I have enjoyed every moment of
this so far. Didn't you just enjoy that? I
enjoyed that so much. I told him so, and he said, well,
now I'm done, and I get to just sit and enjoy myself. And I said,
no, I'm going to request to Brother David that you stand up and preach
it again. I've enjoyed the music. I've
enjoyed the specials. You know, I got up this morning
and I was personally hoping and praying for myself and for all
of us, on behalf of all of us. I really desired to come here
and enter into the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ and worship
Him. And not just come here and go
through the motion, or come here and endure all the chaos, or
come here and go through, okay, we gotta do this, and then we
gotta do this, and this, and this, okay, good, we did it,
let's go home. I really wanted to enter into
worship and the Lord blessed me. That's what we want to do. We
want to just stop for a minute. We want to just slow down for
a minute and redeem this moment in time. I pray the Lord will let us redeem
one more moment here. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, let's read
the first four verses here. It says, when he, when our Lord,
was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him. saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed, and Jesus saith unto him, See thou
tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and
offer the gift that Moses commanded for testimony unto them. I had all of my messages prepared
before I ever got on a plane to come here. And when Brother
Chris preached on Naaman the leper last night, Knowing that
this was going to be my text this morning, I thought, there
must be a leper here this weekend. And then I thought, I know who
he is. And it was amazing to me this
morning that the Lord led him to preach 2 Kings 5 last night
and 2 Kings 4 this morning, go out of order. because I believe this is more
of a continuation of this morning's message. Our Lord, when he finished delivering
a message that we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
5, 6, and 7. When he finished delivering this
message, he came down from the mountain. And great multitudes
followed him. He was in a crowd of a great
multitude. You can picture this scene. He
comes down and a great multitude has followed him. But this account
is concerning one man. One man. That's how God deals
with his people. One on one. one at a time, even in his dealings
from the cross, even though he was dealing in that moment with
a number that no man could number. It was still one-on-one. He dealt with each one of his
people one at a time. That's what this account right
here shows us, the Lord's intimate, individual dealings with each
one of his people. That is so precious to me. That's
so precious to me. Just to think that the Lord would
deal with me like this. I can put myself in this portion
of scripture. I need for the Lord to deal with
me just like this. Because in my flesh, I'm in the
same boat that this leper is in. Verse one says, when he was
come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him,
and behold, there came a leper and worshiped
him. And behold, and behold, there
came a man who was infected with a horrible disease. It was a decaying, flesh-rotting
disease, one that made him to be an outcast. It was a disease that caused
him to know what he was. And it was a disease that caused
everybody else to know what he was. He couldn't be hid. It just
couldn't be hid. Now, along with bearing this
horrible disease, we have to acknowledge the fact that this
man was a sinner. We know that he was a sinner,
number one, because he was born from Adam. That's the first reason
we know that. By one man, sin entered this
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. We know he was a sinner, number
one, because he was born in Adam. Just like me, just like you.
