Mark's gospel opens with these
words, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And the chapter from start to
finish takes us on a journey covering Christ's entrance into
the world and to what his gospel would bring. in delivering people,
in saving people, in healing people. We see the ministry of
John in the wilderness, who prepared the way for the coming of Christ.
We see how the people went out to John to be baptised of him,
knowing that they needed to turn from their sins, knowing that
they needed salvation. But John said to them that they
come if one mightier than I after me, the lachet of whose shoes
I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptised
you with water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost. Then we see how Christ comes
from Nazareth of Galilee unto John and when he's baptised of
John we read that as he came up out of the waters the heavens
opened and the spirit like a dove descended upon him and there
came a voice from heaven saying thou art my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. What a declaration from heaven
itself. of just who had come into this
world, God's Son. Then Christ is driven out into
the wilderness, where he's tempted of Satan for 40 days. The Son of God meets with his
adversary, his accuser, Satan, who tries to rip him to pieces. and fails, for he can find no
fault in him. And he cannot tempt him to turn
from God, from righteousness, or from the way, the path in
which he has come. Christ came into this world for
a reason. He came into this world to save
sinners. And not even Satan's temptation
in the wilderness for 40 days could prevent it. Then Christ
returns into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God and He comes unto those disciples, those fishermen, who straightway leave all and
follow Him. As they follow Him, they see
the great miracles which He performs. and they heard the great words
which he preaches. And the people as they hear him
were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that
had authority and not as the scribes. We read the reaction
amongst the people. As he went about preaching this
gospel, immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all
the region round about Galilee. And forthwith, when they would
come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon
and Andrew with James and John. Simon's wife's mother lay sick
of a fever and anon they tell Christ of her and he came and
took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever
left her and she ministered unto them and that even when the sun
did set they brought unto him all that were diseased and them
that were possessed with devils and all the city was gathered
together at the door and he healed many that were sick of diverse
diseases and cast out many devils and suffered not the devils to
speak because they knew him. What power this man had! What authority he had! And what
a picture these miracles are of the deliverance from sin that
is brought in by his gospel. From verse 35 we read the following. And in the morning, rising up
a great while before day, he went out and departed into a
solitary place and there prayed. And Simon, and they that were
with him, followed after him. And when they had found him,
they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said unto them,
Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also.
For therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogue
throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. And there came a
leopard to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and
saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And
Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched
him, and saith unto him, I will, be thou clean. And as soon as
he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and
he was cleansed. And Jesus straightly charged
him, and forthwith sent him away. And saith unto him, See thou
say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the
priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded,
for a testimony unto them. But he went out and began to
publish it much, and a blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that
Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without
in desert places. And they came to him from every
quarter. There came a leper to him, beseeching
him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion,
put forth his hand and touched him, and saith unto him, I will,
be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. Jesus, moved with compassion,
put forth his hand and touched him. Yes, here we see the end
for which Christ came. He came into the desert of this
world. We see the desert place, the
wilderness where John was. And the people came out unto
John. And then Christ came to where
John was. Then Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages in
Galilee. But in the end, because of the
people seeking him, both for good and for bad, he had to then
no more openly enter the city, but went back into the desert
places. And the people came unto him
again. He came into this world, as it were, into a desert place,
a dark place, a barren place, an evil place. He came into this
world of sin and darkness and rebellion, this world of sickness,
this world of lepers. He came into this world to save
sinners. to come unto lepers lost in the
darkness without hope and to touch them and make them clean. That's why He came. And when
He comes to these lepers, and when He comes unto those whom
He cleanses, whom He heals, whom He saves, They, broken, bruised,
lost, and without hope in self, cry out unto him, Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean. And when Jesus sees people like
this, sinners, the wretched, lepers, We read that he's moved
with compassion. With this particular leper, when
the leper cried out unto him, Jesus was moved with compassion. Moved with compassion. The sight
of this poor leper, the state he was in, and his desperate
cry unto the Lord to heal him, to cleanse him. A cry of faith. Because this leper says, if thou
wilt thou canst make me clean. He believed he could do it. A cry of faith. When Jesus sees
this leper crying out unto him, save me Lord. He is moved with
compassion. Moved with compassion. We read
of several places in the scriptures where Jesus is moved with compassion. What a thing to be moved with
compassion. How rare it is to see. How often
Do you encounter one who truly moves with compassion? Or one
that looks upon you in compassion? Or how often have you ever looked
upon another with compassion? With true compassion? Or when Jesus encountered this
leper and saw him in this state, and heard his cry, his cry of
faith. He was moved with compassion.
