Truth for Life - September 29, 2017
September 29
Lessons from Leprosy
And if the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease. - Leviticus 13:13
This regulation appears to be very strange, but there was wisdom in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound. This morning it may be well for us to see the typical teaching of this singular principle. We, too, are lepers and may read the law of the leper as applicable to ourselves. When a man sees himself to be completely lost and ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and with no part free from pollution, when he disclaims all righteousness of his own and pleads guilty before the Lord, then is he 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 death blow, 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 within 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 provides to those under a deep sense of sin! Sin mourned and confessed, however deep and foul, will never shut a man out from the Lord Jesus. "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out."1 Though dishonest as the thief, though immoral as the woman who was a sinner, though fierce as Saul of Tarsus, though cruel as Manasseh, though rebellious as the prodigal, the great heart of love will look upon the man who feels himself to have no health in him and will pronounce him clean when he trusts in Jesus crucified. Come to Him, then, poor heavy-laden sinner.
Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare;
You can't come too filthy--come just as you are.
1) John 6:37
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 1 Kings 1
verse 2 Galatians 5
Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification
By Sinclair Ferguson
As Christians, we become transformed by the renewing of our minds. Ultimately, how we think, as shaped by our hearing the Word of God, will determine how we will live for God’s glory.
Author and pastor Sinclair Ferguson describes this transformative process in what he describes as a ‘blueprint for sanctification’. Devoted to God builds a strong and reliable framework for practical Christian living, stressing several fundamental issues, such as: union with Christ, spiritual growth, the reality of spiritual conflict, and the role of God’s law.
Here is a fresh approach to an always relevant subject, and a working manual to which we can turn again and again for biblical instruction and spiritual direction.
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From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
