Lessons Learned From A Leper

Father, we thank you for the Word of God. What a great privilege we have, more so than anyone else, those of us who know you, to be able to have in our hands the authoritative, infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God. And as we open it, we can see Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we ask that today we'd see you, more so than we've ever seen you before, in your splendor and your majesty and your glory, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Luke chapter 5.

Luke chapter 5, and we're going to learn some lessons today from a leper. That's right. A man who is full of leprosy has many lessons for us that we might learn to follow our Lord. And the lesson at the outset you need to know is what happens when a needy soul approaches the divine God of the universe. Let me remind you one more time that every time there is a miracle performed in the Bible, it is symbolic of what God does spiritually in the lives of people when he redeems their soul.

If you can keep that perspective, then the miracles of Jesus Christ come alive to you as you begin to understand the value of them 2,000 years ago in your life today. And what we have in Luke chapter 5 is once again a miracle performed by our God that enables us to see how his blood cleanses us from all sin. Remember the Bible says over in Hebrews chapter 1 verse number 3 that Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature.

Jesus is God in the flesh. When Philip asked in John 14 verse number 8, Lord, show us the Father, our Lord responded by saying, if you've seen me, you have seen the Father. And Luke's emphasis is to show us the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's why in the first three chapters it was all about his identity.

It came through the angel Gabriel. It came through Zacharias. It came through John the Baptist. It came through Mary. It came through Simeon and Anna and the shepherds. As we were able to understand who this Son of Man is, as the Lord would unfold for us the testimony of these great people. They would tell us about the identity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Once we embarked on chapter 4, then we began to see the ministry of our Lord unfold before us as he helped us understand that he came to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And then we saw the authority of the Master unfold before us as he began to perform miracle after miracle, healing all those who came to him. Because of his authority over disease, over demons, over death, he proves himself once again to be the Son of God. And so that's where Luke continues in his story. Let me read to you Luke chapter 5 verses 12 down to verse number 16.

And it came about that while he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored him saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. And he stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him and he ordered him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded for a testimony to them. But the news about him was spreading even farther and great multitudes were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

But he himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. This story is one of the great stories in the gospel. Matthew records it, Mark records it, Luke records it. Let's begin by looking at the context together to understand what's happening here. The Bible says, and it came about that while he was in one of the cities.

We don't know which city it was. Evidently it's not important for us to know. He was just in some city. But because we know what verse 44 states of Luke chapter 5, we know, excuse me, Luke chapter 4, we know that he went to all the synagogues in Judea and in Galilee preaching the gospel. He said he must preach the kingdom of God. So we can assume that he's already in the city and have already preached the gospel in the synagogue or in at least one of the synagogues in that city. He has done preaching because that's what he came to do.

And there were scores of people around him because of his miracle powers. And the people who followed him didn't follow him because they loved him or because they believed in him. They followed him because they were curious about him. And they followed him because of what he could do for them. That is, he could heal their physical infirmity. Don't mistake that because all these people were around Jesus that they were disciples of his and followers of his and lovers of him. That's just not the case.

And as we go through the gospel, you'll see that more clearly. But all these people were around him. He had been in this city. And the miracles he performed identified him as God. We know that John 20 tells us that many other signs did Jesus do that are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And in believing in him, you'll have life in his name. These were his credentials. These would prove to those around him that he truly was the Messiah.

So you have the context. You have this city. Not knowing where the city is, which city it was, where it's located, that's not important. But what happens in the city with this one leper is important. So we move from the context to this case. And that says this, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. Whenever you see the word behold, it's a word that means you need to stand in amazement. Need to stand back, look, observe, and stand in awe. Luke says behold. I want to let you know something, that in this city, not knowing which city it was, that's irrelevant, there was a man here.

And this man, as Luke talks to us, is full of leprosy. Matthew doesn't say that. And Mark doesn't say that. They just say he was a leper. But Luke is the physician, the physician with precision. And so he helps us understand the severity of this man's condition. He just wasn't another leper. He was plerao. He was full of leprosy. It had consumed him. This man was in dire straits. This man was in great need. He had a serious problem. He was living death, exemplified. He was a man who, because he was a leper, was isolated from the community.

Because he was a leper, listen, he was not allowed to be in the city gates. But this one was. And that's why Luke says you need to stand back and look at this for a moment, because this man has violated the Old Testament law.

