Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy - AD #3 | David Marvin

it was awesome yeah I mean see that yeah that regardless go easy what's up friends in the room what's up friends at Fort Worth and in Houston in downtown it is gonna be such a fun night and I am so glad to get to watch that along with you and be back hanging out with you guys as we continue the series ad I'm gonna start with a little bit of a story you guys remember swine flu anybody remember this when somehow pigs ended up spreading a virus throughout America and the swine flu anybody get swine flu in here anybody oh yeah hey I like that okay so I'm gonna tell a story that of my only interaction with it I was here on staff at watermark and I was I just started here was part-time here I was at Dallas seminary or grad school and so I was part-time here and I had a job at this coffee shop so I spent my three or I spent my time in one of three places working at the coffee shop in class at DTS or Dallas seminary or here at watermark working part time one of those three places all of a sudden one day I go to the coffee shop I'm working there barista making some lattes and I start feeling a little sick got a cough got something going on headache you know when you like start to feel achy and you're like man something is about to hit me like a freight train I feel it coming that's where I am I'm at the coffee shop man something's not going well I'm not feeling good go to class that day continued to not feel good can't focus go back to watermark working here I'm like I got to go home I do not feel good I don't have insurance at this time hashtag Obamacare didn't exist and so I go to a doc in the box to get treated by that's not a political statement by the way just say guy didn't have insurance I go to a doc in the box I go in there he begins to take temperature to all these different things he comes back in the room it begins to say well I can tell you why you're not feeling well you have the swine flu and strep throat at the same time yeah talk about a bad day so I get loaded up on all kinds of meds he's like hey an antibiotic we're gonna give it a z-pack but we really can't you just gotta ride out the swine flu go home crush some Gatorade and relax for a few days so I go home I'm taking the z-pak I'm trying to rest I'm letting everybody know hey can't work today and I got to go home couple days go by I'm beginning to feel a little bit better and I think oh no I need to work or else I can't pay bills and so I need to go to this coffee shop and make some cash call them up hey I'm ready to come back and work feeling a lot better they say look don't show up here for another seven to ten days you had the swine flu don't bring that contagion in here you go go get well before you can come back in here and I'm like no I really am feeling better we do not want you handing out swine flu lattes you go home you get feeling better don't come in here for another seven to ten days which was kind of the length of a period of time of contagiousness I'm like great unbelievable so I call and I get ready to go to class I get an email from Dallas seminary from the grad school that says if you have been infected with the swine flu do not attempt to come on campus it's like what unbelievable work out of seminary is this place don't come here for seven to ten days until after I'm like well hey I'll go to watermark a church they'll accept me a watermark I contact them and they're like no you cannot come here go home get well don't come in here until you get well get over this sickness stay out of here seven to ten days so I end up having to like work and do everything from Panera the island of misfit toys all by myself working there for the next seven to ten days and I just remember being like Meghan hi people do not want to be around me this is unbelievable I got the plague I am just this outcast and I'm like extra extroverted anybody extroverted in the room so I'm like this was a miserable seven to ten days in my life or I'm like please someone be my friend and and so for the next seven to ten days I'm waiting so I can get well to go back into normal life to get clean before I can reenter any of these three places and the reason you may be going what does swine flu have to do with the Bible nothing I just had to get that off of my chest about this but that's not a little eating the reason I started with that is because just like in that scenario where I had this sickness or something about me where everywhere that I looked people were like hey get well don't come back here and tell you're healthy get clean and then you can come back in but not until then as it relates to church as relates to Christianity really one of the more common beliefs are common perceptions that people have you may have and maybe this is why for a while you had a season where you didn't go to churches you thought that in order to come inside you had to get clean not physically sick over swine flu but spiritually you had to stop struggling you had to get over the struggles that hurts habits the hangups whatever it was before you could come into the church you had to really clean it up and get it together whether it's the fault of the church or really just your misperception or miss step on the