Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to Leviticus chapter 13? The book of Leviticus, chapter
13. Now, tonight, we're going to
observe the Lord's table together. The Lord said this do in remembrance
of me. And also, Friday night, Donnie
Bell and I will be preaching to the Grace Baptist Church in
Harrisburg, Ohio, not Ohio, Kentucky, with where David Collier is the
pastor, and he's going to be preaching for Brother Bill Eldridge
on Saturday and Sunday of this coming weekend. Leviticus chapter
13. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, saying, When a man shall have in the skin of his
flesh a rising, a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, a flame spot,
and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy,
then he shall be brought unto Aaron, the priest, or unto one
of his sons, the priests. And the priest shall look on
the plague in the skin of the flesh. And when the hair and
the plague is turned white and the plague in sight be deeper
than the skin of his flesh, it's a plague of leprosy. And the
priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean. How many people this week have
at least give some thought to getting the swine flu? I have. Tried to find out what the symptoms
are, and I'd like to avoid it. Lynn was talking to Cody Groover
on the phone, and you know, he's in Mexico where it's coming,
and she said, well, are you worried about getting swine flu? He said,
yes, yes. He said, matter of fact, I thought
I had it last night. And she said, well, how come you're okay
now? He said, well, I guess I slept it off. Swine flu is the talk of the
media, and I've even read where it threatens our economic recovery. I don't know how that works,
but I've been concerned about the symptoms. I don't want to
get swine flu. Well, there was a disease in
Israel that was even more dreaded, much more dreaded than that,
and it was the disease of leprosy. Can you imagine how somebody
would feel if they woke up one morning And there was a swelling. And there was inflammation. And
there was a scab. And there was a sore. And they
thought, I might have leprosy. Can you imagine how frightening
that would be? Now, this person who would wake
up with this scab or this inflammation or this swelling would go present
himself to the priest. And the priest would look at
it and he would quarantine him. You'd be shut out for seven days.
He'd come back, and if it had spread, if it had gone into the
skin, deeper than the skin, and you could see that it was leprosy,
he would be shut out from the camp. Look in chapter 13, verse
43. Then the priest shall look upon
it, and behold, at the rising of the sore be white reddish
in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth
in the skin of the flesh, 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 put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry,
Unclean! Unclean! All the days wherein
the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled, he is unclean,
he shall dwell alone. Without the camp shall his habitation
be." What an isolated and lonely existence this must have been,
to be a leper, shut out from the camp. Can you see why this
disease was so dreaded? Can you see why if someone saw
this rising in their skin, they would be terrified? Somebody
once said the theme of the book of Leviticus is the holiness
of God and leprosy. Leprosy in the scriptures is
the great type of sin. It goes further than skin deep. You know your actions are on
the skin, but leprosy, sin, goes further than the actions. It
goes into the very nature. Now this leper was loathsome
in his person. Imagine what he looked like. His nose, his ears, his fingers,
his toes had all rotted Can you imagine looking at this man?
You would have been disgusted. He had white hair coming out
of the boils, the sores and the ulcers of his rotting flesh,
and yet it was relatively painless. He couldn't feel it. This gives
us some idea about what sin is. It renders someone to where they
can't feel. It made all his actions unclean. This leper, if he touched anything,
it was considered unclean. If he touched a wall, the wall
had to be washed. His clothes were to be burnt.
