Numbers chapter 5. We're in Numbers
chapter 5 this morning and when I listen to this chapter, when
I listen to the book and a wonderful thing about our electronic age
today is that if I choose to I can go online and I can have
someone who can pronounce all the names and all the words correctly
And I get to listen to the word of God being read out loud as
I read along. Well, when it came to the book
of Numbers, I listened to this book five, six, seven times,
and every time this four verses of chapter five struck me as
an oddity. From the passages of scripture
that we have preceding and the passages of scripture that we
have after, this seemed like an oddity. but the more we look
at it we find that here again what the Apostle Paul wrote that
these things were written for our understanding, for our knowledge,
for our edification and in fact the word that is translated there
often means types. We're going to see types of Christ
in this passage of scripture and types of sinners in this
passage of scripture. So Let us read these first four
verses of the fifth chapter of the book of Numbers. And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command, did you hear that word? Command the children of Israel
that they put out of the camp every leper and every one that
hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead, both
male and female, shall ye put out. Without the camp shall ye put
them, that they defile not their camps in the midst whereof I
dwell. And the children of Israel did
so. and put them out without the
camp, as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of
Israel." I found that a very interesting
passage of scripture that the children of Israel were commanded
to take these three groups of people and place them outside
the camp to put them outside the camp. Now the reason for
it is found there in verse 3 where it tells us as the Lord spake
unto them that they defile not their camps in the midst where
of I dwell. So we have the reason that this
is happening. As Brother Robert Hucker said
in his commentary, it is always pleasing and profitable to observe
in the letter of the law the spiritual meaning of it. So we're looking for the spiritual
meaning of this. Now this happened, this truly
happened there in those days when they were traveling through
the wilderness it this really happened that god commanded that
the children of israel put these three groups of people these
three classes of people male and female out of the camp that
happened but there is a reason that this happened it is a spiritual
reason and that is still happening today it reminds me of a passage
over the book of matthew chapter thirteen would you turn with
me to matthew chapter thirteen as we look here the lord's instructions
and comments with regard to something in the book of Matthew chapter
13 beginning with verse 37 Matthew chapter 13 verse 37 and he answered
and said unto them he that soweth the good seed is the son of man
this is the Lord so we may proclaim it but the sowing of it is the
Lord's he is the only one the battle is the Lord's The battle is the Lord's. He
is the only one that has the ability of overcoming us, overcoming
his people, overcoming their will, overcoming their sin, overcoming
everything. So the battle is the Lord's.
And it goes on to say, the field is the word, the good seed are
the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children
of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is
the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end
of the world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend. Them that do iniquity and shall
cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and
gnashing of teeth Then shall the righteous shine forth as
a son in the kingdom of their father who hath ears to hear
let him hear now did you notice that says there the tares shall
be gathered and burned in fire, but they the uh... all that defile all the wicked
that defile there in verse uh... uh... forty one things that offend
them that do iniquity now we have a picture of that over here
in the book of numbers but the lord shared with his disciples
there and what he's still sharing with the church today that he
is going to put out all those that defile all the wicked ones
shall be put out This is the demonstration of the holiness
of God. It's always a blessing when we
can see into the scriptures that God declares His holiness in
type, shadows, and pictures, but He also declares it in its
realness, that He is a holy God, and no man shall stand before
God except they have the holiness of God. The command to put out
that put out of the camp. It's just amazing to hear those
words as Moses declared to all the children of Israel. Now they're
putting out their family. They're putting out their wives.
They're putting out their husbands. They're putting out their children.
