Good morning let's all stand
together we'll sing hymn number 272. 272 My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy
dell My anchor holds within the veil On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. His truth, His covenant, His
blood, Support me in the whelming flood, When all around my soul
gives way, It is all my hope and stay On Christ the solid
rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground
is sinking sand When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Trusting His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ a solid
rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground
is sinking sand Please be seated. We'll sing hymn number 206. 206. Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater
than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe
it? Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden Setting
my spirit free For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea, higher than the
mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even
me. Broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame, O magnify
the precious name of Jesus, praise His name. Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching
to all the lost. By it I have been pardoned, saved
to the uttermost. Chains have been torn asunder,
giving me liberty for the wonderful grace of Jesus. Reaching. Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, Higher than the
mountains, sparkling like a fountain, All-sufficient grace for even
me. broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of
Jesus, praise His name. Wonderful grace of Jesus Reaching
the most defiled By its transforming power Making Him God's dear child
Purchasing peace and heaven For all eternity And the wonderful
grace of Jesus Reaches me Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, Higher than the
mountains, sparkling like a fountain, All-sufficient grace for even
me. broader than the scope of my
transgression, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of
Jesus, praise His name. Turn with me to Luke chapter
5. Luke chapter 5. And Billy R. Jaroplos will be
here to preach for you this evening. Just got very few scriptures
to read. Luke 5, 12 through 15. 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 go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy
cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. But so much more went there a fame abroad of him,
and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed of their
infirmities. Our blessed Savior, our Lord
Jesus Christ, both God and man, God able to save us, man able
to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, tempted in
all points like us, sin accepted. And Lord, we're so grateful that
you came into this world. You came into this world to do
a work. And the work you came to do, you did. Completely, fully,
absolutely. Left nothing undone. Came to
save your people from their sin. Came to make them without any
condemnation. Came to make them to be a people
that delight in you. Their hearts are lifted up to
you. We have no one else, oh Lord Jesus, And we don't want anybody else
other than you. You're all, all, and in all.
Oh, Lord, you're so precious to us, I believe. And Lord, we
ask that you'd meet with us here today. Oh, God, please meet with
us. Give us the presence of the Holy
Spirit, not only for me, but for those who hear. Lord, you
not only have to give us eyes to see but has to give us ears
to hear. You have to do the work or it
won't be done. But Lord, if you'll enable me,
I'll try by thy grace to be faithful to you and honor you and glorify
you. And I pray, oh, Lord Jesus, that
you'd move in the hearts and minds of those here today that
don't know you, don't know what it is to trust you, don't know
what it is be like this leper. Please meet with us. And Lord
Jesus, I pray for those who are sick, weak, and firm, who are
having troubles and heartaches and sorrows. We ask, Lord, that
you'd please be gracious to them, work your will in their lives.
And again, we pray for our lost children. Oh, our lost children. Please, O God, do for them what
only you can do. Bring glory to yourself in this
service today, for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's all stand together and
sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Oh my God, what must I do? Thou alone the way can show. Thou can save me in this hour. I have neither will nor power. God, if over all thou art, Greater
than my sinful heart, All thy power on me be shown. Take away the heart of stone. Take away my darling sin Make
me willing to be clean Make me willing to receive All thy goodness waits to give. Force me, Lord, with all to part. Tear these idols from my heart. Now thy love, Almighty, shown,
Make even me a creature new. Jesus mighty to renew, were in
me to will and do. Turn my nature's rapid tide,
Stem the torrent of my pride. Stop the whirlwind of my will. Speak and bid the sun stand still. Now Thy love, Almighty, show,
Make even a creature new. Arm of God, thy strength put
on, bow the heavens and come down. All my unbelief o'erthrown,
lay the spiring mountain low. Conquer thy worst foe in me. Give thyself the victory. Save the vilest of the race. Force me to be saved by grace. Be seated. Hope you still got Luke chapter
5 open. I want to talk about the leper
being cleansed. There in verse 12, Luke 5, and
it came to pass, whatever our Lord wills to do, whatever he
purposes to do, it comes to pass. It comes to pass. Yesterday has
come to pass. It's come to pass. Lord took
care of us yesterday, you reckon he'll take care of us today?
