July 5, 2009
Dr. Ron Sumners
Washed Clean
Psalm 51 #3
Psalm 51:7
In Psalm 51, we find David pleading with
God for His forgiveness after his sin episode with adultery, lying and murder.
Despite his horrible sin, he remains persistent, constant, and insistent. At
the heart of his prayer of confession was a whole series of requests. David
asks God to purge him – to cleanse him from all that sin. He asks God to wash
him. He asks God to let him hear and see again. He asks God to set aright his
body, soul, and spirit.
A-s-k: a simple, little one-syllable
word. It is a basic concept – such a simple thing to do. To ask someone for
something is no great thing – at least, at first glance it doesn’t seem to be.
Isn’t it strange then, that we attempt to live out our lives only asking for
the things that we absolutely have to have? Some of us are too proud to ask for
anything – even too proud to ask God for anything. We are too proud to ask Him
for the one thing we must have from Him – forgiveness!
The Lord Jesus taught us to ask; “Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). The Apostle James said, “You do not have because
you do not ask.” He also added, “You ask and you do not receive, because you
ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3).
David avoids both extremes. He asks God
for His covenant blessings. He said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness
that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and
blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Thy presence, and do not
take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and
uphold me by your generous spirit” (Psalm 51:7-12).
Notice the verbs David employs in his great
supplication: cleanse me, wash me, make me, create in me, renew me, and restore
me. Together, these active requests form the heart and soul of David’s
repentance.
King David felt soiled, dirty, and stained. He knew
that neither ritual, religion, resolve, nor reform could cleanse his
sin-stained soul. He asks God to cleanse him with hyssop. This cleansing describes
a thorough scrubbing, scouring, and purifying. It comes very close to our word
“sterilizing.”
Hyssop was used in the ceremonial cleansing of lepers.
It was also used by the Levitical priests during sacrifices in the
David asks God to cleanse him thoroughly – to purge
him with hyssop, just as the priest did in the
Some of us want to be whitewashed instead of washed
white. When we are simply whitewashed, we cover up the marred surface of our
lives; we merely hide the ugliness. When we are washed white, all the stains
are actually removed – they cease to exist! David did not want to cover up his
sin. He was not simply skirting the consequences of his sin. He wants to deal
with it He wants to be clean inside and out. He wants to be thoroughly washed!
When I was a teenager, I had a job one summer at an
egg farm. I worked in chicken houses. One week, I and several other boys had to
whitewash all the chicken houses. At the end of the week they all looked
sparkling white, but that was just an outward appearance. Inside they were
still full of filth. That describes many white-washed church members. They look
fine and respectable from the outside, but inside they are still full of filth
and corruption!
David is a man whose sin has greatly stained his soul.
Now he asks to be purged and washed. Some of us are too proud to do that. That
is precisely why so many of us remain tangled in the sins of our past. It is
the very reason that some of us are not free – We have not asked to be clean
and free!
David’s plea does not end with his request to be
washed clean. He asks for a measure of restoration, “Let me hear joy and
gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice” (Psalm 51:8).
Can you imagine? The man after God’s own heart had
allowed the embers of his faith to grow cold. That is what sin does. At one
time, David could take his harp and make the palace resonate with joy and
gladness, but sin had taken away his joy. He had become deaf to the sounds of
gladness. Sin will take away our song. It will take away our joy. It will steal
the music of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness from our lives.
It will crowd our senses with the noisy, Godless din of this fallen world to
the degree that we can no longer hear the music of heaven!
David continues to ask. He continues to make his
requests known. He prays, “Hide your face from my sin and blot out all my
iniquities.”
Have you ever seen newsreel footage of a person who
has been arrested being taken into custody or to jail? They will often seek to
cover their face. They do not want the cameras to capture their image; so they
attempt to hide. They are ashamed.
David was ashamed. He had been exposed. The gaze of
the Holy God was trained directly on him. It was almost more than he could
bear, and he felt the burning anguish of shame.
