Psalm 51, we'll be reading verses 16 and 17.
For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise
I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise. What is the one thing that
a broken sinner can give to God? What is the
one thing that a broken, conscience stricken
sinner can give to a holy and a sovereign God
that he will always accept? that he will always
be pleased to receive. David helps us answer
this question today. David tells us the sacrifice
that he will offer to God. We're going to look
at four things in this text. The sacrifice David
will give to God. Then we'll consider this sacrifice
in relation to repentance. Thirdly, in relation
to faith. And lastly, in relation to restoration
and the forgiveness of sins. Beginning with the
sacrifice that David will offer to God. He begins
and he clarifies for us, first of all, what he
will not offer to God. We read in verse 16, For
you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I
would give it. You are not pleased with burnt
offering. What is it that David will not give
to God? What is it that David cannot? Give to
God. It's sacrifices and burnt offerings. These
two words, it's talking about sacrifices for
sin that was instituted because of the Mosaic
law, but also thank offerings. David is saying
that he won't give these to God because God doesn't
in himself delight or take pleasure in these
things. Now, there's a few reasons that David
won't. Give these to God and he will not be giving
these to God. He knows that God won't receive
them. He knows that God won't accept that as
satisfactory. David knows that sacrifice in and
of itself has no intrinsic value or worth that
makes the worshiper acceptable with God. If an
Israelite were to give a sacrificial offering,
and they were to bring it to the priest, and
they were to go through the ceremonies, but their
heart was unrepentant? But their heart was cold,
and their heart was cold, and their heart was
dull, and their heart was distant and removed
from God? What good would that sacrifice do for
that worshiper before God? Would God be pleased
with that sacrifice if the individual's heart
was still far from God? No, the Bible is clear.
The sacrifice has no intrinsic value or worth
that pleases God. We can look at passages like
Isaiah chapter 1, which reads, Hear the word
of the Lord, starting in verse 10, you rulers
of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of our
God, you people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied
sacrifices to me? says the Lord. I have had enough
of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of
fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood of
bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear
before me, who requires of you this trampling
of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings
no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New
moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies.
I cannot endure iniquity in the solemn assembly.
I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed
feasts. They have become a burden to me. I am
weary of bearing them. So when you spread out
your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from
you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I
will not listen. Your hands are covered. With
blood. God does not delight. And take pleasure
in sacrifice. Because of any intrinsic worth.
Or value in sacrifice. What does God want. From
those who come to him. He says in verse 16. Wash
yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove the
evil of your deeds. From my sight. Cease. To
do. Evil. There's something that God desires
more than sacrifice. There's something that God
takes more delight in than sacrifice. He wants
the worshiper's heart. He wants the worshiper's
contrition and brokenness in the very core of
their being. Not only is it that God doesn't
delight and take delight and pleasure in these
things, but David can't. He would be more than
happy to offer thousands and thousands of sacrifices
if that pleased God, if he could, but he can't.
There were no offerings for David's sins. God
had appointed no sacrifice to cover adultery
and to cover murder. You know what was the penalty?
That's what David should have gotten for his
sins. But God was gracious to him. He didn't.
So even if he could offer sacrifices, David couldn't.
He was incapable of bringing these things to
God. So what is the sacrifice? What is the offering
that David will give to God? He tells us in verse
17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will
not despise. David says, I'll give to God what
I have. Brokenness and contrition. He uses two
very strong words. This idea of brokenness, this
word, it carries the idea of being splintered
or shattered to pieces. It carries the idea of
a ship going down along the ocean and running
into land and the front of it shattering into
a thousand little pieces. And then there's the
idea of contrition or contrite heart. It carries
the idea of being crushed or ground down to powder.
David's saying that God wants his heart, his
inward contrition, his inward brokenness. And
that's the sacrifice that he will give to God.
His inward grief and mourning, brokenness, contrition,
and affliction over his sin. God doesn't want,
God does not want some... He's not looking for,
and David's not offering, some morbid, melancholy
introspection that leads to despair and hopelessness
that just has a negative outlook and is hypercritical
of self. He's looking for brokenness and contrition,
mourning and grief over sin, over transgression.
