Clean At Last

I'm sorry. We don't have a we don't have a we don't have one for everybody. You know? I mean, what a blessing it is to be here this morning. We could take your bibles with me, and, let's go to the book of Mark, the book of Mark in the New Testament.

If you turn there with me this morning, what a privilege it is to be able to open up the word of God and be able to preach to you all this morning. Lord's been so good to my family, allowing us to be in full time ministry almost ten years now and on the road and on full for full time evangelism for for four going on five. So we're in our fifth year of living in a trailer most of the time and driving around and preaching the gospel and trying to help God's people be revived and energized for the task and and help us to see that even in a dark world that there still is hope to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I certainly wouldn't want to be doing anything else. You know, you never know what's going happen when you bring a bunch of kids and put them in front of a microphone, but they did pretty good today.

All right. We're thankful for that. So but I believe that that everybody can serve God. And even if you're young, even if you don't have a whole lot, there's a place for you in the service of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Mark chapter one is where we're to be for a few moments this morning.

Mark chapter number one. And I'd like us to begin reading once you found that in verse number 40. Love to hear those bible pages turn in this morning. Mark chapter one and verse number 40 is where we're gonna be. Let's actually go up let's go up to verse number 38, and we'll start there.

Mark one verse 38. The Bible says, and he said unto them, that is Jesus speaking, let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils. And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him, and saith unto him, I will be thou clean.

And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straightly charged him, and forthwith sent him away, and saith unto him, see that thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way and show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. But he went out and began to publish it much and ablaze abroad the matter insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places, and they came to him from every quarter. Let's pause this morning and ask the Lord to help us as we look into his holy word. Lord, we thank you for bringing such a great crowd of people out today, even on a cold day.

Lord, we praise you for that. And God, it's my prayer that you would do something that I cannot do. Lord, I can I'm simply a human being. I can't speak for God. But Lord, you've given us your words.

And so I pray that you would speak to each of our hearts today. God, would you help us to see, Lord, our true condition, help us to see the cleansing and the healing that can be found in Jesus Christ. And I pray, Lord, that we wouldn't leave this place the same way that we came in. Well, we'll give you the praise and the glory now. Would you meet with us?

Would you help us? Would you empower us, Lord, now as we look into your word? In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.

And maybe you've considered the question before, if I could be born in any time period, what time period would I want to be born in? And there's a lot of different factors to consider, a lot of different answers that you could give to that question. But I, for one, I'm thankful that I was born and am born in the time period that I'm born in. I'm content where I'm at, and I'm thankful for many of the modern conveniences that we get to enjoy today. One of those things that I really enjoy is the fact that I can be clean.

I I I've heard it said before cleanliness is next to godliness, and maybe that's a true statement, but I certainly enjoyed being clean. And and I think there's just few things in life that are more relaxing and satisfying than a fresh shower and clean sheets before you go to bed at night. I mean, it's I I don't know if there's anything magical about it, but it's good for what ails you. There's just something about getting in being clean and getting into those clean sheets that that just set you up for a good night's sleep, I think. And I'm certainly thankful for those things.

I can't imagine living in a time when bathing wasn't something that was done on a regular basis. And instead, strong fragrances were used to try to cover up that smell. I'm I'm I kind of have a little bit of a sensitive nose, and that would not have been a great time period for me to be born into. Did you know you can still kind of get a little bit of an idea of what that's like if you do what we do and go to summer camps in the summer. And you can I mean, you can especially you go to a junior week of camp, and there's just something about it?

You walk in there and preach, and there's there is a aroma. We use the word aroma of unwashed teenager or young teen mixed with copious amounts of axe body spray, thinking that somehow that's just gonna cover it all up. And, you know, I'm gonna be smelling irresistible even though I just went swimming and, you know, ran around and sweated all afternoon. I just spray some axe on, brother, and we'll be good to go. It's it's an experience.

If you've never been, it's an experience. I'll tell you that for sure. I think a couple of my children have kind of inherited this clean, this little cleanliness thing from me a little bit, too. My youngest, Lorelei, you saw her up here. She's now to the point where during lunchtime, we have these little cloths that we use to kind of clean them up after lunch, you know, get all the all the mess away.

She'll want the cloth before she's even done eating. Get a little something on her hands, and she'll be like, give her the cloth as she wipes her hands. I'm one and a half years old. I mean, I might be in it for some problems later. I don't know.

But it's it's amazing to me. She said, I want to be clean. You know, I don't want this this this. I want it in my mouth, but I don't want it all over my hands. I want to be clean.

