Evening, February 26
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
Leviticus 13:13
"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."