The Gospel of Luke #19

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.879 And now, Lord, we do come to a word, recognizing indeed, 2 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:06.679 God, that this is your word and God, what I will read to 3 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:12.640 your people here in a moment is the very words of God. How privileged 4 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:17.039 we are to have the words of God. What a joy it is, 5 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:22.000 Lord, and help us to be more filled with the desire to read it 6 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:26.640 and study it and memorize it and learn it, Lord, for there is, 7 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:30.239 it is indeed meet for our souls. It is life to our bones, 8 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:33.439 God, and we thank you for it. We thank you that you 9 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:37.960 have endowed us with such a gift that we should have it. Forgive us 10 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.000 for our neglect, Lord, when we neglect that, we should we should 11 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:44.960 never neglect it. Forgive us for that. But now, this morning, 12 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.799 we are going to read it, Lord, and we pray indeed that you 13 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:51.759 would enlighten it to us, that you would help my words to be faithful 14 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.000 to the text, that you would keep me from error and, Lord, 15 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:58.679 that I may indeed lift up your son and the message of the Gospel. 16 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:03.920 And I ask your blessing upon it in Jesus name. Amen. We had 17 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.439 a long call to worship. We have a short text, so it makes 18 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:11.319 up for each other. So, Luke Chapter Five. As we continue on 19 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:18.319 in the gospel of Luke, I will get there, and then also you 20 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:25.079 and again Um. We're just reading a few verses, beginning with verse twelve 21 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:30.000 and going through Verse Sixteen. But here is God's word. While he Christ 22 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:34.799 was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy and 23 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:38.239 when he saw Jesus, he fell on his feet and begged fell on his 24 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:42.200 face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me 25 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:46.400 clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying I will 26 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:52.280 beat out clean, and immediately the leprosy left him and he charged him to 27 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:56.359 tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an 28 00:01:56.359 --> 00:02:00.400 offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. 29 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.680 But now, even more the report about him when abroad and Greg crawls gathered 30 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:07.479 to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities, but he would withdraw 31 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.960 to desolate places and pray. That's all, and the reading of God's Word 32 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:21.520 Please be seated. Up to this point the gospel of Luke, Luke has 33 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:25.240 been trying to show us how our Lord is Master and Victor over everything that 34 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:31.039 he meets. He has faced the temptations of the enemy and he has emerged 35 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:37.639 victorious. He faces a demon who has possessed a man and conquers the demon. 36 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:42.360 He faces a high fever in the home of Simon with his mother in 37 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:46.039 law, and he is victorious over that. He shows himself, in the 38 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:52.360 miraculous catch of fish, to be a victor over all of nature. And 39 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:57.159 so now in our story this morning, Jesus faces what in that day was 40 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:01.360 considered to be one of the most impossible and means to conquer, that of 41 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:07.120 leprosy. Re Read in the Gospel of John that the blind man said it 42 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:10.000 has never been heard from the beginning of the world that anyone has healed a 43 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:15.680 man born blind. That's how amazing that healing was. But leprosy is somewhat 44 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:19.639 similar. Now it is true that there could be those that would recover from 45 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:27.479 leprosy, but it was considered a very terrible disease and very difficult. No 46 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.840 no one could heal it. It could heal of itself, but no one 47 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:34.680 had the power in that day, in that day, to heal it. 48 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:39.240 And so we find, especially in the advanced state that this man has, 49 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:46.000 this leprosy, that it just was not dealt with by anyone else. Even 50 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:51.719 the Apostles who went forward after Christ were never told that they cleansed the lepers 51 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.439 in the book of acts, although I can certainly believe that they did, 52 00:03:54.520 --> 00:04:00.039 but we're not told about that. So again, it is a short passage 53 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:03.199 but it's full of meaning and so I want to try to bring that out 54 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.840 to you this morning. It concerns, as I said already, a man 55 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:12.680 who is a leper. Now, in the description or the concept of leprosy 56 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:17.319 and exactly what leprosy was, there is ambiguity. Today we're not exactly sure 57 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:21.439 what the disease was, but most of the writers that I used for my 58 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:30.279 studies believed that this was a disease was called Hanson's disease and Um it's identified 59 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.800 because of a man that discovered it, or found it what it was, 60 00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:39.600 Dr Gerhard Hanson, and that's who the disease was named after, as I 61 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:45.040 mentioned. But he was the very first person in history to identify bacteria as 62 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:50.519 a causative element or agent of a human disease, and so doing