Our Father, we thank you for the hope that your people have in Christ, and that is of an eternal heaven. Dwelling with all the saints and the holy angels, with you and the lamb, in the new and renovated heaven and earth for all eternity. And Father, as we come now to your word, we pray that you would cause it to be powerful and efficacious to our hearts and souls. We long to hear from you, oh God, and we know you speak to us by your spirit through your word. So give us ears to hear, and then give us grace that we might pray unto you, both humbly but believingly. for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, as you find your seats, brethren, find in your Bible Psalm 51 and verse 7. We can loosely divide the psalm up into three parts. In the first five verses, David confesses his sin in verses 6 to 12. He pleads for cleansing and restoration. And then beginning with verse 13, we have his joyful response of gratitude in anticipation. Then, after you forgive me, wash me, cleanse me, and restore me, then I will teach transgressors your ways. So we're in the middle of those where we find David pleading for both cleansing and restoration. We come this week to verse seven. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. We have in verse 7a a purification and in verse 7b a washing. We have a purification and a washing. Now you may not know it or you may not see it, But before we go any further, while these two obviously go together, we have to distinguish them. Verse 7a isn't saying the exact same thing as verse 7b. Now let me just kind of tip my hat and explain to you where we're going with verse 7 so that you won't get lost. The first half of it speaks about forgiveness. and the second about cleansing, moral cleansing. So the first has to do with the cleansing of our record, and that's forgiveness, and that's with blood, as we'll see in a moment. The second is the cleansing of our hearts or souls, and that's with water, and we'll see that in a moment too. Basically, what David is asking for in verse 7 is the very same things he's asked for in verses 1 and 2. If you remember at the end of verse 1, blot out my transgression, that's the same exact thing he means in verse 7a, purge me with hyssop. We're going to see hyssop was used to sprinkle blood and that shadowed or foretold forgiveness. And then verse two, wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, that's the exact same thing he says in verse 7b, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. The first half of the verse has to do with our record, the cleansing of our record, the blotting out of our iniquity or forgiveness, and that's with blood. The second, with the washing of our conscience and our heart from moral filth, And that, of course, has to do with water. So the first half of verse seven deals with sin's guilt. The second half of verse seven, sin's filth. Guilt and filth. Now these obviously relate, but we have to distinguish them. And we're gonna see that verse seven uses terms that always mean those things. And we're gonna see that beyond a shadow of doubt tonight. This isn't me just making this up. All right, so we come to a purification, verse 7a, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. To purge means to cover and thus remove guilt. To purge means to cover and thus remove guilt. In fact, the Hebrew word translated purge simply means to remove guilt or to remove the guilt of sin. to blot out, to purge, to take away, to cover. All of that, brethren, all of those phrases, all of that imagery underscores or describes forgiveness. We could paraphrase it this way, forgive me. That's what he's saying in verse 7a. But that's not all that he's saying, because he's not only asking for forgiveness, but there's also hinted at the how and the why of forgiveness. And that, of course, is found in the little word hyssop. It was an herb which grew in the east. It looked similar to parsley and was used for dipping and sprinkling. Dipping and sprinkling. In fact, some of your translations actually take the liberty to render the phrase hyssop, sprinkle me. It was Martin Luther in his German translation. He has the verse like this. Unsin me with hyssop. Unsin me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Take away my sin. Wash me from my guilt. Purge me. Sprinkle me. Take away my transgressions. Blot out my sin. And you probably know that throughout the Old Covenant, A bunch of hyssop was the means used to sprinkle and apply the sacrificial blood of animals to the people. And let me just quickly show you that from a few texts. In fact, the first time we have the word hyssop used in our Bible is Exodus 12. And you might remember Exodus 12 is the Passover. Notice verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that's in the basin and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that's in the basin and none of you shall go out of the door of his house into mourning. Now here, it's not that the people are being sprinkled with blood. Admittedly, the doorpost is being covered with it, but it's being covered with the blood of the lamb by hyssop. Let me show it to you from another text. Just look at chapter 24 of the same book. Let's start at verse 6. 