Luke 5:12-16

Luke chapter 5 verses 12 to 16 for our text and study this morning. And it came to pass when he, meaning Jesus, was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities, and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. May God bless to us, he is sacred and holy word this morning. Leprosy is a disease which is practically unknown in the United States. It’s rare that you would come across. a case of it. However, in other countries, with limited medical care, there are leper colonies. No one, it seems, has discovered a cure for leprosy, and so it is a disease that causes you to waste away until you finally die. It’s interesting when Naaman, the Syrian, came with a letter to the king, of Israel requesting to be healed of his leprosy, the king was shocked. And he said, am I God to kill and make a lie that this man does send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Because it was unheard of. God alone could cure leprosy. In fact, that Christ cures it in this passage of scripture, I think, says volumes about who he is. Now we have a leper coming to Christ. While Christ was traveling around and preaching in Galilee, this leper came before him. This encounter took place when Jesus were told was in a certain city. Now, the city is not specified, but it would be unusual. Because normally lepers would be kept outside the city and not allowed to enter into it. However, unwalled cities could not so easily keep lepers out. And this man was determined to see Jesus, so it seems he ventures into the city to see him. Perhaps the word behold here. Alert you not only to the fact that this is an unusual miracle that Christ could heal a leper, but also it’s unusual that the leper would end up inside a city to see Christ. He heard of Christ’s fame. He heard of Christ’s power to heal, and he thinks, this is my hope. If I can get to see Jesus, I can be cured of my leprosy. Let me begin by saying you learn of Christ’s power over incurable diseases in this passage of scripture. This horrifying disease here causes your body to waste away as time to. passes. Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by a bacterium, and this disease attacks the skin, the flesh, the nerves, the muscles, the bones, and even the blood of an individual. It is characterized by nodules and ulcers and white scaly scabs and deformities and the wasting away of body parts. Apparently, it is communicated by close contact with those who have the disease. This disease is sort of living death. There’s no medicine that can cure it. We can’t prevent the spread of it in the body. In biblical times, you would be pronounced unclean and banished to stay outside the city, outside of the body. temple outside of society, and you would be isolated. And this poor man was full of leprosy, so that we see that he has a very bad case of leprosy. Now, we have to remember that all diseases ultimately are the result of the fall in Adam, and sin entering the world. And now we find this leper is made well by Christ. in a moment’s time. They have the terrible disease of leprosy. Now, we see here, I think, a sign of Christ’s power to heal your soul. Physical diseases and illnesses in scripture are often a visible picture, if you would, So that we’re often a visible picture, if you would, if you would, of the man’s spiritual condition. when we find someone who has physical blindness, it is often associated and connected with the idea of being spiritually, blind, not able to see spiritual things. Truth of God. Physical lameness. We talk about those who are unable to walk according to the principles of God’s word that’s revealed to us, those who are physically paralyzed, unable to perform good works in the capacity of what God has commanded and pleased the Lord. And so when we have this idea of leprosy, we think about maybe the implications of someone having leprosy in a spiritual way. It’s the total corruption of man’s spiritual being. Every aspect. is corrupted. So Christ here does not just heal bodily disease, but he heals the leprosy of the soul as well. We talked about how people who are cured physically are also saved spiritually by the Lord. Are we not all spiritual lepers in God’s sight? Because sin is a dreaded disease that has affected every one of us. It has infected every part of your faculties, the mind, the will, the affections, all have been corrupted by this leprosy. It has made you unclean in God’s sight that we can’t stand before a holy God. From the soul of the foot, even under the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. as Isaiah chapter 1 indicates to us. You know, the Bible speaks about those who are dead while they are living because of the way they are engaged in sinful activity. And there’s a sense in which all men coming into this world fallen in Adam are dead while they’re living. They’re dead in trespasses and in sins. Your body may be healthy, but your soul is terribly diseased. and who can deliver us from this body of death? Well, thank the Lord. It is through Christ himself that we can be healed of spiritual leprosy. For nothing is too hard for Christ to cure. You learn of Christ’s power here over incurable diseases. You also learn here of Christ’s willingness to help those in need. In verses 12 and 13, we read, it came to pass in a certain