These Broken Bones

   Psalm 51:1-19

"In 1982, “ABC Evening News” reported on an unusual work of modern art—a chair affixed to a shotgun. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next hundred years. The amazing thing was that people waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell’s path! They all knew the gun could go off at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn’t happen during THEIR minute in the chair. Yes, it was foolhardy, yet many people who wouldn’t dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction. I think many of us stand at the roulette wheel of life [or in a chair like this] and say one more time around...just a little bit further...just go in a little deeper it won't hurt! I think many of us are forgetting about our sins and that we are all starring down the barrel of a loaded gun that could and will go off at anytime! Psalm 51 speaks of this kind of behaviour! A man who was willing to dabble in sin.....willing to look down the barrel for a minute thinking that the fatal blast wouldn’t go off during his time as he fulfilled his fleshly desires. A man who desperately needed to be broken over his sin. A man who was broken over his sin. LET ME ASK YOU! Does your sin make you weep? Do you feel broken over your sin? See, brokenness is the off ramp to your sin that is going in the wrong direction! Brokenness is the place that brings you to repentance which ultimately leads to forgiveness and ends in fellowship with Christ. See in order for genuine fellowship to ever happen.....God must break you and bring you to a place in your life where you cry out to God in repentance because of your sin. As George MacDonald said “Evil cannot be destroyed without repentance.” It’s a brokenness that makes you hate your sin. It’s a brokenness that makes you weep over you sin. HAVE YOU EVER FELT THAT WAY? You hated your sin so much that it brought you to a place where you can’t stand in anymore? It eats you up inside! Or is your answer no! I’m not really that concerned about my sin....He’ll forgive right! I have liberty in the blood of the Lamb, right? THE BIBLE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS! 2 Cor 7:8-10 “For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it--though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." So let me ask you.........Where is your repentance leading you too? As Charles Swindoll says “remorse is sorrow over being caught and the pain of consequences that follow. Repentance is not being concerned for ourselves but having a contrite heart.” A brokenness over my sin! WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GRIPPED BY THE GLORY OF GOD? A genuine brokenness over our sin which leads to a proper relationship with the One that paid your sin debt in full on the cross of Calvary. We open this Psalm that David wrote, about what a broken and contrite heart really looks like when our sin offends a holy God. David is completely broken over his sin! But in order for us to understand why! You need to go to 2 Samuel 11. We see in this passage that David committed not one sin but many sins! It’s like the person who tells one lie, and when that person is confronted, they tell another lie to cover up their original lie......... and as time passes by one lie turned into a multitude of lies! Remeber what Paul said the church at Galatia! “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” The same goes for David here is this Psalm! He committed a multitude of sin that grew throughout his entire body. And it begins with David disobeying God’s command as the king of the people......

1. HE STAYED HOME INSTEAD OF GOING OFF TO WAR WITH HIS MEN........This is where he was supposed to be in the first place. This is where sin always creeps its ugly head.....when we are not focused on Christ worried, disobedient or when were just plain bored.

2. HE LOOKED UPON A WOMAN WITH LUST IN HIS HEART.........This is one of the number one killers in the life of a man when it comes to relationships (marriage). Why do you think the porn industry is a multi-billion dollar market and the sexuality in the movies, TV shows, music videos or commercials are so popular in our culture today? Men are sexually driven by the opposite sex. That’s why it’s vital that women dress modesty......especially women who claim the name of Jesus Christ.

3. HE COMMITTED ADULTERY.........He took a woman who wasn’t his wife and defiled the bed in the presence of a holy God. Men around the globe today take women who are not there wife and do the same thing David did. [defile the bedroom] And this even goes out to those who are in a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship! You’re not exempt or an exception to the rule because you claim to be in love. True love is a man and a woman who become one flesh under God and they take the marriage seriously.......Why? Because God takes sexual intimacy and the marriage relationship seriously. If you are someone here dating and its gotten hot and heavy.... that’s not love, that’s lust and you need to stop it today....NOW! This is reserved for the marriage! If you truly say you love her you will honor her as Christ honours the church pure and holy until that day you say “I do”

4. HE COMMITTED MURDER.........He had Uriah killed because he was to deep in his sin and when a person is so desperate and not thinking rationally they will do anything to make it go away! David tried to hide his sin! You can’t hide sin.... which really means! “you can’t hide your sin forever! As Moses said in Numbers “be sure your sin will find you out.” The Apostle Paul said “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” 1 Cor 4:5. The Hebrew writer says we will all stand naked before Him “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Heb 4:13. But the sad reality is your sin will always be with you until you come to a place of brokenness and this is where David is at in this Psalm.

