The Cleansing of the Leper

Let us turn once again to God's Word, to the portion of Scripture that we were considering this morning in the Gospel according to Saint Luke. Turning then to Luke 5 and the verses 12 through 14. And he 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."

We were thinking in particular of the leper in his diseased state and tried to say something with regards to the various symptoms but also of course remarking on the significance of this disease of leprosy. There is obviously a spiritual significance because the man is directed not to go to any doctor, any physician, but he must go to the priest.

It is clearly then typical because Leviticus is a typical book. It's full of types and figures. It's very much a gospel book. and we had to discern the Lord Jesus Christ in all the various ceremonies, the offerings and the feasts that they were to observe. What is leprosy a type of?

It's a type of sin, yes, but it's not just sin in general, I said, it's more especially that sin when it's been in some measure opened up in the heart and in the eyes of a man. It has been well said that sin itself is of the creature, but the sense of sin is of God. God must come and God must work in us if we're going to have any sense, any feeling of our sinnership. Because by nature we're spiritually dead in our trespasses and in our sins.

So we were thinking this morning of the disease and now I want us to consider something of the cleansing of the leper as the Lord himself ministers to this man and heals him of this awful disease and makes him clean. We can think of the language of David in the Psalm that we were just singing the metrical version purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow clearly there David's aware of that Levitical law that we were reading of just now in that 14th chapter the various things that the leper was to do under the instruction of the priests He was, in a sense, to be purged of his disease with hyssop. David, of course, is speaking in Psalm 51 not of any physical disease but the awfulness of his sinful nature and the actual sins, the terrible sins that he had been guilty of. He wants to be purged.

And though any awakened sinner will desire to know that purging, that cleansing, Well it has come to consider again these words and in particular I'm thinking of verses 13 and 14 Christ put forth his hand and touched the man saying I will be thou clean and immediately 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.

And here we see something of the authority, the commanding compassion, the commanding compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ in the way in which he directs this particular man. Again, I want to deal really with some three headings as we look at these verses. First of all, we have of course that regard for the commandment of Moses. There's certainly a regard, a respect, a recognition of what had been commanded in the Old Testament.

The man is charged to tell no man, but he must go and show himself to the priest. And Christ says, offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. Or when the plague of leprosy is in a man, he must have dealings with the priest that the Lord has appointed. And what is Christ doing here? Well, we see the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who was come to honor the law. He was made of a woman, he was made under the law. He was the law giver of course. It was the Lord God who proclaimed those words on Mount Sinai.

And as a man he comes and he is subject to that very law of God's. and he says it doesn't he in the course of his ministry remember what we read in the Sermon on the Mount there in the fifth chapter of Matthew verse 17 think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tit, or shall in no wise pass from the Lord, shall all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. how our Lord has the greatest regard then for the Lord of Gods in his totality that would include the Lord of the cleansing of the leper the very portion that we were reading earlier there in the 14th chapter of Leviticus those first 32 verses and what was to be required of the man various things is to take three lambs, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, hyssop, he is to take a meat offering, he is to take a log of oil, all of these things are required.

And this is what the Lord is speaking of as he addresses this man whom he has just cleansed of his plague. Offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded says the Lord. Christ honors the law and yet at the same time we see quite clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is above the law. In a way he acts contrary to the law. He puts forth his hands and he touches the leper.

But the leper himself is unclean. those words that we were reading this morning in the previous chapter in Leviticus remember we read that portion in chapter 13 right the way through to verses 45 and 46 there we read 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 covers his lip, his breath is poisonous really. It's an awful disease, a contagious disease. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled. He is unclean, he shall dwell alone. Without the camp shall his habitation be, he is cut off in his leprosy.

And yet The Lord comes to this man and at his request the Lord touches him. He doesn't just speak the word. He could have done that quite easily. This is God. And how does God act in creation at the beginning? By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He spoke and it was done. He commanded it stood fast. God said, let there be light. You know, the account that we have there in the opening chapter of the book of Genesis. The voice of the Lord, that divine faith, he but speaks and the thing is done. Well, the Lord Jesus could easily have done that.

But he does more than that. He put forth his hand and quite deliberately touched him, saying, I will, be thou pleased. and immediately the leprosy departed from him Christ far from becoming unclean himself by this touch he makes the leper clean well that's the wonder of it that's the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ and you see there's that sense in which he has come to satisfy all the demands of God's holy law when the fullness of the time has come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that they might receive the adoption of sons he has come to honour the law, to magnify the law and that's what he has done in living and in dying in living every precept, every commandment obeyed he has accomplished a righteousness.

