To him who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to
God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
Psalm
51:7 7Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
(EHV)
Relying on God’s grace.
Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ,
How do you remove the stain? I’m afraid that has become a common question
at our house, because I seem to dribble on the front of my shirt far more often
than either I or my wife would like.
Still, most of the time, she can handle this pretty easily. But how about more stubborn stains? Blood can be hard to remove. Some wine stains are notoriously hard to get
out. Mechanics and farmers often have to
work pretty hard, and use some strong soaps, to clean their hands. Getting the dirt out from under my
fingernails was always a challenge back when I was farming, and the worst was
getting rid of the smell of manure. In my
mind, it always seemed like I could smell the barn on my hands no matter how
many times I washed.
What
David is discussing here with the Lord, however, is a far more complicated
stain than anything we have to deal with on our clothes or hands. Those are all surface stains, but in all
honestly, since the fall of man into sin, the corruption causing us to be
separated from God goes far deeper. The
corruption of sin penetrates all the flesh of our bodies, our personalities,
and our souls. We can’t work or wish
that corruption away. Neither is there
anything we can buy to wash it off, because it goes so much deeper than the
stains that ordinarily concern us.
Years
ago, we had a Great Pyrenees dog that got free one night and ran out into the
fields straight into a skunk. She came
running back quite a different dog than she left, of course. She wasn’t happy with her new perfume, and
obviously, we weren’t too thrilled about it either. That dog had a massive fur coat, and it must
have absorbed a full, direct hit of that skunk’s malodorous blast. It made your eyes water to be near her. So, what were we to do?
We
tried washing with all the detergents we had one hand. We tried the tomato juice bath and every
other home remedy we could find. Nothing
seemed to help—the dog still reeked. I’m
talking about one hundred forty-five pounds of smelly dog. Anyway, we broke down and took her to a
professional groomer to have them do their magic. After a full day of bathing at the spa, our
Rosie came home looking pretty as could be, a beautiful white coat, a lovely
bow around her neck, with a sweet perfume that failed to hide the stink of that
skunk. For months after, we could smell
that wild fragrance, and every moist weather change brought the skunk stench right
back out in the open.
So
why do I tell you this story? So much of
the time, people view sin as just a little dirt on the skin. No big deal, they think, I can wash it off
anytime I want to. Adam and Eve thought
they could hide it from God under the trees, and maybe in a few days, He would
forget about it, and they could come out of hiding. (At least that’s what I
imagine they were thinking when they hid from the Lord). However, the stain of sin goes completely
through us, and as long as sin is on and in us, we can’t hide it from God, for
the stench of our guilt always lingers.
Furthermore, because we live in such a septic tank of a world completely
corrupted by sin in every way, we have no place to go to avoid it.
Of
course, many would argue that they aren’t all that dirty. Some will claim that people, especially
babies, arrive in this world clean and pure.
Yet, David explained in this Psalm, “Certainly, I was guilty when I
was born. I was sinful when my mother
conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) Indeed,
if we deny the sin we are born in, we are really calling God a liar, for the
Holy Spirit moved St. John to write, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1
John 1:8)
Sadly,
many in our world still try to deny the concept of inherited sin, but the Bible
is clear that we need cleansing from all corruption: a cleansing from our own
sins, from the temptations of the world, from our inherited guilt, from evil
thoughts and desires, and from the failures to do the good things we
should. All of that had to be dealt with
before we could hope to enter the presence of the eternal, holy God who created
us with the expectation that we should be like Him in holiness.
Of
course, mankind has long tried to find ways to purify himself in order to stand
before God in peace. Over the millennia,
man developed countless pagan religions in fruitless efforts to appease
whatever gods they imagined. However,
the more we, who are corrupted with sin, try to wash ourselves clean, the more
it just moves the smell around, but it’s always there. It’s kind of like trying to clean your hands
with a bucket of used motor oil. No matter
how hard we scrub, the black stain of sin remains, and may even get worse.
That
is why for every sinner, actually every person who ever lives in this troubled
world, it is vital that we learn the importance and the sure cleansing power of
Relying on God’s grace. In our
Psalm text this evening, we see what David learned. David knew he couldn’t fix himself. He understood that he couldn’t work his guilt
away; he couldn’t buy his way into God’s heart, nothing of earth could cleanse
his great shame. Only God could redeem,
repair, and restore what sin ruined.
