(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Good morning, church family. Happy Lord's Day. We're gonna go ahead and begin our worship. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Your grace that leads this sinner home ♪ ♪ From death to life forever ♪ ♪ And sing the song of righteousness ♪ ♪ By blood and not by merit ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Your grace that reaches far and wide ♪ ♪ To every tribe and nation ♪ ♪ Has called my heart to enter in ♪ ♪ The joy of your salvation ♪ ♪ By grace I am redeemed ♪ ♪ By grace I am restored ♪ ♪ And now I freely walk into the arms of Christ ♪ ♪ The arms of Christ my Lord ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Your grace that I cannot explain ♪ ♪ Not by my earthly wisdom ♪ ♪ The Prince of life without a state ♪ ♪ Was traded for this sinner ♪ ♪ By grace I am redeemed ♪ ♪ By grace I am restored ♪ ♪ And now I freely walk into the arms of Christ ♪ ♪ The arms of Christ my Lord ♪ (gentle music) - Let praise rise up.

♪ Let praise rise up and overflow ♪ ♪ My song resound forever ♪ ♪ For grace will see me welcomed home ♪ ♪ To walk beside my Savior ♪ ♪ By grace I am redeemed ♪ ♪ By grace I am restored ♪ ♪ And now I freely walk into the arms of Christ ♪ - Sing it to him by grace.

♪ By grace I am redeemed ♪ ♪ By grace I am restored ♪ ♪ And now I freely walk into the arms of Christ my Lord ♪ ♪ And now I freely walk into the arms of Christ my Lord ♪ ♪ The arms of Christ my Lord ♪ - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Marine Community Church. Let me get to some announcements that we have this morning. First of all, we have an all church retreat that is scheduled for August 11th through the 13th. This is Friday through Sunday. Every year we wrestle with whether we're gonna be having our all church retreat again, just because of the growing number of the church.

But this year, I mean, the benefit that we get from everybody getting together, and it kind of helps the newer people to integrate and meet a lot of people all at once. For older member who's been around who hasn't been able to meet your friends and meet the newer people at church, so it helps tremendously.

And obviously along with that, we have a dedicated time of wrestling with God's word through that time. So we are going to be having that in August 11th through the 13th. Our guest speaker is Pastor Carlos Chung. And again, I'm not gonna go into too much detail, and I explain that a little bit later, but we're really privileged to be able to have him come and join us and deliver the word of God to us.

It's going to be in Western Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa. This is the place that we had it two years ago. And let me see. Early bird registration is gonna start pretty soon, and we'll give you more information about that as we have a definitive date. So we want you guys to really make an effort to try to come to that because it is very beneficial in every way to be able to all be together for that weekend.

So we'll remind you as we have more clear announcements on that. The service auction that you guys have volunteered, the auction is gonna start today at night on Berean members page. So you can go on there and all throughout this week, you can go and bid for different stuff.

So you'll be able to see what's up there. And then at Saturday at appointed time, there's gonna be a cutoff time. So you can bid right up to that point. And then as we mentioned before, all of the funds that come in through that is gonna be used for adoption funds.

So for families who are planning to adopt, and once that has happened, and there's a scholarship for that and that you can apply for. And so all the funds that are gonna come in are gonna be used for that purpose. In a few weeks, we have the Easter week that's coming up or Passion Week that's coming up starting from Palm Sunday on April 2nd.

As you guys know, this is probably the busiest week of our church 'cause we dedicate the whole week every single day until the Resurrection Sunday. And so just a reminder to you, starting from Palm Sunday, starting from Monday at night at 7.30 p.m., we're gonna be having devotional from Monday through Wednesday at 7.30.

One of our pastors are going to give just directions of what happened to Christ that day so that we can follow along the last week of Jesus' Passion Week. And then there's gonna be some members of our church who's gonna be giving their testimony. And so please come out for that.

And then on Thursday, we have a Passover meal that's gonna be taking place at 6.30 p.m. So if you've never attended a Passover meal before, I highly encourage you to come and participate in this to be able to get a visual representation or presentation of what Jesus went through right before he went to the cross next day and how it was really embedded into the culture among the Jews to get them ready for what Christ was going to do.