And we see here in this passage of scripture a man that comes to Jesus and asks for this very thing, to be clean. And I think here that we can see even though this passage is talking about a physical infirmity that this man has, I think that we can draw some very powerful spiritual applications from this passage of scripture as well. And so for our title this morning, I'd like to entitle the message Clean at Last. Clean at Last. The first thing I noticed about this man who comes to Jesus is I noticed his sickness, his sickness.

The Bible says this man was afflicted by a disease known as leprosy. Nowadays, it's not as much of a fear disease as it once was. We have antibiotics. We have different things that can help combat especially if caught early so that you don't even you didn't even really know that it was a problem in the first place. In fact, when we think of leprosy, we think of some third world country where they don't have access perhaps to some of these things.

It's in a lot of developed countries, basically an eradicated disease. But in in this passage of scripture, in this time period that we're talking about this morning, it was one of the most dreaded diseases known to man. It was a disease that changed everything about who you were and about how you were able to live your life. I want you to notice that this disease of leprosy is one that would leave a person disfigured. The leprosy would cause spots to appear on the skin and and these spots would turn into basically ulcers that wouldn't heal.

Starting especially on the extremities, the fingers, the toes, the ears, the nose, on the extremities of a person, these sores would worsen and they would eat away at the flesh and eat away at the muscle and eat away at the nerves. Permanent damage, weakness was a result. It was a miserable disease. And I want you to know as we think of and we consider the spiritual application of this this morning, that we all have a disease in this room. It was one that we were born with, one that we contracted the moment we came into this earth, and it's a disease called sin.

People don't like to talk about sin. There were we live in a day where that's just let's just not talk about it. Let's just sweep it under the rug. Let's just pretend like it's not there. Let's just let's just gloss over the fact nobody wants to look into the word of God and see what God has to say about what's right and wrong anymore.

They don't wanna be judged. I used to think that the most well known verse in the Bible was John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But I think nowadays, the most popular verse in the Bible is found over in the book of Matthew. Judge not that you be not judged.

Nobody wants to be judged. Nobody wants to point it out. Everybody wants to just kind of keep it on the down low and keep it hushed. But just like leprosy, if you just try to ignore it and you try to pretend like it's not there and you try to say, well, it's it's just not a big deal. It'll fester and it'll worsen and it'll begin to eat away at everything that is good and holy and valuable and precious in your life.

Mark it down. Sin is the great destroyer. It started all the way back in the Garden of Eden when God gave Adam and Eve all these blessings, hundreds of trees they could eat from, all that they could ever need. No snow, no Arctic freezes, no thorns, no stink bugs, no ticks, no red ants. I mean, you name it.

It wasn't there. It was a perfect paradise. And he just gave them one rule. Just one. Don't touch that tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Don't eat from it. One rule. And yet, a slippery old devil was was able to get in there and convince them that they were missing out. Convinced them that God was holding out on him. Convinced them that this was the only tree that mattered.

All the other ones that you could freely ate, forget about those. God is keeping something good back from you. And in that moment that they grabbed that fruit and Eve took a bite and Adam was standing right there with her. Let's not let him off the hook. He let this whole thing happen.

The woman was deceived, but Adam he chose. The world's never been the same. A rift was opened up between man and God. The ground was cursed and now the to to provide food, God said it was gonna be from sweat of your brow. There was gonna be pain in childbirth.

All that was good and holy and perfect was now marred and and destroyed by sin. And can I tell you sin is still doing that very same thing today? Smoking and drinking and drugs eat away at your lungs, at your liver, at your body itself. And preachers like to preach on them, those those we call all the big sins, the outward sins. But how about we talk about some of the inward ones that are eating us up as well?

Pride and greed, selfishness. But why don't we talk about some of those that eat away? How what do we do? How how about we talk about anger? That eat away in our relationships.

They eat away in our reputation. How about we talk about the wicked music? The devil's music. Oh, brother Drew, music is not moral. It's all just it's all good in the hood.

It's you can listen to whatever you want. It's not gonna affect you. That's a of the devil. If these young ladies know, we can get get them a present too. Oh, hang on.

Hang on. Pastor will get pastor will get you right. There we go. There we go. How about we talk about this this world's music?

How about we talk about this worldly entertainment? Right. I mean, the preachers preachers of yesteryear used to preach against the TV. Right. They would turn over in their graves if they saw what spewed off out of Netflix and Amazon Prime and fill in the blank.

