Psalm 51, we're going to read verses 1 through
7. Verses 1 through 7. Be gracious to me, O God,
according to your lovingkindness, according to
the greatness of your compassion, blot out my
transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. You only I have
sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so
that you are justified when you speak and blameless
when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being,
and in the hidden part you will make me know
wisdom. Here's our text for today. Purify me
with hyssop. and I shall be clean. Wash me, and
I shall be whiter than snow. As we continue considering
Psalm 51, I think it's a good thing to do by
way of reminder, just for us to meditate for
a moment and consider for a moment why we...
do expositional preaching. Why we give ourselves
to looking at the Word of God in an in -depth
way and drawing out its meaning. Drawing out
the connections that are present. Drawing out
the truth that is present. And doing our best
not to put in our own meaning, and our own spin
on things. Expositional preaching helps us to
receive the most out of the Word of God. We want
to know what God has to say. We want to know
all that God has to say for His church. Therefore,
we have to mine The scriptures. We have to dig
in them. So as we look at Psalm 51, we don't
do this just to fill our heads with information,
do we? We come and we continue to look at Psalm
51 because we need to know what Psalm 51 has
to say for our lives. Because we believe that
we are justified men and women as David was a
justified man. And David dealt with sin as we
deal with sin. So Psalm 51 has truth for us from
God. And we want to know what it says. Psalm
51 helps us understand what it means to walk.
in fellowship and communion with God. Psalm 51
helps us understand what it means to be a better
penitent sinner, meaning to better repent of
our sins. We need, brothers and sisters, better
repentance in our lives. Psalm 51 helps us understand
what it means to confess our sin to God. Brothers
and sisters, we need to confess our sin better
to God. Psalm 51 helps us understand what it
means to have faith in Jesus Christ. All of us,
every single one of us, each one of us in this
room need to have a stronger Faith in Jesus Christ.
We all need more godly sorrow. So Psalm 51 helps
us in all of these things. It's relevant for
our lives. It would be a dangerous thing to hear
and read and learn about confession and repentance
and faith and to hear about these things. And
to learn about these things. But never take from
the word of God. And apply these things to your
life. It would be a dangerous thing to sit week
in and week out. Under the preaching of Psalm
51. And never learn what it means to repent better.
To confess better. To have a greater and a stronger
faith in Jesus Christ. Sit under the preaching
of God's word and receive the truth that is in
the scripture and let it affect your faith. Let
it affect your repentance. Let it affect your
confession. Let it affect your fellowship and
your communion with God, brothers and sisters.
That's the purpose. That's why we continue going
through Psalm 51. That's why we continue expositing
the Word of God Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.
Because we need these things desperately because
of the waywardness of our hearts. Because of
the sinfulness of our hearts. We need constant
reminder that we need to repent. So, by way of
reminder, Take these things, sit under these
things, receive these things, accept these things
into your heart, into your mind, into your soul,
and let them affect you, your will, your behavior,
your life. Now, as we come to Psalm 51, verse
7, where David cries out, Purify me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean. Wash me. and I shall be
whiter than snow. He is alluding to something
that we've already touched on briefly previously.
And that's the reality that David is likening
his sin to that of leprosy and its effects in
his life. By his referencing hyssop, we know
that he is referencing leprosy. and the ceremonial
purification and the rites and rituals of the
ceremonial law that had to do with leprosy. Leprosy
had unpleasant effects, not just physically,
but spiritually, emotionally, and in reality,
on the one who had leprosy. We read in Leviticus
chapter 13, And Leviticus chapter 13 is all about
the removal of the one who is unclean. The removal
of the one who has leprosy. Here's what we read.
As for the leper, this is in verse 45 and 46.
As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes
shall be torn and the hair of his head shall
be uncovered. He shall cover his mustache and
cry, unclean, unclean. He shall remain unclean
all the days during which he has the infection.
He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling
shall be outside the camp. Those words may not
mean that much to us because we're so far removed.
But to that leper? His whole life was just turned
upside down. He's kicked out of his house. He's
removed from his dwelling, which he stayed in.
