May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word once more. Let's turn
to Psalm 51 and read verse 10. Psalm 51 and reading verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. I am conscious that although
I didn't take this for a text recently, I did refer to it and
did refer to this psalm at some length. But nevertheless, I feel
that the Spirit of God has laid this on my heart tonight, so
may it prove to be a word which is acceptable and prove to be
a blessing to us. We are, I know, familiar with
this 51st Psalm and familiar with the reason why it was written
and to understand the need why it was written and to be thankful
that it was written so that we today many years later can still
read such an account and have a very honest prayer going up
from a man of God a prayer which is very understandable and very
comprehensive in its fullness. And I believe that, in essence,
the Church of God, the children of God, will have cause to often
be thankful that there is a record of this prayer, this confession,
spoken by David as it is suitable for us in our lives today. And as he comes down in his psalm
to this verse, how important it is that we recognise exactly
what he is saying here. David had a heart. We all have a heart. We all have
a spiritual heart. And David was conscious that
he needed a clean heart. And David was conscious that
he could not produce a clean heart himself. And he could not do it because
of his fallen nature. And we cannot do it because of
our fallen nature. It is a very sad and solemn condition
to recognise that we are unable to keep alive our own soul. We are unable to keep ourselves
clean because of the sinful nature that we have inherited because
of that fall of Adam all those years ago. But although we cannot
keep ourselves, we will never be satisfied of sinful propensities. We will never find them attractive
to us. We will always find, if we possess
the Spirit of God, we will also recognise that inward battle,
that inward turmoil. because of the many temptations
that our heart brings before us. And so we will appreciate
exactly what David is speaking of here, when he asks, create
in me a clean heart. You know, it is the heart sins
which are really so terrible, it was really the cause of our
of the Lord sending a flood upon the earth so many years ago and we read in the sixth of Genesis,
and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Now that's a very strong statement,
isn't it? But perhaps we can understand
something of what it means that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Instead it is sometimes that
although we would be found concentrating on better things, on spiritual
things, on godly things, and find ourselves desiring to read
the word of God and to pray, even in those attitudes we find
the curse, the curse of sin penetrating and we understand something of
what this statement refers to. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil, continually. And how It makes us sad and it
makes us cry out in the words that David speaks here, creating
me a clean heart, O God. A desire after holiness, a desire
after cleanliness, a desire to turn away from all the evil things
that Satan only too readily tries to thrust into our mind. It is perhaps a very solemn reminder
that he is endeavouring to turn us away at every opportunity
from worshipping the Lord God. And perhaps when we come and
try to settle down and to meditate and think upon the things of
God, almost immediately it seems as though the devil comes alongside
and seems to thrust himself forward in some wrong and evil context. So instead of worshipping the
Lord, we find we are worshipping the devil. And yet we never had
that desire. So our concern will be then to
come and to pray a prayer like this, creating me a clean heart. Oh God. We read that 40th Psalm. There are many, many, many references
in the Word of God to these kind of situations and conditions.
We could spend all night going through text after text which
proves the point. We will go through some this
evening because it does just indicate to us the power of Satan
in this 40th Psalm which starts off so confidently and so beautifully
really where he explains and tells us how he was brought up
out of the horrible pit And as the Mari claim, his feet were
set upon a rock and he was established in his guidance. But nevertheless,
as we come down further to our first, he says this for innumerable,
innumerable, not just one or two, innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. so that I am not able to look
up, they are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart
faileth me." That's a real testimony, an honest statement, wasn't it,
by David? And as I said, we're thankful
that we have the honesty of godly men in the Word of God who do
not pretend to be what they are not, but able to spell out very
clearly the true position of their heart and soul. So we have
a statement like this. Yes, David, the man after God's
own heart, the man of God described as the sweet psalmist of Israel,
And here we have David complaining. It is a complaint, isn't it?
