Anybody in here ever play cards? I used to watch my dad shuffle
cards, and he'd take one half in one hand, one in the other,
and he'd kind of go like that, put them all together. Well, in the providence of God,
that's how this message was born. I'm scheduled to go to Almont,
Michigan next week. And then after that, the week
following, I'm going down to Taylor, Arkansas, and I had messages
not completely prepared for both places laying on my desk. And
this morning I got up and just in the way of preparing myself
for worship, I was reading through the scriptures and came across
this story about the leper and then Shelby called. and said,
by the way, you'll be preaching this morning. So I put them all
together. So we'll see in God's providence
how these things turn out. I read you all three accounts about this leper, and I want you to form in your
mind a picture of this vast multitude of people with all kinds of infirmities
and problems, incurable diseases, demon-possessed, thronging the
Lord of Glory. When he would heal somebody,
he'd say, tell this to people because he knew what the effects
were going to be. And they'd run out and tell everybody
they knew. And in this multitude, it said,
behold, beside this multitude came a leper. Came a leper. And I see here
in this leper a picture of all men. All men. In Romans chapter 5
and verse 12, this is a very familiar scripture, it says,
by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so
death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Here's
the declaration of how we became sinners and the awful result
of the sin, death past, ruling and reigning over our
thoughts and motives and character, leaving us in a total inability
to do the least spiritual thing. Dead to godly affections and
dead to heavenly desires. Dead to things like goodness. Good master, why callest thou
me good? You're dead to any sense of goodness. There's none good but God. You
want to understand good, study God. dead to spiritual understanding. We read, but it makes no sense. We hear, but we're not moved
with fear. Sin has left us a deadly disease,
and the effects of it spot our whole being. That's what Paul's
saying in Romans 5. Sin entered into the world. Death
passed upon all men. How do I know that? Look at the
spots. All have sinned. All have sinned. In Romans chapter 3, verse 13,
it said, our throat is an open grave. With our tongues, we've
used deceit. The poison of vipers is under
our lips. Our mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in our ways. The way of peace we've
not known. Accepting Jesus as your personal
Savior is not the way. Coming down an aisle to an old
mourner's bench and doing what men used to call, when I was
a kid, praying through, that's not the way. Signing a pledge card and joining
the church and being baptized is not the way. Our Lord said,
I am the way. I am the way. The way of peace
we've not known. There is no fear of God before
our eyes. Isaiah said, the whole head is
sick and the whole heart faints. From the top of the head to the
sole of the foot, it's just covered. It's just wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. David rolled up his pants a while
ago to show me that bruise. He fell over at my house painting
the other day. Got a terrible bruise on his
leg. Isaiah said the whole body, from the top of the head to the
sole of the foot, looks just like that. Just like that. The total depravity of man, if
you want to see it, go to the cross. Go to the cross. Because I fear that most of the
time, Larry, we deserve what we get. Most of the time. But he didn't. We're talking about a perfect
man. We're talking about the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among them. We're talking about God coming
into the flesh. A perfect man. A good man. A righteous man. A just man. And they set him up and over
here was a man guilty of sedition and murder and they said, Whom
do you prefer? And they said, we'll take Brabus. So they sent him to the king
with their lies and their stories. And the king said, I find no
fault in this just man. Crucify him. Crucify him. Though a perfect man walked among
men filled with grace. That's what the scripture said. He was full of grace and full
of truth. Filled with kindness and hope
and filled with mercy and love, yet they despised him because
he didn't fit the description of the God of their imagination. That's exactly why they hated
him. They didn't hate him until he
opened his mouth and began to declare who he was. They hated
him without a cause. Now my question is this, and
this is what I was looking at this morning when Shelby called.