His belongings are burned. And he's forced to
make his disease known publicly. And anytime
somebody comes near or walks by, what does the
leopard have to cry out? Unclean, unclean, making
everybody known, everybody aware that he is infected,
that he is unclean, that he is dirty, that he
is impure. And more than that, he has to live
outside the camp alone. That means that he's
cut off, in a sense, from the worship of God.
He's cut off from fellowship and communion with
the God of Israel who redeemed him. This means
that he's separated. From the people of God,
all the rights, the privileges, the blessings
that come from being a part of the nation of
Israel, the leper is removed from it. The leper
is cut off from it. He can't get to them because
he is unclean. David is likening the effects
of his sin To leprosy. He's saying that his sin.
Has shut him out. From the divine presence. He's
saying that his sin. Has deadened him. And has
shut him out. And has removed him. From all the
blessed privileges. And the graces that come.
As being a part of the new covenant. As a part
of the covenant. And being a child of God. He's
saying that his sin. has separated him from the
people of God. It's put a barrier between him
and God's people. It's put a barrier between
him and God himself. This is what sin does, isn't
it, brothers and sisters? Sin removes us. It
separates us. It puts distance between us. It
isolates us. Sin is separating in nature. Do
you know why? Because when the soul becomes corrupted,
there comes an aversion to that which is holy,
that which is righteous, that which is good.
Sin gives the child of God. A distaste for God
himself because of the pollution that's in the
soul. Sin draws us away from that which is holy
and that which is good and that which is righteous.
And that's what David is saying in verse 7. Now,
as we examine this text in verse 7, there's three
things that we need to look at. The first. Being
the means that God has given for purification
and cleansing. We read in verse 7, David says,
Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean. He
doesn't simply say purify me, wash me like he
did before. But now he makes a reference to that
which is the means that he is to be washed with
or washed by. Hyssop. So what is hyssop? Hyssop
was a green and a very furry and a leafy herb
that was used in several rituals and rites of
the ceremonial law in the Old Covenant. Now remember,
the leper has gone out of camp because of his
uncleanness. That was chapter 13 of Leviticus.
If we turn to chapter 14 of Leviticus, we read
of the restoration of the leper back to camp.
And what are the means that are appointed by
which the leper can return to camp? That's the
question we need to look at. Starting in chapter
14, verse 1. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
This shall be the law of the leper in the day
of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to
the priest and the priest shall go out to the
outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look.
And if the infection of leprosy has been healed
in the leper, then the priest shall give orders
to take two live clean birds and a cedar wood
and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop
for the one. who is to be cleansed. To the priest,
the priest, I'm sorry, shall also give orders
to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel
over running water. As for the live bird, he
shall take it together with the cedar wood and
the scarlet string and the hyssop and shall dip
them and the live bird in the blood of the bird
that was slain over the running water. He shall
then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be
cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce
him clean and shall let the live bird go free
over the open field. David is appealing to hyssop,
which has to do with the sacrificial blood. That
would restore him to camp. He's appealing to
the sprinkling of the blood. That which would
restore him, which would renew him to the people
of God. David is referencing the ceremonial law.
And images and symbols and types and parts of
the ceremonial law. He's referencing hyssop.
But he's looking. to God to fulfill these realities
in his life. He's not going to the ceremonial
law to be cleansed of his inward purification,
is he? No, but the ceremonial law gives him these
categories, gives him these pictures, gives him
these ideas, so that he knows unclean can become
clean through the cleansing of blood and hyssop.
So the ceremonial law is helping him understand
these redemptive ideas. It's pointing him, what?
To the reality that he knows he needs sacrificial
blood to be cleansed on his insides. He understands.
So what does he do? He goes to God in faith.
And he believes that God is going to do this
for him. He's looking to the means. And he's
going to God for the reality that the ceremonial
law is symbolically portraying and putting forward.
