I titled this message, Christ, Our Greatest Need. My greatest need and your greatest
need truly is the Lord Jesus Christ. Since I have believed
the gospel, whatever straight I find myself
in, I've always found that an inner peace, that everything's
going to be alright if I have Him. If I have Him, it's going
to turn out alright. And whatever I lose, it'll be
gained. Paul said, I count everything as loss. I want to come to that. I want to come to where I count
everything as loss. I know we do in our heads. And I know as believers we do,
but there's a sense in which when life rolls on and experience
and tasting more and more of the grace of God, that that becomes
more real. That becomes more when you really, really can step
back and count all these earthly things as loss. That Christ is
everything. I have Him. I have all I need. If I have Him, I have God. I have the living God. If I have
Him, I have righteousness. If I have Him, I have cleansing
through His blood. If I have Him, I have the riches
of God Almighty. We can't even begin to comprehend
that with these little minds. Can't do it. Cannot do it. But He's our greatest need. Our
Lord had just preached the greatest sermon ever preached. The Lord
himself came into this world and preached the gospel of grace,
gave these precepts, these instructions, truths, and he spoke it with authority.
And every man speaks like this man. He speaks with authority.
He doesn't speak like the scribes. This man speaks with authority.
Well, now he's going to demonstrate his power. He spoke the Word
with authority. Now he's going to demonstrate
his power to heal with authority. The miracles that our Lord performed
were proofs of His deity. Proofs of His Sonship. Proved this is the Messiah. This is the Son of God. This
is the One. No man ever performed miracles
like this. No man. Now when our Lord comes
down from the mountain, great multitudes follow Him. After preaching, one writer said
this, after preaching the doctrine of grace, He's now going to perform
the work of grace. I thought that was a good statement.
After preaching the gospel of grace, now He's going to perform
the work of grace. And it says in verse 2, Behold,
give attention to this. Not that the multitudes were
following Him. It's not His popularity. It says,
Behold, look how popular He became, no, a leper. Behold, be astonished
and be encouraged. I find this encouraging that
a leper, an outcast, one whom the law said to stay away, he
was an outcast, was allowed into his presence, was allowed to
approach him, was allowed to speak to the Lord of Glory. A leper came to him. A diseased
man. A wretched, diseased man. And I thought a lonely man. If
there was anything that struck me when I read this, it was how
lonely this man was. He had to be separated from everybody.
Put him over there in the leper colony. Separated from his family. Separated from everybody. Lonely
man. A hopeless man. Hopeless. Everyone whom God saves, He does. He brings them to this place
of being hopeless. Because the only hope we have
is Christ. We have to lose hope in everything else. Absolutely
everything else we have to lose hope in, except Him. Hopeless
man. Helpless man. A disease that
could not be cured. How many billions of years spent
on trying to find a cure for this disease and that disease,
heart trouble or cancer? The only cure is to cure sin.
If you find a cure for one thing, another thing crops up. The only real cure is Christ. He's the great physician. He's
the balm of Gilead. He's the real cure. But here's
a man whom no one wanted to be with. Can you imagine how lonely
that was? No one wanted to touch him for
fear of being unclean. Because if anyone touched him,
the law declared them to be unclean. How would you like to walk around
all the time with this feeling, this knowledge of constant unclean? Everybody moves out of the way.
When you walk by, wouldn't that be, how would that feel? How
would that affect you? Everyone just gets out of the
way when you come walking by. Can you imagine, I thought about
this last night, can you imagine what it would feel like not to
be able to touch another human being, to have the touch of another
human, never to be hugged by those whom you love. Never to
be able to hug them. Your leper. Leper. Unclean. An outcast. Cast out. How lonely this man must have
felt in his disease. And this man always had to live
among the unclean. Always had to live among the
lepers. That's where he had to live.
In that leper colony. Always having to live among the
stench of death. That's how we live by nature.