This emotion greatly affected him. He was filled with emotion. He was moved with compassion. The love he had for him, the
compassion he felt for him, moved him. It moved him to do something. It filled his being. He must
heal him. He was moved with compassion.
And sinner, should you ever be brought by the Lord in your circumstances
to the feet of Jesus Christ, should you ever be brought to
feel and know that before God you are a leper, unclean in your
flesh from head to toe, vile not to be approached by any because
such is your vileness your illness your disease that you could contaminate
them there's death in you death reigns in your members and death
will affect all that you touch should ever christ bring you
to feel your state should ever God bring you to know what you
are as a leper before him a lost fallen sinner who's full of sin
who can do no right and who because of sin is dying is dead in trespasses
and sins is condemned should God ever bring you to know your
state before him that you're lost And should ever God in the
gospel send Christ your way so that in that state Christ crosses
your path and you behold him by faith and know that he's your
only hope and having nothing left in yourself, having nothing
that could commend you before God, having no strength to change
yourself, to take away your leprosy, to wash yourself of your sin,
having no hope. You cry out unto Him, Lord if
thou wilt thou canst make me clean. Lord have mercy upon me
a sinner. If God ever brings you to that
place and causes his son to stand before you, then when his son
hears your cry for mercy, he will look upon you the way he
looked upon this leper. He will be moved with compassion. Moved with compassion. What a thing. for Christ to be
moved with compassion. What a thing that he was moved
with compassion for this leper in this account. And oh sinner,
should he ever come your way, what a thing if he was moved
with compassion towards you. How rarely we are moved in this
way, if ever. Very often we can be moved with
anger. How often people cross our path
and get in our way and do things we don't want them to do. How
often the circumstances of life go against us. How often we're
frustrated in our goals and our desires. How easily we're moved
with anger. Anger against others. Anger against
our circumstances. Anger against the world, the
government, everything around us. Anger against God. How often we move with anger.
How often we move with impatience. We won't wait, we can't wait. We don't wait. How often we move
with frustration. This doesn't happen the way we
want it to, when we want it to. How often we're moved with greed
and desire and covetousness. We want this. And because we're
frustrated in gaining this we're filled with anger. How often
we're moved with jealousy. Jealous of those we perceive
to be better off than us, who have things we want, who are
favoured in a way we're not favoured. How jealous we become. How often
we're moved with pride and arrogance. You may say, oh yes, I know what
it is to be moved with those things, but I feel I've turned
aside from them. I'm seeking God. I'm reading
the Bible. I'm trying to walk a right. But we're seeking God on our
terms, in our way, with our works and our own righteousness. We're
coming under him, hoping he'll be pleased with something we
do or something we are. and how as a consequence we're
moved with pride. There's something good in us.
Something that sets us apart from others. Something that should
merit God's blessing. So we've turned from these great
sins. Oh, we try to control our anger. Oh, we've turned from
greed for the world's riches. Oh, we're not seeking this and
seeking that. Oh, we're seeking God. But by our works, how proud we
can become. We're moved. But how often are
we moved with compassion? Yes, people can be moved with
love, but so much of what the world calls love is merely desire
and lust. It's not true compassion. We
love those who can bring us something. We love because of what we might
gain, but we don't look upon a leper, someone to be avoided. someone to be fled from. We don't
look upon those who are unlovely, vile, with compassion. Not only was Christ moved with
compassion here, but he was moved with compassion for a leper. And when Christ is moved with
compassion for his people, It is a compassion set upon those
who are lepers, sinners, dead corpses before a holy God, and
those who've gone astray, who've rebelled against Him, and who
hate Him. He's moved with compassion for
those who in their fallen sinful state have hated him. Has he ever moved with compassion
for you? What are you? Are you a leper? Have you gone astray? Are you
full of sin? Have you turned to your own way?
