The Touch Of Jesus

Matthew 8:1-4

Jesus will change your life! And one touch is all it takes! I love this account of the healing of the leper. It is one of my favorite stories and as an evangelist I preached on it many times. And like the story, I have seen God touch many people and drastically change their lives.

To be a leper in Israel was not a good thing. They had to live a life of quarantine, not just isolated from the population, but could not be a part of the worship of God in the daily and weekly ceremonies at the temple. The only way that the leper could become a regular citizen and worshipper again was to be pronounced clean by a priest. There was only one problem. There was no cure for leprosy!

The Bible gives the instructions on dealing with leprosy and lepers in Leviticus chapter 13 and 14. It was a tedious process and the steps that had to be taken in dealing with it had to be taken cautiously and lightly. It was a very contagious disease and one that was slow in dying as it literally would eat the flesh away a little at the time.

Leprosy was not only a real disease, but scripturally it is a typology of sin. Just as the leprosy would start out small and grow to consume the whole body and eventually the life, sin starts out the same way. It lies at the door of every man and woman and if it is not controlled, then it will take control and consume. There are many people today in the world so dominated by sin and they don’t like it. They don’t like what they have become. They don’t like what the see in the mirror and they began to feel hopeless and despair. Why? Because there is no common cure for sin! And the “wages of sin is death!” Romans 6:23

Although there may not be a common cure for sin, thank God there is a cure. That cure is Jesus! Matthew records that “Jesus came down from the mountain” and was met by this leper. The leper couldn’t go to the temple or to a priest, but he could go to Jesus. In fact Jesus came to him! When the leper made his sincere request he found that Jesus was willing to touch him, cleanse him, and set him free.

The difference between Jesus and the common priest in Israel is that all the priest in Israel could do was pronounce him clean. Jesus was able to make him clean. That is the power of Jesus and the gospel. All it took was just one touch and this man’s life was forever changed!

So I go back to the opening statement of the devotion. Jesus will change your life! But not only you life. He will change

· Your situation

· Your marriage

· Your sickness

· Your home

· Your mind

· Your attitude

And whatever else you ask him for if you just humble yourself like this leper, kneeling before him in prayer and acknowledging your sin, situation, sickness, and remembering that he has the solution to your problem.

One last point to this lesson. Jesus told the man not to say anything but go show himself to the priest. He couldn’t help it! He just couldn’t help it! His life had just drastically changed and he couldn’t keep it to himself. Mark records that “He went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter...” Mark 1:45 Unlike the leper, Jesus has instructed us to tell the world what he had done for us and yet many times we don’t share it. I want to encourage you to tell people what Jesus has done for you. How he changed your life. He may be using you as an extension of his own hand to reach out and touch others through you testimony. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” Psalms 107:2

Pastor Robby