Leal, Alex: Thoughts on the Hyssop Plant

I was thinking about one particular plant in scripture. It's a plant that's, uh, appears in the Bible, and it's a very interesting plant as you begin to study it. The first thing about this plant that I want to point out is, is that it's a mystery plant. Um, the scholars don't know what the hyssop of the Bible is. In fact, if you were to, um, to go to, uh, Israel, they do have hyssop there, but the hyssop that we know as common day hyssop doesn't grow in that part of the country or that part of the world, uh, indigenously. So that's the first thing. Uh, scholars don't know what the hyssop of the Bible is. In fact, if you're a biologist, I believe the name, the biological name, the species and genus name of hyssop of the Bible is Hyssopus septu- uh, septuagintis or something like that, which means the hyssop of the Septuagint, or the hyssop of the Bible. So in our study of hyssop, we're going to find that hyssop is mentioned or found in in place or 7 places in the Bible. It's found in the Book of Exodus, it's found in the Book of Leviticus, found in Numbers nineteen, First Kings chapter four, Psalm fifty one, John chapter nine, and Hebrews chapter nine. These are the seven places that mentions hyssop. And in these seven places, it's mentioned a total of twelve times in the Bible. It's mentioned five times in Leviticus, twice in Numbers, and once in the other, uh, references listed there. So it's mentioned, it's appears in seven places, and it's mentioned a total of twelve times. Now, in our study, we're going to be looking at the first three examples in reference to salvation. We're going to look at the First Kings passage as a, as a key to unlock some of the meaning of the imagery in the other passages. And finally, we're going to apply the last three to the Christian life. So let's begin and turn to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter twelve. if you have your Bibles with you. In Exodus chapter twelve, we come to the end of the, I guess it's the end of the last judgment. Uh, there's been, uh, ten judgments on the land of Egypt, uh, ten judgments from the hand of God. God, like us, has ten fingers on his hand, these ten— these are ten fingers in his hands, and these, uh, judgments, each ten of them, uh, fo- are used to liberate his people from Egypt. So here in Exodus chapter twelve, we come upon the last judgment, and God's going to use a lamb to deliver his people, which is, uh, of course, a picture of what was to come for us and for the world. So Exodus chapter twelve, and we'll begin reading in verses one through eight of Exodus chapter twelve. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for the household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons, according to each man's need. You shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or the from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at the twilight, and they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Automatically, we see here some references that, uh, remind us of the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh, in this passage, it always speaks about the lamb, the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish. There, of course, is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of God's Pascal lamb that was, uh, offered there on Calvary's cross, without blemish, without sin. And though there were many lambs that were slain that first Passover, the passage always speaks of the lamb. And it says here, if the household is too small, doesn't say that if the lamb be too small. In other words, the lamb in this passage being pictured as being s- uh, all sufficient. If your household be so small, then share it with your neighbor, and so forth. Um, this was a lamb, male of the first year. Lord Jesus Christ was cut off from the earth in the prime of his life, um, when he was thirty three years of age or so. Uh, this was, uh, done before the whole congregation, verse six, at the twilight, similar time when the Lord was crucified. And, of course, this was, uh, roasted with fire. You know, the Lord there on Calvary's cross, he endured all of God's wrath, all of God's judgment for our sake. Let's jump down to, uh, verses eleven to fourteen. Verse eleven: And those- and thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and you shall eat it in your with, uh, you should, excuse me, you should waste on your feet, your sandals on your, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I shall pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Against all, all the gods of Egypt, I will execute my judgment. I am the Lord. Now the blood should be a sign for you on the house where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a- as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. So here we find out why this was called Passover, because the Lord, when he saw the blood, he would pass over that household. But this wasn't just a Passover, but was also a pass on, for we read also in that same passage that, uh, they were to keep this throughout their generations as an everlasting ordinance. And so, when Lord Jesus Christ, uh, came to Jerusalem, they were celebrating the Passover that evening with his disciples prior to him being crucified. And so they kept it that whole time, this feast as remembrance of when the Lord delivered them. Let's jump down to verse twenty one, twenty four. Verse twenty one, Then Moses called for all the elders of the, of the people and said to them, pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to their families, and kill the Paschal lamb, the Passover lamb, and you shall take a bunch of, here it is, a bunch of hyssop, hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning, for the Lord will pass through the land, through the, through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your house to strike you. You shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and for your sons forever. I think William McDonald in his commentary likens this, uh, the hyssop to the faith that is, uh, necessary to apply the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to your life. And here they use the hyssop to apply the blood to the two door, to the doorposts and the lintels. And when the angel of the Lord saw that, he passed over the house and will not permit the destroyer to come in. Let's jump down to verse thirty five thirty seven. Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they... so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Then the children of Israel sojourned from Ramsi to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot besides children. If someone will make a note of that number, six hundred thousand men, it's going to come into play a little bit later. Six hundred thousand men, er, that's just the men. It's estimated that the total population is probably around two million, when you count the children and the women as well, and the elderly. But it was six thousand six hundred thousand men that left that day. Another thing here worth pointing out is that they didn't leave empty-handed. It says that the, uh, they asked of the Egyptians, articles of, uh, silver, gold, and clothing. And sometimes you hear that, uh, you, you leave, you enter this world with nothing, and you leave with nothing. But that's not necessarily true for the Christian. Um, gold speaks of deity. You know, when we leave this world, we have God who's been residing in us, and the Holy Spirit has been residing with us. Silver speaks of redemption, and we've been bought by a price. We've been redeemed. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us with his own life. And clothing, well, we don't leave naked either, do we? Um, and we get to wear the very best robes of heaven, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, so, so pure and so white are those robes that God, when he looks down upon me, a wretched sinner, he doesn't see me for the sinner I am, he sees me clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, the, the believer doesn't leave this world empty-handed either. Let's go to the last few verses here, the last few, last verse in this chapter, verse fifty one. And it came to pass on that very same day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. And I like, I just love how that finishes, according to their armies. This was a slave nation when they, when they left. But this isn't the world's, uh, point of view. No, this is God's, the heavenly view. And he sees them as the mighty army that they would become. There was a slave nation that was leaving there. The Lord sees them as the army of the Lord leaving their land of Egypt. Let's go to our next, uh, sorry, I should have put this so that we had the lintel being, uh, covered with the blood of the Paschal lamb, and hyssop was used to put that there. Now let's go to, uh, our next passage. It's found in the book of Leviticus, and before there, I want to tell you a story before we get there. Uh, many of you may have heard of the name T. Ernest Wilson. Uh, T. Ernest Wilson was a pioneer missionary, uh, to Angola, and Tiranus Wilson, uh, if you ever listen to any of his recordings of Voices for Christ, for example, uh, he tells some stories, and he says, you know, these, uh, Angolan brothers, these African brothers would sometimes come up with stuff that would, you know, surprise you, that would make a theologian scratch his head. So the story is that one day Tiranus Wilson is teaching on the three divine offices that have their head anointed with oil, you know, the prophet, the priest, and the king. And as he's teaching this, this, uh, African brother stands up and says, uh, Brother Tiernas, you forgot one. And, uh, he took him to Leviticus chapter fourteen, which talks about the leper who wants to be cleansed. Uh, Tiernas wasn't said, I never forgot about that. Never forgot about that. Now there's a, there's a, there's a, uh, unction of the Holy Spirit aimed for the leper who wants to be cleansed. Let's go to Leviticus chapter fourteen. Leviticus fourteen. Let's read verses one through four. Leviticus fourteen. And the Lord spake to Moses, saying, this is the law, this shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him. Indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leopard, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living birds and clean, or two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. And we'll pause there. So this, uh, leopard was to bring this shopping list with him, two birds that are living and clean, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. And that's what he's supposed to bring with him. Um... Let's, uh, look at verses five and seven. But let's pause on that for one second. I want to look at, uh, what these, uh, what these, um, um four things represent. We have the birds, we have the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop. Let's go, let's use one of our other passages to see if we can understand some of the imagery here. So keep your finger in Leviticus chapter fourteen. We're going to be going to First Kings chapter four. First Kings chapter four. Here in First Kings chapter four, we have, uh, given to us an explanation of the way Solomon organized his kingdom. The first part