Create in Me a Clean Heart!

If you have your Bible with you, please open up to Psalm 51 this morning. If you have the YouVersion Bible app on your phone, you will find the sermon notes available under the menu (on my non-fruity phone, it’s called the More menu) then click on Events and you should see First Baptist Church of Pharr, Texas listed there. If you’re watching us online, you can search for us by that name.

If you’re low-tech in your approach to Bible study, we want to accommodate you as well. We have some printed sermon notes available. If you’d like a printed version, raise your hand and somebody will make sure you get a printed copy.

Introduction

Hand in the cookie jar - Kent Hughes

Ephesians—The Mystery of the Body of Christ The Cookie Jar Syndrome ( Ephesians 5:1-7 )

“My hand is in the cookie jar resisting temptation!” The fact is, no one can resist temptation with his or her hand in the cookie jar.

We’re starting out a new series in the book of Psalms. For the next several weeks we’ll be looking for Jesus in the Psalms.

We’ll be studying Psalm 51:1-12 this morning.

Psalm 51:1–12 CSB

1 Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. 2 Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge. 5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire integrity in the inner self, and you teach me wisdom deep within. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. 10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.

[pray]

You might look at this passage and say, “Pastor, where is Jesus in this psalm?”

Principle: Finding Jesus begins in our sorrow and in our repentance.

This psalm marks David’s lament, his sorrow, over his sin with Bathsheba and his repentance and return to God. But what does that have to do with Jesus?

We all have sin in our lives, even if we are Christ-followers, we still sin and grieve the Spirit in our sin. How do we, as believers in Jesus Christ follow the same path that David followed in recognizing his sin and return to God? That’s what we’ll be looking at this morning.

We’ll get back to Psalm 51, but I want start in Ephesians 5 and look at what the the life of a Christ-follower looks like. I believe that the high standard of Christian living that is promoted in Ephesians 5 can be addressed by following the instructions found in Psalm 51. Let’s start out by reading through this passage in Ephesians...

Ephesians 5:1–5 CSB

1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. 3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. 4 Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. 5 For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

These two passages pair well together. In fact, I believe that the psalm provides a path to clean living. So we’ll be concentrating on Psalm 51 for the bulk of our study time this morning. However, in order to do that, it makes sense for us to concentrate on the background of the Psalm, which is one of David’s songs of lament.

Background

Let’s start by reviewing the backstory in 2 Samuel 11.

2 Samuel 11:1-12 - David Committed Adultery With Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:14-27 - David Arranges for Uriah’s Death & Takes Bathsheba as His Wife

2 Samuel 12:1-15 - Nathan’s Parable & David’s Repentance

You remember the shameful story. King David saw Bathsheba bathing and lusted after her. He sent for her so that he could fulfill his desires. After he learned that she was pregnant with his child, David tried to cover up the story and later arranged for her husband, Uriah to be killed in battle. He then married her and bore five sons. Their second son, Solomon became the King of Israel at the end of King David’s reign.

Among the sins that King David committed in this instance were lust, adultery—possibly rape—lying, and murder. And that’s not even beginning to consider his abuse of power and how he corrupted others by involving them in his plan.

We don’t really get a sense of Bathsheba’s participation in this. The story is not told from her perspective.

Certainly David did not have a clean heart before God in this sequence of events. The last sentence of chapter 11 says...

2 Samuel 11:27b CSB

However, the LORD considered what David had done to be evil.

Scripture is clear that David tried to hide what he had done. He clearly knew that what he had done would be considered sinful. But he could not hide his sin from God.

In chapter 12, the prophet Nathan confronts David and tells him a story...

2 Samuel 12:1–4 CSB

1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him: There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very large flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. 4 Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.

David, not knowing that this story was intended as a parable, was angry exclaiming...

2 Samuel 12:5b-6 CSB

As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.

Nathan’s response was to tell David, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7)

The prophet gave him God’s message that he had “despised the Lord’s command by doing what [he] consider[ed] evil.” (2 Samuel 12:9)

Instead of trying to dodge or dissemble, David realized he had been caught in his sin and he openly confessed his sin and repented. Though there were consequences to his sin and he did not avoid them, God did forgive him.

It is in this context that David wrote Psalm 51. This psalm is a record of David’s confession, repentance and his prayer for restoration.

Psalm 51 - Prayer for Restoration

Psalm 51:1–12 CSB

This psalm fully explores David’s confession. In fact he uses four different words to describe his sin:

1. pesha - transgression (v1)

[פֶּשַׁע] breach of trust, rebellion - transgression:—

sense: doing evil; the violation of a law, duty, or moral principle

modern vernacular: crossing a line

2. avon - iniquity (v2a)

עָווֹן avon (730d); iniquity, guilt

sense: guilt, being in the state of having committed an offense

3. chattaah - sin (v2b)

חַטָּאָה chattaah sinful thing, sin

sense: the act of sin or a feeling that is forbidden or ignores something that is required by God’s law. This could be a thought, a feeling, speech or action.

