Would you turn back to Leviticus
chapter 13 while you're turning there? Emma went back into the
hospital today to have chemotherapy, so remember them. And Doris Daniel
has also been having a hard time, and she's having a stress test
tomorrow, so everybody remember her. I've entitled the message for
tonight, Which Leper is Pronounced Clean? Somebody once said, or I read
this, that the theme of the book of Leviticus is the atonement
of Christ and leprosy. I thought that was interesting. The most dreaded disease in Israel
was leprosy. And one of the greatest responsibilities
of the priests was not only to offer up sacrifices, but to be
able to spot leprosy. I hadn't really thought about
this before, but the priest kind of acted like a doctor, and he
was trained to be able to spot leprosy, and he knew when to
quarantine somebody. And you can imagine what a great
responsibility that would be, because if he missed it, the
entire camp could be infected with this horrible disease. and there are very exact instructions
that were given to him to look for in Leviticus chapter 13,
and he was told who to pronounce clean and who to pronounce unclean. Now, in ancient times, not only
in Israel, all over the world. Leprosy was the most dreaded
disease and it had the greatest social stigma attached to it. I think it's interesting that
it can be cured easily now. I've got Google now and I can
find out more information than I used to be able to, but it's
caused by a bacterial infection, and it's healed right now very
easily with antibiotics, but they didn't have antibiotics
back then. And it would start with a patch
or a few patches of pale skin, and as it progressed, it turned
widespread into skin bumps, rashes, ulcers, and sores, and it would
cause you to lose your feeling. You'd lose feeling in your extremities.
You'd feel very weak. And quite often the nose would
rot off. And the extremities would rot
off. And it would cause severe nerve
damage in the arms and the legs. And what is very interesting
about it, it was very painless. With all the damage it did, it
didn't cause pain. If someone had a sore come up,
and they feared they had this disease, they'd go to priests.
Now you can imagine how you would feel in this time if all of a
sudden some sore came up in your arm or your leg or you'd be concerned
about getting this disease and you would go present yourself
to the priest and then you would be quarantined for several seven-day
periods and the priest would look at the sores and he may
pronounce you clean. Look in verse 6 of Leviticus
chapter 13. And the priest shall look on
him again the seventh day, and behold, if the plague be somewhat
dark and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall
pronounce him clean." It's but a scab. It's not leprosy. He
was able to tell whether it was the spreading of leprosy or merely
a scab, and he would wash his clothes and be clean, and he
would be allowed to turn back to the camp and be out of quarantine. Now, if it was not leprosy, What
a relief to find that out. What a relief. But if it was
leprosy, you had to stay outside the camp in the leper colony. That's a horrible thing to think
about, living in a leper colony. Outside the camp of Israel, there
was the leper colony. That was the place where the
sin offering was burned up. Outside the gate is unclean.
The sin offering was burned up. And if you'll remember, the New
Testament tells us that our Lord suffered without the camp. Now, look in Leviticus chapter
13, verse 43. This is for the man who is determined
to have leprosy. Then the priest shall look upon
it and behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish
in his bald head, or in his bald forehead as the leprosy appears
in the skin of the flesh. Your hair would fall out. He's
a leprous man. He's unclean. The priest shall
pronounce him utterly unclean. His plague is in his head, and
the leper in whom the plague is. His clothes shall be rent,
and his head bare, and he shall be put a covering upon his upper
lip and shall cry, unclean. Unclean! Can you imagine what
that would be like anytime somebody would come toward him? He would
have to cry out, Unclean! Don't come around me, you'll
be infected. Stay away from me. Verse 46,
all the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be
defiled. He's unclean. He shall dwell
alone. Without the camp shall his habitation
be. The isolation of that just sounds
painful, doesn't it? This was the lot of the leper
separated from the children of Israel. Now, the leper, as this
disease progressed, and you know that this is a type of sin, was
first of all repulsive to look at. Repulsive in his person. You wouldn't have wanted to see.