talks about how he organized it, uh, how he organized it with his men and so forth. The second part of, uh, chapter four, verses twenty nine to thirty four, talk about the wisdom of Solomon. I'm gonna read from there. And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart, like the sands on the seashore. The Solomon wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of E- of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Esarite, than Haman, Karkol, and Darva, the sons of Maol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and one. This man was very prolific. He also spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. And there's a reference to hyssop. He spoke also of animals, of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations from all, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. We know for sure that Queen of Sheba was among those who came to hear of the wisdom of Solomon. And here, when it talks about the, uh, the vastness of Solomon's, uh, knowledge, it gives you the examples of the cedar trees that are in Lebanon. In fact, if you were to look at the flag of Lebanon, it's a ver- it's a flag that has a right, a red stripe, a white stripe, and then another red stripe on the bottom. In the center, there's a cedar tree. Uh, Lebanon, not only in the ancient times, but even today, is known for, for its cedar trees. And here, to give you an idea of the, the, the expanse, the expanse of, uh, Solomon's knowledge, we're given these two things, cedar trees and hyssop. You know, that's how vast his knowledge was. Now, in scripture, uh, wood, for example, speaks of humanity. You know, when we think of the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant is made of two main materials, made of gold and made of cedar wood, right? And that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, his 2, his two uh, natures. He was one hundred percent man, he was one hundred percent God. And so we see those, those two things in the Ark of the Covenant. So what speaks of humanity? And so perhaps these two, uh, plants or trees, they speak of all humanity from the most, from the most exalted to the most humble. Now all humanity is in view there. It's all of humanity that's in view in this passage, going back to, to, uh, to our verse there in, uh, Leviticus chapter fourteen, when we have to see the wood and the s- and the, uh, and the hyssop. Another thing that was in that list that the leper had to bring was scarlet, scarlet wool. Now, what does scarlet signify? You know, if you were to take a crayon box and hold it before a child and ask him to pick out one color to represent sin, you know, he might go for the black, right? You know, we think of sin as being something, uh, uh, you know, bad, something dark, something, uh, you know, evil. So he might choose for black. However, when- when God colors the Bible, he uses a different color to re- signify sin. We find that in Isaiah uh one eighteen. Now come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are like crimson, they shall be as wool. So, going back to our list, we know what the cedar wood represents, we know what the hyss represents, we know what the scarlet wool represents. What about those two birds? We'll get to that in a second. Let's go to now to our verse in uh, Leviticus chapter fourteen. Let's look at verse five and seven. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them in the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. Verse seven, And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in an open field. So, here we have our one bird that's killed over an earthen vessel in running water, or running water, I should say. You know, this, um, bird, what does it signify? So, you know, birds, you think about them as far, you know, as far as flying, most of the birds fly. There's exceptions that like penguins is another bird that don't fly, but for the most part, when you think of birds, you think of birds, these are creatures that, that, uh, that fly in the heavenly places, you know, they fly in the sky. You know, this, this, uh, bird, this, uh, this creature that's associated with the heavens, perhaps it's a picture of a he- of a heavenly being who came down and shed his blood in an earthen vessel. Uh, running water speaks to the Holy Spirit. You know, uh, this was, you know, the work of salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit. I can preach till I'm blue in the face, but the Holy Spirit doesn't have his hand in it, and no one's going to get saved. Conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit. So that's what the one bird signifies, you know, picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when you take these things together, it tells us that all humanity needs to have their s- their, uh, sins washed in the blood of him who came down from heaven and shed his blood in an earthen vessel. What about that second bird? We heard that the priest was also s- supposed to take that bird, dip it in the blood, and then let it free in an open field. The first bird was a picture of Lord Jesus Christ in his death. Perhaps the second bird is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection. Our pa- our brother read this morning, uh, in the, I believe it was the Gospel of, uh, John, when the Lord appears to the, uh, disciples in the upper room, and Thomas isn't there. And when the second time he appears to them in the upper room, Thomas is there, and the Lord says, now don't be unbelieving, here are my hands, here's my side, stick your hands in there if you need to believe. The Lord Jesus Christ bore the marks of that first sacrifice