It's a good complaint. We don't have bad complaints,
we have good complaints. It was a good complaint. And
he says, for innumerable evils have compassed me about, all
around him, all around him. And his iniquities have taken
hold upon me. Not just the two, perhaps he
refers to in the 51st Psalm more specifically, but the many, the
many iniquities have taken hold upon me and it's caused him to
hang his head. Perhaps it causes us to hang
our head in shame. He says he wasn't able to look
up, wasn't able to look up. where he was in a low place. This is David who said those
beautiful words at the beginning of the psalm. This is the same
man and we understand how we today, in our spiritual life,
also have extreme oscillations in understanding what he says
here, so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the
hairs of my head." David, is that really true? Is that really
true, David? The iniquities that he was aware
of were more than the hairs of his head. Well, there's not much
room for manoeuvre there, is there? There's not much room
for justifying ourselves there, is there? If we understand and
feel what David understood here, Yes, they were more than the
hairs of his head. And because of that, he says,
therefore, my heart fired with me, almost ready to give up,
created me a clean heart, O God. Well, do we understand what David
was passing through? Do we understand the depth of
the depravity of our nature. One of the reasons for the lethargy
and the lukewarmness today in the professing Church of God
is that people do not recognise or realise the true condition
of their souls. And they go on in a very aimless
way really, not recognising their true state, their heart doesn't
fail them. Well, David's heart failed him, therefore my heart
faileth me. He goes on, he says, Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. He needed the Lord to come. He needed God. He knew that was
the only place of safety. He knew he was the only one who
could help him. And that's why he comes and says
this statement here. created me a clean heart, O God. It's good, isn't it, to have
a God we can come to. A God we can come and pour out
our heart to. A God who knows us. A God who
knows, amazingly, every temptation. that you and I come into contact
with and are faced with, tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. Now, the benefit of that is to
know that the Lord knows how we are tempted. He knows how
to deliver us. He knows how to come and meet
with our case and to to visit our souls and to bless us indeed. In that condition, without any
doubt, we are needy, aren't we? We're needy. We're not self-sufficient. We're very needy. You know, Jeremiah another man
after God's own heart. And yet he had to confess his
condition and confess the condition of the nation. And he speaks
and he says, but they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear,
but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations of their
evil heart and went backward and not forward. Well, this wasn't
progress, was it? This wasn't a spiritual growth,
was it? They went backward and not forward. Sometimes we may
fear. That's what we're like. We're
going backward. We're not going forward. We may
cry out, perhaps, can ever God dwell here? Surely, if I am one
of God's children, I should not be like this. I should not be
having these temptations. I should be able to very easily
resist the devil, and he might flee from us, flee from me. Well, I believe sometimes the
Lord allows these conditions to develop in our heart, so we
realise We can't claim any virtue ourselves. And we have to look
only to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. They walked in
the counsels and in the imaginations of their evil hearts. A number
of times, in Jeremiah, he speaks about the imaginations of the
heart. And you just ponder that. The
imaginations of our heart, the things that we think, the things
that we imagine, not good are they? Surely it causes us to
cry out, creating me, a clean heart, oh God. The evil imaginations
that we find come into our heart. Well, Jeremiah knew what it was,
Jeremiah experienced it, But we bless God for what he
also said to Jeremiah. The Lord said, for I will set
mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to
this land, and I will bring them and not pull them down, and I
will plant them and not plant them up, and I will give them
at heart to know me, saith the Lord, and they shall be my people,
And I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with
their whole heart." Now, here's the prayer. Created me a clean
heart, O God. And here's the answer. I will
be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole
heart. I wonder if that's a desire that
we have, that we might perhaps return. We may have wandered
away. Sometimes wandering away is a
very subtle action. We're always aware of what has
moved us away, but little by little we wandered away. And so here, Jeremiah knew precisely
what Israel had done, how they had wandered away. And yet the
Lord was so gracious, wasn't he? They didn't deserve any mercy.
They didn't deserve any promises. They didn't deserve any blessings.
Yet what does he say? They shall be my people, and
I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their
whole heart. Well, what a blessing it is to
be able to come and to worship God with our whole heart. Perhaps our religion has been
half-hearted. We've just gone through a form. Religion has become very formal. Our Bible reading has become
just a formality. Our prayer time has become just
a formal few words to try and justify ourselves. It hasn't
really been the earnestness, it hasn't really been the true
desire. Therefore, surely a prayer like
this finds us out. The cry must be, creating me
a clean heart. David wasn't looking all round.
