Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church and today we're going to talk about the Bible, what it did. You'll always find through the Bible that multitudes follow Jesus, but most of the time they followed Him because they wanted to see a miracle, or they wanted to enjoy the show, but rarely did they follow Him because they loved Him. That's what separated the ones that really knew Him from the ones that were just along for the ride.

It is still the same. Guess what? Our churches ought to be designed to please the Lord, not to have a show for people to come watch.

Does that make sense? We hope you enjoy the service this morning, but our motive, as much as we love everyone here, is not to please you, it's not even to please me. We don't do here exactly what I would want. We do here what we think the Lord wants us to do. Notice if you would, verse 2, And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, let's just stop right there, that was not a very welcome individual unto a crowd of people.

Leprosy was contagious and people felt, you know, oh Lord if there's a leper don't touch him, they would take lepers at that time and they would put them in what we know now as leprosy colonies, or leper colonies, and they would put them over, they'd have to leave if they had a husband or a wife or children, they'd have to leave them, they couldn't live with them, they were allowed to bring food and leave it, not go near them, and they would, maybe if a husband got leprosy, a wife would come on the outskirts of the city and there'd be an area where the lepers lived in caves, and a wife could come, maybe make a basket or bring some food and she'd have to leave it, could not have contact with him, and he would see them from a distance, when they would leave he would go out and get it, that's what leprosy was, that's what leprosy did, nobody wanted to be around you, you were not welcome, because they thought obviously it's going to spread and everybody else is going to get sick. So there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, let me just stop right there, aren't you glad it does not matter what you possess, how good of a person you are, what you've accomplished, you can worship God. You might say, preacher, I don't have much, you don't have to have anything, you can have nothing and you can still worship him, and he notices it when you do. Notice what he says, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Notice two things, number one, very wise leper here, he says, it's according to your will God. By the way, I want you to know whether God heals, whatever God does, whatever miracle transpires, look at me, it is his decision, it is his will. You and I don't understand why certain people don't get healed, we don't understand why certain things happen or don't happen, we don't know why certain circumstances happen in our families or in our own life or in our marriage, whatever the case might be, it might not make a lot of sense to us, but dear friend, it's according to his will, and he said, God, notice the second phrase, thou canst, he said, God, I know you can, and I know you have the power, but it's up to you, your decision.

Oh, I love it. He says this, thou canst make me clean. What's interesting about this word clean, and this is a lot of intro, I guess, but what's interesting about this word clean, in this particular verse in Matthew, it's not just talking about taking a car that has mud on it, getting a bucket and some soap and water, whatever, and brushes and rags, whatever you do, and washing like a vehicle. He's not saying that like, I've got dirt on me or something, that's not what this word clean, this word clean means whole. What he is saying is this, Lord, you could make me clean, not just of leprosy, but of sin. Dear friend, you and I might be here this morning, we might not have leprosy, thank God, but we're all sinners, and we're all on our way to hell, but for the grace of God. Notice what he says in verse three, and Jesus put forth his hand, notice this, very surprising, and touched him, saying, I will.

That simple. I will. Now, just try to get personal with you, I prayed three and a half years that God would heal my mother of cancer. God politely said, I won't. Some of you have had family that have been sick, are going through disease right now, and you're praying and pleading with God. And dear friend, you and I will never understand the decision making process in the perfect plan of God. But he can, he has the right to say, I won't, or I will. And to this individual, he said, I will. It all depends on the will of God.

He said, I will be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed, and Jesus saith unto him, see thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. Now, I want you to notice a couple things. First off, us humans, we have five basic senses, I guess you would say.

And obviously, if everything's gone right, and our health has been good, we basically have five. And it's this, it's sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Now, all of them are important. All of them are a blessing.

All of them serve a purpose. And you and I know various individuals that have lost certain senses. We know folks that have lost their eyesight. I know many folks that have lost their hearing.

We know that there's all kinds of things. I even know people that have lost their taste. Part of me sometimes wonders if that wouldn't be better for me.

God don't listen to me right now. To lose my taste. I have literally sat and talked with people, they cannot taste their food anymore, and it's a miserable life. So we look at something, and it looks so good, and it's just no taste.

And they say, you have no idea how miserable that life is. All these senses are important. But you know what is interesting is that there's one thing that you rarely find somebody that has lost the sense of touch. Unless there's been some kind of accident, and maybe their hand was cut off, or their arm was cut off, or both of them. But that is one, you know, you think of a person that might be blind, they need their touch. You think of a person that's deaf, or whatever the case might be, at least they can still touch and feel and different things. But rarely does an individual lose the sense of touch.