If he walked into a house, that house was called unclean, and
he was shut out from the camp of Israel. He was not allowed
to participate in worship. There was no sacrifice for him
while he was in uncleanness. He was considered dangerous. He had to keep a rag over his
mouth to keep from spreading his noxious infection. And if
somebody came near him, he was made to cry out, unclean, unclean. Shut out from all the privileges
of being an Israelite. No communion. How isolated, how
alone this man was. The scripture says he should
dwell alone without the camp. shall his habitation be." Now
this is how every sinner feels himself to be loathsome in his
person. Everything he does, everything
he touches is unclean, sinful. He feels himself to be shut out
from God and his people. Now I'm not asking you if you
see that this is true about yourself. But I am asking you if you believe
this is true about yourself. You may not see it clearly. But
do you believe it? What God's Word says regarding
you? Do you believe it? Now the leper was shut out outside
the camp, and there was absolutely nothing that he could do for
himself. He was not even allowed to come to the priest. He was
outside the camp. He couldn't come back into the
camp of Israel. The priest had to come to him. He couldn't come
to the priest. The priest had to come to him
and pronounce him clean or unclean. Now, in this thing of being saved,
there's not a thing we can do. Christ must do it for us. And I know that's so. So the
priest would come into the leper colony and begin to examine these
men who were quarantined. Look in verse 9 of Leviticus
chapter 13. When the plague of leprosy is
in a man, then he should be brought unto the priest. Now remember,
leprosy is the great type of sin in a man. And the priest
shall see him and behold, If the rising or the swelling be
white to the skin, and if turned the hair white, then there'll
be quick, raw flesh. Now that quick, raw flesh, what
is that? Quick means living. You know
when you cut something to the quick, that means you've got
the living part. Living, alive, raw. That's talking about healthy
flesh. If he has any healthy flesh,
that quick, raw flesh, living, healthy flesh is what that's
a reference to. If there be any quick raw flesh in the rising,
it's an old leprosy in the skin of the flesh, and the priest
shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up, for
he is unclean. Look down in verse 14, when raw
flesh appeareth, that's healthy flesh, literally, he shall be
unclean. Now picture this in your mind,
the priest comes to the leper colony, and a leper is brought
before him for him to examine. You see, it was up to that priest
to pronounce him clean or unclean. The leper couldn't pronounce
that about himself. He had to come before the priest, and it
was up to the priest to announce him to be or pronounce him to
be clean or unclean. Now, one man brought in who has
his body covered with leprosy, but he has just one little bit
of healthy flesh. What did the priest say to him?
He's unclean. Send him back to the leper cauldron.
Here comes another man. Let's say he only has one little
inflamed spot and everything else is healthy, quick living,
raw flesh. Everything else looks good. What
does the priest say to him? Send him back. He's unclean. Now, what is that telling us?
If I come into God's presence. As. Pretty good. With some problems,
some sores. What does God say to me? Send
him back to the leper colony. He's unclean. He's unfit. If I come into God's presence with only one little bit of goodness,
and the rest of me is plumb bad, bad to the bone, totally covered,
but I have one little bit of goodness, what does the priest
say to me? Send him back to the leper colony. He's unclean. If I come into
God's presence with any goodness, with any righteousness, even
the potential to be righteous. If I come into God's presence,
even with the power of free will, I can turn things around. If
I come into God's presence like that, God says, send him back. He's utterly unclean, unfit. He can't worship. I look in verse
12 of Leviticus chapter 13, and if a 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, he's completely covered so that there's not one
bit of healthy flesh. He's completely covered over
with sores and and leprous scabs and inflammation. And oh, he
just looks awful. Verse 13, then the priest shall
consider and behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh. What's it say next? He shall
pronounce him what? Clean. clean. Clean! That at the plague, it's all
turned white, he is clean. Now here's a great mystery. When
he was completely covered by leprosy, he was pronounced by
the priest clean. Now verse 14 is still true, but
when raw flesh appears, healthy flesh, he shall be unclean. Now, if you come into God's presence
or if I come into God's presence with any health, with any goodness,
with any power, any righteousness, even the potential for any righteousness,
I'm set aside as unclean. But if I come completely covered
with sin, From my head to my foot, nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. I'm pronounced clean. Isn't that amazing? That's the
mystery of the gospel. First person I thought of when
I thought about this was the publican in the temple. You know,
I mentioned him a lot, don't I? The publican in the temple.
He comes crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. By his own
admission, he was the sinner, the worst man to ever live. And our Lord said regarding that
man who made this confession regarding himself, he was just
like the leper, the leper completely covered over with wounds. And what does our Lord say? He
said, I tell you, that man went down to his house. What? Justified. not guilty. And the Lord uses the rest of
the Bible to explain to us just how that takes place. How a sinful
man can be declared to be not guilty because he's not guilty.
