But - He was a Leper

Let's view smiling faces out there. It's wonderful to come together, to pray together, and to sing together, and to hear God's Word through His Scripture today. My wife sends her greetings. We're hoping that she can come next time, along with my son and daughter. I believe my daughter is 15. I lost count, and my son is 12. So they would love to come and be with all of you. Hopefully that can occur next time. I cannot believe we're already having feast announcements, and it's already time for the registration.

Every time I go to somewhere new, I put forth a word of recruit. I am coordinating the festival location in Lake George, New York. How many of you have been to Lake George, New York? Okay. Two. Okay. I hear it's beautiful. I haven't been there. But I guess being the new recruit, the rookie, they can send you wherever they want to send you. And you can't say no. But I do think I lucked out a little bit in that way, and we'll be heading out there to check it out next week, actually. If you're considering your feast registrations, maybe at least read about it to consider it a little bit.

We would love to have you. Well, the title of today's study is, But He Was a Leper. But He Was a Leper. And I invite you to open your Bibles to 2 Kings, Chapter 5. Second Kings, Chapter 5, and what will be our section of study this morning. Before we read this passage, let me ask you a question.

If you knew that you were suffering from an illness to which there was no known cure, but someone held out to you the opportunity to be healed, how far would you go to enter into the benefits of that remedy? Would there be anywhere you'd be unprepared to go? Or would there be anything that you'd be unprepared to do?

Well, the story that's before us here in 2 Kings 5, it's a story of one such encounter with the man named Naaman. And we're going to notice this morning Naaman and the character of this man. We're going to notice the crisis he faced and then the cure he discovered. So before we do, let's read these verses together. Second Kings 5, let's read verses 1 through 14 to establish our story.

It's quite a story. Sing Kings 5 verse 1. Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master. Because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back a captive girl, a young girl, from the land of Israel.

She waited on Naaman's wife. Then she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy.

Verse 4, And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus said this girl who is from the land of Israel. Then the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothing. And then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. And it happened when the king of Israel read this letter, that he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and make a lie, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy?

Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Then Naaman went with his horses, his chariot, and stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. But Naaman became furious, and went away, and said, Indeed, I have said to myself, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.

Are not the Abana and the Farpar and the rivers of Damascus better than these rivers of Israel?

Could I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in rage.

But his servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it?

How much more then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean?

So he went down, and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God.

And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. And he was clean.

Well, there you have it. Quite a story this morning.

Now, many will say, and they will come and say, that they find the Bible to be a confusing book.

They will say that the 66 books that cover these centuries past, written by numerous authors, well, they're very perplexing, they will say, to the point where they don't even know where to begin.

Well, for all those who are confused by the Bible, I want to tell you this, that there is ultimately one story, there's ultimately one theme, that runs throughout the whole of this book. And it's the story of the relationship between God and man. And in the book of the Bible, we have details for us how the relationship began. We have details of how the relationship was spoiled. And then we have the details of how it can be rectified once again.

So it is in this book that we find the cause of all of our troubles, but even better, we find then how it can be cured or how it can be rectified once again, the answer to all of our troubles as well, we find. And so those things are wonderfully illustrated in this story that's before us. So where are we? Where are we here with Naaman?

Well, we're in Syria. This is where this story takes place. It was a delightful and colorful country. Damascus is the main city of Syria, mentioned here. And it was a city of excess and a city of wealth, for sure. It provided all kinds of attractions for the men and women there that they could have looked for. There would have been the beauty of art. There would have been the enjoyment of music, all kinds of opportunities in this beautiful land. There there would have been two rivers that would have been found and they would have flowed into the city, the center of the city here. That's it's mentioned in verse 12, the Obana and the Farpar. These were rivers that began in the mountains of Lebanon and all in all of their pristine beauty. They would have flowed down into the this fertile oasis down below, a fertile oasis of trees in the low land. And that's where Damascus had been built. And if we develop to go back to this period that's described for us here, this is where we exactly where we'd find Naaman in this context. He lived in a very desirable place and he enjoyed a very enviable position, very enviable position. Look at verse 1. He had power.

