The Faithful Hall of Fame

Have you ever thought about those in times past who were faithful followers of God?

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain... -Hebrews 11:4
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death... - Hebrews 11:5
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. -Hebrews 11:7
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance... -Hebrews 11:8
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. -Hebrews 11:11
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. -Hebrews 11:17-19
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. -Hebrews 11:20
By faith Jacob... -Hebrews 11:21

The list goes on...
By faith Joseph (11:22)... By faith Moses (11:23, 24)... Rahab (11:31)... Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets (11:32)... 

By faith, great things were done.

The question is, who else is listed in Hebrews 11 among the faithful? Who is listed before all those listed above?

By faith WE understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. -Hebrews 11:3

By faith, WE understand!

By faith! Faith in what? Faith in the word of God! The faith that comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) which is sharper than any two edge sword!

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. -Hebrews 4:12

Have we read God's word? His plan of salvation is in there. If we have heard (Romans 10:17), believed (John 8:24), repented of all sins (Luke 13:3, 5), confessed Christ as Lord (Matthew 10:32, 33), and been baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), the Lord will add us to HIS church (Acts 2:47), and then we can do great things.

Growing in Leadership Requires Patience

The other day, I read something interesting, "God prepares leaders in a slow-cooker, not in a microwave oven." (A Leader's Heart, John Maxwell)

The author of the above quote also noted how Noah waited more than one hundred years for the predicted rains to arrive (when it had never rained before on the earth). Abraham waited years for the promised heir. Joseph waited in prison because of a crime that he did not commit. Job, endured the hardship of losing everything; family, possessions, and health.

Sometimes, all the time, patience is necessary.

James 1:2-4, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (NKJV)

And let us not forget the old saying, "what does not kill us, only makes us stronger." It will not kill us to be patient, it will only make us stronger. 

Jesus Heals a Leper

Have you ever been really sick? Of course, at some point in time it seems that we all occasionally become ill. Wouldn't it be awesome if that illness could pass from you instantaneously and you could become well again?

How about bad eyesight? There are a number of people who have to wear glasses. Wouldn't it be nice if that bad eyesight could be fixed instantaneously? No more blurred vision but clear sight? Eyesight so good that you can actually see the fine print on things without a magnifying glass? 

What about the chicken pox? Have you ever had or remember what it was like to have it? I remember when I was a kid and the pox did not go away quickly. It took time. Wouldn't it have been nice if they did? 

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record an account of Jesus healing a leper. Luke's account reads as follows:

And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him. And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded." However, the report went around, concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. (Luke 5:12-16, NKJV)

Jesus is about to enact another miracle. People from everywhere it seems have been flocking after Jesus for one reason or another as we have seen in previous passages (cf. Luke 5:1). Some were coming to hear the message, but no doubt some were coming because of the miracles that Jesus had been doing. These miracles lead people to Christ. These miracles were meant to lead people to Christ, and that is exactly what they did. 

With this specific miracle, we see a leper, a healing hand, and a command. 

Luke's account of the Gospel reads that this man was full of leprosy. Matthew and Mark's accounts just say that a leper came to Jesus but Luke, the physician, records that the man was full of leprosy. What does this mean? 

If you have a child with the chicken pox, you may just say that he or she has the chicken pox and it would be fairly unknown as to the extent of it. It could be minor or it could be very serious. So, if you say that a man is leprous, it could mean that this person is in the beginning stages, or in the latter stages or it could mean that the person may not have had it quite so severely or on the flip side, very severely. 

So, as we see Luke recording that the man was full of leprosy, it gives us an understanding of the severity of the disease. This man was FULL of leprosy. This man had the disease severely. This man was essentially a leper in the last stages of the disease as Luke attempts to put it here. J.W. McGarvey notes in his commentary that Luke is saying that the man is a "leper past all hope." This man is a leper beyond the point of no return. This man cannot be cured! Ah, but wait! He can! He can be cured!

Remember what we read about of Jesus' ministry in Galilee? By looking at Matthew 4:23-25, Mark 1:35-39, and Luke 4:40-44, we can see that Jesus healed all sorts of ailments. Jesus could do that which no other man could do. Jesus could heal illnesses, diseases, demon possessions, and whatever else someone struggled with. Jesus could do it, and the leper KNEW that Jesus could heal him. 

The man had fallen on his face and he said, "Lord if you are willing!" The leper knew that Jesus could heal him. He said, “Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Look at the words describing this man’s actions though. He fell on his face. Now, this doesn’t mean he was walking along, tripped over something and fell flat on his face, but rather gives the idea that he had gotten down on his knees, bowed down with his face down. It gives the impression that the man is worshiping Jesus here. He is at the feet of Jesus saying, “Lord!” He is saying, “Lord, you can heal me. You are able to do it, if you are willing.”

