Cleanse Me

Psalm 51:7 3/7/18 (Create in Me a Clean Heart #7) CLEANSE ME

So last week in preparation for this message, I stopped at Platengas Cleaners to interview Barb and Faith and find out a little about stains. And I learned a lot. For instance, I learned, in laymen’s terms, that when you get a stain sometimes the stain likes the fabric and sometimes the fabric likes the stain, depending on the type of fabric and how it was treated, so when you try to cleanse the stain, you typically use some sort of detergent. Detergents are actually called “surfactants” from “surface active agents”. One end of the surfactant is attracted to water and one end is attracted to the stain and works in your washing machine to pull the stain away from the fabric. And of course, some chemicals and methods work better than others…

Slide: Gronkowski Tide commercial

That’s one way to get the stain out… Now, I don’t know if Tide is actually better than other detergents or not, but they certainly had a better Super bowl commercial and teasers leading up to it. Their sales went up 22% after the Super bowl. But whether you use Tide or Gain or the Spartan brand, the fact is that Platengas do have better surfactants available to them, because they are allowed to use special solvents and enzymes that we can’t get in the stores. Nevertheless, I have very occasionally given them a stained shirt that even they cannot get out. Barb described it this way: “Sometimes you have a fabric and a stain that like each other so much that there is absolutely nothing you can do to get them apart.” And on the rare occasions when that happens, you get a tag on the garment that looks like this:

Slide: Special Attention tag pic

It says: “Special attention has been given to this garment but the SPOTS or STAINS remaining cannot be removed without causing damage to the color or material.” In other words, you had a stain and a shirt that just like each other too much. Folks, let me just ask you, when it comes to the sins and the stains in our lives, does that not preach?

As King David goes deeper into this great Psalm of repentance, he is asking for special attention because he knows he needs it. He has stains in his life that he knows he can do nothing about, nor can anyone else. If he is ever to become clean again, it has to be a supernatural cleansing. It has to come from God. That’s what this cleansing with hyssop is all about.

Slide: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

(Psalms 51:7 NIV)

Hyssop is not a detergent, it’s not a surfactant. It’s just a plant that is common in the Middle East.

Slide: Hyssop Plant

It’s certainly not something you would scrub on yourself to make you clean. But it was something that the Israelites had associated with cleansing for hundreds of years – starting with one of the biggest moments in their history. Do you remember? For 400 years they seemed to be forgotten by God and left in slavery to the Egyptians. And when God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let them go, he wouldn’t. So God sent 10 devastating plagues on Egypt one after the other to convince Pharaoh to let them go. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard – until God sent the last plague, death to the firstborn, both men and animals – of the Egyptians – and of the Israelites – unless they did what? Sacrificed a lamb, took a bunch of hyssop, dipped it into the blood and put some of the blood on the top and both sides of the doorframes of their houses (Ex. 12:21-23). Moses told the people:

Slide: “When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.” (Exodus 12:21–23 NIV)

And that’s exactly what happened. The bible says: “At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” (Exodus 12:28–30 NIV) And Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Get out. Take your stuff and whatever you want of our stuff and go.” And they did. They were finally free.