SERMON OUTLINE:
Story #1: From Sickness to Health (vs 12-16).
(1). The Man Needed to be Changed (vs 12a).
(2). The Man Wanted to be Changed (vs 12b).
(3). The Man Was Changed (vs 13-14).
Story #2: From Guilt to Forgiveness (vs 12-16).
(1). The Man’s Problems: #1 The house was full (vs 17-20).
(2). The Man’s Problems: #2 The Diagnosis Seemed to be Wrong (vs 18 & 20).
(3). The Man’s Problems: #3 The Religious Leaders were Fuming (vs 17 & 21).
SERMON BODY
Ill;
• I'm going to give you a quick quiz.
• Don't worry, it's easy! I'll give you a word and you give me the opposite…
• The opposite of Fast is... Slow.
• The opposite of Long is... Short.
• The opposite of Cold is... Hot.
• The opposite of Young is... Old.
• The opposite of Soft is... Hard.
• The opposite of Sour is... Sweet.
• The opposite of High is... Low.
• The opposite of Rich is... Poor.
• The opposite of Love is... Hate?
• The opposite of Hope is... Hopelessness (or despair)!
• TRANSITION: In these verses this morning,
• We meet two people who are full of despair,
• For them life seems hopeless… that is until they encounter Jesus!
Story #1: From Sickness to Health (vs 12-16).
“While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.
Then Jesus ordered him, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Are we sure about that? From my own experiences, I'm coming to realize that the greatest insult against someone is not to hate them, it's to be apathetic.”
(1). The Man Needed to be Changed (vs 12a).
“While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.”
• Leprosy was the scourge of the ancient world.
• Nothing evoked more fear, or more dread, or more revulsion;
• Than the sight of these walking dead.
• That is what a leper was called, ‘a walking dead man’.
• Before you saw a leper, you probably smelt him,
• The smell of his decaying flesh would make you aware of his nearness.
In the Bible:
• The Jewish people classified several diseases as leprosy,
• Including our modern disease of Hansen‘s Disease.
Ill:
• For us today leprosy is referred to and known as Hansen‘s Disease.
• It was 1873, and Dr. Armauer Hansen of Norway,
• He discovered the reason for leprosy.
• It was called by bacterium (Mycobacterium leprae).
• This bacteria attacks the nerve endings in the limbs, eyes, ears, & nose.
• It occurs where there is dirty water, bad nutrition and poor standards of living,
• Meaning people's immune systems are not strong & they are unable to fight the disease.
• But it was not until the 1980’s that treatments became available,
• And since the 1980’s over 15 million people have been cured!
• But even today;
• Leprosy is still responsible for disfiguring or disabling more than 2 million people.
• Quote: Dr. Paul Brand, who worked in leper colonies, called the it; “a painless hell”
• Leprosy is often thought to be eradicated in the UK,
• But up to 129 cases were reported in England and Wales between 2001 and 2010.
• World Health Organisation figures reveal;
• State that in 2016 there were 214,783 new cases of leprosy diagnosed.
• That is approximately one every two minutes.
• More than 60 per cent were found in India.
Now throughout history:
• Few diseases have been as dreaded and feared as leprosy.
• It was so common and severe among ancient peoples;
• That God gave Moses extensive instructions to deal with it
• You can find them in your Bibles in the book of Leviticus chapters 13 and 14.
Leprosy was greatly feared by the ancient people for two reasons:
• First: It caused great physical damage to the body,
• The disease disfigured the body.
• Second: Because of the strict isolation laws applying to leprosy,
• Those who contaminated the disease became feared outcasts of society.
• If you were contaminated by the disease then you were sent away from family,
• From friends, from everything you loved or held dear!
• The disease was considered so revolting,
• That the leper wasn’t permitted to come within 150 feet of anyone,
• When the wind was blowing.
• Lepers lived in a community with other lepers or wondered around homeless.
• If a leper came across another person they had to shout out, “Unclean! Unclean!”
• Failure to identify yourself could result in death by stoning.