after his resurrection. So perhaps this other bird too is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. First one's a picture of him and his sacrifice, the one that, the second one's a picture of him and his resurrection. Because if that resurrected body bore the marks of that first sacrifice. Let's continue our reading. Jump down to verse ten. Verse ten we read. Leviticus fourteen ten. And on the eighth day he shall take two lambs, two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. So now the, he gets a second list of things to bring after he's been cleansed to the priest. And now he's gonna be asked to do certain things with these, these things that he's asked to be, to bring. Let's jump to verse thirteen and we'll to see and we'll see what he's going to do with these. Verse thirteen, then he shall take the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering in a holy place, for as the sin offering is the priest, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. So we have these, these, uh, sorry, have these, um, these, uh, parts of the leper's anatomy in view, his earlobe, its right thumb, and the toe of his, of his right foot. And on those, she's supposed to put the blood of the trespass offering on his right earlobe, on his right thumb, I'm sorry, right thumb, and his right toe, toe. You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, he bought you with his, with his own blood, you know, after he saved you, he expects you to be attentive to his word, to do his will, and to walk in his way. But I have a problem. I still have my sin nature in me. I still have the flesh. So every time I try to hear his word, guess what? The flesh is there trying to block out God's word. Every time I propose to do God's will, guess what? There's the flesh trying to hold me back. Every time I try to walk in his path, there's the flesh tripping me up. But it's not over there. Let's continue. Let's see what else happens to this leper. Uh, verse sixteen: Then the priest shall dip his finger, his right finger in the oil that was in, that that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass offering. So on the very same spot that the priest had put the blood on, on the right earlobe, the right thumb, and the right toe, he's going to put oil on the very same spots. You know, I've been bought by blood, but I've been sealed by the Holy Spirit. And so even though the flesh is there trying to trip me up, guess what? So is the Holy Spirit. And so when the flesh is trying to keep me from hearing God's word, there's the Holy Spirit, the helper, to help me to be attentive to his word. When I propose to do God's will, and the flesh is trying to keep me back, guess what? So is the Holy Spirit to help me to do his will. And when I try to walk in his path and the flesh is trying to trip me up, guess what? The Holy Spirit there is present. It sealed me so I can walk in his path. Verse eighteen, this is the, the verse that the African brother took T. Ernest Wilson to. The rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, so the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. Now, T. Ennis Morrison said, I never forgot that. You know, there's an unction of the Holy Spirit for me, the leper who wants to be cleansed. You know, leprosy is a great type of sin. Now, the leper, he had no access to the people of God because of his leprosy. You know, when there's unconfessed sin in your life, you're breaking fellowship with your, your fellow believers. You'll find that those who are in perpetual or in habitual sin, you know, they start to walk, wander away from the fellowship. You know, when, uh, there's unconfessed sin in your life, there's no fellowship with God. You know, the pre- the leper was not allowed to be, go into the temple. He couldn't go into town, and let alone the temple. You know, when there's unconfessed sin in your life, there's no fellowship between you and God unless, unless you confess that sin. And lastly, the leper was miserable because of his sickness, because of his leprosy. And if there's unconfessed sin in your life, guess what? That sin is going to eat you up slowly but surely. So leper is a great picture of us who are spiritual lepers and our sins. But praise to God that he's provided a way for us to be cleansed, as he did for the leper in Leviticus chapter fourteen. Let's go to our next passage. It's found in the book of Numbers. If you turn over a few pages, we're going to go into Numbers chapter nineteen. Numbers chapter nineteen. Here in Numbers chapter nineteen, we're going to, uh, find one of the most powerful symbols of, of, uh, purification in the Old Testament. It's the ashes of the red heifer, which give us the water of purification. Let's, uh, look at, uh, verses one through six. Numbers chapter nineteen, one through six. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect, and on which a yoke has never come. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him. And he said, the priest shall take some of the blood with his finger and sprinkle it, some of the blood, seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. I want to stop right there for a second. Uh, make note, this is the only time that blood is mentioned in this sacrifice. It's being sprinkled towards the tabernacle. Um, there won't be any more blood mentioned in this sacrifice, and this is important, uh, as we begin to see what this is a picture of. Verse five: Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight, its hide, its flesh, its blood, its offal shall be, shall be burned. The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast them in the midst of the fire, um, burning the heifer. The priest shall wash his clothes and shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until evening. So, let's look at our imagery we have here. We have the red heifer that was to be brought, and we read that, um, it was to be combined with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, and it was to be burned. Now, we talked about how, in the previous passage, how those same things, they signified, it was a picture of salvation, right, of those who confessed their sins. We talked about how the whole world needs to have their sins confessed and washed in the blood of him who came from above and shed his blood on an earth and vessel. But in this particular, uh... sacrifice, uh, there is no blood to be washed in. There's only fire. I think it's the same coin, just the opposite side. You know, those who don't have their blood or their sins washed in the blood of him who came from on high and had and shed his blood in an open vessel, they will face fire, they will face God's judgment. And I think this is what the red heifer si- signifies. Now, the blood we read about was sprinkled towards the tabernacle seven times. I think the reason for that is that, should the sinner reject God, God is justified in condemning them. Now, he's offered a way for them to be saved, but should they reject them willingly, he's justified in condemning them for his rejection of him. And I think that's why blood's only mentioned being sprinkled towards the tabernacle, the rest of it's burned up in the fire. There is no washing away of sin in this particular passage, no. It's only fire, God's judgment. Let's continue reading. In verse... let's read verse nine. Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them outside the camp in a clean place, and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification. It is for purifying from sin. Okay, so now someone's going to gather these ashes, mix them with water, and it's going to become what's known as the water of purification. Now, why is this water of purification so important? Let's continue reading, uh, verses eleven through eighteen. He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean- be clean. Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, that person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean because of the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. His uncleanness is still on him. This is the law when a man dies in the tent, all who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days. And every open vessel which is, which has no cover fastened on it, it is unclean. Where whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man or a grave shall be unclean seven days. And for an unclean person, they shall take some of the ashes of the, of the heifer burned for purification from sin in running water and shall be put, and shall put them in a vessel. Verse eighteen, and a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on the vessels and the person who, who were there or on the one who touched a bone and is slain, the dead, or a grave. We'll stop our reading there. And so, basically, if you came in touch with anything that was dead or where someone had died, you automatically became unclean. Now, why is that so important? Uh, what was that number that we remembered in, uh, Exodus chapter twelve? How many men were left Egypt? 600,000, right? Of the six hundred thousand, how many of those men made it into the Promised Land? Two, right? Caleb and Joshua, right? So what happened to the rest of them? They died in the wilderness, right? So Israel was constantly tripping over their dead as they're wandering through the wilderness. They were constantly becoming un- contaminated by their contact with the dead. I mean, that whole generation had to die before they could go into the Promised Land. So those forty years they're wandering in the wilderness, they're constantly being defiled by those who are dying around them. Now, whether it's because of war, whether it's because of, uh, God striking some, like, uh, as he did with the rebellion of, of Korah, um, Israel was constantly in contact with those that were dead. You know, like manna, we too are in constant contact with those who are dead, they're dead in their trespasses and sin, you know, and that rubs off on us too, you know. Next time you're at work, you know, someone says a coarse joke and you smile or you giggle, you know, that's rubbed off on you too. Or maybe your boss, you know, he looking at the finance and says, you know, we got to fudge the numbers a little bit just to make it through the year. You know, he's, that's rubbing off on you too. And the waters that purify are a picture of God's word. And just as Israel had this water of purification to cleanse himself from their contact with the dead, we too have God's water of purification in our hands right here. You know, when we come in contact with those who are dead in their trespasses and s- and sin, God wants to go to his word so that we can see what he wants from us. Not what the world is asking us to do, but what he wants from us. God has his water of purification so that we might come to it, you know, and look at it in their gaze and see ourselves as God sees us. You know, not as the world sees us, but as God sees us. You know, um, sin all happened because man wanted to be like God. Now man wanted to decide what was right and wrong for himself, and man keeps doing that perpetually throughout the centuries. Man wants to call this right and that wrong, but ultimately it's God who's who says what's right and what's wrong. And that's why we need this water of purification in our wilderness wandering. And we need to come to his word to be cleansed and not let the world rub off on us, but go back to the, to the source of life, go to God's word and see what he calls right and what he calls wrong. Now we might come to the next passages in our scriptures, and they all speak about the Christian life. We begin with, uh, Psalm fifty one. Let's go to Psalm fifty one. Psalm fifty one was written by, uh, David after he had committed sin with Bathsheba. He was confronted by the prophet Nathan, and out of that brokenness, uh, David writes Psalm fifty one. and it's a very touching psalm, and if you almost, uh, just feel the empathy there, just feel the, uh, just the heartbreak of him realizing when he's been confronted with his sin. Uh, let's read verses one through twelve of Psalm fifty one. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgression, wash me throughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom. 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 sin and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew the steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your 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. We'll stop our reading there. David had committed, uh, three terrible sins prior to him being confronted by the prophet Nathan. He committed the sin of fornication with, uh, adultery, I guess, with, um, Bathsheba. He committed the sin of murder when he had Uriah taken out of the picture. And then he put on a farce. He lied about the whole thing. You know, he made it seem like he was being a, a just man when he took, uh, uh, Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, as his own wife. And God called him out on it. God called him out for those three sins he had committed. But the good thing about that, even though David had committed these horrendous sins, there was perpetual forgiveness offered to him by God. Now the sins, those terrible sins, uh, you know, the sin of adultery, the sin of murder, and just the, the sin of lying, uh, they're all covered by, by, or they would be covered by the blood of Christ on Calvary's cross. And the same is true for us. You know, it doesn't matter how bad of a sin you commit, God offers perpetual forgiveness for that sin through the sacrifice of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But there will be consequences to your sin. Um, God forgives you of the sin, but there will be natural consequences to your actions. Uh, David, for example, the sword never left his house. And when Nathan comes to him and tells him about this, this poor man who had a, a ewe lamb and, uh, a rich man who lived next to him, who took the poor man's lamb and, and offered it up and gave it to his guest, David became infuriated with that man and said, you know, that man is going to pay four times, he's going to pay fourfold fold for the, what he has done. Then Nathan, uh, pulls the trigger and says, David, you're the man. You're the man who's committed this. And by his own word, four, four of David's sons died on natural death. Four of David's sons died on natural death. Fourfold punishment for what he had done. You know, the sword never left David's house. There's never peace in that household thereafter. It's all because of the sin that just kept snowballing, becoming bigger and bigger. And you see in his children, and you see it in Ammon, you see it in Absalom, you see in all of David's children how this, the sins of the father affect the next generations and so forth. But even though David's sins were grievous, there's perpetual forgiveness. You know, either you'll have to deal with the consequences of your sins, but God will forgive you of the sin. And that's one thing that, uh, that we should be glad about. You know, um, I'm going to talk about that in our next passage. Let's look at John chapter nineteen. John chapter nineteen. So here in John chapter nineteen, the scene is very different. Uh... In John chapter nineteen, we have the passage where, um, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be crucified. He's been rejected by his people, and now he's going to be crucified. Let's read a... Let's read verses twenty eight to thirty of John chapter nineteen. John chapter nineteen, twenty to thirty. Now here the Lord Jesus Christ is on the cross of Calvary during the hour of his rejection, and this is what transpires. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scriptures might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. And a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on hyssop and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. So the Lord Jesus Christ is hanging on the cross, the hours of rejection, he says, I'm thirsty. And what did they offer him? Did they offer him a cool glass of water? No. Did they offer him something sweet, like, uh, like wine would be, or like the juice we had this morning, remembering him. No, it was sour wine. It was wine that had been, uh, contaminated. You know, wine becomes vinegar when it, when, um, air mixes, mixes with it, right? It creates a chemical reaction, um, the microbes in the wine, you know, they be- they begin to produce acid, and that makes the wine turn into vinegar. You know, wine in scripture is a picture of joy. Joy. And you find it all throughout the scripture, you find it in the Proverbs and so forth, uh, mentions of wine, how it's a picture of joy. Uh, in fact, the Lord's first miracle was to turn water into wine. You know, that party would have been over. The Lord Jesus Christ, he makes the best wine, you know, he does that continually for us, you know, he