Psalm 51: Finding Forgiveness and Cleansing Through Christ

The importance of acknowledging sin and asking for forgiveness.

How sin affects our relationship with God.

The concept of being born in sin and the need for salvation.

David's prayer for forgiveness and cleansing through Christ.

Psalm 51 this morning, if you'd like to follow along, you can do so. Psalm 51. It is, I remember my dad used to say that a lot. He'd say, you know, you need to follow along, that way you know what I'm saying is true. So, yeah, that's why it's always good to bring your Bible with you, or some kind of Bible. because you can download an app on your phone if you would like. That's one thing that is cool about technology, that we can have the Bible with us at all times. That is pretty cool. But as a physical media type of person like I am, I like the digital movies and I like the digital stuff, but to me there's nothing like actual movies that sit on the shelf that you pull off, like a Blu-ray or a DVD. that's my thing. I like the physical. And I like to hold the Bible in my hands. I like to hold the Bible in my hands to be able to feel the pages and all. But one way or the other, whether you use the actual Bible or whether you use a digital Bible, whatever the case may be, follow along and let's jump into the Word today with the idea of whiter than snow. This, of course, here is a prayer of David or a psalm of David, if you will. And he starts in verse one and we're just going to read the first six verses. We're not going to really break them down. We're going to get to the final one and that's going to be our key verse. But we do want to read the entire chapter because it is, or the entire first seven verses because it's pretty, pretty good. He starts off in verse one. He says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto thy multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Just to stop real quick. The only one that can truly blot out transgressions is God. There's no way to blot out your own transgressions. Only God can do that. Verse 2 says, wash me thoroughly of my iniquity. and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me. I like the idea there of acknowledging your transgression. That's the only way you can get true forgiveness is to acknowledge it. If you don't acknowledge the fact that you've sinned, you're never going to ask for forgiveness, right? If you think you're not sinning, you're not going to ask for forgiveness. You have to come to that realization that you acknowledge the fact you're a sinner and you need a savior. That's the point. Verse 4 says, Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. or judges. Okay? King James Version. Sometimes it's a little hard to get them worked out, right? But it's interesting. I like what David's saying here. Against me and thee only have I sinned. He realizes that maybe he sinned, but the only true person that he has really sinned against is God because God lays out the plan. God says, this is the way walk you in it, And if we don't walk in it, we are literally spitting in the face of God saying, hey, I'm going to do what I want to do. We're not. They used to say, and my dad used to say that too. You're only hurting yourself. Right? When you sin against God. You're not hurting other people. I mean, your sin may go out and hurt somebody else. But really, the only person you really hurt when you sin is yourself. Because you're cutting yourself off from God when you sin. You cannot sin and be in right relationship with God. It's just not possible. That's why we have to live a sinless life. Now, that doesn't mean you can never sin. That's not what I'm saying. That doesn't mean you'll never be tempted and never fall into sin and maybe have to ask for forgiveness from God. That's not what I'm talking about. But our goal should be living a Christ-like life, a sinless type of life. That's what we should be doing. I like that. Against thee and only thee have I sinned. Verse 5 says, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now that doesn't mean that he was born out of wedlock. That's not what that means. What he's saying is every man is born in sin. We're born sinners. Nobody is born saved by God. It doesn't happen that way. Nobody's born saved. We have to come to that realization that we are sinners and we need to be saved. Now there comes an age of accountability, right? because a lot of people when you say that they think oh well then that means children if they die young then they're not saved well no that's not true because a child does not understand his sin when a child comes to the age of accountability where he understands his sin then that's when God steps in and says okay now you need to accept me right but if a child does not come to that age of accountability that's when God steps in and says, no, come with me anyway. You don't understand yet. I'll take care of it. That's grace. Amen. See, that's what that is. And David understood that he was a sinner. David understood that he was a sinner. David sinned time after time after time. Constantly sinning against God Constantly falling He was a flawed Christian That what David was David was a flawed God follower He had problems. He had problems. The worst thing that David ever did in his whole entire time was the fact of to look at Bathsheba and sit there and say, wow, I'd like to be with her. and then do so. And that was a sin, number one. First off, looking at a married woman and that way, first sin. Secondly, to act on that sin, number two. Thirdly, they conceived a child, that's three. Then to look and say, oh, well, let's cover this up, take her husband, throw him into the hottest part of the fire to try to kill him, which he did. That's number four. And then try to hide it thinking, oh, I'm okay. You think about how much of a sinful point that is in David's life. It's crazy. But that's what sin does. Sin will make us do things we never thought we would do. And that's what happened to David. David started off and then it just became a snowball. You remember the snowball rolling down the hill? It gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And that's exactly what it was for David. David started off with a little sin and it got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until it was too much and David still thought he was okay that was the point David still thought he was okay even when he had her she and his husband killed and conceived a child out