[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, I'll begin reading at verse 40 to the end of the chapter.
[0:21] A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged him on his knees, If you are willing, you can make me clean.
[0:32] Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he said. Be clean.
[0:44] Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning.
[0:57] See that you don't tell this to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.
[1:11] Instead, he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places.
[1:31] Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Let's hear God's word. The psalmist says that we're fearfully and wonderfully made, and that's certainly true of these bodies that he's given us.
[1:51] But we're also just saying, Frail children of dust and feeble as frail. That's what we are. And nothing shows that more powerfully when something so small you can't even see it gets into your body and just leaves you shot completely.
[2:07] And so I'm glad to be back with you this day and to worship with you. Well, all four gospel accounts aim at the same goal, to introduce us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is and why he came.
[2:23] And not just for the information's sake, that we can be a little smarter than the next guy, but that each of us might personally come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
[2:36] That we might know him. That we might love him. We might trust him. We might obey him. Yes, delight ourselves in him.
[2:48] And one of the ways all four gospels introduce us to the Lord Jesus is by telling us about his miracles. The supernatural things that he did.
[3:00] They're signs and wonders. They're called signs because they point us to who he is. He's God. God in the flesh. For he does by his own power what only God can do.
[3:14] And so already in Mark chapter 1, we've seen Jesus with divine power, driving out demons with just a word. We've seen him healing Simon's mother-in-law of a fever and restoring her strength at once.
[3:29] We've seen him healing all who came to him from Capernaum. And he healed all of their various diseases.
[3:41] He's God. And that's why demons and diseases obey him. But his miracles are also signs that not only point us to who he is, but also to why he came.
[3:54] They're pictures of his so great salvation. Jesus is mighty to save. And we're seeing pictures of that power as we observe his miraculous healings.
[4:06] In casting out demons, he shows us that he's come to destroy the devil's work, to deliver us out of the misery of bondage to Satan and his kingdom.
[4:19] And in healing the various diseases, we see that he's come to save us from our sins, yes, and from its miserable effects in our lives. Indeed, these miracles are a foretaste of Christ's eternal kingdom, what he will bring back for his own people when he returns and will completely reverse the curse of sin with all of its sickness and death that follows.
[4:48] So each miracle is like a little picture showing us more of this great, this so great salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. And the physical healing points us to the greater spiritual healing that he gives.
[5:05] We see this connection between the physical and the spiritual most clearly in John's gospel. You remember at the woman of the well, as Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, Jesus takes her physical thirst to point out to her the deeper thirst of her soul within.
[5:28] He takes his miracle of multiplying the physical bread in chapter 6, bread to feed the bodies of the crowd, to point out to them their greater need of the true bread from heaven, to feed their starving souls, and to give them eternal life, which is to know God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.
[5:52] You know, people are doing so much for the hunger and thirst of their bodies. Hours and lots of money is poured into that, which will feed their bodies, while doing nothing for the hunger and thirst of their never-dying souls, throwing mere breadcrumbs that can never satisfy or meet the needs of their soul.
[6:16] Jesus uses the healing of a man born blind there in John's gospel to point us to our greater need to be healed from our spiritual blindness. None so blind as those who will not see, who don't want to see, who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.
[6:36] They see no beauty or majesty in the Lord Jesus Christ that would attract them to him. They see no glory, no glory of God in the face of Christ, because the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see.
[6:54] They can't see anything in Christ for which they would worship him and give themselves up to him. Well, the same great physician who heals the physical body of its maladies is the same one who heals us of our spiritual maladies.
[7:12] And so today we're going to see Jesus' power to cleanse. Power to cleanse from leprosy, a dreaded disease, but also to cleanse something that is more dreaded than just physical leprosy.
[7:25] And it's all because of who he is and why he came. So before we come to the healing of this leper, let me give you some background on leprosy as we find it in the Bible.
[7:42] Leprosy in the Bible was a horrible disease, and that for many reasons, and I begin with its physical features. It was a disease that traveled inwardly in the blood, but it also then made its presence known outwardly in the body.
[7:59] At first, the first symptom would be inward pain, but then dry and dry scaly spots would appear on the skin, which would then turn into oozing sores and ulcers.
