WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:21.440 Back to call you this morning. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:23.120 I can't remember when it was when was I here? 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.079 Last year? 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:25.600 Sometime last year. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:26.879 It's good to be back. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.760 Back in Houston, back at Grand Parkway. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.960 And uh it's just a blessing to see some familiar faces. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.520 If you have your Bibles this morning, I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 8. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.000 Gospel of Matthew chapter 8. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:47.439 As you're doing that, let me just say a couple of words by way of introduction about what we're going to be talking about this morning. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:54.560 There is, as you know, a great controversy all across the body of Christ over the subject of healing. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.880 And there are people on every spot of the spectrum. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.840 There are some on this end who say that healing was only for the first century. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.439 God doesn't do that thing anymore, maybe with a rare exception. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.200 Then there are people at the opposite end of the spectrum who say that God heals all the time. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:12.480 Just need to ask. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:23.680 And of course, we want to see the biblical truth that neither one of those is actually the case, that healing is according to God's sovereign will and his goodness and his compassion. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:29.840 Let me just give you a quick illustration of how this took place in my life for the very first time. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:31.680 I was 11 years old. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:44.480 My family had just moved to Midland, Texas, and I don't remember what night of the week it was, but I found myself lying on my bed, absolutely in the most excruciating pain I've ever felt, with a headache. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:49.200 I didn't know what a migraine was at the time, but I'm assuming that's what I had. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:56.879 And I remember feeling so distressed, it was so painful that I couldn't even cry out to my parents to bring me some medicine. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.319 So I did what typical 11-year-old boys do. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.799 I said, God, I'm going to count to three. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:04.640 I was 11. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:06.079 Give me a break. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.120 And I didn't even have the strength to speak the words. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:11.439 It just inaudibly in my mind. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:15.120 Because I knew that God could hear me, He knows my thoughts. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:25.280 I said, one, two, and when I said three, the headache and the pain instantly and completely disappeared. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:26.879 It almost frightened me. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.560 I actually was afraid to move because I thought if I move, it'll come back. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:32.159 But it didn't. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:37.120 And I'm not talking about a gradual diminishing of pain when you take some medicine for headache. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:42.800 I'm talking about instantaneous, complete, irreversible freedom from all discomfort. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.360 It was actually quite euphoric at the moment. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:47.199 I couldn't quite explain it. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:57.120 But that moment, so many years ago when I was 11, has indelibly imprinted on my heart that our God hears our prayers, even when we don't speak them aloud. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:02:59.039 He knows the thoughts of our heart. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:00.000 He's compassionate. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.719 He's there. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:02.159 He really is there. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:08.479 And he has the power to do what oftentimes no one else on earth can. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:13.360 So with that in mind, I want to read Matthew chapter 8, verses 1 through 4. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.439 Matthew 8, verses 1 through 4. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:17.759 You can follow along or listen. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:23.280 We're told that when Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:30.560 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:36.479 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:49.759 And immediately his leprosy was cleansed, and Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.360 Let's pray. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:04:03.039 Father, I ask you right now, as we open your word and we open our hearts and our minds to hear it and believe it, that you would draw near through the power of your spirit. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.479 Let us see who Jesus really is. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:14.400 Father, I know that every story of healing in the Gospels is a window into the heart of our Savior. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:21.839 So let us perceive who he is and the kind of individual that he is, the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:30.319 So, Father, I pray Psalm 119, verse 18, that you would open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things in your word. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:32.720 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:33.680 Amen. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:40.639 As you know, all of us read the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, because we want to know who is Jesus. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.279 And the Gospels give us that description. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:44.720 They identify him. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:52.160 You can read John chapter 1, where it opens by saying that he in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:57.120 Then he tells us in verse 14 of that chapter that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:05.920 Or you can turn to Matthew chapter 1 and read about the genealogy of Jesus, how he's a descendant of Abraham through the line of David, the Messiah of Israel. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:10.319 But this morning, I don't really want to talk about the identity of Jesus. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.199 I want to talk about his character. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:14.959 What is he like? 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:17.199 What makes him tick? 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.680 What kind of person is he? 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:27.360 Is he the sort of person that I can not only believe in, but a person to whom I can entrust my life? 