One of our older brothers used to say that this Gospel story is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread, so you could have this picture in your mind, of two beggars meeting each other on the dusty road, and the one beggar tells the other one, you just keep going and you go over that hill and you will find a man that is handing out free bread. That is what it is like isn’t it, we are glad to be together here to be in the presence of the one who is handing out free bread to us.
Luke 5:12 And it came to pass, when he 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. And 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 shew 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.
I was thinking that there are possibly four named things that come to people’s mind, people in the world, religious people: four main things that come to their mind when they think of Jesus. They might think of his birth in Bethlehem and they might think of his death on the cross and they might think of his resurrection and the fourth one might be that Jesus had the power to perform miracles and in particular he had the ability to heal. When we read through the books of the four Gospels indeed we find many times that Jesus did heal, performed miracles of healing. You might wonder why there were so many sick people, why there were so many that had diseases, were lame, blind and deaf, why was it? You might remember the Jewish people understood that there is a connection between sin and sickness. If you want to know where that comes from, it came from the Old Testament. Deut 28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE Lord THY God. Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. This is what the Lord told his people, so these people understood that there is a connection between sin and sickness and indeed God was true to his promise. So most of the time when Jesus healed in the Gospels, not all of the time, but most of the time, those people whom he healed were sick or had an infirmity because in the background was sin. Because there was sin there was a consequence of a sickness that followed like God had promised, these people of God also understood that there was a connection between healing and forgiveness, so when the sickness or the infirmity went away or was cured and they were healed, they understood that this also represented forgiveness from God.
So Jesus came healing, and maybe there are four reasons why Jesus healed, one reason is that the Scriptures prophesied that he would and even though the Scriptures prophesied that he would heal, actually were more referring to him healing spiritual sicknesses, Jesus did come healing natural sicknesses also to just help to convince them. Another reason why Jesus healed is to prove that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. Another reason why Jesus healed was to forgive sin and maybe one other reason why Jesus healed was to show to the Jews that the blessings of God were now coming outside of the Old Testament, Temple worship system. You remember when Jesus sent forth the apostles, he also gave them the power to heal, those first twelve he sent forth. Matt 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have received, freely give. We sometimes call that the limited commission because Jesus sent those 12 men only to the children of Israel, and he sent them to the children of Israel with the power to heal. One reason why they had the power to heal when they went to the children of Israel is to help those Jewish people see that the blessings of God were coming outside the old temple worship system now. When Jesus sent the apostles forth just before he was to ascend into heaven he gave them what we sometimes call the unlimited commission. Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. The unlimited commission because now they were being sent into all the world and there was no mention of healing made in that commission. However we read on in the book of Acts you will read of some times when the apostles did heal and there were still opportunities for them to show to the Jewish people that the blessings of God were coming outside of the temple system and there were also opportunities for them to show that the blessings of God were now being extended to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews. So why do not God’s servants heal today? God’s servants do not heal today because sickness and sin are no longer connected, that old law connection was finished when Jesus died on the cross which concluded and fulfilled the old law, and that connection of sickness and sin only applied to the Jews anyway. Another reason why God’s servants don’t heal today is because we no longer have to prove that God’s blessings are coming separate and apart from the old temple worship system. Another reason why God’s servants don’t heal today is because we no longer need to prove that God’s blessings are being held out to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews.
One of the worst sicknesses, or diseases and afflictions that anybody could get was leprosy, like this man in Luke that we read, it was a horrible disease. Leprosy seemed to represent uncleanness and all the other infirmities, all the other afflictions a person could get were not connected with uncleanness like leprosy was. You never read of people who were healed of blindness or deafness being cleansed of their blindness or their deafness, or cleansed from their lameness. When someone was healed of their leprosy you read that they were cleansed of their leprosy, it represented uncleanness and it was a horrible and dreaded disease. One of the worst places that you could get leprosy would be in your head, and you can read about that in the Old Testament. Lev 13:43 Then the priest shall look upon it, and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh, he is a leprous man, he is unclean, the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean, his plague is in his head. 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. Maybe one of the thoughts behind that is, this uncleanness in our thoughts, uncleanness in our thinking, this was considered utterly unclean before the Lord. So leprosy was something that started beneath the skin and then it would break out and begin spreading and if it was left long enough it could cause death. Someone just summarized it this way, leprosy is small in its beginning, spreading in its tendency, and fatal in its consequences. One time I was interested in finding out what the symptoms of leprosy really are and I was trying to read up on it. It seems that when we read about leprosy in the pages of the Bible it could refer to any number of skin or nervous system-related diseases or problems. It would not always refer to something that was extremely contagious, as we would normally think leprosy would be, but there were cases of leprosy that were extremely contagious. So I just read of five stages or five symptoms that a common form of leprosy a person could have. First of all, as the disease was just getting going the skin would become extremely sensitive. Then as the disease progressed there would come numbness. Then following that would come paralysis. Following that would come open sores that would not heal. Following that would be gangrene, which is the death of the living tissue.