It came to pass. And that man was certain city,
don't even tell us where it's at, 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. Our Lord is so
full of compassion so full of mercy, so full of grace, so full
of pity. And yet, without His power, without
His ability, as God Almighty and as God made manifest in the
flesh, none of these glorious attributes would do us no good. It would not benefit us spiritually
or eternally. if he didn't have the power to
do what he did. He is merciful, yet he also has
the might to bring that mercy, to give that mercy, to extend
that mercy, to show that mercy. And oh, he said, you know, when
they was out on the sea and the sea was a raging storm, raging
storm, And those fellows were scared to death they was going
to drown. They woke the Lord Jesus Christ up. He was asleep. Now, God don't sleep, but man
does. But he got up, stood up, and
he told that storm to be still. Now, man can't command the weather,
but Christ can. He's still that sea. So you see,
as a man, He rests, he sleeps, he's tired. But as God, he can do something
for us. As God, he's the only one that
can do anything. And what I'm saying is, wherever
our Lord's presence is, there's the power of God. Wherever he's
at, that's the power of God that comes with him. And I want you
to see this man here, look at him and see what a condition
he's in. He was in a miserable, miserable,
miserable condition. And it came to pass when is verse
12, a man full of leprosy, full of it. Now, if you want to find
out about leprosy, Luke 13, 14, Leviticus 13 and 14 tells you
about the disease of leprosy and how men are cleansed. But
leprosy is a terrible, terrible disease. In fact, I was reading
this morning where a leper was not allowed to come into a walled
city. If a city had a wall around,
he couldn't come in. He wasn't allowed to come in.
And everywhere he went, he had to put a finger over his lip. And anybody got near him, he
had to start hollering, unclean, unclean, unclean. The law would
not even allow them to come into a walled city. And leprosy, and
I'll tell you what, it says he was full of leprosy. He didn't
just have a spot here or a spot there. That one of the kings
intruded in, I believe it might have been Hezekiah, but anyway,
he intruded into the priesthood. And God smote him with leprosy.
And that king had to stay in a room. He couldn't even come
out of that room and rule on his throne. And everybody had
to talk to him outside that room and talk to him through the door.
Because he wasn't even allowed to even reign and come out of
that room because of his leprosy. So leprosy is a horrible, horrible,
terrible disease. And it had reached its final
stage before a person dies. He was full of it. Full of leprosy. Now let me tell you about leprosy.
Leprosy breaks out and it breaks out in the body. And sometimes
it'll rot away the ears, the nose, the fingers. It'll rot
away parts of your body. And this man was full of leprosy. And he was on the verge of maybe
dying. And leprosy is typical of sin. Typical of sin. Every one of
us was born lepers. Every one of us was born full
of disease. Every one of us was born with
a disease that'll destroy us and kill us and cause us to die. And I'll tell you, this leprosy,
it worked very, very slowly. But once it starts, Once it starts,
its course will irresistibly bring down an irresistible and
deadly condition on anybody. And you know where it starts
at? Starts in the blood. Starts in the blood. That's where
our sin's at, you know that? Sin started in the blood. Where's
what blood did we inherit our sin from? From Adam. He was our
father, and our father, I'll tell you what, he was a rebel
against God, and if God hadn't had mercy on him, we'd all, all
of us would've stayed lepers. All of us would've stayed sinners.
But oh, it poisons the blood, and it pollutes the whole body. And that's what sin is. It's
polluted us. Sin is in our, it gets in our
heart. gets in our mind, gets in our
eyes, it affects the whole body. We sin with our minds, we sin
with our hands, we sin with our lips, we sin with our eyes, we
sin with our feet, we sin all over when we have full of sin.