24-6. And Moses took half the blood and put it in the basin, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, all that the Lord has said we will do. and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. Now, we're gonna see when the apostle quotes these words in Hebrews that he does say that Moses used hyssop. But that's evident because he was sprinkling it. And he wasn't putting his hand in the blood and sprinkling it on them like that. He was using a bunch of hyssop. He was using this as a means to sprinkle the people. So hyssop, hyssop, refers to blood. So when he says, go back then to our text quickly, Psalm 51, when he says, purge me with hyssop, brethren, David knew that hyssop was an herb. That's not gonna purge anybody. What purged him was that which the herb sprinkled, that which was sprinkled upon him by and through the hyssop. And as we're going to see at the end tonight, he knew that it wasn't the blood of bulls and lambs and goats, but it was ultimately the blood of the Messiah to come. So there's blood in verse 7, let me just put it like that, though there's no blood literally in terms of the word. Purge me with blood, that's what he means. Sprinkle me, cover over my sin, and I'll be clean, and in particular, my record will be cleansed. Purge the sin, the guilt that's on my record. Or again, verse one, blot out my transgressions. The idea is that of sin's guilt. Now here, let me remind you of the distinction between judicial and parental forgiveness. The first happens when we become Christians. The second happens continually as Christians. The first happens once for all when we become Christian. All of our sins are blot out. All of our sins are purged. All of our records are cleansed, judicially. But parentally, we need forgiveness ongoingly as Christians. And this is what David is asking for. He's asking for parental forgiveness. When you and I sin, we sin. And thus, we need forgiveness from our Father. But we need forgiveness. And thus, David is asking for it. He's asking for it all through the psalm. He's asking for it in verse 1, blot out my transgressions. He's asking for it in verse 7, purge me with hyssop. He's asking for it in verse 9, hide your face from my sins, blot out my iniquities. These all say and mean the same things. Forgive me. Now, let me show it to you. I mean, I quoted already from the Exodus text, but let's, or from the, yeah, the Exodus text. But let's go to the book of Hebrews where it's quoted. Actually, if you look at beginning at verse 16 of Hebrews 9, you find the Exodus 24 text. especially quoted in verse 20, this is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you. I mentioned that when the writer to the Hebrews quotes Exodus 24, he tells us that Moses used hyssop, you'll find that in verse 19. But look at verse 21. Then likewise, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. Verse 22, and according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood, there's no remission. Okay, purified. See, here, again, we find forgiveness. Now, the word that's translated purified in some of your Bibles is translated cleansed. And according to the law, almost all things are cleansed with blood. It can be translated cleansed or purged. It means exactly the same thing. And here it means forgiveness because that's exactly what the apostle says. And without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness. So when David is asking that God would purge him with hyssop and that he would be clean, he refers to his record. His record had a blot on it. He was guilty. And he's asking God to remove that blot. And what can remove these blots but blood? What can forgive us our sins? Well, Hebrews 9 and 21 and 2 says, nothing but the shedding of blood. What can wash away all my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So when he's asking in the first half of our text, David, to be purged and to be cleansed, he's talking about forgiveness. And he's talking about forgiveness as a Christian, as a child of God, to his father. Because remember, when we sin, God is displeased, and he chastens us, he disciplines us with his rod, and that rod can be, depending upon the nature of the offense, very severe. God disciplined David because of these sins severely. And that's why the Psalm starts, if you remember, with a plea for forgiveness, or a plea for mercy. Have mercy upon me, Psalm 51. One, O God, according to your love and kindness. Forgive me, blot out my sin. Don't deal with me as my sin deserves, that is, as a Christian. God will never deal with us as our sins deserve as a sinner. He's already dealt with our sins in Jesus. But he does deal with our sins in us as children. And this is why David is asking. This is why David is asking for purging or cleansing or for forgiveness. But he doesn't just ask for purging or forgiveness, does he? Because notice there's a washing, verse 7b. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. This refers to water, the imagery here is that of water, not blood. The imagery here is that of water and not blood. You know what, you could take the entire Old Testament sacrificial system and reduce it all down to two words, blood and water. Blood and water. Blood to atone for our sin, water to cleanse our hearts. Blood to deal with the guilt of sin, water the filth of sin. Now, technically, both of those, blood and water, the guilt and filth of sin, are remedied, actually, by the blood of Jesus. And we're gonna get to that in a moment. But the Old Covenant oftentimes distinguished those who underscore the need for both, both sin's guilt and sin's filth. And that's why When we come to the New Testament, we're going to see several texts here in a moment wherein blood and water are put as the twin blessings of Jesus' atonement. The twin blessings of Jesus' atonement. So, purging, verse 7a, refers to the removal of sin's guilt. Whereas, verse 7b, washing refers to the removal of sin's filth. Another way of putting this would be, the purging removes our sin before God, which makes us liable to his loving rod, whereas washing removes our sin from our conscience, which makes us feel guilty and unrighteous. So when a Christian sins, he's guilty and filthy. He is. And he needs both to be remedied. Where does he find the remedy for both? Well, he finds the remedy for both in the gospel. And this gospel provision was shadowed in the old covenant with water and with blood. And that's why I want to take you back. I guess I should have just left you there to Hebrews 9. And let me show it to you very quickly. How about we just go to a few verses? Hebrews 9, and let's start with verse 19. