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40 Episodes with Jesus: The One Who Makes Men Clean (E5)
22 Plays4 months ago
He was untouchable. Unclean. Unwelcome. But one act of bold faith—and one touch from Jesus—changed everything. In this episode, we unpack the powerful story of the leper in Matthew 8, a man who risked everything to reach out to Christ. What does this story teach us about Jesus, about ourselves, and about the gospel? Tune in to hear how Christ still reaches out to cleanse what the world calls hopeless.
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Transcript
Podcast Returns and Personal Updates
00:00:20
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:00:20
brandon g b
All right.
00:00:23
brandon g b
Welcome to the Faith 168 Podcast, everybody. We're so thankful you're joining us today, and I hope everybody's doing well. It's been a little while since we've recorded and put out an episode, and I guess we should start with some introductions since we've been um gone for a long time. Chris, are you still alive? You still breathing?
00:00:49
Christian McKenzie
yeah i'm sad
00:00:49
brandon g b
he's He's gone. He's a goner.
00:00:51
Christian McKenzie
yeah Yeah, no, yeah, I'm good. Yeah, it's definitely good to be back. And and I know that things get busy. Sometimes work we're looking at a couple different things on this podcast on how we're going to broaden it and stuff. And that takes up some time and energy as well. And the fact that we're pastors also takes up a lot of time and energy. But yeah, I'm so glad to be back and recording another episode with you.
00:01:19
Christian McKenzie
So.
00:01:19
brandon g b
Absolutely. And of course, we've been busy on our end. As you said, we're pastors, so we're always busy. But my wife and I recently became parents, foster parents. And so that makes for a busy life as well.
00:01:32
brandon g b
But anyway, we're here to talk
Introduction to New Series on Jesus
00:01:34
brandon g b
about Jesus. That's what this podcast is all about. And that's what our latest series of episodes has been focusing on. The Life, Ministry, and Miracles of Jesus.
00:01:45
brandon g b
In 40 episodes, we are just taking a fast track through the Gospels, looking at the defining and most important moments in Christ's life and teachings and what we can draw from those things.
00:02:00
brandon g b
And we've talked about Christ's temptation in the wilderness, his baptism, and a few other things as we've just gotten started.
00:02:00
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
Healing of the Leper: Social and Spiritual Insights
00:02:07
brandon g b
And now we want to turn our attention to a very important episode in the life of Christ where he heals a man of leprosy. There are accounts of this in every gospel, I believe. Maybe John could be the exception, I'm not sure.
00:02:25
brandon g b
But it's easy to read these stories and miss the real significance and the in the details here. So we're just going to take our time looking at this story together in Mark chapter 1 about the healing of the leper and what it teaches us about ourselves and and what it teaches us about Christ, the one who makes sinners clean.
00:02:48
brandon g b
So, Chris, I don't know if you're open to Mark chapter 1, but if not, that's a suggestion.
00:02:54
Christian McKenzie
I can be.
00:02:58
brandon g b
um
00:02:58
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:03:00
brandon g b
That is Mark 1 all the way down at the bottom. um Will you read for us verses 40 through 42? I think that'd be a good starting place.
00:03:14
Christian McKenzie
40 through 42.
00:03:16
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:03:18
Christian McKenzie
i guess I can do that.
00:03:19
brandon g b
and Okay.
00:03:21
Christian McKenzie
And a leper came to him, imploring him And kneeling, said to him, If you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean.
00:03:38
Christian McKenzie
And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
00:03:45
brandon g b
So A leper comes to Jesus. He gets healing. But there's so much more than meets the eye here. So many significant lessons for us to learn, and we hope that all of you will glean something important from this.
Modern Parallels to Lepers' Ostracization
00:04:00
brandon g b
So let's just talk about the leper a little bit.
00:04:00
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:04:03
brandon g b
let's get some Let's get a better understanding of him. ah Chris, let's talk about leprosy. um What did it do to people when they had leprosy in ancient days?
00:04:15
brandon g b
How did it limit them and and what what shape were they in socially?
00:04:21
Christian McKenzie
Well, uh, socially it made them unclean, undesirable. they were the outcast, uh, There were laws against oh what lepers could do oh and Not only were they in ah physical pain and going through a physical illness, ah but they were in social pain and emotional pain, being ostracized.