All over full of sin. And I know people don't like
to talk about that and don't want to be reminded of it. But
sin affects the heart. And out of the issues of heart,
of the heart, comes the issues of life. Out of the heart comes
the issues of life. Keep Luke now and look with me
in Isaiah chapter 1. Look with me in Isaiah chapter
1. You know, they used to have colonies
of lepers. They had to stay somewhere. They had to be off to themselves. And it was a contagious disease. You know, if a man lived in,
if a leper lived in a place, you couldn't go in that place
where those lepers were. It was so contagious. And you
know what's contagious is? We pass our sin from one to another. I pass my nature on to my son,
pass my nature on to my daughter, pass my nature on to my grandchildren,
pass my nature on to my great-grandchildren. And I tell you, my father passed
his nature on to me. And what that nature is, is a
sin nature. And it affects every part of
us. And if you don't know that, you
find out the hard way. You'll find out the hard way.
But look what he said here in Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 5. Why should you be stricken anymore? Why should I strike you anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart faint. From the sole of the foot, even
under the head, no soundness in it. wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores, and they have not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment." That's a pretty bad shape to
be in, ain't it? God said, why should I even bother
with you anymore? You're going to go ahead and
revolt. And when I look at you, I see there's no soundness in
you anywhere. And Isaiah also said this, all
of our righteousness are as a filthy rag. Filthy rag. And oh my, they had places and
colonies for lepers, considered them death and deadly. And God
has a place for sinners who are full of sins and yet won't come
for cleansing. They won't come to Christ for
cleansing. I've preached to people for years and years and years
and years and their people still won't come for cleansing. They're
full of sin. I know they are. They may not
know it. But I know it. God knows it.
But will they come to Christ for cleansing? No. No, they won't. But look what, look what happens
now. Again there in verse 12, Luke chapter 5. And it came to pass when he was
in a certain city. It evidently wasn't a wall city,
because he couldn't have come in. And behold, a man full of
leprosy, look what it says, who's seeing Jesus. What a blessed sight. Oh, what
a sight to see for a man in his condition. for a man in his baddest
condition as he is, who's seeing Jesus. But we see Jesus, oh my. Lots of folks wanted to see our
Lord Jesus Christ out of curiosity. Some just to tempt him. Zacchaeus
climbed a tree so he could see Jesus because he was so small.
Oh my. In John 12, 21, it says some
Greeks came to him and said, sirs, we would see Jesus. And they asked Andrew and he
said, I'll go ask Peter. And Peter went and asked him
and he said, our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, listen, I've got other
things to do. But they just wanted to see him,
just to see who he was. To see what he was able to do.
Just, you know, there's folks that looked at him and said,
well, let's just go see what he's going to do now. See what
he's going to do now. Oh, my. And I'll tell you what,
there's so many people. But here's what's happening is,
this man is in a very, very dark, dark, dark place. And here comes
light. Here's a man in awful condition,
death all over him, and here comes life. Here's a man who
has no ability, but here comes the one who has all the ability.
Here comes a man who has no power. Here's a man who has no power.
Here comes a man who has all power. Oh, my. And he had no hope. This leper had no hope of a cure. And we can't, listen, I'll tell
you what, we cannot rid ourselves of our sin. We can't rid ourselves. If we had our way with this new
heart that God's given us, this new birth, if we had our way
and could do exactly like we wanted to, we would live without
sin. That's why we look so forward
to go be with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why? Because
we'll sin no more. We'll no longer have this flesh
to deal with. That's why we want to go be with
Christ. And oh my, and we can't rid ourselves
of our sin. If we could rid ourselves of
a sin and we felt like we could, we'd just rip it out and throw
it away. Never have to deal with it again.
Would you love to get up one day and never sin again? Wouldn't
you love to get up one day and be holy, mind, body, and soul? And be with Christ and never,
ever, ever feel the effects of this flesh, feel the effects
of sin, feel the effects of our mind. You know, we sing that
song, you know, mercy seat where sin and sense bless me no more. Oh, to go to be a place where
sin and sense will molest me no more. Oh, we got something to look
forward to. And he had no doubt heard of
our Lord's mighty, mighty works, but yet he never sought him out,
never uttered a prayer, This man never had. But now, but now,
these eyes that were full of despair and hopelessness, he
sees a living person. He sees a person, a living person. And he sees that, and no longer
didn't hear just words about him, but he sees him for himself.
