Jesus Cleanses the Untouchable

Luke 5:12-16

Last week we spoke about the heart needed to be a disciple: a heart to be around people and see their need; a heart of compassion and humility; a heart of confession and willingness to disciple others; and a heart that does so without fear, forsaking all things (counting all things as rubbish) to follow after Christ.

Today’s message you might say, provides an example of last week’s message, while also giving us a clear picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

(STORY ABOUT ME and ACNE):

Throughout high school I struggled severely with acne. It covered more than my face—it covered areas of my arms, my torso and back. I tried almost everything I could to get rid of it. Though no one—minus a 5 year old boy, really said anything, it wasn’t hard to see how others looked at me from time to time—and I am sure it greatly affected any aspects of a thriving High School dating life (LOL).

The looks and whispers of a handful, their thoughts of me and my ACNE, pale in comparison to the looks, thoughts, and alienation a person with leprosy experienced in Biblical times.

Leprosy, according the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and “is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria (in some cases it can take 20 years to develop signs of an infection). It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose, as bacteria attack the nerves and cause the infected area to lose the ability to sense touch and pain, which can lead to injuries, cuts, and burns.

The skin becomes darker, dry and flaky, or red due to inflammation of the skin. Here’s some of the effects of leprosy—if left untreated:

Paralysis of hands and feet

Advanced cases result in multiple injuries due to lack of sensation, eventually causing the body to reabsorb the affected digits (appearing as a loss of fingers and toes)

Ulcers and blindness can occur

During Jesus’ day, there was no treatment as there is today. Imagine then how devastating this disease was, not just physically, but emotionally, socially, and spiritually.

This is the condition of the man in Luke 5:12—full of leprosy, suffering physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually (we will how leprosy—in Scripture is a picture of sin).

———-

I. (v.12) We must cry out to Jesus in desperation

Luke 5:12 “And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.””

(CONTEXT)

The man was full of leprosy; so much so he had become extremely disfigured and full of sores; again

Leprosy was the most terrible disease in the day of Jesus, a disease that was greatly feared. It was often times disfiguring and even fatal in some cases.

A leper was considered utterly unclean—physically and spiritually

A leper was judged as dead—the living dead.

A leper was banished as an outcast, totally ostracized from society—considered without hope of going to heaven.

A leper was polluted or incurable by any human means

Leprosy severed relationships, severed a person from living in society, severed a person from hope; they would be left alienated and alone, cut off and cast out.

The man saw Jesus and forgot everything else

This man’s response and approach (“a man…saw Jesus and fell on His face…”) Jesus bears similarities to other Biblical accounts:

Luke 7:37 “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil,”

Mark 10:47 “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!””

What stirred this man, the woman from Luke 7, and Bartimaeaus, was the gospel message Jesus Christ was preaching and delivering

The conditions of these individuals, and those like them, left them in the same condition as the man with leprosy (cut off and cast out).

Each of these individuals, however, had heard of all that Jesus was doing, how His message from unlike any other message they had heard, that it was full of promise and hope, of healing and restoration, and it drove them to humility, which led them to seek Jesus out

What the man forsook in going to Jesus:

The man forgot all the people surrounding Jesus

The man forgot the shame of his condition

The man forgot the embarrassment of his condition

The man forgot he was to keep 6 feet away of anyone

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION)

Sin operates in much the same way as leprosy, yet worse: Sin

Is the most terminal of what man suffers from

Leaves a person spiritually unclean

Carries with it, it’s own judgment—condemnation and death

Leaves us as an outcast, banished and alienated from God

Is incurable by human hands/means—we cannot cleanse ourselves of sin

Sin’s wake—what it leaves behind—is where the enemy loves to live;

In the guilt and shame the enemy desires to see person to live under, feelings of despair, loneliness, helplessness and hopelessness begin to take root—and this separates us from realizing the grace and mercy of God offered to us through Jesus Christ.

What should stir our sinful hearts to the humility to seek Jesus out, is the Gospel—the good news of God’s grace gift of Jesus Christ

Does the gospel stir your heart, to know that God, thru His Son, stepped into our world/your world in order to reconcile you back to Him?

Does the gospel stir your hope to know there’s an escape/a way out of sin’s condemnation, that you can be cleansed of sin, washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 1:18 ““Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

Does the gospel stir you to lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares and run unashamed to the foot of the cross?

One more thing in comparing sin with leprosy:

As the man’s leprosy distorted and disfigured this man’s image, so does our sin. In our sin, we twist, distort, and pervert the image we are created in

When our lens of how we see ourselves gets blurred—we cannot live how we should in that image

Look at Adam and Eve—in a moment, sin distorted their view of God and themselves

Full of shame and guilt, they tried to cover themselves (their sin) and their tarnished image

Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

Why? Because in their sin, b/c this image had now been blurred, God was now someone to be afraid of and they hid from God (and their image)

Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Genesis 3:10 “So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.””

The longer the man’s leprosy remained untreated, the more severe and distorted his image became (think about his body absorbing his own finger and toes).

