​Create in me a clean heart - Pastor David Tsai

Psalm 51
The context for this Psalm is the affair that King David had with Bathsheba, which ended up with a murder to cover it up. God’s prophet, Nathan, confronts David about his sins and David realizes the horror of his crimes (2 Samuel 12:13).
In this psalm, he cries out to God to have mercy on him because he knows God’s love never fails to show compassion. David wants his sins blotted out, washed away, and cleansed (vv. 1-2). David sees his sins as crimes against God alone. He does not dismiss the harm he caused against humanity and the God of the universe, so brings their case to the highest court he can (v. 4). Only God can forgive his sins and blot them out of his record.
David confesses that he has been corrupt since conception. He knows that God desires purity at his very core, and he is keenly aware that he is unclean. But David also knows God will provide what he lacks (vv. 5-6). As a sin-rotted creature, David needs God to do what only He can do: make him into a new creation. Only God can create a pure heart, so David asks God to “un-sin” him and make him as clean as a man who had never sinned (v. 10).
Moreover, David wants to worship God freely with a cleansed conscience. He prays that his crushed bones will dance again (v. 8). He longs to sing to God and tell other sinners like himself of God’s compassionate dealings with him (vv. 12-13, 15). David begs God not to depart from him (v. 11). David knows that offering an animal won’t cleanse his conscience. He can only offer his broken heart, but he knows God accepts simple remorse as a worthy sacrifice (v. 16-17).
Like David, we’ve scandalized the Creator of the universe. Like David, we are sinners down to the core, and we need to be made into new creations but are unable to do so. The Good News is that what is lacking in us, God provides in Jesus.
We need mercy, a pure heart, and a clean conscience. So, in mercy, Jesus goes to a cross. Jesus becomes our sin, but in His death, He  blots out our sins out of God’s records. In Jesus’ death we’re given a pure heart. But in Jesus’ resurrection, we’re given a new life where we were once rotten to the core! And Jesus is the sacrifice that pleased God and made it possible for sinners like us to approach God with nothing but a broken heart (Hebrews 10:10). Jesus gives us everything David prays to God for. Jesus cleans our conscience and accepts us completely. Jesus blots out our crimes against God. Jesus’ mercy “un-sins” our rotten core. Jesus’ sacrifice cleans our conscience.
So like David, cry out to God for mercy. In order to receive forgiveness and a clean heart, confession is needed. We need to, in confession (homologeo = agreeing with God about our sin), honestly bring your sins and treason to the highest court of heaven to receive the forgiveness we have in Jesus.