[8:15] And then the flesh would start rotting, literally decaying, and fingers would be lost, and toes would be lost, and grotesque facial features would happen as the nose began to rot, and so on.
[8:32] And matched with this was the stench of a decaying body. It was like a living death. You remember when Moses' sister Miriam was struck with leprosy because of her rebellion against the authority of Moses, her brother, and thought that she should be a leader as well.
[8:56] And so she was struck with leprosy, and Aaron, her brother, pleaded, do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away.
[9:07] That was the leprosy that she was struck with. It was a horrendous thing. And then secondly, it was virtually incurable. The rabbis had a saying that it was as difficult to cure the leper as it was to raise the dead.
[9:24] Well, that's pretty difficult, isn't it? And so it was virtually an incurable disease. You remember when Naaman, that general of the Syrian army, got leprosy?
[9:36] Naaman, his kidnapped Israelite slave girl, told his wife, you know, there's a prophet of God in Israel who could heal him. And so Naaman goes to his king, the king of Syria.
[9:48] And the king of Syria wrote a letter, and he sent it with Naaman to the king of Israel, saying, with this letter, I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.
[10:02] Well, as soon as the king of Israel received the letter, he tore his robes. And he said, am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?
[10:14] Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me. And so we see in his reaction just how incurable this disease of leprosy was.
[10:29] He's virtually acknowledging only God could cure him. And God does do what man can't do, and you can read the rest of the story in 2 Kings chapter 5.
[10:42] But to receive the diagnosis of leprosy was virtually a death notice and a very slow and horrible death. But thirdly, this disease was horrible because of its isolation.
[10:57] The leper was isolated from society. In Leviticus 13, 45 and 46, we have this spoken of about such infectious diseases, that the person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes and let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, unclean, unclean.
[11:21] As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone. He must live outside the camp. And indeed, that's where you would find lepers huddled together perhaps in a group outside the camp, outside the city gates, for they must live alone.
[11:42] Leprosy had made them an untouchable, unfit for human society, living away from people as one who is unclean.
[11:53] Now that word unclean is a religious term. It had to do, you remember all the clean and unclean laws of the Old Testament. There were certain foods that you were allowed to eat, they were clean, and others you weren't allowed to eat, they were unclean.
[12:08] There were certain things that you were not to touch or it would make you unclean for touching it. And so it was that if you were unclean in any of those ways, you were unfit for the presence of God.
[12:23] You could not come to church, you could not go into the tabernacle or into the temple because God is holy and you are now unclean. And so we see this isolation.
[12:37] You could only be restored to social and religious life in Israel if you were examined and pronounced clean by the priests and only if the cleansing sacrifices and washings were then made.
[12:50] Being unclean, the leper was unfit then for God and for man. And so it's not surprising that a huge social stigma was then placed upon the lepers.
[13:04] Later in Jesus' ministry in Luke chapter 17, we find ten lepers, you remember, living with each other apart from society and they stood afar off and cried out for mercy to the Lord.
[13:17] Well, that's this horrible disease and its effects. Now with this background, we come then to the amazing healing of this leper.
[13:29] Verse 40 says, a man with leprosy came to him, that is to Jesus, and begged him on his knees, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Now several things stand out.
[13:41] The first is that he's not keeping his distance. He's not standing afar off like those ten lepers that Jesus later meets in Luke chapter 17. No, he comes right up to Jesus.
[13:54] He falls down on his face and he begs Jesus for mercy to be made clean. Dr. Luke has the same account in his gospel and he tells us of this leper that he was full of leprosy.
[14:15] In other words, it was a most serious case and in its advanced stages yet this leper has no doubt about Jesus' ability to heal him. He only wonders if he's willing to.
[14:31] And he doesn't presume upon that willingness. If you are willing, you can make me clean. Well, where did this man get such confidence in Jesus' ability to heal leprosy?
[14:44] As we've just seen from the Old Testament, it was viewed as an incurable disease that only God could heal. And this was early on here in Mark chapter 1.
[14:57] This is early on in Jesus' Galilean ministry and we don't know that Jesus had healed other lepers at this point. But the word was clearly out that he had healed everyone who had come to him with their various diseases.
