Psalm 51, we're going to read verses 9 through
12. Verses 9 through 12. Hide your face from
my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your
presence. and do not take your Holy Spirit from
me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and
sustain me with a willing spirit. Our exposition
will focus on verse 10 today, which reads, Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit, As we come to verse 10, we have to recognize
that David is crying out. He's praying for, he's
seeking a work that's different than that which
he has sought out previously in the psalm. In
verse 9, he says, hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquities. In verse 1, Psalm
51, he says, Be gracious to me, O God, according
to your loving kindness, according to the greatness
of your compassion. Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse
me from my sin. Previously, David has been asking
for the forgiveness of sins, for the pardon of
sins. Here we find that he's asking for a work
in his very heart. That something would be changed
inside of him. It's a distinct work, a different
work. There's two things that we need to examine
today in this message. The distinctiveness of
the work that he seeks out and the description
of the work that he is seeking out. Following
these two, We'll have a time of applications
for our own life, beginning with the distinctiveness
of the work that he seeks out. How is this work
that David is crying out for distinct from the
work which he has sought before, the forgiveness
of sins? How is it different? How is it unique
from that which he has asked for? Previously,
what makes this different from him crying out
and pleading, hide your face from my sins and
blot out my iniquities in verse 9? It's distinct
from the forgiveness of sins and pardon. Forgiveness
of sins and pardon that is freely given by God
in Christ Jesus is, it has to do with, a person's
status or position, their legal standing or position
before God. It doesn't necessarily affect the
inner man of the person. Specifically, if we
think about justification by faith alone and
the imputed righteousness of Christ. Justification
is a single momentary act in declaration by God.
It does not affect the sinner in his heart. It's
an act, it's an objective work by God that he
completes that is done by God himself. That has
to do with the forgiveness of sins. That has
to do with pardon. God has provided pardon. For
sinners. God has provided the forgiveness of
sins. He does blot out iniquities. He does blot
out sins. He does cover the sins of sinners.
But he also makes more provision than that for
the sinner in their life. You see the work that
David is crying out for. Is distinct in that
it is not. A completed work. It's not an objective
work. He's crying out for a work that has to
do with his own heart and his own experience.
He says, create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew
a steadfast spirit within me. It has to do with
his inner man. It has to do with himself. It
has to do with his experience in life. It has
to do. With his sin in his heart. You see, God
has provided forgiveness of sins and pardon for
sins. But he's also provided purification and
cleansing for the pollution of sin within his
people. That affects their hearts. Brothers and
sisters. Friends, we need pardon from sins, but
we need more than just the pardon of sins. We
need purification in our hearts, in this life,
from our sins. We need not just justification,
we need sanctification in our lives. That's what
David is crying out for in this text. That's
what he's seeking. That's what he's praying for.
He's praying for sanctification. Sanctification
is a provision that God has made for his people
that actually deals with their moral problem,
their moral issue. Every single person in this
room. has a moral and ethical issue. Everybody
in here has a moral problem in your life that
you cannot fix. It's sin in your heart. It's
iniquity that comes forth from your nature as
a sinner. The pardon of sins, the pardon that
God gives in Christ on the cross, it forgives
you of those sins. And he appeals Christ's righteousness
to sinners who trust in Christ, who repent of
their sins. But brothers and sisters, the gospel
also is this, that God has made provision in
the gospel, in the work of Christ, to actually
purify you of your sins in your heart. In your
life, he has provided a solution to fix and to
right the wrong of the corruption that's in you.
Your moral problem. Some of you don't think you
have a moral problem. Some of you here today
are looking at me, I'm fine. I have no moral
issue. I'm a good person. Brothers and sisters,
If you have thought one wicked, iniquitous thought,
if you are here today and you have had an angry
thought, if you have thought one lustful thing,
if you have done one rebellious thing against
God's will and God's law, then you have a moral
problem. If you are born of woman, you have a
moral problem. Every single one of us. And God
has made provision in the gospel of Jesus Christ
to forgive you of your sins, to pardon you of
your sins, and to sanctify you in your heart
and in your life, to purify you and cleanse you
from your sins. This is why we read in the book
of Titus. Of the Lord Jesus. It says looking
for the blessed hope. And the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus.
Who gave himself for us to redeem us. From every
lawless deed. Christ sacrificed himself. He gave
himself. That we might be forgiven. That we might
receive pardon. That our sins might be blotted
out. But. He also says. who gave himself for
us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to
purify for himself a people for his own possession,
zealous for good deeds. We have purification
and we have the forgiveness of sins. We read
in the book of Ephesians in verse 25, husbands.
