Leviticus 13:13

This regulation appears strange enough, yet there was wisdom in it, for the full eruption of the disease proved that the underlying constitution was sound. This evening, it may be good for us to see the symbolic teaching of such a unique rule. We, too, are lepers, and can read the law of the leper as applicable to ourselves.

When a man sees himself to be completely lost and ruined, entirely covered 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 is at work with us, convincing us of sin, there will be no difficulty in making such an acknowledgment—it will spring spontaneously from our lips.

What comfort this text affords to truly awakened sinners: the very circumstance that 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 you poor leprous sinner, utterly destitute of a sound spot, take heart from this text, and come as you are to Jesus—

“For let our debts be what they may,
however great or small,
As soon as we have nothing to pay,
our Lord forgives us all.
It is perfect poverty alone
that sets the soul at large:
While we can call one mite our own,
we have no full discharge.”