David
prayed, “Remove my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” Hyssop is a plant that the priests used like
a sponge to sprinkle blood and water at the temple while conducting sacrifices
for the people. David uses hyssop here
as a symbol for the whole sacrifice.
However, David wasn’t referring to the temple sacrifices the priests did
for the people. Those efforts were a
proclamation of the single future sacrifice that would bring healing, peace,
and purity to all who believe, for by God’s “will, we have been sanctified
once and for all, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.” (Hebrews
10:10)
Because
people usually think of cleaning the surface, we need to understand the depths
of our corruption. Sin doesn’t just mar
the surface; it goes all the way in. It’s
an infection that spread to every part of our being. To compare, consider that dentists want you
to clean your teeth regularly so that any possible contamination doesn’t spread
to your blood stream and eventually infect your heart. If you have a wound somewhere on your body,
even just a toe, it must be cleaned and treated, or infection may spread
leading to the poisoning and eventual death of the body. Likewise, sin can’t be ignored nor just washed
off. It has to be removed completely from
us so that we can truly live.
Our
God foretold His plans for the removal of sin’s infection when He spoke through
His prophet, Ezekiel, “I will sprinkle purifying water on you, and you will
be clean. I will cleanse you from all
your impurity and from all your filthy idols.
Then I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you. I will remove the heart of stone from your
body and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:25-26) St. Paul explains how the Lord carried out
that prophecy: “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so
that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) The polluting stain of sin’s putrid infection
was excised from us and transplanted unto Christ Jesus. In an exchange only our holy God could offer,
God made His Son the sick, poisoned, dying, repulsive being in order to suffer
the poisoned death that would save us from a certain fatal end.
Of
course, since sin had completely corrupted us, something had to be implanted in
its place in our account so that we could be welcomed home into God’s
presence. Therefore, God fulfills His
prophecy by crediting Jesus’ perfect righteousness to us who believe in
Him. Again, that great exchange that
took our stinking sin and put it on Jesus also made a sweet-smelling sacrifice
that brought us His holiness so that we are granted free release from condemnation
by Relying on God’s grace.
In
all of this, we did nothing to earn release from God’s wrath. Rather, God showed His love from the
beginning by promising a Savior who would cleanse us of all sin. Throughout the generations, God prophesied
the events that would show us the path of holiness in Jesus. Then God sent His Son to live perfect
righteousness for us and ultimately to suffer the death our sin infection
caused. Thus, “Christ reconciled you in
his body of flesh through death, in order to present you holy, blameless, and
faultless before him.” (Colossians 1:22)
Jesus
took all sin into Himself, bore the punishment that brings us peace, and then
behold, God made a healing medicine out of the blood Jesus shed for us. At times in the past, Christian artists displayed
this healing flood as the water and blood that poured from Jesus’ side as He
hung on the cross flowing into the baptismal font and the communion cup. Through these means of grace, God brings the
healing medicine that removes our guilt and restores vitality to the believer. Concerning Baptism, St. Paul wrote,
Don’t you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him by this
baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life. For if we have been united with him in the
likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the
likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)
Likewise,
Peter explains,
God’s patience was waiting in the days
of Noah while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were
saved by water. And corresponding to
that, baptism now saves you—not
the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good conscience before
God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 3:20-21)
Through
Baptism, God cleanses us of all impurity as He joins us with His holy Son. Then Jesus, likewise, also grants us a
medicine that cleans away our guilty stain and restores new health to our
stricken souls. Living in a world so corrupted
and poisoned by sin, we naturally need continual cleansing and
restoration. Therefore, Jesus provides
that healing both in the saving message of the Gospel and proclamation of
absolution for our sins, but also in the bread and wine of His holy
Supper. On the night He was betrayed, “Jesus
took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples. He said, ‘Take,
eat, this is my body.’ Then he took the
cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it all of you, for
this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins.’” (Matthew 26:26-28)
By this precious food of His holy body and blood, Jesus again and again
cleans our souls of sin’s poison and pours into us the pure, living, healing
water of His holy life.
Dear
friends, it is unlikely that I will stop spilling on my shirt as I grow older. It is even more unlikely that I could ever reach
purity of heart by my own efforts.
Thanks be to God that Relying on God’s grace, we have a peace and
hope that cannot be taken away. In
Christ, all our sins are forgiven, and the stench and stain of our guilt is removed
from us as far as east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) Thanks be to Jesus that through God-given faith
Relying on God’s grace, He has made us a part of that great throng who “have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14) Amen.
The Lord of peace
himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all.
Amen.
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