Leviticus chapters 13 and 14, these are God's words. And he always spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, when a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprosaur, Then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body, and if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then the priest shall examine him and pronounce him unclean. But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate the one who has the sore seven days. Then the priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and indeed if the sore appears to be as it was, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him another seven days. Then the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and indeed if the sore has faded, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is only a scab. He shall wash his clothes and be clean. But if the scab should at all spread over the skin after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again. And if the priest sees that the scab has indeed spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy. When the leprous sore is on a person, then he shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall examine him, and indeed, if the swelling on the skin is white, and it has turned the hair white, and there is a spot of raw flesh in the swelling, it is an old leprosy on the skin of his body, the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not isolate him, for he is unclean. And if leprosy breaks out all over the skin, and leprosy covers all the skin, and if the one who has it is sore from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks, Then the priest shall consider, and indeed, if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean who has the sore, it has all turned white, he is clean. But when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him to be unclean, for the raw flesh is unclean, it is leprosy. For if the raw flesh changes and turns white again, he shall come to the priest, and the priest shall examine him. And indeed, if the sore has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean, who has the sore, he is clean. If the body develops a boil in the skin, and it is healed, and in the place of the boil there comes up white swelling, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be shown to the priest. And if, when the priest sees it, it indeed appears deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore which has broken out of the boil. But if the priest examines it, and indeed there are no white hairs in it, and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days. And if it should at all spread over the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. But if the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest shall pronounce him clean. Or if the body receives a burn on its skin by fire, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white or white, then the priest shall examine it, and indeed, if the hair of the bright spot has turned white, and it appears deeper than the skin, it is leprosy broken out in the burn. Therefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean, it is a leprous sore. But if the priest examines it, and indeed there are no white hairs in the bright spot, and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days. And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day. If it has at all spread over the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. But if the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread on the skin, but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn. The priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar from the burn. If a man or woman has a sore on the head or the beard, then the priest shall examine the sore, and indeed, if it appears deeper than the skin, and there is in it thin yellow hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a scaly leprosy of the head or beard. But if the priest examines the scaly sore, and indeed it does not appear deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall isolate the one who has the scale seven days, and examine the sore, and indeed if the scale has not spread, and there is no yellow hair in it, and the scale does not appear deeper than the skin, he shall shave himself, but the scale he shall not shave, and the priest shall isolate the one who has the scale another seven days. On the seventh day the priest shall examine the scale, And indeed, if the scale has not spread over the skin and does not appear deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. He shall wash his clothes and be clean. But if the scale should at all spread over the skin after his cleansing, then the priest shall examine him. And indeed, if the scale has spread over the skin, the priest need not seek for yellow hair. He is unclean. But if the scale appears to be at a standstill and there is black hair grown up in it, the scale has healed. He is clean. and the priest shall pronounce him clean. If a man or a woman has bright spots on the skin of the body, specifically white bright spots, then the priest shall look, and indeed, if the bright spots on the skin of the body are dull white, it is a white spot that grows on the skin, he is clean. As for the man whose hair has fallen from his head, he is bald, but he is clean. He whose hair has fallen from his forehead He is bald on the forehead, but he is clean. And if there is on the bald head or the bald forehead a reddish-white sore, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead. Then the priest shall examine it, and indeed, if the swelling of the sore is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body, he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean. His sore is on his head. Now, the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, unclean, unclean. He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore. He shall be unclean, he is unclean, and he shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. Also, if a garment has a leprous plague in it, whether it is a woolen garment or a linen garment, whether it is in the warp or the woof of linen or wool, whether in leather or in anything made of leather, and if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather, whether in the warp or in the woof or in anything made of leather, it is a leprous plague. and shall be shown to the priest. The priest shall examine the plague and isolate that which has the plague seven days, and he shall examine the plague on the seventh day. If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, in the leather or anything made of leather, the plague is an act of leprosy, it is unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment in which is the plague, whether warp or woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of leather, for it is an act of leprosy. The garment shall be burned in the fire. But if the priest examines it, and indeed the plague is not spread in the garment either, in the warp or in the woof, or in anything made of leather, then the priest shall command that they wash the thing on which is the plague, and he shall isolate it another seven days. Then the priest shall examine the plague after it has been washed, and indeed if the plague is not changed its color, though the plague is not spread, it is unclean, and you shall burn it in the fire. It continues eating away, whether the damage is outside or inside. If the priest examines it, and indeed the plague is fated after washing it, then he shall tear it out of the garment, whether out of the warp, or out of the woof, or out of the leather. But if it appears again in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything made of leather, it is a spreading plague. You shall burn with fire that in which is the plague. And if you wash the garment to either warp or woof or whatever is made of leather, if the plague has disappeared from it, then it shall be washed a second time and shall be clean. This is the law of the leprous plague in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or woof or in anything made of leather to pronounce it clean or to pronounce it unclean. Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, this shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him. And indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop. The priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, dip them in the living dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water, and he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water that he may be clean. After that, he shall come into the camp and shall stay outside his tent seven days. On the seventh day, he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean. And on the eighth day, he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. And then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things before Yahweh at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And the priest shall take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil and wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. Then he shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place. For as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. And the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before ye all lay. And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the big toe of his right foot, and on the blood of the trespass offering, the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. so the priest shall make atonement for him before he offers. Then the priest shall offer the sin offering and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering, and the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar, so the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. But if he is poor and cannot afford it, and he shall take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waived to make atonement for him, one tenth of an ephah, a fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, a log of oil, and two turtle doves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford. One shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. He shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before Yahweh. And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. Then he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Then the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. Then the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh. And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering. The rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed to make atonement for him before Yahweh. And he shall offer one of the turtle doves or young pigeons, such as he can afford, such as he is able to afford, The one as a sin offering, the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering, so the priest shall make atonement for him who has to be cleansed before Yahweh. This is the law for one who had a leprous sore who cannot afford the usual cleansing. And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, when I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, It seems to me that there is some plague in the house. Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean, and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. And he shall examine the plague, and indeed, if the plague is on the walls of the house, with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days, and the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look. And indeed, if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. he shall cause the house to be scraped inside all round, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house. Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, Then the priest shall come and look. And indeed, if the plague has spread in the house, it is an act of leprosy in the house. It is unclean. And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house. And he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. Moreover, he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening. And he who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who sits eats in the house, shall wash his clothes. But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, Cedarwood, Scarlet, and Hyssop, And he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water, and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and the running water, and the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean. This is the law for any leprous sore and scale, for the leprosy of a garment and of a house, for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy. And in a sense, this reading of God's inspired and inerrant word Apart from the Holy Spirit giving us hearts that are continually aware of the goodness and holiness of God and the hatefulness and filthiness of our sin, we're unlikely to come to that cry of anguish towards the end of Romans 7 Oh wretched man that I am who will save me from the body of this debt But you can imagine here in Leviticus 14 and 15 and then Sorry 13 and 14 and then Lord willing next week in Leviticus 15 with all the any Flow whatsoever that comes out of a person and then having to pay attention to your clothes and any spot on them and what color they are and how they spread, parent depth, and then paying attention to all of the surfaces of your house structure. Particularly, you can imagine the adolescent is trying very hard not to mess with his pimples lest he end up with a flow. and then a scab and a sore and unclean for multiple quarantines. The Lord gives his people a law here that does correspond to the groaning creation that is bound to futility and in corruption and decay that corresponds to our remaining sin. And it is a real life extensive, tedious lesson that we are sinful and that the sinfulness makes us unclean before God. We made the point some weeks ago about Uzzah. being more dirty than the creepy crawlies that are in the dirt. And that when Israel had sinned and put the ark on carts instead of carrying it by a pole and it was gonna totter and fall into the ground. And Uzzah didn't want the ark of God to fall into the ground, into the dirt where there are all those dirty and unclean creatures. But a sinner and his sin are dirtier. than all of the unclean creepy crawlies that are in the ground and God struck as a dead. And so that's the overarching issue here is that all of these infections are reminders and examples of death. But they're not just reminders and examples of death. In particular, they're watching