[15:14] So what brought him to Jesus? Well, his own great need. He had a disease that no one else could cure. To stay away from Jesus was to stay with his disease.
[15:27] But if I come to Jesus, perhaps he'll be willing to heal me. I know he can. Well, he's not made to wait long to find out about the willingness of Jesus.
[15:39] Verse 41 says, Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he said. Be clean. This man, full of leprosy, meets the Savior, full of compassion.
[15:57] There's a fullness of compassion in the Lord Jesus for whatever it is that fills you with need. It may be disease. It may be sorrow and weakness and grief and sin and guilt and shame.
[16:11] But whatever pitiful condition you may find yourself in, in coming to Jesus, you come to one who is full of compassion. And he's no different now that he's in heaven than when he was on earth.
[16:26] Indeed, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's still full of compassion. No matter how many times he had seen illness and sickness and all sorts of need, he's not unmoved in the face of suffering.
[16:44] He never grows callous to it. He never gets hard-hearted like we can towards people in need. He never looks the other way like the priest and the Levite looking upon the man beaten along the road.
[16:58] No, he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. His inner being is moved with compassion at our pitiful need. Indeed, he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.
[17:12] He made them his very own, a fellow feeling in his own heart with that which is in ours. This is the Savior. This is the heart of the Son of God in the face of human suffering which is the result of sin and its curse.
[17:31] And then Jesus reached out his hand and touched the untouchable. He touched the leper while he was unclean before he healed him.
[17:43] And unlike others who would thereby by the touch become unclean, Jesus was not defiled by coming into contact with his uncleanness. Rather, the leper's uncleanness was cleansed by Jesus' purity and power.
[17:59] This touch of the untouchable moved John Calvin to write, here is a thing which we pass over without much impression at an idle reading.
[18:12] But we must certainly ponder with much awe when we take it properly that the Son of God so far from abhorring contact with the leper actually stretched out his hand to touch his uncleanness.
[18:27] Let it point us to the compassion and willingness of the Savior. As soon as he touched him and said, be clean, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
[18:42] His raw sores dried up and were made whole. The flesh that had been eaten away was restored. Immediate and complete healing are the hallmarks of Jesus' healing miracles.
[18:57] Not partial, not over a long period of time perhaps, immediate and complete. The man was made whole on the spot. Well, that's the amazing healing from our Savior.
[19:11] And next comes his strong warning, verses 43 to 44. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning. See that you don't tell this to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.
[19:30] It does seem that Jesus is wanting people to know that he did not come to destroy the law and he's keeping the law and he's wanting them to follow the prescribed commands of the law with regard to these infectious diseases.
[19:49] But why the secrecy? Why the strong warning? You know we're not told and the ideas of commentators would take too long for me to give to you.
[20:00] It could be that his concern was for the man's restoration to full life in society and religion because that would not happen apart from the inspection of the priests and their formal approval along with the sacrifices and washings of cleansing that had to be made.
[20:20] And so perhaps Jesus already is not the favorite of the priests and he's not wanting to stack any problem up against this man being restored.
[20:32] So isn't he saying don't tell anyone get to the priest first let them examine you let them declare you clean lest having heard that I'm the one who cleansed you that might prejudice them against you.
[20:45] That's perhaps why he's saying that. For this man's own good that he might be pronounced clean and perhaps then the priests would find it was Jesus of Nazareth after they had pronounced the miracle that they could not deny as a testimony to them.
[21:05] But whatever the reason the man totally disregarded Jesus' command. Now there's something in us that understands that.
[21:17] I mean this man has just had his life given back to him right? yet it was disobedience to Christ's command and so there's no way we can justify it.
[21:29] And it did interfere with Jesus' public ministry because verse 45 goes on to say that as a result of him spreading the news abroad Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
[21:48] You see this man spreading the news of this healing of leprosy kept Jesus from going openly into the towns and preaching in their synagogues like he had been doing.
[22:01] That was his method to go into the towns to preach in the synagogue. He could no longer do that but now must stay in lonely places.