So I like to think of those things as much as we are concerned about them here today, as much as they apply to our own lives. Extremely sensitive, touchy, easily hurt, easily offended, easily upset, easily provoked, and if I detect those things in myself it could be a symptom of something going on, on the inside that isn’t right. It could represent the working of uncleanness on the inside. Now it is good to be sensitive but when we’re so extremely sensitive that people have to walk on eggshells around us for fear of upsetting us or of fear of hurting us maybe we ought to look a little deeper, there could be a problem on the inside. The next stage of that disease is numbness, which is almost the opposite of being extremely sensitive, numbness is no feeling, and we would not want to be that way. I think of what Paul told us in his writings about rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who do weep. What kind of a reaction do you have when someone in their testimony is weeping, are you numb to that or is there some sensitivity to that, that brings a softness to your own heart and brings a lump into your own throat? It is maybe a little easier to weep with those who weep than to rejoice with those who rejoice especially if the ones who are rejoicing are rejoicing because of getting privileges you wish that you were getting, hard to rejoice with them in their rejoicing. An old brother said one time, when you see someone getting privileges and they are rejoicing, you just rejoice with them and you just wish in yourself that they would get even more, even more privileges. Then there is paralysis, paralysis is a serious thing, when someone isn’t paralyzed, when the body is healthy it means that the brain is sending signals to the members of the body, to the limbs of the body, the brain sends a signal to the hand and the hand does whatever the brain has said for it to do. When there is paralysis the brain sends a signal to the member and nothing happens, so we understand that God’s people are like a body, the body of Christ, Christ is the head, and we are all like members of the body. When the body is healthy, there are signals coming from the head, commandments coming from Jesus and they are being done by the members of the body but when something is wrong, if there is paralysis there, there is a signal that comes from the head, a signal that comes from Jesus to the member of the body and nothing happens. Maybe that is like disobedience, there is something wrong, it is a sign that there is a problem, a problem on the inside, there is an uncleanness working. Then there are open sores that won’t heal and maybe that has to do with our dealings with others, we have been hurt. This fellowship is a close fellowship, we are close to our brethren and from time to time we might get hurt by things that others say or things that they do, and we are hurt. Well, what if the sore does not heal, it is an open sore that will not heal, the wound will not close, and it is just like this thing of unforgiveness, then we need God’s help with wounds that will not close. I feel very thankful for times when God has helped me with wounds that were having a hard time closing and God has helped the wounds to close and he will help your wounds to close too if you seek his help in desperate prayer. The last thing was gangrene and that is death, life is starting to ebb away, gangrene sets in and it is serious. The man in Luke five, it says he was full of leprosy, maybe he did not have many days left, maybe gangrene had already set in, he was in pain and he looked horrible because the disease had spread so far and yet somehow he made it to Jesus and he fell, fell on his face before Jesus, and Jesus could even help that man that was full of leprosy. If we feel that as we come to Convention that we are full of leprosy, full of uncleanness, if we have the same spirit that this man had and we just humbly, very humbly fall before him. Lord if you will, you can make me clean, that beautiful spirit of humility and we will get the help and he will be able to cleanse us and we will feel different when it is time for us to leave.
I was thinking of some that we read about that had leprosy, we read about Miriam, Moses’ sister. Num 12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? Then there are five words, and the Lord heard it. When I read those five words it sends chills up my spine. So Miriam and Aaron had a problem with Moses because he had married this Ethiopian woman, and that is in verse one. In verse two it tells us what they said about him, they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses, has he not also spoken by us. Now verse one and verse two hardly have any connection, these are two separate subjects, or is it? What they are saying is, that we have a problem with this one that Moses has married but when it comes out in what they say, they are saying, really we would like to have a little more input here. The Lord heard it and he called the three of them, you come out to the tabernacle, so the three of them went out to the tabernacle and the cloud came down and the Lord met with them there and the Lord spoke very severely to Miriam and Aaron, reprimanded them. He said to them wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed and the cloud departed and when they looked Miriam was leprous and as white as snow. So what was it that was working beneath the surface of the skin, remember that this is leprosy that we are talking about, you know what it was, it was envy and maybe jealousy and so that was working away beneath the surface and when it broke out it broke out in the form of murmuring and criticizing and complaining. Do you know the difference between envy and jealousy? They are much the same but there is a slight difference, envy is when you have something and I don’t want you to have it, jealousy is when I have something and I don’t want you to have it so I am going to guard it with my life. Do you see the difference? So if there is a time of murmuring or complaining or criticizing in our experience, when we are the murmurer, you know what you should look at first, look to see if you have envy or jealousy hidden under the surface and you might be surprised that this is what is really working. You know what murmuring is, murmuring is a statement of fact but it is given in the wrong tone, you tell somebody else something that is true, it is a statement of fact but you said it in the wrong tone. Maybe because of the tone with which you say it gets them upset and that makes you feel better because now you have someone on your side. The same with criticizing, the same with complaining it could all go back to envy or jealousy, it is like leprosy.
