In the following sermon, Charles Spurgeon not only shows the love of Jesus
Christ towards others but also how faith is exhibited and how God responds
to that faith. It is a very encouraging and uplifting sermon.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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The Lord And The Leper
by C.H. Spurgeon
"And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him,
and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. and Jesus,
moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto
him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the
leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed."-Mark 1:40-42.
Beloved, we saw in the reading, that our Lord had been engaged in special
prayer. He had gone alone on the mountain-side to have communion with God.
Simon and the rest search for him, and he comes away in the early morning
with the burrs from the hill-side upon his garments, the smell of the
field
upon him, even of a field that the Lord God had blessed; he comes forth
among the people, charged with power which he had received in communion
with
the Father; and now we may expect to see wonders. And we do see them; for
devils fear and fly when he speaks the word; and by-and-by, there comes to
him one, an extraordinary being, condemned to live apart from the rest of
men, lest he should spread defilement all around. A leper comes to him,
and
kneels before him, and expresses his confident faith in him, that he can
make him whole. Now is the Son of Man glorious in his power to save.
The Lord Jesus Christ at this day has all power in heaven and in earth. He
is charged with a divine energy to bless all who come to him for healing.
Oh, that we may see today some great wonder of his power and grace! Oh,
for
one of the days of the Son of Man here and now! To that end it is
absolutely
needful that we should find a case for his spiritual power to work upon.
Is
there not one here in whom his grace may prove its omnipotence? Not you,
ye
good, ye self-righteous! You yield him no space to work in. You that are
whole have no need of a physician: in you there is no opportunity for him
to
display his miraculous force. But yonder are the men we seek for. Forlorn,
and lost, full of evil, and self-condemned, you are the characters we
seek.
You that feel as if you were possessed with evil spirits, and you that are
leprous with sin, you are the persons in whom Jesus will find ample room
and
verge enough for the display of his holy skill. Of you I might say, as he
once said of the man born blind: you are here that the works of God may be
manifest in you. You, with your guilt and your depravity, you furnish the
empty vessels into which his grace may be poured, the sick souls upon whom
he may display his matchless power to bless and save. Be hopeful, then, ye
sinful ones! Look up this morning for the Lord's approach, and expect that
even in you he will work great marvels. This leper shall be a picture-yea,
I
hope a mirror- in whom you will see yourselves. I do pray that as I go
over
the details of this miracle many here may put themselves in the leper's
place, and do just as the leper did, and receive, just as the leper
received, cleansing from the hand of Christ. O Spirit of the living God,
the
thousands of our Israel now entreat thee to work, that Jesus, the Son of
God, may be glorified here and now!
I. I will begin my rehearsal of the gospel narrative by remarking, first,
that THIS LEPER'S FAITH MADE HIM EAGER TO BE HEALED. He was a leper; I
will
not stay just now to describe what horrors are compacted into that single
word; but he believed that Jesus could cleanse him, and his belief stirred
him to an anxious desire to be healed at once.
Alas! we have to deal with spiritual lepers eaten up with the foul disease
of sin; but some of them do not believe that they ever can be healed, and
the consequence is that despair makes them sin most greedily. "I may as
well
be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb," is the inward impression of many a
sinner when he fears that there is no mercy and no help for him. Because
there is no hope, therefore they plunge deeper and yet deeper into the
slough of iniquity. Oh, that you might be delivered from that false idea!
Mercy still rules the hour. There is hope while Jesus sends his gospel to
you, and bids you repent. "I believe in the forgiveness of sins": this is
a
sweet sentence of a true creed. I believe also in the renewal of men's
hearts; for the Lord can give new hearts and right spirits to the evil and
unthankful. I would that you believed it; for if you did, I trust it would
quicken you into seeking that your sins might be forgiven and your minds
might be renewed. Do you believe it? Then come to Jesus and receive the
blessings of free grace.