We have much fuller revelation than David. We
have a closed canon, brothers and sisters. Whereas
David was dealing with types and shadows, And
he was looking to God in faith to fulfill these
realities. We know the great sacrifice which
we must appeal to for fresh sprinkling in our
lives. And the new covenant to be washed and
cleansed, don't we? It's the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. His blood which purifies and cleanses
and washes. And we must go to God, seeking out
that sprinkling. Hebrews 9, 13 helps us in our
understanding of this a great deal. We read in
Hebrews 9, 13, sorry, 13 through 14. For if the
blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of heifers
sprinkling, he's alluding to... Hyssop there.
Hyssop was used in the offering of the heifer.
So hyssop is involved. Hyssop is later referenced
in the book of Hebrews. For if the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
those who have been defiled sanctify for the
cleansing of the flesh. Here it is. How much
more will the blood of Christ who through the
eternal spirit offered himself without blemish
to God. Cleanse your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God. We look not to this
idea of sacrificial blood. We look... To the
Lord Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, his
atoning work. We know that it's his blood, his
death, his sacrifice, his work alone, which is
sufficient to cleanse us of our sins. And it's
the only place that we can go for cleansing.
It's the only place we can go for purification
of our sins. And brothers and sisters, it is
utterly sufficient for this purpose. It is utterly
sufficient for this purpose. His sacrifice was
once for all. When we talk about being restored
with the Lord after sinning, when we talk about
renewal and moral purification, it's not so much
about the nature of our sin. As it is about the
nature and the efficacy of the death and the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. What is so bad about
your sin that his death is insufficient to cover
it? How is it that you are so bad that you cannot
be cleansed, that you cannot be purified, that
you cannot be washed by his blood? There is no
sin so bad, so grievous, so horrible that his
blood will not wash you of it. That his blood
will not cleanse you of that sin. It's about
the nature and the efficacy of his sacrifice.
Didn't Jesus say it is finished? Has he not obtained
eternal redemption? Is it not done? Is sin not
taken care of by the blessed work of the Son
of God? Did the Lord not receive him on the third
day and accept his sacrifice as sufficient and
adequate and confirm the sufficiency of His death
and His sacrifice in the resurrection? Was God
not pleased to declare that Christ's sacrifice
was efficient in raising Him from the dead and
declaring that He is the Son of God in power?
Brothers and sisters, His sacrifice is effective
to cover sins. His sacrifice, His blood, is the
only thing that can. Where else are you looking?
Where else do you go to have your sins washed?
Where else can you go to have your wickedness
cleansed from you? There's nowhere else to go.
You must cry out with David, purify me with hyssop.
But our cry is purify me with the blood of Christ.
We must go to the Lord Jesus Christ because he's
the only appointed means that God has given for
purification, cleansing, and for atonement in
the life of any sinner, any at all, must go to
Christ. This leads us to the second thing, the
priest being looked to for purification and cleansing.
The leper had to have the ritual purification
administered by the priest. It was only the priest
that could administer the ritual purification
with hyssop. The leper would have worked with
the priest, would have gone to the priest, would
have had to dealt with the priest, would have
heard from the priest, would have followed the
priest's instructions. would have obeyed the
priest, would have submitted to the priest. Why?
Because he wanted to be cleansed. He wanted to
return to camp. He wanted to go back to the worship
of God. He wanted to be restored. David isn't
looking to a man in this text as his priest.
David isn't looking horizontally to anybody to
be his priest and administer the sprinkling blood
of Christ. He's looking to heaven. He's looking
to God. He's looking to a divine priest. He's
looking to a heavenly priest. He's looking to
the Lord himself to impart purification and cleansing
in his life. But he is looking to a priest. He's
looking to the Lord to impart his gracious influence
in his life. to sanctify and cleanse his soul.
This is an act of faith on the part of David.
Because he doesn't know all the details explicitly
as we do. He's believing, he's trusting that
God will accomplish this reality in his life.
He's trusting that God will in fact purify him
of his sins. He's believing that his priest in
heaven will in fact cleanse him and make him
whiter than snow. It's an act of faith, brothers
and sisters. He's looking to God. He's looking
to his priest by faith for cleansing, for sanctification,
for holiness. for renewal, for moral purification.