church's fault it's not at all what the church was ever intended to be and more common even than that belief that like man in order to be a part of church you got to really be cleaned up and get it together even more common than not false idea is that in order to have a relationship with God you have to get it cleaned up you have to be cleaned up and have your life together one of the more common beliefs really in our country and I would guess if you guys are honest in this room is that in order to have a relationship with God like when God looks down if I'm gonna have a relationship with him if he's gonna accept me then I have to have my act together I got a glint get it cleaned up when God looks at me he's probably a little disappointed saying hey get it together and then we can talk get your life in order and then we can have a relationship and if that's what you believe even at a micro level you have either miss understood something about God or you don't know him at all and tonight we're gonna explore what I mean by that because we're gonna be introduced to Jesus God in a baaad on the planet God comes down puts flesh on he stands around shows us what God is like and he's gonna display for us that the God if you believe that God's a God who says get it together before me and you can talk you have not been introduced to the God who's there and so tonight hopefully will be your chance to encounter him we're continuing ad ad is stands for the year of our Lord where we are basically going through the New Testament we're looking at snapshots of people and their encounter with Jesus JP two weeks ago taught on the rich young ruler if you do not have the poor chap or you weren't here that night go download the poor chap you can go realist into that message and last week's on another story of a called the garrison demoniac and if you don't know what that is go listen to it and both those messages were incredible would HIGHLY encourage you to go listen to them tonight we're gonna continue this series as we look at men who encountered men and women who encounter Christ in hopes that we will encounter him for the first time or maybe in a fresh way so we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 8 if you have a Bible flip open a Matthew chapter 8 Matthew at the very first book of the New Testament we're gonna explore a story of a guy we're gonna look at four verses I'm gonna walk you through his story we're gonna read his story and then we're really gonna talk about some of our story inside of it so Matthew chapter 8 Matthew is a gospel that means good news it was Matthew's account of just the life of Jesus Matthew was a disciple of Jesus Matthew 8 so that's kind of what this book is if you want to know like where are we in the book if I started the eighth chapter of a book where would we be what just happened in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 it was something called the Sermon on the Mount Jesus just taught the most famous sermon in human history and he's with this huge crowd on this mountainside he begins to walk down the mountain and that's where we are in this story verse 1 of chapter 8 when Jesus came down from the mountainside large crowds followed him a man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said lord if you are willing you can make me clean Jesus reached out his hand to this leper and he touched the man I am willing he said be clean immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy then jesus said to him see that you don't tell anyone but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them so Jesus teaches the Sermon on the Mount comes down the mountain he's with the crowd all of a sudden the crowd begins to part because this leper shows up out of nowhere he throws himself at the feet of Jesus Jesus Luke tells us he's not just a leper he is full of leprosy Luke was a physician if you don't know that Luke wrote another gospel and Luke was a doctor whose decision so he's like hey timeout let me give you a medical this dude was full of leprosy not just a little rash I mean it was everywhere and so we're told that this man covered in leprosy throws himself at Jesus's feet begins begging Lord if you were willing you could heal my leprosy Jesus reaches out and touches the man and he's healed and Jesus says I'm willing be clean and immediately the leprosy leaves and Jesus tells him hey go and tell the priest to show yourself to the priest and don't tell anyone else the reason Jesus didn't wanted to tell us because Jesus didn't show up to be universal health care he came for a purpose he didn't want the miracles to get in the way of the message he didn't want everywhere he went for people to just be hidden for free handouts he came to die he came for a purpose so he tells him go and show yourself to the priest who would allow him to re-enter into society it's an amazing story but the reason why we picked this story is because it's so much more than maybe what originally meets the eye not only in the details we're going to talk about of what just happened in a more full version but inside of this story is your story and my story and I believe the reason it is in the New Testament and even place the way and place that it is inside of the gospel narrative right after