[22:13] But even then we're told it did not completely derail Jesus' public ministry. no nothing can thwart his purpose and so even out there in the lonely places people from everywhere still came to him and still heard the gospel the good news of the Lord Jesus.
[22:35] The wonderful miracle the cleansing of the leper the warning given and now the application to our spiritual need.
[22:47] Because as horrible as leprosy is there's a far greater problem that we're all born with. It's the dread spiritual disease of sin. And it resembles this disease of leprosy yet it's far worse.
[23:02] It too is an inward disease that we're shot through with. You see the problem that we have with sin is not that we do certain things that are sinful it's that we are sinful.
[23:16] It has to do with our nature of that inward indwelling principle of sin that rules us and therefore comes out of us in outward ways.
[23:30] But it's that inward sinner that we are that causes us to do things that are sinful. It's that inward sin that corrupts all that we do and say and desire and think.
[23:45] When Isaiah writes to the people of Israel in Isaiah chapter 1 verses 5 and 6 he says your whole head is injured your whole heart is afflicted from the sole of your foot to the top of your head there's no soundness no health only wounds and welts and open sores not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil you see the picture it's like leprosy breaking out from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet it's infected your entire heart all that you think and desire and choose but like leprosy this inward spiritual disease does work itself out in ways that make us unfit both for God and for man it ruins our relationships with people doesn't it it's always sin that ruins relationships sin makes us selfish sin makes us proud
[24:48] Matthew Henry says pride makes a God of self and so I must be served I'll have life my way and then we demand that others bow to our God as well but what happens when they are turned to their own way just as we are turned to our way well then we have a collision don't we and then we have this destruction of the relationship of the marriage of the family of the society of the church never in my lifetime are people so isolated from one another I read that it's 30% of households you have someone living alone we live to ourselves and that's what sin does and these are just symptoms you see these are just the open sores the decaying flesh of an inward leprosy of sin living for the big eye it leads to isolation and disintegration of society and the relationships
[26:00] God meant for us to have in society but it's that same inward leprosy of sin that ruins our relationship with God remember leprosy made them unclean which means that they were unfit to go into the presence of God and to worship that's the symbol that's the picture of it in the leprosy but the reality is that that's what sin does to us it makes us unfit you see God is holy holy holy and we are not we are sinful more sinful than we've ever ever imagined God says don't do this and we said I will if I want God says do this and we said we only we won't if we don't want to we've rebelled against him and it's this sin that separates us from God that makes us unfit for his holy presence Isaiah 59 1 and 2 surely the arm of the Lord is not too short that it cannot save nor is his ear deaf that he cannot hear no it's your iniquities that have separated you from God your sins have hidden his face from you so that they will not hear you he says in Isaiah 57 15 that he's the high and lofty one who lives forever whose name is holy you see that's our problem holy can't live with unholy any more than light can live with darkness and so either God must change or we must change or we will never be right with
[27:39] God but God cannot change as he says in Malachi 3 and verse 5 I the Lord do not change well therefore we must be changed we must be healed of our waywardness of that inward corruption and disposition of sin our impure hearts that are bent on sin and self must be washed and cleansed if we're to be right with God and dwell in his presence forever so our problem is a God sized problem you can't solve it yourself you can't make yourself clean maybe some of you are trying to do that and you're coming up to the reality that you can't you can't stop your heart from craving its evil desires you can't make yourself love what you naturally hate holiness obedience to Christ you may not have thought of it but you're a whole lot like this man in
[28:41] Mark 1 you have a deadly incurable disease yours is a disease of sin that's leading you to an everlasting death and an everlasting hell that you cannot escape well then do what this man did what did he do well he came to Jesus then he came just like he was he came unclean he came defiled he came stinking with his corruption hopeless in himself but convinced that Jesus could heal him and you if you're lost in sin and need to be cleansed you have far more reasons than he did to come to Jesus think how many sinners have come to Jesus for cleansing from sin and out of all who have ever come to him for cleansing not one has ever been turned away what a record you have to encourage you to come to him some of these people are sitting all around you this morning they've come to Jesus defiled unclean with their sin you know some of them maybe they're your brother your sister your mother your father your child they're not the same person they once were in sin
