Romans 3:12 "They are all one out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."The lack of doing good is sin. As Jesus told the Pharisees (Matthew 19:17), only God is good. That's because only God is without sin. Does that mean that Jesus was sinful? Not at all. Jesus is God incarnate! In this case Jesus was staking claim to his Lordship.
A pre-requisite to being born-again is the admission, like everyone else, that you are a sinner as am I too. Some Christians (sic) skip this step. It's because pride gets in their way. "Love is not having to say that you're sorry," is foolishness. Love is being sorry and that's what sinners must be... and tell God as they confess their sins.
There is within Mosaic Law what's called the Law of the leper:
Leviticus 14:1 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing..."Thereafter, the ceremonial cleansings are described and the trespass and sin offerings made for the leper to be made clean. Because cleanliness is associated with godliness in the scripture, leprosy was looked upon as sinful. It is not contagious by sexual contact, but it is by nasal mucous. Therefore, it is likely that the priests considered that the lepers were immoral because of the close contact it took to transmit the living death.
As anyone familiar with leprosy knows, it is a living death because the tissues of the body loses feeling and eventually dies when not treated. The ceremonial cleansing in scripture surely was more to protect the Jews than to cleanse the leper, but the leper could be cured!
There is a parallel between a leper and a sinner because as a leper suffers a living death, so does the sinner. In fact, those in sin without spiritual cleansing are the walking dead. Scripture advises us to avoid those who walk in sin.
2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"Christians are not to get too close to sinners. Why? Because, like leprosy, sin is contagious! Unless Christians are ministering to sinners as Jesus did, we are to be separate. It's not they who are put in the leper colony, but us who are to be isolated from the spiritual lepers. You see, it's not the condition of the skin which makes men unclean, but the condition of the flesh.
The flesh is enjoying the pleasures of the world. It's those things which titillate the body and mind and cause the soul to filled with all manner of corruption.
Jesus ate with lepers, but it was to save their flesh, not their skin! Because leprosy is not transmitted by talking, but by close proximity, Jesus was not risking his skin to save the lepers. His concern was on their flesh, not in the world, but in the hereafter.
As such, sinners are spiritual lepers. They know that they are the living dead, but don't want to recognize their spiritual condition. Mankind has convinced itself that if thoughts of death are avoided, life can be prolonged. However, the only way to prolong life is to confess: "I am a spiritual leper."
Strangely, most of the world are spiritual lepers and Christians consort with them and each other in their colony. We go there and risk infection, and as such, we may allow ourselves to contract that dreaded disease even after spiritual cleansing. That's how Satan seeks to kill the living.
Even Christians hate the talk of sin because we are still vulnerable to the infection. We prefer to think, "I have immunity," but know that we don't! We do have protection as God still isolates us from it's influence, but we must cooperate. He puts us outside the colony in the kingdom of God, but if we venture into the colony, we endanger our spiritual lives. Sanctification is the most certain way to avoid spiritual leprosy. We are set apart from the leper colony and live in cleanliness. We are not to have too close of contact with those in sin.
Christians who sin are afraid. They have spiritual leprosy and fear that their rotting flesh will be found out. They fear that it is incurable and by avoidance of the recognition of their exposure to sin, it will have no consequence on their flesh. Denial is the enemy of righteousness. Before a leper can be healed, he must know that he is a leper. Sometimes the symptoms are dormant for twenty years or so, then the dead flesh reveals itself and it's almost too late!
Likewise, those with spiritual leprosy may go years without realizing that they are dead in the flesh. They fail to examine their flesh to see if it's healthy. Just as doctors can detect leprosy in the early stages, sinners can't detect their dead flesh early on unless they examine the condition of their hearts!
If they are engaged to the world because of the desires of the flesh, they are the walking dead. Guess what? We all have spiritual leprosy until we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, but out of pride and the pleasures of the flesh, sinners, even Christians, are in denial!
Denial is why people can't admit sin. They hate to admit that they are not isolated from the world by sanctification. They don't want to hear it or talk about it because they know in their hearts that they have spiritual leprosy.
Joel Osteen doesn't preach on sin because he realizes that spiritual leprosy will scare the sinner. If sin is spoken of, they all know that they have it, but don't choose to face it. They will just go to another preacher who doesn't talk about their spiritual infection. They will in essence get a second opinion, If it's preached about and falsely believed that if it's not spoken of, they don't have it!
Now for admonishment. All you sinners have spiritual leprosy. I have it too, but it's contained. God has isolated me and I am spiritually clean. He made the trespass and sin offerings for me! He took my sins (and yours) on his own back and died for our trespasses against God.
Until one faces their spiritual condition and confesses to it with sorrow, cleansing will not take place. The blood is only for those who accept the cure by admitting they have the disease.
Now quit flinching when your own spiritual leprosy is pointed out. You must sit there and listen to the doctor when he tells of your fate if you neglect the healing. What will happen to those who are not set apart for God?
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."You don't want to hear about sin and are in denial because unconfessed sin means death! You are going to die! Admit it.
However, the first death, although dreaded, is much less feared than the second death which is eternal. Take the cure before you die twice! Accept the blood sacrifice which Jesus provided! Be rebuked and recognize that without Christ you are indeed a spiritual leper.
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