I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Luke chapter 5 and verse number 12 through
verse 16. We'll find our reading this morning. The subject of our message today
is the leper coming to Christ. Now in Luke 5 and verse 12, the
scripture says, 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 told 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 go and show thyself to the priest, and offered for
thy cleansing according to Moses' commandment, for a testimony
unto them. But so much the more went there
the fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear
him and he healed them of their infirmities. And he withdrew
himself to the wilderness and prayed. This morning, this portion
of God's Word, if we take Matthew's account and Mark's account and
Luke's account, the Synoptic Gospels, if we put all of those
three occasions together, those renderings we find that we have
an astonishing happening before us. It's one of the most precious
portions of God's Word to me because we have here in this
particular portion of scripture this morning a leper who is coming
to our Lord Jesus Christ I believe that this leper this morning
is a true representation of every child of God that has been elected,
that has been called and set free of his earthly bounds and
has caused him to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an unclean man, an unclean
man who is filled with leprosy. We have a man who rushes out
into a multitude of people. After our Lord had finished the
Sermon on the Mount, he came and he sat and he began to teach. And a great multitude, according
to the scripture says, came. And they sat, no doubt, and listened
at this man teach. Now, the scripture says that
he didn't teach like the scribes. He taught as one with authority. Now, how do you feel about what
the scripture says? They listened to a man as though
he had authority. means to me that those scribes
at that day, they were probably able to read the scriptures to
people. But as far as being able to expound
the scriptures to the hearts and to the souls of those who
listened to them, they were not able to. Because there was a
disconnect between the word of God and the faith of Almighty
God. I'm sure here this morning, there
are many different types of occupations. Maybe in transportation, maybe
in electronics, maybe in other fields in our country, in industry. A scribe back in that day, there
was an occupation, and that's as far as it got. It's just an
occupation. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
began to speak, and when he began to expound the word of God to
them, their hearts were filled. They knew, not only in their
minds, but in their hearts, that this man actually believed what
he was saying. And they were astonished that
he was able to do that. This morning, if God be willing,
I want us to look at this poor man. This man, according to the
book of Luke, who said that he was filled with leprosy. A man
who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you see the picture with
me this morning? Here is a great multitude of
people, and they're all sitting, and then there's a cry from the
back, no doubt, and here comes a man And he's saying unclean. Unclean! Because it was something
he had to do. When he was around people, it
was for them to say unclean because leprosy was a dreaded thing and
no one could touch him. No one would want to touch him. Here is a man who stood among
them, walking in the midst of this crowd, saying, unclean,
unclean, making his way to our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a
man who is in great need, and we'll see about that this morning. There are four things that I
want you to remember this morning about this portion of scripture.
four things that I want you to attach to the narrative of this
leper coming to our Lord Jesus Christ. This leper comes to our
Lord Jesus Christ crying unclean, unclean with a great need. He also comes to our Lord Jesus
Christ with humility. And then he comes to our Lord
Jesus Christ with great faith. Then he comes to our Lord Jesus
Christ with full submission unto the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These are the four things that
I want to speak to you about this morning concerning this
leper. Because it is my contention that
this leper is my guidepost. This leper is our standard to
look at When we think about coming before God, when man decides
to come and approach Almighty God, we will see this morning
that this is the way to approach our Father, our Lord, our Savior. This man came to the Lord Jesus
Christ with a deep sense of need. We do not read anything much
about this person in the scripture. We are not told where this man
comes from. We're not told how old he was,
whether he was a young type of a person, or whether he was an
elderly person. We don't know much about him.
