From His Heart

Guest (Male): Today on FromHisHeart, Pastor Jeff Schreve will address your biggest need.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Hey, the Lord is ready, willing, and able to meet your needs. And your biggest need is to be forgiven of sin. That's your biggest need. You may not think so, but it is. It's your biggest need. Why? Because that need determines where you're going to spend eternity. I don't care what you've done. He is good and ready to forgive and abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon him. He will forgive you. And if you've never received forgiveness from the Lord, it is available to you today. Why? Because he's ready, because he's willing, because he is able.

And there's nothing that he can't do.

Guest (Male): When you think about the Lord Jesus Christ, do you think that he is really ready, willing, and able to help you in your deepest need? Some people think he is one or two of these, but we sometimes waver in our trust that he is all three. This is FromHisHeart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, where today he'll help us trust that God is all three. He's able, he's willing, and he's ready to help you today. The message is the third in seven from the series Encountering the Real Jesus, where Pastor Jeff shares some important biblical insights to shine the light on the true identity, character, mission, and message of the one called Jesus.

Open your Bible to the book of Luke chapter 5. Here again is Pastor Jeff with part two of the lesson called Ready, Willing, and Able.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Luke chapter 5 gives us such a wonderful picture of who Jesus really is as we see Jesus interacting with of all people a leper. I'll begin reading in verse 12. It says this, and it came about that while he was in one of the cities, one of the cities in Galilee, doesn't tell us which city, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored him, begged him saying, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing, be cleansed.

And immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing just as Moses commanded for a testimony to them. But the news about him was spreading even farther, and great multitudes were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sickness. But he himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. I want you to notice with me three encouragements from this passage, three actions that the leper took that you and I can take even today that made a difference in his life that will make a difference in our life.

These will encourage you just as they have encouraged me. Encouragement number one. Like the leper, you can come to Jesus. He came to him, which was a big big deal because if you had leprosy, you didn't come to where the people were. You were unclean. You were separated from the people. You had to be because you had the disease, the dreaded deadly disease called leprosy. And leprosy represents a huge problem, a huge problem. Leprosy, what it does is it is a skin disease that goes deeper than the skin. It affects your nervous system. You can't feel anymore.

It it affects your your tissue and so that your skin starts to rot and things don't heal correctly. It affects your eyes. It affects your your larynx. It's a disfiguring disease. It was a terrible thing to have leprosy. This man seeks Jesus out. He comes to Jesus with his leprosy. He's got a huge problem. And see, leprosy is not only a huge problem, but leprosy represents our sin problem. Leprosy in the Bible, the external disease of leprosy represents the internal disease of sin that affects every single man, woman, boy or girl. You say, how is leprosy like sin?

Because leprosy goes deeper than the skin and sin goes deeper than the external. Sin is in your heart. Then just as physical leprosy would deform spiritual leprosy, the disease of sin, it deforms us and it makes us rotten in the sight of God. It's a terrible horrible thing and it isolates us. And the deeper we go into sin, the more we're isolated from other people and separated from God. And it's incurable. But this guy, he broke all the barriers and all the social mores to come to Jesus because he was desperate. He had a huge problem and he was desperate to bring that problem to the Lord.

Hey, like the leper, you can come to Jesus with your problems. Second encouragement, like the leper, you can cry out to Jesus in your problems. It says that he came to him and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and he implored him. He begged him and said, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. He fell on his face. That that's the right place to be when you come to Jesus is on your face. How do you get God, the Lord Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh, how do you get him to respond to you?

You say, I don't care who might see me or laugh at me. I have a need and I'm going to come before the Lord. I love what the scripture says in Isaiah 66 verse 2. The Lord speaking, he says this, but to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite, lowly of spirit, and who trembles at my word. You want God to look at you? Get down low. Get humble before the Lord. And this man humbled himself. You can do the same thing. And this man believed that Jesus was able. See, he says, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

And within that request, within that cry, you have faith. Faith because he calls Jesus Lord. And faith because he says, Jesus, I know you're able to do this. He doesn't say, Lord, if you're able, you can make me clean. He says, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. I believe you're able to do this. Jesus had two blind men come before him one day and uh they he he said, what do you want? He said, Lord, we want to see. He said, do you believe I'm able to do this? And they said, yes, Lord.

We believe you're able to do this. And he said, be it done to you according to your faith. Because when you believe God can do something, that shows faith. Ephesians 3:20 says this, Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory. He is able. Jeremiah 32:27 is one of my favorite verses. The Lord is speaking and he says, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh is anything too difficult for me? Can you think of anything too difficult for God?

In the same chapter, we get the answer to the Lord's questions, a rhetorical question obviously. The obvious answer is of course not, Lord. But he gives the answer to the question Jeremiah 32:17, Our Lord God, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. You're able. Hey, you think of the problems that you have, big problems. You came here to church and nobody could see it, but but many of you you're carrying a big burden in your heart. You have a big problem that you have.

