Mark 1:40-45 "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 out His hand and touched Him and said to him, 'I will; be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for proof to them.' But he 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."

An amazing tale of the miraculous compassion, touch, and word of Jesus Christ in the cleansing of the Leper. It is a tale that not only puts us in awe of our Lord, but it teaches us something about who Jesus is and what His character was like. All of what Jesus did was for a purpose, and the purpose primarily was to bring the truth to lives around Him and to our lives today. And the truth that is being exemplified here in these Scriptures is one of compassion, identification, and cleansing.

Leprosy is a disease the is an abomination not only in that day, but in today's society as well. It is still afflicting people today. Over 300,000 people in the world are struck with this disease. It is a brutal disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system that leaves you numb. And that insensitivity to the world leads to a deterioration of the skin, wounds, burns, boils, anything that can happen does because of the lack of reaction by the body. It is safe to say that these who are afflicted by leprosy are living is a "painless hell". Apart from the physical ailments, the psychological ones are even more devastating. In Leviticus 13, it outlines the proper actions taken by those who have leprosy. They were to wear rags as clothes, let their hair hang loose, cover their mouths, live apart from the community, and whenever they were around people, yell, "UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!"

Interestingly enough, leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin in our lives. Like leprosy, sin spreads throughout the body, it has insidious beginnings, it is slow to progress, it has a destructive power, and ultimately brings ruin to our lives. Sin has a way of numbing us. Ephesians 4:17-19 "Now, this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated form the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity." Unlike leprosy, we have the tendency to not see our sins, and therefore not confront them. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, "it is a spiritual necessity to have a sense of sin." We need to not be calloused to our sin, but aware of our sinful state, because when that happens, then we are willing to come to Jesus for cleansing. The Leper knew the state that he was in, it was obvious, he was full of disease and numbness, and therefore he came to Jesus for cleansing. We too need to know our sin so that we can come to Jesus for cleansing.

When we do that, Jesus is more than willing to cleanse and to restore. 2 Peter 3:9 "the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." Jesus does not desire for anyone to perish, but to be cleansed. If we don't come before Him with our sin and ask for healing, we will perish and God does not want that! We shouldn't be scared of going to Him because He will respond in three ways.
- In His compassion
- In His touch
- In His word

In each one of these He identifies with us and knows what we are going through. His compassion is one of deep, heartfelt, non-manufactured love that reaches deep. His touch is one that says, "I am here, I am with you, I understand, I will support you, and I LOVE YOU!". And His Word is one of cleansing. Jesus is more than willing to cleanse us COMPLETELY, from the inside out are we changed and transformed when we come before Him, as the Leper did and ask for Him to cleanse us.

I hope this message was an encouragement to you all. My heart was not to bring down condemnation on you and tell you how sinful you are, but my heart was to show you amidst the sin in your life, there is a Savior who can cleanse you. We need to be a generation that realizes that. Realizes the Jesus brings healing to our lives when we confess and repent of our ways. So I encourage you, let the Lord search your heart and see if there is any wicked way in you and lead you in the path of everlasting. Keep the faith, be encouraged, and God bless!