Psalm 51:10-12 * May 23, 2010 * Pentecost * Pastor Pagels
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
Did you notice anything different when you walked into church this morning? For the last seven Sundays the dominant color in the sanctuary has been white, white for Easter, white to symbolize holiness and perfection, white to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
Today the white altar cloths have been replaced with red. Red is commonly used to commemorate church festivals. Red is associated with the Holy Spirit and fire, and both play a prominent role in the events of Acts 2, the historic Pentecost account just read from the lectern.
If we look closely, there is one more place where we can find red this morning. We can see red in the tear swollen eyes of the man who wrote our sermon text for today. The heading of the psalm tells us who wrote it (David) and when he wrote it (after the prophet Nathan confronted him with his sin of adultery with Bathsheba).
In the opening verses of Psalm 51 (which is one of the seven penitential psalms) David pours out his soul to God. He cries out (quite possibly with tears): “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (3,4). Instead of ruling on a throne like a powerful king, we find David down on his hands and knees begging for mercy.
But in the very next verse, the first verse of our text, something changes. David’s tone changes. David’s attitude changes. Instead of dwelling on the sins of his past, he looks to the future. Instead of obsessing over his many failures, he asks the Lord to help him move forward. After seeking and finding divine forgiveness, he seeks divine guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Because Pentecost is the Festival of the Holy Spirit, because in Psalm 51 David mentions the Holy Spirit by name, because David’s experience was by no means unique, because we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Spirit for his sanctifying work, put all of these things together and they make this text…
THE PERFECT PENTECOST PRAYER
I. Give me a clean heart
II. Give me another chance
III. Give me a willing spirit
The first word in our text is also the first verb in the entire Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). In the beginning there was nothing, nothing except God. It took an act of divine intervention to fill that massive void. God created the earth and sea and sky and everything in them. God created everything out of nothing. God created everything using only his all-powerful Word.
Creation was God's first miracle, and thousands of years
later one of God’s creatures recognized that he needed the Creator to perform
another miracle, and so David prayed: “Create
in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (10).
Long before there were heart monitors and pacemakers, back in
the days when angiograms and angioplasty didn’t exist, David gave himself a
little cardio examination. And he didn’t
like what he saw. He saw lust and
pride. He saw deceit and hate. When David examined himself he found what God finds
inside each one of us. Listen to Jesus’
diagnosis: “Out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander”
(Matthew 15:19).
The human heart is a breeding ground for sin. So which sin on Jesus’ list was it for you this week? Did any of them get the best of you? Did you entertain a lustful thought that became more than a lustful thought? Did a hateful thought turn into a hurtful word? Or is there something else, is there another sinful desire hidden deep down just waiting for an opportunity to get out?
If you want to pray David’s Pentecost prayer you have to start by getting down on your knees next to him. You need to come to grips with your sinfulness. You need to acknowledge your helplessness. You can’t promise to do better. It's not enough to resolve to try harder. The only solution, the only cure is a radical operation that can only be performed by the Great Physician.
It’s true that modern medicine has come a long way since the first human heart transplant in 1967. Recovery times are going down. Survival rates continue to go up, but they aren’t and they never will be perfect. Even if the surgery goes perfectly, the procedure will only postpone the inevitable. Eventually every heart (including every transplanted heart) stops beating and every patient dies.
Unless the Lord comes back first, we will all die. But with the gift of a new heart, with clean hearts created by God, Christians expect to live. By the grace of God we will live even after we die. Thanks to God we will live with him forever in heaven.
But if we look around it won’t take long to figure out that we aren’t there yet. As long as we live in a sinful world life will be a struggle. There is a war (and that's not too strong of a term) going on inside of us. The sinful nature and the new man are engaged in a winner-take-all fight to the death for our souls.
And sometimes the sinful nature gets the upper hand. Sometimes Christians don’t act like Christians. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we fall. When David fell, when he was confronted with his sin, he didn’t give up. He didn’t surrender. He prayed. He prayed: “Lord, please give me another chance.”
When David prayed: “Do
not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” (11), there
is a good chance that the fate of
Saul was
David knew Saul. David knew Saul's sad story. It was the reason David was where he was. If Saul had remained faithful to God, there is a good chance that David would never have been crowned king. And when he looked at himself next to Saul, when he compared himself with Saul, the similarities were frightening.