We don't know it until God gives us life. He gives us understanding. He gives us sight. Then you know
where you live. And then you know, you truly
know who and what you are. Until then it's just a sermon. Just another sermon. But when
God makes it real, like this leper, you know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that you live among the dead. And you can smell the
stench of it. Can't you smell the deadness
of this world? When you go to work and you watch TV or whatever,
you can smell the stench of death all over this world. It just
reeks of it. But I know this. Here's good
news for sinners. The gospel's good news. That's
what it is. The gospel is good news. Our Lord is able. This one whom this leper came
to is able. And he believed it. He believed
it. He's able to save unto the uttermost
them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make
intercession for them. Our Lord's able. He's able to
save sinners. He's able to cleanse from sin.
He's able to cancel the power of sin. He's able to do that. Our Lord is able. No case so
hard that He cannot heal. His power is without limit. What good news that is. His power
is without limit. No stain. No stain. There are some people whom the
Lord has saved. who have been allowed to go into
some vile, open sin. But there's no stain so deep
that his blood can't wash it away. It cannot wash it away. It can wash away the vilest of
stains, the vilest of sins. It can wash it away. Now this poor leper, putrefied flesh that he had to
live in every day, this disease, this sickness, his hopelessness, his helplessness,
his loneliness, he had to live with this every day. Every day. The Lord brought him to this
place. That leprosy came upon him. He
was brought into such a condition. for this very hour, God would
be glorified and the sinner saved. And here's what happened. This
poor leper, I don't know whether he stood off at a distance and
heard our Lord speak the Sermon on the Mount, or he'd heard Him
somewhere else, or if he'd just heard of Him. I don't know. But
I know this, he knew who he was, and he knew he needed Him. And
he knew he could heal him if he will. And he sought the Lord. This leopard sought the Lord
out. And he worshipped Him, he said. He worshipped Him. He didn't
question Him. He didn't question the Lord at
all. He said, if you will, I know this. If you will, you can save
me. That's when God saves a man. That's the evidence that God
has saved a man. When he brings that woman or that man to the
place, he says, Lord, if you will, you can save me. You can. And it says here he worshipped
him. Over in Mark 1, verse 40, it says he came kneeling down. He knelt down. This leper knew
his place before the Lord and he took it in the dust. He knelt down right in the dust. He just knelt down before Him.
He acknowledged the Lord's sovereign right to Him. He acknowledged His Lordship.
He called Him Lord. He acknowledged that. That wasn't
just lip service. Previously, the Lord said, there
are going to be many who are going to say, Lord, Lord, and I'm not going to enter
in. This was not lip service. This was heart service. Heart
service is going on here. And He said, Lord, if you will,
You can cleanse me. You can cleanse me from this
leprosy. You're the only hope I have.
No one else can do it. Lord, you can cleanse me from
sin. You can save me from sin. You can save me from myself.
You can save me from the curse of the law. Lord, you can do
it if you will. You can do it if you will. He
acknowledged this. And he confessed his need of
healing. Lord, cleanse me. Lord, cleanse me. Cleanse me. This leopard knew this. He knew this. He knew it was
Christ or die. I was going to have Mike to sing
a song this morning, but he's still in the hospital. There's a song that I've had
him to sing over the years every time I get a chance. Give me
Christ or else I die. Give me Christ. And that's this
leper. That's the heart of this leper. That's his very heart. He knew
that it was Christ or die. He knew that Christ would give
him life. That he could restore him. Christ can restore. He can
save and give life and forgiveness. And he came to our Lord. He came
to him just as he was. Just as he was. We sing that
song, Just As I Am. I don't believe this man tried
to clean up. He came as a leper. As a diseased,
outcast leper. He came as he was. And that's
how you come to Christ. Sinners come to Christ as they
are. In need of mercy beggars. Mercy
beggars. And he worshiped him in his heart.
This came from his heart. And he came with the heart. This leper had been stripped.
The Lord stripped him of everything but his need of Christ. Oh, that
the Lord would strip us of everything but our need of Him. Our need of Him. Most people
don't need Christ. They're looking for benefits.
The multitude. There's a multitude. He says
you're a great multitude. Did any of them come out from
that multitude? Did any of them come to Him?
Did any of them bow down before Him? Of that great multitude?
