MY FAVORITE PSALMS
PSALM 51: CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART
DR. JIM DIXON
JUNE 10, 2012
PSALM 51:1-17
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on the surface of the earth, 1,310 feet below sea level. Most of the Dead Sea is in Israel. The Dead Sea is surrounded by desert. Even the hills and the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea are barren, desolate, and hot. If you go up on the Masada above the Dead Sea, it is almost always hot. In the midst of that desert, there are a few oases. One of them is called Ein Gedi. Ein Gedi is an oasis in the desert. It is in the crags of the cliff in the valley. There is food and fresh water there, and there are mountain goats there. There are caves all over the region of Ein Gedi.
It was to Ein Gedi that David fled when he was pursued by King Saul. King Saul came after David with rage and wrath. It was demonic rage. We are told in 1 Samuel 16 that King Saul, in his jealousy of David (for David was a one-time shepherd boy who had risen to popularity in Israel), was so jealous that he became demon-possessed. Saul came with 3,000 men in pursuit of David, who was hiding out with a few men in the region of Ein Gedi. The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 24:3 that Saul went by himself into a cave in Ein Gedi. Growing up, I was told in Sunday school that he went into that cave to go to sleep, to take a nap. Actually, in the Hebrew, we are told that he went into there to go to the bathroom. It says he went into the cave to “cover his feet,” which is a Hebraic expression for going to the bathroom.
Saul, the king, was in there by himself. He did not know that David was in the back of the cave with his friends. Saul, in that moment, was vulnerable. David, knowing that the king was trying to kill him, knowing that he had been a fugitive and was fleeing for his life, could have taken that opportunity to slay the king; but he did not. David said, “I will not touch the Lord’s anointed. I will not touch the king of Israel. Even if he is demon-possessed, I will not slay him.”
While the king did not notice, David took a small piece of the hem of the king’s garment. Later, David showed King Saul. David said, “I have a piece of your garment that I took when you were in the cave. I could have taken your life, but I spared you because I would not touch the Lord’s anointed.” King Saul said to David, “You are a better man than I am.” It was true. David was a better man than King Saul. In fact, David was a better man than all men. He was, the Bible tells us, a man after God’s own heart. He was beloved of God.
So, how could David, this best of men, this man who had a heart after God’s own heart . . . how could he do what he did in 2 Samuel 12? How could he commit adultery? How could he commit adultery with another man’s wife, Bathsheba. How could he murder Bathsheba’s husband Uriah? How could he do those things? David gives his answer in the 51st Psalm, our Psalm for today. David makes it very clear that he is a sinner. He is like all mankind, a sinner in desperate need of mercy and grace. David says that he was born in sin, born with the taint of sin upon him and upon his life. Sin is insidious; it literally moves from generation to generation. We are born with sin in the soul.
We look at Psalm 51 today. It is a repentant psalm. There are seven repentant psalms amongst the 150 psalms. This is the most famous one, Psalm 51. We see three things in it. First of all, we see confession. David makes his confession. He confesses his sin. That is the first thing we must do when we have sinned. David said, “I know my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. I am always thinking about it.” He said, “Against Thee and Thee alone have I sinned.” He knew he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah; but, ultimately, all sin is against God. Therefore, God is righteous in His judgments. David said, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive me.” David is acknowledging that the taint of sin, what theologians call “original sin,” was upon him from the beginning. He was confessing his sin. Do you ever do that?
The Hebrew words for “confession” are “yadah” and “todah.” You put them together and you get “Yoda,” which is from Star Wars. These words are beautiful words in the Hebrew, “yadah” and “todah.” They connote release. When you confess, there is a release, a freedom that it brings. The same is true of the Hebrew word “homologeo,” which means “to confess,” or “homologia,” which means “confession.” These are beautiful words. I hope you have experienced the beauty of confession—and not simply confessions to God. There are times when the Spirit of God leads us to confess our sins to another person.
