"Thou Desirest Truth in the Inward Parts"

"Thou Desirest Truth in the Inward Parts"  by T. Austin-Sparks Transcript of a message given in July 1958. The spoken form has been retained verbatim. On Thursday evening last, we were occupied with Psalm 51 and the Lord gave us a very precious word, and our brother was very greatly helped. We shall not forget it. And I'm sure that he will not feel that I am trying to improve on what he said when I bring you back to that Psalm this morning for a few minutes. That is not my thought at all, but before Thursday and since, an emphasis has been in me of one part of the psalm and I feel that it is the Lord's message for us. It is in verse 6. Psalm 51 verse 6: "Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts" "Thou desirest truth. In the inward parts." I think that, in a very real sense, that is the heart of the psalm. If we were able to really recognise the meaning of those words, just exactly what they do signify, we should see that everything in this psalm, and in the wider context of this psalm in deep human experience with God, everything is centred there and it is the key to everything. We can, I am sure, say that this psalm touches the deepest depths that ever man could touch in the need of God and the mercy of God. In Psalm 1 we have the blessedness of the man who has not walked in sin, and the counsel of the ungodly, and so on. Well, his is a blessedness indeed. In Psalm 32 we have the blessedness of the man whose sin is covered, whose iniquity is pardoned, whose sin is covered; and I take it that that is the provision which is made in sacrifice in blood and priesthood for the man who sins. Well, it's a blessing to find that provision on hand, but here in this psalm, we are altogether outside of any of the ordinary provisions. Perhaps you have not recognised this: that David's sin, which was behind this psalm, was altogether outside of the provision of the law of Moses. There was no provision in that whole sacrificial system for this sin. The sin of David was the sin unto death; it was blood guiltiness, the sin unto death. The only thing that the law had to say for sinning in this way, was death. And so we are altogether outside of the provision of the law here; vast, comprehensive, and detailed as that provision was, it made no provision. God has got to make some special provision here. And we were reminded on Thursday that it is in that special provision of the sacrifice of His Son - something far bigger than any Jewish sacrifice, or altar, or priesthood, something reaching deeper down than anything than ever was known in Israel - it is in that that we find David saved from death. He knew the death of this thing. He cried, as you know here, that he might be delivered from blood-guiltiness. Well, this is the deepest point to which we can come, any man can come. There are different degrees of God's dealing with the soul. He deals with us upon one level, in a certain way, and then we go into a deeper death and He's got to deal with us in another and deeper way and still we go deeper... And He has got to make a provision and deal with us in a still deeper way. I'm not saying that it is in the ordering and will of God that we go right down to these deaths, but here is a wonderful thing: God is going to touch bottom in this matter of man's sin and man's need and His own grace - He'll touch bottom! That is, He'll go to the deepest depths. And when David says, "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts" he's going beyond the law, which was all outward; no mere formalism about this, no mere Jewish ritual in this, no mere outward observance of the rites and the ceremonies in this! No. This has got to go right into the innermost being in the inward parts, in the inward parts. And God works toward that. God is ever working toward the most inward parts. Do you recognise that? Do you understand what He's doing with us? Oh, He will meet us in blessing on a certain level as we walk before Him like the man in Psalm 1, He will meet us with His gracious provision when we transgress and trespass and fail and do wrong. He will meet us there in grace, but God is going to pursue this matter to the most inward place of our being and register there His work of grace and redemption. "Thou desirest..." and David did not come to that until he reached de profundis, the deepest place of need, of failure, of conscious weakness and worthlessness. Then he cried, "It's not enough to just please God in ordinary ways, it is not enough to observe the ritual of the law and go to the ceremonies and carry out all that which is external, God is after truth in the inward parts...," right down into the depths of our being. Why? Why? Because truth is a major feature and constituent of the Divine nature. God is called the God of Truth - the God of Truth. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, called Himself the Truth, "I am the Truth..." "For this purpose came I into the world that I might bear witness of the truth"! The Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Truth, "When He, the Spirit of Truth is come..." The Godhead - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - are characterised by this one feature: Truth! And God desires and has set His heart upon having people who are partakers of the Divine Nature. And so, He is working ever more deeply toward this end, that what is true of Himself, shall be true of His children - those begotten of Him - that they should be true sons of God in this sense.  Satan is described as the liar and the father of lies. For that reason, all untruth is an abomination to God. God has consigned all liars to the lake of fire. He has excluded from the New Jerusalem "everything that maketh a lie". God hates everything that is not true, not true... and true right through and through like Himself. He hates it, He must have, He desires truth in the inward parts. The interference of Satan with God's creation - with man - resulted in man becoming something false where God is concerned: he is a misrepresentation of God's mind; and heis a deceived creature. "The god of this age", says Paul, "hath blinded the mind of the unbelieving". Man is a deceived, blinded creature... "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts". Now you see how large a matter this is, and one is hard-pressed to know what to say, and what not to say about it. But let us dwell for a moment upon this clause: "the inward parts".