He had heard about him, no doubt. But now, heard of his power,
but now he said, I see him. I see him. I see him. And oh, but he believed the report
that they made of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he sees him. He sees him. And oh, here's a
man full of leprosy. A man full of compassion, a man
powerless, but a man who is the power of God himself. Oh, what
a meeting. How many times did when our Lord
Jesus Christ got in the presence of people, things happened? How many times did he get around
somebody and something happened? Oh, either men believed him,
rejoiced in him, and bowed to him, or else they rejected him
and despised him and wouldn't have nothing to do with him.
One or the other. But whenever he came in contact with a sinner,
something always took place. When he come in contact with
somebody who had no power, no ability, no strength, no way
of healing himself, that's when something happened. And it always
happens that way. And I'll tell you, a man full,
full of leprosy, and a man can be full of sin, but if he sees
the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, he's the power of God. And look what
this man does when he sees the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
we preach the Lord all the time. That's why we preach him the
way we do. praying that someday, one day, somebody will see him.
I see what you're talking about. I remember one time in a meeting,
Brother Henry was preaching and a woman got up and left the service. She was upset about something
that happened. Well, she came back in about
30 minutes later, Brother Henry got up and started
preaching. And that woman that had left that meeting upset,
she got up after he got through preaching and he says this, I
see, I see now what you're talking about, I see. She hadn't seen
before, but she saw then. A lot of folks don't never see
before, but once they see, they can't stop looking. Once they
see, they can't keep, they can't, you know, once they start coming,
they cannot not come. Once they start believing, they
cannot not believe. And look what, look what, look
what the position this man took. Again, there in verse 12, is
full of leprosy, who seeing the Lord Jesus Christ, he saw the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is what happened when
he saw the Lord. He fell on his face. Why did he fall on his face?
I'm not worthy to stand in his presence. It's like Mephibosheth
fall before King David and said, oh, why wouldst thou, my Lord,
look upon such a dead dog as I am? And that's what this man
did. He fell on his face. And seeing
the Lord's face, the face of God always makes men foul in
their own self. Now, this is what happens. A
person don't see their sin and start coming to Christ. You only
see your sin and when you see Christ, you got to see the Lord. And when you see him, you'll
see yourself. You can't look at him and not
see yourself. You can't see him and not see
your own violence. You can't see him and not see
your sin. You can't see him and not see
your inability. You can't see him and not see
your powerlessness. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord,
you know what he cried out? When he saw the Lord. He'd been
a prophet under four kings. But when King Uzziah died, he
had his eyes on King Uzziah. He delighted in King Uzziah.
He rejoiced in King Uzziah. But when he died, he said, I
saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. And he said the first thing out
of his mouth is, woe is me. What did he say? I'm unclean. I'm unclean just like this leper. I'm unclean. And he looked around and seen
everybody else and said, everybody around me is in the same shape.
They're all unclean. All unclean. Job, you go through
44 chapters of Job. And he said, boy, finally come
to this conclusion. God said, Job, answer me one
thing. And after God spoke to Job, you
know what he said? He said, I've heard about you
with the hearing of my ear, but my eye sees you. What did he
say? I abhor myself and repent in
dust and ashes. I get down in the dust and ashes.
Peter says here in Luke chapter 5, look what he says in verse
8. Luke chapter 5 verse 8, when
the Lord Jesus told him to go out and launch out of the deep,
he argued with Christ. And then when Peter saw it, he
fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful
man. When he seen the power of Christ
and what Christ could do, and he questioned Christ, he said,
Lord, I'm such a sinful man. Why do you want to have anything
to do with me? Do you ever wonder that? Why in the world would
God have anything to do with us? How could he have anything
to do with us? Now, you may feel good about
yourself. You may feel good about what you do. You may feel accomplished
in this world. But if God ever, ever looks in
your direction and ever lets you see him, From then on, you'll
be a different person. You'll have a right view of yourself,
and you'll have a right view of everybody else. That's what's
wrong with religion. They have a low opinion of God
and a high opinion of themselves. We have a low opinion of ourselves
and a high, high exaltation of our Lord. And I know, why in the world,
why would God have anything to do with us? Oh, my. You know, Revelations, look,
keep Luke 5, and look in Revelations 1, verse 17. Look in Revelations
1, verse 17. I want to show you something
here. This is the man that God used
to write the revelation of Jesus Christ, John. beloved disciple. Look what it says here. And he said in verse 12, I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven
gold candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment
down to the foot, Gird about with the paps of a golden girdle,
his head and his hairs white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined
brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of
many waters. And we had in his right hand
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.
