Purify me with Hyssop

"Purify me with Hyssop" - Psalm 51:7 It is the voice of faith as well as a prayer and it says, "Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean." Filthy as I am, there is such power in the divine propitiation (action pleasing to God by which He is moved to pity and mercy = to atone, pay, and cleanse, for sin) that my sin will disappear. And I'll be whiter than snow. No one but You can make me white, but You can in Your grace remake nature and put it in its purest state.

I. Such a full faith can be seen in the Psalmist.

A. Considering the nature of sin, which David well knows, it is a glorious faith that can see in the blood a merit more than sufficient to purify it eternally.

1. It is this whiteness that is wrought in us from within when we are washed away by God, for there is no snow that is so white in the eyes of men "as that of the soul cleansed" of sin in the sight of God.

2. (Acts 15:36-41) When Barnabas insisted that his nephew Mark accompany them on the Second Missionary Journey.

3. Paul strongly opposed to this.

4. He remembered "vividly" how Mark had departed from them from Pamphylia and doubtless feared that he would "repeat it."

5. The "strife" between Barnabas and Paul became "so fierce" that these two distinguished servants of the Lord were separated from each other. Barnabas, taking Mark, embarked for Cyprus.

6. Paul choosing Silas, consolidating the churches.

7. From that moment on, Barnabas disappears from history.

8. Mark finally passed the test and was fully restored to Paul's confidence (2 Timothy 4:11).

9. (Matthew 16:22) Lord, don't let it, in no way can this happen to You.

10. This drew a rebuke from the Lord Jesus.

11. He had come into the world to die for sinners.

12. Everything that hindered Him from this purpose was outside of God's will.

13. He said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan”; You are a stumbling block to me, because "your feelings are not those of God," but those of men.

14. By protesting Calvary, Peter became a hindrance to the Lord.

15. Sometimes the voices of loved ones try to divert us from the path of obedience.

16. We too must say, "Depart from me, Satan!"

17. You're a nuisance to me.

18. (John 6:60, 66-67) Many of His disciples say to Him, "This Word is hard; Who can hear it?"

19. It was an offensive word to them.

20. It wasn't so much that they had a hard time understanding it as they didn't like to receive it.

21. It was to say to Jesus, "Who can stand here and listen to such offensive doctrine?"

22. It is proper for people to have the Word as offensive to their lives.

23. They were not willing to believe and receive it from Heaven, and not from what the flesh claims and condemns them.

24. Now many were leaving Him and no longer wanted to associate with Him.

25. These disciples had never been true believers.

26. They had followed the Lord for a variety of reasons, but not out of "true love" or appreciation for who He was. That happens today, they don't want to be clean, and the Word is hard for them.

27. (Matthew 17:16-17) The father had gone to the disciples for help, only to find out how vague their help was, they have limits being with Jesus.

28. O unbelieving and perverse generation!

29. "How long will I be with you?"

30. "How long shall I put up with you?"

31. These words are addressed to the disciples.

32. They had no faith to heal.

33. (Galatians 2:11-12) When Peter first went to Antioch, he was "eating with the Gentiles" in the full enjoyment of Christian freedom.

34. When Paul arrives, Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles because he was afraid of the uncircumcised.

35. Paul called him a hypocrite, the reason: then Peter still thought that the Gentiles were "common and unclean" and that the Mosaic rites gave greater holiness than the righteousness of faith.

36. Paul's great demand of Peter; What was the point now of Peter bringing the Gentiles under the Law?

37. The Law told people what to do, but it didn't give them the power to do it.

38. The Law was given to reveal sin, not to save.

39. God's grace is manifested in His unconditional gift of salvation.

40. Christ died because man could not obtain righteousness in any other way.

41. (John 20:27-28) A lesson to incredulity.

42. (25) He had said, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger in the place of the nails, the side, I will not believe."

43. Jesus already knew what Thomas had said.

44. Eight days later, for He now speaks to Thomas: (27) "Put your finger here and look at My hands; and put your hand in and put it in My side; and do not be unbelieving," but believing.

45. He spoke rudely to Thomas, now there was Jesus, who had listened to him, as bold, as if He were not Omnipresent.

46. Now he says, "My Lord, and my God!" Amen.