He was a commander. So not a private, not a sergeant, a commander, a commander of the king's army, no doubt. King's army. So he would have had many people reporting to him. He would have been responsible for people's lives. He was a very powerful position and a prestigious position.

Prestigious so far as we're told in verse 1, he was a great man and he was honorable in the eyes of his master. Who would have his master been? The king. The king himself. And so, of course, the king, he would have had a lot of influence. In fact, he would have had all the influence the king would, but he wouldn't have regarded everyone as great. But we're told that the king looked upon Naaman and regarded the king himself, regarded Naaman as an honorable and respectful man, a great man.

Why? Because in verse 1, the Lord had given victory to Syria. So it's something when the king looks at you in that way. Naaman was highly regarded. A man of valor. In other words, he was a valiant soldier in his time, in his generation. And there would have been all those people would have recognized him in that way. And not only that, we know with power comes what also? Possessions. Possessions. Wealth. Look at verse 5. Look at this. Look at this list here of possessions, just for a moment.

What Naaman was carrying here in verse 5? The value of this, it would have quickly got to the hundreds of thousands of dollars easily. If you calculate the ounce of gold on the market, you would get three quarters of a million just in the gold dimension there.

And then he had silver. He had wonderful garments. Oh, thank you.

So we quickly understand that there was extensive worth. He had extensive worth about him.

Power. Prestige. Possessions. Everything a man could want. He was great. Highly regarded. Victorious. Valiant. But. But. Just a small three-letter word there in verse 1.

But he was a leper.

See, there was one dimension to Naaman's existence that cast these long shadows over everything else he enjoyed. All of his proud achievements. All of it dimmed. All of it in the shadow of this one factor, the disease of leprosy. It was overtaking him. And let me tell you, this condition, Naaman's condition, it was a spoiling condition. It was a spreading condition. It was an isolating condition. It was an ugly condition. Spoiling. Spreading. Ugly. Isolating. Despite all he enjoyed, all the variety of opportunities, all the possessions, all of it was being overtaken.

There wasn't anything he could do about it. Leprosy was spreading into his life. He was this, this, this, and this. But he was a leper. And it changed everything. Because once you became a leper, once you became a leper, it didn't matter what people thought of you. It didn't matter whose service you belonged to. You were about to become an outcast. It was about to change your whole life.

Rather than me explaining the disease of leprosy to you, let me give you a quote. This is an Old Testament scholar who's quoting a commentary on the disease of leprosy as he gives a commentary on the book of Leviticus. Listen to this. Old Testament scholar by the name of R.K. Harrison.

Listen to what he says about the disease. Quote, A diagnosis of leprosy was as much of a death sentence to ancient Israelites as news would be about an advanced malignancy. That would be to our modern patient. The diagnostic guidelines furnished by the priest, those guidelines would prevent the leper from coming close to anyone, therefore bringing unnecessary sorrow or hardship to the countrymen and ensuring the health of the community. He would be an outcast. Once a man was branded a leper, he no doubt, it says, had to adopt a posture of mourning, tearing his clothes, allowing his hair to become unkempt, covering his beard and mustache, crying unclean. He had to live outside the camp when the company only of the other lepers. So his existence was nothing more than a living death.

Unless there was a quick remission of the disease, the victim of clinical leprosy knew his condition was going to be a lengthy duration and a loathsome nature now would prevent him from any significant contact with society. Most of all, the leper would be cut off from any fellowship, particularly the spiritual fellowship with the covenant people. And in a real sense, the leper would be without hope, without anyone, without God in the world.

That's what was facing and confronting Naaman and his future. Every morning he woke up, he would have been able to see his skin changing. He would have been able to see his skin just defiled right before his eyes. He puts everything in perspective. And this would have been a different position for him. Naaman, he wouldn't have been used to this position where usually his status and his position, his possessions could deal with it. Not this. And no doubt, make no doubt, here before us in this story of Naaman is the classic biblical picture of the condition of men and women today. It's the condition of spiritual leprosy that's before us, a condition the Bible calls sin. The physical condition that faced Naaman is a picture of the spiritual condition faced by every one of us here today. Each one of us is aware this morning that while there may be much in doubt, there is not one thing that's not in doubt, and that is when we look into a mirror, when a man or a woman looks into a mirror, we're not as God intended us to be.

