chapter of Leviticus together,
it speaks of corruption, corruption, corruption from deep
within, a corruption from within that's
displayed in a running issue in the flesh. And let's just
read the last three verses of the chapter again, Leviticus
15, 31. Thus shall you separate the children
of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in their uncleanness
when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. This is the
law of him that hath an issue and of him whose seed goeth from
him and is defiled therewith. And of her that is sick of her
flowers and of him that hath an issue of the man and of the
woman and of him that lieth with her that is unclean. I'm sure as you read this chapter,
you must ask yourself, what am I to learn from these things?
How do these things apply to me? What spiritual lessons are
we here taught? Or is this only about a physical
uncleanness and an issue of blood and cleansing from that? Let
me say at the outset that these 33 verses of inspiration, like
all the rest of Holy Scripture, were written for our learning
and for our admonition. and written for this purpose,
that we, through patience and consolation of the scripture,
might have hope. That's what we're told plainly
by the Spirit of God in Romans chapter 15 and verse four. And
yet every commentary I've read on this passage of scripture
treats the running issue as an uncleanness of something almost
insignificant. far less significant than the
uncleanness of the leprosy described in chapters 13 and 14. But I'm
convinced that's not the case at all. Rather, the corruption
and the defilement of this running issue portrays in a way something
even worse than the leprosy of chapters 13 and 14. The running
issue described so graphically in these 33 verses of inspiration
pictures something far more sickening and revolting that's in us. The sin that is in us by nature,
the corruption of our vile, base, depraved hearts, I'm not talking
now just about man in general. I'm talking about you in particular
and me in particular. The corruption of our vile, base,
depraved hearts is a foul, obnoxious pus constantly oozing from our
hearts by which we are defiled in our lives. The defilement
of our hearts doesn't come from without, but rather the defilement
of our lives comes from within. We behave in ungodliness when
the corruption of our hearts breaks out. When I was just a
young adult, I can't remember exactly when it was. Our government
has ways of having different campaigns. I think I was maybe
16, 17 years old, and they had a campaign on television. And
they would advertise, don't make a good boy go bad. Don't leave
your keys in your car. If you leave your keys in your
car, you'll make a good boy go bad. One night I left my keys
in my car. and before I got to bed, my car
was gone. But it didn't make a good boy
go bad. It was just a thief who came by looking for keys. He
wouldn't have stole the car if he hadn't been a thief. It is
not the outward things that affect our hearts. It's our hearts that
produce the outward corruptions. This is something worse than
leprosy. This is an uncleanness that defiles
everything we touch, just a pus. Oozing from our hearts, into
our bodies, and our lives, and our minds, so that everything
we touch, we corrupt with uncleanness. I am often shocked by the comments
I hear people make with regard to the word of God. Some years
ago, a lady spoke to me. Of course, I don't pay too much
attention to women who want to teach me something about theology
and doctrine. I just put it up to their women. But this lady
said to me, I don't think the Song of Solomon should ever be
read in a public service. And I was a bit shocked. She
said it would just be too embarrassing. It would just be too embarrassing. I read a comment as I was preparing
this message from a man that I often get much benefit from. I want to read it to you. He
said with regard to Leviticus 15, we should feel strongly disposed
to question the sound judgment and refined taste of a man who
could stand up and read the 15th of Leviticus in the midst of
an ordinary congregation. Why? He wrote. Is it because
it is not divinely inspired and as such profitable? By no means.