I know that this has happened in my life on a number of occasions. Certainly, one occasion was when I was in seminary. I went to seminary at Fuller Theological Seminary, the largest non-denominational school of theology in the world. It has a school of theology, a school of missiology, and a school of psychology. There are thousands of students and a wonderful faculty. The seminary was founded by Charles Fuller, who was a pastor-theologian and evangelist in the early 20th century.
When I was at Fuller Seminary, Charles Fuller’s son Daniel was there. Daniel Fuller had received his PhD at Basel University in Switzerland. He was prestigious in his credentials and a brilliant man. I took a class in exegesis and hermeneutics from Professor Daniel Fuller. In the class, we had a mid-term exam which was given to us on our honor. You could take the exam at home, and he trusted you would not cheat. But I did cheat. He gave me that exam, I took it home, and I was taking the test. I felt like, “Man, I know this stuff.” There was one question that I didn’t know, although it was on the tip of my tongue. I knew that I had studied it; I knew that I knew the answer, but I couldn’t pull it out of my memory banks.
I just thought, “Oh man, I know what this is supposed to be.” The book that had the answer was right by my desk. I thought, “I really know it anyway.” So, I took the book down, looked at, got the answer, and wrote it down. I cheated. I sinned. I turned my paper in having violated the honor system. As the days passed, I began to feel guilty. It is the presence of Christ within me. As I began to feel guilty, I confessed my sin to the Lord; but I knew that He was telling me to do more. I had this burden, and I felt like the Lord would not lift it from me. He was saying to me, “I want you to tell the teacher.”
I did. I had this moment where I sat down and wrote Dr. Fuller a letter. I just confessed that I had sinned and I had cheated. I didn’t make an appeal for any mercy or forgiveness. I just acknowledged that I had cheated and I had sinned. I told him whatever he felt the consequences should be, I would accept. I did not know whether he would just flunk me or if I would graduate. I honestly did not know what he would do. But I knew that Dr. Fuller was a brilliant guy. He was a supralapsarian, double predestinarian, tulipian Calvinist, theologically speaking. When you think of a guy like that (I know you don’t often think of people like that), you don’t think of compassion and mercy. You think of rigor; you think of discipline; you think of someone who is highly structured.
I wrote this letter in fear and trembling; but when I wrote it and sent it, I felt freedom. I felt this wonderful release. I felt joy. I didn’t know whether I was even going to graduate from seminary, but I felt joy. I had done what the Lord asked me to do, and I felt the freedom of that. I had confessed. I had come out into the light. I hope that you have experienced, on occasion, that joy and freedom of confession as the Lord leads you to do that.
I got a letter back from Dr. Fuller that was thick. I thought, “Wow, he had a lot to say.” I was amazed when I opened the letter. He began by telling me what a wonderful student he thought I was. I didn’t even know that he knew who I was. Then he said that he was happy to forgive me. Then he began to tell me story after story of the sins in his life where he needed to make confession and how the Lord had used it in his life. It was the neatest pastoral moment. I could tell that he was lovingly seeking to minister to me. Boy, I hope in your lifetime, you have the joy of that kind of confession and seeing what God can do. We have that in David’s Psalm where he begins with confession.
In that little letter of 1 John, it says, “This is the message that we have heard from the beginning, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with one another while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another; the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” When we confess, we come into the light. We decide to leave the darkness. We decide that we are not going to be stealthy anymore. We are going to come out into the open, into the light. This is the call of the people of Christ. It is the way we are called to live in the world. No closet sins.
After confession, we see appeal in the 51st Psalm. David is making an appeal to God for mercy. He has confessed, and now he is appealing for mercy. He says, “Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out all of my transgressions. Wash me fully from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.” He says, “Behold, you desire truth in the inner person; therefore, give me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Fill me with joy and gladness. Let these bones which you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out all of my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
David is appealing for God’s mercy, for God’s forgiveness, and even for God’s blessing. I know that in our lives, all of us have made such pleas to God for His mercy and for His forgiveness. Maybe you have gone to other people and you have asked them for mercy and forgiveness. In this world, people are not always willing to forgive. We live in a world where some people find it very hard to forgive. That is why when you look in Matthew’s gospel, the 18th chapter, Jesus gives us instruction about the necessity of learning how to forgive.