The Bible is very clear that in the beginning when God made the heavens and the earth, he planted men and women in the Garden of Eden. Everything was wonderful with Adam and Eve.

There was no disappointment. There was no unhappiness. There was nothing wrong at all. It was as wonderful as you get in the Garden of Eden. All of it was perfect. Until, of course.

And when you continue to read in the chapters of Genesis, we see sin enters into the human condition, and it begins to spread. It begins to spoil. Like a disease, it spreads across all of humanity. Suddenly there is death. Suddenly there is murder. Suddenly there is abuse. Suddenly there is absolute chaos. Humanity is robbed of its wholeness and its completeness, and all of its perfection is robbed. That's why this morning, each of us, as we describe our own condition, we're able to say, my name is so-and-so, and I've lived here, and I've accomplished this, and I have these possessions. But inevitably we're all heading toward that same three-letter word. But leprosy is a no-respecter of persons, neither is spiritual leprosy. The disease of sin.

Sin is no respecter of... was a no-respecter of name, and it's no respecter of you and I.

Just like his leprosy, our spiritual leprosy, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

All have sinned, and it is the sin, the spiritual leprosy, that spools everything. It distracts from our happiness, isolates us. If you've ever been in a season of a particular sin, of a particular sin that's had a hold on you, how do you feel? It's isolating, spoiling.

You know, Naaman, as we sometimes try, he could try to deaden the pain by all the possessions, by all these things, but he knew that none of those things would truly deal with the problem.

Do we find ourselves in that same predicament? Trying to go on with life while having this particular disease, this particular sin in our life. Trying to ignore it, but you can only ignore it for so long. At some point, you're going to have to find a cure before it destroys you.

Well, Naaman realizes he's sick, and what does he do? He begins his search, and detailed before us here in these verses is the details of that search. And you'll notice, interestingly here, verse 3, verse 3, we're told that his search begins with words first spoken by a servant girl. Did you notice that? A servant girl who was in exile in the country, no more than a servant girl.

It says in verse 2, she was a captive, a young girl from Israel. So that's interesting, because she represents the very opposite of prestige and materialism, the very opposite of excess. All that Damascus represented. She speaks to Naaman's wife in verse 3. Verse 3, she says, if only my master, that speaking of Naaman, would see the prophet who's in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. So again, the road to the cure begins with the words and faith of one who we could say is just a irrelevant servant girl. And I might say in passing, just so you know, there is no irrelevant man or woman in those who are in Christ.

There's no irrelevant man or woman who are called for the purposes of God.

Because God, we know, delights to put his purposes and his light in those who society deem as lowly, insignificant. But he delights to put his light in those to bring about radical change to the people in the society around him. Just a side note. So through a servant girl, God gives a word to bring about this revolutionary change in this commander, Naaman. So just a side note, if you're feeling down this week, if you've had a particular attack from Satan who's been beating you over the head and saying, you know, you don't have this, you don't have that, you're not very important, you don't belong anywhere, just know you don't have to listen to those words. God delights to put his treasure in old clay pots so that his power will be seen in those men and women.

That's not even our message this morning. That's about the servant girl, but we'll get back to Naaman now. So you get two messages for the price of one. There you go.

Now, I want you to notice what is the key in our study today. The absolute key. I want you to notice what is the catalyst in bringing about the healing to Naaman. And it may be about the catalyst to bringing about your healing today, your spiritual healing. The catalyst in bringing about the healing to Naaman will begin with the breaking of his pride. The breaking of Naaman's pride, we will see, is what leads to the healing of his leprosy. Likewise, likewise, the catalyst for bringing about our healing today of our spiritual leprosy is the breaking of our pride.