[30:01] God has healed them God has cleansed them of their sinful heart he's given them a new heart with new desires but not only do you have the record of people around you who've been cleansed from this dread disease you have been given a promise that this man never was given this man said if you are willing you can make me clean and he learned that Christ was willing but you have more you have a promise from Christ that he is willing there's no more need for if you are willing to be cleansed of your sin no whether or not Jesus is willing no the question is are you willing are you willing to be cleansed from sin Jesus has gone on record in John 6 37 with a promise that all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will in no way cast out that's the promise you come and
[31:02] I will not cast you out but will receive you will save you will cleanse you he's not only able he's willing so doubt no more the hymn says he's more willing to cleanse you than you are to be cleansed he delights in mercy he rejoices over the sinner that he cleanses so it doesn't matter how foul and full of sin you are Jesus is more full of compassion and grace and he will save you just as you are you know you don't clean yourself up before you take a shower you take the shower to get cleaned up and you don't clean yourself up first before you come to Jesus that's just adding to your sin to think that you could make yourself more worthy of Christ cleansing no no you just come like this leper did guilty vile and helpless just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark spot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot oh lamb of God
[32:08] I come just as I am thou wilt receive there's the promise just as I am thou wilt receive will welcome pardon cleanse relieve because thy promise I believe oh lamb of God I come we have a promise that this man never had whoever comes to me I will never cast away rather first John 1 7 the blood of Jesus God's son cleanses from every sin that's yours grab hold of it come and receive that cleansing you know first John 1 9 if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and not just pardon from sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Saul of Tarsus came with the blood of Christians on his hands and he went away clean he later writes to people in the unclean city of Corinth he says don't you know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of
[33:12] God don't be deceived neither the sexually immoral idolaters adulterers male prostitutes homosexual offenders thieves greedy drunkards slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and that's what some of you were but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God you see people came dirty they came vile they came unclean and they were washed not only justified but sanctified cleansed of their sins King David came filthy with adultery and murder and in Psalm 51 he says wash away wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin surely you desire truth in the inward parts cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean wash me and I will be whiter than snow create in me a clean heart oh God renew a right spirit within me you see this this miracle is pointing us to the power of
[34:31] Jesus to save and it's not just a power to forgive thank God he does forgive and pardons our sins but he also cleanses us from our impurity he doesn't leave us as he finds us the sow and the cat have two different natures Peter says in 2 Peter 2.22 that there are people who claim to be Christians and they clean themselves up a bit and to look at them you'd think they were Christians but then of them the proverb is true that the dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud what's the nature of a sow it's to wallow in the mud it's to say this is my element this is where I belong this is good this is the good life and that's what they return to without the cleansing blood of
[35:35] Christ and his spirit they're like a washed sow and a washed sow is a sow still and given enough time you'll see that nature come out as they return to their wallowing in their sin how different is the nature of a cat she too may get dirt on her but she doesn't sit and wallow in it does she but tries to extricate herself from it and lick herself clean it's a different nature and that's the difference that Christ makes when he saves a sinner he doesn't just forgive he forgives and cleanses changes their heart puts in a new spirit a new heart a new direction that doesn't lay down in sin and say this is it this is what I was made for no we want to get out of our sin the Christian isn't someone who doesn't sin it's someone who when we sin we say this is not me anymore
[36:40] I once found this is my delight he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that's the difference Christ makes in his so great salvation cleanses us from sin from the inside out and then we go on becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ until that day when he comes for us you know this leper wasn't deserving of the cleansing no one ever is but Christ is always willing to save all who come to God by him you know that's why he came from heaven in the first place that's why he took our flesh it was to save us from our sins and that's why he laid down his life in death on the cross it was to purify for himself a people who are his very own yes to forgive them but but then to purify them by his blood
