You Can Make Me Clean
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
Good Morning Church.
Today’s message is called “You Can Make Me Clean.”
We will be focusing on Jesus’ healing of a leper and what lessons we can apply to our lives today.
We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
So, please turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 1.
We will be examining verses 40 through 45 and concluding the 1st chapter of Mark in our study.
From these passages, we will look at seven points:
1) The Request
2) The Reaction
3) The Willingness
4) The Miracle
5) The Warning
6) The Proclamation
7) The Application
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider the text, please join me in prayer...
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In an apparent effort to promote the spread of the gospel message, someone in a major city decided to take a can of spray paint and spray-paint the message “Trust Jesus” on sidewalks, overpasses, and even mailboxes in the downtown area.
This was not “evangelism,” but rather, “evandalism.”
The right message does not justify the use of wrong means.
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
40 And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,
44 and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
1) The Request
1) The Request
Verse 40: And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Leviticus 13 & 14 describe the laws surrounding leprosy.
A small excerpt can be found here:
45 “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!’
46 “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.
This extreme measure was ment to protect others as leprosy and other skin diseases where contagious.
Nevertheless, the leper risks everything, breaking both law and custom, on the chance of being healed and restored by Jesus.
No obstacle, not even the decrees of the Torah itself, prevents him from coming to Jesus.
His obsequious approach and posture, “begging him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean,’ ” betrays the long humiliation of his affliction.
But contained within the leper’s plea are the beginnings of faith that Jesus can save him.
His faith is revealed by the fact that he does not question Jesus’ ability to save him, only his willingness to save him.
The leper’s longing is profoundly human, for it is not God’s ability that we doubt, but only his willingness—if he will do what we ask.
2) The Reaction
2) The Reaction
Verse 41: Moved with compassion,
“Moved with compassion” is translated as “becoming angry” and “was indignant” in other English translations.
Why the different translations?
In a few ancient manuscripts, the Greek word “splanchnizō”, which refers to being moved with pity, replaces the term “orgizō”, which indicates anger.
However, the substitution likely reflects a later change by a copyist, to avoid the difficulty of this verse.
There are a few possible reasons for Jesus’s anger that is debates by scholars.
Jesus may be angry at the disease itself for it is a reminder of the curse of sin.
Jesus may be angry that the Leper ignores the Mosiac laws and approaches Him without concern.
However if we consider the context, especially what we will cover in the following verses, it seems Jesus is angered by the Leper’s disregard for following the commands Jesus is about to tell Him in the next few verses.
We will explore the cost of the leper’s disobedience but first we must look a verse 41.
3) The Willingness
3) The Willingness
Verse 41: Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
The fact that Jesus touched Him to do this miracle is profound.
Anyone under the Jewish law wound be ceremonially unclean by touching a leper.
Jesus is so pure and holy, not only is He not made unclean but He cleanses the leper.
Despite the leper’s attitude and eventual disobedience.
Despite the anger this causes Jesus, He still shows him compassion.
This is a reminder that even as sinners, even though we fall short of His glory, when we cry out to Him, He will hear us.
Psalms is a perfect example of this:
4 I was crying to the Lord with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.
1 I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.
4) The Healing
4) The Healing
Verse 42: Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
Observe the effect of the touch of Jesus.
This reminds us of another individual who was sick and sought out the healing touch of Jesus.
27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.
28 For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”
29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”
Powered by the Holy Spirit, Jesus preformed many needed miracles.
38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Despite the power Jesus used to perform miracles, this was not the priority of His mission on earth.
In fact, these miracles, although necessary distracted from Him preaching the Good News of the Kingdom as we will see in the following verses.
5) The Warning
5) The Warning
Verses 43-44: And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
This is the first of many requests we will see in the Gospel of Mark of Jesus asking people not to reveal His identity.
This is because it is not yet time, as established by the Father, that He should be revealed to be the Messiah.
However, most of these requests actually have the opposite result and these people end up zealously proclaiming Jesus.
“Sternly warned” carries the meaning of deep emotion and even anger.
The word is literally “snorting” in Greek, deriving from the Hebrew word for anger, meaning “to flare the nostrils.”
The word for “sent him away” is likewise stronger in Greek (“ekballein”) than in the English translation.
Often used of expelling demons, the expression means that Jesus sent him packing.
Unless Mark used the verbs in this verse with milder-than-usual meanings, it appears that Jesus was angry with the man and that he cast him out (of a house or synagogue?).
It is highly probable therefore that verse 41 also indicates that Jesus was angry with the leper.
If anyone except Jesus had been involved, few would ever have suggested any other interpretation.
Why then was Jesus so angry with the man that he threw him out?
Jesus may well have realized that the man would disobey his command to be silent and that this would greatly hinder his ministry.
Jesus is earnest and urgent about guarding the veil of his messianic identity to preserve it from misunderstanding and false responses
Furthermore Jesus—and Mark—wanted to make very plain that his primary ministry was not healing but redemption
Jesus, not coming to destroy the law of Moses but to fulfill it, commanded the now former leper to see the priests.
2 “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest,
There was another reason for this command by Jesus but we need to study our text to see this.
“Testimony to them” carries the meaning of “testimony against them.”
The same words are used in Mark 6:11:
11 “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”
So here, in our text, Priests who do not recognize the power of God at work in Jesus where shown clear evidence against their worthiness to hold the office.
6) The Proclamation
6) The Proclamation
Verse 45: But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
The crowds that where clamoring for a miracle actually acted as a hindrance for the Gospel to be preached.
Chasing after signs and wonders often takes one away from God’s message, the Good News of the Kingdom.
John MacArthur says, regarding this passage:
“The result of the leper’s disobedience was that Jesus could no longer enter a city without being mobbed by those seeking to be cured of diseases.
Jesus’ ministry of teaching in that area thus came to a halt.”
James R. Edwards says:
“Mark began this story with Jesus on the inside and the leper on the outside.
At the end of the story, Jesus is “outside in lonely places.”
Jesus and the leper have traded places.
Early in his ministry Jesus is already an outsider in human society.
Mark casts him in the role of the Servant of the Lord who bears the iniquities of others and whose bearing of them causes him to be “numbered with the transgressors”.
Luke’s gospel reveals what Jesus did when He stayed in the unpopulated area:
16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
Jesus found any opportunity, despite the challenging situation He was in, to pray to the Father.
7) The Application
7) The Application
So how does this incredible miracle apply to us today?
We are in this story.
We are the leper.
We have no hope for a cure.
We are unclean and separated from God.
But then enters Jesus, and we find hope.
He sacrificed Himself for those who will eventually put there trust in Him.
14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Jesus is the only cure for our spiritual death and uncleanliness.
By His wounds we are healed:
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Trusting and surrendering to Jesus means that death will loose its sting for us.
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
He is the only one that can make us whole:
25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
You are driving down the highway when you encounter a sign that reads, “Dangerous Curve Ahead.”
Immediately you are confronted with making a choice.
One, you can observe the warning and slow down.
Two, you can ignore the warning and maintain your rate of speed.
Or, three, you can defy the warning and speed up.
Whatever response you exercise, you will not change the truth of the sign.
The curve remains dangerous, regardless of whether you acknowledge the fact or not.
Closing of Service
Closing of Service
Remember that we are unable to save ourselves.
One man condemned us and likewise only one man can save us:
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Genuine belief in the Son means eternal life:
40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
All the Glory to God.
Amen.