They're putting these people outside of the camp of Israel
because they are a defilement to the holiness of God. Now what
does this have for us? What's it sharing with us? This
is not talking about church discipline. Let me put that right up here
in front. In several of the commentaries I read, this is just a dissertation
on church discipline. Well, this is not church discipline. In fact, A pastor friend of mine was asked
one time, it's interesting what people will call up and ask about
because they're looking for a church to attend. And this person called
up a pastor friend of mine and said, do you believe in church
discipline? And he said, what do you mean
by that? He said, well, putting people out of the church. And this pastor
says, I believe in restitution. I believe in God dealing and
bringing them back, you know, and so this is not dealing with
that. This is a much different subject than that and the gospel
generally will take care of anything that needs to be taken care of
in a church. That's just generally what will
happen. Here in this passage of scripture, we find that the
glory of God and honoring his blessed name is uppermost. It is foremost. The reason these
persons are put out of the camp is so that the glory of Christ
be not defiled. Now, the Lord shares with us
a number of places in scripture about this kind of defilement,
and one of them is found over here in the book of Exodus. Just
back up a little bit to the book of Exodus. my actions are defiled
because they come from a diseased and wicked heart I have all my
works are defiled all my actions are defiled by my wicked heart
and over here such a simple thing as building an altar unto the
Lord We think, well, that would just be an easy thing to take
care of, but here are the instructions about erecting an altar unto
the Lord. In the book of Exodus chapter
20 and verse 25, And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone,
thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. What is he talking about? He's talking about adding our
works. He's talking about adding our
works unto this. It's that thou shalt lift, for
if thou wilt lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
You've polluted the altar of the Lord by putting a work to
it. And so as we look at this, we
find that this comes out generally through the scriptures of how
we pollute the very Lord. The gospel message is not by
our personal disease, but by our actions against the Lord.
And then if you'll travel many years and quite a ways through
the scriptures into the book of Galatians, The Apostle Paul,
when he was used by the Holy Spirit, and I appreciated that
this morning there, as the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters,
he moved upon holy men to bring to us the Word of God. And here
in this wonderful passage of Scripture in the book of Galatians,
Galatians chapter 1 and verse 7, the Scriptures share with
us About another gospel it says which is not another but there
be some that trouble you and pervert or pollute The gospel
of Christ so as we look at this passage over here in the book
of Numbers chapter 5 we're going to look around these verses that
we just read about bringing a stone hewing out a rock and is adding
our works to that altar and here the Apostle Paul was led by the
Holy Spirit moved by the Holy Spirit to write these things
into the churches of Galatia because they had been crept up
upon by those who had polluted the gospel as it says perverted
the gospel they perverted the gospel and when we pervert the
gospel we change the gospel we're always going to add some tools
to the altar we're always going to add some work now In the book
of Numbers chapter 5 and verse 2 we have three classes of people
that are mentioned there, three groups of people that are mentioned
there. We have every leper, we have everyone with an issue,
and whosoever is defiled by the dead. Three groups of people
and all three of these are to be put out of the camp. Every
leper, everyone that has an issue, And everyone that's been defiled
by the dead, these are to be put out of the camp. They bring
a unholiness to the holiness of God. They bring a, uh, the
camp is defiled by their presence. The camp where the Lord dwells
is defiled by their presence. And the Lord said he would dwell
with them there at the tabernacle. He would visit them there at
the tabernacle and we cannot have. God said we will not have. I will not have these about us. Well we know from the scriptures
that these three conditions are brought up in the book of the
Psalms. Would you read with me the book
of the Psalms and then we're going to look at these individual
groups and what the Lord has to say about these individual
groups. particularly in the New Testament in the book of the
Psalms Psalm 32 Psalm 32 shares a passage of scripture that the
Apostle Paul was used to bring into his writings in the book
of Romans. Glorious passage of scripture,
so meaningful to the church because we are so thankful for God's
grace that he places us in this position. In the book of the
Psalms, chapter 32, Psalm 32, and there in verses one and two, Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile." So here is the position of the Church by the grace of
God. Here is the position of the Church by God's mercy. Here is the position of the Church
by God's elective grace. Here is the position of the Church
by God being involved. Here is the position of the Church
by Him winning the victory on our behalf. And this is what
we want. This is what we desire as God
gives us the understanding. But here we have three groups
of people that God distinguished there among the twelve tribes
of Israel. Now if you remember, the twelve
tribes were around the tabernacle and they were in their given
position around the tabernacle. And then we have the Levites
around the tabernacle itself. And we have Moses and Aaron there
in a very special place, and those priests in a very special
place. And now we are told that these that had leprosy, and these
that had an issue, and these that had touched a dead person
are to be taken out by their families and placed without the
camp. And then we read, blessed is
the man who's not had their sins imputed to them. Well, let's
look at this for just a moment. This leprosy. Leprosy defines
sin in so many ways. You know, the person that had
leprosy as it's defined in the Old Testament, to begin with,
they didn't know what they had. You know, as we grew up, we don't
know the problem that we have. I have great concern for people
that make great effort in dealing with little kids and trying to
get a profession of faith out of them. I have grave concern
about that. Because by nature, we grow up,
we don't know the problem we have. And here, this person has
a spot you go, well, I don't know what that is. visiting with
a man over this past month who had a spot on his back. And he's
had it for 35 years and pretty soon it started to grow. Well,
he didn't know what he had. He had to go to a doctor and
found out that he had cancer cells there. Well, by nature,
a person that starts with leprosy doesn't know what they have.