He is that one who is holy and righteous and just and good. There was never any sin in him, no original sin. In his birth he is, or his human nature is spoken of as that holy thing born of the Virgin that shall be called the Son of God. That human nature conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin. He is without every taint of sin. And that human nature is joined to the person of the Eternal Son of God. And He is God-Man. And as God-Man, He is under the law and He obeys all the commandments of God and honours every precept. And then in dying, of course, He honours the same law in terms of all its dreadful penalties. that that the sinner deserved.

The Lord suffers, substitutionary atonement. Always the very heart of the gospel, is it not? The shedding of that precious blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Here is Christ, the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. All believing in him we are cleansed, but not only cleansed, we are accounted righteous. He is the Lord, our righteousness. The sinner is justified in the Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour. And now we see from what the Apostle says writing to the churches of Galatia that the Lord is really meant to serve the Gospel of Christ.

Galatians 3.19 wherefore then serveth the Lord it was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made who is the seed? well that's the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul is so clear there in emphasizing the great priority of the gospel in what he says in that third chapter of Galatians Verse 16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not unto seeds as of many but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. The promise given to Abraham, 430 years before the law, And why is the law given?

It serves the gospel. And Christ has come. And now he has suffered. The awful curse of that broken law. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a throne. Christ is the fulfilment.

And what do we read here? At the end of this 14th verse. Show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. Oh, there's a testimony in this. And the testimony has been born to Christ, the fulfilment of the law, who is above the law. And in that place under the Lord has honoured it and magnified it. This is the wonder of what Christ has done. And so we see his great regard, his recognition, his respect for the Lord of Moses.

He has not yet completed his great work, has he? He must yet go the way of the cross. And then of course there's the rending of the veil of the temple in two. The way to the holiest of all is now in and through him who has fulfilled all that was ever foreshadowed in the Old Testament laws. But besides the commandment of Moses, in the second place here we also have the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He gives charge to this man. He charged him to tell no man Why that? Why would the Lord give such a charge to the man? Well, the Lord has just performed a miracle in healing the leper. Previous to that, of course, as we remarked this morning, we have the great miracle of the miraculous draught of fish. And there a wonderful demonstration of the deity of Christ and the effect it had on Simon Peter. in verse 8, when he saw it he fell down at Jesus knees saying, depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord, he feels himself to be in the very presence of deity and Peter, well he shrinks from Christ, depart from me and here is the Lord performing another miracle and thou men love the miracles Remember how later when Christ has to endure that great mock trial really. It's a proper trial.

It's under the Roman governor and that's the legal authority and he's condemned by Pontius Pilate but it's really a mockery of a trial. And Pilate doesn't know what to do and Herod's in Jerusalem. And he knew that for a long time Herod would have a desire to see Jesus in Nazareth. Why?

Because he wanted to see some miracle. Our men love to see the miracles. Our men want to see great and wonderful works. But what's the purpose of the miracles? They are simply given to authenticate. To authenticate the words. To authenticate the revelation that God is giving. and every time there is a great revelation in scripture there's that confirmation, isn't there?

We see it of course with Moses who was the human author of the first five books and all the great miracles that the Lord God performed when he sent judgment upon Pharaoh and the way in which the Lord provided for his people through all the wilderness wanderings. There's many miracles with the giving of the law And then when we think of the ministry of the prophets we can think of those great prophets Elijah and Elisha and miracles are going. This is authenticating prophetic ministry.

And so too when we come to the New Testament. Remember the words of the Apostle there in the opening part of Hebrews chapter 2. Shall we escape? He says, if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also confirming that message with signs and wonders and diverse miracles of the Holy Spirit according to his will. God's confirming. this message by the miracles. The miracles are but signs. They point away from themselves, if we might say that. They point to Christ and they point to his ministry, his preaching. That's the purpose of the miracles. And even later when, in chapter 7, the disciples of John the Baptist are sent to Christ, because John seems to have some doubt in his mind. Is Jesus of Nazareth really the Messiah? Is this really the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

And he wants his disciples to go and to enquire of the Lord, and we read of it here in chapter 7. And as the Lord answers them, what does he say? or they come, the words that we have there in verse 19 and the following verse is John calling unto him two of his disciples send them to Jesus saying art thou he that should come or look we for another when the men were come unto him they said John the Baptist hath sent us unto thee saying art thou he that should come or look we for another and in that same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto many that were blind He gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard.