Love your wives, just as Christ also loved her,
loved the church, just as Christ also loved the
church, and gave himself up for her. We have
the forgiveness of sins. Sacrifice. But why did
Christ sacrifice himself? Why did Christ give
himself on the cross? What was the purpose of
it? Well, we read, So that he might sanctify
her, having cleansed her by the washing of water
with the word, that he might present to himself
the church in all her glory, having no spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would
be holy and blameless. What was the purpose of
Christ's death on the cross? What was the purpose
of Christ dying and giving himself on the cross?
It was so that he might sanctify his bride and
make her beautiful and present her to God. That
he might purify her of her pollution in her.
That he might make her have a clean heart, a
pure heart, and a steadfast... Spirit. Brothers
and sisters, God has made provision for the forgiveness
of sins, and he has made provision for the sanctification
of sinners as well. We must remember this. This
is very important with regards to how we live,
with regards to how we see life. There's many
dangers. involved in not seeing these two parts
of salvation. If we only see the forgiveness
of sins and free pardon, but we don't recognize
that Christ forgives sins, that he might purify
the sinner, we fall into all kinds of dangerous
and erroneous lives. Christ doesn't care how
you live. He saved you. Your sins are forgiven.
You're good. You don't need to worry about sin
in your life. You don't need to worry about how
you act and how you behave. You accepted Jesus
into your heart. You're forgiven. You're pardoned
of your sins. Your sins have no more effect on
your life. Don't think about them. Don't worry
about them. You fall into messy grace Christianity,
don't you, friends? Then it does not matter how
we live. And Christ certainly doesn't matter
how you live. He doesn't care if you sin. He's
forgiven you. He accepts you just as you are.
But is that true? What's the other half of the
equation? Doesn't Christ care a great deal about
the life of his people? What was the purpose
of his death on the cross? What was the purpose
of his sacrifice? What is the purpose of free
pardon? That he might purify for himself a people,
that he might sanctify his bride, that he might
give her a clean heart and renew a steadfast
spirit within her. You see, we need to understand
The forgiveness of sins. The imputed righteousness
of Christ. Justification. But we also have to
understand that God intends to sanctify his people.
So we learn a great deal about this reality as
David introduces us to this work of salvation
and its distinctiveness. From that which he's
cried out for previously. Now there is something
we have to recognize. These two things are distinct.
But they're not separate. So when we talk about
the forgiveness of sins. And we talk about sanctification.
They are distinct from one another. But they
are not separate or disconnected from one another.
They are very intimately connected. In so much.
And they're so related, and they're so connected,
that all who are justified will be sanctified.
David is a justified man. Doesn't he cry out
in Psalm 32, how blessed is the man whose sins
are not, whose iniquities are not reckoned to
him, are not imputed to him? He's a justified
man by faith. That means that he will also be
a sanctified man. That God, through Christ, will
work in his heart, will work in his life to gradually
strengthen him and mature him and to grow him
in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To purify him. To make in him and to
renew in him. a steadfast spirit. David was justified,
but David is also crying out for sanctification.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, as a cry for
Christ to sanctify him. For the Lord Jesus Christ
to extend his power and his divine agency to
work in his very heart, to create purity in his
heart, and to create a steadfastness within him.
He's crying out for sanctification. He's not
crying out to be saved, brothers and sisters.
He's crying out for God to continue to save him
and to continue to work in him. It's a cry for
sanctification. And why is he sanctified? Because
he is justified. So all who are justified will
be sanctified. But also we must recognize that
all who are being sanctified have been justified.
You say, well, why is that important? Because
sanctification has ebbs and flows, ups and downs.
It had hills and trails. It's bumpy at times.
But all the while, justification, your status
before God as being right with him, the imputed
righteousness of Christ, the forgiveness of sins,
remains unchanged. Meaning, your justification
goes up and it goes down. Overall, it will progressively
go upward. But your justification before God...
always remains the same. Your sanctification
does not affect your justification. That's good
news, brothers and sisters. That's good news
for you, and that's good news for me. But this
also means that if you are not being sanctified,
That if Christ is not at work in your heart,
if you are not progressively becoming more and
more like the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the
entirety of your life, even into old age, if
you are not growing in your likeness to the Lord
Jesus, if you are not growing in the grace and
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, then
you do not have justification. If you are not
being sanctified, you have not been justified.