And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his streets. Now
listen to this. I turned and saw him. I saw him. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand on me. He said,
fear not, I'm the first and the last. That's what happens. Daniel said, my comeliness turned
into corruption. Preachers tell folks, if you
see your sin, then come to Christ. You won't see your sin unless
you see Christ. They got the cart for the horse.
You got to see the Lord Jesus, and then you'll see yourself.
Then you'll see yourself. Oh, my. Why is this? Why is this? He fell on his face. And seeing
him, we always see ourselves in our corruption, our inability,
our sinfulness. We've never see ourselves in
his sight if we haven't been overwhelmed and in the dust and
shame. And shame. But now look what
happens now. This, Matthew 8, chapter 8, you
see the same thing. And he fell on his face there
in verse 12, and he asked him for something. He besought him.
That means he begged him. He besought him, begged him. And look what he said, Lord,
that's the first thing he called him, Lord. You're the Lord. You're the Lord. You're Jehovah God from Moses
on the mountain. You're the Lord. And look what
he said, if thou wilt, if thou wilt, what he's saying,
you'd make me clean. But it all depends on one thing,
if you will. It all depends on one thing,
if you will. You see, that's what everything,
if he wills, if he wills, and that's what we do. Oh, my. This tells us, prayer tells us
something he had. First of all, he had a knowledge
of the character of Christ. He had a right knowledge of the
character of Christ. You know, a right knowledge of
Christ produces, now listen to me, produces an intelligent faith
in Christ, an intelligent faith in his power and his ability.
Now what I mean by an intelligent faith, it's more than just Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. You got to know who Christ is,
the Lord Jesus Christ is. And you know, they say, well,
it's blind faith. You just jump in blind faith.
Faith is not blind. Faith sees a person, trust a
person. There's three things in the book
of Colossians that says about the Christ, our Lord Jesus. Colossians
2 9 it says in him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily
When you've seen Christ, you've seen everything that God is all
of his attributes all of his power and all of his mercy all
of his grace all of his love all of his sovereignty and Christ
over thing that God is Christ When he dwelt in that body everything
that God is that was Christ and God serves in Christ And the
second thing, it says this, and you are complete in Him. That
means you're perfect in Him. And the third thing it says about
Him, Christ is all and in all. And that's what happens to, I
want you to, I want you to see in Romans, keep looking, look
in Romans 10. In Romans 10. I mean, we're talking about an
intelligent faith. You know, Even that blind man that they
kept trying to make him admit that Christ never opened his
eyes, he said, I'll tell you what, that man did it. I don't
care what you say. I don't care what you try to
talk me out of. I know who opened my eyes. Oh, look what he says in Romans
10. Look in verse, well, I'll back
over in Romans 12. Look in verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then he asked four questions. How shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? If you've not believed on him,
how are you going to call on him? So you've got to have the
right knowledge before you can believe. You've got to know Christ. You've got to know who he is.
He's not Jesus of Nazareth. He's the Christ, the Son of God.
And look what else he goes on to say, how you gonna call on
him in whom you have not believed? And listen to this, how shall
they believe in him, listen to this now, of whom they have not
heard? If you have not heard about Christ, if you've not heard
about his power, not heard about his electing grace, had not heard
about his shed blood, have not heard about His power, have not
heard of His ability, have not heard of His sovereignty, have
not heard of His will. Oh my, look what he goes on to
say. And oh my, how are you going
to hear without somebody telling you about Him? You've got to
have the right information. You know these politicians all
the time talk about misinformation, misinformation, misinformation.
