Jesus rises early to pray alone. When found by disciples, he says he must preach in other towns. Jesus preaches and casts out demons throughout Galilee. A leper asks Jesus to heal him, and Jesus, moved with pity, touches and heals the man. Jesus instructs the man to show himself to priests and offer sacrifices as required by law. However, the man disobeys and spreads the word, making it hard for Jesus to openly enter towns. The cleansing power of the gospel comes through Jesus' compassionate touch.

1. The cleansing power of the gospel comes
through the compassionate touch of Jesus.

2. Mark 1:35-2:1

3. And rising very early in the morning, while it
was still dark, he departed and went out to a
desolate place, and there he prayed. And
Simon and those who were with him searched
for him, and they found him and said to
him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he
said to them, “Let us go on to the next
towns, that I may preach there

4. also, for that is why I came out.” And he went
throughout all Galilee, preaching in their
synagogues and casting out demons.
And a leper came to him, imploring him,
and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can
make me clean.” Moved with pity, he
stretched out his hand and touched him and
said to him, “I will; be clean.”

5. And immediately the leprosy left him, and he
was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged
him and sent him away at once, and said to
him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but
go, show yourself to the priest and offer for
your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a
proof to them.”

6. But he went out and began to talk freely
about it, and to spread the news, so that
Jesus could no longer openly enter a town,
but was out in desolate places, and people
were coming to him from every quarter (Mark
1:35-45).

7. I. The LORD’s Heart (vv. 35-39)

8. II. The Leper's Cry (v.40).

9. The leprous person who has the disease shall
wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head
hang loose, and he shall cover his upper
lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He
shall remain unclean as long as he has the
disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His
dwelling shall be outside the camp (Leviticus
13:45-46).

10. Until you realize that need you cannot
possibly have felt the need of Christ; you
may have felt the need of help and advice
and comfort, but until you awake to the fact
that your nature itself is evil, until you
realize that your trouble is that you yourself
are wrong, and that your whole nature is

11. and that your whole nature is wrong, until
you realize that, you will never have felt
the need of a Savior. Christ cannot help or
advise or comfort you until He has first of
all saved you, until He has changed your
nature. Oh, my friends, have you felt this?
God have mercy upon you if you haven’t.
You may have been inside the church all
your life and actively

12. engaged in its work, but still I say (and I
am currently repeating what is said
repeatedly in the Bible) that unless you are,
in the words of Paul, ‘dead in sin’ then you
have never known Jesus Christ as savior, and
if you do not know him as savior you do not
know him at all (Martin Lloyd Jones).

13. We were are dead in our trespasses and sins
. . . (Eph. 2:1).
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God, and your sins
have hidden his face from you so that he
does not hear (Isaiah 59:2).

14. III. The Savior's Touch (vv. 41-45).

15. For our sake [God] made him to be sin who
knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

16. The cleansing power of the gospel comes
through the compassionate touch of Jesus.

17. • Have you experienced the cleansing touch
of Jesus?
• Have you forgotten the cleansing touch
of Jesus?
• Do you see the world through the cleansing
touch of Jesus?

18. Shackled by a heavy burden, Neath a load of
guilt and shame; Then the hand of Jesus
touched me, And now I am no longer the
same. Since I met this blessed Savior, Since He
cleansed and made me whole; I will never
cease to praise Him, I’ll shout it while
eternity rolls.

19. He touched me, oh, He touched me, And oh,
the joy that floods my soul! Something
happened, and now I know, He touched me
and made me whole.

20. The cleansing power of the gospel comes
through the compassionate touch of Jesus.