Alright please turn with me in your Bible in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. And this morning we are going to consider verses 27 through 30. Verses 27 through 30 of Matthew chapter 5.

Alright this is the word of the Lord. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body go into hell.” Now let us commit this time to the Lord in prayer.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we indeed want to thank You for every opportunity that we have to gather around Your Word. And therefore, this morning we come with heart of gratitude. We come also with humility, recognising that we are coming before God to hear Him speaking to us. And we know that we cannot understand by ourselves. And so, we pray for Your Spirit to enlighten us. We pray that You’ll grant us understanding and that You will also grant us grace to do that which You desire. For we pray and ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Now this passage of Scripture may be familiar to some of you. And maybe with the others, not so. So let us find out what this passage of the Bible is about. Now let me right from the outset say that this passage of Scripture is about sin. So, this morning we are going to talk about sin. Not a lot of people like to talk about sin. In fact, they also don’t like Christians talking to them about sin. So, sin is a taboo subject. But we must talk about sin because as Christians this is something that we ought to know about. In fact, the church should know about sin.

You know you go to the hospital, people in the hospital should know and they ought to know something about diseases. If you are sick, you go there, they should be able to tell you something about it. And so, when people come to church with spiritual sickness or sin, so we should be able to say something about this subject to them as well. And indeed, not only this passage is about sin, now let me also say that the Bible is also a book about sin. So, you cannot read your Bible and not see sin alright mentioned in your Bible. So, the Bible is a book about sin. So, the question we want to ask is: What is sin? And that is in these days an interesting question.

What is sin? Is it a sin to steal? Is it a sin to kill or is it a sin to tell lies? Maybe some of you think, no big deal. Is it a sin to cohabitate, that is to say is it wrong (is it a sin) for unmarried people to live together as husband and wife? Is it a sin to divorce your spouse? Is it a sin to abort your child in the womb? Is it a sin to marry someone of the same sex? Are these sins? Now you see, we live in an age where people are not sure anymore. Alright we actually, I’m not sure what exactly is sin. And so, I say we are now coming to the passage that talks about sin.

So, the question is: What does this passage of Scripture tells us about sin? So, there are three things we want to look at as we consider this passage about sin. Three things every Christian ought to know about sin. Firstly, every Christian ought to know something about the nature of sin, and every Christian ought to know something about the danger of sin, and every Christian ought to know about the remedy for sin. And so let us begin. First, the nature of sin. So, what is the nature of sin? Now we see in verses 27 and 28. Let me read that again. Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’”

And then He said in verse 28: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Now what is Jesus saying here? He said by saying this alright in verse 28. By saying this, He is telling us two things about sin, about the nature of sin. Number one, we see that He is saying that sin is not merely a matter of actions. In fact, that is how people perhaps can recognise a sin when we see a so-called act of sin. But Jesus is saying that sin is not merely a matter of actions, that is to say it is not merely what you do or what you don’t do.

For example, some of you may say I’ve never robbed a bank or robbed anyone. I’ve never murdered or killed. Maybe I’m never womanised. And therefore, I have no sin. Or you may say that I go to church. I give to the church. I sing hymns in the church. I’m even been baptised in the church. And so, I’m okay. Now these are the externals. These are the actions, either the dos or the don’t. Now this is the belief system or the mentality of verse 27 because Jesus begins this way in verse 27 when He says: You have heard that it was said. In other words, this is what you have been taught. This is your belief system as it were about sin.

So, I said this is the belief system of verse 27 that sin is merely a matter of your actions, matter of what you do or don’t do. And you see the people who are of this view as it were or this mentality or who hold to this view, they are always very careful about their external conducts because to them, it’s all about your external conduct, what you do or what you don’t do. Your actions. And Jesus condemns this view and says this is a false view of sin. And you see when Jesus was on earth, He speaks to this subject often. He condemns this view for example in Matthew 23.

Matthew 23, and listen to what He said to the Pharisees where this mentality alright, this view or this belief system about holiness or sin. Matthew 23:25, and Jesus said to them: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate”. Now that is what people who hold to this view, this is what they do. They clean the outside. And that is what Jesus says here. You clean the outside of the cup and the plate. But what about the inside? He said: “but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence”.