Number two, we know he was a sinner because he bore this horrible
disease. Where there is no sin, there
is spotless perfection. When no sin is there, it is absolute
spotless perfection. There's no death. There's nothing
that can bring death. In glory, nothing dies. Why? There's no sin there. Hebrews 7 says, to be separate
from sin is to be undefiled, holy, harmless. So we know this man was a sinner
because he was a son of Adam like the rest of us. We know
he was a sinner because he bore in his flesh a loathsome disease. And we know that he was a sinner
because of what he was doing right here, even in what seemed
to be good. This man was still breaking the
law. He was breaking the law. Back
in Numbers 5 and in Leviticus 13 and places like that, it tells
us that all lepers had to be put out of the camp, away from
the people, away from the multitude. They were not allowed to be in
the presence of those who didn't have leprosy. They had to be
cast out, separated. By law, they had to steer clear
and cry out to everybody, unclean, unclean. Don't come near me,
I am unclean. You don't want to be what I am. So just in the fact that this
leper came into this multitude, and walked right up to the Lord
Jesus Christ, this man. Just in him doing that, he was
breaking God's holy law. It did not matter what this man
did. He was a lawbreaker before God. He was a sinner before God,
no matter what this man did. But here is the glorious thing
that we can see in this. In Christ, there is no condemnation
from the law. In Christ, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. No one
could accuse. Therefore, in Christ, this sinful,
dying, rotting leper, he was allowed to walk right up to him
with boldness. Boldness is not arrogance. It's confidence that this man
will receive me. Isn't it glorious to know that
this man receives lepers? That's good news. If there's
any lepers here like me, this man receives lepers. This man was able to walk right
up to him so that he could obtain mercy and find grace to help
in his time of need. So the scripture says, behold,
behold. This wretched leper came right
up to the Lord Jesus Christ and this is how he came. Verse two
says, and behold, there came a leper and worshiped him. That's what we have done this
morning. We have come into this house. We pray by God's grace,
by him drawing us. We've come into this house and
gathered in his name to worship him. Mark's account says that this
leper kneeled. Luke's account says that he fell
all the way down on his face begging and beseeching him. Saying, verse 2 says, it goes
on to say, Lord. Sinners call him Lord. Sinners
who have seen him call him Lord. They call him Lord and Master
and they say, well, for so he is. But this man fell and he said,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Lord, if you will, you can. If you will, you can. What a
wonderful prayer to pray, no matter what the scenario is.
Lord, if you will, you can. Abraham believed God that he
was able to do what he promised he would do. Lord, if you will, you can. This is in your hands. It's always
in his hands. This is in your ability to do
it. I'm at your mercy. That's how the man came. I'm
at your mercy. This is my request, but I acknowledge
that this is not my will. It is not my will be done. This
is by your will. This is going to go however you're
pleased for it to go. And that's what we very humbly
say to Him concerning our salvation. God's people are humbled people. They don't assume on glory and
assume that they're going to walk up to the throne and let
me tell you what I'm going to say to God when I get there.
God's people fall before Him on their face in the dirt, crying,
Lord, please, please have mercy on me for Christ's sake. Please
don't kill me now. It's not my will, it's thy will
be done. This is going to go according
to the will and the purpose of your heart in this matter. Whatever
you will, that's what's going to be done. But I know that if
you will, you can. That's the faith that has been
given to me. That's what the faith that you
have put in me and worked in me has caused me to say. If you
will, you can. Lord, that's our acknowledgement
to you. If you want to, you are able. And the most glorious thing about
this story, and the most glorious thing about the story of our
salvation is, he said, now this is God, this is the almighty,
eternal God, and this is what he said. He said, I will. Yes, I will. This man, I can
only picture this leper. He knows he's a leper. He knows
he's not supposed to be there. And he comes in and he falls
before him crying, Lord, please, please, I've heard of you. Why
did he come to the Lord? He'd heard of him. There was
a fame about him. That man heals lepers. He raises
the dead, he causes blind people to see and deaf people to hear,
lame people to walk, and lepers to be healed. And
this man came crying, crying, Lord, please, please, please,
please, will you please, will you please do this for me? And
Jesus Christ said, yes, I will. Yes, I will. I will be thou clean. He said, you being clean, you
being made whole, that is the very will of my heart. That is the very will and desire
of my heart for you. In John 17, 24, he said, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. In John 10, he said, I will lay
down my own life of myself. No man will take it from me.
