Unclean/Clean

Introduction

this passage of scripture is awesome in many ways, but before we get to it we have to see what was just happening and we also need to see the great advantage of looking at the bible as a whole...

the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are the same story from different perspectives…

and when you piece those perspectives together you can see the beautiful story of our savior from all human sides

But here in Mark, jesus had just finished preaching in the synagogues throughout “ALL GALILEE” which in and of itself is awesome because of how dense this area was...

there were a whole lot of little cities in the area called Galilee and it says jesus went throughout all of Galilee so we are to assume he went to all of them right??

and while he was preaching he was ministering to the people

physical needs, emotional needs, and spiritual needs are all seen in the ministry of christ as being addressed..

and while he was ministering to them he was casting out devils (and there is only one devil so what this is saying is he cast out demons from people…)

((SIDE NOTE TO MY SERMON: demon possessions are a real thing…

i know in the modern church we educated people like to shun ideas we can’t fully grasp, but if we are to say we believe the bible as true, which we do, and we are to take it literally, which we do, and that is is the authority, which it is

then we also have to admit there are so many things in the “spiritual realm” that we just don’t understand or that make us uncomfortable, but neither of those are reason to say they are not real…

personal opinion here i think so many of our emotional, mental, and physiological problems are spiritual attacks… Im not saying don’t take meds if a doctor prescribes them, but of the meds don’t help maybe your doctor is a quack and you need to find a new one OR can we at least consider the possibility that it is a spiritual attack?

and if it is a spiritual attack it takes a spiritual cure not a physical cure… but thats just my opinion))

but back on point: it then it goes from the casting out of demons to leprosy...

and Leprosy was the most feared disease in the ancient world… (which btw this was mostly considered gone especially in 1st world countries but in America we had reported cases in California last year)

but in that time a leper would have been considered the most unclean, revolting, and hideous person imaginable…

leprosy was thought to be the product of terrible sin and became from years of false teaching about it the most dramatic type of sin in peoples minds

there was no known cure for this disease and only god was considered powerful enough to cure someone with this flesh eating disorder

just like then, even today there are those the world has forsaken, forgot, hid from , and abandoned,

but we serve the God who is better than all that and will never leave man who comes to him correctly in their sin

remember during this sermon that leprosy is a picture of sin in how it eats men alive and destroys them and their is only one cure…

Look at the text with me:

I. Jesus was the only hope for the most unclean(v40)

Mark 1:40 KJV 1900

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

A. this man was full of leprosy (Luke 5:12)

his whole body was covered in these sores and maybe even parts of him eaten away by this disease and we know that because of a parallel passage in Luke 5:12 where it says he was “FULL OF LEPROSY”

Now look i don’t know for sure but i would imagine this guys whole body was disfigured with this disease that ate flesh right to the bone and then fingers, ears, and noses fell off...

i would also imagine this guy knew he was helpless and hopeless and he needed a miracle or he was going to die and die alone...

then somehow he heard of jesus and his power to heal and a spark of hope grew

Matthew 8:1-4 tell us he found jesus where he was preaching the sermon on the mount

and what a sermon that was (for sake of time we wont look at it but please read it for yourself today)

this guy with only a glimmer of hope who heard of this holy man healing others, heard him preach, and what jesus said burned in his heart and turned his hope into faith

and as Jesus made his way down the mountain the leper come out and fell at the feet of the savior

and here is where it gets awesome...

the leper was so desperate and so intent on seeking out jesus and getting his help that he forgot everything and everyone else

he forgot the crowd that surrounded jesus he forgot the law that required him to come no closer than 6 feet to others (sound familiar??? and no I’m not making that up)

what a world that would be when we saw we were desperate and needed the savior we forgot all the people around and all the social regulations and simply went to the feet of jesus

side note here: if you are seeking something from the savior you need to forget all social norms and weak “social distancing laws” and simply come to the feet of jesus and if you need someone to go with you I’m right here and I am sure there are others who would go with you as well

he didn't care what the consequences were the leper worshipped jesus intensely!

Mark says he knelt down; Luke says he fell on his face; Matthew says he worshipped Jesus

imagine the outcome if we the people of God would worship like this!

on our knees in submission, on our face in shame, with only worship on our hearts when we came to jesus

imagine the difference in our lives, families, and churches if this is how we worshipped....

the leper saw god in the flesh and he acted in accordance with this fresh vision of god… he knew only god could heal leprosy and he didn’t ask Jesus to ask God to heal him because in his faith he knew who this was

he went straight to the fount of life and asked for a new life that only God could give

incase you have not picked up on it yet this leper is a picture of the sinner because in our sin we are helpless, hopeless, dying, and being eaten alive by the disease of sin

but praise god jesus will not turn you away no matter how unclean you are and will clean even those most unclean as we will see

but your sin is no worse than the person next to you and if jesus will heal him he will heal you… if you will go to him...

sadly most give up and rot in their sin and won’t get up and go to the savior for healing…

II. Jesus was moved with compassion (41-42)

Mark 1:41–42 KJV 1900

And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

even though society had turned on this man and all had given up on him jesus saw him and was moved with compassion for the “MOST UNCLEAN”

jesus knew his miserable condition, he knew his heart, and he knew his faith… and jesus had compassion on him look what happened…

A. Jesus was moved and reached out to touch the man

he didn’t ignore him, move away from him, or look at him with disgust as everyone else would have...

this man named jesus reached out and touched what other religious leaders and “bringers of hope” deemed untouchable

this guy had no right to approach jesus because of law and custom, but he did and jesus still accepted him…

and if you look at the law we broke by our sin we have no right to come to, or address the savior, but when we do he is moved with compassion still and reaches out to bridge the gap for us…