We have a number of lepers who come in among us whose disease is white
upon
their brows, and visible to all beholders, and yet they are indifferent:
they do not mourn their wickedness, nor wish to be cleansed from it. They
sit among God's people, and they listen to the doctrine of a new birth,
and
the news of pardon, and they hear the teaching as though it had nothing to
do with them. If now and then they half wish that salvation would come to
them, it is too languid a wish to last. They have not yet so perceived
their
disease and their danger as to pray to be delivered from them. They sleep
on
upon the bed of sloth, and care neither for heaven nor hell. Indifference
to
spiritual things is the sin of the age. Men are stolid of heart about
eternal realities. An awful apathy is upon the multitude. The leper in our
text was not so foolish as this. He eagerly desired to be delivered from
his
dreadful malady: with heart and soul he pined to be cleansed from its
terrible defilement. Oh that it were so with you! May the Lord make you
feel
how depraved your heart is, and how diseased with sin are all the
faculties
of your soul! Alas, dear friends,-there are some that even love their
leprosy! Is it not a sad thing to have to speak thus? Surely, madness is
in
men's hearts. Men do not wish to be saved from doing evil. They love the
ways and wages of iniquity. They would like to go to heaven, but they must
have their drunken frolics on the road; they would very well like to be
saved from hell, but not from the sin which is the cause of it. Their
notion
of salvation is not to be saved from the love of evil, and to be made pure
and clean; but that is God's meaning when he speaks of salvation. How can
they hope to be the slaves of sin, and yet at the same time be free? Our
first necessity is to be saved from sinning. The very name of Jesus tells
us
that: he is called Jesus because "he shall save his people from their
sins."
These persons do not care for a salvation which would mean self- denial
and
the giving up of ungodly lusts. O wretched lepers, that count their
leprosy
to be a beauty, and take pleasure in sin which in the sight of God is far
more loathsome than the worst disease of the body! Oh, that Christ Jesus
would come and change their views of things until they were of the same
mind
as God towards sin; and you know he calls it "that abominable thing which
I
hate." Oh, if men could see their love to wrong things to be a disease
more
sickening than leprosy, they would fain be saved, and saved at once! Holy
Spirit, convince of sin, that sinners may be eager to be cleansed!
Lepers were obliged to consort together: lepers associated with lepers,
and
they must have made up a dreadful confraternity. How glad they would have
been to escape from it! But I know spiritual lepers who love the company
of
their fellow lepers. Yes, and the more leprous a man becomes, the more do
they admire him. A bold sinner is often the idol of his comrades. Though
foul is his life, others cling to him for that very reason. Such persons
like to learn some new bit of wickedness, they are eager to be initiated
into a yet darker form of impure pleasure. Oh, how they long to hear that
last lascivious song, to read that last impure novel! It seems to be the
desire of many to know as much evil as they can. They flock together, and
take a dreadful pleasure in talk and action which is the horror of all
pure
minds. Strange lepers, that heap up leprosy as a treasure! Even those who
do
not go into gross open sin, yet are pleased with infidel notions and
skeptical opinions, which are a wretched form of mental leprosy. O
horrible
malady, which makes men doubt the word of the living God!
Lepers were not allowed to associate with healthy persons except under
severe restrictions. Thus were they separated from their nearest and
dearest
friends. What a sorrow! Alas! I know persons thus separated, who do not
wish
to associate with the godly: to them holy company is dull and wearisome;
they do not feel free and easy in such society, and therefore they avoid
it
as much as decency allows. How can they hope to live with saints for ever,
when they shun them now as dull and moping acquaintances?
O my hearers, I have come hither this morning in the hope that God would
bless the word to some poor sinner who feels he is a sinner, and would
fain
be cleansed: such is the leper I am seeking with my whole heart. I pray
God
to bless the word to those who wish to escape from evil company, who would
no longer sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor run in the paths of the
unholy. To those who have grown weary of their sinful companions, and
would
escape from them, lest they should be bound up in bundles with them to
burn
at the last great day-to such I speak at this time with a loving desire
for
their salvation. I hope my word will come with divine application to some
poor heart here that is crying, "I wish I might be numbered with the
people
of God. I wish I were fit to be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord.
