See all of you this morning. So thankful that we can be here in the house of the Lord and worship him on this Lord's Day, this first day of the week. If you are watching us or joining through Facebook, welcome this morning. We are glad that you are joining with us as well. We know several people are ill and out sick and trying to keep up with us at home. And so we're so thankful that you're watching this morning. This morning we're going to be considering a text from Matthew chapter 8. So you can open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8. Thank you for Grant filling in this morning. He and I both long for Adam and Brady's return next week. And thank you for your faithful singing today. Wonderful to go back and sing some of those precious hymns this morning. Matthew chapter 8 will be our text this morning. And I'm doing something a little bit different this morning. It will be an exposition of this text with the normal outline, but this is kind of a A sermon that develops over a bit of time. I'm trying to make a larger theological point here that I hope will bless and encourage you. So hang with me. We're going to get there towards the end, and I'll try not to keep you too long that you start reaching in your bag or something for a snack before we get close to lunchtime. So Matthew 8, verses 1-4. I look forward to this message this morning. The title of the message is, The Greatness of God's Forgiveness. the greatness of God's forgiveness. And it's going to come this morning from Matthew 8, verses 1 to 4. Let's read that together. Matthew writes, when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. And a leopard came to him and bowed down before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Pray with me this morning. Thank you now for a time to look at your word. May you richly bless it to our hearts. May you, Father, open our hearts to hear this morning what you would have for us. And Lord, may you change our hearts and change our lives and make us more into the image of Christ. Sanctify us and may this truth be profitable to us for all righteousness, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 32 verse 1 says, blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered. Psalm 103, verses 2 and 3 say, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases. Psalm 130, verse 4 says, But with you, Lord, there is forgiveness that you may be feared. Matthew 9, verse 2 says, And behold, some people who brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Take courage, my son, your sins are forgiven. Matthew 18, verse 21, Then Peter came up and said to Him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? And Jesus said, No, I do not say to you up to seven times, but seventy times seven. In Luke 7, verse 41, there's a discussion about Jesus illustrating a story to the Pharisees in the home of a Pharisee. And in that story, he pronounces forgiveness of sins, and the Pharisees say, who is this that forgives sins? In Luke 23, verse 34, Jesus hanging on the cross, his father forgave them, for they do not know what they do. All of these verses are only just a mere sampling that introduce us to the blessing of the forgiveness of God that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. From cover to cover, the Scripture declares to us that God is a God of forgiveness. In fact, it is inherent to His nature as being God. Many who endeavor to take the study to study the greatness of God and the majesty of God and the glory of God from Scripture, they cannot avoid turning to this concept of the greatness of this forgiving God whom we love and serve. Throughout Scripture, not only do we find the promise of forgiveness and the means to forgive and receive the forgiveness of God through Christ, we also find these powerful pictures, these illustrations that become metaphors and unpack for us the glory of God's forgiveness that we have in Christ. And not only do they teach us about that forgiveness, but they show us the extent and they show us the breadth and the depth of God's forgiveness and how far it reaches into our hearts and lives. And this morning what I want to do, as I said earlier, is take this time this morning in Matthew 8 verses 1 to 4 and look at this healing of the leper and sort of unpack for us the extent and the depth of the forgiveness and the forgiving nature of God. There are many illustrations in scripture. We're going to look at the leper this morning, but I remind you of another one just by way of introduction. In Matthew 18, Jesus pictures God as a compassionate king. You may remember this parable. And he is there, the compassionate king, who forgives 10,000 talents owed to him by a servant. So you remember the story? There's the servant who owes The king, 10,000 talents, and he will not then go, and he is forgiven, but then he will not go out and forgive someone who owes him a mere 1,000 talents. And if we remember from the story, a talent is 20 years wages for a worker in the day of Jesus. And so the forgiveness here is mind-boggling, it's staggering. He says, I am forgiving a debt that's 10,000 talents in size. An inconceivable debt that pictures the debt of sin forgiven by God through