he actually 63 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:56.879 proved that leprosy, or Hanson's disease, was not a hereditary disease, but 64 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:02.639 was actually a contagious disease. Dr Paul Brand, who came later, discovered 65 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:06.959 what seemed to be the main effect of this disease, is numbness of affected 66 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:12.680 areas of the skin, which in turn leads to other effects. If you're 67 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:17.240 numb in your extremities, there's things you don't think about. Sometimes it's easy. 68 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.519 Perhaps something falls into the fire and you just reach into the fire because 69 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:27.079 you have no pain sensors, no warning system to alert you. UH, 70 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:31.439 said in some parts of the world that rats would gnaw off extremities of leopards 71 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:36.240 because or those enhanced this disease because they couldn't feel it because they were absolutely 72 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:43.240 numb. People could actually pour scalding water on themselves not knowing it and could 73 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:47.439 be damaged with burns and all of these things and many other things could happen, 74 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:54.160 and so Dr Brand described the disease as a painless hell. Now we 75 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:57.879 don't know that every case of leprosy in the Bible, or indeed we can't 76 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:02.319 prove that any case. Perhaps is this Hanson's disease? We don't know for 77 00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:06.600 sure and there are differences in that. But uh, the lepers life, 78 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:11.360 we can say was not very good. Uh, it involved a lot of 79 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:15.079 isolation. They were usually reduced to begging because they weren't supposed to come into 80 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.040 the areas where people were as far as normal things, so they had to 81 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:23.800 beg for their food. They couldn't work, they didn't have ways to work 82 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:28.360 and often they would live together in bands, as we see in other places 83 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:32.720 in the Bible. Josephs, the early historian at the time of Christ, 84 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:39.040 describes lepers has dead men. We would describe him in our lingo as dead 85 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:44.000 men walking, because that's what they were. Michael Wilcox Rights, the leper 86 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:47.199 was not just ill, he was outcast. He had not simply lost his 87 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:53.839 health, he lost his family, his friends, his home, his livelihood. 88 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:00.240 No one would, indeed no one was allowed, to associate with him. 89 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:04.680 This story is actually found in all of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, 90 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:10.680 mark and Luke, but all we have described in Matthew and mark is that 91 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.959 he's a leper. Ah, but our writer was a doctor, Dr Luke, 92 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:19.600 and Dr Luke says he wasn't just a leper, he was actually full 93 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:25.279 of leprosy. Now what does that mean exactly? We don't know, but 94 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:30.040 I think at the least we can say is that he had an advanced case 95 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:35.199 of leprosy. Something about him knew what we caused luke to know where the 96 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:40.160 apostles of this man has been a leper for quite a while and has been 97 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:45.720 very seriously affected by it. In verse twelve, Jesus is in one of 98 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:48.240 the cities, but it doesn't specify what city is in. It has been 99 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:54.600 suggested that, since the lepers rarely came into town, that Jesus was in 100 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:59.480 fact that the outskirts of a city. When this happens chronologically? When this 101 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:03.439 happened we don't know, but it appears from comparing the three gospels. Sometimes 102 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:09.240 between Jesus giving a sermon on the Mount we find in Matthew five through seven, 103 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:13.319 and the calling of the twelve apostles, that would seem to be the 104 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.639 right time. And again we have a word here in verse twelve that the 105 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:22.120 e S v UH totally omits. I don't know why they do this and 106 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.040 Um, I love the S V but there's times I just don't quite understand 107 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.199 it. And it's the word I mentioned before that they omit, and that 108 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:33.200 is the word behold. And you might say, well, it's not necessary, 109 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:39.799 but luke uses the word to tell us that something extraordinary is about to 110 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:46.120 happen or is happening at that time. And what is extraordinary? Well, 111 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:50.080 the healing itself will be extraordinary, but what is also extraordinary is that the 112 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:58.600 leper is coming into the presence of Jesus. And because Leviticus says of a 113 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:01.320 leper he shall remain in unclean as long as he has a disease. He's 114 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:07.200 unclean. He shall live alone, his dwelling shall be outside the camp. 115 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:11.559 Later in Luke will read about ten leopards who come to Jesus, but it 116 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:16.720 tells us they stood at a distance to ask him. This man comes up 117 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.399 to Jesus and he learns. We learned when the lepers saw Jesus, he 118 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:26.559 fell on his face. Now that represents both worship, as we do that 119 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:33.039 when we kneel, but also uh worship, but also reverence for God and 120 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:37.039 humility. All of these things. And Matthew's account simply says the man knelt 121 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:41.440 before him. Mark said the man was imploring him kneeling, but Luke says 122 