The Gospel of Luke - Week 16

All right, so that today we're going to be in Luke Chapter 5 starting the first 12. And so for those of you that have read I had at least to the point of reading rule subhedar that's in there and we talked about Jesus cleansing a leper today and I wanted to take a minute and work through this concept of leprosy because it's all different than what we know it to be in modern-day.

So what exactly is? leprosy that's that's a fun topic to discuss and you'll actually find that there's actually some modern-day leper colonies still somewhat interesting about that leprosy today is known as Hansen's Disease that is completely treatable condition which mainly causes skin lesions and nerve damage and in some severe cases, it causes some some disfigurement, but that's that's kind of the extent of leprosy as we understand it today and the risk that we have is if we assume If we assume that that we're better than the past and we assume that because of our technological advancements that if this isn't as big of a problem, then we lose some of the context of this portion of scripture when we talked about how we do this on an intellectual basis all the time that we just assumed that well if I would have lived in that time. I would have known better similar concept we do it with with technology. We do it with with these advancements rather regularly really run the risk of not seeing this disease for how terrifying it really was. I was an absolutely terrifying thing in this isn't an issue. I'm not having a treatment for it like we do now it's not an issue of like influenza how it used to be relatively deadly, but now we can treat it and it's not really that big of a concern anymore. It's more of an inconvenience that we're talking about. I don't take a minute and just say this. There's no such thing as an insignificant Miracle performed by Jesus. And what we do is we run the risk of thinking that and that's kind of a scary thought so I want to dial that back. There's no such thing as an easy way to perform these things outside of the work of the almighty God.

Jesus didn't perform cheap parlor tricks. This is the Son of God were talking about and you did an amazing work.

And to be healed and cleansed of leprosy how it was in the significant action by the almighty God. So I wanted to find Biblical times leprosy for you as best I can so I found a

excerpt from a medical

Book that talked about what this was like in the symptoms of leprosy in biblical times. So the symptoms are as follows. The patient's voice is hoarse and comes rather through the nose than the mouth. The blood is full of little white shining bodies, like grains of millet like there's grains in in your blood. Which upon filtration separate themselves from the serum is scabious and destitute of its natural humidity in so much salt put in it does not dissolve.

It's so dry that vinegar poured on it boils. And if so strongly bound together by little imperceptible threads that led thrown into it floats.

Sounds great. Sounds great. The face resembles a coal half extinct unctuous shining and Bloated with frequent hard knobs green at the bottom and white at the top. The hair is short stiff and branded and not to be torn off without bringing away some of the rotten flesh to which it appears. If it grows again either on the head or chin it is always white that's worth the forehead run large wrinkles or furrows from one Temple to the other the eyes red and inflamed shine like those of a cat the ear swollen and red eaten with ulcers for the bottom and encompassed a little glands the nose sunken in. because of the rotting of the cartilage the tongue dry and black swollen ulcerated divided with furrows and spotted with brands of white the skin covered with ulcers that died and revived on each other or with white spots or scales like a fish. It is rough and insensible and when cut instead of blood you'll do the same as liquor.

It arrives in time to such a degree of insensibility that the wrist feet or even the large tendon may be pierced with a needle without the patient's feeling any pain.

At last the nose large tendon or nose fingers toes. and other parts fall off entirely and by a death peculiar to each of them anticipate that of the patient. It is added the body is so hot that a fresh Apple helping hand for an hour will be dried and wrinkled as if exposed to the Sun for a week.

That will haunt your dreams. It's a horrible horrible thing and I didn't want to purposely gross you out with that, but it's important for us to recognize that the whole body is literally rotting away.

The skin the muscles the cartilage the bone everything you're basically a Walking Corpse.

And being a leper was the worst imaginable condition of the time. That is what we think today. Probably one of the worst things as being being cancer, right? This was like that except contagious.

You were socially isolated you were bands to be outside the city by the law. You would have to bind yourself in bandages and you have to yell unclean as you people would come near to identify yourself as a leopard completely isolated socially. Economically isolated that you couldn't work at how would you get food?

or water Somebody would have to bring it to you and all the dishes that use that you've touched would have to be burnt and destroyed.

All your clothing and have to be burned anything and anyone that came into contact with you would be affected or could be infected.