For my sick, sinful people, I will willingly lay it down myself. I will. And what our Lord did for this
leper right here, this is what he did for all of his people
on the cross of Calvary. Verse three says, and Jesus put
forth his hand and touched him. He touched him. Nobody does that. Why did he do that? He didn't
have to do that. Oh, yes, he did. Yes, he did. He willingly touched
the infirmities of all of his people. He had to. In order for
them to be healed, he had to. Lepers had to be separated from
everybody else because whoever touched the leper got the leprosy. Whoever touched a leper, that
leprosy was transferred into them. And Hebrews chapter 4 says,
our great high priest, Jesus Christ our Lord, he willingly
touched the infirmities of all of his people. He bore in his own body on the
tree everything that we were in order to save us from our
miserable end. I know that everybody has heard
this story, this true story. But I believe around 1920, somewhere
in that time frame, there was a missionary to Sudan Africa,
named Paris Reedhead. And he was walking one day through
the jungle with some native men. And they heard a very faint voice
cry, somebody help me. Somebody help me. And they followed the voice until
they found a man laying in the jungle at the end stages of leprosy. And they said he was only a partial
man. His limbs were just rotted off. His face was half gone. He was just a skeleton. He was just a rotted, end stage,
about to die leper. And he was laying there crying,
somebody help me. And Mr. Reedhead said, I've never
felt so helpless in all my life. He said, we stood there looking
at that man. And I thought, there's nothing I can do. There's nothing
I can do for him. But he said, as I stood there
looking at him, the thought went through my mind that if I could
pick this man up and stand him up, lift him up, impress his
body to mine, impress his rotten face to mine, and take all of
his rot into me and impart all of my health into him. He said, if I could do that,
I would have a better understanding of what my Lord Jesus Christ
did for me. Somebody help me. That'll make a wretched, poor
sinner want to fall down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ,
won't it? That poor, miserable leper, he
fell down and worshiped the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said, if
you will, you can make me clean. Lord, if you will, you can help
me. If you will, you can help me. Verse three, and Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou cleaned." And
immediately, his leprosy was cleansed. Mark's account says,
as soon as he spoke the word, his leprosy departed. Our Lord cried from the cross.
I said this last night. I'm probably going to say it
tomorrow. Our Lord cried from the cross. is finished, finished. And the moment he spoke the word,
it was finished. Verse four, in Jesus saith unto
him, see thou tell no man. Our Lord did not do anything
for himself. He did it all for his people.
See thou tell no man, but go thy way. Show thyself to the
priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony
unto them. Our Lord touched this leper,
he spoke peace to this leper, and then he set this leper free.
He touched him, he spoke peace to him, and then set him free. Verse four says, Jesus saith
unto him, see thou tell no man, but go thy way. That's what Christ
did for us on the cross. He touched us, he spoke peace
to us, and he set us free. Go your way. Every time he said
that to somebody, what way did they want to go? Wherever he
went. It always says they follow Jesus
in the way. Lord, your way is my way. Your
way is the only way. There's one way. That's the way
I want to go. He touched us, he spoke peace
to us, and he set us free legally, rightly, even according to the
law. Legally, rightly, even according
to the law, the same law that said the reason he couldn't come
in is because the law said you can't come in. And the same law
that said you cannot come in to the presence. When Christ
finished his work for his sinful people, he said, you go show
the law what I've done for you. And the same law said clean, spotless, whole, welcome. Verse four says, Jesus saith
unto him, see thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself
to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for
testimony unto them. In closing, let me show you what
that offering was. I believe this will be a blessing
to you. Go with me to Leviticus 14. Leviticus 14. Let's see if we can read between the
lines and see the gospel of Christ in this. Leviticus 14, verse
1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his
cleansing. He shall be brought unto the
priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and
the priest shall look, and behold, if 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 cedar wood,
and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command
that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running
water." Two birds are going to be gathered. We're going to gather some wood,
some hyssop. and some scarlet red. And the priest, verse five, shall
command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel, a vessel that was prepared over
running water. Verse six, as 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. One of them is gonna be
dipped in blood, cleansed under that running water, and set free. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us when he sacrificed himself to set us free. With our sin, we touched Him.
With His blood, He touched us, cleansed us, spoke peace to us,
set us free. I pray the Lord will cause that
to be the case for every soul here. I pray the Lord will cause
that to be the case for all of us. Thank you, brother.