Christ on our behalf. Now today I want us to look at this other powerful illustration and that's the healing of the leper the healing of a leper and the healing of a leper illuminates the greatness of God's forgiveness and the breadth and the extent of God's forgiveness that we have in Jesus the illustration comes from this healing of the leper and it's really powerful and it may be a point of this illustration in this this healing that's overlooked and And so that's why I want to dive into it this morning. Now, as we set up the context, let's do that a little bit. Let's set the context for this healing in Matthew chapter 8. You remember Matthew chapter 8 obviously is coming on the heels of the Sermon on the Mount. But the Sermon on the Mount really is sort of a parenthetical section in this first part of the book of Matthew, because if you flip over a couple pages back to Matthew 4, look back there with me for a second, In Matthew 4, right at the very end, you'll see in verse 24, the news spread about him, spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. So here is where we're leaving off at the end of chapter 4. The Sermon on the Mount really is a parenthetical note. Now turn back to Matthew chapter 8, and it says, And so what's happening here is Jesus' healing ministry is resuming, and Matthew is picking back up in the flow of the story where he left off. having inserted the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5, 6, and 7. And as Matthew returns to chapter 8 and starts now to pile up these miracles and these healing miracles one after another that Jesus is doing, he's really piling up the qualifications for Jesus to be King to be the king and king of the Jews, the true Messiah, the one who was to come. He's already listed several qualifications for Jesus to be king of the Jews throughout his letter. He's spoken of his genealogy. He's spoken of his birth. He's spoken of his infancy. He's spoken of his baptism. He's spoken of his temptations and his successful endurance. And he has also now given us one of the major theological treatises of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. So you see what Matthew's doing. He's just piling up this list of qualifications. He's building Jesus' resume to be the King of the Jews. And now in chapters 8 and 9, Matthew presents the healing ministry of Jesus to also demonstrate that he has the qualifications and the right to be the King of the Jews. And in doing so, that qualification is showing us and demonstrating to us that he possesses divine power as the Son of God. Divine power as the Son of God. The healing miracles qualify and they authenticate Jesus as the true Son of God, the Messiah, the King of the Jews. In John's Gospel, we know that the miracles there prove that the Father and Son were one, and they were united as one in the Trinity. And in Matthew's Gospel, these healing miracles authenticate Jesus' power and His right to be the Son of God, the King of the Jews. So Matthew stacks together these qualifications for Jesus as the Messiah, His ability to perform divine miracles, and in chapter 8, Matthew begins with three specific miracles done by Jesus, and they all center on healing of the physical. Jesus heals three people, and they all have physical disease. And that's what we're seeing here in Matthew chapter 8. But there is more than just the healing going on here. That is true, and they all had infirmities that needed healed. All three individuals that Jesus healed, and listen, I say this carefully, in the world's eyes of that day were lowly and really insignificant. Jesus heals a leper. We're gonna see that, understand why a leper would be lowly and significant this morning. He heals a Gentile slave. Lowly and insignificant person on the pecking chart for a Jew to consider. And then He also heals a woman, which would also be in a lower scale in the mind of the Jew of society in that day. So a leper, a Gentile slave, and a woman are all healed by Jesus. And so what we see going on here is while Jesus is going to perform this divine miracle and show His divine power, it also illustrates and demonstrates His divine compassion, a special compassion that Jesus and God demonstrate a benevolent love of God towards those whom the world showed really no value or insignificant value on the scale of socio-economic factors. And so Jesus goes to the lowly. Jesus goes to the ones who they would not even probably consider deserving or worthy of being healed. And so this forgiving ministry and this healing ministry shows us the divine compassion, the benevolent compassion of God. Now, as we come back to Matthew 8, verses 1-4, we see what? Jesus is approached by a leper. Jesus is approached by a leper whom He heals. And this healing, in addition to... It does a few things theologically. This healing does a few things theologically. as Jesus heals this leper. First of all, he is authenticating Jesus as the Messiah, the divine Son of God, who is worthy to be king. It's also demonstrating his divine compassion on mankind by healing that of the lowly of society. But it's also a powerful example of forgiveness. It's a powerful example of forgiveness that will be offered