He's not supposed to be in the city gates. This requires stoning. But he's here. Question is, why is he here? What's he doing? And why is it at this time is he here? You must understand that leprosy was a common problem in the days of Christ. Remember what was said back in Luke 4, verse number 24? Christ said many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. In Leviticus 13, God put into law what to do with lepers, because he needed to preserve the nation of Israel.

Leprosy is a devastating disease. Leprosy would be similar to what we call AIDS today. It had a profound effect on everyone. And there's a great debate as to whether or not the leprosy in the days of Christ and before that are the same as what is commonly called today Hansen's disease. There's a great debate about that. But when you read what took place in Leviticus 13 and the requirements that God had put down for his people, you begin to draw the parallels between leprosy and Hansen's disease. And I'll read about that for you here in a moment.

But how did leprosy find its way into the nation of Israel? Historians tell us that the horrible disease was evidently picked up in Egypt. Some classical sources mention that leprosy originated in Egypt and the disease has been found in at least one mummified body that was discovered in Egypt. Leprosy might have been transmitted to the children of Israel when they were in the land of Egypt and carried with them into the promised land. So God designed many laws for Israel to protect them from contacting and spreading such diseases as leprosy.

Now you must understand that the bacteria of leprosy can only be contacted by 10% of the world's population. 90% of the world's population will never contact leprosy. But there is a percentage that can and do. But in the days of Jesus, this was a common disease. Let me talk to you about what one author said concerning this disease, this leprosy.

He says what is important to understand is that leprosy or Hansen's disease as it is better known today is not a rotting infection as was once commonly thought nor are the sufferer's outward physical deformities horribly disfigured by the disease. In recent years, the research of Dr. Paul Brand and others has proven that the disfigurement associated with Hansen's disease comes solely because the body's warning system of pain is destroyed. The disease brings numbness to the extremities as well as to the ears, eyes and nose.

The devastation that follows comes from incidents such as reaching into a charcoal fire to retrieve a dropped potato or washing one's face with scalding water or gripping a tool so tightly that the hands become traumatized and eventually stump like. In third world countries, vermin sometimes chew on sleeping lepers without the lepers even knowing it.

Dr. Brand has, after performing corrective surgery on a leper, would send a cat home with him as normal post-operative procedure. Dr. Brand calls the disease a painless hell. The poor man in Luke had not been able to feel for years and his body mutilated from head to foot, was foul and rotting. Leviticus 13 verses 45 to 46 sum up the leper with these words, the person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkept, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, unclean, unclean.

As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone. He must live outside the camp. So in other words, this disease is caused by some bacteria in the body that causes there to be numbness on the extremities of one's body. So you feel nothing and because you feel nothing, the things that you do cause there to be the destruction of the extremities and you don't even know what's happening. And all of a sudden you become disfigured, you become dismembered because all these things are taking place and you begin to look horrible to people around about you.

In the days of Israel, they believed it was such an infectious disease that you had to be completely isolated from the normal population. The only people you could be with were other lepers and they had laws that if there was a leper anywhere in the vicinity, you had to be 100 cubits away from him if the wind was blowing his direction. But if the wind was blowing your direction, you had to be 400 cubits away from him. They had very strict laws for the nation of Israel so that they could not contact this disease so that the nation could be preserved.

But God had done something very unique with this disease. Why would God allow his people to contact this disease and it to be so rampant among his people? Because there was a lesson to be learned about ceremonial uncleanness and what it meant to one day be clean. God had a great plan and he would allow this disease to run its course among his people so that they would begin to understand how God would one day cleanse ultimately his people. One author said this, he said, because the physical ugliness of the disease, God had a spiritual purpose in marking out lepers as ceremonial unclean.

Leprosy was a most graphic illustration of the sin that defiles the whole body. Sin is ugly, loathsome, incurable, and contaminating. It separates men from God and makes them outcasts. Every leper not only lived with the stigma of his own disease, but also with the stigma of being a walking illustration of sin. God had a purpose behind all this. And so when Jesus came, he healed many with this disease to demonstrate the healing power and the cleansing work of the Messiah. And God wanted all to see it because this is what he was going to do spiritually in the lives of people whose souls, whose bodies were filled with the loathsome disease of sin.

God had a great plan. This stigma that this man faced would not deter him from walking into this city knowing that he could be stoned. But you got to realize the embarrassment now is over. He's full of leprosy. His feet are stumps. His hands are stumps. His nose is probably pretty much gone. His eye sockets have begun to eat away. The lips are pretty much removed. This man is totally gross. And so he knows that if he goes in and he ends up being stoned, that probably would be a relief for him because he would no longer have to live in this disgusting, despicable condition.