Oh,
that my dreadful sinfulness were conquered, so that I could have
fellowship
with the godly, and be myself one of them!" I hope my Lord has brought to
this place just such lost ones, that he may find them. I am looking out
for
them with tearful eyes. But my feeble eyes cannot read inward character;
and
it is well that the loving Saviour, who discerns the secrets of all
hearts,
and reads all inward desire, is looking from the watch-towers of heaven,
that he may discover those who are coming to him, even though as yet they
are a great way off. Oh that sinners may now beg and pray to be rescued
from
their sins! May those who have become habituated to evil long to break off
their evil habits! Happy will the preacher be if he finds himself
surrounded
with penitents who hate their sins, and guilty ones who cry to be
forgiven,
and to be so changed that they shall go and sin no more.
II. In the second place, let us remark that THIS LEPER'S FAITH WAS STRONG
ENOUGH TO MAKE HIM BELIEVE THAT HE COULD BE HEALED OF HIS HIDEOUS DISEASE.
Leprosy was an unutterably loathsome disease. As it exists even now, it is
described by those who have seen it in such a way that I will not harrow
your feelings by repeating all the sickening details. The following
quotation may be more than sufficient. Dr. Thomson in his famous work,
"The
Land and the Book," speaks of lepers in the East, and says, "The hair
falls
from the head and eye-brows; the nails loosen, decay and drop off; joint
after joint of the fingers and toes shrink up and slowly fall away. The
gums
are absorbed, and the teeth disappear. The nose, the eyes, the tongue and
the palate are slowly consumed." This disease turns a man into a mass of
loathsomeness, a walking pile of pests. Leprosy is nothing better than a
horrible and lingering death. The leper in the narrative before us had sad
personal experience of this, and yet he believed that Jesus could cleanse
him. Splendid faith! Oh that you who are afflicted with moral and
spiritual
leprosy could believe in this fashion! Jesus Christ of Nazareth can heal
even you. Over the horror of leprosy faith triumphed. Oh that in your case
it would overcome the terribleness of sin!
Leprosy was known to be incurable. There was no case of a man being cured
of
real leprosy by any medical or surgical treatment. This made the cure of
Naaman in former ages so noteworthy. Observe, moreover, that our Saviour
himself, so far as I can see, had never healed a leper up to the moment
when
this poor wretch appeared upon the scene. He had cured fever, and had cast
out devils, but the cure of leprosy was in the Saviour's life as yet an
unexampled thing. Yet this man, putting this and that together, and
understanding something of the nature and character of the Lord Jesus
Christ, believed that he could cure him of his incurable disease. He felt
that even if the great Lord had not yet healed leprosy, he was assuredly
capable of doing so great a deed, and he determined to apply to him. Was
not
this grand faith? Oh that such faith could be found among my hearers at
this
hour! Here me, O trembling sinner: if thou be as full of sin this morning
as
an egg is full of meat, Jesus can remove it all. If thy propensities to
sin
be as untamable as the wild boar of the wood, yet Jesus Christ, the Lord
of
all, can subdue thine iniquities, and make thee the obedient servant of
his
love. Jesus can turn the lion into a lamb, and he can do it now. He can
transform thee where thou art sitting, saving thee in yonder pew while I
am
speaking the word. All things are possible to the Saviour God; and all
things are possible to him that believeth. I would thou hadst such a faith
as this leper had, although if it were even less it might serve thy turn,
since thou hast not all his difficulties to contend with, since Jesus has
already saved many sinners like thyself, and changed many hearts as hard
as
thine. If he shall regenerate thee, he will be doing for thee no strange
thing, but only one of the daily miracles of his grace. He has now healed
thousands of thy fellow lepers: canst thou not believe that he can heal
the
leprosy in thee?
This man had a marvelous faith, thus to believe while he was personally
the
victim of the mortal malady. It is one thing to trust a doctor when you
are
well, but quite another to confide in him when your body is rotting away.