You see, people who hold to this view, they don’t care about the inside whether there is greed, whether there is lust, whether there is this self-indulgent. That is not what they care about. They only care about the external, the external conduct. And Jesus calls them hypocrites. And in verse 27, He repeats: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He says for you are like what? White washed tombs. Now those of us who are familiar with tombstones, you go to the graveyard and you see the people go there every year and they clean up the tombs and they paint it.

And Jesus is saying that you are like these tombstones, whitewash outside but inside, He says which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. You see, Jesus uses this picture to help us see the problem with this kind of a mentality, this kind of a false belief to think that holiness is all about the external, about what we do or don’t do. And Jesus says you are like the tombs, whitewash outside but inside, dead man’s bones.

Now that is the first thing, we see about people who think like that, who think that holiness or sin is merely a matter of the external conduct. But also, you see, people who hold to this belief system, now it will also lead to self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. Now we see Jesus pointing that out also now in the gospel of Luke in chapter 18. He said people who hold to this belief system, now they are always like this. Luke 18:11-12.

And so, Jesus tells of a Pharisee who prayed in such a manner in verse 11: “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men”. Why? Because I am not like them who are extortionists, not like them who are unjust and adulterous. They have affairs. No, I don’t have any affairs. Or even like this tax collector or that sinner you know, that criminal as it were. I’m not like that kind of people. But what am I like?

Verse 12, you see “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’” Now you see, people with this belief system now will result in this kind of self-righteousness. They will measure people that way and they will think that they are okay because they are not like all these rapists, all these terrorists, all these other people, these wicked people in the world. I’m not like them, that I’m a very religious person. I go to church, I read my Bible.

Now it also leads to a formal religion alright. You see, that is the problem with this belief system as it were of verse 27 that these people would be very careful about externals only and that it will lead them to have this sense of self-righteousness, but it will also lead to a formal religion. Former religion means your spiritual life, your Christian life, your religion is just a formality. Formality means just outward. It’s just a show. That’s what it means.

Now we see Jesus saying that alright, pointing that out that if you have this false idea of what holiness or sin is, then it will lead to this idea that your Christian life or your spiritual life or whatever your religious life is all about doings. And that’s why in the following chapter, Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, now Jesus points this out as He continues in His sermon.

And He said to them in Matthew 6:2- “(Therefore or) thus, when you give to the needy (when you do charity as it were, when you do charity work), sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.” You see, Jesus says they don’t do these things. There are people who think that you know, their Christian lives, they spiritual lives, all their externals and their actions.

Now at least to this formal religion whatever they do is all to get a kind of a reputation to be seen, to be praised by people. And people will say oh, this is a good Christian man, a good Christian woman. And then in verse 5 He says: “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.” In other words, Jesus is saying that these people, why do they do what they do? Why do they go to church? Why do they attend prayer meetings?

So that people may see that they are very religious people, that they are men and women of prayer. That is what they want to be known as, and that’s why they do what they do. Or in verse 16: “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.” It’s always the same. It’s always to be seen by others. So, their whole Christian life, their whole religious life is so that people may see them doing it. So, to them, their holiness is all about externals.

Now you see, Jesus counters this. That’s what verse 27 is about. That’s what Jesus is saying to these people. Now this is what “you have heard that it was said, Thou shall not commit adultery.’” Do not commit adultery. It’s all about the externals. So, Jesus counters this defective as it were view in verse 28 when Jesus says: “But I say to you”. When He says but I say to you, He is countering that false view of sin. The sin, Jesus says, is not merely, is not simply about your external action. That’s what verse 28 is saying.

So, verse 28, Jesus says: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery”. So, you do not have to have an outward, external action. If it is in your heart, you have already committed the sin of adultery. So that is the first thing that sin is not merely a matter of action. That’s the nature of sin. It’s not merely a matter of action. But rather secondly, Jesus is saying that sin is fundamentally an issue of the heart. It’s fundamentally an issue of the heart. Yes, it may lead to actions, but it begins in the heart. The two things cannot be separated. It begins in the heart.

