"The Leper Cleansed"

Q: What does the Bible say about the nature of sin?

The Bible describes sin as a disease of the heart, similar to leprosy, which corrupts and ultimately brings death. Sin is compared to leprosy in that it begins subtly but ultimately destroys. Just as leprosy slowly consumes the body, sin corrupts the heart, affecting every aspect of a person's life. In Isaiah 1:5, God describes the condition of humanity apart from His grace, highlighting a complete lack of soundness. All of us, by nature, are full of sin, and scripture makes it clear that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). Without Christ, we are helpless and unable to remedy our condition; our sin nature is inescapable and leads to spiritual death. Thus, understanding the true nature of sin is vital for recognizing our need for the Savior, Jesus Christ, who can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Q: How do we know Jesus has the power to cleanse us from sin?

Jesus demonstrates His power to cleanse and save through His actions and authority, as illustrated in the story of the leper in Luke 5. In Luke 5, we witness how a man full of leprosy approaches Jesus, acknowledging His authority: 'Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean.' This acknowledgment shows the leper's understanding of Christ's power. Jesus responds with compassion and power, saying, 'I will; be thou clean,' and immediately the leprosy departs. This narrative illustrates that Christ has the sovereign authority over sin and can cleanse us completely, as demonstrated by His willingness to interact with the unclean. His power is not merely theoretical; it is an active ability to transform lives and cleanse sinners, assuring us that His will can indeed save.

Q: Why is understanding God's grace important for Christians?

Understanding God's grace is essential for recognizing our inability to save ourselves and the necessity of Christ's work on our behalf. For Christians, understanding God's grace is foundational to our faith because it reveals the depths of our depravity and our complete dependence on Him for salvation. The leper's encounter with Jesus shows that he recognized his unclean state and his inability to cleanse himself. This reflects the reality of our spiritual condition; we cannot attain righteousness on our own. Ephesians 2:8-9 clarifies that it is by grace we are saved, not of ourselves, so that no one may boast. Understanding God's grace fosters humility and appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ, centering our lives around His mercy and love rather than our works or merit. It reassures us that we are fully accepted in Christ, and empowers us to extend that grace to others.

I hope you're still in Luke chapter 5. Let me tell you a little story about that as well with my soul. That Spafford man is a businessman in Chicago, and his wife and daughters went to Europe on a ship. He had five girls and his wife, and the ship sunk. He lost his wife and five daughters all at one time. He got on a ship, and they went across the ocean, and they come to the spot where that ship went down. And they told him, this is where the ship went down. This is where you lost your family. And he wrote, he's the one that wrote, it's well with my soul. I couldn't have wrote a song like that in a situation like that.

But God's ways are past our finding out, ain't they? And I'm glad they are. We sang that hymn. And the best part to me is, my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross. I bear them no more. It is well. It is well. with my soul. It's well. All right, let's look here at Luke chapter five. I'm going to deal with the leper being cleansed.

Our Lord is so full of compassion. You know, so many times it said he's seeing a multitude or something being filled with compassion. And he is full of mercy. Full of mercy. How many people went to him and said, Lord, be merciful to me. And he's full of grace. Grace is for people that don't deserve it. And he's full of pity. As a father pitieth his child, even so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, knowing that they are but dust.

But yet without his power, with his compassion, mercy, grace, and pity, yet without his power, As God, as God manifests in the flesh, it would do us no good. If he had all those attributes and had no ability to do anything about them, we'd be no better off. No benefit to us, spiritually, nor eternity. He is merciful, but yet we also got to have his might, got to have his power, got to have his power.

And oh, when our Lord Jesus Christ was asleep on that ship, and the waves began to beat on it, and they thought it was going to sink, they woke him up, said, Lord, do you care that we perish? You're not interested in what condition we're in? He got up and said, oh, yeah, a little faith. And he spoke, and the wind stopped, and the waves ceased. And that's what I'm talking about here.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, all of his attributes would do us no good without his power. Grace would not amount to anything if he didn't have power to give grace. He didn't have the grace to give. His mercy wouldn't amount to anything unless he had the power to bestow that mercy. You see what I'm saying? So without his attributes, without the power to do something about it, when the us anyway.

And here's what shows you the power of God. I'm going to, we're going to see the power of God here today when we see our Lord Jesus Christ do something for this man full of leprosy. It said in verse 12, And it came to pass after Peter and all the, all the fish that was caught that we talked about last week. And it came to pass when he was in a certain city. It don't even tell us what city he was in. Behold a man full of leprosy. who, seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean." Now, here's a man in a miserable, miserable, miserable condition, a man full of leprosy, full of leprosy.

