Sermon #311 2 3 Leviticus Sermons

Title: He Who Has The Plague Is Clean

Text: Leviticus 13:1-59

Subject: The Law of the Plague of Leprosy

Introduction:

(Leviticus 13:1-17) "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: 3 And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. 4 If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: 5 And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more: 6 And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 7 But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: 8 And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy. 9 When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; 10 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; 11 It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean. 12 And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; 13 Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. 14 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. 15 And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. 16 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest; 17 And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean."

What a paradox this text seems to be. Here we are given the law of God regarding leprosy. Throughout this chapter, the person who had some symptom, or many symptoms of leprosy, was pronounced unclean. But that person whose flesh was completely covered with the plague was pronounced clean.—“The priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean!” In other words, the Lord God declares—He who has the plague is clean!

Leprosy was a very common disease in the Old Testament, from the time that Israel came into the land of Canaan. It was still common during the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry.

However, unless I am mistaken, the leprosy described in this chapter, the leprosy we see mentioned so often in the Scriptures, is unknown in modern times. I know that leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) is still found among men, even in our own society. It is a horrible, loathsome disease, with symptoms somewhat like leprosy described in our text. But the leprosy observed among men today (Hansen’s Disease) is in many ways distinct from that which is described in this chapter. The leprosy described in Leviticus 13 and 14 was specifically given to Israel in the land of their possession, in the land of Canaan (Lev. 14:34).

Real and Typical

While the leprosy described in Leviticus 13 was a real disease, it was also typical. In fact, it seems to have been sent into the world by God as a type and picture of sin. The characteristics of the disease are vivid pictures of sin. Leprosy is held before us in Scripture as a shocking picture of that horrid plague, sin, with which we are infected from the soles of our feet to the crown of our heads.

(Isaiah 1:6) "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment."

It is evident that leprosy (as it is set forth in the Book of God) was intended by God to be a picture of sin, if we consider just these two things.

1. All the ceremonial purifications given in chapter 14, by which the stain of leprosy was removed from a man, by which the defiled leper was made clean, refer to our Lord Jesus Christ. – The disease of leprosy was cleansed and removed not by medicine, but by blood atonement! – Leprosy was a medically incurable malady. – Its only cure was by blood and grace!

2. No one but the priests (Aaron or one of his sons -- who were typical representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ) could identify and remove the leprosy.

· Only the priest could pronounce the leper unclean.—Only Christ (by his Spirit, and by his Word) can convince a man of his sin.

· Only the priest could make atonement for the leper.—Christ alone made atonement for sin.

· Only the priest could apply the atoning blood and pronounce the leper clean.—Only Christ can apply his blood to your conscience. Only Christ can speak peace to your soul, and pronounce you clean.

Conviction

A careful reading of Leviticus 13 and 14 will make something else manifest. Leprosy is a picture, not so much of the universal sin of our race, but of the conviction of sin by God the Holy Spirit.

Proposition: The leper pronounced clean by God’s high priest is held before us as a picture of a sinner convinced of his sin by God the Holy Spirit, made clean by the miracle of God’s saving grace.

Divisions: Let me show you four things in this message about leprosy, as it is set before us in Leviticus 13.

1. A Fear of Leprosy

2. The Gift of Leprosy

3. The Humiliation of Leprosy

4. The Cleansing of the Leper

I. First, this chapter sets before us a fear of leprosy. We have here several examples of people who would come to the high priest, fearful that they might have leprosy, seeking relief from a disease they never had. They had the appearance of leprosy, but not leprosy.

Spurious Lepers

(Leviticus 13:2) "When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:"

· “A Rising”—Some stirring of the emotions! – Some feeling of remorse! – Some sense of danger! – Fear of Death!

· “A Scab”—An old scar on the conscience, a sense of guilt about something long ago! – A scar from other old risings of religious wounds!

· “A Bright Spot”—A Boil of Self-righteousness! – A Pimple of Religious Zeal!

For most people that is all their religion amounts to: a rising, a scab, or a bright spot. It is all superficial foam and froth. There is nothing to it deeper than the skin. Nothing deeper than the flesh!

They have been told by others that they are lepers. They tell themselves they are lepers. They have pronounced themselves lepers and therefore presume that they are clean. They use the language of lepers, wear sackcloth and ashes, and tear their clothes, crying “Unclean! Unclean!” Therefore, they vainly think themselves clean.

