A Cleansing Love
Overview
A Cleansing Love
As we enter the season of Lent under the theme "What Wondrous Love Is This," we begin where David begins in Psalm 51:10–12: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." These are not the polished words of a man who has kept himself pure. They are the words of a king who committed adultery with Bathsheba, arranged the murder of Uriah the Hittite, and tried to bury it all in silence. When the prophet Nathan confronted him with the parable of the rich man and the poor man's lamb, David could no longer hide. The law was laid bare before him, and he confessed plainly: "I have sinned against the Lord."
What makes Psalm 51 so striking is that David did not merely whisper a private confession—he wrote a song of it for the worship of God's people. He named his condition as a problem of the heart. Scripture is unflinching about this same diagnosis for all of us. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us the heart is "devious above all else." Jesus Himself says in Matthew 15:19 that "out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander." Our hearts do not beat with a steady rhythm of righteousness; the arteries are clogged with disobedience. Like David, we want to cover, hide, and explain away. But our sin is ever before us, and we cannot outrun it.
And yet notice how David prays. He uses imperatives—create, renew, restore, sustain—not as demands, but as the bold petitions of a contrite heart that knows what God delights to give. Psalm 51:17 reminds us, "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." The Lord does not wait for us to climb our way back to Him through sacrifices or good behavior. He puts our sin before us precisely so He can call us into repentance and meet us with mercy.
This is why the ashes of Lent are traced in the shape of the cross. Our cleansing is not something we manufacture; it is the work of Christ, who endured the wrath of God in our place and washes us clean by His blood. Every confession we bring—of sins known and unknown, of thoughts, words, and deeds, of things done and left undone—is met with absolution, because our sin has been absolutely resolved at the cross. So this Lent, do not be afraid to face the truth of your heart. Pray David's prayer with confidence. Meditate on what wondrous love this truly is: a love that does not merely overlook our sin, but cleanses it away.
Transcript
Our text for this evening is one of my, 0s
and I go back and forth, because I have a lot of favorites. 5s
But, but this I think I can really boil it down 8s
to this is my favorite, just don't quote me on that. 13s
But our text for this evening is Psalm 51. 17s
So if you open up your Bibles right to the center, 23s
you will come to the Psalms, and we're in Psalm 51, 26s
specifically in verses 10 through 12. 30s
We have a beautiful theme for this Lenten season. 35s
The theme for this Lenten season is what wondrous love is this. 41s
And this, this theme, this wondrous love, 46s
will permeate throughout the entire Lenten season 50s
and in to Holy Week. 54s
It will be proclaimed through the music and the message, 57s
we will be exploring God's love for us. 60s
The midweek services will focus on the redeeming love 65s
that God has for us. 70s
Monday, Thursday will explore the expanse of God's love. 72s
Good Friday, we will hear the love that reveals the love of God 77s
or the heart of God, and on Easter, we will come to the culmination 81s
of standing in the love of Christ tonight. 87s
We are going to begin this Lenten season with a cleansing love. 91s
So David, David is the Psalmist that we are reading from tonight. 98s
David was the youngest of eight sons who were born to Jesse, 103s
and the Lord had charged his prophet Samuel with anointing 107s
a son of Jesse to be the king. 112s
So Samuel went to Jesse's home, seven of Jesse's sons 116s
passed before Samuel, and with each one Samuel said, 120s
it's not him, it's not him, it's not him. 124s
And he told Jesse, the Lord has revealed to me that it is none of these sons. 127s
He asks, do you have any more sons? 133s
And Jesse says, well, my youngest, who is out tending to the sheep, 137s
and so Samuel had them call for David, and David came in, 142s
and he was anointed by Samuel. 146s
And as the scripture says, the spirit of the Lord came 149s
mightily upon David from that day forward. 153s
So from that day forward, the spirit of the Lord came upon 158s
Let's fast forward through a battle between David and Goliath 163s
through King Saul, seeking to kill David. 166s
David's kingship of Israel, moving the ark of the covenant, 170s
and we find David, wandering about walking on the rooftop 176s