In other words, the actions or the acts of sins, they are but symptoms or the manifestation of the condition of the heart. What is the condition of your heart? Because we like to think that our heart is good. We say that basically people have a good heart. That is the view of the world. That’s what people are telling us that we are all basically good. We obviously have a good heart until you’re conned by good-hearted people, then you say ah, I cannot. I never realise alright, never believe that such a kind man can be so wicked because you cannot see the heart.

What the Bible says is this that every man and woman, every boy and girl in this world, we are not basically good people. We are basically bad people. The world will not tell us that. That is what we must know about sin that we are basically bad people because we all have a bad heart. Every single one of us. Yes, me included and you included. And that is what the Bible says, and that’s what Jesus is teaching here. And all the evil actions, all the things that we see people doing, those are the outflow of the wicked heart that is inside that you cannot see.

Jesus points out in the gospel of Mark in chapter 7. Listen to what Jesus says here. Mark 7:20. And Jesus said, verse 20: “And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. (Verse 21) For from within, out of the heart of man, come (what?) evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” All these evil things come from within and they defile a man.

So, do not simply just blame the environment. Do not blame your friend for your evil or your parents. Jesus says fundamentally all this evil comes from within the heart, come from inside. And so, the fact that you have not physically committed adultery doesn’t mean that you have not committed adultery. That is what verse 28 is talking about. The fact that you have not done it physically, no one has caught you doesn’t mean that you are not an adulterer.

You see, that is the deceptiveness of the heart. The deceptiveness of the heart. We’re wicked. People cannot see from the outside. And so, I want to ask you: What is your heart like? Is it pure? Is it clean? Is it without any impurity? Can you just you know put a hand in your heart and say that you know what, I’m basically a good person? I’m basically a good person. Never thought of and never imagined any sin.

You see, Martin Lloyd-Jones in his comment on this, he said this. There are many highly respectable men and women who would never dream of committing an act of adultery. Perhaps you know many of these clean cut, clean looking men and women civil people. But look at the way, he says in which they are enjoying this sin in their mind and in their imagination. Now you see, that is what Jesus is saying in verse 28 that sin is fundamentally an issue of the heart. It comes from within. That is the nature of sin. It’s not just external action but it flows from our wicked heart.

Secondly, what do we need or ought to know about sin? We also ought to know about the danger of sin. It will not do to say now I understand. Now I know that sin is fundamentally the matter of the heart, issues from the heart. And the problem is that we all, every single one of us have a wicked, unimaginable wickedness, very deceptive heart. Now we know that, we say. But it is not enough to know the nature of sin but we must also know the danger of sin.

And so, after clarifying about the nature of sin, Jesus goes on to underscore the danger. And that is what we must tell people not only to explain to them what sin is all about but to tell them the problem, the danger of sin. And that’s what we see Jesus doing in verses 29 and 30. You see, verses 29 and 30 is not like have nothing to do with verses 27 and 28 and it’s as if Jesus talks about something else. No, it is vitally connected. It flows. In other words, Jesus after clarifying that He says let Me tell you something about sin. He said let Me tell you about the danger.

And so, in verse 29 He says: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better for you to lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” And to underscore that, He actually repeats alright- He repeats Himself in verse 30 and said: “if your right hand”. So first He talks about your eye, now He talks about another member of your body. “If your right hand (He says) causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”

Just pause and see what is Jesus trying to emphasise here, see what He’s trying to emphasise. But first, see what He means. Now a lot of people come to these two verses, and they have great difficulties trying to understand what Jesus is saying here. Really? Is Jesus being literal, that He literally means that if you lust you know, your eyes lust after a woman or you know your internet, you see pornography then you should pluck out or tear out your eye? Literally? Or is Jesus speaking metaphorically? So, is it being literal or metaphorical?

