Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Luke, chapter 5. The name of the message is cleansed.
We'll continue our divine encounters with the Lord Jesus Christ this
morning. And this morning we'll be looking
at a leper. I know a couple weeks ago we looked at the ten lepers.
This morning we'll be looking at a single leper who came to Christ, but more
so Christ, by the divine appointment and providence of God, came to
where he is. Because it's not by chance, as
the world says, or luck, we don't believe in those things. We know
that all things happen for our good and for God's glory, and
that he is in full and absolute control over all things visible
and invisible. So here again, we see a divine
encounter with the God-man. Who is the God-man? His name
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the sinless one sent by
God to save his people from their sins. And the leper which we
will see in our text in the book of Luke, turn up there Luke chapter
5, the leper that we'll see in this text is drawn by Almighty
God to come to Christ. all by God's mercy and by God's
grace, just like every one of God's sheep. And this is one of the Lord's
lost sheep, and we'll be able to tell in the text when he uses
the word Lord. And remember, we don't make Christ
Lord. He's already Lord by God the Father. We acknowledge his
Lordship. We acknowledge His Lordship.
God's people acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. He's already
Lord. God beat us to making Him Lord. We don't make Him nothing. He
makes us all that we are. He saves us. He's redeemed us. He regenerates
us. He justifies us. Because all
spiritual blessings are in Him. Now, the Holy Spirit fetches
us by God's sovereign grace, just like he did with Mephibosheth
when David said, go and fetch him. And Mephibosheth was fetched
and bought before David, King David. Well, it's the same way
with us. The Holy Spirit fetches us. The old timers used to call
it fetching grace. I like that. Fetching grace. God the Holy Spirit draws us
to Christ. And it's all by His sovereign
almighty power. It's all done by Him. And we preach the Word of God
and God the Holy Spirit takes it and draws His lost sheep to
Christ. Using the preached Word of God.
This is why it's so important to go and proclaim the Word of
God. whether you're called the pastor
in a small town or whether you're called to to uh... go preach
in uh... in the jungles of a certain land
it's so important for the word of god to be preached and proclaim
because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god
so let's read here in luke chapter five verses twelve to sixteen The scripture declares, and it
came to pass. Well, again, this is all by God's divine providence.
What's going to come to pass here is all by God's will and
by God's providence. And it came to pass when he was
in a certain city. And notice again, it's called
a certain city. The name is not given to us. That's not what's
important, right? We saw last, two weeks ago, a
certain village with the 10 lepers. Here we see a certain city. That's
not what's most important. Where the city is is not important.
The Holy Spirit doesn't want to draw attention to the city. He wants the attention to be
drawn to Christ. Behold a man full of leprosy. We don't know
his name. Again, that's not important. But this is a man full of leprosy.
He's got it from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.
What a picture of us. We are sinners from the top of
our head, and we can't heal ourselves, can we? Look at this, who seeing
Jesus fell on his face, and beside him saying, Lord, if thou will,
thou can make me clean. And he put forth his hand and
touched him saying, I will. Look at that. The God man, God
incarnate in the flesh says, I will. He wills this. Be thou clean. And immediately
leprosy departed from him. Look at that. What a healing.
What miraculous power on display. This is the Son of God. This
is the Word of God incarnate. 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 the testimony
unto them. I'm not going to go back to Leviticus
because we just were there two weeks ago, but remember the sacrifice
with the two birds, right? One bird was killed and then
the other bird was dipped in the blood of that bird and then
set free. And that is what they had to
offer for leprosy. And that pictures Christ dying
for us, right? And we being dipped in the blood
of Christ, covered in the blood of Christ, and set free. This
is beautiful. Such a beautiful picture. And so the Lord tells him, go
and talk to the priest, and also remember the priest has to examine
him. The priest can't heal him, can he? He can't heal him, but
he declares him I was thinking about this this week as we were
traveling across the ways. I was thinking about this and
thinking about the message, and I thought, wow, our high priest
is both the sacrifice, right, and he's the one we're set free
in because we're risen with him, but he's also the priest that
declares us clean. I was thinking about that. I
was like, wow, he's actually our high priest. He declares
us clean by his own work. by what he's done. Oh, it's wonderful,
just wonderful, beloved. Our God is so great. And then
it says, but so much more, and he charged him to tell no man
but go and show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing
according to Moses, as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto
them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad 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. My, what a display of power we
have here before us. See, our Lord has all power.