Justified in God's sight. Now, if you are full of leprosy,
Full of sin, so that every part of you is sin. There's no part
of you that's not sin. Why even your breath, that what
comes from it is noxious, it's poisonous, it's sick. If that
describes you, your flesh, nothing but sin, I can guarantee you
Christ died for you. I guarantee you. You see, he
died for everybody like that. And if you have any goodness,
if you have any Living flesh, anything about you that can recommend
you to God, if you have any spiritual power, Christ didn't die for
you. The sacrifice is only for that
one who is completely covered over with leprosy. Now, in this
thing of the leper being cleansed, the leper was passive. The priest
did this for him. Look over in chapter 14, verse
11. And the priest that maketh him
clean. You see, this is what the priest
does. The priest that maketh him clean shall present the man
that is to be made clean. And those things before the Lord,
before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Now, Leviticus 14 tells us about what happens when the leper is
pronounced clean. There were some sacrifices. he
was to give. When the priest looked at him,
when he was totally covered and the priest said, you're clean,
there were some sacrifices he was to offer up. Now look in
chapter 14, verse 3. And the priest shall go forth
out of the camp and the priest shall look and behold that the
plague of 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, and cedarwood,
and scarlet, and hyssop, and the priest shall command that
one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running
water." And for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedarwood,
and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them, and the living
bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running
water, and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed
from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean,
and shall let the living bird loose into the open field." Now
here we have the gospel. Here is how this leper It's all
pictured and typed, typified in this passage of scripture.
Now, the birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop. Now the cedarwood
was used for what? It was hard, it was durable,
it lasted not forever, but as far as they considered, forever.
What this represents It's the blood of Christ. It's the eternal
nature of it. It's so powerful. The cedar wood
was the strongest wood, the power of the blood of Christ that actually
puts away sin. And it's always been. It's nothing
new. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. The scarlet came from a grub
worm that was crushed to make a crimson dye. Christ crushed
under the wrath of God. This is how this leper cleans,
because Christ was crushed. as the sin-bearing substitute
under the wrath of God. The hyssop. What's hyssop used
for? It's used to apply the blood.
Remember when in the Passover you take a hyssop branch, dip
it in the blood, and put it over the doorpost? It was used to
apply the blood to the conscience. That's the blood of Christ applied
to my conscience to where I really see that through the blood of
Christ I'm clean. And what about this running water?
This running water was given to show us that The blood of
Christ washes away sin. It really does. I don't have
any sin if Christ died for me. I don't have any. This running
water washed it all away. And this cedarwood, this hyssop,
this scarlet, this running water, it was all mixed together and
that living bird was dipped in it. And then you took the blood
and you went to that leper and you sprinkled him seven times.
Seven times. The number meaning perfection
and completion. That's talking about the fullness
of the blood of Christ, what it actually does. And then that
living bird was set free. That's what the blood of Christ
does. It sets me free to an open field. Isn't that a beautiful
picture of the gospel? That's how this leper is actually
cleansed. Now, after this was done, there
was another sacrifice made. Look in chapter 14, verse 10. And on the eighth day, he shall
take two he lambs without blemish, and one new lamb of the first
year without blemish, and three tenths deals of fine flour for
a meat offering, mingled with oil and one log of oil. 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
lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil,
and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. And he shall
slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering,
and the burnt offering in the holy place. For as the sin offering
is the priest, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. And
the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering.
And the priest shall put it, watch this, 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. He'll take this blood, and he's
going to put some on the ear, some on the hand, and some on
the foot. Now watch this. The ear, the hearing, of the
Gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And when you hear, what do you
hear? You hear the blood of Jesus Christ, and God's Son cleanseth
us from all sin. This is what you hear. When you
hear the power of the Holy Spirit, you're not left guilty. You're
left hearing that the blood of Christ is your standing before
God. What about the thumb of the right
hand? The right hand represents power. That's what the right hand always
represents, the power, the strength to do. I'm given the strength
to do because of the blood of Christ. What are you talking
about? Hearing? You know why I hear? It's not
because I have better ears than somebody else. It's because God
gave me the hearing. I've been given the strength
to do. The reason I repent is because of the blood of Christ.