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water. He took the blood He took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. So the people got sprinkled with both blood and water. Why did Moses sprinkle the people with both blood and water? Because they were both guilty and filthy. They needed blood and they needed water. And brethren, while we don't need blood and water in the same way the sinner does, we still need blood and water. The sinner needs to have his sin dealt with, with reference to the judge. We, with reference to our father. But just as the sinner needs to have his guilt and filth dealt with, with reference to the judge, we need to have our guilt and filth dealt with, with reference to the father. I'm not sure exactly what it means there, scarlet wool. That's wool that's dyed, of course. A deep purple scarlet. The wool could have been, we don't know, the means whereby the water was sprinkled. That's possible. Or else the wool could have been used to tie the bunch of hyssop together. We don't know, but the wool oftentimes is associated with the hyssop. But the point being is there's blood and there's water, and both are applied to the people. Now, I wanna take you back to the Old Testament, to Leviticus 14, because I think it's very possible, dare I say likely, that David has this passage in mind. And of course, as we'll see here in a moment, it's the cleansing of the leper. Notice verse one, Leviticus 14. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, this shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest. Before I go further, let me just say, as we're going to see in a few minutes, the leper had two problems. He was banished from God. He had to dwell outside the camp. He was not welcome before God. He couldn't worship with the people and he couldn't enter the tabernacle or temple. He was alienated because of his guilt. That was the point there. But his other problem was that he was filthy. He was unclean. And so he needed both blood and he needed water. And we're gonna see that God makes provision for both. This shall be the law, I think I read that, verse three. And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him. And indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him, who is to be cleansed, two living and clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop. See, there they are together again. Now notice, he's to go outside the camp, the priest, why? Because the guilty and filthy leper was outside the camp. But now he's been supposedly clean, he's clean now, and so the priest is to examine him, and if so, he's to do as you find there in verse four and verse five, and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in the earthen vessel over running water. See, we're gonna have blood and water again. Verse six, as for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. So you don't lose sight, I mean, this is kind of a bizarre situation, I understand that. But the main thrust of it is to underscore that the leper needed, and thus God was providing, both blood and water. Notice seven. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who's to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. So he's sprinkled, assumingly with the hyssop, Maybe with the wool, but he's sprinkled with both water and blood. There's water and blood applied to him, ceremonially, obviously. Verse 8, he was to be cleansed, shall wash his clothes, shave off his hair, and wash himself in water that he may be clean. and that he shall come into the camp and shall stay outside his tent seven days. So he's allowed to come back inside the camp, but he has to stay outside the tent for seven days. Okay, so he's done what verse eight says he's to do. He's washed his clothes, he's shaved off his hair, and he's washed himself in water. And then on the seventh day, he shall, verse 9, shave all the hair off his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows, all his hair he shall shave off, he shall wash his clothes, and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean. See, he's restored. This is a picture of a sinner being made right with God. having both sin's guilt and filth remedied. But it's also a picture of a sinning Christian who needs to have his guilt and filth remedied. And God has made provision for that as well. Just notice the phrase, his body washed and cleansed in water, because the apostle is going to, I think, pick up on that in a text I want to show you in a second in the book of Hebrews. So I suggest to you that it's possible that David has, in Psalm 51 7, this account before him. The leper was guilty and filthy, and thus needed both blood and water, and God made provision for both. All right? So what I want to do then is to suggests from that exposition of Psalm 51.7, these four observations. Observation number one, and I've already touched on this, but it's big in the text, so I wanna underscore it, and that is, both sinners and saints need blood and water. both sinners and saints need blood and water. That is, we need purification from the guilt of sin and cleansing from the filth of sin. Now let me clarify, as I've already said, while both saints and sinners need blood and water, they don't need it identically, or in the exact same way, because the sinner needs it before The judge, the saint before the father. The one has respect to becoming a Christian, the other one being a Christian. But keep in mind, David is a Christian. And he needed purification and he needed cleansing. He needed blood, verse A, and water, verse 7B. He needed both. Now, let me, you don't have to turn there. In fact, I'll just read it from my notes. I think this is possibly why we find in John 19, verse 34, these words. