• The bad news
• The good news
• The great news
Illus: The day after a man lost his wife in a scuba diving accident, he was greeted by two grim-faced policemen at his door. "We're sorry to call on you at this hour, Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife."
• "Well, tell me!" the man said.
• The policeman said, "We have some bad news, some good news and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?"
• Fearing the worse, Mr. Wilkens said, "Give me the bad news first." So the policeman said, "I'm sorry to tell you sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in San Francisco Bay."
• "Oh how terrible!" said Mr. Wilkens, overcome by emotion. Then, remembering what the policeman had said, he asked, "What's the good news?"
• "Well," said the policeman, "When we pulled her up she had two five-pound lobsters and a dozen good size crabs latched onto her body."
• "If that's the good news then what's the great news?", Mr. Wilkens demanded.
• The policeman said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow morning and see what is hanging on her."
None of us enjoy having good news and bad news brought to us because many times the bad news outweighs the good.
But we all enjoy having someone come running up to us and say, “I have some good news I want to share with you!”
Everyone at some time has imagined what it would be like to have “Big Ed” appear on our doorstep with his television crew, telling us we just won the Ten Million Dollar Reader’s Digest Sweepstake.
We all like to hear good news. And sometimes the news can be so great that we feel like we are about to explode if we do not share it with someone.
Such is the case in our text. The Lord did a wonderful work in his life and the Lord told Him not to spread the news, but he went everywhere telling folks what the Lord had done for him.
Let’s look at the life of this man. We see several things I want to share with you.
I. HE CAME ASKING
Notice, he says, in Mark 1:40, “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
The story of this man simply begins, “And there came a leper to him…”
In the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, the word “leprosy” is a broad term that includes a wide range of skin diseases. The very worst of those diseases was what we know as leprosy today, a condition that is also called “Hanson’s Disease”.
We don’t know how severe the problem of this particular leper was, but let’s assume he had modern leprosy.
• 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.
• But that’s just what happens on the surface. Down under the skin, leprosy eats its way through the nerves. And soon the victim loses all sense of touch and pain, initially in the fingers and toes, then spreading up the arms and legs. So, a leper can’t feel anything.
That may not sound so bad. The last time you stubbed your toe when you tripped over a chair on your way back to bed, you probably wished that you didn’t feel anything. Maybe it was when you hit your thumb with a hammer or burned yourself on a hot pot. But what sounds like it might be nice, is absolutely horrible. Without the sense of touch, a person with leprosy eventually damages his toes, fingers, and feet. He will bump into objects, cut himself, get infections -- and not even notice.
Illus: Dr Paul Brand is a missionary who has conducted a great deal of research on the disease. He 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.
As leprosy advances, a leper doesn’t even look human.
• No fingers
• No toes
• Many go blind
• Ulcerated growth all over their faces
• Nobody wants to get near them -- nobody wants to touch them
A leper becomes utterly repulsive -- both to himself and to others.
Today, leprosy can be treated with drugs, and it can be cured. But there was no cure in Bible days. The Old Testament sets forth some very strict instructions regarding those who had the disease because there was no other way to slow the spread of this contagious disease that led to such a horrible result.
The society in which Jesus lived went to great lengths to separate the clean from the unclean. There were clear-cut boundaries between the two.
In Leviticus, leprosy is the most serious of all forms of uncleanness.
• Some forms of uncleanness -- such as the result of touching an unclean animal -- were cleansed simply by waiting until evening and washing.
• Other forms of uncleanness, such as the result of childbirth, required a longer waiting period and the offering of a sacrifice.
• But leprosy was much different. You see, all the other forms of uncleanness required that the person stay away from the temple, but leprosy required the person to live outside the camp, to be utterly cut off from the congregation of Israel.
Lev. 13:45-46 gave some clear instructions for the leper to follow. We read, “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”
But the leper in this condition came ASKING the Lord Jesus to heal him of this deadly disease. It is not uncommon today to have people ASK us to do something.
When we take a flight to another city, we are asked to do certain things by the pilot and flight attendants.
Illus: Here are some actual airlines, thanking people and asking them to ride with them the next time.
• From a Southwest Airlines, a flight attendant is instructing the passengers about what to do in the event of a crash. She said, "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane..."
• Pilot... "Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I am going to switch the seat belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but please stay inside the plane till we land... it's a bit cold outside and if you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern."
• After landing: "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”
• As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Washington National, a pilot from Texas could be heard over the loud speak as the airplane wheels hit the runway, "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"
• One Pilot said, “In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more.”
• One Pilot said, “Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you or your money more than Southwest Airlines."
• One Pilot said, "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation, and in the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."
• One Pilot said, "As you exit the plane, please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."
• One Pilot said, "Last one off the plane must clean it."
• From the pilot during his welcome message: "We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry... Unfortunately none of them are on this flight...!”
• Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day. During the final approach, the Captain had really fought to get the plane down. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant came on the PA and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"
• An airline pilot wrote that on one particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and thank them for flying with them. He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally, everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no, Ma'am," said the pilot, "What is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land or were we shot down?"
• Part of a Flight Attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today, and the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of us here at US Airways."