He wasn't pointing fingers at other people. He didn't say,
well that person is worse than me, that person doesn't live
a life very God honouring, that person doesn't do this and doesn't
do that. When the Spirit of God convicts,
it's just like it was with David, when Nathan said, thou art the
man. David didn't need to look anywhere
else, to point the finger at anyone else. He realised that
he was the guilty one, that he it was that the Lord was angry
with, he it was that who had sinned against the Lord and we
might say sinned against light and knowledge. Think of that. Sin against light and knowledge. David knew, didn't he? What was
right and wrong. And my friends, you and I know
what is right and wrong, don't we? And yet sometimes we walk
and we listen and we obey the word of the devil instead of
the word of God. and then we find ourselves in
a hard-hearted and desperate condition. But if the Spirit
of God comes and directs us and convicts us and tells us, we
are the guilty one. Then to recognise such a word
like this creates in me a clean heart, O God, in me a clean heart. God's servant Zachariah also,
he had to speak sad and solemn tidings in the age in which he
lived, very near to the time when there was no further prophecy,
times indeed of hardness, times of difficulty, and he tells us,
he speaks very plainly in his in his prophecy. He says, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute judgment, and show mercy
and compassion to every man to his brother, and oppress not
the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor, and
let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. Let none of you imagine evil
against his brother in your heart." Again it comes back to the imaginations
of our heart. And so here is a warning for
us. Sometimes we might imagine, it
may only be an imagination as well, it may not have any foundation. And yet such imaginations are
not God honouring. They are dishonouring. and they
are evil. He says, let none of you imagine
evil against his brother in your heart. Now the sad thing was,
in this case, Zachariah had to tell them, but they refused to
hearken. They refused to hearken, and
pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears, that they
should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as
an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which
the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore came a great wrath
from the Lord of Hosts." Created me a clean heart. Well, I hope we fear. I hope
we fear greatly being left to ourselves And coming into a condition
like this, where we refuse to hearken. Refuse to hearken. And we should not assume that
that is an impossibility. Because Israel were left to themselves
and they did just that. And many of us have been left
to ourselves and just that. We refused to hearken. God has spoken. We've refused
to hearken, and pulled away the shoulders, stopped their ears,
and they should not hear. Perhaps we've even sat in the
services and tried to think of other things, to distract our
minds, so that we won't hear what is being spoken, because
we're afraid. we may be condemned by the word
of God. Yea, they made their hearts as
an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which
the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets,
therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts, creating
me a clean heart, O God." What if we had been left to that situation?
And it shouldn't be surprising if we understand what Zachariah
was speaking. He was speaking true words. He
was speaking words which he knew applied to many people. And now
today we live on this earth and I'm sure words like that have
an application to each one of us in our lives. Other people
may not know, other people may not observe, but between our
souls and God, There is that knowledge, that we are perhaps
not walking rightly, but walking contrary to God. And therefore,
may a prayer like this be so, so suitable. Create in me a clean
heart, O God. And then, we turn to the New
Testament. We turn to the words of the Lord
Jesus. Nothing more powerful, surely,
than the words of the Lord Jesus. Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? See, God knows. He knew their thoughts, He knows
our thoughts. And He asked the question, Wherefore
think ye evil in your hearts. Well, I wonder if we can be honest
before our God and say, well, sadly, I have thought evil in
my heart. I can't stand and say, no, I'm
clean. I have to confess I'm guilty.
I have to confess I've come short and therefore I have to cry out,
create in me a clean heart. Oh God, oh yes, in me, again
a personal statement in me. Further on, the Lord again speaks. He speaks about the heart, for
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, These are the things
which defile a man. These are the things which cause
us to need our heart to be cleansed. These are the things why we desire
to have a clean heart created within us. For out of the heart proceed.
The Lord is speaking here very clearly. He's not just isolating
a single person and saying, well you. He's speaking in a general
way here to many, many people who came to hear him. A great
multitude he was addressing and he was telling them very clearly
what these things were and what these things meant. We have the
same account really in the Gospel of Mark and again he speaks in
very Similar words, but more extensive. In Mark's Gospel we
read this, that which cometh out of the man, that defineth
the man. For from within, out of the heart,
within, out of the heart, your heart and my heart, proceed evil
thoughts. adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, and it goes on. Covetousness. I know you consider
that your Sunday score last Sunday morning. Covetousness. It's a sin which comes out of
our heart. Thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit. lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All those things are not good
things. All those things are evil things. And they all come from within,
from out of our heart. understanding how evil our heart
is. Oh, creating me a clean heart,
oh God, says David. If you read that list, how do
you respond? You have to say, well, I can't
claim to be free of those sins. I have to confess that my heart's
worse than I really thought it was. And I find these things
proceed from that. Again, just listen, evil thoughts,
just thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness. Surely with such a statement
we have to cry out, I am the man, I am the guilty person.
