Are You a Leper? - 11/30/08pm

Physical Leprosy in the OT
As we look in the Old Testament, we see various regulations given regarding leprosy. This is not always leprosy as we know it today, but encompassed a wide variety of skin diseases which made the afflicted person unclean.
Leviticus 13:1-11 -Laws regarding leprosy
Leviticus 13:40-46 -Laws regarding leprosy, put outside the camp

Christ Heals Lepers
In the New Testament, we see Jesus Christ healing men with leprosy. This provides a sign of His power and evidence that He is who He says He is. It also, as we will see, serves as a physical reminder that Christ can heal not only physically, but spiritually.
Matthew 11:1-6 -Jesus heals conspicuously and visibly heals lepers
Mark 1:40-45 -Jesus heals a leper
Luke 17:11-19 -The ten lepers healed by Christ

Apostles told to Go
The apostles are sent out to Israel, and one of the things they are to do is to heal lepers. Is this not what we are told to do, in a spiritual way, in the great commission in Matthew 28?
Matthew 10:5-10 -Limited commission: heal the lepers

Spiritual Leprosy
Are you spiritually leprous? Sin makes a person unclean in the sight of God. And as it makes us unclean, we need to become clean and pure. We do this by following Christ. Not only into first obedience, but after baptism as well.
II Chronicles 26:16-23 -Uzziah smitten with leprosy for his sin
I Kings 5:1-15 -Naaman
I John 1:7-9 -Jesus cleanses us from sin/unrighteousness
Leviticus 14:1-20 -Israel had to do things after being healed

After a person in Israel was healed, they had to do things even after becoming clean. There were things they were required to do. So it is with us. Are you a spiritual leper? Are you outside the camp of body of the saved? Have you obeyed Christ and been cleansed?