B. Jesus was moved to speak the greatest words this man has ever heard

“I WILL, BE THOU CLEAN” and these words here show the power of jesus

and look here jesus wants to save all men… thats why he come to earth and died for our sins…

we are broken and ate up with sin, but he will heal us and make us whole if we would just come to him

but sadly most wont approach out of faith and hope like the leper did

instead most approach today out of pride and a sense of deserving (we wanna bargin, trade, or demand from God)

but what is needed for jesus to heal us today is us to come to him with hope, faith and in worship…

C. And when Jesus moved things happened

his word of power cleansed and healed this man

and look here regardless of what you think about what you have done jesus can clean the most unclean and save the most unsavable

he is the son of god who possesses the very power of god to cleans men from their sin and save them from their sin no matter what they have done...

he took this mans disease that ate him alive and separated him from the “clean” folks and cured it...

just like he will take the sin of man that eats us alive and separates us from the “CLEAN” folks and he will forgive it and reconcile us to him through his blood sacrifice

Lepers were by law mandated to stand 6 feet away from others…

but look here JESUS is greater than the law and greater than the traditions of men and HE reached out to touch this man just like HE will reach out to you if you’ll come to him in worship...

imagine how different it would have been if this man forsook true worship and applied traditions only to their approach of the savior....

he would be like a lot of churches today (they put on a great show but they are dead & without christ, but hey at least they follow traditions)

III. then Jesus warns him and sends him away (43-44)

Mark 1:43–44 KJV 1900

And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

A. Jesus told him to go and tell no man

understand context here he “STRAIGHTWAY CHARGED HIM” this is a command and he commanded him to do what he commanded all others he healed or helped to do and thats sin no more

the savior had not yet been sacrificed so even though this man was cleansed he was not under the covenant of grace he was still under the law

thats why what happens next happens

but go show yourself to the priest

don’t tell anyone… he didn’t want this guy to boast in his cleansing

he wanted him to guard against pride or against the idea that god is partial to you above anyone (apparently this man probably had a tendency towards pride and jesus knew it like he knows us better than we know ourselves and warned against it)

and boy could we take a lesson in this today… too often we all look at a drug addict, murderer, or whatever and we say “BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I”

this is a subtle pride filled boast right here we are basically saying god gave us a little more favore than he gave this man (or woman)

we often also take the blessings of god and boast in them and push ourselves (in our own mind) above others who God hasnt blessed with whatever we are boasting in

We are saved to proclaim the grace of god to the man walking down the road, not to brag to the man walking down the road about how much god has blessed us

the grace of god saved and cleanses all who are called and if you are saved its because you responded to the call of god not because you are special…

looking at us in the right context is very important because we were depraved lost vile sinners who god saved… and we are still sinners just saved sinners and we need to remember that and see ourselves as no better than anyone else

(i had to ban a guy from our facebook page because he wanted to argue a false doctrine that we are not sinners and can achieve perfection… if your saved you are a saint but until you are free from the flesh you will still be a sinner and if you think your not your first sin is lying to yourself )

B. Go show yourself to the priest (why did he say that)

this man was still under the law and he needed to obey the law

he was to live righteously as the law demanded him too

jesus didn’t break the law ever he simply fulfilled the law and until he died on the cross man was still under the law

understand now that this act was an act of obedience and our obedience or living rightly is our primary witness for christ

real faith will change the way we live and act… (check out Monday night bible study because this is what we are studying)

(no slide)

James 2:17 KJV 1900

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

this man (under the law) must be acknowledged as clean by everyone

the people wouldn’t have accepted him as clean until the priest declared him as clean

and look everyone saw what happened remember the crowds this guy had to push through to get to the savior, but the priest had to verify under the law...

also if you look at it he told the cleansed man to go to church where the church leaders would verify his cleansing and then he would corporately worship the Lord as was the custom of the day

christian listen to me you need to be not just in church but actively participating in the worship of god with the church

there is a reason god gave us the gift of the local church and we need to be active in it and show our love to it

and look at this because it is great

by sending him to the priest the priest would then verify the divine power of Jesus

remember what i said earlier, in that culture the people believed only God could cure leprosy because to them leprosy was a curse from sin

so by sending a man obviously cured from the death sentence of leprosy straight to the priest he was keeping the law and forcing them to declare him as divinely empowered and in doing that they would have been proclaiming him Messiah

and look every time a man is cleansed from the death sentence that is sin jesus is named messiah in their life

as cleaned men and women we are supposed to be a testimony of the power of good and a witness to the mercy of the god of all creation

Conclusion: (45)

Mark 1:45 KJV 1900

But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

jesus made a great impact in the life of this man

and we can see that because this man after worshipping and then the savior moved this man spread his name far and wide...

in this case he had to leave because the crowds were to large… and when he went out the people still came to him the dessert…

but look this man disobeyed and because he disobeyed jesus withdrew… imagine the people who were not helped because this man disobeyed

we may not understand the command of our god but we must obey

some will say the ends justify the means, but that pragmatic approach has killed thousands of churches in America and around the world

imagine the difference if he would have went and done as asked then went and told everyone what happened

if your saved you have been cleansed and a miracle like this has happened in your life…

you came to church but have you spread the name of christ around? or have you just kept it to yourself...

imagine a church filled with people who spread His name like this man...

if your not saved you are being eaten alive by this death sentence called sin...

but if you come to jesus worshipping and forgetting social norms and mans law he will save you

if you are saved and have a need i am begging you to forget what people say, forget what the traditions are and simply worship him

and see the difference that makes...

our savior is better because he can clean the most unclean… and he is waiting to do it now