Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Jesus doesn't need to touch the man to heal him. Why does he touch the leper? It demonstrates, doesn't it? The great love.
Become a passion. and tenderness and healing. of our Saviour. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. COVID has changed the way we connect.
Less handshakes and hugs, right? And many have become lonely and isolated. Today, we're starting a new study in the Gospel of Matthew on the miracles and teaching of Jesus. will meet a man who was totally cut off in lifetime quarantine. until he meets Jesus.
Here's Pastor John Monroe with his message, the power of touch and word. Today, we return to the Gospel according to Matthew and come to a very moving passage. We are going to see the compassion of our Lord Jesus for a very unlikely person. and we're going to see the power of the touch. and the word of Jesus.
We all know the importance of human touch. Living in a world without human contact is difficult and devastating. as we've seen first hand during COVID. No. We all realize there is inappropriate touching.
by the touch of a mother to a child. A friend to a friend. A hospice nurse to a dying person is powerful. And think of the power of words. Words can be destructive, or words can be healing, comforting, and encouraging.
Today, Let's learn from Jesus. The power of human touch is incalculable. And one of the negative impacts of this COVID-19, something which is very frustrating to us. Is that we have to practice this social distancing. It's very unnatural, isn't it?
Because there's something within us as human beings that wants. To touch and to be touched. We know, in fact, that touch has psychological and physical benefits. Giving someone a hug, a handshake or a kiss releases chemicals in the brain and body, which makes them and us feel happy. You feel a little better when someone, you know, has hugged you.
Touch. is the first sense a baby develops in the womb. It stimulates the baby's digestive system and helps fend off infection. Touch. Is so important.
That nurturing touch is so important to a child's. health to its cognitive ability and its overall well-being. Children. and even teenagers have been shown to be much more aggressive. If they've never received That human.
Touch. Touch is so important. These interactions are very, very important for the healthy development of children. and they're important to all of us. Even in adults, touch helps.
Our immune system, we are told. And if touch is the first sense that we experience, It's also the last, isn't it? Many of you have been, as I have. To someone who is dying. And they may not be conscious.
But if it's your father, your Mother, your brother, your sister. your dear friend, what do you do? You don't stand impassively, do you? You reach out and you you take their hand. You touch their brow.
you may bend over and uh kiss them. Because we're told that touch is the last sense. we experience before we go from time into Eternity. Could you ever imagine going through life and not being Touched. Today, we're going to meet a man who, because of his physical condition, was cut off.
From his family, from his friends, and from his society. He was, we could call him, an untouchable. He was a leper. And in biblical times, leprosy covered many serious skin diseases. including what is today called Hansen's disease or leprosy.
It's a terrible disease. The skin around the eyes and ears tends to bunch. Fingers and toes drop off or are absorbed. And there is a paralysis, there is a lack of sensation, of temperature. And certainly of touch.
When you think of it, leprosy is a devastating, lonely disease. The leper is permanently in quarantine. Can you imagine? If for some reason You were quarantined. For life.
No hope. And you're permanently Separated. And when people look at you, even kind people look at you, instinctively they flinch and. Young children look at you and say perhaps inappropriate things. Leprosy.
Leviticus 13, verse 45: The leprospoise shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose. And he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, UNCLEAN! Unclean. He shall remain unclean. as long as he has the disease.
He is unclean. He shall live alone. Hear that? He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
That was at the time when they were in their wilderness journey, as the tabernacle was there, as the people camped. This man was not allowed to be part of the everyday society. He was to be put outside the camp. And if anyone approached him in order that they would know his condition and not get it, he was to shout, unclean. Unclean.
What a wretched existence. Here is such a man. He's lonely, he's ostracized, he is untouchable, he has constantly practiced social distancing, he doesn't know. About touch.
Furthermore, he is ceremonially unclean, he is religiously unclean. But the leper we're going to meet is going to experience The touch. of the Master's hand. And to be touched by the Master Hand is to be forever. Changed.
In our study of Matthew, we come today to Matthew chapter 8. And we're going to see in our passage today that Jesus not only has authority in his words, he has authority in his actions. And he's going to heal three very unlikely characters. First, the leper. Secondly, a Gentile, not just a Gentile, but a centurion.
He's the very figure of the occupying country. Remember, Israel is occupied by the Romans, the superpower. And the centurion is there to make sure that the Jews behave themselves. He's a symbol. of the Emperor.
And Jesus is going to heal his servant. And then he's going to heal. A woman. Women looked as very second-class citizens then. Uh this was our male dominated Culture in the first century in Israel, and Jesus is going to heal a leper.