[37:51] I quoted the first part of Isaiah talking about how sick we are from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet and our hearts and minds shot through with the disease of sin later in chapter one the Lord says come now let's reason together says the Lord though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow and though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool now how can that be how can my sins red like crimson be cleansed and become white as snow later in Isaiah chapter 53 we learn that it would be the suffering servant of the Lord who would come and take on our flesh and and then take on our transgressions and our sins upon him and the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed now that's a strange way of doing medicine isn't it a doctor who by his wounds heals the unclean sick one you count it strange so once did
[39:10] I before I knew my savior and knew the gospel but it is the blood of Jesus God's son that cleanses us from sin so that by his wounds we who have come to him are healed are healed what a change this leper went back to what a different life we go back to a life that is really life life as it was meant to be life in communion with our God and with each other well back to Naaman before we close you know that Syrian with leprosy remember when he comes with the letter and Elisha says to the king send him to me and and he comes to Elisha's house and Elisha doesn't come out and meet him he just sends his servant and tells him go wash seven times in the Jordan river and you'll be cleansed and Naaman was angry he traveled all this way to be healed and
[40:14] Elisha doesn't even bother to come out and meet important Naaman the Syrian commander of the armed forces he just sends out his servant and he tells him to go wash in the Jordan well he expected the prophet would personally come out call on the name of the Lord put his hand over his sickness and do some abracadabra stuff something very dramatic and heal him don't I have rivers back home to wash in that are cleaner than these rivers of Israel he says and in a rage he turns his chariot and heads back to Syria with his leprosy well his servants were wiser than him and they said to him if the prophet had given you some great thing to do would you not have done it how much more than when he tells you wash and be cleansed and they prevailed with him and he went and he dipped in the
[41:23] Jordan seven times and when he came out the seventh time his flesh was absolutely clean what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of Jesus and why aren't more people coming to Jesus for the cleansing of their sin well they love their sins that's that's true but there's also the method you see the method just doesn't doesn't seem to make much sense coming to Jesus what is the death of Jesus weak Jesus dying on the cross shedding his blood what what 2000 years ago what does that have to do with my my problems that I have because of sin how can that heal me you see the gospel way of cleansing by faith in the blood of Jesus is as despised today as washing in the dirty Jordan was to
[42:23] Naaman surely there's a better way to get cleansed surely there's something I can do to clean myself yes we make resolutions I'll make some resolutions to turn over a new leaf to try harder to read my Bible more to pray more I'll do more no it's just such proud thoughts that are keeping some of you unclean you see you just come unclean to Jesus and you throw yourself on him to do the cleansing J.C.
[42:54] Ryle says men are not lost because they're too bad to be saved but because they will not come to Christ that he may save them well he washed in the muddy Jordan and was cleansed you come and wash in the blood of Jesus and you'll be cleansed of your sin and if you are one who has been cleansed of your sins by faith in Jesus you don't have him saying now see to it that you don't tell this to anyone that I've cleansed you from your sin rather you're told just the opposite now go tell it on the mountain go spread the good you go do what the leper did when he was cleansed what he shouldn't have done you do it spread it abroad tell everyone who will listen how Jesus Christ has cleansed you and made you whole proclaim among the nations what he has done tell them I once was lost but now
[43:56] I'm found I once was blind but now I see I once was filthy and unclean but Jesus has washed me and made me whole what a message we have for the world what a savior we have for the world and for the sinner that you see in the mirror every day what a savior we have for us this savior is the Christ that Mark wants us to meet in his gospel and to get to know him by faith and repentance and to love him and to trust him and to delight in him as we serve him he himself comes in his word and reveals himself to us for that have you come to him I welcome you to Christ this morning to put hundreds of years before Jesus was born Zechariah the prophet inspired by the Holy Spirit pointed to a day when there would be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness what can wash away my sin
[45:03] Zechariah says a day is coming when a fountain will be open just for that cause for sin and uncleanness and then John tells us in 1 John 1 7 that it is the blood of Jesus God Son that cleanses from every sin Father thank you for such a Savior thank you for the Bible that reveals him to us for this picture in Mark chapter 1 that day when he met this leper at his feet and cleansed him made him new a picture of what he's done for every single one of us who have ever come to Christ in repentance and faith thank you Jesus by your wounds we are healed and thank you that you've given us this glorious good news then may it be our theme to spread to someone this week and all the days of our life and thank you that that blood will go on cleansing us until we're saved to sin no more thank you
[46:05] Jesus that such a destiny awaits us who are in you bring others to trust we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen