Psalm 51:10

All fall short

The scriptures tell us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is not a single person in this room, myself included, that can claim moral perfection. We have all fallen short, and deep down, we know it. We may try to sooth our consciences by saying things like “well, I’ve never killed anyone. I may have told a little white lie now and then but I’ve never committed tax fraud. I might oggle the girls at the beach in the summer time but I would never cheat on my spouse.” The problem with that is that Jesus says if you are angry with your brother, you have committed murder. If you lust after someone, you have comitted adultary, and the bible doesn’t even have a category for little white lies. Scripture teaches that all sin is worthy of death.

Another tactic we might use is to say “well okay, I sin, I mean everyone does. But I don’t sin like that guy. I’m not Dahmer, or Hitler.” But that’s not right either, because God’s standard is not what other people are doing, it’s not that you be better than the next guy, it’s not “well just don’t be Hitler,” God’s standard is His own righteousness. See in both cases, we are attempting to bring God’s law down to something achievable, but it’s not. It’s not supposed to be. The purpose of God’s moral law, which is written on our hearts but summarized in the 10 commandments, isn’t just to give us a list of rules to live a moral life, (although it does do that) and it isn’t even to give us a way to earn our way into a relationship with God. It is given to us to show us our sin and our need for a saviour.

David’s response. A new Heart

This psalm was written by David after he had been confronted by the prophet Nathan, after he had committed heinous sins. Sins that would be inscripturated in the Bible forever. He was the leader of God’s people, he had been given everything he could have possibly wanted. And yet he found himself taking another man’s wife, the wife of one of his generals, and then murdering that man to cover up the affair. I would suggest you read that story in 2 Samuel 11. Even after everything he had done to cover his sin, his sin found him out. So what was his response? This psalm tells us his response. David confessed his sin, pleaded for mercy, and gave glory to God. He understood that although he had sinned grievously against Bathsheba, and her husband, and Israel, his sin was primarily against the Lord.

David prays “create in me a clean heart, O God.” Nowadays we are presented with a miriad of different ways for dealing with sin, although we don’t usually call it sin. We usually call it something more like bad behaviour, or mistakes. To deal with this bad behaviour we may turn to self help books, or therapy, or religious involvement. I’m not saying any of these things are bad things, in fact they can be good and even necessary things, but they don’t address the main issue. Our problem isn’t just that we have bad influences in our lives, or that we aren’t religious enough, or because of past trauma. Our problem is that sin lives in our hearts. It’s not an external problem, it’s an internal one. We sin because we desire sin. We need God to give us new hearts with new affections. God created you and God can re-create you. The divine power that created the whole universe is the same divine power that can free you from sin, and the restoration of a sinner to God is no less a miracle than the creation of the universe out of nothing.

When we talk about the heart of a person, we are talking about the very center of a person. It is not only where emotion comes from, but it serves as a rudder for our whole body. If we have a bad rudder, we will go off course. We cannot give ourselves a new rudder, we need the cleansing, creating power of God. In verse 7 David prays that he would be cleaned, and here in verse 10 he prays for a heart that lines up with that cleansing. He wants a rudder that will not lead him astray.

David’s response. A renewed spirit.

This psalm isn’t only for those those who are newly repentant, those who need forgiveness for the first time. This psalm is also for those who have been walking with the Lord, perhaps for a long time, and have found themselves cold, backslidden. Hardened to sin. Those who have lost their first love. David doesn’t only ask for a new heart, he asks God to renew a right spirit within him. He is saying “Create what isn’t there, and renew what is there.” Like the man in the book of Luke that said to Jesus “I believe, help my unbelief!” That is the kind of prayer that Jesus is more than happy to answer. We have a grave problem, but we have a gentle and willing saviour.

If you are finding yourself convicted of sin, whatever that sin may be, don’t let that feeling crush you..Turn to Jesus in faith. Give your guilt to Him. Say with David “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

For the believer, our sin drives Jesus more to pity than to anger. Scripture tells us that he knows your frame, that he is your great sympathetic high priest. In his earthly ministry he was tempted in every way that you are. Your sin does not surprise him. Not only does it not surprise Him, but he has already paid the penalty for it, so you can be free.

My chief goal in preaching today is not to make you feel bad about yourself. It’s not even to make you feel good about yourself. My goal is to make you feel good about Christ. It is only he who can forgive us, it is only he who can restore us, it is only he who can uphold us, and he is happy to do so, if we just come to Him.