Have you perhaps sought to attain unto God's blessing because of
something you do. If you have or if you are, may
God show you what you are. That you're not as righteous
as you think. That nothing that you have done
is worthy of God's blessing. That in fact you are a leper. When Christ looked upon this
man, he was moved with compassion. Compassion, true compassion,
is something which is so very foreign to the fallen sinner's
heart. We only really know compassion. We only really know love when
we come to know the love of Jesus Christ. And if we come to know
His love and love Him in return, we will be able to say that we've
loved Him because He first loved us. We've loved Him because He
first loved us. Yes, He was moved with compassion. The sight of this man, seeing
his state and hearing his cry for help, And in that Christ,
seeing his faith and belief that Christ could help him, moved
Christ. But it moved him with compassion,
with love. It drew out the love of Christ
for this lost sinner. And if you're brought into the
same place as this leper, and filled in the same state as him,
and cry out unto God for mercy in the same way as him, the movement
that you will see in Christ towards you will be a movement of love. You'll see His love. You'll feel
His love. You'll hear His love. You'll
hear His love in the Gospel. And you'll come to know the one
who loved his own, loved his people, and loves his people
with an everlasting love. The compassion which Christ had
for this leper was a compassion he had for him before ever this
leper came into this world. Before ever he was born. Before
ever he found himself in this place. Christ's love is everlasting. He loved his own before the world
was brought into being. He loved his own before he spake
and the world was created. He loved his own before man was
put upon the earth. He loved his own before the generations
were born. He loved his own before each
of them came into the world. He loved his own before they
went astray. from the womb speaking lies. He loved his own before they
took their fists and shook them up at heaven. He loved his own
before they fell into wretchedness and sin and wasted away their
living on wanton living, wasted away their inheritance on wanted
living, before they went away as prodigal sons. He loved his
own. whilst they hated God. Whilst
they took everything from God's hand and used it for their own
wretched ends. God has placed us here in this
world. He's given us life. He's given
us riches. He's given us food and water.
He's given us homes above our head. He's given us so many things. And what have we done with them?
You have so much. And what have you done with it?
Every day you wake up full of life. Full of death. But the life you
have, the natural life you have, what have you done with it? What
are you going to do with it this day? What are you going to do
with it this week? Are your thoughts and intentions
to use the life, the energy, the strength, the riches God
has given you for His glory, for His worship, for the furtherance
of the Kingdom of God, is that your intent? And if it is, do
you intend to do so in your own strength, by your own might,
for His glory or for your glory? How many there are who think
they serve God, who are zealous for Him, who will come before
Him and say, Lord, Lord, we did this in Thy name and that in
Thy name. And He will say, depart from
me, ye worker of iniquity. I never knew you. You took my
name. like you took everything else
I gave you and you went forth in my name using my word using
my scriptures using the gospel and the truth for your own end
and your own glory not only do we as sinners take our natural
life and the natural health and riches we have in this world
and use it to our own ends but people do it in religion they're
thieves and robbers they're like the highlands that have come
into the flock of God come into the sheepfold and they're thieves
and robbers and they take all that is of God all that is religious
and they use it for their own ends you say I'm not like the
world I'm not seeking the world I'm seeking heaven and I'm seeking
God but are you? Or are you taking all that comes
from heaven and taking the Word of God and the Scriptures? Are
you taking precious things from the synagogue, from the temple? Are you taking priestly things
and sacrificial things and holy things? Are you taking the Word
of God and using it for your own end and your own purpose
and your own glory? You say you serve God, you say
you worship God and yet really you come with your works of religion,
your filthy rags of self-righteousness and you come as a leper before
Almighty God and say, Lord, Lord, I've done this in thy name and
that in thy name, and it was all done for your glory, to the
end that God might say of you, well done, aren't you good? And that you might earn his blessing. What a leper you are. You don't
know it. What a thief and a robber you
are to take all that God has given you and use it for your
own ends, even in religion. What a fool you are to think
that you can come before God like that and be saved. You stand before God in that
day with that in your hands. your self-righteousness, having
taken all that he has given in the gospel, in the word of God,
in the scriptures and use it to your own ends and you won't
see him moved with compassion, you won't know a love, an everlasting
love set upon you, you won't hear his kind voice calling you
in you won't feel his touch of grace upon you you will not be
cleansed you will hear those words depart from me ye worker
of iniquity oh you're so religious oh you're so zealous oh you were
at every meeting oh you read the bible from cover to cover Oh, you were such a Pharisee.