For a real, conscious sinner to trust the Saviour is no mean thing. When
you
hope that there is some good thing in you, it is easy to be confident; but
to be conscious of total ruin and yet to believe in the divine remedy-this
is real faith. To see in the sunshine is mere natural vision; but to see
in
the dark needs the eye of faith: to believe that Jesus has saved you when
you see the signs of it, is the result of reason; but to trust him to
cleanse you while you are still defiled with sin-this is the essence of
saving faith.
The leprosy was firmly seated and fully developed in this man. Luke says
that he was "full of leprosy": he had as much of the poison in him as one
poor body could contain, it had come to its worst stage in him; and yet he
believed that Jesus of Nazareth could make him clean. Glorious confidence!
O
my hearer, if thou art full of sin, if thy propensities and habits have
become as bad as bad can be, I pray the Holy spirit to give thee and renew
thee, and do it at once. With one word of his mouth Jesus can turn your
death into life, your corruption into comeliness. Changes which we cannot
work in others, much less in ourselves, Jesus, by his invincible Spirit,
can
work in the hearts of the ungodly. Of these stones he can raise up
children
unto Abraham. His moral and spiritual miracles are often wrought upon
cases
which seem beyond all hope, cases which pity itself endeavours to forget
because her efforts have been so long in vain.
I like best about this man's faith the fact that he did not merely believe
that Jesus Christ could cleanse a leper, but that he could cleanse him! He
said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." It is very easy to
believe for other people. There is really no faith in such impersonal,
proxy
confidence. The true faith believes for itself first, and then for others.
Oh, I know some of you are saying, "I believe that Jesus can save my
brother. I believe that he can save the vilest of the vile. If I heard
that
he had saved the biggest drunkard in Southward I should not wonder." Canst
thou believe all this, and yet fear that he cannot save thee? This is
strange inconsistency. If he heals another man's leprosy, can he not heal
thy leprosy? If one drunkard is saved, why not another? If in one man a
passionate temper is subdued, why not in another? If lust, and
covetousness,
and lying, and pride have been cured in many men, why not in thee? Even if
thou art a blasphemer, blasphemy has been cured; why should it not be so
in
thy case? He can heal thee of that particular form of sin which possesses
thee, however high a degree its power may have reached; for nothing is too
hard for the Lord. Jesus can change and cleanse thee now. In a moment he
can
impart a new life and commence a new character. Canst thou believe this?
This is the faith which glorified Jesus, and brought healing to this
leper;
and it is the faith which will save you at once if you now exercise it. O
Spirit of the living God, work this faith in the minds of my dear hearers,
that they may thus win their suit with the Lord Jesus, and go their way
healed of the plague of sin!
III. Now, notice, thirdly, that this man's faith WAS FIXED ON JESUS CHRIST
ALONE. Let me read the man's words again. He said unto Jesus, "If thou
wilt,
thou canst make me clean." Throw the emphasis upon the pronouns. See him
kneeling before the Lord Jesus and hear him say, "If thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean." He has no idea of looking to the disciples; no, not to one
of them or to all of them. He had no notion of trusting in a measure to
the
medicine which physicians would prescribe for him. All that is gone. No
dream of other hope remains; but with his eye fully fixed on the blessed
Miracle-worker of Nazareth, he cries, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean." In himself he had no shade of confidence; every delusion of that
kind had been banished by a fierce experience of his disease. He knew that
none on earth could deliver him, and that by no innate power of
constitution
could he throw out the poison; but he confidently believed that the Son of
God could by himself effect the cure. This was God-given faith-the faith
of
God's elect, and Jesus was its sole object.
How came this man to have such faith? I cannot tell you the outward means,
but I think we may guess without presumption. Had he not heard our Lord
preach? Matthew puts this story immediately after the Sermon on the Mount,
and says, "When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Had this man managed to
stand
at the edge of the crowd and hear Jesus speak, and did those wondrous
words
convince him that the great Teacher was something more than man? As he
noted
the style, and manner, and matter of that marvelous sermon, did he say
within himself, "never man spake like this man. Truly he is the Son of
God.