And you know the sinner before God, I hope we realize this,
the sinner before God is repulsive. God doesn't see sin the way you
and I do. He sees it for what it is. And
the leper, if you read this chapter, all of his actions were defiled. If he touched anything, you know
what you had to do with it? Burn it. If he sat on a bed, burn
it. If his clothes touched you, you
had to burn them. You had to be washed. You were
considered unclean. Anything the leper touched was
pronounced unclean. And whatever the sinner does,
doesn't matter what it is, it's unclean because he does it. That's
why the scripture says the plowing of the wicked is sin. All it
takes for something to be bad, for something to be sin, is for
me to do it. That makes it sin. You believe
that about yourself? The plowing of the wicked is
sin. And the leper shut out of the
society of Israel and the worship of God. This is the true position
of the sinner, loathsome in his person before God. And you know,
that's strong language, but what is amazing is in Ezekiel chapter
36, when God talks about the new heart he gives and the new
spirit he puts in, and when he says, I'll wash you and cleanse
you, you know what the part of that new heart is? He says this in Ezekiel 36, you
shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and for your
abominations. You know, this is part of the
new covenant. When you're given a new heart
to see what sin is, you will loathe yourself. But he was loathsome
in his person. He was defiled in his actions,
and he was isolated from Israel and from God, and there was absolutely
nothing he could do to make his plight better. He couldn't even
come to the priest. The priest had to come to him. He was shut off in the leper
colony. Now, what I find very interesting
in looking at these rites concerning the cleansing of the leper, and
I've already said this once, but let me say it again, there
was nothing the leper was to do for his cleansing. You know, I love that. Because
I know if it's up to me to cleanse myself, I won't be cleansed.
There was nothing for the leper to do for his cleansing. The
priest did it all. And in our cleansing, we know
this, he does it all. Hebrews 1.3 says, he by himself
purged our sins. With no help from me, no help
from you, no contribution from anyone. He by himself purged
our sins. Now, the priest would come into
the leper colony, and the lepers would be brought to him, and
let's begin reading in verse 9 of Leviticus chapter 13. When the plague of leprosy is
in a man, Then he shall be brought unto the priest. I think that's
interesting. He doesn't even come to the priest.
He's brought unto the priest. And the priest shall see him,
and behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it hath
turned the hair white, and there be quick, raw flesh in the rising. Now the word quick means living.
This was flesh that was not affected by the leprosy. You know, when
you cut, when you're trimming your fingernails and you cut
into the quick, you cut into the living flesh. That's why
it hurt. The word raw means fresh, fresh,
healthy. So, where there's quick raw flesh
in the rising, it's an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and
the priest shall pronounce him unclean. and shall not set him
up, for he is unclean." Now, if you had any healthy flesh,
if you had one square inch of healthy flesh, If you had 99.99%
healthy flesh, it didn't matter. If you had any healthy, quick,
raw flesh, it would be back to the leper colony. You were unclean. Now, if I come into God's presence
and I'm sinful, defiled, but I have some health, some ability,
some spiritual ability, what does God say? Back to the leper
colony. You can't come into my presence.
You're unclean. If I have any clean flesh, I
shut myself out of the benefits of the priest. Now, here's the
great mystery of the gospel. Look in verse 12. And if leprosy
break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the
skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot,
wheresoever the priest looketh, then the priest shall consider.
And behold, if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh, he shall
pronounce him what? Clean. It is all turned white. He is
clean. Now, if I come into God's presence
with anything good, I'm sent away. He won't have
anything to do with me. I don't care if it's just the
power of free will. I don't care if it's I'm all
bad, but I can turn things around if I'm given the right opportunity.
If I'm just put in the right environment, I'm not around all
these temptations, I can turn things around. If I come into
God's presence with any healthy flesh, with any raw flesh, with
any ability in and of myself, I'm sent back, send him away. But if I come with nothing but
sin, head to toe, no ability, no promises to reform. It's not
in me. I know that in me that's in my
flesh dwells no good thing. I'm nothing but sin, and I'm
not excusing it. I'm not using this as an excuse.