And he never knew you. But this leper, when he stood
before him, when he knelt down before him, and when he cried
out to him, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean, this leper
felt Christ's touch. He knew Christ's compassion.
He knew what it was to be loved with an everlasting love. He
knew what it was to be saved. Yes, Christ was moved with compassion,
but his compassion is for sinners and lepers like this man. His compassion is distinctive. Great lie of many in religion. The great lie of many who will
come before God saying, Lord, Lord, I've done this in thy name
and that in thy name. The great deception they are
under is the idea that God's compassion, His love is for all. Because if it was for all, then
all would be saved. And if it was for all, then even
those that come before Him who've got it a bit wrong, who were
trying to seek God and trying to serve Him, but didn't quite
understand. Even they would come to know
His compassion. Even they would enter into the
kingdom. And He wouldn't say unto them,
depart from Me. But He does say unto them, depart
from Me. Because He loves His own. He
gave Himself for the sheep, not the goats. He has a people for
whom He came in this world. He came to save sinners, not
the righteous. He came to call the lost sheep
of Israel, not the goats. His compassion is distinctive.
In Romans 9 we read that he said, to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. Does he have compassion unto
you? He was moved with compassion
when this leper knelt before him. We read elsewhere of how
Christ was moved with compassion to others. We read of the multitudes
that followed him and were hungry and they had no food and they
fainted. And when he saw how the people
there fainted, he was moved with compassion. And he gave unto
the disciples. The disciples had some bread
and fishes and they broke them and they fed the multitude. And
miraculously Christ fed them all. And when he saw that multitude
he was moved with compassion. But that wasn't just any multitude. They won all men and women in
all the world. They were that people gathered
before him that day, and they were those who followed him,
and they were hungry, and they were thirsty, and they fainted,
they were weak, they were broken. And those are the ones whom Christ
looks on with compassion. Spiritually, that people had
a hunger and a thirst. They were a picture, a picture
of God's people, a picture of all God's people, all for whom
Christ came, who are brought by the hand of God to hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They weren't all, and He doesn't
love all. But these are hungry. There are many who aren't hungry,
they're full. They fed, they're strong, they're
full of their own strength, but not these. These are broken. They're broken by circumstance,
they're broken by time, they're broken by the Lord who brings
circumstances to bear upon them to show them their weakness,
to show them their sin. to show them their leprosy. They faint. They faint. God sends unto them a John in
the wilderness and they're brought to John in the wilderness and
he says unto them that there comeeth one mightier than
I after me to latch it off whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloose. They're brought in the wilderness
and there's a voice that cries unto them in the wilderness and
points them unto Christ. They faint. They faint because
they're hungry and thirsty, and they're hungry and thirsty for
righteousness. Because sinner, if you're brought
into this wilderness, and if God causes you to faint, He'll
do so because He'll teach you how full of sin you are, and
how you need righteousness. How you need righteousness to
stand before a holy God. How you need to be cleansed. He'll show you your leprosy.
He'll show you the stinking disease in your flesh. You'll look at
yourself and you'll see your sin and you'll see your wretchedness
and you'll see how unholy you are. He'll teach you through
John that you must repent and turn unto God. And you'll try
to turn. You'll try to turn from sinning.
You'll try to turn unto God. And you'll try to live as you
should. And you'll come to the law and find yourself wanted. And you'll come to even what
the Gospel says. You'll come to the Beatitudes.