I believe in him. I trust him. he can cleanse me"? May God bless the
preaching of Christ crucified to you who hear me this day! Is not this
used
of the Lord, and made to be the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth?
Perhaps this man had seen our Lord's miracles. I feel sure he had. He had
seen the devils cast out, and had heard of Peter's wife's mother, who had
lain sick of a fever, and had been instantaneously recovered. The leper
might very properly argue-To do this requires omnipotence; and once
granted
that omnipotence is at work, then omnipotence can as well deal with
leprosy
as with fever. Did he not reason well if he argued thus-What the Lord has
done, he can do again: if in one case he has displayed almighty power, he
can display that same power in another case? Thus would the acts of the
Lord
corroborate his words, and furnish a sure foundation for the leper's hope.
My hearer, have you not seen Jesus save others? Have you not at least read
of his miracles of grace? Believe him, then, for his works' sake, and say
to
him, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
Besides, I think this man may have heard something of the story of Christ,
and may have been familiar with the Old Testament prophecies concerning
the
Messiah. We cannot tell but some disciple may have informed him of John's
witness concerning the Christ, and of the signs and tokens which supported
John's testimony. He may thus have discerned in the Son of Man the Messiah
of God, the Incarnate Deity. At any rate, as knowledge must come before
faith, he had received knowledge enough to feel that he could trust this
glorious personage, and to believe that, if he willed it, Jesus could make
him clean. O my dear hearers, cannot you trust the Lord Jesus Christ in
this
way? Do you not believe-I hope you do-that he is the Son of God; and if
so,
why not trust him? He that was born of Mary at Bethlehem was God over all,
blessed forever! Do you not believe this? Why, then, do you not rely upon
God in our nature? You believe in his consecrated life, his suffering
death,
his resurrection, his ascension, his sitting in power at the right hand of
the Father; why do you not trust him? God hath highly exalted him, and
caused all fullness to dwell in him: he is able to save unto the
uttermost,
why do you not come to him? Believe that he is able, and then with all thy
sins before thee, red like scarlet-and with all thy sinful habits, and thy
evil propensities before thee, ingrained like the leopard's spots-believe
that the Saviour of men can at once make thee whiter than snow as to past
guilt, and free from the present and future tyranny of evil. A divine
Saviour must be able to cleanse thee from all sin. Only Jesus can do it,
but
he can do it-do it himself alone, do it now, do it in thee, do it with a
word. If Jesus wills to do it, it is all that is wanted; for his will is
the
will of the Almighty Lord. Say, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean." Faith must be fixed alone on Jesus. None other name is given among
men whereby we must be saved. I do pray the Lord to give that faith to all
my dear friends present this morning who as yet have not received
cleansing
at the Lord's hands. Jesus is God's ultimatum of salvation: the unique
hope
of guilty men both as to pardon and renewal. Accept him even now.
IV. Now let me go a step further: THIS MAN'S FAITH HAD RESPECT TO A REAL
MATTER-OF-FACT CURE. He did not think of the Lord Jesus Christ as a priest
who would perform certain ceremonies over him, and formally say, "Thou art
clean"; for that would not have been true. He wanted really to be
delivered
from the leprosy; to have those dry scales, into which his skin kept
turning, taken all away, that his flesh might become as the flesh of a
little child; he wanted that the rottenness, which was eating up his body,
should be stayed, and that health should be actually restored. Friends, it
is easy enough to believe in a mere priestly absolution if you have enough
credulity; but we need more than this. It is very easy to believe in
Baptismal Regeneration, but what is the good of it? What practical result
does it produce? A child remains the same after it has been baptismally
regenerated as it was before, and it grows up to prove it. It is easy to
believe in Sacramentarianism if you are foolish enough; but there is
nothing
in it when you believe in it. No sanctifying power comes with outward
ceremonials in and of themselves. To believe that the Lord Jesus Christ
can
make us love the good things which once we despised, and shun those evil
things in which we once took pleasure-this is to believe in him indeed and
of a truth. Jesus can totally change the nature,and make a sinner into a
saint. This is faith of a practical kind; this is a faith worth having.
