#3 Psalm 51 - Washed Clean

Dr. Ron Sumners

July 5, 2009

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 Temple to sprinkle blood on the altar. The blood of the lamb was smeared on the door frames of the door of the Hebrews with hyssop in Egypt so the death angel would pass over that house. 

David asks God to cleanse him thoroughly – to purge him with hyssop, just as the priest did in the Temple. The Prophet Isaiah records God’s own plea to us all: “Come now, and let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

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?