The servant of a centurion. And A woman. We can say that he is Ministering to outsiders. People you and I may not Have first chosen. To serve.
Do do you feel an outsider? I think all of us from time to time feel A bit on the outside. C.S. Rose talks about the inner ring, and people don't feel they're part of the inner ring. In fact, if you're part of the inner ring, usually you've got to compromise something to be part of that inner ring.
But people think, oh, I'm not in the inner circle. Have you ever felt that? That I'm not quite accepted here. You may feel that about coming to Calvary Church, you don't quite fit in. Do you realize that Jesus comes?
To you. You may, like me, be an immigrant and feel it's difficult to fit in as an immigrant to American society. You may be listening on live stream in some country in the other end of the world and feel, well, th this is for Americans, they're so blessed, but the blessings of God are not going to come to me.
Somehow I'm missing out. You're not missing out. Our Lord Jesus comes. to people just like you. And me.
If you've got your Bible there, will you open it to Matthew? First. book in the New Testament and we're continuing In our study of Matthew, and today we're going to read first of all the first four verses of Matthew chapter. Eight. When he came down from the mountain He'd given what we call the Sermon on the Mountain.
Some of you have been there, as I have. Wonderful experience. When he came down the mountain, Great crowds followed him. We understand why. And behold.
A leper. came to him. And he knelt down before him, saying, Lord. If you will. You can make me clean.
And Jesus stretched out his hand. and touched him. Saying I will. Be clean. And immediately his leprosy was Cleansed.
And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof. to them. In these four verses, we see the power of the Master's touch. Think first with me of the leper's condition. At least, there is no doubt that this leopard knows he has a serious condition.
Notice what he says in verse 2. Incidentally, he did not call him Jesus. Read the Gospels and see how few people address Jesus as Jesus. This leper's theology was good. Uses the Greek word curios.
The centurion is going to use the same word, your Lord, he lies, he was different. How much he knew of his theology we don't know, but he knew this. Lord, if you will, you can make me. Clean. He knew that Jesus had the ability to heal his leprosy.
And he kneels in humble submission before. Jesus. Notice that he does not demand healing. He doesn't come to Jesus and say, You got to heal me. I'm a terrible leper.
You heal me. No. That's not his attitude at all. It's one of humility. It's one of submission.
It's one of recognizing that Jesus is no ordinary man. He is Lord. At least it's a term of respect. And you must have known something about Jesus. You must have heard something.
He must have witnessed something. And he comes and he says, Lord, if you will. That's good, isn't it? Is that how you pray? If you will, you can make me clean.
The leper believes that Jesus has the power to cleanse him. But he doesn't know if it is the will of the Lord Jesus to heal him.
So he prays a very short prayer, a very good prayer, a very wise prayer, a prayer of humility, Lord. If you will, you can make me clean. You can't improve on that, can you? See, at this time there's no cure for leprosy. There is no doctor.
There is nowhere he can go to be cured of his leprosy. And I love the fact that this man, this untouchable, this leper, knew that no condition was too difficult for the Lord Jesus. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God can do all things? And he humbly admits his condition before the Lord.
He was unclean. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. I'm unclean. There's nothing I can do to heal myself. There's nothing that society can do, but you, Lord.
If you will. Yeah. Can make me. Two.
Now leprosy in the Bible is an illustration of sin. I wonder if you've ever had that humble attitude before the Lord Jesus. See, leprosy is a kind of disease that's very obvious because it affects the physical features. And as we sit here, as you sit there, even with your mask on, you look pretty good.
Some of you arguably might look better with the mask than it's off.
Someone told me that, right? Thank you, Jim. He said you look better with your mask on than off. Um But you look pretty good, don't you? As I look down.
Wonderful people here. But what if I could see your heart? What if I could read your thoughts? What if I knew about your past, even this week? Wouldn't it be the case?
that while externally we look good, internally, which of course is much more important. They were like this leper. Unclean. Dirty. Yeah.
People that's that's the Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful and desperately Wicked. But here is the wonder of the Christian gospel. In fact, the uniqueness of the gospel is that however dirty you are, And however unclean you are, and whatever hideous sins you've committed. And if we would be shocked if we could read your mind and know your heart and examine your life over the past few years. In terms of coming to Jesus, I can say this with the authority of the Word of God.
If you come humbly to the Lord Jesus and Do as this represent admits. Your uncleanliness. And say, Lord. Cleanse me. Heal me.
Forgive me. Listen to John the Apostle. In 1 John 1 he talks about this. 1 John 1 verse 7. He says, If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son.