He's believing. We've talked a lot about repentance
and confession in Psalm 51. But in talking about
those things, we mustn't forget and we mustn't
neglect faith. True faith that is necessary and
required. for restoration, brothers and sisters.
It's not just repentance that leads to restoration
with God. It's trust in our great high priest
who leads to restoration with God. What's the
significance of faith in sanctification? We'll
touch on this a bit later. But we see that faith
is just as necessary as repentance. The two must
always be present, though they may not always
manifest themselves at the same time or in the
same way. Faith and repentance must always be
present because God uses faith and repentance,
but primarily faith, to sanctify the sinner.
to restore the sinner. It's through faith as
an instrument that Christ sanctifies his people.
So faith is vitally important, and it must be
faith in Christ as our high priest. We think
about repentance, and the Bible describes repentance
as repentance toward God. God is holy. God is
righteous. God is just. God is offended. But
God in a general way is not the object of our
faith, brothers and sisters. God in a general
and a vague way is not the object on what we
believe. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God -man. We believe in his life, his death,
and his resurrection. We believe in his priestly
work of atonement and sacrifice. So yes, we must
have repentance with regards to our sin, but
we must also have faith which rests squarely
on the Lord Jesus Christ and on his work, believing
that he will continue to minister to us. That
he will continue to save us. He will continue
to sanctify us through his spirit from heaven.
Looking to him as David looked to God. Looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven who is our
great high priest. Trusting in him to do that
which David was trusting in God for. To purify
us of our sins. To cleanse us and to wash us
of our iniquity. We must deal with our sins.
That's the reality of it, brothers and sisters.
We must deal with our sins. But we must deal
with Christ by faith. We must deal with Christ
by faith and we must deal with our sins. We must
do both. When we repent, we must trust in Christ
and his death and his sacrifice. Believing what
he has done. People trust in all kinds of things.
People believe in all kinds of things to be restored
with God. I dare say that we trust in all kinds
of things to try and make ourselves right with
God again after we have sinned. Some people.
Trust and put their faith in service. Meaning,
I've sinned. I feel bad. This isn't good. I have
guilt. I'm just going to serve more. I'm going
to trust that in my service and my good deeds
and my good works, I'll be restored. Some people
trust in ministry. This is something that pastors
deal with, that elders deal with. Trusting in
the work of the ministry. Well, I'm in the ministry.
I'm going to keep pressing on. I'm going to do
good. I'll be good. I'll be good to go. I'll
be right with God. We can't put our faith in
these things. Some people look to the secular
world and secular instruction. What's all the
rage at the moment? Influencers. What's all the
rage? It's those people who have lots of practical
wisdom for our life. Brothers and sisters, that
won't make you right with God. It won't restore
you in your fellowship and your communion with
God. Getting up earlier, working harder, and
putting practical principles into work, into
your life, that won't fix your communion and
fellowship with God. You can't put your faith
in any of that stuff. Some people put their trust
and their faith in secular books and self -help
teaching. Brothers and sisters, that will not
restore you to communion and fellowship with
God. Some people put their faith in repentance
and confession, believing. That if I just repent,
I will be restored no matter what. All I have
to do is say these words and go through this
action. What do they do? The same thing the Church
of Rome does. Separating out these duties and
giving them merit and worth and value in and
of themselves separate from Christ. Brothers
and sisters, this is the danger we have to consider
whenever we think about these things. There is
no value, there is no worth, there is no effectiveness
in repentance, there is no value, and there is
no effectiveness in confession if it's not connected
to Jesus Christ. We can trust in those things.
We can trust in tradition. There's any number
of things we can trust in, but none of them,
not a single one, will restore you to fellowship
with God. Your faith must be placed in Jesus
Christ, trusting him and his sacrifice to restore
you to the Lord. A lot of people, I really don't
think their issue necessarily is repentance.
I think it's where they put their faith. It's
not a matter of forsaking their sin. It's a matter
of... What they trust in. I imagine one of the
struggles. In our area. And I know one of my
struggles. Is trusting in a self -righteous attitude.
