The Bible speaks of the leopard’s spots— you remember the verse.
Once a French menagerie was visiting Moscow. Its owner could not speak Russian, but by the aid of signs he arranged with a native workman to clean out the cages. In order to show him the way, he took a bucket and a sponge and entering a cage where some harmless animals were, began to wash it out. A young antelope was there, and by way of giving it a treat he rublied its back with a wet sponge. Then he left the man to continue the work. Imagine his horror and surprise on returning a little later, to see the Russian in a leopard’s cage, trying in vain to rub out the black spots! The soothing attention pleased the brute, and he stretched out his limbs to be sponged; but all the water in the world could never take out the marks upon his skin.
Now the Bible says that sin make spots just as indelible upon the soul. The Pharisees thought that by attending to the outward rites of religion they could keep their hearts free from sin. They were just as foolish as the ignorant Russian who scrubbed the leopard.
Can nothing then take out the spots of sin? Yes, there is just one thing that can take them away. You know the words,
Sin is a fearful thing, children, and God cannot have it in His holy Presence. So great is your sin and min that Jesus had to DIE in order to bear its punishment. But in dying He shed His precious blood—the blood that cleanses sin away and leaves the one who believes in Him, “Whiter than snow.” Thus and thus only can our, “leopard spots,” be removed.
ML 08/11/1946