2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria, he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. So Naaman was a leper and then we read of the little maid who was working for them, who made the comment, too bad you could not see the prophet back there in Samaria, so that just started a chain of events working. Soon Naaman finds himself at the door of the prophet’s house in Samaria, the prophet didn’t even come out to see him, he sent his servant out, and told him, you go and dip in the river Jordan seven times and Naaman was furious, went away in a rage and as he is going away he says I can think of two Rivers back home in Syria that are a whole lot better than this old muddy Jordan, he goes away in a rage. He had some wise servants who said if the prophet had bid you do some great thing wouldn’t you have done it? Just go and do what he said, so Naaman humbles himself and goes and dips seven times and the leprosy is gone, his flesh comes again like the flesh of a little child. What was working under the skin, under the surface, was pride. He had a lot of successes, things had gone well for him, a lot of praises kept pouring in, pride was there, and what was working under the surface was self-importance, he had too high an opinion of himself. When it broke out onto the surface in a rage of anger but also unwillingness, and if we are unwilling for something that God is asking us to do, you just look and it could be that pride is working under the surface, this horrible pride of a feeling of self-importance. Then in the same chapter, we read about Gehazi who was the servant of Elisha, and after Naaman was healed he offered some gifts to Elisha, who said I don’t want any of it, you just go on your way. So Naaman heads back home but Gehazi says, boy I would sure like some of those gifts from this man, so Gehazi runs after Naaman, Naaman sees him coming and says is everything okay? Gehazi says, my master has sent me and he has decided that we could use some of your gifts, and that was one big lie. Naaman was glad to hear that and he said sure, and he gave him some silver, gave him some changes of garments. And Gehazi goes home with these gifts and he hides them and then he goes off to Elisha, greets his master, and Elisha says to him, where were you? I wasn’t anywhere, I didn’t go anywhere, he lied again, then Elisha says, is it a time to be receiving these gifts? Because you have done this, the leprosy of Naaman is going to cleave to you and your seed. So what was working under the surface, was a hidden craving or a desire or an appetite, it was hidden, when this leprosy broke out it broke out in dishonesty, he lied. Sometimes there are hidden cravings and desires and appetites that work away beneath the surface that we need to keep our eye on, you know about them in you and I know them in me and we need God’s help to keep them where they ought to be.
We then read about King Uzziah having leprosy. 2 Chron 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men, and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him. It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. That story makes the shivers go up my spine also, leprosy, so here is pride again working under the surface and it is in a little different form this time. This time it is the pride of self-confidence and Uzziah never felt his need to be in subjection to those who had authority over him, to the priests of the Lord or the Lord himself. That was what was working beneath the surface and when it broke out it broke out in the form, that he stepped out of his place and he disobeyed the commandment of the Lord and he went against the order of the Lord, it was not the order of man, not the commandments of man he went against, it was against the Lord and he became a leper.
Now we can speak about the cleansing of the leper. Lev 14:3 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 leper, then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. The priest told them that they were to take those two living birds and one of those birds was to be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. Then those three things that it mentions, the scarlet, the wood, and the hyssop along with the one remaining living bird were to be dipped in the blood of that bird that was slain. Then you take the living bird that now is stained with the blood of the one that was slain and let it go free out into the open field and it was free to go, do you see the picture in there? One was slain and because of one being slain another could go free, you see the picture don’t you, the one that was slain is like Jesus and then the one is like us, taken and dipped in the blood of Jesus and then free, free to go, a beautiful picture. There are those other three things and I don’t know what they represent, scarlet and the wood and the hyssop, those three things were to be stained with the blood of the one that was slain. One thing I have noticed is that those three things are all mentioned in connection with Jesus. Herod clothed Jesus with a gorgeous robe, that is in Luke’s Gospel, but in Mark and John it says it was a purple robe and in Matthew’s Gospel it was a scarlet robe. In my mind, I wonder if that represents Jesus’ scornful trial. Then there is the wood and I think of the wood of the cross that Jesus was nailed to stained with his blood, and I wonder if this wood represents Jesus’ painful death. Then we read of the hyssop, we read in Matthew right at the end when Jesus is hanging on the cross, he says, I thirst, and one of the soldiers ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and then he took that sponge and he put it on the end of a rod or a reed or a branch of the hyssop bush so that he could reach it up to Jesus as Jesus was hanging on the cross. I don’t know if that piece of hyssop was stained with the blood of Jesus but it was present at the time of Jesus death. When I think of the hyssop I think of Jesus’ bitter rejection, he said I thirst and there was no one there who would even go to get a cup of cold water for Jesus in his need. I don’t want to forget the price at which our cleansing comes and has come and it wasn’t only his death on Calvary but along with it, what it cost him to go through the scornful trial and what it cost him to face that painful death and what it cost him so that we could be cleansed and go free. So thanks be to God that the life of one has been given.
Truth Archive 