And the breaking begins here. He has to listen to the advice of someone he wouldn't have normally ever listened to, a captive girl in your house. You know, a captive servant girl, you're not bringing them into your future or your plans. Never. So this is an indication of his pride being chipped away here. But there would be more humility that he would need to obtain. His heart wasn't there yet. Because notice verse 3. The servant girl, verse 3, said to her mistress, Naaman's wife, if only my master were with the prophet who was in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. But you'll notice that Naaman does not go to the prophet, Elisha, like the servant girl put forth. Where does Naaman go? He goes first to the king. He goes first to his king. We see that in verse 4. Look at this. Verse 4. So she tells him this, that his wife and Naaman went in and told his master, that's the king, saying, thus and thus said the girl who was from the land of Israel. So rather than going to the prophet Elisha, he goes to his master, the king. So where is Naaman's confidence residing at this moment? In the prophet of God or in the perceived power of an earthly king? So the king says, well, I'll get you set up. I've got you taken care of, verse 5. I'll send a letter. And the king of Syria said, now go, I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So Naaman's king says, tell you what, I'll drive the letter, I'll send it to the king of Israel. Don't worry, Naaman. I as your king, I will help you. I'm going to drive this letter. We'll get everything prepared. You go, you get your gold, you get your silver, get your chariot lined up. We'll get this whole fleet lined up and we'll take care of this. So fine, the letter's given. Off goes Naaman on his journey. Letter in hand to the king of Israel. He arrives, verse 6. Verse 6. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, now be advised when this letter comes to you, king of Israel, that I have sent Naaman, my servant, to you, that you may heal him, that you may heal him of his letter perceived. So again, you notice it's sent to the wrong place. The letter should have went to the prophet Elisha as the girl, the servant girl instructed. So again, you notice the strategy here.

The method is to go through men. Men which represented power and prestige, to name it. The method is to send through one earthly king to another earthly king. In other words, man and his pride may have his eyes opened by a servant girl, but they'll still want to go through a king to a king, relying on man's authority and perceived power. You see?

So in this, we see something of Naaman's heart still at this moment. Naaman, still consumed with status, even in his ultimate need, even as he sees his skin defiling before his eyes. He still wants it dealt with in his way. After all, I'm Naaman. Right. I have power and prestige. I can't just go to anybody. I gotta go through kings. I gotta go through kings, of course.

There's a word in that for us. You know, the benefits and the blessings of his life, instead of those things being given by God, instead of those bringing him humility and thankfulness, instead of God's provisions bringing the blessings humbling him, it made him proud.

But I wonder if you noticed just a little note there at the end of verse one, at the end of verse one, it told us that the Lord had given victory to Syria. It wasn't the commander, Naaman. Of course, it wasn't Naaman. But Naaman didn't recognize that all the victory and all the provisions that came from it, who is it from? His own means or from God? Do you know where all your provisions come from? All your blessings? Everything? Where do they come from? Is any of it from you?

So, all those things, do they bring pride into our lives or humbleness and gratitude?

Naaman hadn't recognized that it was all from God. And you'll notice just what is the absolute pomp and ceremony here in verse five. The latter part of verse five, look at what Naaman brought with him. The latter part of verse five there. It says, so he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothing. There's no humility here, is there? No humility. And of course, the king could not provide the solution. Verse six through nine, verse six through nine again. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, now be advised when this letter comes to you, I've sent Naaman, my servant, to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. Verse seven. And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and make alive? That this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. He's trying to pick a fight. So it was when Elisha, he heard this, the man of God heard the king of Israel had torn his clothes. He sent to the king and said, why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there's a prophet in Israel. And so verse nine, Naaman arrives to Elisha, the place he should have come first. His pride wouldn't allow it. It's breaking down a little bit here. Verse nine, and Naaman went with his horses and his chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. In other words, he arrives and all of this stuff, and he pulls up this this huge limousine chariot to Elisha. It's all there. Long stretch chariot, I'm sure.