Over iniquity, over breaking God's law and transgressing
his holiness. That's what David will give to
God. David's saying that the sacrifices of God,
which God will accept, which God is delighted
with, which God will receive, which God is pleased
with, is true, sincere. Heartfelt grief and brokenness
over sin against God. That's what David will
give. Did you know, brothers and sisters, that
God wants your heart more than anything else?
Did you know, brothers and sisters, that God
wants your desires? He wants your affections.
He wants your longings. He wants your inner man.
Think about all the things in your life that
you put your heart into. Think about all the
things in life that your heart is involved with,
that your heart is poured out into. Is your heart
involved in this? Is your heart involved with
the people of God? Is your heart involved in
the preaching of God's word? Is your heart involved
in the worship and praise of God? Is your heart
involved when you come to the Lord's Supper?
Do you consider your heart before a sovereign,
all -knowing God that wants your inner person?
Or are you just going through the motions like
you've always done? I've always come to church.
I've always gone to church. My family's always
gone to church. It's good for me. It's good for
my family. I'm going to do this because it's
a good decision. And it's what I ought to do.
All of Edwards County goes to church. All the
good people, all the moral people, they go to
church. I'm going to go to church. All the while,
your heart is not involved in it at all. It's
just motions. It's just repetitions. It's just
outward religious acts. That does not please
God. He does not delight in that. He finds no
satisfaction in that whatsoever. He takes no
delight in the fact that people's hearts are
far and distant and away from him when all the
time their lips are close. He finds no pleasure
in that whatsoever. He wants you. He wants the
deepest part of you. He wants your inner man
to delight and to submit to him and his law.
He wants your inner man to love Jesus Christ
with every fiber of your being. He wants your
heart. Is your heart involved in this? Is your
heart involved in eternal realities and eternal
things of God or just the things of this world?
Just carnal things. God wants our hearts. This
leads us secondly to consider David's sacrifice
in relation to repentance. His brokenness and
his contrition in relation to repentance. We
must ask the question, what is the relationship
between a broken heart, inward contrition, and
true repentance. What's the inner workings there?
How do the two relate to each other? When we
consider the context of this, we have to remember
that this is the final appeal that David is making
for himself. We find in 18 and 19, he's talking
about Israel and the nation in general. But this
is his final culminating appeal with regards
to true repentance. And we know that David's
talking about true repentance in Psalm 51, don't
we? We know he's talking about genuine, true
repentance because he's restored. Because he's
forgiven. So if David is still talking about
genuine, true repentance, and now he's talking
about brokenness, we must conclude that all true
repentance always has genuine brokenness and
mourning that accompanies it. True repentance
is always from and always carried out in brokenness,
and contrition of heart. People who truly repent
are people who truly mourn their sin. This helps
us. It helps us answer a few questions. It kind
of gives us a litmus test of sorts with regards
to brokenness and with regards to repentance.
The sincerity, the truthfulness, the real nature
of repentance, the sincerity and the truthfulness
of brokenness in our lives. This helps us understand
these two things. So if we know that he's talking
about true repentance, and we know that he's
talking about brokenness that is involved in
true repentance, then we must say that brokenness,
if it's godly, if it's holy contrition, if it's
godly sorrow, will always produce true repentance.
So if your brokenness over your sin doesn't bring
about the actual forsaking of sin in your life,
You're not broken of your sin. It's some carnal,
worldly thing. It's the fear of man. It might
be the fear and trembling of the law of God,
but it's not godly sorrow that produces genuine
and true repentance in your life. So your brokenness,
it might be some sort of brokenness, but it does
not lead to life. It does not lead to salvation,
and it does not lead to repentance and faith
in Christ. So if your sorrow, your brokenness
in your heart doesn't lead you to actually forsaking
sin, then it's not true godly sorrow. But it
also tells us that all repentance that is offered
but is devoid of godly sorrow is not true repentance.
So if you repent and you turn from your sin and
you look to Christ, for there's no grief over
your sin. There's no contrition over what you
have done in your heart. There's no moral turmoil
in your heart because you've transgressed God's
law. It's merely an act. It's merely emotion.