We don't know what happened to him. But it seemed that this
person presented to us to represent something to teach us something
he's put in scripture he is put before us and it's us is for
us to look at him and to gain and value of his life because
he is placed before us for the purpose of Almighty God this
person Luke said again was full of leprosy this man was no doubt
covered from head to foot. I can imagine him wearing nothing
but rags, cloths that people no doubt had cast away. No one
would have anything to do with this man. This man did not appear
before them in a suit or a tie. He did not appear to them in
a polo shirt. He appeared to them wrapped in
rags to protect himself and to protect others that may look
upon him. What they could see was probably
a garment of rags covering him completely. especially a cloth
over his face. Why would you think this morning
that he would have a cloth that would cover his face, especially
his nose, his mouth? No doubt that this leprosy had
consumed his features of his face, his nose, his mouth. This thing called leprosy would
cause the gums to just shrink, the teeth to fall out. particle
the part of his his hands his fingers maybe his toes would
finally just fall off this man was filled with the scabs of
this life of his disease here is a man covered yes covered
Yes, crying out with a loud voice, unclean, unclean. But yet, in
spite of all, he makes his way to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he realized his
great need was to be healed. And he came to our Lord Jesus
Christ. Leprosy this morning is like
sin. It is loathsome. It's an unclean
disease. Leprosy, like sin, is an incredible
disease. Leprosy, like sin, is a consuming
disease. Leprosy, like sin, is a sure
forerunner of death. This man, in our text, had a
sense of a desperate need to get healed. I'm sure If he had
heard of anything out there that would help him, I'm sure he would
have gone and got some help. But in that day, and as it is
dreary even in this hour, this man had no other hope other than
the fame of hearing that this man, the son of the living God,
was in his area, and he made his way with a desperate need
to our Lord Jesus Christ. This man knew that he needed
help. He needed supernatural, merciful,
divine help. He needed the help of God. Without it, he would surely die. No doubt, all of the things that
he had tried before had failed. Maybe you, are like that in some
ways. Instead of submitting completely
to a care of a doctor, we'll try every element we can think
of. And if you come up with a new one, I'll probably want to hear
about it, okay? But it comes to a time in a person's life
when God speaks life into him. He gives up on phony charges
and he turns to the only source for help and for strength. And
that's what we have pictured here in this man filled with
leprosy coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no hope. He came to where he felt there
was hope. And that is with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ has power to heal anyone
at any time. Christ has power to save anyone
at any time. Christ's blood can cleanse us
of all of our sins. As Christ's power had to cleanse
this man of leprosy, as though when our Lord would heal someone
of blindness, He healed this man of leprosy. But when it comes
to our salvation, when it comes to our sins, It is the blood
that cleanses us. It is Christ's righteousness
that covers us as those rags of garments that this man had
upon him over his head and over his face that covered him of
this earthly manner. The blood of Christ covers us
with his blood. His mercy saves us. The Lord's mercy saves us. And it was the mercy of Almighty
God that healed this man. Where was the help that this
man needed? Where was what we would call
some type of care in that day? Where were the clinics of that
day? Where was the hospitals? Where
was our insurance plans of that day? There was none, any of those
things. And if there was, there wouldn't
be any help for this particular man. Because who would have dared? Who would have dared help? This lonely person, this loathsome
person, this disease-infested person, who would have stepped
up? Who would have lent a hand for
someone like this? What value was he to community? What value was he to the family? What value was he to the community,
to the state? In this day and time, where there
is a value to the state, there's money to be spent. But when a
community has no value to the community, then that community
is allowed just to die away. They take the names down where
the town's name was to be. They just take it down. It doesn't
exist anymore. Here's a person who was without
hope. Here's a person who had no hope
and had no expectation in this life for any resolution to his
problem. This leper came to Christ in
great humility. Not only did he come with a great
need, but he came with great humility. And this is what I
think is remarkable. Luke says, seeing Jesus, he fell
on his face. Mark tells us that he came kneeling
matthew tells us he came worshiping him worshiping our lord and savior