No, a leper did. A leper that wasn't allowed in
the multitude. He came. Most people just followed
him for the benefits. He said, you follow me. One time
he said, you're following me because you ate the loaves and
the fishes. You had a free lunch. That's why you're following me. People are benefit driven. But
this leper, like sinners in need of mercy, they're after him. Paul said, oh, I might know him.
He counted everything. as laws for the excellency of
the knowledge of Him, to know Him. And I want you to notice
the first thing this leper recognized was his lordship and his right,
his sovereign right to do as he will with Him. Lord, you can
do with me as you will. That's what he's saying. You
can leave me alone or you can save me. Now that man is taught of God. That man has experienced something. You can save me or you can leave
me alone, whichever you, it's your royal prerogative to do
it, whichever. And this is when I think salvation
begins, at least with the outward signs of it anyway. Salvation
begins when a person realizes that he has no right to mercy.
I have no right to the cleansing I'm asking for. I'm a beggar.
I'm a beggar. We've had several beggars come
down here since we've been down here. They have no right to the
children's bread. They have no right to it. If
we give it to them, we give it to them. They don't come down
here and say, look, it's Sunday and it's payday. Give me. Off his payday, they'd earned
it. We don't earn mercy. We do not earn grace. It's given.
It's given. Salvation begins when we realize
we have no right to what we're asking for. No right. Mercy and grace are not rights,
they're gifts. But this leper, he threw himself
at the mercy of the Lord. The Lord delights to show mercy.
He delights to show mercy. And he threw himself at the mercy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't think of anyone better
to do that than him. I wouldn't want to be throwing
myself at the mercy of men. But his mercy is infinite. And he delights to show mercy
to the worst of men. To the worst of women. He delights
to show mercy. Christ is the only one who can
save this leper from his leprosy. He's the only one who can save
a sinner from his sins. You know, you hear that. You
hear that growing up. They're hearing that in the Sunday
school class. As little kids, they hear that.
But one day they hear it. One day they need it. One day
it means something. One day it's not just sitting
and it's time to go to church and we're hearing a sermon and that's
what part of the sermon is. No. One day it becomes part of them.
I need it. My soul. That's when it's real. When I need it. When I need Him. And it's very real. It's very
real. Christ is God incarnate. He can save from sin. He's not
some faith healer. Oh, He's God incarnate. That's who He is. He can truly
forgive sin and make me whole. He can do that. Now, why did
this leper come to Christ? He believed. He didn't come just
to see if he could do something. He believed he could do something.
He believed. With all his heart. I don't believe
there was a doubt in this man's mind. With all his heart, he
believed the Lord could save him. He believed that Christ
could save him. That's when a sinner will come
to Christ. That's when a bona fide, John
Bunyan called them Jerusalem sinners. That's when they will
come to Christ. When he believes that Christ
can do something for them. Christ can save him from his
sins. God saves sinners. One man said
this one time, I've never forgotten it. God saves sinners, not theologians. He saves sinners. I don't have
to know all this doctrine. I have to know Him who saves
from sin. And it's through Him I learn
the doctrines. It's through Him I learn what election truly is.
