Salvation

 

The miracle of salvation   Matthew 8 v1-4

In Matthew 5-7, we have the teachings of Jesus; in chapters 8-9 we have His miracles of which there are 10.  I want to speak to you today of the miracle of salvation as illustrated in the miracles of Jesus, in particular the cleansing of the leper.  We should never forget what we were before God saved us; the Lord spoke through Isaiah the prophet in chapter 51 v1, “”Hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged .”  The apostle Paul never forgot what he was saved from-1^st Timothy 1v13 “..who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious(a violent bully).”  He wrote to the Ephesians to remind them what they once were;  Ephesians 2v2 and v3 “in time past”, or “once”, what you were individually, before God intervened in mercy.  What they were was “dead in  trespasses and in sins”;  they were dominated by the alluring world and the prince of the power of the air who controls it; their lives were dictated by the inner cravings of their own flesh, fulfilling the sinful desires of the body and the mind; and they were doomed as children of wrath.  In chapter 2v11, he uses the same phrase “in time past”, or “once” to describe what they were corporately, that is part of the Gentile nations who were without covenant promise from God; “”Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision, by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made with hands.  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”  Therefore, individually we were dead to God, requiring resurrection, and, corporately we were distant from God requiring reconciliation.    In these miracles we see conditions of debilitating illnesses that describe the human condition in the sight of God.  He uses very uncomplimentary pictures to expose our fallen state;  and so in the different physical conditions we see ourselves as God sees us.  So we have the leper, the palsied, the fevered, the demon possessed, the helpless, the dead, the diseased, the blind, the dumb; all these are pictures of the state of mankind, and God wants us to understand them all lest we forget what we were and lest we lift ourselves up in pride.  These miracles portray the real condition of humanity; they also portray the ability of the Saviour to cure every one.  We need to understand what we were before we understand the wonder of salvation.

Leprosy               Leprosy was common in bible times, and was considered to be the ultimate curse of God on an individual.  There were many lepers in Israel, including prominent people like Miriam the sister of Moses, and the great king Uzziah.  None were cleansed save the Gentile Namaan the Syrian.  It was in fact incurable apart from Divine intervention.  Today it affects approx.. 180000 people worldwide, including some in USA;  it is treatable and curable, but in biblical times it was not, so the picture is of an incurable disease.  It is caused by a bacterial attack on the peripheral nervous system, mainly affecting the skin, leading to discolouration of the skin and bodily disfigurement.  It was highly contagious and the sufferers were forced to become social outcasts.  There are 3 main aspects of leprosy which portray the sinful state of humanity before God.

Ø  Defilement           lepers had to be cleansed, they were unclean

Ø  Disfigurement      lepers were ugly

Ø Distancing            lepers were social outcasts

T These three aspects describe the sinner before God.

Defilement..... In His sight we are unclean, we are putrid, we are filthy;  these are the words of holy scripture, Isaiah 1 v5-6 “..the whole head is sick, and the whole heart  faint.  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, that have not been closed, nether bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”  We are disgusting in His sight.  Job wrote “Yea the heavens are not clean in His sight, how much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh in iniquity like water!”(Job 15 v15); Paul, in Romans 3v9-18, as part of the gospel message, sums up the dilemma of the human race, citing 14 charges against us, 8 of them stating the universality of sin and 6 the  totality of sin, referring to the members of the human body. “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes.”  The throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth, the feet, the ways, the mind the eyes, all defiled, all unclean, all putrid to God.

Disfigurement    Sin makes us ugly;  we are hateful, horrible, selfish people, we are disfigured, ugly not at all as God made us in His image; Romans 1 29-31 “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,  covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.”       The ugly profile of the sinner apart from God.  Titus 3 v3  “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”  Inwardly filthy and outwardly ugly.

Distancing......social outcasts, strangers to God, far away from God with no hope for the future;  Ephesians 4 v17-19 “Gentiles, walking in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,”  Living apart from the source of all that is light and the fountain of all that is good, cut off from all that real life has to offer.  The phrase is “far off”, “You were once far off...”(Ephesians 2 v13);  “..your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”  This will culminate in  eternal separation without possibility of recall, (Matthew 25 v41) “Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” 

That was our state before God, but He intervened.

“Jesus put forth His hand and touched him and said “I will be thou clean” and immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”    Ah the miracle of salvation! the touch of His hand, the word of His mouth, and the leper was healed;  the defilement was gone, he was clean, the disfigurement was gone, his beauty now can be seen; the vast distance between him and God bridged and all in a moment’s time!!  In an instant he went from filthy to pure in the sight of God; from ugly to beautiful; in a moment; from being far from God and hopelessly lost, to nearness to God....As one has penned ”So near, so very near to God, nearer we cannot be; for in the person of His Son we are as near as He!”