in Christ, this healing of the leper. The leper personifies the sinner. The leper personifies the sinner. His disease personifies the problem of sin spiritually in the life of the sinner. It personifies not only the sinner, his defiled state and sin, but also his need for forgiveness and cleansing from God. Because the leper state is what? It was hopeless. There was no cure. It was hopeless, apart from divine interaction and divine movement on behalf of God. God and so what I want to do this morning is setting up with all that context is unfold this drama of this healing and remind us ourselves of the magnitude of God's forgiveness that we have all received through Christ so this morning here's the outline to two points gonna set it up for you this way in this passage in this healing we find two clarifying truths two clarifying truths concerning God's forgiveness of sin. Two clarifying truths of God's forgiveness of sin. The first clarifying truth is that sin is hopelessly destroying. Sin is hopelessly destroying the sinner. Let's put it that way. Sin is hopelessly destroying the sinner. And so, we have to understand that truth for God's forgiveness to become clearer, and more powerful, and more grand, and more opulent. We have to understand that sin is destroying the sinner, and in need of forgiveness. So what better physical ailment on the earth to demonstrate this reality than that of healing of the leper. So let's look back at the story for a moment and begin to unpack it. Matthew 8 verses one and two says this, when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. So large crowds are following him in verse one, and number two, verse two rather, and a leper came to him. So Matthew starts here by telling us the Sermon on the Mount has ended, Jesus is coming down from the mountain, large crowds are beginning to follow him. So it's not just Jesus and a few disciples, it's a large crowd, it's a gathering around Jesus that is around him. Now, we should not think that this crowd was really in awe of Jesus' teaching, ministry, or as Him as their Messiah. They really didn't understand at this point their need for forgiveness, the spiritual reality that was going on in their lives. They recognized Him as one having authority, but they were still, this crowd, still uncommittal. They're still not really following Jesus fully for who He is and what He is bringing to them. As Jesus comes down from the mountain, they really are just following him more in the sense of what he can do for them, or what he could do for them, because they've been witnessing him healing all of these people and healing all of their diseases. There's some questioning, is he really the Messiah? Is he one spoken of by the prophets? But they're very uncommittal at this point. But notice, so there's this crowd with Jesus, and he's coming with the disciples, and now he is approached by a leper. Verse two says, and a leper came to him, That is fascinating. That is unbelievable. This was a bold and daring act by the leper. It was unheard of in Israel in that day, in the land of the Jews of that day. So you say, why do we say that? Well, we have to understand leprosy. We have to understand leprosy. We have to understand the laws concerning leprosy in the days of Jesus and their implications. So let's dive into that a little bit. We're going to go kind of a deep dive and then we're going to come back up. So hang with me as we do this. The word leprosy here, or the word leper in scripture, really means scaly. That's the basic idea of the word, scaly. So why is that? Well, that is what the initial signs of leprosy look like on the body. It was a scaly lesion on the skin. Leprosy was considered, in ancient times, a very deadly disease. It was taken very, very seriously. In fact, The rabbis in the Old Testament and of Jesus' day, of the 61 defilements listed in ancient Judaism, leprosy was second only to a dead body. So you see where that ranks. So we've got sore throat over here, right? We've got a dead body over here, and leprosy's right here. That's how they considered, that's how seriously they took the disease of leprosy, and rightfully so. The Talmud, the Jewish civil law, forbade a Jew from coming closer than, sorry to say this, six feet. That has a whole new connotation from the last time I looked at this text. So, sorry about that, to bring that whole issue up. forbade you from coming closer than six feet to a leper, and 150 feet if the wind was blowing. Okay, so thankfully we don't have to worry about the wind today, amen? Can I get an amen there? Amen, we don't have to worry about the wind. six feet from a leper, or 150 feet if the wind was blowing. Why is that? Well, the aspects of leprosy were very, very contagious and deadly. Leprosy, as noted by a scientist named S. Huzanga, a lot of his study is chronicled in Dr. John MacArthur's commentary on the book Matthew. I'll only give you the highlights. Leprosy itself is very deadly. It begins with pain in certain areas of the body. Numbness of those areas follows. The skin in spots loses its color, becomes thick and scaly as it progresses. Thickened spots become more like sores. Skin around the eyes and ears begin to