There's like 1,600 different subscriptions that you can get. And you're right there from the comfort of your own couch, you can have vile vomit poured into your eyes and ears that eats away at your mind and your innocence. Let's talk about lust for a minute. Love love is love. Love who you want to.

It's all good in the hood. That's not what says. God says marriage is honorable and all, and the bed is undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge, and we're seeing it in today's day. In this hookup culture, in this filthiness that's running rampant.

And men don't even know if they're men, and women don't even know if they're women, and and nobody knows what love is anymore. It's wicked. And I'm not just trying to call out one thing or another. What I'm telling you is anything outside of God's design, which is one man and one woman within the bounds of marriage is equally wicked. First Corinthians six eighteen, the Bible says it this way, flee fornication.

Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. That's an interesting verse to me. It's like all these other sins are kinda out here, but but when when you mess around with with with sexual sin, we're gonna call it what it is this morning. God says you're sinning against your own body, sin will destroy you. Left unchecked.

But not only did it leave him disfigured, no. No. His his sickness left him desensitized. So one the things about leprosy is it ate away at the nerve endings. And from what I I I've never actually met a leper before, but I have friends that have and have traveled in other countries and have have been to leper colonies.

They say what what what kills you often isn't the leprosy itself, it's the loss of sensation. And that you can hurt yourself and not even realize it and lose a lot of blood very quickly. This man, his his his disease as it progressed left him desensitized. At first, can seem like a boon. Like, oh, man.

Imagine not being able to feel this back pain and feel this knee pain and feel this elbow pain and feel this neck pain. But sensation is an important thing. It tells us what's going on and what's wrong and where where there might need attention. I tell you spiritually speaking, we can leave ourselves desensitized. The things that used to bother us don't bother us anymore.

I get real concerned when Christians try to come up to me and defend things like horror movies. I can handle it, they say. It doesn't affect my spirit, they say. Listen, darkness and witchcraft and perversion are nothing to mess around with. You shouldn't be entertained by watching bodies be dismembered.

There's some dark about that. There's some wicked about that. But that's the entertainment of our day. The devil isn't even trying to sneak around in the back door anymore. He's just coming right out the front door and saying here.

And we become a desensitized society Where where people cannot even think twice about acquiring a firearm and going out and using it on somebody else. Not in self defense, but because they're saying stuff that they don't like. That's a desensitized society. That's the effect of sin. Listen to Ephesians four and verse 19.

This is a scary verse. Listen to this. Here in the following the previous verses, Paul is talking about those who have given themselves over to darkness, those who have don't have the light of Christ in their life. He says they can get to a place where Ephesians four and verse 19, the Bible says, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. You know you can get yourself to a place in your life where you don't even feel?

Wickedness no longer bothers you? Hurting the people around you doesn't make you lose sleep anymore? I say this, you should feel bad and you should feel be concerned when there's guilt, but you should be even more concerned when there's no guilt anymore. Left him disfigured, left him desensitized, left him desolate. Leprosy was a terribly isolating disease.

If you were came down with it and you lived there in the city, had a maybe a successful business, had a family, it didn't matter. You were no longer welcome inside the city. And again, it was for it was for safety. It was for public safety. They didn't want this thing to spread.

But no, you are now banished so much for your business, so much for your family. Maybe they could see you as as they went about their business, but you were banished from the city. You had to live outside the city. Maybe you could find some other fellow lepers and form a little leper colony, but you you you just had to rely on the goodwill of passersby even to eat. You were shunned.

And in fact, if somebody was traveling down the road and you were coming the opposite direction, you saw them coming, you were by law required to cover your face. And to shout, I'm clean. I'm clean. I'm a leper. Stay away.

Stay away. People would throw rocks at lepers if they felt like they were getting too close. It's a terribly isolating disease. I want you to know that sin has that same isolating effect. Now listen, if you're sinning and you're doing well, you know, you got some money with you, you probably have some friends.

I think of a story in the book of Luke about a a young man, call him the prodigal son. When he had daddy's inheritance, was doing pretty good. A lot of people wanted to come hang out with him then. A lot of people wanted to come for the party and come for the handout and come for the free food and come for the perks. But when all that ran out, guess what?

All his loyal friends ran out too. Hey, man. Remember how we used to have some good times together? I hey, I'm kinda struggling now. You think you could return the favor?

Sorry. Go away. Nobody's home. It's a terribly isolating. You might think that, man.

I'm doing good. I got friends. I got people that care about me. But you start struggling a little bit when the rubber starts meeting the road a little bit when all those seeds of sin that you have sown start to spring up, you start reaping what you sow, you'll find out real quick that all those people that you thought, oh, man, this is my ride or die right here. They start disappearing left and right.

