Create in me a clean heart, O God
‘Create in me a clean heart, 0 God/ — Ver. 10a.
Tisr a preceding verse David had prayed: ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.’ There we said that a man becomes clean when he is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and is thus purged, acquitted from his sin. In this verse David again prays to be made clean; but the cleanness is to come in another fashion. He prays that the Lord may create within him a clean heart, that is, make a new heart for him that is clean by His divine power. He feels that there are two ways in which the unclean can become clean before God. The one is when he is washed and cleansed from his guilt in the blood of Jesus, judicially acquitted. The other, when he is renewed and inwardly changed, and receives a new and clean heart in place of the old and unclean. Reader, if you would understand the way of salvation, the work of grace, and the prayer for grace aright, see to it that you have clear thoughts about this twofold purity,
HATE MERCY UPON ME.
The first is the portion of the soul when it becomes acquitted in virtue of the blood of Jesus. By the acquittal and forgiveness of God, whereby God casts sin behind His back, a man is entirely freed from the guilt that is resting upon him, and thus he is judicially clean; that is to say, I have fulfilled the demands of the law; I have paid my guilt, either by myself or by another as surety. In that case the law has naturally nothing more to demand from me. I stand in its eye guiltless and clean. The law always inquires only about what I have done and what I have been, not as to what I still am or as to what I am yet to do. And thus it may be that a judge ou earth may acquit or pronounce clean without implying that the heart of the acquitted man is clean, or that he is beyond the possibility of again committing the very same sin. In like manner, the sinner is acquitted and pronounced clean from all the sins which he has committed, without its thereby being implied that his heart is pure from the seeds of future sins. Yea: even though God knows that the heart is inwardly impure so far as sinful disposition is concerned, the sinner is pronounced clean by the law as soon as all the demands of the law are fulfilled. The demands of the law have been fulfilled by the precious Saviour, by His obedience and His suffering, and therefore it is that the appropriation of Jesus has for its consequence the blessing of being pronounced clean in His blood. This, then, is the purity of which David has spoken in the first half of the Psalm, the complete forgiveness of sins, the being made 6 whiter than snow.’
But this purity is not all that he needs. There is a second cleanness, the fruit and the consequence of the first. An earthly judge may acquit a man or pronounce him clean although his heart still continues to cleave to his sins, and he may go from the bench to commit them again. But God does not do this. He acquits the sinner, and pronounces him clean simply and only for Jesus’ sake, not taking into consideration the inward condition of his heart. He does not, however, leave him thus. As soon as He acquits him, He begins also the work of inward purification. The very same grace which teaches him to pray for the first purity, the judicial cleansing from the acquittal of the law, teaches him also to desire the second purity, the inward cleansing that comes through the renewing of the Spirit; and therefore it is that David after he had entreated: 6 Purge me, and I shall be clean,’ 6 “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow,’ prays here again: ‘Create in me (inwardly also) a clean heart, O God.’ The one is as indispensable as the other, or rather the two are one. They are but two different ways by which the purity of Jesus comes to man. As soon as a man believes, the righteousness of Christ is wholly reckoned to him, and at once he is on the ground of it welcome to God as one that is clean; the inward communication of the purity of Jesus to the soul takes place by degrees.
These two are one; but they ought not on this account to be mixed up together. And this confusion takes place too frequently, to the unspeakable loss of poor souls. The one cleanness is a root, the other is a fruit. The one goes first, the other follows after. Observe this particularly. David has first prayed for the one (vers. 8, 9), thereafter he asks for the other. And, pray, never forget, anxious soul, that the first, the cleansing of the blood of Christ, is bestowed before you can inwardly receive the second, and that only he who receives and accepts the first shall have the power to obtain the second.
Reader, let it be your prayer: ‘Have mercy upon me, O God; blot out my transgressions; create in me a clean heart.’
We understand now the place which this prayer occupies in this Psalm. It has prepared us to feel its meaning and its power all the better. May God teach us to offer up this prayer with deep earnestness and with our whole heart.
The desire of the true suppliant must, above all things, go forth towards inward purity David is not content with praying simply for the forgiveness of his transgressions. No: he had felt that his whole nature was inwardly corrupt. He desires also to be inwardly purified. He will not be content simply with acquittal from merited punishment. With this, alas! many are quite content. No: he desires to be free also from the power and indwelling of sin. He desires to be holy, and to commit sin no more. He feels that only according to the measure of his holiness can he enjoy God; for, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’ But, thou who art seeking for salvation, let nothing less than this be your desire.
This clean heart must also be your expectation. God the Creator is also God the Renewer. He can do this. As the work of the first creation was not completed at once, but step by step, so also will it be with the renewal. The holy God can perform this work. He can make the unclean heart clean. It is not too wonderful for Him. This is what grace will do for you. Let your sure expectation reach out to this blessing. When you pray for forgiveness, let it only be as a step to the way to become holy. God is pure, God is holy, and no prayer will be more welcome to Him than that He should make you holy also. -4 Create in me a clean heart, O God.’