I'll tell you one thing, you get the misinformation concerning
Christ, you'll die lost. You get the wrong information
about Christ, you'll die without Christ. You go to these places where
they talk these five, six, seven, eight year old kids into a profession
of faith. I'm going to tell you something.
If you're old enough to make a profession of faith, you're
old enough to go to hell. If somebody talks you into accepting
Jesus, I'll tell you one thing, if you're old enough to accept
Jesus and they talk you into coming up here and accepting
Jesus, you're old enough to go to hell. And that's what preachers
don't understand. That's why they want to win these
people to Jesus. That's why they want to have
folks come to Christ. That's why they say, come to
Jesus, come to Jesus. Well, what Jesus are you coming
to? Who are you coming to? That baby in the manger? That poor pitiful man that died
on a cross? Pitiful? And you're supposed
to feel sorry for him? that Jesus said moves your emotions
and moves your heart and tried the preacher start say one more
verse of just as I am I know somebody here needs to get saved
and they want to get people saved men don't get people saved men
don't get men and women saved God's the one that saves people
Christ is the one that saves people Man ain't done nothing
yet that's worth doing anything. You know, Christ makes us both
to will and to do. We wouldn't will to do anything
if he didn't cause us to will it. And we sure wouldn't do it
if he didn't will us to do it. Ain't that right? But oh my,
look what he goes on to say. And then verse 15 here of Luke,
I mean Matthew, excuse me, Romans, I'll get it right in a minute.
And how shall they preach except they be sent? And this is what
we think about Christ. When he came, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, great glad
tidings of good things. Oh my, but have they all obeyed
the gospel? No, no. Isaiah said, Lord, who
believeth, I report. Now, listen to this. Faith. Faith. This man had faith in Christ.
Where'd it come from? Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. He heard about Christ, and then
he saw him. He saw him. Now, back over in
our text. Oh, my. You know, when God told, when
God told Abraham, said, your wife, Sarah, is going to have
a child. this time next year, and she laughed about it. He
said, is anything too hard for the Lord? Oh, my. And that's what he said, Lord,
if you will, if you will, if you will, and this is the key
right here, if you will, you can. If it's your will, you can do
this. You know, two blind men come
to him, he said, do you believe I'm able to do this? They said,
yes, Lord. That's where it comes down to.
Who's got the ability? Lord, if you will, it's up to
you. If you leave me alone, I'll be
a leper and I'll die a leper. And I'll be no worse off than
I was to start with. But if you will, if you will,
you can do it. You can. You can. This is why so few really come
to Christ. They don't know Him. They don't
know Christ. And if they don't know Christ,
they don't know what sin is. They don't know what shame is.
Oh, my. They don't know what it is to
say, if thou wilt, if thou wilt. Oh, they don't have a need, but
this man had a need. And look what a need he had there
again. Oh, he had one great need, one
great desire. If you will, you can make me
clean. Make me clean. He confesses his need. He pleads
for personal cleansing. Oh, my. I need cleansing. It's me that needs cleansing.
It's not my wife. It's not my husband. It's me. I'm the one needing cleansing.
I'm the one needing cleansing. Oh, my. And then look what happens,
verse 13. Lord, if you will, thou can make
me clean. Watch what happens now. He put
forth his hand, because you see the Lord doing this. That man
standing right there close to him, and the Lord just reached
out. Just rest his hand. He's close to him. He'll just
rest his hand. And watch what he says. And touched him. That's what that woman, you know,
with the issue of blood, our Lord to her says, somebody touched
me. What happened when somebody touches him or he touches somebody?
That's what happens, just like that. Oh, my. He put forth his
hand and touched him and said, look what he says. I will. I will. I will be thou clean. I will. That's what I, you asked
for my will to be done. You asked to be made clean. I
will that you be clean. Oh my, what news, what news,
what news. If I will, Oh my goodness, all
the power, all the cleansing, all the ability is joined to
the I will of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was such a cleansing
touch, a healing touch, a powerful touch, an instant and perfect
salvation. He touched him. And listen, it
was the holiness of God touching a man in his disfilement. through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what's so mysterious
about it. If I'd have touched this leper, I'd have been a leper.
