First Baptist Church Litchfield
October 13, 2024

      • 2 Corinthians 5:20–21ESV

  • Jesus Messiah
  • His Mercy Is More
  • The Gospel Song
  • Have Mercy On Me

      • Psalm 73:25–28ESV

  • Jesus Thank You

  • The Plight of the Unclean

    William Barclay described what a leper looks like:
    “The whole appearance of the face is changed, till the man loses his human appearance and looks, as the ancients said, ‘like a lion or a satyr.’ The nodules grow larger and larger. They ulcerate. From them there comes a foul discharge. The eyebrows fall out, the eyes become staring. The voice becomes hoarse and the victim wheezes because of the ulceration of the vocal chords. The hands and feet always ulcerate. Slowly the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerated growths. The average course of the disease is nine years, and it ends in mental decay, coma, and ultimately death. The sufferer becomes utterly repulsive—both to himself and to others.”
    Leprosy was both contagious and repulsive. In biblical times, being declared unclean meant more than just physical ailments; it was a spiritual state that separated one from the community and the presence of God.
    The plight of a leper was a life of feeling repulsively unwelcome. The Lord says in Leviticus,
    Leviticus 13:45–46 ESV
    45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
    A person with leprosy would not be welcome in the church, community, and home, not merely because they were sick, but because they were unclean.
    So, it would’ve been unheard of for a leper to approach a well-known rabbi, and yet in our passage, this leper comes and kneels at Jesus’ feet. Furthermore, he asks Jesus to make him clean.
    Now the crowd has to be stunned beyond belief. On the one hand, they expect Jesus to tell this leper to get lost. The native belief about lepers in Jesus’ day was that lepers were cursed by God for being slanderers. Jesus could have told that leper, "You reap what you sow."
    On the other hand, Jesus is known for being compassionate and healing the sick. Of course, people have to stick around to see what Jesus does next.
    What you will see from Jesus’ interaction with this leper in Matthew 8:1-4? There are three observations we can make of Jesus.

    Jesus offers compassion to the unclean (Matthew 8:1-2)

    Matthew 8:1–2 ESV
    1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
    The word, “compassion,” finds it’s root in Latin; Lat. compati. It means “to sympathize,” or, “to suffer with”). The Westminster Dictionary defines compassion as a desire to help others and assist them arising from perceiving suffering, being moved by it, and alleviating it; a response of the mind, emotion, and will.
    Compassion, motivated by a deep love for your fellow man, looks upon the misery of others with a profound willingness to make an effort, even at great sacrifice, to ease another’s pain, readiness to forgive, eagerness to help.
    There are three main words that captures God’s compassion in the Hebrew: Hesed, rāhamîm, h̥n/h̥nan. Hesed is very broad, capturing God’s covenant love, faithfulness, and mercy toward his people. Hnan captures more of God’s grace and favor, and it is used often between two people. For example, Joseph found favor with Potiphar.
    The Hebrew word, rāhamîm (with the verb rāh̥am), is related to the word for “womb” (reh̥em). It designates “womb-love,” the love of mother (and father) for a child (1 Kgs 3:26; cf. Hos 2:6), the love of brothers and sisters who have shared the same womb for each other (cf. Amos 1:11). It implies a physical response; the compassion for another is felt in the center of one’s body. This mercy also results in action.
    Jesus’ compassion consists of his hesed, hnan, and rahamim. In his encounter with the leper, hesed and rahamim seem to shine the most.
    Where the Rabbi’s, Priests, and Jewish community saw the leper as a repulsive outcast, Jesus saw him as a broken image bearer who was loved and redeemable.
    When the leper came to the crowd calling unclean, unclean, unclean, while everyone cleared away from the leper, Jesus’ compassion compelled him to remain. When the leper knelt before Jesus and asked him for help, Jesus’ compassion looked on his misery without rebuke or scorn. Jesus’ compassion, motivated by a deep love for this broken man, looked upon his misery with a profound willingness to make an effort to ease his pain, and he reached out his hand to touch the untouchable.
    Do not underestimate the power of compassionate touch. I met a woman who was diseased and riddled with sores. She smelled like urine and never left her one room apartment in the ghetto. I read the bible to her when I delivered meals on meals in Louisville, KY. One day I noticed she was considerably upset. She wanted to go home to Kansas to die and she had no way of getting there. I felt for her pain. I reached out my hand to to touch her hand. When I touched her, she physically shivered and latched onto my hand. She told me she had not been touched by another human being in years. She wept.
    You have to wonder how long the leper had gone without ever being touched by another human being. How shocked he had to of been when Jesus, the Son of God, offers his compassion by reaching out to touch the him.
    There is no sinner to unclean or repulsive that Jesus does not look upon with compassion. Keep that in mind church when we minister to the broken.