I'm not saying, well, how come I can't help it? That's just
the way I am. No, I come self-condemned and guilty with no ability to
change my nature or my standing. I'm full of leprosy. You remember
that leper that came to Christ? The account is given in both
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Luke lets us know that this man
who came to Christ was full of leprosy. He didn't just have
a little bit, he was repulsive to look at. He was full of leprosy. He didn't have one square inch
of healthy flesh. And he came into the presence
of our Lord and he fell down at his feet and he said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. One thing I know, I can't
make myself clean. The only way I'll be clean is
if you will to make me clean. Can you pray that? The Lord said, I will be thou
clean. Now, what is the only thing that
can cleanse and clean the leprosy of sin? You know the answer to
that question, don't you? The blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ cleanses
and washes away the leprosy of sin so that you actually are
clean before God. Now, for whom did Christ die? That's always such an important
question. We don't simply say, well, he
died for everybody because the Bible doesn't teach that. But
who did he die for? Well, Paul tells us in 1 Timothy
1.15 that this is a faithful saying, and it's worthy of all
acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's who He died for. He came
into the world to save sinners. Paul says, of whom I am the chief. Now, what's a sinner? A sinner's
the one who commits the sin. This is so important. I've heard
people say, well, God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin.
Now, wait a minute. You can't separate the sinner
and the sin. God doesn't put sins into hell. He puts the people
who commit them into hell. Now, what is a sinner? It's the one who commits the
sin. And all he's got to do is do it and sin because of his
nature. That's it. He's full of leprosy. He cannot
not sin. All he does is sin. He really
believes that he can't look down his nose in moral superiority
over anybody. And he really believes he has
no claims on God. Just the way that leopard came.
That leopard didn't come and say, Lord, I will that you make
me clean. He wouldn't have dared come like
that. He said, Lord, if you will. You can make me clean. Romans 5, 6 says, For when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Now if you're without strength,
I mean without strength, without spiritual strength and ungodly,
I can guarantee you Christ died for you. Peter said he died the
just for the unjust. If you're unjust, then the just
one died for you. Now, the very moment someone
confesses their complete defilement, that they're covered from head
to toe with sin, and that's all they are. Listen real carefully. They identify themselves as somebody
for whom Christ died. Now you listen to this statement
very carefully. Your personal sin never disqualifies
you from the saving benefits of Christ's death. What disqualifies
you is your righteousness. Now, I want you to let that sink
in. Your sin, as horrible as it is, as evil as it is, as bad
as it is, It never disqualifies you from the saving benefits
of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's your righteousness
that disqualifies you. You know, it's not hard to convince
somebody that they commit sins. If you ram somebody 24 hours,
you can prove it. You can prove it. You can catch
them in something. But boy, only the Holy Spirit can convince
somebody that all they are is sin. When they say, with Job
of old, behold, I'm vile. I didn't know I was, but I do
now. I am vile. Like the publican in the temple,
God be merciful to me, thee. He uses the deaf-eldered article.
He doesn't say a sinner like I'm one of among many. He says
I'm the sinner, the worst man to ever live. And what did Christ
say about that man? He said, I tell you, that man
went down to his house justified rather than the other. Now, in
Leviticus chapter 14, we're given the laws and the ceremonies regarding
the cleansing of this leper, what had to take place after
the priest pronounced him clean. Now, when a leper comes to the
priest and the priest examines him, head to foot, and there's
nothing there but leprosy. He couldn't find any healthy
flesh, then he was pronounced clean. How? Were there two different
sacrifices that are made for the leper that tell us something
about their cleansing? But let me remind you once again,
this was the priest's work. The leper was passive in this,
He was passive in his cleansing and the priest was active. Look
in Leviticus chapter 14 verse 11. And the priest that maketh him
clean. Now don't you know that if you're
ever clean, it's because the priest, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great high priest, makes you clean. That's the only hope
you have of ever being clean. And the priest that maketh him
clean shall present the man that is to be made clean. And those things before the Lord
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Now, we
see this is the priest's work, isn't it? The work of cleansing
is Christ's and Christ's alone. Now, I know this. If he doesn't
do it all, I won't be cleansed. I know that as sure as I'm a
foot and a half high. If he doesn't do it all, I will
not be cleansed. Now look in Leviticus chapter
14 verse 3. And the priest shall go forth
out of the camp, and the priest shall look, and behold, if the
plague of the leprosy be healed in the leper, then shall the
priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds
alive and clean. They couldn't be ungleaned birds.