When all the world despised him and rejected him and were convinced
that he was an imposter, What did this leper see in him
that caused this despised one to be sought? What caused him
to seek the Lord of Glory? Exiled outside the camp, forbidden
by the law of God to even look on the people, let alone be a
moment. He not only came to Christ, but it said he fell down on his
face and worshiped Christ. What did he see that this multitude
didn't see? What prompted this man to do
such a thing? Well, I'm going to give you three
things, three things I believe will help you. And if you're
here this morning and you seek to know him and seek to know
the truth, I believe these three things are going to do you some
good. The first thing I see about this leper is I see urgency. That word just jumped out at
me. Urgency. He just, I don't know really
what the Israelites would have done to a leper. They were ready
to stone a man for carrying his bed on the Sabbath day. I can't
imagine what they would have done to a leper for disobeying
the law of God and coming right out. Leprosy is contagious, coming
right out among the people, coming right out into the multitude. I can't imagine. When God begins to work in the
heart, a sense of urgency floods the soul. He doesn't talk about,
well, I'm a young man right now and, you know, when my kids get
a little bit older and I'm not working so much and we've settled
down a little bit, then I think I'll go down and join the church
and begin. That's not the way the lepers
are. I'm telling you the truth. This
thing begins when God stirs the heart and He puts in you a sense
of urgency. Urgency. And it said in one of the accounts
I read to you, in a certain city, a certain leper. Our Lord told
the Israelites, He said, you remember back in the days, I
think it was of Elisha. He said, there's all kind of
lepers in Israel. And I didn't clean up any of
them. He let every one of them die in their deceit. But this
Gentile, he had leprosy. God brought him halfway around
the world to show him mercy. Why this leper? Why this city? All men sought
after him. Why this man? Why a leper? Why
this leper? This world is full of sinners.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Why this
sinner? This place is filled with men,
filled with men far more faithful, far more learned than me, far
more valuable to God than me. Why this sinner? Well, you can find the answer
over here in Luke chapter 5, verse 13. I'm telling you, this is why. This is why. What am I doing
here this morning? Why is this man up here instead
of the pastor? Why is this going? Why are all
these things going on that I see that are out of the normal? What's
going on? What's going on? Here it is. Here it is. Our Lord told that
leper, he said, I will. That's it. That's it. And I tell you, the
leper knew it before he got there. Because he said, if thou will. All three counts. If thou will. You may be ignorant of that.
I was. I spent a lifetime ignorant of
it. I thought, well, if I learn this, this is what I need to
know. If I can learn this, then I can be safe. No. It's not about
what you learn. That's not what it's about. Here's what it's about. I will. And I tell you, you won't find
any peace with God till He says in your heart, I will. Now you talk to somebody who
preached. I go back into the 70s. Brother
Mahan went to his preacher school. Went down to Louisiana and pastored
a church. Preached for years in Bible conferences all over
the country. built in for men like Don and Henry and all these
men. I've been out of the country,
visiting, down in Mexico, out preaching in the villages and
things down there, and didn't know God. And came up here one day and
closed the book, sold all my books, got rid of everything
I knew, took all my notes, threw them over in the attic, Burned
them later on, got rid of the whole thing, went to work. Like
Peter, I'm going fishing. I just went back to doing what
I did before. And one day, God sent into my
heart a sense of urgency. He said, you're a rebel, and
you know it. You know it. And you can't believe on my name. And you're filled with sin, filled
with it. From the top of your head to
the sole of your foot, you're filled with it. Oh, I began to seek God then. And I don't remember what Don
was preaching on, but every time I came, he'd say the same thing. Same thing. Cursed is everyone
who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do. I've been taught, been taught
by some of the best there is, been taught. If you're going
to hear from God, you're going to hear through the preaching
of Christ, through the preaching of the gospel. And so every time
the door was open, I can't And I sat, and I listened, and I
prayed, and I begged, and nothing happened. Nothing happened. And one day, I went over to Todd's
Road Church over here. My life was filled with the providence
of God. This young man who pastored the
church was in Cleveland at a cancer clinic. And lo and behold, the man who
was retired, been retired for years, Brother Mahan, down there
preaching. And he'd suffered a stroke. And
he was in such bad shape at that time, trying to cover all these
meetings at that church, that he just couldn't preach. He was
just in such a bad way, his memory, it was so out of character from
what I remember Brother Mahan being. I remember him in his
prime. And he was preaching on the prodigal son. I'll never
forget it. And he came to the park where
the father was looking. He was looking, looking for the
son. And he saw him. And he ran out to meet him. And
he throwed his arms around him. And he kissed him. And he kissed him some more.
And I tell you, when he talked about the Father throwing open
his arms, it was like God threw open his arms to me and said,
I will. I will. That's why this leper,
that's why this city, that's why this Christ, this Son of
God, walked this earth, went to this place, raised his providence
in such a way that that leper be right there on his face before him. On his face before him. Oh, listen. He said, it's not of him that
runneth. Not of him that willeth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
How'd I know that? Because he said, I will have
mercy on whom I will. And I will have compassion on
whom I will. And what we just read, he was
moved with compassion and said, I will. That's how it happens. That's how it happens. Urgency. Why is this man affected so? Why is this leper, all of a sudden,
there's all kinds of lepers out here, outside the camp. What
prompted this one to leave the leper colony and come to Christ? What stirred up that sense of
urgency in his heart? I believe it begins here, when
we get a sight of the majesty and greatness of God. I believe
that's where it begins. Creator of all things. Over in
Isaiah, chapter 40, he said, who hath measured, he's measured
the waters. Think how vast the oceans and
how great the seas. Said he measured them in the
palm of his hand. Mediate out heaven with a span.
