INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Today we continue with our All Things New Series.
• Today we are going to examine the heart.
• Not the blood pumping muscle, but rather that thing that drives us to be who we are and to do what we do.
• The heart is at the center of what we do and why we do it.
• We talk about having a heart for God, which what we are saying is that we want God to direct what we do and even why we do it.
• The religious leaders of Jesus’ day did all the right actions, but for the wrong reasons, and Jesus did not cut them any slack for it.
• He did not say, “Well guys, GREAT ACTIONS, I love the fact you did them in a self-serving way!”
• I have always believed that it is much easier to change one’s behavior, the external behavior, but without help from God, it is impossible to change one’s heart.
• When you think about eternal actions, one can really never know what motivates those actions, only God knows.
• One of the beautiful new things we can receive from God when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior is a NEW heart, or as the text we will examine together states, A PURE HEART!
• I knew that before I came to Jesus my heart was a mess. I knew that I wanted that to change.
• The reason I wanted it to change is because I figured out WHY it needed to change.
• Today, let’s examine the new heart.
• SLIDE #2
• Psalm 51:10 (CSB) God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. An appeal to God.
• Now I want to give you the context for Psalm 51. If you read the introductory note at the beginning of the chapter, you will note that it says” For the choir director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.”
• So, if you do not remember what happened, David was staying home from the battles and he saw Bathsheba bathing on the rooftop.
• He slobbered all over himself over her beauty, invited her over, did things he should not have done.
• She leaves, and later tells David that she has a present, she is pregnant with his child.
• David panics, he tried to get her husband home from the battle so he could have relations with her to conceal the fact that David was the father.
• It did not work, so David had her husband put in a position in the battle that would kill him
• David marries Bathsheba and no one is the wiser, except….
• God sends Nathan the prophet to tell David that He knows what he had done and that the child will die as a result.
• David is repentant for what he had done.
• Psalm 51 was said to be written in response as David pour out his heart to God.
• Let me read a little from Psalm 51!
• SLIDE #4
• Psalm 51:1–4 (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.
• Psalm 51:5–9 (CSB) — 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.
• In verse 4 David rightly says…
• 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.
• David appeals to God because no matter what David had done, he understood that he was sinning against God, and therefore he needed to turn to God in repentance as well as for forgiveness!
• David goes to God with his appeal because he knows ONLY God can help him fix his issue.
• In our time, we do not take sin seriously, we do not think God really cares what we do and we have a blatant disregard for how GOD feels about sin.
• Listen, if so was no BIG deal, then Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross to save us from our sins, the whole Old Testament system would have been pointless.
• David sinned against Bathsheba, her husband, their families, as well as the unborn child.
• BUT ULTIMATELY David sinned against God and he realized that so he turned to God with a repentant heat.
• FYI, later David and Bathsheba have another son, you may have heard of him, his name was Solomon.
• This is yet another example of how forgiving our God is when we trust Him enough to go to Him.
• What does David ask of God?
• SLIDE #5
II. An appeal for a clean heart.
• This is another reason that David takes his request to God.
• Look at verse 10 again with me.
• SLIDE #6
• Psalm 51:10 (CSB) God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
• I want to break down for you what David is asking of God, and when we grasp that, one can understand WHY he took this request to God.
• First the word CREATE!
• This word is the same used in Genesis 1:1 where it speaks of God making something that was not there previously.
• It means causing something to exist where there was nothing before.
• So, David is not asking for a revamped, or a rebuilt heart, he ask appealing to God for a something that was not previously in existence.
• What is David asking God to create for him?
• David is asking for God to create a CLEAN HEART within David.
• Some translations use the word PURE, which is a good way to translate the Hebrew.
• The word is used in reference to PURE GOLD.
• He wants a heart that to pure and clean, one that is totally connected with God.
• David did not just ask that God direct him away from sin, he wants a new heart that has been created and transformed by the grace of God!
• The word CREATE denotes the fact that God is the only one who can do what David is asking of Him!
• David does not want to risk going back to the old way of life because he knows it will not be good for him
• David asks God to create a CLEAN heart within him!
• This request is meant not so much a heart free of impurity as a single-minded, wholehearted devotion to God’s will.
• David knew that the inner person—the heart—was the source of his trouble as well as the seat of his joy and blessing, and he was incapable of changing his own heart.
• David needs more than forgiveness, he needs this new heart to able to stay focused on God.
• This is one of the reasons we need to help folks find Jesus, He can give them a new clean heart.
• The heart represents the inner being in its full function of thinking, feeling, and the desire of the inner will.
• In a sense, David is saying, “Let me think pure thoughts and let me respond with pure emotions as well as making pure decisions.
• Forgiveness alone will not solve the problem, there must be a complete change of heart or else one will simply continue to run back to the trough of forgiveness.
• We need the new heart so that we are more than just forgiven, we transformed as Jerry spoke of in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and as he will cover in a couple of weeks.
• Forgiveness lifts a heavy burden from the heart, to have the new heart allows us ot experience unspeakable joy!
• Davis has a second request of God which is…
• SLIDE #7
III. An appeal for a renewed spirit.
• In verse 10 we see…
• Psalm 51:10 (CSB) God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
• David’s depth of repentance is so deep that he not only asks for a clean heart, but a desire for God to RENEW A STEADFAST SPIRIT within him!
• The word RENEW means to be or make new, it can mean to repair.
• David’s spirit was damaged by his sin and he wanted God to repair it.
• The word SPIRIT in this verse does not speak of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, but rather it has to do with an attitude, or the will and desire to be loyal to God.
• A STEADFAST SPIRIT is one that stands firmly for God, that is upright, determined to do the right thing.
• David wants a SPIRIT within him that is in constant devotion to God.
• This is a not the best analogy, but think of this as kind of like the determination one has when they are looking to shed some pounds because the doctor told them that if they do not they will suffer some terrible consequences.
• Having a steadfast spirit is having something within you that keeps you focused on what you need to do, it keeps you away from things you should not eat like cookies, I mean donuts, I mean…. ?
• A steadfast spirit can say no in the face of temptation. The steadfast spirit will help one to stay on the right path.
• Listen, there are a lot if temptations out there, and I am not just talking about from an immorality standpoint.
• We can be tempted to feel sorry for ourselves, or to feel entitled, or to feel cheated in some way, all of which will lead one on a path away from devotion to God.
• We can easily get entangled in our own feelings to the point that what God says to us makes no difference.
CONCLUSION
• Here is some good news for you.
• David lifted up a plea for forgiveness, cleansing and renewal!
• In Christ, you can have all those things.
• SLIDE #8
• 1 John 1:9 (CSB) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• Romans 8:1 reminds us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ!
• The good news is that no matter what you have struggled with, God can forgive you, He can give you a clean heart and a renewed spirit!
• This means that you do not have to be chained to the past.
• Listen, David committed adultery, he committed murder to cover it up, yet when God chose David, God called David a man after His own heart.
• Let that sink in. The capacity for our God has to forgive is astounding!
• Don’t let guilt and shame destroy your great future in Christ!
