Newport weekly independent., 1903-10-30
; Power to Save

With the foulneSs of lust and passionate desire. Sin is sin in Gods sight, and when it is finished, it bringeth forth death" for ''the wages of sin is death" " I HIS man needed not to be told that
 he was a leper. He knew it. But not all are willing to admit that they are sinners, notwithstanding that God says: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" There is none that doeth good no not one" And 'if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. '' All, then, are sin lepers.
 And if sin lepers we need cleansing and healing as much as did the leper referred to in our text. The latter realized that no human help could save him, but it is not so easy to lead the sin ner to see that there is no hope for him save in the Great Physician. Jesus Christ He may be willing to admit that man is sinner but he will not be so ready to cencede the point that there IS no hope for him in himself But as surely as no leper ever healed himself of the terrible disease, so surely has no soul ever been freed from the leprosy of sin by it's own efforts or other human aid. But Jesus could cure the leper, and he can cure the sin leper "He is able to save unto the uttermost." The most desperate case of leprosy had to yield to His Divine power, and the worst case Of sin leprosy can be cured by the same marvellous touch. No leper need nave gone without healing in Palestine during Jesus ministry, and 10 sinner need go without cleansing and salvation to-day. Jesus power was not exhausted when this poor man was restored to health and home and friends, and Jesus IS as mighty to save to-day from the consequences and power of sin as He was when He met the chiefest of sinners on the road to Damascus and delivered him from the power of the devil which was driving him through the lard like a mad man.
 4 MOTHER thing about this mans 1A Ieprosy: It separated him from everything in this life worth having home, friends, loved ones, and active useful share in lifes activities. And turning to the sin leper we find that his sin shuts him away from God. Sin, like thick cloud rises between the soul ana It's Creator, and shuts out the brightness of eternal hope: it shuts out the joy of real abiding happiness; It blinds the soul to that real success in He which makes God it's center and it's ultimate aim. Sin separates from God
 The sense of that separation may not De present in the soul in this life, but what that separation will mean through out eternity, only eternity will reveal. The rich man in hell, of whom Jesus gives us a glimpse in the parable of the rich man and Lazaraus, realized what separation from God meant as the tor ments of the damned laid hold upon his soul, but while he sat within his sump- tuous palace and Lazarus lay at his gate, he was utterly unconscious of that separation and indifferent as to its con- sequences. But the days of self-ease and qualification were soon ended. and his soul was at last forced to realize what separation from God meant. And the sinner, like the foul Ieper, is an outcast. His soul is separated from all it's highest and best possibilities It is feeding on the husks O. the world when God made it with a capacity for things spiritual, things eternal and Heaven ly. Jesus was glad to heal the leper and restore him to his hcme, his family and his friends, and it gives Him un- speakable joy to cleanse the sinner and restore him to right relations with God and the world, for that is what He came into the world to do.
 TT WAS not long-distance or absent l treatment which Jesus gave to this man. He put forth His hand and touched him" An, what a picture we have here of our Saviour The foulest leper upon appeal to Him could feel the touch of His gracious, loving hand, and the vilest sinner may cry with the pub lican in the Temple: God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" and the arms of the Saviour are at once thrown around the penitent, and the blood of Jesus cleanses from all guilt He put forth His hand and touched him." F. B. Meyer says: No one else would have dared to do as much. To touch that flesh, according to the Levitical code. would induce un- cleanness. But Jesus shrank not. On the one hand, He knew that the cere- monial restrictions were abolished in Himself; on the other, He desired to teach that sin cannot defile the Divine holiness of the Saviour. Whatever be the sories of sin that are breathed into His ear; whatever the bruises and putre- flying sores which are opened to His touch; whatever the sights and scenes with which He has to cope-none of these can leave a taint of evil in His sinless heart. It would be as impos-