In This Issue

• THE CLEANSING OF A LEPER
• WHAT IT MEANS TO PREACH
• SEEK THE LORD AND YE SHALL LIVE
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
• MORE INFORMATION...

THE CLEANSING OF A LEPER

Mark tells us that a leper came to Jesus "imploring Him, kneeling down to him and saying to Him, 'If You are willing, You can make me clean.' And Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once. And He said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.' But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every quarter." (Mark 1:40-45).

First note the leper's approach to Jesus. He came to Jesus with confidence that Jesus could heal him if He willed to do so. Leprosy, in that day, was considered an incurable disease. No doctor and no medicine were recognized as effective in its treatment. But this leper recognized Jesus as divine. Matthew tells us plainly the leper worshiped Jesus, Matt. 8:2.

Secondly, the leper came to Jesus with humility. He did not demand to be healed. He knew that his cleansing was an option, not an obligation of the Lord.

Now, let us look at Jesus' response. Jesus had compassion on the leper. He even did what no other devout Jew would have done - He touched the leper.

Next, Jesus instructed the leper to comply with the requirements of the Law of Moses regarding those lepers who somehow had been able to recover from the disease. Jesus lived and died under the Law of Moses, always kept its precepts and instructed others to do so. When Jesus was crucified, that law was taken away, and we no longer serve and worship according to its ordinances, Col. 2:14-16; Eph. 2:15.

Note also, that as was His usual practice at that point in time, Jesus requested the leper not to tell others of this experience, but as usual, the leper did as one might expect - he spread the matter to the extent that it hindered Jesus' being able to freely move about in the city, and forced Him to seek the relative seclusion of the uninhabited countryside, but even there, the multitudes came seeking Him.

--CRJ

WHAT IT MEANS TO PREACH

Jesus Christ is the central theme of all gospel preaching (Acts 5:42; 8:35; 17:3; 1 Corinthians 1:23, etc.). Without Him there is no gospel, no message of salvation. What exactly does it mean to preach Christ?

It means to preach Jesus as Savior. Some say, "we need to preach the man more than the plan." Such is impossible; and such thinking is erroneous. The man is the plan and the plan is the man. You cannot separate the two. And you cannot preach one without the other. The same one tells how Jesus is our Lord is also our Savior (from a word which meant a deliverer, a preserver). The angelic annunciation is the declaration for all the ages, "For unto is born this day in the city of David, A Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

It means to preach Jesus as Lord. Certainly Christ is Savior; but He cannot be Savior and not be Lord. All that He commands is bound up in His lordship.

The term "Lord" indicates a need for respect and obedience; it is from a Greek term kurios which was first an adjective used to describe one with power or authority. If you accept Him as Savior it means you accept all He says as Lord. That means you accept His authority just as you accept His grace. In Acts 2:36 as the first gospel sermon was being brought to a final climax, Peter said, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 

It means to preach Jesus as our guide. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). In order for us to return to the right way a guide is necessary. He is that guide. There is none other; only He is qualified to be our guide, for only He can sympathize with our needs (Hebrews 4:15-16). John, in his vision on Patmos, said "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them and shall lead them unto living waters" We certainly are in need of such favor. And He is there to be of such service.

(1 Corinthians 15:19-22) - It means to preach Jesus as our hope. "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior, Jesus Christ" is what keeps us afloat in the turbulent sea of life. It's what keeps us aloof from the squalor and filth in which we must exist while here in this world. It's the means of our sustenance in the middle of a desert which offers almost nothing at all to sustain us. Hope is the confident expectation that we shall be someday at home with Him. How sad that some have such shallow hope on account of such small faith. How sad that some cannot know the peace of God on account of their own sins. "If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." What a blessed hope!

It means to preach Jesus as our example. Jesus lived among us and was subjected to every human feeling. He is our example of every good thing, our sample of every virtue, every grace, every noble inclination. Without Him we have no way to know for such how life is to be lived. As the song says, "He the great example is, and pattern for me."

It means to preach Jesus as our judge. Those who see only the grace and mercy of Jesus have greatly misjudged His essential nature. In order to be God He must not only abhor all that is evil, but He must pronounce judgment on evil doers. Jesus came as our Savior; He came as our Lord; He is our great hope. But the final work of Jesus, this Son of God, will be to "judge the world in righteousness" Let us be impressed with His love and mercy; but let us not forget that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 

--Dee Bowman, Gospel Power, Anderson, AL, 7/13/97

SEEK THE LORD AND YE SHALL LIVE

"For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: but seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel." (Amos 5:4-6) 

These words were addressed to the people of God. Israel's mistake was in rejecting God's way and seeking to establish ways of her own. "But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves." (Amos 5:26) Because of this Israel was going to be taken from her homeland into Assyrian captivity. "Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts." (Amos 5:27) Israel's only hope was in the abandonment of her own ways and a complete return to the Lord's; this, Amos exhorted her to do. However, Israel's heart was steeped in rebellion, and she did not appreciate Amos' words of exhortation and warning. Israel had one word for the prophets---" prophesy not." (Amos 2:12) Even the priest of Bethel said unto Amos: "0 thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel." (Amos 7:12-13) But Amos was not a time serving man pleaser; he continued to condemn them anyway. "The end is come upon my people of Israel: I will not again pass by them anymore. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God." (Amos 8:2-3) But for the most part, Amos' warnings fell upon deaf ears; Israel did not repent, and she was taken into captivity. 

As the "things written aforetime were written for our learning," God's people today should be determined not to make the same mistake as was made by God's people then. However, many of them are again rejecting God's way and seeking to establish ways of their own. Many today have set up their Moloch. 

Some do not like God's law on divorce and remarriage; thus they have concocted various ways to try to circumvent it. Some do not like God's law on attending the assemblies of the saints; thus they can offer a multitude of excuses for absenting themselves from the same. Some do not like God's law relative to "keeping oneself unspotted from the world;" thus they freely engage in worldly activities. Some do not like God's law relative to individual evangelism; thus they never try to convert anyone from the error of his way. Some do not like God's law that assigns the task of "visiting the fatherless" to the individual; thus they try to shift their responsibility onto the local church. Some do not like God's law that assigns the task of training children to their parents; thus they never study with their children in their homes; but try to convince themselves that the amount of Bible instruction they receive in the classes arranged by the church will be adequate. Some are not satisfied with the power of the gospel in converting people and building up the church; thus they invent (or borrow from the denominations) all kinds of schemes which appeal to the physical man with which to enlarge their numbers. Some are not satisfied with the organization that the Lord has given the church; thus they build and maintain human organizations and insist upon the local church turning her work to the organization's oversight and then supply the money to enable the organization to do the work. 

On and on we could go. But whatsoever the sphere may be in which we have rejected God's way for our own, we must realize that our only hope is to reject our ways and again "seek the Lord. " 

As it was in the days of Amos, even so it is now; those of God's people who will not repent, falsely accuse the teachers who exhort and warn. Amaziah was quite willing for Amos to prophesy in Judah, but he did not want him to do so in Israel. Some today are willing for teachers to expose denominational error, but they do not want them to cry out against the errors in the church. But those who are truly serving the Living God will continue to warn. And if God's people cannot be called to repentance, their only end is destruction. Our desire and prayer as we cry out against error within the church should be that God's people today will learn from Israel's punishment, turn from the ways of men, and "seek the Lord" that they might live.

-Jesse G. Jenkins, Expository Review, Dec. 1981

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