Psalm 51 - Restoration of a Broken and Contrite King

[Music] today we take a look now at psalm 51. and of all 150 psalms all of them are beautiful all of them are wonderful every one of them is god's word unto us but there's something special about a few psalms psalm 23 of course is remarkable and special psalm 22. but psalm 51 is one of those remarkable psalms in the collection of the entire 150 that we just sort of pause and take notice and we are immediately struck with the power and the importance of this psalm just by reading the title remember the words that come before verse 1 they're in the original hebrew text and this is what it says to the chief musician a psalm of david now let me just pause right there to the chief musician again this was either to one of the choir leaders of ancient israel one of the musical leaders a worship leader that we might call today among the priests and the levites those who were had the given the responsibility to lead the worship for the community of israel it could have been that or it could be that the chief musician is a reference to god himself because god is the one who created music and maybe that is what is in mind there so it's to the chief musician the psalm of david then we read the next words of this title again these are the words that come before verse 1 of psalm 51. a psalm of david when nathan the prophet went in went to him after he had gone into bathsheba now the events referred to in that title when nathan the prophet went to him and then after he had gone into bathsheba those events are very plainly and painfully described for us in second samuel chapters 11 and 12. it has to do with this terrible act of adultery that david committed as king adultery with this woman bathsheba and the subsequent arrangement of the murder of the killing of bathsheba's husband uriah and so this was a horrific sin and we also learn from second samuel chapters 11 and 12 that for a year or so david did nothing about this sin he hid it in this act of adultery that david committed with bathsheba she became pregnant the baby was born they were able to cover it up by pretending that it was actually her husband who was afterwards deliberately killed murdered in battle that it was her husband who made her pregnant david felt like he had covered it up the scandal had not been exposed until he was confronted by nathan the prophet that's why it says there in the title a psalm of david when nathan the prophet went to him it was david who called excuse me it was nathan who called out david and said you are the man you are the one who sinned in this terrible way and then david repented this is the remarkable psalm that david wrote upon the occasion of his repentance now i don't know if he wrote it the same day of his great repentance i don't know if he wrote it you know uh weeks or days afterwards but wow what a psalm this is now james montgomery boyce in his really wonderful commentary on the psalms in particular volume 2 in print form psalms 42-106 james montgomery voice noted that this psalm has been long beloved by believers he said this quote it was recited in full by sir thomas moore and lady jane gray when they were on the scaffold in the bloody days of henry viii and queen mary william carey the great pioneer missionary to india asked that it might be the text of his funeral sermon and not only was it a great song greatly beloved by believers of course but it also as a g camel morgan has said he said this great song pulsating with the agony of a strin-stricken soul helps us to understand the stupendous wonder of the everlasting mercy of our god well it does we're going to find out something about the mercy the grace the forgiveness of god by taking a look at this remarkable psalm so here we go psalm 51 verses 1 and 2. have mercy upon me o god according to your loving kindness according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin the psalm begins with a plain and straightforward for forgiveness have mercy upon me o god according to your loving kindness now the title of this psalm that we saw at the words before verse one it does give us the tragic context for david's plea david had sinned in murder he had sinned in adultery he had sinned uncovering his sin he had sinned in hardness against repentance and all of that endured until the bold confrontation of nathan the prophet shook david from all that you'll find that in second samuel chapter 12. yet once david was shaken from that place of hardness and denial and covering his sin david came in great honesty and brokenness before god he called out verse one have mercy upon me o god that prayer have mercy upon me that's the prayer of a man who knows that he's sinned that's the prayer of a man who has stopped all self-justification after all in second samuel chapter 12 verse 13 david said to nathan the prophet i have sinned against the lord that is a good and a direct confession it's without excuse it's made with great clarity and notice david asked for mercy but look at that phrase again in verse 1 have mercy upon me o god according to your loving-kindness he asked for the mercy to be given according to the measure of god's loving-kindness now that word loving-kindness is a word that we've seen several places in the psalm it translates that great hebrew hassad it talks about god's loyal love his covenant mercy it's a well phrased request it has the eloquence of true brokenness lord i need the greatness of your love towards me according to that would you please grant me mercy and then he repeats the idea again in verse one according to the multitude of your tender mercies again as is comment in hebrew poetry david is using repetition with slightly different words to give strength to the request to bring emphasis so in slightly different words david's repeating the thought of the previous