of his house, and he sees a woman, a beautiful woman bathing. 180s
And he sends for someone to inquire about her. 186s
And he was told that this woman was married to 190s
Yuraya, the Hittite, and he sent for Bathsheba anyway. 194s
He had her come to her, they conceived a child, 200s
and he tried to cover it up. 204s
He tried to get Yuraya to go and be with his wife, 206s
but Yuraya was a loyal servant, and he would not go spend 211s
time with his wife until the battle was won. 215s
He was loyal to his king, and so David decided that he would have 219s
Yuraya put in the front lines of the battle, so that he would be killed, 226s
which is exactly what happened. 231s
So David had taken Bathsheba, she was pregnant, 234s
he had her husband murdered, and he tried to cover it up. 239s
He married Bathsheba, and she bore a son. 244s
He had committed adultery. 251s
He had, he was complicit and arranged a murder, 254s
and he tried to cover it up. 258s
He tried to hide his sin. 261s
So Nathan, a prophet of the Lord, was sent to David. 265s
And Nathan told David a story. 270s
A rich and a poor man who were in a city, and the rich man had many 274s
flocks and herds, and the poor man had, but one tiny, 278s
you lamb. 283s
And there was a traveler who was visiting this rich man, 286s
and the rich man wanted to provide a feast for the, for the, 289s
for the traveler, for the guest, but he didn't want to use his 293s
flock. 297s
He didn't want to use his herds. 298s
So instead he took this poor man's one little lamb you 300s
and had it slaughtered for the feast for the traveler. 307s
When David heard this story, he declared that death should come 313s
upon this rich man that he deserved to die for what he had done, 318s
and Nathan revealed that David was the rich man. 324s
In second Samuel, he said, you are the man. 330s
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. 335s
I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescue you from the hand of 338s
Saul. 344s
I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your 345s
bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. 349s
And if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 353s
Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his 357s
sight? 363s
You have struck down your raya the hit height with the sword, 363s
and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him 367s
with the sword of the Aminites. 371s
Nathan brought what we would call the law to David, 379s
and he laid it out, point blank. 385s
David was convicted of his sin. 390s
It was, if his sin, it was laid bare right before him, 393s
and there was absolutely nowhere that he could run to hide 397s
from the truth of his sin. 402s
What could he do? 406s
It was there right before him. 408s
It was in his face. 410s
There was no way to deny it. 411s
There was no way to hide it or cover it up. 413s
And David made a confession. 418s
He blurted out to Nathan. 423s
I have sinned against the Lord. 425s
I have sinned against the Lord. 431s
But not only did David make that confession to Nathan. 436s
He wrote a song. 441s
He wrote a song that was to be used in worship. 443s
The song that confessed his own sin while celebrating 447s
God's forgiveness. 453s
This is why I love Psalm 51, 456s
because David had sinned. 460s
When we think of the big sins that we could be committing 465s
in this life, we think adultery, murder, 469s
cover up those are sins. 475s
And yet we have a confession. 481s
We know the story of where this confession comes from. 484s
Psalm 51, 10, create in me a clean heart. 489s
Oh God, create in me a clean heart. 495s
We think so often of the heart in terms of emotions. 499s
In Proverbs 15, it says the light of the eyes rejoices the heart. 502s
But the heart is more than just emotions. 508s
It's thoughts. 511s
It's emotions. 512s
It's courage. 513s
It's actions. 514s
But the heart, as the prophet Jeremiah tells us, 517s
the heart deceives us. 520s
In Jeremiah 17, it says the heart is devious above all else. 524s
It is perverse. 528s
Who can understand it? 530s
The sinfulness of our own hearts is revealed. 533s
In Psalm 5, it says there is no truth in their hearts. 537s
In their mouths, their hearts are destruction. 540s
In Matthew 15, it says, for out of the heart, 544s
come evil intentions, murder, adultery, 548s
fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 552s
There is sin in our hearts. 561s
And we beg with David, create in me a clean heart. 566s
Oh God, David acknowledged that he had a heart problem. 573s
He had a problem of the heart. 581s
His heart did not beat a steady beat of righteousness. 583s
His arteries were clogged with disobedience. 588s
And there was pain. 594s