We read the words of the leper here, but these are words that should not be glanced over quickly. The leper here is appealing to the Lord’s will. The leper is not saying, “Heal me so that I can get on with my life.” Instead he is saying, “Lord, if it be your will, heal me.”

Does this not remind us of how we are to pray? Jesus teaches us how to pray in His Sermon on the Mount. Part of the model prayer that we are to model our prayers from states in Matthew 6:10, “Your will be done.” We know that we are to pray for the Lord’s will when we pray. We know that we are to think about the Lord’s plan above our desires. Yes we can still ask for that which we want, but ultimately must keep in mind that the Lord’s will be done and it is that to which we should pray for. 

Let’s stay on this topic for a moment as we turn to Matthew 26:39. Jesus and His disciples are in the Garden of Gethsemane and the time is nearing for Jesus to be taken and ultimately suffer the cruel death upon the cross. As Jesus is at Gethsemane with His disciples He prays to the Father, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Then in verse 42 of Matthew 26, Jesus prays a second time, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Jesus prays for the Father’s will to be done. Jesus desired for the Father’s will to be done even though it would mean pain for Him. Even though it meant taking the punishment for the sinfulness of all mankind, He was willing to pray for the Father’s will to be done.

We can look at the example of Paul too. Paul writes to the Corinthians in 2^nd Corinthians 12:7ff, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.” Paul pleaded with the Lord THREE times! Paul wanted that thorn in the flesh gone! The question is though, was that the Lord’s will? Was it the Lord’s will to remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh? Paul wanted it gone, but is that what happened? We can go on to read in 2^nd Corinthians 12:9 that the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So Paul said, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Paul was open to the Lord’s will. Yes he wanted that thorn in the flesh gone, but when it didn’t happen, when it wouldn’t happen, when it couldn’t happen, Paul was okay. Paul trusted the Lord. Friends, I ask you, when our prayers are not answered as we would like them to be, how do we react? Are we open to the Lord’s will? Will we as Paul put it, let the power of Christ rest upon us? Or will that cause us to be angry? Paul trusted in the Lord’s will, we should too.

The fact is though, not always will things happen exactly as we think they should happen. We are talking about Jesus healing a leper this morning and we can remember the healing of a leper in the Old Testament. Naaman the Syrian was a commander of the army, but he was also a leper. We read about him in 2^nd Kings 5. Naaman went to the King of Israel as instructed by the King of Syria and Elisha the prophet sent to the king of Israel saying that Naaman should come to him. We pick up in 2^nd Kings 5:9, “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house and Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.”

Naaman was angry! He was not satisfied with what he heard. He wanted to substitute his reasoning for that which he was told. How often is it that someone gets angry when they hear the word of truth? It happens often unfortunately. It often happens that people want to use their own reasoning to determine their faith. They know that God has said one thing, but they want to do another. They say, “Sure, baptism comes from the Greek word that means to immerse but pouring or sprinkling is fine too.” They say, “Oh I know that’s what God said on this particular topic but I just can’t follow that, I need to do it this other way, it’ll be okay, the Lord is loving, He won’t keep me out of Heaven if I do this thing differently.” The point is, yes baptism is by immersion, and yes we must follow that which the Lord says. The real question becomes, when we question God’s authority in His Holy Word, can it be said that we really place our trust in God? See, Naaman did not want to trust the word that was given to him at first. He wanted to dig into his own reasoning and do something else. He did not want to trust the will of the Lord that was given to him through the messenger of Elisha here in 2^nd Kings. 

Now, here’s another question, Isn’t it wonderful when someone has the ability or the motivation to correct us when we are wrong? Naaman’s servants did just that. They spoke to him, and said, “If the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” What a great encouragement we can have, that our brothers and sisters can correct us when we have erred. Naaman did as he was instructed and he was healed. So we know, that if we aim to live our lives according to the Lord’s will, we can have hope.

So now, returning to the leper in Luke’s Gospel in Chapter 5, he trusted the will of Jesus as he said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Can it be said of us that we truly place our trust in the Lord?

So, we see, that this leper, who was beyond the hope of being cured, placed his trust in the will of Jesus and what we see next is a healing hand. 

Was Jesus willing? Of course, He said, “I am willing; be cleansed.” He said this as He reached out and put His hand on the leper.

We wonder, in a world filled with false religions, does the Lord want all these souls to be lost? Of course not! 2^nd Peter 3:9 informs us that, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” It is the hope and will of the Lord for all to be saved. Someone might ask, “Well, what about the indigenous tribe out in the middle of some island that has never heard of the Lord.” To that the proper response would be, “Who are you talking about and what are you waiting for?” The idea here is that “if” there is a particular group of people who have not yet heard about the Lord, someone needs to be sent to them! Remember the command that Jesus gave? Matthew records it at the end of his account of the Gospel. Matthew 28:18-20 records Jesus’ words, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The point is, “if” there is a group of people who have not heard of the Gospel message, we as Christians have not done our job. “If” there is a group of people who have not heard the Gospel message, we have not obeyed the Great Commission of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Sure, it might be challenging at times, but did Jesus not also say that He would be with us always? Did Jesus not also say that He would be with us even to the end of the age?