So to be able to know the elements and what it signified and what it pointed to, if you haven't participated in it before, I encourage you to sign up as soon as possible. There is a limited space, obviously because it is actually going to be a meal. And we don't know the exact number, but right now we're looking at somewhere around 120 to 150.

So if you haven't participated before, I highly encourage you to do that. And those of you, especially those of you who have young children, it'll be a great way to teach them about the meaning of the cross and what Christ has done through the Passover meal. So please sign up for that.

And even if you have come before and you wanna make this an annual tradition among your family, you're more than welcome to do that. But once that number is met, we're gonna have to cap it because of the space. Okay? Bring in membership class. Those of you who have been waiting to take the membership class, the next session is gonna be happening on April 16th, and it's an eight-week course from 9 to 10.20 a.m.

to June 4th. Okay, so if you need to sign up for that, please let Pastor Nate know, or there's a place to sign up on the app and on the webpage. And so please sign up for that. And then Pastor Nate or someone at church will give you information of where to meet and when to meet.

So this is a membership class. It goes over the fundamental doctrines of our faith. It goes over our ministry philosophy, why we do what we do. And so it'd be a great time if you are planning to become a member to prepare you to know what it means to be a member at this church.

And so that's an eight-week course starting on April 16th. Okay? I think that's it for today's announcement. Again, if you are visiting us, or if you have come and brought physical offering to the church, there is a box in the back as you're going out. But for the rest of us, we have electronic giving.

And let me pray for us, and I'll give you a minute to do that. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to come and join together as saints to worship you. Lord, we brought various burdens of our hearts, distractions, temptations. Some of us, Lord God, in our failings, in need of your grace.

We pray, Father, that you would cause us to hear from you, that we would hear you, we would obey you, we would honor you and worship you this morning. May this offering be given as an act of worship and multiply for your use in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Church family, let's all rise together. (upbeat music) - Who can fight the fires? - Who commands? - Who commands the nations? - He is our God. - He is our God.

♪ Holy, you alone are holy ♪ ♪ You alone are holy ♪ ♪ Matchless in your glory ♪ ♪ Holy God ♪ ♪ Who would come to save us ♪ ♪ Who would come to save us ♪ ♪ He turned away his love ♪ ♪ Conquer us with kindness ♪ ♪ There is only one ♪ ♪ He is our God ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ ♪ He is our God ♪ ♪ Holy, you alone are holy ♪ ♪ Matchless in your glory ♪ ♪ No one is like you, worthy ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy ♪ ♪ We adore you, holy ♪ ♪ Holy God ♪ ♪ Now to the king ♪ ♪ Now to the king on the throne ♪ ♪ Who was and is to come ♪ ♪ And to the lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Be glory ♪ ♪ Now to the king on the throne ♪ ♪ Who was and is to come ♪ ♪ And to the lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Be glory ♪ ♪ Now to the king on the throne ♪ ♪ Who was and is to come ♪ ♪ And to the lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Be glory ♪ ♪ Holy, you alone are holy ♪ ♪ Matchless in your glory ♪ ♪ No one is like you, worthy ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy ♪ ♪ We adore you, holy ♪ ♪ Holy God ♪ - Amen.

(gentle music) ♪ This life is an altar ♪ ♪ Where I want to offer my soul ♪ ♪ And my mind and strength ♪ ♪ Cleansed by your mercy ♪ ♪ To live a life worthy of the one ♪ ♪ Who called my name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Let me be a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Here on the altar ♪ ♪ My life is an offering ♪ ♪ How could I not love you ♪ ♪ You offered my rescue ♪ ♪ Raise me up from death to life ♪ ♪ Your spirit is in me ♪ ♪ Revealing your glory ♪ ♪ Oh, what joy as I give my life ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Let me be a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Here on the altar ♪ ♪ My life is an offering ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ ♪ I choose to lose my life, Lord ♪ ♪ And find it in you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Let me be a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Jesus, be glorified ♪ ♪ Jesus, be magnified ♪ ♪ Here on the altar ♪ ♪ My life is an offering ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.

All right, good morning. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter five. I'll be reading from verse 12 through 16. Luke chapter five, verse 12 through 16. Reading out of the NASB. "While he was in one of the cities, "behold, there was a man covered with leprosy.