It's merely something you intellectually decided
to do. Brothers and sisters, that is not true
repentance. It's not. It's false. It's superficial
repentance. True repentance always, always has
a degree of godly sorrow and brokenness and mourning
and grief. That's with it. Have you offered God
repentance in your life lately? In a passing
moment? Have you offered God repentance in your
life lately or recently? Not thinking about what
you're doing? Not considering the implications
of it? Knowing that that's what good Christians
do, so I repent, I say I'm sorry. That's not
genuine and true repentance, brothers and sisters.
Genuine and true repentance always comes from
a place of mourning and brokenness. Yes, the
degrees will vary. The intensities of that sorrow,
the intensities of that brokenness, they will
fluctuate, they'll go up and down, but it will
be present. This helps us in another way. It
also teaches us that if a person has never experienced
and contrition over their sin, they are not a
Christian because they have never truly repented
of their sin. Have you been broken and grieved?
And has that grief, that brokenness, driven you
to forsake sin? And has that forsaking of sin
driven you to Christ? Because if it hasn't, you
don't know anything of Christ. If you've never
grieved over your transgression of God's law,
the ill repute that you brought to Christ, The
hypocrisy and shame that you have heaped on the
church or his people, the hypocrisy and shame
you have heaped upon Christ in his name. If that
has never brought sorrow into your soul, how
can you know Jesus Christ? This is a personal
heart issue. That's what repentance is. We're
not talking about everybody else's brokenness
right now. We're not talking about our neighbor's
brokenness and their sorrow and their sin. We're
not talking about the person down the road. We're
not talking about the person sitting next to
us. We're talking about your hurt and your sin
and your brokenness. That's the issue. We have
a tendency to talk about everything else that's
broken and all the while avoid our own hearts.
Brothers and sisters, repentance has to do with
your heart, your soul, your sin, your brokenness.
It's your life that has sin in it. It's your
life that has the issues. Yet all we can do is
talk about everybody else. It's a personal issue.
And we have to look at our own hearts in light
of Scripture and cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ
to help us through the Spirit of God. Don't look
everywhere else. Look here. Look at yourself.
If you can't find anything in there, there's
an issue with your heart. It's our own brokenness
we need to consider and we need to deal with.
But we must also consider David's sacrifice in
relation to faith. The amazing thing about this
is that David has a confidence that God will
not despise his brokenness and his contrition.
Look at the last part of verse 17. A broken and
a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
What hope and encouragement is found in this?
David knows that God will be pleased with his
brokenness and his contrition. He knows that
God will accept it, that he will delight in it,
that he will receive this offering that he gives
to God. But we have to ask the question, why
is it and how is it that God receives brokenness
and contrition from a sinner? How is it that
God delights and that God is pleased with that?
Brothers and sisters, the reason being, the reason
and the way that God is pleased with a broken
and a contrite heart is because true brokenness
is bound to true repentance. And true repentance
is bound... to true and saving faith. And what
is true and saving faith bound to? Something
that is truly and genuinely delightful on the
side of God. True saving faith is bound to something
that is actually accepted and actually delightful
to God. Something that God loves dearly. Something
that God is pleased with. Jesus Christ. That's
why our brokenness is received because our repentance
is bound to faith and our faith is bound to the
Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice.
You are acceptable. I am acceptable to God because
Christ is actually acceptable and pleasing to
God. But if you are outside of Christ, Nothing
you do, nothing you say, nothing you think, nothing
you offer will be pleasing or received or acceptable
whatsoever. But if you're in Christ, you will
be as delightful to God as Christ, his own son,
is delightful to God. He will love you with the
same love that he has for his son. He will delight
and take pleasure in you as he delights and takes
pleasure in Jesus Christ. So it's not brokenness
and contrition in and of itself, but it's the
fact that brokenness and contrition are a sign
of a heart that is in possession of saving faith
and is in union with Jesus Christ. By faith.
A broken and contrite heart is a heart that is
devoid of self -dependence. A broken and contrite
heart has no power and no strength in and of
itself to stand, to be pleasing to God. It's
broken. There's nothing there. There's nothing
to offer. A heart that mourns and grieves over
its sin, It's cast on Christ by faith. And it's
the only way that that heart will stand. The
Christian life really is a cycle, we could say.
It's a cycle of applying and reapplying the healing
balm of Jesus Christ to sin -stricken hearts.
