Psalms 51:10-12 (KJV) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 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.
I don’t know about you but is there anybody in the house today that could use a big burst of joy in their lives? I’m not talking about that temporary stuff. No I’m not talking about happiness or being happy because to me happiness only last as long as whatever it is making you happy. For example, I was happy when I received my stimulus check. But that happiness didn’t last long because I soon found the check was already spent before I could get it to the bank. So my happiness quickly turned into sorrow. No I’m not talking about happiness. I get happy when they play my favorite song on the radio. But that happiness is soon over after the song has ended. No I’m not talking about being happy.
You see, happiness is like eating a handful of sugar. Happiness is like taking a big sip of a slushy. You’ll get a real good rush initially, but when the thrill is gone, all you’re left with is a terrible headache. Somebody thought they found happiness in a boy, but when the thrill was gone, he was just a bad headache. Someone thought they found happiness in a girl, but when the thrill was gone, she just turned out to be a real bad headache. Somebody thought that new car would be the answer for happiness, but when the payments kept coming in month after month, and your $20 didn’t do nothing but wet the tank, that new car turned out to be a real expensive headache.
That’s why some of yall can’t come here and get your praise on because your head hurts too bad from all of the things and stuff that was suppose to bring you happiness, but instead all it brought you was pain and heartache.
Oh, but let me tell you, joy is different. When you have joy, you have invisible strength. You can have joy even when things are not going your way. You can have joy even in the midst of storms and tribulations. Joy to the believer is something that can be constant because the believer realizes where their joy comes from. It doesn’t come from houses and cars. It doesn’t come from money and food. It doesn’t come from boys and girls. Yeah, the believers’ joy doesn’t come from material things, but our joy comes from the Lord.
But what happens when we lose this joy. And I question us today – if it is even possible for us to lose our joy? Well my brothers and sisters, I would have to answer that question with a resounding Yes. It’s possible for even the best of us to lose our joy. It’s possible for even those of us who have been created after God’s own heart to lose our joy. I remember minister Mary testifying about her joy being dropped and all she had to do is pick it back up. And that’s all it means to lose your joy. Another word for lose is dropped. Another word for lose is misplace.
Oh but I also found out that to lose something means to be defeated. When you lose something it means you were beaten. And by the looks of things, that’s what a lot of us are today, defeated and beaten (What you talking bout Newhouse). Well I don’t have to look too hard, I can just look at your praise. I don’t have to look too hard; I can just look at your worship. (Oh, oh, I better watch out). You see the way you praise and worship can tell a lot about what you are made of. Just by looking at your praise and worship, one can tell if you’re winning or losing.
I know it may be hard for you right now, but somehow you have to find a way to praise anyway (tell someone to find an anyway praise). Stop worrying about whose sitting next to you or around you. They don’t know your situation. They don’t know what you stand in need of. They don’t know how bad you need a breakthrough. I bet if you find a way to praise, you’ll soon find your joy. If you find a way to praise while in the bad, your bad will start to look better. Your anyway praise will not only psyche you out, but you’ll also psyche out the enemy.
The score may be the enemy 10 to your 1, but just by you throwing up holy hands anyway. Just by you singing your song anyway. Just by you shouting glory halleluiah anyway. Just by you doing your victory dance anyway. Just give God an anyway praise and nobody will ever guess that the enemy has been trying to whoop your butt all week long, all because you know how to give God an anyway praise! (Tell somebody to find away to praise Him – Anyway!)
Well don’t look at me crazy, Just look at the main character in today’s text. Your Bible should give you the 411 – the reason why David wrote this Psalms right away. It was a psalm that David wrote after he was busted by Nathan for committing adultery with Bathsheba.
You know the story. Yeah, on your own, read 2nd Samuel Chapters 11 & 12, you’ll find that David had everything and didn’t want for anything. He was king of Judah and Israel, and he had strong passions. He was a soldier and he had many wives. Yes David was living on easy street. It was springtime, flowers were blooming, and the grass was turning green. Butterflies were fluttering and the songbirds were singing.
This was also the time when all the kings would go out to war. But for some reason David didn’t go. Instead he sent Joab in his place and he stayed behind in Jerusalem.
I don’t’ know, maybe he was tired and just wanted to get some rest. I don’t know maybe he just needed some time alone. I don’t know maybe he had a lot on his mind at the time and just needed to separate himself from the battle in order to collect his thoughts. I don’t know why he didn’t go with the army to battle, but something happen while he was at home just chillin.
