A New Clean Heart (Psalm 51)

Psalm 51 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. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 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. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; ¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? Got caught. And what was your response? Young – Younger brother and I – Grocery store with our mom. And we’d run to the aisle with the comic books and cards so we could see what was new and we’d ask to buy something. One time – she says no. We beg and beg – Still no. So as we’re walking back – Idea. I convince my brother that we should open the card packs, stick them in our pockets, and steal them. (Hopefully, the statute of limitations has long past – Over 35yrs ago.)

And even worse than making my brother steal – Plan. – I send my brother to walk past my mom with his pockets stuffed with cards to see if she noticed while I stood from afar at the end of the aisle. And sure enough, my mom immediately notices something is off. (Moms just know – Don’t they? Extra sense.) And she starts emptying his pockets and as soon as I see that happening – I run over to the other aisle and empty out my pockets so I don’t get into trouble too. (Why should we both take the fall? Right?) And again, there’s no out-smarting moms, so I go over to mom acting like I don’t know what’s going on and she tells me that she knows everything that happened and the role I played and she was shocked, mad, and sad at what I did.

And when we got home – I got the biggest whoopin’ I ever got in my life – and I deserved it. I needed it. – But what’s really sad – My initial response – wasn’t sorrow for my wrongdoing. It wasn’t sorrow that I’d led my little brother into doing something bad and tried to have him take the fall alone. My initial response – Was anger that my brother got us caught. – His fault I got my tail whooped. I kind of learned my lesson – I never tried to steal comic cards again. But I’d go on to do other similar things. (Can’t believe your pastor…)

The problem is never just these outward actions – Because you can tell people to stop. Stop stealing. Stop doing whatever. But it doesn’t get to the heart of WHY they are doing those things. And that’s what Ps. 51 is speaking to us about. WHY we sin, HOW should we respond when we’re caught in sin, and WHAT our hope is for changing.

Text: 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. 

Here we have the most powerful man in the world, King David, not really acting like a king – it’s not normal behavior for someone with such power and resources who can do what he wants, when he wants, can command others to do the same – to be begging and pleading. What’s going on here?

Context: Superscription – To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Now that may not sound like much if you don’t know the story – 2 Sam. 11-12 – But David summoned Bathsheba, knowing she was a married woman – so he could sleep with her. And after David stole her and slept with her and got her pregnant – He tried to cover it all up. And when that didn’t work – He ultimately had Bathsheba’s husband – good/faithful man – murdered. Sickening. Nothing David did in these series of events honored God or the people involved in any way. He used his power to take advantage of people to please himself.

Again, David was the king. And normally, they’d have the power to cover it up and move along without any consequences. And that’s how David tried to move forward. But God wouldn’t allow him. God would send his prophet, Nathan, to expose everything. (WHY – Not to punish and to push David away – but to bring him back.)

1. God’s love and mercy are our only hope. 

What do you do when you’re confronted with your sin? How do you respond? – Mess up things with your parents/spouse/friends – Depends on what kind of people they are. Are they angry, unforgiving, petty OR truthful, loving, and gracious? – Run from them or run towards them.

David – Once his sins are exposed – He runs to God. Because he knows the character of God. Because he knows God is his only hope. What we see happening here in Ps. 51 is David’s repentance. Repentance – Literally – Change your mind. To change your mind about what you did, how you were living, and to change your mind and turn back to God and his good ways.

(As we go…) Repentance is and is not… 

Repentance is not – primarily about emotions/feelings. – feeling bad about what you did may be a byproduct. But feelings are not the primary issue. They come and go and rarely, if ever, produce lasting change.

Repentance is – committed action. Action – turning from your ways and turning to God. Because of your changed mind. Choosing over and over again to re-align yourself with God.

Now – To be clear – Repentance is not a work that starts in us. It’s not something that we do to fix ourselves and get ourselves back to God. It’s not something we can do on our own. Ro. 2:4 – God’s kindness leads to our repentance. It’s God who even begins and allows for repentance to happen. Again, God’s love, his mercy, his kindness – are our only hope.

Theologian – Dilemma – Man’s responsibility but inability. God’s ability but no responsibility. What’s what’s to be done? How do we get out of this impossible situation? David turns to God and appeals to his…

Mercy – Not getting what we deserve. Our sins deserve punishment and death. (Mercy that I just got a spanking and my mom didn’t just end me right there in the grocery store aisle.)

Steadfast Love – Self-giving, sacrificial, never changing love. Doesn’t change based on actions and behavior. (Micah – Does daddy love you because you’re good? No. Does daddy love you when you’re bad? Yes. – Tricky. Confused. – Why does daddy love you? – Because I’m your son. – I’m your daddy. It’s who I am and it’s how he is…)

David – appealing to who God is – Loving and merciful. According to…Mercy and Love – 

Blot out my transgressions – Erase my record.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity – Like dirty stained clothes.

