What Kind of Messiah Is This? Matthew 8:1-4

We have gone through a season where health has been on everyone's mind At any given time since the fall of mankind there has been sickness and physical ailments

But there are certain times in history Where health is more on the front burner?

There have been pandemics throughout world history where health is the focus for better or for worse

This has been the case with kovat 19 since March Kovat 19 carries a stigma with it almost unlike any other physical problem someone can have

You have a cold no big deal If you have pneumonia, this does not get much attention

Even though it is serious But when it becomes known that one has kovat 19 everyone

Wakes up you see that on the news this person was diagnosed with kovat 19 almost like they had stage 4 cancer now

It's getting attention not because it is more serious than other viruses or physical ailments at least in most cases

But because it is infamous It is infamous Now in Old Testament times there was a particular disease

That carried a stigma with it almost like no other and that was leprosy leprosy still exists today

But it is rare and its treatment is effective where one can live a normal life

The treatment was discovered in Norway in 1873 by a man named

Amar Hansen Leprosy is a very serious physical condition as one author wrote it is a bacteria that spreads on the skin then leads to spongy tumor like swellings affecting internal organs and Weakening the bones making them susceptible to other diseases like tuberculosis as the bacteria spread nerve damage occurred leading to a person being crippled at at the feet and The hands became useless

The nerve damage also occurred around the eyes leading to blindness While the nerve damage led to a lack of the sensation

There was there was no pain the person wouldn't feel pain, but but there was disfiguring that was taking place that would debilitate them and People would look on at lepers and see this

As one author wrote by this time one can see the person in this pitiable condition is a leper

By a touch of the finger one can also feel it One can't even smell it for the leper emits a very unpleasant odor

Moreover in view of the fact that the disease producing agent frequently becomes hoarse and you can now not only see

Feel and smell the leper, but you can hear his raspy and voice in the

Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 13 When one had a less serious form of leprosy they were considered clean

Others were thought to maybe have leprosy and they were quarantined for seven days and in some cases seven more days sound familiar

After 14 days if the symptoms did not worsen the priest at the temple would declare them clean

These people dodged a bullet because those who acquired the more severe form of leprosy known as Hansen's disease

Had a very difficult life ahead of them Leviticus 13 46 tells us that leprous people were to be kept out of the camp in isolation

They can only be around other lepers because this bacteria was highly contagious and there was no human cure

The skin disease that went with people Greatly affected one's social life, which was even worse than the physical condition itself

Lepers were outcasts They were those who faced Humiliation, they had a disease that could not be cured and they were cut off from normal life

Lepers lived a life of suffering Physically mentally and emotionally

We know from kovat 19. What's what isolation is like and all of us have experienced isolation to some extent as A church we went two months without meeting and those who have had the virus or been in contact with one who it has had

The virus has been required to quarantine for 14 days. In fact, there's some people in our church today

We don't have the virus. We don't think they do but they're quarantined because they were around someone who may have had it

It's not easy being cut off from society over long periods of time

We are made to be in community We've experienced that recently The difference between kovat 19 and leprosy is that with kovat 19 there is an end

We don't know when it will end but the season where this virus is the focus will pass

But for the leper, this was not so Every leper had this strong desire to be healed to be able to get back to their old life

The lepers in the first century who lived in Galilee had a unique Opportunity that others in different periods did not have

They could be cured through a man a man who walked among them

This man was not an expert doctor but God in the flesh and He could do things that no other man could do

This morning we are going to see Jesus perform a miracle But what we are going to see is that this is not why

Jesus came to earth. The physical was not his focus The spiritual was so this time

I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 8 We will look at verses 1 through 4 and if you use it a red

Bible in the pews, it's on page 966 The sermon is titled what kind of Messiah is this and here's our big idea

This is what the sermon is calling you to do Follow Christ for the right purpose follow

Christ for the right purpose. So we're gonna see two reasons why But before we jump into our text, let me give you a little recap of where we were a week ago

Last week we closed out the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus wrapped up the greatest sermon ever preached

What we saw the last four Sundays is that Jesus summed up life in four categories two paths two teachers two disciples and two foundations

There is truth and there is falsehood Jesus simplifies life

Once he got to the end of the sermon either we are going on the path of life or we are going on the path that leads to destruction

The fourth category that Jesus explained was showing us that there are two foundations in life

One foundation is Jesus and this is sturdy ground. The other foundation is where is when one goes their own way

This is a foundation that is built on sand and it crumbles The sermon last week called us to build our lives on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ And when one does this he or she will stand at the final

Judgment when it says that when the winds and the rain and the flood beat against that house the house