the Sermon on the Mount it's because it shows us that and I'll tell you what I mean here in a second so we're gonna look at three ways that this foreshadows really parallels our story if you're ever going to know the God who doesn't say you need to clean yourself up before I will touch you and interact with you but before that we're gonna look at just the leprosy because you may be going away what is leprosy I don't even know what leprosy is nobody in here if I said hey who said leprosy before probably not a lot of show hands like chickenpox it's not a very common thing in our context where people have leprosy but here's what we know about lepers leprosy was a much more common disease in the first century leprosy defined this guy's life physically like here's what's crazy about leprosy even in studying this week I thought it was like a rash on the outside this is a disease that comes into your body and kills you from the inside it literally takes over your nervous system it takes over different cells and it the war against your own body and kill you I thought about showing pictures of leprosy so we go man here's what full leprosy would it look like this man that came out of nowhere and everyone gasped I get away here's what it would look like but the pictures honestly I was like they were too graphic this was a man who his face was deformed his limbs what happens is your fingers begin to fall off your nose eventually falls off you lose your voice in the same way that was it takes over your vocal chords and you have a hoarse voice from there eventually you go blind it was incurable you were essentially Josephus a Jewish historian at this time said lepers are walking dead men they must be treated as walking dead men this man dealt with incredible pain for a very long time because it doesn't rapidly develop it was a disease that progressed over time so to be full of it man he had suffered for many years it numbed your senses so you could no longer feel things you would burn your hands burn things and not be able to feel it this life physically or his life physically was deeply impacted by this not only that though but probably the worst thing about being a leper is you are outcast like that little experience are like swans well hey guys can I come inside that little experience that I had was this man's life one day he woke up with this rash which is the first external sign and all of a sudden he would no longer be able to hug his kids if he had him he can no longer hold his wife's hand if he had one like he was taken out there's a law that Old Testament commands that if you have leprosy because it's so contagious this deadly disease you were to live outside of the camp for the rest of life here's what it says in Leviticus 13 and we talks about leprosy it says the leprous person who has the disease it even tells him what they're supposed to wear shall wear torn clothes so all their clothes are to be torn up so they look like a crazy person and let their hair hang loose and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out unclean unclean everywhere he goes if there's people so you know to stay away he should remain unclean as long as he has the disease he is unclean he shall live alone his dwelling should be outside the camp like he's told hey not only is it so bad like they're literally saying hey you got to look like a crazy person so people know stay away from this dude you got to be like Zach Galifianakis with weird clothes on your hair's all going crazy places and you got to yell out unclean unclean everywhere you go you can no longer be around people I mean even emotionally this guy's life is deeply impact even the fact that he can't have anyone touch him like like psychologists today say if you don't have human touch it will mess you up it will mess up your mind you are more prone to violence depression all kinds of things and this dude is a walking dead man who knows there's no cure I will never be home again I will live like this for the rest of my life or whatever if it's even fair to call it a life until one day this man shows up Jesus and he reaches out and he touches this leper and he gives him his life back now here's why I say this story is our story because just like leprosy and if you take notes we're gonna look at three different ideas where we really find ourselves in the story leprosy was seen as a curse from God if you had it people believed wrongly have you been cursed by God you must have done something because he isn't taking you out right now it was seen as this curse and it was a curse that killed you from the inside out we as humanity have a curse ourselves that kills us from the inside out the first point I want to talk about is the curse that infects all of us the curse of sin like just like leprosy even in the Bible leprosy is synonymous with sin it's like a picture of it they use it over and over again of like man that's that is what sin does to a person's life here's five ways look at the sin that infects all of us like your disease and my disease it's even worse than that of the lepers and if you don't believe me hopefully you all portray that to you five ways that sin is like leprosy here's well here's one of them that just like leprosy kills you from the inside out this is how