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and straightway, blood and water came out. Now, if you look at the commentators, some of them suggest that this is possibly due to some physical thing. That the sword, they say the doctors tell us that the sword, if the sword or spear goes in a certain place to the side, it's going to hit this sack and there's going to be a liquid, a clear liquid that comes out that looks like water and it's going to be mingled with blood. That's all possible. I don't know. Nobody knows. But I assure you this, brethren, John doesn't record this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to just underscore some medical fact. No, there's rich truth here in this text. Blood and water came out of Jesus' side. Why did blood and water come out of Jesus' side? Because sinners and saints need both. And I also say that Because I think it's possible that John is alluding to this text. Now, what have you turned there? That is Zechariah. And notice verse 13. Zechariah is almost to the end of the Old Testament. Zechariah 13.1, in that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And notice the reason why there's this open fountain, and that open fountain is beautifully illustrated in hymn 188, that famous song where the hymnist talks about there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, where sinners plunged, I can't remember how it goes now, beneath the flood and lose all their guilty stain. Because notice, for sin, that has to do with guilt, and uncleanness, that has to do with filth. Jesus' blood remedies both our sin, guilt, and filth. So regardless if the blood and water had any physical explanation at Jesus' crucifixion, its spiritual signification, I think, seems most evident. All right, but before we go to the second observation, let me just underscore this. While both sinners and saints need blood and water, Though differently, similarly but differently, they both find it in the same place. Where does the sinner go to find blood and water? Where does the sinner go to find a fountain that can wash away his sins, both with respect to its guilt and filth? Jesus. Where can the sinning saint go to find a fountain open? for sin and uncleanness, but the same source. How many times have we said it, brethren? Christians need Jesus too. Some of you might know Jake Swartz. He visited the church probably 10, I don't know how long ago, seven, eight years ago. He's now a Presbyterian. He was Baptist back then. And now he goes to a Presbyterian church in Grand Rapids, a very conservative one, the Reformed Presbyterians. And he's an elder, and he's in training to become a pastor. They make a distinction, a minister. And he's actually enrolled in their seminary. And it's in Pittsburgh, so he's doing it correspondently, because he lives in Grand Rapids. And his first class is something about spirituality. I can't remember the title of the class. But in part, to fulfill the requirements of the class, he has to interview three pastors to get their take on a variety of subjects. So we set up an appointment and we spoke, I think it was yesterday, Tuesday, for a few hours. In fact, we spoke long enough that my landline ran out of battery and it just died. That usually is about two and a half hours. And one of the questions was, what are some things that you find yourself saying often to your people, and here's one of them, Christians need Jesus too. Another part of the interview was, go back to your call when you felt like God was calling you to the ministry, and what was some of the rationale behind it? Why was it that you wanted to become a pastor? Well, here was one of the reasons I wanted to become a pastor, to tell Christians that they too need Jesus. And that's straight facts. I mean, when I was converted, I would oftentimes hear in the chapel and in the church that I used to go to before I went to the Reformed Baptist Church, you know, sinners need Jesus. And so the sermon will be, you know, 45 minutes long, 40 minutes will be telling Christians what to do, and then the last five would point sinners to Jesus. And I used to always say out loud to whoever would listen, why can't we have 45 minutes of saints needing Jesus? Are sinners the only people that need Jesus? No, we need blood and we need water and we get it from Jesus. Christians need Jesus too. Observation number two, heartfelt repetition isn't vain or meaningless. This can be a shorter one. Heartfelt repetition isn't vain or meaningless. Within the Psalm, David is repeating himself quite frequently. In fact, in this particular section, he's asking that God would forgive him, or he's praying, pleading for pardon and for cleansing or washing. And you have it over and again throughout the psalm. Verse 1, he asks for pardon. Verse 2, he asks for washing. Verse 7a, pardon. Verse 7b, washing. Verse 9, pardon. Verse 10, washing. David is asking the same things over and over again. So my observation is simple. Heartfelt repetition isn't vain or meaningless. Now I say heartfelt repetition because you know that the Bible, Jesus does condemn a form of repetition. