FBC Morning Light (10/19/2024)

Faith Baptist Church

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Good Saturday morning, people of faith. This weekend we have a number of passages from the

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Gospels. We're going to read Matthew 8, a bit of Matthew 8,

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Mark 1, Luke 5. We'll read parts of those, but there's also readings from Matthew 9,

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Mark 2, Luke 5, John 5, Matthew 12,

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Mark 2, and Luke chapter 6, and all of these have to do with some of the miraculous healings that Jesus performed.

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I'm going to be looking first at Matthew chapter 8, verses 2 through 4.

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It says, And behold, a leper came and worshiped him, that's

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Jesus, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

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Then Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed.

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Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one, but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them.

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All right, and so the idea of being a leper, you were not allowed to be in the temple, you were not allowed to be in worship, you were not allowed to be around people.

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You had to like warn people as you were coming so they wouldn't be near. You were the epitome of an outcast as a leper.

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And so in Mark chapter 1, we have the parallel passage to this.

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It says in verse 40, Now a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying to him,

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If you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him,

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I am willing, be cleansed. All right, so this is possibly the same situation.

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And then in Luke chapter 5, we have a leper coming to Jesus and it says,

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And it happened when he was in a certain city that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw

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Jesus, and he fell on his face and implored him saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

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And so as a leper, remember they are the outcasts.

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And I don't know if you personally have ever been an outcast, but it's difficult to offer yourself, to put yourself out there for the fear of rejection.

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And Jesus at no time offers any hint of rejection to these lepers.

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Now, leprosy was not a curable situation. There's very few instances.

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We have the issue with Naaman, who was healed of his leprosy in the Old Testament. But generally speaking, this was a terminal condition, not one that could be cleansed.

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And so as you think of the outcast of the leprosy and coming to Jesus, what does that make you think of?

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It reminds me of John chapter 6, and it says,

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All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me

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I will by no means cast out. Oh, the one that comes to Jesus will not be rejected by Jesus.

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It will not happen. And it makes me think of a song that we've sung the last couple of Sunday nights in relation to our coming to Jesus.

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We're not necessarily coming for the healing of leprosy, but we come, all of us, as people with a terminal condition of being born in sin and choosing sin.

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And we are sinners by both birth and by choice. The song that we sang the last couple of Sunday nights,

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I sought the Lord and afterward I knew, says, I sought the

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Lord and afterward I knew. He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.

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It's not that you or I on our own would ever seek out the

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Lord, but rather it is the Lord working in us that causes us to seek him out.

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And when we do, it means that he will by no means cast us out.

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Right? So there's kind of a process that a lot of us go through in regards to this.

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We remember oftentimes that time when we called out to the Lord, thinking that we were the ones choosing him, and we were.

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However, it was the Lord at work in us before we even got there, drawing us to him.

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It says, all that the Father gives to me will come to me.

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So it's the Father and the Holy Spirit working inside of us to cause us to seek

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Christ. And in seeking Christ, Christ will by no means cast us out.

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Let us dwell on this important truth. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your

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Son who will by no means cast us out, that we are accepted by you in your beloved

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Son. Thank you for planning these things before time began.

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For your glory, it's in your Son's name, Jesus we pray, amen.