And what it shows us that any sinner who comes to him by faith,
he can heal him. He can heal him. He's got the
power. He's got the ability. He's got
the power. We're like this leper. No ability to cleanse ourselves. No power to help ourselves. No
man could help us. No woman could help us. But there's
one who can. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The only hope for sinners. The
only hope for sinners. So what great mercy is revealed
here in this portion of Scripture. All such mercy. We see our great
Savior having mercy on a needy sinner. Are you a needy sinner?
I'm still a needy sinner. I'm saved by God's grace and
I'm still a needy sinner. I need the Lord more now than
I've ever needed Him before. Is it so for you? Oh, all the
time. This leper again is in a helpless
and hopeless condition. He can't help himself. No one
can help him. How are we by nature? We're in
a hopeless, hopeless situation because of our sin, aren't we?
We can't even help each other? All religion tries. Do this! Do this! Do this! And the gospel
cries, it's done. It's finished. Just look and live. Look to Christ
and live. May God give you faith to look
to Him. This leper was so helpless. He couldn't help himself. He
was hopeless think of this, too He's isolated from society to
write he can't he can't go to the synagogue to worship He can't
go see his family because he's outside the camp he can't do
anything and He has a death sentence upon him done me with leprosy
he has a death sentence upon him Oh, what a picture of our
natural state. But Lord Jesus Christ, what's
He to sinners? He's life for sinners, isn't
He? He's life for all who come to Him. And again, this man had
a death sentence on him. Leprosy. My, just like we who
are dead in trespasses and sins. Alive physically, but dead spiritually. That was our natural state until
the Lord saved us. Christ is our life, isn't he?
He's our life. You take away Christ, we have
nothing. We have no hope without Christ. We have no justification
before God without Christ. We have no salvation without
Christ. We're hopeless, helpless sinners without Christ. His life, He's life for us. Scripture declares it is the
Spirit that quickeneth the flesh from nothing. The words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. What mercy! What mercy our Lord
shows this leper. This one with leprosy. Let's
look at Leviticus chapter 13. Turn there quick. Leviticus chapter
13 then we'll go back to our text in Luke 5 verse 12 Leviticus
chapter 13 you know this leper in order to get to where Christ
was had to cry unclean unclean the whole time he walked around
could you imagine having to do that we let those 10 lepers they
they had to go around crying unclean unclean but note in that
case they met him outside the village This leper, in order to meet
the Lord, would have to cry unclean to get to Him. My, oh, my. And I'll tell you
what, when one of the Lord's sheep is being drawn to Him,
no one can stop them. They're going to fly to Christ.
Look at this in Leviticus 13, verses 45 to 47. And 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 shall cry, unclean,
unclean. He has a mask on and has to cry
unclean wherever he goes. Unclean, unclean. So in his ears
is a constant reminder of his pitiful situation, isn't it?
He has to cry out himself about his own situation, where he has
no hope. He's constantly reminded of his
doom. All the days wherein the plague
shall be in him, he shall be defiled. My, we were defiled,
weren't we, before the Lord saved us. And we're still sinners. Saved by the grace of God now,
though. He shall dwell alone. Can you
imagine that? No family. Your family's living
in town and you have to live on your own, alone. You can't
even go visit them. My oh my. Imagine if our kids
had leprosy. How I long to see my daughter
who's in Canada right now. How I long to see her but haven't
seen her in a year and a half. I couldn't imagine. what it would
be like to go 5, 10, 15, 20 years without seeing your family. Oh, it'd be so hard, beloved. My, oh, my. He shall live alone. Without the camp shall his habitation
be. So he's outside the camp. The
only other companions he has is other lepers. And they probably
all stayed away from each other unless they were family. The garments, even the garments
that he wears, look at this, the garment also that the plague
of leprosy is in, whether it be a woolen garment or a linen
garment. So even the clothes he wears are defiled. What a picture of our own self-righteousness,
right? We need to cast away our clothes
of self-righteousness, don't we? And we do that when we come
to Christ. We come to Him stripped of anything
we had. Oh my. So even His linens, His
clothes are defiled. So this leper is, number one,
unclean before the Lord. He was unclean before the law
also. He was unclean to himself. And he knew he was unclean because
he had to keep crying out, unclean, unclean! And he was unclean before
the other people. And he couldn't dwell among them.