request have mercy upon me o god according to your loving kindness according to the multitude of your tender mercies lord i need the multitude of your tender mercies i've experienced it before i need it again now i want you to think just for a moment about that phrase in verse one the multitude of your tender mercies charles spurgeon in his commentary on the psalms the treasury of david he quotes a man named simpson who said this quote men are greatly terrified at the multitude of their sins but here is a comfort our god has multitude of mercies if our sins be in number as the hairs of our head god's mercies are as the stars of heaven now what's interesting is in these just first couple verses david used several words to speak of the kindness that he wanted to receive from god he called it mercy he called it loving-kindness he called it tender mercies all of these have a slightly different flavor to them but it's an outpouring of requests lord i need your mercy i need your loving-kindness i need your tender mercies and what do i need them to do look at the next phrase there in verse one it's the last phrase of verse one he says blot out my transgressions david felt as if there was a register or a ledger of his sins his many sins and that register or ledger of his sins condemned him and he wanted that account to be erased and so he says lord blot out my transgressions now that blotting out may refer to david's own conscience lord that ledger is in my conscience or maybe he's thinking of god's own accounting of sins god you have a ledger of my sins in heaven blot them out blot them out from my conscience blot them out from your register in heaven and that idea of blot out at least according to derek kidner that idea means to wipe away like the writing from a book that's why the puritan commentator john trapp said blot out my transgressions out of thy debt book cross out the black lines of my sins with the red lines of christ's blood cancel the bond though written in black and bloody characters yes lord you can do it you can blot out my transgression now the thought continues into verse two look at this wash me thoroughly from my iniquity the word of god through nathan the prophet worked like a mirror to show david how dirty and stained he was nathan confronted david because david had lived in that condition for some time perhaps up to a year and he lived in that condition without an acute knowledge of his iniquity in sin now he knows now it's in the front of his mind that he truly has great iniquity that he truly has great sin that's why he cries out in verse two wash me thoroughly from my iniquity have you ever seen a child playing in the dirt and they don't even know they're dirty and if you don't know you're dirty you don't care about getting clean but it's different if maybe a grown-up or older person's working there after a while they're i'm dirty i've got to get clean that's the state david was in lord i need to be washed wash me thoroughly from my iniquity by the way alexander mclaren in his commentary on the psalms he says that the idea behind that phrase wash me thoroughly he says that it really means to wash by needing or beating it's not talking about like a simple rinsing underwater but really working it through the fabric and that's what david said lord i need to be washed thoroughly don't just rinse me off for my sin but work it out of me work the cleansing soap or whatever it is thoroughly in my soul wash me thoroughly from my iniquity now we saw in verse 1 that david used several words to describe what he wanted from god i need your mercy your loving kindness your tender mercies but but he also uses several words to describe his own offense against god in verse one he called it a transgression and then the multiple transgressions that's the idea of crossing a boundary lord i've crossed your line and i've done it several times then he used the word in verse two iniquity that has the idea of twistedness or perversion if you will and then in verse 2 has the word sin that has the idea of falling short of something or missing the mark so david used the thesaurus so he's speaking as many words as he can think of to describe what he needs from god that is mercy loving kindness uh tender mercies then he's also using the thesaurus he's thinking as many words as he can to describe his sin because he knows his sin is great now beginning at verse four he's going to openly acknowledge his sin look at this verses three and four for i acknowledge my transgression and my sin is always before me against you you only have i sinned and done this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge now david says there in verse 3 i acknowledge my transgressions david realized that it was not only one but multiple transgressions did you see that in verse three it's in the plural my transgressions and so lord i sinned against you i crossed your line and i'm not making any excuse i'm not shifting the blame i'm not rationalized i acknowledge my transgressions now i need to pause here just for a moment in the middle of verse three someone may ask and this is something of a logical question why in psalm 51 did not david specifically say i acknowledge my sin of murder against uriah i acknowledge my sin of adultery with bathsheba i acknowledge my sin of hardening my heart and covering my sin for up to a year why didn't david specifically call out those sins in the psalm i'll tell you why i believe at least first of all it's clear that those are the sins spoken of because of the introduction of the psalm when the introduction of the psalm says when david assam of david when nathan the prophet went to him after he'd gone into bathsheba everybody knows that those are the sins spoken about but if david would have specifically in this psalm pointed out the sins that he had committed then we would