Totally Clean
“face to Face” Sermon series
Sunday June 24th 2007
Intro:
We have a play set in our back yard, and under it the kids have seen it as great fun to dig up the dirt. They love to sit out there and play in the dirt. And the only thing greater than playing in dirt is playing in mud. They at times, when I’m not particularly looking at some water and have a good-ol-time out there. But then they want to come into the house or come give hugs or sit on my knee. My response is typically, “Get away, don’t go in the house like that, Don’t touch me, clean up before.”
Now that isn’t always the case though. Let’s say that in the process of covering themselves with mud, one of them gets a cut. This actually happened a few years ago. Our kids, a few neighbors and the Hilty kids were all playing outside. They were all dirty from play and Abby got her finger smashed by a brick, cutting her pretty bad. She needed stitches. She came running and screaming into the house. It didn’t matter how dirty she was, we cleaned the cut, loaded her into the car and off to the hospital we went.
You see, her need was greater than any damage dirt could make.
This story is also included by Matthew In chapter 8 and Mark in chapter 1
Text: Luke 5: 12-14 ESV “While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." 13And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him. (Mark 1:42 adds, “…and he was cleansed.”) 14And he charged him to tell no one, but "go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them." (Amplified: for a testimony and proof to the people, that they may have evidence [of your healing].)
This man, this leper came face to Face with the Son of God. What happened; what drove him?
In addition to this miraculous healing, there are some valuable spiritual principles to be found. I want us to look below the surface because I think there are several important lessons we can learn about ourselves.
I. “There came a man full of Leprosy”
What drove this man to Jesus? What is Leprosy? What does it have to do with us?
a. Leprosy is a Medical Condition
i. Could be a variety of skin diseases, but most suffered with “Hansen’s disease.”
ii. A particular bacteria gets into the body, it can take years before the first signs of the disease appear.
iii. It begins with little specks on the eyelids and on the palms of the hands. Then it spreads over the body. It bleaches the hair white. It covers the skin with scales and oozing sores.
iv. It often attacks the victim’s face, forming spongy tumors; making it impossible to hide.
Dr. Thomson in his famous work, "The Land and the Book," speaks of lepers in the East, and says, "The hair falls from the head and eye-brows; the nails loosen, decay and drop off; joint after joint of the fingers and toes shrink up and slowly fall away. The gums are absorbed, and the teeth disappear. The nose, the eyes, the tongue and the palate are slowly consumed."
v. Because the bacteria eat away the nerve endings of the body the victim cannot tell when something is hurting him. Initially in the fingers and toes, then spreading up the arms and legs.
Dr Paul Brand, a missionary who has conducted a great deal of research on the disease, explains that in a leper colony in India, many of the lepers were missing fingers and toes. A lot of them seemed to lose them at night, for no apparent reason, they just disappeared. When someone finally stayed up all night to watch and see what happened, they found that rats were chewing off their fingers and toes at night -- but the victims didn’t wake up, because they didn’t feel anything.
vi. The leprosy itself was not fatal, but most lepers die from other diseases they contracted because of their weakened condition.
vii. Until Recently, the disease had no known cure.
So as leprosy advances, a leper doesn’t even look human. No fingers. No toes. Many of them blind. Nobody wants to get near them, nobody wants to touch them. A leper becomes utterly repulsive.
viii. This man was FULL of leprosy.
b. Leprosy is a social disease
i. Because there was no cure, the Old Testament sets forth very strict instructions regarding those who had the disease.
1. This man lost everything because of his leprosy. He was kicked out of his house, lost contact with His family. Couldn’t visit friends. No longer was able to work a job. Forced to live in desolate places.
2. And so there he lives in his cave. Without love. Without hope. Without the simple joys and dignities of life.
Leviticus 13:45-46 “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ’Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”
In his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim reports the standard practice of the day. He writes, “...no less than a distance of six feet must be kept from a leper or if the wind came from that direction, a hundred were scarcely sufficient.”
How long has it been since someone has shaken his hand, patted him on the back, put an arm around his waist, hugged him, touched his cheek, wiped a tear from his eye, or kissed him?
c. Leprosy was a spiritual problem.
i. Some forms of uncleanness -- such as the result of touching an unclean animal -- were cleansed simply by waiting until evening and washing.
ii. But leprosy was much different. It required the person be cut off from the congregation and from the temple sacrifices, religious festivals and worship services.
iii. Although leprosy isn’t the problem it used to be, it’s still pertinent for us today.
iv. Leprosy is symbolic of sin’s effect in our lives.
v. The nature of the disease and the nature of sin go hand in hand.