There were unclean birds and there were clean birds. I was
interested to read in the list of the unclean birds, it was
only the birds that ate dead flesh, like owls or ravens or
vultures. People who can live off the dead
works of religion, the dead flesh, they're unclean. A clean bird
would not eat dead carrion like that. That's interesting. Then shall the priest command
to take for him that is to be cleansed, two birds alive and
clean, and cedarwood." Cedarwood was the most hard, durable wood
in the known world in that place. If you wanted to build a lasting
place, remember, David would make the temple out of cedarwood,
the hardest, most durable wood. And then scarlet. You know how
scarlet was produced? There was a maggot that would
be crushed. and they would use what came
out of him for the dye of scarlet. And that's exactly what happened
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was crushed to the point where
he said, I'm a maggot, I'm a worm, not even fit to be called a man
in Psalm 22, 6. He was crushed, but oh, the dye
that came out of him that makes us perfectly clean. And then
he speaks of hyssop. What was hyssop for? You remember,
hyssop was what was used to place the blood of the Passover lamb
over the door. And God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. Don't you love that scripture?
He didn't say, when I see you or your faith or your intentions. No, when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. These were the instruments that
were to be used in this sacrifice. Verse five. And the priest shall
command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel
over running water." Now, it's blood was placed in that earthen
vessel. The bird itself was placed in
the earthen vessel over running water. Now, what's the significance
of that? What came out of Christ's side? blood and water. Now what's the significance of
that? Men think you go to Christ for
forgiveness, but then you go to the law and your works to
clean yourself up and wash yourself up and become better. That's
not true at all. For one thing, you can't make
yourself better. And for another thing, all of
the blessings of the gospel, justification, sanctification,
and everything, flow from His side. Blood and water. I love that song, Rock of Ages,
cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the
blood, from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double
cure. save from wrath and make me pure. We sing that from the depths
of our heart, thinking of the blood and the water that come
from the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse six, as for the living
bird, he shall take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet and
the hyssop and shall dip them, dip them and the living bird
in the blood of the of the bird that was killed over the running
water, that living bird is dipped in the blood, and He shall sprinkle
upon him that's to be cleansed from leprosy seven times." Now,
what does seven represent in the Scripture? Perfection. Perfection. It's the number of God. What
that refers to is perfect, complete cleansing. The seven Sprinkles
speaks of this, by one offering He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Oh may the Lord give me the grace
to get hold of this in Christ Jesus. I'm perfect. I'm perfectly
redeemed. I'm perfectly sanctified. I'm
perfectly justified. I'm completely saved in Him. He sprinkled it seven times,
and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird
loose into the open field." That speaks of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The living bird let loose. And
that's how I'm saved. I'm saved by the death of Christ.
I'm saved by the life of Christ. I'm saved by the death of Christ.
I'm saved by the resurrection of Christ. And then, After the leper washed
and shaved after this, another sacrifice was made. Look in verse
11 of Leviticus chapter 14. And the priest that maketh him
clean shall present the man that is to be made clean and those
things before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. And the priest shall take one he-lamb and offer
him for a trespass offering. and the log of oil, and wave
them for wave-offering before the Lord. And he shall slay the
lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin-offering, and the
burn-offering in the holy place. For as the sin-offering is the
priest, so is the trespass-offering, his most holy. And the priest
shall take some of the blood of the trespass-offering, and
the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him
that's to be cleansed. and upon the thumb of his right
hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot." Now, a lamb
is slain, the priest takes the blood, and he puts it on the
ear, and he puts it on the thumb, and he puts it on the toe. Now,
what's the significance of this? Well, hold your finger there
and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 15, whereof the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us after that he'd said before. Now, whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. What is it we hear when
we hear from the Holy Ghost? What is it we hear when he speaks
to us? I'm not just talking about religious
language. I'm talking about when God the
Holy Spirit speaks in power to our hearts. What do we hear?
