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Good morning. It's counted a 
real joy to be here with you this morning. I was glad to, 
sorry for the circumstances, but I was glad to receive the 
call and to come here and be with you. My wife and I, there 
you are. I'd misplaced you after the prayer 
meeting. I wasn't sure where you wandered off to. I want to 
thank you for your warm reception of my wife and I. We feel like 
we're at home, and we want to thank you for that. I also bring 
you greetings from your brothers and sisters at Glen Cullen, Pastor 
Butler and Pastor Cam. is with us this morning. They 
had planned to be there to worship with us. A couple of weeks ago, 
I spoke with Pastor Butler, and I said, now, our people will 
be very disappointed if you don't preach. He said, well, we're 
just coming back from vacation, and we would sure like to come 
and just worship with you. And I said, well, that's OK. 
But God knows better. And so your pastor will be preaching 
at Glen Cullen this morning. Please open your Bibles to Matthew 
chapter 8. I think what we'll do today, 
our theme for this morning and again this evening, is Lessons 
in Coming to Christ. And we'll take up these two miracles 
as they're recorded for us. The first one in verses 1 through 
4, and the second one in verses 5 through 13. Let's read the 
section both together this morning. So beginning in verse 1 of Matthew 
chapter 8, And we'll read down to verse 13. When he, that is 
Jesus, came down from the mountain, a great multitude followed him. 
And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, 
if you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus put out 
his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing. Aren't those beautiful 
words? I am willing. be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that 
you tell no one, but go your way, show yourself to the priest 
and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, 
a centurion, came to him, pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant 
is lying at home, paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And Jesus 
said to him, I will come and heal him. Isn't that amazing? We'll talk about that this evening. The centurion didn't even get 
a request out. My servant's in trouble. Jesus 
says, I'll come and heal him. Incredible. Two things to think 
about. The centurion answered him and 
said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, 
but only speak a word and my servant will be healed. For I 
also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And 
I say to this one, go. And he goes, and to another, 
come. And he comes. And to my servant, do this. And 
he does it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those 
who followed, let me just briefly make a statement here, there 
are only two times in the New Testament where it is said that 
Jesus marveled. And the word there means he was 
astonished, amazed. And here he's amazed at the presence 
of faith in this centurion. In Mark chapter 6, Jesus is astonished 
at the absence of faith. Only two times that the Bible 
mentions that Jesus marvels, once in the presence of faith 
and the other in the absence of faith. Surely I say to you, 
I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I say 
to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the 
sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There 
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then Jesus said 
to the centurion, go your way. And as you have believed, so 
let it be done for you. and his servant was healed that 
same hour." Well, may God bless the reading of his holy word. So, we have the gospels. You're reading through the gospels. 
You've just started reading in John, and as mentioned this morning 
by our brother leading the worship, those first three gospels, Matthew, 
Mark, and Luke, are known as synoptic gospels. And as you 
know, they're referred to as synoptic gospels because they 
present to us a common view of the historical events of Jesus' 
life. And while there is no contradiction 
between them, because the Word of God cannot be broken, There 
are differences in viewpoint. There are differences in structure 
between those three synoptic Gospels, as it were. For example, 
Mark's Gospel is focused toward the Roman mindset. And he presents the Lord Jesus 
Christ as the servant of the Lord. And as you read Mark's 
Gospel, you'll see right away it's fast paced. It's action 
pact, we could say. As a matter of fact, Mark's favorite 
word seems to be the word immediately. Jesus does something and immediately 
he goes here. Immediately he goes there. Immediately 
that happens. It's precise in order and sequence 
of events. As a matter of fact, in the synoptics, 
most Bible scholars will use Mark as the guide to determine 
the order of events. seems to have been probably the 
oldest of the Gospels. Matthew, on the other hand, has 
a Jewish audience in mind, a different focus, as it were. His gospel 
is slower paced. It's not as much concerned with 
the sequence of events as Mark seems to be. And so Matthew gathers 
together here in chapters 7 and 8 a number of our Lord's miracles 
to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah. to tell the Jew 
he is the center, he is the focus of God's redemptive plan, and 
he has come in all of his fullness in fulfillment of scripture. 
It is noteworthy for us to consider the emphasis in Matthew's gospel. It's first, preaching. That is 
doctrine. And then second, miracles. And right from the start, Jesus 
preached saying, back in Matthew 4.17, at the very beginning of 
his public ministry, repent for the kingdom of heaven. is at 
hand. In verses 18-22 of chapter 4, 
he called his first disciples, a couple of brothers, Andrew 
and Simon Peter. And then he called two other 
brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. All four of 
these men were fishermen by trade and Jesus promised, follow me 
and I will make you fishers of men. And Jesus grew in In fact, 
Matthew emphasized the popularity of his preaching and of his ministry. In chapter 4, verse 25, again 
in chapter 5 and verse 1, Matthew talks about how the crowds came 
from a distance even to hear Jesus preach, to listen to his 
doctrine. And we have three whole chapters 
that are devoted to his doctrine. and how we taught the people. 