Out of the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached. Is he not all really leading up to that great statement? This is the great mark of Messiah to the poor the gospel is preached and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in this. All the important thing is the preaching. The preaching of the gospel, the primacy of the words of God.

How vitally important is that? and in a sense we see it in what follows here in chapter 5 verse 15 that so much the more went there a favor brought of him a great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities but the syntax as we have it here Luke mentions first of all they come the multitudes are coming to hear him the message, the message that he is preaching. And of course later, again in chapter 6, we have the record of a sermon, what we call the Sermon on the Plain. There in chapter 6, verse 17, He came down with them and stood in the plain and the company of His disciples and the great multitude of people out of Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon which came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. And then we have the record of what He preached. He lifted up His eyes on His disciples and said, Blessed be ye poor for yours is the kingdom of God blessed are you that hunger now for you shall be filled blessed are you that weep now for you shall laugh and so on very similar really to the message that we have back in in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 the sermon on the mounts it's not the same it's a sermon on the plane so it's it's a similar theme there are similarities between the two and remember when we come to the end of that previous sermon, the end of Matthew chapter 7 now the people were astonished at his doctrine, at his teaching because he spoke with authority and not as the scribes and the pharisees or the Lord you see the important thing is the message that he is proclaiming and so this man is sent away and given this charge to tell no man he doesn't want the people simply to be crowding him because they want to see miracles that's the vanity of men they want to see some mighty work when he's on the cross they want him to come down from the cross to deliver himself I believe in him but no we have to believe his words all the importance of the word and aren't we reminded of that in that The familiar passage in the 10th of Romans that we often make reference to.

Verse 14, O then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. And he goes on, doesn't he? Faith cometh by hearing. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

That great Protestant reformer, that martyr, Hugh Latimer, he was exalted to become Bishop of Worcester, and yet, and yet, of course, he had to seal his testimony with his own blood. What did he say? He was a great preacher, he says, of preaching, this is the only office that God has ordained to save us by. And men despise preaching.

Even in these days. What happens in so many places, you've got to have something more than the preaching. We've got to evangelize by entertaining the people. You see, in a way, you can understand it, can't you? The miracles are so spectacular. People love that.

These things often have an appeal to the carnal nature in men. that God himself has ordained preaching. The office of the ministry. It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. What is the foolishness of preaching? Well, it's the content of the message in some ways. I think it is principally that. It's the message preached. What is it that we preach? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's foolishness to the world. But it's not just the The content, it's the act of preaching.

Men despise. They despise preaching. They want something more than that. They want to be entertained. They have itching ears. Oh, we're to maintain this. This is surely the message of the Reformation. It was a great preaching movement. Certainly that's here.

Well, throughout Europe really, but I often think We think in terms, haven't we, of men, of personalities. We think of a Luther in Germany, or a Calvin at Geneva, or John Knox in Scotland. There were great men in England, but really, the movement in our land was a book. And Tyndale's translation of the New Testament. That was the thing, really. It's the Word of God.

And men want something more than the Word of God. but they must be the word of God and the preaching of the word and so we have this command that the Lord gives to man he charges him so solemnly tell no man show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them and then finally this evening just to say a little with regards to the leper and the cry of the leper the faith of the leper the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ Or do we not see something of the faith of this man as he comes to the Lord?

Behold a man. How interesting is that? Behold. You know the force of that word. You to look. But you look in a very definite way, not a glancing look. A studied look. Behold a man. full of leprosy and what does this man do? seeing Jesus he fell on his face and besought him seeing Jesus he falls down and worships him and speaks to him, prays to him Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean he worships the Lord he worships the Lord That's what it says in Matthew's account.

I said this morning that we have this account three times over in the Synoptic Gospels, not only here in Luke but also in Matthew and Mark. And interesting when we compare the three different accounts there in Matthew 8-2, Behold there came a leper and worshipped him, it says. He came to worship the Lord Jesus. And think of the words of the Lord Jesus to the devil. during those days of his temptation after his baptising when he's led of the spirit into the wilderness and fasting 40 days and 40 nights and now the devil assaults him. He wants the Lord to worship him. What does the Lord say? Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. None is to be worshipped but God. None is to be worshipped. In Revelation 19 and verse 10 the angel says to John, John the Divine, the one who was receiving that revelation from the Lord God, when he would do obeisance to the angel, the angel charges him and says, Worship God!