Maybe it's in your marriage or maybe it's in your finances or maybe it's in your physical health, but there's something just great that's weighing on you. And you have this big problem. And I had a man tell me uh that he was uh homosexual. And he said, not even God could change me. And I thought, well, that that's kind of strange since God made you, created everything out of nothing. I think that God can change you if you want him to change you. God can work in your life if you want him to do that.

You can believe the truth that he is able. And you can ask him if he is willing. So that's the prayer. That's the request. That's the ask. Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. It's a statement, but it there's a there's a question in there. There's a prayer in there. Are you willing? Are you willing, Lord? The word willing means if it would please you, if you desire. Lord, it's what you will. It it it goes along with what Jesus prayed when he asked the Father to take this cup from him. And then he ended his prayer by saying, but not my will, but yours be done.

If you're willing, you can make me clean. Hey, like the leper, you can come to Jesus. And like the leper, you can cry out to Jesus. And encouragement number three, like the leper, you can experience his miraculous touch. He comes to him. He bows down before him, which means to kiss the hand. It's a picture of worship. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And the scripture says in verse 13, and Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him. He touched him.

Oh, you don't touch the leper. Lord, don't you know that? Didn't they teach you when you were a little kid, stay away from lepers. Don't touch the lepers cuz they're contagious and they're filthy and they're rotten and you don't want to get their disease. They have cooties big time. Uh cooties will uh kill you. And you need to stay away from them. Don't touch them. They never touch Nobody touched the leper. That's why I had to live off by themselves. You didn't touch them. You didn't get near their clothes. You didn't get near anything associated with a leper.

It has been said that one of the rabbis in Judaism, he said he would not eat an egg that had been sold in the market if a leper had walked through that market because he didn't want to get any kind of contamination from that unclean leper. And here is Jesus and he touches the leper. No telling how long it had been since this man had been touched. You know, there's power in a touch. There's love conveyed in a touch. And I was thinking about the Lord's touch and how you know in in your deepest need, in my deepest need, and even in our deepest sin, the Lord is willing to reach out to us and touch us if we'll humble ourselves before him, if we'll come before him broken to be mended as that song says.

And he touched the man and he said, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing just as Moses commanded for a testimony to them. That's what it said in Leviticus 13 and 14. That's what they were supposed to do when they were cleansed of leprosy. They went back to the priest and they made offerings and the priest would declare them no longer unclean. Hey, the Lord is ready, willing, and able to meet your needs.

And your biggest need is to be forgiven of sin. That's your biggest need. You may not think so, but it is. It is your biggest need. Why? Because that need determines where you're going to spend eternity. That's why it's your biggest need. I don't care what you've done. He is good and ready to forgive and abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon him. He will forgive you. And if you're here today and you've never received forgiveness from the Lord, it is available to you today. Why? Because he's ready, because he's willing, because he is able.

And there's nothing that he can't do. Says in Romans chapter 8 verse 32, He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? The the hardest thing that God ever did was not to create the universe. He did that just by speaking a word. The hardest thing that he ever did was to send his son and his son to go to the cross for you and for me. That was hard. That why Jesus sweat drops of blood in the garden because it was hard to do that.

And if he didn't spare his own son and the son didn't uh hold back his own life, but delivered himself up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? If he can handle that situation in your life, don't you think he can handle everything else? Well, the obvious answer is of course he can. Of course. Now here's the rub that we get into because no doubt there are many under the sound of my voice that are dealing with sickness and disease and cancer. And they say, well, you know, that would be great if the Lord would be willing.

I believe that he's able. I'm just like the leper. I believe he's able, but I just don't really know if he is willing. I'm bringing my need before him, but I don't know if he is willing. I want him to be willing and I want him to do this. But I've been asking him for weeks and months and years and I 'm not getting an answer. Why doesn't he do what he did back then? You know, that's a legit question. It's a good question. The disciples prayed in the early parts of Acts in Acts chapter 4 after they were threatened by the Sanhedrin.

Don't speak anymore in the name of Jesus. They prayed and they asked the Lord to give them boldness so they could speak in the name of Jesus. And they said, Lord, grant that your servants would have boldness and Lord, stretch forth your hand to heal and do signs and wonders and miracles in our midst. And man, I think that's a great prayer. I pray that prayer, but here's the truth. You see lots of miracles, just replete with miracles in the three and a half years of Jesus ministry. You see lots of miracles in the early stages of the book of Acts.

And then the miracles start to wane. Doesn't mean God doesn't do miracles. He still does miracles, but it wasn't quite like it was. Why is that? Because the Lord uses miracles to authenticate the message. Jesus never did a miracle for a miracle's sake. His miracles always had a meaning. He did a miracle to authenticate the message. And once the message was authenticated, the need for miracles out external miracles wasn't near what it was. How do I know that? Well, the apostle Paul, whom God used in such a great way, God used him to do miracles.