We refer to it as the Sermon on the Mount. I just finished 
recently preaching through the Sermon on the Mount. Many men, 
much more able than I am in the history of the church, have preached 
through the Sermon on the Mount. No other man in the history of 
church could ever preach that sermon. We can preach about it, 
and we can say what Jesus said, But only Jesus could preach that 
sermon. There's not even one of the apostles, 
not Peter, could have stood up and preached that sermon. You think about the things that 
Jesus said. And there would have been a great deal of interest 
following his preaching. Who is this teacher, as the people 
scratch their head, that speaks with such authority? Who could have preached that 
message? And who is this one? Well, he's 
the Messiah. That's Matthew's point. And what 
then is the evidence? We've heard the teaching and 
the preaching. What, therefore, is the evidence? And so we come to chapter 8. 
And there is considerable attention given by Matthew to some, not 
all, but some of the miracles of Jesus. In other words, the 
work which the Father had given him to do. In fact, all of chapter 
8, right up to verse 34 of chapter 9. Let's take just a moment or two 
and talk about the purpose of miracles in the New Testament. Specifically, the purpose of 
the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. What purpose did they? 
Why do we have these miracles? Why is it that Matthew gathered 
together, collected these miracles, as it were, in this section of 
Scripture? Well, in the beginning, man was 
created by God. In the beginning man was created 
by God. He was created perfect. He wasn't 
created neutral with the possibility of sinning or not sinning, but 
he was created righteous. He was created in the very image 
of God. And in the garden there would 
have been joy and gladness and peace and contentment. Think 
about it. There would have been no fear in the garden. Think of that in the context 
of one of the miracles later where Jesus calms the storm and 
the disciples are afraid. Why are they afraid? Because 
sin has entered into the world. See, all of that peace, all of 
that contentment, all of that joy, all of that fellowship with 
God changed when sin entered into the world. And fellowship 
with God was broken. And one of the tragic consequences 
of the fall was the entrance into the world of pain and suffering 
leading to death. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin. And so there is in the world 
all sorts of physical ailments, diseases, afflictions, as a result, 
generally speaking, of God's judgment upon sin. Isn't it true we often hear men 
say things like, well, there's so much suffering and there's 
so much pain and so much sickness in the world. Why is that? If 
God were a good God, why won't he do something about that? And 
we complain. We act as if we can call God 
to account, as C.S. Lewis says, put God in the dock. Instead, we ought to be humbled 
to understand how serious God takes sin. It ought to cause 
us to think about His displeasure, His judgment upon it. And instead 
of grumbling, we ought to submit to God and we ought to come to 
Him. Instead of Christ, in Matthew 4, verses 23 and 24, into this 
fallen world He went about, all of Galilee, teaching in their 
synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all 
kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases among the people. 
You see the healing, it's in the context of his preaching 
the gospel. Then his fame went throughout 
all Syria and they brought to him all sick people who were 
afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were 
demon possessed, epileptics and paralytics and he healed them. 
Great multitudes followed Him. And Christ's miracles were always 
coming, you see, with a definite purpose. There was a reason, 
there was a purpose for the miracles. And they didn't just happen randomly. And they weren't, and this is 
really important, they weren't simply about physical healing. They were that, but they weren't 
simply about physical healing. They always came with a specific 
design, with a higher spiritual purpose and nature to authenticate 
that Jesus was indeed the Christ. This one who speaks with such 
authority is the Messiah is what Matthew is telling us. He is 
the Christ. He is the Savior. He's a powerful 
Savior. He's a willing Savior. He's a 
Savior who came to save us and to cleanse us from our sins and 
to deliver us from the consequences of the fall. And every miracle, 
therefore, serves as a venue, an avenue, as it were, for teaching 
something to us of the glory of the Savior. The miracles serve 
to authenticate the truth that He proclaimed. They illustrate 
gospel truth, these miracles. They illustrate man's great need 
as a desperate sinner, as we'll see this morning in this poor 
leper. They also demonstrate the power and the willingness 
of the Savior to save helpless, hell-deserving sinners. Jesus 
said that he came to seek and to save that which was lost. 