But as the leprosy grows, we find that leprosy is also a condition
in its day and its time that we're writing about. It was incurable.
You got leprosy, you had leprosy. You're going to die with leprosy.
And it's such a picture of us in our sin, that we are leprous
by nature. We are sinners by nature, and
though we may not even realize it for some time, and then when
God gives us a new birth, we find out actually how terrible
the condition was that we had. Well, the subject of leprosy, is mentioned a number of times
in the scripture, but one that is so interesting is found in
the book of Leviticus chapter 13. If you had this, you were
to go to the priest, and the priest was to make a diagnosis.
Well, here in the book of Leviticus chapter 13, Chapter 13 of the
book of Leviticus, we're dealing with people who had leprosy.
Chapter 13 of the book of Leviticus. Now just keep in mind that the
Lord, Jehovah, commanded the children of Israel through Moses
to take these people and place them without the camp because
they're identified with leprosy and they are Pictorially, they
are in a type, they are sinners. And sinners defile the very presence
of God. We just, we cannot be in God's
presence in the condition that we're born in. Leviticus chapter
13 and verse 8, it says, And if the priests see that, behold,
the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priests shall pronounce
him unclean. It is a leprosy. Oh my goodness,
to have that said to us, to have it prescribed. We see this that
has come out and you have leprosy. Oh my, to even think for a moment. to be a sinner before God. And then it goes on, And when
the plague of the leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought
unto the priest, and the priest shall see him. And behold, if
the rising be white in the skin, and have turned the hair white,
and there is quick raw flesh in the rising, it is an old leprosy
in the skin of the flesh. And the priest shall pronounce
him unclean, and he shall not shut him up, for he is unclean. And if the leprosy break out
abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that
hath a plague from his head to his foot, wheresoever the priest
looketh, now look at this verse of Scripture, verse 13, the priest
shall consider, and behold, if the leprosy have covered all
the flesh, he shall pronounce him clean, that hath the plague,
it is all turned white, he is clean." Now what in the world
does that mean? That the priest should notice
somebody from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet
that their leprosy is all turned white. They shall be declared
clean. Well we have a comment on this
in the book of Isaiah chapter 1. The book of Isaiah chapter
1. in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18 there is an allusion to that
great whiteness that this leprous person has that he's declared
clean in the book of Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18 we have this come
now let us reason together now there's only one way that God
will allow us to reason with him And that is, when we're converted,
we agree with Him. We cannot be at odds with God
and walk with Him. We cannot. Come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord. As God works a work of grace,
God's people are going to agree with Him. And it goes on to tell
us here, and here's that allusion, though your skins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow." And what does that mean? Well,
it tells us over there in the book of Leviticus that when the
priest noticed that from the top of the head to the bottom
of the feet it's all white, he shall be declared clean. Here
is what the significance of it is. Though your sins be as scarlet,
oh, as raw flesh, as red, as ghastly. Here it says here, they
shall be. When God brings us to that place
When God reveals unto us Christ, when God gives us the new birth,
He said, you are completely and totally depraved. You are totally sinned. They
shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be wool. What does that mean? When God
reveals to us the totality of our sin nature, that the leprosy
is so complete, from the top of the head to the bottom of
our feet, we are nothing but sin. God has revealed to us the
truth of the gospel that He has come to save sinners from their
sin. Complete sinners, total sinners.
Not half sinners, not quarter sinners, not three-quarter sinners.