And you want to find out what leprosy is and how awful it is, look in Luke Leviticus and read about it, Leviticus 13. It's the first time leprosy is mentioned in the Bible when God was, Moses, was standing before the Lord and he had his staff in his hand. And he told Moses to show him how powerful he was and how he was going to use him when he went down to Egypt. He said, put your hand in your bosom.

He did like that and he brought it out and it's leprosy. It's full of leprosy. He had leprosy in his hand. He said, stick it back in there and it'll come out and it's clean again. That's the first time it's mentioned. But this man was full of leprosy. Full of it.

Leprosy is a terrible, terrible disease. It eats away the flesh. It eats away the nose, the eyes, the ears. It eats away the skin on your body. Eats it away. And you look awful. And I'll tell you what, a miserable, miserable condition. And this man had reached his final stage He was full of it, from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. His body was full of leprosy, an awful, awful disease. No cure for it. Nothing anybody can do about it. He couldn't do anything about it.

And when the scriptures tells us, and I can have you look at it, but in Leviticus 13, it said when they had leprosy, they had to put their hand over their mouth wherever they went and holler, unclean, unclean, so people get out of their way. And they're supposed to go out here and live alone. But if they had to go to town, they had to put their hand over their mouth, unclean, unclean, unclean. People get out of their way.

And leprosy is like sin. Leprosy is like sin. Leprosy works very, very slowly. Starts out with a little spot. Then it starts growing. And leprosy is like sin. It works slowly. But I tell you, sin, like leprosy, it's coarse, it's irresistible, and deadly. And leprosy is the disease of the body, but sin is the disease of the heart. Sin is something that man's got in his nature. It's something that he is.

You know why men do what they do? It's because of what they are. You know, none of us would ever tell our children to lie. None of us would ever do that. But yet, what makes them lie? Their nature. What makes a man selfish? His sinful nature. What makes a man hateful? His sinful nature.

And I tell you, our sin nature is something that we cannot do anything about. Like this leper, we cannot do anything about our sin. It's irresistible, it's deadly. Listen, if I could resist sin and stop myself from sinning by some act that I could possibly do, I would do that that quick. But I can't. This man, if he could have cleansed himself of leprosy, he'd have done it like that. If it had some place to go besides Christ, it'd have done that.

But oh my, sin poisons the blood. Poisons the blood. The whole being is polluted. You're full of sin. Man is full of sin. And you know where sin affects the, it affects the heart. It affects the heart. And it affects the mouth and witches out of the issues of life.

Now, you keep Luke 5. Look with me in Isaiah, Chapter 1. Look in Isaiah, Chapter 1. In Isaiah, Chapter 1 with me. You know, Isaiah, while you're turning over there, he said, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. If you think you got a righteousness, God says it's filthy. Filthy like a rag. God, if you got a righteousness or a work that you're trusting in, God said it's filthy. It's corrupt. Why trust in something that God says is filthy? It is corrupt. But people do it all the time. They have something that's filthy and corrupt, and they trust in it. But look what Isaiah said here in verse 5. Chapter 1, verse 5. Why should you be stricken 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, bruises, putrefying sores. They have not been closed, mollified, bound up, neither mollified with ointments.

That's the way God says that's what, that's what God looks at when he sees a man outside of Christ. Huh? Oh my. And you know these lepers, they had colonies for lepers. They considered them death and they considered them deadly. And I'll tell you something, God has a place for sinners outside of Christ. You don't want God, you don't want Christ, you don't want to be rid of your sin, you don't want rid of that deadly disease. God's got a place. Just like those leprosy, they put them all in one place. They put them all in one place. As they just ceased, you know, and they put those, the last colony they had in America was in Louisiana. The last leper colony was in Louisiana.

But I'll tell you something. God's got a place for men and women who will not, will not understand what a condition they're in. God's got a place. Gonna put you over here away from everybody else. You want to stay unclean? I got a place for you to go. And I don't even like to miss it without trembling. There's a place called hell, and it's real. And I don't want anybody to go. God knows I don't want anybody to go. I don't want anybody in my family to go.

But oh my, to be without God, to be without Christ, is to have this leprosy, and it's called S-I-N, sin. And there's only one remedy for sin. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, and he shall save his people from what? Their S-I-N. You want rid of sin? One place to get it. All right, now let me show you something else here now.

