Open your Bibles with me this
evening to Matthew chapter 8. I want to look at the first three
verses of Matthew chapter 8 this evening. Verse 1, when he was come down
from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there
came a leper, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand,
and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. In verse 1, the first thing we
read says what he was come down when he came down. Now, in the
preceding chapters, our Lord preached the Sermon on the Mount,
and now he comes down from that mountain. But knowing that our
Lord is about to show mercy to a sinner, I can't help but call
attention to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came down. He had to come down. Almighty
God robed Himself in human flesh, and He came down. Back in Exodus
4, God said to Moses, I have come down to deliver them. Turn with me to a few scriptures.
Over in Philippians 2, beginning at verse 5, Paul says, Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.
even the death of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ came down. Turn to John chapter 6. John 6 verse 38. These are the words of our Lord Himself.
He said, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him that sent me." He came down. He came down
from glory. He came down to do His Father's
will. He came down to suffer and die in the place of His people. He came down to deliver His people.
And right here we read that the Lord Jesus Christ, when He came
down from the mountain, when He came down. And we read that
great multitudes followed Him. As our Lord went about healing
the sick, great multitudes would follow after Him. But in verse
2, we read here of a particular man, a particular man who came
to our Lord. Verse 2, it says, And behold,
there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. Behold, Matthew calls our attention
to the following verse. He calls our attention to this
miracle, this miracle of our Lord. healing a leper. It's recorded
in three of the Gospels. Now, all of God's Word we can learn
from, but I can't help but think that this is mentioned three
times. It's well worth our time to read
these words and to be taught from these scriptures. Three
times he's referred to. And he says, Behold, there came
a leper. We don't know his name. But we know he's a leper. There
came a leper. We don't know his name, but our
Lord knows his name. He came on this particular day
to save this leper. And he's a leper. This disease
was considered a mark of divine displeasure. Remember Elisha's
servant Gehazi. Elisha was offered that gift
from Naaman after he was healed. Elisha wouldn't take it, but
Gehazi chased after him and he took that gift. We know that
in the end, he took that gift and he hid it. He ended up taking
that leprosy that Naaman was healed of. Or Kinyazai, when
he went into the temple to burn incense. To do that, it was reserved
for the priest and leprosy. said leprosy covered his entire
body and he was cast out of the temple. The Jews believed that
it was unlawful to even try to heal a man of leprosy. Only God
could heal him. Turn to 2 Kings 5. We see this
in 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5, beginning with verse
5. And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I'll send a letter
unto the king of Israel. And he departed and took with
him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and
ten changes of raiment. Look here, he brought this letter
to the king. Now, when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I
have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest
recover him of his leprosy." And it came to pass when the
king of Israel read the letter that he rent his clothes and
he said, am I God to kill and make alive that this man does
send me to recover a man of his leprosy? I can't raise the dead. I can't heal the blind. I can't
recover a man from leprosy. He seeks a quarrel against me.
He knows, even as powerful as the king is, he knows I can't
do this thing. And it came to pass, when he
read the letter, he ran his clothes, and he said, Am I God to kill
and make alive? This man does send to me to recover a man from
his leprosy. Wherefore, I consider, I pray you, see how he seeketh
a quarrel against me. He knows I cannot do these things.