I think the worst isolating part of sin is the separation from God himself. Terrible. Finally, we see this disease left him dying. This was a death sentence. They had no cure.

The doctors didn't have any answers. Just said this is just your life now, and you'll eventually die from this thing. And I want you to know that ever since Adam and Eve made that decision in the garden, the Bible says death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. And I don't care who you are, if you're important, if you're not important, if you're rich, if you're poor, the great equalizer for every one of us is it is it appointed unto man once to die, Hebrews says. Unless Jesus comes back and takes us up out of here, you're gonna die someday.

That's not something we necessarily like to sit around and think about, but it's truth. Every once in a while, it's good for us to be reminded of truth. This is the end result of sin. James one of verse 15, the Bible says, then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. There's no winning in this game of sin.

It always brings death. And so this was his disease. This is where we find this man, a hopeless situation. But then Jesus came to town. And I want you to see not only his sickness, but I want you to see his statement found there in verse number 40.

There came a leper to him beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. I find it really interesting. The little phrase that he uses here. It's not a question. He doesn't say Jesus, please heal me.

But he makes a statement. If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Can I kind of put that into maybe a little more terminology that we would be more familiar with? Jesus, if you want to, you can heal me. I find that his statement is one of desperation.

No doubt this man had tried everything. Gone to the gone to the doctors of his day, but they said, sorry, we can't do anything for you. Gone to the religious leaders of his day, sorry, I would pray for you, but not we can really do it for you. Gone to the gurus, gone to the pundits, gone to all the all the you know you know, when you get outside of traditional medicine, you start looking for answers. Any ever been there?

Looking for somebody who might have some tea leaves and somebody who might have some some herbs and somebody who might have some essential oils. I mean, he's looking around. He's trying to find an answer for this leprosy, but he can't find anything. I want you to know there's a lot of people out here in this world today who are trying to find an answer to their sin problem. They're looking for self help books.

They're they're looking for for for some motivational speaker. They're looking for some drug that they can put into their system that'll take away all their problems and take away all their pain and take away all the things that they struggle with. They're looking for answers. Anybody who tells me, oh, people just don't care and this is just such a dark day. Yes, it is a dark day, but people are searching.

People are searching for something. And we've been fed so many lies that people are looking for something real. People are looking for something honest. People are looking for something that that's gonna work. And some of you, you know exactly what I'm talking about because that's where you are right now.

You're seeking, and you're searching, and you're looking, and you say, brother Drew, I've tried lots of stuff. I've tried religion. I've tried this. I've tried that, but I haven't found what I'm looking for. I'm still sick.

I'm still guilty. I'm still full of shame and full of regret and full of pain. I I haven't found what I'm looking for. My kids are still at the the point of age, most of them, where they think a band aid fixes everything. In some ways, it's kind of a blessing because band aids aren't that expensive.

Well, you know, they come to you, oh, I I felt that I hurt myself. And even if it's not bleeding, they want a Band Aid. I'm like, child, that's a bruise. Band Aid's not gonna do anything for that bruise. Oh, I need a Band Aid.

So we go into the in in the medicine cabinet, we get out the Paw Patrol Band Aids. If you don't know what Paw Patrol is, you're not missing anything. Alright? That little Paw Patrol band aid on their leg and then the real magic happens. Daddy gives it a kiss.

And all of a sudden, we're good now. Yes, we were screaming so loud that the entire neighborhood could hear it about fifteen seconds ago, but there's a band aid on it. We're good. And right back out to play and they go. But unfortunately, there's a lot of people who are trying that same thing with their sin.

Say, I just I just I'll put a band aid of good works on it. I'll just do more more good stuff than bad stuff. I'll just be a really good person. From now on, I'm not I'm not touching that stuff anymore. I'm not doing that stuff anymore.

I'm just gonna turn over a new leaf. I'm gonna grab my bootstraps and I got this. I don't know about you, but my bootstraps aren't strong enough to get me a whole get me very far. They try good works. Some try religion.

Oh, I'm just gonna get real devout, and I'm gonna be real faithful, and I'm gonna go to church every week, and and I'm gonna get I mean, I'm I'm just gonna go all in. You know, I'm gonna watch all the videos, I'm gonna watch all the reels, and I'm gonna get the crystals, and I'm gonna do all the things, and I'm just gonna meditate yoga. You get to the end of all that stuff and you find out it's just it's empty. You can come to this church for the rest of your life, every time the doors are open, and go to hell. Nothing magical about this place.

