Out of the Crowd . . . a Leper!, Part 2

Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll describes a touching encounter between Jesus and a man with leprosy. He's been a leper long enough to know that he's never felt a handshake. He doesn't remember someone who loves him holding his hand, never had a reassuring arm around his shoulder, which makes the response of Jesus all the more eloquent.

The very first response, he reaches out and touches him. Just after giving his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stepped down from the hillside and into a crowded scene. Among the people, a man who suffered from leprosy stepped forward and made an appeal. This touching exchange between Jesus and this marginalized man teaches us volumes about the grace and compassion of God. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll will draw relevant application from this dramatic scene in Matthew chapter 8.

We'll begin with prayer as Chuck prepares us for the message he titled, Out of the Crowd, a Leper. It's such a calming comfort, our Father, to know that you were the same yesterday, today and forever. You're not more sovereign now than you were 10 centuries ago. You're not less Lord of our lives than you were when we were children. You are the same.

You don't change. What was true at creation remained true through the days of the Bible as it was written, and to this day still true. But we acknowledge with one of our statesmen of the past, truth is forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. We count on your presence, our Father, in the midst of our mess.

Given enough time, we will ruin this country, and we will take it down a path that was never originally planned to go if you don't intervene. Intervene, Lord. Come to our rescue. Somehow, our Father, we need you to break into our times and remind us that you are our God, and we are your people. We are the sheep of your pasture. Give courage to those in places where decisions are made.

Give them the wisdom in knowing how to overrule and speak out, for wrong is occurring and being decided. Give us guidance, Lord, as we walk through this maze filled with obstacles, unexpected surprises, heartbreaking disappointments. As we imagine the vistas of hope there is when we remember that in the end you win, we pray for the ability to be lifted above our times and to see that you have predicted precisely where we are, that in these last days perilous times will come.

Guard us from panic. Give us a calm confidence that your word is still truth, that nothing in that book has changed, and we plant our hearts and our lives on it with absolute assurance that you will lead us in the way we should go. Remind us that there have always been hard times and that you have always worked through a remnant, this day not excluded, and we count on you to encourage us with that thought. Give us joy in being among the remnant without pride and arrogance. Give us the ability to stand fast without being hostile and full of hate.

Make us more like Jesus Christ who always knew what to do and when to do it and how to carry it out. We know you're committed to making us like Christ and we surrender to you whatever is standing in the way of that. We surrender it all, all to Jesus. We surrender all to Him. We freely give.

Through Christ our Lord, we pray. Everyone said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scripture studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck titled, Out of the Crowd, a Leper. You and I know that there is something exhilarating about a well-crafted sermon. What you may not know is that every well-crafted sermon is always exhausting.

Exhausting. Which makes me all the more amazed when I come to this Sermon on the Mount, which you and I have been spending time in together. Not only is it a masterpiece, talk about an exhilarating message, but I enter into the amazement of it when I realize what came before it and what followed after it. Prior to the sermon, verses 23, 24, and 25 of chapter 4, there is the crush of the crowds. There are various diseases, there are pains, there are people filled with demons, there are folks that have epilepsy, there are people that are paralyzed and all kinds of sores, all kinds of headaches, all kinds of heartaches, and they're coming and they're coming and it isn't letting up and they're coming from all over. They're coming from all of Syria and all of Galilee and from the ten cities on the other side. They're coming from Jerusalem and all of Judea down below. They're from all over.

You and I can hardly imagine the crowd. Look for yourself. Chapter 4, verse 23. Jesus is going throughout all Galilee.

Don't miss that. All Galilee. That's a pretty good sized region if you travel to Israel, you realize it. All of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing every kind of disease, every kind of sickness among the people.

That's just one verse. People with mental illnesses, people with emotional anxiety, people with physical afflictions brought to him. Jesus healed them one and all. More and more people came. The momentum gathering besides those from Galilee crowds came from the ten towns, which is a translation of Decapolis, the ten towns across the lake. Others from Jerusalem and Judea. Still others from across the Jordan.

You know what stands out in my mind from his rendering? The momentum gathering. The needs intensified. The expectations enlarging. The crowds increasing.

It was growing. The momentum is gathering. There is no break.