sin works you notice this like leprosy will war your body against oneself when you think about like the things that make your life hard that you're responsible for they're all coming from inside of you like like things that come naturally out of you that kill you from the inside like hey hey I struggle with addiction or anger or lust or anxiety or all these emotions inside and they don't you don't have to work at them you don't have to try for them they just come naturally to us they kill us because we've been infected with the disease of sin and it's killing all of us from the inside out yeah I mean what I mean by you don't have to work hard they just come naturally you they easily come it's like nobody in the room was like hey here's a resolution for 2016 I'm really gonna work on my anger okay I'm gonna be more angry than ever before I'm really gonna work on my anxiety this year I feel like I've got so much peace I really could use something nobody has to work at any of these things they all come naturally they kill us from the inside out because all of us have been infected by what the Bible says is the disease of sin that's the reason those things come naturally a sin nature the second way that it's like that is it cuts you off just like leprosy in the Bible is synonymous sin it cuts you off from relationships with God and with people just like leprosy cuts them off because you cannot live here anymore you have to leave it is illegal for a leper to come inside the city to be around the crowd like that one was that was illegal it is illegal you cannot be in relationship sin is the thing that cuts us off in relationships from people it's the thing that that makes us want to hide it's the thing that makes this lie about the things that we've done things that we've messed up with it's a thing that cuts off somebody guys like dating relationships have fallen apart because of sin relationships maybe you have parents who divorced because of sin it cuts us off from one another just like leprosy sin is this disease that infects the human race affects my heart and yours and has the ability to cut us off in relationship just like leprosy numbs you to the effects the third way just like leprosy numbs you to it's facts that's how it kind of how it works is like the worse it progresses the more numb you are you can't feel things one scholar said one of the best feelings a leper can feel is pain because they can't feel anything like their mouth will get raw they'll burn their mouth burn their tongue because they can't feel anything it numbs you the more progress it's like isn't this house in works it's the same exact way like that first time you got hungover or drunk you're like oh my gosh I can't believe that I did that now it's an every weekend thing the first time you gave up your virginity you were like oh my gosh what was I thinking I cannot believe that I did that gosh now it's the goal that you have in life it's just a part of dating it numbs you to where it goes from oh man that I should have done that to man I should always do that in the same way that leprosy numbs you sin numbs you to it's effective fourth ways that just like leprosy distorts your appearance it would make them physically unattractive sin does the same thing how unattractive does sin make people like if you thought about this like sin and what I mean by the sin greed anger lust any of those different whatever vice that it is like it makes a person pride and make someone unattractive like remember when Michael Jordan his his speech for the Hall of Fame before that it was like everyone wants to be like Mike and then you saw who Mike was and you're like nobody wants to be like Mike it makes you unattractive in the same way I like dating nobody's like oh my gosh let me tell you what I'm looking for I'm looking for a guy who is greedy that's what I want he's got an anger problem mom and I love it like nobody wants them even if you like yeah like bad boys you're not like I like bad boys who punch things nobody want like it's unattractive right and in the same way that it distorts the outside appearance that is the same way that sin works in the fifth way is just just like leprosy is incurable by itself it is impossible the human body you cannot if you have leprosy you will not be able to conquer leprosy by your immune system you have to have something outside of yourself in this day and age it was just Jesus today they've got antibiotics which is why if you're familiar with the ways that leprosy has receded in our world but in this day and age you had to have and still even today you have to have something you cannot cure it yourself sin you cannot cure sin yourself and you may be going I can conquer bad habits like I'm a disciplined person even if you're the most disciplined type-a person in the room all you do is you move sins around all of a sudden you conquer that one and something else pops up you cannot conquer it yourself and sin like leprosy is incurable alone or by yourself but just like we cannot cure ourselves so also just like the leper in this story Christ alone can cure us just like the leper in this story we're like hey look I'm gonna throw myself at the mercy of God I mean what the man does is illegal he shows up in the crowd is going what