    Jesus welcomes the faith of the unclean (Matthew 8:2)

    Matthew 8:2 ESV
    2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
    Do not miss the physical and spiritual posture of the leper. He kneels at Jesus’ feet and he calls hime Lord. The title Lord, in this context, does not simply mean “sir.” Using the title, Lord, with his kneeling posture signifies at the very least he has a great respect for the man Jesus, and could possibly indicate the begining of faith.
    The leper humbles himself before Jesus to ask him to do something extraordinary. The leper says,
    Matthew 8:2 ESV
    2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
    In other words, the leper recognized that Jesus had the divine power as a man of God to supernaturally heal his leprosy. Is it possible, we are observing genuine worshipful submission?
    The leper asks, “If you will.” He’s not asking if Jesus is able. He believes he is able. He asking if Jesus would be compassionate enough to oblige his request. The whole scene looks like a servant asking a king for his favor.
    Kent Hughes notes that the term translated as "knelt" (NASB, "bowed") invites us into the leper’s inner emotions. In early Greek literature, the fundamental meaning of this word was "to kiss," akin to kissing the earth while lying prostrate before deities. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, this term corresponded to the Hebrew word for bowing down. Luke adds that "he fell on his face" (5:12), which deepens the imagery. The humble leper devoted his entire being to a single minded, heart-united, loyal adoration as he lay before Christ in reverence. He worshiped Christ as the sole source of his healing. Moreover, Jesus does not deny his faith, but welcomes his faith by rewarding his request.

    Jesus cleanses the unclean (Matthew 8:3)

    Matthew 8:3 ESV
    3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
    I find it interesting that Jesus did not say to the leper, “be healed of your disease.” Instead, He says, “be clean.”
    In the Old Testament, there is a distinction between cleanness and holiness. God provided regulations about cleanness and uncleanness. To be clean is a prerequisite to becoming holy. According to Wenham, “Everything that is not holy is common. Common things divide into two groups, the clean and the unclean” (Wenham, Leviticus, 19). Douglas Magnum notes that holiness and uncleanness function as contagions—items that touch holy or unclean objects may become holy (e.g., Exod 29:37; Lev 6:18) or unclean (e.g., Lev 11:39–40) themselves. To be clean in the Hebrew was associated as being normal. If you became unclean, there was a process to become clean.
    Leviticus 14 deals primarily with the process of cleansing for skin diseases. The infected person must see a priest. The priest determines the severity of the skin disease. Restoring cleanness requires more deliberate actions, usually involving washing, waiting, being inspected, and offering sacrifice.
    Depending on the severity of the infection, whether it is getting better or not, the person may have to burn their clothes and even destory their home. If the infection goes away, they can become clean. If it remains, then the person may be banned from the camp.
    Allowing the unclean person to remain with the clean ran the risk of everyone becoming unclean because ritual cleanliness was an outward manifestation. Whatever is unclean outwardly could infect others with defilement.
    For those with leprosy, however, there was nothing in either code to allow them ever to be clean. The kind of leprosy the man who stood in front of Jesus was an infectious disease that had no cure. Not only was the leper sick, be he was condemned to a state of perpetual uncleanness according to the Law. Jesus was not merely concerned with healing the man’s physical body. Jesus’s compassion moved him to think beyond healing. He wanted to make the man clean.
    A Jewish teacher who was concerned with keeping ritual purity would not have reached out his hand to touch the leper. That would’ve made him unclean. So why wasn’t Jesus concerned about becoming defiled by the leper? If Jesus is purely clean, surely touching the leper would make him unclean.
    If Jesus was merely man, or an ordinary Jewish Rabbi, that would be true according to Leviticus. Jesus is, however, the Son of God. He does not become unclean by touching sin. He makes clean everything he touches. Nothing can remain unclean when Jesus touches it.

    Jesus makes everything clean because he is the pure perfect Son of God.

    Christ embodies perfection in multiple ways. His priesthood is flawless because he meets all the rightful demands of the law. This perfection is tied to his holiness, innocence, and purity; despite being tempted as humans are, he remains sinless. Additionally, his dual nature as both wholly human and wholly divine further highlights his perfection. The New Testament acknowledges that Jesus Christ was without sin. His perfection is also vital to his role in salvation, "by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." Ultimately, Christ's perfection equips us to achieve perfection as well through is death and resurrection.
    Christ’s suffering and death made Him “perfect” in the sense of qualifying to serve as the faultless high priest for God’s people (Hebrews 7:28). Only through suffering on the cross was Christ able to accomplish the work of redemption and become the perfect, complete, effective Savior of His people (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus was the perfect example of what it means to live in obedience to the Father’s will.

