Cleanse Me - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

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Cleanse Me

Psalm 51:2

Intro: Tonight, we want to focus on the fact that God can and God will cleanse us.

God never wanted man to live in sin.

To better understand the context of this chapter, let’s turn to 2 Samuel 11.

This chapter was the result of:

A. An Adulterous Catastrophe – 2 Samuel 11

B. An Attempted Coverup – 2 Samuel 11:6-25

C. An Anointed Confrontation – 2 Samuel 12:1-12

D. An Agonizing Chastisement – 2 Samuel 12:15-23

In this chapter, David prays for God to wash him and to cleanse him.

There are two groups of people here tonight; saved and unsaved.

Those that are already a child of God may need to be cleansed of sin.

Those that are unsaved need to be cleansed of their sin, by being born again.

The sin of the believer will hinder your fellowship with God.

The sin of the unbeliever will send them to Hell.

The sin of the believer will rob them of power with God.

The sin of the unbeliever will rob them of Heaven.

The sin of the believer will keep their prayers from being answered.

The sin of the unbeliever will keep them from experiencing an eternity with God.

Either way, you may be here tonight and need God to cleanse you.

He can, and He will.

Notice the details that David shows us about being cleansed.

I. The Conception that was Painful – vs. 5

David was acutely aware of the problem that he had to deal with.

We were born with a sinful nature.

· Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

· Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

Our sin nature is our mortal enemy.

For those of us that are saved, our flesh is constantly at war with our spiritual man.

For those that are lost, your sin nature is what will send you to hell.

You can’t help it; you were born a sinner.

Because Adam sinned, we are all sinners.

· Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

God knows this better than any of us.

Psalm 78

· 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

· 38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

· 39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

The Apostle Paul explained the constant battle that a Christian faces with their flesh in Romans 7.

Romans 7

· 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

· 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

· 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

· 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

· 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

· 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

· 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

· 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

· 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

· 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

· 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

II. The Confession that was Prayerful – vs. 1-3; 7-11

David prayed a very detailed and specific prayer as he confessed his sin before God.

He referred to his sin by several different words. Let’s look at his prayer.

· 1 «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.» Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

· 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

· 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

· 4 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.

· 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

· 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

· 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

· 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

· 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

III. The Contrition that was Powerful – vs. 16, 17

· 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

· 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

The Bible is clear - God has pity on a person that has a contrite heart.

The problem is not with God’s ability to forgive.

The problem is people are not broken over their sin.

Jeremiah

We cannot begin to understand the power of a contrite heart.

He can revive the contrite.

· Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

God can save the contrite.

· Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Conclusion: David prayed repeatedly for God to cleanse him. And God did.

God can cleanse you; and He WILL cleanse you.

The prayer of confession for the believer:

1 John 1

· 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

· 7 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 us from all sin.

· 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

· 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The prayer of confession of the unbeliever:

Romans 10

· 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

· 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.