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:46.840 he also fell on his face. This is a great way to come to 123 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:48.679 the Lord when we have needs. It's good to come to him and humility 124 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:52.919 and recognize our position as we come to him and not coming, as I 125 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.639 used to believe in my days and the word of faith movement, that you 126 00:09:56.759 --> 00:10:01.679 come demanding God to do something. It's not a good way to do things 127 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:07.720 at all. And he actually begs Jesus as he comes before him, and 128 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:11.919 he doesn't just call Jesus master or Sir, which we have encountered already in 129 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:16.000 this book, but he actually uses a Greek word, Curios, which means 130 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.159 Lord and is the word often used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament 131 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:26.600 scriptures to refer to God, Yahweh. So the Hebrew word Yahweh the Greek 132 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:31.720 often translates as Curios. So he comes to the Lord and he uses the 133 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:35.600 word curious. Now what did he understand? I don't know for sure, 134 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:39.240 but it is indeed a tell him thing. And then we have to note 135 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:43.519 carefully the way he words his request. He says, Lord, if you 136 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:50.480 will you can make me clean. He has complete faith in Jesus that Jesus 137 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:56.879 can indeed rid him of this disease. He knows Jesus has the ability and 138 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:01.480 the power to do it. But he just isn't sure if Jesus is willing 139 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.000 to do that. I'll come back to that in a little bit. Let's 140 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.759 look at versus thirteen to fourteen. In verses thirteen and says Jesus stretched out 141 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:15.399 his hand and touched them and touched him. Now that statement has caused quite 142 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:18.679 a bit of controversy through the years in the church and you might have come 143 00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:22.519 upon that at some point in your study of the Scriptures. The question is, 144 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:28.440 by touching the leper, isn't Jesus in effect violating the law of Moses 145 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:33.919 levinnicus five three says? Or if he touches human uncleanness of whatever sort, 146 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:41.039 the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean and it is hidden from him 147 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:46.440 when he comes to know it and realizes his guilt. So accordingly, it 148 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:52.279 was against the law to touch anything that was unclean. So isn't Jesus guilty 149 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:56.919 then, by touching someone who was unclean? I think of all the answers, 150 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.399 I would probably go to John Kelvin answer. He says in the law 151 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:07.399 the touch of the leper was contagious, but as there is such purity in 152 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:13.679 Christ, he absorbs all on cleanness and pollution. He does not contaminate himself 153 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:18.360 by touching the leper, nor does he transgress the law. Others would say 154 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:24.639 that the Leper was even clean before Christ touched him. So often in the 155 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:30.440 Bible and the New Testament and the gospels we find instances where Jesus heals by 156 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.919 a touch. Remember, in fact, the other way it would be not 157 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:37.240 just Jesus healing by a touch but others being healed by simply touching Jesus. 158 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:41.000 Can remember the story of the woman with the issue of blood and that she 159 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:45.080 came and said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, 160 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:50.240 I will be made whole. And Uh, that has been used through the 161 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.320 years by UH supposed faith healers. Maybe I don't know. Some of you 162 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:58.000 that have been back in that world at some point in your life received a 163 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.720 little piece of claw in the mail that the faith healer said, if you 164 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:05.480 send him a donation, that cloth will be a healing cloth and you can 165 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:11.200 put it on whatever particular ailment uh you have. But uh, this is 166 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:18.240 they have no call for that. But but again, um do. Even 167 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.320 though the woman touches him, it wasn't just touching Jesus that did it. 168 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.720 Even though that's what she did, it wasn't just doing that. Because remember 169 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:30.399 when Jesus Said who touched me? The disciple said, there's people jostling all 170 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.919 around you, everybody's touching you. Why would you ask that question? But 171 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:37.919 Jesus knew one person had touched him with faith in their hearts. In fact, 172 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.240 he'll say to her daughter, thy faith has made the whole, and 173 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:48.039 so we recognize it as the touch of Jesus in faith, believing in him. 174 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:52.799 But more often in the Bible it is the case that Jesus touches those 175 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:56.759 whom he heals. He was four fifteen, says, in the King James 176 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:01.559 Origin. We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling 177 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:05.840 of our infirmities. And Matt Mark adds the detail that when he stretched out 178 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:11.639 his hand he did it with compassion. We don't know for sure about this. 179 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.679 I'm speculating a bit, but I think it's very possible that for ten 180 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:22.240 or twenty years the leper had not felt the touch of a human hand. 181 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:26.200 So what a wonderful feeling that must have been that day when our Lord reached 182 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:33.639 out and actually touched him, and then we have the reply of Jesus to 183 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:39.279 the lepers plea. In Greek it is simply two words. The words are 184 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:48.000 fellow, Catharistheti, fellow means I will, and Casti means be cleansed. 