Psalm 51 - Create In Me A Clean Heart

Psalm 51 - Create In Me A Clean Heart

Introductory Remarks:

The Assurance of Pardon (Maybe the whole sermon is an explanation of why we do that)

David’s confrontation with his sin - How does he get free? Where does his covering and cleansing come from?

This is the fight of faith - It’s a fight to believe. It’s a fight to remember.

If our mind is a bit cloudy about the truth of God’s promises, then our hearts will be even more foggy. This battle to remember and to trust is where we live day in and day out.

Romans 1:21–23 (ESV) — 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

3 Things From This Text To Lean On For The New Year:

An Assurance, An Ambition, and An Assignment

An Assurance:

Psalm 51:1–9 (ESV) — 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Most of us never really learn how to repent. We don’t have a solid understanding or experience of freedom

How do you know that you are washed clean and that your sins are blotted out?

Do you wait until your record is better to have peace? Do

you put on a show and make sure you shed a tear so that God knows that you are deeply sorry?

Where do you go and what do you do in order to get clean?

What does David appeal to for forgiveness? Not himself or his deeds, but God’s mercy and character (his steadfast love and abundant mercy v.1).

Against God we have sinned - Reconciliation starts with God - We must confess our sins to the right person and call it by the right name.

God is justified in his judgements (v.4)

Sinner from birth - Rom. 3

[Drive This Home] David says, my sin is ever before me. Do you feel like that? Is your sin ever before you? (v.3) — Get clean and be at peace with God - be assured of your pardon

God takes all of this angst, broken bones, the ever-present sins that linger before us and he purges them, deals with them, and puts them away for good!

God can take all of the shattered pieces, the ones that you could never match up and put back together, and sort them out and make them whole.

“The health and life of the inner man consists in a true living faith in the mercy of God and a sure confidence in the forgiveness of sins which Christ the Lord has acquired and earned for us. This faith and confidence make us truly love God and everything which pleases Him, and bring us his goodSpirit, who effects in us a right will and ability to avoid everything that is evil and to do everything that is good.” Martin Bucer (friend and mentor to John Calvin)

An Ambition:

Psalm 51:10 (ESV) — 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

A desire for a clean heart is a sign of spiritual maturity

Psalm 139:23 (NASB95) — 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

Sermon on the Mount - God is always aiming at the heart. What good is it if you still want to murder your brother but you don’t because it is wrong of illegal? The real change should be at the level of desire.

We want clean eating in the new year or clean living - No sugar, no weight gain, no sins that make us ashamed and ruin our lives, but do we want clean hearts? How much do we think of that?

The heart seems so endlessly muddled and restless - Let’s make it our ambition this year to have clean hearts. Remember, they are only clean by Christ and holding on with faith to that promise and reality.

Illustration: The Quite of A Heart At Peace

“As it is with a vessel that is full of liquid, if you strike upon it, it will make no great noise, but if it be empty, them it makes a great noise; so it is with the heart. A heart that is full of grace and goodness within, such a one will bear a great many strokes, and never make any noise; but an empty heart, if it be struck, will make a noise.” - Jeremiah Burrows

An Assignment:

Psalm 51:12–13 (ESV) — 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

[On bulletin] “Our joy, like nothing else, shows whether we really believe the gospel. Joy is gospel authenticity. Joy is not an emotional buzz, an escape from the difficulties we face. To know Jesus Christ means to taste, and to want to taste more, the delights of peace with God the Father, who cares for and smiles on us, the Son, who journeys wit us, and the Spirit, who empowers us. Crushingly hard days come, and conscious fellowship with God may be overshadowed for a season; but the triune God is with us. He is our joy.” Lewis Allen

Is there joy in your salvation? Maybe you need that restored. Pray for that today like David did.

Because, with our Assurance of pardon and our Ambition to live life with a clean heart, comes an Assignment to teach a weary world where to find its peace.

“I will teach transgressors you ways, and sinners will return to you.

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:15–17, ESV)

Communion Charge:

This is the only place where the sin that is ever before us is taken away. This is the only place where our hearts can be made clean.