Jesus has come to bring us to God. Jesus has come to do even 
more than restore what we have in the garden, to give us even 
more than that, to confirm us in righteousness and make us 
God's dear children, to reconcile us to God, to restore our fellowship 
with Him. And the miracles of Christ confirm 
that truth. In addition, His miracles serve 
to highlight and emphasize the character of the miracle worker. He came teaching and preaching, 
but He's not just a teacher. and a preacher. He's not just 
a healer. He's not the first Christian. But He is God in the flesh. He's 
Emmanuel. Nicodemus got it. He came to 
Jesus by night in John chapter 3 and verse 2. He says, Rabbi, 
Teacher, we know that You are a Teacher come from God. Why? For no one can do these 
signs that you do unless God is with him. Peter, on the day 
of Pentecost, he stood up and he preached the gospel, the gospel 
of God's grace. And he preached the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And he told the people whom they had taken with their 
own wicked hands and crucified. He said that Jesus of Nazareth 
was a man approved to you by God. In what fashion? Peter said, with mighty works 
and wonders and signs that God did through him. And so we come 
to consider today two miracles from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 
8, verses 1 through 13. Our theme, as I mentioned, is 
going to be lessons for coming to Christ. So first, a leper. comes to Christ. So with all 
of that in the back of our heads, let's read once again verses 
one through four. When he came down from the mountain, 
great multitudes followed him. And behold, a leper came and 
worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make 
me clean. And then Jesus put out his hand 
and touched him, saying, I am willing to be cleansed. Immediately 
his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that 
you tell no one. Go your way, show yourself to 
the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony 
to them. We'll consider this passage under 
two main heads. First, very clearly, a poor leper 
came to Jesus. And second, Jesus' willingness 
and power to cleanse. And so we come to this miracle 
as I was preparing this sermon and studying through this whole 
passage and thinking about the miracles of Christ and the purpose 
of those miracles and how they demonstrate to us as believers 
gospel truths. I couldn't help but think of 
Charlotte Elliott. I'm sure you may know the name. 
She's a great hymn writer. She wrote one of my favorite 
hymns, Just As I Am, Without One Plea, But That Thy Blood 
Was Shed For Me. Well, Charlotte Elliott became 
an invalid when she was about 30 years old, and she remained 
an invalid for the rest of her life, and yet she knew and experienced, 
experientially knew the grace of Christ. She knew something 
of the strength and the help that he holds out for poor sinners. 
And so she wrote in one of her hymns, it's in our Trinity hymnal, 
Jesus, my Savior, look on me, for I am weary and oppressed. 
I come to cast myself on thee, thou art my rest. Look down on 
me, for I am weak. I feel the toilsome journey's 
length. Thine aid, omnipotent, I seek. Thou art my strength. I am bewildered 
on my way. Dark and tempestuous is the night. 
Send thou forth some cheering ray. Thou art my light." Those 
words could well be the testimony of this poor leper who came to 
Jesus. Think of leprosy. It's a common 
disease in Israel. It's mentioned often in the Bible, 
the Old and the New Testaments. In fact, if you were to go back 
to Leviticus chapter 13 and 14, you would find those two chapters 
devoted to this subject, to the diagnosis and the treatment of 
the disease of leprosy in relationship to the law. And today, when we 
use the word leprosy, we mean usually one specific disease. 
I think it's called Hansen's disease, which is caused by a 
bacillus that is close to tuberculosis, I'm told. But when we read Leviticus 
13 and 14, we see that the term leprosy covered a wider range 
of skin diseases. And it was the priest in the 
Old Testament who would make the examination, and he would 
decide how each case should be handled. And for the most part, 
when you read of it, it's a devastating thing, incurable disease, leading 
to death. But even more importantly, it 
was an issue of ritual cleanness. Leprosy affected whether or not 
the person afflicted could be part of society, the community, and join in the 
worship. So it was, listen, it was a horrible 
disease to live with. Its victims were classified as 
unclean. Under the law, untouchable. They were literally outcast by 
society. And I do think it's interesting 
fact to note that the need of the leper in the Bible, whenever 
the Bible speaks of leprosy, whenever it speaks of the need 
of the leper, it's always described not in terms of healing, but 
for cleansing. Leviticus 13, 45 and 46 read 
this way. The leprous person who has the 
disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head 
hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip 
and cry out, unclean, unclean. He shall remain unclean so long 
as he has the disease. It had spiritual meaning as well. You might be thinking of Isaiah 
in chapter 6, who had a vision of the holiness of God. I'm unclean. I'm unclean. My lips are unclean. I dwell in the midst of an unclean 
people. I'm untouchable. I'm coming undone. In other words, the person, he 
became an outcast. He kept an unkempt appearance. And he must warn others when 
he approached, lest they contact ritual uncleanness. He couldn't 
just walk into a crowd. As he would walk into the streets, 
he would have to be crying out, unclean, unclean, in order to 
warn others that they not come in contact with him. terrible diagnosis to receive. 
Can you imagine? Maybe how we might feel if we 
hear the cancer word, the C word. You know, I had some health issues 
just a few weeks ago. I was in the hospital for a few 
days and they discovered or the doctor diagnosed that I have 
what's referred to as Barrett's esophagus, which is not a real 
common disease. They say it develops over a long 
period of time from acid reflux, where the esophagus enters into 
the stomach, and I have no symptoms of that. having this acid reflux, 
but varicose esophagus is a precancerous condition. Not everybody that 
gets varicose esophagus develops esophageal cancer, but a percentage 
of people do, and there's a higher risk. And so Marcia and I were 
waiting for the results of a biopsy, and just last, was it Thursday, 
Friday, we went to went to the doctor and we sat there as he 
explained to us. And I, you know, I'll be honest 
in my faith and trust in the Lord. We give it all to him. 