My! Before the Lord saved us, we
were unclean. And we had no desire to be with
the Lord's people, did we? Couldn't dwell among them. Spoke
a different language than we speak. Now we know the language,
don't we? By the grace of God. Now we know
who they speak of. The King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords. Now we rejoice with them, don't we? Oh my. We were outside the camp at one
time. But by the grace of God, we're
about nine now, aren't we? By the blood of Christ. So he
was unable to change his condition in any way. He couldn't change
his condition before the Lord. He couldn't change his condition
before the law. He couldn't change his condition
before other men. He had no way to change his condition. He was locked into the states.
But he was coming to the only one who could cleanse him both
physically and restore him spiritually. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's coming to the God-man. More so, the God-man's coming
to him. He can have a divine appointment
with the Son of God. Planned and purposed by God for
eternity. This is one of his lost sheep,
beloved. He doesn't even know he's one
of the lost sheep. Was that not our state before the Lord saved
us? Did you know you were one of the Lord's elect? I had no
clue. I had no clue at all. My goodness. Oh, that's what
makes grace so marvelous, isn't it? So wondrous. Our Savior is
incredible. Absolutely amazing. Only the
Lord Jesus Christ can Change a man or a woman. Only the Lord
Jesus Christ can make us new creatures in Him. Scripture declares
this, and I will give them one heart. One heart. One heart.
One heart that rejoices in Christ. That's one faith, too, right?
One baptism. One glorious gospel, beloved.
the gospel of God's free grace I'll put a new heart within you
and I'll take the stony heart of their flesh and will give
them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep
mine ordinances and do them and they should I love this this
is Ezekiel 1120 and they shall be my people and I will be their
God they shall remember those little hinge words They shall. There's no doubt within there.
There's no man saying, well, if I, you know, I don't know
if I want to be your people, Lord. They shall. He takes rebels. He takes people
who hate him by nature. He takes people who use his name
in vain constantly before they're saved. And he saves us by his
grace and by his mercy. And they shall be my people,
he says, and I will be their God. Praise God. Because by nature, we say, we'll
not have this man rule over us. Oh, the grace and mercy of God
that takes a rebel and turns him into one who praises his
name. Oh, it's incredible. So we see here a picture of our
natural state with this man being full of leprosy from head to
toe. No interest in the things of
God, carried about by our own desires and flesh. But you know
what believers find? Turn, if you would, to Genesis.
Genesis. The book of Genesis. Genesis... Genesis chapter 6, verse 8. Look at this. And this
is true of every born-again, blood-washed saint of God. This
is true of every one of us. And this is what this leper is
going to find in the eyes of the Lord. Look at this. But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Every one of God's people, every
one of us, find grace in the eyes of the Lord. Find grace
in His eyes. My, oh, my. And we are made willing
in the day of God's power to flee to Christ. So not only do
we lack the ability, but we also lack the power to come to God
in our natural state. but He makes us will in the day
of His power. It's absolutely wonderful. Why?
Because we found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Think about
that this week, as you're going about whatever we do. Think,
I found grace in the eyes of the Lord. All because of His
mercy, all because of His grace. Think of all the other people
we know, but we found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's incredible. It's very, very humbling. Scripture
declares this, no man can come to me. No man means no man. That
means no man, no woman, or child. No man can come to me. This is
the Lord's own words. Except the Father which has sent
me draw him. Mine. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Aren't you thankful that God drew you to Christ?
If you're one of his people? My. That's amazing grace. Because no one could come to
God unless we're drawn. That's what our own Lord's own
words in John 644, no man can come to me. And it says can no
man can come to me. Now. Do we run to Christ? Yeah, we do. Absolutely, we do. Because we've been made well
in the day of his power. We've been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. What comes first, faith or regeneration?
We know regeneration. So we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We're given faith to believe.
And who's the object of that faith that God gives us? It's
Christ. And we love him. And we run to
him. We flee to him. And like this
leper, we fall down at his feet, don't we? because we found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. So what made this leper willing
to come to Christ? Only God. What and who made us
come to Christ? Only God. It's only God who made
us to differ. Remember in Sunday School, and
in the reading that Brian did, but God has not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation in and through Christ. It's wonderful. Vessels of honor, and we didn't
even know it. And it's humbling, isn't it?