is everybody back up back up there's a leper at this time you had to me remain at least 6 feet away from a leper it was illegal for a leper to inner city or community or be around people like the punishment one rabbi said was that he should be stoned the punishment outright was at least forty lashes on his back it was illegal for this man to show up but why did he show up why did he say look I'm gonna break the law because he knew that there was this man that he believed was his Savior and he said look even if I die even if they kill me in this crowd Jesus you're my only hope I'm dead already either you can save me and I'll be able to go home I'll be able to have my life back or I'm dead already of course I'm gonna come break the law I'm gonna fall at your feet Lord you alone are my cure in the same way as it relates to sin Christ alone is your cure and my cure like you the story of the leper inside of the story you and I we are the leper who comes and we have no other place nothing we cannot heal ourselves our only option if we are to be accepted by God to be in relationship is to throw ourselves at the mercy of God and say Lord if you're willing you can clean my life you can take away my sin you can save me Lord will you save me this is the message of Christianity if you ever become a Christian it will not be by you cleaning yourself up it will be by you accepting the God who will reach out his hand touch you and make you whole heal you just like the leper got healed and then he allowed to re-enter into the city you will never enter into the City of God if you do not throw yourself at the mercy of Jesus that's all a Christian is it sony says look god I don't need a second chance I'm not gonna be able to save myself I can't be good enough I and according to Jesus is much higher than imma ever good no matter how good you think you are you'll never get there and Jesus says I'm here to save you you don't need a second chance and a third chance I'm gonna try harder this week you need a Savior and so do I that's why Jesus came that's the point Christ alone is the cure even the placement of the Sermon on the Mount even the fact that it's this story takes place right after the sermon amount what is the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gives all kinds of incredible teachings but inside of the Sermon on the Mount at every turn in every corner he basically says you're not good enough whatever you think the standard is it is way higher than that you think oh man I've never committed adultery if you've ever lusted even if you're a virgin you have committed adultery sorry if you are angry at someone you may think oh man I've never murdered somebody if you are angry you're a murderer Jesus says before God I mean at one point he even says this he says it unless you are as righteous or more righteous unless your righteousness exceeds he says in Matthew 5 verse 20 unless it exceeds that of even the Pharisees and the scribes or another way of saying unless you were more pure than the Pope and that's brother Pope unless you are more pure than him and Mother Teresa and every single nun that's out there unless you're more pure than all of them you will not go to heaven is what he says I mean at every turn you're going Jesus oh my gosh we'll never get there and he would say that's the point that's why I'm here to die in your place I mean at one point if all that wasn't bad enough he says you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect and we could try to explain that away and be like but perfect he means you know imperfect but the word is perfect you must be perfect Jesus I got to be perfect yeah I mean imagine that the sermon was that today hey guys you got to be perfect the closing prayer real quick I remember like what what kind of mess Jesus is going that's the point you'll never get there all on yourself you need someone who can save you you cannot do it alone Christ alone is the cure that's the whole point and then after he finishes this message it's like he goes down the mountain with the crowd come on guys I'm gonna give you an illustration of the fact that you cannot do it on your own throw yourself on the mercy of God asked him he would save you he goes down the mountain with the crowd and all of a sudden this leper who has no hope in the world who's able to say God I need you to save me right after the Sermon on the Mount he goes down and he says let me show you an illustration of what this is gonna look like Jesus comes down the mountain and saves a man who does nothing but be unclean and asks for mercy as though Jesus is saying this is the point this is why I'm here this is what it's all about if you think Christianity is about you trying to be a good person you do not know the Christ behind it you do not know what Christianity biblically is all about you do not know what the Bible teaches it's not Jesus didn't come to be like I am gonna make you a good person he came to make you alive to make you a new person to cure you and I of the infection that is killing the human race called sin and he alone is the Cure even the placement of it right after the Sermon on the Mount he's God sending a message you cannot do it alone Christ alone is the Cure and if you and I will simply throw ourselves in