• At the time of Jesus there was no cure for leprosy;
• If you caught leprosy then you died of leprosy.
• It was as simple and as blunt as that!
• Quote: Dr. Paul Brand, who worked in leper colonies, called the it;
• “a painless hell”
Notice:
• Verse 12 tells us he “was covered with leprosy”
• Other translations say; “Full of leprosy”
• Indicating that this man’s leprosy was in an advanced state.
• For this man there was no hope!
Ill:
• Leprosy is often seen as a metaphor, a picture for sin.
• Leprosy became a vivid parable of what sin is & what it does to people.
• i.e. Sin is ugly, loathsome, incurable, and contaminating;
• i.e. Sin separates men from God and makes them outcasts.
The instructions given to the priests in the Old testament book of Leviticus:
• Help us understand the nature of sin:
• (see chapter 13):
• (a). Sin is inside us, deeper than the skin (Leviticus chapter 13 verse 3);
• No outside remedies can help, to cure sin is to cure the heart.
• Quote: “The heart of the problem is the problem of the human heart”
• (b). Sin also spreads (Leviticus chapter 13 verse 8);
• i.e. Like telling lies or weeds in a garden.
• (c). Sin always defiles and isolates (Leviticus 13 verses 45-46);
• That is why we have laws in our land, breaking those laws,
• i.e. Burglary and theft defile people;
• And consequences for breaking those laws may end up with a prison sentence!
• (d). And just as leprous garments are fit only for the fire (Leviticus 13 verses 52-57),
• So those who die clothed in sin, the Bible teaches are only fit for the fire.
• That is a sobering but important thing to note!
Ill:
• R.C. Trench was a well-known Greek scholar;
• He produced and edited the first edition of The Oxford English Dictionary.
• He once said concerning this man and his leprosy:
“Though the leper was not worse or guiltier than his fellow-countrymen, he was nevertheless a parable of sin—an outward visible sign of innermost spiritual corruption”
(2). The Man Wanted to be Changed (vs 12b).
“When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’”
THIS MAN WAS A LAW BREAKER (VS 12):
• He broke the law because:
• He entered the town where Jesus was.
• He should have stayed outside the towns boundaries with the other lepers.
• He broke the law because:
• He sought out Jesus and spoke to him,#
• He should be crying out, “Stay away! Unclean! Unclean!”
THIS MAN WAS HUMBLE (VS 12):
• We are told he fell ‘face down and begged him’.
• Desperate situations call for desperate measures,
• This man was prepared for that.
THIS MAN EXPERIENCED COMAPSSION (VS 13):
“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.”
Ill:
• Religious Leaders at the time of Jesus;
• Were so convinced that leprosy was a sign a person was under the judgement of God.
• That God was punishing them.
• As a result they showed no compassion to lepers,
• In fact the opposite.
• They would write things like;
“I would not so much buy an egg from a market that was on the street
that a leper walked down”.
Another Rabbi said,
“When I see lepers coming, I will throw stones at them
until they turn and run in the opposite direction”.
• The religious leaders were cruel and harsh;
• Because they believed these people were under the curse and judgment of God.
• TRANSITION: Yet here is a Rabbi, a teacher full of compassion,
• And while their people avoided lepers like the plague.
• This Rabbi actually reaches out and touches the leper!
Note:
• Don’t skip over the fact,
• Jesus first extends His hand and touches the leper and then speaks.
• Jesus did not need to touch the leper to heal the leper.
• But he wanted to;
• He determined to touch him and I suggest that he delighted to touch him.
• In Mark’s account of this incident we read (chapter 1 verse 41);
• “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him”
• Jesus touched the leper who was filled with sores,
• Jesus touched the leper whose flesh was disfigured, his face swollen.
• Jesus touches him, not simply because He can—because He must!
• It is no exaggeration to say,
• It may have been decades since someone had touched him.
Ill:
• Preacher Kent Hughes tells the story of the man,
• Who had no family or friends.
• He was not a Christian and did not belong to any church.