One of the real tragedies of American Christianity is
that we have lost our shame. We have become callous and brazen. We have even
attached a bit of mystique to bold sinning. We dress, act and think like the
world. Just look at our clothing, language and entertainment. We are supposed
to be separate from the world, but we have become like the world. As the church
becomes more and more like the world – it loses more and more power to change
people’s lives with the Gospel! The mantra of the contemporary church is “Let’s
be like the world in order to win the world!” My opinion is: because of that
thinking, the world has captured the church, and the church is losing its
effectiveness in the world!
David cries out for mercy, “Cleanse me! Wash me! Hide
your face from my sin!” David knew only too well that if God did not graciously
blot out his sin, we would have to blot out something else – his name from the
Lamb’s Book of Life! God must do one or the other. Justice demands that sin be
dealt with. It simply cannot be passed over. God cannot and will not simply
look the other way. All must be dealt with; otherwise His holy character is
compromised.
David does not stop there. He asks for more. He prays,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me”
(Psalm 51:8).
In Hebrew there are several different words that can
be translated “create.” In this case it is the word that is used in the very
first verse in the Bible; “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth.” It literally means “to make from nothing.” In Genesis, it shows that
God created the world from nothing. The Latin for that process is “creato ex nihilo.” The entire cosmos
was brought into being by the very breath of His mouth. He simply spoke and it
was so!
God can bring something from nothing! That is what
David asks for Him to do. The word indicates that David is asking for something
that only God can do. David could not create in himself a clean heart, nor can
we, no matter how hard we may try.
David is not asking for some kind of restoration. He
doesn’t say, “Give me back what I have lost. Restore what sin has stripped from
my heart.” He is saying, “Create what is not there. Create what never was. I
need a new heart.”
Man always tries to start his reform efforts on the
outside and work inward. God always begins on the inside and works outward.
Jesus says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). David knew that
he needed to guard against future sins, so he wants a steadfast spirit. He
wants a spirit that is in tune with God.
The most important ingredient in life for a man to be
used by God is his spirit. We can have all kinds of degrees and pedigrees, and
experience and financial resources, but if we do not have a right spirit, God
can’t use us.
David continues to plead with God, “Do not cast me
away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto
me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your generous spirit” (Psalm
51:11-12).
This list of do’s and don’ts really exposes David’s
heart. They paint a vivid portrait of his heart in transition – from
devastation to the restoration of a character of humble discipleship.
David’s great fear was that God might abandon him,
that God might cast him away from his presence. He was afraid that he might be
left all by himself. He knew that he was responsible for cutting off fellowship
with God in the first place. He knew that God is faithful – it was David who
had been faithless. He was afraid that he had gone too far over the line. He
was afraid that he had crossed the line of God’s patience. He had given up on
God and was afraid that God might give up on him in return. You can feel his
lament. Some of us know it personally; “Don’t cast me away as you did Cain.”
Genesis 4:16 says that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Some of you
have gone out from the presence of the Lord!
David did not want the same thing to happen to him! He
was also afraid that he would no longer have the presence of the Holy Spirit.
To know the presence of the Holy Spirit and then to be
cast away from that presence would be far more than any of us could bear. To no
longer have our Teacher, Guide and Comforter would be devastating. David
shuttered at the thought and begged for God not to take His Spirit from him.
David’s words echo through the centuries. They express
the greatest fear of his life and ours. If the spirit is gone we are void of
hope, peace, comfort, victory and joy. In the Old Testament, the Spirit was
taken away from some individuals with terrible results. For example, the Spirit
of God departed from Samson and King Saul.
A Christian may also be cast away from service. In 1
Corinthians 9:27, Paul is afraid that he might become a “castaway.” But God’s
Spirit will not leave us. A true child of God has no need to fear that
happening!
David does not conclude on a negative note – but a
positive one. He does not end with pleas and fears – but with hope! He says,
“Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with your generous
Spirit.”
That is
our hope today. It is not a vain hope but rather one that rests securely in the
promises of God. If we will confess our sin, God will forgive our sin and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is just as true for us as it was for
David long ago. Is it time for you to ask God to wash you clean?