Well, good morning and welcome
to our continuing study, and we're in Luke chapter 5 now. Last week we covered the section
through verse 10 where the Lord had gone down to the lake and
called some disciples. told them to launch out into
the deep and let down your nets for a drought. And today we're
taking up in verse from there, from verse 11 through 16. We'll
read that real quickly here. Luke 5, verse 11. And when they
had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed
him. And it came to pass, when he 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 and he put forth his hand and touched him saying i will
be thou clean and immediately the leprosy departed from him
and he charged him to tell no man but to go and show thyself
to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according to Moses
commanded for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went
there a fame and maraud of him and great multitudes came together
to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he
withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. So today we're looking
at this cleansing. It's interesting that when they
refer to this dread disease, they call it a cleansing instead
of mostly, sometimes occasionally it's referred to as being healed
from it, but generally it's called, referred to as a cleansing. And
so several things that we wanna note in this portion of Luke
concerning this cleansing of the leper. from a certain city,
and likely that was Capernaum. Matthew 8.5 notes that in this
relation to this, that he was entering into the city of Capernaum
in Matthew 8.5. the leper probably would have
been outside the city because that was where they were commanded
to be if they were found to have leprosy and be deemed unclean
from Leviticus chapter 13. And he says, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. And we noted that there was immediate
restoration. And then interesting, there's
a command to tell no man but instead to present himself to
the priest according to the law of Moses for a testimony of them."
And we'll look into that. There's so much symbolism in
this that directs our attention unto the Lord. And first I thought
it'd be good if we had a little background on leprosy or Hansen's
disease as it's now mostly called. In Old and New Testament times,
it was a terrible scourge of a disease. I'm sure you're all
aware of that. It was referred to by some as living death. What a picture of sin and the
fall. Living death. In Adam II when he said he didn't
die physically immediately but he did die immediately spiritually
and the effects of leprosy is Metaphorically are really similar
to this that it starts out with a little red spots and they're
caused by they've discovered this handsome fellow from Norway
found that they were a bacteria-related disease, and it progressed slowly
over time and attacks the peripheral areas like fingers and toes and
nose and the skin particularly. It attacks the nerves and damages
them and causes you to lose your sensation of pain and heat, any
kind of injury. There's no feeling, so a lot
of times the wounds go unheeded because you don't feel, you might
be bleeding. We have some family members that
has a member that's paraplegic and her lower extremities have
no feeling. One time a cat just sat there
and clawed her leg, all the ribbons, and she didn't even know it because
she couldn't feel anything. And she got terrible infection
from it. Well, that's kind of one of the things that can happen
with leprosy. And as a result, you know, you
see some pictures and stories where they've lost their toes
or their fingers or their nose is kind of decomposed and so
awful. awful disease and and kind of
in the same way, you know sin it starts out in small ways and
gradually eliminates the person's cognizance of it and and so the
damage becomes worse and worse and ending in complete destruction
and in modern times Leprosy, apparently there's a couple of
varieties, one's a little more severe than the other one, but
they're treatable with modern medicines and steroids and recovery
is possible in 6 to 12 months depending on what stage you're
in and what variety you have. But the stigma of leprosy is
still the same. It's been eliminated in most
places on the planet, except for in some Asian countries in
India of countries that have overpopulation and poverty are
seen to be the ones that are stricken with the most now. But
in the times that we're talking about here in the Old Testament
and the New Testament, There was no cure for this outside
of God. And it was rare for someone to
be cleansed of it. Remember in our previous lesson,
we talked about Naaman the Syrian. Word was brought to him by a
captive girl that said, the God of Israel can take care of that
for you. And he went. And so as we look
in this, healing, this cleansing. The law of Moses called for the
person who was declared to be a leper by the priest, if they
looked like they were coming down with leprosy, they were
brought to the priest. And then the priest, chapter 13 is a real
long series of diagnoses that they use to determine what was
wrong with you and whether it was really leprosy or not. And
if it was, there were specific things that must occur. And so
if they were deemed to be leprous, they were declared unclean. and
were commanded to be placed outside the camp and no contact was to
be made with them. They were shunned. just disassociated
with. And in chapter 14, it's called The
Law of the Leopard. And that's the title of our lesson
today, The Law of the Leopard. And it's a pretty detailed diagnosis
and pronouncements by the priest according to the law of Moses.