the mercy of God man I I love getting to do what we do here because every single week what happens is people come in and they used to they were like they were raised and kind of turrets went to VBS or I was Catholic I had something all of a sudden they never heard the gospel they trust in Jesus they just go oh my gosh man God loves me he died for me I before I could even do anything that's what Christianity is about how did I never hear this they give their lives to Jesus they surrender and they just say man it's not about me trying to work my way to heaven God came to me I accept you Lord and what happens is this incredible miraculous change just like the Lepper have you been standing there I mean how crazy would that be if you saw someone with leprosy which would be like a bola someone walking up to someone with Ebola touching them and you see it disappear you'd be like oh my gosh what just happened that's miraculous in the same way every single week people at this porch are at the porch here in Fort Worth and in Houston and in downtown all over the place and other churches as well people come to trust they'd surrender their life to Christ they ask him for mercy lord will you help me will you heal me I accept you and miraculous life change begins to take place like if you're in the room and you're going man but you don't know what I've done like I look around my circumstance and everywhere that I look I've just messed up I've ruined things I'm still ruining things I ruined things like 45 minutes ago I'm planning to ruin stuff later tonight you don't know I mean God can't accept me I'm telling you whatever your story is you're surrounded by people in the building who have that same story but only yours is part one and all of a sudden Jesus comes in and part two gets written and they have been radically changed let me read some of them fly through him here's here's stories of people this happened today I heard from a girl today miss girl named Kelly she was living with a boyfriend trying to numb her pain and numb her anxiety overwhelmed with anxiety through alcohol and weed she was smoking so much weed that she became a weed dealer to pay for her weed girl looks like the girl next story like really a weed dealer interesting she all of a sudden encounters Christ he stretches out the same hand that touched the leper radically her life has changed now all of a sudden she begins to be a part of ministering to women on a weekly basis she's on staff now at watermark a frat party leader named Travis he meets down town he's one of the leaders down there was chasing the next high was a frat star that didn't leave it in college was trying to hook up with every girl that he could was numbing whatever pain from life through alcohol through weed whatever it was he has an encounter with Christ turns his life around one of the best ministers of the gospel we have a guy named Todd used to who was using and abusing drugs alcohol was using and abusing his girlfriend and having sex with her and manipulating her to allow him to have sex with other girls this is the guy who all of a sudden encounters Christ God stretches out his hand now he is no longer in that relationship he's pursuing purity he's one of the leaders in Fort Worth I'll let you boy Todd living in another girl Jordan living in relationships defined by sex hung over every weekend got pregnant aborted the baby all of a sudden despite all the pain from that encounters Christ who stretches out her hand his hand changed her life found meaning and purpose meets with women every year have the fear of leaving an unhealthy relationship now she's using her past as a platform to showcase Jesus is the God who brings dead people back to life and every week she meets with girls who struggle with fear of leaving an unhealthy relationship or sex or the Dallas live scene another girl Katy was partying three to four times a week slave to how she looks she was defined by like how I looked on the outside I was empty and alone I was surrounded by millions of people in New York City but I've never felt so alone I encountered Christ through a porch volunteer on a plane I trusted Jesus and now I serve each week in the ministry that Christ used to change my life another one a porn addict who used to call in sick to work to look at porn all day encounters cry stretches out his hand now he's an incredible minister of the gospel with an incredible marriage and children another girl who didn't even have a desire to know God runs off into a marriage he should never have been in her marriage falls apart she has a divorce she ends up getting pregnant has an abortion encounters Jesus now she's one of the best ministers of the gospel that I know she's happily married she serves in this ministry a bunch of other people with similar stories that or maybe similar stories to mine we're like hey I was raised I tried to be a pretty good person hung my hat on how good or things that I hadn't done and God stretched out his hand and saved me from pride from thinking that I didn't need a Savior even if that's your story in the room man that's one of the more miraculous stories out there because you haven't bought into the lie that tons of people in this room have it hey I'm a good person man I don't I I don't do any