Old Llantrisant Hill
- Consider the life of a man, this man [the leper]
- Explanation
- Would we be able to live like this?
- We have comfortable lives in comparison
- Considering an incredible story - between Jesus and a leper
- A historical event
- A remarkable event - to heal from leprosy was astounding as raising the dead
- We have read that Jesus healed many diseases and cast out many demons
- Jesus touches and heals the leper
- In the time of Christ to be a leper was the worst disease
- A contagious condition
- Lepers were shunned from society
- Medically without hope
- Religiously defiled
- An abomination
- Consider Leviticus
- 2 full chapters / 116 verses
- Detection, diagnosis, cleansing, etc
- This helps give us an idea of what it meant in Jewish antiquity
- A medical and an ecclesiastical issue
- Cast out from the synagogue
- Unable to come to the Temple
- Unclean
- Uncleanness that could be 'transmitted', requiring a time apart and a ritual offering
- A life sentence
- Ostracized and only permitted to have contact with other lepers
- Lev 13:45-46
- A symbol of sin and a sign of judgment from God
- The law served to help contain an infectious disease
- The law also functions to give us knowledge of sin
- Leprosy is an image of sin
- The leper:
- Not told much about the leper
- We can deduce that his leprosy was of the worst kind
- He was desperate - he broke laws to fall at the feet of Jesus
- Side note:
- How had he heard of Christ?
- He had hope in Jesus
- He was determined to find Jesus Christ
- His faith was such that he knew Jesus could heal him
- This leper was driven to Christ
- The degree of his condition
- The truth of the person of Christ
- His power was genuine (from God)
- The Leper called Jesus 'Lord' (cf Matthew 8:1 & Luke 5:12) and knew He could heal him
- Christian - is this how you were drawn to Christ?
- Jesus Christ:
- He was moved with compassion
- There was nothing in the lepers appearance to move Him (infact it would have surely been the opposite)
- Jesus was moved within Himself to heal the leper
- This is the heart of Christ for all of us
- Jesus touches the leper
- Surely there would have been such a negative reaction from the people
- Jesus could not be defiled
- Immediately the leprosy was healed (v42)
- This shows the Sovereign power of Christ
- Jesus displays the merciful heart of God towards sinful man in a broken world
- Jesus will not cast anyway - John 6:37
- Our sins do not defile Christ
- We are made clean in the power of His blood
- He commands the leper
- The true test of faith comes in obedience to Christ
- Faith in Christ demands servitude
- Are we obedient to His word?
- Give the offering to the priest
- There is a cost to following Jesus
- The leper disobeys
- Jesus had difficulty in preaching the gospel
- He put an obstacle in Christ's preaching ministry
- The gospel must be our priority
- The leper was to present himself to the priest
- He was to be a testimony
- Our lives are to be a testimony to the world
- Jesus came to take our place
- Jesus took the 'wilderness' place of the leper - v45
- Jesus knew this would happen yet He still healed the leper
- Jesus saves us, even though He knows we are prone to disobeying Him
- Jesus takes our place so that we can come into the throne room of God
- Is Jesus your Lord?