And self -righteous wisdom. And self -righteous
supposed good deeds. Brothers and sisters. This
will not restore us to fellowship with God. This
does not lead to joy. This does not lead. To
fellowship with God. Faith in Christ and repentance
toward God lead to restoration. Lead to purification
and cleansing. David is looking to God as his
high priest and we must look to the Lord Jesus
Christ as our great high priest. Now we've considered
the means and we've considered the priest. The
last thing we have to look at is the certainty
of cleansing that's spoken of. David is certain
of this reality. It's amazing when we look at
this text. Listen to these words. I shall be
clean. I shall be whiter than snow. He has confidence
that this will be a reality in his life. That
he will possess this reality in his life. That
this will be a reality in his soul. He even says
that he'll be whiter than snow. He's talking
about the fact That he believes there's abundant
cleansing power in God's cleansing. Meaning,
it's not just that he's going to make me white.
He's going to make me whiter than white. He's
not just going to make me clean. He's going to
make me cleaner than clean. He's going to make
me purer than pure. See, the basis for his confidence
is... The sacrifice. The basis for his confidence
is the priest. Because he knows that the sacrifice
God appoints will in fact cleanse of sin. He
knows that God, his priest, will cleanse him.
It's interesting that He uses the word wash in
verse 7. He says, wash me. That word is actually
used in verse 8 of Leviticus chapter 11. It's
referring to the clothes that the leper has to
wash. It carries this idea that they have to
be manhandled. The clothes have to be rubbed
hard. They have to be beaten almost. It's a forceful
cleansing. It's a forceful washing because the
impurity is so deep. David is confident that
God himself will do this in his life. It's important
for us also to understand and recognize that
David doesn't say these things independently
of what he said before or after. When we consider
this text, when we consider any text, brothers
and sisters, we can't take that verse and solely
take the truth in that verse and separate it
as independent from everything around it. Because
its meaning is dependent somewhat on the meaning
of the context in the verse before it and the
verse after it. Everything helps inform our understanding
of the meaning. So we have to consider what came
before, what preceded this, and what follows
in order to understand the confidence and the
certainty that David has in this cleansing and
purification. What comes before this? Faith and
repentance. Faith and repentance. Now earlier
I told you we'd get to this. Why is faith and
repentance so essential and so important for
restoration, for sanctification, brothers and
sisters? We all know, because we've heard Reformed
teachers say it, we've heard R .C. Sproul say
it, we've heard our favorite preachers say it,
that faith is the instrumental means or cause
of justification. We've all heard that. We've
all understood that meaning, that faith is the
instrument or the cause or the means by which
justification is imputed and given and declared.
Faith is the instrumental cause or means of our
sanctification as well, brothers and sisters.
So why is it important that we have faith and
repentance? Why is it important that we repent
of our sin? Because it's through our faith that
Christ actually purifies us and cleanses us.
And it's not like justification where the weakest,
the smallest degree of faith will equally be
justified in the sight of God. Christ cleanses,
Christ sanctifies, Christ purifies through faith.
He works in the lives of his saints through that
blessed gift of believing in him. So why do we
keep saying you need to repent of your sin? You
need to trust in Christ? Why is repentance important?
Because it shows that you have faith. How do
you know that you have saving faith? How do you
know that you have ongoing, truant, persevering
faith? Because of ongoing and true perseverance
in your life. So it's necessary in order for
sanctification and our great high priest to work
in our life that we believe in him. That we trust
in him. That we repent of our sins. Because it's
through that that he works in our life. That
he exerts his gracious influence into our soul
and purifies us and cleanses us and washes us.
Believe in Christ, its significance, its necessity
for restoration, for renewal, for moral purity
in your life according to the law of God. Now,
this certainty also precedes certain things in
the psalm. Not just does it follow faith and
repentance, but it's important, and I think this
is a hopeful moment in the psalm. This certainty
precedes... What do we read in the next verse?
Joy and gladness. It precedes usefulness. It
precedes worship that's willing and heartfelt.