But because the generality of persons are not sufficiently
spiritual to enter into its pure and holy lessons. Such comments
are shocking. That's the way papists handle
the Word of God by papal rule. Under the pretense of spirituality
and piety, such expressions reveal a contempt of Holy Scripture
and a horrid self-righteousness and pride that causes many women
to think they are so pure, so holy, that their minds might
be defiled by reading God's Word. What horrid, horrid self-righteousness. May God, the Holy Spirit, by
whom these instructions have been preserved for us, in divine
inspiration now be our teacher as we seek to discover the message
contained in Leviticus 15. Let me show you five things I
hope you will listen carefully, maybe jot down what I have to
say. It's worth hearing. Number one,
our hearts, our hearts are an overflowing
cesspool. Your heart, my heart, our hearts
are overflowing cesspools of corruption, constantly oozing
foulness, impurity, and uncleanness, constantly. This is what oozes
from our cesspools of iniquity called hearts. If I could be
more graphic, to describe the corruption of your heart and
mine, I would. But here the Holy Spirit uses
three very graphic pictures by which he shows us the depravity
of our nature, the corruption of our hearts, by which he would
convince us and compel us to cry out before God, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Oh, proud sinner,
proud boy, proud girl, proud mama, proud daddy, hear me! In me, in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. Nothing, nothing. The corruption
of our hearts is portrayed in verses 1 through 15 under the
picture of a man with a running issue out of his flesh. This
running issue is equivalent to what we would call today gonorrhea. That ain't much of a picture,
is it? That's exactly what the book's talking about. What a
proper picture of our heart's corruption. Gonorrhea is a vile
plague contracted by illicit behavior. It is something you
get from someone else, but it becomes a part of you. The corruption
is something you try to hide. You don't want anyone to know
about it. But the corruption from deep within oozes foulness
from your body, and pretty well describes the evil that's in
us, doesn't it? We became sinners by the illicit
criminal behavior, the adulterous behavior of our first father
Adam in the garden. You see, sin throughout Scripture,
Running from God, rebellion against God is described constantly as
our adultery from our creator. It's constantly described as
going a whoring after other gods. That's not a very polite way
of talking about sin. That's a very accurate way of
talking about sin. That's how the word of God describes
it. When Adam sinned against God, he committed an act of adultery. making himself God and worshiping
himself as God in opposition to God. And then the sin of our
father is passed on to us. It's now ours. So much ours that
sin is what we are. Oh, how we try to hide from ourselves,
from other people and from God what we really are. We all put on a show. We all
are hypocrites. We all think we're righteous.
And we try to hide what we know we really are. But the corruption
is still there. It constantly oozes foulness
from within. Then in verses 16, 17, and 18,
this foulness, this corruption of our nature is pictured by
the spilling of a man's seed. We're not told whether this is
something that is a profane act or a conjugal privilege that
involves this between a husband and wife or nocturnally. But the entire chapter is describing
things of a most private nature. I'm inclined, therefore, to think
that this particular passage is dealing with something that
occurs nocturnally. It's a natural thing. It speaks
of something that's unavoidable. Because it's unavoidable, the
natural outflow of man's body, we commonly associate with evil. Evil, whatever comes from within
is evil. The Lord God declares an unclean
person, to be one who is touched in any way by this unclean man. So that everything involved coming
from within, if you touch it, makes you unclean. The reason
is clear. Everything that comes out of
a man is corrupt and unclean. Everything associated in this
chapter and in the scriptures We've recognized that even the
multiplying of the race is done in sin. David said, in
sin did my mother conceive me. He said, I was brought forth
in iniquity. Now that's not talking about
something wrong with conjugal privileges between a husband
and wife. This is not talking about adultery or fornication
or something of that kind. Those things are horribly evil,
ought never to be engaged in. But a man and his wife having
a child, there's nothing evil about that. God honors it. But
David said, in sin did my mother conceive me. He said, I was brought
forth in iniquity because what I am came from what my daddy
is. And what's inside him is just
corruption. So much so that if a man should
just sneeze in your presence, who has this uncleanness from
within, if he should just sneeze while he has this running issue
and a little bit of his spit falls on your face, you're considered
unclean. Oh, how precious, how sweet,
how blessed it is to sinners, conscious of their uncleanness,
to read here in the book of God, in Ezekiel 37, and other passages
like it, of the covenant grace promise made by the triune God,
that he would take away our sin and our uncleanness. that he
would separate us from our sin and our uncleanness. The Apostle
John writes for inspiration and says, if we confess our sin,
he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
dear son, cleanseth us from all unrighteousness. in verses 19 through 24, this
uncleanness is presented in Leviticus 15 as the uncleanness of a woman
with an issue of blood. Isaiah declares that all our
righteousnesses are filthy rags, discarded minstrels claws. That's what the word filthy rags
refers to. Brother Don, that's not very
tasteful. I'm not here to be tasteful.