So what do we do in this life? We're broken over
our sin. We go to Christ by faith. We're broken
over our sin. We run to Christ by faith. We know
and we see our need for the gospel. And we go
and we run and we apply the gospel to our hearts.
We're broken. And then we're received by God
through Christ. That's the Christian experience,
brothers and sisters. Praise God. But the absence
of brokenness and contrition in our hearts also
says something. If a broken and contrite heart
is devoid of self -pride and self -arrogance
and self -dependence, what does the absence of
mourning and grieving and affliction over our
sins say? What does it say about your heart?
What do the realities of your heart say concerning
brokenness, mourning, affliction and sorrow over
sin? It may say something of self -righteousness,
self -dependence. Self -confidence. It may say
something of the reality that I don't know Christ.
It may be telling you that you don't have a true
brokenness because it's never driven you to true
repentance. What does the occasional in light,
grief, of sin say in your heart? What does it
tell you today? What does the weakness of your
contrition in your life on a daily basis say
to you right now? What does it say about the
strength of your faith? What does it say about
your gaze upon Christ? We all have a great deal
of growth and potential for growth ahead of us.
May God help us see our brokenness, experience
our sorrow, to have a deeper, more meaningful
contrition over our sin. Lastly, we must consider
David's sacrifice in relation to restoration
and forgiveness. Brokenness always accompanies
true repentance. So what conclusions can we make
about restoration and forgiveness? Well, if brokenness
always accompanies true repentance, that leads
to restoration. Then we can very thoroughly say,
none are restored who are not broken. None are
recipients of mercy and grace. None are purified.
None are cleansed in their conscience, none are
useful, and none reach that point where they
praise God with gladness and joy in their heart
if they're not first broken over their sin. Every
single person who's ever been restored by Jesus
Christ into good and faithful and warm and sweet
fellowship with him, As a believer, every single
one of those people, they've first been broken
and crushed and contrite over their iniquity.
None are restored. None are forgiven who are
not first broken. Now, this is good news, brothers
and sisters. This means that after brokenness
comes After brokenness comes usefulness. After
brokenness comes sanctification. After brokenness
comes renewal, restoration, fellowship, and forgiveness
of sins. But what happens if you take away the
brokenness? Or you seek to diminish or remove
or do away with the brokenness and the sorrow.
What will it do to your sanctification? To your
usefulness? To your joy? Your gladness? To your
praise? It's a package deal. One in this hand
and the other in this hand. Brokenness coincides
with the experience of joy in the Christian life.
Brokenness and contrition over sin coincide with
sanctification and holiness in the Christian
life. Brokenness is not a bad thing. It's not
a negative thing. God wants us. To think and
feel rightly about our sin in this life. It's
an essential, foundational, and necessary element
of the Christian experience in this life. If
we seek to do away and remove with the brokenness
and the contrition of sin, the seriousness of
sin and repentance, then will the joy be real
true? Joy. Or superficial. Light. Joy. We have
to think about the role of conviction. The role
of the word of God in brokenness and contrition.
We think to ourselves, well, if we are to be
broken, and it's good for us to be broken over
sin, then how does that come about? How am I
made to be broken? How am I made to be contrite
in my life? God uses conviction. God uses the
word of God. He uses prayer. He uses the appointed
means that he's given to the church of Jesus
Christ. So whenever you feel conviction, don't
try to soothe it. Don't try to shake it off.
Don't try to get rid of it. It's the Spirit of
God seeking to crush you over your sin that you
might experience the heights and the width of
joy in your life. That you might be sanctified
and grown. That you might be edified and strengthened
in your soul. So don't do away with it. Accept
it and embrace it. Expose yourself to the word
of God regularly. Read it, study it, meditate
upon it. Ask God to help you. Ask God to give
you brokenness and sorrow over your sin. He will
answer that prayer, brothers and sisters. He
will show you the true need of your heart. He
will lead you through the paths that lead to
joy and life and strength and glory to his name.
So we've seen David's sacrifice that he will
offer to God. What is the one thing? That a broken
sinner can give to a holy God that he will always
receive was the one thing that you, brothers
and sisters, can offer to God this very hour,
this very minute. That he will receive and delight
in, he will take pleasure in a broken and a contrite
heart.