LOOK AT THE OPENING REMARKS THAT DAVID MAKES (v1-v5) This is a very personal and private plead of repentance to God and what’s amazing is that God left this in His book to demonstrate to us what genuine brokenness over sin looks like and what repentance and forgiveness looks like when we confess to the Lord on the altar of His grace and mercy. DAVID WAS BROKEN OVER HIS SIN (v1) David pleads with God to blot our remove this sin....Lord cover or remove my transgressions with your mercy and grace. Transgression literally means “my rebellion, my rebellion against You O’ God......this is a willing defiance against God and His truth.” David was crushed by the weight of his sin and his rebellious heart. HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU REBEL AGAINST GOD? See, we need to realize when you and I sin; we are sinning against the God who gives us our breath. For David it wasn’t Bathsheba he sin against........It wasn’t Uriah he sinned against,,,,,,It was the LORD God who David sinned against (Look at v4) His crime was ultimately against God; though the ripple consequences of his sin caused the life a devoted man [Uriah] and his future son who died after birth. Whay amazes me is that David also knew he was a sinner! ....this wasn’t foreign to him and it shouldn’t be to you and me either! Everyone in this room is a sinner and desperately needs His mercy and grace (v3) and we see it also in (v5a)

“I acknowledge my rebellion and sin” (v3)

“I was brought forth in sin” (v5)

David was broken because he feed his sin with his lustful passions. Sin is like a seed planted in the soil, it can only survive if you feed it and water it. Sin affects everything about you! The way you speak.....act.....respond.....and live! David couldn’t take it anymore....the pressure, the stress, the anxiety was to overwhelming for him to handle. The guilt and shame was eating at this man.......His sin brought him to a place of brokenness! Which leads to repentance? DAVID WAS BROKEN IN REPENTANCE (V7-V10) He pleads with God to “purge” these broken bones that LORD broke in him! Purge means to “expiate or cleanse” with “Hyssop” which is a leafy plant that the Old Testament priest used to sprinkle blood or water in a ceremony to cleanse a person from defilement (such as leprosy or touching a dead body). A prime example of this is when the Lord told the Israelites to apply blood with hyssop to their doorposts for the Passover. In this case, David felt defiled for his sin and wanted the Lord to thoroughly cleanse him from his sin...... (v7b) (That statement alone blows me away) Jesus Christ some 2000 years ago did that exact thing for me and you on the cross of Calvary. That’s how much God hates sin! Jesus Christ cleansed (purged) our sin with His precious blood and applied it to your defiled and unclean body! Not only does David want to be whiter than snow! David goes on to say “create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me” (v10 ) Take this black, defiled and wretched heart and make it new since my sin is ever before me. Cleanse me even though I’ve been corrupted since birth and renew in me a steadfast spirit so that I don’t fall into this wickedness again. Basically what David is saying “give me a holy frame of mind and remove this sin so that I won’t be easily shaken or cast down by the next temptation?” Remember! Sin never comes to fruition until the temptation is followed through. David was broken over the sin that overtook him through the temptation of a woman who was bathing outside her door. David is broken over the sin which brings him to repentance! Which is a turning away from; not I’ll continue going down the same road and see what happens the next time. Genuine repentance is a complete turning from the sin getting off the closet off ramp and going the other way! That’s not to say that you won’t be faced with this in the future on a different road. What I am saying is “in order to find victory over sin we must come to the Lord with a genuine desire and passion to kick this sin to the curb.” Genuine repentance! Not worldly repentance which leads to death as Paul spoke about to the Corinthian church. The kind of repentance that means nothing in the presence of God! "A hermit once, having renounced the world and lost all things, yet found no peace. It seemed to him in his lonely cell that the Lord asked something more. “But I gave you everything!” said the hermit. “All but one thing” answered the Lord. “What is it Lord?”.....the Lord answered “Your sins.” But this wasn’t David’s heart at all! He desired to be restored to God in such a way that he feared for his life in the presence of God (v11) This is a pray that as a believer in Christ will never have to do! Do you realize that? You can grieve....quench.....but never lose the Spirit!

Paul said “and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption” Eph 4:30. David was pleading for the Spirit to continue to work in him as the king to lead his nation forward, which was a special Holy Spirit anointing given to David which is how the Spirit worked in the Old Testament. God is awesome! God is so awesome that He is forgiving, patient and full of mercy! I’m amazed every day that He hasn’t destroyed us all already. It amazes me that He even decided to save anyone. David desired was to be in right standing with God out of adoration and obedience, not out of life of duty [sin confess...sin confess] (v12-v17) God desires His people to walk in the light where He is and to stay away from the darkness that lurks outside the doors of our heart. A communion with God should be our motivator each and every day as we face the day’s temptations and trials of life. I’m talking about that deep rooted fellowship that supersedes everything else in your life........but in order for that to happen, we need to be like David and confess our sins to Him. SO LET ME ASK YOU! Is there sin in your life today that you know you haven’t confessed to Him? Are you broken or do you feel broken when you sin against the God who spoke all things into existence and declared it good?

Do you care about your sin?

If your answer is NO! Then you truly don’t know what it means to be broken over your sin which is an offence to a holy God...........And you truly don’t have a heart that is ready for repentance. But if your answer is YES and this message have made you angry! Not with me, but your own sin! Good.........God is breaking you and humbling you to a place of repentance as He did to David in this wonderful Psalm of repentance and forgiveness.

You’re in the place that David was in when he wrote this Psalm this morning and you need to confess your rebellion and sin to God. As Paul Tournier said “true liberty is not found without confession of our sins and the experience of Divine forgiveness.” No matter what you have done, get right with Him....... right now! It could be any second that the gun goes off as you sit or dabble in the chair of your sin. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GRIPPED BY THE GLORY OF GOD? That a holy God in all His glory would forgive me and wash away my sins and make me whiter than snow. That He would embrace though the sinner that I am with unfailing love and mercy. But in order for that to happen......... HE MUST BREAK THESE BONES [your bones].........SDG