"And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face "and implored him, saying, "'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.' "And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "'I am willing, be cleansed.' "And immediately the leprosy left him. "And he ordered him to tell no one, "'But go and show yourself to the priests "'and make an offering for your cleansing,' "just as Moses commanded as a testimony to them.

"But the news about him was spreading even farther, "and large crowds were gathering to hear him "and to be healed of their sicknesses. "But Jesus himself would often slip away "to wilderness and pray." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing upon the Word. We pray, Father God, that those who have ears would hear, that you would soften and prepare our hearts, Lord God, to receive it.

May your Word accomplish what you have ordained for it, that we would grow, mature, and be sanctified according to your will and your purpose. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, last few years, I think our world has gone through some craziness, right? And now slowly all the countries are starting to open, people are beginning to travel again, and some of the even more, the strictest countries are starting to open so that people can travel.

I remember very distinctly in the beginning of it where there was a lot of information that came out and said that this is going to be like the Spanish flu, that people are going to die, and we need to stay in, and so out of fear, we went home.

And we opened up as soon as we were able to open up, and I remember the first week that we got back together, and I don't think we were closed for that long. I think maybe about a month or so that we were closed, or maybe a little bit longer than that.

But I remember the first crowd that came back and how we all missed being together, you know? And then once you tasted being together, you just couldn't go back. And I remember a couple years ago when we decided to have our all-church retreat. A lot of people were saying that we're crazy.

We weren't completely out of it yet, and so we had almost 650, 700 people gather together at the hotel, and we were just surprised. We thought there's too many people who are going to be afraid, and they're not comfortable being out yet, but to my surprise, we had the largest attendance ever for that retreat.

And I think because people really were hungry for interaction. They wanted to see each other, and just seeing each other through the video just was not enough, and wanted to get back to just rubbing shoulders and eating together. You remember what that was like, just being isolated, not a fear of what may happen.

Now, you know, we have all this information that's coming out, and it wasn't as severe as it was first thought. And I don't think that--you know, there's a lot of theories going around, and I don't think we'll ever completely know. I think the years when we removed going back and what information was given and why was it given, what was going on, and we'll find out later.

But I think emotionally, we can all understand how it feels to be isolated and possibly living in fear of some disease. Now, all of this, I say to introduce to you what we're looking at this morning with leprosy. Leprosy was considered one of the most hideous diseases. In fact, oftentimes, they would have preferred death over catching this disease.

The Jews actually would use-- used to call this disease "living death." And when you look at what was required and what happened when this happened, we can understand why. It's mentioned 58 separate times in the Bible, and out of that, 13 of it in the New Testament, mostly as an encounter with Christ.

Now, we know that Jesus healed the blind, raised the dead, he had people walk, and he performed many miracles, but there are many encounters, specifically with leprosy. One, because it was pretty rampant, this disease, during that first century, and they didn't have a cure. And basically, if you got it, it was a death sentence.

And you were forced to live in complete isolation. In fact, remember when we were studying the book of Leviticus, chapter 13 and 14, there's so much detailed information given as to how to identify and how to restore them back. In fact, almost to the point where there's nothing else that we can see, no disease, anything, that's given this much detailed information.

Why is that? Most theologians will say, in agreement, that this disease of leprosy is the outer manifestation of the spiritual disease in us. And we can see why, and I'm going to make that case as I'm teaching through this text, why this man was so desperate to be healed.

First, Luke says that he was covered in leprosy. In some of your translations, it says he was filled with leprosy. Filled with leprosy meaning that he wasn't in the beginning stage of leprosy, that it's taken full effect, and every part of his body has been affected by this disease.

Now, you've probably seen pictures of someone who has leprosy, whether on Google or encyclopedia, depending on what era you were born. However you've seen it, it's a hideous picture. And I didn't even want to show you this picture because it is very difficult to look at. So somebody who is suffering with this disease, basically, their body begins to rot, not necessarily because of the disease itself, but the disease basically attacks the central nervous system, and after a while, you don't feel pain.

