Sovereign Grace Church

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

(LEVITICUS 13:13)

Our Lord saves only complete sinners. No one can come to Christ with one little bit of his own supposed righteousness to claim. The plague of leprosy is a picture of the plague of sin, which infests every fiber of fallen man both inwardly and outwardly. “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” (ISAIAH 1:6). This truth God our Saviour reveals to all His chosen in His call in electing grace. When he reveals Christ in his perfection in sovereign regeneration God the Spirit reveals our complete sinfulness.

We cry unto Him as the leper of old “unclean, unclean!” By virtue of our sinful nativity we are permeated [filled through and through] with the plague of which we cannot rid ourselves. We are perfect (complete) sinners. By virtue of Christ and His perfect (complete) sacrifice we are made perfectly righteous. A perfect salvation for perfect sinners! If our Priest pronounces us clean, we are completely free of sin before God—“…but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (HEBREWS 9:26), “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (COLOSSIANS 2:13).

We may not be able to rest in the living experience of this wonderful and miraculous work of grace every moment of every day, however this is the way God sees it and this is how it really is! Those whom He has cleansed and revealed it to, believe it! There are two things, which every child of God will absolutely know:

First, his own complete sinfulness and unworthiness, and second, Christ our Lord and His complete salvation (COLOSSIANS 2:10).