00:04:49
Christian McKenzie
um they They had to ah declare when they were around. You know, think about that. Like, you know, if I mess up and and do something, you know, like i I stole a piece of gun when I was a little kid or something.
00:05:04
Christian McKenzie
Think about how that'd be if, you know, when I got caught, my granddad had told me ah you have to go around and yell that you're a thief to everyone.
00:05:13
brandon g b
Oh, man.
00:05:14
Christian McKenzie
And, ah but you had to declare, you know, that that you were sick and unclean and ah you had to, you had to wear rags pretty much. Uh, you had to stay away from everyone. Uh, I think if I'm correct, correct me if I'm wrong, then they have to stay outside of the, the city.
00:05:36
brandon g b
Yeah, they definitely couldn't enter enter the temple.
00:05:39
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:05:39
brandon g b
That's for sure.
00:05:39
Christian McKenzie
They, they had to stay on the, or stay kind of like outside of the the temple. Yeah. That's what I was probably getting that in my head.
00:05:44
brandon g b
Yeah, in any case, they had to keep their distance.
00:05:47
Christian McKenzie
Right. And they had to, they kind of, congregated away from civilized society so uh so there was a lot with leprosy uh and that was that was something that that you didn't want to be around and if you were not a leper and you touched someone with leprosy or any other type of uncleanness there were so many laws
00:05:51
brandon g b
Right.
00:06:00
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:06:14
Christian McKenzie
concerning so many other different types of uncleanness in the physical sense. You had to also ostracize yourself for ah certain amount of time and and go through that. So people really shunned you because they didn't want to be categorized with you.
00:06:33
brandon g b
Yeah, absolutely. um It may be an overestimation, but I think leprosy was the worst disease in ancient times. um you know Blindness was pretty severe, deafness, being a paralytic, but leprosy had its share of terrible things. It came with the worst consequences, as you mentioned.
Faith and Healing: Jesus and the Leper
00:06:54
brandon g b
Social ostracization, well, if I can say the word, ostracization,
00:06:59
brandon g b
um Couldn't have friends, couldn't have a job, couldn't be around people. Your body was falling apart, couldn't have you know material possessions. um And as you said, they had to keep their distance and announce that they were lepers. That's really one of the worst parts about it. They had to wear shabby clothing and and be disfigured in appearance so that people would recognize them when they came near.
00:07:24
brandon g b
And they had to shout, unclean, unclean. And I ah like your illustration about, you know, stealing a piece of gum and announcing, you know, to everybody that you're a thief. But I think one thing that all of our listeners and you and I might be able to relate to is when we had COVID.
00:07:42
brandon g b
ah When you had COVID, you had to tell everybody.
00:07:42
Christian McKenzie
yeah
00:07:44
brandon g b
And it wasn't really any shame in it, you know, because we couldn't really do anything about it. But um that's essentially what it was like for lepers. They just had to live with their condition hopelessly until they died.
00:07:57
brandon g b
So it's pretty bad. And here you have a man with leprosy coming to Jesus, begging him to be made clean. Now, is this guy breaking some Societal norms when he comes close to Jesus.
00:08:13
Christian McKenzie
Oh yeah. I mean, having to stay away from everybody, him coming up to Christ and ah you know, requesting healing ah instead of saying, Jesus, stay away from me.
00:08:28
Christian McKenzie
I'm unclean. I'm unclean. he He's really breaking societal norms. But Jesus is also, you know, breaking some societal norms because most people, if they saw a leper like that, whatever that leper was going through, they would be running the other way.
00:08:45
Christian McKenzie
And obviously Jesus did not. So you see a lot of
00:08:49
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:08:50
Christian McKenzie
a lot of social norms in that moment that are being broken both by the leper and Jesus.
00:08:57
brandon g b
Absolutely. Well, let's talk about that. um What do you think it was that drove the leper to basically disobey ceremonial laws? Because as you said, he's a lot closer to Jesus or anybody than he should have been.