Not those who say, I'm okay in this area, but the rest of me,
I'm bad. Nope, it is complete sinners. Leprosy, in its completeness,
can be forgiven, can be made clean. So, when we are our sins
be a scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Clean, clean,
clean. Forgiven by the Lord. The Lord
is in the business, that's His great work of grace, that He
deals with us in our sin just as I am without one plea. Just as I am, with sinners. The Lord mentions, and we brought
this up just recently, but I want to look at it again over the
book of Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. Here we have an incident where
the Lord is dealing with leprosy. The Lord deals with leprosy in
His ministry. He dealt with it in the Old Testament
in type, shadows, and pictures. And He saved His people from
their sins there. They were leprous completely.
And when He saved them, they realized, Oh, wretched man that
I am. They recognized, Oh, I am undone. They recognize I have no hope
in myself, that I am completely and totally, and I am at the
mercy of the grace of God. And here in the book of Luke
chapter 17, the Lord deals with a bunch of lepers, 10 of them,
10 lepers. Now, notice what happens here. In the book of Luke chapter 17,
the Lord dealing with those. Now, every time that the Lord
meets somebody in his public ministry, it's by divine appointment. They are there because He intends
for them to be there. And He is there because He has
purpose before the foundation of the world to be there at that
very moment. And here in the book of Luke,
chapter 17, beginning with verse 12, the Scriptures share this.
And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men
that were lepers, which stood afar off. They are to be without
the camp. They are to be away from people.
And they lifted up their voices and said, Now everybody said
this, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. But as we heard this morning,
not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, is in the kingdom of heaven. only those that the Lord has
given those words that mean they'd agreement and when he saw them
he said of them go show yourselves unto the priests now this is
what we find under the law in the Old Testament go show yourself
to the priest the priest has to look at this and it shall
come to pass that as they went they were cleansed now the Lord
is so merciful to his church he shows mercy in in ways to
even the lost. He gives them food and sunshine
and rain. And in this case, He healed ten
lepers that had no acknowledgment of Him as the true Savior. They
had their old religion. They went on their own way. And
it says, And when one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell
upon his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. He was a sinner, two ways, sinner
as a Samaritan, sinner as a leper, but he's been healed. And the
Lord answered him and said, where are, were there not ten cleansed,
but where are the nine? They are not found that return
to give glory to God, save this stranger. Oh, the Lord was merciful
to all, but this one God had worked a work of grace not only
on the outside, but it worked a work of grace on his heart.
He was converted by the grace of God. He was born again by
the grace of God. And it just reminds us of that
passage over in the book of Romans chapter one and verse twenty
one. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, not thankful. They had all this given to them,
but it didn't mean anything except they went to the priest, were
declared clean, and they went on with the rest of their life.
This one that God had worked to work a grace in, he came back. Notice his position before the
Lord. Bowed. He bowed before him. He fell
and worshipped him with a loud voice, glorified God, fell on
his face, giving thanks unto the Lord, and he was a Samaritan.
So the Lord dealt with lepers in his ministry. He healed lepers
in his ministry and in fact we find out through this that there's
only one person that can truly deal with the sin issue and that
is the Savior. There's only one that can deal
with us in our leprosy. He's the only one great high
priest that can declare that we are white all over. Though
our sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow. saved by the
grace of God and nothing else. You didn't contribute a thing.
It's an incurable disease. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? It's incurable. But God, in his mercy, can cure
us of that dreaded disease of leprosy. And you know, we're
going to find out that we get to come back to the throne of
grace. We're accepted back to the throne
of grace. We're no longer outcast, but
we're brought back by the grace of God. Well in that passage
in the book of Numbers chapter 5 and verse 2 we find that there's
another group that is to be taken out the camp. The Lord spoke with regard to
a woman of childbearing years that when the time of the month
came she was to be put out and here we have Mainly this is the
meaning of this passage of scripture there are other thoughts that
we're going to bring out the person with an issue this Particularly speaks of a woman
and her ability to have children It is hard to wrap our heads
around the very fact that that since we are all touched by our
mother we are in fact we're gonna read that everything a woman
in this condition touches is unclean and the Lord is sharing
with us that though the woman didn't give us this sin we are
touched by her and we are made unclean by our mother we are
most unclean our very birth. She did not give us that uncleanness. It was passed to us by our Father,
yet the child, even being born, is unclean. Now as this picture
is taken, everyone that has an issue is to be put without the
camp. And to these women that had this
issue once a month, they're put without the camp to demonstrate
something, that their issue, their children are unclean. We're unclean by birth. Our mother
has touched us. And if you look into the book
of Leviticus, the bed was to be taken care of. The very house,
everything is unclean by this issue. And God is just sharing
with us. That we are unclean by our very
birth. That we're unclean before God.