of wedlock and the whole nine yards and everything and did all this He still thought he was on a right relationship with God. It wasn't until the prophet came to him and told him a story. And then David sat there and he said, Well, a man that does something like this, he ought to be punished. And the prophet looked at David and he said, Thou art the man. And then David realized, Wow, you know what? I have done this. I'm not in a right relationship with God. I'm not good with God right now. That's when David began to pray, Have mercy upon me, O God. Verse 6 says, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Now this was David's beginning to his prayer. we always have a beginning right before we get down to the nitty gritty right I always a lot of times when I pray maybe you do as well sometimes what I do is if I'm going to pray I do what Jesus said what he told his disciples they said how do you pray Lord we don't know how to pray Lord he says pray this way our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Everything that you need to pray is right there. Everything that you need to pray is right there. And sometimes when I pray, that's what I do. I start off that way. And then I get down to the mini degrees. Then I get down to where I need to talk to the Lord, right? Well, see, David had done his introduction, and now he's getting down to the nitty-gritty here. He's getting down to where he needs to be in verse 7. This is our key point. Verse 7 says, Purge me with hisom. Now, I like that word purge. Purge is a noun. It means to rid someone of an unwanted feeling, memory, or condition. see David was looking to be released of the heaviness of the sin that was weighing him down that's why he said purge me I like that purge me, rid me of this heaviness of the sin that is beseeching me that is dragging me down purge me with hyssop Now, hyssop is a very interesting word. We look at the word hyssop and we go, hyssop. What in the world is hyssop? Because it sounds like a weird word, hyssop. It sounds like something a snake would do, hyssop. But it's true, hyssop. What is hyssop? Well, I'm going to tell you what hyssop is. It's a plant native to southern Europe and the Middle East. and the regions surrounding the Caspian Sea. Okay? Now, it's interesting because hyssop has properties that are antiseptic. They're also a cough reliever, and they can be used as medicine. Now, the interesting thing is that the oil of the hyssop plant is also used to make perfume, so it's a very sweet-smelling thing as well. Okay? Now, the hyssop plant was also used as a way to spread blood. You remember the account of the Israeli people? When God said to put the blood over the doorpost of the house, they used the hyssop plant. Because it was easy to do so. And when the death angel saw blood, it would pass over. See, this is the interesting thing. So that's why David was saying, purge me with hyssop. Use this plant to help me. I like that. He says, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. I like that. Clean. What does it mean to be clean? Jesus blood is the only thing that can clean us that can clean us thoroughly I like that I like what it says when he says Neither by blood of goats or by calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place That's found in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. See, Jesus' blood was the blood that would cleanse for all. Once and for all. See, because the Israeli people would have to go and have to continuously be forgiven of sins every year on Yom Kippur. They would have to sacrifice a lamb or an animal to bring about sin forgiveness. Jesus came and died on a cross for our sins once and for all so that we would never have to worry about that. Jesus' blood cleanses. I like that. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. And then I love what he says. Wash me. And I will be whiter than snow. Now the interesting thing about blood. And I've said this before but it's so true. The interesting thing about blood. Is you get blood in your clothes. It's hard to get out. It's not even possible to get blood stains out. Depending on how deep they are. How deep set they are. But if you get blood stains in your clothes, it's very, very difficult to get it out. Jesus' blood is the only blood that cleanses and makes it cleaner. Hallelujah. Jesus' blood makes you cleaner. It doesn't set a stain. It cleans the stain. Hallelujah. Isn't that awesome? I love that. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7 says, in whom we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace. Beautiful words. Beautiful words. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Jesus' blood was shed on Calvary's cross for us. Now sometimes we look and we say, well, I don't have need to be washed because I was washed many years ago. I like to think of it this way sometimes. Sometimes we need a second dip, right? Sometimes we need another dip. Reminds me of Naaman. You remember Naaman? Naaman was a leper. and he went everywhere trying to get clean but he couldn't get clean everywhere he went he couldn't get clean every doctor couldn't get him clean they found out there was a prophet that could probably help him so he went down there to the prophet the prophet didn't even come out and talk to him the prophet sent out his servant said tell him to go dip into Jordan seven times he'll be clean wow That almost feels a little crude, doesn't it? You know? You expect the servant of the Lord to kind of help you. That'd be like the preacher, right? Go to the preacher and say, I need the preacher to pray for me. And the preacher send out somebody else and say, okay, go on your way. You're praying for you. You can go home now. wouldn't make you too happy would it you'd sit there and say couldn't that preacher pray for me that's exactly what David felt I thought sure he could come out and lay his hands on me or at least pray over me or something but he didn't have the common distance he didn't come and even do that so David sat there and said I'm just going to go home and I love Naaman's people. Naaman's people sat there and said to him, but sir, if the prophet would have told you to climb the highest mountain or to defeat an army or to do anything like that, you'd have done it just like that. But he's just saying go dip in the drawer. Can't you do it? They were using a little child psychology, if you will, with Naaman, right? Naaman realized what they were saying so Naaman