I mean, he had a pretty big miracle when Eutychus, one who was preaching, fell off from the balcony and fell down dead. Paul raised him back to life. I think that's a pretty big miracle. But when Paul himself got a thorn in the flesh, he prayed three times that the Lord would take it from him. And the Lord didn't take it from him. And the third time it's like, Lord, I don't understand. Take this from me. And the Lord said to him, Paul, my boy, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is perfected in your weakness.

I'm not taking this thorn in the flesh from you. I'm using this thorn in the flesh in your life. And when it dawned on Paul, that's what God is doing. He said most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Some of you may remember the name Catherine Marshall. Catherine Marshall was married to Peter Marshall. He was the chaplain of the Senate in the '40s here in America. Scottish descent. Catherine Marshall has written extensively. She has a book that's I don't think any longer in print, but it's called Beyond Ourselves.

It's a great read. She was very deep in her understanding of the Lord. Well, Catherine Marshall in 1942 '43 she became ill. And she was ill for six months with a lung infection and all these specialists tried to help her, but they couldn't help her. They didn't know what was wrong. And she was praying and praying and praying for God to heal her and nothing was happening. And she said, one afternoon I read the story of a missionary who had been an invalid for eight years. And constantly she had prayed that God would make her well so that she might do his work.

And finally she was worn out with her feudal petition and she prayed this prayer. And she said, all right, I give up. If you want me to be an invalid, that's your business. Anyway, I want you even more than I want my health. You decide, Lord. And in two weeks, the woman was out of bed and she was completely well. Catherine Marshall said, that just spoke to her heart because that's where she was. And so she prayed and she said to the Lord, Lord, I'm tired of asking. I am beaten, God. You decide what you want for me.

And she said the tears began to flow. And Catherine said, I had no faith as I understood faith. I expected nothing and the gift of my sick self was made with no trace of graciousness. She just let it out there. God, if this is what you want, if this is your will for me, all right, Lord. It was what she titled the prayer of relinquishment. And she said the result, it was as if I had touched a button that opened the windows of heaven. As if some dynamo of heavenly power began flowing within a few hours, I experienced the living the presence of the living Christ in a way that wiped away any doubt and revolutionized my life.

And from that moment my recovery began. She goes on to say this, through this incident, God was trying to teach me something important about prayer, a demanding spirit with self-will as its rudder blocks prayer. God refuses to violate our free will. And unless free will is voluntarily given up, God cannot move to answer that prayer. This leper somehow tapped into that. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And not my will, but yours be done. And Jesus responded when he gave the will up to the Lord, Jesus responded. Now you mark this down.

The Lord doesn't always do what's wanted, but he always does what's best. Paul wanted the thorn in the flesh God gone. And God said, no, that's not best for you, Paul. What's best is that my grace is sufficient for you and my power to shine through your weakness. You know, I started this message by reminding you about who Jesus really is. And we're encountering the real Jesus and what you think of God, as A. W. Tozer said, what you think of when you think of God is the most important thing about you. And no doubt, there are those today who don't think very well of God.

You have a skewed picture of God because you view God through the lens of your negative circumstances. The Lord has compassion for you and for your needs. And he wants to see you come to him and receive from him his miraculous touch. Receive salvation, which is the greatest gift and the greatest miracle, but receive help and strength. You know, sometimes he calms the storm and sometimes he calms his child, but he does a miracle every single time.

Guest (Male): Jesus is ready, willing, and able to work that miracle of salvation. Listen, if Jesus is the Lord and Savior of your life, God sees you through the righteousness of his son. He does not see you through the eyes of your sin. And if you've never experienced that cleansing that comes from repentance and faith in Christ, then perhaps today is your day to call out to Jesus and make him Lord of your life. Just go to FromHisHeart.org, click the Why Jesus link for more information. There too you'll find help and information to allow you to know that God can never break his promises to you.

And he wants you to turn to him now. Again, that's the Why Jesus link at FromHisHeart.org. Listen, if you've been a Christian for some time, you'll be encouraged by these lessons we're in this month from Pastor Jeff's seven message series Encountering the Real Jesus. Are you at the point in your life that you want to say to the Lord, Lord, I could really use a fresh touch from you. I want you to set my soul afire again. Please bring back the passion and excitement I once had for you. Well, you can find Bible when you encounter the real Jesus and you can get the series to help you do that.

All you have to do is go online to FromHisHeart.org, click the listen link and you'll see it right there. It's available in multiple formats from our resource center. Call 866-400-BIBLE, 866-400-BIBLE or go to FromHisHeart.org. Now if God so moves on your heart when you're there to make a donation to FromHisHeart this month, we'll also say thanks by sending you Pastor Jeff's seven message series Soldiers of the Cross and his booklet The Lord's Army. Both of those for your gift of any amount this month. Again, that's online at FromHisHeart.org or call 866-400-BIBLE to give your gift of any amount.

Well, time is up for today, but we trust you'll be here next time for the next lesson in Pastor Jeff's series Encountering The Real Jesus. That's when he'll again open up God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart here on From His Heart. From His Heart is the listener supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Schreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at FromHisHeart .org.