Comprehended the dust of the earth with a measure. Weighed
the mountains in the scales and the hills in the bounds. Directed
the spirit of... Who had directed the spirit of
the Lord to have been his counselor? Think about it. With whom took he counsel? Who
instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment? Who
taught him knowledge? who showed to him the way of
understanding. Behold, the nations are but just
a drop of the bucket." Our generation don't know what
that means. But when I was a kid, we had a well. You had a bucket
on rope, and you lowered it down in the well, and it had a little
weight on it, and it'd turn, fill itself up, and you'd pull
it back up, and you'd pour the water out. But you never stood
there like this to get the last drop. You just put it back in
the well. He said, that's how the nation, that's how I consider
the United States of America, just a drop in the bucket. It's
just that small dust, you see, on the balance, they go away,
they don't even clean it off, doesn't even affect the scales.
He said, the hours are just a little thing to me, just a speck, just
a speck. This is he that sitteth upon
the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are
grasshoppers. I'm telling you, there's a majesty
and a greatness about the Christ of God, because the Christ of
God is God. And without him was not anything
made that was made. Always was, is now, ever shall
be. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things
were made by him, and without him was not anything made that
was made. Think about the glory of his
person. He's omnipotent. None can stay
his handler. God wants to save you. Come on. We're talking about
the creator of the world wants something and can't have it? None can stay his hand. None. He's the potter. That's the kind of Christ Paul
preached. He said, I've been to the same
place the prophet was. I've been to the potter's house.
And he's got all kind of vessels on his wheel. And he's the potter. And we're the clay. And he can
spin out something for his honor and set it on the manual. Or
he can just spin out something common, throw it in the scrap
heap. He's the potter. He's everywhere. Think about it. He's everywhere
and in all time and eternity present. I hear these silly religionists
talking about God looking down through the telescope. God's
on the other end. He's already there. David said,
Whither shall I flee from thy spirit? Whither shall I go from
thy presence? If I send up to heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, behold, thou art
there. And even there shall thy right
hand lead me and hold me. In Revelations chapter 1, verse
8, it's declared, he says, I am Alpha and Omega. the beginning and end. He's omnipotent. He's all-present, and He's all-knowing. There's nothing that escapes
the knowledge of God, for He Himself is wisdom. Everything that has an existence
was found at one time in the knowledge of God. And He's just,
Listen to me. Justice and judgment, the psalmist
said, is the habitation of his throne. That's where he lives.
Justice. God is justice. He said, I will
by no means clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. All one has to do to know the
justice of God is look at the cross. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. God is justice. And He's just in His nature,
and He's just in His being, and He cannot be anything else. And God cannot, the way religion
declares, erase the sins of men. I've never heard such foolishness. They're sins, and I mean by that
they're persons. to be accepted of God must be,
Larry, justified. Justified. If that person's guilty
of a single, solitary sin, God cannot show him favor. If he
has one spot, one blemish, one anything, one false motive, one
least than perfect affection, won anything. God can't have
anything to do with it. He said the stars and the moon,
they're not pure in my sight. Watch this, over here in Romans
chapter 3. We got a big problem down here
in verse 23. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But look at this in verse 24.
Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood, the value of it, the efficacy of
it, the reason for it, and the satisfaction in it, to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, these Old Testament saints. who look
past the tabernacle, who look past the mercy seat, who look
past the priesthood and saw Christ our priest. To declare, verse 26, I say at
this time, his righteousness, and I believe he's saying there
both his essential righteousness and the righteousness of the
substitute. that he might be just and justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus. The leper saw in Christ both
the ability and the authority to clean him up. And then secondly, this urgency
is caused by a sense of self and sin. This man knew what he
was. He didn't come up there saying,
now I prophesied in your name, and I've cast out demons in your
name, but I've got this leprosy. No, no. No, he just come up and
fell on his face. I'm a leper. Everybody knows
it. God knows it. That's why I'm a leper. And he
fell down at his feet, fell down on his face. And he came with
a sense of urgency. And then secondly, I know this.