out for those particular infections that God gives in His providence. to remind and communicate to us that we are sinners who deserve to die. That doesn't come out so well in our English translations, at least not until you get to the garment or later the house, because in those cases, the word that means stroke or smiting or plague is actually translated plague in our English version. But when it's talking about the infections on our skin, for some reason our English version says sore instead of a smiting or a stroke or a plague, which is actually the word there. And especially when we get to in chapter 14 and God giving them laws for houses, they don't have houses yet. And so he says, when you come into the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession. And then he uses the same sort of language himself as the initiative. And I put the infectious plague in your house. Now, if you've been following along in Exodus and Leviticus and you hear the word plague, what do you think of immediately? the plagues of Egypt, right? That's usually what we think of when we hear the word plague, and it's a reminder that Israel and Egypt both deserved death. But God, who is sending the plagues, was doing so as part of redeeming for himself a people. And when you get to the plague of the flies, he actually starts making a distinction, doesn't he? And at that point, the plague only comes on upon the Egyptian parts of the land. Well, that's what the Lord is communicating here. The word leprosy does not necessarily mean Hansen's disease. I grew up hearing that in church. You know, the way we use the word leprosy now, generally speaking, it refers to a particular skin condition called Hansen's disease where, you know, body parts fall off and it's really quite hideous. Any skin infection, Hansen's disease wasn't known in history until several hundred years after Leviticus anyway. But this really applies to any skin infection whatsoever. that it would be received as an infection that is possibly a God-sent plague to remind us that sin and death are not permitted in his presence. You remember what occasioned this section of the book of Leviticus, is that death entered the tabernacle, not because they came in dead, but because they offered worship that God hadn't commanded, and he struck them dead. Nate, I'm gonna buy you for worshiping in a way that man, that they themselves had made up, and that's a problem. The tabernacle is going to need to be cleansed, and praise God, in many weeks time, we're gonna have a few weeks interruption while we do some one-offs while I'm on vacation. But in several weeks' time, when we come to the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, the Lord will provide not just once a solution for what has occurred with Nadab and Abihu, but annually for His people a solution. But that's the first thing that we see, is that this is dealing with infections of plague, because our sin and our death is not just infectious, but it is under judgment. Our sin is an abomination to God and it deserves his death and his wrath. And even then in the length and the detail and how complicated the procedure is, God communicates then something to us. about the infectiousness and the difficulty of our sin, even the diagnosis of our sin. Many of you, I hope, are familiar with Jeremiah 17 verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Which is immediately followed in verse 10 by, I, Yahweh, know the heart. which is why it's so frightening when you're trying to help someone with their sin. And they say, well, God knows my heart. And I'm thinking, yes, that's the problem. But the heart is deceitful above all things. And in that context, the word that's translated deceitful means tracked over. There are just so many things involved that it's difficult to figure out. And you get that idea, don't you? With examining, I mean, if it's open and it's raw and it's oozing, the priest's job is pretty easy. He just, oh, that one's unclean, and it's done. But if it's not immediately, he has to, is it a yellow hair, is it a black hair? Notice this was before the gospel came to Scandinavians. And is it a yellow hair, is it a black hair, and how deep is it going? If it wasn't conclusive, they'd be quarantined for seven days. And after seven days, if it still wasn't conclusive, they'd be quarantined for another seven days. And if it's still not conclusive, then they're unclean at that point. But there's all of this procedure, and not only with the skin, but also with the garments, and also with the houses. And you just feel the complexity, and the weight, and the burden. Because not only is it difficult for us to diagnose the heart, but when we do properly diagnose the heart, and we find there what is in every sinner. Now you don't find an infectious plague, which is the more literal translation of leprosaur, in every Israelite in the camp, but you do find the infection of sin in every sinner. Not only is the heart deceitful above all things, but what's the second part? Desperately wicked. And that word means unfixable. That even when we do find the sinfulness that is in our hearts, we can't do anything about it. We would despair over the possibility of fixing it. That's actually the relation of the word desperate in the English language, and it's not bad as far as understanding what Jeremiah 17.9 is saying, unknowable and unfixable. And you get a sense of it, don't you? And he gets to the end of the section on all of the rashes and the sores and stuff and assures us that boldness by itself is not a plague. The sore in the boldness is a plague. The leper, verse 45 of chapter 14, sorry, chapter 13, and this is the one then who has, you know, by one or another of this giant flow chart of ways that this can happen to him. The leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare. Now, where have you heard that recently? Because if you remember where we've heard that recently in Leviticus, then it'll help us who don't have this particular morning ritual to understand what's going on here. In verse 45. Well, we had it in the negative, didn't we? When the Lord had struck Nadab and Abihu dead, and he had come to Aaron and Eleazar and Ithamar, their dad and their brothers, and he said, don't tear your clothes and don't uncover your heads. Why would they do that? Because it was a grieving ritual. A death had occurred. But they couldn't tear the clothes that they had on because they were the priestly garments, they were in the tabernacle. And they couldn't bare their heads because they had just been consecrated, and their ordination and their installation wouldn't allow them to leave, and they had to keep the priestly hat on, the linen hats, and then the high priestly turban for Aaron. What you see then is the leper mourns his own death. When he tears his clothes and he uncovers his head and he cries unclean, unclean, he is recognizing himself as dead. Because the whole point of life, isn't it, is to know God and to draw near to him, to belong to him, to worship him, to serve him. And now the leper is going to be not only kept from the assembly, but put outside the camp of the people of God. This is, in a sense, how anybody who comes under church discipline that puts them out of the church should feel about themselves. That