Paul even wrote about how the Lord wants all to come to the knowledge of the truth in his letter to Timothy. We read in 1^st Timothy 2:3-4, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The point is, God desires for ALL to come to the knowledge of the truth and for all to follow in faithful obedience to His plan for salvation, even the indigenous tribe who had never even heard of Him. The question is, does the individual person have faith like the leper that we read about this morning? Is our faith like that of the leper that we read about in Luke 5? The Lord is willing, the question is: do we trust His willingness?

So, we read in Luke 5 that Jesus, “put out His hand and touched him (the leper), saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” The next thing that we see is that the leprous man was physically cleansed of his leprosy. The leprosy had left him immediately. However, he may have been healed by the hand of Jesus, but legally he still was not cleansed.

As we see in Luke 5:14, there are two commands given: (1) The charge to tell no one; and (2) To go to the priest. The first command we will deal with in the final portion of this lesson, however the second command we’ll deal with in this portion where the leper was cleansed.

Jesus tells the man, “Go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.” In Leviticus 14, instruction was given for the day of the cleansing of lepers. We read in Leviticus 14:2ff, “This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop…” The following verses go on to outline the process that is to be followed. The point is, there was a process that needed to be followed under the Mosaic Law for the cleansing of the leper. Since Jesus had not yet fulfilled the Law, the man who had been physically cleansed of his leprosy needed to be legally cleansed of his leprosy according to the Law.

The other charge that Jesus gave, the first charge, is the subject of the final part of the lesson. A command was given to tell no one.

Why did Jesus charge the man to tell no one? Didn’t He want people to hear of Him? The point is, that the message that Jesus was preaching was more important than the miracles. He wanted people to hear His message; the miracles were done so that people would believe.

We go on to read in Luke 5:15, “The report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.” People came to Jesus for two reasons: (1) To hear what He was preaching; and (2) To be healed; to have a miracle enacted upon them.

Mark records something interesting in his account of the Gospel and sheds light onto why Jesus instructed the leper who he had just healed not to tell anyone. In Mark 1:45, “However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.”

Mark gives the impression that due to the spreading of the news of the leper being healed, that so many people flocked after Jesus to the point where He could not even enter the city in which He had planned to do work. As a result, he was outside in deserted places.

The question: What was Jesus doing in these deserted/ wilderness places? Luke tells us, we read in Luke 5:16, “So He Himself (Jesus) often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”

The answer: To pray. We have seen it again and again, that prayer was an active part of the life of our Lord.

Is prayer an active part of our lives? If not, why not? 

We can note several things from this event as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. A man who was full of leprosy, came to Jesus. As we discussed Luke is not just describing some leper, but a leper who was full of the disease, so much so that as one commentator put it, the leper was past all hope! The leper was past the point of healing but he knew that regardless of that fact, that if Jesus was willing, then he could be cleansed. He knew that Jesus could cleanse him of his leprosy. The man had faith. Of course Jesus was willing, as He is willing for all to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We must ask ourselves now, “what truth?” Jesus said in His prayer in John 17, “Sanctify them by the truth, Your word is truth.” God’s word is truth! John 8:32 says that the truth shall make us free.

The truth of God’s word has the power to free us from that which hinders us. The truth has within it the words of eternal life! Just as the leper was cleansed, the person living a life of sin can be forgiven IF they place their hope in the Lord and follow in obedience to His plan for Salvation and not the plan of men. Remember Naaman? We talked about him this morning. He wanted to reason on his own and say that there were cleaner rivers than the Jordan for him to be cleansed in. However, that is not what he was instructed to do. He was instructed to wash in the Jordan.

If we read the Holy word of God, we can see that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We can see that one must believe. We can see that one must repent of all sin and that one must also confess Christ as Lord, but ultimately these things do not get us into the church. These things alone do not save us if they are not accompanied with baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), for it is in baptism that we come into contact with the blood of Christ. It is through immersion in water for the remission of sins that we come into contact with Christ’s pure and Holy blood. Then we are cleansed. Then the Lord will add us to His church as Acts 2:47 states, “and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Then we can remember the words given to the church in Smyrna as recorded in Revelation 2:10. The church in Smyrna was told to remain faithful to the point of death, and they would receive the crown of life.

What if we stumble though? What if we fall short? Well, 1^st John 1:7 tells us “if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” If we continue to abide in the light, the blood of Christ continuously cleanses us though we may stumble occasionally. We know as 1^st John 1:9 tells us, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We can be forgiven. 

There is one more question to ponder though; what is our prayer life like? Jesus prayed often. We see as Luke closes out his account of this event, that Jesus had departed into the wilderness to pray. Is there anything that we need to pray for?