A. In Psalm 51, David appealed to God concerning his sin, and in verse 10 he wrote, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." How does God fulfill such a request?
B. In the previous lesson, we noticed that God has set forth two parts to purification of the heart.
1. God's part in this purification is to wash us clean of all the defilement of sin through Christ and to provide for us the good things to store in our hearts.
2. Our part is to provide the complete commitment to God through Christ and receive those good things of God into our hearts.
C. In this lesson, we will take a closer look at these two parts for cleansing an impure heart.
II. CHRIST DIED TO CLEANSE YOUR HEART
A. The heart becomes corrupted because of sin.
1. Man is not born with a corrupted, sinful heart as Calvinists teach, but rather his heart becomes corrupted when he rejects God and embraces sin. The descent into corruption is described in Romans 1:18-32. As for the heart, the result is that the sinner's "foolish heart was darkened" (v. 21).
2. Once man's heart is thus corrupted, he is enslaved by sin and unable to escape on his own.
a. "You are slaves of the one whom you obey...of sin resulting in death" (Rom. 6:16).
b. The futile struggle of a man to escape the corruption of sin on his own is described in Romans 7:7-24. This culminates with the exasperated plea in verse 24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"
B. God sent His Son to die so that our hearts could be free from their captivity to corruption.
1. The cleansing of the heart must involve liberation from its slavery to sin. Notice John 8:31-36:
31So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?" 34Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
2. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus liberated us from sin. We no longer have to be the slaves of Satan, sin, and death (Heb. 2:14-15).
3. This gives us the opportunity to have our hearts purified and our consciences cleansed from dead works (sin) so that we may serve the living God (Heb. 9:14).
III. YOU MUST CLEANSE YOUR OWN HEART
A. The purification of the heart that God has worked to achieve cannot be received passively.
1. The grace of God through Jesus Christ works to wash us clean of all sin, but grace is made effective to purify us only when we actively follow its instructions. Notice Titus 2:11-14:
11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
2. In this way, we must cleanse ourselves from sin by ceasing from sin, i.e., repenting. Consider James 4:8:
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
3. Purifying our hearts is not only a matter of ceasing from evil, but it also requires us to obey the positive commandments of the Lord and to love one another. Notice 1Peter 1:22-23:
22Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
B. Let us consider what our part in purifying our own hearts really means in practical terms.
1. To cleanse our hearts, we must learn to control our own lusts. Simply stated, every Christian must convince himself by the word of God to stop wanting evil things in his heart.
2. The New Testament is filled with this simple message: Stop wanting evil things, i.e. stop lusting. Consider just a few of these passages:
a. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts... (Rom. 6:12).
b. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (Rom. 13:14).
c. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16)
d. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal. 5:24).
e. ...that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit... (Eph. 4:22).
f. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry (Col. 3:5).
g. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul (1Pet. 2:11).
h. See also 1Thessalonians 4:3-5; 2Timothy 2:22; Titus 2:11-12; 1Peter 4:1-2.
3. In practical terms, cleansing the heart from evil desires is much like breaking a physical addiction.
a. The only way to break a physical addiction is to stop feeding it. Likewise, evil desire in the heart can be quenched only after sinful behaviors (Gal. 5:16-25), words (Eph. 4:29), and thoughts (2Cor. 10:5) cease. In other words, repentance cleanses the heart.
b. Just as a recovering addict will initially continue to desire the object of his addiction, so also a repenting sinner is likely to initially continue desiring sinful things. Nevertheless, he must remain resolute not to return to sin.
c. The withdrawal period is very difficult for an addict, but eventually the physical addiction will release him. Likewise, the withdrawal period for a sinner can be difficult, but eventually the desire for sin in his heart will fade.
d. The end result is a heart that has been cleansed from the guilt of sin by forgiveness in Christ and purified from the desire for sin by repentance in Christ.
e. Notice the order of instructions in Colossians 3:5-17. First, we must eliminate our sinful behaviors, words, and thoughts (vv. 5-11), and then we can replace them with that which is good (vv. 12-17).
4. Perhaps the key to success in purifying the heart is to replace the love and desire for evil things with the love and desire for God and His will. Notice 1John 2:15-17:
15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
IV. CONCLUSION
A. A clean and pure heart is a necessity for anyone who seeks after God. Only the pure in heart will be able to see Him (Matt. 5:8).
B. Because we all have been corrupted by sin (Rom. 3:23), we all need to have our hearts cleansed by the Lord through faithful obedience to His gospel of grace.
C. Through repentance in Christ, we can purge evil desires from our hearts and replace them with desires for heavenly things and the love of God. Then our hearts will be clean and pure indeed.