They have this picture of him coming to Elisha's door with all the gold. I'm sure some of it's falling out of the chariot, and some of the silver, all the orangut. I'm sure he laid out all the clothes so Elisha could see them all, the beauty of all those garments. And then I love this. I absolutely, one of my favorite parts of the whole Bible, the first part of verse 10, and Elisha sent a messenger to him.

Stop to think about that for a moment. Can you imagine how Naaman felt?

Elisha doesn't even come out to him. He sends one of his messengers out. He says, go tell him to wash seven times in the Jordan River. It doesn't even come out to him. Verse 10 again, Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. Now, if really, if the messenger had come out and said, well, Naaman, tell you what, we can take care of this for you. I've talked to Elisha, we can take care of this for you, but it's going to cost you 100 pounds of gold. It's going to cost you all those arraignments there, and I need you to go back and pick up a few more of those chariots. You know, Elisha likes those. Bring those back with you. Then I think we can take care of this for you.

Naaman would have actually understood that. He would have said, yeah, I can do that. That's his language. But as it were, Elisha makes no demands on his wealth. Just instruction given. Just instruction given for him to follow, for the leprosy to be lifted. So, after the instruction is given, we see Naaman's reaction. It's given to us in 11 verse 11 and 12. He's furious, furious.

But Naaman became furious and went away and said, Indeed, I said to myself, he will surely come out to me, speaking of Elisha, and stand and call unto the name of the Lord, his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. Are not the abana and the far par the rivers of Damascus better than the waters of Israel? Could I not wash it in them? Do you remember those waters, pristine, beautiful, coming down the mountain? So he turned and went away in a rage. What pride! That is so telling. Indeed, I said to myself, Surely he will come out to me.

After all, doesn't he know who I am? And my servants will be able to see this big ceremony. Elisha will come out and wave his hand over it all. Big ceremony will take place, I'm sure.

That's what we see there in verse 11. Surely he will come out to me and call upon the name of the Lord, wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy. There's the picture. That's where name is heart-wise. Naaman had this tremendous problem, presumably willing to do whatever it took.

Was he really willing to do whatever it took? In the question in verse 12, he knows the answer to it, but he still asks, Are not the Abana and the Farpar the rivers of Damascus better than these rivers of Israel? Could I not wash the Naaman be clean? The answer is no. No. You can't. Why? Because you, Naaman, you can't do it your way. You can't wash in those waters. Why? That's not the instructions. It's not the instructions. The instructions are the instructions. There's only one way to be cleansed. One set of instructions. One way. There are not many rivers you can choose to which you can be cleansed. Only one river, which I tell you, and I have told you, is the one river which I tell you, and I have told you. So we went off in a rage. But the story's not finished, and I'm glad it's not because it's a wonderful conclusion here. Because you'll notice verse 13, you'll notice once again, it's not through kings. It's not through those who man deems as powerful. It's through servants once again. Servants, once again, that Naaman is addressed. Naaman's servants say to him, verse 13, and his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you have not done it? How much more then, when he says to you, wash and be clean? And it's only now, only at this moment, in which we find Naaman willing and able to bring forth the humility to do what's required. So follow the instructions. Now he's only willing to humble himself and act as per the instructions. The instructions, verse 14. So he went down, verse 14, and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

That's an incredible story, isn't it? There wasn't a chariot that Naaman could ride. There wasn't an outfit that he could wear. There wasn't a price he could pay that would cure this disease. Only one way to bring about the cure. And once again, Naaman is a picture of us, a picture of modern man and modern woman, as men and women consumed with ourselves, until somewhere along our journey, we look down and God has revealed to us the scabs of our spiritual leprosy, not physical, spiritual leprosy. At some point in our lives, we look down and out of God's mercy, he opened our eyes to it. To see it, every time we then began to look in the mirror, we would see it. Scabs of jealousy, scabs of lust, scabs of anger, scabs of deceit, scabs of pride. What are your scabs? God has revealed them to us. It's our spiritual leprosy. We see them, and we know it's either isolating, it's alienating, it's destroying our ability to live as we want to live, and it's destroying our ability to live as God wants us to live.