00:09:11
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Well, it likely when, when a leper would do that, uh, they would be more likely to be killed so that that wouldn't happen again. And so I think at that point in his life, he, he didn't care about living or dying.
00:09:28
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:09:28
Christian McKenzie
And, and he just, he wanted connection and then he sees this man named Jesus and he's heard about Jesus.
00:09:40
Christian McKenzie
Jesus is known amongst the lepers and this is the man that can heal.
00:09:44
brandon g b
Mm-hmm.
00:09:47
Christian McKenzie
If it's his will, he can heal. And that's that's what makes it interesting. There's this request and he he can boldly go up to Jesus knowing that he can ask that freely And that it if if it is his will, he'll receive that
Symbolism of Healing: Gospel and Transformation
00:10:06
Christian McKenzie
healing.
00:10:06
Christian McKenzie
And so, yeah, that that's, ah you know, a kind of mindset he might have been going through is that he was tired.
00:10:15
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:10:17
Christian McKenzie
He didn't care if this was going to lead to his death because he was hardly living anyway.
00:10:21
brandon g b
yeah Exactly. It's like, what what did he have left? You know, um, the light at the end of his tunnel had gone out.
00:10:24
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:28
brandon g b
Um, he's at the end of his rope. Um, and you know, hopelessness causes people to do desperate things, right?
00:10:35
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:10:36
brandon g b
Uh, whether you have terminal cancer or you're drug addict, you know, and with this guy, I mean, What option did he have left? you know he's He's desperate, like you say, he's heard about Christ, Jesus of Nazareth and his healing miracles and such. And that drove him to defy these cultural norms, disregard prohibitions about um social contact that are within the Mosaic law.
00:11:03
brandon g b
And we kind of get a glimpse of why he did this further from what he requests of Jesus. As you read there,
00:11:12
Christian McKenzie
the
00:11:13
brandon g b
He has an interesting request here. It's it's worded very interestingly here. He says, if you will, you can make me clean. What do you think that reveals about what he believed about Christ?
00:11:29
Christian McKenzie
Well, I think there's a certainty of faith in that statement. You know, ah there's times where I'm in a ah tough situation.
00:11:41
Christian McKenzie
situation and I know who I can call upon because I have faith in their abilities. Uh, you know, I, I know that you're a wonderful preacher. Uh, and I know that in a time where I need someone to come and preach, I can say, Hey, Brandon, if you will, you can come preach and I don't have to worry about that, you know?
00:12:00
brandon g b
hu
00:12:02
Christian McKenzie
And, uh, and then it
00:12:02
brandon g b
in
00:12:05
Christian McKenzie
Becomes a question. Can you do this? I know you can preach, but is this is this something that you will do?
00:12:09
brandon g b
yeah
00:12:13
Christian McKenzie
and And so because of that certainty, I know that you can get up and and I know ah your faith.
00:12:13
brandon g b
Right.
00:12:21
Christian McKenzie
I know your doctrine. I know all of that. uh, no matter how flawed it can be at times, but, uh, no, but, uh, and, and this is a show of faith.
00:12:28
brandon g b
Right. Yeah, yeah.
00:12:34
Christian McKenzie
I know you can heal me, Jesus. I've heard about it. Um, and I don't know if he's seen it before or knew someone. don't know all of his background. oh He might not have ever seen it, but he had heard enough at least that he knew that this was the man, Jesus, who could heal him and make him whole.
00:12:54
Christian McKenzie
And he can boldly go before him and say, Jesus, I know what you can do. if you If you want, if this is your will, please, please do
00:13:07
brandon g b
Absolutely. Yeah, it's very insightful. He... did not ask, you know can you heal me? Do you have the ability? He asked, do you have the willingness? Is it within your will to do that?
00:13:20
brandon g b
um
00:13:20
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:13:21
brandon g b
And again, that's important. It was only a matter of whether or not Christ was willing. And so so this is important.
00:13:27
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:13:28
brandon g b
So this is where we start to get to, I think, the main point of this story.
00:13:28
Christian McKenzie
Mm
00:13:34
brandon g b
You've got you got two elements here that lead to action. So this guy recognizes he has a desperate condition.
00:13:39
Christian McKenzie
hmm.
