A Man Full of Leprosy
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Introduction
Introduction
In this section of Luke’s gospel, we have been looking at Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.
From what Jesus says and does it is clear that he is the Son of God, the Christ, the Promised One who would save his people from their sins.
Last week we saw that although Peter could at times be impulsive, he was also insightful. When Jesus told him to let down his nets for a catch, Peter hesitated but ultimately obeyed, and when the fish came in, Peter knew that he was in the boat with God.
The passage we are going to look at this morning also proves Jesus to be God.
Just as we could have asked of the passage last week, “Who else but God could have made the first appear in the very place where Peter let down his nets?”—so this week we can ask, “Who else but God could heal a man full of leprosy?”
What we’ll see in this passage is that, just as this man was full of leprosy and so seemed beyond hope, so we are full of sin and might seem to ourselves or to others beyond hope ourselves.
What we’ll learn is that Jesus is willing to cleanse us if we are desperate for him.
This morning, I’m going to take a slightly different approach than I normally do. Instead of 1, 2, 3, we are going to talk through this passage (well, I’m going to talk and you’re going to think through this passage).
Along the way I’ll make some points of application and you’ll surely think of some of your own.
And at the end, I’ll call you to call on Jesus for salvation if you’ve not already done so.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
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To speak of cleansing rather than healing focuses attention not so much on the disease itself as on the sense of defilement that attached to the condition.
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Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Luke 1:1–9:50 (2) Condition and Request of the Leper (5:12b)
Luke 5:13–14 leaves no doubt that the leper had the disease before coming to Jesus and that he left without the disease.
While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
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Luke includes little notes for us regarding Jesus’ healings.
Luke includes little notes for us regarding Jesus’ healings.
Notice the phrase “having done him no harm” in .
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
Notice the “high fever” in .
And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf.
Notice the phrase “every one of them” in .
Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
And Luke gives us another detail here in with the phrase “full of leprosy.”
While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
These details show many things about Jesus—his tenderness, power, and the completeness of every healing he performed.
This leper in didn’t just have leprosy. He was full of leprosy. No doubt most would have considered it an incurable case. They would have cast aside this man as a lost cause.
But Jesus cured him.
He healed the man full of leprosy.
Great is his power.
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The man full of leprosy fell on his face and begged Jesus for healing (v. 12b). There is reverence in his posture before Jesus, but there is also desperation.
The man full of leprosy no doubt saw Jesus as his last hope.
[Illus] This reminds me of the woman with the issue of blood who had “endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse,” ().
She approached Jesus in a crowd and touched the his cloak without saying a word. Immediately she was healed.
Like the woman with the issue of blood, the man full of leprosy approached Jesus out of desperation.
Nothing had been able to help in the past and Jesus was his last hope.
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“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,” ( ). The man full of leprosy knew that Jesus had the power; the question was his willingness.
[Illus] At the end of , Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Then many people brought their sick loved ones to Jesus, and he healed them. Others had demons that were cast out by Jesus.
The next day the crowds came looking for him because surely more people needed to be healed. But Jesus said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose,” (). “So he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea,” ().
In fact, at the end of this little passage we’re looking at this morning, we see “great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places to pray,” ().
There was the opportunity to heal and Jesus did not, so it wasn’t always his will to heal.
There was the opportunity to heal and Jesus did not heal, so it wasn’t always his will to heal.
The leper was right not to presume on Jesus’ willingness.
There are many charlatans who masquerade as healers today. Many of them say that it is always Jesus’ will to heal. Then they fake healings all while using the name of Jesus, which only leaves people in worse shape physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
T
When comes to healing in the body, the truth is, it is sometimes Jesus’ will to heal immediately, but it is always his will to heal eternally those who who trust him.
Our physical healing may or may not come in this moment, but it will come when we are with the Lord jesus in Heaven.
There with him, every tear will be wiped away; death, morning, crying, and pain will be no longer ().
A Walk with God: Luke 20. Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy (Luke 5:12–16)
Everything we know about Christ would make him all the more willing to heal than any physician we have ever known, but again this man somehow recognized that he was in the presence of One whose power and authority far transcended anything he had ever encountered or even dreamed of encountering.
If you are suffering physically, trust Jesus.
He may take away your suffering now.
He certainly will later.
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In this case, however, it was Jesus’ will to heal. He did the unthinkable when dealing with leprosy. Luke builds the suspense when he writes, “Jesus stretched out his hand,” ().