185 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:54.600 Two words our Lord otters. We have a correspondence between our Lord's words and 186 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.159 the words of the Leper. If you will, you can make me clean. 187 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:05.080 Jesus response. I will be clean now, immediately, we are told 188 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:11.720 the leprosy left him one moment full of leprosy, the next moment no leprosy 189 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.559 anywhere to be found. That's the kind of healing our Lord does. He 190 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:22.840 does instantaneous healing. Now I know there are examples in the Bible, a 191 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:26.720 couple at least, of showing them people that were healed later. The ten 192 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:31.200 lepers that were healed on their way Um is one example of that. Some 193 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:35.720 would mention the blind man that Jesus touches once and then he has to touch 194 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.679 again, or does touch again. I shouldn't say he has to, but 195 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:43.200 he does it again, and this has been used also by faith healers through 196 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:48.440 the years when they pray for people and of course of the time nobody's healed. 197 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:52.000 So they always tell the Moll it's like the lepers. You can be 198 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:54.279 healed as you leave this building. And of course then he doesn't have to 199 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.799 be there to find out they didn't get healed. So that that is the 200 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.519 problem there. But normally, I mean the two times where there's something delayed, 201 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:06.879 there's a reason. There's a spiritual lesson. Jesus is trying to get 202 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:08.679 aside, something he's teaching, and so there's a reason for it. But 203 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:14.799 normally the healings of Jesus are instantaneous. They happened right away. Peter's mother 204 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.759 in law is sick with a great high fever. Jesus rebukes the fever and 205 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:22.919 she gets up and starts serving him instantaneously. That's the kind of healings our 206 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:29.639 Lord does. In verse fourteen we have a very strange command that the Lord 207 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:33.559 gives to the Leper. He says tell no man. presuably, don't tell 208 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:38.200 anybody about the healing that you've just had. Now, why does our Lord 209 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:42.919 say that? There are different speculations about that part of it. I believe 210 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:45.600 my own personal belief, and you can disagree with me on this. This 211 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:49.600 is okay, but but I believe part of it was that Jesus knew when 212 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:55.480 his hour was and the more attention he drew to himself, the more dangerous 213 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.279 it was for him in these early days, and he had to follow his 214 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:03.960 father's timetable, and so he didn't want this going out. And so I 215 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:08.119 believe it. It has part of that. But again it also could be 216 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:11.799 that the Lord just didn't want the leopard to claim to be healed until he'd 217 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:17.559 gone to the priest and the priest had indeed confirmed that he had been healed. 218 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.880 And so again, by going to the priest, the priest's weren't friendly 219 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:26.160 to Jesus in these days. So by going to the priest he was giving 220 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:32.079 a testimony to the power of Christ healing ability. And here was the procedure 221 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.240 we found of the leper, and this is important. But, as mentioned, 222 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:37.920 the priest shall go out of the camp and the priest shall look in 223 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:44.079 the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person. The priest shall 224 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:47.440 command them to take for him, who is to be cleansed, to live, 225 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:52.680 clean birds and Cedar Wood and scarlet yarn and his hip, and the 226 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:56.400 priest shall command them to kill one of the birds and an earthenware vessel over 227 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:00.480 fresh water. He shall take the live bird with the Cedar would in the 228 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.079 scarlet yarn and his it and dip them in the live bird, in the 229 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:07.880 blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water, and he shall 230 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.680 sprinkle it seven times on Him who is to be cleansed of the lepros disease. 231 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:15.559 Then he should pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into 232 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:19.400 the open field. That would have been the procedure that the priest would have 233 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:23.279 done to the leper when he came to them. Now there's more, but 234 00:18:23.319 --> 00:18:26.599 I'm saving that for the end because I think there's a good application there. 