It's through Him that I learned what particular redemption truly
means. It's through Him that you learn. Now notice here, when
He came to our Lord, this diseased, outcast, leprous man. He's called a leper. He's tagged
with that name. He's a leper. Our Lord put forth
His hand. You know what I see there? Purpose. Purpose. He purposely put forth his hand
and laid it, touched that leopard, wasn't it? Out of that great
multitude, there was not one person who would have touched
that man. There was not one person who
wanted to come within fifty feet of that man. But our Lord. Our Lord, He says, put forth
His hand and touched it. Never was he ever so touched
by grace and mercy and love as he was that day. Put forth his hand and he touched
this unclean man. You ever notice these fake faith
healers, what they call them? They touch people who have got
blind eyes, supposedly, or a broken leg. Or a broken arm, they don't
touch disease. They don't want to get it on
them. I've never seen one of them touch
somebody that has a disease that's unclean. You don't want to get
around them. You might catch something. They
don't do that. You can't catch a broken leg,
see. Or a blind eye, you can't catch that. But our Lord reaches
out. And he touches this unclean,
putrefying, and I picture this man as being at his worst state. This man is, like I said, he
doesn't have a spot on his forehead or a little white spot on his
hand. This man has had this, and this
disease has eaten him up, and he is putrefying flesh. That's what he is. He's like
a running sore. And he comes to Christ. And Christ
doesn't put a pair of gloves on like a physician does and
touches you. No, He just takes His hand and
He touches you. He lays it on that putrefying
flesh and touches you. He's not afraid to touch sinners
like me and you. If we could truly see ourselves
as we are in God's sight, as we are, I believe we'd throw
up. I believe we would. If God would give us a real glimpse,
I mean, He gives us an understanding of it when He saves. When He
saved us, He gave us an understanding of sin. But to see it, to really
see it as God sees it, we couldn't handle it. We could not handle
it. And our Lord is not afraid to
be touched by sinners. Not afraid to be touched by sinners. He loves sinners. Like you and me. He embraces sinners. Hugs up
to them. You wouldn't hug that leper.
No, you wouldn't. If he walked in here And his
putrefying flesh, I don't believe a one of us, including me, I
don't believe a one of us would have walked over and hurt him.
I don't believe so. But he did. He did. He loves sinners. Loves them. And you know, here's a mystery.
Here's a mystery. If anyone touched that leper,
they were considered unclean. But our Lord was able to do it
and remain clean. But here's the mystery, listen. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin. Only God can do that. He was
truly, I believe He was truly, somehow, I don't know how, only
God knows how, But He was truly made to be sin, yet He knew no
sin. Only God can do that. And I believe
Him. I believe Him. Our Lord touched this leper. He never turns away those who
need Him. Never does. From time to time we have to
turn away a beggar because they abuse it. But he's never turned away a
beggar. Not a mercy beggar. Not one who
really needs him. He's never turned away a man
or a woman who's ever needed him. Ever. He's never turned
him away. And not only did he touch him,
He spoke to him. Oh, that the Lord would speak
to our hearts this morning in grace, mercy, love, kindness. He said to that one woman, daughter,
be a good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Call
her a daughter. Call her His daughter. Daughter,
be a good cheer. He spoke to him. I tell you what,
our Lord doesn't have to say much, does He? Because what He
says, He means. I will. Be thou clean. Lord, if you will, you can save
me. You can cleanse me. You can make
me clean. You can make me whole. And He just says, I will. Be
thou clean. The Scripture says, where the
word of a king is, there's power. Power went with that word. If God sends the gospel to me
and to you, to any other sinner, if He sends it in power, you'll
be clean. You'll be made whole. You'll
be saved. You'll be saved. And He said,
I will be thou clean. Power went forth with that spoken
word. That's what I want when I'm preaching. I want power to
go forth with the word. I can't give it power. I can
speak loud, and I can put on a shuffle. I can get a little
theatrical, and I can make you... I was watching a guy this morning
a little bit, and I mean, it was just a show. Loud speaking. I said, it's just theatrics. That's all it is. That's not
power. That's not power. Was it Elijah
in the cave? And he heard there was a whirlwind.