bunch. Face will start to have furrows, swelling. And ultimately, they call the leper has a face that looks like a lion. In many cases, fingers, extremities can drop off, eyebrows and eyelashes fall out, and a leper is plagued by rotting flesh. The leper's fatal condition can be detected through all the senses of a human being. If you touch them, you feel the scaly rough skin. If you get near them, they have a certain unpleasant odor. It attacks the larynx, so they have a very raspy voice. Their voice is no longer the same. And certainly you can see the destruction that's taking place in their body. Hasinga notes that even if you stay around a leper for a time, you could get a peculiar taste in your mouth from the odor. And if that's not enough, Leprosy also destroys the nervous system. It's a concept that's linked to what's known today as modern Hansen's disease. It was a numbing disease, so its victims could not feel pain. The warning system to the body is destroyed. And so the leper does things with their hands and their extremities that they don't feel what they're doing. And so, in fact, they begin destroying their body unknowingly to themselves. Dr. Paul Brand, speaking of the modern Hansen's disease, linked to ancient leprosy states this, the daily routine of life ground away at the patient's hands and feet, but no warning system alerting him to anything was wrong. If an ankle turned, fearing tearing tendon and muscle, he would just adjust and walk crooked the rest of his life. Leprosy, listen, beloved, was horrific. It was hopeless. It was a hopeless disease. There was no cure, and it was destroying the body. It was destroying oneself. And on top of all that, it was very, very, very, very contagious of a disease. Rightly so, God had very specific laws concerning leprosy to protect his people from this disease spreading throughout the camp. But these laws, in reality, while necessary, only made the leper's plight, we should say, his life, more devastating and hopeless. So it's not bad enough that the leper has this terrible, awful disease that's destroying his body. Many of the times he doesn't even know what's happening. He or she now, he has to suffer the consequences of all these laws given by God to separate the leper from, we'll say, the camp. Leviticus 13, Numbers 5, you can find the laws on leprosy. I'll just give you a quick survey. If you're suspected of leprosy, you have to go to the priest. And once you're at the priest, you have to wait seven days. If you get any worse, you have to wait seven more days. If after seven days there's no spread, the priest pronounces you clean and you don't have leprosy and you can go on about your life. But if it spreads, at that point, you're pronounced unclean. Initially, if the spread's not severe, Or, initially, rather, if the spread is severe, you're pronounced unclean on the spot. There's no isolation period. Oh, I hate to even say that word right now, but we get it. But severe cases of leprosy, of spreading, God took very serious measures. So, seven days, if you're no spread, you're released. Seven days, if it spreads. Wait seven more days, if it spreads more, then you are considered unclean. And here's what the leper must do in that state. His clothes must be torn. His head must be uncovered. His mouth must be covered. He had to walk around in society, staying away from people. But if someone was approaching, he had to cry out, unclean, unclean. That was the leper's plight. He basically had to say, stay away from me, stay away from me. I'm unclean. The measures brought staggering relational and social stigma and isolation to the lepers, so a terrible disease. Now all of this social stigma, all of this relational isolation, he is completely isolated from society. Ostracized from society. Numbers 5-2, command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp. Every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who was unclean because of a dead person. So the leper is what? Sent away. Sent away. He's sent away. And so the leper's life, his physical, his emotional, his social well-being was all hopelessly what? Being destroyed, being removed from him, slowly and over time. His body was rotting away without a cure. He was a social outcast, unclean, unclean. He was a threat to those around him. Gosh, I guess in a little bit, we feel just a sense of that, right? If we had COVID, you kind of feel, at least mentally, like, man, I'm kind of a threat to my own family, and just a little bit, right? Nothing on the part of the leper. He was ostracized, clothes torn, crying out, unclean, unclean, to anyone within six feet, had to stay 150 feet away with the wind. He was guaranteed, listen, I don't think this is too harsh, a life of hopeless misery. Beloved, his life pictured a life of sin that is hopelessly destroying the center because that's what sin does. Leprosy is a graphic illustration in a spiritual realm of sin and what sin does to the life of the sinner. the hopeless defilement of sin. Every human being since Adam is born with leprosy, known as sin, and the sin nature inherited from Adam. We are all affected by its defilement. All of us before coming to God through Christ, receiving