jesus christ again there is a correlation to what this man did in coming
to christ for healing is for every sinner that comes to God
for salvation. We come only before God. We don't come to God asking and
telling God, I want to be saved today and I want it between 11
and 1115. We don't. Anticipate a time that God is
going to come and be gracious and save us on a particular time. God will save his people according
to his own will, according to his own time plan. This man did
not have any expectation that God would save him at that very
moment, but he knew that the mercy and the power was within
the hand of this one man, and that's where his faith comes
in. This is where he comes and he
addresses our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to him in great humility. This leper knew what he was. He knew that he was undone. He
knew that he was full of uncleanness. He knew that he was cursed and
condemned, that he was helpless, that he was unworthy. This leper
came to Christ because he knew who he was, the Lord. He knew that this man, Jesus,
this man, Jesus of Nazareth, this man, the son of the living
God, that he was righteous. true it's not like going to a
scribe that read the word because probably he was paid to read
the word but he came to a man that was the word himself the
word expounded to him when God when Christ spoke he spoke to
the hearts of men he didn't speak just to the head he spoke to
the heart the soul and that's why these people said no man
ever spake like this man He knew that our Lord was righteous
and true, that He was the God full of mercy, love, and compassion. He knew that He was God, that
this God was able and willing to save. He knew that Christ,
our Lord and Savior, was open for cleansing, for He had such
power. I don't know if this person had
ever heard of the other miracles that our Lord had done? I don't know that. I don't even
know that he had ever heard anyone read the scriptures to him. I
don't know if he ever had a mother that sat with him. at the knee
of his mother and listen that his mother read the word of God
to him. I don't know any of that. I don't
know if he even had a neighbor that was godly and prayed unto
Jehovah God. I don't know any of that. But
this one thing I know that this person had faith to believe and
to go and to look and to ask for mercy to almighty God. That's what I do know. So many
times we know what we don't believe, but what is it that we do believe? This man mastered upon the foundation
principle what he did know, and he knew God, he knew the Lord. He'd never met him, but he knew
him. He knew who he was, and he wanted
to put his faith, his trust in none other than Jesus Christ
himself. Does this look like something
that you can relate to? Is this something that you can
remember in your own life? That there was a time that you
came to find faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The time that you
were willing to submit yourself wholly and completely into his
hands and say, sink or swim, I'm going with the Lord. I'm
trusting him. I'm giving you my life. I'm trusting
Him for my eternal salvation. Every child of God has a time
he comes before God and realizes this is the mercy that I've been
looking for. This is the mercy that I need. This is the mercy that will secure
my place before Him. This leper knew that in God was
the glory and that glory was his forgiveness and that it was
his healing. God knows how, God knows how
to bring sinners like this leper to his side. God brings sinners
down, brings them down. He brings them down in a form
of his providence of God. How many of your stories I have
heard the last years how it was in a day past how God dealt with
you how God spoke to you how God brought you to be a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ every person you will ever talk to
their confession of our Lord Jesus Christ will be different
It will not be the same. How God dealt with you is not
the way that God dealt with me. But the fact is that God did
deal with us. God did show his mercy to us
through the preaching of the word of God. Yes. through the
ministry of a personal person who loved you and read you the
word of God, and maybe a mother, a father, a loved one who prayed
unto God that he might show mercy to you, God uses his providence
to bring his people unto his self. God brings sinners down
even by the law of God. It teaches us who God is. When we read the 10 commandments,
we see the righteousness of God. No wonder how that the commandments
of God was written by the very finger of God. I think of it
like this, like lightning coming out of heaven and burning those
things into those tablet. that Moses held. However it happened,
It was God's Word. God's Word that made the difference. God gave His commandments in
that particular day. And even the law, the preaching
of the law of God is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. God brings
sinners down by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What is true? What is of the
Lord Jesus Christ? You've had the opportunity through
all the years to hear the gospel preached from this very pulpit.