And in Leviticus, I'll just read a couple of verses from Leviticus
13 for just because of the time that we're under. And Leviticus
13.3 says, the priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean. In verse 45, the leper in whom
the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and
he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and he shall cry,
unclean, unclean. In verse 46, and all the days
wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled. He
is unclean, he shall dwell alone, without the camp shall his habitation
be. Now Strong's defines unclean
as in the pronouncement on the leper as foul, contaminated,
polluted. especially in a moral or ceremonial
sense. And what a picture of sin in
that. What a true picture. Remember
back in Ezekiel chapter 16, verse four and five. As for thy nativity
in the day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither
was thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou was not salted at
all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do these
things to you to have compassion upon but thou was cast out in
the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that
thou was born." Cast out. And in Isaiah, we'll read Isaiah
chapter one, verse four through six. A sinful nation, a people
laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are
corruptors that have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked
the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are gone away backwards.
And why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more
and more. The whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint. From
the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness
in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They've
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. In addition, The leper was cast
out, caught off from the people, isolated from society, just a
sin that separates us and isolates us from God. Remember in Isaiah
59 verse two, your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, between the holy one. Your sins have hid his face from
you that he will not hear. And so as we come to Luke 5,
verse 11, and he's approaching Capernaum, this is the situation
that this leper is in. He's been pronounced unclean
by the priest. He's been cut off from society. He's been cast out. So we find him coming to Christ. Behold a man full of leprosy."
It says he was full, so he was probably like in your stage 5
leprosy, you know, not just your little red spots. beginning leprosy,
it says he was full of leprosy. He was probably in awful condition.
What a picture of our sin that we're under. And he was full
of leprosy and seeing Jesus, he fell on his face and besought
him saying, Lord, if thou will. And so some things that we note
here, all that the father giveth to me shall come to me. And him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. This man was
full of leprosy, not just mild or beginning, but full of it.
And no hope outside of Christ. Back then they didn't have steroids
and all the medical things that they use now to treat it with.
There was nothing. And so he says, if thou wilt, thou
can make me clean. He recognized Supernaturally,
something had happened to him. He had to have been born again
because he recognized him as Lord and he recognized him as
sovereign because he said, if thou wilt. And, you know, you
might recall from Exodus 33, 15 through 19, and also quoted in Romans, the
ninth chapter, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion. It's
up to him, it's sovereignly up to him. And so this leper says,
it's up to you. If thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And he said, I will. Be thou clean. You know what?
It just made me think of Ezekiel chapter 36. Remember when we studied that
from time to time, and I say, okay, in your Bibles, highlight
all the times that God says, I will. I will sprinkle clean
water on you. I will cleanse you. I'll give
you a new heart. I will do this. I will do that.
All these things that God does on behalf of His people that
He's loved from before the foundation of the world. I will. And notice
the certainty of it. It's not, I might, I could make
it possible that this might happen is I will be thou clean. And remember one of our previous
lessons, we talked about when the Lord says, be light in Genesis, the Lord says,
light be and light was and so forth. So his word was power. no more leprosy. It said it immediately left him. The results were instantaneous.
The result was right now. It was complete. And he was cleansed
of it. And the Lord, then this interesting
part here that takes us back to Leviticus. The Lord says,
tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest. as the
law commands, and show thyself to him for a testimony unto them."
Well, what kind of testimony would we be talking about? I've
been cleansed by the sovereign Lord God Almighty, the Lord of
hosts. I've been cleansed. You know,
I was thinking, when he showed up at the priest, I bet the priest
had to go look that up. I'll bet he had to say, just
a minute, I've got to go get my Leviticus roll out and look
up chapter 14, which is called the Law of the Leper, to see
what I'm supposed to do, because this just never happens. You
know, all the other sacrifices and things they did every day
or every week, kind of on a schedule. But this was a rare occasion. He was to go and be a testimony
to them about Christ. Well, the Lord's always saying,
search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they that testify of me. And beginning
at Moses and the prophets, he expounded to them in all the
things concerning himself. And there's nothing different
in Leviticus chapter 14. When you start reading it with
the eye on Christ. I tried to look up Norm's lesson
on Leviticus 14, but it's not on sermon audio that I could
find. He probably covered this, but we'll go through it again
anyway. He was supposed to go and present
himself to the priest for a testimony. And remember, the priest, in
reality, they were supposed to be declaring the gospel out of
these Old Testament scriptures. They were supposed to be saying,
here's why we're sacrificing this lamb. Here's what the blood
means. Here's what this means. Here's
what that means. And in Christ sending this man
to the priest, he was fulfilling the law. Because the law said
that this leper who was cleansed must present himself to the priest.