Only those who are justified will certainly be
sanctified. There's a warning and there's a great
encouragement in this reality we find with David.
So this work is distinct from that which David
cried out for before. He's crying out for an
ongoing, a subjective work in his heart, in his
life. Whereas previously he cried out for the
forgiveness of sins, for free pardon. This leads
us to the second thing we have to examine this
morning, the description of the work he is seeking
out. In verse 10 he says, create in me a clean
heart. So this work is described as a work of
creation. This work of sanctification is being
likened to the work that God accomplished when
he spoke the world into existence. Now that's
a mighty and a powerful thing. Think about the
sovereign power. That was exercised when creation
was brought into being from nothing. Sanctification
is a work like that. Sanctification is a work
that requires a work like that. It carries a
word. The word carries the meaning. of something
coming into being that wasn't there. And it's
only God who is ever the subject of this work.
He's the only one who ever does it. And so David's
crying out for the extension, the divine agency
and sovereign power to be extended and be worked
in his life to bring about what? Not the world,
not the earth, not the universe, not creation,
but what? A clean heart. David's crying out.
He's seeking a work that God would sovereignly
give him. A clean heart. An upright heart. A
pure heart. A heart that is innocent with regards
to God's law. Blameless before God. He's crying
out for God's sovereign help to create in him
something that he knows is not there. Purity
in his heart. But it's also described as a work
of renewal. He says, renew a steadfast spirit
within me. Now this word is a bit different from
the word when he says create. This word has to
do with going back to the foundations, remaking
something, restoring something, remaking something
new again, restoring the influence or that which
was present. In this part, he's paralleling the
first part of verse 10. So most likely, he's
referring to the same sovereign act. but in a
different way. He's saying, God, by your sovereign
power and through your divine spirit of holiness,
create in me, through that power and through
that sanctifying act, a heart that's pure and
a heart that's steadfast. Now what does it mean
that he's crying out for a steadfast spirit?
And why would he want a steadfast spirit? Steadfastness
has to do... with being fixed and established.
You're not blown back and forth. You're not fickle.
You're not wobbly. You're stable. You're firm.
You're settled. What was David's problem? How
did David fall into sin with Bathsheba? He was
double -minded in his heart. Here's over here
one moment, and over here the next. He gave way
easily to temptation and to sin, to wickedness,
and it led him down the road of losing his kingdom.
This same word is used in Psalm 78 of Israel.
They did not have a steadfast spirit, a right
spirit within them, and that was a source of
all their problems. Do you remember Israel? You
remember the nation of Israel in the Old Covenant?
One moment they were faithful. The next moment,
they were rebellious. One moment they were crying
out for God's mercy and God's help. The next
moment they were chasing after idols. They were
not steadfast. They were not steady. They were
double -minded and they were fickle in their
spirit. And that was David's problem. So he's
crying out, God. Extend your sovereign power
within me and give me a spirit, a heart that's
steady. That's settled in holiness and godliness.
One that stands when the gales of sin and temptation
come crashing against my life. Give me a spirit
that's strong. Give me a spirit that doesn't
give way at every passing and fleeting thought
and every passing and fleeting lust and every
passing and fleeting issue in life. Give me a
spirit like that, Father. That's what he's crying
out for. And he knows why he needs it. Now, this
work of creation and this work of renewal, as
they're described, Are described as a deep internal
work. Within David. This is not outward and external
religious behavior. This is a work of the heart.
That he's crying out for. Look in verse 10. Create
in me. A clean heart. Already we see that it's
internal. But he doesn't stop there. and renew
a steadfast spirit within me. David knows that
his spirit will never be changed. He knows that
purity will never have dominion in his heart
unless it's at the very core of his being. He
knows that he can't reach it. He knows that the
world can't reach it. He knows that nobody can
reach that far into the heart of a man except
for his creator. Except for the God who made
him. It's a heart issue. Why did David sin grievously
with Bathsheba? Why did he have her husband killed?
Why did he cover it up? Why was he unrepentant
for a year? Because his heart was rotten. Because
his heart was bad. Because of that moral issue.
His sin, his corruption, and his own life. It
wasn't the fact that he was acting the wrong
ways and doing the wrong things. Brothers and
sisters, what drives our actions and what drives
our behaviors? What is the epicenter of the person?