But was I anxious about that? Yeah. But just think of this diagnosis 
of leprosy. Not only personal anxiety in 
hearing that, but for the community. The effect was like learning 
that someone had AIDS maybe in our day, a sense of withdrawal. 
from the one diagnosed. So it's no surprise that leprosy 
serves a particular purpose in scripture. God uses it to remind 
his people, God uses it to remind you and I of the existence of 
the reality and the seriousness of sin. And it represented the 
awful effects of sin and symbolic of the whole culmination of sin 
in the life. We speak of total depravity. 
We speak of being spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. And so Matthew records for us 
how a man afflicted with that dreadful disease sought out and 
found in the person of God's only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this miracle is full. of gospel significance. It shows 
God's love to those who are spiritually unclean. Who might that be? Are there any righteous? There are none righteous, no 
not one. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory 
of God. The Bible says that we are all as an unclean thing. We also have proof of the power 
of Christ to make corrupt sinners clean in the sight of Almighty 
God. Here we see an illustration of 
the power of Christ to save, to do for corrupt sinners what 
is impossible for them to do in their own strength, to do 
for them what the law could not do. To do for them what religion, 
what family, what community could not do. Christ Jesus came to 
accomplish all of that. Praise God. And so let's focus 
our attention upon this theme of coming to Christ. And we read 
in verse 32, Matthew says, Behold, a leper came to him. We should 
stop right there for just a moment. Behold, a leper came to him. We read in Leviticus 14 and verse 
2, you might even want to keep your fingers there in Leviticus 
13 and 14, how the leper in the Old Testament had to come and 
he had to present himself to the priest. And so in coming 
to Christ, we have a wonderful truth illustrated right from 
the start. The prince of commentators, Matthew 
Henry, says from time to time as he interprets the passage, 
the key hangs at the front door. And here we have an important 
lesson right up front. Sinners must come to Christ. Sinners must come to Christ. No doubt this man had heard of 
Jesus. and then learning that he was 
in the area, he set out to obtain his help. You see, it's not enough 
to hear about him. As a matter of fact, it's not 
enough to even hear him. You must come to him. And that 
little word, behold, in the text is important. The Holy Spirit 
is saying, wait a minute, Don't get in such a hurry. Take a good 
look at this. Because here is a surprising 
thing, considering the many restrictions. Remember what I just said about 
leprosy. What a surprising thing. It cut 
the person off from God because he couldn't live in the community 
where God dwelled, in the midst of God's people. He couldn't 
join in the means of grace and worship at the temple or synagogue. Think about it. Sin does that. It cuts us off from God. It cuts 
us off from approaching Him with confidence. By nature, we are 
all separated from God. We all fall short of His glory. 
The prophet, as I mentioned, Isaiah, had a sense of this when 
he confessed that he was unclean. He was like the leper and he 
was announcing. It was as if Isaiah was announcing 
to everyone, I'm unclean. I'm unfit. My lips are unclean. And so are all you people that 
I dwell in the midst of. We're all unclean. And so Matthew 
is right when he says, would you look at this? Here's a leper 
coming to Christ. What a surprising thing. Now, 
just imagine. Matthew doesn't tell us everything 
that takes place, but I don't like for us to speculate. But 
can't you imagine as he approached Jesus, he must have been crying 
to those around. As Jesus was, there were crowds. He must have been crying out 
to those who are unclean, unclean as he's coming to Christ. This man receives centers. That's why they hated him so 
much. The religious people of Jesus' day, they didn't like 
that. Most religions today don't care 
much for it either. You can come to anything but 
Christ. You can come to the church, or 
you can come to the priest, or you can come to a set of rules, 
or a set of commandments, or you can come to this, or you 
can come to that. But not Christ. This man came 
to Christ. In addition, the leper had a 
real sense of his need. We need to be a bit careful here 
and cautious as we speak of that. We must avoid the air of preparationism. Do you know what I mean by that? There are some branches of Calvinism, 
hyper-Calvinism, that struggle with this issue, that a man must 
be first prepared to come to Christ. By having some deep sense 
of need, you know, the problem is how deep is deep enough? Was my sense of it as deep as 
your sense of it? We have to be so careful here. 
You see, there is the warrant of faith. And there is the way 
of faith. And we got to be clear on that. 