• In describing his loneliness he said that he had his hair cut once a week,
• Just to have someone touch him with no misunderstanding
• Who would have his hair cut every week,
• And the only reason he did so, was so someone would touch him in a caring way.
• TRANSITION: For the first time in many, many years,
• This mad was touched in a caring way!
• I like the Bible teacher who suggests that Jesus does not simply touch him,
• But takes him in a firm strong grip,
• The kind of grip that speaks of assurance
(3). The Man Was Changed (vs 13-14).
“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.
Then Jesus ordered him, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’”
Note:
• The onlookers to this event must have been horrified, some terrified,
• Even the disciples must have cringed in horror!
• Touching a leper was forbidden.
• To them Jesus was now unclean under their laws;
• And also he may possibly infected with the disease!
• Gripping a leper was madness an invitation to judgment.
• And being contaminating with this disease would be the worst punishment of all!
Question: Why did Jesus do this?
Answer: Because he cared for the man!
• Now if leprosy is a metaphor/picture of sin,
• Then this healing touch is a metaphor/picture of salvation!
• Jesus did not become unclean or even leprous;
• But rather the man became clean and made clean.
• Or to use the metaphor:
• Sin did not contaminate Jesus but rather his cleansing forgave the man.
Ill:
• Many years ago Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer,
• The founder of Dallas Theological Seminary,
• Illustrated God’s attitude toward sinners this way.
• His illustration is called the Four Turnabouts.
• First he took his hands and placed them together with palms touching each other.
• That pictures God and Adam and Eve;
• In perfect harmony with God in the Garden of Eden before the Fall.
• Second: He took his right hand:
• And turned it so that the palm faced outward and away from the left hand.
• That pictures Adam and Eve turning from God after the Fall.
• Third: he took his left hand and faced it outward away from his right hand.
• This pictures God judging Adam and Even (and the whole human race)
• By casting them out of the Garden.
• Now both hands are facing away from each other.
• Forth: he took his left hand;
• And brought it slowly back around,
• So that the palm faced inward - in its original position.
• This pictures God having been reconciled by the cross of Christ
• (2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18-20).
• Even though the right hand is still facing outward and away from the left,
• The left hand now faces toward the right;
• Just as God faces the sinner and begs him to be reconciled.
• God’s word to the world is “Be reconciled!”
• Jesus becomes a man so he can take on sin—become sin—for us;
• So that we might become the righteousness of God”
Note:
• Look at the end of the verse 13: “. . .immediately his leprosy was cleansed”.
• Remember this man was “Full of leprosy” he was “Covered with leprosy” (vs 12).
• And in a moment he is cured!
• His feet—toeless, ulcerated stubs—were suddenly whole,
• The stumps on his hands grew fingers before his very eyes.
• Back came his hair, eyebrows, eyelashes.
• Under his hair were ears and before him a nose!
• His skin was supple and soft.
• He had spent years crying out, “Unclean! Unclean!”
• But now he is crying out, “I’m clean! I’m Clean! I’m clean!”
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Verse 14:
“Then Jesus ordered him, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’”
• The Law of Moses contained public safety and health codes.
• Jesus wants the healing to be more than just a healing—but a testimony;
• A testimony that Jesus is not a Law-Breaker.
• If the man showed himself to the priest in Jerusalem,
• They would be much more likely to believe the fact the leper was healed!
• The phrase “show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded”
• Is found in Leviticus chapter14.
• The Lord Jesus asks the man to present himself as a ‘testimony’
• In other words;
• The purpose of the healing was to authenticate both the Scripture and Jesus’ claims
• (which are one and the same!).
• Jesus wants to remain faithful to the Law;
• But Jesus transcends the law by touching the leper (forbidden by law).
• “The cured leper becomes the occasion for the law to confirm Jesus’ authority as the healer who needs but to will the deed for it to be done”
• Jesus points the leper back to the Word of God to confirm Christ’s identity.
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Story #2: From Guilt to Forgiveness (vs 12-16).
Ill:
• Noel Coward, the famous playwright,
• Once played an interesting prank.
• He sent an identical note to twenty of the most famous men in London.