Where the only good thing we got going for us is we preach this right here. And pastor, he's he's I like pastor. He's a good guy. Sometimes I try the band aid of denial. I'm just gonna pretend like it's not there.

I'm gonna pretend God doesn't exist. I'm an atheist. I'm an agnostic. It just we already talked about it, but pretending something isn't there doesn't mean that it just magically goes away. If you get shot and you got a bullet hole in your chest, putting a band aid on it is not gonna make that bullet hole magically disappear.

You got a problem deeper than a band aid can fix. Some even tried the band aid a delay. Well, one day, once I'm done having fun, one day, once I've tried a few more things, one day, if I really get convinced, then I'll try to do something about this. Then I'll give Jesus Jesus a chance. But I want you to know that this this leper, he was a man in in a desperate state, and he realized that nothing else is going to work.

Everything else I've tried has come up empty. There's got to be something more. And he heard about a man called Jesus who came to town. And the Bible tells us in Acts four and verse 12, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name given among or none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

Can I and just very simply give you the difference between religion and Jesus? Religion says you have to do in order to get. You have to do in order to get heaven, in order to get a better reincarnation, in order to get a place in the in the in the kingdom. You have to do in order to get. But you know what Jesus says?

Jesus says, I've already done, and all you must do is believe. That's the difference. We see it was a statement of desperation, but it was one of dependence. You see what he said there? If you want to Jesus, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

I don't know who had talked to this man about Jesus. So the Bible doesn't give us a whole lot of backstory, but he had come to the place in his life where he realized that Jesus is able. And in order for you to have your sin problem taken care of this morning, you have to realize that very same thing. That not only do you have a need, but Jesus is the only one that can solve that need. Some struggle with the simplicity of it.

They say, brother Drew, it can't be that simple. There's got to be more to it. There's got to be some fine print you're not telling us about. I liken it to my again, my little Lorelei. Sometimes we're going somewhere, I I come outside the trailer, I there's three metal steps and then usually asphalt.

But you know what my little girl does? When I open that door up and I say, alright, come here, she will run across that trailer floor and launch herself out that door. To brother Truth, that's not safe parenting. Well, I'm sorry. Okay?

We're not trying to make safe kids. We're trying to make competent kids. But anyway, that's a whole other story. Here here here she comes running and jumping. I mean, she she never stopped and said, well, there's there's three mental steps.

There's asphalt. This probably isn't a great idea. She just says, dad's calling and I trust him. He's not gonna let me fall. Daddy.

And I love it. I love it. I'm still in that stage where my kids think that I'm Superman. My dad could beat up your dad. My dad can lift anything.

My dad can fix anything. And don't you dare tell don't you dare tell any of them otherwise. Okay? I'm I'm holding on to that. The teenage years are coming, and the bubble will be burst.

I realize it's coming. But it's a childlike faith. It's a dependence. Yes. Romans 10 verse nine puts it that puts it this way that if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.

Number three, I wanna talk to you for a minute about his salvation. What is this thing that you're talking about, brother Drew? You said you talk about Jesus, but but what is this thing that we need to do? How how can we have this salvation? How can we have our sins forgiven?

Verse 41, the Bible says, and Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him and said unto him, I will be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. I want you to notice two things about the salvation. Number one, it's freely experienced. Oh, yes.

Jesus isn't saying, alright. Hey, you want salvation? I'm gonna need you to give in the offering. There's some churches you go to and that's basically what it is. The saddest one of the saddest things that ever happened to me was up in Massachusetts at a funeral and a lady hands me a check.

She says, will you pray for my loved one that just died? They'll make it into heaven. And I'm not again, I'm not up here trying to bash other people or bash their religion, but it struck me as sad that she felt that she had to pay me to pray for somebody. I think it's turned a lot of people off. Church has become a business in a lot of places, but not with Jesus.

The man says, if you will, Jesus, and if you're willing. And Jesus says, I am willing. There's nothing you have to do about it. You don't have to to to to jump through some hoops. You don't have to follow a whole long list of things.

You just need to come to me, and I will. It's freely given. Salvation is a free gift, not one that we must earn and not one that we must be good to maintain. It's freely given. Romans four and verse five tells us as much.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. I want you to know this morning, no matter who you are and no matter what you've done, no matter how deep that sin may have taken you and how many scars you may carry on your soul right now, Jesus reaches out with forgiveness. He reaches out with healing. He reaches out with cleansing and says, if you'll come to me, I'll wash that sin away. It will not be held against you in the day of judgment.