of that stuff I don't smoke weed I you know I try to I pay my taxes I'm a good person and God awakened your eyes and you go man I am NOT a good person there's something dark inside of me I need a Savior and that's a miraculous story every single day every week we see stories around you and the reason I'm camping there is because here's what I know people in this room who think that man God if there is a God he didn't want anything to do with me and you know what godly environments are godly people whatever God could have had for my life it's gone it's not there anymore I'll never have the marriage that I wanted to have and never have the story that I wanted to have and and and the reality is whatever your story is there is no past God cannot redeem there is no past that's a problem for His grace but it can be a platform for it this is personal I have a close family member who I talk to all the time she's a believer and I'm always like man wish you came to the porch 1 and she has made she's had a password she had a season of running she has a couple kids out of wedlock and she feels like man and why would I go to the porch even if I was to meet someone or engage in a relationship godly guys would never want something to do with me and I tell her what I would tell you a godly guy will not see you defined by your past and if he does that is not a godly guy and the reason that he wouldn't have anything to do with you it doesn't have anything new with your past it may have something to do with your present that is not fully surrendered going God you can change you can write any story and the reason why she's held back is not because God's holding her a distance she's bought alive but that's the God that's there that God holds people at a distance the God who is there doesn't hold at a distance he is reaching out to hold on to her and that's if that's your story in the room that's the same case for you but Christ alone is the cure and he does miraculous things still today the final point of no matter what your story is is Christ's compassion towards you Christ's compassion towards you like the leper will look at this man and mark tells the same story mark chapter 1 what does Jesus do what moves Jesus to stretch out his hand it tells us he was filled with compassion and it looked at this leper who said Lord I have nowhere to go got a few if you're willing you can make me clean I could go home and hold my kids God will you heal me Lord will you save me Lord and Jesus filled with she stretches out his hand and he hews him while he was still unclean he touches him what does God do for you and me what is the feeling that he expresses towards those who are unclean compassion Christ compassion towards us as our third point like what does God feel for you right now in the room compassion like regardless of where you are the God of the universe is filled with love as you looks out and says that's my boy that's my girl I want to have a relationship with them I'm the God who moves towards them before they're clean I mean let me say this again let me try to make it as good before you do anything right God is reaching out towards you before you've ever cleaned yourself up no matter what you have done God is going I got open arms come on in here that's the God who is there he reaches out he's filled with compassion and love and wants you to know him wants to have a relationship with you that's the God that exists it's filled with compassion towards you and I just like that leper and he's made the first move towards you and I like in any relationship somebody makes the first move right like like in a dating relationship if you're in a dating relationship like somebody at some point like made the first move you know what I mean like somebody was like either the guy or the girl the guy was like hey you know love to take you to coffee or get to know you and how you doing whatever the you know the pickup line is and it's either the guy with a girl who's like hey you know I would love to give you these cookies that I made in between my quiet time and working out like I do every day and and you know somebody makes the persuit out there God has made the first move in the relationship if you ever have one it will be in response to the God who's reaching out to you now and has made the first move if you just accepted what he feels towards you and all of the broken hurting humanity is compassion God loves the unclean and he loves the broken he loves sinners I got some mind-boggling to me he even says a few verses later in Matthew 9 I came to heal the sick I came he says it's not the healthy that need a doctor it's the sick that's why I'm here Jesus you're saying we're all sick you're all sick and I'm the one who can make you clean I can make you healthy I can make you come back to life I can give you life I can give you like that leper your life back if you'll accept it how great even the fact that he touches him like how great is Christ's love is ministered to me so much this week as I was thinking about it even the fact that he touches him like why Jesus it says this in verse 3 Jesus reached out his hand the crowd is backed away going this man is he deserves to die he's come in the middle of the crowd what is he doing everyone back up this