• The anonymous note read simply:
• "Everybody has found out what you are doing. If I were you I would get out of town."
• Supposedly,
• All twenty men actually left town.
• Now what if you opened your mail one day and found such a note?
• What would race through your mind?
• Would you be fearful and worried or calm and peaceful?
• TRANSITTION: In this story we have a paralysed man.
• He is bedridden, that is confined to his bed due to sickness or an accident.
• But I want to suggest that the man’s biggest problem is not for new legs;
• But for a new start! He needs forgiveness and he needs it bad!
Ill:
• Guilt is one of the most crippling diseases among people today.
• Psychiatrists and doctors say that unresolved guilt;
• Is the number one cause of mental illness and suicide.
• It prompts millions of people to gulp down pills to tranquilize their anxiety.
• Yet, guilt for the most part is meant to be constructive.
• Guilt is like an electric fence that gives us a jolt,
• When we begin to stray beyond our boundaries.
• It sends an alarm to wake us up that something needs our attention.
• Like pain, guilt tells us when something is wrong.
• When you feel it, you don't just sit there, you do something about it.
(1). The Man’s Problems: #1 The house was full (vs 17-20).
“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal those who were ill. 18 Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.”
Notice: This man comes to Jesus the hard way:
• Due to the popularity of Jesus;
• And therefore the house Jesus was sitting in was full to overflowing,
• This man comes to Jesus through the roof.
• Thanks to the imagination of his friends who start digging a hole in the roof,
• The problem of a full house and a long que of people is overcome.
• You can imagine everyone inside the house;
• Moaning and complaining about being covered in dirt and dust.
• But I don’t think Jesus minded a bit of dirt and dust,
• He was taken up with the faith of the man’s friends (vs 20)
• “When Jesus saw their faith”
I have mentioned many times (even last week), God always responds to acts of faith:
• Not blind faith, or presumption, but genuine faith.
• But God cannot resist genuine faith placed in him.
• Here in verse 20 Jesus responds to the friends faith by helping the man:
• But notice how he helps him…
(2). The Man’s Problems: #2 The Diagnosis Seemed to be Wrong (vs 18 & 20).
“Some men came carrying a PARALYSED man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.”
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your SINS are forgiven.’”
• The crowd, the friends of the man and the man himself,
• All expected Jesus to say, “Be healed, stand up, walk home”,
• But instead he says, “‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’”
Question: So why say; "Your sins are forgiven"?
Answer:
• Jesus dealt with the man’s greatest need:
• Which was not a new pair of legs but a new life, a new heart & mind!
• A new pair of legs might last the man 20, 30 maybe 50years (until he died);
• A new pair of legs might allow him to be back in touch with his community.
• But a new heart and mind would put him back in touch with the living God;
• A new heart and mind would prepare him for eternity!
Quote Warren Wiersbe:
"Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs.
It meets the greatest need; it costs the greatest price; and it brings the greatest blessing and the most lasting results".
Ill:
• D. M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia.
• At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said,
“I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross.
I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example.”
• Stearns replied,
• “If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?”
• “I certainly would,” said the stranger without hesitation.
• “All right then,” said the preacher,
• Let’s take the first step. He did no sin.
• Can you claim that for yourself?”
• The man looked confused and somewhat surprised.
• “Why, no,” he said. “I acknowledge that I do sin.”
• Stearns replied,
• “Then your greatest need is to have a Saviour, not an example!
(3). The Man’s Problems: #3 The Religious Leaders Were Fuming (vs 17 & 21).
“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem”
“The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’2
• Jesus was the talk of not just the town but the whole country,
• We are told they had come to hear Jesus from all over the country, ("Every village")
• People were amazed at his teaching and amazed at his ability to perform miracles.
• So it was only a matter of time before the religious leaders came to check him out.
• (He had attracted the big guns, the religious heavyweights).
• They had come in their capacity as guardians of orthodoxy,
• To check out this new itinerant rabbi, teacher.
• They wanted to make sure he was in line with their rules and regulations.