So obviously you're isolated from your family. Couldn't risk your loved ones getting it's highly contagious. So this leprosy would be a sentence of the physical death of social death familial death by unga see your family again and religiously your isolated. as well If you're some reason you were allowed in the synagogue you were put in this little box away from everyone else. That's if you manage to be in the synagogue at all. And one of the accounts I found there were three rabbis that talked about how they would respond to leprosy one said that he wouldn't go closer than 6 feet upwind + 150 feet down when one of them said he literally carried rocks with him to throw at the lepers if they tried to get close to him.

One of them said that he wouldn't even eat an egg after removing the shell if the egg were purchased on a street where a leopard had walked by.

complete isolation Nobody wanted anything to do with you? No family. No friends. No, touch no human touch. No hope Absolutely, no help.

This is the condition of the man that ran read about. in this chapter

and so from their rowboat will start reading will be starting in verse 12. While he was in one of the city's there came a man full of leprosy.

full of leprosy Absolutely, like we see different healings like a withered hand or receive some connection of Jesus healing a leper and this is full of leprosy. It's an intentional concept all of the symptoms that we read about couple minutes ago or present. This is he's full right but likely a long time for it to have infected him to this capacity. Absolutely miserable.

While he was in one of the city's there came a man full of leprosy and when he saw Jesus he fell on his face. I need a lot happening here right at me. If you remember they're supposed to be outside the city and it says they're in the city and this leper sees Jesus was not really supposed to be there and knows that right is falling on his face. He's falling on his face in shame because of who what he is either. There's a lot of Shame here. There's fear of some sort of repercussions for breaking the law and being in the city. And there's also this this humility right? He's prostrate before Jesus the position of submission.

Just as he fell on his face and begged him begged him Lord. If you will you can make me clean. And this is just this is incredible and the faith in this moment. I was reading through and preparing and I just I couldn't get past this for a while. He's not just physically in submission. Everything in him his heart his mind his soul. His body is submitted to Jesus In This Moment. You saying if you will? You can heal me.

If you will not if you can. Not if you're able. He knew and believed in Christ ability. He's unsure if Jesus would heal him the willingness to heal him. That's a powerful prayer. When you needed something from Jesus when you when you needed a reply, did you ever say if it's your will?

I don't I'll be honest. I I plead with Jesus I plead with God I play with God on numerous occasions, and I've never had the stones to say that I've never been able to say if it's your will. And here's this miserable person full of leprosy that has that Faith to say if you will.

the hardest submissions Christ That Remains regardless of the outcome

and some of us like like we all of us have weather the storm that didn't bring healing but didn't bring what we wanted it to that. It didn't end well in bring the miracle that we prayed for.

Yet here. We are. Why?

The faith that is given by God is a lasting infinite face. We may not have seen it in a moment. I may not have prayed if you will. I may have been simply begging God for something. And here we are because the face and the almighty God is not easily shaken. The source of faith that we have from God is not dependent on our circumstances. Even when we are weak. He remains faithful to give us the faith to believe in him. I'm just as a side note. How many nights do you think this guy stayed awake praying to be healed before this moment? How many nights do you spend crying out to be reunited with his family and not have these sores and ulcers.

infected Hazel Tire body pretty amazing woman of Faith to hear those words and see that heart and a person.

so we keep reading verse 13 and Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying I will Canby Clayton so this is the almighty God of the universe by this is the same guy that spoke everything into existence is the same Jesus that hold the universe together at the power of His word is same Jesus that called Lazarus from the dead just speaking it. He didn't have to touch him. You could have just spoken if you decide be clean. Eating have to actually say anything you could have just caused it to happen. the Jesus statue

an image that you get is that here's this person prostrate in Jesus reaches down and touches and it says I will be clean

out of his compassion. Jesus didn't just cleanse the man of his leprosy. touch them

Manhattan been touched and who knows how long and even if you was the nerves were so Daddy wouldn't have been able to feel it.

I'm kind of a touchy person. I got a lot of hugging my kids. I can't imagine a couple days without physical contact with another person prison systems use isolationist as punishments. It's psychologically damaging to not be in physical contact with other people.

Natasha

and immediately the leprosy Mastiff

immediately He doesn't give him some antibiotics and said take these for 10 days and come back and see me when it's done. He didn't even didn't even go in San Ramon Lee wash him multiple times like we've seen in other healings of leprosy UPS gone. Everything was gone.

Can you imagine their can you imagine being face in the dust and hearing Jesus say I will it be clean and then feeling the touch of Jesus? Justin credible have you ever wanted something to be true? So badly you struggle to open your eyes? Cuz you didn't want it to not be true.