What does it do? cleanses us from all sin. He uses the same Greek word as Matthew uses in Matthew chapter 8. That the blood of Jesus is so powerful, so strong, so mighty. That it will cleanse you from all of your sin.
Now, if you say, says John, we have no sin. Anyone like that? You're self-righteous. You look down on other people. You think you've got it pretty well together?
Spiritually speaking. In fact, you're deceiving yourself. One thing about this leper, he wasn't self-deceived. He knew his condition and he humbly admitted it. We call that repentance.
We call that confession an acknowledgement that I have sinned before God. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. There's our word again, the Greek word katharizo, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now supposing I offended you. I came to you, said, I'm very sorry. I said, such and such. I did such and such. You forgive me.
The matter's over. But You can't forgive. All of my sins, one is you don't know them. And your sin, while it affects other people, above all, is against God. And so, we must do, if we're going to receive this cleansing, this total cleansing, this total forgiveness, we're going to break bread this morning, and it would be wonderful if every single one of us here left the sanctuary with this tremendous experience that all of my sins have been forgiven.
They're cleansed, they're gone. Forever. Through the blood. of Jesus Christ. The vile we sometimes sing the vilest offender Are you the vilest offender here?
I don't know. Perhaps it's myself. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus. A pardon received that moment, immediately.
The leper is healed immediately. You can leave here totally cleansed in a moment. Not something you work for, it's all of God's grace. The leper could not do anything for his condition. And he comes humbly.
To Jesus. Do you believe there? You've got to confess your sins, you've got to cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ. And come. to Christ as this wretched man does.
Notice what Jesus does. He reaches out. and touches. Leper, don't you love that? Can you see the crowds coming down the mountain?
They've heard the greatest sermon ever preached from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're amazed at the authority of Jesus and they're talking about it. They're coming down the mountain, and then there's this wretched leper. and the crowds part from him. Unclean.
unclean. He looks pretty bad. They know what it is. They've seen lepers before. And to their amazement, When Jesus sees them, Jesus stops.
You might not have stopped. You probably would have kept on going. You'd have been concerned with yourself in case you were contaminated. But Jesus stops. Not only does he stop, When the leper kneels before him, and says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
Jesus stretches out his hand. and touches The leopard. Can you hear the gasp of the crowd? Jesus This man who had given such powerful Teaching this holy man, he's touching the leper. Yes.
Jesus doesn't need to touch the man to heal him. Why does he touch the leper? It demonstrates, doesn't it? The great love. And compassion.
And tenderness and healing. of our saviour. Because the mission of Jesus was not just to heal. The mission of Jesus was to seek and to save the lost. Here is one who's lost.
Yes, he's got a physical condition, but his main condition is that he's spiritually lost. And Jesus is identifying. with the sinner. He's going to go to the cross and take The sin of that leper, your sin and mine on him. Self and Jesus touches him.
We're told that our skin has about five million sensory cells overall. And loves to be touched. I realize there are people who may not like to be touched, but they are very unusual people, aren't they? Who doesn't appreciate A touch. A touch conveys more Then a thousand words, doesn't it?
But this touch This touch of the Master's hand. It shatters all of the barriers of the law. and of custom and of prejudice and of expectation. The Lord of glory. God incarnate is reaching down and touching A leper.
He's identifying with the sinner. And the leper. Who's touched? is healed by the power of the Master's touch. Isn't that incredible?
Don't you love that? See, leprosy p patients lose Their sense of touch. They're desensitized. And so the very first touch That this leper had received, I'm sure, for a long, long time, is the touch. From the Master's hand, our Lord.
Jesus Christ. His skin had become desensitized. To touch, that's what leprosy does. You lose your sense of temperature and of touch, something we take for granted. Can I say?
With leprosy being an illustration of her sin. That sin desensitizes us, doesn't it? Have you noticed that about yourself? Here's a kind man. He's happily married.
He's got some children. He's very kind. He's very caring. But he gets himself involved in sin. You can choose any sin you like, but he's involved in sin.
He knows it's wrong, but he pursues it and pursues it. His wife suspects all is not wrong, all is not right. She speaks to them. And what is happening in the relationship is pulling away. He's pulling away.
He's not as sensitive and caring to the children as he once was. What's happening? Sin It changes us. This is the verdict featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us.
From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. But to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace we find. We must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Don't you stand in awe of the Lord Jesus as He reaches out and touches the leper? touched and changed by the Master's hand. And isn't it true that you also need to be changed and touched? by the master's hand.
To experience firsthand His compassion, His love, His power in forgiving your sins and changing your life. Will you come to him? And experience the power of God and His cleansing in your life. Join me tomorrow as we continue to consider the power of touch and word. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict.
I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