We didn't have to commit one sin. We are sinners by nature. And it's demonstrated to us in
this way. You know, there is some places
in the scripture that the children that are brought into this world
are called an issue. Would you turn with me back to
the book of Genesis chapter 48? It's more in our time, it's a
colloquialism, but here in the Scriptures, it was used in Genesis
chapter 48 verses 3 through 6, that this subject came up of
an issue, and we are the issue of our parents. We're the issue
of our mother. We're the issue of our father.
But by our very birth, we're brought into this world. I came
forth from my mother's womb, speaking lies. I the very process
of birth caused me to be in contact and I'm a sinner and the only
way out of the mess we're in is Jesus Christ the sin bearer
here in the book of Genesis chapter 48 and there in verse 3 it says
and Jacob said unto Joseph God Almighty appeared unto me in
Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, God Almighty, and
said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply
thee, and I will make thee a multitude of people, and will give this
land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And
now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto
thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into the Egypt,
are mine, as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue,
thy children, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and
shall be called after the name of their children in their inheritance. God Almighty spoke to this patriarch,
and this patriarch understood about God Almighty, and he understood
about this issue. These are the children that were
born unto me, and this issue is the reason that these folks
must be put out of the camp. They are bringing sinners into
the world. Now, it's the father that passes
on the sin nature, but the mother produces them and bears them,
and by the... from my mother's womb. I am a
liar from my mother's womb. In the book of Ezekiel chapter
16 this word is also mentioned but it uses the word nativity
in Ezekiel chapter 16. Now in Ezekiel chapter 16 he's
talking from a spiritual, from a pictorial stance and mentions
about Israel. in the book of Ezekiel chapter
16 notices he's speaking about Israel here and he says this
very thing Ezekiel 16 verses 3 and 4 says and I say thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem thy birth and thy nativity is of
the land of Canaan thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother
a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the
day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast
thou washed in water to supple thee, and thou wast not salted
at all, nor swaddled at all. This is speaking, Ezekiel is
preaching a message to the most favored nation in all the world,
Jerusalem, and to Israel, and saying, You, in your nativity,
in your very birth, you were a sinner. You were a sinner before
God. You're a sinner by nature. You
were brought into this world as a sinner. And what an indictment
it is to have our mother taken without the camp and placed out
there because this very place that they're taken from tells
us of the holiness of God. No man shall approach God by
their works. No man shall approach God by
any means. They are brought to God. They
are invited to God. They are led to God. They are
placed in the presence of God by the grace of God, by the mercy
of God, and by the Son of God going to the cross to pay for
their nativity, to pay for their sin. In Mark chapter 5 we remember
Mark chapter 5. In Mark chapter 5, there was
a woman with an issue of blood. Remember that? Mark chapter 5,
verse 25. And again, just as we had the
lepers dealt with by the Lord, and one was truly blessed by
the grace of God. One was truly blessed. He was
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and he's the only
one that came back and said thank you Lord for saving a sinner
like me for curing a leper like me and here in the book of Matthew
as we think about this issue that is shared with us over in
the book of Numbers in the book of Matthew or excuse me the book
of Mark chapter 5 verse 25 Mark chapter 5 verse 25 And a certain woman, which had
an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things
of many physicians, and spent all that she had, and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse." We've mentioned that many times,
that she dealt with people just like we do in religion. I have
a problem, but nobody can help me with it. I have a problem. Nobody can deal with it. It's
an incurable problem. I can't deal with it. I appreciated
what Pastor Bill said in his message on Wednesday night. Who
can raise himself from the dead? It's an impossibility. We cannot cure our leprosy. We cannot cure our issue. We
cannot cure it. And here it goes on to tell us
in the book of Mark chapter 5, it says in verse 27, And when
she heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his
garment. For she said, If I may touch
his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
had been healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press
and said, Who touched my clothes? Now the disciples are just like
we would. What are you talking about? You're
in a great crowd. Many people have touched you.