I'm here to make you understand what you are. All our righteousnesses
are just as filthy rags. Here, our very nature is described
by the woman's discharge during her monthly cycle in her uncleanness. This doctrine. gives us disgusting
examples of foulness, such foulness that we don't discuss
them in public unless matters are absolutely unavoidable. The
man, the woman, the running issue, the spilling of his seed, the
uncleanness of the woman with her foul discharge. Everything
that comes out of man is corrupt. And everything he touches is
corrupted. Everything he sets on, everything
he lays on, everything he puts his hand to, everything he touches
in any way. This is what we are by nature. At heart, in the essence of our
being, unclean. The heart of man is a polluted
fountain, an overflowing cesspool of uncleanness, constantly oozing
corruption. so that man, fallen man, women,
fallen women are hopelessly defiled and defiling. Awake or asleep,
sitting, standing or lying down, we are defiled and defiling so
that our very touch, our very influence conveys evil. I touch. This is my constant
daily prayer among many others. It has been for many years. Oh
God, those people I touch today. Make me a blessing to them, not
a hindrance. Because everything I touch, everyone
I touch, Everything I influence, everyone I influence, by nature,
I defile everything, you too. This is a humbling lesson for
proud creatures, but it's true and faithful. The next time you
want to see what you are, what you are, I'm getting to the point
that Looking in the mirror is not
something that appeals to me. I've got lots of age spots. And
where there used to be muscle, there's sagging skin and wrinkles. And where there used to be a
hair, there's shining head. And not much in the mirror that's
appealing to me, but it's necessary. I just have to look in the mirror
a time or two a day. It's just necessary. You want to see what you really
are? Read this 15th chapter of Leviticus
real often. It is a mirror that shows you what you are,
uncleanness, uncleanness. We boast of our refinement. Our
moral sensitivity, our dignity, things that distinguish us from
others because we love to measure ourselves with others. I'm not
perfect, but I'm not as bad as so-and-so. But God calls it as
he sees it, uncleanness. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Hear the word of the Lord, you
children of Israel. For the Lord hath a controversy
with you, because there are no truth, no mercy, no knowledge
of God in you, but swearing and lying and killing and stealing
and committing adultery. They break out and blood toucheth
blood. That's man by nature. Every boy, girl here, no matter
how young, every man, woman here, no matter how old, unclean, unclean. We're all unclean from the inside
out. Unclean by birth, unclean by
nature, unclean at heart, and unclean indeed. In the light
of that fact, the second part of this message ought to get
your attention. It's a lesson implied in all
that's written in Leviticus 15. But it's written out in bold
letters in 1 Samuel 16, seven. You'll return there, you'll remember
it. Here's the lesson. Oh, may God drive it home to
your heart. The Lord looketh on the heart. The Lord looketh on the heart. Man only sees the outside. That fact needs to be understood
and preached to every preacher in the world, because most preachers
have the proud, foolish presumption that they can look on a man's
heart. That fact, the Lord looketh on the heart, needs to be preached
to and understood by every religious person in the world, because
everybody presumes they can see the heart. Don't be so ungodly
and proud. How many times do you hear our
politicians and others? Well, I can see his heart. That's
the one thing you can't see. No man knows his wife's heart. No woman knows her husband's
heart. No mother or father knows their child's heart. No man looks
on the heart. All you and I see are what people
want us to see. That's all you see. Just that
which is on the outside. And any man, any woman can put
on a good show or a bad show as it pleases him. I know he's a Christian, I know
he's not, because I know what he does, I know what he does.
You proud, self-righteous hypocrite. Only God looks on the heart,
but God does. God does. He sees past your profession. He sees past your religious activity. He sees past all the things you
do by which you white your sepulcher and make yourself look pretty.
He sees past all that. He looks on the heart. God sees
us as we really are. He's not fooled by the mask we
wear. He's not blinded by our disguises.
His judgment is not perverted by bribes. His vision is not
clouded by flattering words. God sees us as we really are. For the religionist who doesn't
know God, For the unbelieving rebel and for the unbelieving
religionist, nothing is more terrifying than this fact. The Lord looketh on the heart. For the believer, for that person
who's been made new by the grace of God, made a new creature in
Christ, for you who have been made partakers of divine nature,
for you, who have Christ formed in you. For you who have in you
a new man created in righteousness and true holiness, nothing is
more comfortable and more delightful than this. The Lord looketh on
the heart. The Lord looketh on the heart. Simon Peter was asked, I remind
you, three times by the Lord Jesus after he had denied the
Lord and denied him, and then cussed and denied him, and went
back to fishing. He said to the disciples, he
said, boys, it's all over with me. I'm going back where I was
when this thing started. I'm going back in the fishing
business. And the Lord Jesus met him by Galilee and said to
him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And he said, yes, Lord. And he said to him again, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And he said, yes, Lord. And he
said to him a third time, different word. Simon, son of Jonas, let's
get down to where the rubber meets the road. Do you really
love me? Lovest thou me? And Peter was
grieved because he said to him the third time, Simon, son of
Jonas, do you really love me? And he said, Lord, thou knowest
all things. There's no reason for James or
John to suspect that I do. There's no reason for Mary or
Martha to suspect that I do. There's no reason for Nathanael
to suspect that I do. But Lord, you know all things.