We are often asked to do certain things, but notice in this verse of scripture, we read again, “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
He was not only ASKING, he was BEGGING! The Lord did not come to Him; the Bible says he came to the Lord.
What this leper did, was forbidden by the Mosaic Law! According to the teachings of the Old Testament, he was to keep his distance from everyone and warn people he was coming by calling out, “Unclean! Unclean!” This gave everyone a chance to stay clear of this man with a very contagious disease. Today, if the law required people that had contagious diseases to do such a thing, the ACLU would be in the courts filing a lawsuit. But during this time, they were required to warn people they had a contagious disease.
The Bible says he approached the Lord and ASKED HIM TO HEAL HIM! DID YOU KNOW THE LORD JESUS LOVES TO HAVE US COME TO HIM?
Listen, as a pastor I want to help people. But I must confess there are those who come and keep coming and I really dread seeing them come.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger said that a woman started attending his church that had several children. The problem was that she would not work and her husband would not work. And it was soon after she started attending that she was holding her hand out for help, but seldom attended church. In a period of a year:
• He bought her a new refrigerator
• He loaned them money to buy some food for Thanksgiving
• He loaned them several hundred dollars for Christmas to buy some toys for their children
Then one day he saw her and her husband pull up in the church parking lot and he knew what she was coming for. He was correct in his assumption; she wanted to borrow two hundred dollars.
When she said borrow, what she meant was she wanted him to give her two hundred dollars because they did not pay back.
He made up his mind that enough was enough! In a nice way, he told her and her husband that he was sorry but he could not loan them the money. But she would not take “No” for an answer! He finally just had to bid them farewell and walk into his office. They got into their car and drove off, but in about an hour they came back again ASKING for the two hundred dollars. But he did not give in.
Listen, when we see some people we are tempted to run and hide because we know the only time we see them is when they want something.
But the Lord Jesus is not like us. He never gets tired of us coming to Him. Look at 1 Peter 5:7, we read, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” I don’t mean to imply that the Lord likes being used. He does not like it any more than we do. But still He bids us to come to Him with ALL OUR CARES!
This leper that came to the Lord, asked Him to do what no man could do. He said, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
WHAT DID HE MEAN GOD COULD MAKE HIM CLEAN?
He was not talking about physical dirt. If that is what he was talking about he could have cleaned himself. He was talking about the incurable disease that caused the flesh to literally fall off his body. This would leave the bare flesh showing and their clothes would literally stick to their bodies, causing an awful odor.
He was ASKING the Lord to cleanse him of this awful disease.
HE CAME ASKING, but also-
II. HE CAME WITH FAITH
Notice, he said, “…Thou canst make me clean.”
There is no “MAYBE” or “PERHAPS”; he believed THIS WAS SOMETHING JESUS COULD DO.
• He is saying, “The best doctors in the land can not do this, but YOU CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ME!”
• He is saying, “I am totally rejected by society because of this contagious disease. YOU CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ME!”
• He is saying, “I am shunned as I walk down the street. YOU CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ME!”
• He is saying, “Little children run from me when they see me coming down the street. YOU CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ME!”
• He is saying, “I can not live a normal life like decent people, YOU CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ME!”
Isn’t it wonderful that we serve a Savior that can do the impossible? No matter what your need - HE CAN FIX IT! This man had the faith THAT CHRIST COULD FIX IT FOR HIM!
HE CAME ASKING, HE CAME WITH FAITH and -
III. HE CAME IN HUMILITY
Mark 1:40, “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
He humbled himself before the mighty hand of God in a hope that the Lord God would exalt him in due time. He did not come with demands as most of us do; he came in spirit and in truth.
One of the scriptures that is abused is that scripture that says we are to come before the Lord boldly. Look at Hebrews 4:16, we read, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Some say this verse teaches that we are to come into God’s presence and start commanding Him to do this or that! That is not what this verse of scripture is teaching.
The word “boldly,” is “Parrhesia” (Pronounced as Par-rhay-see'-ah) which means - assurance, confidence, freely, and openly. We come to God with the confidence that He is a God of grace and He will help us in time of need. We recognize that we do not DESERVE to be able to come to Him, but we recognize that He is a gracious God!
Conclusion:
Our Lord is touched with the grief of this man’s condition and He determines to have a relationship with this man, to the extent that He touches him. What love that the Son of Man has for the children of God, that He touches the unclean person and speaks words of comfort in the process.
Let us observe Him. His response to the prayer is; “I will; be thou clean.” Had He just said, “Be clean,” all those present would have been cleansed of their illnesses. Christ spoke to the man by saying “be thou clean”.
The Lord Jesus did not tell this man to go home, take two aspirins and call Him in the morning. No! As soon as He touched the leper, his leprosy was removed and he was cleansed.
This was a great thing that happened to this man. He went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter: He had to tell somebody. He determined in his mind to work for the Lord. When God has truly done a wonderful work in our life, we just have to share the good news with someone.
We have looked at the Leper who came to Christ.
I. HE CAME ASKING
II. HE CAME WITH FAITH
III. HE CAME IN HUMILITY