He understands that. And so he's willing to risk it all because there is this one man named Jesus who happens to be in that city and he wants to see Jesus. He wants to come face to face amidst all of his desperation. And that leads us from the case to the cry of the leper. Listen to what the Bible says.

And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored him saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Mark's gospel tells us that it was a repeated thing that he said, Lord, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Lord, if you are willing, you can do this for me. You and you only can make me clean. And the cry of the leper, listen carefully. The cry of the leper is the illustration of the cry of the one lost in sin. He comes desperately, doesn't he?

Where else is he going to go? There are no doctors who can heal him. There's no prescription drug that he can take that will reverse the effects of the disease. There's nothing for him to do. So he comes desperately. He comes pleading. He comes crying to the only one who can rectify his condition. You see, he knows his situation. He knows his condition. And because he knows it, he knows there's only one individual that can solve his malady. Only one. And that's what happens when a soul is saved, right?

He or she knows there's only one place to go. And out of desperation, they cry out to Jesus. Lord, if you are willing, you and you alone can make me clean. So he comes desperately. And not only does he come desperately, but he comes, listen, reverently. He calls him Lord. Matthew's account says he falls down. And as he falls down, he uses the word that we commonly use for worship today. So that means he recognizes the majestic power of Almighty God. He recognizes that this Jesus is divine. He recognizes that this Jesus is Lord.

He recognizes that this Jesus is King. And he falls down in a worshipful manner, reverently saying, Lord, because he knows. He knows that only God can heal him. He knows that. And so he comes reverently, bowing down before the King of the universe. And he also comes urgently, desperately, reverently, urgently. I implore you, he says. The text says he fell on his face and implored him. It was a sense of urgency. Lord, if you don't do this, I'm a dead man. I'm not going to make it. I violated the law.

They're going to stone me. I'm going to be killed. So if you don't heal me, I'm in the city gates. And once here, I'm a dead man. So there's a sense of urgency behind his pleading, behind his cry. He comes desperately because there's nowhere else to go. There's no other route to take. It's to Jesus who's in the city. He comes reverently because he knows and recognizes him as God and bows down before him and calls him Lord, calls him Master, calls him King. He comes urgently because he knows if Jesus doesn't heal him, he's dead.

He knows that. He also comes humbly. The cry is a humble cry, isn't it? Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. If you choose not to, it's your choice because you're Lord. But I'm pleading that somehow you'd make me clean. There are no demands, no presumptions, no name it and claim it kind of attitude. It's a humble attitude that says, Lord, if you are willing, it's not my will, it's your will. I would like to be cleaned. I would like to be made whole. But you are Lord and I am not. And whatever your decision is, I will acquiesce to that decision because you are Lord.

That's the humble man, isn't it? See, this is the broken man. And this is in the story because we saw last time, we saw for the first time an account of somebody who truly was recognizing their sin, Peter, depart from me for I am a sinful man, right?

And he would fall down before the Lord. So we saw for the first time in Luke's gospel, a man who recognized his sin and had a repentant spirit.

And now what Luke is doing is giving us another illustration, another story to open up our eyes that we can actually see what a repentant spirit looks like. It comes to God desperately, urgently, reverently, humbly because it has no other place to go. Falls down at the feet of the master and begs for mercy. That's the repentant spirit. So Luke is putting this in the whole realm of his gospel so we will begin to understand what God does for the repentant sinner. You see, he was understanding of his condition.

Let me tell you something, nobody is saved unless they understand their condition spiritually. They're not. They're just not going to come urgently, reverently, pleading to God for mercy, humbly bowing down before him and begging him, if you are willing, would you please save me? They won't do it unless they recognize the loathsome disease of sin that encompasses them. See, that's why our evangelism today is so insipid, so impotent, so weak. It's because we don't cause people to see God for who he is so that we can see our sin and our wretchedness and fall down before him.

That's why you have scores and thousands of people making a profession, but people not having a possession of the Messiah because they don't come to God in a proper way. It's the broken and contrite heart that God does not despise, but the arrogant heart, the demanding heart, the presumptuous heart, God has no time for. He does not recognize that person, but this kind of man, oh, he recognizes. He recognizes and he cures. I love Mark's account. Mark in chapter 1 says, thou can make me clean. And the word he uses is the word where we get the word dynamite or power.

