Psalm 51:10

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.