The warrant of faith, the gospel, is to all men. It's to all men 
everywhere. And what is the warrant of faith? Regardless of who you are, regardless 
of your circumstances, regardless of what you feel, the warrant 
of faith is repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and 
you will be saved just as you are. That truth runs throughout 
scripture. Isaiah chapter 55. Ho! Everyone who thirsteth, let him 
come to the waters and drink. Well, wait a minute. Don't I 
have to have some great deep sense of thirst? That's not the 
warrant of faith. Matter of fact, the prophet goes 
on. He tells you who he's talking to. He's talking to people that 
are not dissatisfied. He's talking to people that are 
finding a measure of satisfaction in the world. Why are you spending 
your money and your livelihood for that which ultimately will 
not satisfy? Come. You come to Christ. You come to God. You come and 
you buy without money. You see, the warrant of faith 
is belief on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Now that 
being said, don't forget the way of faith. Because the truth 
is, no one will come to Christ without a sense or a conviction 
of their need. It's the way of faith. And so Jesus says in John 7.37, 
if any man thirsts, let him come to me. And I'll give him to drink. And moreover, this sense of one's 
need is often the stirrings of gracious faith at work. It's wrong to linger then in 
that, you know, until I feel a deeper sense of need. We just 
sang that in the hymn. I trust you caught that. One of the tragedies of the day 
in which we live is man's lack of awareness as to his need. That's even a bigger problem. Men and women feel that they're 
okay. And there are plenty in the quote-unquote 
evangelical church today running around telling them that they're 
okay. One man wrote, our sin, when 
we know it for what it really is, when we see how ugly and 
destructive it is, makes us feel dirty and not worthy to approach 
God or to be in the church. In one of the old confessions 
of sin, we say of ourselves, there is no help in us. In another, 
we confess our sinful nature, prone to evil and slothful and 
good. Those are true confessions, not 
only for unbelievers, but also Christians. They enable us to 
tell the truth about ourselves, and such confession is good for 
the soul. It cries out like the public 
in the temple, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Do you know 
your need? Do you realize you're a sinner 
under God's judgment? If so, that's a good thing because 
Jesus came to save sinners. So we sang earlier in Matthew 
9, 13, Jesus said, I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners. 
Aren't you glad that the gospel? Aren't you glad that Christianity 
is a religion for sinners? As we sang, come ye weary, heavy 
laden, bruised and broken by the fall. If you tarry till you're 
better, you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the 
righteous. Sinners, Jesus came to call. 
Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is 
to feel your need of him. This he gives you, this he gives 
you, which is the Spirit's rising being. Another valuable lesson 
for us, considering the parallel between leprosy and sin, has 
to do with the place of the law. Again, if you have your fingers 
there in Leviticus 13 and 14, we would ask, what could it do 
for the leper, the law? So, we won't take the time to 
read it all now, but you read it. You go home and read what 
the law could do for lepers. It could identify, and it could 
diagnose, yeah, you're in a bad way. And it could lay out all 
of the consequences But the law had no power to cleanse. There was nothing wrong with 
the law. Don't misunderstand me. What was wrong with the law? Nothing. The law is holy and 
the law is good. Paul said, had it not been for 
the law, I would not know my sin. It accurately put its finger 
on the disease and it spelled out what must happen if one had 
the disease. And the same is true in regards 
to our sin. The Ten Commandments, they reveal 
accurately that we are needy. And the law clearly warns of 
God's judgment, which our sins deserve. The soul that sinneth, 
what is sin, violation of God's law, it shall die. Nothing wrong 
with the law, but those commandments are not able to heal, not able 
to cleanse us from our sin. We need a Savior. We need an Almighty. Savior. And we need to come to 
Him alone. And so, brethren, this miracle, 
along with others, clearly demonstrates that if we are ever to be saved, 
it will be by grace alone. For by grace are you saved through 
faith, not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. 
Lest any man should boast. Titus 3, 5. He saved us, not 
because of works done by us in righteousness, but according 
to his own mercy. Salvation is of the Lord. Have you been saved by grace? Or are you trying to earn your 
way to heaven? As if you could be good enough 
before God. As if salvation in Christ was some sort of a program 
to get on board with. And the truth is, brethren, nobody 
deserves to be saved. And nobody is able to save themselves. And nobody is able to prepare 
themselves, as it were, for receiving God's salvation. marvelous grace 
of our loving Lord, we sing grace that is greater than all our 
sin. You cannot be saved apart from 
grace. God's unmerited, his undeserved 
favor to poor, sin sick, helpless sinners. Helpless. Thank God for his grace that 
God chooses men unto salvation before the foundation of the 
world. It's all of His grace. It's His 
unmerited favor to undeserving sinners. Have you been saved 
by grace? If not, if not, you're still 
in your sins. And listen to the lesson of the 
leper. You must come to Christ just 
as you are. Just a few more illustrations 
quickly. This leper in his misery and 
sense of need came to Christ. It was only the priest in the 
Old Testament who could deal with this matter of leprosy. 
It was only the priest. And he was appointed. He was 
set apart by God and no one else could act. on their behalf. And there was only one priest 
for hopeless sinners to come to, the Lord Jesus Christ, the 
great high priest of our profession. He's appointed of God to save 
his people. Paul writing to Timothy, he reminds 
him that there is one mediator between God and man, the man, 
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom, a payment for our sins. In Leviticus chapter 14 and verse 
3, we read, when the leper came to the priest, the priest shall 
look upon him. The priest shall make an examination. In other words, he had some understanding 
of the condition. He knew something of its nature 
and its seriousness and the consequences. And so the Lord Jesus knows all 
about us. He looks deep into the heart 
and he sees our sins. Do you remember the story of 
the rich young ruler who came to Jesus? Master, what must I 
do to have eternal life? What must I do to be saved? Jesus 
said, keep the commandments. Jesus is going to deal with his 
heart. He says, Oh, I've done the commands. I kept them. Jesus 
knows better. He knows he's He knows he's violated 
the commandment, thou shalt not covet. And he says to him, okay, 
then you go and you take all that you have and you give it 
to the poor and you come and you follow me. Couldn't do that. He went away. 