He put away my sin. Therefore, he gives me the grace
to repent. The reason I love God is because of the blood of
Christ. He gave me the grace to love him. the strength to
do, and then the big toe, that's our walk. You know, the blood
of Christ is enough to make you walk with Him. You do not need
rules, regulations. The blood of Christ is enough
to make you walk with Him. Now, religion, it's not enough.
That's why they have to have all these rules and regulations. But if
you and I ever see what the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually
does, it will make us walk with Him. Now, verse 15, And the priest
shall take some of the log of oil. The blood was applied to
the ear, the hand, and the foot. And the priest shall take some
of the log of oil and pour it upon the palm of his own left
hand. Now, what's oil represent? God,
the Holy Spirit throughout the scriptures, God, the Holy Spirit
and the priest should dip his right finger in the oil that's
in his left hand and just sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven
times before the Lord. And if the rest of the oil that's
in his hand, shall the priest put upon the tip of the right
ear of him that is to be cleansed. How do you hear through the power
of the Holy Spirit? And the thumb of his right hand,
how are you strengthened? God, the Holy Spirit. And upon
his right foot. How do you walk? God, the Holy
Spirit. The priest does all these things
for that one who is cleansed. Now would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. Verse 1. When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him, and behold, there came a
leper. Luke's account tells us that
this man was full of leprosy. Completely covered by leprosy. You know what that means now,
don't you? This man was full of leprosy. And he came to the
Lord beseeching and kneeling. Verse 2, And behold, there came
a leper and worshipped him. Now what he was doing was against
the law. The law had him shut out. He didn't have any business
coming into the presence of the Lord. He was to just keep his
mouth covered and dry unclean, unclean. But here he comes. And the scripture says he worshipped
him. And this is what comes first.
You hear me? This is what comes first. Worship. Now this I know. A sinner. Every sinner. will worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Worship. Now what is worship? You only worship when you have
absolutely no control. That's when you worship. You'll
only worship when you're in the hand of a Sovereign who can do
with you whatever He's pleased to do. There's no worship without
that. You've never worshipped unless
you worshipped in the hand of an absolute sovereign. You had
no control. That leper understood this. In this thing of salvation, I'm
passive. It's got to be what the Lord does for me. I'm totally
dependent upon him. And this leper worshipped him
before he knew whether or not the Lord would heal him. He didn't
worship after the Lord healed him. He came into his presence
as a filthy leper. and he worshipped him. Now, is the Lord worthy of worship,
even if he doesn't clean you? If he sends you to hell, is he
to be worshipped? Absolutely. He is the Lord and
he is worthy of divine worship. I am in his hands. He can do with me whatever he's
pleased to do. This man came full of leprosy,
full of sin, and he worshipped him. Now this has got to be where
we begin. He's to be worshiped, not to
be argued against, not to be, well, I don't agree with this
or I don't think this is fair or I don't like this. No, we
bow before him and worship. He's the Lord. And notice what
he said. This leper came and worshiped
him saying, you see, worship has something to say. What did
he say? Lord. You see, he is the Lord. That means he is the dictator. He is the controller. He's the Lord. Worship knows
that. He's the Lord. Jesus Christ is
the Lord of creation. He's the one who created everything. He's the one who brought this
world into existence. He's the Lord. He's the Lord
of providence. That means Everything that happens,
He is the first cause behind. I'm the Lord, He says. I create
light. I create darkness. I make peace.
I create evil. I'm the Lord. Do all these things. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. He's the Lord. Most especially,
He's the Lord of salvation. That means if I'm saved, it's
completely up to Him. I don't have any control. It's
completely up to Him. He's the Lord. And this leper
came, and he worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. People argue over man's will,
free will, but I know whose will will be done. Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. If you believe in free will,
let me tell you something. If you believe in free will,
you deny the sovereignty of God. You can't believe in free will
and believe that God is sovereign, because if your will is free,
that means God is not sovereign over your will. You can't believe
in free will and believe that God is God. You can't believe
in free will and believe that God is sovereign. It can't be
done. Let me tell you something else.