Many people have touched you. And yet there was one chosen
before the foundation of the world that touched him. because
God had given her the grace to do it. And his disciples said
unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest, Who
touched me? And he looked around about to see her that had done
this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing that it was done in her, came and fell down before him,
and told him all the truth, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. All the truth. You're God Almighty. You're the only one that could
heal me. You took care of the issue. You took care of the problem.
And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. What a blessing it
is that God alone, Christ alone, can deal with the issue that
we have. We're born into this world as
sinners, and there's only one that can take care of that issue.
And that's the sin forgiver, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
if you remember, there's one other group that was called on
to leave the camp because of the holiness of God. This other
group, we find whosoever is defiled by the dead. Whosoever is defiled
by the dead. We have lepers, those that have
an issue, and those who have been defiled by the dead. I hate
to tell you, and I hate to give you the bad news, But did you
touch yourself today? Defiled. We are defiled. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. We are defiled. You know, the
condition that we face is that we're dead. For in Adam all die. out of the camp, can't have you
around. Lepers, those with an issue,
those that are defiled by the dead, can't have you in the camp.
This is holy ground. This is holy ground. Holiness
unto the Lord. Holiness unto the Lord. In Ephesians,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, Colossians chapter 2 would you
turn with me there Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 and verse
13 and you being dead in your sins
now this this is a this is something that natural man just can't see just cannot see how dead we are. Natural man, we think there is
just a little bit. As I've mentioned many times,
this is the only area of all of life that there is a discussion
about the meaning of the word dead. Only place I was discussing this issue with
that young man I've been visiting with, and I just said, how dead
was Adam before the Lord came? How dead was he? And you know,
we just can't get there by nature. But when the Lord saves us by
His grace, we find that there was absolutely dead in trespasses
and sin. That there was no life whatsoever. that the pictures of the Lord
dealing with a young girl at 12 years of age, a young man
being carried out of Nain, and Lazarus who was in the tomb for
four days and decomposing, all have the same problem. They're
dead. And it says here, so you being dead in your sins and uncircumcision
of your flesh, and your works are dead, you're just, hath he
quickened together. So he has quickened. That's the
cure. That's the cure. He must quicken. He must give life. That's the
cure. together with him having forgiven
you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that were against us what was against us all the ordinances
of the Old Testament what was against those people that were
there as they're just preparing to move towards the promised
land what was against them the ordinance God gave them an ordinance
take all of the lepers Take all of those with an issue and take
all of those that are contaminated by touching someone dead out
the camp. This is holy ground. We'll not
have them in here. Now it's a symbol to us about
those who were there. Those had been a picture, at
least, of those who were made righteous by the blood of Christ. But those who are not, without
the camp. which was contrary to us and
took us out of the way, nailing it to the cross. The problem,
terrible problem, is that we are lepers. We have an issue
and we're all contaminated by dead men. We're contaminated. We have this issue about us.
And yet, we read in the scriptures about the glorious touch of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He dealt with a leper. many,
a number of lepers in his ministry. He dealt with this woman with
an issue of blood and he dealt with dead people. Now let's just
look at a few verses here. The Lord's touch, the Lord's
touch as he dealt with this. This is the only way that we
get out of the mess we're in. It's the Lord and it's the work
of the Lord. He touches us. In the book of
Matthew chapter 20, Matthew chapter 20, I know moms have to do this sometimes
with us physically, but it sure is hard on dads. And that is,
our children come to us with a problem with their eye, all
pussy up. Moms just take care of it, that's
in stride. But dads, oh my goodness, notice
here, in Matthew chapter 20 verse 34, Matthew chapter 20 and verse
34 it says here, So Jesus had compassion on them. We've got some blind folks. Jesus
had compassion on them and touched their eyes. And immediately their
eyes received sight and they followed Him. Touched their eyes. Just can't see Him until He touches
our eyes. Touches our eyes by the grace
of God. And then, if you'll look with me just a little ahead in
the book of Mark, Mark chapter 1 verse 40. And there was a leper There came a leper to him, Mark
chapter 1 verse 40, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him,
and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And Jesus moved with compassion. When was that compassion developed? When was that passion in his