And we read how Jesus looked on him. And as a matter of fact, 
the gospel says he loved him. It didn't keep him from telling 
him the truth. He loved him. And he knew his heart. The Lord 
Jesus knows all about us. He looks deep into the heart. 
And yet, what does he say to us? He says, come unto me. But you can't come hiding. You 
can't come putting up a front. You come as you are. And the 
priest shall go out of the camp, Leviticus 14 and verse 3, and 
certainly Christ left the glories of heaven. You know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, how he was rich, yet for your sakes 
he became poor. He is Emmanuel. He is God with 
us. It's also worth noting that Matthew 
and Mark, they simply say in their gospel, the man was a leper. But Luke, who was a doctor, he 
adds in Luke 5.12 that the man was full of leprosy. No surprise that the doctor would 
take note of that. Hendrickson says the beloved 
physician Luke would have made inquiries concerning the exact 
physical condition of this individual and his leprosy must have revealed 
a very advanced stage. And so it is with sin. It's deeply 
affected our entire being. We're depraved. We're lost in 
our sin. Spiritually dead. No spark of 
life left. And that's the context, you see, 
in which the gospel of Christ says to us, come. Sin's a horrible thing. I don't think we really understand 
how ugly it is before God. But brethren, the good news is 
no sin is too bad to be cleansed. Even your sin of continually 
rejecting, and think what an awful sin that is to sit under 
gospel privilege from week to week and to hear the gospel and 
turn a deaf ear and say, not for me. Even that sin of continually 
rejecting His gracious offers to you. Corrie Ten Boom, a modern 
hero of true saving faith, I'm sure you know the name. She said, 
you must understand that there is no pit you can fall into that 
is so deep that the love of God for you is deeper still. Listen, I know that there is 
a missing note in much of evangelical preaching today and what, you 
know, talking about the wrath, the judgment and the holiness 
of God. And we must not fail to preach 
those things. But, brethren, in our desire 
to be faithful to those things, may we as Calvinists not forget 
the love of God. For God so loved the world that 
he gave his son that whoever believes in him shall not perish 
but have everlasting life." If you are elect, it is out of God's 
love that you are elect. It is his love. There is nothing 
that moved him except his love for lost sons. May we not shy 
away from the truth that God is love. For God did not send His Son 
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the 
world might be saved through Him. And note in our passage 
the leper's confidence in Christ. We read that he knelt before 
Him, unclean, unclean. And he falls to his knees, Matthew 
says, before the Savior. He called Him Lord. And when 
you read all three gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you 
see the truth that this leper came to Jesus and worshipped 
him. You take them together, what 
a powerful truth for the deity of Jesus Christ, that he is exactly 
who he said he was. How horrible. If he weren't who 
he said he was, it would have been an awful thing to receive 
worship. The apostles understood that when Peter went to see Cornelius, 
Cornelius had heard of Peter by reputation, and he was about 
to fall down and worship Peter. And Peter, whoa, wait a minute. 
I'm a man. Jesus receives his worship, in 
fact, welcomed his worship because he is the son of man. And finally, 
note what the leper says. Listen to this, Lord, if you 
will, You can make me clean. The stirrings of faith, you see, 
come to expression. It would have been another thing 
altogether had he said, Lord, if you can, will you make me 
clean? That's not what he said. His 
is an expression of faith. And what does that mean? Well, 
it's an expression of knowledge. Of who he is, it's an expression 
of trust. In who he is, and there's and 
there's an apprehension, a receiving of it for himself and the leper 
knows his place. Notice when he comes, he doesn't 
make any demands. No conditions, he has no claims, 
he's simply convinced that Jesus can help him. Again, that hymn 
of Joseph Hart, that great Baptist hymn writer that we sang before 
the message, that fifth stanza, Lo, the incarnate God ascended, 
pleads the merit of his blood. Venture on him, venture wholly, 
let no other trust intrude. None but Jesus, none but Jesus 
can do helpless sinners good. He'd been to the law. He'd been 
to the priest. He knew what it was to live in 
the community of the religious. He came to Jesus. And in Mark's 
Gospel, we read that a leper came to him imploring him. That's the language of earnestness 
and sincerity. He's not playing games. He literally came pleading. There 
was nothing more important to this leper. than coming to Christ. And there should be nothing more 
important to you than getting right with God. What is the most important thing to you? I trust it's being right 
with God. Have you ever been serious with 
God? And note what He asked for. Remember 
I mentioned this early. He didn't ask to be healed. He 
didn't say, Will you heal me? He said, Lord, will you make 
me clean? He was tired of being unclean. 
He wanted to be right with God. Do you remember when David prayed 
in that 51st Psalm, that wonderful prayer of repentance, have mercy 
on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to 
your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly 
from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin, for I 
know my transgressions. My sin is ever before me against 
you. You only have my sin. Purge me 
with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, I shall be whiter than 
snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit 
within me." Oh, the grace of God. Come now, let us reason 
together. Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow. The prophet Ezekiel, why oh why 
would you die in your sin? Why? It's certainly not because of 
the unwillingness of God. You know, listen, I believe in 
the doctrine of love. I believe in effectual calling. 