And yet this is very, very important, and I'm gonna show you why. First off, I want you to notice in this particular passage the touch of Jesus here. Number one, I want you to see this, that his touch was an intimate touch. Nobody else wanted to touch this leper. But when Jesus touched individuals, all through his earthly ministry, and I'm gonna show you quite a few of them very quickly this morning, through his entire ministry, Jesus always physically touched.

And oftentimes he touched individuals that no one else wanted to touch. Do you know that touch is intimate? Many of you here at church were in the back, and Scott's always close, I always use Scott, he doesn't mind it, he's tough. Scott'll walk in the door, and I'll come up and I'll say, hey Scott, how you doing? And we'll shake hands. And just that touch of shaking hands is letting him know, hey, I'm glad to see you. Then sometimes we'll be in a church service, and God will begin to work, and Scott and I have worked together for a number of years in different ways, and VBS's and all those things, and by the way, you know, Wednesday night, this past Wednesday night, they treat it like a family vacation Bible school, that's exactly what our vacation Bible schools are like.

It's nuts, and you need to show up and see it. Because we've got a good vacation Bible school coming this year. But we have had times in the service, and God's just been so good, and folks have been saved, and Scott and I will go over there and talk and say, man, hadn't it been good? And we'll embrace.

We'll just give a hug and say, man, I love you, buddy. Well, that's an intimate touch. It's letting Scott know, hey, not only am I glad to see you, but I love you in the Lord. Touch sends all kinds of messages, and when Jesus touched this leper, it was intimate. It was him saying, I know who you are, and I know where you are, and I know what you're going through, and I am touching you to let you know that I love you, and I'm concerned about you.

It is an intimate touch, and dear friend, I want you to know something. There is one thing you can do in your life to make you not wanted by God. I don't care where you've been, what you've done. He still loves you. He knows where you are. He knows what you've done.

He knows where you've been, and he still wants to touch you this morning and show love to you. It's an intimate touch. Second, I want you to notice that his touch was a powerful touch. It healed this leper. The Bible says when he touched him, immediately he was cleansed. Dear friend, you know, when you get saved, it's not a gradual thing.

Growth is gradual. Salvation is instantaneous. The minute you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, his touch is so powerful that immediately you are regenerated through the blood of Jesus Christ. Immediately you have gone from being on your way to hell to on your way to heaven.

Wow! Then a whole life starts. Then you grow and you learn about the Lord and you get in God's word and people hurt you and circumstances come against you, and then you just look to God and he gives grace and the more you go through, the more you lean on God, the closer the two of you become. Then you draw nigh to him, he draws nigh to you. It starts this whole journey and it all started because he touched you. It's a powerful touch, but third, it's a transforming touch. When God touches you, it changes you.

If God touched you and you didn't change, you didn't get touched by God. We have some guys on TV that like to touch people. They'll go up and like, oh thou foul spirit, hee-yo! Say baby, say Jesus, thou foul spirit. Buddy they'll lay that hand on them and touch them and all that stuff.

Folks will be sitting at home and they'll be like, wow, praise the Lord, look at me dear friend. You don't need to be touched by an individual. God doesn't need them. God touches you personally. God didn't go over to some guy standing in the crowd and let me touch you, you go touch that leper.

Then the guy went over and touched the leper, ooh the leper falls over. God didn't need any help. He doesn't need to work through me to touch you, God touches you himself. It's a transforming, listen to me, he touched a Simon and Simon became a Peter. He touched an old fisherman that was living a rough life and he transformed him to a new man named Peter. He touched a guy named Jacob that was a trickster and dishonest and he turned him into an Israel, the Prince of God. He transformed Abram into an Abraham. He transformed a defeated Elijah into Elijah the man of God. He changed Moses from a murderer into Moses the leader of the people.

I could give you instance after instance after instance after instance where God's touched absolutely transformed individuals but guess what? I don't even have to go this far back. I don't even have to leave this room.

Anybody here been transformed from what you were? You know there's some people in this room that used to be drunks. Do you know there's some people in this room that used to cuss? Do you know there's people in this room that still cuss? Don't you look at me like that.

I've heard some of them but trust me now. Look at me dear friend, when God touches us he transforms us. All of us have been changed by the grace of God. That's why when an individual walks into our church or you go out during your job or you go out into your neighborhood or you go out into this town or area whatever the case might be somebody doesn't look, smell, act, dress just like you do you got to remember maybe they haven't had that touch yet. Maybe they haven't been transformed yet. Maybe they haven't met the Savior that you got to meet. Maybe they haven't had the grace yet that you've gotten to experience and if it wasn't for that grace or that touch or that intimacy that God showed you you'd be just like them too and we ought to love them and say hey let me tell you what God did for me He can do for you. I want you to notice number one tonight that His touch transforms the diseased.