David must have been thinking to himself: "What makes me any better than my predecessor? My sins might even be worse. I took another man's wife, and then I made a bad situation worse when I took that man’s life. I disappointed my family. I disgraced my people. And worst of all I disobeyed God. Why should God treat me any differently than he treated Saul? God, please, please don't do that! Don’t abandon me! Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me! I beg you, give me another chance."
If you keep reading this psalm, if you are familiar with what happened after this incident in David's life, you know God's answer. He told David, “You are not going to die.” It was God’s way of saying: “I forgive you. I will give you another chance because that is who I am.” The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in love, forgiving wickedness and rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6,7) . When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
In fact, he already has. God sent his Son (a descendant of David) into the world to redeem the world. Jesus forgave a woman caught in the act of adultery. He forgave tax collectors and sinners. When he was dying on the cross he even forgave his enemies. And therefore there is no doubt, you can be certain that Jesus has also forgiven you.
If you need proof, just look at what Jesus has done for you. He lived a sinless life for you. He sacrificed his life for you. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As far as our Savior is concerned, all is forgiven and forgotten.
But I don't want you to forget about the Holy Spirit's role in all of this, especially on Pentecost. Without the Spirit's work the Savior's work would have no meaning. Without the Spirit, the Bible would be just another book (no verbal inspiration). Without the Spirit Baptism would be nothing more than a ritual washing (no baptismal regeneration). Without the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote, no one can say "Jesus is Lord" (I Corinthians 12:3; no conversion). Without the Spirit’s gift of saving faith there is no hope for salvation.
Pentecost may not get as much attention as other church festivals like Christmas and Easter, but it is no less important. Today we rejoice. Today we relive the first Pentecost. We hear the sound of a rushing wind. We see the tongues of fire. We are amazed as the Holy Spirit enables ordinary men to do extraordinary things. We stand in awe as the Spirit works through the words of Peter and the waters of Baptism to bring thousands of people to into God’s kingdom of grace.
The day of Pentecost was a day of miracles, and on Pentecost Sunday we remember another miracle, the all-important miracle the Holy Spirit has worked in our hearts. Through the same means of grace (through the water and the Word) the Spirit has given us faith to believe and be saved.
Faith is a gift. It’s a precious gift, a priceless gift, but it isn't the only gift of the Spirit. The same Spirit who calls us to believe also gives us the willingness to serve. And it is that desire we pray for in our final Pentecost petition. With David we pray; “Lord, give me a willing spirit.”
“Restore to me the
joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (12).
David learned his lesson the hard way, but he learned it well. Rely on your own resourcefulness, try to fix your own problems, fool yourself into thinking that you have everything under control and you will lose everything.
David lost everything, everything that really mattered, until the Lord restored him. His sins were forgiven. His guilt was removed, and it was replaced by joy. David rejoiced in his salvation. David wanted to show his appreciation for God’s salvation, but this time he didn’t intend to make the same mistake. This time he recognized he couldn’t do it alone. He wanted to live his life for God, but he wasn’t afraid to ask for help.
There is no shame in asking for help, not in the case. God wants us to call on him. God promises that he will hear us. God promises that he will help us. And he wants us to remember that with him all things are possible.
Strengthened by the Spirit it’s possible to say “No” to Satan’s lies. Emboldened by the Spirit it’s possible to stand firm in our faith and stand up for the truth. The God who turns sinners into saints, the God who has restored the joy of our salvation, that God also works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose. We love him because he first loved us. We live for him because he lived and died for us.
Some of you probably recognized David’s prayer when I read it at the beginning of this sermon. But if you couldn’t place it, or if you couldn’t remember why it sounded familiar, it might be because when you hear these words they are usually set to music.
Whenever we use the Common Service we sing these verses (Psalm 51:10-12) right after the sermon. Even though we are using Morning Praise this morning, even though we are technically supposed to sing the “Te Deum,” I hope you don’t mind that I made a change.
On this Pentecost Sunday it only seems appropriate to sing the “Create In Me,” recognizing that our petitions are also prayers of thanksgiving. And so we pray: “Dear God, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for everything your Spirit has done for me and for all the things he still does for me. Lord, thank you for giving me a clean heart. Thank you for giving me another chance. And thank you for giving me a willing spirit.” Amen.