they are to grieve for themselves as if a death has occurred. And how many excommunicate themselves by just departing from the fellowship of the church. by departing from the consecrated, assembled worship of God. But the leper was to tear his clothes and bare his head, cover his mustache, cry, unclean, unclean. And so this is a death sentence. What can be done? Well, there are a couple of wonderful things here for the one who receives the weightiness of the deceitfulness, the difficulty of diagnosis, and understands the death sentence that is communicated here that really belongs to us all before God, and that is there's a ritual for the cleansing of a leper who's healed. Now, Unless I am mistaken, the only places in the Bible that refer to this ritual actually occurring are in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 17, when he heals lepers and tells them to go show themselves to the priest and do it as required. And then that wonderful opening of Matthew 8, where the leper addresses Jesus and he says, if you are willing, I know that you are able to cleanse me. And isn't the beginning the opening section of chapter 14 with not only a procedure generally, but even the less expensive procedure, because it doesn't cost three lands, just the one land. But isn't the opening of Leviticus 14 the analog or the parallel to Jesus saying, I am willing, be cleansed. God gives them a procedure for the atonement first the cleansing and the atonement and you've got this procedure that is done on the first day and it is very similar to what's going to be done for the day of atonement later and then it has elements also of No, that's the eighth day. So he does that and he's cleansed and then he waits seven days and then there's another eighth day. And you remember the circumcision that takes place on the eighth day. And you remember, we have three times here that this sacrifice takes place on the eighth day. And when we come, I believe it's to the Feast of Booths, the great day of the feast is the eighth day. And there are all these eighth days in scripture, which is really the first day of the next week. Right? You've got the seven, you've got the creation in six, you've got the crowning glory of the creation, which is not the six creation days, but the one creator day, the Sabbath day, which is consecrated unto God and blessed. But these eighth days are specifically looking forward to the new creation. It's the first day of the next one. This is what is glorious about Jesus' resurrection on the first day, which is an eighth day. This is what is glorious about the Holy Spirit being poured out on a first day of the week, which is an eighth day, a first day Sabbath. And so there's something here about the man being resurrected, as it were. He mourned his death when he was pronounced unclean with the infectious plague, and then God has healed him. And he comes and he receives that cleansing that is like unto the day of atonement with the scarlet and the hyssop and the cedar and the sprinkling of the blood seven times. has healed him, but then he comes on the eighth day and he has the procedure now that is not just the ascension or the sin offering and the ascension offering or the whole burnt offering as it's described, but there's also something very, there's something here that is like when the priests were ordained. You remember the right earlobe and the right thumb and the right big toe, and the application of the blood, and the application of the oil, he goes like, he goes, why, is he a priest? No. But the man whom God saves and resurrects unto a new life, he is consecrated to God. He receives his life back from God as that which God has laid claim to again, not just as creator and not just as redeemer, but as resurrector and restorer and reconciler. And this is how we all feel as Christians, isn't it? I owe God everything because I'm his creature, but how much more By the mercies of God, to use the language of Romans 12, should I be offering my body as a living sacrifice? In fact, back when we were having the priest's ordination, one of the things I told you was that what was in our English version as an ordination offering was actually just the word for pilling. His hand was being filled. Well, this is literally the point at which his hand is filled with oil, we are redeemed by Christ, resurrected by Christ, consecrated by Christ. One of then the great applications for us is that we who have been resurrected in Jesus and we who want to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, who've been consecrated to God like this, we want to have that pure and undefiled religion We see the infection wasn't just something that could come on your skin in Leviticus 13 and 14. He spent a long time, didn't he, talking about watching out for garments and watching out for houses. The whole world is a threat to us so long as we're in these bodies, so long as we are not yet perfected in holiness, which comes at the end of this life, not in this life. And so when the Holy Spirit through James is addressing the church, he's describing the pure and undefiled religion before God the Father. We often, I think, or I more often hear the first part, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, praise God. But what's the last part? And to keep oneself unspotted from the world. that we should recognize the infectiousness of sin and treat it as a plague from God. Now, the tediousness of the procedure in Leviticus 13 and 14 has been put away by Christ. But as long as we're in this world, there is still that sin that so easily entangles and that must be put away. And the weight that weighs us down must be laid down when we must seek by the grace of Christ who is willing and who cleanses, not just that we would be forgiven of our sin, but that we would be cleansed from all unrighteousness. that we would see our sin as hideous and the identifying of it and the getting rid of it as a tedious but necessary work continually coming to Christ for atonement and cleansing that we may remain with him forever by his grace. Amen, let's pray. Our gracious God and our Heavenly Father, how we thank you for your great mercy to us and our weakness. For your life and your righteousness and your holiness. Oh Lord Jesus, we're amazed that when you healed that leper, you didn't just say that you were willing and command him to be cleansed, but you touched him. How great is your purity, Lord Jesus. What we just read about is full of how something that is unclean makes anyone who touches it unclean, but oh Lord, your cleanness has been so great that when you come and you touch us and you join yourself to us by your spirit, we don't defile you, you cleanse us. And so grant that work by your spirit, we pray, both in the justifying sense for any who are still in their sin, O Lord, give them faith to be united to you, saving that they may be righteous and cleansed once for all in that way. But O Lord, give it to us also in the sanctifying sense. that more and more by the application, by the washing of your blood, which cleanses us from all our sin, we would be made more and more clean until at last we are part of your bride of the last day, and there is no spot in us whatsoever. So grant it, we ask in your own precious name, Lord Jesus. Amen.