So it is with sin—the more and more our sin goes untreated, the more we twist and pervert the image we were created in.

This truth, sadly, is no respecter of persons and can effect ANY person (believer and unbeliever alike)

Sin, however distorted or twisted we’ve allowed it become, does not have to have the final word in your life

What does the Bible say:

We are created in God’s triune Genesis 1:17, 2:7 and Psalms 139)

We are created with a purpose (Genesis 2, Ephesians 2:10, and 1 Thessalonians 4:3)

II. (v.13) What the man encountered and experienced when he approached Jesus

Luke 5:13 “Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.”

(CONTEXT) In short—the man was healed and his “image” restored

Note the man’s physical and spiritual condition—a condition which gripped and seized Jesus’ heart

Physically,

His body was full of sores

His flesh was being eaten away

He most likely embodied those physical mark we discussed in the opening—maybe even worse

Spiritually

He was lonely and alienated

He was empty and hopeless

He was helpless and in desperation

Note the man’s statement, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean (this speaks to two things)

(FIRST) Look at the statement itself

The leper did just asked to be healed—he asked to be cleansed

He desired restoration—to made whole—to be saved completely

The leper’s statement, “Lord, if you are willing…”

The leper believed Jesus had the power to cleanse him

The leper appealed to the heart of Jesus—not to His power (there’s not doubt in the power of Jesus, but it’s the love of God that brings cleansing)

(SECOND) Note the faith this man had in Jesus—

It wasn’t “you should be able to cleanse me,”

It wasn’t “you might be able to cleanse me,”

It wasn’t, “you maybe able to cleanse me,” no

It was emphatic Jesus, “You can make me clean!”

Note how Jesus responded—with compassion (“I am willing, be cleansed!”)

He touched the man—an unheard of act, for the man was considered “untouchable,” full of a feared and dreaded disease

Jesus condescended—meaning He lowered Himself to touch the man—something no one else would do

Jesus in a sense said, “I will and I can make you clean, b/c no one can or will, I will.”

Jesus cleansed the man fully (spiritually, physically, and socially), and he was cleansed by the very Word of Jesus Christ

Note the immediacy and the completeness of the man’s healing, “…Immediately the leprosy left him.”

The man here, didn’t have to wait to be healed—he was healed (spiritually & physically) immediately

The man’s leprosy was completely healed,

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION)

The condition sin leaves us in,

Grips the heart of Jesus—no matter how degraded, prodigal, or despicable the sin may be

Stirred Jesus to act on our behalf—to do something unheard of by man, that “no man would scarcely do for a righteous man…”

Romans 5:7–8 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Stirred Jesus to condescend/lower Himself in full humility to death on a cross, so that a person’s “condition” might go from condemned to redeemed

Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

The condition our sin leaves us in, demands the same bold/wild faith as this man;

A faith which accepts Romans 3:23 on themselves (explain that many people fail to associated this verse with themselves

A person will miss the gospel, if they miss applying Romans 3:23 to themselves

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Void fear, but is full of belief that Jesus is willing and He will

Mark 5:36 “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.””

Void of doubt, but is full of trust

James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”

Void of uncertainty, but is full of complete certainty

Romans 10:13 “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When the compassion of Jesus elicits a person’s confession of Jesus—heart change takes place

Though the cross is vulgar—it’s compassion is unparalleled, as it unites sinful man to a holy God

The condition of our sin is remedied through the sufficiency of God’s Word.

The Bible is God’s very Word; it is God’s revealing of Himself

The Bible is God’s perfect Word, given to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

The Bible is God’s benevolent Word, given to us to make us wise for salvation

2 Timothy 3:15 “and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

The Bible contains God’s plan of redemption—His Son as the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

The Bible is God’s Word of grace—which has the power to give us life (true and abundant life)

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Just as with this man—the cleansing of your sin, in your repentant confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

Is immediate and complete—no hint of condemnation and stain is left untouched by the blood of Jesus Christ

III. (5:14) Jesus’ instructions to the cleansed man are instructions for every genuine believer

Luke 5:14 “And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.””

Mark 1:44 “and 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.””

(CONTEXT)

(We must not become confused in the two instructions Jesus gives the man)

Jesus’ first command: “…say nothing to anyone…/…tell no one…” Why would Jesus tell the man this? Few people ever go as deep in their depravity as this man (he was full of leprosy—sin), and he had been saved from so much; he was full of joy and praise and a desire to run and tell the world;

Jesus knew in this man’s heart there existed a bent towards pride & self-importance. Because of this there was the temptation of boasting and comparing

The man’s attention was NOT supposed to be on what happened to him—but upon Jesus, His compassion and mercy (we will explain this in our application shortly)

Jesus’ second command: Obedience (“go…show thyself to the priest…”)

Luke’s account teaches the priority of worship and gratitude to God and learning to walk in obedience before we do anything else.

Mark’s account teaches the same, but it adds another truth; the last portion of Mark 1:44 states, “as a testimony to them.””