Stood why because it was built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ now, let's

Move on here to our text this morning We're now done with the Sermon on the Mount But now we are going to see

Jesus in action as he continues his ministry in the Galilean region in northern

Israel Let's begin by looking at verses 1 and 2 when he came down from the mountain great crowds

Followed him and behold a leper came to him and knelt before him saying

Lord If you will you can make me clean

Well, what verse 1 tells us is that Jesus just finished his sermon and he comes down from the mountain where he preached

And as he comes down from the mountain, we read that great crowds Followed him

Now we get a little taste of this in our world when someone famous is Out and about and people like oh look who that is and then people flock

Toward that person. I Remember hearing the story of people going to the PGA championship at Hazeltine golf course in,

Minnesota Now this is back in 2009 One person who experienced this said the crowds that followed

Tiger Woods were similar to the crowds that followed Jesus in ancient times as those woods is going from hole to hole

Masses of people are following him, right? There's other golfers there. They're not following those people. They're following Tiger Woods And this is what it was like in the first century

Jesus wherever he went. He drew crowds. They followed him where he went

What we read here is that Jesus goes from preaching to helping people one -on -one and here it he is about to minister to a man who was ostracized from society

Now we already learned about the background of leprosy in the introduction This was a horrible condition and it carried with it a stigma unlike any other condition

One author I was reading said that ancient Jews made a list of 61 defilements in other words

If you were defiled by one of these things there was degrees of how bad they were some were worse than others

The number one defilement was coming into contact with a dead body What was number two number two

Was leprosy coming in contact? With a leper as we see in these two verses this leprous man

Desperately wants to be healed and he knows about Jesus power He would have been he would have known there was no natural cure for this condition

So his only hope was for the supernatural We live in a time

Where people scoff at the belief that there could be anything supernatural

But this comes from the sinful heart that has an animosity toward God Romans 1 verses 21 through 23 says for although they knew

God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were hardened

Claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal

God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things

So those who reject God and the supernatural are not coming from a place of intellectual superiority

They're coming from a place of moral Inferiority and what I mean by that is that they don't want

God to exist They don't want God to run their life. So they say you know what? I'm gonna come up with some reason that God isn't there and let's not believe in the supernatural and we see that in our world

Now I've never been to Israel, but my parents have been there a few times When what

I know is that people in that part of the world believe in the supernatural without batting an eyelash.

I Heard a story about the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu He was asked what their foreign policy was, you know, what his answer was.

He said Miracles, he says God protects us this part of the world knows miracles

Unlike the skeptical West the West that we live in. This is the region of the world where extraordinary things happened

This is the place where God did mighty works in the Old Testament And this is the place where the

God -man Jesus walked This is the place where he would eventually be risen from the dead this leprous man believed in the supernatural

To this point Jesus had already healed many in Galilee the news spread and he would have heard this

Matthew 4 23 said he healed every disease and every affliction among the people

We don't know if the lepers saw others get healed from a distance or if the news passed and he heard about it

What we do know is that he believed Jesus could do this What we see in verse 2 is that this leper had a lot of courage and faith

What we read is that he came to him As we read this we should admire the faith of the leper

He believed that Jesus could perform this miracle of healing him from this horrid disease

What we've already seen from the Old Testament is that lepers were excommunicated They were cut off from society and yet this man pursues

Jesus What is interesting is that Jesus as God? He wrote the

Old Testament law the Father Son of the Holy Spirit They gave the law of the

Old Testament we're in Leviticus it talks about These lepers being cut off from the people and when

I say cut off what I mean is they were separated from them They were put in a camp with other lepers and they couldn't go out in the open in Society so Jesus knows this law from the

Old Testament So you might think well this leper is approaching him and so he's gonna tell the leper you go to the camp

Where the law tells you to go But does

Jesus do that no He doesn't What Jesus said about himself in Matthew 11 29 is that he is gentle and lowly in heart

He wants people to pursue him. He wants people to come to him

He doesn't drive people away In fact John 6 37 says that everyone who comes to Jesus he will never cast out

What Matthew 9 36 says is that Jesus had compassion when he looked at the crowds

So when he sees all these people going every which way Most of whom are going the wrong way and as he looks at them.

He has compassion And by the way, this is something to think about this when we look at our world

And when we look at our world how far our world has fallen from God, what's our response to that?

do do we hit them over the head and and laugh and Mock or do we have compassion and say what a horrible place to be?