And so what happens is, when you see the deformities and the pusses and all the stuff that you know, you've seen pictures of someone who has leprosy, basically, it's because they don't feel pain, they would throw their hands in a fire, or they would get burned, or they would get a broken arm, and they don't feel any pain.

They don't know what's happened. So as a result, they're not able to treat it, and as a result of that, it would get infected and basically would rot. So the pictures that we see of somebody who has leprosy basically is somebody who's gotten injured and is not able to take care of it and is beginning to rot.

This disease still is around in modern era in the third world countries, and they said that oftentimes patients would come in with this disease, and then their biggest problem is they would go home, and it's a third world country, and because of the puss and all this stuff, it would attract rats, and in the middle of the night, the rats would come and gnaw at their flesh and come back to the hospital, basically with their fingers and toes and parts of their body chewed off by the rat, but they don't know it because they can't feel any pain.

So it is a hideous disease, and they said that oftentimes the doctors would, after treating and giving an ointment, would send them back with a cat just to scare off the rats while he is sleeping. This is how hideous and horrible this disease is and was. And so can you imagine in the first century where there's no cure for this, that they had to live in complete isolation?

This is what it says about leprosy. In Leviticus chapter 13, 45 to 46, it says, "As for the leper who has the infection, "his clothes shall be torn, "and the hair of his head shall be uncovered." Now, why does he have to tear his clothes and his head uncovered?

Because people needed to see. They wanted everybody to know that there was a leper in their vicinity. So they wanted to visually show people. So you had to have torn clothes by law. You had to tear your clothes just in case that they couldn't hear him, they can at least see him.

He said, "He shall cover his mustache and cry, 'Unclean, unclean.'" So everywhere he went-- I mean, it's horrible enough that the physical pain, right, of his body just eroding, he had to say, "Unclean, unclean." Everywhere he went, basically warning people, "Get away, get away. A leper is coming." Verses 4 to 6, "He shall remain unclean "all the days during which he has the infection." He is unclean.

He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. On top of the physical deformity and the pus oozing and rats gnawing at this person, everywhere he goes, he needed everybody around. He couldn't hide this. By law, he had to tell everybody, "Unclean, unclean." And to be put outside the camp basically was understood as you were cursed by God.

And that's exactly how they took it in the first century. This living death that this person had, he also had to be completely isolated, live by himself. And we know to some degree what that feels like, right? Some of you guys, especially younger people, used to going around everywhere.

I mean, this isolation was miserable for you, right? The only people who actually liked it are the middle-aged parents who had younger kids who never come home. You know, we had our kids forced inside the house, so we were able to spend time with them like never before. So outside of us, right, the majority of you were miserable, right?

Wasn't eager to get out. So we all know what isolation feels like. He said, "But a leper had no choice. He was isolated." As long as he had leprosy. But on top of that, people saw him as a man who was cursed by God. He deserved this. So he didn't get any sympathy.

There was no compassion for a leper. So you can see why this man was so desperate. When Jesus comes and he hears about Christ coming, he bows down, begging, "Heal me." In fact, as I mentioned earlier, that this sin, so hideous, but it is directly linked to how God views sin.

Isaiah 1, verse 5-6, God brings an indictment against the nation of Israel for their rebellion, and this is how their rebellion is described. "Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the soul to the foot, even to the head, there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts, and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged nor softened with oil." Basically, he describes our sins, and this is a description of leprosy.

How it starts small, erodes the flesh, and has a tendency to ruin the community. Again, in 2 Timothy 2, 16-17, "Avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene." This sin, this heresy, if we don't deal with it, he says, this skin disease, it will begin to spread.

So he was desperate. That would be an understatement to say that he was desperate. The scripture says he fell on his face. Matthew 8-2, he says, "He knelt before him." Mark 1-40, "He bowed down in desperation." We talked about this Friday. I asked you to kneel when we prayed this Friday because it is a posture of desperation.

Desperately in need. It is a posture of humility, recognizing that we are in desperate need of His mercy. It is a posture of devotion, that this is not something that we just kind of, whether he can answer or not, we're okay with it, but we need him to answer this.

And so this man, seeing Christ come into town, bowed down on his knees, imploring, begging Him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." You notice here, he doesn't question his ability. He questions his will. Oftentimes in our generation, we pray to him, it's like, can God actually do that?