How God has brought us through by reading the word of God and
preaching from the word of God. It has filled our hearts and
souls of the mercy and the grace of Christ Jesus. The word of
God is literally of God itself. It is God's word to you. It's
God's word to me. It is God teaching me of Himself. God brings sinners down by revealing
Christ to them. Revealing Christ to them. Now,
I don't know how he does that. We have a song that talks about
it. I don't know how faith comes
and I don't know how God reveals Christ to a man. I have an idea. My idea is this, that Almighty
God overcomes my will. He overcomes and he straightens
my thinking out. He makes me to understand the
love and the mercy of Almighty God. And how does he do that? I have an idea. My idea is this,
that God speaking to me is a supernatural revelation. It's not just someone
reading the Bible to me, which is good, but coming to know God
is a supernatural revelation. It's regeneration. It is the
power of God coming down upon us, crushing us like a stone
to powder. And God so rules, so rules the
hearts of his people. God knows how to bring sinners
to his son's feet. This man came to our Lord in
great faith. Hebrews 11 in verse 6 says, but
without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. This is the main point. I do
not know how he came to have faith. Don't know. It's not important. But the important factor is he
came. He came believing in the Lord,
testifying that he is the son of the living God. And all the
everything else doesn't mean anything at all. Doesn't mean
anything. the fact that God captured his
heart. God beat him to powder and brought
him to an understanding of who God is, who Christ was, and what
his place was in this life, living and dying for our sins. This leper came to our Lord Jesus
Christ by himself. He came to our Lord by himself. Others had not led this man to
Christ. Not one of the disciples. No,
not one. No one ever picked him up and
brought him to the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. There wasn't
a soul winner involved. Others who have come has been
brought to our Lord Jesus Christ, but not this one, not this one. No one paid him a visit. No one
promised him a Bible if he would show up on Sunday morning. This
man came because within his heart, he was driven by the Spirit of
God to go to our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the wonderful part of
the message this morning. This man came to our Lord in
total submission. Total submission. Someone might
say, well, he didn't have anything else to lose. Well, maybe that's true. There wasn't
a hospital that would take him because he didn't have insurance. He didn't have a neighbor that
cared enough for him to care for him. His parents were probably
dead or didn't have parents to help him. This man was out of
his luck. He was down on his luck. This
man didn't have anything to lose, you say. Yes, he did. Let me tell you what he had to
lose. He had his life. He had his depravity to lose. This man was overcome by Almighty
God. God overcome all of the obstacles
that would keep him from coming. God overcome them all. You think, but he was just a
poor leper. What did he have to lose again? His nature, his nature. The last thing that I personally
want to do is to ask help from another. There's just something
about it that I just hate to do. I'll wait three days to do
it myself. When I feel better, I'll do it
in three days. I won't ask anyone else to do it, I'll just wait.
This man had, he was a person, He had his own individuality.
He had his person, he had his mannerism, he had his likes,
he had his dislikes. But in all of that, all of the
obstacles that we could bring up today, well what about this?
Well what about that? I come back to one central point. It's not that he did not have
a choice. God gave him a choice. The choice
was life or death. And that's the choice that he
had. Life or death. There was nothing
else to consider other than to go to the Lord Jesus Christ. He went to the Lord Jesus Christ
because he knew there was mercy. He went to the Lord Jesus Christ
because he knew that there was an abundance of grace there. He went to the Lord Jesus Christ
because he was the Christ. And that is what makes it all
different this morning about this letter. He came, he asked,
he fell down before our Lord upon his face. And as Matthew
said, he worshiped, he worshiped. Well, he hadn't even been baptized
yet. And you know, it just dawned on me, it probably wasn't even
the Sabbath either, or a Sunday. He came to Lord Jesus Christ. because he was driven within
himself, not his neighbor again, not his mother again, not a Christian
worker, no. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ
because God put a desire within his heart to go and see the Lord
and confess himself. And he said, if thou wilt, he
said, if thou wilt thou can make me clean. And this is the cry
of a sinner. Lord, you don't have to. Lord,
I don't deserve it. Lord, a thousand people would
be a better candidate than me. But God, if thou wilt, make me
clean. Bring me unto life. Give me salvation,
Lord. Give me what I don't have. Give
it to me. This is the cry of faith. This
is the mercy that God had put already into the heart of this
man. If this man had never made it to the feet of Christ, his
journey was over. Because the very act of him coming,
the very desire to be and to trust God was the evidence It
wasn't the volition, it was the inclination that got him. It
was the inclination of faith and trust in God that brought
him to the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. This leper, I would be
happy to be his friend because our Lord is a friend of sinners. If the Lord is a friend of sinners,
then he's my friend too. Maybe he's your friend too. I
ask you today about this leper. Can you see with me how he is
a picture? How he is a representative of
each one of us this morning. One who is outwardly corrupt,
unlookable filthy and vile but such as these are the ones that
our Lord is willing to place his hand upon and when the Lord
placed his hand upon you you came into the light of lights
but I can never forget that this person's faith was great before
the Lord touched him with his hand. It was the finished work
of God in this man's life when Christ healed him, but the real
work of God was before the man got to the foot of our Savior. May God bless you this morning
and bless this message to all that hear it.