235 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:32.359 But it doesn't all happen that first day. There's more to come and it's 236 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.720 clear from the Gospel accounts that when the man does go to the priest, 237 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:40.559 he does indeed pass the test of being free from leprosy. So in versus 238 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:45.960 fifteen and sixteen, we find Luke phrasing diplomatically what mark is much more blunt 239 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:51.200 about. Luke says, but now even more report about him. Went abroad, 240 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.240 but mark says, speaking of the Leper, but he went out and 241 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.039 began to talk freely about it and spread the news. So Jesus could no 242 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:03.880 longer openly enter a town but was out in desolate places and people were coming 243 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:11.480 to him from every quarter. In other words, the leper disobeyed a direct 244 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:18.119 command of Christ. Now I suppose of all the disobedience one could do, 245 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:22.920 we might personally be inclined to forgive the Leper this indiscretion, this sin, 246 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:29.279 because, after all, aren't we commanded in the Bible to proclaim the works 247 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:32.000 of God? We're saying it this morning, we're saying it in some one, 248 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:36.079 oh three. Aren't we commanded to do that? Aren't we commanded to 249 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:38.680 proclaim his greatness on one, oh five, one, give thanks to the 250 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:42.680 Lord, call upon his name, make known as deeds among the people? 251 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.160 is now what the Scripture says. But yet we can't avoid the simple fact 252 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:53.720 that God had given a command and this man disobeyed it. So we cannot 253 00:19:53.720 --> 00:20:00.039 excuse him. We might be able to understand it, we can't excuse it. 254 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.960 But we also note this is a third time that Luke mentions something going 255 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:08.319 out, some kind of report that goes out about Jesus. Now in all 256 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:15.440 three times when Luke mentions that, the e S V translates the word has 257 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:19.559 report, report of him, report of Jesus in all three cases. But 258 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:25.440 what is interesting in the Greek it is it is three different words, a 259 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:30.160 different word each time. The first word in look for fourteen is the Greek 260 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:37.240 word faming, which the King James translates as fame. We could also say 261 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:40.640 a rumor of him when about. So it's just kind of starting out. 262 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:47.400 The second word uh, in Luke four thirty seven, which again the S 263 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:51.519 V translates his report the King James Against his fame, but it is a 264 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:55.519 different word. The word is a cost, where we get our word for 265 00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:00.119 echo, and it means now more of a resounding. The first one was 266 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:03.559 was perhaps a faint sound, a little bit of a rumor, but now 267 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.559 it is the stronger sound and the word in our text is a very familiar 268 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:12.680 word even the most people who don't know Greek. It is the word Lagas, 269 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:18.000 which means word and uh again. This is perhaps indicating that not only 270 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:22.480 now are people realizing and hearing of Jesus, but they're beginning to make a 271 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:30.079 rational decision about who Christ is. So in Verse Sixteen, the result is 272 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:34.519 Jesus now has to withdraw to a desert place and even though matthew and mark 273 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:38.039 don't mention it. Luke is the Gospel writer who, more than any other, 274 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:44.759 stresses prayer and it tells us. Luke tells us his purpose is to 275 00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:49.519 go out and to pray, to commune with his heavenly father. William Hendrickson 276 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:56.279 says Jesus gave it, gave us an example by not allowing anything to stand 277 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:00.359 in the way of regular seasons of prayer, and there's much we could say 278 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.319 about that, but I'm not going to deal with that this morning. But 279 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:11.160 I do want to make some applications. I look at the Healing Ministry of 280 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:14.599 Christ has not only, of course, wonderful as far as physical healing, 281 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:17.839 it is, of course, but I look at it beyond that, I 282 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.920 think every healing miracle of Christ has a spiritual application. I believe not only 283 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:26.400 was he conquering and showing the power that he had, but he was also 284 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:30.400 trying to teach us something in each one of the healings, and that I 285 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:34.160 would say almost every single one, if not every single one. I didn't 286 00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:38.279 look at them all, but but I have to do with what happens to 287 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:45.200 us in regeneration and salvation. The healing of the blind would transfer over to 288 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.880 US spiritually that, as Paul tells us, the God of this world has 289 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.960 blinded our minds, those that are in darkness, and so Jesus removes that 290 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:00.079 blindness from us when he regenerates us. The raising of the DAD speaks of 291 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:03.119 what happens to us in regeneration, because Paul tells us in e Fesians to 292 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:08.799 one, that we were dead in trespasses and sin. And so the raising 293 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.400 of the dead speaks of our raising out of trespasses, out of the death 294 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:19.119 of trespasses and sin. And so leprosy in the Bible has long been looked 295 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:22.480 at as a type of sin. Now, you could say to me, 296 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:27.079 and you'd be right. Well pastor nowhere in the Bible does it ever say 297 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:30.519 leprosy is a type of sin. You would be right. It never says 298 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:36.240 it. However, let me quote G Campbell Morgan here. He says, 299 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:40.799 if that be so that it's never mentioned, it is nonetheless true that the 300 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:45.640 common consciousnesses of men and women who are believed in God for ages, the 301 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:52.839 