Spurgeon: February PM
* 02/26/PM
"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."