00:13:44
brandon g b
um And the other recognition is Christ was divinely able to heal this man of his condition. So he's in bad shape. Christ is able to heal him.
00:13:56
brandon g b
That causes him to limp towards his only hope of deliverance. And I think we're starting to see some gospel undertones um in this story already.
00:14:08
brandon g b
um where we need to recognize that we are spiritual lepers and that we're unclean and that Christ is able to make us whole.
00:14:08
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:14:20
brandon g b
um
00:14:20
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:14:21
brandon g b
And I wish he would work a miracle in my house today, because if the listeners are hearing some dogs running around like crazy, they indeed are. um But anyway, um before we talk about like how we see the gospel here,
00:14:35
brandon g b
and We talked about this man defying cultural norms, but we also touched on just briefly how Jesus was probably doing the same thing. um What do you think or what is it what does it do to Jesus that he touches this man instead of just speaking um the word for his healing? Because as we read, it says, move with pity, talking about Christ. He stretched out his hand and touched him.
00:15:04
brandon g b
and said to him, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him. So what does that tell us about Christ?
00:15:09
Christian McKenzie
Yep.
00:15:12
Christian McKenzie
Well, to to touch anyone that was unclean is to make yourself unclean by the law. And so people avoided this man for lack of a better term, I guess, like the plague.
00:15:26
Christian McKenzie
ah they They wouldn't touch him. They wouldn't recognize him. And for fear of themselves becoming unclean. Yet Jesus, who is pure, undefiled, ah cannot be broken down or tempted and and temptation overcome him.
00:15:47
Christian McKenzie
These things don't apply to him the same way that they apply to us in in the sense of uncleanness. And so he does something that the man hadn't experienced in a very long time, however long.
00:16:00
brandon g b
Right.
00:16:04
Christian McKenzie
He had that condition and but he had a physical touch, not out of anger, you know, trying to hurt him, kill him and strike him down.
00:16:14
brandon g b
Yeah, didn't swat him away.
00:16:15
Christian McKenzie
and Right. And the in the we see this connection of the clean touching the unclean.
00:16:27
Christian McKenzie
And it's instead of the unclean that's transferring, To the other person, you see the cleanness transferring to the unclean.
00:16:37
brandon g b
Oh, man, that's good.
00:16:39
Christian McKenzie
And in that, I think that is a powerful picture of what Jesus is doing in the gospel in a nutshell.
00:16:49
brandon g b
Oh, absolutely. Isn't it amazing, though? The thing is, the leper, again, knows Christ is able to heal him. And Christ was indeed able and could have, again, spoken the word and the man's leprosy would have left him.
00:16:59
Christian McKenzie
Mm hmm.
00:17:06
brandon g b
He could have shooed him away, as I said, ah healed him from afar, but he reaches out and touches him, as you mentioned, which also made Christ ceremonially unclean, according to Leviticus 14.
00:17:07
Christian McKenzie
Mm-hmm.
00:17:19
Christian McKenzie
right
00:17:20
brandon g b
But he didn't crack he he didn't contract leprosy as a result. ah Healing left him and rendered this leprosy now as clean since he was restored.
00:17:33
brandon g b
And so it is definitely a picture of the gospel here. but That's why we wanted to dive into this today. um Not just to learn about Jesus' healing abilities, but to see the picture of Christ healing sinners and saving our souls from this ah episode in the life of Christ.
00:17:45
Christian McKenzie
right
00:17:54
brandon g b
um In fact, let's dive into that a little bit. How is this a picture of the gospel, Chris, ah this healing of the leper. How is it a metaphor for what Christ accomplished on the cross?
00:18:06
Christian McKenzie
Well, because of sin, we are unclean. You know, we we can read the scripture about... We are dead in our trespasses and our sins.
00:18:19
Christian McKenzie
We can talk about the wickedness and the evilness of man. And I think of Romans 5, 8 as a good picture of this, of God's love and the gospel.
00:18:35
Christian McKenzie
that God demonstrates his love for us in this way, that while we were still sinners, and that's a place to to underline right there, sinners, dirty, unclean, unworthy, undeserving, whatever words you want to use there for the worst of the worst, while we were still sinners, God demonstrates his love for us in this way,
00:18:44
brandon g b
Yeah, right.