Verse 9 of the same chapter, Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Do you know I can't get any more
holy than I am right now? I've been sanctified once for
all. That's in the perfect tense,
perfectly completed, never to be repeated. Right now, I can't
be any more holy than I am. Do I feel that? No, neither do
you. But God's Word says it, doesn't
it? We're sanctified once for all. And I won't be any more
holy in heaven than I am right now. And that gives us some idea
of how far the flesh drags us down. because this holiness is
robed in this flesh. And when we hear this, we believe
it because the Word of God says it. But as far as our experience
goes, no, I can't say I can't see it, but we believe it. In
faith, the evidence of things not seen. Let's go on reading. Verse 11, and every priest stand
of daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. He sat down because his work
was finished. You know, the tabernacle, there weren't any chairs, were
there? You know why? The work was never finished.
The priest always had something to do. But this priest sat down
because his work was finished. Verse 13, from henceforth, expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. Now you've heard from the Holy
Ghost when you find out that you lack nothing in Christ. That's what he teaches. And what
a blessing it is when the blood is applied to the ear and we
hear what the blood has accomplished. And the blood was also applied
to the thumb of the right hand. The right hand are our actions,
the works of our hands. Do you know the works of our
hands are actually accepted through the blood? Now, there's only
one reason they're accepted. It's not because they were good,
but because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, whatever
I do has got enough sin in it to set the world on fire and
send the whole world to hell. But through the blood of Christ,
it's accepted. When I give a gift, it's well-pleasing
to Him. When I seek to be an encouragement
to somebody else, it's well-pleasing to Him. Not because of me, but
because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the blood was
applied to the toe, our walk, in the whole of our walk, whether
we're talking about faith, or repentance, or love, or the fruit
of the Spirit, or our motives, the blood of His Son is everything. Doesn't matter what we're talking
about. The blood of His Son is everything in the whole of our
walk. And then in verse 15, and the priest shall take some of
the log of oil, and poured into the palm of his own left hand,
and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that's
in the left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven
times before the Lord." Once again, perfection. And of the
rest of the oil that's in his hand shall the priest put upon
the tip of the right ear of him that's to be cleansed, upon the
thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right
foot, upon the blood of the trespassers offered. Now on that blood in
the ear the thumb and the toe, he also put oil. Now what does
oil represent? Oil represents the anointing
of the Holy Spirit. Now, I can hear a perfect exposition
of everything that was said in this passage of Leviticus and
even understand it, but it won't, intellectually, but it'll mean
nothing to me unless God anoints my ear and gives me hearing ears
so that I understand. We're so dependent upon God the
Holy Spirit to hear. I can't hear a thing without
God the Holy Spirit. And it's the oil of the Spirit that causes
every believer to be His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. And it's the oil of the Spirit
that keeps my feet on the narrow way, the one and only foundation,
Christ Jesus. Now, beloved, if you and I come
to Christ, full of leprosy, just like that leopard did. You know,
it's amazing to me how I never get tired of that passage regarding
that leopard. It's something that speaks so
powerfully to my heart all the time. I can identify with this
man so much. Lord! First he came and he worshipped
him, the scripture says, he worshipped him. And what I love about that
is He hadn't been cleansed yet as far as He knew. He didn't
know if the Lord was going to cleanse Him, but the Lord Jesus
Christ is worthy of worship whether He does anything for me or not.
Do you believe that? He is worthy of worship without reference
to what He does for me. He came and worshipped Him saying,
Lord. He knew He was the Lord. Do you know He's the Lord? He's
the Lord of glory. He's the Lord. He's the one who's
in control. When you talk about Him being
the Lord, that means you know that He has absolute control
of everything, and everybody, and every event. He's the Lord. Lord, if You will! He didn't
say anything as foolish as, Lord, I will that You make me clean.
That is repulsive. You wouldn't come into the Lord
of glory's presence like that. He said, Lord, if You will. He
knew His only hope was the sovereign will and supreme will of Christ.
Lord, if you will, you can. He was absolutely convinced of
the Lord's ability to do this. He wasn't really sure whether
he was willing to because he didn't know the Lord well enough,
but he knew he had the ability. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. I'm filthy. I can't make myself
clean. And only you can do it. If you
will, you can. And the scripture says, And Jesus
moved with compassion, reached forth his hand and touched him
and said, I will. It's what he says to everybody
who comes to him like that. Be thou clean. Which leper was cleansed? The one who was brought to the
priest, covered from head to toe with leprosy. And this is
the paradox of the gospel. He who is holy will only receive
him who is altogether sinful, and he makes him clean. Let's
pray together.