provides the greatest joy in our life. And it far exceeds any other joy you can compare with in this life. You know, and I believe that the Christian should be the happiest person on the face of the earth. I mean, sure, we have to deal with things like death, uh, sadness. You know, we're not exempt from the world's problems. We could lose our job, we could lose our health, we can lose loved ones. Um, we're not exempt from that, but yet the Christian should be the happiest person on the face of the earth, because the Christian is the one person on earth that knows God would never judge him for his sins, because he knows they've been dealt with on Calvary's cross. And that should be reason enough to make you happy. That should be, be, be reason enough to be, to fill your hearts with joy, knowing that God would never call you out for your sins. He's never going to bring them up because he's already dealt with them on Calvary's cross. But what happens today? Sometimes our joy gets contaminated with the things of this world. And right now, the Lord Jesus Christ, believe it or not, he's in the hour of his rejection, just as he was some two thousand years ago on Calvary's cross. Why do I say that? Because the world as a whole hasn't accepted him as Lord and Savior. The day will come. We read in Revelation that every knee will bow, they will ni- they will recognize him as Lord of Lord and King of Kings, but that day hasn't come. Sure, there's pocket believers here and there around the world, but the world as a whole hasn't recognized him as king. The nation of Israel hasn't recognized him as their Lord and Savior. So the Lord right now is in the hour of his rejection, and guess what? He's thirsty. He wants to taste the joy of your salvation. But what happens many times, we let our s- our joy be contaminated with the things of this world. Just as wine becomes vinegar, and it gets contaminated with the air, and we get contaminated with the the power of the prince of the air, right? We get contaminated with the things of this world, and what should be our joy becomes tainted. So right now, in the hour of his rejection, the Lord wants to taste the joy of your salvation. Don't offer him sour wine. Offer him something sweet. Offer him the joy of your salvation. Be glad that the Lord Jesus Christ saved you, and live accordingly. Give him that joy that he desires to taste. Let's go to our, got about four minutes left. Let's go to our final passage. It's found in Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter nine. we'll wrap it up with this. Here in Hebrews chapter nine, the author of the, of the book of Hebrews is thinking of something that occurred back in the book of Exodus when, uh, Moses is, uh, consecrating things of the tabernacle and the people. I'm going to read that passage to you. Hebrews chapter nine, and we're looking at verses sixteen to twenty two. sixteen to twenty two. Hebrews nine sixteen to twenty two. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, for a testament is enforced after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats and water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you. Then likewise, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood. Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. I want to take a second and read to you the passage, and you don't have to turn there if you want to. It's Exodus chapter twenty four verse six. This is what the writer Hebrew is thinking about, uh, when he writes these words. Exodus chapter twenty and verse six: And Moses took half of the, half the blood and put it in basins, 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... 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. So there we have both passages. I believe, uh, the writer of, of Hebrews leaves out one thing. So this is what we have. Um, the things that are being sprinkled with blood, the book, the people, the tabernacle, the vessels and ministries, and the altar. I think that's what the writer of Hebrews leaves out in his passage. You know, we have a saying in, in English, you know, we say blood is thicker than water, and what we mean by that, we have more affinity that one with one that's my family, one that's my blood, than one who is not. Now, notice the things that are bound with blood here. The book. You know, if you want to be a good testimony for the Lord here in Lansdowne, you need to be bound to this book. There's no such thing as a Christian who flies, you know, who flies, um, on autopilot. No, you have to be in this book. You have to be bound to this book. You want to have a good testimony here to the surrounding community. I was driving through this morning, and there was a lot of people doing, I guess, yard sales. Uh, so ran to a bunch of houses, people selling stuff, giving stuff away. Those same people who are around here, they're looking at us. They they notice this particular group of people that come every Sunday without fail to meet here. You know, if you want to be a worthwhile Christian here at Lansdowne, you need to be bound to this book, you need to be bound to the people of God. There's no such thing as a, as a long-range of Christian. We were bound to a family, we're part of a body, we have to be bound to the people of God. The tabernacle, the tabernacle is the place of meeting. And people are watching when you come here to this building. They associate you with this building. Not only do you need to be bound to this book, bound to the fellowship, but also bound to the place of meeting. You know, there's a this, the doors are open, you should be here. You should be here. Not only do you need