But the disease does not spread. After seven days of being shut up, there is no spreading of the corruption. Another seven days—No corruption! The hair of the sore has not turned white. Their beauty has not withered. Everything is at a stand. Week after week, month after month, year after year, they are the same. They have no deeper awareness of sin than they had twenty years ago. They are no more acquainted with themselves or with Christ than they were in the beginning. Their religion is like water in a tank. It knows neither ebb nor flow. It is always the same.—Always stagnant!

II. Now, look at verses 12 and 13. Here we see the gift of leprosy.—Yes, you heard me right. I said “the gift of leprosy.” Blessed is that man whom God has made to be a leper!

Real Lepers

First look over in chapter 14 at verse 34. I want you to see that what I am saying is Bible. It was the Lord God who made men and women lepers. It was God who put the plague of leprosy in a house. And he put the plague in the house only after the children of Israel had come into the land of Canaan, the land of their promised possession, the land God gave them as the fulfillment of his covenant with Abraham.

(Leviticus 14:34) "When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession."

Blessed is that person whom God has made to be a leper, whom God the Holy Spirit has mad a sinner.

“What comfort can a Savior bring

To those who never felt their woe?

A sinner is a sacred thing;

The Holy Ghost hath made him so.”

– Joseph Hart

That is what we have portrayed in Leviticus 13:12-13.

(Leviticus 13:12-13) "And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; 13 Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean."

Four Marks

God specifically gave the high priest in Israel four distinct marks by which he was to determine whether the plague of leprosy was really in a person.

A. If the leprosy was real, the disease was deeper than the skin (v. 3).

B. The hair over the sore turned white.—In other words, it died at the root.

As you know, in the Scriptures, hair represents beauty and glory.

· Long hair is a woman’s glory (1 Cor. 11:15).

· Absalom’s great attractiveness was his long, thick, heavy hair.

· Samson’s strength was in his hair.

· The growth of the hair is spoken of as an emblem of beauty and excellence in a woman (Ezek. 6:7).

· The Bride, in the Song of Solomon, speaks of Christ’s great beauty, saying, “Thy locks are bushy and black as a raven.”

The point is this.—The true leper is one whose beauty, comeliness, strength, and glory have withered before God. It is all dead at the roots!

(Psalms 39:11) "When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah."

(Daniel 10:8) "Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength."

C. If the leprosy was true leprosy, the disease never stopped, but constantly worsened, ever spreading, until it “covered all his flesh”.

(Isaiah 64:6) "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

(Romans 7:18) "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."

D. If the leprosy was true leprosy, there was raw flesh in the leper (vv. 14-17).

So it is with the experience of grace in the soul. Those who are made sinners before God, lepers before the Most High, know what it is to have raw flesh, a tender, bleeding conscience, a conscience that cannot bear being touched.—Yes, when a man is made guilty before God, he cannot bear the thought of his touch, but cries and screams against it, until the touch comes. Then all is well! Once the raw was, as it were crusted over, turned white, the leper was clean. Once the Lord God touches the sinner, that person whose screaming conscience has tormented his soul, the flesh is no longer raw, the conscience is silenced with the blessed peace of purity before the holy Lord God! Let’s see if we can find a picture of what I’m talking about (Isa. 6:1-7).

(Isaiah 6:1-7) "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

III. Now, look at verses 44-46. Here is the humiliation of leprosy.

(Leviticus 13:44-46) "He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. 45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. 46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."

A. Look at this. – “The leper in whom the plague is” is the leper indeed.

Our plague is an inward thing.—“In whom,” not upon whom!—Sin is part of us. It is in us. It rises with us every morning. It goes with us every step of the day. It travels in every thought of our minds. It lies down with us every night. It is a plague in every living soul.

B. The leper’s clothes were to be rent.

· A Sign of Mourning – Eli when the ark was taken! – Jacob when Joseph was gone! – The leper in Israel was not allowed to mend his garments. He had to wear rent clothes all his days (1 John 1:7-10).

(1 John 1:7-10) "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

· A Sign of Abhorrence and Self-loathing -- Job

· A Sign of Contrition -- Josiah

(Isaiah 66:1-2) "Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."

C. The leper had no covering for his head. – Blessed be God, there is a helmet of salvation, but not until the cleansing of grace is granted. The leper, like the sinner under conviction, bows naked, exposed before God. Thereby, he says, “I have neither refuge, nor excuse, nor hope!”