None of us would imagine that this leper meant that the Lord Jesus could
make him feel comfortable in remaining a leper. Some seem to fancy that
Jesus came to let us go on in our sins with a quiet conscience; but he did
nothing of the kind. His salvation is cleansing from sin, and if we love
sin
we are not saved from it. We cannot have justification without
sanctification. There is no use in quibbling about it; there must be a
change, a radical change, a change of heart, or else we are not saved. I
put
it now to you, Do you desire a moral and a spiritual change, a change of
life, thought and motive? This is what Jesus gives. Just as this leper
needed a thorough physical change, so do you need an entire renewal of
your
spiritual nature, so as to become a new creature in Jesus Christ. Oh that
many here would desire this, for it would be a cheering sign. The man who
desires to be pure is beginning to be pure; the man who sincerely longs to
conquer sin has struck the first blow already. The power of sin is shaken
in
that man who looks to Jesus for deliverance from it. The man who frets
under
the yoke of sin will not long be a slave to it; if he can believe that
Jesus
Christ is able to set him free, he shall soon quit his bondage. Some sins
which have hardened down into habits, will yet disappear in a moment when
Jesus Christ looks upon a man in love. I have known many instances of
persons who, for many years, had never spoken without an oath, or a filthy
expression, who, being converted, have never been known to use such
language
again, and have scarcely ever been tempted in that direction. This is one
of
the sins which seem to die at the first shot, and it is a very wonderful
thing it should be so. Others I have known so altered at once that the
very
propensity which was strongest in them has been the last to annoy them
afterwards: they have had such a reversion of the mind's action that,
while
other sins have worried them for years,and they have had to set a strict
watch against them, yet their favourite and dominant sin has never again
had
the slightest influence over them, except to excite an outburst of horror
and deep repentance. Oh, that you had faith in Jesus that he could thus
cast
down and cast out your reigning sins! Believe in the conquering arm of the
Lord Jesus, and he will do it. Conversion is the standing miracle of the
church. Where it is genuine, it is as clear a proof of divine power going
with the gospel, as was the casting out of devils, or even the raising of
the dead in our Lord's day. We see these conversions still; and have proof
that Jesus is able to work great moral marvels still. O my hearer, where
art
thou? Canst thou not believe that Jesus is able to make a new man of thee?
O
brethren, who have been saved, I entreat you to breathe a prayer at this
time for those who are not yet cleansed from the foul disease of sin. Pray
that they may have grace to believe in the Lord Jesus for purification of
heart, pardon of sin, and the implantation of eternal life. Then when
faith
is given, the Lord Jesus will work their sanctification, and none shall
effectually hinder. In silence let us pray for a moment. (Here there was a
pause, and silent prayer went up to heaven.)
V. And now we will go another step: THIS MAN'S FAITH WAS ATTENDED WITH
WHAT
APPEARS TO BE A HESITANCY. But after thinking it over a good deal, I am
hardly inclined to think it such a hesitancy as many have judged it to be.
He said, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." There was an "if" in
this
speech, and that "if" has aroused the suspicions of many preachers. Some
think it supposes that he doubted our Lord's willingness. I hardly think
that the language justly bears so harsh a construction. What he meant may
have been this-"Lord, I do not know yet that thou art sent to heal lepers;
I
have not seen that thou hast ever done so; but, still, if it be within the
compass of thy commission, I believe thou wilt do it, and assuredly thou
canst if thou wilt. Thou canst heal not only some lepers, but me in
particular; thou canst make me clean." Now, I think this was a legitimate
thing for him to say, as he had not seen a leper healed-"If it be within
the
compass of thy commission, I believe thou canst make me whole."