Verse 12. And it came to pass within a certain city a man full of leprosy, now watch what he said, who seeing Jesus, Oh, what a blessed sight when you see the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing like it. Nothing will ever affect you like having a sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my.

Some wanted to see the Lord Jesus Christ out of curiosity. Sir, we had seen Jesus. Some sought to see him so they could tempt him, ask him foolish, foolish questions. And Zacchaeus wanted to see him so bad that he climbed a tree to see the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was such a little man.

But here, here's this man. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ. What a sight. What a sight, this man's eyes. This is a man full of despair. Here's a man that was hopeless. Here's a man that was powerless. But he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he had no business being out in public. But boy, he saw the only place he could have any hope at all. And here is light. This man's dwelling over here in darkness. And here is light that comes on in that darkness. Oh my.

And he had no hope of a cure. He was hopeless and powerless. And just like us, we are hopeless and powerless to quit our sin and be rid of our sin by ourselves. And oh, he heard no doubt of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it says there that his fame went abroad. And our Lord Jesus Christ Oh my, he had no doubt heard of our Lord's mighty works, and yet he never sought him out, never uttered a prayer.

But now, now, those eyes that were so full of despair now utters a prayer. Oh my, and what made his thing, what made this change so dramatic? He saw a living person. And that's what we see. You know, by faith, I've never seen Christ in person. I've never seen his body. Though I know what it looks like in the sense that he was crucified in our room and place. But I've never seen him, but yet I do see him. I see him in his glory. I see him in his power. I see him in his grace. I see him in his mercy. I see him in his might. I see Christ. I see him up there high and lifted up.

And that's what, talking about taking away darkness and despair, taking away hopelessness. There was years I spent hopeless. 18 months in hospitals. No hope at all, in despair. Thought, man, I can't live like this. And then one day, somebody said, there's hope. Where's it at? In the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the light come on in darkness. And I'm telling you, this light come on here, and he now sees a person, his despair now sees a living person. He's not counting on words about Him anymore. He's not counting on what somebody else says. He sees Him for Himself. Oh, He sees Him. And He believed the report that they heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. I believed His report, too. I believe it. I believe it.

And here's a man full of leprosy, and here comes a man full of compassion. Here comes a man powerless, and here stands the power of God. Here's a man, no hope in himself. Can't change his situation at all. But he meets a man that looks on him with compassion. And then, oh my, and a powerless man, and there stands the very power of God himself. When those two people meet, something's going to happen.

Oh, what did he do when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ? What did he do? Look what it says. Who seeing Jesus fell on his face. Fell on his face. Fell on his face. I cannot say this enough. When you see the Lord Jesus Christ, when you see Christ, when you see the Lord Jesus, and you see Him, and you actually see Him, you'll do exactly like this man did. You'll get down before Him. You'll fall before Him. You cannot help but do that, as nobody ever stood up before the Lord. And I tell you, this man, This man fell on his face.

And everybody that's ever seen the Lord Jesus Christ has done that very thing. They don't see their sin and then go to Christ. You don't see what a shape you're in until you see Christ. And that's what this man did. You know, he saw the Lord's face always makes us hide our own face.

Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. I saw His glory, I saw Him on His throne. And that's where everybody's gonna see Christ, on His throne. But He said, I saw Him on His throne. And I saw Him in His glory. And I tell you, and I said, and I heard them seraphims hollering, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

And He said, woe is me. It's the prophet, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. What comes out of my mouth is filthy, unclean. And look, everybody around me is in the same boat. Everybody's unclean. And then there was a coal on the fire where the sacrifice was. And this man came and put that fire on him, put that where that sacrifice was on him. And that's the only thing that done anything for him.

And oh my, Job said, I've heard about you. Oh Lord, I've heard so much about you. I've heard you're Jesus. I heard you're a good man. I heard you're a wonderful example. I've heard that you'll save marriages and you'll make people healthy that were sick. I've heard that you do all these things for people in this world. I've heard you do a lot of things. I heard of you with my ear, but now, now my eye sees you.

What happened, Job? I behore myself. I repent in dust and ashes. Oh, my. You remember Peter last week when he walked out into the deep and he saw the miracle that Christ did and he saw that he had power over the sea and he said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Oh, my. Why is this? Why did he see the Lord Jesus Christ and fall on his face?