Now I'm going to give you this real quickly and we'll go home this morning. In Matthew chapter 8 verse 15 you don't need to turn to it I have the verses that are going to go up on the screen but we have something interesting here. Jesus and Peter and individuals they've been out serving God and they come back to Peter's house and his mother-in-law is laying ill almost at the point of death and I'm sure it was mixed emotions for Peter. Jesus comes in probably like hey let me heal her he's like wait let's not get too hasty. Other people need it Lord don't waste you know. You're looking at me all these women are like hmm and all the men are like you know.

I'm picking. Bless God the first person I would heal was my mother-in-law. She's here in the nursery again? No she's in the nursery again she's always in the nursery when I preach I'll tell you what. I want you to notice this in Matthew chapter 8 verse 15 they come in and obviously I'm picking but look at verse 15 on the screen and he touched her hand this is the mother-in-law of Peter by the way those of you that understand everybody says that Peter those that believe obviously in other religions believe that Peter was the first pope he was married okay so he couldn't have been so it's all built on something that's not stable anyway okay notice the Bible says if you read these verses surrounding it that this was Peter's mother-in-law the Bible says so he was married so that kind of throws that out okay but now listen to me says he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them listen to me Jesus had to raise her from the sick just to get something to eat the Bible says she ministered unto them as soon as she heals her they're all like hey we're hungry isn't that what a woman does bless her heart men come in and they're hungry and here Jesus touched someone that was diseased someone that had fever someone that was at the point of death listen to me in her condition she represents those of us who have been afflicted with the blight of sin do you know all of us were diseased when Jesus found us the Bible says the wages of sin is what death that's exactly where all of us were headed we had a disease and we were sin cursed we were born in sin the Bible says in sin that our mother conceive us we were literally born on our way to hell we were diseased and when he touched us he healed us Isaiah 59 one says behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save his hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither is ear heavy that it cannot hear his touch cleanses sin and it transforms a sinner from a wasted life into a life for Christ number two I want you to notice not only does it transform the disease but number two it transformed we find in God's word the deaf we find in Mark chapter 7 verse 33 an interesting thing here it says that they brought unto Jesus one that was deaf and not only was he deaf but he had an impediment in his speech and they brought him and he couldn't hear and he couldn't speak and they brought him to Jesus now look at me this guy had no ability to communicate think about this he had no ability to communicate he couldn't see he couldn't talk and they bring him to Jesus now notice if you would verse 33 on the screen and he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ears and he spit and touched his tongue you talk about touch puts his fingers into his ears spits and touches his tongue that was one of the most awkward healing things you've ever seen in your life what is he doing verse 34 and I'm going to read it to you I wanted you to see that verse and looking up to heaven he sighed and sayeth unto him Apaphtha that is be opened and straightway his ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plain here is a picture of an individual that couldn't communicate he could not hear he could not speak do you know that is a picture of a lost sinner here the Bible says look at me that our minds our hearts have been darkened we can't understand God's word our minds and our hearts have been darkened we've been blinded we have been fooled and there's nothing inside of us that bears witness with the Spirit of God because we haven't been saved yet look at me but when Jesus came and touched us he touched us who couldn't speak who couldn't hear we could not communicate with the holy God we had nothing that we could do but when he touched us the Bible says that he opened up our hearts and minds to the word of God. He transformed the deaf I wanted to read this passage to you in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12 listen to me now we have received not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God we have been given God's Spirit when we get saved now we can understand the things of God we couldn't before because our minds have been darkened. Listen to verse 13 which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual but the natural man those that have not been saved the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him listen to this neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned that's where we were folks we couldn't understand all this some of you might be sitting here not been in church much in your life and you say preach I pick up that Bible and I hear their preaching I just don't understand it guess what you can give your heart to Christ that's why salvation has to be simple because we don't have the capability to understand the completeness of God's word for an unsafe sinner to get saved it's got to be simple and he made it simple you got to believe as a preacher I thought it was great what he shared this week you got to accept God's view of your sin that means you've got to admit that you've sinned you got to believe that he died on the cross for you and rose again and you call upon his name that is simple transforms the deaf I have to move a little quicker number three it transforms the darkened Matthew chapter nine verse twenty nine here's a man who was born blind at birth so here's a picture of those that have been darkened who those that are away from the light the Bible says that we were hid from the light of the gospel verse 29 says then touched he their eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you and their eyes were opened