In other words, he recognizes not only he's Lord, but he has authority and he has power. So he knows that there's only one who is powerful enough to do this, and it's Jesus of Nazareth. And that leads us to our fourth point, and that's, of course, the cure. This is so good. I love this. Listen to this. And he stretched out his hand and he touched him. Now, folks, you can't touch the leper. Leviticus 5, it's very clear in verse number 3 about the prohibition of touching the unclean thing. So what does Jesus do?

He touches the unclean thing because he's going to make the unclean thing, what? Clean. So you're with me this morning. You had your breakfast. You had your coffee. You went to Starbucks. You're awake. He makes the unclean clean. And this cure shows us the compassion. Mark's account tells us that Jesus felt compassion for the man. See, that's the way the Lord looks at the one who is so desperate. So desperate. So much so that he recognizes that there's only one who can heal him. And he falls down reverently and bows before him and begs for mercy.

And the Lord, filled with compassion, reaches out and he touches him. Touches him. And what does he say? He says this, I am willing. Be cleansed. Now let's think about this for a moment. This man was full of leprosy. He had not been touched by a non-leprous hand in years, maybe decades. Think about that. Maybe he was a father who had children at one time and was unable to hold those children in his arms. I recall every morning basically I'm down spending time in my own little chair. In my own little corner, in my own little chair.

I can be whatever I want to be. That song by Cinderella. I don't know why I said that. I had too much coffee this morning. Anyway, I'm in my own little chair downstairs. I'm reading my Bible, doing my study, my prayer time. And AJ's usually always the first one up.

He comes bouncing down the stairs. He comes in and he just jumps into my arms. He just curls up in there, you know, because we have to leave our windows open at night because it's really cold in the morning, like about 60 degrees in there. So he comes jumping in my arms and I hold him. And as I was doing this week, this lesson, thinking about how that man was never able to hold his children, hold another individual, shake another man's hand. How you doing? It's good to see you today. And here was Jesus, the pure and holy one, who just would reach out and say, with full of compassion, and just touch him and say, I am willing.

I'm willing. I want to do this, he says. Be clean. And instantaneously, he was pure as the driven snow. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the cure this man must have faced on this moment? It was instantaneous. All of his miracles were. And remember, they weren't restorative. They were creative in nature. So he gave him a new nose, new hands, new feet, new limbs, new eyebrows, new hair, new everything. It was all brand new because God wasn't going to restore that which was old and decrepit. He was going to make everything brand new.

He recreated the man. He recreated him. And instantaneously, he was absolutely spotless, as if he had never even mentioned the word or knew about the word leper. He was clean. And that's what God does with people. He instantaneously, what, recreates them into his beautiful image. This was a new day for this man. This was a new opportunity for this man. I mean, this for the first time in who knows how long, he would be able to look people in the face eye to eye.

He would never have to walk around unclean, unclean, and people would run away from him and ostracize him. Never again. He could hold his head up high. He could walk to the city mall. He could have lunch with the community. He could do things he'd never done before because God had touched his life. Which leads us to the next point. The command. It says in verse 14, and he ordered him to tell no one. Why? Don't tell anybody? You've got to be kidding me. Here's the leper guy. Okay? He's completely brand new.

And you can imagine, he's looking, he's wiggling his fingers. He hasn't done that in many years, right? You know? He can stick his finger in his ear. If he wants to pick his nose, he can pick his nose. I mean, this guy can do anything he wants. His fingers are working. Everything's functioning now, right? He's thinking, man, this is great. And Jesus says, you can't tell anybody.

What? You have got to be kidding me. I can't tell anybody? I mean, it's not like they're not going to notice, Lord.

I mean, come on. I can't tell anybody. What do you mean I can't tell anybody? Listen to what Jesus says.

But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commended for a testimony to them. Christ came to fulfill the law, right? He didn't come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill the law. Leviticus 14 describes for us the exact requirement that each individual who was a leper and was clean was supposed to perform. It was an eight-day ritual. And Christ says, you know, you can't tell anybody.

But instead, this is what you've got to do. You've got to go straight to the priest and tell them. And what does he say? For a testimony to them. Because, you see, if the priests were to take him through the eight-day ritual and realize that this man was truly purified and cleansed, they would have to come to the realization that Jesus of Nazareth did this. This is a testimony to the priesthood. They've got to know. So you can't go to anybody. Go straight to the priest. Fulfill the law of Moses. Do what it is you're supposed to do.

