A Broken Heart: Necessary for Righteous Living

Sin is a dirty, disruptive, chaotic, and destructive fact of life. We cannot look anywhere without seeing the impacts and acts of sin. Sin reveals itself in our daily decision making. It reveals itself in the athletic realm, the political realm, the entertainment realm of music, movies, and TV. Sin reveals itself through the treatment of others at home and in the workplace. Sin is unavoidable. Sin is deceptive and tricky. Sin is living in opposition to God. Sin is that which is not of faith. You say wow, we live in a horrible world. We do and the punishment for it is eternal separation from God.

It is this sin that causes us to drift from God. We find our hearts becoming hard, apathetic, and complacent. We find ourselves trying to cover it up or justifying it as not sin. We try to get rid of it by blaming others or minimizing it to not being “that bad”.

We can praise the Lord though that in his awesome grace provided an avenue of rescue from our depravity and wickedness. He through His son, Jesus Christ, provided deliverance. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself on the cross so that men, women, children everywhere and throughout history can be saved from the condemnation necessary because of God’s wrath toward sin. It requires faith in Christ death and resurrection along with a repentance of one’s sin, calling on God to save you. It is then and only then as a justified and redeemed believer and adopted child of God can you say no to the heinousness of sin. It is the Holy Spirit that now resides in you that gives you the power to not consent to the sinful temptations presented before you each and every day.

God’s grace is greater than our sin! When we fall in sin before God, God’s grace is there to enable us and deliver us. We need to call on God in prayer and confess our sins. In our text this morning we are going to look at a Psalm that was written by a believer that had fallen into multiple sins. He was brought to see his sin and from that he wrote this Psalm revealing his broken heart and desire to restore his relationship with God.

This man was King David. As we come to our text in Psalm 51, it is important that we understand the background of the Psalm. The background can be found in 2 Samuel 11-12. Many here may remember the storyline in this section of 2 Samuel. David chose not to go to war with the army and stayed home. One morning he awoke and went to his rooftop. Once on his rooftop he was looking around and spotted a women bathing. Rather than turning and leaving he stayed and gazed upon her the text says. He then proceeded to have a couple servant go and bring Bathsheba to him and he then sinned by sleeping with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. A while after, David found out that Bathsheba was now pregnant. David now had to do something. He came up with a plan. He sent for Uriah from the battlefield and expected him while he was home to spend time with Bathsheba and that would cover his sin of adultery. What David did not expect was Uriah’s loyalty to him and his fellow soldiers. He says that he could not sleep in the comfort of his home while his fellow soldiers were at battle. David now rather than coming clean to Uriah and admitting his sin and confessing it to God, hatched another plan. This plan involved Uriah himself carrying his own death order. David gave Uriah orders to give to the captain of the army to place Uriah in a deadly place in the battle. Uriah was killed in battle making it now possible to bring Bathsheba into the palace and cover the outward look of sin before the people.

In 2 Samuel 12:1-9 we see the prophet Nathan come to David and tell him a story. The story was about a man who had one sheep. It was healthy. This man treated it like the family pet. Another man, who was rich and had plenty of his own sheep, came and took this sheep and killed it and ate it. As Nathan finished this story, David become outraged and called for the death penalty on this man who stole the man’s sheep. At this point Nathan looks at David and says to him, “You are that man!” David’s response was not one of minimizing or hiding. He made no more plans to escape it. He simply fell before God admitting he had sinned— “I have sinned against the Lord.” It is from this statement Psalm 51 stands up against. David writes this lamenting Psalm crying out to God in sorrow and brokenness of heart over his sin. Before we look into Psalm 51 I want to briefly look at the specifics of David’s sinful actions. We will see a commonality of our sinful behavior.

2 Samuel 12:1–9 (NASB95)

1 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 “The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 3 “But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 “He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.” 7 Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 ‘I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! 9 ‘Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

David in this passage reveals how sin can manifest in one’s life and we need a broken heart. (idea of layout from Will Galkin sermon on Psalm 51)

Selfish actions that show you need a broken heart taken from the life of David:

Ignore the commands of scripture - ‘Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight?

Use people to get what we want and lust for - He sent messengers to find and bring Bathsheba to him

Hard on others and easy on our self - judging others. He ranted about the man who took the poor man’s sheep

consumed with what we do not have versus what we do have - He lusted after another man’s wife and not his own. God has given us what we need. God is good.

callous to obvious warning to our own sin - one of the servants David sent questioned that this was Uriah’s wife

duplicity and hypocrisy - irate at the rich man when he had done the exact thing

sin is more important than the affects on others - he only thought about what he wanted not how his actions impacted other people

The question we need to ask ourselves this morning is what does God want from us when we sin?

Main Truth: Living righteously requires a heart of spiritual brokenness.