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. But brethren, what Jesus is condemning there in Matthew 6 and verse 7 isn't what David is doing in Psalm 51. And one simple reason is this, because Even though David is repeating the same things, albeit he alters slightly the exact language, even though David is asking for the same thing over and again in the first 10 verses, this repetition is an accurate expression of his heart, his mouth is accurately portraying his heart. And the problem with what Jesus is condemning is when the mouth isn't connected to the heart. When you're just repeating something. Repeat, repeat, repeat. But if it's not an expression of what's in the heart, that's vain and meaningless repetitions. But that's not what David is doing. David here, in his repetitions, is accurately communicating or revealing his heart. And thus, it's not wrong to use similar language over and again in prayer. Now, true, David does slightly alter the language and the imagery, but sometimes he uses identical imagery and language in this very song. You know, sometimes when I pray, I find myself sounding the same. Now, I'm for varying our prayers, and there's ample imagery and terminology and example, especially in the Psalms, to do so. Don't get me wrong, but if you're praying for 25 years, you're going to say the same things, generally speaking. And do you know what you're probably going to ask for a lot? The very same things David is asking for repeatedly in this song. Purge me, wash me, purge me, wash me, forgive me, cleanse me, forgive me, cleanse me, all for your mercy's sake, all for your mercy's sake. Brethren, I say the same things over and over again. Yes, we ought to vary the exact language. I'm for that. I try to do that. But as long as what you're saying, as long as your mouth is accurately representing your heart, then I think we could skip over to verse 16. For you do not desire sacrifice, or I'd give it. Or do you delight in burnt offerings? Those are sacrifices detached from the heart. But notice verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These are God you will not despise. God doesn't despise repetitious prayers, providing the prayer is an accurate representation of the heart. But also it's not wrong to confess the same sins more than once. David is confessing his sins and he's asking for forgiveness more than once. Now here you have to be careful because it's possible to repeatedly ask for forgiveness for the same sins because of unbelief. But it's not always a sign of unbelief. especially a gross sin. I think of some of the sins I committed. I'm thankful that I haven't, that I can think of, committed a gross sin since I've been a Christian. I hope you understand what I mean there. I commit sins all the time, and they're serious sins, but I haven't done that which I've done before I was a Christian on that level. Well, I guess I have done something similar. Okay, let's leave it like that. And as I've asked for forgiveness when I committed those sins, God forgave me as a Christian. But down the road, as I'm reading my Bible, as I'm meditatively contemplating Holy Scripture, God may bring back to my remembrance those sins. And to the extent that he does, I feel guilty, I feel filthy, and I afresh acknowledge my transgressions, and I confess my sin to God. And I ask him, oh God, forgive me for those sins. Is it possible that our enemies are bringing back to our remembrance those sins to condemn us? That's possible. Be cautious. But it also could be that the Holy Ghost is reconvicting us over those sins because of the severity of them. And David's sins here are pretty severe. That's why he asked for forgiveness, verse one, and for cleansing, verse two. He asked for forgiveness, verse seven, and for cleansing, verse two. He asked for forgiveness, verse nine, and cleansing, verse 10. David, how many times are you gonna ask? I'm gonna ask as long as these things feel heavy upon my soul. Observation three, sincere confession breeds bold petitions. These are bold petitions. And the boldness of the petitions is underscored, the boldness of the petitions is underscored if we remember the nature of the crimes. David did very wretched, evil things. He killed somebody. He murdered Uriah. After, he had relations with Uriah's wife. He lied. He deceived people. And yet he has the audacity to over and again ask both for forgiveness and washing. He makes application afresh over and again through the psalm to the blood and the water of the gospel. Why, how is it that David has such boldness? It's because sincere, honest, heartfelt confession breeds boldness. You see, his boldness is not divorced from his confession. In fact, you could perhaps even say that the psalm could be reduced down to both, humility and confidence. He's acknowledging his transgressions and then he's boldly asking God to forgive him. What's the connection between this confidence, this boldness, and confession? Well, let me clarify, there's no merit in confession like Rome suggests. There's no merit. David isn't coming before God with boldness and confidence, asking for forgiveness and washing because of his confession, because of his penance. You see, the point is this. When David is confessing his sins by inference, He's acknowledging that he doesn't have any merit to come to God and to ask for forgiveness in and of himself, but all of his merit is