Let me read it to you. It's in Leviticus 14. I won't read it to you. I'll just tell you about it. It says, it began when a priest met the would-be celebrant outside the camp and verified that he actually was healed. Then still outside the camp, two birds were presented along with some cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. One of the birds was killed in a clay pot so that none of the blood was lost. This was done above fresh water, symbolic of cleansing. Next, a live bird along with the wood, yarn, and hyssop was dipped in the blood, and blood was sprinkled upon the leper seven times as he was pronounced clean.

This initial ceremony concluded with the live bird being released in the open fields to wing its way to freedom. That's Leviticus 14, 1 to 7. As a result, the blood-sprinkled person could once again join the community. This foreshadowed the effect of Christ's blood, which reconciles man to God and makes it possible for the sinner to join the household of faith. After the bird's release, the cleansed man washed his clothing, shaved the hair from his body, bathed, and entered the camp where he, his family, and friends rejoiced for seven days.

On the seventh day, his head, eyebrows, and beard were shaven, and he again bathed so that, like a newborn, he was ready to enter a new phase of his existence. On the eighth day, the former leper offered three unblemished lambs as a guilt offering, a sin offering, and a burnt offering. The guilt offering was not an atoning sacrifice, but a restitution for the offerings and sacrifices he was unable to make while he was a leper. His restitution and fresh commitment were then dramatically emphasized when the priest took some of the blood and smeared it on the offerer's right ear, thumb, and toe, then coated each smear with a second anointing of oil, thereby symbolizing that the man would listen to God's voice, use his hands for God's glory, and walk in God's ways.

Fittingly, his shaved head was then anointed with the remaining oil, and finally having thus declared the leper to be in the Lord's service, the priest made atonement for him with sin, burnt, and serial offerings, the last being a joyous expression of gratitude.

That's all in Leviticus 14. All symbolizing because Luke 24 and John 5 speak about the fact that everything in the Old Testament was about Jesus, the Messiah, and what he would do when he came and offered himself as a sacrifice to cleanse the sin of man. And so Jesus says, don't tell anybody, but instead what I want you to do is go straight to the priests and let them know, which leads us to verse 15, the consequences.

Mark tells us he doesn't do that. He disobeys. He doesn't go to the priests. I mean, he can't contain himself. Look at me.

Look what's happened. He can't contain himself. You know, you can hardly blame the guy, right? But he just can't contain himself. And Luke describes for us what exactly happens. In fact, verse 15 says it this way. But the news about him was spreading even farther, and great multitudes were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. And maybe one of the motives for Christ to say, go to the priests, tell them first, it would at least give him eight days to get out of the region so there would be less people surrounding him.

But instead, the leper disobeys. He goes and tells everybody, and that just gathers more people. And because more people would gather, what does Jesus do? He preaches first, right?

First things first. The preeminent thing in any ministry is preaching. It's number one. Everything else is secondary to the teaching and preaching and proclamation of the truth of God. And so scores of people would gather around him, and what he would do? He'd begin to preach. Preach what? The kingdom of God, because we know from Luke 4, he was compelled to preach the gospel. Now, you can imagine. This was like somebody coming to earth and banishing AIDS from the world. If somebody came and they banished AIDS from the world and it was the Lord who came and he did it, everybody would be saved.

Can you imagine? No, they wouldn't. They weren't saved in Israel. He banished pretty much all disease, not just leprosy, but all disease. And we'll see that as we go through the gospel of Luke. Everybody who comes to him is healed, slowly but surely. Israel's not very big. You ever been there? It's not very big. As he walks from city to city and town to town, those 240 villages in the Galilee, he would go and he'd preach the gospel. He'd heal everybody there. They were all cleansed, all made well.

He banished disease from Israel because that was the credential of his messiahship. We get to Luke chapter 16. What does Jesus say to the rich man in Hades? When he says, Send someone back from the dead. My brothers will believe if someone be raised from the dead. And Jesus said, They have Moses, they have the prophets. If they believe not them, they will not believe though one be raised from the dead. No miracle, no matter how great it is, is going to save anybody. It's only the preaching and teaching of the word of God that saves a soul from sin.

So the consequences were there are more people coming and because there are more people coming, Jesus began to preach all the more and to heal all those who came to him. And then I want you to notice the connection in the verse number 16.

