Blog Posts

WHITER THAN SNOW

9/18/2010

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow (Psalm 51:7).

The mere teaching of Bible doctrine and extensive Bible studies divorced from
their application to one’s life is not truth in the biblical sense. It is hard
to understand the distinction between the letter of the Word and the spirit of
the Word. We can learn the letter of the Word with intellectual knowledge.
However, the Word is spirit, and we need to understand the spirit of the Word.

We learn to understand the words of Psalm 51 and what is in the heart of a true
child of God who has learned to understand what we spoke of this morning when
Job said: “Behold, I am vile.” It was such an exclamation of surprise. As I
pointed out, all these men of God were truly God-fearing men, but when the Light
shined in their hearts, they saw the vileness of their hearts by nature. Then
all of a sudden they were in a state of shock. They saw something they had not
realized.

Psalm 51 is a psalm of David after Nathan the prophet had come to him with the
message we find in 2 Samuel 12:7-9: “And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I
delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and
thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of
Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee
such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD,
to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the
children of Ammon.”

This was such a shock to David because he had done it so secretly, and he
thought no one knew. It was strictly between him and Joab, who knew that Uriah
had been put in the forefront of the battle and killed. David did not realize
that his sin was naked and open before God. All of a sudden that light was
flicked on, and there he stood, with every thought and every desire and every
lust and every crime of his heart now naked before the Lord.

It was not until God sent Nathan with the message, “Thou art the man,” that
David cried out as Job, “Behold, I am vile.” Keep this in mind as we go through
Psalm 51:1-7.

Verse 1 says: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
Now his sins stood before his eyes. Until then he could write condemnation on
his subordinate who had sinned much less than he had.

Continuing in verse 2 he said: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin.” Now he saw his sin and how vile he was in the eyes of a
Holy God. It is not until this takes place in your life and mine that we really
understand what it is to plead for cleansing in the blood of Christ. David now
saw how he needed cleansing for his own soul.

It is so easy to come under the preaching of the Word, and to hear for someone
else. We can hear a sermon and wish that someone else could hear and understand
it, but the message needs to come home to us.

We read in verse 3: “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever
before me.” Before Nathan spoke to David, he knew his sin and he knew that God
knew it, but now the Holy Spirit brought it home to his heart, and he
acknowledged it. He now knew the consequences of that sin and how grievous it
was to the Lord.

David continued in verse 4: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and
be clear when thou judgest.” What does he mean, “Against thee, thee only, have I
sinned”? He sinned against Uriah. He sinned against Bathsheba. He had sinned
against his kingdom. He had sinned against the congregation of Israel.

David saw the horrible, grievous nature of his sin in the sight of God. You and
I have to learn to understand that when we sin, we sin against God. When Nathan
came to David, he had no place to hide. If God had told David he was going to
die for this, it would have been a just judgment, but now he confesses his
sinfulness. All of a sudden, he realized the grievous nature of his sin.

He says in verse 5: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.” He realized that he was born in sin. He realized that he was
conceived in sin.

Continuing in verse 6 he says: “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” This confession of
David was the fruit of having the Holy Spirit enlighten his understanding to
realize the sinfulness of his sin and that his sin was naked and open before
God.

Now we come to the words of our text: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Until this happens to us, we
will never understand what it is to plead for the purging of our sins, that is,
to be cleansed from our sin, to be delivered from the power of our sin.

He is saying he wants to be clean from his sin. It is one thing to be clean or
be delivered from the penalty of sin. It is another thing to be cleansed from
sin itself so that not only the guilt, but the sin itself has been purged away
and it no longer has a hold on you. It no longer has power and dominion over
you. It no longer reigns over you. That is what he was asking: that he would be
delivered from the power and the reign of sin.

David wanted to be purged from his sin as well as delivered from the penalty of
sin. Notice that throughout this psalm, hell and damnation were not his greatest
concerns. He was concerned about the offense he had caused against God and how
he had brought reproach against God.