The Lord was not in the whirlwind. Then there was fire. The Lord
was not in the fire. But then he heard a still, small
voice. And that was the Lord's voice. And that still, small,
quiet voice spoke volumes and spoke with power. You see, power
is not how loud you speak. It's the one speaking it. My loud speaking doesn't give
anything to it. Oh, I might get you a little
revved up, and one might get a little emotional here, and
might go away and say, well, wasn't that a good service? Not
that you didn't hear him, it wasn't. If he does not speak, it was
not a good service. He didn't shout. He didn't have to shout and holler
and scream. He just said, I will. Be thou
clean. And he was clean. He was clean. It says, and immediately,
immediately, his leprosy was cleansed. You know,
when he healed the lame, they didn't limp. When he healed the
blind, they had 20-20 vision. They were not partial healers. When he cleansed this man, it
says immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Over
in Luke 5, verse 12, it says it departed from him. Oh, I tell
you, when our Lord saves, He saves immediately. Oh, we grow
in grace and we grow in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, but
when He saves, it's immediate. When He cleanses us from sin,
it's immediate. Immediate. But now listen, this man, this
leper, was not only pronounced clean, our Lord didn't say, well,
I'll pronounce you clean. He was made clean. He was literally
made clean. He didn't ask the Lord to pronounce
him clean. He didn't say, Lord, tell the
multitude here I'm clean. Because you're not. You're not
clean. Listen, you are not clean until
the Lord makes you clean. He wasn't just pronounced clean,
he was made clean. Salvation. Now listen, get a
hold of this. Salvation is more than God pronouncing me to be
clean, declaring me to be clean. It's making me clean. It's making
us clean in Christ. It's possessing that righteousness
that's imputed. It's possessing it. And to possess
it, you know what you possess? Christ. He is that righteousness. He is that righteousness. Listen
here to what he tells him. After he does this, he says,
tell no man. Tell no man. Why did our Lord
tell him to tell no man? Well, first of all, because he
made himself of no reputation. He was not after a reputation
for healing bodily diseases. He was not after a reputation
for men. He came to do his Father's will.
He was on a mission. He was about his Father's business.
He was not trying to just get a following He came to save. He came to save us. He said,
tell no man. Tell no man. Not yet. Not yet. As he said in one place,
my hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. So
don't tell anybody yet. Here's what I want you to do.
Show thyself to the priest. He's going to honor the law.
You see, the law is still standing. He's going to honor the law.
Show thyself to the priest. And it may be, it may be one
of the reasons that he said, tell no man, because that priest
found out that he healed him. He'd probably say, you're not
claiming. Because they hated him. They hated the Lord Jesus
Christ. The priesthood there, the Pharisees, that whole religion
hated him. He said, don't tell any man. You just go show yourself to
him. And then he'll pronounce you clean. But he's going to
honor the law. He's going to honor the law.
The law is still in effect. And our Lord's not going to break
the law, go around the law. He's going to honor the law.
And he says here, show yourself to the priest. If Christ has made us clean,
we have nothing to be afraid of, do we? We don't have to be
afraid of being examined. Go show yourself to the priest.
You have nothing to hide. Nothing to hide. We do not have
to be afraid of being examined by the law in Christ. In Christ
we're old. In Christ we're righteous. We
don't have to be afraid of it. You know, when that leper, when he
went before the priest, you know what he had to do? He had to
totally strip down. He had to strip down naked. And
that priest would look him all over and examine him from head
to foot and see if there was one spot of leprosy. And then when that leprosy was
not found, then he would be declared clean. I tell you this, the law has
examined us from head to foot. And in Christ, we are clean. declared clean and made clean. Nothing that our Lord does in
saving a sinner is contrary to the law. Let the law examine. Let it examine. There'll be no
spot or wrinkle found. Not at all. Our Lord was not
afraid of that leper. Showing himself to the priest.
Go show yourself to the priest. But he'll declare you clean.
Because you are. I made you clean. I made you
clean. And then he says, and I'll close
with this. Then he says, offer the gift. Offer the gift. Let me go back here. And Jesus
said unto him, See thou tell no man, but go thy way, show
thyself to the priest, And offer the gift that Moses commanded
for a testimony unto them. Now listen. He said offer the
gift as what? A testimony. Not as a cause. Don't offer the gift as a cause
of your cleansing. As a testimony to them. The testimony. The gift. The gift that we offer
this morning. as a testimony to the grace of
God, to the mercy of God, to the love of God. The gift that
we offer is this, praise and thanksgiving. We've gathered
in here together and we've offered this morning the gifts of praise
and thanksgiving as a testimony, not as a call, as a testimony
of the grace of God to us in Christ. That's what we've done. And I say with that letter, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. That's my hope. My hope is Christ. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him. He's my hope. He's my cleansing. He's my righteousness. He's everything
I need. Christ is my greatest need. Obeisances.