From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on from his heart, Pastor Jeff Shreve will address your biggest need.

Speaker 2

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 gonna 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. He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

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 from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, 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 five. Here again is Pastor Jeff with part two of the lesson called Ready, Willing, and Able to.

Speaker 2

Luke, chapter five 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 priests 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, and 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 is a skin disease that goes deeper than the skin. It affects your nervous system; you can't feel anymore. It affects your tissue, and so that your skin starts to rot and things don't heal correctly. It affects your eyes, it affects your larynx, and it's a disfiguring disease. It was a terrible thing to have. 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. 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. And just as physical leprosy would deform, spiritual leprosy, the disease of sin, deforms us and makes us rotten in the sight of God. It's a terrible, horrible thing. And it isolates us. 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 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'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, 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 66:2. 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. This man believed that Jesus was able. He says, "Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean." 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 he said, "What do you want?" They said, "Lord, we want to see." "Believe I am 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 question. It's a rhetorical question. Obviously, the obvious answer is, of course not, Lord. But he gives the answer to the question. Jeremiah 32, verse 17: "Ah, 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, think of the problems that you have. Big problems. You came here to church, and nobody could see it, but many of you are 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 great that's weighing on you. You have this big problem. I had a man tell me that he was homosexual, and he said not even God could change me. I thought, well, 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 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 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."

**Encouragement number three:** Like the leper, you can experience his miraculous touch. He comes to him, he bows down before him (proskaneo, 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.

Well, 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? Because 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 cooties that'll kill you. And you need to stay away from them. Don't touch them. They never touched. Nobody touched the leper. That's why they 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 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.

Now I was thinking about the Lord's touch and how, you know, 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's 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.

It 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 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's 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 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's 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, it's a legit question. It's a good question.

The disciples prayed in the early parts of Acts, in Acts chapter four, 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. It 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 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, when he was preaching, fell off from the balcony, 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, of 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, became ill. She was ill for six months with a lung infection. All these specialists tried to help her, but they couldn't help her with what was wrong. She was praying and praying and praying for God to heal her, and nothing was happening.

She said, one afternoon, I read the story of a missionary who had been an invalid for eight years. Constantly she had prayed that God would make her well so that she might do his work. Finally, she was worn out with her futile petition. She prayed this prayer: "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. So she prayed and she said to the Lord, "Lord, I'm tired of asking. I am beaten, God. You decide what you want from me." She said, "The tears began to flow." And Catherine said, "I had no faith as I understood faith; I expected nothing. 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.

She said the result was as if she had touched a button that opened the windows of heaven, as if some dynamo of heavenly power began flowing. Within a few hours, she experienced the presence of the living Christ in a way that wiped away any doubt and revolutionized her life. And from that moment, her 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 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. 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." 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.

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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. 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 fromisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link for more information. There too, you'll find help and information to allow you to know that God can and never breaks 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 real revival 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 866-40-BIBLE (866-402-4253) or go to fromhisheart.org now. If God so moves on your heart when you're there, to make a donation to From His Heart 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 866-40-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.

Speaker 2

He can heal every scars of his heart.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more at fromhisheart.org.