• That he was kosher!
Note:
• Mark in his gospel says:
• “As Jesus looked at them he saw a critical spirit in their hearts”:
• They had every right to investigate this new teacher,
• But they came with minds already made up and not with open minds and hearts.
• They were looking for error (negative) rather than the truth (positive).
• It was a case of: "We've made our decision, now don't confuse us with the facts".
Verse 24: Look how Jesus responds to them:
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.…” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
• This is amazing stuff:
• Jesus has made a statement that puts him on a parallel with God:
• In the Jewish faith, NO ONE can forgive sins except God.
• Jesus knew that, the crowd knew that and the Pharisees defiantly knew that!
• If a man claimed to be able to do this,
• It was blasphemy and the penalty was death.
• So here, by his words, Jesus is claiming to be equal with God.
• These words must have shocked, amazed and angered the religious leaders.
• To them Jesus was just a carpenter turned preacher,
• Yet now he has the audacity to play God!
Jesus knowing what the religious leaders were thinking (vs 22-23)
• So he got in first and pre-empted their strike.
• In other words Jesus backs up his words by his actions:
“Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?”
The obvious answer to the question is the second ("Get up and walk"):
• Healing the man is easier for them to comprehend because they can see it;
• They will have visible, tangible evidence something has happened.
• Forgiving someone of their sins is harder for them,
• Because it is inward, it is invisible, it's uncheck-able.
• No-one can prove whether forgiveness took place or not.
• Any charlatan, con artist could say the words “You are forgiven,”
• Because no-one can prove whether forgiveness took place or not, it's uncheck-able.
So to prove that he is the genuine article notice what Jesus does:
• Jesus does something which is impossible, yet visible!
• He will do something that they can see!
• e.g. Heals the man’s body in front of their very eyes:
• Thus proving if he can do the impossible and they can see that happen,
• He can also do that which was invisible!
Verse 24: "Get up, take your mat and go home".
• Jesus knew that when the man picked up his mat,
• Everybody would see that he had been instantly and completely healed.
• Those outside of the house who saw him go in through the roof lying on it,
• Would now surprisingly;
• See him coming out through the door with it tucked under his arm.
Verse 25:
“Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God”
• That mat what had once been a symbol of his miserable confinement,
• Was now a trophy of his total freedom.
• While the people followed the man with their eyes,
• Their ears must have been still ringing with Jesus' words:
• Verse 24: "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins."
• Jesus had made his point.
Note: The title "Son of man":
• Is used 80 times in the New Testament.
• 79 times in the gospels,
• 1 occasion outside the gospels (Stephen’s speech Acts chapter 7 verse 56).
Two possible meanings:
• It can simply mean: ‘A man’, or ‘A person’.
• It is used in the Old Testament like that
• (i.e. Psalm 8 verse 1, Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 1).
• Yet, it was also a Messianic term (to do with the Messiah / Christ).
• ill: Daniel chapter 7 verses 13-14.
• Daniel talks about one who receives: "Authority, glory and sovereign power".
• And here in this context (note context is so important);
• Jesus is talking about "Authority" & "Forgiveness".
• Linking himself to Daniel/s prophecy;
• Of Messianic, Godly characteristics, which he himself possesses.
No wonder we read in verse 26b:
“Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
• Another translation puts it:
• "We have never seen anything like this!"
• Forgiveness was nothing new to the Jews,
• Their religion was based on sacrifices and forgiveness.
• But seeing a man like themselves;
• Actually have the authority and power forgive sins was a first.
• Those who witnessed what he had just done,
• Must have sensed that Jesus was more than just a man,
So in these verses we see two very different healings:
• Story #1: From Sickness to Health (vs 12-16).
• Story #2: From Guilt to Forgiveness (vs 12-16).
• First the man’s biggest need was for physical cleaning of leprosy.
• Second the man’s biggest need was spiritual cleansing, the forgiveness of sins.
• Jesus is able to meet both their needs!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=hJMSoFg0DA8Iz2k2xzG5wtB5AQjLqe6s&forceSave
