June 8, 2003 Psalm 51:10-15
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
How did your tongue feel this morning? Was it ready to sing? Ready to talk? Those sound like strange questions - because we realize that the way we use our tongues does not depend on how our tongues feel - but on what our minds are thinking or our stomachs are feeling. If I’m tired and I don’t’ feel like talking, I won’t use my tongue. If my body is thirsty, then I’ll use my tongue to drink. The tongue is only a slave of the mind and the body.
The same goes spiritually. On Pentecost, a miracle happened with the tongues of 120 believers in the temple courts. The Holy Spirit was able to train their tongues to speak in languages that they had never before spoken - telling people about Christ. This wasn’t just a miracle of the tongue. It goes deeper. That’s what David prays about in Psalm 51. Today we’re going to go below the surface of the miracle - go down the throat, past the esophagus, and to the very heart of the matter - at the true power of Pentecost. Today David reveals -
The Power Behind Pentecost
Before David ever prayed about the use of his tongue, he had a far greater concern - and that was his heart. He prayed in vs. 10, create in me a clean heart. When you woke up this morning, what was the first thing you were concerned with in getting ready for church? Your hair maybe? Your teeth? Your clothes? Most likely it wasn’t your heart. You can’t comb it, put makeup on it, or brush it. You can’t even see it. Yet the heart is one of the most important parts of the body. If your hair falls out or your teeth rot, your body will still function. But if your heart stops beating, that’s it - game over. The heart is very important - not only physically but also spiritually. David also wrote, Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Ps 24:3-4). And that’s what David was really praying about obviously. He wasn’t concerned about the physical cleanliness of his heart, but the spiritual shape of it - that was all important in approaching a holy God.
The problem with David was that his heart had just been broken in two - no - let’s say blown into pieces - by Nathan. With a parable about a poor man and his pet lamb which was slaughtered by his rich neighbor, he enabled David to realize what he had done. He murdered one of his best fighting men by the name of Uriah. He impregnated Uriah’s wife by sleeping with her. God would have given him anything he wanted, but instead David STOLE what was his neighbors. He felt dirty, filthy, rotten - like a piece of garbage that God should just THROW AWAY.
When you take a close look at this Psalm, you can see how it affected him. He prayed that God would give him a STEADFAST spirit. That word really means to be established, firm, and stable. This indicates that the person who God once called “a man after his own heart” no longer felt sure of himself. His very identity as God’s king - God’s kind of person - God’s child - was lost. He doubted himself, his status before God - and his decisions were no longer confident and assured. For the past year most likely, David had been living under God in guilt and fear. He was covering up his sin - and he didn’t feel good about who he was or what he had done. As a result, he didn’t find much joy in life. I would imagine that David couldn’t enjoy the birth or laughter of his child without feeling guilty. He couldn’t enjoy the company of his wife without thinking to himself, “I stole and murdered for this woman.” Everything that was created to be a blessing - marriage, child birth, and children - ended up being a curse. So he prayed, “restore to me the JOY of salvation.” With that guilt, David just didn’t feel like doing anything. He just didn’t have any energy in him. He didn’t feel good about life. His guilt made him feel unsure and unhappy about anything, so he probably didn’t feel the energy to play with child, talk to his new bride, or even run the country. So he also prayed, “grant me a WILLING spirit to sustain me.”
In modern day terms, what does this sound like? It sounds like depression to me. They have described depression as sinking down to the bottom of an ocean - with the weight of the ocean on your shoulders, but not drowning. Although this is sometimes a physical response to certain enzymes not hitting in your brain, it can also be a response to guilt. I wonder how many people there are today who have no energy, no joy, no comfort or confidence because of something they did years ago. It may even be something that actually happened to them that wasn’t even their fault, that they feel guilty about anyway.
Are you one of those people who feels like David felt? I wouldn’t be surprised. Inevitably all of us have probably felt that way at some time - because we are naturally guilty people. Jesus said in Matthew 15: “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Isaiah 64:6 says, All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Since we are naturally sinful people, then we will naturally feel guilty. It is a part of our essence - our hearts are contaminated from birth on.
Sooner or later that guilt and despair catches up with us - slows us down - weighs us down - even as Christians. I don’t know how many times a week I think about things that have happened years ago. I think to myself, “I wish I hadn’t said that.” How many of you think things like, “I wish I had never taken that job,” or “I should have never even dated her,” or “why did I have to lose my temper at my kids like that?” We feel dirty because of past sins. We may even say to ourselves, “I wish I were dead.” Sometimes we get so burdened with our problems and our sins that we just don’t have the energy to do anything. You might say to yourself, “I can’t go to church today. I can’t go to work anymore. I can’t carry on in this relationship.” You just want to sleep. Like David, you need help.
David knew that he needed much more than Prozac for his heart and his spirit. He needed a complete transplant. He didn’t need just a fake heart, a pig’s heart, or a baboon’s heart - he needed God’s heart. And so he went to the only Doctor who could perform such surgery and work such a miracle - God Himself. David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Create, renew, restore, and grant - those were the things that David asked God to do. That word for create is bara - it’s verb that’s only used for a miracle of God - and it always means that something new and extraordinary is being done - epoch making - like in creation. That’s what it would take to restore David’s once purified heart - an absolute miracle. God would have to take it piece by piece and mend it together - basically creating something completely new. It would take a miracle of God to enable David to feel comfortable about his status before God and finally find joy in his life again. So he prayed for the Holy Spirit’s help.