    Jesus makes everything clean because he has authority over sickness

    We know Jesus had authority over sickness because healing the sick was part of validating his message of His kingdom. There are many examples of Jesus’ authority over sickness. Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever. A few chapters later, Jesus heals a woman who had suffered loosing blood for over twelve years. Jesus healed a man whose hand was shriveled up in a synagogue. We also know Jesus had authority over sickness because he had the power to give the same authority to his disciples. Luke tells us,
    Luke 9:1–2 ESV
    1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

    Jesus makes us clean by identifying with us in his incarnation and crucifixion.

    What the leper was on the outside, every human being is on the inside. Our hearts are calloused like rotting flesh toward God. We are morally repulsive to His holiness. Our thoughts, motives, and actions cry out to heaven and earth, “Unclean, unclean, unclean!” The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah 64:6
    Isaiah 64:6 CSB
    6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
    Those in heaven who observe us might be incline to keep their distance from us. The bible describes our hearts as desperately wicked and deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). Paul describes our leprous sinful natures. He says,
    Romans 3:10–17 CSB
    10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, 17 and the path of peace they have not known.
    Romans 3:18 ESV
    18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
    We who are defiled, defile everything we touch. Yet, Jesus chose to touch us by putting on flesh and dying on a cross.

    Jesus identifies with us through is incarnation

    He could touch the leper because he left heaven to take on our flesh. He could feel the misery of the leper and exercise compassion because his incarnation made him able to sympathize with all of our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:14-16). He identifies with us as broken image bearers.

    Jesus identifies with us at the cross

    When he took on flesh, he took on our filth, our uncleanliness. Paul says,
    2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
    21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
    We all come before Jesus as unclean, sinful lepers, burdened by guilt and shame from our wrong choices that have led us to hate God and our neighbors. Our battles with pornography, infidelity, idolatry, jealousy, bitterness, fear, and doubt make us feel untouchable in God’s sight, as if He cannot bear to be in the presence of such dirt and betrayal. This is indeed the case if we attempt to approach God relying on our own strength and pride.
    Though the leper was healed physically, his sin remained. Jesus understood that the leper required more than just healing of the body; he needed a compassionate Savior to cleanse his heart. The incarnation and atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross purified him from his sins, making him eternally clean in God’s eyes.‌
    The apostle John says
    1 John 1:9 ESV
    9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
    You must kneel at the foot of the cross and humbly say, Lord, if you will, make me clean.” To every sinner who confesses their sin and repents, Jesus reaches out to you, embraces you, and says, “I will. Be clean.”

    The “unclean” made “clean” must testify of Jesus cleansing power (Matthew 8:4)

    Matthew 8:4 ESV
    4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
    Jesus did not wish to be labeled simply as another Jewish miracle worker. Therefore, he instructed the leper to remain silent about his healing. Instead, he wanted the leper to go to the temple, despite being forbidden, and to approach the priest, who had previously rejected him due to his condition. Jesus intended for the leper to testify at the temple and to the priest that he had been made clean by Jesus Christ. The testimony is simple,

    Jesus the Messiah, is compassionately willing and able to make the unclean, clean.

    Furthermore, by guiding the man to present himself and the requisite offering (Lev. 14:10ff.) to the priest in Jerusalem, Jesus adhered to the cleansing laws outlined in Leviticus 14. The leper’s act of presenting himself along with the offering now serves as a testimony to the temple and its priests, affirming that Jesus is the Messiah who inaugurates God’s kingdom.
    With the arrival of God’s kingdom, Jesus, the Messiah King, will eradicate all impurities, diseases, and even death. Every inhabitant of heaven will be cleansed by Jesus, maintaining purity for all eternity—a reassuring and steadfast promise of our faith.
    Paul says
    2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
    17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
    Jesus heals your spiritual leprosy, purifying you from all unrighteousness. You are no longer detestable to God. The old self has passed away, and a new one has emerged. In Christ, Jesus has cleaned and liberated you from spiritual afflictions and granted you eternal life. He has provided you with a new eternal community, ensuring you will never feel isolated. You are secure in His embrace, with a promised inheritance. Avoid returning to sin as a dog returns to its vomit. Invite the Holy Spirit to guide you in living a pure life. By doing this you will testify to the world that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who has the power to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

      • Matthew 8:1–4ESV

      • Leviticus 13:45–46ESV

      • Matthew 8:1–2ESV

      • Matthew 8:2ESV

      • Matthew 8:3ESV

      • Luke 9:1–2ESV

      • Isaiah 64:6ESV

      • Romans 3:10–17ESV

      • Romans 3:18ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 5:21ESV

      • 1 John 1:9ESV

      • Matthew 8:4ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17ESV

  • Our God Reigns (How Lovely On The Mountains)
First Baptist Church Litchfield
pastorjason.fbcl@gmail.com
217-324-4232
http://www.firstbaptistlitchfield.org/
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