Morning By Morning #273

If the disease has covered his whole body, he shall pronounce that person clean.

Leviticus 13:13

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

This regulation from Leviticus seems strange to us, yet there is wisdom in it. If someone could overcome a disease at this stage, it proved there was still strength and health in the body. But what is the application of such an unusual teaching for us this morning?

We are spiritual lepers and can apply this law for lepers to ourselves. It is only when someone sees himself as totally lost and ruined—completely covered with the defilement of sin with nothing free from its pollution, renouncing any claim of righteousness of his own, and pleading his guilt before the Lord—that he is clean by the blood of Jesus and the grace of God. Hidden, unfelt, and unconfessed sinfulness is the true leprosy, but once sin is acknowledged and felt, it has received its deathblow and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy on the soul afflicted with it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness or more hopeful than sorrowful remorse.

We must confess that we are covered with sin, for no confession short of this will be the whole truth. If the Holy Spirit is truly at work in us, convicting us of sin, we will have no problem making such an admission. In fact, it will flow spontaneously from our lips.

What a great comfort our text affords those who are under a deep sense of their sin! Sin mourned and confessed, no matter how dark and foul, will never shut out someone from the Lord Jesus. “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). Although as dishonest as a thief, as unchaste as the “woman caught in adultery” (John 8:3), as sinister as Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:11), as cruel as Manasseh (see 2 Kings 21:1 – 18), and as rebellious as the prodigal son (see Luke 15:11 – 32), the great heart of Love will look upon the person who sees nothing but sickness within himself and “shall pronounce that person clean” when he trusts in Jesus crucified.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened [with sin]” (Matt. 11:28).

Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare;

You can’t come too filthy—come just as you are.

Joseph Hart, 1712 – 1768

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Acknowledgment of sin is the first step to spiritual health, for until we recognize our need, we will never go to the only One who can truly cleanse us. This is why believers are told:

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 John 1:7-10

And to “walk in the light” of spiritual health, His Word must have its proper “place in our lives.”