We, just like Navin, must begin, must recognize it and then begin to search.

Begin to search. And when we do, the word, the cure, comes to us also from a servant, doesn't it?

Not a servant girl this time, but a servant king.

A servant king who, if you remember, a servant king, if you remember, rode in, not with fine robe, not with gold, not with silver, rode in in complete humility, rode in on a donkey, a humble servant king showing us the way. And like Navin, we have a choice. We can either go and immerse ourselves in more things of this world, try to deaden the pain, try to go down all these other rivers, do it our way, or the choice to deal with it by coming to the one who is the only one that can provide the remedy that we seek. You see, the good news here is that there is a cure available. There's a cure available for our spiritual leprosy. Absolutely.

But it's going to involve a humbling of your heart and of my heart, the depths of which we have never considered, maybe. We're going to have to get down out of our chariots, get on our knees, bow before God, go to that throne of grace, present it ourselves to Him, complete humility, and only then will the cleansing take place.

Not by ordinary waters of a river, but by the rivers of the blood which flow down Jesus Christ's side at His crucifixion. Only by those rivers will we find cleansing.

There's only one to Him that cure comes.

And to that one, not only does He provide the cleansing, He also provides the power to keep the spiritual leprosy from coming back.

We need to make progress this year over sin. Absolute progress.

And it begins with the promise that every temptation, every sin, God will make a way of escape for you. Everyone. So whatever stronghold has had a hold on you, since maybe for many, many years, just know the promise. There is one where cleansing can be found. That's a promise. He's made a way of escape for you and I.

So we go to that throne of grace and we come boldly, not come boldly asking for forgiveness, demanding forgiveness, so we come boldly seeking the answers and come boldly knowing we're going to the one who can provide it. Not only the cleansing, but the power to overcome it.

It's powerful. Incredibly, we find Jesus Christ curing this very disease all throughout the New Testament. And it's a wonderful study to look at that. But one of the most remarkable counts of leprosy healing of Jesus Christ, it's found in Mark 1. And I'd like to conclude by turning there.

Mark 1, verse 40. Let's turn there as we do begin to wrap up.

Mark 1, chapter 1, verse 40. It's a wonderful place to wrap up our study. It's another beautiful healing of a leper. But we're going to see something here.

You see, the gravity of Naaman's condition needed to be matched by the gravity of his approach. He needed to have a gravity in his approach. And only with a deep humility does the cure come.

You'll notice this man recorded that we have here in Mark 1, verse 40. This leper comes to Jesus Christ. And you'll notice he comes in the only posture that's acceptable. And it's the posture that you and I must take as we approach the great healer. Just three verses. Mark 1, verse 40-42.

He says, Now a leper came to him, that's Jesus Christ, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying to him, If you are willing, you can make me clean.

Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, I am willing, be cleansed. As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. Wow! I hope you feel that passage in those words. Some of the most powerful ones in the whole Bible. You'll notice this man comes and he begs and he's imploring, kneeling down. You have all these verbs just heaped up on one another to get the picture here. Verse 40 again, imploring, kneeling, saying, If you are willing, you can make me clean.

And you'll notice the man, the leper here, he puts himself within touching distance of Jesus Christ, doesn't he? You don't do that. You know, you don't do that. You're not supposed to do that if you're a leper. You stay as far away as possible. I'm sure it was a great spectacle when that leper came up to Jesus in that way. You're not supposed to do that. But it's an indication of how badly he wanted to get to Jesus Christ. He knew Jesus Christ was the healer and could heal him. That's how we approach him for our healing with that same confidence. He was absolutely convinced that Jesus Christ had the ability to restore him. These words, If you are willing, you can make me clean.

Circle that. Start your prayer off tonight with that. At the conclusion, now that we've concluded with these days of Unleavened Bread, bring your sins to him tonight and say those words, If you are willing, you can make me clean.

And what do we see immediately here? Jesus' compassion. Verse 41 begins with that phrase, moved with compassion. Moved with compassion. It is a strong verb. It's elsewhere in the Bible.