You know. in spite of all the corruption
that is oozed from my fallen, depraved heart. You know there
is in me a man created by you who loves you. You know all things. You know that I love you. Now
here's the third thing. Look at Leviticus 15 31. And
learn this lesson. We're unclean. God looks on the
heart. And here's the third thing. The
Lord God Almighty, he who looks upon our foul, corrupt hearts,
is so infinitely holy and pure that he cannot and will not tolerate
any uncleanness. God cannot and will not tolerate
any uncleanness. Thus shall you separate the children
of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in their uncleanness
when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. If a man
or a woman was unclean, were allowed to come into the camp
of Israel and approach the tabernacle of God, The unclean would make
the whole camp unclean. And the unclean would make God's
very tabernacle unclean. Therefore, the unclean had to
stay away. They had to stay away from the
camp. They were banished from the tabernacle, banished from
the worship of God, banished from the ceremonies involving
the worship of God. They were not to come in under
penalty of death. You see, he who is God, the triune
Jehovah is a purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He is a purer
eyes than to behold iniquity. If you and I are to enter into
his presence and be accepted of him, if you and I are to enter
into heaven's glory, we must have clean hands. and a pure heart, having never
lifted up our souls to vanity. That's what the book says, Psalm
24. Nobody shall enter in to the
city of God in heavenly glory who's unclean, unholy, unjust. Only those who are pure and undefiled
and virgins Not the adulterer, not the fornicator, not the sodomite,
not the thief, not the liar. Read the book of God. Nobody
enters in except those who are perfectly clean. Perfectly clean. Oh, my God, let me not die in
my uncleanness. Oh God, don't let these sinners
die in uncleanness. I pray God won't let you die
in your uncleanness, in your uncleanness. And while I say
that, you are but a breath away from God in your uncleanness. Just a breath separates you from
God who cannot behold iniquity, who must forever separate you
from himself in your uncleanness. Here's the fourth thing. Bless
me, God. Right here in Leviticus 15, This
great, august, infinitely holy God shows us that he's made a
way for you and me, unclean, foul sinners, to be separated
from our uncleanness. I mean, separated from our uncleanness. What a word, separated from our
uncleanness. Oh, bless his holy name and rejoice. God himself who cannot and will
not look upon iniquity has made a way for unclean sinners to
be clean. Look at verse 13. When he that hath an issue is
cleansed of his issue, then he shall number to himself seven
days for his cleansing and wash his clothes and bathe his flesh
in running water and shall be clean. And on the eighth day,
He shall take to him two turtle doves, or two young pigeons,
and come before the Lord unto the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation, and give them unto the priest. And the priest
shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other
for a burnt offering. and the priest shall make atonement
for him before the Lord for his issue. The running water and
the atoning sacrifice both speak of our Lord Jesus Christ in his
death as our substitute. When he was pierced, both blood
and water gushed out of his side. The only way that can happen
is if the spear penetrates his heart. and both blood and water
gush from his side. The blood speaks of our atonement,
our free justification by the death of an innocent substitute
who is himself God, Jesus Christ the Lord. The water speaks of
cleansing. He said, it's expedient for you
that I go away. If I go not away, The Comforter
will not come. The Spirit of God will not come.
By the sacrifice of God's Son, God sends His Spirit in regenerating
grace, working faith in sinners, cleansing sinners by the washing
of the water, by the Word in regeneration. There's a way open
for sinners. Turn to Zechariah. Zechariah
chapter 13. Chapter 12, I'm sorry. Yeah,
Zechariah 12. There's a way open for sinners by which sinners
can be made clean from corruption. The only way we can be made clean
before God's all-seeing eye, the only way we can be separated
from our uncleanness is if we're washed in the blood of Christ
experimentally. washed in the blood of Christ
experimentally. Yes, we were justified, made
righteous in Him before the world began, but we shall not enter
glory. But by the new birth, we must
be washed. Look at verse 1, or verse 10
rather, Zechariah 12. I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is my church,
my chosen, my elect, the spirit of grace and of supplications.