This moment runs in my mind in slow motion.
Imagine this man full of leprosy and Jesus’ hand extending toward him; the eyes of Jesus’ followers widen. “Will he actually touch this leprous man?”
We should understand the stakes in touching such a man. tells us how a leper was to live...
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.
To be “unclean” was to be unfit for the worship of God. Not only would lepers themselves be unfit but so would anyone else who came into contact with them, the house they lived in, or anything else they touched. That’s why they were to live alone and cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” ().
This was a warning to others whenever they came near to them so they wouldn’t become unfit for worship themselves.
You see, every malady in the body, whether it be paralysis or blindness, cancer or leprosy—it’s all the result of sin. It’s not always true that it’s our personal sin that has caused it, but it is always true that it is caused by the curse of sin in general. Therefore, we can look at every disease or injury or virus as a representation of sin.
Therefore, we can look at every disease or injury or virus as a representation of sin.
God cannot allow sin in his holy presence. So anyone who had any malady in the body such as leprosy was excluded from worship and isolated from God’s people.
So the risk Jesus was taking was not just physical but spiritual and social. Not only might he become leprous, he might even be isolated from God’s people and become unfit for the worship of God, which would’ve been quite unimaginable for the Son of God.
But in reality, as Jesus stretched out his hand toward the man full of leprosy, he took no risk.
Jesus knew that he had the power to cleanse this man rather than be infected by him.
Jesus “touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him,” ().
In an instant, the man full of leprosy had none.
He had come to Jesus full of it and left Jesus without a trace of it.
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“As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ “He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
Leviticus 13:
spells out the process that priests were to use in determining if an individual actually had leprosy. tells of the process priests were to use to verify a leper had actually been cleansed.
The man full of leprosy had likely been declared leprous by the priest according to law of God in , and now Jesus sent him back to the priest to prove himself cleansed of the disease in obedience to .
We remember that Jesus said in that he had not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
It makes perfect sense then that he told this former leper to obey the law of God regarding his healing.
The process before the priest took eight days.
First, a clean bird according to Jewish Law would be killed over fresh water.
Another clean bird along with cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop would be dipped into the blood of the first bird.
That blood would be sprinkled seven times on the man who had been healed of leprosy.
The priest would’ve then pronounced the man clean and the living bird would have been released into the wild.
Then the man would wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water.
After that he could come into the community of God’s people, but he still had to live outside his own house for seven days.
Then on the seventh day he would shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. (This was either a separate shaving from the rest of the man’s body or a re-shaving of the head and neck area on the seventh day.)
The man would’ve washed his clothes again, bathed his body again, and would again be declared clean (cf. ).
And finally on the eighth day, the formerly leprous man would gather two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of a year old without blemish, about 22 liters of fine flour mixed with oil, and another 10.5 or so ounces of oil.
The priest would set these things and the man to be cleansed before the Lord.
One of the lambs would have been offered for a guilt offering along with the oil. Some of the blood of the guilt offering would be placed on the lobe of the right ear of the man to be cleansed and on his right thumb and on the big toe of his right foot.
Some of the oil would’ve been sprinkled before the Lord and some of it would have been put on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot—on top of the blood already there. The rest of the oil would be put on the head of the man to be cleansed.
Then the priest would make atonement for him before the Lord.
One of the remaining lambs would be used for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
Then the burnt offering and the grain offering would be offered on the altar (cf. Lev. 14:10-20).
That was how the priest would’ve made atonement for the man healed by Jesus.
That was how the man formerly full of leprosy was pronounced clean by the priest.
This whole process would’ve proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus had healed the man completely.
It’s interesting then that before Jesus sent the man to the priest, “he charged him to tell no one,” ().
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Jesus often commanded people to tell no one that it was he who healed them.
In it says that Jesus wouldn’t allow the demons to speak once they had been driven out because they knew that he was the Christ.
In Jesus healed two blind men and said to them, “See that no one knows about it,” ().
In Jesus healed to blind men and said to them, “See that no one knows about it,” ().
In Jesus raised a little girl from the dead but then strictly charged her parents and the others who witnessed it that no one should know this, ().
In Jesus healed a deaf man but then charged him and the others who had witnessed the healing to tell no one, ().