1. Grows undetected for a time.
2. Surfaces in small patches but progresses to total consumption.
3. Desensitizes to pain and further infection
4. Sin cuts us off from healthy relationships
5. The most important relationship destroyed is with God.
vi. But it’s even more than that.
1. Its years of self-loathing, pain, rejection and more.
2. All of that is washed away as Jesus cleanses him; cleanses him of sin and pain.
3. He changes the entire outlook of his life.
4. Everything changes for this man.
5. This is true of every one who comes face to face with Jesus.
Who are the lepers? Who are the ostracized, and the excluded, cut off ones?
- They are all those who are still found in their sin.
- They are those whose lives are defined by sin in some way. (Either their own or someone else’s)
If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, there is a terrible disease of death growing inside your soul. No MRI or CAT scan can diagnose it, but God’s Word says it’s there.
We need more than absolution, we need cleansing. We need more than simple forgiveness:
II. “When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."
He goes beyond protocol and shame: He was supposed to shout, "Unclean!" to keep Jesus away!
He isn’t interested in the blaming anyone for his condition.
a. He is desperate, humble, worshipful and submissive.
i. His faith is in Christ alone, not in himself.
ii. He probably has never even heard of a leper being cured.
iii. He has been hopeless and helpless for a lot of years.
The leper’s confession, his desperation, his full attention to the only One who could cleanse him made him a lighting rod for the power of God.
b. He doesn’t say, “Heal my disease.” He says, “Make me clean.”
i. Those two things may seem to be one and the same, there’s a subtle but significant difference.
ii. This leper’s disease was what caused him a great deal of physical distress, but it was his uncleanness which separated him from God.
He’s saying, “I want to be acceptable to God!”
iii. It isn’t ever the condition (sin, ugliness) that God finds repulsive. Rather, the only reason for being cast away is an unrepentant heart.
iv. For God knows how truly easy it is to heal the broken and contrite heart.
v. The unrepentant heart resists God’s grace and therefore be reason of its own hardness is rendered hopeless.
He’s also saying, “Lord, make me feel again.”
vi. Our society constantly tries to desensitize our consciences to sin.
What is right is wrong and what is wrong is becoming right.
Spurgeon preached, “None of us would imagine that this leper meant that the Lord Jesus could make him feel comfortable in remaining a leper.”
vii. It’s not, “Lord make me more comfortable being a Leper.” NOR is it “Lord, please make Leprosy more acceptable.”
viii. For sin invites sin, Lust invites lust, until the whole person is consumed.
ix. If you feel guilty when you sin, praise God. You still have a feeling heart, repentance is still yours to behold.
Jesus raised the bar of righteousness but lowered the bar to entry.
III. “Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’”
Jesus does not run away like all the rest. Like a loving parent welcomes their crying, mud-covered child, Jesus allows the leper to approach him.
a. Jesus is moved with compassion for you.
Mark 1:41 includes, “Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.”
KJV Study Bible says, “Mark’s picture of Jesus is not of an unmoved problem-solver sweeping serenely and unemotionally from incident to incident.”
b. Jesus is willing to touch your life
Because this man was covered with Leprosy, it’s likely that he had very little feeling left in his skin, isn’t it incredible that the first thing he felt in years was the loving touch of Jesus
i. Jesus’ touch was more powerful to affect the man; than it was for the man to infect Jesus.
ii. Jesus was confident in his ability to totally cleanse the man.
iii. Jesus was more concerned about the heart of the man than the leprosy of the man.
The soul is always a bigger issue than the sin.
We would do well to remember that when we are talking/interacting with those caught in sin.
Are we more repulsed than we are driven by compassion?
Does the sin matter? The answer is a resounding, “YES” but only because it is infecting the person.
c. Jesus will make you whole.
i. He wasn’t just forgiven, he was cleansed.
ii. Cleansed means, “to purify,” “to purify from wickedness.”
iii. The results weren’t just spiritual, they were practical = Jesus sent him to the Priest to show proof.
iv. A Christian’s life can be so transformed that our holy lives are proof of Christ’s work in us!
1. That our lives would truly be salt that makes the lost thirsty for God.
2. Holy; Godly; honest, descent, pure, above reproach
3. Rewarding lives.
4. Living a righteous life brings the fruit of righteousness:
• A sincere heart, a clean conscience;
• A forgiving and free heart.
• A healed mind, a renewed spirit, a joy, a peace, a welcoming presence.
Conclusion: Do you need a touch? Do you need a cleansed heart?