went down the river. River Jordan. Let me tell you something. That was one thing about the river Jordan. You don't want to go to the river Jordan. You don't want to go to the river Jordan. We have a river behind here. Behind our church, right? You don't want to go to that river. Believe me, I've been down there. I've been looking in that thing. I wouldn't want to go in there. That's about how Jordan was. It was muddy and disgusting and it was just not the most clean of rivers. It was kind of nasty. That would be like going down to the Clinch River and trying to dip seven times. If God told us to go down to the Clinch River and dip seven times, I don't know how many of us would want to do it. That's where Naaman was. He was like, I don't want to go down there. There's a cleaner river. I don't want to go dip it down. Right? So they used a little child psychology and Naaman decided, okay, I'm going down to the Jordan River. He said, Clinton River. Down to the Jordan River. And he started to dip. One time, nothing. Second time, nothing. Third time, nothing. Probably about the third time he was looking dirtier than he was when he first started. Fourth time, even worse. Fifth time, disgusting, six times, muddy, and just all over. But he continued, and then when he dipped the seventh time, and then he came up, he looked, and his leprosy was gone. See, sometimes it takes a couple dips Sometimes it takes a few dips Maybe it takes seven dips but whatever the case may be whatever we need we need to do it Maybe you been forgiven of your sins But maybe there's things in your life that keep you from being at your best for God. You need a second dip. You need to have the blood applied a second time. And if you do, then you can be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow. Yes, whiter than snow. Just wash me and I shall be lighter than snow. See, that's what we need sometimes. Our lives should be like new fallen snow. When snow first falls, there's probably nothing more beautiful. And really, but after it falls and then after people start running over it, then it's disgusting. Of course, right? But that first new fall of snow is gorgeous. It's beautiful. It reminds me of Jazz every time I think of snow. Because when I first got Jazz, she was just, let's see, six weeks old. And it was about, at about eight weeks, we had the first snow. And put her a little coat on her and I took her out. And she had never seen snow before in her life. And she looked for the first time at snow because she had seen nothing but grass. And then she saw all this white stuff, and she looks and goes, like, yeah. And I said, come on, we've got to go out. And she's looking at it, and I go, come on. And so I have to pull her, and she puts her foot in the snow for the first time. And she picked her foot up and kind of shook it. And it's like, ooh, that's cold. She didn't want to be in the snow, right? Now, now, the snow comes, and she wants to burrow it, right? Because she knows what snow is. It's like, this is fun. Let's jump. Let's burrow through it, right? See, but that first time we see, it's beautiful. Right? That's what we want to be. That's the way we need to be as Christians. Our lives need to be like that new fallen snow. Pure and clean. Glistening in the sun. or as for us as Christians, glistening in the sun. The sun of God. We should be pure and clean, glistening in the light of the sun of God, Christ Jesus. So maybe today there's something that's, you look at your life and you're saying, you know what, I want to be clean. I want to be glistening like that new fallen snow. I need a second dip. I need a second blood applied to my life so that I can glisten in the sun of God. Let's bow our heads before the Lord this morning. As we bow our heads, I want you to look in your life this morning. And as you look inside, do you feel like you need that second just touch, that second blood applied so that you can be glistening in the sun like that new fallen snow? Would there be someone that would be honest to God this morning and say, I need a second dip. I need a second touch. Would you raise up the hand this morning? Hands going up. That's beautiful. Honest lives this morning. That's beautiful. I appreciate that. Maybe there's someone watching this video this morning and they're saying, you know what, I need that maybe the first dip or maybe the second dip. Whatever the case may be, raise your hand where you're at. Father God, you saw these hymns, these ones that are watching the video, these ones here in this house. These ones saying, I want the blood applied in my life. That I can be like new fallen snow. Pure, clean, white as snow. Father God, I pray for these ones. Their honesty is so true. Their honesty tells a story that they truly need you, Father. They want you as part of their life. They want to be an example of what God is. They want to be so pure and so clean and so white as snow that people look at them and they say they must belong to the king. I pray for these ones today, Father God. I pray that you will clean, that you will wipe them clean of all iniquity, all the bad things. And Father God, make them whiter than snow, that they will shine like bright newfound snow. And people will know beyond a shadow of a doubt they belong to the King. I pray that right now in Jesus' name. Father God, I thank you for today. I thank you for this time together. I thank you that we could gather together and be in your house. I want to thank you for the touch of the Master's hand. I want to thank you that you do clean and make us clean. Father God, purge us with his help. And we shall be clean. Wash us and we shall be whiter than snow. I pray that right now for your people today. Father, I thank you for this time. Father, this time is such a precious time. a time when we can gather together and just praise you for all the goodness that you do Father we thank you today for the anointing, for the touch and for the blessing that it is to be in your house now Father as we dismiss Father God we ask that you will not dismiss us but Father God we ask that you will go with us you will keep us safe and then Father God you will bring us back safe into your house that we might be able to worship you next time Father for all that you are for all that you do we give you all praise and honor and glory for it all for it's in jesus name we beg these blessings today and we say a hearty amen

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