have a tendency to think that it was only those sins that god could forgive in such a wonderful way and god wants to say it's not only for the specific sins that david committed but before our sins too for your sins as well now the reason why i say that is because i believe that there is a place for very specific confession of sin for saying um lord forgive me for my adultery forgive me for my murder as david in the case of david forgive me for the hardness of my heart there is a place for that but we don't see it specifically in this psalm it's alluded to but again that was by the inspiration of the holy spirit so that we would know that our sins were also included now you brother or sister maybe you've never committed murder like david did in psalm 51. maybe you've never committed adultery like david did in psalm 51. but i'll tell you what you have transgressed god's law you have sinned against him you need the same forgiveness that david needs in psalm 51 and the reason why it's used in these general terms transgressions sins all the rest is so that you can know that this applies to you as well so david says again in verse 3 i acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me now in the many months between the time david committed these sins and his actual confession he had not escaped the sense of sin it was always before him and he did his best to ignore it and to deny it but as a genuine child of god he could not escape it he was in unconfessed sin but he was miserable in his unconfessed sin as we can say a child of god should be a child of god should be miserable in unconfessed sin and david said it never left me i covered it over i denied it i i did whatever i could i distracted myself and we can believe kings have a lot of different ways that they can distract themselves david was a man of wealth and influence and power and all the rest of it and david could find many ways to distract himself but it never left him my sin is always before me david didn't say notice this in verse 3 he didn't say my punishment is ever before me he said my sin is always before me he didn't say my consequences are ever before me he said my sins are always before me what bothered him was his sin you know there are many of us who grieve over the consequences of sin but we don't grieve over the sin itself but david did and all the benefits of being a king could not take away that ache in his soul because his sin was always before him and again notice that phrase in verse 3 my sin he is declaring his personal responsibility we see it throughout the psalm my transgressions my iniquity my sin he's not blaming circumstances he's not blaming some strange power out there he's saying no this is mine it belongs to me and might i say this teaches us something about the confession of sin brother sister if you're going to confess your sin either confess your sin or don't confess it don't confess your sin adding on excuses along the way well lord i know i sinned against you but but but forget the butts either you sinned or you didn't if you didn't sin there's no need to make confession if you did sin there's no excuse and you just make that humble confession my sin my transgressions my iniquity that's what david did and it's the model for us of a humble repentance and then he says remarkably in verse 4 against you you only have i sinned now in an objective sense this was not true david had sinned against bathsheba against uriah against their families david sinned against his own family david sinned against his kingdom and there's a sense that first corinthians chapter 6 verse 18 will later on explain there's a sense in which david even sinned against his own body so in an objective sense david sinned against many people and even institutions yet all of that faded into the background as david considered the greatness of his sin against god he rightly felt as if against you and you only have i sinned now again i just want to add objectively speaking that wasn't true but that's how david felt david was so aware of the greatness of his guilt before god that that's how it felt to him and he adds on in verse 4 and done this evil in your sight david realized that god was there and that god was looking i did this evil in your sight first of all again david acknowledges it says evil by the way let's let's remember that perhaps in this whole scenario that david refers to in first samuel excuse me second samuel chapters 11 and 12. perhaps the greatest sin he committed was the murder arranging the murder of bathsheba's husband uriah okay we understand that but there was also the sin that led to that sin and that was his adultery with bathsheba and it's interesting how it's very easy for us is it not that we would try to minimize such a sin as adultery by calling it something else it was an affair it was an act of passion it was an expression of love or affection we can minimize it by the words david is not minimizing in verse four i have done this evil in your sight david look back on that listen lord in my soul i didn't feel uh i i wanted to do it i sinned i did it but i look back and i lord it was evil and i did this evil in your sight lord now i acknowledge that you were looking on me all the time god was looking his eyes were present in the bedroom of adultery with bathsheba he saw it sometimes we we in the fog of sin in the craziness that fills our mind in the midst of sinful acts we somehow convince ourselves that we do things out of god's sight but there's nothing done out of god's sight and done this evil in your sight god was not absent from the bedroom of adultery god was not absent from the place where david commanded uriah to be killed in battle spurgeon said this david felt that his sin was committed in all its filthiness while jehovah himself looked on none but a child of god cares for the eye