I feel so bad for this person. Let me and then pray for them that that should be our response as we look at the world

We live in One mark of a true Christian is that you have compassion

You look on someone and you feel sad for them and you want to help you don't mock them you want to help

I've enjoyed hearing a story by Mark Mark Brooks that is When he worked in the prison system as a correctional officer

There was a time when Mark was not compassionate towards certain prisoners because they did such horrible things and he thought they were just getting

What they deserved But as God worked in Mark's life Compassion grew in him even to the most unlikely people

The people the world would spit on and rejoice as they looked at their misery as they were being punished for their crime

During the season when God was really working on Mark's heart. There was a man who committed heinous crimes

So heinous, I won't even share them publicly This man was diagnosed with terminal cancer and the doctor told him that he only had months to live as Mark looked at this man.

He was filled with compassion and he shared the gospel with him I think you shared the gospel with him right or you had a good gospel conversation with him

This compassion to one most would not show compassion to What was something that he didn't once have but now the

Lord graciously gave him this ability Just to have compassion on this man

Lepers were people Who many did not have compassion toward and these are people who had this disease at no fault of their own and Yet they were looked down on by society

Even though in Old Testament times God isolated lepers from the community. This does not mean he treated them as second -class citizens

We see that right here The God -man is so kind to this leper as He comes to him.

He listens to him He doesn't send him away and say go back to that isolated camp where all the other lepers are

He receives them as he comes to him. Let's read

Jesus help this man in verse 3 and Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying

I Will be clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed

So what we see is that Jesus tells the man that he will heal him and he does We see the power of God here

He wasn't given a medication where the doctor tells him, you know, you'll take this medication and you'll feel better several days or several weeks from now

Immediately this man is healed as Jesus touches him That's incredible and Jesus was glad to do it

Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2 says this concerning Jesus This is a prophecy about Jesus The spirit of the

Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim

Liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the

Lord's favor and The day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn

What we see here is how big the heart of Jesus is He came to this earth to heal.

He healed people physically and he healed people spiritually The Lord's desire to heal and his willingness to heal shows how gracious God is a

God's heart of hearts. He is a gracious God Now this doesn't mean that he's not a

God of justice. He very much is a God of justice. He will punish every wrong

But God is a gracious God when God punishes the wicked by the way

Ezekiel 33 11 says that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked

Now he is satisfied with his justice. Yes, he doesn't regret Sending anybody to hell because everybody who is in hell deserves to be there.

He knows that's right But he doesn't throw a party. I Remember hearing someone say that one time.

I was like, yeah, that's right At his heart of hearts God is a gracious God Now leprosy is a good symbol for the biggest problem that all humanity has

We look at the world right now. We wonder what is the problem of the world right now? one word answer sin

Sin is the problem with the world right now. You get rid of sin. There's no problems. There's no wars

There's no friction. There's no political turmoil There's no bad neighbors.

There's no bad families. There's no bad friends There's no

Backstabbing There's no murder Sin is the problem with the world we live in and Leprosy is a good symbol for the biggest problem of all humanity the spiritual condition of sin

It's not a coincidence that this is The first healing of this chapter as we will see

Jesus will heal several more times before this chapter is over the ancient disease of leprosy

Symbolizes sin probably better than any other disease at this time in history As one author put it leprosy is a graphic illustration of sin

Like leprosy sin infects the whole person and it is ugly lonesome corrupting contaminating alienating and incurable by man lepers in ancient

Israel were vivid objects of sin But Psalm 103 verse 3 says this about God.

He heals all our Iniquities and heals our diseases It's humbling when you realize that we all have this enormous problem in Common left to ourselves.

We would be hopelessly lost forever But God in his love sent

Jesus to die So that we might be delivered from our spiritual disease the disease of sin

This disease will forever isolate us from God if we will not believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ that he came to the earth to die for our sins and was raised gloriously from the dead as Jesus touches this man

He is clean from the thing most plaguing him in his life And when we believe in Jesus, we are set free from that which most plagues us

And you know what it's a beautiful truth to realize that you are a sinner Because you in order to fix the problem you have to know what the problem is

The problem is sin once you realize you're a sinner Then you're given the good news.

The good news is the gospel what Jesus Christ did on our behalf When he came on a rescue mission to save sinners in this life this side of heaven

That freedom begins as followers of Christ Lives the try to live sinless lives and pursue righteousness.

They won't be perfect We know that but but the freedom starts this bondage to sin that the freedom starts

When you follow Christ and in the age to come you will be completely free from sin

Everyone who knows Christ as their Lord Savior and treasure. That'll be their experience complete freedom

So the physical healing here is symbolic of the spiritual healing. He gives us through freeing us from our sin

And this is the first point follow Christ for the right purpose

The first reason why is that he came to cleanse you from your greatest disease the disease of sin?