So certainty with regards to the means that God
has given to be cleansed is what leads to joy
and gladness. It's what leads to true, meaningful,
heartfelt worship in our lives. It's what leads
us back to the camp, brothers and sisters. It's
what restores us to the rights and privileges
of Israel as a leper would, but we experience
the rights and the privileges of the new covenant.
David is confident. that he will be restored,
that he will return to the camp. Now, let me
offer you three applications of this for our
lives. The first is that we are helped in our
understanding of apathy and antipathy towards
holy and divine things. Why would, and we've
touched on this, why would a person have antipathy
or have an antagonistic spirit or a distaste
for the worship of God, for fellowship, for the
preaching of God's word, for prayer, for Bible
studying, for meditation on the word of God?
Because there's unresolved, undealt with, unrepented
of sin remaining in their life. We all know that
feeling. Every single one of us know that feeling.
You sit down to read or study your Bible, and
you just don't want to. You don't desire to,
you don't long to, and you'll do anything and
everything but read that Bible. What is that?
That's our corrupt nature. Working in enmity
and hostility towards holy and divine things.
Now that's magnified when we have willful, volitional,
unrepentant sin in our life. It gives us an aversion
to the corporate worship of God. Unrepentant
of sin tells you to stay home and avoid that
singing and that conviction and that preaching
and those people because it makes me uncomfortable.
I don't like it. I don't like the way it makes
me feel. Brothers and sisters, that's an aversion.
That's an antipathy, or we could say that's complacency
regarding divine and holy things because of unrepentant
of sin potentially in your life. Examine your
hearts, brothers and sisters. Do you have hostility
in your heart towards divine things? Do you have
enmity in your soul against the preaching of
the word of God, against the word of God itself?
Maybe that's because you have unrepented of and
undealt with sin in your life. Maybe it's because
you're not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
as you ought to be believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think about the table. What would keep
somebody from coming to the table? What would
keep you from coming to the table? What would
give you hesitancy from coming to this table,
the blessed table that Christ has appointed to
his church? undealt with, unrepentant of sin
in your life. That's what keeps us from God's
holy things, God's blessed things. Deal with
the sin and go into the camp. Deal with the sin
in your life and go to the holy thing and be
blessed and be edified and be built up. Give
up your sin, forsake it, and lay hold of Christ
by faith and be strengthened. and return to fellowship
with God. So we're given help in this in our
lives. But we're also warned about the danger
of defilement and pollution in the life of the
saint. It's real. Why does David, a saint, a
justified man, why does he need to be purified
and cleansed? Because he's defiled and polluted.
It is just a reality. It's just as much a reality
in the life of a Christian as it is in the life
of the unregenerate and non -Christian. What
we do, what we say, what we participate in, what
we see, what we surround ourselves with are transgression
of God's law. Our sins of omission, they have
impacts that are real on our person. Real defilement
and real pollution enter into our soul. It's
almost as though when we sin, it draws out our
corrupt nature more and more and more. And it
pollutes us more and more and more. And the more
we sin, the more our corrupt nature takes hold
again. The more we sin, the more it lays hold
and it grabs us. And it's harder to shake. It's
harder to get rid of. Pollution and defilement
are a real thing in the life of the one who knows
Jesus Christ. What we look at matters. How we
act matters. Whether or not we sin actually matters
in the life of our souls experimentally, in our
hearts. Actual effects, actual results. Consider
that, brothers and sisters. It's real. Lastly,
we are exhorted to repent, believe, and pray
with David, to cry out to our great high priest.
We are exhorted. to join David in his cry, not
just for the forgiveness of sins, brothers and
sisters, but also for purification and cleansing
in our life. Don't stop at forgive me, Lord.
Continue and press on and ask the Lord to purify
you and make you holy, to cleanse you from your
defilement and your sin and your wickedness in
your life. Continue praying. Press on and be
diligent in prayer. Join together with David.
When you sin, go to the throne quickly and cry
out for purification and holiness. For cleansing
from the defilement you just brought upon your
soul. And trust in your great high priest that
he will in fact purify you and cleanse you of
your sin. That he will work through your faith.
in your soul to sanctify you and make you holy
in this life, brothers and sisters.