“Create In Me a Clean Heart O God!” These words should be familiar to most of us. We sing them every Sunday. The words come from Psalm 51, and they are the epitome of Repentance. This is what it means to be repentant, to have God create a clean heart in you. It is not something that you can do yourself, it is the Very Work of the Holy Spirit. When we say “Create in me a Clean Heart” what is it that we are asking for?
According to Psalm 51, a clean heart is a combination of Three different things:
Oddly enough, the first characteristic of a Clean Heart is that it recognizes its uncleanness, its sin. David Specifically references his own sin and guilt in verses 3 and 14 of this psalm. David had stolen another man’s wife, tried to cover it up, and when that didn’t work, eventually had the man killed. The Lord knew and sent a prophet to accuse him, to preach the law and show him his sin. (2 Sam 11 and 2 Sam 12) Being Shown his sin was the first part of having a clean heart created in him.
It is the same for us. We too commit sins on a daily basis. We commit sins of Omissions and sins of Commission. Whenever we have broken onerule of God, we have broken the entire Law of God. (James 2:10) We too need to be shown our sin. Unlike David, God does not send us a prophet to point it out. However God himself will point out our sin through the work Law (Romans 3:20, 7:7) and convicts us of that sin through the Holy Spirit (John 16:5-11). We do not traditionally think of the Spirit as convicting us, but it is true. The Holy Spirit uses the Law to convict us of our sin and show us our need for a savior. Thus, through the Holy Spirit, the Law leads us towards Christ. (Gal 3:24)
In addition to recognizing our actual sins, we need to recognize our guilt for Original Sin (v. 5). We are all Guilty before God for Adam’s sin. (Rom 5:12,18). Because of this original sin, our Nature is completely corrupt (Gen 8:21, John3:6) Even if we could stop ourselves from committing actual sins, we would still be guilty of this sin that we inherited.
An important part of recognizing this sin is also recognizing the punishment we deserve for this sin. According to v.11 the punishment for sin is the removal of the Holy Spirit from ones Life, as well as being cast away from God’s presence. (this punishment is referred to in two ways: temporarily as hardening of the heart, eternally as hell) David had seen this happen all too closely in his predecessor, King Saul. (See 1 Sam 16) he knew what God’s punishment looked like. He knew what he deserved. All of this encompasses the first part of a clean heart.
The second part of a clean heart is that it rejoices in its savior. David here knows that even though he sinned, God had planned and promised his salvation (v. 12). We know that this Savior was Jesus Christ who kept the Law perfectly for us (Jn 8:46), suffered God’s Punishment (Isaiah 53, especially vs. 5), and sealed this salvation for us by his resurrection (Rom 4:25). All of this we receive by Grace though Faith as a gift of God (Eph 2:8-9). This Faith, a new Spiritual Life, is created in us by the Holy Spirit (John 6:63). This Salvation brings Joy and Peace to our troubled and sin filled hearts. This salvation is the second part of a clean heart.
Finally, a clean heart is a thankful and serving heart. A clean heart will confess its God, like David (v.13). A clean heart will sing God’ Praises, like David (v. 15). A clean heart has been given a willing spirit and happily does God’s will (v. 12, psa 110:3, 119:32). A clean heart is steadfast in God’s Truth (v. 10, Heb 13:9).
These three things together make up a clean heart, a new heart to replace our dead, sinful heart. We cannot create this our self, only God can do so for us. This is the true essence of repentance, to be completely dependant on God for all things. When we sing this portion of Psalm 51, this is what we are asking for. Not for strength to make ourselves right with God, not for God to accept us as who we are, but for God to remake us and use us as he sees fit.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
