Lesson 232 - Junior
Memory Verse
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" ([PS:51:10]).
Notes
David's Good Reign
When Israel's greatest ruler, David, was anointed to be king of God's chosen people, the Prophet Samuel said of him that he was a man after God's own heart. David had given his life to God when he was very young, and through the years he had served God faithfully.
Through reading many of the Psalms, which David wrote, we learn that he was a man of prayer. Whenever he was in trouble he would call upon God for help. When he led the armies of Israel into battle, he would ask God's direction. His twenty third Psalm is a song of praise for God's goodness and mercy that had followed him all the days of his life.
David also studied the Law of God and made it a part of his life. He wanted to know the will of God and do it. He said, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart" [PS:40:8]).
David's Backsliding
There came a time in David's reign when he evidently became so busy fighting battles and winning victories that he neglected his worship of God. He did not study God's Law and pray as he should, and the result was that he backslid and committed a terrible sin.
God was faithful to David, just as He is to every backslider. He sent a prophet to tell David that he had sinned and was out of touch with God. The Lord did not overlook David's sin because of his past faithfulness. God would not take David to Heaven in that sinful state. No matter how good a Christian a person may have been, if he commits sin he is a backslider, and is dead as far as the family of God is concerned. His first step back to God must be to admit that he is a sinner, and be sorry for what he has done.
When the Prophet Nathan described David's sin to him, and said, "Thou art the man" [2SM:12:7]), a great burden came upon David, and he prayed to God to be forgiven. The king of Israel humbled himself and admitted that he had done wrong. He cried bitterly unto God, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." He wanted to be forgiven so that he could enjoy the fellowship with God, which he had once known. Sin had separated him from God, and he was not now a child of the Heavenly Father.
A Contrite Heart
David knew that "the LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Now he prayed, "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." God heard the prayer of repentance, and willingly forgave.
Think what would have happened to poor David if he had tried to excuse his sin, and had argued with the Prophet that what he had done was not very bad. What if he, as a proud monarch, had refused to listen to God's message from Nathan? God would have condemned him to eternal punishment. But David's prayer of re-pentance and sorrow for his sins reached the ear of God and brought forgiveness.
The Root of Sin
David was happy that God had forgiven his transgression, the wrong he had done, but he felt that he needed more of the love of God in his heart. The root of sin, the carnal nature, was still his heart.
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he brought God's condemnation upon all men. The nature of sin which came upon Adam when he disobeyed God was passed on to his children, and grandchildren, and on to this present generation. It is natural for a child to do wrong from the time he is born. God does not hold him accountable so long as he does not know better; and if a child dies before he knows the difference between right and wrong, Jesus will take him to Heaven even though he has not prayed for forgiveness. But when a person grows older and knows that he does things he should not do, he must ask Jesus to forgive him if he wants to go to Heaven. When we ask Jesus to forgive our sins, He saves us and we are born again. Our sins are washed away, forgiven and forgotten by God. But it is only the wrong things we have done that are forgiven and gone.
The nature in a person, which caused him to do wrong is still there. As long as he prays and asks God to keep him from sin, that nature cannot make him do wrong again. But it is there, and is trying to make him a sinner.
A Clean Heart
David knew that the carnal nature was still in him after his sins had been forgiven, and he wanted God to take that away, too. He prayed again, and asked of God: "Create in me a clean heart." He knew that no matter how good he might act outwardly, God could look right into his heart and see that it was not entirely clean. The offering of animal sacrifices, and the ceremonies of worship, were not enough to purify his heart. But David wanted his heart to be purified by God so that he would always be willing to do everything God wanted him to do. David wanted a nature that would agree with all God said. That heart cleansing we can entire sanctification, or holiness, and we receive it through the Blood of Jesus. "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" [HEB:13:12]).
David was not the only person who needed a pure heart. Every Christian today can have it, and must have it, for the Bible tells us, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" [HEB:12:14]).
One with God
Jesus prayed for His disciples: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. . . . that they an may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: . . . that they may be made perfect in one" ([JHN:17:17-23]).
The experience of sanctification has also been called Christian Perfection. There was a great preacher in the 18th century whom God called to proclaim this great truth. His name was John Wesley. Many people have ob-jected that it is not possible to live up to the standard he preached, although he took it directly from the Word of God. Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" [MAT:5:48]). The writer to the Hebrews prayed that they might be made "perfect in every good work to do his will" [HEB:13:21]). God would not expect us to do something that would be impossible for us to do.
Christian Perfection
What do we mean by Christian perfection? John Wesley tried to explain it as "salvation from all sin, and loving God with all the heart so as to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks." God has given us that standard in [1TS:5:16] 18 It means that we will always have a prayer in our heart, and we will be able to rejoice even though things go wrong for us. That love that fills our heart sings a song of praise unto the Lord even though things about us try to make us unhappy. "Pure love alone, reigning in the heart and life this is the whole of Christian perfection."
Jesus said that love is the fulfilling of the Law. The first commandment as He gave it was: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with an thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength"; and He added, "The second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" [MAK:12:30];[MAK:12:31]). When our heart has been purified, our motive in all we do is love.
Continued Love
We say we are sanctified. We know we prayed for sanctification and received it after we had been forgiven for our sins. We can remember the love that filled our hearts then. We would think evil of no one; we would never say things behind anyone's back that might hurt him; we acted honestly, and never tried to cover up anything we did. But is that love still there? Do you still love your neighbour as yourself, or do you do what you can do to get ahead of him? Do you consider the will of God first in everything you do?
No one can look into your heart and see if you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; but if you do, you are obeying His commands. A test of love is obedience. In I [JHN:2:5] we read: "Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected."
The Commands of God
What are the commandments God expects a sanctified person to keep? We find some of them in I Corinthians 13: "Charity [love] suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
Throughout the epistles of Paul, John, and Peter, we read more; and James said, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" [JAM:1:27]). None of God's commandments are unimportant. We may keep ourselves clean from worldly amusements and habits, but we are also commanded to be of help to the needy and to visit the sick -- not to gossip, but to give them a word of cheer and speak to them of heavenly things. Jesus said, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" [MAT:25:40]).
Growing in Grace
We do not always measure up to all God's Word the moment we are sanctified, but with that experience in our hearts we are purified so that we have the ability to measure to His Word as it is revealed to us. The Apostle Paul told Timothy, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God" [2TM:2:15]). So God expects His children to learn what His will is, and then to do it.
God's purpose in sanctifying His people is that He might present them unto Himself, "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish'' [EPH:5:26];[EPH:5:27]).
Questions
- When did David give his heart to God?
- What did God think of him when David became king?
- What did David do when he had sinned and displeased God?
- David prayed for two things. What were they?
- What does God do for us when we are saved?
- What does sanctification do to the heart?
- Name some of the things God expects of a sanctified person.
- Why does God sanctify His people?