Can He actually change, get rid of the whole COVID? Can He actually overpower whatever problems that we have? This man had no issue with that. He said, "You are able, but are you willing?" Hebrews 11, verse 6, it says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." First of all, this man had no problem with this.

He believed. He believed that Jesus, if He was willing, He is capable. But his question was, will you be willing? Think about today, the way we consider grace. Grace has been passed out like Halloween candy, to the point that people who are asking for grace, in need of grace, demands it.

How often do you hear somebody, it's like, "Oh, that guy wasn't gracious to me. I went to that church and they don't practice grace. What is that? Nobody reached out to me. Nobody looked after me. What kind of a church is that?" Now, you probably heard this many times.

Maybe you participated in it. But the very definition of grace, the definition of grace nullifies your demand. Because the definition of grace is you asking for, begging for something that you did not earn, something you did not deserve. So how can you demand grace? Grace is something that you're hoping for.

Grace is something that you are pleading for. Grace is not something you demand. What did you do that you would demand that I be gracious to you? You could hope that I can give it to you. You may wish that I give it to you, but you can't demand that.

And I can't demand that of you. What did I do for you that I demand that you be gracious to me, that you give me your attention? The very definition of grace humbles us. The very definition of grace causes us to be in a situation of humility and desperateness.

You cannot demand grace. You don't, you know, only in church do we even practice this. You don't go into Walmart and say, "What is this? I walked in here and nobody gave me a drink. Nobody cares about me here. I'm not coming here again." Only, no one would ever do that.

You don't walk into a Disney Land and say, "Nobody gave me a free ticket. What is this? This place sucks." Only at church, only at church you demand grace because grace has been passed out like Halloween candy. And so we expect it and we demand it. No. This man understood his position.

You are capable, but Lord, would you be willing to heal me? That's the situation of every sinner. Every sinner who stands before God, you don't demand him to forgive you of your sins. You don't demand him to answer your prayers. Look what he says in Joel, Joel 2.13-14. "Rend your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil." But look what he says in verse 14. "Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him." You notice how he said, "Yes, God is compassionate.

He is gracious. He is loving kindness. He is abounding. He is relenting of evil." And if you just humble yourself and if you beg Him for forgiveness, who knows? Maybe God will be gracious and forgive you of your sins. But sometimes the way we approach God is like, "Hey, I asked for forgiveness." We demand it.

We knock on the door, and if it doesn't open fast enough, "Oh, He didn't open. He didn't come running when I told Him to come." I mean, it's just the arrogance of our generation who expects, expects, and demands. "I asked you and you didn't give it to me. What kind of a God are you?

I was in need and I asked you and you didn't answer. What kind of a God are you?" Every sinner who is desperate is in the same position as this man. You know, the fact that he even came to Jesus, he risked everything because he was supposed to stay away from people.

He was supposed to yell, "Unclean, unclean." He was supposed to tear his clothes so that people can see. But the fact that he drew near to God and began to cry out, just for that fact alone, they could have picked up the stone and stoned him. But he was that desperate.

Even if he died, this is his only chance. This is the only person that he's ever met that possibly has answer for his disease. But look at Jesus' response. Instead of saying, "Why is that guy coming near me? If he contaminates you and he contaminates me, I mean, we're done for." He said, "How does he answer him?" In Mark 1.41 it says that Jesus was moved with compassion.

He didn't simply see an unclean person. He didn't simply see a leper coming to him. He saw a man who was suffering, who was in desperate need. And you know what's amazing about this? Jesus could have just said, "I am willing, you're unclean." He could have done that, right?

Sometimes, I mean, Lazarus, all he said was, "Come out!" But he touches him. Now, if we don't know the context of this, it's like, oh, he touched him. Sometimes he touched him, sometimes he just said it, but there's significance of his touching, because this is a leper. This man probably hasn't been touched for decades.

Not by his family, not by his friends. He was outside the camp. He was unclean. Not only was he unclean, he would make everybody else unclean. So you talk about isolation. This man probably hasn't been touched for years and years and years. Instead of shunning him, he reaches out and touches him.