Now we understand that Jesus is just using a picture. He’s using a metaphor to help us understand something or to underscore something. Now here what Jesus is doing is that He is using the strongest of terms. He’s using the strongest of terms to say that sin is so dangerous that we must deal with it in a most radical or drastic way. That is what He’s trying to say. And so, He is saying to the people who were listening to Him. Can you not see the great danger of sinning?

First, He points out that we all have wicked heart and all our sinful actions is a reflection of the wickedness inside. And so, it is not difficult to see when the Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that every one of us have this problem. But what is the danger? Is it of no consequence that nothing will happen to us? Jesus says listen. The danger- the danger is so great that you have to do everything necessary.

That is what this picture here is about in verses 29 and 30. And that is what Jesus is trying to say. He is using, I said the strongest of terms to drive home the point. Deal with it. Do everything necessary. And so, Jesus in a sense is using a picture of a surgery of cutting off. Well, you know any like as you like when you say suka suka you go to hospital, I want surgery. You won’t do that unless it is really necessary. Unless something is life threatening, then you say yes, I have to do it because surgery is a radical procedure. You don’t just do it unless you see the need for it.

And the question is: Do you see the need to do something drastic about sin in your life? That is what Jesus is saying here. Or you see the picture of amputation. Sometimes you see some people’s leg may be trapped in a machine or somewhere and the only way to save the person’s life is to cut off the leg, ampute it so that the body may be saved. These are radical actions, cutting off. Cutting off.

I think we can understand something of this because we have seen some radical, drastic measure taken in the past two years when the whole world was under lockdown. Now that is drastic. Nobody can get out of the house. And the reason is because the health ministry or the Ministry of Health people, they understand or they see the danger of Covid when initially, we see this virus killing a lot of people. And they say that we must do something radical, never done before. Closing down the whole world, closing down the economy, closing down the schools.

Drastic measure, and that is what Jesus is saying here. How many of us think of doing things like that when we deal with sin in our life? But we should. We should. And that is our message to the world. That’s what we are going to tell people. We’re going to tell you about the biblical understanding of sin, and we are also going to tell you about this great danger of sin because that is the only way to save your soul. That’s the only way to save your soul.

You know that we never deal seriously with anything that we don’t see as important or dangerous alright. We don’t do anything serious about things that we don’t see as dangerous. For example, this morning I got a little mosquito bite. My wife told me there’s a mosquito on your hand. I just pa, it’s finished. It’s over. I don’t pa, uh let’s go hospital, surgery. No. Why? Because I don’t see it as a big matter.

And that is what Jesus is saying. That’s the problem with people. And that is what He tries to impress upon the people here and to us all here. Can you not see how dangerous is sin in your life that you don’t take it lightly, that you have to do everything necessary to deal with that? Then you might ask: What really is the danger of sin? How do you impress upon people that sin is very, very dangerous? How do you impress upon people?

You see, the problem with our world today is we play down sin. We say it is the woman’s choice. We say it is a different or alternative lifestyle. We say, now we give all kinds of terminology and we try to play down sin and make it a matter of you know, kind of irrelevant. No big deal. It’s okay you know, it’s okay. We talk of sin this way today. People go for divorce.

There have been some Christians who asked me before this question. And she said my neighbour asked me to send her to the hospital for abortion. So, what should I do? And I asked her, so what do you think you should do? She said I’m not doing the abortion; I think it’s okay. You think it is okay? It’s like someone who wants to rob the bank and say can you take me to the bank to rob? Ah, I’m not robbing, he’s robbing. It’s okay?

You see, we are so okay with sin because we do not see the danger of sin. So, the question again is: How do you impress upon people the danger of sin? This is how Jesus impressed upon them. Now remember this is part of the Sermon at the Mount where Jesus said alright earlier on in verse 21. Now verse 21, what’s with the danger of sin? Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders shall be liable to judgement”.

You know what that means? He said this is what you have heard. If you murdered somebody, you are caught by the police, then you will be sent to the jail. Judgement. You’ll be convicted of that sin, you pay the penalty. And Jesus said that is what you think is the consequence of sin. And Jesus said let Me tell you. Now let Me tell you what really is the consequence of sin. Verse 22: “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement; yes but whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable” to what? The hell of fire.