It says, But he himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Fully divine, fully human. His connection to his father was communion. His connection to us was compassion. Did he have compassion? Yes. That's why he preached the gospel. That's why he healed all who came. And yet he knows that in his humanity, he needs to split away to restore himself in that humanity and to commune with his father in heaven. I read that and I think to myself, You know, we always say, I'm just so busy to spend time with Jesus.

I don't think anybody here was more busier than Jesus was. But he had to get up early. He had to slip away to spend time with his father in heaven. He had to slip away. He had to be up before everybody else was up because if not, they'd all be standing at the door saying, Heal me, heal me, heal me. So he had to get up, slip away, go off by himself, find that place of solitude to commune with his father in heaven. So that connection between he and his father was strong, true, pure, and right. It would give him the strength to go back into the villages, to go back into the cities and to continue to do what he was doing.

You lack strength? Are you weak today? Slip away. Spend some time with the Messiah. Spend some time with your father in heaven and commune with him. Let him restore you. Let him cause you to mount up with wings like eagles so you can run and not be weary. So you can be strong for him. Which leads me to our last point. Some comments. It's this. Man's condition is exemplified in this leper's life. Man's spiritual condition, that is. Sin is pervasive. Sin is ugly. Sin, loathsome. Sin, communicable. Sin, incurable.

And because of sin, you are an outcast. You are outside the kingdom of God. You are outside the people of God. You are outside the realm of the presence of God because of sin. And what's the solution? The solution is to come desperately, urgently, reverently, humbly, believing that only Jesus can save you. That's it. That's the lesson of the leper. It's the lesson that Luke puts in there because he wants you to understand what happens when a repentant believer truly comes to saving grace. This leper is an illustration, is a symbol of the power of God's atoning work in our lives.

Remember what Isaiah said in Isaiah 6 when he saw the Lord? He said, unclean. Unclean. Why? Because leprosy was the illustration of a sinful life. And the leper would have to walk around saying, unclean, unclean, unclean. And so as soon as Isaiah sees the living God, all he can say is, unclean, unclean. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people with unclean lips. By the way, how come he didn't say an unclean life? Why did he say unclean lips? Good question. It's because the mouth is the clearest indicator of the heart's condition.

If I listen to you speak, I can tell you the condition of your heart. And so Isaiah says, I know I'm filthy. I know I'm unclean. I live among unclean people. I am an unclean man. He saw himself as leprous before the Lord. That's how he saw himself. And so in Isaiah 64, the words are recorded, all of us have become like one who is unclean. All of us have become like one who is a leper. Our sin is loathsome, degrading, disfiguring, debilitating, destructive, devastating, and damning. What's the solution?

Succumb reverently, and humbly, sincerely, honestly, desperately before the Lord. And say, Lord, if you are willing, would you make me clean? Would you make me clean? And that's the lesson from the leper. You say, what about the fact that the leper was disobedient to the Lord? After he was cleansed. Well, that's probably the greatest illustration of a Christian I know. Right? So, you see, here's the point about that. And you need to understand this. Because the question is this. Once God cleans you, will you obey what he says?

The Lord said to the leper, tell no man. Tell no man. On the contrary, when the Lord saves you, what's he say? Tell every man. And, oh, by the way, have you done that? As the leper told everybody, when he was told, tell no man, we tell no man, and we're told to tell everybody. Figure that. Figure that. And the Lord says, if you do what I tell you to do, if you just obey me, that is, listen, the clearest way you will demonstrate the transforming, recreative work of God in your life. If you just obey me and follow me, you will demonstrate to everybody how I have recreated you, how I have given everything new.

I have recreated you in my image. In my image. If any man be in Christ, he is a brand new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Brand spanking new. And the Lord says, then, I want you to tell everybody. Tell them all. And as you go telling them, my transforming power in your life will manifest itself in such a way that life and lip match perfectly. And that's what I want. That's the lesson. Learn from a leper. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today and the great greatness of your word.

You are so good at explaining to us what it is we need to do and know. And we thank you that we can gather together and we can open the word of God and we can study and see you. And Lord, my prayer today, if there be any man or woman in an unclean state, they would fall on their face before the living God, reverently and humbly coming before you and say, Lord, if you are willing, would you make me clean? Cleanse me from my sin and cause me, Lord, to follow you and serve you with my whole heart. May that be the prayer this morning of every man and woman who do not know you.

For those of us who do know you, Lord, may we recognize the command of God to tell everybody. Tell them all. Because they need to hear. How will they hear without a preacher? If faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, someone needs to tell them. May we be those who tell. In Jesus' name, amen.