of god now again this is a mark of god's work of redemption of the fact that david belongs to god because he cares that the evil was done in god's sight i like that phrase of spurgeon none but a child of god cares for the eye of god continuing on to verse 4 david says that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge david's confession of sin was not only to relieve himself of the great burden of his sin and guilt even more so it was to bring glory to god you see in confessing his sin david hoped to confirm god's justice and holy character he hoped to prove that his commands were good and just even when david broke those commands and brothers and sisters that's what's very important for us to realize if a person were to commit murder it's important for them to say murder is wrong even when i break the command that you should not murder if a person is to commit adultery it's important to say adultery is wrong even when i should commit adultery no lord that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge your laws are good and then he says in verse 5 and 6 behold i was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me behold you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom now that's an interesting phrase in verse 5 where he says i was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me now listen as far as we know i mean there's no reason to think otherwise in this david was not born out of a sinful relationship it's not like his mom committed adultery when he said i was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me it's not like it was some sinful relationship no that's not the idea at all and neither is david's idea here to excuse his sin by saying well look at how bad i started out what else could be expected no what david was doing here was showing the depths of his sin lord it's not just that i committed a specific sinful action it's not just that i ordered the murder of uriah it's not just that i committed adultery with bathsheba no lord there's something deeper in me there is a stubborn sin nature within me and i was born with that nature that's what david's saying as g camel morgan says he says that the act of sin is traced back to its reason in the pollution of the nature now this phrase in verse 5 i was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me from this and similar passages in the bible we gain the biblical idea of original sin the idea that all humans are born sinners that we receive a sinful nature of sons of da adam and daughters of eve and this is true look i'm not going to go into a big explanation of this right now but if you want evidence that children are born sinners and i know children are beautiful i know babies are wonderful i know there is truly an innocence about a newborn baby and we recognize that but it is not an objective pure innocence as that child begins to develop nobody has to teach that child how to lie there's no parent that's ever held a class for their child this is how you lie the child knows how to do it there's no class you need to hold for your child on how to be rebellious the child knows it instinctively children as innocent and beautiful as little babies are and seem they are nevertheless born as sinners yet despite that despite our sinful origin inheriting sin as sons of adam and daughters of eve it is true for us and of us in verse six you desire truth in the inward parts though the sin nature was very deep within david god wanted to work deeply in him god wanted a transformation in david all the way to his inward parts to the hidden part of him that would know wisdom that david did not cry out for a superficial reform lord just cover over the sin just patch it over no lord i need you to do something deep within me because i know that in my depths i am a sinner i was even born a sinner so now starting at verse 7 he's going to begin his prayer for restoration ready purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean wash me and i shall be wider than snow make me hear joy and gladness that the bones you have broken may rejoice hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities now notice this david when he's asking for restoration begins by asking god to purge him to purify him specifically what he says here is in verse 7 purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean david looked for god to do a work of spiritual and moral cleansing with him and to do it in connection with atoning sacrifice of a substitute how do we know this well he said look at it there in verse seven purge me with hyssop hyssop was used to apply the blood of the passover lamb you'll find that in exodus chapter 12 verse 22. hyssop was also used to sprinkle the priest's purifying water that's in numbers chapter 19 verse 18. so in the levitical law the priests use hyssop to sprinkle sometimes to sprinkle blood sometimes to sprinkle purifying water cleansing water so he says purge me with hyssop and i should it was all in connection with sacrifice atoning sacrifice matter of fact because it was the priests who used the hyssop one commentator willem van gaamiron says this here the psalmist petitions the lord to be his priest by taking the hyssop and declaring him cleansed from all sin that's what i need lord i need you to be my priest just as the priest would take hyssop and use it to to bring a ceremonial purification of me i need you to do that for me and david didn't think for a moment that he could cleanse himself david needed god to cleanse him and to do it through the blood of the perfect sacrifice anticipated by animal sacrifices that's why he says there lord oh purge me in james montgomery boyce's commentary he says that the word purge there is based on the word for sin and it literally means descend me the boy said david wanted to have his sin completely purged away so he simply