It's very humbling. So this man's being drawn with
loving cords to Christ. And it's such a picture of how
we're drawn to Christ, with loving cords, cords of love. Again,
thy people shall be well in the day of thy power and the beauties
of thy holiness from the womb of the morning. That has to do
with thy youth, Psalm 110.3. You know, wherever the Lord was,
the power of the Lord was present, too. Look at verse 17 again,
Luke chapter 5, verse 17. It came to pass on a certain
day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors
of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town in
Judah and Jerusalem, and by the power of the Lord was present
to heal them. So we see there in the same chapter, the power
of the Lord was present to heal them. So let's look at our lepers. in our text, let's look at his
condition. Look at here. He's in a miserable
condition. This leper, he's in a miserable
condition. Luke 5, 12, and it came to pass
when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy.
What a horrible condition to be in. Full of leprosy. Oh, what
a horrible, horrible condition to be in. Miserable. Full. Near the end. This disease had reached its
final stage. Might have started off as just
a little scab, maybe. And now he's full of leprosy.
Remember what we looked at? It disforms the face, disforms
the body, and it's deadly and irreversible.
It was a death sentence in those days. Now I want us to think
about that too. So he's probably disfigured.
And then he's cured. He's made whole again. Right
in front of everybody's eyes. The disfigurement is gone when
the Lord heals him. This is miraculous. This is miraculous. So he was probably made unrecognizable,
and it also poisons one in blood, so the whole man is affected.
It cannot be stopped, just like sin. Sin affects the whole man. It
affects the body, the heart, and the mind. The next point,
blessed sight. It came to pass when he was in
a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus,
fell on his face. seeing Christ, not just with
physical eyes, but also with the eyes of faith. Because he says, Lord, if thou
will, thou can make me clean. So this leper's eyes were once
filled with despair, now they're filled with hope. He sees the Lord before him.
He's seeing the Lord of Glory in the flesh. Again, we look
to Him by faith. We don't see Him, but He's seeing
Him face-to-face. He's seeing the God-man in the
flesh face-to-face. There's new life in His eyes.
No doubt He had heard about the Lord's miracles, His mighty works,
and He believed the report, because here He's coming to Christ. And
now He sees Him for Himself. It says here, who see in Jesus,
He sees Him. sees christ his site his faith
is turned to sites and his site is turned into faith here we have a seeking savior seeking out one of his last shape
and here we see a seeking center seeking the only hope for sinners
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been showing his need for
Christ. So think of the contrast between the two. Christ, the
Holy One, full of mercy and full of grace, and a leper, full of leprosy,
in the final stages of leprosy. What a picture of us full of
sin seeking Christ Now notice the position he takes again verse
12 And it came to pass when he was in a certain city behold
a man full of leprosy who seen Jesus fell on his face oh He makes his headquarters
in the dust don't he That's where our headquarters
is Right in the dust my he's hiding his face this
is a picture of outward expression of deep inward conviction turn
if you would the Luke chapter 18 we have another picture of
this in the Bible Luke chapter 18 all my here we see two men
two men Luke chapter 18 Two men went up to the temple
to pray. Verse 10, Luke 18, 10. One a
Pharisee, and the other a Republican. Both
men, though, right? One's a Pharisee, though. One's highly regarded by the
people, and the other one is a Republican. Publicans were
hated because they usually worked for the Roman government. One's held in high esteem by
Israel and the people of Israel, and the other one is looked down
and despised upon. And here's the Pharisee, here's
the religious, self-righteous man. He stood and prayed thus
within himself. God, I thank Thee, that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. Now, he's not saying this out
loud, but he's thinking that. You see, I'll tell you what,
beloved, we are no better than anyone else. We are just saved
sinners. We're sinners saved by the grace
of God. We actually think less of ourselves
because of our sinfulness And we know our sinfulness now. My mom, when the Lord first saved
me, at first, she used to say, well, you think you're holier
than thou. After years gone by, she realized, I don't feel that
way. But when she used to say, well,
you act like you're holier than thou, I said, no, Mom, not at
all. Not at all, I'm worse than the worst. And that was true,
I felt that too. And we feel that, don't we, because
we're such sinners. But we don't despair because
God's had mercy on us. See, if we lived there all the
time, right, we'd be despairing. But what a hope we have in Christ,
beloved. What a hope we have. Oh, it's wonderful. He's forgiven
us of all our sins. So here's these two men now. Now he's gonna start telling
the Lord what he does. Remember those folks in Matthew
7? Lord, have we not done all these things? And he said, depart
from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. Here we
go. He says, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all
that I possess. Oh, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. The middle letter of sin, I. I. I do this and I do that. You ever talk to religious folks
and tell them, I chose Jesus. I did this. I got saved. Oh really? The Lord saved me. There's a difference. The Lord's
had mercy on us, hasn't he? And here's the publican. Here's
God's born-again blood-washed people. And here's the publican
standing afar off. He wouldn't lift up his eyes.