00:19:03
Christian McKenzie
that Christ died for us to make us clean and to heal us and to make us whole. That ah when when we were undeserving, he didn't let that stop him from coming to us and cleaning us and making
Romans 5:8 and Christ's Sacrifice
00:19:25
Christian McKenzie
us whole.
00:19:25
Christian McKenzie
And so there's there's the gospel. While we might not have leprosy in a physical sense. oh We could say that we're born lepers ah as spiritual sense, you know, and that we are unclean, but to come into contact with, with Christ is not to spread our leprosy to him, but for him, when we submit to him and follow him, it's to spread his righteousness to us.
00:19:58
Christian McKenzie
And I think you can go to like Romans and you can look at, I can't remember what chapter it is in my head, but you know, we're, we're a justice through one man's sin, death spread to all men.
00:20:10
brandon g b
Yeah, right.
00:20:11
Christian McKenzie
And, and so all of sin and then justice through one man's obedience, talking about Christ, many were made righteous. And so we see that mankind influences mankind and passes down this sinful nature and it's the unclean spreading uncleanness and then one man steps into the picture and instead of being corrupted by the uncleanness he he cleans up the mess he takes care of what's going on and instead of being corrupted he heals those that have been corrupted
00:20:51
brandon g b
Absolutely. And the other paradox of it is that as Christ took on our sin on Calvary's cross, ah God essentially treated him like an unclean leper, like we deserve to be treated.
00:21:03
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:05
brandon g b
You know, he was ostracized on the cross, which is why he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
00:21:06
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:21:13
brandon g b
Because he was separated ah for a period of time because all of our sins were laid upon him and God was
00:21:13
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:21:21
brandon g b
exacting his wrath upon him, ah the wrath that we deserve for our uncleanness of heart and conduct.
00:21:24
Christian McKenzie
right
00:21:28
brandon g b
um But, you know, it's amazing. This leper, he didn't realize it at the time, but what happened with him is what happens with all sinners who trust in the Savior. And so many passages tell us about this.
00:21:39
Christian McKenzie
isn
00:21:42
brandon g b
1 Peter 3.18 says, Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. and And one that's a pillar verse, of course, describing this is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21.
00:21:51
Christian McKenzie
Yes.
00:22:00
brandon g b
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So God treated his son as unclean, as a sinner, so that he could treat us as clean, as righteous, um because there was an exchange that took place on the cross, of course.
00:22:08
Christian McKenzie
Yes. Right.
00:22:20
brandon g b
um
00:22:21
Christian McKenzie
right
00:22:21
brandon g b
Our sins are laid upon Christ, imputed to his account, even though he was clean and righteous. And his righteousness is imputed to our account, although we were unclean and unrighteous.
00:22:34
brandon g b
And that's a good old gospel story that never gets old.
Outreach to Modern 'Lepers' and Church's Role
00:22:38
Christian McKenzie
right Yeah.
00:22:40
brandon g b
Now, I think there's some other lessons we could draw from this. um There are still those considered I guess lepers in our society. Leprosy is not really a big deal anymore, the physical disease.
00:22:54
brandon g b
But there are those um sinners, I guess, that, um
00:23:01
Christian McKenzie
Those 30 awful sinners.
00:23:03
brandon g b
yeah, yeah, the worst worse than all of us, you know.
00:23:06
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:23:06
brandon g b
ah Now, people that the Pharisees and scribes would write off, as they did write off in the Gospels, lepers who are outsiders,
00:23:17
brandon g b
um How should we approach that? How should we follow the example of our Lord Jesus in reaching out to those who need the gospel, who need a healing touch from Christ?
00:23:30
Christian McKenzie
Yeah. Well, the Church of the United States, I think, has largely become very legalistic over the past several decades, at least. It's hard for me to talk past that because I've only been around for three of those decades and pretty much to those decades, I was useless.
00:23:44
brandon g b
so
00:23:48
Christian McKenzie
So, but this idea of legalism and and judging and holier than now concept is that because you carry a Bible, you go to church on Sundays that, that you're better than, than others, but that's not,
00:23:48
brandon g b
Mm-hmm.