You'll come to the exhortations. And you'll find yourself utterly
unable to live the way you know you should be. Because you're
barren. And all that you find in yourself
is the leprosy of sin within. And you grow more and more hungry. And more and more thirsty. You
want to seek God but you can't get to him. The closer you try
to get the more you sink down into hell. The nearer you think
you're going the further away you feel yourself to be. You're
lost and you know it. You're fainting. And then there
comes a day when you think you can't go on anymore. It's gone
on so long and you're so weak and you're so lost and your sins
have multiplied so greatly such that your guilt amount rises
up to the heavens. How can you possibly be saved? And with your last breath, Jesus
comes your way. With your last breath, The Spirit
of God comes before you and says, cry out for mercy. And when He looks upon you, when
Jesus stood before you, looks upon you in that state, broken
and bruised, broken hearted, hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, when He finds you in that state as a lost sinner,
a leper before Him, who cries out by faith as the Spirit of
God gives him some strength to cry. If thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. Have mercy upon me, Lord, a sinner. When he finds you there, he will
be moved with compassion because he came for such as you. He came for the poor in spirit. He came for those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness. He came for the broken hearted. He came for the weak. He came
for the needy. He came for the lost. He came
for lepers. He came for sinners who know
they're sinners, not just in their head, not just because
the Bible tells them, but they know it themselves, they feel
the wretchedness, they feel the depravity in their flesh, they
see inwardly the leprosy and its effect and its destruction. They feel the death and the stench
of death all around them and all inside them. And they know
they've got no hope. Accept Christ, touch them, if
thou wilt thou can make me whole. And when Christ finds a sinner
in this place, when he finds a leper before him in this place,
moved with compassion, he puts forth his hand and touches them
and says, unto them I will be thou clean. Jesus moved with compassion put
forth his hand and touched the leper and said unto him I will
be thou clean and as soon as he had spoken immediately the
leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. Oh how Christ's
compassion is displayed and it's displayed by touching the sinner
and cleansing him. Yes he displayed his compassion
by touching him. He wasn't just moved with compassion
but the compassion moved him to touch the sinner and cleanse
him. He saved him. This is why he
came. He healed the leper. He came
to those hungry men and women who fainted and He fed them and
He saved them. He has bread for the hungry and
water for the thirsty. He has cleansing for the unrighteous. He can touch a leper and make
him whole. O sinner, this day if that's
you, If you stand before Almighty God in that place, in that state,
absolutely lost, without hope in yourself, and He sees you,
if you see Him in the Gospel, you'll know that He's moved with
compassion. And in the Gospel you'll feel His touch and His
forgiveness. He'll display it. He'll give
you bread to eat, for He is the bread that came down from heaven.
He'll give you water to drink, for He is the water of life.
And He'll touch you and heal you, because He's the Great Physician. From whence does this healing
come? From whence does the bread come?
From Him. From He who is life itself. from He who is the Great Physician,
from He who is the Bread of Heaven, from He who came into this world
to save sinners, to save sinners like you and I. If we're brought
to know what we are, if we're made to feel that we are lepers
before Him, if we're brought by the Spirit of God who quickens
us from the dead to cry out in faith, if thou wilt, Lord, thou
canst make me clean. Yes, he came to save sinners.
He came to save those who were dead in sin. He who is life came
to save the dead. But how? How can he who is God,
how can he who is everlasting, how can he who is righteous,
how can he who is eternal life, how can he who has the words
of everlasting life heal the sick and make the dead to live? One way. One way. By laying down his own
life in the place of his dead people. One way. How is his compassion displayed? By coming into this sinful, dark
and evil world. Into this world of lepers. Into
this world of death. to be taken by dead sinners and
crucified upon a tree to lay down his life and to bear the
sins of his people and to be made sin in their place that
he might take away the judgment take away the wrath of God, appease
the justice of God and the demands of the law against sin, that
He might answer the judgment of the law against them, that
He might deliver them from its penalty and its grasp, that He
might cleanse them of their sin, that He might make them to be
righteous, that He might take away the guilt and the condemnation
and bring in its place righteousness, the very righteousness of God
in their place, that He might take the dead and make them to
live. That's the reason He came and
that's how He displays His compassion and that's where The movement
of his compassion took him. There's no greater compassion,
there's no greater love. As John says in his gospel, greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friend. Christ came to lay down his life
that dead sinners like this leper before him should be cleansed,
should be washed clean, should live, should be righteous, should
rise from the grave and dwell with Christ in an everlasting
kingdom. and everlasting heaven, and everlasting
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness for evermore. Did He come for
you? Did Christ, the Son of God, of
whom the Father said, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased, did He come from heaven's height into the darkness
of this world for you? Did He lay down His life that
you should live? And has He in the Gospel come
your way to where you dwell, to where you sit in your sin
as a leper? Has He come in the Gospel past
where you are unto you? and does he look upon you as
you look up unto him and cry out for mercy does he look upon
you and as is he moved with compassion if he is then he will reach out
and touch you he will put forth his hand and touch you and he
will say I will be thou clean and immediately you will be cleansed
Immediately your faith will be answered. Immediately you will
be saved and you will rise and follow him as he come to you
in the gospel. Do you need mercy? If you do,
here is the only one who can save you from your sins. There
came a leopard to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him.
and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will
be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.