He's just looking at the ground. Just looking at the ground. Just
like that leper made his headquarters in the dust, didn't he? Fell
at the Lord's feet. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner,
or the sinner. Okay, so in the eyes of the people,
the Pharisee would be the one going home justified, and the
publican would be the one who's on his way to hell. But look, look at what it says
here in verse 14. I tell you, this is the Master's
own words. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone
that exalts themselves shall be abased, and he that humbles
himself shall be exalted. And we humble ourselves before
the Lord. I was talking to Norman in one of the deacons at his
church, and I was telling him about how I always mention what
Scott Richardson used to say, that the ground at the foot of
the cross is level. There's no preacher hump. We were all laughing
about that, because there's not. It's sinner, sinner, sinner,
sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner, saved by grace,
saved by grace, saved by grace, right? There's no preacher hump,
nothing. It's all the same. We're all
the same, we're saved sinners, all of us, in Christ. My, and
this Pharisee, he's thinking he's a little bit better than
everybody else, isn't he? He's thinking he's a lot better. And
notice he's thinking that he's justified by his deeds. But we
know by no works shall the flesh be justified. No, we can only
be justified in Christ. Remember what Peter said? he
said he fell down at the knees at jesus knees saying department
for me for i'm a simple man oh lord see that's ours that's our
cry now we know that were sinful we know that the public and god
have mercy on me god have mercy i'm a sinner so if we haven't
been taken to dustin shame and overwhelmed then we haven't seen
ourselves in his sight because when we get a glimpse of His
sight of us, it puts us in the dust. And then we see here an
earnest prayer. And it came to pass, Luke 5,
12, 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 beside
him saying, Lord, if thou will, thou can make me clean. Oh, this
prayer reveals two things, a knowledge of the character of Christ Jesus
our Lord, of who he is, and the desire of the leper to be made
clean. He confessed his need before
Christ. Lord, if thou will, if you will, Lord, he knows he can't
make himself clean, but Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Oh my. And then look at this. And I want us to think about
this, a perfect salvation. A perfect salvation here. Verse 13, and he put forth his
hand. And remember, if you touch the
leper, then you were defiled too, right? But the one who's
touching this leper is the one who can never be defiled. He's
the sinless one. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
Now, if you and I touched this leper, we'd have been defiled.
But he's the sinless one, and he touches him. And again, instead of him being
defiled, the leper is cleansed. Oh my, look at this. And he put forth his hand and
touched him, saying, I will. The God-man says, I will. God incarnate in the flesh says
to this leper, I will. This has been planned and purposed
from eternity, beloved. And he says, I will. Be thou
clean. And remember how, as we've been
looking at these encounters and the healings that have occurred
in them, how there's no recovery time. Like if we get sick now,
we have to have a recovery time, don't we? Immediately, he's restored. It's like he never had leprosy. Oh my, what a perfect salvation. Immediately, the leprosy departed
from him. Every miracle, every saved sinner
is linked to the I will of Christ. If you're saved here today, you're
linked to the I will of Christ. You're linked to the I will of
Christ. He willed that you'd be saved. He, the Father chose you in Christ
and eternity, right? The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm
gonna go redeem you. And the Holy Spirit says, I'll
bring him to you. I'll bring him to the Son. were linked to
the I will of Christ. My. And this man knew who he
was coming to. He'd been given a knowledge of
Christ. Of his power. And I'll tell you
what. This was an atoning touch, too.
He touched him. No one else would touch this
man. And the holiness of God comes in contact. with this man's
awful defilement, and yet he's not defiled. Yet he's not defiled. He hath
made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Our sins were imputed to Christ,
and he offers himself up, sinless and spotless. He's not defiled by our sin,
but he bore it for us, didn't he? And we're raised with his, when
he's raised, we're raised with him. Oh my gosh, it's wonderful,
beloved. No one else would touch this
man. And Christ bore our sins. He was no sinner, but he bore
our sins. The sinless, spotless lamb of
God, the perfect one. And we've been healed by a touch,
haven't we? Oh, we have been. And look at these assuring words. These are words of assurance
for we who are believers. These could be comfort to our
souls. I will be thou clean. God willed us to be saved. And
what? We're saved. God willed us to be cleansed
from all our sins, and we're cleansed. Even though we're still
sinners, all our sins are forgiven, bought and paid for by the blood
of Christ. And note, too. that this is a
complete deliverance. Look at the next part of this
verse. And immediately the leprosy departed from. This is a complete
deliverance, beloved. We've been delivered from all
our sins. There's not one left. We're still sinners though, aren't
we? But our sins are forgiven. This is a complete deliverance. What a gospel we have to proclaim.