He says in verse 16: “Thou desirest not sacrifice or else would I give it thee.
Thou delightest not in burnt offerings.” That deals with the penalty of the sin.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. He understood
that the Lord wanted his heart, but his heart had strayed from the Lord. He
realized that it was a heart sin that the Lord was displeased with.

Now before the words, “Thou art the man,” were applied to David’s heart, he
could still order the execution of his subordinate for a much lesser crime. You
can see this in the preceding verses in 2 Samuel 12: 5-6: “And David’s anger was
greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the
man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

David passed judgment, but Nathan’s message was that the Lord had said, “Thou
shalt not die.” The Lord forgave him. David was not concerned primarily with the
consequences of his sin. As we go through Psalm 51, I want you to understand he
was not concerned about hell. He was not concerned about the punishment of his
sin. He was concerned about being delivered from its pollution, to be cleansed
from his sin.

The Bible is much more than a book of revealed facts and truth. It is not only a
history book. We read in Hebrews 4:12-13: “For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

You see the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
That is what we see in Psalm 51. We see David pouring his heart out before the
Lord under the pollution of sin, having to now be cleansed from sin itself.

We read in verse 13: “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do.”

Bible truths may be correctly explained without raising any opposition until it
is applied to our daily lives. Bible studies are everywhere. Pulpits are
everywhere, and the preachers may properly explain the word of God. They may
read it verbatim and never encounter any opposition until we are required to
apply it to our personal lives.

That is when you hit a hornets’ nest. That is when you see opposition. That is
when people become defensive. Religion becomes a source or form of entertainment
that is unprofitable to the soul. A religion of entertainment is unprofitable to
the soul.

You see this in Ezekiel 33:31-32: “And they come unto thee as the people cometh,
and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will
not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth
after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of
one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they
hear thy words, but they do them not.”

The people were coming to be entertained by what Ezekiel was saying, but their
hearts were still covetous. When we apply the word of God to our daily lives, it
convicts us. That is when the rubber meets the road. That is when religion
becomes offensive. You can get yourself into a heap of trouble. People will
tolerate a lot of preaching of God’s word as long as it does not have to be
applied to their personal lives.

The Holy Spirit applies the words “Thou art the man” to the soul, opening our
eyes to see that the word of God “is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight:
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to
do” (Hebrews 4:12-13).

When we have that applied to our hearts, when it becomes personal, when our own
sins are pointed out by the finger of God, then we begin to understand the words
of our text: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.”

Then we start to understand the desire for cleansing, to be delivered from that
sin. Then the sin itself becomes personal. We do not apply it to another person.
We desire to be cleansed.

When the Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear
spiritually, “Thou art the man,” we begin to truly hunger and thirst for
righteousness. We start to understand the work of regeneration, when the desire
of the heart is altered. The sin we used to cherish becomes our greatest enemy,
and the things of God, which used to be our greatest enemy, become our chief
delight.

This word purge, as we find in our text, expresses David’s desire to be washed
and cleansed from the pollution of his sin by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.
Our text says, “Purge me with hyssop,” because hyssop was to be used for the
sprinkling of the blood.

In Exodus 12:22 it says: “And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the
blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with
the blood that is in the basin.”

What does he mean by “purge me with hyssop”? He is saying, Lord, bring me under
the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, if I can
be washed in the blood of the Lamb, I will be whiter than snow.

He is saying: Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow. That speaks of his walk of life: if the Lord will give him the
blood that had been dipped with hyssop to sprinkle the lintel and the side posts
of the door, which is his walk of life.

This sprinkling with the blood was used also for the cleansing of leprosy. They
also used hyssop. When a leper came to be cleansed, he was sprinkled with the
blood with hyssop, which was to typify the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus,
which is the cleansing of sin.

The leper had already been cured. We are not talking about justification here.
We are talking about sanctification. He had already been delivered from leprosy,
but he had to be cleansed from the power of it, from the pollution of it.