Peter says to Jesus, “If my brother sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Jesus wasn’t saying that 490 is the number. He wasn’t saying to forgive 490 times; He was saying that there is no limit to the mercy. As Christians, we are called to be people of mercy. Jesus follows that statement with the parable of the unmerciful servant who was forgiven a massive amount by the master. But then, this same servant went out and would not forgive the smaller debts of his fellow humans. It is a warning that we, as the followers of Christ, are to be people of mercy. There should be no people on the planet more merciful than those of us who call ourselves Christians. We should be willing and wanting to forgive those who have hurt us and those who have sinned against us. I think it is hard in this world.
I have been the senior pastor from the beginning of Cherry Hills Community Church. That’s over 30 years. I have had the joy and privilege of being involved in hiring a number of staff people, particularly department head staff people. I have also had the burden and the hard reality of being involved in firing some people over these 30 years. I was thinking some months ago . . . I shared this at the Garden Tomb in Israel with those of you who travelled with me . . . there were really nine department heads over the 30 years that I had to release or felt I needed to let go. In every case, it really hurt them. I realized I was hurting them. I thought I was doing what was best for the church, and in some cases at least, certainly for them as well.
Some people I had to let go because their skill set did not match the ministry we needed. I felt like they were skilled, but they had different kinds of abilities and skills than the job required. They were hurt by that. Their feelings were, “Well, you don’t like my skill set.” They were very hurt. In addition to those nine department heads, there have been additional people within departments where I sometimes was involved in their being dismissed. There were people that were let go because we didn’t have the money to keep them employed. We had some years where our congregational giving was low and we weren’t able to sustain the number of staff. There were some people that I had to let go because of budget cuts. But they were still hurt. They knew I had done some triage. They knew that I had tried to sort through the priorities. They knew that as I ranked what was most important . . . as I ranked what ministry, department, and staff were important, that they somehow didn’t make the cut. So, they were hurt. We can understand that, right? We can all understand that.
Then there were a few people I let go because of conduct unbecoming the gospel. Whenever there is conduct unbecoming the gospel, we seek to minister redemptively. We seek to restore people with repentance; but sometimes, there are problems just so ingrained that, for the sake of the purity of the church, we have to let someone go. Even in those cases, these were people I knew and loved. It was hard. As the years that have gone by, there are people out there whom I have fired, but not in a Donald Trump way.
Perhaps I see them in some other city at a ministry event, and I can feel their pain. Even though I have tried to build bridges to some of them, I can tell some are really still very angry with me. I understand that. This is the world we live in, isn’t it? When you are hurt, it is very hard to forgive. I understand that. But here is the deal—and David understood this: when you make your appeal to God, He is willing to forgive and wanting to forgive. Whatever pain you have caused Him—and we do cause God pain—He is willing to let it go. This is His heart. When we make our appeal to Him, we know that this is His heart.
The Bible says in 1 John that “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is why He came into the world, why He died for us. He longs to forgive us. He died for us, taking our sin upon Himself, so that when we come to Him in confession and repentance, He shows mercy and grace. What a privilege to come in prayer and not just make confession, but to make your appeal for mercy, knowing that He is, indeed, the king of mercy and He longs to show mercy to you.
Finally, as you look at the 51st Psalm, you see a promise from David. I don’t know if you have ever noticed this as you look at this psalm—David makes confession, makes his appeal for mercy, and then he adds a promise. “Create in me a clean heart, oh God. Put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence. Take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will return to You. Open these lips, oh God, and my mouth will bring forth praise.”