But I want you to know even though it was freely offered to us, it doesn't mean that salvation is free. See, what do you mean brother Drew? Oh, salvation costs a great deal. Not to us, but to the one that purchased it. You see, Jesus had to give up a great deal.

He had to suffer a great deal to make this salvation possible. I won't have you turn there this morning, but Matthew 26 talks about Jesus as he was there in the Garden Of Gethsemane. And in verse number 39, he makes this statement for and and he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. You see, brother Drew, what is this cup that Jesus is talking about that he doesn't want to drink?

Well, the Old Testament in many different passages tells us a little bit about this cup. In Psalm 75 and verse eight, the Bible says, for in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup, and the wine is red and is full of mixture. And he poureth out the same, but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall ring them out and drink them. Isaiah 51 and verse 17, awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Jeremiah 25 and verse 15, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and calls all nations to whom I send thee to drink it.

What is in this cup, you ask? It's my sin. And it's your sin. And it's the sin of every man and woman, boy and girl that has ever lived and that ever will live. It's all of our shame.

It's all of our guilt. It's our leprosy. It's the death. It's the separation. It's all those things that we talked about all in one cup.

And the Bible says that as Jesus looked upon that cup, he it wasn't in rebellion, but he saw the suffering. Can you imagine perfect holiness coming face to face with the sin of the entire the entire universe in one moment? And the only time in eternity past to eternity future, God couldn't even look on his son because of the wickedness. Listen, I'm here telling you of of salvation, but I'm here telling you of salvation because there's judgment if you do not respond. Oh, brother Drew, I don't believe in hellfire and damnation preaching.

Do you believe in cancer diagnosis? You're go to the doctor and they're gonna say, oh, I got the pain. I got this like, lump doctor. Well, you see what it is and the doctor say, well, we don't like to give bad news around here. We're just gonna just just just just keep just, you know, let's just not let's just not talk about it.

Okay? Let's take you take you some Flintstone gummy vitamins and you'll be fine. No, you want the doctor to tell you the truth. Doc, how how bad is it? What can we do about it?

How long do I have? And I wanna answer those questions this morning. How bad is it? Oh, it's bad. Oh, it's bad.

It'll take you to a godless eternity separated from God forever in a place called hell while he pours out his cup of wrath upon you. How long do you have? We don't know. You could have twenty years. You could have thirty years.

You might not have tomorrow. We don't know. Brother Drew, what can I do about it? It's all hope lost. Well, can I introduce you to Doctor?

Jesus, who took that cup of suffering and of shame and of pain and of sin and of guilt and of stain and all the wicked things that you've ever thought and you've ever said and you've ever done, and he drank deeply of them upon that cross. He drank the dregs dry. And instead he offers you a cup of living water. I wish you a cup of eternal life. And I I'll be honest with you, I don't know why anybody could look upon that savior and say, you know what, I'm good.

I think I'll keep my cup of wrath. You know what? I'm good. I think I'll I'll I'll just keep bearing the weight of my sin a little longer. I'm good.

I think I'll just I'll just figure it out when the time comes. If you wait till the time comes to try to figure it out, it's gonna be too late. It's gonna be too late. His salvation is freely, freely given. But it's also fully effective as we bring this message to a close.

It's fully effective. Verse 42, and as as soon as he had spoken immediately, Mark likes to to repeat things and say things in such a way. If you read the book of Mark, he says immediately and straightway. And it's just I think Mark had a little ADHD. I don't know.

But he says as soon as he had spoken immediately, the leprosy was gone. Immediately. Wasn't ten years later. Wasn't five years later after you'd really, you know, started making some better choices. Immediately, that weight was lifted.

Immediately, that sin was cleansed. That leprosy was cleansed. See, what did he look like, brother Drew? Well, I don't I don't know that I can tell you dogmatically. Maybe he still had some marks on his arms from where that leprosy had been, but I don't know.

I I read over in second Kings chapter five and verse 14, when another man was healed by the grace of God from this thing of leprosy. And the Bible tells us that after Naaman dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child. Whoo. Come on now. Jesus, the Bible or or in the Old Testament, it says that God can restore the years the locust has eaten.

What a precious promise. See, brother Jerome, too far gone. I'm too far in the pit. No, you're not. You see, how do you know?

Because you're doing this right here. Feel that right there. Just put your hand up for a second and feel your breath for a minute. Come on now. Don't look at me.

Pick your hand up. Pick your hand up. Feel it. Breathe on that hand. You know what that is?