city. behold a man full of leprosy who seeing Jesus fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean, and he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. The lesson of what you need to do about leprosy, if we can put it in our spiritual realm, from what we see here. physically, I think is important as well. The first thing we see is you must seek Jesus Christ. This leper wasn’t brought to Jesus Christ by a friend. He sought Christ out. He went to see Christ. He must have meditated upon what others were saying about the Lord. Maybe his preaching, the doctrine he taught. Certainly his miracles and the healings that he heard about. And he concluded that Christ could help him, even a leavener. Even at a stage when the leprosy had spread widely through his body, he could still be helped if he could just see Jesus. Normally, it would be incurable. Even though he is loathsome and vile, he ventures into the city. Defying Jesus. It was a daring act. Forbidden. But he does it anyhow. Now, as a spiritual leper, You need to seek out Jesus Christ, the great physician of the soul. For the Bible tells us in Isaiah 55, 6, Seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. Scripture reveals him as one who is mighty to save. And others have spoken of how Christ has saved them and cured them of their spiritual leprosy. So we meditate a pretext. what Christ has revealed to us in his word, his teaching. We ponder that he has changed other people’s lives, and we see that he’s the one that can help us. You must seek Jesus Christ. You must humble yourself before Christ. This leper finding Christ fell upon his face, bowing before Christ. Matthew’s Gospel, says he worshipped Christ. sought him. He came as a beggar, defiled by the disease, unworthy of even being in the presence of the Savior. And he shows great reverence for Jesus Christ when appealing to him. Spiritual lepers must come humbly to the Savior of sinners and plead for his favor. Come as one ashamed of your pollution and sin. and respectful of the holiness of Jesus Christ. Come as one who desires to worship the Savior. So you must humble yourself before Christ. You must believe in Christ’s power to heal you. Lord, if thou wilt, the leper says, thou canst make me clean. This man had a very firm conviction that Jesus could heal him. Without a doubt, He believed in Christ’s ability. Reports of what he heard by Christ convinced him. He had the divine power to do this. Everything then depended on the Lord’s sovereign will, didn’t it? If Jesus willed it, the cure was inevitable. As a spiritual leper, you must firmly believe in Christ’s power to rid you of the spiritual leprosy that you have. Christ’s will is the source of the healing power that he wields. In the work of salvation, you know, people always crying up the sinner’s will and his freedom to choose Christ and so forth and so forth and so on. But Scripture insists on the sovereign will of God when it comes to salvation to save whom he pleases. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runeth, but of God that showeth mercy. Christ’s sovereign grace lies under the power of his sovereign will. Now you must throw yourself here with hope upon the mercy of Christ. And say, Lord, if you will, I know you are able, to cleanse me of my sin. Since salvation is of the Lord, go to him, plead with him to save you. Unless you seek, how can you expect to find? There’s a lesson on what you need to do about your spiritual leprits. There’s a lesson on what you can expect as a laboring and burdened soul in verse 13. Christ says, I will be thou cleansed. Christ is willing to heal all who come to him. Everyone else would have moved away from the leper, fearful of contamination here, but Christ, we read, reaches out and actually touches the man. Think about that a moment. Here’s a man full of leprosy. What a wonderful thing, that Christ would reach out and touch him and not withdraw himself from him. You know, there are many Christian missionaries who have gone to foreign lands, and because of their compassion on those who were in the leper colonies, have actually ventured forth into the leper colonies to actually preach the gospel to these people. Few people would even dare do this because of the real possibility of contracting this dreaded disease. But these missionaries came to close contact with the lepers who were deformed and ulcerous and feverish and rotting away. Some of them contracted leprosy, being in close contact with these people. But they had compassion because these people needed the gospel of Christ. Jesus didn’t loathe this leper. He had compassion on him. His touch is a healing touch. And thus our Lord says, I will be thou clean. And immediately, the leprosy departs from his body. He’s cured immediately. Jesus is known to be the friend of sinners. He is condemned by the Pharisees and other religious leaders for his contact with sinners. But he is one who is not afraid to come into contact with the most sinfully defiled individuals. Remember Christ’s promise in John 637, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will know wise cast out. This is an encouragement to come to Christ. Now, it’s true that only the elect are going to come. But it’s also true, and the promise is held out. If you come, you can have forgiveness. You can have