You have to understand the significance of this touch to this man. What that meant for this man. Years ago, when we were coming out of China for short-term missions, it was the year that they had SARS. So last minute, they told us that we couldn't come into China, so we found another work for one year.

We went into Romania. And so we spent our summer out in Romania. Some of the people here, Pastor Mark was with me at that time. But prior to going into Romania, there was a documentary. Some of you guys may know. Some of you guys who are a little bit older.

Remember the documentary that came out? There was an expose piece. I think it was 60 minutes. And it was an expose on the Romanian orphanages. You guys remember? There was a huge surge of adoption from Romania after that. So this was a few years after I saw that and I came in.

And so while we were in Romania, I wanted to go visit the orphanage. So we took our team and went to the orphanage and had a bunch of children running around. And when they saw us coming, they came and drew near. And their behavior was strange. They weren't like other kids, you know, typically, especially for me.

You know, they're usually afraid of me until they see candy, right? I don't have the most pleasant face. Right? But they were coming, and each one of us, as we were sitting down, and I think they might have been about 10 or 11 of us. And we sat down and the kids would come and all they did was sit on our lap.

And usually, you know, young children, I mean, you'd have to coax them and play games with them and chase them around. But all they did was they came and they sat on our lap. They would not move. They're not yelling. They're not asking for anything. They just sat there.

And so they were so cute. And we were just playing with them. It was just kind of strange. Hey, Romanian kids are really well behaved. That's what we thought in the beginning. And then the workers came and they started scolding us. They said, "Don't do that." That's why you guys wanted us to come.

You know, you wanted us to hold them and play with them. They said, "Don't do that." And he said, "The reason why is we don't have enough people to hold them after you leave. And once you leave, they're going to want more of it. And because we can't give it to them, it'll be hard for us." So they told us not to do that.

Oh, my gosh. It was heartbreaking. Two, three, four-year-old kids that you're not allowed to touch. Can you imagine a child growing up in that? You know, years ago, well, there was a period when I thought Esther and I were going to go into full-time homeless ministry. So I spent a few days out on the street just to see what it's like for them.

And I found something, I learned something that I would have never known if I wasn't out there. It's not that hard to be homeless physically in Orange County because the weather's not that bad. You just pretend like you're camping. You have a nice bag, and the weather's not that bad.

In fact, there's food. Everybody knows where to go. Monday night, this church is coming. Tuesday night, this church is coming. Wednesday morning, you can go to this Catholic center, and they have a shower, they have fresh clothes that if you want to change, dental work. And if it gets too cold, there's a center, there's a church out there that has a large gym, and they open up, and they come pick you up if it rains.

But for the most part, probably about 95% of the year, it's not that hard being out on the street. In fact, I've seen many people gain weight out there because there's almost competition. There's so many churches that want to come out there and feed them. It was almost a competition.

So I asked them, "What's the hardest part of being homeless?" I said, "Do people yell at you and curse at you, "and they don't want you "and chase you out of stores and stuff?" He's like, "No. "For the most part, they just leave us alone." He said, "So what's the hardest part?" He said, "The hardest part is not mattering." People don't yell at us.

They don't shoot us. They don't throw things at us. They don't curse at us. But when they see us in front of the store or sitting somewhere, they just walk around. They try really hard not to make eye contact. The thought of insignificance, that if they ever died out there, no one would look for them.

No one would hurt for them. He said, "That's the hardest part," they said. Insignificance. The leper knew this to the nth degree. He couldn't be around people. He couldn't go to the temple. He couldn't associate with others. And he had to constantly tell people, "I'm coming, I'm coming," just so that he can be left alone.

Jesus touching him wasn't just a physical compassion because any other man that touched him would have become unclean. And if he became unclean, everybody he was around would also be unclean. But only the touch of Christ reversed his curse. Only Christ's hand, any other hand, he would have transferred his uncleanness to that man.

But only Christ's touch reverses the curse on his body. Jesus also says in John chapter 6, "If you do not drink of my blood and eat of my flesh," there is no relationship with us. That is the most sacrilegious thing a Jew could have done, drink the blood of a human being.