4. ra - evil (v4)

רַע ra - bad, evil

sense: evil behavior that is morally objectionable

I think when David used four different words to describe his sin it can clearly be said that he wasn’t trying to evade the issue. He was done hiding. He fully owned up to his sin and made it known, not only to the prophet and to God, but also to the entire nation of Israel and to us as well.

Can you imagine your sins being revealed to an entire nation that held you in the highest esteem?

Steps to Restoration

I see a pattern here in David’s psalm that might be helpful to us all, who are seeking forgiveness from sin and the restoration that God grants when we fully confess our sin...

1. Ask for God’s Grace - v1

Psalm 51:1 CSB

1 Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.

So many of us walk around persistent in our sin. Because we lack a time of reflection and self-examination, we tend to ignore our own sinful state and miss the grief that we are living in. Either that or we refuse to forgive ourselves, however we also refuse to turn to God in repentance and accept his gracious gift.

God’s grace can be had for the asking.

2. Ask for God’s Cleansing - v2

Psalm 51:2 CSB

2 Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

David asked for God’s cleansing. We can have the same when we accept God’s gracious gift of forgiveness, we can be cleansed of our sin.

3. Acknowledge Your Sin - v4a

Psalm 51:4a CSB

Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight

Part of our repentance is acknowledging our sin against God and against others. Alcoholics Anonymous got this right from the beginning when they started as a Christ-centered organization. They knew that the first step to confronting an addiction is to acknowledge that addiction. This is a biblical concept. We have to acknowledge our sin so that we can find forgiveness with God.

4. Acknowledge God as Judge - v4b

Psalm 51:4b CSB

So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.

God is both judge and justice. He cannot abide with sin, but because he is gracious, he has provided us with a way for find forgiveness.

5. Ask for God’s Forgiveness - v9

Psalm 51:9 CSB

9 Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt.

Forgiveness can only be found through God. David knew this as he turned to God for forgiveness.

6. Ask for God’s Restoration - V10-12

Psalm 51:10–12 (CSB)

10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.

David was able to obtain God’s cleansing, forgiveness, and restoration in this process.

We can experience the same thing with God by repenting of our sins and puting our dependence in him. God can take our brokenness and make us new...

David wrote ...“create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me” …

Principle: The only way that we can put off the old creature and take on the new creature is through this process of repentance, forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration.

While he still suffered consequences of his sin, he was able to be forgiven and restored in God’s sight.

I believe these steps will help us to fulfill Ephesians 5:1-2...

Ephesians 5:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

The Truth About Sin

How often do we try to cover our sin by lying?

1 John 1:8–10 CSB

8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

While it may be tempting to compare our sins to David’s and claim that they were not as big or as important as his sins, our sins are still sin in God’s eyes. There is no comparison in sin. All sin is detestable to God.

When we lie to others about our sin, eventually we will begin to lie to ourselves and eventually try to lie to God. This happens when we think we are the exception to to the rule—when we apply God’s word to others, but conveniently avoid applying it to ourselves. This is what David was doing in response to the prophet’s parable.

Of course we have a solution to the problem of sin...

Jesus Christ, the Bread of Heaven

John 6:31–35 CSB

31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

Jesus called himself the “bread of life” and said that this bread was better than the law of Moses.

And more than Jesus being our sustenance, he is also our advocate...

Jesus Christ, Our Advocate

1 John 2:1–2 CSB

1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

This word “advocate” is παράκλητος paraklētos - indicates one who is called to one’s aid. It is exactly like our word for having a legal advocate, an attorney, who pleads our case before the judge. And that is precisely what Jesus does for us in our sinful condition. He pleads for us before the Father. And he only has one argument...

Jesus tells the Father, “This one is one of mine. He (or she) is covered by the sacrifice I already made on the cross.”

This does not remove the fact that we must confess our sins and we must suffer the consequences of our own choices. And sometimes we must suffer the consequences of sins that are committed against us. We all have a path to walk in regards to sin. But there is no need to beat ourselves up for sins for which we have been forgiven.

Conclusion

You might be here today thinking, “I want some of that forgiveness!” or you might be thinking, “I’ve done too much evil in my life to have any of that cleansing that the pastor is talking about.”

Either way, you can truly experience this forgiveness and cleansing today.

Jesus came and died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven. By accepting him and repenting, we can have this forgiveness. Repenting literally means, turning from your sin. This is what Jesus meant in John 5:14 when he said “go, and sin no more.”

We’re going to have a time of reflection here in a moment as we prepare to take the Lord’s Supper together. I invite you to a time of reflection and open the altar so that you can come before the throne of grace and make your heart right with God.

I’ll be available to you if you have any questions about this forgiveness that we experience in Christ. Please let me know if you have any questions.