Our heart. Where do we make every judgment and
every discernment and every moral decision in
our very lives? Our spirit. Our heart. Deep down
within us. Purity and steadfastness must begin
in our hearts. Otherwise, they will just fall
away like everything else. Christian change,
true change, always begins in the inner man,
not in the outward behavior. The Pharisees thought
that they were very pure, very clean. The Pharisees
thought that they were steadfast. And by all
appearances, they were very holy. They were very
clean. They were very pure. And their speech,
and their language, and their conduct, and their
appearance, and their actions, and everything
external and outward, they were clean and they
were steadfast. But were they pure in their hearts?
Were they steadfast in their spirits? No. They
were impure in their hearts. And they were unstable
in their spirit. These things must become realities
in here before they become realities in our actions.
Brothers and sisters, David is not crying out.
God, change what I'm doing. Change what I do
tomorrow. Change my behavior. Change my actions.
He's saying this, change who I am. Do you know
that there's something wrong with you? Do you
know that you need changed? Because until you're
able to cry out this prayer with David, create
in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit
within me, because you know you have a dirty
heart and you know that you're unstable, you're
never going to experience the purity and the
steadfastness. Do you know that you are not okay
in your heart? Are you just okay? Coasting through
life as a moral person that's separate and distinct
from Christ. Behavior can be deceiving, brothers
and sisters. Coming to this church building does
not make you a Christian. Being involved regularly
does not make you a Christian. Talking about
spiritual things and giving advice does not make
you a Christian. You know what makes you a Christian?
That you have been given a pure heart and a steadfast
spirit. That God has given you a new heart that's
responsive to the gospel, that has faith and
repentance. And that the old stony heart has
been taken away. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
his life and his death and his resurrection.
That's what makes you a Christian. And if you
are justified by faith from that new heart, you
will be sanctified. And you will know that your
heart is wrong. That you have a moral problem,
a moral issue. And you will cry out. You will
repent of your sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ
will sanctify your heart. He will grow you. He
will extend his sovereign creative power in your
heart. And he will grow you in the grace and
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a deep internal work. And it's described as a
sovereign work of God. David is conscious of
the reality. He's conscious of the reality. That's
why he asked for this. That he has lost these
virtues and these graces that are bestowed and
given by the Spirit of God. He recognizes that
they are greatly decreased in his life and that
their influence cannot be found within his soul.
He's conscious of this. He's conscious of the
reality that he cannot change his own heart.
So what does he do? He goes to God. He cries
to the Lord that he would create in him and that
he would renew him. It's a work of God. And he's
conscious of it. Brothers and sisters, I want
you to consider this. Who can change your heart?
Can the world? Can the world fix your moral issue,
your sin, your corruption? It will certainly
seek to teach you morality, but it cannot give
you purity within your heart. It cannot give
you steadfastness within your spirit. Can the
culture? Can our government provide a program
that gives out purity and steadfastness? No.
Can you create purity within your heart? Can
you renew steadfastness within your heart? No.
But our sovereign creator, redeemer, Jesus Christ
can. He can change your very fabric. He can change
who you are. He can work so deeply in your soul
that you will never be the same, even as a Christian.
He can pour out his power and his spirit in his
heart and transform you. He can change any sinner
just as he brought creation into being from nothing.
Brothers and sisters, this is why This idea of
cold, dead, lifeless orthodoxy is false. Because
if a justified person is justified, then what's
going to take place? They'll be sanctified. And
Christ will exert his sovereign, creative, sanctifying
power within them. Do you understand the power
that's at work in the life of the church of Jesus
Christ? Think about it for a moment. Do you understand
the divine agency that is at work in the soul
of the Christian throughout the entirety of their
lives? The same power that spoke the world into
being. The same power that rose Jesus Christ
from the dead. The same power that brought Jericho
to the ground. That power is at work in the very
heart and mind and life of all those who are
in union with Jesus Christ by faith and repentance.
Now that person is going to have life and vitality
and spiritual passion and zealousness for Christ
because his power is at work in them. So true
Christianity. cannot be cold, dead, lifeless
religion. It cannot be mere outward actions.
It has to be a religion of the heart where the
power of God is experienced in the soul of man.
That's what Christianity is, brothers and sisters.
