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!

3. Confession of Sin. Psalm 51:2-5

Text: “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.  Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.”

Psalm 51:3-4.

          “When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole (sinless) have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Mark 2:17.

Good morning, sin-sick Christian!  You and I, since Christ saved our never-dying souls, detest the fact of our sinfulness before we were graciously saved; and, if we are honest Christians, continue to detest with a deep detestation the sins that we find ourselves naturally committing every single day.  We are indeed, sin-sick Christians.

Verse 3. “For I acknowledge my transgressions. He seems to say, ‘I make a full confession of them.’  Not that this is my plea in seeking forgiveness, but it is a clear evidence that I need mercy and am utterly unable to look to any other quarter for help.”

Verse 3.“And my sin is ever before me. My sin as a whole is never out of my mind; it continually oppresses my spirit.  I lay it before Thee because it is ever before me: Lord, put it away both from Thee and me.  To an awakened conscience, pain on account of sin is not transient and occasional, but intense and permanent, and this is no sign of Divine wrath but rather a sure preface of abounding favour.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 238)

When the Lord God saves a very real sinner, through the Sacrifice of a very real Saviour - Jesus Christ – that saved sinner forever after detests sin and continually seeks to flee from it.

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth (continues to confess) and forsaketh (continues to forsake) them shall have mercy.”  (Proverbs 28:13)

“David owneth (acknowledges) his sin and confesseth it as his own.  Here is our natural wealth: what can we call our own but sin?  Our food and raiment, the necessities of life, are borrowings.  We came hungry and naked into the world; we brought none of these with us and we deserved none of them here.  Our sin came with us, as David after confesseth.  We have right of inheritance in sin, taking it by traduction and transmission from our parents: we have right of possession.  So Job: ‘Thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth.’” (Samuel Page 1646) (Job 13:26)

Show me the sinless person – and I will show you the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone!  “There is none righteous, no not one.”  (Romans 3:10) (Psalm 14:1-3)

If a professing Christian can bear to sit with blatant sinners, as they practice their natural sin, and revel in it – then I must begin to immediately doubt that person’s Christian profession.

If a professing Christian can go from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year without any real Spiritual desire to fellowship with God and other sound Christians – then I must begin to immediately doubt that person’s Salvation. 

If we really and truly and deeply love someone, then it naturally follows that we shall desire to continually be in close relationship – fellowship – with that person.  We prove to ourselves and to all others our love and commitment to Christ, when we fervently desire to be in close fellowship with Him, and with His genuine people.  We hurt, when we sin against the Christ Who has suffered and died to pay the full price of our vile sin.

Verse 4.  “Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned.  A sin of infirmity may admit apology; a sin of ignorance may find out excuse; but a sin of defiance can find no defence.”  (Sir Richard Baker, 1568-1645)

It is therefore most healthy a position to take, to deem every sin we professing Christians commit as ‘wilful sin’; because, we who are regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, and in whom the Spirit of God resides, are well aware of sin’s vileness, and well aware of the grief we cause our indwelling Lord God. 

We cannot hide our daily sins from the all-knowing Lord God.  We fully understand that the Lord God will forgive us when we repent of sin and confess it to Him seeking forgiveness.  So, why then do we seek to hide our sins from God, by denying our sins to our very selves?

“There is a godly sorrow which leads a man/woman to life; and this sorrow is wrought in a man/woman by the Spirit of God, and in the heart of the godly; that he/she mourns for sin because it has displeased God, Who is so dear and so sweet a Father to him/her.  And suppose he/she had neither a Heaven to lose, nor a Hell to gain, yet he/she is sad and sorrowful in heart because he/she has grieved God.”  (John Welch 1570-1622)

It is so strange a thought, perhaps, to think that we professing Christians should, for one moment, forget that the Lord God Jehovah created Adam sinless; yet was present when our progenitor fell from grace with his ‘help meet’ Eve, and committed the sin of disobedience in Eden’s Garden.  It is yet more strange, perhaps, to imagine that our Holy Lord God somehow doesn’t KNOW when we have sinned against Him!  Thus, we search for the fig leaves of Spiritual denial, to try pathetically, to hide our daily sins from an all-knowing Lord God.

Verse 5. “Behold (look and fully understand), I was shapen in iniquity. He is thunderstruck at the discovery of his inbred sin and proceeds to set it forth.  This was not intended to justify himself but it rather meant to complete the confession.  It is as if he said, ‘Not only have I sinned this once, but I am in my very nature a sinner.  The fountain of my life is polluted as well as its streams.  My birth-tendencies are out of the square of equity; I naturally lean to forbidden things.  Mine is a constitutional disease rendering my very person obnoxious to Thy wrath.”  

“And in sin did my mother conceive me. He goes back to the earliest moment of his being to...acknowledge the deep taproots of his sin.  It is a wicked wresting of Scripture to deny that original sin and natural depravity are here taught.  Surely men who cavil at this doctrine have need to be taught of the Holy Spirit what be the first principles of the faith.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 239)

Confession of sin, to God alone in prayer, is the Christian’s passport to a close union with the Christ of God, and the means of grace to draw close to the full joy of Christ Jesus.

Thought: Sickness of our sin is a most healthy position for any real servant of Christ.