There is no nap. He goes from this up the mount, sits down and delivers a flawless, exhilarating message that to this day we cannot exhaust. What a sermon, especially when you realize what preceded it. Look at the end of the sermon.

The very end, verse 28, verse 29. When Jesus had finished, when he had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. After a sermon like this, you don't feel chatty.

You want to be quiet. You want to let the wonder in. You want to sit and soak it up, especially if you're the preacher. You want to give God thanks for the help and the delivery and you want to give him praise that the message connected and the people were moved. In fact, they had never heard such great teaching in their lives.

Verse 29, the teaching came as one who had authority from one who had authority and not as the scribes. The sermon has ended. The people are amazed. Jesus makes his way down the mount and look, look, there's the crowd again, except now it's larger. There's been a little time that's passed and more people have gathered. From all around, more have come. He came down from the mountain. Look closely. Large crowds followed him.

Earlier we read large crowds followed him, maybe as far as he could see there were more people and more. Some way in the back going, help me, help me. I came all the way, all the way from beyond the Jordan.

Help my son. Now you've got it. Life doesn't stop because the preacher prepares and delivers a message. It doesn't even stop after it's over.

In fact, one of the most significant things that ever happened happens now. Out of the crowd emerges a leper. The crowd must have backed away. The ultimate outcast is in their midst. He's a picture of depression and humiliation and complete lack of self-worth. You and I cannot imagine the desperation that accompanies leprosy, one cannot describe. In the scriptures, leprosy is often compared to sin. That's why leprosy is not cured. It's cleansed.

That's important. We're never cured of sin, we're cleansed of sin. When Jesus Christ comes into our life to save that life, he cleanses us from sin, doesn't cure us from sinning. We still have an old nature that sins. We wish to be cured, that awaits us.

That's an eternity. All that we could be cured of it, but only cleansed. And that's what he asks for. He came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him, and a leper let it land in full force. A leper came to him and worshiped. The new American standard renders this, bow down before him, the Greek has one word, worship. He worshiped. Bowed low and uttered the word, kurios, Lord. What respect.

It's a great moment. Lord. Literally the verse reads from Matthew's pen, behold a leper approaching worshiped him saying, Lord, if you are willing you are able to cleanse me. Look at the statement.

If you are willing. Why would he say that? He's a nobody. He's an outcast. He's alone with only other lepers except now he is in the crowd and they must have been frowning, mumbling, wondering how he got loose. Years ago there was released a magnificent film titled the Elephant Man.

You will remember it. It's a fine film of a man who suffered that tragic disease that turns the face into what appears to be a beast. Thick, callous skin loosely hanging, slits for eyes and horrible. And the crowd is chasing him. And he winds up in the latrine. And the eloquent moment of the film, in my opinion, is when he stops and turns and looks at them and says, I am a human being. That's the way this man felt. Lord, I mean nothing to no one. I don't matter to anybody. Everyone runs from me. I am diseased. I am unable to cleanse myself every day.

More and more of me becomes less and less. If you are willing, you can cleanse me. I want you to hold your place right here. I want every one of you to turn to the book of Psalms and locate number 51. We'll be back shortly, but a brief excursion to Psalm 51. Why Psalm 51?

Because these are the words of a man who had lost all self-worth. Strangely, he isn't an unknown. He's not a nameless man in the crowd like the leper who was never named. This is David. This is King David. This is after Bathsheba, after the deception, after the adultery, after the murder of her husband Uriah, after going through the motions of rulership, not writing any psalms. I read of no place in the psalms he wrote during the adultery. Adultery takes the song out of a life. And he lives in the humiliation of the confrontation from Nathan.

You are the man. And David admits, guilty as charged, I've sinned. Sometime between that moment and later, when the baby dies, he picks up the stylus to write again, and he writes this song. This is a song of heartbreaking humility. Look how it begins. Be gracious to me, O God. According to your loving kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. You feel the shame? You feel the self-blame?

You hear the humiliation? Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

This is a broken man. If we had longer, I would go through the psalm, but verse 17, we must turn right away to that. The sacrifices of God are, I want every one of you to see the words, especially you who are proud, you who have not recently been humiliated, or you who are hiding your own shame and sinfulness.