And that is what Jesus says. You see, a lot of people think that if we do something wrong; these are the consequences. For example, if you smoke, you will have lung cancer. If you live you know or engage in homosexual activity you might contract AIDS. And today you’ll get monkeypox. You know what? I was listening to one health official was giving some kind of advice to the people about monkeypox. He says that it is true alright, it’s confirmed that this monkeypox cases came out of Nigeria in two houses of these people who are engaged in homosexual activities. And then it spread.

And then ninety-five percent of the cases today happen among those in the gay community, people who have sexual activity, male with male. And then you know what is his advice? He said we should now tell people to stop the activity for a while until the virus is gone. You know what is the worst advice to those people who contract all these sexual diseases like AIDS and so on? He said safe sex. That is the advice. What is the consequence of people who are engaged in affairs in their life?

You see, one of the deterrents for some people perhaps to not engage in some of this activity or have an affair is so that their good family is not destroyed or their reputation is not destroyed. Consequences. And Jesus said that is what you think. That is what you think are the consequences or the danger of doing wrong. But let me tell you what is the real danger of doing wrong. He says in verses 29 and 30. He said: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the members of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

That is what Jesus said. And then He repeats that in verse 30: “Therefore it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.” I’m just reading from the Bible okay. Some people get scared. People talk about going to hell these days. It’s not just in this passage alone. You see how many times Jesus repeats that. Why? Is it because He is unkind? Is it because He’s a cruel man? Is it because He has no sympathy with people?

No, exactly because He is kind, exactly because He loves, exactly because He has sympathy. He cares, that’s why He felt the need to tell them the truth. It is not kind to hide the truth from people, to never tell them about their sin, and to never tell them about the danger of sinning against God. That is not kindness. And they say Jesus speaks or taught more about hell than heaven in the New Testament. And therefore, He can be considered as a hellfire preacher. And yet, He is the kindest man on earth. He is the kindest man on earth. The danger of sin alright- the danger of sin, and that is what Jesus is warning here.

And that leads us to the third alright and the final thing we ought to know about sin. We cannot just end here alright and say oh okay, it’s finished. That’s all we need to know about sin, the nature and the danger. Finally, we also ought to know about the remedy. Is there a solution? Is there hope for us, all of us because we are all sinners? Is there hope? Is there a remedy? Is there a solution to this great problem of ours? Thankfully, yes. Yes.

Now let me first tell you what the solution is not. The solution is not religion. That is what we have in the world that we have man-made religion to try to solve this problem of evil in society. And so, people think that religion is good because it helps us. Really? How many humanity religions we have in this world? And have they solved our problem of sin? Yes, they will tell us the religion people think are good because with all religions teaches us to do good.

But teaching us to do good is no good. It’s no good to us because you don’t understand the nature of sin. You don’t understand the condition of the human heart. We just cannot do it. You can tell us, and so in the school, half of the student alright or some of the students will be sent to religious class. Now what do we do with the other half? Moral education. So that is the human solution. You either go for religious class or you go for moral education. That is the worst solution. That is all that they can think of to solve our problem of sin. And for these thousands of years, we know that they have not solved one bit. They have not solved one bit of problem of sin.

So, what then is the solution? Now turn with me to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, now here is a man who understand this problem of sin. Here’s the man who also understand the remedy for sin. This man is David. He understands alright the nature of his sin. And he said that “behold (Verse 5, Psalm 51), I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

That is my problem, the nature of sin that I was conceived in sin and I was brought forth. I was born in sin. And he’s speaking for all of us. Every one of us, that is our dilemma. That is our problem. We have a big problem of sin. And not only that, he saw also. He understood also the danger of sin because he understands as he says in verse 4: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgement.”

That when God judges, when God sends us to hell, He is only doing what is just and right. And David understands that. Why? Because all our sin is not merely sinning against our fellow human being. Although he sinned against Bathsheba, although he did wrong to a fellow human, but he understands that all our acts of sin are sin against the holy God. And it is to Him that we have to give an account, for we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ, the Bible tells us. No one can escape. None of us here.