Hebrew expositors and theologians, the Christian expositors and theologians, have all seen in 302 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:56.880 leprosy. Even though the statement is not made in the Bible. The most 303 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:04.359 revealing symbol in the material real of what sin is in the spiritual and I 304 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:07.440 think there's many parallels we could draw between leprosy and sin and I'm not going 305 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:11.200 to go through all of them this morning, but I want to talk about 306 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:17.400 a couple for sure. One parallel about leprosy and sin is leprosy, like 307 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:22.359 sin, affects us in every part of our body. And he fees, 308 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.319 excuse me, Isaiah one six, and we read out of that chapter earlier, 309 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.640 but we didn't read this verse. In Verse Six, God describes the 310 00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:33.559 wickedness of Judah in this way, from the soul of the foot even to 311 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:37.759 the head. There is no soundness in it but bruises and sores and raw 312 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:42.079 wounds. They are not pressed out, out out or bound up or softened 313 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:48.400 with oil. Let's the affect of sin or the effect of leprosy. We're 314 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:52.839 not partially Lepros we are as this man is described. We are full of 315 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:56.240 leprosy. We are not a little bit of a transgressor we are not one 316 00:24:56.279 --> 00:25:00.680 who just, you know, maybe just a regulation or two. We are 317 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:07.359 entirely sinners. We are, as it says, dead in trespasses and sin, 318 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:11.119 and just has lepers are dead men walking, so are sinners. Sinners 319 00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.599 are indeed also dead men walking the wages of sin, the Bible says, 320 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:19.720 his death. Living in sin, like living in leprosy, leaves US outside 321 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:23.240 the camp. We are not a part of the congregation of the Lord when 322 00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:29.160 we are living in sin and living without God's regenerating power. And there are 323 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:32.440 many other ways. But I want to mention one more this morning that to 324 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:36.200 me is very telling and and you may not go with me there, but 325 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:38.799 nonetheless I'm going to talk about it for a little bit. And that is 326 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:42.279 what I mentioned earlier, that when the leper went to the priest to have 327 00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:48.000 the test done to see whether he is healed of leprosy, we had those 328 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:53.960 instructions. That happened on the first day that he comes, but there are 329 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.599 instructions for later on as well. At the end of the first day, 330 00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.640 Sarah Money, the man is to wash his clothes and shave all the hair 331 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:07.920 on his body and bathe himself, but then he is told to go away 332 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:10.559 from the priest and he can live in a camp, but he has to 333 00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:15.839 live outside his tent for seven days and then verse nine of Leviticus Fourteen, 334 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:19.480 it says on the seventh day, followed this carefully, on the Seventh Day 335 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:25.400 he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard and his 336 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:30.519 eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair and then he shall wash his 337 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:34.839 clothes and bathe his bathe his body and water and he shall be clean. 338 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:42.319 That is the seventh day. On the eighth day we read that he has 339 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:48.680 to bring three lambs, to Male, one female, both without blemish, 340 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:52.119 and some grain and oil. I won't read the whole text out of Leviticus, 341 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:56.680 but you can. And then the priest would perform several functions, including 342 00:26:56.680 --> 00:27:00.720 the sacrifice of the lamb and disposal, in the sacrific ficial manner, of 343 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:04.079 the grain in the oil, and then, after all that was done on 344 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:11.240 the eighth day, the man would be pronounced clean. Now I think there's 345 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:17.480 several numbers in the Bible that have importance. One I've told you about before, 346 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:21.599 right the number seven. It's very important. I said, if you 347 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:25.200 answer that to most of my questions, you'll be right at the time. 348 00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:30.359 Three is a very important number, of course it's the number of the Trinity. 349 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.839 Forty is a very important number. We've already come across at once in 350 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:37.720 Luke of the trial or temptation of Christ, and we have the forty days, 351 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:41.319 forty nights of rain in the forty years in the Wilderness and all those 352 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:45.240 scriptures that speak of trial. But I would say another number that I think 353 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:48.839 is important. I try to kind of walk a middle ground when it comes 354 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:52.400 to Biblical numerology, but I do think there is some interest in it. 355 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:55.880 But I don't again, I don't expect you to have to follow everything I 356 00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:00.880 say here, but it's interesting that it seems in the Bible that the number 357 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:07.279 eight represents resurrection to us. At the end of seven days we come to 358 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:11.119 the eighth day, and I remember that because I was a Beatles fan and 359 00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:15.119 they're saying eight days of week, so I remember that. But the end 360 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:18.799 of seven days we come to the eighth day, which begins a new week. 361 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:22.359 The old