Depravity

Let us mark, secondly, in these verses, how help meets men in the path of obedience. We are told that when the lepers cried to our Lord, He only replied, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” He did not touch them and command their disease to depart. He prescribed no medicine, no washing, no use of outward material means Yet healing power accompanied the words which He spoke. Relief met the afflicted company as soon as they obeyed His command. “It came to pass that as they went they were cleansed.” A fact like this is doubtless intended to teach us knowledge. It shows us the wisdom of simple, childlike obedience to every word which comes from the mouth of Christ. It does not become us to stand still, and reason, and doubt, when our Master’s commands are plain and unmistakeable. If the lepers had acted in this way, they would never have been healed. We must read the Scriptures diligently. We must try to pray. We must attend on the public means of grace. All these are duties Which Christ requires at our hands, and to which, if we love life, we must attend, without asking vain and captious questions. It is just in the path of unhesitating obedience that Christ will meet and bless us. “If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine.”

The conduct of the ten lepers is very instructive. It throws light on a most important subject in practical Christianity, which we can never understand too well. That subject is prayer. How is it that many never pray at all? How is it that many others are content to repeat a form of words, but never pray with their hearts? How is it that dying men and women, with souls to be lost or saved, can know so little of real, hearty, business-like prayer? The answer to these questions is short and simple. The bulk of mankind have no sense of sin. They do not feel their spiritual disease. They are not conscious that they are lost, and guilty, and hanging over the brink of hell. When a man finds out his soul’s ailment, he soon learns to pray. Like the leper, he finds words to express his want. He cries for help. How is it, again, that many true believers often pray so coldly? What is the reason that their prayers are so feeble, and wandering, and lukewarm, as they frequently are? The answer once more is very plain. Their sense of need is not so deep as it ought to be. They are not truly alive to their own weakness and helplessness, and so they do not cry fervently for mercy and grace. Let us remember these things. Let us seek to have a constant and abiding sense of our real necessities. If saints could only see their souls as the ten afflicted lepers saw their bodies, they would pray far better than they do.

Verse 1

Ah! how shall fallen man
Be just before his God?
If he contend in righteousness,
We fall beneath his rod.

Verse 2

If he our ways should mark
With strict inquiring eyes,
Could we for one of thousand faults
A just excuse devise?

Verse 3

All-seeing, powerful God,
Who can with thee contend?
Or who that tries the unequal strife,
Shall prosper in the end?

Verse 4

Ah! how shall guilty man
Contend with such a God?
None, none can meet him and escape,
But through the Savior’s blood.

Verse 1

“Almost persuaded” now to believe;
“Almost persuaded” Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say,
“Go, Spirit, go thy way;
Some more convenient day
On thee I’ll call.”

Verse 2

“Almost persuaded,” come, come to-day;
“Almost persuaded,” turn not away,
Jesus invites you here,
Angels are ling’ring near,
Pray’rs rise from hearts so dear;
Oh, wand’rer, come!

Verse 3

“Almost persuaded,” harvest is past!
”Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last!
”Almost” cannot avail;
“Almost” is but to fail!
Sad, sad that bitter wail,--
“Almost,” but lost!

Verse 1

“Almost persuaded” now to believe;
“Almost persuaded” Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say,
“Go, Spirit, go thy way;
Some more convenient day
On thee I’ll call.”

Verse 2

“Almost persuaded,” come, come to-day;
“Almost persuaded,” turn not away,
Jesus invites you here,
Angels are ling’ring near,
Pray’rs rise from hearts so dear;
Oh, wand’rer, come!

Verse 3

“Almost persuaded,” harvest is past!
”Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last!
”Almost” cannot avail;
“Almost” is but to fail!
Sad, sad that bitter wail,--
“Almost,” but lost!

Verse 1

And can I yet delay
My little all to give?
To tear my soul from earth away,
For Jesus to receive?

Verse 2

Nay, but I yield, I yield,
I can hold out no more:
I sink, by dying love compelled,
And own thee conqueror.

Verse 3

Tho’ late, I all forsake,
My friends, my all resign;
Gracious Redeemer, take, oh, take,
And seal me ever thine.

Verse 4

Come and possess me whole,
Nor hence again remove;
Settle and fix my wav’ring soul
With all thy weight of love.

Verse 1

Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat,
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before his feet,
For none can perish there.

Verse 2

Thy promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh;
Thou call’st the burdened souls to thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

Verse 3

Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed;
By wars without and fears within,
I come to thee for rest.

Verse 4

Oh, wondrous love! to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame;
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead thy gracious name.

Verse 1

Arise, my soul, arise,
Shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice
In my behalf appears;
Before the throne my Surety stands,
My name is written on his hands.

Verse 2

He ever lives above,
For me to intercede;
His all-redeeming love,
His precious blood to plead;
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Verse 3

Five bleeding wounds he bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly speak for me;
Forgive him, O forgive, they cry,
Nor let that ransomed sinner die.

Verse 4

The Father hears him pray,
His dear Anointed One;
He cannot turn away
The presence of his Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

Verse 5

My God is reconciled,
His pard’ning voice I hear,
He owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear;
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And Father, Abba, Father, cry.

Verse 1

Arise, my soul, arise,
Shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice
In my behalf appears;
Before the throne my Surety stands,
My name is written on his hands.

Verse 2

He ever lives above,
For me to intercede;
His all-redeeming love,
His precious blood to plead;
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Verse 3

Five bleeding wounds he bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly speak for me;
Forgive him, O forgive, they cry,
Nor let that ransomed sinner die.

Verse 4

The Father hears him pray,
His dear Anointed One;
He cannot turn away
The presence of his Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

Verse 5

My God is reconciled,
His pard’ning voice I hear,
He owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear;
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And Father, Abba, Father, cry.

Verse 1

Astonished and distressed,
I turn mine eyes within;
My heart with loads of guilt oppressed,
The source of every sin.

Verse 2

What crowds of evil thoughts,
What vile affections there!
Envy and pride, deceit and guile,
Distrust and slavish fear.

Verse 3

Almighty King of saints!
These tyrant lusts subdue;
Drive the old serpent from his seat,
And all my powers renew.

Verse 4

This done,--my cheerful voice
Shall loud hosannas raise;
My heart shall glow with gratitude,
My lips be filled with praise.