Evening
Time: 3:58 PM PST
"Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him
clean that hath the plague." --Leviticus 13:13
Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom in it, for the
throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound. This evening
it may be well for us to see the typical teaching of so singular a rule. We,
too, are lepers, and may read the law of the leper as applicable to ourselves.
When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and ruined, covered all over with
the defilement of sin, and in no part free from pollution; when he disclaims all
righteousness of his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then he is clean
through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden, unfelt, unconfessed
iniquity is the true leprosy; but when sin is seen and felt, it has received its
deathblow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with
it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful than
contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing else but sin," for no
confession short of this will be the whole truth; and if the Holy Spirit be at
work with us, convincing us of sin, there will be no difficulty about making
such an acknowledgment --it will spring spontaneously from our lips. What
comfort does the text afford to truly awakened sinners: the very circumstance
which so grievously discouraged them is here turned into a sign and symptom of a
hopeful state! Stripping comes before clothing; digging out the foundation is
the first thing in building--and a thorough sense of sin is one of the earliest
works of grace in the heart. O thou poor leprous sinner, utterly destitute of a
sound spot, take heart from the text, and come as thou art to Jesus--
"For let our debts be what they may, however great or small, As soon as we
have nought to pay, our Lord forgives us all. 'Tis perfect poverty alone that
sets the soul at large: While we can call one mite our own, we have no full
discharge."