He came with a sense of urgency, and secondly, he came by faith. He came by faith, knowing whom
he sought. Faith knows what and whom it
believes. That sounds so simple, doesn't
it? That's the most complex thing
you'll ever get into, what I just said. Faith knows. what it believes and whom it
believes. Listen to this. In John chapter
17, our Lord's high priestly prayer, listen to what he says
here in verse 6. He said, I have manifested thy name unto the
men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine they were,
and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me
are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they received them, and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and have believed
that thou didst send me." When we come to know a thing, it's
settled. I get up in the morning and,
you know, about quarter after seven, I'm expecting the sun
to rise. I know it's coming up. It comes
up every morning, Bob. That's become a fact of life
to me. I go out there. I sit down in my truck. I prepare
for work. And then at a certain time, I
look up, and I'm waiting for the sun to come up. It's going
to come up, Merle. I know when darkness comes, the
night's here. I know that I'm held on earth
by gravity. When I get hungry, I need food.
When I get thirsty, I need drink. I know these things. That's what
he's talking about right here. The believer knows. This whole religious generation
that call themselves Christians have no reason for what they
believe. No reason. We used to have a guy in that
little Southern Baptist Church, country church, and he used to
stand up, put his thumbs behind them suspenders, and said, well,
I'm just made to believe. No. No. No. Listen to this. Peter said, sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts. And be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that's
in you with meekness and fear. Believers know. They know. I read the book of 1 John. My
goodness, I don't even know how many times he says that word
in those five chapters. And we know. We pass from death
unto life because we know. We know. This is a man who has reason
to believe. He's a man with whom God has
spoken and reasoned. Listen to Isaiah chapter 1. He
said, here you are. I want you to picture in your
mind right here this morning the average church. I don't know
what, maybe some of you didn't even go to church when you were
children. I don't know, but most of us did. We were raised in
some kind of a religion. Some of us in service. But here's
what he says, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto me? You're busying around and you're
putting money in an offering plate and we're going to get
up this morning and talk about the oldest mother and the youngest
mother and all these things and the Easter bunny out front or
whatever they do. I don't know what these churches
all do, but they're going through the motions. They're busy. They're
busying about. Busying about. Doing this and
doing that. He said, to what purpose are
you doing? Why are you doing these things? Do you even have
a clue? Why are you doing these things?
I'm full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I delight not in the blood of
bullets. Our Lord gave them direction to do these things. Did you know
that? Oh, yeah. You come to appear before me.
Who required this at your hand to tread my course? Bring no
more vain oblations, incenses, and abomination unto me, your
new moons and sabbaths, calling of assemblies. I cannot away
with it. Get it out of my face." And when you spread forth your
hands, he said, I'll hide my eyes. Yea, and when you make
many prayers, I won't hear. We're going to have to deal with
this first. Your hands are full of blood. We're not clean. He said, put away the evil of
your doing. How you going to do that? How
you going to do that? Can a leper change his spots?
Can an Ethiopian change the color of their skin? How can you, they're
accustomed to do evil, do good? Put away the evil. How are you
going to do that? I'll tell you how. Here it is,
verse 18, Isaiah chapter 1. Come now, right now, and let
us reason together. That's where reasoning starts
with Christ. Let's reason together. Let's
talk about who you are in the light of who I am. Let's talk about what you did
in the light of what I did. Let's talk about where you're
at in the light of where I'm at. Let's reason together, saith
the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they be white as
snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they be as wool. Now if my sins be as scarlet,
how can they be white? If they be red and full of blood
like crimson, how can they be white like wool? Well, the most
vile of men can be holy and pure before God if he knows he stands
in a substitute. Did you know that? All God's
people were given to Him. They're in Him. Our life is hid
with Christ in God. We're in Him. We stood in Him. We bore the wrath of God in Him. Our righteousness is in Him.
Our wisdom is in Him. Our sanctification is in Him.
Everything we are is in Him because God put us in Him before the
world was. And what He does by faith is
make you aware of it. That's what we're doing here
this morning. Only God can reason with the
heart. Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. I know who he is. He's the priest
of God after the order of Melchizedek. I know that. Who's Melchizedek? That's that kingly priest that
Abraham brought when he was coming back from the battle of the kings.
