INTRODUCTION/STATEMENT OF THEME: There are two common answers among unbelievers to the Gospel message. One, they often think they are too good for it. They aren’t that bad. They’re certainly not as bad as some, and therefore, God will probably let them slide in on Judgment Day. On the other hand, sometimes they are extremely, acutely aware of their own sin. They are convinced that they have crossed the line, the line which makes them unforgivable. They believe that only Hell awaits them, for surely God in His righteousness would not be able to accept them, as low as they have sunk. So they reject the Gospel, thinking, well, that’s a lovely story, but no holy God would love me in reality. It is this latter attitude I want to address today. Sometimes it even effects believers. For even after we receive Jesus as our Lord, we all sin in many ways every day. Not one of us has ever had a perfect day. But sometimes the believer can be so disappointed with his own sin, his own failure from day to day, that it begins to wear away at his confidence in Christ. He can begin to doubt his position with God (“Surely no real Christian would behave like I do…”) and wonder how a holy and righteous Judge could continue to look upon him in mercy. Or maybe he falls into some especially grievous sin. He yields to some especially wicked temptation. The result is, at the very least, that he has wounded his conscience before God. He is unable to escape the guilty feelings. And when you feel guilty all over, it is very hard to believe you’re forgiven. So, I want to talk about that today. How exactly does the Lord feel about the lowest of the low? How exactly will Jesus relate to those who have fallen into a very deep pit?
It is my high and holy privilege to tell you today that if I have just described you, then stand by. I am about to describe a Savior. I am about to tell you of One who is moved with compassion by your suffering and is able and willing to do something about it. For the Lord Jesus is among us this morning, even now, and He is willing to touch you where you are and make you clean.
Join me now, will you, in Matthew 8:1-4? Hear the Gospel now, the good news of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
CONTEXT In Matthew, this incident is placed immediately on the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Mark and Luke have it occurring at different points in Jesus’ ministry. They are in perfect agreement that it happened, which is the important thing, but only Matthew has it here.
1. I think it belongs here. If I’m wrong that’s not a big deal, but I like it where Matthew has it for this reason. Turn back to Exodus 20. This is the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Now here’s the deal. God demands that we keep His commandments, that much is sure. However, He knows that we won’t. Look now at Exodus 20:24 and look what it requires. After the giving of the Law, God immediately commands the building of an altar for burnt sacrifice. Here is My Law. You’d better well keep it if you know what’s good for you. Now, build an altar, because you won’t keep my Law as you should and that creates a big problem. My wrath will be poured out on lawbreakers. But I love you and have no desire to pour out wrath on you. So build an altar, on which sacrifices for sin may be offered, and My wrath may be turned away. So the pattern here is first, the giving of the Law with strong exhortations to keep it, followed immediately by the remedy for sin in order to avoid the curse of God.
Now back to our text in Matthew. We have chapters 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. If I had to, I could bring a stack of books waist high filled with commentators who all agree that the Sermon on the Mount is really a restatement, with clarification, of the Law of Moses. It finishes with a very strong exhortation to obey what is said, and a severe warning against disobedience.
And immediately upon concluding His remarks, Jesus is met by a leper. And Jesus takes the opportunity to perform a miracle which powerfully and sweetly illustrates in a vivid fashion the Gospel of His grace. Do you see it’s the same pattern over again? The law, with warnings toward obedience, followed by the avenue of receiving God’s mercy.
2. Understand the Leper’s plight.
-- Describe the social restrictions the law placed upon lepers.
(Note: the priestly law has a good deal to say about leprosy. It is all about how it should be diagnosed, how to recognize it, and how to deal with it. But there is nothing about how to treat it, nothing about how to cure it, nothing about how to cleanse a leper. That, in a nutshell is a good picture of the purpose of the Law. It defines sin. It shows what sin is, as distinguished from righteousness. If you think you’re righteous, go to the Law. It will show you in a hurry that you are a sinner. But the Law lacks the ability to remove sin from the sinner, just as it lacked instructions for removing leprosy from the leper. The power for both of those miraculous actions must be sought elsewhere…)
--Since Miriam, Gehazi, and King Uzziah were struck by God himself with leprosy for their sin, leprosy, out of all the varied diseases these people faced, came to be seen especially as the sign of God’s disfavor and curse for sin. How’d you like to live with that sort of visible, unavoidable stigma?
--Emphasize the isolation the leper had to have felt. One old preacher said, “The soul that walks alone wanders along the borders of Hell.” No one could touch him. Not even family. All had to keep their distance. You are left alone with your pain and your poverty.
--Leprosy was not only an incurable, torturous, eventually fatal disease. It was ceremonial uncleanness. You’re not just bad off, but you’re bad.
--If anyone had a right to doubt God’s love, it was this leper. If anyone had a right to doubt God’s willingness to forgive and cleanse the most wicked sinner, it was this leper.
3. The leper’s state of mind.
Not going to say very much here. But look at it. All the above was true of him. He was the lowest of the low, the outcast, the untouchable, the throw-away man. But he dragged himself to Jesus and he worshipped.
It’s very easy to raise our hands and praise God when we live in the abundance of His blessings. But give me the Christian who is able, when the world has come crashing down, when he has hit the bottom of the pit, to drag himself to the feet of Jesus and worship. That is where the rubber of faith meets the road of life.
4. The Savior’s willingness
At this point, the whole issue turns on whether Jesus is willing or not. This would be a monstrous story indeed if He’d not been! What if He had walked on and ignored the man? Would you be attracted to that Savior?
And yet some of you fear that’s exactly how He would act if you threw yourself at His feet and pled for His mercy. He’d walk on. Or He’d roll His eyes in disgust and say, “Don’t you deserve where you are?”
Some of you think that way. Maybe not consciously. Certainly, you don’t tell your fellow Christians you feel like that. But it is there nonetheless.
But let us look at the parallel passage in Mark’s gospel. It’s found in Chapter 1, verse 41. Now understand that Mark’s intention was to portray a man of action. I think of John Madden and how he comments on the slow motion replays with inserted “Booms!” That’s Mark. Boom! Jesus gave sight to the blind man! Boom! He healed a lame guy! Boom! He cleansed a leper! But in Mark 1:41 we find something rare in the book. It is commentary. Pay special attention when Mark takes the time to comment on why or how, and not just what. Here, he says that Jesus was “moved with compassion.”
Webster’s on “Compassion”: A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for someone in the midst of a tragedy, accompanied by a desire to alleviate the suffering.
Look at what the compassion of Jesus motivated him to do. He reached out His hand and He touched the leper. Think for a moment about all the varied ways in which Jesus healed people. Often, He simply spoke to them. “Go in peace. Your faith has healed you.” He could’ve done it any way He wanted to. But He reached out and touched the leper. I wish that you would remember this later today and meditate for a moment on what that touch must have meant to that man.
Here is what I want to tell you: In the words of a more modern hero of the faith, Corrie Ten Boom, you must understand that there is no pit you can fall into that is so deep, that the love of God for you is not deeper still. Where sin abounds, there grace super-abounded. You have felt unlovable. Jesus still loves you. You have felt disposable. Jesus rejoices over you. You have felt untouchable. Jesus is reaching out a hand to you, right now. Let Him love you. Let Him touch you and transform you today. Amen.