All of these lesions gone all the disfigurement gone. All the cartilage is restored. He's feeling restored his sight restored. He's immediately and fully completely healed.

pretty miraculous

when we look at this verse 14 any charged him to tell no one but go show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this has anybody else set out to read? the Bible cover to cover You didn't know he never tried we tried it. You feel that it? Yeah. Yeah, I have to get I gave up to get attention. I found something interesting RC sproul's said that they found that most people in graduate level Seminary still hadn't read their Bible cover to cover. Does it mean I hadn't read the text and been through it, but I hadn't read it from cover to cover, right? zuniga's where did you quit? You put in Genesis. Exodus Leviticus that that's why I quit Leviticus multiple times Leviticus is about all of these priorities and laws and rules and regulations and rituals and and cleansing requirements and it's pretty fascinating stuff. Like if you actually start to read it, it tells you how to treat mold. Right, and we just kind of figured that out 40 years ago almost bad. We should probably do something with it, right and back in Leviticus. We already had everything we needed to get rid of mold in Leviticus 13 to 14 that describes. how to be cleansed in the temple

But if you were healed of leprosy there's this whole process you have to go through to show that you're clean, right? Because when you contracted what you thought was leprosy you would go to the priests and if they confirmed it Let me know if you got leprosy and your son from everything like we talked about all this isolation. And if You Were Somehow healed you had to prove that healing. Sacrifices were made. The priest would come out of the city. To inspect you and if you pass the test then you be isolated for 7 days, and then you come and re-inspect you. And there were more sacrifices as a lot to do to prove that you were clean.

the river Jesus doesn't perform parlor tricks right until you can look at this and see him as commanding this person to follow the law. Which is true? You can also look at it and say Jesus is saying don't just go tell people if you're healing go to the priest proven. This isn't a temporary fix. This isn't a trick you are completely healed inside and out and the law will prove it to be finished.

No longer socially isolated right once pronounce to clean. They can come back into the city back with his family. His friends doesn't have to move around crying unclean anymore. Didn't have to Define himself as The Walking Dead. No longer economically isolated we can work again. You can earn a living again. He can buy his own food. He can do something as simple as getting his own water. Right something that we take for granted regularly. You just have to burn his clothes. So you don't have to destroy all the dishes. He's ever used every time. completely no longer economically isolated ain't no longer religiously isolate. Because Jesus completely holistically healed him and put him to the scrutiny of the Mosaic law to show that it was finished that it was complete. He didn't just make him look good. We made a new.

And so much more has he done for us than this.

We're all like this leper right work. We're all like this person without Jesus were were walking around and the death of our sins just hangs on us. And the stench of it just lingers.

but if we look in a fusions Chapter 2 filter in there with me.

starting in verse 4

but God being rich in Mercy because of his great love

with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved. This isn't a cheap parlor trick. This couldn't have been accomplished any other way, it's not something that we can explain away. It's not a partial work. It's an absolute miracle that the love of God was so great that we are no longer dead in our sins. We are made new in Christ and just like the cleansing of the leper. It's complete. It's finished. The death have been washed away in the stench is gone.

And the Bible says that though our sins are as Scarlet. They shall be white as snow.

And not only are we brought from Death to life if we keep going in a fusions. Even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages. He might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by Grace. You have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works. So that no one may boast for we all we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We're not just brought from Death to life. We're sealed at the spirit and adopted into the family of God to be co-heirs with Christ. We've been so much more than healed and brought to life. We've been so much more than cleansed. And just like the leper there's this there's this command that we have right Jesus told the leper don't go and talk to people go to the priest and prove yourself clean.

And the work we have is not to earn the Salvation that we received to prove it. Is the prove it to show the work of Christ in our lives with a quit running around like obeying the laws of scripture is some sort of Burden the burden Jesus literally says I have done everything for you to be mine Go and show the works that I've done go and prove yourself to be who I say you are.

Go and show that in me, you stand under the scrutiny of the law. It's horribly the salt of the earth city on a hill, right? We show the light of Jesus in the darkness of this broken world because of his great mercy and his great love.

Your submission to Jesus and to the law is supposed to be the proof that you've been saved by God.

The Jesus stretched out his hand and saved you and your miserable state. Even brought from Death to life and it's not a burden. It's the great joy that we have to go and show the love of God that has been given us in Christ. osprey

I got to be thank you for this amazing miracle that you've given us and performed in us that you've brought us from death to life that we pray that you would.