And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall
mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn. How does this happen? In that day, look at verse one
of chapter 13. In the day that I pour my spirit
on you, I will open to you, there shall be open, there shall be
a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. When will you believe
on the Son of God? When will you trust the Lord
Jesus? Oh, may He perform it this day. In the day, in the
hour when He pours out His Spirit upon you, you will find the fountain
open for you, open for sin and for uncleanness. The unclean
couldn't make himself clean, but he must personally wash in
the running water and bring the sacrifice that God required.
So it is with us. Only Christ can put away sin.
Christ indeed has put away the sins of his people. But we must
plunge into the fountain of his blood. And we must bring to God
the sacrifice he requires. We must trust the Son of God. And if you bring God what God
requires, separated from your uncleanness, so that God declares
that He, by the sacrifice of His Son, has made an end of your
sin and He has put away your uncleanness. Have you noticed
through the book of God that in the ceremonies of the law,
pardon was never immediately conferred? In the cases before
us, those who were unclean had to wait for pardon. Restoration
and cleansing were put off for seven days. Not so in the gospel. In the gospel, there was a leper
who came to the Savior and said, Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. And the Lord Jesus looked at
the leper and said, I will be thou clean. And immediately he
was cured of his leprosy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And go home clean. Go home clean. And go through this world clean.
And enter into glory clean before God. One last thing. I got this out of Leviticus 15
too. The only way we can be made whole from our uncleanness is
by touching the Lord Jesus. You got to touch him and you
got to touch him for yourself. Faith is portrayed in scripture
as a touch. We read in Mark, Matthew and
Luke of a woman who had an issue of blood 12 years, 12 years. For 12 long years, that poor
woman had wasted her substance in riotous living. She had spent
everything she had on physicians of no value. She had been to
see Dr. Freewill and Dr. Good Works and
Dr. Religious Ceremony and Dr. Activity
and nothing did her any good. She wasted all her substance
on positions of no value. And then one day, the Lord Jesus
was passing by. She had heard about this man,
this man whose name is Jesus, this man who people are telling
is the son of David, this man people are calling the Christ,
this man who claims himself to be God, this man, while he has,
just the day before, calm the stormy sea. This man, she heard
he went across the stormy sea into the land of Gadara and there
was a wild maniac there, a maniac of Gadara who dwelt among the
tombs and could not be tamed. And the Lord Jesus cast devils
out of that man. And that man was found a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, this man had healed
the blind, caused the deaf to hear, caused the lame to walk.
He had even raised the dead and he's passing by her way. How
come? Because there is a ruler named
Jairus who's come to the master and said, my daughter's sick.
His only child, 12 years old. She was born. The same year,
this woman contracted this issue of blood. And she heard that
Master was coming by. She said, if I could just touch
the hem of his garments, there's such power, such virtue in this
man. There must be because he's God
and man. He's able with his word to raise
the dead. There must be power in him. If
I could just, oh, if I could somehow just get in contact with
him and touch just the hem of his garment, he'd make me whole. And she made her way through
the crowd. And she reached out. I don't have any right to do
this because I'm unclean. If I touch him, unless he cleanses
my uncleanness, I'll make him unclean. I don't have any right
to be here, but I don't have any other hope. And she touched
him. And immediately, virtue went
out of him. And she felt in herself that
she was whole. And the master said, who touched
me? And she came to him and confessed
to him all. after presenting her turtle doves
at Jerusalem. How often she may have walked
with Jairus's daughter, that little girl whom the master went
on to raise from the dead. That one who was born the same
year she contracted this issue of blood, but now the master
goes back and raises Jairus's daughter. And I can picture her
and this woman walking together. singing the praises of the Lord
Jesus together and to one another. Jairus' daughter looks at her
older sister and sings, who healeth all thy diseases? And this woman
says to her younger sister, who redeemeth thy life from destruction? I like the story I've told you
many times about Rob Barnady. traveling across the country,
and he and his wife Hazel, Hazel was her name, they stopped in
Wyoming at Yellowstone National Park, and watching that geyser
there, Old Faithful, and Barnard just knelt down and washed his
handkerchief, wiped off his face and his hands, and just stood
there for a minute, small group of people behind him, he'd paid
attention to them, and he sang, there is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's vein, sinners plunge beneath
that flood lose all their guilty stains. A man in the little group
behind him said, Preacher, it would be all right if we joined
you in the next verse. Will you do that? Let's sing
this for our benediction.