And seeing Him, and seeing our Lord Jesus, we also see ourselves in our corruption, in our inability, in our sinfulness. And if we've never seen ourselves, I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, if you never hear anything else I say, listen to this. If we've never ever seen ourselves in His sight, and see ourselves hopeless and helpless, and He's the only one can cleanse us, Save us from our sins and save us from our corruption and save us from our deceitful heart If you've never seen him and seen that you if you've ever never seen Christ and been overwhelmed in the dust You've never seen him because as old Scott used to say make your headquarters Where you want me to make it at Scott in the dust?

Get down there Don't get up that religious has said get up Christ says get down Religion says, think good of yourself. Christ says, think less of yourself. Man says, exalt yourself. Christ says, humble yourselves. Man says, oh, pride is a wonderful thing. Christ said, pride is a damnable thing. He hates it.

We got this, people got the cart before the horse. They got everything out here, and then the horse comes along behind. They make man to be everything, Christ to be nothing, but Christ, man is nothing, Christ is everything. And then look what happens, he fell before his face, he fell, all the position he takes fell on his face. Look down in verse 12 now. Yeah, still in verse 12. He fell on his face and look what he, he started praying. He besought him saying, Lord, that's the first word out of his mouth, Lord. You're the Lord. You're the one that's, you're the Lord of heaven and earth. You're the Lord. You're the Lord. And then look what he said, if thou wilt, you're the Lord.

Everything I have depends on whether you will or not. If you will, you can make me clean. Oh, my. This prayer tells us something about this man here. You know, he was hopeless, helpless, powerless, full of leprosy. And he said, Lord, if you will, you can makes me clean. And that this tells us one thing. He had a knowledge, a knowledge of the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had some knowledge of the character of Christ. Now, what do I mean by that?

When you have a right knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it produces an intelligent faith in Christ and His power, His ability. Now, what I mean by that is that a lot of people have a misinformation. They don't get the right information about Christ. They don't get the right information about Jesus. They get the right information about free will, get the right information about being a good person, Doing the best I can, turning over a new leaf. But they don't have the right knowledge of Christ.

And you cannot know Christ unless you hear about Him. And hear the right information about Him. And then when you have that right information, you know what it'll do? That's what Esau said, I saw Christ. I'm gonna go to Him. I'm gonna go to Him. Look in, keep looking, look in Romans chapter 10. Look in Romans chapter 10. This is what I'm saying. what I'm saying. Look down at verse 13 with me.

Now, this man called on the Lord and said, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, wait a minute. Now, if you call on the name of the Lord, how in the world shall you call on him in whom you've not believed? You can't call on somebody you don't know anything about if you don't believe him. And then look what else he said. How shall they believe in him and they never heard anything about him? Not heard anything about him. Ain't heard the right things about him. And look what else he says.

And how shall they hear without a preacher? That's why it's so important, so necessary to come hear the gospel. And oh my, come hear the gospel. Oh my. Then look what it said down in verse 17. So then faith comes. How's it come to you? By hearing. Hearing what? The word of God. About Christ. About Christ. And oh my. And look what he says. Lord, if you will, you can. Lord, if you will, you can.

This is why so few really come to Christ. They don't know him. They don't know him. They don't know their shame. They don't know their sin. They don't know their corruption, and they don't know Christ. And he said, Lord, they don't know that if you will. They don't know that. They don't know that they need and that he can.

But this one man, let me tell you something now, he had one great need, one great need, one, one great desire to be made clean, to be made clean. He confesses his need and he pleads for personal cleansing. He don't say, there's my friend over there, would you clean him up too? No, he said, I need it. I'm here, I'm here for my cleansing, my cleansing. But oh my, he confesses his need. Oh my. And look what happens to him now, in verse 13.

In instant and perfect salvation, he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will. He put forth his hand and said, I will. I will. You want my will? I'll tell you what, I just believe I'll give it to you. I believe I'll give it to you. Look what he says. He put forth his hands and said, I will be thy clean. And immediately that leprosy left him.

You know, everything, all salvation, all power, all cleansing is joined to the I will of Christ. You know that? I will of Christ. Let me say a couple things about the I will. There's two things right off the top of my head I think. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I will never, I will never leave you, never forsake you. That's one will. And look over in John chapter 17, in verse 24. Here's another I will. Oh my, everything depends on the I will of Christ. All power, all things.

Well, I will. Lord, would you please have mercy on me? I will. Lord, would you save me? I will. Look what he says here now in verse 24. Father, I will. That they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. That they may behold my glory. Which thou given me?

