Elevate - The Story Pt 15 - King David - Create in Me a Clean Heart

David, a man after God's own heart, commits a great sin by sleeping with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. He tries to cover it up by manipulating Uriah, but his plan fails. Nathan the prophet confronts David, and David repents. He writes Psalm 51, asking God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit. David understands the importance of having a pure heart and clean hands to stand before God. We may think that our sin is not hurting anybody, and you might think, well, it's only hurting me, so it's okay. At what point do we become so callous towards the God who loves us and saves us, that we just stop caring about His desires and His standards and His leading in our life? When did we stop realizing that sin will absolutely affect your relationship with God? Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama, with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message, and welcome to Elevate. We are continuing in our sermon series, The Story. How many of you have been enjoying going through this narrative of the Bible, going through this book together? Are you enjoying this? Last week we talked about David, and he was the giant killer, and that was an encouraging message. You're right, there's giants in our lives, and there's ways that we can see through the life of David, because he was a warrior, he somewhat understood how to walk in the strength of God and see giants and armies fall before him. But today we're going to look at another aspect of the life of David. After killing Goliath, he gains some military clout. He gets a name for himself. They know this dude's a mighty warrior. And David becomes the king that becomes the pattern by which all other kings of Israel are judged. It's like, are you like David? He becomes the pattern. And remember this, and the reason why David is such an important part of the story. David is also in the lineage of Jesus, right? And so we've been hearing all of these, reading all these stories of people that are in the lineage of Jesus. Now to have kingdom effectiveness and influence in our community, we're not going to get there playing games. We're not going to get there playing church or trying to pick and choose what the Word says, and I'll do this, but I won't do that, right? We won't affect the lost that way. We're not going to make disciples that way if we simply relate to God through Sunday morning church and try to look the part and try to play the part. It's going to take a real, true, radical devotion to the Lord and a willingness to confront the things that are standing in the way of a true, passionate, uncompromising relationship with Jesus Christ. There are things that stand in the way. And even in saying that, for some of you, you're going, I know exactly what's standing in the way and why I feel like I've stagnated in my walk with the Lord. And so if we're going to move forward and we're going to become truly that fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, we've got to be willing to deal with some things. We're going to look at a story of David here, beginning in 2 Samuel 11, beginning in verse 1. And I'm reading in the NIV here. It says this, In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Raba, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful. And David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, she is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness. And she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, I am pregnant. I mean, this sounds like what happens among politicians in our government today. So David sent this word to Joab. Joab was the commander of the army. He sent this word to Joab, send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, go down to your house and wash your feet. So Uriah left the palace and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house. So understand what David's trying to, he's trying to formulate here, right? Manufacture. David wanted Uriah to go home. He pulled him away from the war and he wanted Uriah to go back to his house and sleep with his wife. And so that her pregnancy would be as a result of Uriah and everyone would think that, right? And then David's off the hook. But the plan didn't work because Uriah would not go home while his comrades were still on the field of battle. So he slept at the entrance to the palace. We move on. Verse 14. In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and die. Verse 26. When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. And this, mind you, is the David that the Bible says is a man after God's own heart. And he is, and you'll find out why. Let's move on further in the story. Chapter 12, beginning in verse 1. The Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan was David's personal prophet that he kept on his staff. He sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him. David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die. See, David thinks that he's providing justice for something that happened, right? But Nathan has set a trap for him. He said, The man who did this must die. He must pay for that lamb four times over because he did such a thing and had no pity. And Nathan said to David, You are the man. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah, and if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore, the sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. Now you can unpack that one for days. And I'm exercising restraint by not saying a whole bunch of things that are not in my notes right now. But know this, after this confrontation with Nathan the prophet, David gets called out. David knows that God has seen what he has done, and now Nathan knows what he has done, and it's just a matter of time before everybody knows what has been done. And so David humbles himself and repents immediately. Immediately he repents. Now, the story, as you would read it in the Bible, ends there. David repents of what he's done. He makes everything right before God. He suffers the consequences, but he repents. But with David, we get insight into his heart and in his mind because he's the writer of most of the Psalms, or maybe half of the Psalms that you find in your Bible. And so when he wrote these Psalms, he's writing them oftentimes as prayers, as songs to God during specific times in his life, and we can tie some of these Psalms back to what happened in his life. And so Psalm 51 is the Psalm that David writes in response to what just happened. What he did with Bathsheba, what he did to Uriah the Hittite, and now being called out by God and being told that the sword will never depart from his house. He writes this, and he takes the first several verses in Psalm 51, and if you read that, you'll see that he's asking for mercy, and he's asking God for forgiveness, and he's repenting. These heartfelt cries of acknowledgement of the sin that he has committed and his desire to be cleansed from this horrible thing that he has done. And then we move on to Psalm 51, verse 10, and he says this, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Now understand how David is feeling at this moment as all of this has been exposed, and he's writing this, he's saying, God, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. David felt separated from God because of his sin, and he's asked for mercy and forgiveness, but now he's asking God to give him the cure. Right? He did something wrong, and he repented and he asked God to forgive him, but he goes one step further, and he says, God, I need the cure so that I don't keep doing stuff like that. I need You to help me overcome the sin nature that is in me, that rises up within me, to overcome that urge that drove him to this great sin. He needed a clean heart. He knew he needed a clean heart. Look what he writes in Psalm 24, again, David speaking, he says, Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The One who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior, such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, God of Jacob. Listen, saved people seek God. Saved people understand that in order to have a life that is fruitful, a life that is fulfilling what God places on this earth to do, they've got to be in God's presence. They've got to get there somehow. And he says, Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The One with clean hands and a pure heart. You see that? David knew that a clean heart would allow him to have proper relationship with God. Nothing in the way. You ever, with your spouse, there's like an unspoken thing, right? You're annoyed, she's annoyed because you're acting weird, right? You know what I'm talking about? But yeah, you know, when that happens, it's like all of a sudden your relationship changes. It's like, oh, we didn't kiss each other goodnight. We didn't say goodbye. No one said, I love you, right? Something changes in the relationship because you're mad at each other because there's something in between you that needs to be dealt with. And it's the same thing with God. And David knew that to have a proper relationship with God, he had to take the one thing that separates him from that relationship with Him, and that is sin. Only that would allow David to be in God's presence, which he so desperately desired. So what he does is he asks God to create that heart within him. He doesn't say, Lord, help me keep my heart clean. Or he doesn't say, God, I'm going to try a lot harder from here on out. What he says, God, is create in me a clean heart. Now this word creates, this Hebrew word, I'm not even going to pronounce it, it's only used in reference to God. Nowhere in Scripture will you find this word unless it directly refers back to God. Something that only God can do, right? Ex nihilo, which means out of nothing. It's the same word used in Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created out of nothing. This clean heart cannot be manufactured by human efforts. Can I tell you that? The clean heart that He desires, the clean heart that every single one of us needs in order to seek the face of God and be in the presence of God is not something that we can manufacture. It must be created by God. It originates in Him and it is a work of His grace in your life. We can't just try to do right. There's nothing wrong with trying to be a good boy, trying to follow the rules, right? Be a good girl, don't go too fast on the highway, you know? Don't be greedy at work and don't step on people to get ahead, right? You want to be good? Absolutely. You want to walk as an example of moral integrity and character, right? But we cannot just try to do right because that doesn't fix our heart. It doesn't fix it. We've been talking in our Wednesday night group in the book of Galatians how the law, right, the law was all the things we had to try to do. But that doesn't actually address the human condition. It doesn't fix you. And trying real hard will never do it. It never pans out. And if for some way you've been able to be really, really good your whole life by a sheer act of will, then I promise you that you have a whole other host of sins to deal with. Because usually those people that just try, try, try, try, try really hard to try to impress God and to show everybody else how much more holy they are, yeah, they're the meanest, most judgmental people you'll ever see in your life. They're miserable. There's a whole other bunch of things they need to repent for. Anyway, that was free. That was free. We have to humbly ask the Lord every day to give us the grace to please Him and to remain in that place where we are being led by His Spirit. He's got to create that in us. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Familiar verse. You all know it. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Let me tell you, that's not hyperbole in the Bible. That's like fact. Our spirits are created anew and reconciled to God when we choose Christ. Your spirit becomes regenerated. Your spirit becomes new in Christ. You now have access to the presence of God, and it's true. You are a new creation. However, our sin nature continues to pull at us and tries to run the show. And I can't see it necessarily on you, but you see it in yourself. Even Paul, arguably the greatest Christian that ever lived, Well, never mind. Arguably the greatest Christian that ever lived said, I don't do the things I want to do. And the things I don't want to do, those are the things that I do. Like he struggled with it. It's a constant tension. Our spirits have been recreated and sin is pulling at us and our flesh man, the part of us that is not recreated, the flesh is pulling at us constantly. And that's why David writes in the second part of verse 10, because he says, God created me a clean heart and renewed a right spirit within me. That word spirit, ruach, wind, breath, the same word in Genesis 1-2, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Creator and the breath, right? This clean heart, this ability to have a pure heart and clear conscience before God originates with His Spirit. It's His Spirit that dwells within us that we have to allow to lead us so that our flesh won't lead us anymore. Because when you trust your flesh, it gets you death. That's where it ultimately leads you. Romans 8, 5 and 6, For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Being led by the Spirit of God. Let me tell you something, it certainly won't lead you onto any rooftops near any bathing women. It's not going to lead you to murder her husband and try to hide your crime. Being led by the Spirit requires us to continually ask God to quicken our hearts and our minds to His Word, to His leadings, to His promptings. And you won't be led by the Spirit if you aren't listening. If you're not in His Word, and if you don't have an obedient heart. Because when He speaks, you've got to do. Right? But that's an entire other message. But know this, that the right spirit that David is asking for is God-driven. It is Spirit-directed and it is supernatural in nature. You can't do it on your own. He's got to create it in you. It's new creation stuff. It's not old self stuff. It's not continuing to identify with who we were or who the world wants us to be. But continually reaching into the heart and Word of God to know His ways. So David asks for a clean heart. He asks for a right spirit. Why? Why does he ask for these things? We'll go all the way back to verse 3 in Psalm 51. Psalm 51 says this, For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. David knew. He wasn't dumb. He didn't really think he got away with it. He knew his sin against Bathsheba and against Uriah. He may have tried to cover it up and tried to hide it, but it was destroying him. He says, my sin is ever before me. I know my transgressions. I know where I mess up. I'm a flawed, failed man. I know it. I'm always reminded of it. Nathan calling him out was a relief. I'm sure. He immediately threw himself on the ground and wept before the Lord is what the Bible says. I mean, it was like Nathan said, You're caught. I know what you did. So does God. And David is like, like gushes immediately. Falls down crying, repenting. I'm so glad that's out. I don't have to hide it anymore. Listen, we know our sin. We're no different than David. You know. You know where you're not relating with God the right way. You know that you're getting into things you shouldn't be doing. You know you're making decisions that are actually leading you to a road of destruction that are not godly for your life. You know that your way of relating to His church and His kingdom and being the witness to the earth that He's commanded us to do. You know if you're not doing that. You know. Your sin is ever before you as well. And you know it because when you come before God in worship or in prayer, it's the first thing you think about. It gets right in the way of your ability to communicate with God. Thing is, you just don't want to acknowledge it as sin. Whatever it is. And I'm not talking about the big five Christian things, right? You know, beer and gambling and dancing or whatever. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about stuff that you know is... It might be that for you. I don't know. But I'm talking about stuff that's getting in the way that every time you come before the Lord, there it is. And you're trying to move it out of the way so that you can pray. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I do it too sometimes. But we want to explain those things away. It's the things we want to justify. It's the things we try to move to the side. But they're eating at us. And it's convicting us. And we realize that we're wretched. And so there's no sense in hiding it. In verse 4 of Psalm 51, He says, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. We may think that our sin is not hurting anybody. And it might not hurt a person next to you. It may not hurt anyone on this earth. And you might think, well, it's only hurting me. So it's okay. But David acknowledges that, yeah, I might have hurt Bathsheba. And I might have hurt Uriah. However, I know that my sin is against nobody but you, God. He is the standard of holiness and righteousness. And at what point could we become so callous towards the God who loves us and saved us that we just stop caring about His desires and His standards and His leading in our life? When did we stop realizing that sin will absolutely affect your relationship with God? Your sin and