The pain which revealed the problem, 596s
the problem which is sin. 600s
David is not alone in his problem of the heart. 606s
He is not alone in this problem of sin. 611s
So often we want to hide. 617s
We want to cover it up. 621s
We don't want to face it. 623s
But our sin is ever before us. 626s
And we can't hide from it. 631s
We all live with that problem of a heart that deceives us, 633s
with a problem of a heart in which it's drawn to murder, 639s
to fornication, to theft, for slander and gossip. 647s
David knew that he had a heart problem. 652s
And on Ash Wednesday, during length, 656s
we face the truth in the fact that we too have a heart problem. 659s
Our hearts do not beat with a steady beat of righteousness. 667s
Our own arteries are clogged with disobedience and stubbornness. 673s
And our sin is ever before us. 681s
And we feel the pain in our hearts. 686s
David knew that he had a heart problem. 693s
But he also knew that it is the confession of a contrite heart 696s
that the Lord desires to hear. 702s
In verse 17 of Psalm 51, it says, 705s
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit, 708s
a broken and contrite heart, 712s
O God, you will not despise. 715s
The Lord does not wait for us to bring sacrifices to the altar. 719s
The Lord does not wait for us to do the right things to earn his favor. 724s
The Lord calls us, puts our sin before us, 732s
and calls us into repentance that we can come to him with a broken 740s
and contrite heart. 746s
David with this contrite heart turns to the Lord so confident, 748s
so confident of God's desire to forgive, 753s
that he was able to pen this Psalm using imperative, 757s
to create in me a clean heart, put a new and right spirit within me. 761s
Don't cast me away from your presence. 768s
Don't take your holy spirit from me. 771s
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me, 775s
a willing spirit. 782s
He is declaring those, he is commanding those, 784s
he is speaking with imperatives. 788s
He was confidently inspired to write using these imperatives 790s
because he is only asking for what God already desires to do for us 795s
and for him. 804s
Create in me a clean heart, O God, 807s
and renew a right spirit within me. 812s
The black ashes that we use to mark the beginning of the 816s
Lenten season, they're symbolic of the penance, 822s
of the morning, and of our own mortality. 827s
We use the sign of the cross with the ashes because we know 835s
as we come to the Lord, confessing our sin. 840s
O God, against you and you alone have I sinned. 844s
We come to Him, and we know that our repentance is found within 849s
the cross of Christ that Christ comes to us proclaiming that 856s
forgiveness through the work that he did upon the cross. 862s
There is nothing that we do, no sacrifice that we can bring 869s
that makes us right before the Lord that takes our sin away from us. 876s
There's no thing or word we can say that would cover it up or hide it. 883s
But out of God's mercy and grace, 891s
he sent his son to die upon the cross. 894s
He sent his prophets and his kings to give us the words that we speak 898s
this very night. 905s
We can cry with David using those very same imperatives knowing 908s
that the Lord hears knowing that the Lord desires 914s
and knowing that the Lord has already delivered the promise of 919s
forgiveness for us. 925s
Created me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me, 929s
restore to me the joy of salvation, sustain in me a willing spirit. 934s
Jesus washes us clean with His love. 939s
On this side of heaven, we will never truly understand what that means. 945s
The weight that has been lifted for us, the heaviness that has been taken 953s
from us. 959s
We will never, out of his mercy, we will never fully grasp this side of 961s
heaven, what Jesus endured for us. 966s
But we do have His word that indeed he did endure the wrath of God 972s
for us. 980s
He took upon himself the sin that we confess. 981s
He has already taken that so that he can bring to us his promise of life 986s
and forgiveness through his blood. 992s
Out of his great mercy and love, he washes us and cleanses us 996s
before the Father. 1003s
Our confession to God, the confession that we make of our sin, 1006s
the sins known and unknown, the thoughts and words, indeed that we do 1012s
or don't do, they're always answered with an ab solution 1017s
because they are absolutely resolved or dissolved because of Jesus' death 1025s
and resurrection. 1032s
The theme this lent is what wondrous love is this. 1035s
So I invite you this lent in season to meditate on that, 1042s
to really consider what that means for you and really consider truly 1049s
deeply what wondrous love is this. 1058s