Moreover, I admire in this text the deference which the leper pays to the
sovereignty of Christ's will as to the bestowal of his gifts. "If thou
wilt,
thou canst make me clean";-as much as to say, "I know thou hast a right to
distribute these great favours exactly as thou pleasest. I have no claim
upon thee; I cannot say that thou art bound to make me clean; I appeal to
thy pity and free favour. The matter remains with thy will." The man had
never read the text which saith, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of
him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," for it was not yet written;
but he had in his mind the humble spirit suggested by that grand truth. He
owned that grace must come as a free gift of God's good pleasure when he
said "Lord, if thou wilt." Beloved, we need never raise a question as to
the
Lord's will to give grace when we have the will to receive it; but still,
I
would have every sinner feel that he has no claim upon God for anything. O
sinner, if the Lord should give thee up, as he did the heathen described
in
the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, thou deservest it. If he
should never look upon thee with an eye of love, what couldst thou say
against his righteous sentence? Thou hast wilfully sinned, and thou
deservest to be left in thy sin. Confessing all this, we still cling to
our
firm belief in the power of grace, and cry, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst." We appeal to our Saviour's pitying love, relying upon his
boundless
power.
See, also, how the leper, to my mind, really speaks without any hesitancy,
if you understand him. He does not say, "Lord, if thou puttest out thy
hand,
thou canst make me clean"; nor, "Lord, if thou speakest, thou canst make
me
clean"; but only, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean": thy mere
will can do it. Oh, splendid faith! If you are inclined to spy a little
halting in it, I would have you admire it for running so well with a lame
foot. If there was a weakness anywhere in his faith, still it was so
strong
that the weakness only manifests its strength. Sinner, it is so; and I
pray
God that thy heart may grasp it-if the Lord wills it he can make thee
clean.
Believest thou this? If so, carry out practically what thy faith will
suggest to thee-namely, that thou come to Jesus and plead with him, and
get
from him the cleansing which thou needest. To that end I am hoping to lead
thee, as the Holy Spirit shall enable me.
VI. In the sixth place, notice that THIS MAN'S FAITH HAD EARNEST ACTION
FLOWING OUT OF IT. Believing that, if Jesus willed, he could make him
clean,
what did the leper do? At once he came to Jesus. I know not from what
distance, but he came as near to Jesus as he could. Then we read that he
besought him; that is to say, he pleaded, and pleaded, and pleaded again.
He
cried, "Lord, cleanse me! Lord heal my leprosy!" Nor was this all; he fell
on his knees and worshipped; for we read, "Kneeling down to him." He not
only knelt, but knelt to Jesus. He had no difficulty as to paying him
divine
honour. He worshipped the Lord Christ, paying him reverent homage. He then
went on to honour him by an open acknowledgment of his power, his
marvelous
power, his infinite power, by saying, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean." I should not wonder if some that stood by began to smile at
what
they thought the poor man's fanatical credulity. They murmured, "What a
poor
fool as this leper is, to think that Jesus of Nazareth can cure him of his
leprosy!" Such a confession of faith had seldom been heard. But whatever
critics and skeptics might think, this brave man boldly declared, "Lord,
this is my confession of faith: I believe that if thou wilt, thou canst
make
me clean." Now, poor soul, thou that art full of guilt, and hardened in
sin,and yet anxious to be healed, look straight away to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is here now. In the preaching of the gospel he is with us
alway.
With the eyes of thy mind behold him, for he beholdeth thee. Thou knowest
that he lives, even though thou seest him not. Believe in this living
Jesus;
believe for perfect cleansing. Cry to him, worship him, adore him, trust
him. He is very God of very God; bow before him, and cast thyself upon his
mercy. Go home, and on thy knees say, "Lord, I believe that thou canst
make
me clean." He will hear your cry, and will save you. There will be no
interval between your prayer and the gracious reward of faith, of which I
am
now to speak.
VII. Lastly, HIS FAITH HAD ITS REWARD. Have patience with me just a
minute.