to be bound to the book, to God's people, to the place of meeting, but you need to be bound to the vessels of the ministry. What, what these vessels speak about? Well, they speak about service in the house of God. You know, Nebuchadnezzar took these vessels and he defiled, uh, or Nebuchadnezzar's sons took these vessels, he defiled them in the book of Daniel, and God took issue with that. Uh, these vessels speak of service. Um, I remember us hearing a story, forgot who told it, maybe it was Jake Nicholson. He talked about a brother going, I think, to Ireland, and he gets there, and he arrives to the meeting place. He doesn't sure, he's not sure, uh, if he's there on time or not, so he comes up to the brother who's there to greet him at the door and says, brother, what time does the service start? And the brother replied a little tongue in cheek, he said, the service starts after the meeting. Well, isn't that right, though? You know, we should be looking for opportunities to serve after we say our last amen, after we've closed our hymn books. You know, the, there's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't serve. In Spanish, we have a, a saying, el cristiano que no sirve no sirve, and basically translate that, it's a play on words. It means the Christian who doesn't serve doesn't function. In other words, he's malfunctioning. You know, if you want to be a worthwhile Christian here in Lansdowne, you'll be bound to this book, bound to the family of God, bound to the meeting place, and bound to service. Look for opportunities to serve. And finally, the altar. If you want to be a worthwhile Christian here in Lansdowne, you'll be bound to the altar. The altar speaks of death. Speaks of death. It speaks of death to self, death to the flesh. I think it was, um, trying to remember the brother's name. Um, Peter Brandon, he talks about, uh, the problem with living sacrifices is that they tend to want to jump off the altar. You know? The Lord, Lord calls us a living s- we're to offer ourselves up as living sacrifices, as Romans twelve one tells us. You know, but the problem is the second that you're off the altar, the devil's on your back. We need to be bound to the altar. We need to be dying to self. We need to be going to our own funerals daily, dying to self, dying to flesh. Now, if you want to be used of the Lord, you can't have the flesh calling the shots in your life. No, the Lord has to be sitting on the throne of your life, not you, not the flesh. You need to be bound to the altar. And so as we draw our time together, and we were talking about how, how a hyssop is a mystery plant, you know, they've they've forgotten what the hyssop, or they don't know what the hyssop of the Bible is, uh, because, um, because it because of many different reasons. I didn't mention them all, but, uh, not only does this, this is does, uh, hyssop not normally grow in that part of the world, but if if you paid attention during some of the passages we were looking at, there's different characteristics that are given of hyssop. You know, when we looked at that passage to First Kings, talks about hyssop springing from the walls, you know, so it gives you an idea, maybe some kind of a vining plant. Uh, we looked at the passage when the Lord Jesus Christ is on the Calvary's cross, and he used hyssop to deliver the sponge to him. Uh, the other passages that, uh, the parallel passages, for example, in Matthew, doesn't use the word hyssop, it uses a very different word in Greek that means, uh, a reed. So if the reed and the hyssop are the same thing, then we're talking about a completely different kind of plant. And so that's what part of the reason why they can't identify what the hyssop of the Bible was. Not only did it have to grow in that part of the world, but it had to match all the characteristics that we find in scripture. So in like, in like manner, because they don't know what the hyssop of the Bible is, we sometimes in like manner forget some of the teaching that's associated with the hyssop in scripture. I do pray that this, uh, morning, the Lord's opened your heart and ears and reminded you of some of the truths that he wants you to hold on to this morning. Lord bless you. Let's close with a word of prayer. The only Father, we've heard your word this morning. We've heard you speaking to us. Father, there's many things we have to confess, our very own sins, Lord, that, uh, constantly grieve you. But Father, we're glad that your word has encouragement for us, Lord. We're glad to find passages like that of the leopard who wants to be cleansed. Father, we're glad to find passages like that of King David, who, though he committed great sins against you, Lord, there was per- perpetual forgiveness for him. And Father, as we keep continuing our Christian walk with thee, Father, we want to bring that which is pleasing to you, Lord. We want to bring you the very best wine. We want to bring you the joy of our salvation, Lord. We don't want it to be contaminated with the things of this world. And Lord, we want to be bound to the things that you want us to be bound to, Lord. We want to be bound to your book. We want to be bound to the people of God, Lord. We want to be bound to the meeting place. Lord, we want to be bound to service, Lord. And Lord, we want to be bound to the altar. We want to put to death the flesh and all its desires. So, Father, we pray, Lord, that you would help us in these things and help us live lives that are pleasing to thee. We pray, Lord, that you will conform us to the image of Christ, so that we, the Lord, might be pleasing to you as your son was. In his name we pray. Amen.