Immediately we were cleansed;   1^st Corinthians 6 v11 “And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  All the defilement washed away, absolutely clean, pure, and fitted for the hallowed courts above.

Immediately instead of being ugly and disfigured we were made beautiful, the slimy, creepy caterpillar became the lovely butterfly...2^nd Corinthians 3 v18 “We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  I recall listening to the late great Dr. David Gooding, as I did often, speaking from his home on Paul’s letter to Titus, and in his own brilliant way he summed up the letter like this; GOD MAKING UGLY PEOPLE BEAUTIFUL”.  He said the pivotal verse is chapter 1v12, where he states the national characteristic of Cretans, before God saved them; “One of themselves, a prophet of their own said “the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”.  Around this national characteristic Paul reminds them of how they have been changed;  Chapter 1 they are by nature always liars....they have come to the God who cannot lie;  Chapter 2, if their natural tendency is to laziness, now they are God’s people zealous of good works;  in chapter 3 if they are evil bullies, now they have been the recipients of the kindness and philanthropy of God our Saviour, and they will spread that kindness around, they will become givers not takers, how beautiful is that?

Immediately, from being far from God we were brought nigh, such that we can draw near to God at any time for any need.  Hebrews 4 v16 we can come in a time of need “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”.  We can come in worship freely and without fear of being turned away Hebrews 10 v22 “Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

I say again, Oh the wonder of God’s salvation!!

A supernatural work by the power of the Holy Spirit, in a moments time to change a person’s standing, and destiny and character in an instant, for in one moment, (and you having no part to play except instantaneous, humble submission), He made you whole, He fitted you for heaven, He clothed you in white He garnished you with goodness such that the God who is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, is now for you with all  the unreserved blessing and power that it brings;  Romans 1 God against us;  Romans 8 God for us.  What happened in that moment of time that changed  everything for you? We can illustrate it from the following:

THE CRIMINAL ON THE CROSS A FEW MOMENTS BEFORE DEATH.  He had nothing to recommend him, he is dying a felon’s death.  There is no inkling of what is about to happen;  Matthew 27 v44 “The thieves also which were crucified with Him cast the same in His teeth”  That is reviled Him wagging their heads, mocking Him.  Mark 15 v32 “They that were crucified with Him reviled Him.”  So both of them were blaspheming Him.  In Luke 23 v39-43 there comes a massive change.  “One of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him saying “If thou be the Christ save thyself and us;  But the other answering rebuked Him.”  What happened, what brought about the change?  I know when I was saved  as a rebellious know-all teenager at the age of 17, I didn’t get up that morning with the intention of getting saved that day, instead I had resolved never to attend the Gospel Hall again, and by 8pm I was on my knees confessing my sins and asking for God’s mercy.  What happened?  “The wind blows where it will, we hear the sound thereof but cannot tell from whence it has come or where it is going; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”   THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED! The Sovereign supernatural power of the Spirit at work in the human soul.  Consider the incredible change;   “Dost thou not fear God...?”  No fear of God before, the Spirit instils him with godly fear.  He confesses his sins “We indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds”.  No longer the bravado in the face of death, we have sinned!  He proclaims the perfection of Christ; “this man has done nothing amiss”;  he proclaims that Jesus is Lord  “Lord remember me”; he believes in life after death and that Jesus will have a kingdom over which He will rule, “REMEMBER ME WHEN THOU COMEST IN THY KINGDOM”.  From reviling Him, he feared God, confessed his sin, said Jesus was Lord and owned Him as king.  Only by Divine power, only by the Spirit of God, only by the miracle of salvation.  We should never forget what we were and the wonder of what God has done within us.  If you are reading this today, and you are not yet saved, God is waiting to perform a miracle in your soul, and it starts with a humble spirit before Him.  The actual miracle will only take a second, and you’ll live the rest of your life learning about all that happened in that one moment in time!

He touched him and immediately he was cleansed!

The Gaither’s song:

“Shackled by a heavy burden, ‘neath a load of sin and shame,

Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same

He touched me, Yes, He touched me, and Oh the joy that floods my soul

Something happened and now I know He touched me and made me whole”

“See thou tell no man, but  go thy way shew thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.”

The one who saved our souls now guides our lives; He gives commandments and He expects us to obey them.  Sometimes we may not understand His commands but we just obey them anyway.  The One who has saved us will be right in everything He says.  His mother who knew Him best says “Whatsoever He says unto you do it”.  We don’t know if this man obeyed, we know that out of ten lepers healed all at once only one came back to thank Him.  Our perception of the miracle He has performed for us, and in us, will dictate we respond in obedience to His will, no matter the cost.  He said “If you love me keep my commandments.”