In some people from the village at Bethsaida brought to Jesus a blind man and begged him to heal him. Jesus took the man out of the village, healed him, and then told him to not even go back into the village.
The implication is that the healed man wouldn’t even be able to tell the people who had brought him to Jesus that he had been healed.
Instead the healed man was to go straight home, ().
Why was Jesus so secretive?
Why was Jesus so secretive?
Why didn’t he want people in his day to know who he was or what he could do?
If he really were the Christ, the Son of God, wouldn’t he want people to know it?
I can think of at least four REASONS why Jesus sometimes said, “Tell no one.”
REASON #1: There was a practical reason for this...
The crowds would’ve crushed him even more than they did.
We’ve already seen in and that reports about Jesus were circulating. People were seeking him and coming to him, (). When he taught, the crowds pressed in on him to such an extent that at the beginning of they backed him up to the water and he had to get into a boat in order to keep teaching them.
And even in our passage this morning, despite the fact that Jesus says, “tell no one,” that former leper told everyone (cf. ). says, “even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.”
If Jesus publicly declared himself open for business without warning those he healed to tell no one, he would’ve had no time to preach and pray, and those were the priorities during his earthly ministry.
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Luke 1:1–9:50 (1) Result: Report and Crowds (5:15)
Mark notes that the crush of people trying to see Jesus is so great that Jesus can no longer enter the city. He must minister in the country (Mark 1:45).
REASON #2: There was a temporal reason for this...
REASON #2: There was a temporal reason for this...
God ordained that Jesus would die in a certain place, in a certain way, at the hands of a certain people, for a certain purpose.
He would die just outside the walls of Jerusalem on a cross at the hands of Jews and Gentiles alike for the salvation of every sinner who will trust in him as the sacrifice for their sin.
There was nothing random about Jesus’ death. Everything was specifically ordained including the time of his death.
Therefore, Jesus could not allow himself to be killed either by crucifixion or by any other method before his time.
In the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus.
Jesus said that he would not go up to the Feast of Booths publically because his time had not yet fully come, (, ), i.e., it was not yet time for him to die on the cross.
Jesus later went up to the Feast of Booths in private and began to teach the crowds openly.
The things he said and the fact that the religious leaders couldn’t refute him caused some in the crowd to ask, “Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But (they said to themselves) we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from,” ().
And then Jesus responded by directly claiming to be the Christ in ...
So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
Now when Jesus made this claim, which everyone understood as a claim to be the Christ, what did the religious leaders and their followers want to do?
They wanted to kill him!
But we are told in ...
So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
If Jesus had gone around flaunting his claim to be the Christ and proving it by his signs and wonders, the religious leaders would’ve tried to kill him before his appointed hour.
That then is another reason why Jesus told people tell no one— so others wouldn’t try to take his life before he laid it down of his own accord for yours sins and mine.
REASON #3: There was a conceptual reason for this...
tells us that this was actually the fulfillment of Scripture. In many followed Jesus and he healed them all, but says that Jesus “ordered them not make him known.” Then says...
tells us that this was actually the fulfillment of Scripture. In many followed Jesus and he healed them all, but says that Jesus “ordered them not make him known.” Then says...
The Jews had misconceptions about the Messiah.
REASON #4: There was a temporal reason for this...
tells us that this was actually the fulfillment of Scripture. In many followed Jesus and he healed them all, but says that Jesus “ordered them not make him known.” Then says...
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
said the Christ, the Messiah would have a quite ministry until he brought justice to victory, i.e. until he gave his life on the cross so that God might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus ().
Now, however, those who have been justified through the shed blood of Jesus; those who have hoped in his Name are not commanded to be silent but to proclaim!
If we have placed our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, we are not sworn to secrecy but commanded to tell what the Lord has done for us!
It’s funny how when we read of Jesus commanding people to be silent, we think they should’ve been allowed to speak up. All the while, we are commanded to speak up and yet choose to remain silent.
REASON #3: There was a conceptual reason for this...
The Jews in Jesus’ day had misconceptions about the Christ. They thought that when he came he would be draped in Jewish nationalism; that he would overthrow the Romans and establish the nation of Israel as the great power on the earth.
Some in our own country misconceive of Jesus in similar manner; imagining him draped in an American flag, having established America as the great power on the earth.
The truth is Jesus is the Savior for every person in every country, Jew and Gentile alike. And he saves us not by overthrowing our military or political enemies, but by overthrowing the spiritual enemies of sin and death.