That's grace. That's your opportunity. God says, I'm not done. I'm still I'm still reaching out my hand to you. If you'll reach out by faith and grab that hand immediately, he'll forgive your sin too and give you a peace that you've only dreamed of.

I don't know why anybody would say no to that offer. Let me just give you this real quick and we'll wrap it up. His story number four. Oh, man. Jesus didn't tell this man, alright.

I want you to go and tell other people and evangelize. In fact, he told him the opposite. Verse 43, he straightway charged him and forth with send him away. See thou say nothing to any man. He told him, yeah, he told him, don't tell anybody.

Just go to the priest and show him. And know, once the priest gives you the okay, then you can go back go back to your life. But you see, when God changes a life, I'm telling you, you can't you can't hide that. You can't hide it. You can't fake it, but you certainly can't keep it a secret.

Verse 45, he went out and begin to publish it much. He said, brother, was he being rebellious and not listening to the word of God? This is one of those things I I don't know that I can really break it down and give you a detailed exactly why it is what it is. But all I know is this man's walking down the road with his baby soft skin, and he can't help himself. Look at this.

Remember me? Remember me? You threw me bread one time. Remember me? Look at this.

At this. Look at my ears. Look at me. Look at it. God, let me tell you.

This is great. This is awesome. You'll never believe what happened. His name's Jesus. And guess what?

He can change your life too. You might not have leprosy, but He can change your life too. He can heal you. He can forgive you. He can wash your heart clean as snow.

He can get some of them scars out of your brain and just, whoo. No, He can give you new life. I mean, can can we just talk about the fact that one man, one man's testimony changed an entire city? I got one mhmm. One man's testimony changed an entire city.

Jesus couldn't even go in and out anymore. He get up to the gate and there'd be hundreds of people waiting for him. He had a story to tell. Don't tell me you don't have the credentials to share your faith. I don't wanna hear it.

Did he change you? Did he rescue you? Did he heal you? Did he cleanse you? Go tell somebody what happened to you.

You have a story. You ought to write it down too. It's a good exercise. Write down your testimony. Yeah.

Write it down. That way it'll be fresh and you can give it. Make a track out of it. Give it to people. John chapter four, Jesus meets a woman by the well, Samaritan woman.

Not not not the most upstanding member of society. He tells her, go go go bring your husband. She says, I don't I don't have a husband. So, yeah, yeah, that's true. You've had five husbands and the man that you're sleeping with isn't your husband.

The disciples were in that same city going to chick fil a. Amen. They didn't bring a single person back with them. But this whole sinner woman, she met Jesus, tasted of the living water, found that peace that her soul needed. And she went back to that city and what did she say?

Come and see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ? And before you know it, half the city is walking up the hillside towards the well. Folks, we have a story to tell. Jesus is too good to keep to yourself and to keep a secret.

We have a story to tell. Heard a story of a man back during the second great awakening here in America, whose the services came through his town. He he decided he was curious. He was gonna go and see what what all the fuss was about. Preacher got up and started preaching on sin and on righteousness and on judgment, and the conviction began to settle on this man's soul.

So heavy in fact that as the invitation is given, he's come he comes up to the front weeping and sobbing upon the altar. Some of the folks go and try to help him and and console him and point him to Jesus, but they can barely they can barely even talk to the man he's weeping so hard. This happened several days. He come in burdened down. Listen to the preaching come to the altar, fall on his face and weep and cry.

And they tried to witness to him, tried to make it clear, but they they realized there's something going on here. Some spiritual warfare that's going on that's bigger than we are and so they decided we're gonna pray for this man. Finally a day came, he comes, same thing. Invitations given, comes down to the front weeping and crying. And then finally, he stands up, wipes the tears from his face, and he raises his hands and he says glory to God, I'm clean.

Clean at last. And maybe there's somebody in this room this morning. You need to come to Jesus. Bible tells us that if you come to him for cleansing, he will in no wise cast you out. Can we pray?

Lord, we thank you for this wonderful story from your word. We thank you for the power of the cross. We thank you for the blood of Jesus that washes clean from sin. God, there was a time where every single person in this room, we couldn't we couldn't we couldn't say, I know that my redeemer liveth. Lord, we were yet lost and undone in our sin, Lord.

And I pray if there's yet anybody here that doesn't have that assurance of their salvation, has never come to Jesus one time with all their sin and asked him to forgive them, to confess it, and accepted him as their savior. I pray that today would be the day, Lord, that they wouldn't wait, they wouldn't try to carry this thing just a little bit longer, Lord, but that today would be that day that they trust you. I would ask just for a moment that you keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed. We're gonna have what's called an invitation, just an opportunity for you to respond to what God has talked to your heart about. We're not here to put pressure on people, twist anybody's arm, but we do want to give an opportunity.