Awl I probably should pause right here and talk about the bad effects of just chillin. Some of yawl know that as a result of us just chillin, a lot of things happened that we wished would have never happened. Some of us when asked ‘whatcha doing’ still give the answer like bro man on Martin “nothing just chillin”.
Well my brothers and sisters, I need to warn you today to watch out when you find yourself just chillin. I need to warn you to don’t let sin creep up on you while you’re just chillin. As a matter of fact, don’t even let yourself get into the chillin mood. The Bible warns us about chillin in the 3rd chapter of 2 Thess. It says to stay away from people that just chill. And 1st Timothy 5:13 goes on to say that chillin people turn out to be gossipers and busybodies and chillin folk will say things that ought not be said.
Well don’t take my word for it, lets look at David. David was just chillin in bed one evening, and he couldn’t sleep so he decided to get up and take a walk on the balcony of his penthouse. That’s when he spotted the pretty Bathsheba taking a bath. Now I don’t know why Bathsheba was out there in plane sight of David. I don’t know, maybe her shower curtains were broke. I don’t know maybe the other bathtub had a plumbing problem. I don’t know maybe she thought everyone would be sleep by now. The Bible didn’t go into details; it just says David saw her.
Well you know the story, David sent for her and they slept together and she got pregnant. David out of guilt, tried to cover up everything by having the husband come home from war, get drunk, and sleep with her, but that didn’t work. So he had Joab to put him in the roughest part of the battle so he could get killed. And after Uriah was killed in battle, David moved Bathsheba into the penthouse and made her his wife. All of this as a result of ‘just chillin’.
Now that’s a lot happening right there but that’s not where I want us to focus our attention today. I said all of that just to give you the what’s happenings in our text in Psalms 51.
It was only after David was confronted with his sin that David repented, therefore writing this Psalm. And David is no different than you and I because there are some sins in our lives that we know we have, yet they have gone un-repented because there’s no Nathan in our lives to confront us.
Well just call me Nathan today because I need to let you know that your sin will find you out. And David wrote this Psalm to repent, but it is also here to remind us of the need to repent and get right with God.
David gives us a good model to look at in this Psalms when it comes to repentance. This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible, and yes, how many of us know that there are patterns and structures we should know when we confess and repent. Well come with me as we look at 3 quick things about Create, Renew, and Restore today.
First Look at what David does in this Psalms, he acknowledges and repents of his sin in verses 1-6. Then starting in verse 7 he begins to request some things from the Lord. In verse 7 he ask the Lord to Clean him up. In verse 8 he asked the Lord to make him hear joy and gladness. In verse 9 he asks for God to Hide his face from his sins and blot out his iniquities.
And then our text picks up where David prays, Lord Create (Somebody say “Lord Create!”). Create in me a clean heart. Well I have to admit I was a little confused as to what David meant when he prays “Create in me a clean heart.” After all here was a man that was said to be a man after God’s own heart so why would he need the Lord to Create in him a clean heart. Well I had to look up that word create on dictionary.com and it says to create means to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.
Well that helped me understand some things because I was reminded that David has already asked the Lord to Purge him and clean him up in verse 7. So it would only make since that after he was purged and cleaned that, he would request from God, the creator of all things, to create something new in place of what used to exist inside of him.
He didn’t pray “Lord correct my old heart.” He realized his old heart was so rotten that he needed more than just a patch job.
What used to exist before was a heart that had been tainted.
What used to exist before was a heart that had been corrupted.
What used to exist before was a heart that had been ruined.
What used to exist before was a heart that had been spoiled.
What used to exist before was a heart that had been stained.
What used to exist before was a blemished heart.
What used to exist before was an infected heart.
What used to exist before was a dirty heart.
What used to exist before was a foul heart.
It may sound a little ridiculous or extreme to some at first, but then I’ll have ask you “is there anything too hard for God?” David didn’t say Lord just patch up my old heart, instead he said Lord cut off the old me and create in me a new me. Lord generates in me, Lord Produce in me, Lord Construct in me a clean heart!
But if we are going to be the people that God is calling us to be, we need to ask God to replace the old heart with the new heart so that our old worldly wisdom becomes heavenly wisdom, old carnal love becomes spiritual love, old slavish fear becomes Christian fear, and those old chillin thoughts become new sanctified works.
Next David prays, Lord Renew (Somebody say Lord Renew) “and Renew a right spirit within me.” Remember now that David is hurting inside when he writes this. He is literally in mourning after Nathan exposes him. So his spirit is broken, and realizing this, David knew the only way he could continue to run this race was if the Lord renewed a “right Spirit” within him.