Those of you who remember the prodigal son, the father sees the son from afar off.

You remember that? He's looking for him. Off he goes. Down the porch. Down the street.

Same there. Overflowed with compassion. When he saw him afar off, his father saw him filled with compassion. He overflows with compassion. That was his feeling, a deep feeling. Jesus Christ had for this leper when he looked and when he looked down on Naaman. He wanted Naaman to reach the level of humility that he needed to reach. Jesus Christ has deep compassion for us.

He wants us to reach cleansing from him. Reach that level needed.

He is filled with compassion when he looks down on you and I.

And you'll notice what Jesus does. He does what you never do. You never do this. You don't stretch out your hand and touch the leper. Can you imagine the gasps in the crowd? Jesus Christ stretches out and touches it. Verse 41 again. When Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I am willing. Be cleansed. You can just imagine. Maybe that leper hadn't been touched for many many many years and Jesus Christ reaches out and touches him. Oh, you can just feel that.

I wonder how long he had been since he'd been touched. Filled with compassion, Jesus Christ identified with him. Gets right down into his circumstances.

Likewise, Jesus Christ identifies with every stronghold, with every sin that you have, every one of them. He understands and he gets down into our circumstances with us. Paul finally summarizes the final wonder of all this. Paul says, God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.

By touching this man that pitches the way Jesus Christ comes and takes upon himself the punishment we deserve. You know, Jesus Christ could have come and shouted from afar off.

No, what did he do? He stepped upon this earth. He emptied himself. Got down right here with us so that he could touch us, truly touch us, truly identify with us. Jesus took our punishment so that he took all we deserve so that he could give us all that's bound up in his righteousness and in an instant that the man is cured. Verse 42, as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. It's the wonderful picture, the picture of instantaneous transformation, the power of God and Jesus Christ could have in your life.

You'll notice here it's all tied up in his obedience. It's all tied up into following the instructions. Obedience to the law of Moses. Did you notice that? Here in verse 43 and 44, I want you to notice this. Verse 43 and verse 44 of Mark 1. What's it all tied up with? Verse 43, and he, Jesus Christ, strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and he said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go your way. Show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded as a testimony to them.

So the priest would have been the one who deemed and pronounced a man healed so that he could come back into society. The priest would have done that. He would have deemed the cure was real and he would have given evidence that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. You see, so we have to give our evidence of our cleansing. We offer our cleansing up these things that Moses commanded as a testimony to them, it says. So how do you respond to your cleansing? You don't deserve it. You didn't do anything to deserve this cleansing that's offered to you. So we're so thankful and we're so grateful for that undeserved mercy and grace. What's our response? How do we respond? Well, we respond to our cleansing. This is our response about how we live our lives. Give evidence of the one who healed us.

This is how we respond to our cleansing. And so you and I can then attest to the reality of our cure by living a life removed from sin, removed from the scars of sin. So as others see you removed from that scarring, your life then gives evidence of the great healer. It's a powerful thing.

If you love me, if you love the grace I've bestowed to you, then look. This is why we look into the Bible and do what we do. We're just responding to the great healing we've received. We're trying to show him love back the way he wants us to love him. Give testimony of the great healer. That's our purpose in life. It's powerful. But healing can only begin with humility. You see, Naaman could have continued in his leprosy and would have unless he was prepared to humble himself before the instruction that was given. And here is the message this morning for Naaman.

For Naaman, it was, go wash yourself seven times. For us, go wash yourself in the blood of the Son of God. That's where your cleansing begins. In the forgiveness, in those waters, and only in those waters will you find the healing, and the cleansing, and the power to keep it away.

And as we hear these words from the humble servant Jesus Christ, we come to him as a spiritual leper. We implore him. We kneel down before him. And the promise is we will discover this cleansing in our life. That's the promise. And if you humble yourself, the word is here.

He, Jesus Christ, moved with compassion, will stretch out his hand and touch you and say, I am Willie. Be cleansed.