You reckon our Lord answered that? You know he's answered that prayer? So many people's already seen his glory. We see it here, but boy, imagine what it's going to be when we get there. That man I was telling you about that I went and preached to in that nursing home over in Australia, Angus got a hold of me day four yesterday. The Lord called him home that morning. He said he left his body here, but he went. Said his body's still here, but said he's not. 92 years old, landed in a nursing home. He said, oh, I see his body's here, but he's not. You know why? Because our Lord said, I will. Lord, I will, Father, that they be with me where I am. Why? So they can see my glory. See my glory. Oh, my. That's what we want to see. And oh my, and then look what it says here again in verse 13.

He put forth his hand. He touched him. He touched him. Anybody that touched the Lord Jesus Christ or he touched, things happen that quick. It's the very holiness of God himself touching this man who is defiled and full of leprosy. But Christ is not defiled. If I would have touched that leper, I would have been unclean. I'd have got it from him. But our Lord Jesus Christ can touch him and put his hand on him and not be defiled whatsoever.

Oh no. That's why he can save us and still say just and still say holy, still say righteous. Oh my, Christ is not in any way defiled by the touch. Was the light that shines in darkness affected by the darkness? No. The darkness is affected by the light. And he who bore our sin could be no sinner, was no sinner but by imputation.

Never been spake like this man. Never been touched like this man did. And then look what he said, not only I will, but look what he says. Gives him a word of assurance. He put forth his hand and touches him, says, and I will be thou unclean. Oh, my. Oh, my. He gives assurance to the one he touches. If he touches you, he gives you assurance that you've been touched by him. Oh, we are cleansed by his blood, assured by his word. Him and his word go together. Our Lord Jesus says, 1 John 5, 10, this is the record that God hath given us of his Son. He that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not has made God a liar. And this is the true witness that we have that Jesus Christ is God. And then look what a complete salvation. I don't know how to deal with this one right here. He said, I will be thou clean. Gave him assurance. Gave him assurance. You're clean. And look what it says. And immediately, the leprosy departed from him. Where do you reckon it went? Where'd it go? Where'd it go? It's just gone. Well, where did it go? It had that. Full of it. Where'd it go?

It went the same place our sins did. Our Lord Jesus Christ bore all our sin in his own body on the tree. And I know this, that leprosy would never come back on him. He was cleansed. He was perfect. He was perfect and complete, cleansed in the sight of God. And oh, the joy of salvation he had. And I say our sins are gone. Oh, my. How?

Christ took them away. And God said, I remember them no more. He said, I blotted out as a thick cloud your sins. I cast them in the depths of the sea. I cast them behind my back. Listen, if God, if leprosy left him, then sin is gone from me. I'm clean, perfectly cleansed by the blood of Christ. And oh, my. And I tell you what, God can't find our sins. For those whom Christ died for, he can't find them. And don't you look for them either. And then, oh, what a special commission he gave him. And I got to tell you what, look what he said.

And he charged him to tell no man, don't go no place, but you go and show yourself to the priest. and offer for thy cleansing according to Moses, as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them." Unto whom? To the priest and to the law. By going and showing himself to the priest and offering that sacrifice according to Moses, he was bearing a testimony unto them.

That Christ, the work of Christ can stand the mind-dutest inspection of the law. Let the law examine you from top to bottom. The priest has to say, he's clean. He's perfect. Our lords can stand the minutest inspections of the law and the prophets, the world, and the devil. But I tell you something, the law never cleansed him. The sacrifice never cleansed him. Christ cleansed him. The Lord did it.

Well, if I could ever find a leper, you reckon you've got any lepers in here that the Lord's cleansed? Oh, Lord, Lord, if you will, you can. Oh, our blessed Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your gospel. Lord, I pray that you and your sovereign mercy would cause this gospel to find a lodging.

We're like the man who shot a bow at a venture and it hit his spot. Lord, we shoot our bow at a venture, not for your people, but God please, Please cause this arrow to find a lodging place in men and women's hearts who ask these things in our Lord Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Come and lead us in 318.

"The Leper Cleansed"

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the nature of sin?

How do we know Jesus has the power to cleanse us from sin?

Why is understanding God's grace important for Christians?

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"The Leper Cleansed"

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the nature of sin?

How do we know Jesus has the power to cleanse us from sin?

Why is understanding God's grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Donnie Bell

Comments

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