Yeah, David prayed “Renew.” This was different than his previous request for the Lord to Create. However, once again David admits he is missing something when he asked Lord renew. And I guess what I like most about David in this Psalm is that he recognizes what’s wrong with him. In this case his spirit needed a new charge. His spirits battery had gone low. In other words, he was asking the Lord to take what was already in him and refurbish it. Take what was already in him and renovate it. Take what was already in him and repair it. A lot of us need to pray that same prayer. Lord, restore my spirit, Lord mend my spirit, Lord make good my spirit.
Oh, but some of us are too blind and stubborn to even look and see for ourselves that we have some old – tired – wrong spirits. But you ought to be sick and tired of being cold. You ought to be disgusted of being low down. You ought to be weary of being wet. And you need to cry out like David and say, Lord I’m tired of having the wrong spirit, renew in me a right Spirit. (Touch somebody and tell them to get the “right spirit”)
Yeah, that “Right Spirit” is not so much the essence of the Spirit of God, but it is with respect to the qualities of the Spirit of God. In other words, David is saying, Lord renew in me a spirit that acts and exercises the same qualities of your Spirit. Renew in me a spirit of uprightness. Renew in me a spirit of integrity. Renew in me a spirit of obedience. Renew in me a spirit free from the temptations of sin, and snares. Renew in me a spirit of Love. Renew in me a spirit of Joy. Renew in me a spirit of peace. Give me a spirit that is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
Well, the last thing I want us to see in this text is David’s request for the Lord to restore (somebody say Lord Restore) Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit. No one will ever recover their lost joy until there is a request for its return. David knew his joy was gone. He didn’t deny the reality of his conditions. However, at the same time, David would have never asked God to restore his joy if he did not believe that God would do it (somebody shout restore my joy).
But here’s the shout of this text. David didn’t ask didn’t ask for just any ole joy. He asked for the joy of his salvation. You just missed the shout right there. Let me close this thing out. You remember we talked about being happy earlier and how temporary it is.
Well let me take you in a full circle so you can see how blessed you really are. Can we talk about salvation for a minute? David said the Joy of his salvation. You need to know that your salvation is something to have joy about. Your salvation is something that is eternal. Salvation is a sure thing. Salvation can never fail because it’s founded and built upon an everlasting God. And God’s foundation is secured by His grace that can never be removed. And all of that is now completely wrapped up and shaped in Christ. But it doesn’t stop there because Christ took all of that and applied it in His Spirit. And all who believe in and serve Christ, are heirs to that same Spirit. And since we are heirs to it, we can now rejoice about our salvation.
(Somebody ought to shout Lord Restore my joy!) And after you restore my joy Lord, don’t just leave me there alone, but uphold me with thy free spirit. I can’t fully praise you with just my spirit. My spirit is ready to fall. My spirit is drawn to sin and despair. Uphold me with Thy free spirit, because my spirit is not enough. If you leave me to myself, I may walk for a ways, but I might get a little weary. If you leave me to myself, I may run for a little while, but I will surely get tired and faint. I can’t praise right with my spirit alone. I can’t worship you like I want to with just my spirit. My spirit will put me in bondage. My spirit will have me defeated. My spirit will get beat.
Is there anybody here that tried to do it all by yourself, only to find out that self couldn’t do it.
Oh but if the Lord upholds me, I’ll be able to run this race. If the Lord upholds me, I’ll be able to break the chains of tradition. If the Lord upholds me, I’ll be able to stand against my enemies. If the Lord upholds me, with His free spirit, my worship won’t end today, but I’ll be able to worship Him on tomorrow. I’ll be able to praise Him on Tuesday. I’ll be able to exalt Him Wednesday. I’ll be able to honor Him on Thursday. I’ll be able to adore Him on Friday. I’ll be able to reverence Him on Saturday. And when I get back here on Sunday, it won’t be hard for me to tell of His goodness, because all week long, His free Spirit would have kept me.
Not only will His Spirit keep me, but I’m glad, that the Spirit of God is a freeing Spirit. Is there anybody here that knows before you met Jesus, your storms tossed you around like a ship without a sail. Before Jesus, you felt like your soul was locked up in prison. But since Jesus came into your life, you don’t have to face the storms alone. Since Jesus came into your life, He’s given your soul freedom, because I hear Him saying if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.
I’m glad, one day at Calvary, Jesus set me free.
And I’m glad, that if I ask Him to Create in me a clean heart, He’ll do it. I’m glad, that if I ask Him to renew in me a right spirit, He’ll do it. I’m glad, that if I ask Him to restore my joy, He’ll do it.
Aint God alright! I hear Paul saying that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