And so if we look over in Leviticus chapter 14, and look at this
portion of the law of the leopard, which this cleansing, which could
have only been accomplished by God. In verse one, the Lord spake
unto Moses saying, this shall be the law of the leper in the
day of his cleansing. He shall be brought unto the
priest. And that priest, his job, and just like Philip's job,
and just like Norm's job, is to start at the same scripture
and preach unto them Christ. The instructions in the Law of
the Leper were very precise. The priest shall go forth out
of the camp, remember the leper was cast out of the camp, so
the priest came out to him to examine him, and look up this
procedure and implement what it said. It said, the priest
shall look, and behold, that the plague of leprosy be healed
in the leper. Then shall the priest command
to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds, alive and
clean, and cedarwood and scarlet and hyacinth, two clean birds
as prescribed by the law of Moses. Most likely those were most common. It was a couple of turtle doves
or young pigeons is what it tells us in verse 30 of chapter 14
is what they used. Cedar wood was aromatic and it
was least susceptible to corruption. It was a good solid wood and
scarlet cloth, the scarlet symbolizing this blood of Christ and some
hyacinth. It's kind of a mint-scented plant,
and it kind of grows up in stalks and has little purple flowers
on it. It reminds me of a plant that we have in our garden, the
pentstemon. It looks just like it in the
picture on the internet. And it was to be used in this
ceremony here. And such symbolism in it, I just
couldn't get over it as I was reading through it. Remember
in the Passover, the first Passover in Egypt, in Exodus chapter 12,
verse 22, it says, ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it
in the blood that is in the basin, the blood of the lamb, and strike
it on the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that
is in the basin. And none of you shall go out
the door of his house until morning. And when the Lord passed over,
if he saw the blood, he would pass over them. So, the actions
then prescribed by the priest is just a picture, a metaphor
for the death of our Savior for sin. In verse 5 of Leviticus
14, the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed
in an earthen vessel. Think of the symbolism in that.
This bird shall be killed in an earthen vessel. An earthen
vessel that Christ was given to come down and tabernacle among
us to save his people from his sin. He should be killed in an
earthen vessel over running water. And I looked that word running
up, I was wondering if they killed him over a little creek or something,
but that word running means alive or living water. Again, more symbolism there of
Christ, the well of living water springing up. And as for the
living bird in Leviticus 14, six, he shall take it and the
cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyacinth and shall dip them
and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over
the living water. So he dipped them birds in there.
And then verse seven, he shall sprinkle upon him that is to
be cleansed. Remember, he's already been cleansed.
by Jesus, but this is just a picture of the gospel that the priest
is supposed to enact out to declare the gospel, to declare what's
going on. He shall sprinkle upon him that
is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times. Remember, Naaman
was supposed to be dipped in the Jordan River seven times
as well. And the priest shall pronounce
him clean. And then he shall let the living
bird loose in the open field. I love what Matthew Henry wrote
in his commentary. He says, two birds, the one dying
for our sins, the other rising for our justification. What symbolism. It brings to mind Galatians four,
you know, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son
in an earthen vessel. made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law, under this law
of the leper, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And then
after the application of blood, there always must be blood. After
the application of blood, the priest declares him clean. Verse
six, for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar
wood, and the scarlet, and the hyacinth, and he shall dip them,
and the living bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over
the running water, and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to
be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce
him clean. and shall let the living bird
loose into the open field. And then he that was cleansed
is presented before the Lord clean. Verse 11, and the priest
that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean
and those things before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. He shall present that leper before
the Lord clean. I call your attention to Ephesians
chapter 5, verse 25-27. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word. that he might present it to himself,
a glorious church, not having a spot, not even one of those
little red spots, not any wrinkle or any such thing, that it should
be holy and without blemish." What a picture of being cleansed
from the leprosy of sin. And so it doesn't end there. It just gets better and better.
Then the chapter 14 in the Law of the Leper says, okay, after
he's been presented to the Lord, consecrate him. Verse 12, and
the priest shall take one he lamb and offer him for a trespass
offering in the log of oil and wave them for a wave offering
before the Lord. And he shall slay the lamb in
the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt
offering in the holy place. For as the sin offering is the
priest, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. And here comes
the good part. And the priest shall take some
of the blood of the trespass offering and the priest shall
put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed
and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of
his right foot. Well, where does that sound familiar
from? Well, I ask you to turn over to Exodus chapter 29, verse
20. Exodus 29 20 then shalt thou
kill the ram and take his blood and put it upon the tip of the
right ear of Aaron and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons,
and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe
of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood on the altar round
about, and thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar,
and the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments,
and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him.
And he shall be hallowed in his garments and his sons and his
sons' garments with him." It's the same the same thing
is applied to one that has been cleansed, one that has been unpolluted,
one that has been made without spot, without wrinkle. And we
find over in Revelation 1, verse 5, and from Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And that, my friends, is
the law of the leper, Christ, the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone who believeth. That's from Romans chapter 10,
verse 14. And see, we're out of time, so
we'll stop there. And the next time we'll take
a look at a certain day where he runs into a person taken with
a palsy. And we'll look at that and see
what wonderful things develop out of that. So in the meantime,
my friends be free and we'll turn it back over to our host
there.