Wash us so that we can be whiter than snow. We come to you this morning and ask you to take away the stain. The Bible says, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Perhaps some of us here this morning have tried everything to get the stain out of our lives, but have we tried the only thing that will? Have we tried Jesus?ĭear Lord, our lives are dirty and stained by sin. You see, the blood of Jesus can wash away even the worst stains in our life. Perhaps it is hopeless, but it is not hopeless to get the stain out of our lives. I may never get the stain out of my favorite shirt. Some think that if they get baptized, they will be clean, but getting baptized won't get the stain out either. Some think that if they will just go to church, they will get clean, but the stain is still there. Some people try a lot of things to clean up their lives. Our lives become stained and dirty by sin and we aren't very pretty to look at. When I picked it up from the cleaners, the stain was still there. They are stain specialists and I thought, "Surely they can get that stain out." No luck. I even tried to Shout it out, but nothing worked. Their commercial says, "Dirt can't hide from intensified Tide." I tried Spray and Wash, New Blue Cheer, and Clorox II. Well, I used everything I could think of to get that stain out. The purging is with hyssop, an aromatic herb used in the sprinkling of blood at the first Passover (cf. I don't know, all I know is that there was this ugly stain on my new shirt. Once again, the Psalmist makes his plea, but this time he mingles it with faith: Purge me, and I shall be clean wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow make me to hear joy and gladness, that I may rejoice ( Psalm 51:7-8 ). Maybe it was spaghetti sauce, or chocolate ice cream, or coffee. Do you know why? Well, the second time I wore this shirt, I looked down and saw that I had spilled something on my shirt. Even though it is one of my favorites, I don't wear it anymore. My wife gave me this shirt and the first time I wore it I received so many compliments on how pretty it was and how nice I looked that it immediately became one of my favorites. W.F.This is one of my very favorite shirts. What joy in being "whiter than snow"! - not only pardoned ( Isaiah 1:18), but cleansed ( 1 John 1:7 Revelation 7:14). "And I shall be whiter than snow." The lost purity will be restored. It is not the priest, it is not the saints God only can save. Let God, who is holy and good, do this great thing for us, and do it in his own way. Our tears and prayers, our penitences and endeavours, are in vain. There is the cry, "Wash me!" This implies weakness and submission. The more we compare ourselves with God's Law, and the more truly we realize God's will concerning us, the more earnestly shall we cry for deliverance. While they testify that we are fallen, they testify also that sin is not of our true nature - that it is not something that rightly belongs to us, but that it should be abjured and abhorred. At the same time, they help to keep alive our hopes. They show what we have lost they intensify our pains and our sorrows. All things around us that retain their freshness and their purity condemn us and put us to shame. Its touch is defilement its presence is abhorrent its effects are dreaded as the most terrible. Many find pleasure in sin but when once the soul is quickened, there is an end to this. Like Paul, he was "the chief of sinners," and he was, therefore, the fitter ensample of the marvellous kindness and grace of God. Of whom? Not Christ, not the holy angels, not the saints in glory, but, strange to say, of himself. Where? Not in nature, but in the kingdom of grace. As it glistens on the mountains, or lies in virgin purity on the fields, what can compare with it? And yet David speaks of something whiter. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
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