God says to you today, “I know those pieces of your heart that are broken. I know what needs patching. I know the kind of baggage you’re carrying. I know about your sexual sins, your anger sins, those dirty rotten secrets that are making you feel guilty - eating away at you underneath your seemingly happy exterior. But I have the cure.” The glue that mends your heart back together is found when John promises us in 1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. The cure is found in sermon of Peter who told the crowd at Pentecost - Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The cure is found in Isaiah 1:18 which says, “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. The new heart is created when God promises us that it is by grace you have been saved, through faith! (Eph. 2:8)
Do you see how these promises mend your heart back together? Usually, when you sin, your first reaction is to cover it up and hide it so that no one will find out what you’ve done. Imagine how embarrassing it must have been, for instance, for President Nixon to have his secret tapes exposed to the public. That’s the last thing you want. But that’s exactly what God does with your sin. He takes your sin and pulls it out of your closet and says - “look at this filthy mess!” But then instead of punishing you for it or embarrassing you more, he takes your sin and nails it to the Tree of Jesus’ cross and says - “I know how ugly you’ve been - but I’ll pay for it.” He then takes this forgiveness and righteousness of Christ and GIVES it to you through faith in Christ in your baptism. This is God’s promise to you - you are HOLY through the blood of Christ - forgiven. There is no NEED for a cover up. There is now no NEED to hide. In God’s eyes - your forgiveness and salvation isn’t based on how good you feel or even how good you’ve been, but on the established fact that Jesus died for the sins of the world 2000 years ago. Knowing this gives us a foundation to stand on. It makes us happy. It creates a new heart in us - a heart of confidence instead of fear. Everything that David prayed for, and everything that we need for peace of mind - is found in Christ. In Christ we find cleansing. In Christ we find a foundation. In Christ we have the joy of salvation.
Now, I can tell you this. I can promise you this. I can even pray for you to have it. You can read about it and hear about it. But ultimately, it’s up to the Holy Spirit to do his work. At this point, you might be saying to yourself, “that message of forgiveness and salvation in Christ sounds really good, but it’s too good to be true.” The Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart. There’s nothing to be scared about. Keep listening. Keep hearing. If you aren’t sure, read the gospel again - Jesus died FOR YOU. Ask yourself - “would God lie to me? Do I believe that?” When you can say, “I’m a sinner, and I’m sorry for my sin. But Jesus died for me and made the sacrifice I deserved,” when you can say that - you can know you’ve been given that gift of faith through the Holy Spirit. When you trust that you are going to heaven through the sacrifice of Christ - the Holy Spirit has done his job. When you can say, “Jesus Christ is Lord” in faith - you know the Holy Spirit has worked a miracle in your heart. The miracle of Pentecost has been repeated in you. You’re speaking a language you never knew before!
Finally, the message of forgiveness penetrated David’s heart and placed it back together. God mercifully allowed David to carry on as king and restored his spirit. Why was this so important to David? He said in this Psalm, Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. David wanted to once again be involved in Kingdom building - to become active in God’s plan to save the world. Up to this point, his life had been an embarrassment to God - one that would make people wonder, “what kind of a God do the Israelites have?.” David was praying that God could once again make David a teaching tool to lead others to the Lord. Instead of using his tongue to spread lies, David wanted to use his tongue to spread the righteousness of God once again.
Wasn’t that the main purpose of Pentecost? It wasn’t just to have us talk about how a bunch of disciples could speak in different languages. The ultimate purpose was to spread the gospel. And that’s what they did. Peter preached Christ crucified and risen, and 3,000 were brought to faith that day. Isn’t that to be the main focus of our lives? Imagine how hot it was in hell for the rich man just to beg Lazarus to dip his finger in water and just touch his tongue once to relieve the heat. Just one drop of water is all he wanted. The sad thing is that our friends and neighbors are headed for this terrible place. Once they get there, they’ll never leave. Ever. They need us to use our tongues to spread the Law and Gospel. But how often are we using our tongues instead to slander or talk about politics or sports or anything BUT Christ.
The miraculous thing is that God still wants to use you! Even though Peter had used his tongue to deny Christ, Jesus forgave him and reestablished him. With Peter’s tongue, three thousand people were converted in one day! With David, God used the same tongue that lied to produce wonderful Psalms that we still sing today! Our God is so merciful that instead of chopping out our tongues and tearing out our hearts for our misuse of them, through the sacrifice of Christ he wants to give you a second, third, or even four hundred and ninetieth chance!
There was once a man by the name of Simon - in Samaria, who was able to do seemingly miraculous things. But when Philip pronounced the Gospel to him, Simon was baptized and converted to Christianity. One day, as Simon was Peter and John, they placed their hands on some disciples - enabling them to most likely speak in different languages. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”(Ac 8:18-19) How did Peter reply? “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. (Ac 8:20-21) Before he could have any gifts, his heart would have to be right first.
My friends, you may wish that you had more courage or more ability to speak about Christ. You may plan on being a better husband, having devotions - or a better teacher - or a more faithful son or daughter. You may have visions of grandeur about going overseas and proclaiming Christ. But remember where this ability starts. Simon couldn’t buy it. The disciples at Pentecost didn’t do anything to earn that gift. They simply went where Jesus told them to go - to Jerusalem - and WAIT. If you don’t have the courage to talk about Christ, go back to where God says the Holy Spirit is - in His Word and sacraments. The more you read God’s Word - the more your heart will be filled with God’s Law and Gospel, and the more confident you’ll be - knowing that you are a sinner who was saved through the death and resurrection of Christ. With a mended heart, you will slowly but surely find yourself being able to speak more about Christ - and willing to sing his praises. The power of Pentecost - both then and now - doesn’t start with the tongue - it starts with the heart. It isn’t based on how the way you train the tongue, but on the mercy of God in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that a good thing? Let the people say it - Amen.