In Leviticus 14:6-7 it says: “As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the
cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living
bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he
shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and
shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open
field.”

This is a type of the sacrifice of Christ. He says “cleanse me with hyssop,”
which is the sprinkling of the blood, to cleanse him from sin. We become whiter
than snow when all of our sins are washed away by the cleansing power of the
blood of Christ.

Before the Holy Spirit spoke, “Thou art the man,” into David’s soul, he could
still pass condemnation onto his fellowman, but afterward he saw his spiritual
leprosy and his need for cleansing as we see in verses 1 and 2: “Have mercy upon
me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy
tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.”

David is talking about that cleansing with hyssop, that cleansing power of the
blood. Until the Lord speaks to our soul, “Thou art the man,” our soul has no
rest until we have been cleansed. A mere formal religion and intellectual
religion does not bring a heart’s desire to be cleansed from the power of sin.
That does not bring a hatred for sin. That does not make sin become exceedingly
sinful.

Conscientiousness of our defilement is not automatically accompanied with a
desire for cleansing. You can come under the proclamation of the word and
actually come to a full realization of your defilement, but that in itself does
not cause a desire for cleansing. The desire for cleansing is the work of the
Holy Spirit. It is that work of regeneration. It is that new man of the heart.
Jesus said in John 3:19-20: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

They realized they were defiled, but they fled from the light that revealed
their defilement, like David did until Nathan spoke to him, and the Lord applied
it to his soul. Until the Holy Spirit comes in the heart we see condemnation,
and we will flee the light. Sure we can see that we are defiled. We can realize
that what we are doing is wrong. We can realize that what we are doing is sin.

This though does not put it in the light that David saw in Psalm 51. David knew
that when he took Bathsheba he was wrong. David knew that when he told Joab to
have Uriah slain that he was wrong, but he was hiding it. He was not coming to
the light.

Those who flee from the light cannot pray the prayer of our text: “Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

David could not pray the prayer of our text before Nathan spoke to him, “Thou
art the man,” because he was hiding his sin. He was not coming to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. He was keeping it secret.

The rejoicing of the wicked is in their iniquity, not in hearing the words of
God. Those who know their own defilement and those who shun the light rejoice in
their iniquity. They do not rejoice as we read in Psalm 51:8: “Make me to hear
joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”

David prayed in verses 9 and 10: “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all
mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.”

Now David saw the corruption of his soul. He saw the corruption of his human
nature. He saw the corruption of his sin. He saw the sinfulness of his sin. He
knew his sin before this, but he had never been brought to where he cried out
for the cleansing of sin.

Continuing in verses 11 to 13 he prayed: “Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways;
and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”

What a blessing it is my friends, if someone who has been brought under the
power of sin, and the Holy Spirit convicts them to see the sinfulness of sin, if
that person finds someone he can speak to who can relate to what he is talking
about.

Now when someone would come to David and say, I have been taken in such a fault,
he could reply: I know the power of sin, and I know the sinfulness of sin, and
he could teach that person the Lord’s ways. He could teach him that he needs to
flee to that hyssop and have his sins sprinkled with the blood of Christ.

David prayed in verse 14: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of
my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.” He
understood that he was guilty of the blood of Uriah. It went beyond the blood of
Uriah though to the blood of the church because he had been guilty of sinning
against the second table of the law of love. He had committed adultery, and that
is also having blood on his hands. He justly deserved to be put to death.

We read in verse 15: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth
thy praise.”

There is never a time that a person can sing forth the praises of God like he
can when he understands that Christ came to redeem us from all iniquity.

David’s reference to hyssop teaches another valuable lesson, that is, his
willingness to submit to being cleansed in God’s ordained way. If we rightly
understand Psalm 51, we are going to learn a lesson that is powerfully
important, and I am going to show you what it is. The preaching of the gospel
today is centered on justification and the sacrifice of Christ, but I want to
show you what David teaches us in this psalm.