What a gospel of God's free grace. salvation in and through Christ
alone of a complete salvation that not is not dependent upon
us but is all complete by Christ where did the leprosy go where
the leprosy go what's gone it'll never bother him again never
again beloved our sins are gone never to be remembered anymore
it said that the Lord is The Lord has put them behind His
back. Listen to this, Isaiah 38, 17.
Behold, for peace I have great bitterness, but thou hast in
love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for
thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. And if something's
behind your back, do you see it anymore? Oh, isn't that wonderful? So if our sins are being cast
behind God's back, you'll never see them again. You know why? Because Christ purchased our
eternal souls and paid all that God demanded for our sins. Again,
we're still sinners while we're here on this earth, but we're
saved sinners, aren't we? This is good news. Doesn't give us
a license to go crazy. No. No preacher would ever tell
you that. No. No, the love of Christ constrains
us from sin. And then, think of this. Do you
know that our sins are blotted out like a thick cloud? You ever
seen a sunny day, the sun's just so bright, and then a big old
cloud comes by and it just gets gray? Where's the sun? It's behind the cloud. Listen
to this in Isaiah 44, 22. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee. God redeemed us, beloved. God
remembers our sins no more because God redeemed us. The Word of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity,
became flesh and dwelt among us. Why? To save his people from
their sins. And then our sins are cast in
to the depths of the sea bottom. I've been on two oceans, the
Atlantic and the Pacific. And I'll tell you what, you drop
a quarter in one of them, you're never gonna see it again. It's gone. It's gone. Listen to this, Micah. He will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and now it will
cast all the sins into the depths of the sea, never to be found
again. My. And then look at verse 14
of Luke chapter 5. And he charged him to tell no
man but to show thyself to the priest and offer thy cleansing
according to Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. So
our Lord Jesus Christ tells him to go to the priest. Now the
priest can't help him. All the priest can do is declare him
with leprosy or declare him free of leprosy. But our Lord tells
him. He isn't going to the priest
for cleansing. But our Lord tells him to go to the priest who represents
the law. And the law declares him clean.
The law has no claim upon him. Oh my goodness. The law has no
claim upon he who is washed in the precious blood or she who
is washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No
claim. Because we've been like that
second bird dipped in the blood and set free. That's the blood
of Christ. My, oh, my. Law has no demands
on this leper. No demands on the blood-washed
believer in Christ. You know, the work of the Lord
can withstand the minutest inspection. It's perfect. Our Lord even said
to the devil, said, the prince of this world cometh but hath
nothing in me. Nothing can find no fault in him, because he's
sinless. He's the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God. Beloved, we're free from the
law. We're free from the law. And then it says, the Lord departed,
withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. Turn with me, if
you would, to Revelation chapter 5. We're close with this, Revelation
chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5 verses 1
to 14. And I saw on the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? Who is worthy? And no man in heaven nor in the
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereupon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof. That's our king, beloved.
That's our king in glory. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits that God sent
forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Several
commentators believe this is the book of God's decrees. Oh my. And when he had taken
the book, the four beasts and the twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang
a new song. God's given us a new song, beloved. We sing it here
on Earth, right? Praise be to God. He's worthy.
He's worthy. Look at this, though. They sing
a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to
open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed
us to God. Christ is the one who's redeemed
us to God, beloved, by thy blood out of every, look
at this, oh, what hope, out of every kindred, tongue, people,
and nation. And thou hast made us unto our
God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And
I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the
throne, and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them
was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, saying
with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength honor and glory and
blessing in every creature which is in heaven and on the earth
and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all they
that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb forever and ever amen And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. That's the
one who cleansed this leopard, beloved. And that's the one who
cleansed us from all our sins. And one day, one day we're going
to join that throng of people. And we're going to sing, by God's
grace, worthy is the lamb. We already do on this earth,
don't we? Because we've got a new song now. Worthy is the Lamb,
to receive all glory, honor, and power, and blessings.