I will: be thou clean

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2022 pm

LUKE CHAPTER 5 VERSES 12 – 16 – A BRIGHT NEW DAY

A leper coming to Christ.  “when he was in a certain city”,  Maybe he left it behind because the leper wouldn’t be allowed inside the city.  Here we find this man coming to Christ.  Did this man hear something of the power of Christ, hear something of the stories going about?  Had something attracted him to Christ?  We can see how often the Lord healed some person and he told that person not to tell anyone about it but that man would go and blaze it abroad.  He cannot hold it in, what God had done for him.  Remember in Capernaum how it was “noised abroad that he was in the house”.  This man became interested in hearing what God could do for him.  Here was a man who set out that day.  He was full of leprosy.  Jesus healed him that day.  It was a bright new day for this man.  Isn’t that what the bible says – “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things have passed away and new things have begun.”  When you put your faith and trust in Christ you become a new creature in Christ.  In Ephesians we are told that there was a time in this world when you were without God, without hope but now ye are in Christ.  “For by grace are ye are saved through faith.” (Ephesians 2 verse 8).

 

Notice something of the extremity of his condition.  This man was an extreme case of leprosy.  The important thing is that this man came to the reality of the extremity of his situation.  He came to face the fact that there was no human help for him.  This man suffered.  There was no known cure to be found in the medical world.  A serious complaint for him.  This is why he came to find the Lord Jesus.  The Lord is a seeking Saviour tonight.  This man no doubt had many years to think of his situation, it didn’t come on him overnight.  Maybe he saw himself getting worse over the days, months and years.  Maybe he had tried every physical possibility to find a cure.  This man had to be healed by the Lord.  He had to find Jesus, to cry out to him.  The only remedy for sin is the Lord tonight.  We might try to do the best we can.  Travel around the various churches to find him.  There is no remedy from sin but in Christ.  This leprosy would eventually destroy his body, take his life.  Luke however tells us he “was full of leprosy”.  From his head to his toes.  Leprosy was at an advanced stage, riddled with it.  Leprosy began small.  Sin like leprosy begins small in the human heart, in a baby.  We have taken the sinful nature of Adam back in the Garden of Eden.  Every person has been conceived and born in sin.  Something separates that little heart from God for all eternity.  Sin will cut us off God.  “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1 verse 8)  Rejecting the idea of sin makes God a liar.  You and I have been born in sin.  Adam never thought of the extremity of his situation when he took of the fruit.  He ran away and hid from God.  He tried to get as far from God as he could.  Eve never thought of the extremity of sin in her life.  Never thought for one moment one born in her family would become a murderer.  Proverbs 14 verse 9 “fools make a mock at sin; but among the righteous there is favour.”  Isn’t that what happened to David?  He should have been out in the battle rather than lying on his bed.  He got up and saw Bathsheba.  He lusted after her.  Afterwards he had her husband put out into the front of the battle and he was killed.

 

The exclusion this condition cost.  A man wouldn’t walk down the same street.  He was very much in isolation from everyone.  That was the condition of a leper.  Totally cut off from everyone.  Lived in a leper colony.  Cut off from his family and friends.  When we pause and consider this man’s life, it is unbearable to think of it.  That is what leprosy was like.  Not allowed near people or cities or families.  Just like sin cuts us off.  This man had his living among the tombs.  He had a violent temper, cut himself continually.  No-one would go near him.  Sin cuts us off from God.  Remember in the book of Joshua the young man Achan.  He heard the word of God, that when he went into the battle of Jericho, he was to remember the battle was the Lord’s and the spoil was the Lord’s too.  Achan though saw the garment and gold and coveted it all.  He took it and hid it in his tent.  He didn’t realise God saw him.  He was cut off from God for time and eternity.  That is what sin does – cuts us off from God for time and eternity.  John 7 verse 34 Jesus said to the Pharisees and leaders “ye shall seek me and shall not find me and where I am thither, ye cannot come.”  These men were so caught up in their own religiosity, good deeds, keeping the law.  How different was the Lord’s prayer for you and me who are saved.  The prayer he prayed before he went to the cross “let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me.” (John 14 verse 1)  He was talking of heaven when he said “I am going to prepare a place for you.  I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am ye may be also.” (John 14 verse 2)  God’s word is real, He will receive us one day unto himself and where he is we will also be.  In John 17 Jesus was praying to his Father in heaven about you and me.  Verse 24 “Father I wilt that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.”  Jesus longs for you and me to be in the place where he is.  All because of the cross of Calvary.  He died for you.  He shed his blood, gave his life a ransom.  Only he could pay the debt.  Only he could cry “it is finished”.  He finished the work of God.  The thief cried out “remember me”.  Jesus told him “today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”  What a difference to what he said to the religious leaders.

 

The expectancy of his coming.  This man came with his heavy burden – “Lord if thou wilt”. There was no question about it.  He didn’t come saying “is it possible that you can heal me, to cleanse this leprosy?”  He came with faith in his heart.  His trust and faith were in Christ.  The moment he got down before Jesus, he could heal him.  I don’t read of anywhere no one persuaded him to come.  He came of his own accord.  Do we realise the extremity of the situation?  That we have sinned and come short of God’s glory?  We realise what happened on Calvary, that he loved me and gave himself for me.  There on the cross he shed his blood that we might be saved.  We don’t come doubting or hoping.  We cry out for mercy because the word tells us he is able to save all who come unto him.  What a wonderful Saviour.  Here he was boldly saying “if thou wilt.”  He didn’t wait for an invitation.  He didn’t know if he would be turned away or not, but he knew Jesus could do it.  The woman with the issue of blood had faith.  “If I could touch the hem of his garment I will be healed.”  We come expecting God to move in our hearts and lives.  He shows 2 steps to faith – first of all you have to realise that there is someone big and strong, ready to catch you.  The second step is that you are ready to accept Christ.  Hebrews 11 verse 6 “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

 

The experience of his cleansing. Look what the Lord did for this man.  Jesus said in verse 13 “I will, be thou clean.”  “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  He would have been cast out of the temple, out of the sight of the religious leaders but not Jesus.  In his compassion he reached out to this man and pronounced him to be clean.  Remember the woman caught in the act of adultery.  See those people taking her out to be stoned to death.  Jesus had compassion on her though.  Jesus took our sin that separated us from God for all eternity and laid it on his own body.  Will you accept it?  He reached forth his hand and touched the man.  When did it happen?  How did it happen?  Instantly.  You are saved in an instant but grow gradually.  The moment you cry you are saved by God’s grace.  Make sure you have the real thing tonight.  Don’t settle for the look alike.  Come to Christ, trust him with all your heart and you will be saved.