David said in verses 16 and 17: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I
give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

This is the lesson that Job did not understand. He was a formal religionist. I
want to show you the difference between what Job did and what David is teaching
us here. Turn with me to Job 1:4-5: “And his sons went and feasted in their
houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat
and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone
about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and
offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It
may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job
continually.”

David, though, said that God does not desire sacrifice. What Job was missing was
the heart. He never trained his children that their hearts should be right
before God. He tried to take care of it all with sacrifices. No repentance was
taught. Job did not understand the vileness of his own heart, but David said
that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Watch the following verses. This is a tremendous lesson for us to learn. We read
in Psalm 51:18-19: “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls
of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks
upon thine altar.”

I want you to see that the sacrifice of righteousness goes ahead of the burnt
offerings. The sacrifice of righteousness is the sacrifice of a broken heart and
a contrite spirit. That has to come before our pleading the blood of Christ. We
cannot come and plead the blood of Christ as Job was doing. His sons were
feasting and making merry, and then he would offer a burnt offering for it. The
Lord has no delight in it.

This was the same thing Saul was doing. He disobeyed the Lord by using the best
of the sheep and cattle for a sacrifice to Him.

We cannot plead justification under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ until we
understand what it is to be cleansed in the heart. We need that hyssop. We need
that blood on the two door posts and on the lintel of the door so the destroying
angel will pass over because he sees our walk of life. Now we can start pleading
the burnt offerings.

Satan loves overreaction. On one hand, he wants us to slight the authority of
God’s word as Jesus warned against inMatthew 5:19: “Whosoever therefore shall
break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

On the other side of this principle, Satan would load us with legalistic
commandments that God has no pleasure in as we see in Isaiah 1:12: “When ye come
to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?”

Who has asked you to even come within the walls of my house?

Continuing in verses 13 to 15 we read: “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is
an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and
your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to
bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”

These verses confirm that the Lord has absolutely no pleasure in sacrifices when
the heart is not right. When the heart is not right these sacrifices are an
abomination to Him. That their hands were full of blood showed that they had not
repented of their sins.

Continuing in verses 16 to 18 we read: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the
evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well;
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool.”

What was missing? In all this ritual, the people came and offered sacrifices and
attended solemn assemblies, but this wearied the Lord. Their hands were full of
blood. There was no repentance.

David understood what was missing. He realized his hands were full of blood as
we see in Psalm 51:16: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it:
thou delightest not in burnt offering.” David is saying, I understand the
filthiness and pollution of my sin, and I do not need to bring a burnt offering.
I know it would not be pleasing in your sight. I need to come before you with a
humble and contrite heart. That is the sacrifice the Lord will be pleased with.
He says in Psalm 51:19: “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar.” After the heart is broken and contrite, then
there is a place for the sacrifice. Then we can start talking about pardon.

See how abominable it is to only preach the blood of Christ and sacrifices
without repentance. Then we come under what the Lord says in Isaiah 1: Away with
it. It is an abomination to me.

See what we read in Psalm 51:14: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou
God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”

David understood that he had blood on his hands and that he needed to repent and
be cleansed by the perfect sacrifice before a sacrifice would be acceptable.

He said in verse 15: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth
thy praise.” He saw that he needed the Lord to open his mouth before Him, that
he would be able to come before the throne to seek for mercy.

Continuing in verses 16 and 17 he said: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else
would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise.”

As long as David knew he had blood on his hands, he knew that he could not bring
a burnt offering and please the Lord. His heart had to be cleansed, and that
cleansing had to start with the hyssop, not with the burnt offering. That is why
our text says, “Purge me with hyssop.” He did not say, Purge me with a burnt
offering.

This repenting spirit, this desire to be cleansed from all sin, this desire to
be whiter than snow is what was missing in Isaiah 1:12-15, which talks about all
of the sacrifices in which the Lord was not pleased. See what the Lord said in
1:16-18: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before
mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

This is what David was praying for. He was praying for a new heart. He said in
Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within
me.” He was not praying for pardon. He wanted to be cleansed with hyssop. He
wanted to be washed from his sin. He wanted to be washed from the pollution of
his sin. He wanted that blood washed off of his hands, so he could now bring his
sacrifice as we see in verse 19: “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices
of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar.”