The reward of this man's faith was, first, that his very words were
treasured up. Matthew, Mark, Luke, all three of them record the precise
words which this man used: "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
They evidently did not see so much to find fault with in them as some have
done; on the contrary, they thought them gems to be placed in the setting
of
their gospels. Three times over are they recorded, because they are such a
splendid confession of faith for a poor diseased leper to have made. I
believe that God is as much glorified by that one sentence of the leper as
by the song of Cherubim and Seraphim, when they continually do cry, "Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." A sinner's lips declaring his confident
faith in God's own Son can breathe sonnets unto God more sweet than those
of
the angelic choirs. This man's first faith- words are folded up in the
fair
linen of three evangels, and laid up in the treasury of the house of the
Lord. God values the language of humble confidence.
His next reward was, that Jesus echoed his words. He said, "Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean"; and Jesus said, "I will; be thou clean."
As
an echo answers to the voice, so did Jesus to his supplicant. The Lord
Jesus
was so pleased with this man's words that he caught them as they leaped
out
of his mouth, and used them himself, saying, "I will; be thou clean." If
you
can only get, then, as far as this leper's confession, I believe that our
Lord Jesus from his throne above will answer to your prayer.
So potent were the words of this leper that they moved our Lord very
wonderfully. Read the forty-first verse: "And Jesus, moved with
compassion."
The Greek word here used, if I were to pronounce it in your hearing, would
half suggest its own meaning. It expresses a stirring of the entire
manhood,
a commotion in all the inward parts. The heart and all the vitals of the
man
are in active movement. The Saviour was greatly moved. You have seen a man
moved, have you not? When a strong man is unable any longer to restrain
himself, and is forced to give way to his feelings, you have seen him
tremble all over, and at last burst out into an evident break-down. It was
just so with the Saviour: his pity moved him, his delight in the leper's
faith mastered him. When he heard the man speak with such confidence in
him,
the Saviour was moved with a sacred passion, which, as it was in sympathy
with the leper, is called "compassion." Oh, to think that a poor leper
should have such power over the divine Son of God! Yet, my hearer, in all
thy sin and misery, if thou canst believe in Jesus, thou canst move the
heart of thy blessed Saviour. Yea, even now his bowels yearn towards thee.
No sooner was our Lord Jesus thus moved than out went his hand, and he
touched the man and healed him immediately. It did not require a long time
for the working of the cure; but the leper's blood was cooled and cleansed
in a single second. Our Lord could work this miracle, and make all things
new in the man; for "all things were made by him; and without him was not
anything made that was made." He restored the poor, decaying, putrefying
body of this man, and he was cleansed at once. To make him quite sure that
he was cleansed, the Lord Jesus bade him go to the priest, and seek a
certificate of health. He was so clean that he might be examined by the
appointed sanitary authority, and come off without suspicion. The cure
which
he had received was a real and radical one, and therefore he might go away
at once, and get the certificate of it. If our converts will not bear
practical tests, they are worth nothing; let even our enemies judge
whether
they are not better men and women when Jesus has renewed them. If Jesus
saves a sinner, he does not mind all men testing the change. Jesus does
not
seek display, but he seeks examination from those able to judge. Our
converts will bear the test. Come hither, angels! Come hither, pure
intelligences, able to observe men in secret! Here is a wretch of a sinner
who came hither this morning. He seemed first cousin to the devil; but the
Lord Jesus Christ has converted him and changed him. Now look at him, ye
angels; look at him at home in his chamber! Watch him in private life. We
can read your verdict. "There is joy in presence of the angels of God over
one sinner that repenteth"; and this proves what you think. It is such a
wonderful change, and angels are so sure of it, that they give their
certificates at once. How do they give their certificates? Why, each one
manifests his joy as he sees the sinner turning from his sinful ways. Oh,
that the angels might have work of this kind to do this morning! Dear
hearer, may you be one over whom they rejoice! If thou believest on Jesus
Christ, and if thou wilt trust him, as the sent One of God, fully and
entirely with thy soul, he will make thee clean. Behold him on the cross,
and see sin put away. Behold him risen from the dead, and see new life
bestowed. Behold him enthroned in power, and see evil conquered. I am
ready
to be bound for my Lord, to be his surety, that if thou, my hearer, wilt
come to him, he will make thee clean. Believe thy Saviour, and thy cure is
wrought. God help thee, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
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