David is making the promise that he will enter into ministry if his confession is accepted and his appeal for mercy granted. He will serve through telling others about God. He will serve the Lord through praising Him amongst the people. This is the promise of David. We live this side of the cross; David lived the other side of the cross. Jesus hadn’t died for the sin of the world yet. David didn’t fully understand what we today would call the gospel. We live this side of the cross; we know that Christ died for us. We have come to the cross, most of us, and we have accepted Him as “Yeshua,” as our Savior. Because He is risen from the dead and He is Lord, we have accepted His lordship. Having done that, we should be so grateful for the forgiveness and the salvation and the promise of heaven, that we want to serve Him. The response to confession and forgiveness should be gratitude. That gratitude should be expressed in service to His kingdom. What an amazing opportunity.
We are not saved by works. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly says, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and it is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.” Then it adds in verse 10, “You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that you should walk in them.” We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. If we have really been touched by the grace of Christ, and if we have really responded to the gospel, there ought to be some fruit of that in our lives. There ought to be some response that we give in terms of service to the cause of heaven and to the cause of Christ. David saw that, as you see in the 51st Psalm.
Christ is very concerned that His people enter into ministry and service. He has shown us His grace, He has shown us His mercy, and He has loved us. Now, He calls us to serve His kingdom and His purpose. When you look at His parables, like the parable of the sower and the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus obviously wants His Kingdom to grow in this world. He wants a productive church. If you look at the parable of the talents and the parable of the pounds, they are about productivity. Jesus, the Master, wants His people to be productive for the cause of the Master, for the cause of heaven, for the cause of the kingdom.
This isn’t just true of the parables of Christ. Even the miracles of Christ point to this call to be productive and seek to serve His kingdom. Look at a miracle like the miraculous catch of fish that we see in Matthew’s Gospel, Mark’s Gospel, and Luke’s Gospel. The disciples, before they had been called, were out on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus tells them to cast their nets on the other side, and there is this miraculous catch of fish. Jesus literally called the fish of the sea into the net. We understand from Luke chapter 5 that this miracle was done in the context of Jesus saying to the disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” That miracle is joined to the call of Christ, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The miracle is pointing to the fact that we are called into His service and that your ministry can be multiplied and blessed by His power. He sends us forth with that.
Consider the miracle of the cursing of the fig tree, which took place on the road between Jerusalem and Bethany. Jesus cursed a fig tree, and it withered to the ground. The disciples were like, “What is this about?” It was about, again, productivity. The fig tree was barren. It was a symbol of Israel. God called Israel, and He calls us, to productivity.
We come to the Table today, and we come confessing. We come appealing, and we want His grace and mercy. As followers of Christ and those who have accepted Him as Savior and Lord, we know we have His mercy and grace; but there should be some response. There should be some desire to serve Him and some desire to serve His kingdom. Do you have that? Is this a moment where you need to make some kind of a new commitment?
I want to tell you a story before we come to the communion table. It is a story about a guy named Edward O’Hare. You may have heard of him. In the 1920s, in the city of Chicago, Edward O’Hare was very rich. He was a very successful attorney, and he lived in a lavish estate. You might wonder how he got so much money. It is simple. Edward O’Hare was the personal attorney of Al Capone. Al Capone painted the streets of Chicago red with blood and participated in mob and gang wars. He ran industries tied to pornography, gambling, and bootlegging. He was always just one step ahead of the law. Al Capone bought off much of the Chicago police department with bribes, even those who were righteous and faithful to their jobs. He was always one step ahead of the law, and it was because of Edward O’Hare, Capone’s attorney. This brilliant attorney always got Al Capone off the hook.
Edward O’Hare had one soft spot, and that was his son. His son was also named Edward, although he called his son Butch. He loved Butch. He wanted Butch to grow up to be a great man and a good man. He wanted Butch to know the difference between right and wrong, and he wanted Butch to do the right. He wanted him to understand the difference between good and evil, and he wanted him to understand morality and ethics. He wanted him to have a faith in God. He made sure that Butch went to church, and he made sure that Butch studied the Bible. He wanted Butch to grow up to be the opposite of him. He wanted Butch to be what he never was.