Create in me a clean heart. What does the Lord say? All these
evil things come from within and defile the man. So surely they do indeed defile
us. Create in me a clean heart. Well we can bless God there are
so many examples of this and then perhaps just one final reference
that we read of in Paul's epistle to the Hebrews and there he speaks
about our heart being deceitful. We just had that word about deceit
but he spells it out in very strong and clear terms and he
says in the third chapter of the Hebrews He says, but exhort
one another daily. Take heed brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the Living God. An evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the Living God. The inference is very clear,
isn't it? It means that we are not believing in the Lord God
and it is therefore classified as an evil heart of unbelief. Creatively, a clean heart is
our real cry that we might not be left to have an evil heart
of unbelief and in that situation be found departing from the living
God, from the living God, not just a man from the living God. But, he says, and this is encouraging,
but, exhort one another daily, what is called today, lest any
of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is very deceitful, and we
can easily become hardened by it. So we have all these many
illustrations, I've just cited a few, there's very many more.
in the word of God which speaks to us so solemnly, created me
a clean heart, O God." Now not only did David want that, but
he wanted something else. And he says, and renewed a right
spirit within me. He realised he had a wrong spirit. It's a great blessing if the
Word of God, if the Spirit of God convinces us of a wrong spirit. And a wrong spirit is one that
does not follow the blessed and glorious example of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do we possess then the Spirit
of Christ? Are we concerned to walk in the
way that Christ set before us? His example in word and in deed. So many things the Lord spoke
did He not when He was on this earth. So many words of direction
and we have His good and gracious example. Renew a right spirit
within me. Now from this word it would seem
that David had therefore been blessed with a right spirit And
now he'd be left to fall, and now he'd be left to go aside
and astray, and now his prayer is that there might be a right
spirit renewed within him. Well, that may touch our hearts
tonight. We may look back in our lives
and realise we had an occasion when the Lord came and met with
us and blessed us and touched our heart. And then we've wandered
away. And then we've become hardened.
Then we've become rebellious. And we've walked in opposite
direction. And now the Spirit of God has
come and spoken to our hearts like the Spirit of God, came
and spoke to David through the words of Nathan. And the hardness
and the rebellion disappeared, and the contrition was shown
forth, and his submission to the will and the law of the Lord,
and his concern therefore now to do that which is right. renew
a right spirit within me. What a blessing it is if you
and I have a concern for that renewal, for that right spirit
to be granted to us once again. We refer to, already this evening,
to Jeremiah. When Jeremiah wrote his Lamentations,
When he came right down to the end of the fifth chapter, he
says, Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old. That was his prayer. Perhaps
that meets our case tonight. Turn thou us unto thee. The Lord
can do it. We may be very weak. may be very
feeble, the Lord can turn us. As he hears our prayer to this
end, renew a right spirit within me, we may perhaps follow it
up and go along these lines and say, turn now us unto thee, O
Lord, and we shall be turned Jeremiah did have a confidence
in his God. David did have a confidence in
his God. They both had living faith. And so, may we tonight be blessed
with light faith. Don't despise faith. Little faith
is a great blessing. If we have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, If you've ever seen a grain of mustard seed,
it's exceedingly small. But my friends, it's sufficient
to move mountains. And may you and I be blessed
with living faith to pray earnestly for these blessings, because
they are blessings, creating me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me, and a right spirit will be to
be found looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. A right spirit
will mean meditating on the Lord Jesus Christ, considering Him. That will be a right spirit. That will be a blessed state,
a blessed condition, because then, will that fail, the Spirit
of God will lead us to the cross. There's the place of blessing. to be seated at the cross and
to view by faith the Saviour suffering for us. There we will
then know what it is to be blessed with a clean heart, because the
Saviour died to take away our sin, the worst sins, the evil
sins, the vile sins, the wicked sins. the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. Blessed be God. Amen.