cries out lord purge me with your hiss there was a memorable occasion in my own life when i was actually standing at the western wall there in jerusalem and i was praying in a season where i felt greatly burdened by my own sin and i was there praying at the uh western wall sometimes called the wailing wall and i had this little bible in front of me and i was reading from the psalms matter of fact i was reading right here from psalm 51. and look i can't describe the exact nature of such a experience with god other than to say that i was greatly burdened with my sin and holding the bible in front of that wall praying asking god for forgiveness just sort of longing for a sense of assurance i had the page open right here to psalm 51 and what should fall down into my bible but a little hyssop leaf because hyssop grows out of the walls of the western wall and and literally a hyssop leaf this particular hyssop leaf fell down from the wall and landed right into my bible right as i was reading psalm 51 and i got to tell you brothers and sisters what a beautiful experience that was for me it was like god's assurance me david just as it was true for david in psalm 51 i will purge you with hyssop and you shall be clean and then as it says in verse 7 wash me and i shall be wider than snow you see david knew that god's cleansing was effective that's what we need to know isn't it verse 7 wash me and i shall be whiter than snow that david knew that his sin was a deep stain but purity could be restored do you understand that purity can be restored he didn't say wash me and i shall be a dingy gray no wash me and i'll be pure again i'll be wider than snow we can sense that david spoke here with the voice of faith it can be very difficult for the convicted sinner to ever believe that god can provide such a complete cleansing it takes faith to believe god that we really can be washed wider than snow that there's something of purity that god can restore to us again spurgeon said this quote god could make him as if he had never sinned at all such is the power of the cleansing work of god upon the heart that he can restore innocence to us and make us as if we had never been stained with transgression at all then after such a thorough cleansing look at what david asked for next in verse eight he says make me hear joy and gladness that the bones you have broken may rejoice david felt that the brokenness befitting the sinner under conviction of the holy spirit david felt that and he goes lord i feel it it's so severe i feel like my bones are broken by the way that's true brokenness isn't it and he was confident that that brokenness was the work of the holy spirit therefore david confidently prayed lord make that brokenness lead to joy and gladness lord i pray that out of this brokenness i can rejoice and brothers and sisters i'm telling you that's your prayer as well you are in a season of deep conviction of sin okay bring it to the lord ask god to purge you with his confess your sin plainly clearly specifically stop making excuses bury your heart before god but trust that god will work this so that you can hear joy and gladness that even the bones which god has broken notice that phrase in verse 8 the bones that you have broken may rejoice now i know the idea of god breaking bones sounds terrible but at least in legend i don't know if this actually happens but in sermon legend it said that a shepherd will sometimes break the leg of a wayward sheep so that he'll have to carry the sheep and keep them close to the flock and re-bond that sheep with the shepherd i don't know if shepherds actually do that that may just be a preacher's legend but it expresses the thought doesn't it sometimes out of his mercy god brings or allows brokenness in our life but he does it to lead us to joy and gladness and so that the bones which god has broken may rejoice you know it's a terrible thing to be so directly confronted with the blackness of our sin i think about david felt when there he was in his throne room and nathan the prophet cried out you are the man imagine how david felt at that moment he felt terrible but that terrible feeling was just the prelude to joy and gladness the restoration of joy is the goal of god the brokenness is just part of the process to get there so it's a great thing it's a great thing lord i i want my sinful heart to be joyful again i want music to come from my crushed bones that's why he continues on in verse 9 did you see it hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities now repeatedly david asked for forgiveness and restoration and in this repetition we see that this was not a light thing for david it was not easily expressed nor was it easily received by faith there was a sense in which david had to contend with both god and himself to bring him to the place where he should be lord that's why i ask again and again lord blot out my iniquities hide your face from my sins it wasn't just oh lord forgive me okay great i'm forgiven i'll move on no it's as if david had to plead with himself and with god to receive this great forgiveness now in verse 10 we have david uh crying out for the restoration of heart did you see this verse 10 and 11 create in me a clean heart oh god and renew a steadfast spirit within me do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me you know david felt that it wasn't enough if god simply cleaned up the heart that he had that's why he made this plea in verse 10 create in me a clean heart oh god i need a new heart from you god i need a clean heart and in this david anticipated one of the great promises that comes to everybody who believes under the new covenant in ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26 god promises this as one of the terms of the new covenant i will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you i will