week is gone and so the eighth day becomes a new week 362 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:27.680 for us to live. And of course you know what day our Lord Jesus 363 00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:32.599 rose. He rose on the first day of the week, which was also 364 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:37.599 the eighth day, and he was resurrected from the dead. All males were 365 00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:41.359 commanded to be circumcised on the Eighth Day, speaking of the Covenant Life that 366 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:45.720 God gives. Pentecost, which is the day the Holy Spirit was given, 367 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:51.119 was the eighth day of the seventh week. And, of course, when 368 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:55.119 God wanted to repopulate the Earth by people that could come out alive, how 369 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:59.319 many people did he put into the Ark? He put eight people in the 370 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:03.160 Ark. And also, again, trying not to go too far, afield, 371 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.160 but if you do add up the numerical value of the letters of Jesus 372 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:11.519 name and Greek, it equals eight, eight, eight. Well, there's 373 00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:17.160 more, but that's enough for now. But on the eighth day our hearts 374 00:29:17.160 --> 00:29:21.400 are circumcised. On the eighth day we are made new creatures, the day 375 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:25.440 of our resurrection. We are cleansed from our sin on that eighth day, 376 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:29.640 just like the leper would be declared cleansed on the eighth day. So we 377 00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:34.240 are declared cleansed on that day. And I want you to notice something different 378 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:37.440 here, something that Christ does that the law cannot do. You See, 379 00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:42.240 the law fails in a sense when it comes to leprosy, because what did 380 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:48.519 the law do to cleanse leprosy? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The only thing 381 00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:53.279 that the law could do was give a means to test whether or not a 382 00:29:53.400 --> 00:30:00.640 person actually had leprosy. But what did Jesus to the Leper see? He 383 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:07.279 healed those that were lepers and he made them totally clean. What does the 384 00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:11.200 law do in regards to sin? It points out our sin to us, 385 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:18.200 it tells us we're sinful, but that's it. That's where it ends. 386 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:22.400 There's a famous poem attributed to John Bunyan. Run, John Run. The 387 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:29.640 law commands but gives me neither feet nor hands. Far Better News The Gospel 388 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:37.480 brings. It bids me fly, but gives me wings. The Gospel gives 389 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:42.240 us the power to do what the law could never do. And so we 390 00:30:42.359 --> 00:30:48.720 see the greatness of Christ. And I want you to notice again the request 391 00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:51.359 of the Leper. I said I'd come back to it. He said, 392 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:56.880 Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. That's so typical 393 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:02.559 of us when we come to the Lord with our petitions. I don't think 394 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:07.119 very often we really doubt that God has the power to fulfill that petition that 395 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.039 we have. We don't come to God thinking, well, Lord, I 396 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:14.000 know this might be a little beyond you, but no, we know, 397 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:21.319 we believe that we accept, that we believe that, Jeremiah, oh Lord 398 00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:22.799 God, it is you who have made the heavens and the Earth, by 399 00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:29.160 your great power and by your outstretched star, nothing is too difficult for you. 400 00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:34.759 But we often doubt that God is willing to answer our prayers. That's 401 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:41.039 our problem. Hebrews Eleven six says whoever we draw near to God, must 402 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:45.440 believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. That's 403 00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:52.519 the problem we have, the believing that God actually rewards us when we come 404 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:56.200 to him. Kelvin says that the request of this man, this is not 405 00:31:56.279 --> 00:32:00.599 inconsistent with a certainty of faith which God demands in our prayer, for men 406 00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:07.440 ought not to expect more than God promises, and indeed we can do that. 407 00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:12.079 But our problem often, like the leper, is I know God can 408 00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:16.880 do it, but is he willing? Is he willing? But we need 409 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:22.240 to trust in God, believe in his love and His mercy, that he's 410 00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:29.079 willing to forgive us and decleanse us. Jesus touching the leopard not only speaks 411 00:32:29.079 --> 00:32:32.000 of the healing of sin, but it speaks to us of his incarnation. 412 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:39.400 It says we see in this story that Jesus was willing to come in contact 413 00:32:39.400 --> 00:32:43.920 with unclean flesh in a way. But again I'm not saying he touched unclean 414 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:49.279 flesh, but he who now knows sin was made to be sin for us 415 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:53.839 that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. You See, 416 00:32:53.880 --> 00:33:02.119 the most amazing thing happens here when Jesus touches the leper, the exact reversal 417 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:08.599 of everything else. We know happens mothers, when your child comes in from 418 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:13.440 playing in the dirt, maybe a mud once in a while here in Tucson. 