Cleanse me from my sin – ceremonially clean.

But to pray this kind of prayer of repentance – You first have to realize your current state and need…

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. 

Have to admit – Needy. – 2. There is no getting out of sin on our own. You will never throw yourself at the mercy of God until you know this. – Sin is reality for everyone. Sin is our nature. TK – You are more evil/wicked than you could ever imagine. We are not by nature good – We’re not good people who do bad things sometimes. We are rotten to the core. Morally corrupt – impotent. Who we are – All of us.

Repentance starts with agreement with God on this – We sin because we are sinners. And there is no cleaning up your own sin. You can’t fix yourself. You can’t hide it from God. David’s Plea – Admission/Confession of guilt and helplessness.

Against you (God) only have I sinned – What? How could David say such a thing? What about Bathsheba? What about her dead husband? David certainly sinned against them – So how could he say something as crazy as this??? Not that David didn’t sin against other people – But he realized – All sins are ultimately against God. When you sin against other people – because you’re sinning against an image bearer of God and you’re acting in a manner that goes against God’s good ways – You are sinning against God.

Quick Caution – Sin’s Slippery Slope – David didn’t wake up one day and all of a sudden decide to steal someone’s wife, kill the husband, and then try to cover it all up. – Today seems like a good day to ruin my life and some other people’s too while I’m at it. Series of “small” compromises with sin. You have to take sin seriously. – Don’t ever ease up. Don’t start coasting because you think you’re good. Be vigilant about your spiritual life. 

So what’s going to happen to David? Has to pay the price for what he did, right? Sin – Punishment/Judgement. If God is Just – Can’t just forgive. How could God let David get away with this? Not fair? How is that just? (He’s not…)

Before we start to judge… Pastor – (Robert Murray McCheyne) – The seed of every sin is in every human heart. You and I have the capacity in us to do the worst of sins. Things that you find utterly disgusting and heinous. And if you don’t think so, you’re fooling yourself.

Many church leaders – for whatever reason in recent years – maybe it’s always been this way and the internet just makes news more accessible. Moral Failure – People’s response – They should never have been in ministry. Maybe so. I don’t know. But I also know for some – and I can say this with confidence because I’ve personally known some – God did some incredible work through them before and after. 

Listen – I’m not minimizing or excusing their sin because they did some good ministry – not all all, not one bit. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t call out evil and sin for what it is. We absolutely should. But it is so easy in today’s world to be judged by, cancelled for, to assume the identity of, and to be crucified for your worst moment. But…

I also don’t think we can live up to the moral standard that we put on others ourselves. – There is rarely ever a day/week that goes by – For so many reasons, I don’t feel qualified at all to be a pastor – to be up here preaching God’s word to you. Wife – Ro. 7. Impatience with my kids. And the only reason I am is completely because of God’s mercy.

We shouldn’t be so quick to judge others… Jesus – Speck/Plank. Woman caught in adultery – First stone. 

Thinking – But David – Adulterer and Murderer. – I’m not. But Jesus – Explaining the heart of the Law – Lust and Anger. Yes, it is one thing to think it and another to do it – but Jesus – It’s the same root problem, our sin nature, our flesh. So yes, the outward actions matter a lot but at the same time we should be looking at the cause – the real reason behind our actions. 

Heart – Jer. 17:9 – Deceitful. Desperately Sick. Ex: Livestream. – Every action, every word, every thought. Your deepest and darkest secrets exposed. – Everything you’ve been too ashamed and guilt-ridden to ever dare to confess. – Who has the confidence to be judged – Good? – We are just like David. – We may never have stolen someone’s spouse or had someone killed – But we have the same wicked heart.

Tim Keller – “You can’t be in denial about your capacity to sin. Sin is always crouching at your door. You are capable of much more than you want to admit, so the first thing you must do is get out of denial.” Repentance begins when we stop making excuses and acknowledge sin for what it is and us for who we are.

Repentance is not – blameshifting, making excuses. David – Well Bathsheba shouldn’t have been bathing where I could see her from my roof. Her husband should have been a better warrior and he wouldn’t have been killed. Our sin – Other people and situations may contribute gas to the fire. But that fire was there to begin with. Didn’t create sin in you. It gave an opportunity for your sin – already in your heart – to expose itself.

Repentance is – humility of owning your own sin nature. – David’s response after being confronted with his sin – Not hide, not minimize, not make excuses – goes to God in brokenness and repentance. It’s never just the circumstances. Not other people. ME. Who I am. What I do. My nature. And I desperately need God to help save me.