take out the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh now it's interesting and again james montgomery boyce points this out in his commentary he said that the word that begins that section in verse 10 create in me a clean heart boyce points out that that's the hebrew verb verb bara which technically speaking means to create out of nothing it's the same word used in genesis 1 for the creation of the heavens and the earth by god so this describes something that only god can do to create something out of nothing david wasn't asking so much for a transformation of his old heart lord give me a new heart a clean heart god by a miracle would you give me what you alone can do create within me a clean heart verse 10 and renew a steadfast spirit within me along with that new and clean heart david also needed a steadfast spirit why so he could continue in the way of godliness that expressed a humble reliance upon the lord after all if your cleansed heart is going to remain clean you need a steadfast spirit so that's why he prayed for it and then he prayed in verse 11. do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me now this was a further way that david expressed his ongoing reliance upon god for david the whole point of being cleansed the whole point of being restored was to renew his relationship with god david didn't want a god who cleansed him yet remained distant from him that's why he says don't cast me away from your presence don't take your holy spirit from me don't cast me away from your presence lord i don't want to be like cain cast out from you i don't want to be like saul that you rejected no lord i don't want this at all now when we read that in verse 11 do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me it has been noted that several of these requests don't fit for the believer under the new covenant i mean technically speaking under the new covenant the believer would not pray as in verse 10 create me a clean heart because i already have a new heart because i'm part of the new covenant technically speaking the believer would not say do not cast me away from your presence because jesus promised that he would be present with us even to the end of the age technically speaking under the new covenant the believer would not pray do not take your holy spirit from me because god has given the holy spirit as a permanent possession now again let me say that point is technically true yet it does not take away from the deep sense of a need for restoration and return to the first things that may mark an erroring child of god even under the new covenant so technically i think we can agree to that point but not everything in the christian life is technical is it there are some things about our walk our relationship with god that aren't technical they're deep things of the soul so i will not upgrade a believer i will not criticize a believer who says lord don't take your spirit from me lord create in me a clean heart lord do not cast me away from your presence even though technically those aren't prayers that belong under the new covenant but in the pain of unconfessed soul the sin i should say the the soul pain that comes from unconfessed sin we we understand what's spoken of here and then he continues on here uh verses 12 and 13. restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit then i will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you now in david's many months of unconfessed sin he felt the misery of spiritual defeat what did he want he wanted once again to feel the joy that was appropriate in his salvation the joy that's appropriate to those whom the lord rescues so he says lord restore to me the joy of your salvation uphold me by your generous spirit that's in verse 12. and again this again expresses david's confidence in god for his future david did not dream of upholding himself lord i need you to uphold me it's not like okay god cleanse me so that i can go out and do this thing again all on my own no that's never the idea self-confidence is what typically leads even good men into sin david says i want to reject all that self-confidence and instead lord put my trust in you so lord would you please uphold me by your generous spirit and when you do look at verse 13 then i will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you in the dark days before this confession of sin david was not able to teach those who were far from god and he saw none of them converted to him and we don't know if david ever made an attempt because of his sense of guilt or maybe he attempted to teach transgressions through his way and he saw no blessing in the work at all one way or another getting right with god was key to effectiveness in his spiritual work because then he could teach transgressors god's ways and sinners would be converted to you then verses uh 14 through 17. deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed o god the god of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness o lord open my lips and my mouth shall show forth your praise for you do not desire sacrifice or else i would give it you do not delight in burnt offering the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart these o god you will not despise now again verse 14 david makes a plea again deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed david was deeply aware of his sin of murder against uriah you'll find that again in second samuel chapter 11. and though he made no specific reference to his adultery in this psalm he felt that he had to make specific mention of this great sin that's what the guilt of bloodshed is it's murder and such a request presented to the god of my salvation that would surely be answered and then he says in verse 14 and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness lord i know that when you deal with my guilt