he came to Christ. And our Lord laid His blessed
hand on him, laid hold of him, reached down with His hand to
that old, dirty, stinking leopard. And Bonnie laid His lovely hand
on his head and said, Come here, honey. Come to me. And look at what he said. Oh
my! He said, I will be clean. That's it. The publican cried, Lord, be
merciful to me, the sinner. Christ said, I say unto you,
he went, justified. Listen, all right, just a couple
more minutes. The publican said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.
Christ said, okay, justified. The woman taking an adultery,
I just mentioned her, she's casting his feet, and they said, what
do you say? He said, I say unto her, her sins which are many
are all gone. See, He said it before He did
it. I will. Will He? Yes, He will. Every
single person that comes to Him. I will. He didn't clean up His
act, too. He didn't do anything. He just
came to cry. Christ said, I will. He came
to cry. I will. Leave thou clean with
a word. Everyone that comes. Oh, my. This is the Father's will, our
Lord said, if everyone that seeth the Son believeth on him, they
have everlasting life. I've seen it, haven't you? Some
of you? What are you seeing? I see my
need. I see the only one that can get rid of this leprosy that's
in me called sin. You know, the thing about it is, after
all these years, I got in such a hurry I didn't bring a handkerchief.
Will you forgive me? You've done it. After all these
years, you would think that I'm a better person. You may think
I'm a pretty good fellow. Well, you know what I feel myself
to be? I feel worse than I did at the
start. And I don't have to explain that
to my fellow lepers. Do I? We'll have to explain.
You know. And after all these years, Sherry,
I find myself praying this one prayer. That's all I can pray. Lord, if You will. And I come and hear the Gospel.
Sometimes I hear it. And He says, I will. I will be clean. That's it. And I go home happy. Until the leprosy starts raising
its ugly head again. Have you ever felt yourself to
be a leper? Forgive my emotion. I really do despise it. I despise
it. I wouldn't give you a nickel
for a man's profession that didn't have some of it. But don't be
struck with my tenderness Be struck with the tender mercies
of God. The tender Savior. Oh, no. A lot of people turn on the tears.
Preachers turn on the tears. Bubbling, babbling, idiot preachers.
I know that. There's a reason I hate that.
Oh, but where is Mr. Wet-Eyes, Matt? Where is he? That's what Bunyan, people in
the town of Mansoul, said. We need deliverance. Let's send Mr. Wet-Eyes Mr. Wediven. And we've got some in
here that need deliverance. We've got some people that really
do. We've got some people in here that need to know their
lepers. And not weeping so much for myself, for them, for us
and our children. Our children. Praying, hoping,
praying to the Lord to reveal to them what they are. What they
are. Because time is short. Well,
let me tell you this true story. Okay? It goes well with that.
True story. Back in Sudan, Africa, back in
the 40s, there was a preacher, a missionary named Paris Reedhead. True story. And he was traveling
with a party through the jungle, and they were walking along and
they heard a cry. They heard somebody crying, Help
me! Help me! It's the most pitiful
cry they've ever heard. Help me. And they walked through
that jungle, through a thick jungle, and they finally came
to this little clearing and said, sitting there, Mr. Reathead said,
the true story of that, Mr. Reathead said he looked and it's
the most horrible sight he's ever seen in his life. He said
there was a man sitting there in a pile, hardly recognizable,
a leper in the last days of leprosy. All his face was gone. His hands were rotted off and
his feet. It said he was holding up those
stubs and his face without any eyes in it, crying, Help me. Somebody help me. And Mr. Reedhead said, he said,
I thought, if only... Mr. Reedhead was a young man
at the time with all his health and vitality. He said, if only
I could reach down and get that man and pull his corrupt flesh
up to mine and press my face..." Think about it. Think about it. "...and press
my face up against his horrible face and pull him into me and
pass my life into him and me take his corruption." He lived. And he said, I thought, that's
exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did for man. That Scripture says,
He hath made him to be sin for us. I can't enter into that. I can't
preach that. We can't. Made him to be sin. That Christ came down to this
place. By holiness, everything around
him was stunned. And he did it, why? For lepers.
Would you do that? Would you do that for somebody?
Would you go and pull some fellow like that? No, you would not.
He did. Jesus Christ did. He came down
here, filled the people, and laid hold of lepers and passed
from Him His life. He was made unto us sin. corruption, our sin in His flesh,
in His body, on the tree and passing from us was His life
and His holiness, His righteousness. We're made the righteousness
of God in Him. And He took that corruption and
He went to Calvary's tree. And God said, die. And He did. But He loved. in newness of life,
sin put away, all the sins of my flesh and all His people put
away by Christ, and will rise, Scripture says, with Him, with
new bodies, new life, to dwell with Him forever without sin. No more leprosy. No more loathsome
disease. We'll be clean. I mean really
clean because of Christ. Let's sing in closing. What number, John? I forgot the
number.