salvation. In order to save herself and her people, you remember the evil plot of her, Haman in the book of Esther. And Esther had to appeal to King of the Medes and the Persians in order to save herself and her family, or her nation. Certain death and destruction was hanging over the people of God unless Esther intervened. However, absolutely no one was allowed to go in before the king, into his presence, into his court, without being asked for. In other words, unless you had permission, you weren’t allowed to go in unannounced. But Esther ventures forth to go in unannounced before the king. Now, the only way you could escape death is if he held the golden scepter out to you, and you’d be spared. And so she goes in boldly, and she says, if I perish, I perish. But she goes in with the idea of service. seeing the king, not knowing the response that she’s going to get, but hoping and trusting that the Lord will deal with this king. She took the risk. She found the king willing to receive her and her life is spared. And you know the rest of the story, how the nation, the people of God are spared in his kingdom. Therefore, in the same manner, we would urge people to venture forth to go to Christ, to go to King Jesus. throw yourself on the mercy of Christ. See if he will not hold out the golden scepter to you, so to speak. All that come unto me, I will no wise cast out. So Christ is willing to receive all who come to him. You’ll notice here your case is not too difficult for Christ to heal. Leprosy made you an outcast. People hurried past you and wanted nothing to do with you. This man, full of you. of leprosy had no friend who thought it worthwhile an effort to bring him to Christ. The physicians couldn’t heal him. The religious leaders really didn’t care about him. His only chance for a healing was Christ. Who could heal all manner of diseases whatsoever, even leprosy. And so when he goes, does he have a chance? Is there any hope? Yes. Because there’s nothing too hard for the Lord. And here you find hope as a spiritual leopard full of the corruption of sin. You can’t heal yourself. Others can’t heal you. But Jesus Christ can. You may be the chiefest of sinners. You may be someone who has a very sordid history. Maybe there’s blasphemy. Maybe there’s adultery. Maybe there’s prostitution or theft or spousal abuse or drunkenness or whatever the case may be. paint the picture as black as you may. And yet there is no reason to doubt Christ’s ability to heal you. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, the Bible says. Though they’ll be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. You can confidently go to Christ and say, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. So you learn of Christ’s willingness to help those need. The third thing we see here is you learn of the respect Christ paid to the ceremonial law in verse 14. And he charged him to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony under them. Now you find here that the leper is told to follow the requirements of the law. Now our Lord knew the ceremonial law would soon be abolished. The last days of Levitical institutions were close at hand. But as long as they remain, Christ here tells the leper to follow the procedure in the law of God. Now, Jesus is not afraid to have his healing examined by the priest. Because unlike many of the faith healers today were frauds, and they’re shysters, they are tricksters and so forth. He could send this man to the priest and the priest can look him over from head to foot and say, you know, you really don’t have any more leprosy. So there he’s going to get a pronouncement from the priest about his healing. Christ would not have this cured leper go out and proclaim his cure until it’s verified by the priest. Get it verified. Go to the priest. It’ll be a testimony to them too. But get it verified before you go out and tell everybody you’ve been healed. It would lead to Christ’s greater glory. So Christ would have this man go and offer the proper sacrifice required to cure lepers, for cured lepers. And this was important also. So you find this leper must follow the requirements of the ceremonial law. Now you must not despise the ceremonial law despite the fact that it has now, in a way, vanished away. We should see Christ and the gospel in it. We should see something portrayed to us in the ceremonial law about Christ. Now the key value of the ceremonial law was it provided as the writer of Hebrews tells us, a shadow of good things to come. These various ceremonial laws were full of types and symbols which were a shadow of things to come, but the body we’re told is Christ. Colossians 217. Now if the sun is behind you, your body cast a shadow before you, in front of you. If a person is hidden by a house or a large tree and they come out walking from behind it, the first thing you’re going to see is their shadow, if the sun is behind them. The first thing you’ll see is their shadow and then they will come out and you’ll see that. The whole body will be revealed. But the shadow precedes the body. This provides a representation of the person who’s coming, just not in much detail. Now, if you look at the shadow, you can tell by a glimpse of a person shadow, his form or shape, even though you don’t know all the features. For instance, you can tell the difference between a horse, a horse’s shadow, and a man’s shadow, and a dog shadow. Well, the Old Testament ceremonial laws were shadows that were portraying Christ and the gospel that would be fully revealed in him. So Christ’s shadow is portrayed first and that he comes on the scene. Now we’ve already noted that leprosy portrays some of the horrid features of indwelling sin. David speaks of the corruption of sin in this manner in Psalm 38. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. By loins are filled with a loathsome disease. And there is no soundness in my flesh. Sin like leprosy corrosively eats away your soul. It makes you worse and worse. Sin makes you unclean. and impure in the sight of God. Sin leads to your ultimate soul’s ruin and eternal death. Now, the leper that was to be cleansed is directed to go to the priest, ask for the examination, and follow the procedure. Now notice with me, Leviticus Chapter 14, if you would. I’ll just be brief this morning, but I think it’s worthwhile pondering this for a few minutes. Let’s read the first. first four verses. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought onto the priest. And the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look, and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leprosy be healed in the leper, then the priest then the priest’s command to take for him, that is to be cleansed. two birds alive and clean, cedarwood, and scarlet and hyssum. If the priest deem that the leprosy was cured, the cured man must make a sacrifice which involved two birds. It also involved cedarwood. This would be a stalk of wood here that would be for a handle that was going to be used. That was going to be used. for the sprinkling of blood. The scarlet here is some type of scarlet wool, along with hyssop. The wool and the hyssop would make sort of a sponge that would be connected to the cedar wood to make an instrument by which they could sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice. The whole procedure is picked up here in verses 5 to 7. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel, over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them, and the living bird in the blood that was killed over the running water, and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. This is the procedure. Now, the first bird bears the iniquity of the leper. So he is slain. That bird is slain. This signifies, of course, Christ work on the cross bearing the sins of his people as a substitute. That’s the point. The second bird is dipped in the blood of the first, but it’s set free and flies off into the heavens. It signifies the real. resurrected Christ who has made satisfaction for sin, and he bears in his body the marks of death as he enters into the Father’s presence. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us, Hebrews 924. So Christ appears, as the book of Revelation chapter 5 tells us, the lamb as it had been slain. So time forbid me to really pursue this line any further, but you can see there’s some spiritual significance to hear, to this procedure. It has to do with Christ, his sacrifice, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven and so forth, his intercession for us. So let’s not discard the ceremonial law as useless to us as New Testament believers, maybe if we think about these things, it would give us more incentive to read it with our eyes opened spiritually to see Christ in it and what’s portrayed. See beyond the shadow. See the substance. So I think this is what would be suggested to us. So you learn of the respect Christ paid to the ceremonial law. Lastly, fourthly, you learn of Christ’s diligence. concerning private prayer in verses 15 and 16. Now, we’ve covered this before, and therefore I’m not going to spend any length of time on this same kind of idea. But let me be brief. The Lord Jesus Christ, despite the fact that he has multitudes flocking to him, to hear him teach, and to be healed, withdraws himself, withdraws himself to enter into prayer, private prayer, with God the Father, to get alone. What an example this sets for us as the importance of prayer is revealed here. Even for one who is heavily involved in the work of the Father’s business here, he sees the need to get alone and pray. We really need as Christian people to spend more time. in private prayer. One important element, which is often lacking. As busy as we are in Christian work, we must not neglect prayer. For Christ here shows us the example, and it’s interesting. Luke’s gospel has been designated the gospel of prayer because he talks about this all the time. Every time we turn around, he’s separating and going off and praying. And he’s teaching us something about this aspect of prayer. and its importance and it’s emphasized in this gospel. Well, let me close. You learn of Christ’s power over incurable diseases here, and we should see in this, he can cure the leprosy of sin in our own lives. We learn here of Christ’s willingness to help those in need, therefore go to the Savior. You learn of the respect Christ paid for, paid to the ceremonial law. Look for Christ in the ceremonial law because it’s all really about his work. and finally you learn of Christ’s diligence about private prayer we ought to follow his example as well let us close