Create in me a Clean Heart

Bible Text: Psalm 51 | Preacher: Pastor Mark Verbruggen | Series: The Liturgy of the Psalms | In the words of the psalms we hear the liturgy of the Church. Within the 150 psalms we hear
calls to Worship, Confession, and Prayer; listening and giving. We hear words of Lament and
Joy; fragility and confidence; words of Sending and Blessing.
Typically, in our Sunday worship service we move from the “Call to Worship” into a time of
“Confession and Assurance” where we hear again of God’s grace. Last week we heard the
words of Psalm 95 which are a call to worship. Today we hear Psalm 51 which is a call to
confession and an assurance of pardon. There’s a reason for why we design our worship
services the way we do. Worship that is God-centered and based on the Bible will know that we
enter God’s presence by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. To be called to
worship is, first of all, God coming to us. God comes to us because he wants to have a real and
loving relationship with us. For this to happen, we need God’s grace. In worship we are
reminded that we are not the center of the universe and we should never be arrogant or
presumptuous in coming to God. We come to God on God’s terms and God has given us his love
and grace in Jesus Christ.