4. Heart of Darkness – Lord of Light! Psalm 51:6-10

Text: “The heart is deceitful in all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?  I the Lord searcheth (searches and continuously searches) the heart, I try (test) the reins, even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

Jeremiah 17:9.

          “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

John 8:12.

Good morning, totally depraved and fallen Christian!  Conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity, you and I, since the Fall of Adam in Eden’s Garden, have been born of our Mothers in Adam’s fallen image – a body which relates to the dust from whence Adam was created; a soul, which relates and communicates with other fallen souls; and a totally DEAD spirit, the fruit of God’s Curse on mankind when Eve/Adam sinned the sin of disobedience as portrayed in Genesis Chapter 3:.

This state of Total Depravity is why God teaches us: ‘...the natural man receiveth not the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned.”  (1 Corinthians 2:14)

We can prove this Scripturally sound fact ourselves, by the response we Christians too often get from other unsaved souls, whenever we seek to witness to them of the glorious Gospel of Salvation in Christ alone – and it is as if we are speaking to a chair, or an inanimate object, for the listener is dead to the things of God, and thinks the Gospel utter foolishness. 

It is not so much that they do not WANT to learn Eternal truths – it is the fact that they CANNOT grasp such Gospel truth due to having a totally dead spirit!  Unless God the Spirit ‘quickens’ (makes Spiritually alive) the spirit of unregenerate man/woman, they cannot understand with the heart and receive God’s gift of repentance and Salvation in Christ Jesus.

“And you (born again believers) hath He quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins...Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).”  (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Mankind, born of woman, since the beginning of time, are born in Adam’s fallen image, in his fallen, and totally depraved likeness, as the Scriptures teach.

“And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years (after the Fall from grace), and begat a son in his own likeness (fallen), after his image (as opposed to being in God’s image); and called his name Seth.”  (Genesis 5:3)

As a result of Adam/Eve’s sin of disobedience; and God’s Holy Curse upon all His Creation as a consequence: all mankind have been born with a heart of darkness, our entire essence of being (heart) are born sin-prone, and Spiritually dead in sin.  We do not have to teach a baby to do what is wrong, it does so NATURALLY.  In fact, even in the process of socialisation of our children, we have to teach them, painstakingly, to do what is proper, honest, and socially correct!  Every parent that ever lived will immediately say ‘Amen’ to this fact.

In God’s Holy and Omniscient eyes, it is infinitely more clear when we commit sin!

Verse 6. “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Reality, sincerity, true holiness, heart-fidelity, these are the demands of God.  He cares not for the pretence of purity; He looks to the mind, heart, and soul.  Always has the Holy One of Israel estimated men by their inner nature and not by their outward professions; to Him the inward is as visible as the outward, and He rightly judges that the essential character of an action lies in the motive of him/her that works it.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 239)

It is to these hearts of darkness that the Lord of all light – Jesus the risen Christ – comes, bringing with Him Jehovah’s gift of saving faith; faith to be quickened from Spiritual death; to be enlightened in Gospel truth; and redeemed by the precious Blood of the Lamb.  Hallelujah!  To our hearts of sinful darkness and unbelief, Christ the Light of the world comes to save us by His grace.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!  Thank you, Lord Jesus.

“For by grace are ye saved through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them.”     (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Verse 7. “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. The first Testament (Old Testament) was dedicated symbolically with the blood of slain calves and goats.  The second Testament (New Testament) was dedicated Eternally by the shedding of the precious and sinless Blood of Christ Jesus, the Light of the world.  God’s way of sacrifice was taught symbolically from Genesis to Malachi, the shedding of innocent animal’s blood.  Christ Jesus fulfilled all the types and symbolic illustrations of the Old Testament, when He shed His own sinless Blood on the Cross at Calvary, for Hell-deserving sinners such as we.  Praise His Holy Name! (Hebrews 9:12-28

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own Blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained Eternal redemption for us.”  (Hebrews 9:12)

Verse 7. “...Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.  Scarcely does Holy Scripture contain a verse more full of faith than this.  Considering the nature of the sin and the deep sense the Psalmist had of it, it is a glorious faith to be able to see in the Blood sufficient, nay, all-sufficient merit entirely to purge it away.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 240)

Verse 10. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Sin destroyed in mankind the created ability to commune closely with our Holy Lord God; to fellowship with His Holiness, and to enjoy His Holy Presence.  That is why Christ, the Creator Lord, must create in us new, born again, hearts; and renewed, ‘quickened’ spirits – that we might come into His Holy Presence and enjoy His love forever.  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature...all things are become NEW.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Give God the praise, Christian believer!

Thought: Our hearts of darkness have been redeemed by Jesus the Light of the World!