We have to be cleansed before we can seek a pardon. We cannot preach pardon to
those who are walking in sin. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to save His
church in their sins. He came to save them from their sins.

You will seldom find a darker shade of guilt than David was convicted of. I want
you to stop and think of the tremendous lesson we learn in this history of
David. God had placed David in the highest position of public trust, yet he had
yielded to the worst passions. Do you know what a fiduciary is? He is one in
whom there is no tolerance for injustice, because he has been entrusted with
others’ money.

Think of the position David was placed in. David was the king of Israel, but he
had committed murder and adultery. He had killed a man and stolen his wife. What
two passions could be worse for a man to yield to—adultery and murder.

This Psalm pours out the breathings of a wounded spirit touched with the richest
sensibilities of spiritual feelings. Look how he grieved as he pled before the
Lord.

Both sides of our twofold being are revealed here. It reveals something in us so
near to hell, yet it also reveals something so strangely near to God, that
humble and contrite spirit. This is such a paradox. David had come so close to
hell, yet he was plucked as a brand from the burning. He was pardoned and was
now not primarily concerned with being slain for his sins, but he was concerned
about the pollution of his sins. The knowledge of his sin humbled David so
grievously before the Lord.

Beloved, does not this Psalm give a blessed revelation of the spiritual warfare
within the regenerate heart, as we see what it is to struggle against the power
of sin?

In this occasion of David’s fall, we see the germs of the most heinous crimes in
the most stately saint. When we examine our own hearts, we see the seeds of sin.
As the Lord reveals to us the thoughts and intents of our hearts, we see our
human nature that had fallen in paradise.

We see the perfect preciousness in Christ as He took on our human nature,
without sin, to be our substitute.

We read in 1 Kings 15:5: “Because David did that which was right in the eyes of
the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days
of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” Think of the grief
this brought in his life.

When you and I examine our own hearts, can we say: except in only one case did
our hearts really stray from the Lord? Solomon’s heart was not right before the
Lord. With his heart, he served other gods. David’s heart though turned not
aside except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. The Lord forgave him.

The greatest lesson we can learn from God allowing His servant David to fall
into Satan’s snares is how pleased God is in our unconditional surrender to His
will.

We read in Psalm 51:16-17: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give
it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

This is a heart that is in total, unconditional surrender to the will of God.

Even in the sacrifice of Christ, it was not the pain, the blood, the death with
which the Father was so pleased. These satisfied the penalty against sin, but it
was Christ’s obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, which was His
highest evidence of His complete and unconditional surrender to the will of His
Father. Therein was the Father so glorified.

You and I must learn to understand what it is to be conformed to the image of
Christ. As the Holy Spirit works grace in our hearts, and as we mature in grace,
we become unconditionally surrendered to His will. It is our conformity to this
image of Christ that is so pleasing to the Father.

We see this in Psalm 34:15-16: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and
his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do
evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”

In these two verses we have such a profound proclamation of the gospel. The
righteous are those whose hearts are surrendered to the will of God.

Continuing in verses 17 and 18 we read: “The righteous cry, and the LORD
heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Are we talking about salvation? Are we talking about the elements of salvation?
Are we talking about the evidence of salvation? Where is our evidence of
salvation? Do we truly understand what it is to fear the Lord? Do we understand
what it is to have a heart in total surrender to the will of God?

Do we understand what it says in Proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the LORD is to hate
evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate”?

The Lord says He is against those who do evil. Those who do evil do so in pride,
arrogance and self-promotion.

Who are the righteous? We read about them in Philippians 2:1-7. They are those
who have the mind of Christ, those who prefer others ahead of themselves, those
who have consolation in Christ.

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