his forgiveness, we're being destroyed by sin. Listen, like leprosy, sin infects our entire being. Sin, over time, cuts off the warning systems of its pain, known as what? Our conscience. Sin, it's ugly, destructive, it's ugly, it's destructive, it's dominating, it's enslaving. Sin is alienating, sends us outside the camp of a holy God. Sin has no cure by man and can only be cured by one, by the blood of one, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin ultimately has all of us who are outside of Christ, running around in this world, doing our thing, crying out, unclean, unclean before God. That's what's happening. Sin like leprosy is hopelessly destructive. Ephesians 2 says, and you were what? Dead in your sin, trespasses and sins. So you're alive, you're living, you're on the earth, you're going to work, you're partying on the weekend, whatever it is. But Ephesians 2 says, and you were what? Dead in your trespasses and sins. The leper understood that. Ephesians 2, 3, by nature children of God's, we were children of God's wrath. We were outside the camp awaiting destruction. Romans 3, there was none righteous, not even one. They all turned aside, became useless. What do we do with something that's defiled and dirty and beyond washing, hopelessly destroyed, hopelessly beyond remedy, well, we put them outside the camp. We put them outside the camp. Essentially, I think in there, the reality is they were just sort of throwing them away. This is the Every man's plight due to sin. Due to sin. And the leper's condition, his physical condition, clearly illustrates our sinful condition before God. But think about the reality. What does verse 2 say? And a leper came to Him, knowing all of that. All the laws, all of the reality, crowd with Jesus. Leper knew the laws, he knew the reality of the situation, and it says, and a leper came to him. The leper came to Jesus. We say, what, is this real? This is unheard of, this broke every law. This probably broke another hundred laws that we haven't even read this morning that were created by the rabbis dealing with leprosy. It broke every law, every consideration by the leper. He cannot approach anyone. He must cry out, unclean, unclean. Why did he approach? What moved him in this story? Somehow the man was confident he would not be reprimanded, he would not be turned away, or even stoned for approaching this crowd. Possibly he heard of Jesus' compassion. He had heard of His power, His healing. He had hoped and he was compelled that Jesus could somehow remedy his situation. because he had no other hope. He had no other hope. But not only did he approach Jesus, look how he came. Verse two, look what it says, that a leper came to him and he bowed down before him. He came with this humble attitude, this attitude of humility before Jesus. In a sense, worshiping him, he came with this attitude of humility. hoping he could remedy his situation. He bowed down in a sense of worship. Look what else he says. He bowed down before Him and said what? He called Him what? Lord. He called Him Lord. He acknowledged Jesus' full authority over the situation and who He was. Third, he came not demanding, but asking. He said, Lord, if You are willing, He did not come demanding, he came seeking the Lord's will. If you are willing, he says, you can make me clean. He came willing, he came humble, he came confident that the Lord could heal him. If it would be his will, it is in his hands. It's interesting here, isn't it? Because he doesn't ever ask directly to be healed. He just says, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. But he doesn't even ask Him to heal him. Realize it's implied, but he doesn't directly ask. He just acknowledges Jesus' ability to do so. He was leaving it all in the hands of the Lord. He says, if you're willing, you can make me clean. He acknowledges all authority, Christ's ability to heal, but he assumes or demands nothing. The leper had faith Christ was compassionate and powerful and he could heal. Would he? Would he heal him? The leper had nothing to lose. It was his only hope that Jesus could heal him. So we see this hopeless state of the leper, this sinful state that's hopelessly destroying his life. But that moves us to the second clarifying truth. We see the first clarifying truth. but then the second clarifying truth is that God lovingly restores through forgiveness. God lovingly restores through forgiveness. The second clarifying truth, God lovingly restores through forgiveness. Look at verse three, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing, be cleansed. Can you imagine? Can you imagine in that moment what the leper must have felt? Amazing. His life was over. He was done. He was waiting to die this horrible existence. And Jesus reaches out and heals him. It's shocking. Is it not? Oh, if we had been there, if we lived in that society, if we lived in that culture, we would have been shocked. We might have even passed out. That's how shocking what Jesus did is. 1st Jesus says I am willing he certainly is willing to heal through his compassionate righteousness and this does not surprise us for God sent his son to pour out his love on those who humbly come to him by