your relationship with God are like oil and water. Remember how, when we just read it, right? How He says to David, He's like, I gave you all this stuff. And I would have given you even more. Why did you think you had to go on getting women on rooftops? Why did you think you had to do that? He's like, I would have given you even more. But you know what? Jesus has given us everything. God has given us everything. He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, to die so that your sins will be removed and no longer stand in the way between you and God. That's what He did. And every time we choose sin, and every time we hold on to it really tight and say, no God, not this thing, I know you're trying to remind me of it again, but I'm just going to sweep that over here, and I'm going to ask you to bless my family. It's like, He's going, why do you think you have to do that? One of these things has to give for the other to thrive. Right? If you want to thrive in Christ, if you want to thrive in your relationship with God, you've got to get away from the sin. Now look at this in verse 11 of Psalm 51. He says, cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. I can feel David's concern here. Like, I know what he means when he says that. I don't know about you, but at times in my walk with God, I've actually felt this. That God is going to remove His anointing, He's going to remove His Spirit, He's going to remove His call on my life, He's going to remove all the gifts that He gave me, and He's going to reject me, and I'm going to be left with nothing. I felt that desperation. Have you ever felt that desperation? God, I messed up, but please don't withdraw from me. Because I'm nothing without You. I've got to have You. I've got to be in Your presence. You know what? At some level, that's a really healthy fear. God, don't leave me. I'll do whatever it takes. Just create in me a clean heart, and don't leave me. Help me to be the one that has a relationship with You that has nothing in the way. We know that in Christ, we have the Spirit of God ever with us. And God isn't going to take that from us. He's not going to take His Spirit from us, but our sin still affects our relationship with God. It may no longer be something that you are judged for at the end of eternity because you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ and your sins have been removed, but the presence of it continually that you choose to do, it affects your relationship with God. And so I'll ask you today, do you feel distant from God? Were you in worship today and everyone around you's got their hands in the air, maybe there's a tear running down their eyes, maybe they're just lost and enraptured in the presence of God and you're standing there twiddling your thumbs like, what's all the hype about? Or just going, I really would love to experience what they're experiencing, but I just can't. I don't feel it. I would ask you this question in response to that. Is there sin in your life that you are allowing to rule you? Are there things that you know are smack dab in between you and your relationship with God? Ask yourself, what am I tolerating? What am I justifying? That's okay. But yet every day I feel convicted by it. What offense, what bitterness, what poor attitude, what selfishness, what greed, what unloving behavior, what addiction or wrongdoing is dominating you? What is that thing? See, David recognizes his need for God's presence, for His Spirit to be with him. And he's confessing and he's acknowledging his sin and he's actively turning from it. And there is something that begins to happen when we choose God over our flesh, when we choose God over our sin, His joy comes flooding back into our lives. So he says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. Oh Lord, I know that You created me a clean heart. And if You don't leave me, I know that that joy of Your salvation is going to just come flooding right back to me again. How many of you would love to experience the joy that you felt on the first day that you gave your life to Jesus and you realized you were right with God? I can't begin, even for me personally, to explain the joy that's in my life when I know that I'm in right relationship with God. When there's not a sin that's in the way or dominating me. When I'm spending time in His presence every day. When I'm being led by His Spirit. When I'm getting closer to Him. When I'm delighting in the greatest reward of our salvation, which is just to know Him more. That brings you joy each morning as you approach Him. As we open His Word. As we pray. And David asked God. David asked God to uphold him. Go back to verse 12 there. He says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and then uphold me with a willing spirit. A willing spirit. That willing spirit, that is the internal motivation that rejects the world and embraces God. The God that we so desperately need. That willing spirit, that it will uphold us if our motivations are for our flesh, then we're going to pursue things that are frivolous, like money and success and entertainment and mindlessness and laziness. But if we have a willing spirit, a spirit, again, that's created by God, that's placed within us, a spirit that will do whatever it takes to know God more, then we're not going to continually find ourselves in the same compromising situations over and over and over. And this is the key to a continual, joyous, intimate relationship with God. It's a heart change. It's a willing spirit. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website, authenticlife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church, to find out what we have going on, or to make a donation. You can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10am for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening, and God bless you.