Turn to Mark chapter 1. I titled this message, The Power of His Touch. The Power of His Touch. There is great power I don't
think we realize how much power is in a touch. It can lift a
broken heart. It can communicate love and warm
feelings for a person. I know that some people don't
like to be touched, and they don't like to touch. It's okay, now if I could say
it. I think it's sad because they are missing one of the best
parts of the human experience, being able to touch. Even the medical field recognizes
the power of a touch. They use what they call therapy
dogs now. I was watching this on Dogs 101
on television. They used therapy dogs. They'd
take them around to children's hospitals. They'd take them to
nursing homes, and they said that vital signs, blood pressure,
all improved just by petting a dog. They'd take them to troubled
use. I was watching this one program. They even used them
in prison for prisoners. They'd train them, but they'd
leave them with a dog, and just being with that dog and petting
that dog calmed them down. I thought you can tell a lot
about a person the way they handle an animal. You'd be surprised
what you can tell. Which is more powerful? I'm not
looking at some people. And I did not have you in mind.
Which is more powerful? To say, I love you, or to say,
I love you with a warm hug, which is more powerful? The scripture
says, greet one another with a holy kiss. And this is the
way they greeted each other back then. I know in this country
we don't do that, but in Romans 16, 16 says this, salute one
another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute
you. 1 Corinthians 16.20, all the brethren greet you. Greet
ye one another with an holy kiss. 2 Corinthians 13.12, greet one
another with a holy kiss. 1 Thessalonians 5.26, greet all
the brethren with an holy kiss. Well, there's one person I thought
of, Joyce. She greets me with a holy kiss
every Sunday. Every Sunday. I get that. And
Donnie Bell, Donnie Bell said, I hope this doesn't embarrass
you. Last time I saw him, he said, I hope this doesn't embarrass
you. And he grabbed me and gave me a big old kiss on the cheek.
I said, it doesn't embarrass me at all. That's greeting one
another with a holy kiss. But here's, here's, let's get
into the message. Verse 40, there came a leper to him, beseeching him. and kneeling
down to him and saying unto him, If thou
wilt, if you will, Lord, if you will, thou canst make me clean. He knew he did not deserve what
he was asking for. He knew it. As we know, leprosy
in the Word of God represents sin. They who had it who were
unclean, who had leprosy, they were unclean. Legally, by the
law, unclean. And when going down the street,
they had to take a rag, put it over their mouth, and they had
to cry, unclean, unclean. They had to let people know that
they were leprous and that they were unclean. And like leprosy, sin permeates
our whole being and makes us unclean. Our Lord, through his blood,
his righteousness, regeneration has made us clean. Take away
sin, now listen, take away sin and we are clean. It's like this
man here, take away leprosy, And he's clean. But like leprosy, sin permeates
our whole being. No part is not touched. No part about me is not touched
by sin. My body, I see it every day. Every day. My mind, my mind,
I know someone not here too long ago She's getting
older and she's beginning to lose her mind. Why? Sin. Sin. The doctors and medical
field can give you different types of reasons why, but the
bottom line is this. Sin. It affects my body. It affects
my mind. It affects my will. It affects
my whole person. There's no part of me that's
not sin. There's no part of this man who
was full, it says, of leprosy. From head to toe, like Job, sitting
there with those boils from head to toe. This man had leprosy from head
to toe. Sin is what makes me and you
unclean. Not what I do. What I do does
not make me unclean. It just exposes me, is what it
does. I do what I do because of what
I am. Someone may say of a drunkard,
if he would just quit drinking, he'd be a pretty good man. No,
he'd still be the same lost man. He would just come out in a different
form, like self-righteousness. Sin's gonna come out in one way
or another, one form or another, because we are full of it, full
of it. Now, he came. He came, and I'll
tell you why he came. Our Lord cast out many devils. He healed all manner of diseases,
and this man heard. He heard, he came, and he submitted. He came kneeling down, broken,
broken. He was full of leprosy. He knew
there was nothing he could say to the Lord that would commend
himself to Him. He was absolutely broken. He
knew his disease well. He knew what he was. He was a
leper, and he knew. from in his heart, he couldn't
do anything about it. But he believed there was one
that could. When he came to the Lord, he
did not, now listen, he did not come to the Lord to see if he
could heal him. He came to the Lord because he
believed the Lord could heal him, if he will. If he will. He submits himself to the sovereign
will of the Lord. He didn't deserve what he was
asking for. He's very hopeful about it because
he heard. He heard the good news. He heard
there's one in town who can heal all manner of diseases. He heard
there's one in town who can cast out devils. Even the devils are
subject unto him. Never a man spake like this man.