faith so this should not surprise us at all That is the mission of the Messiah. He says, I am willing. It powerfully reveals the loving nature of God and Christ towards the humble and the outcast, the lowly, His compassionate love which He came to extend to others. But what follows should surprise us. So we shouldn't be surprised at all that He's willing. But what should surprise us is the manner in which He did heal the man. Jesus stretched out His hand and did what? He touched him. He touched him. Not only is he within six feet, not only someone, a leper, approached him, but then Jesus physically touches him. Jesus broke every law on the books, we could say. Every law on the books. Jesus was now in the minds of the rabbis. Jesus was now what? He was contaminated. He had taken on the uncleanness of the leprosy to Himself. That's how it would have been seen. Jesus was contaminated. Jesus had taken on the defilement. Yet Jesus shows no concern. And with His touch, a leper being destroyed by leprosy was instantly restored. He was instantly healed. With a touch, he says, I will be clean. Immediately cleansed. Mark 1.42 says that the leprosy left him immediately when Jesus touched him. The leprosy left him immediately. He was cleansed of its defilement. The leprosy was gone. Its destructive force on his body had been removed. His body was completely restored. Jesus, in an instant, creating fingers and body parts and things that had broken and fallen off and were gone. He was instantly restored. And with the touch, he was no longer an outcast from society. The six foot rule was gone. He was no longer ostracized. He felt the warmth of relationship. He felt the warmth of a touch from another human being. Having been cleansed and healed through Jesus, the leprosy was gone. He was restored in every physical sense imaginable. And Jesus now has instructions for him. Verse three, I didn't finish reading that, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed, it was gone, it was removed. And verse four, and Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one, but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Jesus says, tell no one. Now, that's sort of weird, I'm sorry to say it that way, but Jesus, there's a whole crowd around, amen? There's people everywhere and they just saw you touch a leper and now he's leaving fully restored Not sure what it's gonna matter if he doesn't tell anyone because like hundreds of people know But the point is this He wanted him not to spend any time telling others, right? He wanted him to go present the offering before the priest. He wanted him to fulfill the law. He must go fulfill the law in Leviticus 14. He must go offer the necessary sacrifices. He would then be declared clean by the priest. He wanted the man to fulfill all righteousness. in the reality of his situation having been cleansed. The cleansing wasn't enough. He wanted him to be honorable in his testimony before God and before the priests, and to be another testimony of Jesus' power and model on the earth. Now here's where I want to make the connection of all this. Here's where we want to see the connection. through the restoration and the greatness of God's forgiveness. Jesus' cleansing of the leper, we've said it already, but physically is a powerful picture of the spiritual cleansing through the forgiveness of sin. That's the connection. What a powerful analogy. What a powerful picture. being physically destroyed, being ostracized from society, being sent outside the camp, having to cry unclean, unclean. That is every sinner's plight outside of God. Being destroyed by the leprosy of sin, by analogy. It's a powerful reality of the forgiveness of sin. Jesus reached out and touched the leper, and in doing so, He took on the man's defilement. He took on the man's defilement, forgiving him of his leprosy, forgiving in the same way, analogous to us, forgiving us of the reality of our debt of sin. And that forgiveness transpired where? On the cross. Jesus took on Jesus took on, rather God placed on Jesus, our sin, the defilement of our sin, our leprous sin was placed on Jesus on the cross, on our behalf. The sin that defiled you and I, the sin that was destroying you and I, leading us to eternal destruction, leading us, listen, eternally outside of the camp of God, forever, was taken on by Jesus on the cross, and we are forgiven of that sin, and we are cleansed from its defilement, and now we are, what? Invited back inside the camp, back inside the kingdom of God. And we are part of his kingdom, now part of his family. Jesus took it on himself and extended us forgiveness, just as the leper was as well. And beloved, we know while Jesus provided that on the cross, we humbly receive it, we worshiply receive it through the repentance of sin and the placing of our faith in Christ, amen? That's how we receive it. And in that moment, we are cleansed of all unrighteousness and cleansed of the leprous condition of our sins. He took on our defilement and we received a cleansing through repentance and faith in Jesus. And we receive the forgiveness of the massive debt of our sin. And with that forgiveness comes this cleansing of the defilement of sin. Comes