I. Spiritual brokenness manifests through confession before God (1-7).

In Psalm 51:1-7 “1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” David cries out to God for spiritual cleansing. David uses colorful and strong words to cry out in confession to God for his sin. The word choice rings loudly the broken heart of David over his wicked behavior.

David begins by calling out for God’s grace in his life based on God’s lovingkindess or his loving loyalty. David knew God was a faithful and loyal God. It was according to the greatness of God’s mercy that David was crying out for his sin to be forgiven. He wanted his sin to be cleansed and annihilated.

In Psalm 51:2 “2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.” David expresses how he now saw his sin. He saw his sin as egregious and dirty. He saw it as the dirtiness of soiled clothing that needed to be cleaned. He saw the wickedness of his sin as an affront to a holy God. He saw that because of his sin he needed to be purified.

How bad do you want the sin in your life removed when it has been exposed and brought to light by the Holy Spirit? Do you truly realize that you need God’s grace and mercy to blot out the sin? Do you see the sin as the stinky and dirty clothing that it truly is? How many of you never wash your clothes?

When I was in college, I had the opportunity of be a dorm leader and part of my responsibility was to check rooms once a week. One day, our dorm supervisor had all 5 of the dorm leaders to check rooms together to make sure we were being consistent. When we came to a specific room, the dorm supervisor did not even open the door but asked one of us to write up a strong penalty on the demerit sheet and stick it to the door. Why? The room smelled so bad we could smell it outside the room in the hallway.

Unfortunately, too many of us live our Christian lives this way. We walk through life often doing what David did and finding a way to cover it up. No spiritual Febreze exists in the Christian life. Sure, people around you may be fooled but as we see from David’s confession in the next few verses it does not fool God nor change the fact that all of our sin is evil in God’s sight know matter how much makeup you put over it.

In Psalm 51:3-5 reveal David’s admittance that he was the one that sinned. He owned his sin and did not blame God. He actually vindicates God. God in his judgment is morally righteous and pure. He went deeper with his sin than simply sinning against Bathsheba and Uriah. He at the core sinned against God himself.

If we are to live with a broken heart over our sin, we must agree with God about our sin and its heinousness. David understood and admitted to God that his sinful choices were not God’s fault but his very own. He understood that he was sinner from the moment he was born. He did not need hours of systematic teaching to understand this truth. He knew it and knew God was holy. He knew that his sin was in opposition to God as God desires truth and desires us to live wisely. David lived foolishly.

Are you living foolishly? Are you desiring folly and living selfishly? Are you failing to see your sin as really that bad? All sin is evil! God did not make you sin. You did not sin because of your circumstances. You did not sin because someone told you too or strongly influenced you. You sinned because you selfishly wanted to sin. You wanted to do what your lust was pushing you to do. Call on God to purify and wash you! David uses the picture of hyssop as it was used to sprinkle blood or water on people during a ceremonial cleansing as found in Leviticus 14:4, 6 “6 “As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water.”

For believer’s today our cleansing takes place through Jesus redemptive work on the cross! Are you willing to agree with God about your sin? Are you seeing your sin as God sees your sin? Are you ready to be clean and pure? Stop living dirty and stinky! David not only wanted to be cleansed and purified, he also wanted to restore his relationship with God! What about you? A broken heart is manifested through a restored relationship with God.

II. Spiritual brokenness manifests through restoration by God (8-12).

David has cried to God in agreement about his sin requesting spiritual cleansing from sin. David wanted to once again have the joy that came from having a right relationship with God. Sin brings emotional and sometimes physical anguish. David did not want any of that any more. We wanted God to as a judge remove his sin. At the beginning of Psalm 51:10 David pleads with God to create in him a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within him. David did not want a spirit that wavered. He wanted to live a life that was sure in living pure before God. He knew that in order for true joy to be present in his life that he was praying for, he needed God’s power of restoration in his life. David desired to be in God’s presence continually.

Christian, do you truly desire a close relationship with God? Is your level of confession to only make you feel better rather than truly wanting a deepening relationship with God? David did not take his sin lightly. He also trusted and believed completely in God’s mercy. David in light of his sin was broken and remembered the amazing joy he had in life even when life was difficult. This joy came from a relationship with God! For the Christian, we have the Holy Spirit residing in us. We have the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit to guard us from sin or to convict us from sin and restore us to relationship with God. Grieving the Holy Spirit and living selfishly only hinders your sanctification. When we live in the joy of the salvation God has given us through Christ we have a willing spirit to serve and worship God as God desires!