and Jesus straightly charged them saying see that no man know it dear friend look at me I want you to get this notice what he says according to your faith he touched him and then he said according to your faith our evangelist made it very clear this week we are saved by grace through faith it's by the grace God's given us and it's through the faith we're putting in him that we get saved so he can transform the darkened I want you to notice number four that it transforms the doomed Matthew chapter eight verse three that we just read and opened up with this this morning notice this the Bible when healing this leper and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying I will be thou clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed he is a picture of an individual that has no hope when you have leprosy it wasn't healed it wasn't something you could take medicine it wasn't something that you grew out of when you got leprosy you just waited to die you were doomed there was no hope there was nothing you could do to fix it and when you are lost without Christ there's nothing you could do to fix it you were doomed you had no hope the Bible says that a life without Christ there's no hope available but when he touches you in salvation he transforms you now you have hope what a picture number five and I'm obviously leaving a lot out but number five we find that his touch transformed the dead Luke chapter eight verse fifty four the Bible says and he put them all out here's a little girl a young girl that's dead they believed obviously and she was dead and they came in and they said hey you know you don't need to trouble him don't bother him she's dead already and the Bible says that he took it made everybody leave the room notice verse fifty four and he put them all out and took her by the hand and called saying maid arise and her spirit came again and she arose straight away let me just stop right there and say people always talk about the body soul and spirit we go to heaven the Bible says that's from the body's present with the Lord I don't understand that and you know here's a body laying in a casket here's a girl that was dead and when Jesus brought her back from the dead what does it say it says her what came again her spirit that is what goes to heaven you got it that's what left that's what he brought back her spirit he returned that spirit her spirit came again she arose straight away and he commanded to give her meat here is a girl not only was hope gone she was dead but his touch transformed her from death guess what you and I the Bible says we're dead in trespasses and sin and his touch transformed us I got a whole passage I wanted to read to you about that but let me just move on number six I believe that the Bible teaches that his touch transformed the deceived. Malchus is an interesting fella he was running with the wrong crowd here he was a soldier and Judas who was one of Jesus' disciples betrayed Jesus in fact before he even did Jesus looked at him and said basically so you're going to betray me with a kiss and in this passage in Luke chapter 22 Judas walks up to Jesus who had been praying and he kissed him on the cheek and that was a sign to the soldiers he delivered Jesus to the soldiers to be crucified one of his trusted disciples and the Bible says when they came that Peter got a little bit excited and he swung a big sword and he cut off this man's ear his name was Malchus. Look at Luke chapter 22 verse 51 on the screen and Jesus answered and said suffer ye thus far and he touched his ear and healed him. Now you say okay well you've already talked about blind definite why is this important look at me there is no record that Malchus ever got saved there is no record that this man even put his faith in Christ. You say well preacher what's your point look at me his touch opened the ears of Malchus and gave him opportunity to put faith but the Bible never says that he did. Guess what dear friend God's given you an opportunity this morning and when you got saved guess what he gave you a chance too and his touch opened up your ears to the understanding of God's word and it puts you at the point that you had to make a decision do I accept Christ or do I not do I say yes or do I say no and dear friend God gives all of us that opportunity but it's your choice whether you accept it or not. You see the Bible says we've been deceived by Satan and his touch opens up our minds and lets us understand the Gospel and gives us the opportunity to accept or deny and here we find a man that as far as we can tell never accepted. Dear friend I want you to know the same grace that saves is the same grace that opens up the mind and gives you the opportunity.

It's your decision whether you say yes or no. I want you to notice number seven that it transforms the dismayed. This is our last one this is the disciples here. Here's individuals that have been saved they've been following and eating and living with Jesus and ministering with Him. They had been with Him for an unconscious time and then now we find obviously as things were coming to a close in Jesus ministry they began to get nervous they began to get scared and now the disciples were cowering in fear. Notice verse 7 of Matthew chapter 17 the Bible says and Jesus here is His personal friends and Jesus came and touched them and said arise and be not afraid. You know what 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 says therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.

Old things are passed away behold all things are come new. Listen here's Jesus close disciples and they're getting scared. You ever been scared? You ever served God and you don't understand you're confused and you're worried and you're concerned? The Bible says that same touch that saved that same touch that transformed look at me is the same touch that calms our fears.

Look at me it's all by something intimate called a touch. In fact listen to me Jesus is so intimate with us that what happens when you and I get saved? The Bible says that He gives us the Holy Spirit and literally lives inside of us.

You can't get more personal than that. He moves in. He loves us so much that when He redeems us now He gives us the comforter. God bless you. God bless you.