This is the most important decision that anybody can ever make. And that's why that's why I travel. That's why we're here. We're here for you today. I wonder if you're here and you'd say this, brother Drew, I'm not perfect, but there's come a time I could tell you about it.

I could take you to the place. I could tell you about the time where I realized I was a sinner. I had that sickness, and there was nothing I could do to save myself. I came to the end of all my best efforts. And brother Drew, I could tell you about the time where somebody shared with me about how I could be saved.

Tell you about the time I bowed my head and I asked Jesus to forgive me to be my savior. And I know as I'm sitting here 100% sure that I am on my way to heaven. If you can say that this morning with full assurance, would you raise your hand and raise it up high just for a moment? Oh, brother Drew, know this. This is settling my soul.

Praise God for this. Amen. Amen. Anybody put your hands down. I noticed not everybody could raise their hand and thank you for your honesty this this morning.

That means a lot to me. But I wonder if you'd be willing to take that a step further. Say, brother Drew, that's me. I'm carrying this weight, this sin, this guilt. As you've preached, I've realized that my best efforts aren't gonna take it away.

It's I've been religious. I've tried everything, but it's still there. Would you pray for me? I need to ask Jesus to be my savior. I'd love to pray for you.

My prayers alone can't save you, but we'll give you an opportunity to respond here in just a moment. But if that's you, would you pray for me, brother Drew? I'd sure love to that God would help you get that thing settled. Anybody like that? Just slip up your hand long enough for me to see it.

I'm not going to point you out or embarrass you in any way, but I want to genuinely remember you as I pray here in just a moment. Anybody like that? Brother Drew, I'm just not sure. Either I got some doubts or I just don't think I'm saved. Anybody?

I'm gonna wait just a moment. Any hands at all? Good. I see a hand here in the back. Good.

Thank you, young lady. Anybody else? Brother Drew, I'm just not sure of my salvation. Alright. We have at least one hand.

I'd like to invite you as you're still bowing your head, closing your eyes, just just stand quietly with me. We're gonna pray for this one and perhaps others. Lord, we thank you for your desire for each and every one of us to be clean. Lord, I pray specifically for this one, Lord. There may be others who didn't feel comfortable raising their hand, Lord, but they they're they're just they're just as lost as can be.

Lord, we're not judging them today, but we we do so desire that they would get the help that they need. God, we pray for these, that they would respond and they would find that peace that they so desperately need. Jesus name, with your head still bowed, the piano is going to start playing softly, just a hymn of invitation. I thank you for your patience. But this is this is these are important moments.

If you're here, if you raise your hand or if you didn't raise your hand, I would invite you to just quietly slip out of your place. Nobody's looking but pastor and myself and come down here towards the front. Pastor will get somebody to take a Bible and open it and help lead you to that that wonderful decision of trusting Jesus as your savior. Listen, we don't want to do anything else. We got food coming.

We're thankful for it. But this is the most important time right here of the entire day. Would you come as the piano plays? Maybe you're here this morning and you are a child of God, but you've you've been messing around with that sin. The very thing that God saved you from, you've gone back and you've put those leper clothes back on.

Say, brother Drew, for me. I I I've allowed sin back into my life, and I'm struggling with it this morning. Anybody like that? Pray for me, Drew. I'm saved, but I got some sins.

I got some issues right now that yes. I see hands. I see hands. Amen. Lift them up.

Yes. Yes. May God help us. Maybe you hear you say, brother Drew, I I'm a I'm a Christian, but I've been keeping my story a secret. It's been months.

It's been years since I've told anybody about Jesus. But I'm I'm burdened about that. Jesus is too good to keep a secret. Would you pray for me? Anybody like that this morning?

Yes. Amen. I'm not gonna drag this out, but I do wanna give an opportunity. Christian, if you wanna come kneel, kneel there at your seat, make an altar, talk to the Lord about those things. But if you don't know Jesus, now is the time.

Just slip out of your place, come on down here towards the front. We'll help you. We'll help you with that. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. I pray that you would burn these things into our hearts.

Lord, I thank you that the invitation is never truly over around here. Lord, I pray for this one, maybe others, that before they leave this place, they come up to me, pastor, come up to the whoever it is that invited them, Lord, and they would indicate their need. We thank you, Lord, for your word in Jesus' name. Amen.