then i'm gonna be once able again to sing aloud that as it says in verse 15 my mouth shall show forth your praise and we believe that the months of unconfessed sin were silent from david in a spirit of true praise he just couldn't praise god the way that he should but probably so he didn't write a single psalm during all those months of unconfessed sins but now cleansed he'll again once again to show forth god's praise then he says this in verse 16 you do not desire sacrifice or else i would give it now david expressed the principle that was brought forth in the previous psalm psalm 50. by the way that may very well be that whoever collected the psalms and put them in the arrangement of the 150 psalms that may very well be why they put this great psalm of david right here after psalm 50. but because that thought that god does not fundamentally desire sacrifice or at least animal sacrifice but what he desires is obedience and brokenness and humility on behalf of his people that idea is very strong in psalm 50. and david here understands that though animal sacrifice had its place well god what god really desired was in the heart of man but because he says there verse 16 you do not desire sacrifice or else i would give it lord i'll give you whatever you want if you want me to offer a hundred bulls a thousand sheep i'll do it but david says no that's not primarily what you're looking for this is what god is looking for look at verse 17 the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart now david had a great love for the house of the lord and he had sponsored great sacrifices unto god at the bringing of the uh ark of the covenant into jerusalem at other great ceremonies david knew how to offer great sacrifices hundreds of animals sacrificed unto the lord yet he understood that someone could sacrifice an animal to god a bull let's just say or many bulls to god without having a broken and contrite heart i i wonder did david offer any sacrifices to god did he come to the altar with a bull or a lamb probably did in the many months of his unconfessed sin and now david looks back and he realized how empty all that was lord i tried to bring a sacrifice before you but i did not have a broken spirit i did not have a broken and contrite heart that animal sacrifice was useless he recognized the emptiness of all of that and he recognized the value of his present broken spirit and contrite heart i like what charles spurgeon said about that idea of a broken spirit he said if you and i have a broken spirit all idea of our own importance is gone what is the use of a broken heart why much the same is the use of a broken pot or a broken jug or a broken bottle no he's saying lord this is what you want you want as jesus would later describe it in the sermon on the mount you want poverty of spirit blessed are the poor in spirit that's what it means to have a broken spirit and a contrite heart and he says in verse 17 these o god you will not despise now it's easy to imagine that many people in david's day would despise his broken and contrite heart what mean you think about it what did david do he had a man murdered and he committed adultery the kings of david's day did that stuff all the time there was nothing to them it was just normal practice in david's day in the ancient world and listen all too often it's true today the rich the powerful the king so to speak they do whatever they want and and for somebody to show a broken and contrite heart over those things many people many human beings would despise that and david says no god i know that you do not despise my broken and contrite heart even though taking whatever woman he wanted and killing anybody who got in his way that was expected conduct for the kings of the world in david's time and in our own day in many ways and perhaps the neighboring kings were mystified david why does any of this bother you but to david it didn't matter what anybody else thought it didn't matter if anybody else did despise his broken and contrite heart he said lord you will not despise my broken and contrite heart and that's enough for me lord then he concludes the psalm here in verses 18 and 19 what an amazing beautiful psalm this is he says do good in your good pleasure to zion build the walls of jerusalem then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt offering and whole burnt offering then they shall offer bulls on your altar i find it interesting what david says in verse 18 did you see that phrase do good in your good pleasure to zion build the walls of jerusalem david realized that in his sin he didn't only fail as a man as a husband as a father he also failed as a king over god's people so this is what he says he says lord i humbly ask you would you please restore your favor to the kingdom of israel do good in your good pleasure to zion and build the walls of jerusalem i don't know if there was a obvious demonstration of god's displeasure against the kingdom of israel in the period of david's unconfessed sin maybe there was but whether there was or there was not david understood that there was an aspect of restoration in terms of the kingdom that needed to be addressed and when it was addressed then it says in verse 19 then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness now under the old covenant david knew that god was not yet done with animal sacrifices even though it says earlier in the psalm the sacrifices of god are broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart yes lord that that's really what you look for first yet under the old covenant god still wanted animal sacrifices to be made that they would still offer bulls on your altar as verse 19 says of psalm 51 with the heart issues addressed then under the old covenant those sacrifices could be full of meaning and benefit pointing towards the ultimate sacrifice of