“If the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean who has the sore” (Leviticus 13:13)

The skin condition described here is a powerful symbol of how sinners and saints are better off if they know they have no clean spot in themselves. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Romans 7:18-20). 

 Pleading “guilty” to sin is the first step for sinners to being healed. But this is only possible if God illuminates their understanding. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). All sinners are afflicted with a sin disease they have no way to cure. They cover it with beautiful clothing and deny it exists, but unless God saves them, it will take them to Hell (Revelation 22:15). 

 Denial is also a problem for saints who forget who they are. They become shortsighted, even to blindness (2 Peter 1:9). Saints must confess they are "nothing else but sin". Anything short of this is a lie. If the Holy Spirit is to help you, you must know without any doubt, you have no righteousness in yourself (Philippians 3:9). 

 "For let our debts be what they may, however great or small, As soon as we have nought to pay, our Lord forgives us all. Tis perfect poverty alone that sets the soul at large: While we can call one mite our own, we have no full discharge."