419 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:15.440 I haven't seen it, but I've heard about it, but you know. 420 00:33:15.799 --> 00:33:19.599 But when they come in and they're covered with that dirt of the desert 421 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:24.000 all over them and you touch them, they don't become clean, you become 422 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:29.400 unclean. That's the normal way things work. Haggy explains that. He says 423 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:31.960 if someone carries holy meeting the fold of his garment and touches with his full 424 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:35.880 of bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does 425 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:39.960 it become holy? The priest answer and said no, it wouldn't do it. 426 00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:44.799 Then Heggy, I said if someone who is unclean by contact with the 427 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:49.559 dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? And the priest 428 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:55.519 said it does become unclean, because that's the normal course of events. That's 429 00:33:55.519 --> 00:34:02.279 how it always works, except when God is oft and so Christ, who 430 00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:08.679 is clean, touches the unclean, but instead of Christ being defiled, the 431 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:16.000 leper becomes clean. And that's how it is. In the incarnation, Jesus, 432 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:21.400 the holy one of God, takes flesh and the end result is that 433 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:25.000 the unclean can be made clean. Have you ever noticed Paul's words and Romans 434 00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:31.440 Chapter Eight, where he says that Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh? 435 00:34:31.719 --> 00:34:35.840 Do you know of those three words, likeness, sinful and flesh? 436 00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:39.599 If you take out any one of those words you're a heretic. It changes 437 00:34:39.639 --> 00:34:45.039 the entire meaning. But Paul says he didn't say he didn't come in flesh, 438 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:46.599 which is the light. He didn't say the likeness of flesh. He 439 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:51.679 came in flesh and he doesn't say he came in sinful flesh, because he 440 00:34:51.719 --> 00:34:58.239 didn't become in sinful flesh. And so we realize that Jesus comes in the 441 00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:04.119 incarnation. Calvin again says for assuming our flesh he has granted us more than 442 00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:07.280 the touch of his hand. He's brought himself into one and the same body 443 00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:12.199 with us in order that we should be flesh of his flesh. He does 444 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:15.559 not only stretch out his arm to us, but he comes down from heaven 445 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:19.440 even to the very depths. Yet he catches no stain thereby, but stays 446 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:22.920 home, clears all our dirt away and pours upon us his own holiness. 447 00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:27.760 Now, while he could heal the leper by his word alone, he adds 448 00:35:27.800 --> 00:35:31.280 the contact of his hand to show his feeling of compassion. No wonder, 449 00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:36.239 since he willed to put on our flesh in order that he might cleanse us 450 00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:39.440 from all our sins. So the reaching out of his hand was a sign 451 00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:44.639 and token of his vast grace and goodness. Here is the thing which we 452 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:49.599 pass over without much impression at an idle reading, but most certainly ponder with 453 00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:52.880 much awe when we take it properly, that the son of God, far 454 00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:59.320 from abhorring contact with the Leper, actually stretched out his hand to touch his 455 00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:05.159 uncleanness. What a glorious thing our Christ, our Savior, is done. 456 00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:10.159 So. If we're affected with the leprosy of sin, what do we do? 457 00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:15.679 The first thing we do is we recognize our condition. As a leopard, 458 00:36:15.719 --> 00:36:19.519 did we come to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm unclean, 459 00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:25.039 I'm unclean, I have sinned in so many ways. We recognize who we 460 00:36:25.079 --> 00:36:29.239 are. The Leopard doesn't come and say, well, I have a little 461 00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:31.840 bit of a problem in my big doll. We say no, I have 462 00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:37.800 a problem in my entire being, Lord, I am sinful. We are 463 00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:43.920 like Paul, who says in Roman, Oh, wretched man that I am. 464 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:46.400 When we realize, like the leper, that we are totally sinful, 465 00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:52.599 we are in a perfect position to be received by Christ. We recognize at 466 00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:59.159 that moment that their only hope we have is in Christ atoning death, in 467 00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:05.199 his blood, and we will celebrate to night in the Lord's supper. We 468 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:09.440 realize that we're helpless, but by his blood he can make us whole, 469 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:16.400 he can heal us, he who touched our flesh, can make us clean 470 00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:21.760 so that we come into his presence and can say, Lord, I am 471 00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:27.800 clean, not of myself but of the precious blood of Christ, which purifies 472 00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:31.960 and cleanses me to stand in your presence. We bar our heads this morning. 473 00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:37.840 Lord, we thank you for your word we thank you for the truth 474 00:37:37.880 --> 00:37:44.119 of our sinful condition, but you don't just leave us there. You show 475 00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:46.800 us the way out. You tell us, if we can just humble ourselves 476 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:52.320 before you and admit our condition, that you are willing and ready to receive 477 00:37:52.440 --> 00:37:57.760 us and, as you did to the leper so many years ago, to 478 00:37:57.840 --> 00:38:02.960 stretch out your hand to us and say I will be clean. We thank 479 00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:07.400 you for so great a salvation that I'm sure most of us here this morning, 480 00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:12.159 I've obtained. We thank you God for that. We give you praise 481 00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:16.079 for it, and I pray, if there are any hearing this message who 482 00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:21.159 do not know what it means to be cleansed from their sins, that they 483 00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:23.800 may know so this morning by reaching out to you, Lord, and crying 484 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:29.639 out woe is me, I am unclean, and Lord, you can touch 485 00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:34.519 them. We thank you for this, for we prayed in Christ's name. Amen.