And yet he uses that to tell them, obviously he's referring to the atonement on the cross, that only the blood of Christ can reverse man's curse. Every single one of us is born a sinner and then we continue to sin. We've been sinned against and as a result of that we also sin.

So if you've experienced abuse, the tendency is for you to abuse. If you've been hurt, the tendency is that you end up hurting. So we become unclean. We are born unclean, we experience uncleanness and then we spread the uncleanness. That's the curse of mankind. That's when the Bible says that sin reigns in mankind.

That's what it means. We're born into uncleanness and then this uncleanness begins to spread to everybody around us and only Christ comes into this curse of mankind and it says in 2 Corinthians 5.20, "He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God." Only Christ absorbed our uncleanness upon Himself and in His resurrection reverses this curse.

So we no longer say, "I hurt because I've been hurt. I abused because I've been abused." We can no longer say that. We say, "I love because He first loved me. Because He cleansed me. Because He touched me." A child of God is a child of God because you've been touched by Christ and He took away your shame and He reversed your curse.

That's the touch of Christ. Not only was it for Him but the others needed to see. The others needed to see that He made him clean. That this man is whole. That they can also touch Him. He gets up. Leprosy immediately leaves Him and He commands Him two things.

One, don't tell anybody. Just like He told the demons. Just like He told everybody else. And the reason why is because if His fame begins to spread, people are going to want to forcefully make Him king. And so He was trying to keep it under wraps and He says, "Don't tell anybody." But secondly, He tells them, "Go show yourself to the priests." He tells them to go show themselves to the priests because He needed to be confirmed in order to get back into society.

You notice, He asks, "If you will, you can make me," what? "Clean." Not get rid of the disease. He says, "Clean." Because that was the primary suffering of a leper. His uncleanness. So that he can get back into society. So that he can feel the human touch. To come in from outside the camp.

To be able to worship like everybody else. "Would you please make me clean?" That's why Jesus tells him to go to the priests because it says in Leviticus chapter 13 and 14, "If you think the healing took place, go." And this almost never happened. Outside of Jesus' miraculous healing of the lepers, this almost never happened.

If you had leprosy, it was a sentence of death. Because there was no cure. So why this elaborate law of how to get restored when He knew that this wasn't going to happen for 99.9% of the people? You know what's interesting is, the healing and restoration of a leper mimicked the Day of Atonement.

Once He came and the priests began to see signs, and this whole process took about seven days, and then on the eighth day He would be confirmed. And if He saw that a miracle took place and He's able to be restored, you know what they would do? They would take two birds and they would slaughter the first one.

And the blood of the first bird, the second bird would be dipped in it, and then the second bird would be released, representing the uncleanness of this man being cleansed because of the sacrifice of the first. Now on the Day of Atonement, they used lambs, goats, but this was something, because it was personal, they used birds.

Those of you who know what the Day of Atonement is, you know exactly how this is mimicked. You take one, two goats, and one, they would slaughter, and the other one they put their hands on, and the one that they put their hands on representing the sins of Israel, and they would let it go, representing that because of the slaughter of this one lamb, the other will represent the sins and be gone.

So the restoration of a leper was a mini-event of the Day of Atonement for that particular man. Now you can see why most theologians believe that this is for the purpose of teaching us what sin looks like, and what Christ has come to do. Isn't that awesome? Even in this, even if it seems so random, that God was trying to teach us what he came to do.

In fact, the very next passage that we look at, they come and they want Jesus to heal, right? And then Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven." And then he said, "Well, sins are forgiven. What kind of authority?" He's like, "I'm going to heal this man so that you know that I have authority to forgive sins." It's not random that this is in order because the whole purpose of this story is also to illustrate to us what Christ came to do.

It says, even though Jesus told him, in Mark 1.45 of this event, he went out and began proclaiming it freely and to spread the news around so such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city. This is exactly the reason why he told this man not to go around telling people because it was going to hinder his ministry.

He couldn't get in. But can you imagine if it was this crazy in the beginning of his ministry, what it would have looked like three years later? So if we don't know anything, if we weren't Christians and we don't know the story, we don't know what happened, we don't know the crucifixion, if we stop right here and say, "Can you imagine three years of this?" What do you think happened to Jesus and his disciples?