He heard, and he believed, and it gave him hope, and he came,
and he submitted himself. He didn't say, well, save me
like you did those others. You know, you saved them, save me.
No, he submitted himself to the sovereign will of the Lord. And then Jesus, and Jesus it
says, moved with compassion. Moved with love. It's like the
Lord's bowels yearned for this man. Desired to heal him. He desired
to heal him. The Lord does not save because
He has to. He saves because He loves to. And He put forth His hand and touch this man that no one
else would dare. If he walked in this room, not
a one of us would touch him. Not a one of us would touch him
in fear of contracting what he's got. But our Lord put forth his
hand and touched him and said unto him, I will. Now, he's the
only one who can do that. He is the only one who can say,
I will, and it will happen. Be thou clean." As I said, no
one would touch this man, not even his family would touch him. It had been a long time since
he felt a warm touch, a long time. The very day that they
saw a spot of leprosy, nobody would touch him. It might have
been just a little old spot in one place, but when it was determined
that he had leprosy, he was never touched again. Nobody wanted to touch him. It
was not even legal to touch him. You were unclean if you touched
him. His own family wouldn't touch him. I can't imagine, I
just cannot imagine what it would be like not to feel a touch again,
not to be touched anymore, a meaningful touch, a warm touch. I think this is the worst thing,
one of the worst things that can happen to you is no one can
be allowed to touch you. I ask you this question. Which
would you rather do or have done right now? Would you rather touch
Christ or would you rather have him touch you? Over in the book of Luke, there
was a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years. And she said,
if I could but touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made
whole. And she did. She did. And she was made whole. And the Lord turned around and
he said, who touched me? And the disciples said, Lord,
the crowd is thronging you. You know, they are saying, the
crowd is, the whole crowd's touching you. What do you mean, who's
touched me? There was a woman who touched
him that was made whole, but there were many more who touched
him that were not made whole. But there's not one time that
our Lord touched someone that he touched that was not made
whole. Let's look at some scripture. Back here in Mark chapter 1,
and I gave you a hint of this last week. In Mark chapter 1, let me find
my place. The Lord touched Peter's mother-in-law. Remember, she was sick with a
fever. It says in verse 30, But Simon's wife's mother lay sick
of a fever, and now they tell him of her, and he came and took
her by the hand, and another, I think it's in Matthew, says
he touched her hand. He touched her. And he lifted
her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered
unto them. Now, I want us to see this as we go through these.
I want us to see the spiritual application of these things.
Not just the fact that he can take away a fever, or he can
give somebody eyesight, or enable someone to hear, but what these
actually mean, what they mean to us. What's he showing us here? Well, first of all, he touched
her, and after that, she ministered unto them. Without his touch, our service is useless. It's useless. It's done with
the wrong motive, wrong heart, But when He touches, if the Lord
touches us by His power, by His grace, He enables us to be servants,
true servants, and to serve Him willingly, lovingly. She served Him lovingly. When
she rose up from that bed and went into the kitchen and started
serving them, now she had just been sick. She wasn't going to
sit down and let them serve her. She said, no. I'm serving. I've just received a great blessing.
The Lord just healed me. Saved me. I'm serving. I tell you, until then, the wrong
attitude will be there. It'll be there. Boy, when He
touches us, we serve with love, joy. It's a labor of love. It's what Paul calls it, a labor
of love. And then all diseases and all those possessed with
devils, when he touched them, they were healed. Without his
touch, without his touch, first of all, without his power, the
power of his touch, we are under the control of another, first
of all. We're under the control of another. And then when he
touches us, he removes our spiritual sicknesses and diseases. He removes all those things.