And every other priest of God in the Old Testament came with
blood, didn't he? Not Melchizedek. Abraham met him. He said all
he had was bread and wine. Why? Because he came with his
own blood. With his own blood. He's a priest. I know who he is. He's the king
of glory. He's that prophet who shall tell us all things. He's
the Messiah. And I know why he came. He came
to declare God both just and justifier, to establish everlasting
righteousness, to redeem sinners, to do the will of God and reveal
the will of God, to save his people from their sins, to reconcile
us to God, to mediate the covenant of God and make our inheritance
sure. And I know what he did. He's
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. That's
what he did. My one offering, Paul said, he
put away sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. I know
what he did. He identified himself with sinners,
and so as a faithful high priest, I can go to him and pray, Larry,
and he knows what I feel, because he'd been there. I know what he did, he become
the first begotten from the dead. I have hope of the resurrection
because my Lord was raised from the dead. And I know where he's at. He's
seated at the right hand of God, ruling and reigning over all
things. Arranging his providence. Bringing this one here, putting
that one there. Somebody got up this morning
and said, well, I think I'll go down to Danville this morning. I wonder who put that thought
in your head. He who rules and reigns. The
heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. He just turns it
this way or that way. You know there's a man in glory. A man. A man in glory. And the preacher said one time,
if there's one in glory, I got good hope there might be two. Out of a sense of God's majesty
and person, man becomes urgent. begins to look into these things
of God, begins to seek God. And when the sinner seeks the
Lord with all his heart, he says, I'll be found. I'll be found. And finding the Lord, the sinner
comes to know. He said, to know me is eternal
life. To know God, that is eternal
life. And coming to know His name and
His glory, And here's the third thing. He trusts all that he
is and all that he ever hopes to be into his hands. That leper came down, fell down
to his feet. He didn't have much, but everything
he had was his. Here it is. Judge me or cleanse
me if thou wilt. Whatever you will. Whatever you
will. Three things come to pass according
to all the examples we have in scripture when a man trusts God. First, to trust someone of great
reputation and honest report, a man of high esteem, we take
them at their word. And when God brings you to this
point, you'll take his word. I preached a message on the treasure
hidden in the field. That's the word of God. As soon
as you find the treasure, first thing you're going to do, buy
the field. Everything is. Everything is. I loved my dad. I respected him. I honored him.
I held him in high esteem. And I never asked him one time,
can you put that in writing and have that notarized? Why? I trusted him. I trusted him. And when the believer has the
glory of Christ revealed in him, he won't question the word of
God. Secondly, to trust one of great benevolence and purpose
is to commit everything you have into his hands. That's why they
call banks trusts. Did you know that? You're taking
everything you got and you go down there and deposit this in
my account. That's why they call trusts.
We trust them. I don't know if we should or
not, but we do. And that's how they got their
name. Trust. Trust. Brother Mahan said there was
a pig and a chicken walking through the town. He said he saw this
sign on the front of this cafe. It said, Ham and Eggs Special,
$1.99. And that chicken said, hey. He said, man, let's go in there
and get some breakfast. That pig said, mm-mm. I ain't
going in there. He said, how come? He said, because
to you, that's a contribution. To me, that's total commitment. That's what I'm talking about.
When we trust him, we commit everything. Everything. My job, my wife, our relationship, our
children, the ministry of this church, Anything that I'm involved
in, God gives me grace to commit it to His hands. And then don't
question what He does. Job told his wife, he said, you
talk like one of the foolish women. He said, all this time
we've been taking all these blessings and we've been saying, well,
that's of God. That's of God. And I accumulated all this wealth
and all these children and all these things and you were willing
to say that's of God. Shall we not also commit the
evil, the trouble? Is there something outside his
control? No. Commit it into his hands and
then don't whine about it. Just bow to it. Just bow to it. And then thirdly, I know this,
that to trust the Lord Jesus Christ is to rest in Him. When
will a man rest in Christ? When he sees in Him everything
he needs, then he'll rest. Till then you just keep on walking
aisles and whatever it is you do. But when you see in Him everything
you need, you'll rest. In Colossians chapter 2 verse
9 it said, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and ye are complete in him which is the head of all
principality and power. The Father himself, the all-wise
God, has chosen us and blessed us in him, put all spiritual
blessings in him. gave His covenant to Him, put
in His care all providence, all creation, all salvation in His
hands. If there were one more worthy,
would God have committed it to His hands? You see what I'm saying? All the fullness is in Him. It's
in him. And then secondly, we'll come
to rest in Christ alone when we see in him all we want. All
I need is in him. What about what I want? All in
him. All in him. I'm telling you,
if you read the New Testament epistles, here's what you're
going to find throughout. After you get past chapter one,
chapter two, here's what you're going to find in the next three
chapters. Beware of covetousness. Yep. Which is idolatry. You'll find this, lust when it's
finished bringeth forth sin, sin when it's finished bringeth
forth death. The leper had one desire, to worship, to be heard
of, and communicate with the sovereign, the Lord of hosts.
And let me read you this and I'll wind this up. In verse John
chapter 2. He says in verse 5, love not
the world. Just don't let it go. Let it
go. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father's not in him. For all that's in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, that's not of the Father. That's of the world. And the
world, listen, passion. away, and the loss thereof. But he
that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Who's that? I came down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that
sent me, the Holy and Christ. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. When you are dead and your life
is hid with Christ and God, and when he shall appear who is our
life, then shall we also appear with him in glory. Amen.