If you believe in free will, you don't really believe you're
a sinner. That's the bottom line. Somebody believes in free will,
they don't really believe that they're a sinner. You see, if
you really believe you're a sinner, you believe you're nothing but
sin and you can't just up and will to not sin and will yourself
to be clean. Can you imagine this leper coming
into the Lord's presence and say, Lord, I will. I'm going
to let you, I'm going to allow you as an act of my will, I'm
going to allow you to make me clean. You can't come that way,
can you? Not in any way. No, he knew he
was in the sovereign will of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
Lord, if you will, if you will, he knew this. And so does every
other sinner that comes to Christ. They know this. Lord, if you
will, what he says next, verse three, verse two, if thou wilt,
thou canst. You have the ability. It's up
to you. I can't make myself clean. But if you will, oh, if you will,
you can. You have the ability to make
me clean. Now, here is what the Lord Jesus
has the ability to do. He has the ability to make me
clean. Now in and of myself, I'm nothing
but a leper. From the top of my head to the
sole of my foot, I'm filled with wounds and bruises and putrefied
sores. And I believe it. I don't see
it all together. Sometimes I have a real high
opinion of myself. So I don't always see it, but I always believe
it. I always believe it. I'm nothing
but sin in his sight. And here's what I say, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. I believe he is able.
I know he's able. to make me clean. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed to him. Look, it's
that day. I believe that he is able simply
by himself with no help, no activity, no merit on my part, no dessert
on my part, he is able to make me clean. You believe that? You believe the Lord's able to
make you clean? Abraham did. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glories
of God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised He
was able. He was able also to perform. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's able to make me without sin before God. So as I stand
before God clean. Clean. Not filthy. Not dirty. But clean before God. If thou wilt, Thou canst make
me clean. Now, the implication, obviously,
is I'm not clean. But he came for the right thing.
He came to be made clean. Now, a lot of folks have different
desires, different needs, and so on. Somebody has problems
in their marriage. They want their marriage to get
better. Maybe they have financial problems, and they'd like to
have those taken care of. And I understand that. I understand
all those things people want. But if you ever come into God's
presence, there's one thing you want. All that other stuff can
just be put on the back burner. I don't need to be healthy. I
don't need to be wealthy. But I need to be clean before
God. He came for the right thing. He came to be made clean. He understood that. He knew he
couldn't make himself clean. And only he could do it. You know
what the scripture says? It's not in Mackie's account,
but it's in both Mark and Luke's account. When this fellow came
to the Lord like this, the scripture said Jesus was moved. Moved with compassion. Do you know that everybody, without
exception, No exceptions to this rule. Everybody who comes to
the Lord Jesus Christ like this, full of leprosy, worship, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Everybody who comes into
the Lord's presence like that, he who delights in mercy is moved
with compassion. And he reached forth his hand
and touched him. Now, what happened under the
law if you touch somebody like that? You were made unclean,
but not our Lord. He touched him and because he
was made, our Lord was made unclean on the cross. And because of
that, he could touch this man and his leprosy, the scripture
says, immediately. Immediately it was cleansed. Now look in verse four. And Jesus saith unto him, verse
three, and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying,
I will be thou clean. Only God can speak like this.
I will. Be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See
thou tell no man. Now that's a hard command to
keep, isn't it? Don't tell anybody about this. Don't tell anybody
about this. But go thy way, show thyself
to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded thee
of in the law. The gift we were talking about,
the two birds. I like all those different things, but you know, he just couldn't keep his mouth
shut. Mark's account tells us that he went out and began to
publish it much and to blaze abroad the matter in so much
that Jesus could no more openly enter the city, but was without
in the desert places. And they came to him from every
corner. Now, are we going to get mad
at this fellow for doing this? You know, when the Lord said, you
know, He frequently said this, don't tell anybody what I did
for you. You know, the Lord wasn't out trying to gain a following.
He wasn't out trying to win over people. He was doing His will. But I'll tell you this, if the Lord makes you clean,
Your great desire in this world is to blaze abroad the matter. You want other people to hear
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he saved you. Now if we come like this leper
did, Christ will do the same thing
to us that he did to this leper. He'll reach forth his hand. and
touch us in invincible, powerful grace, He'll declare us to be
clean. He'll make us clean. And we are
clean. May God give everybody in this
room the grace to come to Him just like this leper did. Let's pray together.