How will God respond to this kind of prayer of repentance? …

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. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 

3. Our repentance is always met with God’s presence. 

David’s prayer here is answered in – Ps. 103 ¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, ³ who forgives all your iniquity, … ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy … ⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. ¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; ¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

There is no getting into God’s holy presence unless you are washed clean and forgiven of your sins. And that’s what God does when we repent. But forgiveness is not the end of repentance – it’s God’s presence. We get to be back with God. And what’s so amazing is God saves us to the uttermost – He forgives us and brings us into his presence. And He…

Cleans our hearts and renews a right spirit within us. – That now desires good and has the ability to do good. Not self-justification, not fixing yourself and then coming to God. – Coming back to God is only possible through God. And pleasing God is only possible through him giving us new clean hearts.

One of the many reasons I know that there can be no salvation in any other religion – Because in one way or another – They all tell you the same thing – Be good enough, do good enough and then you can be saved. You can save yourself. But if I take an honest assessment of my life, and if you did the same, we’d all come to the same conclusion – Our hearts are too messed up. We need a total heart transplant if we are going to be/do good. And it’s not something I can do for myself. I need God to do it for me. And only the gospel message tells me that’s how God saves me. – Do VS. DONE.

Repentance is not – self-pity, beating yourself up, or fixing yourself. None of that is what God calls us to do. None of those things produces repentance or brings us back to God. – Hopelessness. Despair.

Repentance is – the joy of your salvation. – It leads to forgiveness, freedom – and most importantly, to God’s presence. – Fullness of joy. Righteousness – free of sin and the guilt of sin – to come into God’s presence fully known and loved. 

The fruit/result? (Epilogue) … ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; ¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

4. God’s presence leads to proclamation. (Produces)

God doesn’t want just your outward appearance of righteousness and good deeds – He wants your heart first. You’re so overwhelmed with who God is and what he has done for you – 

Teach – Tell others how they can also find freedom in God’s presence.

Praise – Worship.

Sacrifice – Spirit and Heart that lead to a life of self-sacrifice and obedience.

God’s use of David before and after he sinned is not because of the quality of David or because he approved of David’s evil – of course not. If God didn’t ever use the wicked – He would never use any of us. God uses broken people – both unbelievers and believers alike – as he pleases according to his purposes. So the fact God can and does use messed up people speaks to God’s power – and not in any way of his approval of our bad deeds.

After this, David would sin again many times…Repentance is not – a one time thing.  Justification – 1x. Righteous standing. Salvation. (All sins past, present, future)

Repentance doesn’t mean you won’t sin ever again. You will. Prov. 24:16 – A righteous man falls 7 times and rises again…

Repentance is – a life-long journey of growth. David – Sung 1000x. ML – All of the Christian life is repentance. Only way to fight this battle successfully and with power – Ro. 13:14  – Put on Christ. Sanctification – Ongoing. Work out our salvation towards…Glorification – Future promise.

It all starts with God. God’s love and mercy are our only hope because we are dead in our sin. It’s his kindness that leads us to repentance. And repentance leads us – as forgiven and clean – into God’s presence. And God’s presence leads to proclamation.

How could God forgive David for such wickedness and evil? How could God use David to write scripture, this psalm? Right – David deserved the harshest, most severe punishment – Death and separation from God. And God would get his justice for David’s sins and the sins of the world through…

Jesus – The punishment and wrath David deserved for his evil, his wickedness, was put on Jesus. Jesus drank the wrath of God’s judgement down to the dregs. Every single last drop. So justice is completely upheld while mercy and love are lavished.

How’s that make you feel? Angry? Mad? – Should make you feel good/hopeful. – You and I are no better than David. We have committed wicked sins against God deserving of death and eternal separation from him. No hope for ourselves…

Good News – God is so merciful he can forgive us and restore us to use us too. No more condemnation. Washed clean by the blood. If anyone is in Christ – new creation. Mercies for me are new every morning – Sufficient for the day. Love satisfies us in the morning and makes us glad. (Ps. 90)

But what if… – Cast me not away and take not your Holy Spirit. – Presence. In the OT – God’s Spirit would come and go. We saw it with King Saul before taking a break to be in the Psalms. – But it’s not something we as believers need to fear. We can never lose his presence. We didn’t gain it by our power or works. So neither can it be lost by us. Never be taken away. Based only on Jesus’ perfect and finished work for us. Presence – Holy Spirit WITH US and IN us. Downpayment. Seal. Promise. 

Gospel – Jesus in my place and I in his. He gets my sin and shame and death and I get his perfect righteousness and presence/standing with the Father gifted to me.

As Christians, we are not trying to show the world how awesome we are. – You should become a Christian so you can become awesome like us. – We are trying to show how merciful and loving and forgiving God is.

The church is full of hypocrites. It’s full of broken and messed up people. We don’t get things right all the time. And we don’t judge each other or condemn one another when we fail. It is a place for all of us to find forgiveness and community and accountability. To find the love and mercy and presence of God. And there’s a place here for you too…

1Jn. 1:9 – Humility to confess and repent of our sins – He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and restore us back to himself. Penalty for your sins – You OR Jesus. Believe…