Through his perfect life, sacrificial death on the cross, and victorious resurrection from the dead, Jesus forever defeated sin and death for those that trust him.
Most people in Jesus’ day—including his own disciples—didn’t understand the Christ in that way, so rather than feed into people’s misconceptions, Jesus just told most people to tell no one.
However, Jesus didn’t always tell everyone to tell no one. In Jesus healed a man with a demon. This is the famous event in which the demon said that his name was “Legion, for we are many,” ().
Jesus didn’t always tell people to tell no one, however. In Jesus healed a man with a demon. This is the famous event in which the demon said that his name was “Legion, for we are many,” ().
But wh
After the man was healed, he wanted to go with Jesus; to follow him as one of his disciples (), but Jesus didn’t allow it. says...
And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Why was this man permitted to tell others about Jesus when others were told to tell no one?
Why
Well, one possibility is the location.
The Decapolis was a group of ten Greek cities some to south and some to the west of the Sea of Galilee. Only one city was within the borders of Palestine, i.e., the Promised Land. They were not Jewish cities, so the man with the Legion of demons was likely not Jewish. This is possibly why this man was sent to tell his people about how much Jesus had done for him while others in Jewish cities and towns were commanded to be silent.
This man wouldn’t be encouraging any misconceptions about the Christ as he told the people what Jesus had done for him.
The Greek-influenced people of the Decapolis, however, wouldn’t have had those misconceptions about the Messiah. As they listened to the man healed by Jesus, they would have heard of a great Savior
Another possibility is the individual.
It could have been that the man who was set free from demon possession understood better than most just what sort of Christ Jesus was.
He experienced firsthand that Jesus was a conqueror of spiritual enemies like those demons which once filled him rather than a conqueror of national enemies.
Perhaps for that reason, he was permitted to speak when others were told to tell no one.
REASON #4: There was a scriptural reason for this...
His time had not yet come.
REASON #2: There was a scriptural reason for this...
tells us that this was actually the fulfillment of Scripture.
In many followed Jesus and he healed them all, but says that Jesus “ordered them not make him known.” Then says...
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
Matthew was quoting , which said the Christ would have a quiet ministry until he brought justice to victory, i.e. until he gave his life on the cross so that God might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus ().
Now that Jesus has lived, died, risen, and ascended, however, those who have been justified through the shed blood of Jesus; those who have hoped in his Name are not commanded to be silent but to proclaim!
If we have placed our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, we are not sworn to secrecy but commanded to tell what the Lord has done for us!
It’s funny how when we read of Jesus commanding people to be silent, we think they should’ve been allowed to speak up.
All the while, we are commanded to speak up and yet choose to remain silent.
But even during his public ministry Jesus didn’t always tell everyone to tell no one.
In Jesus healed a man with a demon. This is the famous event in which the demon said that his name was “Legion, for we are many,” ().
After the man was healed, he wanted to go with Jesus; to follow him as one of his disciples (), but Jesus didn’t allow it. says...
And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Why was this man permitted to tell others about Jesus when others were told to tell no one?
Well, one possibility is the location.
The Decapolis was a group of ten Greek cities some to south and some to the west of the Sea of Galilee. Only one city was within the borders of Palestine, i.e., the Promised Land. They were not Jewish cities, so the man with the Legion of demons was likely not Jewish. This is possibly why this man was sent to tell his people about how much Jesus had done for him while others in Jewish cities and towns were commanded to be silent.
This man wouldn’t be encouraging any misconceptions about the Christ as he told the people what Jesus had done for him.
Another possibility is the individual.
It could have been that the man who was set free from demon possession understood better than most just what sort of Christ Jesus was.
He experienced firsthand that Jesus was a conqueror of spiritual enemies like those demons which once filled him rather than a conqueror of national enemies.
Do we understand Jesus like that?
If so, let’s tell of what he has done for us.
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Despite the command to tell no one, people talked and the crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed by him, ().
How could they not!? Here was the Word made flesh declaring to them the Word of God. Surely they loved to hear him! At least some did.
Probably most, however, loved to be healed by him.
They had various infirmities and Jesus had the power to heal them all immediately and completely.
If we had been around in those days and had been sick, maimed, or possessed, and we didn’t go to Jesus, we would have been fools.
But it seems that the more they came, the more Jesus went to prayer.