Think about that. None of us here is going to escape that judgement. We will face God. We will have to give an account to Him of every action, every thought, every motive. Everything that is inside, to him, David says because I was conceived in sin and brought forth in sin. My life is a life of sin. All of us, our life is a life of a sin, a life of a rebel against the holy God who created us. And so, David understands the nature of sin, and he understands the danger of sin because it’s God whom he has offended.

Then he also understands the remedy for sin, and this is the remedy. He says in verse 1: “Have mercy on me, O God”. That is what every one of us should do. It is God whom we have offended, and it is to Him we should cry out for mercy. Have you ever cried out to God at any point in your life, realising the danger that you are in, crying out to him like David does here: Have mercy on me? And then he asked God to do two things as he cries out for mercy, and that is what we should also, asking God to do two things.

Number one, we see in verse 7. He says: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean”. I am dirty. I am filthy. I am full of sin, and I want to be cleansed. That is the first thing, our sin must be cleansed, must be forgiven. If there were to be any hope for us, our sin must be forgiven, must be cleansed. And so that is the first thing David asked God to do. But how can that happen? How can God clean you or cleanse you from your sins? David uses again a picture-word here in verse 7. He says: “Purge me with hyssop”. You see, hyssop is a brush made of plant.

Now it was used in the Old Testament firstly in Exodus when God asked them to sprinkle blood on the doorpost. And so, they took the hyssop and then dipped in the blood and sprinkled on the doorpost. But what is the meaning of that? What is the significance of that? The meaning of that is that only the blood that is sprinkled with hyssop on the doorpost can save them from the angel of death. God is coming to kill the people for their sin, and only the blood sprinkled on their doorposts.

And David thinks of that. He said that is how I may be redeemed or saved or protected. Now he’s thinking of the blood of the animal sacrifices. And we know that this points to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God, slain for us that if you were to be cleansed from your sin, you need to come to Jesus. You need to come to Jesus. Only His blood can cover you and protect you from the judgement of God. Without that, you are doomed, finished. You are finished, and God comes.

That’s the first thing he asked God to do. He wants to be cleansed because he wants to be clean and that can only happen through the sacrificial blood of the Lamb. The second thing that David asked God to do is that not only he wants to be cleansed but he also wants a clean heart. Verse 10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Because then we understand the nature of his problem. It’s the heart. It’s not simply you being cleansed, being forgiven.

But what about the heart? Is it being dealt with? See, we all have a wicked heart, a heart of stone, the Bible says. A heart that is so hard, that is so resistant. So resistant. Look at the people of the world today. They are so resistant. They are so resistant to the Word of God. People can hear the preaching of the Word day after day, week after week, and they are still not moved. David knows that. That’s the nature of our human condition, our human heart.

And so, he says create in me. And the word ‘create’ is the same word used in Genesis chapter 1 when God created the world out of nothing. In other words, David is saying that what I need is not simply to have my heart reformed you know, our heart being repaired. He understands. Now sometimes we have a television set you know, no television set or computer set that’s beyond repair. The only thing fit is to throw and get a new one. And that’s what David is saying here. Create a need a clean heart, a new heart.

And that is what we all need. And that comes about by the work of the Holy Spirit. We need to cry out to God to do the same with us. In other words, that is what Jesus said to Nicodemus. What you need is to be born anew, to be born again, to be born from above, to be born of the Spirit. The Spirit must do that work in your heart and give you a heart of flesh and remove that heart of stone. That, the Bible says, is the remedy for our sin. That’s what every Christian ought to know about sin- the nature of sin, the danger of sin, and the remedy for sin. Let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, indeed we thank You every time we come to Your Word. We thank You for the blessing of having Your truth in our hands. We thank You for the Spirit who grant us understanding. And Lord this morning we pray that You’ll help us see the problem that we all have that indeed like David we were brought forth in iniquity and indeed in sin did our mothers conceive us. Lord, we also want to thank You that You have given to us that remedy, the solution. The solution is indeed, to be born again and born from above and that we have our sin forgiven because of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.