Not As Clean As You Think

Sermon Text—–1 Peter 1:18-19

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Introduction:

· From late-night, insomnia-driven infomercials to risque nude shower commercials, we are bombarded with the marketing mantra of cleaners claims as they try to siphon money out of our wallet. Listen to a few examples of these messages that have been rehearsed into our memory:

o New Ultra Clorox bleach has an unbeatable whitening formula that gets even your dirtiest clothes white

o Clorox 2 removes stains and dirt on colors. . .Color safe bleach that is specially formulated to help brighten your clothes. . .to keep clothes looking like new. . .

o For real cleaning power, choose the power of Pine Sol, the smell of clean.

o Softscrub is tough on kitchen grease, bathroom soil, mildew stains, and soap scum. . .solving your toughest cleaning problems without harming your surfaces

o Tilex is specially formulated to dissolve soap scum on contact, without any scrubbing

o Palmolive . . . Tough on grease, soft on hands.

o For over 120 years, one name has meant pure, one name has meant clean. . .Pure Ivory, 99.44% pure

o Dial Soap. . .You’re not as clean as you think. . .Aren’t you glad you use dial

· VIDEO CLIPS—Sauna.mpg and HappyDog.mpg

o Crest. . .Get the clean feeling of dentist. . .it’s gentle on tooth enamel, while removing surface stains to whiten teeth

o Oxiclean, the STAIN SPECIALIST.

o Discover the Secret. Unleash the Power. Tiles and Carpets? Just like new. Kitchens and bathrooms? Smelling fresh. Windows? Crystal clear. Even the garage is free of grease. ORANGE GLO

· Do we really believe these messages? Do these hyped advertisements convince us of a products ability? Or do we know that there is some element of "trickery" when we see that infomercial demo a products "magic?

· Why don’t we hear or see advertisement which focuses on the products inability? You know, like the prescription drug commercials that tell you that this wonderful anti-depression or allergy medicine has a side effect of seizures, brain-tumors, incontinence, or it makes you incredibly fat.

· We don’t hear those advertisements, but we know they are true.

o Palmolive won’t touch that 3-day old lasagna pan that you allowed to harden like a crustacean

o Don’t tell me you, clueless husband, attempted to use an SOS pad to clean hard to remove food and paint, from your wife’s stove

o Yes the bleach took the stain off of the carpet before your wife got home to notice, unfortunately it removed the color as well

o Dial Soap’s cleansing loses its effect on the 2nd or 3rd day after use. Must be re-used daily or you’ll begin to stink.

· The idea of how clean something is, is so completely relative that everyone feels pretty good about their level of hygiene. Take for instance the plumber I saw grabbing lunch after snaking out a toilet. He grabbed and ate his sandwich without bothering to wash his hands. When I mentioned it to him, he said, “oh that just a little poopy water.”

· You get the idea. I say all of this to put in context our passage of Scripture that talks about cleansing. Let me first put it into historical and cultural context by pointing out that our current society’s fixation on clean healthy hygiene is a modern trend.

· Up to 150 years ago, it was unheard of in any society to bathe more than weekly. In fact, entire European palaces were built without one place to bathe. One European historian speculated that the King James, whom our Bible translation is named from, went from cradle to grave without taking a bath. Perfumes were used in lieu of bathing.

o So when the author of our text discusses cleansing, it must be in the context of religious, ceremonial cleansing, because his audience would be unfamiliar with the oral and physical hygiene that are common to the majority of us, with the exception of brother Ian.

· The text is demonstrating the superior cleansing power of Christ’s forgiveness over every other cleansing known to the audience. For us to understand the point being driven here, we must first know some basic Biblical truths.

· This all answers the greatest question about the death of Jesus Christ—– “WHY?”

o Why did He have to die?

o Why did He suffer such pain on the cross?

o The great love and passion He showed upon the cross, WHY was it necessary?

1. Humanity is essentially evil and not good.