Spiritual brokenness shows through the intense desire you have to be restored and renewed to a close relationship with God. This desire is not just a head knowledge but a heart desire. It is something that changes at your very core. This change then produces a strong desire to submit to God in your life resulting in worshipping God through service (Romans 12:1-2 “1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” )

III. Spiritual brokenness manifests through submission to God (13-19).

Serve God and Worship God (13-19)

David tells God that he will commit and submit his life to serving him when God restores his joy found through God’s saving and purifying work. He tells God that he will teach sinners God’s ways. He will teach them so that sinners will turn to God in faith. This teaching could also involve the way David chose to live. He wanted to teach not only by his speech but also by his actions. David wanted to return to leading the nation of Israel as God desired him to lead. We see later on down the road that David desired to build a temple for the Lord. This narrative of David’s life is a wonderful testament to God’s grace in the sinners life. David wanted to sing God’s praises as God forgave him for his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah along with all that went into making all of it happen.

David goes on about singing God’s praises for his forgiveness! We need to do the same! We need to be praising God for his forgiveness of our sins, not just in the moment of salvation but in the moments of sanctification to follow.

David then compares praising the Lord with his mouth to the burnt sacrifices that were made for sin. David understood that sacrifices were an outward manifestation of what God truly desired. God’s true desire was not the physical sacrifice but that of a broken and contrite heart!

What does this term brokenness mean? The word used by David means shattered, smashed, broken.

What does the term contrite mean? The word means crushed.

Putting these two terms together you arrive at a strong word picture of what our hearts need to be when we sin. David is saying that his spirit/heart of brokenness is what God does not despise (Isaiah 57:15 “15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”) It is what God desires in every believer—a repentant heart and yielded spirit!

Is your heart/will smashed and broken? God uses circumstances and people to bring us low. God used Nathan in David’s life and allowed various consequences of his sin over the years to remind him to stay broken. We see later in David’s reign he found himself thinking to highly of himself and disobeyed God by counting the people. David being a man after God’s own heart did repent. Again though his pride needed to be broken.

We need to live with a heart that is broken daily. This not an attitude we make after we sin. David is saying that his is what God desires. A broken heart manifests itself through submission to God. We see in throughout Bible we cannot serve God and man. It is a choice. You either serve God or you are serving self. A restored relationship is a submissive relationship. A submissive relationship desires to be busy worshipping God through their service to God, through their praising God with their lips.

God desires righteous worship from us. A broken heart results in righteous worship. It gives us a proper perspective on who God is and who we are. It provides a heart full of desire to praise God! A broken heart understands the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and sees that the only reasonable action is to praise and serve the Lord giving him the worship he and he alone deserves.

We can sacrifice and give up things for the Lord but if it is done out of a twisted desire to gain favor with God or even favor with other believers and non-believers than it is not truly worship nor is your heart broken and contrite.

In a book I and a couple other men in our church are reading together, the main idea is that we become like what we worship. When our hearts are hard and self-focused we need to be broken or we are in danger of becoming like what we worship.

God cares about your heart not the actions you perform in his name or for his cause. Yes, he can and does still use many of those actions in spite of our sin and hardness. However, God wants us to have a broken spirit where our actions are performed out of a love and loyalty to God.

Conclusion

So what condition is your heart in this morning? Where has sin formed a callous in your life? David was pointed out the sin in his life and he responded with utter brokenness over his sin. His will was crushed and shattered allowing God to convict him of his sin. David cried out to God for forgiveness and restoration! David desired then to live rightoeusly helping others through word and action the importance of having a right relationship with God.

Are you like David this morning and you

Ignore the commands of scripture - ‘Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight?

Use people to get what we want and lust for - He sent messengers to find and bring Bathsheba to him

Hard on others and easy on our self - judging others. He ranted about the man who took the poor man’s sheep

consumed with what we do not have versus what we do have - He lusted after another man’s wife and not his own. God has given us what we need. God is good.

callous to obvious warning to our own sin - one of the servants David sent questioned that this was Uriah’s wife

duplicity and hypocrisy - irate at the rich man when he had done the exact thing

sin is more important than the affects on others - he only thought about what he wanted not how his actions impacted other people

Each one of us here this morning need to take our sin serious! You and I need to daily be on our knees confessing our sin, asking God to restore a steadfast spirit that does not waver in the face of temptation, and consistently be submitting our will to God’s will! We need to look to the heavens and praise God for his forgiveness as manifested through his mercy and grace.

It is high time that we stop messing around with sin no matter how insignificant we find something. No matter the sin, we need to allow the provocation of the Holy Spirit that we have through Christ to humble our pride ridden hearts and ask God to cleanse us and restore us and provoke us to stand firm for him.

Unconfessed sin will erode your life and cause bitterness and hardness to calcify in your heart! David gave us an example of the heart needed to live righteously. Don’t let sin erode your heart. Let the Holy Spirit through the Holy Word be a guard of your heart.

Do you want to be used by God? Isaiah 66:2 “2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Then Fear HIM! You and I need to be desiring to live with a clean heart. We need to live with a broken and contrite spirit!

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