D. He has no covering for his head, but he is required to cover his upper lip, like one covering an open grave.—To keep infection in![1]—Displaying utter humility!

E. The leper was compelled to cry, “Unclean! Unclean!”—So it is with God’s people in this world. Spiritual lepers we are! We are compelled from within, so long as we live in this body of flesh, to go through the world crying “Unclean! Unclean!”

· Ceremonially Unclean—Unclean before the Law

· Experimentally Unclean—Unclean in Conscience

· Socially Unclean—Unfit for Society – Infectious

You may think, “Bro. Don, I know I am a sinner; but I’m not that bad. I read my Bible. I go to Church. I pray. I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; but I do the best I can. And I am not so bad that I need to cover my mouth and constantly cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’”—I know you are not that bad. But I wasn’t talking to you. All you have is a little scab on the flesh, a little redness here and there, maybe an old leprosy; but you’re not a leper.

Go ahead, my brother leper, cry out to the Great Physician, “Unclean! Unclean!” You need not tell anyone else about your plague. No one else can help. But you can tell him; and he can help!

F. The leper, because he was a leper, all unclean, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, was required to dwell alone.—“He shall dwell alone.”—That man or woman who knows his or her uncleanness before God chooses and delights to dwell alone with God. Blessed is the soul Christ causes to dwell alone with him (Hos. 2:14; John 8).

(Lamentations 3:26-32) "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. (27) It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. (28) He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. (29) He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. (30) He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. (31) For the Lord will not cast off for ever: (32) But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies."

· Alone with Christ!

· Alone with Other Lepers!

· Alone with God’s People!

· Alone before God!

J. C. Philpot once said, “What we get alone weighs heaviest, wears best, and lasts longest.”

G. One more thing about this leper, this unclean thing. We read in verse 46, “Without the camp shall his habitation be!”

Without question, this refers to the leper’s ceremonial separation from the tabernacle, the worship of God, and the privileges of citizenship in the nation of Israel.—The leper, full of the disease, knowing his uncleanness, dare not come into the camp of Israel. Until the priest came and pronounced him clean, he was not allowed and felt himself utterly unworthy to come into the company of God’s saints in his house.

Now, this I say to you, until God’s High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of his Spirit pronounces you clean, you dare not come…

· To the waters of baptism…

· Into the Church of God…

· To the Lord’s Table.

IV. Have I found a leper here today? Is there a poor soul sitting off at a distance, fearful that someone might get too close to you, fearful because you know yourself thoroughly unclean, covered with the leprosy from the top of your head to the soles of your feet, unclean in heart, unclean in soul, unclean in mind?—Does your soul cry out, “How can I be made clean?”—Listen to me a moment longer, I have good news for you.—The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s High Priest, can make you clean.—Look at verses 12 and 13 again. Here we see the cleansing of the leper.

(Leviticus 13:12-13) "And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; (13) Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean."

· The priest made him clean (14:11).

· The priest pronounced him clean.

· The priest presented him clean before the Lord (14:11).

· The priest presented him clean before the congregation (14:11).

Hear me, my friend. The Lord Jesus Christ makes lepers clean, by himself, alone.

· Christ made his people clean by the blood he shed at Calvary.

· The Lord Jesus makes his people clean by the blessed pronouncement of grace, when he speaks peace to the heart.

Now, watch this. In chapter 14, we are told about the leper being healed of his leprosy. Here, there is no mention of him being healed, only of him being pronounced clean by God’s priest.—In the new birth, we are not healed of our leprosy. That comes in resurrection glory. Believing on Christ, we simply hear the pronouncement of law by the mouth of God’s High Priest speaking in grace—“CLEAN!” And when God’s priest pronounces a leper clean, the Lord God declares, “He is clean!”

· The Son of God presents us clean before God.

· The Lord Jesus presents us clean before the congregation of his saints.—Once the man was completely covered with leprosy, once the plague was turned white, he was still a leper, but he was no longer corrupting. He was no longer dangerous.—“He is clean!”

[1] Contrary to religious myth, leprosy is not a terribly contagious disease. Neither is the leprosy of our hearts. Sin is not something men catch from other men. Yet, the sinner convinced of his sin is convinced that he corrupts others by his very presence with them.