00:24:12
Christian McKenzie
really true. You're cleaner. You've been made clean if you're a true following believer, a born-again believer in Christ. However, I think a lot of people have the appearance of a shower and haven't really taken the shower.
00:24:28
Christian McKenzie
They like to dump some perfume on them and and ah say, well, that covers up the stench of you know my decay, my spiritual decay.
00:24:28
brandon g b
Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
00:24:34
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:24:37
brandon g b
Yeah.
00:24:40
Christian McKenzie
So we we see lost and dying world out there and they are undesirable and and many people can get on that high horse and and know that pedestal and saying, you're beneath me.
00:24:56
Christian McKenzie
But no, we should be saying, you were me and you can be saved by the healing touch of Jesus.
00:25:02
brandon g b
Right.
00:25:04
brandon g b
right
00:25:07
Christian McKenzie
Take homosexuality, for example. I don't know if we're going to get kicked off of ah of a platform when we talk about this, but homosexuality is undoubtedly a sin. ah Scripture is very clear on that.
00:25:22
Christian McKenzie
But how do we respond to those that are struggling with the sin of homosexuality? Do we throw ah the biggest King James Bible we can find at them and hope that it hits them the head and one of those verses in there just drops into their brain because of that?
00:25:39
Christian McKenzie
No, we don't ostracize them. we We don't condemn them in the sense of we're not going to take the gospel to them. We love them.
00:25:50
Christian McKenzie
like Jesus loved that leper, by reaching out to them in compassion and pity to show them the way and show them who can heal them. Because undoubtedly that leper came to Jesus a leper, but he left and he was no longer a leper. He was clean, he was changed, he was whole.
00:26:11
Christian McKenzie
And so instead of complaining about the sin and the dirtiness and and the uncleanness of the world, let's take Jesus to them Who can clean it up?
00:26:23
Christian McKenzie
You know, I can complain about the garbage and the trash piling up in my house all day long. It's going to be there every time I complain about it, if that's all I do.
00:26:36
Christian McKenzie
But if I get up and go over and take out the trash, then there's some effort. There's something being done about it. And that's what we need to do with Jesus. Jesus gets rid of all that trash in our lives.
00:26:48
brandon g b
Absolutely.
00:26:49
Christian McKenzie
My anger. ah Not that I don't get angry sometimes, but there was this deep dwelling, boiling anger in me as a child and that was festering and and just ready to destroy. But when I put my faith in Jesus, he said, that's garbage.
00:27:09
Christian McKenzie
And I want to take that away. I want to clean it
00:27:10
brandon g b
Right.
00:27:12
Christian McKenzie
That's infecting you. That's unclean. And I want to make you clean. And so You know, that's that's what we need to do with the lepers of society today. and And we can talk about, you know, certain categories of sin, like I just brought up one.
00:27:28
Christian McKenzie
ah But really, there's the clean and the unclean. That's how it's really ended up in the world today.
00:27:32
brandon g b
Right.
00:27:36
Christian McKenzie
And it's not that we need to avoid the unclean. We need to take the one who can clean them to them and introduce them and say, hey, my name is Chris. And Jesus changed my life and cleaned me up.
00:27:50
Christian McKenzie
This is Jesus. Put your faith in him and he can do the same for you. And so, you know, there's a lot more speaking in between that, but that's just kind of like a paraphrase of it.
00:28:01
brandon g b
Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah, i would hope it goes a little further than that.
00:28:05
Christian McKenzie
Yeah, no, that's ah it' that's my quota. That's all I have to say. Yeah.
00:28:10
brandon g b
Right, yeah, moving on. Yeah, I think that's really important to explain. I thank you for that explanation because – You know, Christ gives us an example to follow here.
Following Christ's Example in Reaching Sinners
00:28:21
brandon g b
Obviously, we don't have the power to heal people from their spiritual leprosy or uncleanness, but he does that same ability that he exercised in ancient times, which the leper believed he could.
00:28:28
Christian McKenzie
Right.
00:28:34
brandon g b
He exercises today to anybody who comes to him recognizing their desperate need.