2. Divine Detergents for Sin! Psalm 51:2

Text: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”

Psalm 51:2.

“If we say we have fellowship with Him (the Lord God), and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth (continuous verb. cleanses, and continues to cleanse us) from all sin." 

1 John 1:6-7.

          “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word.” 

Ephesians 5:25-26.

Good morning, Divinely double-washed Christian!  If you are truly and Eternally saved – then we are double-washed from your sins and mine: once for all time, by the precious Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ; and progressively ever after by a ‘...washing of the water by the Word.’  Hallelujah!  You and the author are double-washed by Divine detergents, and made fit for Heaven’s glory by the Blood and the Word.  Glory to the worthy Lamb!

John 13:10, ‘washed’ and ‘wash’: Two Divine Detergents for Our Sin.

“Jesus saith to him (Peter), He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.  (John 13:10)

Sanctification:

Definition of the term:  Sanctification is a two-fold doctrine and can be understood better in this manner:

(a)  Immediate Sanctification - consecrated, set apart for sacred use or service.        (John 10:36)

(b) Progressive Sanctification - purify afresh; make Holy. (1 Corinthians 6:11) (John 17:17)

- “Jesus saith to him, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.”

There are two different Greek words used in John 13:10 for the words we have in the King James Version Bible as “...washed...” and “...wash...”.  The first word simply means, ‘The big bath’; the second word could be understood as, ‘The tidy-up wash’.

(a) Washed:  This denotes being bathed completely spotless; sanctified; set apart for sacred service to God - and it’s a ‘...once-for-all-time...’ wash. (Hebrews 10:10)

We are cleansed from all sin by the precious Blood of Christ Jesus. (Titus 3:3-6)            (1 Peter 1:18-19)

We are passive in this act of God’s sanctification; it is done according to His free grace.  (Ezekiel 36:22-23) (Hebrews 10:3-25)  Praise God!

Sanctification:  Sanctification in this ABSOLUTE sense is performed by God in His gracious act of Salvation - we are ‘born again’ of His Spirit. (John 3:3-8) (Jonah 2:9)

Christ’s righteousness is imputed unto us by God-given faith. (John 6:37) (Acts 4:12)

This act of Sanctification has primarily to do with the believer’s STANDING before God, in Christ Jesus.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  True believers can stand like Christ, before the Father.

The believer is thus deemed PERFECT, sinless; not guilty; Holy; righteous; etc.; a son or a daughter of God; joint-heirs with Christ; beloved of the Father; with immediate access to God in prayer and acceptance before God’s Holy throne of grace - a new creature in Christ indeed!  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!  Praise His gracious Name! Amen.  (Hebrews 7:25) 

(b) Wash:  This word denotes being washed (or purified afresh) DAILY, as we walk as pilgrims through this barren land.  We are personally and individually ACTIVE in this progressive sanctification process.  (John 15:3) (Galatians 6:5)

Therefore, this sense of progressive sanctification implies the sense of having a daily tidying up; a constant cleansing exercise which must continually follow the main bath to keep the believer Spiritually clean in his/her actual STATE.  It is therefore, the believer himself who is held responsible for this sense of his/her SANCTIFICATION.         The Lord commands us as believers: “Be ye Holy for I am Holy.”  (1 Peter 1:16) (1 Peter 3:10-16)

Practical Reality of Sanctification:  In our State we are, and shall always remain, “...unprofitable servants...”. (Romans 3:10;22-23) (Romans 7:14-24)  (Luke 17:10)

Sin separates us from God’s Holy fellowship - but NOTHING can ever separate us from His Family!  (Isaiah 59:1-2) (Romans 8:28-39)

We, as born again, Spiritually regenerate believers have a STANDING in Christ.  However, if there is unconfessed sin, or consistent impurity of habits, in the believer’s life - the believer shall seldom receive real Spiritual power to serve the risen Lord Jesus.  (Hebrews 12:14) (Acts 1:8)   (Ephesians 5:18)

Holy Spiritual power to serve the Lord Almighty will only be imparted to those who are sincerely seeking to sanctify themselves to receive it!  Therefore, be Holy, “...be filled with the Spirit.”  (Ephesians 5:18)

We must strive to be:  (a) ‘...vessels of honour...’. (2 Timothy 2:15-21) (b) ‘...conformed to Christ - not the world.’. (Romans 12:1-2)

Question: How do born again believers prepare to be filled with the Spirit?

Answer:  By progressively sanctifying the vessel (i.e. our hearts) and constantly desiring to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Conclusion: Sanctification is, therefore, a two-way doctrine.  God sanctifies us once for all time in our STANDING before Him and in His Holy sight - by clothing us in Christ Jesus.  (Hebrews 12:14) (Habakkuk 1:13)

Our duty thereafter then, as Christians, is to progressively, “...grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  - as to our actual STATE daily. (2 Peter 3:18)     (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When the almost inevitable sins do come into our lives, and cause a hindrance to our fellowship, service, and worship - they must be: (a) confessed: (1 John 1:7-9) (Psalm 51:5) (b) forsaken: (Philippians 3:1-10) (c) and the vessel ‘washed’: (Ephesians 5:26) (John 15:3)

Thought: Only Divine detergents can wash and cleanse us from the vileness of our sin.