this cleansing of the defilement of sin. The defilement, as I've said already, that put us outside the camp, separate from God, isolated from Him relationally, destined for eternal hell, we are now brought back inside the camp through this forgiveness. It's interesting here that Jesus made no pronouncement of forgiveness to the leper. But it is implied in the healing, and I'll tell you why. You remember the story of the paralytic? What is the first thing Jesus said to the paralytic when they lowered him down through the roof? What did he need? Well, he needed healed. Right? That was the point. The men who scratched through the roof and got him down through the roof, you know, so he could get through the crowd. But what did Jesus say to him first? Take courage, son. Your what? Sins are forgiven. Why did Jesus do that? That's because the rabbis taught in their day that Disease, generally speaking, and certainly paralysis or even leprosy, which remember is number two on the list, other than being dead, it's right here, was connected specifically to sin in that person's life. So they didn't see it from original sin of Adam like we would. They said, no, that person had some kind of sin and that's why they have leprosy. And so before they could be healed, what had to happen? They had to be forgiven of the sin. Right? So in the paralytic, Jesus makes that point. And then he heals the man, and he gets up and walks, right? Well, they know here. that by healing this leper, by touching him, by healing him, Jesus is saying what? Your sins are forgiven. Now that becomes more apparent later when he says it directly, but that certainly is connected to this text as well. And so there's this massive connection between healing and the forgiveness of sin, and of course we know that plays out for all of us as sinners on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, so many massive implications here of the debt of sin being forgiven, the cleansing of the defilement of sin being taken away, just as the leper's condition was taken away. I love this verse, 1st John 1.9. Mark this one down. This brings it all together for us. 1st John 1.9, this connection of the massive debt of sin being forgiven and the cleansing of its defilement, just as we saw with the leper. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from what? All unrighteousness. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John MacArthur, in his Matthew commentary, says this, The Lord's physical healing became pictures of the spiritual cleansing He offered. And of course, that spiritual cleansing includes the forgiveness of sin. Leprosy was especially powerful because its great physical destructiveness, its pervasiveness, its ugliness, its incurableness, represents the even greater destructive, pervasive, ugly, and incurable disease of sin. Just as it makes a person an outcast with men, so sin makes an outcast with God. But just as Christ can cure leprosy, He can cure sin and restore us to God through this magnificent forgiveness that's offered in Jesus. How great is God? How great is His forgiveness? Is there a greater offer or story that illustrates that than the leper? The glorious healing, the glorious restoration from the disease of leprosy brought back into the can. Body completely restored again, the defilement removed. That's what Jesus has done for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. forgiving and removing the defilement of our sin, cleansing us from all unrighteousness. Two clarifying truths concerning this great forgiveness we have in God. Sin hopelessly destroys us, just as it was doing the leper in his disease, but God lovingly restoring through the forgiveness that comes in our Lord Jesus Christ. If you're not in Christ here today, if you're here, you're not in Christ, we beg you, we ask, we implore, we plead that you would come to Christ, that you would trust in Him for the forgiveness of sin. Confess you're a sinner, repent of those sins, place your faith in Christ, trust in Him for the forgiveness of sin. Let His righteousness come in and the defilement go out. We'd love to talk to you about that. We want you to know that joyless reality of being forgiven in Christ. If you're a believer here this morning, rest in this glorious truth. Enjoy the forgiveness that you have. Enjoy the restoration you've been given in Christ. Let it overcome all the trials and troubles and difficulties in our life. Cause you to be grateful and happy and joyous in Christ. So thankful for the powerful illustration that we have here. the leper and let's excel still more to now finish the job and cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness and as we walk in our sanctification toward the glorious day when we will be instantly completed in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's take a moment, bow our heads and hearts in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for this time this morning in your word. God, we're so grateful for the forgiveness we have in Christ. May these truths abound in our hearts, may they transform us in our lives, May we joyously be made more like Christ in them, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.