TEXT: LUKE 5:1
If any man or woman is in Christ, he/she is a new creature, not even a spot or stain of the old leprosy of sin remains. He clears everything.
Tell me about your salvation and cleansing. He cleanses us from all sin as He cleansed the leper, and the cleansing was visible. Is the cleansing visible and knowable in your own life? That all stains and spots of adamic nature, defilement and depravity are no more there. That is the astonishing faith surprises in the work of Christ, that when He cleanses us, all spiritual leprosy vanishes away and as the leper and all around him could tell. When Christ cleanses us, He removes leprosy from your system, makes us every whit whole and everyone around us can see and know. If you say that you are saved and sanctified, we are still seeing the leprosy in your soul and system, you have to go back to Christ, to Calvary because the sin will not allow you to go and live with the sanctified, pure and holy in heaven.
Luke 5:12 “And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Check up, in the old Testament, in Israel, no one was cleansed of leprosy, apart from Miriam who was cleansed. Maybe you’ve never seen anyone washed of his sin, and adamic nature and washed to become whiter than snow, or totally sanctified, and made holy with the stains of depravity taken away, you can be the first person. You need to check up where the stain of leprosy is in your life. You can come to Christ and surrender the thought, idea, and statement of impossibility. He has the power to wash and make you every whit whole. Neighbours around you will know that enthroning self has gone, and reactions to correction and rebuke is totally gone. The blessedness of pure hearts will be yours.
- AFFECTIONATE FULLER SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD
There are many types of submission – a case of bending down externally and internally, you are still standing up. No, this is not right. When you are saved, you are supposed to be fully and totally submitting to the will of God and influence others around us to do like Levi who invited his fellow publicans to hear the word of God. He was surprised at how Christ saved him from grabbing coverously and tenaciously and nobody could take any of those things from him. He was at the seat of customs, and Jesus came to Matthew, not lining up or paying obeisance to him like others. He spoke to him with authority of Saviour, Master and King and told him to follow Him. He left all and followed Him.
He left all and followed Him. He didn’t do it out of compulsion, being forced or on a temporary basis, neither did he procrastinate. Then he went after his publican friends and invited them to come and hear the word of life. He didn’t have the capacity to preach to them himself, but he knew that the same Christ who saved him and took covetousness out of his life can change them too. After leaving to follow the Lord, he didn’t fear that His demand would be too much, he didn’t keep the word of God away from others, he brought them to the Lord. We must allow the word to flow to others so that they will be saved and converted.
Some people are lenient on other people’s sins. They feel the word we preach are too hard, so they direct people to other places. Not Matthew. He brought them and they were served the same word of life he benefited from. The Pharisees complained that Jesus went to eat with sinners, but He didn’t just go to eat, He also preached to the people the word of God. He came to seek and save sinners. The major, central, and most important thing is sharing the word. He said he didn’t come to call the self-righteous, but sinners to repentance. This is what He came to do. He has given us the same ministry – to preach the gospel of salvation to all men. To excel in this, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.
First of all, you are saved and you do your restitution – anything you need to restore you do with all sincerity of heart, with your life clean, and the Spirit bearing you witness that you are a child of God. The life of self-centredness that is within and expanding. Come to the Lord and surrender, lay it all in the altar. You are sanctified and cleansed thoroughly and then, you are able to bear the vessel of the Lord rightly. And the way you live will not be determined by the street mob who does not want holiness or accept the word of God. If they are not supporting the doctrine of Christ, move on and away from them.
Ignore anyone who is saying that the word is not important enough for you to hear. To get to heaven, go away from them and press in to the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God suffers violence. Do away with anyone that will hinder your surrender to the Lord. As the Lord used Peter, He will use you. Be like Paul, let those things which are gains to you become like dung, count them as loss for the sake of the gospel.
On the way to Damascus, with a letter in Paul’s hand, Jesus came met and called him and he was born again. He came to Damascus, praying and fasting for three days. He never used the letter with him again. He surrendered his all to Christ.
Bow your head and talk to the Lord in prayer.