Look at the words. The sacrifices of God are a broken heart, a broken spirit, a broken, a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Said negatively, what he is saying is you are pleased with brokenness and a word we seldom use, a contrite heart.

What is it that makes a contrite heart such a beautiful sacrifice? It makes no demands. It nurses no blame or grudges. It entertains no expectations.

It offers no conditions. It anticipates no favors. It is that attitude that God loves.

And that's the attitude of the leper. We would say today, nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling. I have nothing.

I've done nothing. I am nothing that would make you even look in my direction. But O God, if you, if you want to, you can cleanse me.

F.F. Bruce puts it well, men more easily believe in miraculous power than in miraculous love. Isn't that a beautiful statement? I know you have the power, I believe that, but I don't know that you'd ever give me the time of day.

People stopped doing that when the first sore broke out on my forehead and my hair shortly thereafter turned white and fell out and my lips dropped off. But if you are willing, you can cleanse me. The compassionate response of Jesus is disarming. By the way, who knows how long the man has been a leper.

Two years, 12, 19, we're not told. He's been a leper long enough to know that he's never felt a handshake. He can't remember the embrace, maybe when he was a little boy. He doesn't ever remember someone who loves him holding his hand.

Never had a reassuring arm around his shoulder. You didn't touch a leper. Which makes the response of Jesus all the more eloquent, very first response.

He reaches out and touches him. You don't have to do that. In fact, if we were to take the other healings in this chapter, you would find Jesus sometimes heals from a distance. As the centurion puts it, you can just speak a word like I do to a group of men.

It's my command and they do it. Just speak a word. You can heal with a word, but Jesus doesn't do that. He reaches out. He touches the man, maybe the first human being that's touched him in years.

What the crowd must have thought. Rather than contaminating the one who touched him, it cleansed the one who was touched. Matthew has captured this intimate moment between Jesus and a man suffering from leprosy. There's much more that Chuck Swindoll wants to draw from this passage, so please stay with us for the remainder of this study. You're listening to Insight for Living, and to learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org.

Even at this moment, it's encouraging to realize people all over our country, and even around the world, are learning about the healing touch of Jesus. For example, we were encouraged to read a recent comment from a listener in Minnesota who told us her dramatic story. This woman described her lifelong journey with epilepsy that began at age four. Well into her teenage years and beyond, she kept her disease private because she didn't want any of her friends to witness the horrific seizures. She said, My days were long, secretly dealing with the seizures, homework, teachers, and family. But I knew I could hear Pastor Chuck on radio every night. Now I'm a 33-year-old woman, wife, and mother.

I had surgery, and today I am seizure-free. My faith in God is unshakable because in my worst moments, I could tune in and hear an encouraging word from Pastor Chuck Swindoll. Thank you. Such an encouraging note from one of your co-listeners.

Matthew chapter 8 describes the emotion-filled moment when Jesus reached out and touched the leper. Well, he's still touching lives today, and God uses your financial support of Insight for Living to play a key role in these wonderful moments. To give a donation today, just call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888.

Again, that's 1-800-772-8888. Or, you can easily give a gift by using our mobile app or by going online to insight.org. Thank you for your generous support of Insight for Living. You've heard him teach about the Holy Land, using word pictures to make us feel like we're actually strolling through the Old City. Learning about Jerusalem is fascinating for sure, but seeing the land of Israel with your own eyes is life-changing.

In fact, it's absolutely magnificent. And now you can see Israel with Chuck Swindoll and the gracious hosts and experts assembled by Insight for Living Ministries. Join us on an unforgettable 12-day tour, March 6-17, 2022. At special sites along the way, I will teach from God's Word. We'll worship at the Mount of Beatitudes and share the Lord's Table at the Garden Tomb. In fact, we'll sail the Sea of Galilee together, and we'll visit places where Jesus walked and taught. To learn more, call 1-888-447-0444.

Just imagine walking along those sacred sites and seeing the Bible come to life before your very eyes. Mark your calendar for March 6-17, 2022. And make your reservation by calling 1-888-447-0444. Or go to insight.org slash events. Insight for Living Ministries Tour to Israel is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Dave Spiker, inviting you to join us when Chuck Swindoll continues to tell the dramatic story of the leper. Tomorrow, right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Out of the Crowd, a Leper, was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.