A renewed start for 2006
Psalms 51:7-13
Marc Axelrod “Last year at this time, some of you were saying, "This year, things are
going to be different! I’m going to change! I’m going to be a better spouse.
I’m going to spend more time with my family. I’m going to spend more time
reading my Bible. More time praying to God. More time serving others.” Are you saying, “This year things will be different, I will make a difference?” I will make a change! The fact is that we’ve all made mistakes or bad choices that have kept us from doing some of the things we wanted to do. You know what they say about New Year’s resolutions? They usually go in one year and out the other!”
A son who called his parents up to wish them a happy new year, And he said, "Well dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?" The dad said, "My resolution is to make your mother as happy as I can all year." The son said, "Aw, that’s so sweet!" Then his mom got on the phone. He asked her, "What’s your resolution, mom?" She said, "My resolution is to make sure your father keeps his resolution."
What is it going to take for you and me to really mean business with God? God isn’t going to stand there and make sure you do what you said you would at the beginning of the year. It takes a deep desire on yours and my part.
Ps 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Ps 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Ps 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Ps 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Ps 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Ps 51:13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
The sin with Bethsheba had just happened and Daniel was waking up to his faults and needed a renewing of his spirit.
I. He confesses his sin, Ps 51:3-6, II. He prays earnestly for the pardon of his sin, Ps 51:1-2, III. For peace of conscience, Ps 51:8, IV. For grace to go and sin no more, Ps 51:10-11
John J. Parsons http://www.hebrew4christians.com/index.html
Hebrew Lev Tahor – A clean heart When King David cried out to the Lord, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," he did not use the Hebrew word yatsar, which means to "fashion" or "form" something from pre-existing material, but instead used the word bara, a verb exclusively used to refer to God’s creation of the cosmos (Gen 1:1). Something totally new. *
David understood that no amount of reformation of his character would be enough, and instead appealed to that very power of God that alone could create "out of nothing." Such was the nature of the remedy required.
The heart (lev) is the inner person, the seat of the emotions, thought, and will. The Bible describes the heart of man as "desperately wicked" (Jer 17:9). The Lord Jesus declared that the heart is the source of all our uncleanness, moral defilement, and perversity (Matt 15:19-20).
The opposite of this defilement is a quality called tahor, a word normally used to denote ritual purification and the consecration of things set apart for God by means of atoning blood (Lev 17:11). Such rituals were intended to instill an abiding awareness of the sanctity of God and our sinful condition before Him.
By means of the precious blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins, God’s wrath against our sin is satisfied, and He is able to create within us lev tahor, cleansed from our old nature’s defilement and perversity. Because of the Lord Jesus, we can truly have a heart that is re-created and sanctified in the image of God.
This is where we will pick up and focus on verses 10 and 12
Looking at;
A totally Clean Heart
A totally renewed spirit
A totally restored salvation
1. A totally Clean Heart vs. 10a
Western Civ. class has a empty board before class then it was filled up and then at the end of class the slate was wiped clean for the next class. Thru the year you write different things on your slate (trying new things) but at the end of the year each person has a desire to start anew….this is how David was…51:10 Create in me a clean heart
This is how God is with us, he can clean our heart with a totally clean start
a. It starts with admitting your mistakes. *
Kernal E.W. Chamberlain III., U.S. Army (Retired) “It takes an incredible amount of personal courage to admit mistakes. It is very much against our nature as humans to admit that we were wrong.”
b. Look at society today; it is always someone else’s fault. There is always something else that made the person commit the murder, commit the robbery, commit the abuse, commit the offence. No one seems to ever want to take responsibility for their own actions. They blame it on their upbringing or their genes or whatever else they can.
c. It ends up with everyone having a victim mentality.
d. In our house we joke with the kids about growing up means using that word RESPONSIBILITY. Some of us adults have a hard time with that too if we would be honest.
e. Ac 15:9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
f. Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
g. You have to ask for God to help you with cleaning out all that was before and starting all over.
Asking for a clean heart leads you on to a totally renewed spirit.
2. A totally renewed spirit vs. 10b
a. You have to ask for God’s help
b. JWN - that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable.
c. TOD - A right spirit. A steadfast spirit, i.e., a mind steady in following the path of duty.
d. JFB - right spirit--literally, "constant," "firm," not yielding to temptation.
Levi Wright - We all need to work on having the "Right Spirit" within our hearts.
There is something more powerful than mere psychological counseling.
We need to come to God in genuine repentance and open ourselves up to Him at the deepest dimension of our lives because is the key to our "Spiritual Healing."
Our "Psychological and Spiritual Make-up" is similar to a house with many rooms.
Sometimes we allow God into the living room of our hearts, but we don’t allow Him into the basement where all the junk is stored or in the bedroom where we reveal our private selves.
David wrote, Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. (Vs 6)
Modern psychologists call this the "Subconscious Mind." There are layers to our human personalities. God wants to cleanse us in the inner depths of our being. *
A restored spirit makes it easier for a restored salvation
3. A totally restored salvation vs. 12
a. 2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
b. Jamieson, Fausset, Brown vs, 12. free spirit--"thy" ought not to be supplied, for the word "free" is, literally, "willing," and "spirit" is that of David. "Let a willing spirit uphold me," that is, with a soul willingly conformed to God’s law, he would be preserved in a right course of conduct.
Wesley’s Explanatory Notes Verse 12
The joy - The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. Free - a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God’s precepts.
Treasury of Scripture knowledge - free
Romans 8:15;
Ro 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Ro 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:ehold, all things are 2Corinthians 5:17) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Merlin Carothers, author of the book Prison to Praise, had firsthand experience of what it is like to be declared righteous. During World War II, he joined the army. Anxious to get into some action, Carothers went AWOL but was caught and sentenced to five years in prison. Instead of sentencing him to prison, the judge told him he could serve his term by staying in the army for five years. The judge told him if he left the army before the five years ended, he would have to spend the rest of his term in prison. Carothers was released from the army before the five-year term had passed, so he returned to the prosecutor’s office to find out where he would be spending the remainder of his sentence. To his surprise and delight, Carothers was told that he had received a full pardon from President Truman. The prosecutor explained: “That means your record is completely clear. Just as if you had never gotten involved with the law.”...
David experienced total renewal, restoration and rested in the salvation of God. He realized his downfall, and wanted God to start anew, totally clean out all the evil. As we each start a new year, I want to ask you……How is your life? Is there anything in your life that you need to start anew……anything you have fallen short in? How about making a concerted effort to make 2006 a better year than in the years past? You may say preacher I am ok and I am living the life God wants me to live. If that is so…then will you do anything God asks you to do? I want to go on record as your pastor…..I am here to mind God, I may upset some, make other happy, and others totally offend, but I am here to mind God and that is what I intend to do even more so in 2006.
I ask you again….Is all well between your soul and the savior, are you giving him all of you? I believe if we would all be honest we all need help in one area or another.