Luke loves to show us Jesus in prayer. It’s as if he says to Theophilus, “Learn this about Jesus, Theophilus, he was a man of prayer. Be like Jesus, Theophilus, be a man of prayer.”
We ought to learn that lesson as well.
The One we follow was often in prayer.
Therefore, we ought to be often in prayer.
And what amazing things Jesus has done for us in prayer!
Here he set the example for us, but Jesus also taught us how to pray in .
He prayed for us in .
In his death and resurrection, he opened the way of access for us so that we might come into the very presence of God with great boldness when we pray.
He sent the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words when we don’t know what to pray.
He has given us his Name and has told us that whatever we ask for in his Name (i.e., according to his will), we shall have.
And ultimately he is the answer to all our prayers.
When we pray for companionship, he is the friend that sticks closer than a brother!
When we pray for wisdom, he is the wisdom of God personified!
We we pray for sustenance, he has promised to provide for all our needs according to his riches in glory!
And when we pray for healing, he is the One who will eternally bring an end to all our pain and suffering!
Again, he may not do it immediately, but he will do it eternally if we trust him!
Until then he guides us, comforts us, and strengthens us through prayer!
Let’s give ourselves then to prayer!
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Luke 1:1–9:50 (2) Jesus’ Withdrawal for Prayer (5:16)
Despite all the activity, Jesus is portrayed as seeking time with God, rather than fanning his fame.
Luke: An Introduction and Commentary 2. Healing a Leper (5:12–16)
Characteristically Luke tells us that there he prayed (both verbs, withdrew and prayed, indicate continuous action).
Luke: Crossway Classic Commentaries A Leper Healed; Christ’s Diligence about Private Prayer (5:12–16)
What are we all but lepers spiritually in God’s sight? Sin is the deadly sickness by which we are all affected. It has eaten into our constitution. It has infected all our faculties. Heart, conscience, mind, and will are all diseased by sin. From the sole of our foot to the crown of our head, there is no soundness about us, but only wounds and bruises and putrefying sores (Isaiah 1:6). Such is the state in which we are born. Such is the state in which we naturally live. We are in one sense dead long before we are laid in the grave. Our bodies may be healthy and active, but our souls are by nature dead in trespasses and sins. But there is no spiritual leprosy too hard for Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The man who was formerly full of leprosy would have been welcomed back into the full fellowship of God’s people after Jesus healed him.
He will heal us too if we ask him for he is willing.
R. C. Sproul said...
That power is still in the world. People need to come to Christ today with the same attitude, with the same drive, with the same beseeching spirit of that leper who cried, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’
We are full of sin and yet immediately and completely Jesus will heal us, and then we will be fully welcomed into the community of God’s people—those who have trusted in Jesus for salvation.
A Walk with God: Luke 20. Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy (Luke 5:12–16)
That power is still in the world. People need to come to Christ today with the same attitude, with the same drive, with the same beseeching spirit of that leper who cried, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’
It is not always his immediate will to heal the body, but it is always his immediate will to heal the soul.
Are we desperate for that healing?
The leper was desperate. Did you know that he could have been stoned for seeking out Jesus like he did?
Do you think the threat of stoning scared a man full of leprosy? He probably would have welcomed the relief!
But he knew that if he wasn’t healed by Jesus then he was going to die, one way or another.
“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean,’” ().
J. C. Ryle said...
Luke: Crossway Classic Commentaries A Leper Healed; Christ’s Diligence about Private Prayer (5:12–16)
What are we all but lepers spiritually in God’s sight? Sin is the deadly sickness by which we are all affected. It has eaten into our constitution. It has infected all our faculties. Heart, conscience, mind, and will are all diseased by sin. From the sole of our foot to the crown of our head, there is no soundness about us, but only wounds and bruises and putrefying sores (Isaiah 1:6). Such is the state in which we are born. Such is the state in which we naturally live. We are in one sense dead long before we are laid in the grave. Our bodies may be healthy and active, but our souls are by nature dead in trespasses and sins. But there is no spiritual leprosy too hard for Christ.
You may think, “I’m full of sin.”
You are fuller than you know.
But Jesus will touch you with his healing hand this morning and create new life in you if you will call on him!
Be desperate for him this morning!
Understand that you will die without him!
Pray desperately, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!”
Pray desperately, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean!”
And he will cleanse your soul if you do.
For he is not willing that any should perish.