derived from another. Or let me put it this way, his confession necessarily implies, his confession of sin necessarily includes the confession of Christ. I'm a sinner. I'm not worthy. I'm guilty. I'm filthy. And yet, he has the audacity to enter boldly into the very throne room of God, because that's what he's doing, and ask for forgiveness. From whence cometh his boldness? Well, we find the apostle answers that question. Look back to Hebrews 10. And notice, beginning at verse 19. Hebrews 10, 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Well, he already told us right there, didn't he? Having boldness. to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. So we're to go with boldness, verse 19. A true heart, I think that means a sincere heart. in full assurance of faith, and notice why. He already told it to us in a nutshell back in verse 19, but now he's going to expand it. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Now, evil conscience has to do with guilt, and thus there's sprinkling of blood. and the washing of the body. Remember, we saw that back in the Old Testament with pure water. It's possible that it's referring to the lepers. Remember, they washed their bodies, but it's probably more directly related to the priests in the Old Testament. Because remember, the priests had to wash their bodies, which signified that they were clean morally. But either way, the point here is this. Here's why we ought to come with boldness and confidence before the throne of grace. Because of the blood and the water. That's what it means. Because we have been, as Christians, we have been sprinkled with the blood and washed with the water. And every time we sin, what do we do? We go back to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. We go back to the blood and back to the water. So my friends, sin, here's my point, sin in the life and heart of a Christian isn't reason not to come with boldness before the throne of grace. It's actually a reason to come with boldness, providing you come humbly and confessing your sin and guilt and looking to Jesus. Now stop and think of this, Christian. Irrespective of how bad you make a mess of it. Irrespective of how much you sin. Irrespective of how often you sin. If you humble yourself, if you confess your sin, this is how John puts it, in 1 John 1 and 9, how does he put it? He's faithful and just to forgive us, that's blood, and to wash us from all unrighteousness, that's water. And that's a Christian text. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse or wash us from all unrighteousness. He's faithful to reapply the blood and the water. And that brings me to my fourth observation, which connects to this third one. Old Testament saints saw Christ from afar off. This is a fact that may be overlooked by many. In fact, it is overlooked by the majority of professing Christians, denied by several of them. David understood that hyssop and water were but typical of salvation that would be found in the Messiah. So when David says, perch me with hyssop, do you really think, brethren, that he's speaking of literal hyssop? Do you think that he believes that there was some virtue in that herb? Do you think that he believes that there was virtue in that ceremonial water? No, he didn't. He knew those were what shadows or types of Jesus. He knew that his hope lied not in the symbols, But in the realities, the blood of animals and ceremonial water, we're unable to purge or cleanse anyone from a single sin, okay? I won't turn you back to it, but here's my proof text, the book of Hebrews, the whole book. Because the apostle over and again says, if those could take away sin, then we don't need the blood of Jesus. If the first covenant could have solved our problems, we don't need a second one. If the old could have resolved our issues, we didn't need a new one. So here's the inference, and you know it already. Everybody, Old Testament, New Testament, everybody who has been or will be saved are saved by the virtue of the blood of the new covenant. Old Testament saints were saved by virtue of the blood that would be shed in the new covenant. Jesus' blood atones for sin, and Jesus' blood alone atones for sin. They saw Jesus' blood through the types and shadows from afar off. So what is said of Abraham, that he saw my day, Jesus said, and he was glad, can be said of every Old Testament saint. They all saw Jesus' day and were glad. And they saw them through the types, that is the pictures, and the promises. Friends, from the beginning of time, the only thing able to purge and cleanse a soul was and is the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing ever, ever was able to purge or wash to purge or wash one sin, save Christ's blood. Now let me put that more positively. Christ's blood can purge and wash every sin. Every sin. Let me end with Luther. In all ages, the forgiveness of sins has been the same. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Old Testament saints were saved and received forgiveness of sins by trust in the Christ who was to come. We, by trust in the Christ who has come, suffered and been glorified. Old Testament saints were saved as they looked forward to the Christ who would come. as we look to the Christ who has come. Everybody, Old and New Testaments, are saved the same way, the gospel way. And my friends, David knew that. The gospel, MacArthur made famous those books, The Gospel According to Jesus and The Gospel According to the Apostles. Here's a title for you, The Gospel According to David, because David is here asking that he would be forgiven and washed for the sake of Christ.