九月二十九日
全身的肉若长满了大麻风,就要定那患灾病的爲洁净。(利13:13)
这一条规矩好像很奇怪,但这是很有智慧的,因爲疾病全发出来,就证明身体已经痊愈了,今晨我们也可以从这一条规矩得到教训。我们也是长大麻风的人,检验大麻风的条例也适用于我们。当人看到自己已完全失丧、毁灭、罪污遍满了全身,到处沾染了污秽的时候;当他看到自己无义可言,在神面前显爲罪的日子,那末他便因耶稣的血和神的恩得了洁净。隐藏的,未发觉和未承认的罪才是真的大麻风,但当罪发觉幷感到必因它致死的时候,主就用怜悯的眼光看那受罪所折磨的人。再没有比自以爲义更该死,也没有比痛悔更有希望的事了。我们必须承认自己“除了罪别无所有”。认罪必须这样彻底,当圣灵在我们里面动工的时候,就叫我们不能推诿我们的罪,所以不难这样招认,而且这话必自然而然地出于我们的口。这节圣经也安慰了那深深感到已罪的人!罪经过忧伤幷且承认之后,不认有多黑、多脏,必不能再把人关在主耶稣之外了。凡到他面前的人,他总不丢弃。像不诚实的强盗、不洁净的妇人那样的罪人,或像凶恶的在数人扫罗、残暴的玛拿西、悖逆的浪子,神伟大的爱心仍看顾那自己觉得内心毫无良善的人。当他投靠钉十架的耶稣时,他便宣告他是洁净的。受重压的罪人哪!来就他吧!我们要赤裸裸地,毫不掩饰地来到他面前!
“求主的宝血涂抹幷洁净我!”
September
29
“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 morning 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
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 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 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 those
under a deep sense of sin! Sin mourned and confessed, however black and foul,
shall never shut a man out from the Lord Jesus. Whosoever cometh unto Him, He
will in no wise cast out. Though dishonest as the thief, though unchaste 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 soundness 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.