Clean Hands and a Pure Heart
Psalm 24:3-4 says: Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. My question for you tonight is do you have clean hands and a pure heart?
Who shall stand in the holy place of the Lord? The person with clean hands a pure heart. Does this describe you tonight? Do you have clean hands and a pure heart? If you say yes, what are you basing this on? What standard are you comparing yourself too? Are you as good as the next person? Let’s say you are. Let’s say that you are absolutely as good as anybody else out here tonight. Does that make you good enough to go to Heaven? Does that make you good enough for God to let you in to Heaven?
Is your standard high enough? Is being as good as everyone else, all that it takes to please Almighty God? Does being as good as everyone else mean that you have clean hands and a pure heart? If you think so, I hate to burst your bubble, but your hands are not clean and your heart is not pure.
Clean Hands
Do you have dirty hands tonight? Are your hands quick to shed blood? Have you had an abortion? Have you forced a woman to have an abortion? The shedding of innocent blood is an abomination to God. Maybe you are out here tonight and you say that you have never killed anyone, not even a baby in the womb; does that mean that you have clean hands? No. The Bible says that if you are angry without cause, you have committed murder in your heart. If you hate someone it’s the same thing as murder.
You may have sinned with dirty hands in other ways too. Have you committed fornication? Have you ever had sexual relations outside of biblical marriage between a man and a woman? Have you ever looked at pornography? Have you ever lusted? Have you ever neglected to help someone in need? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever coveted something that belonged to someone else? Have you ever worshiped a false idol? An idol can be anything that you put above God. None of us have had clean hands our whole lives.
So how serious is this? Very serious! Jesus said in Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Now that’s serious! Jesus says that you are better off going to Heaven with one hand than to have two hands to be cast into hell, where the fire is never quenched. You can’t get any more serious than that.
James 4:1-8 says From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Draw near to God. Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double minded. Oh, does this describe you tonight? Are you an adulterer or an adulteress tonight? Are you prideful? Are you lustful? Do you lust and covet after the things of the world? Are you looking for worldly pleasures tonight? Are you looking for drugs or alcohol? What did you come downtown to find tonight? What sin are you looking at fulfilling tonight?
Pure Heart
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Not only do we all have dirty hands, we also have dirty hearts. None of our hearts are pure. We have all gone away from God. We have gone our own way. We have all rebelled against God. We have all idolized ourselves at one time or another. None of us have put God first in our lives, every day of our lives. None of us are good, no not one.
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (Proverbs 20:9). And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man (Mark 7:20-23).
Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Matthew 12:33-37).
Don’t die in your sins and be condemned forever. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead (Ecclesiastes 9:3). Do not foolishly die in your sins as an unrepentant sinner.
Cry Out For Mercy
Cry out to God for mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 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.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:1-10).
How does God cleanse us? How does He make us whiter than snow? How does He forgive our sins and transgressions against Him? How does He blot out our iniquities? How does He renew a right spirit within us? There’s only one way that God can clean a dirty rotten sinner such as myself. There’s only one way that God can cleanse a sinner like you. That one way is Jesus Christ. Jesus alone saves.
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 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. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:5-9).
Submit To Jesus
Jesus is the only Savior. Confess and forsake your sins. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus. Put your trust in Him. Put your faith in Him. Trust that His suffering and dying on the cross paid your sin debt. When you trust Jesus for your salvation, you no longer trust in yourself. You no longer make yourself little g god of your life. You no longer trust in good works .You trust in Christ alone. You come out of the darkness and into the light. Jesus is the Light of the world. Repent and surrender your life to Him. Submit to His Lordship, fully and completely.
Won’t you do this today? Won’t you stop rebelling against God? Won’t you forsake your sins and humbly come to Jesus? Won’t you give up the pleasures of the flesh for the One who suffered, bled and died for your sins? Won’t you give your life fully to the One who gave His life for you? Won’t you come to Jesus tonight and be saved? Your hands are dirty. Your heart is wicked. There is no hope in the path that you are on. The worldly path that you are on only leads to destruction.
But your hands can be cleansed. Your heart can be cleansed. God can take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. You can be saved. Jesus said: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14).
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Come to Jesus. He is the only way to be cleansed. You can have clean hands and a pure heart. But you can only have these through Jesus Christ alone. Aren’t you tired of the same old life? Aren’t you tired of making the same old mistakes? Aren’t you tired of headaches, hangovers and false promises? Satan is the great deceiver. You won’t find long lasting happiness in your sinful lifestyle. You won’t find joy in your sins.
But you can receive joy unspeakable and full of glory. You can receive everlasting life tonight. Repent and believe the Gospel. Trust Jesus. Come to Jesus. Call upon the name of the Lord tonight and be saved. Don’t put this off. Come, just as you are. Come to Jesus. Confess and forsake your sins. Put your trust in the Lord of lords. Surrender your life to Jesus. Do this and be saved. Be saved from a lifetime of misery. Be saved from a lifetime of broken promises. Be saved from eternal damnation. Call upon the name of Jesus tonight and be saved and receive eternal life.
(This message was proclaimed in downtown Springfield, MO on April 8, 2016)