heart? Before the foundation of the world. That's where his
compassion was. Put forth his hand, and look
what he did. He touched a leper. The Lord
touched a leper, and saith unto him, I will be thou clean." What
a glorious thing we have here as it pictures the Lord in His
mercy touching sinners and lifting them out of a horrible pit. In
the book of Mark chapter 7, Mark chapter 7, would you notice there
with me, this is the work of the Lord to deal with these problems
that we have. In Mark chapter 7 verse 33, I have grave difficulty touching
anybody's tongue, don't you? Notice this, Mark chapter 7 verse
33. The Lord has to touch us before we can speak for Him.
The Lord has to touch us before we can talk for Him. In verse
33 of this chapter 7 it says, And He took him aside from the
multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and spit, and
touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed, and saith unto him, Epaphatha, that is, be opened. And straightway
his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed,
and he spake plain. Now that's one thing about the
gospel, it allows us to speak plain about the grace of God,
mincing no words, no additional words about anything that we've
done. It is the grace of God, and yet it takes the Lord to
touch our tongue. In the book of Mark chapter 8,
Mark chapter 8 verse 14 Remember over there if you've touched
someone that's dead you to be put out of the camp Here in Mark
chapter 8 and verse 14 now the disciples Excuse me Oh my The young woman is a chapter
7 and Well, the passage I wanted, and
this just keeps reminding me, I'm a sinner saved by grace. A young lady was dead, and they
mocked and made fun of him when he said that she's not dead,
she's going to be raised. Anyway, the scriptures tell us,
he touched her hand and said unto her, Maid, arise. And she arose. He touched her hand. A living
God, God the living God, touched the hand of a dead person and
caused her to rise. How glorious! Oh, excuse me,
I think it might be in Luke chapter 8. Let's try that. Luke chapter
8. Luke chapter 8. here we go Luke chapter 8 verse 54 and he
put them all out they were laughing about him raising her and he
took her by the hand Almighty God God in the flesh Emmanuel
took her hand and called saying now she's a dead young lady but
here we have the master of death we have him who took our death
by the hand and called saying may it arise and her spirit came
again and she arose straightway and he commanded to give her
meat what a glorious statement those three groups of people
that were commanded to be put out of the camp The only way
back in and into the holiness of God into the presence of God
is the Lord Jesus Christ himself He is the mediator. He's the
one and he's the one that went to the cross on our behalf He's
the one that died for us. He's the one that put sin away.
He's the only one that can take lepers Sinful people and make
them whole he's the only one that can take those with an issue
We're born into this world with this dreaded disease sin from
my mother's womb I came forth from my mother's womb speaking
lies and this one dealing with dead people I was born dead I
had this ability to be animated physically but no spirituality
whatsoever even though we thought we did we had none we had no
idea in this world we were just given all of this resurrected
power by the Lord Jesus Christ and hath raised us up together."
Now, in closing this morning, I want to turn to 1 John chapter
1 verse 1. 1 John. 1 John chapter 1 verse 1. This
is the commentary that the apostle John got to give on the whole
thing. This is His commentary, given
to Him by the grace of God, given to Him by the Lord Himself. And
that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, now notice
this, we've been welcomed into His presence. How do we know
that? And our hands have handled. the Word of Life, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has given us the grace to
come, not only to see with our eyes and to look upon in our
hands of hell, not only to hear Him, to see Him, but to handle
Him. How does He allow us to do this?
He's given us His righteousness. We can come and lay hold of Him
by faith, touch Him by faith, were welcomed into His presence
by faith. What a gracious gift He has given
to us. So all those that were cast out,
lepers, issue of blood, those who had been defiled by dead,
by touching a dead body, the Lord Jesus in His personal ministry
shares with us as throughout the Old Testament and all the
Gospel that is preached there, That's His victory to give us. He takes care of our leprosy.
He takes care of our issue. And He takes care of us being
defiled by death. Glory to God in the highest. Praise Him, praise Him, praise
Him. He is the Savior that saves His
people from their sins.