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION—YOU AND ME)

While it is true that if it weren’t for the grace of God, believers would still be dead in sin—the same temptation exists for believers today as it was here in Luke 5; the temptation of self-importance, boasting or comparing ourselves.

We are not saved b/c we are move favored than others, for God has no favorites

Acts 10:34 “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.”

Romans 2:11 “For there is no partiality with God.”

We are not saved so we can compare ourselves with other sinners, thinking we are above them

Romans 3:22–23 “even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We are all the same at the foot of the cross-no matter the depravity of our sin

We are not saved to testify of ourselves, but to testify of the cross, of the grace and mercy found in Jesus Christ.

It’s Biblical that we share our testimony and witness to others, but the testifying and the witnessing must be centered on Jesus Christ:

“The grace of God saves, cleanses, and restores from all sin. God’s grace has saved me and His grace can save you. Forgiveness and salvation is for everyone

We are saved to bring God glory

Ephesians 3:20–21“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

We have been saved by grace

Understanding that our salvation is grace alone through faith alone, guards us from boasting in ourselves

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

There must be no misunderstanding—a changed heart must result in an obedient heart:

Obedience to God’s Word is first—what real faith is

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

James 2:17 “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Obedience to God’s Word is our primary witness for Christ

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Obedience to God’s Word is to walk out Galatians 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

What determines/verifies a person’s salvation is the development of spiritual fruit.

If a person claims, “I am Christian,” the expectation is that Spiritual fruit will begin to be developed in their lives. Spiritual fruit the “produce” grown from the stem of Biblical obedience and obedience is the stem produced from the seed of salvation.

We must also understand—as this man was to understand—believers are to belong to a church family

In a person’s repentance and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are adopted as God’s children and His family:

Acts 2:41–42 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

“to them”—is the church, the body of believers

Being a part of the body means we are part of the SAME body, the SAME faith, the SAME spirit

1 Corinthians 12:12–13 “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

Being a part of the body means there a blessings in gathering together as the body

Hebrews 10:25 “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

IV. (5:15-16) The impact and example of Jesus Christ

Luke 5:15–16 “However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”

(LUKE’S ACCOUNT)

Luke records that multitudes of people continued to come seek out Jesus—to hear Him and to be healed by Him

Jesus carried with Him both the message of salvation and the power to cleanse/heal people, yet it was Him and Him alone

Jesus also knew the source of the message and power—His Heavenly Father; this is why He so often withdrew to pray and spend time communing with Him.

(MARK’S ACCOUNT) We learn something interesting and valuable thru Mark’s gospel

Mark 1:45 “However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.”

The man Jesus had cleansed and charged not to say anything, disobeyed and proclaimed what Christ had done freely.

Through the man’s disobedience Mark records that Jesus, “could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places,” where people continued to assimilate around Him

Jesus had to leave b/c the crowds were just too large, He was forced into a “desert place.”

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION—YOU AND ME)

Jesus is most concerned with a believer’s obedience over anything else, and this is what the application and lesson is all about—it’s not about NOT sharing Jesus—it’s about obedience

We may look at this end of this account and think:

“It doesn’t make sense; it doesn’t register that Christ would tell this man to not go and tell others what He had done?”

We must remember, it’s God plan not ours; it’s His purpose we are to pursue; it’s His will we are to be in

Obedience is not always going to make sense, b/c we can’t see what God sees, we don’t see through His lens

Here’s the point

Because the man disobeyed, Jesus had to withdraw from the city-think of the people who were never helped b/c Jesus had to withdraw

Here’s the connection:

One of the most damaging ripple effects of a believer’s disobedience is it puts our witness at risk;

We must remember, believers are God’s chosen ambassadors to testify of Him and of His grace, mercy, and redemption offered to man thru the cross of Christ.

How we live out our faith, is just as important (if not more) that our proclamation of our faith; living out our faith is centered on obedient faith—obedience faith helps draws others to the knowledge of God.

1 Cor 15:34 “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”

(WORSHIP/CLOSING)—Today’s lesson is saturated with the truth of the gospel.

I. To those not yet in Christ (born again)—Two things:

The image you were created in is God’s image and with His image comes your purpose

Let the cross have the final word

There’s no distance you can run where you are too far from God

There’s no sin, so depraved, which God cannot cleanse and forgive

There’s no shame or guilt that the cross can’t remove

Ephesians 3:17–19 “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

To those who are believers, two things:

There will always be a need to continue to live in the Gospel. The more we grow in Christ, the more awareness we have of God’s holiness and the more awareness we have for or sin (not that we are sinning more, but or awareness of sin becomes more acute). The gospel then, becomes what we focus on more and more.

When we lose awareness of our sin, or lose awareness of God’s holiness, we shrink the cross—so watch out for the leprous barnacles of sin to attach themselves

To do this, is understand where we stand as believers

Romans 5:2 “through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

No matter who and no matter the sin, there’s room at the foot of the cross, b/c everything changes at the cross