jesus the messiah it's also possible that david had in mind the sacrifices that were regularly offered on behalf of israel you know every morning and every evening they had a sacrifice for the nation and maybe he has in mind then those will be restored to true meaning and benefit they won't just be carried out in a routine manner but he says no you'll restore you'll rebuild not just my life king david prayed but that of the nation that of the priesthood that of the religious the spiritual life of the nation what an amazing song is psalm 51 and i pray brother or sister that god would give you great blessing great benefit by considering the greatness of his forgiveness in this psalm but before we leave psalm 51 let's consider as we have been for most all the psalms this simple thought how does psalm 51 point to jesus how does it indeed okay well let's consider three ways believe me we could find many more than three ways but let's consider three ways that psalm 51 points to jesus number one jesus is the one who cleanses his people now you saw it in verses one and two david cried out blot out my transgressions wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin now you remember that but doesn't that remind you of what it says that jesus does for the church in ephesians chapter 5. in ephesians chapter 5 verses 25-27 this is what the apostle paul wrote about what jesus does for the church he says christ also loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blameless listen when we cry out to god for cleansing are we not crying out under the new covenant to our savior jesus christ to wash us and especially i love what it says there in ephesians chapter 5 that he might wash us with the washing of water by the word oh it's the word in its truth in its promises in its words itself that can bring us great cleansing from our sin this is beautiful this is powerful before the lord so that's the first one jesus is the one who cleanses his people number two jesus is the one who was never born with sin and this is kind of the opposite of what we see as it's declared there in verse 5. do you remember what it said there in verse 5 david said behold i was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me and when david saw those words he spoke for almost the entire human race i mean after all adam and eve were created with no sin but only jesus was conceived with no sin because of what we call the virgin birth that jesus had no earthly father biologically speaking but by a miracle of god a spiritual miracle of god miracle of god god created that uh that conception within mary's womb without the normal uh process of of of how a woman gets pregnant and if it was true of david and virtually the entire human race behold i was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me jesus alone was conceived with no sin again adam and eve were created with no sin but only jesus was conceived with no sin then thirdly and finally at least for a consideration of this psalm notice that jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice of righteousness verse 19 says this then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness you see in that statement david recognized that there was yet sacrifice to be offered to god even though as it says in verse 17 the sacrifices of god are broken spirit yet our own humility our own brokenness our own poverty of spirit it does not replace god's ultimate sacrifice you you don't earn forgiveness of sin through your broken spirit no our forgiveness of sin was purchased for us by the perfect sacrifice of jesus christ which was truly in the ultimate sense as verse 19 says the sacrifice of righteousness complete righteousness no we don't earn forgiveness of sin through a broken spirit or a humble heart that just enables us to receive what god gives to us freely in jesus christ you know it's a remarkable thing not only did jesus come to offer that ultimate sacrifice of righteousness but he himself was that sacrifice of righteousness and what a beautiful powerful thing that was well what a blessing for us to consider psalm 51 in all of its power in all of its goodness and i just want to say to you dear brother or sister i pray that god gives to you a great assurance of your own uh cleansing that you are able to come to god with a broken and contrite heart and uh maybe you're not gonna stand at the western wall in jerusalem and pray and have a hyssop leaf fall into your bible but it doesn't mean that the truth of god's forgiveness the truth of god's complete cleansing is any less true for you so receive it and receive it in jesus name let me pray for that exact thing father as we come to the end of such an amazing such a beautiful such a powerful psalm as psalm 51 we say lord that you would give us an honest confession of sin before you that you would cleanse us from our iniquity that you would give us lord a renewed heart before you that father you would pour out upon us the greatness of your power the greatness of your goodness lord we need this cleansing this renewed life this restored relationship this this rejoicing even from broken bones that only you can give us lord you gave it unto david under a greater covenant with a greater knowledge of the work of the messiah we receive it now i pray lord that everybody who is burdened by the blackness the the scarlet nature of their sin would believe that it really can be cleansed by the power of jesus as they come to you simply in faith work this among us lord and do it in jesus name amen [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, psalm 51, Restoration of a Broken and Contrite King, forgiveness, confession, mercy, sin, prayers, restoration, spirit, heart, holy spirit, joy, salvation, praise

Id: VGr4Ov1mh4Q

Length: 62min 11sec (3731 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 24 2020