June 1^st,2003

Int. We read about our Lord touching people a number of times in Scripture.

a. Leprosy: “a name that was given by the Greek physicians to a scaly disease of the skin.

b. Leprosy is considered a type of sin in the Bible.

1. (Mat 8:15) "And he touched her (Peter’s Mother in Law) hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them."

2. (Mat 9:20) "And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:"

a. "None can perish that are clinging to the cross." -Spurgeon

3. He touched two blind men: (Mt 9:29) “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.”

4. (Mat 14:36) "And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole."

5. (Mat 17:5-7) "While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. {6} And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. {7} And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid."

6. He touched two more blind men. (Mat 20:34) "So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him."

I. CONSIDER THIS LEPER’S DESPERATE CONDITION.

A. CONSIDER SOME REFERENCES TO LEPERS IN THE N. T.

1. The word “Leper” is found six times in Scripture.

2. (Luke 4:27) "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian."

3. (Mat 10:8) "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."

B. LEPROSY WAS CONSIDERED A PLAGUE IN THE O. T.

1. (Lev 13:45) "And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean."

2. The disease of leprosy seems to have appeared first in Israel while in the land of Egypt, the earliest notice of it being in the leprous hand of Moses.

a. Sin, like leprosy, is deeply hereditary. It spreads corruption and dissolution through the entire body.

b. It was viewed with the hopelessness of death.

3. The leprosy, selected by God as the special type of sin, #as more than other diseases sent immediately from heaven as the express punishment of sin. Thus with Gehazi.

4. The leper, alone of all the sick, was shut out from the camp of Israel.The sinner excluded from holy fellowship.

4. The leper was appointed to bewail himself as one already dead; he was to become his own mourner (Lev.13:45).

a.. These were three of the chief symbols of sorrow for the dead. The leprous sinner is dead, while he lives.

5. LEPROSY REDUCED BUT LINGERS IN SIX NATIONS. A ten year global campaign has cut the number of leprosy cases worldwide by 90%, but the disease remains a threat in six countries, a World Health Organization report says. Seventy percent of the estimated 600.000 sufferers worldwide are in India, according to the report. The disease is also still endemic in Brazil, Madagascar, Mosambique, Myanmar (Burma) and Nepal. A chronic bacterial infection, leprosy is easily cured with drugs, if caught early. --U. S. A. Today

C. CONSIDER THE DREADFUL CONDITION OF THE LEPER.

1. C. H. S. says: “The leper was not only loathsome in his person, but was defiled in all his acts. If he drank out of a vessel, the vessel was defiled. If he lay upon a bed, the bed became unclean, and whosoever sat upon the bed afterwards became unclean too. If he touched but the wall of a house the wall became unclean, and must be purged. Wherever he went he tainted the atmosphere, his breath was as dangerous as the pestilence.”

2. Leprosy was considered a walking death.

a. (2 Ki 5:7) "And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me."

3. (Lev 22:4-6) "What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him; {5} Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; {6} The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water."

II. CONSIDER THE DELIVERANCE OF THIS LEPER. (Mt 8:3)

A. HERE WE SEE THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND.

1. Our Lord touched the leper, which was forbidden by Moses.

a. The law said: “Touch not.”

b. Grace says: “Touch”

2. (Lev 13:46) "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."

3. By touching the leper, our Lord would have been unclean until the evening—had he not been God incarnate.

4. (Lev 11:40) "And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even."

He Touched Me

Shackled by a heavy burden,

'Neath a load of guilt and shame.

Then the Hand of Jesus touched me,

And now I am no longer the same.

He touched me, Oh, He touched me,

And oh the joy that floods my soul.

Something happened and now I know,

He touched me and made me whole.

Since I met the Blessed Saviour,

Since He cleansed and made me whole,

I will never cease to Praise Him...

I'll shout it while eternity rolls.

Oh, He touched me, Oh, He touched me,

He touched me, oh the joy that floods my soul.

Something happened and now I know,

He touched me, Oh yes, He touched me...

He touched me and made me whole.”

5. Pulpit C. says: "THE HEALING OF THE LEPER is the first miracle recorded by Matthew, and it probably struck him more than it would at first sight strike us, by appealing to his Jewish ideas and sentiments.”

B. THIS TOUCH BROUGHT IMMEDIATE DELIVERANCE. (Vr. 3)

1. There is no delay, there is no slow process. Immediately the cure is complete.

2. On the parallel passage in (Mark and Luke), “departed from him,” (Mk 1:42; Lk 5:13).

3. The leper asked for “cleansing” (Vr. 2)

a. Not merely “heal me;" for a leper could not but think of healing and its consequences — restoration to social and religious privileges.

b. He could now feel the tender embrace of his family again.

c. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord’s “I will.”

4. Joseph Hart wrote the following:

“Leprous soul, press through the crowd

In thy foul condition;

Struggle hard, and call aloud

On the great Physician.

Wait till thy disease he cleanse,

Begging, trusting, cleaving;

When, and where, and by what means,

To his wisdom leaving.”

IV. CONSIDER THE DUTY IMPOSED ON THIS MAN. (Vr. 4)

A. THIS WOULD BE AS DIFFICULT AS FOR THE MAN TO HAVE HEALED HIMSELF.

1. Deliverance demands confession. (Vr. 4-b)

Conclusion: Try and imagine yourself being afflicted with Leprosy and then being healed and then not living the rest of your life for the Lord, telling everyone what He has done for you.

1. There was no known cure for Leprosy back then. No Hope, but then The Master came.

THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER'S HAND

'Twas battered and scarred,

and the auctioneer thought

it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the violin,

but held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,

"Who will start bidding for me?

A dollar, a dollar" -- then, "Two! ...Only two?

Two dollars, and who'll make it three?

Three dollars once; three dollars, twice;

going for three" -- but no,

From the room, far back, a gray-haired man

came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,

and tightening the loose strings,

He played a melody pure and sweet

as sweet as a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,

with a voice that was quiet and low,

Said, "What am I bidden for the old violin?"

and he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?

Two thousand! And who'll make it three?

Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;

and going, and gone!" said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

"We do not quite understand

What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:

"The touch of the masters hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,

all battered and scarred with sin,

Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,

much like the old violin.

A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine;

a game - and he travels on.

He's "going" once, and "going" twice,

He's "going" and "almost gone."

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd

never can quite understand

The worth of a soul, and the change that's wrought

by the touch of the Master's hand.

-- Myra Brooks Welch