Leprosy is a picture of sin. Listen to what the old writer
said of leprosy, and I have edited some of this, but it says the
leper's voice is hoarse. Comes rather through the nose
than through the mouth. The face resembles a coal half-burned. The hair is short and stiff,
and if by chance it's plucked out, the skin will come with
it. And if it does grow back, it'll grow white or gray. The
eyes are red and inflamed, they shine like those of a cat, the
ears swollen and red, eaten with ulcers toward the bottom, the
nose sunk because of the rotting of the cartilage, the tongue
dry and black, swollen, the skin covered with ulcers that die
and revive on each other, or with white spots or scales like
a fish, rough and insensible and at last The nose and the
fingers and the toes, they just fall off entirely. Think now
what a miserable, deplorable object that this man is. And
he's full of it. He's full of leprosy. Between
the disease and sin, there's a very great likeness. What leprosy
is to the body, sin is to the soul. And only God can pardon
the sinner. Only the blood of Jesus Christ
can cleanse the sinner. And the whole of our nature,
by reason of sin, is leprosy before Almighty God. Now, if
we were to turn back in the Old Testament, you can read about
that ceremonial cleansing back in Leviticus. But the law, as
well as the priest, can do nothing for the leper. The only thing
the law and the priest can do is pronounced the leper clean
or unclean. They can't cure them. They can
just declare what it is. But the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ gives us the only possible cure in the person and work and
righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord willing,
let's look at this encounter this evening of our Lord Jesus
Christ showing mercy to this leper. Says, Behold, there came
a leper. And again, in Luke's account,
it says this leper was full of leprosy. He was full of sin. Over in Isaiah chapter one, you
know, I read that description and I could see the reaction
of some of that. That's a that's a terrible, terrible,
terrible description to think of that. And I think often we
think far too much of ourselves. we fail to see our sinfulness. Again, turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 1. Here in Isaiah 1, beginning in
verse 5, why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more
and more. The head is sick and the whole
heart faint. From the sole of the foot, even
unto the head, there is no sound of sinning. But wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, they've not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment." We are full of sin, completely
full of sin. Look at Ezekiel 16, verse 3. And thus saith the Lord God of
Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother a Hittite, and as for thy in the day that thou
wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed
in water to supple thee, thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled
at all. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou wast cast
out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, How
did he find this? I saw thee polluted in thine
own blood, and I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood,
live. Yea, I said unto thee, When thou
wast in thy blood, live. That's our condition. That's
our condition before God. Now back to our text. Back in
Matthew 8. Look at the rest of verse 2. This leper, this sinner. He came
to our Lord. Now, I ask you, if you had a
toothache, would you go to an eye doctor? That'd be silly,
wouldn't it? You'd go to a dentist, wouldn't
you? You'd go to someone who could help you with that problem,
with that toothache. This leper, he didn't put a cross
around his neck. He didn't come to an idol. He
came to the one who could heal. He came to the one who is mighty
to save. He came to the one whose blood
can cleanse us from all sin. He came to the one who could
heal him from his sin, and he worshipped him. And he said,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He worshipped
him. Something had been revealed to
this leper about who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Turn with me
to John 6, 38 again. Beginning in verse 38, he says,
Our Lord speaking here, he says, For I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." The Jews then murmured at him because he said,
I am the bread of life which came down from They said, in
verse 42, they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How is it then that he said,
I came down from heaven? You know, when Simeon saw our
Lord, even as that infant, he looked at him and he said, Mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. He's seen more than just that
child. But those Jews, Those Jews, they
saw a man. They saw, listen to what they
did. They saw Christ. Christ stood
there before them. But what did they say? Did they
worship Him? Did they fall down on their feet
and worship Him? No. They said, this is Jesus. This
is the carpenter's son. He's just like us. He just lives
down the street from us. And that's the Jesus that's preached
in most places today. Jesus, the one who wants to save
you, but he can't unless you do something. Who did this leper see? Who did
he see? He saw the Lord Jesus Christ
and he worships him. He falls down at his feet and
worships him. He recognized him as one who
has power over sin. He's almighty. He's the Lord. What does God's word say? He
hath made him. This same Jesus, both Lord and
Christ. Over in Luke, we read that He
fell down on His face. He took His place in the dust.
He worshipped Him, knowing that the Lord could save Him. Just
as Abraham knew that the Lord could save his son Isaac, he
worshipped Him. Look back in Genesis 22. Genesis 22 and verse 3, And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young
men with him, and Isaac his son, and he claimed the wood for the
burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which
God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place afar off. Abraham said
to his young men, abide ye here with the ass. I and the lad will
go yonder and worship and come again to you. This leopard knew
the Lord and he worshipped him. He knew something of who he was.
He knew something of his condition. Back to our text, the leopard,
he said, Lord, if thou wilt, if thou wilt, You notice who
does the work here? If thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. He's sovereign. He has the right
to make me whole. He can pass me by or he can make
me whole. He's sovereign in salvation.
The Son quickeneth whom he will. Hath not the power over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor? This man knows two things. I
believe he knows two things for sure. One, I'm a leper. I'm a
leper. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior.
And number two, the Lord Jesus Christ is able to make him clean.
He's able to save him. And all he can do, all he can
do is fall at his feet. Again, this is not what is preached
in a majority of pulpits this day. They talk of a Savior who
wants to, but can. They talk of a Savior who needs
you to take the first step. They talk of a weak and helpless
Jesus. But that's not the Lord Jesus
Christ of God's Word. He's almighty to save. He's sovereign. Can you imagine this leper walking
up to our Lord Jesus Christ and saying, I have decided to let
you heal me? That's just ridiculous, isn't
it? I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. He's the Savior. He falls down
at his feet and he says, Lord, Master, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me whole. The priest could look at a man
and by the wall pronounce him clean or unclean. But pay attention
to what this leper says. Sometimes we read over these
things too quickly. He says, thou canst make me whole. Make me whole. You can make me
something. than I'm not. If you don't make
me something that I'm not, I'm not going to be anything else,
am I? You can make me something I'm
not. That great transaction wherein the Lord Jesus Christ was made
sin for his people. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made. We had to be made, made the righteousness
of God in him. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou
canst make me whole. Thou canst make me clean. First
John 1, 7, let me just read this to you. The blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now back to Matthew 8, verse
3. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will Be thou clean." And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. To touch a leper, to touch a
leper would make a man unclean. They had to, when they walked
around, shout unclean, unclean so the people would know to stay
away from them, not take a chance of touching them. But here we
see the divine power of our Lord Jesus Christ in healing with
a touch. He touched him. We see his power
over sin. He's the spotless Lamb of God.
And then he speaks the command. He says, I will be thou clean. Back in Matthew chapter 7, look
just at the end of Matthew 7, 28, beginning there in verse Verse 28 of Matthew 7, it came
to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were
astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. The Jews, it says they were astonished
at his doctrine. Well, why were they astonished?
Because he taught them as one with authority. This is no ordinary
man. He's the King of Kings. He's
the Lord of Lords. Man speaks in its empty words,
but when God speaks, He speaks in power and authority. Turn
back to Genesis, Genesis 1. Genesis chapter 1. Here we read, God created the
heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there
be light, and there was light. We can go through the whole creation
and see this same pattern. God spoke it, and it happened. Any chance he's going to speak
a command and it not happen? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Remember when King David sent
his servants to fetch Mephibosheth? Any chance they're going to come
back without him? Any chance Mephibosheth's going
to say, I'm not coming? No. No. When the king speaks,
he sits in a place of authority and he sits in a place of authority. Our generation doesn't know a
whole lot about authority. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
told Zacchaeus to come down from the tree, Zacchaeus came down,
didn't he? And we see that time and time
again throughout God's Word. When he speaks, it happens. Look at one more example. It's over in John chapter 11. John chapter 11. Verse 43, When our Lord had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Now think about this,
a dead man in the grave. Four days his body had been in
that grave to the point that Martha said he stinked. His body
had begun to decay. But this command comes from Almighty
God. And what happens? What happens? He says, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. The word of the king goes forth.
in power and authority and it will accomplish His purpose.
Now back to our text, Matthew 8. In verse 3, our Lord says, I
will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. God, I heard you preach from
this one time. And you said, this is what you said, he came
forth at once. He wasn't put on probation. He
wasn't put on probation. He was cleansed immediately.
He was cleansed right now. There wasn't a down payment made.
He was healed immediately. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now in these
verses, these first three verses, see three things. Three things. One, a seeking sinner. A seeking sinner. Are you a sinner?
Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. God's Word says,
seek ye the Lord while he may be found. What does this leper
say? Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. The entire work, it's all of
Him, isn't it? It's all of Him. Seek Him. Seek the Lord. Second,
a sovereign Savior. He says, if thou will, if thou
will. He's able. He's sovereign. He's
sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in providence.
He's sovereign in salvation. And third, a divine touch and
a divine command. He touched him and he said, I
will be thou clean. And immediately, immediately,
right that very moment, his leprosy was cleansed. Leprosy, sin, he
is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. All right. I pray the Lord would
make that a blessing.