The second reason why We are to follow Christ for the right purpose is Jesus did not come to wow the crowds

He did not come to wow the crowds verse 4

Let's read this 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

At the end of verse 4 we read that Jesus tells the leper to go show himself to the priest in The cases where the lepers in the

Old Testament were healed They would go to the priest and offer the gift that was commanded in Leviticus 14

And so what this tells us is that God Supernaturally healed people that there was no medication that would heal anybody

But at times in the Old Testament God would heal someone and when they did they were to go to the priest and offer a gift that would officially

Declare that they were clean Earlier in this sermon We applauded the leper for his courage in approaching

Jesus and his faith in believing that Jesus indeed could heal him But in Mark 145 the parallel passes to our text in Matthew we read that he disobeyed

Mark 145 says That he the leper went out and began to talk freely

About it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town

But was out in desolate places and people were coming to him from every quarter So he let it out

Jesus told him don't tell anybody the leper goes out tells everybody what had happened

And what we see is that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town in the region of Galilee But even though he couldn't enter a town he as he was out in the country people would find him and so there were still crowds

Following him Now as we read this we might ask the question. Why would Jesus?

Say this why would he tell the leper don't tell? Anybody it is true that Jesus healed many and this is one of the ways that he would show

That he indeed was the Messiah But he didn't want to be known for this alone the primary reason

Jesus came to the earth was to save sinners Luke 1910 says that the

Son of Man came to seek and save the lost What we must understand is that the the mainstream belief in First century

Judaism was that the Messiah would come in power drive out his enemies and reign

The Old Testament did not predict two comings of Christ some Jews read the suffering

Messiah of Isaiah 53 and they thought there must be two Messiahs one who suffers and one who comes in power and Reigns they had no concept of the

Messiah Suffering and then rising from the dead so there could not be one

Messiah who suffered and reigned according to their belief Even the disciples that the twelve disciples were caught in this when

Jesus told them that he was going to die and rise again Their their response was one of perplexity.

They're like what that's not what we've been told Jesus did not want

Jews to misunderstand who the Messiah was if People knew

Jesus mostly through his power of healing and doing other miracles This would be a problem and Jesus knew this they would believe the false

Understanding that he was the Messiah who came only in power But that is not the

Messiah predicted in the Old Testament This is why his teaching ministry was so important He wanted people to know what they needed to know about him and what

God calls everyone to do So this is why he did miracles in private and hid his messianic identity to most

Now we see this other places in the Gospels in Luke chapter 8 verses 49 through 56

Jesus healed a little girl By bringing her back from the dead After healing her he told them tell no one that he did this you think he wants everybody to know

You know that he did this and he told them don't tell anybody in Matthew 16

Jesus revealed to the disciples that he is the Christ After telling them this he charges them in in chapter 16 verse 20

Tell no one that he was the Christ At this point in his ministry

Jesus did not want most people to know that he was the long -awaited

Messiah predicted in the Old Testament He did not want people to follow him for the wrong reasons

There were many thrill seekers who loved being around him

Because he could he could do all these mighty miracles It's neat being around a guy

Who does this? But Jesus did not want this he wanted people to follow him

Submitting to his lordship and believing in him as Savior After Jesus resurrection he told the disciples in Luke 24

Verses 44 through 48 He told them he said I fulfilled all of this

I am the Messiah of the Old Testament, and then he tells them at the end go proclaim that Forgiveness of sins is accomplished in my name

Okay, so now he's telling them go tell the world about the Messiah everything about the

Messiah But during his ministry He was slow to reveal his identity

And this is what Jesus wanted people to know about him, and if they only looked at his supernatural ability

They would miss the point of why he came to earth 2 ,000 years ago

He came on a rescue mission to save sinners in our day

It seems that some churches operate like many of the Jews of the first century They thought that power displayed a large crowd following one

They thought that that was evidence of God of God's work. If there's a crowd that must mean

God's working That must means God's stamp of approval Isn't that what

Jesus did he did great things and he got big crowds When your goal is to put on a show to get big crowds

Almost always there will be compromise As my old pastor has said

What you win them with you win them, too In other words whatever brings people in the door you have to keep doing things to keep them there

But if but if Jesus is the reason you're in the door you're gonna stay Once you're in a church.