True Christianity. Only true Christianity can
change a sinner. But we know where to go for
true, lasting, eternal transformation, don't
we? We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who changes hearts. And changes minds and
lives. Christ changes sinners. He sanctifies
them. And he is the one who can transform your
very heart. He's the one who can bring you from
one degree of glory to the next. We see this
work described. It's a work of creation. It's
a work of renewal. It's an internal work, and
it's a sovereign work. Let me offer you two ways
that this is applied, the diverse ways this text
helps us today. We learn, first, that our desires
for holiness and godliness ought to be turned
into prayers for holiness. and godliness. I came
across this statement in a man I like to read
periodically, Brian McLaren. He has many sermons
and commentaries on the internet. So this is
not original to me, the statement I just told
you. But it's very appropriate. What does David
do here? He desires and he longs for a new heart.
He desires with his very being to be changed,
to experience purity and steadfastness. He longs
for it. But what does this longing do? It breaks
forth in prayer to God. He doesn't just long
for it. He doesn't just desire it. He prays for
it. He asks for it. Brothers and sisters, how
many times have you thought? How you desire,
how you long to be godly and holy and more sanctified
and to experience the power of Christ in your
life more. Turn the thought into a prayer and
go to the throne of grace. Pray for it. Cry for
it. Plead for it from your heart. Is this not
a prayer that Christ would gladly answer? Won't
our risen Lord answer prayers for purity of heart
and for steadfastness of spirit? There's some
things we don't know. I'll pray it. I'm not sure
if it'd be according to your will, but we know
it is Christ's will for his people to be pure
of heart. We know it's Christ's will for his
people to be sanctified. We know it's Christ's
will for his people to be steadfast. So pray
for it, brothers and sisters. He will answer
the prayer. He will sanctify you. He will make
you more pure in your heart. He will extend his
divine and sovereign power to your very heart
if you will cry out for it. Will you run to the
throne and ask him for godliness in your life,
for help in your relationships? To walk according
to his law and according to his word. Run to
him and ask him for it. Plead with him. He will
be faithful and he will answer those prayers.
So we must turn our desires for holiness into
prayers for holiness. But we also learn, too,
Essential qualities involved in sanctification,
don't we? Purity and steadfastness. God loves
purity. God blesses the pure of heart. They shall
see God according to Matthew. They'll have fellowship
with him. He commands his people throughout scripture
to be pure and to purify themselves, to be steadfast
and to pursue and seek out steadfastness in their
life. So if we know that Christ loves his people
to be pure of heart and to be steadfast in spirit,
we ought to seek these things out in our lives.
We have to pursue purity in our hearts, cleanness
in our minds, cleanness in our thinking, cleanness
in our eyes, cleanness in our lives, purity in
our hearts, in our spirit, to our very being
and our very core. If we pursue that, then it
will affect our whole life. All our behavior,
all our actions, if we deal with who we are,
then what we do will follow. These things will
become more and more prominent in the life of
the believer. Two marks that will grow in prominence
and prevalence in the life of the sanctified
Christian. Purity. or innocence with regards
to the law of God, and steadfastness in their
walk with regards to the precepts and the statutes
of God. But as we grow and mature, as we grow
in the grace and knowledge of Christ, as we grow
in the purity of our heart, in the steadfastness
of our life, it will also continually make us
distinct. and different from everything around
us. So as a person is sanctified, as a person
grows in the grace and the knowledge of Christ,
as Christ continually exerts his sovereign power
to give them a clean heart and a steadfast spirit,
that person will continually and progressively
become different. And more and more different
than the impure, unclean, unstable world around
us. The result of sanctification in many cases,
and in all cases actually, is separation from
this present evil age. Not... the physical world
or the places, but the evil moral world around
us. That which is against God. So God sanctifies
us. He matures us and he grows us. The result
is that we are progressively distinguished from
the evil morality around us. We don't blend in.
Why? Because Christ has exerted his sovereign
power to create in you a pure heart. He sanctified
you. Christ has exerted his sovereign power to
renew in you what? A steadfast spirit. He sanctified
you. So the more and more and more that he sanctifies
us throughout our life, the more and the more
and the more we grow distinguished from the evil
morality of the world around us. So we learn
these two essential qualities, and we learn that
we ought to take our desires for holiness and
make them prayers for holiness. Finally, I just
want to encourage everybody. From this text.
You can look at all kinds of things for change.
All kinds of things for change. You can read
all kinds of books for change. If you're here
and you don't know Christ. You will never find
any true or lasting change. Apart from Christ.
But if a person knows Jesus Christ. That person
will truly. and genuinely and continue to be
changed until the day they go to be with the
Lord. True change is found in Jesus Christ and
in him alone.