Finally, because he loved Butch so much, he came to the conclusion that he was a hypocrite and that he could never rear his son in a proper way. He knew that Butch would never turn out unless he changed as a dad and began to do what was right. He knew there would be a horrible cost. He knew he had to come clean. He knew he had to turn state’s evidence. He knew he had to go to the police and tell them everything about Al Capone. He knew he had to give them all of his records. He knew that he would be killed if he did it; but he loved Butch, and he wanted his son to see him do the right thing. Edward went to the police and confessed everything. He submitted the documents and the records. That was part of why Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. Edward O’Hare was then killed by Al Capone’s mob, just like he knew he would be.
What happened to Butch? Butch grew up to become a member of the United States Navy. He became a lieutenant commander in the Navy. He became a naval aviator. On February 20, 1942, just two months and thirteen days after Pearl Harbor, Butch O’Hare was serving as a naval aviator on the U.S.S. Lexington, an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. That day, he took off from the aircraft carrier along with all the other U.S. planes. As they headed out on their mission, they had only gone about a third of the way when Butch noticed his fuel was almost gone. He realized that they had forgotten to fill up his fuel tank. He turned back, knowing he would barely make it back to the Lexington.
He was almost back to the ship when he saw nine Japanese bombers approaching the Lexington. He was the only air defense. He knew what he had to do. He was going to have to give his life. With a surge of adrenaline, he went into the attack. He miraculously shot down five of the nine Japanese bombers. The other four were like, “Who is this guy?” In the chaos of the moment, they just scattered. The Lexington was spared, and Butch was able to land his plane on board. He became the first American ace of World War II. He became the first naval aviator of World War II to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Today, if you have flown into Chicago, you have probably noticed that the airport in Chicago is named after Butch—O’Hare International Airport. You can see a statue of him there. You can see his medals and awards displayed there—and he was the son of the attorney of Al Capone.
Next Sunday is Father’s Day. I think we would all acknowledge as dads and parents that we need to raise our kids by example. We know that we can’t be hypocrites, and that if we really want our kids to grow up to love and serve God, we need to model that ourselves. I realize that when you hear about someone like Butch O’Hare, you think about our country and the service of our country. I know that in this congregation, we all believe in serving our country. Just two weeks ago, on Memorial Day Weekend, I got into a little bit of trouble because at the second service I didn’t ask for all of our military people to stand. I didn’t ask for us to recognize them and honor them. I did it the first service and in the third service, but in the second service I did not.
Instead, we had a wonderful testimony by Tom and Theresa about their son Tommy who served in Afghanistan. We all stood and applauded for that. I thought that with a few words we might be okay. We always ask our service people to stand on Veteran’s Day and on Independence Day weekend. But in that second service two weeks ago, I didn’t; and some of you got pretty upset with me. I understand that. I understand because you love your country and you want to honor those who serve.
Let me ask you this: “Do you have that same passion for the kingdom of heaven? Are you that passionate about honoring those who teach in our Sunday school? Are you that passionate about wanting to honor those who mentor and tutor kids in the inner city? Are you that passionate about those who serve in the choir or parking lot or who go on the mission field? Do you have the passion yourself to serve?”
I love our country. I am so proud to be an American. I love our democratic freedom and our civil liberties. I know God has blessed our country. I love the USA. I hope you understand that the Bible is very clear that nothing is more important than the kingdom of heaven. It is the eternal kingdom of God. Nothing is more important than the kingdom of Christ. All earthly nations will come and go, but the kingdom of Christ is forever. It is worth every breath we have got to serve that kingdom.
You come to the communion table, and you thank God for His mercy and His grace. You make your confession, and you make your appeal for His forgiveness; but there has to be some appreciation in your heart and some passion for His cause and His kingdom. As you come to the Table this morning, maybe you would consider making a commitment to Christ. Mabye because of your gratitude and appreciation, you would like to make a promise to do something and to serve. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.