And the Lord receives the worship of this man. He receives that worship that the man offered to him as he fell down before him. and we see his faith in all of this look at the way in which he addresses the Lord he besought him saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean no man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost this man has faith all this man has faith as he comes and bows down before the Lord Jesus. Later in chapter 17, as I said this morning, we have another miracle, the ten lepers that the Lord heals. And one of them, a stranger, wasn't a Jew, he was a Samaritan, just the one who turned back to the Lord to thank Him.

And the Lord says to him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. All this faith here you see, there must be faith. By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. But there must be faith. And faith is not of works. It's the evidence of grace and salvation is by grace and if salvation is by grace it's not of works otherwise grace is no more grace.

But there must be faith and this man has faith and he has faith in the Lord Jesus. Oh yes the law, the law of God would condemn that man as a leper. The law condemned him as a leper. But what does the Lord Jesus Christ do? The Lord cleansed him. Lord Cleansing. We're going to sing just now that hymn 306. We're going to meet a couple of verses along him, but I wanted to have it because of one verse really, and it's that sixth verse.

Leprous soul, press through the crowd in thy foul condition. Struggle hard and call aloud on the great physician. Wait till thy disease he cleansed, begging, trusting, cleaving. When and where and by what means to his wisdom lean. Oh, is that how we come to the Lord? Begging, trusting, cleaving.

That's faith. this man I say this is a man who has faith and he says Lord if thou wilt thou thou canst cleanse me he knows he knows that Christ is God and Christ is able to cleanse him because he's God And as I said this morning in the previous miracle with the disciples, and what Simon Peter saw, it's evident that this man who performs these remarkable feats, these miracles, is God. When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And this man knows, you see, that this one who he calls Lord is God. and he's able, he's able to cleanse him, but more than that. Lord, if thou wills. Oh, he's not only able as God, he's willing. The Lord Jesus Christ is willing because he's the Saviour, he's the Saviour God. He's Jehovah Jesus. He's willing, he's willing to save to the uttermost.

So often we're unwilling. we're unwilling, we're so full of doubts and fears and unbelief and the Lord is willing to save the sinner isn't it remarkable? but as we close I just want to say a little with regards to the the two birds that are spoken of really at the beginning of that portion that we were reading there in the 14th of Leviticus, if we can just turn to that chapter again.

What does the priest do with the man? Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedarwood and scarlet and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running or fresh water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them, and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from his leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and he shall let the living bird loose into the open field."

It's wonderful, isn't it? The typology, two birds, You see, there's a multitude of different services and ceremonies and sacrifices because there's such a wonderful fullness in the work of the Lord Jesus. And all these many figures and types are so necessary to bring out the fullness of it. And what do we see here?

Well, one of the birds is killed, but the blood is not allowed to fall aimlessly to the ground. It's caught in an earthen vessel. and it's taken and it's made use of, it's applied. It teaches us an important lesson. This is big particular redemption. This is limited atonement. That blood is taken and it's applied. And the living blood is taken and dipped in that blood and then that blood is released. Oh it shows us, you see, the blessed truth of deliverance from sin, gospel liberty, that's what it says before us. Sacrifice, salvation, the two things are seen so clearly together.

And there's a hymn, I think it's by William Cooper, the great poet, and hymn writer of course, but he was a wonderful poet. He was the poet laureate at one stage I believe. And it has this verse in this hymn, it's not in Gadsby's. Dipped in his fellow's blood, the living bird went free, the type well understood expressed the sinner's plea, and by a Saviour's death discharged, described a guilty soul set large. Oh, that's liberty, isn't it?

We're guilty, we're sinners. And yet in Christ we're set free. free from all the guilt of our sin justified in Him. Freed from all the power of sin, we're sanctified in Him. Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. All the blessed fullness of salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we see in this portion this record that we have three times over the same event three times over that three-fold testimony to establish every word the truth of it or the three-fold cord that is not quickly broken or God grant us grace to believe it we know we believe it when we're trusting in this very same person the Lord Jesus Christ or the Lord then be pleased to bring us to that It's a Sabbath day today of rest, and I ask you tonight, are you resting? Are you resting for all your salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord bless to us His word. Amen.

The Cleansing of the Leper

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