No one comes to the Father except they are drawn by the Spirit. Jesus said, you will not believe on me that you might have life. You 
know what he said? You will not come to me. Well, the horribleness of sin. 
The things that keep men and women from coming to Christ. 
They will not come to Christ. We'll see that this evening. 
When Jesus marvels at the lack of faith in those where there 
ought to be faith, it appears from Mark 6 that they didn't 
even bother to go out to Harry. It's Carpenter's son. This poor 
leper, he came to Jesus. So the only question that remained 
for the leper, and it has to do with Jesus' will. Jesus can, 
but does Jesus will to do it? That's the point of crisis, isn't 
it? There's something there of the 
real tension of faith. It's one thing for us to say 
this morning, collectively, together, Jesus saves. We have heard the 
joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the tidings all 
around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. One thing to say that, but it 
is another thing to say, Jesus will save me. And dear brethren, here's the 
good news. Jesus is not only a powerful Savior, He's a willing 
Savior. Think how horrible this story 
would be. It wouldn't be good news at all. 
It would be the worst news if Jesus had not been willing. If 
He had said, well, you know what? You're right. I can save you. 
I can make you clean. I don't choose to. And simply 
walked on about his business to this poor leopards need. Unconcerned. That's not the way Jesus is. 
Honestly, would you be attracted to such a thing? It's very true, this doctrine 
of election. Jesus said, all that the father gives me shall 
come to me. He said that. But he also said 
immediately after that, whoever comes to me, I will, and it's 
a double negative, I will never, no, never cast out. Whoever comes to me, it's an 
absolute impossibility that I would turn away, that I would cast 
out. Some people fear in churches 
like ours. I know this to be true. Maybe 
some of you have this fear. That you're not elect. And so they don't come to Christ. Maybe you have that fear this 
morning of not being received. Am I striking a familiar note 
with anybody? You're not a leper, but you're 
a sinner. You know that to be true. A lot of religions know that 
to be true. Some of my dear Roman Catholic 
friends grow up all their days knowing the fact that they're 
a sinner. Maybe you're afraid and you doubt 
the willingness of Jesus to save you. You're afraid that if you 
came to Jesus and fell humbly at his feet and cried out for 
his mercy and asked him to save you from all your sins, you're 
afraid he wouldn't listen. He'd simply pass you by and say, 
you know what, you deserve what you've got. You couldn't argue 
with that. I'm pretty sure some of you think 
that way. I'm pretty sure that some of 
our children, even growing up in Reformed Baptist churches, 
may think that way. Maybe not consciously, you know. You wouldn't tell it to someone. 
You wouldn't sit down maybe with Pastor Butler and say, I don't 
think Jesus is a willing Savior. But you feel it. Jesus isn't like that. He's a 
loving, willing Savior. And when we look at Mark's gospel, 
we get some incredible help. Mark chapter 1 and verse 41 says 
that Jesus was moved with compassion. He stretched out his hand and 
touched him. Compassion. You know what that 
word compassion means? The dictionary defines it as 
a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow. It doesn't stop there 
because that would simply be pity. A feeling of deep sympathy 
and sorrow for someone in the midst of a tragedy. That's pity 
accompanied by a desire to alleviate The suffering, that's compassion. 
When Jesus saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion. The 
man was sick, ritually unclean. Think about it. This is not an 
easy man to look at. I mean, you can imagine issues 
of, sanitary issues. He was an outcast from society, 
unable to approach God at the temple. Jesus felt compassion. Consider the excelling compassion 
of Christ. A lot of people preach these 
miracles and they speak of the compassion of Christ and then 
they set Jesus up, as it were, as the first Christian. And there's 
a sense to encourage us on to have that same compassion as 
Christ. Well, I'm not saying we should be uncompassionate. 
We need to have compassion. But brethren, any level of compassion 
that we could muster wouldn't even come close to the compassion 
of Christ. Paul states in Romans chapter 
5 that it was while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly. While we were still sinners, 
Christ died for us. God justifies not the righteous, 
God justifies the ungodly. Justification is the announcement 
of righteousness upon ungodly people. While we were still enemies, 
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Brethren, 
it's not our inner worthiness or beauty that draws out Christ's 
compassion. It's not that we're savable, 
so then He loves us. His compassion comes to us in 
our sin. It comes to you and to me in 
our helplessness, our defilement. All these name it and claim it 
preacher cities of faith movement. I heard one last Sunday on TV 
speaking of the fact that God chose us. I thought, wow, this 
guy's going to talk about election? I can't believe that. And then 
he went on to say God chose us because he foresaw our potential 
and inner beauty. That is not the gospel. That's 
heresy. Grace of God comes to us right 
where we are, just as we are. And so Jesus moved with compassion, 
stretched out his hand and touched the leper. He didn't have to 
touch him. He could have simply spoke the word, as he often did. We'll see that this evening. 