He removes them. Where do they go? Where do they go? I tell you
what, when He healed that woman with the issue of blood, when
He healed all these diseases, somehow He took them to Himself. Listen, Matthew 8, 17. It's basically
the same story where he healed all those possessed and all those
who had diseases. "...that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took
our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." Scripture says he
bore our sins in his body on the tree. He took them. When
He was made to be sin for us, He was made to be sin. He was
actually made to be sin for us. He took our infirmities, He took
our sins, He took our sicknesses, and He put them away spiritually. All of our spiritual diseases,
He put them away. Now look over in Matthew chapter 9. Now verse 27, And when Jesus
departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into
the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus saith unto
them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? And they said unto
him, Yes, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According
to your faith, Be it unto you. And their eyes were opened. And He straightly charged them
saying, see that no man knoweth. But look what they did. They
did. They do the same thing the leper did. But when they were
departed, spread abroad His fame in all that country. They won't
keep that to themselves. Not alone. Look over in Matthew chapter
20. Verse 30, And behold, two blind
men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.
And the multitude rebuked them, telling them to shut up. because
they should hold their peace. But they cried the more, saying,
Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. They recognized
him for who he is. They listened. They could see
him, even though they were blind. Our Lord said he came into the
world that they who see may see, may see not, and those who do
not see may see. Those Pharisees who claimed to
see couldn't see who he was. These two blind men, Their eyes,
I mean, blind as a bat, but they could see. They could see him
as he passed by. They could see him. This is spiritual
sight. We can't see. I've never seen
him with my physical eyes. Have you? I know you haven't.
I know you haven't. I've never seen him with these
eyes, yet I see him. I see him in his Word. I see
him in the message. And Jesus stood still. He's on
his way to the cross. He's going to die, but he stops. He stood still and called to
him and said, What will you that I do unto you? They said to him,
Lord, that our eyes may be opened. And Jesus had compassion on them
and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received
sight and they followed Him. You can't follow someone you
can't see. If you shut your eyes and try to follow me out of this
building, you can't do it. You'll be stumbling over everything.
But with your eyes open and you can see me, you can follow me. Our Lord by his touch, gives us spiritual
sight. You see him, don't you? He's singing that song. He is
real. To some people, he's just, he's
a story. He's a historical figure. You
know, it makes for a good story, but it doesn't make for a good
story to me. He's real. He's as real as you
sitting there and as me standing here. He gives us eyes to see. We don't see because we are more
intelligent, but because He's touched me. He's touched my eyes. He's touched my understanding.
I understand the gospel. I understand how God can be a
just God and a Savior. Do you understand that? Do you
see that? You ever said to someone, do
you see this? I want you to see this. He touched their eyes and they
were able to see it. How do you see men? How do you
see this world? Look over in Mark chapter 8. Look at verse 22, And he cometh
to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought
him to touch him. And he took the blind man by
the hand and led him out of the town. He got him away from the
crowd. And when he had spit on his eyes, You say, that's offensive. Would
you find that offensive? Spitting on your eyes? Somebody
spit on your eyes? In a minute we'll see where you spit on a
man's tongue. We are saved by an offensive gospel. You take
the offense out of the gospel and you don't have a gospel.
You don't have it. And he spit on this man's eyes.
And he put his hands upon him and asked him if he saw art.
And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. Well, he
still has a little distorted view of men, doesn't he? He's
never seen before. When he saw men, he was amazed. Absolutely amazed at them. I
see men as trees walking. After that, he let him see what
he thought he saw. Then he's going to see what he
sees. After that, he put his hands again upon his eyes and
made him look up and he said, and listen, and he was restored. And now what does he see? And
saw every man clearly. I see you for who you are. I see me for who and what I am. I see. I see the nature you and
I are born with. You and I are just alike. We're
just alike. I see the President of the United
States just like I see every other man. Sinful, fallen, depraved. Is that not so? No matter how high the office
or how low a man may be in life, we all are the same. Preach the message not too long
ago. There is no difference. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We will do whatever this flesh will do if
God lets us do it. You say, I wouldn't do that.
I bet you would. I bet you would. Given the right circumstance,
let God withdraw his hand. Just let him withdraw his hand
back a little bit. Just a little. Just a little. I see men clearly now. I see men clearly. This is the
reason why. I believe I could stand before
the president, I believe I can stand before the Congress, and
I believe I can stand before them and preach this gospel.
And I mean, I believe I can stand before them and preach it without
shaking. I could stand before college
professors, this room full of college professors, without my
knees trembling. Because I see men clearly. You're
where you are because God's put you there, fulfilling an office
and a purpose. And you got just as much, you're
just as wretched as I am. You put your pants on just like
I do. That's not looking down at anybody, that's seeing me
clearly. Seeing me clearly. Now look over in Matthew 17. His touch removes fear. It removes fear. And after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John, verse 1, and John his brother, and
bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured
before them. And his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter," nobody
even asked him a question. That's Peter for you. You don't
have to ask Peter a question. He's going to tell you anyway.
Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it's good for
us to be here. He's going to say something very
blasphemous, something very stupid. If thou wilt, let us make here,
if it's your will, let us build three tabernacles. One for Moses, that we can worship
him. And one for Elias, that we can
offer worship to him. And of course, one for the Lord. Putting them on equal footing
with Christ. putting them on equal footing
with Christ. And while he had spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which
said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear
him, worship him, he's the only one. Well, I have no doubt Peter
really felt the stupidity of what he just did. The power,
the enlightenment that came from that, when God spoke, the enlightenment.
If God speaks to you, I mean, if He speaks to you, if He speaks
to me, The enlightenment that comes from that. There's a whole
lot you can realize that fast. And Peter just realized. Well,
that was blasphemous. That was stupid. That was bad. And verse six, and when the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face and were sore, afraid, extremely,
extremely afraid. And Jesus came and touched them. They were not able to stand up. I mean, they were gripped with
a stifling fear. And he said, Arise, don't be
afraid. Jesus came and touched them. Our Lord is the only one who can remove There's
a right fear and there's a wrong fear. There's a right fear of
God, of respect and awe and love. Then there's a wrong fear. And
then there is the fear of judgment, of condemnation. I mean, there
is a fear of that, and that's right. It's so. By His touch, He removes that
fear. You ever do something just plumb
stupid? You do think, you say, I shouldn't have done that. I
shouldn't have said that. I wish I had. You can't take
it back. You can't undo what you do. And
you feel so bad. And you're gripped with fear. And you hear the gospel. You hear
the gospel. You hear the good news of the
gospel. And you're relieved. You're relieved. That's Christ
touching you. That's him touching you. By his touch, fear is removed. Fear is removed. It removes our
fear of condemnation and gives us a right fear of
God. Now turn to Mark chapter 7. I'll wind this down. Mark chapter 7, look in verse
31. And again, departing from the
coast of Tyre, Sidon, he came into the Sea of Galilee through
the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that
was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. You know, if you're
deaf, you can't hear how words are pronounced, and you end up
with a speech problem. And they beseech him to put his
hand upon him. And he took him aside from the
multitude and put his fingers in his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed, and said unto him, Ephrathah, that is, being open. And straightway
his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed,
and he spake plain." You know what that means? He spake
plain. It means he spake rightly. Rightly. We hear the gospel. Why is it
you hear the gospel and others don't? He's touched you. He's touched your ears. He's
given you spiritual hearing. We hear his call. We hear the
shepherd's voice. And by his touch, we sing his
praises. He loosens our tongue. Not just
this one in our mouth, but I'm talking about the spiritual tongue
of that new man. We preach his gospel in power
and we preach it rightly, rightly. We say right things. And all that comes from the power
of his touch. He put his fingers in that man's
ears, spit and touched his tongue. That man could hear. He could
hear. Can you hear? Can you hear the
gospel? Can you hear it? If you can, you will speak plainly. You will speak rightly. And as soon as he had spoken,
Immediately back here in verse 42, back in Mark chapter 1, verse
42. And I'll wind this down. And as soon as he'd spoken, immediately
the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. He was cleansed. Healing was complete. It was
complete. He was made whole. The Lord touched
him. Touched him. And He charged him
forthwith and sent him away and said to him, See that you tell
no man, because his hour had not yet come. He was going to
the cross. But go thy way, show yourself
to the priest, because the law was still in effect. He had not
died yet. You offered for cleansing those saints which Moses commanded
for testimony unto them. But he went out. You can't keep
this quiet. You don't have to prod people
into going out and testifying and witnessing Christ. If he's
done something for them, you don't have to. If he hasn't done
anything for them, they don't need to. They better shut up,
because they're going to have an impediment in their speech.
They're going to lie on God. But he went out and he began
to publish it and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus
could no more openly enter into the city, but he was without
in desert places. And that came to him from every
corner. You can't keep it quiet. He has no secret disciples. That
man was eager to tell about Him. Eager to tell about Him. And
I tell you this, if He's touched you, if He's touched you, you
tell about Him. You confess Him in baptism if
He's touched you. With the power of a touch. Don't
underestimate it.