They they did a raffle for a truck. Oh They got crowds to come What are they gonna stay three months later you have to do a new truck and keep doing that That would get expensive right man

But Jesus wanted people To believe in him for who he was and by the way, this is not just a problem with church leadership it's a problem with people who desire a church that will entertain them and not function how a church should function as 2nd

Timothy 4 3 says the time is coming when people will not endure a sound teaching But having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires

In this fallen world Jesus was not impressed with crowds Nor should churches be

Right if crowds are the measure we are an epic failure As I didn't write that in my notes by the way,

I'm just thinking about this But we're not a failure. God is working among us. I believe that Churches do not exist to draw crowds.

They exist to create real disciples quality Disciples disciples by the way who can stand up To what's happening in our country

To what's to the oppression that might be on the way. We need to be a church that is prepared for that Jesus wants quality disciples people who follow

Christ for the right reasons and Jesus wants to be the Lord of your life And this is my goal and my prayer for Eureka Baptist that we would grow together

Doing life together doing the one and others together That there's a passage in Romans 12 verses 9 through 18 that talks about what a church should look like Let me read this to you

Let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection

Outdo one another in showing honor do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit

Serve the Lord rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer

Contribute to the needs of the Saints and seek to show hospitality Bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them rejoice with those who rejoice

Weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be haughty but associate with the lowly

Never be wise in your own sight repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all

If possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all That's what a church is supposed to look like that's a healthy church

This is what true disciples do those things. I just read We are not here to Wow.

We are here to grow and live together on our journey to heaven

Throughout Jesus ministry we see this he was not interested in big crowds

Isn't that remarkable? When you read the gospel, let's stand out to us. He's not interested in big crowd.

He had often had big crowds But he wasn't thinking man. We're really doing good. Let's just let's keep let's keep getting people to come there was one episode in John chapter 6 where Jesus preached and everybody left him and Only the disciples were with him the twelve disciples and Jesus said to them

Are you gonna leave too and you know what they said to him? Where else would we go? You're the only one with the words of eternal life

That shows true disciples right there Jesus preached hard things that drew drove people away and only a handful were with him

He was interested in sincere Disciples people who believed in him for the right purpose and were willing to follow him no matter how much the cost

During Jesus ministry He knew that people would follow him because of the Wow factor and not what he taught and this is why he told the leper

Don't tell anyone in verse 4 But the leper who was just healed made things harder by letting the news get out

About Jesus supernatural ability as mark 145 informs us Jesus did not want to be a world -famous magician

Where people followed him for the glamour that their sinful hearts desired This was so in the first century and it's still so in the present day

Churches need to be built to foster an environment where people do not follow

Jesus for the glamour Right what you win them with you win them to but Jesus plan is to build a church genuine followers of Jesus Christ So we are to follow

Christ for the right purpose We've seen two reasons why in this text the first is that he came to cleanse us from our greatest disease the disease of sin and Also, the second reason is that he did not come to wow the crowds

People can follow him for the wrong reasons like many do And many in the first century did many do today and May this church be one where we follow him for the right reasons, right?

We were 100 % committed to the solid foundation of the Word of God That Jesus has handed down to us through his

Apostles and Maybe maybe live by that And not be tossed to and fro but by the by the new thing that's on the block

So this is what God calls us to live for In our lives and so may we do that and people who understand this are true disciples

Now next Sunday is going to be a unique Sunday Unlike maybe anything you've ever seen now, we're gonna we're gonna have a harvest festival and again, it's not too wild the crowds

All right. We don't want to undo the whole sermon by doing that next week Our morning service is gonna be the harvest festival, but the goal is still going to be the same

To glorify God and And to be helped that everyone would come to be that everyone who comes would be helped and encouraged

And challenged and and so next Sunday will still be that but it's gonna be done in a different way We're gonna be singing some different music

Mark is gonna be playing a lot of country gospel songs next week with and Laurie I think you're planning on singing with them, too.

And so I Look forward to to having that time with all of you

So you won't want to miss it, please come out and the sermons gonna be different, too Because we're gonna look at the history of our church and how

God has worked over the last 140 years at Eureka Baptist So, please come next

Sunday Let's pray Father in heaven.

I'm amazed Lord it how you accomplish things In the first century when you came

Lord you you drove many away with your message The miracles drew people to you and then once you started teaching

Thing is thinned out because You called people to count the cost and many were not willing to count the cost and those thrill seekers who followed you

For the wrong reasons ran away But those who were genuine stayed with you in my prayer

Lord that our church would be full of people who are rock -solid believers Genuine believers who are willing to follow

Jesus for the right purpose Lord my prayers that if anyone here is here today who doesn't know

Christ as their Lord Savior and treasure My prayer is that they would believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved

That they would realize that he came 2 ,000 years ago to cleanse us from our sins