07-13-2025 How to Clean Up Our Lives

Text: Psalm 119:9-11

                    We are drowning in a sea of dark and sinful images and attractions.  They’re found in movies, the internet, on our phones, on TV, and even on billboards.  Everywhere we look we’re bombarded with activities that dishonor God.  This leaves us wondering how we can stay pure in God in a culture that tells us sinful pleasures are a human right.

                   Our text this morning is found in Psalm 119:9-11 where the psalmist wrote:  “ (9) Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?   By taking heed thereto according to Your Word.  (10) With my whole heart have I sought You.  Oh let me not wander from Your commandments.  (11) Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” 

                   The psalmist is asking how he can be clean in the eyes of God.  He knew he couldn’t do it on his own and what he is saying will help us today as we navigate through the sinful culture we live in today.

                   We learn in verse 9 that he had a desire to clean up his act.  He had grown tired of his sin and of broken promises.  We can all identify with his desire to change our life.  Perhaps we feel pulled in the direction of the seedier things around us. Or maybe we keep confessing the same sins over and over again.  So what can we do to fix it? 

                   The psalmist revealed that the answer to cleaning up his live was listening to what he found in God’s Word.  And that is exactly what we need to do.  The blood of Christ cleans us positionally, meaning it restores us to God’s family.  Applying what is taught in the Bible will allow us to clean up our actions and show us how to live a God-centered life.  Jesus tells us in John 15:3:  “Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.”  And Paul writes in Ephesians 5:26 that God’s Word is the water that washes us clean of our sins.  The Bible provides something that will clean up everything.  No stain is too tough or too stubborn for God’s Word to remove from us.  But daily reading is vital to victory in cleansing us of our sins.

                   We learn in verse 10, we have to look for God and ask for help in cleaning up our lives.  If we come to Him with a heart that is open, honest, and ready to change, God will put us back on the path to following Him and help us to do what it takes to stay there.  We learn in Deuteronomy 6:5 that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength.  Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40 that loving God with all being is the first and greatest commandment.  When it combined with the command to love our neighbor (found in Leviticus 19:18) it will encompass all the other Old Testament laws.

                   Finally verse 11 provides the defense needed to maintain a God-fearing life in this sinful world.  This is done by hiding God’s Word in our hearts.  When we hide – or keep – it in or hearts, we are equipped to keep from sinning.  This alone should inspire us to understand, meditate on, review, and memorize Scripture.  But these practices on their own won’t keep us from sinning.  We must also put God’s Word to work in our lives, making it a vital guide for everything we do.  Each time we read the Bible we should ask God help us understand what can we do to put the Scripture into practice in our lives. 

                   The psalmist is showing us in verse 11 that he didn’t want to fall back onto Satan’s trap.  He wanted total victory, so he was going to arm himself with the sword of the Spirit.  Charles Spurgeon said:  “No cure for sin in the life is equal to the Word in the heart.  There is no hiding from sin unless we hide the truth in our souls.  When the Word is hidden in the heart, the life will be hidden from sin.” 

                   Studying your Bible isn’t just a weekly thing done in Church on Sunday.  It’s something that we must do every day of our lives.  The pull of Satan on Christians in strong.  But arming ourselves with what God shows us in the Bible is critical to remaining pure and clean in a Satan’s dirty sin-filled world.  It doesn’t take long to read a portion every day.  When you do, there is always something to learn when you keep your heart open.  If you think it’s not necessary to read your Bible, remember this:  Sin will keep you from the Bible. But the Bible will keep you from sin. 

                   Until we meet again, may God bless you and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.