I'd have become a leper. I'd have been unclean. But Christ
could touch him and take his leprosy from him and not be affected
by his leprosy. Christ can save us from our sin
and not be affected by our sin. And all Christ is not defiled
in any way. Does the light that shines in
darkness affected by the darkness? No, it's only the darkness that's
affected when the lights turned on. And who bore our sin could
not possibly be a sinner. Only way he was a sinner was
by imputation. No wonder they said never man
spake like him. And then look what an assuring
word. Our Lord said there in verse
13, I put forth his hand and touched him. Oh, to be touched
by Christ, saying, I will be thou clean. Oh my, I will. He gives assurance to those he
touches. He gives assurance to them. We're
cleansed by his blood, assured by his word, by his power. His Word and His power, they
go together. They go together. And then look
what happens. You talk about a complete salvation. And He put forth His hand and
touched him and said, Be thou clean, verse 13. And immediately,
immediately, the leprosy departed from him. Where'd that leprosy
go? Where'd it go? Same place our
sin went. Same place our sin went. Where's
that at? Where God put him. Behind his
back, blinded him out with a thick cloud, cast him as far as the
east is from the west, never to remember him against us again.
Oh, my. I'll tell you what, where that
leprosy went didn't trouble him at all. He never thought about
it. All he was grateful for was he is cleansed. Cleansed. And he had the joy of salvation. His leprosy was gone. And we
have the joy of salvation. Our sins are gone. Christ took
them away. Oh my. If God can't find our
sins, why should we look for them? And then I want you to
see this. This is so precious right here
in verse 14. And he charged him to tell no
man, don't tell nobody, But look what he said, I want you to go
and show yourself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according
as Moses commanded. And listen to this, for a testimony
unto them. What this is telling us is the
law never cleansed him. And our Lord's work can stand
the test of every law, every devil, every, he can, you know,
when he went to that priest, you know what kind of offering
they made? And he went to that priest, he said, and offer, let
them offer for you what the law says. So he went to the law, and you know what the law said?
This man's clean. He don't have anything against
it. And what they done, they took two sparrows and they dipped
one in blood and let it go. And they put both
of those birds, one of them had been dipped in blood and the
other one hadn't. And that one without was Christ,
that one with was us. And they turned both those sparrows
loose and they flew away. The leper, he's been cleansed,
so his bird gets to go free. Oh my. And by going and showing
himself, he was becoming a testimony unto them. Oh my, our Lord would
constand, can stand the minutest inspections. He stand the inspection
of the law, the prophets, the world, and the devil. And the
law never made him clean. He just went to tell them, show
them what already took place. Huh? There's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. Done. Our Father, our blessed Savior,
Thank you for your gospel. Thank you for such a wonderful,
wonderful picture of our salvation, an illustration of salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, an illustration of his power, the
power of his blood, the power of his touch, the power of seeing
him, the power of his will, the power of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God bless this word to our hearts,
to our understanding. And Lord, bring glory to yourself
through us. Forgive us of everything that's
so unlike you, so unlike you. Work in hearts, work in minds,
and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. They're saying there's
power in the blood. There's a closing hymn, power
in the blood. wonder-working power in the blood
of Christ. There is power, power, wonder-working
power. Come on, Houston, you come lay
down. How much? What? 198. 198. Stand together. You're being dismissed. 198.
Would you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the
blood, power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the
blood. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion
and pride? There's power in the blood, power
in the blood, Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide. There's wonderful power in the
blood. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Verse 3 will be our
last verse. It will be our final. Would you
be wider, much wider than snow? There's power in the blood. power in the blood. Sin's stains are lost in its
life-giving flow. There's wonderful power in the
blood. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the precious blood of the Lamb. See you tonight at
6 o'clock. Billy R will be here preaching.
God willing.