Oh, for sure he would have been king, right? For sure he probably would have taken over the world. And we look at today and say, "Yeah, I mean, look at this. This is his beginning." So he affected art, he affected politics, no human being, whether you are a believer or not, has affected human history in every way than what Jesus has done.

And we may be able to connect this as, "Oh, it's because he performed all these miracles and so many people came." But we know the story. At the end of three years, instead of honoring him, they ended up crucifying him. It would have been strange. They would have leave him alone.

And they crucified him. He's healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, healing lepers, touching them and reversing the curse. How did they do that? Why did they do that? The scripture tells us that his fame of his miracles and his words were spreading like wildfire. And eventually, those who came for the miracles will be separated with those who came for his word.

Those people who wanted his miracles and they either weren't paying attention or didn't like what he was saying ended up turning on him. And then those who heard his word, even though they didn't fully understand, they stuck with him and endured with him. That's why it says in John 5, 24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word," he who hears my word, he doesn't say he who, he who experienced miracles, he who saw great things, he who experienced things, he said, "No, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come to judgment but is passed out of death into life." Everything that Jesus did, everything that Jesus does, everything that Jesus will do is to bring us to his eternal words.

As you and I are here because we've been touched and that the curse has been reversed in us, that we will come to understand the depth, the height, the width, and the length of the love of Christ so that everything that we do will simply be a reasonable response to this mercy and grace that God has given us.

Let's pray. Let's take some time to come before the Lord in prayer that we will no longer live our lives and compartmentalize our theology on Sunday with the rest of what we do, pursuing things that the world pursued, loving what they love, hoping for what they hope for, then hoping that the Sundays will be enough.

Let's come before the Lord. Ask the Lord to open our eyes, soften our heart, that what we do will simply be a reasonable response to what we profess each week. Let's take some time to pray again as our worship team leads us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Let's all stand up for the closing praise.

♪ ♪ ♪ Heard on the voice of Jesus ♪ ♪ On the cross of Calvary ♪ ♪ He declares His work is finished ♪ ♪ He has spoken this hope to me ♪ ♪ Though the sun has ceased its shining ♪ ♪ Though the world appeared at last ♪ ♪ Christ had triumphed over evil ♪ ♪ It was finished upon that cross ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Now the curse ♪ ♪ Now the curse it has been broken ♪ ♪ Jesus paid the price for me ♪ ♪ He stole the part and He has all ♪ ♪ Great the welcome that I receive ♪ ♪ Hold the arm, approach my Father ♪ ♪ Hold Him, Jesus, righteously ♪ ♪ There is no more guilt to carry ♪ ♪ It was finished upon that cross ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Death was once my great opponent ♪ ♪ Fear once had a hold on me ♪ ♪ But the Son who died to save us ♪ ♪ Rose that we would be free indeed ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Death was once my great opponent ♪ ♪ Fear once had a hold on me ♪ ♪ But the Son who died to save us ♪ ♪ Rose that we would be free indeed ♪ ♪ Yes, He rose that we would be free indeed ♪ ♪ Free from every plan of darkness ♪ ♪ Free to live and free to die ♪ ♪ Death is dead and Christ is risen ♪ ♪ It was finished upon that cross ♪ ♪ Onward to eternal glory ♪ ♪ To my Savior and my God ♪ ♪ I rejoice in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ It was finished upon that cross ♪ ♪ It was finished upon that cross ♪ ♪ It was finished upon that cross ♪ ♪ ♪ Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we pray that you would continue to be gracious to us, that your grace would be sufficient for us as you send us to the mission field. Help us, Lord God, to be aware of the unbelievers around us, that we would live in such a way that they would be curious about the God that we serve.

Help us to be the aroma of Christ in speech and in conduct, that we would be the light that you have called us to be, whether at home, with our children, at work, or in leisure. Whether we eat or drink, may it all be done for the glory of God.

We pray for your blessing. We pray, Father God, for your grace, that as you remind us, Lord God, of what we have in Christ, that we would overflow to be a blessing and to be the intercessor of those who do not know you. Send us that we may proclaim you this week.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. ♪ God sent his Son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ ♪ My Savior lived ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lives ♪ ♪ ♪ What shall we ask ♪