Intro: Mark gospel has the Lord Jesus on the move. It is reportedly written to the Romans because they were supposedly those that wanted detail instead of point by point and precept upon precept. This account of the Lord Jesus is also recorded in Matt.8:2-4 and Luke 5:12-14. In the gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus had finished “The Sermon on the Mount”. He had instructed the disciples and those who were there in a new and living way. Knowing the blessing that God has for them that Love Him, The power of prayer, That we stand in judgement for judging others, that God will supply all of our needs, that we are sent to preserve this world until the Lord Jesus returns and to continue building on the Rock. There were those in attendance that heard Jesus when He said in Matt. 7:7-8 “7: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened”.
40 Every time you do or say something good there is another that hears all that we say. That one is the Devil. He it is that will try and test you at your word. He wants to trap you just as he trapped Eve in the garden. You remember when he asked her in Gen.3:1b “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden”? He wanted to trap Jesus at His word and he does it in a subtile way. The Devil uses a leper. He will use the hardest physical disease and the most wretched persons he can find to try your faith, my faith and all believers’ faith. When we say we love all people, do we love those who are out on the street and do not look like we look or smell as good as we smell? Who are bound by sicknesses and diseases that there have no cure for. Do we love those who have gotten so sick that there is no hope for them and they are not allowed to mingle in society or come into church for fear that their disease is cause us to be as sick as they are? Here comes into the congregation of the righteous one such man. A man that was in Luke 5:12 “full of leprosy”. This man had a severe disease that was very contagious. A disease in which the doctors had no cure. A disease that caused the limbs and the skin to become deformed. A disease that put fear into all that came into contact with you, a disease that cause the sufferer to become alienated from family, friends, associates; all mankind, to become alienated from the city and it citizens and society and most of all to become alienated from the church. A disease that could eventually lead to a painful, horrifying and lonely death.
A And yet here he comes to the Lord Jesus. Can we imagine the shock and the horror of the multitudes as he draws near the blessed savior, draging his wretched carcass before the Lord and crying to the masses ; unclean, unclean unclean. A sight and sound that caused the mightest of men to shrink back in fear and alarm. I can imagine that there was none in close contact with this man other than the Lord Jesus. Yet he came with a belief in his heart that here is One that is able to do for me what all the doctors in Israel have been unable to and that is to heal my body and take away the curse of his deadly disease.
B Let us consider his manner in which he came to the Lord. He came beseeching or with fear and trembling before the Lord Jesus and he came worshipping the Lord Jesus with praise and with prayer. He humbled himself before the mighty hand of God in a hope that the Lord God would exault him in due time. He did not come with demands as most of us do; he came in spirit and in truth. His request is “if thou wilt , thou canst make me clean”. He knew Jesus had the power to cleanse him of his disease and make him whole.
41 Jesus then does what we would regard as the unthinkable; no not just the compassion for this poor soul, for we are all at one time or another moved wit compassion at some person that is suffering from hunger, an incurable disease or has lost portions of their limbs. We are quick to feel sorry, and mayby even give a love offering to help purchase something to make their lives a little more comfortable, but to actually get close to them, or extend a hand to help them up or have them at our dinner table could be another matter to consider. Here is our Lord not only having a moment where He feels grief for this mans condition but He determines to have a relationship with this man to the extent that He also touches him. What courage and love that the Son of Man has for the children of God that He touches the uncleanest person that is in the midst of them all 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 there would have been cleansed of their illnesses. Therefore Christ spoke to the man by saying “be thou clean”.
42 Now we see the Lord God making the impossible possible. Demonstrating His power over disease as well as the power to meet every need. The Lord Jesus did not tell this man to go home, take two asprin and call Him in the morning. No as soon as He touched the leper his leprosy reversed back from whence it came and he was cleansed. Can you see the faces in the crowd with their mouthes wide open and their jaws on the ground, even the disciples marveling at Him who is the great physician and just by touching this man who moments earlier was unable to share in the smallest church function; now having the opportunity to do as all others are doing. We tend to forget what great things the Lord have done for us and how He has had compassion upon us. We want the Lord God to fix us up that we might resume a life of hit and miss, in and out, up and down in His service that we might enjoy the pleasures of this world. Well my beloved brethern the pleasures of this world are only for a season if they are not enjoyed in the Lord. This Leper might has though of going to see young sister so and so now that he was clean or going to the tavern and partying now that he was clean or getting back at all those that had scorned him now that he was clean. Yet none of these things did he but sit there in dumb silence and quietly praised the Lord Jesus for all that He had done.
43 The Lord strengthens us and revives us that we might render unto Him the service due His name. He would allow us the opportunity to hear the spoken word and to be able to worship the Lord God in a spirit of oneness and Holiness. For he charged him or gave the cleansed leper instruction before sending him away.
44 The instruction was “See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them”. Go immediately to the Church and don’t say anything to anyone while you are on the way. There will be those that call your name while you are on you way but you are to go straight to the church, show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing those things that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. The cleansed leper was to offer the two clean birds and the oil and the cedar wood and the scarlet. He was to be shut up out side the camp seven day and to also wash his clothes and himself. He was to He was to also take lambs and flour with the oil and give to priest for a sacrifice. But now we don’t have to bring the blood of bulls and goats, pigeons, oil and flour. WE only need to offer up to the Lord God the sacrifices of thanks giving. Offer up to Him the sacrifices of praise and worship. Offer up to Him obedience ; a broken and a contrite spirit. These things The Lord God will not dispise.
45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter: This Leper could not keep his deliverance and healing to himself. He had to tell somebody. He determined in his mind to work for the Lord. To tell a dying world that there is healing in the Lord. To tell the world that there is one who is able to restore the joy of our salvation, there is a balm in Gilead. A soothing salve for the body, soul and spirit. To publish and make known the Love that God has for all that come to Him. The compassion that awaits all who are standing in need of a blessing. “To blaze abroad the matter” He set the country on fire with his testamony. He did not have a lot of church discipline or church ettiquet and yet he was more thanm willing to go ye into all the world and tell how great things the Lord hath done for him and had compassion upon him. He was determined to do all he could to further the kingdom of God. No he was not disobedient; he just had to tell somebody. Has the Lord done anything for you that you could not do for yourself/ You need to tell somebody.
Healed your body You need to tell somebody
Saved your soul you need to tell somebody
Cleaned you up You need to tell somebody
Made a way out of no way You need to tell somebody
Restored you soul You need to tell somebody
Gave you joy You need to tell somebody
I can not keep it to myself it is like fire shut up in my bones; I gotta tell somebody