contagion of Jesus and not like the crowd were quarreling God reaches out to the man and he touches him why do you touch him Jesus so why I ministered to me was it because you had to to heal him that's just how you did it no the very next story four verses later he heals the guy with just a word you're healed he never even goes to see him he says the man is healed Jesus in this moment he reaches out to touch the leper not because he has to not because he needs to because he wants to because he loves him and the God that is there doesn't reach out to you because you're clean he doesn't reach out to me because I'm clean he reaches out to you and to me and to all who will just accept him he reaches out in general even then they don't and he reaches out not because he has to because he wants to because he loves you wherever you are he's a God that reaches out in the midst of that and touches a man who hadn't been touched in years and he heals him how great is God's compassion this is the God who was there and when close we're gonna lay on the plane right here the tragedy is I think so many people as it relates to God as relates to thinking of even Christianity is they think man they gotta clean up first God says I touch you when you're unclean this is how it works I'm the one who makes you clean I mean how crazy would it have been it if like when I got swine flu I called the doctor and I was like I want I'm a little under the weather I want to make an appointment they were like oh tell me your symptoms Oh a cold headache oh yeah yeah we're not gonna see you get feeling better get healthy and then you can come to the doctor you'd be like what that's what what kind of doctor is this doctors are there to make clean I mean it's one of the primary things they hang their hat on is they make clean they make healthy that's why they do practice medicine you're not gonna see me till I get clean that would be crazy why is it that we think that that's how God is why is it that so many have bought a lie that is not in the Bible that I need to clean up and God says I am the one who makes clean if you're gonna be clean you come to me I'm the one who heals you of whatever you're struggling with it's not by your own self-righteousness your own self-discipline I make clean that's why I came that's why I'm here that's the God that exists and wherever you are tonight he's reaching out to you and to me filled with compassion as he's always been for humanity to heal before they're ever clean he's reaching out to touch because he wants to because He loves you this is why we do ministry this is why we take this message every single we're talking in the green room with the team before this is why we do what we do with the porch but if you were to told me I'd be in ministry I'd be like what there's no way I'm getting in ministry I want a lake house I'm not gonna in ministry I never would have wanted to do this but honestly the thing that keeps my heart connected to this is this is seeing what God does and honestly telling people about the God who was there this is the God that is there this is our God who reaches out who heals before you do anything right and we're going to take this message every place that we can get in to every Street to every place every space in this town in Forth in Houston in every place that we can get because there's a world out there that does not know the God who is there they think they have to clean themselves up it is a tragic heartbreaking unbiblical idea but they have bought into the lie that if they're gonna have a relationship with God get it together and God's holding him back and the reality is God is reaching out towards them that's the God who was there that's the God who lives that's the God who changes and if you're ever gonna know the God that exists that's the God you will encounter I'm gonna pray that you would father thank you just for allowing us to see some of your character that you don't reach out and you don't change us you don't love us because we've made our self clean you make us clean because you love us you alone are our only hope Lord I don't have anything to offer and I throw myself on your mercy all of us do who know you Lord and we say you are our only hope just like that leper lord if you are willing you can make us clean you can heal us Lord and thank you that your response is I am willing be healed be clean be new be alive for anyone in this room who doesn't know you God would you reach out your hand and would you save them would you allow them to see because we're told that they've been blinded so the god who is there even believing that they need to work their way to heaven and not trust in the God who came down the mountain for them to save them even though rejection or the belief that they could earn their way up the mountain is a lie God would you shatter that lie with your truth with your love with your compassion we worship you now Lord

Channel: The Porch

Views: 9,461

Rating: 4.78125 out of 5

Keywords: Leprosy, sin, unclean, clean, matthew 8, im a good person, good people, leper, radical, jesus, sermon on the mount, healing, save, porch dallas, watermark, david marvin, try

Id: WXAABIoEnZ8

Length: 42min 10sec (2530 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 08 2016