00:28:37
Christian McKenzie
Mm
00:28:40
brandon g b
But it's up to us to make the introductions. um The world is not going to know about Christ unless we tell him. ah They're not going to have this saving encounter with Jesus unless we bring him with us wherever we go.
00:28:53
Christian McKenzie
hmm.
00:28:54
brandon g b
And, you know, we see ah another glimpse of what we're talking about here in the Gospels where um the Pharisees see the kind of company that Jesus is keeping.
00:29:05
brandon g b
Tax collectors, adulterers, other sinners. And they try to give him some advice on building a ministry.
00:29:14
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:29:14
brandon g b
And essentially, they're thinking, you know, if this rabbi wants to make an impact, he's going to have to keep better company. And so they ask him, why does this man eat with tax collectors and sinners? Why is he associating with unclean people, with outcasts and misfits?
00:29:30
brandon g b
And, you know, even Jesus said, ask and you shall receive.
00:29:32
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:29:34
brandon g b
And he gave them an answer they probably didn't expect to that question.
00:29:37
Christian McKenzie
Mm-hmm.
00:29:38
brandon g b
And he said, um I've come not to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.
00:29:38
Christian McKenzie
Mm-hmm.
00:29:43
brandon g b
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. And um he came into the world to bring salvation to the unclean, to the spiritual lepers. And the great example he gives us in the passage I just mentioned is he felt he is a friend to these sinners, people who need him the most.
00:30:03
brandon g b
And he's able to minister to them in a way where
00:30:03
Christian McKenzie
Okay.
00:30:07
brandon g b
he loves them, he shows them his mercy and grace, but he doesn't do what they're doing. He doesn't contract their sinfulness. And that, of course, is the balance we have to learn to strike in this sinful world, is we have to bring the gospel message to those that need it without their spiritual leprosy rubbing off on us.
00:30:29
brandon g b
Because, frankly, we've got enough of our own spiritual uncleanness to worry about in the first place. um So, anyway, Christ is the one who makes men clean, isn't he?
00:30:42
Christian McKenzie
Yes. Amen.
00:30:44
brandon g b
And, you know, I just, I love this story so much. We see man's need for Christ here in this passage and Christ's great ability to meet that need.
00:30:57
brandon g b
Just a beautiful thing here.
00:30:57
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
Closing Prayer and Encouragement to Live the Gospel
00:30:59
brandon g b
And so I just want to tell you, if you're listening today and you feel unclean, you feel like this leper, you are
00:31:00
Christian McKenzie
Mm-hmm.
00:31:07
brandon g b
overwhelmed with a sense of your brokenness and unworthiness, um Jesus doesn't turn people like you away. He reaches out to you, and his saving touch can transform you if you'll just believe ah that he is the Christ.
00:31:23
Christian McKenzie
Amen. Yep.
00:31:25
brandon g b
Well, I think that covers it. Chris, anything to mention in closing about this story?
00:31:32
Christian McKenzie
I agree with everything you just said.
00:31:36
brandon g b
Very good then. Very good. Well, folks, we thank you for tuning in. We hope you've been blessed by this episode of the Faith 168 podcast. We are going to continue to walk through the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus in forthcoming episodes, and we hope that you will tune into those as well.
00:31:55
brandon g b
Until next time, we want to encourage you to boldly approach the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who makes men clean, knowing that he is both able and willing to do that.
00:32:02
Christian McKenzie
Yeah.
00:32:06
Christian McKenzie
Amen.
00:32:08
brandon g b
Chris, as we wrap up, will you pray for us, please?
00:32:11
Christian McKenzie
Definitely. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your great love that you have for us. That while we were sinners, you sent your son into this world to die for us.
00:32:25
Christian McKenzie
Thank you for saving us from our sin. Thank you for saving us from, from death. And in response to that, help us to live for you here in this world faithfully every day, every week, every hour so that we can bring glory to you and reach to a world of lost and dying sinners that are desperate for your healing.
00:32:52
Christian McKenzie
Father, put people in our path that need to hear your gospel. Put people in our path that are sick and dying. that need your healing and the life, the life everlasting that you have to offer.
00:33:08
Christian McKenzie
It's in Jesus name. I pray all these things. Amen. Thank you for joining us this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.