Just say the word. As a matter of fact, he healed the centurion's 
servant from a distance. He didn't even go near him. But 
think of what that touch must have meant to this man. How long do you, again, be careful 
about speculating, but I think this is legitimate, how long 
do you suppose it had been since he experienced the touch of another? Something as simple as a handshake. 
I shook a lot of hands this morning. We take that for granted. Greet 
one another with a holy kiss. Show yourself friendly. When's 
the last time you think someone stuck out their hand? He knew he was untouchable, he 
knew he was unclean, and yet Jesus had compassion, and Jesus 
touched him. And you know what? As great as 
that was, be careful, it's only a small illustration of what 
Jesus has done for sinners. Touched. Touching a leper? One man wrote, Jesus has done 
more for us sinners than touch a few lepers. He became one with 
us in our human nature, one with us in our human nature that is 
weak and mortal, defiled by sin, and yet he was not himself made 
a sinner by his contact with us. John Calvin said it so well, 
for in assuming our flesh, he has granted us more than the 
touch of his hand. He has brought himself into one 
and the same body with us that we should be flesh of his flesh. 
He does not only stretch out his arm to us, but he comes down 
from heaven, even to the very depths. Yet he catches no stain 
thereby, but stays whole, clears all our dirt away and pours into 
us his own holiness. That's the significance, you 
see, of the Incarnation. That's the meaning of Christmas, 
isn't it? He became one with us that he 
might provide us with what? cleansing from our sin and defilement. And that's what the miracles 
demonstrate. And let's close quickly by focusing on what Jesus 
said. I will. Lord, you can heal me, if you 
will. And Jesus said, I will. Be clean. And Matthew adds his 
comment, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Here's 
the main lesson this morning. Today Christ speaks to us in 
His Word. And what does He say? If you're still in your sin, 
and maybe this morning, even as the Word of God has been preached, 
you have had some realization of your need to be saved. Maybe 
that's been impressed upon your heart. and mine by the Holy Spirit. Christ says to you, come. Come unto me. I will give you 
rest. And he will do for you just as 
he has done for others, and he will save you from your sins. I say that on the authority of 
God's word. Whoever shall call upon the name 
of the Lord shall be saved. And for the Christian, We need 
this assuring word of Christ as well. You know, Christians 
should never, ever get tired of hearing gospel truth. How often we struggle, even as 
Christians, with our own sin. Has an impact, doesn't it? When 
we when we fall into sin. Our fellowship with God is we 
don't lose our salvation, but our fellowship Don't you think Jesus is willing 
to forgive you? If we say that we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in us. The first responsibility 
of church membership is to own and to confess your sin. And as we confess our sins, he 
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Why? Because the 
blood of Christ keeps on cleansing from all our sins. He speaks 
to us in his word. He speaks to us of the assurance 
of forgiveness, of his faithfulness to forgive. And as we keep calling 
to him, knowing our need, confessing our sins, he is faithful and 
he is just to forgive us our sins. Dear brothers and sisters, 
I leave you with this thought. We have an almighty Savior. He is able to save all who come 
to God. The writer of Hebrews says, to 
the uttermost. You know what that means? Completely. 
And you know why? Because he has all authority 
in heaven and on earth. You know when in John chapter 
17 in a high priestly prayer, Father, I've done the work that 
you've given me to do. Now, Father, I pray that you 
would restore unto me the glory and the authority and the power 
that I had with you before the world began. To what end? For 
what purpose? He goes on to say that I may 
give eternal life to all that you have given me. Don't doubt, we have an almighty 
Savior. And don't doubt, we have a willing 
Savior. All the day long, His arms are 
stretched for us. Come, come unto me. Why would 
you not come? The Bible is true. I've only 
told you this morning what the Bible says. Why would you doubt? Why would you not come to Christ? 
Are you waiting till you're better? Not going to happen. Are you 
waiting for a deeper sense of need? Not going to happen. Here's 
all you need to know. You're a sinner. And God's judgment 
is upon you. And if you're not saved, you're 
going to die in your sins and you're going to go to hell. What 
must you do? Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
you'll be saved. May God help us by his grace. Amen. Father in heaven, how we thank 
you for your word and we thank you for the gospel, Lord. Our 
hearts have been thrilled a bit this morning as we have considered 
the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and his power to save And then, 
Father, how humbled we are as we consider his willingness. 
And, Father, we know our own stubbornness. We know what we 
are by nature. We know what we are of ourselves. 
We would not come. And yet, Father, such a willing 
Savior who loves his children. I pray, Father, for those who 
are here this morning. Undoubtedly, there are some, 
and maybe they're afraid and fearful. Father, I pray that 
you would speak to their hearts, that you would bring them to 
a measure of conviction of sin and help them to see their great 
need. And then, Father, show them the 
beauty and sufficiency and the willingness of Christ. And Father, 
cause them to be born again and give unto them the gracious gifts 
of repentance and faith. And help us all, Father, even 
from this day, to live forward with greater love and devotion 
such a worthy Savior, in whose name we pray, Amen.