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.480 If I come to him, will I like him? 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:31.920 Will he like me? 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:35.199 Will he laugh at me, ridicule and mock me? 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:36.879 Will he reject me? 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:39.360 Will he make me feel ashamed and ugly? 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:42.480 Will I embarrass him? 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.120 Those are questions that all of us have. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:50.959 And so this morning, in this one little short episode, I want you to see into the very heart of our Savior. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:56.240 I want you to get a grasp not only about who he is, but what he is like. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:06.720 Because if you don't have confidence in the goodness of Christ, you will rarely come to him in prayer to ask for anything, be it healing or any other need in your life. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:13.519 Now, in order to get into the heart of Jesus, I need to talk about a subject that is not very pleasant. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.600 I need to talk about leprosy. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.399 Because we read here that a leper came to Jesus. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:20.480 Now we don't like to talk about that subject. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:23.040 This is a for dinner conversation. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:28.000 Leprosy was the most hated and vile disease in the ancient world. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.560 I've read a little bit about its physical symptoms. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:35.600 It begins with a discoloration of a patch of skin that begins to spread throughout the whole body. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:40.000 Spongy tumors dwell up, swell up in all directions. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:44.079 It leads to just a horrible disfigurement. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:49.519 The skin around the eyes and the ears begins to bunch up with deep furrows between them. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:57.920 The tissue between the bones of the hands and the feet deteriorate, leaving gaps between your digits and your toes. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:06.639 In fact, it is reported that oftentimes lepers experience just the falling off of a toe or a finger without even knowing that it has happened. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:08.959 Eyebrows and eyelashes disappear. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:13.199 It often attacks the larynx, leaving a rasping, grating sound. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:18.720 And evidently the odor of a leper was unmistakable in the ancient world. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.920 There's a strange cruelty to this disease. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:27.759 As horrible as it is and the effects on the body, it also serves as an anesthetic. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:31.439 In other words, it dulls and desensitizes the pain cells. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:32.879 Man by the name of Dr. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:38.240 Paul Brand spent most of his adult life working with lepers in India. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:42.079 He dealt with at least a thousand cases of leprosy. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:50.720 He reports one incident where he saw a man stick his hand into a fire to retrieve a potato he had dropped, totally unaware that his hand was on fire. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:53.360 He had no feelings or sensation. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:59.759 Another had worked all day gripping a shovel, not knowing that a nail was protruding through his hand. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:01.600 He had no feeling. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.240 One man went blind because of leprosy. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:11.519 And it wasn't so much the disease, it was the fact that each day he would wash his face with a hot washcloth. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:19.600 But neither his hands nor his face were sensitive enough to temperature to know that he was doing it with scalding hot water, and he eventually went blind. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:26.000 Leprosy was unlike every other disease in the ancient world. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:37.600 Its physical symptoms were horrible, were terrible to look at, but even more terrible was the spiritual and the social impact of leprosy. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:44.159 Leprosy defiled a person, it rendered him or her ceremonially unclean. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:55.519 It's interesting when you read throughout the book of Leviticus that there are over 60 different ways in which you can become ceremonially defiled and cut off from the people of God. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:09:01.759 Leprosy is second only to touching a dead body in terms of the way it defiled someone. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:08.559 Listen, if you would, to how Moses describes this in Leviticus chapter 13, verses 45 and 46. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:20.240 He says, the leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his lip and cry out, unclean, unclean. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:23.360 Try to imagine the humiliation. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:30.720 If any time you came around another person or a crowd, you had to announce your presence by declaring yourself unclean. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.279 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease, he is unclean. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:40.080 He shall live alone, his dwelling shall be outside the camp. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:47.039 Now, the reason why that is so distressing is because of that 46th verse. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:49.120 A leper had to leave the camp. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:53.360 He had to go outside the community, outside the walls of the city. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:58.159 But the people of Israel knew that God intended for men and women to live in society. 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:03.679 To be compelled to live outside meant that you were cut off from every other human being. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:15.679 But not only that, it meant that you were cut off from the covenant, cut off from the divine presence, cut off from all the blessings that God had promised, cut off from the sacrificial atonement of a lamb. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:26.000 One Jewish rabbi in the days of our Lord wrote that he would not even eat an egg that had been purchased on a street where a leper had passed. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:30.159 Leprosy was unlike anything else. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:36.639 It was worse than paralysis, blindness, deafness, because of what it spiritually signified. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.120 Listen to how one commentator has put it. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:44.000 He nailed it when he said, Sin separates us from God and from one another. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:45.759 So does leprosy. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.600 Sin slowly rots away human life. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:50.960 So does leprosy. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.440 Sin is at first not easy to diagnose. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.120 It works silently and secretly. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:56.960 So too does leprosy. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.600 Sin disfigures and distorts. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.200 So does leprosy. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.879 Sin paralyzes and removes feeling and sensitivity. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:06.559 So too does leprosy. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:09.519 Sin leads us into loneliness and isolation. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:11.200 It separates us from people. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:13.360 So too does leprosy. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:15.840 Sin ultimately causes death. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:18.879 So too does leprosy. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:25.679 Now, this is not to suggest for a moment that somebody who had this disease was for that reason less worthy than others. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:27.360 Not the point at all. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.480 Still created in the image of God, still of value. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:38.639 It was the disease itself, not the person whom it afflicted, that symbolized the damaging effects of sin. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:45.440 It's very interesting, by the way, when you read the Gospels, the way in which Jesus ministered to lepers. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:54.799 Every disease that he faced, whether it is paralysis or deafness or muteness or any other disease, it said that he healed them. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:58.559 But when it came to leprosy, it says that he cleansed them. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.159 Listen to Matthew chapter 10, verse 8. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:10.240 He tells his disciples, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:14.960 There's only one exception to this in the entire New Testament, and that's in Luke's gospel. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:18.639 But the person in that case was a Samaritan, not a Jew. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:24.000 The point is that leprosy symbolized spiritual defilement. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:31.440 It disfigured not just the body, but it was a sign of the disfiguring of the soul and the spirit by sin. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:39.519 Now you may be asking at this point, all right, Sam, that's all very important to know, I'm sure, but what does it have to do with me today? 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:41.200 How does that apply? 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:52.240 The point simply is this, folks: the leper in his or her physical condition is a symbol or representation of you and me in our spiritual condition. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:58.559 We are all spiritual lepers in need of cleansing. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:00.639 Look at this man who came to Jesus. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.559 I want you to notice several things about him. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:04.960 We're told, first of all, of his courage. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:12.879 Notice it says that he came to him, and you might just read over that and not give it a second thought, but that is absolutely stunning. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.000 Lepers were accustomed to running away from crowds, not running to them. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:23.600 This man was required by law and tradition to stand aloof, apart from non-lepers. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:29.200 In fact, he knew that if he drew close to these people, that he risked being stoned to death. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:34.320 Did you notice what it says about Jesus coming down from the mountain in verse 1? 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:36.879 It says that great crowds followed him. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.639 Probably a crowd at least as big as this congregation, maybe more. 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:48.240 And when they saw this leper coming, shouting, unclean, unclean, they would have parted like the waters of the Red Sea to get away from him. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.919 Maybe even throwing stones as they departed. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:55.919 Why was this man so bold? 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.000 I mean, this is unprecedented. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.000 You'd simply, as a leper, did not draw near to a crowd of people. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.559 How did he find the courage to do that? 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:10.879 I have to believe that he had seen or at least heard something about Jesus that gave him this boldness. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.960 Perhaps he sensed a tenderness in Jesus that he didn't have in anybody else. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:20.799 He saw that this was a compassionate man, unlike the Pharisees, a man who had concern for him. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.879 There's an old hymn, I don't know if you all ever sing it anymore. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:28.080 Called No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.320 There's no other friend so kind as he. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:32.639 No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:34.480 Oh, how he cared for me. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:39.120 If that leper would have known that particular hymn, he would have been singing it, I assure you. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.120 But he knew somehow, maybe he had seen Jesus minister from afar. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:44.879 He had heard stories from others. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:51.360 He knew that Jesus wasn't afraid of him, and he wasn't repulsed by him, and he wasn't ashamed of him. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:55.120 Notice the second thing about this man. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.320 Two things are mentioned. 00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:02.799 It says that he came to him and knelt down and called out, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:09.600 Now, in this particular time period, the word Lord didn't always mean that you were declaring somebody to be God. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:11.519 It was common courtesy. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.240 It's very similar to our use of the word sir or man. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:25.200 But given the fact that he knelt down, and the word here is the typical New Testament word for worship, he knelt down and called him Lord, indicates that this was more than merely public courtesy. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.840 This is the expression of humble worship. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:30.000 Notice the third thing about him. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:35.679 Not only courageous, not only reverent, but submissive. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:37.279 Look at his words. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:42.240 Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:44.879 I find it interesting that Jesus didn't rebuke him for that. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.480 He didn't say, What do you mean if I will? 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:48.159 Where's your faith, old young man? 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:49.279 Oh, come on. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.960 He doesn't rebuke him, he doesn't challenge him. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.399 Faith is modest and respectful. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:01.679 It is bold, but it always bows before the sovereign pleasure of God. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:07.759 So this leper doesn't presume to know whether Jesus will cleanse him, but he knows that he can. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:13.279 Unfortunately, as I said, there are all kinds of differing views on healing today. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:25.519 I fear that sometimes when people say heal to God, they spell it H-E-E-L, as if God is somehow like a household pet that can be domesticated at our command. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:27.759 He is not our slave. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:32.960 We must never think by the use of some formula or the presence of enough faith that he must respond. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.000 But notice forth his confidence. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:39.679 He says, Lord, if you will, I know you can. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:45.279 There's no doubt in the mind of this leper about whether God had the power. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.200 He was perfectly confident in the ability of Jesus to cleanse him. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:54.720 In fact, this is a very common thing in the new in the Gospels. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:59.919 You can go over to Matthew chapter 9, verse 28, where Jesus encounters two blind men. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:02.879 And he asked them, What do you want me to do for you? 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.599 And they said, Lord, we want you to heal us, give us our sight. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:08.880 And Jesus asked them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:10.559 They said, Well, yes. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:12.960 Be it done unto you according to your faith. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:20.240 It's important, whenever we pray, that we at least inwardly, if not outwardly, say, Lord, I know you can do this. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:21.839 It's not a question of your power. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.440 I submit to your will, but your power is not the issue. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:26.880 You are omnipotent. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:28.720 You can do all things. 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:31.519 Look at our Lord's response. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:36.000 By the way, one other thing I want to point out about our Lord's response here. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.240 Did you notice the opening words of verse 1? 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:40.079 Don't overlook these. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:44.799 When he came down from the mountain, what mountain? 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.960 The mount on which he has just delivered the most famous sermon in the world. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:53.519 Matthew 5, 6, and 7 contains the sermon on the mount. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:05.680 And we're told in the last two verses of Matthew 7 that when Jesus finished these sayings, when he finished the sermon, the crowds were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:10.000 This must have been, if I can put it this way, a real heady moment for Jesus. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.440 He's being applauded. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:13.359 People are saying, this is astonishing. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:16.720 We don't know where you get this insight into the scriptures. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:30.400 And it's as he is coming down from that mountain, instead of telling his disciples to, you know, form a protective shield against the crowds, I need security guards to usher me out of here as fast as you can. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:35.279 Jesus is approached by a leper of all people. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:42.480 It just goes to show you that our Lord was of an entirely different character from most that we see today. 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.799 Jesus knew the traditions in the law in Israel. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:51.359 He knew that he was required to stay at least six feet away from this leper. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:55.680 By the way, I just want you to know social distancing didn't start in the 21st century. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:58.400 It existed in the first century. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:18:59.920 It was tradition and law. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.799 If a leper came near you, you had to stand at least six feet away. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:04.480 I hated social distancing. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:06.960 I was the worst rebel on the face of the earth. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:10.640 I'd walk into a restaurant, I'd see these footprints painted on the floor. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:14.559 I'm supposed to stand there, and six feet in front of me, there's another person doing the same. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:18.400 And I would invariably walk up right behind them just so they could feel my presence. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:25.680 I don't think I communicated anything to them like COVID, but I hated social distancing. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:32.559 I mean, when we reopened as a church, we had to remove every other pew in the auditorium so that people could feel safe. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:36.720 And we told people you need to sit with your family members and apart from others. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.119 What a horrible experience that was. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:43.279 Well, people in the ancient world had to stay at least six feet away from a leper. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:47.839 If you were downwind from a leper, you had to stay at least 150 feet away. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.839 I mention all this because you need to understand. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:20:00.640 In that day and time, no one, literally unequivocally, no one ever touched a leper. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.079 No one except Jesus. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:08.480 He did what no one would ever have dared to do. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:11.119 Now, Jesus didn't need to touch this guy. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.039 He could have healed him from a distance. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:20.880 Remember in the Old Testament how uh Elisha healed Naaman of leprosy by telling him to go wash in the river Jordan seven times. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:32.079 In fact, in the very next verses of Matthew 8, beginning with verse 5, we read the story of a centurion who came to him, telling him, says, My servant is paralyzed at home. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:33.839 Just say the word and he'll be healed. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:34.880 And Jesus said, I'll come to him. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:36.319 And the man said, No, no, no. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.359 I'm not worthy to have you come into my house. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:43.119 And we're told that the servant was healed at that very moment. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:44.559 Jesus didn't need to go see him. 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.559 He didn't need to go lay a hand on him. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:48.400 But here he did. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.880 He touched a leper. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.319 Why? 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.759 Well, Mark's gospel helps us. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:04.640 In chapter one, Mark records this same event, and he says that Jesus, moved by compassion, touched him. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:08.400 Jesus saw this man and he was heartbroken. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:09.680 He was devastated. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:11.039 He felt this man's anguish. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:12.319 He hurt for him. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.640 Maybe he even wept for him. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:17.279 That's what motivated our Lord. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:25.680 I didn't see all of you when you came into church this morning when you walked into this building, but I can pretty much guess what you did. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:32.240 You saw somebody you knew and you went up and gave them a good side hug, or you patted them on the back, or you shook their hand. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:34.079 Again, I hated that in COVID. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:35.119 We couldn't even shake hands. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:36.559 We had to fist bump. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:37.200 Okay. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:40.640 But what is it about human nature? 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:44.319 We love physical contact with the people we know and love. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.039 We want to be embraced, we want to touch. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:58.240 When my daughters were very young, living in Oklahoma, as there was last night, I was just told by my wife powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes. 00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.759 And when my girls would cry. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.720 Out in the middle of the night because they heard the thunder and they saw the lightning. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:08.799 I would go to their door, and I can assure you folks, I didn't hold up a sign that says, All right, now be quiet, everything is safe and secure. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:11.680 I didn't shout to them from outside in the hall. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:21.599 They wanted me to come in and take them in my arms and hold them and remind them through that physical contact that they were safe. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:26.319 Here is a man who desperately yearned to be touched. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:38.640 Luke tells us in his gospel in chapter 5 that this man was full of leprosy, indicating that he had had this condition for years, probably during his entire adult life, maybe even as a child. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:40.240 Do you know what that means? 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:49.599 That means that this man had gone years, perhaps decades, without ever feeling the slightest human touch. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:58.880 Can you imagine lying up in your bed at night, never able to make any kind of contact with another human being? 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:08.079 Our Lord, having preached this incredible world-famous sermon, is not thinking about anything else. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:12.480 He sees a man who is desperately in need and he touches him. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:15.839 Folks, the entire gospel is wrapped up in this touch. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:16.720 Why? 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.000 Because I am this leper. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.759 You are this leper. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.480 Spiritually, we have been disfigured by sin. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:27.119 We are unclean in the sight of God. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.119 And if you know that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, there's only one reason. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:33.279 It's because he drew near to you. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.920 And in the manner of speaking, he touched you and cleansed you of your guilt and your sin. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:41.519 Look at the result. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:45.119 We're told that immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.400 I just wish I could see it. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:58.880 Those spongy offensive tumors just suddenly disappearing, all scars gone, and this man's skin was like that of a newborn baby. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:03.200 We're told that Jesus didn't want him to go and to tell anyone. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.759 He says, just go and report to the priest. 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:07.279 Why? 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:12.000 Well, Mark tells us because he describes what happened after Jesus cleansed this man. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:21.359 We're told that he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town but was out in desolate places. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:26.640 Now I can't blame this guy for loudly shouting to everybody, Y'all remember me? 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:27.440 I was the leper. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.240 Look at me now. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.160 I'm healed, I'm cleansed. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:37.839 But of course, it had a bad effect on the ministry of Jesus because there were so many crowds he had to withdraw into a desolate place. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:45.440 But Jesus also probably didn't want people to think that he was some somehow a wonderworker, a circus sideshow. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:52.720 But in any case, this man loudly proclaimed that he had been cleansed and healed. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:55.839 I think I know this man. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.640 Obviously, looking forward to seeing him in heaven. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.680 I think I know him because I am he. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:03.119 You are he. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:08.319 We are this man, we are the spiritual lepers disfigured by sin. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:11.119 So let me just ask you a question. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:18.720 After Jesus' death and resurrection, he exalted to the right hand of the Father, where he now sits with the majesty on high. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:23.279 As he was being raised up, we read about it in Acts chapter 1. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.759 Did he kind of just divest himself of compassion? 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:30.079 Did he push delete on his heart and thought, well, compassion was only for the first century? 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.519 I'm going to be mean-spirited and stingy now that I'm in heaven. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:35.119 Of course not. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:40.240 Did Jesus somehow lose his power because he's now at the right hand of the Father? 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:41.200 No. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:50.960 He's just as compassionate as he was toward that leper, just as able and powerful to heal and to cleanse and to save as he was in the first century. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:26:00.720 Let me just quickly give you a couple examples of this to kind of bolster your faith, because the whole point, as I said earlier, was each healing is a window into the heart of Jesus. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.480 I want you to understand the one to whom you come in prayer. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:10.319 I hear so often about people who think that Jesus is stern, stingy, and unconcerned about them. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:13.039 And they don't understand what kind of person he is. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:19.680 Oh, yes, he's the Son of God, but he's probably mean-spirited, selfish, just like everybody else I know. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:27.759 No, he is the kind of individual who will touch what nobody else would have dared to do. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:30.240 Let me give you a couple of examples. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:36.720 There's a man in our church who's a pediatrician, a very skilled physician, very well known in the community. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:46.880 His wife was pregnant, and at 20 weeks they went in for an ultrasound and discovered that this baby suffered from multi-cystic dysplastic kidney. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:52.079 In other words, there were cysts that had overtaken the kidneys, one in particular. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:00.400 And the doctor said there's no cure for this, and if this continues, it's in all likelihood that the child will lose that one kidney. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:07.519 Two women prayed for this young-to-be mother on a Sunday morning. 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:10.400 She went back for another ultrasound a few weeks later. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:12.480 No cyst appeared. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:17.519 Now it's interesting to hear the testimony of the father, this doctor. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:23.119 He said this, and I quote, there is no good medical explanation for this. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:36.319 As a pediatrician and an internist, as someone who takes pride in evidence-based medicine, as someone who considers himself a logical, reasonable man, there is no medical explanation for this. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:38.240 Glory be to God. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:58.000 We had another lady in our church, just to hear of what she suffered from, it's like you're reading from a medical textbook: out-of-control immune system, asthma, food and seasonal allergies, thyroid problems, adrenal gland dysfunction, eczema, joint pain, depression, mental fog, breathing problems. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:02.000 She was miserable and suffered like this for years. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:11.440 We held a conference in Oklahoma City in 2017 called Convergence, and we prayed for the sick at that conference, and she came forward for prayer. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:21.200 She said, I had in my mind I was like that woman who had that issue of blood for 12 years, and I was just crawling through the crowd hoping to touch the hem of his garment. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:24.960 She was instantly and irreversibly healed. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:33.359 My sister is four years older than I am, lived as I did in a smoke-filled house. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:42.079 Our father, wonderful man, Christian man, now with the Lord, but he smoked incessantly from the age of 11 years old. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:44.000 And if it wasn't a cigarette, it's a cigar. 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:45.119 Not a cigar, it's a pipe. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:50.400 And if he hadn't had any of that, he'd lean over to somebody else who's smoking and try to bring the smoke over to himself. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:58.240 We tried to get him to stop, but he believed the lies of the uh of commercials in those days that smoking was actually good for you. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:01.279 But we lived in a constant fog of smoke. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:02.960 My mother lived to be 100. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:04.880 My dad died when he was 62 because of it. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:09.200 My mother lived to be 100, never had the slightest symptom of secondhand smoke. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:10.480 Neither have I. 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:15.279 But my sister for years has coughed incessantly. 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.559 It happens usually about a six or eight-month period of the year. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:23.200 She had had surgery, she'd had steroid shots, she's had every medication known to man. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:24.400 Nothing worked. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:29.200 A little over two years ago, she finally came to the elders of my church and we prayed for her. 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:35.359 And to this day, she has not coughed once, completely and totally healed. 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:38.000 Give you one more story and then I'll close. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:46.960 About three years ago, um, it was a Sunday morning, and there's a little girl in the church. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:47.920 Her name is Luca. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.519 She was about three or four years old at the time. 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:51.039 Her mother's name was Jen. 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:57.519 And suddenly, at the end of the service, Luca said to her mom, Mommy, my tummy really, really hurts. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:29:58.880 All of a sudden, it just started. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:00.000